The Duchess had declared that the Duke should
insist on having the Garter. "These are things that men do not ask
for," the Duke had said.
"Don't tell me, Plantagenet, about not asking. Everybody asks for
everything nowadays."
"Your everybody is not correct, Glencora. I never yet asked for
anything,--and never shall. No honour has any value in my eyes unless
it comes unasked." Thereupon it was that the Duchess now suggested
that Phineas Finn, when Prime Minister, might perhaps bestow a Garter
upon her husband.
And so Madame Goesler started for Prague with the determination
of being back, if possible, before the trial began. It was to be
commenced at the Old Bailey towards the end of June, and people
already began to foretell that it would extend over a very long
period. The circumstances seemed to be simple; but they who
understood such matters declared that the duration of a trial
depended a great deal more on the public interest felt in the matter
than upon its own nature. Now it was already perceived that no
trial of modern days had ever been so interesting as would be this
trial.
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