that and gradually work up to a climax, and you'll have him going--and
all inside the law. Two dollars, please!'"

The Duke leaned back in his chair and nested his head in his big hands.
He gazed up meekly at his chafing grandson.

"Start in easy, bub, like that, and work up to your climax. I know just
how you feel!"

But just at that moment the chairman of the State Committee was laughing
too loudly for any dignified protest to be heard.

"For some reason, grandfather, you seem all at once to have taken me as
a subject for a practical joke," said the young man, stiffly. The
interlude had taken the sharp edge off his indignation, but he was still
bitter. "It may seem a joke to you. To me it seems insult and
persecution. I have attended to business, I've worked hard and made
money for both of us. To-day you've held me up before this section to be
laughed at by some and hated by the rest. I'm glad I've had half an hour
to think it over since I first heard about what happened in that caucus.
I won't say the things to you I intended to say. I'll simply say this:
I'm going to write a letter declining this nomination. I'm going to
publish that letter. And I'm going to say in that letter that I will
not take any office that isn't come at honestly."

"Harlan, sit down." His feet had been in one of the porch chairs. He
pushed it toward his grandson. The young man sat down.

"You don't know much about the practical end of politics, do you?"