The children were not like Helen Asquith in appearance, except Raymond, who had her beautiful eyes and brow; but, just as they had none of their father’s emotion and some of his intellect, they all inherited their mother’s temperament, with the exception of Violet, who was more susceptible to the new environment than her brothers.  The greatest compliment that was ever paid to my appearance—­and one that helped me most when I felt discouraged in my early married life—­was what Helen Asquith said to my husband and he repeated to me:  “There is something a little noble about Margot Tennant’s expression.”

If my stepchildren were patient with me, I dare not say what their father was:  there are some reservations the boldest biographer has a right to claim; and I shall only write of my husband’s character—­his loyalty, lack of vanity, freedom from self, warmth and width of sympathy—­in connection with politics and not with myself; but since I have touched on this subject I will give one illustration of his nature.

When the full meaning of the disreputable General Election of 1918, with its promises and pretensions and all its silly and false cries, was burnt into me at Paisley in this year of 1920 by our Coalition opponent re-repeating them, I said to Henry: 

“Oh, if I had only quietly dropped all my friends of German name when the war broke out and never gone to say good-bye to those poor Lichnowskys, these ridiculous lies propagated entirely for political purposes would never have been told; and this criminal pro-German stunt could not have been started.”

To which he replied: 

“God forbid!  I would rather ten thousand times be out of public life for ever.”

CHAPTER VII

Visit to woman’s prison—­interview there with Mrs. Maybrick—­scene in A LIFER’S cell; the husband who never knew thought wife made money sewing—­MARGOT’S plea that failed

My husband was Home Secretary when we married, and took a serious interest in our prison system, which he found far from satisfactory.  He thought that it would be a good thing, before we were known by sight, to pay a surprise visit to the convict—­ prisons and that, if I could see the women convicts and he could see the men privately, he would be able to examine the conditions under which they served their sentences better than if we were to go officially.

I was expecting my baby in about three months when we made this expedition.

Wormwood Scrubs was the promising, almost Dickens-like name of one of our convict-prisons and, at that time, took in both men and women.

The governor scrutinised Henry’s fine writing on our permits; he received us dryly, but without suspicion; and we divided off, having settled to meet at the front door after an hour and a half’s inspection.