Behind the officers of the House who guarded the entrance a group of excited talkers were gathered. They were chiefly members who had just left the House and had been brought to a stand by the sight of the crowd. On seeing Wetherell, surprise altered their looks. “Good G—d!” cried one, stepping forward. “You’ve come down, Wetherell?” “Ay,” the stricken man answered without lifting his eyes or giving the least sign of animation. “Is it too late?” “By an hour. There’s nothing to be done. Grey and Bruffam have got the King body and soul. He was so determined to dissolve, he swore that he’d come down in a hackney-coach rather than not come. So they say!” “Ay!” “But I hope,” a second struck in, in a tone of solicitude, “that as you are here, Lady Wetherell has rallied.” “She died a quarter of an hour ago,” he muttered. “I could do no more. I came here. But as I am too late, I’ll go back.” Yet he stood awhile, as if he had no longer anything to draw him one way more than another; with his double chin and pendulous cheeks resting on his breast and his leaden eyes sunk to the level of the pavement. And the others stood round him with shocked faces, from which his words and manner had driven the flush of the combat. Presently two members, arguing loudly, came up, and were silenced by a glance and a muttered word. The ungainly attitude, the ill-fitting clothes, did but accentuate the tragedy of the central figure. They knew—none better—how fiercely, how keenly, how doggedly he had struggled against death, against the Bill. And yet, had they thought of it, the vulgar caricatures that had hurt her, the abuse that had passed him by to lodge in her bosom, would hurt her no more! Meanwhile, Vaughan, as soon as he had seen Sir Charles within the entrance reserved for members, had betaken himself to the main door of the Hall, a few paces to the westward. He had no hope that he would now be able to perform the errand on which he had set forth; for the Chancellor, for certain, would have other fish to fry and other people to see. But he thought that he would leave a card with the usher, so that Lord Brougham might know that he had not failed to come, and might make a fresh appointment if he still wished to see him.