For a while there was quite a probability that the male vote would
be so split by Bleak and Purplevein that Miss Absinthe would come
in ahead. But at the height of the campaign she was found in a
pharmacy drinking a maple nut foam. After this her cause declined
rapidly, and even her most ardent partisans admitted that she
would never be more than an Intermittent Souse.

Purplevein's followers, in their desperate efforts to discredit
Bleak, overplayed their hand (as "practical politicians" always
do). The sagacious Quimbleton outmaneuvered them at every turn.
Moderate drinkers rallied round Bleak. Moreover, the Bleak party
had an irresistible assistant in the person of Miss Chuff, who put
her trances unreservedly at Dunraven's disposal. In this way
Quimbleton was able to produce his candidate before a monster mass
meeting at the Opera House in a state of becoming exhilaration.
This forever put an end to the rumor that Bleak was not a
practical man. Miss Chuff also campaigned strenuously among the
women, where Purplevein (being a bachelor) was at a disadvantage.
"Vote for Bleak," cried Miss Chuff--"He has a wife to help him."
Purplevein's argument that the office of Perpetual Souse should be
an entirely stag affair fell dead before Theodolinda's glowing
description of the Hostess House which Mrs. Bleak would conduct
next door to the little temple which was to be erected by the
government for the successful candidate.

Despite the exhaustion of the campaign, Bleak stood it well.
Quimbleton, knowing the disastrous effects of over-confidence,
kept his man at fighting edge by a little judicious pessimism now
and then, and rumors of the popularity of Purplevein among the