bject now which stirred him to eagerness and brought upon
herself explanations which were tedious and unintelligible to her,
but evidently delightful to him. There were no quints or semi-tenths
now, no aspirations for decimal perfection, no delightfully fatiguing
hours spent in the manipulation of the multiplication table. And she
could not but observe that the old Duke now spoke to her much less
frequently of her husband's political position than had been his
habit. Through the first year and a half of the present ministerial
arrangement he had been constant in his advice to her, and had
always, even when things were difficult, been cheery and full of
hope. He still came frequently to the house, but did not often
see her. And when he did see her he seemed to avoid all allusion
either to the political successes or the political reverses of the
Coalition. And even her other special allies seemed to labour under
unusual restraint with her. Barrington Erle seldom told her any news.
Mr. Rattler never had a word for her. Warburton, who had ever been
discreet, became almost petrified by discretion. And even Phineas
Finn had grown to be solemn, silent, and uncommunicative. "Have you
heard who is the new Prime Minister?" she said to Mrs. Finn one day.

"Has there been a change?"

"I suppose so. Everything has become so quiet that I cannot imagine
that Plantagenet is still in office. Do you know what anybody is
doing?"

"The world is going on very smoothly, I take it."

"I hate smoothness. It always means treachery and danger. I feel sure
that there will be a great blow up before long. I smell it in the
air. Don't you tremble for your husband?"

"Why should I? He likes being in office because it gives him
something to do; but he would never be an idle man. As long as he has
a seat in Parliament, I shall be contented."

"To have been Prime Minister is something after all, and they can't
rob him of that," said the Duchess, recurring again to her own
husband. "I half fancy sometimes that the charm of the thing is
growing upon him."

"Upon the Duke?"

"Yes. He is always talking of the delight he will have in giving
it up. He is always Cincinnatus, going back to his peaches and his
ploughs. But I fear he is beginning to feel that the salt would be
gone out of his life if he ceased to be the first man in the kingdom.
He has never said so, but there is a nervousness about him when I
suggest to him the name of this or that ma