of the 'Book of Arguments,' Mr. Crewe was to have three
hundred! It was incredible, preposterous. Mr. Flint looked at his
counsel once more, and wondered whether he could be mentally failing.

"Fairplay only gives him two hundred."

"Fairplay only gave him ten, in the beginning," said Hilary.

"You come here two days before the convention and tell me Crewe has
three hundred and fifty!" Mr. Flint exclaimed, as though Hilary Vane
were personally responsible for Mr. Crewe's delegates. A very different
tone from that of other times, when conventions were mere ratifications
of Imperial decrees. "Do you realize what it means if we lose control?
Thousands and thousands of dollars in improvements--rolling stock,
better service, new bridges, and eliminations of grade crossings. And
they'll raise our tax rate to the average, which means thousands more.
A new railroad commission that we can't talk to, and lower
dividends--lower dividends, do you understand? That means trouble with
the directors, the stockholders, and calls for explanations. And what
explanations can I make which can be printed in a public report?"

"You were always pretty good at 'em, Flint," said Hilary.

This remark, as was perhaps natural, did not improve the temper of the
president of the Northeastern.

"If you think I like this political business any better than you do,
you're mightily mistaken," he replied. "And now I want to hear what plan
you've got for the convention. Suppose there's a deadlock, as you
say there will be, how are you going to handle it? Can you get a deal
through between Giles Henderson and Adam Hunt? With all my other work,
I've had to go into this myself. Hunt hasn't got a chance. Bascom and
Botcher are egging him on and making him believe he has. When Hunt gets
into the convention and begins to fall off, you've got to talk to him,
Vane. And his delegates have all got to be seen at the Pelican the
night before and understand that they're to swing to Henderson after two
ballots. You've got to keep your hand on the throttle in the convention,
you understand. And I don't need to impress upon you how grave are the
consequences if this man Crewe gets in, with public sentiment behind
him and a reactionary Lower House. You've got to keep your hand on the
throttle."

"That's part of my business, isn't it?" Hilary asked, without turning
his head.

Mr. Flint did not answer, but his eye rested again on his counsel's
face.

"I'm that kin