‘All my own fault. By a little care and foresight, even without thrift, I had enough to live as well as I ought; but a reckless dash of the old spendthrift blood I came of would master me now and then, and I’d launch out into some extravagance that would leave me penniless for months after.’ ‘I believe I can understand that. One does get horribly bored by the monotony of a well-to-do existence: just as I feel my life here--almost insupportable.’ ‘But you are going into Parliament; you are going to be a great public man.’ ‘That bubble has burst already; don’t you know what happened at Birr? They tore down all Miller’s notices and mine, they smashed our booths, beat our voters out of the town, and placed Donogan--the rebel Donogan--at the head of the poll, and the head-centre is now M.P. for King’s County.’ ‘And he has a right to sit in the House?’ ‘There’s the question. The matter is discussed every day in the newspapers, and there are as many for as against him. Some aver that the popular will is a sovereign edict that rises above all eventualities; others assert that the sentence which pronounces a man a felon declares him to be dead in law.’ ‘And which side do you incline to?’ ‘I believe in the latter: he’ll not be permitted to take his seat.’ ‘You’ll have another chance, then?’ ‘No; I’ll venture no more. Indeed, but for this same man Donogan, I had never thought of it. He filled my head with ideas of a great part to be played and a proud place to be occupied, and that even without high abilities, a man of a strong will, a fixed resolve, and an honest conscience, might at this time do great things for Ireland.’ ‘And then betrayed you?’ ‘No such thing; he no more dreamed of Parliament himself than you do now. He knew he was liable to the law,--he was hiding from the police--and well aware that there was a price upon his head.’ ‘But if he was true to you, why did he not refuse this honour? why did he not decline to be elected?’ ‘They never gave him the choice. Don’t you see, it is one of the strange signs of the strange times we are living in that the people fix upon certain men as their natural leaders and compel them to march in the van, and that it is the force at the back of these leaders that, far more than their talents, makes them formidable in public life.’ ‘I only follow it in part. I scarcely see what they aim at, and I do not know if they see it more clearly themselves. And now, what will you turn to?’ ‘I wish you could tell me.’ ‘About as blank a future as my own,’ muttered Gorman. ‘Come, come, _you_ have a career: you are a lieutenant of lancers; in time you will be a captain, and eventually a colonel, and who knows but a general at last, with Heaven knows how many crosses and medals on your breast.’