op in at Knower's; soiwee, you know;" and Savile tucks his arm under
mine.

Two blocks away we try to lose uncomfortable ideas in an atmosphere of
spermaceti, hot broadcloth, jockey club and terrapin.

"Next quadwille, Miss Wose?"

"Oh, yes, Mr. Rowe; and--the third galop--let me see--the fifth waltz.
And oh! isn't it nasty of those people in South Carolina! Why _don't_
they behave themselves? Oh, dear! what a lovely color Karmeen Sorser
has to-night! _Au revoir_!" and Miss Rose Ruche glides off, _a deux
temps_, on the arm of the Turkish _charge_.

As I stroll through the rooms, there is much glaring light and there
are many nude necks. I am jostled by polking damsels and button-holed
by most approved bores. But, through the blare of the brass horns and
over the steaming terrapin, the one subject rises again and again,
refusing burial as persistently as Eugene Aram's old man.

"Try a glass of this punch," Knower chirps cheerily. "Devilish good
punch! Good glass, too. See the crest and the monogram blowed in. Put
Kansas Coal Contriver's Company proceeds into that glass. But things
_are_ looking blue, sir, devilish blue; and I don't see the way
out at all. Fact is, I'm getting pretty down in the mouth!" And the
lobbyist put a bumper of punch in the same position. "People may talk,
sir, but my head's as long as the next, and I don't see the way out.
Washington's dead, sir; dead as a hammer, if this secession goes on.
Why, what'll become of our business if they move the Capital? Kill us,
sir; kill us! Lots of southern members leaving already"--and Knower's
voice sunk to a whisper--"and would you believe it? I heard of nine
resignations from the army to-day. Gad, sir! had it from the best
authority. That means business, I'm afraid." And little by little the
conviction dawned on all classes that it did mean business--ugly, real
business. What had been only mutterings a few weeks back grew into
loud, defiant speech. Southern men, in and out of Congress, banded
under their leading spirits, boldly and emphatically declared what they
meant to do. Never had excitement around the Capitol run half so high.
Even the Kansas-Nebraska furore had failed to pack the Senate galleries
so full of men and women, struggling for seats and sitting sometimes
through the night. One after another the southern leaders made their
valedictories--some calm and dignified, some hot and vindictive--and
left the seats they had filled for years. One af