It surprised her
that she could see him, talk to him, and even be alone with him without
its troubling her. He seemed to belong to a part of her that lay dead
and buried--something belonging to her that she had thrust away with her
own hands: that she knew would never come back to her.
She was still interested in his work and keen to help him. It was going
to be a stiff fight. He himself, in spite of Carleton's opposition, had
been returned with an increased majority; but the Party as a whole had
suffered loss, especially in the counties. The struggle centred round
the agricultural labourer. If he could be won over the Government would
go ahead with Phillips's scheme. Otherwise there was danger of its being
shelved. The difficulty was the old problem of how to get at the men of
the scattered villages, the lonely cottages. The only papers that they
ever saw were those, chiefly of the Carleton group, that the farmers and
the gentry took care should come within their reach; that were handed to
them at the end of their day's work as a kindly gift; given to the school
children to take home with them; supplied in ample numbers to all the
little inns and public-houses.
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