The stream of members, entering the House, was large; for the motion to commit the Bill was down for that afternoon, and if carried, would virtually put an end to opposition in the Commons. Out of the corner of his eye Vaughan scanned them, as they passed, and envied them. Peel, cold, proud and unapproachable, went by on the arm of Goulburn. Croker, pale and saturnine, casting frowning glances here and there, went in alone. The handsome, portly form of Sir James Graham passed, in talk with the Rupert of Debate. After these a rush of members; and at the tail of all slouched in the unwieldy, slovenly form of Sir Charles Wetherell, followed by a couple of his satellites. Vaughan, glancing on one side of the paper which he appeared to be studying, caught Sir Charles’s eye, and reddened. Seated on opposite sides of the House—and no man on either side was more bitter, virulent, and pugnacious than the late Attorney-General—the two had not encountered one another since that evening at Stapylton, when the existence of Sir Robert’s daughter had been disclosed to Vaughan. They had not spoken, much less had there been any friendly passage between them. But now Sir Charles paused, and held out his hand. “How do you do, Mr. Vaughan?” he said, in his deep bass voice. “Your maiden essay yesterday, eh?” Vaughan winced. “Yes,” he said stiffly, fancying that he read amusement in the other’s moist eye. To his surprise, “You’ll do,” Sir Charles rejoined, looking at the floor and speaking in a despondent tone. “The House would rather you began in that way, than like some d——d peacock on a lady’s terrace. Take the opportunity of saying three or four sentences some fine day, and repeat it a week later. And I’ll wager you’ll do.” “But little, I am afraid,” Vaughan said. None the less was his heart full of gratitude to the fat, ungainly man. “All, may be,” Wetherell answered. “I shouldn’t wonder. I’ve been told, by one who heard him, that Canning hesitated in his first speech, very much as you did. It was on the Sardinian Subsidy. The men who don’t feel the House never know the House. They dazzle it, Mr. Vaughan, but they don’t guide it. And that’s what we’ve got to do.”