s procedure. It was enough for him that he was now assured of Esther's
legal claim on the Transome estates.
 

                                   Chapter 31

            »In the copia of the factious language the word Tory was
            entertained, ... and being a vocal clever-sounding word, readily
            pronounced, it kept its hold, and took possession of the foul mouths
            of the faction. ... The Loyalists began to cheer up and to take
            heart of grace, and in the working of this crisis, according to the
            common laws of scolding, they considered which way to make payment
            for so much of Tory as they had been treated with, to clear scores.
            ... Immediately the train took, and ran like wildfire and became
            general. And so the account of Tory was balanced, and soon began to
            run up a sharp score on the other side.« -
                                                         North's Examen, p. 321.
 
At last the great epoch of the election for North Loamshire had arrived. The
roads approaching Treby were early traversed by a large number of vehicles,
horsemen, and also foot-passengers, than were ever seen there at the annual
fair. Treby was the polling-place for many voters whose faces were quite strange
in the town; and if there were some strangers who did not come to poll, though
they had business not unconnected with the election, they were not liable to be
regarded with suspicion or especial curiosity. It was understood that no
division of a county had ever been more thoroughly canvassed, and that there
would be a hard run between Garstin and Transome. Mr Johnson's head-quarters
were at Duffield; but it was a maxim which he repeated after the great Putty,
that a capable agent makes himself omnipresent; and quite apart from the express
between him and Jermyn, Mr John Johnson's presence in the universe had potent
effects on this December day at Treby Magna.
    A slight drizzling rain which was observed by some Tories who looked out of
their bedroom windows before six o'clock, made them hope that, after all, the
day might pass off better than alarmists had expected. The rain was felt to be
somehow on the side of quiet and Conservatism; but soon the breaking of the
clouds and the mild gleams of a December sun brought back previous
apprehensions. As there were already precedents for riot at a Reformed election,
and as the Trebian district had had its confidence in the natural course of
things somewhat shaken by a landed proprietor with an old name offering himself
as a Radical candidate, the election had been looked forward to by many with a
