g papers were placed along the
table, and it seemed as though neither had the advantage. More than
once Paul was within a foot of his opponent, but neither spoke a word.
It seemed as though something sealed their lips. There was something
more than parties that divided them--something deeper, something
personal, something that went down to the roots of life.

At length a hush came over the counting chamber. The last of the
voting papers had been taken from the boxes, and the little piles of
fifty were duly placed and counted. The mayor of the town was at his
post, looking very pale and important. A half-sheet of paper was in
his hand. "Gentlemen," he said, "I am now prepared to make known the
results of the day's voting. It's been a very close fight, and there
are less than two hundred votes in it." He did not know whether he was
using the correct words or not. In fact he did not care. He was,
perhaps, the most excited man in the room, not even excepting the two
candidates. "It is as follows," he went on. "Bolitho----" He went no
farther, for there was a great shout throughout the chamber. The
employers looked at each other with gladness and satisfaction--their
side had won! The working-men element looked grim and defiant.

"Silence!" proceeded the mayor. "Bolitho, 7,213; Stepaside, 7,080. It
is my duty to declare that Mr. Bolitho is elected."

For the first time Mr. Bolitho turned towards Paul, and the young man
noticed the look of triumph in his face. "You see, we've won!" he
said. "In spite of everything, we've won!"

It was not the words so much, but the tone of his voice that maddened
Paul. Throughout the day he had been in a state of intense excitement.
It seemed to him as though his nerves were raw, and he knew that he was
on the point of a breakdown. Bolitho's tones, therefore, maddened him,
and he was almost beside himself. "Yes, you have won," he said. "But
how?"

"How?" laughed the other, and he was ashamed of himself for speaking
the words, but he, too, was strangely wrought upon. "How? By honour
and fair play!"

"Gentlemen," said the mayor, "I must announce the numbers to the crowd
outside. There are thousands of people who have been waiting for hours
to know the results, and they will not go away until they hear them.
Of course, too, they will expect a few words from Mr. Bolitho and Mr.
Stepaside."

It took some minute or two to make the arrangements for this, and Paul,
s