The Prime Minister quotes

But if a man never mentions his belongings among those with whom he lives, he becomes mysterious, and almost open to suspicion. It begins to be known that nobody knows anything of such a man, and even friends become afraid.

It is certainly convenient to be able to allude, if it be but once in a year, to some blood relation.

Ferdinand Lopez, who in other respects had much in his circumstances on which to congratulate himself, suffered trouble in his mind respecting his ancestors such as I have endeavoured to describe.

Everybody knows it, and Jones, who likes popularity, grieves at the unfortunate publicity.

But Jones is relieved from a burden which would have broken his poor shoulders, and which even Ferdinand Lopez, who is a strong man, often finds it hard to bear without wincing.

It was admitted on all sides that Ferdinand Lopez was a “gentleman.” Johnson says that any other derivation of this difficult word than that which causes it to signify “a man of ancestry” is whimsical.

Then it was known that he had left his regular business, and it was supposed that he had lost all that he had ever made or had ever possessed.

But nobody, not even his own bankers or his own lawyer⁠—not even the old woman who looked after his linen⁠—ever really knew the state of his affairs.

He was certainly a handsome man—his beauty being of a sort which men are apt to deny and women to admit lavishly.

The woman with the broom got her penny. The opposite gentleman when once by a glance he had expressed submission was allowed his own way with his legs and with the window.

I would not say that Ferdinand Lopez was prone to do ill-natured things; but he was imperious, and he had learned to carry his empire in his eye.

The reader must submit to be told one or two further and still smaller details respecting the man, and then the man shall be allowed to make his own way.

but never, at any moment—going into the city or coming out of it, on horseback or on foot, at home over his book or after the mazes of the dance—was he dressed otherwise than with perfect care.

Money and time did it, but folk thought that it grew with him, as did his hair and his nails.

And he always rode a horse which charmed good judges of what a park nag should be;—not a prancing, restless, giggling, sideway-going, useless garran, but an animal well made, well bitted, with perfect paces, on whom a rider if it pleased him could be as …

And Mr. Sextus Parker was much discontented with himself, so that when he got home that evening to the wife of his bosom and his little family at Ponders End, he by no means made himself agreeable to them.

For that sum of £750 sat upon his bosom as he ate his supper, and lay upon his chest as he slept⁠—like a nightmare.

“I have not intended to make any boast, sir, but simply to vindicate those who had the care of my education. If you have no objection except that founded on my birth, which is an accident—”

“When one man is a peer and another a ploughman, that is an accident. One doesn’t find fault with the ploughman, but one doesn’t ask him to dinner.”

“But my accident,” said Lopez smiling, “is one which you would hardly discover unless you were told. Had I called myself Talbot you would not know but that I was as good an Englishman as yourself.”

“Nor his family; nor anything of their antecedents?

He is a man fallen out of the moon.

All that is nothing to us as passing acquaintances. Between men such ignorance should I think bar absolute intimacy;—but that may be a matter of taste. But it should be held to be utterly antagonistic to any such alliance as that of marriage.

He has not absolutely given up the keys of his boxes, and no one will take them from him.

Even a sovereign can abdicate; but the Prime Minister of a constitutional government is in bonds.

The reader may therefore understand that the Duchess was asking her husband what place among the political rulers of the country had been offered to him by the last aspirant to the leadership of the Government.

“I don’t know why he should be a small fish. No man has done better than he has; and if you want a man to stick to you—”

“I don’t want a man to stick to me. I want a man to stick to his country.”

“You were talking about sympathy.”

“That she should have even dreamed of it!” he would say to himself, not yet having acquired sufficient experience of his fellow creatures to be aware how wonderfully temptations will affect even those who appear to be least subject to them.

The town horse, used to gaudy trappings, no doubt despises the work of his country brother; but yet, now and again, there comes upon him a sudden desire to plough.

The desire for ploughing had come upon the Duchess, but the Duke could not understand it.

As to the Duke, I’ve always had the greatest possible respect for him. The truth is, there’s nothing special to be done at the present moment, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t agree and divide the good things between us.

The Duke has got some craze of his own about decimal coinage.

He’ll amuse himself with that; but it won’t come to anything, and it won’t hurt us.”

That man Roby is a chattering ass. How such a man can be useful to any government I can’t conceive. Happerton was the best, but what had he to say for himself?

I’ve always thought that there was very little wit wanted to make a fortune in the City.

” In this frame of mind Mr. Wharton went off to bed, but not a word more was spoken about Ferdinand Lopez.

He doesn’t look as if he were happy; does he? No one would think he was the master of everything here. He has got himself hidden almost behind the screen. I’m sure he doesn’t like it.”

“He tries to like whatever she likes,” said Mrs. Finn.

As her husband was away in Ireland, Mrs. Finn was staying in the house in Carlton Gardens. The Duchess at present required so much of her time that this was found to be convenient.

The question was asked with an air of inexorable severity, and was intended to have deep signification. Mr. Turnbull had disliked the Coalition from the beginning; but then Mr. Turnbull always disliked everything.

He had so accustomed himself to wield the constitutional cat-of-nine-tails, that heaven will hardly be happy to him unless he be allowed to flog the cherubim.

Though the party with which he was presumed to act had generally been in power since he had been in the House, he had never allowed himself to agree with a Minister on any point.

Monk, who had consented to undertake the duties of Chancellor of the Exchequer under the urgent entreaties of the two dukes, was of course late with his budget. It was April before the Coalition had been formed. The budget when produced had been very popular.

Budgets, like babies, are always little loves when first born. But as their infancy passes away, they also become subject to many stripes.

The details are less pleasing than was the whole in the hands of the nurse. There was a certain “interest,” very influential both by general wealth and by the presence of many members in the House, which thought that Mr.

Then Everett escaped, and Mr. Wharton was again left to his own meditations.

Oh, what a peril, what a trouble, what a labyrinth of difficulties was a daughter!

He must either be known as a stern, hard-hearted parent, utterly indifferent to his child’s feelings, using with tyranny the power over her which came to him only from her sense of filial duty—or else he must give up his own judgment, and yield to …

You would hardly find it possible. Could you do without your private secretaries? Would you know enough of what is going on, if you did not discuss matters with others?

A man cannot be both private and public at the same time.

”

“

I always felt that Martha was very ill-used. If there were no Marthas there would never be anything fit to eat.

But it’s odd how sure a wife is to be scolded. If I did nothing at all, that wouldn’t please a busy, hardworking man like you.”

“I retract the word. I would not for the world say anything that should annoy you;—but pray, pray do not go on with it.” Then again he left her.

Vulgarity! There was no other word in the language so hard to bear as that.

He had, indeed, been careful to say that he did not accuse her of vulgarity—but nevertheless the accusation had been made. Could you call your friend a liar more plainly than by saying to him that you would not say that he lied?

Vulgarity! There was no other word in the language so hard to bear as that. He had, indeed, been careful to say that he did not accuse her of vulgarity—but nevertheless the accusation had been made.

Could you call your friend a liar more plainly than by saying to him that you would not say that he lied?

They dined together, the two boys, also, dining with them, but very little was said at dinner. The horrid word was clinging to the lady’s ears, and the remembrance of having uttered the word was heavy on the man’s conscience.

“

Ask no questions, my dear, and you’ll hear no stories.

You haven’t been married twice without knowing that women can’t have everything smooth. He only said one word. It was rather hard to bear, but it has passed away.”

“I had no idea there was so much pride about the Duke,” Mr. Boffin said to his old colleague, Sir Orlando. “Is it pride?” asked Sir Orlando. “It may be shyness,” said the wise Boffin. “

The two things are so alike you can never tell the difference. But the man who is cursed by either should hardly be a Prime Minister.

”

“She was talking about her family. I rather like Lady Rosina. She is living all alone, it seems, and almost in poverty.

Perhaps there is nothing so sad in the world as the female scions of a noble but impoverished stock.

”

What you want is new blood, or new wood, or new metal, or whatever you may choose to call it. Take my advice and try this man. He isn’t a pauper. It isn’t money that he wants.”

“Cora, your geese are all swans.”

“That’s not fair. I have never brought to you a goose yet. My swans have been swans. Who was it brought you and your pet swan of all, Mr. Grey, together? I won’t name any names, but it is your swans have been geese.”

But this is a power which none but a savage possesses—or perhaps an Irishman. We have learned the lesson from the divines, the philosophers, and the poets.

Post equitem sedet atra cura.

Thus was Ferdinand Lopez mounted high on his horse—for he had triumphed greatly in his marriage, and really felt that the world could give him no delight so great as to have her beside him, and her as his own.

The promise was very well. It all went in the right direction. It showed him that she was at any rate prepared to take a part in the joint work of their life. But, nevertheless, she should be spared for the moment.

“When there is trouble, you shall be told everything,” he said, pressing his lips to her brow, “but there is nothing that need trouble you yet.”

He smiled as he said this, but there was something in the tone of his voice which told her that there would be trouble.

And yet they must be done. And as for him—he does not help me in the least.

He wanders about among the clouds of the multiplication table, and thinks that a majority will drop into his mouth because he does not shut it.

Can you tie the fagot any better?” “I think I would leave it untied,” said Mrs. Finn. “You would not do anything of the kind. You’d be just as fussy as I am.”

“Weather never frightens me, your Grace. I always have thick boots;—I am very particular about that;—and cork soles.”

“I think I owe my life to cork soles,” said Lady Rosina enthusiastically.

“There is a man named Sprout in Silverbridge who makes them. Did your Grace ever try him for boots?”

But nevertheless he liked Lady Rosina, and was never bored by her. She was natural, and she wanted nothing from him.

When she talked about cork soles she meant cork soles.

And then she did not tread on any of his numerous corns. As he walked on he determined that he would induce his wife to persuade Lady Rosina to stay a little longer at the Castle.

On this emergency the Major certainly was not deficient in cheek. “If I might be allowed to consider myself your Grace’s candidate, I should indeed be a happy man,” said the Major.

“I think, sir,” said the Duke, “that your proposition is the most unbecoming and the most impertinent that ever was addressed to me.”

The Major’s mouth fell, and he stared with all his eyes as he looked up into the Duke’s face. “Good afternoon,” said the Duke, turning quickly round and walking away.

… innuendo that the Major’s jealousy against Lopez had been of a double nature—in reference both to the Duchess and the borough—so that he escaped from much of that disgrace which naturally attaches itself to a man who has been kicked out of another man’s house.

There was a mystery;⁠—and when there is a mystery a man should never be condemned.

Where there is a woman in the case a man cannot be expected to tell the truth. As for calling out or in any way punishing the Prime Minister, that of course was out of the question.

There were Roby from the Admiralty, and the Happertons, and Sir Timothy Beeswax, with whom Lopez had become acquainted at Gatherum, and old Lord Mongrober. But the barrister, who had dined out a good deal in his time, perceived the effort.

Who, that ever with difficulty scraped his dinner guests together, was able afterwards to obliterate the signs of the struggle?

It was, however, a first attempt, and Lopez, whose courage was good, thought that he might do better before long. If he could get into the House and make his mark there people then would dine with him fast enough.

“

Every man howls who is driven out of his ordinary course by any trouble.

A man howls if he goes about frowning always.”

Lopez. No doubt the incident added a pleasurable emotion to the excitement caused by the election at Silverbridge generally.

A personal quarrel is attractive everywhere.

The expectation of such an occurrence will bring together the whole House of Commons. And of course this quarrel was very attractive in Silverbridge. There were some Fletcherites and Lopezites in the quarrel;

The man had outraged all propriety by writing to his wife. Of course he would be justified in horsewhipping him. But there were difficulties.

A man is not horsewhipped simply because you wish to horsewhip him.

In the evening, as he was sitting alone, he got a note from Mr. Sprugeon. “Mr. Sprugeon’s compliments. Doesn’t Mr. Lopez think an address to the electors should appear in tomorrow’s Gazette—very short and easy;—something like the following.” Then Mr.

“

Hospitality should run from a man with his wealth and his position, like water from a fountain.

As his hand is known to be full, so it should be known to be open. When the delight of his friends is in question he should know nothing of cost. Pearls should drop from him as from a fairy.

“I can’t make the men any better—nor yet the women. They are poor mean creatures. The world is made up of such. I don’t know that Captain Gunner is worse than Sir Orlando Drought or Sir Timothy Beeswax.

People seen by the mind are exactly different to things seen by the eye. They grow smaller and smaller as you come nearer down to them, whereas things become bigger.

I remember when I used to think that members of the Cabinet were almost gods, and now they seem to be no bigger than the shoeblacks—only less picturesque.

But the mistake she had made was acknowledged.

The man who could enjoin her to “get round” her father could never have been worthy of the love she had given him.

“

How is anybody to feel sure of anything, my dear?

”

“

I’d rather pay double for bad shoes to a man who did not thwart me.

”

“Do you think that I would have you spare me if it was my fault? And how would it hurt me? Will it be new to anyone that I have done a foolish thing? Will the newspapers disturb my peace?

I sometimes think, Plantagenet, that I should have been the man, my skin is so thick; and that you should have been the woman, yours is so tender.

”

“

They couldn’t hang you, you know, because I committed a murder.

”

“

I wish I could make you thick-skinned for your own. It’s the only way to be decently comfortable in such a coarse, rough-and-tumble world as this is.

”

As he read it over, he was painfully aware that all his trash about caravels and cargoes of sulphur would not go far with Mr. Wharton. But it might go farther than nothing. He was bound not to neglect Mr. Wharton’s letter to him.

When a man is in difficulty about money, even a lie⁠—even a lie that is sure to be found out to be a lie⁠—will serve his immediate turn better than silence.

There is nothing that the courts hate so much as contempt;—not even perjury. And Lopez felt that Mr. Wharton was the judge before whom he was bound to plead.

“I’m sure I don’t know about commerce, Mrs. Lopez, because I’m only a woman; but it can’t be fair.

They goes and buys things that they haven’t got the money to pay for, and then waits to see if they’ll turn up trumps. Isn’t that gambling?

”

“I know you’re good and kindhearted, my dear. I saw it in your eyes from the very first.

But them men, when they get on at moneymaking⁠—or money-losing, which makes ’em worse⁠—are like tigers clawing one another.

They don’t care how many they kills, so that they has the least bit for themselves. There ain’t no fear of God in it, nor yet no mercy, nor ere a morsel of heart.

6d., begging them as he did so never to send another dinner into his house, and observing that he was in the habit of entertaining his friends at less than three guineas a head. “But Château Yquem and Côte d’Or!” said Mr. Sugarscraps.

“Château fiddlesticks!” said Mr. Wharton, walking out of the house with his receipt.

Then came the bill for the brougham—for the brougham from the very day of their return to town after their wedding trip. This he showed to Lopez. Indeed the bill had been made out to Lopez and sent to Mr. Wharton with an apologetic note.

“Yes;—but the worst of it is, that when they suffer from this weakness, which you call sensitiveness, they think that they are made of finer material than other people.

Men shouldn’t be made of Sèvres china, but of good stone earthenware.

However, I don’t want to abuse him, poor fellow.”

“Glencora, in these matters you must allow me to judge for myself, and I will judge. I will never say that I didn’t do it;—but that it was my wife who did.”

“Adam said so⁠—because he chose to tell the truth.”

“And Adam has been despised ever since—not because he ate the apple, but because he imputed the eating of it to a woman. I will not do it. We have had enough of this now.” Then she turned to go away—but he called her back.

The hoardings of London were already telling the public that if it wished to get drunk without any of the usual troubles of intoxication it must drink Bios.

The public no doubt does read the literature of the hoardings, but then it reads so slowly!

This Bios had hardly been twelve months on the boards as yet! But they were now increasing the size of the letters in the advertisements and the jocundity of the pictures—and the thing might be done.

Will you dare to escape with me from the cold conventionalities, from the miserable thraldom of this country bound in swaddling cloths? Lizzie Eustace, if you will say the word, I will take you to that land of glorious happiness.”

But Lizzie Eustace had £4,000 a year and a balance at her banker’s.

“Mr. Lopez,” she said.

“Mr. Lopez, I think you must be a fool.”

He did at last succeed in getting himself into the street, and at any rate she had not eaten him.

No one really thought that the Prussians and French combined would invade our shores and devastate our fields, and plunder London, and carry our daughters away into captivity. The state of the funds showed very plainly that there was no such fear.

But a good cry is a very good thing⁠—and it is always well to rub up the officials of the Admiralty by a little wholesome abuse.

Sir Orlando was thought to have done his business well. Of course he did not risk a division upon the address. Had he done so he would have been “nowhere.” But, as it was, he was proud of his achievement.

Had the payment on behalf of Mr. Lopez not been made—as it certainly was made, or the letters in our hand would be impudent forgeries—the charge would long since have been denied.

Silence in such a matter amounts to confession.

But we understand that the Duke intends to escape under the plea that he has a second self, powerful as he is to exercise the baneful influence which his territorial wealth unfortunately gives him, but for the actions of which second self he, as a …

But a Prime Minister should never go beyond generalities about commerce, agriculture, peace, and general philanthropy. Of course he should have the gift of the gab, and that Plantagenet hasn’t got. He never wants to say anything unless he has got something to say.

I could do a Mansion House dinner to a marvel!

”

But it was apparent to those who were nearest to the minister, to Mr. Warburton, for instance, and the Duke of St. Bungay, that the man himself would be worn out first.

The happy possessor of a thick skin can hardly understand how one not so blessed may be hurt by the thong of a little whip!

At last the matter was arranged. At the instigation of Mr. Monk, Sir James Deering, who was really the father of the House, an independent member, but one who generally voted with the Coalition, consented to ask the question in the House of Commons.

“To the last you are hard and cruel to me,” said Lopez;—“but I will meet you in Coleman Street at eleven tomorrow.” Then Mr. Wharton left the room, and Lopez was there alone amidst the gloom of the heavy curtains and the dark paper.

A London dining-room at night is always dark, cavernous, and unlovely.

The very pictures on the walls lack brightness, and the furniture is black and heavy. This room was large, but old-fashioned and very dark. Here Lopez walked up and down after Mr.

“When I am gone, perhaps, it will be all right,” she continued. “When he told me that I was to go, that was my comfort.

I think I have taught myself to think nothing of myself, to bear it all as a necessity, to put up with it, whatever it may be, as men bear thirst in the desert.

Thank God, Arthur, I have no baby to suffer with me. Here—here, it is still very bad. When I think of papa creeping in and out of his house, I sometimes feel that I must kill myself.

“Well; I was. He has loved me well, and I shall never see him again. He is very dear to me, and I was parting from him forever.

It was the first and the last, and I did not grudge it to him.

You must remember, Ferdinand, that you are taking me across the world from all my friends.”

He had, no doubt, shown himself to be a blackguard, a man without a spark of honour or honesty. But then—as they said who thought his position in the club to be unassailable—what had the club to do with that?

“If you turn out all the blackguards and all the dishonourable men, where will the club be?”

was a question asked with a great deal of vigour by one middle-aged gentleman who was supposed to know the club-world very thoroughly. He had committed no offence which the law could recognise and punish, nor had he sinned against the club rules.

If he could only get all the publicans in London to take his paper because of his patriotic and bold conduct, the fortune of the paper would be made.

There is no better trade than that of martyrdom, if the would-be martyr knows how far he may judiciously go, and in what direction.

All this Mr. Quintus Slide was supposed to have considered very well.

They, too, called themselves—perhaps thought themselves—Cincinnatuses. But their ploughs and peaches did not suffice to them, and they longed again to be in every mouth, and to have, if not their deeds, then even their omissions blazoned in every paragraph.

The palate accustomed to Cayenne pepper can hardly be gratified by simple salt.

When that deadlock had come, politicians who were really anxious for the country had been forced to look about for a Premier—and in the search the old Duke had been the foremost.

If so, he would stand alone till the pendulum of the House of Commons had told him that it was time for him to retire. But gradually the determined good-humour of the old man prevailed.

“He has a wonderful gift of saying nothing with second-rate dignity,”

whispered the repentant friend, speaking of Lord Fawn.

“A very honest man,” said the Prime Minister in return.

“A sort of bastard honesty⁠—by precept out of stupidity. There is no real conviction in it, begotten by thought.”

This little bit of criticism, harsh as it was, had the effect, and the Prime Minister became less miserable than he had been.

This very change in the circumstances of the property would be sure, of itself, to bring the Fletchers to Wharton—and then how should she look at him, how answer him, if he spoke to her tenderly?

It is very hard for a woman to tell a lie to a man when she loves him.

She may speak the words. She may be able to assure him that he is indifferent to her.

“I am beginning to think,” said the Duke, “that I have made a mistake in not caring for such things. When I was very young I gave them up, because it appeared that other men devoted too much time to them.

One might as well not eat because some men are gluttons.

”

It seems to me that many men—men whom you and I know—embrace the profession of politics not only without political convictions, but without seeing that it is proper that they should entertain them.

Chance brings a young man under the guidance of this or that elder man.

He has come of a Whig family, as was my case—or from some old Tory stock; and loyalty keeps him true to the interests which have first pushed him forward into the world. There is no conviction there.”

“

Equality is a dream. But sometimes one likes to dream⁠—especially as there is no danger that Matching will fly from me in a dream.

I doubt whether I could bear the test that has been attempted in other countries.”

There was very much room for triumph in regard to Everett. It had already been ascertained that the Wharton who was now dead had had a child—but that the child was a daughter.

Oh⁠—what salvation or destruction there may be to an English gentleman in the sex of an infant!

This poor baby was now little better than a beggar brat, unless the relatives who were utterly disregardful of its fate, should choose, in their charity, to make some small allowance for its maintenance.

There was a moment in which she was almost tempted to turn upon him and tell him that he knew nothing of her sorrows. But she restrained herself, and when she was alone she acknowledged to herself that he had spoken the truth.

No one has a right to go about the world as a Niobe, damping all joys with selfish tears.

What did she not owe to her father, who had warned her so often against the evil she had contemplated, and had then, from the first moment after the fault was done, forgiven her the doing of it?

Austell talks of resigning, and he has already made up his mind who is to have the see. He used to consult the Duke about all these things, but I don’t think he ever consults anyone now. He never forgave the Duke about Lord Earlybird.

Certainly, if a man wants to quarrel with all his friends, and to double the hatred of all his enemies, he had better become Prime Minister.

”

but I mean to see her. I couldn’t make her first husband member, and therefore the man who is member is to be her second husband. But I’m almost sick of schemes. Oh, dear, I wish I knew something that was really pleasant to do.

I have never really enjoyed anything since I was in love, and I only liked that because it was wicked.

”

As a man cuts in and out at a whist table, and enjoys both the game and the rest from the game, so had the Duke of St. Bungay been well pleased in either position.

He was patriotic, but his patriotism did not disturb his digestion.

He had been ambitious—but moderately ambitious, and his ambition had been gratified. It never occurred to him to be unhappy because he or his party were beaten on a measure. When President of the Council, he could do his duty and enjoy London life.

When President of the Council, he could do his duty and enjoy London life. When in opposition, he could linger in Italy till May and devote his leisure to his trees and his bullocks.

He was always esteemed, always self-satisfied, and always Duke of St. Bungay.

But with our Duke it was very different. Patriotism with him was a fever, and the public service an exacting mistress. As long as this had been all he had still been happy. Not trusting much in himself, he had never aspired to great power.

When in opposition, he could linger in Italy till May and devote his leisure to his trees and his bullocks. He was always esteemed, always self-satisfied, and always Duke of St. Bungay. But with our Duke it was very different.

Patriotism with him was a fever, and the public service an exacting mistress.

As long as this had been all he had still been happy. Not trusting much in himself, he had never aspired to great power.

The Prime Minister did not smile now. He knit his brows and a dark shadow came across his face. “I don’t think I could do that,” he said. “

Caesar could hardly have led a legion under Pompey.

”

On this occasion all the gentlemen assembled were jocund in their manner, and apparently well satisfied—as though they saw before them an end to all their troubles.

The Spartan boy did not even make a grimace when the wolf bit him beneath his frock, and these were all Spartan boys.

Even the Prime Minister, who had fortified himself for the occasion, and who never wept in any company but that of his wife and his old friend, was pleasant in his manner and almost affable.

If one were asked in these days what gift should a Prime Minister ask first from the fairies, one would name the power of attracting personal friends.

Eloquence, if it be too easy, may become almost a curse.

Patriotism is suspected, and sometimes sinks almost to pedantry. A Jove-born intellect is hardly wanted, and clashes with the inferiorities. Industry is exacting. Honesty is unpractical. Truth is easily offended. Dignity will not bend.

Eloquence, if it be too easy, may become almost a curse. Patriotism is suspected, and sometimes sinks almost to pedantry. A Jove-born intellect is hardly wanted, and clashes with the inferiorities. Industry is exacting.

Honesty is unpractical. Truth is easily offended. Dignity will not bend.

But the man who can be all things to all men, who has ever a kind word to speak, a pleasant joke to crack, who can forgive all sins, who is ever prepared for friend or foe but never very bitter to the latter, who …

“Quite settled.

The play has been played, and the curtain has fallen, and the lights are being put out, and the poor weary actors may go home to bed.

”

“No;—no;—no;—never. I am disgraced and shamed.

I have lain among the pots till I am foul and blackened.

Take your arms away. They shall not be defiled,” she said as she sprang to her feet. “You shall not have the thing that he has left.”

She had said it all to her lover in the strongest words she could find, but she could not repeat them to her father. The next morning when he came into the parlour where she was already sitting, she looked up at him almost reproachfully.

Did he think that a woman was a piece of furniture which you can mend, and revarnish, and fit out with new ornaments, and then send out for use, secondhand indeed, but for all purposes as good as new?

Then, while she was in this frame of mind, Everett came in upon her unawares, and with his almost boisterous happiness succeeded for a while in changing the current of her thoughts. He was of course now uppermost in his own thoughts.

“

My illness would be nothing, but my honour is everything.

I, too, have something to bear as well as you, and if you cannot approve of what I do, at any rate be silent.”

But she could not bring herself as yet to be good-humoured.

If he had only been a little stronger, a little thicker-skinned, made of clay a little coarser, a little other than he was, it might all have been so different!

Early on that Sunday afternoon she had herself driven to Mrs. Finn’s house in Park Lane, instead of waiting for her friend. Latterly she had but seldom done this, finding that her presence at home was much wanted.

“That was soon after the poor man had killed himself—when she was going away. Of course I only left a card. But I shall see her now if I can. We want to get her out of her melancholy if possible.

I have a sort of feeling, you know, that among us we made the train run over him.

”

“

But a wife doesn’t always want to be made a widow even if her husband be bad.

I think I owe her something, and I would pay my debt if I knew how. I shall go and see her, and if she will marry this other man we’ll take her by the hand. Goodbye, dear.