For the first time he could
not fill a dray, but had to share one with a greenhorn, who, if you
please, was setting up at his very door.
He and Hempel cracked their brains to account for the falling-off--or
at least he did: afterwards he believed Hempel had suspected the truth
and been too mealy-mouthed to speak out. It was Polly who innocently--
for of course he did not draw her into confidence--Polly supplied the
clue from a piece of gossip brought to the house by the woman Hemmerde.
It appeared that, at the time of the rebellion, Mahony's open antagonism
to the Reform League had given offence all round--to the extremists as
well as to the more wary on whose behalf the League was drafted. They
now got even with him by taking their custom elsewhere. He snorted with
indignation on hearing of it; then laughed ironically. He was expected,
was he, not only to bring his personal tastes and habits into line with
those of the majority, but to deny his politics as well? And if he
refused, they would make it hard for him to earn a decent living in
their midst. Nothing seemed easier to these unprincipled democrats than
for a man to cut his coat to suit his job. Why, he might just as well
turn Whig and be done with it!
He sat over his account-books. The pages were black with bad debts for
"tucker." Here however was no mystery. The owners of these names--Purdy
was among them--had without doubt been implicated in the Eureka riot,
and had made off and never returned.
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