aid Churchill.

And before they could ask him anything more Harley had entered his own
room and was going to bed.

The morning dawned badly. The sun shone dimly through a mass of dirty
brown clouds, and the mountains were hidden in mist. A slow and
provoking cold rain was falling. It was also a start at the first
daylight, and, forced to rise too early from their beds, all were in a
bad humor. Even Sylvia was hid in a heavy cloak, and she did not smile.
Harley had told her that he could make nothing of the conference the
night before.

They reached Waterville an hour later, and they found it even smaller
and bleaker than they expected. Although the usual body of citizens was
on hand to meet them at the train, the attendance was less than at any
point hitherto. The shed under which Jimmy Grayson was to speak would
easily hold them.

But the members of the committee, when they came from their private car,
showed satisfaction. They had enjoyed a good breakfast, their _chef_, as
Harley could testify, was one of the best, and they were not averse to
hearing the candidate make his record good. Hence they were all
comfortably arranged on the platform in their usual solid semicircle
when Mr. Grayson appeared. The candidate himself was a bit later than
usual, but he gave them a cheerful good-morning when he appeared, and
then proceeded at once to the matter of the speech.

The audience, though small, greeted Mr. Grayson with the heartiest
applause, and he soon had them under his spell. He talked a while on the
customary issues, and then he said:

"Gentlemen, there is one question which seemed in previous campaigns to
be of paramount importance, but in this it has been suffered a long time
to rest. Lately, however, it has been rising into prominence again. In
the great centres of population to the eastward it has become a question
first in the minds of the people, and before the campaign closes it is
bound to become as momentous here."

Harley, in a seat at the corner of the stage, glanced at the committee,
and he noticed a slight shade of disapproval on all their faces. The
candidate was a little too strong in his preamble, but they smiled again
when they noticed his face which wore an expression so gentle and
innocent.

"It has been but recently that the matter came to my attention,"
continued the candidate, in an easy, conversational tone, "but in the
time since then I have been thinking about it a great deal. This