great importance that a perfectly honest and independent member should replace for the burghs in her native country the nominee of a great family, who only voted with his party, and never had done any credit either to the electors or to the nation.  She said truly when she spoke of her ambition finding its vent in dreams about him and her pupil, Tom Lowrie.  She certainly had influenced Francis Hogarth’s character greatly during the turning-point of his life; the ideas she had nursed in her trials had been on his mind with force and earnestness, and through him she could hope to give a voice to a number of her crotchets and theories.  Where a woman writes as well as thinks, she does not feel this dependence on the other sex so strongly; for, though at a disadvantage, she can for herself utter her thoughts—­but Jane, as my readers will have observed, was not literary.  She was an intelligent, well-informed, observing woman, but her field was action, and not books.  In her present situation she had very little time for reading; but, from all that she saw, and from all the conversation she could hear, she found hints for action and subjects for thought.  To see Francis in the British Parliament was a worthy ambition, and to give up such a probable career for an inglorious and obscure life with herself was not to be thought of.  His wistful looks and earnest tones were to be treasured up in her heart for ever; but her own love for him was not of that imperious and unreasonable nature that she could not live without him.

Chapter XII.

Chiefly Political

“Do you think that you can really get in?’ said Jane, eagerly.  ’I know that my uncle said the Liberal interest was much stronger in the burghs of late, and you are really the fittest man they could have.  I was quite pleased to hear from Tom that you are so soon appreciated.  Of course, he is enthusiastic on the subject.”

“I do not know if I am appreciated or not, but the burghs are a little tired of a struggle between the Conservative duke and the Whig earl, always resulting in some one being put up on both sides, to whom there were no strong objections, and no strong recommendations—­a mere nobody, in fact.”

“You are popular in the county, are you not?” asked Jane.

“No, not exactly.  I do not think I could possibly carry the county, even if I could afford the contest, for I am not considered a safe person for the landed interest.  I gained some eclat on the road trusteeship, by opening a road which was a great public convenience, but I lost more than I gained there, by my allotments, which are looked on as a dangerous precedent.  The cottages make me popular with those who have no votes, and with the more enlightened class of farmers, but the old school of tenants object to them, and almost all the landlords fear that they may be asked to lay out money in the same way.  On the whole, I am considered rather a dangerous man in the county, but in the burghs I am popular, I think.  I have the character of being a man of the people, who has not lost sympathy with his class, and I can afford to give them my time and services, such as they are.”