Yet as
the day approached these would infallibly become voters
in his eyes, to swell or to diminish the sum of Moneida's
loyalty to the Empire. They remembered all this in the
committee room of his old party. "The squire," they said
to one another, "will give himself away this time if ever
he did." Then young Murchison hadn't known any better
than to spend the best part of the day out there, and
there were a dozen witnesses to swear that old Ormiston
introduced him to three or four of the chiefs. That was
basis enough for the boys detailed to watch Moneida,
basis enough in the end for a petition constructed to
travel to the High Court at Toronto for the purpose of
rendering null and void the election of Mr Lorne Murchison,
and transferring the South Fox seat to the candidate of
the opposite party.
That possibility had been promptly frustrated by a cross
petition. There was enough evidence in Subdivision Eleven,
according to Bingham, to void the Tory returns on six
different counts; but the house-cat sold by Peter Finnigan
to Mr Winter for five dollars would answer all practical
purposes. It was a first-rate mouser, Bingham said, and
it would settle Winter. They would have plenty of other
charges "good and ready" if Finnigan's cat should fail
them, but Bingham didn't think the court would get to
anything else; he had great confidence in the cat.
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