You've got the right
stuff in you. I tried argument with you. You'll have to own up that I
did. It didn't work--now, did it?"
"I told you I didn't want to get into politics. I don't want to get in.
I don't like the company."
"Politics is all right, Harlan, when the right men are in. You are the
kind the people are calling for these days. You're clean, straight,
open-minded, and--"
"Clean and straight! And the people are calling for me!" The young man
broke in wrathfully. "You say that to me after the sort of a caucus you
sprung to-day? If that's what you consider a call from the people, I
don't want to be called that way."
"It was a call, but it had to be _shaded_ by _politics_ a little,"
returned the Duke, serenely.
"If a good man is going into politics, he can go in square."
"Sometimes. But not when the opposition is out to do him with every
dirty trick that's laid down in the back of the political almanac."
"If you wanted to start me, and start me fair and right, why didn't you
let my name go before that caucus to-day, and then hold off your hands?"
"Because if I had you'd have stood about the same chance as a worsted
dog chasing an asbestos cat through hell.
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