Dan's speech had not been without its
thrill for her, and she now realized its significance. It had been a
part of a trick, and in spite of herself she could not share the
admiration Colonel Ramsay was expressing for Harwood's share in it. He
was immeasurably superior to the majority of those about him in the
crowded hall; he was a man of education, a college man, and she had just
experienced in her own life that consecration, as by an apostolic
laying-on of hands, by which a college confers its honors and imposes
its obligations upon those who have enjoyed its ministry. Yet Harwood,
who had not struck her as weak or frivolous, had lent himself to-day to
a bit of cheap claptrap merely to humble one man for the glorification
of another. Bassett she had sincerely liked in their one meeting at
Waupegan; and yet this was of his plotting and Harwood was his
mouthpiece and tool. It did not seem fair to take advantage of such
supreme stupidity as Thatcher's supporters had manifested. Her
disappointment in Harwood--and it was quite that--was part of her
general disappointment in the methods by which men transacted the
serious business of governing themselves.
Harwood was conscious that he was one of the chief figures in the
convention; every one knew him now; he was called here and there on the
floor, by men anxious to impress themselves upon Bassett's authorized
spokesman.
Pages:
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374