WIVES OF THE PRIME MINISTERS
but unhappily the mother was seized with fever and died on 1st November. Lady Fanny, guileless of what was to come, grieved much over "the poor unhappy husband and his dear little motherless children." Lord John, doubtless finding such sympathy pleasant, became a frequent visitor at Putney, where Lord Minto had taken a house in order to have a quiet refuge from the stir of the Admiralty. Putney was then quite in the country; the banks of the river were beautiful with azaleas, lilac, and hawthorn, the garden was full of nightingales, and the young people lingered there late on summer evenings to listen to their song. Miss Lister, a sister-in-law of Lord John, used fairly often to bring her nephews and nieces, six children, ranging in age from fourteen years to two, out to Putney; Lady Fanny would play games with them and amuse them, and Lord John, who was now Colonial Secretary and was often consulted by his colleague, would join in the sport. Informal little cabinet meetings would be held after dinner, when, according to Lady Fanny, the nation's affairs would be discussed and the three Ministers, Lord John, Lord Minto, and Lord Palmerston, would "talk war with France till bedtime." This was in
68
