Not that he cared a straw which way the elections went, but he liked to "mix himself up" in them to give himself local color; and now it seemed that he had taken the wrong shade.

He had spent the better part of six weeks in badgering and bullying Sir Peter's pet candidate.
"Morley's a miserable time-server," said he savagely.

"I suppose the usual excuses for his wife's not calling ?" "Neuralgia," said Mrs.Nevill Tyson, with a grin.
"Neur_al_gia! Why couldn't he give her a stomach-ache for a change ?" Now, when Tyson expressed his opinion of Sir Peter with such delightful frankness, both he and Mrs.Nevill had overlooked the trifling fact that Pinker, the footman, while to all outward appearance absorbed in emptying a coal-scuttle, was listening with all his ears.

Pinker was an intelligent fellow, interested in local politics, still more interested in the affairs of his master and mistress.

The dust upon those visiting-cards had provided Pinker with much matter for reflection.