y. She was quite silent as she led
the way to the house, walking between Mr. Cecil Burleigh and his sister.
Miss Charlotte walked behind with Bessie, and remarked that she was
pleased to have a link of acquaintance with her already by means of Lady
Latimer. Bessie asked whether Lady Latimer was likely soon to come into
Woldshire.

"We have not heard that she has any present intention of visiting us.
Her visits are few and far between," was the formal reply.

"I wish she would. When I was a little girl she was my ideal of all that
is grand, gracious, and lovely," said Bessie.

Bessie's little outbreak had done her good, had set her tongue at
liberty. Her self-consciousness was growing less obtrusive. Mr. Cecil
Burleigh explained to her the legal process of an election for a member
of Parliament, and Miss Burleigh sat by in satisfied silence, observing
the quick intelligence of her face and the flattered interest in her
brother's. At the park gates, Mr. Fairfax, returning from a visit to one
of his farmsteads where building was in progress, met the carriage and
got in. His first question was what Mr. Oliver Smith had said about the
coming election, and whether he would be in Norminster the following
day.

The news about Buller troubled him no little, to judge by his
countenance, but he did not say much beyond an exclamation that they
would carry the contest through, let it cost what it might. "We have
been looking forward to this contest ever since Bradley was returned
five years ago; we will not be so faint-hearted as to yield without a
battle. If we are defeated again, we may count Norminster lost to the
Conservative interest."

"Oh, don't talk of defeat! We shall be far more likely to win if we
refuse to contemplate the possibility of defeat," cried Bessie with
girlish vivacity.

Mr. Cecil Burleigh laughed and said, "Miss Fairfax is right. She will
wear my colors and I will adopt her logic, and, ostrich-like, refuse to
see the perils that threaten me."

"No, no," remonstrated Bessie casting off her shy reserve under
encouragement. "So far from hiding your face, you must make it familiar
in every street in Norminster. You must seek if you would find, and ask
if you would have. I would. I should hate to be beaten by my own
neglect, worse than by my rival."

Mr. Fairfax was electrified at this brusque assertion of her sentiments
by his granddaughter. Her audacity seemed at least equal to her shyness.
"Very good