"That is the worst thing I have done, and I feel
horribly penitent. It was the act of a cad and a silly schoolboy. But
I had some provocation, Tommy. I had spoken at length amid many
interruptions, and I was getting cross. It was at Gledfoot, and the
meeting was entirely against me. Then a man got up to tackle me, not a
native, but some wretched London agitator. As I looked at him--a little
chap With fiery eyes and receding brow--and heard his cockney patter, my
temper went utterly. I made a fool of him, and I abused the whole
assembly, and, funnily enough, I carried them with me. People say I
helped my cause immensely."
"It is possible," said Wratislaw dryly. "The Scot has a sense of humour
and has no objection to seeing his prophets put to shame. But you are
getting a nice reputation elsewhere. When I read some of your sayings,
I laughed of course, but I thought ruefully of your chances."
It was a penitent and desponding man who followed Wratislaw into the
snuggery at Etterick. But light and food, the gleam of silver and
vellum and the sweet fragrance of tobacco consoled him; for in most
matters he was half-hearted, and politics sat lightly on his affections.
II
To Alice the weeks of the contest were filled with dire unpleasantness.
Lewis, naturally, kept far from Glenavelin, while of Mr. Stocks she was
never free.
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