A Lost Leader

sed the iron gate behind

he asked, "ar

aughed

clared, "but you are no gardener. Roses don't bloom

nted, humbly. "This is

no

estnut grove the east. There is sun here all the day long. You should come

sig

d," he murmured, "that yo

absurd! You are a Cabinet Mini

ged his

w weary of the monotony of perfect government and installed

she repeated, a

t we get all the fun, no resp

tell me all about it. But I forgot. You are not used to

slie s

ll share it. Seriously, though, these rustic seats are rathe

s," she declared, "for

sig

k forward to it. So you are intere

"To tell you the truth, Sir Leslie, I am shockingly ignoran

some part of your time there, if you wan

ted in politics," she d

ok his

ses. You should ask your uncle to tell you al

have been a Cabinet Mi

he answered. "So he could

at him in

ally mean tha

edge who in so short a time made for himself a position so brilliant as your uncle

a little

live down here, hundreds of miles away from everywhere.

orrowdean said, "that I am here. No wonder it seems

ed at hi

u-that his party want hi

ured

e told h

! It was m

ou must tell m

dean s

insist, I will tell you. Something has come over your uncle which I do not understand. His pa

him!" she declare

d. "Yet I have used every argu

a man, too, like my uncle! How can he be content? The monotony here is enough to drive eve

ead. He had heard the c

d. "I wish you would talk

d, passionately, "that I c

ive. There was nothing to be learned from the languid smile with which she recognized their presence. Upon Mannering, however, the cloud seemed already to have

grams at once is a thing wholly unheard of here, Borrowdean. You rea

iled as he to

their contents. Yes, I thought so. Can

ry," Mannering answered

dean n

," he said, a little wearily. "R

ke a pair?" Ma

s we can't spare a single vote just now. Rochester wants me to speak

"may supply you with it. Will you walk round to

ad to," Borrow

the chestnut grove. Borrowdean la

ke it that you have spoken your last word

Mannering assented. "For the rest, it has been very pleasant to see

an shook

ense of moral responsibility. Are you indeed willing to be written down in history as a philanderer in great things, to loiter in your flower gardens, whilst other

ring

riend. I shall hear yo

been spun out to their limit-your days of sybaritic idleness-you shall hear it again, only it will be too late. You are fighting against Nature, Mannering. You were born to rule, to be master over men. You have that

over Mannering. When he answered, his voi

said, "it was

n was alm

a purely enervating culture? What is it that I heard you yourself say once-that life apart from one's fellows must always lack robustness. You have the instincts of the creator, Mannering. You cann

arnest words, and which militated somewhat against his reputation as a public speaker, seemed to have

ill be mine. Come, your time is short now. Perhaps you ha

he bright spring day. A grey sea-fog had drifted inland, the sunlight was obscured,

tle caprices, even-in

Mannering said. "A breath of win

e or less agreeable. Clara waved her hand until he was out of sight, then she turned somewhat abruptly round and entered the house. Mannering and Mrs. Handsell r

is almost allegorical. He has gone into the land of gh

out a touch of levity. He,

very well how to play upon the heartstrings. A human being is like a musical in

urned

ose that it is this ghostly mist, and the silence which has come

uzzling over a third telegram which Mannering had carelessly passed on to him with his own, and which, although it was clear

you this wee

eated this message to Mannering from the same post-office,

ief, "whether we have succeeded or not