Bad news had just reached him; very bad news indeed. His friend and
protector had been stabbed to death, after the approved fashion of
Nicaraguan politicians, by a couple of assassins in the pay of that
minister's rival, a bankrupt tradesman who, desirous of bettering his
fortunes, conceived that he would make as good a Finance Minister as
anyone else and had, in fact, already usurped that post. Worse news
could hardly be imagined. The prognosis was most unfavourable. For Mr.
Parer shrewdly argued that a rival of the late Don Pomponio would look
askance at those whom His Excellency had exalted--at himself, for
instance. And what then? However conscientiously he might henceforward
edit the report, he realized that his position was no longer secure; he
was liable to be recalled at any moment--to cede his place to some
candidate of the opposing faction. Those damned republics! Or the post,
being a purely honorary one created expressly for himself by the
obliging and now defunct Don Pomponio, might be permanently abolished.
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