Here was a fresh breath of life, and for a moment they felt glad, but North Dakota, a state for which they had hoped but scarcely expected, soon reported against them. The good news could not last.
"Anything more from Massachusetts?" asked Mr. Heathcote.
Mr. Dexter was opening a despatch and he gave a gasp when he looked at it.
"Massachusetts in doubt!" he exclaimed. "Grayson makes heavy gains in the country districts as well as in the cities. Our National Committee is claiming Massachusetts!"
There was a burst of cheering in the room. They had never even hoped for Massachusetts. From first to last it was conceded to the enemy.
"Oh, if Massachusetts only had as many votes as New York!" groaned Hobart. "This is so good it can't be true!"
But Sylvia smiled through her tears.
Soon there was another cheer. Fresh despatches from Massachusetts confirmed the earlier news and made it yet better; then the state was in doubt, now it inclined to Jimmy Grayson; the gains came in, steady and large.
"We've got it by at least 20,000," exclaimed Mr. Dexter, exultantly. "It's a regular upset. Who'd have thought it?"
It was true. It was known in a quarter of an hour that Massachusetts had given a majority of 25,000 for Grayson, and behind their big sister came New Hampshire and Rhode Island, with small but sure majorities. Jimmy Grayson had carried three New England states, when all of them had been conceded to the enemy, one of the most surprising changes ever known in a Presidential election.