l have to see to
that when I'm in the House. I suppose there is a bishop, isn't there,
Alfred?' Alfred shook his head. 'There's a Dean, I know, for I called
on him. He told me flat he wouldn't vote for me. I thought all those
parsons were Conservatives. It didn't occur to me that the fellow had
come from the Archbishop, or I would have been more civil to him.'

'Mad as a hatter;--nothing else,' said Lord Alfred.

'You should have seen him, Nidderdale. It would have been as good as a
play to you.'

'I suppose you didn't ask him to the dinner, sir.'

'D---- the dinner, I'm sick of it,' said Melmotte, frowning. 'We must go
back again, Alfred. Those fellows will never get along if they are not
looked after. Come, Miles. Ladies, I shall expect you to be ready at
exactly a quarter before eight. His Imperial Majesty is to arrive at
eight precisely, and I must be there to receive him. You, Madame, will
have to receive your guests in the drawing-room.' The ladies went
upstairs, and Lord Nidderdale followed them. Miss Longestaffe took her
departure, alleging that she couldn't keep her dear friend Lady
Monogram waiting for her. Then there fell upon Madame Melmotte the
duty of leaving the young people together, a duty which she found a
great difficulty in performing. After all that had happened, she did
not know how to get up and go out of the room. As regarded herself,
the troubles of these troublous times were becoming almost too much
for her. She had no pleasure from her grandeur,--and probably no belief
in her husband's achievements. It was her present duty to assist in
getting Marie married to this young man, and that duty she could only
do by going away. But she did not know how to get out of her chair.
She expressed in fluent French her abhorrence of the Emperor, and her
wish that she might be allowed to remain in bed during the whole
evening. She liked Nidderdale better than any one else who came there,
and wondered at Marie's preference for Sir Felix. Lord Nidderdale
assured her that nothing was so easy as kings and emperors, because no
one was expected to say anything. She sighed and shook her head, and
wished again that she might be allowed to go to bed. Marie, who was by
degrees plucking up her courage, declared that though kings and
emperors were horrors as a rule, she thought an Emperor of China would
be good fun. Then Madame Melmotte also plucked up her courage, rose
from her chair, and made straight for the door