'Yes, I do. He certainly couldn't go as Lord Lieutenant.'

'But they said that Barrington Erle was going to Ireland.'

'Well; yes. I don't know that you'd be interested by all the ins
and outs of it. But Mr Erle declined. It seems that Mr Erle is
after all the one man in Parliament modest enough not to consider
himself to be fit for any place that can be offered to him.'

'Poor Barrington! He does not like the idea of crossing the
Channel so often. I quite sympathize with him. And so Phineas
is to be Secretary for Ireland! Not in the Cabinet?'

'No.--not in the Cabinet. It is not by any means usual that he
should be.'

'That is promotion, and I'm glad! Poor Phineas! I hope they
won't murder him, or anything of that kind. They do murder
people, you know, sometimes.'

'He's an Irishman himself.'

'That just the reason why they should. He must pass up with that
of course. I wonder whether she'll like going. They'll be able
to spend money, which they always like, over there. He comes
backwards and forwards every week,--doesn't he?'

'Not quite that, I believe.'