Medway was not; and both of them
were nominated for Congress in the same district, in the State of Maine.
It was a close contest, and party rancor was very bitter. Not only the
public acts, but the private lives of the candidates were criticised in
the severest manner by the opposition; and an unbiassed spectator,
believing all that was said, would have promptly concluded that both of
them were unmitigated scoundrels. Mr. Montague had a skeleton in an
almost forgotten closet, and, somehow, this skeleton stalked out into
the political arena, and perhaps frightened away some of its owner's
adherents. Perhaps it was a forgotten and repented sin; but Mr.
Montague's opponents made the most of it. Now, this gentleman, from
certain circumstances which need not be explained, was satisfied that
Mr. Medway had trotted out this skeleton and held it up as a bugbear to
the people, and he hated his rival with all his mind, heart, and soul.

The election came, and Mr. Montague was defeated by a very small
majority. He had been sure that he should be chosen, and the result
intensified his hatred of his successful opponent to a degree which made
it little short of insanity. Years hardly moderated its fervor, though
it ceased to find frequent expression. The hope of long years was
frustrated; the crown of glory and success was denied him, he firmly
believed, by the villany of his rival in exposing the skeleton in the
closet. He was a defeated candidate. The prestige was against him; and,
in the state of parties, he could not hope to be nominated again. His
enemy had overwhelmed him once and for all.

It is fair to say that Mr. Medway knew nothing about the skeleton, had
not brought it forward, and did not even believe in its existence.

The Honorable Mr. Medway went to Congress, and was once re-elected,
though he did not particularly distinguish himself as an orator or a
blackguard. He was a quiet, sensible man, who always voted on party
lines. He had a wife and one daughter, who endured Washington life for
one term, but after this preferred to spend the winters with Mrs.
Medway's sister in Brunswick. This lady's husband was a professor in the
college, and some of the students occasionally visited in his family.
Edward Montague was one of this number.

Sara Medway was a beautiful girl of his own age; and the young man,
having been absent during the political contest, and neither knowing nor
caring anything about its merits or demerits