cle's hand and pressed it
hard between his own. At this affectionate greeting the Senator's voice
failed him, and he had difficulty in keeping back his tears.

"If your father were only here now, God rest his soul this day," he
said. "How he loved you. Often an' often he said to me that his
happiness would be complete if he lived to see you a man. He died, but I
live to see it, an' to welcome you back to your own. The Dillons are
dying out. You're the only one of our family with the family name.
What's the use o' tellin' you how glad we are that Californy didn't
swallow you up forever."

Arthur thanked him fervently, and complimented him on his political
honors. The Senator beamed with the delight of a man who finds the value
of honors in the joy which they give his friends.

"Yes, I've mounted, Artie, an' I came by everything I have honest.
You'll not be ashamed of me, boy, when you see where I stand outside.
But there's one thing about politics very hard, the enemy don't spare
you. If you were to believe all that's said of me by opponents I'm
afraid you wouldn't shake hands with me in public."

"I suppose they bring up the prize-fighting," said Arthur. "You ought to
have told them that no one need be ashamed to do what many a Roman
emperor did."

"Ah," cried the Senator, "there's where a man feels the loss of an
education. I never knew the emperors did any ring business. What a
sockdologer it would have been to compare myself with the Roman
emperors."

"Then you've done with fighting, uncle?"

There was regret in his tone, for he felt the situation would have been
improved if the Senator were still before the public as a gladiator.

"I see you ain't lost none o' your old time deviltry, Artie," he replied
good-naturedly. "I gave that up long ago, an' lots o' things with it.
But givin' up has nothin' to do with politics, an' regular all my sins
are retailed in the papers. But one thing they can never say: that I was
a liar or a thief. An' they can't say that I ever broke my word, or
broke faith with the people that elected me, or did anything that was
not becoming in a senator. I respect that position an' the honor for all
they're worth."

"And they can never say," added Arthur, "that you were afraid of any man
on earth, or that you ever hurt the helpless, or ever deserted a friend
or a soul that was in need."

The Senator flushed at the unexpected praise and the sincerity of the
tone. He was anxious to jus