and displayed type which the
office could afford. In this letter Joe had lamented the disappearance
of those courteous manners of an elder and more Chesterfieldian time, to
which he suggested he belonged. The origin of this delicious lament over
a venerable and more courteous past by so flagrant a type of modernity,
was a statement that Sir William Harcourt had played the dirty trick of
putting down a notice to suspend the twelve o'clock rule at a shorter
notice than usual. The suspension of the twelve o'clock rule simply
means that the Tories shall not be allowed to obstruct by the mere fact
that the House is compelled automatically to close at midnight under the
existing rules. Joe appeared in his place swelling with visibly virtuous
indignation; evidently he had come, ready to bear down on Sir William
and the Government generally with the cyclone of attack. But this
notable design was prevented by two accidents. First, Sir William
Harcourt got up and explained that the notice he had given was exactly
the same kind of notice that was always, and had been always, given in
like circumstances. Everybody who knows anything about Parliamentary
matters knows that this was the literal truth. The dirty trick which Mr.
Chamberlain had attributed to Sir William Harcourt existed only in his
own uninstructed and treacherous memory; and so he was crushed. Still he
wanted to have a word in, and more than once he showed signs of rising
to his feet. But he stopped half-way, and, when he did finally get up,
Mr. Balfour was before him, and he had to sit down again. Then his
opportunity was lost, for Mr. Balfour had declared that he was perfectly
satisfied with what Sir William Harcourt had done, and that prevented
Joe from entering on the filibustering tactics which apparently he
contemplated. This appeared to the whole House to be a very distinct and
unpleasant snub for Joseph. A short time afterwards he and Mr. Balfour
were seen in the lobby, engaged in a conversation that was apparently
vehement, and everybody jumped to the conclusion that they were having
it out, and that Joseph was resenting the rejection of his advice with
that haughtiness of temper which is so well-known a characteristic of
the Radical whom wealth has converted into a leader of the aristocracy.
The papers afterwards contained an announcement that the two
conspirators against Mr. Gladstone's Government were in the heartiest
accord. This was one of the semi-officia