“Free!  I wonder what Dilworthy does think of me anyway?  One . . . two. . .eight . . . seventeen . . . twenty-one,. . ’m’m . . . it takes a heap for a majority.  Wouldn’t Dilworthy open his eyes if he knew some of the things Balloon did say to me.  There. . . .  Hopperson’s influence ought to count twenty . . . the sanctimonious old curmudgeon.  Son-in-law. . . . sinecure in the negro institution . . . .That about gauges him . . .  The three committeemen . . . . sons-in-law.  Nothing like a son-in-law here in Washington or a brother-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 perhaps that didn’t lessen the relish of the conversation to the correspondents.

It seems that they had got hold of the dry-goods box packing story about Balloon, one day, and were talking it over when the Colonel came in.  The Colonel wanted to know all about it, and Hicks told him.  And then Hicks went on, with a serious air,

“Colonel, if you register a letter, it means that it is of value, doesn’t it?  And if you pay fifteen cents for registering it, the government will have to take extra care of it and even pay you back its full value if it is lost.  Isn’t that so?”

“Yes.  I suppose it’s so.”.