 Chapter 34 Before the house met again, the quidnunks about the clubs on both sides of the question had determined that Mr Gresham's speech, whether good or not as an effort of oratory, would serve its intended purpose. He would be backed by a majority of votes, and it might have been very doubtful whether such would have been the case had he attempted to throw out the bill on its merits. Mr Rattler, by the time that prayers had been read, had become almost a certain of success. There were very few liberals in the house who were not anxious to declare by their votes that they had no confidence in Mr Albany. Mr Turnbull, the great radical, and perhaps some two dozen with him, would support the second reading, declaring that they could not reconcile it with their consciences to record a vote in favour of a union of church and state. On all such occasions as the present Mr Turnbull was sure to make himself disagreeable to those who sat near to him in the house. He was a man who thought that so much was demanded of him in order that his independence might be doubted by none. It was nothing to him, he was wont to say, who called himself Prime Minister or Secretary here or President there. But then there would be quite as much of this independence on the conservative as on the liberal side of the house. Surely there would be more than two dozen gentlemen who would be true enough to the cherished principles of their whole lives to vote against such a bill as this. It was the fact that there were so very few so true which added such a length to the faces of the country Parsons. Six months ago not a country gentleman in England would have listened to such a proposition without loud protests as to his revolutionary wickedness. And now, out of the sole pressure of one man's authority, the subject had become so common that men were assured that the thing would be done even though all things that could be done did were the worst. It is no good any longer having any opinion upon anything, one Parsons said to another, as they sat together at their club with their newspapers in their hands. Nothing frightens any one, no infidelity, no wickedness, no revolution, all reverences at an end, and the holy of holies is no more even to the worshipper than the threshold of the temple. They became known that the bill would be lost. What comfort was there in that, when the battle was to be won, not by the chosen Israelites to whom the church with all its appurtenances ought to be dear, but by a crew of Philistines who would certainly follow the lead of their opponents in destroying the holy structure. On the Friday the debate was continued with much life on the ministerial side of the house. It was very easy for them to cry, faction, faction, and hardly necessary for them to do more. A few parrot words had been learned as to the expediency of fitting the great and increasing Church of England to the growing necessity of the age. That the Church of England would still be the Church of England was repeated till weary listeners were sick of the unmeaning words. But the zeal of the competence was displayed on that other question. Faction was now the avowed weapon of the leaders of the so-called liberal side of the house, and it was very easy to denounce the new doctrine. Every word the Mr. Grasham spoke was sprict in pieces, and the enormity of his theory was exhibited. He had boldly declared to them that they were to regard men and not measures, and they were to show by their votes whether they were prepared to accept such teaching. The speeches were, of course, made by alternate orators, but the firing from the conservative benches was on this evening much the louder. It would have seemed that with such an issue between them they might almost have consented to divide after the completion of the two great speeches. The courses on which they were to run had been explained to them, and it was not probable that any member's intention as to his running would now be altered by anything that he might hear. Mr. Turnbull's two dozen defaulters were all known, and the two dozen and four true conservatives were known also. But nevertheless a great many members were anxious to speak. It would be the great debate of the session, and the subject to be handled, that namely of the general merits and demerits of the two political parties, was wide and very easy. On that night it was past one o'clock when Mr. Turnbull joined the house. I am afraid we must put you off until Tuesday, Mr. Rattler said on the Sunday afternoon to finish Finn. I have no objection at all so long as I get a fair place on that day. No, there shall be a doubt about that. Goreshman particularly wants you to speak because you are pledged to a measure of disestablishment. You can insist on your own views that even should such a measure be essentially measuring, which I think it is, said Finnus. Still, it should not be accepted from the old church and state party. There was something pleasant in this to finish Finn, something that made him feel for the moment that he had perhaps mistaken the bearing of his friend towards him. We are sure of a majority, I suppose, he said. Absolutely sure, said Rattler. I begin to think it would be a man to half a hundred, perhaps more. What will Dorbony do? No, go out. He can't do anything else. His pluck is certainly wonderful, but even with his pluck he can't dissolve again. His church bill is giving him a six-month's run, and six months is something. Is it true that Grogram is to be chancellor? Finnus asked the question not from any particular solicitude as to the prospects of Sir Gregory Grogram, but because he was anxious to hear whether Mr. Rattler would speak to him with anything of the cordiality of fellowship respecting the new government. But Mr. Rattler became at once discreet and close, and said that he did not think that anything as yet was known as to the wool-silk. Finnus retreated again within his shell, with a certainty that nothing would be done for him. And yet, to whom could this question of place be of such vital importance as it was to him? He had come back to his old haunts from Ireland, abandoning altogether the present safety of an assured income, buoyed by the hope of office. He had, after a fashion, made his calculations. In the present disposition of the country it was, he thought certain that the Liberal Party must, for the next twenty years, have longer periods of power than their opponents, and he had thought also that were he in the house some place would eventually be given to him. He had been in office before, and had been especially successful. He knew that it had been said of him that of the young debitons of latter years he had been the best. He had left his party by opposing them, but he had done so without creating any ill-will among the leaders of his party, in a manner that had been regarded as highly honourable to him, and on departing had received expressions of deep regret from Mr. Greshan himself. When Barrington Earl had wanted him to return to his old work, his own chief doubt had been about the seat. But he had been bold, and had avenged all, and had succeeded. There had been some little trouble about those pledges given at Tankerville, but he would be able to turn them even to the use of his party. It was quite true that nothing had been promised him, but Earl, when he had written bidding him to come over from Ireland, must have intended him to understand that he would be gain-being brawled in the favoured regiment should he be able to show himself as a possessor of a seat in the house. And yet he felt convinced that when the day should come it would be to him a day of disappointment, and that when the lists should appear his name would not be on it. John Gerster had suggested to him that Mr. Bontein might be his enemy, and he had replied by stating that he himself hated Mr. Bontein. He now remembered that Mr. Bontein had hardly spoken to him since his return to London, though there had not in fact been any quarrel between them. In this condition of mine he longed to speak openly to Barrington Earl, but he was restrained by a feeling of pride and a still existing idea that no candidate for office, let his claim be what it might, should ask for a place. On that Sunday evening he saw Bontein at the club. Men were going in and out with that feverish excitement which always prevails on the eve of a great parliamentary change. A large majority against the government was considered to be certain. But there was an idea, abroad, that Mr. Dormony had some scheme in his head by which to confute the immediate purport of his enemies. There was nothing to which the audacity of the man was not equal. Some said that he would dissolve the house, which at hard years he had been six months sitting. Others were of opinion that he would simply resolve not to vacate his place, thus defying the majority of the house and all the ministerial traditions of the country. Words had fallen from him which made some men certain that such was his intention. That he should succeed ultimately was impossible. The whole country would rise against him. The case would be refused in every detail of government he would be impeded. But then, such was the temper of the man, it was thought that all these horrors would not deter him. There would be a blaze and a confusion in which timid men would doubt whether the Constitution would be burned to timber or only illuminated. But that blaze and that confusion would be dear to Mr. Dormony if he could stand as the centre figure. The great paro-technist who did it all, read from head to foot with the glare of the scribs with which his own hands were filling all the spaces. The anticipation that some such display might take place made men busy and eager. Set it on that Sunday evening they roamed about from one place of meeting to another, instead of sitting at home with their wives and daughters. There wasn't this time existing a small club, so called though unlike other clubs, which had entitled itself the universe. The name was supposed to be a joke as it was limited to ninety-nine members. It was domiciled in one simple and somewhat mean apartment. It was kept open only one hour before and one hour after midnight, and then only on two nights of the week, and that only when Parliament was sitting. Its attractions were not numerous, consisting chiefly of tobacco and tea. The conversation was generally listless and often desultory, and occasionally there would arise the great and terrible evil of a punster whom everyone hated, but no one had life enough to put down. But the thing had been a success. A man liked to be a member of the universe. Mr. Bonteam was a member, and so was Phineas Finn. On this Sunday evening the club was open, and Phineas, as he entered the room, perceived that his enemy was seated alone on a corner of a sofa. Mr. Bonteam was not a man who loved to be alone in public places, and was apt rather to make one of congregations affecting popularity, and always at work increasing his influence. But on this occasion his own greatness had probably isolated him. If it were true that he was to be the new chancellor of the Exchequer, to ascend from demigodhead to the perfect divinity of the Cabinet, and to do so by a leap which would make him high even among first-class gods, it might be well for himself to look to himself and choose new congregations, or at least it would be becoming that you should be chosen now instead of being a chooser. He was one who could weigh to the last ounce the importance of his position and make most accurate calculations as to the effect of his intimacies. On that very morning Mr. Gresham has suggested to him that in the event of a Liberal government being formed he should hold the high office in question. This perhaps had not be done in the most flattering manner, as Mr. Gresham had deeply bewailed the loss of Mr. Palliser, and had almost demanded a pledge from Mr. Bontein that he be walking exactly in Mr. Palliser's footsteps. But the offer had been made and could not be retracted, and Mr. Bontein already felt the warmth of the halo of perfect divinity. But there are some men who seem to be born to be Cabinet ministers—dukes, mostly, or earls, or the younger sons of such—who have been trained to it from their very cradles, and of whom we may imagine that they are subject to no special awe when they first enter into that august assembly, and feel but little personal elevation. But to the political aspirant not born in the purple of public life, this entrance upon the councils of the higher deities must be accompanied by a feeling of supreme triumph dashed by considerable misgivings. Perhaps Mr. Bontein was reveling in his tramps, perhaps he was anticipating his misgivings. Phineas, though disinclined to make any inquiries of a friend which might seem to refer to his own condition, felt no such reluctance in regard into one who certainly could not suspect him of asking a favour. He was presumed to be on terms of intimacy with a man, and he took his seat beside him asking some question as to the bait. Now Mr. Bontein had more than once expressed an opinion among his friends that Phineas Finn would throw his party over and vote with the government. The Rattlers, and Earls, and Fitzgibbons all knew that Phineas was safe, but Mr. Bontein was still in doubt. It suited him to effect something more than doubt on the present occasion. I wondered that you should ask me, said Mr. Bontein. What do you mean by that? I presume that you as usual will vote against us. I never voted against my party but once, said Phineas, and then I did it with the approbation of every man in it for whose good opinion I cared a straw. There was insult in his tone, as he said this, and something near akin to insult in his words. You must do it again now, or break every promise that you made at Tangoville. Do you know what promise I made at Tangoville? I shall break no promise. You must allow me to say, Mr. Finn, that the kind of independence which is practised by you and Mr. Monk, grand as it may be on the part of men who have wildly abstained from office, is a little dangerous when it is now and again adopted by men who have taken place. I like to be sure that the men who are on the same boat with me won't take it into their heads that their duty requires them to scuttle the ship. Having so spoken, Mr. Bontein, with nearly all the grace of a fully-fledged cabinet-minister, rose from his seat on the corner of the sofa and joined a small congregation. Phineas felt that his ears were tingling and that his face was red. He looked round to ascertain from the countenances of others whether they had heard what had been said. Nobody had been close to them, and he thought that the conversation had been unnoticed. He knew now that he had been imprudent in addressing himself to Mr. Bontein, though the question that he had first asked had been quite commonplace. As it was, the man he thought had been determined to affront him and had made a charge against him which he could not allow to pass unnoticed. And then there was all the additional bitterness in it which arose from the conviction that Bontein had spoken the opinion of other men as well as his own, and that he had plainly indicated that the gates of the official paradise were to be closed against the presumed offender. Phineas had before believed that it was to be so, but that belief had now become assurance. He got up in his misery to leave the room, but as he did so, he met Lawrence Fitzgibbon. You've heard the news about Bontein, said Lawrence. What news? He used to be pitchforked up to the Exchequer. They said it's quite settled. The higher, monkey-climbs, you know the proverb. So saying, Lawrence Fitzgibbon passed into the room, and Phineas Finn took his departure in solitude. And so the man with whom he had managed to quarrel utterly was to be one in the cabinet, a man whose voice would probably be potential in the selection of minor members of the government. It seemed to him to be almost incredible such a one as Mr. Bontein should be chosen for such an office. He despised almost as soon as he'd known Mr. Bontein, and had rarely heard the future manager of the finance of the country spoken of with either respect or regard. He'd regarded Mr. Bontein as a useful, dull, unscrupulous politician, well accustomed to Parliament, acquainted with the by-paths and back-doors of official life, and therefore certain of employment when the Liberals were in power. But there was no one at the party who thought less likely to be selected for high place. And yet this man was to be made Chancellor of the Exchequer, while he, Phineas Finn, very probably this man's instance, was to be left out in the cold. He knew himself to be superior to the man he hated, to have higher ideas of political life, and to be capable of greater political sacrifices. He himself had sat shoulder to shoulder with many men on the treasury bench, whose political principles he had not greatly valued. But of none of them had he thought so little as he had done of Mr. Bontein. And yet this Mr. Bontein was to be the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. He walked home to his lodgings in Malbra Street wretched because of his own failure, doubly wretched because of the other man's success. He laid awake half the night, thinking of the words that had been spoken to him, and after breakfast on the following morning, he wrote the following note to his enemy. Husser commons, Fifth of April. Dear Mr. Bontein, it is a matter of extreme regret to me that last night of the universe I should have asked you some chance question about the coming division, and I guess to what it might have led I should not have addressed you. But as it is I can hardly abstain from noticing what appeared to me to be a personal charge made against myself with a great want of the courtesy which is supposed to prevail among men who have acted together. Had we never done so, my original question to you might perhaps have been deemed an impertinent. As it was, you accused me of having been dishonest to my party, and of having scuttled the ship. On the occasion to which you looted, I acted with much consideration greatly to the detriment of my own prospects, and as I believed, with the approbation of all who knew anything of the subject. If you will make inquiry of Mr. Gresham or Lord Cantrip, who was then my chief, I think that either will tell you that my conduct on that occasion was not as such as to lay be open to reproach. If you will do this, I think that you cannot fail afterwards to express regret for what you said to me last night. Chapter 35 of Phineas Redux. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Francis Marcin Kevich. Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollop. Chapter 35 Political Venom. On the Monday Mr. Turnbull opened the ball by declaring his reasons for going into the same lobby with Mr. Dobney. This he did at great length. To him all the mighty pomp and all the little squabbles of office were, he said, as nothing. He would never allow himself to regard the person of the Prime Minister. The measure before the house ever had been and ever should be all in all to him. If the public wheel were more regarded in that house, and the quarrels of men less considered, he thought that the service of the country would be better done. He was answered by Mr. Monk, who was sitting near him, and who intended to support Mr. Gresham. Mr. Monk was rather happy in pooling his old friend, Mr. Turnbull, to pieces, expressing his opinion that a difference in men meant a difference in measures. The characters of men whose principles were known were guarantees for the measures they would advocate. To him, Mr. Monk, it was matter a very great moment who was Prime Minister of England. He was always selfish enough to wish for a minister with whom he himself could agree on the main questions of the day, as he certainly could not say that he had political confidence in the present ministry. He should certainly vote against them on this occasion. In the course of the evening, Phineas found a letter addressed to himself from Mr. Bonteen. It was as follows. House of Commons, April 5, 18. Dear Mr. Finn, I never accused you of dishonesty. You must have misheard or misunderstood me if you thought so. I did say that you had scuttled the ship. And, as you most undoubtedly did scuttle it, you and Mr. Monk between you, I cannot retract my words. I do not want to go to any one for testimony as to your merits on the occasion. I accused you of having done nothing dishonorable or disgraceful. I think I said that there was danger in the practice of scuttling. I think so still, though I know that many fancy that those who scuttle do a fine thing. I don't deny that it's fine, and therefore you can have no cause of complaint against me. Yours truly, J. Bonteen. He had brought a copy of his own letter in his pocket to the house, and he showed the correspondence to Mr. Monk. I would not have noticed it had I been you, said he. You can have no idea of the offensive nature of the remark when it was made. It's as offensive to me as to you, but I should not think of moving in such a matter. When a man annoys you, keep out of his way. It is generally the best thing you can do. If a man were to call you a liar? But men don't call each other liars. Bonteen understands the world much too well to commit himself by using any word which, common opinion, would force him to retract. He says we scuttled the ship. Well, we did. Of all the political acts of my life it is the one of which I am most proud. The manner in which you helped me has entitled you to my affectionate esteem. But we did scuttle the ship. Before you can quarrel with Bonteen you must be able to show that a metaphorical scuttling of a ship must necessarily be a disgraceful act. You see how he at once retreats behind the fact that it need not be so? You wouldn't answer his letter? I think not. You can do yourself no good by a correspondence in which you cannot get a hold of him. And if you did get a hold of him you would injure yourself much more than him. Just drop it. This added much to our friend's misery and made him feel that the weight of it was almost more than he could bear. His enemy had got the better of him at every turn. He had now rushed into a correspondence as to which he would have to own by his silence that he had been confuted. And yet he was sure that Mr. Bonteen had at the club insulted him most unjustifiably. And that if the actual truth were known, no man, certainly not Mr. Monk, would hesitate to say that reparation was due to him. And yet what could he do? He thought that he would consult Lord Cantrip, an endeavor to get from his late chief some advice more palatable than that which had been tendered to him by Mr. Monk. In the meantime animosities in the house were waxing very furious, and, as it happened, the debate took a turn that was peculiarly injurious to Phineus Finn in his present state of mind. The rumor as to the future promotion of Mr. Bonteen, which had been conveyed by Lawrence Fitzgibbon to Phineus at the universe, had, as was natural, spread far and wide, and had reached the ears of those who still sat on the ministerial benches. Now it is quite understood among politicians in this country that no man should presume that he will have imposed upon him the task of forming a ministry until he has been called upon by the crown to undertake that great duty. Let the Gresham, or the dobny of the day, be ever so sure that the reins of the state chariot must come into his hands, he should not visibly prepare himself for the seat on the box, till he has actually been summoned to place himself there. At this moment it was alleged that Mr. Gresham had departed from the reticence and modesty usual in such a position as his, by taking steps toward the formation of a cabinet, while it was as yet quite possible that he might never be called upon to form any cabinet. Late on this Monday night, when the house was quite full, one of Mr. Dobny's leading lieutenants, a secretary of state, Sir Orlando drought by name, a gentleman who, if he had any heart in the matter, must have hated this church-bill from the very bottom of his heart, and who on that account was the more bitter against opponents who had not ceased to throw in his teeth his own political turgiversation, foul-fowl of Mr. Gresham as to this rumored appointment to the chancellorship of the Exchequer. The reader will easily imagine the things that were said. Sir Orlando had heard, and had been much surprised at hearing, that a certain honorable member of that house, who had long been known to them as a tenant of the ministerial bench, had already been appointed to a high office. He, Sir Orlando, had not been aware that the office had been vacant, or that if vacant it would have been at the disposal of the right honorable gentleman. But he believed that there was no doubt that the place in question, with a seat in the cabinet, had been tendered to, and accepted by, the honorable member to whom he alluded. Such was the rabid haste with which the right honorable gentleman opposite, and his colleagues, were attempting, he would not say to climb, but to rush into office, by opposing a great measure of reform, the wisdom of which, as was notorious to all the world, they themselves did not dare to deny. Much more of the same kind was said, during which Mr. Gresham pulled about his hat, shuffled his feet, showed his annoyance to all the house, and at last jumped upon his legs. If, said Sir Orlando, drought, if the right honorable gentleman wishes to deny the accuracy of any statements that I have made, I will give way to him for the moment that he may do so. I deny utterly, not only the accuracy, but every detail of the statement made by the right honorable gentleman opposite, said Mr. Gresham, still standing and holding his hat in his hand, as he completed his denial. Does the right honorable gentleman mean to assure me that he has not selected his future chancellor of the Exchequer? The right honorable gentleman is too acute not to be aware that we, on this side of the house, may have made such selection, and that yet every detail of the statement which he has been rash enough to make to the house may be unfounded. The word, Sir, is weak, but I would feign avoid the use of any words which, justifiable though they might be, would offend the feelings of the house. I will explain to the house exactly what has been done. Then there was a great hubbub, cries of order, Gresham, spoke, hear, hear, and the like, during which Sir Orlando drought and Mr. Gresham both stood on their legs. So powerful was Mr. Gresham's voice that, through it all, every word that he said was audible to the reporters. His opponent hardly attempted to speak, but stood relying upon his right. Mr. Gresham said he understood that it was the desire of the house that he should explain the circumstances in reference to the charge that had been made against him, and it would certainly be for the convenience of the house that this should be done at the moment. The speaker, of course, ruled that Sir Orlando was in possession of the floor, but suggested that it might be convenient that he should yield to the right honorable gentleman on the other side for a few minutes. Mr. Gresham, as a matter, of course, succeeded. Rights and rules, which are bonds of iron to a little man, are pack-thread to a giant. No one in all that assembly knew the house better than did Mr. Gresham, was better able to take it by storm or more obdurate in perseverance. He did make his speech, though clearly he had no right to do so. The house, he said, was aware, that by the most unfortunate demise of the late Duke of Omnium, a gentleman had been removed from this house to another place, whose absence from their councils would long be felt as a very grievous loss. Then he pronounced a eulogy on Plantagenet Palliser, so graceful and well arranged that even the bitterness of the existing opposition was unable to demure to it. The house was well aware of the nature of the labours which now, for some years past, had occupied the mind of the noble Duke, and the paramount importance which the country attached to their conclusion. The noble Duke, no doubt, was not absolutely debarred from a continuance of his work by the change which had fallen upon him. But it was essential that some gentleman, belonging to the same party with the noble Duke, versed in office and having a seat in that house, should endeavour to devote himself to the great measure which had occupied so much of the attention of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer. No doubt it must be fitting that the gentleman so selected should be at the Exchequer, in the event of their party coming into office. The honourable gentleman to whom allusion had been made had acted throughout with the present noble Duke in arranging the details of the measure in question, and the probability of his being able to fill the shoes left vacant by the accession to the peerage of the noble Duke had indeed been discussed. But the discussion had been made in reference to the measure, and only incidentally in regard to the office. He, Mr. Gresham, held that he had done nothing that was indiscreet, nothing that his duty did not demand. If right honourable gentleman opposite were of a different opinion, he thought that that difference came from the fact that they were less intimately acquainted than he unfortunately had been with the burdens and responsibilities of legislation. There was very little in the dispute which seemed to be worthy of the place in which it occurred, or of the vigor with which it was conducted, but it served to show the temper of the parties and to express the bitterness of the political feelings of the day. It was said at the time that never within the memory of living politicians had so violent an animosity displayed itself in the house as had been witnessed on this night. While Mr. Gresham was giving his explanation, Mr. Dobney had arisen, and with a mock solemnity that was peculiar to him on occasions such as these, had appealed to the speaker whether the right honourable gentleman opposite should not be called upon to resume his seat. Mr. Gresham had put him down with a wave of his hand. Unaffected stateliness cannot support itself but for a moment, and Mr. Dobney had been forced to sit down when the speaker did not at once support his appeal. But he did not forget that wave of the hand, nor did he forgive it. He was a man who in public life rarely forgot and never forgave. They used to say of him that, at home, he was kindly and forbearing, simple and unostentatious. It may be so. Who does not remember that horrible Turk, Jacob Asdrubal, the old Bailey Barrister, the terror of witnesses, the bane of judges, who was gall and wormwood to all opponents? It was said of him that, at home, his docile amiability was the marvel of his friends and delight of his wife and daughters. At home, perhaps Mr. Dobney might have been waved at and have forgiven it, but men who saw the scene in the House of Commons knew that he would never forgive Mr. Gresham. As for Mr. Gresham himself, he triumphed at the moment and exalted in his triumph. Finneas Finn heard it all, and was disgusted to find that his enemy thus became the hero of the hour. It was, indeed, the opinion generally of the liberal party, that Mr. Gresham had not said much to flatter his new Chancellor of the Exchequer. In praise of Plantagenet Palacer he had been very loud, and he had no doubt said that which implied the capability of Mr. Bonteen, who, as it happened, was sitting next to him at the time. But he had implied also that the mantle which was to be transferred from Mr. Palacer to Mr. Bonteen would be carried by its new wearer, with grace very inferior to that which had marked all the steps of his predecessor. Rattler, and Earl, and Fitzgibbon, and others, had laughed in their sleeves at the expression, understood by them, of Mr. Gresham's doubt as to the qualifications of his new assistant. And Sir Orlando Drout, in continuing his speech, remarked that the warmth of the right honorable gentleman had been so completely expended in abusing his enemies that he had had none left for the defense of his friend. But to finish, it seemed that this Bonteen, who had so grievously injured him, and whom he so thoroughly despised, was carrying off all the glories of the fight. A certain amount of consolation was, however, afforded to him. Between one and two o'clock he was told by Mr. Rattler that he might enjoy the privilege of adjourning the debate, by which would accrue to him the right of commencing on the morrow, and this he did at a few minutes before three. End of CHAPTER XXXVI of Phineas Redux. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. CHAPTER XXXVI On the next morning Phineas, with his speech before him, was obliged for a while to forget, or at least to postpone, Mr. Bonteen and his injuries. He could not now go to Lord Cantrip, as the hours were too precious to him, and as he felt too short. Though he had been thinking what he would say, ever since the debate had become imminent, and knew accurately the line which he would take, he had not as yet prepared a word of his speech. But he had resolved that he would not prepare a word otherwise than he might do by arranging certain phrases in his memory. There should be nothing written. He had tried that before in old days, and had broken down with the effort. He would load himself with no burden of words in itself so heavy that the carrying of it would incapacitate him for any other effort. After a late breakfast he walked out far away into the region's park, and there, wandering among the uninteresting paths, he devised triumphs of oratory for himself. Let him resolve as he would to forget Mr. Bonteen, and that charge of having been untrue to his companions, he could not restrain himself from efforts to fit the matter after some fashion into his speech. Dim ideas of a definition of political honesty crossed his brain. Bringing with him, however, a conviction that his thought must be much more clearly worked out than it could be on that day, before he might venture to give it birth in the House of Commons. He knew that he had been honest two years ago in separating himself from his colleagues. He knew that he would be honest now in voting with them. Apparently in opposition to the pledges he had given at Tancerville. But he knew also that it would behoove him to abstain from speaking of himself, unless he could do so in close reference to some point, especially in dispute between the two parties. When he returned to eat a mutton chop at Great Marlboro Street at three o'clock, he was painfully conscious that all his morning had been wasted. He had allowed his mind to run revel, instead of tying it down to the formation of sentences and construction of arguments. He entered the House with the speaker at four o'clock, and took his seat without uttering a word to any man. He seemed to be more than ever disjoined from his party. Hitherto, since he had been seated by the judge's order, the former companions of his parliamentary life, the old men whom he had used to know, had to a certain degree admitted him among them. Many of them sat on the front opposition bench, whereas he, as a matter of course, had seated himself behind. But he had very frequently found himself next to some man who had held office, and was living in the hope of holding it again, and had felt himself to be in some sort recognized as an aspirant. Now it seemed to him that it was otherwise. He did not doubt but that Bontein had shown the correspondence to his friends, and that the rattlers and earls had conceded that he, Phineus, was put out of court by it. He sat doggedly still at the end of a bench behind Mr. Gresham, and close to the gangway. When Mr. Gresham entered the house he was received with much cheering, but Phineus did not join in the cheer. He was studious to avoid any personal recognition of the future giver away of places, though they too were close together, and he then fancied that Mr. Gresham had specially and most ungraciously abstained from any recognition of him. Mr. Monk, who sat near him, spoke a kind word to him. I shan't be very long, said Phineus, not above twenty minutes, I should think. He was able to assume an air of indifference, and yet at the moment he heartily wished himself back in Dublin. It was not now that he feared the task immediately before him, but that he was overcome by the feeling of general failure which had come upon him. Of what use was it to him, or to any one else, that he should be there in that assembly with the privilege of making a speech that would influence no human being, unless his being there could be made a step to something beyond? While the usual preliminary work was being done, he looked round the house, and saw Lord Cantrip in the Peer's Gallery. Alas! Of what avail was that? He had always been able to bind to him individuals with whom he had been brought into close contact, but more than that was wanted in this most precarious of professions, in which now, for a second time, he was attempting to earn his bread. And half past four he was on his legs in the midst of a crowded house. The chance, perhaps the hope, of some such encounter as that of the former day, brought members into their seats, and filled the gallery with strangers. We may say, perhaps, that the highest duty opposed upon us as a nation is the management of India. And we may also say that in a great national assembly personal squabbling among its members is the least dignified work in which it can employ itself. But the prospect of an explanation, or otherwise of a fight, between two leading politicians will fill the house, and any allusion to our eastern empire will certainly empty it. An aptitude for such encounters is almost a necessary qualification for a popular leader in Parliament, as is a capacity for speaking for three hours to the reporters, and to the reporters only, a necessary qualification for an undersecretary of state for India. Phineas had the advantage of the temper of the moment in a house thoroughly crowded, and he enjoyed it. Let a man doubt ever so much his own capacity for some public exhibition which he has undertaken, yet he will always prefer to fail, if fail he must, before a large audience. But on this occasion there was no failure. That sense of awe from the surrounding circumstances of the moment, which had once been heavy on him, and which he still well remembered, had been overcome, and had never returned to him. He fell now that he should not lack words to pour out his own individual grievances were it not that he was prevented by a sense of the indiscretion of doing so. As it was, he did succeed in alluding to his own condition in a manner that brought upon him no reproach. He began by saying that he should not have added to the difficulty of the debate, which was one simply of length, were it not that he had been accused in advance of voting against a measure as to which he had pledged himself at the hustings to do all that he could to further it. No man was more anxious than he, an Irish-Roman Catholic, to abolish that which he thought to be the anomaly of a state church, and he did not in the least to doubt that he should now be doing the best in his power with that object in voting against the second reading of the present bill. That such a measure should be carried by the gentleman opposite, in their own teeth, at the bidding of the right honorable gentleman who led them, he thought to be impossible. Upon this he was hooded at from the other side with many gestures of indignant denial, and was, of course, equally cheered by those around him. Such interruptions are new breath to the nostrils of all orators, and Phineas enjoyed the noise. He repeated his assertion that it would be an evil thing for the country that the measure should be carried by men who in their hearts condemned it, and was vehemently called to order for this assertion about the hearts of gentlemen. But a speaker who can certainly be made amenable to authority, for vilapending in debate the heart of any specified opponent, may with safety attribute all manner of ill to the agglomerated hearts of a party. To have told any individual conservative, Sir Orlando Drout, for instance, that he was abandoning all the convictions of his life, because he was a creature at the command of Mr. Dobney, would have been an insult that would have moved even the speaker from his serenity. But you can hardly be personal to a whole bench of conservatives, to bench above bench of conservatives. The charge had been made, and repeated over and over again, till all the Orlando Drouts were ready to cut some man's throat, whether their own, or Mr. Dobney's, or Mr. Gresham's they hardly knew. It might probably have been Mr. Dobney's for choice had any real cutting of a throat been possible. It was now made again by Finneas Finn, with the ostensible object of defending himself, and he for the moment became the target for conservative wrath. Someone asked him in fury by what right he took upon himself to judge of the motives of gentlemen on that side of the house, of whom personally he knew nothing. Finneas replied that he did not at all doubt the motives of the honorable gentleman who asked the question, which he was sure were noble and patriotic, but unfortunately the whole country was convinced that the conservative party as a body was supporting this measure unwillingly, and at the bidding of one man, and for himself he was bound to say that he agreed with the country, and so the row was renewed and prolonged, and the gentleman assembled, members, and strangers together, passed a pleasant evening. Before he sat down, Finneas made one allusion to that former scuttling of the ship, an accusation as to which had been made against him so injuriously by Mr. Bontein. He himself, he said, had been called impractical, and perhaps he might allude to a vote which he had given in that house, when last he had the honor of sitting there, and on giving which he resigned the office which he had then held. He had the gratification of knowing that he had been so far practical as to have then foreseen the necessity of a measure which had since been passed, and he did not doubt that he would hear after be found to have been equally practical in the view that he had expressed on the hustings at Tancerville, for he was convinced that before long the anomaly of which he had spoken would cease to exist under the influence of a government that would really believe in the work it was doing. There was no doubt as to the success of his speech. The vehemence with which his insolence was abused by one after another of those who spoke later from the other side was ample evidence of its success, but nothing occurred then or at the conclusion of the debate to make him think that he had won his way back to Elysium. During the whole evening he exchanged not a syllable with Mr. Gresham, who indeed was not much given to converse with those around him in the house. Earl said a few good-natured words to him, and Mr. Monk praised him highly, but in reading the general barometer of the party as regarded himself, he did not find that the mercury went up. He was wretchedly anxious and angry with himself for his own anxiety. He scorned to say a word that should sound like an entreaty, and yet he had placed his whole heart on a thing which seemed to be slipping from him for the want of asking. In a day or two it would be known whether the present ministry would or would not go out. That they must be out of office before a month was over seemed to him the opinion of everybody. His fate, and what a fate it was, would then be absolutely in the hands of Mr. Gresham, yet he could not speak a word of his hopes and fears even to Mr. Gresham. He had given up everything in the world with the view of getting into office, and now that the opportunity had come, an opportunity which, if allowed to slip, could hardly return again in time to be of service to him, the prize was to elude his grasp. But yet he did not say a word to any one on the subject that was so near his heart, although in the course of the night he spoke to Lord Cantrip in the gallery of the house. He told his friend that a correspondence had taken place between himself and Mr. Bontein, in which he thought that he had been ill-used, and as to which he was quite anxious to ask his lordship's advice. I heard that you and he had been tilting at each other, said Lord Cantrip smiling. Have you seen the letters? No, but I was told of them by Lord Faun, who has seen them. I knew he would show them to every newsmonger about the clubs, said Phineus angrily. You can't quarrel with Bontein for showing them to Faun if you intend to show them to me. He may publish them at Charing Cross if he likes. Exactly! I am sure that there will have been nothing in them prejudicial to you. What I mean is that if you think it necessary, with a view to your own character, to show them to me or to another friend, you cannot complain that he should do the same. An appointment was made at Lord Cantrip's house for the next morning, and Phineus could but acknowledge to himself that the man's manner to himself had been kind and constant. Nevertheless the whole affair was going against him. Lord Cantrip had not said a word prejudicial to that wretch Bontein, much less had he hinted at any future arrangements which would be comfortable to poor Phineus. They too, Lord Cantrip and Phineus, had at one period been on most intimate terms together, had worked in the same office, and had thoroughly trusted each other. The elder of the two, for Lord Cantrip was about ten years senior to Phineus, had frequently expressed to the most lively interest in the prospects of the other, and Phineus had felt that in any emergency he could tell his friend all his hopes and fears. But now he did not say a word of his position, nor did Lord Cantrip allude to it. They were to meet on the morrow in order that Lord Cantrip might read the correspondence, but Phineus was sure that no word would be said about the government. At five o'clock in the morning the division took place, and the government was beaten by a majority of seventy-two. This was much higher than any man had expected. When the parties were marshaled in the opposite lobbies it was found that in the last moment the number of those conservatives who dared to rebel against their conservative leaders was swelled by the course which the debate had taken. For certain men who could not endure to be twitted with having deserted the principles of their lives, when it was clear that nothing was to be gained by the party by such desertion. End of CHAPTER XXXVI. CHAPTER XXXVII of Phineus Redux. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. CHAPTER XXXVII The Conspiracy. On the morning following the Great Division Phineus was with his friend, Lord Cantrip, by eleven o'clock, and Lord Cantrip when he had read the two letters in which were comprised of the whole correspondence, made to our unhappy hero the following little speech. I do not think that you can do anything—indeed I am sure that Mr. Monk is quite right. I don't quite see what it is that you wish to do. Privately, between our two selves, I do not hesitate to say that Mr. Bantine has intended to be ill-natured. I fancy that he is an ill-natured, or at any rate a jealous man, and that he would be willing to run down a competitor in the race who had made his running after a fashion different from his own. Bantine has been a useful man, a very useful man, and the more so perhaps because he has not entertained any high political theory of his own. You have chosen to do so, and undoubtedly when you and Monk left us, to our very great regret, you did scuttle the ship. We had no intention of that kind. Do not suppose that I blame you. That which was odious to the eyes of Mr. Bantine was to my thinking high in honorable conduct. I have known the same thing done by members of a government perhaps half a dozen times, and the men by whom it has been done have been the best and noblest of our modern statesmen. There has generally been a hard contest in the man's breast between loyalty to his party and strong personal convictions, the result of which has been an inability on the part of the Struggler to give even a silent support to a measure which he has disapproved. That inability is no doubt troublesome at the time to the colleagues of the secedre, and constitutes an offense hardly to be pardoned by such gentlemen as Mr. Bantine. For Mr. Bantine personally I care nothing. But, of course, you must endure the ill effects of his influence, be they what they may. When you seceded from our government you looked for certain adverse consequences. If you did not, where was your self-sacrifice? That such men as Mr. Bantine should feel that you had scuttle the ship, and be unable to forgive you for doing so, that is exactly the evil which you knew you must face. You have to face it now, and surely you can do so without showing your teeth. Hereafter when men more thoughtful than Mr. Bantine shall have come to acknowledge the high principle by which your conduct has been governed, you will receive your reward. I suppose Mr. Dobney must resign now. Everybody says so. I am by no means sure that he will. Any other minister since Lord North's time would have done so, with such a majority against him on a vital measure. But he is a man who delights in striking out some wonderful course for himself. A prime minister so beaten surely can't go on. Not for long one would think, and yet how are you to turn him out? It depends very much on a man's power of endurance. His colleagues will resign, I should think. Probably, and then he must go. I should say that that will be the way in which the matter will settle itself. Good morning, Finn, and take my word for it. You had better not answer Mr. Bantine's letter. Not a word had fallen from Lord Cantrip's friendly lips as to the probability of Phineas being invited to join the future government. An attempt had been made to console him with the hazy promise of some future reward, which, however, was to consist rather of the good opinion of good men than of anything tangible and useful. But even this would never come to him. What would good men know of him and of his self-sacrifice when he should have been driven out of the world by poverty and forced probably to go to some New Zealand or back Canadian settlement to look for his bread? How easy thought Phineas must be the sacrifices of rich men who can stay their time and wait in perfect security for their rewards! But for such a one as he, truth to a principle was political annihilation. Two or three years ago he had done what he knew to be a noble thing, and now, because he had done that noble thing, he was to be regarded as unfit for that very employment for which he was peculiarly fitted. But Bantine and Co. had not been his only enemies. His luck had been against him throughout. Mr. Quintus slide, with his people's banner, and the story of that wretched affair in Judd Street, had been as strong against him probably as Mr. Bantine's ill word. Then he thought of Lady Laura and her love for him. His gratitude to Lady Laura was boundless. There was nothing he would not do for Lady Laura. Were it in his power to do anything? But no circumstance in his career had been so unfortunate for him as this affection. A wretched charge had been made against him, which, though wholly untrue, was, as it were so strangely connected with the truth, that slanderers might not improbably be able almost to substantiate their columnies. She would be in London soon, and he must devote himself to her service. But every act of friendship that he might do for her would be used as proof of the accusation that had been made against him. As he thought of all this, he was walking towards Park Lane in order that he might call upon Madame Gossler, according to his promise. As he went up to the drawing-room, he met old Mr. Mall coming down, and the two bound to each other on the stairs. In the drawing-room, sitting with Madame Gossler, he found Mrs. Bantine. Now Mrs. Bantine was almost as odious to him as was her husband. "'Did you ever know anything more shameful, Mr. Finn?' said Mrs. Bantine. Then the attack made upon Mr. Bantine the night before last. Finneas could see a smile on Madame Gossler's face as the question was asked, for she knew, and he knew that she knew, how great was the antipathy between him and the Bantine's. The attack was upon Mr. Gresham, I thought," said Finneas. "'Oh, yes, nominally. But of course everybody knows what was meant. Upon my word there is twice more jealousy among men than among women. Is there not, Madame Gossler?' "'I don't think any man could be more jealous than I am myself,' said Madame Gossler. "'Then you're fit to be a member of a government, that's all. I don't suppose that there is a man in England who has worked harder for his party than Mr. Bantine.' "'I don't think there is,' said Finneas. Or made himself more useful in Parliament, as for work only that his constitution is so strong he would have killed himself.' "'He should take Thorley's mixture twice a day,' said Madame Gossler. "'Take! He never has time to take anything. He breakfasts in his dressing-room, carries his lunch in his pocket, and dines with the division-bell ringing him up between his fish and his mutton-chup. Now he has got their decimal coinage in hand, and has not a moment to himself, even on Sundays.' "'He'll be sure to go to heaven for it, that's one comfort.' "'And because they are absolutely obliged to make him Chancellor of the Exchequer, just as if he had not earned it, everybody is so jealous that they are ready to tear him to pieces.' "'Who is everybody?' asked Finneas. "'Oh, I know, it wasn't only Sir Orlando Drought. Who told Sir Orlando? Never mind, Mr. Finne.' "'I don't in the least, Mrs. Bonteen.' "'I should have thought you would have been so triumphant,' said Madame Gossler. "'Not in the least, Madame Gossler, why should I be triumphant? Of course the position is very high, very high indeed, but it's no more than what I have always expected. If a man give up his life to a pursuit he ought to succeed. As for ambition, I have less of it than any woman. Only I do hate jealousy, Mr. Finne.' Then Mrs. Bonteen took her leave, kissing her dear friend, Madame Gossler, and simply bowing to Finneas. "'What a detestable woman,' said Finneas. "'I know of old that you don't love her. I don't believe that you love her a bit better than I do, and yet you kiss her. Hardly then, Mr. Finne, there has come up a fashion for ladies to pretend to be very loving, and so they put their faces together. Two hundred years ago, ladies and gentlemen, did the same thing, with just as little regard for each other. Fashions change, you know. That was a change for the worse, certainly, Madame Gossler. It wasn't of my doing, so you've had a great victory. Yes, greater than we expected. According to Mrs. Bonteen, the chief result to the country will be that the taxes will be so very safe in her husband's hands. I am sure she believes that all Parliament has been at work in order that he might be made a cabinet minister. I rather like her for it. I don't like her or her husband. I do like a woman that can thoroughly enjoy her husband's success, when she is talking of his carrying about his food in his pocket she is completely happy. I don't think Lady Glencora ever cared in the least about her husband being Chancellor of the Exchequer. Because it added nothing to her own standing. That's very ill-natured, Mr. Finne, and I find that you are becoming generally ill-natured. You used to be the best humor of men. I hadn't so much to try my temper as I have now, and then you must remember, Madame Gossler, that I regard these people as being especially my enemies. Lady Glencora was never your enemy, nor my friend especially. Then you wrong her. If I tell you something you must be discreet. Am I not always discreet? She does not love Mr. Bonteen. She has had too much of him at Matching, and as for his wife, she is quite as unwilling to be kissed by her as you can be. Her grace is determined to fight your battle for you. I want her to do nothing of the kind, Madame Gossler. You will know nothing about it. We have put our heads to work, and Mr. Palliser, that is, the new Duke, is to be made to tell Mr. Gresham that you are to have a place. It is no good you being angry, for the thing is done. If you have enemies behind your back, you must have friends behind your back also. Lady Cantrip is to do the same thing. For heaven's sake, not! It's all arranged. You'll be called the lady's pet, but you mustn't mind that. Lady Laura will be here before it's arranged, and she will get hold of Mr. Earl. You are laughing at me, I know. Let them laugh that win. We thought of besieging Lord Faun through Lady Chiltern, but we are not sure that anybody cares for Lord Faun. The man we especially want now is the other Duke. We're afraid of attacking him through the Duchess, because we think that he is inhumanly indifferent to anything that his wife says to him. If that kind of thing is done, I shall not accept place even if it is offered me. Why not? Are you going to let a man like Mr. Bonteen bowl you over? Did you ever know Lady Glen fell in anything that she attempted? She is preparing a secret with the express object of making Mr. Rattler her confidant. Lord Mount Thistle is her slave. But then I fear Lord Mount Thistle is not of much use. She'll do anything and everything, except flatter Mr. Bonteen. Heaven forbid that anybody should do that for my sake. The truth is, that he made himself so disagreeable at matching, that Lady Glen is broken-hearted at finding that he is to seem to owe his promotion to her husband's favour. Now you know all about it. You have been very wrong to tell me. Perhaps I have, Mr. Finn, but I thought it better that you should know that you have friends at work for you. We believe, or rather the Duchess believes, that falsehoods have been used which are as disparaging to Lady Laura Kennedy as they are injurious to you, and she is determined to put it right. Someone has told Mr. Gresham that you have been the means of breaking the hearts both of Lord Brentford and Mr. Kennedy, two members of the late Cabinet, and he must be made to understand that this is untrue. If only for Lady Laura's sake you must submit. Lord Brentford and I are the best friends in the world. And Mr. Kennedy is a madman, absolutely in custody of his friends, as everybody knows, and yet the story has been made to work. And you do not feel that all this is derogatory to me? Madam Gossler was silent for a moment, and then she answered boldly. Not a wit! Why should it be derogatory? It is not done with the object of obtaining an improper appointment on behalf of an unimportant man. When falsehoods of that kind are told, you can't meet them in a straightforward way. I suppose I know with fair accuracy the sort of connection there has been between you and Lady Laura. Phineas very much doubted whether she had any such knowledge. And he said nothing, though the lady paused a few moments for reply. You can't go and tell Mr. Grisham all that, nor can any friend do so on your behalf. It would be absurd. Most absurd! And yet it is essential to your interests that he should know it. When your enemies are undermining you, you must counter mine or you'll be blown up. I'd rather fight above ground. That's all very well, but your enemies won't stay above ground. Is that newspaper man above ground? And for a little job of clever mining, believe me, that there is not a better engineer going than Lady Glen. Not but what I've known her to be very nearly hoist with her own petard," added Madame Gossler, as she remembered a certain circumstance in their joint lives. All that Madame Gossler said was true. A conspiracy had been formed, in the first place at the instance of Madame Gossler, but altogether by the influence of the young duchess, for forcing upon the future premier the necessity of admitting Phineas Finn into his government. On the Wednesday following the conclusion of the debate, the day on the morning of which the division was to take place, there was no house. On the Thursday, the last day on which the house was to sit before the Easter holidays, Mr. Dobney announced his intention of postponing the declaration of his intentions till after the adjournment. The house would meet, he said, on that day week, and then he would make his official statement. This communication he made very curtly, and in a manner that was thought by some to be almost insolent to the house. It was known that he had been grievously disappointed by the result of the debate, not probably having expected a majority, since his adversary's strategy had been declared, but always hoping that the deserters from his own standard would be very few. The deserters had been very many, and Mr. Dobney was majestic in his wrath. Nothing, however, could be done till after Easter. The rattlers of the Liberal Party were very angry at the delay, declaring that it would have been much to the advantage of the country at large, that the vacation week should have been used for constructing a Liberal Cabinet. This work of construction always takes time, and delays the business of the country. No one can have known better than did Mr. Dobney how great was the injury of delay, and how advantageously the short holiday might have been used. With a majority of seventy-two against him, there could be no reason why he should not have at once resigned, and advised the Queen to send for Mr. Gresham. Nothing could be worse than his conduct. So said the Liberals, thirsting for office. Mr. Gresham himself did not open his mouth when the announcement was made, nor did any man, marked for future office, rise to denounce the beaten statesmen. But one or two independent members expressed their great regret at the unnecessary delay which was to take place before they were informed who was to be the Minister of the Crown. But Mr. Dobney, as soon as he had made his statement, stalked out of the house, and no reply whatever was made to the independent members. Some few sublime and hot-headed gentlemen muttered the word impeachment. Others who were more practical and less dignified suggested that the Prime Minister ought to have his head punched. It thus happened that all the world went out of town that week, so that the Duchess of Omnium was down at Matching when Phineas called at the Duke's house in Carlton Terrace on Friday. With what object he had called he hardly knew himself, but he thought that he intended to assure the Duchess that he was not a candidate for office, and that he must deprecate her interference. Luckily, or unluckily, he did not see her, and he felt that it would be impossible to convey his wishes in a letter. The whole subject was one which would have defied him to find words sufficiently discreet for his object. The Duke and Duchess of St. Bange were at Matching for the Easter, as also was Barrington Earl, and also that dreadful Mr. Bantine, from whose presence the poor Duchess of Omnium could in these days never altogether deliver herself. "'Duke,' she said, "'you know Mr. Phine?' "'Certainly. It was not very long ago that I was talking to him. He used to be in office, you remember? Oh, yes, and a very good beginner he was. Is he a friend of your graces?' "'A great friend. I'll tell you what I want you to do. You must have some place found for him. My dear Duchess, I never interfere. Why, Duke, you've made more cabinets than any man living. I fear indeed that I have been at the construction of more governments than most men. It's forty years ago since Lord Melbourne first did me the honour of consulting me. When asked for advice, my dear, I have very often given it. It has occasionally been my duty to say that I could not myself give my slender assistance to a ministry unless I were supported by the presence of this or that political friend. But never in my life have I asked for an appointment as a personal favour, and I am sure you won't be angry with me if I say that I cannot begin to do so now. But Mr. Phine ought to be there. He did so well before. If so, let us presume that he will be there. I can only say, from what little I know of him, that I shall be happy to see him in any office to which the future prime minister may consider it to be his duty to appoint him. To think, said the Duchess of Omnium afterwards to her friend Madame Gossler, to think that I should have had that stupid old woman a week in the house, and all for nothing. Upon my word, Duchess, said Barrington Earl, I don't know why it is, but Gresham seems to have taken a dislike to him. It's Bonteens doing. Very probably. Surely you can get the better of that. I look upon Phineus Finn, Duchess, almost as a child of my own. He has come back to Parliament altogether at my instigation. Then you ought to help him. And so I would, if I could. Remember I am not the man I used to be when dear old Mr. Mildmay reigned. The truth is, I never interfere now unless I am asked. I believe that every one of you is afraid of Mr. Gresham. Perhaps we are. I'll tell you what. If he's passed over I'll make such a row that some of you shall hear it. How fond all you women are of Phineus Finn! I don't care that for him, said the Duchess, snapping her fingers. More than I do, that is, for any other mere acquaintance. The man is very well, as most men are. Not all? No, not all. Some are as little and jealous as a girl in her tenth season. He is a decently good fellow, and he is to be thrown over because— Because of what? I don't choose to name any one. You ought to know all about it, and I do not doubt, but you do. Lady Laura Kennedy is your own cousin. There is not a spark of truth in all that. Of course there is not, and yet he is to be punished. I know very well, Mr. Earl, that if you choose to put your shoulder to the wheel you can manage it, and I shall expect to have it managed. Plantagenin, she said the next day to her husband, I want you to do something for me. To do something? What am I to do? It's very seldom you want anything in my line. This isn't in your line at all, and yet I want you to do it. Ten to one it's beyond my means. No it isn't. I know you can, if you like. I suppose you are all sure to be in office within ten days or a fortnight? I can't say, my dear. I have promised Mr. Gresham to be of use to him, if I can. Everybody knows all that. You're going to be privy seal, and to work just the same as ever at those horrible two far things. And what is it you want, Glencora? I want you to say that you won't take any office unless you are allowed to bring in one or two friends with you. Why should I do that? I shall not doubt any cabinet chosen by Mr. Gresham. I am not speaking of the cabinet. I allude to men in lower offices, lords and undersecretaries and vice-people. You know what I mean. I never interfere. But you must. Other men do continually. It's quite a common thing for a man to insist that one or two others should come in with him. Yes, if a man feels that he cannot sustain his own position without support, he declines to join the government without it. But that is in my case. The friends who are necessary to me in the cabinet are the very men who will certainly be there. I would join no government without the duke, but— Oh, the duke, the duke! I hate dukes and duchesses, too. I'm not talking about a duke. I want you to oblige me by making a point with Mr. Gresham that Mr. Finn shall have an office. Mr. Finn? Yes, Mr. Finn. I'll explain it all if you wish it. My dear Glencora, I never interfere. Who does interfere? Everybody says the same. Somebody interferes, I suppose. Mr. Gresham can't know everybody so well as to be able to fit all the pegs into all the holes without saying a word to anybody. He would probably speak to Mr. Bontein. Then he would speak to a very disagreeable man, and one I'm as sick of as I ever was of any man I ever knew. If you can't manage this for me, Plantagenet, I shall take it very ill. It's a little thing, and I'm sure you could have it done. I don't very often trouble you by asking for anything." The duke, in his quiet way, was an affectionate man, and an indulgent husband. On the following morning he was closeted with Mr. Bontein, two private secretaries, and a leading clerk from the Treasury for four hours, during which they were endeavouring to ascertain whether the commercial world of Great Britain would be ruined or enriched if twelve pennies were declared to contain fifty farthings. The discussion had been grievously burdensome to the minds of the duke's assistants in it, but he himself had remembered his wife through it all. "'By the way,' he said, whispering into Mr. Bontein's private ear as he led that gentleman away to lunch, "'If we do come in—' "'Oh, we must come in. "'If we do, I suppose something will be done for that Mr. Finn.' He spoke well the other night. Mr. Bontein's face became very long. He helped to upset the coach when he was with us before. I don't think that that is much against him. Is he a personal friend of your graces? No, not particularly. I never care about such things for myself. But Lady Glencora—' I think that duchess can hardly know what has been his conduct to poor Kennedy. There was a most disreputable row at a public house in London, and I am told that he behaved very badly. "'I never heard a word about it,' said the duke. "'I'll tell you just the truth,' said Mr. Bontein. "'I've been asked about him, and I've been obliged to say that he would weaken any government that would give him office.' "'Oh, indeed.' That evening the duke told the duchess nearly all that he had heard, and the duchess swore that she wasn't going to be beaten by Mr. Bontein. CHAPTER XXXIII On the Wednesday in Easter-week Lord Brentford and Lady Laura Kennedy reached Portman Square from Dresden, and Phineas, who had remained in town, was summonedither by a note written at Dover. He arrived here to-day and shall be in town to-morrow afternoon between four and five. Papa wants to see you, especially. Can you manage to be withish in the square at about eight? I know it will be inconvenient, but you will put up with inconvenience. I don't like to keep Papa up late, and if he is tired he won't speak to you as he would if you came early. L.K. This was engaged to dine with Lord Cantrip, but he wrote to excuse himself, telling the simple truth. He had been asked to see Lord Brentford on business, and must obey the summons. He was shown into a sitting-room on the ground floor, which he had always known as the Earl's own room, and there he found Lord Brentford alone. The last time he had been there he had come to plead with the Earl on behalf of Lord Chilton, and the Earl had then been a stern, self-willed man, vigorous from a sense of power, and very able to maintain and to express his own feelings. Now he was a broken-down old man, whose mind had been, as it were, unbooted, and put into moral slippers for the remainder of its term of existence upon earth. He half shuffled up out of his chair, as Phineas came up to him, and spoke as though every calamity in the world were oppressing him. Such a passage! Oh, very bad indeed! I thought it would have been the death of me! Laura thought it better to come on. The fact, however, had been that the Earl had so many objections to staying at Calais, that his daughter had felt herself obliged to yield to him. You must be glad at any rate to have got home, said Phineas. Home? I don't know what you call home. I don't suppose I shall ever feel any place to be home again. You'll go to Salisbury, will you not? How can I tell? If Chilton would have kept a house up, of course I should have gone there. But he never would do anything like anybody else. Violet wants me to go to that place they've got there, but I shan't do that. It's a comfortable house. I hate horses and dogs, and I won't go. There was nothing more to be said on that point. I hope Lady Laura is well. No, she's not. How should she be well? She's anything but well. She'll be indirectly, but she thought I ought to see you first. I suppose this wretched man is really mad? I am told so. He was never anything else since I knew him. What are we to do now? Forster says it won't look well to ask for a separation only because he's insane. He tried to shoot you, and very nearly succeeded. Forster says that if we do anything all that must come out. There need not be the slightest hesitation as far as I am concerned, Lord Brentford. You know he keeps all her money. At present I suppose he couldn't give it up. Why not? Why shouldn't he give it up? God bless my soul. Forty thousand pounds and all for nothing. When he married he declared he didn't care about it. Money was nothing to him. So she lent it to children. I remember. But they hadn't been together a year before he asked for it. Now there it is, and if she were to die to-morrow it would be lost to the family. Something must be done, you know. I can't let her money go in that way. You'll do what Mr. Forster suggests, no doubt. But he won't suggest anything they never do. He doesn't care what becomes of the money. It ought never to have been given up as it was. It was settled, I suppose. Yes, if there were children, and it will come back to her if he dies first. But mad people never do die. That's a well-known fact. They've nothing to trouble them, and they live for ever. It'll all go to some cousin of his that nobody ever saw. Not as long as Lady Laura lives. But she does not get a penny of the income, not a penny. There never was anything so cruel. She has published all manner of accusations against her. Nobody believes a word of that, my lord. And then when she is dragged forward by the necessity of vindicating her character, he goes mad and keeps all her money. There never was anything so cruel since the world began. This continued for half an hour, and then Lady Laura came in. Nothing had come or could have come from the consultation with the Earl. Had it gone on for another hour, he would simply have continued to grumble, and have persevered and insisting upon the hardships he had endured. Lady Laura was in black, and looked sad, and old, and care-worn. But she did not seem to be ill. Phineas could not but think at the moment how entirely her youth had passed away from her. She came and sat close by him, and began at once to speak of the late debate. Of course, they'll go out, she said. I presume they will, and our party will come in. Oh yes, Mr. Gresham and the two dukes and Lord Cantrip, with Leg Wilson, Sir Harry Coldfoot and the rest of them. And you, Phineas smiled and tried to smile pleasantly as he answered, I don't know that they'll put themselves out by doing very much for me. They'll do something. I fancy not, indeed, Lady Laura, to tell the truth at once. I know they don't mean to offer me anything. After making you give up your place in Ireland? They didn't make me give it up. I should never dream of using such an argument to any one. Of course I had to judge for myself. There is nothing to be said about it. Only it is so. As he told her this, he strove to look light-hearted, and so to speak that she should not see the depth of his disappointment, but he failed altogether. She knew him too well not to read his whole heart in the matter. Who has said it, she asked? Nobody says things of that kind, and yet one knows. And why is it? How can I say? There are various reasons, and perhaps very good reasons. What I did before makes men think that they can't depend on me. At any rate, it is so. Shall you not speak to Mr. Gresham? Certainly not. What do you say, Papa? How can I understand it, my dear? There used to be a kind of honour in these things, but that's all old-fashioned now. Ministers used to think of their political friends, but in these days they only regard their political enemies. If you can make a minister afraid of you, then it becomes worth his while to buy you up. Most of the young men rise now by making themselves thoroughly disagreeable. Abuse a minister every night for half a session, but you may be sure to be in office the other half, if you care about it. May I speak to Barrington Earl, asked Lady Laura? I had rather you did not. Of course I must take it as it comes. But my dear Mr. Finn, people do make efforts in such cases. I don't doubt that at this moment there are half a dozen men moving heaven and earth to secure something. No one has more friends than you have. Had not her father been present he would have told her what his friends were doing for him and how unhappy such interferences made him, but he could not explain all this before the Earl. I would so much rather hear about yourself, he said again, smiling. There is but little to say about us. I suppose papa has told you? But the Earl had told him nothing, and indeed there was nothing to tell. The lawyer had advised that Mr. Kennedy's friends should be informed that Lady Laura now intended to live in England and that they should be invited to make to her some statement as to Mr. Kennedy's condition. If necessary, he, on her behalf, would justify her departure from her husband's roof by reference to the outrageous conduct of which Mr. Kennedy had since been guilty. In regard to Lady Laura's fortune Mr. Forsta said she could no doubt apply for alimony and that if the application were pressed at law she would probably obtain it, but he could not recommend such a step at the present moment. As to the accusation which had been made against her character, and which had become public through the malice of the editor of the People's Banner, Mr. Forsta thought that the best refutation would be found in her return to England. At any rate he would advise no further step at the present moment. Should any further libel appear in the columns of the newspaper, then the question might again be considered. Mr. Forsta had already been in Portman Square, and this had been the result of the conference. There is not much comfort in it all, is there, said Lady Laura. There is no comfort in anything, said the Earl. When Phineas took his leave, Lady Laura followed him out into the hall, and they went together into the large, gloomy dining-room, gloomy and silent now but which in former days he had known to be brilliant with many lights and cheerful with eager voices. I must have one word with you, she said, standing close to him against the table, and putting her hand upon his arm. Amidst all my sorrow I have been so thankful that he did not kill you. I almost wish he had. Oh Phineas, how can you say words so wicked? Would you have had him a murderer? A madman is responsible for nothing. Where should I have been? What should I have done? But of course you do not mean it. You have everything in life before you. Say some word to me more comfortable than that. You cannot think how I have looked forward to meeting you again. It has robbed last month of half its sadness. He put his arm around her waist and pressed her to his side, but he said nothing. It was so good of you to go to him as you did. How is he looking? Twenty years older than when you saw him last. But how in health? He was thin and haggard. Was he pale? No, flushed and red. He had not shaved himself for days, nor as I believe had he been out of his room since he came up to London. I fancy that he will not live long. Poor fellow, unhappy man, I was very wrong to marry him, Phineas. I have never said so, nor indeed thought so. But I have thought so, and I say it also to you. I owe him any reparation that I can make him, but I could not have lived with him. I had no idea before that the nature of two human beings could be so unlike. I so often remember what you told me of him, here, in this house, when I first brought you together. Alas, how sad it has been! Sad indeed. But can this be true that you tell me of yourself? It is quite true. I could not say so before your father, but it is Mr. Bontein's doing. There is no remedy. I am sure of that. I am only afraid that people are interfering for me in a manner that will be as disagreeable to me as it will be useless. What friends, she asked. He was still standing with his arm around her waist, and he did not like to mention the name of Madame Gersler, the Duchess of Omnium, whom you remember as Lady Glencora Palliser. Is she a friend of yours? No, not particularly, but she is an indiscreet woman and hates Bontein, and has taken it into her stupid head to interest herself in my concerns. It is no doing of mine, and yet I cannot help it. She will succeed. I don't want assistance from such a quarter, and I feel sure that she will not succeed. What will you do, Phineas? What shall I do, carry on the battle as long as I can without getting into debt, and then vanish? You vanished once before, did you not, with a wife? And now I shall vanish alone. My poor little wife, it seems all like a dream. She was so good, so pure, so pretty, so loving. Loving? A man's love is so easily transferred, as easily as a woman's hand. Is it not, Phineas? Say the word, for it is what you are thinking. I was thinking of no such thing. You must think it. You need not be afraid to reproach me. I could bear it from you. What could I not bear from you? Oh Phineas, if I had only known myself then as I do now. It is too late for regrets, he said. There was something in the words which grated on her feelings, and induced her at length to withdraw herself from his arm. Too late for regrets. She had never told herself that it was not too late. She was the wife of another man, and therefore surely it was too late. But still the word coming from his mouth was painful to her. It seemed to signify that for him, at least, the game was all over. Yes indeed, she said, if our regrets and remorse were at our disposal, you might as well say that it is too late for unhappiness, too late for weariness, too late for all the misery that comes from a life's disappointments. I should have said that indulgence in regrets is vain. That is a scrap of philosophy which I have heard so often before. But we will not quarrel, will we, on the first day of my return? I hope not. And I may speak to Barrington? No, certainly not. But I shall. How can I help it? He will be here to-morrow, and will be full of the coming changes. How should I not mention your name? He knows, not all that has passed, but too much not to be aware of my anxiety. Of course your name will come up. What I request, what I demand, is that you ask no favour for me. Your father will miss you, will he not? I had better go now. Good night, Phineas. Good night, dear friend. Dearest, dearest friend, she said. Then he left her, and without assistance, let himself out into the square. In her intercourse with her there was a passion, the expression of which caused him sorrow, and almost dismay. He did not say so even to himself, but he felt that a time might come in which he would resent the coldness of demeanor, which it would be imperative upon him to adopt in his intercourse with her. He knew now how imprudent he had been to stand there with his arm around her waist. It was known to the world at large that cabinet councils were held on the Friday previous, on the Monday, and on the Tuesday, but nobody knew what took place at those meetings. Cabinet councils are, of course, very secret. What kind of oath the members take not to divulge any tittle of the proceedings at these awful conferences the general public does not know. But it is presumed that the oaths taken are very solemn, and it is known that they are very binding. Nevertheless, it is not an uncommon thing to hear openly at the clubs an account of what has been settled. And as we all know, not a council is held, as to which the editor of the People's Banner does not inform its readers the next day exactly what took place. But as to these three cabinet councils there wasn't increased mystery abroad. Statements, indeed, were made very definite and circumstantial, but then they were various and directly opposed to one another. According to the People's Banner, Mr. Dobiny had resolved with that enduring courage, which was his peculiar characteristic, that he would not be overcome by faction, but would continue to exercise all the functions of Prime Minister until he had had an opportunity of learning whether his great measure had been opposed by the sense of the country or only by the tactics of an angry and greedy party. Other journals declared that the ministry as a whole had decided on resigning, but the clubs were in a state of agonizing doubt. At the great stronghold of conservative policy in Palmao, men were silent, embarrassed, and unhappy. The party was at heart divorced from its leaders, and a party without leaders is powerless. To these gentlemen there could be no triumph whether Mr. Dobiny went out or remained in office. They had been betrayed, but as a body were unable even to accuse the traitor. As regarded most of them they had accepted the treachery and bowed their heads beneath it by means of their votes, and as to the few who had been staunch they also were cowed by a feeling that they had been instrumental in destroying their own power by endeavouring to protect a doomed institution. Many a thriving county member in those days expressed to wish among his friends that he had never meddled with the affairs of public life and hinted at the children hundreds. On the other side there was undoubtedly something of a rabid desire for immediate triumph which almost deserved that epithet of greedy which was then commonly used by conservatives in speaking of their opponents. With the liberal leaders such men as Mr. Gresham and the two Dukes, the anxiety displayed was no doubt on behalf of the country. It is right, according to our constitution, that the government should be entrusted to the hands of those whom the constituencies of the country have most trusted, and on behalf of the country it behooves the men in whom the country has placed its trust to do battle in season and out of season, to carry on war internecine till the demands of the country are obeyed. A sound political instinct had induced Mr. Gresham on this occasion to attack his opponent simply on the ground of his being the leader only of a minority in the House of Commons. But from among Mr. Gresham's friends there had arisen the noise which sounded very like a clamor for place, and this noise of course became aggravated in the ears of those who were to be displaced. Now during Easter week the clamor became very loud. Could it be possible that the archfiend of a minister would dare to remain in office till the end of a hurried session, and then again dissolve Parliament? Men talked of rouse and London, even of revolution, and there were meetings and open places, both by day and night. Petitions would be each prepared, and the country was to be made to express itself. When however Thursday afternoon came Mr. Dawbany threw up the sponge. Up to the last moment the course which he intended to pursue was not known to the country at large. He entered the house very slowly, almost with a languid air as though indifferent to its performances, and took his seat at about half past four. Every man there felt that there was insolence in his demeanor, and yet there was nothing on which it was possible to fasten in the way of an expressed complaint. There was a faint attempt at a cheer, for good soldiers acknowledged the importance of supporting even an unpopular general. But Mr. Dawbany's soldiers on this occasion were not very good. When he had been seated about five minutes he rose, still very languidly, and began his statement. He and his colleagues, he said, in their attempt to legislate for the good of their country, had been beaten in regard to a very great measure by a large majority, and in compliance with what he acknowledged to be the expressed opinion of the house he had considered it to be his duty, as his colleagues had considered it to be theirs, to place their joint resignations in the hands of Her Majesty. This statement was received with considerable surprise, as it was not generally known that Mr. Dawbany had as yet even seen the queen. But the feeling most predominant of the house was one almost of dismay at the man's quiescence. He and his colleagues had resigned, and he had recommended Her Majesty to send for Mr. Gresham. He spoke in so low a voice as to be hardly audible to the house at large, and then paused, ceasing to speak as though his work were done. He even made some gesture as though stepping back to his seat, deceived by which Mr. Gresham at the other side of the table rose to his legs. Perhaps, said Mr. Dawbany, perhaps the right honourable gentleman would pardon him, and the house would pardon him, if still, for a moment, he interposed between the house and the right honourable gentleman. He could well understand the impatience of the right honourable gentleman, who no doubt was anxious to reassume that authority among them, the temporary loss of which he had not perhaps born with all the equanimity which might have been expected from him. He would promise the house and the right honourable gentleman that he would not detain them long. Mr. Gresham threw himself back into his seat, evidently not without annoyance, and his enemy stood for a moment looking at him. Unless they were angels, these two men must at that moment have hated each other, and it is supposed that they were no more than human. It was afterward said that the little ruse of pretending to resume his seat had been deliberately planned by Mr. Dawbany with the view of seducing Mr. Gresham into an act of seeming impatience and that these words about his opponent's failing equanimity had been carefully prepared. Mr. Dawbany stood for a minute silent, and then began to pour forth that which really was his speech on the occasion. Those flaccid, half-pronounced syllables in which he had declared that he had resigned, had been studiously careless, purposely flaccid. It was his duty to let the house know the fact, and he did his duty. But now he had a word to say in which he himself could take some little interest. Mr. Dawbany could be fiery or flaccid as it suited himself, and now it suited him to be fiery. He had a prophecy to make, and prophets have ever been energetic men. Mr. Dawbany conceived it to be his duty to inform the house and through the house, the country, that now at last had the day of ruin come upon the British Empire because it had bowed itself to the dominion of an unscrupulous and greedy faction. It cannot be said that the language which he used was unmeasured, because no word that he uttered would have warranted the speaker in calling him to order. But within the very wide bounds of parliamentary etiquette there was no limit to the reproach and reprobation which he heaped on the house of commons for its late vote. And his audacity equaled his insolence. In announcing his resignation he had condescended to speak of himself and his colleagues, but now he dropped his colleagues as though they were unworthy of his notice, and spoke only of his own doings, of his own efforts to save the country, which was indeed willing to be saved, but unable to select fitting instruments of salvation. He had been twitted, he said, with inconsistency to his principles by men who were simply unable to understand the meaning of the word conservatism. These gentlemen seemed to think that any man who did not set himself up as an apostle of constant change must therefore be bound always to stand still and see his country perish from stagnation. It might be that there were gentlemen in that house whose timid nature could not face the dangers of any movement, but for himself he would say that no word had ever fallen from his lips which justified either his friends or his adversaries in classing him among the number. If a man be anxious to keep his fire alight, does he refuse to touch the sacred coals as in the course of nature they are consumed, or does he move them with the salutary poker and add fresh fuel from the basket? They all knew that enemy to the comfort of the domestic hearth who could not keep his hands for a moment from the fire irons. Perhaps he might be justified if he said that they had been very much troubled of late in that house by gentlemen who could not keep their fingers from poker and tongs, but there had now fallen upon them a trouble of a nature much more serious in its effects than any that had come or could come from would-be reformers. A spirit of personal ambition, a wretched thirst for office, a hankering after the power and privileges of ruling, had not only actuated men, as alas had been the case since first the need for men to govern others had arisen in the world, but had been openly abound and put forward as an adequate and sufficient reason for opposing a measure in disapprobation of which no single argument had been used. The right honourable gentleman's proposition to the house had been simply this. I shall oppose this measure, be it good or bad, because I desire myself to be prime minister, and I call upon those whom I lead in politics to assist me in doing so, in order that they may share the good things on which we may thus be enabled to lay our hands. Then there arose a great row in the house, and there seemed to be a doubt whether the still existing minister of the day would be allowed to continue his statement. Mr. Gresham rose to his feet, but sat down again instantly without having spoken a word that was audible. Two or three voices were heard calling upon the speaker for protection. It was, however, asserted afterwards that nothing had been said which demanded the speaker's interference. But all moderate voices were soon lost in the enraged clamour of members on each side. The insolence showered upon those who generally supported Mr. D'Aubany had equaled that with which he had exasperated those opposed to him, and as the words had fallen from his lips there had been no purpose of cheering him from the conservative benches. But noise creates noise, and shouting is a ready and easy mode of contest. For a while it seemed as though the right side of the speaker's chair was only beaten by the majority of lungs on the left side, and in the midst of it all Mr. D'Aubany still stood firm on his feet till gentlemen had shouted themselves silent, and then he resumed his speech. The remainder of what he said was profound, prophetic, and unintelligible. But just of it, so far as it could be understood when the brand was bolted from it, consisted in an assurance that the country had now reached that period of its life in which rapid decay was inevitable, and that as the mortal disease had already shown itself in its worst form national decrepitude was imminent and natural death could not long be postponed. They who attempted to read the prophecy with accuracy were of the opinion that the prophet had intimated that had the nation, even in this its crisis, consented to take him, the prophet, as its sole physician, and to obey his prescription with child-like docility, health might not only have been re-established, but a new juvenessence absolutely created. The nature of the medicine that should have been taken was even supposed to have been indicated in some very vague terms. Had he been allowed to operate he would have cut the tap-roots of the national cancer, have introduced fresh blood into the national veins, and resuscitated the national digestion, and he seemed to think that the nation, as a nation, was willing enough to undergo the operation and be treated as he should choose to treat it, but that the incubus of Mr. Gresham, backed by an unworthy House of Commons, had prevented and was preventing the nation from having its way. Therefore the nation must be destroyed. Mr. Dorbany, as soon as he had completed his speech, took up his hat and stalked out of the House. It was supposed at the time that the retiring Prime Minister had intended, when he rose to his legs, not only to denounce his opponents, but also to separate himself from his own unworthy associates. Then said that he had become disgusted with politics, disappointed and altogether demoralized by defeat, and great curiosity existed as to the steps which might be taken at the time by the party of which he had hitherto been the leader. On that evening at any rate nothing was done. When Mr. Dorbany was gone, Mr. Gresham rose, and said that in the present temper of the House he thought it best to postpone any statement from himself. He had received Her Majesty's commands only as he had entered the House, and in obedience to those commands he should wait upon Her Majesty early to-morrow. He hoped to be able to inform the House at the afternoon sitting what was the nature of the commands with which Her Majesty might honor him. What do you think of that? Phineas asked Mr. Monk that they left the House together. I think our chatham of today is but a very poor copy of him who misbehaved a century ago. Does not the whole thing distress you? Not particularly. I have always felt that there has been a mistake about Mr. Dorbany. By many he has been accounted as a statesman, whereas to me he has always been a political caliostro. Now a conjurer, I think, is a very pleasant fellow to have among us, if we know that he is a conjurer. But a conjurer who is believed to do his tricks without sleight of hand is a dangerous man. It is essential that such a one should be found out and known to be a conjurer, and I hope that such knowledge may have been communicated to some men this afternoon. He was very great, said Rattler, to Bonteen. Did you not think so? Yes, I did, very powerful indeed. But the party is broken up to Adams. Adams soon come together again in politics, said Rattler. They can't do without him. They haven't got anybody else. I wonder what he did when he got home. Had some gruel and went to bed, said Bonteen. They say these scenes of the house never disturb him at home. For which conversations it may be inferred that Mr. Monk and Mrs. Rattler and Bonteen did not agree in their ideas respecting political conjurers.