't tell Brass what happened, for it won't do any good;
and the less notice there's taken of it the better. But carrying
things before him as he was--it was hard luck to have that occur. Puts
him in an undignified position, to say the least. I wish I could think
there was nothing more to it!"

XXII

A REVIVAL OF BELSHAZZAR

We are but Sitters at the Table, Guests,
Where each drinks more, the more that he protests,
Sees, One by One, his Fellows slip from Sight,
And then himself beneath the Table rests.
* * * * * *
Some walk the Sinuous Crack for Test, and Some
Judge by the throbbing Fullness of the Thumb--
But lo! the Fool continues till the Guests
Are changed to Pairs of Twins as in they come!
--_Imitations of Immorality_.

Barring the somewhat equivocal episode of the east room at Major
Pumphrey's, everything had gone to Mr. Alvord's liking since Mr.
Brassfield had placed the campaign in his hands. And, as a matter of
fact, that affair was so susceptible of plausible explanation, and so
fenced about by the sanctities of private hospitality, that Alvord was
reassured after a day or two had passed with no public scandal. Amidon
stayed away from headquarters, and Alvord, acting under the unlimited
authority granted by Brassfield, took all responsibility and proceeded
most effectively in his own way. Amidon's instructions by telephone,
to prepare a statement of disbursements to be made public, he regarded
as one of Brassfield's jokes. His suggestion that he meant to stand on
a platform of principles seemed equally humorous. To propose such
ridiculous things in a perfectly serious way, and laugh at the victim's
credulity in "biting" on the hoax, was quite in harmony with the
relations among the members of the set to which they belonged, where
practical jokes, merciless chaffing and perpetual efforts to get the
best of one another had given the group a more than local celebrity.

Having, therefore, no suspicion that his candidate's platform of
principles was in the hands of the reporters, and would appear in the
next morning's papers, Alvord took his way to the annual supper of the
A. O. C. M. feeling that all was well in the world, and that here, at
least, his candidate would acquit himself well.

Messrs. Bulliwinkle and Cox were absent when the time came for sitting
down to supper, and Mr. Simpson, the Master of the Revels, decreed that