pent half an hour
with Sir Rupert on the terrace, putting his case and the case of
youthful Radicalism.

Sir Rupert only smiled at the suggestion, and put it gracefully aside.
'I am a Tory of the Tories,' he said; 'only my own people don't
understand me yet. But they have got to find me out.' That was
undoubtedly Sir Rupert's conviction, that he was strong enough to force
the Government, to coerce his party, to compel recognition of his
opinions and acceptance of his views. 'They cannot do without me,' he
said to himself in his secret heart. He was met by disappointment. The
party chiefs made no overtures to him to reconsider his decision, to
withdraw his resignation. Another man was immediately put in his place,
a man of mediocre ability, of commonplace mind, a man of routine,
methodical, absolutely lacking in brilliancy or originality, a man who
would do exactly what the Government wanted in the Government way. There
was a more bitter blow still for Sir Rupert. There were in the
Government certain members of his own little Adullamite party of the
Opposition days, T. T.s who had been given office at his insistence, men
whom he had discovered, brought forward, educated for political success.

It is certain that Sir Rupert confidently expected that these men, his
comrades and followers, would endorse his resignation with their own,
and that the Government would thus, by his action, find itself suddenly
crippled, deprived of its young blood, its ablest Ministers. The
confident expectation was not realised. The T. T.s remained where they
were. The Government took advantage of the slight readjustment of places
caused by Sir Rupert's resignation to give two of the most prominent T.
T.s more important offices, and to those offices the T. T.s stuck like
limpets.

Sir Rupert was not a man to give way readily, or readily to acknowledge
that he was defeated. He bided his time, in his place below the gangway,
till there came an Indian debate. Then, in a House which had been roused
to intense excitement by vague rumours of his intention, he moved a
resolution which was practically a vote of censure upon the Government
for its Indian policy. Always a fluent, ready, ornate speaker, Sir
Rupert was never better than on that desperate night. His attack upon
the Government was merciless; every word seemed to sting like a poisoned
arrow; his exposure of the imbecilities and ineptitudes of the existing
system of administration was compl