Sweet and Twenty Read Free Page B

are not interested in politics, I daresay,”he told her with condescension. “Basingstoke said something about getting some road or other surfaced, and a bridge over the Severn River. It is very awkward not having a bridge to Chepstow, the town just north of us across the river. There is only that blasted barge now, or driving ten miles to take the Lydney Bridge. It is certainly a disgrace that we have no bridge at Crockett.”
    “Would it not be the Tory member, the member of the party in power, who could deliver that?”Lillian inquired.
    She was not surprised at his answer, for she had been beginning to suspect it was the repressive Tories who had been depriving them of it all these years. "The Tories, you know, always repress any liberal policy that will help the common people,”she was told. “Much they care in London that we have to trust our nags to Jed Harper’s old barge to get to Chepstow, or ride the ten miles to Lydney. If elected, I will certainly do all within my power to get a bridge for the town of Crockett.”
    “If the Tory member who just died couldn’t : get it, Mr. Fellows, how would you go about it?”Martha asked.
    “I would do all in my power to get it. Basingstoke says he will speak to Hudson and see if something can’t be done about it. Well, it seems to me you ladies are more interested in politics than most females, and as you are all Whigs, I hope you will put in a good word for me, if the opportunity should arise.”
    Lillian found herself waiting to hear Lord Allingham’s views on women and politics, but they were not offered. Martha, no slouch in summing up the host, decided he was not yet in love with Sara, and to hasten the affair along, she said, “We will be happy to do what we can to help you, Mr. Fellows. Be sure to give us a call if you need us. Writing letters or doing any little jobs of a routine sort that might eat up your valuable time will be a pleasure for us. We are all interested in seeing the Whigs win.”
    Lady Monteith, whose husband hated the Whigs nearly as much as he hated the French, nodded her head in approval. She found the whole conversation incomprehensible, as did her beautiful daughter.
    “What is a Whig?”Sara asked.
    “He is a man who is liberal-minded,”Mr. Fellows told her, which did nothing to enlighten her. She wanted to inquire what was liberal-minded, and what was an election, but her aunt was frowning at her, so she desisted. It sounded interesting if it meant a bridge to Chepstow, for the shops there were much larger and better than at Crockett.
    “I’m glad you didn’t ask me what is a Tory!”Mr. Fellows proclaimed—meaning, of course, why don’t you?
    “What is your definition of a Tory?”Lillian asked, curious to hear Lord Allingham’s view.
    “A Tory is a Conservative. He would conserve power and money to himself, principles to the Whigs, and hard work and poverty to the people,”he said with a satisfied smile.
    “Very good, Mr. Fellows,”Martha congratulated him.
    “Mr. Basingstoke goes on to suggest that a Tory is a man who has not yet seen the light and become a Whig, but Allingham tells me not to say so, for though Fox came to us from the Tory camp, Castlereagh went the other way, from Whig to Tory. Indeed, they all switch about a good deal. My father was a Tory and so was I myself before I saw the light, but I never ranas a Tory. Basingstoke says that is in my favor—not to have shown my colors before. He is long-headed as may be, Basingstoke. He went to Oxford and took a degree.”
    There seemed little hope of romance from a gentleman whose head was so obviously full of politics and his patrons, so the ladies took their leave, urging him half a dozen times to call on them at New Moon.
    “I will certainly avail myself of your kind offer, ladies,”he said, and escorted them to the door. Already a politician, he had a smile for them all, and at the end a special glance in recognition of Sara’s beauty. He blinked at