At last a candidate was selected, whose nomination and whose consent to occupy the position created very great surprise in the London world. The press had of course taken up the matter very strongly. The "Morning Breakfast Table" supported Mr. Melmotte with all its weight. There were people who said that this support was given by Mr. Broune under the influence of Lady Carbury, and that Lady Carbury in this way endeavoured to reconcile the great man to a marriage between his daughter and Sir Felix. But it is more probable that Mr. Broune saw,--or thought that he saw,--which way the wind sat, and that he supported the commercial hero because he felt that the hero would be supported by the country at large. In praising a book, or putting foremost the merits of some official or military claimant, or writing up a charity,--in some small matter of merely personal interest,--the Editor of the "Morning Breakfast Table" might perhaps allow himself to listen to a lady whom he loved. But he knew his work too well to jeopardize his paper by such influences in any matter which might probably become interesting to the world of his readers. There was a strong belief in Melmotte. The clubs thought that he would be returned for Westminster. The dukes and duchesses fted him. 
At last a candidate was selected, whose nomination created very great surprise. The press had of course taken up the matter. The Morning Breakfast Table supported Mr. Melmotte - perhaps under Lady Carbury's influence, but more probably because Mr. Broune saw the way the wind was blowing, and supported the commercial hero of the day. There was a strong belief in Melmotte. Dukes and duchesses fted him. 