ur coming to our wedding; it will come off
at Tilney, strictly private. None but our nearest relatives, not even
the Duke of Dullchester, nor any of the Howards. They will feel it; but
it can't be helped, I suppose. Cincinnatus had to cut his connections,
too, when he took to horticulture. You, however, must not desert me; and
if you cannot travel without Rory, bring him with you.

"I am impatient to get away from this, and seek the safety of some
obscure retreat; for I know the persecution I shall be exposed to to
withdraw my resignation and remain. To this I will never consent. I give
it to you under my hand, Tony, and I give it the more formally, as
I desire it may be historic. I know well the whining tone they will
assume,--just as well as if I saw it before me in a despatch. 'What are
we to tell the Queen?' will be the cry. My dignified answer will be,
'Tell her that you made it impossible for one of the ablest of her
servants to hold his office with dignity. Tell her, too, that Skeff
Darner has done enough for honor; he now seeks to do something for
happiness.' Back to office again I will not go. Five years and two
months of unpaid services have I given to my country, and England is
not ashamed to accept the unrewarded labors of her gifted sons! My very
'extraordinaries' have been cavilled at. I give you my word of honor,
they have asked me for vouchers for the champagne and lobsters
with which I have treated some of the most dangerous regicides of
Europe,--men whose language would make your hair stand on end, and whose
sentiments actually curdled the blood as one listened to them.

"The elegant hospitalities which I dispensed, in the hope--vain
hope!--of inducing them to believe that the social amenities of life had
extended to our insular position,--these the Office declares they have
nothing to do with; and insolently asks me, 'Are there any other items
of my pleasure whose cost I should wish to submit to Parliament?'

"Ask Talleyrand, ask Metternich, ask any of our own people,--B., or S.,
or H.--since when have cookery and the ballet ceased to be the lawful
weapons of diplomacy?

"The day of reckoning for all this, my dear Tony, is coming. At first
I thought of making some of my friends in the House move for the
corrrespondence between F. O. and myself,--the Damer papers they would
be called, in the language of the public journals,--and thus bring on
a smashing debate. Reconsideration, however, showed me th