mony to the extraordinary effect the speech had made
upon the House of Commons. It was, he said, a speech "impressive and
entrancing"--two most happily-chosen epithets to describe it. And then
Lord Randolph told a little bit of personal history which was
interesting. In all his Parliamentary career, this was the first time he
had been called upon to immediately follow a speech of Mr. Gladstone. He
would willingly have abandoned the opportunity, for it was a speech
which no man in the House of Commons was capable of confronting. After
it, everything else was bound to fall flat, dull, and unimpressive. Lord
Randolph had the misfortune of having prepared a speech of considerable
length--going into the dead past, forgotten things, and found
himself--almost for the first time in his life--incapable of holding the
attention of the House of Commons. Then the division followed, with 47
of a majority--and loud ringing cheers came from the friends of the
Government--and especially from the Irish benches--represented in the
division by every single member of the party, with the exception of one,
absent on sick leave.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM.

[Sidenote: Still holiday-making.]

The Easter holidays were slow in coming to an end. People who were
fortunate enough to obtain pairs, lingered by the seaside or in the
country house. Others were busy with the work which the recess now
imposes as much as in the most feverish Parliamentary times on leading
political men. Mr. Balfour was away in Ireland, among the Orangemen of
Ulster and the Loyalists of Dublin; Lord Randolph Churchill was at
Liverpool making silly and violent speeches; Mr. Chamberlain was
_colloguing_--to use an excellent Irish phrase--with the publicans of
the Midlands. The Irish were especially conspicuous by the smallness of
their attendance. They had been months away from business, wives,
children, and naturally they were anxious to take advantage of the brief
breathing space which was left to them before that time came when they
could not leave Westminster for a moment in the weeks during which the
Home Rule Bill was in Committee!

[Sidenote: Return of the G.O.M.]

Mr. Gladstone, of course, was in his place. Down in Brighton, in a
pot-hat, antediluvian in age and shape, he had been courting the breeze
of the sea under the hospitable wing of Mr. Armitstead; escaping from
the crowds of hero-worshippers, and attending divine service sometime