really getting to business at last, "your father has taken counsel of Mr. Vandeleur—most anxious counsel; and, acting upon his suggestion, he is fully prepared to offer a warm welcome to you both in Grosvenor Square; and he very much hopes you will allow your name to be withdrawn, and sometime, quite soon, Mr. Vandeleur himself will find you a constituency, because he is really concerned that a young man of such promise should be lost to the party."
Thus did Mother grapple right nobly with the unsavory cates. Perhaps her table manners were not quite so delicate as some people's might have been; but let none be so heartless as to criticize her when she is wrestling so nobly with her Cross.
Phil-ipp and Mary were touched, of course, by the liberal offer; touched very deeply, although they didn't quite see how it would be possible for the former to go back on his principles, even allowing for the fact that the fatted calf is such delectable fare. They were awfully nice about it, though, which is, of course, what you would expect them to be; very gentle and polite and even affectionate with Mother, who was doing her best in circumstances quite foreign to her nature.
All the same, the conclusion of the Conference was by no means all that could have been desired. The guilty pair had involved themselves so deeply with Blackhampton that they couldn't very well draw back. Be-
