Secret Service; or, Recollections of a City DetectiveForrester, Andrew
General
Secret Service; or, Recollections of a City Detective
Forrester, Andrew
Detective and mystery stories, English; Fiction; Short stories
At the commencement of the struggle it was believed that John
Shufflebotham would, as a matter of course, vote for our candidate; but
this was a miscalculation. It appeared that something had turned the
current of his political sympathies. He was down in the former poll-book
as having voted for the Liberals, and so it was expected that he would
vote again, bringing with him to the hustings about twenty honest
fellows who believed in him.
On the contrary, he soon intimated that he had come to believe the Whigs
were a little worse than the Tories. He did not think they cared, either
of them, for poor working men like him or any of his customers, but that
they (the Whigs and Tories) were both thieves. If he must vote, he would
turn and turn about. Perhaps he should be inclined to give the Tories a
turn this time; but he didn't know. He wasn't at all sure about it
either way.
This man's defection from our cause produced a little alarm. The feeling
of which he appeared to be the exponent was also, upon inquiry, found
rather more extensive than was at first thought possible. It ran beyond
the pale or circle of the barber's supposed influence; and to make
matters rather worse, the barber, when assailed by a patron for
apostasy, or urged to stand by his old colours, was compelled, as he
said, to argufy in his own justification, which attracted other
customers to his house, and it became the arena of controversy. John
Shufflebotham was acquiring a reputation for oratory, in addition to his
other qualities.
It was not my proper business to win over friends. My function was to
look after foes; but I was taken into confidence about the case of John
Shufflebotham. The chief agent of the candidate quoted the observation
of some old dead statesman about every man having his price, and I
agreed with him to learn what the price of the vote and influence of
John Shufflebotham might be. This view was arrived at by our agent only
the day before polling, and it was then overruled by one or two people
in the secrets of the head committee-room, who had a control over the
incidents of the election.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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