Coningsby or the New Generation

It was not with feelings of extreme satisfaction that Mr. Rigby returned / to London. The loss of Hellingsley, followed by the loss of the borough / to Hellingsley's successful master, were not precisely the incidents / which would be adduced as evidence of Mr. Rigby's good management or / good fortune. Hitherto that gentleman had persuaded the world that he / was not only very clever, but that he was also always in luck; a quality / which many appreciate more even than capacity. His reputation was / unquestionably damaged, both with his patron and his party. But what / the Tapers and the Tadpoles thought or said, what even might be the / injurious effect on his own career of the loss of this election, assumed / an insignificant character when compared with its influence on the / temper and disposition of the Marquess of Monmouth.

And yet his carriage is now entering the courtyard of Monmouth House, / and, in all probability, a few minutes would introduce him to that / presence before which he had, ere this, trembled. The Marquess was at / home, and anxious to see Mr. Rigby. In a few minutes that gentleman was / ascending the private staircase, entering the antechamber, and waiting / to be received in the little saloon, exactly as our Coningsby did more / than five years ago, scarcely less agitated, but by feelings of a very / different character.