"It's a half hour away on foot," said Mrs. Spangler. "Better wait. You'll save time."
But to herself she muttered, as though mystified:
"I wonder why Peabody changed his mind so suddenly? Why should he now want the old fool at the Capitol?"
The Senator hurried down the stone steps of Mrs. Spangler's residence as rapidly as his weight and the excitement under which he labored would permit. Opening the coach door, he plunged inside--to come face to face with Bud Haines, who had huddled down in a corner to avoid observance from the Spangler windows. The driver started his horses off on a run.
Struggling to regain his breath, the Senator cried:
"Never mind now. But first gather in all I say, Senator, as we've no time to lose. When I couldn't locate you and I saw you probably wouldn't be at the Senate chamber in time to make your speech on the naval base bill, I persuaded Senator Milbank of Arkansas to rise and make a speech on the currency question, which subject was in order. He was under obligation to me for some important information I once obtained for him, and he consented to keep the floor until you arrived, though he knew he would earn the vengeance of Peabody. That was over an hour and a half ago. He must be reading quotations from 'Pilgrim's Progress' to the Senate by now to keep the floor."
The Senator stretched his head out of the window and cried: "Drive faster!"
"Got your speech all right?" called Bud above the din of the rattling wheels.
"Yes, here," was the response, the Senator tapping his inner breast pocket.
"Thought maybe she--" cried Bud, jerking his head back in the direction from which they had come.
The Mississippian shook his head negatively, and set his jaws determinedly.
The coach swung up to the Capitol entrance.
"Tell me," asked Langdon, as both jumped out, "how did you find out that--"
"I 'phoned the house--gave a name Peabody uses--"
"Great heavens! but how did you know where to 'phone?"
They were at the door of the Senate chamber.
"Norton gave me the tip--for your sake and Carolina's--for old times' sake, he said," was Bud's reply.
Too much occupied in concentrating his thoughts on his speech, Langdon failed to notice the consternation on the faces of Peabody and Stevens as he walked to his seat in the Senate. They had failed to succeed in getting Milbank to conclude, and consequently could not push the naval base report through. But they noted the passing of over an hour after their opponent's appointed time and had felt certain that he would not appear at all.