at I haven't the ghost of a show."

Josephine regarded me a moment distrustfully. "It doesn't seem to me
there is any use in being too modest about such a matter as this, Fred.
Somebody has to be elected, and it might as well be you as anybody. I
have always hoped you would go into politics, you know. If they hadn't
wanted you they wouldn't have asked you."

"The only certain thing about it is, that, if they had supposed I could
possibly be elected, they wouldn't have offered me the nomination."

"What do you mean, Fred? I call that mock modesty, darling."

I did not consider that I was called upon to unfold more particularly
to my wife the cynical estimate of the case which I entertained in my
secret soul, especially in view of the fact that the committee which
had waited upon me comprised not merely politicians, but some of our
best citizens. Although a man who is invited to run for Congress in a
district hopelessly hostile is likely to cherish secret suspicions as
to the sincerity of those who offer him the nomination, the bait of
self-sacrifice for the public good has lured many a cleverer man than I
to his destruction. Besides, a fighting chance invariably seems more
prodigious to the one who is said to have it, than to anyone else.
There were certainly weak joints in the armor (an analogy supplied me
by the committee) of my opponent, who was a dyed-in-the-wool
politician, and indisputably I had a great many friends. Could I
afford to disregard the piteous, eloquent argument of the spokesman,
Honorable David Flint, that the sacred cause of Reform demanded me as
its champion, and that victory was possible only under my banner? I
had promised to think it over, which was a coy way of stating that I
would accept. Having made up my mind to run, I was obliged to tell
Josephine that this would mean good-by for many a long and weary month
to our jaunt.

"If you're elected, Fred, I shall be only too glad to postpone it. And
if by any chance you don't get in, we'll forget all about it in dear
Japan."

"You do not quite understand the situation, pet. We stay at home in
any case, election or no election. The expenses will eat up my savings
for a rainy day in Japan. I shall have to contribute handsomely to
everybody and everything. It's an outrage, but one of the painful
results of having greatness thrust upon one."

Thereupon Josephine flung her arms around my neck and informed me that
I was not only a de