ld and the wicked molar was signaling the
fact.

To be patient under the torture of a toothache was a virtue Patsy did
not possess. Louise and Beth, to whom she appealed, were sorry for her,
but could not relieve the pain. After breakfast Uncle John ordered her
to drive to town and see a dentist.

"Have it pulled, or filled, or something," he said. "The dentist will
know what to do."

So James drove Patsy to town, where they arrived about nine o'clock this
Monday morning. The only dentist at Elmwood was Dr. Squiers, so the girl
ran up the flight of stairs to his office, which was located over the
hardware store.

The pain had eased on the journey, and now the thought of having the
offending tooth pulled was weighing heavily upon Patsy's mind. The door
of Dr. Squiers's office stood ajar, and she hesitated whether to enter
or not.

The dentist's reception room was divided from his operating room by a
thin wooden partition, and as Patsy was deciding whether to employ Dr.
Squiers's services or not she heard high words coming from behind the
partition, and the voice was that of the Honorable Erastus Hopkins.

Softly she slid into the outer room and sank into a chair.

"But you're the clerk of the election, Squiers; you can't deny that,"
Hopkins was saying in a blustering, imperious voice.

"That's true enough," answered the dentist, more calmly.

"Then you've got the registration books in your possession."

"I admit that," was the reply. "But you're asking me to incriminate
myself, 'Rast. If the thing was discovered it would mean prison for both
of us."

"Fiddlesticks!" cried the irascible Hopkins. "These things are done
every day, and no one's the wiser for it. It's merely a part of the
political game."

"I'm afraid, 'Rast," said Dr. Squiers. "Honest Injun, I'm afraid."

"What are you 'fraid of? I've got the other clerks all fixed, and
they'll stand by us. All you need do is to add these sixty-six names to
the registration list, and then we'll vote 'em without opposition and
win out."

Patsy gave a gasp, which she tried to stifle. The toothache was all
forgotten.

"Where are these men?" inquired Dr. Squiers, thoughtfully.

"They're over at the mill. Marshall got 'em from all over the country,
and they'll be set to work today, so everything will seem reg'lar."

"Where do they sleep and eat?" inquired the doctor.

"Forty sleep in Hayes's barn, and the other twenty-six in the stock loft
over the planing