The Half-Hearted

the first floor. It was not a handsome building, nor had it any particular outlook or position. It was a small, old-fashioned place in a side stre

d foreigner travelling incognito, and eager to talk with some Minister unofficially on matters of import, the diplomat on a secret errand, the traveller home for a brief season, the soldier, the thinker, the lawyer. It was a catholic assembly, but exclusive-very. Each man bore the stamp of competence on his f

ve put it ten years later, for there were lines on his brow and threads of grey in his hair. His companion was slim and, to a hasty glance, insignificant. He wore a peaked grey beard which lengthened his long, thin face, and he had a nervous trick of drumming always with his fingers on whatever piece of furniture was near. But if you looked closer and marked the high brow, the keen eyes, and the very resolute mouth, the thought of insignificance disappeared. He looked not unlike a fighting Yankee colonel who had had a Puritan upbringing, and the impression was aided

companion's anxious face. "D

position is changed, or that the dissolution wil

did you know? Did yo

w it in t

with a laugh. It ran thus: "Telegrams from the Punjab declare that an expedition, the personnel of which is not yet revealed, is about to start fo

id Wratislaw, putting t

see the motive clearly, but I am hanged if I understand why an evening pa

e Haystoun's book

at it. Is there anyth

are put in a fresh light. He covered ground him

lks of thi

monly clever. He kept the best things out of the book, and it wo

ent. I have heard my young brother talk of somebody of

"But to talk of

rse, official, and he h

d," said Wratislaw

e is comparatively harmless. The devil in the thing is that we do not know how close that

sked their necks there and kept us abreast of our enemies. As it is, we have to wait till news comes by some rounda

our friends may be playing pranks as they please. Well, well, we must wait on developments. It

slaw

speak. But I may as well give it to you. We shall come back with a majorit

taryship," said the other

so long for, and then it is only a matter of time till you climb the last s

ords from one whom he admires. "It won't be a bed of roses, yo

have a fall, my dear fellow. You are young and confident, I am old and humble. Som

k is done, and rest in peace. But you and I are not the sort of people who can court it with comfort. We are

. "Tell me more about

elaxed, and he bec

s I have said, uncommonly clever. He lives at

oke his farewell to politics. The

he always rai

s time. He has sol

it. Lewis shall s

rts. He would strengthen your feeble hand

n nursing the seat, and the Manorwaters and scores of Lewie's friends will help him. T

majority? Two-fifty o

is a very young gentleman with nothing to his credit except an Oxford reputatio

e is p

ot carry confidence to those who do not know t

te that East to which his thoughts were ever turning. "Some time in the next two years there will be the devil's own mess in that happy land. Then your troubles will begin, my friend, and I can wish nothing better f

there is nothing in the world for me to do I shall go up to Etterick tomorrow and talk to him. He will do as I tell

lter here for another three weeks over meaningless telegrams enlivened by the idiot dip