Expectation  was  on  its  tiptoe,  whatever  that  might
be,  and  Mr.  Dickens  had  partially  recovered  from  the
effects  of  his  cold,  a  change  produced  possibly  by  the
geniality  of  the  Washington  climate  on  this  particular
day;  although  it  must  not  be  understood  that  the
climate  of  Washington  is  always  genial,  for  as  a  rule
in  the  winter  season,  the  four  seasons  are  represented
within  the  twenty-four  hours,  a  fact  which  caused  poor
John  Brougham  to  remark  that,  "in  Washington,
there  was  a  Congress  of  climates,  as  well  as  a  Congress
of  legislators."


THE  CONGRESSMAN  WHO  HAD  DINED.         233

Here,  a  slightly  unpleasant  incident  occurred.  A
member  of  Congress,  a  military  man  of  high  dis-
tinction, had  partaken  rather  too  freely  of  the  good
things  of  this  life  at  dinner,  before  coming  to  the
Reading,  and  this  preliminary  exhilaration  had  the
effect  of  creating  in  him  a  bad  attack  of  anglo-
phobia.  As  was  my  habit,  I  was  talking  to  Mr.
