Lalage's Lovers Part 29

O'Donoghue was elected. He secured 262 of the votes which were not spoiled. I ran him very close, having 260 votes to my credit. Vittie came a bad third, with only eight votes. Vittie, as t.i.therington told me from the first, never had a chance of success. He was only nominated in the hope that he might take some votes away from me. I hope his friends were satisfied with the result. Three of his eight votes would have given me a majority. t.i.therington wrote me a long letter some time afterward, as soon, in fact, as he was well enough to do sums. He said that originally, before Lalage came on the scene, I had 1800 firm and reliable supporters, men who would have walked miles through snowstorms to cast their votes for me. O'Donoghue had about the same number who would have acted with equal self-denial on his behalf. Vittie was tolerably sure of two hundred voters and there were about two hundred others who hesitated between Vittie and me, but would rather cut off their right hands than vote for O'Donoghue. I ought, therefore, to have been elected, and I would have been elected, if Lalage had not turned the minds of the voters away from serious political thought. "I do not know," t.i.therington wrote in a sort of parenthesis, "whether these women hope to advance their cause by tactics of this kind. If they do they are making a bad mistake. No right-thinking man will ever consent to the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of a s.e.x capable of treating political life with the levity displayed here by Miss Beresford." It is very curious how hard t.i.therington finds it to believe that he has made a mistake. He will probably go down to his grave maintaining that the letters A.S.P.L.

stand for woman's suffrage, although I pointed out to him more than once that they do not.

The latter part of t.i.therington's letter was devoted to a carefully reasoned explanation of the actual victory of O'Donoghue. He accounted for it in two ways. O'Donoghue's supporters, being inferior in education and general intelligence to mine, were less likely to be affected by new and heretical doctrines such as Lalage's. A certain amount of mental activity is required in order to go wrong. Also, Lalage's professed admiration for truth made its strongest appeal to my supporters, because O'Donoghue's friends were naturally addicted to lying and loved falsehood for its own sake. My side was, in fact, beaten--I have noticed that this is the case in many elections--because it was intellectually and morally the better side. This theory would have been very consoling to me if I had wanted consolation. I did not. I was far from grudging O'Donoghue his victory. He, so far as I can learn, is just the man to enjoy hearing other people make long speeches. I have never developed a taste for that form of amus.e.m.e.nt.

The day after the declaration of the result of the election a really serious misfortune befell me. McMeekin himself took influenza. There was a time when I wished very much to hear that he was writhing in the grip of the disease. But those feelings had long pa.s.sed away from my mind. I no longer wished any ill to McMeekin. I valued him highly as a medical attendant, and I particularly needed his skill just when he was s.n.a.t.c.hed away from me, because my nurse was becoming restive. She hinted at first, and then roundly a.s.serted that I was perfectly well. Nothing but McMeekin's determined diagnosis of obscure affections of my heart, lungs, and viscera kept her to her duties. She made more than one attempt to take me out for a drive. I resisted her, knowing that a drive would, in the end, take me to the railway station and from that home to be embroiled in the contest between Lalage and the Diocesan Synod. I had a letter from my mother urging me to return home at once and hinting at the possibility of unpleasantness over the election of the new bishop.

This made me the more determined to stay where I was, and so McMeekin's illness was a very serious blow to me.

I satisfied myself by inquiry that he was not likely to get well immediately and then I sent for another doctor. This man turned out to be one of my original supporters and I think his feelings must have been hurt by my calling in McMeekin. He had also, I could see, been greatly influenced by Lalage. He told me, with insulting directness of speech, that there was nothing the matter with me. I could not remember the names of the diseases which McMeekin said I had or might develop. The nurse, who could have remembered them if she liked, would not. The new doctor, an aggressive, red-faced young man, repeated his statement that I was perfectly well. He emphasized it by refusing to take a fee. My nurse, with evident delight, packed her box and left by the next train.

After that there was nothing for me but to go home.

My mother must have been disappointed at the result of the East Connor election. She believed, I fear she still believes, that I am fitted to make laws and would be happy in the work. But she has great tact. She did not, by either word or glance, condole with me over my defeat.

I also possess a little tact, so I did not exult or express any gratification in her presence. We neither of us mentioned the subject of the election. My uncle Thormanby, on the other hand, has no tact at all.

He came over to luncheon the day after I arrived home. We had scarcely sat down at table when he began to jeer.

"Well," he said, speaking in his usual hearty full-throated way, "better luck next time."

"I am not sure," I said, with dignified coolness, "that there will be a next time."

"Oh, yes, there will. 'He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day.'"

I did not see how the proverb applied to me.

"Do you mean the influenza?" I said. "That was scarcely my fault. My temperature was 104."

"All the same," said Thormanby, "you didn't exactly stand up to her, did you?"

I understood then that he was thinking about La-lage.

"Nor did O'Donoghue," I said. "And Vittie really was shamming.

t.i.therington told me so."

"Influenza or no influenza, I shouldn't have sat down under the things that girl was saying about you."

"What would you have done?"

"I should have put her in her place pretty quick. I'm sorry I wasn't there."

As a matter of fact Thormanby had taken very good care not to be there. He had washed his hands and put the whole responsibility on the shoulders of Miss Battersby and Miss Pettigrew. I felt it my duty to bring this home to his conscience.

"Why didn't you come?" I asked. "We'd have been very pleased to see you."

"Peers," he replied, "are not allowed to interfere in elections."

This, of course, was a mere subterfuge. I was not inclined to let Thormanby escape.

"You'll have every opportunity," I said, "of putting her in her place without running your head against the British const.i.tution. She means to take an active part in electing the new bishop."

"Nonsense. There's no part for her to take. That's a matter for the synod of the diocese and she won't be allowed into its meetings."

"All the same she'll manage to get in. But of course that won't matter.

You'll put her in her place pretty quick."

Thormanby's tone was distinctly less confident when he next spoke.

"Do you happen to know," he asked, "what she means to do?"

"No, I don't."

"Could you possibly find out? She might tell you if you asked her."

"I don't intend to ask her. I have washed my hands of the whole affair."

My mother came into the conversation at this point.

"Lalage hasn't confided in me," she said, "but she has told Miss Battersby----"

"Ah!" I said, "Miss Battersby is so wonderfully sympathetic. Anybody would confide in her."

"She told Miss Battersby," my mother went on, "that she was studying the situation and looking into the law of the matter."

"Let her stick to that," said Thormanby.

"Are Hilda and Selby-Harrison down here?" I asked.

"Hilda is," said my mother. "I don't know about the other. Who is he or she?"

"He," I said, "is the third member of the committee of the Episcopal Election Guild. He's particularly good at drawing up agreements. I expect the Archdeacon will have to sign one. By the way, I suppose he's the proper man to vote for?"

"I'm supporting him," said Thormanby, "so I suppose you will." I do not like being hustled in this way. "I shall study the situation," I said, "before I make up my mind. I am a life member of the Episcopal Election Guild and I must allow myself to be guided to some extent by the decision of the committee."

"Do you mean to tell me," said Thormanby, "that you've given that girl money again?"

"Not again. My original subscription carries me on from one society to another. Selby-Harrison arranged about that."

"I should have thought," said Thormanby sulkily, "that you'd had warnings enough. You will never learn sense even if you live to be a hundred."

I saw the Archdeacon next day. He tackled the subject of my defeat in East Connor without hesitation. He has even less tact than Thormanby.

"I'm sorry for you, my dear boy," he said, wringing my hand, "more sorry than I can tell you. These disappointments are very hard to bear at your age. When you are as old as I am and know how many of them life has in store for all of us, you will not feel them nearly so acutely."

"I'm trying to bear up," I said.

"Your defeat is a public loss. I feel that very strongly. After your diplomatic experience and with your knowledge of foreign affairs your advice would have been invaluable in all questions of imperial policy."

"I'm greatly gratified to hear you say that. I was afraid you thought I had taken to drink."

"My dear boy," said the Archdeacon with pained surprise, "what can have put such an idea into your head?"