Custom officials, revenue officers, the militia of the States, the army, the navy, the personnel of every city, State, and national legislative bodies form interdependent threads in the mesh he is master of; and, like a big beneficent spider, he sits in the center of his web, able to tell by the slightest tremor of any thread exactly where to begin investigations!" Flushed, earnest, a trifle out of breath with his own eloquence, Gatewood waved his hand to indicate a Ciceronian period, adding, as Kerns's incredulous smile broadened: "Say splash again, and I'll put you at his mercy!" "Ker-splash! dear friend," observed Kerns pleasantly.

"If a man doesn't want to marry, the army, the navy, the Senate, the white wings, and the great White Father at Washington can't make him." "I tell you I want to see you happy!" said Gatewood angrily.
"Then gaze upon me.

I'm it!" "You're not! You don't know what happiness is." "Don't I?
Well, I don't miss it, dear friend--" "But if you've never had it, and therefore don't miss it, it's time somebody found some real happiness for you.

Kerns, I simply can't bear to see you missing so much happiness--" "Why grieve ?" "Yes, I will! I do grieve--in spite of your grinning skepticism and your bantering attitude.

See here, Tom; I've started about a thousand times to say that I knew a girl--" "Do you want to hear that splash again ?" Gatewood grew madder.