"Absolutely sure! I have educated her. I have freed her from superstitions and conventionalities. To her, as to me, the lies we shall have to tell will be burdensome in the extreme; but we shall both forget in time." "That is exactly what you can never do!" said Glazzard, deliberately. "You enter upon a lifetime of dissimulation. Ten, twenty years hence you will have to act as careful a part as on the day when you and she first present yourselves in Polterham." "Oh, in a sense!" cried the other, impatiently. "A very grave sense.--Quarrier, why have you taken up this political idea? What's the good of it?" He leaned forward and spoke with a low earnest voice. Denzil could not instantly reply. "Give it up!" pursued Glazzard. "Take Lilian abroad, and live a life of quiet happiness. Go on with your literary work"---- "Nonsense! I can't draw back now, and I don't wish to." "Would you--if--if _I_ were willing to become the Liberal candidate?" Denzil stared in astonishment. "You? Liberal candidate?" "Yes, I!" A peal of laughter rang through the room. Glazzard had spoken as if with a great effort, his voice indistinct, his eyes furtive. When the burst of merriment made answer to him, he fell back in his chair, crossed his legs, and set his features in a hard smile. "You are joking, old fellow!" said Denzil. "Yes, if you like." Quarrier wished to discuss the point, but the other kept an obstinate silence. "I understand," remarked Denzil, at length. "You hit upon that thought out of kindness to me. You don't like my project, and you wished to save me from its dangers. I understand. Hearty thanks, but I have made up my mind. I won't stunt my life out of regard for an imbecile superstition. The dangers are _not_ great; and if they were, I should prefer to risk them. You electioneering! Ho, ho!" Glazzard's lips were close drawn, his eyes veiled by the drooping lids. He had ceased to smoke, and when, a few minutes later, he threw away his cigar, it was all but squeezed flat by the two fingers which had seemed to hold it lightly. "It is settled!" cried Denzil, jumping up, with a return of his extravagant spirits. "You, Glazzard, will stand by and watch--our truest friend. You on the hustings! Ha, ha, ha! Come, one more glass of whisky, and I will tell them to get our cab ready. I say, Glazzard, from this evening forth never a word between us about the secret. That is understood, of course. You may let people know that you were in my confidence about the private marriage. But I can trust your discretion as my own. Your glass--pledge me in the old style!" Ten minutes more, and they were driving back to Polterham. CHAPTER X