ay of the election. It was
a foul, rainy, muddy, sloppy morning, without a glimmer of sun,
with that thick, pervading, melancholy atmosphere which forces for
the time upon imaginative men a conviction that nothing is worth
anything. Griffenbottom was in bed in one room at the Percy Standard,
and Underwood in the next. The three conservative doctors moving
from one chamber to another, watching each other closely, and hardly
leaving the hotel, had a good time of it. Mr. Trigger had already
remarked that in one respect the breaking of Sir Thomas's arm was
lucky, because now there would be no difficulty as to paying the
doctors out of the common fund. Every half-hour the state of the
poll was brought to them. Early in the morning Moggs had been in the
ascendant. At half-past nine the numbers were as follows:--

Moggs 193
Westmacott 172
Griffenbottom 162
Underwood 147

At ten, and at half-past ten, Moggs was equally in advance,
but Westmacott had somewhat receded. At noon the numbers were
considerably altered, and were as follows:--

Griffenbottom 892
Moggs 777
Westmacott 752
Underwood 678

These at least were the numbers as they came from the conservative
books. Westmacott was placed nearer to Moggs by his own tellers. For
Moggs no special books were kept. He was content to abide by the
official counting.

Griffenbottom was consulted privately by Trigger and Mr. Spiveycomb
as to what steps should be taken in this emergency. It was suggested
in a whisper that Underwood should be thrown over altogether. There
would be no beating Moggs,--so thought Mr. Spiveycomb,--and unless an
effort were made it might be possible that Westmacott would creep up.
Trigger in his heart considered that it would be impossible to get
enough men at three half-crowns a piece to bring Sir Thomas up to a
winning condition. But Griffenbottom, now that the fight was forward,
was unwilling to give way a foot. "We haven't polled half the
voters," said he.

"More than half what we shall poll," answered Trigger.

"They always hang back," growled Griffenbottom. "Fight it out. I
don't believe they'll ever elect a shoemaker here." The order was
given, and it was fought out.

Moggs, early in the morning, had been radiant with triumph, when he
saw his name at the head of the lists displayed from the two inimical
committee rooms. As he walked the streets, with a chairman on one