CHAPTER VII AN AFFAIR AT THE STATE HOUSE
Barbara filed the messages herself with the manager of the telegraph company, who lifted the green shade from his eyes and smiled upon her.
"We'll rush them, Miss Osborne. Shall I telephone the answers if they come to-night? No; your father likes his telegrams delivered, I remember."
"I will call for them," said Griswold. "Governor Osborne was only at home a few hours this evening and he left me in charge of these matters."
The manager's face expressed surprise.
"Oh! I didn't know the governor was at home," he remarked, as he finished counting the words and charging them against the state's account. "I will send them myself, and ask the operators at the other end to look lively about the answers. You are Mr.—"
"This is Major Griswold," said Barbara, conferring the title with a vague feeling that it strengthened her cause.
"Major," repeated the manager, and he nodded to Griswold with an air that implied his familiarity with official secrets. "You will call? In a couple of hours, Major."