a sheaf of envelopes, tied with a rubber band, out of his inner pocket, and gripping a stub of pencil in his stubby hand, he crossed his short fat legs with an energetic movement, bent forward poised above the envelopes, and said quietly but urgently:
“See here, now!—I’d like to show you a few figures! My business, as you know, is to look after other people’s money—your money, the town’s money, everybody’s money—I’ve got to keep my fingers on the pulse of business at every moment of the day—my business is to know—to know—and let me tell you something,” he said quietly, looking directly in their eyes, “I do know, —so pay attention just a moment while I show these figures to you.”
And for some moments he spoke quietly, persuasively, his dark features packed with an energy of powerful conviction, while he rapidly jotted figures down upon the backs of the soiled envelopes, and they bent around him—their medicine-man of magic numerals—in an attitude of awed and rapt attentiveness. And when he had finished, there was silence for a moment, save for the rhythmic clack of wheels, the rocketing sound of the great train. Then one of the men, stroking his chin thoughtfully, and with an impressed air, said:
“I see…. And you think, then, that in view of these conditions it would be better for the country if Harding is elected.”
The little man’s manner became instantly cautious, non-committal, “conservative”:
“I don’t say that,” he said, shaking his head in a movement of denial—“I only say that whoever gets elected we’re in for a period of unparalleled development…. Now both of them are good men—as I say, I shall probably vote for Cox—but you can rest assured,” he spoke deliberately and looked around him in his compelling way—“you can rest assured that no matter which one gets elected the country will be in good hands. There’s no question about that.”
“Yes, sir,” said the florid-faced politician in his amiable and hearty way. “I agree with you…. I’m a Democrat myself, both in practice and in principle. I’m going to vote for Cox, but if Harding gets elected I won’t shed any tears over his election. We’ll have to give the Republicans credit for a good deed this time—they couldn’t have made a wiser or a better decision. He has a long and honourable career in the service of his country,”—as he spoke his voice unconsciously took on the sententious ring and lilt of the professional politician—“no breath of scandal has ever touched his name: in public and in private life he has remained as he began—
