capacities, and is now a partner in the enterprises which have
made the Senator many times a millionaire. The title of "private
secretary" is one of courtesy merely, and seems to highly amuse the two
friends.

[Illustration: Senator Bull and Sammy Ridley.]

At nightfall we had left the storm behind us, and were speeding over the
mountains. The sunlight, lingering on the higher peaks, cast great
shadows into the depths beyond. There had been much snow all winter, and
the summits sparkled and shone out dazzlingly, then went pink and
crimson and purple as the radiance slowly faded. The lamps had not been
lighted in the car, and most of us had gathered at the observation end,
impressed by the grandeur of it all, when the silence was broken by Mr.
Ridley.

"That's a pretty sight, sure! It gives me a kind of solemn feeling all
over. The glory up there makes me think of dying, and heaven, and
angels, and all that," he said gravely. "That patch of light calls to
mind the fellows I know who climb the heights, and when they get near
the top the sunshine of prosperity, or fame, or notoriety, or whatever
you call it, strikes them and it wilts them, and they can't stand it for
long, so they fall back, and you don't hear of them any more. There're
others, though, who get up there and fairly bask in it all, walk around,
lie down, eat and sleep in it. _They_ can stand it, and, my, what big
shadows they throw!"

"Well, well, well, Sammy Ridley, I never heard you talk like that
before," said Senator Bull; "it must have been that funeral to-day. Got
on your nerves, eh? Some folks are affected like that. Come away from
that window, boy, and get back to earth again." Thus urged, Mr. Ridley
got back to earth again, and took a drink of generous size. Several of
the delegation joined him. The movement seemed a popular one.

The conversation then turned to the deceased, his many good qualities,
his probable successor in the Senate, and the bearing his death would
have upon the political situation in Kentucky.

"We will miss him in the Senate," said Senator Wendell; "we will miss
his wise counsel, the broad statesmanlike views, and the kindly
personality that endeared him to us all. Thurlow was a great man, and
the State of Kentucky will no doubt erect a fitting memorial."

"Yes," said Mr. Ridley, "I suppose they will. They ought to. It may be
some consolation to the family anyhow. But it is an empty sort of thing,
after all, when you co