"I've been afraid of something like this," he said, "ever since I
began to realize that you had once been--er--foolish enough to
become even slightly acquainted with that adventuress, Mrs.
Ogleby. My advice is to fight, not to get in wrong by trying to
dicker, for that might amount to confession, and suit Dorgan's
purpose just as well. Photographs," he added sententiously, "are
like statistics. They don't lie unless the people who make them
do. But it's hard to tell what a liar can accomplish with either,
in an election. I--I don't know that I'd desert you--if the
pictures were true. I'd be sure there was some other explanation."

"I knew it," responded Carton heartily. "Your hand on that,
Kennedy. Say, I think I've shaken hands with half the male
population of this city since I was nominated, but this means more
than any of them. Spare no reasonable expense and--get the goods,
no matter whom it hits higher up--Langhorne--anybody. And, for
God's sake get it in time--there's more than an election that
hangs on it!"

Carton looked Kennedy squarely in the eye again, and we all
understood what it was he meant that was at stake. It might be
possible after all to gloss over almost anything and win the
election, but none of us dared to think what it might mean if Miss
Ashton not only suspected that Carton had been fraternizing with
the bosses but also that there had been or by some possibility
could be anything really in common between him and Mrs. Ogleby.

That, after all, I saw was the real question. How would Miss
Ashton take it? Could she ever forgive him if it were possible for
Langhorne to turn the tables and point with scorn at the man who