Langdon gazed at the two departing Senators with varied emotions. He sat down to think over what they had said and to carefully consider what manner of man was Peabody, who showed such an interest in him. He realized that he would have considerable intercourse with Peabody in the processes of legislation, and finally had to admit to himself that he did not like the Senator from Pennsylvania. Just what it was Langdon could not at this time make certain, but he was mystified by traces of contradictions in the Senator's character—slight traces, true, but traces nevertheless. Peabody's cordiality and sympathy were to Langdon's mind partly genuine and partly false. Just what was the cause of or the necessity for the alloy in the true metal he could not fathom.
His talk with these famous lawmakers was unsatisfactory also in that it had conveyed to Langdon the suggestion that the Senate was not primarily a great forum for the general and active consideration of weighty measures and of national policies. It had been his idea that the Senate was primarily such a forum, but the attitude of Peabody and Stevens had hinted to him that there were matters of individual interest that outweighed public or national considerations. For instance, they were anxious that Altacoola should have the naval base regardless of the claims or merits of any other section. That was unusual, puzzling to Langdon. Moreover, it was poor business, yet there were able business men in the Senate. Not one of them would, for instance, think of buying a site for a factory until he had investigated many possible locations and then selected the most favorable one. Why was it, he pondered, that the business of the great United States of America was not conducted on business lines?
He must study the whole question intelligently; that was imperative. He must have advice, help. To whom was he to go for it? Stevens? Yes, his old friend, who knew all "the ropes." Yet even Stevens seemed different in Washington than Stevens in Mississippi. Here he played "second fiddle." He was even obsequious, Langdon had observed, to Peabody. In Mississippi he was a leader, and a strong one, too. But Senator Langdon had not yet learned of the many founts from which political strength and political leadership may be gained.
What he finally decided on was the engaging of a secretary, but he must be one with knowledge of political operations, one who combined wisdom with honesty. Such an aid could prevent Langdon from making the many mistakes that invariably mark the new man in politics, and he could point out the most effective modes of procedure under given circumstances. It might prove difficult to find a man of the necessary qualifications who was not already employed, but in the meantime Langdon would watch the playing of the game himself and make his own deductions as best he could.
The Senator started toward the hotel desk to ask regarding the whereabouts of his son Randolph, when his attention was caught by the sight of three powerful negro porters endeavoring to thrust outdoors a threadbare old man. The victim's flowing white hair, white mustache and military bearing received short shrift.
"Come along, Colonel! Yo' can't sit heah all day. Them chairs is for the guests in the hotel," the head porter was urging as he jerked the old man toward the door.
The Mississippian's fighting blood was instantly aroused at such treatment of a respectable old white man by negroes. His lips tightly compressed as he hurried to the rescue. He cried sharply:
"Take your hands off that gentleman! What do you mean by touching a friend of mine?"
The negroes stepped back amazed.
"'Scuse me, Senator, is this gent'man a friend of yours?" the head porter gasped apologetically.
Langdon looked at him.
"You heard what I said," he drawled in the slow way natural to some men of the South when trouble threatens. "I'd like to have you down in Mississippi for about ten minutes."
The head porter turned quickly on his assistants and drove them away, shouting at the top of his voice:
"Get about yo' wuk. How dare yo' intehfere wid a friend of de Senator's? I'll teach yo' to be putting yoh nose in where it ain't got no business."
The old man, astonished at the turn of events, came forward hesitatingly to Langdon.
"I'm very much obliged to you, sir," he said. "I'm Colonel Stoneman, an old soldier."
The Mississippian stretched forth his hand.
"My name is Langdon, sir—Senator Langdon of Mississippi. I am an old soldier, too."
"Delighted, Senator," exclaimed the seedy-looking old man, taking the offered hand gratefully.
Langdon's easy method of making friends was well illustrated as he clapped his new companion on the back. Everybody he met was the Mississippian's friend until he had proved himself the contrary. That had been his rule through life.
"Come right over, Colonel; have a cigar, sir." Then, as they lighted their cigars, he inquired, "What army corps were you with, Colonel?"
"I was under Grant along the Tennessee," replied the old G.A.R. man.
Familiarity with a Senator was something new for him, and already he was straightening up and becoming more of a man every moment. Langdon was thoroughly interested.
"I was along the Tennessee under Beauregard," he said.
"Great generals, sir! Great generals!" exclaimed Colonel Stoneman.
"And great fighting, I reckon!" echoed the Confederate. "You remember the battle of Crawfordsville?"
The old Federal smiled with joyous recollection.
"Do I? Well, I should say I did! Were you there, Senator?"
"Was I there? Why, I remember every shot that was fired. I was underKirby, who turned your left wing."
The attitude of the Northern soldier changed instantly. He drew himself up with cold dignity. Plainly he felt that he had the honor of his army to sustain.
"Our left wing was never turned, sir!" he exclaimed with dignity.
Langdon stared at him with amazement. This was a point of view theConfederate had never heard before.
"Never turned!" he gasped. "Don't tell me that! I was there, and, besides, I've fought this battle on an average of twice a week ever since '65 down in Mississippi, and in all these years I never heard such a foolish statement."
"What rank were you, sir?" asked the Union soldier, haughtily.
"I was a captain that morning," confessed the Southerner.
His old enemy smiled with superiority.
"As a colonel I've probably got more accurate information," he said.
"I was a colonel that evening," came the dry retort.
"But in an inferior army. We licked you, sir!" cried Stoneman, hotly.
The Mississippian drew himself up with all the dignity common to the old Confederate soldier explaining the war.
"The South was never whipped, sir. We honorably surrendered, sir. We surrendered to save the country, sir, but we were never whipped."
"Did you not run at Kenyon Hill?" taunted Stoneman.
Langdon brought down his fist in the palm of the other hand violently.
"Yes, sir; we ran at you. I ought to remember. I got my wound there. You remember that long lane—" He pulled off his hat and threw it on the floor, indicating it with one hand—"Here was the Second Alabama."
The hat of the old Federal dropped on the floor opposite the hat of the Confederate.
"And here the Eighth Illinois," exclaimed Stoneman.
Langdon excitedly seized a diminutive bellboy passing by and planted him alongside his hat.
"Stay there a moment, sonny," he cried. "You are the Fourth Virginia."
The newspaper Stoneman was carrying came down opposite the startled bellboy, who was trying not to appear frightened.
"This is the clump of cedars," he exclaimed.
Both, in their eagerness, were bending down over their improvised battle plan, their heads close together.
"And here a farmhouse beside your cedars," cried Langdon.
"That's where the rebels charged us," echoed the Union man.
Langdon brought down his fist again with emphatic gesture.
"You bet we charged you! The Third Mississippi charged you! I charged you, sir!"
Stoneman nodded.
"I remember a young fool of a Johnnie reb dashing up the hill fifty yards ahead of his men, waving his sword and yelling like a wild Indian."
The Southerner straightened up.
"Well, where in thunderation would you expect me to be, sir?" he exclaimed. "Behind them? I got my wound there. Laid me up for three months; like to have killed me."
Then a new idea struck him. "Why, Colonel, it must have been a bullet from one of your men—from your regiment, sir!"
The old Northerner pushed his fingers through his hair and shook his head apologetically.
"Why, Senator, I'm afraid it was," he hesitated.
Langdon's eyes were big with the afterglow of a fighter discussing the mighty struggles of the past, those most precious of all the jewels in the treasure store of a soldier's memory.
"Why, it might have been a bullet fired by you, sir," he cried. "It might be that you were the man who almost killed me. Why, confound you, sir, I'm glad to meet you!"
Each old veteran of tragic days gone by had quite unconsciously awakened a responsive chord in the heart of the other. A Senator and a penniless old "down and outer" are very much the same in the human scale that takes note of the inside and not the outside of a man. And they fell into each other's arms then and there, for what strong fighter does not respect another of his kind?
There they stood, arms around each other, clapping each other on the back, actually chortling in the pure ecstasy of comradeship, now serious, again laughing, when on the scene appeared Bud Haines, the correspondent, who had returned to interview the new Senator from Mississippi.
"Great heavens!" ejaculated the newspaper man. "A Senator, a United States Senator, hugging a broken-down old 'has-been!' What is the world coming to?" Haines suddenly paused. "I wonder if it can be a pose;—merely for effect. It's getting harder every day to tell what's genuine and what isn't in this town."
Haines quickly walked over and touched the Southerner on the arm.
"Well, my boy, what can I do for you?" asked the new Senator, turning with a pleasant smile.
"My name is Haines. Senator Stevens was to speak to you about me. I'm the first of the newspaper correspondents come to interview you."
Langdon's familiar smile broadened.
"Well, you don't look as though you'd bite. Reckon I can stand for it.Is it very painful?"
"I hope it won't be, Senator," Haines said, feeling instinctively that he was going to like this big, hearty citizen.
"All right, Mr. Haines, just as soon as I've said good-by to my old friend, Colonel Stoneman, I'll be with you."
And to his continued amazement Haines saw the Senator walk away with the old Union Colonel, slap him on the back, cheer him up and finally bid him good-by after extending a cordial invitation to come around to dinner, meet his daughters and talk over old times.
The antiquated Federal soldier marched away more erect, more brisk, than in years, completely restored to favor in the eyes of the hotel people. Langdon turned to the reporter.
"All right, Mr. Haines; my hands are up. Do your worst. Senator Stevens spoke to me about you; said you were the smartest young newspaper man in Washington. You must come from the South."
Bud shook his head.
"No, just New York," he said.
"Well, that's a promising town," drawled the Southerner. "They tell me that's the Vicksburg of the North."
"I suppose you haven't been to New York of late, Senator?" suggested the newspaper man.
"Well, I started up there with General Lee once," responded Langdon reminiscently, "but we changed our minds and came back. You may have heard about that trip."
Haines admitted that he had.
"Since that time," went on Langdon, "I've confined my travels to NewOrleans and Vicksburg. Ever been in New Orleans about Mardi Gras time,Mr. Haines?"
"Sorry, but I don't believe I have," confessed the reporter reluctantly.
The Senator seemed surprised.
"Well, sir, you have something to live for. I'll make it my special business to personally conduct you through one Mardi Gras, with a special understanding, of course, that you don't print anything in the paper. I'm a vestryman in my church, but since misfortune has come upon our State I have to be careful."
Haines searched his brain. He knew of no grave calamity that had happened recently in Mississippi.
"Misfortune?" he questioned.
Senator Langdon nodded.
[Illustration: "FROM NEW YORK, EH? THE VICKSBURG OF THE NORTH,"]
"Yes, sir, the great old State of Mississippi went prohibition at the last election. I don't know how it happened. We haven't found anybody in the State that says he voted for it, but the fact is a fact. I assure you, Mr. Haines, that prohibition stops at my front door, in Mississippi. So I've been living a quiet life down on my plantation."
"This new life will be a great change for you, then?" suggested the reporter.
"Change! It's revolutionary, sir! When you've expected to spend your old days peacefully in the country, Mr. Haines, suddenly to find that your State has called on you—"
A flavor of sarcasm came into Haines' reply.
"The office seeking the man?" He could not help the slight sneer. Was a man never to admit that he had sought the office? Haines knew only too well of the arduous work necessary to secure nominations for high office in conventions and to win an election to the Senate from a State Legislature. In almost every case, he knew, the candidate must make a dozen different "deals" to secure votes, might promise the same office to two or three different leaders, force others into line by threats, send a trusted agent to another with a roll of bank bills—the recipient of which would immediately conclude that this candidate was the only man in the State who could save the nation from destruction. Had not Haines seen men who had sold their unsuspecting delegates for cash to the highest bidder rise in the convention hall and in impassioned, dramatic voice exclaim in praise of the buyer, "Gentlemen, it would be a crying shame, a crime against civilization, if the chosen representatives of our grand old State of —— did not go on record in favor of such a man, such a true citizen, such an inspired patriot, as he whose name I am about to mention"? So the reporter may be forgiven for the ironical tinge in his hasty interruption of the new Senator's remarks.
Langdon could not suppress a chuckle at the doubting note in Haines' attitude.
"I think the man would be pretty small potatoes who wouldn't seek the office of United States Senator, Mr. Haines," he said, "if he could get it. When I was a young man, sir, politics in the South was a career for a gentleman, and I still can't see how he could be better engaged than in the service of his State or his country."
"That's right," agreed the reporter, further impressed by the frank sincerity of the Mississippian.
"The only condition in my mind, Mr. Haines, is that the man should askhimself searchingly whether or not he's competent to give the service.But I seem to be talking a good deal. Suppose we get to the interview.Expect your time is short. We'd better begin."
"I thought we were in the interview?" smiled the correspondent.
"In it!" exclaimed Langdon. "Well, if this is it, it isn't so bad. I see you use a painless method. When I was down in Vicksburg a reporter backed me up in a corner, slipped his hand in his hip pocket and pulled out a list of questions just three feet four inches long.
"He wanted to know what I thought concerning the tariff on aluminium hydrates, and how I stood about the opening of the Tento Pu Reservation of the Comanche Indians, and what were my ideas about the differential rate of hauls from the Missouri River.
"He was a wonder, that fellow! Kinder out of place on a Mississippi paper. I started to offer him a job, but he was so proud I was afraid he wouldn't accept it. However, it gives you my idea of a reporter."
"If you've been against that, I ought to thank you for talking to me," laughed Haines.
"Then you don't want to know anything about that sort of stuff?" saidLangdon, with a huge sigh of relief.
"No, Senator," was the amused reply. "I think generally if I know what sort of a man a man is I can tell a great deal about what he will think on various questions."
Langdon started interestedly.
"You mean, Mr. Haines, if you know whether I'm honest or not you can fit me up with a set of views. Is that the idea? Seems to me you're the sort of man I'm looking for."
The other smilingly shook his head.
"I wouldn't dare fix up a United States Senator with a set of views," he said. "I only mean that I think what a man is is important. I've been doing Washington for a number of years. I've had an exceptional opportunity to see how politics work. I don't believe in party politics. I don't believe in parties, but I do believe in men."
Langdon nodded approvingly, then a twinkle shone in his eyes.
"We don't believe in parties in Mississippi," he drawled. "We've only one—the Democratic party,—and a few kickers."
Haines grinned broadly at this description of Southern politics.
"What was this you were saying about national politics?" continued the Mississippian. "I'm a beginner, you know, and I'm always ready to learn."
"This is a new thing—a reporter teaching a Senator politics," laughedHaines.
Senator Langdon joined in the merriment.
"I reckon reporters could teach United States Senators lots of things, Mr. Haines, if the Senators had sense enough to go to school. Now, I come up here on a platform the chief principle of which is the naval base for the gulf. Now, how are we going to put that through? My State wants it."
"You're probably sure it will be a wonderful thing for the country and the South," suggested Haines.
"Of course."
"But why do you think most of the Congressmen and Senators will vote for it?"
The Southerner took off his hat, leaned back and gazed across the lobby thoughtfully.
"Seems to me the benefit to the South and country would be sufficient reason, Mr. Haines," he finally replied.
The newspaper man's brain worked rapidly. Going over the entire conversation with Langdon and what he had seen of him, he was certain that the Mississippian believed what he said—that, moreover, the belief was deeply rooted. His long newspaper training had educated Haines in the ways of men, their actions and mental processes—what naturally to expect from a given set of circumstances. He felt a growing regard, an affection, for this unassuming old man before him, who did not know and probably would be slow to understand the hypocrisy, the cunning trickery of lawmakers who unmake laws.
"Sufficient reason for you, Senator," Haines added. "You have not been in politics very long, have you?" he queried dryly.
A wry smile wrinkled the Mississippian's face.
"Been in long enough to learn some unpleasant things I didn't know before." He remembered Martin Sanders.
"Will you allow me to tell you a few more?" asked Haines.
Langdon inclined his head in acquiescence. "Reckon I'd better know the worst and get through with it."
"Well, then, Senator, somebody from Nebraska will vote for what you want in the way of the naval base because he'll think then you'll help him demand money to dredge some muddy creek that he has an interest in.
"Somebody in Pennsylvania will vote for it because he owes a grudge and wants to hurt the Philadelphia ship people.
"You'll get the Democrats because it's for the South, but if your bill was for the west coast they might fight it tooth and nail, even with the Japanese fleet cruising dangerously near.
"And the Republicans may vote for it because they see a chance to claim glory and perhaps break the solid South in the next presidential campaign. You catch the idea?"
"What!" exclaimed the astounded Langdon. "Well, who in hades will vote for it because it's for the good of the United States?" he gasped.
"I believe you will, Senator," replied Haines, with ready confidence.
Langdon leaned over and seized the arm of his interviewer.
"See here, young man, why aren't you in politics?" he said.
"Too busy, Senator," replied Haines. "Besides, I like the newspaper game."
"Game?" queried Langdon.
"Oh, I use the word in a general sense, Senator," replied Haines. "Pretty much everything is a 'game'—society, politics, newspaper work, business of every sort. Men and women make 'moves' to meet the moves of other men and women. Why, even in religion, the way some people play a—"
The speaker was interrupted by the appearance of Hope Georgia, who was searching for her father.
"Stay here and listen to what a hard task your old father has got," said the Mississippian to his daughter, whom he presented to Haines with a picturesque flourish reminiscent of the pride and chivalry of the old South. "He has the idea that those New Yorkers who read his paper would actually like to know something about me."
Hope Georgia stole many glances at the reporter as he talked with her father. He made a deep impression on her young mind. She had spent almost all her life on the plantation, her father providing her with a private tutor instead of sending her to boarding-school, where her elder sister had been educated. Owing to the death of her mother the planter had desired to keep Hope Georgia at home for companionship. This good-looking, clean-cut, well-built young man who was taking so big and so active a part of the world's work brought to her the atmosphere that her spirit craved. He gave one an impression of ability, of earnestness, of sincerity, and she was glad that her father approved of him.
Hope Georgia, by the same token, did not escape the attention of the interviewer. Her appealing charm of face and figure was accentuated by her daintiness and a fleeting suggestion of naïveté in poise and expression when she was amused. His first glance revealed to Haines that her eyes were gray, the gray that people say indicates the possessor to have those priceless qualities—the qualities that make the sweetest women true, that make the maiden's eyes in truth the windows of her soul, the qualities that make women womanly.
She sat close to her father, her hand in his, listening intently to the unfolding of a story of what to her was a mysterious world—the man's world, the strong man's world—which many a woman would give her all to enter and play a part therein.
"What else have you against a political career, Mr. Haines?" went on the Senator, taking up their conversation.
"Well, my age, for one thing. I haven't any gray hairs."
Langdon waved this objection aside.
"I might arrange to pool ages with you. Sometimes I think we want young men in politics, like you."
The reporter shook his head.
"Old in age and young in politics, like you, Senator Langdon," he replied. "Politics I sometimes think is pure hypocrisy and sometimes something worse. A man gets disgusted with the trickery and dishonesty and corruption."
"Then," drawled Langdon, "the thing to do is to jump in and stop it! I read in the newspapers a great deal about corruption. The gentlemen in national politics whom I have had the honor of knowing—Senator Moseley, an intimate friend of thirty years; my present colleague, Senator Stevens, and others—have been as honest as the day is long."
"But the days do get short in November, when Congress meets, don't they?" laughed Haines, rising. "I'm afraid I've taken too much of your time, and I seem to have talked a lot."
Langdon was amused.
"Does look like I'd been interviewing you. I reckon each one of us has got a pretty good notion of what the other man's like. I wanted it that way, and I like you, Mr. Haines. I've got a proposition to make to you. They tell me I'll need a secretary. Now, I think I need just such a young man as you. I don't know just exactly what the work would be or what the financial arrangements should be, but I think you and I would make a pretty good team. I wish you'd come." He turned to his daughter, with a smile. "What do you think of that, Hope Georgia? Isn't your dad right?"
Smiling her approval, the young girl squeezed her father's hand in her enthusiasm.
"I think it's a splendid idea, dad; just great! Won't you come, Mr.Haines? We—eh—I—I know my father would like to have you."
As he stood before his two new-found friends—for such Haines now considered the Mississippian and his daughter—he could not suppress feelings of surprise tinged with uncertainty. He had, like other newspaper men, received offers of employment from politicians who desired to increase their influence with the press. Sometimes the salary offered had been large, the work so light that the reporter could "earn" the money and yet retain his newspaper position, a scantily disguised species of bribery, which had wrecked the careers of several promising reporters well known to Haines, young men who had been thus led into "selling their columns" by unscrupulous machine dictators.
Haines knew that the Mississippian had no ulterior purpose to serve in his offer, yet he must have time to think over the proposal.
"I thank you, Senator," he finally said. "I appreciate the opportunity, coming from you, but I've never thought of giving up the newspaper profession. It's a fascinating career, one that I am too fond of to leave."
Langdon started to reply, when a delightfully modulated Southern voice interrupted:
"Father, I've been out with Mrs. Spangler to look for some other rooms. I don't like this hotel, and I found some that I do like."
Haines turned to see a handsomely gowned young woman who had the stamp of a patrician's daughter in her bearing and her countenance—a brunette, with delicate features, though determination shone in her eyes and appeared in the self-contained poise of her head. She was the imperious type of beauty and suggested to Haines the dry point etchings of Paul Helleu. He instinctively conceived her to be intensely ambitious, and of this Haines was soon to have unexpected evidence. Gazing at her with a sense of growing admiration, Haines gave an involuntary start as Senator Langdon spoke.
"My daughter, Miss Carolina Langdon, Mr. Haines," said the Senator.
Carolina was interested.
"Are you the newspaper man who is interviewing father? I hope you'll do a nice one. We want him to be a successful and popular Senator. We'd like to help him if we could."
The correspondent bowed.
"I should say you certainly would help him to be a popular Senator," he declared, emphatically, failing to notice that Hope Georgia was somewhat annoyed at the enthusiasm displayed over her elder sister. In fact, Hope Georgia was suffering a partial, if not total, eclipse.
"I'm leaving it to Mr. Haines to put down the things I ought to say," broke in the Senator. "He knows."
"Yes, he knows everything about Washington, Carolina," exclaimed HopeGeorgia, spiritedly.
The older girl spoke eagerly.
"I wish you'd interview me, Mr. Haines. Ask me how I like Washington. I feel as though I must tell some one just how much I do like it! It is too wonderful!"
"I'd like mighty well to interview you, Miss Langdon," enthusiastically exclaimed Haines.
"I hope you will some time, Mr. Haines," remarked Carolina, as she said good-by.
Watching her as she turned away, Haines saw her extend a warm greeting to Congressman Charles Norton, who had advanced toward the group.
[Illustration: "STRANGE HOW THE LANGDONS TREAT HIM AS A FRIEND."]
"Strange how the Langdons treat him as a friend—intimate one, too," he thought. "What if they should learn of Norton's questionable operations at the Capitol; of his connection with two unsavory 'deals,' one of which resulted in an amendment to the pure food law so that manufacturers of a valueless 'consumption cure' could continue to mislead the victims of the 'white plague'; Norton, who had uttered an epigram now celebrated in the tap-rooms of Washington, 'The paths of glory lead but to the graft.'"
"Miss Langdon is very beautiful and attractive, sir," said Haines, resuming with the Senator.
"Yes," drawled the Mississippian. "Girls in the South generally are."
"Well, I must be going. I'll think about your secretaryship, SenatorLangdon. Perhaps I can find some one."
"Wish you'd think about it for yourself," observed the Senator, while Hope Georgia again nodded approval. "It would be a hard job. There are so many matters of political detail about which I am sadly inexperienced that really most of the work would fall on the secretary."
Bud Haines paused. Again he thought over Langdon's offer. Its genuineness appealed to him. Suddenly there dawned on him an idea of just what it might mean to be associated with this honest old citizen who had asked for his help—who needed it, as Haines knew only too well. He would be the Senator's guide and confidant—his adviser in big matters. Why, he would practically be United States Senator himself. He knew the "inside" as few others in Washington. Here was a chance to match his wit against that of Peabody, the boss of the Senate; a chance to spoil some of the dishonest schemes of those who were adroitly "playing the game." He could bother, too, the intriguing members of the "third house," as the lobbyists are called.
He could direct a lightning bolt into the camp of Andy Corrigan, who claimed the honor of being "speaker of the third house." These thoughts crowded into his mind. Then, too, he would become practically a member of the Langdon family and have association with the two charming daughters—with Carolina Langdon.
"It would be a great chance," he murmured half aloud; "next thing to being a Senator."
The old Mississippian heard the young man's words.
"I reckon it would," he drawled, in agreement.
"You feel sure you want me?" urged the other.
Langdon chuckled.
"I asked you," he said.
Haines came abruptly to decision.
"I've thought it over, Senator, and it seems to me it will be a great chance in every way. I'll accept. We'll fix it up to-morrow, and I'll try to make you a good secretary."
Langdon held forth his hand.
"And I'll try to make you a good Senator, my boy. Fix up nothing to-morrow. Your duties begin to-night. You are to come to dinner with me and my daughters."
The combination of the forces of Langdon and Haines did not find much favor among the powers that are—at the Capitol. Senator Peabody peremptorily demanded an explanation from Stevens as to how he had allowed "his Senator" to engage as his secretary "this inquisitive man Haines, a reporter who didn't know his place."
"Here we've put Langdon on naval affairs because we knew he didn't understand what's going on, and you, Stevens, supposed to be the finished, product of the political mill,youfall asleep and let him take up a man whom nobody can control, one who knows the inside workings of Washington and who will take par-tic-u-lar pleasure in teaching your fellow Mississippian far too much for our good."
Stevens' reply, to effect that probably Haines would consent to be "taken care of" if judiciously approached, was derided by the observant Peabody. "A young reformer grows fat on notoriety," he laughed, "and think what a scandal he would have for his newspaper if we took a chance on disclosing our hand to him. No, no, Stevens; we must have him watched and try to discredit him in some way. Perhaps we can make Langdon believe that his secretary is dishonest."
Congressman Norton was another man who was dismayed at the formation of the firm of Langdon and Haines. Young Randolph, too, could not forget the defeat and humiliation he had previously suffered at Haines' hands and grew more bitter as the reporter's influence over his father grew stronger. But Haines' most effective enemy had arisen in the person he would be the last to suspect; one whom he unceasingly admired, one whose very words he had come to cherish. And possibly it was not all her own fault that Carolina Langdon had enlisted her services, subtle and quite overwhelming (owing to Haines' fervent worship of her), against the secretary. Perhaps the social system of which she had become a part in Washington had something to do with the craving to become a leader in that fascinating world whose dazzling variety and infinite diversion seemed to fill her soul with all that it yearned for. Love she had, for she had now promised to wed Congressman Norton. She loved him fondly, she had confessed to him, and gradually she came to work desperately against Haines, who, she had been convinced by Norton and Randolph, would prove a stumbling-block to them, to her father, to herself in her career at the capital, if his influence over the Senator should be permitted to exist or to increase. And so on the surface Carolina Langdon was most amiable to the secretary, encouraged him in his attentions to her, led him surely into her power, Norton having prevailed, on her to keep the knowledge of their engagement secret from every one, even her father.
The days and nights became filled with important work for Senator Langdon and his secretary. Together they went over the important measures, outlined what appeared to be the best course of procedure, and carried it into effect as far as possible. Langdon became a prominent figure in the Senate, owing to his consistent support of measures that fitted in with the public policy, or what should be the public policy, of the nation. He had learned that the only practicable way to outwit or to cope with the members of the dominating machine, made up, he was surprised to see, of members of both the parties—the only two in Washington—was to oppose what the machine wanted with enough power to force it to grant him what he believed the public ought to have. He was described by some of the hide-bound "insiders" on Capitol Hill as "the only brainy man who had fought the machine in thirty years."
At the home he had later established in Washington as preferable to the International Hotel were frequently seen a small coterie of Senators and Congressmen who had become known to the sarcastic party bosses in both houses of Congress as the "Langdon crowd," which crowd was admitted to be somewhat a factor when it finally prevailed on the President to take over 11,000 postmasters from the appointment class and put them under the control of the Civil Service Commission, resulting in the necessity of a competitive examination for these postmasters instead of their securing positions through political favoritism.
Those who did not know Langdon intimately suggested that "this fellow ought to be 'taken care of.' What in God's name does he want? A committee chairmanship? An ambassadorship for some Mississippi charcoal burner? A couple of Federal judgeships for his friends? Well, whatever it is, give it to him and get him in with the rest of us!"
Again it was Peabody who had the deciding say.
"There's only one thing worse than a young reformer, and that's an old one," he laughed bitterly at a secret conclave at his apartment in the luxurious Louis Napoleon Hotel. "The young one thinks he is going to live and wants our future profits for himself. The old one thinks he's going to die, and he's sore at leaving so much graft behind him."
Heads and hearts thinking and throbbing together, Langdon and his secretary had learned to lean on each other, the young gaining inspiration from the old, the old gaining strength from the young. They loved each other, and, more than any love, they trusted one another. And Hope Georgia watched it all and rejoiced, for she believed with all the accrued erudition of eighteen years of innocent girlhood that Mr. Bud Haines was quite the finest specimen of young manhood this world had ever produced. How could he have happened? She was sure that she had never met his equal, not even in that memorable week she had spent in Jackson.
The passing weeks taught Haines that he was deeply in love with Carolina, and, though he had endeavored to keep the knowledge of this from her, her woman's intuition had told her his secret, and she stifled the momentary regrets that flitted into her mind, because she was now in "the game" herself, the Washington game, that ensnares the woman as well as the man and makes her a slave to its fancy. No one but herself and Norton knew how deeply she had "plunged" on a certain possible turn of the political cards. She must not, she could not, lose if life itself were to remain of value to her, and on her sway over this secretary she was told it all depended.
A subject that for some unexplained reason frequently lodged in Haines' mind was that of the apparent assiduity with which Mrs. Spangler cultivated Senator Langdon's friendship. For several years she had occupied a high social position at the capital, he well knew, but various indefinite, intangible rumors he had heard, he could not state exactly where, had made him regret her growing intimacy with the girls and with the Senator. They had met her through letters of introduction of the most trustworthy and assuring character from people of highest social rank in Virginia, where the Langdons had many friends; but even so, Haines realized, people who write introductory letters are sometimes thoughtless in considering all the circumstances of the parties they introduce, and residents of Virginia who had not been in the capital for years might be forgiven for not knowing of all the more recent developments in the lives of those they knew in Washington. While not wishing to have the Senator know of his intention, the secretary determined to investigate Mrs. Spangler and her present mode of life at his first opportunity, hoping the while that his quest would reveal her to be what the Langdons considered her—a widow of wealth, fashion and reserve who resided at the capital because the memories of her late husband, a former Congressman of high standing, were associated with it.
Calling at the Langdons' house one evening in February to receive directions regarding important work for the next day, Haines was somewhat puzzled at the peculiar smile on the Senator's face. Answering the secretary's look of inquiry, the Mississippian said:
"I've been told that I can name the new holder of a five-thousand-dollar-a-year position in the Department of Commerce and Labor, and that if I have no one in particular from my State to name—that—that you would be a good man for the job. First I was glad for your sake, my boy, for if you wanted it you could have the position. But on thinking it over it seemed there might be something behind it not showing on the surface."
"It's a trick," said Haines. "Who made the offer?"
"Senator Stevens."
"I might have known," hotly responded the secretary. "There's a crowd that wants you and me separated. Thought this bait too much for me to resist, did they?" Then he paused, rubbing his fingers through his hair in a perplexed manner. "Strange, isn't it, Senator, that a man of your party is offered this desirable piece of patronage, entirely unsolicited on your part, from the administration of another, a different political party? Especially when that other party has so many hungry would-be 'tax eaters' clamoring to enter the 'land of milk and honey.' I think Stevens deliberately—"
"There, there, Bud," broke in Langdon, "you mustn't say anything against Senator Stevens to me. True, he associates with some folks I don't approve of, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything wrong, and I myself have always found him thoroughly honest."
"Yes," muttered the secretary, following the Senator into the library, "you've always found him honest because you think everybody's honest—but Stevens is just the doctor who will cure you of this ailment—this chronic trustfulness."
Haines laughed softly. "When Peabody's little Stevie gets through hacking at the prostrate body of political purity his two-handed sword of political corruption will need new edges."
Thus far neither the Senator nor his secretary had suspicion of any questionable deal in regard to the gulf naval base. The rush of other events, particularly the fight over the reduction of the tariff, had pushed this project temporarily into the background so far as they were concerned, though the "boss of the Senate" and his satellites had been losing no time in perfecting their plans regarding the choice of Altacoola as the site.
Peabody and Stevens had ingeniously exploited Langdon at every possible opportunity in relation to the naval base. Asked about new developments in the committee on naval affairs, the ready answer was: "Better see Senator Langdon. He knows all about the naval base; has the matter in full charge. I really know little about it."
So, by hiding behind the unsuspecting old hero of Crawfordsville, they diverted from themselves any possible suspicion and placed Langdon where he would have to bear the brunt of the great scandal that would, they well knew, come out at some future time—after their foul conspiracy against the nation had been consummated, after the fruits of their betrayal had been secured.
What, after all, the schemers concluded, is the little matter of an investigation among Senators to guilty Senators who, deeply versed in the law, have destroyed every compromising document that could be admissible as evidence?
Why, the Senate would appoint an investigating committee and investigate itself, would it not, when the ridiculous scandal came?
And what Senator would fear himself, or for himself, as he investigated himself, when the blame had already been put publicly on some one else, some simple-minded old soul who could go back to his cotton fields in Mississippi and forget all about it, strong in his innocence, even though shorn of reputation, and desire to live?
The wiseacres of Washington had rightly predicted, that the site of the hundred-million-dollar gulf naval base would be decided on in March, after the excitement and gayety attending the presidential inauguration had subsided.
On the morning of the day before this action of the committee on naval affairs was to be taken Secretary Haines sat at his desk in Senator Langdon's committee room in the Capitol. Richard Cullen, the favorite associate of Haines in his journalistic days, out earlier than usual on his daily round of the departments for news for his Chicago paper, had strolled in and attempted a few of his characteristic cynicisms. Haines usually found them entertaining, but these were directed at Senator Langdon.
"Now, let me tell you something, Dick," the secretary answered, firmly. "Don't you work off all your dyspeptic ideas in this neighborhood. My Senator is a great man. They can't appreciate him up here because he's honest—crystal clear. I used to think I knew what a decent citizen, a real man, ought to be, but he's taught me some new things. He'll teach them all something before he gets through."
Cullen hung one leg over Haines' desk.
"You're a nice, quiet, gentlemanly little optimist, and I like you, old fellow," retorted Cullen. "But don't deceive yourself too much. Your Senator Langdon is personally one of the best ever. But he was born a mark, and a mark he'll be to the end of time.
"He looks good now. Sure, I like his speeches, and all that, but just wait. When some of those old foxes in the Senate want to put his head in the bag and tie it down, they won't have any trouble at all."
Smiling, Haines looked up at his cynical friend.
"The bag'll have to go over my head, too," he said, with a nod.
"Well, I don't know that Peabody'd have to strain himself very much to get such an awful big bag to drop you both in, if it comes right down to that, old chap. You're making a mistake. You're as bad as your old man. You're a beautiful pair of optimists, and you a good newspaper man, too—it's a shame!"
After momentary hesitation, Cullen continued, thoroughly serious.
"But, my old friend," he said in low tone, glancing quickly about, "there's one thing that you've got to put a stop to. It's hurting you."
The secretary's face showed his bewilderment.
"What do you mean?" he snapped, abruptly. "Out with it!"
"I mean," replied Cullen, "that rumors are going around that you are keeping Langdon away from the crowd of 'insiders' in the Senate for your own purposes—that, in short, you plan to—"
"I understand," was the quick interruption. "I am accused of wanting to 'deliver' Senator Langdon, guarantee his vote, on some graft proposition, so that I can get the money and not he himself. Consequently I'm tipping him off on what measures are honest, so that he'll vote for them, until—until I'm offered my price, then influence him to vote for some big crooked scheme, telling him it is all right. He votes as I suggest, and I get the money!"
"That's what 'delivering a man' means in Washington," dryly answered the Chicago correspondent. "It means winning a man's confidence, his support, his vote, through friendship, and then selling it for cash—"
"But you, Dick, you have—"
"Of course, old man, I have denied the truth of this. I knew you too well to doubt you. Still, the yarn is hurting you. Remember that Western Senator who was 'delivered' twice, both ways, on a graft bill?" he laughingly asked the secretary.
"Should say I did, Dick. That is the record for that game. It was a corporation measure. One railroad wanted it; another opposed it. The Senator innocently told an Eastern Senator that he was going to vote for the bill. Then the Easterner went to the railroad wanting the bill passed and got $7,000 on his absolute promise that he would get Senator X. to vote for it, who, of course, did vote for it."
"Yes," said Cullen, "and later, when Senator X. heard that Senator Z. had got money for his vote, he was wild. Then when another effort was made to pass the bill (which had been defeated) the 'delivered' Senator said to Z. as he met him unexpectedly: 'You scoundrel, here's where I get square with you to some extent. Anyway, I'm going to vote against that bill this time and make a long speech against it, too.' Senator Z. then hustled to the lobbyist of the railroad that wanted the bill killed and guaranteed him that for $10,000 he could get Senator X. to change his vote, to vote against the bill."
"And he got the money, too, both ways," added Haines, as Cullen concluded, "and both railroads to this day think that X. received the money from Z."
"Of course," said Cullen, "but X. was to blame, though. He didn't know enough to keep to himself how he was going to vote. Any man that talks that way will be 'delivered.'"
"I know how to stop those rumors, for I'm sure it's Peabody's work, he thinking Langdon will hear the talk and mistrust me," began Haines, when in came Senator Langdon himself, his face beaming contentedly. Little did the junior Senator from Mississippi realize that he was soon to face the severest trial, the most vital crisis, of his entire life.
Cullen responded to the Senator's cheery greeting of "Mornin', everybody!"
"Senator," he asked, "my paper wants your opinion on the question of the election of Senators by popular vote. Do you think the system of electing Senators by vote of State Legislatures should be abolished?"
The Mississippian cocked his head to one side.
"I reckon that's a question that concerns future Senators, and not those already elected," he chuckled.
Haines laughed at Cullen, who thrust his pad into his pocket and hurried away.
"It is to-day that I appear before the ways and means committee, isn't it?" Langdon queried of his secretary.
"Yes," said Haines, consulting his memorandum book. "At 11 o'clock you go before ways and means to put forward the needs of your State on the matter of the reduction of the tariff on aluminium hydrates. The people of Mississippi believe it has actually put back life into the exhausted cotton lands. In Virginia they hope to use it on the tobacco fields."
"Where does the pesky stuff come from?" asked the Senator.
"From South America," coached the secretary. "The South is in a hurry for it, so the duty must come down. You'll have to bluff a bit, because Peabody and his crowd will try to make a kind of bargain—wanting you to keep up iron and steel duties. But you don't believe that iron and steel need help, you will tell them, don't you see, so that they will feel the necessity of giving you what you want for the South in order to gain your support for the iron and steel demands."
The office door opened and Senator Peabody appeared.
"Peabody," whispered the secretary.
Instantly the Mississippian had his cue. His back to Peabody, he rose, brought down his fist heavily upon the desk, and expounded oratorically to Haines:
"What we can produce of aluminium hydrates, my boy, is problematical, but the South is in a hurry for it, and the duty must come down. It's got to come down, and I'm not going to do anything else until it does."
The secretary stretched across the desk.
"Excuse me, Senator; Senator Peabody is here," he said, loudly and surprisedly, as though he had just sighted the boss of the Senate.
The Mississippian turned.
"Oh, good-morning, Senator. I was just talking with my secretary about that hydrate clause."
Peabody bowed slightly.
"Yes, I knew it was coming up," he said, "so I just dropped over. I'm not opposed to it or any Southern measure; but it makes it more difficult for me when you Southern people oppose certain Pittsburg interests that I have to take care of."
Langdon smiled.
"I've never been in Pittsburg, but they tell me it looks as if it could take care of itself."
The visitor shrugged his shoulders.
"That's true enough; but give and take is the rule in political matters, Langdon."
This remark brought a frown to Langdon's face.
"I don't like bargaining between gentlemen, Peabody. More important still, I don't believe American politics has to be run on that plan. Why can't we change a lot of things now that we are here?"
Langdon became so enthused that he paced up and down the room as he spoke.
"Peabody, you and Stevens and I," continued Langdon, "could get our friends together and right now start to make this great capital of our great country the place of the 'square deal,' the place where give and take, bargain and sale, are unknown. We could start a movement that would drive out all secret influences—"
The secretary noticed Peabody's involuntary start.
"The newspapers would help us," went on Langdon. "Public opinion would be with us, and both houses of Congress would have to join in the work if we went out in front, led the way and showed them their plain duty. And I tell you, Senator Peabody, that the principles that gave birth to this country, the principles of truth, honesty, justice and independence, would rule in Washington—"
"If Washington cared anything about them, Langdon," interjected thePennsylvanian.
"That's my point," cried the Mississippian—"let us teach Washington to care about them!"
"Langdon, Langdon," said Peabody, patronizingly, "you've seized on a bigger task than you know. After you reform Washington you will have to go on and reform human nature, human instincts, every human being in the country, if you want to make politics this angelic thing you describe. It isn't politics, it's humanity, that's wrong," waving aside a protest from Langdon.
"Anyway, your idea is not constitutional, Langdon," continued Peabody. "You want everybody to have a share in the national government. That wouldn't meet the theory of centralization woven into our political system by its founders. They intended that our Government should be controlled by a limited number of representatives, so that authority can be fixed and responsibility ascertained."
"You distort my meaning!" cried Langdon. "And, Senator, I would like to ask why so many high-priced constitutional lawyers who enter Congress spend so much time in placing the Constitution of the United States between themselves and their duty, sir, between the people and their Government, sir, between the nation and its destiny? I want to know if in your opinion the Constitution was designed to throttle expression of the public will?"
"Of course not. That's the reason you and I, Langdon, and the others are elected to the Senate," added Peabody, starting to leave. Then he halted. "By the way, Senator," he said, "I'll do my best to arrange what you want regarding aluminium hydrates for the sake of the South, and I'll also stand with you for Altacoola for the naval base. Our committee is to make its report to-morrow."
Langdon observed the penetrating gaze that Peabody had fixed on him. It seemed to betray that the Pennsylvanian's apparently careless manner was assumed.
"H'm!" coughed Langdon, glancing at Haines. "I'm not absolutely committed to Altacoola until I'm sure it's the best place. I'll make up my mind to-day definitely, and Ithinkit will be for Altacoola."
The boss of the Senate went out, glaring venomously at Haines, slamming the door.
A moment later a page boy brought in a card. "Colonel J.D. Telfer,Gulf City," read the Senator.
"Bud," he remarked to the secretary, "I'm going to send my old acquaintance, Telfer, Mayor of Gulf City, in here for you to talk to. He'll want to know about his town's chances for being chosen as the naval base. I must hurry away, as I have an appointment with my daughters and Mrs. Spangler before going before ways and means."
[Illustration: THE SENATOR ACCEPTS AN INVITATION TO TEA.]
Colonel J.D. Telfer (J.D. standing for Jefferson Davis, he explained proudly to Haines) proved a warm advocate of the doubtful merits of Gulf City as a hundred-million-dollar naval base. His flushed face grew redder, his long white hair became disordered, and he tugged at his white mustache continually as he waxed warmer in his efforts to impress the Senator's secretary.
"I tell you, Mr. Haines, Gulf City, sah, leads all the South when it comes to choosin' ground fo' a naval base. Her vast expanse of crystal sea, her miles upon miles of silvah sands, sah, protected by a natural harbor and th' islands of Mississippi Sound, make her th' only spot to be considered. She's God's own choice and the people's, too, for a naval base."
"But, unfortunately, Congress also has something to say about choosing it," spoke Haines.
"To be shuah they do," said Gulf City's Mayor, "but—"
"And there was a man here from Altacoola yesterday," again interrupted the secretary, "who said that Gulf City was fit only to be the State refuge for aged and indigent frogs."
"Say, they ain't a man in Altacoola wot can speak th' truth," indignantly shrieked the old Colonel, almost losing control of himself; "because their heads is always a-buzzin' and a-hummin' from th' quinine they have to take to keep th' fever away, sah!"
The Mayor sat directly in front of Haines, at the opposite side of his desk. Regaining his composure, he suddenly leaned forward and half whispered to the secretary:
"Mah young friend, don't let Senator Langdon get switched away fromGulf City by them cheap skates from Altacoola. Now, if you'll get th'Senator to vote fo' Gulf City we'll see—I'll see, sah, as an officerof th' Gulf City Lan' Company—that you get taken ca-ah of."
Haines' eyes opened wide.
"Go on, Colonel; go on with your offer," he said.
"Well, I'll see that a block of stock, sah—a big block—is set aside fo' Senator Langdon an' another fo' you, too. We've made this ah-rangomont else-wheah. We'll outbid Altacoola overall time. They're po' sports an' hate to give up."
"So Altacoola is bidding, too?" excitedly asked Haines.
"Why, of co'se it is. Ah yo' as blind as that o' ah yo' foolin' with me?" questioned Telfer, suspiciously. "Seems to me yo' ought to know more about that end of it than a fellah clear from th' gulf."
"Certainly, certainly," mumbled Haines, impatiently, as he endeavored to associate coherently, intelligently, in his mind those startling new revelations of Telfer with certain incidents he had previously noted in the operations of the committee on naval affairs.
Then he looked across at the Mayor and smiled. Apparently he had heard nothing to amaze him.
"Colonel," he returned calmly, dropping into a voice that sounded of pity for the gray hairs of the lobbyist, "about fifty men a day come to me with propositions like that. There is nothing doing, Colonel. I couldn't possibly interest Senator Langdon, because he has the faculty of judging for himself, and he would be prejudiced against either town that came out with such, a proposition."
"Lan' speculation is legitimate," protested, the Colonel, cunningly.
Haines agreed.
"Certainly—by outsiders. But it's d—d thievery when engaged in by any one connected with putting a bill through. If I were to tell Senator Langdon what you have told me it would decide him unalterably in favor of Altacoola. Senator Langdon, sir, is one of the few men in Washington who would rather be thought a fool than a grafter if it came down to that."
The Mayor of Gulf City jumped to his feet, his face blazing in rage, not in shame.
"Seems to me yo're mighty fresh, young man," he blustered. "What kind of politics is Langdon playin'?"
"Not fresh, Colonel; only friendly. I'm just tipping you off how not to be a friend to Altacoola. As to his politics, the Senator will answer you himself."
A scornful laugh accompanied Telfer's reply.
"Altacoola, huh! I reckon yo' must be a fool, after all. Why, everybody knows of the speculatin' in land around Altacoola, and everybody knows it ain't outsiders that's doin' it. It's the insiders, right here in Washington. If yo' ain't in, yo' can easy get a latchkey. Young man, yo'll find out things some day, and yo'll drop to it all.
"I guess I was too late with yo'. That's about the size of it. I guess Altacoola'll talk to yo'," went on the Mayor. "If that feller Fairbrother of Altacoola had been able to hold his tongue maybe I wouldn't know so much. But now I know what's what. I know this—that yo're either a big fool or—an insider. Yo're a nice young feller. I have kind-a taken a fancy to yo'. I like to see yo' young fellers get along and not miss yo'r chances. Come, my boy, get wise to yo'rself, get wise to yo'rself! Climb on to the band wagon with yo' friends."
Bud concluded that he might be able to get more definite information out of Telfer if he humored him a bit.
"I tell you, Colonel," he finally said, "these are pretty grave charges you're making, but I'll tell you confidentially, owing to your liking for me, that it is not yet too late to do something for Gulf City. Now, just suppose you and I dine together to-night early, and we'll go over the whole ground to see how things lie. Will you?"
The Colonel held out his hand, smiling broadly. He felt that at last he had won the secretary over; that the young man was at heart anxious to take money for his influence with the Senator.
"All right, my boy, yo're on. We'll dine together. Yo' are absolutely certain that it won't be too late to get to Senator Langdon?"
"Absolutely positive. I wouldn't make a mistake in a matter like this, would I, unless I was what you said I was—a fool?"
"Of course not. Oh, yo're a slick one. I like to do business with folks like yo'. It's mighty educatin'!"
"Thanks," answered Bud, dryly. "It's certain that Langdon won't decide which place he's for until to-morrow. I promise you that he won't decide until after I have my talk with you."
"Yo' see," said Telfer, "I asked that question because, as yo' probably know, Congressman Norton and his crowd is pretty close to Senator Langdon—"
Haines cut him short with a gasp of surprise.
"Norton!"
Telfer, wrinkling his forehead incredulously, looked at Haines."Surest thing you know, my boy."
Bud turned his head away in thought.
"Oh, leave the Norton outfit to me. I'll fool them," he finally said.
"Good."
Telfer shook the secretary's hand heartily.
"Yo're no fool, my boy. Anybody can see that—after they get to know yo' all. That's what comes of bein' one of them smooth New Yorkers. They 'pear mighty sanctimonious on th' outside, but on th' inside they're the real goods, all right."
The lobbyist hurried away, his bibulous soul swelling with satisfaction. He was sure of triumphing over Altacoola, and he was willing to pay the price.
Haines sank back into his chair. "I wonder what Washington 'insiders,'" he murmured, "are speculating in Altacoola land. Telfer mentions Norton's name. I wonder—"
The door opened, and before him stood Carolina Langdon.
"Ah, Miss Langdon," he exclaimed, "I am glad to see you!"
She walked to him and extended cordially a slender gloved hand.
"This is a real pleasure, Mr. Haines," she began. "I've been waiting to talk to you for some time. It's about something important."
"Something important," smiled Haines. "You want to see me about something important? Well, let me tell you a secret. Every time I see you it is an important occasion to me."
Carolina Langdon had never appeared more charming, more beautiful to young Haines than she did that day. Perhaps she appeared more inspiring because of the contrast her presence afforded to the unpleasant episodes through which he had just passed; also, Carolina was dressed in her most becoming street gown, which she well realized, as she was enacting a carefully planned part with the unfortunate secretary.