Bit 2.2

"Hello Frank," he said, rising form his chair and offering his hand in greeting, "nice to see you". And George Humphreys meant this. Frank Martin had been a staunch supporter of all his initiatives over the past few months and years - indeed, ever since he had been made Home Secretary. Humphreys was in no doubt that their united front was the reason why so much had been achieved in dealing with the recent situations.
"Afternoon George" replied Martin, warmly shaking his hand, "End-of-term report time again, then?" He sat down in the easy chair. Humphreys gave a knowing smile and returned to his seat. In some ways, the two men were not dissimilar - they were of a similar age, and both were fairly short, though perhaps it was fair to say that Humphreys was the slightly larger of the two. And not just in terms of physical height - the Prime Minister was also greater in terms of girth. The adjective that was most often used in the press was "chunky". Frank Martin, on the other hand, was what one might call "well preserved" for his age. In his younger days, he had had quite a reputation as a womaniser, and even now was still considered to have immense personal attractiveness, a fact helped by his personal charm, which he had in spades. George Humphreys on the other hand had always been a family man, and indeed, his flights of fancy over to the lake always included in some way or another his wife and children. Around the walls of the office there were few of the grand paintings one might have expected, but rather photos of the four of them, separately or together.
Reaching out and taking the tea that had been prepared for him, Martin relaxed in the chair. "I overheard James leaving instruction for while he's away with the young chap out there. I take it he's not retiring this year then?"
Humphreys looked sternly over at Martin, then smiled and relaxed. "He does a fine job, Frank. Plenty of years left in him, and, for one thing, he knows how everyone takes their tea."
Martin chuckled. "No, no, no, I wasn't suggesting he did a bad job. It's just you have to say he's older than some of the furnishings. You really should have someone younger around here, if nothing else, for the look of the thing."
"Ah, but i trust James implicitly. I certainly couldn't begin to think of passing things over for Matthew yet. He's a nice lad, but he's still learning."
"You could do worse than looking at my PPS. Not that I want to give her up of course, but she does a fantastic job, and it'd be criminal not to push her for promotion just because of my selfishness."
"Ah yes. Miss Jones. You're not the first person to say good things about her. She's getting an excellent reputation around the offices. But still, James has been with me a long time..."
Sipping his tea, Martin shrugged. "Well, it would seem to be your loss, George. Very much so - it never hurts to have a pretty girl around the office too!"
Humphreys flashed a warning look across the desk at him. "Don't let's have you getting carried away, now, Frank. We've kept pretty clean for this year, and I don't want any damage doing to us, especially given the state of the other lot."
That was the signal that the small talk was over. Sitting up straighter, placing his cup and saucer back on the desk, and pulling a sheave of paper out of his briefcase - the change in Frank Martin was impressive, a relaxing lion springing to a position of alertness.