It was good to see Ursula as she spoke; good to see the look that husband and his wife interchanged—husband and wife, different in many points, yet so blessedly, so safely ONE! Then John said, in his quiet way,
"Love, perhaps another subject than our own affairs would be more interesting to Lord Luxmore."
"Not at all—not at all!" And the earl was evidently puzzled and annoyed. "Such extraordinary conduct," he muttered: "so very—ahem!—unwise. If the matter were known—caught up by those newspapers—I must really have a little conversation with Brithwood."
The conversation paused, and John changed it entirely by making some remarks on the present minister, Mr. Perceval.
"I liked his last speech much. He seems a clear-headed, honest man, for all his dogged opposition to the Bill."
"He will never oppose it more."
"Nay, I think he will, my lord—to the death."
"That may be—and yet—" his lordship smiled. "Mr. Halifax, I have just had news by a carrier pigeon—my birds fly well—most important news for us and our party. Yesterday, in the lobby of the House of Commons, Mr. Perceval was shot."
We all started. An hour ago we had been reading his speech. Mr. Perceval shot!
"Oh, John," cried the mother, her eyes full of tears; "his poor wife—his fatherless children!"