About that hour, he silently stole away and left the conduct of the business of the House to Sir William Harcourt.

He was thus able to get to bed at a reasonable hour, and to attend during the day to the business of the nation.

But when the emergency arises, Mr.Gladstone is never able to listen to the dictates of prudence, or selfishness, or peril.

He was determined to show the Tories that if they were going to play the game of obstruction, they would have to count with him more seriously than they imagine.

To his friends--who doubtless were aghast at the proposition--he announced that he was going to break through those rules which had been imposed upon him by a watchful physician and by his age.