"I simply said that I would see the gentleman when he arrived in England.

You had better bring him to my study," he continued, "and be careful that no one interrupts us." The young man withdrew and the Cabinet Minister made his way to his study.

A little of the elasticity, however, had gone from his footsteps and he seated himself before his desk with the air of a man who faces a disagreeable quarter of an hour.

He played for a moment with a pen-holder.
"The skeleton in the cupboard," he muttered to himself gloomily.

"Even the greatest of us," he added, with a momentary return of his more inflated self, "have them." There was a knock at the door and the secretary reappeared, ushering in this undesired visitor.
"This is Mr.Sidney, sir," he announced quietly.
The Cabinet Minister rose in his place and held out his hand in his best official style, a discrete mixture of reserve and condescension.