"Eliza Parsons!" gasped the Representative.
"Yes, your spy. Election's about over and you won't need her any longer, will you?"
"Sir, do you mean to insult me?" asked the Honorable Erastus, indignantly.
"By no means. I thought you were through with the girl," said Uncle John with a chuckle.
Mr. Hopkins was distinctly relieved. With a full recollection of his wicked schemes in his mind, he had feared some more important attack than this; so he assumed a virtuous look, and replied:
"Sir, you wrong me. Eliza Parsons was no spy of mine. I was merely trying to encourage her to a higher spiritual life. She is rather flighty and irresponsible, sir, and I was sorry for the poor girl. That is all. If she has been telling tales, they are untrue. I have found her, I regret to say, inclined at times to be—ah—inventive."
"Perhaps that's so," remarked Uncle John, carelessly. "You're said to be a good man, Mr. Hopkins; a leetle too honest and straightforward for a politician; but that's an excusable fault."
"I hope I deserve my reputation, Mr. Merrick," said Erastus, straightening up at this praise. "I do, indeed, try to live an upright life."
"I guess so, Mr. Hopkins, I guess so. You wouldn't try, for instance, to encourage false registration."
"Sir!"