Clara from the beginning had feared that no good would come of her aunt's visit to the Town-hall.
The business was put on foot at once, and with some little flourishing at the commencement, Captain Aylmer made his speech;--the same speech which we have all heard and read so often, specially adapted to the meridian of Perivale.

He was a Conservative, and of course he told his hearers that a good time was coming; that he and his family were really about to buckle themselves to the work, and that Perivale would hear things that would surprise it.

The malt tax was to go, and the farmers were to have free trade in beer,--the arguments from the other side having come beautifully round in their appointed circle,--and old England was to be old England once again.
He did the thing tolerably well, as such gentlemen usually do, and Perivale was contented with its member, with the exception of one Perivalian.

To Mrs.Winterfield, sitting up there and listening with all her ears, it seemed that he had hitherto omitted all allusion to any subject that was worthy of mention.

At last he said some word about the marriage and divorce court, condemning the iniquity of the present law, to which Perivale had opposed itself violently by petition and general meetings; and upon hearing this Mrs.Winterfield had thumped with her umbrella, and faintly cheered him with her weak old voice.