by this
time.'

'Then there is something.'

'Don't be a fool. There is always something. There is always much. You
don't suppose that this kind of thing can be carried on as smoothly as
the life of an old maid with L400 a year paid quarterly in advance.'

'Shall we have to move again?' she asked.

'How am I to tell? You haven't much to do when we move, and may get
plenty to eat and drink wherever you go. Does that girl mean to marry
Lord Nidderdale?' Madame Melmotte shook her head. 'What a poor
creature you must be when you can't talk her out of a fancy for such a
reprobate as young Carbury. If she throws me over, I'll throw her
over. I'll flog her within an inch of her life if she disobeys me. You
tell her that I say so.'

'Then he may flog me,' said Marie, when so much of the conversation
was repeated to her that evening. 'Papa does not know me if he thinks
that I'm to be made to marry a man by flogging.' No such attempt was
at any rate made that night, for the father and husband did not again
see his wife or daughter.

Early the next day a report was current that Mr Alf had been returned.
The numbers had not as yet been counted, or the books made up;--but
that was the opinion expressed. All the morning newspapers, including
the 'Breakfast-Table,' repeated this report,--but each gave it as the
general opinion on the matter. The truth would not be known till seven
or eight o'clock in the evening. The Conservative papers did not
scruple to say that the presumed election of Mr Alf was owing to a
sudden declension in the confidence originally felt in Mr Melmotte.
The 'Breakfast-Table,' which had supported Mr Melmotte's candidature,
gave no reason, and expressed more doubt on the result than the other
papers. 'We know not how such an opinion forms itself,' the writer
said,--'but it seems to have been formed. As nothing as yet is really
known, or can be known, we express no opinion of our own upon the
matter.'

Mr Melmotte again went into the City, and found that things seemed to
have returned very much into their usual grooves. The Mexican Railway
shares were low, and Mr Cohenlupe was depressed in spirits and
unhappy;--but nothing dreadful had occurred or seemed to be threatened.
If nothing dreadful did occur, the railway shares would probably
recover, or nearly recover, their position. In the course of the day,
Melmotte received a letter from Messrs Slow and Bideawhile, which, of
itself, certainly contained no