She was unable, for
example, to justify the presence of the senior Thatcher, though her
husband assured her in a tone of magnanimity that it was all right; and
she had never admired Colonel Ramsay, though to be sure nearly every one
else did. Was not the Colonel handsome, courteous, genial, eloquent,
worthy of all admiration? Mrs. Owen had chosen a few legislators from
among her acquaintances, chiefly gentlemen who had gallantly aided some
of her measures at earlier sessions of the assembly. This accounted for
the appearance of a lone Prohibitionist who by some miracle appeared
biennially in the lower house, and for a prominent labor leader whom
Mrs. Owen liked on general principles. The statesman who has already
loomed darkly in these pages as the Tallest Delegate was taller than
ever in a dress coat, but in all ways a citizen of whom Vermillion
County had reason to be proud. John Ware and Admiral Martin, finding
themselves uncomfortable in the crowd, rescued Thatcher and adjourned
with him to a room set apart for smokers. There they were regarded with
mild condescension by young gentlemen who rushed in from the dance,
mopping their brows and inhaling cigarettes for a moment, wearing the
melancholy air becoming to those who support the pillars of society.
At ten o'clock the receiving line had dissolved and the dance was in
full swing above.
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