be afraid, child; no one shall make you marry when you don't want
to," he said, soothingly and protectingly, and this role became him
superbly. "The subject sha'n't be mentioned to you again while the
campaign lasts."

"You are the best man in the world, daddy!" she exclaimed. Suddenly she
rose on tiptoe, kissed him lightly on the cheek, and then ran away.
"King" Plummer walked gravely back to the lobby of the hotel, where a
crowd was gathered.

Harley was one of this crowd, and on entering the room he had been met
at once by Churchill, upon whose face was a look of consternation.

"Harley," he asked, "is the report true that Grayson was in danger of
being kidnapped by bandits on this trip to Crow's Wing?"

"It is true, every word of it."

"My God! what will Europe say?" exclaimed Churchill, aghast.

Harley laughed, but he did not attempt to reason with Churchill. He knew
that the correspondent of the _Monitor_ was too far gone to be reached
by argument.

Churchill sent a lurid despatch to the _Monitor_, describing in detail
the folly and recklessness of the candidate, and the manner in which he
neglected the great issues of the campaign for the sake of impulses,
which always terminated in frivolous or dangerous adventures. And the
_Monitor_ fully backed up its correspondent, because, when the issue of
the paper that published the despatch reached them, it also contained
an editorial, in which the editor wrote in anguish of heart:

"We have supported Mr. Grayson in this campaign with as much zeal
and energy as our moral sense would permit. We have given him full
credit for all the virtues that he may possess, and we have been
willing at all times for him to profit by our experience and
advice. But our readers will bear witness that we have never failed
in courage to denounce the wrong, even if it should be in our own
house. Our easy, and on the whole superficial, American temperament
condones too many things. Never was it more noticeable than in the
vital issues of this Presidential campaign. The yellow journals are
making a great noise over Mr. Grayson; they shout about his
oratory, his generosity, and his noble impulses until the really
serious minority of us can scarcely hear; but the grave, thoughtful
people, those who are recognized in Europe as the real leaders of
American opinion, will not be put down. Despite the turmoil of the