Excerpt from The Two Lancrofts, Vol. 3 of 3

Ela was not, of course, taken in to dinner by the young statesman. But, after dinner, he came and talked to' her for some time - fifteen minutes at least before going back to the House. A week later Ela went' to hear a debate of much importance in the House of Commons, in which the young statesman took part: She did not see him near upon that occasion; but Mr. Ilbert, an old friend, came into the ladies' gallery and made himself very chatty and pleasant. Afterwards he himself made a short speech to rather an empty house (for it was the end of the dinner-hour). But he acquitted himself well.

Ela could not help being struck by the easy way in which he kept one hand in his pocket and slightly gesticulated with the notes he held in the other hand. Earlier and later came the speeches of greater men, among whom the young statesman held his own, with a way of putting his hands behind his coat tails which was somehow singularly attractive.

In truth, Ela found that her attention was irresistibly drawn to the different personal mannerisms of the great men that she saw below her, who, among them, were guiding the destinies of an empire on which the sun never sets. One very reverend statesman spoke for a long time with a tumbler of water in his hand, moving forth and backwards across the floor of the house, without spilling a drop, the words all the time flowing from his lips as easily as if he had been speaking on his own hearthrug. Another states man seemed to move his hand up and down the seam in the middle of his back. Then there was the rising statesman.

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