you'll perhaps find it smokeable.'

'I'm not difficult,' said the other; 'and as to Mr. Walpole's tobacco, I
don't think I ever tasted it.'

'And I,' rejoined the other, 'as seldom as I could; I mean, only when
politeness obliged me.'

'I thought you liked him?' said Gorman shortly.

'I? Far from it. I thought him a consummate puppy, and I saw that he looked
down on us as inveterate savages.'

'He was a favourite with your ladies, I think?'

'Certainly not with my sister, and I doubt very much with my cousin. Do
_you_ like him?'

'No, not at all; but then he belongs to a class of men I neither understand
nor sympathise with. Whatever _I_ know of life is associated with downright
hard work. As a soldier I had my five hours' daily drill and the care of my
equipments, as a lieutenant I had to see that my men kept to their duty,
and whenever I chanced to have a little leisure, I could not give it up to
ennui or consent to feel bored and wearied.'

'And do you mean to say you had to groom your horse and clean your arms
when you served in the ranks?'

'Not always. As a cadet I had a soldier-servant, what we call a "Bursche";
but there were periods when I was out of funds, and barely able to grope my
way to the next quarter-day, and at these times I had but one meal a day,
and obliged to draw my waist-belt pretty tight to make me feel I had eaten
enough. A Bursche costs very little, but I could not spare even that
little.'

'Confoundedly hard that.'

'All my own fault. By a little care and foresight, even without thrift,
I had enough to live as well as I ought; but a reckless dash of the old
spendthrift blood I came of would master me now and then, and I'd launch
out into some extravagance that would leave me penniless for months after.'

'I believe I can understand that. One does get horribly bored by the
monotony of a well-to-do existence: just as I feel my life here--almost
insupportable.'

'But you are going into Parliament; you are going to be a great public
man.'

'That bubble has burst already; don't you know what happened at Birr? They
tore down all Miller's notices and mine, they smashed our booths, beat our
voters out of the town, and placed Donogan--the rebel Donogan--at the head
of the poll, and the head-centre is now M.P. for King's County.'

'And he has a right to sit in the House?'

'There's the question. The matter is discussed every day in the newspapers,
and there are as many for as again