"Then you must be Queen!" laughed Mabel.
"O, no, I am going to be Chancellor of the Exchequer, thank you, quite a high enough post for me."
"My Right Honourable Friend is easily satisfied, truly, but I don't think if I had the power of appointment I should entrust such an office to you," Mabel remarked.
"You are pleased to be complimentary," returned Minnie, with a ludicrous attempt at genteel sarcasm—and then, suddenly dropping her assumed stiffness, she continued. "But you don't know what a genius I am going to turn out in the region of finances, and I can assure you, you will be astonished when I bring forward my first Budget."
"I am certain I shall, one way or other; you are continually astonishing one with your ingenuity in various ways."
"Well, to my usual task then—for I have framed several astonishing resolutions, which only await your sanction to become law—you see this is quite a different form of government from any presently existing, so you must not be astonished at the manner of its conduct."
"So I perceive," observed Mabel demurely.
"In the first place, then, you must tell me whether your further consideration has confirmed your decision of Wednesday night?"
"Well, I must confess, that the more I thought of the thing, the more difficult it seemed, and yet I am convinced more than ever of the necessity of our taking it in hand as nobody else seems inclined to do so. But how are we to begin?"
"That is just what we intend to consider."