"Let me congratulate you, my dear Enfield," observed Vacuum
courteously, "on your genius for prophecy. At our last meeting, you
foretold the near overthrow of Mr. Nixon and the Croker regime. The
papers inform me that all came to pass within the two days following
your warning."
"Yes," said Lemon sarcastically, taking the words from Enfield, "we
have been visited with that fell calamity, the collapse of Mr. Croker
and his rule. We have seen the black last of him, and the very name
of Croker already begins to be a memory. But why should one repine?"
Lemon's sneer was deepening. "In every age the other great have come
and ruled and gone to that oblivion beyond. They arose to fall and be
forgot. It is the law. Then why not Mr. Croker? True, even while we
consent, there comes that natural sadness which I now observe to
sparkle so brightly in every present eye. What then? We console
ourselves as did Chief Justice Crewe full two centuries and a half ago
when the decadence of De Vere claimed consideration. 'I have labored,'
quoth Crewe, who if that be possible was more moved over the waning of
De Vere than am I concerning the passing of Mr. Croker, 'I have
labored to make a covenant with myself that affection may not press
upon judgment; for I suppose there is no man that hath any
apprehension of gentry or nobleness but his affection stands to the
continuance of a house so illustrious and would take hold on a twig or
a twinethread to support it.
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