"What has happened?" she cried. "What have we done that we should be
punished in this awful way? And to think that the blow fell in this
house? Caerlaverock--we all--thought Mr. Vennard so strange last night,
and Lady Lavinia told me that Mr. Cargill was perfectly horrible. I
suppose it must be the heat and the strain of the session. And that
poor Lord Mulross, who was always so wise, should be stricken down at
this crisis!"
I did not say that I thought Mulross's accident a merciful
dispensation. I was far more afraid of him than of all the others, for
if with his reputation for sanity he chose to run amok, he would be
taken seriously. He was better in bed than affixing a flea to Von
Kladow's ear.
"Caerlaverock was with the Prime Minister this morning," my aunt went
on. "He is going to make a statement in the Lords tomorrow to try to
cover Mr. Vennard's folly. They are very anxious about what Mr.
Cargill will do today. He is addressing the National Convention of
Young Liberals at Oldham this afternoon, and though they have sent him
a dozen telegrams they can get no answer. Caerlaverock went to Downing
Street an hour ago to get news."
There was the sound of an electric brougham stopping in the square
below, and we both listened with a premonition of disaster. A minute
later Caerlaverock entered the room, and with him the Prime Minister.
The cheerful, eupeptic countenance of the latter was clouded with care.
He shook hands dismally with my aunt, nodded to me, and flung himself
down on a sofa.
"The worst has happened," Caerlaverock boomed solemnly. "Cargill has
been incredibly and infamously silly." He tossed me an evening paper.
One glance convinced me that the Convention of Young Liberals had had a
waking-up. Cargill had addressed them on what he called the true view
of citizenship. He had dismissed manhood suffrage as an obsolete
folly. The franchise, he maintained, should be narrowed and given only
to citizens, and his definition of citizenship was military training
combined with a fairly high standard of rates and taxes. I do not know
how the Young Liberals received his creed, but it had no sort of
success with the Prime Minister.
"We must disavow him," said Caerlaverock.
"He is too valuable a man to lose," said the Prime Minister. "We must
hope that it is only a temporary aberration. I simply cannot spare him
in the House."
"But this is flat treason."
"I know, I know. It is all too horrible, and utterly unexpected. But
the situation wants delicate handling, my dear Caerlaverock. I see
nothing for it but to give out that he was ill."
"Or drunk?" I suggested.
The Prime Minister shook his head sadly. "I fear it will be the same
thing. What we call illness the ordinary man will interpret as
intoxication. It is a most regrettable necessity, but we must face it."
The harassed leader rose, seized the evening paper, and departed as
swiftly as he had come. "Remember, illness," were his parting words.
"An old heart trouble, which is apt to affect his brain. His friends
have always known about it."
I walked home, and looked in at the Club on my way. There I found
Deloraine devouring a hearty tea and looking the picture of virtuous
happiness.
"Well, this is tremendous news," I said, as I sat down beside him.
"What news?" he asked with a start.
"This row about Vennard and Cargill."
"Oh, that! I haven't seen the papers to-day. What's it all about?"
His tone was devoid of interest.
Then I knew that something of great private moment had happened to
Tommy.
"I hope I may congratulate you," I said.
Deloraine beamed on me affectionately. "Thanks very much, old man.
Things came all right, quite suddenly, you know. We spent most of the
time at the Alvanleys together, and this morning in the Park she
accepted me. It will be in the papers next week, but we mean to keep
it quiet for a day or two. However, it was your right to be told--and,
besides, you guessed."
I remember wondering, as I finished my walk home, whether there could
not be some connection between the stroke of Providence which had
driven three Cabinet Ministers demented and that gentler touch which
had restored Miss Claudia Barriton to good sense and a reasonable
marriage.