"Eh!"
The Mayor leaned forward to scrutinise his face and then turned as if bewildered and still unconvinced to Rockwell.
"Yes," said Rockwell. "I tried to get you on the 'phone this morning, but your line was busy, and I didn't have a chance to try again. The Senator is still sick. Worse, in fact. Mr. Merriam is going to keep the Senator's engagement at the Urban Club for him."
"My God!" cried the Mayor. "Speak before all those people! You never can do it!"
"Yes, we can," said Rockwell, with smiling serenity. "You were fooled again yourself just now," he pointed out.
The Mayor groaned. "Then we still don't know where Senator Norman himself will stand when he's up," he said.
"I telephoned you yesterday that he had agreed to everything," said Aunt Mary coldly. "That was true."
"While he was sick," said Black. "Will he stick to it when he's well again?"
"He'll have to stick," said Rockwell. "Ten times more so after this speech. He can't possibly go back on that."
"If this Mr.--Mr. Merriam," said the Mayor, eyeing him with profound dislike, "is unmasked at the Urban Club, it would be the utter ruin of us all."