The winter wore away and the spring came. One day, it was in April,
Geoffrey, who was a moderate Liberal by persuasion, casually announced
at dinner that he was going to stand for Parliament in the Unionist
interest. The representation of one of the few Metropolitan divisions
which had then returned a Home Ruler had fallen vacant. As it chanced he
knew the head Unionist whip very well. They had been friends since they
were lads at school together, and this gentleman, having heard Geoffrey
make a brilliant speech in court, was suddenly struck with the idea that
he was the very man to lead a forlorn hope.
The upshot of it was that Geoffrey was asked if he would stand, and
replied that he must have two days to think it over. What he really
wanted the two days for was to enable him to write to Beatrice and
receive an answer from her. He had an almost superstitious faith in her
judgment, and did not like to act without it. After carefully weighing
the pros and cons, his own view was that he should do well to stand.
Probably he would be defeated, and it might cost him five hundred
pounds.
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