lery." This opened on to a
flight of steps at the top of which was another long corridor, and
we found ourselves at last at the door of the Ladies' Gallery, where
we were received by a smiling and obliging attendant.

I expected to find a fine open gallery something like the orchestra
at the Albert Hall, or at least like the dress circle at Drury Lane.
Picture my disappointment when out of the bright light of the
corridor we stepped into a sort of cage, with no light save what
came through the trellis-work in front. I thought this was one of
Chiltern's stupid practical jokes, and being a little cross through
his having kept us waiting for such an unconscionable long time, was
saying something to him when the smiling and obliging attendant said,
"Hush-sh-sh!" and pointed to a placard on which was printed, like a
spelling lesson, the impertinent injunction "Silence is requested."

There was no doubt about it. This was the Ladies' Gallery of the British
House of Commons, and a pretty place it is to which to invite ladies. I
never was good at geometry and that sort of thing, and cannot say how
many feet or how many furlongs the gallery is in length, but I counted
fourteen chairs placed pretty close together, and covered with a hideous
green damask. There are three rows of chairs, the two back rows being
raised above the first the height of one step. As far as seeing into the
House is concerned, one might as well sit down on the flight of steps in
Westminster Hall as sit on a chair in the back row in the Ladies'
Gallery. On the second row it is tolerable enough, or at least you get a
good view of the little old gentleman with the sword by his side sitting
in a chair at the far end of the House. I thought at first this was the
Speaker, and wondered why gentlemen on the cross benches should turn
their backs to him. But Chiltern said it was Lord Charles Russell,
Sergeant-at-Arms, a much more important personage than the Speaker, who
takes the Mace home with him every night, and is responsible for its due
appearance on the table when the Speaker takes the chair.

In the front row you can see well enough--what there is to be seen, for
I confess that my notion of the majesty of the House of Commons is
mightily modified since I beheld it with my own eyes. In the first place
you are quite shut out of sight in the Ladies' Gallery, and I might have
saved myself all the trouble of dressing, which made me a little late
and gave Chilte