Again the ponderous frame shook; again the mysterious look came into the
man's curious small eyes, and Harwood witnessed another seismic
disturbance in the bulk before him; then the Honorable Isaac Pettit grew
serious.

"You want some facts for a starter. Well, I guess a few facts don't hurt
in this business, providin' you don't push in too many of 'em."

He pondered for a moment, then went on, as though summarizing from a
biography:--

"Only child of the late Jeremiah Bassett, founder of Bassett's Bank. Old
Jerry was pure boiler plate; he could squeeze ten per cent interest out
of a frozen parsnip. He and Blackford Singleton sort o' divided things
up in this section. Jerry Bassett corralled the coin; Blackford rolled
up a couple of hundred thousand and capped it with a United States
senatorship. Mort's not forty yet; married only child of Blackford F.
Singleton--Jerry made the match, I guess; it was the only way he could
get Blackford's money. Mort prepared for college, but didn't go. Took
his degree in law at Columbia, but never practiced. Always interested in
politics; been in the state senate twelve years; two children, boy and
girl. I guess Mort Bassett can do most anything he wants to--you can't
tell where he'll land."

"But the next steps are obvious," suggested Harwood, encouragingly--"the
governorship, the United States Senate--ever onward and upward."

"Well, yes; but you never know anything from _him_. _We_ don't know, and
you might think we'd understand him pretty well up here. He declined to