can't help it. A great and just war would be met unflinchingly and
with all pride; but the prospect of this hysterical row between a bull
pup and a senile terrier fills us with impatience and disgust. The
President must feel that he is expiating all the sins of the human
race. The only man in the United States to be envied, so far, is the
Speaker of the House; it is almost a satisfaction to think that he
looks like the monument he is; and for the time being his importance
overshadows the President's. If the President can hold on, however, he
will negotiate Spain out of this hemisphere in less than a year."

"I knew you were worried about it," she said softly. "I felt that so
keenly that I never lost an opportunity to war against the war. I made
enemies right and left, and acquired a reputation for heartlessness."

"Our minds are much alike," he said, staring down at her and dropping
his voice for a moment. "You may have done it for me, but you are as
sincere as I am. I have stimulated your mind, that is all. How much
you can do here in Washington--among the men who legislate--I cannot
say. A woman who takes a high and definite stand is always an
influence for good; but the women who influence men's votes are not of
your type. They are women who sacrifice anything to gain their ends,
or those who have educated themselves to play upon the vanity and
other petty qualities of men; every peg in their brain is hung with a
political trick. The only men who attract you are too strong to vote
under the influence of any woman, even if they loved her. If Shattuc
were not as obstinate as a mule," he added more lightly, "I should ask
you to convert him to the principles of sound currency. That is
another ugly cloud ahead: there is going to be an attempt made to pass
through both Houses a concurrent resolution advocating the free and
unlimited coinage of silver and to pay the public debt with it. As far