"The Duke says you made ever so many speeches."
"I should think I did. It is very easy to make speeches down at a place like that. Tregear spoke like a book."
"He spoke well?"
"Awfully well. He told them that all the good things that had ever been done in Parliament had been carried by the Tories. He went back to Pitt's time, and had it all at his fingers' ends."
"And quite true."
"That's just what it was not. It was all a crammer. But it did as well."
"I am glad he is a member. Don't you think the Duke will come round a little now?"
When Tregear and the election had been sufficiently discussed, they came by degrees to Major Tifto and the two thunderbolts. Silverbridge, when he perceived that nothing was to be said about Isabel Boncassen, or his own freedom in the matter of love-making, was not sorry to have a friend from whom he could find sympathy for himself in his own troubles. With some encouragement from Mabel the whole story was told. "Was it not a great impertinence?" she asked.
"It was an awful bore. What could I say? I was not going to pronounce judgment against the poor devil. I daresay he was good enough for Mr. Jawstock."
"But I suppose he did cheat horribly."