as declared, it was found that Sawyer had a
plurality of two hundred and twenty-eight and a clear majority of
twenty-two over both Dalton and Burke, the opposing candidates. Then the
papers were full of compliments for Mr. Sawyer, who had so successfully
fought corruption and bribery in his own party, and won such a glorious
victory.

But Quincy never knew that the Hon. Nathaniel Adams Sawyer had used all
his influence to secure his son's election, and for every dollar
expended by Dalton, the Hon. Nathaniel had covered it with a two or five
if necessary.

The publication of Blennerhassett had been heralded by advance notices
that appeared in the press during the month of October.

These notices had been adroitly written. Political prejudices, one
notice said, would no doubt be aroused by statements made in the book,
and one newspaper went so far as to publish a double-leaded editorial
protesting against the revival of party animosities buried more than two
generations ago. The leaven worked, and when the book was placed in the
stores on the eleventh of November, the demand for it was unparalleled.
Orders came for it from all parts of the country, particularly from the
State of New York, and the resources of the great publishing house of
Hinckley, Morton, & Co. were taxed to the utmost to meet the demand.

While Quincy was fighting Dalton in the political field, another
campaign was being planned in the clever diplomatic brain of Aunt Ella.
It related to the introduction of Alice, the "farmer's daughter," to the
proud patrician family of Sawyer, as Quincy's wife--no easy matter to
accomplish satisfactorily, as all agreed.

The initial step was taken a couple of weeks after Thanksgiving, when a
daintily-engraved card was issued from Mt. Vernon Street, which read:

"Your company is respectfully requested on the evening of the tenth of
December at a reception to be given to Bruce Douglas, the author of
Blennerhassett."

One evening, Quincy ran up the steps of the Mt. Vernon Street house. He
opened the door and started to run up the stairs to his wife's room, as
was his custom, when he came into collision with a young lady, who, upon
closer inspection, he found to be his sister Maude.

"Come in here," she said. She grasped him by the arm, and, dragging him
into the parlor, she closed the door behind him.

"Oh, Mr. Man!" she cried, "I've found you out, but horses sha'n't drag
it out of me. No, Quincy, you're always