“No, not yet; I suppose she will see me as soon as any one.” “I am told she is utterly overwhelmed.” “She was devoted to him; it was the happiest union I ever knew; but Lady Roehampton is not the woman to be utterly overwhelmed. She has too imperial a spirit for that.” “It is a great misfortune,” said the prime minister. “We have not been lucky since we took the reins.” “Well, there is no use in deploring. There is nobody else to take the reins, so you may defy misfortunes. The question now is, what are you going to do?” “Well, there seems to me only one thing to do. We must put Rawchester there.” “Rawchester!” exclaimed Lady Montfort, “what, ‘Niminy-Piminy’?” “Well, he is conciliatory,” said the premier, “and if you are not very clever, you should be conciliatory.” “He never knows his own mind for a week together.” “We will take care of his mind,” said the prime minister, “but he has travelled a good deal, and knows the public men.” “Yes,” said Lady Montfort, “and the public men, I fear, know him.” “Then he can make a good House of Lords’ speech, and we have a first-rate man in the Commons; so it will do.” “I do not think your first-rate man in the House of Commons will remain,” said Lady Montfort drily. “You do not mean that?” said the prime minister, evidently alarmed. “His health is delicate,” said Lady Montfort; “had it not been for his devotion to Lord Roehampton, I know he thought of travelling for a couple of years.” “Ferrars’ health delicate?” said the premier; “I thought he was the picture of health and youthful vigour. Health is one of the elements to be considered in calculating the career of a public man, and I have always predicted an eminent career for Ferrars, because, in addition to his remarkable talents, he had apparently such a fine constitution.” “No health could stand working under Lord Rawchester.” “Well, but what am I to do? I cannot make Mr. Ferrars secretary of state.” “Why not?” The prime minister looked considerably perplexed. Such a promotion could not possibly have occurred to him. Though a man of many gifts, and a statesman, he had been educated in high Whig routine, and the proposition of Lady Montfort was like recommending him to make a curate a bishop. “Well,” he said, “Ferrars is a very clever fellow. He is our rising young man, and there is no doubt that, if his health is not so delicate as you fear, he will mount high; but though our rising young man, he is a young man, much too young to be a secretary of state. He wants age, larger acquaintance with affairs, greater position, and more root in the country.” “What was Mr. Canning’s age, who held Mr. Ferrars’ office, when he was made secretary of state? and what root in the country had he?”