. He had not sought this honor, he
did not look for the nomination; his own small estimate of his powers
and importance, an estimate which gentlemen who heard him must be aware
of, was proof of it. But no man might set his inclinations against a
popular demand. Private preferences must yield, private plans must be
abandoned. The country was entitled to the services of every citizen,
the party was at liberty to command the name of every member. Believing
these things, and owing what he did to both public and party, Senator
Hanway must acquiesce. He thanked his friends for thus distinguishing
him; he gave himself passively to their will. There was a second tempest
of approbation when Senator Hanway was through.

Senator Gruff proposed the health of the President of the Anaconda. That
potentate of railways made a short, jerky oration. He gave his hearty
concurrence to the proposal of Senator Hanway to be President. He did
this as a patriot and not as the head of a great railway. The Anaconda
would take no part in politics; it never did. The Anaconda was a
business, not a political, concern; it would do nothing unbecoming a
corporation of discretion and repute. However, he, the President, was
more or less acquainted with sentiment in those regions threaded by the
Anaconda. He made no doubt, nay, he could squarely promise, that the
delegations from those States, as he knew and read their people's
feeling, would go to the next convention instructed for Senator Hanway.
More applause, and a buzz of congratulatory whispers. The powerful
Anaconda, that political dictator of a region so vast that it was washed
by two oceans, was to champion Senator Hanway.

Senator Coot, whose home-State was shaky beneath his Senate feet, and
who was therefore anxiously afraid lest he himself be committed to a
position on the perilous subject of finance that might provoke his
destruction, now addressed the table. He yielded to no one in his
admiration for Senator Hanway. In view of what had been proposed,
however, he, Senator Coot, would like to ask Senator Hanway to define
his position in that controversy of Silver versus Gold.

No one was looking for this, no such baleful curiosity had been
anticipated. It was Senator Gruff that came to the rescue, and Richard,
to whom the scene was new and full of interest, could not admire too
deeply the dexterity wherewith he held the shield of his humor between
Senator Hanway and the shaft of that interrog