"Then don't lose a minute--or all's up forever!--Don't explain to them the fix they're in till it's all over--and if _ever_ you tell 'em, or any one, the bit o' service I've"----

"Never, Thomas, so help me----!" quoth Ben, grasping his companion's hand, as in a vice.

"Off all of you to the booth, and poll for life and death, for _t.i.tmouse_."

"What? Come--come, Master Thomas!"

"Ay, ay--you fool! Don't you see? Make him win the election, and then, _in course_, Gammon's no cause to be at you--he'll have got all he wants."

"My eyes!" exclaimed Ben, as he suddenly perceived the stroke of policy.

He snapped his finger, b.u.t.toned his coat, popped out of the house--within a few moments he was in the midst of the club, who were all in a back yard, behind a small tavern which they frequented. "Now, lads!" he exclaimed with a wink of his eye. He took the yellow and the blue colors out of his bosom: returned the blue, and mounted the yellow: so in a trice did every one present, not one single question having been asked at Ben, in whom they had perfect confidence.

But, to return to Mr. Gammon. It was now a moment or two past the half hour--there was scarcely half an hour more before the election must close. The mob were getting sullen. The Quaint Club were being asked for--now with hisses, then with cheers. All eyes were on Gammon, who felt that they were. His face bore witness to the intensity of his emotions; he did not any longer even attempt to disguise his desperate disappointment. His nerves were strung to their highest pitch of tension; and his eye glanced incessantly, but half-closed, towards a corner house at a little distance; ah! that eye was suddenly lit up, as it were, with fire--never had been such an instantaneous change seen in a man's face before. He had at length caught the appointed signal; a man appeared at a window, and appeared accidentally to drop a little stick into the street. A mighty sigh escaped from the pent-up bosom of Gammon, and relieved him from a sense of suffocation. His feelings might have been compared to those excited in our great commander, when the Prussians made their appearance at Waterloo. The battle was won; defeat converted into triumph; but suddenly recollecting himself--aware that every muscle of his face was watched--he relapsed into his former gloom.

Presently were heard the approaching sounds of music--nearer and nearer came the clash of cymbals, the clangor of trombone and trumpet, the roll of the drum;--all the crowd turned their faces towards the quarter whence the sounds came, and within a few seconds' time was seen turning the corner, full on its way to the booth, the banner of the Quaint Club, with yellow rosettes streaming from the top of each pole--yellow ribbons on every one's breast. THE PEOPLE'S CAUSE HAD TRIUMPHED! Their oppressors were prostrate! A wild and deafening shout of triumph burst from the crowd, as if they had been one man; and continued for several minutes intermingled with the inspiriting sounds of the n.o.ble air--"Rule Britannia!" played by the two bands, (that of Mr. t.i.tmouse having instantly joined them.) On marched the club, two and two, arm in arm, with rapid step; their faces flushed with excitement and exultation--their hands vehemently shaken by the shouting crowd, who opened a broad lane for them up to the polling-booth. Oh, the contrast exhibited in the faces of those standing _there_! What gloom, what vexation, what despair, on the one hand--what signs of frantic excitement, joy, and triumph, on the other! "t.i.tmouse!" cried the first member of the club, as he gave his vote; "t.i.tmouse!" cried the second; "t.i.tmouse!" cried the third; "t.i.tmouse!" cried the fourth. The battle was won. Mr. t.i.tmouse was in a majority, which went on increasing every minute, amid tremendous cheering. Mr. Gammon's face and figure would at that moment have afforded a study for a picture; the strongly repressed feeling of triumph yet indicating its swelling influence upon his marked and expressive countenance, where an accurate eye might have detected also the presence of deep anxiety. Again and again were his hands shaken by those near him--Mudflint, Bloodsuck, Woodlouse, Centipede, Going Gone, Ginblossom--as they enthusiastically gave him credit for the transcendent skill he had exhibited, and the glorious result it had secured. As the church clock struck four, the books were closed, and the election was declared at an end, with eighteen of Mr. t.i.tmouse's voters yet unpolled! Within a few minutes afterwards, Mr. Going Gone hastily chalked upon the board, and held it up exultingly to the crowd,--

t.i.tmouse 237 Delamere 149 ---- Majority 88!

"Hurrah!--hurrah!--hip, hip, hip, hurrah!" burst from the crowd, while hands were upraised and whirled round, hats flung into the air, and every other mark of popular excitement exhibited.

"t.i.tmouse!--t.i.tmouse!--NINE TIMES NINE FOR MR. t.i.tMOUSE!" was called for, and responded to with thrilling and overpowering effect. The newly elected member, however, could not be pinched, or shaken, or roused, out of the drunken stupor into which, from the combined influence of liquor and excitement, he had sunk. To enable him to go through the responsible duties of the day--viz. bobbing his head every now and then to the worthy and independent electors who came to invest him with the proud character of their representative in the House of Commons--he had brought in his pocket a flask of brandy, which had been thrice replenished: in a word, the popular idol was decidedly not presentable: and under the impulse of strong emotion, Mr. Gammon, infinitely to the disgust of the Reverend Smirk Mudflint, who was charged up to his throat with combustible matter, and ready to go off at an instant's notice, stepped forward, and on removing his hat, was received with several distinct and long-continued rounds of applause. Silence having been at length partially restored--

"Yes, gentlemen," he commenced in an energetic tone, and with an excited and determined air and manner, "well may you utter those shouts of joy, for you have fought a n.o.ble fight, and won a glorious victory, (_great cheering._) Your cause, the cause of freedom and good government, is triumphant over all opposition, (_immense cheering._) The hideous forms of bigotry and tyranny are at this moment lying crushed and writhing, (vehement cheering rendered the rest of the sentence inaudible.) Gentlemen, truth and independence have this day met and overthrown falsehood and slavery, (_cheers,_) in spite of the monstrous weapons with which they came into the field, (_groans_)--bribery, (_groans,_) corruption, (_groans,_) intimidation, (_hisses,_) coercion, and treachery, (_mingled groans and hisses._) But, gentlemen, thank G.o.d, all was in vain! (_enthusiastic cheering._) I will not say that a defeated despot is at this moment sitting with sullen scowl in a neighboring castle, (_tremendous shouts of applause;_) all his schemes frustrated, all his gold scattered in vain, and trampled under foot by the virtuous electors whom he sought first to corrupt, and then degrade into slaves, (_great cheering._) Gentlemen, let us laugh at his despair, (_loud and prolonged laughter;_) but let us rejoice like men, like freemen, that the degraded and execrable _faction_ to which he belongs, is defeated, (_cheering._) Gentlemen, if ever there was a contest in which public spirit and principle triumphed over public and private profligacy, this has been it; and by this time to-morrow, hundreds of const.i.tuencies will be told, as their own struggles are approaching, to--_look at Yatton_--to emulate her proud and n.o.ble example; and England will soon be enabled to throw off the hateful incubus that has so long oppressed her, (_immense cheering._) But, gentlemen, you are all exhausted, (_No!

no! and vehement cheers;_) Mr. t.i.tmouse's friends are _all_ exhausted after the great labor and excitement of this glorious day, and need repose, in order that on the morrow we may meet refreshed, to enjoy the full measure of our triumph, (_cheering._) In particular, your distinguished representative, Mr. t.i.tmouse, worn out with the excitement of the day, long depressed by the adverse aspect of the poll, was so overpowered with the sudden and glorious change effected by that band of patriots who----(the rest of the sentence was drowned in cheering.) Gentlemen, he is young, and unaccustomed to such extraordinary and exciting scenes, (_hear, hear, hear!_) but by the morrow he will have recovered sufficiently to present himself before you, and thank you with enthusiasm and grat.i.tude, (_cheers._) In his name, gentlemen, I do, from my soul, thank you for the honor which you have conferred upon him, and a.s.sure you that he considers any past success with which Providence may have blessed him, (_hear, hear, hear!_) as nothing, when compared with the issue of this day's struggle, (_cheering._) Rely upon it, that his conduct in Parliament will not disgrace you, (_no, no, no!_) And now, gentlemen, I must conclude, trusting that with victory will cease animosity, and that there will be an immediate declaration of those feelings of frank and manly cordiality, and good feeling, which ought to distinguish free fellow-citizens, and which, above all, are signally characteristic of Englishmen, (_cheering._) Shake hands, gentlemen, with a fallen enemy, (_we will, we will!_) and forget, having conquered, that you ever fought."

With these words, uttered with the fervor and eloquence which had indeed distinguished the whole of his brief address, he resumed his hat, amid tremendous shouts of "three times three for Mr. t.i.tmouse!"--"three times three for Mr. Gammon!"--"nine times nine groans for Mr. Delamere!"--all of which were given with tumultuous energy. The two bands approached; the procession formed; the nearly insensible t.i.tmouse, his face deadly pale, and his hat awry, was partly supported and partly dragged along between Mr. Gammon and Mr. Going Gone; and to the inspiring air of "See the Conquering Hero comes," and accompanied by the cheering crowd, they all marched in procession to Mr. t.i.tmouse's committee-room. He was hurried up-stairs; then led into a bedroom; and there soon, alas!

experienced the overmastering power of sickness; which instantly obliterated all recollection of his triumph, and made him utterly unconscious of the brilliant position to which he had just been elevated--equally to the honor of himself and his const.i.tuency, who justly and proudly regarded

"t.i.tTLEBAT t.i.tMOUSE, ESQ., M. P."

as the glorious first-fruits to them of the glorious "_Bill for giving Everybody Everything_."

At a late hour, that night, an interview took place between Ben Bran and Mr. Gammon, of which all that I shall say at present is, that it was equally confidential and satisfactory. There can be no harm, however, in intimating that Mr. Gammon made no allusion to the arrival of the Greek kalends; but he _did_ to----the fifteenth day after the meeting of Parliament.[2] He satisfied Ben--and through him the Quaint Club--that Lord De la Zouch's agents had been only deluding them, and had laid a deep plan for ensnaring the club--which Gammon had early seen through, and endeavored to defeat. A little circ.u.mstance which happened some two or three days afterwards, seemed to corroborate the truth of at least a portion of his statements--viz. eight prosecutions for bribery were brought against so many members of the Quaint Club: and on their hastily a.s.sembling to consult upon so startling an incident, one still more so came to light;--_five leading members were not to be found_!! Writs in actions for penalties of 500 each, were on the same day served upon--Barnabas Bloodsuck, Smirk Mudflint, (otherwise called _the Reverend_ Smirk Mudflint,) Cephas Woodlouse, and--woe is me that I should have it to record!--"OILY GAMMON, gentleman, one of the attorneys of our lord the king, before the king himself, at Westminster." The amount claimed from him was 4,000; from Bloodsuck 3,000; and from Mudflint 2,500, which would, alas! have alone absorbed all the pew-rents of his little establishment for one hundred years to come, if his system of moral teaching should so long live. What was the consternation of these gentlemen to discover, when in their turn they called a private meeting of their leading friends, that one of them also was missing--viz. _Judas M'Do'em_! Moreover, it was palpable that amid an ominous silence and calmness on the other side--even on the part of the _True Blue_--the most guarded and systematic and persevering search for evidence was going on; and with all Gammon's self-possession, the sudden sight of Mr. Crafty stealthily quitting the house of an humble Yellow voter, a week after the election, occasioned him somewhat sickening sensations. Gammon was not unaccustomed to wade in deep waters; but these were _very_ deep! However, a great point had been gained. Mr. t.i.tmouse was M. P. for Yatton; and Mr. Gammon had maintained his credit in high quarters, where he had stood pledged as to the result of the election; having been long before a.s.sured that every member returned into the new Parliament was worth his weight in gold. Such were the thoughts pa.s.sing through the acute and powerful mind of Gammon, as he sat late one night, shortly afterwards, alone at Yatton, Mr. t.i.tmouse having retired to his bedroom half stupefied with liquor, and anxious to complete matters by smoking himself to sleep. The wind whistled cheerlessly round the angle of the Hall in which was situated the room where he sat, his feet resting on the fender, his arms folded, and his eyes fixed on the fire. Then he took up the newspaper recently arrived from town, which contained a report of his speech to the electors at the close of the poll; it was the organ of the Whig party--the _Morning Growl_; and its leading article commented in very encomiastic terms upon his address, "given in another part of the paper." His soul heaved with disgust at the thoughts of his own dissimulation;--"Independence!"

"Purity of Election!" "Public Principle!" "_Triumph of Principle!_"

"Popular enthusiasm!" "Man of the people!"--"_Look_," thought he--"eugh--_at t.i.tmouse_! Is _representation_ an utter farce--a mere _imaginary_ privilege of the people? If not, what but public swindlers are we who procure the return of such idiots as--faugh! Would I had been on the other"----He rose, sighed, lit his chamber candle, and retired to bed, but not to rest; for he spent several hours in endeavoring to retrace every step which he had taken in the election--with a view to ascertain how far it could be proved that he had legally implicated himself. The position in which, indeed, he and those a.s.sociated with him in the proceedings, were placed, was one which required his most anxious consideration, with a view, not merely to the retention of Mr.

t.i.tmouse's seat, so hardly won, but to the tremendous personal liabilities with which it was sought to fix himself, Gammon. The inquiries which he inst.i.tuted into the practices which he had been led to believe prevailed openly upon the other side, led to no satisfactory results. If the enemy had bribed, they had done so with consummate skill and caution. Yet he chose to a.s.sume the _air_ of one who thought otherwise; and gave directions for writs for penalties to be forthwith served upon Mr. Parkinson, Mr. Gold, Mr. St. Aubyn, and Mr.

Milnthorpe--all of whom, as indeed he had expected, only laughed at him.

But it was wofully different as regarded himself and his friends; for, before Mr. Crafty took his departure from Yatton, he had collected a body of evidence, against all of them, of the most fearful stringency and completeness. In fact, Lord De la Zouch had determined that, if it cost him ten thousand pounds more, he would spare no effort, as well to secure the seat for his son, as to punish those who had been guilty of the atrocious practices which had been revealed to him.

Need I say with what intense interest, with what absorbing anxiety, the progress of this contest had been watched by the Aubreys? From Lady De la Zouch and other friends, but more especially from Dr. Tatham, who had regularly forwarded the _True Blue_, and also written frequent and full letters, they had learned, from time to time, all that was going on. Mr.

Aubrey had prepared them for the adverse issue of the affair; he had never looked for anything else; but could he or any of them feel otherwise than a painful and indignant sympathy with the little doctor, on reading his account of the gross insult which had been offered to him at the hustings? Kate, before she had read half of it, sprang from her chair, threw down the letter, cried bitterly, then kissed the venerable doctor's handwriting, and walked to and fro, flashing lightning from her eyes, as her vivid fancy painted to her with painful distinctness that scene of wanton and brutal outrage on one of the most gentle, benevolent, and spotless of G.o.d's creatures, whose name was a.s.sociated in all their minds with everything that was pious, pure, and good--indeed they were all powerfully affected. As for _the Reverend_ Smirk Mudflint--"Presumptuous wretch!" quoth Kate, as her flashing eye met that of her brother: and he felt that his feelings, like her own, could not be expressed. The first account she received of the outrage perpetrated on Delamere was in the columns of the _True Blue_, which, being published on the evening of the nomination, had been instantly forwarded to town by Dr. Tatham. It blanched her cheek; she then felt a mist coming over her eyes--a numbness--a faintness ensued, and she sank upon the sofa, and swooned. It was a long while, after she had recovered, before a flood of tears relieved her excitement. 'T was no use disguising matters, even had she felt so disposed, before those who felt so exquisite and vivid a sympathy with her; and who did not restrain their ardent and enthusiastic expressions of admiration at the spirited and n.o.ble manner in which Delamere had commenced and carried on his adventure. At whose instance, and to please whom, had it been really undertaken? Kate's heart fluttered intensely at the bare notion of seeing him again in Vivian Street. He would come--she felt--with a sort of _claim_ upon her!--And he made his at once desired and dreaded appearance some days afterwards, quite unexpectedly. Kate was playing on the piano, and had not heard his knock; so that he was actually in the drawing-room before she was aware of his being in London, or had formed the slightest expectation of such an event.

"Heavens, Mr. Delamere!--Is it you?" she stammered, rising from the piano, her face having suddenly become pale.

"Ay, sweet Kate--unless I am become some one else, as--_the rejected of Yatton_"--he replied fondly, as he grasped her hands fervently in his own, and led her to the sofa.

"Don't--don't--Mr. Delamere"--said she, faintly, striving to disengage one of her hands, which she instantly placed before her eyes to conceal her rising emotion. Her brother and Mrs. Aubrey considerately came to her relief, by engaging Delamere in conversation. He saw their object; and releasing Miss Aubrey, for the present, from his attentions, soon had entered into a long and very animated account of all his Yatton doings. In spite of herself, as it were, Kate drew near the table, and, engrossed with interest, listened, and joined in the conversation, as if it had not been actually DELAMERE who was sitting beside her. He made very light of the little accident of the wounded lip--but as he went on, Kate looked another way, her eyes obstructed with tears, and her very heart yearning towards him. "Oh, Mr. Delamere!"--she suddenly and vehemently exclaimed--"what _wretches_ they were to use you so!" and then blushed scarlet.

"Well--see if I'm not M.P. for Yatton, yet"--said Delamere, with a confident air, just before he rose to go--"and that within a few weeks, too, and _then_"----

"Don't be too sure of _that_," said Aubrey, gravely.

"Sure? I've no more doubt of it," replied Delamere, briskly, "than I have of our now being in Vivian Street--if there be the slightest pretence to fairness in a committee of the House of Commons. Why, upon my honor, we've got no fewer than eleven distinct, unequivocal, well-supported"----

"If election committees are to be framed of such people as appear to have been returned"----....

Did, however, the gaudy flower of t.i.tmouse's victory at Yatton contain the seeds of inevitable defeat at St. Stephen's? 'T was surely a grave question; and had to be decided by a tribunal, the const.i.tution of which, however, the legislature hath since, in its wisdom, seen fit altogether to alter. With matters, therefore, as they then were--but now are not--I deal freely, as with history.

The first glance which John Bull caught of his new House of Commons, under the _Bill for giving Everybody Everything_, almost turned his stomach, strong as it was, inside out; and he stood for some time staring with feelings of alternate disgust and dismay. Really, as far at least as outward appearance and behavior went, there seemed scarcely fifty gentlemen among them; and those appeared ashamed and afraid of their position. 'T was, indeed, as though the sc.u.m that had risen to the simmering surface of the caldron placed over the fierce fires of revolutionary ardor, had been ladled off and flung upon the floor of the House of Commons. The shock and mortification produced such an effect upon John, that he took for some time to his bed, and required a good deal of severe treatment, before he in any degree recovered himself. It was, indeed, a long while before he got quite right in his head!--As the new House antic.i.p.ated a good deal of embarra.s.sment from the presidency of the experienced and dignified person who had for many years filled the office of Speaker, they chose a new one; and then, breathing freely, started fair for the session.

Some fifty seats were contested; and one of the very earliest duties of the new Speaker, was to announce the receipt of "a pet.i.tion from certain electors of the borough of Yatton, complaining of an undue return; and praying the House to appoint a time for taking the same into its consideration." Mr. t.i.tmouse, at that moment, was modestly sitting immediately behind the Treasury bench, next to a respectable pork-butcher, who had been returned for an Irish county, and with whom Mr. t.i.tmouse had been dining at a neighboring tavern; where he had drunk whiskey and water enough to elevate him to the point of rising to present several pet.i.tions from his const.i.tuents--_first_, from Smirk Mudflint, and others, for opening the universities of Oxford and Cambridge to Dissenters of every denomination, and abolishing the subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles; _secondly_, from Mr. Hic Haec Hoc, praying for a commission to inquire into the propriety of translating the Eton Latin and Greek grammars into English; _thirdly_, from several electors, praying the House to pa.s.s an act for exempting members of that House from the operation of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Laws, as well as from arrest on mesne and final process; and _lastly_, from certain other electors, praying the House to issue a commission to inquire into the cause of the _Tick_ in sheep. I say this was the auspicious commencement of his senatorial career, meditated by Mr. t.i.tmouse, when his ear caught the above startling words uttered by the Speaker; which so disconcerted him--prepared though he was for some such move on the part of his enemies, that he resolved to postpone the presentation of the pet.i.tions of his enlightened const.i.tuents, till the ensuing day. After sitting in a dreadful fright for some twenty minutes or so, he felt it necessary to go out and calm his flurried spirits with a gla.s.s of brandy and soda-water. As he was leaving the House, a little incident happened to him, which was attended with very memorable consequences.

"A word with you, sir," whispered a commanding voice, in his ear, as he felt himself caught hold of by some one sitting at the corner of the Treasury Bench--"I'll follow you out--_quietly_, mind."

The speaker was a Mr. SWINDLE O'GIBBET, a tall, elderly, and somewhat corpulent person, with a broad-brimmed hat, a slovenly surtout, and vulgar swaggering carriage; a ruddy shining face, that constantly wore a sort of greasy smile; and an unctuous eye, with a combined expression of cunning, cowardice, and ferocity. He spoke in a rich brogue, and with a sort of confidential and cringing familiarity; yet, withal, 't was with the air and the tone of a man conscious of possessing great direct influence out of doors, and indirect influence within doors. 'T was, in a word, at once insinuating and peremptory--submissive and truculent.

Several things had concurred to give t.i.tmouse a very exalted notion of Mr. O'Gibbet. First, a n.o.ble speech of his, in which he showed infinite "_pluck_" in persevering against shouts of "order" from all parts of the House for an hour together; secondly, his sitting on the front bench, often close beside little LORD BULFINCH, the leader of the House. His Lordship was a Whig; and though, as surely I need hardly say, there are thousands of Whigs every whit as pure and high-minded as their Tory rivals, his Lordship was a very _bitter_ Whig. The bloom of original Whiggism, however, ripening fast into the rottenness of Radicalism, gave out at length an odor which was so offensive to many of his own early friends, that they were forced to withdraw from him. Personally, however, he was of respectable character, and a man of considerable literary pretensions, and enjoyed that Parliamentary influence generally secured to the possessor of talent, tact, experience, and temper. Now, it certainly argued some resolution in Mr. O'Gibbet to preserve an air of swaggering a.s.surance and familiarity beside his aristocratic little neighbor, whose freezing demeanor towards him--for his Lordship evinced even a sort of shudder of disgust when addressed by him--Mr. O'Gibbet felt to be visible to all around. Misery makes strange bed-fellows, but surely politics stranger still; and there could not have been a more striking instance of it, than in Lord Bulfinch and Mr. O'Gibbet sitting side by side--as great a contrast in their persons as in their characters. But the third and chief ground of t.i.tmouse's admiration of Mr. O'Gibbet, was a conversation--private and unheard the parties had imagined it, in the lobby of the House; but every word whereof had our inquisitive, but not excessively scrupulous, little friend contrived to overhear--between Mr. O'Gibbet and Mr. FLUMMERY, a smiling supple Lord of the Treasury, and whipper-in of the Ministry. Though generally confident enough, on this occasion he trembled, frowned, and looked infinitely distressed. Mr. O'Gibbet chucked him under the chin, familiarly and good-humoredly, and said--"Oh, murther and Irish! what's easier?--But it lies in a nut-sh.e.l.l. If you won't do it, I can't swim; and if I can't swim, you sink--every mother's son of you. Oh, come, come--give me a bit of a push at this pinch."

"That's what you've said so often"----

"Fait, an' what if I have? And look at the _shoves_ that I've given _you_," said Mr. O'Gibbet, with sufficient sternness.

"But a--a--really we shall be found out! The House suspects already that you and we"----

"Bah! bother! hubbabo! Propose you it; I get up and oppose it--_vehemently_, do you mind--an' the blackguards opposite will carry it for you, out of love for me, ah, ha!--Aisy, aisy--softly say I! Isn't that the way to get along?" and Mr. O'Gibbet winked his eye.

Mr. Flummery, however, looked unhappy, and remained silent and irresolute.

"Oh, my dear sir--_exporrige frontem_! Get along wid you, you know it's for your own good," said Mr. O'Gibbet; and shoving him on good-humoredly, left the lobby, while Mr. Flummery pa.s.sed on, with a forced smile, to his seat. He continued comparatively silent, and very wretched, the whole night.

Two hours before the House broke up, but not till after Lord Bulfinch had withdrawn, Mr. Flummery, seizing his opportunity, got up to do the bidding, and eventually fulfilled the prophecy, of Mr. O'Gibbet, amid bitter and incessant jeers and laughter from the opposition.

"Another such victory and we're undone," said Mr. Flummery, with a furious whisper, soon afterwards to Mr. O'Gibbet.

"Och, go to the ould divil wid ye!" replied Mr. O'Gibbet, thrusting his tongue into his cheek, and moving off.

Now t.i.tmouse had contrived to overhear almost every word of the above curious colloquy, and had naturally formed a prodigious estimate of Mr.

O'Gibbet, and his influence in the highest quarters.--But to proceed.--Within a few minutes' time might have been seen t.i.tmouse and O'Gibbet earnestly conversing together, remote from observation, in one of the pa.s.sages leading from the lobby. Mr. O'Gibbet spoke all the while in a tone which at once solicited and commanded attention. "Sir, of course you know you've not a ghost of a chance of keeping your seat?

I've heard all about it. You'll be beat, sir,--dead beat; will never be able to sit in this _Parlimint_, sir, for your own borough, and be liable to no end o' penalties for bribery, besides. Oh, _my dear sir_, how I wish I had been at your elbow! This would never have happened!"

"Oh, sir! 'pon my soul--I--I"--stammered t.i.tmouse, quite thunderstruck at Mr. O'Gibbet's words.

"Hush--st--_hush_, wid your chattering tongue, sir, or we'll be overheard, and you'll be ruined," interrupted Mr. O'Gibbet, looking suspiciously around.

"I--I--beg your pardon, sir, but I'll give up my seat. I'm most uncommon sorry that ever--curse me if I care about being a mem"----

"Oh! and is _that_ the way you spake of being a mimber o' Parlimint? For shame, for shame, not to feel the glory of your position, sir! There's _millions_ o' gintlemen envying you, just now!--Sir, I see that you're likely to cut a figure in the House."

"But, begging your pardon, sir, if it _costs_ such a precious long figure--why, I've come down some four or five thousand pounds already,"

quoth t.i.tmouse, twisting his hand into his hair.