Great names seemed as familiar to him as his own, and, after the scene at the tailors', Harry could well believe that Mr. Lowndes had heckled a very eminent politician to his inconvenience, if not to the alleged extent of altering the entire course of a General Election. He was also the very man to have defended in person an action for libel, and to have lost it by the little error of requesting the judge to "be good enough to hold his tongue." The consequences had been serious indeed, but Lowndes described them with considerable relish. His frankness was not the least of his charms as a raconteur. Before he went he had confessed to one crime at least--that of blackmailing a surgeon-baronet for a thousand pounds in his own consulting-room. "He got a hold of the bell-rope," said Lowndes, "but it was no use his playing the game of bluff with _me_. I simply laughed in his face. He'd murdered a poor man's wife--vivisected her, Ringrose--taken her to pieces like a watch--and he'd got to pay up or be exposed." For it was disinterested blackmail, so that even this story was characteristic if incredible. It illustrated what may be termed an officious altruism--which Harry had seen operating in his own behalf--side by side with a perfectly piratical want of principle which Lowndes took no pains to conceal. It was impossible for an impressionable young fellow, needing a friend, not to be struck by one so bluff, so masterful, so kind-hearted, and probably much less unscrupulous than it pleased him to appear; and it was impossible for Harry Ringrose not to put the kind heart first, as he came upstairs after seeing Lowndes into a hansom, and thought how joyfully he would come up them if he were sure of earning even one hundred a year. And Lowndes said three! "I am thankful you like him," said Mrs. Ringrose, who was still awake. "But--we all can see the faults of those we really like--and there's one fault I do see in Mr. Lowndes. He is so sanguine!" Mrs. Ringrose might have added that we see those faults the plainest when they are also our own. "Sanguine!" said Harry. "How?" "He expects Lord Banff to make up his mind this week." "Well?" "It has been 'this week' all this year!" Harry looked very sad. "Then you don't think much of my chances of that--three hundred? I might have seen you didn't at the time." "No, my boy, I do not. Of his will to help you there can be no question; his ability is another matter; and we must not rely on him." "But you say he has helped you so much?" "In a different way." "Well," said Harry after a pause, "in spite of what you say, he seems quite sure himself that everything will be settled to-morrow. He has an appointment with Lord Banff in the afternoon. He wants to see me afterwards, and has asked me to go down and spend the evening with them at Richmond." Mrs. Ringrose lay conspicuously silent.