Laura sat alone and communed with herself;

He is fairly hooked, poor thing. I can play him at my leisure and land

him when I choose. He was all ready to be caught, days and days ago

-I saw that, very well. He will vote for our bill--no fear about that;

and moreover he will work for it, too, before I am done with him. If he

had a woman's eyes he would have noticed that the spray of box had grown

three inches since he first gave it to me, but a man never sees anything

and never suspects. If I had shown him a whole bush he would have

thought it was the same. Well, it is a good night's work: the committee

is safe. But this is a desperate game I am playing in these days

-a wearing, sordid, heartless game. If I lose, I lose everything--even

myself. And if I win the game, will it be worth its cost after all?

I do not know. Sometimes I doubt. Sometimes I half wish I had not

begun. But no matter; I have begun, and I will never turn back; never

while I live."

Mr. Buckstone indulged in a reverie as he walked homeward:

"She is shrewd and deep, and plays her cards with considerable

discretion--but she will lose, for all that. There is no hurry; I shall

come out winner, all in good time. She is the most beautiful woman in

the world; and she surpassed herself to-night. I suppose I must vote for

that bill, in the end maybe; but that is not a matter of much consequence

the government can stand it. She is bent on capturing me, that is plain;

391

The Gilded Age