A fight over the secret ballot threatens to split the Liberal party. Finn is called on to ad lib his first speech and he refuses, temporarily setting back his aspirations. We begin to learn the mistake that Laura made in marrying Kennedy. At a hunt Phineas saves Chilterns' life. Later, he begins to woo Violet (wooing is a habit with Finn). Phineas finally makes his first speech. He makes a bit of a hash of it, as so many before him have done. The uproar over the secret ballot leads to Phineas' landlords arrest and the natural corruption of life takes its course. Just after quarreling with Phineas, Kennedy is attacked by thugs and Finn saves his life (another habit he seems unable to break). His second speech in the house is much more successful. As this episode closes Phineas is confronted by one more dubious force in the person of Quintus Slide, of the gutter press.