legislation, and defend the liberties of the people
by force of the oratorical gifts which he possessed.
Elton had referred to these gifts in complimentary
terms. Was it not reasonable to infer that Elton
would be inclined to promote his political fortunes?
Such an ally would be invaluable, for Elton was a
growing power in the industrial development of the
section of the country where they both lived.
He had continued to find him friendly in spite of
his own antagonism on the public platform to corporate
power. A favorite and conscientious hope in his
political outlook was that he might be able to make
capital as well as labor believe him to be a friend
without alienating either; that he might obtain support
at the polls from both factions, and thus be left free
after election to work out for their mutual advantage
appropriate legislation. He had avowed himself
unmistakably the champion of popular principles in
order to win the confidence of the common people, but
his policy of reasonable conciliation led him to cast
sheep’s eyes at vested interests when he could
do so without exposing himself to the charge of inconsistency.
Many of his friends were wealthy men, and his private
ambition was to amass a handsome fortune. That
had been the cause of his speculative ventures in
local enterprises which promised large returns, and
in the stock market. Horace Elton was a friend
of but three years’ standing; one of the men
who had consulted him occasionally in regard to legal
matters since he had become a corporation attorney.
He admired Elton’s strong, far-reaching grasp
of business affairs, his capacity to formulate and
incubate on plans of magnitude without betraying a
sign of his intentions, and his power to act with
lightning despatch and overwhelming vigor when the
moment for the consummation of his purposes arrived.
He also found agreeable Elton’s genial, easy-going
ways outside of business hours, which frequently took
the form of social entertainment at which expense
seemed to be no consideration and gastronomic novelties
were apt to be presented. Lyons attended one of
these private banquets while in Washington—a
dinner party served to a carefully chosen company
of public men, to which newspaper scribes were unable
to penetrate. This same genial, easy-going tendency
of Elton’s to make himself acceptable to those
with whom he came in contact took the form of a gift
to Mrs. Lyons of a handsome cameo pin which he presented
to her a day or two after their dialogue at the President’s
reception, and for which, as he confidentially informed
Selma, he had been seeking a suitable wearer ever
since he had picked it up in an out-of-the-way store
in Brussels the previous summer.
On the day of their departure Selma, as she took a last look from the car window at the Capitol and the Washington Monument, said to her husband: “This is a beautiful city—worthy in many respects of the genius of the American people—but I never wish to return to Washington until you are United States Senator.”