Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/273

 "I should as soon have expected you to have given us Lucifer!" said Lord Courtown.

"Or the present Secretary!" said Lord Beaconsfield.

"Or yourself," said Sir Berdmore Scrope.

"And does any one mean to insinuate that Frederick Cleveland is not capable of driving out every minister, that has ever existed since the days of the deluge?" demanded the Marquess, with a fierce air.

"We do not deny Mr. Cleveland's powers, my Lord; we only humbly beg to suggest that it appears to us, that, of all the persons in the world, the man with whom Mr. Cleveland would be least inclined to coalesce, would be the Marquess of Carabas."

In spite of the Champagne, the Marquess looked blank.

"Gentlemen," said Vivian, "do not despair; it's enough for me to know that there is a man who is capable of doing our work. Be he animate man, or incarnate fiend, provided he can