This was a phase
that was very disagreeable to Phineas Finn. And there was a third,
--which may perhaps be called the general social phase, and which
unfortunately dealt with the name of Lady Laura Kennedy. They all,
of course, worked into each other, and were enlivened and made
interesting with the names of a great many big persons. Mr. Gresham,
the Prime Minister, was supposed to be very much concerned in this
matter. He, it was said, had found himself compelled to exclude
Phineas Finn from the Government, because of the unfortunate alliance
between him and the wife of one of his late colleagues, and had also
thought it expedient to dismiss Mr. Bonteen from his Cabinet,--for
it had amounted almost to dismissal,--because Mr. Bonteen had made
indiscreet official allusion to that alliance. In consequence of this
working in of the first and third phase, Mr. Gresham encountered
hard usage from some friends and from many enemies. Then, of course,
the scene at Macpherson's Hotel was commented on very generally. An
idea prevailed that Mr.
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