"I will answer you frankly." He spoke in the softest tone and his look had a touching candour. "You, better than anyone, know the nature of my ambition. You know it is not merely personal. One doesn't like to talk grandiloquently, but, alone with you, there is no harm in saying that I have a message for our time. We have reached a point in social and political evolution where all the advance of modern life seems to be imperilled by the growing preponderance of the multitude. Our need is of men who are born to guide and rule, and I feel myself one of these. But what can I do as long as I am penniless? And so I answer you frankly: yes, if May Tomalin had inherited Lady Ogram's wealth, I should have _felt it my duly_ to marry her." Iris listened without a smile. Lashmar had never spoken with a more convincing show of earnestness. "What is she going to do?" asked the troubled little woman, her eyes cast down. Dyce told all that he knew of May's position. He was then questioned as to the state of things political at Hollingford: his replies were at once sanguine and disconsolate. "Well," he said at length, "I have done my best, but fortune is against me. In coming to see you, I discharged what I felt to be a duty. Let me again thank you for your generous kindness. Now I must work, work--" He stood an image of noble sadness, of magnanimity at issue with cruel fate. Iris glanced timidly at him; her panting showed that she wished to speak, but could not. He offered his hand; Iris took it, but only for an instant. "I want you to tell me something else," broke from her lips. "I will tell you anything." "Are you in love with that girl--Miss Tomalin?" With sorrowful dignity, he shook his head; with proud self-consciousness, he smiled. "Nor with Miss Bride?" "I think of her exactly as if she were a man." "If I told you that I very much wished you to do something, would you care to do it?" "Your wish is for me a command," Dyce answered gently. "If it were not, I should be grossly ungrateful." "Then promise to go through with the election. Your expenses are provided for. If you win, I am _sure_ some way can be found of providing you with an income--I am _sure_ it can!" "It shall be as you wish," said Lashmar, seeming to speak with a resolute cheerfulness. "I will return to Hollingford by the first train to-morrow." They talked for a few minutes more. Lashmar mentioned where he was going to pass the night. He promised to resume their long-interrupted correspondence, and to let his friend have frequent reports from Hollingford. Then they shook hands, and parted silently.