"

She had begun to tremble a little, the tears were in her eyes.

"Oh, I know!" he faltered, with a break in his own voice. "But you'll
leave your sorrows behind in my world."

It was midnight when Maraton left the House. He came out with Mr.
Foley, and they stood for a moment at the entrance. An electric coupe
rolled swiftly up.

"You must come home with me for a minute or two, Maraton," Mr. Foley
urged. "It is on your way."

The coupe, however, was already occupied. Elisabeth leaned out of the
window. She held the door open.

"I am going to take Mr. Maraton back with me," she insisted. "The car
is there for you, uncle."

Mr. Foley smiled.

"Quite right," he assented. "Get in, Maraton. I shall be home before
you."

Maraton obeyed, and they glided out of the Palace yard.

"I was there all the time," Elisabeth told him quietly. "I heard
everything. I was so glad, so proud. Even your Labour Members had to
come and shake hands with you."

"I don't think Mr. Dale liked it," he remarked, smiling. "They are not
bad fellows at heart, but they've got the poison in their systems which
seems, somehow or other, to become part of the equipment of the
politician--self-interest, over-egotism, contraction of interest. It
makes one almost afraid."

She leaned a little towards him.

"You will not fear anything," she whispered confidently. "To-night, as
I looked down, it seemed to me that as a looker-on I saw more, perhaps,
of the real significance of it all than you who were there. It is a new
force, you know, which has come into politics, a new Party. I suppose
historians will call to-night, the fusion of Parties which is going to
happen, an extraordinary triumph for Mr. Foley. Perhaps he deserves
it--in my heart I believe that he does--but not in the way they would
try to make out."

"His heart is right," Maraton declared. "He has wide sympathies and
splendid understanding."

"It is a new chapter which begins to-night," she repeated. "You will
have many disappointments to face, both of you."

"But isn't it a glorious fight!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "A
great cause at one's back, a future filled with magnificent
possibilities! Lady Elisabeth," he went on, "you can't imagine what
this hour means. Sometimes I have had moments of horrible depression.
It is so easy to feel the sorrows of the people in one's heart, so easy
to stir them into a passionate apprehension of their position. And then
comes the dull,