“I am coming into the House, if at all, as an Independent Member,” he announced.

She nodded.

“Mr. Foley is quite satisfied with that—­in fact he thinks it’s best.  Do you know, he seems to have gained a new lease of life during the last few weeks.  What do you think of his commission on your Manchester strike?”

“He kept his word,” Maraton admitted.  “I expected no less.”

“I can tell you this,” she went on, “because I know that he will tell you himself after luncheon.  The masters met here this morning.  They are simply furious with my uncle, but they have had to give in.  The bill you drafted would have been rushed through Parliament without a moment’s delay, if they had not.  Mr. Foley showed them your draft.  They have given in on every point.”

“I am afraid I’m going to keep your uncle rather busy,” Maraton remarked.  “Very soon after this is settled, I have promised to speak at Sheffield.”

“In a way it is terrible,” she said, with a sigh, “and yet it is so much better than the things we feared.  Tell me about yourself a little, won’t you?  How have you been spending your time?  You have a large, gloomy house here, they tell me, shrouded with mystery.  Have you any amusements or have you been working all the time?”

“Half my days have been spent with your uncle,” he reminded her.  “The other half at home, working.  So many of my facts were rusty.  As to my house, is it really mysterious, I wonder?  It is large and gloomy, at the extreme corner of an unfashionable square.  It suits me because I love space and quietness, and yet I like to be near the heart of things.”

“But do you do nothing but work?” she asked.  “Have you no hobbies?”

He shook his head.

“I seem to have had no time for games.  I like walking, walking in the country or even walking in the cities and watching the people.  Only the London streets are so sad.  Then I am fond of reading.  I’m afraid I should be rather a strange figure if I were to be suddenly projected into your world, Lady Elisabeth.”

“But I like to feel that you are in my world,” she said gently.  “Believe me, it isn’t altogether made up of people who play games.”

“I read the daily papers,” he remarked.  “Didn’t I see something yesterday about Lady Elisabeth Landon having won the scratch prize at Ranelagh at a ladies’ golf meeting?”

She laughed pleasantly.

“Oh! well,” she protested, “you must make allowance for my bringing up.  We begin to play games in this country as soon as we can crawl about the nursery.  It all depends upon the value you set upon these things.”

A servant knocked at the door and announced the service of luncheon.  Elisabeth rose reluctantly to her feet.

“Now, I suppose, I must hand you over to the serious business of life,” she sighed.  “If you do have a minute to spare when you have finished with my uncle,” she added in a lower tone, as they passed down the wide staircase side by side, “come up and see me before you go.  I shall be in till four o’clock.”