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Read Ebook: The congressman's wife a story of American politics by Barry John D John Daniel Kirby Rollin Illustrator
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Ebook has 1851 lines and 62756 words, and 38 pages
went on. "It's splendid having these big entries. They're just as good as rooms. And those lovely tapestries on the wall downstairs--where in the world did you get 'em?"
"They were bought for us by a dealer in New York," Briggs explained, patiently. He wondered how long Mrs. Burrell could stand without moving. At that moment the old lady turned and offered her hand to Helen.
"Well, good-bye again. The girls will be waiting for me at the hotel. I guess they'll be glad."
As soon as Mrs. Burrell started down the stairs Douglas Briggs turned to his wife. "You must be tired, dear," he said. "You ought to have been resting this afternoon."
"Oh, no. I'm not tired, really." She let him take her hand and she smiled back into his face.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Nothing." He pressed her hand more tightly. "Only I'm glad to see you again, that's all."
He placed his left hand on her forehead and drew her head back. Then he kissed her on the lips.
She drew away from him with a smile. "We haven't much time. We have a great many things to do yet."
"I must take a peep at the children," he said. "I wonder if they're asleep yet."
"I think Miss Munroe is giving them their supper."
The children, who had recognized the footsteps, were at the door to meet them. Dorothy, a fat, laughing girl of seven, ran forward and threw herself into her father's arms, and Jack, two years younger, trotted after her.
"Oh, you big girl!" Briggs exclaimed, "you'll take all my breath away."
She kissed him again and again, laughing as his mustache tickled her face. Jack was tugging at her skirts, trying to pull her down.
"Let me! Let me!" he insisted.
Briggs placed Dorothy on the floor and took up the boy. "How are you to-day, sonny?" he asked, as he let the thick, yellow curls fall over his eyes.
"All right," Jack replied, contentedly.
"Been a good boy?"
Jack looked wistfully at the governess, a young woman with black hair, a bad complexion and a disappointed face, that always suggested to Briggs a baffled motherliness. He pitied all people over twenty-five who were not married. He valued Miss Munroe, but he often told her that she had no business taking care of other people's children; she ought to be taking care of her own.
"No, he hasn't!" shouted Dorothy. "He broke his whip, and when Miss Munroe took it away from him he cried and kicked."
"Oh--h--h!" said Jack's father, reproachfully.
"Well, it was my whip," Jack insisted.
"It's all right," Miss Munroe interrupted. "He said he was sorry."
Briggs walked into the nursery with Jack on his shoulder. Jack, who at once forgot his momentary disgrace, clung to his father's thick hair.
"Ow, you rascal, let go!" said Briggs. He sank slowly into a chair, and lifting the boy high in his arms, deposited him on his knee. Dorothy followed and climbed up on the other knee. She placed a forefinger between her teeth and looked admiringly at her father.
"Papa, is the President coming to-night?" she asked.
Douglas Briggs took her hand and drew the finger out of her mouth. "I've told you not to do that, dear," he said.
She jumped and pressed her head against her father's coat. "Well, is he?"
"I think not," Briggs replied, with a smile. "I'm not sure that we've invited him."
"Oh, how mean!"
"He doesn't go to parties," Jack scornfully explained, with superior intelligence.
"Well, he has parties himself," Dorothy insisted, indignantly.
Briggs extended his hand between them. "There, there; that'll do. Never mind about the President."
"You're going to be President some day, aren't you, papa?" Jack ventured, with confidence. "Only I'd rather live here than in the White House."
"They say the White House isn't healthy," said Dorothy, repeating a remark she had heard over the stairs.
"Well, papa, when you live in the White House can't we come and stay in this house when we want to?" asked Jack.
Helen Briggs, who had been discussing with Miss Munroe a detail of the decoration for the evening, joined the group. "Jack thinks we'll have to move from this place to the White House," said Briggs. "He's worried."
Helen smiled. "It's time for Jack to go to bed."
"Oh, no. Just another minute longer," Jack pleaded.
"I must go and dress," said Briggs. "Now, chicks, climb down." They obeyed promptly, but turned and made a simultaneous attack upon him. He endured their caresses for a moment; then he cried: "Now, that's enough, I think." He rose quietly and kissed them. "Go to sleep like good children," he said.
On the way to their room Helen remarked: "Jack is getting so lively Miss Munroe hardly knows what to do with him."
"Oh, he'll be all right," said Douglas. "I like to see a boy with some spirit in him."
An hour later Douglas Briggs entered the dining-room, followed by his wife. Fanny Wallace was already there, talking with Guy Fullerton.
"How do I look?" Fanny cried to her aunt, catching up her long gown. "Isn't it perfectly beautiful? Don't you just love those fleecy things? Won't dad be proud of his daughter?"
"You look very well, dear," said Helen, conservatively.
"Well, you're kind of nice yourself," Fanny remarked. "And doesn't the gentleman look grand?" she added, to her uncle. "Only," she went on, giving him a little push, "you mustn't let yourself get so fat." Then she glanced at Guy. "Do you suppose he'll be like that when he's forty?"
"I've had a list of guests prepared for the newspaper people," said Guy to Douglas Briggs. He liked to ignore Fanny's jokes when they reflected on his personal appearance. "It'll save a lot of time. And I've arranged to have them take supper in a room by themselves. They'll like that better."
Briggs, however, had turned to the servant, who had just come into the room. "Take the men up to the big room over the front door, Michael. That'll be the best place," he went on, to his wife. "And have you arranged about their hats and coats?"
"I've attended to all that, sir," Guy said, eagerly.
Briggs looked relieved. "Well, I guess we needn't worry."
Helen glanced up into his face. "I'm not going to worry," she said, with a smile.
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