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Stephen Drake had decided to stay during the period of the election at a hotel in the centre of the town, rather than to accept an invitation from Captain Le Mesurier, who lived some miles beyond the outskirts. He travelled down to Bentbridge on the day that the dissolution was announced, and during the journey Mr. Burl gave him much sage advice.
'At Bentbridge? asked Fielding sharply. 'For the election. She saw his lips tighten. 'My husband goes with me, she replied quickly and stopped, flushing as she realised that she had meant and conveyed an apology. 'I should have thought that the Continent would have been more advisable as a change. 'The Continent! I don't want to travel far.
'Does he go there very much? 'A good deal, I fancy, she replied. 'But you mustn't think the disagreement is really serious. There is no cause outside themselves. Have you called? 'No; I go down to Bentbridge to-morrow. I must call when I get back. 'Then you are going to stand for Parliament? she exclaimed. 'I am so glad. 'Yes; they expect an election in July, I believe.
She came to think of duty as a row of footlights across which they could from time to time look into each other's eyes. Clarice felt that there was something very reassuring and protective in this notion of duty. It justified her in buying a copy of Frou-Frou, which lay upon the bookstall at Bentbridge railway station, and in studying it continuously all the way from Bentbridge to London.
The conversation was interrupted, to Drake's relief, by Captain Le Mesurier. He rose from the corner of the table to propose the health of the guest of the evening. He said that he was proud to be represented in Parliament by a man of Stephen Drake's calibre. If there was anything of which he was prouder, it was the way in which the election had been fought at Bentbridge.
Drake's visits to Bentbridge increased in frequency as the prospect of the general election became more real. A snap vote in the House of Commons on a minor question of administrative expenditure decided the matter suddenly towards the end of June. The Government determined on a dissolution. Fielding took Clarice Mallinson into dinner at Mr.
On the night of the polling-day Captain Le Mesurier brought his house-party into Bentbridge to dine with Drake, and after dinner the ladies remained in the room overlooking the street, while the gentlemen repaired to the Town Hall, where the votes were being counted. It seemed to Clarice as she gazed down that all the seven thousand electors had gathered to hear the result announced.
Lord Cranston, at the close of a speech, was invited to mention the precise date at which he intended to end his holidays. Believing that the question sprang out of an objection to a do-nothing aristocracy, he answered with emphatic earnestness, 'The moment I am returned for Bentbridge. The shout of laughter which greeted the remark he attributed at first to political opposition.
She began indeed to dwell upon that idea of him as upon something restful, and the idea was still prominent in her mind when, a little more than a week afterwards, Drake galloped up to her one morning as she was crossing the Park. 'I have been meaning to call, Mrs. Mallinson, he said, 'but the fact is, I have had no time. I only got back from Bentbridge last night.
'He caught the early train from Bentbridge, Captain Le Mesurier explained. 'Business, I suppose. He told me last thing yesterday night that he had to go. Clarice coloured and lowered her eyes to her plate. Mallinson noticed her embarrassment, and took it for evidence of some secret understanding between her and Drake. He became yet more firmly resolved to put his idea into action.
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