“That is your side of the matter. As long as I represent the district of Horstwyk in Parliament. That is mine.”
“But you may never represent Horstwyk in Parliament?”
Mynheer Mopius sat down again.
“That depends upon my Lady of the Horst,” he said. “So you see it is very simple. You intimate to your tenants that you wish them to vote for Mopius, and I pay in to your bankers the sum I have just named.”
Ursula remained silent, thoughtful.
“It is pure generosity on my part,” continued her uncle; “for, anyway, you surely wouldn’t have instructed them to vote on the other side. But that’s my way. I don’t mind. And I’m glad to help my sister Mary’s child.”
Ursula seemed slowly to have understood the very simple transaction. Her uncle watched her with a trace of anxiety in his unhealthy eyes. Surely there was nothing in his offer dishonest or dishonorable?
“There is one little objection to the arrangement you propose,” said Ursula, at last.
“Of course,” replied Mopius; “women always have one little objection to every arrangement—it is their way of getting the last word.”
“I mean one objection which renders all others superfluous. You are the Liberal candidate, and my sympathies are with the Clericals.”