tragedy and by Paul's
attitude. He had his defenders. Among the latter first sprang forward
Lord Francis Ayres, the Chief Whip, officially bound to protect his own
pet candidate.

He called early at the house in Portland Place, a distressed and
anxious man. The door was besieged by reporters from newspapers, vainly
trying to gain, entrance. His arrival created a sensation. At any Tate
there was a headline "Opposition Whip calls on Savelli." One or two
attempted to interview him on the doorstep. He excused himself
courteously. As-yet he knew as much or as little as they. The door
opened. The butler snatched him in hurriedly. He asked to see the
Winwoods. He found them in the library.

"Here's an awful mess," said he, throwing up his hands. "I thought I'd
have a word or two with you before I tackle Savelli. Have you seen him
this morning?"

"Oh, yes."

"Well, what do you think about it?"

"I think," said Ursula, "that the best thing I can do is to take him
away with me for a rest as soon as possible. He's at the end of his
tether."

"You seem to take it pretty calmly."

"How do you expect us to take it, my dear Frank?" she asked. "We always
expected Paul to do the right thing when the time came, and we consider
that he has done it."

The Chief Whip smoothed a perplexed brow. "I don't quite follow. Were
you, vulgarly speaking, in the know all the time?"

"Sit down, and I'll tell you."

So he sat down and Miss Winwood quietly told him all she knew about
Paul and what had happened during the past few weeks, while the Colonel
sat by his desk and tugged his long moustache and here and there
supplemented her narrative.

"That's all very interesting," Ayres remarked when she had finished,
"and you two have acted like bricks. I also see that he must have had a
devil of a time of it. But I've got to look at things from an official
point of view."

"There's no question of invalidity, is there?" asked Colonel Winwood.

"No. He was known as Paul Savelli, nominated as Paul Savelli, and
elected as Paul Savelli by the electors of Hickney Heath. So he'll sit
as Paul Savelli. That's all right. But how is the House going to
receive him when he is introduced? How will it take him afterwards?
What use will he be to the party? We only ran him because he seemed to
be the most brilliant of the young outsiders. We hoped great things of
him. Hasn't he smashed up himself socially? Hasn't he smashed up his
career at the very begi