'Oh, I didn't know,' said Lactimel, meekly. 'Perhaps Fidus only meant that as it is one of those offices where the people have something to do, the commissioners couldn't be in their offices and in Parliament at the same time.'
'I did understand,' said Ugolina, 'that Sir Gregory Hardlines had put his veto upon it; but I must confess that it is a subject which I have not sufficiently studied to enable me——'
'It's £1,200 a year, isn't it?' asked the bride.
'Twelve hundred pounds a year,' said her mother—'a very serious consideration when there is no private fortune to back it, on either side. Now if it were Victoire——'
'He couldn't sit in Parliament, ma, because he's an alien—only for that I shouldn't think of his doing anything else.'
'Perhaps that may be altered before long,' said Lactimel, graciously.
'If Jews are to be admitted,' said Ugolina, 'who certainly belong to an alien nation; a nation expressly set apart and separated from all people—a peculiar nation distinct from all others, I for one cannot discern——'
What Ugolina could or could not discern about the Jews was communicated perhaps to Madame Jaquêtanàpe or to Lactimel, but not to Gertrude or to Mrs. Val; for the latter, taking Gertrude apart into a corner as it were of the sofa, began confidentially to repeat to her her fears about her husband.
'I see, my dear,' said she, 'that you don't like my speaking about it.'
'Upon my word,' said Gertrude, 'I am very indifferent about it. But would it not be better if you said what you have to say to my husband?'