He had his own reasons for thinking ill of Senator
Ratcliffe, and he meant to prevent a marriage; but he had an
enemy to deal with not easily driven from the path, and quite
capable of routing any number of rivals.
Ratcliffe was afraid of no one. He had not fought his own way in
life for nothing, and he knew all the value of a cold head and
dogged self-assurance.
Nothing but this robust Americanism and his strong will carried
him safely through the snares and pitfalls of Mrs. Lee's society,
where rivals and enemies beset him on every hand. He was little
better than a schoolboy, when he ventured on their ground, but
when he could draw them over upon his own territory of practical
life he rarely failed to trample on his assailants.
It was this practical sense and cool will that won over Mrs. Lee,
who was woman enough to assume that all the graces were well
enough employed in decorating her, and it was enough if the other
sex felt her superiority. Men were valuable only in proportion to
their strength and their appreciation of women. If the senator had
only been strong enough always to control his temper, he would
have done very well, but his temper was under a great strain in
these times, and his incessant effort to control it in politics made
him less watchful in private life. Mrs. Lee's tacit assumption of
superior refinement irritated him, and sometimes made him show
his teeth like a bull-dog, at the cost of receiving from Mrs. Lee a
quick stroke in return such as a well-bred tortoise-shell cat
administers to check over-familiarity; innocent to the eye, but
drawing blood.
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