'Am I to be afraid of seeing what men say of me? Never! But you need not repeat it, at any rate if it be false.' She had not seen the article in question or she certainly would not have repeated the accusation it contained.'I have quarrelled with no colleague.If such a one as Lord Drummond chooses to think himself injured, am I to stoop to him? Nothing strikes me so much in all this as the ill-nature of the world at large.When they used to bait a bear tied to a stake, everyone around would cheer the dogs and help torment the helpless animal.It is much the same now, only they have a man instead of a bear for their pleasure.'
'I will never help the dogs again,' she said, coming up to him and clinging him within the embrace of his arm.
He knew that he had been Quixotic, and he would sit in his chair repeating the word to himself aloud, till he himself began to fear that he would do it in company.But the thing had been done and could not be undone.He had had the bestowal of one Garter, and he had given it to Lord Earlybird! It was,--he told himself, but not correctly,--the only thing he had done on his own undivided responsibility since he had been Prime Minister.
The last days of July had passed, and it had been at last decided that the Session should close on the 11th August.Now the 11th of August was thought to be a great deal to near the 12th to allow of such an arrangement being considered satisfactory.Agreat many members were angry at the arrangement.It had been said all through June and into July that it was to be an early Session, and yet things had been so mismanaged that when the end came everything could not be finished without keeping members of Parliament in town on the 11th August! In the memory of the present legislators there had never been anything so awkward.
The fault, if there was a fault, was attributable to Mr Monk.In all probability the delay was unavoidable.A minister cannot control long-winded gentlemen, and when gentlemen are very long-winded there must be delay.No doubt a strong minister can exercise some control, and it is certain that long-winded gentlemen find an unusual scope for their breath when the reigning dynasty is weak.In that way Mr Monk and the Duke may have been responsible, but they were blamed as though they, for their own special amusement, detained gentlemen in town.Indeed the gentlemen were not detained.They grumbled and growled and then fled,--but their grumblings and growlings were heard even after their departure.
'Well;--what do you think of it all?' the Duke said one day to Mr Monk at the Treasury, affecting an air of cheery good-humour.
'I think,' said Mr Monk, 'that the country is very prosperous.Idon't know that I ever remember trade to have been more evenly satisfactory.'
'Ah, yes.That's very well for the country, and ought, Isuppose, to satisfy me.'
'It satisfies me,' said Mr Monk.
'And me, in a way.But if you were walking about in a very tight pair of boots, in agony with your feet, would you be able just then to relish the news that agricultural wages in that parish had gone up sixpence a week?'
'I'd take my boots off, and then try,' said Mr Monk.
'That's just what I'm thinking of doing.If I had my boots off all that prosperity would be so pleasant to me! But, you see, you can't take your boots off in company.And it may be that you have a walk before you, and that no boots will be worse for your feet than tight ones.'
'We'll have our boots off soon, Duke,' said Mr Monk, speaking of the recess.
'And when shall we be quit of them altogether? Joking apart, they have to be worn if the country requires it.'
'Certainly, Duke.'