urtney; and you could hear it in the shriller
pitch of Mr. Balfour's voice.

[Sidenote: A false alarm.]

But all the same, it was a false alarm. For if the Old Man had tripped,
he was able to recover himself very soon. Mr. Balfour was foolish enough
to try and dot the "I's," and to put into Mr. Gladstone's mouth that
which his enemies hoped he had said. For Mr. Balfour, remarking that Mr.
Gladstone had made a more explicit declaration than any which had yet
come from his lips--this was all right, and was quite true--went on to
the further statement that the Old Man had now committed himself to
standing or falling by the ninth clause "in its present shape." This,
you will see, was the whole crux of the situation. If Mr. Gladstone had
said this, then, indeed, it might go hard with him by-and-bye, for
whether the Liberal party would accept the ninth clause in its present
shape was one of the questions yet to be decided. The Old Man, however
his words might have been open to this construction, had not in reality
said anything of the kind. And, at once, he was prompt to see how
necessary it was to correct this error, for he immediately rose to his
feet to say that he had never said anything of the sort. What he had
said was that the Government intended to stand by the principle that the
Irish members were to have a place in the Imperial Parliament, which, it
will be seen, leaves open the perilous and perplexing question: what
form that representation in the Imperial Parliament is to take. At once
there was a heavy sigh of relief, and most of all on the Irish Benches.
Among the Irishry, the declaration of Mr. Gladstone had produced a
moment of something like panic; the only exhibition of which was a
certain impatience with the attempt of Mr. Balfour to pin the Old Man
down to the most literal interpretation of his words. The panic soon
passed away. It was all, I say, a false alarm. Vulnerable though his
temper--though there was in him still enough of the hot onrush of battle
and of resistance under all the snow of advancing years--the great old
tactician had not forgotten his cunning. He at once seized the
opportunity of saying he was not finally committed to the ninth clause
in its present shape, and so we once more breathed freely.

[Sidenote: Joe comes back from dinner.]

This was the end of the important part of the debate before the dinner
hour. It is one of the peculiarities of Mr. Chamberlain that no stress
of a Pa