He thought of Lady Palmerston--of Princess
Lieven fighting Guizot's battles--and sighed.
By Jove! the women could do most things, if they chose. He recalled
Kitty's triumph in the great party gathered to welcome Lord Parham,
contrasting it with her wilful and absurd behavior to the man himself.
There was something bewildering in such power--combined with such folly.
In a sense, it was perfectly true that she had insulted her husband's
chief, and jeopardized her husband's policy, because she could not put
up with Lord Parham's white eyelashes.
Well, let him make his account with it! How to love her, tend her, make
her happy--and yet carry on himself the life of high office--there was
the problem! Meanwhile he recognized, fully and humorously, that she had
married a political sceptic--and that it was hard for her to know what
to do with the enthusiast who had taken his place.
Poor, pretty, incalculable darling! He would coax her to stay abroad
part of the Parliamentary season--and then, perhaps, lure her into the
country, with the rebuilding and refurnishing of Haggart. She must be
managed and kept from harm--and afterwards indulged and spoiled and
feted to her heart's content.
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