his speech at
3:30. That gives us two hours and twenty minutes--"

"Yes, but for what?" asked Stevens, excitedly. "I've been trying
myself to think of something. What will you do--what _can_ you do?"

"The boss of the Senate" smiled patronizingly on the senior Senator
from Mississippi, as though amused and scornful of his limitations as
a strategist, as a tenacious fighter. Then his jaw set hard, and his
brows contracted.

"I will not do anything. I cannot do anything"--he hesitated a full
ten seconds--"but Jake Steinert can."

Stevens' hands twitched nervously.

"And," continued Peabody, "I'm expecting a 'phone call from him any
moment. I told him this morning that he might be able to make $1,000
before night if--"

The telephone bell at the desk interrupted him.

Peabody leaned over and eagerly clutched the receiver.

The senior Senator from Mississippi jerked himself to his feet. He
stood at a window and looked out over the roof tops of the city.

CHAPTER XXVII

MRS. SPANGLER GIVES A LUNCHEON

When Senators Peabody and Stevens had gone Langdon and Bud went over
the situation together and concluded that their opponents had no means
of defeating Langdon's program--that, after all, Peabody might really
have meant his words of surrender.

"But they might try foul play. Better stay right here in the Capitol
the rest of the day," suggested Bud.

Langdon scoffed at the idea.

Haines bustled away to get a few mouthfuls of lunch to fortify himself
for a busy afternoon--one that was going to be far busier than he
imagined.

The telephone bell rang at the Senator's desk. It was Mrs. Spangler's
voice that spoke.

"Senator Langdon," she said, "Carolina and Hope Georgia are here at my
home for luncheon, and we all want you to join us."

"Sorry I cannot accept," answered the Mississippian, "but I am to make
an important speech this afternoon--"

"Oh, yes, I know. The girls and I are coming to hear it. But you have
two hours' time, and if you come we can all go over to the Senate
together. Now, Senator, humor us a little. Don't disappoint the girls
and me. We can all drive over to the Capitol in my carriage."

The planter hesitated, then replied: "All right. I'll be over, but it
mustn't be a very long luncheon."

"Gone to eat; back by 3 o'clock," he scratched quickly on a pad on the
secretary's desk, and departed.

Mrs. Spangler's luncheons were equally as popular in Washington as
Senator Langdo