Blum was not a person with whom Bale could afford to quarrel. Wherefore
he mastered his resentment and accepted the change of the name of the
firm to Blum & Co., and the incidental reduction of his income that
change implied with a smile on his face in spite of the bitterness
in his heart.

To a man less adroit than he, the change in the partnership
might well have constituted a serious check in his upward career, but
once more Bale's native resourcefulness asserted itself. This crisis
in his private affairs took place when the country was torn by
dissensions over Tariff Reform. He had early learnt to fish in troubled
waters, and the political upheaval gave him his opportunity; he promptly
crossed the floor of the House and obtained, without paying for it, a
baronetcy as his reward.

* * * * *

Sir Matthew Bale is tall and slender; his head is well placed on his
shoulders, he has clear-cut features, a firm mouth with excellent teeth,
and is clean-shaven. Although he is over fifty, he has plenty of hair,
originally sandy, but now tinged with grey, which he parts at the side
and brushes straight back from the forehead. He dresses with a certain
quiet elegance, and he has a way of drawing down his cuffs as he talks
to you, and of placing the tips of his fingers together so that you
notice his nicely kept nails. He speaks in a low tone, which he only
raises when he forgets himself, and relies for emphasis on little
restrained gestures adopted by him, together with other tricks of speech
and manner, from his wife's male relations. In this he is unconscious
of imitation, for he is by nature adaptable and his desire to be
identified with the aristocracy is instinctive.