Sir Robert's face worked strangely; he could not conceal his agitation.

"The Mistress of the Robes and the Ladies of the Bedchamber ?" he brought out at last.

"All," replied once more her Majesty.

It was in vain that Peel pleaded and argued; in vain that he spoke, growing every moment more pompous and uneasy, of the constitution, and Queens Regnant, and the public interest; in vain that he danced his pathetic minuet.

She was adamant; but he, too, through all his embarrassment, showed no sign of yielding; and when at last he left her nothing had been decided--the whole formation of the Government was hanging in the wind.