e filled two years hence, and petty satraps from
far and near were visible at the hotel. If Bassett's star was declining
there was nothing to indicate it in the conduct of the advance guard. If
any change was apparent it pointed to an increase of personal
popularity. Bassett was not greatly given to loafing in public places;
he usually received visitors at such times in an upper room of the
hotel; but Harwood found him established on a settee in the lobby in
plain view of all seekers, and from the fixed appearance of the men
clustered about him he had held this position for some time. Harwood
drew into the outer edge of the crowd unnoticed for a moment. Bassett
was at his usual ease; a little cheerfuler of countenance than was his
wont, and yet not unduly anxious to appear tranquil. He had precipitated
one of the most interesting political struggles the state had ever
witnessed, but his air of unconcern before this mixed company of his
fellow partisans, among whom there were friends and foes, was well
calculated to inspire faith in his leadership. Some one was telling a
story, and at its conclusion Bassett caught Harwood's eye and called to
him in a manner that at once drew attention to the young man.

"Hello, Dan! You're back from the country all right, I see! I guess you
boys all know Harwood. You've seen his name in the newspapers!"

Several of the loungers shook hands with Harwood, who had cultivated the
handshaking habit, and he made a point of addressing to each one some
personal remark. Thus the gentleman from Tippecanoe, who had met Dan at
the congressional convention in Lafayette two years earlier, felt that
he must have favorably impressed Bassett's agent on that occasion; else
how had Harwood asked at once, with the most shameless flattery, whether
they still had the same brand of fried chicken at his house! And the
gentleman from the remote shores of the Lake, a rare visitor in town,
had every right to believe, from Dan's reference to the loss by fire of
the gentleman's house a year earlier, that that calamity had aroused in
Dan the deepest sympathy. Dan had mastered these tricks; it rather
tickled his sense of humor to practice them; but it must be said for him
that he was sincerely interested in people, particularly in these men
who played the great game. If he ever achieved anything in politics it
must be through just such material as offered itself on such occasions
as this in the halls of the Whitcomb.