by
the party, whichever it may be, which receives the subscriptions. I
did not know before that peerages were ever given with a view to
inducing the happy recipient not to subscribe to the funds of the
other party. But in Conroy's case this must have been the motive which
lay behind the offer. He had certainly given Lady Moyne a handsome
cheque. He was financing McNeice's little paper in the most liberal
way. He had, I suspected, supplied Crossan with the motor car in which
he went about the country tuning up the Orange Lodges. It seemed quite
likely it was his money with which Rose's young man bought the gold
brooch which had attracted Marion's attention. Conroy was undoubtedly
subsidizing Ulster Unionism very generously. I suppose it must have
been worth while to stop this flow of money. Hence the suggestion
that Conroy might be given a peerage. This, at least, was the
explanation of the letter which I adopted at the time. I have since
had reason to suppose that the Government knew more than I did about
the way Conroy was spending his money, and was nervous about something
more important than Babberly's occasional demonstrations.

My first impulse was to burn the letter and tell my correspondent that
I was not a politician of any sort, and did not care for doing this
kind of work. Then my curiosity got the better of my sense of honour.
A man cannot, I think, be both an historian and a gentleman. It is an
essential part of the character of a gentleman that he should dislike
prying into other people's secrets. The business of the historian, on
the other hand, is to rake about if necessary through dust-bins, until
he finds out the reasons, generally disreputable, why things are done.
A gentleman displays a dignified superiority to the vice of curiosity.
For the historian curiosity is a virtue. I am, I find, more of an
historian than a gentleman. I wanted very much to find out how Conroy
would take the offer of a peerage. I also wanted to understand
thoroughly why the offer was made.

Some weeks were to pass before I learned the Government's real reason
for wanting to detach Conroy from the Unionist cause; but luck
favoured me in the matter of sounding Conroy himself. I had a letter
from him in which he said that he was coming to our neighbourhood for
a few days. I immediately asked him to stay with me.

Then I tried, very foolishly, to make my nephew Godfrey feel
uncomfortable.

"Conroy," I said, "is coming here to