"Y'ought to see the nex' one!--Seh?--Engaged?--No, not yit; she as shy as a crow an'--ezac'ly the same colo'!--I'm done with light-complected women, seh.--But y'ought to see this-yeh one!--Shy as a pa't'idge! But I'm hot on her trail. She put_tend_ to be tarrible shocked--well, o' co'se thass right!--Hid away in the hills--at Rosemont. But I kin git her on a day's notice. All I got to espress myself is--Majo' Gyarnit, seh!--Ef you continues faw twenty-fo' hours mo' to harbor the girl Johanna, otherwise Miss Wisdom, the Black Diana an' sim'lar names, I shall imbibe it my jewty to the gen'l welfare an' public progress to renovate yo' rememb'ance of a vas'ly diff'ent an' mo' financial matteh, as per my letteh to you of sich a date about seven year' ago an' not an's'd yit, _an' tell what I know about you_. Thass all I'll say. Thass all I haf to say! An' mebbe I won't haf to say that. Faw I'm tryin' love lettehs on her; wrote the fus' one this evenin'; on'y got two mo' to write. My third inevasively fetches 'em down the tree, seh!" The lobbyist revived the subject of politics, the publican went after hot water for a punch, and the eavesdroppers slipped away. Early the following week Mr. Leggett reclined in his seat in the House of Representatives. His boots were on his desk, and he tapped them with his sword-cane while he waited to back up with his vote a certain bet of the Friday night before. A speaker of his own party was alluding to him as the father of free schools in Blackland and Clear water; but he was used to this and only closed his eyes. A page brought his mail. It was small. One letter was perfumed. He opened it and sat transfixed with surprise, and a-tremble between vanity and doubt, desire and trepidation. He bent his beaded eyes close over the sweet thing and read its first page again and again. It might--it _might_ be an imposture; but it had come in a Rosemont envelope, and it was signed Johanna Wisdom. The House began to vote. He answered to his name; the bill passed, his bet was won. Adjournment followed. He hurried out and away, and down in a suburban lane entered his snug, though humble, "bo'd'n' house," locked his door, and read again. Two or three well-known alumni of Rosemont and two or three Northern capitalists--railroad prospectors--were, on the following Friday, at the Swanee Hotel to be the guests of the Duke of Suez, as Ravenel was fondly called by the Rosemont boys. To show Suez at its best by night as well as by day, there was to be a Rosemont-Montrose ball in the hotel dining-room. Major Garnet opposed its being _called_ a ball, and it was announced as a musical reception and promenade. Mr. Leggett knew quite as well as Garnet and Ravenel that the coming visitors were behind the bill he had just voted for.