Part 10 (2/2)

At the home he had later established in Was.h.i.+ngton as preferable to the International Hotel were frequently seen a small coterie of Senators and Congressmen who had become known to the sarcastic party bosses in both houses of Congress as the ”Langdon crowd,” which crowd was admitted to be somewhat a factor when it finally prevailed on the President to take over 11,000 postmasters from the appointment cla.s.s and put them under the control of the Civil Service Commission, resulting in the necessity of a compet.i.tive examination for these postmasters instead of their securing positions through political favoritism.

Those who did not know Langdon intimately suggested that ”this fellow ought to be 'taken care of.' What in G.o.d's name does he want? A committee chairmans.h.i.+p? An amba.s.sadors.h.i.+p for some Mississippi charcoal burner? A couple of Federal judges.h.i.+ps for his friends? Well, whatever it is, give it to him and get him in with the rest of us!”

Again it was Peabody who had the deciding say.

”There's only one thing worse than a young reformer, and that's an old one,” he laughed bitterly at a secret conclave at his apartment in the luxurious Louis Napoleon Hotel. ”The young one thinks he is going to live and wants our future profits for himself. The old one thinks he's going to die, and he's sore at leaving so much graft behind him.”

Heads and hearts thinking and throbbing together, Langdon and his secretary had learned to lean on each other, the young gaining inspiration from the old, the old gaining strength from the young.

They loved each other, and, more than any love, they trusted one another. And Hope Georgia watched it all and rejoiced, for she believed with all the accrued erudition of eighteen years of innocent girlhood that Mr. Bud Haines was quite the finest specimen of young manhood this world had ever produced. How could he have happened? She was sure that she had never met his equal, not even in that memorable week she had spent in Jackson.

The pa.s.sing weeks taught Haines that he was deeply in love with Carolina, and, though he had endeavored to keep the knowledge of this from her, her woman's intuition had told her his secret, and she stifled the momentary regrets that flitted into her mind, because she was now in ”the game” herself, the Was.h.i.+ngton game, that ensnares the woman as well as the man and makes her a slave to its fancy. No one but herself and Norton knew how deeply she had ”plunged” on a certain possible turn of the political cards. She must not, she could not, lose if life itself were to remain of value to her, and on her sway over this secretary she was told it all depended.

A subject that for some unexplained reason frequently lodged in Haines' mind was that of the apparent a.s.siduity with which Mrs.

Spangler cultivated Senator Langdon's friends.h.i.+p. For several years she had occupied a high social position at the capital, he well knew, but various indefinite, intangible rumors he had heard, he could not state exactly where, had made him regret her growing intimacy with the girls and with the Senator. They had met her through letters of introduction of the most trustworthy and a.s.suring character from people of highest social rank in Virginia, where the Langdons had many friends; but even so, Haines realized, people who write introductory letters are sometimes thoughtless in considering all the circ.u.mstances of the parties they introduce, and residents of Virginia who had not been in the capital for years might be forgiven for not knowing of all the more recent developments in the lives of those they knew in Was.h.i.+ngton. While not wis.h.i.+ng to have the Senator know of his intention, the secretary determined to investigate Mrs. Spangler and her present mode of life at his first opportunity, hoping the while that his quest would reveal her to be what the Langdons considered her--a widow of wealth, fas.h.i.+on and reserve who resided at the capital because the memories of her late husband, a former Congressman of high standing, were a.s.sociated with it.

Calling at the Langdons' house one evening in February to receive directions regarding important work for the next day, Haines was somewhat puzzled at the peculiar smile on the Senator's face.

Answering the secretary's look of inquiry, the Mississippian said:

”I've been told that I can name the new holder of a five-thousand-dollar-a-year position in the Department of Commerce and Labor, and that if I have no one in particular from my State to name--that--that you would be a good man for the job. First I was glad for your sake, my boy, for if you wanted it you could have the position. But on thinking it over it seemed there might be something behind it not showing on the surface.”

”It's a trick,” said Haines. ”Who made the offer?”

”Senator Stevens.”

”I might have known,” hotly responded the secretary. ”There's a crowd that wants you and me separated. Thought this bait too much for me to resist, did they?” Then he paused, rubbing his fingers through his hair in a perplexed manner. ”Strange, isn't it, Senator, that a man of your party is offered this desirable piece of patronage, entirely unsolicited on your part, from the administration of another, a different political party? Especially when that other party has so many hungry would-be 'tax eaters' clamoring to enter the 'land of milk and honey.' I think Stevens deliberately--”

”There, there, Bud,” broke in Langdon, ”you mustn't say anything against Senator Stevens to me. True, he a.s.sociates with some folks I don't approve of, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything wrong, and I myself have always found him thoroughly honest.”

”Yes,” muttered the secretary, following the Senator into the library, ”you've always found him honest because you think everybody's honest--but Stevens is just the doctor who will cure you of this ailment--this chronic trustfulness.”

Haines laughed softly. ”When Peabody's little Stevie gets through hacking at the prostrate body of political purity his two-handed sword of political corruption will need new edges.”

Thus far neither the Senator nor his secretary had suspicion of any questionable deal in regard to the gulf naval base. The rush of other events, particularly the fight over the reduction of the tariff, had pushed this project temporarily into the background so far as they were concerned, though the ”boss of the Senate” and his satellites had been losing no time in perfecting their plans regarding the choice of Altacoola as the site.

Peabody and Stevens had ingeniously exploited Langdon at every possible opportunity in relation to the naval base. Asked about new developments in the committee on naval affairs, the ready answer was: ”Better see Senator Langdon. He knows all about the naval base; has the matter in full charge. I really know little about it.”

So, by hiding behind the unsuspecting old hero of Crawfordsville, they diverted from themselves any possible suspicion and placed Langdon where he would have to bear the brunt of the great scandal that would, they well knew, come out at some future time--after their foul conspiracy against the nation had been consummated, after the fruits of their betrayal had been secured.

What, after all, the schemers concluded, is the little matter of an investigation among Senators to guilty Senators who, deeply versed in the law, have destroyed every compromising doc.u.ment that could be admissible as evidence?

Why, the Senate would appoint an investigating committee and investigate itself, would it not, when the ridiculous scandal came?

And what Senator would fear himself, or for himself, as he investigated himself, when the blame had already been put publicly on some one else, some simple-minded old soul who could go back to his cotton fields in Mississippi and forget all about it, strong in his innocence, even though shorn of reputation, and desire to live?

<script>