is essential to a politician that he should have his firmest friends among the fools; or his climbing days will soon be over.  Soon his sarcasms were at an end.  He began to exchange them for sweet-sounding phrases.  He actually began to say pleasant things to his opponents; apparently to mean them.  To put them in a good conceit with themselves.  He pointed out how much truth there was in what they said; and then, as if by accident, with what ease and at how little cost, amendments might be made.  He found their arguments, and took them for his own, and flattered them, whether they would or would not, by showing how firmly they were founded upon fact; and grafted other arguments upon them, which seemed their natural sequelae; and transformed them, and drove them hither and thither; and brought them—­their own arguments!—­to a round, irrefragable conclusion, which was diametrically the reverse of that to which they themselves had brought them.  And he did it all with an aptness, a readiness, a grace, which was incontestable.  So that, when he sat down, he had performed that most difficult of all feats, he had delivered what, in a House of Commons’ sense, was a practical, statesmanlike speech, and yet one which left his hearers in an excellent humour.

It was a great success,-an immense success.  A parliamentary triumph of almost the highest order.  Paul Lessingham had been coming on by leaps and bounds.  When he resumed his seat, amidst applause which, this time, really was applause, there were, probably, few who doubted that he was destined to go still farther.  How much farther it is true that time alone could tell; but, so far as appearances went, all the prizes, which are as the crown and climax of a statesman’s career, were well within his reach.

For my part, I was delighted.  I had enjoyed an intellectual exercise,—­a species of enjoyment not so common as it might be.  The Apostle had almost persuaded me that the political game was one worth playing, and that its triumphs were things to be desired.  It is something, after all, to be able to appeal successfully to the passions and aspirations of your peers; to gain their plaudits; to prove your skill at the game you yourself have chosen; to be looked up to and admired.  And when a woman’s eyes look down on you, and her ears drink in your every word, and her heart beats time with yours,—­each man to his own temperament, but when that woman is the woman whom you love, to know that your triumph means her glory, and her gladness, to me that would be the best part of it all.

In that hour,—­the Apostle’s hour!—­I almost wished that I were a politician too!

The division was over.  The business of the night was practically done.  I was back again in the lobby!  The theme of conversation was the Apostle’s speech,—­on every side they talked of it.

Suddenly Marjorie was at my side.  Her face was glowing.  I never saw her look more beautiful,—­or happier.  She seemed to be alone.