CHAPTER X.
THE BUDGET, OBSTRUCTION, AND EGYPT.
[Sidenote: Sir William.] Sir William Harcourt, on April 24th, had the double honour of speaking before the smallest audience and making the best Budget speech for many years.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has two manners.

He can be as boisterous, exuberant, and gay, as any speaker in the House, and he can also be as lugubrious as though his life had been spent in the service of an undertaker.

He was in the undertaker mood this evening.

Slowly, solemnly, sadly, he unfolded his story of the finances of the country.
He had taken the trouble to write down every word of what he had to say--an evil habit to which he has adhered all his life.