Phineas, when he woke, had two matters to occupy his mind — his success of the previous night, and his coming interview with Lord Chiltern. He stayed at home the whole morning, knowing that nothing could be done before the hour Lord Chiltern had named for his visit. He read every word of the debate, studiously postponing¹ the perusal² of his own speech till he should come to it in due order. And then he wrote to his father, commencing his letter as though his writing had no reference to the affairs of the previous night. But he soon found himself compelled to break into some mention of it. “I send you a Times”, he said, “in order that you may see that I have had my finger in the pie. I have hitherto abstained³ from putting myself forward in the House, partly through a base fear for which I despise myself, and partly through a feeling of prudence⁴ that a man of my age should not be in a hurry to gather laurels⁵. This is literally⁶ true. There has been the fear, and there has been the prudence. My wonder is, that I have not incurred⁷ more contempt from others because I have been a coward. People have been so kind to me that I must suppose them to have judged me more leniently⁸ than I have judged myself.” Then, as he was putting up the paper, he looked again at his own speech, and of course read every word of it once more. As he did so it occurred to him that the reporters had been more than courteous⁹ to him. The man who had followed him had been, he thought, at any rate as long-winded as himself; but to this orator¹⁰ less than half a column had been granted. To him had been granted ten lines in big type, and after that a whole column and a half. Let Lord Chiltern come and do his worst!

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