'I am sure I wish I could see the labouring classes happy,' said the Duke.

'Oh! pray do not use, my dear father, that phrase, the labouring classes!'
said Lord Henry. 'What do you think, Coningsby, the other day we had a
meeting in this neighbourhood to vote an agricultural petition that was to
comprise all classes. I went with my father, and I was made chairman of
the committee to draw up the petition. Of course, I described it as the
petition of the nobility, clergy, gentry, yeomanry, and peasantry of the
county of ----; and, could you believe it, they struck out _peasantry_ as
a word no longer used, and inserted _labourers_.'

'What can it signify,' said Lord Everingham, 'whether a man be called a
labourer or a peasant?'

'And what can it signify,' said his brother-in-law, 'whether a man be
called Mr. Howard or Lord Everingham?'

They were the most affectionate family under this roof of Beaumanoir, and
of all members of it, Lord Henry the sweetest tempered, and yet it was
astonishing what sharp skirmishes every day arose between him and his
brother-in-law, during that 'little half-hour' that forms so happily the
political character of the nation. The Duke, who from experience felt that
a guerilla movement was impending, asked his guests whether they would
take any more claret; and on their signifying their dissent, moved an
adjournment to the ladies.

They joined the ladies in the music-room. Coningsby, not experienced in
feminine society, and who found a little difficulty from want of practice
in maintaining conversation, though he was desirous of succeeding, was