Half a Hero

Half a Hero, by Anthony Hope

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Half a Hero, by Anthony Hope This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Half a Hero A Novel
Author: Anthony Hope
Release Date: August 1, 2007 [EBook #22191]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALF A HERO ***

Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

[Illustration: "Sir John Oakapple's dance was agreed to be a very brilliant affair." (Page 41.)]

HALF A HERO
A NOVEL BY ANTHONY HOPE
AUTHOR OF 'MR. WITT'S WIDOW,' 'COMEDIES OF COURTSHIP,' ETC.
WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED LONDON, MELBOURNE AND TORONTO 1911

CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE IMPOSSIBLE--INEVITABLE 1 II. A POPULAR DEMONSTRATION 11 III. HOSPITALITY EX OFFICIO 19 IV. WEEDING OUT THE WEAK-KNEED 30 V. A TALK AT A DANCE 41 VI. A CANDIDATE FOR OFFICE 50 VII. A COMMON SPECTACLE 59 VIII. FOR THE HIGHEST BIDDER 69 IX. TWO HASTY UTTERANCES 80 X. THE SMOKE OF HIDDEN FIRES 90 XI. A CONSCIENTIOUS MAN'S CONSCIENCE 100 XII. AN ABSURD AMBITION 110 XIII. OUT OF HARM'S WAY 121 XIV. A FATAL SECESSION 133 XV. AN ATTEMPT AT TERRORISM 144 XVI. A LEAKY VESSEL 153 XVII. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MAN 162 XVIII. BY AN OVERSIGHT OF SOCIETY'S 173 XIX. LAST CHANCES 183 XX. THE LAW VERSUS RULE 3 196 XXI. ALL THERE WAS TO TELL 205 XXII. THE STORY OF A PHOTOGRAPH 215 XXIII. AN ORATOR'S RIVAL 227 XXIV. THREE AGAINST THE WORLD 236 XXV. THE TRUTH TOO LATE 244 XXVI. THE UNCLEAN THING 255 XXVII. THE DECISION OF THE ORACLE 268 XXVIII. STEALING A MARCH 280 XXIX. A BEATEN MAN'S THOUGHTS 291 XXX. THE END OF A TUMULT 300

HALF A HERO.
CHAPTER I.
THE IMPOSSIBLE--INEVITABLE.
In the garden the question was settled without serious difference of opinion. If Sir Robert Perry really could not go on--and Lady Eynesford was by no means prepared to concede even that--then Mr. Puttock, bourgeois as he was, or Mr. Coxon, conceited and priggish though he might be, must come in. At any rate, the one indisputable fact was the impossibility of Mr. Medland: this was, to Lady Eynesford's mind, axiomatic, and, in the safe privacy of her family circle (for Miss Scaife counted as one of the family, and Captain Heseltine and Mr. Flemyng did not count at all), she went so far as to declare that, let the Governor do as he would (in the inconceivable case of his being so foolish as to do anything of the kind), she at least would not receive Mr. Medland. Having launched this hypothetical thunderbolt, she asked Alicia Derosne to give her another cup of tea. Alicia poured out the tea, handed it to her sister-in-law, and asked,
"But, Mary, what is there so dreadful about Mr. Medland?"
"Everything," said Lady Eynesford.
"Still," suggested Miss Scaife, "if the creatures are bent on having him----"
"My dear Eleanor, what is a Governor for?" demanded Lady Eynesford.
"To do as he's told and subscribe to the Cup," interposed Dick Derosne. And he added, "They are having a palaver. Old Perry's been in an hour and a half."
Captain Heseltine and Mr. Flemyng looked at their watches and nodded gravely.
"Poor Willie!" murmured Lady Eynesford. "He'll miss his ride."
Poor Willie--that is to say, His Excellency William Delaporte, Baron Eynesford, Governor of New Lindsey--deserved all the sympathy his wife's exclamation implied, and even more. For, after a vast amount of fencing and an elaborate disquisition on the state of parties in the colony, Sir Robert Perry decisively refused the dissolution the Governor offered, and ended by saying, with eyebrows raised and the slightest shrug of his shoulders,
"In fact, sir, it's my duty to advise you to send for Mr. Medland."
The Governor pushed his chair back from the table.
"You won't try again?" he asked.
"Impossible, until he has failed."
"You think Puttock out of the question?"
"Quite. He has not following enough: people wouldn't stand Medland being passed over. Really, I don't think you'll find Medland hard to get on with. He's a very able man. For myself, I like him."
The Governor sat silent for a few minutes. Sir Robert, conceiving that his interview was at an end, rose to take leave. Lord Eynesford expressed much regret at being obliged to lose his services: Sir Robert replied suitably, and was at the door before the Governor reverted to Mr. Medland.
"There are queer stories about him, aren't there?" he asked. "I mean about his private life."
"Well, there is some vague gossip of the kind."
"There now! That's very awkward. He must come here, you know, and what shall I say to my wife?"
"She's been dead three or four years now," said Sir Robert, not referring to the