"'Forsaking all other, and cleaving only unto him,'" quoted Joyce with gravity.
"Yes, yes, my dear Mr. Joyce, very proper; but not the way of the world nowadays; besides, I'm sure you would not be selfish enough to have the old lady left behind amongst strangers. However, grant it hypothetically--would you still take up this appointment?"
"I cannot possibly say," replied Joyce, after a moment's pause. "The idea is quite new to me. I have never given it consideration."
"I think I should, under any circumstances, if I were you," said Lady Caroline earnestly, and looking hard at him. "You have talent, energy, and patience, the three great requisites for success, and you are, or I am very much mistaken, intended for a life of action. I do not advise you to continue in the course now opening to you. Even if you start for it, it should be made but a steppingstone to a higher and a nobler career."
"And that is----"
"Politics! Plunged in them you forget all smaller things, forget the petty disappointments and discouragements which we all have equally to contend with, whatever may be our lot in life, and wonder that such trivial matters ever caused you annoyance! Wedded to them, you want no other tie; ambition takes the place of love, is a thousand times more absorbing, and in most cases offers a far more satisfactory reward. You seem to me eminently suited for such a career, and if you were to take my advice, you will seek an opportunity for embracing it."
"You would not have me throw away the substance for the shadow? You forget that the chance of my life is now before me!"
"I am by no means so certain that it is the chance of your life, Mr. Joyce! I am by no means certain that it is for the best that this offer has been made to you, or that the result will prove as you imagine. But in any case you should think seriously of entering on a political career. Your constant cry has been on a matter on which we have always quarrelled, and a reference to which on your part very nearly sent me off just now--you will harp upon the difference of social position. Now, distinction in politics levels all ranks. The two leaders of political parties in the present day, who really have pas and precedence over the highest in the land, who are the dispensers of patronage, and the cynosures of the world, are men sprung from the people. There is no height to which the successful politician may not attain."
"Perhaps not," said Joyce. "But I confess I am entirely devoid of ambition!"
"You think so now, but you will think differently some day, perhaps. It is a wonderfully useful substitute."