r his
property or his family, and though he, himself, was generally declared
to be a "very decent sort" with no nonsense or "side" about him, and of
a praiseworthy liberality in the matter of subscriptions, his wife and
children did not find equal favour either in the eyes of the villagers
or those of his neighbours.

Mrs Rabbich was a foolish woman whose fetich was society with a big
"S," and she idolised her only son, a rather vacuous youth who had just
managed to scrape into Sandhurst.

On the night before the election then, young Rabbich gave a dinner at
the Moonstone to some twenty youths of his own age, and Grantly
Ffolliot was of the party. Grantly did not like young Rabbich, and as
a rule steered clear of him in the hunting-field and elsewhere, though
civil enough if actually brought into contact with him. But though
Grantly did not like young Rabbich, he dearly loved any form of "rag,"
and as party feeling ran very high just then, the chance of disturbing
the last Liberal meeting before the election was far too entrancing to
be missed. He obtained his father's permission to go to the dinner (Mr
Ffolliot was never difficult when his sons asked for permission to go
from home), told his mother he would be late, obtained the key of the
side door from Fusby, and quite unintentionally left his family under
the impression that he was dining at the Rabbich's.

Mine host of the Moonstone provided an excellent dinner, and young
Rabbich kept calling for more champagne, so that it was a very
hilarious and somewhat unsteady party that presently, in a solid
phalanx, got wedged in at the very back of the Town Hall, which was
filled to overflowing. Twenty noisy young men in evening clothes, and
all together, made a fairly conspicuous feature in the meeting, and the
crowd, which was almost wholly Liberal in its sympathies, guessed they
were out for trouble.

During the first couple of speeches, which were short and introductory,
they were fairly quiet, only indulging in occasional derisive comments.
When Eloquent arose to address the meeting he was greeted by such a
storm of cheering from his supporters, as quite drowned the hisses and
cat-calls of the "knuts" at the back of the hall.

But when he started to speak, their interruptions were incessant,
irrelevant, and in the case of young Rabbich, offensive.

Eloquent, who was long-sighted, clearly perceived Grantly Ffolliot,
flushed, with rumpled hair and gesticulatin