She knew him to be full of scruples, unable to bend when aught
was to be got by bending, unwilling to domineer when men might be
brought to subjection only by domination. The first duty never
could be taught to him. To win support by smiles when his heart
was bitter within him would never be within the power of her
husband. He could never be brought to buy an enemy by political
gifts,--would never be prone to silence his keenest opponent by
making him his right hand supporter. But the other lesson was easier
and might she thought be learned. Power is so pleasant that men
quickly learn to be greedy in the enjoyment of it, and to flatter
themselves that patriotism requires them to be imperious. She
would be constant with him day and night to make him understand
that his duty to his country required him to be in very truth its
chief ruler. And then with some knowledge of things as they are,
--and also with much ignorance,--she reflected that he had at
his command a means of obtaining popularity and securing power,
which had not belonged to his immediate predecessors, and had
perhaps never to the same extent been at the command of any
minister of England. His wealth as Duke of Omnium had been
great; but hers, as available for immediate purposes, had been
greater than even his. After some fashion, of which she was
profoundly ignorant, her own property was separated from his and
reserved to herself and her children. Since her marriage she had
never said a word to him about her money,--unless it were to ask
that something out of the common course might be spent on some,
generally absurd, object. But now had come the time for
squandering money. She was not only rich, but she had a
popularity that was exclusively her own. The new Prime Minister
and the new Prime Minister's wife should entertain after a