Further Adventures of Quincy Adams Sawyer and Mason Corner Folks Part 4

"I'm not going to run. One year is enough."

"Will Evans get the nomination? I won't vote for him. How are your wife's eyes?"

"All right. She has better vision, now, than I have. We owe you a great debt of grat.i.tude for sending us to Dr. Tillotson."

"He's a wonder. He told me the other day that he is going to cure what is called split retina, which has never been done."

Quincy bethought himself of the message he had to deliver and made a hurried departure, first inviting the Doctor to dine with him the next day. On his return to the Beacon Street house, he found his father at home reading an evening paper.

"Quincy, I see that you vetoed that railroad bill."

"Yes, I did. I saw no reason why public property should be given to a private corporation without compensation."

"The public would be compensated indirectly. I am a large stockholder in the railroad, and, to speak plainly, I drew that bill myself. I met Senator Downing and he says the bill will be pa.s.sed over your veto."

"I cannot help that, father. I did my duty as I saw it. If the bill becomes a law without my signature, I cannot be blamed for future developments."

The Hon. Nathaniel dropped the subject. "Quincy, I have purchased a house in the country and shall go there in a few days. Won't you and your wife pay us a short visit?"

"Certainly, we will. We are going to Fernborough for a few days and then will drop in on you, before we go to Nantucket."

By the look on his father's face Quincy knew that he was disappointed.

The Hon. Nathaniel never liked "to play second fiddle." Quincy hastened to rectify his mistake. "We can put it the other way round, just as well. We'll come and see you before we go to Fernborough."

"That will please me better, but, of course, you must not do it if your wife objects."

"She will not object. She is upstairs, now, with Maude. Of course, the girls are going."

"Yes, and I have invited Captain Hornaby, a very fine young man. But, I must retire. I have a case in court to-morrow."

Quincy found both commendation and criticism in the morning papers. His face wore its usual genial expression as he entered the elevator, and Robert's "good morning" was particularly cheerful.

The Governor's first caller was Mr. Acton.

"You see," he began, "that your approval of the picketing bill is receiving universal condemnation."

"Hardly," was the reply. "Two papers and the Governor sustain it and the labour press and unions are yet to be heard from."

"We shall endeavour to secure a repeal of the bill next year. In the meantime, we shall carry the matter to the courts."

"May the cause of truth and justice prevail in the end" was Quincy's comment, and Mr. Acton took his departure in an uncomfortable state of mind.

The day wore away. At three o'clock a vote was taken in the Senate and the so-called Downing bill was pa.s.sed over the veto. Not so, in the House, for one newspaper, read by nearly all the working men, had so strongly pointed out the nature of the "grab" proposed by the bill, that the State House was besieged by its opponents, and the veto was sustained by a narrow margin.

About five o'clock, Mr. Evans and Senator Downing were dining in a private room at a hotel. "So, the Governor won't run again," said the Senator.

"He so informed me yesterday. He may change his mind."

"You're not satisfied with things as they are," remarked the Senator.

"No," replied the lieutenant-governor, "I'm disgusted with the Williams matter. When I'm governor, I'll request his resignation."

"And when you're governor, we'll put my bill through. Do you know the Governor's father is one of our heaviest stockholders? We'll have our way yet."

Within a week the legislature was prorogued. The House had a mock session, during which partisans.h.i.+p, and private victories and defeats were forgotten, for the time at least, and the fun was jolly and hearty.

Ben Ropes, the funny man of the House, but a member of the minority, convulsed all by announcing his candidacy for the governors.h.i.+p, with the understanding that no money was to be spent, no speakers engaged, the question to be settled by joint debates between the opposing candidates.

Every member of the House arose, and amid wild cheers, pledged him their support.

The Hon. Nathaniel Adams Sawyer's estate at Redford comprised some eighty acres. Within five minutes' walk of the house was a sheet of water covering fully fifty acres known as Simmons' Pond. On the farther side of the pond were a few cottages and near them a tent indicating the presence of a camping party.

"Next year," said the Hon. Nathaniel to Quincy as they stood on the sh.o.r.e of the pond, "I am going to buy some twenty acres on the other side of the pond. Then I shall own all the land surrounding it, and my estate will be worthy of the name which I have given it--Wideview--for n.o.body's else property will obstruct my view in any direction. I shall name this," and he pointed to the pond, "Florence Lake after my eldest daughter. What do you think of Captain Hornaby?"

Quincy hesitated--"He's a typical Englishman--healthy, hearty, but with that English conceit that always grates on my nerves."

"Are we Americans free from it?" his father asked. "To my mind, conceit is often but the indication of self-conscious power. Its possessors never acknowledge defeat I have always had that feeling in my law practice."

Quincy changed the subject, "What have you in the boat house?"

"Canoes--three canoes. I have ordered a large row-boat but it is not ready yet. When I own the 'lake' and the land beyond, my residence will stand in the centre of my estate. I shall retire from practice in a few years, and spend my last days here. We all have to go back to the soil and I am going to make my progress gradual."

"Won't you find it rather dull here after so long an active life in the city?"

"Not dull, but quiet," was the dignified response. "I shall pa.s.s my time surveying the beauties of Nature to which, to my discredit, I have been so long oblivious; then, I shall commune with the great minds in literature, and read the latest law reports."

Quincy wondered whether Nature, literature, or law would be his father's most appreciated relaxation, but inclined to the latter.

The next morning Maude exclaimed: "Let's have some fun. What shall we do?"

"There are three canoes in the boat house," said Quincy, "why not a row on the pond?"

"Fine!" cried Maude. "Quincy, you are a man of ideas."

Captain Hornaby had asked Florence to go with him and she had willingly consented. This emboldened Harry Merry, who had come down from the State House with the Governor's correspondence, and he, rather bashfully, requested Maude's company in the third canoe.

"Can you swim?" she asked.

"I learned when a boy," said Harry.

"All right. I don't believe the style has changed much since then. I wouldn't go with you unless you could swim. It would be too great a responsibility."

Harry thought to himself that he would be willing to swim ash.o.r.e with such a "responsibility" in his arms.

Maude turned to the Captain: "Can you swim, Captain Hornaby?"

"Of course, Miss Maude. We Englishmen are all sea dogs, don't you know?"

"But Englishmen are drowned sometimes," said Maude. "How about Admiral Kempenfelt and the Royal George? See Fourth Cla.s.s Reader for full particulars in verse."