nate whenever Easterly could assure him of favorable action. Easterly
had long and satisfactory interviews with several senators, while the
Todd insurgents were losing heart at the prospect of choosing between
Vanderpool and Cresswell. At present four Southern votes were needed to
confirm Vanderpool; but if they could not be had, Easterly declared it
would be good politics to nominate Cresswell and give him Republican
support. Manifestly, then, Mrs. Vanderpool's task was to discredit the
Cresswells with the Southerners. It was not a work to her liking, but
the die was cast and she refused to contemplate defeat.

The result was that while Mrs. Cresswell was giving large and brilliant
parties to the whole Southern contingent, Mrs. Vanderpool was
engineering exclusive dinners where old New York met stately Charleston
and gossiped interestingly. On such occasions it was hinted not once,
but many times, that the Cresswells were well enough, but who was that
upstart wife who presumed to take social precedence?

It was not, however, until Mrs. Cresswell's plan for an all-Southern art
exhibit in Washington that Mrs. Vanderpool, in a flash of inspiration,
saw her chance. In the annual exhibit of the Corcoran Art Gallery, a
Southern girl had nearly won first prize over a Western man. The
concensus of Southern opinion was that the judgment had been unfair, and
Mrs. Cresswell was convinced of this. With quick intuition she
suggested a Southern exhibit with such social prestige back of it as to
impress the country.

The proposal caught the imagination of the Southern set. None suspected
a possible intrusion of the eternal race issue for no Negroes were
allowed in the Corcoran exhibit or school. This Mrs. Vanderpool easily
ascertained and a certain sense of justice combined in a curious way
with her political intrigue to bring about the undoing of Mary
Cresswell.

Mrs. Vanderpool's very first cautious inquiries by way of the back
stairs brought gratifying response--for did not all black Washington
know well of the work in sculpture done by Mrs. Samuel Stillings, _nee_
Wynn? Mrs. Vanderpool remembered Mrs. Stillings perfectly, and she
walked, that evening, through unobtrusive thoroughfares and called on
Mrs. Stillings. Had Mrs. Stillings heard of the new art movement? Did
she intend to exhibit? Mrs. Stillings did not intend to exhibit as she
was sure she would not be welcome. She had had a bust accepted by the
Corcoran Art Gallery