him, he offered no objection to Mike being at home to Psmith. It was
this tolerance which sometimes got him into trouble with Mr
Bickersdyke. The manager did not often perambulate the office, but he
did occasionally, and the interview which ensued upon his finding
Hutchinson, the underling in the Cash Department at that time, with his
stool tilted comfortably against the wall, reading the sporting news
from a pink paper to a friend from the Outward Bills Department who lay
luxuriously on the floor beside him, did not rank among Mr Waller's
pleasantest memories. But Mr Waller was too soft-hearted to interfere
with his assistants unless it was absolutely necessary. The truth of
the matter was that the New Asiatic Bank was over-staffed. There were
too many men for the work. The London branch of the bank was really
only a nursery. New men were constantly wanted in the Eastern branches,
so they had to be put into the London branch to learn the business,
whether there was any work for them to do or not.

It was after one of these visits of Psmith's that Mr Waller displayed a
new and unsuspected side to his character. Psmith had come round in a
state of some depression to discuss Bristow, as usual. Bristow, it
seemed, had come to the bank that morning in a fancy waistcoat of so
emphatic a colour-scheme that Psmith stoutly refused to sit in the same
department with it.

'What with Comrades Bristow and Bickersdyke combined,' said Psmith
plaintively, 'the work is becoming too hard for me. The whisper is
beginning to circulate, "Psmith's number is up--As a reformer he is
merely among those present. He is losing his dash." But what can I do?
I cannot keep an eye on both of them at the same time. The moment I
concentrate myself on Comrade Bickersdyke for a brief spell, and seem
to be doing him a bit of good, what happens? Why, Comrade Bristow