"Mr. Heron?" Sheppard asked slowly. "Mr. Victor Heron?"
"Victor Heron, indeed!"
"Mr. Victor Heron, formerly of the St. Xavier's Settlements?"
Heron only nodded this time, finding Mr. Sheppard's manner not agreeable. Minola wondered what her townsman was thinking of, and how he came to know Heron's name and history.
"Then my name must surely be known to you, Mr. Heron. The name of Augustus Sheppard, of Duke's-Keeton?"
"No, sir," Heron replied. "I am sorry to say that I don't remember to have heard the name before."
"Indeed," Mr. Sheppard said with a formal smile, intended to be incredulous and yet not to seem too plainly so. "Yet we are rivals, Mr. Heron."
Minola started and colored.
"At least we are to be," Mr. Sheppard went on—"if rumor in Duke's-Keeton speaks the truth. I am not wrong in assuming that I have the honor of addressing the future Radical—I mean Liberal—candidate for that borough?"
"Oh, that's it," Heron said carelessly. "Yes, yes: I didn't know that rumor had yet troubled herself about the matter so much as to speak of it truly or falsely. But of course, since you have heard it, Mr. Sheppard, it's no secret. I have some ideas that way, Miss Grey. I intend to try whether I can impress your townspeople. This gentleman, I suppose, is on the other side."