. In the last
golden light of the afternoon there was a strong and sudden muster of
Republicans. From all directions stragglers appeared, voice after voice
proclaiming for the man who, regarded at first as merely a protege of
Jefferson, had come in the last two years to be regarded for himself.
The power in him had ceased to be latent, and friend and foe were
beginning to watch Lewis Rand and his doings with intentness.

As the sun set behind the Ragged Mountains, the polls closed, and the
sheriff proclaimed the election of the Republican candidate.

The Court House was quickly emptied, nor was the Court House yard far
behind. The excitement had spent itself. The result, after all, had been
foreknown. It drew on chilly with the April dusk, and men were eager to
be at home, seated at their supper-tables, going over the day with
captured friends and telling the women the news. On wheels, on horseback
or afoot, drunk and sober, north, south, east, and west, they cantered,
rolled, and trudged away from the brick Court House and the trampled
grass, and the empty bowls beneath the locust trees.

The defeated candidate and the successful shook hands: Cary quiet and
smiling, half dignified and half nonchalant; Rand with less control and
certainty of himself. The one said with perfection the proper things,
the other said them to the best of his ability. Young Fairfax Cary,
standing by, twisting his riding-whip with angry fingers, curled his lip
at the self-made man's awkwardness of phrase. Rand saw the smile, but
went on with his speech. Colonel Churchill, who had been talking with
Adam Gaudylock, left the hunter and came up to Cary. "Ludwell, you and
Fair are not going to Greenwood to-night! I have orders from the ladies
to bring you back to Fontenoy--alive or dead!"

"I find myself very much alive, Colonel!" answered Cary. "Thank you,
I'll gladly spend the night at Fontenoy. Fontenoy would draw me, I
think, if I _were_ dead!"

"Dick has a middling Madeira," remarked Major Edward. "And after supper
Jacqueline shall sing to us. Good-evening, Mr. Rand!"

"Good-evening to you, Major Churchill," said Rand. "Good-evening, Mr.
Cary. Good-evening, gentlemen!"

"Here are Eli and Mingo with the horses," said Fairfax Cary, his back to
the Republican. "Let's away, Ludwell!"

Colonel Churchill laughed. "Fontenoy draws you too, Fairfax? Well, my
niece Unity is a pleasing minx--yes, by gad! Miss Dandridge is a
handsome jade! Come aw