rd factor in the Demijohn
District's political muddle sat down to dinner in a neighboring city.
"Chuck" O'Rourke was fond of his dinner. A childhood of squalid
poverty had taught him the joy of a square meal. The story of the
years linking the famished boy to the pudgy red-faced man of the
restaurant is unessential,--an everyday story, sordid, and barren of
romance. The present knew him for a prosperous contractor and
politician whose most conspicuous public service had been the adroit
fashioning of Tuscarora County's minority party into a compact
organization, to which the majority party found it expedient to cast an
occasional sop of patronage. He had lived and thrived in an atmosphere
of deals. Only within the fortnight had he aspired to hold office,
since his party had for years lacked the fighting chance which the
revolt against Shelby created. Tempted at last, he abruptly resolved
to enter the congressional race himself, and this same day had effected
the last dicker with other county leaders which would insure his naming
in to-morrow's convention.

The day had gone unwontedly sultry, with a sudden flushing of autumn
with dog-day heat, and his active morning had been fraught with
physical discomfort. He had consumed quantities of beer and whiskey in
his rounds, and had looked upon the wine when it was red. His heavy
fall suit was a weariness, and as he entered the restaurant he loosed
his checked waistcoat, unveiling a row of diamond shirt studs which
galvanized the languid waiters to buoyant life. He was escorted with
pomp and circumstance to a seat in the shadiest window, swept by the
torrid breath of an electric fan.

O'Rourke gulped a glassful of ice-water as he studied the menu card,
and motioned for more. Two other glassfuls went the way of the first,
and the negro refilled the carafe. The man pulled angrily at his limp
collar and discussed his order. Vacillating for a time between broiled
lobster and porterhouse steak with mushrooms, he cut the matter short
by taking both, and buttressed the main structure of the meal with side
dishes of banana fritters and griddle-cakes. He decided that peach
short-cake and tutti-frutti ice cream would stop the gap for desert
[Transcriber's note: dessert?], and expressed a preference for "fizz"
as he scanned the wine list. With a happy afterthought he recalled the
fleeting waiter and ordered him to fetch a cocktail as an appetizer.

The ice-water carafe wa