AFTER RETURN ITOME-MARRIAGE 153
else. The extraordinary versatility and energy of Lord Brougham had made a great impression on me at that time and long previously, and I listened eagerly to anecdotes of him. A timid and rather elderly lady had told me that Lord Brougham was once a guest at her brother's house, where his appearance was awaited with awe. The great man arrived, talked incessantly and wonderfully well during dinner, but retired early on account of business letters. Later on, while she was preparing for bed, an awful yell or scream, which she could only describe in the negative terms of unearthly and totally unlike anything she had ever heard before, rang through the corridor. She tremblingly snatched up whatever dress was at hand, and issued in terror to learn what had happened. She met Lord Brougham's valet with a candle in his hand, walking leisurely, and cried to him, 11 What is it ? What is it ? " He answered unconcernedly, " It is only his {Lordship calling for me; that is his usual way."
There is a remarkably good wax effigy of Lord Brougham as a young man in Madame Tussaud's collection, perhaps the most real-looking of any there. L.,11-cl- Oil I ww; taken to ~wc him ill his horse 'at CamIC14, a 1'(-!W ycar~; hc1o)rc his dcatll, 1)()111)tq had recently been expressed in the newspapers about his version of the circumstances attending the dissolution of Parliament by William iv., which made Lord Brougham exceedingly wroth. It was fine but sad to witness the unmeasured indignation of the old hero, punctuating his remarks as he sat, by heavy digs into the sand with the point of his umbrella, held in both hands like a dagger.
