le to forgive you for doing so,--that
is exactly the evil which you knew you must face. You have to face it
now, and surely you can do so without showing your teeth. Hereafter,
when men more thoughtful than Mr. Bonteen shall have come to
acknowledge the high principle by which your conduct has been
governed, you will receive your reward. I suppose Mr. Daubeny must
resign now."

"Everybody says so."

"I am by no means sure that he will. Any other Minister since Lord
North's time would have done so, with such a majority against him on
a vital measure; but he is a man who delights in striking out some
wonderful course for himself."

"A prime minister so beaten surely can't go on."

"Not for long, one would think. And yet how are you to turn him out?
It depends very much on a man's power of endurance."

"His colleagues will resign, I should think."

"Probably;--and then he must go. I should say that that will be the
way in which the matter will settle itself. Good morning, Finn;--and
take my word for it, you had better not answer Mr. Bonteen's letter."

Not a word had fallen from Lord Cantrip's friendly lips as to the
probability of Phineas being invited to join the future Government.
An attempt had been made to console him with the hazy promise of
some future reward,--which however was to consist rather of the good
opinion of good men than of anything tangible and useful. But even
this would never come to him. What would good men know of him and of
his self-sacrifice when he should have been driven out of the world
by poverty, and forced probably to go to some New Zealand or back
Canadian settlement to look for his bread? How easy, thought Phineas,
must be the sacrifices of rich men, who can stay their time, and wait
in perfect security for their rewards! But for such a one as he,
truth to a principle was political annihilation. Two or three years
ago he had done what he knew to be a noble thing;--and now, because
he had done that noble thing, he was to be regarded as unfit for that
very employment for which he was peculiarly fitted. But Bonteen and
Co. had not been his only enemies. His luck had been against him
throughout. Mr. Quintus Slide, with his _People's Banner_, and the
story of that wretched affair in Judd Street, had been as strong
against him probably as Mr. Bonteen's ill-word. Then he thought of
Lady Laura, and her love for him. His gratitude to Lady Laura was
boundless. There was nothing he would not