, durned if I don't wish she was
married. It's a terrible thing for a father to say, I know, but I'd feel
easier about her if she was married to some good man who could hold her.
There's young Joe Turner in Gosport, he'd give his soul to have her, and
he'd do. Cassy says she's after bigger game than Joe. She's young--that's
her only excuse. Funny thing happened night before last," continued Mr.
Hopkins, laughing. "Lovejoy saw her, and he's b'en out of his head ever
since. Al must be pretty near my age, ain't he? Well, there's no fool
like an old fool."

"A-Alvy introduce me to Cassandry sometime will you?"

"Why, certainly," answered Mr. Hopkins, heartily, "I'll bring her in
here. And now how about gettin' an adjournment to-morrow night for 'Uncle
Tom's Cabin'? These night sessions kind of interfere."

Half an hour later, when the representatives were pouring into the
rotunda for dinner, a crowd was pressing thickly around the desk to read
a placard pinned on the wall above it. The placard announced the coming
of Mr. Glover's Company for the following night, and that the Honorable
Alva Hopkins of Gosport, ex-Speaker of the House, had bought three
hundred and twelve seats for the benefit of the members. And the
Honorable Alva himself, very red in the face and almost smothered, could
be dimly discerned at the foot of the stairs trying to fight his way out
of a group of overenthusiastic friends and admirers. Alva--so it was said
on all sides--was doing the right thing.

So it was that one sensation followed another at the capital, and the
politicians for the moment stopped buzzing over the Truro Franchise Bill
to discuss Mr. Hopkins and his master-stroke. The afternoon Chronicle
waxed enthusiastic on the subject of Mr. Hopkins's generosity, and
predicted that, when Senator Hartington made the motion in the upper
house and Mr. Jameson in the lower, the General Court would unanimously
agree that there would be no evening session on the following day. The
Honorable Alva was the hero of the hour.

That afternoon Cynthia and her father walked through the green park to
make their first visit to the State House. They stood hand in hand on the
cool, marble-paved floor of the corridor, gazing silently at the stained
and battered battle-flags behind the glass, and Wetherell seemed to be
listening again to the appeal of a great President to a great Country in
the time of her dire need--the soul calling on the body to fight for
i