, Mr. Leicester."

"Have you breakfasted? I see the man has set the table for one only, but
that can soon be rectified."

"Thank you, I have breakfasted."

Mr. Grayburn spoke very quietly, but he was evidently ill at ease. Had
Leicester appeared before him haggard and trembling, his work would have
been easier. It seemed impossible to take the superior attitude towards
Leicester as he appeared at that moment.

"I have come, Mr. Leicester, at the request of the Executive Committee
of our Political Association. As chairman of that committee, they
thought I was the proper person. You will, of course, guess why."

Leicester was silent.

"The events of last night will, of course, make it impossible for you to
again appear in the Division as a candidate."

"Excuse me," said Leicester; "but surely my illness of last night will
not----"

"Illness!" interrupted Mr. Grayburn.

"Well, call it what you like. Say I was intoxicated. Is that enough to
nullify all the work I have done in the constituency for the last three
years?"

"The member for this Division must be a gentleman whose personal
character is stainless," said Mr. Grayburn. "It is true that many would
excuse last night in view of your recent disappointment, but only a few.
And even they would turn against you as soon as certain facts came to
light."

"What facts?"

"Facts which Mr. Osborne could reveal if he would. At present he simply
characterises them as disgraceful."

Leicester still fought on grimly. Why, he hardly knew.

"I take it that even a political organisation will not be so mean as to
believe a vague and unproved charge," he said.

"When it comes from a man like Mr. Osborne, yes."

Leicester laughed bitterly--his old cynical laugh.

"Oh! I see," he said, "the hero of one day is the criminal of the next.
Of course, three years' service and hundreds of pounds spent go for
nothing. Well, I might have expected it."

"One of the chief planks of our political platform is temperance
reform," said Mr. Grayburn. "How can the people believe in your
sincerity?"

Again Leicester laughed.

"If I were a brewer, and made a huge income out of the drink, I should
be believed in," he said.

"Possibly, if you did not appear in----"

"Exactly. My great sin is, not that I drink whisky, but that I happened
to drink it at the wrong time. Why, my dear fellow, I have seen you in
this very room hilarious by the whisky you have drunk at my expense. I
hav