"I wonder," mused Hanley, "how much the place is worth? Hamilton,
one of the new senators, has been deviling the life out of me to
send his son somewhere. Says if he stays in Washington he'll
disgrace the family. I should think this place would drive any man
to drink himself to death in three months, and young Hamilton, from
what I've seen of him, ought to be able to do it in a week. That
would leave the place open for the next man."

"There's a postmaster in my State thinks he carried it." The
senator smiled grimly. "He has consumption, and wants us to give
him a consulship in the tropics. I'll tell him I've seen Porto
Banos, and that it's just the place for him."

The senator's pleasantry was not well received. But Miss Cairns
alone had the temerity to speak of what the others were thinking.

"What would become of Mr. Marshall?" she asked. The senator smiled
tolerantly.

"I don't know that I was thinking of Mr. Marshall," he said. "I
can't recall anything he has done for this administration. You see,
Miss Cairns," he explained, in the tone of one addressing a small
child, "Marshall has been abroad now for forty years, at the
expense of the taxpayers. Some of us think men who have lived that
long on their fellow-countrymen had better come home and get to
work."

Livingstone nodded solemnly in assent. He did not wish a post
abroad at the expense of the taxpayers. He was willing to pay for