intimate friend of Graham's. The contents of the letter are these:--

MY DEAR GRAHAM,--I trust that you will welcome the brilliant opening
into public life which these lines are intended to announce to you.
Vavasour has just been with me to say that he intends to resign his
seat for the county when Parliament meets, and agreeing with me that
there is no one so fit to succeed him as yourself, he suggests the
keeping his intention secret until you have arranged your committee
and are prepared to take the field. You cannot hope to escape a
contest; but I have examined the Register, and the party has gained
rather than lost since the last election, when Vavasour was so
triumphantly returned. The expenses for this county, where there
are so many outvoters to bring up, and so many agents to retain, are
always large in comparison with some other counties; but that
consideration is all in your favour, for it deters Squire Hunston,
the only man who could beat you, from starting; and to your
resources a thousand pounds more or less are a trifle not worth
discussing. You know how difficult it is nowadays to find a seat
for a man of moderate opinions like yours and mine. Our county
would exactly suit you. The constituency is so evenly divided
between the urban and rural populations, that its representative
must fairly consult the interests of both. He can be neither an
ultra-Tory nor a violent Radical. He is left to the enviable
freedom, to which you say you aspire, of considering what is best
for the country as a whole.

Do not lose so rare an opportunity. There is but one drawback to
your triumphant candidature. It will be said that you have no
longer an acre in the county in which the Vanes have been settled so
long. That drawback can be removed. It is true that you can never