s it at all points. Get the
figures by heart, and then, as nobody else will do so, nobody can put
you down. Of course it won't be done. If it were done, that would be
an end of it, and your bread would be taken out of your mouth. But
you can always promise it at the hustings, and can always demand
it in the House. I've known men who've walked into as much as two
thousand a year, permanent place, on the strength of a worse subject
than that!"

Vavasor allowed Mr Scruby to manage the matter for him, and took
up the subject of the River Bank. "Vavasor and the River Bank"
was carried about by an army of men with iron shoulder-straps,
and huge pasteboard placards six feet high on the top of them.
You would think, as you saw the long rows, that the men were
being marshalled to their several routes; but they always kept
together--four-and-twenty at the heels of each other. "One placard at
a time would strike the eye," said Mr Vavasor, counting the expense
up to himself. "There's no doubt of it," said Mr Scruby in reply.
"One placard will do that, if it's big enough; but it takes
four-and-twenty to touch the imagination." And then sides of houses
were covered with that shibboleth--"Vavasor and the River Bank"--the
same words repeated in columns down the whole sides of houses.
Vavasor himself declared that he was ashamed to walk among his future
constituents, so conspicuous had his name become. Grimes saw it,
and was dismayed. At first, Grimes ridiculed the cry with all his
publican's wit. "Unless he mean to drown hisself in the Reach, it's
hard to say what he do mean by all that gammon about the River Bank,"
said Grimes, as he canvassed for the other Liberal candidate. But,
after a while, Grimes was driven to confess that Mr Scruby knew what
he was about. "He is a sharp 'un, that he is," said Grimes in the
inside bar of the "Handsome Man;" and he almost regretted that he
had left the leadership of Mr Scruby, although he knew that on this
occasion he would not have gotten his odd money.

George Vavasor, with much labour, actually did get up the subject of
the River Bank. He got himself introduced to men belonging to the
Metropolitan Board, and went manfully into the matter of pounds,
shillings, and pence. He was able even to work himself into an
apparent heat when he was told that the thing was out of the
question; and soon found that he had disciples who really believed in
him. If he could have brought himself to believe in