Page:The council of seven.djvu/225

 *pany of Alderman Kearsley, another old-fashioned blue, he was overheard to remark, 'I'm sorry to say it, Kearsley, but I'm afraid there's going to be awful graft at this election.'"

The Member agreed.

"Coming from a gentleman in Sir Munt's position those words mean a great deal. He knows very well that the graft is on his own side. The U. P. is so slick nowadays that it is beginning to give the Old Man cold feet. There's such a thing as being too clever in this world, Mr. Endor, and strictly between you and me, sir, the over cleverness of the other side is the only chance we've got."

At this point Mr. Ambrose Furley paused dramatically to readjust the cord of his eyeglasses round his left ear. It was an infallible sign on his part of constructive thought. "Do you know, sir," he said after a long moment of silence, "what I should do if I were you? It may be a little infra dignitatem, but I should take the earliest opportunity of stepping across the Market Place to the Mayor's Parlor and having a little heart-to-heart talk with Sir Munt. It may be infra dignitatem, as I say, but if you put the case against the U. P. only half as well as you put it in Parliament the other day, you'll lose nothing by it. Sir Munt is a patriot, an imperialist, a protectionist, and all that, but when it comes to a showdown he's a man who knows how many beans make five."

The Agent's argument found prompt favor in the