consideration. Had she asked him to settle himself and her in Central
Africa, his manner and mode of refusal would have been the same. It
was this immobility on his part,--this absolute want of any of the
weakness of indecision, which had frightened her, and driven her away
from him. He was partly aware of this; but that which he had declined
to do at her solicitation, he certainly would not do at the advice
of any one else. So it was that he argued the matter with himself.
Had he now allowed himself to be so counselled, with what terrible
acknowledgements of his own faults must he not have presented himself
before Alice?

"I suppose books, then, will be your object in life?" said Mr
Palliser.

"I hope they will be my aids," Grey answered. "I almost doubt whether
any object such as that you mean is necessary for life, or even
expedient. It seems to me that if a man can so train himself that he
may live honestly and die fearlessly, he has done about as much as is
necessary."

"He has done a great deal, certainly," said Mr Palliser, who was
not ready enough to carry on the argument as he might have done had
more time been given to him to consider it. He knew very well that
he himself was working for others, and not for himself; and he was
aware, though he had not analysed his own convictions on the matter,
that good men struggle as they do in order that others, besides
themselves, may live honestly, and, if possible, die fearlessly. The
recluse of Nethercoats had thought much more about all this than the
rising star of the House of Commons; but the philosophy of the rising
star was the better philosophy of the two, though he was by far the
less brilliant man. "I don't see why a man should not live honestly
and be a Member of Parliament as well," continued Mr Palliser, when
he had been silent for a few minutes.

"Nor I either," said Grey. "I am sure that there are such men, and
that the country is under great obligation to them. But they are
subject to temptations which a prudent man like myself may perhaps
do well to avoid." But though he spoke with an assured tone, he was
shaken, and almost regretted that he did not accept the aid which was
offered to him. It is astonishing how strong a man may be to those
around him,--how impregnable may be his exterior, while within he
feels himself to be as weak as water, and as unstable as chaff.

But the object which he had now in view was a renewal of his
engagement with Al