true! He isn't beaten, is he?"

"No, it is not true, Sylvia," he said, telling what he did not believe.
"We still have a chance."

They returned at once to the room, and Mr. Grayson came in a minute
later, his face wearing the same marble mask. When two or three forced
themselves to speak encouraging words, he smiled and said there was yet
hope. But Harley had none, and he felt sure that Jimmy Grayson, too, was
without it.

"Good news from Iowa!" suddenly cried Mr. Dexter. "A despatch from Des
Moines reports heavy gains for Grayson throughout the south and west of
the state."

Here was a fresh breath of life, and for a moment they felt glad, but
North Dakota, a state for which they had hoped but scarcely expected,
soon reported against them. The good news could not last.

"Anything more from Massachusetts?" asked Mr. Heathcote.

Mr. Dexter was opening a despatch and he gave a gasp when he looked at
it.

"Massachusetts in doubt!" he exclaimed. "Grayson makes heavy gains in
the country districts as well as in the cities. Our National Committee
is claiming Massachusetts!"

There was a burst of cheering in the room. They had never even hoped for
Massachusetts. From first to last it was conceded to the enemy.

"Oh, if Massachusetts only had as many votes as New York!" groaned
Hobart. "This is so good it can't be true!"

But Sylvia smiled through her tears.

Soon there was another cheer. Fresh despatches from Massachusetts
confirmed the earlier news and made it yet better; then the state was in
doubt, now it inclined to Jimmy Grayson; the gains came in, steady and
large.

"We've got it by at least 20,000," exclaimed Mr. Dexter, exultantly.
"It's a regular upset. Who'd have thought it?"

It was true. It was known in a quarter of an hour that Massachusetts had
given a majority of 25,000 for Grayson, and behind their big sister came
New Hampshire and Rhode Island, with small but sure majorities. Jimmy
Grayson had carried three New England states, when all of them had been
conceded to the enemy, one of the most surprising changes ever known in
a Presidential election.

There were repeated cheers in the room. Even Jimmy Grayson was compelled
to smile in satisfaction. But Harley did not have hope. This, in his
opinion, was merely a pleasant incident--it could not have much effect
on the result; Massachusetts had a large vote, but those of New
Hampshire and Rhode Island were small, and there against them stood the