A Gentleman from Mississippi

he Capitol. Senator Peabody peremptorily demanded an explanation from Stevens as to how he had allowed "hi

finished, product of the political mill, you fall asleep and let him take up a man whom nobody can control, one who knows the insi

ung 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

ngdon 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 t

ing 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 th

es 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

s name does he want? A committee chairmanship? An ambassadorship for some Mississippi charcoal burner? A couple

abody who had t

ve at his apartment in the luxurious Louis Napoleon Hotel. "The young one thinks he is going to live and wants our

h 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 Hain

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 d

ers 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 live

important work for the next day, Haines was somewhat puzzled at the peculiar smile on

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 i

said Haines. "Wh

or Ste

hrough 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 administratio

ens to me. True, he associates with some folks I don't approve of, but that doesn't n

e always found him honest because you think everybody's honest-but Stevens is

rough hacking at the prostrate body of political purity his

particularly the fight over the reduction of the tariff, had pushed this project temporarily into the background so far as they were concerned,

base. Asked about new developments in the committee on naval affairs, the ready answer was: "Better see Senat

aced Langdon where he would have to bear the brunt of the great scandal that would, they well knew, come out at some future t

gation among Senators to guilty Senators who, deeply versed in the law, hav

ting committee and investigate itself, wou

een put publicly on some one else, some simple-minded old soul who could go back to his cotton fields in Miss