"What's that supposed to mean?" McGrath growled. Neal had taken the chair. It looked pitifully small for him. Kinsman thought of an underfed burro bearing an overfed American tourist.

Shrugging, he replied, "Not a damned thing, Neal, except that these are pretty damned small bunks."

McGrath's scowl did not ease. "Diane told you about her and me."

"That's right."

"Who've you told about it?"

"Nobody."

"Nobody yet," McGrath said, emphasizing the second word.

"Yeah," Kinsman agreed. "Nobody yet."

"Mary-Ellen knows all about it."

"So Diane said."

Hunching forward in his chair, spreading his hands in a gesture that would have indicated helplessness in a smaller man, McGrath asked, "What are you going to do with the information, Chet?"

"I don't know."

He could see the pain on McGrath's face. It was not easy for the man to beg. "Most of the people around me know about it."

"But your constituents back on the farm don't."

"We ... I was planning to get the divorce after I'm re-elected."

"After you become the Minority Leader."

McGrath nodded.

"Mary-Ellen's going to help you campaign, and you'll troop your kids all across the state, and after the voters send you back to Washington for another six years you'll get your divorce. Pretty sweet."

"What else can I do?" McGrath asked, real misery in his voice. "It's not the divorce so much as the timing. Should I throw away my chance for Minority Leader over a matter of a few months?"

"Those farmers and coal miners and churchgoers wouldn't like knowing that you're going around with a singer, an entertainment star, a left-wing ex-radical from show business. They'd think you're pretty lousy, cheating on your wife. Wouldn't they?"

"Yes," he admitted. "They would."

"They'd be right."

McGrath's eyes flashed. "Don't be too righteous about this, Chet. I never would have met her if it weren't for you."

"I know." Kinsman felt his own temper rising. "And she never would have gotten her chance for stardom if it weren't for me. And you wouldn't be in the Senate if it weren't for my family's money and connections."

McGrath took it like a body blow, the breath gushing out of him. But he dropped his chin only for a moment before 226 plunging ahead. "I fell in love with her right off the bat, the first time I laid eyes on her. I just didn't do anything about it ... until . . ."