_Ad quod non fuit responsum._" None indeed, but blank faces, and thoughts of what might come next.

The Council, and Bacon foremost, had made a desperate mistake.

"It is evident," as Mr.Spedding says, "that he had not divined Buckingham's feelings on the subject." He was now to learn them.

To his utter amazement and alarm he found that the King was strong for the match, and that the proceeding of the Council was condemned at Court as gross misconduct.

In vain he protested that he was quite willing to forward the match; that in fact he had helped it.