Show th able UnaC loaft la MAD G y by ETHEL HUESTON 0 dobbs merrill arrill co service THE STORY STORT THUS FAR lett left orphans by a tragic automobile accident which claimed the lives of their mo mother ther and father three sisters helen adele and campy are vii visited ted by their aunt olympia politically minded wire wife of senator delaporte Slop shire she insists that the girls return with her to washington to make their home with them in addition to loving the girls aunt olympia knows they will be a terrific political asset senator Slop shire has as his political opponent one brother wilkie a minister whose political campaign Is furthered by seven unspeakable brats who sit on the rostrum with him while he makes speeches aunt olympia and the senator kind and loving nevertheless know that their three nieces will mean votes tor for the senator senator Slop shire a pleasantly foggy individual who depends on the astuteness of his wife prepares for their coming though limpy the youngest Is 16 26 and helen the oldest is 13 21 the senator buys them all the toys and gifts he can find feeling that children should be occupied when they first meet their uncle lancy as he Is to be known the girls take him to their united bosom soon adele most beautiful of the sisters meets len Hardes hardesty tv publicity man for brother wilkle wilkie though it Is lens job to help defeat the senator he be P promptly 0 falls in love with adele olympia buys an automobile house trailer which will ti u accommodate the five of 0 them and from which the senator will campaign then she decides to hire a publicity agent tor for the senator securing the services of dave cooper CHAPTER IV continued 7 how can I 1 drum up votes for the governor continued len if im going to be upset over the opposition all summer do you want to nip the budding career of a rising young g genius enius id love to if you consider yourself a budding genius which most people dont thanks len ill call him first thing in the morning call him you called himl him you cinched cincher it thanks tor for that my darling old dragon he said a ray of light breaking over his face ill land him first I 1 know every sofa he sits on tough luck old dear the governors hiring an escort for the brats if he has to add an extra per cent to pay tor for him goodby good by dear beautiful angel he said to adele for your sake I 1 tear myself away to corral that menace the girls sat quite motionless until he had dashed from the room aunt olympia contentedly lighted a cigarette are you going to let him get away with it gasped adele my aly dear said aunt olympia in politics you never allow grass to grow where the opposition is going to plant his toot foot I 1 tried to get cecil this morning but he is up in new york writing up that model murder case tor for the tabloids it if len hardesty knows every sofa in manhattan hes had entirely too much experience to associate with you my dears CHAPTER V on the next morning at eleven aunt olympia received cecil dodd in the sitting room she received him alone having with difficulty hardened her heart to the girls importunities for they eager curiosity doubly whetted by the united e d opposition of uncle lancy and len hardesty and by aunt olympias defense were eager for a glimpse of him aunt olympia tor for the only time withstood their pleas even lampys aw aunt Clym olympia pia did not move her ive been thinking of our talk the other day she began at once did I 1 understand you to say you w would like to try your hand at campaigning im crazy to he said boyishly ive applied tor for a job every place under the sun but nobody will take me because I 1 have no experience and how the deuce can I 1 get experience when nobody will try me out maybe you could give me a recommendation he suggested no I 1 cant do that she said flatly 1 I dont know whether youre any good or not and im careful about my recommendations but maybe I 1 could give you a job a very small job of course but it would be a starter cecil dodd was so surprised he say a word refuse a recommendation ommen dation and give him a jobi job it seemed almost unethical experience is worth more than money he fie murmured devoutly not to us she admitted anyhow be something and well pay your expenses and if anybody can teach you the racket dave cooper can with some help from me you see cece this like the usual campaign weve got our young nieces with us and were going to take them along those girls are going to be our best asset in this campaign and we want someone not quite so hard boiled as dave to do full justice to their vote appeal and since the girls will be around constantly wed like someone of 0 agreeable disposition and some social experience to be a sort of 0 companion to them and we think do all right take orders from dave of course and do what he be tells you and go where youre sent but your main job will be handling our end of the game cecil dodd was boyishly delighted when the first moment of reverent and worshipful awe had passed he be found aund voice again mrs Slop shire he said earnestly ill work like a dog ill work day and night having come to this amicable agreement aunt olympia asked him to stay and meet the girls he accepted the invitation gratefully but aunt olympia could see that his mind was less on them than on the great opportunity which a bounteous heaven had so surprisingly bestowed upon him he responded courteously to the introductions but seemed not even to notice adeles eyes not as good a reporter as len hardesty thought aunt olympia len overlooked a lash the girls considerably to their surprise found him pleasant even likable and a decided contrast to the explosively verbose len hardesty he was slight in build not tall but lithe with a suggestion of muscular strength in his easy movements his voice was low almost diffident his smile boyishly winsome he dressed with that studied and expensive carelessness that is so revealing to the practiced eye well you may as well begin now as anytime said aunt olympia take a memorandum will you he hastened to comply drawing out his fountain pen and a small elegant date book in limp leather remind the senator or remind me to remind him to be sure to write up and tell the farmer at shires our place up home to have an extra suit of farm clothes tor for the senator to borrow when he speaks at the granges the girls talked him over when he had gone they agreed that len hardesty had been tm unjustly justly prejudiced and that cecil was a nice boy and they could stand having him around they thought his eager enthusiasm thusia sm for the job rather pathetic yes its pathetic assented aunt olympia cece is all right the trouble is that hes always been able to do what he wanted to instead of what he had to he has enough money to live on so hes never had to file his nose on the grindstone it takes grindstone to make a newspaper man hes really what you would call a sweet child helen wrote to brick landis he seems so sa young and so unspoiled and yet aunt olympia says hes had his own way all his life and had everything he has ever wanted he is taking this job with such deadly seriousness that she is beginning to fear he will nei neither er amuse us nor drive len hardesty mad which was her main object he began bringing up huge volumes on po politics lipics to get aunt olympias opinion of them but she stopped that she said he could get his opinions from her and dave cooper he has bought a new perfectly gorgeous simply huge brief case and a new portable typewriter and whenever he is not sitting in the senate gallery gazing down at his candidate and taking notes of every breath he draws he is at the press club trying to make contacts I 1 just wonder brick tt if you take politics seriously enough you pay thirty dollars for a brief case and buy a new typewriter aunt olympia went with helen and adele one afternoon to a large cocktail party the invitations had said tea it was at the home of an outstanding republican senator they remembered that later with some bitterness adele left alone tor for a few minutes was approached by a man comparatively young quite handsome whom adele instinctively labeled a foreigner of some sort 1 I met you just after you came in miss rutherford he said pleasantly 1 I am gabriel ballotti dAl lotti I 1 possibly expect you to remember me in that crowd and that confusion but by the same token you could not possibly expect me not to remember you in any crowd or any contusion confusion you are unforgettable adele smiled pleasantly but she remembered len Harde warning beware of embassies and attaches are you with one of the embassies she asked alas nol no I 1 have no such importance I 1 am just a young man trying to get along but I 1 know the embassy crowd and have friends among them so I 1 get around may I 1 bring you a drink not now thanks to tell the truth I 1 am one of about a million foreigners trying to get the true american picture I 1 do iree free lance correspondence tor for a few foreign papers and magazines and naturally I 1 am collecting my impressions tor for a book on america 11 II if you get the american picture you see better than I 1 do she admitted it looks a hodgepodge to me like modern painting you cant tell whether that pink splash is a ladys arm or a platter of tried fried liver with onions 1 and then it turns out to be a bunch ot of grapes he laughed appreciatively 1 I find the same difficulty both with art and with america but I 1 am young and brave I 1 shall die struggling do you like washington oh very much of course you get the right slant on it he conceded it helps a good deal to be on the inside looking out and around instead of as I 1 am on the outside waiting my turn at the knothole oh but my trouble im on the outside too ay you oil cant be far outside in the home of senator Slop shire he knows his america I 1 have often wondered about your senators do they act at home as they do on the floor urn um something the same uncle lancy wipes his bis glasses and blushes through his thinning hair when he is flattered but what does he talk about does he merely say as I 1 would how very beautiful you are does he complain about the eggs being overdone does he read his speeches to you adele laughed he reads them to helen but she asked tor for it she admitted helen is trying to learn politics from the ground up she is my older sister dear me is she going to run tor for something maybe anyhow she made up her mind to learn it she goes to committees and reads the congressional record and at night they go to the library and argue for hours over how many air defense guns are required here and there and whether peace is preserved by more armaments or by disarming and which end of a boat is the proper lop 17 I 1 M kyc gf I 1 c why gabriel ballotti dAU dAl otti lotti place to put guns and how many times the new destroyers can be torpedoed before they blow up all that sort of 0 thing dear me it sounds quite horrifying he expound it all to you too oh no I 1 dont listen limpy and I 1 dont care tor for that sort of thing we just pick out the best nuts and think of other things simply profound of you I 1 should say more important things like wheres your yellow basket oh nothing half as profound as that if we lost our yellow basket uncle lancy would demand a congressional investigation and get it back for us gabriel dAU dAllo otti went away presently he had not seen helen before naturally seeing adele one looked no further he did not make the mistake of asking adele to point out her sister he was not so clumsy as that he asked someone else a stranger where she was senator Slop shires niece the stranger being a man pointed to adele no I 1 mean the other one the studious one her sister oh yes there here is another one lets see oh there she is over by that window the tall girl in the black hat and veil gabriel ballotti dAU dAl otti lotti introduced himself to helen ive been having a delightful chat with your very love ly sister hii he said with engaging candor shed she tells me that you and I 1 have a great deal in common that we are a pair ot of young innocents in the primary primacy department of the big college of 0 politics oh im not up to the primary department yet said helen im still in the cradle but I 1 am trying so hard to understand things and making very little headway we must collaborate he said we are having the same trouble we have learned the c and the a and the t now we must digest our wisdom and combine it into cat perhaps two digestions like heads are better than one it sounds promising she sau said 1 I confess that half the time I 1 just listen and frown and dont even try to digest it I 1 keep hoping one acquires it gradually like suntan from persistent application perhaps between us we could get the ic c and the a and the t into a little litile kitten at least it if not into a full grown cat to begin with its a bargain he said heartily shaking hands with her 1 I shall go at once and make diplomatic overtures to your aunt inside of five minutes he had aunt olympias attention mrs Slop shire he said ingratiatingly it is only fair air to inform you in strictest confidence that I 1 have been completely enchanted with your very lovely niece how does one go about getting permission to call one comes to tea pardon my persistence how soon does one come tomorrow it will be nice to have you were living very quietly of 0 course almost in seclusion because of that terrible tragedy but I 1 do want the girls to pick up what amusement they can ill be at my most humorous I 1 promise you ill go around and collect some good stories for them dont she ejaculated it if you youre I 1 re hearing the same ones I 1 am they are not fit tor for their young ears bring yourself and leave your repertoire at home chos that man she asked turning to a friend who stood near that one making tracks tor for the punch bowl with too much lotion on his hair that why gabriel dal lotti you must know him he goes oh yes I 1 know him all right but ive had so much trouble with that that I 1 try not to pick up any foreign names gabriel ballotti dAl dAllo lotti yes I 1 know him he is very interesting helen wrote to brick landis a couple of weeks later and it strange that he fallen in love with adele well he be certainly has enlivened my study of the american system he disagrees with me on nearly everything he has the foreign idea of maintaining peace that is by bigger and better beter armaments almost think he was wa s going to take out naturalization papers he gets so wrought up over americas lack of preparedness to tell the truth he knows a lot more than I 1 do about the american system though he approve of most of it he comes to the house quite often and once he went with me to one of uncle landys laneys committees and we did agree on one thing that it is mighty hard for a dozen men sitting around a table to agree on a policy to save the nation especially when the plan goes from them to the senate then to the house back to the senate and back to conference again a and nd wh when en they do finally agree on something theres still the white house to reckon with you worry darling he the suggestion of a crush on me you cant tool fool women about that sometimes we think they have when they but we never think they when they have were not that dumb but we are both interested in the same things and it really is more exciting to argue with him than with uncle lancy uncle landys laneys always afraid of hurting my feelings and mr ballotti dAl lotti but he my type I 1 like em red headed and a bit roughed up oh brick the session is nearly over and nothing has happe happened you think one really big thing an important thing might happen while I 1 am here so I 1 could get a glimpse beneath the surface CHAPTER VI early in may aunt olympia decided it was time for the assistant director of publicity cecil dodd to begin sending stories to the home papers olympia who was an |