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ON HIS WAY THROUGH THE WORLD 481
"Offensive, sir? No, sir. Some men are offensive without
meaning it. You have been several times to-night !" says Lord
Philip.
" I don't see that I am called upon to bear this kind of thing
at any man's table !" cried Mr. Bickerton. " Lord Egham, I wish
you good-night !"
" I say, old boy, what's the row about ?" asked his Lordship.
And we were all astonished as my guest rose and left the table in
great wrath.
" Serve him right, Firmin, I say !" said Mr. Mugford, again
drinking off a glass.
" Why, don't you know ?" says Tom Page. " His father keeps
a haberdasher's shop at Cambridge, and sent him to Oxford, where
he took a good degree."
And this had come of a dinner of conciliation—a dinner which
was to advance Philip's interest in life !
" Hit him again, I say," cried Mugford, whom wine had rendered
eloquent. " He's a supercilious beast, that Bickerton is, and I hate
him, and so does Mrs. M."
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