d been practised by Members of Parliament,
especially by those who held a prominent position in the country.

"Mr. Leicester does not believe in that," remarked Purvis. "He is of
opinion that it is all great fun."

At this all eyes were turned towards Leicester.

"You are mistaken," he replied, "I believe the self-sacrifice of these
men is very great."

"Mr. Leicester has surely altered his opinion of late," remarked
Sprague. "Behold, a Saul among the prophets!"

"Not in the slightest, I assure you," replied Leicester. "I believe that
hosts of these men sacrifice themselves a great deal. If you ask me who
they sacrifice themselves for, I should say--themselves."

"Then the candidate for Taviton sacrifices his leisure for----"

"The candidate for Taviton, exactly. My dear Sprague, you have hit off
the situation with your usual felicity."

"I don't think Mr. Leicester is fair to himself," remarked Olive
Castlemaine, looking questioningly into Leicester's face.

"I assure you I am," replied Leicester. "Indeed, I am inclined to think
that the people who are called self-sacrificing are very undesirable
people to associate with."

"Come, come now, Leicester, you don't believe that," said Purvis.

"I assure you I do most sincerely," replied Leicester quietly. "The
other day I was at a house where there were six people present, and they
were waiting to play some game where only four could take part. Well,
four of them were self-sacrificing people, and wanted to give way to the
others. Two were selfish, and desired to engage in the game. Well,
neither of these four would give way in their unselfishness--with the
result that the game was never played at all. The evening was spoiled by
unselfish people."

He looked so serious as he spoke that Olive Castlemaine laughed
outright.

"Many an evening which might have been pleasant," went on Leicester,
"has been spoiled for me by these unselfish people making themselves and
everybody else uncomfortable, under the pretence that they were trying
to make us comfortable. Of this I am sure, if people were really and
truly honest, and were openly selfish, then each man would seek his own
enjoyment and find it."

"And be miserable when he had found it," remarked Olive quietly.

"I assure you that is a fallacy," said Leicester, "else why is it that
the so-called moral and unselfish people are the most disagreeable to
deal with? This I can say truly, the most morose and unhappy