This statement was reported in the newspapers of the following morning,
and was at once denied by Marsham himself, in a brief letter to
the _Times_.
It was this letter which Lady Felton discussed hotly with Sir James
Chide on the day when Fanny Merton's misdemeanors also came up for
judgment.
"He says he didn't write it. Sir William declares--a mere quibble! He
has it from several people that Barrington was at Tallyn two days before
the article appeared, and that he spoke to one or two friends next day
of an 'important' conversation with Marsham, and of the first-hand
information he had got from it. Nobody was so likely as Oliver to have
that intimate knowledge of poor Mr. Ferrier's intentions and views.
William believes that he gave Barrington all the information in the
article, and wrote nothing himself, in order that he might be able
to deny it."
Sir James met these remarks with an impenetrable face. He neither
defended Marsham, nor did he join in Lady Felton's denunciations. But
that good lady, who though voluble was shrewd, told her husband
afterward that she was certain Sir James believed Marsham to be
responsible for the _Herald_ article.
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