ponsibility. He
explained to Lady Beaumaris that an Under-Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, with his chief in the House of Lords, was "master of the
situation." What the situation was, and what the under-secretary was
to master, he did not yet deign to inform Imogene; but her trust in
Waldershare was implicit, and she repeated to Lord Beaumaris, and
to Mrs. Rodney, with an air of mysterious self-complacency, that Mr.
Waldershare was "master of the situation." Mrs. Rodney fancied that this
was the correct and fashionable title of an under-secretary of
state. Mr. Waldershare was going to make a collection of portraits of
Under-Secretaries for Foreign Affairs whose chiefs had been in the House
of Lords. It would be a collection of the most eminent statesmen that
England had ever produced. For the rest, during his Italian tour,
Waldershare seemed to have conducted himself with distinguished
discretion, and had been careful not to solicit an audience of the Duke
of Modena in order to renew his oath of allegiance.

When Lady Montfort successfully tempted Lady Roehampton to be her
travelling companion to Paris, the contemplated visit was to have been
a short one--"a week, perhaps ten days at the outside." The outside had
been not inconsiderably passed, and yet the beautiful Berengaria showed
no disposition of returning to England. Myra was uneasy at her own
protracted absence from her lord, and having made a last, but fruitless
effort to induce Lady Montfort to accompany her, she said one day to
Endymion, "I think I must ask you to take me back. And indeed you ought
to be with my lord some little time before the meeting of Parliament."

Endymion was really of the same opinion, though he was conscious of the
social difficulty which he should have to encounter in order to effect
his purpose. Occasionally a statesman in opposition is assisted by the
same private secretary who was his confidant when in office; but this
is not always the case--perhaps not even generally. In the present
instance, the principal of Lord Roehampton's several secretaries had
been selected from the permanent clerks in the Foreign Office itself,
and therefore when his chief retired from his official duties, the
private secretary resumed his previous post, an act which necessarily
terminated all relations between himself and the late minister, save
those of private, though often still intimate, acquaintance.

Now one of the great objects of Lady Ro