Victoria, at a final interview, received him with her usual amenity, but, besides the formalities demanded by the occasion, the only remark which she made to him of a personal nature was to the effect that she supposed Mr.
Gladstone would now require some rest.

He remembered with regret how, at a similar audience in 1874, she had expressed her trust in him as a supporter of the throne; but he noted the change without surprise.

"Her mind and opinions," he wrote in his diary afterwards, "have since that day been seriously warped." Such was Mr.Gladstone's view,; but the majority of the nation by no means agreed with him; and, in the General Election of 1886, they showed decisively that Victoria's politics were identical with theirs by casting forth the contrivers of Home Rule--that abomination of desolation--into outer darkness, and placing Lord Salisbury in power.

Victoria's satisfaction was profound.

A flood of new unwonted hopefulness swept over her, stimulating her vital spirits with a surprising force.