"If we can but commit him--if we can but make him vote for Pincher,"said the General, "my peerage is secure. Hawksby and Crampton asgood as told me so."

The point had been urged upon Mr. Scully repeatedly and adroitly."Is not Pincher a more experienced man than Macabaw?" would SirDavid say to his guest over their wine. Scully allowed it. "Can'tyou vote for him on personal grounds, and say so in the House?"Scully wished he could--how he wished he could! Every time theGeneral coughed, Scully saw his friend's desperate situation moreand more, and thought how pleasant it would be to be lord of GorgonCastle. "Knowing my property," cried Sir David, "as you do, andwith your talents and integrity, what a comfort it would be could Ileave you as guardian to my boy! But these cursed politics preventit, my dear fellow. Why WILL you be a Radical?" And Scully cursedpolitics too. "Hang the low-bblack rogue," added Sir David, whenWilliam Pitt Scully left the house: "he will do everything butpromise."