第160章

The whole of the next morning was spent in canvassing, and the whole of the afternoon. In the evening there was a great meeting at the Polwenning Assembly Room, which at the present moment was in the hands of the Conservative Party. Here Frank Tregear made an oration, in which he declared his political convictions. The whole speech was said at the time to be very good; but the portion of it which was apparently esteemed the most, had direct reference to Mr Carbottle. Who was Mr Carbottle? Why had he come to Polpenno? Who had sent for him? Why Mr Carbottle rather than anybody else? Did not the people of Polpenno think that it might be as well to send Mr Carbottle from the place from whence he had come? These questions, which seemed to Silverbridge to be as easy as they were attractive, almost made him desirous of making a speech himself.

Then Mr Williams, the rector, followed, a gentleman who had many staunch friends and many bitter enemies in the town. He addressed himself chiefly to that bane of the whole country--as he conceived them,--the godless dissenters; and was felt by Tregear to be injuring the cause by every word he spoke. It was necessary that Mr Williams should liberate his own mind, and therefore he persevered with the godless dissenters at great length,--not explaining, however, how a man who thought enough about his religion to be a dissenter could be godless, or how a godless man should care enough about religion to be a dissenter.

Mr Williams was heard with impatience, and then there was a clamour for the young lord. He was the son of an ex-Prime Minister, and therefore of course should speak. He was himself a member of Parliament, and therefore should speak. He had boldly severed himself from the faulty political tenets of the family, and therefore on such an occasion as this was peculiarly entitled to speak. When a man goes electioneering, he must speak. At a dinner-table to refuse is possible:--or in any assembly convened for any private purpose, a gentleman may declare that he is not prepared for the occasion. But in such an emergency as this, a man,--and a member of Parliament,--cannot plead that he is not prepared. A son of a former Prime Minister who had already taken so strong a part in politics as to have severed himself from his father, not prepared to address the voters of a borough whom he had come to canvass! The plea was so absurd, that he was thrust on to his feet before he knew what he was about.

It was in truth his first public speech. At Silverbridge he had attempted to repeat a few words, and in his failure had been covered by the Sprugeons and the Sprouts. But now he was on his legs in a great room, in an unknown town, with all the aristocracy of the place before him! His eyes at first swam a little, and there was a moment in which he thought he would run away. But, on that morning, as he was dressing, there had come to his mind the idea of the possibility of such a moment as this, and a few words had occurred to him. 'My friend Frank Tregear,' he began, rushing at once at his subject, 'is a very good fellow, and I hope you will elect him.' Then he paused, not remembering what was to come next; but the sentiment which he had uttered appeared to his auditors to be so good in itself and so well delivered, that they filled up a long pause with continued clappings and exclamations.

'Yes,' continued the young member of Parliament, encouraged by the kindness of the crowd, 'I have known Frank Tregear ever so long, and I don't think you will find a better member of Parliament anywhere.' There were many ladies present and they thought that the Duke's son was just the person who ought to come electioneering among them. His voice was much pleasanter to their ears than that of old Mr Williams. The women waved their handkerchiefs and the men stamped their feet. Here was an orator come among them. 'You all know all about it just as well as I do,' continued the orator, 'and I am sure you feel that he ought to be member for Polpenno.' There could be no doubt about that as far as the opinion of the audience went. 'There can't be a better fellow than Frank Tregear, and I ask you all to give three cheers for the new member.' Ten times three cheers were given, and the Carbottleites outside the door who had come to report what was going on at the Tregear meeting were quite of the opinion that this eldest son of the former Prime Minister was a tower of strength. 'I don't know anything about Mr Carbottle,' continued Silverbridge, who was almost getting to like the sound of his own voice. 'Perhaps he's a good fellow too.' 'No; no, no. A very bad fellow indeed,' was heard from different parts of the room. 'I don't know anything about him. I wasn't at school with Carbottle.'

This was taken as a stroke of the keenest wit, and was received with infinite cheering. Silverbridge was in the pride of his youth, and Carbottle was sixty at the least. Nothing could have been funnier. 'He seems to be a stout old party, but I don't think he's the man for Polpenno. I think you'll return Frank Tregear. I was at school with him;--and I tell you that you can't find a better fellow anywhere than Frank Tregear.' Then he sat down, and I am afraid he felt that he had made the speech of the evening.

'We are so much obliged to you, Lord Silverbridge,' Miss Tregear said as they were walking home together. 'That's just the sort of thing that the people like. So reassuring, you know. What Mr Williams says about the dissenters is of course true; but it isn't reassuring.'

'I hope I didn't make a fool of myself tonight,' Silverbridge said when he was alone with Tregear,--probably with some little pride in his heart.