Two or three times he came near to reaching the four-minute altitude, but always he fell short a little.

The last man he came to was Smith.

He put his hand on Smith's shoulder and began to talk to him; and when he finished, the thermometer had scored seven minutes! The company then moved toward the smoking-room, where cigars, beer and anecdotes would be in brisk service until midnight, and as Smith passed me he whispered, "That settles it.

The chancellor will ask me how much of a vacation I want, and I sha'n't be afraid to raise the limit.

I shall call for six months." [Sidenote: (1891)] [Sidenote: (1899)] Smith's dream had been to spend his three months' vacation--in case he got a vacation instead of the other thing--in one of the great capitals of the Continent--a capital whose name I shall suppress, at present.