He knew he was beaten, at the very threshold of his enterprise--that his conversations of the morning among his neighbors had been reported, and that Paul Benedict and his fellow-sufferers would be none the better for him.
The business connected with the various articles of the warrant was transacted without notable discussion or difference.

Mr.Belcher's ticket for town officers, which he took pains to show to those around him, was unanimously adopted.

When it came to the question of schools, Mr.Belcher indulged in a few flights of oratory.

He thought it impossible for a town like Sevenoaks to spend too much money for schools.

He felt himself indebted to the public school for all that he was, and all that he had won.