Conway threw both papers on the table with a gesture of anger.
"Now," he exclaimed, dramatically, "What do you think of that?"
Carlton smiled as the young man indignantly asked the question. He spoke very quietly.
"I think even less of that than I did of the first comment."
Conway seemed dazed.
"Why, you're the queerest man I ever met. Of course, you must strike back at these fellows. You don't propose to let these insinuations stand, do you?"
The Congressman leaned over and put his hand on the correspondent's shoulder, and, speaking in a tone that a father might use to his son, said:
"My boy, I don't propose to do a thing."
"Don't propose to do a thing?" echoed the other.