I was interested to hear Tim say that he had always felt I had a very deep claim on Warren Harding, "the boss," as he called him. He said he had half concluded that I must be his daughter by some alliance of long ago. One of the first things he said, and one which led me to believe that he was honestly sincere, was his statement that if he had known the facts he and Mrs. Slade would themselves have taken Elizabeth Ann immediately. I explained to him that I never would have consented to such a thing anyway, that discussion had occurred in other directions along this same line, but that the adoption which had actually eventuated was the whole source of my present unhappiness. I wanted my child myself.
It will avail nothing to go into detail concerning the many points upon which we touched in our later conversations. I related during the many interviews I had subsequently with Tim Slade much of the story as it stands in this book. Tim had, of course, a slant upon many angles of Mr. Harding's life as President which were amazingly revealing to me, and which grieved me beyond words to hear. I knew pitifully little about politics in general, and next to nothing about the inside workings of the "machine" which is apparently an indispensable part of both of our great political parties. Tim said he had gone to "the boss" and had warned him that even his closest friends were double-crossing him at every turn. He said Mr. Harding had replied, "Why, Tim, you're crazy!" And Tim had answered, "All right, maybe I am," and had found Mr. Harding adamant where his trust in his friends was concerned.
Tim was frank to say that he had no use for anybody coming out of the State of Ohio except President Harding. "But I certainly did feel sorry for the boss," he said. He said many of those connected with the Harding Administration had been no
