'Well, you must confess,' said her ladyship, with a glance of triumph, 'that it was very lucky for us that I made him a Whig.'
'I cannot agree with you at all on that head,' said Mr. Pole. 'We certainly are not very popular at this moment, and I feel convinced that a connection with a person who attracts so much notice as Cadurcis unfortunately does, and whose opinions on morals and religion must be so offensive to the vast majority of the English public, must ultimately prove anything but advantageous to our party.'
'Oh! my dear Mr. Pole,' said her ladyship, in a tone of affected deprecation, 'think what a genius he is!'
'We have very different ideas of genius, Lady Monteagle, I suspect,' said her visitor.
'You cannot deny,' replied her ladyship, rising from her recumbent posture, with some animation, 'that he is a poet?'
'It is difficult to decide upon our contemporaries,' said Mr. Pole dryly.
'Charles Fox thinks he is the greatest poet that ever existed,' said her ladyship, as if she were determined to settle the question.
'Because he has written a lampoon on the royal family,' rejoined Mr.
Pole.
'You are a very provoking person,' said Lady Monteagle; 'but you do not provoke me; do not flatter yourself you do.'
'That I feel to be an achievement alike beyond my power and my ambition,' replied Mr. Pole, slightly bowing, but with a sneer.