The letters of that morning had brought him news of an important meeting in Marsham’s constituency, in which his leadership had been for the first time openly and vehemently attacked.  Marsham had not been present at the meeting, and Lady Lucy had written, eagerly declaring that he could not have prevented it and had no responsibility.  But could the thing have been done within his own borders without, at least, a tacit connivance on his part?

The incident had awakened a peculiarly strong feeling in the elder man, because during the early days of the recess he had written a series of letters to Marsham on the disputed matters that were dividing the party; letters intended not only to recall Marsham’s own allegiance, but—­through him—­to reach two of the leading dissidents—­Lankester and Barton—­in particular, for whom he felt a strong personal respect and regard.

These letters were now a cause of anxiety to him.  His procedure in writing them had been, of course, entirely correct.  It is the business of a party leader to persuade.  But he had warned Oliver from the beginning that only portions of them could or should be used in the informal negotiations they were meant to help.  Ferrier had always been incorrigibly frank in his talk or correspondence with Marsham, ever since the days when as an Oxford undergraduate, bent on shining at the Union, Oliver had first shown an interest in politics, and had found in Ferrier, already in the front rank, the most stimulating of teachers.  These remarkable letters accordingly contained a good deal of the caustic or humorous discussion of Parliamentary personalities, in which Ferrier—­Ferrier at his ease—­excelled; and many passages, besides, in connection with the measures desired by the Left Wing of the party, steeped in the political pessimism, whimsical or serious, in which Ferrier showed perhaps his most characteristic side at moments of leisure or intimacy; while the moods expressed in outbreaks of the kind had little or no effect on his pugnacity as a debater or his skill as a party strategist, in face of the enemy.

But, by George! if they were indiscreetly shown, or repeated, some of those things might blow up the party!  Ferrier uncomfortably remembered one or two instances during the preceding year, in which it had occurred to him—­as the merest fleeting impression—­that Oliver had repeated a saying or had twisted an opinion of his unfairly—­puzzling instances, in which, had it been any one else, Ferrier would have seen the desire to snatch a personal advantage at his, Ferrier’s, expense.  But how entertain such a notion in the case of Oliver!  Ridiculous!

He would write no more letters, however.  With the news of the Dunscombe meeting the relations between himself and Oliver entered upon a new phase.  Toward Lucy’s son he must bear himself—­politically—­henceforward, not as the intimate confiding friend or foster-father, but as the statesman with greater interests than his own to protect.  This seemed to him clear; yet the effort to adjust his mind to the new conditions gave him deep and positive pain.