Phineas Redux | Page 7

Anthony Trollope
occupied before. And men of that sort don't want a
good position among their enemies. They know they're safe. When the
seat is in dispute everybody is savage enough; but when it is merely a
question of punishing a man, what is the use of being savage? Who
knows whose turn it may be next?"
"He'll play the old game, then?"
"Of course he'll play the old game," said Mr. Molescroft. "He doesn't
know any other game. All the purists in England wouldn't teach him to
think that a poor man ought not to sell his vote, and that a rich man
oughtn't to buy it. You mean to go in for purity?"
"Certainly I do."
"Browborough will think just as badly of you as you will of him. He'll
hate you because he'll think you are trying to rob him of what he has
honestly bought; but he'll hate you quite as much because you try to rob
the borough. He'd tell you if you asked him that he doesn't want his seat
for nothing, any more than he wants his house or his carriage-horses for
nothing. To him you'll be a mean, low interloper. But you won't care
about that."
"Not in the least, if I can get the seat."
"But I'm afraid you won't. He will be elected. You'll petition. He'll lose
his seat. There will be a commission. And then the borough will be
disfranchised. It's a fine career, but expensive; and then there is no
reward beyond the self-satisfaction arising from a good action.
However, Ruddles will do the best he can for you, and it certainly is
possible that you may creep through." This was very disheartening, but
Barrington Erle assured our hero that such was Mr. Molescroft's usual

way with candidates, and that it really meant little or nothing. At any
rate, Phineas Finn was pledged to stand.
CHAPTER II
Harrington Hall
Phineas, on his first arrival in London, found a few of his old friends,
men who were still delayed by business though the Session was over.
He arrived on the 10th of August, which may be considered as the great
day of the annual exodus, and he remembered how he, too, in former
times had gone to Scotland to shoot grouse, and what he had done there
besides shooting. He had been a welcome guest at Loughlinter, the
magnificent seat of Mr. Kennedy, and indeed there had been that
between him and Mr. Kennedy which ought to make him a welcome
guest there still. But of Mr. Kennedy he had heard nothing directly
since he had left London. From Mr. Kennedy's wife, Lady Laura, who
had been his great friend, he had heard occasionally; but she was
separated from her husband, and was living abroad with her father, the
Earl of Brentford. Has it not been written in a former book how this
Lady Laura had been unhappy in her marriage, having wedded herself
to a man whom she had never loved, because he was rich and powerful,
and how this very Phineas had asked her to be his bride after she had
accepted the rich man's hand? Thence had come great trouble, but
nevertheless there had been that between Mr. Kennedy and our hero
which made Phineas feel that he ought still to be welcomed as a guest
should he show himself at the door of Loughlinter Castle. The idea
came upon him simply because he found that almost every man for
whom he inquired had just started, or was just starting, for the North;
and he would have liked to go where others went. He asked a few
questions as to Mr. Kennedy from Barrington Erle and others, who had
known him, and was told that the man now lived quite alone. He still
kept his seat in Parliament, but had hardly appeared during the last
Session, and it was thought that he would not come forward again. Of
his life in the country nothing was known. "No one fishes his rivers, or
shoots his moors, as far as I can learn," said Barrington Erle. "I suppose
he looks after the sheep and says his prayers, and keeps his money

together."
"And there has been no attempt at a reconciliation?" Phineas asked.
"She went abroad to escape his attempts, and remains there in order
that she may be safe. Of all hatreds that the world produces, a wife's
hatred for her husband, when she does hate him, is the strongest."
In September Finn was back in Ireland, and about the end of that month
he made his first visit to Tankerville. He remained there for three or
four days, and was terribly disgusted while staying at the "Yellow" inn,
to find that the people of the town would treat him as
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code

 / 328
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.