* * * * *

Afterwards, at the political club and at the committee-room, there was much excited conversation concerning the effect of Henslow’s bold declaration.  The general impression was, this election was now assured.  A shouting multitude followed him to his hotel, popular Sentiment was touched, and even those who had been facing the difficulty of life with a sort of dogged despair for years were raised into enthusiasm.  His words begat hope.

In the committee-room there was much excitement and a good deal of speculation.  Every one realized that the full effect of this daring plunge could not be properly gauged until after it had stood the test of print.  But on the whole comment was strikingly optimistic.  Brooks for some time was absent.  In the corridor he had come face to face with Mary Scott.  Her eyes flashed with pleasure at the sight of him, and she held out her hand frankly.

“You heard it all?” he asked, eagerly.

“Yes—­every word.  Tell me, you understand these things so much better than I do.  Is this an election dodge, or—­is he in earnest?  Was he speaking the truth?

“The honest truth, I believe,” he answered, leading her a little away from the crowd of people.  “He is of course pressing this matter home for votes, but he is very much in earnest himself about it.”

“And you think that he is on the right track?”

“I really believe so,” he answered.  “In fact I am strongly in favour of making experiments in the direction he spoke of.  By the bye, Miss Scott, I have something to tell you.  You remember telling me about Lord Arranmore and his refusal to subscribe to the Unemployed Fund?”

“Yes!”

“He has been approached again—­the facts have been more fully made known to him, and he has sent a cheque for one thousand pounds.”

She received the news with a coldness which he found surprising.

“I think I can guess,” she said, quietly, “who the second applicant was.”

“I went to see him myself,” he admitted.

“You must be very eloquent,” she remarked, with a smile which he could not quite understand.  “A thousand pounds is a great deal of money.”

“It is nothing to Lord Arranmore,” he answered.

“Less than nothing,” she admitted, readily.  “I would rather that he had stopped in the street and given half-a-crown to a hungry child.”

“Still—­it is a magnificent gift,” he declared.  “We can open all our relief stations again.  I believe that you are a little prejudiced against Lord Arranmore.”

“I?” She shrugged her shoulders.  “How should I be?  I have never spoken a word to him in my life.  But I think that he has a hard, cynical face, and a hateful expression.”

Brooks disagreed with her frankly.

“He seems to me,” he declared, “like a man who has had a pretty rough time, and I believe he had in his younger days, but I do not believe that he is really either hard or cynical.  He has some odd views as regards charity, but upon my word they are logical enough.”