This was ambiguous, and yet it was pretty plain.
The Government declined to accept as a vote of want of confidence in
them a majority which was obtained by so dishonest and treacherous a
combination as men voting together who were at such opposite poles of
thought; and the Government would just checkmate the little game by
accepting the 103 members as what the House preferred to the Government
plan of 80.
[Sidenote: The fall of the flag.]
There was a gleam of almost sardonic triumph in the Old Man's eye as he
sat down, having shot this bolt; and he looked as if he had thoroughly
discomfited his enemies. But his enemies were not so easily discomfited.
Treacherous, base, unscrupulous, call it what he liked, they were not
going to miss the opportunity of baiting him: and Mr. Chamberlain's pale
face wore a deadlier pallor. There was even a colder and fiercer ring
than usual in his clear, cruel voice; his always saturnine look deepened
as he seemed to grasp beforehand his great and long delayed hour of
vengeance. Mr. Balfour adopted the same tactics. In favour of 103
members? Not at all--the vote would mean nothing of that kind--it would
simply mean that they were opposed to the plan of the Government; in
short, there was the issue quite plain.
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