Lehal Library

CHAPTER I THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AN Irish Member once startled the House of Commons by protesting that, as he was not a bird, he could not be in two places at the same time. But the feat, if impossible for a bird, was more than once performed by Members of the House. Sir Carne Rasch, when ill in bed, was seen in the House of Commons by Sir Gilbert Parker and also by Sir Arthur Hayter. Describing the incident, Sir Gilbert said: "When Rasch accepted my nod with what looked very much like a glare, and met my kindly enquiry with silence, I was a little surprised." He went on to explain that, when his friend's figure suddenly and silently vanished, he felt convinced that what he had seen was a ghost, and that Rasch must have succumbed to his illness. Sir Arthur Hayter, who also greeted the figure, was just as positively persuaded that he had seen Sir Carne, was struck by his extreme pallor, and noticed that he occupied a seat remote from his accustomed place. Dr. Mark Macdonnell was another who, while ill in bed, appeared in the House, was seen by fellow Members on two consecutive days, actually entered the Division Lobby and recorded his vote. J. G. Swift McNeill, M.P., recounted in M.A.P. how, in 1897, the double of T. P. O'Connor was seen in the House of Commons in his wonted place while he was on his way to Ireland to take a last farewell of a dying parent. The case of Dr. Macdonnell did, indeed, come in for a certain amount of comment in the Press, but seems not even to have been a nine days' wonder. Where the mystery of man's nature is concerned we seem to be scientifically shy of