n that the Honourable George, Mr Nearthewinde, and Frank
endeavoured again to bring him to the charge. He was like a beaten
prize-fighter, whose pluck has been cowed out of him, and who, if he
stands up, only stands up to fall. Mr Moffat got sulky also, and when
he was pressed, said that Barchester and the people in it might be
d----. "With all my heart," said Mr Nearthewinde. "That wouldn't have
any effect on their votes."

But, in truth, it mattered very little whether Mr Moffat spoke,
or whether he didn't speak. Four o'clock was the hour for closing
the poll, and that was now fast coming. Tremendous exertions had
been made about half-past three, by a safe emissary sent from
Nearthewinde, to prove to Mr Reddypalm that all manner of contingent
advantages would accrue to the Brown Bear if it should turn out that
Mr Moffat should take his seat for Barchester. No bribe was, of
course, offered or even hinted at. The purity of Barchester was not
contaminated during the day by one such curse as this. But a man, and
a publican, would be required to do some great deed in the public
line; to open some colossal tap; to draw beer for the million; and no
one would be so fit as Mr Reddypalm--if only it might turn out that
Mr Moffat should, in the coming February, take his seat as member for
Barchester.

But Mr Reddypalm was a man of humble desires, whose ambitions soared
no higher than this--that his little bills should be duly settled. It
is wonderful what love an innkeeper has for his bill in its entirety.
An account, with a respectable total of five or six pounds, is
brought to you, and you complain but of one article; that fire in the
bedroom was never lighted; or that second glass of brandy and water
was never called for. You desire to have the shilling expunged, and
all your host's pleasure in the whole transaction is destroyed. Oh!
my friends, pay for the brandy and water, though you never drank it;
suffer the fire to pass, though it never warmed you. Why make a good
man miserable for such a trifle?

It became notified to Reddypalm with sufficient clearness that his
bill for the past election should be paid without further question;
and, therefore, at five o'clock the Mayor of Barchester proclaimed
the results of the contest in the following figures:--

Scatcherd 378
Moffat 376

Mr Reddypalm's two votes had decided the question. Mr Nearthewinde
immediately went up to town; and the dinner party at Co