, and
if a toothache hadn't carried you to the dentist's office Kenneth would
surely have been defeated."

"And we'd never have known how it happened," declared Uncle John.

"But can the plot be foiled at this late date?" inquired Louise,
anxiously.

"I think so," said Mr. Watson. "Dr. Squiers was correct in saying that
such a crime was a state's prison offense. Our discovery of it will send
both Erastus Hopkins and Dr. Squiers to prison. Probably Mr. Marshall,
the manager of the mill, will go with them."

"Oh, I don't like that!" exclaimed Patsy.

"Nor do I," added Kenneth. "It would be a sad beginning to my political
career to send three such men to prison. I'd like to avoid it, if I
can."

"Perhaps it may be quietly arranged," said the lawyer. "If they knew you
had discovered the false registration of these men, they would never
dare vote them."

"How would it be to send Mr. Burke, the detective, over to the mill to
talk with Mr. Marshall?" suggested Beth.

"That is an excellent plan, and would be very effective in determining
the manager to abandon the plot."

"I'll go and see Hopkins myself," announced Uncle John. "I know how to
manage men of his sort."

"Very good," approved the lawyer, "and I'll see Squiers."

"If you do," said Patsy, "just ask him to sign a paper saying that Lucy
Rogers was falsely accused of stealing the ring, and that his mother
found it in a vase, where she had forgotten she put it."

"I'll do that," replied Mr. Watson. "And I'll get the sixty dollars back
that Tom Gates paid him. I'll make it a condition of our agreeing not to
prosecute the man."

"It looks as if we were going to win the election," said Uncle John in a
pleased voice. "If Hopkins was driven to such methods as stuffing
ballot-boxes, he must know very well he's defeated."

"He acknowledged it to Dr. Squiers." said Patsy, gaily. "We have
eighteen sure majority, and perhaps more."

"It's likely to be more," predicted Uncle John.

"I suppose congratulations are in order, Ken," said Louise.

"Not yet, cousin," he replied. "Wait until tomorrow night; and then
don't congratulate me, but the campaign managers--three of the nicest
and cleverest girls in existence!"

"You're right, my boy," declared Uncle John. "If you pull through and
take your seat in the Legislature, you'll owe it all to these girls."

"That is true," smiled the lawyer. "Kenneth was badly beaten when you
arrived."

Of course our girls were