aimed the senator, with a touch of eagerness he did not often
betray, "did you see Grant? How about your old soldier? He's one of the
most delightful characters I ever met--simple as a child," and he laughed
at the recollection. "That was a masterstroke of yours, Bass, putting him
under that tree with that pretty girl. I doubt if you ever did anything
better in your life. Did they tell you about it?"

"Yes," said Jethro, "they told me about it."

"And how about Grant? What did he say to you?"

"W-well, I went up there and sent in my card. D-didn't have to wait a
great while, as I was pretty early, and soon he came in, smokin' a black
cigar, head bent forward a little. D-didn't ask me to sit down, and what
talkin' we did we did standin'. D-didn't ask me what he could do for me,
what I wanted, or anything else, but just stood there, and I stood there.
F-fust time in my life I didn't know how to commerce or what to say;
looked--looked at me--didn't take his eye off me. After a while I got
started, somehow; told him I was there to ask him to appoint Ephraim
Prescott to the Brampton postoffice--t-told him all about Ephraim from
the time he was locked in the cradle--never was so hard put that I could
remember. T-told him how Ephraim shook butternuts off my fathers
tree--for all I know. T-told him all about Ephraim's war
record--leastways all I could call to mind--and, by Godfrey! before I got
through, I wished I'd listened to more of it. T-told him about Ephraim's
Wilderness bullets--t-told him about Ephraim's rheumatism,--how it
bothered him when he went to bed and when he got up again."

If Jethro had glanced at his companion, he would have seen the senator
was shaking with silent and convulsive laughter.

"All the time I talked to him I didn't see a muscle move in his face,"
Jethro continued, "so I started in again, and he looked--looked--looked
right at me. W-wouldn't wink--don't think he winked once while I was in
that room. I watched him as close as I could, and I watched to see if a
muscle moved or if I was makin' any impression. All he would do was to
stand there and look--look--look. K-kept me there ten minutes and never
opened his mouth at all. Hardest man to talk to I ever met--never see a
man before but what I could get him to say somethin', if it was only a
cuss word. I got tired of it after a while, made up my mind that I had
found one man I couldn't move. Then what bothered me was to get out of
that room. I