him into his coat.

"Go in a closed carriage," was Peabody's final warning. "Be sure to
tell her to get hold of his two daughters on some pretext at once. She
knows them well. Maybe we can influence the old man through his girls,
don't you see?"

And while Senator Peabody and Jake Steinert recurred to a previous
discussion concerning one J.D. Telfer, Mayor of Gulf City, Senator
Stevens started on the most memorable drive of his career on
this bright winter morning, to the house of the fascinating Mrs.
Spangler--who for the past week had been considering his proposal of
marriage.

CHAPTER XXV

CAROLINA LANGDON'S RENUNCIATION

Senator Langdon's committee room at the Capitol presented a busy scene
at an unusually early hour the morning after the entertainment at his
home. Bud Haines, reinstated as secretary, was picking up the thread
of routine where he had dropped it the day before, though his frequent
thought of Hope and the words that had thrilled him--"I love you, I
love you fondly"--made this task unusually difficult. He impatiently
wished the afternoon to hasten along, as he knew he would then see her
in the Senate gallery, where she would go to hear her father's speech.

This speech had to be revised in some particulars by Bud, and the work
he knew would take up much of the morning. The Senator's speech was
"The South of the Future," which he would deliver when recognized by
the President of the Senate in connection with the naval base bill,
that officer having agreed to recognize Langdon at 3:30, at which time
the report of the naval affairs committee would be received. Just how
Langdon would turn the tables on Peabody and Stevens and yet win for
the Altacoola site not even the ex-newspaper man, experienced in
politics, had solved. Clearly the Senator would have to do some tall
thinking during the morning.

The junior Senator from Mississippi burst into the office with his
habitual cheery greeting, his broad-brimmed black felt hat in its
usual position on the back of his head, like a symbol of undying
defiance.

"A busy day for us, eh, Senator?" queried Bud.

"Now, look here, my boy, don't begin to remind me of work right off,"
he said, with a humorous gleam in his eye. "Go easy on me. Don't
forget I'm her father."

Bud laughed through the flush that rose in his cheeks.

"No, I won't forget that. But have you decided what to tell Peabody
and Stevens as your plan of action if they come in here