Page:Despotism and democracy; a study in Washington society and politics (IA despotismdemocra00seawiala).pdf/309

 The Governor, taking out his handkerchief, coolly wiped the blood from his nose, and said:

"I don't care to engage in a fist fight with you. We can settle all our quarrels when the Legislature meets. You will need all your courage then."

When Crane returned to Washington, he went straight to Senator Bicknell and told him all.

"All right," replied the Senator, as Governor Sanders had said. "This is my fight now," and straightway the Senator took the midnight train for the State capital to pull off his coat and do yeoman's work for Crane, and incidentally for himself.

The month of December was bright and beautiful all the way through, and the sunshine lasted into January. Thorndyke thought he had not been so nearly happy for a long time. He saw Constance often, and she was beautifully kind to him. He scarcely went into society at all, and had the hardihood to decline an invitation to one of the Secretary of State's small dinners on the comprehensive excuse of "a previous engagement," which Mrs. Hill-Smith, who had invited him, did not believe in the least; and when she had plaintively men