Her visits are few and far between," was the formal reply.
"I wish she would. When I was a little girl she was my ideal of all that
is grand, gracious, and lovely," said Bessie.
Bessie's little outbreak had done her good, had set her tongue at
liberty. Her self-consciousness was growing less obtrusive. Mr. Cecil
Burleigh explained to her the legal process of an election for a member
of Parliament, and Miss Burleigh sat by in satisfied silence, observing
the quick intelligence of her face and the flattered interest in her
brother's. At the park gates, Mr. Fairfax, returning from a visit to one
of his farmsteads where building was in progress, met the carriage and
got in. His first question was what Mr. Oliver Smith had said about the
coming election, and whether he would be in Norminster the following
day.
The news about Buller troubled him no little, to judge by his
countenance, but he did not say much beyond an exclamation that they
would carry the contest through, let it cost what it might. "We have
been looking forward to this contest ever since Bradley was returned
five years ago; we will not be so faint-hearted as to yield without a
battle. If we are defeated again, we may count Norminster lost to the
Conservative interest."
"Oh, don't talk of defeat! We shall be far more likely to win if we
refuse to contemplate the possibility of defeat," cried Bessie with
girlish vivacity.
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