King Cole Read Free

in the Spanish War; and he himself had fought in France and had been wounded. He hadn’t an ounce of foreign blood of any kind; his people had been in America for at least six generations: all Scotch-Irish. He did not like foreigners at all; had no sympathy with them. But he kept this to himself.
    It was cold and gray outside. A wintry wind was blowing through the State House yard, stirring the dead leaves. Read walked across to the Broad Street entrance past the Victory Group, then turned west. The Massey Hotel was only half a block away. Men spoke to him respectfully and raised their hats.

III
    When Read walked through the lobby of the Massey Hotel there was a murmuring and men pointed him out and women sitting in chairs along Midland City’s Peacock Alley craned their necks to get a better look. Read pretended not to notice; pretended even to himself that this sort of thing meant nothing to him; in reality, he enjoyed it extremely. It soothed his ego, which was enormous; though he masked it ordinarily behind a pleasant, somewhat distant, polite, offhand manner.
    The Crystal Room was crowded. Read saw the impassive foreign waiters moving expertly about among the closely packed tables. As it was a dark day, the huge crystal chandeliers were ablaze with light and the silverware and china gleamed brightly on the snow-white tablecloths. He took off his coat absentmindedly and, without looking, handed it to the check-girl.
    “Your hat, too?” said a strange, soft voice.
    “Oh, yes,” said Read, smiling. “I forgot.” Then he looked at the check-girl and his heart missed a beat and he flushed.
    “You’re new, aren’t you?” he asked, trying to sound matter-of-fact.
    “Yes, sir,” she said. “This is my first day.”
    “Yes,” said Read, smiling a little foolishly, “I thought I didn’t remember…”
    She glanced at him, then turned to get his check. It was obvious that she had no idea who he was. He studied her, resenting the disturbance she had aroused inside him. She was small and plump and young, not over twenty, certainly; she had a fine fresh complexion and curly dark-brown hair. Her eyes were very blue with long black lashes. Her face was softly rounded and her nose just missed being snub. “She is what is called cute!” Read told himself savagely, and looked determinedly away from her. He resented her; she was so young and pretty. It made him feel old and out of it just to look at her.
    “Your check,” she said, turning and smiling. Their eyes met. There was something in his gaze that she did not understand, but she did not lower her eyes. In fact, in a moment, she smiled rather significantly, Read thought, and her smile seemed to say: “Well, you look like you’d like to date me up. Why not try? Who knows?”
    “Thank you,” said Read and, turning abruptly, went into the Crystal Room.
    The headwaiter hurried over and bowed and was embarrassingly obsequious. Read turned to see if the check-girl was watching; she was. She even smiled a little. He wondered what she was thinking.
    Gregg Upham was waiting for him.
    “Hello, Gov,” he said, when Read sat down.
    “Hello, Gregg. Where’s His Nibs?”
    “Be along in a minute. You know how it is with these big important men. After all, you’re only the Governor of the State. You can wait.”
    “Don’t be funny.”
    “I’m not being funny. I know the Major. I’ve worked for him long enough. How’s things, pal?”
    “Fair to middling, as my father used to say.”
    “That straw vote looks bad.”
    “Very bad,” said Read with a smile.
    “You don’t seem to be taking it very much to heart.”
    “Why should I? I’ve been in worse holes than this. I’ve got several very good ideas. We’ll talk them over after lunch.”
    “Old Eagle Beak has sure given the boys a scare. What a laugh! Can you imagine Eagle Beak as Governor? First he’ll let all the prisoners out of the State Penitentiary and put