III
When she reached the office at half-past nine, very late for her, Bob was there furiously pounding out his report of the Massey meeting and dinner, which Jimmy took sheet by sheet to the composing-room. Bob gave Valerie rather a wan smile, but she gave no sign that she noticed the circles under his eyes. She wondered if he and Dane had met in the bibulous meanderings of the night, and what they had said to each other. As a matter of fact they had met at a stage when all men were swearing eternal friendship and finding the world full of dear brothers. But this Valerie never knew.
She looked at the big pile of telegrams already in, and settled down to it. It was a public holiday and the place did not wake up till ten o’clock. Then it came to life in an hour. The morning trains came in crowded with bush and country people out to take what fun might be going in the town. The shops were open for half a day for their benefit. As there was a constant stream of people going by the office Valerie suggested they post a bulletin of news to draw attention to themselves. Bob thought it a fine idea, and Jimmy was called upon to find a big sheet of cardboard and to do the pasting. In her clear hand Valerie wrote out in blue pencil the first most interesting items. Then at intervals during the day they watched Jimmy go out with a fresh sheet when several people had collected, and flourishing his paste brush solemnly cover up the stale news with the new, guying the lookers-on in his own cheeky fashion. The facts were such as election crowds feed on. It seemed that the weather was generally fine throughout the dominion (the crowd thought this very important and discussed it from various angles), that in the cities especially a heavy vote was rolling up early,
