all around Harley and his
friends rose the hum of interested talk. People were beginning to
speculate on the result, and to point out the strangers whom Jimmy
Grayson had brought among them.

Harley presently went into the lobby and found it crowded. All there
were touched by a keen, eager interest, and were balancing the chances.
The correspondent, alert, watchful, saw that the bulk of opinion was
against Jimmy Grayson. He saw, too, that while there was much local
pride in the candidate, it was tinctured by envy, and here and there by
malice. He realized to the full the truth of the old adage that a
prophet is never without honor save in his own country.

In that crowded lobby were men who had been conspicuous in local public
life when Jimmy Grayson was a mere boy, and they could not understand
how he had passed them; it was a chance, they said and believed--mere
luck, not merit. Others, in a tone of patronage, told stories of the
days when he was a threadbare and penniless young attorney, and they
named at least five other men of his age who had been more promising.
Then they depreciated his gifts, and in the same breath disclaimed all
intention of doing so, believing, too, that the disclaimer was genuine.
Yet Harley had no great blame for these men; he understood how bitter it
was for them to see the hero march by while they stood still, and it was
not the first instance of the kind that he had noticed.

But the crowd, on the whole, was loyal, and sincerely wished Jimmy
Grayson success. Yet they could not keep down gloomy forebodings. There
had been a defection of a minority within the party, led by Mr.
Goodnight, Mr. Crayon, and their associates, who had gone bodily into
the enemy's camp, a procedure which had made much noise in the American
world, and none could tell how much it would cost. The story of the
Philipsburg conference and Jimmy Grayson's great speech at Waterville
was known to everybody, and now, while the old politicians applauded his
courage and honesty, they began to fear its effects. Harley felt the
same thrill of apprehension, the momentary timidity, that even the
bravest experience when about to go into battle.

Those in the lobby soon knew Harley and his friends, and the nature of
their business, and many questions which they could not answer were
asked them. "You have been with Jimmy Grayson all along; will he win?"
and whether it was Harley or another he was forced to reply that he did
not