the Reform Club. I need hardly say that I should not have
thought of such a thing with a less thorough promise of
support than this gives me, nor should I think of it now
had I not been assured that none of the expense of the
election would fall upon me. Of course I could not have
asked you to pay for it.

But to such a proposition, so made, I have felt that it
would be cowardly to give a refusal. I cannot but regard
such a selection as a great honour. I own that I am fond
of politics, and have taken great delight in their study
--("Stupid young fool!" his father said to himself as he
read this)--and it has been my dream for years past to
have a seat in Parliament at some future time. ("Dream!
yes; I wonder whether he has ever dreamed what he is to
live upon.") The chance has now come to me much earlier
than I have looked for it, but I do not think that it
should on that account be thrown away. Looking to my
profession, I find that many things are open to a
barrister with a seat in Parliament, and that the House
need not interfere much with a man's practice. ("Not if
he has got to the top of his tree," said the doctor.)

My chief doubt arose from the fact of your old friendship
with Lord Tulla, whose brother has filled the seat for I
don't know how many years. But it seems that George Morris
must go; or, at least, that he must be opposed by a
Liberal candidate. If I do not stand, some one else will,
and I should think that Lord Tulla will be too much of a
man to make any personal quarrel on such a subject. If he