" That defeat was likely
enough, the more intelligent Conservatives could not help seeing.
Many of them (Samuel among the number) had no enthusiasm for
Beaconsfield, and _la haute politique_ as the leader understood it,
but they liked still less the principles represented by Councillor
Chown and his vociferous regiment. So the familiar bills were once
more posted about the streets, and once more the Tory canvassers
urged men to vote for Welwyn-Baker in the name of Church and State.
At Salutary Mount (this was the name of the ex-Mayor's residence)
personal disappointment left no leisure for lamenting the prospects
of Conservatism. Mr. Mumbray shut himself up in the room known as
his "study." Mrs. Mumbray stormed at her servants, wrangled with her
children, and from her husband held apart in sour contempt--
feeble, pompous creature that he was! With such an opportunity, and
unable to make use of it! But for _her_, he would never even have
become Mayor. She was enraged at having yielded in the matter of
Serena's betrothal. Glazzard had fooled them; he was an unprincipled
adventurer, with an eye only to the fortune Serena would bring him!
"If you marry that man," she asseverated, _a propos_ of a
discussion with her daughter on a carpet which had worn badly, "I
shall have nothing whatever to do with the affair--nothing!"
Serena drew apart and kept silence.
Pages:
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202