came in extraordinary variety and volume, but
always it had one unvarying feature. It ignored and tacitly contradicted
his private intentions.

We are all of us disposed to be propagandists of our way of living, and
the spectacle of a wealthy young man quite at large is enough to excite
the most temperate of us without distinction of age or sex. "If I were
you," came to be a familiar phrase in his ear. This was particularly the
case with political people; and they did it not only from the natural
infirmity of humanity, but because, when they seemed reluctant or
satisfied with him as he was, Lady Marayne egged them on.

There was a general assumption that he was to go into Parliament, and
most of his counsellors assumed further that on the whole his natural
sympathies would take him into the Conservative party. But it was
pointed out to him that just at present the Liberal party was the party
of a young man's opportunity; sooner or later the swing of the pendulum
which would weed the Conservatives and proliferate Liberals was bound to
come, there was always more demand and opportunity for candidates on
the Liberal side, the Tariff Reformers were straining their ministerial
majority to the splitting point, and most of the old Liberal leaders had
died off during the years of exile. The party was no longer
dominated; it would tolerate ideas. A young man who took a distinctive
line--provided it was not from the party point of view a vexatious or
impossible line--might go very rapidly far and high. On the other hand,
it was urged upon him that the Tariff Reform adventure called also
for youth and energy. But there, perhaps, there was less scope for
the distinctive line--and already they had Garvin. Quite a number
of Benham's friends pointed out to him the value of working out some
special aspect of our national political interests. A very useful
speciality was the Balkans. Mr. Pope, the well-known publicist, whose
very sound and considerable reputation was based on the East Purblow
Labour Experiment, met Benham at lunch and proposed to go with him in
a spirit of instructive association to the Balkans, rub up their Greek
together, and settle the problem of Albania. He wanted, he said, a
foreign speciality to balance his East Purblow interest. But Lady Beach
Mandarin warned Benham against the Balkans; the Balkans were getting
to be too handy for Easter and summer holidays, and now that there were
several good hotels in Servia