"But—but it was I that wanted you badly in this case," he answered with an echo of the laugh.
But even under the laugh I saw signs of excitement in his deep eyes and his long, lean hands shook as they handed me his cup to pour the coffee. Jasper had laid his silver and napkin in front of him and retired to admonish Petunia as to the exact crispness of her first waffle.
"What is it?" I asked breathlessly, as I moved the coffee pot from between us to the other side.
"Just a letter that came to me from the Democratic Headquarters in the City, that shook me up a bit and made me want to—to tell you about it. Nobody else can know—I have been out on Old Harpeth all afternoon fighting that out, and telling you is the only thing I have allowed myself."
"They want you to be the next Governor," I said quickly. "And you will be, too," I added, again using that queer place in my brain that seems to know perfectly unknowable things and that only works in matters that concern him.
"No!"
"Yes, Your Excellency," I hurled at him defiantly.
"You witch, you," he answered me with a pleased, teasing whimsicality coming into his eyes. "Of course, you guessed the letter and it was dear to have you do it, but we both know it is impossible. Nobody must hear of it, and the telling you has been the best I could get out of it anyway. Jasper, take my compliments to Petunia, this chicken is perfection!"
That eighth wonder of the world which got lost was something even more mysterious than the Sphinx. It was a marvel that could have been used for women to compare men to. That man sat right there at my side and ate four waffles, two large pieces of chicken and a liver-wing, drank two cups of coffee, and then devoured a huge bowl of peaches and cream, with three muffin-cakes, while enduring the tragedy of the realization of having to decline the Governorship of his State.
I watched him do it, first in awe and then with a dim understanding of something, I wasn't sure what. Most women, under the circumstances, would have gone to bed and cried it out or at least have refused food for hours. We've got to get over those habits before we get to the point of having to refuse to be Governors of the States and railroad presidents and things like that.