“Some one has coached you well.”
“I was coached before I ever knew you, Burt dear. My father taught us politics as religiously as my mother taught us sewing. It wasn’t as practical, perhaps, as yours, but——”
“There haven’t been many men more practical in their politics than Peter Armond,” Stroude said dryly.
“Even if he did grow wealthy,” his daughter defended, “you know how high he kept his standards.”
“I can guess,” Stroude said, but his tone gave her no handle to catch for controversy, and she swung into off-side statement. “Mrs. Covinger let slip something that may be vital to us,” she told him.
“If it’s vital, she let it slip with due deliberation,” he declared. “Don’t underestimate her brains, Rhoda, even if she wasn’t raised by the Armond code. What did she say?”
“I don’t believe I’ll tell you.”
“Yes, you will.”
“We do run in double harness, don’t we? Well, she said that Covinger wasn’t going back to New York until to-morrow night, as there was a tremendously important conference at noon to-morrow. Seven men will be there, and they will decide the fate of the nation. That’s exactly what she said. She’s bombastic, you know.”
“Seven? Then they’re letting Covinger in?”