"I want Mrs. Brand next me, Miss Beadon. We’ve business to talk over." He lowered his voice. "I’m going to plunge into things as usual. Farquharson and I have just been discussing his plan of campaign. You’ve worked wonders for him already; I’m trusting to you to concentrate your influence at this critical moment. He’s been seen and felt already, but he’s not actually been heard in public. Now I know you’ve great influence with Beadon——" Farquharson, entering the box at that moment; overheard the last sentence, and came straight to Mrs. Brand. "Is my chief worrying you again on my behalf?" "I refuse to be drawn by that lure," Evelyn laughed lightly. "Don’t be ridiculous. I haven’t done a single thing for you as yet. Mr. Calvert’s right, you know; you ought to speak soon in public. It’s the only way to touch the man with the vote, the great uneducated majority. Why, I’ve seen two or three thousand people at the Albert Hall absolutely swaying to one man’s words. Oh, oratory is the power of powers. To play on your audience like an instrument—there’s nothing so telling. When _The Ambassador_ was being acted at the St. James’s Theatre, the manager used to let me go behind and listen in the wings. The big scene was the one between Violet Vanbrugh and Fay Davis, you know, and Violet Vanbrugh had certain words to say—I’ve forgotten the actual phrase—which always either warmed the house to frenzy or left it cold. I used to stand with my eyes shut waiting for that speech—one became in time so sensitive to the atmosphere of the house as to know before it was given exactly how it would be received. I’ve never heard you speak; but I know just how the world’s going to take your speech when you make one." "Yet I haven’t done much in that line," said Farquharson. "The plain audience I’m accustomed to is quite different to critical London. Our whole system in Taorna is different to your system here, of course. We can’t afford to have wastrels in our Assembly. The people elect their Council from amongst men who’ve been proved to have the island’s interest at heart. And then each man has his own right of judgment. When an appeal comes before us, we vote according to our individual opinion, not according to party. The President has the casting vote. We put men on their honour, as it were; we don’t necessarily oppose because we belong to the Opposition, nor do we change our opinions unanimously because we’re afraid to face a general election. If at any time during his tenure of office a minister is found to have failed in his duty according to the opinion of a quorum of his colleagues, he has to come before a sort of political court-martial." "I’m afraid our methods here are less straightforward," said Evelyn. "I know of at least one by-election where an inefficient candidate was pulled through solely because his canvassers said he had a sick wife whose death would be hastened if he didn’t get the seat."