Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work

" she cried, "did you see? Did you see that?"

"Yes; it's my respected adversary."

"But the girl! It's Lucy--I'm sure it's Lucy! She's the living image of

Mrs. Rogers! Stop--stop--and let's go back!"

"Nonsense, Beth," said the boy. "It can't be."

"But it is. I'm sure it is!"

"I saw the girl," he said. "She was laughing gaily and talking with the

Honorable Erastus. Is that your idea of the mad, broken-hearted Lucy

Rogers?"

"N-no. She _was_ laughing, Ken, I noticed it."

"And she wasn't unhappy a bit. You mustn't think that every pretty girl

with dark eyes you meet is Lucy Rogers, you know. And there's another

thing."

"What, Ken?"

"Any companion of Mr. Hopkins can be easily traced."

"That's true," answered the girl, thoughtfully. "I must have been

mistaken," she added, with a sigh.

CHAPTER XII

BETH MEETS A REBUFF

The campaign was now growing warm. Mr. Hopkins had come to realize that

he had "the fight of his life" on his hands, and that defeat meant his

political ruin. Close-fisted and miserly as he was, no one knew so well

as the Honorable Erastus how valuable this position of Representative

was to him in a financial way, and that by winning re-election he could

find means to reimburse himself for all he had expended in the fight.

So, to the surprise of the Democratic Committee and all his friends, Mr.

Hopkins announced that he would oppose Forbes's aggressive campaign with

an equal aggressiveness, and spend as many dollars in doing so as might

be necessary.

He did not laugh at his opponents any longer. To himself he admitted

their shrewdness and activity and acknowledged that an experienced head

was managing their affairs.

One of Mr. Hopkins's first tasks after calling his faithful henchmen

around him was to make a careful canvass of the voters of his district,

to see what was still to be accomplished.

This canvass was quite satisfactory, for final report showed only about

a hundred majority for Forbes. The district was naturally Republican by

six hundred majority, and Hopkins had previously been elected by a

plurality of eighty-three; so that all the electioneering of the girl

politicians, and the expenditure of vast sums of money in painting

fences and barns, buying newspapers and flaunting Forbes banners in the

breezes, had not cut into the Hopkins following to any serious extent.