r have his
wife tell him in the more indirect and delicate way women have, that the
burden of the situation rested upon him, and that he ought to release
Sylvia? The candidate shrank from such a task; he could not meddle, even
when it was his own niece whom he wished to save, and there was another
thought, too, in the background which he strove honestly to keep out of
his mind; it was the old apprehension lest the "King" in his rage,
particularly when it was the candidate himself who took from him his
heart's desire, should rebel, or at least sulk and put the Mountain
States in the opposing column. It was no less true now than in the
Middle Ages that men disappointed in love some times did desperate
things, and "King" Plummer was a full-blooded, impulsive man.

Brooding much upon the question, a rare frown came to the face of Jimmy
Grayson, and stayed there so long that his followers noticed it, and
wondered much. They decided that it was the revolt within the party, and
did not disturb him, but his wife, more acute, knew that it was not
politics, and, sitting down beside him, waited silently until he should
speak, as she knew he would in time. A full hour passed thus, and
scarcely any one in the train uttered a word. The candidate gazed
gloomily out of the window, but he did not see the mountains and the
canons as they shot by. Most of the state politicians slept in their
seats, and the correspondents either wrote or communed with themselves.

Mr. Grayson rose at last, and, saying to his wife, "I should like a word
with you in private," led the way to the drawing-room. She followed,
knowing that he wished to speak of the trouble on his mind, and she made
a shrewd guess as to its nature.

"Anna, it is something that I have been trying to put away from me," he
said, when they were in the privacy of the drawing-room, "but it won't
stay away. I suppose I ought to have spoken to you of it some time ago,
but I could not make up my mind to do it."

She smiled a little.

"I, too, have been dreading the subject," she said, "if it is what I
think it is. You are going to speak of Sylvia, Mr. Plummer, and Mr.
Harley."

"Yes, Harley has a letter from Sylvia, and he will have more. She
doesn't want to write to him, but she will. The girl is breaking her
heart, and I am not sure that you and I are doing what we ought to do."

"And you do not think that Mr. Plummer would make a suitable husband for
her?"

She regarded him ke