this large capital would be wanted. Could capital be got? The
state of things in the trade, according to the employers, had been
deplorable for years; a large part of the market had been definitely
forfeited, so they declared, for good, to Germany and Belgium. It would
take years before even a powerful syndicate could work itself into a
thoroughly sound condition. Let the men accept the award of the
conciliation board; let there be some stable and reasonable prospect of
peace between masters and men, say, for a couple of years; and a certain
group of bankers would come forward; and all would be well. The men
under the syndicate would in time get more than their old wage. _But the
award first_; otherwise the plan dropped, and the industry must go its
own way to perdition.

"'Will you walk into my parlour?'" said Wharton, scornfully, to the
young Conservative member who, with a purpose, was explaining these
things to him in the library of the House of Commons, "the merest trap!
and, of course, the men will see it so. Who is to guarantee them even
the carrying through, much less the success, of your precious syndicate?
And, in return for your misty millennium two years hence, the men are to
join at once in putting the employers in a stronger position than ever?
Thank you! The 'rent of ability' in the present state of things is, no
doubt, large. But in this particular case the _Clarion_ will go on doing
its best--I promise you--to nibble some of it away!"

The Conservative member rose in indignation.

"I should be sorry to have as many starving people on my conscience as
you'll have before long!" he said as he took up his papers.

At that moment Denny's rotund and square-headed figure passed along the
corridor, to which the library door stood open.

"Well, if I thrive upon it as well as Denny does, I shall do!" returned
Wharton, with his usual caustic good-humour, as his companion departed.

And it delighted him to think as he walked home that Denny, who had
again of late made himself particularly obnoxious in the House of
Commons, on two or three occasions, to the owner of the _Clarion_, had
probably instigated the quasi-overtures he had just rejected, and must
be by now aware of their result.

Then he sent for Craven to come and confer with him.

Craven accordingly came up from the Midlands, pale, thin, and exhausted,
with the exertions and emotions of seven weeks' incessant labour. Yet
personally Wharton found h