“Come here, dear, and sit on the edge of my chair. I wish I knew when you were in earnest about a man. I like him more than I can tell you. He talked to me so beautifully about his mother, I wanted to kiss him. He is charming.”
“Why, Mama!”
“I’d like him for a son. There’s a wealth of deep tenderness and manly power in him.”
“Mama, you’re getting giddy!”
But she kissed her mother twice when she said good night.
CHAPTER X—THE HEART OF A VILLAIN
McLEOD had developed into a man of undoubted power. He was but thirty-two years old, and the dictator of his party in the state.
He had the fighting temperament which Southern people demand in their leaders. With this temperament he combined the skill of subtle diplomatic tact. He had no moral scruples of any kind. The problem of expediency alone interested him in ethics.