He had very fair
abilities, nothing indeed approaching such genius as Dr Skinner's, nor
even as Theobald's, still he was not deficient and if he got into
Parliament--so young too--there was nothing to hinder his being Prime
Minister before he died, and if so, of course, he would become a peer.
Oh! why did he not set about it all at once, so that she might live to
hear people call her son 'my lord'--Lord Battersby she thought would do
very nicely, and if she was well enough to sit he must certainly have her
portrait painted at full length for one end of his large dining-hall. It
should be exhibited at the Royal Academy: 'Portrait of Lord Battersby's
mother,' she said to herself, and her heart fluttered with all its wonted
vivacity. If she could not sit, happily, she had been photographed not
so very long ago, and the portrait had been as successful as any
photograph could be of a face which depended so entirely upon its
expression as her own. Perhaps the painter could take the portrait
sufficiently from this. It was better after all that Ernest had given up
the Church--how far more wisely God arranges matters for us than ever we
can do for ourselves! She saw it all now--it was Joey who would become
Archbishop of Canterbury and Ernest would remain a layman and become
Prime Minister" .
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