thinking how strong and clear his voice was, and wondering if he never
lit the cigar he always carried in his hand, or if he ever got into
trouble, like Henry, being a young man. If he did, Uncle Billy would
have liked the chance to help him out.

He had plenty of such chances with Henry; indeed, the opportunity may
be said to have become unintermittent, and Uncle Billy was never free
from a dim fear of the day when his son would get in so deeply that he
could not get him out. Verily, the day seemed near at hand: Henry's
letters were growing desperate and the old man walked the floor of his
little room at night, more and more hopeless. Once or twice, even as
he sat at his desk in the House, his eyes became so watery that he
forced himself into long spells of coughing, to account for it, in
case any one might be noticing him.

The caucus was uneventful and quiet, for it had all been talked over,
and was no more than a matter of form.

The Republicans did not caucus upon the bill (they had reasons), but
they were solidly against it. Naturally it follows that the assault of
the railroad lobby had to be made upon the virtue of the Democrats
_as_ Democrats. That is, whether a member upon the majority side
cared about the bill for its own sake of not, right or wrong, he felt
it his duty as a Democrat to vote for it. If he had a conscience
higher than a political conscience, and believed the bill was bad, his
duty was to "bolt the caucus"; but all of the Democratic side believed
in the righteousness of the bill, except two. One had already been
bought and the other was Uncle Billy, who knew nothing about it,
except that Hurlbut was "for" it and it seemed to be making a "big
stir."