in parliament, under the guidance of lord roehampton, endymion's makes his mark among the whig opposition; and when his party returns to power in 1846 he becomes under-secretary of state to lord roehampton; when the latter dies of overwork, the mediocre rawchester takes his place, and endymion resigns. meanwhile, prince florestan, a pretender in exile from his country, whom endymion knew both at eton and later as a tenant of the rodney's while settling financial matters with the banker neuchatel, returns to his country and has successfully established himself on his throne. he now offers the widowed myra (whom he has met at the neuchatels) the crown as his queen, and she accepts; endymion, struck to the heart at this separation from his sister, finds consolation in the love of lady montfort, whose husband has died. although his party is soon again evicted from government, he is now a prominent member of the out-of-party whigs, headed by sidney wilton; with the fall of the tory ministry sidney wilton becomes prime minister, and endymion his secretary of state; through success in foreign wars and prosperous management of relations with the continent, endymion makes himself the natural successor to sidney wilton, who resigns at his ministries' high appreciation of prince florestan, whom wilton dislikes. (he had been florestan's guardian, guaranteed to keep him from his ultimately successful political ambitions; and his rival for myra's affections.) endymion is charged by the queen with the formation of the next government.