that, of course, is only a _façon de parler_. He has worked hard enough
at the things which please him."

"There--you see!" said Mary Lyster, laughing.

"Not politics, anyway," said the elder lady, reflectively. "He went
into the House to please me, because I was a fool and wanted to see
him there. But I must say when his constituents turned him out last
year I thought they would have been a mean-spirited set if they
hadn't. They knew very well he'd never done a stroke for them.
Attendances--divisions--perfectly scandalous!"

"Well, here he is, in triumphantly for somewhere else--with all sorts of
delightful prospects!"

Lady Tranmore sighed. Her white fingers paused in their task.

"That, of course, is because--now--he's a personage. Everything'll be
made easy for him now. My dear Mary, they talk of England's being a
democracy!"

The speaker raised her handsome shoulders; then, as though to shake off
thoughts of loss and grief which had suddenly assailed her, she abruptly
changed the subject.

"Well--work or no work--the first thing we've got to do is to marry
him."

She looked up sharply. But not the smallest tremor could she detect in
Mary Lyster's gently moving hand. There was, however, no reply to her