Mahony had no further talk with him. The speech over--it was a concise
and spirited utterance, and, if you were prepared to admit the efficacy
of the ballot, convincing enough--Mahony quietly withdrew. He had to
see a patient at eleven. Polly, too, would probably be lying awake for
news of her brother.
As he threw back his braces and wound up his watch, he felt it incumbent
on him to warn her not to pitch her hopes too high. "You mustn't expect,
my dear, that your brother's arrival will mean much to us. He is now a
public man, and will have little time for small people like ourselves.
I'm bound to admit, Polly, I was very favourably impressed by the few
words I heard him say," he added.
"Oh, Richard, I'm SO glad!" and Polly, who had been sitting on the edge
of the bed, stood on tiptoe to give him a kiss.
As Mahony predicted, John's private feelings went down before the
superior interests of his campaign. Three days passed before he found
time to pay his sister a visit; and Polly, who had postponed a washing,
baked her richest cakes and pastries, and clad Trotty in her Sunday best
each day of the three: Polly was putting a good face on the matter, and
consoling herself with Jerry's descriptions of John's triumphs. How she
wished she could hear some of the speechifying! But Richard would never
consent; and electioneering did certainly seem, from what Jerry said, a
very rough-and-ready business--nothing for ladies.
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