His decease has cast a gloom over
the Capital, and the Senate adjourned promptly out of respect to the
memory of the departed statesman.'"

"What a dreadful thing!" Selma murmured.

"The ways of Providence are inscrutable," said Lyons. "No one could have
foreseen this public calamity." He poured out a glass of ice-water and
drank it feverishly.

"It's fortunate we have everything arranged to return to-morrow, for of
course you will be needed at home."

"Yes. Waiter, bring me a telegram."

"What are you going to do?"

"Communicate to Mrs. Calkins our sympathy on account of the death of her
distinguished husband."

"That will be nice," said Selma. She sat for some moments in silence
observing her husband, and spell-bound by the splendid possibility which
presented itself. She knew that Lyons's gravity and agitation were not
wholly due to the shock of the catastrophe. He, like herself, must be
conscious that he might become the dead Senator's successor. He poured
out and drained another goblet of ice-water. Twice he drew himself up
slightly and looked around the room, with the expression habitual to him
when about to deliver a public address. Selma's veins were tingling with
excitement. Providence had interfered in her behalf again. As the wife
of a United States Senator, everything would be within her grasp.

"James," she said, "we are the last persons in the world to fail in
respect to the illustrious dead, but--of course you ought to have
Senator Calkins's place."

Lyons looked at his wife, and his large lips trembled. "If the people of
my State, Selma, feel that I am the most suitable man for the vacant
senatorship, I shall be proud to serve them."

Selma nodded appreciatively. She was glad that her husband should
approach the situation with a solemn sense of responsibility.

"They are sure to feel that," she said. "It seems to me that you are
practically certain of the party nomination, and your party has a clear
majority of both branches of the Legislature."

Lyons glanced furtively about him before he spoke. "I don't see at the
moment, Selma, how they can defeat me."

CHAPTER X.

The body of Senator Calkins was laid to rest with appropriate ceremonies
in the soil of his native State, and his virtues as a statesman and
citizen were celebrated in the pulpit and in the public prints. On the
day following the funeral the contest for his place began in dead
earnest. There had been some quiet canv