ou stayed," said Frank Ayres.

A message was sent to Paul, and presently he appeared, very pale and
haggard.

Frank Ayres met him with outstretched hand, spoke a courteous word of
sympathy, apologized for coming in the hour of tragic bereavement.

Paul thanked him with equal courtesy. "I was about to write to you,
Lord Francis," he continued, "a sort of statement in explanation of
what happened last night--"

"Our friends have told me all, I think, that you may have to say."

"I shall still write it," said Paul, "so that you can have it in black
and white. At present, I've given the press nothing."

"Quite right," said Frank Ayres. "For God's sake, let us work together
as far as the press is concerned. That's one of the reasons why I've
forced myself upon you. It's horrible, my dear fellow, to intrude at
such a time. I hate it, as you can well imagine. But it's my duty."

"Of course it is," said Paul. There was a span of awkward silence.
"Well," said he, with a wan smile, "we're facing, not a political, but
a very unimportant party situation. Don't suppose I haven't a sense of
proportion. I have. What for me is the end of the world is the
unruffled continuance of the cosmic scheme for the rest of mankind. But
there are relative things to consider. You have to consider the party.
I'm sort of fly-blown. Am I any use? Let us talk straight. Am I or am I
not?"

"My dear chap," said Frank Ayres, with perplexed knitting of the brows,
"I don't quite know what to say. You yourself have invited me to talk
straight. Well! Forgive me if I do. There may be a suggestion in
political quarters that you have won this election under false
pretences."

"Do you want me to resign my seat?"

The two men looked deep into each other's eyes.

"A Unionist in is a Liberal out," said Frank Ayres, "and counts two on
division. That's one way of looking at it. We want all we can get from
the enemy. On the other hand, you'd come in for a lot of criticism and
hostility. You'd have to start not only from the beginning, but with a
handicap. Are you strong enough to face it?"

"I'm not going to run away from anything," said Paul. "But I'll tell
you what I'm prepared to do. I'll resign and fight the constituency
again, under my real name of Kegworthy, provided, of course, the local
people are willing to adopt me--on the understanding, however, that the
party support me, or, at least, don't put forward another candidate.
I'm not going to turn