any more that America is an
interesting country. Wasn't it an impudent speech? I tried to tell him,
in French, how grateful American women are for any little attention
from foreigners who have centuries of politeness behind them. Ah me! I
sometimes long for one of the old-fashioned talks before your smoldering
logs! What we talk about here, Heaven only knows. I sometimes tell
Rodney at night--it is usually morning--that I feel like an extinct
piece of fireworks. But next day it is all delightful again; and, dear
friend, I don't know but that I like being fireworks."

Among the men who came oftenest to see Henderson was Jerry Hollowell.
It seemed to Margaret an odd sort of companionship; it could not be
any similarity of tastes that drew them together, and she could not
understand the nature of the business transacted in their mysterious
conferences. Social life had few attractions for Hollowell, for his
family were in the West; he appeared to have no relations with any
branch of government; he wanted no office, though his influence was much
sought by those who did want it.

"You spend a good deal of time here, Mr. Hollowell," Margaret said one
day when he called in Henderson's absence.

"Yes, ma'am, considerable. Things need a good deal of fixing up.
Washington is a curious place. It's a sort of exchange for the whole
country: you can see everybody here, and it is a good place to arrange
matters."

"With Congress, do you mean?" Margaret had heard much of the corruption
of Congress.

"No, not Congress particularly. Congressmen are just about like other
people. It's all nonsense, this talk about buying Congressmen. You
cannot buy them any more than you can buy other people, but you can sort
of work together with some of them. We don't want anything of Congress,
except to be let alone. If we are doing something to develop the trade
in the Southwest, build it up, some member who thinks he is smart will
just as likely as not try to put in a block somewhere, or investigate,
or something, in order to show his independence, and then he has to
be seen, and shown that he is going against the interests of his
constituents. It is just as it is everywhere: men have to be shown what
their real interest is. No; most Congressmen are poor, and they stay
poor. It is a good deal easier to deal with those among them who are
rich and have some idea about the prosperity of the country. It is just
so in the departments. You've got to wa