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diff --git a/15138-h/15138-h.htm b/15138-h/15138-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3987527 --- /dev/null +++ b/15138-h/15138-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,22363 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Hoosier Chronicle By Meredith Nicholson, by AUTHOR. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Hoosier Chronicle, by Meredith Nicholson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Hoosier Chronicle + +Author: Meredith Nicholson + +Release Date: February 22, 2005 [EBook #15138] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HOOSIER CHRONICLE *** + + + + +Produced by Rick Niles, Charlie Kirschner and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>By Meredith Nicholson</h1> + +<div class='center'> +A HOOSIER CHRONICLE. With illustrations.<br /> +THE SIEGE OF THE SEVEN SUITORS. With illustrations.<br /> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> +Boston and New York<br /> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A HOOSIER CHRONICLE</h2> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<br /> +<img src="images/002.png" width="50%" alt="" title="" /> +<br /><br /><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece" /> +<a href="images/003.jpg"><img src= +"images/003.jpg" width="45%" alt="" title="" /></a><br /> +<b>SYLVIA AND PROFESSOR KELTON</b><br /> +<br /><br /> +</div> + + +<h1>A HOOSIER CHRONICLE</h1> + +<h3>MEREDITH NICHOLSON</h3> + +<div class='center'> +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS<br /> +BY F.C. YOHN<br /> +<br /><br /> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/004.png" width="15%" alt="" title="" /> +<br /><br /> +</div> + +<div class='center'> +BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br /> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> +The Riverside Press Cambridge<br /> +<br /> +<i>Published March 1912</i><br /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>TO</h2> + + +<h3>EVANS WOOLLEN, ESQ.</h3> + + +<p>The wise know that foolish legislation is a rope +of sand which perishes in the twisting; that the +State must follow and not lead the character +and progress of the citizen; the strongest usurper +is quickly got rid of; and they only who build on +Ideas, build for eternity; and that the form of +government which prevails is the expression of +what cultivation exists in the population which +permits it. The law is only a memorandum. We +are superstitious, and esteem the statute somewhat; +so much life as it has in the character of +living men is its force.</p> + +<div class='blockquot'> +<p>EMERSON: <i>Politics</i>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_I">My LADY OF THE CONSTELLATIONS</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">II.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_II">SYLVIA GOES VISITING</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_III">A SMALL DINNER AT MRS. OWEN'S</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">WE LEARN MORE OF SYLVIA</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_V">INTRODUCING MR. DANIEL HARWOOD</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">79</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">HOME LIFE OF HOOSIER STATESMEN</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">89</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">SYLVIA AT LAKE WAUPEGAN</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">113</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">SILK STOCKINGS AND BLUE OVERALLS</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">DANIEL HARWOOD RECEIVES AN OFFER</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">152</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">IN THE BOORDMAN BUILDING</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">THE MAP ABOVE BASSETT'S DESK</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">193</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">BLURRED WINDOWS</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">212</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">THE WAYS OF MARIAN</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">225</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">THE PASSING OF ANDREW KELTON</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">246</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">A SURPRISE AT THE COUNTRY CLUB</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">257</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">"STOP, LOOK, LISTEN"</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">271</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">A STROLL ACROSS THE CAMPUS</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">297</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">THE THUNDER OF THE CAPTAINS</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">INTERVIEWS IN TWO KEYS</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">350</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">A SHORT HORSE SOON CURRIED</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">374</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">XXII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">THE GRAY SISTERHOOD</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">393</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">A HOUSE-BOAT ON THE KANKAKEE</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">403</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">A WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY BALL</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">418</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">XXV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">THE LADY OF THE DAGUERREOTYPE</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">439</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">APRIL VISTAS</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">460</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">HEAT LIGHTNING</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">474</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">A CHEERFUL BRINGER OF BAD TIDINGS</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">497</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">A SONG AND A FALLING STAR</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">511</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">XXX.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">THE KING HATH SUMMONED HIS PARLIAMENT</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">534</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">XXXI.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">SYLVIA ASKS QUESTIONS</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">542</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">XXXII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">"MY BEAUTIFUL ONE"</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">560</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">XXXIII.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">THE MAN OF SHADOWS</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">570</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">XXXIV.</a></td> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">WE GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">591</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td> +<td><a href="#A_POSTSCRIPT_BY_THE_CHRONICLER">A POSTSCRIPT BY THE CHRONICLER</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#A_POSTSCRIPT_BY_THE_CHRONICLER">602</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td><a href="#Frontispiece">SYLVIA AND PROFESSOR KELTON</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#Frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#I296">WHOEVER WROTE THAT LETTER WAS TROUBLED ABOUT SYLVIA</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#I296">284</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#I472">A SUDDEN FIERCE ANGER BURNED IN HER HEART</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#I472">458</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#I572">SYLVIA MUST KNOW JUST WHAT WE KNOW</a></td> +<td align='right'><a href="#I572">556</a></td></tr> +</table> +<br /> +<i>From drawings by F.C. Yohn</i> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A HOOSIER CHRONICLE</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I" />CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>MY LADY OF THE CONSTELLATIONS</h3> + + +<p>Sylvia was reading in her grandfather's library +when the bell tinkled. Professor Kelton had +few callers, and as there was never any certainty +that the maid-of-all-work would trouble +herself to answer, Sylvia put down her book and +went to the door. Very likely it was a student +or a member of the faculty, and as her grandfather +was not at home Sylvia was quite sure that the +interruption would be the briefest.</p> + +<p>The Kelton cottage stood just off the campus, and +was separated from it by a narrow street that +curved round the college and stole, after many twists +and turns, into town. This thoroughfare was called +"Buckeye Lane," or more commonly the "Lane." +The college had been planted literally in the wilderness +by its founders, at a time when Montgomery, +for all its dignity as the seat of the county court, was +the most colorless of Hoosier hamlets, save only as +the prevailing mud colored everything. Buckeye +Lane was originally a cow-path, in the good old +times when every reputable villager kept a red cow +and pastured it in the woodlot that subsequently +became Madison Athletic Field. In those days the +Madison faculty, and their wives and daughters, +seeking social diversion among the hospitable townfolk, +picked their way down the Lane by lantern +light. An ignorant municipal council had later, when +natural gas threatened to boom the town into cityhood, +changed Buckeye Lane to University Avenue, +but the community refused to countenance any such +impious trifling with tradition. And besides, Madison +prided herself then as now on being a college +that taught the humanities in all soberness, according +to ideals brought out of New England by its +founders. The proposed change caused an historic +clash between town and gown in which the gown +triumphed. University forsooth!</p> + +<p>Professor Kelton's house was guarded on all sides +by trees and shrubbery, and a tall privet hedge shut +it off from the Lane. He tended with his own hands +a flower garden whose roses were the despair of all +the women of the community. The clapboards of +the simple story-and-a-half cottage had faded to a +dull gray, but the little plot of ground in which the +house stood was cultivated with scrupulous care. +The lawn was always fresh and crisp, the borders +of privet were neatly trimmed and the flower beds +disposed effectively. A woman would have seen +at once that this was a man's work; it was all a +little too regular, suggesting engineering methods +rather than polite gardening.</p> + +<p>Once you had stepped inside the cottage the absence +of the feminine touch was even more strikingly +apparent. Book shelves crowded to the door,—open +shelves, that had the effect of pressing at once +upon the visitor the most formidable of dingy volumes, +signifying that such things were of moment +to the master of the house. There was no parlor, +for the room that had originally been used as such +was now shelf-hung and book-lined, and served as +an approach to the study into which it opened. +The furniture was old and frayed as to upholstery, +and the bric-à-brac on an old-fashioned what-not +was faintly murmurous of some long-vanished feminine +hand. The scant lares and penates were sufficient +to explain something of this shiplike trimness of +the housekeeping. The broken half of a ship's wheel +clung to the wall above the narrow grate, and the +white marble mantel supported a sextant, a binocular, +and other incidentals of a shipmaster's profession. +An engraving of the battle of Trafalgar and +a portrait of Farragut spoke further of the sea. If +we take a liberty and run our eyes over the bookshelves +we find many volumes relating to the development +of sea power and textbooks of an old vintage +on the sailing of ships and like matters. And +if we were to pry into the drawers of an old walnut +cabinet in the study we should find illuminative +data touching the life of Andrew Kelton. It is well +for us to know that he was born in Indiana, as far as +possible from salt water; and that, after being graduated +from Annapolis, he served his country until +retired for disabilities due to a wound received at +Mobile Bay. He thereafter became and continued +for fifteen years the professor of mathematics and +astronomy at Madison College, in his native state; +and it is there that we find him, living peacefully +with his granddaughter Sylvia in the shadow of the +college.</p> + +<p>Comfort had set its seal everywhere, but it was +keyed to male ideals of ease and convenience; the +thousand and one things in which women express +themselves were absent. The eye was everywhere +struck by the strict order of the immaculate small +rooms and the snugness with which every article +had been fitted to its place. The professor's broad +desk was free of litter; his tobacco jar neighbored +his inkstand on a clean, fresh blotter. It is a bit +significant that Sylvia, in putting down her book +to answer the bell, marked her place carefully with +an envelope, for Sylvia, we may say at once, was a +young person disciplined to careful habits.</p> + +<p>"Is this Professor Kelton's? I should like very +much to see him," said the young man to whom she +opened.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, but he isn't at home," replied Sylvia, +with that directness which, we shall find, characterized +her speech.</p> + +<p>The visitor was neither a member of the faculty +nor a student, and as her grandfather was particularly +wary of agents she was on guard against the +stranger.</p> + +<p>"It is important for me to see him. If he will be +back later I can come again."</p> + +<p>The young man did not look like an agent; he +carried no telltale insignia. He was tall and straight +and decidedly blond, and he smiled pleasantly as +he fanned himself with his straw hat. Where his +brown hair parted there was a cowlick that flung +an untamable bang upon his forehead, giving him +a combative look that his smile belied. He was a +trifle too old for a senior, Sylvia reflected, soberly +studying his lean, smooth-shaven face, but not nearly +old enough to be a professor; and except the pastor +of the church which she attended, and the physician +who had been called to see her in her childish ailments, +all men in her world were either students or +teachers. The town men were strange beings, whom +Professor Kelton darkly called Philistines, and their +ways and interests were beyond her comprehension.</p> + +<p>"If you will wait I think I may be able to find him. +He may have gone to the library or to the observatory, +or for a walk. Won't you please come in?"</p> + +<p>Her gravity amused the young man, who did not +think it so serious a matter to gain an interview with +a retired professor in a small college. They debated, +with much formality on both sides, whether Sylvia +should seek her grandfather or merely direct the +visitor to places where he would be likely to find +him; but as the stranger had never seen Professor +Kelton, they concluded that it would be wiser for +Sylvia to do the seeking.</p> + +<p>She ushered the visitor into the library, where +it was cooler than on the doorstep, and turned +toward the campus. It is to be noted that Sylvia +moves with the buoyant ease of youth. She crosses +the Lane and is on her own ground now as she follows +the familiar walks that link the college buildings +together. The students who pass her grin cheerfully +and tug at their caps; several, from a distance, +wave a hand at her. One young gentleman, leaning +from the upper window of the chemical laboratory, +calls, "Hello, Sylvia," and jerks his head out of sight. +Sylvia's chin lifts a trifle, disdainful of the impudence +of sophomores. She has recognized the culprit's voice, +and will deal with him later in her own fashion.</p> + +<p>Sylvia is olive-skinned and dark of eye. And they +are interesting eyes—those of Sylvia, luminous and +eager—and not fully taken in at a glance. They +call us back for further parley by reason of their +grave and steady gaze. There is something appealing +in her that takes hold of the heart, and we remember +her after she has passed us by. We shall +not pretend that her features are perfect, but their +trifling irregularities contribute to an impression of +individuality and character. Her mouth, for example, +is a bit large, but it speaks for good humor. +Even at fifteen, her lips suggest firmness and decision. +Her forehead is high and broad, and her head +is well set on straight shoulders. Her dark hair is +combed back smoothly and braided and the braid +is doubled and tied with a red ribbon. The same +color flashes in a flowing bow at her throat. These +notes will serve to identify Sylvia as she crosses the +campus of this honorable seat of learning on a June +afternoon.</p> + +<p>This particular June afternoon fell somewhat later +than the second consulship of Grover Cleveland and +well within the ensuing period of radicalism. The +Hoosiers with whom we shall have to do are not +those set forth by Eggleston, but the breed visible +to-day in urban marketplaces, who submit themselves +meekly to tailors and schoolmasters. There +is always corn in their Egypt, and no village is so +small but it lifts a smokestack toward a sky that +yields nothing to Italy's. The heavens are a soundingboard +devised for the sole purpose of throwing back +the mellifluous voices of native orators. At the cross-roads +store, philosophers, perched upon barrel and +soap-box (note the soap-box), clinch in endless argument. +Every county has its Theocritus who sings the +nearest creek, the bloom of the may-apple, the squirrel +on the stake-and-rider fence, the rabbit in the corn, +the paw-paw thicket where fruit for the gods lures +farm boys on frosty mornings in golden autumn. +In olden times the French <i>voyageur</i>, paddling his +canoe from Montreal to New Orleans, sang cheerily +through the Hoosier wilderness, little knowing that +one day men should stand all night before bulletin +boards in New York and Boston awaiting the judgment +of citizens of the Wabash country upon the +issues of national campaigns. The Hoosier, pondering +all things himself, cares little what Ohio or +Illinois may think or do. He ventures eastward +to Broadway only to deepen his satisfaction in +the lights of Washington or Main Street at home. +He is satisfied to live upon a soil more truly blessed +than any that lies beyond the borders of his own +commonwealth. No wonder Ben Parker, of Henry +County, born in a log cabin, attuned his lyre to the +note of the first blue-bird and sang,—</p> + +<div class='blockquot'> +'Tis morning and the days are long.<br /> +</div> + +<p>It is always morning and all the days are long in +Indiana.</p> + +<p>Sylvia was three years old when she came to her +grandfather's. This she knew from the old servant; +but where her earlier years had been spent or why +or with whom she did not know; and when her grandfather +was so kind, and her studies so absorbing, it +did not seem worth while to trouble about any state +of existence antedating her first clear recollections—which +were of days punctuated and governed by +the college bell, and of people who either taught or +studied, with glimpses now and then of the women +and children of the professors' households. There +were times, when the winds whispered sharply round +the cottage on winter nights, or when the snow lay +white on the campus and in the woods beyond, when +some memory taunted her, teasing and luring afar +off; and once, as she walked with her grandfather +on a day in March, and he pointed to a flock of wild +geese moving <i>en échelon</i> toward the Kankakee and +the far white Canadian frontier, she experienced a +similar vague thrill of consciousness, as though remembering +that elsewhere, against blue spring sky, +she had watched similar migrant battalions sweeping +into the north.</p> + +<p>She had never known a playmate. The children +of the college circle went to school in town, while she, +from her sixth year, was taught systematically by +her grandfather. The faithful oversight of Mary, +the maid-of-all-work, constituted Sylvia's sole acquaintance +with anything approximating maternal +care. Mary, unknown to Sylvia and Professor +Kelton, sometimes took counsel—the privilege of +her long residence in the Lane—of some of the professors' +wives, who would have been glad to help directly +but for the increasing reserve that had latterly +marked Professor Kelton's intercourse with his +friends and neighbors.</p> + +<p>Sylvia was vaguely aware of the existence of social +distinctions, but in Buckeye Lane these were entirely +negligible; they were, in fact, purely academic, +to be studied with other interesting phenomena by +spectacled professors in quiet laboratories. It may, +however, be remarked that Sylvia had sometimes +gazed, not without a twinge, upon the daughter of +a village manufacturer whom she espied flashing +through the Lane on a black pony, and this young +person symbolized all worldly grandeur to Sylvia's +adoring vision. Sylvia knew the world chiefly from +her reading,—Miss Alcott's and Mrs. Whitney's stories +at first, and "St. Nicholas" every month, on a +certain day that found her meeting the postman far +across the campus; and she had read all the "Frank" +books,—the prized possessions of a neighbor's boy,—from +the Maine woods through the gunboat and +prairie exploits of that delectable hero. At fourteen +she had fallen upon Scott and Bulwer and had devoured +them voraciously during the long vacation, +in shady corners of the deserted campus; and she +was now fixing Dickens's characters ineffaceably +in her mind by Cruikshank's drawings. She was well +grounded in Latin and had a fair reading knowledge +of French and German. It was true of Sylvia, then +and later, that poetry did not greatly interest her, +and this had been attributed to her undoubted genius +for mathematics. She was old for her age, people +said, and the Lane wondered what her grandfather +meant to do with her.</p> + +<p>The finding of Professor Kelton proves to be, as +Sylvia had surmised, a simple matter. He is at +work in a quiet alcove of the college library, a man +just entering sixty, with white, close-trimmed hair +and beard. The eyes he raises to his granddaughter +are like hers, and there is a further resemblance +in the dark skin. His face brightens and his eyes +kindle as he clasps Sylvia's slender, supple hand.</p> + +<p>"It must be a student—are you sure he isn't +a student?"</p> + +<p>Sylvia was confident of it.</p> + +<p>"Very likely an agent, then. They're very clever +about disguising themselves. I never see agents, you +know, Sylvia."</p> + +<p>Sylvia declared her belief that the stranger was +not an agent, and the professor glanced at his book +reluctantly.</p> + +<p>"Very well; I will see him. I wish you would run +down these references for me, Sylvia. Don't trouble +about those I have checked off. It can't be possible +I am following a false clue. I'm sure I printed that +article in the 'Popular Science Monthly,' for I recall +perfectly that John Fiske wrote me a letter +about it. Come home when you have finished and +we'll take our usual walk together."</p> + +<p>Professor Kelton had relinquished his chair in the +college when Sylvia came to live with him twelve +years before the beginning of this history, and had +shut himself away from the world; but no one knew +why. Sylvia was the child of his only daughter, of +whom no one ever spoke, though the older members +of the faculty had known her, as they had known also +the professor's wife, now dead many years. Professor +Kelton had changed with the coming of Sylvia, +so his old associates said; and their wives wondered +that he should have undertaken the bringing-up of +the child without other aid than that of the Irishwoman +who had cooked his meals and taken care of +the house ever since Mrs. Kelton's death. He was +still a special lecturer at Madison, and he derived +some income from the sale of his textbooks in mathematics, +which he revised from time to time to bring +them in touch with changing educational methods.</p> + +<p>He had given as his reason for resigning a wish to +secure leisure for writing, and he was known to suffer +severely at times from the wounds that had driven +him from active naval service. But those who knew +him best imagined that he bore in his breast deeper +wounds than those of war. These old friends of the +college circle wondered sometimes at the strange +passing of his daughter and only child, who had vanished +from their sight as a girl, never to return. They +were men of quality, these teachers who had been +identified with the college so long; they and their +households were like a large family; and when +younger men joined the faculty and inquired, or +when their wives asked perfectly natural questions +about Professor Kelton and Sylvia, their inquiries +were met by an evasion that definitely dismissed +the matter. And out of this spirit, which marked +all the social intercourse of the college folk, affection +for Professor Kelton steadily increased, and its light +fell upon Sylvia abundantly. There was a particular +smile for her into which much might be read; there +was a tenderness manifested toward her which communicated +itself to the students, who were proud +to win her favor and were forever seeking little excuses +for bandying words with her when they met.</p> + +<p>The tradition of Professor Kelton's scholarship +had descended to Sylvia amusingly. She had never +attended school, but he had taught her systematically +at home, and his interests were hers. The students +attributed to her the most abstruse knowledge, and +stories of her precocity were repeated proudly by the +Lane folk. Many evenings spent with her grandfather +at the observatory had not been wasted. She +knew the paths of the stars as she knew the walks of +the campus. Dr. Wandless, the president emeritus, +addressed her always as "My Lady of the Constellations," +and told her solemnly that from much +peering through the telescope she had coaxed the +stars into her own eyes. Professor Kelton and his +granddaughter were thus fully identified with the +college and its business, which was to impart knowledge,—an +old-fashioned but not yet wholly neglected +function at Madison. She reckoned time by +semesters; the campus had always been her playground; +and the excitements of her life were those of +a small and sober academic community. The darkest +tragedies she had known had, indeed, been related +to the life of the college,—the disciplining of +the class of '01 for publishing itself in numerals on +the face of the court-house clock; the recurring conflicts +between town and gown that shook the community +every Washington's birthday; the predatory +habits of the Greek professor's cow, that botanized +freely in alien gardens and occasionally immured +herself in Professor Kelton's lettuce frames; these +and like heroic matters had marked the high latitudes +of Sylvia's life. In the long vacations, when +most of the faculty sought the Northern lakes, the +Keltons remained at home; and Sylvia knew all +the trees of the campus, and could tell you just +what books she had read under particular maples +or elms.</p> + +<p>Andrew Kelton was a mathematical scholar of +high attainments. In the field of astronomy he had +made important discoveries, and he carried on an +extensive correspondence with observers of stellar +phenomena in many far corners of the world. His +name in the Madison catalogue was followed by a +bewildering line of cabalistic letters testifying to the +honor in which other institutions of learning held +him. Wishing to devise for him a title that combined +due recognition of both his naval exploits and +his fine scholarship, the undergraduates called him +"Capordoc"; and it was part of a freshman's initiation +to learn that at all times and in all places he +was to stand and uncover when Professor Kelton +passed by.</p> + +<p>Professor Kelton's occasional lectures in the college +were a feature of the year, and were given in +Mills Hall to accommodate the large audience of +students and town folk that never failed to assemble +every winter to hear him. For into discourses on astronomy +he threw an immense amount of knowledge +of all the sciences, and once every year, though no +one ever knew when he would be moved to relate +it, he told a thrilling story of how once, guided by +the stars, he had run a Confederate blockade in a +waterlogged ironclad under a withering fire from the +enemy's batteries. And when he had finished and +the applause ceased, he glanced about with an air +of surprise and said: "Thank you, young gentlemen; +it pleases me to find you so enthusiastic in +your pursuit of knowledge. Learn the stars and you +won't get lost in strange waters. As we were saying—" +It was because of still other stories which he +never told or referred to, but which are written +in the nation's history, that the students loved him; +and it was for this that they gave him at every opportunity +their lustiest cheer.</p> + +<p>The professor found the stranger Sylvia had announced +waiting for him at the cottage. The young +man did not mention his own name but drew from +his pocket a sealed letter.</p> + +<p>"Is this Professor Andrew Kelton? I am to give +you this letter and wait for an answer."</p> + +<p>Professor Kelton sat down at his desk and slit +the envelope. The letter covered only one page and +he read slowly to the end. He then re-read the whole +carefully, and placed the sheet on his desk and laid +a weight upon it before he faced the messenger. He +passed his hand across his forehead, stroked his +beard, and said, speaking slowly,—</p> + +<p>"You were to bring this letter and bear back an +answer to the writer, but you were instructed not to +discuss it in any way or disclose the name or the +residence of the person who sent you. So much I +learn from the letter itself."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. I know nothing of the contents of the +letter. I was told to deliver it and to carry back the +answer."</p> + +<p>"Very good, sir. You have fulfilled your mission. +Please note carefully what I say. The reply is <i>No</i>. +There must be no mistake about that,—do you +understand?"</p> + +<p>"I am to report that you answered 'No'."</p> + +<p>"That is correct, sir," replied Professor Kelton +quietly. The young man rose, and the Professor +followed him to the door.</p> + +<p>"I thank you for your trouble; it has been a warm +day, the warmest of the season. Good-afternoon, +sir."</p> + +<p>He watched the young fellow's prompt exit +through the gate in the hedge to the Lane and then +returned to the library, where he re-read the letter. +Now that he was alone he relaxed somewhat; his +manner expressed mingled trepidation and curiosity. +The letter was type-written and was neither dated +nor signed. He carried it to the window and held +it against the sunlight, but there was not even a +watermark by which it might be traced. Nor was +there anything in the few straightforward sentences +that proved suggestive. The letter ran:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Your granddaughter has reached an age at which +her maintenance and education require serious consideration. +A friend who cannot be known in the +matter wishes to provide a sum of money to be held +and expended by you for her benefit. No obligations +of any sort will be incurred by you in accepting +this offer. It is hardly conceivable that you will +decline it, though it is quite optional with you to +do so. It will not, however, be repeated.</p> + +<p>Kindly designate by a verbal "Yes" or "No" to +the bearer whether you accept or decline. The +messenger is a stranger to the person making the +offer and the contents of this communication are +unknown to him. If you wish to avail yourself of +this gift, the amount will be paid in cash immediately, +and it is suggested that you refrain from mentioning +the matter to your granddaughter in any way.</p></div> + +<p>Professor Kelton had given his answer to the messenger +unhesitatingly, and the trouble reflected in +his dark eyes was not due, we may assume, to any +regret for his negative reply, but to the jangling of +old, harsh chords of memory. He crossed and recrossed +the room, lost in reverie; then paused at his +desk and tore the letter once across with the evident +intention of destroying it; but he hesitated, changed +his mind, and carried it to his bedroom. There he +took from a closet shelf a battered tin box marked +"A. Kelton, U.S.N." which contained his commissions +in the Navy. He sat down on the bed, folded +the letter the long way of the sheet and indorsed it +in pencil: "Declined." Then he slipped it under the +faded tape that bound the official papers together, +and locked and replaced the box.</p> + +<p>Sylvia meanwhile had found the review article +noted on her grandfather's memorandum, and leaving +a receipt with the librarian started home with +the book under her arm. Halfway across the campus +she met her grandfather's caller, hurrying townward. +He lifted his hat, and Sylvia paused a moment to +ask if he had found her grandfather.</p> + +<p>"Yes; thank you. My business didn't take much +time, you see. I'm sorry I put you to so much +bother."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that was nothing."</p> + +<p>"Is that new building the college library?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Sylvia. "Are you a Madison man?"</p> + +<p>"No. I was never here before. I went to a very +different college and"—he hesitated—"a little +bigger one."</p> + +<p>"I suppose there are bigger colleges," Sylvia remarked, +with the slightest accent on the adjective.</p> + +<p>The young man laughed.</p> + +<p>"That's the right spirit! Madison needs no praise +from me; it speaks for itself. Is this the nearest +way to the station?"</p> + +<p>It had been on Sylvia's tongue to ask him the +name of his college, but he had perhaps read this +inquiry in her eyes, and as though suddenly roused +by the remembrance of the secrecy that had been +imposed upon him, he moved on.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I understand," he called over his shoulder. +"Thank you, very much."</p> + +<p>He whistled softly to himself as he continued on +his way, still glancing about alertly.</p> + +<p>The manner of the old professor in receiving the +letter and the calmness with which he had given his +reply minimized the importance of the transaction +in the mind of the messenger. He was thinking of +Sylvia and smiling still at her implication that while +there were larger colleges than Madison there was +none better. He turned to look again at the college +buildings closely clasped by their strip of woodland. +Madison was not a college to sneer at; he had scanned +the bronze tablet on the library wall that published +the roll of her Sons who had served in the Civil War. +Many of the names were written high in the state's +history and for a moment they filled the young man's +mind.</p> + +<p>As she neared home Sylvia met her friend Dr. +Wandless, the former president, who always had his +joke with her.</p> + +<p>"Hail, Lady of the Constellations! You have been +looting the library, I see. Hast thou named the stars +without a gun?"</p> + +<p>"That isn't right," protested Sylvia. "You're +purposely misquoting. You've only spoiled Emerson's +line about the birds."</p> + +<p>"Bless me, I believe that's so!" laughed the old +gentleman. "But tell me, Sylvia: 'Canst thou bind +the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands +of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his +season? or guide Arcturus with his sons?'"</p> + +<p>Sylvia, with brightening eyes and a smile on her +lips, answered:—</p> + +<p>"Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst +thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, if only I could, Sylvia!" said the old minister, +smiling gravely.</p> + +<p>They came in high spirits to the parting of their +ways and Sylvia kept on through the hedge to her +grandfather's cottage. The minister turned once, +a venerable figure with snowy beard and hair, and +beat the path softly with his stick and glanced back, +as Sylvia's red ribbon bobbed through the greenery.</p> + +<p>"'Whose daughter art thou?'" he murmured +gently.</p> + +<p>Then, glancing furtively about, he increased his +gait as though to escape from his own thoughts; but +the question asked of Bethuel's daughter by Abraham's +servant came again to his lips, and he shook +his head as he repeated:—</p> + +<p>"Whose daughter art thou?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II" />CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>SYLVIA GOES VISITING</h3> + + +<p>"How old did you say you were, Sylvia?"</p> + +<p>"I'm sixteen in October, grandpa," answered +Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Is it possible!" murmured the professor. "And +to think that you've never been to school."</p> + +<p>"Why, I've been going to school every day, almost, +ever since I can remember. And haven't I had +the finest teacher in the world, all to myself?"</p> + +<p>His face brightened responsive to her laugh.</p> + +<p>This was at the tea-table—for the Keltons dined +at noon in conformity with local custom—nearly a +week after the unsigned letter had been delivered to +Andrew Kelton by the unknown messenger. Sylvia +and her grandfather had just returned from a walk, +prolonged into the cool dusk. They sat at the square +walnut table, where they had so long faced each +other three times a day. Sylvia had never doubted +that their lives would go on forever in just this way,—that +they would always be, as her grandfather +liked to put it, "shipmates," walking together, studying +together, sitting as they sat now, at their simple +meals, with just the same quaintly flowered dishes, +the same oddly turned teapot, with its attendant +cream pitcher (slightly cracked as to lip) and the +sugar-bowl, with a laboring ship depicted in blue on +its curved side, which was not related, even by the +most remote cousinship, to anything else in the pantry.</p> + +<p>Professor Kelton was unwontedly preoccupied +to-night. Sylvia saw that he had barely touched +his strawberries—their first of the season, though +they were fine ones and the cream was the thickest. +She folded her hands on the edge of the table and +watched him gravely in the light of the four candles +whose flame flared in the breeze that swept softly +through the dining-room windows. Feeling her +eyes upon him the old gentleman suddenly roused +himself.</p> + +<p>"We've had good times, haven't we, Sylvia? +And I wonder if I have really taught you anything. +I suppose I ought to have been sending you to school +with the other youngsters about here, but the fact +is that I never saw a time when I wanted to part with +you! You've been a fine little shipmate, but you're +not so little any more. Sixteen your next birthday! +If that's so it isn't best for us to go on this way. +You must try your oar in deeper water. You've outgrown +me—and I'm a dull old fellow at best. You +must go where you will meet other girls, and deal +with a variety of teachers,—not just one dingy +old fellow like me. Have you ever thought what +kind of a school you'd like to go to?"</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I have; I don't know much about +schools."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't you think you'd like to get away +from so much mathematics and learn things that +will fit you to be entertaining and amusing? You +know I've taught you a lot of things just to amuse +myself and they can never be of the slightest use to +you. I suppose you are the only girl of your age +in America who can read the sextant and calculate +latitude and longitude. But, bless me, what's the +use?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I could only—"</p> + +<p>"Only what?" he encouraged her. He was greatly +interested in getting her point of view, and it was +perfectly clear that a great idea possessed her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if I could only go to college, that would be +the finest thing in the world!"</p> + +<p>"You think that would be more interesting than +boarding-school? If you go to college they may require +Greek and you don't even know what the letters +look like!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I know a little about it!"</p> + +<p>"I think not, Sylvia. How could you?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the letters were so queer, I learned them just +for fun out of an old textbook I found on the campus +one day. Nobody ever came to claim it, so I read +it all through and learned all the declensions and +vocabularies, though I only guessed at the pronunciation."</p> + +<p>Professor Kelton was greatly amused. "You +tackled Greek just for fun, did you?" he laughed; +then, after a moment's absorption: "I'm going to +Indianapolis to-morrow and I'll take you with me, +if you care to go along. In fact, I've written to Mrs. +Owen that we're coming, and I've kept this as a +little surprise for you."</p> + +<p>So, after an early breakfast the next morning, +they were off for the station in one of those disreputable, +shaky village hacks that Dr. Wandless always +called "dark Icarian birds," with their two bags +piled on the seat before them. On the few railway +journeys Sylvia remembered, she had been carried +on half-fare tickets, an ignominy which she recalled +with shame. To-day she was a full-grown passenger +with a seat to herself, her grandfather being engaged +through nearly the whole of their hour's swift journey +in a political discussion with a lawyer who was +one of the college trustees.</p> + +<p>"I told Mrs. Owen not to meet us; it's a nuisance +having to meet people," said the professor when they +had reached the city. "But she always sends a carriage +when she expects me."</p> + +<p>As they stepped out upon the street a station +wagon driven by an old negro appeared promptly at +the curb.</p> + +<p>"Mawnin', Cap'n; mawnin'! Yo' just on time. +Mis' Sally tole me to kerry you all right up to the +haouse. Yes, seh."</p> + +<p>Sylvia did not know, what later historians may +be interested to learn from these pages, that the +station wagon, drawn by a single horse, was for years +the commonest vehicle known to the people of the +Hoosier capital. The panic of 1873 had hit the town +so hard, the community's punishment for its sins +of inflation had been so drastic, that it had accepted +meekly the rebuke implied in its designation as a +one-horse town. In 1884 came another shock to +confidence, and in 1893, still another earthquake, +as though the knees of the proud must at intervals +be humbled. The one-horse station wagon continued +to symbolize the quiet domesticity of the +citizens of the Hoosier capital: women of unimpeachable +social standing carried their own baskets through +the aisles of the city market or drove home with +onion tops waving triumphantly on the seat beside +them. We had not yet hitched our wagon to a gasoline +tank, but traffic regulations were enforced by +cruel policemen, to the terror of women long given +to leisurely manoeuvres on the wrong side of our +busiest thoroughfares. The driving of cattle through +Washington Street did not cease until 1888, when +cobbles yielded to asphalt. It was in that same year +that Benjamin Harrison was chosen to the seat of the +Presidents. What hallowed niches now enshrine the +General's fence, utterly disintegrated and appropriated, +during that bannered and vociferous summer, +by pious pilgrims!</p> + +<p>Down the busy meridional avenue that opened +before Sylvia as they drove uptown loomed the tall +shaft of the soldiers' monument, and they were soon +swinging round the encompassing plaza. Professor +Kelton explained that the monument filled a space +once called Circle Park, where the Governor's Mansion +had stood in old times. In her hurried glimpses +Sylvia was unable to account for the lack of sociability +among the distinguished gentlemen posed in +bronze around the circular thoroughfare; and she +thought it odd that William Henry Harrison wore +so much better clothes than George Rogers Clark, who +was immortalized for her especial pleasure in the very +act of delivering the Wabash from the British yoke.</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether Mrs. Owen will like me?" +said Sylvia a little plaintively, the least bit homesick +as they turned into Delaware Street.</p> + +<p>"Of course she will like you!" laughed Professor +Kelton, "though I will say that she doesn't like +everybody by any manner of means. You mustn't +be afraid of her; she gets on best with people who +are not afraid to talk to her. She isn't like anybody +you ever saw, or, I think, anybody you are ever +likely to see again!" And the professor chuckled +softly to himself.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen's big comfortable brick house stood +in that broad part of Delaware Street where the +maple arch rises highest, and it was surrounded by +the smoothest of lawns, broken only by a stone basin +in whose centre posed the jolliest of Cupids holding +a green glass umbrella, over which a jet of water +played in the most realistic rainstorm imaginable.</p> + +<p>Another negro, not quite as venerable as the +coachman, opened the door and took their bags. He +explained that Mrs. Owen (he called her "Mis' +Sally") had been obliged to attend a meeting of some +board or other, but would return shortly. The guests' +rooms were ready and he at once led the way upstairs, +where a white maid met them.</p> + +<p>Professor Kelton explained that he must go down +into the city on some errands, but that he would be +back shortly, and Sylvia was thus left to her own +devices.</p> + +<p>It was like a story book to arrive at a strange +house and be carried off to a beautiful room, with +a window-seat from which one could look down +into the most charming of gardens. She opened her +bag and disposed her few belongings and was exploring +the bathroom wonderingly (for the bath at home +was an affair of a tin tub to which water was carried +by hand) when a maid appeared with a glass of +lemonade and a plate of cakes.</p> + +<p>It was while she munched her cakes and sipped the +cool lemonade in the window-seat with an elm's +branches so close that she could touch them, and +wondered how near to this room her grandfather +had been lodged, and what the mistress of the house +was like, that Mrs. Owen appeared, after the lightest +tap on the high walnut door. Throughout her +life Sylvia will remember that moment when she +first measured Mrs. Owen's fine height and was aware +of her quick, eager entrance; but above all else the +serious gray eyes that were so alive with kindness +were the chief item of Sylvia's inventory.</p> + +<p>"I thought you were older,—or younger! I +didn't know you would be just like this! I didn't +know just when you were coming or I should have +tried to be at home—but there was a meeting,—there +are so many things, child!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen did not sigh at the thought of her burdens, +but smiled quite cheerfully as though the fact +of the world's being a busy place was wholly agreeable. +She sat down beside Sylvia in the window-seat +and took one of the cakes and nibbled it while +they talked. Sylvia had never been so wholly at +ease in her life. It was as though she had been +launched into the midst of an old friendship, and +she felt that she had conferred the greatest possible +favor in consenting to visit this house, for was not +this dear old lady saying,—</p> + +<p>"You see, I'm lonesome sometimes and I almost +kidnap people to get them to visit me. I'm a terribly +practical old woman. If you haven't heard it I +must tell you the truth—I'm a farmer! And I don't +let anybody run my business. Other widows have +to take what the lawyers give them; but while I can +tell oats from corn and horses from pigs I'm going +to handle my own money. We women are a lot of +geese, I tell you, child! I'm treasurer of a lot of things +women run, and I can see a deficit through a brick +wall as quick as any man on earth. Don't you ever +let any man vote any proxy for you—you tell +'em you'll attend the stockholders' meetings yourself, +and when you go, kick!"</p> + +<p>Sylvia had not the faintest notion of what proxy +meant, but she was sure it must be something both +interesting and important or Mrs. Owen would not +feel so strongly about it.</p> + +<p>"When I was your age," Mrs. Owen continued, +"girls weren't allowed to learn anything but embroidery +and housekeeping. But my father had some +sense. He was a Kentucky farmer and raised horses +and mules. I never knew anything about music, +for I wouldn't learn; but I own a stock farm near +Lexington, and just between ourselves I don't lose +any money on it. And most that I know about men +I learned from mules; there's nothing in the world +so interesting as a mule."</p> + +<p>When Professor Kelton had declared to Sylvia +on the way from the station that Mrs. Owen was unlike +any other woman in the world, Sylvia had not +thought very much about it. To be sure Sylvia's +knowledge of the world was the meagrest, but certainly +she could never have imagined any woman +as remarkable as Mrs. Owen. The idea that a mule, +instead of being a dull beast of burden, had really +an educational value struck her as decidedly novel, +and she did not know just what to make of it. Mrs. +Owen readjusted the pillow at her back, and went on +spiritedly:—</p> + +<p>"Your grandpa has often spoken of you, and it's +mighty nice to have you here. You see a good many +of us Hoosiers are Kentucky people, and your grandpa's +father was. I remember perfectly well when your +grandpa went to the Naval Academy; and we were +all mighty proud of him in the war."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen's white hair was beautifully soft and +wavy, and she wore it in the prevailing manner. Her +eyes narrowed occasionally with an effect of sudden +dreaminess, and these momentary reveries seemed +to the adoring Sylvia wholly fascinating. She spoke +incisively and her voice was deep and resonant. She +was exceedingly thin and wiry, and her movements +were quick and nervous. Hearing the whirr of a +lawn-mower in the yard she drew a pair of spectacles +from a case she produced from an incredibly deep +pocket, put them on, and criticized the black man +below sharply for his manner of running the machine. +This done, the spectacles went back to the +case and the case to the pocket. In our capital a +woman in a kimono may still admonish her servants +from a second-story window without loss of +dignity, and gentlemen holding high place in dignified +callings may sprinkle their own lawns in the +cool of the evening if they find delight in that cheering +diversion. Joy in the simple life dies in us slowly. +The galloping Time-Spirit will run us down eventually, +but on Sundays that are not too hot or too cold +one may even to-day count a handsome total of +bank balances represented in our churches, so strong +is habit in a people bred to righteousness.</p> + +<p>"You needn't be afraid of me; my bark is worse +than my bite; you have to talk just that way to these +black people. They've all worked for me for years +and they don't any of 'em pay the slightest attention +to what I say. But," she concluded, "they'd +be a lot worse if I didn't say it."</p> + +<p>We reckon time in our capital not from fires or +floods or even <i>anno urbis conditæ</i>, but from seemingly +minor incidents that have nevertheless marked new +eras and changed the channels of history. Precedents +sustain us in this. A startled goose rousing the +sleeping sentinels on the ramparts; a dull peasant +sending an army in the wrong direction; the mischievous +phrase uttered by an inconspicuous minister +of the gospel to a few auditors,—such unconsidered +trifles play havoc with Fame's calculations. And so +in our calendar the disbanding of the volunteer fire +department in 1859 looms gloomily above the highest +altitudes of the strenuous sixties; the fact that +Billy Sanderson, after his father's failure in 1873, +became a brakeman on the J.M. & I. Railroad and +invested his first month's salary in a silver-mounted +lantern, is more luminous in the retrospect than the +panic itself; the coming of a lady with a lorgnette +in 1889 (the scion of one of our ancient houses +married her in Ohio) overshadows even the passing +of Beecher's church; and the three-days' sojourn of +Henry James in 1905 shattered all records and established +a new orientation for our people. It was +Sally Owen who said, when certain citizens declared +that Mr. James was inaudible, that many heard +him perfectly that night in the Propylæum who +had always thought Balzac the name of a tooth-powder.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen's family, the Singletons, had crossed +the Ohio into Hoosier territory along in the fifties, +in time for Sally to have been a student—not the +demurest from all accounts—at Indiana Female +College. Where stood the college the Board of Trade +has lately planted itself, frowning down upon Christ +Church, whose admirable Gothic spire chimed for +Union victories in the sixties (there's a story about +that, too!) and still pleads with the ungodly on those +days of the week appointed by the Book of Common +Prayer for offices to be said or sung. Mrs. Jackson +Owen was at this time sixty years old, and she had +been a widow for thirty years. The old citizens who +remembered Jackson Owen always spoke of him with +a smile. He held an undisputed record of having +been defeated for more offices than any other Hoosier +of his time. His chief assets when he died were a +number of farms, plastered with mortgages, scattered +over the commonwealth in inaccessible localities. +His wife, left a widow with a daughter who died +at fourteen, addressed herself zealously to the task +of paying the indebtedness with which the lamented +Jackson had encumbered his property. She had made +a point of clinging to all the farms that had been so +profitless under his direction, and so successfully +had she managed them that they were all paying +handsomely. A four-hundred-acre tract of the tallest +corn I ever saw was once pointed out to me in Greene +County and this plantation, it was explained, had +been a worthless bog before Mrs. Owen "tiled" it; +and later I saw stalks of this corn displayed in the +rooms of the Agricultural Society to illustrate what +intelligent farming can do.</p> + +<p>At the State Fair every fall it was taken as a matter +of course that "S. Owen" (such was her business +designation) should win more red ribbons than any +other exhibitor either of cereals or live stock. There +was nothing that Sally Owen did not know about +feeding cattle, and a paper she once read before the +Short-Horn Breeders' Association is a classic on this +important subject. Mrs. Owen still retained the +active control of her affairs, though she had gradually +given over to a superintendent much of the +work long done by herself; but woe unto him who +ever tried to deceive her! She maintained an office +on the ground floor of her house where she transacted +business and kept inventories of every stick of +wood, every bushel of corn, every litter of pigs to +which she had ever been entitled. For years she +had spent much time at her farms, particularly +through the open months of the year when farm +tasks are most urgent; but as her indulgence in +masculine pursuits had not abated her womanly +fastidiousness, she carried with her in all her journeys +a negro woman whose business it was to cook for her +mistress and otherwise care for her comfort. She +had acquired the farm in Kentucky to continue her +ties with the state of her birth, but this sentimental +consideration did not deter her from making the +Lexington farm pay; Sally Owen made everything +pay! Her Southern ancestry was manifest in nothing +more strikingly than in her treatment of the blacks +she had always had about her. She called them niggers—as +only a Southerner may, and they called +her "Mis' Sally" and were her most devoted and +obedient servants.</p> + +<p>Much of this Sylvia was to learn later; but just +now, as Mrs. Owen sat in the cool window-seat, it +was enough for Sylvia to be there, in the company +of the first woman—so it seemed to her—she had +ever known, except Irish Mary at home. The wives +of the professors in Buckeye Lane were not like +this; no one was ever like this, she was sure!</p> + +<p>"We shall be having luncheon at half-past twelve, +and my grandniece Marian will be here. Marian is +the daughter of my niece, Mrs. Morton Bassett, +who lives at Fraserville. Marian comes to town pretty +often and I've asked her down to-day particularly +to meet you."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure that is very kind," murmured Sylvia, +though she would have been perfectly happy if just +she and her grandfather had been left alone with +Mrs. Owen.</p> + +<p>"There's the bell; that must be Marian now," said +Mrs. Owen a moment later, and vanished in her +quick fashion. Then the door opened again instantly +and she returned to the room smiling.</p> + +<p>"What <i>is</i> your name, dear?" Mrs. Owen demanded. +"How very stupid of me not to have +asked before! Your grandpa in speaking of you always +says my granddaughter, and that doesn't tell +anything, does it?"</p> + +<p>"My name is Sylvia—Sylvia Garrison."</p> + +<p>"And that's a very nice name," said Mrs. Owen, +looking at her fixedly with her fine gray eyes. +"You're the first Sylvia I have ever known. I'm +just plain Sally!" Then she seized Sylvia's hands +and drew her close and kissed her.</p> + +<p>As Sylvia had brought but one white gown, she +decided that the blue serge skirt and linen shirt-waist +in which she had traveled would do for luncheon. +She put on a fresh collar and knotted a black scarf +under it and went downstairs.</p> + +<p>She ran down quickly, to have the meeting with +the strange niece over as quickly as possible. Mrs. +Owen was not in sight, and her grandfather had not +returned from town; but as Sylvia paused a moment +at the door of the spacious high-ceilinged drawing-room +she saw a golden head bent over a music rack +by the piano. Sylvia stood on the threshold an instant, +shy and uncertain as to how she should make +herself known. The sun flooding the windows glinted +on the bright hair of the girl at the piano; she was +very fair, and her features were clear-cut and regular. +There was no sound in the room but the crisp +rustle of the leaves of music as the girl tossed them +about. Then as she flung aside the last sheet with +an exclamation of disappointment, Sylvia made herself +known.</p> + +<p>"I'm Sylvia Garrison," she said, advancing.</p> + +<p>They gravely inspected each other for a moment; +then Marian put out her hand.</p> + +<p>"I'm Marian Bassett. Aunt Sally told me you +were coming."</p> + +<p>Marian seated herself with the greatest composure +and Sylvia noted her white lawn gown and white +half-shoes, and the bow of white ribbon at the back +of her head. Sylvia, in her blue serge, black ribbons, +and high shoes, felt the superiority of this +radiant being. Marian took charge of the conversation.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you like to visit; I love it. I've visited +a lot, and I'm always coming to Aunt Sally's. I'm +in Miss Waring's School, here in this city, so I come +to spend Sundays with Aunt Sally very often. Mama +is always coming to town to see how I'm getting on. +She's terribly ambitious for me, but I hate school, +and I simply <i>cannot</i> learn French. Miss Waring is +terribly severe; she says it's merely a lack of application +in my case; that I <i>could</i> learn but won't. When +mama comes she takes me to luncheon at the Whitcomb +and sometimes to the matinée. We saw John +Drew last winter: he's simply perfect—so refined +and gentlemanly; and I've seen Julia Marlowe twice; +she's my favorite actress. Mama says that if I just +will read novels I ought to read good ones, and she +gave me a set of Thackeray for my own; but you +can skip a whole lot in him, I'm here to state! One +of our best critics has said (mama's always saying +that) that the best readers are those who know how +to skip, and I'm a good skipper. I always want to +know how it's going to come out. If they can't live +happy forever afterward I want them to part beautifully, +with soft music playing; and <i>he</i> must go away +and leave <i>her</i> holding a rose as a pledge that <i>he</i> will +never forget."</p> + +<p>When Marian paused there was a silence as Sylvia +tried to pick out of this long speech something to +which she could respond. Marian was astonishingly +wise; Sylvia felt herself immeasurably younger, and +she was appalled by her own ignorance before this +child who had touched so many sides of life and who +recounted her experiences so calmly and lightly.</p> + +<p>"This is the first time I ever visited," Sylvia confessed. +"I live with my grandfather Kelton, right +by Madison College, that's at Montgomery, you +know. Grandfather was a professor in the college, +and still lectures there sometimes. I've never been +to school—"</p> + +<p>"How on earth do you escape?" demanded +Marian.</p> + +<p>"It's not an escape," laughed Sylvia; "you see +grandfather, being a professor, began teaching me +almost before I began remembering."</p> + +<p>"Oh! But even that would be better than a boarding-school, +where they make you study. It would be +easy to tell your grandfather that you didn't want +to do things."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it would," Sylvia acknowledged; "but +it's so nice to have him for a teacher that I shouldn't +know just how to do it."</p> + +<p>This point of view did not interest Marian, and +she recurred to her own affairs.</p> + +<p>"I've been to Europe. Papa took us all last year. +We went to Paris and London. It was fine."</p> + +<p>"My grandfather was in the United States Navy, +before he began teaching at Madison, so I know a +good deal from him about Europe."</p> + +<p>"Blackford—he's my brother—is going to Annapolis," +said Marian, thus reminded of her brother's +aspirations. "At least he says he is, though he used +to talk about West Point. I hope he will go into the +Army. I should like to visit West Point; it must be +perfectly fascinating."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is. I think I should like college."</p> + +<p>"Not for me!" exclaimed Marian. "I want to go +to a convent in Paris. I know a girl right here in +Indianapolis who did that, and it's perfectly fine +and ever so romantic. To get into college you have +to know algebra, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I think they require that," Sylvia replied, +on guard against a display of too much knowledge.</p> + +<p>"Do you know algebra?" demanded Marian.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I think I don't!"</p> + +<p>"Well, there's no doubt about me! I'm sure I +don't. It's perfectly horrid."</p> + +<p>The entrance of Mrs. Owen and the return of Professor +Kelton terminated these confidences. The +four were soon at the luncheon table, where the array +of crystal and silver seemed magnificent to +Sylvia's unaccustomed eyes. She had supposed that +luncheon meant some such simple meal as the suppers +she had been used to at home; but it included +fried chicken and cold ham, and there were several +vegetables; and hot biscuits and hot corn bread; +and it became necessary for Sylvia to decline an +endless succession of preserves and jellies. For dessert +there were the most fragrant red raspberries +conceivable, with golden sponge cake. The colored +man who served the table seemed to enjoy himself +immensely. He condescended to make suggestions +as he moved about. "A little mo' of the cold ham, +Cap'n?" or, "I 'membah you like the sparrograss, +Mis' Marian," he murmured. "The co'n bread's +extra fine, Mis'"—to Sylvia. "The hossis is awdahed +for three, Mis' Sally"—to Mrs. Owen.</p> + +<p>"You still have Kentucky cooking, Sally," remarked +Professor Kelton, who had praised the corn +bread.</p> + +<p>"I do, Andrew," replied the old lady; "everybody +knows that the best things in Indiana came through +Kentucky. That includes you and me!"</p> + +<p>Prompted by Mrs. Owen's friendly questioning, +Sylvia found herself talking. She felt that she was +talking more than Marian; but she was much less +troubled by this than by Marian's sophisticated +manner of lifting her asparagus stalks with her +fingers, while Sylvia resorted to the fork. But Sylvia +comforted herself with the reflection that this was +all in keeping with Marian Bassett's general superiority. +Marian conducted herself with the most mature +air, and she made it quite necessary for Professor +Kelton to defend the Navy against her assertion +that the Army was much more useful to the country. +The unhurried meal passed, and after they had returned +to the drawing-room Marian left to meet her +mother at the dressmaker's and return with her to +Fraserville.</p> + +<p>"I hope to see you again," said Marian, shaking +hands with Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I hope so, too," Sylvia replied.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III" />CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>A SMALL DINNER AT MRS. OWEN'S</h3> + + +<p>Professor Kelton announced that he +had not finished his errands in town, and +begged to be excused from the drive which +Mrs. Owen had planned.</p> + +<p>"Very well, Andrew. Then I shall take your +Sylvia for a longer drive than I should expect you to +survive. We'll go out and see how the wheat looks."</p> + +<p>In this new environment Sylvia was aware that +despite his efforts to appear gay her grandfather was +not himself. She was quite sure that he had not expected +to spend the afternoon downtown, and she +wondered what was troubling him. The novelty of +the drive, however, quickly won her to the best of +spirits. Mrs. Owen appeared ready for this adventure +with her tall figure wrapped in a linen "duster." +Her hat was a practical affair of straw, unadorned +save by a black ribbon. As she drew on her gloves +in the <i>porte-cochère</i> the old coachman held the heads +of two horses that were hitched to a smart road +wagon. When her gloves had been adjusted, Mrs. +Owen surveyed the horses critically.</p> + +<p>"Lift Pete's forefoot—the off one, Joe," she +commanded, stepping down into the asphalt court. +"Um,—that's just what I thought. That new +blacksmith knows his business. That shoe's on +straight. That other man never did know anything. +All right, Sylvia."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen explained as the trim sorrels stepped +off smartly toward the north that they were Estabrook +stock and that she had raised them herself +on her Kentucky farm, which she declared Sylvia +must visit some day. It was very pleasant to be +driving in this way under a high blue sky, beside a +woman whose ways and interests were so unusual. +The spirited team held Mrs. Owen's attention, but +she never allowed the conversation to flag. Several +times as they crossed car lines it seemed to Sylvia +that they missed being struck only by perilously +narrow margins. When they reached the creek +they paused on the bridge to allow the sorrels to +rest, and Mrs. Owen indicated with her whip the +line of the new boulevard and recounted the history +of the region.</p> + +<p>At the State Fair grounds Mrs. Owen drove in, +explaining that she wanted to see what they were +doing to the track. Sylvia noticed that the employees +they passed grinned at Mrs. Owen as though she +were a familiar acquaintance, and the superintendent +came up and discussed horses and the track +changes with Mrs. Owen in a strange vocabulary. He +listened respectfully to what Mrs. Owen said and +was impressed, Sylvia thought, by her opinions. She +referred to other tracks at Lexington and Louisville +as though they were, of course, something that everybody +knew about. The sun was hot, but Mrs. Owen +did not seem to mind the heat a particle. The superintendent +looked the sorrels over carefully; they had +taken no end of ribbons at fairs and horse shows. +Here was a team, Mrs. Owen announced, that she +was not afraid to show in Madison Square Garden +against any competitors in its class; and the superintendent +admitted that the Estabrooks were a fine +stock. He nodded and kept repeating "You're +right," or "you're mighty right," to everything +the old lady said. It seemed to Sylvia that nobody +would be likely to question or gainsay any opinions +Mrs. Owen might advance on the subject of horses. +She glanced over her shoulder as they were driving +back toward the gate and saw the superintendent +looking after them.</p> + +<p>"He's watching the team, ain't he, Sylvia? I +thought I'd touch up his envy a little. That man," +continued Mrs. Owen, "really knows a horse from +an elephant. He's been trying to buy this team; but +he hasn't bid up high enough yet. It tickles me to +think that some of those rich fellows down in New +York will pay me a good price when I send 'em down +there to the show. They need working; you can't +do much with horses in town; the asphalt plays +smash with their feet. There's a good stretch of pike +out here and I'll show you what this team can do."</p> + +<p>This promised demonstration was the least bit +terrifying to Sylvia. Her knowledge of horses was +the slightest, and in reading of horse races she had +not imagined that there could be such a thrill in +speeding along a stretch of good road behind a pair +of registered roadsters, the flower of the Estabrook +stock, driven by so intrepid and skillful a whip as +Mrs. Sally Owen.</p> + +<p>"I guess that mile would worry the boys some," +observed Mrs. Owen with satisfaction as she brought +the team to a walk.</p> + +<p>This was wholly cryptic to Sylvia, but she was +glad that Mrs. Owen was not disappointed. As they +loitered in a long shady lane Mrs. Owen made it +possible for Sylvia to talk of herself. Sally Owen +was a wise woman, who was considered a little rough +and peculiar by some of her townspeople, chiefly +those later comers who did not understand the conditions +of life that had made such a character possible; +but none had ever questioned her kindness of +heart. And in spite of her frank, direct way of speech +she was not deficient in tact. Sally Owen had an +active curiosity, but it was of the healthy sort that +wastes no time on trifling matters. She was curious +about Sylvia, for Sylvia was a little different from +the young girls she knew. Quite naturally she was +comparing the slim, dark-eyed girl at her side with +Marian Bassett. Marian was altogether obvious; +whereas Mrs. Owen felt the barriers of reserve in +Sylvia. Sylvia embodied questions in the Kelton +family history that she could not answer, though +she had known Andrew Kelton all his life, and remembered +dimly his only daughter, who had unaccountably +vanished.</p> + +<p>"Where do you go to school, Sylvia?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't go to school,—not to a real school,—but +grandfather teaches me; he has always taught me."</p> + +<p>"And you are now about—how old?"</p> + +<p>"Sixteen in October. I've been talking to grandfather +about going to college."</p> + +<p>"They do send girls to college nowadays, don't +they! We're beginning to have some of these college +women in our town here. I know some of 'em. +Let's see. What they say against colleges for women +is that the girls who go there learn too much, so that +men are afraid to marry 'em. I wonder how that +is? But that's in favor of college, I think; don't +you?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen answered her own question with a +laugh; and having opened the subject she went on +to disclose her opinions further.</p> + +<p>"I guess I'm too old to be one of these new +women we're hearing so much about. Even farming's +got to be a science, and it keeps me hustling +to learn what the new words mean in the agricultural +papers. I belong to a generation of women who +know how to sew rag carpets and make quilts and stir +soft soap in an iron kettle and darn socks; and I can +still cure a ham better than any Chicago factory +does it," she added, raking a fly from the back of +the "off" sorrel with a neat turn of the whip. "And +I reckon I make 'em pay full price for my corn. +Well, well; so you're headed for college."</p> + +<p>"I hope so," said Sylvia; "then after that I'm +going to teach."</p> + +<p>"Poor pay and hard work. I know lots of teachers; +they're always having nervous prostration. +But you look healthy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm strong enough," replied Sylvia. "I +think I should like teaching."</p> + +<p>"Marian was at Miss Waring's school last winter +and I couldn't see what she was interested in much +but chasing to matinées. Are you crazy about +theatres?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I've never been to one," Sylvia confessed.</p> + +<p>"You're just as well off. Actors ain't what they +used to be. When you saw Edwin Booth in 'Hamlet' +or Jefferson in 'Rip,' you saw acting. I haven't +been in any theatre since I saw Jefferson in the 'Rivals' +the last time he came round. There used to +be a stock company at the Metropolitan about +war-time that beat any of these new actor folks. I'd +rather see a good circus any time than one of these +singing pieces. Sassafras tea and a circus every +spring; I always take both."</p> + +<p>Sylvia found these views on the drama wholly +edifying. Circuses and sassafras tea were within +the range of her experience, and finding that she +had struck a point of contact, Mrs. Owen expressed +her pity for any child that did not enjoy a round of +sassafras tea every spring. Sassafras in the spring, +and a few doses of quinine in the fall, to eliminate +the summer's possible accumulation of malaria, were +all the medicine that any good Hoosier needed, Mrs. +Owen averred.</p> + +<p>"I'm for all this new science, you understand +that," Mrs. Owen continued. "A good deal of it +does seem to me mighty funny, but when they tell +me to boil drinking-water to kill the bugs in it, and +show me pictures of the bugs they take with the microscope, +I don't snort just because my grandfather +didn't know about those things and lived to be eighty-two +and then died from being kicked by a colt. I go +into the kitchen and I say to Eliza, 'Bile the water, +Liza; bile it twice.' That's the kind of a new woman +I am. But let's see; we were speaking of Marian."</p> + +<p>"I liked her very much; she's very nice and ever +so interesting," said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Bless you, she's nice enough and pretty enough; +but about this college business. I always say that +if it ain't in a colt the trainer can't put it there. My +niece—that's Mrs. Bassett, Marian's mother—wants +Marian to be an intellectual woman,—the +kind that reads papers on the poets before literary +clubs. Mrs. Bassett runs a woman's club in Fraserville +and she's one of the lights in the Federation. +They got me up to Fraserville to speak to their club +a few years ago. It's one of these solemn clubs +women have; awful literary and never get nearer +home than Doctor Johnson, who was nothing but a +fat loafer anyhow. I told 'em they'd better let me +off; but they would have it and so I went up and +talked on ensilage. It was fall and I thought ensilage +was seasonable and they ought to know about +it if they didn't. And they didn't, all right."</p> + +<p>Sylvia had been staring straight ahead across the +backs of the team; she was conscious suddenly that +Mrs. Owen was looking at her fixedly, with mirth +kindling in her shrewd old eyes. Sylvia had no idea +what ensilage was, but she knew it must be something +amusing or Mrs. Owen would not have laughed +so heartily.</p> + +<p>"It was a good joke, wasn't it—talking to a +literary club about silos. I told 'em I'd come back +and read my little piece on 'Winter Feeding,' but +they haven't called me yet."</p> + +<p>They had driven across to Meridian Street, and +Mrs. Owen sent the horses into town at a comfortable +trot. They traversed the new residential area +characterized by larger grounds and a higher average +of architecture.</p> + +<p>"That's Edward Thatcher's new house—the +biggest one. They say it's easier to pay for a castle +like that out here than it is to keep a cook so far +away from Washington Street. I let go of ten acres +right here in the eighties; we used to think the town +would stop at the creek," Mrs. Owen explained, and +then announced the dictum: "Keep land; mortgage +if you got to, but never sell; that's my motto."</p> + +<p>It was nearly six when they reached home, and +dinner was appointed for seven. Mrs. Owen drove +directly into the barn and gave minute instructions +as to the rubbing-down and feeding of the horses. +In addressing the negroes she imitated their own +manner of speech. Sylvia had noticed that Mrs. +Owen did not always pronounce words in the same +way, but such variations are marked among our +Southwestern people, particularly where, as in +Mrs. Owen's case, they have lived on both sides of +the Ohio River. Sometimes she said "hoss," unmistakably; +and here, and again when she said +"bile" for "boil," it was obviously with humorous +intention. Except in long speeches she did not +drawl; at times she spoke rapidly, snapping off sentences +abruptly. Her fashion of referring to herself +in the third person struck Sylvia as most amusing.</p> + +<p>"Look here, you Joe, it's a nice way to treat yo' +Mis' Sally, turning out that wagon with the dash +all scratched. Don' you think I'm blind and can't +tell when you boys dig a broom into a varnished +buggy! Next time I catch yo' doing that I'll send +you down to Greene County to plow co'n and yo'll +not go to any more fancy hoss shows with me."</p> + +<p>As she followed Mrs. Owen into the house Sylvia +thought she heard suppressed guffawing in the +stable. Mrs. Owen must have heard it too.</p> + +<p>"A worthless lot," she muttered; "I'm going to +clean 'em all out some day and try the Irish"; but +Mrs. Sally Owen had often made this threat without +having the slightest intention of carrying it into effect.</p> + +<p>Professor Kelton had just reached the house, and +he seemed so hot and tired that Sylvia was struck +with pity for him. He insisted, however, that he +was perfectly well, but admitted that his errands had +proved to be more vexatious than he had expected.</p> + +<p>"What kind of a time have you been having?" +he asked as they went upstairs together.</p> + +<p>"Oh, the finest in the world! I'm sure I've learned +a lot to-day—a great many things I never dreamed +about before."</p> + +<p>"Horses?"</p> + +<p>"I never knew before that there was anything to +know about horses; but Mrs. Owen knows all about +them. And that team we drove behind is wonderful; +they move together perfectly and go like lightning +when you want them to."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm glad you've enjoyed yourself. You'd +better put on your white dress,—you brought one, +didn't you? There will be company at dinner."</p> + +<p>"Don't you scare that child about company, +Andrew," said Mrs. Owen, coming up behind them +with the linen duster flung over her arm. "If you +haven't any white dress, Sylvia, that blue one's +perfectly good and proper."</p> + +<p>She followed Sylvia to her room, continuing to +reassure her. She even shook out the gown, exclaiming, +"Well, well" (Sylvia didn't know why), and +went out abruptly, instructing Sylvia to ring for the +maid if she needed help.</p> + +<p>There were three other guests for dinner, and they +were unlike any other people that Sylvia had known. +She was introduced first to Admiral Martin, a retired +officer of the Navy, who, having remained in the +service of his country to the retiring age, had just +come home to live in the capital of his native state. +He was short and thick and talked in a deep, growling +voice exactly as admirals should. The suns and +winds of many seas had burned and scored his face, +and a stubby mustache gave him a belligerent aspect. +He mopped his brow with a tremendous handkerchief +and when Mrs. Owen introduced Sylvia as Professor +Kelton's granddaughter he glared fiercely.</p> + +<p>"Well, I declare, Andy, your granddaughter; well, +I declare." He held Sylvia's hand a moment and +peered into her face. "I remember your mother very +well. Andy, I recall distinctly that you and your wife +were at Old Point in about the winter of '69 and your +daughter was with you. So this is your granddaughter? +Well, I declare; I wish she was mine."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to see you, Sylvia," said Mrs. Martin, +a shy, white-haired little woman. "I remember that +winter at Old Point. I was waiting for my husband +there. You look like your mother. It's really a very +striking resemblance. We were all so fond of Edna."</p> + +<p>This was the first time that any one except her +grandfather had ever spoken to Sylvia of her mother, +and the words of these strangers thrilled her strangely +and caused the tears to shine suddenly in her eyes. +It was all over in a moment, for Mrs. Martin, seeing +Sylvia's trembling lips, changed the subject quickly.</p> + +<p>The last guest was just entering,—a tall trapper-like +man who crossed the room to Mrs. Owen with +a long, curious stride. He had shaken hands with +Professor Kelton, and Mrs. Owen introduced him +to the Martins, who by reason of their long absences +had never met him before.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ware, this is Sylvia Garrison," said Mrs. +Owen.</p> + +<p>Sylvia was given then as later to quick appraisements, +and she liked the Reverend John Ware on the +instant. He did not look or act or talk in the least +like a minister. He was very dark, and his mustache +was only faintly sprinkled with gray. His hair +still showed black at a distance, though he was sixty-five. +He had been, sometime earlier, the pastor of +the First Congregational Church, but after a sojourn +in other fields had retired to live among his old +parishioners in the city which had loved him best. It +had been said of him in the days of his pastorate that +he drew the largest congregations and the smallest +collections of any preacher the community had ever +known. But Ware was curiously unmindful of criticism. +He had fished and hunted, he had preached +charity and kindness, and when there was an unknown +tramp to bury or some unfortunate girl had +yielded to despair, he had officiated at the funeral, +and, if need be, ridden to the cemetery on the hearse.</p> + +<p>"I'm Mrs. Owen's neighbor, you know," he explained +to Sylvia. "My family have gone for the +summer; I'm hanging on here till my Indian sends +me a postal that the fishing is right on the Nipigon. +Nothing like getting off the train somewhere and being +met by an Indian with a paddle on his shoulder. +You can learn a lot from an Indian."</p> + +<p>There were candles and flowers on the round table, +and the dishes and silver were Mrs. Owen's "company +best," which was very good indeed. The admiral +and Professor Kelton sat at Mrs. Owen's right +and left, and Sylvia found herself between the minister +and the admiral. The talk was at once brisk +and general. The admiral's voice boomed out tremendously +and when he laughed the glasses jingled. +Every one was in the best of spirits and Sylvia was +relieved to find that her grandfather was enjoying +himself immensely. The admiral's jokes harked back +to old times, when he and Kelton were at the Naval +Academy, or to their adventures in the war. It was +odd to hear Mrs. Owen and the admiral calling her +grandfather "Andrew" and "Andy"; no one else +had ever done that; and both men addressed Mrs. +Owen as "Sally." At a moment when Sylvia had +begun to feel the least bit awkward at being the +only silent member of the company, the minister +spoke to her. He had seemed at first glance a stoical +person; but his deep-set, brown eyes were bright +with good humor.</p> + +<p>"These old sea dogs made a lot of history. I suppose +you know a good deal about the sea from your +grandfather."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I've never seen the sea."</p> + +<p>"I've crossed it once or twice and tramped England +and Scotland. I wanted to see Burns's country +and the house at Chelsea where Carlyle smoked his +pipe. But I like our home folks best."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ware," growled the admiral, "a man told +me the other day that you'd served in the Army. +I wish I'd had a chaplain like you in the Navy; I +might have been a different man."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen glanced at Ware with a twinkle in her +eyes.</p> + +<p>"Afraid I'm going to be discovered," he remarked +to Sylvia as he buttered a bit of bread.</p> + +<p>"Well, what part of the Army did you serve in?" +demanded the admiral.</p> + +<p>"Captain, Fifth New York Cavalry," replied the +minister quietly, shrugging his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Captain! You were a fighting man?" the admiral +boomed.</p> + +<p>"Sort of one. We had a good deal of fun one way +or another. Four years of it. Didn't begin fighting +the Devil till afterward. How are things at the +college, Doctor Kelton?"</p> + +<p>Ware thus characteristically turned the conversation +from himself. It was evident that he did not +care to discuss his military experiences; in a moment +they were talking politics, in which he seemed greatly +interested.</p> + +<p>"We've kept bosses out of this state pretty well," +Professor Kelton was saying, "but I can see one or +two gentlemen on both sides of the fence trying to +play that game. I don't believe the people of Indiana +will submit to it. The bosses need big cities +to prey on and we aren't big enough for them to +work in and hide in. We all live in the open and +we're mostly seasoned American stock who won't +be driven like a lot of foreign cattle. This city isn't +a country town any longer, but it's still American. +I don't know of any boss here."</p> + +<p>"Well, Sally, how about Mort Bassett?" asked +the admiral. "I hope you don't mind my speaking +of him."</p> + +<p>"Not in the slightest," Mrs. Owen replied. "The +fact that Morton Bassett married my niece doesn't +make it necessary for me to approve of all he does—and +I don't. When I get a chance I give him the best +licks I can. He's a Democrat, but I'm not; neither +am I a Republican. They're all just as crooked as +a dog's hind leg. I gave up when they beat Tilden +out of the presidency. Why, if I'd been Samuel +Tilden I'd have moved into the White House and +dared 'em to throw me out. The Democratic Party +never did have any gumption!" she concluded vigorously.</p> + +<p>"A sound idea, Sally," grumbled the admiral, +"but it's not new."</p> + +<p>"Bassett isn't a bad fellow," remarked Ware. +"You can hardly call him a boss in the usual sense +of the term."</p> + +<p>"Personally, he's certainly very agreeable," said +Mrs. Martin. "You remember, Mrs. Owen, I visited +your niece the last time I was home and I never saw +a man more devoted to his family than Mr. Bassett."</p> + +<p>"There's no complaint about that," Mrs. Owen +assented. "And Morton's a very intelligent man, too; +you might even call him a student. I've been sorry +that he didn't keep to the law; but he's a moneymaker, +and he's in politics as a part of his business."</p> + +<p>"I've wondered," said Professor Kelton, "just +what he's aiming at. Most of these men are ambitious +to go high. He's a state senator, but there's +not much in that. He must see bigger game in the +future. I don't know him myself; but from what +you hear of him he must be a man of force. Weak +men don't dominate political parties."</p> + +<p>"This political game looks mighty queer to me," +the admiral remarked. "I've never voted in my life, +but I guess I'll try it now they've put me on the +shelf. Do you vote, Mr. Ware?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! I'm one of these sentimentalists who +tries to vote for the best man. Naturally no man +I ever vote for is elected."</p> + +<p>"If I voted I should want to see the man first," +Mrs. Owen averred. "I should ask him how much +he expected to make out of the job."</p> + +<p>"You'd be a tartar in politics, Sally," said the +admiral. "The Governor told me the other day that +when he hears that you're coming to the State House +to talk about the Woman's Reformatory,—or whatever +it is you're trustee of,—he crawls under the +table. He says they were going to cut down the +Reformatory's appropriation last winter, but that +you went to the legislature and gave an example +of lobbying that made the tough old railroad campaigners +green with envy."</p> + +<p>"I reckon I did! I told the members of that +committee that if they cut that appropriation I'd +go into their counties and spend every cent I've +got fighting 'em if they ever ran for office again. +Joshua, fill the glasses."</p> + +<p>Sylvia was anxious to know the rest of the story.</p> + +<p>"I hope they gave you the money, Mrs. Owen," +she said.</p> + +<p>Did they give it to me? Why, child, they raised +it twenty thousand dollars! I had to hold 'em down. +Then Morton Bassett pulled it through the senate +for me. I told him if he didn't I'd cut his acquaintance."</p> + +<p>"There's Ed Thatcher, too, if we're restricted to +the Democratic camp," the minister was saying. +"Thatcher has a fortune to use if he ever wants to +try for something big in politics, which doesn't +seem likely."</p> + +<p>"He has a family that can spend his money," +said Mrs. Martin. "What would he want with an +office anyway? The governorship would bore him +to death."</p> + +<p>"It might tickle him to go to the senate, particularly +if he had a score to clean up in connection +with it," remarked Ware.</p> + +<p>"Just what do you mean by that?" asked the +admiral.</p> + +<p>"Well," Ware replied, "he and Bassett are as +thick as thieves just now in business operations. If +some day it came about that they didn't get on so +well,—if Bassett tried to drop him as they say he +has sometimes dropped men when he didn't have +any more use for them,—then Thatcher's sporting +blood might assert itself. I should be sorry for Bassett +if that time came."</p> + +<p>"Edward Thatcher knows a horse," interposed +Mrs. Owen. "I like Edward Thatcher."</p> + +<p>"I've fished with Bassett," said the minister. "A +good fisherman ought to make a good politician; +there's a lot, I guess, in knowing just how to bait +the hook, or where to drop the fly, and how to play +your fish. And Bassett is a man of surprising tastes. +He's a book collector,—rare editions and fine bindings +and that sort of thing."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible! The newspapers that abuse him +never mention those things, of course," said Mrs. +Martin.</p> + +<p>A brief restraint fell upon the company, as they +realized suddenly that they were discussing the husband +of their hostess's niece, whom the opposition +press declared to be the most vicious character that +had ever appeared in the public life of the state. +The minister had spoken well of him; the others did +not know him, or spoke cautiously; and Mrs. Owen +herself seemed, during Ware's last speech, to be a +trifle restless. She addressed some irrelevant remark +to the admiral as they rose and adjourned to +the long side veranda where the men lighted cigars.</p> + +<p>"I think I like this corner best," remarked Ware +when the others had disposed themselves. "Miss +Sylvia, won't you sit by me?" She watched his face as +the match flamed to his cigar. It was deep-lined and +rugged, with high cheek bones, that showed plainly +when he shut his jaws. It occurred to Sylvia that +but for his mustache his face would have been almost +typically Indian. She had seen somewhere a photograph +of a Sioux chief whose austere countenance +was very like the minister's. Ware did not fit into +any of her preconceived ideas of the clerical office. +Dr. Wandless, the retired president of Madison +College, was a minister, and any one would have +known it, for the fact was proclaimed by his dress +and manner; he might, in the most casual meeting +on the campus, have raised his hands in benediction +without doing anything at all extraordinary. Ware +belonged to a strikingly different order, and Sylvia +did not understand him. He had been a soldier; and +Sylvia could not imagine Dr. Wandless in a cavalry +charge. Ware flung the match-stick away and settled +himself comfortably into his chair. The others were +talking amongst themselves of old times, and Sylvia +experienced a sense of ease and security in the minister's +company.</p> + +<p>"Those people across there are talking of the +Hoosiers that used to be, and about the good folks +who came into the wilderness and made Indiana a +commonwealth. I'm a pilgrim and a stranger comparatively +speaking. I'm not a Hoosier; are you?"</p> + +<p>"No, Mr. Ware; I was born in New York City."</p> + +<p>"Ho! I might have known there was some sort +of tie between us. I was born in New York myself—'way +up in the Adirondack country. You've +heard of Old John Brown? My father's farm was +only an hour's march from Brown's place. I used to +see the old man, and it wasn't my fault I wasn't +mixed up in some of his scrapes. Father caught me +and took me home—didn't see any reason why +I should go off and get killed with a crazy man. +Didn't know Brown was going to be immortal."</p> + +<p>"There must have been a good many people that +didn't know it," Sylvia responded.</p> + +<p>She hoped that Ware would talk of himself and +of the war; but in a moment his thoughts took a +new direction.</p> + +<p>"Stars are fine to-night. It's a comfort to know +they're up there all the time. Know Matthew Arnold's +poems? He says 'With joy the stars perform +their shining.' I like that. When I'm off camping +the best fun of it is lying by running water at night +and looking at the stars. Odd, though, I never +knew the names of many of them; wouldn't know +any if it weren't for the dippers,—not sure of +them as it is. There's the North Star over there. +Suppose your grandfather knows 'em all."</p> + +<p>"I think he does," replied Sylvia. "He still lectures +about them sometimes."</p> + +<p>"Wonder what that is, just across the farthest tip +of that maple? It's familiar, but I can't name it."</p> + +<p>"That," said Sylvia, "is Cassiopeia."</p> + +<p>"So? How many constellations do you know?"</p> + +<p>Sylvia was silent a moment. She was not sure +that it was polite to disclose her knowledge of the +subject to a man who had just confessed his ignorance. +She decided that anything beyond the most +modest admission would be unbecoming.</p> + +<p>"I know several, or I think I do. This is June. +That's the North Star over the point of that tree, +as you said, and above it is Ursa Minor, and winding +in and out between it and the Big Dipper is Draco. +Then to the east, higher up, are Cygnus, Lyra, and +Aquila. And in the west—"</p> + +<p>She paused, feeling that she had satisfied the +amenities of conversation with this gentleman who +had so frankly stated his lack of knowledge.</p> + +<p>Ware struck his knee with his hand and chuckled.</p> + +<p>"I should say you do know a few! You've mentioned +some I've always wanted to get acquainted +with. Now go back to Cygnus, the Swan. I like the +name of that one; I must be sure to remember it."</p> + +<p>Politeness certainly demanded that Sylvia should +answer; and now that the minister plied her with +questions, her own interest was aroused, and she +led him back and forth across the starry lanes, describing +in the most artless fashion her own method +of remembering the names and positions of the constellations. +As their range of vision on the veranda +was circumscribed, Ware suggested that they step +down upon the lawn to get a wider sweep, a move +which attracted the attention of the others.</p> + +<p>"Sylvia, be careful of the wet. Josephus just +moved the sprinkler and that ground is soaked."</p> + +<p>"Don't call attention to our feet; our heads are +in the stars," answered Ware. "I must tell the Indian +boys on the Nipigon about this," he said to +Sylvia as they returned to the veranda. "I didn't +know anybody knew as much as you do. You make +me ashamed of myself."</p> + +<p>"You needn't be," laughed Sylvia. "Very likely +most that I've told you is wrong. I'm glad grandfather +didn't hear me."</p> + +<p>The admiral and Professor Kelton were launched +upon a fresh exchange of reminiscences and the return +of Ware and Sylvia did not disturb them. It +seemed, however, that Ware was a famous story-teller, +and when he had lighted a fresh cigar he +recounted a number of adventures, speaking in his +habitual, dry, matter-of-fact tone, and with curious +unexpected turns of phrase. Conversation in Indiana +seems to drift into story-telling inevitably. John +Ware once read a paper before the Indianapolis +Literary Club to prove that this Hoosier trait was +derived from the South. He drew a species of ellipsoid +of which the Ohio River was the axis, sketching +his line to include the Missouri of Mark Twain, the +Illinois of Lincoln, the Indiana of Eggleston and +Riley, and the Kentucky that so generously endowed +these younger commonwealths. North of the Ohio +the anecdotal genius diminished, he declared, as one +moved toward the Great Lakes into a region where +there had been an infusion of population from New +England and the Middle States. He suggested that +the early pioneers, having few books and no newspapers, +had cultivated the art of story-telling for +their own entertainment and that the soldiers returning +from the Civil War had developed it further. +Having made this note of his thesis I hasten to run +away from it. Let others, prone to interminable debate, +tear it to pieces if they must. This kind of +social intercourse, with its intimate talk, the references +to famous public characters, as though they +were only human beings after all, the anecdotal interchange, +was wholly novel to Sylvia. She thought +Ware's stories much droller than the admiral's, and +quite as good as her grandfather's, which was a great +concession.</p> + +<p>The minister was beginning a new story. He +knocked the ashes from his cigar and threw out his +arms with one of his odd, jerky gestures.</p> + +<p>"There's a good deal of fun in living in the woods. +Up in the Adirondacks there was a lot for the boys +to do when I was a youngster. I liked winter better +than summer; school was in winter, but when you +had the fun of fighting big drifts to get to it you +didn't mind getting licked after you got there. The +silence of night in the woods, when the snow is deep, +the wind still, and the moon at full, is the solemnest +thing in the world. Not really of this world, I guess. +Sometimes you can hear a bough break under the +weight of snow, with a report like a cannon. The only +thing finer than winter is spring. I don't mean lilac +time; but before that, the very earliest hint of the +break-up. Used to seem that there was something +wild in me that wanted to be on the march before +there was a bud in sight. I'm a Northern animal +some way; born in December; always feel better in +winter. I used to watch for the northward flight +of the game fowl—wanted to go with the birds. +Too bad they're killing them all off. Wild geese are +getting mighty scarce; geese always interested me. +I once shot a gander in a Kankakee marsh that +had an Eskimo arrow in its breast. A friend of mine, +distinguished ethnologist, verified that; said he knew +the tribe that made arrows of that pattern. But I +was going to say that one night,—must have been +when I was fourteen,—I had some fun with a +bear . . ."</p> + +<p>Sylvia did not hear the rest of the story. She had +been sitting in the shadow of the porch, with her +lips apart, listening, wondering, during this prelude. +Ware's references to the North woods had touched +lightly some dim memory of her own; somewhere +she had seen moon-flooded, snowy woodlands where +silence lay upon the world as soft as moonlight itself. +The picture drawn by the minister had been vivid +enough; for a moment her own memory of a similar +winter landscape seemed equally clear; but she realized +with impatience that it faded quickly and became +dim and illusory, like a scene in an ill-lighted +steropticon. To-night she felt that a barrier lay +between her and those years of her life that antedated +her coming to her grandfather's house by the +college. It troubled her, as such mirages of memory +trouble all of us; but Ware finished his story, and +amid the laughter that followed Mrs. Martin rose.</p> + +<p>"Late hours, Sylvia," said Professor Kelton when +they were alone. "It's nearly eleven o'clock and +time to turn in."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV" />CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>WE LEARN MORE OF SYLVIA</h3> + + +<p>Andrew Kelton put out his hand to say +good-night a moment after Sylvia had +vanished.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Andrew," said Mrs. Owen. "It's too +early to go to bed. That draft's not good for the +back of your head. Sit over here."</p> + +<p>He had relaxed after the departure of the dinner +guests and looked tired and discouraged. Mrs. +Owen brought a bottle of whiskey and a pitcher of +water and placed them near his elbow.</p> + +<p>"Try it, Andrew. I usually take a thimbleful myself +before going to bed."</p> + +<p>The novelty of this sort of ministration was in +itself sufficient to lift a weary and discouraged spirit. +Mrs. Owen measured his whiskey, and poured it into +a tall glass, explaining as she did so that a friend of +hers in Louisville kept her supplied out of the stores +of the Pendennis Club.</p> + +<p>"It's off the wood. This bottled drug-store whiskey +is poison. I'd just as lief take paregoric. I drew +this from my own 'bar'l' this morning. Don't +imagine I'm a heavy consumer. A 'bar'l' lasts me a +long time. I divide it around among my friends. +Remind me to give you some to take home. Try +one of those cigars; John Ware keeps a box here. If +they're cabbage leaf it isn't my fault."</p> + +<p>"No, thanks, Sally. You're altogether too kind +to me. It's mighty good to be here, I can tell you."</p> + +<p>"Now that you are here, Andrew, I want you to +remember that I'm getting on and you're just a +trifle ahead of me on the dusty pike that has no +turning."</p> + +<p>"I wish I had your eternal youth, Sally. I feel +about ninety-nine to-night."</p> + +<p>"That's the reason I'm keeping you up. You +came here to talk about something that's on your +mind, and the sooner it's over the better. No use +in your lying awake all night."</p> + +<p>Professor Kelton played with his glass and moved +uneasily in his chair.</p> + +<p>"Come right out with it, Andrew. If it's money +that worries you, don't waste any time explaining +how it happened; just tell me how much. I had my +bank book balanced yesterday and I've got exactly +twelve thousand four hundred and eighteen dollars +and eleven cents down at Tom Adams's bank. If +you can use it you're welcome; if it ain't enough I'm +about to sell a bunch o' colts I've got on my Lexington +place and they're good for six thousand more. I +can close the trade by a night telegram right now."</p> + +<p>Kelton laughed. The sums she named so lightly +represented wealth beyond the dreams of avarice. +It afforded him infinite relief to be able to talk to +her, and though he had come to the city for the +purpose, his adventures of the day with banks and +trust companies had given a new direction to his +needs. But the habit of secrecy, of fighting out his +battles alone, was so thoroughly established that +he found it difficult to enter into confidences even +when this kind-hearted friend made the way easy for +him.</p> + +<p>"Come, out with it, Andrew. You're the only +person I know who's never come to me with troubles. +I'd begun to think you were among the lucky ones +who never have any or else you were afraid of me."</p> + +<p>"It's not fair to trouble you about this, but I'm +in a corner where I need help. When I asked you to +let me bring Sylvia here I merely wanted you to +look her over. She's got to an age where I can't +trust my judgment about her. I had a plan for her +that I thought I could put through without much +trouble, but I found out to-day that it isn't so easy. +I wanted to send her to college."</p> + +<p>"You want to send her to college and you thought +you would come over and let me give her a little +motherly counsel while you borrowed the money +of Tom Adams to pay her college bills. Is that +what's happened?"</p> + +<p>"Just about that, Sally. Adams is all right; he +has to protect the bank."</p> + +<p>"Adams is a doddering imbecile. How much did +you ask him for?"</p> + +<p>"Five thousand dollars. I offered to put up my +life insurance policy for that amount and some stock +I own. He said money was tight just now and they'd +want a good name on the paper besides the collateral, +and that I'd better try my home bank. I didn't do +that, of course, because Montgomery is a small town +and—well, I'd rather not advertise my affairs to a +whole community. I'm not a business man and these +things all seem terribly complicated and embarrassing +to me."</p> + +<p>"But you tried other places besides Adams? I +saw it in your eye when you came home this evening +that you had struck a snag. Well, well! So +money is tight, is it? I must speak to Tom Adams +about that. He told me yesterday they had more +money than they could lend and that the banks were +cutting down their dividends. He's no banker; he +ought to be in the old-clothes business."</p> + +<p>"I can't blame him. I suppose my not being in +business, and not living here, makes a difference."</p> + +<p>"Rubbish! But you ought to have come to me. +You spoke of stock; what's that in?"</p> + +<p>"Shares in the White River Canneries. I put all I +had in that company. Everybody seemed to make +money in the canning business and I thought it +would be a good investment. It promised well in +the prospectus."</p> + +<p>"It always does, Andrew," replied the old lady +dryly. "Let me see, Morton Bassett was in that."</p> + +<p>"I believe so. He was one of the organizers."</p> + +<p>"Um."</p> + +<p>"Adams told me to-day there had been a reorganization +and that my shares were valueless."</p> + +<p>"Well, well. So you were one of the suckers that +put money into that canning scheme. You can +charge it off, Andrew. Let's drop the money question +for a minute, I want to talk about the little +girl."</p> + +<p>"Yes I'm anxious to know what you think of +her"</p> + +<p>"Well, she's a Kelton; it's in the eyes; but there's +a good deal of her Grandmother Evans in her, too. +Let me see,—your wife was one of those Posey +County Evanses? I remember perfectly. The old +original Evans came to this country with Robert +Owen and started in with the New Harmony community +down there. There was a streak o' genius in +that whole set. But about Sylvia. I don't think I +ever saw Sylvia's mother after she was Sylvia's age."</p> + +<p>"I don't think you did. She was away at school +a good many years. Sylvia is the picture of her +mother. It's a striking likeness; but their natures +are wholly different."</p> + +<p>He was very grave, and the despondency that he +had begun to throw off settled upon him again.</p> + +<p>"Andrew, who was Sylvia's father? I never asked +you that question before, and maybe I oughtn't to +ask it now; but I've often wondered. Let me see, +what was your daughter's name?"</p> + +<p>"Edna."</p> + +<p>"Just what happened to Edna, Andrew?" she +persisted.</p> + +<p>Kelton rose and paced the floor. Thrice he crossed +the room; then he flung himself down on the davenport +beside Mrs. Owen.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Sally; I don't know! She was high-spirited +as a girl, a little willful and impulsive, but +with the best heart in the world. She lost her mother +too soon; and in her girlhood we had no home—not +even the half-homes possible to naval officers. She +had a good natural voice and wanted to study +music, so after we had been settled at Madison College +a year I left her in New York with a woman I +knew pretty well—the widow of a brother officer. +It was a horrible, terrible, hideous mistake. The life +of the city went to her head. She wanted to fit herself +for the stage and they told me she could do it—had +the gift and all that. I ought never to have left +her down there, but what could I do? There was +nothing in a town like Montgomery for her; she +wouldn't listen to it."</p> + +<p>"You did your best, Andrew; you don't have to +prove that to me. Well—"</p> + +<p>"Edna ran off—without giving me any hint of +what was coming. It was a queer business. The +woman I had counted on to look out for her and protect +her seemed utterly astonished at her disappearance +and was helpless about the whole matter +when I went down there. It was my fault—all my +fault!"</p> + +<p>He rose and flung up his arms with a gesture of +passionate despair.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Andrew, and let's go through with it," +she said calmly. "I reckon these things are hard, +but it's better for you to tell me. You can't tell +everybody and somebody ought to know. For the +sake of the little girl upstairs you'd better tell me."</p> + +<p>"What I've said to you I've never said to a soul," +he went on. "I've carried this thing all these years +and have never mentioned it. My friends at the +college are the noblest people on earth; they have +never asked questions, but they must have wondered."</p> + +<p>"Yes; and I've wondered, too, since the first time +you came here and told me you had brought your +daughter's child home. It's perfectly natural, +Andrew, for folks to wonder. Go on and tell me the +rest."</p> + +<p>"The rest!" he cried. "Oh, that's the hardest +part of it! I have told you all I know! She wrote me +after a time that she was married and was happy, +but she didn't explain her conduct in any way. She +signed herself Garrison, but begged me not to try +to find her. She said her husband wasn't quite prepared +to disclose his marriage to his family, but that +it would all be right soon. The woman with whom I +had left her couldn't help me to identify him in any +way; at least she didn't help me. There had been +a number of young men boarding in the neighborhood—medical +and law students; but there was no +Garrison among them. It was in June that this +happened, and when I went down to try to trace her +they had all gone. I was never quite sure whether +the woman dealt squarely with me or not. But it +was my fault, Sally; I want you to know that I have +no excuse to offer. I don't want you to try to say +anything that would make my lot easier."</p> + +<p>It was not Sally Owen's way to extenuate errors +of commission or omission. Her mental processes +were always singularly direct.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure she was married; did you find any +proof of it?" she asked bluntly.</p> + +<p>He was silent for a moment before he met her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I have no proof of it. All I have is Edna's assurance +in a letter."</p> + +<p>Their gaze held while they read each other's +thoughts. She made no comment; there was nothing +to say to this, nor did she show surprise or repugnance +at the dark shadow his answer had flung +across the meagre picture.</p> + +<p>"And Garrison—who was he?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know even that! From all I could learn +I think it likely he was a student in one of the professional +schools; but whether law or medicine, art +or music—I couldn't determine. The whole colony +of students had scattered to the four winds. Probably +Garrison was not his real name; but that is +wholly an assumption."</p> + +<p>"It's clear enough that whoever the man was, and +whether it was straight or not, Edna felt bound to +shield him. That's just like us fool women. How did +Sylvia come to your hands?"</p> + +<p>"There was nothing in that to help. About four +years had passed since I lost track of her and I had +traveled all over the East and followed every clue +in vain. I spent two summers in New York walking +the streets in the blind hope that I might meet her. +Then, one day,—this was twelve years ago,—I +had a telegram from the superintendent of a public +hospital at Utica that Edna was there very ill. She +died before I got there. Just how she came to be in +that particular place I have no idea. The hospital +authorities knew nothing except that she had gone +to them, apparently from the train, seriously ill. +The little girl was with her. She asked them to send +for me, but told them nothing of herself. She had +only hand baggage and it told us nothing as to her +home if she had one, or where she was going. Her +clothing, the nurse pointed out, was of a style several +years old, but it was clean and neat. Most surprising +of all, she had with her several hundred dollars; but +there was nothing whatever by which to reconstruct +her life in those blank years."</p> + +<p>"But she wrote to you—the letters would have +given a clue of some kind?"</p> + +<p>"The few letters she wrote me were the most +fragmentary and all in the first year; they were like +her, poor child; her letters were always the merest +scraps. In all of them she said she would come home +in due course; that some of her husband's affairs had +to be straightened out first, and that she was perfectly +happy. They were traveling about, she said, +and she asked me not to try to write to her. The first +letters came from Canada—Montreal and Quebec; +then one from Albany; then even these messages +ceased and I heard no more until the telegram called +me to Utica. She had never mentioned the birth of +the child. I don't know—I don't even know where +Sylvia was born, or her exact age. The nurse at the +hospital said Edna called the child Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"I overheard Sylvia telling Ware to-night that +she was born in New York. Could it be possible—"</p> + +<p>"No; she knows nothing. You must remember +that she was only three. When she began to ask me +when her birthday came—well, Sally, I felt that +I'd better give her one; and I told her, too, that she +was born in New York City. You understand—?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, Andrew. You did perfectly right. +She's likely to ask a good many questions now that +she's growing up."</p> + +<p>"Oh," he cried despairingly, "she's already asked +them! It's a heartbreaking business, I tell you. +Many a time when she's piped up in our walks or +at the table with some question about her father and +mother I've ignored it or feigned not to hear; but +within the past year or two I've had to fashion a +background for her. I've surrounded her origin and +antecedents with a whole tissue of lies. But, Sally, it +must have been all right—I had Edna's own word +for it!" he pleaded brokenly. "It must have been +all right!"</p> + +<p>"Well, what if it wasn't! Does it make any difference +about the girl? All this mystery is a good thing; +the denser the better maybe, as long as there's any +doubt at all. Your good name protects her; it's a +good name, Andrew. But go on; you may as well +tell me the whole business."</p> + +<p>"I've told you all I know; and as I've told it I've +realized more than before how pitifully little it is."</p> + +<p>"Well, there's nothing to do about that. I've +never seen any sense in worrying over what's done. +It's the future you've got to figure on for Sylvia. +So you think college is a good thing for girls—for +a girl like Sylvia?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I want your opinion. You're the only +person in the world I can talk to; it's helped me more +than I can tell you to shift some of this burden to +you. Maybe it isn't fair; you're a busy woman—"</p> + +<p>"I guess I'm not so busy. I've been getting lazy, +and needed a hard jolt. I've been wondering a good +deal about these girls' colleges. Some of this new +woman business looks awful queer to me, but so did +the electric light and the telephone a few years ago +and I can even remember when people were likely +to drop dead when they got their first telegram. +Sylvia isn't"—she hesitated for an instant—"from +what you say, Sylvia isn't much like her mother?"</p> + +<p>"No. Her qualities are wholly different. Edna had +a different mind altogether. There was nothing of the +student about her. The only thing that interested +her was music, and that came natural to her. I've +studied Sylvia carefully,—I'm ashamed to confess +how carefully,—fearing that she would grow to be +like her mother; but she's another sort, and I doubt +if she will change. You can already see the woman +in her. That child, Sally, has in her the making of +a great woman. I've been careful not to crowd her, +but she has a wonderful mind,—not the brilliant +sort that half sees things in lightning flashes, but a +vigorous mind, that can grapple with a problem and +fight it out. I'm afraid to tell you how remarkable +I think she is. No; poor Edna was not like that. She +hated study."</p> + +<p>"Sylvia's very quiet, but I reckon she takes everything +in. It's in her eyes that she's different. And +I guess that quietness means she's got power locked +up in her. Children do show it. Now Marian, my +grandniece, is a different sort. She's a forthputting +youngster that's going to be hard to break to harness. +She looks pretty, grazing in the pasture and kicking +up her heels, but I don't see what class she's going +to fit into. Now, Hallie,—my niece, Mrs. Bassett,—she's +one of these club fussers,—always studying +poetry and reading papers and coming up to +town to state conventions or federations and speaking +pieces in a new hat. Hallie's smart at it. She +was president of the Daughters once, by way of +showing that our folks in North Carolina fought in +the Revolution, which I reckon they did; though +I never saw where Hallie proved it; but the speech +I heard her make at the Propylæum wouldn't have +jarred things much if it hadn't been for Hallie's +feathers. She likes her clothes—she always had 'em, +you know. My brother Blackford left her a very nice +fortune; and Morton Bassett makes money. Well, +as I started to say, there's all kinds of women,—the +old ones like me that never went to school much, +and Hallie's kind, that sort o' walked through the +orchard and picked the nearest peaches, and then +starts in at thirty to take courses in Italian Art, and +Marian, who gives her teachers nervous prostration, +and Sylvia, who takes to books naturally."</p> + +<p>"There are all kinds of girls, just as there are all +kinds of boys. Good students, real scholars have always +been rare in the world—men and women. +I should like to see Sylvia go high and far; I should +like her to have every chance."</p> + +<p>"All right, Andrew; let's do it. How much does +a college course cost for a girl?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't come here to interest you in the money +side of it, Sally; I expected—"</p> + +<p>"Answer my question, Andrew."</p> + +<p>"I had expected to give her a four-year course for +five thousand dollars. The actual tuition isn't so +much; it's railroad fare, clothing, and other expenses."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen turned towards Kelton with a smile on +her kind, shrewd face.</p> + +<p>"Andrew, just to please me, I want you to let me +be partners with you in this. What you've told me +and what I've seen of that little girl have clinched +me pretty strong. I wish she was mine! My little +Elizabeth would be a grown woman if she'd lived; +and because of her I like to help other people's little +girls; you know I helped start Elizabeth House, a +home for working girls—and I'm getting my money +back on that a thousand times over. It's a pretty +state of things if an old woman like me, without a +chick of my own, and with no sense but horse sense, +can't back a likely filly like your Sylvia. I want you +to let me call her our Sylvia. We'll train her in all +the paces, Andrew, and I hope one of us will live to +see her strike the home stretch. Come into my office +a minute," she said, rising and leading the way.</p> + +<p>The appointments of her "office" were plain and +substantial. A flat-topped desk stood in the middle +of the room—a relic of the lamented Jackson Owen; +in one corner was an old-fashioned iron safe in which +she kept her account books. A print of Maud S. +adorned one wall, and facing it across the room hung +a lithograph of Thomas A. Hendricks. Twice a week +a young woman came to assist Mrs. Owen with her +correspondence and accounts,—a concession to age, +for until she was well along in the fifties Sally Owen +had managed these things alone.</p> + +<p>"You've seen my picture-gallery before, Andrew? +Small but select. I knew both the lady and the gentleman," +she continued, with one of her humorous +flashes. "I went to Cleveland in '85 to see Maud S. +She ate up a mile in 2:08-3/4—the prettiest thing I +ever saw. You know Bonner bought her as a four-year-old—the +same Bonner that owned the 'New +York Ledger.' I used to read the 'Ledger' clear +through, when Henry Ward Beecher and Fanny +Fern wrote for it. None of these new magazines +touch it. And you knew Tom Hendricks? That's +a good picture. Tom looked like a statesman anyhow, +and that's more than most of 'em do."</p> + +<p>She continued her efforts to divert his thoughts +from the real matter at hand, summoning from the +shadows all the Hoosier statesmen of the post-bellum +period to aid her, and she purposely declared her +admiration of several of these to provoke Kelton's +ire.</p> + +<p>"That's right, Andrew; jump on 'em," she laughed, +as she drew from the desk a check book and began to +write. When she had blotted and torn out the check +she examined it carefully and placed it near him on +the edge of her desk. "Now, Andrew Kelton, there's +a check for six thousand dollars; we'll call that our +educational fund. You furnish the girl; I put in the +money. I only wish I had the girl to put into the +business instead of the cash."</p> + +<p>"But I don't need the money yet; I shan't need +it till fall," he protested.</p> + +<p>"That's all right. Fall's pretty close and you'll +feel better if you have it. Now, you may count on +more when that's gone if you want it. In case anything +goes wrong with you or me it'll be fixed. I'll +attend to it. I look on it as a good investment. Your +note? Look here, Andrew Kelton, if you mention +that life insurance to me again, I'll cut your acquaintance. +You go to bed; and don't you ever let +on to that baby upstairs that I have any hand in her +schooling." She dropped her check book into a drawer +and swung round in her swivel chair until she faced +him. "I don't want to open up that affair of Sylvia's +mother again, but there's always the possibility +that something may happen. You know Edna's +dead, but there's always a chance that Sylvia's +father may turn up. It's not likely; but there's no +telling about such things; and it wouldn't be quite +fair for you to leave her unprepared if it should happen."</p> + +<p>"There's one more circumstance I haven't told +you about. It happened only a few days ago. It +was that, in fact, which crystallized my own ideas +about Sylvia's education. A letter was sent to me +by a stranger, offering money for Sylvia's schooling. +The whole thing was surrounded with the utmost +secrecy."</p> + +<p>"So? Then some one is watching Sylvia; keeping +track of her, and must be kindly disposed from that. +You never heard anything before?"</p> + +<p>"Never. I was asked to send a verbal answer by +the messenger who brought me the letter, accepting +or declining the offer. I declined it."</p> + +<p>"That was right. But there's no hiding anything +in this world; you must have some idea where the +offer came from."</p> + +<p>"I haven't the slightest, not the remotest idea. +The messenger was a stranger to me; from what +Sylvia said he was a stranger at Montgomery and +had never seen the college before. Time had begun +to soften the whole thing, and the knowledge that +some one has been watching the child all these years +troubles me. It roused all my old resentment; I have +hardly slept since it occurred."</p> + +<p>"It's queer; but you'd better try to forget it. +Somebody's conscience is hurting, I reckon. I +wouldn't know how to account for it in any other +way. If it's a case of conscience, it may have satisfied +itself by offering money; if it didn't, you or +Sylvia may hear from it again."</p> + +<p>"It's just that that hurts and worries me,—the +possibility that this person may trouble Sylvia sometime +when I am not here to help her. It's an awful +thing for a woman to go out into the world followed +by a shadow. It's so much worse for a woman; +women are so helpless."</p> + +<p>"Some of us, like me, are pretty tough, too. Sylvia +will be able to take care of herself; you don't +need to worry about her. If that's gnawing some +man's conscience—and I reckon it is—you can +forget all about it. A man's conscience—the kind +of man that would abandon a woman he had married, +or maybe hadn't married—ain't going to be +a ghost that walks often. You'd better go to bed, +Andrew."</p> + +<p>Kelton lingered to smoke a cigar in the open. He +had enjoyed to-night an experience that he had not +known in years—that of unburdening himself to a +kindly, sympathetic, and resourceful woman.</p> + +<p>While they talked of her, Sylvia sat in her window-seat +in the dark above looking at the stars. She lingered +there until late, enjoying the cool air, and unwilling +to terminate in sleep so eventful a day. She +heard presently her grandfather's step below as he +"stood watch," marking his brief course across the +dim garden by the light of his cigar. Sylvia was +very happy. She had for a few hours breathed the +ampler ether of a new world; but she was unconscious +in her dreaming that her girlhood, that had +been as tranquil water safe from current and commotion, +now felt the outward drawing of the tide.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V" />CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>INTRODUCING MR. DANIEL HARWOOD</h3> + + +<p>On the day following the delivery to Andrew +Kelton of the letter in which money for +Sylvia's education was offered by an unknown +person, the bearer of the message was to be +seen at Indianapolis, in the law office of Wright and +Fitch, attorneys and counselors at law, on the fourth +floor of the White River Trust Company's building +in Washington Street. In that office young Mr. +Harwood was one of half a dozen students, who ran +errands to the courts, kept the accounts, and otherwise +made themselves useful.</p> + +<p>Wright and Fitch was the principal law firm in +the state in the period under scrutiny, as may +readily be proved by an examination of the court +dockets. The firm's practice was, however, limited. +Persons anxious to mulct* wicked corporations in +damages for physical injuries did not apply to Wright +and Fitch, for the excellent reason that this capable +firm was retained by most of the public service +corporations and had no time to waste on the petty +and vexatious claims of minor litigants. Mr. Wright +was a Republican, Mr. Fitch a Democrat, and each +of these gentlemen occasionally raised his voice +loud enough in politics to emphasize his party fealty. +In the seventies Mr. Wright had served a term as +city attorney; on the other hand, Mr. Fitch had once +declined the Italian ambassadorship. Both had been +mentioned at different times for the governorship +or for the United States Senate, and both had declined +to enter the lists for these offices.</p> + +<p>Daniel Harwood had been graduated from Yale +University a year before we first observed him, and +though the world lay before him where to choose, +he returned to his native state and gave himself to +the study of law by day and earned a livelihood by +serving the "Courier" newspaper by night. As Mr. +Harwood is to appear frequently in this chronicle, +it may be well to summarize briefly the facts of his +history. He was born on a farm in Harrison County, +and his aversion to farm life had been colored from +earliest childhood by the difficulties his father experienced +in wringing enough money out of eighty acres +of land to buy food and clothing and to pay taxes +and interest on an insatiable mortgage held somewhere +by a ruthless life insurance company that +seemed most unreasonably insistent in its collections. +Daniel had two older brothers who, having +satisfied their passion for enlightenment at the +nearest schoolhouse, meekly enlisted under their +father in the task of fighting the mortgage. Daniel, +with a weaker hand and a better head, and with +vastly more enterprise, resolved to go to Yale. This +seemed the most fatuous, the most profane of +ambitions. If college at all, why not the State +University, to support which the Harwood eighty +acres were taxed; but a college away off in Connecticut! +There were no precedents for this in +Harrison County. No Harwood within the memory +of man had ever adventured farther into the unknown +world than to the State Fair at Indianapolis; +and when it came to education, both the judge of +the Harrison County Circuit Court and the presiding +elder of the district had climbed to fame without +other education than that afforded by the common +schools. Daniel's choice of Yale had been determined +by the fact that a professor in that institution +had once addressed the county teachers, and +young Harwood had been greatly impressed by him. +The Yale professor was the first graduate of an +Eastern university that Daniel had ever seen, and +he became the young Hoosier's ideal of elegance and +learning. Daniel had acquired at this time all that +the county school offered, and he made bold to +approach the visitor and ask his advice as to the +best means of getting to college.</p> + +<p>We need not trace the devious course by which, +after much burning of oil during half a dozen winters, +Dan Harwood attained to a freshman's dignity +at New Haven, where, arriving with his effects in a +canvas telescope, he had found a scholarship awaiting +him; nor need we do more than record the fact that +he had cared for furnaces, taken the night shift on a +trolley car, and otherwise earned money until, in his +junior year, his income from newspaper correspondence +and tutoring made further manual labor unnecessary. +It is with profound regret that we cannot +point to Harwood as a football hero or the mainstay +of the crew. Having ploughed the mortgaged acres, +and tossed hay and broken colts, college athletics +struck him as rather puerile diversion. He would +have been the least conspicuous man in college if he +had not shone in debate and gathered up such prizes +and honors as were accessible in that field. His big +booming voice, recognizable above the din in all +*'varsity demonstrations, earned for him the sobriquet +of "Foghorn" Harwood. For the rest he studied +early and late, and experienced the doubtful glory, +and accepted meekly the reproach, of being a grind.</p> + +<p>History and the dismal science had interested him +immensely. His assiduous attention to the classes +of Professor Sumner had not gone unnoticed by that +eminent instructor, who once called him by name +in Chapel Street, much to Dan's edification. He +thought well of belles-lettres and for a time toyed +with an ambition to enrich English literature with +contributions of his own. During this period he contributed +to the "Lit" a sonnet called "The Clam-Digger" +which began:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">At rosy dawn I see thine argosy;</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>and which closed with the invocation:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Fair tides reward thy long, laborious days.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The sonnet was neatly parodied in the "Record," +and that journal printed a gratuitous defense of the +fisherman at whom, presumably, the poem had been +directed. "The sonnet discloses nothing," said the +"Record," "as to the race, color, or previous condition +of servitude of the unfortunate clammer to +justify a son of Eli in attacking a poor man laudably +engaged in a perfectly honorable calling. The sonneteer, +coming, we believe, from the unsalt waters of +the Wabash, seems to be unaware that the fisherman +at whom he has leveled his tuneful lyre is not +seeking fair tides but clams. We therefore suggest +that the closing line of the sextette be amended to +read—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Fair clams reward thy long, laborious days."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Harwood was liked by his fellow students in the +law office. Two Yalensians, already established +there, made his lot easier, and they combined against +a lone Harvardian, who bitterly resented Harwood's +habit of smoking a cob pipe in the library at night. +The bouquet of Dan's pipe was pretty well dispelled +by morning save to the discerning nostril of the +harvard man, who protested against it, and said +the offense was indictable at common law. Harwood +stood stoutly for his rights and privileges, and for +Yale democracy, which he declared his pipe exemplified. +There was much good-natured banter of this +sort in the office.</p> + +<p>Harwood was busy filing papers when Mr. Fitch +summoned him to his private room on the day indicated. +Fitch was short, thin, and bald, with a clipped +reddish beard, brown eyes, and a turn-up nose. He +was considered a better lawyer than Wright, who +was the orator of the firm, and its reliance in dealing +with juries. In the preparation of briefs and in oral +arguments before the Supreme Court, Fitch was the +superior. His personal peculiarities had greatly +Interested Harwood; as, for example, Fitch's manner +of locking himself in his room for days at a time +while he was preparing to write a brief, denying +himself to all visitors, and only occasionally calling +for books from the library. Then, when he had +formulated his ideas, he summoned the stenographer +and dictated at one sitting a brief that generally +proved to be the reviewing court's own judgment +of the case in hand. Some of Fitch's fellow practitioners +intimated at times that he was tricky. In +conferences with opposing counsel, one heard, he +required watching, as he was wary of committing +himself and it was difficult to discover what line of +reasoning he elected to oppose or defend. In such +conferences it was his fashion to begin any statement +that might seem even remotely to bind him +with the remark, "I'm just thinking aloud on that +proposition and don't want to be bound by what I +say." The students in the office, to whom he was +unfailingly courteous, apostrophized him as "the +fox." He called them all "Mister," and occasionally +flattered them by presenting a hypothetical +case for their consideration.</p> + +<p>Fitch was sitting before the immaculate desk he +affected (no one ever dared leave anything on it in +his absence) when Harwood entered. The lawyer's +chair was an enormous piece of furniture in which +his small figure seemed to shrink and hide. His +hands were thrust into his pockets, as they usually +were, and he piped out "Good-Morning" in a high +tenor voice.</p> + +<p>"Shut the door, please, Mr. Harwood. What +have you to report about your errand to Montgomery?"</p> + +<p>He indicated with a nod the one chair in the room +and Harwood seated himself.</p> + +<p>"I found Professor Kelton without difficulty and +presented the letter."</p> + +<p>"You delivered the letter and you have told no +one of your visit to Montgomery."</p> + +<p>"No one, sir; no one knows I have been away from +town. I handed the letter to the gentleman in his +own house, alone, and he gave me his answer."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>"<i>No</i> is the answer."</p> + +<p>Fitch polished his eyeglasses with his handkerchief. +He scrutinized Harwood carefully for a moment, +then asked:—</p> + +<p>"Did the gentleman—whose name, by the way, +you have forgotten—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; I have quite forgotten it," Harwood +replied promptly.</p> + +<p>"Did he show any feeling—indignation, pique, +as he read the letter?"</p> + +<p>"No; but he read it carefully. His face showed +pain, I should say, sir, rather than indignation. He +gave his negative reply coldly—a little sharply. +He was very courteous—a gentleman, I should +say, beyond any question."</p> + +<p>"I dare say. What kind of an establishment did +he keep?"</p> + +<p>"A small cottage, with books everywhere, right +by the campus. A young girl let me in; she spoke +of the professor as her grandfather. She went off +to find him for me in the college library."</p> + +<p>"A young person. What did she look like?"</p> + +<p>"A dark young miss, with black hair tied with a +red ribbon."</p> + +<p>Fitch smiled.</p> + +<p>"You are sure of the color, are you? This man +lives there with his granddaughter, and the place +was simple—comfortable, no luxuries. You had +no conversation with him."</p> + +<p>"I think we exchanged a word about the weather, +which was warm."</p> + +<p>Fitch smiled again. His was a rare smile, but it +was worth waiting for.</p> + +<p>"What did the trip cost you?"</p> + +<p>Harwood named the amount and the lawyer drew +a check book from his impeccable desk and wrote.</p> + +<p>"I have added one hundred dollars for your services. +This is a personal matter between you and me, +and does not go on the office books. By the way, Mr. +Harwood, what are you doing out there?" he asked, +moving his head slightly toward the outer office.</p> + +<p>"I'm reading law."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible! The other youngsters in the office +seem to be talking politics or reading newspapers +most of the time. How do you manage to live?"</p> + +<p>"I do some work for the 'Courier' from time to +time."</p> + +<p>"Ah! You are careful not to let your legal studies +get mixed with the newspaper work?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir. They put me on meetings, and other +night assignments. As to the confidences of this +office, you need have no fear of my—"</p> + +<p>"I haven't, Mr. Harwood. Let me see. It was of +you Professor Sumner wrote me last year; he's an +old friend of mine. He said he thought you had a +sinewy mind—a strong phrase for Sumner."</p> + +<p>"He never told me that," said Dan, laughing. +"He several times implied quite the reverse."</p> + +<p>"He's a great man—Sumner. I suppose you +absorbed a good many of his ideas at New Haven."</p> + +<p>"I hope I did, sir: I believe in most of them anyhow."</p> + +<p>"So do I, Mr. Harwood."</p> + +<p>Fitch pointed to a huge pile of manuscript on a +table by the window. It was a stenographic transcript +of testimony in a case which had been lost in +the trial court and was now going up on appeal.</p> + +<p>"Digest that evidence and give me the gist of it +in not more than five hundred words. That's all."</p> + +<p>Harwood's hand was on the door when Fitch +arrested him with a word.</p> + +<p>"To recur to this private transaction between us, +you have not the remotest idea what was in that +letter, and nothing was said in the interview that +gave you any hint—is that entirely correct?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely."</p> + +<p>"Very well. I know nothing of the matter myself; +I am merely accommodating a friend. We need not +refer to this again."</p> + +<p>When the door had closed, the lawyer wrote a +brief note which he placed in his pocket, and dropped +later into a letter-box with his own hand. Mr. +Fitch, of the law firm of Wright and Fitch, was not +in the habit of acting as agent in matters he didn't +comprehend, and his part in Harwood's errand was +not to his liking. He had spoken the truth when he +said that he knew no more of the nature of the letter +that had been carried to Professor Kelton than the +messenger, and Harwood's replies to his interrogatories +had told him nothing.</p> + +<p>Many matters, however, pressed upon his attention +and offered abundant exercise for his curiosity. +With Harwood, too, pleased to have for the first +time in his life one hundred dollars in cash, the incident +was closed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI" />CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>HOME LIFE OF HOOSIER STATESMEN</h3> + + +<p>In no other place can a young man so quickly +attain wisdom as in a newspaper office. There +the names of the good and great are playthings, +and the bubble reputation is blown lightly, and as +readily extinguished, as part of the day's business. +No other employment offers so many excitements; +in nothing else does the laborer live so truly behind +the scenes. The stage is wide, the action varied and +constant. The youngest tyro, watching from the +wings, observes great incidents and becomes their +hasty historian. The reporter's status is unique. +Youth on the threshold of no other profession commands +the same respect, gains audience so readily +to the same august personages. Doors slammed in +his face only flatter his self-importance. He becomes +cynical as he sees how easily the spot light is made +to flash upon the unworthiest figures by the flimsiest +mechanism. He drops his plummet into shoal +and deep water and from his contemplation of the +wreck-littered shore grows skeptical of the wisdom +of all pilots.</p> + +<p>Harwood's connection with the "Courier" brought +him in touch with politics, which interested him +greatly. The "Courier" was the organ of the Democratic +Party in the state, and though his father +and brothers in the country were Republicans, Dan +found himself more in sympathy with the views +represented by the Democratic Party, even after it +abandoned its ancient conservatism and became +aggressively radical. About the time of Harwood's +return to his native state the newspaper had changed +hands. At least the corporation which had owned +it for a number of years had apparently disposed +of it, though the transaction had been effected so +quietly that the public received no outward hint +beyond the deletion of "Published by the Courier +Newspaper Company" from the head of the editorial +page. The "policy" of the paper continued +unchanged; the editorial staff had not been disturbed; +and in the counting-room there had been no revolution, +though an utterly unknown man had appeared +bearing the title of General Manager, which carried +with it authority in all departments.</p> + +<p>This person was supposed to represent the unknown +proprietor, about whom there had been the +liveliest speculation. The "Courier's" rivals gave +much space to rumors, real and imaginary, as to the +new ownership, attributing the purchase to a number +of prominent politicians in rapid succession, and +to syndicates that had never existed. It was an odd +effect of the change in the "Courier's" ownership +that almost immediately mystery seemed to envelop +the editorial rooms. The managing editor, whose +humors and moods fixed the tone of the office, may +have been responsible, but whatever the cause a +stricter discipline was manifest, and editors, reporters +and copy-readers moved and labored with a consciousness +that an unknown being walked among +the desks, and hung over the forms to the very +last moment before they were hurled to the stereotypers. +The editorial writers—those astute counselors +of the public who are half-revered and half-despised +by their associates on the news side of every +American newspaper—wrote uneasily under a mysterious, +hidden censorship. It was possible that even +the young woman who gleaned society news might, +by some unfortunate slip, offend the invisible proprietor. +But as time passed nothing happened. The +imaginable opaque pane that separated the owner +from the desks of the "Courier's" reporters and +philosophers had disclosed no faintest shadow. +Occasionally the managing editor was summoned +below by the general manager, but the subordinates +in the news department were unable, even by +much careful study of their subsequent instructions, +to grasp the slightest thread that might lead them +to the concealed hand which swayed the "Courier's" +destiny. It must be confessed that under this ghostly +administration the paper improved. Every man did +his best, and the circulation statements as published +monthly indicated a widening constituency. Even +the Sunday edition, long a forbidding and depressing +hodge-podge of ill-chosen and ill-digested rubbish, +began to show order and intelligence.</p> + +<p>In October following his visit to Professor Kelton, +Harwood was sent to Fraserville, the seat of Fraser +County, to write a sketch of the Honorable Morton +Bassett, in a series then adorning the Sunday supplement +under the title, "Home Life of Hoosier +Statesmen." The object of the series was frankly +to aid the circulation manager's efforts to build up +subscription lists in the rural districts, and personal +sketches of local celebrities had proved potent in +this endeavor. Most of the subjects that had fallen +to Harwood's lot had been of a familiar type—country +lawyers who sat in the legislature, or county +chairmen, or judges of county courts. As the "Sunday +Courier" eschewed politics, the series was not +restricted to Democrats but included men of all +faiths. It was Harwood's habit to spend a day in +the towns he visited, gathering local color and collecting +anecdotal matter.</p> + +<p>While this employment cut deeply into his hours +at the law office, he reasoned that there was a compensating +advantage in the knowledge he gained on +these excursions of the men of both political faiths.</p> + +<p>Before the train stopped at Fraserville he saw from +the car window the name "Bassett" written large +on a towering elevator,—a fact which he noted carefully +as offering a suggestion for the introductory +line of his sketch. As he left the station and struck +off toward the heart of the town, he was aware +that Bassett was a name that appealed to the eye +frequently. The Bassett Block and Bassett's Bank +spoke not merely for a material prosperity, rare +among the local statesmen he had described in the +"Courier," but, judging from the prominence of the +name in Fraserville nomenclature, he assumed that +it had long been established in the community. +Harwood had not previously faced a second generation +in his pursuit of Hoosier celebrities, and he +breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of a variation +on the threadbare scenario of early hardship, +the little red schoolhouse, patient industry, and the +laborious attainment of meagre political honors—which +had begun to bore him.</p> + +<p>Harwood sought first the editor of the "Fraser +County Democrat," who was also the "Courier's" +Fraserville correspondent. Fraserville boasted two +other newspapers, the "Republican," which offset +the "Democrat" politically, and the "News," an +independent afternoon daily whose function was to +encourage strife between its weekly contemporaries +and boom the commercial interests of the town. +The editor of the "Democrat" was an extremely +stout person, who sprawled at ease in a battered +swivel chair, with his slippered feet thrown across +a desk littered with newspapers, clippings, letters, +and manuscript. A file hook was suspended on the +wall over his shoulder, and on this it was his habit +to impale, by a remarkable twist of body and arm, +gems for his hebdomadal journal. He wrote on a +pad held in his ample lap, the paste brush was within +easy reach, and once planted on his throne the editor +was established for the day. Bound volumes of +the "Congressional Record" in their original wrappers +were piled in a corner. A consular report, folded +in half, was thrust under the editor's right thigh, +easly accessible in ferocious moments when he indulged +himself in the felicity of slaughtering the +roaches with which the place swarmed. He gave +Dan a limp fat hand, and cleared a chair of exchanges +with one foot, which he thereupon laboriously +restored to its accustomed place on the +desk.</p> + +<p>"So you're from the 'Courier'? Well, sir, you +may tell your managing editor for me that if he +doesn't print more of my stuff he can get somebody +else on the job here."</p> + +<p>Dan soothed Mr. Pettit's feelings as best he could; +he confessed that his own best work was mercilessly +cut; and that, after all, the editors of city newspapers +were poor judges of the essential character of news. +When Pettit's good humor had been restored, Dan +broached the nature of his errand. As he mentioned +Morton Bassett's name the huge editor's face grew +blank for a moment; then he was shaken with mirth +that passed from faint quivers until his whole frame +was convulsed. His rickety chair trembled and rattled +ominously. It was noiseless laughter so far as any +vocal manifestations were concerned; but it shook +the gigantic editor as though he were a mould of +jelly. He closed his eyes, but otherwise his fat face +was expressionless.</p> + +<p>"Goin' to write Mort up, are you? Well, by gum! +I've been readin' those pieces in the 'Courier.' +Your work? Good writin'; mighty interestin' readin', +as old Uncle Horace Greeley used to say. I guess +you carry the whitewash brush along with you in +your pilgrimages. You certainly did give Bill Ragsdale +a clean bill o' health. That must have tickled +the folks in Tecumseh County. Know Ragsdale? +I've set with Bill in the lower house three sessions, +and I come pretty near knowin' him. I don't say +that Bill is crooked; but I suspect that if Bill's +moral nature could be dug out and exposed to view +it would be spiral like a bedspring; just about. +It's an awful load on the Republican Party in this +state, having to carry Bill Ragsdale. O Lord!"</p> + +<p>He pursed his fat lips, and his eyes took on a far-away +expression, as though some profound utterance +had diverted his thoughts to remote realms of +reverie. "So you're goin' to write Mort up; well, +my God!"</p> + +<p>The exact relevance of this was not apparent. +Harwood had assumed on general principles that +the Honorable Isaac Pettit, of the "Fraser County +Democrat," was an humble and obedient servant of +the Honorable Morton Bassett, and would cringe +at the mention of his name. To be sure, Mr. Pettit +had said nothing to disturb this belief; but neither +had the editor manifested that meek submission +for which the reporter had been prepared. The editor's +Gargantuan girth trembled again. The spectacle +he presented as he shook thus with inexplicable +mirth was so funny that Harwood grinned; whereupon +Pettit rubbed one of his great hands across his +three-days' growth of beard, evoking a harsh rasping +sound in which he seemed to find relief and satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"You don't know Mort? Well, he's all right; he +will he mighty nice to you. Mort's one of the best +fellows on earth; you won't find anybody out here +in Fraser County to say anything against Mort +Bassett. No, sir; by God!"</p> + +<p>Again the ponderous frame shook; again the mysterious +look came into the man's curious small eyes, +and Harwood witnessed another seismic disturbance +in the bulk before him; then the Honorable Isaac +Pettit grew serious.</p> + +<p>"You want some facts for a starter. Well, I guess +a few facts don't hurt in this business, providin' +you don't push in too many of 'em."</p> + +<p>He pondered for a moment, then went on, as +though summarizing from a biography:—</p> + +<p>"Only child of the late Jeremiah Bassett, founder +of Bassett's Bank. Old Jerry was pure boiler plate; +he could squeeze ten per cent interest out of a frozen +parsnip. He and Blackford Singleton sort o' divided +things up in this section. Jerry Bassett corralled +the coin; Blackford rolled up a couple of hundred +thousand and capped it with a United States +senatorship. Mort's not forty yet; married only +child of Blackford F. Singleton—Jerry made the +match, I guess; it was the only way he could get +Blackford's money. Mort prepared for college, but +didn't go. Took his degree in law at Columbia, but +never practiced. Always interested in politics; been +in the state senate twelve years; two children, +boy and girl. I guess Mort Bassett can do most +anything he wants to—you can't tell where he'll +land."</p> + +<p>"But the next steps are obvious," suggested +Harwood, encouragingly—"the governorship, the +United States Senate—ever onward and upward."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes; but you never know anything from +<i>him</i>. <i>We</i> don't know, and you might think we'd +understand him pretty well up here. He declined +to go to Congress from this district—could have +had it without turning a hand; but he put in his +man and stayed in the state senate. I reckon he +cuts some ice there, but he's mighty quiet. Bassett +doesn't beat the tom-tom to call attention to himself. +I guess no man swings more influence in a state +convention—but he's peculiar. You'll find him +different from these yahoos you've been writin' up. +I know 'em all."</p> + +<p>"A man of influence and power—leading citizen +in every sense—" Dan murmured as he scribbled +a few notes.</p> + +<p>"Yep. Mort's considered rich. You may have +noticed his name printed on most everything but +the undertaker's and the jail as you came up from +the station. The elevator and the bank he inherited +from his pap. Mort's got a finger in most everything +'round here."</p> + +<p>"Owns everything," said Harwood, with an attempt +at facetiousness, "except the brewery."</p> + +<p>Mr. Pettit's eyes opened wide, and then closed; +again he was mirth-shaken; it seemed that the idea +of linking Morton Bassett's name with the manufacture +of malt liquor was the most stupendous joke +possible. The editor's face did not change expression; +the internal disturbances were not more violent +this time, but they continued longer; when the +strange spasm had passed he dug a fat fist into a tearful +right eye and was calm.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my God," he blurted huskily. "Breweries? +Let us say that he neither makes nor consumes malt, +vinous nor spirituous liquor, within the meaning of +the statutes in such cases made and provided. He +and Ed Thatcher make a strong team. Ed started +out as a brewer, but there's nothing wrong about +that, I reckon. Over in England they make lords +and dukes of brewers."</p> + +<p>"A man of rectitude—enshrined in the hearts of +his fellow-citizens, popular and all that?" suggested +Harwood.</p> + +<p>Yes. Mort rather <i>retains</i> his heat, I guess. Some +say he's cold as ice. His ice is the kind that freezes +to what he likes. Mort's a gentleman if we have one +in Fraser County. If you think you're chasin' one +of these blue jeans politicians you read about in +comic papers you're hitting the wrong trail, son. +Mort can eat with a fork without appearin' self-conscious. +Good Lord, boy, if you can say these +other fellows in Indiana politics have brains, you +got to say that Mort Bassett has <i>intellect</i>. Which is +different, son; a dern sight different."</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to use the word in my sketch of +Mr. Bassett," remarked Dan dryly. "It will lend +variety to the series."</p> + +<p>Harwood thanked the editor for his courtesy and +walked to the door. Strange creakings from the +editorial chair caused him to turn. The Honorable +Isaac Pettit was in the throes of another convulsion. +The attack seemed more severe than its predecessors. +Dan waited for him to invoke deity with the asthmatic +wheeziness to which mirth reduced his vocal apparatus.</p> + +<p>"It's nothin', son; it's nothin'. It's my temperament: +I can't help it. Did you say you were from +the 'Courier'? Well, you better give Mort a good +send-off. He appreciates a good job; he's a sort o' +literary cuss himself."</p> + +<p>As another mirthful spasm seemed imminent +Dan retired, wondering just what in himself or in his +errand had so moved the fat editor's risibilities. He +learned at the Bassett Bank that Mr. Bassett was +spending the day in a neighboring town, but would +be home at six o'clock, so he surveyed Fraserville +and killed time until evening, eating luncheon and +supper with sundry commercial travelers at the +Grand Hotel.</p> + +<p>Harwood's instructions were in every case to take +the subjects of his sketches at their own valuation +and to set them forth sympathetically. The ambitions +of most of the gentlemen he had interviewed +had been obvious—obvious and futile. Nearly every +man who reached the legislature felt a higher call +to Congress or the governor's chair. Harwood had +already described in the "Courier" the attainments +of several statesmen who were willing to sacrifice +their private interests for the high seat at the state +capitol. The pettiness and sordidness of most of the +politicians he met struck him humorously, but the +tone of his articles was uniformly laudatory.</p> + +<p>When the iron gate clicked behind him at the Bassett +residence, his notebook was still barren of such +anecdotes of his subject as he had usually gathered +in like cases in an afternoon spent at the court-house. +Stories of generosity, of the kindly care of +widows and orphans, gifts to indigent pastors, boys +helped through college, and similar benefactions had +proved altogether elusive. Either Harwood had +sought in the wrong places or Morton Bassett was +of tougher fibre than the other gentlemen on whom +his pencil had conferred immortality. In response +to his ring a boy opened the door and admitted him +without parley. He had a card ready to offer, but +the lad ran to announce him without waiting for his +name and reappeared promptly.</p> + +<p>"Papa says to come right in, sir," the boy reported.</p> + +<p>Dan caught a glimpse of a girl at the piano in the +parlor who turned to glance at him and continued +her playing. The lad indicated an open door midway +of the long hall and waited for Harwood to enter. A +lady, carrying a small workbasket in her hand, bade +the reporter good-evening as she passed out. On a +table in the middle of the room a checkerboard's +white and black belligerents stood at truce, and from +the interrupted game rose a thick-set man of medium +height, with dark hair and a close-trimmed +mustache, who came toward him inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"Good-evening. I am Mr. Bassett. Have a chair."</p> + +<p>Harwood felt the guilt of his intrusion upon a +scene so sheltered and domestic. The father had +evidently been playing checkers with his son; the +mother's chair still rocked by another table on which +stood a reading lamp.</p> + +<p>Harwood stated his errand, and Bassett merely +nodded, offering none of those protestations of surprise +and humility, those pleas of unworthiness that +his predecessors on Dan's list had usually insisted +upon. Dan made mental note at once of the figure +before him. Bassett's jaw was square and firm—power +was manifest there, unmistakably, and his +bristling mustache suggested combativeness. His +dark eyes met Harwood's gaze steadily—hardness +might be there, though their gaze was friendly enough. +His voice was deep and its tone was pleasant. He +opened a drawer and produced a box of cigars.</p> + +<p>"Won't you smoke? I don't smoke myself, but +you mustn't mind that." And Harwood accepted +a cigar, which he found excellent. A moment later +a maid placed on the table beside the checkerboard +a tray, with a decanter and glasses, and a +pitcher of water.</p> + +<p>"That's for us," remarked Bassett, nodding toward +the glasses. "Help yourself."</p> + +<p>"The cigar is all I need; thank you."</p> + +<p>The reporter was prepared to ask questions, following +a routine he had employed with other subjects, +but Bassett began to talk on his own initiative—of +the town, the county, the district. He expressed +himself well, in terse words and phrases. +Harwood did not attempt to direct or lead: Bassett +had taken the interview into his own hands, +and was imparting information that might have +been derived from a local history at the town library. +Dan ceased, after a time, to follow the narrative in +his absorption in the man himself. Harwood took +his politics seriously and the petty politicians with +whom he had thus far become acquainted in his +newspaper work had impressed him chiefly by their +bigotry or venality. It was not for nothing that he +had worshiped at Sumner's feet at Yale and he held +views that were not readily reconcilable with parochial +boss-ships and the meek swallowing of machine-made +platforms. Bassett was not the vulgar, intimate +good-fellow who slapped every man on the +back—the teller of good stories over a glass of +whiskey and a cigar. He was, as Pettit had said, a +new type, not of the familiar <i>cliché</i>. The decanter +was a "property" placed in the scene at the dictates +of hospitality; the checkerboard canceled any suggestion +of conviviality that might have been conveyed +by the decanter of whiskey.</p> + +<p>Bassett's right hand lay on the table and Dan +found himself watching it. It was broad but not +heavy; the fingers that opened and shut quietly on a +small paperweight were supple. It was a hand that +would deal few blows, but hard ones. Harwood was +aware, at a moment when he began to be bored by +the bald facts of local history, that Bassett had +abruptly switched the subject.</p> + +<p>"Parties are necessary to democratic government. +I don't believe merely in my own party; I want the +opposition to be strong enough to make a fight. The +people are better satisfied if there's a contest for the +offices. I'm not sorry when we lose occasionally; +defeat disciplines and strengthens a party. I have +made a point in our little local affairs of not fighting +independents when they break with us for any reason. +Believing as I do that parties are essential, and +that schismatic movements are futile, I make a point +of not attacking them. Their failures strengthen the +party—and incidentally kill the men who have +kicked out of the traces. You never have to bother +with them a second time."</p> + +<p>"But they help clear the air—they serve a purpose?" +suggested Harwood. He had acquired a +taste for the "Nation" and the New York "Evening +Post" at college, and Bassett's frank statement of +his political opinions struck Dan as mediæval. He +was, however, instinctively a reporter, and he +refrained from interposing himself further than was +necessary to stimulate the talk of the man before +him.</p> + +<p>"You are quite right, Mr. Harwood. They serve +an excellent purpose. They provide an outlet; they +serve as a safety valve. Now and then they will win +a fight, and that's a good thing too, for they will +prove, on experiment, that they are just as human +and weak in practical application of their ideas as +the rest of us. I'd even go as far as to say that in +certain circumstances I'd let them win. They help +drive home my idea that the old parties, like old, +established business houses, have got to maintain a +standard or they will lose the business to which they +are rightfully entitled. When you see your customers +passing your front door to try a new shop farther +up the street, you want to sit down and consider +what's the matter, and devise means of regaining +your lost ground. It doesn't pay merely to ridicule +the new man or cry that his goods are inferior. Yours +have got to be superior—or"—and the gray eyes +twinkled for the first time—"they must be dressed +up to look better in your show window."</p> + +<p>Bassett rose and walked the length of the room, +with his hands thrust into his trousers pockets, and +before he sat down he poured himself a glass of +water from the pitcher and drank it slowly, with an +air of preoccupation. He moved easily, with a +quicker step than might have been expected in one +of his figure. The strength of his hand was also in +the firm line of his vigorous, well-knit frame. And +his rather large head, Dan observed, rested solidly +on broad shoulders.</p> + +<p>Harwood's thoughts were, however, given another +turn at once. Morton Bassett had said all he cared +to say about politics and he now asked Dan whether +he was a college man, to which prompting the reporter +recited succinctly the annals of his life.</p> + +<p>"You're a Harrison County boy, are you? So +you didn't like the farm, and found a way out? +That's good. You may be interested in some of my +books."</p> + +<p>Dan was immediately on guard against being +bored; the library of even an intelligent local statesman +like Morton Bassett was hardly likely to prove +interesting. One of his earlier subjects had asked +him particularly to mention his library, which consisted +mainly of government reports.</p> + +<p>"I've been a collector of Americana," Bassett +remarked, throwing open several cases. "I've gone +in for colonial history, particularly, and some of +these things are pretty rare."</p> + +<p>The shelves rose to the ceiling and Bassett produced +a ladder that he might hand down a few of the +more interesting volumes for Dan's closer inspection.</p> + +<p>"Here's Wainwright's 'Brief Description of the +Ohio River, With some Account of the Savages +Living Thereon'—published in London in 1732, +and there are only three copies in existence. This is +Atterbury's 'Chronicle of the Chesapeake Settlements'—the +best thing I have. The author was an +English sailor who joined the colonists in the Revolution +and published a little memoir of his adventures +in America. The only other copy of that known to +exist is in the British Museum. I fished mine out of +a pile of junk in Baltimore about ten years ago. +When I get old and have time on my hands I'm +going to reprint some of these—wide margins, and +footnotes, and that sort of thing. But there's fun +enough now in just having them and knowing the +other fellow hasn't!"</p> + +<p>He flung open a panel of the wainscoting at a point +still free of shelves and disclosed a door of a small +iron safe which he opened with a key. +"This isn't the family silver, but a few little +things that are more valuable. These are first editions +of American authors. Here's Lowell's 'Fable +for Critics,' first edition; and this is Emerson's +'Nature,' 1836—a first. These are bound by Orpcutt; +had them done myself. They feel good to the +hand, don't they!"</p> + +<p>Harwood's pleasure in the beautiful specimens of +the binder's art was unfeigned and to his questioning +Bassett dilated upon the craftsmanship.</p> + +<p>"The red morocco of the Emerson takes the gold +tooling beautifully, and the oak-leaf border design +couldn't be finer. I believe this olive-green shade is +the best of all. This Whittier—a first edition of +'In War Time'—is by Durand, a French artist, +and one of the best specimens of his work."</p> + +<p>Those strong hands of his touched the beautiful +books fondly. Harwood took advantage of a moment +when Bassett carried to the lamp Lowell's +"Under the Willows" in gold and brown, the better +to display the deft workmanship, to look more +closely at the owner of these lovely baubles. The +iron hand could be very gentle! Bassett touched +the volume caressingly as he called attention to its +perfection. His face, in the lamp's full light, softened, +but there was in it no hint of sensuousness to +prepare one for this indulgence in luxurious bibliomania. +There was a childlike simplicity in Bassett's +delight. A man who enjoyed such playthings could +not be hard, and Dan's heart warmed with liking.</p> + +<p>"Are you a reader of poetry?" asked Dan, as +Bassett carefully collected the books and returned +them to the safe.</p> + +<p>"No. That is something we leave behind us with +our youth," he said; and looking down at the bent +head and sturdy shoulders, and watching the strong +fingers turning the key, Dan wondered what the +man's youth had been and what elements were mixed +in him that soft textures of leather and delicate tracings +of gold on brown and scarlet and olive could so +delight him. His rather jaunty attitude toward the +"Home Life of Hoosier Statesmen" experienced a +change. Morton Bassett was not a man who could +be hit off in a few hundred words, but a complex +character he did not pretend to understand. Threads +of various hues had passed before him, but how to +intertwine them was a question that already puzzled +the reporter. Bassett had rested his hand on +Dan's shoulder for a moment as the younger man +bent over one of the prized volumes, and Dan was +not insensible to the friendliness of the act.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett and the two children appeared at +the door a little later.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Hallie," said the politician; "all of you +come in."</p> + +<p>He introduced the reporter to his wife and to +Marian, the daughter, and Blackford, the son.</p> + +<p>"The children were just going up," said Mrs. +Bassett. "As it's Saturday they have an hour added +to their evening. I think I heard Mr. Bassett talking +of books a moment ago. It's not often he brings +out his first editions for a visitor."</p> + +<p>They talked of books for a moment, while the +children listened. Then Bassett recurred to the fact, +already elicited, that Harwood was a Yale man, +whereupon colleges were discussed.</p> + +<p>"Many of our small fresh-water colleges do excellent +work," remarked Bassett. "Some educator has +explained the difference between large and small +colleges by saying that in the large one the boy goes +through more college, but in the small one more +college goes through the boy. Of course I'm not +implying, Mr. Harwood, that that was true in your +case."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not sensitive about that, Mr. Bassett. +And I beg not to be taken as an example of what +Yale does for her students. Some of the smaller +colleges stand for the best things; there's Madison +College, here in our own state—its standards are +severely high, and the place itself has quality, +atmosphere—you feel, even as a casual visitor, +that it's the real thing."</p> + +<p>"So I've always heard," remarked Mrs. Bassett. +"My father always admired Madison. Strange to +say, I have never been there. Are you acquainted +in Montgomery?"</p> + +<p>Bassett bent forward slightly at the question.</p> + +<p>"I was there for an hour or so last spring; but I +was in a hurry. I didn't even take time to run into +my fraternity house, though I saw its banner on the +outer wall."</p> + +<p>"Your newspaper work must give you many interesting +adventures," suggested the politician.</p> + +<p>"Not always as pleasant as this, I assure you. +But I'm a person of two occupations—I'm studying +law, and my visit to Montgomery was on an +errand for the office where I'm allowed to use the +books in return for slight services of one kind and +another. As a newspaper man I'm something of an +impostor; I hope I'm only a passing pilgrim in the +business."</p> + +<p>Dan faced Mrs. Bassett as he made this explanation, +and he was conscious, as he turned toward the +master of the house, that Bassett was observing him +intently. His gaze was so direct and searching that +Harwood was disconcerted for a moment; then Bassett +remarked carelessly,—</p> + +<p>"I should think newspaper work a good training +for the law. It drills faculties that a lawyer exercises +constantly."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett now made it possible for Marian and +young Blackford to contribute to the conversation.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to Annapolis," announced the boy.</p> + +<p>"You've had a change of heart," said his father, +with a smile. "It was West Point last week."</p> + +<p>"Well, it will be Annapolis next week," the lad +declared; and then, as if to explain his abandonment +of a military career, "In the Navy you get to +see the world, and in the Army you're likely to be +stuck away at some awful place on the Plains where +you never see anything. The Indians are nearly +all killed anyhow."</p> + +<p>"We hear a good deal nowadays about the higher +education of woman," Mrs. Bassett remarked, "and +I suppose girls should be prepared to earn their +own living. Mothers of daughters have that to think +about."</p> + +<p>Miss Marian, catching Dan's eye, smiled as +though to express her full appreciation of the humor +of her mother's remark.</p> + +<p>"Mama learned that from my Aunt Sally," she +ventured; and Dan saw that she was an independent +spirit, given to daring sayings, and indulged in them +by her parents.</p> + +<p>"Well, Aunt Sally is the wisest woman in the +world," replied Mrs. Bassett, with emphasis. "It +would be to your credit if you followed her, my +dear."</p> + +<p>Marian ignored her mother's rebuke and addressed +herself to the visitor.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Sally lives in Indianapolis and I go there +to Miss Waring's School. I'm just home for Sunday."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Owen is my aunt; you may have heard of +her, Mr. Harwood; she was my father's only sister."</p> + +<p>"Oh, <i>the</i> Mrs. Owen! Of course every one has +heard of her; and I knew that she was Senator +Singleton's sister. I am sorry to say I don't know +her."</p> + +<p>Unconsciously the sense of Morton Bassett's +importance deepened. In marrying Mrs. Jackson +Owen's niece Bassett had linked himself to the richest +woman at the state capital. He had not encumbered +himself with a crude wife from the countryside, +but had married a woman with important connections. +Blackford Singleton had been one of the +leading men of the state, and Mrs. Owen, his sister, +was not a negligible figure in the background against +which the reporter saw he must sketch the Fraserville +senator. Harwood had met the wives of other +Hoosier statesmen—uninteresting creatures in the +main, and palpably of little assistance to ambitious +husbands.</p> + +<p>It appeared that the Bassetts spent their summers +at their cottage on Lake Waupegan and that Mrs. +Owen had a farm near them. It was clear that Bassett +enjoyed his family. He fell into a chaffing way +with his children and laughed heartily at Marian's +forwardness. He met his son on the lad's own note +of self-importance and connived with him to provoke +her amusing impertinences.</p> + +<p>Bassett imposed no restrictions upon Harwood's +pencil, and this, too, was a novel experience. His +predecessors on the list of leaders in Hoosier politics +had not been backward about making suggestions, +but Bassett did not refer to Harwood's errand +at all. When Dan asked for photographs of Mrs. Bassett +and the children with which to embellish his +article, Bassett declined to give them with a firmness +that ended the matter; but he promised to +provide photographs of the house and grounds and +of the Waupegan cottage and send them to Harwood +in a day or two.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Harwood gave to his sketch of Morton Bassett a +care which he had not bestowed upon any of his +previous contributions to the "Courier's" series of +Hoosier statesmen. He remained away from the +law office two days the better to concentrate himself +upon his task, and the result was a careful, +straightforward article, into which he threw shadings +of analysis and flashes of color that reflected very +faithfully the impression made upon his mind by +the senator from Fraser. The managing editor complained +of its sobriety and lack of anecdote.</p> + +<p>"It's good, Harwood, but it's too damned solemn. +Can't you shoot a little ginger into it?"</p> + +<p>"I've tried to paint the real Bassett. He isn't +one of these raw hayseeds who hands you chestnuts +out of patent medicine almanacs. I've tried to make +a document that would tell the truth and at the +same time please him."</p> + +<p>"Why?" snapped the editor, pulling the green +shade away from his eyes and glaring at the reporter.</p> + +<p>"Because he's the sort of man you feel you'd like +to please! He's the only one of these fellows I've +tackled who didn't tell me a lot of highfalutin rot +they wanted put into the article. Bassett didn't +seem to care about it one way or another. I rewrote +most of that stuff half a dozen times to be sure to +get the punk out of it, because I knew he hated +punk."</p> + +<p>"You did, did you! Well, McNaughton of Tippecanoe +County is the next standard-bearer you're to +tackle, and you needn't be afraid to pin ribbons on +him. You college fellows are all alike. Try to remember, +Harwood, that this paper ain't the 'North +American Review'; it's a newspaper for the plain +people."</p> + +<p>Dan, at some personal risk, saw to it that the +illustrations were so minimized that it became unnecessary +to sacrifice his text to accommodate it to +the page set apart for it. He read his screed in type +with considerable satisfaction, feeling that it was an +honest piece of work and that it limned a portrait +of Bassett that was vivid and truthful. The editor-in-chief +inquired who had written it, and took +occasion to commend Harwood for his good workmanship. +A little later a clerk in the counting-room +told him that Bassett had ordered a hundred copies +of the issue containing the sketch, and this was consoling. +Several other subjects had written their +thanks, and Dan had rather hoped that Bassett +would send him a line of approval; but on reflection +he concluded that it was not like Bassett to do so, +and that this failure to make any sign corroborated +all that he knew or imagined of the senator from +Fraser.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII" />CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>SYLVIA AT LAKE WAUPEGAN</h3> + + +<p>The snow lay late the next year on the Madison +campus. It had been a busy winter for +Sylvia, though in all ways a happy one. +When it became known that she was preparing for +college all the Buckeye Lane folk were anxious to help. +Professor Kelton would not trust his own powers too +far and he availed himself of the offers of members +of the faculty to tutor Sylvia in their several branches. +Buckeye Lane was proud of Sylvia and glad that +the old professor found college possible for her. +Happiness reigned in the cottage, and days were not +so cold or snows so deep but that Sylvia and her +grandfather went forth for their afternoon tramp. +There was nothing morbid or anæmic about Sylvia. +Every morning she pulled weights and swung Indian +clubs with her windows open. A mischievous +freshman who had thrown a snowball at Sylvia's +heels, in the hope of seeing her jump, regretted his +bad manners: Sylvia caught him in the ear with an +unexpected return shot. A senior who observed the +incident dealt in the lordly way of his kind with +the offender. They called her "our co-ed" and "the +boss girl" after that. The professor of mathematics +occasionally left on his blackboard Sylvia's demonstrations +and pointed them out to his class as models +worthy of their emulation.</p> + +<p>Spring stole into the heart of the Wabash country +and the sap sang again in maples and elms. Lilacs +and snowballs bloomed, and Professor Kelton went +serenely about among his roses. Sylvia passed her +examinations, and was to be admitted to Wellesley +without conditions,—all the Lane knew and rejoiced! +The good news was communicated to Mrs. +Owen, who wrote at once to Professor Kelton from +the summer headquarters she had established on her +farm in northern Indiana that just then required +particular attention. It ran:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>I want you to make me a visit. Sylvia must be +pretty tired after her long, busy year and I have +been tinkering the house here a little bit so you can +both be perfectly comfortable. It's not so lonely as +you might think, as my farm borders Lake Waupegan, +and the young people have gay times. My niece, +Mrs. Bassett, has a cottage on the lake only a +minute's walk from me. I should like Marian and +Sylvia to get acquainted and this will be easy if only +you will come up for a couple of weeks. There are +enough old folks around here, Andrew, to keep you +and me in countenance. I inclose a timetable with +the best trains marked. You leave the train at +Waupegan Station, and take the steamer across the +lake. I will meet you at any time you say.</p></div> + +<p>So it happened that on a June evening they left +the train at Waupegan and crossed the platform to +the wheezy little steamer which was waiting just +as the timetable had predicted; and soon they were +embarked and crossing the lake, which seemed to +Sylvia a vast ocean. Twilight was enfolding the +world, and all manner of fairy lights began to twinkle +at the far edges of the water and on the dark heights +above the lake. Overhead the stars were slipping +into their wonted places.</p> + +<p>"You can get an idea of how it is at sea," said +her grandfather, smiling at her long upward gaze. +"Only you can hardly feel the wonder of it all here, +or the great loneliness of the ocean at night."</p> + +<p>It was, however, wonder enough, for a girl who +had previously looked upon no more impressive +waters than those of Fall Creek, Sugar Creek, and +White River. The steamer, with much sputtering +and churning and not without excessive trepidation +on the part of the captain and his lone deck hand, +stopped at many frail docks below the cottages that +hung on the bluff above. Every cottager maintained +his own light or combination of lights to facilitate +identification by approaching visitors. They passed +a number of sailboats lazily idling in the light wind, +and several small power boats shot past with engines +beating furiously upon the still waters.</p> + +<p>"The Bassetts' dock is the green light; the red, +white, and blue is Mrs. Owen's," explained the captain. +"We ain't stoppin' at Bassett's to-night."</p> + +<p>These lights marked the farthest bounds of Lake +Waupegan, and were the last points touched by the +boat. Sylvia watched the green light with interest +as they passed. She had thought of Marian often +since their meeting at Mrs. Owen's. She would +doubtless see more of her now: the green light +and the red, white and blue were very close together.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen called to them cheerily from the dock, +and waved a lantern in welcome. She began talking +to her guests before they disembarked.</p> + +<p>"Glad to see you, Andrew. You must be mighty +hungry, Sylvia. Don't smash my dock to pieces, +Captain; it's only wood."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen complained after a few days that she +saw nothing of Sylvia, so numerous were that young +person's engagements. Mrs. Bassett and Marian +called promptly—the former a trifle dazed by Sylvia's +sudden advent, and Marian genuinely cordial. +Mrs. Bassett had heard of the approaching visit with +liveliest interest. A year before, when Marian had +reported the presence in Mrs. Owen's house at Indianapolis +of a strange girl with Professor Kelton, her +curiosity had been piqued, but she soon dismissed the +matter. Marian had carried home little information, +and while Mrs. Bassett saw her aunt often on her frequent +excursions to the city, she knew by long experience +that Mrs. Owen did not yield gracefully to +prodding.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett had heard all her life of Professor Kelton +and she had met him now and then in the Delaware +Street house, but her knowledge of him and his +family was only the most fragmentary. Nothing had +occurred during the year to bring the Keltons again +to her attention; but now, with a casualness in itself +disconcerting, they had arrived at Mrs. Owen's +farmhouse, where, Mrs. Bassett was sure, no guests +had ever been entertained before. The house had +just been remodeled and made altogether habitable, +a fact which, Mrs. Bassett had been flattering herself, +argued for Mrs. Owen's increasing interest in +herself and her family. The immediate arrival of +the Keltons was disquieting.</p> + +<p>Through most of her life Hallie Bassett had assumed +that she and her children, as Sally Owen's +next of kin, quite filled the heart of that admirable +though often inexplicable woman. Mrs. Bassett +had herself inherited a small fortune from her father, +Blackford F. Singleton, Mrs. Owen's brother, a judge +of the Indiana Supreme Court and a senator in +Congress, whose merits and services are set forth +in a tablet at the portal of the Fraser County Court-House. +The Bassetts and the Singletons had been +early settlers of that region, and the marriage of +Hallie Singleton to Morton Bassett was a satisfactory +incident in the history of both families. Six years of +Mrs. Bassett's girlhood had been passed in Washington; +the thought of power and influence was dear to +her; and nothing in her life had been more natural +than the expectation that her children would enjoy +the fortune Mrs. Owen had been accumulating so +long and, from all accounts, by processes hardly less +than magical. Mrs. Bassett's humor was not always +equal to the strain to which her aunt subjected it. +Hallie Bassett had, in fact, little humor of any sort. +She viewed life with a certain austerity, and in literature +she had fortified herself against the shocks of +time. Conduct, she had read, is three fourths of life; +and Wordsworth had convinced her that the world +is too much with us. Mrs. Bassett discussed nothing +so ably as a vague something she was fond of +characterizing as "the full life," and this she wished +to secure for her children. Her boy's future lay properly +with his father; she had no wish to meddle +with it; but Marian was the apple of her eye, and +she was striving by all the means in her power to +direct her daughter into pleasant paths and bright +meadows where the "full life" is assured. Hers were +no mean standards. She meant to be a sympathetic +and helpful wife, the wisest and most conscientious +of mothers.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett was immensely anxious to please her +aunt in all ways; but that intrepid woman's pleasure +was not a thing to be counted on with certainty. +She not only sought to please her aunt by every +means possible, but she wished her children to intrench +themselves strongly in their great aunt's +favor. The reports of such of Mrs. Owen's public +benefactions as occasionally reached the newspapers +were always alarming. No one ever knew just how +much money Sally Owen gave away; but some of her +gifts in recent years had been too large to pass unnoticed +by the press. Only a few months before she had +established a working-girls' home in memory of a +daughter—her only child—who had died in early +youth, and this crash from a clear sky had aroused +in Mrs. Bassett the gravest apprehensions. It was +just so much money said to be eighty thousand +dollars—out of the pockets of Marian and Blackford; +and, besides, Mrs. Bassett held views on this +type of benevolence. Homes for working-girls might +be well enough, but the danger of spoiling them by too +much indulgence was not inconsiderable; Mrs. Bassett's +altruism was directed to the moral and intellectual +uplift of the mass (she never said masses) +and was not concerned with the plain prose of housing, +feeding, and clothing young women who earned +their own living. Mrs. Owen, in turning over this +home to a board of trustees, had stipulated that +music for dancing should be provided every Saturday +evening; whereupon two trustees, on whom the +Christian religion weighed heavily, resigned; but +Mrs. Owen did not care particularly. Trustees were +only necessary to satisfy the law and to assure the +legal continuity of Elizabeth House, which Mrs. +Owen directed very well herself.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett encouraged Marian's attentions to +Mrs. Owen's young visitor; but it must be said that +Marian, on her own account, liked Sylvia and found +delight in initiating her into the mysteries of Waupegan +life. She taught her to ride, to paddle a canoe, +and to swim. There were dances at the casino, and +it was remarkable how easily Sylvia learned to dance. +Marian taught her a few steps on the first rainy day +at the Bassett house, and thereafter no one would +have doubted that Sylvia had been to dancing-school +with the boys and girls she met at the casino +parties. Marian was the most popular girl in the +summer colony and Sylvia admired her ungrudgingly. +In all outdoor sports Marian excelled. She +dived from a spring-board like a boy, she paddled +a canoe tirelessly and with inimitable grace, and it +was a joy to see her at the tennis court, where her +nimbleness of foot and the certainty of her stroke +made her easily first in all competitions. At the +casino, after a hard round of tennis, and while waiting +for cakes and lemonade to be served, she would +hammer ragtime on the piano or sing the latest +lyrical offerings of Broadway. Quiet, elderly gentlemen +from Cincinnati, Louisville, and Indianapolis, +who went to the casino to read the newspapers +or to play bridge, grinned when Marian turned things +upside down. If any one else had improvised a +bowling-alley of ginger-ale bottles and croquet-balls +on the veranda, they would have complained +of it bitterly. She was impatient of restraint, and +it was apparent that few restraints were imposed +upon her. Her sophistication in certain directions +was to Sylvia well-nigh incomprehensible. In matters +of personal adornment, for example, the younger +girl's accomplishments were astonishing. She taught +Sylvia how to arrange her hair in the latest fashion +promulgated by "Vogue"; she instructed her in the +refined art of manicuring according to the method +of the best shop in Indianapolis; and it was amazing +how wonderfully Marian could improve a hat by +the slightest readjustments of ribbon and feather. +She tested the world's resources like a spoiled princess +with an indulgent chancellor to pay her bills. +She gave a party and ordered the refreshments from +Chicago, though her mother protested that the +domestic apparatus for making ice-cream was wholly +adequate for the occasion. When she wanted new +tennis shoes she telegraphed for them; and she kept +in her room a small library of mail-order catalogues +to facilitate her extravagances.</p> + +<p>Marian talked a great deal about boys, and confided +to Sylvia her sentimental attachment for one +of the lads they saw from day to day, and with whom +they played tennis at the casino court. For the first +time Sylvia heard a girl talk of men as of romantic +beings, and of love as a part of the joy and excitement +of life. A young gentleman in a Gibson drawing +which she had torn from an old copy of "Life" +more nearly approximated Marian's ideal than even +the actors of her remote adoration. She had a great +number of gowns and was quite reckless in her use +of them. She tried to confer upon Sylvia scarf pins, +ties, and like articles, for which she declared she +had not the slightest use. In the purchase of soda +water and candy at the casino, where she scribbled +her father's initials on the checks, or at the +confectioner's in the village where she enjoyed a flexible +credit, her generosity was prodigal. She was constantly +picking up other youngsters and piloting +them on excursions that her ready fancy devised; +and if they returned late for meals or otherwise +incurred parental displeasure, to Marian it was only +part of the joke. She was always late and ingeniously +plausible in excusing herself. "Mother won't +bother; she wants me to have a good time. And +when papa is here he just laughs at me. Papa's +just the best ever."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett kept lamenting to Professor Kelton +her husband's protracted delay in Colorado. He +was interested in a mining property there and was +waiting for the installation of new machinery, but +she expected to hear that he had left for Indiana at +any time, and he was coming direct to Waupegan +for a long stay. Mrs. Owen was busy with the +Waupegan farm and with the direction of her farms +elsewhere. On the veranda of her house one might +frequently hear her voice raised at the telephone as +she gave orders to the men in charge of her properties +in central and southern Indiana. Her hearing +was perfect and she derived the greatest satisfaction +from telephoning. She sold stock or produce on these +distant estates with the market page of the "Courier" +propped on the telephone desk before her, and explained +her transactions zestfully to Professor Kelton +and Sylvia. She communicated frequently with the +superintendent of her horse farm at Lexington about +the "string" she expected to send forth to triumph at +county and state fairs. The "Annual Stud Register" +lay beside the Bible on the living-room table; and +the "Western Horseman" mingled amicably with +the "Congregationalist" in the newspaper rack.</p> + +<p>The presence of the old professor and his +granddaughter at Waupegan continued to puzzle Mrs. +Bassett. Mrs. Owen clearly admired Sylvia, and +Sylvia was a charming girl—there was no gainsaying +that. At the farmhouse a good deal had been +said about Sylvia's plans for going to college. Mrs. +Owen had proudly called attention to them, to her +niece's annoyance. If Sylvia's advent marked the +flowering in Mrs. Owen of some new ideals of woman's +development, Mrs. Bassett felt it to be her duty to +discover them and to train Marian along similar +lines. She felt that her husband would be displeased +if anything occurred to thwart the hand of destiny +that had so clearly pointed to Marian and Blackford +as the natural beneficiaries of the estate which +Mrs. Owen by due process of nature must relinquish. +In all her calculations for the future Mrs. +Owen's fortune was an integer.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett received a letter from her husband +on Saturday morning in the second week of Sylvia's +stay. Its progress from the mining-camp in the +mountains had been slow and the boat that delivered +the letter brought also a telegram announcing Bassett's +arrival in Chicago, so that he was even now +on his way to Waupegan. As Mrs. Bassett pondered +this intelligence Sylvia appeared at the veranda +steps to inquire for Marian.</p> + +<p>"She hasn't come down yet, Sylvia. You girls +had a pretty lively day yesterday and I told Marian +she had better sleep a while longer."</p> + +<p>"We certainly have the finest times in the world," +replied Sylvia. "It doesn't seem possible that I've +been here nearly two weeks."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you're going to stay longer. Aunt +Sally told me yesterday it was arranged."</p> + +<p>"We really didn't expect to stay more than our +two weeks; but Mrs. Owen made it seem very easy +to do so."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you needn't be afraid of outstaying your +welcome. It's not Aunt Sally's way to bore herself. +If she didn't like you very much she wouldn't +have you here at all; Aunt Sally's always right +straight out from the shoulder."</p> + +<p>"Marian has done everything to give me a good +time. I want you to know I appreciate it. I have +never known girls; Marian is really the first girl I +have ever known, and she has taught me ever so +many things."</p> + +<p>"Marian is a dear," murmured Mrs. Bassett.</p> + +<p>She was a murmurous person, whose speech was +marked by a curious rising inflection, that turned +most of her statements into interrogatories. To Sylvia +this habit seemed altogether wonderful and elegant.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we take a walk along the lake path, +Sylvia. We can pretend we're looking for wild +flowers to have an excuse. I'll leave word for Marian +to follow."</p> + +<p>They set off along the path together. Mrs. Bassett +had never seemed friendlier, and Sylvia was +flattered by this mark of kindness. Mrs. Bassett +trailed her parasol, using it occasionally to point out +plants and flowers that called for comment. She +knew the local flora well, and kept a daybook of +the wildflowers found in the longitude and latitude +of Waupegan; and she was an indefatigable ornithologist, +going forth with notebook and opera +glass in hand. She spoke much of Thoreau and Burroughs +and they were the nucleus of her summer library; +she said that they gained tang and vigor from +their winter hibernation at the cottage. Her references +to nature were a little self-conscious, as seems +inevitable with such devotees, but we cannot belittle +the accuracy of her knowledge or the cleverness +of her detective skill in apprehending the native +flora. She found red and yellow columbines tucked +away in odd corners, and the blue-eyed-Mary with +its four petals—two blue and two white—as +readily as Sylvia's inexperienced eye discovered the +more obvious ladies'-slipper and jack-in-the-pulpit. +To-day Mrs. Bassett rejoiced in the discovery of +the season's first puccoon, showing its orange-yellow +cluster on a sandy slope. She plucked a spray of the +spreading dogbane, but only that she might descant +upon it to Sylvia; it was a crime, Mrs. Bassett said, +to gather wild flowers, which were never the same +when transplanted to the house. When they came +presently to a rustic seat Mrs. Bassett suggested +that they rest there and watch the lake, which had +always its mild excitements.</p> + +<p>"You haven't known Aunt Sally a great while, +I judge, Sylvia? Of course you haven't known any +one a great while!"</p> + +<p>"No; I never saw her but once before this visit. +That was when grandfather took me to see her in +Indianapolis a year ago. She and grandfather are +old friends."</p> + +<p>"All the old citizens of Indiana have a kind of +friendship among themselves. Somebody said once +that the difference between Indiana and Kentucky +is, that while the Kentuckians are all cousins we +Hoosiers are all neighbors. But of course so many +of us have had Kentucky grandfathers that we +understand the Kentuckians almost as well as our +own people. I used to meet your grandfather now +and then at Aunt Sally's; but I can't say that I ever +knew him. He's a delightful man and it's plain +that his heart is centred in you."</p> + +<p>"There was never any one like grandfather," said +Sylvia with feeling.</p> + +<p>"I suppose that as he and Aunt Sally are such old +friends they must have talked a good deal together +about you and your going to college. It would be +quite natural."</p> + +<p>Sylvia had not thought of this. She was the least +guileful of beings, this Sylvia, and she saw nothing +amiss in these inquiries.</p> + +<p>"I suppose they may have done so; and Mrs. +Owen talked to me about going to college when I +visited her."</p> + +<p>"Oh! If <i>she</i> undertook to persuade you, then it is +no wonder you decided to go. She's a very powerful +pleader, as she would put it herself."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't just that way, Mrs. Bassett. I think +grandfather had already persuaded me. Mrs. Owen +didn't know of it till afterward; but she seemed to +like the idea. Her ideas about girls and women are +very interesting."</p> + +<p>"Yes? She has a very decided way of expressing +herself. I should imagine, though, that with her +training and manner of life she might look a little +warily at the idea of college training for women. +Personally, you understand, I am heartily in favor +of it. I have hoped that Marian might go to college. +Aunt Sally takes the greatest interest in Marian, +naturally, but she has never urged it upon us."</p> + +<p>Sylvia gazed off across the lake and made no reply. +She recalled distinctly Mrs. Owen's comments on +Marian, expressed quite clearly on the day of their +drive into the country, a year before. It was not for +her to repeat those observations; she liked Marian +and admired her, and she saw no reason why Marian +should not go to college. Sylvia, guessing nothing of +what was in Mrs. Bassett's mind, failed to understand +that Mrs. Owen's approval of Marian's education +was of importance. Nothing could have been +more remote from her thoughts than the idea that +her own plans concerned any one but herself and her +grandfather. She was not so dull, however, but that +she began to feel that Mrs. Bassett was speaking +defensively of Marian.</p> + +<p>"Marian's taste in reading is very unusual, I +think. I have always insisted that she read only the +best. She is very fond of Tennyson. I fancy that +after all, home training is really the most valuable,—I +mean that the atmosphere of the home can give +a child what no school supplies. I don't mean, of +course, that we have it in <i>our</i> home; but I'm speaking +of the ideal condition where there <i>is</i> an atmosphere. +I've made a point of keeping good books +lying about the house, and the best magazines and +reviews. I was never happier than the day I found +Marian curled up on a lounge reading Keats. It +may be that the real literary instinct, such as I feel +Marian has, would only be spoiled by college; and +I should like nothing better than to have Marian +become a writer. A good many of our best American +women writers have not been college women; I was +looking that up only the other day."</p> + +<p>Sylvia listened, deeply interested; then she +laughed suddenly, and as Mrs. Bassett turned toward +her she felt that it would do no harm to repeat a +remark of Mrs. Owen's that had struck her as being +funny.</p> + +<p>"I just happened to remember something Mrs. +Owen said about colleges. She said that if it isn't in +the colt the trainer can't put it there; and I suppose +the successful literary women have had genius +whether they had higher education or not. George +Eliot hadn't a college training, but of course she was +a very great woman."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett compressed her lips. She had not +liked this quotation from Mrs. Owen's utterances on +this vexed question of higher education. Could it be +possible that Aunt Sally looked upon Marian as one +of those colts for whom the trainer could do nothing? +It was not a reassuring thought; her apprehensions +as to Sylvia's place in her kinswoman's affections +were quickened by Sylvia's words; but Mrs. Bassett +dropped the matter.</p> + +<p>"I have never felt that young girls should read +George Eliot. She doesn't seem to me <i>quite</i> an ideal +to set before a young girl."</p> + +<p>As Sylvia knew nothing of George Eliot, except +what she had gleaned from the biographical data in a +text-book on nineteenth-century writers, she was +unable to follow Mrs. Bassett. She had read "Mill +on the Floss," and "Romola" and saw no reason why +every one shouldn't enjoy them.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett twirled her closed parasol absently +and studied the profile of the girl beside her.</p> + +<p>"The requirements for college are not really so +difficult, I suppose?" she suggested.</p> + +<p>Sylvia's dark eyes brightened as she faced her +interlocutor. Those of us who know Sylvia find that +quick flash of humor in her eyes adorable.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they can't be, for I answered most of the +questions!" she exclaimed, and then, seeing no response +in her inquisitor, she added soberly: "It's +all set out in the catalogue and I have one with me. +I'd be glad to bring it over if you'd like to see it."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Sylvia. I should like to see it. I +may want to ask you some questions about the work; +but of course you won't say anything to Marian of +our talk. I am not quite sure, and I'll have to discuss +it with Mr. Bassett."</p> + +<p>"Of course I shan't speak of it, Mrs. Bassett."</p> + +<p>Marian's voice was now heard calling them, down +the path, and the girl appeared, a moment later, +munching a bit of toast stuccoed with jam, and eager +to be off for the casino where a tennis match was +scheduled for the morning.</p> + +<p>"Don't be late for dinner this evening, Marian; +your father will be here, and if you see Blackford, be +sure to tell him to meet the 3.10."</p> + +<p>"Yes, mama, I'll remember, and I'll try to meet +the train too." And then to Sylvia, as she led the +way to the boathouse to get the canoe, "I'm glad +dad's coming. He's perfectly grand, and I'm going +to see if he won't give me a naphtha launch. Dad's +a good old scout and he's pretty sure to do it."</p> + +<p>Marian's manner of speaking of her parents disclosed +the filial relationship in a new aspect to Sylvia, +who did not at once reconcile it with her own understanding +of the fifth commandment. Marian referred +to her father variously as "the grand old +man," "the true scout," "Sir Morton the good +knight," and to her mother as "the Princess Pauline," +or "one's mama," giving to <i>mama</i> the French +pronunciation. All this seemed to Sylvia to be in +keeping with Marian's general precociousness.</p> + +<p>Sylvia had formed the habit of stealing away in +the long twilights, after the cheerful gathering at +Mrs. Owen's supper-table, for a little self-communing. +Usually Mrs. Owen and Professor Kelton fell to +talking of old times and old friends at this hour and +Sylvia's disappearances were unremarked. She felt +the joy of living these days, and loved dearly the +delaying hour between day and night that is so +lovely, so touched with poetry in this region. There +was always a robin's vesper song, that may be heard +elsewhere than in Indiana, but can nowhere else be +so tremulous with joy and pain. A little creek ran +across Mrs. Owen's farm, cutting for itself a sharp +defile to facilitate its egress into the lake; and Sylvia +liked to throw herself down beside a favorite maple, +with the evening breeze whispering over the young +corn behind her, and the lake, with its heart open to +the coming of the stars, quiet before her, and dream +the dreams that fill a girl's heart in those blessed +and wonderful days when the brook and river meet.</p> + +<p>On this Saturday evening Sylvia was particularly +happy. The day's activities, that had begun late, +left her a little breathless. She was wondering +whether any one had ever been so happy, and +whether any other girl's life had ever been so pleasantly +ordered. Her heartbeat quickened as she +thought of college and the busy years that awaited +her there; and after that would come the great +world's wide-open doors. She was untouched by +envy, hatred, or malice. There was no cloud anywhere +that could mar; the stars that stole out into +the great span of sky were not more tranquil than +her own heart. The world existed only that people +might show kindness one to another, and that all +this beauty of wood, field, water, and starry sky +might bring joy to the souls of men. She knew that +there was evil in the world; but she knew it from +books and not from life. Her path had fallen in +pleasant places, and only benignant spirits attended +her.</p> + +<p>She was roused suddenly by the sound of steps in +the path beneath. This twilight sanctuary had never +been invaded before, and she rose hastily. The +course of an irregular path that followed the lake +was broken here by the creek's miniature chasm, but +adventurous pedestrians might gain the top and +continue over a rough rustic bridge along the edge +of Mrs. Owen's cornfield. Sylvia peered down, expecting +to see Marian or Blackford, but a stranger +was approaching, catching at bushes to facilitate his +ascent. Sylvia stepped back, assuming it to be a +cottager who had lost his way. A narrow-brimmed +straw hat rose above the elderberry bushes, and +with a last effort the man stood on level ground, +panting from the climb. He took off his hat and +mopped his face as he glanced about. Sylvia had +drawn back, but as the stranger could not go on +without seeing her she stepped forward, and they +faced each other, in a little plot of level ground +beside the defile.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me!" he exclaimed, still breathing hard; +and then his eyes met hers in a long gaze. His gray +eyes searched her dark ones for what seemed an +interminable time. Sylvia's hand sought the maple +but did not touch it; and the keen eyes of the stranger +did not loosen their hold of hers. A breeze blowing +across the cornfield swept over them, shaking the +maple leaves, and rippled the surface of the lake. +The dusk, deepening slowly, seemed to shut them in +together.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, again! I hope I didn't frighten you! +I am Mr. Bassett, Marian's father."</p> + +<p>"And I am Sylvia Garrison. I am staying—"</p> + +<p>"Oh," he laughed, "you needn't tell me! They +told me at the supper-table all about you and that +you and Marian are fast friends."</p> + +<p>"I knew you were coming; they were speaking of +it this morning."</p> + +<p>They had drawn closer together during this friendly +exchange. Again their eyes met for an instant, then +he surveyed her sharply from head to foot, as he stood +bareheaded leaning on his stick.</p> + +<p>"I must be going," said Sylvia. "There's a path +through the corn that Mrs. Owen lets me use. +They'll begin to wonder what's become of me."</p> + +<p>"Why not follow the path to the lane,—I think +there is a lane at the edge of the field,—and I will +walk to the house with you. The path through +the corn must be a little rough, and it's growing +dark."</p> + +<p>"Yes, thank you, Mr. Bassett."</p> + +<p>"I had no idea of meeting any one when I came +out. I usually take a little walk after supper when +I'm here, and I wanted to get all the car smoke out +of my lungs. I was glad to get out of Chicago; it +was fiercely hot there."</p> + +<p>The path was not wide enough for two and she +walked before him. After they had exhausted the +heat as a topic, silence fell upon them. He still +swung his hat in his hand. Once or twice he smote +his stick smartly upon the ground. He timed his +pace to hers, keeping close, his eyes upon her straight +slender figure. When they reached the lane they +walked together until they came to the highway, +which they followed to the house. An oil lamp +marked the walk that led through Mrs. Owen's +flower garden.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you coming in, Mr. Bassett?" asked +Sylvia, as they paused.</p> + +<p>Her hand clicked the latch and the little white-washed +gate swung open. In the lamplight their +eyes met again.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, but I must go home. This is the first +time I've been here this summer, and my stay is +short. I must be off again to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's too bad! Marian has been telling me +that you would stay a month, she will be terribly +disappointed"</p> + +<p>"My Western trip took more time than I expected +I have a good deal to do at Fraserville and +must get back there"</p> + +<p>She stepped inside, thinking he delayed out of +courtesy to her, but to her surprise he fastened the +latch deliberately and lingered.</p> + +<p>"They tell me you and your grandfather live at +Montgomery. It's a charming town, one of the most +interesting in the state."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Bassett. My grandfather taught in the +college there."</p> + +<p>"I have often heard of Professor Kelton, of course. +He's a citizen our state is proud of. Mrs. Bassett +says you're going to college this fall—to Wellesley, +is it? Mrs. Bassett has an idea that Marian +ought to have a college education. What do you +think about it?"</p> + +<p>He smiled kindly, and there was kindness in his +deep voice.</p> + +<p>"I think girls should go who want to go," answered +Sylvia, her hands on the pickets of the gate.</p> + +<p>"You speak like a politician," laughed Bassett. +"That's exactly what I think; and I haven't seen +that Marian is dying for a college career."</p> + +<p>"She has plenty of time to think of it," Sylvia +replied. "I'm ever so much older"; and this seemed +to dispose of that matter.</p> + +<p>"You are staying here some time?"</p> + +<p>"Another week. It seems that we've hardly been +here a day."</p> + +<p>"You are fortunate in having Mrs. Owen for a +friend. She is a very unusual woman."</p> + +<p>"The most wonderful person I ever knew!" responded +Sylvia warmly.</p> + +<p>He still showed no haste to leave her, though he +had just reached Waupegan, and was going away +the next day.</p> + +<p>"Your grandfather isn't teaching at Madison +now, I believe?"</p> + +<p>"No; but he lectures sometimes, and he has taught +me; there was never a better teacher," she answered, +smiling.</p> + +<p>"You must have been well taught if you are +ready for college so early; you are—you say you're +older than Marian—do you mind my asking how +old you are?"</p> + +<p>"Nearly seventeen; seventeen in October."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Then you are four years older than Marian. +But I mustn't keep you here. Please remember me +to Mrs. Owen and tell her I'll drop in before I go." +He bent over the gate and put out his hand. "Good-night, +Miss Garrison!"</p> + +<p>Sylvia had never been called Miss Garrison before, +and it was not without trepidation that she +heard herself so addressed. Mr. Bassett had spoken +the name gravely, and their eyes met again in lingering +contact. When the door closed upon her he +walked on rapidly; but once, before the trees had +obscured Mrs. Owen's lights, he turned and glanced +back.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII" />CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>SILK STOCKINGS AND BLUE OVERALLS</h3> + + +<p>One night in this same June, Harwood was +directed by the city editor of the "Courier" +to find Mr. Edward G. Thatcher. Two reporters +had failed at it, and it was desirable to verify +reports as to certain transactions by which Thatcher, +in conjunction with Morton Bassett, was believed +to be effecting a merger of various glass-manufacturing +interests. Thatcher had begun life as a +brewer, but this would long since have been obscured +by the broadening currents of fortune if it +had not been for his persistent dabbling in politics. +Whenever the Republican press was at a loss for +something to attack, Thatcher's breweries—which +he had concealed in a corporation that did not bear +his name were an inviting and unfailing target. +For years, though never seeking office, he had been +a silent factor in politics, and he and Bassett, it was +said, controlled their party. Mrs. Thatcher had +built an expensive house, but fearing that the money +her husband generously supplied was tainted by +the remote beer vats, she and her two daughters +spent most of their time in Europe, giving, however, +as their reason the ill-health of Thatcher's son. +Thatcher's income was large and he spent it in his +own fashion. He made long journeys to witness +prize fights; he had the reputation of being a poor +poker player, but "a good loser"; he kept a racing-stable +that lost money, and he was a patron of baseball +and owned stock in the local club. He was "a +good fellow" in a sense of the phrase that requires +quotation marks. Mrs. Sally Owen, whose opinion +in all matters pertaining to her fellow citizens is +not to be slighted, fearlessly asked Thatcher to dinner +at her house. She expressed her unfavorable +opinion of his family for deserting him, and told him +to his face that a man who knew as little about +horses as he did should have a guardian.</p> + +<p>"He's in town somewhere," said the city editor; +"don't come back and tell me you can't find him. +Try the Country Club, where he was never known to +go, and the University Club, where he doesn't belong, +and all the other unlikely places you can think +of. The other boys have thrown up their hands."</p> + +<p>Dan had several times been fortunate in like quests +for men in hiding, and he had that confidence in his +luck which is part of the good reporter's endowment. +He called all the clubs and the Thatcher residence +by telephone. The clubs denied all knowledge of +Edward G. Thatcher, and his residence answered +not at all; whereupon Harwood took the trolley for +the Thatcher mansion in the new quarter of Meridian +Street beyond the peaceful shores of Fall Creek. A +humorist who described the passing show from the +stern of a rubber-neck wagon for the instruction of +tourists announced on every round that "This is +Edward G. Thatcher's residence; it contains twelve +bath-rooms, and cost seventy-five thousand dollars +four years ago. The family have lived in it three +months. Does it pay to be rich?"</p> + +<p>As Harwood entered the grounds the house loomed +darkly before him. Most of the houses in this quarter +were closed for the summer, but Dan assumed +that there must be some sort of caretaker on the +premises and he began patiently punching the front-door +bell. Failing of any response, he next tried a +side door and finally the extreme rear. He had begun +to feel discouraged when, as he approached the +front entrance for a second assault, he saw a light +flash beyond the dark blinds. The door opened cautiously, +and a voice gruffly bade him begone.</p> + +<p>"I have a message for Mr. Thatcher; it's very +important—"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Thatcher not at home; nobody home," +growled a voice in broken English. "You get right +off dis place, quick!"</p> + +<p>Dan thrust his walking-stick into the small opening +to guard against having the door slammed in his +face and began a parley that continued for several +minutes with rising heat on the part of the caretaker. +The man's rage at being unable to close the +door was not without its humor; but Dan now saw, +beyond the German's broad shoulders, a figure +lurking within, faintly discernible from the electric +lamps in a bronze sconce on the wall.</p> + +<p>The reporter and the caretaker were making no +progress in their colloquy and Dan was trying to +catch a glimpse of the other man, who leaned against +the wall quite indifferent to the struggle for the door. +Dan supposed him to be another servant, and he had +abandoned hope of learning anything of Thatcher, +when a drawling voice called out:—</p> + +<p>"Open the door, Hans, and let the gentleman in: +I'll attend to him."</p> + +<p>Dan found himself face to face with a young man +of about his own age, a slender young fellow, clad +in blue overalls and flannel shirt. He lounged forward +with an air of languor that puzzled the reporter. +His dress was not wholly conclusive as to his +position in the silent house; the overalls still showed +their pristine folds, the shirt was of good quality and +well-cut. The ends of a narrow red-silk four-in-hand +swung free. He was clean-shaven save for an absurd +little mustache so fair as to be almost indistinguishable. +His blond hair was brushed back unparted +from his forehead. Another swift survey of +the slight figure disclosed a pair of patent-leather +pumps. His socks, revealed at the ankles, were +scarlet. Dan was unfamiliar with the ménage of +such establishments as this, and he wondered whether +this might not be an upper servant of a new species +peculiar to homes of wealth. He leaned on his +stick, hat in hand, and the big blue eyes of the +young man rested upon him with disconcerting +gravity. A door slammed at the rear upon the retreating +German, whom this superior functionary +had dispatched about his business. At a moment +when the silence became oppressive the young man +straightened himself slightly and spoke in a low +voice, and with amusement showing clearly in his +eyes and about his lips,—</p> + +<p>"You're a reporter."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I'm from the 'Courier.' I'm looking for +Mr. Thatcher."</p> + +<p>"Suppose, suppose—if you're not in a great +hurry, you come with me."</p> + +<p>The pumps, with the scarlet socks showing below +the overalls, turned at the end of the broad hall and +began ascending the stairs. The young man's manner +was perfectly assured. He had not taken his +hands from his pockets, and he carried himself with +an ease and composure that set Dan's conjectures +at naught. In the absence of the family, a servant +might thus conduct himself; and yet, if Thatcher +was not at home, why should he be thus ushered +into the inner sanctities of the mansion by this singular +young person, whose silk hose and bright pumps +were so utterly out of harmony with the rest of his +garb. There might be a trick in it; perhaps he had +intruded upon a burglarious invasion,—this invitation +to the upper chambers might be for the +purpose of shutting him in somewhere until the place +had been looted. It was, in any case, a novel adventure, +and his curiosity was aroused by the languid +pace with which, without pausing at the second +floor, the young man continued on to the third. +Through an open door Dan saw a bedroom in order +for occupancy; but the furniture in the upper and +lower halls was draped, and a faint odor of camphor +hung upon the air. It had occurred to Harwood that +he might be stumbling upon material for a good +"story," though just what it might prove to be was +still a baffling question. His guide had not spoken +or looked at him since beginning the ascent, and +Harwood grasped his stick more firmly when they +gained the third floor. If violence was in the programme +he meant to meet it gallantly. His conductor +passed through a spacious bedroom, and led +the way to a pleasant lounging- and reading-room +with walls lined with books. Without pausing he +flung open a door that divulged a shop, with a bench +and tools. The litter of carpentry on the bare floor +testified to the room's recent use.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, won't you, and have a cigar?"</p> + +<p>Dan hesitated. He felt that he must be the victim +of a practical joke, and it was time that his dignity +asserted itself. He had accepted a cigar and was +holding it in his fingers, still standing. His strange +guide struck a match and held it, so that Dan perforce +took advantage of the proffered flame; and he +noticed now for the first time the young fellow's +slender, nervous hands, which bore no marks of hard +toil. He continued to watch them with interest as +they found and filled a pipe. They were amazingly +deft, expressive hands.</p> + +<p>"Have a chair! It's a good one; I made it myself!"</p> + +<p>With this the young gentleman jumped lightly +upon the workbench where he nursed his knees and +smoked his pipe. He was a graceful person, trimly +and delicately fashioned, and in this strange setting +altogether inexplicable. But Dan's time was +important, and he had not yet learned anything as +to Edward G. Thatcher's whereabouts. This languid +young gentleman seemed wholly indifferent to +the reporter's restlessness, and Dan's professional +pride rebelled.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, but I must see Mr. Thatcher. Where +is he, please?"</p> + +<p>"He's gone, skipped! No manner of use in looking +for him. On my honor, he's not in town."</p> + +<p>"Then why didn't you say so and be done with +it?" demanded Dan angrily.</p> + +<p>"Please keep your seat," replied the young fellow +from the workbench. "I really wish you would."</p> + +<p>He drew on his pipe for a moment, and Dan, curiously +held by his look and manner and arrested by +the gentleness of his voice, awaited further developments. +He had no weapons with which to deal with +this composed young person in overalls and scarlet +hose. He swallowed his anger; but his curiosity now +clamored for satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"May I ask just who you are and why on earth +you brought me up here?"</p> + +<p>"Those are fair questions—two of them. To the +first, I am Allen Thatcher, and this is my father's +house. To the second—" He hesitated a moment, +then shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "Well, if +you must know,—I was so devilish lonesome!"</p> + +<p>He gazed at Harwood quizzically, with a half-humorous, +half-dejected air.</p> + +<p>"If you're lonesome, Mr. Thatcher, it must be +because you prefer it that way. It can't be necessary +for you to resort to kidnapping just to have somebody +to talk to. I thought you were in Europe."</p> + +<p>"Nothing as bad as that! What's your name, if +you don't mind?"</p> + +<p>When Dan gave it, Thatcher nodded and thanked +him.</p> + +<p>"College man?"</p> + +<p>"Yale."</p> + +<p>"That's altogether bully. I envy you, by George! +You see," he went on easily, as though in the midst +of a long and intimate conversation, "they took me +abroad, and it never really counted. They always +treated me as though I were an invalid; and kept me +for a year or two squatting on an Alp on account of +my lungs. It amused them, no doubt; and it filled in +my time till I was too old to go to college. But now +that I'm grown up, I'm going to stay at home. I've +been here a month, having a grand old time; a little +lonesome, and yet I'm a person of occupations and +Hans cooks enough for me to eat. I haven't been +down town much, but nobody knows me here anyhow. +Dad's been living at the club or a hotel, but he +moved up here to be with me. Dad's the best old +chap on earth. I guess he liked my coming back. +They rather bore him, I fancy. We've had a bully +day or two, but dad has skipped. Gone to New York; +be back in a week. Wanted me to go; but not me! +I've had enough travel for a while. They gave me +a dose of it."</p> + +<p>These morsels of information fell from him carelessly. +His "they," Dan assumed, referred to his +mother and sisters somewhere on the other side of +the Atlantic; and young Thatcher spoke of them in a +curiously impersonal and detached fashion. The +whimsical humor that twinkled in his eyes occasionally +was interesting and pleasing; and Dan imagined +that he was enjoying the situation. Silk socks and +overalls were probably a part of some whim; they +certainly added picturesqueness to the scene. But +the city editor must be informed that Edward G +Thatcher was beyond his jurisdiction and Dan rose +and moved toward the door. Allen jumped down +and crossed to him quickly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say! I really wish you wouldn't go!"</p> + +<p>There was no doubt of the pleading in his voice +and manner. He laid a hand very gently on Dan's +arm.</p> + +<p>"But I've got to get back downtown, if your +father has really gone and isn't hidden away here +somewhere."</p> + +<p>"I've cut you a slice right out of the eternal truth +on that, old man. Father will be in New York for +breakfast in the morning. Search the house all you +please; but, do you know, I'd rather like you to believe +me."</p> + +<p>"Of course, I believe you; but it's odd the office +didn't know you were here. They told me you and +your mother and sisters were abroad, but that your +father was in town. A personal item in the 'Courier' +this morning said that you were all in the Hartz +Mountains."</p> + +<p>"I dare say it did! The newspapers keep them all +pretty well before the public. But I've had enough +junketing. I'm going to stay right here for a while."</p> + +<p>"You prefer it here—is that the idea?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I fancy I should if I knew it; I want to +know it. But I'm all kinds of crazy, you know. +They really think I'm clear off, simply because their +kind of thing doesn't amuse me. I lost too much as +a kid being away from home. They said I had to +be educated abroad, and there you see me—Dresden +awhile, Berlin another while, a lot of Geneva, +and Paris for grand sprees. And my lung was always +the excuse if they wanted to do a winter on the Nile,—ugh! +The very thought of Egypt makes me ill +now."</p> + +<p>"It all sounds pretty grand to me. I was never +east of Boston in my life."</p> + +<p>"By Jove! I congratulate you," exclaimed the +young man fervidly. "And I'll wager that you went +to school at a cross-roads school-house and rode to +town in a farm wagon to see a circus that had lions +and elephants; and you probably chopped wood and +broke colts and went swimming in an old swimmin'-hole +and did all the other things you read about in +American biographies and story books. I can see it +in your eye; and you talk like it, too."</p> + +<p>"I dare say I do!" laughed Dan. "They've always +told me that my voice sounds like a nutmeg +grater."</p> + +<p>"They filed mine off! Mother was quite strong +for the Italian <i>a</i>, and I'm afraid I've caught it, just +like a disease."</p> + +<p>"I should call it a pretty good case. I was admiral +of a canal boat in New Jersey one summer +trying to earn enough money to carry my sophomore +year in college, and cussing the mules ruined my +hope of a reputable accent. It almost spoiled my +Hoosier dialect!"</p> + +<p>"By George, I wonder if the canal-boat people +would take me! It would be less lonesome than +working at the bench here. Dad says I can do anything +I like. He's tickled to death because I've +come home. He's really the right sort; he did all +the horny-handed business himself—ploughed corn, +wore red mittens to a red school-house, and got +licked with a hickory stick. But he doesn't understand +why I don't either take a job in his office or +gallop the Paris boulevards with mother and the +girls; but he's all right. We're great pals. But the +rest of them made a row because I came home. For +a while they had dad's breweries as an excuse for +keeping away, and my lungs! Dad hid the breweries, +so their hope of a villa at Sorrento is in my chest. +Dad says my lungs have been their main asset. +There's really nothing the matter with me; the best +man in New York told me so as I came through."</p> + +<p>His manner of speaking of his family was deliciously +droll; he yielded his confidences as artlessly +as a child.</p> + +<p>"They almost got a steam yacht on me last year," +he went on. "Hired a Vienna doctor to say I ought +to be kept at sea between Gibraltar and the Bosphorus. +And here, by George, is America the dear, +bully old America of Washington, Franklin, Andrew +Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln! And they want to +keep me chasing around among ruins and tombs! +I say to you, Mr. Harwood, in all solemnity, that +I've goo-gooed my last goo-goo at the tombs of dead +kings!"</p> + +<p>They stood near the shop door during this interchange. +Dan forgot, in his increasing interest and +mystification, that the "Courier's" city editor was +waiting for news of Thatcher, the capitalist. Young +Thatcher's narrative partook of the nature of a protest. +He was seriously in rebellion against his own +expatriation. He stood erect now, with the color +bright in his cheeks, one hand thrust into his pocket, +the other clenching his pipe.</p> + +<p>"I tell you," he declared, "I've missed too much! +Life over here is a big thing!—it's wonderful, +marvelous, grand, glorious! And who am I to spend +winters on the dead old Nile when history is being +made right here on White River! I tell you I want +to watch the Great Experiment, and if I were not a +poor, worthless, ignorant ass I'd be a part of it."</p> + +<p>Dan did not question the young fellow's sincerity. +His glowing eyes and the half-choked voice in which +he concluded gave an authentic stamp to his lament +and pronouncement. A look of dejection crossed his +face. He had, by his own confession, asked Dan into +the house merely to have some one to talk to; he was +dissatisfied, unhappy, lonely; and his slender figure +and flushed cheeks supported his own testimony that +his health had been a matter of concern. The Nile +and the Alps against which he had revolted might +not be so unnecessary as he believed.</p> + +<p>The situation was so novel that Harwood's mind +did not respond with the promptness of his heart. +He had known the sons of rich men at college, and +some of them had been his friends. It was quite +the natural and accepted order of things that some +children should be born to sheltered, pampered lives, +while others were obliged to hew their own way to +success. He had observed in college that the sons of +the rich had a pretty good time of it; but he had gone +his own way unenviously. It was not easy to classify +young Thatcher. He was clearly an exotic, a curious +pale flower with healthy roots and a yearning for +clean, free air. Dan was suddenly conscious that the +young fellow's eyes were bent upon him with a wistfulness, +a kind of pleading sweetness, that the reporter +had no inclination to resist. He delayed +speaking, anxious to say the right word, to meet the +plea in the right spirit.</p> + +<p>"I think I understand; I believe I should feel just +as you do if I were in your shoes. It's mighty interesting, +this whole big scheme we're a part of. Over +there on the other side it's all different, the life, the +aims, and the point of view. And here we've got +just what you call it—the most wonderful experiment +the world ever saw. Great Scott!" he exclaimed, +kindling from the spark struck by Thatcher's +closing words, "it's prodigious, overwhelming! There +mustn't be any question of losing!"</p> + +<p>"That's right!" broke in Thatcher eagerly; +"that's what I've been wanting somebody to say! +It's so beautiful, so wonderful; the hope and promise +are so immense! You believe it; I can see you +do!" he concluded happily.</p> + +<p>His hand stole shyly from the pocket that seemed +to be its inevitable hiding-place, and paused uncertainly; +then he thrust it out, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Will you shake hands with me?"</p> + +<p>"Let us be old friends," replied Dan heartily. +"And now I've got to get out of here or I'll lose my +job."</p> + +<p>"Then I should have to get you another. I never +meant to keep you so long. You've been mighty +nice about it. I suppose I couldn't help you—I +mean about dad? All you wanted was to see father +or find you couldn't."</p> + +<p>"I had questions to ask him, of course. They +were about a glass-factory deal with Bassett."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I dare say they bought them! He asked me +if I didn't want to go into the glass business. He +talks to me a lot about things. Dad's thinking +about going to the Senate. Dad's a Democrat, like +Jefferson and Jackson. If he goes to the Senate I'll +have a chance to see the wheels go round at Washington. +Perfectly bully for me!"</p> + +<p>Harwood grinned at the youth's naïve references +to Edward Thatcher's political ambitions. Thatcher +was known as a wealthy "sport," and Dan had resented +his meddling in politics. But this was startling +news—that Thatcher was measuring himself +for a senatorial toga.</p> + +<p>"You'd better be careful! There's a good story +in that!"</p> + +<p>"But you wouldn't! You see, I'm not supposed +to know!"</p> + +<p>"Bassett and your father will probably pull it off, +if they try hard enough. They've pulled off worse +things. If you're interested in American types you +should know Bassett. Ever see him?"</p> + +<p>Allen laughed. His way of laughing was pleasant; +there was a real bubbling mirth in him.</p> + +<p>"No; but I read about him in the 'Courier,' +which they always have follow them about—I +don't know why. It must be that it helps them to +rejoice that they are so far away from home; but I +always used to read it over there, I suppose to see +how much fun I missed! And at a queer little place +in Switzerland where we were staying—I remember, +because our landlord had the drollest wart on his +chin—a copy of the 'Courier' turned up on a +rainy day and I read it through. A sketch of Bassett +tickled me because he seemed so real. I felt that I'd +like to be Morton Bassett myself,—the man who +does things,—the masterful American,—a real +type, by George! And that safe filled with beautiful +bindings; it's fine to know there are such fellows."</p> + +<p>"Your words affect me strangely; I wrote the +piece!"</p> + +<p>"Now that is funny!" Allen glanced at Dan +with frank admiration. "You write well—praise +from Sir Hubert—I scribble verses myself! So our +acquaintance really began a long time ago. It must +have been last October that we were at that place."</p> + +<p>"Yes; it was in the fall sometime. It's pleasant +to know that anything printed in a newspaper is +ever remembered so long. Bassett is an interesting +man all right enough."</p> + +<p>"It must be bully to meet men like that—the +men who have a hand in the big things. I must get +dad to introduce me. I suppose you know everybody!" +he ended admiringly.</p> + +<p>They retraced their steps through the silent +house and down to the front door, continuing their +talk. As Dan turned for their last words on the +veranda steps he acted on an impulse and said:—</p> + +<p>"Have supper with me to-morrow night—we +won't call it dinner—at the Whitcomb House. I'll +meet you in the lobby at six o'clock. The honorable +state committee is in town and I'll point out some of +the moulders of our political destiny. They're a +joy to the eye, I can tell you!"</p> + +<p>Allen's eager acquiescence, his stumbling, murmured +thanks, emphasized Dan's sense of the forlorn +life young Thatcher had described.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"So the old boy's skipped, has he?" demanded +the city editor. "Well, that's one on us! Who put +you on?"</p> + +<p>"I kept at the bell until the door opened and +then I saw Thatcher's son. He told me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the family idiot let you in, did he? Then +there's no telling whether it's true or not. He's +nutty, that fellow. Didn't know he was here."</p> + +<p>"I believe he told me the truth. His father's on +his way to New York."</p> + +<p>"Well, that sounds definite; but it doesn't make +any difference now. We've just had a tip to let the +deal alone. For God's sake, keep at the law, Harwood; +this business is hell." The city editor bit a fat +cigar savagely. "You no sooner strike a good thing +and work on it for two days than you butt into a +dead wall. What? No; there's nothing more for +you to-night."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX" />CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>DANIEL HARWOOD RECEIVES AN OFFER</h3> + + +<p>A brief note from Morton Bassett, dated +at Fraserville, reached Harwood in July. +In five lines Bassett asked Dan to meet him +at the Whitcomb House on a day and hour succinctly +specified.</p> + +<p>Harwood had long since exhausted the list of +Hoosier statesmen selected for niches in the "Courier's" +pantheon. After his visit to Fraserville, he +had met Bassett occasionally in the street or at the +Whitcomb House; and several times he had caught +a glimpse of him passing through the reception room +of the law office into Mr. Fitch's private room. On +these occasions Dan was aware that Bassett's presence +caused a ripple of interest to run through the +office. The students in the library generally turned +from their books to speak of Bassett in low tones; +and Mr. Wright, coming in from a journey on one +of these occasions and anxious to see his partner +forthwith, lifted his brow and said "Oh!" meaningfully +when told that it was Morton Bassett who engaged +the time of the junior member. Bassett's +name did not appear in the office records to Dan's +knowledge nor was he engaged in litigation. His +conferences were always with Fitch alone, and they +were sometimes of length.</p> + +<p>Harwood was not without his perplexities these +days. His work for the "Courier" had gradually +increased until he found that his time for study had +diminished almost to the vanishing point. The home +acres continued unprofitable, and he had, since +leaving college, devoted a considerable part of his +earnings to the relief of his father. His father's lack +of success was an old story and the home-keeping +sons were deficient in initiative and energy. Dan, +with his ampler outlook, grudged them nothing, but +the home needs were to be reckoned with in the disposition +of his own time. He had now a regular assignment +to the county courts and received a salary +from the "Courier." He was usually so tired at the +end of his day's work that he found it difficult to +settle down to study at night in the deserted law +office. The constant variety and excitement of newspaper +work militated against the sober pondering +of legal principles and Dan had begun to realize that, +with the necessity for earning money hanging over +him, his way to the bar, or to a practice if he should +qualify himself, lay long and bleak before him.</p> + +<p>Dan had heard much of Morton Bassett since his +visit to Fraserville. His conviction, dating from the +Fraserville visit, that Bassett was a man of unusual +character, destined to go far in any direction in which +he chose to exert his energies, was proved by Bassett's +growing prominence. A session of the legislature had +intervened, and the opposition press had hammered +Bassett hard. The Democratic minority under Bassett's +leadership had wielded power hardly second +to that of the majority. Bassett had introduced +into state politics the bi-partisan alliance, a device +by virtue of which members of the assembly representing +favored interests cooperated, to the end that +no legislation viciously directed against railways, +manufacturers, brewers and distillers should succeed +through the deplorable violence of reformers +and radicals. Apparently without realizing it, and +clearly without caring greatly, Bassett was thus +doing much to destroy the party alignments that +had in earlier times nowhere else been so definitely +marked as in Indiana. Partisan editors of both camps +were glad when the sessions closed, for it had been +no easy matter to defend or applaud the acts of +either majority or minority, so easily did Republicans +and Democrats plot together at neutral campfires. +It had not been so in those early post-bellum +years, when Oliver Morton of the iron mace still +hobbled on crutches. Harrison and Hendricks had +fought no straw men when they went forth to battle. +Harwood began to be conscious of these changes, +which were wholly irreconcilable with the political +ideals he had imbibed from Sumner at Yale. He had +witnessed several political conventions of both parties +from the press table, and it was gradually dawning +upon him that politics is not readily expressed +in academic terminology.</p> + +<p>The silver lining of the Democratic cloud had not +greatly disturbed Morton Bassett. He had been a +delegate to the national convention of 1896, but +not conspicuous in its deliberations; and in the subsequent +turbulent campaign he had conducted himself +with an admirable discretion. He was a member +of the state committee and the chairman was +said to be of his choosing. Bassett stood for party +regularity and deplored the action of those Democrats +who held the schismatic national convention +at Indianapolis and nominated the Palmer and +Buckner ticket on a gold-standard platform. He +had continued to reelect himself to the senate without +trouble, and waited for the political alchemists +of his party to change the silver back to gold. The +tariff was, after all, the main issue, Bassett held; but +it was said that in his business transactions during +these vexed years he had stipulated gold payment +in his contracts. This was never proved; and if, +as charged, he voted in 1896 for Republican presidential +electors it did not greatly matter when a +considerable number of other Hoosier Democrats +who, to outward view were virtuously loyal, managed +to run with both hounds and hare. Bassett believed +that his party would regain its lost prestige and come +into power again; meanwhile he prospered in business, +and wielded the Democratic minority at the +state house effectively.</p> + +<p>Dan presented himself punctually at the Whitcomb +House where Bassett, with his bag packed, sat +reading a magazine. He wore a becoming gray suit +without a waistcoat, and a blue négligé shirt, with +a turnover collar and a blue tie. He pulled up his +creased trousers when he sat down, and the socks +thus disclosed above his tan Oxfords proved to be +blue also. His manner was cordial without effusiveness; +when they shook hands his eyes met Dan's +with a moment's keen, searching gaze, as though he +sought to affirm at once his earlier judgment of the +young man before him.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to see you again, Mr. Harwood. I was +to be in town for the day and named this hour knowing +I should be free."</p> + +<p>"I supposed you were taking it easy at Lake Waupegan. +I remember you told me you had a place there."</p> + +<p>Bassett's eyes met Dan's quickly; then he answered:—</p> + +<p>"Oh, I ought to be there, but I've only had a day +of it all summer. I had to spend a lot of time in +Colorado on some business; and when I struck +Waupegan I found that matters had been accumulating +at home and I only spent one night at the +lake. But I feel better when I'm at work. I'm holding +Waupegan in reserve for my old age."</p> + +<p>"You don't look as though you needed a vacation," +remarked Dan. "In fact you look as though +you'd had one."</p> + +<p>"The Colorado sun did that. How are things going +with you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I've kept busy since I saw you in Fraserville. +But I seem doomed to be a newspaper man in +spite of myself. I like it well enough, but I think I +told you I started out with some hope of landing +in the law."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I remember. I'm afraid the trouble with +you is that you're too good a reporter. That sketch +you wrote of me proved that. If I had not been the +subject of it I should be tempted to say that it +showed what I believe they call the literary touch. +Mrs. Bassett liked it; maybe because there was so +little of her in it. We both appreciated your nice +feeling and consideration in the whole article. Well, +just how are you coming on in the law?"</p> + +<p>"Some of my work at college was preliminary to a +law course, and I have done all the reading possible +in Wright and Fitch's office. But I have to eat and +the 'Courier' takes care of that pretty well; I've +had to give less time to study. I don't know enough +to be able to command a position as law clerk,—there +aren't many pay jobs of that sort in a town +like this."</p> + +<p>"I suppose that's true," assented Bassett. "I +suppose I shall always regret I didn't hang on at the +law, but I had other interests that conflicted. But +I'm a member of the bar, as I probably told you at +Fraserville, and I have a considerable library stored +away."</p> + +<p>"That," laughed Dan, "is susceptible of two interpretations."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't mean it's in my head; it's in a warehouse +in Fraserville."</p> + +<p>The grimness of Bassett's face in repose was an effect +of his close-trimmed mustache. He was by no +means humorless and his smile was pleasant. Dan +felt drawn to him again as at Fraserville. Here was a +man who stood four square to the winds, undisturbed +by the cyclonic outbursts of unfriendly newspapers. +In spite of the clashing winter at the state house and +all he had heard and read of the senate leader since +the Fraserville visit, Dan's opinion of Bassett stood. +His sturdy figure, those firm, masterful hands, and +his deep, serious voice all spoke for strength.</p> + +<p>"It has occurred to me, Mr. Harwood, that we +might be of service to each other. I have a good many +interests. You may have gathered that I am a very +practical person. That is wholly true. In business +I aim at success; I didn't start out in life to be a +failure."</p> + +<p>Bassett paused a moment and Dan nodded. It +was at the tip of his tongue to say that such should +be every man's hope and aim, but Bassett continued.</p> + +<p>"I'm talking to you frankly. I'm not often mistaken +in my judgments of men and I've taken a +liking to you. I want to open an office here chiefly +to have a quiet place from which to keep track of +things that interest me. Fraserville is no longer +quite central enough and I'm down here a good deal. +I need somebody to keep an office open for me. I've +been looking about and there are some rooms in the +Boordman Building that I think would be about +right. You might call the position I'm suggesting +a private secretaryship, as I should want you to take +charge of correspondence, make appointments, scan +the papers, and keep me advised of the trend of things. +I'm going to move my law library down here to give +the rooms a substantial look, and if you feel like +joining me you'll have a good deal of leisure for +study. Then when you're ready for practice I may +be in a position to help you. You will have a salary +of, say, twelve hundred to begin with, but you can +make yourself worth more to me."</p> + +<p>Dan murmured a reply which Bassett did not +heed.</p> + +<p>"Your visit to my home and the article in the +'Courier' first suggested this to me. It struck me +that you understood me pretty well. I read all the +other sketches in that series and the different tone +in which you wrote of me gave me the idea that you +had tried to please me, and that you knew how to +do it. How does the proposition strike you?"</p> + +<p>"It couldn't be otherwise than gratifying, Mr. +Bassett. It's taken my breath away. It widens all +my horizons. I have been questioning my destiny +lately; the law as a goal had been drawing further +away. And this mark of confidence—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that point, the confidence will have to be +mutual. I am a close-mouthed person and have no +confidants, but of necessity you will learn my affairs +pretty thoroughly if you accept my offer. You +have heard a good deal of talk about me—most of it +unflattering. You have heard that I drive hard bargains. +At every session of the legislature I am charged +with the grossest corruption. There are men in my +own party who are bent on breaking me down and +getting rid of me. I'm going to give them the best +fight I can put up. I can't see through the back of +my head: I want you to do that for me."</p> + +<p>"I don't know much about the practical side of +politics; it's full of traps I've never seen sprung, but +I know they're planted."</p> + +<p>"To be perfectly frank, it's because you're inexperienced +that I want you. I wouldn't trust anybody +who had political ambitions of his own, or who +had mixed up in any of these local squabbles. And, +besides, you're a gentleman and an educated man, +and that counts for something."</p> + +<p>"You are very kind and generous. I appreciate +this more than I can tell you. And I'd like—"</p> + +<p>"Don't decide about it now. I'd rather you +didn't. Take a week to it, then drop me a line to +Fraserville, or come up if you want to talk further."</p> + +<p>"Thank you; I shan't want so much time. In any +event I appreciate your kindness. It's the most +cheering thing that ever happened to me."</p> + +<p>Bassett glanced at his watch. He had said all he +had to say in the matter and closed the subject +characteristically.</p> + +<p>"Here's a little thing I picked up to-day,—a +copy of Darlington's 'Narrative,'—he was with St. +Clair, you know; and practically all the copies of the +book were burned in a Philadelphia printing-office +before they were bound; you will notice that some +of the pages are slightly singed. As you saw at my +house, I'm interested in getting hold of books relating +to the achievements of the Western pioneers. +Some of these bald, unvarnished tales give a capital +idea of the men who conquered the wilderness. They +had the real stuff in them, those fellows!"</p> + +<p>He took the battered volume—a pamphlet +clumsily encased in boards, and drew his hand across +its rough sides caressingly.</p> + +<p>"Another of my jokes on the State Library. The +librarian told me I'd never find a copy, and this was +on top of a pile of trash in a second-hand shop right +here in this town. It cost me just fifty cents."</p> + +<p>He snapped his bag shut on the new-found treasure +and bade Dan good-bye without referring again +to the proposed employment.</p> + +<p>Dan knew, as he left the hotel, that if an answer +had been imperatively demanded on the spot, he +should have accepted Bassett's proposition; but as +he walked slowly away questions rose in his mind. +Bassett undoubtedly expected to reap some benefit +from his services, and such services would not, of +course, be in the line of the law. They were much +more likely to partake of the function of journalism, +in obtaining publicity for such matters as Bassett +wished to promulgate. The proposed new office at +the capital marked an advance of Bassett's pickets. +He was abandoning old fortifications for newer and +stronger ones, and Dan's imagination kindled at the +thought of serving this masterful general as aide-de-camp.</p> + +<p>He took a long walk, thinking of Bassett's offer +and trying to view it from a philosophical angle. +The great leaders in American politics had come +oftener than not from the country, he reflected. +Fraserville, in Dan's cogitations, might, as Bassett's +star rose, prove to be another Springfield or Fremont +or Canton, shrouding a planet destined to a brilliant +course toward the zenith. He did not doubt that +Bassett's plans were well-laid; the state senator was +farseeing and shrewd, and by attaching himself to +this man, whose prospects were so bright, he would +shine in the reflected glory of his successes. And the +flattery of the offer was not in itself without its +magic.</p> + +<p>However, as the days passed Dan was glad that +he had taken time for reflection. He began to minimize +the advantages of the proposed relationship, and +to ponder the ways in which it would compel a certain +self-effacement. He had sufficient imagination to +color the various scenes in which he saw himself +Bassett's "man." In moods of self-analysis he knew +his nature to be sensitive, with an emotional side +whose expressions now and then surprised him. He +rallied sharply at times from the skeptical attitude +which he felt journalism was establishing in him, and +assured himself that his old ideals were safe in the +citadel his boyhood imagination had built for them. +Dan's father was a veteran of the Civil War and he +had been taught to believe that the Democratic +Party had sought to destroy the Union and that the +Republican Party alone had saved it. Throughout +his boyhood on the Harrison County farm, he had +been conscious of the recrudescence of the wartime +feeling in every political campaign. His admiration +for the heroes of the war was in no wise shaken at +New Haven, but he first realized there that new issues +demanded attention. He grew impatient of all +attempts to obscure these by harking back to questions +that the war had finally determined, if it had +served any purpose whatever. He broke a lance +frequently with the young men who turned over the +books in Wright and Fitch's office, most of whom +were Republicans and devout believers that the furnace +fires of America's industries were brought down +from Heaven by Protection, a modern Prometheus +of a new order of utilitarian gods. In the view of +these earnest debaters, Protection was the first and +last commandment, the law and the prophets. The +"Indianapolis Advertiser" and protection newspapers +generally had long attacked periodically +those gentlemen who, enjoying the sheltered life +of college and university, were corrupting the youth +of the land by questioning the wisdom of the fire-kindling +god. There was a wide margin between +theory and practice, between academic dilletantism +and a prosperous industrial life fostered and shielded +by acts of Congress. It required courage for young +men bred in the popular faith to turn their backs +upon the high altar, so firmly planted, so blazing with +lamps of perpetual adoration.</p> + +<p>While Dan was considering the politician's offer, +a letter from home brought a fresh plea for help, +and strengthened a growing feeling that his wiser +course was to throw in his fortunes with Bassett. In +various small ways Mr. Fitch had shown an interest +in Harwood, and Dan resolved to take counsel of the +lawyer before giving his answer.</p> + +<p>The little man sat in his private room in his shirt +sleeves, with his chair tipped back and his feet on +his desk. He was, in his own phrase, "thinking out +a brief." He fanned himself in a desultory fashion +with a palm leaf. Dan had carried in an arm load of +books which Fitch indicated should be arranged, +back-up, on the floor beside him.</p> + +<p>Dan lingered a moment and Fitch's "Well" gave +him leave to proceed. He stated Bassett's offer succinctly, +telling of his visit to Fraserville and of the +interview at the Whitcomb. When he had concluded +Fitch asked:—</p> + +<p>"Why haven't you gone ahead and closed the +matter? On the face of it it's a good offer. It gives +you a chance to read law and to be associated with +a man who is in a position to be of great service to +you."</p> + +<p>"Well, to tell the truth, sir, I have had doubts. +Bassett stands for some things I don't approve of—his +kind of politics, I mean."</p> + +<p>"Oh! He doesn't quite square with your ideals, +is that it?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose that is it, Mr. Fitch."</p> + +<p>The humor kindled in the little man's brown eyes, +and his fingers played with his whitening red beard.</p> + +<p>"Just how strong are those ideals of yours, Mr. +Harwood?"</p> + +<p>"They're pretty strong, I hope, sir."</p> + +<p>Fitch dropped his feet from the desk, opened a +drawer, and drew out a long envelope.</p> + +<p>"It may amuse you to know that this is the sketch +of Bassett you printed in the 'Courier' last fall. I +didn't know before that you wrote it. No wonder it +tickled him. And—er—some of it is true. I wouldn't +talk to any other man in Indiana about Bassett. He's +a friend and a client of mine. He doesn't trust many +people; he doesn't"—the little man's eyes twinkled—"he +doesn't trust Wright!—and he trusts me +because we are alike in that we keep our mouths +shut. You must have impressed him very favorably. +He seems willing to take you at face value. It would +have been quite natural for him to have asked me +about you, but he didn't. Do you know Thatcher—Edward +G.? He has business interests with Bassett, +and Thatcher dabbles in politics just enough +to give him power when he wants it. Thatcher +is a wealthy man, who isn't fooling with small politics. +If some day he sees a red apple at the top of +the tree he may go for it. There'd be some fun if +Bassett tried to shake down the same apple."</p> + +<p>"I know Thatcher's son."</p> + +<p>"Allen? I met him the other day. Odd boy; I +guess that's one place where Ed Thatcher's heart +is all right."</p> + +<p>After a moment's reflection with his face turned +to the open window Fitch added:—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Harwood, if you should go to Bassett and +in course of time, everything running smoothly, he +asked you to do something that jarred with those +ideals of yours, what should you do?"</p> + +<p>"I should refuse, sir," answered Dan, earnestly.</p> + +<p>Fitch nodded gravely.</p> + +<p>"Very well; then I'd say go ahead. You understand +that I'm not predicting that such a moment +is inevitable, but it's quite possible. I'll say to you +what I've never said before to any man: I don't +understand Morton Bassett. I've known him for +ten years, and I know him just as well now as I did +the day I first met him. That may be my own dullness; +but ignoring all that his enemies say of him,—and +he has some very industrious ones, as you know,—he's +still, at his best, a very unusual and a somewhat +peculiar and difficult person."</p> + +<p>"He's different, at least; but I can't think him +half as bad as they say he is."</p> + +<p>"He isn't, probably," replied Fitch, whose eyes +were contemplating the cornice of the building across +the street. Then, as though just recalling Dan's presence: +"May I ask you whether, aside from that +'Courier' article, you ever consciously served Bassett +in any way—ever did anything that might have +caused him to feel that he was under obligations?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no, sir; nothing whatever."</p> + +<p>"—Or—" a considerable interval in which +Fitch's gaze reverted to the cornice—"that you +might have some information that made it wise for +him to keep his hand on you?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely nothing," answered Dan, the least +bit uncomfortable under this questioning.</p> + +<p>"You're not aware," the lawyer persisted deliberately, +"that you ever had any dealings of any +kind even remotely with Mr. Bassett."</p> + +<p>"No; never, beyond what I've told you."</p> + +<p>"Then, if I were in your place, and the man I +think you are, I'd accept the offer, but don't bind +yourself for a long period; keep your mouth shut +and hang on to your ideals,—it's rather odd that +you and I should be using that word; it doesn't +get into a law office often. If you feel tempted to +do things that you know are crooked, think of Billy +Sumner, and act accordingly. It's getting to be +truer all the time that few of us are free men. What's +Shakespeare's phrase?—'bound upon a wheel of +fire';—that, Mr. Harwood, is all of us. We have +valuable clients in this office that we'd lose if I got +out and shouted my real political convictions. We're +all cowards; but don't you be one. As soon as I'm +sure I've provided for my family against the day of +wrath I'm going to quit the law and blow the dust off +of some of my own ideals; it's thick, I can tell you!"</p> + +<p>This was seeing Fitch in a new aspect. Dan was +immensely pleased by the lawyer's friendliness, and +he felt that his counsel was sound.</p> + +<p>Fitch broke in on the young man's thoughts to +say:—</p> + +<p>"By the way, you know where I live? Come up +and dine with me to-morrow at seven if you're free. +My folks are away and I'd like to swap views with +you on politics, religion, baseball, and great subjects +like that."</p> + +<p>Dan wrote his acceptance of Bassett's offer that +night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X" />CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>IN THE BOORDMAN BUILDING</h3> + + +<p>Harwood opened the office in the Boordman +Building, and settled in it the law +books Bassett sent from Fraserville. The +lease was taken in Dan's name, and he paid for the +furniture with his own check, Bassett having given +him five hundred dollars for expenses. The Boordman +was one of the older buildings in Washington +Street, and as it antedated the era of elevators, only +the first of its three stories was occupied by offices. +Its higher altitudes had fallen to miscellaneous tenants +including a few telegraph operators, printers, +and other night workers who lodged there for convenience. +Dan's immediate neighbors proved to be +a shabby lawyer who concealed by a professional +exterior his real vocation, which was chattel mortgages; +a fire insurance agency conducted by several +active young fellows of Dan's acquaintance; and the +office of a Pittsburg firm of construction contractors, +presided over by a girl who answered the telephone +if haply it rang at moments when the heroes of the +novels she devoured were not in too imminent peril +of death.</p> + +<p>This office being nearest, Dan went in to borrow +a match for his pipe while in the midst of his moving +and found the girl rearranging her hair before a mirror.</p> + +<p>"That's as near heart disease as I care to come," +she said, turning at his "Beg pardon." "There +hasn't been a man in this place for two weeks, much +less a woman. Yes, I can stake you for a match. +I keep them for those insurance fellows—nice boys +they are, too. You see," she continued, not averse +to prolonging the conversation, "our business is +mostly outside. Hear about the sky-scraper we're +building in Elwood? Three stories! One of the best +little towns in Indiana, all right. Say, the janitor +service in this old ark is something I couldn't +describe to a gentleman. If there's anything in these +microbe fairy stories we'll all die early. You might +as well know the worst:—they do light housekeeping +on the third floor and the smell of onions is what +I call annoying. Oh, that's all right; what's a match +between friends! The last man who had your office—you've +taken sixty-six?—well, he always got +his matches here, and touched me occasionally for +a pink photo of George Washington—stamp, ha! +ha! see! He was real nice and when his wife dropped +in to see him one day and I was sitting in there joshing +him and carrying on, he was that painfully embarrassed! +I guess she made him move; but, Lord, +they have to bribe tenants to get 'em in here. To +crawl up one flight of that stairway you have to be +a mountain climber. I only stay because the work's +so congenial and it's a quiet place for reading, and +all the processions pass here. The view of that hairdressing +shop across the way is something I recommend. +If I hadn't studied stenography I should +have taken up hairdressing or manicuring. A little +friend of mine works in that shop and the society +ladies are most confidential. I'm Miss Rose Farrell, +if you tease me to tell. You needn't say by any +other name it's just as sweet—the ruffle's a little +frayed on that."</p> + +<p>Bassett had stipulated that his name should not +appear and he suggested that Dan place his own on +the door. Later, when he had been admitted to the +bar it would be easy to add "attorney at law," Bassett +said. Each of the three rooms of what the agent +of the building liked to call a suite opened directly +into the hall. In the first Harwood set up a desk for +himself; in the second he placed the library, and the +third and largest was to be Bassett's at such times +as he cared to use it. Throughout the summer Harwood +hardly saw Bassett, and he began to regret +his reluctant assent to a relationship which conferred +so many benefits with so little work. He dug +hungrily at the law, and felt that he was making +progress. Fitch, who was braving the heat in town, +had outlined a course of reading for him, and continued +his manifestations of friendliness by several +times asking him to dinner, with a motor ride later +to cool them off before going to bed.</p> + +<p>Bassett kept pretty close to Fraserville, running +into the city occasionally for a few hours. He complained +now and then because he saw so little of his +family, who continued at the lake. Dan had certain +prescribed duties, but these were not onerous. A +great many of the country newspapers began to come +to the office, and it was Harwood's business to read +them and cut out any items bearing upon local political +conditions. Bassett winnowed these carefully, +brushing the chaff into his wastebasket and +retaining a few kernels for later use. He seemed +thoroughly familiar with the state press and spoke +of the rural newspapers with a respect that surprised +Harwood, who had little patience with what he +called the "grapevine dailies," with their scrappy +local news, patent insides, and servile partisan +opinions. Still, he began to find in a considerable +number of these papers, even those emanating from +remote county seats, a certain raciness and +independence. This newspaper reading, which Dan had +begun perfunctorily, soon interested him. It was +thus, he saw, that Bassett kept in touch with state +affairs. Sporadic temperance movements, squabbles +over local improvements, rows in school boards, and +like matters were not beneath Bassett's notice. He +discussed these incidents and conditions with Harwood, +who was astonished to find how thoroughly +Bassett knew the state.</p> + +<p>Through all this Dan was not blind to the sins +charged against Bassett. There were certain corporations +which it was said Bassett protected from violence +at the state house. But as against this did not +the vast horde of greedy corporations maintain a +lobby at every session and was not a certain amount +of lobbying legitimate? Again, Bassett had shielded +the liquor interests from many attacks; but had +not these interests their rights, and was it not a +sound doctrine that favored government with the +least restraint? Rather uglier had been Bassett's +identification with the organization of the White +River Canneries Company, a combination of industries +on which a scandalous overissue of stock had +been sold in generous chunks to a confiding public, +followed in a couple of years by a collapse of the +business and a reorganization that had frozen out all +but a favored few. Still, Bassett had not been the sole +culprit in that affair, and was not this sort of financiering +typical of the time? Bassett and Thatcher +had both played the gentle game of freeze-out in half +a dozen other instances, and if they were culpable, +why had they not been brought to book? In his +inner soul Dan knew why not: in the bi-partisan +political game only the stupid are annoyed by grand +juries, which take their cue tamely from ambitious +prosecuting attorneys eager for higher office.</p> + +<p>Bassett's desk stood against the wall and over it +hung a map of Indiana. It was no unusual thing for +Dan to find Bassett with his chair tipped back, his +eyes fixed upon the map. The oblong checkerboard +formed by the ninety-two counties of the Hoosier +commonwealth seemed to have a fascination for the +man from Fraserville. When Dan found him thus +in rapt contemplation Bassett usually turned toward +him a little reluctantly and absently. It was thus +that Morton Bassett studied the field, like a careful +general outlining his campaigns, with ample data +and charts before him.</p> + +<p>This was an "off" year politically, or, more accurately, +the statutes called for no state election in +Indiana. For every one knows that there is no hour +of the day in any year when politics wholly cease +from agitating the waters of the Wabash: somewhere +some one is always dropping in a pebble to see +how far the ripple will widen. In the torrid first +days of September the malfeasance of the treasurer +of an Ohio River county afforded the Republican +press an opportunity to gloat, the official in question +being, of course, a Democrat, and a prominent member +of the state committee.</p> + +<p>For several days before the exposure Bassett had +appeared fitfully at the Whitcomb and in the Boordman +Building. On the day that the Republican "Advertiser" +screamed delightedly over the Democratic +scandal in Ranger County, Bassett called Dan into +his office. Bassett's name had been linked to that of +Miles, the erring treasurer, in the "Advertiser's" +headlines; and its leading editorial had pointed to the +defalcation as the sort of thing that inevitably follows +the domination of a party by a spoilsman and +corruptionist like the senator from Fraser.</p> + +<p>Bassett indicated by a nod a copy of the "Advertiser" +on his desk.</p> + +<p>"The joke was on us this time. They're pinning +Miles on me, and I guess I'll have to wear him like +a bouquet. I've been in Louisville fixing this thing +up and they won't have as much fun as they thought. +It's a simple case: Miles hadn't found out yet that +corn margins are not legitimate investments for a +county's money. He's a good fellow and will know +better next time. We couldn't afford to have a +member of the state committee in jail, so I met the +bondsmen and the prosecuting attorney—he's a +Republican—in Louisville and we straightened it +all out. The money's in bank down there. It proves +to be after all a matter of bookkeeping,—technical +differences, which were reconciled readily enough. +Miles got scared; those fellows always do. He'll +be good now."</p> + +<p>Dan had been standing. Bassett pointed to a chair.</p> + +<p>"I want you to write an interview with me on this +case, laying emphasis on the fact that the trouble +was all due to an antiquated system of keeping the +accounts, which Miles inherited from his predecessors +in office. The president of the bank and the +prosecutor have prepared statements,—I have them +in my pocket,—and I want you to get all the publicity +you know how for these things. Let me see. +In my interview you'd better lay great stress on the +imperative need for a uniform accounting law for +county officials. Say that we expect to stand for this +in our next platform; make it strong. Have me say +that this incident in Ranger County, while regrettable, +will serve a good purpose if it arouses the +minds of the people to the importance of changing +the old unsatisfactory method of bookkeeping +that so frequently leads perfectly trustworthy and +well-meaning officials into error. Do you get the +idea?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; perfectly," Dan replied. "As I understand +it, Miles isn't guilty, but you would take advantage +of the agitation to show the necessity for reform."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. And while you're about it, write +a vigorous editorial for the 'Courier,' on the same +line, and a few ironical squibs based on the eagerness +of the Republican papers to see all Democrats +through black goggles." The humor showed in Bassett's +eyes for an instant, and he added: "Praise +the Republican prosecutor of Ranger County for +refusing to yield to partisan pressure and take advantage +of a Democrat's mistakes of judgment. He's +a nice fellow and we've got to be good to him."</p> + +<p>This was the first task of importance that Bassett +had assigned to him and Dan addressed himself to it +zealously. If Miles was not really a defaulter there +was every reason why the heinous aspersions of the +opposition press should be dealt with vigorously. +Dan was impressed by Bassett's method of dealing +with a difficult situation. Miles had erred, but +Bassett had taken the matter in hand promptly, +secretly, and effectively. His attitude toward the +treasurer's sin was tolerant and amiable. Miles had +squandered money in bucket-shop gambling, but +the sin was not uncommon, and the amount of his +loss was sufficient to assure his penitence; he was an +ally of Bassett's and it was Bassett's way to take +care of his friends. Bassett had not denied that the +culprit had been guilty of indiscretions; but he had +minimized the importance of his error and adorned +the tale with a moral on which Dan set about laying +the greatest emphasis. He enjoyed writing, and in +the interview he attributed ideas to Bassett that +would have been creditable to the most idealistic +of statesmen. He based the editorial Bassett had +suggested upon the interview; and he wrote half a +dozen editorial paragraphs in a vein of caustic +humor that the "Courier" affected. In the afternoon +he copied his articles on a typewriter and submitted +them to Bassett.</p> + +<p>"Good, very good. Too bad to take you out of the +newspaper business; you have the right point of view +and you know how to get hold of the right end of a +sentence. Let me see. I wish you would do another +interview changing the phraseology and making it +short, and we'll give the 'Advertiser' a chance to +print it. I'll attend to these other things. You'd +better not be running into the 'Courier' office too +much now that you're with me. They haven't got +on to that yet, but they'll give us a twist when they +do."</p> + +<p>Dan had been admitted to the ante-chamber of +Bassett's confidence, but he was to be permitted to +advance a step further. At four o'clock he was surprised +by the appearance of Atwill, the "Courier's" +manager. Dan had no acquaintance with Atwill, +whose advent had been coincident with the "Courier's" +change of ownership shortly after Dan's tentative +connection with the paper began. Atwill had +rarely visited the editorial department, but it was +no secret that he exercised general supervision of the +paper. It had been whispered among the reporters +that every issue was read carefully in proof by Atwill, +but Dan had never been particularly interested in +this fact. As Atwill appeared in the outer office, +Bassett came from his own room to meet him. The +door closed quickly upon the two and they were together +for half an hour or more. Then Bassett summoned +Dan.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Atwill, this is Mr. Harwood. He was formerly +employed on the 'Courier.' It was he that wrote +up the Hoosier statesmen, you may remember."</p> + +<p>Atwill nodded.</p> + +<p>"I remember very well. Those articles helped +business,—we could follow your pencil up and down +the state on our circulation reports. I jumped the +city editor for letting you go."</p> + +<p>Atwill was a lean, clean-shaven man who chewed +gum hungrily. His eyes were noticeably alert and +keen. There was a tradition that he had been a +"star" reporter in New York, a managing editor +in Pittsburg, and a business manager in Minneapolis +before coming to supervise the "Courier" for its new +owner.</p> + +<p>"Atwill, you and Harwood had better keep in +touch with each other. Harwood is studying law +here, but he will know pretty well what I'm doing. +He will probably write an editorial for you occasionally, +and when it comes in it won't be necessary +for the regular employees of the 'Courier' to know +where it comes from. Harwood won't mind if they +take all the glory for his work."</p> + +<p>When Atwill left, Bassett talked further to Harwood, +throwing his legs across a chair and showing +himself more at ease than Dan had yet seen him.</p> + +<p>"Harwood," he said,—he had dropped the +mister to-day for the first time in their intercourse,—"I've +opened the door wider to you than I ever did +before to any man. I trust you."</p> + +<p>"I appreciate that, Mr. Bassett."</p> + +<p>"I've been carrying too much, and it's a relief +to find that I've got a man I can unload on. You +understand, I trust you absolutely. And in coming +to me as you did, and accepting these confidences, +I assume that you don't think me as wicked as my +enemies make me out."</p> + +<p>"I liked you," said Dan, with real feeling, "from +that moment you shook hands with me in your house +at Fraserville. When I don't believe in you any +longer, I'll quit; and if that time comes you may +be sure that I shan't traffic in what I learn of your +affairs. I feel that I want to say that to you."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Harwood. I hope our relations +will be increasingly friendly; but if you want to quit +at any time you're not tied. Be sure of that. If you +should quit me to-morrow I should be disappointed +but I wouldn't kick. And don't build up any quixotic +ideas of gratitude toward me. When you don't +like your job, move on. I guess we understand each +other."</p> + +<p>If Dan entertained any doubts as to the ethics +involved in Bassett's handling of the situation in +Ranger County they were swept away by the perfect +candor with which Bassett informed their new +intimacy. The most interesting and powerful character +in Indiana politics had made a confidant of +him. Without attempting to exact vows of secrecy, +or threatening vengeance for infractions of faith, but +in a spirit of good-fellowship that appealed strongly +to Harwood, Bassett had given him a pass-key to +many locked doors.</p> + +<p>"As you probably gathered," Bassett was saying, +"Atwill represents me at the 'Courier' office."</p> + +<p>"I had never suspected it," Dan replied.</p> + +<p>"Has anybody suspected it?" asked Bassett +quickly.</p> + +<p>"Well; of course it has been said repeatedly that +you own or control the 'Courier.'"</p> + +<p>"Let them keep on saying it; they might have +hard work to prove it. And—" Bassett's eyes +turned toward the window. His brows contracted +and he shut his lips tightly so that his stiff mustache +gave to his mouth a sinister look that Dan had never +seen before. The disagreeable expression vanished +and he was his usual calm, unruffled self. "And," +he concluded, smiling, "I might have some trouble +in proving it myself."</p> + +<p>Dan was not only accumulating valuable information, +but Bassett interested him more and more as +a character. He was an unusual man, a new type, +this senator from Fraser, with his alternating candor +and disingenuousness, his prompt solutions of +perplexing problems. It was unimaginable that a +man so strong and so sure of himself, and so shrewd +in extricating others from their entanglements, could +ever be cornered, trapped, or beaten.</p> + +<p>Bassett's hands had impressed Dan that first +night at Fraserville, and he watched them again as +Bassett idly twisted a rubber band in his fingers. How +gentle those hands were and how cruel they might +be!</p> + +<p>The next morning Dan found that his interview +with Bassett was the feature of the first page of the +"Courier," and the statement he had sent to the +"Advertiser" was hardly less prominently displayed. +His editorial was the "Courier's" leader, and it appeared +<i>verbatim et literatim</i>. He viewed his work +with pride and satisfaction; even his ironical editorial +"briefs" had, he fancied, something of the piquancy +he admired in the paragraphing of the "New York +Sun." But his gratification at being able to write +"must" matter for both sides of a prominent journal +was obscured by the greater joy of being the chief adjutant +of the "Courier's" sagacious concealed owner.</p> + +<p>The "Advertiser" replied to Bassett's statement +in a tone of hilarity. Bassett's plea for a better accounting +system was funny, that was all. Miles, the +treasurer of Ranger County, had been playing the +bucket shops with public moneys, and the Honorable +Morton Bassett, of Fraserville, with characteristic +zeal in a bad cause, had not only adjusted the +shortage, but was craftily trying to turn the incident +to the advantage of his party. The text for the +"Advertiser's" leader was the jingle:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"When the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">When the devil got well, the devil a monk was he!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Bassett had left town, but the regular staff of the +"Courier" kept up the fight along the lines of the +articles Dan had contributed. The "Advertiser," +finding that the Republican prosecuting attorney +of Ranger County joined with the local bank in certifying +to Miles's probity, dropped the matter after +a few scattering volleys.</p> + +<p>However, within a week after the Miles incident, +the "Advertiser" gave Harwood the shock of an +unlooked-for plunge into ice-water by printing a sensational +story under a double-column headline, +reading, "The Boss in the Boordman Building." +The Honorable Morton Bassett, so the article +averred, no longer satisfied to rule his party amid the +pastoral calm of Fraser County, had stolen into the +capital and secretly established headquarters, which +meant, beyond question, the manifestation of even +a wider exercise of his malign influence in Indiana +politics. Harwood's name enjoyed a fame that day +that many years of laborious achievement could not +have won for it. The "Advertiser's" photographers +had stolen in at night and taken a flashlight picture +of the office door, bearing the legend</p> + +<div class='center'> +66<br /> +<br /> +DANIEL HARWOOD<br /><br /> +</div> + +<p>Harwood's personal history was set forth in florid +phrases. It appeared that he had been carefully +chosen and trained by Bassett to aid in his evil +work. His connection with the "Courier," which +had seemed to Dan at the time so humble, assumed +a dignity and importance that highly amused him. +It was quite like the Fraserville boss to choose a +young man of good antecedents, the graduate of a +great university, with no previous experience in +politics, the better to bend him to his will. Dan's +talents and his brilliant career at college all helped +to magnify the importance of Bassett's latest move. +Morton Bassett was dangerous, the "Advertiser" +conceded editorially, because he had brains; and +he was even more to be feared because he could +command the brains of other men.</p> + +<p>Dan called Bassett at Fraserville on the long distance +telephone and told him of the disclosure. +Bassett replied in a few sentences.</p> + +<p>"That won't hurt anything. I'd been expecting +something of the kind. Put you in, did they? I'll +get my paper to-night and read it carefully. Better +cut the stuff out and send it in an envelope, to make +sure. Call Atwill over and tell him we ignore the +whole business. I'm taking a little rest, but I'll be +in town in about a week."</p> + +<p>Dan was surprised to find how bitterly he resented +the attack on Bassett. The "Advertiser" +spoke of the leader as though he were a monster of +immorality and Dan honestly believed Bassett to +be no such thing. His loyalty was deeply intensified +by the hot volleys poured into the Boordman Building; +but he was not disturbed by the references to +himself. He winced a little bit at being called a +"stool pigeon"; but he thought he knew the reporter +who had written the article, and his experience in +the newspaper office had not been so brief but that +it had killed his layman's awe of the printed word. +When he walked into the Whitcomb that evening +the clerk made a point of calling his name and shaking +hands with him. He was conscious that a number +of idlers in the hotel lobby regarded him with a +new interest. Some one spoke his name audibly, +and he enjoyed in some degree the sensation of being +a person of mark.</p> + +<p>He crossed University Square and walked out +Meridian Street to Fitch's house. The lawyer came +downstairs in his shirt sleeves with a legal envelope +in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Glad to see you, Harwood. I'm packing up; +going to light out in the morning and get in on the +end of my family's vacation. They've moved out +of Maine into the Berkshires and the boys are going +back to college without coming home. I see the +'Advertiser' has been after you. How do you like +your job?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not scared," Dan replied. "It's all very +amusing and my moral character hasn't suffered +so far."</p> + +<p>Fitch eyed him critically.</p> + +<p>"Well, I haven't time to talk to you, but here's +something I wish you'd do for me. I have a quit-claim +deed for Mrs. Owen to sign. I forgot to tell one +of the boys in the office to get her acknowledgment, +but you're a notary, aren't you? I've just been +telephoning her about it. You know who she is? +Come to think of it, she's Bassett's aunt-in-law. +You're not a good Hoosier till you know Aunt Sally. +I advise you to make yourself solid with her. I don't +know what she's doing in town just now, but her +ways are always inscrutable."</p> + +<p>Dan was soon ringing the bell at Mrs. Owen's. +Mrs. Owen was out, the maid said, but would be +back shortly. Dan explained that he had come from +Mr. Fitch, and she asked him to walk into the parlor +and wait.</p> + +<p>Sylvia Garrison and her grandfather had been at +Montgomery since their visit to Waupegan and were +now in Indianapolis for a day on their way to Boston. +The Delaware Street house had been closed all +summer. The floors were bare and the furniture +was still jacketed in linen. Sylvia rose as Harwood +appeared at the parlor door.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," said Dan, as the maid vanished. +"I have an errand with Mrs. Owen and I'll wait, +if you don't mind?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly. Mrs. Owen has gone out to make a +call, but she will be back soon. She went only a +little way down the street. Please have a chair."</p> + +<p>She hesitated a moment, not knowing whether +to remain or to leave the young man to himself. Dan +determined the matter for her by opening a conversation +on the state of the weather.</p> + +<p>"September is the most trying month of the year. +Just when we're all tired of summer, it takes its last +fling at us."</p> + +<p>"It has been very warm. I came over from Montgomery +this afternoon and it was very dusty and +disagreeable on the train."</p> + +<p>"From Montgomery?" repeated Dan, surprised +and perplexed. Then, as it dawned upon him that +this was the girl who had opened the door for him +at Professor Kelton's house in Montgomery when +he had gone there with a letter from Fitch, "You +see," he said, "we've met before, in your own house. +You very kindly went off to find some one for me—and +didn't come back; but I passed you on the +campus as I was leaving."</p> + +<p>He had for the moment forgotten the name of the +old gentleman to whom he had borne a letter from +Mr. Fitch. He would have forgotten the incident +completely long ago if it had not been for the curious +manner in which the lawyer had received his report +and the secrecy so carefully enjoined. It was odd that +he should have chanced upon these people again. +Dan did not know many women, young or old, and +he found this encounter with Sylvia wholly agreeable, +Sylvia being, as we know, seventeen, and not +an offense to the eye.</p> + +<p>"It was my grandfather, Professor Kelton, you +came to see. He's here with me now, but he's gone +out to call on an old friend with Mrs. Owen."</p> + +<p>Every detail of Dan's visit to the cottage was +clear in Sylvia's mind; callers had been too rare for +there to be any dimness of memory as to the visit +of the stranger, particularly when she had associated +her grandfather's subsequent depression with his +coming.</p> + +<p>Dan felt that he should scrupulously avoid touching +upon the visit to Montgomery otherwise than +casually. He was still bound in all honor to forget +that excursion as far as possible. This young person +seemed very serious, and he was not sure that she +was comfortable in his presence.</p> + +<p>"It was a warm day, I remember, but cool and +pleasant in your library. I'm going to make a confession. +When you went off so kindly to find Professor +Kelton I picked up the book you had been reading, +and it quite laid me low. I had imagined it +would be something cheerful and frivolous, to lift the +spirit of the jaded traveler."</p> + +<p>"It must have been a good story," replied Sylvia, +guardedly.</p> + +<p>"It was! It was the 'Æneid,' and I began at +your bookmark and tried to stagger through a page, +but it floored me. You see how frank I am; I ought +really to have kept this terrible disclosure from you."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you like Madison? I remember that I +thought you were comparing us unfavorably with +other places. You implied"—and Sylvia smiled—"that +you didn't think Madison a very important +college."</p> + +<p>"Then be sure of my contrition now! Your Virgil +sank deep into my consciousness, and I am glad of +this chance to render unto Madison the things that +are Madison's."</p> + +<p>His chaffing way reminded her of Dr. Wandless, +who often struck a similar note in their encounters.</p> + +<p>Sylvia was quite at ease now. Her caller's smile +encouraged friendliness. He had dropped his fedora +hat on a chair, but clung to his bamboo stick. +His gray sack suit with the trousers neatly creased +and his smartly knotted tie proclaimed him a man +of fashion: the newest and youngest member of the +Madison faculty, who had introduced spats to the +campus, was not more impressively tailored.</p> + +<p>"You said you had gone to a large college; and +I said—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you hit me back straight enough!" laughed +Harwood.</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean to be rude," Sylvia protested, +coloring.</p> + +<p>They evidently both remembered what had been +said at that interview.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't rude; it was quite the retort courteous! +My conceit at being a Yale man was shattered by +your shot."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose Yale is a good place, too," said +Sylvia, with a generous intention that caused them +both to laugh.</p> + +<p>"By token of your Virgilian diversions shall I +assume that you are a collegian, really or almost?"</p> + +<p>"Just almost. I'm on my way to Wellesley now."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" and his exclamation was heavy with meaning. +A girl bound for college became immediately +an integer with which a young man who had not +yet mislaid his diploma could reckon. "I have +usually been a supporter of Vassar. It's the only +woman's college I ever attended. I went up there +once to see a girl I had met at a Prom—such is the +weakness of man! I had arrayed myself as the lilies +of the field, and on my way through Pokip I gathered +up a beautiful two-seated trap with a driver, thinking +in my ignorance that I should make a big hit by +driving the fair one over the hills and far away. The +horses were wonderful; I found out later that they +were the finest hearse horses in Poughkeepsie. She +was an awfully funny girl, that girl. She always +used both 'shall' and 'will,' being afraid to take +chances with either verb, an idea I'm often tempted +to adopt myself."</p> + +<p>"It's ingenious, at any rate. But how did the +drive go?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it didn't! She said she couldn't go with me +alone unless I <i>was</i> or <i>were</i> her cousin. It was against +the rules. So we agreed to be cousins and she went +off to find the dean or some awful autocrat like that, +to spring the delightful surprise, that her long-lost +cousin from Kalamazoo had suddenly appeared, and +might she go driving with him. That was her idea, +I assure you,—my own depravity could suggest +nothing more euphonious than Canajoharie. And +would you believe it, the consent being forthcoming, +she came back and said she wouldn't go—absolutely +declined! She rested on the fine point in ethics +that, while it was not improper to tell the fib, it +would be highly sinful to take advantage of it! So +we strolled over the campus and she showed me the +sights, while those funeral beasts champed their bits +at so much per hour. She was a Connecticut girl, +and I made a note of the incident as illustrating a +curious phase of the New England conscience."</p> + +<p>While they were gayly ringing the changes on +these adventures, steps sounded on the veranda.</p> + +<p>"That's Mrs. Owen and my grandfather," said +Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I wonder—" began Dan, grave at once.</p> + +<p>"You're wondering," said Sylvia, "whether my +grandfather will remember you."</p> + +<p>She recalled very well her grandfather's unusual +seriousness after Harwood's visit; it seemed wiser +not to bring the matter again to his attention.</p> + +<p>"I think it would be better if he didn't," replied +Dan, relieved that she had anticipated his thought.</p> + +<p>"I was only a messenger boy anyhow and I didn't +know what my errand was about that day."</p> + +<p>"He doesn't remember faces well," said Sylvia, +"and wouldn't be likely to know you."</p> + +<p>As Mrs. Owen asked Dan to her office at once, it +was unnecessary for Sylvia to introduce him to her +grandfather.</p> + +<p>Alone with Mrs. Owen, Dan's business was quickly +transacted. She produced an abstract of title and +bade him read aloud the description of the property +conveyed while she held the deed. At one point she +took a pen and crossed a <i>t</i>; otherwise the work of +Wright and Fitch was approved. When she had +signed her name, and while Dan was filling in the +certificate, she scrutinized him closely.</p> + +<p>"You're in Mr. Fitch's office, are you?" she inquired.</p> + +<p>"Not now; but I was there for a time. I happened +to call on Mr. Fitch this evening and he asked me to +bring the deed over."</p> + +<p>"Let me see, I don't believe I know any Harwoods +here."</p> + +<p>"I haven't been here long enough to be known," +answered Dan, looking up and smiling.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen removed her hat and tossed it on a +little stand, as though hats were a nuisance in this +world and not worthy of serious consideration. She +continued her observation of Dan, who was applying +a blotter to his signature.</p> + +<p>"I'll have to take this to my office to affix the +seal. I'm to give it to Mr. Wright in the morning +for recording."</p> + +<p>"Where is your office, Mr. Harwood?" she asked +flatly.</p> + +<p>"Boordman Building," answered Dan, surprised +to find himself uncomfortable under her direct, penetrating +gaze.</p> + +<p>"Humph! So you're Morton Bassett's young +man who was written up in the 'Advertiser.'"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bassett has given me a chance to read law +in his office. He's a prominent man and the 'Advertiser' +chose to put its own interpretation on his +kindness to me. That's all," answered Dan with +dignity.</p> + +<p>"Sit still a minute. I forget sometimes that all +the folks around here don't know me. I didn't +mean to be inquisitive, or disagreeable; I was just +looking for information. I took notice of that 'Advertiser's' +piece because Mr. Bassett married my +niece, so I'm naturally interested in what he does."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Owen, I understand."</p> + +<p>Dan had heard a good deal about Mrs. Sally Owen, +in one way or another, and persuaded now, by her +change of tone, that she had no intention of pillorying +him for Bassett's misdeeds, he began to enjoy his +unexpected colloquy with her. She bent forward and +clasped her veined, bony hands on the table.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad of a chance to talk to you. It's providential, +your turning up this way. I just came to +town yesterday and Edward Thatcher dropped in +last night and got to talking to me about his boy."</p> + +<p>"Allen?"</p> + +<p>Dan was greatly surprised at this turn of the conversation. +Mrs. Owen's tone was wholly kind, and +she seemed deeply in earnest.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I mean Allen Thatcher. His father says +he's taken a great shine to you. I hardly know the +boy, but he's a little queer and he's always been a +little sickly. Edward doesn't know how to handle +him, and the boy's ma—well, she's one of those +Terre Haute Bartlows, and those people never would +stay put. Edward's made too much money for his +wife's good, and the United States ain't big enough +for her and the girls. But that boy got tired o' +gallivanting around over there, and he's back here on +Edward's hands. The boy's gaits are too much for +Edward. He says you and Allen get on well together. +I met him in the bank to-day and he asked me about +you."</p> + +<p>"I like Allen;—I'm even very fond of him, and I +wish I could help him find himself. He's amusing"—and +Dan laughed, remembering their first meeting—"but +with a fine, serious, manly side that you +can't help liking."</p> + +<p>"That's nice; it's mighty nice. You be good to +that boy, and you won't lose anything by it. How do +you and Morton get on?"</p> + +<p>"First-rate, I hope. He's treated me generously."</p> + +<p>Then she fastened her eyes upon him with quizzical +severity.</p> + +<p>"Young man, the 'Advertiser' seems to think +Morton Bassett is crooked. What do you think +about it?"</p> + +<p>Dan gasped and stammered at this disconcerting +question.</p> + +<p>She rested her arms on the table and bent toward +him, the humor showing in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"If he <i>is</i> crooked, young man, you needn't think +you have to be as big a sinner as he is! You remember +that Sally Owen told you that. Be your own +boss. Morton's a terrible persuader. Funny for me +to be talking to you this way; I don't usually get +confidential so quick. I guess"—and her eyes +twinkled—"we'll have to consider ourselves old +friends to make it right."</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, indeed, Mrs. Owen. I see +that I have a responsibility about Allen. I'll keep +an eye on him.</p> + +<p>"Drop in now and then. I eat a good many Sunday +dinners alone when I'm at home, and you may +come whenever you feel like facing a tiresome old +woman across the table."</p> + +<p>She followed him into the hall, where they ran into +Sylvia, who had been upstairs saying good-night to +her grandfather. Mrs. Owen arrested Sylvia's flight +through the hall.</p> + +<p>"Sylvia, I guess you and Mr. Harwood are already +acquainted."</p> + +<p>"Except," said Dan, "that we haven't been +introduced!"</p> + +<p>"Then, Miss Garrison, this is Mr. Harwood. +He's a Yale College man, so I read in the paper."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I already knew that!" replied Sylvia, +laughing.</p> + +<p>"At Wellesley please remember, Miss Garrison, +about the Kalamazoo cousins," said Dan, his hand +on the front door.</p> + +<p>"I guess you young folks didn't need that introduction," +observed Mrs. Owen. "Don't forget to +come and see me, Mr. Harwood."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI" />CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>THE MAP ABOVE BASSETT'S DESK</h3> + + +<p>Sometimes, in the rapid progress of their +acquaintance, Allen Thatcher exasperated +Harwood, but more often he puzzled and interested +him. It was clear that the millionaire's son +saw or thought he saw in Dan a Type. To be +thought a Type may be flattering or not; it depends +upon the point of view. Dan himself had no illusions +in the matter. Allen wanted to see and if +possible meet the local characters of whom he read +in the newspapers; and he began joining Harwood +in visits to the hotels at night, hoping that these +wonderful representatives of American democracy +might appear. Harwood's acquaintance was widening; +he knew, by sight at least, all the prominent men +of the city and state, and after leaving the newspaper +he still spent one or two evenings a week lounging +in the hotel corridors. Tradition survived of taller +giants before the days of the contemporaneous +Agamemnons. Allen asked questions about these +and mourned their passing. Harrison, the twenty-third +President; Gresham, of the brown eyes, judge +and cabinet minister; Hendricks, the courtly gentleman, +sometime Vice-President; "Uncle Joe" +McDonald and "Dan" Voorhees, Senators in Congress, +and loved in their day by wide constituencies. +These had vanished, but Dan and Allen made a +pious pilgrimage one night to sit at the feet of David +Turpie, who had been a Senator in two widely separated +eras, and who, white and venerable, like +Aigyptos knew innumerable things.</p> + +<p>The cloaked poets once visible in Market Street +had vanished before our chronicle opens, with the +weekly literary journals in which they had shone, but +Dan was able to introduce Allen to James Whitcomb +Riley in a bookshop frequented by the poet; and that +was a great day in Allen's life. He formed the habit +of lying in wait for the poet and walking with him, +discussing Keats and Burns, Stevenson and Kipling, +and others of their common admirations. One day of +days the poet took Allen home with him and read +him a new, unpublished poem, and showed him a +rare photograph of Stevenson and the outside of a +letter just received from Kipling, from the uttermost +parts of the world. It was a fine thing to know +a poet and to speak with him face to face,—particularly +a poet who sang of his own soil as Allen +wished to know it. Still, Allen did not quite understand +how it happened that a poet who wrote of +farmers and country-town folk wore eyeglasses and +patent-leather shoes and carried a folded silk umbrella +in all weathers.</p> + +<p>The active politicians who crossed his horizon +interested Allen greatly; the rougher and more uncouth +they were the more he admired them. They +were figures in the Great Experiment, no matter how +sordid or contemptible Harwood pronounced them. +He was always looking for "types" and "Big" +Jordan, the Republican chief, afforded him the greatest +satisfaction. He viewed the local political scene +from an angle that Harwood found amusing, and +Dan suggested that it must be because the feudal +taint and the servile tradition are still in our blood +that we submit so tamely to the rule of petty lordlings. +In his exalted moments Allen's ideas shot far +into the air, and Dan found it necessary to pull him +back to earth.</p> + +<p>"I hardly see a Greek frieze carved of these +brethren," Dan remarked one night as they lounged +at the Whitcomb when a meeting of the state committee +was in progress. "These fellows would make +you weep if you knew as much about them as I do. +There's one of the bright lights now—the Honorable +Ike Pettit, of Fraser. The Honorable Ike isn't +smart enough to be crooked; he's the bellowing +Falstaff of the Hoosier Democracy. I wonder who +the laugh's on just now; he's shaking like a jelly fish +over something."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know him! He and father are great +chums; he was at the house for dinner last night."</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>Harwood was unfeignedly surprised at this. The +editor of the "Fraser County Democrat" had probably +never dined at the Bassetts' in his own town, or +at least Dan assumed as much; and since he had +gained an insight into Bassett's affairs he was aware +that the physical property of the "Fraser County +Democrat" was mortgaged to Morton Bassett for +quite all it was worth. It was hardly possible that +Thatcher was cultivating Pettit's acquaintance for +sheer joy of his society. As the ponderous editor +lumbered across the lobby to where they sat, Dan +and Allen rose to receive his noisily cordial salutations. +On his visits to the capital, arrayed in a tremendous +frock coat and with a flapping slouch hat +crowning his big iron-gray head, he was a prodigious +figure.</p> + +<p>"Boys," he said, dropping an arm round each of +the young men, "the Democratic Party is the hope +of mankind. Free her of the wicked bosses, boil the +corruption out of her, and the grand old Hoosier +Democracy will appear once more upon the mountain +tops as the bringer of glad tidings. What's the +answer, my lads, to Uncle Ike's philosophy?"</p> + +<p>"Between campaigns we're all reformers," said +Harwood guardedly. "I feel it working in my own +system."</p> + +<p>"Between campaigns," replied the Honorable +Isaac Pettit impressively, "we're all a contemptible +lot of cowards, that's what's the matter with us. +Was Thomas Jefferson engaged in manipulating +legislatures? Did he obstruct the will of the people? +Not by a long shot he did <i>not</i>! And that grand old +patriot, Andrew Jackson, wasn't he satisfied to take +his licker or let it alone without being like a heathen +in his blindness, bowing down to wood and stone +carved into saloons and distilleries?"</p> + +<p>"It's said by virtuous Republicans that our party +is only a tail to the liquor interests. If you're going +back to the Sage of Monticello, how do you think he +would answer that?"</p> + +<p>"Bless you, my dear boy; it's not the saloons we +try to protect; it's the plain people, who are entitled +to the widest and broadest liberty. If you screw the +lid down on people too tight you'll smother 'em. +I'm not a drinkin' man; I go to church and in my +newspaper I preach the felicities of sobriety and +domestic peace. But it's not for me to dictate to +my brother what he shall eat or wear. No, sir! And +look here, don't you try to read me out of the Democratic +Party, young man. At heart our party's as +sweet and strong as corn; yea, as the young corn +that leapeth to the rains of June. It's the bosses +that's keepin' us down."</p> + +<p>"Your reference to corn throws us back on the +distilleries," suggested Harwood, laughing.</p> + +<p>But he was regarding the Honorable Isaac Pettit +attentively. Pettit had changed his manner and +stood rocking himself slowly on his heels. He had +been a good deal at the capital of late, and this, +together with his visit to Thatcher's house, aroused +Harwood's curiosity. He wondered whether it were +possible that Pettit and Thatcher were conspiring +against Bassett: the fact that he was so heavily in +debt to the senator from Fraser seemed to dispose of +his fears. Since his first visit to Fraserville Dan had +heard many interesting and amusing things about +the editor. Pettit had begun life as a lawyer, but had +relapsed into rural journalism after a futile effort to +find clients. He had some reputation as an orator, +and Dan had heard him make a speech distinguished +by humor and homely good sense at a meeting of the +Democratic State Editorial Association. Pettit, +having once sat beside Henry Watterson at a public +dinner in Louisville, had thereafter encouraged as +modestly as possible a superstition that he and Mr. +Watterson were the last survivors of the "old +school" of American editors. One of his favorite +jokes was the use of the editorial "we" in familiar +conversation; he said "our wife" and "our sanctum," +and he amused himself by introducing into +the "Democrat" trifling incidents of his domestic +life, beginning these items with such phrases as, +"While we were weeding our asparagus bed in the +cool of Tuesday morning, our wife—noble woman +that she is—" etc., etc. His squibs of this character, +quoted sometimes in metropolitan newspapers, +afforded him the greatest glee. He appeared occasionally +as a lecturer, his favorite subject being +American humor; and he was able to prove +by his scrap-book that he had penetrated as far +east as Xenia, Ohio, and as far west as Decatur, +Illinois. Once, so ran Fraserville tradition, he had +been engaged for the lyceum course at Springfield, +Missouri, but his contract had been canceled when it +was found that his discourse was unillumined by the +stereopticon, that vivifying accessory being just +then in high favor in that community.</p> + +<p>Out of his own reading and reflections Allen had +reached the conclusion that Franklin, Emerson, and +Lincoln were the greatest Americans. He talked a +great deal of Lincoln and of the Civil War, and the +soldiers' monument, in its circular plaza in the heart +of the city, symbolized for him all heroic things. He +would sit on the steps in the gray shadow at night, +waiting for Dan to finish some task at his office, and +Harwood would find him absorbed, dreaming by the +singing, foaming fountains.</p> + +<p>Allen spoke with a kind of passionate eloquence +of This Stupendous Experiment, or This Beautiful +Experiment, as he liked to call America. Dan put +Walt Whitman into his hands and afterwards regretted +it, for Allen developed an attack of acute +Whitmania that tried Dan's patience severely. Dan +had passed through Whitman at college and emerged +safely on the other side. He begged Allen not to +call him "camerado" or lift so often the perpendicular +hand. He suggested to him that while it might +be fine and patriotic to declaim</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>from the steps of the monument at midnight, the +police might take another view of the performance. +He began to see, however, that beneath much that +was whimsical and sentimental the young fellow +was sincerely interested in the trend of things in +what, during this Whitman period, he called "these +states." Sometimes Allen's remarks on current events +struck Harwood by their wisdom: the boy was +wholesomely provocative and stimulating. He began +to feel that he understood him, and in his own +homelessness Allen became a resource.</p> + +<p>Allen was a creature of moods, and vanished often +for days or weeks. He labored fitfully in his carpenter +shop at home or with equal irregularity at a +bench in the shop of Lüders, a cabinetmaker. Dan +sometimes sought him at the shop, which was a +headquarters for radicals of all sorts. The workmen +showed a great fondness for Allen, who had been +much in Germany and spoke their language well. +He carried to the shop quantities of German books +and periodicals for their enlightenment. The shop's +visitors included several young Americans, among +them a newspaper artist, a violinist in a theatre +orchestra, and a linotype expert. They all wore large +black scarfs and called each other "comrade." Allen +earnestly protested that he still believed in +the American Idea, the Great Experiment; but if +democracy should fail he was ready to take up +socialism. He talked of his heroes; he said they +all owed it to the men who had made and preserved +the Union to give the existing government a chance. +These discussions were entirely good-humored and +Harwood enjoyed them. Sometimes they met in +the evening at a saloon in the neighborhood of the +shop where Allen, the son of Edward Thatcher, +whom everybody knew, was an object of special +interest. He would sit on a table and lecture the +saloon loungers in German, and at the end of a long +debate made a point of paying the score. He was +most temperate himself, sipping a glass of wine or +beer in the deliberate German fashion.</p> + +<p>Allen was a friendly soul and every one liked him. +It was impossible not to like a lad whose ways were +so gentle, whose smile was so appealing. He liked +dancing and went to most of the parties—our capital +has not outgrown its homely provincial habit of +calling all social entertainments "parties." He was +unfailingly courteous, with a manner toward women +slightly elaborate and reminiscent of other times. +There was no question of his social acceptance; +mothers of daughters, who declined to speak to his +father, welcomed him to their houses.</p> + +<p>Allen introduced Dan to the households he particularly +fancied and they made calls together on +Dan's free evenings or on Sunday afternoons. Snobbishness +was a late arrival among us; any young man +that any one vouched for might know the "nicest" +girls. Harwood's social circle was widening; Fitch +and his wife said a good word for him in influential +quarters, and the local Yale men had not neglected +him. Allen liked the theatre, and exercised considerable +ingenuity in devising excuses for paying for the +tickets when they took young women of their acquaintance. +He pretended to Dan that he had free +tickets or got them at a discount. His father made +him a generous allowance and he bought a motor +car in which he declared Dan had a half interest; +they needed it, he said, for their social adventures.</p> + +<p>At the Thatcher house, Harwood caught fitful +glimpses of Allen's father, a bird of passage inured +to sleeping-cars. Occasionally Harwood dined with +the father and son and they would all adjourn to +Allen's shop on the third floor to smoke and talk. +When Allen gave rein to his fancy and began descanting +upon the grandeur of the Republic and the +Beautiful Experiment making in "these states," +Dan would see a blank puzzled look steal into +Thatcher's face. Thatcher adored Allen: he had for +him the deep love of a lioness for her cubs; but all +this idealistic patter the boy had got hold of—God +knew where!—sounded as strange to the rich man +as a discourse in Sanskrit.</p> + +<p>Thatcher had not been among Bassett's callers in +the new office in the Boordman, but late one afternoon, +when Dan was deep in the principles of evidence, +Thatcher came in.</p> + +<p>"I'm not expecting Mr. Bassett to-day, if you +wish to see him," said Dan.</p> + +<p>"Nope," Thatcher replied indifferently, "I'm not +looking for Mort. He's in Fraserville, I happen to +know. Just talking to him on the telephone, so I +rather guessed you were alone, that's why I came +up. I want to talk to you a little bit, Harwood. +It must be nearly closing time, so suppose you lock +the door. You see," he continued, idling about the +room, "Mort's in the newspapers a good deal, and +not being any such terrible sinner as he is I don't +care to have his labels tacked on me too much. Not +that Mort isn't one of my best friends, you know; +but a family man like me has got to be careful of his +reputation."</p> + +<p>Harwood opened his drawer and took out a box +of cigars. Thatcher accepted one and lighted it deliberately, +commenting on the office as he did so. +He even strolled through the library to the open door +of Bassett's private room beyond. The map of +Indiana suspended above Bassett's desk interested +him and he stood leaning on his stick and surveying +it. There was something the least bit insinuating +in his manner. The room, the map, the fact that +Morton Bassett of Fraserville had, so to speak, +planted a vedette in the heart of the capital, seemed +to afford him mild, cynical amusement. He drew +his hand across his face, twisted his mustache, and +took the cigar from his mouth and examined the end +of it with fictitious interest.</p> + +<p>"Well," he ejaculated, "damn it all, why not?"</p> + +<p>Harwood did not know why not; but a man as +rich as Edward Thatcher was entitled to his vagaries. +Thatcher sank into Bassett's swivel chair and +swung round once or twice as though testing it, +meanwhile eyeing the map. Then he tipped himself +back comfortably and dropped his hat into his lap. +His grayish brown hair was combed carefully from +one side across the top in an unsuccessful attempt +to conceal his baldness.</p> + +<p>"I guess Mort wouldn't object to my sitting in +his chair provided I didn't look at that map too +much. Who was the chap that the sword hung over +by a hair—Damocles? Well, maybe that's what +that map is—it would smash pretty hard if the +whole state fell down on Mort. But Mort knows +just how many voters there are in every township +and just how they line up election morning. There's +a lot of brains in Bassett's head; you've noticed +it?"</p> + +<p>"It's admitted, I believe, that he's a man of +ability," said Dan a little coldly.</p> + +<p>Thatcher grinned.</p> + +<p>"You're all right, Harwood. I know you're all +right or Mort wouldn't have put you in here. I'm +rather kicking myself that I didn't see you first."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bassett has given me a chance I'd begun +to fear I shouldn't get; you see I'm studying law +here. Mr. Bassett has made that possible. He's the +best friend I ever had."</p> + +<p>"That's good. Bassett usually picks winners. +From what I hear of you and what I've seen I think +you're all right myself. My boy has taken quite a +great fancy to you."</p> + +<p>Thatcher looked at the end of his cigar and waited +for Dan to reply.</p> + +<p>"I've grown very fond of Allen. He's very unusual; +he's full of surprises."</p> + +<p>"That boy," said Thatcher, pointing his cigar at +Dan, "is the greatest boy in the world; but, damn +it all, I don't make him out."</p> + +<p>"Well, he's different; he's an idealist. I'm not +sure that he isn't a philosopher!"</p> + +<p>Thatcher nodded, as though this were a corroboration +of his own surmises.</p> + +<p>"He has a lot of ideas that are what they call +advanced, but it's not for me to say that he isn't +right about them. He talks nonsense some of the +time, but occasionally he knocks me down with a +big idea—or his way of putting a big idea. He +doesn't understand a good deal that he sees; and +yet he sometimes says something perfectly staggering."</p> + +<p>"He does; by George, he does! Damn it, I took +him to see a glassworks the other day; thought it +would appeal to his sense of what you call the picturesque; +but, Lord bless me, he asked how much +the blowers were paid and wanted me to raise their +pay on the spot. That was one on me, all right; I'd +thought of giving him the works to play with, but +I didn't have the nerve to offer it to him after that. +'Fraid he'd either turn it down or take it and bust +me."</p> + +<p>Thatcher had referred to this incident with unmistakable +pride; he was evidently amused rather +than chagrined by his son's scorn of the gift of a +profitable industry. "I offered him money to start +a carpenter shop or furniture factory or anything +he wanted to tackle, but he wouldn't have it. Said +he wanted to work in somebody else's shop to get the +discipline. Discipline? That boy never had any discipline +in his life! I've kept my nose to the grindstone +ever since I was knee-high to a toad just so +that boy wouldn't have to worry about his daily +bread, and now, damn it all, he runs a carpenter +shop on the top floor of a house that stands me, lot, +furniture, and all, nearly a hundred thousand dollars! +I can't talk to everybody about this; my +wife and daughters don't want any discipline; don't +like the United States or anything in it except exchange +on London; and here I am with a boy who +wears overalls and tries to callous his hands to look +like a laboring man. If you can figure that out, it's +a damn sight more than I can do! It's one on Ed +Thatcher, that's all!"</p> + +<p>"If I try to answer you, please don't think I pretend +to any unusual knowledge of human nature; +but what I see in the boy is a kind of poetic attitude +toward America—our politics, the whole scheme; +and it's a poetic strain in him that accounts for this +feeling about labor. And he has a feeling for justice +and mercy; he's strong for the underdog." +"I suppose," said Thatcher dryly, "that if he'd +been an underdog the way I was he'd be more +tickled at a chance to sit on top. When I wore overalls +it wasn't funny. Well, what am I going to do +with him?"</p> + +<p>"If you really want me to tell you I'd say to let +him alone. He's a perfectly clean, straight, high-minded +boy. If he were physically strong enough I +should recommend him to go to college, late as it +is for him, or better, to a school where he would +really satisfy what seems to be his sincere ambition +to learn to do something with his hands. But he's +all right as he is. You ought to be glad that his aims +are so wholesome. There are sons of prosperous men +right around here who see everything red."</p> + +<p>"That boy," declared Thatcher, pride and love +surging in him, "is as clean as wheat!"</p> + +<p>"Quite so; no one could know him without loving +him. And I don't mind saying that I find myself in +accord with many of his ideas."</p> + +<p>"Sort of damned idealist yourself?"</p> + +<p>"I should blush to say it," laughed Dan; "but +I feel my heart warming when Allen gets to soaring +sometimes; he expresses himself with great vividness. +He goes after me hard on my <i>laissez-faire</i> +notions."</p> + +<p>"I take the count and throw up the sponge!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's a chestnut that means merely that the +underdog had better stay under if he can't fight his +way out."</p> + +<p>"It seems tough when you boil it down to that; +I guess maybe Allen's right—we all ought to divide +up. I'm willing, only"—and he grinned +quizzically—"I'm paired with Mort Bassett."</p> + +<p>The light in his cigar had gone out; he swung round +and faced the map of Indiana above Morton Bassett's +desk, fumbling in his waistcoat for a match. When +he turned toward Harwood again he blew smoke +rings meditatively before speaking.</p> + +<p>"If you're one of these rotten idealists, Harwood, +what are you doing here with Bassett? If that +ain't a fair question, don't answer it."</p> + +<p>Harwood was taken aback by the directness of the +question. Bassett had always spoken of Thatcher +with respect, and he resented the new direction +given to this conversation in Bassett's own office. +Dan straightened himself with dignity, but before +he could speak Thatcher laughed, and fanned the +smoke of his cigar away with his hands.</p> + +<p>"Don't get hot. That was not a fair question; I +know it. I guess Bassett has his ideals just like the +rest of us. I suppose I've got some, too, though I'd +be embarrassed if you asked me to name 'em. I +suppose"—and he narrowed his eyes—"I suppose +Mort not only has his ideals but his ambitions. +They go together, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"I hope he has both, Mr. Thatcher, but you are +assuming that I'm deeper in his confidence than the +facts justify. You and he have been acquainted so +long that you ought to know him thoroughly."</p> + +<p>Thatcher did not heed this mild rebuke; nor did +he resort to propitiatory speech. His cool way of ignoring +Dan's reproach added to the young man's +annoyance; Dan felt that it was in poor taste and ungenerous +for a man of Thatcher's years and position +to come into Bassett's private office to discuss him +with a subordinate. He had already learned enough +of the relations of the two men to realize that perfect +amity was essential between them; he was +shocked by the indifference with which Thatcher +spoke of Bassett, of whom people did not usually +speak carelessly in this free fashion. Harwood's own +sense of loyalty was in arms; yet Thatcher seemed +unmindful that anything disagreeable had occurred. +He threw away his cigar and drew out a fresh one +which he wobbled about in his mouth unlighted. +He kept swinging round in his chair to gaze at the +map above Bassett's desk. The tinted outlines of +the map—green, pink, and orange—could not have +had for him any novelty; similar maps hung in many +offices and Thatcher was moreover a native of the +state and long familiar with its configuration. Perhaps, +Dan reflected, its juxtaposition to Bassett's +desk was what irritated his visitor, though it had +never occurred to him that this had any significance. +He recalled now, however, that when he had arranged +the rooms the map had been hung in the +outer office, but that Bassett himself had removed it +to his private room—the only change he had +made in Dan's arrangements. It was conceivable +that Thatcher saw in the position of the map an +adumbration of Bassett's higher political ambition, +and that this had affected the capitalist unpleasantly.</p> + +<p>Thatcher's manner was that of a man so secure +in his own position that he could afford to trample +others under foot if he liked. It was—not to put +too fine a point upon it—the manner of a bully. +His reputation for independence was well established; +he was rich enough to say what he pleased without +regard to the consequences, and he undoubtedly +enjoyed his sense of power.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I'm the only man in Indiana that +ain't afraid of Mort Bassett," he announced casually. +"It's because Mort knows I ain't afraid of him +that we get on so well together. You've been with +him long enough by this time to know that we have +some interests together."</p> + +<p>Dan, with his fingers interlocked behind his head, +nodded carelessly. He had grown increasingly resentful +of Thatcher's tone and manner, and was +anxious to be rid of him.</p> + +<p>"Mort's a good deal closer-mouthed than I am. +Mort likes to hide his tracks—better than that, by +George, Mort doesn't <i>make</i> any tracks! Well, every +man is bound to break a twig now and then as he +goes along. By George, I tear down the trees like +an elephant so they can't miss me!"</p> + +<p>As Dan made no reply to this Thatcher recurred +in a moment to Allen and Harwood's annoyance +passed. It was obvious that the capitalist had +sought this interview to talk of the boy, to make +sure that Harwood was sincerely interested in him. +Thatcher's manner of speaking of his son was kind +and affectionate. The introduction of Bassett into +the discussion had been purely incidental, but it +was not less interesting because of its unpremeditated +interjection. There was possibly some jealousy here +that would manifest itself later; but that was not +Dan's affair. Bassett was beyond doubt able to take +care of himself in emergencies; Dan's admiration +for his patron was strongly intrenched in this belief. +The bulkier Thatcher, with the marks of self-indulgence +upon him, and with his bright waistcoat +and flashy necktie transcending the bounds of +good taste, struck him as a weaker character. If +Thatcher meditated a break with Bassett, the +sturdier qualities, the even, hard strokes that Bassett +had a reputation for delivering, would count +heavily against him.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you get on so well with the boy," +Thatcher was saying. "I don't mind telling you +that his upbringing has been a little unfortunate—too +much damned Europe. He's terribly sore because +he didn't go to college instead of being tutored +all over Europe. It's funny he's got all these +romantic ideas about America; he's sore at me because +he wasn't born poor and didn't have to chop +rails to earn his way through college and all that. +The rest of my family like the money all right; +they're only sore because I didn't make it raising +tulips. But that boy's all right. And see here—" +Thatcher seemed for a moment embarrassed by +what was in his mind. He fidgeted in his chair and +eyed Harwood sharply. "See here, Harwood, if +you find after awhile that you don't get on with +Bassett, or you want to change, why, I want you +to give me a chance at you. I'd like to put my boy +with you, somehow. I'll die some day and I want to +be sure somebody'll look after him. By God, he's +all I got!"</p> + +<p>He swung round, but his eyes were upon the floor; +he drew out a handkerchief and blew his nose noisily.</p> + +<p>"By George," he exclaimed, "I promised Allen +to take you up to Sally Owen's. You know Mrs. +Owen? That's right; Allen said she's been asking +about you. She likes young folks; she'll never be +old herself. Allen and I are going there for supper, +and he's asked her if he might bring you along. +Aunt Sally's a great woman. And"—he grinned +ruefully—"a good trader. She has beat me on +many a horse trade, that woman; and I always go +back to try it again. You kind o' like having her +do you. And I guess I'm the original easy mark +when it comes to horse. Get your hat and come +along. Allen's fixed this all up with her. I guess you +and she are the best friends the boy's got."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII" />CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>BLURRED WINDOWS</h3> + + +<p>With Sylvia's life in college we have little +to do, but a few notes we must make now +that she has reached her sophomore year. +She had never known girls until she went to college +and she had been the shyest of freshmen, the least +obtrusive of sophomores.</p> + +<p>She had carried her work from the start with remarkable +ease and as the dragons of failure were no +longer a menace she began to give more heed to +the world about her. She was early recognized as an +earnest, conscientious student whose work in certain +directions was brilliant; and as a sophomore her +fellows began to know her and take pride in her. +She was relieved to find herself swept naturally into +the social currents of the college. She had been +afraid of appearing stiff or priggish, but her self-consciousness +quickly vanished in the broad, wholesome +democracy of college life. The best scholar +in her class, she was never called a grind and she was +far from being a frump. The wisest woman in the +faculty said of Sylvia: "That girl with her head +among the stars has her feet planted on solid ground. +Her life will count." And the girlhood that Sylvia +had partly lost, was recovered and prolonged. It +was a fine thing to be an American college girl, +Sylvia realized, and the varied intercourse, the day's +hundred and one contacts and small excitements, +meant more to her than her fellow students knew. +When there was fun in the air Sylvia could be relied +upon to take a hand in it. Her allowance was not +meagre and she joined zestfully in such excursions +as were possible, to concerts, lectures, and the theatre. +She had that reverence for New England traditions +that is found in all young Westerners. It was +one of her jokes that she took two Boston girls on +their first pilgrimage to Concord, a joke that greatly +tickled John Ware, brooding in his library in Delaware +Street.</p> + +<p>A few passages from her letters home are illuminative +of these college years. Here are some snap-shots +of her fellow students:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I never knew before that there were so many +kinds of people in the world—girls, I mean. All +parts of the country are represented, and I suppose +I shall always judge different cities and states by +the girls they send here. There is a California freshman +who is quite tall, like the redwood trees, I suppose. +And there is a little girl in my class—she +seems little—from Omaha who lives on a hilltop +out there where she can see the Missouri River—and +when her father first settled there, Indians were +still about. She is the nicest and gentlest girl I +know, and yet she brings before me all those pioneer +times and makes me think how fast the country has +grown. And there is a Virginia girl in my corridor +who has the most wonderful way of talking, and +there's history in that, too,—the history of all the +great war and the things you fought for; but I was +almost sorry to have to let her know that you +fought on the other side, but I <i>did</i> tell her. I never +realized, just from books and maps, that the United +States is so big. The girls bring their local backgrounds +with them—the different aims and traits. . . . +I have drawn a map of the country and named +all the different states and cities for the girls who +come from them, but this is just for my own fun, +of course. . . . I never imagined one would have +preferences and like and dislike people by a kind +of instinct, without really knowing them, but I'm +afraid I do it, and that all the rest of us do the same. . . . +Nothing in the world is as interesting as people—just +dear, good folksy people!"</p></div> + +<p>The correspondence her dormitory neighbors +carried on with parents and brothers and sisters and +friends impressed her by its abundance; and she is to +be pardoned if she weighed the letters, whose home +news was quoted constantly in her hearing, against +her own slight receipts at the college post-office. +She knew that every Tuesday morning there would +be a letter from her grandfather. Her old friend Dr. +Wandless sent occasionally, in his kindly humorous +fashion, the news of Buckeye Lane and the college; +and Mrs. Owen wrote a hurried line now and then, +usually to quote one of John Ware's sayings. The +minister asked about Sylvia, it seemed. These things +helped, but they did not supply the sympathy, of +which she was conscious in countless ways, between +her fellow students and their near of kin. With the +approach of holiday times, the talk among her companions +of the homes that awaited them, or, in the +case of many, of other homes where they were to visit, +deepened her newly awakened sense of isolation. +Fathers and mothers appeared constantly to visit +their daughters, and questions that had never +troubled her heart before arose to vex her. Why was +it, when these other girls, flung together from all +parts of the country, were so blest with kindred, +that she had literally but one kinsman, the grandfather +on whom all her love centred?</p> + +<p>It should not be thought, however, that she yielded +herself morbidly to these reflections, but such little +things as the receipt of gifts, the daily references +to home affairs, the photographs set out in the girls' +rooms, were not without their stab. She wrote to +Professor Kelton:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"I wish you would send me your picture of mother. +I often wondered why you didn't give it to me; +won't you lend it to me now? I think it is put away +in your desk in the library. Almost all the girls have +pictures of their families—some of them of their +houses and even the horse and dog—in their rooms. +And you must have a new picture taken of yourself—I'd +like it in your doctor's gown, that they gave +you at Williams. It's put away in the cedar chest +in the attic—Mary will know where. And if you +have a picture of father anywhere I should like to +have that too."</p></div> + +<p>She did not know that when this reached him—one +of the series of letters on which the old gentleman +lived these days, with its Wellesley postmark, +and addressed in Sylvia's clear, running hand, he +bowed his white head and wept; for he knew what +was in the girl's heart—knew and dreaded this +roused yearning, and suffered as he realized the arid +wastes of his own ignorance. But he sent her the +picture of her mother for which she asked, and had +the cottage photographed with Mills Hall showing +faintly beyond the hedge; and he meekly smuggled +his doctor's gown to the city and sat for his photograph. +These things Sylvia proudly spread upon the +walls of her room. He wrote to her—a letter that +cost him a day's labor:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"We don't seem to have any photograph of your +father; but things have a way of getting lost, particularly +in the hands of an old fellow like me. However, +I have had myself taken as you wished, and you +can see now what a solemn person your grandfather +is in his <i>toga academica</i>. I had forgotten I had that +silk overcoat and I am not sure now that I didn't put +the hood on wrong-side-out! I'm a sailor, you know, +and these fancy things stump me. The photographer +didn't seem to understand that sort of millinery. +Please keep it dark; your teachers might resent +the sudden appearance in the halls of Wellesley of +a grim old professor <i>emeritus</i> not known to your +faculty."</p></div> + +<p>The following has its significance in Sylvia's history +and we must give it place—this also to her +grandfather:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The most interesting lecture I ever heard +(except yours!) was given at the college yesterday +by Miss Jane Addams, of Hull House, the settlement +worker and writer on social reforms. She's +such a simple, modest little woman that everybody +loved her at once. She made many things clear to +me that I had only groped for before. She used an +expression that was new to me, 'reciprocal obligations,' +which we all have in this world, though I +never quite thought of it before. She's a college +woman herself, and feels that all of us who have +better advantages than other people should help +those who aren't taught to climb. It seems the most +practical idea in the world, that we should gather +up the loose, rough fringes of society and weave the +broken threads into a common warp and woof. The +social fabric is no stronger than its weakest thread. . . . +To help and to save for the sheer love of helping +and saving is the noblest thing any of us can do—I +feel that. This must be an old story to you; I'm +ashamed that I never saw it all for myself. It's as +though I had been looking at the world through a +blurred window, from a comfortable warm room, +when some one came along and brushed the pane +clear, so that I could see the suffering and hardship +outside, and feel my own duty to go out and help."</p></div> + +<p>Professor Kelton, spending a day in the city, +showed this to Mrs. Owen when she asked for news +of Sylvia. Mrs. Owen kept the letter that John Ware +might see it. Ware said: "Deep nature; I knew that +night she told me about the stars that she would +understand everything. You will hear of her. Wish +she would come here to live. We need women like +that."</p> + +<p>Professor Kelton met Sylvia in New York on her +way home for the holidays in her freshman year and +they spent their Christmas together in the cottage. +She was bidden to several social gatherings in Buckeye +Lane; and to a dance in town. She was now Miss +Garrison, a student at Wellesley, and the good men +and women at Madison paid tribute to her new +dignity. Something Sylvia was knowing of that +sweet daffodil time in the heart of a girl before the +hovering swallows dare to fly.</p> + +<p>In the midyear recess of her sophomore year +she visited one of her new friends in Boston in a +charming home of cultivated people. The following +Easter vacation her grandfather joined her for a +flight to New York and Washington, and this was +one of the happiest of experiences. During the remainder +of her college life she was often asked to the +houses of her girl friends in and about Boston; her +diffidence passed; she found that she had ideas and +the means of expressing them. The long summers +were spent at the cottage in the Lane; she saw Mrs. +Owen now and then with deepening attachment, and +her friend never forgot to send her a Christmas gift—once +a silver purse and a twenty-dollar gold piece; +again, a watch—always something carefully chosen +and practical.</p> + +<p>Sylvia arranged to return to college with two St. +Louis girls after her senior Christmas, to save her +grandfather the long journey, for he had stipulated +that she should never travel alone. By a happy +chance Dan Harwood, on his way to Boston to deliver +an issue of telephone bonds in one of Bassett's +companies, was a passenger on the same train, and +he promptly recalled himself to Sylvia, who proudly +presented him as a Yale man to her companions. A +special car filled with young collegians from Cincinnati +and the South was later attached to the train, +and Dan, finding several Yalensians in the company, +including the year's football hero, made them +all acquainted with Sylvia and her friends. It was +not till the next day that Dan found an opportunity +for personal talk with Sylvia, but he had already +been making comparisons. Sylvia was as well +"put up" as any of the girls, and he began to note +her quick changes of expression, the tones of her +voice, the grace of her slim, strong hands. He +wanted to impress himself upon her; he wanted her +to like him.</p> + +<p>"News? I don't know that I can give you any +news. You probably know that Mrs. Owen went to +Fraserville for Christmas with the Bassetts? Let +me see, you do know the Bassetts, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I was at Waupegan three summers ago at +Mrs. Owen's, and Mrs. Bassett and all of them were +very good to me."</p> + +<p>"You probably don't know that I'm employed by +Mr. Bassett. He has an office in Indianapolis where +I'm trying to be a lawyer and I do small jobs for him. +I'm doing an errand for him now. It will be the first +time I've been east of the mountains since I left +college, and I'm going to stop at New Haven on my +way home to see how they're getting on without me. +By the way, you probably know that Marian is +going to college?"</p> + +<p>"No; I didn't know it," exclaimed Sylvia. "But +I knew her mother was interested and I gave her a +Wellesley catalogue. That was a long time ago!"</p> + +<p>"That was when you were visiting Mrs. Owen at +Waupegan? I see, said the blind man!"</p> + +<p>"What do you see?" asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I see Mrs. Bassett and Marian, niece and grandniece +respectively, of Aunt Sally Owen; and as I +gaze, a stranger bound for college suddenly appears +on Mrs. Owen's veranda, in cap and gown. Tableau!"</p> + +<p>"I don't see the picture," Sylvia replied, though +she laughed in spite of herself.</p> + +<p>"I not only see," Dan continued, "but I hear the +jingle of red, red gold, off stage."</p> + +<p>This was going a trifle too far. Sylvia shook her +head and frowned.</p> + +<p>"That isn't fair, Mr. Harwood, if I guess what +you mean. There's no reason why Marian shouldn't +go to college. My going has nothing to do with it. +You have misunderstood the whole matter."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," said Dan quickly. "I mean no unkindness +to any of them. They are all very good to +me. It's too bad, though, that Marian's preparation +for college hadn't been in mind until so recently. +It would save her a lot of hard digging now. I see a +good deal of the family; and I'm even aware of +Marian's doings at Miss Waring's school. Master +Blackford beguiles me into taking him to football +games, and I often go with all of them to the theatre +when they're in town. Mr. Bassett is very busy, and +he doesn't often indulge himself in pleasures. He's +the kind of man whose great joy is in work—and +he has many things to look after."</p> + +<p>"You are a kind of private secretary to the whole +family, then; but you work at the law at the same +time?"</p> + +<p>Harwood's face clouded for a moment; she +noticed it and was sorry she had spoken; but he said +immediately:—</p> + +<p>"Well, I haven't had much time for the law this +winter. I have more things to do outside than I had +expected. But I fear I need prodding; I'm too prone +to wander into other fields. And I'm getting a good +deal interested in politics. You know Mr. Bassett is +one of the leading men in our state."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I had learned that; I suppose he may be +Senator or Governor some day. That makes it all +the more important that Marian should be fitted for +high station."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that just that idea has struck her!" +he laughed, quite cheerful again. "It's too bad it +can't be suggested to her. It might help her with her +Latin. She tells me in our confidences that she thinks +Latin a beast. It's my rôle to pacify her. But a girl +must live up to her mother's ambitions, and Mrs. +Bassett is ambitious for her children. And then +there's always the unencumbered aunt to please into +the bargain. Mrs. Owen is shrewd, wise, kind. Since +that night I saw you there we've become pals. She's +the most stimulating person I ever knew. She has +talked to me about you several times"—Dan +laughed and looked Sylvia in the eyes as though +wondering how far to go—"and if you're not the +greatest living girl you have shamefully fooled Mrs. +Owen. Mr. Ware, the minister, came in one evening +when I was there and I never heard such praise as +they gave you. But I approved of it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how nice of you!" said Sylvia, in a tone so +unlike her that Dan laughed outright.</p> + +<p>"You are the embodiment of loyalty; but believe +me, I am a loyal person myself. Please don't think +me a gossip. Marian's mother still hopes to land her +in college next year, but she's the least studious of +beings; I can't see her doing it. Mrs. Bassett's +never quite well, and that's been bad for Marian. +College would be a good thing for her. I've seen +many soaring young autocrats reduced to a proper +humility at New Haven, and I dare say you girls +have your own way of humbling a proud spirit."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe Marian needs humbling; one can't +help liking her; and she's ever so good to look at."</p> + +<p>"She's certainly handsome," Dan admitted.</p> + +<p>"She's altogether charming," said Sylvia warmly; +"and she's young—much younger than I am, for +example."</p> + +<p>"How old is young, or how young is old? I had an +idea that you and she were about the same age."</p> + +<p>"You flatter me! I'm nearly four years older! +but I suppose she seems much more grown-up, and +she knows a great many things I don't."</p> + +<p>"I dare say she does!" Dan laughed. And with +this they turned to other matters.</p> + +<p>Dan sat facing her, hat in hand, and as the train +rushed through the Berkshires Sylvia formed new +impressions of him. She saw him now as a young +man of affairs, with errands abroad—this in itself +of significance; and he had to do with politics, a +subject that had begun to interest Sylvia. The +cowlick where his hair parted kept a stubborn wisp +of brown hair in rebellion, and it shook amusingly +when he spoke earnestly or laughed. His gray eyes +were far apart and his nose was indubitably a big +one. He laughed a good deal, by which token one +saw that his teeth were white and sound. Something +of the Southwestern drawl had survived his years at +New Haven, but when he became earnest his eyes +snapped and he spoke with quick, nervous energy, +in a deep voice that was a little harsh. Sylvia had +heard a great deal about the brothers and young men +friends of her companions at college and was now +more attentive to the outward form of man than she +had thought of being before.</p> + +<p>When they reached Boston, Harwood took Sylvia +and her companions to luncheon at the Touraine and +put them on their train for Wellesley. His thoughtfulness +and efficiency could not fail to impress the +young women. He was an admirable cavalier, and +Sylvia's companions were delighted with him. He +threatened them with an early visit to college, suggesting +the most daring possibilities as to his appearance. +He repeated, at Sylvia's instigation, the +incident of the hearse horses at Poughkeepsie, with +new flourishes, and cheerfully proposed a cousinship +to all of them.</p> + +<p>"Or, perhaps," he said, when he had found seats +for them and had been admonished to leave, "perhaps +it would be more in keeping with my great age +to become your uncle. Then you would be cousins to +each other and we should all be related."</p> + +<p>Speculations as to whether he would ever come +kept the young women laughing as they discussed +him. They declared that the meeting on the train +had been by ulterior design and they quite exhausted +the fun of it upon Sylvia, who gained greatly in +importance through the encounter with Harwood. +She was not the demure young person they had +thought her; it was not every girl who could produce +a personable young man on a railway journey.</p> + +<p>Sylvia wondered much about Marian and dramatized +to herself the girl's arrival at college. It did +not seem credible that Mrs. Bassett was preparing +Marian for college because she, Sylvia Garrison, +was enrolled there. Sylvia was kindly disposed +toward all the world, and she resented Harwood's +insinuations. As for Mrs. Owen and Dan's intimations +that Marian must be educated to satisfy the +great aunt's ideals as represented in Sylvia—well, +Sylvia had no patience whatever with any such idea.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII" />CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE WAYS OF MARIAN</h3> + + +<p>The historian may not always wait for the +last grain of sand to mark the passing of an +hour; he must hasten the flight of time frequently +by abrupt reversals of the glass. Much +competent evidence (to borrow from the lawyers) +we must reject as irrelevant or immaterial to our +main issue. Harwood was admitted to practice in +the United States courts midway of his third year +in Bassett's office. The doors of the state courts +swing inward to any Hoosier citizen of good moral +character who wants to practice law,—a drollery +of the Hoosier constitution still tolerated. The humor +of being a mere "constitutional" lawyer did not +appeal to Harwood, who revered the traditions and +the great names of his chosen profession, and he had +first written his name on the rolls of the United +States District Court.</p> + +<p>His work for Bassett grew more and more congenial. +The man from Fraser was concentrating his +attention on business; at least he found plenty of +non-political work for Dan to do. After the troubled +waters in Ranger County had been quieted and Bassett's +advanced outpost in the Boordman Building +had ceased to attract newspaper reporters, an important +receivership to which Bassett had been appointed +gave Harwood employment of a semi-legal +character. Bassett had been a minor stockholder in +a paper-mill which had got into difficulties through +sheer bad management, and as receiver he addressed +himself to the task of proving that the business could +be made to pay. The work he assigned to Harwood +was to the young man's liking, requiring as it did +considerable travel, visits to the plant, which was +only a few hours' journey from the capital, and +negotiations which required the exercise of tact and +judgment. However, Harwood found himself ineluctably +drawn into the state campaign that fall. +Bassett was deeply engaged in all the manoeuvres, +and Harwood was dispatched frequently on errands +to county chairmen, and his aid was welcomed by +the literary bureau of the state committee. He prepared +a speech whose quality he tested at small +meetings in his own county, and his efforts having +been favorably received he acted as a supply to fill +appointments where the regular schedule failed. +Toward the end of the campaign his assignments +increased until all his time was taken. By studying +his audiences he caught the trick of holding the attention +of large crowds; his old college sobriquet of +"Foghorn" Harwood had been revived and the newspapers +mentioned his engagements with a casualness +that implied fame. He enjoyed his public appearances, +and the laughter and applause were sweet to +him.</p> + +<p>After the election Bassett admonished him not to +neglect the law.</p> + +<p>"I want you to make your way in the profession," +he said, "and not let my affairs eat up all your time. +Give me your mornings as far as possible and keep +your afternoons for study. If at any time you have +to give me a whole day, take the next day for yourself. +But this work you're doing will all help you later. +Lawyers these days have got to be business men; you +understand that; and you want to get to the top."</p> + +<p>Dan visited his parents and brothers as often as +possible on the infertile Harrison County acres, to +which the mortgage still clung tenaciously. He had +felt since leaving college that he owed it to the brothers +who had remained behind to wipe out the old harassing +debt as soon as possible. The thought of their +struggles often made him unhappy, and he felt that +he could only justify his own desertion by freeing +the farm. After one of these visits Bassett drew +from him the fact that the mortgage was about to +mature, and that another of a long series of renewals +of the loan was necessary. Bassett was at once interested +and sympathetic. The amount of the debt +was three thousand dollars, and he proposed that +Dan discharge it.</p> + +<p>"I've never said so, but at the conclusion of the +receivership I've intended paying you for your additional +work. If everything goes well my own allowance +ought to be ten thousand dollars, and you're +entitled to a share of it. I'll say now that it will be +not less than two thousand dollars. I'll advance you +that amount at once and carry your personal note +for the other thousand in the Fraserville bank. It's +too bad you have to use your first money that way, +but it's natural for you to want to do it. I see that +you feel a duty there, and the folks at home have had +that mortgage on their backs so long that it's taken +all the spirit out of them. You pay the mortgage +when it's due and go down and make a little celebration +of it, to cheer them up. I'll carry that thousand +as long as you like."</p> + +<p>Miss Rose Farrell, nigh to perishing of ennui in +the lonely office of the absentee steel construction +agents, had been installed as stenographer in Room +66 a year earlier. Miss Farrell had, it appeared, +served Bassett several terms as stenographer to one +of the legislative committees of which he was chairman.</p> + +<p>"You needn't be afraid of my telling anything," +she said in reply to Dan's cautioning. "Those winters +I worked at the State House I learned enough to +fill three penitentiaries with great and good men, +but you couldn't dig it out of me with a steam +shovel. They were going to have me up before an +investigating committee once, but I had burned my +shorthand notes and couldn't remember a thing. +Your little Irish Rose knows a few things, Mr. Harwood. +I was on to your office before the 'Advertiser' +sprung that story and gave it away that Mr. +Bassett had a room here. I spotted the senator from +Fraser coming up our pedestrian elevator, and I +know all those rubes that have been dropping up +to see him—struck 'em all in the legislature. He +won't tear your collar if you put me on the job. And +if I do say it myself I'm about as speedy on the machine +as you find 'em. All your little Rose asks is +the right to an occasional Wednesday matinée when +business droops like a sick oleander. You needn't +worry about me having callers. I'm a business +woman, I am, and I guess I know what's proper in +a business office. If I don't understand men, Mr. +Harwood, no poor working girl does."</p> + +<p>Bassett was pleased with Dan's choice of a stenographer. +He turned over to Rose the reading of the +rural newspapers and sundry other routine matters. +There was no doubt of Miss Farrell's broad knowledge +of the world, or of her fidelity to duty. Harwood +took early opportunity to subdue somewhat +the pungency of the essences with which she perfumed +herself, and she gave up gum-chewing meekly +at his behest. She assumed at once toward him that +maternal attitude which is peculiar to office girls +endowed with psychological insight. He sought to +improve the character of fiction she kept at hand for +leisure moments, and was surprised by the aptness +of her comments on the books she borrowed on his +advice from the Public Library. She was twenty-four, +tall and trim, with friendly blue-gray eyes and +a wit that had been sharpened by adversity.</p> + +<p>It cannot be denied that Mrs. Bassett and Marian +found Harwood a convenient reed upon which to +lean. Nor was Blackford above dragging his father's +secretary (as the family called him) forth into the +bazaars of Washington Street to assist in the purchase +of a baseball suit or in satisfying other cravings +of his youthful heart. Mrs. Bassett, scorning the +doctors of Fraserville, had now found a nerve specialist +at the capital who understood her troubles perfectly.</p> + +<p>Marian, at Miss Waring's school, was supposed +to be preparing for college, though Miss Waring +had no illusions on the subject. Marian made Mrs. +Owen her excuse for many absences from school: +what was the use of having a wealthy great-aunt +living all alone in a comfortable house in Delaware +Street if one didn't avail one's self of the rights and +privileges conferred by such relationship? When a +note from Miss Waring to Mrs. Bassett at Fraserville +conveyed the disquieting news of her daughter's unsatisfactory +progress, Mrs. Bassett went to town +and dealt severely with Marian. Mrs. Owen was +grimly silent when appealed to; it had never been her +idea that Marian should be prepared for college; but +now that the girl's mother had pledged herself to +the undertaking Mrs. Owen remained a passive +spectator of the struggle. Mrs. Owen was not so +dull but that she surmised what had inspired this +zeal for a collegiate training for Marian; and her +heart warmed toward the dark young person at +Wellesley, such being the contrariety of her kindly +soul. To Miss Waring, a particular friend of hers +and one of her admirations, Mrs. Owen said:—</p> + +<p>"I want you to do the best you can for Marian, +now that her mother's bitten with this idea of +sending her to college. She's smart enough, I +guess?"</p> + +<p>"Too much smartness is Marian's trouble," replied +Miss Waring. "There's nothing in the gymnasium +she can't do; she's become the best French scholar +we ever had, but that's about all. She's worked +hard at French because she thinks it gives her a +grand air. I can't imagine any other reason. She's +adorable and—impossible!"</p> + +<p>"Do the best you can for her; I want her to go to +college if she can."</p> + +<p>Miss Waring had the reputation of being strict, +yet Marian slipped the cords of routine and discipline +with ease. She had passed triumphantly from +the kitchen "fudge" and homemade butterscotch +period of a girl's existence into the realm of <i>marrons +glacés</i>. Nothing bored her so much as the +afternoon airings of the school under the eye of a +teacher; and these she turned into larks when she +shared in them. Twice in one winter she had hopped +upon a passing street car and rolled away in triumph +from her meek and horrified companions and their +outraged duenna. She encouraged by means the +subtlest, the attentions of a strange young gentleman +who followed the school's peregrinations afar +off. She carried on a brief correspondence with this +cavalier, a fence corner in Pennsylvania Street serving +as post-office.</p> + +<p>Luck favored her astonishingly in her efforts to +escape the rigors of school discipline. Just when she +was forbidden to leave Miss Waring's to spend +nights and Sundays at Mrs. Owen's, her mother +came to town and opportunely (for Marian) fell ill, +at the Whitcomb. Mrs. Bassett was cruising languidly +toward the sombre coasts of Neurasthenia, +and though she was under the supervision of a +trained nurse, Marian made her mother's illness an +excuse for moving down to the hotel to take care +of her. Her father, in and out of the city caring for +his multiplying interests, objected mildly but acquiesced, +which was simpler and more comfortable +than opposing her.</p> + +<p>Having escaped from school and established herself +at the Whitcomb, Marian summoned Harwood +to the hotel on the flimsiest pretexts, many of +them most ingeniously plausible. For example, she +avowed her intention of carrying on her studies at +the hotel during her enforced retirement from Miss +Waring's, and her father's secretary, being a college +man, could assist her with her Latin as well as not. +Dan set tasks for her for a week, until she wearied of +the pretense. She insisted that it was too stupid for +her to go unattended to the hotel restaurant for her +meals, and it was no fun eating in her mother's +room with that lady in bed and the trained nurse +at hand; so Harwood must join her for luncheon and +dinner at the Whitcomb. Mrs. Owen was out of +town, Bassett was most uncertain in his goings and +comings, and Mrs. Bassett was beyond Harwood's +reach, so he obeyed, not without chafing of spirit, +these commands of Marian. He was conscious that +people pointed her out in the restaurant as Morton +Bassett's daughter, and he did not like the responsibility +of this unauthorized chaperonage.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett was going to a sanatorium as soon as +she was able to move; but for three weeks Marian +was on Harwood's hands. Her bland airs of proprietorship +amused him when they did not annoy +him, and when he ventured to remonstrate with her +for her unnecessary abandonment of school to take +care of her mother, her pretty <i>moue</i> had mitigated +his impatience. She knew the value of her prettiness. +Dan was a young man and Marian was not without +romantic longings. Just what passed between her +and her mother Harwood could not know, but the +hand that ruled indulgently in health had certainly +not gained strength in sickness.</p> + +<p>This was in January when the theatres were offering +an unusual variety of attractions. Dan had been +obliged to refuse—more harshly than was agreeable—to +take Marian to see a French farce that +had been widely advertised by its indecency. Her +cool announcement that she had read it in French +did not seem to Harwood to make an educational +matter of it; but he was obliged finally to compromise +with her on another play. Her mother was quite +comfortable, she averred; there was no reason why +she should not go to the theatre, and she forced the +issue by getting the tickets herself.</p> + +<p>That evening when they reached their seats Dan +observed that Allen Thatcher sat immediately in +front of them. He turned and nodded to Dan, and +his eyes took in Marian. In a moment she murmured +an inquiry as to who the young man was; and +Harwood was aware thereafter that Marian divided +her attention between Allen and the stage. Allen +turned once or twice in the entr'actes with some +comment on the play, and Marian was pleased with +his profile; moreover he bore a name with which she +had long been familiar. As the curtain fell she whispered +to Harwood:—</p> + +<p>"You must introduce me to Mr. Thatcher,—please—! +His father and papa are friends, and I've +heard so much about the family that I just have to +know him."</p> + +<p>Harwood looked down at her gravely to be sure +it was not one of her jokes, but she was entirely +serious. He felt that he must take a stand with her; +if her father and mother were unaware of her venturesome +nature he still had his responsibility, and +it was not incumbent on him to widen her acquaintance.</p> + +<p>"No!" he said flatly.</p> + +<p>But Marian knew a trick or two. She loitered by +her seat adjusting her wrap with unnecessary deliberation. +Allen, wishing to arrange an appointment +with Dan for luncheon the next day, waited +for him to come into the aisle. Dan had not the +slightest idea of introducing his charge to Allen or to +any one else, and he stepped in front of her to get +rid of his friend with the fewest words possible. +But Marian so disposed herself at his elbow that he +could not without awkwardness refuse her.</p> + +<p>She murmured Allen's name cordially, leveling her +eyes at him smilingly.</p> + +<p>"I've often heard Mr. Harwood speak of you, +Mr. Thatcher! He has a great way of speaking of +his friends!"</p> + +<p>Allen was not a forthputting person, and Dan's +manner was not encouraging; but the trio remained +together necessarily through the aisle to the foyer.</p> + +<p>Marian took advantage of their slow exit to discuss +the play and with entire sophistication, expressing +astonishment that Allen was lukewarm in his +praise of it. He could not agree with her that the +leading woman was beautiful, but she laughed when +he remarked, with his droll intonation, that the star +reminded him of a dressed-up mannikin in a clothing-store +window.</p> + +<p>"That is just the kind of thing I imagined you +would say. My aunt, Mrs. Owen, says that you always +say something different."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt Sally! She's the grandest of women. I +wish she were my aunt. I have aunts I could trade +for her."</p> + +<p>At the door Allen paused. Marian, running on +blithely, gave him no opportunity to make his adieux.</p> + +<p>"Oh, aren't you going our way?" she demanded, +in a tone of invitation.</p> + +<p>"Yes; come along; it's only a step to the hotel +where Miss Bassett is staying," said Harwood, finding +that they blocked the entrance and not seeing +his way to abandoning Allen on the spot. He never +escaped the appeal that lay in Allen; he was not +the sort of fellow one would wound; and there could +be no great harm in allowing him to walk a few +blocks with Marian Bassett, who had so managed +the situation as to make his elimination difficult. It +was a cold, clear night and they walked briskly to +the Whitcomb. When they reached the hotel, Dan, +who had left the conversation to Marian and Allen, +breathed a sigh that his responsibility was at an +end. He and Allen would have a walk and talk together, +or they might go up to the Boordman Building +for the long lounging parleys in which Allen delighted +and which Dan himself enjoyed. But Dan had +not fully gauged the measure of Marian's daring.</p> + +<p>"Won't you please wait a minute, Mr. Harwood, +until I see if poor mama needs anything. You know +we all rely on you so. I'll be back in just a moment."</p> + +<p>"So that's Morton Bassett's daughter," observed +Allen when Marian had fluttered into the elevator. +"You must have a lot of fun taking her about; she's +much more grown-up than I had imagined from +what you've said. She's almost a dangerous young +person."</p> + +<p>The young men found seats and Allen nursed his +hat musingly. He had nothing whatever to do, and +the chance meeting with Harwood was a bright incident +in a bleak, eventless day.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she's a nice child," replied Harwood indifferently. +"But she finds childhood irksome. It +gives her ladyship a feeling of importance to hold +me here while she asks after the comfort of her +mother. I suppose a girl is a woman when she has +learned that she can tell a man to wait."</p> + +<p>"You should write a book of aphorisms and call +it 'The Young Lady's Own Handbook.' Perhaps +I ought to be skipping."</p> + +<p>"For Heaven's sake, don't! I want you as an +excuse for getting away."</p> + +<p>"I think I'd better go," suggested Allen. "I +can wait for you in the office."</p> + +<p>"Then I should pay the penalty for allowing you +to escape; she can be very severe; she is a much harder +taskmaster than her father. Don't desert me."</p> + +<p>Allen took this at face value; and it seemed only +ordinary courtesy to wait to say good-night to a +young woman who was coming back in a moment +to report upon the condition of a sick mother. In +ten minutes Marian reappeared, having left her +wraps behind.</p> + +<p>"Mama is sleeping beautifully. And that's a sign +that she's better."</p> + +<p>Here clearly was an end of the matter, and Dan +had begun to say good-night; but with the prettiest +grace possible Marian was addressing Allen:—</p> + +<p>"I'm terribly hungry and I sent down an order +for just the smallest supper. You see, I took it for +granted that you would both be just as hungry as +I am, so you must come and keep me company." +And to anticipate the refusal that already glittered +coldly in Dan's eye, she continued, "Mama doesn't +like me to be going into the restaurant alone, but +she approves of Mr. Harwood."</p> + +<p>The head waiter was already leading them to a +table set for three in accordance with the order Manan +had telephoned from her room. She had eliminated +the possibility of discussion, and Harwood +raged in his helplessness. There was no time for a +scene even if he had thought it wise to precipitate +one.</p> + +<p>"It's only a lobster, you know," she said, with +the careless ease of a young woman quite habituated +to midnight suppers.</p> + +<p>Harwood's frown of annoyance had not escaped +her; but it only served to add to her complete joy +in the situation. There were other people about, and +music proceeded from a screen of palms at the end +of the dining-room. Having had her way, Marian +nibbled celery and addressed herself rather pointedly +to Allen, unmindful of the lingering traces of Harwood's +discomfiture. By the time the lobster was +served she was on capital terms with Allen.</p> + +<p>In his own delight in Marian, Allen failed utterly +to comprehend Harwood's gloomy silence. Dan +scarcely touched his plate, and he knew that Marian +was covertly laughing at him.</p> + +<p>"Do you know," said Allen, speaking directly to +Dan, "we're having great arguments at Lüders's; +we turn the universe over every day."</p> + +<p>"You see, Miss Bassett," Allen explained to +Marian; "I'm a fair carpenter and work almost +every day at Louis Lüders's shop. I earn a dollar +a day and eat dinner—dinner, mind you!—at +twelve o'clock, out of a tin pail. You can see that +I'm a laboring man—one of the toiling millions."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean that seriously, Mr. Thatcher; +not really!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, why will you say that? Every one says just +that! No one ever believes that I mean what I say!"</p> + +<p>This was part of some joke, Marian surmised, +though she did not quite grasp it. It was inconceivable +that the son of the house of Thatcher should +seriously seek a chance to do manual labor. Allen in +his dinner jacket did not look like a laborer: he was +far more her idea of a poet or a musician.</p> + +<p>"I went to Lüders's house the other evening for +supper," Allen was saying. "I rather put it up to +him to ask me, and he has a house with a garden, +and his wife was most amusing. We all talked +German, including the kids,—three of them, +fascinating little fellows. He's a cabinetmaker, +Miss Bassett,—a producer of antiques, and a good +one; and about the gentlest human being you ever +saw. He talks about existing law as though it were +some kind of devil,—a monster, devouring the +world's poor. But he won't let his wife spank the +children,—wouldn't, even when one of them kicked +a hole in my hat! I supposed that of course there +would be dynamite lying round in tomato cans; +and when I shook the pepper box I expected an explosion; +but I didn't see a gun on the place. He's +beautifully good-natured, and laughed in the greatest +way when I asked him how soon he thought of +blowing up some of our prominent citizens. I really +believe he likes me—strange but true."</p> + +<p>"Better not get in too deep with those fellows," +warned Dan. "The police watch Lüders carefully; +he's considered dangerous. It's the quiet ones, +who are kind to their families and raise cabbages, +that are the most violent."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lüders says we've got to smash everything! +He rather favors socialism himself, but he wants +to tear down the court-houses first and begin again."</p> + +<p>"You'd better be careful or you'll land in jail, +Mr. Thatcher," remarked Marian, taking an olive.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if anything as interesting as that should +happen to me, I should certainly die of joy!"</p> + +<p>"But your family wouldn't like it if you went to +jail," persisted Marian, delighting in the confidences +of a young gentleman for whom jails had no terrors.</p> + +<p>"The thought of my family is disturbing, it's +positively disturbing," Allen replied. "Lüders has +given me a chance in his shop, and really expects me +to work. Surprising in an anarchist; you'd rather +expect him to press a stick of dynamite in your hand +and tell you to go out and blow up a bank. Lüders +has a sense of humor, you know: hence the antiques, +made to coax money from the purses of the fat +rich. There are more ways than one of being a cut-purse."</p> + +<p>The lobster had been consumed, and they were +almost alone in the restaurant. Marian, with her +elbows on the table, was in no haste to leave, but +Dan caught the eye of the hovering waiter and paid +the check.</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't have done that," Marian protested; +"it was my party. I sign my own checks +here."</p> + +<p>But having now asserted himself, Dan rose, and +in a moment he and Allen had bidden her good-night +at the elevator door.</p> + +<p>"You didn't seem crazy about your lobster, and +you were hardly more than polite to our hostess. +Sorry to have butted in. But why have you kept +these tender recreations from me!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that child vexes my spirit sometimes. She's +bent on making people do things they don't want +to do. Of course the lobster was a mere excuse for +getting acquainted with you; but you needn't be +too set up about it: I think her curiosity about your +family is responsible,—these fake newspaper stories +about your sister—which is it, Hermione or Gwendolen—who +is always about to marry a count. Countesses +haven't been common in Indiana. We need +a few to add tone to the local gossip."</p> + +<p>"Oh," murmured Allen dejectedly: "I'm sorry +if you didn't want me in the party. It's always the +way with me. Nobody ever really loves me for myself +alone. What does the adorable do besides midnight +lobsters? I thought Aunt Sally said she was +at Miss Waring's school."</p> + +<p>"She is, more or less," growled Dan. "Her mother +wants to put her through college, to please the +wealthy great-aunt. Mrs. Owen has shown interest +in another girl who is now at Wellesley; hence +Marian must go to college, and the bare thought of +it bores her to death. She's as little adapted to a +course in college as one of those bright goddesses +who used to adorn Olympus."</p> + +<p>"She doesn't strike me as needing education; +she's a finished product. I felt very young in the +divine presence."</p> + +<p>"She gives one that feeling," laughed Dan, his +mood of impatience dissolving.</p> + +<p>"Who's this rival who has made the higher +education seem necessary for Morton Bassett's +daughter?"</p> + +<p>"She's an amazing girl; quite astonishing. If +Mrs. Bassett were a wise woman she wouldn't enter +Marian in competition. And besides, I think her +fears are utterly groundless. Marian is delightful, +with her waywardness and high-handedness; and +Mrs. Owen likes originals, not feeble imitations. I +should hate to try to deceive Mrs. Sally Owen—she's +about the wisest person I ever saw."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sylvia! Mrs. Owen has mentioned her. The +girl that knows all the stars and that sort of thing. +But where's Morton Bassett in all this? He's rather +more than a shadow on the screen?"</p> + +<p>"Same old story of the absorbed American father +and the mother with nerves"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Two afternoons later, as Harwood was crossing +University Park on his way to his boarding-house, +he stopped short and stared. A little ahead of him +in the walk strolled a girl and a young man, laughing +and talking with the greatest animation. There +was no questioning their identity. It was five o'clock +and quite dark, and the air was sharp. Harwood +paused and waited for the two loiterers to cross +the lighted space about the little park's central +fountain. It seemed incredible that Marian and +Allen should be abroad together in this dallying +fashion. His anger rose against Allen, but he curbed +an impulse to send him promptly about his business +and take Marian back to the Whitcomb. Mr. Bassett +was expected in town that evening and Dan saw +his duty clearly in regard to Marian; she must be +returned to school willy-nilly.</p> + +<p>The young people were hitting it off wonderfully, +and Marian's laughter rang out clearly upon the winter +air. Her tall, supple figure, her head capped with +a fur toque, and more than all, the indubitable evidence +that such a clandestine stroll as this gave her +the keenest delight, drove home to Harwood the +realization that Marian was no longer a child, but a +young woman, obstinately bent upon her own way. +Allen was an ill-disciplined, emotional boy, whose +susceptibilities in the matter of girls Dan had already +noted. The combination had its dangers and +his anger rose as he followed them at a safe distance. +They prolonged their walk for half an hour, coming +at last to the Whitcomb.</p> + +<p>Harwood waylaid Allen in the hotel office a moment +after Marian had gone to her room. The young +fellow's cheeks were unwontedly bright from the cold +or from the excitement of his encounter.</p> + +<p>"Halloa! I was going to look you up and ask you +to have dinner with me."</p> + +<p>"You were looking for me in a likely place," replied +Harwood coldly. "See here, Allen, I've been +laboring under the delusion that you were a gentleman."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Have we come to that?"</p> + +<p>"You know better than to go loafing through +town with a truant school-girl you hardly know. I +suppose it's my fault for introducing you to her. I +want you to tell me how you managed this. Did you +telephone her or write a note? Sit down here now +and let's have it out."</p> + +<p>They drew away from the crowd and found seats +in a quiet corner of the lobby.</p> + +<p>Harwood, his anger unabated, repeated his question.</p> + +<p>"Out with it; just how did you manage it?"</p> + +<p>Allen was twisting his gloves nervously; he had +not been conscious of transgressing any law, but he +would not for worlds have invited Harwood's displeasure. +He was near to tears; but he remained +stubbornly silent until Harwood again demanded to +know how he contrived the meeting with Marian.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, old man," Allen answered, "but I +can't tell you anything about it. I don't see that +my crime is so heinous. She has been cooped up in +the hotel all day with her sick mother, and a short +walk—it was only a few blocks—couldn't have +done her any harm. I think you're making too much +of it."</p> + +<p>"You were dallying there in the park, in a way +to attract attention, with a headstrong, silly girl that +you ought to have protected from that sort of thing. +You know better than that."</p> + +<p>Allen, enfolded in his long ulster, shuffled his feet +on the tiling like a school-boy in disgrace. Deep +down in his heart, Harwood did not believe that +Allen had proposed the walk to Marian; it was far +likelier that Marian had sought the meeting by note +or telephone. He turned upon Allen with a slight +relaxation of his sternness.</p> + +<p>"You didn't write her a note or telephone her,—you +didn't do either, did you?"</p> + +<p>Allen, silent and dejected, dropped his gloves and +picked them up, the color deepening in his cheeks.</p> + +<p>"I just happened to meet her; that's all," he said, +avoiding Dan's eyes.</p> + +<p>"She wrote you a note or telephoned you?"</p> + +<p>Silence.</p> + +<p>"Humph," grunted Harwood.</p> + +<p>"She's wonderfully beautiful and strong and so +tremendously vivid! I think those nice girls you +read of in the Greek mythology must have been like +that," murmured Allen, sighing heavily.</p> + +<p>"I dare say they were!" snapped Harwood, searching +the youngster's thin, sensitive face, and meeting +for an instant his dreamy eyes. He was touched +anew by the pathos in the boy, whose nature was a +light web of finespun golden cords thrilling to any +breath of fancy. The superb health, the dash and +daring of a school-girl that he had seen but once or +twice, had sent him climbing upon a frail ladder of +romantic dreams.</p> + +<p>Harwood struck his hands together sharply. If +he owed a duty to Marian and her family, not less +he was bound to turn Allen's thoughts into safe +channels.</p> + +<p>"Of course it wouldn't do—that sort of thing, +you know, Allen. I didn't mean to beat you into +the dust. Let's go over to Pop June's and get some +oysters. I don't feel up to our usual boarding-house +discussion of Christian Science to-night."</p> + +<p>At the first opportunity Dan suggested to Bassett, +without mentioning Marian's adventure with Allen, +that the Whitcomb was no place for her, and that +her pursuit of knowledge under his own tutorship +was the merest farce; whereupon Bassett sent her +back immediately to Miss Waring's.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV" />CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE PASSING OF ANDREW KELTON</h3> + + +<p>Andrew Kelton died suddenly, near the +end of May, in Sylvia's senior year at college. +The end came unexpectedly, of heart +trouble. Harwood read of it in the morning newspaper, +and soon after he reached his office Mrs. Owen +called him on the telephone to say that she was going +to Montgomery at once, and asking him to meet +Sylvia as she passed through Indianapolis on her +way home. Both of the morning papers printed +laudatory articles on Kelton; he had been held in +high esteem by all the friends of Madison College, +and his name was known to educators throughout +the country.</p> + +<p>On the same afternoon Bassett appeared in town +on the heels of a letter saying that Dan need not +expect him until the following week.</p> + +<p>"Thought I'd better see Fitch about some receiver +business, so I came down a little ahead of +time. What's new?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing very exciting. There's a good deal of +political buzz, but I don't believe anything has +happened that you don't know. From the way +candidates are turning up for state office our fellows +must think they have a chance of winning."</p> + +<p>Bassett was unfailingly punctilious in forecasting +his appearances in town, and his explanation that +legal matters had brought him down was not wholly +illuminative. Dan knew that the paper-mill receivership +was following its prescribed course, and +he was himself, through an arrangement made by +Bassett, in touch with Fitch and understood the +legal status of the case perfectly. As Bassett passed +through the library to his own room he paused to +indulge in a moment's banter with Miss Farrell. It +was not until he had opened his desk that he replied +to Harwood's remark.</p> + +<p>"A few good men on our ticket might pull through +next time, but it will take us a little longer to get the +party whipped into shape again and strong enough +to pull a ticket through. But hope springs eternal. +You have noticed that I don't talk on national affairs +when the reporters come to me. In the state committee +I tell them to put all the snap they can into +the county organizations, and try to get good men on +local tickets. When the boys out West get tired of +being licked we will start in again and do business at +the old stand. I've always taken care that they +shouldn't have a chance to attack my regularity."</p> + +<p>"I've just been reading a book of Cleveland's +speeches," remarked Dan.</p> + +<p>"Solemn, but sound. He will undoubtedly go +down as one of the great Presidents. I think Republicans +and men of all sorts of political ideas will come +to that."</p> + +<p>"But I don't feel that all this radicalism is a +passing phase. It's eating deeply into the Republicans +too. We're on the eve of a revival of patriotism, +and party names don't mean what they did. But I +believe the Democratic Party is still the best hope of +the people, even when the people go clean off their +heads."</p> + +<p>"You believe in Democracy, but you doubt sometimes +whether the Democratic Party is really the +custodian of the true faith of Democracy—is that +it?"</p> + +<p>"That's exactly it. And my young Republican +friends feel the same way about their party."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess I stand about where you do. I +believe in parties. I don't think there's much gained +by jumping around from one party to another; and +independent movements are as likely to do harm as +good. I don't mind confessing to you that I had a +good notion to join the Democratic schism in '96, +and support Palmer and Buckner. But I didn't, and +I'm not sorry I kept regular and held on. I believed +the silver business would pass over; and it's out of +sight. They charged me with voting the Republican +ticket in '96; but that's a lie. I've never scratched a +ticket since I first voted, and"—Bassett smiled his +grim smile—"I've naturally voted for a good many +rascals. By the way, how much are you seeing of +Atwill?"</p> + + +<p>"I make a point of seeing him once a week or +oftener. When I'm downtown at night I usually +catch him for a late supper."</p> + +<p>"The 'Courier' is regular, all right enough. It's a +good property, and when our party gets through +chasing meadow-larks and gets down to business +again it will be more valuable. Was that your editorial +yesterday on municipal government? Good. +I'm for trying some of these new ideas. I've been +reading a lot of stuff on municipal government +abroad, and some of those foreign ideas we ought to +try here. I want the 'Courier' to take the lead in +those things; it may help"—and Bassett smiled— +"it may help to make the high brows see that ours +has really been the party of progress through these +years when it's marched backward."</p> + +<p>Bassett swung round slowly until his gaze fell +upon the map, reminding the young man of Thatcher's +interest in that varicolored oblong of paper. +Dan had never mentioned Thatcher's visit to the office, +feeling that if the capitalist were really the bold +man he appeared to be, he would show his hand to +Bassett soon enough. Moreover, Harwood's confidence +in Bassett's powers had never wavered; in the +management of the paper-mill receivership the +senator from Fraser had demonstrated a sagacity +and resourcefulness that had impressed Dan anew. +Bassett possessed, in unusual degree, the astuteness +and executive force of the successful American business +man, and his nice feeling for the things that +interest cultivated people lifted him far above the +common type of political boss. Dan had yet to see +a demonstration of Bassett's political venality; the +bank and his other interests at Fraserville were +profitable. It must be a craving for power, not +money, Dan reasoned, that led Bassett into politics. +Bassett turned to his desk with some letters he +had taken from his pocket. It occurred to Dan that +as Mrs. Owen had suggested that he accompany +Sylvia to Montgomery, it would be well to mention +the possibility of his leaving town for a day.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Owen telephoned me this morning of Professor +Kelton's death. You probably read of it in +to-day's papers. Mrs. Owen is an old friend of his, +and went to Montgomery on the noon train. She +asked me to meet the Professor's granddaughter, +Miss Garrison, when she comes through here in the +morning on her way home. I know her slightly, and +I think I'd better go over to Montgomery with her, +if you don't mind."</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly; I was sorry to read of Kelton's +death. Mrs. Owen will feel it deeply. It's a blow to +these old people when one of them drops out of the +ranks. I'm glad the 'Courier' printed that capital +sketch of him; much better than the 'Advertiser's.' +While I think of it, I wish you would tell Atwill that +I like the idea of saying a word editorially for these +old citizens as they leave us. It gives the paper tone, +and I like to show appreciation of fine characters like +Kelton."</p> + +<p>Bassett had turned round with a letter in his hand. +He unfolded it slowly and went on, scanning it as he +talked.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry I never knew Kelton. They say he was +a very able mathematician and astronomer. It's +rather remarkable that we should have kept him in +Indiana. I suppose you may have seen him at Mrs. +Owen's; they had a common tie in their Kentucky +connections. I guess there's no tie quite like the +Kentucky tie, unless it's the Virginian."</p> + +<p>He seemed absorbed in the letter—one of a +number he had taken from his bag; then he glanced +up as though waiting for Dan's reply.</p> + +<p>"No, I never saw him at Mrs. Owen's; but I did +meet him once, in Montgomery. He was a fine old +gentleman. You would hardly imagine him ever to +have been a naval officer; he was quite the elderly, +spectacled professor in his bearing and manner."</p> + +<p>"I suppose even a man bred to the sea loses the +look of a sailor if he lives inland long enough," +Bassett observed.</p> + +<p>"I think my brief interview with him rather indicated +that he had been a man of action—the old +discipline of the ship may have been in that," remarked +Harwood. Then, fearing that he might be +laying himself open to questions that he should have +to avoid answering, he said: "Kelton wrote a good +deal on astronomical subjects, and his textbooks +have been popular. Sylvia Garrison, the granddaughter, +is something of a wonder herself."</p> + +<p>"Bright girl, is she?"</p> + +<p>"Quite so; and very nice to look at. I met her on +the train when I went to Boston with those bonds in +January. She was going back to college after the +holidays. She's very interesting—quite different."</p> + +<p>"Different?" repeated Bassett vaguely, dropping +back in his chair, but again referring absently to the +letter.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Dan smiled. "She has a lot of individuality. +She's a serious young person; very practical-minded, +I should say. They tell me she walks +through mathematics like a young duchess through +the minuet. Some other Wellesley girls were on the +train and they did not scruple to attribute miraculous +powers to her; a good sign, other girls liking her +so much. They were very frank in their admiration."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Owen had her at Waupegan several years +ago, and my wife and Marian met her there. Mrs. +Bassett was greatly impressed by her fine mind. It +seems to me I saw her, too, that summer; but of +course she's grown up since then."</p> + +<p>He glanced at Harwood as though for confirmation +of these details, but Dan's thoughts were elsewhere. +He was thinking of Sylvia speeding homeward, +and of the little cottage beside the campus. +His subsequent meetings with Sylvia had caused a +requickening of all the impressions of his visit to +Professor Kelton, and he had been recalling that +errand again to-day. The old gentleman had given +his answer with decision; Harwood recalled the crisp +biting-off of the negative, and the Professor had +lifted his head slightly as he spoke the word. Dan +remembered the peace of the cottage, the sweet +scents of June blowing through the open windows; +and he remembered Sylvia as she had opened the +door, and their colloquy later, on the campus.</p> + +<p>"You'd better go to Montgomery with Miss +Garrison and report to Mrs. Owen for any service +you may render her. Does the old gentleman's +death leave the girl alone?"</p> + +<p>"Quite so, I think. She had lived with him nearly +all her life. The papers mentioned no other near +relatives."</p> + +<p>"I'll be in town a day or two. You do what you +can over there for Mrs. Owen."</p> + +<p>That evening, returning to the office to clear off +his desk in preparation for his absence the next day, +Dan found Bassett there. This was unusual; Bassett +rarely visited the office at night. He had evidently +been deeply occupied with his thoughts, for +when Dan entered he was sitting before his closed +desk with his hat on. He nodded, and a few moments +later passed through the library on his way out.</p> + +<p>"Suppose I won't see you to-morrow. Well, I'm +going to be in town a few days. Take your time."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Dan Harwood never doubted that he loved Sally +Owen after that dark day of Sylvia's home-coming. +From the time Sylvia stepped from the train till the +moment when, late that same afternoon, just as the +shadows were gathering, Andrew Kelton was buried +with academic and military honors befitting his two-fold +achievements, Mrs. Owen had shown the tenderness +of the gentlest of mothers to the forlorn girl. +The scene at the grave sank deep into Dan's memory—the +patriarchal figure of Dr. Wandless, with the +faculty and undergraduates ranged behind him; the +old minister's voice lifted in a benediction that +thrilled with a note of triumphant faith; and the +hymn sung by the students at the end, boys' voices, +sweet and clear, floating off into the sunset. And +nothing in Dan's life had ever moved him so much as +when Mrs. Owen, standing beside Sylvia and representing +in her gaunt figure the whole world of love +and kindness, bent down at the very end and kissed +the sobbing girl and led her away.</p> + +<p>Harwood called on Mrs. Owen at the cottage in +Buckeye Lane that evening. She came down from +Sylvia's room and met him in the little library, +which he found unchanged from the day of his visit +five years before.</p> + +<p>"That little girl is a hero," she began. "I guess +she's about the lonesomest girl in the world to-night. +Andrew Kelton was a man and a good one. He +hadn't been well for years, the doctor tells me; trouble +with his heart, but he kept it to himself; didn't +want to worry the girl. I tell you everything helps +at a time like this. Admiral Martin came over to +represent the Navy, and you saw the G.A.R. there; +it caught me in the throat when the bugle blew good-night +for Andrew. Sylvia will rally and go on and +do some big thing. It's in her. I reckon she'll have +to go back to college, this being her last year. Too +bad the commencement's all spoiled for her."</p> + +<p>"Yes; she won't have much heart for it; but she +must get her degree."</p> + +<p>"She'll need a rest after this. I'll go back with her, +and then I'm going to take her up to Waupegan with +me for the summer. There are some things to settle +about her, and I'm glad you stayed. Andrew owned +this house, but I shouldn't think Sylvia would want +to keep it: houses in a town like this are a nuisance +if you don't live where you can watch the tenants," +she went on, her practical mind asserting itself.</p> + +<p>"I suppose—" Dan began and then hesitated. It +gave him a curious feeling to be talking of Sylvia's +affairs in this way.</p> + +<p>"Go on, Daniel,"—this marked a departure; she +had never called him by his first name before. "I'm +closer to that girl than anybody, and I'm glad to +talk to you about her affairs."</p> + +<p>"I suppose there will be something for her; she's +not thrown on her own resources?"</p> + +<p>"I guess he didn't make any will, but what he +left is Sylvia's. He had a brother in Los Angeles, +who died ten years ago. He was a rich man, and left +a big fortune to his children. If there's no will +there'll have to be an administrator. Sylvia's of +age and she won't need a guardian."</p> + +<p>Dan nodded. He knew Mrs. Owen well enough by +this time to understand that she usually perfected +her plans before speaking, and that she doubtless had +decided exactly how Andrew Kelton's estate should +be administered.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to ask the court to appoint you administrator, +Daniel. You ever acted? Well, you +might as well have the experience. I might take it +myself, but I'm pretty busy and there'll be some +running back and forth to do. You come back in +a day or two and we'll see how things stand by that +time. As soon as Sylvia gets rested she'll go back +to college to finish up, and then come to me for the +summer."</p> + +<p>"She might not like my having anything to do +with her affairs," Dan suggested. "I shouldn't +want to seem to be intruding."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sylvia likes you well enough. The main +thing is getting somebody that you've got confidence +in. I know some people here, and I guess the court +will do about what we want."</p> + +<p>"I should have to come over here frequently until +everything was settled," Dan added, thinking of his +duties in the city. "I suppose if you find it possible +for me to serve that I shall have to get Mr. Bassett's +consent; he pays for my time, you know."</p> + +<p>"That's right, you ask him; but be sure to tell +him that I want it to be that way. Morton won't +make any fuss about it. I guess you do enough work +for him. What's he paying you, Daniel?"</p> + +<p>"Eighteen hundred since he got the paper-mill +receivership."</p> + +<p>She made no comment, but received the intelligence +in silence. He knew from the characteristic +quick movement of her eyelids that she was pondering +the equity of this carefully; and his loyalty to +Bassett asserting itself, he added, defensively:—</p> + +<p>"It's more than I could begin to make any other +way; and he's really generous about my time—he's +made it plain that he wants me to keep up my reading."</p> + +<p>"They don't read much after they're admitted, +do they? I thought when you got admitted you +knew it all."</p> + +<p>"Not if you mean to be a real lawyer," said Dan, +smiling.</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess you had better go now. I don't +want to leave Sylvia alone up there, poor little girl. +I'll let you know when to come back."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV" />CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>A SURPRISE AT THE COUNTRY CLUB</h3> + + +<p>"That's all right. I shall be glad to have you +serve Mrs. Owen in any way. It's a good +deal of a compliment that she thought of +you in that connection. Go ahead, and call on me +if I can help you. You'll have to furnish local +bondsmen. See what's required and let me know."</p> + +<p>Such was Bassett's reply when Harwood asked +his permission to serve as administrator of Andrew +Kelton's estate. Bassett was a busy man, and his +domestic affairs often gave him concern. He had +talked to Harwood a good deal about Marian, several +times in fits of anger at her extravagance. His wife +retired fitfully to sanatoriums, and he had been +obliged to undertake the supervision of his children's +schooling. Blackford was safe for the time in a military +school, and Marian had been tutored for a year +at home. The idea of a college course for Marian +had been, since Sylvia appeared, a mania with Mrs. +Bassett. Marian had not the slightest interest in +the matter, and Bassett was weary of the struggle, +and sick of the idea, that only by a college career for +her could Mrs. Owen's money be assured to his children. +Mrs. Bassett being now at a rest cure in Connecticut, +and Bassett, much away from home, and +seeing nothing to be gained by keeping his daughter +at Fraserville, had persuaded Miss Waring to take +her as a special student, subject to the discipline of +the school, but permitted to elect her own studies. +It was only because Bassett was a man she liked to +please that the principal accepted Marian, now eighteen +years old, on this anomalous basis. Marian was +relieved to find herself freed of the horror of college, +but she wished to be launched at once upon a social +career; and the capital and not Fraserville must be +the scene of her introduction. Bassett was merely +tiding over the difficult situation until his wife +should be able to deal with it. Marian undoubtedly +wheedled her father a good deal in the manner of +handsome and willful daughters. She had rarely +experienced his anger; but the remembrance of +these occasions rose before her as the shadowy +background of any filial awe she may be said to +have had.</p> + +<p>Bassett asked Dan to accompany him and Marian +to the Country Club for dinner one evening +while Harwood still waited for Mrs. Owen's summons +to Montgomery. Picking up Marian at Miss +Waring's, they drove out early and indulged in a +loitering walk along the towpath of the old canal, +not returning to the clubhouse until after seven. +When they had found a table on the veranda, Dan +turned his head slightly and saw Thatcher, Allen, +and Pettit, the Fraserville editor, lounging in after-dinner +ease at a table in a dim corner.</p> + +<p>"Why, there's Mr. Thatcher," exclaimed Marian.</p> + +<p>"And if that isn't Mr. Pettit! I didn't know he ever +broke into a place like this."</p> + +<p>They all bowed to the trio. Thatcher waved his +hand.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Pettit," observed Bassett dryly, "is a man +of the world and likely to break in anywhere."</p> + +<p>His manner betrayed no surprise; he asked Marian +to order dinner, and bowed to a tableful of golfers, +where an acquaintance was whispering his name to +some guests from out of town.</p> + +<p>It was the least bit surprising that the Honorable +Isaac Pettit should be dining at the Country Club +with Mr. Edward Thatcher, and yet it was possible +to read too much seriousness into the situation. Harwood +was immensely interested, but he knew it +was Bassett's way to betray no trepidation at even +such a curious conjunction of planets as this. Dan +was in fact relieved that Bassett had found the men +together: Bassett had seen with his own eyes and +might make what he pleased of this sudden intimacy.</p> + +<p>Marian had scorned the table d'hôte dinner, and +was choosing, from the "special" offerings, green +turtle soup and guinea fowl, as affording a pleasant +relief from the austere regimen of Miss Waring's +table. The roasting of the guinea hen would require +thirty minutes the waiter warned them, but +Bassett made no objection. Marian thereupon interjected +a postscript of frogs' legs between soup and +roast, and Bassett cheerfully acquiesced.</p> + +<p>"You seem to be picking the most musical birds +offered," he remarked amiably. "I don't believe +I'd eat the rest of the olives if I were you."</p> + +<p>"Why doesn't Allen Thatcher come over here +and speak to us, I'd like to know," asked Marian. +"You wouldn't think he'd ever seen us before."</p> + +<p>The three men having dined had, from appearances, +been idling at the table for some time. Pettit +was doing most of the talking, regaling his two auditors +with tales from his abundant store of anecdotes. +At the end of a story at which Thatcher had guffawed +loudly, they rose and crossed the veranda. Hearing +them approaching, Bassett rose promptly, and they +shook hands all round.</p> + +<p>If there were any embarrassments in the meeting +for the older men, it was concealed under the cordiality +of their greetings. Pettit took charge of the situation.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir," he boomed, "I might've known that +if I came to town and broke into sassiety I'd get +caught at it; you can't get away from home folks! +Thatcher has filled me amply with expensive urban +food in this sylvan retreat—nectar and ambrosia. +I'm even as one who drinks deep of the waters of +life and throws the dipper in the well. Just come +to town and wander from the straight and narrow +path and your next-door neighbor will catch you +every time. Fact is I lectured on 'American Humor' +in Churubusco last night and am lifting the spirits +of Brazil to-morrow. This will be all from Ike Pettit, +the Fraserville funny man, until the wheat's safe +and our Chautauquas pitch their tents in green +fields far away. Reminds me of what Dan Voorhees +said once,—dear old Dan Voorhees,—I almost cry +when I think o' Dan: well, as I was saying—"</p> + +<p>"Didn't know you were in town, Mort," Thatcher +interrupted. "I've been in Chicago a week and only +got back this evening. I found your esteemed fellow +townsman about to hit a one-arm lunch downtown +and thought it best to draw him away from the lights +of the great city."</p> + +<p>This was apology or explanation, as one chose to +take it. Bassett was apparently unmoved by it.</p> + +<p>"I've been in town a day or two. I don't live +in sleeping-cars the way you do, Ed. I keep to the +main traveled road—the straight and narrow path, +as our brother calls it," said Bassett.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm going to quit working myself to death. +It's getting too hot for poker, and I'm almost driven +to lead a wholesome life. The thought pains me, +Mort."</p> + +<p>Marian had opened briskly upon Allen. She wanted +to know whether he had passed the school the night +before with a girl in a blue hat; she had been sure it +was he, and his denial only intensified her belief +that she had seen him. She had wagered a box of +caramels with her roommate that it was Allen; how +dare he deny it and cause her to lose a dollar of her +allowance? Allen said the least he could do would +be to send the candy himself; a proposition which +she declared, in a horrified whisper, he must put +from his thoughts forever. Candy, it appeared, was +contraband at Miss Waring's! Bassett, ignoring +the vivacious colloquy between his daughter and +Allen, continued to exchange commonplaces with +Thatcher and Pettit. Marian's ease of manner +amused Harwood; Allen was bending over her in +his eager way; there was no question but that he +admired her tremendously. The situation was greatly +to her liking, and she was making the most of it. It +was in her eye that she knew how to manage men. +Seeing that Mr. Thatcher was edging away, she +played upon him to delay his escape.</p> + +<p>"I wish you would come up to Waupegan this +summer, Mr. Thatcher. You and father are such +friends, and we should all be so glad to have you +for a neighbor. There are always houses to be rented, +you know."</p> + +<p>"Stranger things have happened than that, Miss +Marian," replied Thatcher, eying her boldly and +quite satisfied with her appearance. "My women +folks want Allen and me to come across for the +summer; but we like this side of the big water. +Little Old United States—nothing touches it! +Allen and I may take a run up into Canada sometime +when it gets red hot."</p> + +<p>"Reminds me—speaking of the heat—back in +the Hancock campaign—" Pettit was beginning, +but Thatcher was leaving and the editor and Allen +followed perforce. In a moment they heard Thatcher's +voice peremptorily demanding his motor from +the steps of the entrance.</p> + +<p>"Pettit's lecture dates must be multiplying," +observed Dan carelessly.</p> + +<p>"They seem to be," Bassett replied, indifferently.</p> + +<p>"I can find out easily enough whether he lectured +at Churubusco last night or not, or is going to invade +Brazil to-morrow," Dan suggested.</p> + +<p>"Easy, but unnecessary. I think I know what's +in your mind," Bassett answered, as Marian, interested +in the passing show, turned away, "but it +isn't of the slightest importance one way or another."</p> + +<p>"That was Miss Bosworth," announced Marian—"the +one in the white flannel coat; she's certainly +grand to look at."</p> + +<p>"Please keep your eyes to the front," Bassett +admonished; "you mustn't stare at people, Marian." +And then, having dismissed Pettit, and feeling +called upon to bring his daughter into the conversation, +he said: "Marian, you remember the Miss +Garrison your aunt is so fond of? Her grandfather +died the other day and Miss Garrison had to come +home. Your Aunt Sally is in Montgomery with her +now. Mr. Harwood went to the funeral."</p> + +<p>"That's too bad," said Marian, at once interested. +"Sylvia's a mighty nice girl, and I guess her +grandfather had just about raised her, from what +she told me. I wonder what she's going to do?" +she asked, turning to Harwood.</p> + +<p>"She's going back to college to take her degree, +and then Mrs. Owen is going to have her at Waupegan +this summer."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I didn't know Aunt Sally was going to +open her house this summer!" said Marian, clearly +surprised. "It must be just that she wants to have +Sylvia with her. They're the best kind of pals, and +of course Aunt Sally and the old professor were +friends all their lives. I'm glad Sylvia's going to +be at the lake; she will help some," she concluded.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean that you're tired of the lake?" +asked Harwood, noting the half-sigh with which +she had concluded. "I thought all Waupegan people +preferred it to the Maine coast or Europe."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I suppose they do," said Marian. "But I +think I could live through a season somewhere else. +It will be good fun to have Aunt Sally's house open +again. She must be making money out of that farm +now. I suppose Sylvia's grandfather didn't have +much money. Still Sylvia's the kind of girl that +wouldn't much mind not having money. She isn't +much for style, but she does know an awful lot."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think a girl may be stylish and know +a lot, too?" asked her father.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it <i>is</i> possible," the girl assented, with +a reluctance that caused both men to laugh.</p> + +<p>"Let me see: Papa, you didn't see Sylvia that +summer she was at the lake. That was the summer +you played a trick on us and only spent a day at +Waupegan. Yes; I remember now; you came home +from Colorado and said hello and skipped the next +morning. Of course you didn't see Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I did," replied Bassett. "I remember her +very well, indeed. I quite agree with your mother +and Aunt Sally that she is an exceedingly fine +girl."</p> + +<p>"She certainly discouraged me a good deal about +college. Four years of school after you're seventeen +or eighteen! Not for Marian!" and she shook her +head drolly.</p> + +<p>Bassett was either absorbed in thought or he chose +to ignore Marian's remark. He was silent for some +time, and the girl went on banteringly with Harwood. +She availed herself of all those immunities +and privileges which the gods confer upon young +women whom they endow with good looks. In the +half-freedom of the past year she had bought her +own clothes, with only the nominal supervision of +Miss Waring's assistant; and in her new spring raiment +she was very much the young lady, and decidedly +a modish one. Dan glanced from her to the +young people at a neighboring table. Among the +girls in the party none was prettier or more charmingly +gowned than Marian. In the light of this +proximity he watched her with a new attention, and +he saw that her father, too, studied her covertly, as +though realizing that he had a grown daughter on +his hands. Her way with Harwood was not without +coquetry; she tapped his arm with her fan lightly +when he refused to enter into a discussion of his +attentions, of which she protested she knew much, to +Miss Bosworth. He admitted having called on Miss +Bosworth once; her brother was a Yale man, and had +asked him to the house on the score of that tie; but +Marian knew much better. She was sure that he was +devoting himself to Miss Bosworth; every one said +that he was becoming a great society man.</p> + +<p>She had wearied of his big-brother attitude toward +her. Except the callow youth of Fraserville and the +boys she had known all the summers of her life at +Waupegan, Harwood and Allen Thatcher were the +only young men she knew. In her later freedom at +school she had made the office telephone a nuisance +to him, but he sympathized with her discreetly in her +perplexities. Several times she had appealed to him +to help her out of financial difficulties, confiding to +him tragically that if certain bills reached Fraserville +she would be ruined forever.</p> + +<p>Marian found the Country Club highly diverting; +it gave her visions of the social life of the capital of +which she had only vaguely dreamed. She knew +many people by sight who were socially prominent, +and she longed to be of their number. It pleased her +to find that her father, who was a non-resident +member and a rare visitor at the club, attracted a +good deal of attention; she liked to think him a celebrity. +The Speaker of the House in the last session of +the general assembly came out and asked Bassett to +meet some men with whom he had been dining in the +rathskeller; while her father was away, Marian, with +elbows resting on the table, her firm, round chin +touching her lightly interlaced fingers, gave a capital +imitation of a girl making herself agreeable to a +young man. Dan was well hardened to her cajoleries +by this time; he was confident that she would have +made "sweet eyes at Caliban." Harwood, smoking +the cigar Bassett had ordered for him, compared +favorably with other young men who had dawned +upon Marian's horizon. Like most Western boys +who go East to college, he had acquired the habit of +careful pressing and brushing and combing; his lean +face had a certain distinction, and he was unfailingly +courteous and well-mannered.</p> + +<p>"This will be tough on mama," she observed +casually.</p> + +<p>"Pray, be more explicit!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt Sally having Sylvia up there at the +lake again."</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't she have her there if she wants +her? I thought your mother admired Sylvia. I +gathered that ray of light somewhere, from you or +Mrs. Owen."</p> + +<p>"Oh, mama was beautiful to her; but I shall +always think, just between you and me and that +spoon, that it was Aunt Sally asking Sylvia to the +lake that time that gave mama nervous prostration."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense! I advise you, as an old friend, not to +say such things: you'd better not even think them."</p> + +<p>"Well, it was after that, when she saw that Aunt +Sally had taken up Sylvia, that mama got that bug +about having me go to college. She got the notion +that it was Sylvia's intellectual gifts that interested +Aunt Sally; and mama thought I'd better improve +my mind and get into the competition."</p> + +<p>"You thought your mother was jealous? I call +that very unkind; it's not the way to speak of your +mother."</p> + +<p>"Well, if you want to be nasty and lecture me, go +ahead, Mr. Harwood. You must like Sylvia pretty +well yourself; you took her back to college once and +had no end of a lark,—I got that from Aunt Sally, so +you needn't deny it."</p> + +<p>"Humph! Of course I like Sylvia; any one's +bound to."</p> + +<p>"But if Aunt Sally leaves her all her money, just +because she's so bright, and educated, and cuts me +off, then what would be the answer?"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't have anything to say about it; it +would be Mrs. Owen that did the saying," laughed +Dan. "Why didn't you meet the competition and +go to college? You have brains, but you don't seem +interested in anything but keeping amused."</p> + +<p>"I suppose," she answered petulantly, "it would +please you to see me go to teaching a kindergarten or +something like that. Not for Marian! I'm going to +see life—" and she added ruefully—"if I get the +chance! Why doesn't papa leave Fraserville and +come to the city? They say he can have any political +office he wants, and he ought to run for governor or +something like that, just on my account."</p> + +<p>"I dare say he's just waiting for you to suggest it. +Why not the presidency? You could get a lot of fun +out of the White House, ordering the army around, +and using the battleships to play with. The governorship +and trifles like that would only bore you."</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly. The newspapers print most +horrible things about papa—"</p> + +<p>"Which aren't true."</p> + +<p>"Of course they're newspaper lies; but if he lets +them say all those things he ought to get something +to pay for it. He's only a state senator from the +jayest county in Indiana. It makes me tired."</p> + +<p>The girl's keen penetration had often surprised +and it had sometimes appalled Harwood in the curious +intimacy that had grown up between them. Her +intuitions were active and she had a daring imagination. +He wondered whether Bassett was fully aware +of the problem Marian presented. Dan had never +ventured to suggest a sharper discipline for the girl, +except on the occasion when he had caught her +walking with Allen in the park. He had regretted +his interference afterward; for Bassett's anger had +seemed to him out of all proportion to the offense. +Like most indifferent or indulgent parents, Bassett +was prone to excesses in his fitful experiments in +discipline. Dan had resolved not to meddle again; +but Marian was undeniably a provoking young +person. It had been suggested to him of late by one +or two of his intimates that in due course of events he +would of course marry his employer's daughter. As +she faced him across the table, the pink light of the +candle-shade adding to the glow of health in her +pretty cheeks, she caused him to start by the abruptness +with which she said:—</p> + +<p>"I don't see much ahead of me but to get married; +do you?"</p> + +<p>"If you put it up to me, I don't see anything ahead +of you, unless you take a different view of life; you +never seem to have a serious thought."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Harwood, you can be immensely unpleasant +when you choose to be. You talk to me as though I +were only nine years old. You ought to see that I'm +very unhappy. I'm the oldest girl at Miss Waring's—locked +up there with a lot of little pigeons that +coo every time you look at them. They treat me as +though I were their grandmother."</p> + +<p>"Why don't you say all these things to your +father?" asked Harwood, trying to laugh. "I dare +say he'll do anything you like. But please cheer up; +those people over there will think we're having a +terrible quarrel."</p> + +<p>The fact that they were drawing the glances of +Miss Bosworth's party pleased her; she had been +perfectly conscious of it all the time.</p> + +<p>"Well, they won't think you're making <i>love</i> to me, +Mr. Harwood; there's that to console you." And she +added icily, settling back in her chair as her father +approached, "I hope you understand that I'm not +even leading you on!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI" />CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>"STOP, LOOK, LISTEN"</h3> + + +<p>Bassett and Atwill held a conference the +next day and the interview was one of length. +The manager of the "Courier" came to the +office in the Boordman Building at eleven o'clock, +and when Harwood went to luncheon at one the door +had not been opened. Miss Farrell, returning from +her midday repast, pointed to the closed door, lifted +her brows, and held up her forefinger to express +surprise and caution. Miss Farrell's prescience was +astonishing; of women she held the lightest opinion, +Dan had learned; her concern was with the affairs of +men. Harwood, intent upon the compilation of a +report of the paper-mill receivership, was nevertheless +mindful of the unwonted length of the conference. +When he returned from luncheon, Bassett had +gone, but he reappeared at three o'clock, and a little +later Atwill came back and the door closed again. +This second interview was short, but it seemed to +leave Bassett in a meditative frame of mind. Wishing +to discuss some points in the trial balance of the +receiver's accountant, Harwood entered and found +Bassett with his hat on, slowly pacing the floor.</p> + +<p>"Yes; all right; come in," he said, as Harwood +hesitated. He at once addressed himself to the reports +with his accustomed care. Bassett carried an immense +amount of data in his head. He understood +bookkeeping and was essentially thorough. Dan constantly +found penciled calculations on the margins +of the daily reports from the paper-mill, indicating +that Bassett scrutinized the figures carefully, and he +promptly questioned any deviation from the established +average of loss and gain. Bassett threw down +his pencil at the end of half an hour and told Dan +to proceed with the writing of the report.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to file it personally so I can talk over the +prospect of getting an order of sale before the judge +goes on his vacation. We've paid the debts and +stopped the flow of red ink, so we're about ready to +let go."</p> + +<p>While they were talking Miss Farrell brought in +a telegram for Harwood; it was the summons from +Mrs. Owen that he had been waiting for; she bade +him come to Montgomery the next day. He handed +the message to Bassett.</p> + +<p>"Go ahead. I'll go over there if you like and find +you the necessary bondsmen. I know the judge of +the circuit court at Montgomery very well. You go +in the morning? Very well; I'll stay here till you +get back. Mrs. Bassett will be well enough to leave +the sanatorium in a few days, and I'm going up to +Waupegan to get the house ready."</p> + +<p>"It will be pleasant for Mrs. Bassett to have Mrs. +Owen there this summer. Anybody is lucky to have +a woman of her qualities for a neighbor."</p> + +<p>"She's a noblewoman," said Bassett impressively, +"and a good friend to all of us."</p> + +<p>On the train the next morning Harwood unfolded +the day's "Courier" in the languidly critical frame of +mind that former employees of newspapers bring to +the reading of the journals they have served. He +scanned the news columns and opened to the editorial +page. The leader at once caught his eye. It +was double-leaded,—an emphasis rarely employed +at the "Courier" office, and was condensed in a single +brief paragraph that stared oddly at the reader +under the caption "STOP, LOOK, LISTEN." It held +Harwood's attention through a dozen amazed and +mystified readings. It ran thus:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It has long been Indiana's proud boast that money +unsupported by honest merit has never intruded in +her politics. A malign force threatens to mar this record. +It is incumbent upon honest men of all parties +who have the best interests of our state at heart to +stop, look, listen. The COURIER gives notice that it +is fully advised of the intentions, and perfectly aware +of the methods, by which the fair name of the Hoosier +State is menaced. The COURIER, being thoroughly +informed of the beginnings of this movement, +whose purpose is the seizure of the Democratic +Party, and the manipulation of its power for private +ends, will antagonize to the utmost the element that +has initiated it. Honorable defeats the party in Indiana +has known, and it will hardly at this late day +surrender tamely to the buccaneers and adventurers +that seek to capture its battleflag. This warning will +not be repeated. Stop! Look! Listen!</p></div> + +<p>From internal evidence Harwood placed the +authorship readily enough: the paragraph had been +written by the chief editorial writer, an old hand at +the game, who indulged frequently in such terms as +"adventurer" and "buccaneer." It was he who +wrote sagely of foreign affairs, and once caused +riotous delight in the reporters' room by an editorial +on Turkish politics, containing the phrase, "We +hope the Sultan—" But not without special +authority would such an article have been planted +at the top of the editorial page, and beyond doubt +these lines were the residuum of Bassett's long interview +with Atwill. And its aim was unmistakable: +Mr. Bassett was thus paying his compliments to +Mr. Thatcher. The encounter at the Country Club +might have precipitated the crisis, but, knowing +Bassett, Dan did not believe that the "Courier's" +batteries would have been fired on so little provocation. +Bassett was not a man to shoot wildly in the +dark, nor was he likely to fire at all without being +sure of the state of his ammunition chests. So, at +least, Harwood reasoned to himself. Several of his +fellow passengers in the smoking-car were passing +the "Courier" about and pointing to the editorial. +All over Indiana it would be the subject of discussion +for a long time to come; and Dan's journalistic +sense told him that in the surrounding capitals it +would not be ignored.</p> + +<p>"If Thatcher and Bassett get to fighting, the +people may find a chance to sneak in and get something," +a man behind Dan was saying.</p> + +<p>"Nope," said another voice; "there won't be 'no +core' when those fellows get through with the apple."</p> + +<p>"I can hear the cheering in the Republican camp +this morning," remarked another voice gleefully.</p> + +<p>"Oh, pshaw!" said still another speaker; "Bassett +will simply grind Thatcher to powder. Thatcher +hasn't any business in politics anyhow and doesn't +know the game. By George, Bassett does! And this +is the first time he's struck a full blow since he got +behind the 'Courier.' Something must have made +him pretty hot, though, to have let off a scream like +that."</p> + +<p>Harwood was interested in these remarks because +they indicated a prevalent impression that Bassett +dominated the "Courier," in spite of the mystery +with which the ownership of the paper was enveloped. +The only doubt in Harwood's own mind had +been left there by Bassett himself. He recalled now +Bassett's remark on the day he had taken him into +his confidence in the Ranger County affair. "I +might have some trouble in proving it myself," +Bassett had said. Harwood thought it strange that +after that first deliberate confidence and his introduction +to Atwill, Bassett had, in this important +move, ignored him. It was possible that his relations +with Allen Thatcher, which Bassett knew to be +intimate, accounted for the change; or it might be +due to a lessening warmth in Bassett's feeling toward +him. He recalled now that Bassett had lately +seemed moody,—a new development in the man +from Fraser,—and that he had several times been +abrupt and unreasonable about small matters in the +office. Certain incidents that had appeared trivial at +the time of their occurrence stood forth disquietingly +now. If Bassett had ceased to trust him, there must +be a cause for the change; slight manifestations of +impatience in a man so habitually calm and rational +might be overlooked, but Dan had not been prepared +for this abrupt cessation of confidential relations. +He was a bit piqued, the more so that this +astounding editorial indicated a range and depth of +purpose in Bassett's plans that Dan's imagination +had not fathomed. He tore out the editorial and put +it away carefully in his pocketbook as Montgomery +was called.</p> + +<p>A messenger was at the station to guide him to the +court-house, where he found Mrs. Owen and Sylvia +waiting for him in the private room of the judge of +the circuit court. Mrs. Owen had, in her thorough +fashion, arranged all the preliminaries. She had +found in Akins, the president of the Montgomery +National Bank, an old friend, and it was her way to +use her friends when she needed them. At her instance, +Akins and another resident freeholder had +already signed the bond when Dan arrived. Dan was +amused by the direct manner in which Mrs. Owen +addressed the court; the terminology pertaining to +the administration of estates was at her fingers' +ends, and there was no doubt that the judge was +impressed by her.</p> + +<p>"We won't need any lawyer over here, Daniel; +you can save the estate lawyer's fees by acting yourself. +I guess that will be all right, Judge?"</p> + +<p>His Honor said it would be; people usually yielded +readily to Mrs. Owen's suggestions.</p> + +<p>"You can go up to the house now, Sylvia, and I'll +be along pretty soon. I want to make a memorandum +for an inventory with Daniel."</p> + +<p>At the bank Akins gave them the directors' room, +and Andrew Kelton's papers were produced from his +box in the safety vault. Akins explained that Kelton +had been obliged to drop life insurance policies for a +considerable amount; only one policy for two thousand +dollars had been carried through. There were a +number of contracts with publishers covering the +copyrights in Kelton's mathematical and astronomical +textbooks. The royalties on these had been +diminishing steadily, the banker said, and they +could hardly be regarded as an asset.</p> + +<p>"Life insurance two thousand, contracts nothing, +and the house is worth two with good luck. Take it +all in—and I reckon this <i>is</i> all—we'll be in luck to +pinch a little pin-money out of the estate for Sylvia. +It's more than I expected. You think there ain't +anything else, Mr. Akins?"</p> + +<p>"The Professor talked to me about his affairs frequently, +and I have no reason to think there's anything +more. He had five thousand dollars in government +bonds, but he sold them and bought shares in +that White River Canneries combination. A lot of +our Montgomery people lost money in that scheme. +It promised fifteen per cent—with the usual +result."</p> + +<p>"Yes. Andrew told me about that once. Well, +well!"</p> + +<p>"He had money to educate his granddaughter; I +don't know how he raised it, but he kept it in a +special account in the bank. He told me that if he +died before she finished college that was to be applied +strictly to her education. There is eight hundred +dollars left of that."</p> + +<p>"Sylvia's going to teach," said Mrs. Owen. "I've +been talking to her and she's got her plans all made. +She's got a head for business, that girl, and nothing +can shake her idea that she's got a work to do in +the world. She knows what she's going to do every +day for a good many years, from the way she talks. +I had it all fixed to take her with me up to Waupegan +for the summer; thought she'd be ready to +take a rest after her hard work at college, and this +blow of her grandpa dying and all; but not that girl! +She's going to spend the summer taking a normal +course in town, to be ready to begin teaching in +Indianapolis next September. I guess if we had +found a million dollars in her grandpa's box it would +have been the same. When you talk about health, +she laughs; I guess if there's a healthy woman on +earth it's that girl. She says she doubled all her +gymnasium work at college to build herself up ready +for business. You know Dr. Wandless's daughter +is a Wellesley woman, and keeps in touch with the +college. She wrote home that Sylvia had 'em all beat +a mile down there; that she just walked through +everything and would be chosen for the Phi Beta +Kappa—is that right, Daniel? She sort o' throws +you out of your calculations, that girl does. I'd +counted on having a good time with her up at the +lake, and now it looks like I'd have to stay in town +all summer if I'm going to see anything of her."</p> + +<p>It was clear enough that Mrs. Owen was not +interesting herself in Sylvia merely because the girl +was the granddaughter of an old friend; she admired +Sylvia on her own account and was at no pains to +disguise the fact. The Bassett expectations were, +Dan reflected, scarcely at a premium to-day!</p> + +<p>Mr. Akins returned the papers to the safety box, +and when Mrs. Owen and Harwood were alone, she +closed the door carefully.</p> + +<p>"Now, Daniel," she began, opening her hand-satchel, +"I always hold that this is a funny world, +but that things come out right in the end. They +mostly do; but sometimes the Devil gets into things +and it ain't so easy. You believe in the Devil, +Daniel?"</p> + +<p>"Well, my folks are Presbyterians," said Dan. +"My own religion is the same as Ware's. I'm not +sure he vouches for the Devil."</p> + +<p>"It's my firm conviction that there is one, +Daniel,—a red one with a forked tail; you see his +works scattered around too often to doubt it."</p> + +<p>Dan nodded. Mrs. Owen had placed carefully +under a weight a paper she had taken from her reticule.</p> + +<p>"Daniel,"—she looked around at the door again, +and dropped her voice,—"I believe you're a good +man, and a clean one. And Fitch says you're a +smart young man. It's as much because you're a +good man as because you've got brains that I've +called on you to attend to Sylvia's business. Now +I'm going to tell you something that I wouldn't tell +anybody else on earth; it's a sacred trust, and I +want you to feel bound by a more solemn oath than +the one you took at the clerk's office not to steal +Sylvia's money."</p> + +<p>She fixed her remarkably penetrating gaze upon +him so intently that he turned uneasily in his chair. +"It's something somebody who appreciates Sylvia, +as I think you do, ought to know about her. Andrew +Kelton told me just before Sylvia started to college. +The poor man had been carrying it alone till it broke +him down; he had never told another soul. I reckon +it was the hardest job he ever did to tell me; and I +wouldn't be telling you except somebody ought to +know who's in a position to help Sylvia—sort o' +look out for her and protect her. I believe"—and +she put out her hand and touched his arm lightly— +"I believe I can trust you to do that."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mrs. Owen."</p> + +<p>She waited until he had answered her, and even +then she was silent, lost in thought.</p> + +<p>"Professor Kelton didn't know, Daniel," she began +gravely, "who Sylvia's father was." She minimized +the significance of this by continuing rapidly. +"Andrew had quit the Navy soon after the war and +came out here to Madison College to teach, and +his wife had died and he didn't know what to do +with his daughter. Edna Kelton was a little headstrong, +I reckon, and wanted her own way. She +didn't like living in a country college town; there +wasn't anything here to interest her. I won't tell +you all of Andrew's story, but it boils down to just +this, that while Edna was in New York studying +music she got married without telling where, or to +whom. Andrew never saw her till she was dying in +a hospital and had a little girl with her,—that's +Sylvia. Now, whether there was any disgrace about +it Andrew didn't know; and we owe it to that dead +woman and to Sylvia to believe it was all right. +You see what I mean, Daniel? Now that brings me +down to what I want you to know. Somebody has +been keeping watch of Sylvia,—Andrew told me +that."</p> + +<p>She was thinking deeply as though pondering +just how much more it was necessary to tell him, and +before she spoke she picked up the folded paper and +read it through carefully. "When Andrew got this +it troubled him a lot: the idea that somebody had +an eye on the girl, and took enough interest in her +to do this, made him uneasy. Sylvia never knew +anything about it, of course; she doesn't know anything +about anything, and she won't ever need to."</p> + +<p>"As I understand you, Mrs. Owen, you want +some friend of hers to be in a position to protect her +if any one tries to harm her; you want to shield +her from any evil that might follow her from her +mother's errors, if they were indeed errors. We have +no right to assume that she had done anything to +be ashamed of. That's the only just position for us +to take in such a matter."</p> + +<p>"That's right, Daniel. I knew you'd see it that +way. It looks bad, and Andrew knew it looked bad; +but at my age I ain't thinking evil of people if I +can help it. If a woman goes wrong, she pays for it—keeps +on paying after she's paid the whole mortgage. +That's the blackest thing in the world—that +a woman never shakes a debt like that the +way a man can. You foreclose on a woman and take +away everything she's got; put her clean through +bankruptcy, and the balance is still against her; +but we can't make over society and laws just sitting +here talking about it. I reckon Edna Kelton suffered +enough. But we don't want Sylvia to suffer. She's +entitled to a happy life, and we don't want any +shadows hanging over her. Now that her grandpa's +gone she can't go behind what he told her,—poor +man, he had trouble enough answering the +questions she had a right to ask; and he had to lie +to her some."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I suppose she will be content now; she will +feel that what he didn't tell her she will never know. +She's not a morbid person, and won't be likely to +bother about it."</p> + +<p>"No; I ain't afraid of her brooding on what she +doesn't know. It's the fear it may fly up and strike +her when she ain't looking that worries me, and it +worried the Professor, too. That was why he told +me. I guess when he talked to me that time he +knew his heart was going to stop suddenly some +day. And he'd got a hint that somebody was interested +in watching Sylvia—sort o' keeping track of +her. And there was conscience in it; whoever it +is or was hadn't got clean away from what he'd +done. Now I had a narrow escape from letting +Sylvia see this letter. It was stuck away in a tin +box in Andrew's bedroom, along with his commissions +in the Navy. I was poking round the house, +thinking there might be things it would be better +not to show Sylvia, and I struck this box, and there +was this letter, stuck away in the middle of the +package. I gave Sylvia the commissions, but she +didn't see this. I don't want to burn it till you've +seen it. This must have been what Andrew spoke +to me about that time; it was hardly before that, +and it might have been later. You see it isn't dated. +He started to tear it up, but changed his mind, so +now we've got to pass on it."</p> + +<p>She pushed the letter across the table to Harwood, +and he read it through carefully. He turned it over +after the first reading, and the word "Declined," +written firmly and underscored, held him long—so +long that he started when Mrs. Owen roused +him with "Well, Daniel?"</p> + +<p>He knew before he had finished reading that it +was he who had borne the letter to the cottage in +Buckeye Lane, unless there had been a series of such +communications, which was unlikely on the face +of it. Mrs. Owen had herself offered confirmation +by placing the delivery of the dateless letter five +years earlier. The internal evidence in the phrases +prescribing the manner in which the verbal reply +was to be sent, and the indorsement on the back of +the sheet, were additional corroboration. It was almost +unimaginable that the letter should have come +again to his hand. He realized the importance and +significance of the sheet of paper with the swiftness +of a lightning flash; but beyond the intelligence conveyed +by the letter itself there was still the darkness +to grope in. His wits had never worked so rapidly +in his life; he felt his heart beating uncomfortably; +the perspiration broke out upon his forehead, and +he drew out his handkerchief and mopped his +face.</p> + +<p>"It's certainly very curious, very curious indeed," +he said with all the calmness he could muster. "But +it doesn't tell us much."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't intended to tell anything," said Mrs. +Owen. "Whoever wrote that letter, as I told you, +was troubled about Sylvia. I reckon it was a man; +and I guess it's fair to assume that he felt under +obligations, but hadn't the nerve to face 'em as +obligations. Is that the way it strikes you?"</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="I296" id="I296" /> +<a href="images/296.jpg"><img src= +"images/296.jpg" width="45%" alt="" title="" /></a><br /> +<b>WHOEVER WROTE THAT LETTER WAS TROUBLED ABOUT SYLVIA</b><br /> +<br /><br /> +</div> + +<p>"That seems clear enough," he replied lamely. +He made a pretense of rereading the letter, but +only detached phrases penetrated to his consciousness. +His imagination was in rebellion against the +curbing to which he strove to subject it. When he +had borne his answer back to Fitch's office and +been discharged with the generous payment of one +hundred dollars for his services as messenger, just +what had been the further history of the transaction? +He had so far controlled his agitation that he +was able to continue discussing the letter formally +with the kind old woman who had placed the clue in +his hands. He was little experienced in the difficult +art of conversing with half a mind, and a direct +question from Mrs. Owen roused him to the necessity +of heeding what she was saying. He had resolved, +however, that he would not tell her of his +own connection with the message that lay on the +table before them. He needed time in which to consider; +he must not add a pebble's weight to an +avalanche that might go crashing down upon the +innocent. His training had made him wary of circumstantial +evidence; after all it was possible that +this was not the letter he had carried to Professor +Kelton. It would be very like Mrs. Owen, if she +saw that anything could be gained by such a course, +to go direct to Fitch and demand to know the +source of the offer that had passed through his +hands so mysteriously; but Fitch had not known the +contents of the letter, or he had said as much to +Harwood. There was also the consideration, and +not the lightest, that Dan was bound in honor to +maintain the secrecy Fitch had imposed upon him. +The lawyer had confided the errand to him in the +belief that he would accept the mission in the spirit +in which it was entrusted to him, and his part in +the transaction was a matter between himself and +Fitch and did not concern Mrs. Owen in any way +whatever. No possible benefit could accrue to Sylvia +from a disclosure of his suspicion that he had borne +the letter to her grandfather. Mrs. Owen had +given him the letter that he might be in a position +to protect Sylvia, and there was nothing incompatible +between this confidence and his duty to +Fitch, who continued to be a kind and helpful friend. +He dreaded the outcome of an interview between +this shrewd, penetrating, and indomitable woman +and the lawyer. The letter, cold and colorless in what +it failed to say, and torn half across to mark the indecision +of the old professor, had in it a great power +for mischief.</p> + +<p>While Harwood's mind was busy with these reflections +he had been acquiescing in various speculations +in which Mrs. Owen had been indulging, +without really being conscious of their import.</p> + +<p>"I don't know that any good can come of keeping +the letter, Daniel. I reckon we might as well tear +it up. You and I know what it is, and I've been +studying it for a couple of days without seeing where +any good can come of holding it. You might burn +it in the grate there and we'll both know it's out +of the way. I guess that person feels that he done his +whole duty in making the offer and he won't be +likely to bother any more. That conscience was a +long time getting waked up, and having done that +much it probably went to sleep again. There's +nothing sleeps as sound as a conscience, I reckon, +and I shouldn't be a bit surprised if mine took a nap +occasionally. Better burn that little document, +Daniel, and we'll be rid of it and try to forget it."</p> + +<p>"No; I don't believe I'd do that," he said slowly. +"It might be better to hold on to it, at least until +the estate is closed up. You can't tell what's behind +it." And then, groping for a plausible reason, he +added: "The author of the letter may be in a position +to annoy Sylvia by filing a claim against the +Professor's estate, or something of that kind. It's +better not to destroy the only thing we have that +might help if that should occur. I believe it's best +to hold on to it till the estate's settled."</p> + +<p>This was pretty lame, as he realized, but his caution +pleased her, and she acquiesced. She was anxious +to leave no ground for anyone to rob Sylvia of her +money, and if there was any remote possibility that +the letter might add to the girl's security she was +willing that it should be retained. She sent Dan out +into the bank for an envelope, and when it was +brought, sealed up the letter and addressed it to +Dan in her own hand and marked it private.</p> + +<p>"You take good care of that, Daniel, and when +you get the estate closed up you burn it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it can do no harm to hold it a little while," +he said with affected lightness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII" />CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>A STROLL ACROSS THE CAMPUS</h3> + + +<p>Dan joined Mrs. Owen and Sylvia at the cottage +later. He was to see them off in the +morning; and he exerted himself to make +Sylvia's last evening in Buckeye Lane as happy as +possible. The cottage was to be left in the care of the +old servant until it could be disposed of; Mary herself +was to be provided for in some way—Sylvia +and Mrs. Owen had decided that this was only fair +and right.</p> + +<p>After tea Mrs. Owen said she had letters to write +and carried her portfolio to the library for the purpose. +Dan and Sylvia being thus left to themselves, +he proposed a stroll across the campus.</p> + +<p>"There's something about a campus," he said, +as they started out;—"there's a likeness in all of +them, or maybe it's sentiment that binds them together. +Wellesley speaks to Yale, and the language +of both is understood by Madison. Ah—there's +the proof of it now!"</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Integer vitæ, scelerisque purus!</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>A dozen students lounging on the steps of the library +had begun to sing the Latin words to a familiar +air. Dan followed in his deep bass to the end.</p> + +<p>"The words are the words of Horace, but the tune +is the tune of Eli with thanks to Dr. Fleming," he +remarked. "It's that sort of thing that makes college +worth while. I'll wager those are seniors, who +already feel a little heartache because their college +years are so nearly over. I'm getting to be an old +grad myself, but those songs still give me a twinge."</p> + +<p>"I understand that," said Sylvia. "I'll soon be +saying good-bye to girls I may never see again, or +when I meet them at a reunion in five or ten years, +they'll be different. College is only the beginning, +after all."</p> + +<p>"It's only the beginning, but for some fellows it's +the end, too. It scares me to see how many of my +classmates are already caught in the undertow. I +wonder sometimes whether I'm not going under +myself."</p> + +<p>Sylvia turned toward him.</p> + +<p>"I rather imagine that you're a strong swimmer. +It would surprise me if you didn't do something +pretty big. Mrs. Owen thinks you will; she's not +a person for any one to disappoint."</p> + +<p>"Oh, she has a way of thinking in large totals of +people she likes, and she does like me, most unaccountably."</p> + +<p>"She has real illusions about <i>me</i>," laughed Sylvia. +"She has an idea that colleges do things by magic; +and I'm afraid she will find out that the wand +didn't touch me."</p> + +<p>"You didn't need the wand's magic," he answered, +"for you are a woman of genius."</p> + +<p>"Which sounds well, Mr. Harwood; no one ever +used such words to me before! I've learned one +thing, though: that patience and work will make up +for a good many lacks. There are some things I'm +going to try to do."</p> + +<p>They loitered in the quiet paths of the campus. +"Bright College Years" followed them from the +singers at the library. If there's any sentiment in +man or woman the airs of a spring night in our midwestern +country will call it out. The planets shone +benignantly through the leaves of maple and elm; +and the young grass was irregular, untouched as +yet by the mower—as we like it best who love our +Madison! A week-old moon hung in the sky—ample +light for the first hay-ride of the season that +is moving toward Water Babble to the strains of +guitar and banjo and boy and girl voices. It's unaccountable +that there should be so much music +in a sophomore—or maybe that's a fraternity +affair—Sigma Chi or Delta Tau or Deke. Or +mayhap those lads wear a "Fiji" pin on their waistcoats; +I seem to recall spring hay-rides as an expression +of "Fiji" spirit in my own days at Madison, +when I myself was that particular blithe Hellenist +with the guitar, and scornful of all Barbarians!</p> + +<p>Sylvia was a woman now. Æons stretched between +to-night and that afternoon when she had +opened the door for Harwood in Buckeye Lane. +His chivalry had been deeply touched by Mrs. +Owen's disclosure at the bank, and subsequent reflection +had not lightened the burden of her confidence. +Such obscurities as existed in the first paragraph +of the first page of Sylvia's life's record were +dark enough in any circumstances, but the darkness +was intensified by her singular isolation. The commission +he had accepted in her behalf from Mrs. +Owen carried a serious responsibility. These things +he pondered as they walked together. He felt the +pathos of her black gown; but she had rallied from +the first shock of her sorrow, and met him in his +key of badinage. She was tall—almost as tall as +he; and in the combined moon- and star-light of the +open spaces their eyes met easily.</p> + +<p>He was conscious to-night of the charm in Sylvia +that he had felt first on the train that day they had +sped through the Berkshires together. No other +girl had ever appealed to him so strongly. It was not +the charm of cleverness, for she was not clever in +the usual sense; she said few bright, quotable things, +though her humor was keen. She had carried into +womanhood the good looks of her girlhood, and she +was a person one looked at twice. Her eyes were +fine and expressive, and they faced the world with +an engaging candor. They had learned to laugh +since we saw her first—college and contact with +the world had done that for her. Her face was +long, her nose a compromise of good models, her +mouth a little large, but offering compensations +when she smiled in her quick, responsive fashion. +One must go deeper, Harwood reflected, for Sylvia's +charm, and it dawned upon him that it was in the +girl's self, born of an alert, clear-thinking mind and +a kind and generous heart. Individuality, personality, +were words with which he sought to characterize +her; and as he struggled with terms, he found +that she was carrying the burden of the talk.</p> + +<p>"I suppose," she was saying, in her voice that +was deeper than most women's voices, and musical +and agreeable to hear,—"I suppose that college +is designed to save us all a lot of hard knocks; I +wonder if it does?"</p> + +<p>"If you're asking me personally, I'll say that +there are lumps on my brow where I have bumped +hard, in spite of my A.B. degree. I'm disposed to +think that college only postpones the day of our +awakening; we've got to shoot the chutes anyhow. +It is so written."</p> + +<p>She laughed at his way of putting it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're not so much older that you can +frighten me. People on the toboggan always seem +to be having a good time; the percentage of those +whose car jumps the track isn't formidable."</p> + +<p>"Just enough fatalities to flavor the statistics. +The seniors over there have stopped singing; I dare +say they're talking about life in large capital letters."</p> + +<p>"Well, there are plenty of chances. I'm rather +of the opinion that we're all here to do something for +somebody. Nobody's life is just his own. Whether +we want it that way or not, we are all links in the +chain, and it's our business not to be the weakest."</p> + +<p>"I'm an individualist," he said, "and I'm very +largely concerned in seeing what Daniel Harwood, +a poor young lawyer of mediocre abilities, can do +with this thing we hear mentioned as life."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but there's no such thing as an individualist; +the idea is purely academic!" and she laughed again, +but less lightly. "We're all debtors to somebody or +something—to the world itself, for example."</p> + +<p>"For the stars up there, for grass and trees, for +the moon by night and the sun by day—for the +gracious gift of friends?"</p> + +<p>"A little, yes; but they don't count so much. I owe +my debt to people—real human beings, who may +not be as lucky as I. For a good many thousand +years people have been at work trying to cheer up +the world—brighten it and make it a better place +to live in. I owe all those people something; it's not +merely a little something; it's a tremendous lot, and +I must pay these other human beings who don't +know what they're entitled to. You have felt that; +you have felt it just as I have, I'm sure."</p> + +<p>"You are still in college, and that is what undergraduates +are taught to call ideals, Miss Garrison. +I hope you will hold on to them: I had mine, +but I'm conscious of late that I'm losing my grip +on them. It's inevitable, in a man's life. It's a +good thing that women hold on to them longer; +without woman's faith in such things the world +would be a sad old cinder, tumbling aimlessly around +in the void."</p> + +<p>She stopped abruptly in the path, very tall and +slim in the dusk of starlight and moonlight. He +had been carrying his hat in his hand and he leaned +on his stick wondering whether she were really in +earnest, whether he had displeased her by the half-mocking +tone in which he had spoken.</p> + +<p>"Please don't talk this old, romantic, mediæval +nonsense about women! This is the twentieth century, +and I don't believe for a minute that a woman, +just by being a woman, can keep the world sweet +and beautiful. Once, maybe; but not any more! +A woman's ideals aren't a bit better than a man's +unless she stands up for them and works for them. +You don't have to take that from a college senior; +you can ask dear Mrs. Owen. I suppose she knows +life from experience if any woman ever did, and she +has held to her ideals and kept working away at +them. But just being a woman, and being good, and +nice, and going to church, and belonging to a missionary +society—well, Mr. Harwood?"</p> + +<p>She had changed from earnestness to a note of +raillery.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Miss Garrison," he replied in her own key; +"if you expect me to take issue with you or Mrs. +Owen on any point, you're much mistaken. You +and she are rather fortunate over many of the rest +of us in having both brains and gentle hearts—the +combination is irresistible! When you come home +to throw in your lot with that of about a quarter of +a million of us in our Hoosier capital, I'll put myself +at your disposal. I've been trying to figure some +way of saving the American Republic for the plain +people, and I expect to go out in the campaign this +fall and make some speeches warning all good citizens +to be on guard against corporate greed, invasions +of sacred rights, and so on. My way is plain, +the duty clear," he concluded, with a wave of his +stick.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Sylvia, "if you care enough about +it to do that you must still have a few ideals lying +around somewhere."</p> + +<p>"I don't know, to be honest about it, that it's so +much my ideals as a wish to help my friend Mr. Bassett +win a fight."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know that he ever needed help in winning +what he really wanted to win. I have heard +of him only as the indomitable leader who wins +whenever it's worth while."</p> + +<p>"Well," Dan answered, "he's got a fight on hand +that he can't afford to lose if he means to stay in +politics."</p> + +<p>"I must learn all about that when I come home. +I never saw Mr. Bassett but once; that was at Waupegan +when I was up there with Mrs. Owen nearly +five years ago. He had just come back from the +West and spent only a day at the lake."</p> + +<p>"Then you don't really know him?"</p> + +<p>"No; they had counted on having him there for +the rest of the summer, but he came one day and +left the next. He didn't even see Mrs. Owen; I remember +that she expressed surprise that he had +come to the lake and gone without seeing her."</p> + +<p>"He's a busy man and works hard. You were +getting acquainted with Marian about that time?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; she was awfully good to me that summer. +I liked Mr. Bassett, the glimpse I had of him; he +seemed very interesting—a solid American character, +quiet and forceful."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he is that; he's a strong character. He's +shown me every kindness—given me my chance. I +should be ashamed of myself if I didn't feel grateful +to him."</p> + +<p>They had made the complete circuit of the campus +several times and Sylvia said it was time to go back. +The remembrance of Bassett had turned her thoughts +to Marian, and they were still talking of her when +Mrs. Owen greeted them cheerily from the little +veranda. They were to start for Boston in the +morning, and Harwood was to stay in Montgomery +a day or two longer on business connected with the +estate. "Don't let my sad philosophy keep you +awake, Mr. Harwood!—I've given him all my life +programme, Mrs. Owen. I think it has had a depressing +influence on him."</p> + +<p>"It's merely that you have roused me to a sense +of my own general worldliness and worthlessness," +he replied, laughing as they shook hands.</p> + +<p>"I guess Sylvia can tell you a good many things, +Daniel," said Mrs. Owen. "I wish you'd call Myers—he's +my Seymour farmer—on the long distance +in the morning, and tell him not to think I +won't be down to look at his corn when I get back. +Tell him I've gone to college, but I'll be right down +there when I get home."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII" />CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD</h3> + + +<p>Harwood reached the capital on the afternoon +of the second day after Mrs. Owen and +Sylvia had gone East, and went at once to +the Boordman Building. Miss Farrell was folding +and sealing letters bearing Bassett's signature.</p> + +<p>"Hello, little stranger; I'd begun to think you had +met with foul play, as the hero says in scene two, act +three, of 'The Dark Switch-Lantern'—all week at +the Park Theatre at prices within the reach of all. +Business has been good, if you press me for news, but +that paper-mill hasn't had much attention since +you departed this life. Everybody's saying 'Stop, +Look, Listen!' When in doubt you say that,—the +white aprons in the one-arm lunch rooms say it now +when you kick on the size of the buns. You will find +your letters in the left-hand drawer. I told that +collector from the necktie foundry that he needn't +wear himself to a shadow carrying bills up here; that +you paid all your bills by check on the tenth of the +month. As that was the twenty-ninth, you'd better +frame some new by-laws to avoid other breaks like +that. I can't do much lying at my present salary."</p> + +<p>She stood with her hands clasping her belt, and +continued to enlighten him on current history as he +looked over his letters.</p> + +<p>"That young Allen Thatcher has been making +life a burden to me in your lamented absence. +Wanted to know every few hours if you had come +back, and threatened to call you up on the long +distance at Montgomery, but I told him you were +trying a murder case over there, and that if he +didn't want to get nailed for contempt of court he'd +better not interrupt the proceedings."</p> + +<p>"You're speaking of Mr. Allen Thatcher, are +you, Miss Farrell?" asked Harwood, in the tone to +which the girl frequently drove him.</p> + +<p>"The same, like the mind reader you are! Say, +that boy isn't stuck on you or anything. He came +up here yesterday afternoon when the boss was out +and wanted to talk things over. He seemed to think +I hadn't anything to do but be a sister to him and +hear his troubles. Well, I've got embarrassments of +my own, with that true sport his papa sending me an +offer of a hundred per month to work for him. One +hundred dollars a month in advance! This, Mr. Harwood, +is private and confidential. I guess I haven't +worked at the State House without learning a few +tricks in this mortal vale of politics."</p> + +<p>She had calculated nicely the effect of this shot. +Harwood might treat her, as she said, like a step-child +with a harelip, but occasionally she made him +sit up. He sat up now. He remarked with the diplomatic +unconcern that it was best to employ with +her:—</p> + +<p>"Refused the offer, did you, Miss Farrell?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly did. As between a fat old sport like +Ed Thatcher and a gentleman like Mr. Bassett, +money doesn't count—not even with a p.w.g., or +poor working girl, like me. Hush!—are we quite +alone?" She bent toward the door dramatically. +"What he was playing for, as neat as a hatpin in +your loved one's eye, was some facts about the boss's +committee work in that last session I worked at the +State House. Cute of Thatcher? Well, not so awful +bright! He doesn't know what he's up against if he +thinks Mort Bassett can be caught on flypaper, and +you can be dead sure I'm not going to sprinkle the +sugar to catch our boss with. All that Transportation +Committee business was just as straight as the +way home; but"—Miss Farrell tapped her mouth +daintily with her fingers to stifle an imaginary yawn—"but +little Rose brought down her shorthand +notebooks marked 'M.B. personal,' and the boss +and I burned them yesterday morning early, right +there in that grate in his room. That's what I think +of Mr. Ed Thatcher. A pearl necklace for my birthday +ought to be about right for that."</p> + +<p>Harwood had been drinking this in as he opened +and sorted his letters. He paused and stared at her +absently.</p> + +<p>"You referred to a caller a moment ago—the +gentleman who annoyed you so much on the telephone. +Was I to call him or anything like that?"</p> + +<p>"He left a good many orders, but I think you were +to eat food with him in the frosty halls of the University +Club almost at once. He's in a state of mind. +In love with the daughter of his father's enemy—just +like a Park Theatre thriller. Wants you to tell +him what to do; and you will pardon me for suggesting +that if there's to be an elopement you write it up +yourself for the 'Courier.' I was talking to a friend +of mine who's on the ding-ding desk at the Whitcomb +and she says the long-distance business in that +tavern is painful to handle—hot words flying over +the state about this Thatcher-Bassett rumpus. +You may take it from me that the fight is warm, and +I guess somebody will know more after the convention. +But say—!"</p> + +<p>"Um," said Harwood, whose gaze was upon the +frame of a new building that was rising across the +street. He was thinking of Allen. If Marian and +Allen were subjects of gossip in connection with the +break between their fathers he foresaw trouble; and +he was sorry, for he was sincerely devoted to the +boy; and Marian he liked also, in spite of her vagaries. +A great many people were likely to be +affected by the personal difficulties of Thatcher and +Bassett. Even quiet Montgomery was teeming, and +on the way from the station he had met half a dozen +acquaintances who had paused to shake hands and +say something about the political situation. His +ignorance of Bassett's real intentions, which presumably +the defiance of the "Courier" merely +cloaked, was not without its embarrassment. He +had been known as a Bassett man; he had received +and talked to innumerable politicians of Bassett's +party in the Boordman Building; and during the four +years of his identification with Bassett he had visited +most of the county seats on political and business +errands. The closeness of their association made all +the more surprising this sudden exclusion.</p> + +<p>"I said 'say,'" repeated Miss Farrell, lightly +touching the smooth cliff of yellow hair above her +brow with the back of her hand. "I was about to +give you a message from his majesty our king, but +if you're on a pipe dream don't let me call you +home."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; pardon me. What were you about to +say?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bassett said that if you came in before I +quit to ask you to come over to the Whitcomb. Mrs. +Bassett blew in to-day from that sanatorium in +Connecticut where they've been working on her +nerves. Miss Marian brought her back, and they've +stopped in town to rest. And say,"—here Miss +Farrell lowered her voice,—"the Missis must try +his soul a good deal! I wonder how he ever picked +<i>her</i> out of the bunch?"</p> + +<p>"That will do!" said Harwood sharply. "I'll find +Mr. Bassett at the Whitcomb and I shan't have anything +for you to-day."</p> + +<p>There had been a meeting of the central committee +preliminary to the approaching state convention. A +number of candidates had already opened headquarters +at the Whitcomb; members of Congress, +aspirants for the governor's seat, to be filled two +years hence, and petty satraps from far and near +were visible at the hotel. If Bassett's star was declining +there was nothing to indicate it in the conduct +of the advance guard. If any change was apparent +it pointed to an increase of personal popularity. +Bassett was not greatly given to loafing in public +places; he usually received visitors at such times +in an upper room of the hotel; but Harwood found +him established on a settee in the lobby in plain view +of all seekers, and from the fixed appearance of the +men clustered about him he had held this position +for some time. Harwood drew into the outer edge +of the crowd unnoticed for a moment. Bassett was +at his usual ease; a little cheerfuler of countenance +than was his wont, and yet not unduly anxious to +appear tranquil. He had precipitated one of the +most interesting political struggles the state had +ever witnessed, but his air of unconcern before this +mixed company of his fellow partisans, among +whom there were friends and foes, was well calculated +to inspire faith in his leadership. Some one +was telling a story, and at its conclusion Bassett +caught Harwood's eye and called to him in a manner +that at once drew attention to the young man.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Dan! You're back from the country all +right, I see! I guess you boys all know Harwood. +You've seen his name in the newspapers!"</p> + +<p>Several of the loungers shook hands with Harwood, +who had cultivated the handshaking habit, +and he made a point of addressing to each one some +personal remark. Thus the gentleman from Tippecanoe, +who had met Dan at the congressional convention +in Lafayette two years earlier, felt that he +must have favorably impressed Bassett's agent on that +occasion; else how had Harwood asked at once, with +the most shameless flattery, whether they still had +the same brand of fried chicken at his house! And +the gentleman from the remote shores of the Lake, +a rare visitor in town, had every right to believe, +from Dan's reference to the loss by fire of the gentleman's +house a year earlier, that that calamity had +aroused in Dan the deepest sympathy. Dan had +mastered these tricks; it rather tickled his sense of +humor to practice them; but it must be said for him +that he was sincerely interested in people, particularly +in these men who played the great game. If he +ever achieved anything in politics it must be through +just such material as offered itself on such occasions +as this in the halls of the Whitcomb. These men +might be tearing the leader to pieces to-morrow, or +the day after; but he was still in the saddle, and not +knowing but that young Harwood might be of use to +them some day, they greeted him as one of the inner +circle.</p> + +<p>Most of these men sincerely liked and admired +Bassett; and many of them accepted the prevailing +superstition as to his omniscience and invulnerability; +even in the Republican camp many +shared the belief that the spears of the righteous +were of no avail against him. Dan's loyalty to +Bassett had never been more firmly planted. Bassett +had always preserved a certain formality in his relations +with him; to-night he was calling him Dan, +naturally and as though unconscious of the transition. +This was not without its effect on Harwood; +he was surprised to find how agreeable it was to be +thus familiarly addressed by the leader in such a +gathering.</p> + +<p>Bassett suggested that he speak to Mrs. Bassett +and Marian, who were spending a few days in town, +and he found them in the hotel parlor, where Bassett +joined them shortly. Mrs. Bassett and Dan had +always got on well together; his nearness to her +husband brought him close to the domestic circle; +and he had been invariably responsive to her demands +upon his time. Dan had learned inevitably +a good deal of the inner life of the Bassetts, and +now and then he had been aware that Mrs. Bassett +was sounding him discreetly as to her husband's +plans and projects; but these approaches had been +managed with the nicest tact and discretion. In +her long absences from home she had lost touch +with Bassett's political interests and occupations, +but she knew of his break with Thatcher. She +prided herself on being a woman of the world, and +while she had flinched sometimes at the attacks +made upon her husband, she was nevertheless proud +of his influence in affairs. Bassett had once, at a time +when he was being assailed for smothering some +measure in the senate, given her a number of books +bearing upon the anti-slavery struggle, in which she +read that the prominent leaders in that movement +had suffered the most unjust attacks, and while it +was not quite clear wherein lay Bassett's likeness to +Lincoln, Lovejoy, and Wendell Phillips, she had been +persuaded that the most honorable men in public +life are often the targets of scandal. Her early years +in Washington with her father had impressed her +imagination; the dream of returning there as the +wife of a Senator danced brightly in her horizons. +It would mean much to Marian and Blackford if +their father, like their Grandfather Singleton, should +attain a seat in the Senate. And she was aware that +without such party service as Bassett was rendering, +with its resulting antagonisms, the virulent +newspaper attacks, the social estrangements that +she had not escaped in Fraserville, a man could not +hope for party preferment.</p> + +<p>Bassett had recently visited Blackford at the +military school where his son was established, and +talk fell upon the boy.</p> + +<p>"Black likes to have a good time, but he will come +out all right. The curriculum doesn't altogether fit +him—that's his only trouble."</p> + +<p>Bassett glanced at Harwood for approval and Dan +promptly supported the father's position. Blackford +had, as a matter of fact, been threatened with expulsion +lately for insubordination. Bassett had confessed +to Dan several times his anxiety touching the +boy. To-day, when the lad's mother had just returned +after a long sojourn in a rest cure, was not a +fit occasion for discussing such matters.</p> + +<p>"What's Allen doing?" asked Marian. "I suppose +now that papa is having a rumpus with Mr. +Thatcher I shall never see him any more."</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't speak so, Marian. A hotel parlor +is no place to discuss your father's affairs," admonished +Mrs. Bassett.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Allen's ever so much fun. He's a Socialist or +something. Aunt Sally likes him ever so much. +Aunt Sally likes Mr. Thatcher, too, for that matter," +she concluded boldly.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Thatcher is an old friend of mine," said +Bassett soberly.</p> + +<p>"You can be awfully funny when you want to, +papa," replied Marian. "As we came through Pittsburg +this morning I bought a paper that told about +'Stop, Look, Listen.' But Allen won't mind if you +do whistle to his father to keep off the track."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Thatcher's name was never mentioned by +me in any such connection," replied Bassett; but he +laughed when Marian leaned over and patted his +cheek to express her satisfaction in her father's +cleverness.</p> + +<p>"I think it unfortunate that you have gone to war +with that man," remarked Mrs. Bassett wearily.</p> + +<p>"You dignify it too much by calling it a war," +Harwood interjected. "We don't want such men in +politics in this state and somebody has to deal with +them."</p> + +<p>"I guess it will be a lively scrap all right enough," +said Marian, delighted at the prospect. "We're going +to move to the city this fall, Mr. Harwood. Hasn't +papa told you?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett glanced at her husband with alert +suspicion, thinking that perhaps in her absence he +had been conniving to this end with Marian.</p> + +<p>Bassett smiled at his daughter's adroitness in +taking advantage of Harwood's presence to introduce +this subject; it had been the paramount issue +with her for several years.</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad enough to stay at Fraserville the +rest of my days if I get through another Waupegan +summer safely," said Mrs. Bassett. "The mere +thought of moving is horrible!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we wouldn't exactly move in coming here; +we'd have an apartment in one of these comfortable +new houses and come down while the legislature's +in session, so we can be with papa. And there's ever +so much music here now, and the theatres, and I +could have a coming-out party here. You know I +never had one, papa. And it would be nice to be +near Aunt Sally; she's getting old and needs us."</p> + +<p>"Yes; she undoubtedly does," said Bassett, with +faint irony.</p> + +<p>Her daughter's rapid fire of suggestions wearied +Mrs. Bassett. She turned to Harwood:—</p> + +<p>"Mr. Bassett and Marian have been telling me, +Mr. Harwood, that Aunt Sally went back to college +with Sylvia Garrison after Professor Kelton's death. +Poor girl, it's quite like Aunt Sally to do that. Sylvia +must be very forlorn, with all her people gone. +I think Aunt Sally knew her mother. I hope the +girl isn't wholly destitute?"</p> + +<p>"No, the Professor left a small estate and Miss +Garrison expects to teach," Dan answered.</p> + +<p>"Dan is the administrator," remarked Bassett +"I'm sure you will be glad to know that Miss Garrison's +affairs are in good hands, Hallie."</p> + +<p>"Aunt Sally is very fond of you, Mr. Harwood; +I hope you appreciate that," said Mrs Bassett. +"Aunt Sally doesn't like everybody."</p> + +<p>"Aunt Sally's a brick, all right," declared Marian, +as an accompaniment to Dan's expression of his +gratification that Mrs. Owen had honored him with +her friendship.</p> + +<p>"It's too bad the girl will have to teach," said +Mrs. Bassett; "it must be a dog's life."</p> + +<p>"I think Miss Garrison doesn't look at it that +way," Harwood intervened. "She thinks she's in +the world to do something for somebody; she's a +very interesting, a very charming young woman."</p> + +<p>"Well, I haven't seen her in five years; she was +only a young girl that summer at the lake. How soon +will Aunt Sally be back? I do hope she's coming +to Waupegan. If I'd known she was going to Wellesley, +we could have waited for her in New York, and +Marian and I could have gone with them to see +Sylvia graduated. I always wanted to visit the college."</p> + +<p>"It was better for you to come home, Hallie," said +Mr. Bassett. "You are not quite up to sight-seeing +yet. And now," he added, "Dan and I have some +business on hand for an hour or so, and I'm going +to send you and Marian for an automobile ride before +dinner. You must quit the moment you are tired. +Wish we could all go, but I haven't seen Dan much +lately, and as I'm going home with you to-morrow +we shan't have another chance."</p> + +<p>When his wife and daughter had been dispatched +in the motor Bassett suggested that they go to a +private room he had engaged in the hotel, first giving +orders at the office that he was not to be disturbed. +He did not, however, escape at once from +men who had been lying in wait for him in the lobby +and corridors, but he made short work of them.</p> + +<p>"I want to thresh out some things with you to-day, +and I'll be as brief as possible," said Bassett +when he and Harwood were alone. "You got matters +fixed satisfactorily at Montgomery—no trouble +about your appointment?"</p> + +<p>"None; Mrs. Owen had arranged all that."</p> + +<p>"You mentioned to her, did you, my offer to help?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! But she had already arranged with +Akins, the banker, about the administrator's bond, +and we went at once to business."</p> + +<p>"That's all right; only I wanted to be sure Mrs. +Owen understood I had offered to help you. She's +very kind to my wife and children; Mrs. Bassett has +been almost like a daughter to her, you know. There's +really some property to administer, is there?"</p> + +<p>"Very little, sir. The Professor had been obliged +to drop part of his life insurance and there was only +two thousand in force when he died. The house he +lived in may bring another two. There are some publishers' +contracts that seem to have no value. And +the old gentleman had invested what was a large +sum for him in White River Canneries."</p> + +<p>Bassett frowned and he asked quickly:—</p> + +<p>"How much?"</p> + +<p>"Five thousand dollars."</p> + +<p>"As much as that?"</p> + +<p>Bassett's connection with White River Canneries +was an incident of the politician's career to which +Harwood had never been wholly reconciled. Nor was +he pleasantly impressed by Bassett's next remark, +which, in view of Mrs. Bassett's natural expectations,—and +these Dan had frequently heard mentioned +at the capital,—partook of the nature of a leading +question. "That's unfortunate. But I suppose Mrs. +Owen, by reason of her friendship for the grandfather, +won't let the girl suffer."</p> + +<p>"She's not the sort of girl who would be dependent +in any case. She holds rather altruistic ideas in +fact," remarked Harwood. "I mean," he added, +seeing that Bassett waited for him to explain himself, +"that Miss Garrison feels that she starts life +in debt to the world—by reason of her own opportunities +and so on; she expects to make payments +on that debt."</p> + +<p>"In debt?" Bassett repeated vacantly. "Oh, not +literally, I see! She expects to teach and help others +in that way. That's commendable. But let me see."</p> + +<p>He had taken an unsharpened lead pencil from his +pocket and was slipping it through his fingers absently, +allowing its blunt ends to tap the arm of +his chair at intervals. After a moment's silence he +plunged into his own affairs.</p> + +<p>"You probably saw my tip to Thatcher in the +'Courier'? I guess everybody has seen it by this +time," he added grimly; and he went on as though +making a statement his mind had thoroughly rehearsed: +"Thatcher and I have been pretty thick. +We've been in a good many business deals together. +We've been useful to each other. He had more +money than I had to begin with, but I had other +resources—influence and so on that he needed. I +guess we're quits on the business side. You may +be interested to know that I never had a cent of +money in his breweries and distilleries; but I've helped +protect the traffic in return for support he has given +some of my own enterprises. I never owned a penny +in that Fraserville brewery, for instance; but I've +been pointed out as its owner. They've got the idea +here in Indiana that saloons are my chief joy in life; +but nothing is farther from the truth. When Mrs. +Bassett has been troubled about that I have always +been able to tell her with a good conscience that I +hadn't a penny in the business. I've frankly antagonized +legislation directed against the saloon, for +I've never taken any stock in this clamor of the Prohibitionists +and temperance cranks generally; but +I've stood consistently for a proper control. Thatcher +and I got along all right until he saw that the party +was coming into power again and got the senatorial +bee in his bonnet. He's got the idea that he can buy +his way in; and to buy a seat he's got to buy my +friends. That's a clear proposition, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir; I haven't seen that he had any personal +influence worth counting."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. Now, I don't intend that Ed Thatcher +shall buy a seat in the United States Senate if our +party in Indiana has one to dispose of. I'm not so +good myself, but when I found that Thatcher had +begun to build up a little machine for himself, I +resolved to show him that I can't be used by any +man so long as he thinks he needs me and then kicked +out when I'm in the way. And I've got some state +pride, too, and with all the scandals going around +in other states over the sale of seats at Washington +I'm not going to have my party in the state where +I was born and where I have lived all my life lend +itself to the ambitions of an Ed Thatcher. I think +you share that feeling?"</p> + +<p>"The people of the whole state will commend +that," replied Dan warmly. "And if you want to +go to the Senate—"</p> + +<p>"I don't want anything from my party that it +doesn't want me to have," interrupted Bassett.</p> + +<p>He rose and paced the floor. An unusual color +had come into his face, but otherwise he betrayed +no agitation. He crossed from the door to the window +and resumed his seat.</p> + +<p>"They've said of me that I fight in the dark; +that I'm a man of secret and malign methods. The +'Advertiser' said only this morning that I have no +courage; that I never make an attack where it +costs me anything. I've already proved that to be +a lie. My attack on Thatcher is likely to cost me a +good deal. You may be sure he won't scruple to +make the bill as heavy as he can. I'm talking to +you freely, and I'll say to you that I expect the better +element of the party to rally to my support. You +see, I'm going to give you idealists a chance to do +something that will count. Thatcher is not a foe to +be despised. Here's his reply to my 'Stop, Look, +Listen,' editorial. The sheriff served it on me just +as I stepped into the elevator to come up here."</p> + +<p>The paper Harwood took wonderingly was a writ +citing Bassett to appear as defendant in a suit +brought in the circuit court by Edward G. Thatcher +against the Courier Publishing Company, Morton +Bassett, and Sarah Owen.</p> + +<p>Bassett stretched himself at ease in his chair and +explained.</p> + +<p>"I wanted a newspaper and he was indifferent +about it at the time; but we went in together, and +he consented that I should have a controlling interest. +As I was tied up tight right then I had to get +Mrs. Owen to help me out. It wasn't the kind of +deal you want to hawk about town, and neither +Thatcher nor I cared to have it known for a while +that we had bought the paper. But it's hardly a +secret now, of course. Mrs. Owen and I together +own one hundred and fifty-one shares of the total +of three hundred; Thatcher owns the rest and he +was satisfied to let it go that way. He signed an +agreement that I should manage the paper, and +said he didn't want anything but dividends."</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Owen's interest is subject to your wishes, +of course; that goes without saying."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guaranteed eight per cent on her investment, +but we've made it lately, easily. I've now +got to devise some means of getting rid of Thatcher; +but we'll let him cool till after the convention. Mrs. +Owen won't be back for several weeks, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"No; she and Miss Garrison will return immediately +after the commencement exercises."</p> + +<p>"Well, Thatcher brought that suit, thinking that +if he could throw the paper into a receivership +he'd run up the price when it came to be sold and +shake me out. He knew, too, that it would annoy +Mrs. Owen to be involved in litigation. It's surprising +that he would incur her wrath himself; she's +always been mighty decent to Ed and kind to his +boy. But I'll have to buy her stock and let her +out; it's a delicate business, and for Mrs. Bassett's +sake I've got to get her aunt out as quickly as +possible."</p> + +<p>"That, of course, will be easily managed. It's +too bad she's away just now."</p> + +<p>"It was the first time I ever asked her help in any +of my business affairs, and it's unfortunate. The +fact is that Mrs. Bassett doesn't know of it."</p> + +<p>He rose and crossed the room slowly with his +hands thrust deep into his trousers pockets.</p> + +<p>"But if Mrs. Owen is guaranteed against loss +there's no ground for criticizing you," said Dan. +"There's nothing to trouble about on that side of +it, I should think."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not troubling about that," replied Bassett +shortly. He shrugged his shoulders and walked +to the window, gazing out on the street in silence +for several minutes. Then he sat down on the edge +of the bed.</p> + +<p>"I told you, Dan, when you opened our office in +the Boordman Building, that if ever the time came +when you didn't want to serve me any longer you +were to feel free to quit. You are under no obligations +to me of any sort. I caught a bargain in you; +you have been useful to me in many ways; you have +carried nearly the whole burden of the paper-mill +receivership in a way to win me the praise of the +court and all others interested. If you should quit +me to-night I should still be your debtor. I had +about decided to leave you out of my calculations +in politics; you have the making of a good lawyer +and if you opened an office to-morrow you would +find clients without trouble. You are beginning to +be known, very well known for a man of your years."</p> + +<p>Harwood demurred feebly, unheeded by Bassett, +who continued steadily.</p> + +<p>"I had thought for a time that I shouldn't encourage +you to take any part in politics—at least +in my affairs. The receivership has been giving you +enough to do; and the game, after all, is a hard one. +Even after I decided to break with Thatcher I +thought I'd leave you out of it: that's why I gave +you no intimation of what was coming, but put the +details into Atwill's hands. I had really meant to +show you a proof of that editorial, but I wasn't +sure until they had to close the page that night that I +was ready to make the break. I had been pretty +hot that evening at the Country Club when I saw +Pettit and Thatcher chumming together; I wanted +to be sure I had cooled off. But I find that I've got +in the habit of relying on you; I've been open with +you from the beginning, and as you know I'm not +much given to taking men into my confidence. But +I've been leaning on you a good deal—more, in +fact, than I realized."</p> + +<p>There was no questioning Bassett's sincerity, nor +was there any doubt that this appeal was having +its effect on the younger man. If Bassett had been +a weakling timorously making overtures for help, +Harwood would have been sensible of it; but a man +of demonstrated force and intelligence, who had +probably never talked thus to another soul in his +life, was addressing him with a candor at once disarming +and compelling. It was not easy to say to +a man from whom he had accepted every kindness +that he had ceased to trust him; that while he had +been his willing companion on fair-weather voyages, +he would desert without a qualm before the tempest. +But even now Bassett had asked nothing of him; +why should he harden his heart against the man who +had been his friend?</p> + +<p>"You have your ideals—fine ideas of public +service that I admire. Our party needs such men +as you; the young fellows couldn't get away from +us fast enough after '96; many of the Sons of old-time +Democrats joined the Republicans. Fitch has +spoken to me of you often as the kind of man we +ought to push forward, and I'm willing to put you +out on the firing-line, where you can work for your +ideals. My help will handicap you at first,"—his +voice grew dry and hard here,-"but once you have +got a start you can shake me off as quick as you +like. It's a perfectly selfish proposition I'm making, +Harwood; it simply gets down to this, that I need +your help."</p> + +<p>"Of course, Mr. Bassett; if I can serve you in any +way—"</p> + +<p>"Anything you can do for me you may do if you +don't feel that you will be debasing yourself in fighting +under my flag. It's a black flag, they say—just +as black as Thatcher's. I don't believe you want to +join Thatcher; the question is, do you want to stick +to me?"</p> + +<p>Bassett had spoken quietly throughout. He had +made no effort to play upon Harwood's sympathies +or to appeal to his gratitude. He was, in common +phrase, to be taken or let alone. Harwood realized +that he must either decline outright or declare his +fealty in a word. It was in no view a debatable matter; +he could not suggest points of difference or even +inquire as to the nature of the service to be exacted. +He was face to face with a man who, he had felt that +night of their first meeting at Fraserville, gave and +received hard blows. Yet he did not doubt that if +their relations terminated to-day Bassett would deal +with him magnanimously. He realized that after all +it was not Bassett who was on trial; it was Daniel +Harwood!</p> + +<p>He saw his life in sharp fulgurations; the farm +(cleared of debt through Bassett's generosity, to be +sure!) where his father and brothers struggled to +wrest a livelihood from reluctant soil, and their +pride and hope in him; he saw his teachers at college, +men who had pointed the way to useful and honorable +lives; and more than all, Sumner rose before +him—Sumner who had impressed him more than +any other man he had ever known. Sumner's clean-cut +visage was etched grimly in his consciousness; +verily Sumner would not have dallied with a man of +Bassett's ilk. He had believed when he left college +that Sumner's teaching and example would be a +buckler and shield to him all the days of his life; and +here he was, faltering before a man to whom the great +teacher would have given scarce a moment's contemptuous +thought. He could even hear the professor's +voice as he ironically pronounced upon sordid +little despots of Bassett's stamp. And only forty-eight +hours earlier he had been talking to a girl on the +campus at Madison who had spoken of idealism and +service in the terms of which he had thought of +those things when he left college. Even Allen +Thatcher, in his whimsical fashion, stood for ideals, +and dreamed of the heroic men who had labored +steadfastly for great causes. Here was his chance +now to rid himself of Bassett; to breathe free air +again! On the other hand, Bassett had himself suggested +that Harwood, once in a position to command +attention, might go his own gait. His servitude +would be for a day only, and by it he should win +eternal freedom. He caught eagerly at what Bassett +was saying, grateful that the moment of his choice +was delayed.</p> + +<p>"The state convention is only three weeks off and +I had pretty carefully mapped it out before the +'Courier' dropped that shot across Thatcher's bows. +I've arranged for you to go as delegate to the state +convention from this county and to have a place on +the committee on resolutions. This will give you an +introduction to the party that will be of value. They +will say you are my man—but they've said that of +other men who have lived it down. I want Thatcher +to have his way in that convention, naming the +ticket as far as he pleases, and appearing to give me +a drubbing. The party's going to be defeated in +November—there's no ducking that. We'll let +Thatcher get the odium of that defeat. About the +next time we'll go in and win and there won't be +any more Thatcher nonsense. This is politics, you +understand."</p> + +<p>Harwood nodded; but Bassett had not finished; it +clearly was not his purpose to stand the young man +in a corner and demand a choice from him. Bassett +pursued negotiations after a fashion of his own.</p> + +<p>"Thatcher thinks he has scored heavily on me by +sneaking into Fraserville and kidnaping old Ike +Pettit. That fellow has always been a nuisance to +me; I carried a mortgage on his newspaper for ten +years, but Thatcher has mercifully taken that burden +off my shoulders by paying it. Thatcher can +print anything he wants to about me in my own +town; but it will cost him some money; those people +up there don't think I'm so wicked, and the 'Fraser +County Democrat' won't have any advertisements +for a while but fake medical ads. But Ike will have +more room for the exploitation of his own peculiar +brand of homely Hoosier humor."</p> + +<p>Bassett smiled, and Harwood was relieved to be +able to laugh aloud. He was enjoying this glimpse of +the inner mysteries of the great game. His disdain of +Thatcher's clumsy attempts to circumvent Bassett +was complete; in any view Bassett was preferable to +Thatcher. As the senator from Fraser had said, +there was really nothing worse than Thatcher, with +his breweries and racing-stable, his sordidness and +vulgarity. Thatcher's efforts to practice Bassett's +methods with Bassett's own tools was a subject for +laughter. It seemed for the moment that Harwood's +decision might be struck on this note of mirth. Dan +wondered whether, in permitting Bassett thus to +disclose his plans and purposes, he had not already +nailed his flag to the Bassett masthead.</p> + +<p>"I don't want these fellows who are old-timers +in state conventions—particularly those known +to be my old friends—to figure much," Bassett +continued. "I'm asking your aid because you're +new and clean-handed. The meanest thing they +can say against you is that you're in my camp. +They tell me you're an effective speaker, a number +of county chairmen have said your speeches in the +last campaign made a good impression. I shall want +you to prepare a speech about four minutes long, +clean-cut and vigorous,—we'll decide later what +that speech shall be about. I've got it in mind to +spring something in that convention just to show +Thatcher that there are turns of the game he doesn't +know yet. I'm going to give you a part that will +make 'em remember you for some time, Dan."</p> + +<p>Bassett's smile showed his strong sound teeth. +He rarely laughed, but he yielded now to the contagion +of the humor he had aroused in Harwood.</p> + +<p>"It's a big chance you're giving me to get into +things," replied Harwood. "I'll do my best." Then +he added, in the glow of his complete surrender: +"You've never asked me to do a dishonorable thing +in the four years I've been with you. There's +nothing I oughtn't to be glad to do from any standpoint, +and I'm grateful for this new mark of your +confidence."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Dan. There are things in store +for young men in politics in this state—Republicans +and Democrats," said Bassett, without elation +or any show of feeling whatever. "Once the limelight +hits you, you can go far—very far. I must go +over to the 'Courier' office now and see Atwill."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX" />CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>THE THUNDER OF THE CAPTAINS</h3> + + +<p>Marian had suggested to her mother that +they visit Mrs. Owen in town before settling +at Waupegan for the summer, and it was +Marian's planning that made this excursion synchronize +with the state convention. Mr. Bassett was not +consulted in the matter; in fact, since his wife's +return from Connecticut he had been unusually +occupied, and almost constantly away from Fraserville. +Mrs. Bassett and her daughter arrived at the +capital the day after Mrs. Owen reached home from +Wellesley with Sylvia, and the Bassetts listened +perforce to their kinswoman's enthusiastic account +of the commencement exercises. Mrs. Owen had, it +appeared, looked upon Smith and Mount Holyoke +also on this eastward flight, and these inspections, +mentioned in the most casual manner, did not contribute +to Mrs. Bassett's happiness.</p> + +<p>Finding that her father was inaccessible by telephone, +Marian summoned Harwood and demanded +tickets for the convention; she would make an occasion +of it, and Mrs. Owen and Sylvia should go with +them. Mrs. Bassett and her family had always +enjoyed the freedom of Mrs. Owen's house; it was +disheartening to find Sylvia established in Delaware +Street on like terms of intimacy. The old heartache +over Marian's indifference to the call of higher education +for women returned with a new poignancy as +Mrs. Bassett inspected Sylvia's diploma, as proudly +displayed by Mrs. Owen as though it marked +the achievement of some near and dear member of +the family. Sylvia's undeniable good looks, her +agreeable manner, her ready talk, and the attention +she received from her elders, were well calculated to +arm criticism in a prejudiced heart. On the evening +of their arrival Admiral and Mrs. Martin and the +Reverend John Ware had called, and while Mrs. +Bassett assured herself that these were, in a sense, +visits of condolence upon Andrew Kelton's granddaughter, +the trio, who were persons of distinction, +had seemed sincerely interested in Mrs. Owen's +protégée. Mrs. Bassett was obliged to hear a lively +dialogue between the minister and Sylvia touching +some memory of his first encounter with her about +the stars. He brought her as a "commencement +present" Bacon's "Essays." People listened to +Sylvia; Sylvia had things to say! Even the gruff +admiral paid her deference. He demanded to know +whether it was true that Sylvia had declined a position +at the Naval Observatory, which required the +calculation of tides for the Nautical Almanac. Mrs. +Bassett was annoyed that Sylvia had refused a position +that would have removed her from a proximity +to Mrs. Owen that struck her as replete with danger. +And yet Mrs. Bassett was outwardly friendly, and +she privately counseled Marian, quite unnecessarily, +to be "nice" to Sylvia. On the same evening Mrs. +Bassett was disagreeably impressed by Harwood's +obvious rubrication in Mrs. Owen's good books. It +seemed darkly portentous that Dan was, at Mrs. +Owen's instigation, managing Sylvia's business affairs; +she must warn her husband against this employment +of his secretary to strengthen the ties +between Mrs. Owen and this object of her benevolence.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett's presence at the convention did not +pass unremarked by many gentlemen upon the floor, +or by the newspapers.</p> + +<p>"While the state chairman struggled to bring the +delegates to order, Miss Marian Bassett, daughter of +the Honorable Morton Bassett, of Fraser County, +was a charming and vivacious figure in the balcony. +At a moment when it seemed that the band would +never cease from troubling the air with the strains of +'Dixie,' Miss Bassett tossed a carnation into the +Marion County delegation. The flower was deftly +caught by Mr. Daniel Harwood, who wore it in his +buttonhole throughout the strenuous events of the +day."</p> + +<p>This item was among the "Kodak Shots" subjoined +to the "Advertiser's" account of the convention. +It was stated elsewhere in the same journal +that "never before had so many ladies attended a +state convention as graced this occasion. The wives +of both Republican United States Senators and of +many prominent politicians of both parties were +present, their summer costumes giving to the severe +lines of the balcony a bright note of color." The +"Capital," in its minor notes of the day, remarked +upon the perfect amity that prevailed among the +wives and daughters of Republicans and Democrats. +It noted also the presence in Mrs. Bassett's party of +her aunt, Mrs. Jackson Owen, and of Mrs. Owen's +guest, Miss Sylvia Garrison, a graduate of this +year's class at Wellesley.</p> + +<p>The experiences and sensations of a delegate to a +large convention are quite different from those of a +reporter at the press table, as Dan Harwood realized; +and it must be confessed that he was keyed to a +proper pitch of excitement by the day's prospects. +In spite of Bassett's promise that he need not trouble +to help elect himself a delegate, Harwood had been +drawn sharply into the preliminary skirmish at the +primaries. He had thought it wise to cultivate the +acquaintance of the men who ruled his own county +even though his name had been written large upon +the Bassett slate.</p> + +<p>In the weeks that intervened between his interview +with Harwood in the upper room of the Whitcomb +and the primaries, Bassett had quietly visited +every congressional district, holding conferences +and perfecting his plans. "Never before," said the +"Advertiser," "had Morton Bassett's pernicious +activity been so marked." The belief had grown that +the senator from Fraser was in imminent peril; in +the Republican camp it was thought that while +Thatcher might not control the convention he would +prove himself strong enough to shake the faith of +many of Bassett's followers in the power of their +chief. There had been, apparently, a hot contest +at the primaries. In the northern part of the state, +in a region long recognized as Bassett's stronghold, +Thatcher had won easily; at the capital the contestants +had broken even, a result attributable to Thatcher's +residence in the county. The word had passed +among the faithful that Thatcher money was plentiful, +and that it was not only available in this preliminary +skirmish, but that those who attached themselves +to Thatcher early were to enjoy his bounty +throughout his campaign—which might be protracted—for +the senatorship. Bassett was not +scattering largess; it was whispered that the money +he had used previously in politics had come out of +Thatcher's pocket and that he would have less to +spend in future.</p> + +<p>Bassett, in keeping with his forecast to Harwood, +had made a point of having many new men, whose +faces were unfamiliar in state conventions, chosen +at the primaries he controlled, so that in a superficial +view of the convention the complexion of a considerable +body of the delegates was neutral. Here +and there among the delegations sat men who knew +precisely Bassett's plans and wishes. The day following +the primaries, Bassett, closeted with Harwood +in his room at the Boordman Building, had +run the point of a walking-stick across every county +in the state, reciting from memory just how many +delegates he absolutely controlled, those he could +get easily if he should by any chance need them, +and the number of undoubted Thatcher men there +were to reckon with. In Dan's own mingling with +the crowd at the Whitcomb the night before the convention +he had learned nothing to shake his faith in +Bassett's calculations.</p> + +<p>The Honorable Isaac Pettit, of Fraser, was one +of the most noteworthy figures on the floor. Had he +not thrown off the Bassett yoke and trampled the +lord of Fraser County underfoot? Did not the opposition +press applaud the editor for so courageously +wresting from the despicable chieftain the control +of a county long inured to slavery? Verily, the Honorable +Isaac had done much to encourage belief in the +guileless that such were the facts. Even the "Courier" +proved its sturdy independence by printing the +result of the primary without extenuation or aught +set down in malice. The Honorable Isaac Pettit +undoubtedly believed in himself as the savior of +Fraser. He had personally led the fight in the Fraser +County primaries and had vanquished Bassett! "Bassett +had fought gamely," the Republican organ +averred, to make more glorious the Honorable Isaac's +victory. It was almost inconceivable, they said, that +Bassett, who had dominated his party for years, +should not be able to elect himself a delegate to a +state convention.</p> + +<p>In a statement printed in the "Courier," Bassett +had accepted defeat in a commendable spirit of resignation. +He and Atwill had framed that statement +a week before the primaries, and Miss Rose Farrell +had copied at least a dozen drafts before Bassett's +critical sense was satisfied. Harwood was increasingly +amused by the manifestations of Bassett's +ironic humor. "I have never yet," ran the statement, +"placed my own ambitions before the wishes +of my party; and if, when the Democrats of Fraser +County meet to choose a candidate for state senator, +they are not disposed to renominate me for a +seat which I have held for twelve years, I shall gladly +resign to another and give my loyal support to the +candidate of their choice." It was whispered that +the Honorable Isaac Pettit would himself be a candidate +for the nomination. The chattel mortgage +scrolls in the office of the recorder of Fraser County +indicated that his printing-press no longer owed allegiance +to the Honorable Morton Bassett. Thatcher +had treated Pettit generously, taking his unsecured +note for the amount advanced to cleanse the "Fraser +County Democrat" of the taint of Bassettism.</p> + +<p>As they gathered in the convention hall many of the +delegates were unable to adjust themselves to the fact +that Bassett had not only failed of election as delegate +from his own county, but that he was not even +present as a spectator of the convention. The scene +was set, the curtain had risen, but Hamlet came not to +the platform before the castle. Many men sought +Harwood and inquired in awed whispers as to Bassett's +whereabouts, but he gave evasive answers. +He knew, however, that Bassett had taken an early +morning train for Waupegan, accompanied by Fitch, +their purpose being to discuss in peace and quiet the +legal proceeding begun to gain control of the "Courier." +The few tried and trusted Bassett men who +knew exactly Bassett's plans for the convention +listened in silence to the hubbub occasioned by their +chief's absence; silence was a distinguishing trait +of Bassett's lieutenants. Among the uninitiated +there were those who fondly believed that Bassett +was killed, not scotched, and they said among themselves +that the party and the state were well rid of +him. Thatcher was to be reckoned with, but he was +no worse than Bassett: with such cogitations they +comforted themselves amid the noise and confusion. +The old Bassett superstition held, however, with +many: this was only another of the Boss's deep-laid +schemes, and he would show his hand in due season +and prove himself, as usual, master of the situation. +Others imagined that Bassett was sulking, and these +were not anxious to be the target of his wrath when +he chose to emerge from his tent in full armor.</p> + +<p>A young woman reporter, traversing the galleries +to note the names and gowns of the ladies present, +sought Mrs. Bassett for information as to her husband's +whereabouts. When Mrs. Bassett hesitated +discreetly, Marian rose promptly to the occasion:—</p> + +<p>"Papa's gone fishing," she replied suavely.</p> + +<p>This was not slow to reach the floor. "Papa's +gone fishing" gained wide currency as the answer to +the most interesting question of the day.</p> + +<p>The Honorable Isaac Pettit, seated majestically +with the Fraser County delegation, tested the acoustics +of the hall at the first opportunity. While the +chairman of the state central committee was endeavoring +to present as the temporary chairman of +the convention a patriot known as the "War Eagle of +the Wabash," the gentleman from Fraser insisted +upon recognition.</p> + +<p>"Who is that preposterous fat man?" demanded +Mrs. Owen, plying her palm-leaf fan vigorously.</p> + +<p>"That's Mr. Pettit, from our town," said Mrs. +Bassett. "He's an editor and lecturer."</p> + +<p>"He's the man that defeated papa in our primaries," +added Marian cheerfully. "He's awfully funny, +everybody says, and I suppose his defeating papa was +a joke. He's going to say something funny now."</p> + +<p>"He doesn't need to," said Sylvia, not the least +interested of the spectators. "They are laughing +before he begins."</p> + +<p>The chairman of the state committee feigned +not to hear or see the delegate from Fraser, but Mr. +Pettit continued to importune the chair amid much +laughter and confusion. The chairman had hardened +his heart, but the voice of the gentleman from +Fraser alone rose above the tumult, and in a moment +of comparative calm he addressed the chair unrecognized +and unpermitted.</p> + +<p>"I beg to call your attention, sir, to the presence +in the gallery of many of the fair daughters of the +old Hoosier State. (Applause.) They hover above +us like guardian angels. They have come in the +spirit that brought their sisters of old to watch true +knights battle in the tourney. As a mark of respect +to these ladies who do us so much honor, I ask the +chair to request gentlemen to desist from smoking, +and that the sergeant-at-arms be ordered to enforce +the rule throughout our deliberations." (Long-continued +applause.)</p> + +<p>The state chairman was annoyed and showed his +annoyance. He had been about to ingratiate himself +with the ladies by making this request unprompted; +he made it now, but the gentleman from Fraser sat +down conscious that the renewed applause was his.</p> + +<p>"Why don't they keep on smoking?" asked Mrs. +Owen. "The hall couldn't be any fuller of smoke +than it is now."</p> + +<p>"If they would all put on their coats the room +would be more beautiful," said Marian. "They always +say the Republicans are much more gentlemanly +than the Democrats."</p> + +<p>"Hush, Marian; some one might hear you," Mrs. +Bassett cautioned.</p> + +<p>She did not understand her husband's absence; he +rarely or never took her into his confidence in political +matters. She had not known until that morning +that he was not to be present at the convention. +She did not relish the idea that he had been defeated +in the primaries; in her mind defeat was inseparable +from dishonor. The "War Eagle of the Wabash" +was in excellent voice and he spoke for thirty minutes; +his speech would have aroused greater enthusiasm if +it had not been heard in many previous state conventions +and on the hustings through many campaigns. +Dan Voorhees had once expressed his admiration +of that speech; and it was said that Tom +Hendricks had revised the original manuscript the +year he was chosen Vice-President. It was a safe +speech, containing nothing that any good American +might not applaud; it named practically every Democratic +President except the twenty-second and +twenty-fourth, whom it seemed the better part of +valor just then to ignore. With slight emendations +that same oration served admirably for high-school +commencements, and it had a recognized cash value +on the Chautauqua circuit. The peroration, closing +with "Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!" was well +calculated to bring strong men to their feet. The +only complaint the War Eagle might have lodged +against the Ship of State (in some imaginable admiralty +court having jurisdiction of that barnacled +old frigate) would have been for its oft-repeated +rejection of his own piloting.</p> + +<p>The permanent chairman now disclosed was a +man of business, who thanked the convention briefly +and went to work. By the time the committee on +resolutions had presented the platform (on which +Bassett and Harwood had collaborated) the convention +enjoyed its first sensation as Thatcher appeared, +moving slowly down the crowded main +aisle to join the delegation of his county. His friends +had planned a demonstration for his entrance, and +in calling it an ovation the newspapers hardly magnified +its apparent spontaneity and volume. The +man who had undertaken the herculean task of +driving Morton Bassett out of politics was entitled +to consideration, and his appearance undoubtedly +interrupted the business of the convention for fully +five minutes. Thatcher bowed and waved his hand +as he sat down. The cordiality of his reception both +pleased and embarrassed him. He fanned himself +with his hat and feigned indifference to the admiration +of his countrymen.</p> + +<p>"Papa always gets more applause than that," +Marian remarked to Sylvia. "I was at the state +convention two years ago and father came in late, +just as Mr. Thatcher did. They always come in late +after all the stupid speeches have been made; they're +surer to stir up a big rumpus that way."</p> + +<p>Sylvia gave serious heed to these transactions of +history. Her knowledge of politics was largely derived +from lectures she had heard at college and +from a diligent reading of newspapers. The report +of the committee on resolutions—a succinct document +to each of whose paragraphs the delegates rose +in stormy approval—had just been read.</p> + +<p>"I don't see how you can listen to such stuff," +said Marian during a lull in the shouting. "It's +only the platform and they don't mean a word of it. +There's Colonel Ramsay, of Aurora,—the man with +white hair who has just come on the stage. He had +dinner at our house once and he's perfectly lovely. +He's a beautiful speaker, but they won't let him +speak any more because he was a gold bug—whatever +that is. They say Colonel Ramsay has stopped +gold-bugging now and wants to be governor. Sylvia, +all these men that don't want to be United States +Senator want to be governor. Isn't it funny? I +don't see why silver money isn't just as good as any +other kind, do you?"</p> + +<p>"They told me at college," said Sylvia, "but it's +rather complicated. Why didn't your father come +to the convention even if he wasn't a delegate? +He could have sat in the gallery; I suppose a lot +of those men down there are not really delegates."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that wouldn't be papa's way of doing things. +I wish he had come, just on mama's account; she +takes everything so hard. If papa ever did half the +naughty things they say he does he'd be in the penitentiary +good and tight. I should like to marry a +public man; if I trusted a man enough to marry +him I shouldn't be jarred a bit by what the newspapers +said of him. I like politics; I don't know what +it's all about, but I think the men are ever so interesting."</p> + +<p>"I think so too," said Sylvia; "only I don't understand +why they make so much noise and do so little. +That platform they read a little bit ago seemed splendid. +I read a lot of political platforms once in college—they +were part of the course—and that was the +best one I ever heard. It declared for laws against +child labor, and I'm interested in that; and for juvenile +courts and a lot of the new enlightened things. +It was all fine."</p> + +<p>"Do you think so? It sounded just like a trombone +solo to me. Mr. Harwood was on that committee. +Didn't you hear his name read? He's one of these +high brows in politics, and father's going to push +him forward so he can accomplish the noble things +that interest him. Father told me Mr. Harwood +would be a delegate to the convention. That's the +reason I wanted to come. I hope he will make a +speech; they say he's one of the best of the younger +men. I heard him at the Opera House at Fraserville +in the last campaign and he kept me awake, I can +tell you. And funny! You wouldn't think he could +be funny."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can see that he has humor—the lines +around his mouth show that."</p> + +<p>They had discussed the convention and its possibilities +at Mrs. Owen's breakfast table and with +the morning newspapers as their texts. Sylvia had +gained the impression that Bassett had met a serious +defeat in the choice of delegates, and she had been +conscious that Mrs. Bassett was distressed by the +newspaper accounts of it. Marian bubbled on elucidatively, +answering all of Sylvia's questions.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think that because papa isn't here +he won't be heard from; I think I know papa better +than that. He didn't think this convention would +amount to enough for him to trouble with it. I told +Aunt Sally not to talk much before mother about +papa and politics; you will notice that Aunt Sally +turned the subject several times this morning. That +lawsuit Mr. Thatcher brought against papa and +Aunt Sally made her pretty hot, but papa will fix that +up all right. Papa always fixes up everything," she +concluded admiringly.</p> + +<p>It was in Sylvia's mind that she was witnessing +a scene of the national drama and that these men +beneath her in the noisy hall were engaged upon +matters more or less remotely related to the business +of self-government. She had derived at college +a fair idea of the questions of the day, but the parliamentary +mechanism and the thunder of the captains +and the shouting gave to politics a new, concrete +expression. These delegates, drawn from all +occupations and conditions of life, were citizens of +a republic, endeavoring to put into tangible form their +ideas and preferences; and similar assemblies had, +she knew, for years been meeting in every American +commonwealth, enacting just such scenes as those +that were passing under her eyes. Her gravity +amused Mrs. Owen.</p> + +<p>"Don't you worry, Sylvia; they are all kind to +their families and most of 'em earn an honest living. +I've attended lots of conventions of all parties and +they're all about alike: there are more standing collars +in a Republican convention and more whiskers +when the Prohibitionists get together, but they're +all mostly corn-fed and human. A few fellows with +brains in their heads run all the rest."</p> + +<p>"Look, Marian, Mr. Harwood seems to be getting +ready to do something," said Sylvia. "I wonder +what that paper is he has in his hand. He's been +holding it all morning."</p> + +<p>Harwood sat immediately under them. Several +times men had passed notes to him, whereupon he +had risen and searched out the writer to give his +answer with a nod or shake of the head. When +Thatcher appeared, Dan had waited for the hubbub +to subside and then he left his seat to shake hands +with Bassett's quondam ally. He held meanwhile +a bit of notepaper the size of his hand, and scrutinized +it carefully from time to time. It contained +the precise programme of the convention as arranged +by Bassett. Morton Bassett was on a train bound +for the pastoral shades of Waupegan a hundred miles +away, but the permanent chairman had in his vest +pocket a copy of Bassett's scheme of exercises; even +Thatcher's rapturous greeting had been ordered by +Bassett. There had already been one slight slip; the +eagerness of the delegates to proceed to the selection +of the state ticket had sent matters forward for +a moment beyond the chairman's control. A delegate +with a weak voice had gained recognition for +the laudable purpose of suggesting a limitation upon +nominating speeches; the permanent chairman had +mistaken him for another gentleman for whom he +was prepared, and he hastened to correct his blunder. +He seized the gavel and began pounding vigorously +and the man with the weak voice never again +caught his eye.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the hall a delegate now drew +attention to himself by rising upon a chair; he held +a piece of paper in his hand and waved it; and the +chairman promptly took cognizance of him. The +chairman referred to him as the gentleman from Pulaski, +but he might have been the gentleman from +Vallombrosa for all that any one cared. The convention +was annoyed that a gentleman from Pulaski +County should have dared to flourish manuscript +when there were innumerable orators present fully +prepared to speak extempore on any subject. For +all that any one knew the gentleman from Pulaski +might be primed with a speech on the chinch bug +or the Jewish kritarchy; a man with a sheet of paper +in his hand was a formidable person, if not indeed a +foe of mankind, and he was certainly not to be +countenaced or encouraged in a hot hall on a day of +June. Yet all other human beings save the gentleman +from Pulaski were as nothing, it seemed, to the +chairman. The Tallest Delegate, around whose lean +form a frock coat hung like a fold of night, and who +flung back from a white brow an immense quantity +of raven hair, sought to relieve the convention of +the sight and sound of the person from Pulaski. The +Tallest Delegate was called smartly to order; he +rebelled, but when threatened with the sergeant-at-arms +subsided amid jeers. The gentleman from +Pulaski was indulged to the fullest extent by the +chairman, to whom it had occurred suddenly that the +aisles must be cleared. The aisles were cleared and +delegates were obliged to find their seats before the +unknown gentleman from Pulaski was allowed to proceed. +Even the War Eagle had received no such consideration. +The gentleman from Pulaski calmly waited +for a completer silence than the day had known. +Ten men in the hall knew what was coming—not +more; Miss Rose Farrell had typed ten copies of the +memorandum which Harwood held in his hand!</p> + +<p>The gentleman from Pulaski did not after all refer +to his manuscript; he spoke in a high, penetrating +voice that reached the farthest corner of the hall, reciting +from memory:—</p> + +<p>"Be it resolved by this convention that, whereas +two years hence it will be the privilege and duty +of the Indiana Democracy to elect a United States +Senator to fill the seat now occupied by a Republican, +we, the delegates here assembled, do hereby pledge +the party's support for the office of Senator in Congress +to the Honorable Edward G. Thatcher, of +Marion County."</p> + +<p>There was a moment's awed calm before the +storm broke; Thatcher rose in his seat to look at the +strange gentleman from Pulaski who had thus flung +his name into the arena. Thatcher men rose and +clamored blindly for recognition, without the faintest +idea of what they should do if haply the cold eye +of the chairman fell upon them. The galleries joined +in the uproar; the band began to play "On the Banks +of the Wabash" and was with difficulty stopped; +a few voices cried "Bassett," but cries of "Thatcher" +rose in a mighty roar and drowned them. The chairman +hammered monotonously for order; Mr. Daniel +Harwood might have been seen to thrust his memorandum +into his trousers pocket; he bent forward in +his seat with his eye upon the chairman. The Honorable +Isaac Pettit had been for a moment nonplussed; +he was unacquainted with the gentleman from Pulaski, +nor had he known that an effort was to be made +to commit the convention to Thatcher's candidacy; +still the tone of the resolution was friendly. Thatcher, +rising to his feet, was noisily cheered; his face was +red and his manner betokened anger; but after +glancing helplessly over the hall he sank into his +seat. The chairman thumped with his gavel; it +seemed for a moment that he had lost control of +the convention; and now the Honorable Isaac Pettit +was observed demanding to be heard. The chairman +lifted his hand and the noise died away. It lay +in his power to ignore the resolution wholly or to rule +it out of order; the chairman was apparently in no +haste to do anything.</p> + +<p>"Good old Uncle Ike," howled some one encouragingly, +and there was laughter and applause. With +superb dignity Mr. Pettit appealed for silence with +gestures that expressed self-depreciation, humility, +and latent power in one who would, in due course, +explain everything. A group of delegates in the rear +began chanting stridently, "Order! Order!" and it +was flung back antiphonally from a dozen other +delegations.</p> + +<p>Mr. Harwood became active and climbed upon +his chair. Gentlemen in every part of the hall seemed +at once anxious to speak, but the chairman was apparently +oblivious of all but the delegate from Marion. +The delegate from Marion, like the mysterious person +from Pulaski, was a stranger to state conventions. +The ladies were at once interested in the young +gentleman with the red carnation in his buttonhole—a +trim young fellow, in a blue serge suit, with a +blue four-in-hand knotted under a white winged +collar. As he waited with his eye on the chairman he +put his hand to his head and smoothed his hair.</p> + +<p>"Is Daniel going to speak?" asked Mrs. Owen. +"He ought to have asked me if he's going to back +Edward Thatcher for Senator."</p> + +<p>"I always think his cowlick's so funny. He's +certainly the cool one," said Marian.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what they're talking about a Senator +for," said Mrs. Bassett. "It's very unusual. +If I'd known they were going to talk about that +I shouldn't have come. There's sure to be a row."</p> + +<p>The chairman seemed anxious that the delegate +from Marion should be honored with the same close +attention that had been secured for the stranger +from Pulaski.</p> + +<p>"I hope he'll wait till they all sit down," said +Sylvia; "I want to hear him speak."</p> + +<p>"You'll hear him, all right," said Marian. "You +know at Yale they called him 'Foghorn' Harwood, +and they put him in front to lead the cheering at +all the big games."</p> + +<p>Apparently something was expected of Mr. Harwood +of Marion. Thatcher had left his seat and +was moving toward the corridors to find his lieutenants. +Half a dozen men accosted him as he moved +through the aisle, but he shook them off angrily. +An effort to start another demonstration in his honor +was not wholly fruitless. It resulted at least in a +good deal of confusion of which the chair was briefly +tolerant; then he resumed his pounding, while Harwood +stood stubbornly on his chair.</p> + +<p>The Tallest Delegate, known to be a recent convert +to Thatcher, was thoroughly aroused, and advanced +toward the platform shouting; but the chairman +leveled his gavel at him and bade him sit down. +The moment was critical; the veriest tyro felt the +storm-spirit brooding over the hall.</p> + +<p>The voice of the chairman was now audible.</p> + +<p>"The chair recognizes the delegate from Marion."</p> + +<p>"Out of order! What's his name!" howled many +voices.</p> + +<p>The chairman graciously availed himself of the +opportunity to announce the name of the gentleman +he had recognized.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Harwood, of Marion, has the floor. The +convention will be in order. The gentleman will proceed."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Chairman, I rise to a point of order."</p> + +<p>Dan's voice rose sonorously; the convention was +relieved to find that the gentleman in blue serge +could be heard; he was audible even to Mr. Thatcher's +excited counsellors in the corridors.</p> + +<p>"The delegate will kindly state his point of order."</p> + +<p>The chairman was quietly courteous. His right +hand rested on his gavel, he thrust his left into the +side pocket of his long alpaca coat. He was an old +and tried hand in the chair, and his own deep absorption +in the remarks of Mr. Harwood communicated +itself to the delegates.</p> + +<p>Dan uttered rapidly the speech he had committed +to memory for this occasion a week earlier. Every +sentence had been carefully pondered; both Bassett +and Atwill had blue penciled it until it expressed +concisely and pointedly exactly what Bassett wished +to be said at this point in the convention's proceedings. +Interruptions, of applause or derision, were to +be reckoned with; but the speaker did not once drop +his voice or pause long enough for any one to drive +in a wedge of protest. He might have been swamped +by an uprising of the whole convention, but strange +to say the convention was intent upon hearing him. +Once the horde of candidates and distinguished visitors +on the platform had been won to attention, Harwood +turned slowly until he faced the greater crowd +behind him. Several times he lifted his right hand +and struck out with it, shaking his head with the +vigor of his utterance. ("His voice," said the "Advertiser's" +report, "rumbles and bangs like a bowling-alley +on Saturday night. There was a big bump +every time a sentence rumbled down the hall and +struck the rear wall of the building.")</p> + +<p>"Sir, I make the obvious point of order that there +are no vacancies to fill in the office of United States +Senator, and that it does not lie within the province +of the delegates chosen to this convention to pledge +the party to any man. I do not question the motive +of the delegate from Pulaski County, who is my +personal friend; and I am animated by no feelings of +animosity in demanding that the convention proceed +to the discharge of its obligations without +touching upon matters clearly beyond its powers. +I confidently hope and sincerely believe that our +party in Indiana is soon to receive a new commission +of trust and confidence from the people of the old +Hoosier State. But our immediate business is the +choice of a ticket behind which the Hoosier Democracy +will move on to victory in November like an +army with banners. (Cheers.) There have been intimations +in the camp of our enemy that the party +is threatened with schism and menaced by factional +wars; but I declare my conviction that the party +is more harmonious and more truly devoted to high +ideals to-day than at any time since the grand old +name of Democrat became potent upon Hoosier +soil. And what have we to do with leaders? Men +come and men go, but principles alone are eternal +and live forever. The great task of our party must +be to bring the government back to the people. +(Scattering applause.) But the choice of an invulnerable +state ticket at this convention is our business +and our only business. As for Indiana's two seats +in the national Senate which we shall soon wrest +from our adversaries, in due season we shall fill them +with tried men and true. Sir, let us remember that +whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against +Caesar. Stop, Look, Listen!"</p> + +<p>Hardly a man in the hall so dull that this did not +penetrate! Dan had given to his last words a weird, +mournful intonation whose effect was startling. He +jumped lightly to the floor and was in his seat before +the deep boom of his voice had ceased reverberating. +Then instantly it seemed that the seventeen hundred +delegates had been multiplied by ten, and that +every man had become a raving lunatic. This was +Bassett's defiance—Bassett, who had gone fishing, +but not before planting this mine for the confusion +of Thatcher. A hundred men who had already committed +themselves to Thatcher sought to rescue their +new leader; they rose upon chairs and demanded to +be heard. "Stop, Look, Listen" had suggested the +idea of a locomotive bearing down upon a dangerous +crossing, and Bassett's men began to whistle. +The whistling increased in volume until it drowned +the shouts, the cheers, and the laughter. Ladies in +the galleries stopped their ears while the whistling +convention earned its name. It now occurred to the +chairman, who had wasted no energy in futile efforts +to stay the storm, that he had a duty to perform. +Even to his practiced hand the restoration of order +was not easy; but by dint of much bawling and +pounding he subdued the uproar. Then after impressive +deliberation he said:—</p> + +<p>"A point of order has been raised against the resolution +offered by the gentleman from Pulaski. +It is the ruling of the chair that the point is well +taken. The resolution is out of order."</p> + +<p>This was greeted with great applause; but the +chair checked it promptly. The ten gentlemen who +had copies of the Bassett programme in their pockets +were not surprised by the decision. Thatcher stood +at a side door and two of his men were pushing their +way through the aisles to reach Pettit; for the Honorable +Isaac Pettit was on his feet demanding recognition +while Thatcher's delegates shouted to him to +sit down; humiliation must go no farther, and if the +Fraser County editor did not realize that his new +chief was the victim of a vile trick, the gentleman +from Fraser must be throttled, if necessary, to +prevent a further affront to Thatcher's dignity. +Thatcher was purple with rage; it was enough to +have been made the plaything of an unscrupulous +enemy once, without having one's ambitions repeatedly +kicked up and down a convention hall.</p> + +<p>The chairman, fully rehearsed in his part, showed +a malevolent disposition to continue toward the +friends of Thatcher an attitude at once benevolent +and just. So many were demanding recognition +amid cat-calling and whistling that the fairest and +least partial of presiding officers might well have +hesitated before singling out one gentleman when +so many were eagerly, even furiously, desirous of +enlightening the convention. But the presiding +officer was obeying the orders communicated to +him by a gentleman who was even at this moment +skimming across the cool waters of Lake Waupegan. +It would more fully have satisfied the chairman's +sense of humor to have recognized the Honorable +Isaac Pettit and have suffered an appeal +from the ruling of the chair, which presumably the +editor wished to demand. By this means the weakness +of Thatcher might have expressed itself in +figures that would have deepened Thatcher's abasement +in the eyes of his fellow partisans; but this idea +had been discussed with Bassett, who had sharply +vetoed it, and the chairman was not a man lightly +to disobey orders even to make a Hoosier holiday. +He failed to see the editor of the "Fraser County +Democrat" and peremptorily closed the incident. +There was no mistaking his temper as he announced:—</p> + +<p>"The chair announces that the next business in +order is the call of the roll of counties for nominations +for the office of secretary of state. What is the +pleasure of the convention?"</p> + +<p>Colonel Ramsay had repaired to the gallery +to enjoy the proceedings with Mrs. Bassett's party. +In spite of his support of the Palmer and Buckner +ticket (how long ago that seems!), the Colonel +had never lost touch with the main body of +his party, and he carried several Indiana counties +in his pocket. His relations with Bassett had never +been in the least intimate, though always outwardly +cordial, and there were those who looked to him to +eliminate the Fraser County chief from politics. He +was quite as rich as Bassett, and a successful lawyer, +who had become a colonel by grace of a staff appointment +in the Spanish War. He had a weakness +for the poets, and his speeches were informed with +that grace and sentiment which, we are fond of saying, +is peculiar to Southern oratory. The Colonel, at +all fitting occasions in our commonwealth, responded +to "the ladies" in tender and moving phrases. He +was a bachelor, and the ladies in the gallery saw in +him their true champion.</p> + +<p>"Please tell <i>us</i>—we don't understand a bit of +it," pleaded Marian—"what it's all about, Colonel +Ramsay."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's just a little joke of your father's; +nothing funnier ever happened in a state convention." +Colonel Ramsay grinned. "The key to the +situation is right there: that Pulaski County delegate +offered his resolution just to make trouble; it +was a fake resolution. Of course the chairman is in +the joke. This young fellow down here—yes, Harwood—made +his speech to add to the gayety of +nations. He had no right to make it, of course, but +the word had been passed along the line to let him go +through. Amazing vocal powers, that boy,—you +couldn't have stopped him!"</p> + +<p>Sylvia was aware that Colonel Ramsay's explanation +had not pleased Mrs. Bassett; but Mrs. Owen +evinced no feeling. Marian was enjoying Colonel +Ramsay's praise of her father's adroitness. Near +Sylvia were other women who had much at stake in +the result of the convention. The wife of a candidate +for secretary of state had invited herself to a +seat beside Mrs. Bassett; the wife of a Congressman +who wished to be governor, sat near, publishing to the +world her intimate acquaintance with Morton Bassett's +family. The appearance and conduct of these +women during the day interested Sylvia almost as +much as the incidents occurring on the floor; it was a +new idea that politics had a bearing upon the domestic +life of the men who engaged in the eternal contest +for place and power. The convention as a spectacle +was immensely diverting, but she had her misgivings +about it as a transaction in history. Colonel Ramsay +asked her politics and she confessed that she had +none. She had inherited Republican prejudices from +her grandfather, and most of the girls she had known +in college were of Republican antecedents; but she +liked to call herself an independent.</p> + +<p>"You'd better not be a Democrat, Sylvia," Mrs. +Owen warned her. "I suffered a good deal in my husband's +lifetime from being one. There are still people +in this town who think a Democrat's the same as +a Rebel or a Copperhead. It ain't hardly respectable +yet, being a Democrat, and if they don't all of 'em +shut up about the 'fathers' and the Constitution, +I'm going to move to Mexico where it's all run by +niggers."</p> + +<p>Sylvia had singled out several figures in the drama +enacting below for special attention. The chairman +had interested her by reason of his attitude of scrupulous +fairness, in which she now saw the transparent +irony; the banalities of the temporary chairman had +touched her humor; she watched him for the rest of +the morning with a kind of awe that any one could +he so dull, so timorous, and yet be chosen to address +nearly two thousand American citizens on an occasion +of importance. She was unable to reconcile +Thatcher's bald head, ruddy neck, and heavy +shoulders with Marian's description of the rich man's +son, who dreamed of heroes and played at carpentry. +Dan's speech had not been without its thrill for her, +and she now realized its significance. It had been a +part of a trick, and in spite of herself she could not +share the admiration Colonel Ramsay was expressing +for Harwood's share in it. He was immeasurably +superior to the majority of those about him in the +crowded hall; he was a man of education, a college +man, and she had just experienced in her own life +that consecration, as by an apostolic laying-on of +hands, by which a college confers its honors and +imposes its obligations upon those who have enjoyed +its ministry. Yet Harwood, who had not struck her as +weak or frivolous, had lent himself to-day to a bit of +cheap claptrap merely to humble one man for the +glorification of another. Bassett she had sincerely +liked in their one meeting at Waupegan; and yet this +was of his plotting and Harwood was his mouthpiece +and tool. It did not seem fair to take advantage of +such supreme stupidity as Thatcher's supporters had +manifested. Her disappointment in Harwood—and +it was quite that—was part of her general disappointment +in the methods by which men transacted +the serious business of governing themselves.</p> + +<p>Harwood was conscious that he was one of the +chief figures in the convention; every one knew him +now; he was called here and there on the floor, by +men anxious to impress themselves upon Bassett's +authorized spokesman. It is a fine thing at twenty-seven +to find the doors of opportunity flung wide—and +had he not crossed the threshold and passed +within the portal? He was Bassett's man; every one +knew that now; but why should he not be Bassett's +man? He would go higher and farther than Bassett: +Bassett had merely supplied the ladder on which he +would climb. He was happier than he had ever been +before in his life; he had experienced the intoxication +of applause, and he was not averse to the glances of +the women in the gallery above him.</p> + +<p>The nomination of candidates now went forward +rather tamely, though relieved by occasional sharp +contests. The ten gentlemen who had been favored +with copies of the Bassett programme were not surprised +that so many of Thatcher's friends were nominated; +they themselves voted for most of them. It +seemed remarkable to the uninitiated that Bassett +should have slapped Thatcher and then have allowed +him to score in the choice of the ticket. The "Advertiser," +anxious to show Bassett as strong and +malignant as possible, expressed the opinion that the +Fraserville boss had not after all appreciated the full +force of the Thatcher movement.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On the veranda of his Waupegan cottage Bassett +and Fitch enjoyed the wholesome airs of the country. +Late in the afternoon the fussy little steamer that +traversed the lake paused at the Bassett dock to +deliver a telegram, which Bassett read without +emotion. He passed the yellow slip of paper to +Fitch, who read it and handed it back.</p> + +<p>"Harwood's a clever fellow; but you oughtn't to +push him into politics. He's better than that."</p> + +<p>"I suppose he is," said Bassett; "but I need him."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX" />CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>INTERVIEWS IN TWO KEYS</h3> + + +<p>Mrs. Bassett remained in bed the day +following the convention, less exhausted by +the scenes she had witnessed than appalled +by their interpretation in the newspapers. The reappearance +of Sylvia Garrison had revived the apprehensions +which the girl's visit to Waupegan four +years earlier had awakened. She had hoped that +Sylvia's long absences might have operated to +diminish Mrs. Owen's interest and she had managed +in one way and another to keep them apart during +the college holidays, but the death of Professor Kelton +had evidently thrown Sylvia back upon Mrs. Owen. +Jealous fears danced blackly in Mrs. Bassett's tired +brain.</p> + +<p>At a season when she was always busiest with her +farms Mrs. Owen had made a long journey to see +Sylvia graduated; and here was the girl established +on the most intimate terms in the Delaware Street +house, no doubt for the remainder of her life. Mrs. +Owen did not lightly or often change her plans; +but she had abandoned her project of spending +the summer at the lake to accommodate herself to +the convenience of her protégée. Mrs. Bassett's +ill-health was by no means a matter of illusion; she +was not well and her sojourns in sanatoriums had +served to alienate her in a measure from her family. +Marian had grown to womanhood without realizing +her mother's ideals. She had hoped to make a very +different person of her daughter, and Sylvia's reappearance +intensified her sense of defeat. Even in the +retrospect she saw no reason why Marian might not +have pursued the course that Sylvia had followed; in +her confused annoyances and agitations she was +bitter not only against Marian but against Marian's +father. The time had come when she must take a +stand against his further dallyings in politics.</p> + +<p>Her day at the convention hall had yielded only +the most disagreeable impressions. Such incidents as +had not eluded her own understanding on the spot +had been freely rendered by the newspapers. It +was all sordid and gross—not at all in keeping +with her first experience of politics, gained in her +girlhood, when her father had stood high in the +councils of the nation, winning coveted positions +without the support of such allies as she had seen +cheering her husband's triumph on the floor of the +convention. There had strayed into her hands an +envelope of newspaper clippings from an agency that +wished to supply her, as, its circular announced, it +supplied the wives of many other prominent Americans, +with newspaper comments on their husbands. +As a bait for securing a client these examples of what +the American press was saying of Morton Bassett +were decidedly ill-chosen. The "Stop, Look, Listen" +editorial had suggested to many influential journals +a re-indictment of bossism with the Bassett-Thatcher +imbroglio as text. It was disenchanting to +find one's husband enrolled in a list of political +reprobates whose activities in so many states were a +menace to public safety. Her father had served with +distinction and honor this same commonwealth that +her husband was debasing; he had been a statesman, +not a politician, not a boss. Blackford Singleton had +belonged to the coterie that included such men as +Hoar and Evarts, Thurman and Bayard; neither +her imagination nor her affection could bridge the +chasm that separated men of their type from her +husband, who, in middle life, was content with a +seat in the state legislature and busied himself with +wars upon petty rivals. Such reflections as these did +not contribute to her peace of mind.</p> + +<p>She was alone in her room at Mrs. Owen's when +Bassett appeared, late in the afternoon. Mrs. Owen +was downtown on business matters; Marian, after +exhausting all her devices for making her mother +comfortable, had flown in search of acquaintances; +and Sylvia had that day taken up her work in the +normal school. Left to herself for the greater part +of the warm afternoon, Mrs. Bassett had indulged +luxuriously in forebodings. She had not expected +her husband, and his unannounced entrance startled +her.</p> + +<p>"Well," she remarked drearily, "so you have +come back to face it, have you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm undoubtedly back, Hallie," he answered, +with an effort at lightness, crossing to the bedside +and taking her hand.</p> + +<p>He had rarely discussed his political plans with +her, but he realized that the rupture with Thatcher +must naturally have distressed her; and there was +also Thatcher's lawsuit involving her aunt, which had +disagreeable possibilities.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry your name got into the papers, Hallie. +I didn't want you to go to the convention, but of +course I knew you went to please Marian. Where is +Marian?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, she's off somewhere. I couldn't expect her +to stay here in this hot room all day."</p> + +<p>The room was not uncomfortable; but it seemed +wiser not to debate questions of temperature. He +found a chair and sat down beside her.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't worry about the newspapers, +Hallie; they always make the worst of everything. +The temptation to distort facts to make a good story +is strong; I have seen it in my connection with the +'Courier.' It's lamentable, but you can't correct +it in a day. I'm pretty well hardened to it myself, +but I'm sorry you have let these attacks on me annoy +you. The only thing to do is to ignore them. +What's that you have there?"</p> + +<p>She still clasped the envelope of clippings and +thrust it at him accusingly. The calmness of his inspection +irritated her and she broke out sharply:—</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think a man with a wife and family +would lay himself open to such attacks in all the +newspapers in the country. Those papers call you +another such political boss as Quay and Gorman. +There's nothing they don't say about you."</p> + +<p>"Well, Hallie, they've been saying it for some +time; they will go on saying it probably not only +about me but about every other man who won't be +dictated to by impractical reformers and pharisaical +newspapers. But I must confess that this is rather +hard luck!" He held up two of the cuttings. "I've +undertaken to do just what papers like the New +York 'Evening Post' and the Springfield 'Republican' +are forever begging somebody with courage +to do—I've been trying to drive a rascal out of +politics. I'm glad of this chance to talk to you about +Thatcher. He and I were friends for years, as you +know."</p> + +<p>"I never understood how you could tolerate that +man; he's so coarse and vulgar that his wife stays +abroad to keep her daughters away from him."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's not my affair. I have had all I want +of him. There's nothing mysterious about my breaking +with him; he got it into his head that he's a bigger +man in this state than I am. I have known for +several years that he intended to get rid of me as +soon as he felt he could do it safely, and be ready to +capture the senatorship when he saw that our party +was in shape to win again. I've always distrusted +him, and I've always kept an eye on him. When he +came into Fraser County and stooped low enough to +buy old Ike Pettit, I thought it time to strike. You +read a lot about courage in politics in such newspapers +as these that have been philosophizing about +me at long range. Well, I'm not going to brag about +myself, but it required some courage on my part to +take the initiative and read the riot act to Thatcher. +I've done what men are sometimes praised for +doing; but I don't want praise; I only want to be +judged fairly. I've always avoided bringing business +or politics home; I've always had an idea that +when a man goes home he ought to close the door +on everything but the interests the home has for +him. I may have been wrong about that; and I'm +very sorry that you have been troubled—sincerely +sorry. But you may as well know the truth now, +which is that Thatcher is out of it altogether. You +know enough of him to understand that he's not a +man to trust with power, and I've done the state and +my party a service in turning him out of doors."</p> + +<p>He had spoken quietly and earnestly, and his +words had not been without their effect. He had +never been harsh with her or the children; his manner +to-day was kind and considerate. He had to an +extent measurably rehabilitated himself as a heroic +public character, a man of honor and a husband to +be proud of; but she had not spent a sleepless night +and a gray day without fortifying herself against +him. All day her eyes had been fixed upon an abandoned +squirrel box in the crotch of an elm outside +her window; it had become the repository of her +thoughts, the habitation of her sorrows. She turned +her head slightly so that her eyes might rest upon +this tabernacle of fear and illusion, and renewed the +assault refreshed.</p> + +<p>"How is it, then, that newspapers away off in +New York and Massachusetts speak of you in this +outrageous fashion? They're so far away that it +seems strange they speak of you at all."</p> + +<p>He laughed with relief, feeling that the question +marked a retreat toward weaker fortifications.</p> + +<p>"You're not very complimentary, are you, Hallie? +They must think me of some importance or they'd +let me alone. I wouldn't subscribe to that clipping +bureau if you fear we're too much in the limelight. +I've been taking the service of one of these bureaus +for several years, and I read every line the papers +print about me. It's part of the regular routine in +my office to paste them in scrapbooks."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think you could burn them fast +enough; what if the children should see them some +day!"</p> + +<p>"Well, you may be surprised to know that they're +not all so bitter. Once in a long while I get a kind +word. That bill I got through the assembly separating +hardened criminals from those susceptible +of reform—the indeterminate sentence law—was +praised by penologists all over the country. It's all +in the day's work; sometimes you're patted on the +back and the next time they kick you down stairs. +Without political influence you have no chance to +help the good causes or defeat the bad schemes."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose that is true," she murmured +weakly.</p> + +<p>He had successfully met and turned her attack +and the worst had passed; but he expected her to +make some reference to Thatcher's lawsuit for the +control of the "Courier" and he was not disappointed. +Marian, who had a genius for collecting +disagreeable information and a dramatic instinct +for using it effectively, had apprised her of it. This +hazarding of Mrs. Owen's favor became now the +gravamen of his offense, the culmination of all his +offenses. She demanded to know why he had secretly +borrowed money of her aunt, when from the +time of their marriage it had been understood that +they should never do so. Her own fortune he had +been free to use as he liked; she demanded to know +why he had not taken her own money; but to ask +financial favors of Aunt Sally, and this, too, without +consultation, was beyond her comprehension. She +was on secure ground here; he had always shared +her feeling that Mrs. Owen required cautious handling, +but he had nevertheless violated their compact. +She rushed breathlessly and with sobs through her +recital.</p> + +<p>"And you haven't seen Aunt Sally since; you +have made no effort to make it right with her!"</p> + +<p>"As to that, Hallie, I haven't had a chance to see +her; she's only been home two days and I've been +away myself since. Now that I'm in her house I +shall explain it all to her before I leave."</p> + +<p>"But you haven't explained to me why you did +it! It seems to me that I have a right to know how +you came to do such a thing."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, the fact is that newspapers these +days are not cheap and the 'Courier' cost a lot of +money. I've been pretty well tied up in telephone +and other investments of late; and I have never +taken advantage of my ownership of the Bassett +Bank to use its money except within my reasonable +credit as it would be estimated by any one else. Your +own funds I have kept invested conservatively in +gilt-edged securities wholly removed from speculative +influences. I knew that if I didn't get the +newspaper Thatcher would, so I made every possible +turn to go in with him. I was fifty thousand +dollars shy of what I needed to pay for my half, and +after I had raked up all the money I could safely, +I asked Aunt Sally if she would lend me that sum +with all my stock as security."</p> + +<p>"Fifty thousand dollars, Morton! You borrowed +that much money of her!"</p> + +<p>Her satisfaction in learning that Mrs. Owen commanded +so large a sum was crushed beneath his +stupendous error in having gone to her for money +at all.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she didn't lend it to me, after all, Hallie; +she refused to do so; but she allowed me to buy +enough shares for her to make up my quota. Thatcher +and I bought at eighty cents on the dollar and she +paid the same. She has her shares and it's a good +investment, and she knows it. If she hadn't insisted +on having the shares in her own name, Thatcher +would never have known it."</p> + +<p>He turned uneasily in his chair, and she was +keenly alert at this sign of discomfiture, and not +above taking advantage of it.</p> + +<p>"So without her you are at Thatcher's mercy, are +you? I haven't spoken to her about this and she +hasn't said anything to me; but Marian with her +usual heedlessness mentioned it, and it was clear +that Aunt Sally was very angry."</p> + +<p>"What did she say?" asked Bassett anxiously.</p> + +<p>"She didn't say anything, but she shut her jaw +tight and changed the subject. It was what she +didn't say! You'd better think well before you +broach the subject to her."</p> + +<p>"I've been thinking about it. If I take her stock +at par she ought to be satisfied. I'll pay more if it's +necessary. And of course I'll make every effort to +restore good feeling. I think I understand her. I'll +take care of this, but you must stay out of it, and tell +Marian to keep quiet.</p> + +<p>"Well, Aunt Sally and Thatcher are friends. He +rather amuses her, with his horse-racing, and drinking +and gambling. That kind of thing doesn't seem +so bad to her. She's so used to dealing with men +that she makes allowances for them."</p> + +<p>"Then," he said quickly, with a smile, eager to +escape through any loophole, "maybe she will make +some allowances for me! For the purpose of allaying +her anger we'll assume that I'm as wicked as +Thatcher."</p> + +<p>"Well," she answered, gathering her strength for +a final assault, "it doesn't look as simple as that +to me. Your first mistake was in getting her into +any of your businesses and the second was in making +it possible for Thatcher to annoy her by all this +ugly publicity of a lawsuit. And what do you think +has happened on top of all this—<i>that girl is here</i>—here +under this very roof!"</p> + +<p>"That girl—what girl?"</p> + +<p>His opacity incensed her; she had been brooding +over her aunt's renewed interest in Sylvia Garrison +all day and his dull ignorance was the last straw upon +nerves screwed to the breaking-point. She sat up +in bed and drew her dressing-gown about her as +though it were the vesture of despair.</p> + +<p>"That Garrison girl! She's not only back here, +but from all appearances she's going to stay! Aunt +Sally's infatuated with her. When the girl's grandfather +died, Aunt Sally did everything for her—went +over to Montgomery to take charge of the funeral, +and then went back to Wellesley to see the girl +graduate. And now she's giving up her plan of going +to Waupegan for the summer to stay here in all +the heat with a girl who hasn't the slightest claim +on her. When the Keltons visited Waupegan four +years ago I saw this coming. I wanted Marian to go +to college and tried to get you interested in the plan +because that was what first caught Aunt Sally's +fancy—Sylvia's cleverness, and this college idea. +But you wouldn't do anything about Marian, and +now she's thrown away her chances, and here's this +stranger graduating with honors and Aunt Sally +going down there to see it! Aunt Sally's going to +make a companion of her, and you can't tell what +will happen! I'd like to know what you can say to +your children when all Aunt Sally's money, that +should rightly go to them, goes to a girl she's picked +up out of nowhere. This is what your politics has +got us into, Morton Bassett!"</p> + +<p>The soberness to which this brought him at last +satisfied her. She had freely expressed the anxiety +caused by Sylvia's first appearance on the domestic +horizon, but for a year or two, in his wife's absences +in pursuit of health, he had heard little of her apprehensions. +Marian's own disinclination for a college +career had, from the beginning, seemed to him to interpose +an insurmountable barrier to parental guidance +in that direction. His wife's attitude in these +new circumstances of the return of her aunt's protégée +struck him as wholly unjustified and unreasonable.</p> + +<p>"You're not quite yourself when you talk that +way, Hallie. Professor Kelton was one of Aunt +Sally's oldest friends; old people have a habit of +going back to the friends of their youth; there's +nothing strange in it. And this being true, nothing +could have been more natural than for Aunt Sally +to help the girl in her trouble, even to the extent +of seeing her graduated. It was just like Aunt +Sally," he continued, warming to his subject, "who's +one of the stanchest friends anybody could have. +Aunt Sally's devoted to you and your children; it's +ungenerous to her to assume that a young woman +she hardly knows is supplanting you or Marian. +This newspaper notoriety I'm getting has troubled +you and I'm sorry for it; but I can't let you entertain +this delusion that your aunt's kindness to the +granddaughter of one of her old friends means that +Aunt Sally has ceased to care for you, or lost her +regard for Marian and Blackford. If you think of +it seriously for a moment you'll see how foolish it +is to harbor any jealousy of Miss Garrison. Come! +Cheer up and forget it. If Aunt Sally got an inkling +of this you may be sure that <i>would</i> displease her. +You say the girl is here in the house?"</p> + +<p>"She's not only here, but she's here to stay! +She's going to intrench herself here!"</p> + +<p>She sent him to the chiffonier to find a fresh handkerchief. +He watched her helplessly for a moment +as she dried her eyes. Then he took her hands and +bent over her.</p> + +<p>"Won't you try to see things a little brighter? +It's all just because you got too tired yesterday. +You oughtn't to have gone to the convention; and +I didn't know you were going or I should have +forbidden it."</p> + +<p>"Well, Marian wanted to go; and we were coming +to town anyhow. And besides, Aunt Sally had taken +it into her head to go, too. She wanted this Garrison +girl to see a political convention; I suppose that +was the real reason."</p> + +<p>He laughed, gazing down into her tearful face, in +which resentment lingered waveringly, as in the faces +of children persuaded against their will and parting +reluctantly with the solace of tears.</p> + +<p>"You must get up for dinner, Hallie. Your doctors +have always insisted that you needed variety +and change; and to-morrow we'll take you up to the +lake out of this heat. We have a good deal to be +grateful for, after all, Hallie. You haven't any right +to feel disappointed in Marian: she's the nicest girl +in the state, and the prettiest girl you'll find anywhere. +We ought to be glad she's so high-spirited +and handsome and clever. College never was for her; +she certainly was never for college! I talked that +over with Miss Waring a number of times. And +I don't believe Aunt Sally thinks less of Marian +because she isn't a better scholar. Only a small +per cent of women go to college, and I'm not sure +it's a good thing. I'm even a little doubtful about +sending Blackford to college; this education business +is overdone, and the sooner a boy gets into +harness the better."</p> + +<p>Her deep sigh implied that he might do as he liked +with his son, now that she had so completely failed +with her daughter.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Sally is very much interested in Mr. +Harwood. She has put Sylvia's affairs in his hands. +Could it be possible—"</p> + +<p>He groped for her unexpressed meaning, and seeing +that he had not grasped it she clarified it to +his masculine intelligence.</p> + +<p>"If there are two persons she is interested in, and +they understand each other, it's all so much more +formidable." And then, seeing that this also was too +subtle, she put it flatly: "What if Harwood should +marry Sylvia!"</p> + +<p>"Well, that <i>is</i> borrowing trouble!" he cried impatiently. +"Aunt Sally is interested in a great many +young people. She is very fond of Allen Thatcher. +And Allen seems to find Marian's society agreeable, +more so, I fancy, than Harwood does;—why not +speculate along that line? It's as plausible as the +other."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that boy! That's something we must guard +against, Morton; that is quite impossible."</p> + +<p>"I dare say it is," he replied. "But not more +unlikely than that Harwood will marry this Sylvia +who worries you so unnecessarily."</p> + +<p>"Marian is going to marry somebody, some day, +and that's on my mind a great deal. You have got to +give more thought to family matters. It's right for +Marian to marry, and I think a girl of her tastes +should settle early, but we must guard her from mistakes. +I've had that on my conscience several years."</p> + +<p>"Of course, Hallie; and I've not been unmindful +of it."</p> + +<p>"And if Aunt Sally is interested in young Harwood +and you think well of him yourself—but of +course I don't favor him for Marian. I should like +Marian to marry into a family of some standing."</p> + +<p>"Well, we'll see to it that she does; we want our +daughter to be happy—we must do the best we can +for our children," he concluded largely.</p> + +<p>She promised to appear at the dinner table, and he +went down with some idea of seeing Mrs. Owen at +once, to assure her of his honorable intentions toward +her in the "Courier" matter; he wanted to relieve +his own fears as well as his wife's as to the mischief +that had been wrought by Thatcher's suit.</p> + +<p>In the hall below he met Sylvia, just back from +her first day at the normal school. The maid had +admitted her, and she was slipping her parasol into +the rack as he came downstairs. She heard his step +and turned toward him, a slender, dark young +woman in black. In the dim hall she did not at once +recognize him, and he spoke first.</p> + +<p>"Good-afternoon, Miss Garrison! I am Mr. +Bassett; I believe I introduced myself to you at +Waupegan—and that seems a long time ago."</p> + +<p>"I remember very well, Mr. Bassett," Sylvia +replied, and they shook hands. "You found me in +my dream corner by the lake and walked to Mrs. +Owen's with me. I remember our meeting perfectly."</p> + +<p>He stood with his hand on the newel regarding her +intently. She was entirely at ease, a young woman +without awkwardness or embarrassment. She had +disposed of their previous meeting lightly, as though +such fortuitous incidents had not been lacking in her +life. Her mourning hat cast a shadow upon her face, +but he had been conscious of the friendliness of her +smile. Her dark eyes had inspected him swiftly; he +was vaguely aware of a feeling that he wanted to +impress her favorably.</p> + +<p>"The maid said Mrs. Owen and Marian are still +out. I hope Mrs. Bassett is better. I wonder if I can +do anything for her."</p> + +<p>"No, thank you; she's quite comfortable and will +be down for dinner."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad to hear that; suppose we find seats +here."</p> + +<p>She walked before him into the parlor and threw +back the curtains the better to admit the air. He +watched her attentively, noting the ease and grace +of her movements, and took the chair she indicated.</p> + +<p>"It's very nice to see Mrs. Bassett and Marian +again; they were so good to me that summer at +Waupegan; I have carried the pleasantest memories +of that visit ever since. It seems a long time ago and +it is nearly four years, isn't it."</p> + +<p>"Four this summer, I think. I remember, because +I had been to Colorado, and that whole year was +pretty full for me. But all these years have been +busy ones for you, too, I hear. Your grandfather's +death must have been a great shock to you. I knew +him only by reputation, but it was a reputation to +be proud of."</p> + +<p>"Yes; Grandfather Kelton had been everything +to me."</p> + +<p>"It was too bad he couldn't have lived to see you +through college; he must have taken a great interest +in your work there, through his own training and +scholarship."</p> + +<p>"It was what he wanted me to do, and I wish he +could have known how I value it. He was the best of +men, the kindest and noblest; and he was a wonderful +scholar. He had the habit of thoroughness."</p> + +<p>"That, I suppose, was partly due to the discipline +of the Navy. I fancy that a man trained in habits of +exactness gets into the way of keeping his mind ship-shape—no +loose ends around anywhere."</p> + +<p>She smiled at this, and regarded him with rather +more attention, as though his remark had given her +a new impression of him which her eyes wished to +verify.</p> + +<p>"They tell me you expect to teach in the city +schools; that has always seemed to me the hardest +kind of work. I should think you would prefer a +college position;—there would be less drudgery, +and better social opportunities."</p> + +<p>"Every one warns me that it's hard work, but I +don't believe it can be so terrible. Somebody has to +do it. Of course college positions are more dignified +and likely to be better paid."</p> + +<p>He started to speak and hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Well," she laughed. "You were going to add +your warning, weren't you! I'm used to them."</p> + +<p>"No; nothing of the sort; I was going to take the +liberty of saying that if you cared to have me I +should be glad to see whether our state university +might not have something for you. I have friends +and acquaintances who could help there."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are very kind! It is very good of you to +offer to do that; but—"</p> + +<p>A slight embarrassment was manifest in the quick +opening and closing of her eyes, a slight turning of +the head, but she smiled pleasantly, happily. He +liked her way of smiling, and smiled himself. He +found it agreeable to be talking to this young woman +with the fine, candid eyes, whose manner was so assured—without +assurance! She smoothed the black +gloves in her lap quietly; they were capable hands; +her whole appearance and manner somehow betokened +competence.</p> + +<p>"The fact is, Mr. Bassett, that I have declined one +or two college positions. My own college offered to +take me in; and I believe there were one or two +other chances. But it is kind of you to offer to help +me."</p> + +<p>She had minimized the importance of the offers +she had declined so that he might not feel the meagreness +of his proffered help; and he liked her way of +doing it; but it was incredible that a young woman +should decline an advantageous and promising position +to accept a minor one. In the world he knew +there were many hands on all the rounds of all the +available ladders.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he hastened to say, "I knew you +were efficient; that's why I thought the public +schools were not quite—not quite—worthy of +your talents!"</p> + +<p>Some explanation seemed necessary, and Sylvia +hesitated for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Do I really have to be serious, Mr. Bassett? So +many people—the girls at college and some of my +instructors and Mrs. Owen even—have assured me +that I am not quite right in my mind; but I will +make short work of my reasons. Please believe that +I really don't mean to take myself too seriously. I +want to teach in the public schools merely to continue +my education; there are things to learn there +that I want to know. So, you see, after all, it's +neither important nor interesting; it's only—only +my woman's insatiable curiosity!"</p> + +<p>He smiled, but he frowned too; it annoyed him not +to comprehend her. School-teaching could only be a +matter of necessity; her plea of curiosity must cover +something deeper that she withheld.</p> + +<p>"I know," she continued, "if I may say it, ever +so much from books; but I have only the faintest +notions of life. Now, isn't that terribly muggy? +People—and their conditions and circumstances—can +only be learned by going to the original sources."</p> + +<p>This was not illuminative. She had only added to +his befuddlement and he bent forward, soliciting +some more lucid statement of her position.</p> + +<p>"I had hoped to go ahead and never have to explain, +for I fear that in explaining I seem to be appraising +myself too high; but you won't believe that +of me, will you? If I took one of these college positions +and proved efficient, and had good luck, I +should keep on knowing all the rest of my life about +the same sort of people, for the girls who go to college +are from the more fortunate classes. There are exceptions, +but they are drawn largely from homes +that have some cultivation, some sort of background. +The experiences of teachers in such institutions are +likely to cramp. It's all right later on, but at first, +it seems to me better to experiment in the wider +circle. Now—" and she broke off with a light +laugh, eager that he should understand.</p> + +<p>"It's not, then, your own advantage you consult; +the self-denial appeals to you; it's rather like—like +a nun's vocation. You think the service is higher!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it would be if I could render service! Please +don't think I feel that the world is waiting for me to +set it right; I don't believe it's so wrong! All I mean +to say is that I don't understand a lot of things, and +that the knowledge I lack isn't something we can +dig out of a library, but that we must go to life for it. +There's a good deal to learn in a city like this that's +still in the making. I might have gone to New York, +but there are too many elements there; it's all too +big for me. Here you can see nearly as many kinds +of people, and you can get closer to them. You can +see how they earn their living, and you can even +follow them to church on Sunday and see what they +get out of that!"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid," he replied, after deliberating a +moment, "that you are going to make yourself +uncomfortable; you are cutting out a programme +of unhappiness."</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't I make myself uncomfortable +for a little while? I have never known anything but +comfort."</p> + +<p>"But that's your blessing; no matter how much +you want to do it you can't remove all the unhappiness +in the world—not even by dividing with the +less fortunate. I've never been able to follow that +philosophy."</p> + +<p>"Maybe," she said, "you have never tried it!" +She was seeking neither to convince him nor to accomplish +his discomfiture and to this end was maintaining +her share of the dialogue to the accompaniment +of a smile of amity.</p> + +<p>"Maybe I never have," he replied slowly. "I didn't +have your advantage of seeing a place to begin."</p> + +<p>"But you have the advantage of every one; you +have the thing that I can never hope to have, that +I don't ask for: you have the power in your hands to +do everything!"</p> + +<p>His quick, direct glance expressed curiosity as to +whether she were appealing to his vanity or implying +a sincere belief in his power.</p> + +<p>"Power is too large a word to apply to me, Miss +Garrison. I have had a good deal of experience in +politics, and in politics you can't do all you like."</p> + +<p>"I didn't question that: men of the finest intentions +seem to fail, and they will probably go on failing. +I know that from books; you know it of course +from actual dealings with the men who find their +way to responsible places, and who very often fail +to accomplish the things we expect of them."</p> + +<p>"The aims of most of the reformers are futile from +the beginning. Legislatures can pass laws; they pass +far too many; but they can't make ideal conditions +out of those laws. I've seen it tried."</p> + +<p>"Yesterday, when you were able to make that +convention do exactly what you wanted it to, without +even being there to watch it, it must have been +because of some ideal you were working for. You +thought you were serving some good purpose; it +wasn't just spite or to show your power. It couldn't +have been that!"</p> + +<p>"I did it," he said doggedly, as though to destroy +with a single blunt thrust her tower of illusions—"I +did it to smash a man named Thatcher. There +wasn't any ideal nonsense about it."</p> + +<p>He frowned, surprised and displeased that he had +spoken so roughly. He rarely let go of himself in that +fashion. He expected her to take advantage of his +admission to point a moral; but she said instantly:—</p> + +<p>"Then, you did it beautifully! There was a certain +perfection about it; it was, oh, immensely +funny!"</p> + +<p>She laughed, tossing her head lightly, a laugh of +real enjoyment, and he was surprised to find himself +laughing with her. It seemed that the Thatcher +incident was not only funny, but that its full humorous +value had not until that moment been wholly +realized by either of them.</p> + +<p>She rose quickly. One of her gloves fell to the +floor and he picked it up. The act of restoring it +brought them close together, and their talk had, he +felt, justified another searching glance into her face. +She nodded her thanks, smiling again, and moved +toward the door. He admired the tact which had +caused her to close the discussion at precisely the safe +moment. He was a master of the art of closing interviews, +and she had placed the period at the end of +the right sentence; it was where he would have +placed it himself. She had laughed!—and the +novelty of being laughed at was refreshing. He and +Thatcher had laughed in secret at the confusion of +their common enemies in old times; but most men +feared him, and he had the reputation of being a +mirthless person. He had rarely discussed politics +with women; he had an idea that a woman's politics, +when she had any, partook of the nature of her +religion, and that it was something quite emotional, +tending toward hysteria. He experienced a sense of +guilt at the relief he found in Sylvia's laughter, remembering +that scarcely half an hour earlier he had +been at pains to justify himself before his wife for +the very act which had struck this girl as funny. He +had met Mrs. Bassett's accusations with evasion +and dissimulation, and he had accomplished an escape +that was not, in retrospect, wholly creditable. +He hated scenes and tiresome debates as he hated +people who cringed and sidled before him.</p> + +<p>His manner of dealing with Thatcher had been +born of a diabolical humor which he rarely exercised, +but which afforded him a delicious satisfaction. It +was the sort of revenge one reserved for a foe capable +of appreciating its humor and malignity. The answer +of laughter was one to which he was unused, and he +was amazed to find that it had effected an understanding +of some vague and intangible kind between +him and Sylvia Garrison. She might not approve of +him, he had no idea that she did; but she had struck +a chord whose vibrations pleased and tantalized. She +was provocative and, to a degree, mystifying, and +the abrupt termination of their talk seemed to leave +the way open to other interviews. He thought of +many things he might have said to her at the moment; +but her period was not to be changed to +comma or semicolon; she was satisfied with the +punctuation and had, so to speak, run away with +the pencil! She had tossed his political aims and +strifes into the air with a bewildering dismissal, +and he stood like a child whose toy balloon has +slipped away, half-pleased at its flight, half-mourning +its loss.</p> + +<p>She picked up some books she had left on a stand +in the hall. He stood with his hands in his pockets, +watching her ascent, hearing the swish of her skirts +on the stairs: but she did not look back. She was +humming softly to herself as she passed out of sight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI" />CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>A SHORT HORSE SOON CURRIED</h3> + + +<p>Sylvia sat beside Bassett at dinner that night, +and it was on the whole a cheerful party. +Mrs. Bassett was restored to tranquillity, and +before her aunt she always strove to hide her ills, +from a feeling that that lady, who enjoyed perfect +health, and carried on the most prodigious undertakings, +had little patience with her less fortunate +sisters whom the doctors never fully discharge. +Mrs. Owen had returned so late that Bassett was +unable to dispose of the lawsuit before dinner; she +had greeted her niece's husband with her usual cordiality. +She always called him Morton, and she was +Aunt Sally to him as to many hundreds of her fellow +citizens. She discussed crops, markets, rumors +of foreign wars, prospective changes in the President's +Cabinet, the price of ice, and the automobile +invasion. Talk at Sally Owen's table was always +likely to be spirited. Bassett's anxiety as to his +relations with her passed; he had never felt more +comfortable in her house.</p> + +<p>Only the most temerarious ever ventured to ask +a forecast of Mrs. Owen's plans. Marian, who had +found a school friend with an automobile and had +enjoyed a run into the country, did not share the +common fear of her great-aunt. Mrs. Owen liked +Marian's straightforward ways even when they approached +rashness. It had occurred to her sometimes +that there was a good deal of Singleton in Marian; +she, Sally Owen, was a Singleton herself, and admired +the traits of that side of her family. Marian +amused her now by plunging into a description of a +new flat she had passed that afternoon which would +provide admirably a winter home for the Bassetts. +Mrs. Bassett shuddered, expecting her aunt to sound +a warning against the extravagance of maintaining +two homes; but Mrs. Owen rallied promptly to her +grandniece's support.</p> + +<p>"If you've got tired of my house, you couldn't do +better than to take an apartment in the Verona. I +saw the plans before they began it, and it's first-class +and up-to-date. My house is open to you and always +has been, but I notice you go to the hotel +about half the time. You'd better try a flat for a +winter, Hallie, and let Marian see how we do things +in town."</p> + +<p>Instantly Mrs. Bassett was alert. This could only +be covert notice that Sylvia was to be installed in +the Delaware Street house. Marian was engaging her +father in debate upon the merits of her plan, fortified +by Mrs. Owen's unexpected approval. Mrs. Bassett +raised her eyes to Sylvia. Sylvia, in one of the +white gowns with which she relieved her mourning, +tranquilly unconscious of the dark terror she awakened +in Mrs. Bassett, seemed to be sympathetically +interested in the Bassetts' transfer to the capital.</p> + +<p>Sylvia was guilty of the deplorable sin of making +herself agreeable to every one. She had paused on +the way to her room before dinner to proffer assistance +to Mrs. Bassett. With a light, soothing touch +she had brushed the invalid's hair and dressed it; +and she had produced a new kind of salts that proved +delightfully refreshing. Since coming to the table +Mrs. Bassett had several times detected her husband +in an exchange of smiles with the young woman, +and Marian and the usurper got on famously.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett had observed that Sylvia's appetite +was excellent, and this had weakened her belief in +the girl's genius; there was a good deal of Early-Victorian +superstition touching women in Hallie +Bassett! But Mrs. Owen was speaking.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I'd see less of you all if you moved to +town. Marian used to run off from Miss Waring's +to cheer me up, mostly when her lessons were bad, +wasn't it, Marian?"</p> + +<p>"I love this house, Aunt Sally, but you can't have +us all on your hands all the time."</p> + +<p>"Well," Mrs. Owen remarked, glancing round +the table quizzically, "I might do worse. But even +Sylvia scorns me; she's going to move out to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett with difficulty concealed her immeasurable +relief. Mrs. Owen left explanations to +Sylvia, who promptly supplied them.</p> + +<p>"That sounds as though I were about to take leave +without settling my bill, doesn't it? But I thought +it wise not to let it get too big; I'm going to move +to Elizabeth House."</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth House! Why, Sylvia!" cried Marian.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett smothered a sigh of satisfaction. +If Aunt Sally was transferring her protégée to the +home she had established for working girls (and +it was inconceivable that the removal could be +upon Sylvia's own initiative), the Bassett prospects +brightened at once. Aunt Sally was, in her +way, an aristocrat; she was rich and her eccentricities +were due largely to her kindness of heart; but +Mrs. Bassett was satisfied now that she was not +a woman to harbor in her home a girl who labored +in a public school-house. Not only did Mrs. Bassett's +confidence in her aunt rise, but she felt a +thrill of admiration for Sylvia, who was unmistakably +a girl who knew her place, and her place as a +wage-earner was not in the home of one of the richest +women in the state, but in a house provided through +that lady's beneficence for the shelter of young women +occupied in earning a livelihood.</p> + +<p>"It's very nice there," Sylvia was saying. "I +stopped on my way home this afternoon and found +that they could give me a room. It's all arranged."</p> + +<p>"But it's only for office girls and department +store clerks and dressmakers, Sylvia. I should think +you would hate it. Why, my manicure lives there!"</p> + +<p>Marian desisted, warned by her mother, who +wished no jarring note to mar her satisfaction in the +situation.</p> + +<p>"That manicure girl is a circus," said Mrs. Owen, +quite oblivious of the undercurrent of her niece's +thoughts. "When they had a vaudeville show last +winter she did the best stunts of any of 'em. You +didn't mention those Jewesses that I had such a row +to get in? Smart girls. One of 'em is the fastest typewriter +in town; she's a credit to Jerusalem, that girl. +And a born banker. They've started a savings club +and Miriam runs it. They won't lose any money." +Mrs. Owen chuckled; and the rest laughed. There +was no question of Mrs. Owen's pride in Elizabeth +House. "Did you see any plumbers around the +place?" she demanded of Sylvia. "I've been a month +trying to get another bathroom put in on the third +floor, and plumbers do try the soul."</p> + +<p>"That's all done," replied Sylvia. "The matron +told me to tell you so."</p> + +<p>"I'm about due to go over there and look over +the linen," remarked Mrs. Owen, with an air of making +a memorandum of a duty neglected.</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess it's comfortable enough," said +Marian. "But I should think you could do better +than that, Sylvia. You'll have to eat at the same +table with some typewriter pounder. With all your +education I should think it would bore you."</p> + +<p>"Sylvia will have to learn about it for herself, +Marian," said Mrs. Bassett. "I've always understood +that the executive board is very careful not +to admit girls whose character isn't above reproach."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen turned the key of her old-fashioned +coffee urn sharply upon the cup she was filling and +looked her niece in the eye.</p> + +<p>"Oh, we're careful, Hallie; we're careful; but I +tell 'em not to be <i>too</i> careful!"</p> + +<p>"Well, of course the aim is to protect girls," Mrs. +Bassett replied, conscious of a disconcerting acidity +in her aunt's remark.</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of contamination," observed +Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Of course not <i>that</i>," rejoined Mrs. Bassett +hastily. "I think it's fine that with your culture +you will go and live in such a place; it shows a beautiful +spirit of self-sacrifice."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please don't say that! I'm going there just +because I want to go!" And then, smiling to ease +the moment's tension, "I expect to have the best +of times at Elizabeth House."</p> + +<p>"Sylvia"—remarked Mrs. Owen, drawling the +name a trifle more than usual—"Sylvia can do +what she pleases anywhere."</p> + +<p>"I think," said Bassett, who had not before entered +into the discussion, "that Aunt Sally has +struck the right word there. In these days a girl +can do as she likes; and we haven't any business to +discuss Miss Garrison's right to live at Elizabeth +House."</p> + +<p>"Of course, Sylvia, we didn't mean to seem to +criticize you. You know that," said Mrs. Bassett, +flushing.</p> + +<p>"You are my friends," said Sylvia, glancing round +the table, "and if there's criticizing to be done, you +have the first right."</p> + +<p>"If Sylvia is to be criticized,—and I don't understand +that any one has tried it," remarked Mrs. +Owen,—"I want the first chance at her myself." +And with the snapping of her spectacle case they +rose from the table.</p> + +<p>They had barely settled themselves in the parlor +when Harwood and Allen arrived in Allen's motor. +Dan had expected his friend to resent his part in the +convention, and he had sought Allen at Lüders's +shop to satisfy himself that their personal relations +had not been disturbed. He had found Allen, at the +end of a day's work, perched upon a bench discoursing +to the workmen on the Great Experiment. Allen +had, it seemed, watched the convention from an +obscure corner of the gallery. He pronounced Dan's +speech "immense"; "perfectly bully"; he was extravagant +in his praise of it. His father's success in +naming the ticket had seemed to him a great triumph. +Allen viewed the whole matter with a kind of detachment, +as a spectator whose interest is wholly impersonal. +He thought there would be a great fight between +the combatants; his dad hadn't finished yet, +he declared, sententiously. The incidents of the convention +had convinced him that the Great Experiment +was progressing according to some predestined +formula. He and Harwood had dined together at the +University Club and he was quite in the humor to +call on the Bassetts at Mrs. Owen's; and the coming +of Sylvia, as to whom Mrs. Owen had piqued his +curiosity, was not to be overlooked.</p> + +<p>He cleared the air by brushing away the convention +with a word, addressed daringly to Bassett:—</p> + +<p>"Papa's come back from fishing! <i>My</i> papa is +digging bait," and they all laughed.</p> + +<p>"Miss Garrison, you must be the greatest of girls, +for you have my own ideas! Our invincible young +orator here has been telling me so!"</p> + +<p>"That was a grand speech; many happy returns +of the day!" was Marian's greeting to Dan.</p> + +<p>"You certainly have a great voice, Daniel," +remarked Mrs. Owen, "and you had your nerve +with you."</p> + +<p>"You were effective from the first moment, Mr. +Harwood. You ought to consider going on the +lecture platform," said Mrs. Bassett.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dan hasn't come to that yet; its only defeated +statesmen who spout in the Chautauquas," +Bassett remarked.</p> + +<p>Harwood was in fine fettle. Many men had expressed +their approval of him; at the club he had +enjoyed the chaffing of the young gentlemen with +whom he ate luncheon daily, and whose tolerance of +the universe was tinged with a certain cynicism. +They liked Harwood; they knew he was a "smart" +fellow; and because they liked and admired him they +rallied him freely. The president of a manufacturing +company had called at the Boordman Building to +retain him in a damage suit; a tribute to his growing +fame. Dan was a victim of that error to which +young men yield in exultant moments, when, after +a first brush with the pickets, they are confident of +making their own terms with life. Dan's attitude +toward the world was receptive; here in the Bassett +domestic circle he felt no shame at being a Bassett +man. All but Sylvia had spoken to him of his part +in the convention, and she turned to him now after +a passage with Allen that had left the young man +radiant.</p> + +<p>"You have a devoted admirer in Mr. Thatcher. +He must be a difficult friend to satisfy," said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Then do you think I don't satisfy him?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, perfectly! He's a combination of optimist +and fatalist, I judge. He thinks nothing matters +much, for everything is coming out all right in the +end."</p> + +<p>"Then where do you place me in his scheme of +things?"</p> + +<p>"That depends, doesn't it," she replied carelessly, +"on whether you are the master of the ship or only +a prisoner under the hatches."</p> + +<p>He reddened, and she added nothing to relieve his +embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"You think, then—?" And he stopped, uneasy +under her gaze.</p> + +<p>"Some of the time I don't think; I just wonder. +And that's very different, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>He realized now how much he had counted on +the kind things he had expected her to say. He had +plainly lost ground with her since their talk on the +Madison campus, and he wanted to justify himself, +to convince her of his rectitude, and of her failure +to understand his part in the convention, but the +time and place were unpropitious.</p> + +<p>Allen was calling attention to the moonlight and +proposing an automobile flight into the country. His +car would hold them all, and he announced himself +the safest of chauffeurs. Mrs. Owen declined, on the +double plea that she had business to attend to and +did not ride in motor cars even to please Allen +Thatcher; Bassett also excused himself; so the rest +set off presently under Mrs. Bassett's chaperonage.</p> + +<p>"Are you going downtown, Morton?" asked Mrs. +Owen, as they watched the motor roll away.</p> + +<p>"No; I'd like to see you on a business matter, +Aunt Sally, if you can give me a few minutes."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Morton; come right in."</p> + +<p>She flashed on the lights in her office where +Thomas A. Hendricks still gazed benevolently at +Maud S. breaking her record.</p> + +<p>"I owe you an apology, Aunt Sally," Bassett +began at once. "I'm sorry I got you into a lawsuit, +but things moved so fast that I didn't have a chance +to pull you out of the way. Thatcher and I have +agreed to disagree, as you doubtless know."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen drew her spectacle case from her +pocket (there were pockets and deep ones in all her +gowns), wiped her glasses and put them on.</p> + +<p>"You and Edward do seem to be having a little +trouble. When I got home I found that summons the +sheriff left here. Let me see; it was away back in '82 +that I was sued the last time. Agent for a cornplanter +sued me for a machine I never ordered and +it wasn't worth a farthing anyhow. That was on +my Greene County place. Just for that I had him +arrested for trespass for going on the farm to take +away the machine. He paid the costs all right, and +I hope he learned better manners."</p> + +<p>This reminiscence, recalled with evident enjoyment, +was not wholly encouraging. It seemed darkly +possible that she had cited a precedent applicable to +every case where she was haled before a court. The +chairs in Mrs. Owen's office were decidedly uncomfortable; +Bassett crossed and recrossed his legs, and +pressed his hand nervously to his pocket to make +sure of his check-book; for he was prepared to pay his +wife's aunt for her shares in the "Courier" newspaper +to facilitate her elimination as a co-defendant +in the suit at bar.</p> + +<p>"It was contemptible of Thatcher to drag you +into this, for he knew you took those shares merely to +help me out. I'm sorry it has turned out this way, but +I'm anxious to make it right with you, and I'm ready +to buy your shares—at your own price, of course."</p> + +<p>She chose a letter from the afternoon's mail, and +opened it with a horn-handled paper-cutter, crumpling +the envelope and dropping it over her shoulder +into a big waste-paper basket. She was not apparently +overcome by his magnanimity.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," she said, glancing over the letter; +"that man I've got at Waupegan is turning out +better than I expected when I put him there; or +else he's the greatest living liar. You never can tell +about these people. Well, well!—Oh, yes, Morton; +about that lawsuit. I saw Edward this afternoon +and had a little talk with him about it."</p> + +<p>"You saw Thatcher about the suit!"</p> + +<p>"I most certainly did, Morton. I had him go +down to the bank to talk to me."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry you took the trouble to do that. If +you'd told me—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not afraid of Edward Thatcher. If a +man brings a lawsuit against me, the sooner I see +him the better. I sent word to Edward and he was +waiting at the bank when I got there."</p> + +<p>"I'd given Thatcher credit for being above dragging +a woman who had always been his friend into +a lawsuit. He certainly owed you an apology."</p> + +<p>"I didn't see it just that way, Morton, and he +didn't apologize. I wouldn't have let him!"</p> + +<p>She looked at him over her glasses disconcertingly, +and he could think of no reply. It was possible +that Thatcher had bought her stock or that she had +made him bid for it. She had a reputation for driving +hard bargains, and he judged from her manner that +her conference with Thatcher, whatever its nature, +had not been unsatisfactory. He recalled with exasperation +his wife's displeasure over this whole affair; +it was incumbent upon him not only to reëstablish +himself with Mrs. Owen, but to do it in a way to +satisfy Mrs. Bassett.</p> + +<p>"You needn't worry about that lawsuit, Morton; +there ain't going to be any lawsuit."</p> + +<p>She gave this time to "soak in," as she would +have expressed it, and then concluded:—</p> + +<p>"It's all off; I persuaded Edward to drop the suit. +The case will be dismissed in the morning."</p> + +<p>"Dismissed? How dismissed, Aunt Sally?"</p> + +<p>"Just dismissed; that's all there is of it. I went +to see Fitch, too, and gave him a piece of my mind. +He wrote me a letter I found here saying that in my +absence he'd taken the liberty of entering an appearance +for me, along with you, in the case. I told +him I'd attend to my own lawsuits, and that he +could just scratch his appearance off the docket."</p> + +<p>The presumption of her lawyer seemed to obscure +all other issues for the moment. Morton Bassett was +annoyed to be kept waiting for an explanation that +was clearly due him as her co-defendant; he controlled +his irritation with difficulty. Her imprudence +in having approached his enemy filled him +with forebodings; there was no telling what compromises +she might have negotiated with Edward G. +Thatcher.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you shamed him out of it?" he +suggested.</p> + +<p>"Shamed him? I <i>scared</i> him out of it! He owns +a lot of property in this town that's rented for unlawful +purposes, and I told him I'd prosecute him; +that, and a few other things. He offered to buy me +out at a good price, but he didn't get very far with +that. It was a good figure, though," she added +reflectively.</p> + +<p>His spirits rose at this proof of her loyalty and +he hastened to manifest his appreciation. His wife's +fears would be dispelled by this evidence of her +aunt's good will toward the family.</p> + +<p>"I rather imagined that he'd be glad to quit if he +saw an easy way out, and I guess you gave it to him. +Now about your stock, Aunt Sally. I don't want you +to be brought into my troubles with Thatcher any +further. I appreciate your help so far, and I'm able +now to pay for your shares. I don't doubt that Ed +offered you a generous price to get a controlling +interest. I'll write a check for any sum you name, +and you'll have my gratitude besides."</p> + +<p>He drew out his check-book and laid it on the table, +with a feeling that money, which according to tradition +is a talkative commodity, might now conclude +the conversation. Mrs. Owen saw the check-book—looked +at it over her glasses, apparently without +emotion.</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to sell those shares, Morton; not +to you or anybody else."</p> + +<p>"But as a matter of maintaining my own dignity—"</p> + +<p>"Your own dignity is something I want to speak +to you about, Morton. I've been watching you ever +since you married Hallie, and wondering just where +you'd bump. You and Edward Thatcher have been +pretty thick and you've had a lot of fun out of politics. +This row you've got into with him was bound +to come. I know Edward better—just a little better +than I know you. He's not a beautiful character, +but he's not as bad as they make out. But you've +given him a hard rub the wrong way and he's going +to get even with you. He's mighty bitter—bitterer +than it's healthy for one man to be against another. +If it hadn't been for this newspaper fuss I shouldn't +ever have said a word to you about it; but I advise +you to straighten things up with Edward. You'd +better do it for your own good—for Hallie and the +children. You've insulted him and held him up to +the whole state of Indiana as a fool. You needn't +think he doesn't know just where you gripped that +convention tight, and just where you let him have it +to play with. He's got more money than you have, +and he's going to spend it to give you some of your +own medicine or worse, if he can. He's like a mule +that lays for the nigger that put burrs under his +collar. You're that particular nigger just now. +You've made a mistake, Morton."</p> + +<p>"But Aunt Sally—I didn't—"</p> + +<p>"About that newspaper, Morton," she continued, +ignoring him. "I've decided that I'll just hang on +to my stock. You've built up the 'Courier' better +than I expected, and that last statement showed it +to be doing fine. I don't know any place right now +where I can do as well with the money. You see +I've got about all the farms I can handle at my age, +and it will be some fun to have a hand in running a +newspaper. I want you to tell 'em down at the 'Courier' +office—what's his name? Atwill? Well, you +tell him I want this 'Stop, Look, Listen' business +stopped. If you can't think of anything smarter +to do than that, you 'd better quit. You had no business +to turn a newspaper against a man who owns +half of it without giving him a chance to get off +the track. You whistled, Morton, after you had +pitched him and his side-bar buggy into the ditch +and killed his horse."</p> + +<p>"But who had put him on the track? I hadn't! +He'd been running over the state for two years, to +my knowledge, trying to undermine me. I was only +giving him in broad daylight what he was giving me +in the dark. You don't understand this, Aunt Sally; +he's been playing on your feelings."</p> + +<p>"Morton Bassett, there ain't a man on earth that +can play on my feelings. I didn't let him jump on +you; and I don't intend to let you abuse him. I've +told you to stop nagging him, but I haven't any +idea you'll do it. That's your business. If you want +a big bump, you go on and get it. About this newspaper, +I'm going to keep my shares, and I've told +Edward that you wouldn't use the paper as a club +on him while I was interested in it. You can print +all the politics you want, but it must be clean politics, +straight out from the shoulder."</p> + +<p>He had lapsed into sullen silence, too stunned to +interrupt the placid flow of her speech. She had not +only meddled in his affairs in a fashion that would +afford comfort to his enemy, but she was now dictating +terms—this old woman whose mild tone was +in itself maddening. The fear of incurring his wife's +wrath alone checked an outburst of indignation. In +all his life no one had ever warned him to his face that +he was pursuing a course that led to destruction. +He had always enjoyed her capriciousness, her whimsical +humor, but there was certainly nothing for him +to smile at in this interview. She had so plied the +lash that it cut to the quick. His pride and self-confidence +were deeply wounded;—his wife's elderly +aunt did not believe in his omnipotence! This was a +shock in itself; but what fantastic nonsense was she +uttering now?</p> + +<p>"Since I bought that stock, Morton, I've been +reading the 'Courier' clean through every day, and +there are some things about that paper I don't like. +I guess you and Edward Thatcher ain't so particularly +religious, and when you took hold of it you cut +out that religious page they used to print every +Sunday. You better tell Atwill to start that up +again. I notice, too, that the 'Courier' sneaks in +little stingers at the Jews occasionally—they may +just get in by mistake, but you ought to have a rule +at the office against printing stories as old as the +hills about Jews burning down their clothing-stores +to get the insurance. I've known a few Gentiles that +did that. The only man I know that I'd lend money +to without security is a Jew. Let's not jump on people +just to hurt their feelings. And besides, we don't +any of us know much more these days than old +Moses knew. And that fellow who writes the little +two-line pieces under the regular editorials—he's +too smart, and he ain't always as funny as he thinks +he is. There's no use in popping bird-shot at things +if they ain't right, and that fellow's always trying to +hurt somebody's feelings without doing anybody +any good."</p> + +<p>She opened a drawer of her desk and drew out a +memorandum to refresh her memory.</p> + +<p>"You've got a whole page and on Sundays two +pages about baseball and automobiles, and the horse +is getting crowded down into a corner. We"—he +was not unmindful of the plural—"we must print +more horse news. You tell Atwill to send his young +man that does the 'Horse and Track' around to see +me occasionally and I'll be glad to help him get some +horse news that is news. I wouldn't want to have +you bounce a young man who's doing the best he +can, but it doesn't do a newspaper any good to speak +of Dan Patch as a trotting-horse or give the record +of my two-year-old filly Penelope O as 2:09-1/4 when +she made a clean 2:09. You've got to print facts +in a newspaper if you want people to respect it. +How about that, Morton?"</p> + +<p>"You're right, Aunt Sally. I'll speak to Atwill +about his horse news."</p> + +<p>He began to wonder whether she were not amusing +herself at his expense; but she gave him no reason +for doubting her seriousness. They might have +been partners from the beginning of time from her +businesslike manner of criticizing the paper. She had +not only flatly refused to sell her shares, but she was +taking advantage of the opportunity (for which she +seemed to be prepared) to tell him how the "Courier" +should be conducted!</p> + +<p>"About farming, Morton," she continued deliberately, +"the 'Courier' has fun every now and +then over the poor but honest farmer, and prints +pictures of him when he comes to town for the State +Fair that make him look like a scarecrow. Farming, +Morton, is a profession, nowadays, and those poor +yaps Eggleston wrote about in 'The Hoosier Schoolmaster' +were all dead and buried before you were +born. Farmers are up and coming I can tell you, +and I wouldn't lose their business by poking fun at +'em. That Saturday column of farm news, by the +way, is a fraud—all stolen out of the 'Western +Farmers' Weekly' and no credit. They must keep +that column in cold storage to run it the way they +do. They're usually about a season behind time—telling +how to plant corn along in August and planting +winter wheat about Christmas. Our farm editor +must have been raised on a New York roof-garden. +Another thing I want to speak of is the space +they give to farmers' and stockmen's societies when +they meet here. The last time the Hoosier State +Mulefoot Hog Association met right here in town +at the Horticultural Society's room at the State +House—all the notice they got in the 'Courier' +was five lines in 'Minor Mention.' The same day +the State Bankers' Association filled three columns, +and most of that was a speech by Tom Adams on +currency reform. You might tell that funny editorial +man to give Adams a poke now and then, and +stop throwing chestnuts about gold bricks and green +goods at farmers. And he needn't show the bad +state of his liver by sarcastically speaking of farmers +as honest husbandmen either; a farmer is a farmer, +unless, for lack of God's grace, he's a fool! I guess +the folks are coming now. I hope Allen won't knock +down the house with that threshing-machine of his. +That's all this time. Let me see—you'd better +tell your editor to call on me now and then. What +did you say his name was, Morton?"</p> + +<p>"Atwill—Arthur P."</p> + +<p>"Is he a son of that Ebenezer Atwill who used to +be a professor in Asbury College?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not, Aunt Sally; I don't think he ever +heard of Ebenezer," replied Bassett, with all the +irony he dared.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII" />CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>THE GRAY SISTERHOOD</h3> + + +<p>Elizabeth House was hospitable to male +visitors, and Dan found Sylvia there often on +the warm, still summer evenings, when the +young women of the household filled the veranda +and overflowed upon the steps. Sylvia's choice of +a boarding-house had puzzled Dan a good deal, but +there were a good many things about Sylvia that +baffled him. For example, this preparation for teaching +in a public school when she might have had an +assistant professorship in a college seemed a sad +waste of energy and opportunity. She was going +to school to her inferiors, he maintained, submitting +to instruction as meekly as though she were not +qualified to enlighten her teachers in any branch of +knowledge. It was preposterous that she should +deliberately elect to spend the hottest of summers +in learning to combine the principles of Pestalozzi +with the methods of Dewey and Kendall.</p> + +<p>The acquaintance of Sylvia and Allen prospered +from the start. She was not only a new girl in town, +and one capable of debating the questions that interested +him, but he was charmed with Elizabeth +House, which was the kind of thing, he declared, that +he had always stood for. The democracy of the +veranda, the good humor and ready give and take +of the young women delighted him. They liked him +and openly called him "our beau." He established +himself on excellent terms with the matron to the end +that he might fill his automobile with her charges +frequently and take them for runs into the country. +When Dan grumbled over Sylvia's absurd immolation +on the altar of education, Allen pronounced her +the grandest girl in the world and the glory of the +Great Experiment.</p> + +<p>Sylvia was intent these days upon fitting herself +as quickly as possible for teaching, becoming a part +of the established system and avoiding none of the +processes by which teachers are created. Her fellow +students, most of whom were younger than she, +were practically all the green fruitage of high schools, +but she asked no immunities or privileges by reason +of her college training; she yielded herself submissively +to the "system," and established herself among +the other novices on a footing of good comradeship. +During the hot, vexatious days she met them with +unfailing good cheer. The inspiring example of her +college teachers, and not least the belief she had +absorbed on the Madison campus in her girlhood, that +teaching is a high calling, eased the way for her at +times when—as occasionally happened—she failed +to appreciate the beauty of the "system."</p> + +<p>The superintendent of schools, dropping into the +Normal after hours, caught Sylvia in the act of +demonstrating a problem in geometry on the blackboard +for the benefit of a fellow student who had +not yet abandoned the hope of entering the state +university that fall. The superintendent had been in +quest of a teacher of mathematics for the Manual +Training School, and on appealing to the Wellesley +authorities they had sent him Sylvia's name. Sylvia, +the chalk still in her fingers, met his humorous reproaches +smilingly. She had made him appear ridiculous +in the eyes of her <i>alma mater</i>, he said. Sylvia +declined his offer and smiled. The superintendent +was not used to smiles like that in his corps. And +this confident young woman seemed to know what +she was about. He went away mystified, and meeting +John Ware related his experience. Ware laughed +and slapped his knee. "You let that girl alone," the +minister said. "She has her finger on Time's wrist. +Physician of the golden age. Remember Matthew +Arnold's lines on Goethe? Good poem. Sylvia +wants to know 'the causes of things.' Watch her. +Great nature."</p> + +<p>At seven o'clock on a morning of September, +Sylvia left Elizabeth House to begin her novitiate +as a teacher. Allen had declared his intention of +sending his automobile for her every morning, an +offer that was promptly declined. However, on that +bright morning when the young world turned schoolward, +Harwood lay in wait for her.</p> + +<p>"This must never happen again, sir! And of +course you may not carry my books—they're the +symbol of my profession. Seventeen thousand young +persons about like me are on the way to school this +morning right here in Indiana. It would be frightfully +embarrassing to the educational system if young +gentlemen were allowed to carry the implements of +our trade."</p> + +<p>"You can't get rid of me now: I never get up as +early as this unless I'm catching a train."</p> + +<p>"So much the worse for you, then!"</p> + +<p>"There will be mornings when you won't think +it so much fun. It rains and snows in Indiana sometimes."</p> + +<p>He still resented the idea of her sacrifice, as he +called it, in the cause of education. They were now +so well acquainted that they were not always careful +to be polite in their talk; but he had an uneasy +feeling that she didn't wholly approve of him. All +summer, when they had discussed politics, she had +avoided touching upon his personal interests and +activities. His alliance with Bassett, emphasized +in the state convention, was a subject she clearly +avoided. This morning, as he kept time to her quick +step, he craved her interest and sympathy. Her +plain gray suit and simple cloth hat could not disguise +her charm or grace. It seemed to him that she +was putting herself a little further away from him, +that she was approaching the business of life with +a determination, a spirit, a zest, that dwarfed to +insignificance his own preoccupation with far less +important matters. She turned to glance back at +a group of children they had passed audibly speculating +as to the character of teacher the day held in +store for them.</p> + +<p>"Don't you think they're worth working for?" +Sylvia asked.</p> + +<p>Dan shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I suppose more lives are ground up in the school-teaching +machine than in any other way. Go on! +The girl who taught me my alphabet in the little +red school-house in Harrison County earned her +salary, I can tell you. She was seventeen and wore +a pink dress."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry you don't approve of me or my clothes. +Now Allen approves of me: I like Allen."</p> + +<p>"His approval is important, I dare say."</p> + +<p>"Yes, very. It's nice to be approved of. It helps +some."</p> + +<p>"And I suppose there ought to be a certain reciprocity +in approval and disapproval?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's bound to be!"</p> + +<p>Their eyes met and they laughed lightheartedly.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to tell you something," said Dan. "On +the reciprocal theory I can't expect anything, but +I'm lonesome and have no friends anyhow, so I'll +give you a chance to say something withering and +edged with a fine scorn."</p> + +<p>"Good! I'll promise not to disappoint you."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to be put on the legislature ticket to-day—to +fill a vacancy. I suppose you'll pray earnestly +for my defeat."</p> + +<p>"Why should I waste prayers on that? Besides, +Allen solemnly declares that the people are to be +trusted. It's not for me to set my prayers against +the will of the pee-pull."</p> + +<p>"If you had a vote," he persisted, "you wouldn't +vote for me?"</p> + +<p>"I should have to know what you want to go to +the legislature for before committing myself. What +<i>are</i> you doing it for?"</p> + +<p>"To do all the mischief I can, of course; to support +all the worst measures that come up; to jump +when the boss's whip cracks!"</p> + +<p>She refused to meet him on this ground. He saw +that any expectation he might have that she would +urge him to pledge himself to noble endeavor and +high achievements as a state legislator were doomed +to disappointment. He was taken aback by the +tone of her retort.</p> + +<p>"I hope you will do all those things. You could do +nothing better calculated to help your chances."</p> + +<p>"Chances?"</p> + +<p>"Your chances—and we don't any of us have +too many of coming to some good sometime."</p> + +<p>"I believe you are really serious; but I don't understand +you."</p> + +<p>"Then I shall be explicit. Just this, then, to play +the ungrateful part of the frank friend. The sooner +you get your fingers burnt, the sooner you will let +the fire alone. I suppose Mr. Bassett has given the +word that you are graciously to be permitted to sit +in his legislature. He could hardly do less for you +than that, after he sent you into the arena last June +to prod the sick lion for his entertainment."</p> + +<p>They were waiting at a corner for a break in the +street traffic, and he turned toward her guardedly.</p> + +<p>"You put it pretty low," he mumbled.</p> + +<p>"The thing itself is not so bad. From what I have +heard and read about Mr. Bassett, I don't think he +is really an evil person. He probably didn't start +with any sort of ideals of public life: you did. I read +in an essay the other night that the appeal of the +highest should be always to the lowest. But you're +not appealing to anybody; you're just following the +band wagon to the centre of the track. Stop, Look, +Listen! You've come far enough with me now. The +walls of my prison house loom before me. Good-morning!"</p> + +<p>"Good-morning and good luck!"</p> + +<p>That night Sylvia wrote a letter to one of her classmates +in Boston. "I'm a school-teacher," she said,—"a +member of the gray sisterhood of American +nuns. All over this astonishing country my sisters +of this honorable order rise up in the morning, even +as you and I, to teach the young idea how to shoot. +I look with veneration upon those of our sisterhood +who have grown old in the classroom. I can see myself +reduced to a bundle of nerves, irascible, worthless, +ready for the scrap-pile at, we will say, forty-two—only +twenty years ahead of me! My work +looks so easy and I like it so much that I went in +fright to the dictionary to look up the definition +of teacher. I find that I'm one who teaches or instructs. +Think of it—I! That definition should be +revised to read, 'Teacher: one who, conveying certain +information to others, reads in fifty faces unanswerable +questions as to the riddle of existence.' +'School: a place where the presumably wise are convinced +of their own folly.' Note well, my friend: +I am a gray sister, in a gray serge suit that fits, with +white cuffs and collar, and with chalk on my fingers. +Oh, it's not what I'm required to teach, but what +I'm going to learn that worries me!"</p> + +<p>Lüders's shop was not far from Sylvia's school and +Allen devised many excuses for waylaying her. His +machine being forbidden, he hung about until she +appeared and trudged homeward with her. Often he +came in a glow from the cabinetmaker's and submitted +for her judgment the questions that had been +debated that day at the shop. There was something +sweet and wistful and charming in his boyishness; +and she was surprised, as Harwood had been from the +first, by the intelligence he evinced in political and +social questions. He demanded absolute answers to +problems that were perplexing wise men all over the +world.</p> + +<p>"If I could answer that," she would say to him, +"I should be entitled to a monument more enduring +than brass. The comfort and happiness of mankind +isn't to be won in a day: we mustn't pull up the +old tree till we've got a new one planted and growing."</p> + +<p>"The Great Experiment will turn out all right +yet! Some fellow we never heard of will give the +lever a jerk some day, and there will be a rumble +and a flash and it will run perfectly," he asserted.</p> + +<p>The state campaign got under way in October, +and Harwood was often discussed in relation to it. +Allen always praised Dan extravagantly, and was +ever alert to defend him against her criticisms.</p> + +<p>"My dad will run the roller over Bassett, but Dan +will be smart enough to get from under. It's the +greatest show on earth—continuous vaudeville—this +politics! Dan's all right. He's got more brains +than Bassett. One of these days Dan will take a +flop and land clean over in the Thatcher camp. It's +only a matter of time. Gratitude and considerations +like that are holding him back. But I'm not a partisan—not +even on dad's side. I'm the philosopher +who sits on the fence and keeps the score by +innings."</p> + +<p>It seemed to her, in those days and afterward, +that Allen symbolized the unknown quantity in all +the problems that absorbed him. His idealism was +not a thing of the air, but a flowering from old and +vigorous roots. His politics was a kind of religion, +and it did not prove upon analysis to be either so +fantastical or so fanatical as she had believed at +first. As the days shortened, he would prolong their +walk until the shops and factories discharged their +employees upon the streets. The fine thing about +the people was, he said, the fact that they were content +to go on from day to day, doing the things they +did, when the restraints upon them were so light,—it +proved the enduring worth of the Great Experiment. +Then they would plunge into the thick of +the crowd and cross the Monument plaza, where he +never failed to pay a tribute in his own fashion to +the men the gray shaft commemorated. In these +walks they spoke French, which he employed more +readily than she: in his high moods it seemed to express +him better than English. It amused him to +apply new names to the thoroughfares they traversed. +For example, he gayly renamed Monument +Place the Place de la Concorde, assuring her that +the southward vista in the Rue de la Méridienne, +disclosing the lamp-bestarred terrace of the new +Federal Building, and the electric torches of the +Monument beyond, was highly reminiscent of Paris. +Sylvia was able to dramatize for herself, from the +abundant material he artlessly supplied, the life he +had led abroad during his long exile: as a youngster +he had enjoyed untrammeled freedom of the streets +of Paris and Berlin, and he showed a curiously developed +sympathy for the lives of the poor and +unfortunate that had been born of those early experiences. +He was a great resource to her, and she +enjoyed him as she would have enjoyed a girl comrade. +He confessed his admiration for Marian in the +frankest fashion. She was adorable; the greatest girl +in the world.</p> + +<p>"Ah, sometime," he would say, "who knows!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII" />CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>A HOUSE-BOAT ON THE KANKAKEE</h3> + + +<p>Harwood's faith in Bassett as a political +prophet was badly shaken by the result +of the campaign that fall. About half the +Democratic candidates for state office were elected, +but even more surprising was the rolling-up of a +good working majority in both houses of the General +Assembly. If Thatcher had knifed Bassett men or if +Thatcher men had been knifed at Bassett's behest, +evidence of such perfidy was difficult to adduce from +the returns. Harwood was not sure, as he studied +the figures, whether his party's surprising success +was attributable to a development of real strength +in Thatcher, who had been much in evidence throughout +the campaign, or whether Bassett deserved the +credit. He was disposed to think it only another +expression of that capriciousness of the electorate +which is often manifested in years when national +success is not directly involved. While Thatcher +and Bassett had apparently struck a truce and harmonized +their factions, Harwood had at no time entertained +illusions as to the real attitude of the men +toward each other. When the <i>entente</i> between the +leaders was mentioned among Thatcher's intimates +they were prone to declare that Ed would "get" +Bassett; it might take time, but the day of retribution +would surely come.</p> + +<p>As a candidate for the lower house in Marion +County, Harwood had been thrust forward prominently +into a campaign whose liveliness belied the +traditional apathy of "off" years. On the Saturday +night before the election, Thatcher and Bassett had +appeared together on the platform at a great meeting +at the capital—one of those final flourishes by +which county chairmen are prone to hearten their +legions against the morrow's battle. Bassett had +spoken for ten minutes at this rally, urging support +of the ticket and in crisp phrases giving the lie to +reports of his lukewarmness. His speech was the +more noteworthy from the fact that it was the first +time, in all his political career, that he had ever +spoken at a political meeting, and there was no questioning +its favorable impression.</p> + +<p>Bassett was, moreover, reelected to his old seat +in the senate without difficulty; and Harwood ran +ahead of his associates on the legislative ticket in +Marion County, scoring a plurality that testified to +his personal popularity. Another campaign must +intervene before the United States Senatorship became +an acute issue, and meanwhile the party in the +state had not in many years been so united. Credit +was freely given to the "Courier" for the formidable +strength developed by the Democracy: and it +had become indubitably a vigorous and conservative +reflector of party opinion, without estranging +a growing constituency of readers who liked its +clean and orderly presentation of general news. The +ownership of the newspaper had become, since the +abrupt termination of the lawsuit instituted by +Thatcher, almost as much of a mystery as formerly. +Harwood's intimate relations with it had not been +revived, and neither Mrs. Owen nor Bassett ever +spoke to him of the newspaper except in the most +casual fashion.</p> + +<p>Dan was conscious that the senator from Fraser +had changed in the years that had passed since +the beginning of their acquaintance. Bassett had +outwardly altered little as he crossed the watershed +of middle life; but it seemed to Dan that the ill-temper +he had manifested in the Thatcher affair had +marked a climacteric. The self-control and restraint +that had so impressed him at first had visibly diminished. +What Harwood had taken for steel seemed +to him now only iron after all—and brittle iron.</p> + +<p>During the last week of the campaign an incident +occurred that shook Harwood a good deal. He had +been away from the capital for several days making +speeches, and finding that his itinerary would permit +it, he ran into town unexpectedly one night to replenish +his linen and look at his mail. An interurban +car landed him in town at eleven o'clock, and he went +directly to the Boordman Building. As he walked +down the hall toward his office he was surprised to +see a light showing on the ground-glass door of +Room 66. Though Bassett kept a room at the Whitcomb +for private conferences, he occasionally used +his office in the Boordman for the purpose, and seeing +the rooms lighted, Dan expected to find him +there. He tried the door and found it locked, and +as he drew out his key he heard suddenly the click +of the typewriter inside. Miss Farrell was rarely at +the office at night, but as Harwood opened the door, +he found her busily tapping the keys of her machine. +She swung round quickly with an air of surprise, +stretched herself, and yawned.</p> + +<p>"Well, I wasn't exactly looking for you, but I +can't deny that I'm glad to be interrupted. Hope +you don't mind my doing a small job on the side—"</p> + +<p>As Harwood stood, suit-case in hand, blinking at +her, he heard a door farther down the hall close, +followed by a step in the hall outside. Harwood had +seen no lights in the neighboring offices as he crossed +the hall, and in his frequent long night vigils with +his law books, it was the rarest thing to find any of +the neighboring tenants about. He turned quickly +to the door while the retreating steps were still +audible.</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>Rose had half-risen from her seat as he put his +hand to the knob and her tone of alarm arrested +him. Instead of flinging open the door he dropped +his bag into a corner. His face flushed with sudden +anger.</p> + +<p>"I didn't suppose you'd mind my doing a little +extra work out of hours, Mr. Harwood. Colonel +Ramsay was in the office to see Mr. Bassett this +afternoon and asked me to take some dictation +for him. I guess it's about time for me to go +home."</p> + +<p>She pulled the sheet of paper from the typewriter +with a sharp <i>brrrrr</i> and dropped it into a drawer +with a single deft twist of the wrist.</p> + +<p>"The Colonel didn't mention it to me," remarked +Dan, feigning indifference and not looking at her. +"He was making a speech at Terre Haute to-night +when I left there."</p> + +<p>He tried to minimize the disagreeable aspects of +the matter. Rose had been employed by Bassett as +stenographer to one of his legislative committees +before Dan's relations with the politician began. +Since Harwood employed her Bassett had made use +of her constantly in the writing of letters. There +would have been nothing extraordinary in his calling +her to the office for an evening's work; it was the +girl's falsehood about Ramsay and the quiet closing +of the door of Bassett's inner room that disturbed +Harwood. He passed into the library and Rose +left without saying good-night. The incident annoyed +Dan; Bassett's step had been unmistakable, +and the girl's confusion had its disagreeable significance. +He had not thought this of Bassett; it was +inconsonant with the character of man he still believed +Morton Bassett to be.</p> + +<p>In winding up the receivership of the paper company +Bassett had treated Harwood generously. Dan +was out of debt; he had added forty acres of good +land to his father's farm, and he kept a little money +in bank. He had even made a few small investments +in local securities that promised well, and his practice +had become quite independent of Bassett: +almost imperceptibly Bassett had ceased to be a factor +in his prosperity. The office in the Boordman +Building remained the same, and Bassett spent a +good deal of time there. There were days when he +seemed deeply preoccupied, and he sometimes buried +himself in his room without obvious reason; then +after an interval he would come out and throw his leg +over a corner of Dan's desk and talk to him with his +earlier frankness. Once he suggested that Dan might +like to leave the Boordman for a new office building +that was lifting the urban skyline; but the following +day he came rather pointedly to Dan's desk, and +with an embarrassment he rarely showed, said that +of course if Dan moved he should expect to go with +him; he hoped Dan had understood that. A few +days later he entrusted Dan with several commissions +that he seemed to have devised solely to show +his good will and confidence.</p> + +<p>Harwood was happy these days. He was still +young and life had dealt kindly with him. Among +lawyers he was pointed to as a coming light of the +bar; and in politics he was the most conspicuous +man of his age in the state. He was invited to Harrison +County that fall to deliver an address at a reunion +of the veterans of his father's regiment, and +that had pleased him. He had more than justified +the hopes of his parents and brothers, and they +were very proud of him. While they did not understand +his apostasy from the family's stern Republicanism, +this did not greatly matter when Dan's +name so often came floating home in the Indianapolis +newspapers. His mother kept careful track of his +social enthrallments; her son was frequently among +those present at private and public dinners; and +when the president of Yale visited Indiana, Dan +spoke at the banquet given in his honor by the +alumni; and not without emotion does a woman +whose life has been spent on a humble farm find +that her son has won a place among people of distinction +in a city which is to her the capital of the Universe. +There were times when Dan wished to be free +of Bassett. He had reached a point where Bassett +was not only of little service to him, but where he +felt he was of little use to Bassett. And it was irksome +to find that all the local newspapers, except +the "Courier," constantly identified the Boordman +Building with Bassett's political activities.</p> + +<p>Amid all the agitations of the campaign Dan had +seen as much as possible of Sylvia. The settlement of +Andrew Kelton's estate gave him an excuse for consulting +her frequently, but he sought her frankly +for the pleasure of seeing her. He found that she was +a good deal at Mrs. Owen's, and it was pleasanter +to run in upon her there than at Elizabeth House, +where they must needs share the parlor with other +callers. Often he and Allen met at Mrs. Owen's and +debated the questions that were forever perplexing +young Thatcher's eager mind,—debates that Mrs. +Owen suffered to run so far and then terminated with +a keen observation that left no more to be said, sending +them to the pantry to forage for food and drink. +Thatcher had resented for a time Harwood's participation +in his humiliation at the convention; but his +ill-feeling had not been proof against Allen's warm +defense. Thatcher's devotion to his son had in it +a kind of pathos, and it was not in him to vent his +spleen against his son's best friend.</p> + +<p>A few days after the election Thatcher invited +Harwood to join him and Allen in a week's shooting +in the Kankakee where he owned a house-boat that +Allen had never seen.</p> + +<p>"Come up, Dan, and rest your voice. It's a good +place to loaf, and we'll take John Ware along as our +moral uplifter. Maybe we'll pot a few ducks, but +if we don't we'll get away from our troubles for a +little while anyhow."</p> + +<p>The house-boat proved to be commodious and +comfortable, and the ducks scarce enough to make +the hunter earn his supper. I may say in parenthesis +that long before Thatcher's day many great and +good Hoosiers scattered birdshot over the Kankakee +marshes—which, alack! have been drained to increase +Indiana's total area of arable soil. "Lew" Wallace +and other Hoosier generals and judges used to hunt +ducks on the Kankakee; and Maurice Thompson +not only camped there, but wrote a poem about the +marshes,—a poem that <i>is</i> a poem,—all about the +bittern and the plover and the heron, which always, +at the right season, called him away from the desk +and the town to try his bow (he was the last of the +toxophilites!) on winged things he scorned to destroy +with gunpowder. (Oh what a good fellow you +were, Maurice Thompson, and what songs you wrote +of our lakes and rivers and feathered things! And +how I gloated over those songs of fair weather in +old "Atlantics" in my grandfather's garret, before +they were bound into that slim, long volume with +the arrow-pierced heron on its cover!)</p> + +<p>John Ware, an ancient and honorable son of the +tribe of Nimrod, was the best of comrades. The +striking quality in Ware was his beautiful humanness, +which had given him a peculiar hold upon men. +Thatcher was far from being a saint, but, like many +other cheerful sinners in our capital, he had gone to +church in the days when Ware occupied the First +Congregational pulpit. A good many years had +passed since Ware had been a captain of cavalry, +chasing Stuart's boys in the Valley of Virginia, but +he was still a capital wing shot. A house-boat is the +best place in the world for talk, and the talk in +Thatcher's boat, around the sheet-iron stove, was +good those crisp November evenings.</p> + +<p>On Sunday Ware tramped off to a country church, +taking his companions with him. It was too bad +to miss the ducks, he said, but a day's peace in the +marshes gave them a chance to accumulate. That +evening he talked of Emerson, with whom he had +spoken face to face in Concord in that whitest of +houses. We shouldn't bring this into our pages if +it hadn't been that Ware's talk in that connection +interested Thatcher greatly. And ordinarily Thatcher +knew and cared less about Emerson than about +the Vedic Hymns. Allen was serenely happy to be +smoking his pipe in the company of a man who had +fought with Sheridan, heard Phillips speak, and +talked to John Brown and Emerson. When Ware +had described his interview with the poet he was +silent for a moment, then he refilled his pipe.</p> + +<p>"It's odd," he continued, "but I've picked up +copies of Emerson's books in queer places. Not so +strange either; it seems the natural thing to find +loose pages of his essays stuck around in old logging-camps. +I did just that once, when I was following +Thoreau's trail through the Maine woods. Some +fellow had pinned a page of 'Compensation' on the +door of a cabin I struck one night when it was +mighty good to find shelter,—the pines singing, +snowstorm coming on. That leaf was pretty well +weather-stained; I carried it off with me and had it +framed—hangs in my house now. Another time +I was doing California on horseback, and in an +abandoned shack in the Sierras I found Emerson's +'Poems'—an old copy that somebody had thumbed +a good deal. I poked it out of some rubbish and came +near making a fire of it. Left it, though, for the next +fellow. I've noticed that if one thing like that happens +to you there's bound to be another. Is that +superstition, Thatcher? I'm not superstitious,—not +particularly,—but we've all got some of it in +our hides. After that second time—it was away +back in the seventies, when I was preaching for a +spell in 'Frisco—I kept looking for the third experience +that I felt would come."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course it did come!" cried Allen eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Well, that third time it wasn't a loose leaf torn +out and stuck on a plank, or just an old weather-stained +book; it was a copy that had been specially +bound—a rare piece of work. I don't care particularly +for fine bindings, but that had been done with +taste,—a dark green,—the color you get looking +across the top of a pine wood; and it seemed appropriate. +Emerson would have liked it himself."</p> + +<p>The sheet-iron stove had grown red hot and Harwood +flung open the door. The glow from the fire +fell full upon the dark, rugged face and the white +hair of the minister, who was sitting on a soap-box +with his elbows on his knees. In a gray flannel shirt +he looked like a lumberman of the North. An unusual +tenderness had stolen into his lean, Indian-like +face.</p> + +<p>"That was a long while after that ride in the +Sierras. Let me see, it was more than twenty years +ago,—I can't just place the year; no difference. +I'd gone up into the Adirondacks to see my folks. +I told you about our farm once, Allen,—not far from +John Brown's old place. It isn't as lonesome up +there now as it was when I was a boy; there were +bully places to hide up there; I used to think of that +when I was reading Scott and Cooper. Brown could +have hid there forever if he'd got out of Virginia +after the raid. Nowadays there are too many hotels, +and people go canoeing in ironed collars. No good. +My folks were all gone even then, and strangers +lived in my father's house. From the old place I +moved along, walking and canoeing it. Stopped on +Saturday in a settlement where there was a church +that hadn't been preached in since anybody could +remember. Preached for 'em on Sunday. An old +Indian died, while I was there, and I baptized and +buried him. But that wasn't what kept me. There +was a young woman staying at the small boarding-house +where I stopped—place run by a man and +his wife. Stranger had brought her there early in +the summer. City people—they told the folks they +came from New York. They were young, well-appearing +folks—at least the girl was. The man had +gone off and left her there, and she was going to +have a child soon and was terribly ill. They called +me in one day when they thought the woman was +dying. The country doctor wasn't much good—an +old fellow who didn't know that anything particular +had happened in his profession since Harvey +discovered the circulation of the blood. I struck off +to Saranac and got a city doctor to go and look at +the woman. Nice chap he was, too. He stayed +there till the woman's troubles were over. Daughter +born and everything all right. She never mentioned +the man who had left her there. Wouldn't answer +the doctor's questions and didn't tell me anything +either. Strange business, just to drop in on a thing +like that."</p> + +<p>It occurred to Harwood that this big, gray, kindly +man had probably looked upon many dark pictures +in his life. The minister appeared to be talking half +to himself, and there had been abrupt pauses in his +characteristically jerky recital. There was a long +silence which he broke by striking his hands together +abruptly, and shaking his head.</p> + +<p>"The man that kept the boarding-house was +scared for fear the woman wasn't straight; didn't +like the idea of having a strange girl with a baby left +on his hands. I had to reason some with that fellow; +but his wife was all right, and did her full duty by +the girl. She was a mighty pretty young girl, and +she took her troubles, whatever they were, like +what you'd call a true sport, Ed."</p> + +<p>Thatcher, stretched out on a camp bed at the side +of the room, chewing a cigar, grunted.</p> + +<p>"Well," the minister continued, "I was around +there about three weeks; put in all my vacation there. +Fact is I hated to go off and leave that girl until I was +sure I couldn't do anything for her. But she was +getting out of the woods before I left, and I offered +to help her any way I could. She didn't seem to lack +for money; a couple of letters with money came for +her, but didn't seem to cheer her much. There was +a beast in the jungle,—no doubt of that,—but +she was taking good care to hide him. Didn't seem +to care much about taking care of herself, even when +she must have known that it looked bad for her. +She was a flighty, volatile sort of creature; made +a lot of what I'd done for her in bringing over the +doctor. That doctor was a brick, too. Lots of good +people in the world, boys. Let me see; Dan, feel in +that shooting-coat of mine on the nail behind you +and you'll find the book I started to tell you about. +Thanks. You see it's a little banged up because +I've carried it around with me a good deal—fishing-trips +and so on; but it's acquired tone since I began +handling it—the green in that leather has +darkened. 'Society and Solitude.' There's the irony +of fate for you.—Where had I got to? When I went +in to say good-bye we had quite a talk. I thought +maybe there was some message I could carry to her +friends for her, but she was game and wouldn't +hear to it. She wanted the little girl baptized, but +said she hadn't decided what to name her; asked +me if I could baptize a baby without having a real +name. She was terribly cut up and cried about it. I +said I guessed God Almighty didn't care much about +names, and if she hadn't decided on one I'd name +the baby myself and I did: I named the little girl—and +a mighty cute youngster she was, too—I +named her Elizabeth—favorite name of mine;—just +the mother, lying there in bed, and the man and +woman that kept the boarding-house in the room. +The mother said she wanted to do something for me; +and as I was leaving her she pulled this book out and +made me take it."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it was a favorite book of hers and all +that," suggested Dan.</p> + +<p>"I don't think anybody had ever opened that +book," replied Ware, smiling. "It was brand-new—not +a scratch on it."</p> + +<p>"And afterward?" asked Allen, anxious for the +rest of the story.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, I passed through there four years afterward +and found the same people living in the little +cottage there at that settlement. Strange to say, +that woman had stayed there a couple of years after +the baby was born. Hadn't any place to go, I reckon. +Nobody ever went near her, they said; but finally +she picked up and left; took the baby with her. She +had never been well afterward, and finally, seeing +she hadn't long to live, she struck out for home. +Wanted to die among her own people, maybe. I +don't know the rest of the story, Allen. What I've +told you is all I know,—it's like finding a magazine +in a country hotel where you haven't anything +to read and dip into the middle of a serial story. I +never told anybody about that but my wife. I had +a feeling that if that woman took such pains to bury +herself up there in the wilderness it wasn't my +business to speak of it. But it's long ago now—most +everything that an old chap like me knows is!"</p> + +<p>Thatcher rose and crossed to the stove and took +the book. He turned it over and scrutinized it carefully, +scanned the blank pages and the silk-faced +lids in the glow from the stove, and then handed it +to Allen.</p> + +<p>"What does that say there, that small gold print +on the inside of the cover?"</p> + +<p>"That's the binder's name—Z. Fenelsa."</p> + +<p>Allen closed the book, passed his hand over the +smooth covers, and handed it back to Ware.</p> + +<p>"What did you say the woman's name was, +Ware?" asked Thatcher.</p> + +<p>"Didn't say, but the name she went by up there +was Forbes. She told me it was an assumed name. +The people she stayed with told me they never +knew any better."</p> + +<p>Several minutes passed in which no one spoke. +The minister lapsed into one of his deep reveries. +Thatcher stood just behind him peering into the +fire. Suddenly he muttered under his breath and +almost inaudibly, "Well, by God!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV" />CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h3>A WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY BALL</h3> + + +<p>The Bassetts moved to the capital that +winter, arriving with the phalanx of legislators +in January, and establishing themselves +in a furnished house opportunely vacated by +the Bosworths, who were taking the Mediterranean +trip. Bassett had been careful to announce to +the people of Fraserville that the removal was only +temporary, and that he and his family would return +in the spring, but Marian held private opinions quite +at variance with her father's published statements.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett's acquiescence had been due to Mrs. +Owen's surprising support of Marian's plan. In declaring +that she would never, never consent to live +in a flat, Mrs. Bassett had hoped to dispose of Marian's +importunities, to which Bassett had latterly +lent mild approval. When, however, Mrs. Owen suggested +the Bosworth house, which could be occupied +with the minimum of domestic vexation, Mrs. Bassett +promptly consented, feeling that her aunt's +interest might conceal a desire in the old lady's breast +to have some of her kinsfolk near her. Mrs. Bassett +had not allowed her husband to forget the dangerous +juxtaposition of Sylvia Garrison to Mrs. Owen's +check-book. "That girl," as Mrs. Bassett designated +Sylvia in private conversation with her husband, had +been planted in Elizabeth House for a purpose. Her +relief that Sylvia had not been settled in the Delaware +Street residence had been of short duration: +Mrs. Bassett saw now that it was only the girl's +adroit method of impressing upon Mrs. Owen her +humility and altruism. Still Mrs. Bassett was not +wholly unhappy. It was something to be near at hand +where she could keep track of Sylvia's movements; +and the social scene at the capital was not without +its interest for her. She was not merely the wife of +Morton Bassett, but the only child of the late Blackford +Singleton, sometime Senator in Congress. She +was moreover the niece of Sally Owen, and this in +itself was a social asset. She showed her husband +the cards that were left at their door, and called his +attention to the fact that the representative people +of the capital were looking them up. He made the +mistake of suggesting that the husbands of most of +the women who had called had axes to grind at the +State House,—a suggestion intended to be humorous; +but she answered that many of her callers were +old friends of the Singletons, and she expressed the +hope that he would so conduct himself as to adorn +less frequently the newspaper headlines; the broad +advertisement of his iniquities would be so much +worse now that they were in the city, and with +Marian's future to consider, and all.</p> + +<p>It should be said that Marian's arrival had not +gone unheeded. The society columns of the capital +welcomed her, and the "Advertiser" reproduced her +photograph in a picture hat. She began at once to +be among those included in all manner of functions. +Allen danced cheerfully to her piping and she still +telephoned to Harwood when she thought of ways +of using him. Mrs. Owen had declared her intention +of giving a "party" to introduce Marian to the +society of the capital. Sally Owen had not given a +"party" since Mrs. Bassett's coming out, but she +brought the same energy and thoroughness to bear +upon a social affair that characterized her business +undertakings. In preparing the list (in itself a task) +and in the discussion of details, it was necessary of +course to consult Marian,—one usually heard Marian's +views whether one consulted her or not,—but +she and her aunt were on the best of terms, and Mrs. +Owen was sincerely anxious to satisfy her in every +particular. On half a dozen evenings Allen or Dan +brought Sylvia to the Delaware Street house to meet +Marian and plan the coming event. No one would +have imagined, from the zest with which Sylvia +discussed such deep questions as the employment +of musicians, the decorating of the hall, the german +favors and the refreshments, that she had been +at work all day in a schoolroom that had been built +before ventilation was invented.</p> + +<p>When Sylvia was busy, she was the busiest of +mortals, but when she threw herself heart and soul +into play, it was with the completest detachment. +She accomplished wonderful things in the way of +work after schoolhours if she received warning that +either of her faithful knights meditated a descent +upon her. During these councils of war to plan Marian's +belated début, Sylvia might snowball Allen +or Dan or both of them all the way from Elizabeth +House to Mrs. Owen's door, and then appear demurely +before that amiable soul, with cheeks aglow +and dark eyes flashing, and Mrs. Owen would say: +"This school-teaching ain't good for you, Sylvia; it +seems to be breaking down your health." That was +a lively quartette—Sylvia, Marian, Allen, and Dan!</p> + +<p>Dan, now duly sworn to serve the state faithfully +as a legislator, had been placed on several important +committees, and a busy winter stretched before +him. Morton Bassett's hand lay heavily upon the +legislature; the young man had never realized until +he took his seat in the lower house how firmly +Bassett gripped the commonwealth. Every committee +appointment in both houses had to be approved +by the senator from Fraser. Dan's selection +as chairman of the committee on corporations +both pleased and annoyed him. He would +have liked to believe himself honestly chosen by the +speaker on the score of fitness; but he knew well +enough that there were older men, veteran legislators, +more familiar with the state's needs and +dangers, who had a better right to the honor. The +watchful "Advertiser" had not overlooked his appointment. +On the day the committees were announced +it laid before its readers a cartoon depicting +Bassett, seated at his desk in the senate, +clutching wires that radiated to every seat in the +lower house. One desk set forth conspicuously in the +foreground was inscribed "D.H." "The Lion and +Daniel" was the tag affixed to this cartoon, which +caused much merriment among Dan's friends at the +round table of the University Club.</p> + +<p>Miss Bassett's début was fixed for Washington's +Birthday, and as Mrs. Owen's house had no ballroom +(except one of those floored attics on which +our people persist in bestowing that ambitious title) +she decided that the Propylæum alone would serve. +Pray do not reach for your dictionary, my friend! +No matter how much Greek may have survived your +commencement day, you would never know that +our Propylæum (reared by the women of our town in +North Street, facing the pillared façade of the Blind +Institute) became, on its completion in 1890, the +centre of our intellectual and social life. The club +"papers" read under that roof constitute a literature +all the nobler for the discretion that reserves it +for atrabilious local criticism; the later editions of +our <i>jeunesse dorée</i> have danced there and Boxed and +Coxed as Dramatic Club stars on its stage. "Billy" +Sumner once lectured there on "War" before the +Contemporary Club, to say nothing of Mr. James's +appearance (herein before mentioned), which left us, +filled with wildest surmise, on the crest of a new and +ultimate Darien. Nor shall I omit that memorable +tea to the Chinese lady when the press became so +great that a number of timorous Occidentals in their +best bib and tucker departed with all possible dignity +by way of the fire-escape. So the place being +historic, as things go in a new country, Mrs. Owen +did not, in vulgar parlance, "hire a hall," but gave +her party in a social temple of loftiest consecration.</p> + +<p>It was a real winter night, with a snowstorm and +the jangle of sleigh-bells outside. The possibilities +of a hall famed for its many brilliant entertainments +had never been more fully realized than on this night +of Marian Bassett's presentation. The stage was +screened in a rose-hung lattice that had denuded +the conservatories of Newcastle and Richmond; the +fireplace was a bank of roses, and the walls were +festooned in evergreens. Nor should we overlook a +profile of the father of his country in white carnations +on a green background, with all the effect of a +marble bas-relief,—a fitting embellishment for the +balcony,—done by the florist from Allen's design +and under Allen's critical eye.</p> + +<p>In the receiving line, established in one of the +lower parlors, were Mrs. Owen, Mr. and Mrs. Morton +Bassett, the Governor and his wife (he happened +just then to be a Republican), Colonel and Mrs. +Vinning (retired army people), and the pick of the +last October's brides and their young husbands. We +may only glance hurriedly at the throng who shook +Mrs. Owen's hand, and were presented to Mr. and +Mrs. Bassett and by them in turn to their daughter. +Every one remarked how stunning the hostess looked +(her gown was white, and in the latest fashion, too,—none +of your quaint old lace and lavender for +Aunt Sally!), and what amusing things she said to +her guests as they filed by, knowing them all and in +her great good heart loving them all! It is something +to be an Aunt Sally where the name is a synonym +for perpetual youth and perpetual kindness and +helpfulness. (And if Aunt Sally didn't live just a +little way down my own street, and if she hadn't +bribed me not to "put her in a book" with a gift of +home-cured hams from her Greene County farm +last Christmas, there are many more things I should +like to say of her!)</p> + +<p>Since the little affair of the "Courier" Morton +Bassett had fought shy of his wife's aunt; but to-night +he stood beside her, enjoying, let us hope, the +grim humor of his juxtaposition to the only person +who had ever blocked any of his enterprises. Nothing +escaped Mrs. Bassett, and her heart softened +toward her politician husband as she saw that next +to her aunt and Marian (a daughter to be proud of +to-night!) Morton Bassett was the person most observed +of all observers. She noted the glances bent +upon him by the strangers to whom he was introduced, +and many acquaintances were at pains to +recall themselves to him. Her husband was a presentable +man anywhere, and she resolved to deal +more leniently with his offenses in future. The +governorship or a seat in the United States Senate +would amply repay her for the heartaches so often +communicated by the clipping bureau.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett prided herself on knowing who's +who in her native state and even she was satisfied +that the gathering was representative. The "list" +had not been submitted for her approval; if it had +been she might have deleted certain names and substituted +others. She was unable, for example, to +justify the presence of the senior Thatcher, though +her husband assured her in a tone of magnanimity +that it was all right; and she had never admired +Colonel Ramsay, though to be sure nearly every +one else did. Was not the Colonel handsome, +courteous, genial, eloquent, worthy of all admiration? +Mrs. Owen had chosen a few legislators from +among her acquaintances, chiefly gentlemen who +had gallantly aided some of her measures at earlier +sessions of the assembly. This accounted for the appearance +of a lone Prohibitionist who by some miracle +appeared biennially in the lower house, and for +a prominent labor leader whom Mrs. Owen liked on +general principles. The statesman who has already +loomed darkly in these pages as the Tallest Delegate +was taller than ever in a dress coat, but in all ways +a citizen of whom Vermillion County had reason to +be proud. John Ware and Admiral Martin, finding +themselves uncomfortable in the crowd, rescued +Thatcher and adjourned with him to a room set +apart for smokers. There they were regarded with +mild condescension by young gentlemen who rushed +in from the dance, mopping their brows and inhaling +cigarettes for a moment, wearing the melancholy +air becoming to those who support the pillars of +society.</p> + +<p>At ten o'clock the receiving line had dissolved and +the dance was in full swing above. Sylvia had volunteered +to act as Mrs. Owen's adjutant, and she was +up and down stairs many times looking after countless +details. She had just dispatched Allen to find +partners for some out-of-town girls when Morton +Bassett accosted her in the hall.</p> + +<p>"I'm thirsty, Miss Garrison; which punch bowl +do you recommend to a man of my temperate +habits?"</p> + +<p>She turned to the table and took a glass from +Mrs. Owen's butler and held it up.</p> + +<p>"The only difference between the two is that one +is pink. I put it in myself. Your health and long +life to Marian," said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to take this chance to thank you for +your kind interest in Marian's party. We all appreciate +it. Even if you didn't do it for us but for Mrs. +Owen, we're just as grateful. There's a lot of work +in carrying off an affair like this."</p> + +<p>He seemed in no hurry and apparently wished to +prolong the talk. They withdrew out of the current +of people passing up and down the stairway.</p> + +<p>"You are not dancing?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No; I'm not here socially, so to speak. I'm not +going out, you know; I only wanted to help Mrs. +Owen a little."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me; I hadn't really forgotten. You are +a busy person; Marian tells me you have begun +your teaching. You don't show any evidences of +wear."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I never was so well in my life!"</p> + +<p>"You will pardon me for mentioning it here, but—but +I was sorry to hear from Mr. Harwood that +the teaching is necessary."</p> + +<p>He was quite right, she thought, in saying that +the time and place were ill-suited to such a remark. +He leaned against the wall and she noticed that his +lids drooped wearily. He seemed content to linger +there, where they caught fitfully glimpses of Marian's +bright, happy face in the dance. Mrs. Owen and +Mrs. Bassett were sitting in a group of dowagers at +the other end of the ballroom, identifying and commenting +upon the season's débutantes.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you are very busy now," Sylvia remarked.</p> + +<p>Yes; this will be a busy session."</p> + +<p>"And I suppose you have more to do than the +others; it's the penalty of leadership."</p> + +<p>He flushed at the compliment, changed his position +slightly, and avoided her eyes for a moment. +She detected in him to-night something that had escaped +her before. It might not be weariness after +all that prompted him to lean against the wall with +one hand carelessly thrust into his pocket; he was +not a man to show physical weariness. It seemed, +rather, a stolid indifference either to the immediate +scene or to more serious matters. Their meeting had +seemed accidental; she could not believe he had contrived +it. If the dance bored him she was by no +means his only refuge; many present would have +thought themselves highly favored by a word from +him. A messenger brought Sylvia a question from +Mrs. Owen. In turning away to answer she gave him +a chance to escape, but he waited, and when she was +free again she felt that he had been watching her.</p> + +<p>He smiled, and stood erect as though impelled by +an agreeable thought.</p> + +<p>"We don't meet very often, Miss Garrison, and +this is hardly the place for long conversations; you're +busy, too; but I'd like to ask you something."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, Mr. Bassett!"</p> + +<p>The newest two-step struck up and she swung her +head for a moment in time to it and looked out upon +the swaying forms of the dancers.</p> + +<p>"That's Marian's favorite," she said.</p> + +<p>"That afternoon, after the convention, you remember—"</p> + +<p>"Of course, Mr. Bassett; I remember perfectly."</p> + +<p>"You laughed!"</p> + +<p>They both smiled; and it seemed to him that +now, as then, it was a smile of understanding, a +curious reciprocal exchange that sufficed without +elucidation in words.</p> + +<p>"Well!" said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Would you mind telling me just why you +laughed?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! That would be telling a lot of things."</p> + +<p>Any one seeing them might have thought that +this middle-aged gentleman was taking advantage +of an opportunity to bask in the smile of a pretty +girl for the sheer pleasure of her company. He was +purposely detaining her, but whether from a wish +to amuse himself or to mark his indifference to what +went on around him she did not fathom. The fact +was that Sylvia had wondered herself a good deal +about that interview in Mrs. Owen's house, and she +was not quite sure why she had laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'd really like to know, Miss Garrison. If I +knew why you laughed at me—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't laugh at you! At least—it wasn't +just you alone I was laughing at!"</p> + +<p>"Not at me?"</p> + +<p>His look of indifference vanished wholly; he +seemed sincerely interested as he waited for her +reply, delayed a moment by the passing of a group +of youngsters from the ballroom to the fresher air +of the hall.</p> + +<p>"I know perfectly well this isn't a good place to +be serious in; but I laughed—Do you really want +to know?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, please. Don't try to spare my feelings; +they're pretty badly shot up anyhow."</p> + +<p>"It must have been because it struck me as funny +that a man like you—with all your influence and +power—your capacity for doing big things—should +go to so much trouble merely to show another +man your contempt for him. Just a moment"—she +deliberated an instant, lifting her head a trifle,—"it +was funny, just as it would be funny if the +United States went to war to crush a petty, ignorant +pauper power; or it would be like using the biggest +pile driver to smash a mosquito. It was ridiculous +just because it seemed so unnecessarily elaborate—such +a waste of steam."</p> + +<p>She had spoken earnestly and quickly, but he +laughed to assure her that he was not offended.</p> + +<p>"So that was it, was it?"</p> + +<p>"I think so; something like that. And you +laughed too that day!"</p> + +<p>"Yes; why did I laugh?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Because you knew it was grotesque, and not to +be taken at all seriously as people did take it. And +then, maybe—maybe I thought it funny that you +should have employed Mr. Harwood to pull the lever +that sent the big hammer smashing down on the +insect."</p> + +<p>"So that was it! Well, maybe it wasn't so unnecessary +after all; to be frank, I didn't think so. In +my conceit I thought it a good stroke. That's a +secret; nobody else knows that! Why shouldn't I +have used Mr. Harwood—assuming that I did use +him?"</p> + +<p>"Can you stand any more? Shan't we talk of +something else?"</p> + +<p>Their colloquy had been longer than Sylvia found +comfortable: every one knew Bassett; every one did +not know her. She was a comparative stranger in +the city, and it was not wholly kind in him to make +her conspicuous; yet he seemed oblivious to his surroundings.</p> + +<p>"You cast an excellent actor for an unworthy part, +that's all."</p> + +<p>"I was debasing him? Is that what you think?" +he persisted.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she answered steadily, meeting his eyes.</p> + +<p>"You like him; you believe in him?"</p> + +<p>"He has ability," she answered guardedly.</p> + +<p>"Then I've done nothing to thwart him in the use +of it. He's the best advertised young man in the +state in either political party. He's in a place now +where he can make good."</p> + +<p>His smile was grave; it was impossible to answer +him in the key of social small talk.</p> + +<p>"The 'Advertiser' seems to think that he's in the +legislature to do what you tell him to."</p> + +<p>"He doesn't have to do it, does he? He owes me +nothing—absolutely nothing. He can kick me +down stairs to-morrow if he wants to. It was understood +when he came into my office that he should be +free to quit me whenever he liked. I'd like you to +know that."</p> + +<p>She was embarrassed by the direct look that +accompanied this. Her opinions could not interest +him one way or another, and he was going far in +assuming that she was deeply concerned in Harwood's +welfare. The incongruity of their talk was +emphasized by the languorous strains of the newest +popular waltz that floated over them from the ballroom.</p> + +<p>"If it were any of my affair—which it certainly +isn't—I should tell him to stand by you—to say +no to you if need be and yet remain your friend."</p> + +<p>"You think, then, that I am not beyond reclamation—that +I might be saved—pulled out of the +mire?"</p> + +<p>"No man is beyond reclamation, is he? I think +not; I believe not."</p> + +<p>The music ceased; the dancers were demanding a +repetition of the number. Bassett stood his ground +stubbornly.</p> + +<p>"Well, I've asked him to do something for me—the +only thing I have ever asked him to do that +wasn't straight."</p> + +<p>There was no evading this; she wondered whether +he had deliberately planned this talk, and what it +was leading to. In any view it was inexplicable. His +brow knit and there was a curious gravity in his eyes +as they sought hers searchingly.</p> + +<p>"That's his affair entirely, Mr. Bassett," she replied +coldly. "He and I are good friends, and of +course I should hate to see him make a mistake."</p> + +<p>"But the mistake may be mine; let us say that it +is mine."</p> + +<p>"I had an idea that you didn't make mistakes. +Why should you make the serious mistake of asking +a good man to do a bad thing?"</p> + +<p>"The natural inference would be that I'm a bad +man, wouldn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be my way of looking at it. All you +need is courage to be a great man—you can go +far!"</p> + +<p>He smiled grimly.</p> + +<p>"I need only one thing, you say;—but what if +it's the thing I haven't got?"</p> + +<p>"Get it!" she replied lightly. "But your defiance +in the convention wasn't worthy of you; it was only +a piece of bravado. You don't deserve to be abused +for that,—just scolded a little. That's why I +laughed at you that afternoon; I'm going to laugh +at you now!"</p> + +<p>The music had ceased again and Allen and Marian +flashed out upon them in the highest spirits.</p> + +<p>"Well, I like this!" cried Marian. "What are you +two talking so long about? Oh, I saw you through +three dances at least!"</p> + +<p>"Miss Garrison has been laughing at me," said +Bassett, smiling at his daughter. "She doesn't take +me at all seriously—or too seriously: I don't know +which!"</p> + +<p>"How could she take you seriously!" demanded +Marian. "I never do! Sylvia, where on earth is our +little Daniel? It's nearly time for the cotillion. And +if Dan Harwood doesn't show up for that I'll never +forgive him in this world."</p> + +<p>"The cotillion?" repeated Bassett, glancing at his +watch. "Hasn't Dan got here yet? He had a committee +meeting to-night, but it ought to have been +over before now."</p> + +<p>Sylvia noted that the serious look came into his +eyes again for an instant.</p> + +<p>"He oughtn't to have had a committe meeting on +the night of my party. And it's a holiday too."</p> + +<p>"And after all the rehearsing we've done at Aunt +Sally's the cherry-tree figure absolutely has to have +him," said Allen. "Maybe I'd better send a scout +to look him up or run over to the State House myself."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he'll be here," murmured Sylvia.</p> + +<p>Dan had undoubtedly intended to appear early at +the dance, and she wondered whether his delay +might not be due to the crisis in his relations with +Bassett of which the politician had hinted. As she +ran off with Allen to make sure the apparatus for the +german was in order, she wished Bassett had not +spoken to her of Harwood.</p> + +<p>Sylvia and Allen had despaired of Dan when at +a quarter of twelve he appeared. He met their reproaches +cheerfully, and airily explained his delay.</p> + +<p>"State's business! Can you imagine me fresh +from Richelieu's cabinet, with a trail of dead horses +on the road behind me? In plain prose I didn't get +home to dress until eleven, and the snow makes it +hard going."</p> + +<p>He had dressed with care nevertheless and had +never looked better. Sylvia sent Allen ahead to +begin clearing the floor for the cotillion, and followed +more slowly with Harwood.</p> + +<p>"I suppose," he remarked, half to himself, "that +I really oughtn't to do it."</p> + +<p>"What—you hesitate now after keeping the +stage waiting!"</p> + +<p>"It may be a case for an understudy. There are +reasons why."</p> + +<p>"Then—you have done it?"</p> + +<p>They were at the turn of the stair and Sylvia +paused. He was conscious of a quick catch in her +breath. Her eyes met his for an instant searchingly.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I have done it," he answered, and looked at +her wonderingly.</p> + +<p>A moment later he had made his peace with Mrs. +Owen and paid his compliments to Mrs. Bassett at +the favor table, heaped high with beribboned +hatchets and bunches of cherries for the first figure.</p> + +<p>Morton Bassett had heard praise of his daughter +from many lips, but he watched her joyous course +through the cherry-tree figure in the german with +an attention that was not wholly attributable to +fatherly pride. Harwood's white-gloved hand led +her hither and thither through the intricate maze; +one must have been sadly lacking in the pictorial +sense not to have experienced a thrill of delight in a +scene so animate with grace, so touched with color. +It was ungracious to question the sincerity of those +who pronounced Marian the belle of the ball when +Colonel Ramsay, the supreme authority in Hoosier +pulchritude, declared her to be the fairest rose in a +rose-garden of girls. He said the same thing to the +adoring parents of a dozen other girls that night. +(The Colonel was born in Tecumseh County, on our +side of the Ohio, and just plays at being a Kentuckian!) +Mothers of daughters, watching the dance +with a jealous eye on their own offspring, whispered +among themselves that as likely as not Marian's +tall, broad-shouldered cavalier was the man chosen +of all time to be her husband. He was her father's +confidential man, and nothing could stay his upward +course.</p> + +<p>Bassett saw it all and guessed what they were +thinking. Sylvia flashed across his vision now and +then. He overheard people asking who she was, and +he caught the answers, that she was a girl Mrs. Owen +had taken up; a public school-teacher, they believed, +the daughter of an old friend. Sylvia, quite unconscious +of this interest, saw that the figures she had +done so much toward planning were enacted without +a hitch. The last one, the Pergola, with real +roses, if you must know, well deserved Colonel +Ramsay's compliment. "You can't tell," said the +Colonel in his best manner, "where the roses end +and the girls begin!"</p> + +<p>It was two o'clock when Harwood, after taking +Mrs. Owen down to supper, found himself free. He +met Thatcher in the lower hall, muffled in astrakhan +and swearing softly to himself because his carriage +had been lost in the blizzard.</p> + +<p>"Well; how are things going with you, young +man?"</p> + +<p>"Right enough. I'm tired and it's about bed-time +for me."</p> + +<p>"Haven't got House Bill Ninety-five in your +pockets have you?" asked Thatcher with a grin. +"A reporter for the 'Advertiser' was in here looking +for you a minute ago. He said your committee had +taken a vote to-night and he wanted to know about +it. Told him you'd gone home. Hope you appreciate +that; I'm used to lying to reporters. You see, +my son, I ain't in that deal. You understand? +That bill was fixed up in Chicago, and every corporation +lawyer that does business in the old Hoosier +State has his eye on it. I'm not asking any questions; +Lord, no! It's up to you. Grand party; that's +a nice girl of Bassett's. My wagon here? All right. +Good-night, Dan! Good-night, Bassett!"</p> + +<p>Harwood turned and found himself face to face +with Bassett, who was loitering aimlessly about the +hall.</p> + +<p>"Good-evening, sir," he said, and they shook +hands mechanically.</p> + +<p>"How are you? Party about over?"</p> + +<p>"I should like to speak to you to-night, Mr. Bassett. +It need take but a minute."</p> + +<p>"Better now, if it's important," replied Bassett +carelessly.</p> + +<p>"We voted on House Bill Ninety-five in committee +to-night: the majority report will be against it."</p> + +<p>"So? What was the matter with it?"</p> + +<p>"It's crooked, that's all. I wouldn't stand for +it; two members were willing to support it, and +there will be a minority report. It's that same +bill that was jumped on so hard at the last session, +only it's been given a fresh coat of paint."</p> + +<p>"It seems to have taken you several weeks to find +that out. There's nothing wrong with that bill. It +merely frames a natural and reasonable right into +a statute. Those labor cranks at the State House +have been trying to scare you."</p> + +<p>"No, sir; that thing's dead wrong! You not only +know it's wrong, but you misled me about it. That +public benefit clause is put in there to throw dust in +the eyes of the people; it makes possible the very +combination and absorption of industries that the +party is pledged to fight. I have bawled against +those things in every county in Indiana!"</p> + +<p>Bassett nodded, but showed no irritation. His +manner irritated Harwood. The younger man's lips +twitched slightly as he continued.</p> + +<p>"And the fact that you were behind it has leaked +out; the 'Advertiser' is on to it and is going to go +after it to-morrow. House Bill Ninety-five is an outrage +on the party honor and an affront to the intelligence +of the people. And moreover your interest +in having me made chairman of the committee that +had to pass on it doesn't look good."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, what are you going to do about it? +I'm not particularly interested in that bill; but a +lot of our friends are behind it, and we've got to +take care of our friends," said Bassett, without raising +his voice.</p> + +<p>Their relations were practically at an end; and +Bassett did not care. But Dan felt the wrench; he +felt it the more keenly because of Bassett's impassiveness +at this moment of parting.</p> + +<p>"You've been a kind friend to me, sir; you've—"</p> + +<p>Bassett laid his hand with an abrupt gesture upon +Harwood's arm, and smiled a curious, mirthless smile.</p> + +<p>"None of that! I told you, when the time came for +you to go, you need shed no tears at the parting. Remember, +you don't owe me anything; we're quits."</p> + +<p>"I hoped you wouldn't see it just this way; that +you would realize the danger of that bill—to the +party, to yourself!"</p> + +<p>"You can score heavily by showing up the bill for +what you think it is. Go ahead; it's your chance. I +haven't a word to say to you."</p> + +<p>He folded his white gloves and put them away +carefully in his breast pocket.</p> + +<p>"Good-night, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Harwood!"</p> + +<p>The dancing continued above. Mrs. Owen insisted +on seeing her last guest depart, but begged +Harwood to take Sylvia home at once. As they left +a few minutes later Dan caught a glimpse of Bassett +sitting alone in the smoking-room.</p> + +<p>On the way to Elizabeth House Dan told Sylvia +what had happened.</p> + +<p>The carriage plunged roughly through the drifting +snow. Sleet drove sharply against the windows.</p> + +<p>"He lied to me about it; and I thought that with +all his faults he would play square with me. The whole +corporation lobby is back of the bill. I was stupid +not to have seen it earlier; I've been a dull ass about a +lot of things. But it's over now; I'm done with him."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad—glad you met it squarely—and +glad that you settled it quickly. I'm glad"—she +repeated slowly—"but I'm sorry too."</p> + +<p>"Sorry?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so sorry for him!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV" />CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h3>THE LADY OF THE DAGUERREOTYPE</h3> + + +<p>"Daniel doesn't seem to be coming," remarked +Mrs. Owen. "He hardly ever +misses a Sunday afternoon."</p> + +<p>"He's working hard. I had no idea legislators +had to work so hard," said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>They sat in Mrs. Owen's office, which was cosier +than the sitting-room, and the place where she +seemed most comfortable. Since we looked at her +desk last a file-hook has been added to its furniture, +and on it hang impaled a few cuttings from +agricultural newspapers. The content of these clippings +will ultimately reach the "Courier's" readers,—there +is no doubt of that, as Mrs. Owen and Mr. +Atwill now understand each other perfectly. It was +the first Sunday in March and a blustery day, with +rain and sleet alternating at the windows and an +impudent wind whistling in the chimneys. Hickory +logs snapped pleasantly in the small fireplace that +was a feature of the room. Sylvia had dined with +her friend, and the day being of the sort that encourages +confidences, they had prolonged their talk.</p> + +<p>"When did you see Daniel last?" asked Mrs. +Owen casually.</p> + +<p>"Last night," replied Sylvia, meeting her friend's +eyes easily. "He dropped in for a little while. He +wanted to talk about his stand on that corporation +bill."</p> + +<p>"Well, he and Morton have broken up housekeeping. +Daniel has climbed on to the other side +of the breastworks."</p> + +<p>Sylvia smiled. "Yes, that's about it. But I think +he has acted quite finely about it."</p> + +<p>"You mean he didn't jump on Morton as he might +have done—didn't make a grand stand play of it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; he might have made capital for himself out +of the corporation bill, but he didn't. He made his +report without bringing personalities into it."</p> + +<p>"And the bill was passed over the governor's veto! +That was Morton's way of showing that he didn't +need Daniel."</p> + +<p>"Very likely. I'm rather glad it happened that +way."</p> + +<p>"Glad Daniel got a licking?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, not just that; but it shows him that if he's +going to be the people's champion he will have to be +unhorsed pretty often. If all these things could be +accomplished easily, there wouldn't be any glory in +success. It's not an easy thing to drive a man like +Mr. Bassett out of politics, or even to defeat the +dangerous measures he introduces in the legislature. +If it were easy to get rid of them, such men wouldn't +last long. Besides, I'm a little afraid it wasn't half so +much Dan's patriotism that was involved as it was +his vanity. He was bitter because he found that Mr. +Bassett had deceived him and was trying to use him. +But in view of Mr. Bassett's many kindnesses to him +he wouldn't make a personal matter of it in the +House. Dan's opposition was based on legal defects +in that bill,—points that were over the heads of +most of the legislators,—but he is now determined +to keep up the fight. He finds that Mr. Bassett is +quite able to do as he pleases even without his services. +He felt that he dealt with him magnanimously +in keeping his antagonism to the corporation bill on +the high plane of its legal unsoundness. Mr. Bassett +ignored this, and merely secured the passage of the +bill by marshaling all the votes he needed in both +parties."</p> + +<p>"That's a new scheme they say Morton has introduced +into Indiana—this getting men on both +sides to vote for one of these bad bills. That shuts +up the party newspapers, and neither side can use +that particular thing as ammunition at the next election. +Instead of talking about House Bill Ninety-five +in the next campaign, they will howl about the +tariff on champagne, or pensions for veterans of the +Black Hawk War. They're all tarred with the same +stick and don't dare call attention to the other fellow. +Daniel had better get out of politics," she +ended leadingly.</p> + +<p>"Please, no! He'd better stay in and learn how +to make himself count. So far as Mr. Bassett is concerned, +I think that for some reason he had gone as +far with Dan as he cared to. I think he was prepared +for the break."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen was wiping her spectacles on a piece +of chamois skin she kept in her desk for the purpose, +and she concluded this rite with unusual +deliberation.</p> + +<p>"How do you figure that out, Sylvia?"</p> + +<p>"This must be confidential, Aunt Sally; I have said +nothing to Dan about it; but the night of your +party Mr. Bassett was in a curious frame of mind."</p> + +<p>"It seemed to me he was particularly cheerful. +I thought Morton had as good a time as anybody."</p> + +<p>"Superficially, yes; but I had a long talk with him—in +the hall, after the dancing had begun. I think +in spite of his apparent indifference to the constant +fire of his enemies, it has had an effect on him. He's +hardened—or, if he was always hard, he doesn't +care any longer whether he wears the velvet glove +or not. That attack on Mr. Thatcher in the convention +illustrates what I mean. His self-control +isn't as complete as most people seem to think it is; +he lets go of himself like a petulant child. That must +be a new development in him. It doesn't chime with +the other things you hear of him as a shrewd, calculating +manager, who strikes his enemies in the +dark. He was in an evil humor that night or he +wouldn't have talked to me as he did. He was ugly +and vindictive. He was not only glad he had put +Dan in the way of temptation, but he wanted me to +know that he had done it. He seemed to be setting +his back to the wall and daring the world."</p> + +<p>"Well, well," said Mrs. Owen. "Morton has +seemed a little uneasy lately. But there don't seem +to be any reason why he should have picked you out +to jump on. You never did anything to Morton."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Sylvia, smiling; "I laughed at him +once! I laughed at him about the way he had treated +Mr. Thatcher. We stopped right there, with the +laugh; he laughed too, you know. And he took that +up again at the party—and I had to explain what +my laugh meant."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you explained it, did you?"</p> + +<p>And Sylvia recounted the interview.</p> + +<p>"I guess Morton hasn't been laughed at much, and +that was why he remembered it and wanted to talk +to you again. I suspect that Hallie scolds him when +she doesn't pet him. Most folks are afraid of Morton; +that's why he could take care of that corporation +bill with the 'Advertiser' jumping him the +way it did. Well, well! That must have been quite +a day for Morton. You laughed at him, and when +the rest of you went off in Allen's automobile that +night I ran the harrow over him a few times myself. +Well, well!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen smiled as though recalling an agreeable +experience. "As long as there are old stumps in +a field that you must plough around I haven't got +much use for the land. When the corn comes up +you don't see the stumps, just sitting on the fence +and looking over the scenery; but when you go to +put the plow through again, your same old stumps +loom up again, solider than ever. I guess Daniel will +come out all right; he was raised on a farm and +ought to know how to drive a straight furrow. By +the way, they telephoned me from Elizabeth House +last night that there's a vacant room there. Who's +moved out?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen always prolonged the E of Elizabeth, +and never referred to the House except by its full +title.</p> + +<p>"Rose Farrell has left. Went unexpectedly, I +think. I didn't know she was going."</p> + +<p>"Let me see. She's that girl that worked for +Morton and Daniel. What's she leaving for?"</p> + +<p>"I'm going to see if I can't get her back," replied +Sylvia evasively.</p> + +<p>"Why Rose has been at Elizabeth House for two +years and under the rules she can stay a year longer. +She ain't getting married, is she?"</p> + +<p>"I think not," replied Sylvia. "I'm going to look +her up and get her back if possible."</p> + +<p>"You do that, Sylvia. It ain't just your place, +but I'll be glad if you'll see what's the matter. We +don't want to lose a girl if we can help it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen rose and transferred a pile of paperbound +books from a shelf to her desk. Sylvia recognized +these as college catalogues and noted bits +of paper thrust into the leaves as markers.</p> + +<p>"I've been looking into this business some since +we went down to college. I had a lot of these schools +send me their catalogues and they're mighty interesting, +though a good deal of it I don't understand. +Sylvia" (Sylvia never heard her name drawled as +Mrs. Owen spoke it without a thrill of expectancy)—"Sylvia, +there's a lot of books being written, and +pieces in the magazines all the time, about women +and what we have done or can't do. What do you +suppose it's all leading up to?"</p> + +<p>"That question is bigger than I am, Aunt Sally. +But I think the conditions that have thrown women +out into the world as wage-earners are forcing one +thing—just one thing, that is more important now +than any other—it's all summed up in the word +efficiency."</p> + +<p>"Efficiency?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen reached for the poker and readjusted +the logs; she watched the resulting sparks for a +moment, then settled herself back in her chair and +repeated Sylvia's word again.</p> + +<p>"You mean that a woman has got to learn how +to make her jelly jell? Is that your notion?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly that. She must learn not to waste her +strokes. Any scheme of education for woman that +leaves that out works an injury. If women are to be +a permanent part of the army of wage-earning +Americans they must learn to get full value from +their minds or hands—either one, it's the same. +The trouble with us women is that there's a lot of +the old mediæval taint in us."</p> + +<p>"Mediæval? Say that some other way, Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"I mean that we're still crippled—we women—by +the long years in which nothing was expected +of us but to sit in ivy-mantled casements and work +embroidery while our lords went out to fight, or +thrummed the lute under our windows."</p> + +<p>"Well, there was Joan of Arc: she delivered the +goods."</p> + +<p>"To be sure; she does rather light up her time, +doesn't she?" laughed Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Sylvia, the day I first saw a woman hammer a +typewriter in a man's office, I thought the end had +come. It seemed, as the saying is, 'agin nater'; and +I reckon it was. Nowadays these buildings downtown +are full of women. At noontime Washington +Street is crowded with girls who work in offices and +shops. They don't get much pay for it either. Most +of those girls would a lot rather work in an office or +stand behind a counter than stay at home and help +their mothers bake and scrub and wash and iron. +These same girls used to do just that,—help their +mothers,—coming downtown about once a month, +or when there was a circus procession, and having +for company some young engine-wiper who took +them to church or to a Thanksgiving matinée and +who probably married them some day. A girl who +didn't marry took in sewing for the neighbors, and as +like as not went to live with her married sister and +looked after her babies. I've seen all these things +change. Nowadays girls have got to have excitement. +They like spending their days in the big buildings; +the men in the offices jolly them, the men bookkeepers +and clerks seem a lot nicer than the mechanics +that live out in their neighborhood. When they +ain't busy they loaf in the halls of the buildings flirting, +or reading novels and talking to their bosses' +callers. They don't have to soil their hands, and +you can dress a girl up in a skirt and shirt-waist so +she looks pretty decent for about two weeks of her +wages. They don't care much about getting married +unless they can strike some fellow with an automobile +who can buy them better clothes than they +can buy themselves. What they hanker for is a flat +or boarding-house where they won't have any housekeeping +to do. Housekeeping! Their notions of +housekeeping don't go beyond boiling an egg on a +gas range and opening up a sofa to sleep on. You're +an educated woman, Sylvia; what's going to come +of all this?"</p> + +<p>"It isn't just the fault of the girls that they do +this, is it? Near my school-house there are girls who +stay at home with their mothers, and many of them +are without any ambition of any kind. I'm a good +deal for the girl who wants to strike out for herself. +The household arts as you knew them in your youth +can't be practised in the home any more on the income +of the average man. Most women of the kind +we're talking about wear ready-made clothes—not +because they're lazy, but because the tailor-made +suits which life in a city demands can't be +made by any amateur sempstress. They're turned +out by the carload in great factories from designs of +experts. There's no bread to bake in the modern mechanic's +home, for better bread and cake are made +more cheaply in the modern bakeshop. Wasn't +there really a good deal of nonsense about the pies +that mother used to make—I wonder? There were +perhaps in every community women who were natural +cooks, but our Mary used to drive grandfather +crazy with her saleratus biscuits and greasy doughnuts. +A good cook in the old times was famous all +over the community because the general level of +cooking was so low. Women used to take great +pride in their preservings and jellyings, but at the +present prices of fruit and sugar a city woman +would lose money making such things. It's largely +because this work can't be done at home that girls +such as we have at Elizabeth House have no sort of +manual dexterity and have to earn a poor living doing +something badly that they're not interested in +or fitted for. Women have one terrible handicap in +going out into the world to earn their living; it's the +eternal romance that's in all of us," said Sylvia a +little dreamily. "I don't believe any woman ever +gets beyond that." It was a note she rarely struck +and Mrs. Owen looked at her quickly. "I mean, the +man who may be always waiting just around the +corner."</p> + +<p>"You mean every girl has that chance before her? +Well, a happy marriage is a great thing—the +greatest thing that can happen to a woman. My +married life was a happy one—very happy; but it +didn't last long. It was my misfortune to lose my +husband and the little girl when I was still young. +They think I'm hard—yes, a good many people do—because +I've been making money. But I had to +do something; I couldn't sit with my hands folded; +and what I've done I've tried to do right. I hope +you won't leave love and marriage out of your life, +Sylvia. In this new condition of things that we've +talked about there's no reason why a woman +shouldn't work—do things, climb up high, and be +a woman, too. He'll be a lucky man who gets you +to stand by him and work for him and with him."</p> + +<p>"Oh," sighed Sylvia, "there are so many things +to do! I want to know so much and do so much!"</p> + +<p>"You'll know them and do them; but I don't +want you to have a one-sided life. Dear Sylvia," +and Mrs. Owen bent toward the girl and touched +her hand gently, "I don't want you to leave love out +of your life."</p> + +<p>There was an interval of silence and then Mrs. +Owen opened a drawer and drew out a faded morocco +case. "Here's a daguerreotype of my mother and +me, when I was about four years old. Notice how +cute I look in those pantalets—ever see those things +before? Well, I've been thinking that I'm a kind of +left-over from daguerreotype times, and you belong +to the day of the kodak. I'm a dingy old shadow in +a daguerreotype picture, in pantalets, cuddled up +against my mother's hoopskirt. You, Sylvia, can take +a suit-case and a kodak and travel alone to Siam; and +you can teach in a college alongside of men and do +any number of things my mother would have dropped +dead to think about. And," she added quizzically, +"it gives me heart failure myself sometimes, just +thinking about it all. I can't make you throw your +kodak away, and I wouldn't if I could, any more +than I'd want you to sit up all night sewing clothes +to wear to your school-teaching when you can buy +better ones already made that have real style. +It tickles me that some women have learned that +it's weak-minded to massage and paraffine their +wrinkles out—those things, Sylvia, strike me as +downright immoral. What I've been wondering is +whether I can do anything for the kind of girls we +have at Elizabeth House beyond giving them a +place to sleep, and I guess you've struck the idea +with that word efficiency. No girl born to-day, +particularly in a town like this, is going back to make +her own soap out of grease and lye in her back yard. +But she's got to learn to do something well or she'll +starve or go to the bad; or if she doesn't have to +work she'll fool her life away doing nothing. Now +you poke a few holes in my ideas, Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"Please, Aunt Sally, don't think that because I've +been to college I can answer all those questions! I'm +just beginning to study them. But the lady of the daguerreotype +in hoops marks one era, and the kodak +girl in a short skirt and shirt-waist another. Women +had to spend a good deal of time proving that their +brains could stand the strain of higher education—that +they could take the college courses prescribed +for men. That's all been settled now, but we can't +stop there. A college education for women is all +right, but we must help the girl who can't go to college +to do her work well in the office and department +store and factory."</p> + +<p>"Or to feed a baby so it won't die of colic, and to +keep ptomaine poison out of her ice box!" added +Mrs. Owen.</p> + +<p>"Exactly," replied Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"Suppose a girl like Marian had gone to college +just as you did, what would it have done for her?"</p> + +<p>"A good deal, undoubtedly. It would have given +her wider interests and sobered her, and broadened +her chances of happiness."</p> + +<p>"Maybe so," remarked Mrs. Owen; and then a +smile stole over her face. "I reckon you can hardly +call Marian a kodak girl. She's more like one of +these flashlight things they set off with a big explosion. +Only time I ever got caught in one of those +pictures was at a meeting of the Short-Horn Breeders' +Association last week. They fired off that photograph +machine to get a picture for the 'Courier'—I've +been prodding them for not printing more farm +and stock news—and a man sitting next to me +jumped clean out of his boots and yelled fire. I had +to go over to the 'Courier' office and see the editor—that +Atwill is a pretty good fellow when you get used +to him—to make sure they didn't guy us farmers +for not being city broke. As for Marian, folks like +her!"</p> + +<p>"No one can help liking her. She's a girl of impulses +and her impulses are all healthy and sound. +And her good fellowship and good feeling are inexhaustible. +She came over to see me at Elizabeth +House the other evening—had Allen bring her in +his machine and leave her. The girls were singing +songs and amusing themselves in the parlor, and +Marian took off her hat and made herself at home +with them. She sang several songs, and then got +to 'cutting up' and did some of those dances she's +picked up somewhere—did them well too. But with +all her nonsense she has a lot of good common sense, +and she will find a place for herself. She will get married +one of these days and settle down beautifully."</p> + +<p>"Allen?"</p> + +<p>"Possibly. The Bassetts don't seem troubled by +Allen's attentions to Marian; but the real fight +between Mr. Thatcher and Mr. Bassett hasn't +come yet."</p> + +<p>"Who says so?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's in the air; every one says so. Dan says +so."</p> + +<p>"I've warned Morton to let Edward Thatcher +alone. The United States Senate wouldn't be ornamented +by having either one of them down there. I +met Colonel Ramsay—guess he's got the senatorial +bee in his hat, too—coming up on the train from +Louisville the other day. There's only one qualification +I can think of that the Colonel has for going to +the Senate—he would wring tears out of the galleries +when he made obituary speeches about the +dead members. When my brother Blackford was +senator, it seemed to me he spent most of his time +acting as pallbearer for the dead ones. But what +were we talking about, Sylvia? Oh, yes. I'm going +to send those catalogues over to your room, and as +you get time I want you to study out a scheme +for a little school to teach what you call efficiency to +girls that have to earn their living. I don't mean +school-teaching, but a whole lot of things women +ought to be doing but ain't because they don't +know how. Do you get the idea?"</p> + +<p>"A school?" asked Sylvia wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"A kind of school."</p> + +<p>"It's a splendid, a beautiful idea, but you need +better advice than I can give you. They talk a good +deal now about vocational training, and it's going to +mean a great deal to women."</p> + +<p>"Well, we must get hold of all the latest ideas, and +if there's any good in us old daguerreotypes, we'll +keep it, and graft it on to the kodak."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hope there will always be ladies of the +daguerreotype! One thing we women have to pray +to be saved from is intolerance toward our sisters. +You know," continued Sylvia with a dropping of her +voice and a tilting of her head that caused Mrs. +Owen to laugh,—"you know we are not awfully +tolerant. And there's a breadth of view, an ability +to brush away trifles and get to the heart of things, +that we're just growing up to. And magnanimity—I +think we fall short there. I'm just now trying to +cultivate a sisterly feeling toward these good women +for whom Jane Austen and Sir Roger de Coverley +and the knitting of pale-blue tea cosies are all of life—who +like mild twilight with the children singing +hymns at the piano and the husband coming home +to find his slippers set up against the baseburner. +That was beautiful, but even they owe something +to the million or so women to whom Jane Addams is +far more important than Jane Austen. It might +be more comfortable if the world never moved, but +unfortunately it does seem to turn over occasionally."</p> + +<p>"I notice that you can say things like that, Sylvia, +without waving your hands, or shouting like an old +woman with a shawl on her head swinging a broom +at the boys in her cherry tree. We've got to learn to +do that. It was some time after I went into business, +when Jackson Owen died, before I learned that you +couldn't shoo men the way you shoo hens. You +got to drop a little corn in a fence corner and then +throw your apron over 'em. It strikes me that if +you could catch these girls that go to work in stores +and offices young enough you might put them in the +way of doing something better. There are schools +doing this kind of thing, but I'd like to plant one +right here in Indiana for the kind of girls we've got +at Elizabeth House. They haven't much ambition, +most of 'em; they're stuck right where they are. +I'd like to see what can be done toward changing +that, and see it started in my lifetime. And we must +do it right. Think it over as you get time." She +glanced at the window. "You'd better stay all night, +Sylvia; it's getting dark."</p> + +<p>"No, I must run along home. The girls expect me."</p> + +<p>"That school idea's just between you and me for +the present," Mrs. Owen remarked as she watched +Sylvia button her mackintosh. "Look here, Sylvia, +don't you need some money? I mean, of course, +don't you want to borrow some?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, never! By the way, I didn't tell you that +I expect to make some? The publisher of one of +grandfather's textbooks came to see me about the +copyright, and there were some changes in the book +that grandfather thought should be made and I'm +going to make them. There's a chance of it's being +adopted in one or two states. And then, I want to +make a geometry of my own. All the textbooks +make it so hard—and it really isn't. The same +publisher told me he thought well of my scheme, and +I'm going ahead with it."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't you kill yourself writing geometries: +I should think teaching the youngsters would be a +full job."</p> + +<p>"That's not a job at all, Aunt Sally; that's just +fun. And you know I'm not going to do it always. +I'm learning things now that I needed to know. I +only wish my mind were as sound as my health."</p> + +<p>"You ought to wear heavier flannels, though; it's +a perfect scandal what girls run around in nowadays."</p> + +<p>She rested her hands on Sylvia's shoulders lightly, +smiled into her face, and then bent forward and +kissed her.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand why you won't wear rubbers, +but be sure you don't sit around all evening in wet +stockings."</p> + +<p>A gray mist was hastening nightfall, though the +street lamps were not yet lighted. The glow of Mrs. +Owen's kindness lingered with Sylvia as she walked +toward Elizabeth House. She was constantly surprised +by her friend's intensely modern spirit—her +social curiosity, and the breadth and sanity of her +views. This suggestion of a vocational school for +young women had kindled Sylvia's imagination, and +her thoughts were upon it as she tramped homeward +through the slush. To establish an institution such +as Mrs. Owen had indicated would require a large +sum of money, and there were always the Bassetts, +the heirs apparent of their aunt's fortune. Any feeling +of guilt Sylvia may have experienced by reason +of her enforced connivance with Mrs. Owen for the +expenditure of her money was mitigated by her belief +that the Bassetts were quite beyond the need of +their aunt's million, the figure at which Mrs. Owen's +fortune was commonly appraised.</p> + +<p>She was thinking of this when a few blocks from +Mrs. Owen's she met Morton Bassett. The electric +lamp overhead was just sputtering into light as he +moved toward her out of an intersecting street. His +folded umbrella was thrust awkwardly under his +arm, and he walked slowly with bent head. The hissing +of the lamp caused him to lift his eyes. Sylvia +paused an instant, and he raised his hat as he recognized +her.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, Miss Garrison! I've just been +out for a walk. It's a dreary evening, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>Sylvia explained that she had been to Mrs. Owen's +and was on her way home, and he asked if he might +go with her.</p> + +<p>"Marian usually walked with me at Fraserville, +but since we've been here, Sunday seems to be her +busy day. I find that I don't know much about the +residential district; I can easily lose myself in this +part of town."</p> + +<p>During these commonplaces she wondered just +where their conversation at Marian's ball had left +them; the wet street was hardly a more favorable +place for serious talk than the crowded Propylæum. +The rain began to fall monotonously, and he raised +his umbrella.</p> + +<p>"Some things have happened since our last talk," +he observed presently.</p> + +<p>"Yes?" she replied dubiously.</p> + +<p>"I want to talk to you of them," he answered. +"Dan has left me. You know that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I know of it."</p> + +<p>"And you think he has done quite the fine thing +about it—it was what you would have had him +do?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, certainly. You practically told me you were +putting him to the test. You weren't embarrassed +by his course in any way; you were able to show him +that you didn't care; you didn't need him."</p> + +<p>"You saw that? You read that in what followed?"</p> + +<p>"It was written so large that no one could miss it. +You are the master. You proved it again. I suppose +you found a great satisfaction in that. A man must, +or he wouldn't do such things."</p> + +<p>"You seem to understand," he replied, turning +toward her for an instant. "But there may be one +thing you don't understand."</p> + +<p>There was a moment of silence, in which they +splashed on slowly through the slush.</p> + +<p>"I liked Dan; I was fond of him. And yet I +deliberately planned to make him do that kind of +thing for me. I pulled him out of the newspaper +office and made it possible for him to study law, just +that I might put my hand on him when he could be +useful. Please understand that I'm not saying this +in the hope that you will intercede to bring him back. +Nothing can bring him back. I wouldn't let him +come back to me if he would starve without my +help."</p> + +<p>Sylvia was silent; there was nothing with which +she could meet this.</p> + +<p>"What I mean is," he continued, "that I'm glad +he shook me; I had wondered from the beginning +just when it would come, and when I saw his things +going out of my office, it satisfied something in me. +I wonder whether there's some good in me after +all that made me glad in spite of myself that he +had the manhood to quit."</p> + +<p>Bassett was a complex character; his talk and +manner at Marian's ball had given her a sense of +this which he was now confirming. Success had not +brought him happiness; the loss of Dan had been a +blow to him, and she felt the friendlessness and isolation +of this man whom men feared. He had spoken +doggedly, gruffly, and if she had marveled at their +talk at the dance, her wonder was the greater now. It +was inconceivable that Morton Bassett should come +to her with his difficulties. If his conscience troubled +him, or if he was touched with remorse for his conduct +toward Dan Harwood, she was unable to see +why he should make his confession to her. It seemed +that he had read her thoughts, for he spoke roughly, +as though defending himself from an attack.</p> + +<p>"You like him; you've known him for several +years; you know him probably better than you +know any other man."</p> + +<p>"I suppose I do, Mr. Bassett," said Sylvia; "we +are good friends, but—that's all."</p> + +<p>He stopped short, and she felt his hand touch her +arm for an instant lightly—it was almost like a +caress, there in the rain-swept street with the maple +boughs swishing overhead in the cold west wind.</p> + +<p>He quickened his pace now, as though to mark a +new current in his thoughts.</p> + +<p>"There's a favor I want to ask of you, Miss Garrison. +Dan talked to me once or twice about your +grandfather's estate. He owned some shares in a +business I had helped to organize, the White River +Canneries. The scheme failed for many reasons; the +shares are worthless. I want you to let me pay you +back the money Professor Kelton paid for them. I +should have to do it privately—it would have to +be a matter between you and me."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="I472" id="I472" /> +<a href="images/472.jpg"><img src= +"images/472.jpg" width="45%" alt="" title="" /></a><br /> +<b>A SUDDEN FIERCE ANGER BURNED IN HER HEART</b><br /> +<br /><br /> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, no! Dan explained that to me; he didn't +hold you responsible. He said the company failed, +that was all. You are kind to offer, but I can't think +of accepting it."</p> + +<p>"Very well," he said quietly. And then added, +as though to explain himself more fully: "Your +grandfather and Mrs. Owen were old friends. He +wasn't a business man. I promoted the canneries +scheme and I was responsible for it, no matter what +Harwood says about it."</p> + +<p>She had experienced sharp alternations of pity +and apprehension in this brief walk. He was a prominent +man; almost, it might be said, a notorious character. +The instinct of self-protection was strong in +her; what might lie behind his confidences, his blunt +confessions, and his offer of help, she did not know. +They had reached Elizabeth House, and she paused +on the broad steps under the shelter of the veranda. +With her back toward the door she looked down upon +him as he stood on the sidewalk, his umbrella deeply +shadowing his head and shoulders. She stood before +him like a vestal guarding her temple from desecration. +She was conscious of a sharp revulsion of feeling, +and a sudden fierce anger burned in her heart. +She spoke with a quick, passionate utterance.</p> + +<p>"There is something you can do for me, Mr. Bassett. +I'm going to bring Rose Farrell back to this +house. I want you to let her alone!"</p> + +<p>He stood dumbly staring at the door as it closed +upon her. He lingered a moment, the rain beating +down upon him, and then walked slowly homeward.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI" />CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h3>APRIL VISTAS</h3> + + +<p>"Is it <i>possible</i>? <i>Is</i> it possible!"</p> + +<p>Colonel Ramsay's entrances were frequently +a bit theatrical, and on a particular afternoon +in April, as he opened the door of Dan Harwood's +new office in the Law Building, the sight of Miss +Farrell at the typewriter moved him to characteristic +demonstrations. Carefully closing the door and +advancing, hat in hand, with every appearance of +deepest humility, he gazed upon the young woman +with a mockery of astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Verily, it is possible," he solemnly ejaculated. +"And what is it that our own poet says:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"'When she comes home again! A thousand ways</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">I fashion to myself the tenderness</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Of my glad welcome: I shall tremble—yes—'"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Stop trembling, Colonel, and try one of our new +office chairs, warranted to hold anybody but Brother +Ike Pettit without fading away."</p> + +<p>The Colonel bent over Miss Farrell's hand reverently +and sat down.</p> + +<p>"I've been trying to earn an honest living practicing +law down at home and this is the first chance +I've had to come up and see what the late lamented +legislature left of the proud old Hoosier State. Is Dan +locked up inside there with some lucrative client?"</p> + +<p>"I regret to say that I don't believe there's a +cent in his present caller."</p> + +<p>"Hark!" At this moment a roar was heard from +the inner room on which "private" was printed in +discreet letters. The Colonel was at once alert.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"'Ask me no more; the moon may draw the sea'</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">But Isaac Pettit's jokes shall shake the land,—</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>with apologies to the late Laureate. So the boys are +finding their way up here, are they? I'll wait an hour +or two till that compendium of American humor has +talked Dan to sleep. So you and Dan left your +Uncle Morton all alone in gloomy splendor in the +Boordman Building!"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Harwood made me an offer and I accepted +it," replied Rose. "This is a free country and a +P.W.G. can work where she pleases, can't she?"</p> + +<p>"P.W.G.?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, a poor working-girl"—Rose clasped +her hands and bowed her head—"if the initials +fail to illuminate."</p> + +<p>The Colonel inspected the room, and his eyes +searched Miss Farrell's desk.</p> + +<p>"Let me see, I seem to miss something. It must +be the literary offerings that used to cluster about the +scene of your labors. Your selections in old times +used to delight me. No one else of my acquaintance +has quite your feeling for romance. I always +liked that one about the square-jawed American +engineer who won the Crown Princess of Piffle from +her father in a poker game, but decided at the last +minute to bestow her upon his old college friend, +the Russian heir-apparent, just to preserve the +peace of Europe. I remember I found you crying +over the great renunciation one day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've passed that all up, Colonel. I'm strong +for the pale high-brow business now. I'm doing time +in all the night classes at Elizabeth House where I +board, and you'll hardly know your little Rose +pretty soon."</p> + +<p>"Fitting yourself for one of the learned professions?"</p> + +<p>"Scarcely. Just fitting myself to be decent," +replied Rose in a tone that shifted the key of the +conversation—a change which the Colonel respected.</p> + +<p>"That's right, Rose. This is a good place for you, +and so is Mrs. Owen's boarding-house. By the way, +who's this school-teacher Aunt Sally has taken up—saw +her at the party-great chum of the old lady's."</p> + +<p>"You must mean Miss Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"Sylvia?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Sylvia Garrison. Colonel Ramsay," continued +Rose earnestly, resting an elbow lightly on +her typewriter, "you and I are old pals—you remember +that first winter I was over at the State +House?"</p> + +<p>"Very well, Rose."</p> + +<p>"Well, it wasn't a good place for me to be. But +I was a kid and hadn't much sense. I've learned +a good deal since then. It ain't so easy to walk +straight; so many people are careless about leaving +banana peelings lying round."</p> + +<p>The Colonel nodded.</p> + +<p>"You needn't apologize to me, Rose. It's all +right now, is it?"</p> + +<p>"You can be dead sure of it, Colonel. Miss +Garrison caught me by the heel of my shoe, just as +I was going down the third time, and yanked me +back. There's a good many cheap imitations of +human beings loose around this world, but that's a +woman, I can tell you!"</p> + +<p>"Glad you struck a good friend, Rose. You did +well to come along with Harwood."</p> + +<p>"Well, she fixed that, too, after I cut loose from +<i>him</i>—you understand? I guess Miss Garrison and +Mr. Harwood are pretty good friends."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" ejaculated Ramsay. "So there's that, is +there?"</p> + +<p>"I hope so; they're all white and speak the same +language. This is on the dead. I'm only talking to +you because you're an old friend."</p> + +<p>An occasional roar from within testified to Mr. +Pettit's continued enjoyment of his own jokes.</p> + +<p>"You know," Rose continued, "I learned a good +deal those winters I spent at the State House, when +I was stenog to certain senate committees. I see +where you stand now, all right, Colonel. I always +knew you didn't belong in that bunch of lobbyists +that was always gum-shoeing through the marble +halls of the State House. Thatcher sends somebody +around to look me up every little while to see if he +can't coax something out of me,—something he can +use, you know."</p> + +<p>"Thatcher oughtn't to do that. If you want me +to, I'll pull him off."</p> + +<p>"No; I guess I can take care of myself. He"—Rose +indicated the inner office with a slight movement +of the head, "he never tries to pump me. He +ain't that kind of a fighter. But everybody that's +anywhere near the inside knows that Thatcher +carries a sharp knife. He's going to shed some pink +ink before he gets through. Are you on?"</p> + +<p>They exchanged a glance.</p> + +<p>"Something that isn't nice?"</p> + +<p>Rose nodded.</p> + +<p>"I hate to see that sort of thing brought into the +game. But they'll never find anything. The gentleman +we are referring to works on noiseless rollers." +Colonel Ramsay indicated the closed door by an +almost imperceptible gesture of interrogation; and +Rose replied by compressing her lips and shaking her +head.</p> + +<p>"He isn't in on that; he's a gentleman, you know; +not a mud-slinger."</p> + +<p>"He might have to stand for anything Thatcher +springs. Thatcher has developed into a shrewd and +hard fighter. The other crowd don't laugh at him +any more; it was his work that got our legislative +ticket through last fall when Bassett passed the +word that we should take a licking just to magnify +his importance. Is Thatcher in town now?"</p> + +<p>"No; that boy of his with the bad lung had to go +off to the Adirondacks, and he went with him."</p> + +<p>The inner door opened at this moment, disclosing +the Honorable Isaac Pettit, who greeted Ramsay +effusively.</p> + +<p>"What is immortality, gentlemen!" the Honorable +Isaac Pettit inquired, clinging to the Colonel's +hand. "We had a little social gathering for our new +pastor up at Fraser the other night, and I sprung a +new game on the old folks. Offered a prize for anybody +who could name all the Vice-Presidents of the +United States since Lincoln's administration, and +they couldn't even get past Grant—and Schuyler +Colfax being right off our own Hoosier pastures! +Then we tried for the Democratic candidates for +President, beginning back at the war, and they +couldn't even start. One young chap piped up and +said Jeff Davis—oh, Lord!—which reminds me +that the teaching of history in the public schools +ain't what it ought to be. They hadn't heard of +Hancock, and when somebody said Blaine, the +teacher of the infant class in our Sunday School said +Blaine who? That reminds me of one time when I +met Dan Voorhees, than whom God Almighty never +made a nobler soul; I met Dan down here in the +lobby of the old Bates House, carrying a 'Harper's +Weekly' with one of Tom Nast's cartoons spread +wide open. You know Dan had—"</p> + +<p>Colonel Ramsay had been edging toward the door +of Harwood's private room, and he now broke in +upon the editor's reminiscences.</p> + +<p>"You tell that story to Miss Farrell, Ike. I'm +spouting myself to-night, at a Christian Endeavor +rally at Tipton, and want to see Dan a minute."</p> + +<p>Miss Farrell was inured to Pettit's anecdotes of +Dan Voorhees, and the Fraserville editor continued, +unmindful of the closing of the door upon Dan and +Ramsay.</p> + +<p>Ramsay pushed his fedora to the back of his head +and inspected Dan's new furniture.</p> + +<p>"Well, you did it! You've cut loose from your base +and burned your bridges behind you. I would have +brought my congratulations sooner, but I've had +a long jury case on hand. You did it, my boy, and +you did it like a gentleman. You might have killed +him if you had wanted to."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to kill anybody," smiled Dan. "I +want to practice law."</p> + +<p>"That's a laudable ambition, but you can't go +back on us now. What we've needed for a long time +was a young man of about your make-up who +wasn't afraid."</p> + +<p>"Don't rub it in, Colonel. I was a mighty long +time seeing the light, and I don't deserve any praise +from anybody. I mean what I say about practicing +law. I'm a free man now and any political work I +do is going to be along the lines of the simple, childish +ideas I brought home from college with me. I +had begun to feel that all this political idealism was +sheer rubbish, but I put the brakes on before I got +too far downhill. If a few of us who have run with +the machine and know the tricks will turn and help +the bewildered idealists, we can make idealism effective. +Most of the people don't want a handful of +crooks to govern them, but there's a kind of cheap +cynicism abroad that discourages the men who are +eager to revolt. There are newspapers that foster +that sentiment, and scores of men who won't take +time to go to a caucus keep asking what's the use. +Now, as for Bassett, I'm not going to bite the hand +that fed me; I'm simply going to feed myself. Pettit +was just in here to sound me as to my feelings +toward Thatcher. Quite frankly, I'm not interested +in Thatcher as a senatorial possibility."</p> + +<p>"That's all right; but if you had to make a choice +between Thatcher and Bassett?"</p> + +<p>Dan shrugged his shoulders impatiently.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't exaggerate the importance of my +influence. I don't carry United States senatorships +around in my pocket."</p> + +<p>"You're the most influential man of your age in +our state. I'm not so sure you wouldn't be able to +elect any man you supported if the election were +held to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"You've mastered the delicate art of flattery, Colonel; +when the time comes, I'll be in the fight. It's +not so dead certain that our party's going to have a +senator to elect—there's always that. But all the +walls are covered with handwriting these days that +doesn't need interpreting by me or any other Daniel. +Many of the younger men all over this state in both +parties are getting ready to assert themselves. What +we want—what you want, I believe—is to make +this state count for something in national affairs. +Just changing parties doesn't help anything. I'd +rather not shift at all than send some fellow to the +Senate just because he can capture a caucus. It's +my honest conviction that any man can get a caucus +vote if he will play according to the old rules. You +and I go out over the state bawling to the people +that they are governing this country. We appeal to +them for their votes when we know well enough that +between Thatcher and Bassett as Democrats, and +'Big' Jordan and Ridgefield in the Republican camp, +the people don't stand to win. It may tickle you to +know that I've had some flattering invitations lately +to join the Republicans—not from the old guard, +mind you, but from some of the young fellows who +want to score results for policies, not politicians. +I suppose, after all, Colonel, I'm only a kind of +academic Democrat, with no patience whatever with +this eternal hitching of our ancient mule to the +saloons and breweries just to win. In the next campaign +I'm going to preach my academic Democracy +all the way from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River, +up and down and back and forth—and I'm going +to do it at my own expense and not be responsible +to any state committee or anybody else. That's +about where I stand."</p> + +<p>"Good; mighty good, Dan. All the rest of us want +is for you to holler that in your biggest foghorn voice +and you'll find the crowd with you."</p> + +<p>"But if the crowd isn't with me, it won't make +a bit of difference; I shall bark just the same."</p> + +<p>"Now that we've got down to brass tacks, I'll tell +you what I've thought ever since Bassett got his +clamps on the party: that he really hasn't any qualities +of leadership; that grim, silent way of his is a +good deal of a bluff. If anybody ever has the nerve to +set off a firecracker just behind him, he'll run a mile. +The newspapers keep flashing him up in big headlines +all the time, and that helps to keep the people +fooled. The last time I saw him was just after he +put through that corporation bill you broke on, and +he didn't seem to have got much fun out of his victory; +he looked pretty gray and worried. It wasn't +so easy pulling through House Bill Ninety-five; it +was the hardest job of Mort's life; but he had to do +it or take the count. And Lord! he certainly lost his +head in defeating those appropriation bills; he let +his spite toward the governor get the better of him. +It wasn't the Republican governor he put in the +hole; it was his own party."</p> + +<p>"That's the way with all these men of his type +on both sides; they have no real loyalty; they will +sacrifice their parties any time just to further personal +ends, or in this case it would seem to have been +out of sheer bad temper. I didn't use to think Bassett +had any temper or any kind of emotional organization. +But when he's mad it's the meanest kind +of mad, blind and revengeful."</p> + +<p>"He's forced an extra session—he's brought that +on us. Just chew on that a minute, Dan. A Republican +governor has got to reassemble a Democratic +legislature merely to correct its own faults. It looks +well in print, by George! Speaking of print, how did +he come to let go of the 'Courier,' and who owns that +sheet anyway? I thought when Thatcher sprung that +suit and dragged our Aunt Sally into it, the Wabash +River would run hot lava for the next forty years. +But that night of the ball she and Mort stood there on +the firing-line as though nothing had ever happened."</p> + +<p>Harwood grinned and shook his head gravely.</p> + +<p>"There are some things, Colonel, that even to a +good friend like you I can't give away. Besides, I +promised Atwill not to tell."</p> + +<p>"All right, Dan. And now, for fear you may think +I've got something up my sleeve, I want to say to +you with my hand on my heart that I don't want +any office now or ever!"</p> + +<p>"Now, Colonel, be very careful!" laughed Dan.</p> + +<p>"No; I'm not up here on a fishing-trip. But I +want you to know where I stand and the friendly +feeling of a whole lot of people toward you. You say +the younger men are getting tired of the old boss +system; I'll tell you that a lot of the old fellows too +are beginning to get restless. The absurdity of the +whole game on both sides is beginning to get into +the inner consciousness of the people. You know if I +had stayed regular when the free-silver business came +on I might have been in a position now to play for +the governorship—which is the only thing I ever +wanted; rather nice to be governor of your own state, +and have your name scratched on a slab at the State +House door; it's even conceivable, Daniel, that a +man might do a little good—barely possible," he +concluded dryly. "I'm out of it now for good; but +anything I can do to help you, don't wait to write, +just telephone me. Now—"</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure you can't make it yet; I'd like +to see you there."</p> + +<p>"Thanks, Daniel; but like you I'm in the ranks +of the patriots and not looking for the pie counter. +Here's another matter. Do you mind telling me +what you're up to in this White River Canneries +business? I notice that you've been sticking the +can-opener into it."</p> + +<p>"Yes; that protest of the original stockholders +against the reorganization is still pending. As administrator +of the estate of Professor Kelton—you remember +him—Madison College—I filed a petition +to be let into the case. It's been sleeping along for +a couple of years—stockholders too poor to put up +a fight. I've undertaken to probe clear into the mire. +I've got lots of time and there's lots of mire!"</p> + +<p>"Good. They say the succotash and peaches were +all cooked in the same pot, and that our Uncle Mort +did the skimming."</p> + +<p>"So they say; but believe me, I can attack him +without doing violence to my professional conscience. +White River Canneries was never in the Boordman +office to my knowledge. This isn't vengeance on my +part; it's my duty to get what I can for the estate."</p> + +<p>"Well, some of our farmers down my way got +soaked in that deal, but it never seemed worth while +to waste their money in litigation. I'll be glad to +turn the claims I have in my office over to you; the +more you have, the stronger fight you can make."</p> + +<p>"Good. I welcome business. I'm going to see if +I can't get to the bottom of the can."</p> + +<p>As a <i>révolté</i> Dan had attracted more attention +than he liked, in all the circumstances. Now that the +legislature had adjourned, he was anxious to give his +energy to the law, and he did not encourage political +pilgrims to visit his office. He felt that he had behaved +generously toward his old chief when the end +came, and the promptness with which Bassett's old +guard sought to impeach his motives in fighting the +corporation bill angered him. Threats of retaliation +were conveyed to him from certain quarters; +and from less violent sources he heard much of his +ingratitude toward the man who had "made" him. +He had failed in his efforts to secure the passage of +several measures whose enactment was urged by +the educational and philanthropic interests of the +community, and this was plainly attributable to +the animosity aroused by his desertion of the corporation +bill. He had not finished with this last +measure, which had been passed by Bassett's bi-partisan +combination over the governor's veto. +The labor organizations were in arms against it and +had engaged Dan to attack it in the courts.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Sylvia's approval of his course had been as cordial +as he could have asked, and as the spring advanced +they were much together. They attended +concerts, the theatre, and lectures, as often as she +had time for relaxation, and they met pretty regularly +at Mrs. Owen's dinner table on Sunday—often +running out for long tramps in the country +afterward, to return for supper, and a renewal of +their triangular councils. The Bassetts were to continue +at the Bosworth house until June, and when +Marian dashed in upon these Sunday symposiums—sometimes +with a young cavalier she had taken +out for a promenade—she gave Dan to understand +that his difficulties with her father made not the +slightest difference to her.</p> + +<p>"But, mama!" She spoke of her mother as of one +whose views must not weigh heavily against the +world's general good cheer—"mama says she <i>never</i> +trusted you; that there was just that something +about you that didn't seem quite—" Marian +would shake her head and sigh suggestively, whereupon +Mrs. Owen would rebuke her and send her off +to find the candy in the sideboard.</p> + +<p>Allen, relegated for a time to a sanatorium in the +Adirondacks, amused himself by telegraphing to +Marian daily; and he usually managed to time a +message to reach Mrs. Owen's Sunday dinner table +with characteristic remembrances for all who might +be in her house. To Dan he wrote a letter commending +his course in the legislature.</p> + +<p>"I always knew you would get on Dad's side one +of these days. The Great Experiment is making +headway. Don't worry about me. I'm going to live +to be a hundred. There's really nothing the matter +with my lungs, you know. Dad just wanted an excuse +to come up here himself (mother and the girls +used me as an excuse for years, you remember). +He's doing big stunts tramping over the hills. You +remember that good story Ware told us that night +up in the house-boat? You wouldn't think Dad +would have so much curiosity, but he's been over +there to look at that place Ware told about. He's +left me now to go down to New York to see the +lights. . . . I'm taking quite a literary turn. You +know, besides Emerson and those chaps who camped +with him up here, Stevenson was here, too,—good +old R.L.S.!"</p> + +<p>Several times Sylvia, Marian, and Dan collaborated +in a Sunday round robin to Allen, in the key of +his own exuberances.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII" />CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h3>HEAT LIGHTNING</h3> + + +<p>"We'll finish the peaches to-night, and call +it a day's work," remarked Mrs. Owen. +"Sylvia, you'd better give another turn +to the covers on those last jars. There's nothing +takes the heart out of a woman like opening a can +of fruit in January and finding mould on top. +There, Annie, that's enough cinnamon. Put in too +much and your peaches will taste like a drug store."</p> + +<p>Spicy odors floated from the kitchen of Mrs. +Owen's house on Waupegan. The August afternoon +sun struck goldenly upon battalions of glasses +and jars in the broad, screened veranda, an extension +of the kitchen itself. The newly affixed labels +announced peach, crab-apple, plum, and watermelon +preserves (if the mention of this last item +gives you no thrill, so much the worse for you!); +jellies of many tints and flavors, and tiny cucumber +pickles showing dark green amid the gayer colors. +Only the most jaded appetite could linger without +sharp impingements before these condensations and +transformations of the kindly fruits of the earth.</p> + +<p>In Mrs. Owen's corps of assistants we recognize +six young women from Elizabeth House—for since +the first of July Elizabeth House has been constantly +represented on Waupegan, girls coming and +going in sixes for a fortnight at the farm. Mrs. +Owen had not only added bedrooms to the rambling +old farmhouse to accommodate these visitors, but +she had, when necessary, personally arranged with +their employers for their vacations.</p> + +<p>On the face of it, the use of her farm as a summer +annex to the working girls' boarding-house in town +was merely the whim of a kind-hearted old woman +with her own peculiar notions of self-indulgence. A +cynical member of the summer colony remarked at +the Casino that Mrs. Owen, with characteristic thrift, +was inveigling shop-girls to her farm and then putting +them to work in her kitchen. Mrs. Owen's real +purpose was the study of the girls in Elizabeth House +with a view to determining their needs and aptitude: +she was as interested in the woman of forty permanently +planted behind a counter as in the gayest +eighteen-year-old stenographer. An expert had built +for her that spring a model plant for poultry raising, +an industry of which she confessed her own ignorance, +and she found in her battery of incubators +the greatest delight.</p> + +<p>"When a woman has spent twenty years behind +a counter, Sylvia, or working a typewriter, she +hasn't much ahead of her. What's the matter with +ducks?"</p> + +<p>They made prodigious calculations of all sorts that +summer, and continued their study of catalogues. +Mrs. Owen expected to visit the best vocational +schools in the country during the fall and winter. +The school could not be a large one, but it must +be wisely planned. Mrs. Owen had already summarized +her ideas on a sheet of paper in the neat, +Italian script which the daguerreotype ladies of our +old seminaries alone preserve for us. The students +of the proposed school were to be girls between fifteen +and eighteen, who were driven by necessity +into shops, factories, and offices. None should be +excluded for lack of the knowledge presupposed in +students ready for high school, and the general courses +were to be made flexible so that those who entered +deficient might be brought to a fixed standard. The +vocational branches were the most difficult, and at +Sylvia's suggestion several well-known authorities +on technical education were called into conference. +One of these had visited Waupegan and expressed +his enthusiastic approval of Mrs. Owen's plans. She +was anxious to avoid paralleling any similar work, +public or private. What the city schools did in manual +training was well enough, and she did not mean +to compete with the state's technical school, or with +its reformatory school for erring girls. The young +girl about to take her place behind the ribbon counter, +or at a sewing-machine in a garment factory, +or as a badly equipped, ignorant, and hopeless stenographer, +was the student for whom in due course +the school should open its doors. Where necessary, +the parents of the students were to be paid the wages +their daughters sacrificed in attending school during +the two-year course proposed. The students were to +live in cottages and learn the domestic arts through +their own housekeeping, the members of each household +performing various duties in rotation. The +school was to continue in session the year round, so +that flower—and kitchen—gardening might take rank +with dressmaking, cooking, fruit culture, poultry +raising, and other branches which Mrs. Owen proposed +to have taught.</p> + +<p>"I can't set 'em all up in business, but I want a +girl that goes through the school to feel that she +won't have to break her back in an overall factory +all her life, or dance around some floor-walker with +a waxed mustache. They tell me no American girl +who has ever seen a trolley car will go into a kitchen +to work—she can't have her beaux going round to +the back door. Sylvia, we've got to turn out cooks +that are worth going to kitchen doors to see! Now, +I've taught you this summer how to make currant +jelly that you needn't be ashamed of anywhere on +earth, and it didn't hurt you any. A white woman +can't learn to cook the way darkies do, just by instinct. +That's a miracle, by the way, that I never +heard explained—how these colored women cook as +the good ones do—those old-fashioned darkies who +take the cook book out of your hand and look at it +upside down and grin and say, 'Yes, Miss Sally,' +when they can't read a word! You catch a clean, +wholesome white girl young enough, and make her +understand that her kitchen's a laboratory, and her +work something to be proud of, and she'll not have +any trouble finding places to work where they won't +ask her to clean out the furnace and wash the +automobile."</p> + +<p>The Bassetts had opened their cottage early and +Morton Bassett had been at the lake rather more +constantly than in previous summers. Marian was +off on a round of visits to the new-found friends that +were the fruit of her winter at the capital. She was +much in demand for house parties, and made her +engagements, quite independently of her parents, +for weeks and fortnights at widely scattered mid-Western +resorts. Mrs. Bassett was indulging in the +luxury of a trained nurse this summer, but even with +this reinforcement she found it impossible to manage +Marian. It need hardly be said that Mrs. Owen's +philanthropic enterprises occasioned her the greatest +alarm. It was enough that "that girl" should be +spending the summer at Waupegan, without bringing +with her all her fellow boarders from Elizabeth +House.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bassett had now a tangible grievance against +her husband. Blackford's course at the military +school he had chosen for himself had been so unsatisfactory +that his father had been advised that he +would not be received for another year. It was now +Mrs. Bassett's turn to cavil at her husband for the +sad mess he had made of the boy's education. She +would never have sent Blackford to a military school +if it had been her affair; she arraigned her husband +for having encouraged the boy in his dreams of West +Point.</p> + +<p>Blackford's father continuing indifferent, Mrs. +Bassett rose from bed one hot August day filled +with determination. Blackford, confident of immunity +from books through the long vacation, +was enjoying himself thoroughly at the lake. He +was a perfectly healthy, good-natured lad, whose +faults were much like those of the cheerful, undisciplined +Marian. His mother scanned the reports of +Blackford's demerits and decided that he required +tutoring immediately. She thereupon reasoned that +it would score with her aunt if she employed "that +girl" to coach the delinquent Blackford. It would +at any rate do no harm to manifest a friendly interest +in her aunt's protégée, who would doubtless be glad +of a chance to earn a little pin-money. She first proposed +the matter to her aunt, who declared promptly +that it must be for Sylvia to say; that Sylvia was +busy writing a book (she was revising her grandfather's +textbook), besides helping to entertain the +Elizabeth House guests; but when the matter was +referred to Sylvia, she cheerfully agreed to give +Blackford two hours a day.</p> + +<p>Sylvia quickly established herself on terms of good +comradeship with her pupil. Blackford was old enough +to find the proximity of a pretty girl agreeable, and +Sylvia was sympathetic and encouraging. When he +confided to her his hopes of a naval career (he had +finally renounced the Army) Sylvia sent off to +Annapolis for the entrance requirements. She told +him of her Grandfather Kelton's service in the Navy +and recounted some of the old professor's exploits in +the Civil War. The stories Sylvia had heard at her +grandfather's knee served admirably as a stimulus. +As the appointments to Annapolis had to be won in +competitive examinations she soon persuaded him +that the quicker he buckled down to hard study the +sooner he would attain the goal. This matter arranged, +Mrs. Bassett went back to bed, where she +received Sylvia occasionally and expressed her sorrow +that Mrs. Owen, at her time of life, should be +running a boarding-house for a lot of girls who were +better off at work. Her aunt was merely making +them dissatisfied with their lot. She did not guess +the import of the industries in Mrs. Owen's kitchen, +as reported through various agencies; they were +merely a new idiosyncracy of her aunt's old age, a +deplorable manifestation of senility.</p> + +<p>Sylvia was a comfortable confessor; Mrs. Bassett +said many things to her that she would have liked to +say to Mrs. Owen, with an obscure hope that they +might in due course be communicated to that inexplicable +old woman. And Sylvia certainly was past; +the difficult art of brushing hair without +tangling and pulling it, thereby tearing one's nerves +to shreds—as the nurse did. Mrs. Owen's visits +were only occasional, but they usually proved disturbing. +She sniffed at the nurse and advised her +niece to get up. She knew a woman in Terre Haute +who went to bed on her thirtieth birthday and left it +only to be buried in her ninetieth year. Sylvia was +a far more consoling visitor to this invalid propped +up on pillows amid a litter of magazines, with the +cool lake at her elbow. Sylvia did not pooh-pooh +Christian Science and New Thought and such things +with which Mrs. Bassett was disposed to experiment. +Sylvia even bestowed upon her a boon in the shape +of the word "psychotherapy." Mrs. Bassett liked +it, and declared that if she read a paper before +the Fraserville Woman's Club the next winter—a +service to which she was solemnly pledged—psychotherapy +should be her subject. Thus Mrs. +Bassett found Sylvia serviceable and comforting. +And the girl knew her place, and all.</p> + +<p>Morton Bassett found Sylvia tutoring his son one +day when he arrived at Waupegan unexpectedly. +Mrs. Bassett explained the arrangement privately +in her own fashion.</p> + +<p>"You seem to take no interest in your children, +Morton. I thought Blackford was your particular +pride, but the fact that he was practically expelled +from school seemed to make not the slightest impression +on you. I thought that until you <i>did</i> realize +that the boy was wasting his time here, I'd take +matters into my own hands. Miss Garrison seems +perfectly competent; she tells me Blackford is very +quick—all he needs is application."</p> + +<p>"I hadn't got around to that yet, Hallie. I'd +intended taking it up this week. I'm very busy," +murmured Bassett.</p> + +<p>His wife's choice of a tutor seemed inconsistent +with her earlier animosity toward Sylvia, but he +shrank from asking explanations. Mrs. Bassett had +grown increasingly difficult and arbitrary.</p> + +<p>"That's the American father all over! Well, I've +done my duty."</p> + +<p>"No doubt it's a good arrangement. We've got to +keep Blackford in hand. Where's Marian?"</p> + +<p>"She's visiting the Willings at their place at +Whitewater. She's been gone a week."</p> + +<p>"The Willings? Not those Burton Willings? How +did that happen;—I don't believe we care to have +her visit the Willings."</p> + +<p>"They are perfectly nice people," she replied +defensively, "and Marian knew their daughter at +school. Allen Thatcher is in the party, and they're +all people we know or know about."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't want Marian visiting around +promiscuously. I know nothing about the family, +but I don't care for Willing. And we've had enough +of young Thatcher. Marian's already seen too much +of him."</p> + +<p>"Allen's a perfectly nice fellow. It isn't fair to +dislike him on his father's account. Allen isn't a bit +like his father; but even if he were you used to think +well enough of Ed Thatcher."</p> + +<p>This shot was well aimed, and Bassett blinked, but +he felt that he must exercise his parental authority. +If he had been culpable in neglecting Blackford he +could still take a hand in Marian's affairs.</p> + +<p>"So I did," he replied. "But I'm going to telegraph +Marian to come home. What's the Willings' +address?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you'll find it on a picture postal card somewhere +about. I'll write Marian to come home; but +I wouldn't telegraph if I were you, Morton. And +if you don't like my employing Miss Garrison, you +can get rid of her: I merely felt that <i>something</i> had +to be done. I turn it all over to you," she ended +mournfully.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have no objections to Miss Garrison. +We'll see how Blackford gets on with her."</p> + +<p>Bassett was troubled by other things that summer +than his son's education. Harwood's declaration of +war in the White River Canneries matter had +proved wholly disagreeable, and Fitch had not been +able to promise that the case might not come to +trial, to Bassett's discomfiture. It was a hot summer, +and Bassett had spent a good deal of time in +his office at the Boordman Building, where Harwood's +name no longer adorned the door of Room 66. +The 'Advertiser' continued to lay on the lash for +his defeat of the appropriations necessary to sustain +several important state institutions while he carried +through his corporation bill. They were saying +in some quarters that he had lost his head, and +that he was now using his political power for personal +warfare upon his enemies. Thatcher loomed +formidably as a candidate for the leadership, and +many predicted that Bassett's power was at last +broken. On the other hand, Bassett's old lieutenants +smiled knowingly; the old Bassett machine +was still in perfect running order, they said, as +Thatcher would learn when he felt the wheels grinding +him.</p> + +<p>Bassett saw Sylvia daily, and he was wary of her +at first. She had dealt him a staggering blow that +rainy evening at the door of Elizabeth House—a +blow which, from her, had an effect more poignant +than she knew. That incident was ended, however, +and he felt that he had nothing to fear from her. +No one appreciates candor so thoroughly as the +man who is habitually given to subterfuge, evasion, +and dissimulation. Sylvia's consent to tutor Blackford +indicated a kindly feeling toward the family. It +was hardly likely that she would report to Mrs. +Bassett his indiscretions with Rose Farrell. And +his encounters with Sylvia had moreover encouraged +the belief that she viewed life broadly and tolerantly.</p> + +<p>There was little for a man of Bassett's tastes to do +at Waupegan. Most of the loungers at the Casino +were elderly men who played bridge, which he +despised; and he cared little for fishing or boating. +Tennis and golf did not tempt him. His wife had +practically ceased to be a figure in the social life of +the colony; Marian was away, and Blackford's +leisure was spent with boys of his own age. Morton +Bassett was lonely.</p> + +<p>It thus happened that he looked forward with +growing interest to Sylvia's daily visits to his house. +He found that he could mark her progress from Mrs. +Owen's gate round the lake to his own cottage from +the window of a den he maintained in the attic. He +remained there under the hot shingles, conscious of +her presence in his house throughout her two hours +with Blackford. Once or twice he took himself off to +escape from her; but on these occasions he was surprised +to find that he was back on the veranda when +Sylvia emerged from the living-room with her pupil. +She was always cheery, and she never failed to say +something heartening of Blackford's work.</p> + +<p>A number of trifling incidents occurred to bring +them together. The cook left abruptly, and Mrs. +Bassett was reduced to despair. Bassett, gloomily +pacing his veranda, after hearing his wife's arraignment +of the world in general and domestic servants +in particular, felt the clouds lift when Sylvia came +down from a voluntary visit to the invalid. He +watched her attack the problem by long-distance +telephone. Sensations that were new and strange +and sweet assailed him as he sat near in the living-room +of his own house, seeing her at the telephone +desk by the window, hearing her voice. Her patience +in the necessary delays while connection was made +with the city, her courtesy to her unseen auditors, +the smile, the occasional word she flung at him—as +much as to say, of course it's bothersome but all will +soon come right!—these things stirred in him a +wistfulness and longing such as the hardy oak must +feel when the south wind touches its bare boughs +with the first faint breath of spring.</p> + +<p>"It's all arranged—fixed—accomplished!" Sylvia +reported at last. "There's a cook coming by +the afternoon train. You'll attend to meeting her? +Please tell Mrs. Bassett it's Senator Ridgefield's +cook who's available for the rest of the summer, as +the family have gone abroad. She's probably good—the +agent said Mrs. Ridgefield had brought her +from Washington. Let me see! She must have +Thursday afternoon off and a chance to go to mass +on Sunday. And you of course stand the railroad +fare to and from the lake; it's so nominated in the +bond!"</p> + +<p>She dismissed the whole matter with a quick +gesture of her hands.</p> + +<p>Their next interview touched again his domestic +affairs. He had telegraphed Marian to come home +without eliciting a reply, and the next day he +found in a Chicago newspaper a spirited and much-beheadlined +account of the smashing of the Willings' +automobile in a collision. It seemed that they had +run into Chicago for a day's shopping and had met +with this misadventure on one of the boulevards. +The Willings' chauffeur had been seriously injured. +Miss Marian Bassett, definitely described as the +daughter of Morton Bassett, the well-known Indiana +politician, had been of the party. Allen Thatcher +was another guest of the Willings, a fact which +added to Bassett's anger. He had never visited his +hatred of Thatcher upon Allen, whom he had regarded +as a harmless boy not to be taken seriously; +but the conjunction of his daughter's name with that +of his enemy's son in a newspaper of wide circulation +in Indiana greatly enraged him. It was bound to +occasion talk, and he hated publicity. The Willings +were flashy people who had begun to spend noisily +the money earned for them by an automobile patent. +The indictment he drew against Marian contained +many "counts." He could not discuss the matter +with his wife; he carefully kept from her the newspaper +story of the smash-up. The hotel to which the +Willings had retired for repairs was mentioned, and +Bassett resolved to go to Chicago and bring Marian +home.</p> + +<p>The best available train passed Waupegan Station +at midnight, and he sat alone on his veranda that +evening with anger against Marian still hot in his +heart. He had yet to apprise Mrs. Bassett of his +intended journey, delaying the moment as long as +possible to minimize her inevitable querulous moanings. +Blackford was in his room studying, and +Bassett had grimly paced the veranda for half an +hour when the nurse came down with a request that +he desist from his promenade, as it annoyed Mrs. +Bassett in her chamber above.</p> + +<p>He thereupon subsided and retired to the darkest +corner of the veranda. A four-hour vigil lay before +him, and he derived no calm from the still stars that +faintly shadowed the quiet waters below. He was +assailed by torments reserved for those who, having +long made others writhe without caring that they +suffered, hear the swish of the lash over their own +heads. He had only lately been conscious of his +growing irritability. He hated men who yield to +irritation; it was a sign of weakness, a failure of +self-mastery. He had been carried on by a strong +tide, imagining that he controlled it and guided it. +He had used what he pleased of the apparatus of +life, and when any part of the mechanism became +unnecessary, he had promptly discarded it. It +angered him to find that he had thrown away so +much, that the mechanism was no longer as responsive +as it had been. The very peace of the +night grated upon him.</p> + +<p>A light step sounded at the end of the veranda. +A figure in white was moving toward the door, and +recognizing Sylvia, he rose hastily and advanced to +meet her.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Mr. Bassett? I ran over with a +new grammar for Blackford that he will like better +than the one he's using. I've marked his lesson so +he can look it over before I come in the morning. +How is Mrs. Bassett?"</p> + +<p>"She's very tired and nervous to-night. Won't +you sit down?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, no. If it isn't too late I'll run up +and see Mrs. Bassett for a moment."</p> + +<p>"I think you'd better not. The nurse is trying to +get her to sleep."</p> + +<p>"Oh, then of course I shan't stop," and Sylvia +turned to go. "How soon will Marian be home?"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow evening; I'm going up to get her to-night," +he answered harshly.</p> + +<p>"You are going to the Willings to come home +with her?" asked Sylvia, surprised by his gruffness.</p> + +<p>He spoke in a lower tone.</p> + +<p>"You didn't see to-day's papers? She's been to +Chicago with those Willings and their machine was +smashed and the chauffeur hurt. I'm going to bring +her back. She had no business to be visiting the +Willings in the first place, and their taking her to +Chicago without our consent was downright impudence. +I don't want Mrs. Bassett to know of the +accident. I'm going up on the night train."</p> + +<p>It satisfied his turbulent spirit to tell her this; he +had blurted it out without attempting to conceal +the anger that the thought of Marian roused in +him.</p> + +<p>"She wasn't hurt? We should be glad of that!"</p> + +<p>Sylvia lingered, her hand on the veranda rail. She +seemed very tall in the mellow starlight. His tone +had struck her unpleasantly. There was no doubt +of his anger, or that Marian would feel the force of +it when he found her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, she wasn't hurt," he answered dully.</p> + +<p>"It's very unfortunate that she was mixed up in +it. I suppose she ought to come home now anyhow."</p> + +<p>"The point is that she should never have gone! +The Willings are not the kind of people I want her +to know. It was a great mistake, her ever going."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that may be true," said Sylvia quietly. "I +don't believe—"</p> + +<p>"Well—" he ejaculated impatiently, as though +anxious for her to speak that he might shatter any +suggestion she made. Before she came he had +sharply vizualized his meeting with Marian and the +Willings. He was impatient for the encounter, and +if Sylvia projected herself in the path of his righteous +anger, she must suffer the consequences.</p> + +<p>"If I were you I shouldn't go to Chicago," said +Sylvia calmly. "I think your going for Marian +would only make a disagreeable situation worse. The +Willings may not be desirable companions for her, but +she has been their guest, and the motor run to Chicago +was only an incident of the visit. We ought +to be grateful that Marian wasn't hurt."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you think so! You don't know that her +mother had written for her to come home, and that +I had telegraphed her."</p> + +<p>"When did you telegraph her?" asked Sylvia, +standing her ground.</p> + +<p>"Yesterday; yesterday morning, in care of Willing +at his farm address."</p> + +<p>"Then of course she didn't get your message; +she couldn't have had it if the accident happened +in time for this morning's Chicago papers. It must +have taken them all day to get from their place to +Chicago." +"If she had been at the Willings' where we supposed +she was she would have, got the message. And +her mother had written—twice!"</p> + +<p>"I still think it would be a serious mistake in all +the circumstances for you to go up there in a spirit +of resentment to bring Marian home. It's not exactly +my business, Mr. Bassett. But I'm thinking +of Marian; and you could hardly keep from Mrs. +Bassett the fact that you went for Marian. It would +be sure to distress her."</p> + +<p>"Marian needs curbing; she's got to understand +that she can't go gallivanting over the country +with strangers, getting her name in the newspapers. +I'm not going to have it; I'm going to stop her nonsense!"</p> + +<p>His voice had risen with his anger. Sylvia saw +that nothing was to be gained by argument.</p> + +<p>"The main thing is to bring Marian home, isn't +it, Mr. Bassett?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly. And when I get her here she +shall stay; you may be sure of that!"</p> + +<p>"I understand of course that you want her back, +but I hope you will abandon the idea of going for her +yourself. Please give that up! I promise that she +shall come home. I can easily take the night train +and come back with her. What you do afterward +is not my affair, but somehow I think this is. Please +agree to my way of doing it! I can manage it very +easily. Mrs. Owen's man can take me across to the +train in the launch. I shan't even have to explain +about it to her, if you'd rather I didn't. It will be +enough if I tell her I'm going on business. You +will agree, won't you—please?"</p> + +<p>It was not in his heart to consent, and yet he +consented, wondering that he yielded. The rescue +of Marian from the Willings was taken out of his +hands without friction, and there remained only +himself against whom to vent his anger. He was +curiously agitated by the encounter. The ironic +phrases he had already coined for Marian's discomfiture +clinked into the melting-pot. Sylvia was +turning away and he must say something, though +he could not express a gratitude he did not feel. His +practical sense grasped one idea feebly. He felt its +imbecility the moment he had spoken.</p> + +<p>"You'll allow me, of course, to pay your expenses. +That must be understood."</p> + +<p>Sylvia answered over her shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; of course, Mr. Bassett. Certainly."</p> + +<p>He meant to accompany her to Mrs. Owen's door, +but before he could move she was gone, running +along the path, a white, ghost-like figure faintly discernible +through the trees. He walked on tiptoe to +the end of the veranda to catch the last glimpse of +her, and waited till he caught across the quiet night +the faint click of Mrs. Owen's gate. And he was +inexpressibly lonely, now that she had gone.</p> + +<p>He opened the door of the living-room and found +his wife standing like an accusing angel by the centre +table. She loomed tall in her blue tea-gown, with her +brown braids falling down her back.</p> + +<p>"Whom were you talking to, Morton?" she demanded +with ominous severity.</p> + +<p>"Miss Garrison came over to bring a book for +Blackford. It's a grammar he needed in his work."</p> + +<p>He held up the book in proof of his assertion, and +as she tossed her head and compressed her lips he +flung it on the table with an effort to appear at +ease.</p> + +<p>"She wanted him to have it before his lesson in +the morning."</p> + +<p>"She certainly took a strange time to bring +it over here."</p> + +<p>"It struck me as very kind of her to trouble about +it. You'll take cold standing there. I supposed you +were asleep."</p> + +<p>"I've no doubt you did, Morton Bassett; but +how do you suppose I could sleep when you were +talking right under my window? I had already sent +word about the noise you were making on the veranda."</p> + +<p>"We were not talking loudly; I didn't suppose we +were disturbing you."</p> + +<p>"So you were talking quietly, were you! Will you +please tell me what you have to talk to that girl +about that you must whisper out there in the +dark?"</p> + +<p>"Please be reasonable, Hallie. Miss Garrison was +only here a few minutes. And as I knew noises on the +veranda had disturbed you I tried to speak in a low +tone. We were speaking of Blackford."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd like you to know that I employed that +girl to remedy your mistakes in trying to educate +Blackford, and if she has any report to make she can +make it to me."</p> + +<p>"Very well, then. It was only a few days ago that +you told me you had done all you were going to do +about Blackford; you gave me to understand that +you washed your hands of him. You're nervous +and excited,—very unnecessarily excited,—and +I insist that you go back to bed. I'll call Miss +Featherstone."</p> + +<p>"Miss Featherstone is asleep and you needn't +bother her. I'm going to send her away at the end of +her week anyhow. She's the worst masseuse I ever +had; her clumsiness simply drives me frantic. But +I never thought you would treat me like this—entertaining +a young woman on the veranda when +you thought I was asleep and out of the way. I'm +astonished at Miss Garrison; I had a better opinion +of her. I thought she knew her place. I thought she +understood that I employed her out of kindness; and +she's abused my confidence outrageously."</p> + +<p>"You can't speak that way of that young woman; +she's been very good to you. She's come to see you +nearly every day and shown you many kindnesses. +It is kind of her to be tutoring Blackford at all +when she came to the lake for rest."</p> + +<p>"For rest!"</p> + +<p>She gulped at the enormity of this; it was beyond +belief that any intelligent being could have been +deceived in a matter that was as plain as daylight +to any understanding. "You think she came +here for rest! Don't you know that she's hung herself +around Aunt Sally's neck, and that she's filling +Aunt Sally's head with all manner of wild ideas? +She's been after Aunt Sally's money ever since she +saw that she could influence her. Did you ever know +of Aunt Sally's taking up any other girl? Has she +ever traveled over the country with Marian or shown +any such interest in her own flesh and blood?"</p> + +<p>"Please quiet yourself. You'll have Blackford +and the nurse down here in a minute. You know +perfectly well that Aunt Sally started Elizabeth +House long before she had ever heard of this girl, +and you know that your aunt is a vigorous, independent +woman who is not led around by anybody."</p> + +<p>Her nostrils quivered and her eyes shone with +tears. She leveled her arm at him rigidly.</p> + +<p>"I saw you walking with that girl yesterday! +When she left here at noon you came down from the +den and walked along to Aunt Sally's gate with her. +I could see you through the trees from my bed, +laughing and talking with her. I suppose it was then +you arranged for her to come and sit with you on the +veranda when you thought I was asleep!"</p> + +<p>He took a step toward her and seized the outstretched +hand roughly.</p> + +<p>"You are out of your senses or you wouldn't +speak in this way of Miss Garrison. She's been a +kind friend to you all summer; you've told me yourself +self how she's gone up to brush your hair and do little +things for you that the nurse couldn't do as well. +You've grown morbid from being ill so long, but +nothing was ever more infamous than your insinuations +against Miss Garrison. She's a noble girl and +it's not surprising that Aunt Sally should like her. +Everybody likes her!"</p> + +<p>Having delivered this blow he settled himself more +firmly on his feet and glared.</p> + +<p>"Everybody likes her!" she repeated, snatching +away her hand. "I'd like to know how you come to +know so much about her."</p> + +<p>"I know enough about her: I know all about her!"</p> + +<p>"Then you know more than anybody else does. +Nobody else seems to know <i>anything</i> about her!" she +ended triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"There you go again with insinuations! It's ungenerous, +it's unlike you."</p> + +<p>"Morton Bassett," she went on huskily, "if you +took some interest in your own children it would be +more to your credit. You blamed me for letting +Marian go to the Willings' and then telegraphed for +her to come home. It's a beautiful relationship you +have established with your children! She hasn't +even answered your telegram. But I suppose if she +had you'd have kept it from me. The newspapers +talk about your secretive ways, but they don't +know you, Morton Bassett, as I do. I suppose you +can't imagine yourself entertaining Marian on the +veranda or walking with her, talking and laughing, +as I saw you with that girl."</p> + +<p>"Well, thank God there's somebody I can talk +and laugh with! I'm glad to be able to tell you that +Marian will be home to-morrow. You may have the +satisfaction of knowing that if you <i>would</i> let her go +to the Willings' with Allen Thatcher I can at least +bring her back after you failed to do it."</p> + +<p>"So you did hear from her, did you! Of course +you couldn't have told me: I suppose you confide +in Miss Garrison now," she ended drearily.</p> + +<p>His wife's fatigue, betrayed in her tired voice, +did not mitigate the stab with which he wished to +punish her references to Sylvia. And he delivered it +with careful calculation.</p> + +<p>"You are quite right, Hallie. I did speak to Miss +Garrison about Marian. Miss Garrison has gone to +bring Marian home. That's all; go to bed."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII" />CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>A CHEERFUL BRINGER OF BAD TIDINGS</h3> + + +<p>The announcement that Harwood was preparing +to attack the reorganization of the +White River Canneries corporation renewed +the hopes of many victims of that experiment in high +finance, and most of the claims reached Dan's office +that summer. The legal points involved were sufficiently +difficult to evoke his best energies, and he dug +diligently in the State Library preparing his case. +He was enjoying the cool, calm heights of a new freedom. +Many older men were eking out a bare living +at the law, and the ranks were sadly overcrowded, +but he faced the future confidently. He meant to +practice law after ideals established by men whose +names were still potent in the community; he would +not race with the ambulance to pick up damage +suits, and he refused divorce cases and small collection +business. He meant to be a lawyer, not a scandal-hunting +detective or pursuer of small debtors +with a constable's process.</p> + +<p>He tried to forget politics, and yet, in spite of his +indifference, hardly a day passed that did not bring +visitors to his office bent upon discussing the outlook. +Many of these were from the country; men +who, like Ramsay, were hopeful of at last getting rid +of Bassett. Some of his visitors were young lawyers +like himself, most of them graduates of the state +colleges, who were disposed to take their politics +seriously. Nor were these all of his own party. He +found that many young Republicans, affected by the +prevailing unrest, held practically his own views on +national questions. Several times he gathered up +half a dozen of these acquaintances for frugal dinners +in the University Club rathskeller, or they met +in the saloon affected by Allen's friends of Lüders's +carpenter shop. He wanted them to see all sides of +the picture, and he encouraged them to crystallize +their fears and hopes; more patriotism and less +partisanship, they all agreed, was the thing most +needed in America.</p> + +<p>Allen appeared in Dan's office unexpectedly one +hot morning and sat down on a chair piled with open +lawbooks. Allen had benefited by his month's sojourn +in the Adirondacks, and subsequent cruises in +his motor car had tanned his face becomingly. He +was far from rugged, but he declared that he expected +to live forever.</p> + +<p>"I'm full of dark tidings! Much has happened +within forty-eight hours. See about our smash-up +in Chicago! Must have read it in the newspapers?"</p> + +<p>"A nice, odorous mess," observed Dan, filling his +pipe. "I'm pained to see that you go chasing around +with the plutocrats smashing lamp-posts in our large +centres of population. That sort of thing is bound to +establish your reputation as the friend of the oppressed. +Was the chauffeur's funeral largely attended?"</p> + +<p>"Pshaw; he was only scratched; we chucked him +into the hospital to keep him from being arrested, +that was all. Look here, old man, you don't seem +terribly sympathetic. Maybe you didn't notice that +it was <i>my</i> car that got smashed! It looked like a +junk dealer's back yard when they pulled us out. +I told them to throw it into the lake: I've just +ordered a new car. I never cared for that one much +anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Another good note for the boys around Lüders's +joint! You're identified forever with the red-necked +aristocrats who smash five thousand dollar motors +and throw them away. You'd better go out in the +hall and read the sign on the door. I'm a lawyer, not +a father confessor to the undeserving rich."</p> + +<p>"This is serious, Dan," Allen remonstrated, +twirling his straw hat nervously. "All that happened +in connection with the smash-up didn't get +into the newspapers."</p> + +<p>"The 'Advertiser' had enough of it: they printed, +published, and uttered an extra with Marian's +picture next to yours on the first page! You can't +complain of the publicity you got out of that light +adventure. How much space do you think it was +worth?"</p> + +<p>"Stop chaffing and hear me out! I'm up against a +whole lot of trouble, and I came to get your advice. +You see, Dan, the Bassetts didn't know Marian was +going on that automobile trip. Her mother had +written her to leave the Willings' and go home—twice! +And her father telegraphed—after we left +the farm. She never got the telegram. Then, when +Mr. Bassett read of the smash in the papers, I guess +he was warm clear through. You know he doesn't +cut loose very often; and—"</p> + +<p>"And he jumped on the train and went to Chicago +to snatch Marian away from the Willings? I should +think he would have done just that."</p> + +<p>"No; oh, no! He sent Sylvia!" cried Allen. +"Sylvia came up on the night train, had a few words +privately with Marian, took luncheon with the +Willings, all as nice as you please, and off she went +with Marian."</p> + +<p>Harwood pressed his thumb into his pipe-bowl +and puffed in silence for a moment. Allen, satisfied +that he had at last caught his friend's attention, +fanned himself furiously with his hat.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Dan finally, "there's nothing so +staggering in that. Sylvia's been staying at the lake: +I suppose Mrs. Bassett must have asked her to go up +and bring Marian home when the papers screamed +her daughter's name in red ink. I understand that +Mrs. Bassett's ill, and I suppose Bassett didn't like +to leave her. There's nothing fuddlesome in that. +Sylvia probably did the job well. She has the habit. +What is there that troubles you about it, Allen?"</p> + +<p>His heart had warmed at the mention of Sylvia, +and he felt more kindly toward Allen now that she +had flashed across his vision. Many times a day he +found Sylvia looking up at him from the pages of his +books; this fresh news brought her near. Sylvia's +journey to Chicago argued an intimacy with the +Bassetts that he did not reconcile with his knowledge +of her acquaintance with the family. He was +aroused by the light touch of Allen's hand on his +knee. The young man bent toward him with a +bright light in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"You know," he said, "Marian and I are +engaged!"</p> + +<p>"You're what?" bellowed Dan.</p> + +<p>"We're engaged, old man; we're engaged! It +happened there at the Willings'. You know I think +I loved her from the very first time I saw her! It's +the beautifullest thing that ever came into my life. +You don't know how happy I am: it's the kind of +happiness that makes you want to cry. Oh, you +don't know; nobody could ever know!"</p> + +<p>Dan rose and paced the floor, while Allen stood +watching him eagerly and pouring his heart out. +Dan felt that tragedy loomed here. He did not +doubt Allen's sincerity; he was not unmoved by his +manner, his voluble description of all the phases of +his happiness. Allen, with all his faults and weaknesses, +had nevertheless a sound basis of character. +Harwood's affection for him dated from that first +encounter in the lonely Meridian Street house when +the boy had dawned upon him in his overalls and +red silk stockings. He had never considered Allen's +interest in Marian serious; for Allen had to Dan's +knowledge paid similar attentions to half a dozen +other girls. Allen's imagination made a goddess of +every pretty girl, and Dan had settled down to the +belief that his friend saw in Marian only one of the +many light-footed Dianas visible in the city thoroughfares, +whom he invested with deific charms +and apostrophized in glowing phrases. But that he +should marry Marian—Marian, the joyous and +headstrong; Marian the romping, careless Thalia of +Allen's bright galaxy! She was ill-fitted for marriage, +particularly to a dreamy, emotional youngster like +Allen. And yet, on the other hand, if she had arrived +at a real appreciation of Allen's fineness and gentleness +and had felt his sweetness and charm, why not?</p> + +<p>Dan's common sense told him that quite apart +from the young people themselves there were reasons +enough against it. Dan had imagined that Allen was +content to play at being in love; that it satisfied the +romantic strain in him, just as his idealization of +the Great Experiment and its actors expressed and +satisfied his patriotic feelings. The news that he had +come to terms of marriage with Marian was in all +the circumstances dismaying, and opened many +dark prospects. Allen stood at the window staring +across the roofs beyond. He whirled round as Dan +addressed him.</p> + +<p>"Have you spoken to Mr. Bassett? You know +that will be the first thing, Allen."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly what I want you to help me +about? He's at Waupegan now, and of course I've +got to see him. But you know this row between him +and dad makes it hard. You know dad would do +anything in the world for me—dear old dad! Of +course I've told <i>him</i>. And you'd be surprised to see +the way he took it. You know people don't know +dad the way I do. They think he's just a rough old +chap, without any fine feeling about anything. And +mother and the girls leaving him that way has hurt +him; it hurts him a whole lot. And when I told him +last night, up at that big hollow cave of a house, +how happy I was and all that, it broke him all up. +He cried, you know—dad cried!"</p> + +<p>The thought of Edward G. Thatcher in tears +failed to arrest the dark apprehensions that tramped +harshly through Dan's mind. As for Bassett, Dan +recalled his quondam chief's occasional flings at +Allen, whom the senator from Fraser had regarded +as a spoiled and erratic but innocuous trifler. Mrs. +Bassett, Dan was aware, valued her social position +highly. As the daughter of Blackford Singleton +she considered herself unassailably a member of +the upper crust of the Hoosier aristocracy. And +Dan suspected that Bassett also harbored similar +notions of caste.</p> + +<p>Independently of the struggle in progress between +Thatcher and Bassett, it was quite likely that the +Bassetts would look askance at the idea of a union +between their daughter and Edward Thatcher's +son, no matter what might be said in Allen's favor. +Bassett's social acceptance was fairly complete, and +he enjoyed meeting men of distinction. He was +invariably welcomed to the feasts of reason we are +always, in our capital, proffering to the great and +good of all lands who pause for enlightenment and +inspiration in our empurpled Athens. He was never +ignored in the choice of those frock-coated and silk-hatted +non-partisan committees that meet all trains +at the Union Station, and quadrennially welcome +home our eternal candidates for the joyous office of +Vice-President of the Republic. He kept his dress +suit packed for flight at Fraserville free of that +delicate scent of camphor that sweetens the air of +provincial festivals. Thatcher never, to the righteous, +sensitive, local consciousness, wholly escaped +from the maltster's taint, in itself horrible and shocking; +nor did his patronage of budding genius in the +prize ring, or his adventures (often noisily heralded) +as a financial pillar of comic opera, tend to change or +hide the leopard's spots in a community where the +Ten Commandments haven't yet been declared +unconstitutional, save by plumbers and paperhangers. +Women who had never in their lives seen +Mrs. Thatcher admired her for remaining in exile; +they knew she must be (delectable phrase!) a good +woman.</p> + +<p>"You know dad has had an awful lonely time of +it, Dan, and if he has done things that haven't +sounded nice, he's as sorry as anybody could ask. +You know dad never made a cent in his life at poker, +and his horses have come near busting him lots of +times. And sentiment against breweries over here +would astonish people abroad. It's that old Puritan +strain, you know. You understand all that, Dan."</p> + +<p>Dan grinned in spite of himself. It was hardly less +than funny to attempt a defense of Ed Thatcher by +invoking the shades of the Puritans. But Thatcher +did love his boy, and Dan had always given him full +credit for that.</p> + +<p>"Never mind the breweries; tell me the rest of it."</p> + +<p>"Well," Allen continued, "dad always tells me +everything, and when I spoke of Marian he told me +a lot of things. He wants to put Bassett out of +business and go to the Senate. Dad's set his heart +on that. I didn't know that any man could hate +another as he hates Bassett. That business in the +state convention cut him deep;—no, don't you say +a word! Dad hasn't any feeling against you; he +thinks you're a fine fellow, and he likes to feel that +when you quit Bassett you put yourself on his side. +Maybe he's wrong, but just for my sake I want you +to let him think so. But he's got it in for Bassett; +he's got his guns all loaded and primed. Dad's +deeper than you think. They used to say that dad +was only second fiddle to Bassett, but you'll see that +dad knows a thing or two."</p> + +<p>Dan drummed his desk. This reference to Thatcher's +ambitions only kindled his anger and he wished +that Allen would end his confidences and take himself +off. But he pricked up his ears as Allen went on.</p> + +<p>"I'm telling you this just to show you how it +mixes up things for Marian and me. I came to you +for help, old man; and I want you to see how hard it +is for me to go to Mr. Bassett and tell him I want to +marry Marian."</p> + +<p>"Just a minute, Allen. Are you quite sure that +Marian has made up her mind to marry you; that +she really wants to marry anybody?"</p> + +<p>"I tell you it's all fixed! You don't imply that +Marian is merely amusing herself at my expense! +It wouldn't be like you to think that. I have +always thought you liked Marian and saw how +superb she is."</p> + +<p>"Of course I like Marian," said Dan hastily. +"My one hope is that both of you will be happy; +and the difficulties you have suggested only make +that more important. You will have to wait. I'm +not sure but that you had better keep this to yourselves +for a while—maybe for a long time. It +would be wise for you to talk to Aunt Sally. She's +a good friend of yours, and one of the wisest of +women."</p> + +<p>It was not in Allen's eye that he sought wisdom. +With him, as with most people who ask advice, +advice was the last thing he wanted. It was his way +to unbosom himself, however, and he forged ahead +with his story, with what seemed to Harwood a +maddening failure to appreciate its sinister import. +"You remember that when we were up there on the +Kankakee, John Ware told a story one night—a +mighty good story about an experience he had +once?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; he told a lot of stories. Which one do you +mean?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the best one of all—about the woman in +the Adirondacks. You haven't forgotten that?"</p> + +<p>"No; I do remember something about it."</p> + +<p>"You may not have noticed that while Ware was +telling the story dad got up from the bed in the +corner and walked over to the stove, after Ware had +asked you—it was you, wasn't it?—to reach +into the pocket of his coat over your head and get +the book he was talking about—it was you he +spoke to, wasn't it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; it comes back to me now," replied Dan, +frowning.</p> + +<p>"Well, I remember, because it struck me as odd +that dad should be interested; it was Emerson, you +know; and dad looked at the book in the light from +the stove and asked me what the name was down in +the inside of the cover. It was the binder's name in +small letters,—Z. Fenelsa. Well, there's a long story +about that. It's a horrible story to know about any +man; but dad had been trying to find something +he could use on Bassett. He's had people—the +sort you can get to do such jobs—going over Bassett's +whole life to find material. Dad says there's +always something in every man's life that he wants +to hide, and that if you keep looking you can find +it. You see—"</p> + +<p>"I don't like to see," growled Harwood. "It's +an ugly idea." And then, with sudden scorn for +Thatcher's views on man's frailty, he said with +emphasis: "Now, Allen, it's all right for you to talk +to me about Marian, and your wish to marry her; +but don't mix scandal up in it. I'm not for that. I +don't want to hear any stories of that kind about +Bassett. Politics is rotten enough at best without +tipping over the garbage can to find arguments. I +don't believe your father is going to stoop to that. +To be real frank with you, I don't think he can +afford to."</p> + +<p>"You've got to hear it; you can't desert me now. +I'm away up in the air this morning, and even if you +do hate this kind of thing, you've got to see where +dad's hatred of Bassett puts Marian and me."</p> + +<p>"It puts you clean out of it; away over the ropes +and halfway home! That's where it puts you," +boomed Harwood.</p> + +<p>"Well, you've got to listen, and you've got to +tell me what to do. Dad had already investigated +Bassett's years in New York, when he was a young +man studying in the law school down there. But +they could get about so far and no farther. It's a +long time ago and all the people Bassett knew at +that time had scattered to the far corners of the +earth. But that book struck dad all of a heap. It +fitted into what he had heard about Bassett as a +dilettante book collector; even then Bassett was +interested in such things. And you know in that +account of him you wrote in the 'Courier' that I told +you I had read on the other side that first time we +met? Well, when dad and I went to the Adirondacks +it was only partly on my account; he met a man up +there who had been working up Bassett's past, and +dad went over all the ground himself. It was most +amazing that it should all come out that way, but +he found the place, and the same man is still living +at the house where the strange woman stayed that +Ware told about. I know it's just as rotten as it can +be, but dad's sure Bassett was the man who took +that woman there and deserted her. It fits into a +period when Bassett wasn't in New York and he +wasn't at Fraserville. They've found an old file of +the Fraserville paper at the State Library that +mentions the fact that Bassett's father was very ill—had +a stroke—and they had hard work locating +Bassett, who was the only child. There's only one +missing link in the chain of evidence, and that's the +woman herself, and her child that was born up there. +Ware told us that night how he failed to get track of +them later, and dad lost the trail right there too. +But that's all I need tell you about it. That's what +I've got hanging over me. And dad won't promise +not to use it on Bassett if he has to."</p> + +<p>Harwood's face had gone white, but he smiled and +knit his fingers together behind his head with an air +of nonchalance that he did not feel. He knew that +Thatcher meant to drive Bassett out of politics, but +he had little faith in Thatcher's ability to do so. He +discredited wholly the story Allen had so glibly +recited. By Allen's own admission the tale was +deficient in what Harwood's lawyer's instinct told +him were essentials. The idea that Bassett could +ever have been so stupid as to leave traces of any +imaginable iniquities plain enough for Thatcher to +find them after many years was preposterous. The +spectacle of the pot calling the kettle black, never +edifying, aroused Dan's ire against Thatcher. And +Bassett was not that sort; his old liking for the man +stirred to life again. Even the Rose Farrell incident +did not support this wretched tissue of fabrication. +He had hated Bassett for that; but it was not for +the peccable Thatcher to point a mocking finger at +Achilles's heel.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Allen impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Well," Dan blurted contemptuously, "I think +your father's stooped pretty low, that's all. You +can tell him for me that if he's digging in the muck-pile +for that sort of thing, I'm done with him; I'm +not only done with him, but if he attempts to use +any such stuff as that, I'll fight him; I will raise a +war on him that won't be forgotten in this state +through all eternity. You tell him that; tell him you +told me your story and that's what I said about it."</p> + +<p>"But, Dan, old man—" began Allen pleadingly.</p> + +<p>Harwood shook his head until his cowlick bobbed +and danced.</p> + +<p>"You'd better get out of here, Allen. If you think +you can marry Morton Bassett's daughter with that +kind of a scandal in your pocket, I tell you you're +mad—you've plumb gone insane! Great God, boy, +you don't know the meaning of the words you use. +You handle that thing like a child with a loaded +pistol. Don't you see what that would mean—to +Marian, to Blackford, to Mrs. Bassett—to Aunt +Sally! Now, you want my advice, or you said you +did, and I'm going to give you some. You go right +down to that bank over there on the corner and buy +a steamer ticket and a long letter of credit. Then +take the first train for New York and go back to +your mother and stay there till I send for you to +come home. I mean that—every word of it. If you +don't skip I'm damned if I don't go to Bassett and +tell him this whole rotten story."</p> + +<p>Allen, the tears glistening in his frightened eyes, +turned toward the door.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Dan, old man; I'm sorry it had to +end this way. I'm disappointed, that's all."</p> + +<p>He paused after opening the door, hoping to be +called back, but Harwood had walked to the window +and stood with his hands in his pockets staring into +the street.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX" />CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<h3>A SONG AND A FALLING STAR</h3> + + +<p>This was on Friday, and Harwood took the +afternoon train for Waupegan. He had +found that when he was tired or lonely or +troubled he craved the sight of Sylvia. Sylvia alone +could restore his equanimity; Sylvia who worked +hard but never complained of weariness; Sylvia who +saw life steadily and saw it whole, where he caught +only fitful, distorted glimpses. Yes; he must see +Sylvia. Not only must he see her but there were +things he meant to say to her.</p> + +<p>He needed Sylvia. For several months he had +been sure of that. He loved her and he meant to +marry her. Since leaving college he had indulged in +several more or less ardent flirtations, but they had +ended harmlessly; it was very different with Sylvia! +He had realized all that spring that she was becoming +increasingly necessary to him; he needed her +solace and her inspiration. He thrust one or two +new books on the prevailing social unrest into his +suit case and added a box of candy, smiling at the +combination. Sylvia with all her ideals was still so +beautifully human. She was quite capable of nibbling +bon-bons to the accompaniment of a vivacious +discussion of the sorrows of the world—he had seen +her do just that! With her ideals of life and service, +she would not be easily won; but he was in the race +to win. Yes, there were things he meant to say to +Sylvia, and in the tedious journey through the hot +afternoon to Waupegan he formulated them and +visualized the situations in which he should utter +them.</p> + +<p>Dan reached Waupegan at six o'clock and went to +one of the little inns at the lakeside near the village. +He got into his flannels, ate supper, and set off for +Mrs. Owen's with his offerings on the seven o'clock +boat. In the old days of his intimacy with Bassett +he had often visited Waupegan, and the breach between +them introduced an element of embarrassment +into his visit. He was very likely to meet his former +chief, who barely bowed to him now when they met +in hotels or in the streets of the capital.</p> + +<p>Jumping aboard the steamer just as it was pulling +out, he at once saw Bassett sitting alone in the bow. +There were only a few other passengers, and hearing +Dan's step on the deck behind him, Bassett turned +slightly, nodded, and then resumed his inspection +of the farther shore lines. A light overcoat lay across +his knees, and the protruding newspapers explained +his visit to the village. Dan found a seat on the opposite +side of the deck, resolved to accept Bassett's +own definition of their relations—markedly expressed +in Bassett's back and shoulders that were +stolidly presented to him. Dan, searching out the +lights that were just beginning to blink on the darkling +shores, found the glimmering lanterns of Mrs. +Owen's landing. Sylvia was there! It was Sylvia he +had come to see, and the coldness with which Morton +Bassett turned his back upon him did not matter +in the least. It was his pliability in Bassett's hands, +manifested at the convention where he had appeared +as the boss's spokesman, that had earned him Sylvia's +first rebuke.</p> + +<p>He was thinking of this and of Sylvia when Bassett +left his chair and crossed the deck. Dan barely +turned his head, thinking he was merely changing +his seat for a better view; but as Bassett stopped in +front of him, Dan rose and pushed forward a chair.</p> + +<p>"No, thank you; I suppose you came up on the +evening train. I just wondered whether you saw +Fitch to-day."</p> + +<p>"No, sir; I didn't see him; I didn't know he +wanted to see me."</p> + +<p>"He was here yesterday and probably hadn't +had time to see you before you left town. He had +a proposition to make in that Canneries case."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know that, of course, or I should have +waited. I've never had any talk with him about the +Canneries business."</p> + +<p>"So he said."</p> + +<p>Bassett clapped his hand savagely upon his hat +suddenly to save it from the breeze that had been +roused by the increasing speed of the boat. He clearly +disliked having to hold his hat on his head. Dan +marked his old chief's irritation. There were deep +lines in Bassett's face that had only lately been +written there.</p> + +<p>"I'll see him Monday. I only ran up for a day +or two. It's frightfully hot at home."</p> + +<p>Neither the heat, nor Harwood's enterprise in +escaping from it, interested Bassett, who lifted his +voice above the thumping of the machinery to +say:—</p> + +<p>"I told Fitch to talk to you about that suit of +yours and fix it up if we can come to terms. I told +him what I'd stand for. I'm not afraid of the suit, +and neither is Fitch, and I want you to understand +that. My reasons for getting rid of it are quite apart +from the legal questions."</p> + +<p>"It will save time, Mr. Bassett, if you tell Fitch +that the suit won't be dropped until all the claims +I represent are paid in full. Several of your associates +in the reorganization have already sounded +me on that, and I've said no to all of them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you have, have you?" There was a hard +glitter in Bassett's eyes and his jaws tightened.</p> + +<p>"All right, then; go ahead," he added, and walked +grimly back to his chair.</p> + +<p>When the steamer stopped at his landing, Bassett +jumped off and began the ascent to his house +without looking at Harwood again. Dan felt that +it had been worth the journey to hear direct from +Bassett the intimations of a wish to compromise the +Canneries case. And yet, while the boat was backing +off, it was without exultation that he watched Bassett's +sturdy figure slowly climbing the steps. The +signs of wear, the loss of the politician's old elasticity, +touched a chord of pity in Harwood's breast. +In the early days of their acquaintance it had seemed +to him that Bassett could never be beaten; and yet +Dan had to-night read defeat in his face and manner. +The old Morton Bassett would never have +yielded an inch, never have made overtures of compromise. +He would have emerged triumphant from +any disaster. Harwood experienced something of +the sensations of a sculptor, who, having begun a +heroic figure in the grand manner of a Michael Angelo, +finds his model shrinking to a pitiful pygmy. +As Bassett passed from sight he turned with a sigh +toward the red, white and blue lanterns that advertised +Mrs. Owen's dock to the mariner.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, if it isn't Daniel," exclaimed Mrs. +Owen, as Harwood greeted her and Sylvia on her +veranda. "One of the farm hands quit to-day and +you can go to work in the morning, Daniel."</p> + +<p>"Not if I'm strong enough to run, Aunt Sally. +I'm going to have forty-eight hours' vacation if I +starve to death the rest of my life."</p> + +<p>Rose Farrell had told him that Mrs. Owen was +entertaining the Elizabeth House girls in installments, +and he was not surprised to find the veranda +filled with young women. Some of them he +knew and Sylvia introduced him to the others.</p> + +<p>"When's Rose coming up?" asked Sylvia, balancing +herself on the veranda rail. "You know she's +expected."</p> + +<p>"Do I know she's expected? Didn't I have a note +from you, Aunt Sally, ordering me to send her up? +She's coming just as soon as I get back, but I think +of staying forever."</p> + +<p>"A man has come and he's come to stay forever," +murmured one of the young women.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you're an event!" laughed Sylvia. "But +don't expect us to spoil you. The sport for to-morrow +is tomato pickles, and the man who skipped to-day +left because Aunt Sally wanted him to help scald and +peel the tomats. Your job is cut out for you."</p> + +<p>"All right," he replied humbly. "I'll do anything +you say but plough or cut wood. My enchanted +youth on the farm was filled with those delights, and +before I go back to that a swift Marathon runner +must trip me."</p> + +<p>He was aware presently that one by one the girls +were slipping away; he saw them through the windows +settling themselves at the round table of the +living-room, where Mrs. Owen was reading a newspaper. +Not more than a quarter of an hour had +passed when he and Sylvia found themselves alone.</p> + +<p>"I haven't scarlet fever or anything," he remarked, +noting the flight with satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we might go inside, too," suggested +Sylvia obtusely.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I came up for the fresh air! Most of my +nights lately have been spent in a hot office with not +even a June bug for company. How are the neighbors?"</p> + +<p>"The Bassetts? Oh, Mrs. Bassett is not at all +well; Marian is at home now; Blackford is tutoring +and getting ready to take the Annapolis examinations +the first chance he gets."</p> + +<p>"I saw Allen to-day," he remarked carelessly.</p> + +<p>She said nothing. He moved his chair nearer.</p> + +<p>"He told me things that scared me to death—among +others that he and Marian are engaged."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Marian told me that."</p> + +<p>"Ah! She really takes it seriously, does she?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she takes it seriously; why shouldn't she?"</p> + +<p>"It's the first time she ever took anything seriously; +that's all."</p> + +<p>"Please don't speak of her like that, Dan. You +know she and I are friends, and I thought you +and she were friends too. She always speaks of you +in the very kindest way. Your leaving Mr. Bassett +didn't make any difference with her. And you are +the greatest of Blackford's heroes next to Nelson +and Farragut."</p> + +<p>Dan laughed.</p> + +<p>"So it isn't Napoleon, and Grant and Custer any +more? I'm glad he's settled down to something."</p> + +<p>"He's a fine boy with a lot of the right stuff in +him. We've been having some lessons together."</p> + +<p>"Tutoring Blackford? You'll have to explain the +psychological processes that brought that about."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they're simple enough. He hadn't done well +in school last year; Mrs. Bassett was troubled about +it. I take him for a couple of hours every morning. +Mrs. Bassett engaged me, and Mr. Bassett approved +of the plan. Allen probably told you all the news, +but he didn't know just how I came to go to Chicago +cago to bring Marian home. It was to keep the news +of that automobile smash from Mrs. Bassett, and +to save Marian's own dignity with the Willings."</p> + +<p>"Oh! You went at her father's instance, did you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I offered to go when I found that he was +very angry and likely to deal severely and ungenerously +with Marian. I thought it would be better +for me to go."</p> + +<p>"As near as I can make out, you've taken the +Bassetts on your shoulders. I didn't suppose Aunt +Sally would stand for that."</p> + +<p>"Aunt Sally doesn't know why I went to Chicago. +I assume Mrs. Bassett knows I went to bring Marian +home, but I don't know what Mr. Bassett told her +about it, and I haven't seen her since. It's possible +my going may have displeased her. Blackford came +here for his lessons this morning."</p> + +<p>Dan moved uneasily. The domestic affairs of the +Bassetts did not interest him save as they involved +Sylvia. It was like Sylvia to help them out of their +scrapes; but Sylvia was not a person that he could +scold or abuse.</p> + +<p>"You needed rest and it's too bad you've had to +bother with their troubles. Bassett was on the boat +as I came over. He had a grouch. He doesn't look +like a happy man."</p> + +<p>"I don't suppose he is altogether happy. And I've +begged Marian not to tell him she wants to marry +Allen. That would certainly not cheer him any, +right now."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you had a chance to do that. I told +Allen to skip right out for Europe and hang on to his +mother's apron strings till I send for him. This old +Capulet and Montague business doesn't ring quite +true in this twentieth century; there's something +unreal about it. And just what those youngsters +can see in each other is beyond me."</p> + +<p>"You must be fair about that. We haven't any +right to question their sincerity."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Allen is sincere enough; but you'll have to +show me the documents on Marian's side of it. She +sees in the situation a great lark. The fact that her +father and Thatcher are enemies appeals to her romantic +instincts."</p> + +<p>"I think better of it than that, Dan. She's a fine, +strong, loyal girl with a lot of hard common sense. +But that doesn't relieve the situation of its immediate +dangers. She's promised me not to speak to +her father yet—not until she has my consent. +When I see that it can't be helped, I'm going to speak +to Mr Bassett about it myself."</p> + +<p>"You seem to be the good angel of the Bassett +household," he remarked sullenly. A lover's jealousy +stirred in his heart, he did not like to think of +Sylvia as preoccupied with the affairs of others, and +he saw no peace or happiness ahead for Marian and +Allen. "It's all more wretched than you imagine. +This war between Thatcher and Bassett has passed +the bounds of mere political rivalry. There's an implacable +hatred there that's got to take its course. +Allen told me of it this morning when he was trying +to enlist me in his cause with Marian. It's hideous—a +perfectly rotten mess. Thatcher is preparing a +poisoned arrow for Bassett. He's raked up an old +scandal, an affair with a woman. It makes my +blood run cold to think of its possibilities."</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Thatcher wouldn't do such a thing; he +might threaten, but he wouldn't really use that sort +of weapon!"</p> + +<p>"You don't know the man, Sylvia. He will risk +anything to break Bassett down. There's nothing +respectable about Thatcher but his love for Allen, +and that doesn't redeem everything."</p> + +<p>"But you won't let it come to that. You have influence +enough yourself to stop it. Even if you hated +him you would protect Mrs. Bassett and the children."</p> + +<p>"I could do nothing of the kind, Sylvia. Now that +I've left Bassett my influence has vanished utterly. +Besides, I'm out of politics. I hate the game. It's +rotten—rotten clean through."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it's quite true that you have lost +your influence. I read the newspapers, and some +of them are saying that you are the hope of your +party, and that you have a large following. But you +wouldn't do that, Dan; you wouldn't lend yourself +to such a thing as that!"</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure," he replied doggedly, angry that +they should be discussing the subject at all, though +to be sure he had introduced it. "A man's family +has got to suffer for his acts; it's a part of the punishment. +I'd like to see Bassett driven out of politics, +but I assure you that I don't mean to do it. There's +no possibility of my having the chance. He put me +in the legislature to use me; and I'm glad that's all +over. As I tell you, I'm out of the game."</p> + +<p>"I don't sympathize with that at all, Dan; you +not only ought to stay in, but you ought to do all +you can to make it impossible for men like Bassett +and Thatcher to have any power. The honor of the +state ought to be dear to all of us; and if I belonged +to a party I think I should have a care for its honor +too."</p> + +<p>The time was passing. It was not to discuss politics +that he had gone to Waupegan.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said. "Let's find a canoe and get +out under the stars."</p> + +<p>Sylvia went for a wrap, and they had soon embarked, +skimming along in silence for a time till +they were free of the shores. There was no moon, +but the stars shone brilliantly; a fitful west wind +scarcely ruffled the water. Along the deep-shadowed +shores the dock lanterns twinkled, and above +and beyond them the lamps of the cottages flashed +and vanished. Dan paddled steadily with a skilled, +splashless stroke. The paddle sank noiselessly and +rose to the accompaniment of a tinkling drip as the +canoe parted the waters. There is nothing like a +canoe flight under stars to tranquilize a troubled and +perplexed spirit, and Dan was soon won to the mood +he sought. It seemed to him that Sylvia, enfolded in +the silvery-dim dusk in the bow, was a part of the +peace of sky and water. They were alone, away from +the strifes and jars of the world, shut in together as +completely as though they had been flung back for +unreckoned ages into a world of unbroken calm. +The peace that Wordsworth sought and sang crept +into their blood, and each was sensible that the +other knew and felt it and that it was grateful to +them both.</p> + +<p>Sylvia spoke, after a time, of immaterial things, +or answered his questions as to the identity of the +constellations mapped in the clear arch above.</p> + +<p>"I dream sometimes of another existence," she +said, "as I suppose every one does, when I knew a +quiet lake that held the stars as this does. I even +think I remember how it looked in winter, with the +ice gleaming in the moonlight, and of snow coming +and the keen winds piling it in drifts. It's odd, isn't +it? those memories we have that are not memories. +The metempsychosis idea must have some substance. +We have all been somebody else sometime, and we +clutch at the shadows of our old selves, hardly believing +they are shadows."</p> + +<p>"It's a good deal a matter of imagination, isn't +it?" asked Dan, idling with the paddle.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I haven't a bit of that. That's one +thing I'm not troubled with, and I'm sorry for it. +When I look up at the stars I think of the most +hideous formula for calculating their distances +from the earth. When I read in a novel that it was +a night of stars, I immediately wonder what particular +stars. It used to make dear Grandfather Kelton +furiously indignant to find a moon appearing in +novels contrary to the almanac; he used to check up +all the moons, and he once thought of writing a +thesis on the 'Erroneous Lunar Calculations of Recent +Novelists,' but decided that it didn't really +make any difference. And of course it doesn't."</p> + +<p>As they discussed novels new and old, he drew in +his paddle and crept nearer her. It seemed to him +that all the influences of earth and heaven had +combined to create this hour for him. To be talking +to her of books that interpreted life and of life itself +was in itself something sweet; he wished such comradeship +as this, made possible by their common +interests in the deep, surging currents of the century +in which they lived, to go on forever.</p> + +<p>Their discussion of Tolstoy was interrupted by the +swift flight of a motor boat that passed near, raising +a small sea, and he seized the paddle to steady the +canoe. Then silence fell upon them.</p> + +<p>"Sylvia" he said softly, and again, "Sylvia!" +It seemed to him that the silence and the beauty of +the night were his ally, communicating to her infinite +longings hidden in his heart which he had +no words to express. "I love you, Sylvia; I love you. +I came up to-night to tell you that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Dan, you mustn't say it—you must never +say it!"</p> + +<p>The canoe seemed to hang between water and +stars, a motionless argosy in a sea of dreams.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to tell you before you came away," he +went on, not heeding; "I have wanted to tell you +for a long time. I want you to marry me. I want you +to help me find the good things; I want you to +help me to stand for them. You came just when +I needed you; you have already changed me, made +a different man of me. It was through you that I +escaped from my old self that was weak and yielding, +and I shall do better; yes, I shall prove to you that +I am not so weak but that I can strive and achieve. +Every word you ever spoke to me is written on my +heart. I need you, Sylvia!"</p> + +<p>"You're wrong, you're terribly wrong about all +that; and it isn't fair to let you say such things. +Please, Dan! I hoped this would never come—that +we should go on as we have been, good friends, talking +as we were a while ago of the fine things, the +great things. And it will have to be that way—there +can be nothing else."</p> + +<p>"But I will do my best, Sylvia! I'm not the man +you knew first; you helped me to see the light. Without +you I shall fall into the dark again. I had to tell +you, Sylvia. It was inevitable that I should tell you; +I wonder I kept it to myself so long. Without you +I should go adrift—no bearings, no light anywhere."</p> + +<p>"You found yourself, Dan; that was the way of it. +I saw it and appreciated it—it meant more to me +than I can tell you. I knew exactly how it was that +you started as you did; it was part of your fate; but +it made possible the finer thing. It's nothing in you +or what you've done or may do. But I have my own +work to do. I have cut a pattern for my own life, +and I must try to follow it. I think you understand +about that—I told you that night when we talked +of our aims and hopes on the campus at Montgomery +that I wanted to do something for the world. And I +must still go on trying to do that. It's a poor, tiny +little gleam; but I must follow the gleam."</p> + +<p>"But there's nothing in that that we can't do +together. We can go on seeking it together," he +pleaded.</p> + +<p>"I hope it may be so. We must go on being the +good friends we are now. You and Aunt Sally +are all I have—the best I have. I can't let you +spoil that," she ended firmly, as though, after all, +this were the one important thing.</p> + +<p>There was nothing here, he reasoned, that might +not be overcome. The work that she had planned +to do imposed no barrier. Men and women were finding +out the joy of striving together; she need give up +nothing in joining her life to his. He touched the +hand that lay near and thrilled to the contact of her +lingers.</p> + +<p>"Please, Dan!" she pleaded, drawing her hand +away. "I mean to go on with my life as I have begun +it. I shall never marry, Dan,—marriage isn't in +my plan at all. But for you the right woman will +come some day—I hope so with all my heart. We +must understand all this now. And I must be sure, +oh, very sure, that you know how dear it is to have +had you say these things to me."</p> + +<p>"But I shall say them again and always, Sylvia! +This was only the beginning; I had to speak to-night; +I came here to say these things to you. I am able +to care for you now—not as I should like to, but +I'm going to succeed. I want to ease the way for +you; I mean that you mustn't go back to teaching +this fall!"</p> + +<p>"There, you see"—and he knew she smiled in +her patient, sweet way that was dear to him—"you +want to stop my work before it's begun! You see +how impossible it would be, Dan!"</p> + +<p>"But you can do other things; there are infinite +ways in which you can be of use, doing the +things you want to do. The school work is only a +handicap,—drudgery that leads to nothing."</p> + +<p>He knew instantly that he had erred; and that he +must give her no opportunity to defend her attitude +toward her work. He returned quickly to his great +longing and need.</p> + +<p>"Without you I'm a failure, Sylvia. If it hadn't +been for you I should never have freed myself of +that man over there!" And he lifted his arm toward +the lights of the Bassett landing on the nearer +shore.</p> + +<p>"No; you would have saved yourself in any case; +there's no questioning that. You were bound to do +it. And it wasn't the man; it was the base servitude +that you came to despise."</p> + +<p>"Not without you! It was your attitude toward +me, after that cheap piece of melodrama I figured +in in that convention, that brought me up with a +short turn. It all came through you—my wish to +measure up to your ideal."</p> + +<p>"That's absurd, Dan. If I believed that I should +think much less of you; I really should!" she exclaimed. +"It was something finer and higher than +that; it was your own manhood asserting itself. That +man over there," she went on more quietly, "is an +object of pity. He's beset on many sides. It hurt +him to lose you. He's far from happy."</p> + +<p>"He has no claim upon happiness; he doesn't +deserve happiness," replied Dan doggedly.</p> + +<p>"But the break must have cost you something; +haven't you missed him just a little bit?"</p> + +<p>It was clear from her tone that she wished affirmation +of this. The reference to his former employer +angered him. He had been rejoicing in his escape +from Morton Bassett, and yet Sylvia spoke of him +with tolerance and sympathy. The Bassetts were +coolly using her to extricate themselves from the +embarrassments resulting from their own folly; it +was preposterous that they should have sent Sylvia +to bring Marian home. And his rage was intensified +by the recollection of the pathos he had himself felt +in Bassett that very evening, as he had watched him +mount the steps of his home. Sylvia was causing the +old chords to vibrate with full knowledge that, in +spite of his avowed contempt for the man, Morton +Bassett still roused his curiosity and interest. It was +unfair for Sylvia to take advantage of this.</p> + +<p>"Bassett's nothing to me," he said roughly.</p> + +<p>"He seems to me the loneliest soul I ever knew," +replied Sylvia quietly.</p> + +<p>"He deserves it; he's brought himself to that."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he's altogether evil. There must +be good in him."</p> + +<p>"It's because he's so evil that you pity him; it's +because of that that I'm sorry for him. It's because +we know that he must be broken upon the wheel +before he realizes the vile use he has made of his +power that we are sorry for him. Why, Sylvia, he's +the worst foe we have—all of us who want to do +what we call the great things—ease the burdens of +the poor, make government honest, catch the gleam +we seek! Even poor Allen, when he stands on the +Monument steps at midnight and spouts to me about +the Great Experiment, feels what Morton Bassett +can't be made to feel."</p> + +<p>"But he may yet see it; even he may come to see +it," murmured Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"He's a hard, stubborn brute; it's in the lines of +his back—I was studying him on the boat this +evening, and my eyes followed him up the steps after +they dropped him at his dock. It's in those strong, +iron hands of his. I tell you, what we feel for him is +only the kind of pity we have for those we know to +be doomed by the gods to an ignominious end. He's +not worth our pity. He asks no mercy and he won't +get any."</p> + +<p>He was at once ashamed of the temper to which +he had yielded, and angry at himself for having +broken the calm of the night with these discordant +notes. Sylvia's hand touched the water caressingly, +waking tiny ripples.</p> + +<p>"Sylvia," he said when he was calm again, "I +want you to marry me."</p> + +<p>"I have told you, Dan, that I can never marry +any one; and that must be the end of it."</p> + +<p>"But your work can go on—" he began, ready +for another assault upon that barrier.</p> + +<p>A sailboat loitering in the light wind had stolen +close upon them, and passed hardly a paddle's length +away. Dan, without changing his position, drove +the canoe toward the shore with a few strokes of +the paddle, then steadied himself to speak again. +Sylvia's eyes watched the sails vanishing like ghosts +into the dark.</p> + +<p>"That won't do, Sylvia: that isn't enough. You +haven't said that you don't care for me; you +haven't said that you don't love me! And I can't +believe that your ambitions alone are in the way. +Believe me, that I respect them; I should never +interfere with them. There must be some other +reason. I can't take no for an answer; this night was +made for us; no other night will ever be just like +this. Please, dear, if there are other reasons than my +own poor spirit and the little I can offer, let me know +it. If you don't care, it will be kinder to say it now! +If that is the reason—even if there's some other +man—let me know it now. Tell me what it is, +Sylvia!"</p> + +<p>It was true that she had not said she did not care. +Her silence now at the direct question stirred new +fears to life in his breast, like the beat of startled +wings from a thicket in November.</p> + +<p>Only the lights of the sailboat were visible now, +but suddenly a girl's voice rose clear and sweet, +singing to the accompaniment of guitar and mandolin. +The guitar throbbed; and on its deep chords the +mandolin wove its melody. The voice seemed to +steal out of the heart of the night and float over +the still waters. The unseen singer never knew the +mockery of the song she sang. It was an old song +and the air was one familiar the world round. And +it bore the answer to Dan's question which Sylvia +had carried long in her heart, but could not speak. +She did not speak it then; it was ordained that she +should never speak it. And Dan knew and understood.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"Who is Sylvia, what is she,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">That all the swains adore her?"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"<i>Who is Sylvia</i>?" Dan knew in that hour the +answer of tears!</p> + +<p>The song ceased. When Dan saw Sylvia's head +lift, he silently took the paddle and impelled the +canoe toward the red, white, and blue lanterns that +defined Mrs. Owen's landing. They were within a +hundred yards of the intervening green light of the +Bassett dock when a brilliant meteor darted across +the zenith, and Dan's exclamation broke the tension. +Their eyes turned toward the heavens—Sylvia's +still bright with tears, Dan knew, though he could +not see her face.</p> + +<p>"Poor lost star!" she murmured softly.</p> + +<p>Dan was turning the canoe slightly to avoid the +jutting shore that made a miniature harbor at the +Bassett's when Sylvia uttered a low warning. Dan, +instantly alert, gripped his paddle and waited. Some +one had launched a canoe at the Bassett boathouse. +There was a stealthiness in the performance that +roused him to vigilance. He cautiously backed +water and waited. A word or two spoken in a low +tone reached Dan and Sylvia: two persons seemed +to be embarking.</p> + +<p>A canoe shot out suddenly from the dock, driven +by a confident hand.</p> + +<p>"It must be Marian; but there's some one with +her," said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>Dan had already settled himself in the stern +ready for a race.</p> + +<p>"It's probably that idiot Allen," he growled. "We +must follow them."</p> + +<p>Away from the shore shadows the starlight was +sufficient to confirm Dan's surmise as to the nature +of this canoe flight. It was quite ten o'clock, and the +lights in the Bassett house on the bluff above had +been extinguished. It was at once clear to Dan that +he must act promptly. Allen, dismayed by the complications +that beset his love-affair, had proposed an +elopement, and Marian had lent a willing ear.</p> + +<p>"They're running away, Sylvia; we've got to head +them off." He bent to his paddle vigorously. "They +can't possibly get away."</p> + +<p>But it was not in Marian's blood to be thwarted in +her pursuit of adventure. She was past-mistress of +the canoeist's difficult art, and her canoe flew on +as though drawn away into the dark on unseen +cords.</p> + +<p>"You'd better lend a hand," said Dan, and Sylvia +turned round and knelt, paddling Indian fashion. +The canoe skimmed the water swiftly. It was in +their thoughts that Marian and Allen must not land +at Waupegan, where their intentions would be advertised +to the world. The race must end before the +dock was reached. At the end of a quarter of an +hour Dan called to Sylvia to cease paddling.</p> + +<p>"We've passed them; there's no doubt of that," +he said, peering into the dark.</p> + +<p>"Maybe they're just out for fun and have turned +back," suggested Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could think so. More likely they're trying +to throw us off. Let's check up for a moment +and see if we hear them again."</p> + +<p>He kept the canoe moving slowly while they +listened for some sign of the lost quarry. Then +suddenly they heard a paddle stroke behind them, +and an instant later a canoe's bow brushed their +craft as lightly as a hand passing across paper. Dan +threw himself forward and grasped the sides firmly; +there was a splashing and wobbling as he arrested +the flight. A canoe is at once the most docile and +the most intractable of argosies. Sylvia churned the +water with her paddle, seeking to crowd the rocking +canoes closer together, while Marian endeavored to +drive them apart.</p> + +<p>"Allen!" panted Dan, prone on the bottom of +his canoe and gripping the thwarts of the rebellious +craft beside him, "this must end here."</p> + +<p>"Let us go!" cried Allen stridently. "This is +none of your business. Let us go, I say."</p> + +<p>Finding it impossible to free her canoe, Marian +threw down her paddle angrily. They were all breathless; +Dan waited till the canoes rode together +quietly. Sylvia had brought an electric lamp +which Dan now flashed the length of the captive +canoe. It searched the anxious, angry faces of the +runaways, and disclosed two suit cases that told +their own story.</p> + +<p>"I told you to keep away from here, Allen. You +can't do this. It won't do," said Dan, snapping off +the light; "you're going home with us, Marian."</p> + +<p>"I won't go back; you haven't any right to stop +me!"</p> + +<p>"You haven't any right to run away in this +fashion," said Sylvia, speaking for the first time. +"You would cause endless trouble. It's not the way +to do it."</p> + +<p>"But it's the only way out," stormed Allen. +"There's no other way. Dan told me himself I +couldn't speak to Mr. Bassett, and this is the only +thing we could do."</p> + +<p>"Will you kindly tell me just what you intended +doing?" asked Dan, still gripping the canoe.</p> + +<p>"I'd spoken to the minister here in the village. +Marian was going to spend the night at his house +and we were to be married in the morning as soon as +I could get a license."</p> + +<p>"You can't get a marriage license in Waupegan; +your minister ought to know that."</p> + +<p>"No; but we could have driven over early to the +county seat and got it; I tell you I had it all fixed. +You let go of that canoe!"</p> + +<p>"Stand by, Sylvia," said Dan with determination.</p> + +<p>He steadied himself a moment, stepped into +Marian's canoe, and caught up her paddle.</p> + +<p>"Wait here, Sylvia. I'm going to land Allen over +there at that dock with the two white lights, and I'll +come back with Marian and we'll take her home. +Flash the light occasionally so I shan't lose you."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later when Allen, sulky and +breathing dire threats, had been dropped ashore, +Harwood paddled Marian home, Sylvia trailing +behind.</p> + +<p>It was near midnight when Sylvia, having hidden +Marian's suit case in Mrs. Owen's boathouse, +watched the tearful and wrathful Juliet steal back +into her father's house.</p> + +<p>Allen lodged at the inn with Dan that night and, +duly urged not to make a fool of himself again, went +home by the morning train.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX" />CHAPTER XXX</h2> + +<h3>THE KING HATH SUMMONED HIS PARLIAMENT</h3> + + +<p>The Great Seal of the Hoosier Commonwealth, +depicting a sturdy pioneer felling a +tree while behind him a frightened buffalo +gallops madly into oblivion, was affixed to a proclamation +of the governor convening the legislature in +special session on the 20th of November. It was Morton +Bassett's legislature, declared the Republican +press, brought back to the capital to do those things +which it had left undone at the regular session. The +Democratic newspapers proved conclusively that +the demands of the state institutions said to be +in dire need were the fruit of a long period of Republican +extravagance, for which the Democratic Party, +always prone to err on the side of frugality, was in +no wise responsible. The Republican governor had +caused the legislative halls to be reopened merely to +give a false impression of Democratic incompetence, +but in due season the people would express their +opinion of that governor. So reasoned loyal Democrats. +Legislatures are not cheap, taken at their +lowest valuation, and a special session, costing +something like one hundred thousand of the people's +dollars, is an extravagance before which a governor +may well hesitate. This particular convocation of +the Hoosier lawmakers, summoned easily enough by +a stroke of the pen, proved to be expensive in more +ways than one.</p> + +<p>On the third day of the special session, when the +tardiest member, hailing from the remote fastnesses +of Switzerland County, was just finding his seat, and +before all the others had drawn their stationery and +registered a generous computation of their mileage, +something happened. The bill for an act entitled an +act to lift the lid of the treasure chests was about to +be read for the first time when a page carried a +telegram to Morton Bassett in the senate chamber.</p> + +<p>Senator Bassett read his message once and again. +His neighbors on the floor looked enviously upon +the great man who thus received telegrams without +emotion. It seemed, however, to those nearest him, +that the bit of yellow paper shook slightly in +Bassett's hand The clerk droned on to an inattentive +audience. Bassett put down the telegram, +looked about, and then got upon his feet. The +lieutenant-governor, yawning and idly playing with +his gavel, saw with relief that the senator from +Fraser wished to interrupt the proceedings.</p> + +<p>"Mr. President."</p> + +<p>"The senator from Fraser."</p> + +<p>"Mr. President, I ask leave to interrupt the reading +of the bill to make an announcement."</p> + +<p>"There being no objection, the senator will make +his announcement."</p> + +<p>Senators who had been smoking in the cloakroom, +or talking to friends outside the railing, became attentive. +The senator from Fraser was little given to +speech, and it might be that he meant at this time +to indicate the attitude of the majority toward the +appropriations asked by the governor. In any event, +it was always wise to listen to anything Morton +Bassett had to say.</p> + +<p>The senator was unusually deliberate. Even when +he had secured the undivided attention of the chamber +he picked up the telegram and read it through +again, as though to familiarize himself with its +contents.</p> + +<p>"Mr. President, I have just received the following +message from a personal friend in Washington: +'The Honorable Roger B. Ridgefield, United States +Senator from Indiana, while on a hunting trip in +Chesapeake Bay with a party of Baltimore friends, +died suddenly this morning. The death occurred at +a point remote from the telegraph. No particulars +have yet been received at Washington.' It is with +profound sorrow, Mr. President, that I make this +announcement. Though Senator Ridgefield had long +been my political antagonist, he had also been, for +many years, a valued personal friend. The Republican +Party has lost one of its great leaders, and the +State of Indiana a son to whom men of all parties +have given their ungrudging admiration. Mr. President, +I move that the senate do now adjourn to +meet at ten o'clock to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>Even before the motion could be put, Bassett was +passing about among the desks. The men he spoke +to nodded understandingly. A mild, subdued excitement +reigned in the chamber. It flashed through the +mind of every Democratic member that that death +in the Chesapeake had brought a crisis in the war +between Bassett and Thatcher. In due course the +assembly, convened in joint session, would mourn +decorously the death of a statesman who had long +and honorably represented the old Hoosier State +in the greatest tribunal on earth; and his passing +would be feelingly referred to in sonorous phrases as +an untoward event, a deplorable and irreparable +loss to the commonwealth. To Republicans, however, +it was a piece of stupendous ill-luck that the +Senator should have indulged in the childish pastime +of duck shooting at an inconvenient season when the +Democratic majority in the general assembly would +be able to elect a successor to complete his term of +office.</p> + +<p>When the gavel fell, adjourning the senate, gentlemen +were already seeking in the Federal Constitution +for the exact language of the section bearing +upon this emergency. If the Republican governor +had not so gayly summoned the legislature he might +have appointed a Senator of his own political faith +to serve until the next regular session, following +the elections a year hence. It was ungenerous and +disloyal of Roger B. Ridgefield to have taken himself +out of the world in this abrupt fashion. Before the +first shock had passed, there were those about the +State House who, scanning the newspaper extras, +were saying that a secret fondness for poker and +not an enthusiasm for ducks had led the Honorable +Roger B. Ridgefield to the remote arm of the +Chesapeake, where he had been the guest of a +financier whose influence in the upper house of +Congress was notoriously pernicious. This did not, +however, alter the immediate situation. The language +of the Federal and State Constitutions was all +too explicit for the Republican minority; it was only +in recess that a governor might fill a vacancy; and +beyond doubt the general assembly was in town, +lawfully brought from the farm, the desk, the mine, +and the factory, as though expressly to satisfy the +greed for power of a voracious Democracy.</p> + +<p>Groups of members were retiring to quiet corners +to discuss the crisis. Bassett had already designated +a committee room where he would meet his followers +and stanch adherents. Thatcher men had gone forth +to seek their chief. The Democrats would gain a +certain moral strength through the possession of a +Senator in Congress. The man chosen to fill the +vacancy would have an almost irresistible claim upon +the senatorship if the Democrats should control the +next legislature. It was worth fighting for, that dead +man's seat!</p> + +<p>The full significance of the news was not wasted +upon Representative Harwood. The house adjourned +promptly, and Dan hastened to write telegrams. +He wired Colonel Ramsay, of Aurora, to +come to the capital on the first train. Telegrams +went flying that afternoon to every part of Indiana.</p> + +<p>Thatcher read the evening papers in Chicago and +kept the wires hot while he waited for the first train +for Indianapolis.</p> + +<p>One of his messages, addressed to Harwood, read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Breakfast with me to-morrow morning at my +house. Strictly private. This is your big chance."</p></div> + +<p>Harwood, locked in his office in the Law Building, +received this message by telephone, and it aroused +his ire. His relations with Thatcher did not justify +that gentleman in tendering him a strictly private +breakfast, nor did he relish having a big chance +pointed out to him by Mr. Thatcher. It cannot +be denied that Dan, too, felt that Senator Ridgefield +had chosen a most unfortunate season for exposing +himself to the ravages of the pneumococcus. +He kept away from the State House and hotels that +evening, having decided to take no part in the preliminary +skirmishes until he had seen Ramsay, who +would bring a cool head and a trained hand to bear +upon this unforeseen situation.</p> + +<p>He studied the newspapers as he ate breakfast +alone at the University Club early the next morning. +The "Advertiser" had neatly divided its first page +between the Honorable Roger B. Ridgefield, dead in +a far country, and the Honorable Morton Bassett, +who, it seemed, was very much alive at the Hoosier +capital. A double column headline conveyed this +intelligence:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">BASSETT IS HIMSELF AGAIN</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Harwood, nibbled his toast and winnowed the +chaff of speculation from the grains of truth in this +article. He had checked off the names of all the +Bassett men in both houses of the assembly, and +listed Thatcher's supporters and the doubtful members. +Bassett would undoubtedly make a strong +showing in a caucus, but whether he would be able +to command a majority remained to be seen. There +were men among the doubtful who would be disposed +to favor Thatcher because he had driven a +wedge into the old Bassett stone wall. No one else +had ever succeeded in imperiling the security of that +impregnable stronghold. The thought of this made +Harwood uncomfortable. It was unfortunate from +every standpoint that the legislature should be +called upon to choose a Senator without the usual +time for preparation. Dan had already been struck +by the general air of irresponsibility that prevailed +among the legislators. Many of the members had +looked upon the special session as a lark; they +seemed to feel that their accountability to their +constituents had ended with the regular session.</p> + +<p>The "Courier," Dan observed, printed an excellent +biographical sketch of the dead Senator, and its +news article on the Democratic opportunity was +seemly and colorless. The state and federal statutes +bearing upon the emergency were quoted in full, +but the names of Bassett and Thatcher did not appear, +nor were any possible successors to Ridgefield +mentioned. Dan opened to the editorial page, +and was not surprised to find the leading article a +dignified eulogy of the dead Senator. Then his eye +fastened upon an article so placed that it dominated +the whole page. It was the old "Stop, Look, Listen!" +editorial, reproduced with minute citation of the +date of original publication.</p> + +<p>Dan flinched as though a cupful of ice water had +struck him in the face. Whatever scandalous +knowledge touching Bassett's public or private life +Thatcher might possess, it was plain that Bassett +was either ignorant of it or knew and did not fear +exposure. In either event, the republication of the +"Stop, Look, Listen!" article was an invitation to +battle.</p> + +<p>It was in no happy frame of mind that Harwood +awaited the coming of Ramsay.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI" />CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + +<h3>SYLVIA ASKS QUESTIONS</h3> + + +<p>The Wares had asked Sylvia to dine with +them on Friday evening a fortnight later, +and Harwood was to call for her at the +minister's at nine o'clock. Sylvia went directly to +the Wares' from school, and on reaching the house +learned that Mrs. Ware had not come home and that +the minister was engaged with a caller in the parlor. +Sylvia, who knew the ways of the house well, left her +wraps in the hall and made herself comfortable in +the study, that curious little room that was never +free from the odor of pipe smoke, and where an old +cavalry sabre hung above the desk upon which in old +times many sermons had been written. A saddle, +a fishing-rod, and a fowling-piece dwelt together +harmoniously in one corner, and over the back of a +chair hung a dilapidated corduroy coat.</p> + +<p>It had been whispered in orthodox circles that +Ware had amused himself one winter after his retirement +by profanely feeding his theological library +into the furnace. However true this may be, few +authors were represented in his library, and these +were as far as possible compressed in one volume. +Shakespeare, Milton, Emerson, Arnold, and Whittier +were always ready to his hand; and he kept a +supply of slender volumes of Sill's "Poems" in a +cupboard in the hall and handed them out discriminatingly +to his callers. The house was the resort +of many young people, some of them children of +Ware's former parishioners, and he was much given +to discussing books with them; or he would read +aloud—"Sohrab and Rustum," Lowell's essay on +Lincoln, or favorite chapters from "Old Curiosity +Shop"; or again, it might be a review article on +the social trend or a fresh view of an old economic +topic. The Wares' was the pleasantest of small +houses and after Mrs. Owen's the place sought +oftenest by Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"There's a gentleman with Mr. Ware: he's been +here a long time," said the maid, lingering to lay a +fresh stick of wood on the grate fire.</p> + +<p>Sylvia, warming her hands at the blaze, heard the +faint blur of voices from the parlor. She surveyed +the room with the indifference of familiarity, glanced +at a new magazine, and then sat down at the desk +and picked up a book she had never noticed before. +She was surprised to find it a copy of "Society and +Solitude" that did not match the well-thumbed set +of Emerson—one of the few "sets" Ware owned. +She passed her hand over the green covers, that +were well worn and scratched in places. The fact +that the minister boasted in his humorous way of +never wasting money on bindings caused Sylvia to +examine this volume with an attention she would not +have given it in any other house. On the fly leaf +was written in pencil, in Ware's rough, uneven hand, +an inscription which covered the page, with the last +words cramped in the lower corner. These were almost +illegible, but Sylvia felt her way through them +slowly, and then turned to the middle of the book +quickly with an uncomfortable sense of having read +a private memorandum of the minister's. The margins +of his books she knew were frequently scribbled +over with notes that meant nothing whatever to +any one but Ware himself. After a moment her eyes +sought again irresistibly the inscription. She re-read +it slowly:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The way of peace they know not; and there is +no judgment in their goings; they have made them +crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein shall not +know peace. Tramping in Adirondacks. Baptized +Elizabeth at Harris's."</p></div> + +<p>It was almost like eavesdropping to come in this +way upon that curiously abrupt Ware-like statement +of the minister's: "Tramping in Adirondacks. +Baptized Elizabeth at Harris's."</p> + +<p>The discussion in the parlor had become heated, +and occasionally words in a voice not Ware's reached +Sylvia distinctly. Some one was alternately beseeching +and threatening the minister. It was clear from +the pauses in which she recognized Ware's deep +tones that he was yielding neither to the importunities +nor the threats of his blustering caller. Sylvia +had imagined that the storms of life had passed over +the retired clergyman, and she was surprised that +such an interview should be taking place in his +house. She was about to retreat to the dining-room +to be out of reach of the voices when the parlor door +opened abruptly and Thatcher appeared, with anger +unmistakably showing in his face, and apparently +disposed to resume in the hall the discussion which +the minister had terminated in the library. Thatcher +seemed balder and more repellent than when she had +first seen him on the floor of the convention hall on +the day Harwood uttered Bassett's defiance. Sylvia +rose with the book still in her hand and walked to +the end of the room; but any one in the house might +have heard what Thatcher was saying.</p> + +<p>"That's the way with you preachers; you talk +about clean politics, and when we get all ready to +clean out a bad man, you duck; you're a lot of +cowardly dodgers. I tell you, I don't want you to +say a word or figure in this thing at all; but you give +me that book and I'll scare Mort Bassett out of +town. I'll scare him clean out of Indiana, and he'll +never show his head again. Why, Ware, I've been +counting on it, that when you saw we were in a hole +and going to lose, you'd come down from your high +horse and help me out. I tell you, there's no doubt +about it; that woman's the woman I'm looking for! +I guessed it the night you told that story up there in +the house-boat."</p> + +<p>"Quit this business, Ed," the minister was saying; +"I'm an old friend of yours. But I won't budge an +inch. I'd never breathed a word of that story before +and I shouldn't have told it that night. It was so +far back that I thought it was safe. But your idea +that Bassett had anything to do with that is preposterous. +Your hatred of him has got the better of +you, my friend. Drop it: forget it. If you can't whip +him fair, let him win."</p> + +<p>"Not much I won't; but I didn't think you'd go +back on me; I thought better of you than that!"</p> + +<p>Thatcher strode to the door and went out, slamming +it after him.</p> + +<p>The minister peered into the library absently, and +then, surprised to find Sylvia, advanced to meet her, +smiling gravely. He took both her hands, and held +them, looking into her face.</p> + +<p>"What's this you've been reading? Ah, that +book!" The volume slipped into his hands and he +glanced at it, frowning impatiently. "Poor little book. +I ought to have burned it years ago; and I ought to +have learned by this time to keep my mouth shut. +They've always said I look like an Indian, but +an Indian never tells anything. I've told just one +story too many. <i>Mea maxima culpa!</i>"</p> + +<p>He sat down in the big chair beside his desk, placed +the book within reach, and kept touching it as he +talked.</p> + +<p>"I saw Mr. Thatcher," said Sylvia. "He seemed +very much aroused. I couldn't help hearing a word +now and then."</p> + +<p>"That's all right, Sylvia. I've known Thatcher +for years, and last fall I went up to his house-boat on +the Kankakee for a week's shooting. Allen and Dan +Harwood were the rest of the party—and I happened +to tell the story of this little book—an unfinished +story. We ought never to tell stories until +they are finished. And it seems that Thatcher, with +a zeal worthy of a better cause, has been raking up +the ashes of an old affair of Bassett's with a woman, +and he's trying to hitch it on to the story I told him +about this book. He says by shaking this at Bassett +he can persuade him that he's got enough ammunition +to blow him out of the water. But I don't believe +a word of it; I won't believe such a thing of +Morton Bassett. And even if I did, Thatcher can't +have that book. I owe it to the woman whose baby +I baptized up there in the hills to keep it. And the +woman may be living, too, for all I know. I think +of her pretty often. She was game; wouldn't tell +anything. If a man had deceived her she stood by +him. Whatever she was—I know she was not bad, +not a bit of it—the spirit of the hills had entered +into her—and those are cleansing airs up there. I +suppose it all made the deeper impression on me +because I was born up there myself. When I strike +Adirondacks in print I put down my book and think +a while. It's a picture word. It brings back my earliest +childhood as far as I can remember. I call +words that make pictures that way moose words; +they jump up in your memory like a scared moose in +a thicket and crash into the woods like a cavalry +charge. I can remember things that happened when +I was three years old: one day father shot a deer in +our cornfield and I recall it perfectly. The general +atmosphere of the old place steals over me yet. The +very thought of the pointed spruces, the feathery +tamaracks, all the scents and sounds of summer, +and the long, white winters, does my soul good +now. The old Hebrews understood the effect of landscape +on character. They knew most everything, +those old chaps. 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the +hills from whence cometh my help.' Any strength +there is in me dates back to the hills of my youth. +I'd like to go back there to die when the bugle +calls."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ware had not yet come in. Ware lighted the +lamp and freshened the fire. While he was doing this, +Sylvia moved to a chair by the table and picked up +the book. What Ware had said about the hills of his +youth, the woods, the word tamarack that he had +dropped carelessly, touched chords of memory as +lightly as a breeze vibrates a wind harp. Was this +merely her imagination that had been stirred, or was +it indeed a recollection? Often before she had been +moved by similar vague memories or longings, whatever +they were. They had come to trouble her girlhood +at Montgomery, when the snow whitened the +campus and the wind sang in the trees. She was +grateful that the minister had turned his back. +Her hands trembled as she glanced again at the +scribbled fly leaf; and more closely at the words penciled +at the bottom: "Baptized Elizabeth at Harris's." +Thatcher wanted this book to use against +Bassett. Bassett was a collector of fine bindings; +she had heard it spoken of in the family. It was +part of Marian's pride in her father that he was a +bookish man. When the minister returned to his +seat Sylvia asked as she put down the book:—</p> + +<p>"Who was Elizabeth?"</p> + +<p>And then, little by little, in his abrupt way, he +told the story, much as he had told it that night on +the Kankakee, with pauses for which Sylvia was +grateful—they gave her time for thought, for filling +in the lapses, for visualizing the scene he described. +And the shadow of the Morton Bassett she knew +crept into the picture. She recalled their early meetings, +that first brief contact on the shore of the lake; +their talk on the day following the convention when +she had laughed at him; that wet evening when +they met in the street and he had expressed his interest +in Harwood and the hope that she might care +for the young lawyer. With her trained habits of +reasoning she rejected this or that bit of testimony +as worthless; but even then enough remained to +chill her heart. Her hands were cold as she clasped +them together. Who was Elizabeth? Ah, who was +Sylvia? The phrase of the song that had brought +her to tears that starry night on the lake when Dan +Harwood had asked her to marry him smote her +again. Her grandfather's evasion of her questions +about her father and mother, and the twinges of +heartache she had experienced at college when other +girls spoke of their homes, assumed now for the first +time a sinister meaning. Had she, indeed, come into +the world in dishonor, and had she in truth known +that far hill country, with its evergreens and glistening +snows?</p> + +<p>Ware had finished his story, and sat staring into +the crackling fire. At last he turned toward Sylvia. +In the glow of the desk lamp her face was white, and +she gazed with unseeing eyes at the inscription in +the book.</p> + +<p>The silence was still unbroken when a few minutes +later Mrs. Ware came in with Harwood, whom +she had met in the street and brought home to dinner.</p> + +<p>Dan was full of the situation in the legislature, and +the table talk played about that topic.</p> + +<p>"We're sparring for time, that's all, and the +people pay the freight! The deadlock is clamped on +tight. I never thought Thatcher would prove so +strong. I think we could shake loose enough votes +from both sides to precipitate a stampede for Ramsay, +but he won't hear to it. He says he wants to +do the state one patriotic service before he dies by +cleaning out the bosses, and he doesn't want to +spoil the record by taking the senatorship himself. +Meanwhile Bassett stands fast and there's no telling +when he'll break through Thatcher's lines."</p> + +<p>"Thatcher was here to see me to-day—the third +time. He won't come back. You know what he's +after?" said Ware.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I understand," Dan answered.</p> + +<p>"There won't be anything of that kind, will there, +Dan?"</p> + +<p>Dan shrugged his shoulders, and glanced at Sylvia +and Mrs. Ware.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Ware knows about it; I had to tell her," +remarked the minister, chuckling. "When Ed +Thatcher makes two calls on me in one week, and +one of them at midnight, there's got to be an +explanation. And Sylvia heard him raving before +I showed him out this afternoon."</p> + +<p>Sylvia's plate was untouched; her eyes searched +those of the man who loved her before she spoke.</p> + +<p>"That's an ethical point, Mr. Ware. If it were +necessary to use that,—if every other resource +failed,—would you use it?"</p> + +<p>"No! Not if Bassett's success meant the utter +destruction of the state. I don't believe a word of it. +I haven't the slightest confidence in Thatcher's +detective work, and the long arm of coincidence has +to grasp something firmer than my pitiful little book +to convince me."</p> + +<p>Dan shook his head.</p> + +<p>"He doesn't need the book, Mr. Ware. I've seen +the documents in the case. Most of the evidence is +circumstantial, but you remember what your friend +Thoreau said about circumstantial evidence—something +to the effect that it's sometimes pretty +convincing, as when you find a trout in the milk."</p> + +<p>"But has Thatcher found the trout?"</p> + +<p>"Well, no; he hasn't exactly found the trout, but +there's enough, there's altogether too much!" ended +Dan despairingly. "The caucus doesn't meet again +till to-morrow night, when Thatcher promises to +show his hand. I'm going to put in the time trying +to persuade Ramsay to come round."</p> + +<p>"You might take it yourself, Dan," suggested +Mrs. Ware.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not eligible; I'm a little shy of being +old enough! And besides, I couldn't allow Ramsay +to prove himself a better patriot than I am. There +are plenty of fellows who have no such scruples, and +we've got to look out or Bassett will shift suddenly +to some man of his own if he finds he can't nominate +himself."</p> + +<p>"But do you think he has any idea what Thatcher +has up his sleeve?" asked Ware.</p> + +<p>"It's possible; I dare say he knows it. He's always +been master of the art of getting information +from the enemy's camp. But Thatcher has shown +remarkable discretion in managing this. He tells me +solemnly that nobody on earth knows his intentions +except you, Allen, and me. He's saving himself for +a broadside, and he wants its full dramatic effect."</p> + +<p>Sylvia had hardly spoken during this discussion; +but the others looked at her curiously as she said:—</p> + +<p>"I don't think he has it to fire; it's incredible; +I don't believe it."</p> + +<p>"Neither do I, Sylvia," said the minister earnestly.</p> + +<p>The talk at the Wares' went badly that evening. +Harwood's mind was on the political situation. As +he sat in the minister's library he knew that in +upper chambers of the State House, and in hotels +and boarding-houses, members of the majority in +twos and threes, or here and there a dozen, were +speculating and plotting. The deadlock was becoming +intolerable. Interest in the result was keen +in all parts of the country, and the New York and +Chicago newspapers had sent special representatives +to watch the fight. Dan was sick of the sight and +sound of it. In the strict alignment of factions he +had voted with Thatcher, yet he told himself he was +not a Thatcher man. He had personally projected +Ramsay's name one night in the hope of breaking +the Bassett phalanx, but the only result was to +arouse Thatcher's wrath against him. Bassett's men +believed in Bassett. The old superstition as to his +invulnerability had never more thoroughly possessed +the imaginations of his adherents. Bassett +was not only himself again, but his iron grip seemed +tighter than ever He was making the fight of his +life, and he was beyond question a "game" fighter, +the opposition newspapers that most bitterly opposed +Bassett tempered their denunciations with +this concession. Dan fumed at this, such bosses +were always game fighters, they had to be, and +the readiness of Americans to admire the gameness +of the Bassetts deepened his hostility. The very use +of sporting terminology in politics angered him. In +his mind the case was docketed not as Thatcher +<i>versus</i> Bassett, but as Thatcher and Bassett <i>versus</i> +the People. It all came to that. And why should not +the People—the poor, meek, long-suffering People, +the "pee-pul" of familiar derision—sometimes +win? His pride in the state of his birth was strong; +his pride in his party was only second to it. He +would serve both if he could. Not only must Bassett +be forever put down, but Thatcher also; and he +assured himself that it was not the men he despised, +but the wretched, brutal mediæval system that +survived in them. And so pondering, it was no +wonder that Dan brought no joy to John Ware's +library that night. The minister himself seemed +unwontedly preoccupied; Sylvia stared at the fire as +though seeking in the flames answers to unanswerable +questions. Mrs. Ware sought vainly to bring +cheer to the company:</p> + +<p>Shortly after eight o'clock, Sylvia rose to leave.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Sally got home from Kentucky this afternoon, +and I must drop in for a minute, Dan, if you +don't mind."</p> + +<p>Sylvia hardly spoke on the way to Mrs. Owen's. +Since that night on the lake she had never been the +same, or so it seemed to Dan. She had gone back to +her teaching, and when they met she talked of her +work and of impersonal things. Once he had +broached the subject of marriage,—soon after her +return to town,—but she had made it quite clear +that this was a forbidden topic. The good comradeship +ship and frankness of their intercourse had passed, +and it seemed to his despairing lover's heart that it +could never be regained. She carried her head a little +higher; her smile was not the smile of old. He shrank +from telling her that nothing mattered if she cared +for him as he believed she did. She gave him no +chance, for one thing, and he had never in his bitter +self-communing found any words in which to tell her +so. More than ever he needed Sylvia, but Sylvia +had locked and barred the doors against him.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen received them in her office, and the old +lady's cheeriness was grateful to both of them.</p> + +<p>"So you've been having supper with the Wares, +have you, while I ate here all by myself? A nice way +to treat a lone old woman,—leaving me to prop the +'Indiana Farmer' on the coffee pot for company! I +had to stay at Lexington longer than I wanted to, +and some of my Kentucky cousins held me up in +Louisville. I notice, Daniel, that there are some +doings at the State House. I must say it was a downright +sin for old Ridgefield to go duck shooting at +his time of life and die just when we were getting +politics calmed down in this state. When I saw that +old 'Stop, Look, Listen!' editorial printed like a +Thanksgiving proclamation in the 'Courier,' I knew +there was trouble. I must speak to Atwill. He's +letting the automobile folks run the paper again."</p> + +<p>She demanded to know when Dan would have +time to do some work for her; she had disposed of +her Kentucky farm and was going ahead with her +scheme for a vocational school to be established at +Waupegan. This was the first that Dan had heard +of this project, and its bearing upon the hopes of the +Bassetts as the heirs apparent of Mrs. Owen's estate +startled him.</p> + +<p>"I want you to draw up papers covering the whole +business, Daniel, but you've got to get rid of your +legislature first. I thought of a good name for the +school, Sylvia. We'll call it Elizabeth House School, +to hitch it on to the boarding-house. I want you and +Daniel to go down East with me right after Christmas +to look at some more schools where they do +that kind of work. We'll have some fun next spring +tearing up the farm and putting up the new buildings. +Are Hallie and Marian in town, Sylvia?"</p> + +<p>"No, they're at Fraserville," Sylvia replied. +"And I had a note from Blackford yesterday. +He's doing well at school now."</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess you did that for him, Sylvia. I +hope they're all grateful for that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it was nothing; and they paid me generously +for my work."</p> + +<p>"Humph!" Mrs. Owen sniffed. "Children, there +are things in this world that a check don't settle."</p> + +<p>There were some matters of business to be discussed. +Dan had at last received an offer for the +Kelton house at Montgomery, and Mrs. Owen +thought he ought to be able to screw the price up a +couple of hundred dollars.</p> + +<p>"I'm all ready to close the estate when the sale is +completed," said Dan. "Practically everything will +be cleaned up when the house is sold. That Canneries +stock that we inventoried as worthless is pretty +sure to pan out. I've refused to compromise."</p> + +<p>"That's right, Daniel. Don't you compromise +that case. This skyrocket finance is all right for +New York, but we can't allow it here in the +country where folks are mostly square or trying +to be."</p> + +<p>"It seems hard to let the house go," said Sylvia. +"It's given Mary a home and we'll have to find a +place for her."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all fixed," remarked Mrs. Owen. +"I've got work for her at Elizabeth House. She can +do the darning and mending. Daniel, have you +brought the papers from Andrew's safety box over +here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Aunt Sally; I did that the last time I was in +Montgomery. I wanted to examine the abstract of +title and be ready to close this sale if you and Sylvia +approved of it."</p> + +<p>"Well, well," Mrs. Owen said, in one of those +irrelevances that adorned her conversation.</p> + +<p>Dan knew what was in her mind. Since that night +on Waupegan, blessed forever by Sylvia's tears, the +letter found among Professor Kelton's papers had +led him through long, intricate mazes of speculation. +It was the torn leaf from a book that was worthless +without the context; a piece of valuable evidence, +but inadmissible unless supported and illuminated +by other testimony.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="I572" id="I572" /> +<a href="images/572.jpg"><img src= +"images/572.jpg" width="45%" alt="" title="" /></a><br /> +<b>SYLVIA MUST KNOW JUST WHAT WE KNOW</b><br /> +<br /><br /> +</div> + +<p>Sylvia had been singularly silent, and Mrs. Owen's +keen eyes saw that something was amiss. She +stopped talking, as much as to say, "Now, if you +young folks have anything troubling you, now's your +time to come out with it."</p> + +<p>An old clock on the stair landing boomed ten. +Mrs. Owen stirred restlessly. Sylvia, sitting in a +low chair by the fire, clasped her hands abruptly, +clenched them hard, and spoke, turning her head +slowly until her eyes rested upon Dan.</p> + +<p>"Dan," she asked, "did you ever know—do you +know now—what was in the letter you carried to +Grandfather Kelton that first time I saw you—the +time I went to find grandfather for you?"</p> + +<p>Dan glanced quickly at Mrs. Owen.</p> + +<p>"Answer Sylvia's question, Daniel," the old lady +replied.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I learned later what it was. And Aunt +Sally knows."</p> + +<p>"Tell me; tell me what you know about it," commanded +Sylvia gravely, and her voice was clear now.</p> + +<p>Dan hesitated. He rose and stood with his arm +resting on the mantel.</p> + +<p>"It's all right, Daniel. Now that Sylvia has +asked, she must know just what we know," said +Mrs. Owen.</p> + +<p>"The letter was among your grandfather's papers. +It was an offer to pay for your education. It was an +unsigned letter."</p> + +<p>"But you know who wrote it?" asked Sylvia, not +lifting her head.</p> + +<p>"No; I don't know that," he replied earnestly; +"we haven't the slightest idea."</p> + +<p>"But how did you come to be the messenger? +Who gave you the letter?" she persisted quietly.</p> + +<p>"Daniel never told me that, Sylvia. But if you +want to know, he must tell you. It might be better +for you not to know; you must consider that. It can +make no difference now of any kind."</p> + +<p>"It may make a difference," said Sylvia brokenly, +not lifting her head; "it may make a great deal of +difference. That's why I speak of it; that's why I +must know!"</p> + +<p>"Go on, Daniel; answer Sylvia's question."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Fitch gave it to me. It had been entrusted to +him for delivery by a personal friend or a client: I +never knew. He assured me that he had no idea +what the letter contained; but he knew of course +where it came from. He chose me for the errand, I +suppose, because I was a new man in the office, and +a comparative stranger in town. I remember that +he asked me if I had ever been in Montgomery, as +though to be sure I had no acquaintances there. I +carried back a verbal answer—which was stipulated +in the letter. The answer was 'No,' and in what way +Mr. Fitch passed it on to his client I never knew."</p> + +<p>"You didn't tell me those things when we found +the letter, Daniel," said Mrs. Owen reproachfully.</p> + +<p>The old lady opened a drawer, found a chamois +skin, and polished her glasses slowly. Dan walked +away as though to escape from that figure with +averted face crouching by the fire. But without +moving Sylvia spoke again, with a monotonous level +of tone, and her question had the empty ring of a +lawyer's interrogatory worn threadbare by repetition +to a succession of witnesses:—</p> + +<p>"At that time was Mr. Bassett among the clients +of Wright and Fitch, and did you ever see him in +the office then, or at any time?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Owen closed the drawer deliberately and +raised her eyes to Dan's affrighted gaze.</p> + +<p>"Daniel, you'd better run along now. Sylvia's +going to spend the night here."</p> + +<p>Sylvia had not moved or spoken again when the +outer door closed on Harwood.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII" />CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + +<h3>"MY BEAUTIFUL ONE"</h3> + + +<p>Miss Farrell was surprised to find her +employer already in his office when she +unlocked the door at eight o'clock the +next morning, and her surprise was increased when +Harwood, always punctilious in such matters, +ignored the good-morning with which she greeted +him. The electric lights over Dan's desk were burning, +a fact not lost upon his stenographer. It was +apparent that Harwood had either spent the night +in his office or had gone to work before daylight. +Rose's eyes were as sharp as her wits, and she +recognized at a glance the file-envelopes and papers +relating to the Kelton estate, many of them superscribed +in her own hand, that lay on Harwood's desk.</p> + +<p>She snapped off the lights with an air that implied +reproof, or could not have failed of that effect if +the man at the desk had been conscious of the act. +He was hopelessly distraught and his face appeared +no less pallid in daylight than in the electric glare +in which Rose had found him. As the girl warmed +her hands at the radiator in the reception room the +telephone chimed cheerily. The telephone provides +a welcome companionship for the office girl: its importunities +and insolences are at once her delight and +despair. Rose took down the receiver with relief. +She parleyed guardedly with an unseen questioner +and addressed Harwood from the door in the cautious, +apologetic tone with which wise office girls +break in upon the meditations of their employers.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Mr. Harwood. Shall I say you're +engaged. It's Mr. Thatcher."</p> + +<p>Dan half-turned and replied with a tameness Rose +had not expected.</p> + +<p>"Say what you please, Rose; only I don't want +to talk to him or see him, or anybody."</p> + +<p>The clock in the court-house tower boomed nine +sombrely. Dan distrusted its accuracy as he distrusted +everything in the world that morning. He +walked listlessly to the window and compared the +face of the clock with his watch. He had thought +it must be noon; but the hour of the day did not +matter greatly.</p> + +<p>"It's all right," said Rose meekly from the door. +"I told him you were probably at the State House."</p> + +<p>"Whom? Oh, thank you, Rose." And then, as +though to ease her conscience for this mild mendacity, +he added: "I believe I did have an engagement +over there at nine."</p> + +<p>"He said—" Rose began warily; and then gave +him an opportunity to cut her short.</p> + +<p>"What did he say?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he was hot! He said if you came in before +he found you, to say that if you and Ramsay didn't +help him deliver the freight to-day he would get +action to-morrow; that that's the limit."</p> + +<p>"He said to-morrow, did he? Very well, Rose. +That's all."</p> + +<p>Rose, virtuously indexing the letter-book, saw +Harwood as he idly ranged the rooms try the hall +door to make sure it was bolted. Then he stood at the +window of his own room, staring at nothing. The +telephone chimed cheerfully at intervals. Ramsay +sought him; Thatcher had stationed one of his allies +at a telephone booth in the State House corridor to +call the office at regular intervals. Newspaper reporters +demanded to know where Harwood could be +found; the governor, rankling under the criticism +he had brought upon his party by the special session, +wished to see Harwood to learn when, if possible, +the legislature would take itself home. To these continual +importunities Rose replied in tones of surprise, +regret, or chagrin, as the individual case demanded, +without again troubling her employer. The index +completed, she filed papers, smoothed her yellow +hair at the wash stand, exchanged fraternal signals +with a girl friend in the office opposite, and read +the "Courier's" report of the senatorial struggle +with complete understanding of its intricacies.</p> + +<p>"Rose!"</p> + +<p>It was twelve o'clock when Harwood called her. +He had brushed aside the mass of documents she +had noted on her arrival, and a single letter sheet +lay before him. Without glancing up he bade her +sit down. She had brought her notebook prepared to +take dictation. He glanced at it and shook his head. +The tired, indifferent Harwood she had found at the +end of his night vigil had vanished; he was once +more the alert, earnest young man of action she +admired.</p> + +<p>"Rose, I want to ask you some questions. I think +you will believe me if I say that I shouldn't ask +them if they were not of importance—of very great +importance."</p> + +<p>"All right, Mr. Harwood."</p> + +<p>Her eyes had fallen upon the letter and her lids +fluttered quickly. She touched her pompadour with +the back of her hand and tightened the knot of her tie.</p> + +<p>"This is on the dead, Rose. It concerns a lot of +people, and it's important for me to know the truth. +And it's possible that you may not be able to help; +but if you can't the matter ends here."</p> + +<p>He rose and closed the door of his room to shut +out the renewed jingle of the telephone.</p> + +<p>"I want you to look at this letter and tell me +whether you ever saw it before."</p> + +<p>She took it from him, glanced at the first line +indifferently, looked closely at the paper, and gave it +back, shaking her head.</p> + +<p>"We never had anything like that in the office, +paper or machine either. That's heavier than the +stationery you had over in the Boordman Building, +and that's a black ribbon; we've always used purple +copying-ribbons. And that letter wasn't copied; you +can tell that."</p> + +<p>"That doesn't answer my question, Rose. I want +to know whether you ever saw that letter before. +Perhaps you'd better take another look at it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can tell any of my work across the street! +I don't know anything about that letter, Mr. Harwood."</p> + +<p>Her indifference had yielded to respectful indignation. +She set her lips firmly, and her blue eyes +expressed surprise that her employer should be thus +subjecting her to cross-examination.</p> + +<p>"I understand perfectly, Rose, that this is unusual, +and that it is not quite on the square. But +this is strictly between ourselves. It's on the dead, +you understand."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'd do anything for you that I'd do for anybody, +yes, sir—I'd do more: but I refused ten +thousand dollars for what I know about what happened +in the Transportation Committee that winter +I was its stenog. That's a lot of money; it would take +care of me for the rest of my life; and you know +Thatcher kept after me until I had to tell him a +few things I'd do to him if he didn't let me alone. +I'll answer your question straight," and she looked +him in the eye, "I never saw that letter before, and +I don't know anything about it. Is that all?"</p> + +<p>"To go back again, Rose," resumed Dan patiently, +"not many girls would have the strength to resist +a temptation like that, as you did. But this is a +very different case. I need your help, but it isn't +for myself that I'm trying to trace that letter. If it +weren't a matter of actual need I shouldn't trouble +you—be sure of that."</p> + +<p>"I always thought you were on the square, but +you're asking me to do something you wouldn't do +yourself. And I've told you again that I don't know +anything about that letter; I never saw it before."</p> + +<p>She tapped the edge of the desk to hide the trembling +of her fingers. The tears shone suddenly in her +blue eyes.</p> + +<p>Dan frowned, but the frown was not for Rose. She +had already betrayed herself; he was confident from +her manner that she knew. The prompt denial of +any knowledge of the fateful sheet of paper for which +he had hoped all night had not been forthcoming. +But mere assumptions would not serve him; he had +walked in darkness too long not to crave the full +light. The pathos of this girl's loyalty had touched +him; her chance in life had been the slightest, she +had been wayward and had erred deeply, and yet +there were fastnesses of honor in her soul that remained +unassailable.</p> + +<p>Her agitation distressed him; he had never seen +her like this; he missed the little affectations and the +droll retorts that had always amused him. She was +no longer the imperturbable and ready young woman +whose unwearying sunniness and amazing intuitions +had so often helped him through perplexities.</p> + +<p>"As a matter of your own honor, Rose, you +wouldn't tell me. But if the honor of some one else—"</p> + +<p>She shook her head slowly, and he paused.</p> + +<p>"No," she said. "I'm only a poor little devil of +a stenog and I've been clear down,—you know +that,—but I won't do it. I turned down Thatcher's +ten thousand dollars, and I turned it down hard. +The more important that letter is, the less I know +about it. I'll go into court and swear I never saw +or heard of it before. I don't know anything about +it. If you want me to quit, it's all right; it's all +right, Mr. Harwood. You've been mighty good to +me and I hate to go; but I guess I'd better quit."</p> + +<p>He did not speak until she was quite calm again. +As a last resource he must shatter her fine loyalty +by an appeal to her gratitude.</p> + +<p>"Rose, if some one you knew well—some one +who had been the kindest of friends, and who had +lent you a hand when you needed it most—were +in danger, and I needed your help to protect—that +person—would you tell me?"</p> + +<p>Their eyes met; she looked away, and then, as she +met his gaze again, her lips parted and the color +deepened in her face.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean—" she began.</p> + +<p>"I mean that this is to help me protect a dear +friend of yours and of mine. I shouldn't have told +you this if it hadn't been necessary. It's as hard +for me as it is for you, Rose. There's a great deal +at stake. Innocent people will suffer if I'm unable +to manage this with full knowledge of all the facts. +You think back, six years ago last spring, and tell +me whether you have any knowledge, no matter how +indefinite, as to where that letter was written."</p> + +<p>"You say," she began haltingly, "there's a friend +of mine that I could help if I knew anything about +your letter? You'll have to tell me who it is."</p> + +<p>"I'd rather not do that; I'd rather not mention +any names, not even to you."</p> + +<p>She was drying her eyes with her handkerchief. +Her brows knit, she bent her head for an instant, +and then stared at him in bewilderment and unbelief, +and her lips trembled.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean my friend—my beautiful one!—not +the one who picked me up out of the dirt—" +She choked and her slender frame shook—and then +she smiled wanly and ended with the tears coursing +down her cheeks. "My beautiful one, who took me +home again and kissed me—she kissed me here!" +She touched her forehead as though the act were +part of some ritual, then covered her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean"—she cried out suddenly,—"you +don't mean it's that!"</p> + +<p>"No; it's not that; far from <i>that</i>," replied Dan +sadly, knowing what was in her mind.</p> + +<p>He went out and closed the door upon her. He +called Mrs. Owen on the telephone and told her he +would be up immediately. Then he went back to +Rose.</p> + +<p>"It was like this, Mr. Harwood," said the girl, +quite composed again. "I knew him—pretty well—you +know the man I mean. After that Transportation +Committee work I guess he thought he had to +keep his hand on me. He's like that, you know. If +he thinks anybody knows anything on him he +watches them and keeps a tight grip on them, all +right. You know that about him?"</p> + +<p>Dan nodded. He saw how the web of circumstance +had enmeshed him from the beginning. All the incidents +of that chance visit to Fraserville to write +the sketch of Bassett for the "Courier" lived in his +memory. Something had been said there about +Madison College; and his connection with Fitch's +office had been mentioned, and on the fears thus +roused in Morton Bassett, he, Daniel Harwood, had +reared a tottering superstructure of aims, hopes, +ambitions, that threatened to overwhelm him! But +now, as the first shock passed, he saw all things +clearly. He would save Sylvia even though Bassett +must be saved first. If Thatcher could be silenced +in no other way, he might have the senatorship; +or Dan would go direct to Bassett and demand that +he withdraw from the contest. He was not afraid of +Morton Bassett now.</p> + +<p>"I had gone to work for that construction company +in the Boordman where you found me. It was +his idea to move me into your office—I guess you +thought you picked me out; but he gave me a quiet +tip to ask you for the job. Well, he'd been dropping +into the construction office now and then to see me—you +know the boss was never in town and I hadn't +much to do. He used to dictate letters—said he +couldn't trust the public stenogs in the hotels; and +one day he gave me that letter to copy. He had written +it out in lead pencil beforehand, but seemed +mighty anxious to get it just right. After I copied +it he worked it over several times, before he got it +to suit him. He said it was a little business he was +attending to for a friend. We burnt up the discards +in the little old grate in the office. He had brought +some paper and envelopes along with him, and I remember +he held a sheet up to the light to make sure +it didn't have a watermark. He threw down a +twenty-dollar gold piece and took the letter away +with him. After I had moved into your office he +spoke of that letter once: one day when you were +out he asked me how much money had been mentioned +in the letter."</p> + +<p>"When was that, Rose?"</p> + +<p>"A few days after the state convention when you +shot the hot tacks into Thatcher. He had been at +Waupegan, you remember."</p> + +<p>Dan remembered. And he recalled also that Bassett +had seen Sylvia at Mrs. Owen's the day following +the convention, and it was not astonishing that +the sight of her had reminded him of his offer to pay +for her education. His own relation to the matter +was clear enough now that Rose had yielded her +secret.</p> + +<p>Rose watched him as he drew on his overcoat and +she handed him his hat and gloves. Her friend, +"the beautiful one," would not suffer; she was confident +of this, now that Harwood was fully armed +to protect her.</p> + +<p>"Keep after Ramsay by telephone until you find +him. Tell him to come here and wait for me if it's all +day. If you fail to catch him by telephone, go out +and look for him and bring him here."</p> + +<p>In a moment he was hurrying toward Mrs. +Owen's.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII" />CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> + +<h3>THE MAN OF SHADOWS</h3> + + +<p>The dome was a great blot against the stars +when, shortly after eight o'clock that evening, +Sylvia entered the capitol.</p> + +<p>All night, in the room she had occupied on that +far day of her first visit to Mrs. Owen, Sylvia had +pondered. It is not for us to know what passed in +that still chamber between her and her friend; but +it was the way of both women to meet the truth +squarely. They discussed facts impersonally, +dispassionately, and what Sylvia had assumed, her old +friend could not controvert. Not what others had +done, not what others might do, but what course +Sylvia should follow—this was the crux of the +situation.</p> + +<p>"I must think it out; I must think it out," Sylvia +kept repeating. At last Mrs. Owen left her lying +dressed on the bed, and all night Sylvia lay there in +the dark. Toward morning she had slept, and later +when Mrs. Owen carried up her breakfast she did +not refer to her trouble except to ask whether there +was any news. Mrs. Owen understood and replied +that there was nothing. Sylvia merely answered and +said: "Then there is still time." What she meant +by this her kind old friend did not know; but she +had faith in her Sylvia. Dan came, but he saw Mrs. +Owen only. Later Sylvia asked what he had said, +and she merely nodded when Rose's story was repeated. +Again she said: "Yes; there is still time."</p> + +<p>Sylvia had kept her room all day, and Mrs. Owen +had rigidly respected her wish to be alone. She voluntarily +appeared at the evening meal and talked +of irrelevant things: of her school work, of the sale +of the house at Montgomery, of the projected school +at Waupegan.</p> + +<p>"I'm going out for a while," she said, after an hour +in the little office. "I shan't be gone long, Aunt +Sally; don't trouble about me. I have my key, you +know."</p> + +<p>When she had gone, Mrs. Owen called one of the +colored men from the stable and gave him a line to +Harwood, with a list of places where Dan might be +found. Her message was contained in a single line:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Sylvia has left the house. Keep an eye out for +her; she told me nothing."</p></div> + +<p>Sylvia found consolation and courage in the cold +night air; her old friends the stars, whose names she +had learned before she knew her letters, did not +leave her comfortless. They had unconsciously contributed +to her gift for seeing life in long vistas. +"When you are looking at the stars," Professor +Kelton used to say, "you are not thinking of yourself." +It was not of herself that Sylvia was thinking.</p> + +<p>She prolonged her walk, gathering strength as the +exercise warmed her blood, planning what she meant +to do, even repeating to herself phrases she meant +to use. So it happened that Mrs. Owen's messenger +had found Dan at the State House and delivered +the note, and that Dan, called from a prolonged +conference with Ramsay, saw Sylvia's unmistakable +figure as she reached the top of the stairway, +watched her making inquiries of a lounger, saw men +staring at her. It crossed his mind that she was seeking +him, and he started toward her; but she had +stopped again to question one of the idlers in the +hall. He saw her knock at a door and knew it +was Bassett's room—a room that for years had +been set apart for the private councils of the senator +from Fraser. As Sylvia knocked, several men came +out, as though the interruption had terminated an +interview. The unveiled face of the tall, dark girl +called for a second glance; it was an odd place for a +pretty young woman to be seeking Morton Bassett. +They looked at each other and grinned.</p> + +<p>A single lamp on a table in the middle of the high-ceilinged +room shed a narrow circle of light that +deepened the shadows of the walls. Bassett, standing +by a window, was aware of a lighter step than +was usual in this plotting chamber. He advanced +toward the table with his hands in his pockets, +waited till Sylvia was disclosed by the lamp, stopped +abruptly, stared at her with eyes that seemed not +to see her. Then he placed a chair for her, muttering:—</p> + +<p>"I thought you would come."</p> + +<p>It seemed to her that a sigh broke from him, hidden +by the scraping of the chair across the bare floor. +He crossed and recrossed the floor several times, as +though now that she had come he had dismissed her +from his thoughts. Then as he passed near her with +slow, heavy step she spoke.</p> + +<p>"I came to talk to you, Mr. Bassett. Please turn +on the other lights."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," he said; and she heard his fingers +fumbling for the switch by the door. In a moment +the room was flooded from the chandelier overhead, +and he returned, and sat down by the table without +looking at her.</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't have come here, but I knew of no +other way. It seemed best to see you to-night."</p> + +<p>"It's all right," he replied indifferently.</p> + +<p>He sat drooping, as though the light had in itself +a weight that bore him down. His face was +gray; his hands hung impotently from the arms of +his chair. He still did not meet her eyes, which had +taken in every line of his figure, the little details of +his dress, even the inconspicuous pearl pin thrust +through the loose ends of his tie. A man opened the +door hurriedly and peered in: Bassett was wanted +elsewhere, he said. Without rising Bassett bade him +wait outside. The man seemed to understand that he +was to act as guard, and he began patroling the corridor. +The sound of his steps on the tiles was plainly +distinguishable as he passed the door.</p> + +<p>"It's all right now," Bassett explained. "No one +will come in here."</p> + +<p>He threw his arm over the back of his chair and +bent upon Sylvia a glance of mingled curiosity and +indifference.</p> + +<p>"I understand," she said quietly, "that nothing +has been done. It is not yet too late. The situation +here is as it has been?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; if you mean out <i>there</i>. They are waiting +for me."</p> + +<p>"I suppose Mr. Harwood is there, and Mr. +Thatcher."</p> + +<p>He blinked at the names and changed his position +slightly.</p> + +<p>"I dare say they are," he answered coldly.</p> + +<p>"I thought it best to see you and talk to you; and +I'm glad I knew before it was too late."</p> + +<p>His eyes surveyed her slowly now from head to +foot. Why was she glad she had known before it was +too late? Her calmness made him uneasy, restless. +It was a familiar characteristic of Morton Bassett +that he met storm and stress stoically. He was +prepared for scorn, recrimination, tears; but this +dark-eyed girl, sitting before him in her gray walking-dress +and plain hat with a bunch of scarlet +flowers showing through the veil she had caught up +over them, seemed in no danger of yielding to tears. +Her voice fell in cool, even tones. He had said that +he expected her, but she did not know what manner +of meeting he had been counting on in his speculations. +After a long look he passed his hand across +his face.</p> + +<p>"I hope you haven't thought—you didn't +think I should let them bring you into it."</p> + +<p>He spoke as though this were something due her; +that she was entitled to his reassurance that the +threatened cataclysm should not drag her down with +him. When she made no reply he seemed to feel +that he had not made himself clear, and he repeated, +in other terms, that she need not be concerned for +the outcome; that he meant to shield her.</p> + +<p>"Yes; I supposed you would do that; I had expected that."</p> + +<p>"And," he went on, as though to anticipate her, +to eliminate the necessity for her further explanations, +"you have a right to ask what you please. Or +we can meet again to arrange matters. I am prepared +to satisfy your demands in the fullest sense."</p> + +<p>His embarrassment had passed. She had sought +the interview, but he had taken charge of it. Beyond +the closed door the stage waited. This was the +briefest interlude before the moment of his triumphant +entrance.</p> + +<p>Sylvia smiled, an incredulous smile, and shook her +head slowly, like a worn, tired mother whose patience +is sorely taxed by a stubborn, unyielding child at her +knee. Her lips trembled, but she bent her head for a +moment and then spoke more quickly than before, +as though overriding some inner spirit that strove +rebelliously within her breast.</p> + +<p>"I know—almost all I ever need to know. But +there are some things you must tell me now. This +is the first—and the last—time that I shall ever +speak to you of these things. I know enough—things +I have stumbled upon—and I have built +them up until I see the horror, the blackness. And +I want to feel sure that you, too, see the pity of it +all."</p> + +<p>Her note of subdued passion roused him now to +earnestness, and he framed a disavowal of the worst +she might have imagined. He could calm her fears +at once, and the lines in his face relaxed at the +thought that it was in his power to afford her this +relief.</p> + +<p>"I married your mother. There was nothing +wrong about it. It was all straight."</p> + +<p>"And you thought, oh, you thought I came for +that—you believed I came to have you satisfy me +of her honor! I never doubted her!" and she lifted +her head proudly. "And that is what you thought +I came for?" The indignation that flashed in her +first stammered sentences died falteringly in a +contemptuous whisper.</p> + +<p>Her words had cut him deep; he turned away +aimlessly, fingering some papers on the table beside +him. Then he plunged to the heart of the matter, as +though in haste to exculpate himself.</p> + +<p>"I never meant that it should happen as it did. I +knew her in New York when we were both students +there. My father had been ill a long time; he was +bent upon my marrying the daughter of his old friend +Singleton, a man of wealth and influence in our part +of the state. I persuaded your mother to run away +and we were married, under an assumed name,—but +it was a marriage good in law. There's no question +of that, you understand. Then I left her up +there in the Adirondacks, and went home. My father's +illness was prolonged, and his condition justified +me in asking your mother to wait. She knew +the circumstances and agreed to remain away until I +saw my way clear to acknowledging her and taking +her home. You were born up there. Your mother +grew impatient and hurt because I could not go +back to her. But I could not—it would have ruined +all my chances at home. When I went to find my +wife she had disappeared. She was a proud woman, +and I suppose she had good cause for hating me."</p> + +<p>He told the story fully, filling in the gaps in her +own knowledge. He did not disguise the fact of his +own half-hearted search for the woman he had deserted. +He even told of the precautions he had taken +to assure himself of the death of Edna Kelton by +visiting Montgomery to look at her grave before his +marriage to Hallie Singleton. He had gone back +again shortly before he made the offer to pay for +Sylvia's schooling, and had seen her with her grandfather +in the little garden among the roses.</p> + +<p>Outside the guard slowly passed back and forth. +Sylvia did not speak; her seeming inattention vexed +and perplexed him. He thought her lacking in appreciation +of his frankness.</p> + +<p>"Thatcher knows much of this story, but he +doesn't know the whole," he went on. "He believes +it was irregular. He's been keeping it back to spring +as a sensation. He's told those men out there that +he can break me; that at the last minute he will +crush me. They're waiting for me now—Thatcher +and his crowd; probably chuckling to think how at +last they've got me cornered. That's the situation. +They think they're about rid of Morton Bassett."</p> + +<p>"You left her; you deserted her; you left her to +die alone, unprotected, without even a name. You +accepted her loyalty and fidelity, and then threw +her aside; you slunk away alone to her grave to be +sure she wouldn't trouble you again. Oh, it is black, +it is horrible!"</p> + +<p>Sylvia was looking at him with a kind of awed +wonder in her eyes. For an instant there had been +a faint suggestion of contrition in his tone, but it was +overwhelmed by his desire for self-justification. It +was of himself he was thinking, not of the deed in +itself, not of the woman he had left to bear her child +in an alien wilderness.</p> + +<p>"I tried to do what I could for you. I want you +to know that. I meant to have cared for you, that +no harm should come to you," he said, and the +words jarred upon his own ears as he spoke them.</p> + +<p>In her face there was less of disdain than of marvel. +He wished to escape from her eyes, but they held him +fast. Messengers ran hurriedly through the corridors; +men passed the door talking in tones faintly +audible; but the excitement in the rival camps +communicated nothing of its intensity to this quiet +chamber. Men had feared Morton Bassett; this girl, +with her wondering dark eyes, did not fear him. But +he was following a course he had planned for this +meeting, and he dared not shift his ground.</p> + +<p>"I don't want you to think that I haven't been +grieved to see you working for your living; I never +meant that you should do that. Hereafter that will +be unnecessary; but I am busy to-night. To-morrow, +at any time you say, we will talk of those things."</p> + +<p>There was dismissal in his manner and tone. He +was anxious to be rid of her. The color deepened in +her olive cheeks, but she bent upon him once more +her patient, wondering, baffling smile.</p> + +<p>"Please never propose such a thing again, Mr. +Bassett. There is absolutely nothing of that kind +that you can do for me."</p> + +<p>"You want to make it hard for me; but I hope you +will think better of that. It is right that I should +make the only reparation that is possible now."</p> + +<p>This rang so false and was so palpably insincere +that he was relieved when she ignored it.</p> + +<p>"You said a moment ago that your enemies, +waiting out there, thought they had you beaten. I +want you to tell me just how you propose to meet +Mr. Thatcher's threat."</p> + +<p>"What am I going to do?" he broke out angrily. +"I'm going into that caucus and beat Thatcher's +game; I'm going to tell his story first! But don't +misunderstand me; I'm going to protect you. I +know men, and those men will respect me for coming +out with it. I haven't been in politics all these +years to be beaten at last by Ed Thatcher. I've +pledged votes enough to-day to give me a majority +of three on the next ballot; but I'll explode Thatcher's +bombshell in his own hands. I'm all prepared +for him; I have the documents—the marriage +certificate and the whole business. But you won't +suffer; you won't be brought into it. That's what +I'm going to do about it!"</p> + +<p>The failure of his declaration to shake her composure +disturbed him; perhaps after all his contemplated +<i>coup</i> was not so charged with electricity +as he had imagined. Nothing in his bald statement +of his marriage to her mother and the subsequent +desertion had evoked the reproach, the recrimination, +for which he had steeled himself when she +entered the room. He felt his hold upon the interview +lessening. He had believed himself expert in +calculating effects, yet apparently she had heard his +announcement, delivered with a brutal directness, +without emotion.</p> + +<p>"This isn't quite all, Mr. Bassett," Sylvia began +after a moment. "You have offered me reparation, +or what you called by that name. You can't deny +that I have a right to be satisfied with that reparation."</p> + +<p>"Certainly; anything in reason. It is for you to +name the terms; I expect you to make them—adequate."</p> + +<p>"Let us go back a moment," she began, smiling +at the care with which he had chosen his last word. +"Last night I fought out for myself the whole +matter of your scoundrelly, cowardly treatment of +my mother. You can make no reparation to her. +The time passed long ago for that. And there is +absolutely nothing you can do for me. I will accept +nothing from you, neither the name you denied to +her nor money, now or later. So there is only one +other person whose interest or whose happiness we +need consider."</p> + +<p>He stared at her frowning, not understanding. +Once more, as on that day when she had laughed +at him, or again when she had taken the affairs of +his own household into her hands, he was conscious +of the strength that lay in her, of her power to drive +him back upon himself. Something of his own +masterful spirit had entered into her, but with a +difference. Her self-control, her patient persistence, +her sobriety of judgment, her reasoning mind, were +like his own. She was as keen and resourceful as he, +and he was eager for the explanation she withheld, +as though, knowing that she had driven in his +pickets, he awaited the charge of her lines. He bent +toward her, feeling her charm, yielding to the fascination +she had for him.</p> + +<p>"No," he said gently and kindly. "I don't see; I +don't understand you."</p> + +<p>She saw and felt the change in him; but she was +on guard against a reaction. He could not know +how her heart throbbed, or how it had seemed for +a moment that words would not come to her lips.</p> + +<p>"It is to you; it is to yourself that you must make +the reparation. And you must make it now. There +may never be a time like this; it is your great opportunity."</p> + +<p>"You think, you ask—" he began warily; and she +was quick to see that the precise moment for the +full stroke had not come; that the ground required +preparation.</p> + +<p>"I think," she interrupted, smiling gravely, "that +you want me to be your friend. More than that, we +have long been friends. And deep down in your +heart I believe you want my regard; you want me to +think well of you. And I must tell you that there's +a kind of happiness—for it must be happiness—that +comes to me at the thought of it. Something +there is between you and me that is different; somehow +we understand each other."</p> + +<p>His response was beyond anything she had hoped +for; a light shone suddenly in his face. There was no +doubt of the sincerity of the feeling with which he +replied:—</p> + +<p>"Yes; I have felt it; I felt it the first day we met!"</p> + +<p>"And because there is this understanding, this tie, +I dare to be frank with you: I mean to make your +reparation difficult. But you will not refuse it; you +will not disappoint me. I mean, that you must +throw away the victory you are prepared to win."</p> + +<p>He shook his head slowly, but he could not evade +the pleading of her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I can't do it; it's too much," he muttered. "It's +the goal I have sought for ten years. It would be +like throwing away life itself."</p> + +<p>"Yes; it would be bitter; but it would be the first +sacrifice you ever made in your life. You have built +your life on lies. You have lurked in shadows, hating +the light. You have done your work in the dark, +creeping, hiding, mocking, vanishing. What you +propose doing to-night in anticipating the blow of +your enemy is only an act of bravado. There is no +real courage in that. When you thrust Dan Harwood +into the convention to utter your sneer for +you, it was the act of a coward. And that was +contemptible cowardice. You picked him up, a clean +young man of ideals, and tried to train him in your +cowardly shadow ways. When the pricking of your +conscience made you feel some responsibility for me, +you manifested it like a coward. You sent a cowardly +message to the best man that ever lived, not knowing, +not caring how it would wound him. And you +have been a great thief, stealing away from men the +thing they should prize most, but you have taught +them to distrust it—their faith in their country—even +more, their faith in each other! The shadows +have followed you to your own home. You have +hidden yourself behind a veil of mystery, so that +your own wife and children don't know the man +you are. You have never been true to anything—not +to yourself, not to those who should be near and +dear to you. And you have sneered at the people +who send you here to represent them; you have +betrayed them, not once but a hundred times; and +you know it hasn't paid. You are the unhappiest +man in the world. But there's a real power in you, +or you could never have done the things you have +done—the mean and vile things. You have brains +and a genius for organizing and managing men. You +could never have lasted so long without the personal +qualities that a man must have to lead men. And +you have led them, down and down."</p> + +<p>To all appearances she had spoken to dull ears. +Occasionally their eyes had met, but his gaze had +wandered away to range the walls. When she ceased +he moved restlessly about the room.</p> + +<p>"You think I am as bad as that?" he asked, +pausing by the table and looking down at her.</p> + +<p>"You are as bad—and as good—as that," she +replied, the hope that stirred in her heart lighting +her face.</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders and sat down.</p> + +<p>"You have the wit to see that the old order of +things is passing; the old apparatus you have learned +to operate with a turn of the hand is out of date. +Now is your chance to leave the shadow life and +begin again. It's not too late to win the confidence—the +gratitude even—of the people who now distrust +and fear you. The day of reckoning is coming +fast for men like you, who have made a mystery of +politics, playing it as a game in the dark. I don't +pretend to know much of these things, but I can see +that men of your type are passing out; there would +be no great glory for you in waiting to be the last +to go. And there are things enough for you to do. +If you ally yourself with the good causes that cry +for support and leadership, you can be far more formidable +than you have ever been as a skulking +trickster; you can lead men up as you have led +them down."</p> + +<p>"The change is coming; I have seen it coming," he +replied, catching at the one thing it seemed safest to +approve.</p> + +<p>But she was not to be thwarted by his acquiescence +in generalities. He saw that she had brought him +back to a point whence he must elect his course, but +he did not flinch at the flat restatement of her +demand.</p> + +<p>"You have done nothing to deserve the senatorship; +you are not the choice of the people of this state. +You must relinquish it; you must give it up!"</p> + +<p>The earnestness with which she uttered her last +words seemed, to her surprise, to amuse him.</p> + +<p>"You think," he said, "that I should go back and +make a new start by a different route? But I don't +know the schedule; my transportation is good on +only one line." And he grinned at his joke.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you will have to pay your fare!" she replied +quickly. "You've never done that."</p> + +<p>His grin became a smile, and he said: "You want +me to walk if I can't pay my way!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," she laughed happily, feeling that her victory +was half won; "and you would have to be careful +to stop, look, and listen at the crossings!"</p> + +<p>The allusion further eased the stress of the hour; +humor shone in his gray eyes. He consulted his +watch, frowned, bent his eyes upon the floor, then +turned to her with disconcerting abruptness.</p> + +<p>"I haven't been half the boss you think me. I've +been hedged in, cramped, and shackled. All these +fellows who hop the stick when I say 'Jump' have +their little axes I must help grind. I've fooled +away the best years of my life taking care of these +little fellows, and I've spent a lot of money on them. +It's become a little monotonous, I can tell you. It's +begun to get on my nerves, for I have a few; and +all this hammering I've taken from the newspapers +has begun to make me hot. I know about as much +as they do about the right and wrong of things; I +suppose I know something about government and +the law too!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Sylvia assented eagerly.</p> + +<p>He readjusted himself in his chair, crossing his legs +and thrusting his hands into his trousers pockets.</p> + +<p>"It <i>would</i> be rather cheerful and comfortable," +he continued musingly, as though unburdening himself +of old grievances, "to be free to do as you like +once in a lifetime! Those fellows in Thatcher's herd +who have practically sold out to me and are ready to +deliver the goods to-night are all rascals, swung my +way by a few corporations that would like to have +me in Washington. It would be a good joke to fool +them and elect a man who couldn't be bought! It's +funny, but I've wondered sometimes whether I +wasn't growing tired of the old game."</p> + +<p>"But the new game you can play better than any +of them. It's the only way you can find peace."</p> + +<p>With a gesture half-bold, half-furtive, he put out +his hand and touched lightly the glove she had +drawn off and laid on the table.</p> + +<p>"You believe in me; you have some faith left in +me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>Her hand touched his; her dark eyes searched the +depths of his soul—sought and found the shadows +there and put them to flight. When she spoke it was +with a tenderness that was new to all his experience +of life; he had not known that there could be balm +like this for a bruised and broken spirit. This girl, +seeking nothing for herself, refusing anything he +could offer, had held up a mirror in which he saw +himself limned against dancing, mocking shadows. +Nothing in her arraignment had given him a sharper +pang than her reference to his loneliness, his failure +to command sympathy and confidence in his home +relationships. No praise had ever been so sweet to +him as hers; she not only saw his weaknesses and +dealt with them unsparingly, but she recognized +also the strength he had wasted and the power he +had abused. She saw life in broad vistas as he had +believed he saw it; he was not above a stirring of +pride that she appreciated him and appraised his +gifts rightly. He had long played skillfully upon +credulity and ignorance; he had frittered away his +life in contentions with groundlings. It would be +a relief, if it were possible, to deal with his peers, +the enlightened, the far-seeing, and the fearless, who +strove for great ends. So he pondered, while outside +the sentinel kept watch like a fate.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Sylvia was saying slowly, "you can make +restitution. But not to the dead—not to my mother +asleep over there at Montgomery, oh, not to me! +What is done is past, and you can't go back. There's +no going back in this world. But you can go on—you +can go on and up—"</p> + +<p>"No! You don't see that; you don't believe +that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I believe it. The old life—the life of mystery +and duplicity is over; you will never go back +to the old way."</p> + +<p>"The old way?" he repeated.</p> + +<p>"The old unhappy way."</p> + +<p>"Up there at the lake you knew I was unhappy; +you knew things weren't right with me?"</p> + +<p>"Things weren't right because you were wrong! +Success hadn't made you happy. The shadows kept +dancing round you. Mrs. Bassett's troubles came +largely from worrying about you. In time Marian +and Blackford will begin to see the shadows. I +should think—I should think"—and he saw that +she was deeply moved—"that a man would want +the love of his children; I should think he would +want them to be proud of him."</p> + +<p>"His children; yes; I haven't thought enough of +that."</p> + +<p>She had so far controlled herself, but an old ache +throbbed in her heart. "In college, when I heard the +girls talking of their homes, it used to hurt me more +than you can ever know. There were girls among +my friends whose fathers were fine men,—some of +them great and famous; and I used to feel sure that +my father would have been like them. I felt—that +I should have been proud of him." And suddenly +she flung her arms upon the table and bowed her face +upon them and wept.</p> + +<p>He stood beside her, patiently, helplessly. The +suggestion of her lonely girlhood with its hovering +shadow smote him the more deeply because it emphasized +the care she had taken to subordinate herself +throughout their talk.</p> + +<p>"Do you think you could ever be proud of me?—that +you might even care a little, some day?" he +asked, bending over her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if it could be so!" she whispered brokenly, so +low that he bent closer to hear.</p> + +<p>The room was very still. Sylvia rose and began +drawing on her glove, not looking at him. She was +afraid to risk more; there was, indeed, nothing more +to say. It was for him to make his choice. He was +silent so long that she despaired. Then he passed +his hand across his face like one roused from sleep.</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment," he said, "and I will walk home +with you."</p> + +<p>He went to the door and dispatched the guard on +an errand; then he seated himself at the table and +picked up a pad of paper. He was still writing when +Harwood entered. Sylvia and Dan exchanged a nod, +but no words passed between them. They watched +the man at the table, as he wrote with a deliberation +that Dan remembered as characteristic of him. +When he had finished, he copied what he had written, +put the copy in his breastpocket and buttoned +his coat before glancing at Harwood.</p> + +<p>"If I withdraw my name, what will happen?" he +asked quietly.</p> + +<p>"Ramsay will be nominated, sir," Dan answered.</p> + +<p>Bassett studied a moment, fingering the memorandum +he had written; then he looked at Dan +quizzically.</p> + +<p>"Just between ourselves, Dan, do you really think +the Colonel's straight?"</p> + +<p>"If he isn't, he has fooled a lot of people," Dan +replied.</p> + +<p>He had no idea of what had happened, but he +felt that all was well with Sylvia. It seemed a long +time since Bassett had called him Dan!</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess the Colonel's the best we can do. +I'm out of it. This is my formal withdrawal. Hand +it to Robbins—you know him, of course. It tells +him what I want done. My votes go to Ramsay on +the next ballot. I look to you to see that it's played +square. Give the Colonel my compliments. That's +all. Good-night."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Harwood called Robbins from the room where +Bassett's men lounged, waiting for the convening of +the caucus, and delivered the message. As he hurried +toward Thatcher's headquarters he paused suddenly, +and bent over the balcony beneath the dome to +observe two figures that were slowly descending one +of the broad stairways. Morton Bassett and Sylvia +were leaving the building together. A shout rang +out, echoing hollowly through the corridors, and +was followed by scattering cheers from men who were +already hastening toward the senate chamber where +the caucus sessions were held.</p> + +<p>Somehow Morton Bassett's sturdy shoulders, his +step, quickened to adapt it to the pace of his companion, +did not suggest defeat. Dan still watched +as the two crossed the rotunda on their way to the +street. Bassett was talking; he paused for an instant +and looked up at the dome, as though calling +his companion's attention to its height.</p> + +<p>Sylvia glanced up, nodded, and smiled as though +affirming something Bassett had said; and then the +two vanished from Dan's sight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV" />CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> + +<h3>WE GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING</h3> + + +<p>"Sylvia was reading in her grandfather's library +when the bell tinkled."</p> + +<p>With these words our chronicle began, and +they again slip from the pen as I begin these last +pages. When Morton Bassett left her at the door +of Elizabeth House she had experienced a sudden +call of the truant spirit. Sylvia wanted to be alone, +to stand apart for a little while from the clanging +world and take counsel of herself. Hastily packing +a bag she caught the last train for Montgomery, +walked to the Kelton cottage, and roused Mary, who +had been its lone tenant since the Professor's death. +She sent Mary to bed, and after kindling a fire in the +grate, roamed about the small, comfortable rooms, +touching wistfully the books, the pictures, the scant +bric-à-brac. She made ready her own bed under the +eaves where she had dreamed her girlhood dreams, +shaking from the sheets she found in the linen chest +the leaves of lavender that Mary had strewn among +them. The wind rose in the night and slammed fitfully +a blind that, as long as she could remember, +had uttered precisely that same protest against the +wind's presumption. It was all quite like old times, +and happy memories of the past stole back and laid +healing hands upon her.</p> + +<p>She slept late, and woke to look out upon a white +world. Across the campus floated the harsh clamor +of the chapel bell, and she saw the students tramping +through the swirling snow just as she had seen them +in the old times, the glad and happy times when it +had seemed that the world was bounded by the lines +of the campus, and that nothing lay beyond it +really worth considering but Centre Church and +the court-house and the dry-goods shop where her +grandfather had bought her first and only doll. She +bade Mary sit down and talk to her while she ate +breakfast in the little dining-room; and the old +woman poured out upon her the gossip of the Lane, +the latest trespasses of the Greek professor's cow, the +escapades of the Phi Gamma Delta's new dog, the +health of Dr. Wandless, the new baby at the house +of the Latin professor, the ill-luck of the Madison +Eleven, and like matters that were, and that continue +to be, of concern in Buckeye Lane. Rumors of +the sale of the cottage had reached Mary, but Sylvia +took pains to reassure her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you don't go with the house, Mary! Mrs. +Owen has a plan for you. You haven't any cause +for worry. But it's too bad to sell the house. I'd like +to get a position teaching in Montgomery and come +back here and live with you. There's no place in the +world quite like this."</p> + +<p>"But it's quiet, Miss, and the repairs keep going +on. Mr. Harwood had to put a new downspout on +the kitchen; the old one had rusted to pieces. The +last time he was over—that was a month ago—he +came in and sat down to wait for his train, he +said; and I told him to help himself to the books, +but when I looked in after a while he was just sitting +in that chair out there by the window looking out at +nothing. And when I asked him if he'd have a cup +of tea, he never answered; not till I went up close +and spoke again. He's peculiar, but a good-hearted +gentleman. You can see that. And when he paid +me my wages that day he made it five dollars extra, +and when I asked him what it was for, he smiled a +funny kind of smile he has, and said, 'It's for being +good to Sylvia when she was a little girl.' He's +peculiar, very peculiar, but he's kind. And when I +said I didn't have to be paid for that, he said all +right, he guessed that was so, but for me to keep the +money and buy a new bonnet or give it to the priest. +A very kind gentleman, that Mr. Harwood, but +peculiar."</p> + +<p>The sun came out shortly before noon. Sylvia +walked into town, bought some flowers, and drove +to the cemetery. She told the driver not to wait, and +lingered long in the Kelton lot where snow-draped +evergreens marked its four corners. The snow lay +smooth on the two graves, and she placed her flowers +upon them softly without disturbing the white covering. +A farmboy whistling along the highway saw her +in the lonely cemetery and trudged on silently, but he +did not know that the woman tending her graves did +not weep, or that when she turned slowly away, looking +back at last from the iron gates, it was not of the +past she thought, nor of the heartache buried there, +but of a world newly purified, with long, broad vistas +of hope and aspiration lengthening before her. +But we must not too long leave the bell—an +absurd contrivance of wire and knob—that tinkled +rather absently and eerily in the kitchen pantry. +Let us repeat once more and for the last time:—</p> + +<p>Sylvia was reading in her grandfather's library +when the bell tinkled.</p> + +<p>Truly enough, a book lay in her lap, but it may +be that, after all, she had not done more than skim +its pages—an old "Life of Nelson" that had been a +favorite of her grandfather's. Sylvia rose, put down +the book, marked it carefully as on that first occasion +which so insistently comes back to us as we +look in upon her. Mary appeared at the library +door, but withdrew, seeing that Sylvia was answering +the bell.</p> + +<p>Some one was stamping vigorously on the step, +and as Sylvia opened the door, Dan Harwood stood +there, just as on that other day; now, to be sure, +he seemed taller than then, though it must be only +the effect of his long ulster.</p> + +<p>"How do you do, Sylvia," he said, and stepped +inside without waiting for a parley like that in which +Sylvia had engaged him on that never-to-be-forgotten +afternoon in June. "You oughtn't to try +to hide; it isn't fair for one thing, and hiding is impossible +for another."</p> + +<p>"It's too bad you came," said Sylvia, "for I +should have been home to-morrow. I came just because +I wanted to be alone for a day."</p> + +<p>"I came," said Dan, laughing, "because I didn't +like being alone."</p> + +<p>"I hope Aunt Sally isn't troubled about me. I +hadn't time to tell her I was coming here; I don't +believe I really thought about it; I simply wanted +to come back here once more before the house is +turned over to strangers."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Aunt Sally wasn't worried half as much as +I was. She said you were all right; she has great +faith in your ability to take care of yourself. I'm +pretty sure of it, too," he said, and bent his eyes +upon her keenly.</p> + +<p>There was nothing there to dismay him; her olive +cheeks still glowed with color from her walk, and her +eyes were clear and steady.</p> + +<p>"Did you see the paper—to-day's paper?" he +asked, when they were seated before the fire.</p> + +<p>"No," she replied, folding her arms and looking +at the point of her slipper that rested against the +brass fender.</p> + +<p>"You will be glad to know that the trouble is all +over. Ramsay has the senatorship, all but the +confirmation of the joint session, which is merely a +formality. They've conferred on me the joy of +presenting his name. Ramsay is clean and straight, +and thoroughly in sympathy with all the new ideas +that are sound. Personally I like him. He's the +most popular and the most presentable man we +have, and his election to the Senate will greatly +strengthen the party."</p> + +<p>He did not know how far he might speak of the +result and of the causes that had contributed to it. +He was relieved when she asked, very simply and +naturally,—</p> + +<p>"I suppose Mr. Bassett made it possible; it +couldn't have been, you couldn't have brought it +about, without him."</p> + +<p>"If he hadn't withdrawn he could have had the +nomination himself! Thatcher's supporters were +growing wobbly and impatient. We shouldn't any +of us care to see Thatcher occupy a seat in the Senate +that has been filled by Oliver Morton and Joe +MacDonald and Ben Harrison and Dave Turpie. +We Hoosiers are not perfect, but our Senators first +and last have been men of brains and character. +Ramsay won't break the apostolic succession; he's +all right."</p> + +<p>"You think Mr. Bassett might have had it; you +have good reason for believing that?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I could name you the men who were ready to go +to him. He had the stampede all ready, down to the +dress rehearsal. He practically gave away a victory +he had been working for all his life."</p> + +<p>"Yes; he is like that; he can do such things," murmured +Sylvia.</p> + +<p>"History has been making rapidly in the past +twenty-four hours. Bassett has bought Thatcher's +interest in the 'Courier,' and he proposes editing it +himself. More than that, he was at my office this +morning when I got there, and he asked me, as a +special favor to him, to take a few shares in the company +to qualify me as secretary of the corporation, +and said he wanted me to help him. He said he +thought it about time for Indiana to have a share +in the general reform movement; talked about it as +though this were something he had always intended +doing, but had been prevented by press of other +matters. He spoke of the Canneries case and wanted +to know if I cared to reconsider my refusal to settle +it. He put it quite impersonally—said Fitch told +him he couldn't do more than prolong the litigation +by appeals, and that in the end he was bound to be +whipped. And I agreed, on terms that really weren't +generous on my part. He said all right; that he +wanted to clear up all his old business as quickly +as possible. As he left my office I almost called him +back to throw off the last pound I had exacted; he +really made me feel ashamed of my greed. The old +spell he had for me in the beginning came back +again. I believe in him; I never believed in any +man so much, Sylvia! And if he does throw his +weight on the right side it will mean a lot to every +good cause men and women are contending for these +days. It will mean a lot to the state, to the whole +country."</p> + +<p>"And so much, oh, so much to him!"</p> + +<p>Just what had passed between Bassett and Sylvia +he only surmised; but it was clear that the warmth +with which he had spoken of his old employer was +grateful to Sylvia. He had not meant to dwell upon +Bassett, and yet the brightening of her eyes, her +flash of feeling, the deep inner meaning of her ejaculation, +had thrilled him.</p> + +<p>"I've said more than I meant to; I didn't come +to talk of those things, Sylvia."</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you thought I should like to know—about +him. I'm glad you told me."</p> + +<p>They were quiet for a little while, then he said, +"Sylvia!" very softly.</p> + +<p>"Not that, Dan; please! I can't bear to hear +that. It will break my heart if you begin that!"</p> + +<p>She rose and faced him, her back to the wall.</p> + +<p>He had come to complete the declaration which +the song had interrupted on the lake, and at the first +hint the chords that had been touched by the unknown +singer vibrated sharply, bringing back her old +heartache. He crossed to her quickly that he might +show her how completely the memory of that night +had been obliterated; that it had vanished utterly +and ceased to be, like the ripple stirred to a moment's +life by the brush of a swallow's wing on still +water. He stood beside her and took both her hands +in his strong clasp.</p> + +<p>"We are going to be married, Sylvia; we are going +to be married, here, now, to-day!"</p> + +<p>"No, no!"</p> + +<p>She turned away her head, but his arms enfolded +her; he bent down and kissed her forehead, her eyes, +and her lips last of all.</p> + +<p>"Yes; here and now. Unless you say you don't +care for me, that you don't love me. If you say those +things I shall go away."</p> + +<p>She did not say them. She clung to him and looked +long into his face, and kissed him.</p> + +<p>Harwood had chosen the hour well. Sylvia had +met bravely the great crisis of her life, and had stood +triumphant and satisfied, weary but content in the +clear ether to which she had climbed; but it was a +relief to yield herself at last to the sway of emotions +long checked and stifled. Save for her grandfather's +devoted kindness, and the friendship of Mrs. Owen, +her experiences of affection had been singularly +meagre. She had resolved that if Dan should speak +of love again she would be strong enough to resist +him; but she had yielded unhesitatingly at a word. +And it was inexpressibly sweet to yield, to feel his +strong arms clasping her, to hear his protestations +and assurances, to know that her life had found +shelter and protection. She knew that she had never +questioned or doubted, but that her faith had grown +with her love for him. Not only had he chosen the +hour well, but there was a fitness in his choice of +place. The familiar scene emphasized her sense of +dependence upon him and gave a sweet poignancy +to the memories of her childhood and youth that +were enshrined within the cottage walls. In this +room, in the garden outside, on the campus across +the Lane, she had known the first tremulous wonderings +and had heard the first whispered answers to +life's riddles and enigmas; and now she knew that +in Love lives the answer to all things.</p> + +<p>After a little she rested her hands on his shoulders, +half-clinging to him, half-repelling him, and he +pressed his hands upon her cheeks, to be ready for +the question he had read in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"But," she faltered, "there are things I have +promised to do for Aunt Sally; we shall have to wait +a long time!"</p> + +<p>"Not for Aunt Sally," he cried happily. "Here +she is at the door now. I left her and John Ware at +Dr. Wandless's."</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" exclaimed Mrs. Owen, advancing +into the room and throwing open her coat. "You +said you meant to get back to the city in time to +catch that limited for New York, and you haven't +got much margin, Daniel, I can tell you that!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It seemed to the people who heard of it afterward +a most romantic marriage, that of Sylvia and Dan +Harwood; but whatever view we may take of this, +it was certainly of all weddings the simplest. They +stood there before the mantel above which still +hung the broken half of a ship's wheel. Mrs. Owen, +very tall and gaunt, was at one side, and Dr. Wandless +at the other; and old Mary, abashed and bewildered, +looked on with dilated eyes and crossed +herself at intervals.</p> + +<p>John Ware drew a service book from his pocket, +and his fingers trembled as he began. For none in +the room, not even for Sylvia, had this hour deeper +meaning than for the gray soldier. He read slowly, +as though this were a new thing in the world, that a +man and a woman had chosen to walk together to +the end of their days. And once his voice broke. He +who, in a hill country far away, had baptized this +woman into the fold of Christ the Shepherd, wavered +for an instant as he said:—</p> + +<p>"Elizabeth, wilt thou have this man—"</p> + +<p>Sylvia lifted her head. She had not expected this, +nor had Dan; but Dr. Wandless had already stepped +forward to give her in marriage, and as she repeated +her name after the minister, she felt the warm, reassuring +pressure of Dan's hand.</p> + +<p>And so they went forth together from the little +cottage by the campus where they had first met; +nor may it have been wholly a fancy of Dr. Wandless's +that the stars came out earlier that white, +winter evening to add their blessing!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_POSTSCRIPT_BY_THE_CHRONICLER" id="A_POSTSCRIPT_BY_THE_CHRONICLER" />A POSTSCRIPT BY THE CHRONICLER</h2> + + +<p>Those who resent as an impertinence the +chronicler's intrusion upon the scene may +here depart and slam the door, if such violence +truly express their sentiments. Others, averse +to precipitous leavetaking, may linger, hat in hand, +for the epilogue.</p> + +<p>I attended a public hearing by the senate committee +on child labor at the last session of the general +assembly, accompanying my neighbor, Mrs. Sally +Owen, and we found seats immediately behind Mr. +and Mrs. Daniel Harwood.</p> + +<p>"There's <i>E</i>-lizabeth and Daniel," remarked Mrs. +Owen, as they turned round and nodded to us. I +found it pleasant to watch the Harwoods, who are, +as may have been surmised, old friends of mine. +The meeting gathered headway, and as one speaker +after another was presented by the chairman, I observed +that Mrs. Harwood and her husband frequently +exchanged glances of approval; and I'm +afraid that Mrs. Harwood's profile, and that winning +smile of hers, interested me quite as much as the +pleas of those who advocated the pending bill. Then +the representative of a manufacturers' organization +inveighed against the measure, and my two friends +became even more deeply absorbed. It was a telling +speech, by one of the best-known lawyers in the +state. Once I saw Dan's cowlick shake like the plume +of an angry warrior as his wife turned toward him +inquiringly. When the orator concluded, I saw them +discussing his arguments in emphatic whispers, +and I was so pleased with the picture they made +that I failed to catch the name of the speaker whom +the chairman was introducing. A nudge from Mrs. +Owen caused me to lift my eyes to the rostrum.</p> + +<p>"The next speaker is Mrs. Allen Thatcher," announced +the chairman, beaming inanely as a man +always does when it becomes his grateful privilege +to present a pretty woman to an audience. Having +known Marian a long time, it was almost too much +for my composure to behold her there, beyond question +the best-dressed woman in the senate chamber, +with a single American Beauty thrust into her coat, +and a bewildering rose-trimmed hat crowning her +fair head. A pleasant sight anywhere on earth, this +daughter of the Honorable Morton Bassett, sometime +senator from Fraser; but her appearance in the +legislative hall long dominated by her father confirmed +my faith in the ultimate adjustments of the +law of compensations. I had known Marian of old +as an expert golfer and the most tireless dancer at +Waupegan; but that speech broke all her records.</p> + +<p>Great is the emotional appeal of a pretty woman +in an unapproachable hat, but greater still the power +of the born story-teller! I knew that Marian visited +Elizabeth House frequently and told stories of her +own or gave recitations at the Saturday night entertainments; +but this was Marian with a difference. +She stated facts and drove them home with anecdotes. +It was a vigorous, breathless performance, +and the manufacturers' attorney confessed afterward +that she had given him a good trouncing. When she +concluded (I remember that her white-gloved hand +smote the speaker's desk with a sharp thwack at her +last word), I was conscious that the applause was +started by a stout, bald gentleman whom I had not +noticed before. I turned to look at the author of +this spontaneous outburst and found that it was the +Honorable Edward G. Thatcher, whose unfeigned +pride in his daughter-in-law was good to see.</p> + +<p>When the applause had ceased, Mrs. Owen sighed +deeply and ejaculated: "Well, well!"</p> + +<p>As we walked home Aunt Sally grew talkative. +"I used to say it was all in the Book of Job and believed +it; but there are some things that Job didn't +know after all. When I put Marian on the board of +trusteees of <i>E</i>-lizabeth House School, it was just to +make good feeling in the family, and I didn't suppose +she would attend a meeting; but she's one of the +best women on that job. And <i>E</i>-lizabeth"—I loved +the way she drawled the name, and repeated it—"<i>E</i>-lizabeth +says they couldn't do without her. I +guess between 'em those girls will make <i>E</i>-lizabeth +House School go right. That investment will be a +dividend payer. And there's Morton Bassett, that +I never took much stock in, why, he's settled down +to being a decent and useful citizen. There ain't a +better newspaper in the country than the 'Courier,' +and that first editorial, up at the top of the page +every morning, he writes himself, and it's got a +smack to it—a kind of pawpaw and persimmon +flavor that shows it's honest. I guess settling up +that Canneries business cost him some money, but +things had always come too easy for Morton. And +now that they've moved down here, Hallie's cheered +up a good deal, and she shows signs of being cured +of the sanatorium habit."</p> + +<p>We were passing round the Monument, whose +candelabra flooded the plaza with light, and Mrs. +Owen inveighed for a moment against automobiles +in general as we narrowly escaped being run down +by a honking juggernaut at Christ Church corner.</p> + +<p>"It seems Morton has grown some," she resumed. +"He's even got big enough to forgive his enemies, +and John Ware says only great men do that. You've +noticed that 'Hoosier Folks at Home' column in +the 'Courier'? Well, Ike Pettit runs that; Morton +brought him to town on purpose after Edward +Thatcher closed out the Fraserville paper. I read +every word of that column every day. It gives you +a kind of moving-picture show of cloverfields, and +children singing in the country schools, and rural +free delivery wagons throwing off magazines and +newspapers, and the interurban cars cutting slices +out of the lonesomeness of the country folks. It's +certainly amazing how times change, and I want to +live as long as I can and keep on changing with 'em! +Why, these farmers that used to potter around all +winter worrying over their debts to the insurance +companies are now going to Lafayette every January +to learn how to make corn pay, and they're putting +bathrooms in their houses and combing the hay out +of their whiskers. They take their wives along with +'em to the University, so they can have a rest and +learn to bake bread that won't bring up the death-rate; +and when those women go home they dig the +nails out of the windows to let the fresh air in, and +move the melodeon to the wood-pile, and quit frying +meat except when the minister stops for dinner. It's +all pretty comfortable and cheerful and busy in +Indiana, with lots of old-fashioned human kindness +flowing round; and it's getting better all the time. +And I guess it's always got to be that way, out here +in God's country."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE END</h2> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Hoosier Chronicle, by Meredith Nicholson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HOOSIER CHRONICLE *** + +***** This file should be named 15138-h.htm or 15138-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/1/3/15138/ + +Produced by Rick Niles, Charlie Kirschner and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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