A Gentleman from Mississippi - Thomas A. Wise
"Come, Stevens, let him do what he will. We cannot stay here to be
insulted by the ravings of a madman," cried the Pennsylvanian. But he
brought his associate to a standstill midway to the door. "By the way,
Langdon, what is it you are going to do in the Senate this afternoon?"
he asked, "You said you were going to make us honest against our will.
You know you can't do anything."
Bud Haines turned his face toward the speaker and grinned broadly, to
the Senator's intense discomfort.
"I'll do more than that," announced Langdon, rising and pounding a
fist into his open hand. "I'll make you and Stevens more popular than
you ever were in your lives before."
"Bah!" shouted Peabody.
"I'll do even more yet. I'm going to make you generous--patriots. And,
I regret to say, I'll give you the chance to make the hits of your
careers."
The polished hypocrites looked at him, too astonished to move.
"How? What?" they gasped.
Swept on by his own enthusiasm and the force of his own courageous
honesty, the voice of the Southerner rose to oratorical height.
"This afternoon," he exclaimed, "when the naval base committee makes
its report, I will rise in my place and declare that for once in the
history of the Senate men have been found who place the interests of
the Government they serve above any chance of pecuniary reward. These
men are the members of the naval base committee.
"With this idea in view, realizing that dishonest men would try to
make money out of the Government, these members of the naval base
committee, after they settled on Altacoola, went out quietly and
secured control of all the land that will be needed for the naval
base, and these men secured this at a very nominal figure. Now they
are ready to turn over their land to the Government at exactly what
they paid for it, without a cent of profit.
"Then they're going to sit up over there in that Senate. They're going
to realize that a new kind of politics has arrived in Washington--the
kind that I and lots of others always thought there was here.
"And, gentlemen"--he advanced on his colleagues triumphantly--"when
I, Senator Langdon of Mississippi, your creation in politics, have
finished that speech, I dare one of you to get up and deny a word!"
"The boss of the Senate" and his satellite were dumfounded. Firmly
believing that Langdon could find no way to pass the bill for
Altacoola and yet spoil their crooked scheme, they were totally
unprepared for any such denouement. To think that a simple,
old-fashioned planter from the cotton fields of Mississippi could
originate such a plan to outwit the two ablest political tricksters in
the Senate!
Langdon eyed his colleagues triumphantly.
Peabody, however, was thinking quickly. He was never beaten until the
last vote was counted on a roll call. He knew that, no matter how
apparently insurmountable an opposition was, a way to overcome it
might often be found by the man who exercises strong self-control and
a trained brain. This corrupt victor in scores of bitter political
engagements on the battlefield of Washington was now in his most
dangerous mood. He would marshal all his forces. The man to defeat him
now must defeat the entire Senate machine and the allies it could gain
in an emergency; he must overcome the power of Standard Steel; he must
fight the resourceful brain of the masterful Peabody himself.
Peabody whispered to Stevens, "We must pretend to be beaten,"
[Illustration: "AFTER I HAVE FINISHED I DARE ONE OF YOU TO DENY A
WORD!"]
Then the Pennsylvanian advanced, smiling, to Langdon and held out his
hand.
"Senator Langdon," he said, "I'm beaten. You've beaten the leader of
the Senate, something difficult to believe. What's more, you've given
me the chance of a lifetime to become known as a public benefactor. As
soon as you've finished your speech in the Senate I will get up and
make another one--to second yours. Here's my hand. Anything you may
ever want out of Peabody in the future shall be yours for the asking."
Langdon refused to grasp the proffered hand.
Senator Stevens made a show of protesting against his superior's
seeming surrender.
"But," he objected, "look here--"
Peabody turned upon him instantly.
"Oh, shut up, Stevens; don't be a fool. Come on in. The water's fine."
The pair of schemers, with Norton at their heels, turned away.
The Pennsylvanian drew Stevens into committee room 6 and, ordering the
stenographer to leave, drew up chairs where both could sit, facing the
door.
"We've thrown dust in that old gander's eyes," whispered Peabody.
"It's now ten after 1. He is to be recognized to make his speech at
3:30. That gives us two hours and twenty minutes--"
"Yes, but for what?" asked Stevens, excitedly. "I've been trying
myself to think of something. What will you do--what _can_ you do?"
"The boss of the Senate" smiled patronizingly on the senior Senator
from Mississippi, as though amused and scornful of his limitations as
a strategist, as a tenacious fighter. Then his jaw set hard, and his
brows contracted.
"I will not do anything. I cannot do anything"--he hesitated a full
ten seconds--"but Jake Steinert can."
Stevens' hands twitched nervously.
"And," continued Peabody, "I'm expecting a 'phone call from him any
moment. I told him this morning that he might be able to make $1,000
before night if--"
The telephone bell at the desk interrupted him.
Peabody leaned over and eagerly clutched the receiver.
The senior Senator from Mississippi jerked himself to his feet. He
stood at a window and looked out over the roof tops of the city.
CHAPTER XXVII
MRS. SPANGLER GIVES A LUNCHEON
When Senators Peabody and Stevens had gone Langdon and Bud went over
the situation together and concluded that their opponents had no means
of defeating Langdon's program--that, after all, Peabody might really
have meant his words of surrender.
"But they might try foul play. Better stay right here in the Capitol
the rest of the day," suggested Bud.
Langdon scoffed at the idea.
Haines bustled away to get a few mouthfuls of lunch to fortify himself
for a busy afternoon--one that was going to be far busier than he
imagined.
The telephone bell rang at the Senator's desk. It was Mrs. Spangler's
voice that spoke.
"Senator Langdon," she said, "Carolina and Hope Georgia are here at my
home for luncheon, and we all want you to join us."
"Sorry I cannot accept," answered the Mississippian, "but I am to make
an important speech this afternoon--"
"Oh, yes, I know. The girls and I are coming to hear it. But you have
two hours' time, and if you come we can all go over to the Senate
together. Now, Senator, humor us a little. Don't disappoint the girls
and me. We can all drive over to the Capitol in my carriage."
The planter hesitated, then replied: "All right. I'll be over, but it
mustn't be a very long luncheon."
"Gone to eat; back by 3 o'clock," he scratched quickly on a pad on the
secretary's desk, and departed.
Mrs. Spangler's luncheons were equally as popular in Washington as
Senator Langdon's dinners. The Mississippian and his daughters enjoyed
the delicacies spread lavishly before them.
Time passed quickly. The old planter enjoyed seeing his daughters
have so happy a time, and he was not insensible to the charm of his
hostess' conversation, for Mrs. Spangler had studied carefully the art
of ingratiating herself with her guests.
Suddenly realizing that he had probably reached the limit of the time
he could spare, the Senator drew out his watch.
"What a stunning fob you wear," quickly spoke Mrs. Spangler, reaching
out her hand and taking the watch from her guest's hands as the case
snapped open.
"Oh, that's Carolina's doings," laughed Langdon. "She said the old
gold chain that my grandfather left me was--"
"Why, how lovely," murmured Mrs. Spangler, glancing at the watch. "We
have plenty of time yet. Won't have to hurry. Your time is the same as
mine," she added, nodding her head toward a French renaissance clock
on the black marble mantel.
As the hostess did this she deftly turned back the hands of the
Senator's watch thirty-five minutes.
"Do you care to smoke, Senator," Mrs. Spangler asked, as her guests
concluded their repast, "if the young ladies do not object?"
Langdon inclined his head gratefully, and laughed.
"They wouldn't be Southern girls, I reckon, if they didn't want to
see a man have everything to make him happy--er, I beg pardon, Mrs.
Spangler, I mean, comfortable. Nobody that's your guest could be
unhappy."
The hostess beamed on the chivalrous Southerner.
Langdon drew forth a thick black perfecto and settled back luxuriously
in his chair, after another glance at Mrs. Spangler's clock. He was
absorbed in a mental resume of his forthcoming speech and did not hear
the next words of the woman, addressed pointedly to his daughters.
"Do you know, really, why this luncheon was given to-day?" she
queried. Then she continued before Carolina and Hope Georgia could
formulate replies:
"Because your father and I wanted to take this opportunity to announce
to you--our engagement."
The speaker smiled her sweetest smile.
The two girls gazed at each other in uncontrollable amazement, then at
Mrs. Spangler, then at their father, who had turned partly away from
the table and was gazing abstractedly at the ceiling.
Hope Georgia was the first to regain her voice.
"Oh, Mrs. Spangler," she ejaculated, "you are very kind to marry
father, but--"
"What's that?" exclaimed the Senator, roused from his thoughts by his
youngest daughter's words and thrusting himself forward.
Mrs. Spangler laid her hand on his arm.
"Oh, Senator, I have just told the dear girls that you had asked me to
marry you--that we were soon to be married," she said, archly, looking
him straight in the eye. She clasped her hands and murmured: "I am so
happy!"
The hero of Crawfordsville tried to speak, but he could not. He stared
at his hostess, who smiled the smile of the budding debutante. His own
open-mouthed astonishment was reflected in the faces of Carolina and
Hope Georgia as they observed their father's expression. He forgot he
was in Washington. He did not know he was a Senator. The fact that he
had ever even thought of making a speech was furthest from his mind.
What did it all mean? Had Mrs. Spangler gone suddenly insane? His
daughters--what did they think? These thoughts surged through his
flustered brain. Then it flashed over him--she was joking in some new
fashionable way. He turned toward the fair widow to laugh, but her
face was losing its smile. A pained expression, a suggestion of
intense suffering, appeared in her face.
"Why do you so hesitate, Senator Langdon?" she finally asked in low
voice, just loud enough for the two girls to overhear.
The junior Senator from Mississippi looked at his hostess. She had
entertained him and had done much for his daughters in Washington. She
was alone in the world--a widow. He felt that he could not shame her
before Carolina and Hope Georgia. His Southern chivalry would not
permit that. Then, too, she was a most charming person, and the
thought, "Why not--why not take her at her word?" crept into his mind.
"Yes, father, why do you hesitate?" asked Carolina.
Senator Langdon mustered his voice into service at last.
"I've been thinking," he said, slowly, "that--"
"That your daughters did not know," interrupted Mrs. Spangler, "of
our--"
"The telephone--upstairs--is ringing, madam," said a maid who had
entered to Mrs. Spangler.
The adventuress could not leave the Senator and his daughters alone,
though she knew it must be Peabody calling her. At any moment he might
remember his speech and leave. Already late, he would still be later,
though, because he would have no carriage--hers would purposely be
delayed.
"Tell the person speaking that you are empowered to bring me any
message--that I cannot leave the dining-hall," she said to the maid.
To gain time and to hold the Senator's attention, Mrs. Spangler asked,
slowly:
"Well, Senator, what was it that you were going to say when I
interrupted you a few moments ago?"
Langdon had been racking his brain for some inspiration that would
enable him to save the feelings of his hostess, and yet indicate his
position clearly. He would not commit himself in any way. He would
jump up and pronounce her an impostor first.
After a moment of silence his clouded face cleared.
"Mrs. Spangler," he began, "your announcement to-day I have considered
to be--"
"Premature," she suggested.
The maid returned.
"Mr. Wall says Senator Langdon is wanted at once at the Capitol."
"Great heavens!" exclaimed Langdon, springing to his feet and glancing
at the clock. "I'm late! I'm late! I hope to God I'm not too late!"
"Mr. Wall says a carriage is coming for Senator Langdon," concluded
the maid.
"We must talk this matter over some other time, Mrs. Spangler," the
Mississippian cried, as he sent a servant for his hat and coat. "I
hope that carriage hurries, else I'll try it on the run for the
Capitol!"
"It's a half hour away on foot," said Mrs. Spangler. "Better wait.
You'll save time."
But to herself she muttered, as though mystified:
"I wonder why Peabody changed his mind so suddenly? Why should he now
want the old fool at the Capitol?"
The rumble of wheels was heard outside.
"Hurry, father!" cried Hope Georgia.
The Senator hurried down the stone steps of Mrs. Spangler's residence
as rapidly as his weight and the excitement under which he labored
would permit. Opening the coach door, he plunged inside--to come face
to face with Bud Haines, who had huddled down in a corner to avoid
observance from the Spangler windows. The driver started his horses
off on a run.
Struggling to regain his breath, the Senator cried:
"Well, what are--"
"Never mind now. But first gather in all I say, Senator, as we've
no time to lose. When I couldn't locate you and I saw you probably
wouldn't be at the Senate chamber in time to make your speech on the
naval base bill, I persuaded Senator Milbank of Arkansas to rise and
make a speech on the currency question, which subject was in order.
He was under obligation to me for some important information I once
obtained for him, and he consented to keep the floor until you
arrived, though he knew he would earn the vengeance of Peabody. That
was over an hour and a half ago. He must be reading quotations from
'Pilgrim's Progress' to the Senate by now to keep the floor."
Bud paused to look at his watch.
The Senator stretched his head out of the window and cried: "Drive
faster!"
"Got your speech all right?" called Bud above the din of the rattling
wheels.
"Yes, here," was the response, the Senator tapping his inner breast
pocket.
"Thought maybe she--" cried Bud, jerking his head back in the
direction from which they had come.
The Mississippian shook his head negatively, and set his jaws
determinedly.
The coach swung up to the Capitol entrance.
"Tell me," asked Langdon, as both jumped out, "how did you find out
that--"
"I 'phoned the house--gave a name Peabody uses--"
"Great heavens! but how did you know where to 'phone?"
They were at the door of the Senate chamber.
"Norton gave me the tip--for your sake and Carolina's--for old times'
sake, he said," was Bud's reply.
CHAPTER XXVIII
ON THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE
Too much occupied in concentrating his thoughts on his speech, Langdon
failed to notice the consternation on the faces of Peabody and Stevens
as he walked to his seat in the Senate. They had failed to succeed in
getting Milbank to conclude, and consequently could not push the naval
base report through. But they noted the passing of over an hour after
their opponent's appointed time and had felt certain that he would not
appear at all.
"The boss of the Senate" leaned across to Stevens and whispered,
hurriedly:
"We must tear him to pieces now--discredit him publicly. It's his own
fault. Our agents can sell the land to Standard Steel. Our connection
with the scheme will be impossible to discover--after we have made the
public believe Langdon is a crook."
"But how about our supposed combination to protect the Government
that Langdon will tell about?" asked Stevens. "We can't deny that, of
course."
"No," answered Peabody. "We can't deny it, but we will not affirm it.
We will tell interviewers that we prefer not to talk about it."
"It's our only chance," replied Stevens, cautiously.
"Yes; and we owe it all to Jake Steinert," went on Peabody. "That
fellow Telfer will do anything to please Jake. Jake has convinced
Telfer that Langdon was responsible for the defeat of Gulf City, and
the Mayor is wild for revenge."
"The boss of the Senate" rose and walked to the rear of the Senate
chamber to issue orders to two of his colleagues.
"Report of the committee on naval affairs." droned the clerk,
mechanically. "House Bill No. 1,109 is amended to read as follows--"
And his voice sank to an unintelligible mumble, for every Senator
present he well knew was aware that the amendment named Altacoola as
the naval base site.
Senator Langdon rose in his seat.
"Mr. President," he called.
"Chair recognizes the gentleman from Mississippi," said the presiding
officer, as he leaned back to speak to Senator Winans of Kansas, who
had approached to the side of the rostrum.
The Langdon speech on "The New South and the South of the Future"
proved more than a document suited only to a reverent burial in the
_Congressional Record_. Although wearied at the start owing to the
exciting happenings of the day, the Mississippian's enthusiasm for his
cause gave him strength and stimulation as he progressed. His voice
rose majestically as he came to the particular points he wished to
accentuate, and even those in the uppermost rows in the galleries
could hear every word.
At the close of his formal speech he began on his statement of the
action of the naval affairs committee in buying control of the
Altacoola land to foil attempts to rob the Government. As he had
predicted, the Senate did "sit up." The Senate did agree that a new
kind of politics had arrived.
During this latter part of the speech many curious glances were
directed at Peabody and Stevens, who sat in the same tier of seats, in
the middle of the chamber, only an aisle separating them. Through
this choice of seats they could confer without leaving their places.
Various senatorial associates of these two men in other deals found
it difficult to believe their ears--but was not old Langdon at this
moment narrating the amazing transaction on the floor of the Senate?
Would the statue on the pedestal step down? Would the sphinx of the
desert speak the story of the lost centuries? Would honor take the
place of expediency in the affairs of state? What might not happen,
thought the Senate machine, now that Peabody and Stevens had taken to
their bosoms what they termed the purple pup of political purity?
Neither did the full portent of the situation escape the attention
of the reporters' gallery. Dick Cullen observed to Hansel of the
_Record_:
"Virtue's getting so thick around here it's a menace to navigation."
"Blocking the traffic, eh?" queried Hansel; and both laughed.
"Hello! What's this?" exclaimed Cullen a few minutes later. "Horton
has been recognized, when the program was to adjourn when the naval
base bill was over with."
Langdon's speech had proved the hit, the sensation of the session.
After he concluded, amid resounding applause, in which Senators
joined, as well as occupants of the galleries, Senator Horton of
Montana rose and caught the presiding officer's eye.
"I ask unanimous consent to offer a resolution."
Hearing no objection, he continued, in a manner that instantly
attracted unusual attention:
"It is my unpleasant duty"--Peabody and Stevens exchanged glances--"to
place a matter before this body that to me, as a member of this
honorable body, is not only distasteful, but deeply to be regretted.
"There has arisen ground to suspect a member of this body with having
endeavored to make money at the Government's expense out of land which
he is alleged to have desired his own committee to choose as the naval
base.
"I therefore offer this resolution providing for the appointment of an
investigating committee to look into these charges."
Langdon was intensely excited over this new development. "Some one has
learned something about Peabody or Stevens," he muttered. He feared
that this new complication might in some way affect the fate of the
naval base--that the South, and Mississippi, might lose it. He rose
slowly in his seat, while the Senate hummed with the murmur of
suppressed voices.
"I ask for more definite information," he began, when recognized
and after the President of the Senate had pounded with the gavel to
restore quiet, "so that this house can consider this important matter
more intelligently."
Senator Horton rose. He said:
"I will take the liberty of adding that the Senator accused is none
other than the junior Senator from Mississippi."
Langdon's eyes blazed. He strode swiftly into the aisle.
"Mr. President," he cried, passionately, "I know this is not the time
or place for a discussion like this, but ask that senatorial courtesy
permit me to ask"--then he concluded strongly before he could be
stopped--"what is the evidence in support of this preposterous
charge?"
"This is all out of order," said the presiding officer, after a pause,
"but in view of the circumstances I will entertain a motion to suspend
the rules."
This motion passing, Horton replied to Langdon:
"Your name is signed to a contract with J.D. Telfer, Mayor of Gulf
City, Miss., calling for 3,000 shares in the Gulf City Land Company,
and--"
"A lie! a lie!" screamed Langdon.
"That official," went on Horton, coolly, "is now in Washington. He
has the contract and will swear to conversations with you and your
secretary. His testimony will be corroborated by no less a personage
than Congressman Norton, of your own district, who says you asked him
to conduct part of the negotiations.
"And I might add," cried Horton, "that it is known to more than one
member of this honorable body that you had drawn up a minority report
in favor of Gulf City because of your anger at the defeat of your plan
to lake the naval base away from Altacoola."
Langdon sank into his chair, bewildered, even stunned. There was a
conspiracy against him, but how could he prove it? The ground seemed
crumbling from under him--not even a straw to grasp. Then the old
fighting blood that carried him along in Beauregard's van tugged at
the valves of his heart, revived his spirit, ran through his veins. He
leaped to his feet.
A sound as of a scuffle--a body falling heavily--drew all eyes from
Langdon to the rear of the main aisle. An assistant sergeant-at-arms
was lying face downward on the carpet. Another was vainly trying to
hold Bud Haines, who, tearing himself free, rushed down to his chief,
waving a sheet of paper in the Senator's eyes.
"Read that!" gasped the secretary, breathlessly, and he hurried away
up a side passageway and out to reach the stairs leading to the press
gallery.
Langdon spread the paper before him with difficulty with his trembling
hands. Slowly his whirling brain gave him the ability to read. Slowly
what appeared to him as a jumbled nothing resolved into orderly lines
and words. He read and again stood before the Senate, which had
regained its usual composure after the fallen sergeant-at-arms had
regained his feet and rubbed his bruises.
"I do not think there will be any investigation," he said, with
decided effort, struggling to down the emotion that choked him. "I ask
this house to listen to the following letter:
"DEAR SENATOR LANGDON: When you receive this letter I shall be
well on my way to take a steamer for Cuba. I write to ask you not
to think too harshly of me, for I will always cherish thoughts of
the friendship you have shown me.
"Peabody and Stevens have finally proved too much for me. When
they got old Telfer to swear to a forged contract and wanted me to
forge your name in the land records at Gulf City, I threw up my
hands. Their game will always go on, I suppose, but you gave them
a shock when you broke up their Altacoola graft scheme. And I'm
glad you did They cast me aside to-day, probably thinking they
could get me again if they needed me.
"I am going on the sugar plantation of a friend, where I can make
a new start and forget that I ever went to Washington."
Langdon paused deliberately. The Senate was hushed. The galleries were
stifled. Not even the rustle of a sheet of paper was heard in the
reporters' gallery. The Mississippian gazed around the Senate chamber.
He saw Stevens and Peabody craning their necks across the aisle and
talking excitedly to each other.
Then he stepped forward and spoke, waving the paper in the air.
"This letter is signed 'Charles Norton.'"
The old Southerner gazed triumphantly at the men who had sought to
destroy him. It was with difficulty that the presiding officer could
hammer down the burst of handclapping that arose from the galleries.