N.V. Creede in answering him in campaigns always said that if he gave
the boys work, they gave the governor labor in return, and at a dollar a
day it seemed to him that the governor was the one who was under
obligations to them. It is a curious thing that people who receive money
are supposed to be under obligations to those who pay it, no matter what
the deal may be. We say "thank you" to the man who pays us for a day's
wages; but why, if the work is worth the money?
Well, as I looked about among the governor's working people, as I have
said, I saw a head taller than the rest, the big form of Pitt
Bushyager. He was looking at me with that daredevil smile of his, the
handsomest man there, with his curling brown mustache and goatee; and
nodded at me as the judge got into the carriage in the back seat with
Mrs. Stone, and Virginia came up in her pretty pink silk, with the
Paisley shawl around her shoulders, to be helped up into the front seat
with me. The satchel of money was placed under the seat where the judge
could feel it with his feet.
We drove off in that silence which comes with the drowsiness that
follows excitement, especially along toward morning. The night was dark
and still. Virginia's presence reminded me of those days of happiness
wher we drove into Iowa alone together; but I was not happy I had lived
with this girl in my dreams ever since, and now I faced the wrench of
giving her up; for I repeated in my own mind over and over again that
she would never think of me with such big bugs as Bob Wade shining
around her.
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