On Miss Walker's part, I saw her
appraising me. She had come west where life was luxuriant and the
accidents of fortune abundant and men were strong. She had now
overstayed her visit with Mrs. Williams. Was to-day her day of destiny?
Here before her were the rising statesman of Illinois and a man who had
increased a fortune.
She was coming to Springfield shortly to visit. Would I be there? Did I
know the Ridgeway family there, of which Edward Ridgeway, the founder,
had been prominent in the affairs of Illinois, now dead some five years?
If I came to Springfield she would be glad to have me call upon her.
Well, perhaps she liked me and did not like Douglas after all. Was I
drawn to her? I felt some definite interest in her, that was sure. But I
was not forgetting Dorothy. Dorothy could not be obscured by a light as
white as Miss Walker's. And yet I had to confess that I was thinking of
Miss Walker in a half serious way.
CHAPTER XXIV
Douglas' hard campaign was ended when we arrived in Springfield. His
humorous remark was that he had the constitution of the United States.
He was never so wholly fatigued that a drink or a meal would not pull
him up to a zest and a capacity for a further task. A little sleep
restored him to a new exuberance. Truly, he was one of the most vital
men who come into the world for a restless career.
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