"Clever boy," said Stevens as the newspaper man disappeared.

The boss of the Senate agreed.

"Yes, only I'm not sure it's a good thing for a newspaper man to be
too clever. Spoils his usefulness. Makes him ask too many confounded
questions."

Stevens acquiesced, for it would never do to disagree with the boss.

"It's very kind of you, Senator," he began, changing the subject, "to
come with me to welcome the new Senator from my State, my old friend
and colleague."

An inscrutable smile--a smile, yet a cold one--accompanied Peabody's
answer.

"I have always found, Stevens," he said, "that a little attention
like this to a new man is never wasted, and I make it a rule not to
overlook opportunities."

Again the senior Senator from Mississippi acquiesced, and he laughed
heartily at Peabody's keen insight into human nature.

"I think you'll like Langdon," Stevens remarked after a pause, "and
you'll find him easy to deal with. Just put up any measure for the
benefit of the South and Langdon will go the limit on it. Even a
Republican majority doesn't mind a little Democratic support, you
know. I think he's just the man you can use in this gulf naval base