"Why, my dear," said Mrs. Whitson, "he positively feeds out of
your hand! And such a wild man he seemed!"
Margaret, in the highest of high spirits, laughed with pleasure.
"A good many," pursued Mrs. Whitson, "think you are throwing
yourself away for love. But as I size men up--and my husband says
I'm a wonder at it--I think he'll be biggest figure of all at one
end of Pennsylvania Avenue or the other. Perhaps, first one end,
then at the other."
"I'm glad to hear you say that," cried Margaret, with the keen
enthusiasm with which, in time of doubt, we welcome an ally to our
own private judgment. "But," she hastened to add, with veiled eye
and slightly tremulous lip, "I'm ready to take whatever comes."
"That's right! That's right!" exclaimed Mrs. Whitson, a tender and
dreamy sentimentalist except in her own affairs. "Love is best!"
"Love is best," echoed Margaret.
CHAPTER XIII
A MEMORABLE MEETING
In that administration the man "next" the President was his
Secretary of the Treasury, John Branch, cold and smooth and able,
secreting, in his pale-gray soul, an icy passion for power more
relentless than heat ever bred. To speak of him as unscrupulous
would be like attributing moral quality to a reptile.
Pages:
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192