"Deplorable to whom?" asked his lordship.

"To the Count's family and to the Council of Regency."

"I can sympathise with the Count's family, but not with the
Council."

"Surely, my lord, the Council as a body deserves your sympathy in
that it is in danger of being utterly discredited by the treason
of one or two of its members."

Wellington manifested impatience. "The Council has been warned
time and again. I am weary of warning, and even of threatening,
the Council with the consequences of resisting my policy. I think
that exposure is not only what it deserves, but the surest means
of providing a healthier government in the future. I am weary of
picking my way through the web of intrigue with which the Council
entangles my movements and my dispositions. Public sympathy has
enabled it to hamper me in this fashion. That sympathy will be
lost to it by the disclosures which you fear."

"My lord, I must confess that there is much reason in what you say."
He was smoothly conciliatory. "I understand your exasperation.
But may I be permitted to assure you that it is not the Council as
a body that has withstood you, but certain self-seeking members,
one or two friends of Principal Souza, in whose interests the
unfortunate and misguided Count Samoval was acting. Your lordship
will perceive that the moment is not one in which to stir up public
indignation against the Portuguese Government. Once the passions