rom him personally during the campaign, and announcing
their willingness to serve him if they could; and Churchill left the
hotel, contented with himself and with them. When he was gone, they
smiled and expressed to each other their satisfaction. In fifteen
minutes swift operators were sending Churchill's despatch eastward.

V

"KING" PLUMMER

Meanwhile the evening was proving of no less interest to Harley than to
Churchill, although in a quite different way. He had noticed, when they
parted at the hotel door, the apparent sadness, or, rather, the touch of
the pathetic in the manner of Miss Morgan, and he observed it again when
they were all reunited at the hotel table. Heretofore she had been
light, ironical, and bearing a full share in the talk, but now she
merely replied when spoken to directly, and her tone had the tinge of
melancholy. Mr. and Mrs. Grayson looked at her more than once, as if
they were about to refer to some particular subject, but always they
refrained; instead, they sought by light talk to divert attention from
her, and they succeeded in every case but that of Harley.

It was not a long dinner, and as they returned to the ladies' parlor
they were welcomed by a loud, joyous cry, and out of the dark of the
room a big man projected himself to greet them. His first words were for
Miss Morgan, whom he affectionately called "Little Girl," and whom he
seized by the hands and kissed on the forehead. It was a loud voice, but
round, full, and mellow, and Harley judged that it came from a big
nature as well as a big body.

When the man stepped into the light, Harley saw that he was over six
feet high, and with a width according. His broad face was covered with
short, iron-gray beard, and his head was thatched with hair equally
thick and of the same gray shade. In years he might have been fifty, and
it was Harley's first impression at this moment that the big man was
Miss Morgan's father--it came to him with a rather queer feeling that it
had never occurred to him to ask about her parents, whether they were
living or dead, and what kind of people they were or had been.

The stranger shook hands with Mr. and Mrs. Grayson, and expressed
vocally the pleasure that his eyes also conveyed. Harley and Hobart were
the only others present, and, turning to them, Mr. Grayson introduced
the stranger, Mr. William Plummer--"King Plummer, you know."

Then Harley remembered vaguely, and he began to place Mr. Pl