A fear sprang up in her mind that some mistake had been made in the announcement, but the fear was dispelled by the tone of her uncle's voice as he shouted an invitation to some one across the street to join them at the Club.

It was a tone of boisterous exultation.

There could be no doubt that Drake had been elected, and she wondered at the cause of his dejection.
A few minutes later a second stream flowed along the opposite pavement towards the Liberal Club in the Market Square, and drew most of the remaining loiterers into its current.

The noise and bustle grew fainter and died away: the lights were extinguished in the houses, and only one small group, clustering excitedly about the passage, relieved the quarter of its native sleepiness.
Clarice turned with a certain reluctance into the room.

It was empty, and the voices of her companions rose from the hall below.