'I tell you,' continued Psmith, waving aside the interruption and
tapping the head of the department rhythmically in the region of the
second waistcoat-button with a long finger, 'I tell _you_, Comrade
Rossiter, that you have got hold of a good man. You and I together, not
forgetting Comrade Jackson, the pet of the Smart Set, will toil early
and late till we boost up this Postage Department into a shining model
of what a Postage Department should be. What that is, at present, I do
not exactly know. However. Excursion trains will be run from distant
shires to see this Postage Department. American visitors to London will
do it before going on to the Tower. And now,' he broke off, with a
crisp, businesslike intonation, 'I must ask you to excuse me. Much as I
have enjoyed this little chat, I fear it must now cease. The time has
come to work. Our trade rivals are getting ahead of us. The whisper
goes round, "Rossiter and Psmith are talking, not working," and other
firms prepare to pinch our business. Let me Work.'

Two minutes later, Mr Rossiter was sitting at his desk with a dazed
expression, while Psmith, perched gracefully on a stool, entered
figures in a ledger.




6. Psmith Explains


For the space of about twenty-five minutes Psmith sat in silence,
concentrated on his ledger, the picture of the model bank-clerk. Then
he flung down his pen, slid from his stool with a satisfied sigh, and