At the last even
that stubborn nature was touched. When Diana kissed her after the
wedding, with a few tremulous good wishes, Fanny's gulp was not all
excitement. Yet it must still be recorded that on the wedding-day Fanny
was in the highest spirits, only marred by some annoyance that she had
let Diana persuade her out of a white satin wedding-dress.
[Illustration: "SIR JAMES PLAYED DIANA'S GAME WITH PERFECT DISCRETION"]
* * * * *
Diana's preoccupation with this matter carried her through the first
week of Marsham's second campaign, and deadened so far the painful
effect of the contest now once more thundering through the division. For
it was even a more odious battle than the first had been. In the first
place, the moderate Liberals held a meeting very early in the struggle,
with Sir William Felton in the chair, to protest against the lukewarm
support which Marsham had given to the late leader of the Opposition, to
express their lamentation for Ferrier, and their distrust of Lord
Philip; and to decide upon a policy.
At the meeting a heated speech was made by a gray-haired squire, an old
friend and Oxford contemporary of John Ferrier's, who declared that he
had it on excellent authority that the communicated article in the
_Herald_, which had appeared on the morning of Ferrier's sudden death,
had been written by Oliver Marsham.
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