"I am sure we wish you all prosperity and all happiness in the marriage
you contemplate, which has been so fortunate for those in whom we are
interested," said the last speaker, and the sentiment was echoed by all
the others.

"Could not you buy Cross Hall?" said Francis to Miss Thomson on the day
after this matter was settled. "I should feel half my sorrow at parting
with it removed if I knew you could have it."

"No, no; I am not going to buy a property that I cannot pay for. My
father did something of the kind once, and all the time he was a laird
we were poor. He sold the property at a great loss, and then things
looked up again with him. I'd rather be a rich farmer than a poor
proprietor."

"If I could see you in possession of Cross Hall, and Mr. Sinclair in my
seat in Parliament, I should really have very little to give up; but it
appears I cannot. I have accepted the stewardship of Her Majesty's
Chiltern Hundreds to-day, and the burghs will be declared vacant
directly. But Mr. Sinclair cannot afford it; and he could not carry the
election. His manner is not good enough; he does not conciliate people.
If our scheme were carried there would be no fear of Sinclair getting
in, for he is a man really wanted. He could get a sufficient number of
votes here to carry him half in, and the remainder of the quota would
be attracted by his original genius and upright character, which he
could show by his speeches and addresses; and we hope to make a seat in
Parliament a much less costly affair--50 pounds or 100 pounds should
cover it all. But I fear the burghs must fall back on either the Duke's
nominee or the Earl's."

"Then are you more sorry to leave your people at Cross Hall, or your
parliamentary duties?" said Miss Thomson.

"The people at Cross Hall I think are really in a much better position
than when I came; and, perhaps, it is as well for them to be left to
work out things for themselves. I have become much attached to them,
but perhaps if I stayed there, they would depend too much upon me. But
in Parliament, I have not yet broken ground in the work I had set
myself to do: and I confess that I do regret it, both for my own sake,
for the sake of my friends who depended on me, and for the sake of the
dear old country itself. There may be more able men and more energetic
men in Parliament; but I am sure there are none whose heart was more in
the work than mine. But that was Jane's doing. I know if she had not