ed. It was ridiculous,
pitiable.

"Come, Mr. Sluss," said Cowperwood, amiably, "cheer up. Things are not
nearly as desperate as you think. I give you my word right now that
nothing which you yourself, on mature thought, could say was unfair
will be done. You are the mayor of Chicago. I am a citizen. I merely
wish fair play from you. I merely ask you to give me your word of
honor that from now on you will take no part in this fight which is one
of pure spite against me. If you cannot conscientiously aid me in what
I consider to be a perfectly legitimate demand for additional
franchises, you will, at least, not go out of your way to publicly
attack me. I will put these letters in my safe, and there they will
stay until the next campaign is over, when I will take them out and
destroy them. I have no personal feeling against you--none in the
world. I do not ask you to sign any ordinance which the council may
pass giving me elevated-road rights. What I do wish you to do at this
time is to refrain from stirring up public sentiment against me,
especially if the council should see fit to pass an ordinance over your
veto. Is that satisfactory?"

"But my friends? The public? The Republican party? Don't you see it is
expected of me that I should wage some form of campaign against you?"
queried Sluss, nervously.

"No, I don't," replied Cowperwood, succinctly, "and, anyhow, there are
ways and ways of waging a public campaign. Go through the motions, if
you wish, but don't put too much heart in it. And, anyhow, see some
one of my lawyers from time to time when they call on you. Judge
Dickensheets is an able and fair man. So is General Van Sickle. Why
not confer with them occasionally?--not publicly, of course, but in
some less conspicuous way. You will find both of them most helpful."

Cowperwood smiled encouragingly, quite beneficently, and Chaffee Thayer
Sluss, his political hopes gone glimmering, sat and mused for a few
moments in a sad and helpless quandary.

"Very well," he said, at last, rubbing his hands feverishly. "It is
what I might have expected. I should have known. There is no other
way, but--" Hardly able to repress the hot tears now burning beneath
his eyelids, the Hon. Mr. Sluss picked up his hat and left the room.
Needless to add that his preachings against Cowperwood were permanently
silenced.

Chapter XLV

Changing Horizons

The effect of all this was to arouse in Cowperwood