Danger in the Dark - ZseZse

CHAPTER X.
Political trickery - The Demagogue entrapped _ Mr. Twist in a
pucker.
THEJesuit was by no means wide of the mark, in
. h \
saymg t ere were politicians in this country to be
bought. A political aspirant of this class, who was
constantly in market, and who had more than once
been bought and sold, I here propose introducing to
the reader: his name was Peter Twist. By the way,
there must be something in a name; but whether it
were possible for Peter to have been a man of upright
intentions, and go by the name of Twist, I shall not
attempt to decide, having quite a different object in
view in bringing him at this time before the public
eye.
Though an unpolished and coarse-minded man, and
of decidedly limited capacity, Peter Twist was by no
means an unsuccessful demagogue; unscrupulous and
time-serving, he never hesitated to sacrifice principle
to party purposes, and readily lent himself to the
basest schemes to gain the most trivial ends. He
became the willing tool of Dupin, and a bitter enemy
to Alonzo Carleton. A professed Protestant, he yet
took sides with the priest parLy in all controversies
(116)