'An hour or two will not give you that title.'
'Am I to count the minutes by my watch?'
'By the sun. We will supply you an omelette and piquette, and send you back sobered and friarly—to Caen for Paris at sunset.'
'Let the fare be Spartan. I could take my black broth with philosophy every day of the year under your auspices. What I should miss...'
'You bring no news of the world or the House?'
'None. You know as much as I know. The Irish agitation is chronic. The Corn-law threatens to be the same.'
'And your Chief—in personal colloquy?'
'He keeps a calm front. I may tell you: there is nothing I would not confide to you: he has let fall some dubious words in private. I don't know what to think of them.'
'But if he should waver?'
'It's not wavering. It's the openness of his mind.'