The silent unionist vote stepped out - or was winkled out - and carried the UUP's David Burnside to a comfortable rather than overwhelming victory over the DUP's Rev William McCrea in South Antrim.
The striking aspect of the contest here was the 20 per cent increase in voter turnout compared with the byelection in September which gave the DUP's "singing cleric" the Westminster seat formerly held comfortably by the UUP.
There is no doubt that Mr Burnside's carefully devised tightrope walk this time out, deliberately appealing to both the pro- and anti-agreement sides of unionism, brought the results he desired.
The London-based public relations consultant, who is still under 50 years and must now be seen as an aspirant future UUP leader, again demonstrated the "nice guy, nasty guy" technique during the long wait yesterday for the South Antrim results.
"Grow up and ask me a sensible question," he snapped at a television interviewer but moments later smilingly insisted: "I like the media."
In his acceptance speech, Mr Burnside sent out signals which boded trouble for his party leader. There would be no "fudging" on his part, he insisted. "I voted for the agreement; I did not vote for terrorists in government without decommissioning."
He declared that he would continue to fight (presumably against reforms) for the RUC, "a much-maligned, shamefully-treated force".
However, he maintained that he was a "constructive unionist" who saw all the advantages of Stormont.
As his impending victory came into sight, Mr Burnside attributed it to better organisation on the ground and a better-fought campaign this time around, with more posters and more canvassers.
The higher turnout indeed brought his last by-election vote up impressively from around 10,800 to nearly 16,400. However, Mr McCrea also increased last year's vote from 11,600 to 15,355.
Thus, a DUP win by a majority of 822 was turned around to a UUP victory by a margin of 1,011.
Mr McCrea put a brave face on it. Accepting a handup to the platform from his opponent, he declared: "In my lifetime I've known what it is to be up on the mountain; I've known what it is to be down in the valley."
Meanwhile, in the neighbouring constituency of East Antrim, the incumbent MP, Roy Beggs of the UUP, was given a close run by the DUP's Sammy Wilson.
After a recount, the DUP man, the present Lord Mayor of Belfast, was pipped at the post by 128 votes.
He declared himself satisfied that a seat to which the DUP had previously been given no chance had now become a marginal one. He warned that the unionist people were sending a clear message to David Trimble.