Ethics -- Fiction; Religion and sociology -- Fiction; Upper class families -- Fiction
It was appropriate, perhaps, that many of us dined on the evening of
election day at the Boyne Club. There was early evidence of a Republican
land-slide. And when, at ten o'clock, it was announced that Mr. Trulease
was re-elected by a majority which exceeded Mr. Grunewald's most hopeful
estimate, that the legislature was “safe,” that Theodore Watling would
be the next United States Senator, a scene of jubilation ensued within
those hallowed walls which was unprecedented. Chairs were pushed back,
rugs taken up, Gene Hollister played the piano and a Virginia reel
started; in a burst of enthusiasm Leonard Dickinson ordered champagne
for every member present. The country was returning to its senses.
Theodore Watling had preferred, on this eventful night, to remain
quietly at home. But presently carriages were ordered, and a
“delegation” of enthusiastic friends departed to congratulate him;
Dickinson, of course, Grierson, Fowndes, Ogilvy, and Grunewald. We found
Judah B. Tallant there,--in spite of the fact that it was a busy night
for the Era; and Adolf Scherer himself, in expansive mood, was filling
the largest of the library chairs. Mr. Watling was the least excited
of them all; remarkably calm, I thought, for a man on the verge of
realizing his life's high ambition. He had some old brandy, and a box
of cigars he had been saving for an occasion. He managed to convey to
everyone his appreciation of the value of their cooperation....
It was midnight before Mr. Scherer arose to take his departure. He
seized Mr. Watling's hand, warmly, in both of his own.
“I have never,” he said, with a relapse into the German f's, “I
have never had a happier moment in my life, my friend, than when I
congratulate you on your success.” His voice shook with emotion. “Alas,
we shall not see so much of you now.”
“He'll be on guard, Scherer,” said Leonard Dickinson, putting his arm
around my chief.
“Good night, Senator,” said Tallant, and all echoed the word, which
struck me as peculiarly appropriate. Much as I had admired Mr. Watling
before, it seemed indeed as if he had undergone some subtle change in
the last few hours, gained in dignity and greatness by the action of the
people that day. When it came my turn to bid him good night, he retained
my hand in his.
“Don't go yet, Hugh,” he said.
“But you must be tired,” I objected.
“This sort of thing doesn't make a man tired,” he laughed, leading me
back to the library, where he began to poke the fire into a blaze. “Sit
down awhile. You must be tired, I think,--you've worked hard in this
campaign, a good deal harder than I have. I haven't said much about it,
but I appreciate it, my boy.” Mr. Watling had the gift of expressing his
feelings naturally, without sentimentality. I would have given much for
that gift.
“Oh, I liked it,” I replied awkwardly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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