"Very well, I will do it—but why not tell me how you imagine it is going to help you?"
"I will, by and by.—Now there is nobody talking to him. Go straight and do it, there's a good fellow."
A moment or two later the two sworn friends of the Pension bill were talking together, earnestly, and seemingly
OPENING NEGOTIATIONS.
unconscious of the moving throng about them. They talked an hour, and then Mr. Buckstone came back and said:
"He hardly fancied it at first, but he fell in love with it after a bit. And we have made a compact, too. I am to keep his secret and he is to spare me, in future, when he gets ready to denounce the supporters of the University bill—and I can easily believe he will keep his word on this occasion."
A fortnight elapsed, and the University bill had gathered to itself many friends, meantime. Senator Dilworthy began to think the harvest was ripe. He conferred with Laura privately. She was able to tell him exactly how the House would vote. There was a majority—the bill would pass,
