On the last day of the session Laurence Fitzgibbon resigned.  Rumours reached the ears of Phineas as to the cause of this, but no certain cause was told him.  It was said that Lord Cantrip had insisted upon it, Laurence having by mischance been called upon for some official statement during an unfortunate period of absence.  There was, however, a mystery about it;—­but the mystery was not half so wonderful as the triumph to Phineas, when Mr. Gresham offered him the place.

“But I shall have no seat,” said Phineas.

“We shall none of us have seats to-morrow,” said Mr. Gresham.

“But I shall be at a loss to find a place to stand for.”

“The election will not come on till November, and you must look about you.  Both Mr. Monk and Lord Brentford seem to think you will be in the House.”

And so the bill was carried, and the session was ended.

CHAPTER XLVIII

“The Duke”

By the middle of September there was assembled a large party at Matching Priory, a country mansion belonging to Mr. Plantagenet Palliser.  The men had certainly been chosen in reference to their political feelings and position,—­for there was not a guest in the house who had voted for Mr. Turnbull’s clause, or the wife or daughter, or sister of any one who had so voted.  Indeed, in these days politics ran so high that among politicians all social gatherings were brought together with some reference to the state of parties.  Phineas was invited, and when he arrived at Matching he found that half the Cabinet was there.  Mr. Kennedy was not there, nor was Lady Laura.  Mr. Monk was there, and the Duke,—­with the Duchess, and Mr. Gresham, and Lord Thrift; Mrs. Max Goesler was there also, and Mrs. Bonteen,—­Mr. Bonteen being detained somewhere out of the way; and Violet Effingham was expected in two days, and Lord Chiltern at the end of the week.  Lady Glencora took an opportunity of imparting this latter information to Phineas very soon after his arrival; and Phineas, as he watched her eye and her mouth while she spoke, was quite sure that Lady Glencora knew the story of the duel.  “I shall be delighted to see him again,” said Phineas.  “That is all right,” said Lady Glencora.  There were also there Mr. and Mrs. Grey, who were great friends of the Pallisers,—­and on the very day on which Phineas reached Matching, at half an hour before the time for dressing, the Duke of Omnium arrived.  Now, Mr. Palliser was the Duke’s nephew and heir,—­and the Duke of Omnium was a very great person indeed.  I hardly know why it should have been so, but the Duke of Omnium was certainly a greater man in public estimation than the other duke then present,—­the Duke of St. Bungay.  The Duke of St. Bungay was a useful man, and had been so all his life, sitting in Cabinets and serving his country, constant as any peer in the House of Lords, always ready to take on his own shoulders any troublesome