e of
Agriculture.' 'An act relating to the State Indebtedness.' 'An act to
increase the State Forest Area.' 'An act to incorporate the State
Economic League.' 'An act to incorporate the State Children's Charities
Association.' 'An act in relation to Abandoned Farms.'" These were some
of the most important, and they were duly introduced on the morrow, and
gravely referred by the Speaker to various committees. As might be
expected, a man whose watchword is, "thorough" immediately got a list of
those committees, and lost no time in hunting up the chairmen and the
various available members thereof.

As a man of spirit, also, Mr. Crewe wrote to Mr. Flint, protesting as to
the manner in which he had been treated concerning committees. In the
course of a week he received a kind but necessarily brief letter from the
Northeastern's president to remind him that he persisted in a fallacy; as
a neighbour, Mr. Flint would help him to the extent of his power, but the
Northeastern Railroads could not interfere in legislative or political
matters. Mr. Crewe was naturally pained by the lack of confidence of his
friend; it seems useless to reiterate that he was far from being a fool,
and no man could be in the capital a day during the session without being
told of the existence of Number Seven, no matter how little the informant
might know of what might be going on there. Mr. Crewe had been fortunate
enough to see the inside of that mysterious room, and, being a
sufficiently clever man to realize the importance and necessity of
government by corporations, had been shocked at nothing he had seen or
heard. However, had he had a glimpse of the Speaker's lists under the
hopelessly crushed hat of Mr. Bascom, perhaps he might have been shocked,
after all.

It was about this time that a touching friendship began which ought, in
justice, to be briefly chronicled. It was impossible for the Honourable
Brush Bascom and the Honourable Jacob Botcher to have Mr. Crewe sitting
between them and not conceive a strong affection for him. The Honourable
Brush, though not given to expressing his feelings, betrayed some
surprise at the volumes Mr. Crewe had contributed to the stream of bills;
and Mr. Botcher, in a Delphic whisper, invited Mr. Crewe to visit him in
room forty-eight of the Pelican that evening. To tell the truth, Mr.
Crewe returned the feeling of his companions warmly, and he had even
entertained the idea of asking them both to dine with him t