d President; though I'm not at all sure that I should have
cared to have you in the White House."

"Yet you will not cease to love me now that I am doomed to be only a
poor private citizen for the rest of my days?" I asked, fondly, as my
arm stole around her waist, which, though no longer wisp-like as of
yore, is shapely still. "Poor, too, in every sense," I added,
unpleasantly reminded by the pressure of the check-book in my
coat-pocket of my sadly diminished bank account.

"I am afraid I should continue to love you, Fred, even if you were
bad--a Daniel Spinney or a Nicholas Long, for example," she answered,
imprinting a kiss upon my cheek. "But you are an angel, dear."

It was worth being defeated for Congress in order to learn how much my
wife appreciated me, and also to learn to appreciate her more
thoroughly, philosophical deductions which I whispered in her ear with
appropriate circumlocution. "But, Josephine," I added, "why do you
include Spinney and Nick Long in the same category of wickedness?"

"Because they are both wicked."

"But Nick is a reformer, my dear."

"Hasn't he nearly ruined you?"

"I had to hand over a great deal of money to him, certainly," I
answered, ruefully.

"What did he spend it for?"

"I didn't ask him for the details, but he always said he needed it for
printing, dear. You know there was a great deal of printing done," I
hastened to add, feeling a little nervous under the stress of
cross-examination. "Then there were the uniforms and the torches and
the supper for the cadets."

"I know what they cost exactly. Fred, what do you suppose he could
have used all that money for?"

"Printing, I have told you, Josephine. There are all sorts of expenses
in a campaign of this sort, the details of which one has to leave to
one's manager. I have implicit confidence in Nick's good judgment," I
continued, a trifle austerely. To tell the truth, I had been wondering
myself where all the money had gone to. Josephine was thoughtful for
several minutes, then she said: "Do you know, Fred, I have a feeling
that if you had managed your own campaign without the aid of a reformer
you would have got just as many votes--and--and we should have had
money enough left to go to Japan."

If a woman has a prejudice against a man he might be spotless as the
Archangel Gabriel, and she would be able to pick a flaw in him.

IX

Six months ago an astonishing piece of news was revealed to me.