ut it was nine o'clock before we reached Lord Wolverton's.
We separated after eleven.

Mr. Gladstone explained that he and Mrs. Gladstone had been able to
reach the house by coming through Hyde Park and around the back way.
They expected to get back to their residence, then in Carlton Terrace,
in the same way. Mr. Blaine and I thought we should enjoy the streets
and take our chances of getting back to the hotel by pushing through
the crowds. We were doing this successfully and were moving slowly
with the current past the Reform Club when I heard a word or two
spoken by a voice close to the building on my right. I said to Mr.
Blaine:

"That is Mr. Gladstone's voice."

He said: "It is impossible. We have just left him returning to his
residence."

"I don't care; I recognize voices better than faces, and I am sure
that is Gladstone's."

Finally I prevailed upon him to return a few steps. We got close to
the side of the house and moved back. I came to a muffled figure and
whispered:

"What does 'Gravity' out of its bed at midnight?"

Mr. Gladstone was discovered. I told him I recognized his voice
whispering to his companion.

"And so," I said, "the real ruler comes out to see the illuminations
prepared for the nominal ruler!"

He replied: "Young man, I think it is time you were in bed."

We remained a few minutes with him, he being careful not to remove
from his head and face the cloak that covered them. It was then past
midnight and he was eighty, but, boylike, after he got Mrs. Gladstone
safely home he had determined to see the show.

The conversation at the dinner between Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Blaine
turned upon the differences in Parliamentary procedure between Britain
and America. During the evening Mr. Gladstone cross-examined Mr.
Blaine very thoroughly upon the mode of procedure of the House of
Representatives of which Mr. Blaine had been the Speaker. I saw the
"previous question," and summary rules with us for restricting
needless debate made a deep impression upon Mr. Gladstone. At
intervals the conversation took a wider range.

Mr. Gladstone was interested in more subjects than perhaps any other
man in Britain. When I was last with him in Scotland, at Mr.
Armistead's, his mind was as clear and vigorous as ever, his interest
in affairs equally strong. The topic which then interested him most,
and about which he plied me with questions, was the tall steel
buildings in our country, of which he had be