The tellers returned.
The numbers were read.
The government had the majority narrower than it liked, not narrow enough to fall.
There was an exhale from one side, a hiss from the other.
The Speaker, hoarse now, intoned the ritual. "The Ayes have it. The Ayes have it."
He paused, then added, more softly, "Order."
Chamberlain bowed a fraction, then sank onto the bench as if his spine had remembered he was human.
Halifax leaned in to murmur something that looked like comfort, or a schedule.
On the opposition side, Attlee wrote a note and passed it without looking to the left or right.
Churchill gathered his hat.
He did not put it on.
He watched the House move like a sea that had been windswept, now finding a temporary level.
A very young member, eyes bright with that special mixture of ambition and fear, came up to him and blurted, "Sir, do you really think it will come so soon?"
