shall hope, in my place and degree to stand committed from
the beginning, is the one which I have endeavoured to bring before your
consideration this evening."

They gave him a great appreciation, and Mr Cruickshank, following, spoke
in complimentary terms of the eloquent appeal made by the "young and
vigorous protagonist" of the imperial cause, but proceeded to a number
of quite other and apparently more important grounds why he should be
elected. The Hon. Mr Tellier's speech--the Minister was always kept
to the last--was a defence of the recent dramatic development of the
Government's railway policy, and a reminder of the generous treatment
Elgin was receiving in the Estimates for the following year--thirty
thousand dollars for a new Drill Hall, and fifteen thousand for
improvements to the post-office. It was a telling speech, with the
chink of hard cash in every sentence, a kind of audit by a chartered
accountant of the Liberal books of South Fox, showing good sound reason
why the Liberal candidate should be returned on Thursday, if only
to keep the balance right. The audience listened with practical
satisfaction. "That's Tellier all over," they said to one another...

The effect in committee of what, in spite of the Hon. Mr Tellier's
participation, I must continue to call the speech of the evening, may
be gathered from a brief colloquy between Mr Bingham and Mr Williams, in
the act of separating at the door of the opera house.

"I don't know what it was worth to preference trade," said Bingham, "but
it wasn't worth a hill o' beans to his own election."

"He had as soft a snap," returned Horace Williams, on the brink of
tears--"as soft a snap as anybody ever had in this town. And he's
monkeyed it all away. All away."

Both the local papers published the speech in full the following day.
"If there's anything in Manchester or Birmingham that Mr Lorne Murchison
would like," commented the Mercury editorially, "we understand he has
only to call for it."

CHAPTER XXX

The Milburns' doorbell rang very early the morning of the election.
The family and Alfred Hesketh were just sitting down to breakfast. Mr
Hesketh was again the guest of the house. He had taken a run out to
Vancouver with Mr Milburn's partner, who had gone to settle a point or
two in connection with the establishment of a branch there. The points
had been settled and Hesketh, having learned more than ever, had
returned to Elgin.

The maid came