hour my brain revolved with little else. The billet was an
excellent one, with very decent pay and charming quarters. It
carried a pension, it was the completest sort of provision. There
was a long vacation, with opportunities for original effort, and I
had heard Fry call the work interesting. Fry was the kind of man to
be interested in anything that gave him a living, but there was no
reason why a more captious spirit, in view of the great advantages,
should not accommodate itself to the routine that might present
itself. The post was in the gift of the Government of Bengal, but
that was no reason why the Government of Bengal should not be
grateful in the difficulty of making a choice for a hint from us.
The difficulty was really great. They would have to write home and
advertise in the 'Athenaeum'--for some reason Indian Governments
always advertise educational appointments in the 'Athenaeum'; it is
a habit which dates from the days of John Company--and that would
mean delay. And then the result might be a disappointment. Might
Armour not also be a disappointment? That I really could not say.
A new man is always a speculation, and departments, like
individuals, have got to take their luck.

The Viceroy was so delighted--everybody was so delighted--with the
medal picture that the merest breath blown among them would secure
Armour's nomination. Should I blow that breath? These happy
thoughts must always occur to somebody. This one had occurred to
me. Ten to one it would occur to nobody else, and last of all to
Armour himself. The advertisement might already be on its way home
to the 'Athenaeum'.

It would make everything possible. It would throw a very different
complexion over the idyll. It would turn that interlacing wreath of