But a man, and a publican, would be required to do some great deed in the public line; to open some colossal tap; to draw beer for the million; and no one would be so fit as Mr Reddypalm--if only it might turn out that Mr Moffat should, in the coming February, take his seat as member for Barchester.
But Mr Reddypalm was a man of humble desires, whose ambitions soared no higher than this--that his little bills should be duly settled.

It is wonderful what love an innkeeper has for his bill in its entirety.
An account, with a respectable total of five or six pounds, is brought to you, and you complain but of one article; that fire in the bedroom was never lighted; or that second glass of brandy and water was never called for.

You desire to have the shilling expunged, and all your host's pleasure in the whole transaction is destroyed.

Oh! my friends, pay for the brandy and water, though you never drank it; suffer the fire to pass, though it never warmed you.

Why make a good man miserable for such a trifle?
It became notified to Reddypalm with sufficient clearness that his bill for the past election should be paid without further question; and, therefore, at five o'clock the Mayor of Barchester proclaimed the results of the contest in the following figures:-- Scatcherd 378 Moffat 376 Mr Reddypalm's two votes had decided the question.