year's nomination and to speak of him as if he were out
of the running. He was spending the hot months on the Jersey coast, the
flatterers still swarming about him and still assiduous, but their
flatteries falling upon ever deafer ears as his mind rivetted upon the
hair-suspended sword. In early September he invited me to visit him--my
first invitation of that kind in two years and a half. We had three
interviews before he could nerve himself to brush aside the barriers
between him and me.

"I am about to get together my friends with a view to next year," said
he through an uneasy smile. "What do you think of the prospects?"

"What do your friends say?" I asked.

"Oh, of course, I am assured of a renomination--" He paused, and his
look at me made the confident affirmation a dubious question.

"Yes?" said I.

"And--don't you think my record has made me strong?" he went on
nervously.

"Strong--with whom?" said I.

He was silent. Finally he laid his hand on my knee--we were taking the
air on the ocean drive. "Harvey," he said, "I can count on you?"

I shook my head. "I shall take no part in the next campaign," I said. "I
shall resign the chairmanship."

"But I have selected you as my chairman. I have insisted on you. I can't
trust any one else. I need others, I use others, but I trust only you."

I shook my head. "I shall resign," I repeated. "What's the matter--won't
Goodrich take the place?"

He looked away. "I have not seriously thought of any one but you," he
said reproachfully.

I happened to know that the place had been offered to Goodrich and that
he had declined it, protesting that I, a Western man, must not be
disturbed when the West was vital to the party's success. "My resolution
is fixed," said I.

A long silence, then: "Sayler, have you heard anything of an attempt to
defeat me for the nomination?"

"Goodrich has decided to nominate Governor Ridgeway of Illinois," said
I.

He blanched and had to moisten his dry, wrinkled lips several times
before he could speak. "A report of that nature reached me last
Thursday," he went on. "For some time I have been perplexed by the
Ridgeway talk in many of our organs. I have questioned Goodrich about
it--and--I must say--his explanations are not--not wholly satisfactory."

I glanced at him and had instantly to glance away, so plainly was I
showing my pity. He was not hiding himself from me now. He looked old
and tired and sick--not mere sickness of bod