'They say that the story is believed in the City.'
'I should not feel myself justified in acting upon such a report. The Prince might probably find it impossible not to go. Where should we be if Mr Melmotte to-morrow were able to prove the whole to be a calumny, and to show that the thing had been got up with a view of influencing the election at Westminster? The dinner must certainly go on.'
'And you will go yourself?'
'Most assuredly,' said the Prime Minister. 'And I hope that you will keep me in countenance.' His political antagonist declared with a smile that at such a crisis he would not desert his honourable friend;--but he could not answer for his followers. There was, he admitted, a strong feeling among the leaders of the Conservative party of distrust in Melmotte. He considered it probable that among his friends who had been invited there would be some who would be unwilling to meet even the Emperor of China on the existing terms. 'They should remember,' said the Prime Minister, 'that they are also to meet their own Prince, and that empty seats on such an occasion will be a dishonour to him.'
'Just at present I can only answer for myself' said the leader of the Opposition.--At that moment even the Prime Minister was much disturbed in his mind; but in such emergencies a Prime Minister can only choose the least of two evils. To have taken the Emperor to dine with a swindler would be very bad; but to desert him, and to stop the coming of the Emperor and all the Princes on a false rumour, would be worse.