, from the first," he said. "The
Major's an old croaker, but he'd go, too, if it were not necessary for
him to stay in New York and attend to business. But we mustn't lose any
time, if we're going to direct the politics of the Eighth District
Election the eighth of November."

"I can go any time, and so can Beth," said Louise.

"All I need is the blue stockings," laughed Patsy.

"It won't be play. This means work," said Uncle John seriously.

"Well, I believe we're capable of a certain amount of work," replied
Beth. "Aren't we, girls?"

"We are!"

"All right," said Mr. Merrick. "I'll go and look up the next train. Go
home, Louise, and pack up. I'll telephone you."

"That bad man 'd better look out," chuckled the Major. "He doesn't
suspect that an army of invasion is coming."

"Daddy," cried Patsy, "you hush up. We mean business."

"If you win," said the Major, "I'll run for alderman on a petticoat
platform, and hire your services."

CHAPTER II

THE ARTIST

To most people the great rambling mansion at Elmhurst, with its ample
grounds and profusion of flowers and shrubbery, would afford endless
delight. But Kenneth Forbes, the youthful proprietor, was at times
dreadfully bored by the loneliness of it all, though no one could better
have appreciated the beauties of his fine estate.

The town, an insignificant village, was five miles distant, and
surrounding the mansion were many broad acres which rather isolated it
from its neighbors. Moreover, Elmhurst was the one important estate in
the county, and the simple, hard-working farmers in its vicinity
considered, justly enough, that the owner was wholly out of their class.

This was not the owner's fault, and Kenneth had brooded upon the matter
until he had come to regard it as a distinct misfortune. For it isolated
him and deprived him of any social intercourse with his neighbors.

The boy had come to live at Elmhurst when he was a mere child, but only
as a dependent upon the charities of Aunt Jane, who had accepted the
charge of the orphan because he was a nephew of her dead lover, who had
bequeathed her his estate of Elmhurst. Aunt Jane was Kenneth's aunt
merely in name, since she had never even married the uncle to whom she
had been betrothed, and who had been killed in an accident before the
boy was born.

She was an irritable old woman, as Kenneth knew her, and had never shown
him any love or consideration. He grew up in a secluded corner of