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opponent’s character or any low tricks of that sort. Indeed they are two fine gentlemen, and if you didn’t have Mr. Thorstein on the string, Lillian, I should make a push to attract Mr. Hudson for you. But then we actually know nothing, of him. A well-cut jacket and a pleasing smile tell nothing.”
    They told Miss Watters, however, that she found Mr. Hudson a good deal more interesting than the portly Mr. Thorstein, and she looked forward to seeing him the next morning.
    Receiving no affirmation of her opinion, Martha went on to make sure Lillian understood her. “Between Mr. Hudson and Mr. Fellows there is no question of superiority. Mr. Fellows is the better man in every way.”
    Aunt Martha, of course, knew better than this, but for purposes of conversation and marriage she subscribed to a mysterious theory by which rich ladies became automatically accomplished and pretty, rich gentlemen well-bred, and titled ones distinguished. Mr. Fellows, with a fortune and an abbey at his back, had taken a leap to conversability. Mr. Hudson, on the other hand, though he had the noble mien of a duke or a judge, wit and intelligence to spare, and manners, had no known worldly goods but the coat on his back, and she soon began discerning a touch of something “low”about him. She would not be more specific, but his being sent to Crockett as a clerk and errand boy for Mr. Fellows—as she conceived his duties—had definitely given him a low air that no manners or tailoring or gray hair could quite conceal. It would take a fortune at least to remove that trace of lowness.
     

Chapter 4
     
    Having wasted a whole precious evening with four unenfranchised ladies, Mr. Hudson was eager to get on with the campaign in the morning. As soon as breakfast was over, he suggested riding over to Lord Allingham’s place for a discussion, and Mr. Fellows was all compliance. There was little he would rather do than visit a lord.
    “We’ll take along the envelopes for the ladies to address, as we’ll be passing by New Moon,”he said.
    “Yes, we’ll drop them off along the way to save time,”Hudson agreed.
    It saved no time, as they were invited in for a cup of coffee, which Mr. Hudson was forced to accept when Fellows expressed so much eagerness. He hoped to spend the time in discovering something of local issues, but the Monteith ladies who lived at Crockett were strangely uninformed. They both welcomed the idea of a bridge, but on other matters they appeared totally ignorant. The other visitors, with obviously a keener interest, were only visitors, and of such short standing that they could tell him nothing. Mr. Hudson fielded questions as to the preferred time for the tea party without being pinned down, and in half an hour got his candidate out the door. Allingham was only slightly interested in the election.
    “Crockett never elected a Whig and never will,”he told Hudson bluntly, when they had sent Fellows over to the window to peruse some Whig doctrine. “If we had had a top-notch candidate we might have made a decent showing, but no one wants to run here. We have no hope of getting our man in, so we are running Fellows. He has been having some doings with Basingstoke lately; it was Basingstoke’s idea to have him stand. He is well inlaid and can bear the expense. He will like the consequence of running.”
    “It won’t add much to his consequence if he gets no more than a handful of votes. You give up too easily, Allingham. Fellows makes the right appearance; he is a good-looking man and a bachelor. I know of nothing against him. I hope I am not down here on a fool’s errand.”
    “I was surprised to hear it was you who was coming. I should have thought Brougham would have more useful work for his party whip. Wasting your time here.”
    “Things are quiet in London at the moment. My orders were to get him in, and I have been given a full purse to do it—no holds barred. Can I count on your help, and