y mention, is a slanderous libel on me, but it
sounds all right as Dolly says it.) "But he knows that the success of
his efforts will depend entirely upon whether he has the support of such
men as yourself--men who know what they want and will see that they get
it. We can't do without you, you see," she adds, with a bewitching
little smile.

Visible swelling on the part of Mr Gulching. Dolly gets up.

"Well, I know you are a busy man, Mr Gulching, so I mustn't keep you
listening to a woman's chatter any more. I'm afraid I haven't explained
things very deeply, but then you men are such creatures for wanting to
get to the root of the matter, aren't they, Mrs Gulching? However, Mr
Inglethwaite will call shortly and discuss things with you. I know he
wants your advice. Meanwhile, perhaps you will mention the matter to any
friends of yours whom you think would be likely to help us, won't you?
Good morning, and thank you so much for granting me this--er--interview.
An Englishman's house is his castle, isn't it? That is why it was so
good of you to let me come in. Good-bye, Mrs Gulching. He's a perfectly
sweet little chap, and I must come and see him again, if I may." (The
last remark is a little ambiguous, but probably refers to the baby.)

And Dolly, with a friendly nod to the rest of the family (who are by
this time drawn up _en echelon_ at the street door, under the personal
direction of Violet Amelia Gulching), sails out, followed by a gratified
leer from the greatly inflated Mr Gulching, having secured that free and
independent elector's vote without even having asked for it. And yet
some women are crying out for the right to control elections!

At the street corner, with a persuasive finger in the buttonhole of an
unconvinced Socialist (and a vigilant eye straining down the long and
unlovely vista of Jackson's Row), Dolly usually encounters Robert
Chalmers Fordyce.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

A HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE.

Nomination day came, and I was duly entered by my proprietors for the
Election Stakes, though I was painfully aware that my selection as
Candidate was not universally popular.

However, as Cash remarked, "It is canvassing from door to door that does
the trick, and there you have the bulge on Stridge. He's not a bad old
buffer himself, but they hate his wife like poison. She drives up to
their doors in a silver-plated brougham with a double-breasted coachman,
and tells 'em to vote for Stridge, not bec