 Chapter 6 of Phineas Finn the Irish Member This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recorded by Mill Nicholson Phineas Finn the Irish Member by Anthony Trollop Chapter 6 Lord Brentford's Dinner No, in such a case as that, should he resolve upon taking the advice of his old friend, Mr. Lowe. Phineas Finn must make up his mind never to see Lady Laura Standish again. And he was in love with Lady Laura Standish, and, for oughty new, Lady Laura Standish might be in love with him. As he walked home from Mr. Lowe's house in Bedford Square, he was by no means a triumphant man. There had been much more said between him and Mr. Lowe, than could be laid before the reader in the last chapter. Mr. Lowe had urged him again and again, and had prevailed so far, that Phineas, before he left the house, had promised to consider that suicidal expedient of the children hundreds. What a byword he would become if he were to give up Parliament, having sat there for about a week. But such immediate giving up was one of the necessities of Mr. Lowe's programme. According to Mr. Lowe's teaching, a single year past amidst the miasma of the House of Commons, would be altogether fatal to any chance a professional success. And Mr. Lowe had at any rate succeeded in making Phineas believe that he was right in this lesson. There was his profession, as to which Mr. Lowe assured him that success was within his reach. And there was Parliament on the other side, as to which he knew that the chances were all against him, in spite of his advantage of a seat. That he could not combine the two, beginning with Parliament, he did believe. Which should it be? That was the question which he tried to decide, as he walked home from Bedford Square to Great Marlborough Street. He could not answer the question satisfactorily, and went to bed an unhappy man. He must at any rate go to Lord Bedford's dinner on Wednesday, and, to enable him to join in the conversation there, must attend the debates on Monday and Tuesday. The reader may perhaps be best made to understand how terrible was our hero's state of doubt by being told that for a while he thought of absenting himself from these debates, as being likely to weaken his purpose of withdrawing altogether from the House. It is not very often that so strong a fury rages between party and party at the commencement of the session that a division is taken upon the address. It is customary for the leader of the opposition on such occasions to express his opinion in the most courteous language that his right honourable friend, sitting opposite to him on the treasury bench, has been, is and will be wrong in everything that he thinks, says or does in public life. But that, as anything like factious opposition is never adopted on that side of the House, the address to the Queen, in answer to that most fatuous speech which has been put into Her Majesty's gracious mouth, shall be allowed to pass unquestioned. Then the leader of the House thanks his adversary for his consideration, explains to all men how happy the country ought to be that the government has not fallen into the disgracefully incapable hands of his right honourable friend opposite. And after that the address is carried amidst universal serenity. But such was not the order of the day on the present occasion. Mr. Mildmay, the veteran leader of the Liberal side of the House, had moved an amendment to the address, and had urged upon the House in very strong language the expediency of showing at the very commencement of the session that the country had returned to Parliament a strong majority determined not to put up with conservative inactivity. I conceive it to be my duty, Mr. Mildmay had said, at once to assume that the country is unwilling that the right honourable gentleman opposite should keep their seats on the bench upon which they sit, and in the performance of that duty I am called upon to divide the House upon the address to Her Majesty. And if Mr. Mildmay used strong language, the reader may be sure that Mr. Mildmay's followers used language much stronger. And Mr. Dobini, who was the present leader of the House, and representative there of the Ministry, Lord Deteria, the Premier, sitting in the House of Lords, was not the man to allow these amenities to pass by without adequate replies. He and his friends were very strong in sarcasm, if they failed in argument, and lacked nothing for words, though it might perhaps be proved that they were short in numbers. It was considered that the speech in which Mr. Dobini reviewed the long political life of Mr. Mildmay, and showed that Mr. Mildmay had been at one time a bugbear, and then a nightmare, and latterly simply a fungus, was one of the severest attacks, if not the most severe, that had been heard in that House since the Reform Bill. Mr. Mildmay, the wile, was sitting with his hat low down over his eyes, and many men said that he did not like it, but this speech was not made till after that dinner at Lord Brentford's, of which a short account must be given. Had it not been for the overwhelming interest of the doings in Parliament at the commencement of the session, Phineas might have perhaps abstained from attending, in spite of the charm of novelty. For in truth Mr. Lowe's words had moved him much, but if it was to be his fate to be a member of Parliament only for ten days, surely it would be well that he should take advantage of the time to hear such a debate as this. It would be a thing to talk of to his children, in twenty years' time, or to his grandchildren in fifty, and it would be essentially necessary that he should be able to talk of it to Lady Laura Standish. He did therefore sit in the House till one on the Monday night, until two on the Tuesday night, and heard the debate adjourned till the Thursday. On the Thursday Mr. Dubini was to make his great speech, and then the division would come. When Phineas entered Lady Laura's drawing-room on the Wednesday before dinner, he found the other guests all assembled. Why men should have been earlier in keeping their dinner engagements on that day than on any other, he did not understand, but it was the fact, probably, that the great anxiety of the time made those who were at all concerned in the matter very keen to hear and to be heard. During these days everybody was in a hurry, everybody was eager, and there was a common feeling that not a minute was to be lost. There were three ladies in the room, Lady Laura, Miss Fitzgibbon, and Mrs. Bonteen. The latter was the wife of a gentleman who had been a junior lord of the Admiralty in the late government, and who lived in the expectation of filling, perhaps, some higher office in the government which, as he hoped, was soon to be called into existence. There were five gentlemen besides Phineas Finn himself, Mr. Bonteen, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Fitzgibbon, Barrington Earle, who had been caught in spite of all that Lady Laura had said as to the difficulty of such an operation, and Lord Brentford. Phineas was quick to observe that every male guest was in Parliament, and to tell himself that he would not have been there unless he also had had a seat. We are all here now," said the Earle, ringing the bell. I hope I have not kept you waiting, said Phineas. Not at all, said Lady Laura. I do not know why we are in such a hurry, and how many do you say it will be, Mr. Finn? Seventeen, I suppose, said Phineas. More likely twenty-two, said Mr. Bonteen. There is coal-cluff, so ill they can't possibly bring him up, and young Rochester is at Vienna, and Gunning is sulking about something, and Moody has lost his eldest son. By George they pressed him to come up, although Frank Moody won't be buried till Friday. I don't believe it, said Lord Brentford. You ask some of the Carlton Fellows, and they'll own it. If I had lost every relation I had in the world, said Fitzgibbon, I'd vote on such a question as this. Staying away won't bring poor Frank Moody back to life. But there's a decency in these matters, is there not, Mr. Fitzgibbon? said Lady Laura. I thought they had thrown all that kind of thing overboard, long ago, said Miss Fitzgibbon. It would be better that they should have no veil and squabble about the thickness of it. Then dinner was announced. The Earl walked off with Miss Fitzgibbon, Barrington Earl took Mrs. Bonteen, and Mr. Fitzgibbon took Lady Laura. I'll bet four pounds to two, it's over nineteen, said Mr. Bonteen, as he passed through the drawing-room door. The remarks seem to have been addressed to Mr. Kennedy, and Phineas, therefore, made no reply. I dare say it will, said Kennedy, but I never bet. But you vote. Sometimes I hope, said Bonteen. Sometimes, said Mr. Kennedy. I think he is the most odious man that ever I set my eyes on. Said Phineas to himself, as he followed Mr. Kennedy into the dining-room. He had observed that Mr. Kennedy had been standing very near to Lady Laura in the drawing-room, and that Lady Laura had said a few words to him. He was more determined than ever that he would hate Mr. Kennedy, and would probably have been moody and unhappy throughout the whole dinner. Had not Lady Laura called him to a chair at her left hand? It was very generous of her, and the more so, as Mr. Kennedy had, in a half-hesitating manner, prepared to seat himself in that very place. As it was, Phineas and Mr. Kennedy were neighbours, but Phineas had the place of honour. I suppose you will not speak during the debate, said Lady Laura. Why? Certainly not. In the first place they could not get a hearing, and in the next place I should not think of commencing on such an occasion. I do not know that I shall ever speak at all. Indeed you will. You are just the sort of man who will succeed with the house. What I doubt is whether you will do as well in office. I wish I might have the chance. Of course you could have the chance if you try for it, beginning so early and being on the right side, and if you will allow me to say so among the right set. There can be no doubt that you may take office, if you will, but I am not sure that you will be tractable. You cannot begin, you know, by being Prime Minister. I have seen enough to realise that already, said Phineas. If you will only keep that little fact steadily before your eyes, there is nothing you may not reach in official life. But Pitt was Prime Minister at 4 and 20, and that precedent has ruined half our young politicians. It has not affected me, Lady Laura. As far as I can see, there is no great difficulty in government. A man must learn to have words at command when he is on his legs in the house of cobbins, in the same way as he would if he were talking to his own servants. He must keep his temper, and he must be very patient. As far as I have seen, Cabinet Ministers, they are not more clever than other people. I think there are generally one or two men of ability in the Cabinet. Yes, the fair ability. Mr. Mildmay is a good specimen. There is not, and never was, anything brilliant in him. He is not eloquent, nor, as far as I am aware, did he ever create anything. But he has always been a steady, honest, persevering man, and circumstances have made politics come easy to him. Think of the momentous questions which he has been called upon to decide," said Phineas. Every question so handled by him has been decided rightly according to his own party, and wrongly according to the party opposite. A political leader is so sure of support and so sure of attack that it is hardly necessary for him to be even anxious to be right. For the country's sake, he should have officials under him who know the routine of business. You think very badly, then, if politics is a profession. No, I think of them very highly. It must be better to deal with the repeal of laws than the defending of criminals. But all this is Papa's wisdom, not mine. Papa has never been in the Cabinet yet, and therefore, of course, he is a little caustic. I think he was quite right," said Barrington Earl stoutly. He spoke so stoutly that everybody at the table listened to him. I don't exactly see the necessity for such internecine war just at present," said Lord Brentford. I must say I do," said the other. Lord Deterrier took office knowing that he was in a minority. We had a fair majority of nearly thirty when he came in. Then how very soft you must have been to go out," said Miss Fitzgibbon. Not in the least soft, continued Barrington Earl. We could not command our men, and were bound to go out, for ought we knew some score of them might have chosen to support Lord Deterrier, and then we should have owned ourselves beaten for the time. He were beaten hollow," said Miss Fitzgibbon. Then why did Lord Deterrier dissolve? A Prime Minister is quite right to dissolve in such a position," said Lord Brentford. He must do so for the Queen's sake. It is his only chance. Just so. It is, as you say, his only chance, and it is his right. His very possession of power will give him near a score of votes, and if he thinks that he has a chance, let him try it. We maintain that he had no chance, and that he must have known that he had none, that if he could not get on with the late house, he certainly could not get on with a new house. We let him have his own way, as far as we could, in February. We had failed last summer, and if he could get along, he was welcome. But he could not get along. I must say I think he was right to dissolve," said Lady Laura. And we are right to force the consequences upon him as quickly as we can. He practically lost nine seats by his dissolution. Look at Lough Shane. Yes, look at Lough Shane," said Miss Fitzgibbon. The country at any rate has gained something there. It's a nil wind that blows nobody any good, Mr Finn," said the oil. What an earth is to become of poor George, said Mr Fitzgibbon. I wonder whether anyone knows where he is. George wasn't a bad sort of fellow. Roby used to think that he was a very bad fellow, said Mr Bontein. Roby used to swear that it was hopeless trying to catch him. It may be as well to explain that Mr Roby was a conservative gentleman of great fame, who had for years acted as whip under Mr Dobini, and who now filled a high office of patronage secretary to the treasury. I believe in my heart, continued Mr Bontein, that Roby is rejoiced that poor George Morris should be out in the cold. If seats were harvourable, he should share mine for the sake of old Langzine," said Lawrence Fitzgibbon. But not to-morrow night," said Barrington Earle. The division to-morrow will be a thing not to be joked with. Upon my word I think they're right about old Moody. All private considerations should give way, and as for Gunning, I'd have him up, or I'd know the reason why. And shall we have no defaulters, Barrington," asked Lady Laura. I'm not going to boast, but I don't know of one for whom we need blush. Sir Everard Powell is so bad with Gout that he can't even bear anyone to look at him, but Rattler says that he'll bring him up. Mr Rattler was in those days the whip on the liberal side of the house. Unfarching at wretch," said Ms Fitzgibbon. The worst of it is that he screams in his paroxysms, said Mr Bonteen. And you mean to say that you'll take him into the lobby? said Lady Laura. Undoubtedly, said Barrington Earle, why not? He has no business with the seat if he can't vote. But Sir Everard is a good man, and he'll be there if Lordnam and Bathshire make it possible. The same kind of conversation went on during the whole of dinner, and became, if anything, more animated when the three ladies had left the room. Mr Kennedy made but one remark, and then he observed that as far as he could see, a majority of nineteen would be as serviceable as a majority of twenty. This he said in a very mild voice, and in a tone that was intended to be expressive of doubt. But in spite of his humility, Barrington Earle flew at him almost savagely, as though a liberal member of the House of Commons was disgraced by so mean a spirit. And Phineas found himself despising the man for his want of zeal. If we are to beat them, let us beat them well, said Phineas. Let there be no doubt about it, said Barrington Earle. I should like to see every man with a seat polled, said Bonteen. Poor Sir Everard, said Lord Brentford, it will kill him no doubt, but I suppose the seat is safe. Oh yes, Land Wernish is quite safe, said Barrington in his eagerness, omitting to catch Lord Brentford's grim joke. Phineas went up into the drawing-room for a few minutes after dinner, and was eagerly desirous of saying a few more words. He knew not what words, to Lady Laura. Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Bonteen had left the dining-room first, and Phineas again found Mr. Kennedy standing close to Lady Laura's shoulder. Could it be possible that there was anything in it? Mr. Kennedy was an unmarried man, with an immense fortune, a magnificent place, a seat in Parliament, and was not perhaps above forty years of age. There could be no reason why he should not ask Lady Laura to be his wife. Except, indeed, that he did not seem to have sufficient words at command to ask anybody for anything. But could it be that such a woman as Lady Laura could accept such a man as Mr. Kennedy? Because of his wealth, and because of his fine place, a man who had not a word to throw to a dog, who did not seem to be possessed of an idea, who hardly looked like a gentleman. So Phineas told himself. But in truth Mr. Kennedy, though he was a plain unattractive man with nothing in his personal appearance to call for a mark, was not unlike a gentleman in his usual demeanour. Phineas himself, it may be here, said, was six feet high, and very handsome, with bright blue eyes and brown wavy hair, and light, silken beard. Mrs. Lowe had told her husband more than once that he was much too handsome to do any good. Mr. Lowe, however, had replied that young Phine had never shown himself to be conscious of his own personal advantages. He learned it soon enough, said Mrs. Lowe, some woman will tell him, and then he'll be spoiled. I do not think that Phineas depended mattress yet on his own good looks, but he felt that Mr. Kennedy ought to be despised by such a one as Lady Laura Standish because his looks were not good. And she must despise him. It could not be that a woman so full of life should be willing to put up with a man who absolutely seemed to have no life within him. And yet why was he there, and why was he allowed to hang about just over her shoulders? Phineas Finn began to feel himself to be an injured man. But Lady Laura had the power of dispelling instantly this sense of injury. She had done it effectually in the dining-room by calling him to the seat by her side, to the express exclusion of the millionaire. And she did it again now, by walking away from Mr. Kennedy to the spot on which Phineas had placed himself, somewhat sulkily. Of course you'll be at the club on Friday morning after the division," she said. No doubt. When you leave it, come and tell me what are your impressions and what you think of Mr. Dabini's speech. There'll be nothing done in the house before four, and you'll be able to run up to me. Certainly I will. I have asked Mr. Kennedy to come, and Mr. Fitzgibbon. I'm so anxious about it that I want to hear what different people say. You know, perhaps, that Papa is to be in the Cabinet if there's a change. Is he indeed? Oh yes, and you'll come up? Of course I will. Do you expect to hear much of an opinion from Mr. Kennedy? Yes, I do. You don't quite know Mr. Kennedy yet, and you must remember that he will say more to me than he will to you. He's not quick, you know, as you are, and he has no enthusiasm on any subject, but he has opinions, and sound opinions, too. Phineas felt that Lady Laura was in a slight degree scolding him for the disrespectful manner in which he had spoken of Mr. Kennedy, and he felt also that he had committed himself, that he had shown himself to be sore, and that she had seen and understood his soreness. The truth is I do not know him, said he, trying to correct his blunder. No, not as yet, but I hope that you may some day, as he is one of those men who are both useful and estimable. I do not know that I can use him, said Phineas, but if you wish it, I will endeavour to esteem him. I wish you to do both, but that will all come in due time. I think it probable that in the early autumn there will be a great gathering of the real Whig Liberals at Loughlinter, of those, I mean, who have their heart in it, and are at the same time gentlemen. If it is so, I should be sorry that you should not be there. You need not mention it, but Mr. Kennedy has just said a word about it to Papa, and a word from him always means so much. Well, good night, and mind you come up on Friday. You are going to the club now, of course. I envy you men, your clubs, more than I do the house, though I feel that a woman's life is only half a life, as she cannot have a seat in Parliament. Then Phineas went away, and walked down to Palmall with Laurence Fitzgibbon. He would have preferred to take his walk alone, but he could not get rid of his affectionate countryman. He wanted to think over what had taken place during the evening, and indeed he did so in spite of his friend's conversation. Lady Laura, when she first saw him after his return to London, had told him how anxious her father was to congratulate him on his seat, but the Earl had not spoken a word to him on the subject. The Earl had been Curtis, as hosts customarily are, but had been in no way especially kind to him. And then Mr. Kennedy, as to going to Loughlinter, he would not do such a thing, not though the success of the Liberal Party were to depend on it. He declared to himself there were some things which a man could not do. But although he was not altogether satisfied with what had occurred in Portman Square, he felt as he walked down arm in arm with Fitzgibbon, that Mr. Low, and Mr. Low's councils, must be scattered to the winds. He had thrown the die in consenting to stand for Love Shane, and must stand the hazard of the cast. Be dad, Finn, me boy! I don't think you're listening to me at all," said Lawrence Fitzgibbon. I'm listening to every word you say, said Finneas. And if I have to go down to the old country again this session, you'll go with me? If I can, I will. That's me, boy. And it's I that hope you'll have the chance. What's the good of turning these fellows out if one isn't to get something for one's trouble? End of Chapter 6. Chapter 7 of Finneas Finn, the Irish Member This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recorded by Mill Nicholson. Finneas Finn, the Irish Member, by Anthony Trollop. Chapter 7, Mr. and Mrs. Bunce It was three o'clock on the Thursday night before Mr. Dubini's speech was finished. I do not think that there was any truth in the allegation made at the time that he continued on his legs an hour longer than the necessities of his speech required in order that five or six very ancient wigs might be wearied out and shrink to their beds. Let a wig have been ever so ancient and ever so weary he would not have been allowed to depart from Westminster Hall that night. Sir Everard Powell was there in his bath chair at twelve, with a doctor on one side of him and a friend on the other, in some pearlyew of the house, and did his duty like a fine old Britain as he was. That speech of Mr. Dubini's will never be forgotten by anyone who heard it. Its studied bitterness had perhaps never been equaled, and yet not a word was uttered for the saying of which he could be accused of going beyond the limits of parliamentary antagonism. It is true that personalities could not have been closer, that accusations of political dishonesty and of almost worse than political cowardice and falsehood could not have been clearer, that no words in the language could have attributed meaner motives or more unscrupulous conduct. But nevertheless Mr. Dubini in all that he said was parliamentary, and showed himself to be a gladiator thoroughly well trained for the arena in which he had descended to the combat. His arrows were poisoned and his lance was barbed and his shot was heated red, because such things are allowed. He did not poison his enemy's wells or you's Greek fire because those things are not allowed. He knew exactly the rules of the combat. Mr. Mildmay sat and heard him without once raising his hat from his brow or speaking a word to his neighbour. Men on both sides of the house said that Mr. Mildmay suffered terribly. But as Mr. Mildmay uttered no word of complaint to any one, and was quite ready to take Mr. Dubini by the hand the next time they met in company, I do not know that any one was able to form a true idea of Mr. Mildmay's feelings. Mr. Mildmay was an impassive man who rarely spoke of his own feelings, and no doubt sat with his hat low down over his eyes in order that no man might judge of them on that occasion by the impression on his features. If he could have left off half an hour earlier, it would have been perfect as an attack, said Barrington Earl in criticising Mr. Dubini's speech. But he allowed himself to sink into comparative weakness and the glory of it was over before the end. Then came the division. The Liberals had 333 votes to 314 for the Conservatives, and therefore countered a majority of 19. It was said that so large a number of members had never before voted at any division. I own, I'm disappointed, said Barrington Earl to Mr. Rattler. I thought there would be twenty, said Mr. Rattler, and never went beyond that. I knew they would have old moody up, but I thought gunning would have been too hard for them. They say they promised them both peerages. Yes, if they remain in, but they know they're going out. They must go with such a majority against them, said Barrington Earl. Of course they must, said Mr. Rattler. Lord Deterrier wants nothing better, but it is rather hard upon poor Dubini. I never saw such an unfortunate old tantalus. He gets a good drop of real water now and again, and I don't pity him in the least. He's clever, of course, and has made his own way. But I've always a feeling that he has no business where he is. I suppose we shall all know about it at Brooks by one o'clock to-morrow. Phineas, though it had been past five before he went to bed, for there had been much triumphant talking to be done among liberal members after the division, was up at his breakfast at Mrs. Bunce's lodgings by nine. There was a matter which he was called upon to settle immediately, in which Mrs. Bunce herself was much interested, and respecting which he had promised to give an answer on this very morning. A set of very dingy chambers up two pairs of stairs at number nine old square Lincoln's Inn, to which Mr. Lowe had recommended him to transfer himself, and all his belongings, were waiting his occupation, should he resolve upon occupying them. If he intended to commence operations as a barrister, it would be necessary that he should have chambers and a clerk, and before he had left Mr. Lowe's house on Sunday evening, he had almost given that gentleman authority to secure for him these rooms at number nine. Whether you remain in Parliament or no, you must make a beginning, Mr. Lowe had said. And how are you even to pretend to begin if you don't have chambers? Mr. Lowe hoped that he might be able to wean Phineas away from his Parliament's bauble, that he might induce the young barrister to give up his madness, if not this session or the next, at any rate before a third year had commenced. Mr. Lowe was a persistent man, liking very much when he did like, and loving very strongly when he did love. He would have many a tug for Phineas Finn before he would allow that false Westminster Satan to carry off the prey as altogether his own. If he could only get Phineas into the dingy chambers, he might do much. But Phineas had now become so imbued with the atmosphere of politics, had been so breathed upon by Lady Laura and Barrington Earl, that he could no longer endure the thought of any other life than that of a life spent among the lobbies. A desire to help to beat the Conservatives had fastened on his very soul and almost made Mr. Lowe odious in his eyes. He was afraid of Mr. Lowe, and for the nonce would not go to him any more. But he must see the porter at Lincoln's inn, he must write a line to Mr. Lowe, and he must tell Mrs. Bunce that for the present he would still keep on her runes. His letter to Mr. Lowe was as follows. Great Marlborough Street, May 186 Blank My dear Lowe, I have made up my mind against taking the chambers, and I am now off to the inn to say that I shall not want them. Of course I know what you will think of me, and it is very grievous to me to have to bear the hard judgement of a man whose opinion I value so highly. But in the teeth of your terribly strong arguments, I think that there is something to be said on my side of the question. This seat in Parliament has come in my way by chance, and I think it would be pusillanimous in me to reject it, feeling as I do, that a seat in Parliament confers very great honour. I am too very fond of politics, and regard legislation as the finest profession going. Had I any one dependent on me, I probably might not be justified in following the bent of my inclination. But I am all alone in the world, and therefore have a right to make the attempt. If after a trial of one or two sessions I should fail in that which I am attempting, it will not even then be too late to go back to the better way. I can assure you that at any rate it is not my intention to be idle. I know very well how you will fret and fume over what I say, and how utterly I shall fail in bringing you round to my way of thinking. But as I must write to tell you of my decision, I cannot refrain from defending myself to the best of my ability. Yours always faithfully, Phineus Finn. Mr Low received this letter at his chambers, and when he had read it, he simply pressed his lips closely together, placed the sheet of paper back in its envelope, and put it into a drawer at his left hand. Having done this, he went on with what work he had before him, as though his friend's decision were a matter of no consequence to him. As far as he was concerned, a thing was done, and there should be an end of it. So he told himself, but nevertheless his mind was full of it all day, and though he wrote not a word of answer to Phineus, he made a reply within his own mind to every one of the arguments used in the letter. Great honour! How can there be honour in what comes as he says by chance? He hasn't sense enough to understand that the honour comes from the mode of winning it, and from the mode of wearing it, and that the very fact of his being member for Love Shane at this instant simply proves that Love Shane should have had no privilege to return a member. No one depended on him. Are not his father and his mother and his sisters depended on him, as long as he must eat their bread till he can earn bread of his own? He will never earn bread of his own. He will always be eating bread that others have earned. In this way, before the day was over, Love became very angry and swore to himself that he would have nothing more to say to Phineus' Phine. But yet he found himself creating plans for encountering and conquering the parliamentary fiend who is at present so cruelly potent with his pupil. It was not till the third evening that he told his wife that Phine had made up his mind not to take the chambers. Then I would have nothing more to say to him," said Mrs. Lowe savagely. For the present I can have nothing more to say to him. But neither now nor ever," said Mrs. Lowe with great emphasis, he has been false to you. No," said Mr. Lowe, who is a man thoroughly and thoughtfully just at all points. He has not been false to be. He has always meant what he has said when he was saying it. But he is weak and blind and flies like a moth to the candle. One pities the poor moth, and would save him a stump of his wing if it be possible. Phineus, when he had written his letter to Mr. Lowe, started off for Lincoln's Inn, making his way through the well-known dreary streets of Soho, and through St. Giles to Longacre. He knew every corner well, for he had walked the same road almost daily for the last three years. He had conceived a liking for the route, which he might easily have changed without much addition to the distance, by passing through Oxford Street and Hoban. But there was an air of business on which he prided himself in going by the most direct passage, and he declared to himself very often that things dreary and dingy to the eye might be good in themselves. Lincoln's Inn itself is dingy, and the law courts therein are perhaps the meanest in which equity ever disclosed herself. Mr. Lowe's three rooms in the old square, each of them brown with the binding of law books, and with the dust collected on law papers, and with furniture that had been brown always, and had become browner with years, were perhaps as unattractive to the eye of a young pupil as any rooms which were ever entered. And the study of the Chancery law itself is not an alluring pursuit, till the mind has come to have some insight into the beauty of its ultimate object. Phineas, during his three years' course of reasoning on these things, had taught himself to believe that things ugly on the outside might be very beautiful within, and had therefore come to prefer crossing Poland Street and Soho Square, and so continuing his travels by the Seven Diles and Longacre. His morning walk was of a peace with his morning studies, and he took pleasure in the gloom of both. But now the taste of his palette had been already changed by the glare of the lamps in and about Palatial Westminster, and he found that St Giles's was disagreeable. The ways about Palmale and across the park to Parliament Street, or to the Treasury, were much pleasanter, and the new offices in Downing Street already half built, absorbed all that interest which he had hitherto been able to take in the suggested but uncommenced erection of the new law courts in the neighbourhood of Lincoln's Inn. As he made his way to the porter's lodge under the great gateway of Lincoln's Inn, he told himself that he was glad that he had escaped at any rate for a while from a life so dull and dreary. If he could only sit in chambers at the Treasury instead of chambers in that old court, how much pleasanter it would be. After all, as regarded that question of income, it might well be that the Treasury chambers should be the more remunerative and the more quickly remunerative of the two. And, as he thought, Lady Laura might be compatible with the Treasury chambers in Parliament, but could not possibly be made compatible with Old Square, Lincoln's Inn. But nevertheless there came upon him a feeling of sorrow when the old man at the lodge seemed to be rather glad than otherwise that he did not want the chambers. There Mr. Green can have them," said the porter. That'll be good news for Mr. Green. I don't know what the gentlemen will do for chambers if things goes on as they're going. Mr. Green was welcomed to the chambers as far as Phineas was concerned, but Phineas felt nevertheless a certain amount of regret that he should have been compelled to abandon a thing which was regarded both by the porter and by Mr. Green as being so desirable. He had, however, written his letter to Mr. Low and made his promise to Barrington Earl and was bound to Lady Laura Standish, and he walked out through the Old Gateway into Chancery Lane, resolving that he would not even visit Lincoln's Inn again for a year. There were certain books, law books, which he would read at such intervals of leisure as politics might give him, but within the precincts of the Inns of Court he would not again put his foot for twelve months. Let learned pundits of the law, such for instance as Mr. and Mrs. Low, say what they might. He had told Mrs. Bunce before he left his home after breakfast that he should for the present remain under her roof. She had been much gratified, not simply because lodgings in Great Marlborough Street are less readily let than chambers in Lincoln's Inn, but also because it was a great honour to her to have a Member of Parliament in her house. Members of Parliament are not so common about Oxford Street as they are in the neighbourhood of Palmale and St. James's Square. But Mr. Bunce, when he came home to his dinner, did not join as heartily as he should have done in his wife's rejoicing. Mr. Bunce was in the employment of certain copying law stationers in Cary Street and had a strong belief in the law as a profession, but he had none, whatever, in the House of Commons. And he's given up going into chambers, said Mr. Bunce to his wife, given it up altogether for the present, said Mrs. Bunce, and he don't mean to have no clerk, said Mr. Bunce, not unless it is for his Parliament work. There ain't no clerks wanted for that. What's worse, there ain't no fees to pay them. I'll tell you what it is, Jane. If you don't look sharp, there won't be nothing to pay you before long. And he in Parliament, Jacob. There ain't no salary for being in Parliament. There are scores of them Parliament gents ain't got so much as to pay their dinners for them. And then if anybody does trust them, there's no getting at them to make them pay as there is other folk. I don't know that our Mr. Finneas will ever be like that, Jacob. That's Gammon Jane. That's the way as women get themselves took in always. Oh, Mr. Finneas. Why should Mr. Finneas be better than anybody else? He's always acted handsome, Jacob. There was one time he could not pay his lodgings for well nine nine months till his governor come down with the money. I don't know whether that was handsome. It knocked me about terrible I know. He's always meant honest. He's always meant honest. He's always meant honest. He's always meant honest. He's always meant honest, Jacob. I don't know that I care much for a man's meaning when he runs short of money. How is he going to see his way with his seat in Parliament and this giving up of his profession? He owes us near a quarter now. He paid me two mats this morning, Jacob, so we don't owe a farving. Very well. So much for better for us. I shall just have a few words with Mr. Lo and see what he says to it. For myself, I don't think off so much of Parliament folks as some do. They for promise in everything before they's elected but not more than twenty of them is as good as his word when he gets there. Mr. Bunce was a copying journeyman who spent ten hours a day in Carey Street with a pen between his fingers and after that he would often spend two or three hours of the night with a pen between his fingers in Marlborough Street. He was a thoroughly hard-working man doing pretty well in the world for he had a good house over his head and always could find raiment and bread for his wife and eight children. But nevertheless he was an unhappy man because he suffered from political grievances or, I should more correctly say, that his grievances were semi-political and semi-social. He had no vote not being himself the tenant of the house in Great Marlborough Street. The tenant was a tailor in the shop whereas Bunce occupied the whole of the remainder of the premises. He was a lodger and lodgers were not as yet trusted with the franchise and he had ideas which he himself admitted to be very raw as to the injustice of the manner in which he was paid for his work. So much a folio without reference to the way in which his work was done without regard to the success of his work with no questions asked of himself was as he thought no proper way of remunerating a man for his labours. He had long since joined a trade union and for two years past had paid a subscription of a shilling a week towards its funds. He longed to be doing some battle against his superiors and to be putting himself in opposition to his employers not that he objected personally to Mrs. Fullscap, Margin and Vellum who always made much of him as a useful man but because some such antagonism would be manly and the fighting of some battle would be the right thing to do. If Liber doubt me a gout of the wall himself Bunce would say to his wife Liber must look alive and put somebody else there. Mrs. Bunce was a comfortable motherly woman who loved her husband but hated politics. As he had an aversion to his superiors in the world because they were superiors so had she a liking for them for the same reason. She despised people poorer than herself and thought it a fair subject for boasting that her children always had meat for dinner. If it was ever so small a morsel she took care that they had it in order that the boast might be maintained. The world had once or twice been almost too much for her when for instance her husband had been ill and again to tell the truth for the last three months of that long period in which Phineas had omitted to pay his bills. But she had kept a fine, brave heart during those troubles and could honestly swear that the children always had a bit of meat though she herself had been occasionally without it for days together. At such times she would be more than ordinarily meek to Mr. Margin and especially courteous to the old lady who lodged in her first-floor drawing-room for Phineas lived up two pairs of stairs and she would excuse such civility by declaring that there was no knowing how soon she might want assistance. But her husband in such emergencies would become furious and quarrelsome and would declare that Labour was going to the wall and that something very strong must be done at once. That chilling which once paid weekly to the Union she regarded as being absolutely thrown away as much so as though he casted weekly into the Thames and she had told him so over and over again making heart-piercing allusions to the eight children and to the bit of meat. He would always endeavour to explain to her that there was no other way under the sun for keeping Labour from being sent to the wall but he would do so hopelessly and altogether ineffectually and she had come to regard him as a lunatic to the extent of that one weekly chilling. She had a woman's instinctive partiality for comeliness in a man and was very fond of Phineas' Finn because he was handsome and now she was very proud of him because he was a member of Parliament. She had heard from her husband who had told her the fact with much disgust that the sons of Dukes and Earls go into Parliament and she liked to think that the fine young man to whom she talked more or less every day should sit with the sons of Dukes and Earls. When Phineas had really brought distress upon her by owing her some thirty or forty pounds she could never bring herself to be angry with him because he was handsome and because he dined out with lords and she had triumphed greatly over her husband who had desired to be severe upon his aristocratic debtor when the money had all been paid in a lump. I don't know that he's any great catch Bunts had said when the prospect of their lodger's departure had been debated between them. Jike him said his wife I don't think you feel it when you've got people respectable about you the only respectable man I know said Jacob is the man who's earned his bread and Mr Finn as I take it is a long way from that yet. Phineas returned to his lodgings before he went down to his club and again told Mrs Bunts that he had all together made up his mind about the chambers if you'll keep me I'll stay here for the first session I dare say of course we shall be only too proud Mr Finn and though it might perhaps be quite the place for a member of parliament but I think it is quite the place it's very good of you to say so Mr Finn and we'll do our very best to make you comfortable respectable we are I may say and though Bunts is a bit rough sometimes never to me Mrs Bunts but he is rough and silly too with his radical nonsense paying a shilling a week to a nasty union just for nothing still he means well and there ain't a man who works harder for his wife and children that I will say of him and if he do talk politics but I like a man who talk politics Mrs Bunts for a gentleman in parliament of course it's proper I never could see what good it could do to a law stationer and when he talks of Labour going to the wall I always ask him whether he didn't get his wages regular last Saturday but lord love you Mr Finn when a man as his adjournment as took up politics and joined a trade union he ain't no better than a milestone for his wife to take and talk to him after that Phineas went down to the reform club and made one of those who were buzzing there in little crowds and uttering their prophecies as to future events Lord Deterrier was to go out that was certain whether Mr Mildmay was to come in was uncertain that he would go to Windsor tomorrow morning was not to be doubted but it was thought very probable that he might plead his age and declined to undertake the responsibility of forming a ministry and what then said Phineas to his friend if it's given why then there'll be a choice out of three there is the Duke who is the most incompetent man in England there is Monk who is the most unfit and there is Gresham who is the most unpopular I can't conceive it possible to find a worse Prime Minister than either of the three but the country affords no other and which would Mildmay name all of them to the other source to make the embarrassment the greater that was Mr Fitzgibbon's description of the crisis but then it was understood that Mr Fitzgibbon was given to romancing end of chapter 7 Chapter 8 of Phineas Finn 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 Philippa Jevons Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollop Chapter 8 the news about Mr Mildmay and Sir Everard Fitzgibbon and Phineas started together from Palmisle for Portman Square as both of them had promised to call on Lady Laura but Fitzgibbon turned in at Brooks's as they walked up St James's Square and Phineas went on by himself in a cab you should belong here said Fitzgibbon as his friend entered the cab and Phineas immediately began to feel that he would have done nothing till he could get into Brooks's it might be very well to begin by talking politics at the reform club such talking had procured for him his seat at Loch Shane but that was done now and something more than talking was wanted for any further progress nothing as he told himself of political import was managed at the reform club no influence from thence was ever brought to bear upon the adjustment of places under the government or upon the arrangement of cabinets it might be very well to count votes at the reform club but after the votes had been counted had been counted successfully Brooks's was the place as Phineas believed to learn at the earliest moment what would be the exact result of the success he must get into Brooks's if it might be possible for him Fitzgibbon was not exactly the man to propose him perhaps the Earl of Brentford would do it Lady Laura was at home and with her was sitting Mr. Kennedy Phineas had intended to be triumphant as he entered Lady Laura's room he was there with the express purpose of triumphing in the success of their great party and of singing a pleasant peon in conjunction with Lady Laura but his trumpet was put out of tune at once when he saw Mr. Kennedy he said hardly a word as he gave his hand to Lady Laura and then afterwards to Mr. Kennedy who chose to greet him with this show of cordiality I hope you are satisfied Mr. Phine said Lady Laura laughing oh yes and isn't that all I thought I found your joy quite irrepressible a bottle of soda water though it is a very lively thing when opened won't maintain its vivacity beyond a certain period Lady Laura and you have had your gas let off already well yes I'd any rate the sputtering part of it nineteen is very well but the question is whether we might not have had twenty one Mr. Kennedy has just been saying that not a single available vote has been missed on our side he has just come from Bruxes and that seems to be what they say there so Mr. Kennedy also was a member of Bruxes at the reform club there certainly had been an idea that the number might have been swelled to twenty one but then as Phineas began to understand nothing was correctly known at the reform club for an accurate appreciation of the political balance of the day you must go to Bruxes Mr. Kennedy must of course be right said Phineas I don't belong to Bruxes myself but I was only joking Lady Laura there is I suppose no doubt that Lord Deterrier is out and that is everything he has probably tend of his resignation said Mr. Kennedy that is the same thing said Phineas roughly not exactly said Lady Laura should there be any difficulty about Mr. Mildmay he might at the Queen's request make another attempt with a majority of nineteen against him said Phineas surely Mr. Mildmay is not the only man in the country there is the Duke and there is Mr. Gresham and there is Mr. Monk Phineas had at his tongues end all the lesson that he had been able to learn at the reform club I should hardly think the Duke would venture said Mr. Kennedy nothing venture nothing have said Phineas it is all very well to say that the Duke is incompetent but I do not know that anything very wonderful is required in the way of genius the Duke has held his own in both houses successfully and is both honest and popular I quite agree that a Prime Minister at the present day should be commonly honest and more than commonly popular so you are all for the Duke are you said Lady Laura again smiling as she spoke to him certainly if we are deserted by Mr. Mildmay don't you think so I don't find it quite so easy to make up my mind as you do I am inclined to think that Mr. Mildmay will form a government and as long as there is that prospect I need hardly commit myself to an opinion as to his probable successor then the objectionable Mr. Kennedy took his leave and Phineas was left alone with Lady Laura it is glorious is it not he began as soon as he found the field to be open for himself and his own manoeuvring but he was very young and had not as yet learned the manner in which he might best advance his cause with such a woman as Lady Laura Standish he was telling her too clearly that he could have no gratification in talking with her unless he could be allowed to have her all to himself that might be very well if Lady Laura were enough with him but would hardly be the way to reduce her to that condition Mr. Finn said she smiling as she spoke I am sure that you did not mean it but you were uncurtious to my friend Mr. Kennedy who I was I upon my word I didn't intend to be incurtious if I thought you had intended it of course I could not tell you of it and now I take the liberty for it is a liberty oh no because I feel so anxious that you should do nothing to mar your chances as a rising man you are only too kind to me always I know how clever you are and how excellent are all your instincts but I see that you are a little impetuous I wonder whether you will be angry if I take upon myself the task of mentor nothing you could say would make me angry though you might make me very unhappy I will not do that if I can help it a mentor ought to be very old you know and I am infinitely older than you are I should have thought it was the reverse indeed I may say that I know that it is said Phineas I am not talking of years years have very little to do with the comparative ages of men and women a woman at forty is quite old whereas a man at forty is young Phineas remembering that he had put down Mr. Kennedy's age as forty in his own mind frowned when he heard this walked about the room in displeasure and therefore continued Lady Laura I talk to you as though I were a kind of grandmother you shall be my great grandmother if you will only be kind enough to me to say what you really think you must not then be so impetuous and you must be a little more careful to be civil to persons to whom you may not take any particular fancy now Mr. Kennedy is a man who may be very useful to you I do not want Mr. Kennedy to be of use to me that is what I call being impetuous being young, being a boy why should not Mr. Kennedy be of use to you as well as anyone else you do not mean to conquer the world all by yourself no but there is something mean to me in the expressed idea that I should make use of any man and more especially of a man whom I don't like and why do you not like him Mr. Phine because he is one of my doctor fells you don't like him simply because he does not talk much that may be a good reason why you should not make of him an intimate companion because you like talkative people but it should be no ground for dislike Phineas paused for a moment before he answered her thinking whether or not it would be well to ask her some question which might produce from her a truth which he would not like to hear then he did ask it and do you like him he said she too paused but only for a second yes I think I may say that I do like him no more than that certainly no more than that but that I think is a great deal I wonder what you would say if anyone asked you whether you liked me said Phineas looking away from her through the window just the same but without the doubt if the person who questioned me had any right to ask the question there are not above one or two who could have such a right and I was wrong of course to ask it about Mr. Kennedy said Phineas looking out into the square I did not say so but I see you think it you see nothing of the kind I was quite willing to be asked the question by you and quite willing to answer it Mr. Kennedy is a man of great wealth what can that have to do with it wait a moment you impetuous Irish boy and hear me out Phineas liked being called an impetuous Irish boy and came close to her sitting where he could look up into her face and they came a smile upon his own and he was very handsome I say that he is a man of great wealth continued Lady Laura and as wealth gives influence he is of great use politically to the party to which he belongs oh politically am I to suppose you care nothing for politics to such men to men who think as you think who are to sit on the same benches with yourself and go into the same lobby and be seen at the same club it is your duty to be civil both for your own sake and for that of the cause it is for the hermits of society to indulge in personal dislikings for men who have never been active and never mean to be active I had been telling Mr. Kennedy how much I thought of you as a good liberal and I came in and spoiled it all yes you did you knocked down my little house and I must build it all up again don't trouble yourself Lady Laura I shall it will be a great deal of trouble a great deal indeed but I shall take it I mean you to be very intimate with Mr. Kennedy and to shoot his grouse and to stalk his dear and to help to keep him in progress as the liberal member of parliament I am quite prepared to admit as a friend that he would go back without some such help oh I understand I do not believe that you do understand at all but I must endeavour to make you do so by degrees if you are to be my political pupil you must at any rate be obedient the next time you meet Mr. Kennedy ask him his opinion instead of telling him your own he has been in parliament twelve years and he was a good deal older than you when he began at this moment a side door was opened and the red-haired red-bearded man whom Phineas had seen before entered the room he hesitated a moment as though he were going to retreat again and then began to pull about the books and toys which lay on one of the distant tables as though he were in quest of some article and he would have retreated had not Lady Laura called to him Oswald she said let me introduce you to Mr. Finn Mr. Finn I do not think you have ever met my brother Lord Chilton then the two young men bowed and each of them mustered something do not be in a hurry Oswald you have nothing special to take you away here is Mr. Finn come to tell us who are all the possible new prime ministers he is uncivil enough not to have named Papa my father is out of the question said Lord Chilton of course he is said Lady Laura but I may be allowed my little joke I suppose he will at any rate be in the cabinet said Phineas I know nothing whatever about politics said Lord Chilton I wish you did said his sister with all my heart I never did and I never shall for all you're wishing it's the meanest trade going I think and I'm sure it's the most dishonest they talk of legs on the turf and of course there are legs but what are they to the legs in the house I don't know whether you're in Parliament Mr. Finn yes I am but do not mind me I beg your pardon of course there are honest men there and no doubt you're one of them he is indifferent honest as yet said Lady Laura I was speaking of men who go into Parliament to look after government places said Lord Chilton that is just what I'm doing said Phineas why should not a man serve the crown he has to work very hard for what he earns I don't believe that the most of them work at all however I beg your pardon I didn't mean you in particular Mr. Finn is such a thorough politician that he will never forgive you said Lady Laura yes I will said Phineas and I'll convert him some day if he does come into the house Lady Laura I suppose he'll come on the right side I'll never go into the house as you call it said Lord Chilton but I tell you what I should be very happy if you'll dine with me tomorrow at Moroni's they give you a capital little dinner at Moroni's and they're the best chateau I came in London do said Lady Laura in a whisper applied me Phineas was engaged to dine with one of the vice-chancellors on the day named he had never before dined at the house of this great law luminary whose acquaintance he had made through Mr. Lowe and he had thought a great deal of the occasion Mrs. Fremantle had sent in the invitation nearly a fortnight ago and he understood that there was to be an elaborate dinner party he did not know it for a fact but he was in hopes of meeting the expiring Lord Chancellor he considered it to be his duty never to throw away such a chance he would in all respects have preferred Mr. Fremantle's dinner in eaten place dull and heavy though it might probably be to the chance of Lord Chilton's companions at Moroni's whatever might be the fault to our hero he was not given to what is generally called dissipation by the world at large by which the world means self-indulgence he cared not a brass farthing for Moroni's chateau he came nor for the wondrously studied repast which he would doubtless find prepared for him at that celebrated establishment at St. James's Street not a farthing as compared with the chance of meeting so great a man as Lord Mulls and Lord Chilton's friends might probably be just the men whom he would not desire to know but Lady Laura's request overrode everything with him she had asked him to oblige her and of course he would do so had he been going to dine with the incoming Prime Minister he would have put off his engagement at her request he was not quick enough to make an answer without hesitation but after a moment's pause he said he should be most happy to dine with Lord Chilton at Moroni's that's right seven thirty sharp only I can tell you you won't meet any other members then the servant announced more visitors and Lord Chilton escaped out of the room before he was seen by the newcomers these were Mrs. Bonteen and Lawrence Fitzgibbon and then Mr. Bonteen and after them Mr. Ratler the whip who was in a violent hurry and did not stay there a moment and then Barrington Earle and young Lord James Fitzhaward the youngest son of the Duke of St. Bungay in twenty or thirty minutes there was a gathering of liberal political notabilities in Lady Laura's drawing room there were two great pieces of news by which they were all enthralled Mr. Miles May would not be Prime Minister and Sir Everard Powell was dead of course nothing quite positive could be known about Mr. Miles May he was to be with the Queen at Windsor on the morrow at eleven o'clock and it was improbable that he would tell his mind to anyone before he told it to Her Majesty but there was no doubt that he had engaged the Duke so he was called by Lord James to go down to Windsor with him that he might be in readiness if wanted I've learned that at home said Lord James who had just heard the news from his sister who had heard it from the Duchess Lord James was delighted with the importance given to him by his father's coming journey from this and from other equally well-known circumstances it was surmised that Mr. Miles May would decline the task proposed to him this nevertheless was only a surmise whereas the fact with reference to Sir Everard was fully substantiated the gout had flown to his stomach and he was dead by blank yes as dead as a herring said Mr. Rattler who at that moment however was not within hearing of either of the ladies present he then robbed his hands and looked as though he were delighted and he was delighted not because his old friends Everard was dead but by the excitement of the tragedy having done so good a deed in his last moments said Lawrence Fitzgibbon we may take it for granted that it will go straight ahead I hope there will be no crowners quest Rattler said Mr. Bonteen if there is I don't know how you'll get out of it I don't see anything in it so horrible said Mr. Rattler if a fellow dies leading his regiment we don't think anything of it Sir Everard's vote was of more service to his country than anything that a colonel or a captain can do but nevertheless I think that Mr. Rattler was somewhat in dread of future newspaper paragraphs should it be found necessary to summon a coroner's inquisition to sit upon poor Sir Everard while this was going on Lady Laura took Phineas apart for a moment I am so much obliged to you I am indeed she said what nonsense never mind whether it's nonsense or not but I am I can't explain it all now but I do so want you to know my brother you may be of the greatest service to him of the very greatest he is not half so bad as people say he is in many ways he is very good very good and he's very clever at any rate I will think and believe no ill of him just so do not believe evil of him not more evil than you see I am so anxious so very anxious to try to put him on his legs and I find it so difficult to get any connecting link with him Papa will not speak with him because of money but he's friends with you yes I think he loves me I saw how distasteful it was to you to go to him and probably you were engaged one can always get off those sort of things if there is an object yes just so and the object was to oblige me was it not of course it was but I must go now we are to hear Dobby's statement at four and I would not miss it for worlds I wonder whether you would go abroad with my brother in the autumn but I have no right to think of such a thing have I at any rate I will not think of it yet goodbye I shall see you perhaps on Sunday if you're in town Phineas walked down to Westminster with his mind very full of Lady Laura and Lord Chilton what did she mean by her affectionate manner to himself and what did she mean by the continual praises which he lavished upon Mr. Kennedy of whom was she thinking most of Mr. Kennedy or of him she called herself his mentor was the description of her feelings towards himself as conveyed in that name of a kind to be gratifying to him no he thought not but then might it not be within his power to change the nature of those feelings she was not in love with him at present he could not make any boast to himself on that head but it might be within his power to compel her to love him the female mentor might be softened that she could not love Mr. Kennedy he thought that he was quite sure there was nothing like love in her manner to Mr. Kennedy as to Lord Chilton Phineas would do whatever might be in his power all that he really knew of Lord Chilton was that he had gambled and that he had drunk end of chapter 8 Paradise Camouflage Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollop Chapter 9 The New Government In the House of Lords that night and in the House of Commons the outgoing ministers made their explanations as our business at the present moment is with the commons we will confine ourselves to their chamber and we'll do so them more willingly because the upshot of what was said in the two places was the same the outgoing ministers were very grieve, very self-loaded and very courteous in regard to courtesy it may be declared that no stranger to the ways of the place could have understood how such soft words could be spoken by Mr. Dominique Beaton so quickly after the very sharp words which he had uttered when he only expected to be beaten he announced to his fellow commoners that his right honourable friend and colleague Lord Deterrier had thought it right to retire from the Treasury Lord Deterrier in constitutional obedience to the vote of the lower house had resigned and the Queen had been graciously pleased to accept Lord Deterrier's resignation Mr. Dominique could only inform the House that our Majesty had signified the pleasure that Mr. Melmay should wait upon her tomorrow at 11 o'clock Mr. Melmay, so Mr. Dominique understood, would be with her Majesty tomorrow at that hour Lord Deterrier had found it to be his duty to recommend her Majesty to send for Mr. Melmay such was the real import of Mr. Dominique's speech that further portion of it in which he explained with blandest, most beneficent honey-flowing words that his party would have done everything that the country could require of any party had the House allowed it to remain on the Treasury benches for a month or two and explained also that his party would never recriminate, would never return evil for evil would in no wise copy the factious opposition of their adversaries that his party would now, as it ever had done carry itself with the meekness of the dove and the wisdom of the serpent all this, I say, was so generally felt by gentlemen on both sides of the House to be Leather and Prunella that very little attention was paid to it the great point was that Lord Deterrier had resigned and that Mr. Melmay had been summoned to Windsor the Queen had sent for Mr. Melmay in compliance with advice given to her by Lord Deterrier and yet Lord Deterrier in his first life tenant had used all the most practical efforts of their eloquence for the last three days in endeavouring to make their countrymen believe that no more unfitting minister than Mr. Melmay ever attempted to hold the reins of office nothing had been too bad for them to save Mr. Melmay and yet in the very first moment in which they found themselves unable to carry on the government themselves they advised the Queen to send for that most incompetent and baneful statesman we who are conversant with our own methods of politics see nothing odd in this because we are used to it but surely in the eyes of strangers our practice must be very singular there is nothing like it in any other country nothing is yet nowhere else is there the same good-humoured affectionate prize-firing ferocity in politics the leaders of our two great parties are to each other exactly as are the two champions of the ring who knock each other about for the belt and for 500 pounds a side once in every two years how they fly at each other, striking as though each blow should carry death if it were but possible and yet there is no one whom the Birmingham Bantam respects so highly as he does Bill Burns the Brighton Bully or with whom he has so much delight in discussing the merits of a port of half and half and so it was with Mr. Dormany and Mr. Melmay in private life Mr. Dormany almost actually to his elder rival and Mr. Melmay never admitted an opportunity of taking Mr. Dormany warmly by the hand that is not so in the United States there the same political enmity exists but the political enmity produces private hatred the leaders of parties there really mean what they say when they abuse each other and are in earnest when they talk as though they were about to tear each other limb from limb I doubt whether Mr. Dormany would have injured a hair of Mr. Melmay's venerable head even for an assurance of six continued months in office when Mr. Dormany had completed his statement Mr. Melmay simply told the house that he had received and would obey Her Majesty's commands the house would of course understand that he by no means meant to avert that the Queen would eff and commissioned him to form a ministry but if he took no such command from Her Majesty it would become his duty to recommend Her Majesty to impose the task upon some other person then everything was said that had to be said and members returned to their clubs a certain damp was thrown over the joy of some excitable liberals by tidings which reached the house during Mr. Dormany's speech Mr. Everard Powell was no more dead than was Mr. Dormany himself now it is very unpleasant to find that your news is untrue when you have been at great pains to disseminate it oh but he is dead said Mr. Rattler Lady Powell assured me half an hour ago said Mr. Rattler's opponent that he was at that moment a great deal better than he had been for the last three months the journey down to the house did him a world of good then we'll have him down for every division said Mr. Rattler the political portion of London was an inaffirmant for the next five days on the Sunday morning it was known that Mr. Miltmay had declined to put himself at the head of a Liberal government he and the Duke of St. Bungie and Mr. Plantagnet Palace had been in conference so often and so long that it may almost be said they lived together in conference then Mr. Gresham had been with Mr. Miltmay and Mr. Munk also at the clubs it was said by many that Mr. Munk had been with Mr. Miltmay but it was also said very vehemently by others that no such interview had taken place Mr. Munk was a radical much admired by the people sitting in Parliament for that most radical of all constituencies the Pottery Hamlets who had never as yet been in power it was the great question of the day whether Mr. Miltmay would or would not ask Mr. Munk to join him and it was said by those who habitually think at every period of change that the time has now come in which the difficulties deforming a government will at last be found to be insuperable that Mr. Miltmay could not succeed either with Mr. Munk or without him there were at the present moment two sections of these gentlemen the section which declared that Mr. Miltmay had sent for Mr. Munk and the section which declared that he had not but there were others who perhaps knew better what they were saying by whom it was asserted that the whole difficulty lay with Mr. Gresham Mr. Gresham was willing to serve with Mr. Miltmay with certain stipulations as to the special seat in the cabinet which he himself was to occupy and as to the introduction of certain friends of his own but so said these gentlemen who were supposed really to understand the matter Mr. Gresham was not willing to serve with the Duke and with Mr. Palasar now everybody who knew anything knew that the Duke and Mr. Palasar were indispensable to Mr. Miltmay and a liberal government with Mr. Gresham in the opposition could not live half through a session all Sunday and Monday these things were discussed and on the Monday Lord Iteria absolutely stated to the upper house that he had received his Majesty's commands to form another government Mr. Doveney in half a dozen most modest words in words hardly audible and most unlike himself made his statement in the lower house to the same effect then Mr. Rattler and Mr. Bonteen and Mr. Barrington Earl and Mr. Lawrence Fitzgibbon aroused themselves and swore that such things could not be should the pre which they had won for themselves the spoil of their bows and arrows be snatched from out of their very mouths by treachery Lord Iteria and Mr. Doveney could not venture even to make another attempt unless they did so in combination with Mr. Gresham such a combination said Mr. Barrington Earl would be disgraceful to both parties but would prove Mr. Gresham to be as false as Satan himself early on the Tuesday morning when it was known that Mr. Gresham had been at Lord Iteria's house Barrington Earl was free to confess that he had always been afraid of Mr. Gresham I have felt for years said he that if anybody could break up a party it would be Mr. Gresham on that Tuesday morning Mr. Gresham certainly was with Lord Iteria but nothing came of it Mr. Gresham was either not enough like Satan for the occasion or else he was too closely like him Lord Iteria did not bid high enough or else Mr. Gresham did not like biddings from that quota nothing then came from this attempt and on the Tuesday afternoon the Queen again sent for Mr. Mildmay on the Wednesday morning the gentleman who thought that the insuperable differences had at length arrived began to wear their longest faces and to be triumphant with melancholy for bonings now at last there was a deadlock nobody could form a government it was asserted that Mr. Mildmay had fallen at Her Majesty's feet dissolved in tears and had implored to be relieved from further responsibility it was well known to many at the clubs that the Queen had on that morning telegraphed to Germany for advice there were men so gloomy as to declare that the Queen must throw herself into the arms of Mr. Munk unless Mr. Mildmay would consent to rise from his knees and once more buckle on his ancient armor even that would be better than Mr. Gresham said Barrington Earl in his anchor I'll tell you what it is said Rattler we shall have Gresham and Munk together and you and I shall have to do their biddings Mr. Barrington Earl's reply to that suggestion I may not dare to insert in these pages on the Wednesday night however it was known that everything had been arranged and before the houses met on the Thursday every place had been bestowed either in reality or in imagination the times in its second edition on the Thursday gave a list of the cabinet in which four places out of fourteen were rightly filled on the Friday it named ten places a right and indicated the law officers with only one mistake in reference to Ireland and on the Saturday it gave a list of the undersecretaries of state and secretaries and vice presidents generally with wonderful correctness as to the individuals though the offices were a little jumbled the government was at last formed in a manner which everybody had seen to be the only possible way in which a government could be formed nobody was surprised and the week's work was regarded as though the regular routine of government making had simply been followed Mr. Miltmay was Prime Minister Mr. Gresham was at the Foreign Office Mr. Munk was at the Board of Trade the Duke was President of the Council the Earl of Brentford was Privy Seal and Mr. Palacer was Chancellor of the Exchequer Barrington Earl made a step up in the world and went to the Admiralty as Secretary Mr. Bondine was sent again to the Admiralty and Lawrence Fitzgibbon became a junior Lord of the Treasury Mr. Rattler was of course installed as patronage secretary to the same board Mr. Rattler was perhaps the only man in the party to whose destination there could not possibly be a doubt Mr. Rattler had really qualified himself for a position in such a way as to make all men feel that he would as a matter of course be called upon to fill it I do not know whether as much could be said on behalf of any other man in the new government during all this excitement and through all these movements Phineas Finn felt himself to be left more and more out in the cold he had not been such a fool as to suppose that any office would be offered to him he had never hinted at such a thing to his one dearly intimate friend Lady Laura he had not hitherto opened his mouth in Parliament indeed when the new government was formed he had not been sitting for above a fortnight of course nothing could be done for him as yet but nevertheless he felt himself to be out in the cold the very men who had discussed with him the question of the division who discussed it with him because his vote was then as good as that of any other member did not care to talk to him about the distribution of places he at any rate could not be one of them he at any rate could not be a rival he could neither mar nor assist he could not either be a successful or a disappointed sympathiser because he could not himself be a candidate the affair which perhaps disgusted him more than anything else was the offer of an office not in the cabinet indeed but one supposed to confer high dignity to Mr Kennedy Mr Kennedy refused the offer and this somewhat lessened Fin's disgust but the offer itself made him unhappy I suppose it was made simply because of his money he said to Fitzgibbon I don't believe that Fitzgibbon people seem to think that he has got ahead in his shoulders though he has got no tongue in it I wondered his refusing it because of the right honourable I am so glad that Mr Kennedy refused said Lady Laura to him and why he would have been the right honourable Robert Kennedy forever and ever Finneas when he said this did not as yet know exactly how it would have come to pass that such honour the honour of the enduring prefix to his name would have come in the way of Mr Kennedy had Mr Kennedy accepted the offer in question but he was very quick to learn all these things and in the meantime he rarely made any mistake about them what would that have been to him with his wealth said Lady Laura he has a position of his own and need not care for such things you should not attempt what is called independence in parliament by doing so they simply decline to make themselves useful but there are a few who special walk in life it is to be independent and as it were unmoved by parties great Akhenatosis you know Orion said Finneas Mr Kennedy is not an Akhenatos said Lady Laura he holds a very proud position said Finneas ironically a very proud position indeed said Lady Laura in sober earnest the dinner at Morones had been eaten and Finneas had given an account of the entertainment to Lord Children's sister there had been only two other guests and both of them had been men on the turf I was the first thayer said Finneas and he surprised me ever so much by telling me that you had spoken to him of me before yes I did so I wish him to know you I want him to know some men who think of something besides horses he is very well educated you know and would certainly have taken on us if he had not quarrelled with the people at Christchurch did you take a degree no they sent him down it is best always to have the truth among friends of course you will hear it someday they expelled him because he was drunk then Lady Laura burst out into tears and Finneas sat near her and consoled her and swore that in any way he could befriend her brother he would do so Mr Fitzgibbon at this time claimed a promise which he said that Finneas had made to him that Finneas would go over with him to Mayo to assist at his re-election and Finneas did go the whole affair occupied but a week and was chiefly memorable as being the means of cementing the friendship which existed between the two Irish members a thousand a year said Lawrence Fitzgibbon speaking of the salary of his office it isn't much isn't and every fellow to whom I owe a shilling will be down upon me if I had studied my own comfort I should have done the same as Kennedy End of chapter 9 Recording by Andy for Inverite M-E-L-Y-S dot W-S Chapter 10 of Finneas Finn 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 Leanne Howlett Finneas Finn by Antony Trollop Chapter 10 Violet Effingham It was now the middle of May and a month had elapsed since the terrible difficulty about the Queen's government had been solved A month had elapsed and things had shaken themselves into their places with more of ease and apparent fitness than men had given them credit for possessing Mr. Mildmay, Mr. Gresham and Mr. Monk were the best friends in the world swearing by each other in their own house and supported in the other wigged piers as ever were got together to fight against the instincts of their own order in compliance with the instincts of those below them Lady Laura's father was in the cabinet to Lady Laura's infinite delight It was her ambition to be brought as near to political action as was possible for a woman without surrendering any of the privileges of feminine inaction that women should even wish to have votes at parliamentary elections was to her abominable and the cause of the rights of women generally was odious to her but nevertheless for herself she delighted in hoping that she too might be useful in thinking that she too was perhaps in some degree politically powerful and she had received considerable increase to such hopes when her father accepted the privy seal the Earl himself was not an ambitious man and but for his daughter would have severed himself altogether from political life before this time he was an unhappy man being an obstinate man and having in his obstinacy quarreled with his only son in his unhappiness he would have kept himself alone living in the country brooding over his wretchedness were it not for his daughter on her behalf and in obedience to her requirements he came yearly up to London and perhaps in compliance with her persuasion had taken some part in the debates of the House of Lords it is easy for a peer to be a statesman if the trouble of the life be not too much for him Lord Brentford was now a statesman he received in the cabinet be proof of statesmanship at this time in May there was staying with Lady Laura in Portman Square a very dear friend of hers by name Violet Effingham Violet Effingham was an orphan an heiress and a beauty with a terrible aunt one Lady Baldock who was supposed to be the dragon who had Violet as a captive maiden in charge but as Miss Effingham was of age and was mistress of her own fortune Lady Baldock was in truth a maiden as a dragon should be the dragon at any rate was not now staying in Portman Square and the captivity of the maiden was therefore not severe at the present moment Violet Effingham was very pretty but could hardly be said to be beautiful she was small with light crispy hair which seemed to be ever on the flutter around her brows and which yet was never a hair astray she had sweet soft gray eyes which never looked at you long hardly for a moment nearly killed you by the power of their sweetness her cheek was the softest thing in nature and the color of it when its color was fixed enough to be told was a shade of pink so faint and creamy that you would hardly dare to call it by its name her mouth was perfect not small enough to give that expression of silliness which is so common but almost divine with the temptation of its full rich ruby lips her teeth which she but seldom showed were very even and very white the dearest dimple that ever acted as a lodestar to men's eyes the fault of her face if it had a fault was in her nose which was a little too sharp and perhaps too small a woman who wanted to depreciate Violet Effingham had once called her a pugnosed puppet but I as her chronicler denied that she was pugnosed and all the world who knew her soon came to understand that she was no puppet in figures she was small but not so small as she looked to be her feet and hands were delicate and delicately fine and there was a softness about her whole person on apparent compressibility which seemed to indicate that she might go into very small compass unto what compass and how compressed there were very many men who held very different opinions Violet Effingham was certainly no puppet she was great at dancing as perhaps might be a puppet but she was great also at archery great at skating and great too at hunting with reference to that last accomplishment more than one terrible tussle not always with advantage to the dragon my dear aunt she had said once during the last winter I am going to the meet with George George was her cousin Lord Baldock and was the dragon's son and there let there be an end of it and you will promise me that you will not go further said the dragon I will promise nothing today to any man or to any woman said Violet what was to be said to a young lady who had become of age only a fortnight since she rode that day the famous run from Bagnell's Gorse to Folcham Common and was in at the death Violet Effingham was now sitting in conference with her friend Lady Laura and they were discussing matters of high import a very high import indeed to the interest of both of them I do not ask you to accept him said Lady Laura that is lucky said the other as he has never asked me you have done much the same you know that he loves you I know or fancy that I know that so many men love me but after all what sort of love is it is it just as when you and I when we see something nice in a shop call it a dear duck of a thing and tell somebody to go and buy it let the price be ever so extravagant I know my own position Laura I am a dear duck of a thing you are a very dear thing to Oswald but you Laura or I dare say have already for you are a great deal too close to tell and then there will be cutting of throats and a mighty hubbub and a real tragedy I shall never go beyond gentile comedy unless I run away with somebody beneath me or do something awfully improper don't do that dear I should like to because of my aunt I should indeed if it were possible without compromising myself I should like her to be told some morning that I had gone off with the curate so wicked violet it would serve her right and her countenance would be so awfully comic mind if it is ever to come off I must be there to see it I know what she would say as well as possible she would turn to poor Gussie Augusta she would say I always expected it I always did then I should come out and curtsy to her and say so prettily dear aunt it was only our little joke that's my line but for you Lucifer himself if you liked him but failing Lucifer I shall probably be very humdrum you don't mean that there is anything settled Laura there is nothing settled or any beginning of anything that ever can be settled but I am not talking about myself he has told me that if you will accept him he will do anything that you and I may ask him yes he will promise did you ever know him to break his word I know nothing about him my dear how should I do not pretend to be ignorant and meek violet you do know him much better than most girls know the men they marry you have known him more or less intimately all your life but am I bound to marry him because of that accident no you are not bound to marry him unless you love him I do not love him said violet with slow emphatic words and a little forward motion of her face as though she were especially eager to convince her friend that she was quite in earnest in what she said I fancy violet that you are nearer to loving him than any other man I am not at all near to loving any man I doubt whether I ever shall be it does not seem to me to be possible to myself to be what girls call in love I can like a man I do like perhaps half a dozen I like them so much that if I go to a house or to a party it is quite a matter of importance to me whether that will or will not be there and then I suppose I flirt with them at least Augusta tells me that my aunt says that I do but as for caring about any one of them in the way of loving him wanting to marry him and have him all to myself and that sort of thing I do not know what it means but you intend to be married some day said lady Laura certainly I do and I do not intend to wait very much longer I am heartily tired of lady Baldock and though I can generally escape she is not sufficient I am beginning to think that it would be pleasant to have a house of my own a girl becomes such a bohemian when she was always going about and does not quite know where any of her things are then there was a silence between them for a few minutes Violet Effingham was doubled up in a corner of a sofa with her feet tucked under her and her face reclining upon one of her shoulders and as she talked she was playing with a little toy which was constructed to take various shapes in this way or that a bystander looking at her would have thought that the toy was much more tour than the conversation Lady Laura was sitting upright in a common chair at a table not far from her companion and was manifestly devoting herself all together to the subject that was being discussed between them she had taken no lounging easy attitude she had found no employment for her fingers and she looked steadily at Violet as she talked whereas Violet was looking only and now Laura got up and came to the sofa and sat close to her friend Violet though she somewhat moved one foot so as to seem to make room for the other still went on with her play if you do marry Violet you must choose someone man out of the lot that's quite true my dear I certainly can't marry them all and how do you mean to make the choice I don't know I suppose I shall toss up I wish you would be an earnest with me well I will be an earnest I shall take the first that comes after I have quite made up my mind you'll think it very horrible but that is really what I shall do after all a husband is very much like a house or a horse you don't take your house because it's the best house in the world but because just then you want a house you go and see a house and if it's very nasty you don't take it but if you think it will suit pretty well because you do take it that's the way one buys one's horses and one's husbands and you have not made up your mind yet not quite Lady Baldock was a little more decent than usual just before I left batting him when I told her that I meant to have a pair of ponies she merely threw up her hands and grunted she didn't gnash her teeth and curse and swear and declared to me that I was a child of perdition what do you mean by cursing and swearing she told me once that if I bought a certain little dog it would be to my being everlastingly you know what she isn't so squeamish as I am and set it out what did you do I bought the little dog and it bit my aunt's heel I was very sorry then and gave the creature to Mary Rivers he was such a beauty I hope the perdition has gone with him for I don't like Mary Rivers at all I had to give the poor beastie to somebody and Mary Rivers happened to be there I told her that Puck was connected with the Pollyon but she didn't mind that and I dare say she has sold him Oswald may have an equal chance then among the other favorites said Lady Laura after another pause there are no favorites and I will not say that any man may have a chance why do you press me about your brother in this way because I am so anxious because it would save him because you are the only woman for whom he has ever cared and because he loves you with all his heart and because his father would be reconciled to him tomorrow if he heard that you and he were engaged Laura my dear well you won't be angry if I speak out certainly not after what I have said you have a right to speak out it seems to me that all your reasons are reasons why he should marry me not reasons why I should marry him is not his love for you a reason no said Violet pausing and speaking the word in the lowest possible whisper if he did not love me that if known to me should be a reason why I should not marry him ten men may love me I don't say that any man does he does but I can't marry all the ten and as for that business of saving him you know what I mean I don't know that I have any special mission for saving young men I sometimes think that I shall have quite enough to do to save myself it is strange what a propensity I feel for the wrong side of the post I feel the strongest assurance that you will always keep on the right side thank you my dear I mean to try but I'm quite sure that the jockey who takes me in hand ought to be very steady himself now Lord Chiltern well out with it what have you to say he does not bear the best reputation in this world as a steady man is he altogether the sort of man that mamas of the best kind that matters I like a ruwe myself and a prig who sits all night in the house and talks about nothing but church rates and suffrage is to me intolerable I prefer men who are improper and all that sort of thing if I were a man myself I should go in for everything I ought to leave alone I know I should but you see I'm not a man and I must take care of myself the wrong side of a post for a woman is so very much the wrong side I dare to marry the sort of man that I like to be one of us then the very first among us would that be the wrong side you mean that to be Lady Chiltern in the present tense and Lady Brentford in the future would be promotion for Violet Effingham in the past how hard you are Violet fancy that it should come to this that you should call me hard Laura I should like to be your sister I should like well enough to be his friend nothing that anyone has ever said of him has estranged me from him I have fought for him till I've been black in the face yes I have with my aunt but I am afraid to be his wife the risk would be so great suppose that I did not save him that he brought me to shipwreck instead that could not be could it not I think it might be so very well when I was a child they used to be always telling me to not mind themselves let them do what they may they can be set right again let them fall as they will you can put them on their feet but a woman has to mind herself and very hard work it is when she has a dragon of her own driving her ever the wrong way I want to take you from the dragon yes and to hand me over to a griffin the truth is Violet that you do not know Oswald he is not a griffin I did not mean to be uncomplimentary take any of the dangerous wild beasts you please I merely intend to point out that he is a dangerous wild beast I dare say he is noble minded and I will call him a lion if you like it better but even with a lion there is risk of course there will be risk there is risk with every man unless you will be contented with the prig you described of course there will be risk with my brother he has been a gambler they say he is one still he has given it up in part and would entirely at your instance and they say other things of him Laura it is true he has had paroxysms of evil life which have well nigh roined him and these paroxysms are so dangerous is he not in debt he is but not deeply every shilling that he owes would be paid every shilling mind I know all his circumstances he should be paid he has never lied and he has told me everything his father could not leave an acre away from him if he would and would not if he could I did not ask his fearing that I spoke only of a dangerous habit a paroxysm of spending money is apt to make one so uncomfortable and then well I don't know why I should make a catalog of your brother's weaknesses you mean to say that he drinks too much I do not say so people say so the dragon says so and as I always find her sayings to be untrue I suppose this is like the rest of them it is untrue if it be said of him as a habit it is another paroxysm just now and then do not laugh at me Violet when I am taking his part or I shall be offended but you see if I am to be his wife it is rather important still you need not ridicule me dear Laura you know I do not ridicule you you know I love you for what you are doing would not I do the same and fight for him down to my nails if I had a brother and therefore I want you to be Oswald's wife because I know that you would fight for him it is not true that he is a drunkard look at his hand which is as steady as yours look at his eye is there a sign of it he has been drunk once or twice perhaps and has done fearful things and he would do fearful things to me you never knew a man with a softer heart or with a finer spirit I believe as I sit here that if he were married tomorrow his vices would fall from him like old clothes you will admit Laura that there will be some risk for the wife of course there will be a risk is there not always a risk the men in the city would call this double dangerous I think said Violet then the door was opened speaking entered the room End of Chapter 10 Recording by Leanne Howlett