standing of the truth of the matter and a fairer viewpoint concerning the obligation of the Harding family to Elizabeth Ann.
My mother had not as yet arrived from Ohio with the baby, and I phoned the Votaws, requesting them to allow me to come to Washington for an interview. Mr. Votaw answered my call. I told him I wished to come down that week-end to see them, and would arrange a time that would suit their convenience. I spoke very kindly and the telephonic service was excellent, for I heard his "hello" very distinctly.
Therefore you may imagine my hurt when he replied, in the same tone of voice I remembered so unpleasantly, that they had company and could not see me. I assured him that I would take only a little of their time, even inviting him to come with Mrs. Votaw to the hotel where I would take a room for the day in order that we might have sufficient privacy.
"But I tell you we've got company!" he shouted over the phone, "my brother whom I have not seen for two years is here and we can't see you!"
It seemed inexplicable to me that a matter which affected his brother-in-law, Mr. Harding, whom he professed to love so dearly, could be relatively unimportant even though he had not seen his own brother for twenty years. But I saw no occasion for arguing.
"Oh, very well, Mr. Votaw," I replied quietly, "if you don't care to see me, it is all right."
"I didn't say we didn't want to see you!" he bawled back at me, "but we can't now." And he rang off before I could answer him.
I wondered just what Warren Harding would have said could he have "listened in" on that conversation, and with the feeling I have had right along that Mr. Harding has known everything I have tried to do to right the situation, it is very likely that he did listen in. I remembered how Mr. Harding used to remark when I inquired who had answered the phone at times when I called him at his office in the Senate Building after I had arrived in Washington for a visit, "Oh, that was Heber
