"Well, some day thou--" and then the Squire suddenly stopped; but the unfinished thought was flashed to every one present,--"some day thou mayst be Duchess of Richmoor, and have the right to be present;" and Kate was pleased, and felt her heart warm to conscious hope. She caught her mother watching her, and smiled; and Mrs. Atheling, instantly sensitive to the unspoken feeling, avoided comment by her eager inquiry,-- "Whatever did they say, John?" "They said the usual words; but the Duke told me there was a breathless silence, and that Lord John Russell said them with the most unusual and impressive emphasis: 'My Lords, the House of Commons have passed an Act to Amend the Representation of England and Wales, to which they desire your Lordships' Concurrence.' Lord Grey opened the debate. I dare say Edgar knows all about it. I believe Grey is his leader." "Yes," answered Edgar, "and very proud I am of my leader. He is in his sixty-eighth year, and he stood there that night to advocate the measure he proposed forty years before, in the House of Commons. Althorp told me he spoke with a strange calmness and solemnity, '_for the just claims of the people_;' but as soon as he sat down Lord Wharncliffe moved that the Bill be rejected altogether." "That was like Wharncliffe," said the Squire. "No half measures for him." "Wellington followed, and wanted to know, 'How the King's government was to be carried on by the will of a turbulent democracy?'" "Wellington would govern with a sword instead of a sceptre. He would try every cause round a drum-head. I am not with Wellington." "Lord Dudley followed in an elegant, classical speech, also against the Bill." The Squire laughed. "I heard about that speech. Did not Brougham call it, 'An essay or exercise of the highest merit, on democracies--_but not on this Bill_.'" "Yes. Brougham can say very polite and very disagreeable things. He spoke on the fifth and last night of the debate. Earl Grey said a more splendid declamation was never made. All London is now quoting one passage which he addressed to the Lords: 'Justice deferred,' he said, 'enhances the price at which you will purchase your own safety; nor can you expect to gather any other crop than they did who went before you, if you persevere in their utterly abominable husbandry of sowing injustice and reaping rebellion.'" "Fine words, Edgar, fine words; just like Brougham,--catch-words, to take the common people." "They did not, however, alarm or take the Lords. My leader closed the debate, and in a magnificent speech implored the archbishops and bishops not to vote against the Bill, and thus stand before the people of England as the enemies of a just and moderate scheme of Reform." "And yet they voted against it!" said Mrs. Atheling. "I am downright ashamed of them. The very date ought to be put up against them forever."