es he had
no chance of making his merit known by simply doing his duty. At any
rate, he had given up the attempt in despair, and on a memorable
evening, of which the history shall one day be written full and fair, he
had expounded to a select group of his intimate friends his great theory
on the saving of the Commonwealth, and his method of obtaining the
sceptre of authority, which implied the dispensation of honors to all
who believed in him.

A very good fellow in his way was Montagu Plumley, and Sir John was
anxious that Sydney Campion, now a connection as well as a friend,
should be brought within the influence of one whom the baronet had
always regarded as the Young Man of the future. Sydney had been wont to
sneer a little, after his fashion, at the individuals who interpreted
the new ideas, though he accepted the ideas themselves as irrefragable.
The nation must be saved by its young men--yes, certainly. As a young
man he saw that plainly enough, but it was not going to be saved by any
young man who could be named in his presence. He had said something like
this to Sir John Pynsent, not many days before his marriage, and Sir
John, who had taken Sydney's measure to a nicety, had resolved that his
promising brother-in-law should be converted at the earliest possible
opportunity into a faithful follower and henchman of Lord Montagu
Plumley.

Another old friend of the reader was amongst the guests who sat over
their wine round Sir John's hospitable board. This was the Honorable Tom
Willoughby, whom his host had initiated at the Oligarchy into the art of
fishing for men in the troubled waters of Liberalism. Tom Willoughby
was, and always would be, a light weight in the political arena, but he
was very useful when put to work that he could do. He was the spoiled
child of Sir John Pynsent, and was fast earning a character as the
chartered libertine of the House of Commons, where his unfailing good
humor made him friends on both sides. Sir John told him one day that he
was cut out to be an envoy extraordinary from the Conservative to the
Liberal ranks, whereupon the Honorable Tom had answered that he did not
mind discharging the function for his party to-day if he could see his
way to doing the same thing for his country hereafter. Whereat Sir John
laughed, and told him that if he wanted a mission of that kind he must
bow down to the rising sun; and it was then that he asked his friend to
come and dine with Lord Montagu