I have heard, it seems to me, that you were once driven to very hard measures against corruption." Ratcliffe looked ill-pleased at this compliment, and gave Carrington one of his cold glances that meant mischief.

But he took up the challenge on the spot:-- "Yes, I was, and am very sorry for it.

The story is this, Mrs.Lee; and it is well-known to every man, woman, and child in the State of Illinois, so that I have no reason for softening it.

In the worst days of the war there was almost a certainty that my State would be carried by the peace party, by fraud, as we thought, although, fraud or not, we were bound to save it.

Had Illinois been lost then, we should certainly have lost the Presidential election, and with it probably the Union.