There had been an exodus from the room to watch some heavy gambling at _Trente et Quarante_, and for a moment they were almost alone.
"Lane," he said, "I am going to take you a little into my confidence.

In a way I suppose it is foolish, but to tell you the truth, I am almost driven to it.

You know that I am a Member of Parliament, and you may have heard that if our Party hadn't gone out a few years ago, I was to have been Foreign Minister." "I've heard that often enough," Lane assented.

"I've heard you quoted, too, as an example of the curse of party politics.

Just because you are forced to call yourself a member of one Party you are debarred from serving your country in any capacity until that Party is in power." "That's quite true," Hunterleys admitted, "and to tell you the truth, ridiculous though it seems, I don't see how you're to get away from it in a practical manner.