"And--quite frankly--not too much hydrogen?"

"Oh, decidedly not."

"And you would not say that the percentage of sodium
bicarbonate was too great for the ordinary taste?"

"I certainly should not," said Mr. Furlong, and in this
he spoke the truth.

"Very good then," said Mr. Fyshe, "I shall use it for
the Duke of Dulham this afternoon."

He uttered the name of the Duke with that quiet, democratic
carelessness which meant that he didn't care whether half
a dozen other members lunching at the club could hear or
not. After all, what was a duke to a man who was president
of the People's Traction and Suburban Co., and the
Republican Soda and Siphon Co-operative, and chief director
of the People's District Loan and Savings? If a man with
a broad basis of popular support like that was proposing
to entertain a duke, surely there could be no doubt about
his motives? None at all.

Naturally, too, if a man manufactures soda himself, he
gets a little over-sensitive about the possibility of
his guests noticing the existence of too much carbon in
it.