3:30
Bud Haines , reinstated as secretary , was picking up the thread of routine where he had dropped it the day before , though his frequent thought of Hope and the words that had thrilled him -- `` I love you , I love you fondly '' -- made this task unusually difficult . He impatiently wished the afternoon to hasten along , as he knew he would then see her in the Senate gallery , where she would go to hear her father 's speech . This speech had to be revised in some particulars by Bud , and the work he knew would take up much of the morning . The Senator 's speech was `` The South of the Future , '' which he would deliver when recognized by the President of the Senate in connection with the naval base bill , that officer having agreed to recognize Langdon at 3:30 , at which time the report of the naval affairs committee would be received . Just how Langdon would turn the tables on Peabody and Stevens and yet win for the Altacoola site not even the ex-newspaper man , experienced in politics , had solved . Clearly the Senator would have to do some tall thinking during the morning . The junior Senator from Mississippi burst into the office with his habitual cheery greeting , his broad-brimmed black felt hat in its usual position on the back of his head , like a symbol of undying defiance .