much off on the tariff on the creature do we want?
Come over to the committee room, where I am, right away. Say it's
an urgent message and get in with a tip."

The secretary looked up, with a laugh.

"You win, Norton. I'm off. Good-by." And he started on a run to the
Senator's aid.

Norton turned angrily on the girl as the door closed.

"See here, Carolina," he cried, "what do you mean by letting that
fellow make love to you?"

Carolina Langdon would not permit rebuke, even from the man she cared
for. She tossed back her head and said, coolly:

"Why shouldn't I let him make love to me if I choose?"

"You know why," exclaimed Norton, his dark face flushing sullenly.
"Because I love you and you love me!" And he seized her and pressed
her to him. "That is why!" he cried, and he kissed her again and
again.

"Yes, I love you, Charlie; you know that," Carolina said, simply. She
was conquered by the Southerner's masterfulness.

"Then why do you stand for that whippersnapper's talk?" asked Norton,
perplexedly.

Carolina laughed.

"Don't you see, Charlie, I have to stand for it? I have to stand for
it for your sake, for Randolph's sake, for my own sake, for all our
sakes. You know the influence he has over father.

"He can make father do anything he wants, and suppose I don't lead him
on? Where's our project? Let him suspect a thing and let him go to
father, and you know what will happen. Father would turn against
that Altacoola scheme in a moment. He'd beggar himself, if it were
necessary, rather than let a single one of us make a dollar out of a
thing he had to decide."

"You're right, I reckon, Carolina," said Norton, dejectedly. "Your
father is a real type of the Southern gentleman. He hasn't seen any
real money in so long he can't even bear to think of it. Somebody's
got to make money out of this, and we should be the ones."

"We'd lose frightfully, Charlie, if they changed to Gulf City,
wouldn't we?" said the girl, apprehensively. "I'm horribly afraid
sometimes, Charlie. That's why I came here to-day. I wanted to
influence Haines, to keep him straight. Is there any danger that
they'll change? You don't think there is, do you?"

"Of course not, child. Stevens has got his money in, and Peabody.
There are only five on the committee. It's bound to go through."

"Then why is father so important to them?" asked Carolina.

"It's past my understanding, Carolina. I don't see how he's done it,
but the