The table was covered with Government reports, for when the message came
John was busy studying a financial point of importance to him. The
telegram had lain on the table for half an hour, and John still stood
before the fire-place, staring at the clock.
The senator had not been expected to live, in fact it was remarkable that
he should have lived so long. But when a man has been preparing for a
struggle during many months, he is apt to feel that the actual moment of
the battle is indefinitely far off. But now the senator was dead, and John
meant to stand in his place. The battle was begun. No one who has not
seen some of the inside workings of political life can have any idea of
what a man feels who is about to stand as a candidate in an election for
the first time in his life. For months, perhaps for years, he has been
engaged with political matters; his opinions have been formed by himself
or by others into a very definite shape; it may be that, like Harrington,
he has frequently spoken to large audiences with more or less success; he
may have written pamphlets and volumes upon questions of the day, and his
writings may have roused the fiercest criticism and the most loyal
support.
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