"So I have always heard," she answered, "and a great philanthropist."

"Oh--yes." Roden paused and took a chair. "Oh yes; but Tony Cornish is
our right-hand man. The people seem to place greater faith in him than
they do in Lord Ferriby. When it is Cornish who asks, they give readily
enough. He is business-like and quick, and that always tells in the
long run."

Percy Roden seemed disposed to be communicative, and Mrs. Vansittart's
attitude was distinctly encouraging. She leant sideways on the arm of
her chair, and looked at her companion with speculation in her
intelligent eyes. She was perhaps reflecting that this was not the sort
of man one usually finds engaged in philanthropic enterprise. It is
likely that her thoughts were of this nature, and were, as thoughts so
often are, transmitted silently to her companion's mind, for he
proceeded, unasked, to explain.

"It is not, properly speaking, a charity, you know," he said. "It is
more in the nature of a trade union. This is a practical age, Mrs.
Vansittart, and it is necessary that charity should keep pace with the
march of progress and be self-supporting."

There was a faint suggestion of glibness in his manner. It was probable
that he had made use of the same arguments before.

"And who else is associated with you in this great enterprise?" asked
the lady, keeping him with the cleverness of her sex upon the subject
in which he was obviously deeply interested. The shrewdest women
usually treat men thus, and they generally know what subject interests
a man most--namely, himself.