ering, as
men wonder after they have been carried away by emotion into
unrestrained disclosures of their hearts, whether she had really been
impressed; whether, after all, he had not been, or seemed, insincere,
theatrical, or absurd; wondering again in what light she would look on
him, when she knew what it looked likely all Kirton would know soon;
wondering last whether, if he had not met the woman who had been his
partner in life for so long, and had, in youth, met such a girl as
Alicia Derosne, his fate would have been different, and he need not now
have trembled at his story being told. Immersed in thought he wandered
on, out of the town and down to the shores of the bay, and checked
himself, with a sudden laugh, only on the very brink of the sea. The
absurdity struck him; he laughed again, as he lit a cigar and rebuked
himself aloud.

"Here I am, a Premier and forty-one! and I'm going on for all the world
like a cross between a love-sick boy and a runaway criminal!"

He paused and added--

"And the worst of it, I am rather like a criminal and----"

He paused abruptly. A thought struck him and made him frown angrily at
his folly. It was stupid to think of himself as love-sick, even in jest.
He had not come to that. And to think of himself as a lover was not a
thought that carried pleasant memories to Mr. Medland.

CHAPTER IX.

TWO HASTY UTTERANCES.

"Thank God, there's the Legislative Council, anyhow!" exclaimed Mr.
Kilshaw.

Sir Robert Perry pursed up his lips. He had fought with that safeguard
of stability behind him once or twice before, and the end had been
defeat. There were better things than the support of the Legislative
Council.

"I'd rather," he remarked, "have a dissolution and a thumping campaign
fund. If I'd known they were at sixes and sevens like this, I'd have
taken the Governor's offer."

"Hum," said Mr. Kilshaw, who would be expected to subscribe largely to
the suggested fund. "But how do you propose to get your dissolution now?
Besides, I believe he'd beat us."

"That would depend on Puttock--and one or two more."

"What did you think of Puttock's explanation?"

"The whole performance reminded me of a highly religious rattlesnake:
it was a magnificent struggle against natural venom."

"I thought it very creditable."

"Oh, I suppose so: it would be, if you think of it, in the snake. But
Medland will be replying soon. Come along."

They hurried into the House, and found