“A certificate of election?” cried Perkins.  “And he wouldn’t see you?”

“He would not.”

“You were to an extent the balance of power, then?”

“That’s what oi was,” said Finn, enjoying what he thought was Perkins’s dismay; for he knew well enough to whom he was talking.  “Oi was the rale bonyfiday balance uv power.  Oi’ve got foive sons, sorr, and ivery wan o’ thim byes is conthracthors, or, what’s as good, bosses uv gangs on public an’ proivate works.  There ain’t wan uv thim foive byes as don’t conthrol twinty-foive votes, an’ there ain’t wan uv ’em as don’t moind what the ould mon says to um.  Not wan, sorr.  An’ they resints the turnin’ down uv their father.”

“That’s as it should be,” said Perkins.

“An’ ut’s as ut was, me young fri’nd.  Whin oi wint home to me pershonal fri’nds at th’ Finn Club, Misther Perkins had losht me.  Wan gone.  Whin oi tould the Finn Club, wan hundred sthrong, he losht thim.  Wan hundred and wan gone.  Whin oi tould th’ byes, he losht thim.  Wan hundred an’ six gone.  An’ whin they tould their twinty-foive apiece, ivery twinty-foive o’ thim wint.  Wan hundred an’ six plus wan hundred an’ twinty-foive makes two hundred an’ thirty-wan votes losht at the shlammin’ uv the front dure.  An’ whin two hundred an’ thirty-wan votes laves wan soide minus an’ the other soide plus, th’ gineral result is a difference uv twoice two hundred an’ thirty-wan, or foor hundred an’ sixty-two.  D’ye mind thot, sorr?”

“I see,” said Perkins.  “And as this—­ah—­this particular candidate was beaten by a bare majority of two or three hundred votes—­”

“It was me as done it!” put in the balance of power, shaking his finger at Perkins impressively.  “Me—­Mike Finn!”

“Well, I hope Mr. Perkins hears of it, Mr. Finn,” put in Thaddeus.  “I am told that he is wondering yet what hit him, and having put the affront upon you, and through that inexcusable act lost the election, he ought to know that you were his Nemesis.”

“His what?” queried the real balance.

“His Nemesis.  Nemesis is the name of a Greek goddess,” exclaimed Perkins.

“Oi’m no Greek, nor no goddess,” retorted Finn, “but I give him the throw-down.”

“That’s what I meant,” explained Thaddeus.  “The word has become part of the English language.  Nemesis was the Goddess of the Throw-down, and the word is used to signify that.”

“Oh, oi see,” said Finn, scratching his head reflectively.  Perkins took his revelation a trifle too calmly.  “You say you don’t know this Perkins,” he asked.

“Well, I never met him,” said the ex-candidate, smiling.  “But I know him.”

Finn laughed again.  “Oi’ll bet ye do; an’ oi guiss ye’ve seen his fa-ace long about shavin’-toime in the mornin’ in the lukin’-glash—­eh?”