What had Miss
Ashton overheard and what had Kennedy said to McLoughlin? Above
all, what was his game? Was he playing to spare the girl's feelings
by allowing the election to go on without a scandal for Travis?
At last election night arrived. We were all at the Travis
headquarters, Kennedy, Travis, Bennett, and myself. Miss Ashton
was not present, but the first returns had scarcely begun to trickle
in when Craig whispered to me to go out and find her, either at her
home or club. I found her at home. She had apparently lost
interest in the election, and it was with difficulty that I persuaded
her to accompany me.
The excitement of any other night in the year paled to insignificance
before this. Distracted crowds everywhere were cheering and blowing
horns. Now a series of wild shouts broke forth from the dense mass
of people before a newspaper bulletin board. Now came sullen groans,
hisses, and catcalls, or all together with cheers as the returns
swung in another direction. Not even baseball could call out such a
crowd as this. Lights blazed everywhere. Automobiles honked and
ground their gears. The lobster palaces were thronged. Police were
everywhere. People with horns and bells and all manner of
noise-making devices pushed up one side of the thoroughfares and
down the other.
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