"There's no use waiting any longer," the Senator was saying as they
got in. "We're as strong now as we're going to be. It's a matter of
Stacy's vote, and that's a matter of who sees him last."

Freckles widened out his ears and gauged the elevator for very slow
running. Stacy had been written up in the papers as a wabbler on the
Kelley Bill.

"He's all right now," pursued the Senator, "but there's every chance
that Ludlow will see him before he casts his vote this afternoon,
and then--oh, I don't know!" and with a weary little flourish of his
hands the Senator stepped off.

Freckles McGrath sat wrapped in deep thought. The Kelley Bill was
coming up in the Senate that afternoon. If Senator Stacy voted for
it, it would pass. If he voted against it, it would fail. He would
vote for it if he didn't see Mr. Ludlow; he wouldn't vote for it if
he did. That was the situation, and the Governor's whole future,
Freckles felt, was at stake.

The bell rang sharply, and he was vaguely conscious then that it had
been ringing before. In the next half-hour he was very busy taking
down the members of the Legislature. Strangely enough, Senator Stacy
and the Governor went down the same trip, and Freckles beamed with
approbation when, he saw them walk out of the building together.

Stacy was one of the first of the senators to return. Freckles sized
him up keenly as he stepped into the elevator, and decided that he
was still firm. But there was a look about Senator Stacy's mouth
which suggested that there was no use in being too sure of him.