Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-28
CHAPTER XIII.

he next morning Anthony grove over
to Cammarleighburgh and called on the
mayor. They had long consultation to-
gether. after which Anthony strolled
down the High street with his arm laid
Familiarity on the mayors and lunched
with him at the Liberal Club. Here An
thony met most of those to whom he had
been so civil at the garden party. Mr.
Platt-the proprietor of the Cammarleigh-
burgh Weekly Trades Register. journal
winch was little more than an alpha
betical sea of advertise ments. upon which
foated mere and there few items of
news-was completely subjugated by An
thongs general remark: "You newspaper
proprietors WELD an immense power"
would not cheerfully have crowded out
the most important piece of national in
telligence in order TO squeeze in another
advertisement. He agreed that the re-
sponsibility was vast but added speak
ing for the newspaper prOprietorS of
Great Britain. that he believed they rose
to the situation.
Anthony was a born eleCtoneerer He
could assume a certain Cheapness of
manner without which no public man in
the United Kingdom can hope to strike
the imagination of the electorate He
could give the most ordinary common
place certain epigrammatic turn. and
he mad that assurance which the lower
middie-clasS Englishman considers inso-
lence in his shop boy and mental author
ity If the young man happens to be his
social superior
our commercial stability is dependent
upon our political self-control." said An
thony. inclining his head slightly to the
mayor. as he raised to his lips the glass
ala III
worthy host had ordered
Very true" said the mayor. very
true And the others who heard nodded
their heads sagaciously.
Il feel, said Anthony, looking round
him at the quaint collection of faces.
which. framed as they were, each with
a more extraordinary and varied pattern
Of beard and whiSker than the other sug-
gested nothing so much to his whimsical
mind as shooting gallery at a fair,
that what we lack in politics is sound
men," He gave the lapel of his coat as
he spoke a little twitch. a habit of his
which emphasized, as it were, its per-
feet fit and style. Everybody is trying
to be effective instead of trying to be
useful"
Human nature being the same every
where, the Cammarleighburgh worthless.
although they did not quite follow him.
smirked complacently and accepted his
eulogum on their intellectual superiority.
Perhaps never having thought of them
selves as effective they were delighted to
have their useful side empha sized.
In the presence of such company An
thony would have delighted in giving free
rein to his gift of humor, but he knew
that to allow the least doubt of his sin
certify to enter the minds of these free
and independent British electors would
be fatal. To them their opponents were
in all seriousness a band of organized
ruffians with their hands on the throat
of the national liberty and their eyes on
the money chests of their neighbors.
Perhaps they were not far wrong. in
stinctively feeling that the political sys-
tenn could not be run unless each party
was profoundly convinced of the awful
and willful wickedness of the other
Anthony rode back to the abbey in high
good humor with himself and rejecting
how very absurdly handicapped the ordi-
nary man of ambition is if he happens
to be born in the wrong point of vantage.
There was probably in Cammarleighburgh
at the moment man who had worked
and saved and toiled all his life for this
very chance which Anthony had only to
put out the long arm of aristocra tic
domination to possess himself of.
The next morning Cammarleigh alluded
to the member for Cammarleighburgh
having accepted judgeshp. the an
nouncement being in that mornings pa
pers. He was about to expatiate on the
found means to stop him. He had no
wish for him to give himself away at that
moment. 1t would only have made the
political somersault. which Anthony had
determined he should turn, more aston
fishing. The fact that his own family
borough, which in former times used to
return the nominee of the Lords Cam
marleigh without even pausing to inquire
whether the candidate were in his right
mind not. had refused to follow him
L. .I:..--
ribly sore point. One of his great OBJ
jections to the garden party had been
that he would be obliged to endure the
presence of these treacherous people in
his own grounds
Anthony. on his part. had seen the adj
vantage of this. Certain folk in Cam
marleighburgh might interpret it as a po-
litical olive branch, which was the very
thing he wanted.
Before lunch Anthony mentioned to
Cammarleigh that he would like to have
a talk with him.
Cammarleigh by this time knew him
we'll enough to deduce from a certain
sweetness of manner that he was medi-
tating a master-stroke. AS was always
the case, Cammarleigh made up his mind
that this should be the occasion of his
putting his foot down. No matter what
Anthony asked he would refuse. The
situation only required the firmness with
which he had been wont to tackle diff
cultieS before he met Anthony and the
latter would crumple up and stink away
Cammarleigh must have had a good deal
of the optimist in him. for he was per-
petually picturing to himself the moment
of his great triumph. Had 1t not been
for these sops to his vanity he might pos
sibly have collapsed altogether and been
driven to some desperate course of ac-
ton which would entirely have spoilt An
thongs plans. He consoled himself by
reveling in his imaginary victories, and
he would even rehearSe the superb atti-
tude with which when he had said all
that was in his mind he would point to
the door when the moment had come for
Anthonys dismissal and say. Co His
only fear was that when that time came
he should not remember anything like alt
the things he wished to say and all those
things which Anthony deserved to have
said to him. Cammarleigh never ceased
to believe that this moment would come,
and at times he even persuaded himself
that he was tolerating Anthony. and that
the latterS lease of power was entirely
due to his own good nature. He fully
made up his mind, or at least he thought
he did. that this was to be the occasion
upon which he would make a stand. He
did not know what particular folly was
brewing in Anthonys brain, but he would
most certainly not give in to it.
After lunch Anthony asked him if he
would take a stroll he had something
very particular to lay before him. Cam
marleigh would have preferred that the
library should have been the scene of the
interview. He mad not. so to speak. re-
hearsed Anthonys dismissal out of DOORS
but putting on a felt hat so old that it
had no particular shape. and which he
generally wore in the grounds. he fol-