The Washington herald., 1913-02-09

cigarette out of the window, watched
it whirl down to the melting tar of
the roofs below and said firmly:
Il have an engagement this morning.
Mr.. Baldwin. I'm sorry, but / guess
can't come"
j Once more Underwood saw the
pleasantness leave Baldwin's face, saw
him fleck a fake of ash from the white
waistcoat he wore with his summer
suit of blue. and swapping the lid of
his watch shut, he once more heard him
say in full and reproachful tone:
We'll, all right; sorry, my boy"
Underwood wondered that morning
in the noisy convention hall, whether,
il he had the decision to make over
again, he would decline such influence.
1t had been the cause of much doubt
and some regret at the time The boss
with him had potested-surely it was
political mistake-and the boss was
louder than the reformer, and more
plausible. He came forward with a
brilliant scheme. He recalled Bald
wins reference to the rivalry between
Nolan and Conway. Underwood re-
membered that when he suggested the
possibility of Nolan's running for the
nomination himself, Baldwin had shaken
his head-there wasn't enough in it,
he said. Nolan could do very much
better in the council, where he was.
Besides, Mr.. Weed and Mr.. Peabody
disliked him..
4 Underwood thought out his scheme
that afternoon, while hunting in the
digest for cases in point to be cited
in case his father was preparing for
the appellate court The work Of look
ing up cases in point, while its re-
suits are impressive and seem to smell
of the lamp, had in reality grown quite
automatic to Underwood, and as he
loafed over digests and reports and
jotted down his notes, he elaborated
the scheme, just what he would say
and do, how he would appear, and SO
forth. And so, when he entered Nal
achi Nolan's place in Dearborn Street,
early that evening. he was fully pre-
pared. The details of this incident
came back just as the details of Bald
wins visit had done-the empty sa-
loon. the Alderman himself leaning over
his bar. his white apron rolled into a
big girth about his middle, the cigar
in the round hole at the corner OF his
mouth gone out, denoting that II was
time for him TO go down the alley to
Billy Boyle's and get his porterhouse
and baked potato.
| Underwood watched Malachi Nolan
mix his Martini cocktail. splash it pic
turesquely into a sparkling glass and
beJewel it with a Maraschino cherry,
then grayely take a cigar for himself
and stow il away in his ample waist
coat. Then. as Nolan mopped the bar
with professional sweep of his white
sleevcd, muscular arm, Underwood un-
folded his brilliant scheme, skirting
carefully the acute suspicious OF an
old politicians. But Nolan noppcd,
blinking inscrutably. at last putting the
damp cloth away in some mysterious
place under the counter The fat
Maltese cat, waiting until the moisture
on the bar had evaporated, stretched
herself again beside the silver urn that
held the crackers and the little cubes
of cheese Still Nolan blinkd in 81
lcnce. like hostile jury with its mind
made up, until at last in desperation,
Underwood blurted out his proposition
Nolan blinked some more, then. half
opening his blue Irish eyes, gruntcd:
We'll, | like your gall"
not disappointed. 1t was, after all,
Just what he had expected. 1t served
him right for his presumption. II moth
ing more-though the subdued rcformer
within had limited at other reasons He
hung his head, twirling his empty glass
disconsolately. He did not see the light
that twinklcd in the blue eyes, he had
not then known how very ready Nolan
.t,N
would beat Conway and Baldwin. cs-
pecially with a reformer like himself
who had money to spend on his am
bitions. He had not discerned how
badly the man whom the newspapers
always cartooned with the First Ward
sticking out of his vest pocket needed
a reformer in his business, as the say
ing is. Hence his glad surprise when
Nolan wiped his big hand on his apron
like a washerwoman and held it out
saying:
But I'm wit We"
Then the campaign, under Nolan's
management, in the most wonderful
legislative district-a cosmopolitan dis
| trict. bristling with sociological prob
lens, district that has fewer homes
and more saloons, more commerce, and
more sloth, more millionaires and
more paupers. and while it confines
within its boundaries the sky-scrapers,
clubs, theaters. and hundred churches
of metropolis, still boasts a police
station with more arrests on its blotter
than any other in the world. Night
after night, with Nolan's two can
didates for the house he spent in sa-
looms, where a candidate must treat
and distribute his cards that the boys
may size him up; lodging houses and
barrel houses in lower Clark Street,
where sweating negroes and frowsy
whites drank scent whisky with him !;
blazing saloons along the levee, where
even the poor, painted girls at the ia
bles lifted their glasses when he ordered
the drinks for the house; crap games
and policy shops in lower Clark Street,
the Syrian, Arabic, Chinese, and
Italian quarters down by the squalid
Bad Lands, and at last happier even
ing along the Archey Road. Under
wood had three weeks of this, and az