AT last the gentleman in nautical blazer and cream slacks could relax. "That's good, I can go home now and play golf," he said, reflecting the interest of many middleclass residents along Northern Ireland's Gold Coast.
This was at lunchtime in Ards Leisure Centre, just after the returning officer announced Mr Robert McCartney had won North Down. So the gentleman could afford to be nonchalant. Earlier on, though, Mr McCartney and his supporters were wobbly.
The tallies were suggesting that the former tank commander, Mr Alan McFarland of the Ulster Unionist Party, would steal the seat from the Shankill born QC. The word was that Mr McCartney's majority of almost 3,000 was under serious threat.
Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien was at the count, standing by his party colleague.
North Down is the North's wealthiest constituency. The sleek yachts in Bangor's marina point to the affluence here. That wealth is also reflected in voter apathy, which in the 1995 by election served Mr McCartney well.
A low turnout of only 38.75 per cent then was viewed as being to his advantage, but a turnout on Thursday of 58 per cent might have ushered in Mr McFarland.
Some spoke of their antipathy to Mr McCartney. One Alliance supporter told how he, his wife and his daughter voted for McFarland, not to get him in, but to get McCartney out.
"I don't like McCartney because he sided with Paisley. Very clearly he upset the middleclass voters of the Gold Coast," he said.
But the tactical voting didn't work. Gradually the grim faces of the McCartney people loosened into smiles. McFarland was still eating into McCartney's vote, but while he narrowed the gap to 1,500 votes he couldn't pass him.
Mr McCartney, however, could live with that. A win is a win is a win. Or as he recalled from the Bard in Romeo and Juliet: "No, `tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but `tis enough, `twill serve.
A healthy and dapper Dr O'Brien joined Mr McCartney three days earlier. He was delighted. "We were quite worried in the morning when we heard the Official Unionists were ahead. But it's a nice victory, and I think perhaps we'll open a bottle of champagne to celebrate. I think we have earned it," he said.
