prayed. One was that you might start
your fight exactly as you have done. The other that you might find no
official place amongst the Labour Members. Of course, I can't pretend
to the practical experience of a real politician, but my uncle talks to
me a great deal, and to me the truth seemed so clear. It is the
advanced Unionists who need you. They are really the party from whom
progress must come, because it is the middle class which has to be
attacked, and it is amongst the middle classes that Liberalism has its
stronghold. If you once took your place among the Labour Members, you
would be a Labour Member and nothing else. People wouldn't take what
you said seriously."

"I am coming into the House, if at all, as an Independent Member," he
announced.

She nodded.

"Mr. Foley is quite satisfied with that--in fact he thinks it's best.
Do you know, he seems to have gained a new lease of life during the last
few weeks. What do you think of his commission on your Manchester
strike?"

"He kept his word," Maraton admitted. "I expected no less."

"I can tell you this," she went on, "because I know that he will tell
you himself after luncheon. The masters met here this morning. They
are simply furious with my uncle, but they have had to give in. The
bill you drafted would have been rushed through Parliament without a
moment's delay, if they had not. Mr. Foley showed them your draft.
They have given in on every point."

"I am afraid I'm going to keep your uncle rather busy," Maraton
remarked. "Very soon after this is settled, I have promised to speak at
Sheffield."

"In a way it is terrible," she said, with a sigh, "and yet it is so much
better than the things we feared. Tell me about yourself a little,
won't you? How have you been spending your time? You have a large,
gloomy house here, they tell me, shrouded with mystery. Have you any
amusements or have you been working all the time?"

"Half my days have been spent with your uncle," he reminded her. "The
other half at home, working. So many of my facts were rusty. As to my
house, is it really mysterious, I wonder? It is large and gloomy, at
the extreme corner of an unfashionable square. It suits me because I
love space and quietness, and yet I like to be near the heart of
things."

"But do you do nothing but work?" she asked. "Have you no hobbies?"

He shook his head.

"I seem to have had no time for games. I like walking, walking in the
country or even walking