Mr. Morley's face betrays under all its
studied calm, the excitement of the hour, and he reads every separate
announcement with a certain dramatic emphasis that brings out all the
hidden meaning; and the document is one, the reading of which lends
itself to dramatic effect and to dramatic manifestations. For each
clause winds up with the same words, at "ten of the clock," until these
words come to sound something like the burden of a song--the refrain of
a lament--the iteration of an Athanasian curse against sinners and
heretics. The House sees all this; and each side manifests emotion
according to its fashion. The Irish cheer themselves hoarse in triumph;
the Tories answer back as defiantly and loudly; and so we enter, with
clang of battle, with shouts and cheers, and hoarse cries of joy or of
rage, into the second great pitched battle on Home Rule.
CHAPTER XV.
MR. DILLON'S FORGETFULNESS.
[Sidenote: Mr. Dillon.]
Everybody who has ever met Mr. Dillon knows that he has a singularly
even and equable temper, except at the moments when he has been stung to
passion by the sight of some bitter and intolerable wrong. When,
therefore, Mr.
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