ss man.
William had confided his plans to Lucien long ago, and had been
delighted with the real interest with which they had been received.
They often talked about them, and Lucien had even given some
suggestions that William had acted upon and found to be good. And one
day Lucien had completed his conquest of the coming comedian by a
simple remark. William, in a more than usual friendly outburst of
confidence, had built castles in the air, based on his conviction of
attaining success.

"And if," said Lucien, "you should become a famous and wealthy actor,
and have a theatre of your own--I--I----" he looked at William
wistfully.

"Yes, Lucien."

"Wouldn't it be nice if--if--I was architect enough to design it for
you? I--I would like----"

"Oh, Lucien!" That was all William said, but Lucien laughed happily.

CHAPTER XXVI

Jimmy Duggan, too, had been doing things during the years. In the
early days of his first session of the legislature Jimmy was regarded
as something of a joke by government and opposition sides alike, and by
the press of both parties. He was constantly referred to in the
newspapers as "Mr. Duggan, the People's Party," and when it came to
recording votes on various questions there was sure to be a note to the
effect that "The People's Party voted solidly" for or against the
proposal, or Bill, or amendment, as the case might be. And Jimmy
rather liked it. In the course of time he became thoroughly acquainted
with "all the boys" in the press gallery. The embarrassment of his
detachment from either of the straight political parties was a strong
factor in ripening his friendship with the "gallery," and very soon the
reporters began to welcome his advent to the writing room, a well-like
structure between the actual press gallery and one of the galleries
used by the public. For Jimmy had an amazing fund of stories, and knew
how to tell them, and he also knew that there were times when silence
was imperative, and on such occasions he smoked his pipe and marvelled
while the reporters turned out reams of copy for their newspapers.

To the leaders of the respective parties Jimmy was a real puzzle. They
made overtures to him, by proxy, of course. Far be it from any leader
of any political party to ever care one red cent whether an
independent, real or imitation, would consider throwing in his lot with
a party. Far be it, but--well, the overtures were made, and Jimmy
received the envoys