“Hear! hear!” he shouted.  “All you earnest citizens come vote for Reformer Haines.  I’m for you, Bud.  What do I get in your cabinet?  I’ve joined the reformers, too, and, like all of them, me for P-U-R-I-T-Y as long as she gives me a meal ticket.”

But not even Cullen could make Haines consider his views on the necessity of political regeneration to be ridiculous.  His optimism could not be snuffed out, for he was a genuine believer that the natural tendency of humankind was to do right.  Wrong he believed to be the outcome of unnatural causes.  This quality, combined with his practical knowledge of the world and his courage, made him a formidable man, one who would one day accomplish big things—­if he got the chance.

“You know you can’t shut me up, Dick,” was his response to Cullen’s oratorical flight.  “I’m going to have my say.  I don’t see why a Senator shouldn’t be honest.  All I want them to do is to play a new game.  Let ’em at least seem to be honest, attend to their business, forget politics.  The country sends them here to work, and if they do the work the people really don’t care a hang what party they belong to.”

“Come out of it, Bud.  Your brain is wabbly,” yawned Cullen, wearily.  “I’ll buy a drink if you’ll quiet down.  Let’s be comfortable till this fellow Langdon appears.”  He caught his friend by the arm and in spite of protest dragged him off to the cafe just as young Langdon and Congressman Norton came down through the lobby.

Though but few years older than Randolph Langdon, Charles Norton had long exercised strong influence over him because of his wider experience in the world’s affairs.  Like his father, young Langdon had stayed close to the plantation most of his life, particularly after leaving school, devoting his attention to studying the business of conducting the family’s big estate.  Norton brought him the atmosphere of the big outside world he yearned to see even as did his sister Carolina, and he imitated Norton’s manners, his dress and mode of speech.  The Congressman’s habit of confiding in Randolph, a subtle compliment, was deeply appreciated by the lad, who unconsciously became a continual advertiser of Norton’s many virtues to Carolina and to his father, all of which the Congressman knew.

That Norton’s political career was the outcome of Carolina Langdon’s ambition to shine in gay society was known to his friends as well as his family, and his desire to win her and place her where she could satisfy every whim had developed almost to a frenzy.  Seeing evidences of Senator Stevens’ vast influence, he did not hesitate to seek a close relationship with him, and the Senator was clever enough to lead Norton to consider him his friend.