He laughed. The matter under discussion was the cotton-goods schedule of the new tariff bill, about which really he knew a little; his wife placed every temptation to knowledge before him, even inspiring Senator Smith to ask him to defend that schedule against the low-tariff advocate.
Mary Cresswell worked with redoubled energy, and for nearly a week Harry stayed at home nights and studied. Thanks to his wife the speech was unusually informing and well put, and the fact that a prominent free-trader spoke the same afternoon gave it publicity, while Mr. ¬ÝEasterly saw to the press despatches.
Cresswell subscribed to a clipping-bureau and tasted the sweets of dawning notoriety, and Mrs. ¬ÝCresswell arranged a select dinner-party which included a cabinet officer, a foreign ambassador, two millionaires, and the leading Southern Congressmen.
The talk came around to the failure of the Senate to confirm Mr. ¬ÝVanderpool, and it was generally assumed that the President would not force the issue.
Who, then, should be nominated? There were several suggestions, but the knot of Southern Congressmen about Mrs. ¬ÝCresswell declared emphatically that it must be a Southerner. Not since the war had a prominent Southerner represented America at a first-class foreign court; it was shameful; the time was ripe for change. But who? Here opinions differed widely. Nearly everyone mentioned a candidate, and those who did not seemed to refrain from motives of personal modesty.
Mary Cresswell sped her departing guests with a distinct purpose in mind. She must make herself leader of the Southern set in Washington and concentrate its whole force on the appointment of Harry Cresswell as ambassador to France. Quick reward and promotion were essential to Harry’s success. He was not one to keep up the strain of effort a long time. Unless, then, tangible results came and came quickly, he was liable