to have been ample for
all his needs, and no excuse can be urged for the selfishness which made
him a burden to his father after he had left Cambridge. But chambers in
Piccadilly, as well as at the Inner Temple, a couple of West End clubs,
a nightly rubber at whist, and certain regular drains upon his pocket
which never found their way into any book of accounts, made up a
formidable total of expenditure by the year's end. He was too clever a
man of the world to let his reputation--or even his conscience--suffer
by his self-indulgence, and, if he lived hard in the pursuit of
pleasure, he also worked hard in his profession. In short, he was a
well-reputed lawyer, against whom no one had a word to say; and he was
supposed to have a very good chance of the prizes which are wont to fall
to the lot of successful lawyers.

At the beginning of 1880, when Sydney Campion was in his twenty-seventh
year, there came to him the opportunity for which he had waited. Mr.
Disraeli had dissolved Parliament somewhat suddenly, and appealed to the
country for a renewal of the support accorded to him six years before.
He had carried out in Eastern Europe a policy worthy of an Imperial
race. He had brought peace with honor from Berlin, filled the bazaars of
three continents with rumors of his fame, and annexed the Suez Canal. He
had made his Queen an Empress, and had lavished garters and dukedoms on
the greatest of Her Majesty's subjects. But the integrity of the empire,
safe from foes without, was threatened on either shore of St. George's
Channel--by malignant treason on one side, and on the other by exuberant
verbosity. It was a moment big with the fate of humanity--and he
strongly advised the constituencies to make him Prime Minister again.

Then the country was plunged into the turmoil of a General Election.
Every borough and shire which had not already secured candidates
hastened to do so. Zealous Liberals and enthusiastic Tories ran up to
town from the places where local spirit failed, or local funds were not
forthcoming, convinced that they would find no lack of either in the
clubs and associations of the metropolis. Young and ambitious
politicians had their chance at last, and amongst others the chance came
for Sydney Campion.

There is no difficulty about getting into Parliament for a young man who
has friends. He can borrow the money, the spirit, the eloquence, the
political knowledge, and he will never be asked to repay any of t