At the end of the appointed time, the office-seeker went again to see the Congressman.  This time he was admitted without question, and got the chance to state his wants.  But somehow, there seemed to be innumerable obstacles in the way.  There were certain other men whose wishes had to be consulted; the leader of one of the party factions, who, for the sake of harmony, had to be appeased.  Of course, Mr. Johnson’s worth was fully recognized, and he would be rewarded according to his deserts.  His interests would be looked after.  He should drop in again in a day or two.  It took time, of course, it took time.

Mr. Johnson left the office unnerved by his disappointment.  He had thought it would be easy to come up to Washington, claim and get what he wanted, and, after a glance at the town, hurry back to his home and his honors.  It had all seemed so easy—­before election; but now—­

A vague doubt began to creep into his mind that turned him sick at heart.  He knew how they had treated Davis, of Louisiana.  He had heard how they had once kept Brotherton, of Texas—­a man who had spent all his life in the service of his party—­waiting clear through a whole administration, at the end of which the opposite party had come into power.  All the stories of disappointment and disaster that he had ever heard came back to him, and he began to wonder if some one of these things was going to happen to him.

Every other day for the next two weeks, he called upon Barker, but always with the same result.  Nothing was clear yet, until one day the bland legislator told him that considerations of expediency had compelled them to give the place he was asking for to another man.

“But what am I to do?” asked the helpless man.

“Oh, you just bide your time.  I’ll look out for you.  Never fear.”

Until now, Johnson had ignored the gentle hints of his friend, Col.  Mason, about a boarding-house being more convenient than a hotel.  Now, he asked him if there was a room vacant where he was staying, and finding that there was, he had his things moved thither at once.  He felt the change keenly, and although no one really paid any attention to it, he believed that all Washington must have seen it, and hailed it as the first step in his degradation.

For a while the two together made occasional excursions to a glittering palace down the street, but when the money had grown lower and lower Col.  Mason had the knack of bringing “a little something” to their rooms without a loss of dignity.  In fact, it was in these hours with the old man, over a pipe and a bit of something, that Johnson was most nearly cheerful.  Hitch after hitch had occurred in his plans, and day after day he had come home unsuccessful and discouraged.  The crowning disappointment, though, came when, after a long session that lasted even up into the hot days of summer, Congress adjourned and his one hope went away.  Johnson saw him just