At every way-side station,
under the evening light, he saw the long lines of placards: "Sudden
death of Mr. Ferrier. Effect on the new Ministry." Every paper he bought
was full of comments and hasty biographies. There was more than a
conventional note of loss in them. Ferrier was not widely popular, in
the sense in which many English statesmen have been popular, but there
was something in his personality that had long since won the affection
and respect of all that public, in all classes, which really observes
and directs English affairs. He was sincerely mourned, and he would be
practically missed.
But the immediate effect would be the triumph of the Cave, a new
direction given to current politics. That no one doubted.
Marsham was lost in tumultuous thought. The truth was that the two
articles in the _Herald_ of that morning, which had arrived at Tallyn by
nine o'clock, had struck him with nothing less than consternation.
Ever since his interview with Barrington, he had persuaded himself that
in it he had laid the foundations of party reunion; and he had since
been eagerly scanning the signs of slow change in the attitude of the
party paper, combined--as they had been up to this very day--with an
unbroken personal loyalty to Ferrier.
Pages:
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572