IX. Mr. Gammon with the Earl of Dreddlington, whose intellect melts away before him. Mr. Gammon getting into deep waters and dragging his great friends after him.--What moles in the ecclesiastical court can do under ground 378 X. Glances of daylight into a glen of fraud, and reptiles seen wriggling about in alarm.--What is Gammon to do?--Mr. Titmouse makes an equitable proposal to Kate Aubrey.--The scorpion in the fiery circle. Mr. Gammon's skilful exit 412 XI. The Earl of Dreddlington's bankruptcy and death; and Lord Drelincourt appears on the scene.--Mudflint, Woodlouse, and Bloodsuck in a bad way; and Sir Harkaway's awkward position 455 XII. Mr. Titmouse on his last legs.--Mr. Tag-rag's final adventures; a sudden glimpse of Gammon again; and the last of Mr. Quirk.--True nobility; Yatton itself again; and Kate Aubrey's disappearance 488 NOTES 537 TEN THOUSAND A-YEAR. CHAPTER I. There had not been a contested election at Yatton, till the present one between Mr. Delamere and Mr. Titmouse, for a long series of years; its two members having been, till then, owing to the smallness of the constituency, their comparative unanimity of political sentiment, and the dominant influence of the Yatton family, returned, pretty nearly, as a matter of course. When, therefore, quiet little Yatton (for such it was, albeit politically enlarged by the new Act) became the scene of so sudden and hot a contest as that which I am going to describe, and under such novel and exciting circumstances, it seemed in a manner quite beside itself. The walls were everywhere covered with glaring placards--red, blue, green, yellow, white, purple--judiciously designed to stimulate the electors into a calm and intelligent exercise of their important functions. Here are the inscriptions upon a few of them:-- "VOTE for TITMOUSE, the MAN of the PEOPLE!" "TITMOUSE and CIVIL and RELIGIOUS LIBERTY!" "TITMOUSE and CHEAP ALE!" "TITMOUSE and PURITY of ELECTION!" "TITMOUSE and NEGRO EMANCIPATION!" "VOTE for TITMOUSE and NO MISTAKE!" "TITMOUSE and QUARTERLY PARLIAMENTS, VOTE BY BALLOT, and UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE!" ['Twas thus that the name of my little friend, like that of many others of his species, was attached to great public questions, somewhat after the manner of a kettle tied to a dog's tail!] But others were to be met with of a more elaborate and impressive character.