Thus Liberal minority had dwindled from 158 to 70, being 16 less than the Irish Parnellite vote. Radicalism was unable for very shame to acknowledge any longer such allies.

The gain of all this to the cause of the Constitution and the country is incalculable. If the enemies of the Union had allowed the Government to arrange all the cards before dealing them, they could not have more effectually thrown the game into their hands. Throughout the country these figures will tell their own tale. The first great battle of the session has been fought, and the tactics of the Opposition have been characterised by bluster, by bullying, and by blundering. They have suffered crushing defeat, and defeat upon defeat; but, what is more important, they have driven their own allies to desertion by their dishonest and shameless departure from the rules of honourable contest. Three weeks and more of

sense, wasted. But in another they have been crowned by consequences most precious and most enheartening to all lovers of their country. They have brought shame, but they have brought success. The hopeless disintegration of the Separatist party is manifest. The firmness and loyalty of the Liberal Unionists to the cause for which both the parties which value the old traditions of politics are banded together, has been tested and confirmed. The conspirators against the efficiency of Parliament and the Union of the empire have been baffled and put to rout, and their most respectable friends have been driven to desert them. They have taken pains to justify the proposals of the Government for control of Procedure. And last, and not least, they have been, contrary to their intention, the means for bringing out with unmistakable clearness the strength of the Government position, and have confirmed those who give it an independent support in the conviction that thereby, at the present juncture, they can best uphold what is a precious heritage to Whig_and Radical, to Conservative and Tory alike.

THE old Prince was left alone, as he had often been left before, when Giovanni was gone to the ends of the earth in pursuit of his amusements. On such occasions old Sarracinesca frequently packed up his traps and followed his son's example; but he rarely went further than Paris, where he had many friends, and where he generally succeeded in finding consolation for his solitude.

Now, however, he felt more than usually lonely. Giovanni had not gone far, it is true, for it was scarcely more than eight hours to the castle with good horses; but for the first time in his life, old Sarracinesca felt that if he had suddenly determined to follow his son, he would not be welcome. The boy was married at last and must be left in peace for a few days with his bride. With the contrariety natural to him, old Sarracinesca no sooner felt that

his son was gone that he experienced the most ardent desire to be with him. He had often seen Giovanni leave the house at twentyfour hours' notice on his way to some distant capital, and had not cared to accompany him simply because he knew he might do so if he pleased; but now he felt that some one else had taken his place, and that, for a time at least, he was forcibly excluded from Giovanni's society. It is very likely that but for the business which detained him in Rome he would have astonished the happy pair by riding into the gateway of the old castle on the day after the wedding; that business, however, was urgent, secret, and, moreover, very congenial to the old man's present temper.

He had discussed the matter fully with Giovanni, and they had agreed upon the course to be pursued. There was, nevertheless, much to

be done before the end they both so earnestly desired could be attained. It seemed a simple plan to go to Cardinal Antonelli and to demand the arrest of Del Ferice for his misdeeds; but as yet those misdeeds were undefined, and it was necessary to define them. The Cardinal rarely resorted to such measures except when the case was urgent, and Sarracinesca knew perfectly well that against Del Ferice it would be hard to prove anything more serious than the crime of joining in the silly talk of Valdarno and his set. Giovanni had told his father plainly that he was sure Del Ferice derived his living from some illicit source, but he was wholly unable to show what that source was. Most people believed the story that Del Ferice had inherited money from an obscure relative; most people thought he was clever and astute, but were so far deceived by his frank and unaffected manner as to feel sure that he always said everything that came into his head; most people are so much delighted when an unusually clever man deigns to talk to them, that they cannot, for vanity's sake, suspect him of deceiving them. Sarracinesca did not doubt that the mere statement of his own belief in regard to Del Ferice would have considerable weight with the Cardinal, for he was used to power of a certain kind, and was accustomed to see his judgment treated with deference; but he knew the Cardinal to be a cautious man, hating despotic measures, because by his use of them he had made himself so bitterly hated-loath always to do by force what might be accomplished by skill, and in the end far more likely to attempt the conversion of Del Ferice to the reactionary view, than to order his expulsion because his views were

over-liberal. Even if old Sarracinesca had possessed a vastly greater diplomatic instinct than he did, coupled with an unscrupulous mendacity which he certainly had not, he would have found it hard to persuade the Cardinal against his will; but Sarracinesca was, of all men, a man violent in action and averse to reflection before or after the fact. That he would be revenged upon Del Ferice and Donna Tullia for the part they had lately played was a matter which it never entered his head to doubt; but when he endeavoured to find means which should persuade the Cardinal to assist him, he seemed fenced in on all sides by impossibilities. One thing only helped him-namely, the conviction that if the statesman could be induced to examine Del Ferice's conduct seriously, the latter would prove to be not only an enemy to the State, but a bitter enemy to the Cardinal himself.

The more Sarracinesca thought of the matter, the more convinced he was that he should go boldly to the Cardinal and state his belief that Del Ferice was a dangerous traitor, who ought to be summarily dealt with. If the Cardinal argued, the Prince would asseverate, after his manner, and some sort of result was sure to follow. As he thus determined upon his course, his doubts seemed to vanish, as they generally do in the mind of a strong man, when action becomes imminent, and the confidence the old man had exhibited to his son very soon became genuine. It was almost intolerable to have to wait so long, however, before doing anything. Giovanni and he had decided to allow Del Ferice's marriage to take place before producing the explosion, in order the more certainly to strike both the offenders; now it seemed best to strike at once. Supposing, he argued with himself,