"It's the call to arms," responded his father grimly.
Senator Peabody read the letter to which Haines had signed Langdon's name and jumped up from his chair in the library in astonishment. Without a word to the startled Stevens he rushed to confront Langdon.
"What's the meaning of this?" he shouted as he burst in on the junior
Senator from Mississippi.
"Of what?" asked the Southerner, with a blandness that added fuel to
Peabody's irritation.
"Don't trifle with me, sir!" cried "the boss of the Senate." "This letter. You sent it. Explain it! I'm in no mood to joke."
Langdon looked at him calmly.
"I think the letter is quite plain, Senator," he said. "You can read." Then he turned to his daughter. "This discussion cannot possibly interest you, my dear. Will you go to the drawing-room to receive our guests?"
Carolina obeyed. She seemed to be discovering new qualities in this father whom she had considered to be too old-fashioned for his time.
"Now, Senator, go ahead, and, Randolph, you bring Stevens."
"You're switching to Gulf City?" demanded Peabody.