Thatcher. It cannot be denied that Dan, too, felt that Senator
Ridgefield had chosen a most unfortunate season for exposing himself to
the ravages of the pneumococcus. He kept away from the State House and
hotels that evening, having decided to take no part in the preliminary
skirmishes until he had seen Ramsay, who would bring a cool head and a
trained hand to bear upon this unforeseen situation.
He studied the newspapers as he ate breakfast alone at the University
Club early the next morning. The "Advertiser" had neatly divided its
first page between the Honorable Roger B. Ridgefield, dead in a far
country, and the Honorable Morton Bassett, who, it seemed, was very much
alive at the Hoosier capital. A double column headline conveyed this
intelligence:--
BASSETT IS HIMSELF AGAIN
Harwood, nibbled his toast and winnowed the chaff of speculation from
the grains of truth in this article. He had checked off the names of all
the Bassett men in both houses of the assembly, and listed Thatcher's
supporters and the doubtful members. Bassett would undoubtedly make a
strong showing in a caucus, but whether he would be able to command a
majority remained to be seen. There were men among the doubtful who
would be disposed to favor Thatcher because he had driven a wedge into
the old Bassett stone wall. No one else had ever succeeded in imperiling
the security of that impregnable stronghold.
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