Bassett put down the telegram, looked about, and then got upon his feet.

The lieutenant-governor, yawning and idly playing with his gavel, saw with relief that the senator from Fraser wished to interrupt the proceedings.
"Mr.President." "The senator from Fraser." "Mr.President, I ask leave to interrupt the reading of the bill to make an announcement." "There being no objection, the senator will make his announcement." Senators who had been smoking in the cloakroom, or talking to friends outside the railing, became attentive.

The senator from Fraser was little given to speech, and it might be that he meant at this time to indicate the attitude of the majority toward the appropriations asked by the governor.

In any event, it was always wise to listen to anything Morton Bassett had to say.
The senator was unusually deliberate.

Even when he had secured the undivided attention of the chamber he picked up the telegram and read it through again, as though to familiarize himself with its contents.
"Mr.President, I have just received the following message from a personal friend in Washington: 'The Honorable Roger B.Ridgefield, United States Senator from Indiana, while on a hunting trip in Chesapeake Bay with a party of Baltimore friends, died suddenly this morning.