believed that his work for Langdon would win him the family's
gratitude and thus further his ambition to marry Carolina, the
planter's oldest daughter, whose beauty made her the recipient of many
attentions.

A complacent gleam shone in Norton's eyes as they swept over the
fertile acres of the plantation. He thought of the material interest
he might one day have in them if his suit for the hand of Carolina
progressed favorably. Suddenly his reverie was interrupted by the
voice of young Randolph Langdon, a spirited lad in his early twenties,
who had just been made plantation manager, by his father.

"Well, how is the honorable to-day?" said Randolph, approaching from
the doorway. "I didn't think a Congressman could be spared from
Washington but rarely, especially when the papers say the country
needs such a lot of saving."

"Oh, this 'saving the country' talk goes all right in the story
books," replied Norton, who exercised considerable influence over the
youth through a long acquaintanceship and by frequently taking him
into his confidence, "but this country can take pretty good care of
itself. In Congress we representatives put the job of saving it over
on the Senate, and the Senate hands back the job to us. So what's
everybody's business isn't anybody's; a fine scheme so long as we have
a President who keeps his hands off and doesn't--"

"But how about the speeches and the bills?" broke in Randolph. "I
thought--"

"Yes, yes; to be sure," the Congressman quickly added. "Nearly all of