great Tory mansion which had sent them forth in the morning, and had been
Tressady's headquarters during the greater part of the fight.

"Did you ever see anyone so down as Burrows?" he said presently, with a
little leap of laughter. "By George! it _is_ hard lines. I suppose he
thought himself safe, what with the work he'd done in the division and
the hold he had on the miners. Then a confounded stranger turns up, and
the chance of seventeen ignorant voters kicks you out! He could hardly
bring himself to shake hands with me. I had come rather to admire him,
hadn't you?"

Lord Fontenoy nodded.

"I thought his speeches showed ability," he said indifferently, "only of
a kind that must be kept out of Parliament--that's all. Sorry you have
qualms--quite unnecessary, I assure you! At the present moment, either
Burrows and his like knock under, or you and your like. This time--by
seventeen votes--Burrows knocks under. Thank the Lord! say I"--and the
speaker opened the window an instant to knock off the end of his cigar.

Tressady made no reply. But again a look, half-chagrined,
half-reflective, puckered his brow, which was smooth, white, and boyish
under his straight, fair hair; whereas the rest of the face was subtly
lined, and browned as though by travel and varied living. The nose and
mouth, though not handsome, were small and delicately cut, while the
long, pointed chin, slightly protruding, made those who disliked him say
that he was like those innumerable portraits of Philip IV., by and after
Velasquez, which bestrew the collections of Europe. But if the Hapsburg
chin had to be admitted, nothing could be more modern, intelligent,
alert, than the rest of him.