in town, these excellent officers lost no time
in presenting themselves at Mr. Gwynn's. To their joy that unbending
personage was so good as to grant them a personal audience. Richard was
present--such, as you have discovered, being the invariable usage with
Mr. Gwynn. After the latter had shaken each visitor by the hand, a shake
of mighty formality, he sat in state while Richard did the talking.

Mr. Gwynn was a spectacle of gravity when posed in a chair. He
established himself on the edge of that piece of furniture, and for all
the employment he gave its back it might as well have been a stool. Mr.
Gwynn maintained himself bolt-upright, chin pointed high, with a general
rigidity of attitude that made one fear he had swallowed the poker as a
preliminary to the interview, and was bearing himself in accordance with
the unyielding fact. The result was highly effective, and gave Mr. Gwynn
a kingly air not likely to be wasted on impressionable ones such as the
President and General Attorney. When the four were seated, Richard,
using the potential name of Mr. Gwynn, proceeded to speak, while Mr.
Gwynn at measured intervals creaked concurrence.

It had been decided by Mr. Gwynn, so Richard laid bare, that the future
of the Anaconda would be advanced by the nomination of Senator Hanway
for the Presidency. It would pleasure Mr. Gwynn were he to hear that the
President and General Attorney shared this conclusion. If such were the
flattering case, Mr. Gwynn would be delighted to have the President and
General Attorney call upon Senator Hanway, and consider what might be
done towards the practical furtherance of his hopes. In short, the
situation, word and argument, was precisely the same as when the
visitors came on in the affair of Speaker Frost. Incidentally, Mr. Gwynn
was to give a dinner in honor of Senator Hanway. It was understood that
certain of that statesman's friends would take advantage of the occasion
to announce his candidacy. The President and General Attorney were to be
invited to the dinner. Mr. Gwynn would esteem it an honor if they found
it convenient to be present and lend countenance to the movement in
Senator Hanway's favor.

Throughout this setting forth, the President and General Attorney took
advantage of pauses and periods to bow and murmur agreement with Mr.
Gwynn's opinions and desires as Richard reeled them off; the murmurs and
nods were as "Amens," and must have been gratifying to Mr. Gwynn.
Nothing