"He is bribable, but you must go to work carefully. For
instance, I think if you offered to give him a good start in a
commercial career--by your personal recommendation, I mean--that would
have more effect than an offer of money. And then, again, in this way
you guard yourself against the perils of which you were speaking. Place
him well, so that he considers himself a respectable, responsible man,
and for his own sake he won't torment you. Couldn't you send him to
some one over in Sweden--some house of business?"

Denzil pondered, with knitted brows.

"I have no faith in it!" he exclaimed at length, beginning to walk
about. "Come--I want to get to Lilian she must be in misery. I will
order the carriage; it will be needed to bring her back."

He rang the bell violently; a servant appeared, and hurried away to do
his bidding.

"Mrs. Wade," he said, as soon as the door had closed, "shouldn't I do
better to throw up the game? I hate these underhand affairs I don't
think I could go through with the thing--I don't, indeed! Speak your
whole mind. I am not a slave of ambition--at bottom I care precious
little for going into Parliament. I enjoyed the excitement of it--I
believe I have a knack of making speeches; but what does it all amount
to? Tell me your true thought." He drew near to her. "Shall I throw it
up and go abroad with my wife?--my _wife_! that is her true name!"

He looked a fine fellow as he spoke this; better than he had looked on
the platform. Mrs. Wade gazed at him fixedly, as if she could not take
away her eyes. She trembled, and her forehead was wrung with pain.

"Do this," she replied, eagerly, "if you wish to make Lilian unhappy
for the rest of her life."

"What do you mean?"

"It seems I understand her better than you do--perhaps because I am a
woman. She dreads nothing so much as the thought that _she_ has been
the ruin of your prospects. You have taught her to believe that you are
made for politics; you can never undo that. The excitement of this
election had fixed the belief in her for ever. For _her_ sake, you are
bound to make every attempt to choke this scandal! Be weak--give
in--and (she is weak too) it's all over with her happiness. Her life
would be nothing but self-reproach."

"No, no, no! For a short time, perhaps, but security would be the best
thing of all for her."

"Try, then--try, and see the result!"

She spoke with suppressed passion, her voice shaking. Denzil turned
away,