III. ] THE SILVER FAIRIES. 149

represented by one of themselves, and forthwith
placed before the company the fact of Simon Ricketts
being able and ready to undertake the task.

The announcement was received with great satis-
faction by the assembled party. So ignorant were they
of the dignity which surrounds Englishmen in the dis-
charge of the sacred duty of electing men to repre-
sent them in Parliament, that their notion of the
proceeding went little further than the belief that it
presented an opportunity more than usually favour-
able for eating and drinking at somebody else’s
expense, and perchance pocketing a certain amount
of cash in consideration of recording their votes in
favour of a particular person. No sooner, therefore,
did they find Simon able and ready to pay for the
privilege of becoming a Member of Parliament than
they eagerly adopted him as their candidate, and
pledged themselves then and there to do all in their
power to promote his election. One or two of them
there were, indeed, who said that they should like a
statement of Simon’s views upon some of the great
questions of the day, but they were soon put down as
troublesome meddlers, and it having been ascertained
that the candidate was really in possession of plenty
of cash, he was received with open arms by the
electors present, and the very next morning ‘ Ricketts
and Independence’ might be seen placarded over
every wall in the vicinity of the ‘Royal George.’

That same evening good Simon found it necessary
to have recourse to the drawer again. It never struck
him that he might as well have asked the Silver
Fairy’s advice as to the step he was about to take,