“How very kind of you to have come out so early!” said Dyce.  “All night I’ve been reproaching myself for giving you the trouble, and when I saw the rain I didn’t think for a moment you would be here.  I’m delighted to be able to talk to you before seeing anyone else.  Don’t you think this event has happened very luckily?  Whether I am elected or not, it’ll be easier for me to get out of my false position.”

“Why?  How?”

“In this way.  During the excitement of the election, I shall find opportunities of speaking more freely with Lady Ogram, and who knows but I may bring her to see that the plan she made for me was not altogether to my advantage?  Miss Bride, of course, will speak, whenever she has a chance, in the same sense—­”

“Are you sure of that?” asked May, casting a furtive glance at him.  She was boring the path with the point of her slim umbrella.

“Do you feel any doubt?” asked Dyce in turn.

“I really can’t judge.  It’s such a very curious situation—­and,” she added, “Miss Bride is so peculiar.”

“Peculiar?—­I understand.  You don’t find her very communicative.  But I’m sure you’ll make allowance for the difficulty of—­”

“Oh, I make all allowances,” interrupted May, with her smile of superiority.  “And of course Miss Bride’s affairs don’t in the least concern me.”

“Except I hope in so far as they concern me.”

Dyce spoke with insinuating humour.  Both hands resting on his umbrella handle, he held himself very upright, and looked May steadily in the face.  She, as though challenged, straightened herself and met his look.

“I should be sorry to see your career spoilt,” she said, with rather excessive dignity.  “But you will admit that you have acted, to say the least, imprudently.”

“It looks so.  You think I should have had more courage.  But you will see that it’s not too late.”

Speaking, he watched her face.  He saw her lips twitch, and her eyes stray.

“You know,” he pursued, “that I aim high.”

Her look fell.

“But no man can do without help.  The strong man is he who knows how to choose his helper, and at the right moment.  I am at a crisis of my life, and—­it is to you that I turn.”

“I of course feel that to be a great compliment, Mr. Lashmar,” said May, recovering her grand air.  “I promise you to do what I can.  But you mustn’t count on me for impossibilities.”

“I count on nothing that isn’t easy for you—­with your character, your influence.”

“Thank you, again.  My first piece of advice to. you is to win the election.”

“I shall do my best.  If I am beaten in this, I shall win another; you are aware of that.  Are you easily discouraged?  I think not.”