“Does it make very much difference?” asked Joe anxiously. “I wish I understood all about it, but the local names are so hard to learn.”
“I thought you had been learning them all the morning in Choate,” put in Ronald, who perceived that the conversation was to be about Harrington.
“It does make a difference,” said Sybil, not noticing Ronald’s remark, “because Jobbins is much more popular than Calvin, and they say he is a friend of Patrick Ballymolloy, who will win the election for either side he favors.”
“Who is this Irishman?” inquired Ronald.
“He is the chief Irishman,” said Sybil laughing, “and I cannot describe him any better. He has twenty votes with him, and as things stand he always carries whichever point he favors. But Mr. Wyndham says he is glad he is not in the Legislature, because it would drive him out of his mind to decide on which side to vote–though he is a good Republican, you know.”
“Of course he could vote for Mr. Harrington in spite of that,” said Joe, confidently. “Anybody would, who knows him, I am sure. But when is the election to come off?”
“They say it is to begin to-day,” said Sybil.
“We shall never hear anything unless we go to Mrs. Wyndham’s,” said Joe. “Aunt Zoë is awfully clever, and that, but she never knows in the least what is going on. She says she does not understand politics.”
“If you were a Bostonian, Mr. Surbiton,” said Sybil, “you would get into the State House and hear the earliest news.”
“I will do anything in the world to oblige you,” said Ronald gravely, “if you will only explain a little”–