"Ah! Look out for the Senator--in the dark pine forests on the mountain."
"I don"t know why you should be so concerned for me. I usually have kept an admirer as long as I wanted him."
"Oh, no offence, dear. The dark and tragic lady merely filled my eye at the moment. By the way, Mrs. North thinks of going to the Lake Hotel this summer. Isn"t that close by your place?"
"It is just across the lake. There is your old General. He does look like an ogre, and he"s got a patch of green mould on his nose. You ought to take better care of him."
"He looks so much better than he did in life that I have no fault to find. The doctor has told Mrs. North that the pine forests may do her all the good in the world, prolong her life, and Mr. North has written to see if he can get an entire wing for her. I hope he can go too, but he always seems to have so much to do at home in summer. I do like him.
He"s the only man I know who, I feel positive, never could make a fool of himself."
"I am half starved. Come home and have your breakfast with me."
"I should like to. Senator North--"
"There is Mr. Burleigh on horseback--with Mr. Montgomery. He _will_ look well in bronze--but they only put Generals on horseback, don"t they? There--he sees me. I am going to ask them to come in to breakfast."
"I believe you like him better than you think, my dear. Your eyes shine like two suns, and I never saw you look so happy."
"The morning is so beautiful and I am so glad that I am alive. I know exactly how much I like Mr. Burleigh."
XIV
"Do all Southerners make such delicious coffee?" asked Senator Burleigh, as the four sat about the attractive table in the breakfast-room.
"The Southerners are the only cooks in the United States," announced Miss Carter. "The real difference between the South and the North is that one enjoys itself getting dyspepsia and the other does not."
"There are just six kinds of hot bread on this table," said Burleigh, meditatively.
"And no pie and no doughnuts. Mr. Montgomery, you are really a Southerner--ar"n"t you glad to get back to darky cooks?"
"I was until we began on this tariff bill, and now there is not an object you can mention, edible or otherwise, that I don"t loathe."
"The details of such a bill must be maddening," said Betty, sympathetically, "but, after all, it is an honour to be on the Ways and Means Committee. There is compensation in everything."
"I don"t know. When a man lobbyist tries to find out your weak spot and play on it, you can kick him out of the house, but when they set a woman at you, all you can do is to bow and say: "My dear madam, it is with the greatest regret I am obliged to inform you that I have sat up every night until three o"clock studying this subject, and that I have made up my mind." Whereupon she talks straight ahead and hints at trouble with certain const.i.tuents next year who want free coal and an exorbitant duty on Zante currants, raisins, wine, and wool. The whole army of lobbyists have camped on my doorstep ever since we began to draw up this bill. How they find time to camp on any one"s else would make an interesting study in ubiquity."
"I am afraid some of your ideals have been shattered, and I am afraid you are shattering some of Miss Madison"s," said Burleigh, smiling into Betty"s disgusted face.
"I hate the dirty work of politics," said Montgomery, gloomily. "Of course it doesn"t demoralize you so long as you keep your own hands clean, but it is sickening to suspect that you are sitting cheek by jowl in the Committee Room with a man whose pocket is stuffed with some Trust Company"s shares."
"I used to hate it, but I don"t see any remedy until we have an educated generation of high-cla.s.s politicians, and I think that millennium is not far off. As matters stand, there is bound to be a certain percentage of scoundrels and of men too weak to resist a bribe in a great and shifting body like the House. Any scoundrel feels that he can slink among the rest unseen. The old members who have been returned term after term since they began to grow stubby beards on their cast-iron chins are an argument against rotation; they have had a chance to acquire the confidence of the public, they are experienced legislators, and they are incorruptible."
Betty drew a long sigh of relief. "You have cleared up the atmosphere a little," she said. "I thought I was going to learn that the House, at least, was one hideous ma.s.s of corruption, praying for burial."
"That is what they think of us outside," said Montgomery. "We might as well all be gangrene, for we get the credit of it."
"I don"t like your similes," said Miss Carter; "I haven"t finished my breakfast. Mr. Burleigh, you"ve put on your senatorial manner and I like you better without it. I thought you were going to say, "Don"t interrupt, please," or "Would you kindly be quiet until I finish?" at least twice."
"I beg pardon humbly. I am flattered to know that you have thought it worth while to listen to any remarks I may have been forced to make in the Senate."
"I have been twice to the gallery with Betty, and both times you were talking like a steam-engine and warning people off the track."
It was so apt a description of Burleigh"s style when on his feet that even he laughed.
"I don"t like to be interrupted or contradicted," he said, "I frankly admit it."
"Better not marry an American girl."
"Some Englishwomen have wills of their own," remarked Mr. Montgomery.
"Some men are tyrants in public life and slaves at home--to a beautiful woman," remarked Senator Burleigh.
"Some men are so clever," said Miss Carter. "Give me another waffle, please."
XV
Betty went to the Senate Gallery that afternoon for the first time in several days. It was hard work to keep up with the calling frenzy of Washington and cultivate one"s intellect at the same time. There was no one in the private gallery but an old man with a hayseed beard and h.o.r.n.y hands. He sat on the first chair in the front row, but rose politely to let Betty pa.s.s; and she took off her veil and jacket and gloves and settled herself for a comfortable afternoon. She felt almost as much at home in this family section of the Senate Gallery as in her own room with a copy of the Congressional Record in her hand. Sometimes save for herself it would be empty, when every other gallery, but the Diplomats", of that fine amphitheatre would be nearly full. It was crowded, however, when it was unofficially known that a favourite Senator would speak, or an important bill on the calendar provoke a debate. Leontine no longer accompanied her mistress; she had threatened to leave unless exempted from political duty.
To-day a distinguished Senator on the other side of the Chamber was attacking with caustic emphasis a Republican measure. He was the only man in the Senate with a real Uncle Sam beard. Senator Shattuc"s waved like a golden fan from his powerful jaw; but the Democratic appendage opposite was long and narrow, and whisked over the Senator"s shoulder like the tail of a comet, when he became heated in controversy. It was flying about at a great rate to-day, and Betty was watching it with much interest, when a proud voice remarked in her ear,--
"That"s my Senator, marm. He"s powerful eloquent, ain"t he?"
Betty nodded. "He"s quite a leader."
"I allow he is. He"s been leadin" in our State fur twenty years. I allus wanted to hear him speak in Congress, and when I called on him last Monday--when I come to Washington--he told me to come up here to-day and hear him, and he would set me in the Senators" Gallery. And he did."
His voice became a distant humming in Betty"s ears. Senator North had entered and taken his seat. He apparently settled himself to listen to the speech, and he looked as calm and unhurried as usual.
"That"s North," whispered the old man. "There wuz a lady in here a spell since who pinted a lot of "em out to me. He looks a little too hard and stern to suit me. I like the kind that slaps you on the back and says "Howdy." Now Senator North, he never would: I know plenty that knows him. He"s aristocratic; and I don"t like his politics, neither. I allus suspicion that politicians ain"t all right when they"re aristocratic."
"He does not happen to be a politician."
"Hey?"
"Don"t you want to listen to your Senator? He is very eloquent."
"He"s been speakin" fur an hour steady," said the visitor to Washington, philosophically. "I kinder thought I"d like to talk to you a spell. Hev you seen the new library?" "Oh, yes; I live here."