married nearly three years. The marquess, from whom nothing could be
concealed, perceived that often, while she elaborately attempted to
divert him, her mind was wandering elsewhere.

He fell into the easy habit of dining in his private rooms, sometimes
_tete-a-tete_ with Villebecque, his private secretary, a cosmopolitan
theatrical manager, whose tales and adventures about a kind of society
which Lord Monmouth had always preferred to the polished and somewhat
insipid circles in which he was born, had rendered him the prime
favourite of his great patron. Villebecque's step-daughter Flora, a
modest and retiring maiden, waited on Lucretia.

Back in London, Lord Monmouth, on the day of his arrival, welcomed
Coningsby to his room, and at a sign from his master Villebecque left
the apartment.

"You see, Harry," said Lord Monmouth, "that I am much occupied to-day,
yet the business on which I wish to communicate with you is so pressing
that it could not be postponed. These are not times when young men
should be out of sight. Your public career will commence immediately.
The government have resolved on a dissolution. My information is from
the highest quarter. The Whigs are going to dissolve their own House of
Commons. Notwithstanding this, we can beat them, but the race requires
the finest jockeying. We can't give a point. Now, if we had a good
candidate, we could win Dartford. But Rigby won't do. He is too much of
the old clique used up a hack; besides, a beaten horse. We are assured
the name of Coningsby would be a host; there is a considerable section
who support the present fellow who will not vote against a Coningsby.
They have thought of you as a fit person; and I have approved of the
suggestion. You will, therefore, be the candidate for Dartford with my
entire sanction and support; and I have no doubt you will be
successful."

To Coningsby the idea was appalling. To be the rival of Mr. Millbank on
the hustings of Dartford! Vanquished or victorious, equally a
catastrophe. He saw Edith canvassing for her father and against him.
Besides, to enter the House of Commons a slave and a tool of party!
Strongly anti-Whig, Coningsby distrusted the Conservative party, and
looked for a new party of men who shared his youthful convictions and
high political principles.

Lord Monmouth, however, brushed aside his grandson's objections.

"You are certainly still young; but I was younger by nearly two years
when I first went in,