STARTING THE SPORT SET 



that wonderful occasion. Now the man who made 

 that speech can be quite briUiant, and on nine occa- 

 sions out of ten the most tactful chap one could meet 

 on a voyage round the world, but if you will enter into 

 the subtle points he said wrong you will understand 

 that I had in my mind that it might be necessary for 

 another channel of finance for that wonderful paper, 

 the Sport Set. Whatever was uttered, in a way which 

 was a triumph in saying the wrong thing, the diction 

 was excellent, and the voice modulated to the right 

 tone, so that it went right well ; and, wonderful to 

 relate, the man who was made the guest of the evening 

 took it in the way I had intended he should, and not 

 in the manner the proposer of the toast conveyed it. 



Guy Campbell, clear brain as he always possesses, 

 was the only one at the table who was really amused. 

 He wrote on the back of a menu card : " Sorry, old 

 chap, what a bloomer ! It won't come off." Extra- 

 ordinary personality, Guy Campbell, he would make an 

 excellent ruler for a turbulent new principality. He 

 has never been taken at his full worth ; but perhaps 

 before the tenth edition of this book has been published 

 he will have achieved the fame he deserves. William 

 Griggs stayed at the piano as long as no one else 

 wanted to get there, but it was an evening of surprises. 



In the declining days of the paper there were 

 certain pathetic moments. At the end of the week, 

 when the boys had been told that their salaries were 

 at sixty-six to one (offered), there would be little 

 excuses made for coming into that gorgeous front 

 room of mine and a certain shuffling before they left it. 

 A little pretext would be made in asking what was 

 uppermost in their minds. " Sorry things are not 

 going too well, but I didn't want to come to the office 

 to-morrow (Saturday). I was wondering whether my 



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