Frances Trebell. Is there any record of a speech that ever did? He just carried his own little following with him.
Mrs. Farrant. But the crux of the whole matter is and has always been ... what's to be done with the Church's money.
Lucy Davenport. [Visualising sovereigns.] A hundred millions or so ... think of it!
Frances Trebell. There has been from the start a good deal of anti-Nonconformist feeling against applying the money to secular uses.
Mrs. Farrant. [Deprecating false modesty, on anyone's behalf.] Oh, of course the speech turned votes ... twenty of them at least.
Lucy Davenport. [Determined on information.] Then I was told Lord Horsham had tried to come to an understanding himself with the Nonconformists about Disestablishment—oh—a long time ago ... over the Education Bill.
Frances Trebell. Is that true, Julia?
Mrs. Farrant. How should I know?
Frances Trebell. [With some mischief] You might.
Mrs. Farrant. [Weighing her words.] I don't think it would have been altogether wise to make advances. They'd have asked more than a Conservative government could possibly persuade the Church to give up.