The gentlemen retired. "Come, Mr. Dale, let us go."

This President had been accused of a lack of dignity. Is it a less valuable
trait which puts the John Dales of our land at instant ease in the
"State Dining-Room" of the White House?

"Well, sir, no man ever had a better friend than Judge Long," said
the President when they were seated. "'Ves' Long, I mean," he added
with a smile.

"I met him in the West; he had a ranch; mine was near it. We saw
much of each other; we hunted together--and that's where you learn
a man's mettle. He never complained of dogs, luck, or weather.
We saw rough times; it was glorious. We'd wake up with snow on the bed,
and when 'Ves' introduced me at Point Elizabeth in my first campaign
he said we often found rabbit tracks on the quilts--but then 'Ves' had a
remarkable eye.

"Some say, 'blood is thicker than water.' That depends somewhat on
the quality of the water; I like him; there's nothing I wouldn't do
for him!"

Dale grew suddenly sick at heart. If Long had only come! Recalling
his discouraging words, a shadow crept over the old man's mind.
Could it be possible he had not tried the month before?

Such misgivings soon vanished. "This is a trying office, Mr. Dale.
With all my feelings I had to hold in abeyance the only favor he ever
asked; it was about a pardon in a murder case over thirty-five years
ago. He said it was the most cruel case of circumstantial evidence in