If his
Grace will let her know on what day and at what hour he
will be kind enough to call on her, Mrs. Finn will be at
home to receive him.

Park Lane. Thursday, 12th May, 18--.

CHAPTER XIV

The New Member for Silverbridge

Lord Silverbridge was informed that it would be right that he should
go down to Silverbridge a few days before the election, to make
himself known to the electors. As the day for the election drew
near it was understood that there would be no other candidate.
The Conservative side was the popular side among the tradesmen of
Silverbridge. Silverbridge had been proud to be honoured by the
services of the heir of the house of Omnium, even while that heir had
been a Liberal,--had regarded it as so much a matter of course that
the borough should be at his disposal that no question as to politics
had ever arisen while he retained the seat. And had the Duke chosen
to continue to send them Liberals, one after another, when he went
into the House of Lords, there would have been no question as to the
fitness of the man or men so sent. Silverbridge had been supposed
to be a Liberal as a matter of course,--because the Pallisers were
Liberals. But when the matter was remitted to themselves,--when the
Duke declared that he would not interfere any more, for it was thus
that the borough had obtained its freedom,--then the borough began to
feel Conservative predilections. "If his Grace really does mean us to
do just what we please ourselves, which is a thing we never thought
of asking from his Grace, then we find, having turned the matter over
among ourselves, that we are upon the whole Conservative." In this
spirit the borough had elected a certain Mr. Fletcher; but in doing
so the borough had still a shade of fear that it would offend the
Duke. The house of Palliser, Gatherum Castle, the Duke of Omnium,
and this special Duke himself, were all so great in the eyes of
the borough, that the first and only strong feeling in the borough
was the one of duty. The borough did not altogether enjoy being
enfranchised. But when the Duke had spoken once, twice, and thrice,
then with a hesitating heart the borough returned Mr. Fletcher. Now
Mr. Fletcher was wanted elsewhere, having been persuaded to stand
for the county, and it was a comfort to the borough that it could
resettle itself beneath the warmth of the wings of the Pallisers.

So the matter stood when Lord Silverbridge was told that his pr