siderable notice. In later days his brilliancy had been
less conspicuously displayed. During a debate in the House of Lords on
affairs in Morocco, at a moment when that country, for the fifth time in
seven years, had brought half Europe to the verge of war, he had
interpolated the remark "a little Moor and how much it is," but in spite
of the encouraging reception accorded to this one political utterance he
was never tempted to a further display in that direction. It began to be
generally understood that he did not intend to supplement his numerous
town and country residences by living overmuch in the public eye.

And then had come the unlooked-for tidings of the imminent proceedings
for divorce. And such a divorce! There were cross-suits and allegations
and counter-allegations, charges of cruelty and desertion, everything in
fact that was necessary to make the case one of the most complicated and
sensational of its kind. And the number of distinguished people involved
or cited as witnesses not only embraced both political parties in the
realm and several Colonial governors, but included an exotic contingent
from France, Hungary, the United States of North America, and the Grand
Duchy of Baden. Hotel accommodation of the more expensive sort began to
experience a strain on its resources. "It will be quite like the Durbar
without the elephants," exclaimed an enthusiastic lady who, to do her
justice, had never seen a Durbar. The general feeling was one of
thankfulness that the last of the strikes had been got over before the
date fixed for the hearing of the great suit.

As a reaction from the season of gloom and industrial strife that had
just passed away the agencies that purvey and stage-manage sensations
laid themselves out to do their level best on this momentous occasion.
Men who had made their reputations as special descriptive writers were
mobilised from distant corners of Europe and the further side of the
Atlantic in order to enrich with their pens the daily printed records of
the case; one word-painter, who specialised in descriptions of how
witnesses turn pale under cross-examination, was summoned hurriedly back
from a famous and prolonged murder trial in Sicily, where indeed his
talents were being decidedly wasted. Thumb-nail artists and expert kodak
manipulators were retained at extravagant salaries, and special dress
reporters were in high demand. An enterprising Paris firm of costume
builders pre