To this Violet said nothing. "It is quite time," continued
Lady Laura, "that old Mr. Standish should give way. He has had the
seat for twenty-five years, and has never done anything, and he
seldom goes to the House now."
"He is not your uncle, is he?"
"No; he is papa's cousin; but he is ever so much older than
papa;--nearly eighty, I believe."
"Would not that be just the place for Mr. Finn?" said Violet.
Then Lady Laura became very serious. "Oswald would of course have a
better right to it than anybody else."
"But would Lord Chiltern go into Parliament? I have heard him declare
that he would not."
"If we could get papa to ask him, I think he would change his mind,"
said Lady Laura.
There was again silence for a few moments, after which Violet
returned to the original subject of their conversation. "It would be
a thousand pities that Mr. Finn should be turned out into the cold.
Don't you think so?"
"I, for one, should be very sorry."
"So should I,--and the more so from what Lord Brentford says about
his not speaking well last night. I don't think that it is very much
of an accomplishment for a gentleman to speak well. Mr. Turnbull, I
suppose, speaks well; and they say that that horrid man, Mr. Bonteen,
can talk by the hour together.
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