“Hello, Charles,” said Edmund. “Hello, Jane.”
“And congratulations, to both of you,” added Brick.
“I’ll add mine once more, too, just for good measure,” said Hilary pleasantly-a Bingley personified, Toto always said. “The springtime, I hear?”
“Yes, that’s right,” said Lady Jane. “We’re awfully happy.”
Looking at them, it was plain this was true. The pink in her pale cheeks was a sign of her high spirits. As for Lenox, he seemed to stand a little higher. He had already abandoned most of his bachelor ways with an ease that had surprised him.
“Sorry to barge in, Charles,” Edmund said when they were all sitting. “I know you and I were meant to have supper tonight, but as it turns out I’ll be in the House. Brick, Hilary, will you speak? I told you a thousand times I didn’t want to come.”
“Didn’t want to come?” said Lenox. “Why on earth not?”
It was Brick who spoke. “He feared the whispers of nepotism. But we’re here on the strength of my word-mine, Hilary’s, half a dozen other men.”
“Look here-what’s this about?”
Hilary spoke up, beaming. “We’d like you to run for Parliament, Charles.”
“Parliament?”
“There’s a by-election soon outside Durham-”
“In Stirrington?” said Lenox.
Brick spoke to Edmund. “There you are,” he said. “I thought as much after that lunch-your brother knows politics.”
“At Stirrington,” Hilary went on. “It wouldn’t cost you above eight hundred pounds-a good deal of money, of course, but that’s your lookout-and though you’d only be in for eight months or so, when the regular elections came back around you would be excellently situated.”
“The Member there is Stoke,” said Brick, “and he’s never done a single useful thing in his life, but his first will be to throw his weight behind you pretty heartily. The Stoke name still means something there, so that will be a help to you.”
“Parliament?” said Lenox, slightly in shock.
“Yes,” said Edmund grumpily. “Don’t sit there gaping at us, won’t you?”
Lady Jane held Lenox’s hand, looking at him. “You ought to, Charles. You’ve always wanted to.”
“Why me?” Lenox asked.
Brick spoke. “You gained my attention when we dined together, as I only just said. Hilary speaks very highly of your acumen-says he often comes to you for advice when the cacophony of voices becomes too jarring.”
“Not often,” said Lenox. “Certainly not often.”
“Lord Cabot specifically mentioned you to me. Lord Russell put in a good word. And the press about this Payson matter hasn’t hurt.”
Lenox sat looking at three of the most powerful five men in the party he had always pledged allegiance to, three men offering him what had always been his dream, to do the work his father had done, his grandfather had done, that Pitt and Burke and Palmerston and Peel had done-he looked at them and said, “No.”
“No!” said Edmund, now truly roused.
“I have to speak to Jane about it,” said Lenox.
“I’m right here, telling you that you ought to say yes!” said Lady Jane, her hand on his forearm.
He looked at her doubtfully. “Do you mean it?”
“Do I mean it? Of course I do! It’s where you belong, Charles.”
This was why he loved her: because a thousand times he had said, “This is where I belong, Parliament,” to himself, but never to another soul.
He looked at the three men. “Then I accept, of course. It shall be my honor.”
“Capital!” said Brick.
The three men crowded around him and shook hands.
“You and I can talk about strategy,” said Hilary, who had a prominent voice within the Liberal Party on matters electoral. “You’ll have to visit Stirrington soon. Have you ever been?”
“No.”
“No matter. There’s an excellent election agent there, Talmadge. We’ll wire him with your name and background straight away.”
“It will play well that you’ve worked on so many highprofile cases,” said Brick.
“How about a meeting this afternoon, Charles?” said Hilary, looking in his pocket diary. “Say, four o’clock?”
“Of course. Where?”
“Oh, in the Members’ bar. You’ll have to get used to it, won’t you?” Hilary said this slyly and then stood, checking his watch and suddenly looking preoccupied. “We’ll speak then-and have a celebratory glass of champagne!”
Hilary and Brick shook Lenox’s hand and congratulated him, then tipped their hats to Lady Jane and walked out. Edmund said he would stay behind for a moment.
“Well, Charles, and are you pleased?” he said when they were gone.
“Dazzled, more like. I have to thank you.”
“On the contrary, it was Brick’s idea, and then Hilary’s, though of course when they mentioned it I enthusiastically recommended you.”
“I still owe you my thanks, then.”
Jane said, “Your father would have been so proud!”
“He was awfully proud of you, Edmund, when you took your seat.”
“Yes, but I think Jane is right-he would have loved to see the day when we sat side by side on the benches of Parliament.”
“Don’t be too hasty, either of you,” said Lenox, though with a smile on his face.
“Well, well,” said Edmund, standing. “After you see Hilary, stop in with me, won’t you?”
“Yes, of course,” said Lenox.
“Then I’ll go.”
Edmund said good-bye and walked out into the chill evening, putting his hat on as he went. In the street he thought of something else he wanted to tell his brother, and turned back toward the house-but through the window of the library he saw Lenox and Lady Jane speaking excitedly, and then saw them embrace. So he reminded himself to mention it later and stepped into his carriage, a comprehending smile on his face, off again to work, as above him rivers of autumn pink and purple ran across the heavens.