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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Gulmore, The Boss, by Frank Harris
+
+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: Gulmore, The Boss
+
+Author: Frank Harris
+
+Release Date: October 12, 2007 [EBook #23010]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GULMORE, THE BOSS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+GULMORE, THE BOSS.
+
+By Frank Harris
+
+
+The habits of the Gulmore household were in some respects primitive.
+Though it was not yet seven o'clock two negro girls were clearing away
+the breakfast things under the minute supervision of their mistress,
+an angular, sharp-faced woman with a reedy voice, and nervously abrupt
+movements. Near the table sat a girl of nineteen absorbed in a book. In
+an easy-chair by the open bay-window a man with a cigar in his mouth
+was reading a newspaper. Jonathan Byrne Gulmore, as he always signed
+himself, was about fifty years of age; his heavy frame was muscular, and
+the coarse dark hair and swarthy skin showed vigorous health. There was
+both obstinacy and combative-ness in his face with its cocked nose, low
+irregular forehead, thick eyebrows, and square jaw, but the deep-set
+grey eyes gleamed at times with humorous comprehension, and the usual
+expression of the countenance was far from ill-natured. As he laid the
+paper on his knees and looked up, he drew the eye. His size and strength
+seemed to be the physical equivalents of an extraordinary power of
+character and will. When Mrs. Gulmore followed the servants out of the
+room the girl rose from her chair and went towards the door. She was
+stopped by her father's voice:
+
+"Ida, I want a talk with you. You'll be able to go to your books
+afterwards; I won't keep you long." She sat down again and laid her book
+on the table, while Mr. Gulmore continued:
+
+"The election's next Monday week, and I've no time to lose." A moment's
+silence, and he let his question fall casually:
+
+"You know this--Professor Roberts--don't you? He was at the University
+when you were there--eh?" The girl flushed slightly as she assented.
+
+"They say he's smart, an' he ken talk. I heard him the other night;
+but I'd like to know what you think. Your judgment's generally worth
+havin'."
+
+Forced to reply without time for reflection, Miss Gulmore said as little
+as possible with a great show of frankness:
+
+"Oh, yes; he's smart, and knows Greek and Latin and German, and a great
+many things. The senior students used to say he knew more than all the
+other professors put together, and he--he thinks so too, I imagine," and
+she laughed intentionally, for, on hearing her own strained laughter,
+she blushed, and then stood up out of a nervous desire to conceal her
+embarrassment. But her father was looking away from her at the glowing
+end of his cigar; and, as she resumed her seat, he went on:
+
+"I'm glad you seem to take no stock in him, Ida, for he's makin' himself
+unpleasant. I'll have to give him a lesson, I reckon, not in Greek or
+Latin or them things--I never had nothin' taught me beyond the 'Fourth
+Reader,' in old Vermont, and I've forgotten some of what I learned
+then--but in election work an' business I guess I ken give Professor
+Roberts points, fifty in a hundred, every time. Did you know he's always
+around with Lawyer Hutchin's?"
+
+"Is he? That's because of May--May Hutch-ings. Oh, she deserves him;"
+the girl spoke with sarcastic bitterness, "she gave herself trouble
+enough to get him. It was just sickening the way she acted, blushing
+every time he spoke to her, and looking up at him as if he were
+everything. Some people have no pride in them."
+
+Her father listened impassively, and, after a pause, began his
+explanation:
+
+"Wall, Ida, anyway he means to help Hutchin's in this city election.
+'Tain't the first time Hutchin's has run for mayor on the Democratic
+ticket and come out at the little end of the horn, and I propose to whip
+him again. But this Professor's runnin' him on a new track, and I want
+some points about _him_. It's like this. At the Democratic meetin'
+the other night, the Professor spoke, and spoke well. What he said was
+popcorn; but it took with the Mugwumps--them that think themselves too
+high-falutin' to work with either party, jest as if organization was no
+good, an' a mob was as strong as an army. Wall, he talked for an hour
+about purity an' patriotism, and when he had warmed 'em up he
+went bald-headed for me. He told 'em--you ken read it all in the
+'Tribune'--that this town was run by a ring, an' not run honestly;
+contracts were given only to members of the Republican party; all
+appointments were made by the ring, and never accordin' to ability--as
+if sich a ring could last ten years. He ended up by saying, though he
+was a Republican, as his father is, he intended to vote Democratic--he's
+domiciled here--as a protest against the impure and corrupt Boss-system
+which was disgracin' American political life. Twas baby talk. But it's
+like this. The buildin' of the branch line South has brought a lot
+of Irish here--they're all Democrats--and there's quite a number of
+Mugwumps, an' if this Professor goes about workin' them all up--what
+with the flannel-mouths and the rest--it might be a close finish. I'm
+sure to win, but if I could get some information about him, it would
+help me. His father's all right. We've got him down to a fine point.
+Prentiss, the man I made editor of the 'Herald,' knows him well; ken
+tell us why he left Kaintucky to come West. But I want to know somethin'
+about the Professor, jest to teach him to mind his own business, and
+leave other folk to attend to theirs. Ken you help me? Is he popular
+with the students and professors?"
+
+She thought intently, while the colour rose in her cheeks; she was eager
+to help.
+
+"With the students, yes. There's nothing to be done there. The
+professors--I don't think they like him much; he is too clever. When he
+came into the class-room and talked Latin to Johnson, the Professor
+of Latin, and Johnson could only stammer out a word or two, I guess he
+didn't make a friend;" and the girl laughed at the recollection.
+
+"I don't know anything else that could be brought against him. They say
+he is an Atheist. Would that be any use? He gave a lecture on 'Culture
+as a Creed' about three months ago which made some folk mad. The other
+professors are Christians, and, of course, all the preachers took it
+up. He compared Buddha with Christ, and said--oh, I remember!--that
+Shakespeare was the Old Testament of the English-speaking peoples. That
+caused some talk; they all believe in the Bible. He said, too, that
+'Shakespeare was inspired in a far higher sense than St. Paul, who was
+thin and hard, a logic-loving bigot.' And President Campbell--he's a
+Presbyterian--preached the Sunday afterwards upon St Paul as the great
+missionary of Protestantism. I don't think the professors like him, but
+I don't know that they can do anything, for all the students, the senior
+ones, at least, are with him," and the girl paused, and tried to find
+out from her father's face whether what she had said was likely to be of
+service.
+
+"Wall! I don't go much on them things myself, but I guess somethin'
+ken be done. I'll see Prentiss about it: send him to interview this
+President Campbell, and wake him up to a sense of his duty. This is a
+Christian country, I reckon," the grey eyes twinkled, "and those who
+teach the young should teach them Christian principles, or else--get
+out. I guess it ken be worked. The University's a State institution. You
+don't mind if he's fired out, do you?" And the searching eyes probed her
+with a glance.
+
+"Oh! I don't mind," she said quickly, in a would-be careless tone,
+rising and going towards him, "it has nothing to do with me. He belongs
+to May Hutchings--let her help him, if she can. I think you're quite
+right to give him a lesson--he needs one badly. What right has he to
+come and attack you?" She had passed to her father's side, and was
+leaning against his shoulder. Those grey eyes saw more than she cared to
+reveal; they made her uncomfortable.
+
+"Then I understand it's like this. You want him to get a real lesson? Is
+that it? You ken talk straight to me, Ida. I'm with you every time. You
+know that."
+
+The feminine instinct of concealment worked in her, but she knew this
+father of hers would have plain speech, and some hidden feeling forced
+her violent temper to an outburst of curiously mingled hatred of the
+Professor and exultation in her power of injuring him.
+
+"Why, father, it's all the same to me. I've no interest in it, except
+to help you. You know I never said a word against him till you asked
+me. But he has no business to come down and attack _you_," and the voice
+grew shrill. "It's shameful of him. If he were a man he'd never do it.
+Yes--give him a _real_ lesson; teach him that those he despises are
+stronger than he is. Let him lose his place and be thrown out of work,
+then we'll see if May Hutchings," and she laughed, "will go and help
+him. We'll see who is--"
+
+Her father interrupted her in the middle of a tirade which would have
+been complete self-revelation; but it is not to be presumed that he did
+this out of a delicate regard for his daughter's feelings. He had got
+the information he required.
+
+"That's all right, Ida. I guess he'll get the lesson. You ken count on
+me. You've put me on the right track, I believe. I knew if any one could
+help me, you'd be able to. Nobody knows what's in you better'n I do.
+You're smarter'n any one I know, and I know a few who think they're real
+smart--"
+
+In this vein he continued soothing his daughter's pride, and yet
+speaking in an even, impersonal tone, as if merely stating facts.
+
+"Now I've got to go. Prentiss'll be waiting for me at the office."
+
+While driving to the office, Mr. Gulmore's thoughts, at first, were with
+his daughter. "I don't know why, but I suspicioned that. That's why she
+left the University before graduatin', an' talked of goin' East, and
+makin' a name for herself on the stage. That Professor's foolish. Ida's
+smart and pretty, and she'll have a heap of money some day. The ring
+has a few contracts on hand still--he's a fool. How she talked: she
+remembered all that lecture--every word; but she's young yet. She'd have
+given herself away if I hadn't stopped her. I don't like any one to do
+that; it's weak. But she means business every time, just as I do; she
+means him to be fired right out, and then she'd probably go and cry over
+him, and want me to put him back again. But no. I guess not. That's not
+the way I work. I'd be willin' for him to stay away, and leave me alone,
+but as she wants him punished, he shall be, and she mustn't interfere
+at the end. It'll do her good to find out that things can't both be done
+and undone, if she's that sort. But p'r'aps she won't want to undo
+them. When their pride's hurt women are mighty hard--harder than men
+by far.... I wonder how long it'll take to get this Campbell to move. I
+must start right in; I hain't got much time."
+
+As soon as her father left her, Miss Ida hurried to her own room, in
+order to recover from her agitation, and to remove all traces of it. She
+was an only child, and had accordingly a sense of her own importance,
+which happened to be uncorrected by physical deficiencies. Not that
+she was astonishingly beautiful, but she was tall and just good-looking
+enough to allow her to consider herself a beauty. Her chief attraction
+was her form, which, if somewhat flat-chested, had a feline flexibility
+rarer and more seductive than she imagined. She was content to believe
+that nature had fashioned her to play the part in life which, she knew,
+was hers of right. Her name, even, was most appropriate--dignified. Ida
+should be queen-like, stately; the oval of her face should be long, and
+not round, and her complexion should be pallid; colour in the cheeks
+made one look common. Her dark hair, too, pleased her; everything, in
+fact, save her eyes; they were of a nameless, agate-like hue, and she
+would have preferred them to be violet That would have given her face
+the charm of unexpectedness, which she acknowledged was in itself a
+distinction. And Miss Ida loved everything that conduced to distinction,
+everything that flattered her pride with a sense of her own superiority.
+It seemed as if her mother's narrowness of nature had confined and shot,
+so to speak, all the passions and powers of the father into this one
+characteristic of the daughter. That her father had risen to influence
+and riches by his own ability did not satisfy her. She had always felt
+that the Hutchingses and the society to which they belonged, persons who
+had been well educated for generations, and who had always been more or
+less well off, formed a higher class. It was the longing to become one
+of them that had impelled her to study with might and main. Even in
+her school-days she had recognized that this was the road to social
+eminence. The struggle had been arduous. In the Puritan surroundings of
+middle-class life her want of religious training and belief had almost
+made a pariah of the proud, high-tempered girl, and when as a clever
+student of the University and a daughter of one of the richest and most
+powerful men in the State, she came into a circle that cared as little
+about Christian dogmas as she did, she attributed the comparative
+coolness with which her companions treated her, to her father's want of
+education, rather than to the true cause, her own domineering temper. As
+she had hated her childish playmates, who, instructed by their mothers,
+held aloof from the infidel, so she had grown to detest the associates
+of her girlhood, whose parents seemed, by virtue of manners and
+education, superior to hers. The aversion was acrid with envy, and had
+fastened from the beginning on her competitor as a student and her rival
+in beauty, Miss May Hutchings. Her animosity was intensified by the fact
+that, when they entered the Sophomore class together, Miss May had made
+her acquaintance, had tried to become friends with her, and then, for
+some inscrutable reason, had drawn coldly away. By dint of working twice
+as hard as May, Ida had managed to outstrip her, and to begin the Junior
+year as the first of the class; but all the while she was conscious that
+her success was due to labour, and not to a larger intelligence. And
+with the coming of the new professor of Greek, this superiority, her one
+consolation, was called in question.
+
+Professor Roberts had brought about a revolution in the University. He
+was young and passionately devoted to his work; had won his Doctor's
+degree at Berlin _summa cum laude_, and his pupils soon felt that
+he represented a standard of knowledge higher than they had hitherto
+imagined as attainable, and yet one which, he insisted, was common
+in the older civilization of Europe. It was this nettling comparison,
+enforced by his mastery of difficulties, which first aroused the ardour
+of his scholars. In less than a year they passed from the level of
+youths in a high school to that of University students. On the best
+heads his influence was magical. His learning and enthusiasm quickened
+their reverence for scholarship, but it was his critical faculty which
+opened to them the world of art, and nerved them to emulation.
+
+"Until one realizes the shortcomings of a master," he said in a lecture,
+"it is impossible to understand him or to take the beauty of his works
+to heart When Sophocles repeats himself--the Electra is but a feeble
+study for the Antigone, or possibly a feeble copy of it--we get near the
+man; the limitations of his outlook are characteristic: when he
+deforms his Ajax with a tag of political partisanship, his servitude to
+surroundings defines his conscience as an artist; and when painting by
+contrasts he poses the weak Ismene and Chrysothemis as foils to their
+heroic sisters, we see that his dramatic power in the essential was
+rudimentary. Yet Mr. Matthew Arnold, a living English poet, writes that
+Sophocles 'saw life steadily and saw it whole.' This is true of no man,
+not of Shakespeare nor of Goethe, much less of Sophocles or Racine. The
+phrase itself is as offensively out of date as the First Commandment."
+The bold, incisive criticism had a singular fascination for his hearers,
+who were too young to remark in it the crudeness that usually attaches
+to originality.
+
+Miss Hutchings was the first of the senior students to yield herself to
+the new influence. In the beginning Miss Gulmore was not attracted by
+Professor Roberts; she thought him insignificant physically; he was neat
+of dress too, and ingenuously eager in manner--all of which conflicted
+with her ideal of manhood. It was but slowly that she awoke to a
+consciousness of his merits, and her awakening was due perhaps as much
+to jealousy of May Hutchings as to the conviction that with Professor
+Roberts for a husband she would realize her social ambitions. Suddenly
+she became aware that May was passing her in knowledge of Greek, and was
+thus winning the notice of the man she had begun to look upon as worthy
+of her own choice. Ida at once addressed herself to the struggle with
+all the energy of her nature, but at first without success. It was
+evident that May was working as she had never worked before, for as the
+weeks flew by she seemed to increase her advantage. During this period
+Ida Gulmore's pride suffered tortures; day by day she understood more
+clearly that the prize of her life was slipping out of reach. In
+mind and soul now she realized Roberts' daring and charm. With the
+intensified perceptions of a jealous woman, she sometimes feared that he
+sympathized with her rival.
+
+But he had not spoken yet; of that she was sure, and her conceit enabled
+her to hope desperately. A moment arrived when her hatred of May was
+sweetened by contempt. For some reason or other May was neglecting her
+work; when spoken to by the Professor her colour came and went, and a
+shyness, visible to all, wrapped her in confusion. Ida felt that there
+was no time to be lost, and increased her exertions. As she thought of
+her position she determined first to surpass her competitor, and then in
+some way or other to bring the Professor to speech. But, alas! for
+her plans. One morning she demonstrated her superiority with cruel
+clearness, only to find that Roberts, self-absorbed, did not notice her.
+He seemed to have lost the vivid interest in the work which aforetime
+had characterized him, and the happiness of the man was only less
+tell-tale than the pretty contentment and demure approval of all he said
+which May scarcely tried to conceal. Wild with fear, blinded by temper,
+Ida resolved to know the truth.
+
+One morning when the others left the room she waited, busying herself
+apparently with some notes, till the Professor returned, as she knew he
+would, in time to receive the next class. While gathering up her books,
+she asked abruptly:
+
+"I suppose I should congratulate you, Professor?"
+
+"I don't think I understand you."
+
+"Yes, you do. Why lie? You are engaged to May Hutchings," and the girl
+looked at him with flaming eyes.
+
+"I don't know why you should ask me, or why I should answer, but we have
+no motive for concealment--yes, I am."
+
+His words were decisive; his reverence for May and her affection had
+been wounded by the insolent challenge, but before he finished speaking
+his manner became considerate. He was quick to feel the pain of others
+and shrank from adding to it--these, indeed, were the two chief articles
+of the unformulated creed which directed his actions. His optimism was
+of youth and superficial, but the sense of the brotherhood of human
+suffering touched his heart in a way that made compassion and tenderness
+appear to him to be the highest and simplest of duties. It was Ida's
+temper that answered his avowal. Still staring at him she burst into
+loud laughter, and as he turned away her tuneless mirth grew shriller
+and shriller till it became hysterical. A frightened effort to regain
+her self-control, and her voice broke in something like a sob, while
+tears trembled on her lashes. The Professor's head was bent over
+his desk and he saw nothing. Ida dashed the tears from her eyes
+ostentatiously, and walked with shaking limbs out of the room. She would
+have liked to laugh again scornfully before closing the door, but she
+dared not trust her nerves. From that moment she tried to hate Professor
+Roberts as she hated May Hutchings, for her disappointment had been very
+sore, and the hurt to her pride smarted like a burn. On returning home,
+she told her father that she had taken her name off the books of the
+University; she meant to be an actress, and a degree could be of no use
+to her in her new career. Her father did not oppose her openly; he was
+content to postpone any decisive step, and in a few days she seemed to
+have abandoned her project. But time brought no mitigation of her spite.
+She was tenacious by nature, and her jealous rage came back upon her in
+wild fits. To be outdone by May Hutchings was intolerable. Besides, the
+rivalry and triumphs of the class-room had been as the salt of life to
+her; now she had nothing to do, nothing to occupy her affections or give
+object to her feverish ambition. And the void of her life she laid to
+the charge of Roberts. So when the time came and the temptation, she
+struck as those strike who are tortured by pain.
+
+Alone in her room, she justified to herself what she had done. She
+thought with pleasure of Professor Roberts' approaching defeat
+and punishment. "He deserves it, and more! He knows why I left the
+University; drew myself away from him for ever. What does he care for my
+suffering? He can't leave me in peace. I wasn't good enough for him, and
+my father isn't honest enough. Oh, that I were a man! I'd teach him that
+it was dangerous to insult the wretched.
+
+"How I was mistaken in him! He has no delicacy, no true manliness of
+character. I'm glad he has thrown down the challenge. Father may not be
+well-educated nor refined, but he's strong. Professor Roberts shall
+find out what it means to attack _us_. I hope he'll be turned out of the
+University; I hope he will. Let me think. I have a copy of that lecture
+of his; perhaps there's something in it worse than I remembered. At any
+rate, the report will be proof."
+
+She searched hurriedly, and soon found the newspaper account she wanted.
+Glancing down the column with feverish eagerness, she burst out: "Here
+it is; this will do. I knew there was something more."
+
+"... Thus the great ones contribute, each his part, towards the
+humanization of man. Christ and Buddha are our teachers, but so also,
+and in no lower degree, are Plato, Dante, Goethe, and Shakespeare....
+
+"But strange to say, the _Divina Commedia_ seems to us moderns more
+remote than the speculations of Plato. For the modern world is founded
+upon science, and may be said to begin with the experimental philosophy
+of Bacon. The thoughts of Plato, the 'fair humanities' of Greek
+religion, are nearer to the scientific spirit than the untutored
+imaginings of Christ. The world to-day seeks its rule of life in exact
+knowledge of man and his surroundings; its teachers, high-priests in
+the temple of Truth, are the Darwins, the Bunsens, the Pasteurs. In the
+place of God we see Law, and the old concept of rewards and punishments
+has been re-stated as 'the survival of the fittest,' If, on the other
+hand, you need emotions, and the inspiration of concrete teaching, you
+must go to Balzac, to Turgenief, and to Ibsen...."
+
+"I think that'll do," said the girl half-aloud as she marked the above
+passages, and then sent the paper by a servant to her father's office.
+"The worst of it is, he'll find another place easily; but, at any rate,
+he'll have to leave this State.... How well I remember that lecture. I
+thought no one had ever talked like that before. But the people disliked
+it, and even those who stayed to the end said they wouldn't have come
+had they known that a professor could speak against Christianity. How
+mad they made me then! I wouldn't listen to them, and now--now he's with
+May Hutchings, perhaps laughing at me with her. Or, if he's not so base
+as that, he's accusing my father of dishonesty, and I mean to defend
+him. But if, ah, if--" and the girl rose to her feet suddenly, with
+paling face.
+
+The house of Lawyer Hutchings was commodious and comfortable. It was
+only two storeys high, and its breadth made it appear squat; it was
+solidly built of rough, brown stone, and a large wooden verandah gave
+shade and a lounging-place in front. It stood in its own grounds on the
+outskirts of the town, not far from Mr. Gulmore's, but it lacked the
+towers and greenhouse, the brick stables, and black iron gates, which
+made Mr. Gulmore's residence an object of public admiration. It had,
+indeed, a careless, homelike air, as of a building that disdains show,
+standing sturdily upon a consciousness of utility and worth. The study
+of the master lay at the back. It was a room of medium size, with two
+French windows, which gave upon an orchard of peach and apple-trees
+where lush grass hid the fallen fruit. The furniture was plain and
+serviceable. A few prints on the wall and a wainscoting of books showed
+the owner's tastes.
+
+In this room one morning Lawyer Hutchings and Professor Roberts
+sat talking. The lawyer was sparely built and tall, of sympathetic
+appearance. The features of the face were refined and fairly regular,
+the blue eyes pleasing, the high forehead intelligent-looking.
+Yet--whether it was the querulous horizontal lines above the brows, or
+the frequent, graceful gestures of the hands--Mr. Hutchings left on one
+an impression of weakness, and, somehow or other, his precise way of
+speaking suggested intellectual narrowness. It was understood, however,
+that he had passed through Harvard with honours, and had done well in
+the law-course. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that when he
+went West, he went with the idea that that was the shortest way to
+Washington. Yet he had had but a moderate degree of success; he was too
+thoroughly grounded in his work not to get a good practice, but he was
+not the first in his profession. He had been outdone by men who fought
+their cases, and his popularity was due to affable manners, and not to
+admiration of his power or talents. His obvious good nature had got
+with years a tinge of discontent; life had been to him a series of
+disappointments.
+
+One glance at Professor Roberts showed him to be a different sort of
+a man, though perhaps harder to read. Square shoulders and attenuated
+figure--a mixture of energy and nervous force without muscular strength;
+a tyrannous forehead overshadowing lambent hazel eyes; a cordial
+frankness of manner with a thinker's tricks of gesture, his nervous
+fingers emphasizing his words.
+
+Their talk was of an article assailing the Professor that had appeared
+that morning in "The Republican Herald."
+
+"I don't like it," Mr. Hutchings was saying. "It's inspired by Gulmore,
+and he always means what he says--and something more."
+
+"Except the suggestion that my father had certain good, or rather bad,
+reasons for leaving Kentucky, it seems to me merely spiteful. It's very
+vilely written."
+
+"He only begins with your father. Then he wonders what the real motives
+are which induce you to change your political creed. But the affectation
+of fairness is the danger signal. One can't imagine Gulmore hesitating
+to assert what he has heard, that you have no religious principles.
+Coming from him, that means a declaration of war; he'll attack you
+without scruple--persistently. It's well known that he cares nothing
+for religion--even his wife's a Unitarian. What he's aiming at, I don't
+know, but he's sure to do you harm. He has done me harm, and yet he
+never gave me such a warning. He only went for me when I ran for office.
+As soon as the elections were over, he left me in peace. He's eminently
+practical, and rather good-natured. There's no small vicious malice or
+hate in him; but he's overbearing and loves a fight. Is it worth your
+while to make an enemy of him? We're sure to be beaten."
+
+"Of course it isn't worth my while in that sense, but it's my duty, I
+think, as you think it yours. Remark, too, that I've never attacked
+Mr. Gulmore--never even mentioned him. I've criticised the system, and
+avoided personalities."
+
+"He won't take it in that way. He is the system; when you criticise it,
+you criticise him. Every one will so understand it. He makes all the
+appointments, from mayor down to the boy who sweeps out an office; every
+contract is given to him or his appointees; that's how he has made his
+fortune. Why, he beat me the second time I ran for District Court Judge,
+by getting an Irishman, the Chairman of my Committee, to desert me at
+the last moment. He afterwards got Patrick Byrne elected a Justice of
+the Peace, a man who knows no law and can scarcely sign his own name."
+
+"How disgraceful! And you would have me sit down quietly under the
+despotism of Mr. Gulmore? And such a despotism! It cost the city half a
+million dollars to pave the streets, and I can prove that the work
+could have been done as well for half the sum. Our democratic system of
+government is the worst in the world, if a tenth part of what I hear
+is true; and before I admit that, I'll see whether its abuses are
+corrigible. But why do you say we're sure to be beaten? I thought you
+said--"
+
+"Yes," Mr. Hutchings interrupted, "I said that this railway extension
+gives us a chance. All the workmen are Irishmen, Democrats to a man,
+who'll vote and vote straight, and that has been our weak point. You
+can't get one-half the better classes to go to the polls. The negroes
+all vote, too, and vote Republican--that has been Gulmore's strength.
+Now I've got the Irishmen against his negroes I may win. But what I feel
+is that even if I do get to be Mayor, you'll suffer for it more than I
+shall gain by your help. Do you see? And, now that I'm employed by the
+Union Pacific I don't care much for city politics. I'd almost prefer
+to give up the candidature. May'll suffer, too. I think you ought to
+consider the matter before going any further."
+
+"This is not the time for consideration. Like you I am trying to put
+an end to a corrupt tyranny. I work and shall vote against a venal and
+degrading system. May and I will bear what we must. She wouldn't have
+me run away from such adversaries. Fancy being governed by the most
+ignorant, led on by the most dishonest! It's incomprehensible to me how
+such a paradoxical infamy can exist."
+
+"I think it'll become comprehensible to you before this election's over.
+I've done my best for years to alter it, and so far I've not been very
+successful. You don't seem to understand that where parties are almost
+equal in strength, a man who'll spend money is sure to win. It has paid
+Gulmore to organize the Republican party in this city; he has made
+it pay him and all those who hold office by and through him. 'To the
+victors, the spoils.' Those who have done the spoiling are able to pay
+more than the spoiled--that's all."
+
+"Yes, but in this case the spoilers are a handful, while the spoiled are
+the vast majority. Why should it be impossible to convince the majority
+that they're being robbed?"
+
+"Because ideas can't get into the heads of negroes, nor yet into the
+heads of illiterate Irishmen. You'll find, too, that five Americans out
+of every ten take no interest in ordinary politics, and the five who
+do are of the lowest class--a Boss is their natural master. Our party
+politics, my friend, resembles a game of faro--the card that happens to
+be in the box against the same card outside--and the banker holding the
+box usually manages to win. Let me once get power and Gulmore'll find
+his labour unremunerative. If it hadn't been for him I'd have been in
+Congress long ago. But now I'll have to leave you. Talk it over with May
+and--you see that Gulmore challenges you to prove the corruption or else
+withdraw the imputation? What do you mean to do?"
+
+"I'll prove it, of course. Long before I spoke I had gone into that
+paving contract; it was clearly a fraud."
+
+"Well, I'd think, if I were you, before I acted, though you're a great
+help to me; your last speech was very powerful."
+
+"Unfortunately I'm no speaker, but I'll do as well as I can, and you
+may rely on me to go on to the end. The rich at least must be forced
+to refrain from robbing the poor.... That malicious sneer at my father
+hurts me. It can only mean that he owed money in Kentucky. He was always
+careless in money matters, too careless, but he's very generous at
+heart. I owe him everything. I'll find out about it at once, and if it
+is as I fear, the debt shall be paid. That'll be one good result of
+Mr. Gul-more's malice. As for me, let him do his worst. At any rate I'm
+forewarned."
+
+"A poor satisfaction in case--but here's May, and I must go. I've stayed
+too long already. You should look through our ticket; it's strong, the
+men are all good, I think--anyway, they're the best we can get. Teach
+him to be careful, May; he's too bold."
+
+"I will, father," replied a clear, girlish voice; "it's mother who
+spoils him," and then, as the door shut, she moved to her lover, and
+holding out both her hands, with a little air of dignity, added, "He
+tries to spoil _me_. But, dear, what's the matter? You seem annoyed."
+
+"It's nothing. An article in that paper strikes at my father, and hurts
+me; but it can be made right, and to look at you is a cure for pain."
+
+"Let me read it--no, please! I want to help you, and how can I do that
+if I don't know what pains you?" The girl took the "Herald "and sat down
+to read it.
+
+May Hutchings was more than good-looking, were it only by reason of
+a complexion such as is seldom given even to blondes. The inside of a
+sea-shell has the same lustre and delicacy, but it does not pale and
+flush as did May's cheeks in quick response to her emotions. Waves of
+maize-coloured hair with a sheen of its own went with the fairness of
+the skin, and the pretty features were redeemed from a suspicion of
+insipidity by large violet eyes. She was of good height and lissom, with
+small feet and hands, but the outlines of her figure were Southern in
+grace and fulness.
+
+After reading the article, she put down the paper without saying a word
+
+"Why, May, you seem to take it as seriously as your father does. It's
+nothing so very terrible, is it?"
+
+"What did father say?"
+
+"That it was inspired by Gulmore, and that he was a dangerous man; but
+I don't see much in it. If my father owed money in Kentucky it shall be
+repaid, and there the matter ends."
+
+"'Tisn't that I'm troubling about; it's that lecture of yours. Oh, it
+was wonderful! but I sat trembling all the time. You don't know the
+people. If they had understood it better, they'd have made a big fuss
+about it. I'm frightened now."
+
+"But what fuss can they make? I've surely a right to my own opinions,
+and I didn't criticise any creed offensively."
+
+"That's it--that's what saved you. Oh, I wish you'd see it as I do! You
+spoke so enthusiastically about Jesus, that you confused them. A lot
+of them thought, and think still, that you're a Christian. But if it's
+brought up again and made clear to them--Won't you understand? If it's
+made quite clear that Jesus to you was only a man, and not superior
+even to all other men, and that you believe Christianity has served
+its purpose, and is now doing harm rather than good in the world, why,
+they'd not want to have you in the University. Don't you know that?"
+
+"Perhaps you're right," returned the Professor thoughtfully. "You see
+I wasn't brought up in any creed, and I've lived in so completely
+different an atmosphere for years past, that it's hard to understand
+such intolerant bigotry. I remember enough, though, to see that you
+are right. But, after all, what does it matter? I can't play hypocrite
+because they're blind fanatics."
+
+"No, but you needn't have gone _quite_ so far--been _quite_ so frank;
+and even now you might easily--" She stopped, catching a look of
+surprise in her lover's face, and sought confusedly to blot out the
+effect of her last words. "I mean--but of course you know best. I want
+you to keep your place; you love the work, and no one could do it so
+well as you. No one, and--"
+
+"It doesn't matter, May. I'm sure you were thinking of what would be
+best for both of us, but I've nothing to alter or extenuate. They must
+do as they think fit, these Christians, if they have the power. After
+all, it can make no difference to us; I can always get work enough
+to keep us, even if it isn't such congenial work. But do you think
+Gulmore's at the bottom of it? Has he so much influence?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," and the girl nodded her head, but she did not give
+the reasons for her opinion. She knew that Ida Gulmore had been in love
+with him, so she shrank instinctively from mentioning her name, partly
+because it might make him pity her, and partly because the love
+of another woman for him seemed to diminish her pride of exclusive
+possession. She therefore kept silence while seeking for a way to warn
+her lover without revealing the truth, which might set him thinking of
+Ida Gulmore and her fascinating because unrequited passion. At length
+she said:
+
+"Mr. Gulmore has injured father. He knows him: you'd better take his
+opinion."
+
+"Your father advises me to have nothing more to do with the election."
+He didn't say it to try her; he trusted her completely. The girl's
+answer was emphatic:
+
+"Oh, that's what you should do; I'm frightened for you. Why need you
+make enemies? The election isn't worth that, indeed it isn't. If father
+wants to run for Mayor, let him; he knows what he's about. But you, you
+should do great things, write a great book; and make every one as proud
+of you as I am." Her face flushed with enthusiasm. She felt relieved,
+too; somehow she had got into the spirit of her part once more. But her
+lover took the hot face and eager speech as signs of affection, and he
+drew her to him while his face lit up with joy.
+
+"You darling, darling! You overrate me, dear, but that does me good:
+makes me work harder. What a pity it is, May, that one can't add a cubit
+to his stature. I'd be a giant then.... But never fear; it'll be all
+right. You wouldn't wish me, I'm sure, to run away from a conflict I
+have provoked; but now I must see my father about those debts, and then
+we'll have a drive, or perhaps you'd go with me to him. You could wait
+in the buggy for me. You know I have to speak again this evening."
+
+The girl consented at once, but she was not satisfied with the decision
+her lover had come to. "It's too plain," she thought in her clear,
+common-sense way, "that he's getting into a 'fuss' when he might just as
+well, or better, keep out of it."
+
+May was eminently practical, and not at all as emotional as one might
+have inferred from the sensitive, quick-changing colour that at one
+moment flushed her cheeks and at another ebbed, leaving her pallid, as
+with passion. Not that she was hardhearted or selfish. Far from it. But
+her surroundings had moulded her as they do women. Her mother had been
+one of the belles of Baltimore, a Southerner, too, by temperament May
+had a brother and a sister older than herself (both were now married),
+and a younger brother who had taken care that she should not be spoiled
+for want of direct personal criticism. It was this younger brother, Joe,
+who first called her "Towhead," and even now he often made disparaging
+remarks about "girls who didn't weigh 130"--in Joe's eyes, a Venus of
+Rubens would have seemed perfect. May was not vain of her looks; indeed,
+she had only come to take pleasure in them of recent years. As a young
+girl, comparing herself with her mother, she feared that she would
+always be "quite homely." Her glass and the attentions of men had
+gradually shown her the pleasant truth. She did not, however, even now,
+overrate her beauty greatly. But her character had been modified
+to advantage in those schoolgirl days, when, with bitter tears, she
+admitted to herself that she was not pretty. Her teacher's praise of her
+quickness and memory had taught her to set her pride on learning. And
+indeed she had been an intelligent child, gifted with a sponge-like
+faculty of assimilating all kinds of knowledge--the result, perhaps, of
+generations of educated forbears. The admiration paid to her looks
+did not cause her to relax her intellectual efforts. But when at the
+University she found herself outgrowing the ordinary standards of
+opinion, conceit at first took possession of her. It seemed to her
+manifest that she had always underrated herself. She was astonished by
+her own excessive modesty, and keenly interested in it. She had thought
+herself ugly and she was beautiful, and now it was evident that she was
+a genius as well. With soul mightily uplifted by dreams of all she would
+do and the high part she would play in life, always nobly serious, yet
+with condescension of exquisite charming kindliness, taking herself
+gravely for a perfect product of the race and time, she proceeded to
+write the book which should discover to mankind all her qualities--the
+delicacy, nobility, and sweetness of an ideal nature.
+
+During this period she even tried to treat Joe with sweet courtesy, but
+Joe told her not to make herself "more of a doggoned fool" than she
+was. And soon the dream began to lose its brightness. The book would not
+advance, and what she wrote did not seem to her wonderful--not inspired
+and fascinating as it ought to have been. Her reading had given her some
+slight critical insight. She then showed parts of it to her admirers,
+hoping thus to justify vanity, but they used the occasion to pay
+irrelevant compliments, and so disappointed her--all, save Will
+Thornton, who admitted critically that "it was poetic" and guessed "she
+ought to write poetry." Accordingly she wrote some lyrics, and one on
+"Vanished Hopes" really pleased her. Forthwith she read it to Will, who
+decided "'twas fine, mighty fine. Tennyson had written more, of course,
+but nothing better--nothing easier to understand."
+
+That last phrase killed her trust in him. She sank into despondence.
+Even when Ida Gul-more, whom she had learned to dislike, began to
+outshine her in the class, she made no effort. To graduate first of her
+year appeared a contemptible ambition in comparison with the dreams she
+had foregone. About this period she took a new interest in her dress;
+she grew coquettish even, and became a greater favourite than ever.
+Then Professor Roberts came to the University, and with his coming life
+opened itself to her anew, vitalized with hopes and fears. She was drawn
+to him from the first, as spirit is sometimes drawn to spirit, by an
+attraction so imperious that it frightened her, and she tried to hold
+herself away from him. But in her heart she knew that she studied and
+read only to win his praise. His talents revealed to her the futility of
+her ambition. Here was one who stood upon the heights beyond her power
+of climbing, and yet, to her astonishment, he was very doubtful of
+his ability to gain enduring reputation. Not only was there a plane of
+knowledge and feeling above the conventional--that she had found out by
+herself--but there were also table-lands where teachers of repute in the
+valley were held to be blind guides. Her quick receptivity absorbed
+the new ideas with eagerness; but she no longer deluded herself. Her
+practical good sense came to her aid. What seemed difficult or doubtful
+to the Professor must, she knew, be for ever impossible to her. And
+already love was upon her, making her humility as sweet as was her
+admiration. At last he spoke, and life became altogether beautiful to
+her. As she learned to know him intimately she began to understand his
+un-worldliness, his scholar-like idealism, and ignorance of men and
+motives, and thus she came to self-possession again, and found her true
+mission. She realized with joy, and a delightful sense of an assured
+purpose in life, that her faculty of observation and practical insight,
+though insufficient as "bases for Eternity," would be of value to
+her lover. And if she now and then fell back into the part of a
+nineteenth-century Antigone, it was but a momentary relapse into what
+had been for a year or so a dear familiar habit The heart of the girl
+grew and expanded in the belief that her new _role_ of counsellor and
+worldly guide to her husband was the highest to which any woman could
+attain.
+
+A few days later Mr. Hutchings had another confidential talk with
+Professor Roberts, and, as before, the subject was suggested by an
+article in "The Republican Herald." This paper, indeed, devoted a column
+or so every day to personal criticism of the Professor, and each attack
+surpassed its forerunner in virulence of invective. All the young man's
+qualities of character came out under this storm of unmerited abuse.
+He read everything that his opponents put forth, replied to nothing, in
+spite of the continual solicitation of the editor of "The Democrat,"
+and seemed very soon to regard "The Herald's" calumnies merely from the
+humorous side. Meanwhile his own speeches grew in knowledge and vigour.
+With a scholar's precision he put before his hearers the inner history
+and significance of job after job. His powers of study helped him to
+"get up his cases" with crushing completeness. He quickly realized the
+value of catch-words, but his epigrams not being hardened in the fire of
+life refused to stick. He did better when he published the balance-sheet
+of the "ring" in pamphlet form, and showed that each householder paid
+about one hundred and fifty dollars a year, or twice as much as all his
+legal taxes, in order to support a party organization the sole object
+of which was to enrich a few at the expense of the many. One job, in
+especial, the contract for paving the streets, he stigmatized as a
+swindle, and asserted that the District Attorney, had he done his duty,
+would long ago have brought the Mayor and Town Council before a criminal
+court as parties to a notorious fraud. His ability, steadfastness, and
+self-restraint had had a very real effect; his meetings were always
+crowded, and his hearers were not all Democrats. His courage and
+fighting power were beginning to win him general admiration. The public
+took a lively though impartial interest in the contest. To critical
+outsiders it seemed not unlikely that the Professor (a word of
+good-humoured contempt) might "whip" even "old man Gulmore." Bets were
+made on the result and short odds accepted. Even Mr. Hutchings allowed
+himself to hope for a favourable issue.
+
+"You've done wonderfully well," was the burden of his conversations with
+Roberts; "I should feel certain of success against any one but Gulmore.
+And he seems to be losing his head--his perpetual abuse excites sympathy
+with you. If we win I shall owe it mainly to you."
+
+But on this particular morning Lawyer Hutchings had something to say to
+his friend and helper which he did not like to put into plain words. He
+began abruptly:
+
+"You've seen the 'Herald'?"
+
+"Yes; there's nothing in it of interest, is there?"
+
+"No; but 'twas foolish of your father to write that letter saying you
+had paid his Kentucky debts."
+
+"I was sorry when I saw it. I know they'll say I got him to write the
+letter. But it's only another incident."
+
+"It's true, then? You did pay the money?"
+
+"Yes; I was glad to."
+
+"But it was folly. What had you to do with your father's debts? Every
+house to-day should stand on its own foundation."
+
+"I don't agree with you; but in this case there was no question of
+that sort. My father very generously impoverished himself to send me
+to Europe and keep me there for six years. I owed him the five thousand
+dollars, and was only too glad to be able to repay him. You'd have done
+the same."
+
+"Would I, indeed! Five thousand dollars! I'm not so sure of that." The
+father's irritation conquered certain grateful memories of his
+younger days, and the admiration which, in his heart, he felt for the
+Professor's action, only increased his annoyance. "It must have nearly
+cleaned you out?"
+
+"Very nearly."
+
+"Well, of course it's your affair, not mine; but I think you foolish.
+You paid them in full, I suppose? Whew!
+
+"Do you see that the 'Herald' calls upon the University authorities to
+take action upon your lecture? 'The teaching of Christian youth by an
+Atheist must be stopped,' and so forth."
+
+"Yes; but they can do nothing. I'm not responsible to them for my
+religious opinions."
+
+"You're mistaken. A vote of the Faculty can discharge you."
+
+"Impossible! On what grounds?"
+
+"On the ground of immorality. They've got the power in that case. It's a
+loose word, but effective."
+
+"I'd have a cause of action against them."
+
+"Which you'd be sure to lose. Eleven out of every twelve jurymen in this
+state would mulct an Agnostic rather than give him damages."
+
+"Ah! that's the meaning, then, I suppose, of this notice I've just
+got from the secretary to attend a special Faculty meeting on Monday
+fortnight."
+
+"Let me see it. Why, here it is! The object of the meeting is 'To
+consider the anti-Christian utterances of Professor Roberts, and to take
+action thereon.' That's the challenge. Didn't you read it?"
+
+"No; as soon as I opened it and saw the printed form, I took it for the
+usual notification, and put it aside to think of this election work. But
+it would seem as if the Faculty intended to out-herald the 'Herald.'"
+
+"They are simply allowed to act first in order that the 'Herald,' a
+day later, may applaud them. It's all worked by Gulmore, and I tell you
+again, he's dangerous."
+
+"He may be; but I won't change for abuse, nor yet to keep my post. Let
+him do his worst. I've not attacked him hitherto for certain reasons of
+my own, nor do I mean to now. But he can't frighten me; he'll find that
+out."
+
+"Well, we'll see. But, at any rate, it was my duty to warn you. It
+would be different if I were rich, but, as it is, I can only give May a
+little, and--"
+
+"My dear Hutchings, don't let us talk of that. In giving me May, you
+give me all I want." The young man's tone was so conclusive that it
+closed the conversation.
+
+Mr. Gulmore had not been trained for a political career. He had begun
+life as a clerk in a hardware store in his native town. But in his early
+manhood the Abolition agitation had moved him deeply--the colour of his
+skin, he felt, would never have made him accept slavery--and he became
+known as a man of extreme views. Before he was thirty he had managed to
+save some thousands of dollars. He married and emigrated to Columbus,
+Ohio, where he set up a business. It was there, in the stirring years
+before the war, that he first threw himself into politics; he laboured
+indefatigably as an Abolitionist without hope or desire of personal
+gain. But the work came to have a fascination for him, and he saw
+possibilities in it of pecuniary emolument such as the hardware business
+did not afford. When the war was over, and he found himself scarcely
+richer than he had been before it began, he sold his store and emigrated
+again--this time to Tecumseh, Nebraska, intending to make political
+organization the business of his life. He wanted "to grow up" with
+a town and become its master from the beginning. As the negroes
+constituted the most ignorant and most despised class, a little
+solicitation made him their leader. In the first election it was found
+that "Gulmore's negroes" voted to a man, and that he thereby controlled
+the Republican party. In the second year of his residence in Tecumseh he
+got the contract for lighting the town with gas. The contract was to
+run for twenty years, and was excessively liberal, for Mr. Gulmore had
+practically no competitor, no one who understood gas manufacture, and
+who had the money and pluck to embark in the enterprise. He quickly
+formed a syndicate, and fulfilled the conditions of the contract. The
+capital was fixed at two hundred thousand dollars, and the syndicate
+earned a profit of nearly forty per cent, in the first year. Ten years
+later a one hundred dollar share was worth a thousand. This first
+success was the foundation of Mr. Gulmore's fortune. The income derived
+from the gas-works enabled him to spend money on the organization of his
+party. The first manager of the works was rewarded with the position of
+Town Clerk--an appointment which ran for five years, but which under Mr.
+Gulmore's rule was practically permanent. His foremen became the most
+energetic of ward-chairmen. He was known to pay well, and to be a kind
+if strenuous master. What he had gained in ten years by the various
+contracts allotted to him or his nominees no one could guess; he was
+certainly very rich. From year to year, too, his control of the city
+government had grown more complete. There was now no place in the civil
+or judicial establishment of the city or county which did not depend on
+his will, and his influence throughout the State was enormous.
+
+A municipal election, or, indeed, any election, afforded Mr. Gulmore
+many opportunities of quiet but intense self-satisfaction. He loved
+the struggle and the consciousness that from his office-chair he had so
+directed his forces that victory was assured. He always allowed a broad
+margin in order to cover the unforeseen. Chance, and even ill-luck,
+formed a part of his strategy; the sore throat of an eloquent speaker;
+the illness of a popular candidate; a storm on polling-day--all were to
+him factors in the problem. He reckoned as if his opponents might have
+all the luck upon their side; but, while considering the utmost malice
+of fortune, it was his delight to base his calculations upon the
+probable, and to find them year by year approaching more nearly
+to absolute exactitude. As soon as his ward-organization had been
+completed, he could estimate the votes of his party within a dozen or
+so. His plan was to treat every contest seriously, to bring all his
+forces to the poll on every occasion--nothing kept men together, he used
+to say, like victory. It was the number of his opponent's minority which
+chiefly interested him; but by studying the various elections carefully,
+he came to know better than any one the value as a popular candidate of
+every politician in the capital, or, indeed, in the State. The talent of
+the man for organization lay in his knowledge of men, his fairness and
+liberality, and, perhaps, to a certain extent, in the power he possessed
+of inspiring others with confidence in himself and his measures. He was
+never satisfied till the fittest man in each ward was the Chairman of
+the ward; and if money would not buy that particular man's services,
+as sometimes though rarely happened, he never rested until he found the
+gratification which bound his energy to the cause. Besides--and this was
+no small element in his successes--his temper disdained the applause of
+the crowd. He had never "run" for any office himself, and was not nearly
+so well known to the mass of the electorate as many of his creatures.
+The senator, like the mayor or office-messenger of his choice, got
+all the glory: Mr. Gulmore was satisfied with winning the victory, and
+reaping the fruits of it. He therefore excited, comparatively speaking,
+no jealousy; and this, together with the strength of his position,
+accounts for the fact that he had never been seriously opposed before
+Professor Roberts came upon the scene.
+
+Better far than Lawyer Hutchings, or any one else, Mr. Gulmore knew that
+the relative strength of the two parties had altered vastly within the
+year. Reckoning up his forces at the beginning of the campaign, he felt
+certain that he could win--could carry his whole ticket, including a
+rather unpopular Mayor; but the majority in his favour would be small,
+and the prospect did not please him, for the Professor's speeches had
+aroused envy. He understood that if his majority were not overwhelming
+he would be assailed again next year more violently, and must in the
+long run inevitably lose his power. Besides, "fat" contracts required
+unquestionable supremacy. He began, therefore, by instituting such
+a newspaper-attack upon the Professor as he hoped would force him to
+abandon the struggle. When this failed, and Mr. Gulmore saw that it had
+done worse than fail, that it had increased his opponent's energy and
+added to his popularity, he went to work again to consider the whole
+situation. He must win and win "big," that was clear; win too, if
+possible, in a way that would show his "smartness" and demonstrate
+his adversary's ignorance of the world. His anger had at length been
+aroused; personal rivalry was a thing he could not tolerate at any time,
+and Roberts had injured his position in the town. He was resolved to
+give the young man such a lesson that others would be slow to follow his
+example. The difficulty of the problem was one of its attractions. Again
+and again he turned the question over in his mind--How was he to make
+his triumph and the Professor's defeat sensational? All the factors were
+present to him and he dwelt upon them with intentness. He was a man of
+strong intellect; his mind was both large and quick, but its activity,
+owing to want of education and to greedy physical desires, had been
+limited to the ordinary facts and forces of life. What books are to most
+persons gifted with an extraordinary intelligence, his fellow-men
+were to Mr. Gulmore--a study at once stimulating and difficult, of
+an incomparable variety and complexity. His lack of learning was of
+advantage to him in judging most men. Their stock of ideas, sentiments
+and desires had been his for years, and if he now viewed the patchwork
+quilt of their morality with indulgent contempt, at least he was
+familiar with all the constituent shades of it. But he could not make
+the Professor out--and this added to his dislike of him; he recognized
+that Roberts was not, as he had at first believed, a mere mouthpiece of
+Hutchings, but he could not fathom his motives; besides, as he said to
+himself, he had no need to; Roberts was plainly a "crank," book-mad, and
+the species did not interest him. But Hutchings he knew well; knew that
+like himself Hutchings, while despising ordinary prejudices, was ruled
+by ordinary greeds and ambitions. In intellect they were both above
+the average, but not in morals. So, by putting himself in the lawyer's
+place, a possible solution of the problem occurred to him.
+
+A couple of days before the election, Mr. Hutchings, who had been hard
+at work till the evening among his chief subordinates, was making his
+way homeward when Mr. Prentiss accosted him, with the request that he
+would accompany him to his rooms for a few minutes on a matter of the
+utmost importance. Having no good reason for refusing, Mr. Hutchings
+followed the editor of the "Herald" up a flight of stairs into a large
+and comfortable room. As he entered and looked about him Mr. Gulmore
+came forward:
+
+"I wanted a talk with you, Lawyer, where we wouldn't be disturbed, and
+Prentiss thought it would be best to have it here, and I guess he was
+about right. It's quiet and comfortable. Won't you be seated?"
+
+"Mr. Gulmore!" exclaimed the surprised lawyer stopping short. "I don't
+think there's anything to be discussed between us, and as I'm in a hurry
+to get home to dinner, I think I'll--"
+
+"Don't you make any mistake," interrupted Mr. Gulmore; "I mean
+business--business that'll pay both you and me, and I guess 'twon't do
+you any damage to take a seat and listen to me for a few minutes."
+
+As Lawyer Hutchings, overborne by the authority of the voice and manner,
+sat down, he noticed that Mr. Prentiss had disappeared. Interpreting
+rightly the other's glance, Mr. Gulmore began:
+
+"We're alone, Hutchin's. This matter shall be played fair and square.
+I guess you know that my word can be taken at its face-value." Then,
+settling himself in his chair, he went on:
+
+"You and I hev been runnin' on opposite tickets for a good many years,
+and I've won right along. It has paid me to win and it has not paid you
+to lose. Now, it's like this. You reckon that those Irishmen on the line
+give you a better show. They do; but not enough to whip me. You appear
+to think that that'll have to be tried the day after tomorrow, but you
+ought to know by now that when I say a thing is so, it's so--every time.
+If you had a chance, I'd tell you: I'm playin' square. I ken carry my
+ticket from one end to the other; I ken carry Robinson as Mayor against
+you by at least two hundred and fifty of a majority, and the rest of
+your ticket has just no show at all--you know that. But, even if you
+could get in this year or next what good would it do you to be Mayor?
+You're not runnin' for the five thousand dollars a year salary, I
+reckon, and that's about all you'd get--unless you worked with me. I
+want a good Mayor, a man like you, of position and education, a fine
+speaker that knows everybody and is well thought of--popular. Robinson's
+not good enough for me; he hain't got the manners nor the knowledge, nor
+the popularity. I'd have liked to have had you on my side right along.
+It would have been better for both of us, but you were a Democrat, an'
+there wasn't any necessity. Now there is. I want to win this election by
+a large majority, an' you ken make that sartin. You see I speak square.
+Will you join me?"
+
+The question was thrown out abruptly. Mr. Gul-more had caught a gleam in
+the other's eye as he spoke of a good Mayor and his qualifications. "He
+bites, I guess," was his inference, and accordingly he put the question
+at once.
+
+Mr. Hutchings, brought to himself by the sudden interrogation,
+hesitated, and decided to temporize. He could always refuse to join
+forces, and Gulmore might "give himself away." He answered:
+
+"I don't quite see what you mean. How are we to join?"
+
+"By both of us givin' somethin'."
+
+"What am I to give?"
+
+"Withdraw your candidature for Mayor as a Democrat."
+
+"I can't do that."
+
+"Jest hear me out. The city has advertised for tenders for a new Court
+House and a new Town Hall. The one building should cover both, and be
+near the middle of the business part. That's so--ain't it? Well, land's
+hard to get anywhere there, and I've the best lots in the town. I guess"
+(carelessly) "the contract will run to a million dollars; that
+should mean two hundred thousand dollars to some one. It's like this,
+Hutchin's: Would you rather come in with me and make a joint tender, or
+run for Mayor and be beaten?"
+
+Mr. Hutchings started. Ten years before the proposal would have won him.
+But now his children were provided for--all except Joe, and his position
+as Counsel to the Union Pacific Railroad lifted him above pecuniary
+anxieties. Then the thought of the Professor and May came to him--No! he
+wouldn't sell himself. But in some strange way the proposition excited
+him; he felt elated. His quickened pulse-beats prevented him from
+realizing the enormity of the proposed transaction, but he knew that
+he ought to be indignant. What a pity it was that Gulmore had made no
+proposal which he might have accepted--and then disclosed!
+
+"If I understand you, you propose that I should take up this contract,
+and make money out of it. If that was your business with me, you've made
+a mistake, and Professor Roberts is right."
+
+"Hev I?" asked Mr. Gulmore slowly, coldly, in sharp contrast to the
+lawyer's apparent excitement and quick speech. Contemptuously he thought
+that Hutchings was "foolisher" than he had imagined--or was he sincere?
+He would have weighed this last possibility before speaking, if the
+mention of Roberts had not angered him. His combativeness made him
+persist:
+
+"If you don't want to come in with me, all you've got to do is to say
+so. You've no call to get up on your hind legs about it; it's easy to
+do settin'. But don't talk poppycock like that Professor; he's silly. He
+talks about the contract for street pavin', and it ken be proved--'twas
+proved in the 'Herald'--that our streets cost less per foot than the
+streets of any town in this State. He knows nothin'. He don't even know
+that an able man can make half a million out of a big contract, an' do
+the work better than an ordinary man could do it who'd lose money by it
+At a million our Court House'll be cheap; and if the Professor had the
+contract with the plans accordin' to requirement to-morrow, he'd
+make nothin' out of it--not a red cent. No, sir. If I ken, that's my
+business--and yours, ain't it? Or, are we to work for nothin' because
+he's a fool?"
+
+While Mr. Gulmore was speaking, Mr. Hutchings gave himself to thought.
+After all, why was he running for Mayor? The place, as Gulmore said,
+would be of no use to him. He was weary of fighting which only ended in
+defeat, and could only end in a victory that would be worthless. Mayor,
+indeed! If he had a chance of becoming a Member of Congress, that would
+be different. And across his brain flitted the picture so often evoked
+by imagination in earlier years. Why not? Gulmore could make it certain.
+Would he?
+
+"What you say seems plausible enough, but I don't see my way. I don't
+feel inclined to go into business at my time of life."
+
+"You don't need to go into the business. I'll see to that."
+
+"No. I don't need money now particularly."
+
+"Next year, Hutchin's, I'll have a better man than Robinson against you.
+Lawyer Nevilson's as good as ken be found, I reckon, and he wouldn't
+refuse to join me if I gave him the chance." But while he was speaking,
+Mr. Gulmore kept his opponent's answer in view. He considered it
+thoughtfully; "I don't need money now particularly." What did the
+man need? Congress? As a Republican? That would do as well. When Mr.
+Hutchings shook his head, careless of the menace, Mr. Gulmore made up
+his mind. His obstinacy came out; he would win at any price. He began:
+
+"It's what I said at first, Hutchin's; we've each got to give what the
+other wants. I've told you what I want; tell me squarely what you want,
+an' p'r'aps the thing ken be settled."
+
+As Mr. Hutchings did not answer at once, the Boss went on:
+
+"You're in politics for somethin'. What is it? If you're goin' to buck
+agen me, you might as well draw out; you'll do no good. You know that.
+See here! Is it the State Legislature you're after, or--Congress?"
+
+The mere words excited Mr. Hutchings; he wanted to be back again in the
+East as a victor; he longed for the cultivated amenities and the social
+life of Washington. He could not help exclaiming:
+
+"Ah! if it hadn't been for you I'd have been in Congress long ago."
+
+"As a Democrat? Not from this State, I guess."
+
+"What does it matter? Democrat or Republican, the difference now is only
+in the name."
+
+"The price is high, Hutchin's. I ask you to give up runnin' for Mayor,
+and you ask me for a seat in Congress instead. But--I'll pay it, if you
+do as I say. You've no chance in this State as a Democrat; you know that
+yourself. To run for Mayor as a Democrat hurts you; that must stop right
+now--in your own interest. But what I want from you is that you don't
+announce your withdrawal till the day after to-morrow, an' meantime you
+say nothin' to the Professor or any one else. Are you agreed?"
+
+Mr. Hutchings paused. The path of his desire lay open before him; the
+opportunity was not to be missed; he grew eager. But still there was
+something disagreeable in an action which demanded secrecy. He must
+think coolly. What was the proposal? What was he giving? Nothing. He
+didn't wish to be Mayor with Gulmore and all the City Council against
+him. Nothing--except the withdrawal on the very morning of the election.
+That would look bad, but he could pretend illness, and he had told the
+Professor he didn't care to be Mayor; he had advised him not to mix in
+the struggle; besides, Roberts would not suspect anything, and if he
+did there'd be no shadow of proof for a long time to come. In the other
+scale of the balance he had Gulmore's promise: it was trustworthy, he
+knew, but--:
+
+"Do you mean that you'll run me for the next term and get me elected?"
+
+"I'll do all I know, and I guess you'll succeed."
+
+"I have nothing but your word."
+
+"Nothin'."
+
+Again Mr. Hutchings paused. To accept definitively would be dangerous if
+the conversation had had listeners. It was characteristic of the place
+and time that he could suspect a man of laying such a trap, upon
+whose word he was prepared to rely. Mr. Gulmore saw and understood his
+hesitation:
+
+"I said we were alone, Hutchin's, and I meant it. Jest as I say now,
+if you withdraw and tell no one and be guided by me in becoming a
+Republican, I'll do what I ken to get you into Congress," and as he
+spoke he stood up.
+
+Mr. Hutchings rose, too, and said, as if in excuse: "I wanted to think
+it over, but I'm agreed. I'll do as you say," and with a hurried "Good
+night!" he left the room.
+
+Mr. Gulmore returned to his chair and lit a cigar. He was fairly
+satisfied with the result of his efforts. His triumph over the Professor
+would not be as flagrant, perhaps, as if Hutchin's' name had been linked
+with his in a city contract; but, he thought with amusement, every one
+would suspect that he had bought the lawyer for cash. What a fool the
+man was! What did he want to get into Congress for? Weak vanity! He'd
+have no weight there. To prefer a seat in Congress to wealth--silly.
+Besides, Hutchin's would be a bad candidate. Of course the party name
+would cover anythin'. But what a mean skunk! Here Mr. Gulmore's thoughts
+reverted to himself. Ought he to keep his word and put such a man
+into Congress? He hated to break a promise. But why should he help the
+Professor's father-in-law to power? Wall, there was no hurry. He'd make
+up his mind later. Anyway, the Professor'd have a nice row to hoe on the
+mornin' of the election, and Boss Gulmore'd win and win big, an' that
+was the point The laugh would be on the Professor--
+
+On the morning of the election Professor Roberts was early afoot. He
+felt hopeful, light-hearted, and would not confess even to himself
+that his good spirits were due chiefly to the certainty that in
+another twelve hours his electioneering would be at an end. The work of
+canvassing and public speaking had become very disagreeable to him. The
+mere memory of the speeches he had listened to, had left, as it were,
+an unpleasant aftertaste. How the crowds had cheered the hackneyed
+platitudes, the blatant patriotic appeals, the malevolent caricature
+of opponents! Something unspeakably trivial, vulgar, and evil in it
+all reminded him of tired children when the romping begins to grow
+ill-natured.
+
+And if the intellectual side of the struggle had been offensive, the
+moral atmosphere of the Committee Rooms, infected as it was by the
+candidates, had seemed to him to be even worse--mephitic, poisonous. He
+had shrunk from realizing the sensations which had been forced upon him
+there--a recoil of his nature as from unappeasable wild-beast greeds,
+with their attendant envy, suspicion, and hatred seething like lava
+under the thin crust of a forced affability, of a good-humour assumed
+to make deception easy. He did not want to think of it; it was horrible.
+And perhaps, after all, he was mistaken; perhaps his dislike of the
+work had got upon his nerves, and showed him everything in the darkest
+colours. It could scarcely be as bad as he thought, or human society
+would be impossible. But argument could not blunt the poignancy of his
+feelings; he preferred, therefore, to leave them inarticulate, striving
+to forget. In any case, the ordeal would soon be over; it had to be
+endured for a few hours more, and then he would plunge into his books
+again, and enjoy good company, he and May together.
+
+He was still lingering over this prospect when the servant came to
+tell him that some gentlemen were waiting for him, and he found in the
+sitting-room half-a-dozen of his favourite students. One of the Seniors,
+named Cartrell, a young man of strong figure, and keen, bold face,
+remarked, as he shook hands, that they had come to accompany him--"
+Elections are sometimes rough, and we know the ropes." Roberts thanked
+them warmly, and they set off.
+
+The Committee Rooms of the Democratic party were situated near the Court
+House, in what had been once the centre, but was now the edge of the
+town. The little troop had to pass through the negro quarter--small
+frame-houses, peppered over grassless, bare lots, the broken-down fences
+protesting against unsociable isolation. The Rooms, from the outside,
+reminded one of a hive of angry bees. In and out of the door men were
+hurrying, and a crowd swarmed on the side-walk talking in a loud,
+excited hum. As soon as the Professor was recognized, a silence of
+astonishment fell upon the throng. With stares of curiosity they
+drew aside to let him enter. Slightly surprised by the reception, the
+Professor passed into the chief room. At a table in the middle a man was
+speaking in a harsh, loud voice--one Simpson, a popular orator, who had
+held aloof from the meetings of the party. He was saying:
+
+"It's a put-up game between them, but the question is, who's to go on
+the ticket in--"
+
+As Simpson's eyes met those of Roberts he stopped speaking.
+
+"Good morning, gentlemen. Please continue, Mr. Simpson; I hope I'm not
+interrupting you."
+
+The Professor did not like Mr. Simpson. The atrabilious face, the
+bitter, thin lips, and grey eyes veined with yellow, reminded him
+indefinably of a wild beast. Mr. Simpson seemed to take the courteous
+words as a challenge. Drawing his wiry figure up he said, with insult in
+voice and manner:
+
+"Perhaps you've come to nominate a Mayor; we'd all like to know your
+choice."
+
+"I don't understand you."
+
+The Professor's tone was frank, his sincerity evident, but Simpson went
+on:
+
+"Don't ye? Perhaps Hutchin's has sent you to say, as he's sick it'd be
+well to run Robinson on both tickets--eh?"
+
+"I don't know what you mean. I expected to meet Mr. Hutchings here. Is
+he ill?"
+
+"He'll get well soon, I reckon; but after taking a perscription from
+Gulmore, he's mighty bad and can't leave the house."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that Hutchin's has withdrawn his candidature as Mayor. I mean
+that the 'Herald' has the announcin' of it. I mean it's a put-up job
+between him and Gulmore to ruin the Democratic party in this town. I
+mean--"
+
+As the Professor drew back in amazement, young Cartrell stepped in front
+of him and addressed Simpson:
+
+"What proof have you of what you say?"
+
+"Proof! Proof enough. Does an honest man resign a candidature on the
+morning of an election, and give the other side the news before his own
+party?"
+
+The interruption had given Roberts time for reflection. He felt that
+Simpson's facts must be right. It was characteristic of him that his
+first thought was, Had Hutchings withdrawn in order to save him from
+further attacks? No. If he had he'd have told him before the event.
+A sort of nausea overpowered him as he remembered that Hutchings had
+related how Gulmore had bought Patrick Byrne--and now he, too, had sold
+himself. As in a flash Hutchings' weakness of fibre was laid bare to
+him. "That's the reason I couldn't find him yesterday." His heart sank
+within him. "How could Hutchings have been so--?" With the belief in
+the lawyer's guilt came the understanding that he too was concerned,
+suspected even. Disgust of traitorism, conscious innocence impelled him
+to clear himself--but how? To his surprise he found that companionship
+with these men had given him some insight into their character. He put
+the question to Simpson:
+
+"Can anything be done now?"
+
+The steadiness of the tone, the resolve in his face, excited a certain
+curiosity. Shrugging his shoulders, Simpson replied:
+
+"We've not got a candidate. It's too late to get the party together. New
+tickets'd have to be printed. I--"
+
+"Will you accept the candidature?" Reading the man at once, Roberts
+turned to the others: "Gentlemen, I hope some one will second me; I
+nominate Mr. Simpson as Mayor, and propose that his name should be
+substituted for that of Mr. Hutchings. To show that I'm in earnest I'll
+contribute five hundred dollars towards the expense of printing the
+tickets."
+
+The Professor's offer of money seemed to exercise a magical influence
+upon the crowd; the loud tones, the provocative rudeness of speech and
+bearing, disappeared at once; the men began to show him the respect of
+attention, and Mr. Simpson was even quicker than the rest in changing
+his attitude--perhaps because he hoped to gain more than they did.
+
+"I had no idee," he began, "but if the Committee thinks I oughter run
+I've no objection. I hain't ever cared for office, but I'm a party-man,
+an' what the party wants me to do I'll do every time. I'm a Democrat
+right through. I guess Lawyer Hutchin's has gone back on us, but that's
+not your fault, Professor, and five hundred dollars--an' your work will
+do a pile. The folk all like you an'--respect you an'--"
+
+Roberts looked at the man; his offer had been a movement of indignant
+contempt, and yet it had succeeded. He could have laughed; the key
+to the enigma was in his hands; these men answered to the motive of
+self-interest as a ship answers to the helm, and yet--how revolting it
+all was! The next moment he again banished reflection.
+
+"I'll go and get the money, and return as soon as possible. In the
+meantime, perhaps you, Mr. Simpson, will see that the printing is
+begun without delay. Then if you'll tell us what polling-stations need
+superintendence, my friends and I will do our best."
+
+The appeal found an immediate response--in a few minutes order and
+energetic work had taken the place of the former angry excitement and
+recrimination.
+
+To Professor Roberts the remainder of the day was one whirl of restless
+labour; he hastened from one polling-station to another, and when the
+round was completed drove to the Central Rooms, where questions had to
+be answered, and new arrangements made without time for thought. Then he
+was off again on his hurried round as canvasser. One incident, however,
+made a definite impression upon him. Returning for the second or third
+time to the Central Rooms he found himself in a crowd of Irish labourers
+who had come in deference to priestly bidding to record their votes. Mr.
+Hutchings' retirement had excited their native suspiciousness; they
+felt that they had been betrayed, and yet the peremptory orders they had
+received must be followed. The satisfaction of revolt being denied
+to them, their anger became dangerous. Professor Roberts faced them
+quietly; he soon saw that they were sincere, or were playing the part of
+sincerity; he therefore spoke for the cause, for the party to which they
+belonged; surely they wouldn't abandon the struggle because a leader had
+deserted them! His words and manner; his appeal to their combativeness;
+his earnestness and good temper were successful. The storm of invective
+gradually subsided, and although one or two, for the sake of a row,
+sought to insult him, they did not go to extremes in face of the
+resolute disapprobation of the American party-leaders. Loyalty to their
+shibboleth was beginning to draw them, still grumbling and making use of
+expressive imprecations, on the way to the nearest polling-station, when
+one of their leaders drew Professor Roberts aside, and asked him:
+
+"Are the bhoys to have nothin' for their throuble? Half a day they'll
+lose, so they will--a dollar each now would be no more than fair--"
+
+The Professor shook his head; he was not rich, he said, and had already
+spent more money in the contest than he could afford.
+
+"Be gob, it's poor worruk this talkin' an' votin' for us that gets
+nothin' by it "--the phrase stuck in his memory as illustrating the
+paltry baseness of the whole affair. It was with a sense of relief that
+he threw himself again into the turmoil that served to deaden thought.
+As the day wore towards evening he became conscious of fatigue, a
+weariness that was not of the body alone, but of the head and heart.
+After the closing of the polls he returned to the Central Rooms. They
+were filled with an enthusiastic crowd, most of whom professed to
+believe that the Democratic party had won all along the line. Roberts
+found it hard to bear their self-gratulation and the exuberance of their
+triumph, but when Simpson began to take the liberties of comradeship
+with him, the cup ran over. He cut the man short with a formally polite
+phrase, and betook himself to his house. He would not think even of May;
+her image brought him face to face with her father; and he wanted rest.
+
+In the morning the Professor awoke with a feeling of utter depression.
+Before he opened the paper he was sure that his hopelessness had been
+justified. He was right--Gulmore had carried his whole ticket, and
+Simpson had been beaten by a majority of more than a thousand. The
+Democratic organ did not scruple to ascribe the defeat to the fact that
+Lawyer Hutchings had sold his party. The simulated indignation of the
+journalist found expression in phrases which caricatured the simplicity
+of sincere condemnation. "Never did shameless corruption..." Roberts
+could not read the stuff. Yet the feigned passion and tawdry rhetoric
+in some way stirred up his bile; he would see Hutchings and--but if he
+unpacked his heart's bitterness upon her father, he would hurt May. He
+must restrain himself; Hutchings would understand from his manner, and
+May would be sympathetic--as she always was.
+
+Another thought exasperated him afresh. His idealism had made him
+ridiculous in the eyes of the townsfolk. He had spent money he could
+ill spare in a hopeless cause, which was not even a worthy one. And now
+everybody was laughing at him or sneering--he grew hot with shame. That
+his motives were honourable only heightened the ludicrousness of his
+action: it seemed as if he had made a fool of himself. He almost wished
+that he had left the Democrats to their own devices. But no! he had done
+the right, and that was the main point. The sense of failure, however,
+robbed him of confidence in regard to the future. How should he act?
+Since high motives were ineffectual, Quixotic, ought he to discard them
+and come down to the ordinary level? 'Twould be better not to live at
+all. The half-life of a student, a teacher, dwelling apart from the
+world, would be preferable to such degradation; but--
+
+The situation appeared to him to be so difficult that as soon as he had
+taken his breakfast he went out for a walk away from the town in order
+to avoid importunate visits, and to decide upon a course of conduct. The
+air and exercise invigorated him; the peace and solitude of the prairie,
+the beauty of earth and sky, the unconsciousness of nature consoled him,
+reduced his troubles to relative unimportance, and allowed him to regain
+his equanimity.
+
+Even his ideas in regard to Hutchings underwent a change. After all it
+was not his part to condemn; his indignation owed its heat to baffled
+egotism and paltry vanity. When the personal element was abstracted from
+the causes of his vexation, what remained? Were Hutchings a figure in
+history, would he judge him with the same intolerance? No; weakness,
+corruptibility even, would then excite no harsher feeling than a sort of
+amused contempt. The reflection mitigated his anger. He began to take
+an intellectual pleasure in the good-humoured acceptance of the wrong
+inflicted upon him. Plato was right, it was well to suffer injustice
+without desiring to retaliate. He had yet to learn that just as oil only
+smoothes the surface of waves, so reason has merely a superficial effect
+upon character.
+
+Early in the afternoon he made his way to May's home. According to
+his habit he passed by the servant-girl and entered the study--to find
+himself face to face with the lawyer.
+
+The shock of disappointment and a certain latent antagonism caused him
+to speak with a directness which was in itself discourteous.
+
+"Is Miss May in? I wished to see her." After a momentary pause he added,
+with a tinge of sarcasm, "Your illness wasn't serious, I see."
+
+Mr. Hutchings was not taken by surprise; he had prepared for this
+meeting, and had resolved to defend himself. The task, he believed,
+would be easy. He had almost persuaded himself that he had acted in the
+Professor's interest. Roberts was singularly unworldly; he might accept
+the explanation, and if he didn't--what did it matter? His own brighter
+prospects filled him with a sense of triumph; in the last three days
+his long-repressed vanity had shot up to self-satisfaction, making him
+callous to what Roberts or any one else might think. But the sneer in
+his visitor's words stung him, induced him to throw off the mask of
+illness which he had intended to assume. He replied with an indifference
+that was defiant:
+
+"No; I wasn't well yesterday, but I'm better now, though I shall keep
+indoors for a day or two. A chill, I suppose."
+
+Receiving no answer, he found relief in complete boldness.
+
+"You see my prediction as to the result of the election has been
+justified?"
+
+"You might even say _pars magna fui_."
+
+The retort slipped out. The impudent challenge had to be met. The
+Professor did not realize how contemptuously he spoke.
+
+The womanish weakness in Hutchings sprang to hurried attack.
+
+"At any rate you've no cause for reproach. I resigned chiefly to shield
+you. I told you long ago that I didn't want particularly to be Mayor,
+and the assault upon your position in the University decided me. There
+was no way to save your place except by giving Gulmore the victory he
+wanted. You're engaged to May, and May is fond of you: I'm not rich, and
+a post of three thousand dollars a year is not often to be found by a
+young man. What would you do if you were dismissed? I had to--sacrifice
+myself. Not that it matters much, but I've got myself into a fuss with
+the party, injured myself all round on your account, and then you
+talk as if you had some reason to be offended. That's hardly right,
+Professor." The lawyer was satisfied with his case; his concluding
+phrase built a bridge for a magnanimous reconciliation.
+
+"You wish me to believe that you resigned at the last moment without
+telling me of your intention in order to further my interests?" Mr.
+Hutchings was disagreeably shocked by the disdainful, incredulous
+question; Roberts was harder to blind than he had supposed; his
+indignation became more than half sincere.
+
+"I didn't make up my mind till the last minute--I couldn't. It wasn't
+easy for me to leave the party I've fought with for ten years. And the
+consequences don't seem likely to be pleasant to me. But that doesn't
+signify. This discussion is useless. If you'll take my advice you'll
+think of answering the charge that will be brought against you in the
+Faculty meeting, instead of trying to get up a groundless accusation
+against me." The menace in the words was not due solely to excitement
+and ill-temper. Mr. Hutchings had been at pains to consider all his
+relations with the Professor. He had hoped to deceive him, at least for
+the moment, and gain time--postpone a painful decision. He had begun to
+wish that the engagement between Roberts and May might be broken off. In
+six months or a year he would have to declare himself on Gulmore's side;
+the fact would establish his complicity, and he had feared what he
+now knew, that Roberts would be the severest of critics--an impossible
+son-in-law. Besides, in the East, as the daughter of a Member of
+Congress, May might command a high position--with her looks she could
+marry any one--while Roberts would be dismissed or compelled to resign
+his post. A young man without a career who would play censor upon him
+in his own house was not to be thought of. The engagement must be
+terminated. May could be brought to understand....
+
+The Professor did not at once grasp the situation in so far as he
+himself was concerned. But he divined the cause of the lawyer's
+irritability, and refrained from pushing the argument further. The
+discussion could, indeed, serve no purpose, save to embitter the
+quarrel. He therefore answered quietly:
+
+"I didn't come here to dispute with you. I came to see May. Is she in?"
+
+"No, I think not. I believe she went out some time ago."
+
+"In that case I'll go home. Perhaps you'll tell her I called. Good day."
+
+"Good day!"
+
+As the Professor left the house his depression of the morning returned
+upon him. He was dissatisfied with himself. He had intended to show no
+anger, no resentment, and, nevertheless, his temper had run away
+with him. He recognized that he had made a grave mistake, for he was
+beginning to foresee the consequences of it. Trained to severe
+thinking, but unaccustomed to analyze motives, the full comprehension
+of Hutchings' attitude and its probable effects upon his happiness only
+came to him gradually, but it came at length so completely that he could
+remember the very words of the foregoing conversation, and recall the
+tones of the voices. He could rebuild the puzzle; his understanding of
+it, therefore, must be the true one. The irrationality of the defence
+was a final proof that the lawyer had played him false. "Hutchings sold
+himself--most likely for place. He didn't fear a quarrel with me--that
+was evident; perhaps he wishes to get rid of me--evident, too. He
+believes that I shall be dismissed, or else he wouldn't have laid stress
+upon the importance of my keeping my position. When I spoke of May he
+was curt. And the explanation? He has wronged me. The old French proverb
+holds true, 'The offender seldom forgives.' He'll probably go on to harm
+me further, for I remind him of his vileness. This, then, is life, not
+as I imagined it, but as it is, and such creatures as Hutchings are
+human beings. Well, after all, it is better to know the truth than to
+cheat oneself with a mirage. I shall appreciate large natures with noble
+and generous impulses better, now that I know how rare they are."
+
+In his room he found May awaiting him. Across his surprise and joy there
+came an intense admiration of her, a heart-pang of passionate gratitude.
+As she moved towards him her incommunicable grace of person and manner
+completed the charm. The radiant gladness of the eyes; the outstretched
+hands; the graceful form, outlined in silver-grey; the diadem of
+honey-coloured hair; something delicate yet courageous, proud yet tender
+in her womanhood remained with him ever afterwards.
+
+"Ah, May!" The word seemed to bring joy and tingling life to his
+half-numbed heart. He seized her hands and drew her to him, and kissed
+her on the hair, and brows, and eyes with an abandonment of his whole
+nature, such as she had never before known in him. All her shyness, her
+uneasiness vanished in the happiness of finding that she had so pleased
+him, and mingled with this joy was a new delightful sense of her own
+power. When released from his embrace she questioned him by a look. His
+emotion astonished her.
+
+"My love," he said, kissing her hands, "how good of you to come to me,
+how sweet and brave you are to wait for me here! I was growing weak with
+fear lest I should lose you, too, in the general wreck. And you came and
+sat here for me patiently--Darling!"
+
+There was a mingling of self-surrender and ruffled pride in her smiling
+reproach:
+
+"Lose me? What do you mean? I waited for you last night, sir, and all
+this weary morning, till I could wait no longer; I had to find you. I
+would have stayed at home till you came; I meant to, but father startled
+me: he said he was afraid you'd lose your place as Professor in spite
+of all he had done for you. 'Twas good of him, wasn't it, to give up
+running for Mayor, so as not to embitter Gulmore against you? I was
+quite proud of him. But you won't lose your post, will you? Has anything
+serious happened?--Dear!"
+
+He paused to think, but he could not see any way to avoid telling her
+the truth. Disappointments had so huddled upon him, the insight he
+had won into human nature was so desolating that his heart ached for
+sympathy and affection. He loved her; she was to be his wife; how could
+he help winning her to his side? Besides, her words voiced his own
+fears--her father had already begun to try to part them. She must know
+all and judge. But how? Should he give her "The Tribune" to read? No--it
+was vindictive.
+
+"Come and sit down, May, and I'll tell you what happened yesterday. You
+shall judge for yourself whether I was right or wrong."
+
+He told her, point by point, what had occurred. May listened in silence
+till he stopped.
+
+"But why did he resign? What could he gain by that?"
+
+While she was speaking a thought crimsoned her cheeks; she had found
+the key to the enigma. Three nights before her father had talked of
+Washington and the East with a sort of exultation. At the time she
+had not paid much attention to this, though it had struck her as very
+different from his habit. Now the peculiarity of it confirmed her
+suspicion. In some way or other his action in resigning was connected
+with his inexplicable high spirits. A wave of indignation swept over
+her. Not that she felt the disgust which had sickened the Professor when
+he first heard of the traitorism. He had condemned Mr. Hutchings on the
+grounds of public morality; May's anger was aroused because her father
+had sought to deceive _her_; had tried by lying suggestion to take
+credit to himself, whereas--
+
+"I wouldn't have believed it," she murmured, with the passionate revolt
+of youth against mean deceit. "I can never forgive him or trust him
+again."
+
+"Don't let us talk of it any more, dear. I wouldn't have told you only
+I was afraid that he would try to separate us. Now I know you are on my
+side I wouldn't have you judge him harshly."
+
+"On your side," she repeated, with a certain exaltation of manner. "On
+your side always in spite of everything. I feel for you more intensely
+than for myself." In a lower voice and with hesitating speech she added:
+"Did he--did he tell you that he resigned on your account?"
+
+He nodded.
+
+"And you're not angry?"
+
+"No." He smiled slightly. "I understand men better now than I did
+yesterday. That's all."
+
+"Oh, but you ought to be mad. I am. How can you--"
+
+"Let us talk, dear, of what concerns us more. Have you heard anything?
+From what your father said I half fear that the meeting to-morrow may go
+against me. Has no one called?"
+
+"Professor Krazinski. I saw his card on the table when I came in. You
+think it's a bad sign that he's the only one?"
+
+"I'm afraid so. It may be merely anxiety, but I'm growing suspicious
+of every one now. I catch myself attributing low motives to men without
+reason. That electioneering has infected me. I hate myself for it, but
+I can't help it; I loathe the self-seeking and the vileness. I'd rather
+not know men at all than see them as they've shown themselves lately.
+I want to get away and rinse my mouth out and forget all about it--away
+somewhere with you, my sweet love."
+
+"But you mustn't let them condemn you without an effort." While speaking
+she put her hand on his shoulder and moved close to him. "It might
+injure us later. And you know you can persuade them if you like. No one
+can listen to you without being won over. And I want you to keep your
+post; you love teaching and you're the best teacher in the world, ah--"
+
+He put his arms round her, and she bowed her head on his neck, that he
+might not see the gathering tears.
+
+"You're right, dear. I spoke hastily. I'll do my best. It won't be as
+bad as we think. My colleagues are men of some education and position.
+They're not like the crowd of ignorant voters and greedy place-hunters;
+they'll listen to reason, and "--half bitterly--"they've no motive to
+do me wrong. Besides, Krazinksi has called, and I scarcely know him;
+perhaps the others didn't think of coming. It was kind of him, wasn't
+it? I'm very grateful to him. He must be a good fellow."
+
+"What has he done so wonderful? Oh, my!"--and she turned her face up to
+his with half-laughing deprecation--"I'm afraid I'm deteriorating too. I
+can't hear you praise any one now without feeling horribly jealous. Yes,
+he must be good. But don't be _too_ grateful to him, or--I must be going
+now, and, oh! what a long time it'll be until to-morrow! I shall have
+grown old before--to-morrow."
+
+"Sweetheart! You'll come here and wait for me in the afternoon, won't
+you? I shall want to see you so much."
+
+"Yes, if you like; but I intended to go up to the University--mayn't I?
+It'll seem ages--aeons--waiting here by myself."
+
+"The meeting will not last long, and I'll come to you as soon as it's
+over. Darling, you don't know how much you have helped me. You have
+given me courage and hope," and he folded her in his arms.
+
+Mr. Gulmore liked to spend his evenings with his wife and daughter. It
+amused him to hear what they had been doing during the day. Their gossip
+had its value; sentimental or spiteful, it threw quaint sidelights upon
+character. On the evening before the Faculty meeting Ida was bending
+over a book, while Mr. Gulmore smoked, and watched her. His daughter was
+somewhat of a puzzle to him still, and when occasion offered he studied
+her. "Where does she get her bitterness from? I'm not bitter, an' I had
+difficulties, was poor an' ignorant, had to succeed or go under, while
+she has had everythin' she wanted. It's a pity she ain't kinder...."
+
+Presently Mrs. Gulmore put away her work and left the room. Taking up
+the thread of a conversation that had been broken off by his wife's
+presence, Mr. Gulmore began:
+
+"I don't say Roberts'll win, Ida. The bettin' 's the other way; but I'm
+not sure, for I don't know the crowd. He may come out on top, though I
+hev noticed that young men who run into their first fight and get badly
+whipped ain't likely to fight desperate the second time.--Grit's half
+trainin'!"
+
+"I wish I could be there to _see_ him beaten!" Ida had tried to turn her
+wounded pride into dislike, and was succeeding. "I hate to feel he's in
+the same town with us--the coward!"
+
+At this moment Mrs. Gulmore reentered the room.
+
+"To think of it! Sal left the gas-stove flarin'. I made her get up and
+come downstairs to put it out. That'll learn her! Of all the careless,
+shiftless creatures, these coloured people are the worst. Come, Ida,
+it's long after nine, and I'm tired. You can read in your bedroom if you
+want to."
+
+After the usual "good night" and kisses, Ida went upstairs. While
+Mrs. Gulmore busied herself putting "things straight," Mr. Gulmore sat
+thinking:
+
+"She takes after her mother in everythin', but she has more pride. It's
+that makes her bitter. She's jest like her--only prettier. The same
+peaky nose, pointed chin, little thin ears set close to her head, fine
+hair--the Yankee school-marm. First-rate managin' women; the best wives
+in the world to keep a house an' help a man on. But they hain't got
+sensuality enough to be properly affectionate."
+
+On the following afternoon Roberts stopped before the door of his house
+and looked back towards the University. There on the crest of the hill
+stood the huge building of bluish-grey stone with the round tower of
+the observatory in the middle--like a mallet with a stubby handle in the
+air.
+
+While gazing thus a shrill voice reached him, the eager treble of a
+newsboy:
+
+"Great Scandal!" he heard--and then "Scandal in the University! Full
+Report! Only five cents! Five cents for the 'Herald's' Special!"
+
+He hastened to the gate and beckoned to the little figure in the
+distance. His thoughts were whirling. What did it mean? Could the
+"Herald" have issued a special edition with the report of the meeting?
+Impossible! there wasn't time for that. Yet, he had walked leisurely
+with Krazinski, and newspapers did wonders sometimes. Wonders! 'twould
+be a breach of confidence. There was an honourable understanding that
+no one should divulge what took place in a Faculty meeting. "Honourable"
+and Gulmore--the two words wouldn't go together. Could it be?
+
+A glance at the contents-bill brought a flush to his face. He gave a
+quarter for the sheet, and as the boy fumbled for change he said, taking
+hold of the bill:
+
+"I want this too; you can keep the rest of the money," and hurried into
+the house.
+
+May met him at the door of the sitting-room, but did not speak, while
+he opened out the paper, and in silence showed her the six columns,
+containing a verbatim report of the meeting.
+
+"What do you think of that?" he asked, and without waiting for an answer
+he spread the contents-bill upon the table.
+
+"This is better," he went on, bitterly. "Read this!" And she read:
+
+     Ructions in Learning's Home. The President's Flank Attack.
+
+     Fours to a Pair. The Pagan retires and the Pole.
+
+"Oh, the brutes! How could they?" May exclaimed. "But what does it
+mean?"
+
+"You have it all there," he said, touching the bill; "all in two or
+three lines of cheerful insult, as is our American fashion. In spite of
+the opinion of every leading lawyer in the State, sixteen--fanatics, to
+give them the benefit of the doubt, voted that a disbelief in Christian
+dogma was the same thing as 'open immorality.' The Father of Lies made
+such men!"
+
+"Did no one vote for you?"
+
+"Two, Krazinski and some one else, I think 'twas little Black, and two
+papers were blank. But fancy the President speaking against me, though
+he has a casting-vote. All he could say was that the parents were the
+only proper judges of what a student should be taught. Let us grant
+that; I may have been mistaken, wrong, if you like; but my fault was not
+'open immorality,' as specified in the Statute. They lied against me,
+those sixteen."
+
+May sympathized too keenly with his indignation to think of trying to
+allay it; she couldn't help asking, "What did you do after the voting?"
+
+"What could I do? I had had enough of such opponents. I told them that
+if they dismissed me I'd take the case into the courts, where at the
+worst their reading of the words 'open immorality' would be put upon
+record, and my character freed from stain. But, if they chose to rescind
+their vote I said I was willing to resign."
+
+"They accepted that?"
+
+"Krazinski forced them to. He told them some home-truths. They dared not
+face the law courts lest it should come out that the professorships were
+the rewards of sectarian bigotry. He went right through the list, and
+ended by resigning his position.
+
+"Then Campbell got up and regretted his speech. It was uncalled-for
+and--you know the sort of thing. My colleagues, he said, would have
+preferred to retain my services if I had yielded to the opinion of the
+parents. Under the circumstances there was no course open but to accept
+my resignation. They would not enter the vote upon the minutes; they
+would even write me a letter expressing regret at losing me, etc. So the
+matter ended.
+
+"Coming down the hill I tried to persuade Krazinski not to resign on my
+account. But the dear old fellow was obstinate; he had long intended to
+retire. He was very kind. He thinks I shall find another place easily.
+
+"Now, May, you have heard the whole tale, what is your opinion? Are you
+disappointed with me? You might well be. I'm disappointed with myself.
+Somehow or other I've not got hate enough in me to be a good fighter."
+
+"Disappointed? How little you know me! It's my life now to be with you.
+Whatever you say or do is right to me. I think it's all for the best; I
+wouldn't have you stay here after what has passed."
+
+May meant all she said, and more. At the bottom of her heart she was
+not sorry that he was going to leave Tecumseh. If she thereby lost the
+pleasure of appearing as his wife before the companions of her youth, on
+the other hand, he would belong to her more completely, now that he
+was cut off from all other sympathy and no longer likely to meet Miss
+Gulmore. Moreover, her determination to follow him in single-hearted
+devotion seemed to throw the limelight of romance upon her disagreement
+with her father, which had been much more acute than she had given
+Roberts to suppose. She had loved her father, and if he had appealed
+to her affection he could have so moved her that she would have shown
+Roberts a hesitation which, in his troubled and depressed condition,
+might have brought about a coldness between them, if not a rupture of
+their relations. But Hutchings, feeling that he was in the wrong, had
+contented himself with depreciating Roberts by sneer and innuendo, and
+so had aroused her generous partisanship. The proceedings of the Faculty
+naturally increased her sympathy with her lover, and her enthusiastic
+support did much to revive his confidence in himself. When they parted
+in the evening he had already begun to think of the preparations to be
+made for his journey Eastwards.
+
+A few weeks later a little knot of friends stood together one morning on
+the down-platform of the Tecumseh station, waiting for the train to come
+in. Professor Roberts was the centre of the group, and by his side stood
+dainty May Hutchings, the violet eyes intense with courage that held the
+sweet lips to a smile. Around them were some ten or a dozen students and
+Krazinski, all in the highest spirits. They were talking about Roberts'
+new appointment at Yale, which he attributed to Krazinsk's influence.
+Presently they became aware of an unwonted stir at the entrance-door
+behind them. As they turned in wonder they saw that the negro hands had
+formed a lane through which, heralded by the obsequious station-master,
+Mr. Gul-more, with his daughter on his arm, was coming towards them.
+Heedless of their astonishment, the Boss walked on till he stood in
+front of Roberts.
+
+"Professor, we've heard of your good fortune, and are come to
+congratulate you. Ida here always thought a pile of your knowledge an'
+teachin', an' I guess she was right. Our little difference needn't count
+now. You challenged me to a sort of wrastle an' you were thrown; but
+I bear no malice, an' I'm glad to offer you my hand an' to wish
+you--success."
+
+Roberts shook hands without hesitation. He was simply surprised, and had
+no inkling of the reason which had led Gulmore to come to the station
+and to bring Ida. Had he been told that this was the father's plan for
+protecting his daughter against the possibility of indiscreet gossip
+he would have been still more astonished. "Nor do I bear malice," he
+rejoined, with a smile; "though the wrestling can hardly be considered
+fair when twenty pull one man down."
+
+"'Twas my crowd against yours," replied the Boss indifferently. "But I'm
+kinder sorry that you're leavin' the town. I'd never have left a place
+where I was beaten. No, sir; I'd have taken root right there an' waited.
+Influence comes with time, an' you had youth on your side."
+
+"That may be your philosophy, Mr. Gulmore," said Roberts lightly, as the
+other paused, "but it's not mine. I'm satisfied with one or two falls;
+they've taught me that the majority is with you."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Gulmore, The Boss, by Frank Harris
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