The die was already cast; Governor Obstinate would be nominated and elected.

Once inaugurated, the eye-glassed Mazarin understood that it would be Governor Obstinate's earliest care to invite Senator Hanway into his Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury.

The scandal of the Georgian Bay-Ontario Canal would have blown itself out; also no one--against a President whose hands were full of offices--would dare lift up his voice in criticism of any Cabinet selection.
Senator Hanway was impressed by the hint of the eye-glassed Mazarin.

The Treasury portfolio stood within ready throw of a Presidential nomination; he, Senator Hanway, might step from it the successor of Governor Obstinate whenever that gentleman's tenancy of the White House should come to an end.

Likewise, the Treasury portfolio was as a thirteen-inch gun within pointblank range of the stock market.
Senator Hanway took a week to consider; he conferred with Senators Gruff and Price and Loot and lastly with Mr.Harley.Then he struck hands with the eye-glassed Mazarin, and published an interview in the _Daily Tory_ saying that he, Senator Hanway, was not and had never been a candidate for the Presidency; that he was and had ever been of the opinion that the needs of both a public and a party hour imperatively demanded Governor Obstinate at the Nation's helm.