"Don't smile, Sayler," he protested with some anger in his smooth, heavy
voice. "You are not the only strong man in the party. And I venture to
take advantage of our long friendship to speak plainly to you. I wish to
see a united party. One of my reasons for sending for you was to tell
you how greatly I am distressed and chagrined by the attacks on Senator
Goodrich in our papers."
"Did you have any other reason for sending for me?" said I very quietly.
"That was the principal one," he confessed.
"Oh!" I exclaimed.
"What do you mean, Sayler?"
"I thought possibly you might also have wished to tell me how unjust you
thought the attacks on me in the eastern papers, and to assure me that
they had only strengthened our friendship."
He was silent.