Mr. Delamere's counsel and agents, together with Mr. Delamere himself, met at consultation that evening, all with the depressed air of men who are proceeding with any undertaking _contra spem_. "Well, what think you of our committee?" inquired, with a significant smile, Mr. Berrington, the eloquent, acute, and experienced leading counsel. All present shrugged their shoulders, but at length agreed that even with _such_ a committee, their case was an overpowering one; that _no_ committee could dare to shut their eyes to such an array of facts as were here collected; the clearest case of _agency_ made out--Mr. Berrington declared--that he had ever known in all his practice; and eleven distinct cases of BRIBERY, supported each by at least three unexceptionable witnesses; together with half-a-dozen cases of TREATING; in fact, the whole affair, it was admitted, had been most admirably got up, under the management of Mr. Crafty, (who was present,) and they _must_ succeed. "Of course, they'll call for proof of AGENCY first," quoth Mr. Berrington, carelessly glancing over his enormous brief; "and we'll at once fix this--what's his name--the Unitarian parson, Muff--Muffin--eh?" "Mudflint--Smirk Mudflint"---- "Aha!--Well!--we'll begin with him, and----then trot out Bloodsuck and Centipede. Fix _them_--the rest all follow, and they'll strike, in spite of their committee--or--egad--we'll have a shot at the sitting member himself." By eleven o'clock the next morning the committee and the parties were in attendance--the room quite crowded--such a quantity of Yatton faces!--There, near the chairman, with his hat perched as usual on his bushy hair, and dressed in his ordinarily extravagant and absurd style--his glass screwed into his eye, and his hands stuck into his hinder coat-pockets, and resting on his hips, stood Mr. Titmouse; and after the usual preliminaries had been gone through, up rose Mr. Berrington with the calm confident air of a man going to open a winning case--and an overwhelming one he _did_ open--the chairman glancing gloomily at the five ministerials on his right, and then inquisitively at the five opposition members on his left. The statement of Mr. Berrington was luminous and powerful. As he went on, he disclosed almost as minute and accurate a knowledge of the movements of the Yellows at Yatton, as Mr. Gammon himself could have supplied him with. That gentleman shared in the dismay felt around him. 'T was clear that there had been infernal treachery; that they were all ruined. "By Jove! there's no standing up against _this_--in spite of our committee--unless we break them down at the agency--for Berrington don't overstate his cases," whispered Mr. Granville, the leading counsel for the sitting member, to one of his juniors, and to Gammon; who sighed and said nothing. With all his experience in the general business of his profession, he knew, when he said this, little or nothing of what might