'This ballot's marked; he says; 'you don't fool me.' 'Is
it?' says Charlie, taking it out of his hand. 'That's
very wrong, Jim; you shouldn't have marked it,' and drops
it into the ballot-box. Oh, Jim was wild! The paper had
gone in blank, you see, and he'd lost all those good
drunks and his vote too! He was going to have Charlie's
blood right away. But there it was--done. He'd handed in
his ballot--he couldn't have another."
They all laughed, I fear, at the unfortunate plight of
the too suspicious Whelan. "Why did he think the ballot
was marked?" asked Advena.
"Oh, there was a little smudge on it--a fly-spot or
something, Charlie says. But you couldn't fool Whelan."
"I hope," said Stella meditatively, "that Lorne will get
in by more than one. He wouldn't like to owe his election
to a low-down trick like that"
"Don't you be at all alarmed, you little girlish thing,"
replied her brother. "Lorne will get in by five hundred."
John Murchison had listened to their excited talk, mostly
in silence, going on with his dinner as if that and
nothing else were the important matter of the moment.
Mrs Murchison had had this idiosyncrasy of his "to put
up with" for over thirty years. She bore it now as long
as she could.
"FATHER!" she exploded at last. "Do you think Lorne will
get in by five hundred?"
Mr Murchison shook his head, and bestowed his whole
attention upon the paring of an apple.
Pages:
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393