his pocket. He
strode back to the door of the woodshed, handed his friend the crumpled
envelope, and stalked off without another word. The captain chuckled,
laid the letter on the bench beside him and went on with his work. It
was perhaps ten minutes later when, happening to glance at the postmark
on the envelope, he saw that it was "Concord, N. H."

Asaph's vote-gathering trip "to the east'ard" made a full day for him.
He returned to the perfect boarding house just at supper time. During
the meal he realized that Mr. Bangs seemed to be trying to attract his
attention. Whenever he glanced in that gentleman's direction his glance
was met by winks and mystifying shakes of the head. Losing patience at
last, he demanded to know what was the matter.

"Want to say somethin' to me, do you?" he inquired briskly. "If you do,
out with it! Don't set there workin' your face as if 'twas wound up,
like a clockwork image."

This remark had the effect of turning all the other faces toward
Bailey's. He was very much upset.

"No, no!" he stammered. "No, no! I don't want you for nothin'. Was I
makin' my face go? I--I didn't know it. I've been washin' carriages and
cleanin' up the barn all day and I cal'late I've overdone. I'm gettin'
old, and hard work's likely to bring on shakin' palsy to old folks."

His wife tartly observed that, if WORK was the cause of it, she guessed
he was safe from palsy for quite a spell yet. At any rate, a marked
recovery set in and he signaled no more during the meal. But when it was
over, and his task as dish-wiper completed, he hurried out of doors and
found Mr. Tidditt, shivering in the November wind, on the front porch.

"Now what is it?" asked Asaph sharply. "I know there's somethin' and
I've froze to death by sections waitin' to hear it."

"Have you seen Cy?" whispered Bailey, glancing fearfully over his
shoulder at the lighted windows of the house.

"No, not sence mornin'. Why?"

"Well, there's somethin' the matter with him. Somethin' serious. I was
swabbin' decks in the barn about eleven o'clock, when he come postin'
in, white and shaky, and so nervous he couldn't stand still. Looked as
if he had had a stroke almost. I--"

"Godfrey scissors! You don't s'pose Heman's comin' back has knocked out
his chances for the committee, do you?"

"No, sir-ee! 'twan't that. Cy's anxious to be elected and all, but you
know his politics are more of a joke with him than anything else. And
any rap Heman or T