Smiling her approval, the young girl squeezed her father's hand in her enthusiasm.
"I think it's a splendid idea, dad; just great! Won't you come, Mr. Haines? We--eh--I--I know my father would like to have you."
As he stood before his two new-found friends--for such Haines now considered the Mississippian and his daughter--he could not suppress feelings of surprise tinged with uncertainty. He had, like other newspaper men, received offers of employment from politicians who desired to increase their influence with the press. Sometimes the salary offered had been large, the work so light that the reporter could "earn" the money and yet retain his newspaper position, a scantily disguised species of bribery, which had wrecked the careers of several promising reporters well known to Haines, young men who had been thus led into "selling their columns" by unscrupulous machine dictators.
Haines knew that the Mississippian had no ulterior purpose to serve in his offer, yet he must have time to think over the proposal.
"I thank you, Senator," he finally said. "I appreciate the opportunity, coming from you, but I've never thought of giving up the newspaper profession. It's a fascinating career, one that I am too fond of to leave."
Langdon started to reply, when a delightfully modulated Southern voice interrupted:
"Father, I've been out with Mrs. Spangler to look for some other rooms. I don't like this hotel, and I found some that I do like."
Haines turned to see a handsomely gowned young woman who had the stamp of a patrician's daughter in her bearing and her countenance--a brunette, with delicate features, though determination shone in her eyes and appeared in the self-contained poise of her head. She was the imperious type of beauty and suggested to Haines the dry point etchings of Paul Helleu. He instinctively conceived her to be intensely ambitious, and of this Haines was soon to have unexpected evidence. Gazing at her with a sense of growing admiration, Haines gave an involuntary start as Senator Langdon spoke.
"My daughter, Miss Carolina Langdon, Mr. Haines," said the Senator.
"Are you the newspaper man who is interviewing father? I hope you'll do a nice one. We want him to be a successful and popular Senator. We'd like to help him if we could."