Birnie’s head implied, ‘Certainly not!’ ‘You not only rendered me that great service, but you have always guarded my interests during my long absences, and you have kept me from being annoyed by those who might have been very troublesome.’ Dr. Birnie spoke for the first time. ‘My dear Gurth, don’t give me too much credit. If I have kept Heckett from worrying you, I have done so by giving him what he asked for. When Marston turned up, I thought it best to accede to his request, and lend him five hundred pounds for you. I have paid your money away judiciously, my dear fellow, that is all—that is all.’ Birnie shook his head deprecatingly, as though to shake from it the praise which was being undeservedly bestowed upon him. ‘I don’t care what you say, Birnie; you’ve always been a good old chum to me, and that’s why I don’t want to take an important step without asking your advice.’ ‘My advice, Gurth, is always at your service.’ ‘Well, then, shortly and simply, I’ve made up my mind to two things—to marry, and to get into Parliament.’ Birnie received the intelligence without a movement; only the look of his eyes altered slightly, and they seemed to study Egerton’s face more keenly. ‘I congratulate you on both determinations, old fellow. Splendid things, both of them—matrimony and the legislature. Which do you woo first—the lady or the constituency?’ Gurth laughed. ‘I haven’t begun to look out the lady yet,’ he said, ‘or the constituency either. But don’t you really see any reason why I should marry and become a public man?’ ‘None.’ Gurth gave a little sigh of relief. Birnie rose to go. He shook hands with Gurth heartily. ‘I hope,’ he said, ‘that neither of your new ambitions will interrupt our old friendship, Gurth. We shall be always the same to each other as we have been, I trust?’ ‘Always,’ answered Gurth with emphasis. Dr. Birnie sat back in his carriage, as he was being whirled through the London streets, and thought. He wasn’t quite sure what this new idea of Gurth’s meant, or what move on the board he ought to make in consequence of it. He was a man who never took any active steps if he saw a chance of events shaping themselves to suit his ends without his interference. Once or twice events had played into his hands so well that he was always inclined to give them a fair field. At present Gurth Egerton was only a gold mine, in which he had dug now and then for an odd nugget or two, but he had always considered that the mine was there, and that no one could very well dig in it without his permission. With Birnie the knowledge of power was almost as great a pleasure as the enjoyment of it, and he was, moreover, endowed with that great gift of patience which enables a man to bide a lifetime waiting to strike home, rather than risk giving a weak blow by striking in a hurry.