“It was your letter did it, I think.”
“But I never wrote one.”
“Well, somebody else did, perhaps; at all events, Dan had an open letter in his hand when he addressed the committee, and said, 'After reading this, gentlemen,' said he, 'I can only say that I 'll not oppose Mr. Massingbred; and if the free and independent men of Oughterard ask me who is the man to represent them, I'll answer, he 's your man! And what's more, there 's my name down for two hundred pounds for the election, if it ever comes to be a contest!'”
“This is all very good, but very strange news,” cried Jack.
“Well, I can explain nothing of the mystery, if there be one. I only know what I heard and saw myself.”
“Let us go to his house, at all events,” said Massingbred, who now suffered his companion to rattle on about the state of parties and politics in Oughterard, little heeding his remarks, and only bent on following out his own thoughts. “Give whom the slip?” asked he, suddenly catching at the last words of some observation of Magennis.
“The Martins, of course,” resumed the other; “for, as Father Neal says, 'if we can secure the borough for you, you can well afford to stand by us; but if you were only Martin's member, he 'd drop you whenever it suited him.'”
“As to-morrow, for instance, if his son should make his appearance!”
“Just so; and that's the very reason for not losing a minute about getting the Martins in for the cost. What can they say, after choosing you and putting you forward?”
“They might make a personal appeal to me,—a distinct request to give place to the son.”