"Don't defame the fair name of your city and state,
sir! The guard has been called out by His Excellency, the
Commander-in-Chief, merely as a precaution. The presence of troops in the
State House--their mere presence here--has cleared the whole situation.
Mayor Morrison agrees with me perfectly on that point."
"He does?" demanded the captain, eagerly, showing relief. "Why, I was
afraid--" He checked himself.
"Of what, sir?"
"He didn't look like giving three cheers when I told him in the mill
office that we had been ordered out."
"Mayor Morrison called me on the telephone in the middle of the day and I
explained to him why it was thought necessary to have the State House
guarded."
"And what did he say?" urged the captain, still more eagerly. Again he
caught himself. He saluted. "I beg your pardon, General Totten. I have no
right to put questions to my superior officer."
But General Totten was not a military martinet. He was an amiable
gentleman from civil life, strong with the proletariat because he had been
through the chairs in many fraternal organizations and, therefore, handy
in politics; and he was strong with the Governor on account of another
fraternal tie--his sister was the Governor's wife.
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