A Lost Leader

short, terse sentences, and he had the air of a man struggling to subdue a fit of perfectly reasonable a

imes when a few plain words are worth an hour

es

er a trial cabinet. You know our weakness. We have to try to form a National party out of a number of men who, although they call themselves broadly Liberals, are as far apart as the very poles of thought. It was as much as the

" Mannering said

nt of this wonderful new policy you sprang into the arena. We were none of us ready. You were! It is true that you

terrupted, brusquely. "

w of discussing the means whereby you could be persuaded to rej

stopped short. He grasped the back of a c

el

were a man she would be a leader. All the great ladies are on the other side, but the Duchess is more than equal to them all. She entertains magnificently,

ad. Apparently he was l

, but beggars must not be choosers. Besides, the Duchess was in love w

opposite. A scent of roses, lost now and then in the salter fragrance of the night breeze sweeping over the marshes, the magic of a wonderful, white-clad

she meant to employ. She disappeared. She communicated with none of us. We none of us had the least idea what had become of her. Time went on, and we began to get a little uneasy. We had a meeting and it was a

e you-" Mann

of the Duchess, I must confess, amazed me. I came to the conclusion that I had found my way into a forgotten corner of the world, where t

y gazing. There was a strained look under his eyes, and little trace

he remarked. "I can s

n held ou

ur sake, Mannering, and it has been a truthful and full one. Now i

rily straightened himself. Something was awakened in him which had lain dormant for many years-dormant since those old days of

then-q

"and the catching of a train is a trifle. My wardr

ring

n!" h

, "are either thinkers of great thoughts or doers of great deeds. To the former bel

should be sent back to kindergarten? Platitude

true. You have spoken as though your eyes were blind all the time to the letters of fire which truth has spelled out before you. Any further argument with you is useless, because you are not honest. You conceal your true position, and you adopt a false defence. Therefore, I relinquish my task. You can go a

at you wish to pry behind the curtain of my life?

e had scored, but he took ca

rules which govern social life. Will you presume that I am you

n public life impossible. Not even your subtlety, Borrowdean, could remove it. I do not even wish it removed. I mean to live my own life,

neri

nering

to whose presence an imperious little note had just summoned him. Berenice was dressed for a royal dinner party, an

entirely an acci

ow you too well for that. Your bringing him here without w

en that it was rather felt than seen; Berenice, in her marvellous gown, with the necklace upon her bosom and the tiara flashing in her dark hair,

n your return from Blakely was that you had failed. So far as you were concerned the matter se

el

I wished him to understand the improbabili

ly, "or what sounds like the truth. Why did you trouble in the m

miled for th

e hopes of doing

he little Louis Seize ti

may be wrong, or he may be right, but he believes in his choi

an shook

annering's sentimentality. To-day, with his own lips, he has confesse

e," the Duchess murm

the lips, "there are matters which a man does not mention to the

uchess's maid entered, carrying a lo

chess

e one of those who think ill of all men. Such men as Lawrence Mannering belong to a race of human beings of whom you know nothing. I listened to you once, and I was a

still smiling. How si