It might, for instance,
at last be taken for granted that a decimal system was desirable, so that
a month or two of the spring need not be consumed on that preliminary
question. But this period had not as yet been reached, and it was thought
by the entire City that Mr. Palliser was much too sanguine. It was so
probable, many said, that he might kill himself by labour which would be
Herculean in all but success, and that no financier after him would
venture to face the task. It behooved Lady Glencora to see that her
Hercules did not kill himself.
In this state of affairs Lady Glencora, into whose hands the custody of
Mr. Palliser's uncle, the duke, had now altogether fallen, had a divided
duty between Matching and London. When the members of Parliament went up
to London, she went there also, leaving some half-dozen friends whom she
could trust to amuse the duke; but she soon returned, knowing that there
might be danger in a long absence. The duke, though old, was his own
master; he much affected the company of Madame Goesler, and that lady's
kindness to him was considerate and incessant; but there might still be
danger, and Lady Glencora felt that she was responsible that the old
nobleman should do nothing, in the feebleness of age, to derogate from the
splendour of his past life.
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