‘I almost wish now that Rigby had breakfasted with him this morning,’ said Taper.
‘If the King be firm, and the country sound,’ said Tadpole, ‘and Lord Monmouth keep his boroughs, I should not wonder to see Rigby made a privy councillor.’
‘There is no precedent for an under-secretary being a privy councillor,’ said Taper.
‘But we live in revolutionary times,’ said Tadpole.
‘Gentlemen,’ said the groom of the chambers, in a loud voice, entering the room, ‘I am desired to state that the Duke of Wellington is with the King.’
‘There is a Providence!’ exclaimed an agitated gentleman, the patent of whose intended peerage had not been signed the day that the Duke had quited office in 1830.
‘I always thought the King would be firm,’ said Mr. Tadpole.
‘I wonder who will have the India Board,’ said Taper.
At this moment three or four gentlemen entered the room in a state of great bustle and excitement; they were immediately surrounded.
‘Is it true?’ ‘Quite true; not the slightest doubt. Saw him myself. Not at all hissed; certainly not hooted. Perhaps a little hissed. One fellow really cheered him. Saw him myself. Say what they like, there is reaction.’ ‘But Constitution Hill, they say?’ ‘Well, there was a sort of inclination to a row on Constitution Hill; but the Duke quite firm; pistols, and carriage doors bolted.’