[Illustration: coverpage] THE HYPOCRITE A FEW EARLY PRESS OPINIONS OF THE HYPOCRITE _MORNING POST_:--"It is entitled to be regarded as one of the clever books of the day." _MORNING LEADER_:--"A brilliant book.... Evidently the work of a young, powerful, and subtle brain." _WORLD_:--"The anonymous author is evidently young and clever. He paints with a firm, bold hand. The characters are life-like, and in many cases drawn from the life. The book will be found interesting and entertaining." _LONDON MORNING_:--"A remarkable book.... Clever the book undoubtedly is. Its brutally frank analysis of the temperament of a man with brain and mind hopelessly diseased lifts the author out of the common rut of novelists, and stamps him as a writer of power." _LLOYD'S_:--"The book sparkles with epigrammatic sayings and satirical allusions. The characters are all vividly drawn, some of them being undoubted and recognisable caricatures. The writing is that of a clever pessimist, with a vein of sardonic humour that keeps the reader amused. The author may wear a green carnation, but whether he does or not, it is the work of a skilful pen." THE HYPOCRITE LONDON GREENING & CO. 1898 (_All rights reserved_) SECOND IMPRESSION _First Edition_ _November, 1898_ _Reprinted_ _December, 1898_ CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE YARDLY GOBION OPENS HIS LETTERS 1 CHAPTER II. SCOTT IS LONELY 18 CHAPTER III. INITIATION 39 CHAPTER IV. THE CAMPAIGN 62 CHAPTER V. A PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT 83 CHAPTER VI. THE COUP 103 CHAPTER VII. THE CONSOLATIONS OF MRS. EBBAGE; WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE REV. PETER BELPER 129 CHAPTER VIII. THE FINAL POSE 147 CHAPTER IX. TWENTY YEARS AFTER 157 THE HYPOCRITE CHAPTER I. _YARDLY GOBION OPENS HIS LETTERS._ "I am thinking of writing my impressions, binding them in red leather, with a _fleur-de-lys_ stamped in the corner, and distributing them among my friends," said the youth with the large tie. "My good fool," said the President of the Union, who sat by the fire, "you must remember that most of us know you are a humbug."