practical or dishonest side of politics appealed to him. He was in
politics for all there was in it, and he saw in his lofty position
only a splendid opportunity for easy graft.

He did not hesitate to make such alliances with corporate
interests seeking influence at Washington as would enable him to
accomplish this purpose, and in this way he had met and formed a
strong friendship with John Burkett Ryder. Each being a master in
his own field was useful to the other. Neither was troubled with
qualms of conscience, so they never quarrelled. If the Ryder
interests needed anything in the Senate, Roberts and his followers
were there to attend to it. Just now the cohort was marshalled in
defence of the railroads against the attacks of the new Rebate
bill. In fact, Ryder managed to keep the Senate busy all the time.
When, on the other hand, the senators wanted anything--and they
often did--Ryder saw that they got it, lower rates for this one, a
fat job for that one, not forgetting themselves. Senator Roberts
was already a very rich man, and although the world often wondered
where he got it, no one had the courage to ask him.

But the Republican leader was stirred with an ambition greater
than that of controlling a majority in the Senate. He had a
daughter, a marriageable young woman who, at least in her father's
opinion, would make a desirable wife for any man. His friend Ryder
had a son, and this son was the only heir to the greatest fortune
ever amassed by one man, a fortune which, at its present rate of
increase, by the time the father died and the young couple were
ready to inherit, would probably amount to over _six billions of
dollars_. Could the human mind grasp the possibilities of such a
colossal fortune? It staggered the imagination. Its owner, or the