A Gentleman from Mississippi

No less a personage than the Hon. William H. Langdon of Mississippi, said to be a warm personal friend of Senator Stev

he Senator wrote us that he was coming here because his old friend, the late Senator Moseley, said b

nced around at the dingy woodwork, the worn cushions, the nicked and uneven tiles of the hotel lobby, and smiled at the clerk. "Well, if this is the new Senator's idea of princely l

s fist down on the r

ter, I guess. His son's here now. Been breaking all records for drinking. Congressman No

into a tall, slender young man, who was wa

you're doing?" muttered

pionship in his class is apt to be good-natured. He does not have to take offense easily. Besides, Randol

don-my fault,

d Langdon, as he strolled with uneven di

n is going to be one

," laughed some one behind him, and Bud whirled to meet the gaze of his

see Langdon, too

ost where this Senator i

ich one, then,"

n chu

he's an h

original, Dickie," commented Haines, dryl

ldest daughter-says she's the queen daughter of the South, a famo

er cards, won't she?" broke in Haines, as he led Cullen to a

enator of the right sort has a chance to do here in Washington-a nonpartisan, straight-out-from-the-shoulder man!" He paused to shake his head in disgust. "You know these fellows here in the

ngly, for, like many newspaper men, he had the secret

am generally. Take this new man Langdon, for instance. Chosen by Stevens, he'll probably be perfectly obedient, perfe

had shown the inside workings of many important phases of the seemingly con

. I'm for you, Bud. What do I get in your cabinet? I've joined the reformers, too

or he was a genuine believer that the natural tendency of humankind was to do right. Wrong he believed to be the outcome of unnatural causes. This quality, co

tor shouldn't be honest. All I want them to do is to play a new game. Let 'em at least seem to be honest, attend to their business, forg

. Let's be comfortable till this fellow Langdon appears." He caught his friend by the arm and in spite of p

after leaving school, devoting his attention to studying the business of conducting the family's big estate. Norton brought him the atmosphere of the big outside world he yearned to see even as did his sister Carolina, and he imitated Norton's manners, his dress

and his desire to win her and place her where she could satisfy every whim had developed almost to a frenzy. Seeing evidences of Senator Stevens' va

d other powers had so distorted Norton's view of the difference between public and private interests and their respective rights that he had come to believe captial to be the sacred heritage of the nation which must be protected at any cost. The acceptance of a retainer from the C. St. and P. Railroad Company for wholly unnecessary services in Washingto

who coveted her father's lands, who boasted that he was on the "inside" in Washington, who was on the way to fo

them pass through the hotel lobby, illustrated the nature of th

ing in continuance of the conversation begun over a table in the café. "No reason why you shouldn't do it,

e was really a man of affairs, "I've got the fifty thousand, Charlie, but-but, you see, that's the mo

o lie in the bank all winter. Now, why don't you make a hundred th

tion, stimulated by the special brand of Bourbon wh

could make a hundred thousand with

ikes gin," replied

asked L

ssman leaned ove

r hat, Randolph. Y

nodded

t into Alta

base?" gasp

on n

clean up a hundred thousand at the least. Isn't it simple? There are, a thousand people with money who would just love to ha

n was visibl

een for me, I know. But suppose the Government doe

ughed sar

ager nod before he went on. "The big men are behind Altacoola. Standard Steel wants Altacoola, and what Standard Steel wants from Co

on why he should not use the $50,000 of his father's, when it had to lie in the bank anyhow all winter, and he would have it back in time t

ie, and I'm mighty much obliged to you

was one of de

ph. You know I want to do

en turned sharply around the corner of the hotel desk.

g? Can't you look o

s gri

your fault

se" had been accustomed to considerable deference on the plantation.

down over his (Haines') shoulder as though to throw the young attacker with the wrestler's "flying mare." Langdon was helpless, as Haines had also secured his free hand, b

had watched Randolph's discomfiting

uckled, "reckon Senator William H. Langdon won't see anything wrong with that same noble tr