I mention all these details to you--as I shall
mention others--not because they have the least connection with the
tragedy as it subsequently occurred, but merely because I know them,
and you have requested me to state all I know.'
'Yes,' he answered, with a suspicion of _ennui_, 'you are right. I may
as well hear the whole--if I must hear a part.'
'Meanwhile, Randolph appears to have visited the earl at least once a
day. In such retirement did he, too, live that many of his friends
still supposed him to be in India. There was only one respect in which
he broke through this privacy. You know, of course, that the Orvens
are, and, I believe, always have been, noted as the most obstinate, the
most crabbed of Conservatives in politics. Even among the
past-enamoured families of England, they stand out conspicuously in
this respect. Is it credible to you, then, that Randolph should offer
himself to the Radical Association of the Borough of Orven as a
candidate for the next election in opposition to the sitting member? It
is on record, too, that he spoke at three public meetings--reported in
local papers--at which he avowed his political conversion; afterwards
laid the foundation-stone of a new Baptist chapel; presided at a
Methodist tea-meeting; and taking an abnormal interest in the debased
condition of the labourers in the villages round, fitted up as a
class-room an apartment on the top floor at Orven Hall, and gathered
round him on two evenings in every week a class of yokels, whom he
proceeded to cram with demonstrations in elementary mechanics.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25