t there after
Cobb takes his pick. Take them down to Aunt Charette's and have her set
out her best. And keep 'em well bunched and handy!"
He reached through an open window and filled the pockets of his crash
suit with cigars from a box on a stand.
"Now, Luke," he invited, blandly, "let's go to a legislative district
caucus. I haven't bothered to attend one for a good many years, but this
one on the docket now gives signs of being interesting."
They walked down the dusty road toward the village. The State chairman
was silent, with the air of a man pondering matters he does not
understand; but the Hon. Thelismer Thornton beamed upon all he met.
Having a certainty to deal with, and a tangible enemy in sight, he
seemed at ease. He felt like one who has recovered from dizzying blows
and is on trail of the enemy who dealt them. He was himself again.
A few of those he met he greeted with especial cordiality. To some he
gave cigars, not with the air of one seeking favor, not with the cheap
generosity of the professional politician, but with the manner of one
taking paternal interest in the conduct of a good child. It was an act
that seemed to go with his handclasp and smile. He caught the State
chairman looking at him rather doubtfully on one of these occasions.
"The folks understand this thing up here," he said. "When those chaps
were young ones I used to give them a stick of candy. Now that they are
grown up I hand 'em a cigar--got into the habit and can't stop. Or else
I send 'em around to Aunt Charette's and have it put on my account.
Wicked performance, I suppose, and so the old ladies tell me. But I was
born in the old rum-and-molasses times, Luke, when the liquor thing sort
of run itself, and didn't give so many cheap snoozers a job on one side
or the other."
"What's this Aunt Charette's you're talking about?" asked the chairman.
"An institution!" The Duke enjoyed the puzzled stare the little man
rolled up at him. "I reckon you think you've solved the liquor question
in this prohibition State at that hotel bar of yours, Luke. I've solved
it in my own way up here. Aunt Charette's is an institution that I've
founded. Come and look at it."
He led the way off the main street. There was a cottage at the end of a
lane, tree-embowered, neat with fresh white paint and blinds of vivid
green. An old man sat in an arm-chair under one of the trees. He wore
gold earrings and an old-style coat with brass buttons.
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