霍普金斯与肯尼思的竞争达到了白热化的程度。霍普金斯散发传单公开向肯尼思发出挑战，声称让肯尼思选地方，针对是否该取消广告商在建筑物上涂刷广告与其展开辩论。他本想要嘲笑肯尼思懦弱，但在对方爽快应战后又恼羞成怒地将矛头指向了三个女孩……
The lawn fête was a tremendous success，and every farmer's wife was proud of her satin badge bearing the monograma："W.P.L."and the words："FORBES FOR REPRESENTATIVE."Certain edibles，such as charlotte—russe，Spanish cream，wine jellies and moussesb，to say nothing of c the caviarsd and anchoviese，were wholly unknown to them；but they ate the dainties with a wise disregard of their inexperience and enjoyed them immensely.
The old butlerf was a general in his way，and in view ofthe fact that the staff of servants at Elmhurst was insuf？cient to cope with such a throng，he allowed Louise to impress several farmers'daughters into service，and was able to feed everyone without delay and in an abundant and satisfactory manner.
After luncheon began the speech—making，interspersedwithg music by the band.
Louise made the preliminary address，and，although her voice was not very strong，the silent attention of her hearers permitted her to be generally understood.
She called attention to the fact that this campaign was important because it promised more beautiful and attractive houses for the farmers and townsmen alike.
"We had all grown so accustomed to advertising signs，"she said，"that we failed to notice how thick they were becoming or how bold and overpowering.From a few scattered announcements on fence boards，they had crowded themselves into more prominent places until the barns and sheds and the very rocks were daubed with glaring letters asking us to buy the medicines，soaps，tobaccos，and other wares the manufacturers were anxious to sell.Every country road became an advertising avenue.Scarcely a country house was free from signs of some sort.Yet the people tamely submitted to this imposition because they knew no way to avoid it.When Mr.Forbes began his campaign to restore the homesteads to their former beauty and dignity，a cry was raised against him.But this was because the farmers did not understand how much this reform meant to them.So we gave them an object lesson.We painted out all the signs in this section at our own expense，that you might see how much more beautiful your homes are without them.We believe that none of you will ever care to allow advertising signs on your property again，and that the quiet re？nement of this part of the country will induce many other places to follow our example，until advertisersare forced to confine themselves to newspapers，magazinesand circulars，their only legitimate channels.This much Mr.Forbes has already done for you，and he will now tell you what else，if he is elected，he proposes to do."Kenneth then took the platform and was welcomed with a hearty cheer.He modestly assured them that a Representativein the State Legislature could accomplish much good for his district if he honestly desired to do so.That was what a Representative was for—to represent his people.It was folly to elect any man who would forget that duty and promote only his own interests through the position of power to which the peoplehad appointed him.Mr.Forbes admitted that he had undertaken this campaign because he was opposed to offensive advertising signs；but now he had become interested in other issues，and was anxious to be elected so that he could carry on the work of reform.They needed more school—houses for their children，and many other things which he hoped to provide as their Representative.
During this oration Beth happened to glance up at the house，and her sharp eyes detected the maid，Eliza，standing shielded behind the half—closed blind of an upper window and listening to，as well as watching the proceedings below.Then she remembered how the girl had been laughing and talking with Mr.Hopkins，when she first saw her，and with sudden dismay realized that Eliza was a spy in the service of the enemy.
Her ？rst impulse was to denounce the maid at once，andhave her discharged；but the time was not opportune，so she waited until the festivities were ended.
It had been a great day for the families of the neighboring farmers，and they drove homeward in the late afternoon full of enthusiasm over the royal manner in which they had been entertained and admiration for the girls who had provided thefun and feasting.Indeed，there were more kindly thoughts expressed for the inhabitants of Elmhurst than had ever before been heard in a single day in the history of the county，and the great and the humble seemed more closely drawn together.
When the last guest had departed Beth got her cousins and Kenneth together and told them of her discovery of the spy.
Kenneth was at ？rst greatly annoyed，and proposed to callMartha and have the false maid ejecteda from the premises；but Patsy's wise little head counselled caution in handling the matter.