lt sure our stuff was
going up. Well, it hasn't gone up. There's been a sudden drop in it!
Look here." And he showed him that morning's newspaper. Paul looked
at his watch. "I must go to these committee meetings," he said.

"But you can't," urged Preston. "I am not strong enough to deal with
these things. Only you can get us out of this hole, and I doubt
whether it's not too late even now! There's something at the bottom of
this, Paul, and you must go into it. There's an enemy in the camp
somewhere. There's no reason why our stuff should go down, the demand
for it is greater than ever, but somebody's underselling us. Why, it
can't be manufactured at the price mentioned there." And he pointed to
the paper.

"Very well," said Paul, "you go round to the committee-rooms and tell
them I can't be there to-day."

He went towards his office with a great fear in his heart. Before the
day was out he realised the truth of Preston's words. He found that,
unknown to them, someone else had gained the secret of the special
stuff that they had been manufacturing. That, unknown to them, a large
amount of it had been placed upon the market, and placed upon it at
such a price that even if they sold every piece they manufactured they
would have to do so at a very great loss. Indeed, it seemed to him as
though ruin stared him in the face! He hurried from Brunford to
Manchester, then back again--he went from mill to mill, and had various
interviews with the most important people in the town, and everywhere
he was met with the same difficulty.

Still, he would not give up the political fight. More than
money--honour, life were at stake, and he must carry the thing through.

Three days before the election every voter in the town received, not
merely their usual election literature, but an anonymous circular. It
made no statements, but asked a series of questions concerning the
financial obligations of Messrs. Stepaside and Preston. It showed the
most minute knowledge of all Paul's liabilities, of the work he had
undertaken, of the position in which he stood. Before the day was out
there was not a voter in Brunford but who had read and discussed the
circular which had been sent. No libellous statement had been made,
and yet a hundred things had been suggested--inability, carelessness,
ignorance, fraud, chicanery had all been hinted at, and hinted at
cleverly. And yet no word of libel had been used, only the sting of