Then he went to headquarters, and told the result of his two interviews.

"Now who had better be there ?" he asked.

After consultation, a dinner of six was arranged.
The meal proved to be an interesting one to Peter.

First, he found that all the guests were well-known party men, whose names and opinions were matters of daily notice in the papers.

What was more, they talked convention affairs, and Peter learned in the two hours' general conversation more of true "interests" and "influences" and "pulls" and "advantages" than all his reading and talking had hitherto gained him.
He learned that in New York the great division of interest was between the city and country members, and that this divided interest played a part in nearly every measure.