ly speech worth listening to. Horlock crumbled to pieces. Miller
only got fourteen of the ragtail end of his lot to vote with him. We
won by forty votes. Horlock brought me here. He is to have a formal
meeting of the party. He'll offer his resignation on Thursday."

"It's wonderful!" Nora exclaimed.

"Stephen will be sent for," Tallente went on. "That, of course, is a
foregone conclusion. Nora, I wish you'd make him see that it's his duty
to form a Government. There isn't any reason why he should pass it on
to me. I can lead in the Commons if he wants me to, so far as the
debates are concerned. We are altering the procedure, as I dare say you
know. Half the government of the country will be done by committees."

"It's no use," Nora replied. "Stephen simply wouldn't do it. You must
remember what you yourself said--procedure will be altered. So much of
the government of the country will be done outside the House. Stephen
has everything mapped out. You are going to be Prime Minister."

Tallente left early and walked homeward by the least frequented ways. A
soft rain was falling, but the night was warm and a misty moon made
fitful appearances. The rain fell like little drops of silver around
the lampposts. There was scarcely a breath of wind and in Curzon Street
the air was almost faint with the odour of spring bulbs from the window
boxes. Tallente yielded to an uncontrollable impulse. He walked rather
abruptly up Clarges Street, past his rooms, and paid a curious little
visit, almost a pilgrimage, to the closed house in Charles Street. It
seemed to him that those drawn blinds, the dead-looking windows, the
smokeless chimneys typified in melancholy fashion the empty chambers in
his own heart. Weeks had passed now and no word had come from Jane. He
pictured her still smarting under the sting of his brutal words. Some
of his phrases came back to his mind and he shivered with remorse. If
only--He started. It seemed for a moment as though history were about
to repeat itself. A great limousine had stolen up to the kerbstone and
a woman in evening dress was leaning out.

"Mr. Tallente," she called out, "do come and speak to me, please."

Tallente approached at once. In the dim light his heart gave a little
throb. He peered forward. The woman laughed musically. "I do believe
that you have forgotten me," she said, "I am Alice Mountgarron--Jane's
sister. I saw you there and I couldn't help stopping for a moment. Can
I drop you