Her escort bade her good-night at her father’s gate in a most sullen manner, but Viola was so lost in thought that she did not notice it.  She entered the house feeling lively and cheerful, but when she entered her room she burst into crying.  She would laugh a while and cry a while as though she had a foretaste of coming bliss mixed with bitterness.

Bernard at once took the place left vacant by the dropping away of the jealous young man and became Viola’s faithful attendant, accompanying her wherever he could.  The more he met Viola, the more beautiful she appeared to him and the more admirable he found her mind.

Bernard almost forgot his political aspirations, and began to ponder that passage of scripture that said man should not be alone.  But he did not make such progress with Viola as was satisfactory to him.  Sometimes she would appear delighted to see him and was all life and gayety.  Again she was scarcely more than polite and seemed perfectly indifferent to him.

After a long while Bernard decided that Viola, who seemed to be very ambitious, treated him thus because he had not done anything worthy of special note.  He somewhat slacked up in his attentions and began to devote himself to acquiring wide spread popularity with a view to entering Congress and reaching Viola in this way.

The more he drew off from Viola the more friendly she would seem to him, and he began to feel that seeming indifference was perhaps the way to win her.  Thus the matter moved along for a couple of years.

In the mean time, Mr. Tiberius Gracchus Leonard, Bernard’s old teacher, was busy in Norfolk looking after Bernard’s political interests, acting under instructions from Bernard’s father, Senator ------.

About this stage of Bernard’s courtship Mr. Leonard called on him and told him that the time was ripe for Bernard to announce himself for Congress.  Bernard threw his whole soul into the project.  He had another great incentive to cause him to wish to succeed, Viola Martin’s hand and heart.

In order to understand what followed we must now give a bit of Virginia political history.

In the year ——­ there was a split in the democratic party of Virginia on the question of paying Virginia’s debt to England.  The bolting section of the party joined hands with the republicans and whipped the regular democrats at the polls.  This coalition thus formed was eventually made the Republican party of Virginia.

The democrats, however, rallied and swept this coalition from power and determined to forever hold the state government if they had to resort to fraud.  They resorted to ballot box stuffing and various other means to maintain control.  At last, they passed a law creating a state electoral commission.

This commission was composed of three democrats.  These three democrats were given the power to appoint three persons in each county as an Electoral Board.  These county electoral boards would appoint judges for each precinct or voting place in the county.  They would also appoint a special constable at each voting booth to assist the illiterate voters.