Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-03

to say. yet he longed to end with climax.
A glorious. dazzling inspiration came, and
he hurried on:
And now. in honor of this little meeting
between friends. let me tell you all Sc
cret. 1t won't be secret tomorrow, but
you can always be able to say you were
the first who was told. 1 have at last
yielded to the earnest entreaties of my
constituents and friends and partly in gen.
eral. and have consented to accept the
nomination for governor at the coming con-
vention."'
From the proletariat fringing the walls
and blocking the doorway arose an excited.
exultant hum. Only the wild efforts of GER
tain efficient. If unofficial, sergeants-at-
! arms prevented mighty yell Of applause.
At the tables, however, the women looked
bored ar puzzled; while the men glanced at
each other with the blank look of people
who, out for a days jolly hunting. find
themselves caught unexpectedly in bear
trap.
being here doesn't commit any Of us! To
think of Conover, of all men, as governor!
Thisll be bombshell with a vengeance
Il have heretofore on Caleb. af-
ter allowing the impression of his words to
sink in. refused all state offices. But now
I feel 1t a social well as a political duty
that l owe. And l shall be grateful to you
for your honest support.
He had rehearsed this last sentence many
times for campaign speeches. 1t seemed to
him to have the true oratorical ring, and to
be slngularly appropriate. He prepared to
sit down. then checked himself.
Some men," he added, as an after
thought. ARE in politics for a holy pur-
pose. Some for what's in 1t for them. L
find the results usually pretty much the
same in both cases. AS governor l shall do
my best for Granite and for the Mountain
state. Thank YOU
Caleb bowed, reseated himself and swal-
lowed another glass of champagne at a gulp.
He was not ill pleased with himself. He
had risen merely to thank his guests for
their presence. Little by little he had drift
ed further than he had at first intended
Yet, he was glad he had yielded to this I'M
precedented, unaccustomed yearning to ex-
pand; to show himself at his best before
these people with whom he now firmly be-
lieved himself on footing Of friendly
equality Yes. on the whole, he was con-
WINGED of his success.
He glanced about him. The buzz of talk
had recommended; it seemed to him more
loudly. more interestedly, with less of con-
straint than before. Dozens of eyes were
upon him, not with the bored coldness of
the earlier evening. but with curiosity and
open interest. He had put people at their
ease. They were accepting him as one of
themselves, and behaving as he had heard
they did at other functions.
Caleb was glad.
Then his complacent glance fell his
wife. She was very red in the face, and
was bending over her plate. eating fast.
Proud of the old man, poor little thng!'
unused Conover, twinge of affection for
his scared, invertebrate spouse sending
softer light into his strenuous, lean face.
His gaze next travelled to Blanche, his
daughter. She, too, was red of face. and
was talking hard. as If against time. Some
how Caleb was less assured as to the cause
of her flush. Perhaps in Europe such
speeches were not customary. He could ex-
plain 20 her later.
Anice Lanier. alone, met his eye with the
frank. honest unafraid look that was her
birthright. and which made her the only
living person he instinctively felt he could
not bully. In her look he read. now,
mute question. He could not fathom the
Caleb left his place and made his way
among the tables to where she sat.
How'd it go?'' he asked. 1T seemed to
take. en-
II think it did," she replied noting the
flush on his cheek and the brightness Of his
gaze. and wondering thereat.
Wasn't too long to hold their INTEREST,""
mo. They seemed Interested
You think so? Good! Do you know. if
I'd had time to think, I'd rather have made
fifty campaign speeches than that one. I'd
have been ratified to death. But it was
easier than any speech I ever made. Good
climax. eh. that announcement
How long ago did. you make up your
mind to run for governor"
Think it's queer that, as my secretary,
You hadn't heard of it? Well. I'll tell you.
L decided it just about seven minutes ago.
1t came to me like a flash, plumb in the
middle of my speech. 1 fingered out all at
once that if there was any flaw in my
plans SO far. the governorship was dead
sure to cinch me in society. Folks'll think
twice before they turn up their noses at
governor. 1t came as an inspiration. A
genuine bunch. 1 never have one of them
but what it wins. Why, when
But can you get the nomination.
Can I get it? Can 1 get it? Say, Miss
Lanier, haven't you learned yet that there
isn't a thing in the city of Granite or in
A. ct, -to$n hot oh
Railroader, can't get If he wants it bad
enough? Tonight ought to have showed
you that Why, with. the legislature and
every newspaper and the railroad system
and every decent state job right here safe
between my fingers, all I've got to do Is to
turn the wheel and the little ball will
drop into the governors chair all right, AL
right"
troubled The reserve habitual to her when
in her employers society deepened. Sac
thought of Give Standish and his aspira-
tons. What would become of the young
lawyers already desperate hope, now that
the boss himself-and not some mere pup
pet of the latter's-was to be his oppo-
nent?
content, this is the happiest night ever!
I've got everything there Is in life for
man. All the money 1 want, the running
of the state, place in society at last, a
daughter that's a princess, a boy that
making his mark in the biggest city in
America, and now-the governorship. Lord!
but I'm lucky man. And that speech
I didn't think l had it in me. OF course,
l know those snobs from the Pomptoa
avenue crowd were dragged here by the
ears 1 had to drag pretty hard, too, in
most cases. But they're here. And they
listened to me. They had to. And they
can't ever look on me just as they did be-
fore"
NO" assented Anice, they can't"
To her there was something impersonaliy
pathetic in the way this usually keen, stern
man had unbent and made himself ridicu-
lous. She was the only person living In
whose presence as a rule, he. expanded
She was used to the senli-occasional talka-
tive boastful moods of this boss whom
all the rest of the world deemed as sharp
aud concise as a steel trap-and as deadly.
Yet never had even she seen him like this
before.
1t was sad, she unused, that Samson.
I shorn of his locks of self-restraint and Of
his calculating GOODNESS. should thus have
| made sport for the Philistines. That he
I<had perhaps done SO for purpose-even
though for once in his life it was a futile
purpose-rendered his folly no less hu-
initiating.
Yes" reiterated Conover. as he pre-
pared to return to his own table. 1T was
an inspiration. And an ounce of lnspira-
| ton discounts a half-ton Of any other
| commodity that ever passed over the coun-