directions regarding important work for the next day, Haines was
somewhat puzzled at the peculiar smile on the Senator's face.
Answering the secretary's look of inquiry, the Mississippian said:

"I've been told that I can name the new holder of a
five-thousand-dollar-a-year position in the Department of Commerce
and Labor, and that if I have no one in particular from my State to
name--that--that you would be a good man for the job. First I was
glad for your sake, my boy, for if you wanted it you could have the
position. But on thinking it over it seemed there might be something
behind it not showing on the surface."

"It's a trick," said Haines. "Who made the offer?"

"Senator Stevens."

"I might have known," hotly responded the secretary. "There's a crowd
that wants you and me separated. Thought this bait too much for me to
resist, did they?" Then he paused, rubbing his fingers through his
hair in a perplexed manner. "Strange, isn't it, Senator, that a man
of your party is offered this desirable piece of patronage, entirely
unsolicited on your part, from the administration of another, a
different political party? Especially when that other party has so
many hungry would-be 'tax eaters' clamoring to enter the 'land of milk
and honey.' I think Stevens deliberately--"

"There, there, Bud," broke in Langdon, "you mustn't say anything
against Senator Stevens to me. True, he associates with some folks I
don't approve of, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything wrong,
and I myself have always found him thoroughly honest."