Four of the male heads approved of this reply by various expressions and signs, and the lady by a series of enthusiastic little nods, intended to reassure the candidate whose embarrassment she sincerely pitied.
But a man of apparently captious temper at the end of the line, said:
"Ah, now, but at what periud of the old djentlemun?"
Mr. Clutterbuck, recognising the accent, replied eagerly, "At the period most closely associated with his name."
"That won't do f'r my boys," said the interrupter cheerfully, "n'r f'r anny uv the Orange Temperance League that I know, I can tell ye!"
And this was Mr. Clutterbuck's first introduction to the great truth that practical politics depend on compromise.
The Chairman bestowed a sorrowful look upon the gentleman from Ulster, and said severely:
"I think, Mr. Clutterbuck, most of us are satisfied with your reply."
Mr. Clutterbuck was grateful; he waited for the next question and braced himself to bear it. It was the lady who put it to him in a voice which some years earlier must have been a beautiful contralto, and which even yet retained notes of singular richness and power. She asked Mr. Clutterbuck in a manner suggesting persuasion rather than pressure, what his views might be upon the establishment of female courts of justice.