A flavor of sarcasm came into Haines' reply.

"The office seeking the man?" He could not help the slight sneer. Was
a man never to admit that he had sought the office? Haines knew only
too well of the arduous work necessary to secure nominations for high
office in conventions and to win an election to the Senate from a
State Legislature. In almost every case, he knew, the candidate must
make a dozen different "deals" to secure votes, might promise the same
office to two or three different leaders, force others into line
by threats, send a trusted agent to another with a roll of bank
bills--the recipient of which would immediately conclude that this
candidate was the only man in the State who could save the nation from
destruction. Had not Haines seen men who had sold their unsuspecting
delegates for cash to the highest bidder rise in the convention hall
and in impassioned, dramatic voice exclaim in praise of the buyer,
"Gentlemen, it would be a crying shame, a crime against civilization,
if the chosen representatives of our grand old State of ---- did not
go on record in favor of such a man, such a true citizen, such an
inspired patriot, as he whose name I am about to mention"? So
the reporter may be forgiven for the ironical tinge in his hasty
interruption of the new Senator's remarks.

Langdon could not suppress a chuckle at the doubting note in Haines'
attitude.

"I think the man would be pretty small potatoes who wouldn't seek the
office of United States Senator, Mr. Haines," he said, "if he could
get it. When I was a young man, sir, politics in the South was a
career for a gentleman, and I still can't see how he could be better
engaged than in the service of his State or his country."