Members gather round the doors of the division lobbies, listening to the tellers as they count one, two, three, four, and so on, in the mechanical voice of the croupiers, bidding the gamblers to play with the dice of death.

The Whips also are narrowly watched to see which return first to the House, for the first return means which lobby has been sooner exhausted, and the lobby sooner exhausted is necessarily the smaller lobby, and, therefore, the lobby of the minority.

Mr.Marjoribanks, who has told for the Government at the door of the Tory lobby, has returned to the House first.

That's a good sign.

But still, if there be a majority, what is it going to be ?--disastrously near defeat, or near enough to moral strength as to mean nothing?
A few minutes more have to pass before this fateful question is settled.