"Sit down," said Benoliel, and Captain Rames obeyed.
"Benoliel tells me," said Smale, "that you are thinking of Parliament."
Captain Rames was startled. He could not remember that in his one brief conversation with his host he had even mentioned his ambition.
"I inferred it from a casual word or two you let drop," said Benoliel with a smile.
"Well, it's true," said Rames. "I should like to stand on your side very much, Mr. Smale, if I could find a seat to contest."
Henry Smale nodded.
"That, no doubt, could be arranged. You would be a strong candidate. You bring a reputation and some breath of romance to favor you. But--" and he pursed up his lips as if in doubt and looked at Captain Rames with a searching eye. Rames was disconcerted. He had been back in England for some six months, and during those six months he had been much sought after. At this period of his life, doubts of him had been rarely expressed behind his back, and never to his face. Young ladies whom he did not know had clamored for his autograph, young ladies whom he did know had approached him with a winning humility; established beauty had smiled at him; established fame had welcomed him as an equal. The calm scrutiny of Henry Smale was a displeasing splash of cold water.
"Of course," he said, with a diffidence which he did not feel, "I might be a failure."
And Henry Smale replied promptly:
"That's just it. You might be a failure. Meanwhile you are a great success, and have the chance of standing quite alone in your career. For what you set out to do is not yet done. You leave the laurel for another to snatch."