in-law . . . And everybody has 'em . . . Let's see: . . . sixty-

one . . . with places . . . twenty-five . . . persuaded--it is

getting on; . . . we'll have two-thirds of Congress in time . . .

Dilworthy must surely know I understand him. Uncle Dilworthy . . .

Uncle Balloon!--Tells very amusing stories . . . when ladies are not

present . . . I should think so . . . 'm . . . 'm. Eighty-five.

There. I must find that chairman. Queer. . . . Buckstone

acts . . . . Seemed to be in love . . . . I was sure of it.

He promised to come here . . . and he hasn't . . . Strange. Very

strange . . . . I must chance to meet him to-day."

Laura dressed and went out, thinking she was perhaps too early for Mr.

Buckstone to come from the house, but as he lodged near the bookstore she

would drop in there and keep a look out for him.

While Laura is on her errand to find Mr. Buckstone, it may not be out of

the way to remark that she knew quite as much of Washington life as

Senator Dilworthy gave her credit for, and more than she thought proper

to tell him. She was acquainted by this time with a good many of the

young fellows of Newspaper Row; and exchanged gossip with them to their

mutual advantage.

They were always talking in the Row, everlastingly gossiping, bantering

and sarcastically praising things, and going on in a style which was a

curious commingling of earnest and persiflage. Col. Sellers liked this

talk amazingly, though he was sometimes a little at sea in it--and

374

The Gilded Age