"I've heard," Doak said, "he was pretty wild as a young man."
"Wild?" Mrs. Klein sniffed. "Degraded would be a better word. If his father didn't have all the money in the county he'd have gone to jail more than once, that man. And then the people of this state sending him to the Senate."
Doak said nothing, staring out at the quiet night.
"Would you like a little snack?" Mrs. Klein asked. "I've some baked ham and rolls out in the kitchen."
"No thanks," Doak said. "I'm not very hungry. Was Glen Ryder a friend of Senator Arnold's?"
"Not until Glen went to work for the government. I don't think the Senator had any friends except those who could profit by it."
"This Ryder was something of an—opportunist?"
"If that means what it sounds like, I guess that would describe Glen. He wasn't one to overlook any opportunity to better himself and he cut it pretty thin at times."
Doak looked over but could not see her face in the darkness. He said slowly, "I guess we all have to look out for ourselves and the devil take the hindmost."
"I suppose," she said placidly. "Though it would depend on what you wanted out of life. Here in Dubbinville I think we're a little more neighborly than that."