ently. Invisible are his wages, yet in some coin are they
paid. Invisible is the thing he does, and yet it is done. Let us hope
that some sense of this tardy appreciation may soothe his spirit
beyond the grave. On the present occasion there was nothing to soothe
his spirit. The Speaker sat, urbane and courteous, with his eyes
turned towards the unfortunate orator; but no other ears in the House
seemed to listen to him. The corps of reporters had dwindled down to
two, and they used their pens very listlessly, taking down here a
sentence and there a sentence, knowing that their work was naught.
Vavasor sat it out to the last, as it taught him a lesson in those
forms of the House which Mr Bott had truly told him it would be
well that he should learn. And at last he did learn the form of a
"count-out." Some one from a back seat muttered something, which the
Speaker understood; and that high officer, having had his attention
called to a fact of which he would never have taken cognizance
without such calling, did count the House, and finding that it
contained but twenty-three Members, he put an end to his own labours
and to those of poor Lord Middlesex. With what feelings that noble
lord must have taken himself home, and sat himself down in his study,
vainly opening a book before his eyes, can we not all imagine? A man
he was with ample means, with children who would do honour to his
name; one whose wife believed in him, if no one else would do so; a
man, let us say, with a clear conscience, to whom all good things had
been given. But of whom now was he thinking with envy? Early on that
same day Farringcourt had spoken in the House,--a man to whom no one
would lend a shilling, whom the privilege of that House kept out of
gaol, whose word no man believed; who was wifeless, childless, and
unloved. But three hundred men had hung listening upon his words.
When he laughed in his speech, they laughed; when he was indignant
against the Minister, they sat breathless, as the Spaniard sits in
the critical moment of the bull-killing. Whichever way he turned
himself, he carried them with him. Crowds of Members flocked into the
House from libraries and smoking-rooms when it was known that this
ne'er-do-well was on his legs. The Strangers' Gallery was filled to
overflowing. The reporters turned their rapid pages, working their
fingers wearily till the sweat drops stood upon their brows. And
as the Premier was attacked with some special impe