Yet he made headway, and so fast that his opponent became alarmed. Dodson came out in the Enterprise with a savage attack on his rival in which he accused him of being an ex-gambler and a bawdy-house brawler. Scot kept his temper and made no counter charges. From the stump he replied that at least he had always been a square gambler. His fighting record, he said carelessly, must take care of itself.
Vicky met Ralph Dodson on the Avenue at Piodie while the campaign was at its height. She fired point blank a charge at him.
“I read what you said in the Enterprise about Scot.”
He laughed a little, but his eyes watched her warily. “You’d think once in a while some newspaper reporter would get a story right,” he said easily.
“Oh! Wasn’t it true that you said it?” Her level gaze met his steadily.
“I was annoyed, and I said something. Don’t remember just what. Certainly I didn’t intend to insult any of your family.”
“Then you’ll deny it in the paper?”
“Is it quite worth-while? Everybody knows what newspapers are—how they’re keen to make everything one says sensational.”
“If you don’t deny it people will think you said it.”
“We-ell, in a political campaign men get excited. It doesn’t greatly matter what folks say—just part of the game, you know.”