“I think he’s a man to gain a claim,” said Tom; “I’m afraid I’m not.”
“It is fair to warn you that I am not friendly to claims made by the families of men who lived in a hot-bed of secession,” said the Senator. He had been badgered too much this morning, and this big, rather convincing looking applicant worried him. “I have an appointment at the White House in ten minutes.”
“Then this is no place for me,” said Tom. “No man is likely to be friendly to a thing he has no time to talk of. I will bid you good-morning.”
“Good-morning,” returned the Senator, brusquely.
Tom went away feeling that he was a blunderer. The fact was that he was a neophyte and, it was true, did not possess the qualities which make a successful lobbyist. Mr. Stamps had wheedled or forced his way into the great man’s apartment and had persisted in remaining to press his claim until he was figuratively turned out by the shoulders. Big Tom had used only such means to obtain the interview as a gentleman might; he had waited until he was called to take his turn, and so had lost his chance. When he had found the Senator hurried and unwilling to spend time on him he had withdrawn at once, not feeling Mr. Stamps’s method to be possible.
“I suppose I ought to have stayed and buttonholed him in spite of himself,” he thought, ruefully. “I’m a greenhorn; I suppose a man in my place ought to stand his ground whether it’s decent or indecent, and make people listen to what he has to say, and be quite willing to be kicked downstairs after he has said it. I’m a disgrace to my species—and I don’t think much of the species.”
As he was walking through one of the corridors he saw before him two men who were evidently visitors to the place. He gathered this from their leisurely movements and the interest with which they regarded the objects about them. They looked at pictures and remarked upon decorations. One was a man who was unusually well-built. He was tall and moved well and had lightly silvered hair; his companion was tall also, but badly hung together, and walked with a stoop of the shoulders.
Tom walked behind them for some yards before his attention was really arrested, but suddenly a movement of one man’s head seemed to recall some memory of the past. He did not know what the memory was, but he knew vaguely that it was a memory. He followed a few yards further, wondering idly what had been recalled and why he should be reminded of the mountains and the pine-trees. Yes, it was the mountains and pine-trees—Hamlin County, but not the Hamlin County of to-day. Why not the Hamlin County of to-day? why something which seemed more remote? Confound the fellow; he had made that movement again. Tom wished he would turn his face that he might see it, and he hurried his footsteps somewhat that he might come within nearer range. The two men paused with their backs towards him, and Tom paused also. They were looking at a picture, and the taller of the two made a gesture with his hand. It was a long, bony hand, and as he extended it Tom slightly started. It all came back to him—the memory which had been recalled. He smelt the scent of the pines on the hillside; he saw the little crowd of mourners about the cabin door; inside, women sat with bent heads, upon two wooden chairs rested the ends of a slender coffin, and by it stood a man who lifted his hand and said to those about him: “Let us pray.”
The years swept back as he stood there. He was face to face again with the tragic mystery which had seemed to end in utter silence. The man turned his face so that it was plainly to be seen—sallow, rugged, harsh in line. The same face, though older, and perhaps less tragic—the face of the man he had left alone in the awful, desolate stillness of the empty room.
The next moment he turned away again. He and his companion passed round a corner and were gone. Tom made no attempt to follow them.