ad at last resolved to
recommend her Majesty to bestow the ribbon on Lord Earlybird. He
would not, however, take any step for a few days so that his friend
might have an opportunity of making further remonstrance if he
pleased. No further remonstrance was made, and Lord Earlybird, much
to his own amazement, was nominated to the vacant Garter.

The appointment was one certainly not popular with any of the Prime
Minister's friends. With some, such as Lord Drummond, it indicated
a determination on the part of the Duke to declare his freedom from
all those bonds which had hitherto been binding on the Heads of
Government. Had the Duke selected himself, certainly no offence would
have been given. Had the Marquis of Mount Fidgett been the happy
man, excuses would have been made. But it was unpardonable to Lord
Drummond that he should have been passed over and that the Garter
should have been given to Lord Earlybird. To the poor old Duke the
offence was of a different nature. He had intended to use a very
strong word when he told his friend that his proposed conduct would
be Quixotic. The Duke of Omnium would surely know that the Duke of
St. Bungay could not support a Quixotic Prime Minister. And yet the
younger Duke, the Telemachus of the last two years,--after hearing
that word,--had rebelled against his Mentor, and had obstinately
adhered to his Quixotism! The greed of power had fallen upon the
man,--so said the dear old Duke to himself,--and the man's fall was
certain. Alas, alas; had he been allowed to go before the poison had
entered his veins, how much less would have been his suffering!

CHAPTER LXV

"There Must Be Time"

At the end of the third week in July, when the Session was still
sitting, and when no day had been absolutely as yet fixed for the
escape of members, Mr. Wharton received a letter from his friend
Arthur Fletcher which certainly surprised him very much, and which
left him for a day or two unable to decide what answer ought to be
given. It will be remembered that Ferdinand Lopez destroyed himself
in March, now three months since. The act had been more than a nine
days' wonder, having been kept in the memory of many men by the
sedulous efforts of Quintus Slide, and by the fact that the name of
so great a man as the Prime Minister was concerned in the matter. But
gradually the feeling about Ferdinand Lopez had died away, and his
fate, though it had outlived the nominal nine days, had sunk into