senility"--a phrase which moved Denzil to
outrageous laughter. And on the whole he kept well within such limits
of opinion as Polterham approved. Now and then Mr. Chown felt moved by
the spirit to interrogate him as to the "scope and bearing and
significance" of an over-bold expression, but the Radical section was
too delighted with a prospect of victory to indulge in "heckling," and
the milder Progressives considered their candidate as a man of whom
Polterham might be proud, a man pretty sure to "make his mark" at
Westminster.

In the hostile ranks there was a good deal of loud talk and frequent
cheering, but the speeches were in general made by lieutenants, and the
shouts seemed intended to make up for the defective eloquence of their
chief. Mr. Welwyn-Baker was too old and too stout and too shaky for the
toil of personal electioneering. He gave a few dinners at his big house
three miles away, and he addressed (laconically) one or two select
meetings; for the rest, his name and fame had to suffice. There was no
convincing him that his seat could possibly be in danger. He smiled
urbanely over the reports of Quarrier's speeches, called his adversary
"a sharp lad," and continued through all the excitement of the borough
to conduct himself with this amiable fatuity.

"I vow and protest," said Mr. Mumbray, in a confidential ear, "that if
it weren't for the look of the thing, I would withhold my vote
altogether! W.-B. is in his dotage. And to think that we might have put
new life into the party! Bah!"

Conservative canvassers did not fail to make use of thee fact that Mr.
Welwyn-Baker had always been regardful of the poor. His alms-houses
were so pleasantly situated and so tastefully designed that many
Polterham people wished they were for lease on ordinary terms. The
Infirmary was indebted to his annual beneficence, and the Union had to
thank him--especially through this past winter--for a lightening of its
burden. Aware of these things, Lilian never felt able to speak harshly
against the old Tory. In theory she acknowledged that the relief of a
few families could not weigh against principles which enslaved a whole
population (thus Quarrier put it), but her heart pleaded for the man
who allayed suffering at his gates; and could Mr. Chown have heard the
admissions she made to Welwyn-Baker's advocates, he would have charged
her with criminal weakness, if not with secret treachery. She herself
had as yet been able to do v