the gentleman from
Leith is up."

Mr. Botcher rose slowly to his feet.

"Mr. Speaker," he began, in a voice that rumbled through the crevices of
the gallery, "I move you, sir, that a vote of thanks be accorded to the
gentleman from Leith for his exceedingly able and instructive speech on
national affairs."

"Second the motion," said the Honourable Brush Bascom, instantly.

"And leave to print in the State Tribune!" cried a voice from somewhere
among the submerged four hundred and seventy.

"Gentlemen of the House," said Mr. Crewe, when the laughter had
subsided, "I have given you a speech which is the result of much thought
and preparation on my part. I have not flaunted the star-spangled banner
in your faces, or indulged in oratorical fireworks. Mine have been
the words of a plain business man, and I have not indulged in wild
accusations or flights of imagination. Perhaps, if I had," he added,
"there are some who would have been better pleased. I thank my friends
for their kind attention and approbation."

Nevertheless, amidst somewhat of a pandemonium, the vote of thanks was
given and the House adjourned; while Mr. Crewe's friends of whom he had
spoken could be seen pressing around him and shaking him by the hand.
Austen got to his feet, his eyes again sought the gallery, whence he
believed he received a look of understanding from a face upon which
amusement seemed plainly written. She had turned to glance down at
him, despite the fact that Mrs. Pomfret was urging her to leave. Austen
started for the door, and managed to reach it long before his neighbours
had left the vicinity of their seats. Once in the corridor, his eye
singled her out amongst those descending the gallery stairs, and he had
a little thrill of pride and despair when he realized that she was
the object of the scrutiny, too, of the men around him; the women
were interested, likewise, in Mrs. Pomfret, whose appearance, although
appropriate enough for a New York matinee, proclaimed her as hailing
from that mysterious and fabulous city of wealth. This lady, with her
lorgnette, was examining the faces about her in undisguised curiosity,
and at the same time talking to Victoria in a voice which she took no
pains to lower.

"I think it outrageous," she was saying. "If some Radical member had
done that in Parliament, he would have been expelled from the House. But
of course in Parliament they wouldn't have those horrid things to
roll down the aisles