On the first seat below the gangway sat Dr. Tanner; on the
very next seat, as close to him as one sardine to another in a box, sat
Colonel Saunderson. Not for worlds would these two men exchange a
syllable; indeed, it was a relief to most people to find that they did
not break out into oaths and blows. What rendered the situation worse,
was that Dr. Tanner has a fine exuberant habit of expressing his
opinions for the benefit of all around him. At his back sat William
O'Brien, with his keen thin face, his eyes full of latent fire, his
stern, set jaw--his glasses suggesting the student and philosopher, who
is always the most perilous and fierce of politicians; and to William
O'Brien, Tanner made a running and biting commentary on the speeches--a
commentary, as can easily be guessed, from the extreme National point of
view. This was the music to which the Orange Colonel had to listen
through the long hours that stretched between his early morning arrival
and midnight. How men will consent to go through all this travail is, to
easy-going people, one of the curiosities of political struggle.
[Sidenote: The Chamberlain Party.]
Meantime, there had been another and an equally important descent.
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