Would Phyllis tell her lover?
Barnaby shook his head in a dubious way.
"Gals is pow'ful onsartin so dey is," he muttered. "Dey tells der
sweethearts mos'ly all what dey knows, spacially secrets. Spec' de ole boss
an' he plan done gone up de chimbly er-kally-hootin' fo' good."
Then the old scamp began to turn over in his brain a scheme which seemed to
offer him a fair way of approaching Mr. Tom Bannister's pocket and the
portemonnaie of Phyllis as well. He chuckled atrociously as a pretty
comprehensive view of "practical politics" opened itself to him.
Tom Bannister had not been to see Phyllis since her father had delivered
his opinion to her touching the intrinsic merits of that young man, and she
felt uneasy.
Colonel Sommerton, though notably eccentric, could be depended upon for
outright dealing in general; still Phyllis had a pretty substantial belief
that in politics success lay largely on the side of the trickster. For many
years the Colonel had been in the Legislature. No man had been able to beat
him for the nomination. She had often heard him tell how he laid out his
antagonists by taking excellent and popular short turns on them, and it was
plain to her mind now that he was weaving a snare for Tom Bannister.
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