n, in order to win an
election, his opponents have not been ashamed to heap shame upon one of
the purest women and the best mothers that ever lived?"

"I am at a loss to know why you say this to me," retorted the girl.

"I do not complain," said Paul, "at least at this juncture, that your
father was my enemy years ago. Although he had no foundation for it,
he pleaded that I was a dangerous man, an agitator and a leader of a
gang of knaves. Through him I spent six months in gaol among felons; I
wore prison clothes; I was treated like a dog; I lay there one long,
cold winter, night after night, in a damp cellar. This was through
your father--not because he believed I was guilty, but because he
wanted to make a case against me. I say I have never complained of
this, never mentioned it once in this contest. I have tried to fight
fairly, on broad general principles, but, Miss Bolitho, my mother's
good name is sacred to me. Can you, as a woman, understand this?"

"I do not know why I should answer you," she said, and there was
hauteur in her voice. "I cannot help understanding your accusation,
and although I am utterly ignorant concerning it, I will say this:
never, since I have taken any interest in this contest, have I
mentioned your mother's name. Perhaps you do not believe me, and
perhaps the reason is that you cannot understand?"

She spoke quietly and naturally, and yet her words stung Paul like
whip-cord. Although she did not say so in so many words, he felt that
she despised him, and again his anger was aroused.

"You deny, then, that you have----"

"There are certain things, Mr. Stepaside, that one cannot deny, not
that they are true, but because it is impossible for one to take notice
of them!"

"Forgive me," he said, almost humbly, "if I have believed what I have
so often been told, but if there is one person about whom I am
sensitive, it is my mother. I will not detain you any longer, Miss
Bolitho. Perhaps it would have been better if I had not spoken to you
at all. Do not think that I complain because you are fighting against
me. You can do no other--besides, I am sure"--and here he spoke
bitterly--"that your father and the Wilsons will have poisoned your
mind against me!"

He saw an angry flash from her eyes.

"I am afraid you are wrong there, Mr. Stepaside, as far as I know there
have been no reasons why I should think of you at all; as for enmity,
such a thing would be impossible!"

H