Copley, was dead; and, of course, there would be another election. He handed the paper to Marcia, saying, “There, that will keep me close at home, if nothing else will. I could not, if I would, stir till after the election."

"I suppose not. Even I can perceive the necessity of your remaining on the spot till the contest is decided. But will there be any contest?"

"I believe there will, though I should say that Mr. Herbert Bevan does not expect it. I knew last week of Mr. Crawford's serious illness; I knew, also, that his age and debilitated constitution shut out all hopes of even a partial restoration. I expected this telegram two days ago. Also, I was aware that another candidate would be likely to appear in the field as soon as ever Mr. Crawford's death was announced. Mr. Herbert Bevan will not exactly walk over the course, as he anticipates."

“Mr. Bevan is a Conservative, I know.”

"Yes, a staunch Conservative. Great Copley has always returned a Conservative."

"And always will, in spite of Mr. Christopher Gray and his Liberal Chronicle."

"I am not so sure of that, Mrs. Marcia Trevanion."

"There will never be a Liberal M.P. for Great Copley, Mr. Christopher Gray."

"Never' is a long day; but you must not call the Chronicle Liberal': its politics are supposed to be indefinite."

“You are making them exceedingly definite, I think. I heard Colonel Bevan tell Mrs. Willoughby that you were an exceedingly dangerous person; and Lord Carnforth said he was quite sure that in an emergency you would fail us ! "

"That would depend upon whom the 'us' included. If it related to the Bevan clique, Lord Carnforth was undoubtedly right."

“You do not mean that you-you a public man, would oppose Herbert Bevan?"

"I do mean it. I do not approve of Herbert Bevan ; his politics and his character are to me equally objectionable."

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'Christopher Gray! are you mad? Do you not know that Herbert Bevan is one of the old county Bevans? That the Bevan interest is even in some respects stronger and older than Lord Silverdale's? If you opposed the man of the aristocracy, where would you be? You would be as unpopular as the unsuccessful candidate, and would probably be pelted with him. And you cannot be neutral in this matter; you must take your stand on one side or the other. Be wise, and support the ancient cause!"

"But what if the ancient cause be one I cannot conscientiously support? I do not believe in these Bevans, therefore it would be base in my position to give in my adherence; it would be unmanly. In these things, Mrs. Marcia, an Englishman must act up to his convictions."

"Well, I suppose so; if I were a man I should do it, I know, and if there is to be an election, I only wish I had a vote. What an absurd thing it is to exclude the female portion of the landed gentry from the franchise. Yes, we really do want Reform, and I am not quite sure that if a Liberal candidate come forward that I shall not give him all I have to give—my influence. But the case is very different with you. Do you know it strikes me that if the editor of the Copley Chronicle were known to be a Liberal—an outand-out professed Liberal-he would very soon cease to be editor."

"I think many people do know that I am a Liberal-I never offensively push my principles, but I never seek to disavow them. It has always been understood that the Chronicle does not take sides with either party."

"It has been understood so, but it has been till lately a thorough Tory paper. Now, anyone can perceive the newlyinfused tincture of Liberalism. The election will make you sport your colour, whether you will or no, and I would advise you to be sted fast to the old cause. A Crawford or a Bevan

has been returned for Great Copley ever since the Long Parliament; and a Bevan will be returned now, in spite of all you can say, or do, or write!"

"I have no idea that it will be otherwise; still the appearance of another candidate will show that there is to be a change; that the long stagnant waters are about to be troubled, and that ere long the tide may turn, and the fresh healthy waves roll in and dissipate the noxious calm.” "Then you will hazard your popularity for a principle, rather than for an actual, present gain?"

"Even so. I never expected that we should succeed in the present instance. The prejudices of two centuries are not to be overthrown in the course of several weeks. But though one cannot easily uproot an oak, one can plant a sapling that shall become in due season the monarch of the forest."

"And who is the opposing candidate?"

"Mr. Lewiston, of Stanford Hall.”

"Whew!" ejaculated Mrs. Marcia, with a sadly unfeminine click of her tongue. "Worse and worse, Christopher Gray! He is nobody."

"I think he is somebody; at any rate he is a good man, a wise man, a brave man."

"But his father-no, his grandfather, was a carpet manufacturer, or something."

"What has that to do with it?"

"Great Copley will quickly tell you. Not that I shall quite coincide with its dictum, but then I am only Marcia Trevanion, and I can afford to be a Radical, or a Chartist even, if it so please me. And now I am going to Town Head House, and Miss Liebrecht will meet me there. I wonder what Ermy will say to you and your candidate."

And Mr. Gray wondered also, but he kept his wonder to himself.

SEVERAL days had elapsed since Marcia's visit to the Chronicle office; and now all Copley knew that its venerable M.P. had departed this life, and that there was to be all the excitement and bustle of a contested election. Mr. Herbert Bevan had already proposed himself; indeed, the very next morning there had appeared a very stirring and brilliant address to the free and independent electors of Great Copley, in which, however, there was, perhaps, just a little too much confidence and sang-froid displayed; for the candidate for Parliamentary honours never seemed to imagine it possible that any other than the man put forth by the magnates of the county could be successful. But scarcely had the billposters done their work, scarcely had the first "Bevan for ever" been scrawled in chalk on the churchyard wall, scarcely had Mr. Shelby's assistants begun to fill his righthand window with the orthodox blue ribbons, when another set of bill-posters went forth with brush and paste-pot, and bright orange papers, whereon were printed the very courteous and winning address of Thomas Lewiston, Esq., of Stanford Hall, who proposed himself as Member of Parliament for Great Copley, in the place of the lamented Mr. Crawford, deceased.

Then arose a terrible hubbub and outcry, and Great Copley went immediately off its head; and all idle people gave themselves up with infinite satisfaction to the charming occupation of running about, making wonderful asseverations, and discussing possibilities and probabilities, with the most charming fluency imaginable. It was a delightful time for the nobodies and the scamps; for, if everybody had not a vote, everybody had a voice, literally speaking, and in such a contest, as was to be expected, no one's influence was to be

despised. Everybody was to be conciliated and won over by somebody, and each side commenced incontinently to talk solemnly about bribery and corruption; and everybody, from the Earl of Silverdale down to Dicky Dance, was in a state of unprecedented agitation and furious excitement, exemplified in all sorts of ways, according to the mind and social standing of the individual.

At the Hall there was, of course, diversity of opinion; for, while the Earl and Countess and their sons were inexpressibly disgusted at the inconceivable impudence and assurance of that Thomas Lewiston, whose grandfather had really had the bad taste to make a splendid fortune by manufacturing carpets, Lady Charlotte was delighted, and loudly lamented the weak conventionalities which withheld from her a vote.

"Then you would positively encourage this upstart?" asked her brother Lionel, as he sat at the breakfast-table discussing savoury jelly and potted partridge.

"I shall do all I can to favour Mr. Lewiston's views," was the answer. "Nothing has given me so much pleasure for a long time as this spirited effort to break through the stupid barriers and trammels of unrighteous customs! We have had Crawfords and Bevans ad nauseam; now a little fresh blood is about to be introduced into the stagnant life-current of Great Copley politics; now the people will be considered;

now "

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Hang the people!" interrupted the honourable Lionel. "I shouldn't mind if a few millions of the people' were swept away wholesale. There is too much humanity upon earth; we that is to say they are too thick upon the ground, and the upper ten thousand could well dispense with a few thousands from the masses. It would be freer breathing, clear elbow-room, and the residue would be more easily managed."

"What do you suppose God created 'the people' for?

"'Pon honour, I can't say! The Almighty created a good deal of vermin you know, and the why and the wherefore is