Mr.
Gladstone answers the questions very briefly; but there is hidden and fateful meaning in every syllable he utters; and the House of Commons, looking on, shows itself in one of those moments which bring out all its picturesqueness--its latent passions--its very human characteristics.
There is the eager strain of curiosity.

Every face is turned to that of the single pale white solitary figure that stands out from the Treasury Bench, dressed, I may add, in the sober but light grey suit of the summer season, in spite of his being a messenger of such doom to Tory obstruction.

There is a hush, but a hush never lasts long in the House of Commons when a great party blow is going to be struck.

The nerves of the House, raised to expectancy--tension, almost hysteria, by the joy of the one side, the anger and dread of the other, have a preternatural readiness in catching points, in producing outbursts of feeling.

And so it is to-day.