SILTGATE, Low Harrow — The City List reached the counting house at 18:12 on the third night. Forty-one ponies came off four coaches. The return for the Long Bench sat on one table. Clover Margin, clerk of returns, did not stand up.
The polls had closed on Choosing-Day at 20:00. Low Harrow sends one member to the Long Bench. The Levee Caucus has held the seat for nine returns. On the first night Harlow Crane led by six hundred and twelve. On the second night the lead was two hundred and four. At 17:40 on the third night, with two river boxes still shut, Crane had 14,802 and Sera Dodd had 14,764.
Margin entered that hour before the coaches reached the lane. Her line read: "Third night. Hour 17:40. Two boxes sealed. Witnesses on the chalk."
Slip 6, Added Witness, governs the room. The slip says: "No hoof past the chalk. No voice into the tally. Badges do not count." The chalk sits three steps from the table. A deputy refreshed it at 16:00.
Bannerette Glee, arrival marshal for the City List, came in at 18:12 with sashes and a letter. The letter carried Princess Celestia's sun seal. It was four lines. Observers might attend "in the interest of a harmonious return." It named no box and cited no slip. Margin stamped the face at 18:16 and laid it in the side tray. A palace clerk had copied the words above the wax. She left the seal whole.
"They can stand where the slip says," Margin said. "The slip does not have a seat for a caucus."
Twelve visitor tags remained from the last return. Margin issued those. She marked the rest "12-extra" on drawer scrap. Glee pinned a sash over scrap. So did Rook Halberd, floor whip. The Levee Caucus ponies from night one kept their first tags and did not take sashes.
The other parcel was a tea chest. Black wood, brass corners, a service for sixteen. The Levee side had brought pencils. Dodd had brought a lamp and her hour sheet. A Manehattan office had decided the hall would be cold. It was. The kettle would not fit the table. A deputy set it on an overturned crate stenciled EMPTY. The crate was empty. At 18:41 the kettle whistled through the call of the hour.
Halberd spoke from the chalk.
"Every parish is the realm," he said. "We are here so the count can see us seeing it."
Margin did not answer. She called the next bundle.
Dodd had filed Slip 6 at 09:10 on the second morning, before any coach was booked. She asked for the river boxes in order, north spur then south cut, seals read aloud. Margin approved it at 09:22. The approval was a check and the hour.
"I asked for the hour sheet," Dodd said. "I have it. The rest can wait on the wood."
Ivo Pell, agent for Crane, held the far end of the chalk. He had slept two hours at the parish hall and come back. He watched the tags.
"We have had close books before," Pell said. "The pencils finished them. A coach is not a pencil."
At 20:10 a second note arrived from the Solar Desk. It asked if the first had been "actioned." Margin wrote on the corner and returned the corner: "Received 18:16. Not a slip. Not a ballot. Count continues."
Box ten, the north spur, opened at 20:22. The seal matched the poll book. Dodd checked her copy. Pell checked his. Halberd lifted a hoof. Margin pointed to the chalk. The hoof came down. The box gave Crane nineteen and Dodd twenty-two. Margin entered Crane 14,821, Dodd 14,786. The lead was thirty-five.
The south cut stayed shut. Four hundred and eleven names sit on its poll list. The river road flooded after the polls closed, and a deputy brought that box by flatboat at dawn on the second day. The seal was intact. Edders Pike signed the wet line on the transfer card, then went home.
Crane was not in the room. At 21:06 his office sent six words. "Member stays at the parish hall." Dodd sent no answer. Her slip was already the order in the book.
At 21:40 Margin locked the side door. She set the south cut box on the table for morning. The last line was hers. "Visitors present. They did not mark a ballot. Count resumes at 08:00."
