plicity, simplicity! You would have thought the affair a
transfer of Methodist parsons. No military escort to the capitol, no
decorations in the Assembly Chamber to speak of, no music, no anything
that the occasion demanded."

"Fuss and feathers never did appeal to Ross," said the guest.
"Besides, I guess he thought the last administration had splurged
enough for two."

"Their fine plumage covered as slovenly housekeeping as I ever saw,"
interjected Mrs. Shelby, momentarily diverted from her husband's
shortcomings. "I wish you might have seen what I have seen in
out-of-the-way corners of this establishment. What the servants did
for their wages I can't conceive. But, after all, those people had the
right idea of upholding the dignity of the position. The ex-governor
didn't decline an escort to the capitol when he took office. That puts
me out of patience with Ross every time I think of it. Then, to cap
the climax, he didn't even take a carriage; he walked!"

"Walked down with me," Bowers chuckled.

"And, by Jove, nobody knew him. One of the orderlies wanted to keep
him out of the executive chamber."

Cora shuddered, and the old man bestirred his wits to soothe her
outraged sensibilities.

"You must remember that he made his run on an economy platform," he
reminded. "He believed it, too, every word. After all, you can't say
that you've not had things your own way here at the mansion."

"It's a mercy I did. He would have had the house reception and the
staff dinner equally prim if I hadn't put my foot down. I said no; be
as puritanic as you please at the capitol, but the executive mansion
concerns me; I'm governor here."

"Tolerably big commonwealth, too," commented Bowers, dryly. "Somehow
it puts me in mind of what I thought palaces were like when I was a
boy."

"Oh, yes; it's well enough, though the decorations aren't to my taste;
but the location is very unfashionable--orphan asylums, hovels,
saloons, and all that under one's very nose."

"I hadn't noticed the saloons."

"Well, there's a saloon at any rate. I saw it to-day from one of the
south windows. The state was stupidly short-sighted to buy a house in
this quarter. The executive mansion ought to stand in Quality Row."

"What's that?" asked Bowers.

"Not much to look at--just a block or two of houses near the capitol,
not one of which could have cost more than my own place in New Babylon,
for all that famous people have lived in t