CHAPTER VIII.
THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM.
[Sidenote: Still holiday-making.]
The Easter holidays were slow in coming to an end. People who were
fortunate enough to obtain pairs, lingered by the seaside or in the
country house. Others were busy with the work which the recess now
imposes as much as in the most feverish Parliamentary times on leading
political men. Mr. Balfour was away in Ireland, among the Orangemen of
Ulster and the Loyalists of Dublin; Lord Randolph Churchill was at
Liverpool making silly and violent speeches; Mr. Chamberlain was
_colloguing_--to use an excellent Irish phrase--with the publicans of
the Midlands. The Irish were especially conspicuous by the smallness of
their attendance. They had been months away from business, wives,
children, and naturally they were anxious to take advantage of the brief
breathing space which was left to them before that time came when they
could not leave Westminster for a moment in the weeks during which the
Home Rule Bill was in Committee!
[Sidenote: Return of the G.O.M.]
Mr. Gladstone, of course, was in his place. Down in Brighton, in a
pot-hat, antediluvian in age and shape, he had been courting the breeze
of the sea under the hospitable wing of Mr.
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