Page:Wives of the prime ministers, 1844-1906.djvu/172

WIVES OF THE PRIME MINISTERS she devoted herself to her husband's career. She told Queen Victoria that she neither knew nor wished to know Cabinet secrets. Yet Disraeli liked to consult her, for although she was pleased to call herself a dunce, and never could remember whether the Greeks or Romans came first, and when there had been some talk about Swift was surprised to find she could not ask him to her parties because he had died a hundred years ago, she had great practical ability, good judgment, and quick intuition. Above all, she was always cheerful. She had absolute faith in her husband, and her geniality and warmth of feeling and kindness of heart endeared her to her friends, despite her utter want of tact and her propensity for saying gauche things. Some one once asked Mr. Disraeli if he did not get annoyed by the gauche things his wife so often said. He replied, "Oh no! I am never put out by them." "Well then," retorted his interlocutor, "you must be a man of most extraordinary qualities." "Not at all," answered Disraeli, "I only possess one quality in which most men are deficient—gratitude."

Many stories are told of Mrs. Disraeli's outspokenness and deficiency in tact.

When on a visit to a country house it 138