Tooting had likewise been a sojourner
in the domain of the Duke of Putnam. But the Honourable Brush was not
troubled, and had presented Mr. Tooting with a cigar.

In spite of the strange omission of the State Tribune to print his
speech and to give his victory in the matter of the Pingsquit bill
proper recognition, Mr. Crewe was too big a man to stop his subscription
to the paper. Conscious that he had done his duty in that matter,
neither praise nor blame could affect him; and although he had not been
mentioned since, he read it assiduously every afternoon upon its arrival
at Leith, feeling confident that Mr. Peter Pardriff (who had always in
private conversation proclaimed himself emphatically for reform) would
not eventually refuse--to a prophet--public recognition. One afternoon
towards the end of that month of April, when the sun had made the last
snow-drift into a pool, Mr. Crewe settled himself on his south porch
and opened the State Tribune, and his heart gave a bound as his eye fell
upon the following heading to the leading editorial:--

A WORTHY PUBLIC SERVANT FOR GOVERNOR

Had his reward come at last? Had Mr. Peter Pardriff seen the error of
his way? Mr. Crewe leisurely folded back the sheet, and called to his
secretary, who was never far distant.

"Look here," he said, "I guess Pardriff's recovered his senses. Look
here!"

The tired secretary, ready with his pencil and notebook to order fifty
copies, responded, staring over his employer's shoulder. It has been
said of men in battle that they have been shot and have run forward some
hundred feet without knowing what has happened to them. And so Mr. Crewe
got five or six lines into that editorial before he realized in full the
baseness of Mr. Pardriff's treachery.

"These are times" (so ran Mr. Pardriff's composition) "when the sure and
steadying hand of a strong man is needed at the helm of State. A man
of conservative, business habits of mind; a man who weighs the value
of traditions equally with the just demands of a new era; a man with a
knowledge of public affairs derived from long experience;" (!!!) "a man
who has never sought office, but has held it by the will of the people,
and who himself is a proof that the conduct of State institutions in the
past has been just and equitable. One who has served with distinction
upon such boards as the Railroad Commission, the Board of Equalization,
etc., etc." (!!!) "A stanch Republican, one who puts pa