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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3682.txt b/3682.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1088d76 --- /dev/null +++ b/3682.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7541 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Mr. Crewe's Career, Book II., by Winston Churchill + +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: Mr. Crewe's Career, Book II. + +Author: Winston Churchill + +Release Date: October 16, 2004 [EBook #3682] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. CREWE'S CAREER, BOOK II. *** + + + + +Produced by Pat Castevans and David Widger + + + + + +MR. CREWE'S CAREER + +By Winston Churchill + + +BOOK 2. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE HOPPER + +It is certainly not the function of a romance to relate, with the +exactness of a House journal, the proceedings of a Legislature. Somebody +has likened the state-house to pioneer Kentucky, a dark and bloody ground +over which the battles of selfish interests ebbed and flowed,--no place +for an innocent and unselfish bystander like Mr. Crewe, who desired only +to make of his State an Utopia; whose measures were for the public good +--not his own. But if any politician were fatuous enough to believe that +Humphrey Crewe was a man to introduce bills and calmly await their fate; +a man who, like Senator Sanderson, only came down to the capital when he +was notified by telegram, that politician was entirely mistaken. + +No sooner had his bills been assigned to the careful and just +consideration of the committees in charge of the Honourable Brush Bascom, +Mr. Botcher, and others than Mr. Crewe desired of each a day for a +hearing. Every member of the five hundred was provided with a copy; nay, +nearly every member was personally appealed to, to appear and speak for +the measures. Foresters, road builders, and agriculturists (expenses +paid) were sent for from other States; Mr. Ball and others came down from +Leith, and gentlemen who for a generation had written letters to the +newspapers turned up from other localities. In two cases the largest +committee rooms proved too small for the gathering which was the result +of Mr. Crewe's energy, and the legislative hall had to be lighted. The +State Tribune gave column reports of the hearings, and little editorial +pushes besides. And yet, when all was over, when it had been proved +beyond a doubt that, if the State would consent to spend a little money, +she would take the foremost rank among her forty odd sisters for +progression, the bills were still under consideration by those hardheaded +statesmen, Mr. Bascom and Mr. Botcher and their associates. + +It could not be because these gentlemen did not know the arguments and +see the necessity. Mr. Crewe had had them to dinner, and had spent so +much time in their company presenting his case--to which they absolutely +agreed--that they took to a forced seclusion. The member from Leith also +wrote letters and telegrams, and sent long typewritten arguments and +documents to Mr. Flint. Mr. Crewe, although far from discouraged, began +to think there was something mysterious about all this seemingly +unnecessary deliberation. + +Mr. Crewe, though of great discernment, was only mortal, and while he was +fighting his battle single-handed, how was he to know that the gods above +him were taking sides and preparing for conflict? The gods do not give +out their declarations of war for publication to the Associated Press; +and old Tom Gaylord, who may be likened to Mars, had no intention of +sending Jupiter notice until he got his cohorts into line. The strife, +because it was to be internecine, was the more terrible. Hitherto the +Gaylord Lumber Company, like the Winona Manufacturing Company of +Newcastle (the mills of which extended for miles along the Tyne), had +been a faithful ally of the Empire; and, on occasions when it was needed, +had borrowed the Imperial army to obtain grants, extensions, and +franchises. + +The fact is that old Tom Gaylord, in the autumn previous, had quarreled +with Mr. Flint about lumber rates, which had been steadily rising. Mr. +Flint had been polite, but firm; and old Tom, who, with all his +tremendous properties, could ship by no other railroad than the +Northeastern, had left the New York office in a black rage. A more +innocent citizen than old Tom would have put his case (which was without +doubt a strong one) before the Railroad Commission of the State, but old +Tom knew well enough that the Railroad Commission was in reality an +economy board of the Northeastern system, as much under Mr. Flint's +orders as the conductors and brakemen. Old Tom, in consulting the map, +conceived an unheard-of effrontery, a high treason which took away the +breath of his secretary and treasurer when it was pointed out to him. The +plan contemplated a line of railroad from the heart of the lumber regions +down the south side of the valley of the Pingsquit to Kingston, where the +lumber could take to the sea. In short, it was a pernicious revival of an +obsolete state of affairs, competition, and if persisted in, involved +nothing less than a fight to a finish with the army, the lobby of the +Northeastern. Other favoured beings stood aghast when they heard of it, +and hastened to old Tom with timely counsel; but he had reached a frame +of mind which they knew well. He would listen to no reason, and +maintained stoutly that there were other lawyers in the world as able in +political sagacity and lobby tactics as Hilary Vane; the Honourable +Galusha Hammer, for instance, an old and independent and wary war-horse +who had more than once wrung compromises out of the Honourable Hilary. +The Honourable Galusha Hammer was sent for, and was now industriously, if +quietly and unobtrusively, at work. The Honourable Hilary was likewise at +work, equally quietly and unobtrusively. When the powers fall out, they +do not open up at once with long-distance artillery. There is always a +chance of a friendly settlement. The news was worth a good deal, for +instance, to Mr. Peter Pardriff (brother of Paul, of Ripton), who +refrained, with praiseworthy self-control, from publishing it in the +State Tribune, although the temptation to do so must have been great. And +most of the senatorial twenty saw the trouble coming and braced their +backs against it, but in silence. The capital had seen no such war as +this since the days of Jethro Bass. + +In the meantime Mr. Crewe, blissfully ignorant of this impending +conflict, was preparing a speech on national affairs and national issues +which was to startle an unsuspecting State. Mrs. Pomfret, who had +received many clippings and pamphlets, had written him weekly letters of +a nature spurring to his ambition, which incidentally contained many +references to Alice's interest in his career. And Mr. Crewe's mind, when +not intent upon affairs of State, sometimes reverted pleasantly to +thoughts of Victoria Flint; it occurred to him that the Duncan house was +large enough for entertaining, and that he might invite Mrs. Pomfret to +bring Victoria and the inevitable Alice to hear his oration, for which +Mr. Speaker Doby had set a day. + +In his desire to give other people pleasure, Mr. Crewe took the trouble +to notify a great many of his friends and acquaintances as to the day of +his speech, in case they might wish to travel to the State capital and +hear him deliver it. Having unexpectedly received in the mail a cheque +from Austen Vane in settlement of the case of the injured horse, Austen +was likewise invited. + +Austen smiled when he opened the letter, and with its businesslike +contents there seemed to be wafted from it the perfume and suppliance of +a September day in the Vale of the Blue. From the window of his back +office, looking across the railroad tracks, he could see Sawanec, pale in +her winter garb against a pale winter sky, and there arose in him the old +restless desire for the woods and fields which at times was almost +irresistible. His thoughts at length descending from the azure above +Sawanec, his eyes fell again on Mr. Crewe's typewritten words: "It may be +of interest to you that I am to deliver, on the 15th instant, and as the +Chairman of the House Committee on National Affairs, a speech upon +national policies which is the result of much thought, and which touches +upon such material needs of our State as can be supplied by the Federal +Government." + +Austen had a brief fancy, whimsical as it was, of going to hear him. Mr. +Crewe, as a type absolutely new to him, interested him. He had followed +the unusual and somewhat surprising career of the gentleman from Leith +with some care, even to the extent of reading of Mr. Crewe's activities +in the State Tribunes which had been sent him. Were such qualifications +as Mr. Crewe possessed, he wondered, of a kind to sweep their possessor +into high office? Were industry, persistency, and a capacity for taking +advantage of a fair wind sufficient? + +Since his return from Pepper County, Austen Vane had never been to the +State capital during a session, although it was common for young lawyers +to have cases before the Legislature. It would have been difficult to say +why he did not take these cases, aside from the fact that they were not +very remunerative. On occasions gentlemen from different parts of the +State, and some from outside of it who had certain favours to ask at the +hands of the lawmaking body, had visited his back office and closed the +door after them, and in the course of the conversation had referred to +the relationship of the young lawyer to Hilary Vane. At such times Austen +would freely acknowledge the debt of gratitude he owed his father for +being in the world--and refer them politely to Mr. Hilary Vane himself. +In most cases they had followed his advice, wondering not a little at +this isolated example of quixotism. + +During the sessions, except for a day or two at week ends which were +often occupied with conferences, the Honourable Hilary's office was +deserted; or rather, as we have seen, his headquarters were removed to +room Number Seven in the Pelican Hotel at the capital. Austen got many of +the lay clients who came to see his father at such times; and--without +giving an exaggerated idea of his income--it might be said that he was +beginning to have what may be called a snug practice for a lawyer of his +experience. In other words, according to Mr. Tooting, who took an intense +interest in the matter, "not wearing the collar" had been more of a +financial success for Austen than that gentleman had imagined. There +proved to be many clients to whom the fact that young Mr. Vane did not +carry a "retainer pass" actually appealed. These clients paid their +bills, but they were neither large nor influential, as a rule, with the +notable exception of the Gaylord Lumber Company, where the matters for +trial were not large. If young Tom Gaylord had had his way, Austen would +have been the chief counsel for the corporation. + +To tell the truth, Austen Vane had a secret aversion to going to the +capital during a session, a feeling that such a visit would cause him +unhappiness. In spite of his efforts, and indeed in spite of Hilary's, +Austen and his father had grown steadily apart. They met in the office +hallway, in the house in Hanover Street when Hilary came home to sleep, +and the elder Mr. Vane was not a man to thrive on small talk. His world +was the battlefield from which he directed the forces of the great +corporation which he served, and the cherished vision of a son in whom he +could confide his plans, upon whose aid and counsel he could lean, was +gone forever. Hilary Vane had troublesome half-hours, but on the whole he +had reached the conclusion that this son, like Sarah Austen, was one of +those inexplicable products in which an extravagant and inscrutable +nature sometimes indulged. On the rare evenings when the two were at home +together, the Honourable Hilary sat under one side of the lamp with a +pile of documents and newspapers, and Austen under the other with a book +from the circulating library. No public questions could be broached upon +which they were not as far apart as the poles, and the Honourable Hilary +put literature in the same category as embroidery. Euphrasia, when she +paused in her bodily activity to darn their stockings, used to glance at +them covertly from time to time, and many a silent tear of which they +knew nothing fell on her needle. + +On the subject of his protracted weekly absences at the State capital, +the Honourable Hilary was as uncommunicative as he would have been had he +retired for those periods to a bar-room. He often grunted and cleared his +throat and glanced at his son when their talk bordered upon these +absences; and he was even conscious of an extreme irritation against +himself as well as Austen because of the instinct that bade him keep +silent. He told himself fiercely that he had nothing to be ashamed of, +nor would he have acknowledged that it was a kind of shame that bade him +refrain even from circumstantial accounts of what went on in room Number +Seven of the Pelican. He had an idea that Austen knew and silently +condemned; and how extremely maddening was this feeling to the Honourable +Hilary may well be imagined. All his life long he had deemed himself +morally invulnerable, and now to be judged and ethically found wanting by +the son of Sarah Austen was, at times, almost insupportable. Were the +standards of a long life to be suddenly reversed by a prodigal son? + +To get back to Austen. On St. Valentine's Day of that year when, to tell +the truth, he was seated in his office scribbling certain descriptions of +nature suggested by the valentines in Mr. Hayman's stationery store, the +postman brought in a letter from young Tom Gaylord. Austen laughed as he +read it. "The Honourable Galusha Hammer is well named," young Tom wrote, +"but the conviction has been gaining ground with me that a hammer is +about as much use as a shovel would be at the present time. It is not the +proper instrument." "But the 'old man'" (it was thus young Tom was wont +to designate his parent) "is pig-headed when he gets to fighting, and +won't listen to reason. If he believes he can lick the Northeastern with +a Hammer, he is durned badly mistaken, and I told him so. I have been +giving him sage advice in little drops--after meals. I tell him there is +only one man in the State who has sense enough even to shake the +Northeastern, and that's you. He thinks this a pretty good joke. Of +course I realize where your old man is planted, and that you might have +some natural delicacy and wish to refrain from giving him a jar. But come +down for an hour and let me talk to you, anyway. The new statesman from +Leith is cutting a wide swath. Not a day passes but his voice is heard +roaring in the Forum; he has visited all the State institutions, dined +and wined the governor and his staff and all the ex-governors he can lay +his hands on, and he has that hard-headed and caustic journalist, Mr. +Peter Pardriff, of the State Tribune, hypnotized. He has some swells up +at his house to hear his speech on national affairs, among them old +Flint's daughter, who is a ripper to look at, although I never got nearer +to her than across the street. As you may guess, it is something of a +card for Crewe to have Flint's daughter here." + +Austen sat for a long time after reading this letter, idly watching the +snow-clouds gathering around Sawanec. Then he tore up the paper, on which +he had been scribbling, into very small bits, consulted a time-table, and +at noon, in a tumult of feelings, he found himself in a back seat of the +express, bound for the capital. + +Arriving at the station, amidst a hurry and bustle of legislators and +politicians coming and going, many of whom nodded to him, he stood for a +minute in the whirling snow reflecting. Now that he was here, where was +he to stay? The idea of spending the night at the Pelican was repellent +to him, and he was hesitating between two more modest hostelries when he +was hailed by a giant with a flowing white beard, a weather-beaten face, +and a clear eye that shone with a steady and kindly light. It was James +Redbrook, the member from Mercer. + +"Why, how be you, Austen?" he cried, extending a welcome hand; and, when +Austen had told him his dilemma: "Come right along up to my lodgings. I +live at the Widow Peasley's, and there's a vacant room next to mine." + +Austen accepted gratefully, and as they trudged through the storm up the +hill, he inquired how legislative matters were progressing. Whereupon Mr. +Redbrook unburdened himself. + +"Say, I just warmed up all over when I see you, Austen. I'm so glad to +run across an honest man. We ain't forgot in Mercer what you did for Zeb +Meader, and how you went against your interests. And I guess it ain't +done you any harm in the State. As many as thirty or forty members have +spoke to me about it. And down here I've got so I just can't hold in any +more." + +"Is it as bad as that, Mr. Redbrook?" asked Austen, with a serious glance +at the farmer's face. + +"It's so bad I don't know how to begin," said the member from Mercer, and +paused suddenly. "But I don't want to hurt your feelings, Austen, seeing +your father is--where he is." + +"Go on," said Austen, "I understand." + +"Well," said Mr. Redbrook, "it just makes me tremble as an American +citizen. The railrud sends them slick cusses down here that sit in the +front seats who know all this here parliamentary law and the tricks of +the trade, and every time any of us gets up to speak our honest minds, +they have us ruled out of order or get the thing laid on the table until +some Friday morning when there ain't nobody here, and send it along up to +the Senate. They made that fat feller, Doby, Speaker, and he's stuffed +all the important committees so that you can't get an honest measure +considered. You can talk to the committees all you've a mind to, and +they'll just listen and never do anything. There's five hundred in the +House, and it ain't any more of a Legislature than a camp-meetin' is. +What do you suppose they done last Friday morning, when there wahn't but +twenty men at the session? We had an anti-pass law, and all these fellers +were breakin' it. It forbid anybody riding on a pass except railroad +presidents, directors, express messengers, and persons in misfortune, and +they stuck in these words, 'and others to whom passes have been granted +by the proper officers.' Ain't that a disgrace to the State? And those +twenty senators passed it before we got back on Tuesday. You can't get a +bill through that Legislature unless you go up to the Pelican and get +permission of Hilary--" + +Here Mr. Redbrook stopped abruptly, and glanced contritely at his +companion. + +"I didn't mean to get goin' so," he said, "but sometimes I wish this +American government'd never been started." + +"I often feel that way myself, Mr. Redbrook," said Austen. + +"I knowed you did. I guess I can tell an honest man when I see one. It's +treason to say anything against this Northeastern louder than a whisper. +They want an electric railrud bad up in Greenacre, and when some of us +spoke for it and tried to get the committee to report it, those cheap +fellers from Newcastle started such a catcall we had to set down." + +By this time they were at the Widow Peasley's, stamping the snow from off +their boots. + +"How general is this sentiment?" Austen asked, after he had set down his +bag in the room he was to occupy. + +"Why," said Mr. Redbrook, with conviction, "there's enough feel as I do +to turn that House upside down--if we only had a leader. If you was only +in there, Austen." + +"I'm afraid I shouldn't be of much use," Austen answered. "They'd have +given me a back seat, too." + +The Widow Peasley's was a frame and gabled house of Revolutionary days +with a little terrace in front of it and a retaining wall built up from +the sidewalk. Austen, on the steps, stood gazing across at a square +mansion with a wide cornice, half hidden by elms and maples and pines. It +was set far back from the street, and a driveway entered the picket-fence +and swept a wide semicircle to the front door and back again. Before the +door was a sleigh of a pattern new to him, with a seat high above the +backs of two long-bodied, deep-chested horses, their heads held with +difficulty by a little footman with his arms above him. At that moment +two figures in furs emerged from the house. The young woman gathered up +the reins and leaped lightly to the box, the man followed; the little +groom touched his fur helmet and scrambled aboard as the horses sprang +forward to the music of the softest of bells. The sleigh swept around the +curve, avoided by a clever turn a snow-pile at the entrance, the young +woman raised her eyes from the horses, stared at Austen, and bowed. As +for Austen, he grew warm as he took off his hat, and he realized that his +hand was actually trembling. The sleigh flew on up the hill, but she +turned once more to look behind her, and he still had his hat in his +hand, the snowflakes falling on his bared head. Then he was aware that +James Redbrook was gazing at him curiously. + +"That's Flint's daughter, ain't it?" inquired the member from Mercer. +"Didn't callate you'd know her." + +Austen flushed. He felt exceedingly foolish, but an answer came to him. + +"I met her in the hospital. She used to go there to see Zeb Meader." + +"That's so," said Mr. Redbrook; "Zeb told me about it, and she used to +come to Mercer to see him after he got out. She ain't much like the old +man, I callate." + +"I don't think she is," said Austen. + +"I don't know what she's stayin' with that feller Crewe for," the farmer +remarked; of all the etarnal darn idiots--why, Brush Bascom and that +Botcher and the rest of 'em are trailin' him along and usin' him for the +best thing that ever came down here. He sets up to be a practical man, +and don't know as much as some of us hayseeds in the back seats. Where be +you goin'?" + +"I was going to the Pelican." + +"Well, I've got a committee meetin' of Agriculture," said Mr. Redbrook. +"Could you be up here at Mis' Peasley's about eight to-night?" + +"Why, yes," Austen replied, "if you want to see me." + +"I do want to see you," said Mr. Redbrook, significantly, and waved a +farewell. + +Austen took his way slowly across the state-house park, threading among +the groups between the snow-banks towards the wide facade of the Pelican +Hotel. Presently he paused, and then with a sudden determination crossed +the park diagonally into Main Street, walking rapidly southward and +scrutinizing the buildings on either side until at length these began to +grow wide apart, and he spied a florist's sign with a greenhouse behind +it. He halted again, irresolutely, in front of it, flung open the door, +and entered a boxlike office filled with the heated scents of flowers. A +little man eyed him with an obsequious interest which he must have +accorded to other young men on similar errands. Austen may be spared a +repetition of the very painful conversation that ensued; suffice it to +say that, after mature deliberation, violets were chosen. He had a +notion--not analyzed--that she would prefer violets to roses. The +information that the flowers were for the daughter of the president of +the Northeastern Railroads caused a visible quickening of the little +florist's regard, an attitude which aroused a corresponding disgust and +depression in Austen. + +"Oh, yes," said the florist, "she's up at Crewe's." He glanced at Austen +apologetically. "Excuse me," he said, "I ought to know you. Have you a +card?" + +"No," said Austen, with emphasis. + +"And what name, please?" + +"No name," said the donor, now heartily repenting of his rashness, and +slamming the glass door in a manner that made the panes rattle behind +him. + +As he stood hesitating on the curb of the crossing, he began to wish that +he had not left Ripton. + +"Hello, Austen," said a voice, which he recognized as the Honourable +Brush Bascom's, "didn't know you ever came down here in session time." + +"What are you doing down here, Brush?" Austen asked. + +Mr. Bascom grinned in appreciation of this pleasantry. + +"I came for my health," he said; "I prefer it to Florida." + +"I've heard that it agrees with some people," said Austen. + +Mr. Bascom grinned again. + +"Just arrived?" he inquired. + +"Just," said Austen. + +"I thought you'd get here sooner or later," said Mr. Bascom. "Some folks +try stayin' away, but it ain't much use. You'll find the honourable +Hilary doing business at the same old stand, next to the governor, in +Number Seven up there." And Mr. Bascom pointed to the well-known window +on the second floor. + +"Thanks, Brush," said Austen, indifferently. "To tell the truth, I came +down to hear that promising protege of yours speak on national affairs. I +understand you're pushing his bills along." + +Mr. Bascom, with great deliberation, shut one of his little eyes. + +"So long," he said, "come and see me when you get time." + +Austen went slowly down the street and entered the smoke-clouded lobby of +the Pelican. He was a man to draw attention, and he was stared at by many +politicians there and spoken to by some before he reached the stairs. +Mounting, he found the door with the numeral, and knocked. The medley of +voices within ceased; there were sounds of rattling papers, and of +closing of folding doors. The key turned in the lock, and State Senator +Nathaniel Billings appeared in the doorway, with a look of polite inquiry +on his convivial face. This expression, when he saw Austen, changed to +something like consternation. + +"Why, hello, hello," said the senator. "Come in, come in. The Honourable +Hilary's here. Where'd you come down?" + +"Hello, Nat," said Austen, and went in. + +The Honourable Hilary sat in his usual arm-chair; Mr. Botcher severely +strained the tensile strength of the bedsprings; Mr. Hamilton Tooting +stood before the still waving portieres in front of the folding doors; +and Mr. Manning, the division superintendent, sat pensively, with his pen +in his mouth, before the marble-topped table from which everything had +been removed but a Bible. Two gentlemen, whom Austen recognized as +colleagues of Mr. Billings in the State Senate, stood together in a +window, pointing out things of interest in the street. Austen walked up +to his father and laid a hand on his shoulder. + +"How are you, Judge?" he said. "I only came into pay my respects. I hope +I have not disturbed any--entertainment going on here," he added, +glancing in turn at the thoughtful occupants of the room, and then at the +curtains which hid the folding doors to the apartment of his Excellency. + +"Why, no," answered the Honourable Hilary, his customary grunt being the +only indication of surprise on his part; "didn't know you were coming +down." + +"I didn't know it myself until this morning," said Austen. + +"Legislative case, I suppose," remarked the Honourable Jacob Botcher, in +his deep voice. + +"No, merely a pleasure trip, Mr. Botcher." + +The Honourable Jacob rubbed his throat, the two State senators in the +window giggled, and Mr. Hamilton Tooting laughed. + +"I thought you took to the mountains in such cases, sir," said Mr. +Botcher. + +"I came for intellectual pleasure this time," said Austen. "I understand +that Mr. Crewe is to deliver an epoch-making speech on the national +situation to-morrow." + +This was too much even for the gravity of Mr. Manning; Mr. Tooting and +Mr. Billings and his two colleagues roared, though the Honourable Jacob's +laugh was not so spontaneous. + +"Aust," said Mr. Tooting, admiringly, you're all right." + +"Well, Judge," said Austen, patting his father's shoulder again, "I'm +glad to see you so comfortably fixed. Good-by, and give my regards to the +governor. I'm sorry to have missed him," he added, glancing at the +portieres that hid the folding doors. + +"Are you stopping here?" asked the Honourable Hilary. + +"No, I met Mr. Redbrook of Mercer, and he took me up to his lodgings. If +I can do anything for you, a message will reach me there." + +"Humph," said the Honourable Hilary, while the others exchanged +significant glances. + +Austen had not gone half the length of the hall when he was overtaken by +Mr. Tooting. + +"Say, Aust, what's up between you and Redbrook?" he asked. + +"Nothing. Why?" Austen asked, stopping abruptly. + +"Well, I suppose you know there's an anti-railroad feeling growing in +that House, and that Redbrook has more influence with the farmers than +any other man." + +"I didn't know anything about Mr. Redbrook's influence," said Austen. + +Mr. Tooting looked unconvinced. + +"Say, Aust, if anything's in the wind, I wish you'd let me know. I'll +keep it quiet." + +"I think I shall be safe in promising that, Ham," said Austen. "When +there's anything in the wind, you generally find it out first." + +"There's trouble coming for the railroad," said Mr. Tooting. "I can see +that. And I guess you saw it before I did." + +"They say a ship's about to sink when the rats begin to leave it," said +Austen. + +Although Austen spoke smilingly, Mr. Tooting looked pained. + +"There's no chance for young men in that system," he said. + +"Young men write the noble parts of the governor's inaugurals," said +Austen. + +"Yes," said Mr. Tooting, bitterly, "but you never get to be governor and +read 'em. You've got to be a 'come on' with thirty thousand dollars to be +a Northeastern governor and live next door to the Honourable Hilary in +the Pelican. Well, so long, Aust. If anything's up, give me the tip, +that's all I ask." + +Reflecting on the singular character of Mr. Tooting, Austen sought the +Gaylords' headquarters, and found them at the furthermost end of the +building from the Railroad Room. The door was opened by young Tom +himself, whose face became wreathed in smiles when he saw who the visitor +was. + +"It's Austen!" he cried. "I thought you'd come down when you got that +appeal of mine." + +Austen did not admit the self-sacrifice as he shook Tom's hand; but +remembered, singularly enough, the closing sentences of Tom's letter +--which had nothing whatever to do with the Gaylord bill. + +At this moment a commotion arose within the room, and a high, tremulous, +but singularly fierce and compelling voice was heard crying out:--"Get +out! Get out, d-n you, all of you, and don't come back until you've got +some notion of what you're a-goin' to do. Get out, I say!" + +These last words were pronounced with such extraordinary vigour that four +gentlemen seemed to be physically impelled from the room. Three of them +Austen recognized as dismissed and disgruntled soldiers from the lobby +army of the Northeastern; the fourth was the Honourable Galusha Hammer, +whose mode of progress might be described as "stalking," and whose lips +were forming the word "intolerable." In the corner old Tom himself could +be seen, a wizened figure of wrath. + +"Who's that?" he demanded of his son, "another d-d fool?" + +"No," replied young Tom, "it's Austen Vane." + +"What's he doin' here?" old Tom demanded, with a profane qualification as +to the region. But young Tom seemed to be the only being capable of +serenity amongst the flames that played around him. + +"I sent for him because he's got more sense than Galusha and all the rest +of 'em put together," he said. + +"I guess that's so," old Tom agreed unexpectedly, "but it ain't sayin' +much. Bring him in--bring him in, and lock the door." + +In obedience to these summons, and a pull from young Tom, Austen entered +and sat down. + +"You've read the Pingsquit bill?" old Tom demanded. + +"Yes," said Austen. + +"Just because you won a suit against the Northeastern, and nearly killed +a man out West, Tom seems to think you can do anything. He wouldn't, give +me any peace until I let him send for you," Mr. Gaylord remarked testily. +"Now you're down here, what have you got to propose?" + +"I didn't come here to propose anything, Mr. Gaylord," said Austen. + +"What!" cried Mr. Gaylord, with one of his customary and forceful +exclamations. "What'd you come down for?" + +"I've been asking myself that question ever since I came, Mr. Gaylord," +said Austen, "and I haven't yet arrived at any conclusion." + +Young Tom looked at his friend and laughed, and Mr. Gaylord, who at first +gave every indication of being about to explode with anger, suddenly +emitted a dry cackle. + +"You ain't a d-n fool, anyway," he declared. + +"I'm beginning to think I am," said Austen. + +"Then you've got sense enough to know it," retorted old Tom. "Most of 'em +haven't." And his glance, as it fell upon the younger man, was almost +approving. Young Tom's was distinctly so. + +"I told you Austen was the only lawyer who'd talk common sense to you," +he said. + +"I haven't heard much of it yet," said old Tom. + +"Perhaps I ought to tell you, Mr. Gaylord," said Austen, smiling a +little, "that I didn't come down in any legal capacity. That's only one +of Tom's jokes." + +"Then what in h--l did you bring him in here for?" demanded old Tom of +his son. + +"Just for a quiet little powwow," said young Tom, "to make you laugh. +He's made you laugh before." + +"I don't want to laugh," said old Tom, pettishly. Nevertheless, he seemed +to be visibly cooling. "If you ain't in here to make money," he added to +Austen, "I don't care how long you stay." + +"Say, Austen," said young Tom, "do you remember the time we covered the +old man with shavings at the mills in Avalon, and how he chased us with a +two-by-four scantling?" + +"I'd made pulp out'n you if I'd got you," remarked Mr. Gaylord, with a +reminiscent chuckle that was almost pleasant. "But you were always a +goldurned smart boy, Austen, and you've done well with them little +suits." He gazed at Austen a moment with his small, filmy-blue eye. "I +don't know but what you might take hold here and make it hot for those +d-d rascals in the Northeastern, after all. You couldn't botch it worsen +Hammer has, and you might do some good. I said I'd make 'em dance, and by +G-d, I'll do it, if I have to pay that Teller Levering in New York, and +it takes the rest of my life. Look the situation over, and come back +to-morrow and tell me what you think of it." + +"I can tell you what I think of it now, Mr. Gaylord," said Austen. + +"What's that?" old Tom demanded sharply. + +"That you'll never get the bill passed, this session or next, by +lobbying." + +For the moment the elder Mr. Gaylord was speechless, but young Tom +Gaylord clapped his hand heartily on his friend's shoulder. + +"That's the reason I wanted to get you down here, Austen," he cried; +that's what I've been telling the old man all along--perhaps he'll +believe you." + +"Then you won't take hold?" said Mr. Gaylord, his voice trembling on the +edge of another spasm. "You refuse business?" + +"I refuse that kind of business, Mr. Gaylord," Austen answered quietly, +though there was a certain note in his voice that young Tom knew well, +and which actually averted the imminent explosion from Mr. Gaylord, whose +eyes glared and watered. "But aside from that, you must know that the +Republican party leaders in this State are the heads of the lobby of the +Northeastern Railroads." + +"I guess I know about Number Seven as well as you do," old Tom +interjected. + +Austen's eye flashed. + +"Now hold on, father," said young Tom, "that's no way to talk to Austen." + +"Knowing Number Seven," Austen continued, "you probably realize that the +political and business future of nearly every one of the twenty State +senators depends upon the favour of the Northeastern Railroads." + +"I know that the d-d fools won't look at money," said Mr. Gaylord; +"Hammer's tried 'em." + +"I told you that before you started in," young Tom remarked, "but when +you get mad, you won't listen to sense. And then there's the Honourable +Asa Gray, who wants to represent the Northeastern some day in the United +States Senate." + +"The bill ought to pass," shrieked old Tom; "it's a d-d outrage. There's +no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to build a railroad if I've got the +money to do it. What in blazes are we comin' to in this country if we +can't git competition? If Flint stops that bill, I'll buy a newspaper and +go to the people with the issue and throw his d-d monopoly into +bankruptcy." + +"It's all very well to talk about competition and monopolies and +lobbies," said young Tom, "but how about the Gaylord Lumber Company? How +about the time you used the lobby, with Flint's permission? This kind of +virtuous talk is beautiful to listen to when you and Flint get into a +row." + +At this remark of his son's, the intermittent geyser of old Tom's wrath +spouted up again with scalding steam, and in a manner utterly impossible +to reproduce upon paper. Young Tom waited patiently for the exhibition to +cease, which it did at length in a coughing fit of sheer exhaustion that +left his father speechless, if not expressionless, pointing a lean and +trembling finger in the direction of a valise on the floor. + +"You'll go off in a spell of that kind some day," said young Tom, opening +the valise and extracting a bottle. Uncorking it, he pressed it to his +father's lips, and with his own pocket-handkerchief (old Tom not +possessing such an article) wiped the perspiration from Mr. Gaylord's +brow and the drops from his shabby black coat. "There's no use gettin' +mad at Austen. He's dead right--you can't lobby this thing through, and +you knew it before you started. If you hadn't lost your temper, you +wouldn't have tried." + +"We'll see, by G-d, we'll see," said the indomitable old Tom, when he got +his breath. "You young men think you know a sight, but you haven't got +the stuff in you we old Tellers have. Where would I be if it wasn't for +fightin'? You mark my words, before this session's ended I'll scare h-l +out of Flint--see if I don't." + +Young Tom winked at his friend. + +"Let's go down to supper," he said. + +The dining room of the Pelican Hotel during a midweek of a busy session +was a scene of bustle and confusion not likely to be forgotten. Every +seat was taken, and gentlemen waited their turn in the marble-flagged +rotunda who had not the honour of being known to Mr. Giles, the head +waiter. If Mr. Hamilton Tooting were present, and recognized you, he +would take great pleasure in pointing out the celebrities, and especially +that table over which the Honourable Hilary Vane presided, with the +pretty, red-checked waitress hovering around it. At the Honourable +Hilary's right hand was the division superintendent, and at his left, Mr. +Speaker Doby--a most convenient and congenial arrangement; farther down +the board were State Senator Nat Billings, Mr. Ridout (when he did not +sup at home), the Honourables Brush Bascom and Elisha Jane, and the +Honourable Jacob Botcher made a proper ballast for the foot. This table +was known as the Railroad Table, and it was very difficult, at any +distance away from it, to hear what was said, except when the Honourable +Jacob Botcher made a joke. Next in importance and situation was the +Governor's Table--now occupied by the Honourable Asa Gray. Mr. Tooting's +description would not have stopped here. + +Sensations are common in the Pelican Hotel, but when Austen Vane walked +in that evening between the Gaylords, father and son, many a hungry guest +laid down his knife and fork and stared. Was the younger Vane (known to +be anti-railroad) to take up the Gaylords' war against his own father? +All the indications were that way, and a rumour flew from table to +table-leaping space, as rumours will--that the Gaylords had sent to +Ripton for Austen. There was but one table in the room the occupants of +which appeared not to take any interest in the event, or even to grasp +that an event had occurred. The Railroad Table was oblivious. + +After supper Mr. Tooting found Austen in the rotunda, and drew him +mysteriously aside. + +"Say, Aust, the Honourable Hilary wants to see you to-night," he +whispered. + +"Did he send you with the message?" Austen demanded. + +"That's right," said Mr. Tooting. "I guess you know what's up." + +Austen did not answer. At the foot of the stairway was the tall form of +Hilary Vane himself, and Austen crossed the rotunda. + +"Do you want to see me, Judge?" he asked. + +The Honourable Hilary faced about quickly. + +"Yes, if you've got any spare time." + +"I'll go to your room at half-past nine to-night, if that's convenient." + +"All right," said the Honourable Hilary, starting up the stairs. + +Austen turned, and found Mr. Hamilton Tooting at his elbow. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Mr. REDBROOK'S PARTY + +The storm was over, and the bare trees, when the moon shone between the +hurrying clouds, cast lacelike shadows on the white velvet surface of the +snow as Austen forged his way up the hill to the Widow Peasley's in +keeping with his promise to Mr. Redbrook. Across the street he paused +outside the picket-fence to gaze at the yellow bars of light between the +slats of the windows of the Duncan house. It was hard to realize that she +was there, within a stone's throw of where he was to sleep; but the +strange, half-startled expression in her eyes that afternoon and the +smile--which had in it a curious quality he could not analyze--were so +vivid in his consciousness as to give him pain. The incident, as he stood +there ankle-deep in the snow, seemed to him another inexplicable and +uselessly cruel caprice of fate. + +As he pictured her in the dining room behind Mr. Crewe's silver and cut +glass and flowers, it was undoubtedly natural that he should wonder +whether she were thinking of him in the Widow Peasley's lamp-lit cottage, +and he smiled at the contrast. After all, it was the contrast between his +life and hers. As an American of good antecedents and education, with a +Western experience thrown in, social gulfs, although awkward, might be +crossed in spite of opposition from ladies like the Rose of Sharon,--who +had crossed them. Nevertheless, the life which Victoria led seemingly +accentuated--to a man standing behind a picket-fence in the snow--the +voids between. + +A stamping of feet in the Widow Peasley's vestibule awoke in him that +sense of the ridiculous which was never far from the surface, and he made +his way thither in mingled amusement and pain. What happened there is of +interest, but may be briefly chronicled. Austen was surprised, on +entering, to find Mrs. Peasley's parlour filled with men; and a single +glance at their faces in the lamplight assured him that they were of a +type which he understood--countrymen of that rugged New England stock to +which he himself belonged, whose sons for generations had made lawyers +and statesmen and soldiers for the State and nation. Some were talking in +low voices, and others sat silent on the chairs and sofa, not awkwardly +or uncomfortably, but with a characteristic self-possession and repose. +Mr. Redbrook, towering in front of the stove, came forward. + +"Here you be," he said, taking Austen's hand warmly and a little +ceremoniously; "I asked 'em here to meet ye." + +"To meet me!" Austen repeated. + +"Wanted they should know you," said Mr. Redbrook. + +"They've all heard of you and what you did for Zeb." + +Austen flushed. He was aware that he was undergoing a cool and critical +examination by those present, and that they were men who used all their +faculties in making up their minds. + +"I'm very glad to meet any friends of yours, Mr. Redbrook," he said. +"What I did for Meader isn't worth mentioning. It was an absolutely +simple case." + +"Twahn't so much what ye did as how ye did it," said Mr. Redbrook. "It's +kind of rare in these days," he added, with the manner of commenting to +himself on the circumstance, "to find a young lawyer with brains that +won't sell 'em to the railrud. That's what appeals to me, and to some +other folks I know--especially when we take into account the situation +you was in and the chances you had." + +Austen's silence under this compliment seemed to create an indefinable +though favourable impression, and the member from Mercer permitted +himself to smile. + +"These men are all friends of mine, and members of the House," he said, +"and there's more would have come if they'd had a longer notice. Allow me +to make you acquainted with Mr. Widgeon of Hull." + +"We kind of wanted to look you over," said Mr. Widgeon, suiting the +action to the word. "That's natural ain't it?" + +"Kind of size you up," added Mr. Jarley of Wye, raising his eyes. +"Callate you're sizable enough." + +"Wish you was in the House," remarked Mr. Adams of Barren. "None of us is +much on talk, but if we had you, I guess we could lay things wide open." + +"If you was thar, and give it to 'em as hot as you did when you was +talkin' for Zeb, them skunks in the front seats wouldn't know whether +they was afoot or hossback," declared Mr. Williams of Devon, a town +adjoining Mercer. + +"I used to think railrud gov'ment wahn't so bad until I come to the House +this time," remarked a stocky member from Oxford; "it's sheer waste of +money for the State to pay a Legislature. They might as well run things +from the New York office--you know that." + +"We might as well wear so many Northeastern uniforms with brass buttons," +a sinewy hill farmer from Lee put in. He had a lean face that did not +move a muscle, but a humorous gray eye that twinkled. + +In the meantime Mr. Redbrook looked on with an expression of approval +which was (to Austen) distinctly pleasant, but more or less mystifying. + +"I guess you ain't disappointed 'em much," he declared, when the round +was ended; "most of 'em knew me well enough to understand that cattle and +live stock in general, includin' humans, is about as I represent 'em to +be." + +"We have some confidence in your judgment, Brother Redbrook," answered +Mr. Terry of Lee, "and now we've looked over the goods, it ain't set back +any, I callate." + +This observation, which seemed to meet with a general assent, was to +Austen more mystifying than ever. He laughed. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I feel as though some expression of thanks were +due you for this kind and most unexpected reception." Here a sudden +seriousness came into his eyes which served, somehow, only to enhance his +charm of manner, and a certain determined ring into his voice. "You have +all referred to a condition of affairs," he added, "about which I have +thought a great deal, and which I deplore as deeply as you do. There is +no doubt that the Northeastern Railroads have seized the government of +this State for three main reasons: to throttle competition; to control +our railroad commission in order that we may not get the service and +safety to which we are entitled,--so increasing dividends; and to make +and maintain laws which enable them to bribe with passes, to pay less +taxes than they should, and to manipulate political machinery." + +"That's right," said Mr. Jarley of Wye, with a decided emphasis. + +"That's the kind of talk I like to hear," exclaimed Mr. Terry. + +"And nobody's had the gumption to fight 'em," said Mr. Widgeon. + +"It looks," said Austen, "as though it must come to a fight in the end. I +do not think they will listen to reason. I mean," he added, with a flash +of humour, "that they will listen to it, but not act upon it. Gentlemen, +I regret to have to say, for obvious reasons, something which you all +know, that my father is at the head of the Northeastern machine, which is +the Republican party organization." + +There was a silence. + +"You went again' him, and we honour you for it, Austen," said Mr. +Redbrook, at length. + +"I want to say," Austen continued, "that I have tried to look at things +as Mr. Vane sees them, and that I have a good deal of sympathy for his +point of view. Conditions as they exist are the result of an evolution +for which no one man is responsible. That does not alter the fact that +the conditions are wrong. But the railroads, before they consolidated, +found the political boss in power, and had to pay him for favours. The +citizen was the culprit to start with, just as he is the culprit now, +because he does not take sufficient interest in his government to make it +honest. We mustn't blame the railroads too severely, when they grew +strong enough, for substituting their own political army to avoid being +blackmailed. Long immunity has reenforced them in the belief that they +have but one duty to pay dividends. I am afraid," he added, "that they +will have to be enlightened somewhat as Pharaoh was enlightened." + +"Well, that's sense, too," said Mr. Widgeon; "I guess you're the man to +enlighten 'em." + +"Moderate talk appeals to me," declared Mr. Jarley. + +"And when that fails," said Mr. Terry, 'hard, tellin' blows." + +"Don't lose track of the fact that we've got our eye on you," said Mr. +Emerson of Oxford, who had a blacksmith's grip, and came back to renew it +after he had put on his overshoes. He was the last to linger, and when +the door had closed on him Austen turned to Mr. Redbrook. + +"Now what does all this mean?" he demanded. + +"It means," said Mr. Redbrook, "that when the time comes, we want you to +run for governor." + +Austen went to the mantelpiece, and stood for a long time with his back +turned, staring at a crayon portrait of Colonel Peasley, in the uniform +in which he had fallen at the battle of Gettysburg. Then he swung about +and seized the member from Mercer by both broad shoulders. + +"James Redbrook," he said, "until to-night I thought you were about as +long-headed and sensible a man as there was in the State." + +"So I be," replied Mr. Redbrook, with a grin. "You ask young Tom +Gaylord." + +"So Tom put you up to this nonsense." + +"It ain't nonsense," retorted Mr. Redbrook, stoutly, "and Tom didn't put +me up to it. It's the' best notion that ever came into my mind." + +Austen, still clinging to Mr. Redbrook's shoulders, shook his head +slowly. + +"James," he said, "there are plenty of men who are better equipped than I +for the place, and in a better situation to undertake it. I--I'm much +obliged to you. But I'll help. I've got to go," he added; "the Honourable +Hilary wants to see me." + +He went into the entry and put on his overshoes and his coat, while James +Redbrook regarded him with a curious mingling of pain and benevolence on +his rugged face. + +"I won't press you now, Austen," he said, "but think on it. For God's +sake, think on it." + +Outside, Austen paused in the snow once more, his brain awhirl with a +strange exaltation the like of which he had never felt before. Although +eminently human, it was not the fact that honest men had asked him to be +their governor which uplifted him,--but that they believed him to be as +honest as themselves. In that hour he had tasted life as he had never yet +tasted it, he had lived as he might never live again. Not one of them, he +remembered suddenly, had uttered a sentence of the political claptrap of +which he had heard so much. They had spoken from the soul; not bitterly, +not passionately, but their words had rung with the determination which +had made their forefathers and his leave home, toil, and kindred to fight +and die at Bunker Hill and Gettysburg for a principle. It had bean given +him to look that eight into the heart of a nation, and he was awed. + +As he stood there under the winter moon, he gradually became conscious of +music, of an air that seemed the very expression of his mood. His eyes, +irresistibly drawn towards the Duncan house, were caught by the +fluttering of lace curtains at an open window. The notes were those of a +piano,--though the instrument mattered little,--that with which they were +charged for him set the night wind quivering. It was not simple music, +although it had in it a grand simplicity. At times it rose, vibrant with +inexpressible feeling, and fell again into gentler, yearning cadences +that wrung the soul with a longing that was world-old and world-wide, +that reached out towards the unattainable stare--and, reaching, became +immortal. Thus was the end of it, fainting as it drifted heavenward. + +Then the window was closed. + +Austen walked on; whither, he knew not. After a certain time of which he +had no cognizance he found himself under the glaring arc-light that hung +over Main Street before the Pelican Hotel, in front of what was known as +the ladies' entrance. He slipped in there, avoiding the crowded lobby +with its shifting groups and its haze of smoke,--plainly to be seen +behind the great plates of glass,--went upstairs, and gained room Number. +Seven unnoticed. Then, after the briefest moment of hesitation, he +knocked. A voice responded--the Honourable Hilary's. There was but one +light burning in the room, and Mr. Vane sat in his accustomed chair in +the corner, alone. He was not reading, nor was he drowsing, but his head +was dropped forward a little on his breast. He raised it slowly at his +son's entrance, and regarded Austen fixedly, though silently. + +"You wanted to see me, Judge?" said Austen. + +"Come at last, have you?" said Mr. Vane. + +"I didn't intend to be late," said Austen. + +"Seem to have a good deal of business on hand these days," the Honourable +Hilary remarked. + +Austen took a step forward, and stopped. Mr. Vane was preparing a piece +of Honey Dew. + +"If you would like to know what the business was, Judge, I am here to +tell you." + +The Honourable Hilary grunted. + +"I ain't good enough to be confided in, I guess," he said; "I wouldn't +understand motives from principle." + +Austen looked at his father for a few moments in silence. To-night he +seemed at a greater distance than ever before, and more lonely than ever. +When Austen had entered the room and had seen him sitting with his head +bowed forward, the hostility of months of misunderstanding had fallen +away from the son, and he had longed to fly to him as he had as a child +after punishment. Differences in after life, alas, are not always to be +bridged thus. + +"Judge," he said slowly, with an attempt to control his voice, wouldn't +it have been fairer to wait awhile, before you made a remark like that? +Whatever our dealings may have been, I have never lied to you. Anything +you may want to know, I am here to tell you." + +"So you're going to take up lobbying, are you? I had a notion you were +above lobbying." + +Austen was angered. But like all men of character, his face became stern +under provocation, and he spoke more deliberately. + +"Before we go any farther," he said, "would you mind telling me who your +informant is on this point?" + +"I guess I don't need an informant. My eyesight is as good as ever," said +the Honourable Hilary. + +"Your deductions are usually more accurate. If any one has told you that +I am about to engage in lobbying, they have lied to you." + +"Wouldn't engage in lobbying, would you?" the Honourable Hilary asked, +with the air of making a casual inquiry. + +Austen flushed, but kept his temper. + +"I prefer the practice of law," he replied. + +"Saw you were associatin' with saints," his father remarked. + +Austen bit his lip, and then laughed outright,--the canonization of old +Tom Gaylord being too much for him. + +"Now, Judge," he said, "it isn't like you to draw hasty conclusions. +Because I sat down to supper with the Gaylords it isn't fair to infer +that they have retained me in a legislative case." + +The Honourable Hilary did not respond to his son's humour, but shifted +the Honey Dew to the left cheek. + +"Old Tom going in for reform?" + +"He may bring it about," answered Austen, instantly becoming serious +again, "whether he's going in for it or not." + +For the first time the Honourable Hilary raised his eyes to his son's +face, and shot at him a penetrating look of characteristic shrewdness. +But he followed in conversation the same rule as in examining a witness, +rarely asking a direct question, except as a tactical surprise. + +"Old Tom ought to have his railroad, oughtn't he?" + +"So far as I can see, it would be a benefit to the people of that part of +the State," said Austen. + +"Building it for the people, is he?" + +"His motive doesn't count. The bill should be judged on its merits, and +proper measures for the safeguarding of public interests should be put +into it." + +"Don't think the bill will be judged on its merits, do you?" + +"No, I don't," replied Austen, "and neither do you." + +"Did you tell old Tom so?" asked Mr. Vane, after a pause. "Did you tell +old Tom so when he sent for you to take hold?" + +"He didn't send for me," answered Austen, quietly, "and I have no +business dealings with him except small suits. What I did tell him was +that he would never get the bill through this session or next by +lobbying." + +The Honourable Hilary never showed surprise. He emitted a grunt which +evinced at once impatience and amusement. + +"Why not?" he asked. + +"Well, Judge, I'll tell you what I told him--although you both know. It's +because the Northeastern owns the Republican party machine, which is the +lobby, and because most of the twenty State senators are dependent upon +the Northeastern for future favours." + +"Did you tell Tom Gaylord that?" demanded Mr. Vane. "What did he say?" + +Austen braced himself. He did not find the answer easy. + +"He said he knew about Number Seven as well as I did." + +The Honourable Hilary rose abruptly--perhaps in some secret agitation +--Austen could not discern. His father walked as far as the door, and +turned slowly and faced him, but he did not speak. His mouth was tightly +closed, almost as in pain, and Austen went towards him, appealingly. + +"Judge," he said, "you sent for me. You have asked me questions which I +felt obliged in honesty to answer. God knows I don't wish to differ with +you, but circumstances seem always against us. I will talk plainly, if +you will let me. I try to look at things from your point of view. I know +that you believe that a political system should go hand in hand with the +great commercial system which you are engaged in building. I disagree +with your beliefs, but I do not think that your pursuit of them has not +been sincere, and justified by your conscience. I suppose that you sent +for me to know whether Mr. Gaylord has employed me to lobby for his bill. +He has not, because I refused that employment. But I will tell you that, +in my opinion, if a man of any ability whatever should get up on the +floor of the House and make an argument for the Pingsquit bill, the +sentiment against the Northeastern and its political power is so great +that the House would compel the committee to report the bill, and pass +it. You probably know this already, but I mention it for your own good if +you do not, in the hope that, through you, the Northeastern Railroads may +be induced to relax their grip upon the government of this State." + +The Honourable Hilary advanced, until only the marble-topped table was +between himself and his son. A slight noise in the adjoining room caused +him to turn his head momentarily. Then he faced Austen again. + +"Did you tell Gaylord this?" he asked. + +Austen made a gesture of distaste, and turned away. + +"No," he said, "I reserved the opinion, whatever it is worth, for your +ears alone." + +"I've heard that kind of calculation before," said the Honourable Hilary. +"My experience is that they never come to much. As for this nonsense +about the Northeastern Railroads running things," he added more +vigorously, "I guess when it's once in a man's head there's no getting it +out. The railroad employs the best lawyers it can find to look after its +interests. I'm one of 'em, and I'm proud of it. If I hadn't been one of +'em, the chances are you'd never be where you are, that you'd never have +gone to college and the law school. The Republican party realizes that +the Northeastern is most vitally connected with the material interests of +this State; that the prosperity of the road means the prosperity of the +State. And the leaders of the party protect the road from vindictive +assaults on it like Gaylord's, and from scatterbrains and agitators like +your friend Redbrook." + +Austen shook his head sadly as he gazed at his father. He had always +recognized the futility of arguments, if argument on this point ever +arose between them. + +"It's no use, Judge," he said. "If material prosperity alone were to be +considered, your contention would have some weight. The perpetuation of +the principle of American government has to be thought of. Government by +a railroad will lead in the end to anarchy. You are courting destruction +as it is." + +"If you came in here to quote your confounded Emerson--" the Honourable +Hilary began, but Austen slipped around the table and took him by the arm +and led him perforce to his chair. + +"No, Judge, that isn't Emerson," he answered. "It's just common sense, +only it sounds to you like drivel. I'm going now,--unless you want to +hear some more about the plots I've been getting into. But I want to say +this. I ask you to remember that you're my father, and that--I'm fond of +you. And that, if you and I happen to be on opposite sides, it won't make +any difference as far as my feelings are concerned. I'm always ready to +tell you frankly what I'm doing, if you wish to know. Good-by. I suppose +I'll see you in Ripton at the end of the week." And he pressed his +father's shoulder. + +Mr. Vane looked up at his son with a curious expression. Perhaps (as when +Austen returned from the shooting of Mr. Blodgett in the West) there was +a smattering of admiration and pride in that look, and something of an +affection which had long ceased in its strivings for utterance. It was +the unconscious tribute, too,--slight as was its exhibition,--of the man +whose life has been spent in the conquest of material things to the man +who has the audacity, insensate though it seem, to fling these to the +winds in his search after ideals. + +"Good-by, Austen," said Mr. Vane. + +Austen got as far as the door, cast another look back at his father,--who +was sitting motionless, with head bowed, as when he came,--and went out. +So Mr. Vane remained for a full minute after the door had closed, and +then he raised his head sharply and gave a piercing glance at the +curtains that separated Number Seven from the governor's room. In three +strides he had reached them, flung them open, and the folding doors +behind them, already parted by four inches. The gas was turned low, but +under the chandelier was the figure of a young man struggling with an +overcoat. The Honourable Hilary did not hesitate, but came forward with a +swiftness that paralyzed the young man, who turned upon him a face on +which was meant to be written surprise and a just indignation, but in +reality was a mixture of impudence and pallid fright. The Honourable +Hilary, towering above him, and with that grip on his arm, was a +formidable person. + +"Listening, were you, Ham?" he demanded. + +"No," cried Mr. Tooting, with a vehemence he meant for force. "No, I +wasn't. Listening to who?" + +"Humph!" said the Honourable Hilary, still retaining with one hand the +grip on Mr. Tooting 's arm, and with the other turning up the gas until +it flared in Mr. Tooting's face. "What are you doing in the governor's +room?" + +"I left my overcoat in here this afternoon when you sent me to bring up +the senator." + +"Ham," said Mr. Vane, "it isn't any use lying to me." + +"I ain't lying to you," said Mr. Tooting, "I never did. I often lied for +you," he added, "and you didn't raise any objections that I remember." + +Mr. Vane let go of the arm contemptuously. + +"I've done dirty work for the Northeastern for a good many years," cried +Mr. Tooting, seemingly gaining confidence now that he was free; "I've +slaved for 'em, and what have they done for me? They wouldn't even back +me for county solicitor when I wanted the job." + +"Turned reformer, Ham?" + +"I guess I've got as much right to turn reformer as some folks I know." + +"I guess you have," agreed the Honourable Hilary; unexpectedly. He seated +himself on a chair, and proceeded to regard Mr. Tooting in a manner +extremely disconcerting to that gentleman. This quality of +impenetrability, of never being sure when he was angry, had baffled more +able opponents of Hilary Vane than Mr. Hamilton Tooting. + +"Good-night, Ham." + +"I want to say--" Mr. Tooting began. + +"Good-night, Ham," said Mr. Vane, once more. + +Mr. Tooting looked at him, slowly buttoned up his overcoat, and departed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE REALM OF PEGASUS + +The eventful day of Mr. Humphrey Crewe's speech on national affairs +dawned without a cloud in the sky. The snow was of a dazzling whiteness +and sprinkled with diamond dust; and the air of such transcendent +clearness that Austen could see--by leaning a little out of the Widow +Peasley's window--the powdered top of Holdfast Mountain some thirty miles +away. For once, a glance at the mountain sufficed him; and he directed +his gaze through the trees at the Duncan house, engaging in a pleasant +game of conjecture as to which was her window. In such weather the +heights of Helicon seemed as attainable as the peak of Holdfast; and he +had but to beckon a shining Pegasus from out a sun-shaft in the sky. +Obstacles were mere specks on the snow. + +He forgot to close the window, and dressed in a temperature which would +have meant, for many mortals, pneumonia. The events of yesterday; painful +and agitating as they had been, had fallen away in the prospect that lay +before him--he would see her to-day, and speak with her. These words, +like a refrain; were humming in his head as honest Mr. Redbrook talked +during breakfast, while Austen's answers may have been both intelligent +and humorous. Mr. Redbrook, at least; gave no sign that they were not. He +was aware that Mr. Redbrook was bringing arguments to bear on the matter +of the meeting of the evening before, but he fended these lightly, while +in spirit he flung a gem-studded bridle aver the neck of Pegasus. + +And after breakfast--away from the haunts of men! Away from the +bickerings, the subjection of mean spirits; material loss and gain and +material passion! By eight o'clock (the Widow Peasley's household being +an early and orderly one) he was swinging across the long hills, cleaving +for himself a furrowed path in the untrodden snow, breathing deep as he +gazed across the blue spaces from the crests. Bellerophon or Perseus, +aided by immortals, felt no greater sense of achievements to come than +he. Out here, on the wind-swept hills that rolled onward and upward to +the mountains, the world was his. + +With the same speed he returned, still by untrodden paths until he +reached the country road that ended in the city street. Some who saw him +paused in their steps, caught unconsciously by the rhythmic perfection of +his motion. Ahead of him he beheld the state-house, its dial aflame in +the light, emblematic to him of the presence within it of a spirit which +cleansed it of impurities. She would be there; nay, when he looked at the +dial from a different angle, was there. As he drew nearer, there rose out +of the void her presence beside him which he had daily tried to summon +since that autumn afternoon--her voice and her eyes, and many of the +infinite expressions of each and both. Sprites that they were, they had +failed him until to-day, when he was to see her again! + +And then, somehow, he had threaded the groups beside the battle-flags in +the corridor, and mounted the stairway. The doorkeeper of the House +looked into his face, and, with that rare knowledge of mankind which +doorkeepers possess, let him in. There were many ladies on the floor +(such being the chivalrous custom when a debate or a speech of the +importance of Mr. Crewe's was going on), but Austen swept them with a +glance of disappointment. Was it possible, after all, that she had not +come, or--more agitating thought--had gone back to New York? + +At this disturbing point in his reflections Austen became aware that the +hall was ringing with a loud and compelling voice which originated in +front of the Speaker's desk. + +The Honourable Humphrey Crewe was delivering his long-heralded speech on +national affairs, and was arrayed for the occasion in a manner befitting +the American statesman, with the conventional frock coat, which he wore +unbuttoned. But the Gladstone collar and a tie gave the touch of +individuality to his dress which was needed to set him aside as a marked +man. Austen suddenly remembered, with an irresistible smile, that one of +the reasons which he had assigned for his visit to the capital was to +hear this very speech, to see how Mr. Crewe would carry off what appeared +to be a somewhat difficult situation. Whether or not this motive had +drawn others,--for the millionaire's speech had not lacked +advertisement,--it is impossible to say, but there was standing room only +on the floor of the House that day. + +The fact that Mr. Crewe was gratified could not be wholly concealed. The +thing that fascinated Austen Vane and others who listened was the aplomb +with which the speech was delivered. The member from Leith showed no +trace of the nervousness naturally to be expected in a maiden effort, but +spoke with the deliberation of an old campaigner, of the man of weight +and influence that he was. He leaned, part of the time, with his elbow on +the clerk's desk, with his feet crossed; again, when he wished to +emphasize a point, he came forward and seized with both hands the back of +his chair. Sometimes he thrust his thumb in his waistcoat pocket, and +turned with an appeal to Mr. Speaker Doby, who was apparently too +thrilled and surprised to indulge in conversation with those on the bench +beside him, and who made no attempt to quell hand-clapping and even +occasional whistling; again, after the manner of experts, Mr. Crewe +addressed himself forcibly to an individual in the audience, usually a +sensitive and responsive person like the Honourable Jacob Botcher, who on +such occasions assumed a look of infinite wisdom and nodded his head +slowly. There was no doubt about it that the compelling personality of +Mr. Humphrey Crewe was creating a sensation. Genius is sure of itself, +and statesmen are born, not made. + +Able and powerful as was Mr. Crewe's discourse, the man and not the words +had fastened the wandering attention of Austen Vane. He did not perceive +his friend of the evening before, Mr. Widgeon, coming towards him up the +side aisle, until he felt a touch on the arm. + +"Take my seat. It ain't exactly a front one," whispered the member from +Hull, "my wife's cousin's comin' on the noon train. Not a bad speech, is +it?" he added. "Acts like a veteran. I didn't callate he had it in him." + +Thus aroused, Austen made his way towards the vacant chair, and when he +was seated raised his eyes to the gallery rail, and Mr. Crewe, the +legislative chamber, and its audience ceased to exist. It is quite +impossible--unless one is a poetical genius--to reproduce on paper that +gone and sickly sensation which is, paradoxically, so exquisite. The +psychological cause of it in this instance was, primarily, the sight, by +Austen Vane, of his own violets on a black, tailor-made gown trimmed with +wide braid, and secondarily of an oval face framed in a black hat, the +subtle curves of which no living man could describe. The face was turned +in his direction, and he felt an additional thrill when he realized that +she must have been watching him as he came in, for she was leaning +forward with a gloved hand on the railing. + +He performed that act of conventionality known as a bow, and she nodded +her head--black hat and all. The real salutation was a divine ray which +passed between their eyes--hers and his--over the commonplace mortals +between. And after that, although the patient legislative clock in the +corner which had marked the space of other great events (such as the +Woodchuck Session) continued to tick, undisturbed in this instance by the +pole of the sergeant-at-arms, time became a lost dimension for Austen +Vane. He made a few unimportant discoveries such as the fact that Mrs. +Pomfret and her daughter were seated beside Victoria, listening with a +rapt attention; and that Mr. Crewe had begun to read statistics; and that +some people were gaping and others leaving. He could look up at the +gallery without turning his head, and sometimes he caught her momentary +glance, and again, with her chin in her hand, she was watching Mr. Crewe +with a little smile creasing the corners of her eyes. + +A horrible thought crossed Austen's mind--perhaps they were not his +violets after all! Because she had smiled at him, yesterday and to-day, +he had soared heavenwards on wings of his own making. Perhaps they were +Mr. Crewe's violets. Had she not come to visit Mr. Crewe, to listen to +his piece de resistance, without knowing that he, Austen Vane, would be +in the capital? The idea that her interest in Austen Vane was possibly +connected with the study of mankind had a sobering effect on him; and the +notion that she had another sort of interest in Mr. Crewe seemed +ridiculous enough, but disturbing, and supported by feats. + +Austen had reached this phase in his reflections when he was aroused by a +metallic sound which arose above the resonant tones of the orator of the +day. A certain vessel, to the use of which, according to Mr. Dickens, the +satire male portion of the American nation was at one time addicted,--a +cuspidor, in plain language,--had been started, by some unknown agency in +the back seats, rolling down the centre aisle, and gathering impetus as +it went, bumped the louder on each successive step until it hurled itself +with a clash against the clerk's desk, at the feet of the orator himself. +During its descent a titter arose which gradually swelled into a roar of +laughter, and Austen's attention was once more focused upon the member +from Leith. But if any man had so misjudged the quality of Humphrey Crewe +as to suppose for an instant that he could be put out of countenance by +such a manoeuvre, that man was mightily mistaken. Mr. Crewe paused, with +his forefinger on the page, and fixed a glassy eye on the remote +neighbourhood in the back seats where the disturbance had started. + +"I am much obliged to the gentleman," he said coldly, "but he has sent me +an article which I never use, under any conditions. I would not deprive +him of its convenience." + +Whereupon, it is not too much to say, Mr. Crews was accorded an ovation, +led by his stanch friend and admirer, the Honourable Jacob Botcher, +although that worthy had been known to use the article in question. + +Mr. Speaker Doby glanced at the faithful clock, and arose majestically. + +"I regret to say," he announced, "that the time of the gentleman from +Leith is up." + +Mr. Botcher rose slowly to his feet. + +"Mr. Speaker," he began, in a voice that rumbled through the crevices of +the gallery, "I move you, sir, that a vote of thanks be accorded to the +gentleman from Leith for his exceedingly able and instructive speech on +national affairs." + +"Second the motion," said the Honourable Brush Bascom, instantly. + +"And leave to print in the State Tribune!" cried a voice from somewhere +among the submerged four hundred and seventy. + +"Gentlemen of the House," said Mr. Crewe, when the laughter had subsided, +"I have given you a speech which is the result of much thought and +preparation on my part. I have not flaunted the star-spangled banner in +your faces, or indulged in oratorical fireworks. Mine have been the words +of a plain business man, and I have not indulged in wild accusations or +flights of imagination. Perhaps, if I had," he added, "there are some who +would have been better pleased. I thank my friends for their kind +attention and approbation." + +Nevertheless, amidst somewhat of a pandemonium, the vote of thanks was +given and the House adjourned; while Mr. Crewe's friends of whom he had +spoken could be seen pressing around him and shaking him by the hand. +Austen got to his feet, his eyes again sought the gallery, whence he +believed he received a look of understanding from a face upon which +amusement seemed plainly written. She had turned to glance down at him, +despite the fact that Mrs. Pomfret was urging her to leave. Austen +started for the door, and managed to reach it long before his neighbours +had left the vicinity of their seats. Once in the corridor, his eye +singled her out amongst those descending the gallery stairs, and he had a +little thrill of pride and despair when he realized that she was the +object of the scrutiny, too, of the men around him; the women were +interested, likewise, in Mrs. Pomfret, whose appearance, although +appropriate enough for a New York matinee, proclaimed her as hailing from +that mysterious and fabulous city of wealth. This lady, with her +lorgnette, was examining the faces about her in undisguised curiosity, +and at the same time talking to Victoria in a voice which she took no +pains to lower. + +"I think it outrageous," she was saying. "If some Radical member had done +that in Parliament, he would have been expelled from the House. But of +course in Parliament they wouldn't have those horrid things to roll down +the aisles. Poor dear Humphrey! The career of a gentleman in politics is +a thankless one in this country. I wonder at his fortitude." + +Victoria's eyes alone betokened her amusement. + +"How do you do, Mr. Vane?" she said. "I'm so glad to see you again." + +Austen said something which he felt was entirely commonplace and +inadequate to express his own sentiments, while Alice gave him an +uncertain bow, and Mrs. Pomfret turned her glasses upon him. + +"You remember Mr. Vane," said Victoria; "you met him at Humphrey's." + +"Did I?" answered Mrs. Pomfret. "How do you do? Can't something be done +to punish those rowdies?" + +Austen grew red. + +"Mr. Vane isn't a member of the House," said Victoria. + +"Oh," exclaimed Mrs. Pomfret. "Something ought to be done about it. In +England such a thing wouldn't be allowed to drop for a minute. If I lived +in this State, I think I should do something. Nobody in America seems to +have the spirit even to make a protest." + +Austen turned quietly to Victoria. + +"When are you going away?" he asked. + +"To-morrow morning--earlier than I like to think of. I have to be in New +York by to-morrow night." + +She flashed at him a look of approbation for his self-control, and then, +by a swift transition which he had often remarked, her expression changed +to one of amusement, although a seriousness lurked in the depths of her +eyes. Mrs. Pomfret had gone on, with Alice, and they followed. + +"And--am I not to see you again before you go?" he exclaimed. + +He didn't stop to reason than upon the probable consequences of his act +in seeking her. Nature, which is stronger than reason, was compelling +him. + +"That depends," said Victoria. + +"Upon whom?" + +"Upon you." + +They were on the lower stairs by this times, and there was silence +between then for a few moments as they descended,--principally because, +after this exalting remark, Austen could not trust himself to speak. + +"Will you go driving with me?" he asked, and was immediately +thunderstruck at his boldness. + +"Yes," she answered, simply. + +"How soon may I come?" he demanded, + +She laughed softly, but with a joyous note which was not hidden from him +as they stepped out of the darkened corridor into the dazzling winter +noonday. + +"I will be ready at three o'clock," she said. + +He looked at his watch. + +"Two hours and a half!" he cried. + +"If that is too early," she said mischievously, "we can go later." + +"Too early!" he repeated. But the rest of his protest was cut short by +Mr. Crewe. + +"Hello, Victoria, what did you think of my speech?" + +"The destinies of the nation are settled," said Victoria. "Do you know +Mr. Vane?" + +"Oh, yes, how are you?" said Mr, Crewe; "glad to see you," and he +extended a furred glove. "Were you there?" + +"Yes," said Austen. + +"I'll send you a copy. I'd like to talk it over with you. Come on, +Victoria, I've arranged for an early lunch. Come on, Mrs. Pomfret--get +in, Alice." + +Mrs. Pomfret, still protesting against the profane interruption to Mr. +Crewe's speech, bent her head to enter Mr. Crewe's booby sleigh, which +had his crest on the panel. Alice was hustled in next, but Victoria +avoided his ready assistance and got in herself, Mr. Crewe getting in +beside her. + +"Au revoir," she called out to Austen, as the door slammed. The coachman +gathered his horses together, and off they went at a brisk trot. Then the +little group which had been watching the performance dispersed. Halfway +across the park Austen perceived some one signaling violently to him, and +discovered his friend, young Tom Gaylord. + +"Come to dinner with me," said young Tom, "and tell me whether the speech +of your friend from Leith will send him to Congress. I saw you hobnobbing +with him just now. What's the matter, Austen? I haven't seen that guilty +expression on your face since we were at college together." + +"What's the best livery-stable in town?" Austen asked. + +"By George, I wondered why you came down here. Who are you going to take +out in a sleigh? There's a girl in it, is there?" + +"Not yet, Tom," said Austen. + +"I've often asked myself why I ever had any use for such a secretive cuss +as you," declared young Mr. Gaylord. "But if you're really goin' to get +interested in girls, you ought to see old Flint's daughter. I wrote you +about her. Why," exclaimed Tom, "wasn't she one of those that got into +Crewe's sleigh?" + +"Tom," said Austen, "where did you say that livery-stable was?" + +"Oh, dang the livery-stable!" answered Mr. Gaylord. "I hear there's quite +a sentiment for you for governor. How about it? You know I've always said +you could be United States senator and President. If you'll only say the +word, Austen, we'll work up a movement around the State that'll be hard +to beat." + +"Tom," said Austen, laying his hand on young Mr. Gaylord's farther +shoulder, "you're a pretty good fellow. Where did you say that +livery-stable was? + +"I'll go sleigh-riding with you," said Mr. Gaylord. "I guess the +Pingsquit bill can rest one afternoon." + +"Tom, I don't know any man I'd rather take than you," said Austen. + +The unsuspecting Tom was too good-natured to be offended, and shortly +after dinner Austen found himself in the process of being looked over by +a stout gentleman named Putter, proprietor of Putter's Livery, who +claimed to be a judge of men as well as horses. Austen had been through +his stalls and chosen a mare. + +"Durned if you don't look like a man who can handle a horse," said Mr. +Putter. And as long as you're a friend of Tom Gaylord's I'll let you +have her. Nobody drives that mare but me. What's your name?" + +"Vane." + +"Ain't any relation to old Hilary, be you?" + +"I'm his son," said Austen, "only he doesn't boast about it." + +"Godfrey!" exclaimed Mr. Putter, with a broad grin, "I guess you kin have +her. Ain't you the man that shot a feller out West? Seems to me I heerd +somethin' about it." + +"Which one did you hear about?" Austen asked. + +"Good Lord!" said Mr. Putter, "you didn't shoot more'n one, did you?" + +It was just three o'clock when Austen drove into the semicircle opposite +the Widow Peasley's, rang Mr. Crewe's door-bell, and leaped into the +sleigh once more, the mare's nature being such as to make it undesirable +to leave her. Presently Mr. Crewe's butler appeared, and stood dubiously +in the vestibule. + +"Will you tell Miss Flint that Mr. Vane has called for her, and that I +cannot leave the horse?" + +The man retired with obvious disapproval. Then Austen heard Victoria's +voice in the hallway:--"Don't make a goose of yourself, Humphrey." Here +she appeared, the colour fresh in her cheeks, her slender figure clad in +a fur which even Austen knew was priceless. She sprang into the sleigh, +the butler, with annoying deliberation, and with the air of saying that +this was an affair of which he washed his hands, tucked in Mr. Putter's +best robe about her feet, the mare leaped forward, and they were off, out +of the circle and flying up the hill on the hard snow-tracks. + +"Whew!" exclaimed Victoria, "what a relief! Are you staying in that dear +little house?" she asked, with a glance at the Widow Peasley's. + +"Yes," said Austen. + +"I wish I were." + +He looked at her shyly. He was not a man to do homage to material gods, +but the pomp and circumstance with which she was surrounded had had a +sobering effect upon him, and added to his sense of the instability and +unreality of the present moment. He had an almost guilty feeling of +having broken an unwritten law, of abducting a princess, and the old +Duncan house had seemed to frown protestingly that such an act should +have taken place under its windows. If Victoria had been--to him--an +ordinary mortal in expensive furs instead of a princess, he would have +snapped his fingers at the pomp and circumstance. These typified the +comforts which, in a wild and forgetful moment, he might ask her to +leave. Not that he believed she would leave them. He had lived long +enough to know that an interest by a woman in a man--especially a man +beyond the beaten track of her observation--did not necessarily mean that +she might marry him if he asked her. And yet--oh, Tantalus! here she was +beside him, for one afternoon again his very own, their two souls ringing +with the harmony of whirling worlds in sunlit space. He sought refuge in +thin thought; he strove, in oblivion, to drain the cup of the hour of its +nectar, even as he had done before. Generations of Puritan Vanes (whose +descendant alone had harassed poor Sarah Austere) were in his blood; and +there they hung in the long gallery of Time, mutely but sternly +forbidding when he raised his hand to the stem. + +In silence they reached the crest where the little city ended abruptly in +view of the paradise of the silent hills,--his paradise, where there were +no palaces or thought of palaces. The wild wind of the morning was still. +In this realm at least, a heritage from his mother, seemingly untrodden +by the foot of man, the woman at his side was his. From Holdfast over the +spruces to Sawanec in the blue distance he was lord, a domain the wealth +of which could not be reckoned in the coin of Midas. He turned to her as +they flew down the slope, and she averted her face, perchance perceiving +in that look a possession from which a woman shrinks; and her remark, +startlingly indicative of the accord between them, lent a no less +startling reality to the enchantment. + +"This is your land, isn't it?" she said. + +"I sometimes feel as though it were," he answered. "I was out here this +morning, when the wind was at play," and he pointed with his whip at a +fantastic snowdrift, before I saw you." + +"You looked as though you had come from it," she answered. You seemed +--I suppose you will think me silly--but you seemed to bring something of +this with you into that hail. I always think of you as out on the hills +and mountains." + +"And you," he said, "belong here, too." + +She drew a deep breath. + +"I wish I did. But you--you really do belong here. You seem to have +absorbed all the clearness of it, and the strength and vigour. I was +watching you this morning, and you were so utterly out of place in those +surroundings." Victoria paused, her colour deepening. + +His blood kept pace with the mare's footsteps, but he did not reply. + +"What did you think of Humphrey's speech?" she asked, abruptly changing +the subject. + +"I thought it a surprisingly good one,--what I heard of it," he answered. +"That wasn't much. I didn't think he'd do as well." + +"Humphrey's clever in a great many ways," Victoria agreed. "If he didn't +have such an impenetrable conceit, he might go far, because he learns +quickly, and has an industry that is simply appalling. But he hasn't +quite the manner for politics, has he?" + +"I think I should call his manner a drawback," said Austen, "though not +by any means an insurmountable one." + +Victoria laughed. + +"The other qualities all need to be very great," she said. "He was +furious at me for coming out this afternoon. He had it all arranged to +drive over to the Forge, and had an early lunch." + +"And I," said Austen, "have all the more reason to be grateful to you." + +"Oh, if you knew the favour you were doing me," she cried, "bringing me +out here where I can breathe. I hope you don't think I dislike Humphrey," +she went on. "Of course, if I did, I shouldn't visit him. You see, I have +known him for so long." + +"I hadn't a notion that you disliked him," said Austen. "I am curious +about his career; that's one reason I came down. He somehow inspires +curiosity." + +"And awe," she added. "Humphrey's career has all the fascination of a +runaway locomotive. One watches it transfixed, awaiting the inevitable +crash." + +Their eyes met, and they both laughed. + +"It's no use trying to be a humbug," said Victoria, "I can't. And I do +like Humphrey, in spite of his career." + +And they laughed again. The music of the bells ran faster and faster +still, keeping time to a wilder music of the sunlit hills and sky; nor +was it strange that her voice, when she spoke, did not break the spell, +but laid upon him a deeper sense of magic. + +"This brings back the fairy books," she said, "and all those wonderful +and never-to-be-forgotten sensations of the truant, doesn't it? You've +been a truant--haven't you?" + +"Yes," he laughed, "I've been a truant, but I never quite realized the +possibilities of the part--until to-day." + +She was silent a moment, and turned away her head, surveying the +landscape that fell away for miles beyond. + +"When I was a child," she said, "I used to think that by opening a door I +could step into an enchanted realm like this. Only I could never find the +door. Perhaps," she added, gayly pursuing the conceit, "it was because +you had the key, and I didn't know you in those days." She gave him a +swift, searching look, smiling, whimsical yet startled,--so elusive that +the memory of it afterwards was wont to come and go like a flash of +light. "Who are you?" she asked. + +His blood leaped, but he smiled in delighted understanding of her mood. +Sarah Austen had brought just such a magic touch to an excursion, and +even at that moment Austen found himself marvelling a little at the +strange resemblance between the two. + +"I am a plain person whose ancestors came from a village called Camden +Street," he replied. "Camden Street is there, on a shelf of the hills, +and through the arch of its elms you can look off over the forests of the +lowlands until they end in the blue reaches of the ocean,--if you could +see far enough." + +"If you could see far enough," said Victoria, unconsciously repeating his +words. "But that doesn't explain you," she exclaimed: "You are like +nobody I ever met, and you have a supernatural faculty of appearing +suddenly, from nowhere, and whisking me away like the lady in the fable, +out of myself and the world I live in. If I become so inordinately +grateful as to talk nonsense, you mustn't blame me. Try not to think of +the number of times I've seen you, or when it was we first met." + +"I believe," said Austen, gravely, "it was when a mammoth beast had his +cave on Holdfast, and the valleys were covered with cocoanut-palms." + +"And you appeared suddenly then, too, and rescued me. You have always +been uniformly kind," she said, "but--a little intangible." + +"A myth," he suggested, "with neither height, breadth, nor thickness." + +"You have height and breadth," she answered, measuring him swiftly with +her eye; "I am not sure about the thickness. Perhaps. What I mean to say +is, that you seem to be a person in the world, but not of it. Your exits +and entrances are too mysterious, and then you carry me out of it, +--although I invite myself, which is not at all proper." + +"I came down here to see you," he said, and took a firmer grip on the +reins. "I exist to that extent." + +"That's unworthy of you," she cried. "I don't believe you--would have +known I was here unless you had caught eight of me." + +"I should have known it," he said. + +"How?" + +"Because I heard you playing. I am sure it was you playing." + +"Yes, it was I," she answered simply, "but I did not know that--you +heard. Where were you? + +"I suppose," he replied, "a sane witness would have testified that I was +in the street--one of those partial and material truths which are so +misleading." + +She laughed again, joyously. + +"Seriously, why did you come down here?" she insisted. "I am not so +absorbed in Humphrey's career that I cannot take an interest in yours. In +fact, yours interests me more, because it is more mysterious. +Humphrey's," she added, laughing, "is charted from day to day, and +announced in bulletins. He is more generous to his friends than--you." + +"I have nothing to chart," said Austen, "except such pilgrimages as +this,--and these, after all, are unchartable. Your friend, Mr. Crewe, on +the other hand, is well away on his voyage after the Golden Fleece. I +hope he is provided with a Lynceus." + +She was silent for a long time, but he was feverishly conscious of her +gaze upon him, and did not dare to turn his eyes to hers. The look in +them he beheld without the aid of physical vision, and in that look was +the world-old riddle of her sex typified in the image on the African +desert, which Napoleon had tried to read, and failed. And while wisdom +was in the look, there was in it likewise the eternal questioning of a +fate quite as inscrutable, against which wisdom would avail nothing. It +was that look which, for Austen, revealed in her in their infinite +variety all women who had lived; those who could resist, and those who +could yield, and yielding all, bestow a gift which left them still +priceless; those to whom sorrow might bring sadness, and knowledge +mourning, and yet could rob them of no jot of sweetness. And knowing +this, he knew that to gain her now (could such a high prize be gained!) +would be to lose her. If he were anything to her (realize it or not as +she might), it was because he found strength to resist this greatest +temptation of his life. Yield, and his guerdon was lost, and he would be +Austen Vane no longer--yield, and his right to act, which would make him +of value in her eyes as well as in his own, was gone forever. + +Well he knew what the question in her eyes meant or something of what it +meant, so inexplicably is the soul of woman linked to events. He had +pondered often on that which she had asked him when he had brought her +home over the hills in the autumn twilight. He remembered her words, and +the very inflection of her voice. "Then you won't tell me?" How could he +tell her? He became aware that she was speaking now, in an even tone. + +"I had an odd experience this morning, when I was waiting for Mrs. +Pomfret outside the state-house," she said. "A man was standing looking +up at the statue of the patriot with a strange, rapt expression on his +face,--such a good face,--and he was so big and honest and uncompromising +I wanted to talk to him. I didn't realize that I was staring at him so +hard, because I was trying to remember where I had seen him before,--and +then I remembered suddenly that it was with you." + +"With me?" Austen repeated. + +"You were standing with him, in front of the little house, when I save +you yesterday. His name was Redbrook. It appears that he had seen me," +Victoria replied, "when I went to Mercer to call on Zeb Meader. And he +asked me if I knew you." + +"Of course you denied it," said Austen. + +"I couldn't, very well," laughed Victoria, "because you had confessed to +the acquaintance first." + +"He merely wished to have the fact corroborated. Mr. Redbrook is a man +who likes to be sure of his ground." + +"He told me a very interesting thing about you," she continued slowly, +with her eye upon. Austen's profile. "He said that a great many men +wanted you to be their candidate for governor of the State,--more than +you had any idea of,--and that you wouldn't consent. Mr. Redbrook grew so +enthusiastic that he forgot, for the moment, my--relationship to the +railroad. He is not the only person with whom I have talked who has +--forgotten it, or hasn't known of it." + +Austen was silent. + +"Why won't you be a candidate," she asked, in a low voice, "if such men +as that want you?" + +"I am afraid Mr. Redbrook exaggerates," he said. "The popular demand of +which he spoke is rather mythical. And I should be inclined to accuse +him, too, of a friendly attempt to install me in your good graces." + +"No," answered Victoria, smiling, with serious eyes, "I won't be put off +that way. Mr. Redbrook isn't the kind of man that exaggerates--I've seen +enough of his type to know that. And he told me about your--reception +last night at the Widow Peasley's. You wouldn't have told me," she added +reproachfully. + +He laughed. + +"It was scarcely a subject I could have ventured," he said. + +"But I asked you," she objected. "Now tell me, why did you refuse to be +their candidate? It wasn't because you were not likely to get elected, +was it?" + +He permitted himself a glance which was a tribute of admiration--a glance +which she returned steadfastly. + +"It isn't likely that I should have been elected," he answered, "but you +are right--that is not the reason I refused." + +"I thought not," she said, "I did not believe you were the kind of man to +refuse for that reason. And you would have been elected." + +"What makes you think so?" he asked curiously. + +"I have been thinking since I saw you last--yes, and I have been making +inquiries. I have been trying to find out things--which you will not tell +me." She paused, with a little catch of her breath, and went on again. +"Do you believe I came all the way up here just to hear Humphrey Crewe +make a speech and to drive with him in a high sleigh and listen to him +talk about his career? When serious men of the people like Mr. Redbrook +and that nice Mr. Jenney at Leith and a lot of others who do not +ordinarily care for politics are thinking and indignant, I have come to +the conclusion there must be a cause for it. They say that the railroad +governs them through disreputable politicians,--and I--I am beginning to +believe it is true. I have had some of the politicians pointed out to me +in the Legislature, and they look like it." + +Austen did not smile. She was speaking quietly, but he saw that she was +breathing deeply, and he knew that she possessed a courage which went far +beyond that of most women, and an insight into life and affairs. + +"I am going to find out," she said, "whether these things are true." + +"And then?" he asked involuntarily. + +"If they are true, I am going to tell my father about them, and ask him +to investigate. Nobody seems to have the courage to go to him." + +Austen did not answer. He felt the implication; he knew that, without +realizing his difficulties, and carried on by a feeling long pent up, she +had measured him unjustly, and yet he felt no resentment, and no shock. +Perhaps he might feel that later. Now he was filled only with a sympathy +that was yet another common bond between them. Suppose she did find out? +He knew that she would not falter until she came to the end of her +investigation, to the revelation of Mr. Flint's code of business ethics. +Should the revolt take place, she would be satisfied with nothing less +than the truth, even as he, Austen Vane, had not been satisfied. And he +thought of the life-long faith that would be broken thereby. + +They had made the circle of the hills, and the sparkling lights of the +city lay under them like blue diamond points in the twilight of the +valley. The crests behind them deepened in purple as the saffron faded in +the west, and a gossamer cloud of Tyrian dye floated over Holdfast. In +silence they turned for a last lingering look, and in silence went down +the slope into the world again, and through the streets to the driveway +of the Duncan house. It was only when they had stopped before the door +that she trusted herself to speak. + +"I ought not to have said what I did," she began, in a low voice; "I +didn't realize--but I cannot understand you." + +"You have said nothing which you need ever have cause to regret," he +replied. He was too great for excuses, too great for any sorrow save what +she herself might feel, as great as the silent hills from which he came. + +She stood for a moment on the edge of the steps, her eyes lustrous,--yet +gazing into his with a searching, troubled look that haunted him for many +days. But her self-command was unshaken, her power to control speech was +the equal of his. And this power of silence in her revealed in such +instants--was her greatest fascination for Austen, the thing which set +her apart among women; which embodied for him the whole charm and mystery +of her sex. + +"Good-by," she said simply. + +"Good-by," he said, and seized her hand--and drove away. + +Without ringing the bell Victoria slipped into the hall,--for the latch +was not caught,--and her first impulse was to run up the staircase to her +room. But she heard Mrs. Pomfret's voice on the landing above and fled, +as to a refuge, into the dark drawing-room, where she stood for a moment +motionless, listening for the sound of his sleigh-bells as they fainted +on the winter's night. Then she seated herself to think, if she could, +though it is difficult to think when one's heart is beating a little +wildly. It was Victoria's nature to think things out. For the first time +in her life she knew sorrow, and it made it worse that that sorrow was +indefinable. She felt an accountable attraction for this man who had so +strangely come into her life, whose problems had suddenly become her +problems. But she did not connect the attraction for Austen Vane with her +misery. She recalled him as he had left her, big and strong and +sorrowful, with a yearning look that was undisguised, and while her faith +in him came surging back again, she could not understand. + +Gradually she became aware of men's voices, and turned with a start to +perceive that the door of the library was open, and that Humphrey Crewe +and another were standing in the doorway against the light. With an +effort of memory she identified the other man as the Mr. Tooting who had +made himself so useful at Mr. Crewe's garden party. + +"I told you I could make you governor, Mr. Crewe," Mr. Tooting was +saying. "Say, why do you think the Northeastern crowd--why do you think +Hilary Vane is pushing your bills down the sidings? I'll tell you, +because they know you're a man of ability, and they're afraid of you, and +they know you're a gentleman, and can't be trusted with their deals, so +they just shunted you off at Kodunk with a jolly about sendin' you to +Congress if you made a hit on a national speech. I've been in the +business a good many years, and I've seen and done some things for the +Northeastern that stick in my throat"--(at this point Victoria sat down +again and gripped the arms of her chair), "I don't like to see a decent +man sawbucked the way they're teeterin' you, Mr. Crewe. I know what I'm +talkin' about, and I tell you that Ridout and Jake Botcher and Brush +Bascom haven't any more notion of lettin' your bills out of committee +than they have Gaylord's. Why? Because they've got orders not to." + +"You're making some serious charges, Mr. Tooting," said Mr. Crewe. + +"And what's more, I can prove 'em. You know yourself that anybody who +talks against the Northeastern is booted down and blacklisted. You've +seen that, haven't you?" + +"I have observed," said Mr. Crewe, "that things do not seem to be as they +should in a free government." + +"And it makes your blood boil as an American citizen, don't it? It does +mine," said Mr. Tooting, with fine indignation. "I was a poor boy, and +had to earn my living, but I've made up my mind I've worn the collar long +enough--if I have to break rocks. And I want to repeat what I said a +little while ago," he added, weaving his thumb into Mr. Crewe's +buttonhole; "I know a thing or two, and I've got some brains, as they +know, and I can make you governor of this State if you'll only say the +word. It's a cinch." + +Victoria started to rise once more, and realized that to escape she would +have to cross the room directly in front of the two men. She remained +sitting where she was in a fearful fascination, awaiting Humphrey Crewe's +answer. There was a moment's pause. + +"I believe you made the remark, Mr. Tooting," he said, "that in your +opinion there is enough anti-railroad sentiment in the House to pass any +bill which the railroad opposes." + +"If a leader was to get up there, like you, with the arguments I could +put into his hands, they would make the committee discharge that +Pingsquit bill of the Gaylords', and pass it." + +"On what do you base your opinion?" asked Mr. Crewe. + +"Well," said Mr. Tooting, "I guess I'm a pretty shrewd observer and have +had practice enough. But you know Austen Vane, don't you?" + +Victoria held her breath. + +"I've a slight acquaintance with him," replied Mr. Crewe; "I've helped +him along in one or two minor legal matters. He seems to be a little +--well, pushing, you might say." + +"I want to tell you one thing about Austen," continued Mr. Tooting. +"Although I don't stand much for old Hilary, I'd take Austen Vane's +opinion on most things as soon as that of any man in the State. If he +only had some sense about himself, he could be governor next time +--there's a whole lot that wants him. I happen to know some of 'em +offered it to him last night." + +"Austen Vane governor!" exclaimed Mr. Crewe, with a politely deprecating +laugh. + +"It may sound funny," said Mr. Tooting, stoutly; "I never understood what +he has about him. He's never done anything but buck old Hilary in that +damage case and send back a retainer pass to old Flint, but he's got +something in his make-up that gets under your belt, and a good many of +these old hayseeds'll eat out of his hand, right now. Well, I don't want +this to go any farther, you're a gentleman,--but Austen came down here +yesterday and had the whole thing sized up by last night. Old Hilary +thought the Gaylords sent for him to lobby their bill through. They may +have sent for him, all right, but he wouldn't lobby for 'em. He could +have made a pile of money out of 'em. Austen doesn't seem to care about +money--he's queer. He says as long as he has a horse and a few books and +a couple of sandwiches a day he's all right. Hilary had him up in Number +Seven tryin' to find out what he came down for, and Austen told him +pretty straight--what he didn't tell the Gaylords, either. He kind of +likes old Hilary,--because he's his father, I guess,--and he said there +were enough men in that House to turn Hilary and his crowd upside down. +That's how I know for certain. If Austen Vane said it, I'll borrow money +to bet on it," declared Mr. Tooting. + +"You don't think young Vane is going to get into the race?" queried Mr. +Crewe. + +"No," said Mr. Tooting, somewhat contemptuously. "No, I tell you he +hasn't got that kind of sense. He never took any trouble to get ahead, +and I guess he's sort of sensitive about old Hilary. It'd make a good +deal of a scandal in the family, with Austen as an anti-railroad +candidate." Mr. Tooting lowered his voice to a tone that was caressingly +confidential. "I tell you, and you sleep on it, a man of your brains and +money can't lose. It's a chance in a million, and when you win you've got +this little State tight in your pocket, and a desk in the millionaire's +club at Washington. Well, so long," said Mr. Tooting, "you think that +over." + +"You have, at least, put things in a new and interesting light," said Mr. +Crewe. "I will try to decide what my duty is." + +"Your duty's pretty plain to me," said Mr. Tooting. "If I had money, I'd +know that the best way to use it is for the people,--ain't that so?" + +"In the meantime," Mr. Crewe continued, "you may drop in to-morrow at +three." + +"You'd better make it to-morrow night, hadn't you?" said Mr. Tooting, +significantly. "There ain't any back way to this house." + +"As you choose," said Mr. Crewe. + +They passed within a few feet of Victoria, who resisted an almost +uncontrollable impulse to rise and confront them. The words given her to +use were surging in her brain, and yet she withheld them why, she knew +not. Perhaps it was because, after such communion as the afternoon had +brought, the repulsion she felt for Mr. Tooting aided her to sit where +she was. She heard the outside door open and close, and she saw Humphrey +Crewe walk past her again into his library, and that door closed, and she +was left in darkness. Darkness indeed for Victoria, who throughout her +life had lived in light alone; in the light she had shed, and the light +which she had kindled in others. With a throb which was an exquisite +pain, she understood now the compassion in Austen's eyes, and she saw so +simply and so clearly why he had not told her that her face burned with +the shame of her demand. The one of all others to whom she could go in +this trouble was denied her, and his lips were sealed, who would have +spoken honestly and without prejudice. She rose and went quietly out into +the biting winter night, and stood staring through the trees at the +friendly reddened windows of the little cottage across the way with a +yearning that passed her understanding. Out of those windows, to +Victoria, shone honesty and truth, and the peace which these alone may +bring. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE DESCENDANTS OF HORATIUS + +So the twenty honourable members of the State Senate had been dubbed by +the man who had a sense of humour and a smattering of the classics, +because they had been put there to hold the bridge against the Tarquins +who would invade the dominions of the Northeastern. Twenty picked men, +and true they were indeed, but a better name for their body would have +been the 'Life Guard of the Sovereign.' The five hundred far below them +might rage and at times revolt, but the twenty in their shining armour +stood undaunted above the vulnerable ground and smiled grimly at the mob. +The citadel was safe. + +The real Horatius of the stirring time of which we write was that old and +tried veteran, the Honourable Brush Bascom; and Spurius Lartius might be +typified by the indomitable warrior, the Honourable Jacob Botcher, while +the Honourable Samuel Doby of Hale, Speaker of the House, was +unquestionably Herminius. How the three held the bridge that year will be +told in as few and as stirring words as possible. A greater than Porsena +confronted them, and well it was for them, and for the Empire, that the +Body Guard of the Twenty stood behind them. + + "Lars Porsena of Clusium, + By the Nine Gods he swore." + +The morning after the State Tribune had printed that memorable speech on +national affairs--statistics and all, with an editorial which gave every +evidence of Mr. Peter Pardriff's best sparkle--Mr. Crewe appeared on the +floor of the House with a new look in his eye which made discerning men +turn and stare at him. It was the look of the great when they are justly +indignant, when their trust--nobly given--has been betrayed. Washington, +for instance, must have had just such a look on the battlefield of +Trenton. The Honourable Jacob Botcher, pressing forward as fast as his +bulk would permit and with the newspaper in his hand, was met by a calm +and distant manner which discomposed that statesman, and froze his stout +index finger to the editorial which "perhaps Mr. Crewe had not seen." + +Mr. Crewe was too big for resentment, but he knew how to meet people who +didn't measure up to his standards. Yes, he had seen the editorial, and +the weather still continued fine. The Honourable Jacob was left behind +scratching his head, and presently he sought a front seat in which to +think, the back ones not giving him room enough. The brisk, cheery +greeting of the Honourable Brush Bascom fared no better, but Mr. Bascom +was a philosopher, and did not disturb the great when their minds were +revolving on national affairs and the welfare of humanity in general. Mr. +Speaker Doby and Mr. Ridout got but abstract salutations also, and were +correspondingly dismayed. + +That day, and for many days thereafter, Mr. Crewe spent some time--as was +entirely proper--among the back seats, making the acquaintance of his +humbler fellow members of the submerged four hundred and seventy. He had +too long neglected this, so he told them, but his mind had been on high +matters. During many of his mature years he had pondered as to how the +welfare of community and State could be improved, and the result of that +thought was embodied in the bills of which they had doubtless received +copies. If not, down went their names in a leather-bound memorandum, and +they got copies in the next mails. + +The delight of some of the simple rustic members at this unbending of a +great man may be imagined. To tell the truth, they had looked with little +favour upon the intimacy which had sprung up between him and those +tyrannical potentates, Messrs. Botcher and Bascom, and many who had the +courage of their convictions expressed then very frankly. Messrs. Botcher +and Bascom were, when all was said, mere train despatchers of the +Northeastern, who might some day bring on a wreck the like of which the +State had never seen. Mr. Crewe was in a receptive mood; indeed his +nature, like Nebuchadnezzar's, seemed to have experienced some +indefinable and vital change. Was this the Mr. Crewe the humble rural +members had pictured to themselves? Was this the Mr. Crewe who, at the +beginning of the session, had told them roundly it was their duty to vote +for his bills? + +Mr. Crewe was surprised, he said, to hear so much sentiment against the +Northeastern Railroads. Yes, he was a friend of Mr. Flint's--they were +neighbours in the country. But if these charges had any foundation +whatever, they ought to be looked into--they ought to be taken up. A +sovereign people should not be governed by a railroad. Mr. Crewe was a +business man, but first of all he was a citizen; as a business man he did +not intend to talk vaguely, but to investigate thoroughly. And then, if +charges should be made, he would make them specifically, and as a citizen +contend for the right. + +It is difficult to restrain one's pen in dealing with a hero, but it is +not too much to say that Mr. Crewe impressed many of the country members +favourably. How, indeed, could he help doing so? His language was +moderate, his poise that of a man of affairs, and there was a look in his +eye and a determination in his manner that boded ill for the Northeastern +if he should, after weighing the facts, decide that they ought to be +flagellated. His friendship with Mr. Flint and the suspicion that he +might be inclined to fancy Mr. Flint's daughter would not influence him +in the least; of that many of his hearers were sure. Not a few of them +were invited to dinner at the Duncan house, and shown the library and the +conservatory. + +"Walk right in," said Mr. Crewe. "You can't hurt the flowers unless you +bump against the pots, and if you walk straight you can't do that. I +brought the plants down from my own hothouse in Leith. Those are French +geraniums--very hard to get. They're double, you see, and don't look like +the scrawny things you see in this country. Yes (with a good-natured +smile), I guess they do cost something. I'll ask my secretary what I paid +for that plant. Is that dinner, Waters? Come right in, gentlemen, we +won't wait for ceremony." + +Whereupon the delegation would file into the dining room in solemn +silence behind the imperturbable Waters, with dubious glances at Mr. +Waters' imperturbable understudy in green and buff and silver buttons. +Honest red hands, used to milking at five o'clock in the morning, and +hands not so red that measured dry goods over rural counters for +insistent female customers fingered in some dismay what seemed an +inexplicable array of table furniture. + +"It don't make any difference which fork you take," said the good-natured +owner of this palace of luxury, "only I shouldn't advise you to use one +for the soup you wouldn't get much of it--what? Yes, this house suits me +very well. It was built by old man Duncan, you know, and his daughter +married an Italian nobleman and lives in a castle. The State ought to buy +the house for a governor's mansion. It's a disgrace that our governor +should have to live in the Pelican Hotel, and especially in a room next +to that of the chief counsel of the Northeastern, with only a curtain and +a couple of folding doors between." + +"That's right," declared an up-state member, the governor hadn't ought to +live next to Vane. But as to gettin' him a house like this--kind of +royal, ain't it? Couldn't do justice to it on fifteen hundred a year, +could he? Costs you a little mite more to live in it, don't it?" + +"It costs me something," Mr. Crewe admitted modestly. "But then our +governors are all rich men, or they couldn't afford to pay the +Northeastern lobby campaign expenses. Not that I believe in a rich man +for governor, gentlemen. My contention is that the State should pay its +governors a sufficient salary to make them independent of the +Northeastern, a salary on which they can live as befits a chief +executive." + +These sentiments, and others of a similar tenor, were usually received in +silence by his rural guests, but Mr. Crewe, being a broad-minded man of +human understanding, did not set down their lack of response to surliness +or suspicion of a motive, but rather to the innate caution of the hill +farmer; and doubtless, also, to a natural awe of the unwonted splendour +with which they were surrounded. In a brief time his kindly hospitality +became a byword in the capital, and fabulous accounts of it were carried +home at week ends to toiling wives and sons and daughters, to incredulous +citizens who sat on cracker boxes and found the Sunday papers stale and +unprofitable for weeks thereafter. The geraniums--the price of which Mr. +Crewe had forgotten to find out--were appraised at four figures, and the +conservatory became the hanging gardens of Babylon under glass; the +functionary in buff and green and silver buttons and his duties furnished +the subject for long and heated arguments. And incidentally everybody who +had a farm for sale wrote to Mr. Crewe. Since the motives of every +philanthropist and public benefactor are inevitably challenged by cynics, +there were many who asked the question, "What did Mr. Crewe want?" It is +painful even to touch upon this when we know that Mr. Crewe was merely +doing his duty as he saw it, when we know that he spelled the word, +mentally, with a capital D. + +There were many, too, who remarked that a touching friendship in the +front seats (formerly plainly visible to the naked eye from the back) had +been strained--at least. Mr. Crewe still sat with Mr. Botcher and Mr. +Bascom, but he was not a man to pretend after the fires had cooled. The +Honourable Jacob Botcher, with his eyes shut so tight, that his honest +face wore an expression of agony, seemed to pray every morning for the +renewal of that friendship when the chaplain begged the Lord to guide the +Legislature into the paths of truth; and the Honourable Brush Bascom wore +an air of resignation which was painful to see. Conversation languished, +and the cosey and familiar haunts of the Pelican knew Mr. Crewe no more. + +Mr. Crewe never forgot, of course, that he was a gentleman, and a certain +polite intercourse existed. During the sessions, as a matter of fact, Mr. +Bascom had many things to whisper to Mr. Botcher, and Mr. Butcher to Mr. +Bascom, and in order to facilitate this Mr. Crewe changed seats with the +Honourable Jacob. Neither was our hero a man to neglect, on account of +strained relations, to insist upon his rights. His eyes were open now, +and he saw men and things political as they were; he knew that his bills +for the emancipation of the State were prisoners in the maw of the +dragon, and not likely to see the light of law. Not a legislative day +passed that he did not demand, with a firmness and restraint which did +him infinite credit, that Mr. Bascom's and Mr. Butcher's committees +report those bills to the House either favourably or unfavourably. And we +must do exact justice, likewise, to Messrs. Bascom and Butcher; they, +too, incited perhaps thereto by Mr. Crewe's example, answered courteously +that the very excellent bills in question were of such weight and +importance as not to be decided on lightly, and that there were necessary +State expenditures which had first to be passed upon. Mr. Speaker Doby, +with all the will in the world, could do nothing: and on such occasions +(Mr. Crewe could see) Mr. Doby bore a striking resemblance to the picture +of the mockturtle in "Alice m Wonderland"--a fact which had been pointed +out by Miss Victoria Flint. In truth, all three of these gentlemen wore, +when questioned, such a sorrowful and injured air as would have deceived +a more experienced politician than the new member from Leith. The will to +oblige was infinite. + +There was no doubt about the fact that the session was rapidly drawing to +a close; and likewise that the committees guided by the Honourables Jacob +Butcher and Brush Bascom, composed of members carefully picked by that +judge of mankind, Mr. Doby, were wrestling day and night (behind closed +doors) with the intellectual problems presented by the bills of the +member from Leith. It is not to be supposed that a man of Mr. Crewe's +shrewdness would rest at the word of the chairmen. Other members were +catechized, and in justice to Messrs. Bascom and Botcher it must be +admitted that the assertions of these gentlemen were confirmed. It +appeared that the amount of thought which was being lavished upon these +measures was appalling. + +By this time Mr. Crewe had made some new friends, as was inevitable when +such a man unbent. Three of these friends owned, by a singular chance, +weekly newspapers, and having conceived a liking as well as an admiration +for him, began to say pleasant things about him in their columns--which +Mr. Crewe (always thoughtful) sent to other friends of his. These new and +accidental newspaper friends declared weekly that measures of paramount +importance were slumbering in committees, and cited the measures. Other +friends of Mr. Crewe were so inspired by affection and awe that they +actually neglected their business and spent whole days in the rural +districts telling people what a fine man Mr. Crewe was and circulating +petitions for his bills; and incidentally the committees of Mr. Butcher +and Mr. Bascom were flooded with these petitions, representing the +spontaneous sentiment of an aggrieved populace. + + "Just then a scout came flying, + All wild with haste and fear + To arms! to arms! Sir Consul + Lars Porsena is here. + On the low hills to westward + The Consul fixed his eye, + And saw the swarthy storm of dust + Rise fast along the sky." + +It will not do to push a comparison too far, and Mr. Hamilton Tooting, of +course, ought not to be made to act the part of Tarquin the Proud. Like +Tarquin, however, he had been deposed--one of those fatuous acts which +the wisest will commit. No more could the Honourable Hilary well be +likened to Pandora, for he only opened the box wide enough to allow one +mischievous sprite to take wings--one mischievous sprite that was to +prove a host. Talented and invaluable lieutenant that he was, Mr. Tooting +had become an exile, to explain to any audience who should make it worth +his while the mysterious acts by which the puppets on the stage were +moved, and who moved them; who, for instance, wrote the declamation which +his Excellency Asa Gray recited as his own. Mr. Tooting, as we have seen, +had a remarkable business head, and combined with it--as Austen Vane +remarked--the rare instinct of the Norway rat which goes down to the sea +in ships--when they are safe. Burrowing continually amongst the bowels of +the vessel, Mr. Tooting knew the weak timbers better than the Honourable +Hilary Vanes who thought the ship as sound as the day Augustus Flint had +launched her. But we have got a long way from Horatius in our imagery. + +Little birds flutter around the capital, picking up what crumbs they may. +One of them, occasionally fed by that humanitarian, the Honourable Jacob +Botcher, whispered a secret that made the humanitarian knit his brows. He +was the scout that came flying (if by a burst of imagination we can +conceive the Honourable Jacob in this aerial act)--came flying to the +Consul in room Number Seven with the news that Mr. Hamilton Tooting had +been detected on two evenings slipping into the Duncan house. But the +Consul--strong man that he was--merely laughed. The Honourable Elisha +Jane did some scouting on his own account. Some people are so small as to +be repelled by greatness, to be jealous of high gifts and power, and it +was perhaps inevitable that a few of the humbler members whom Mr. Crewe +had entertained should betray his hospitality, and misinterpret his pure +motives. + +It was a mere coincidence, perhaps, that after Mr. Jane's investigation +the intellectual concentration which one of the committees had bestowed +on two of Mr. Crewe's bills came to an end. These bills, it is true, +carried no appropriation, and, were, respectively, the acts to +incorporate the State Economic League and the Children's Charities +Association. These suddenly appeared in the House one morning, with +favourable recommendations, and, mirabile dicta, the end of the day saw +them through the Senate and signed by the governor. At last Mr. Crewe by +his Excellency had stamped the mark of his genius on the statute books, +and the Honourable Jacob Botcher, holding out an olive branch, took the +liberty of congratulating him. + +A vainer man, a lighter character than Humphrey Crewe, would have been +content to have got something; and let it rest at that. Little Mr. +Butcher or Mr. Speaker Doby, with his sorrowful smile, guessed the iron +hand within the velvet glove of the Leith statesman; little they knew the +man they were dealing with. Once aroused, he would not be pacified by +bribes of cheap olive branches and laurels. When the proper time came, he +would fling down the gauntlet--before Rome itself, and then let Horatius +and his friends beware. + +The hour has struck at last--and the man is not wanting. The French +Revolution found Napoleon ready, and our own Civil War General Ulysses +Grant. Of that ever memorable session but three days remained, and those +who had been prepared to rise in the good cause had long since despaired. +The Pingsquit bill, and all other bills that spelled liberty, were still +prisoners in the hands of grim jailers, and Thomas Gaylord, the elder, +had worn several holes in the carpet of his private room in the Pelican, +and could often be descried from Main Street running up and down between +the windows like a caged lion, while young Tom had been spied standing, +with his hands in his pockets, smiling on the world. + +Young Tom had his own way of doing things, though he little dreamed of +the help Heaven was to send him in this matter. There was, in the lower +House, a young man by the name of Harper, a lawyer from Brighton, who was +sufficiently eccentric not to carry a pass. The light of fame, as the +sunset gilds a weathercock on a steeple, sometimes touches such men for +an instant and makes them immortal. The name of Mr. Harper is remembered, +because it is linked with a greater one. But Mr. Harper was the first man +over the wall. + +History chooses odd moments for her entrances. It was at the end of one +of those busy afternoon sessions, with a full house, when Messrs. Bascom, +Botcher, and Ridout had done enough of blocking and hacking and hewing to +satisfy those doughty defenders of the bridge, that a slight, +unprepossessing-looking young man with spectacles arose to make a motion. +The Honourable Jacob Botcher, with his books and papers under his arm, +was already picking his way up the aisle, nodding genially to such of the +faithful as he saw; Mr. Bascom was at the Speaker's desk, and Mr. Ridout +receiving a messenger from the Honourable Hilary at the door. The +Speaker, not without some difficulty, recognized Mr. Harper amidst what +seemed the beginning of an exodus--and Mr. Harper read his motion. + +Men halted in the aisles, and nudged other men to make them stop talking. +Mr. Harper's voice was not loud, and it shook a trifle with excitement, +but those who heard passed on the news so swiftly to those who had not +that the House was sitting (or standing) in amazed silence by the time +the motion reached the Speaker, who had actually risen to receive it. Mr. +Doby regarded it for a few seconds and raised his eyes mournfully to Mr. +Harper himself, as much as to say that he would give the young man a +chance to take it back if he could--if the words had not been spoken +which would bring the offender to the block in the bloom and enthusiasm +of youth. Misguided Mr. Harper had committed unutterable treason to the +Empire! + +"The gentleman from Brighton, Mr. Harper," said the Speaker, sadly, +"offers the following resolution, and moves its adoption: 'Resolved, that +the Committee on Incorporations be instructed to report House bill number +302, entitled "An act to incorporate the Pingsquit Railroad," by +eleven-thirty o'clock to-morrow morning'--the gentleman from Putnam, Mr. +Bascom." + +The House listened and looked on entranced, as though they were the +spectators to a tragedy. And indeed it seemed as though they were. Necks +were craned to see Mr. Harper; he didn't look like a hero, but one never +can tell about these little men. He had hurled defiance at the +Northeastern Railroads, and that was enough for Mr. Redbrook and Mr. +Widgeon and their friends, who prepared to rush into the fray trusting to +Heaven for speech and parliamentary law. O for a leader now! Horatius is +on the bridge, scarce concealing his disdain for this puny opponent, and +Lartius and Herminius not taking the trouble to arm. Mr. Bascom will +crush this one with the flat of his sword. + +"Mr. Speaker," said that gentleman, informally, "as Chairman of the +Committee on Incorporations, I rise to protest against such an unheard-of +motion in this House. The very essence of orderly procedure, of effective +business, depends on the confidence of the House in its committees, and +in all of my years as a member I have never known of such a thing. +Gentlemen of the House, your committee are giving to this bill and other +measures their undivided attention, and will report them at the earliest +practicable moment. I hope that this motion will be voted down." + +Mr. Bascom, with a glance around to assure himself that most of the +hundred members of the Newcastle delegation--vassals of the Winona +Corporation and subject to the Empire--had not made use of their passes +and boarded, as usual, the six o'clock train, took his seat. A buzz of +excitement ran over the house, a dozen men were on their feet, including +the plainly agitated Mr. Harper himself. But who is this, in the lunar +cockpit before the Speaker's desk, demanding firmly to be heard--so +firmly that Mr. Harper, with a glance at him, sits down again; so firmly +that Mr. Speaker Doby, hypnotized by an eye, makes the blunder that will +eventually cost him his own head? + +"The gentleman from Leith, Mr. Crewe." + +As though sensing a drama, the mutterings were hushed once more. Mr. +Jacob Botcher leaned forward, and cracked his seat; but none, even those +who had tasted of his hospitality, recognized that the Black Knight had +entered the lists--the greatest deeds of this world, and the heroes of +them, coming unheralded out of the plain clay. Mr. Crewe was the calmest +man under the roof as he saluted the Speaker, walked up to the clerk's +desk, turned his back to it, and leaned both elbows on it; and he +regarded the sea of faces with the identical self-possession he had +exhibited when he had made his famous address on national affairs. He did +not raise his voice at the beginning, but his very presence seemed to +compel silence, and curiosity was at fever heat. What was he going to +say? + +"Gentlemen of the House," said Mr. Crewe, "I have listened to the +gentleman from Putnam with some--amusement. He has made the statement +that he and his committee are giving to the Pingsquit bill and other +measures--some other measures--their undivided attention. Of this I have +no doubt whatever. He neglected to define the species of attention he is +giving them--I should define it as the kindly care which the warden of a +penitentiary bestows upon his charges." + +Mr. Crewe was interrupted here. The submerged four hundred and seventy +had had time to rub their eyes and get their breath, to realize that +their champion had dealt Mr. Bascom a blow to cleave his helm, and a roar +of mingled laughter and exultation arose in the back seats, and there was +more craning to see the glittering eyes of the Honourable Brush and the +expressions of his two companions-in-arms. Mr. Speaker Doby beat the +stone with his gavel, while Mr. Crewe continued to lean back calmly until +the noise was over. + +"Gentlemen," he went on, "I will enter at the proper time into a +situation--known, I believe, to most of you--that brings about a +condition of affairs by which the gentleman's committee, or the gentleman +himself, with his capacious pockets, does not have to account to the +House for every bill assigned to him by the Speaker. I have taken the +trouble to examine a little into the gentleman's past record--he has been +chairman of such committees for years past, and I find no trace that +bills inimical to certain great interests have ever been reported back by +him. The Pingsquit bill involves the vital principle of competition. I +have read it with considerable care and believe it to be, in itself, a +good measure, which deserves a fair hearing. I have had no conversation +whatever with those who are said to be its promoters. If the bill is to +pass, it has little enough time to get to the Senate. By the gentleman +from Putnam's own statement his committee have given it its share of +attention, and I believe this House is entitled to know the verdict, is +entitled to accept or reject a report. I hope the motion will prevail." + +He sat down amidst a storm of applause which would have turned the head +of a lesser man. No such personal ovation had been seen in the House for +years. How the Speaker got order; how the Honourable Brush Bascom +declared that Mr. Crewe would be called upon to prove his statements; how +Mr. Botcher regretted that a new member of such promise should go off at +half-cock; how Mr. Ridout hinted that the new member might think he had +an animus; how Mr. Terry of Lee and Mr. Widgeon of Hull denounced, in +plain hill language, the Northeastern Railroads and lauded the man of +prominence who had the grit to oppose them, need not be gone into. Mr. +Crewe at length demanded the previous question, which was carried, and +the motion was carried, too, two hundred and fifty to one hundred and +fifty-two. The House adjourned. + +We will spare the blushes of the hero of this occasion, who was +threatened with suffocation by an inundation from the back seats. In +answer to the congratulations and queries, he replied modestly that +nobody else seemed to have had the sand to do it, so he did it himself. +He regarded it as a matter of duty, however unpleasant and unforeseen; +and if, as they said, he had been a pioneer, education and a knowledge of +railroads and the world had helped him. Whereupon, adding tactfully that +he desired the evening to himself to prepare for the battle of the morrow +(of which he foresaw he was to bear the burden), he extricated himself +from his admirers and made his way unostentatiously out of a side door +into his sleigh. For the man who had kindled a fire--the blaze of which +was to mark an epoch--he was exceptionally calm. Not so the only visitor +whom Waters had instructions to admit that evening. + +"Say, you hit it just right," cried the visitor, too exultant to take off +his overcoat. "I've been down through the Pelican, and there ain't been +such excitement since Snow and Giddings had the fight for United States +senator in the '80's. The place is all torn up, and you can't get a room +there for love or money. They tell me they've been havin' conferences +steady in Number Seven since the session closed, and Hilary Vane's sent +for all the Federal and State office-holders to be here in the morning +and lobby. Botcher and Jane and Bascom are circulatin' like hot water, +tellin' everybody that because they wouldn't saddle the State with a debt +with your bills you turned sour on 'em, and that you're more of a +corporation and railroad man than any of 'em. They've got their machine +to working a thousand to the minute, and everybody they have a slant on +is going into line. One of them fellers, a conductor, told me he had to +go with 'em. But our boys ain't idle, I can tell you that. I was in the +back of the gallery when you spoke up, and I shook 'em off the leash +right away." + +Mr. Crewe leaned back from the table and thrust his hands in his pockets +and smiled. He was in one of his delightful moods. + +"Take off your overcoat, Tooting," he said; "you'll find one of my best +political cigars over there, in the usual place." + +"Well, I guessed about right, didn't I?" inquired Mr. Tooting, biting off +one of the political cigars. "I gave you a pretty straight tip, didn't I, +that young Tom Gaylord was goin' to have somebody make that motion +to-day? But say, it's funny he couldn't get a better one than that feller +Harper. If you hadn't come along, they'd have smashed him to pulp. I'll +bet the most surprised man in the State to-night, next to Brush Bascom, +is young Tom Gaylord. It's a wonder he ain't been up here to thank you." + +"Maybe he has been," replied Mr. Crewe. "I told Waters to keep everybody +out to-night because I want to know exactly what I'm going to say on the +floor tomorrow. I don't want 'em to give me trouble. Did you bring some +of those papers with you?" + +Mr. Tooting fished a bundle from his overcoat pocket. The papers in +question, of which he had a great number stored away in Ripton, +represented the foresight, on Mr. Tooting's part, of years. He was a +young man with a praiseworthy ambition to get on in the world, and during +his apprenticeship in the office of the Honourable Hilary Vane many +letters and documents had passed through his hands. A less industrious +person would have neglected the opportunity. Mr. Tooting copied them; and +some, which would have gone into the waste-basket, he laid carefully +aside, bearing in mind the adage about little scraps of paper--if there +is one. At any rate, he now had a manuscript collection which was unique +in its way, which would have been worth much to a great many men, and +with characteristic generosity he was placing it at the disposal of Mr. +Crewe. + +Mr. Crewe, in reading them, had other sensations. He warmed with +indignation as an American citizen that a man should sit in a mahogany +office in New York and dictate the government of a free and sovereign +State; and he found himself in the grip of a righteous wrath when he +recalled what Mr. Flint had written to him. "As a neighbour, it will give +me the greatest pleasure to help you to the extent of my power, but the +Northeastern Railroads cannot interfere in legislative or political +matters." The effrontery of it was appalling! Where, he demanded of Mr. +Tooting, did the common people come in? And this extremely pertinent +question Mr. Tooting was unable to answer. + +But the wheels of justice had begun to turn. + +Mr. Tooting had not exaggerated the tumult and affright at the Pelican +Hotel. The private telephone in Number Seven was busy all evening, while +more or less prominent gentlemen were using continually the public ones +in the boxes in the reading room downstairs. The Feudal system was +showing what it could do, and the word had gone out to all the holders of +fiefs that the vassals should be summoned. The Duke of Putnam had sent +out a general call to the office-holders in that county. Theirs not to +reason why--but obey; and some of them, late as was the hour, were +already travelling (free) towards the capital. Even the congressional +delegation in Washington had received telegrams, and sent them again to +Federal office-holders in various parts of the State. If Mr. Crewe had +chosen to listen, he could have heard the tramp of armed men. But he was +not of the metal to be dismayed by the prospect of a great conflict. He +was as cool as Cromwell, and after Mr. Tooting had left him to take +charge once more of his own armies in the yield, the genlemon from Leith +went to bed and slept soundly. + +The day of the battle dawned darkly, with great flakes flying. As early +as seven o'clock the later cohorts began to arrive, and were soon as +thick as bees in the Pelican, circulating in the lobby, conferring in +various rooms of which they had the numbers with occupants in bed and +out. A wonderful organization, that Feudal System, which could mobilize +an army overnight! And each unit of it, like the bee, working unselfishly +for the good of the whole; like the bee, flying straight for the object +to be attained. Every member of the House from Putnam County, for +instance, was seen by one of these indefatigable captains, and if the +member had a mortgage or an ambition, or a wife and family that made life +a problem, or a situation on the railroad or in some of the larger +manufacturing establishments, let him beware! If he lived in lodgings in +the town, he stuck his head out of the window to perceive a cheery +neighbour from the country on his doorstep. Think of a system which could +do this, not for Putnam County alone, but for all the counties in the +State! + +The Honourable Hilary Vane, captain-general of the Forces, had had but +four hours' sleep, and his Excellency, the Honourable Asa Gray, when he +arose in the twilight of the morning, had to step carefully to avoid the +cigar butts on the floor which--like so many empty cartridge shells were +unpleasant reminders that a rebellion of no mean magnitude had arisen +against the power to which he owed allegiance, and by the favour of which +he was attended with pomp and circumstance wherever he chose to go. + +Long before eleven o'clock the paths to the state-house were thronged +with people. Beside the office-holders and their friends who were in +town, there were many residents of the capital city in the habit of going +to hear the livelier debates. Not that the powers of the Empire had +permitted debates on most subjects, but there could be no harm in +allowing the lower House to discuss as fiercely as they pleased dog and +sheep laws and hedgehog bounties. But now! The oldest resident couldn't +remember a case of high treason and rebellion against the Northeastern +such as this promised to be, and the sensation took on an added flavour +from the fact that the arch rebel was a figure of picturesque interest, a +millionaire with money enough to rent the Duncan house and fill its +long-disused stable with horses, who was a capitalist himself and a +friend of Mr. Flint's; of whom it was said that he was going to marry Mr. +Flint's daughter! + +Long before eleven, too, the chiefs over tens and the chiefs over +hundreds had gathered their men and marched them into the state-house; +and Mr. Tooting, who was everywhere that morning, noticed that some of +these led soldiers had pieces of paper in their hands. The chaplain arose +to pray for guidance, and the House was crowded to its capacity, and the +gallery filled with eager and expectant faces--but the hero of the hour +had not yet arrived. When at length he did walk down the aisle, as +unconcernedly as though he were an unknown man entering a theatre, +feminine whispers of "There he is!" could plainly be heard above the +buzz, and simultaneous applause broke out in spots, causing the Speaker +to rap sharply with his gavel. Poor Mr. Speaker Doby! He looked more like +the mock-turtle than ever! and might have exclaimed, too, that once he +had been a real turtle: only yesterday, in fact, before he had made the +inconceivable blunder of recognizing Mr. Humphrey Crewe. Mr. Speaker Doby +had spent a part of the night in room Number Seven listening to things +about himself. Herminius the unspeakable has given the enemy a foothold +in Rome. + +Apparently unaware that he was the centre of interest, Mr. Crewe, +carrying a neat little bag full of papers, took his seat beside the +Honourable Jacob Botcher, nodding to that erstwhile friend as a man of +the world should. And Mr. Botcher, not to be outdone, nodded back. + +We shall skip over the painful interval that elapsed before the bill in +question was reached: painful, at least, for every one but Mr. Crewe, who +sat with his knees crossed and his arms folded. The hosts were facing +each other, awaiting the word; the rebels prayerfully watching their +gallant leader; and the loyal vassals--whose wavering ranks had been +added to overnight--with their eyes on Mr. Bascom. And in justice to that +veteran it must be said, despite the knock-out blow he had received, that +he seemed as debonair as ever. + + "Now while the three were tightening + The harness on their backs." + +Mr. Speaker Doby read many committee reports, and at the beginning of +each there was a stir of expectation that it might be the signal for +battle. But at length he fumbled among his papers, cleared away the lump +in his throat, and glanced significantly at Mr. Bascom. + +"The Committee on Incorporations, to whom was referred House bill number +302, entitled "An act to incorporate the Pingsquit Railroad," having +considered the same, report the same with the following resolution: +'Resolved, that it is inexpedient to legislate. Brush Bascom, for the +Committee.' Gentlemen, are you ready for the question? As many as are of +opinion that the report of the Committee should be adopted--the gentleman +from Putnam, Mr. Bascom." + +Again let us do exact justice, and let us not be led by our feelings to +give a prejudiced account of this struggle. The Honourable Brush Bascom, +skilled from youth in the use of weapons, opened the combat so adroitly +that more than once the followers of his noble opponent winced and +trembled. The bill, Mr. Bascom said, would have been reported that day, +anyway--a statement received with mingled cheers and jeers. Then followed +a brief and somewhat intimate history of the Gaylord Lumber Company, not +at all flattering to that corporation. Mr. Bascom hinted, at an animus: +there was no more need for a railroad in the Pingsquit Valley than there +was for a merry-go-round in the cellar of the state-house. (Loud laughter +from everybody, some irreverent person crying out that a merry-go-round +was better than poker tables.) When Mr. Bascom came to discuss the +gentleman from Leith, and recited the names of the committees for which +Mr. Crewe--in his desire to be of service to the State had applied, there +was more laughter, even amongst Mr. Crewe's friends, and Mr. Speaker Doby +relaxed so far as to smile sadly. Mr. Bascom laid his watch on the +clerk's desk and began to read the list of bills Mr. Crewe had +introduced, and as this reading proceeded some of the light-minded showed +a tendency to become slightly hysterical. Mr. Bascom said that he would +like to see all those bills grow into laws,--with certain slight +changes,--but that he could not conscientiously vote to saddle the people +with another Civil War debt. It was well for the State, he hinted, that +those committees were composed of stanch men who would do their duty in +all weathers, regardless of demagogues who sought to gratify inordinate +ambitions. + +The hope of the revolutionists bore these strokes and others as mighty +with complacency, as though they had been so many playful taps; and while +the battle surged hotly around him he sat calmly listening or making +occasional notes with a gold pencil. Born leader that he was, he was +biding his time. Mr. Bascom's attack was met valiantly, but unskillfully, +from the back seats. The Honourable Jacob Botcher arose, and filled the +hall with extracts from the "Book of Arguments"--in which he had been +coached overnight by the Honourable Hilary Vane. Mr. Botcher's tone +towards his erstwhile friend was regretful,--a good man gone wrong +through impulse and inexperience. "I am, sir," said Mr. Bascom to the +Speaker, "sincerely sorry--sincerely sorry that an individual of such +ability as the member from Leith should be led, by the representations of +political adventurers and brigands and malcontents, into his present +deplorable position of criticising a State which is his only by adoption, +the political conditions of which were as sound and as free from +corporate domination, sir, as those of any State in the broad Union." +(Loud cheers.) This appeal to State pride by Mr. Botches is a master +stroke, and the friends of the champion of the liberties of the people +are beginning (some of them) to be a little nervous and doubtful. + +Following Mr. Botches were wild and scattering speeches from the back +benches--unskillful and pitiable counter-strokes. Where was the champion? +Had he been tampered with overnight, and persuaded of the futility of +rebellion? Persuaded that his head would be more useful on his own neck +in the councils of the nation than on exhibition to the populace from the +point of a pike? It looks, to a calm spectator from the gallery, as +though the rebel forces are growing weaker and more demoralized every +moment. Mr. Redbrook's speech, vehement and honest, helps a little; +people listen to an honest and forceful man, however he may lack +technical knowledge, but the majority of the replies are mere incoherent +denunciations of the Northeastern Railroads. + +On the other hand, the astounding discipline amongst the legions of the +Empire excites the admiration and despair even of their enemies; there is +no random fighting here and breaking of ranks to do useless hacking. A +grave farmer with a beard delivers a short and temperate speech (which he +has by heart), mildly inquiring what the State would do without the +Northeastern Railroads; and the very moderation of this query coming from +a plain and hard-headed agriculturist (the boss of Grenville, if one but +knew it!) has a telling effect. And then to cap the climax, to make the +attitude of the rebels even more ridiculous in the minds of thinking +people, Mr. Ridout is given the floor. Skilled in debate when he chooses +to enter it, his knowledge of the law only exceeded by his knowledge of +how it is to be evaded--to Lartius is assigned the task of following up +the rout. And Mr. Crewe has ceased taking notes. + +When the House leader and attorney for the Northeastern took his seat, +the victory to all appearances was won. It was a victory for conservatism +and established order against sensationalism and anarchy--Mr. Ridout had +contrived to make that clear without actually saying so. It was as if the +Ute Indians had sought to capture Washington and conduct the government. +Just as ridiculous as that! The debate seemed to be exhausted, and the +long-suffering Mr. Doby was inquiring for the fiftieth time if the House +were ready for the question, when Mr. Crewe of Leith arose and was +recognized. In three months he had acquired such a remarkable knowledge +of the game of parliamentary tactics as to be able, patiently, to wait +until the bolt of his opponents had been shot; and a glance sufficed to +revive the drooping spirits of his followers, and to assure them that +their leader knew what he was about. + +"Mr. Speaker," he said, "I have listened with great care to the masterly +defence of that corporation on which our material prosperity and civic +welfare is founded (laughter); I have listened to the gentleman's learned +discussion of the finances of that road, tending to prove that it is an +eleemosynary institution on a grand scale. I do not wish to question +unduly the intellects of those members of this House who by their votes +will prove that they have been convinced by the gentleman's argument." +Here Mr. Crewe paused and drew a slip of paper from his pocket and +surveyed the back seats. "But I perceive," he continued, "that a great +interest has been taken in this debate--so great an interest that since +yesterday numbers of gentlemen have come in from various parts of the +State to listen to it (laughter and astonishment), gentlemen who hold +Federal and State offices. (Renewed laughter and searching of the House.) +I repeat, Mr. Speaker, that I do not wish to question the intellects of +my fellow-members, but I notice that many of them who are seated near the +Federal and State office-holders in question have in their hands slips of +paper similar to this. And I have reason to believe that these slips were +written by somebody in room Number Seven of the Pelican Hotel." +(Tremendous commotion, and craning to see whether one's neighbour has a +slip. The, faces of the redoubtable three a study.) + +"I procured one of these slips," Mr. Crewe continued, "through a +fellow-member who has no use for it--whose intelligence, in fact, is +underrated by the gentlemen in Number Seven. I will read the slip. + +"'Vote yes on the question. Yes means that the report of the Committee +will be accepted, and that the Pingsquit bill will not pass. Wait for +Bascom's signal, and destroy this paper."' + +There was no need, indeed, for Mr. Crewe to say any more than that--no +need for the admirable discussion of railroad finance from an expert's +standpoint which followed to controvert Mr. Ridout's misleading +statements. The reading of the words on the slip of paper of which he had +so mysteriously got possession (through Mr. Hamilton Tooting) was +sufficient to bring about a disorder that for a full minute--Mr. Speaker +Doby found it impossible to quell. The gallery shook with laughter, and +honourable members with slips of paper in their hands were made as +conspicuous as if they had been caught wearing dunces' caps. + +It was then only, with belated wisdom, that Mr. Bascom and his two noble +companions gave up the fight, and let the horde across the bridge--too +late, as we shall see. The populace, led by a redoubtable leader, have +learned their strength. It is true that the shining senatorial twenty of +the body-guard stand ready to be hacked to pieces at their posts before +the Pingsquit bill shall become a law; and should unutterable treason +take place here, his Excellency is prepared to be drawn and quartered +rather than sign it. It is the Senate which, in this somewhat inaccurate +repetition of history, hold the citadel if not the bridge; and in spite +of the howling mob below their windows, scornfully refuse even to discuss +the Pingsquit bill. The Honourable Hilary Vane, whose face they study at +dinner time, is not worried. Popular wrath does not continue to boil, and +many changes will take place in the year before the Legislature meets +again. + +This is the Honourable Hilary's public face. But are there not private +conferences in room Number Seven of which we can know nothing +--exceedingly uncomfortable conferences for Horatius and his companions? +Are there not private telegrams and letters to the president of the +Northeastern in New York advising him that the Pingsquit bill has passed +the House, and that a certain Mr. Crewe is primarily responsible? And are +there not queries--which history may disclose in after years--as to +whether Mr. Crewe's abilities as a statesman have not been seriously +underrated by those who should have been the first to perceive them? +Verily, pride goeth before a fall. + +In this modern version of ours, the fathers throng about another than +Horatius after the session of that memorable morning. Publicly and +privately, Mr. Crewe is being congratulated, and we know enough of his +character to appreciate the modesty with which the congratulations are +accepted. He is the same Humphrey Crewe that he was before he became the +corner-stone of the temple; success is a mere outward and visible sign of +intrinsic worth in the inner man, and Mr. Crewe had never for a moment +underestimated his true value. + +"There's, no use wasting time in talking about it," he told the grateful +members who sought to press his hands. "Go home and organize. I've got +your name. Get your neighbours into line, and keep me informed. I'll pay +for the postage-stamps. I'm no impractical reformer, and if we're going +to do this thing, we'll have to do it right." + +They left him, impressed by the force of this argument, with an added +respect for Mr. Crewe, and a vague feeling that they were pledged to +something which made not a few of them a trifle uneasy. Mr. Redbrook was +one of these. + +The felicitations of his new-found friend and convert, Mr. Tooting, Mr. +Crewe cut short with the terseness of a born commander. + +"Never mind that," he said, "and follow 'em up and get 'em pledged if you +can." + +Get 'em pledged! Pledged to what? Mr. Tooting evidently knew, for he +wasted no precious moments in asking questions. + +There is no time at this place to go into the feelings of Mr. Tom Gaylord +the younger when he learned that his bill had passed the House. He, too, +meeting Mr. Crewe in the square, took the opportunity to express his +gratitude to the member from Leith. + +"Come in on Friday afternoon, Gaylord," answered Mr. Crewe. "I've got +several things to talk to you about. Your general acquaintance around the +State will be useful, and there must be men you know of in the lumber +sections who can help us considerably." + +"Help us?" repeated young Tom, in same surprise. + +"Certainly," replied Mr. Crewe; "you don't think we're going to drop the +fight here, do you? We've got to put a stop in this State to political +domination by a railroad, and as long as there doesn't seem to be anyone +else to take hold, I'm going to. Your bill's a good bill, and we'll pass +it next session." + +Young Tom regarded Mr. Crewe with a frank stare. + +"I'm going up to the Pingsquit Valley on Friday," he answered. + +"Then you'd better come up to Leith to see me as soon as you get back," +said Mr. Crewe. "These things can't wait, and have to be dealt with +practically." + +Young Tom had not been the virtual head of the Gaylord Company for some +years without gaining a little knowledge of politics and humanity. The +invitation to Leith he valued, of course, but he felt that it would not +do to accept it with too much ardour. He was, he said, a very busy man. + +"That's the trouble with most people," declared Mr. Crewe; "they won't +take the time to bother about politics, and then they complain when +things don't go right. Now I'm givin' my time to it, when I've got other +large interests to attend to." + +On his way back to the Pelican, young Tom halted several times +reflectively, as certain points in this conversation which he seemed to +have missed at the time--came back to him. His gratitude to Mr. Crewe as +a public benefactor was profound, of course; but young Tom's sense of +humour was peculiar, and he laughed more than once, out loud, at nothing +at all. Then he became grave again, and went into the hotel and wrote a +long letter, which he addressed to Mr. Austen Vane. + +And now, before this chapter which contains these memorable events is +closed, one more strange and significant fact is to be chronicled. On the +evening of the day which saw Mr. Crewe triumphantly leading the insurgent +forces to victory, that gentleman sent his private secretary to the +office of the State Tribune to leave an order for fifty copies of the +paper to be delivered in the morning. Morning came, and the fifty copies, +and Mr. Crewe's personal copy in addition, were handed to him by the +faithful Waters when he entered his dining room at an early hour. Life is +full of disillusions. Could this be the State Tribune he held in his +hand? The State Tribune of Mr. Peter Pardriff, who had stood so staunchly +for Mr. Crewe and better things? Who had hitherto held the words of the +Leith statesman in such golden estimate as to curtail advertising columns +when it was necessary to print them for the public good? + +Mr. Crewe's eye travelled from column to column, from page to page, in +vain. By some incredible oversight on the part of Mr. Pardriff, the +ringing words were not there,--nay, the soul-stirring events of that +eventful day appeared, on closer inspection, to have been deliberately +edited out! The terrible indignation of the righteous arose as Mr. Crewe +read (in the legislative proceedings of the day before) that the +Pingsquit bill had been discussed by certain members--of whom he was one +--and passed. This was all--literally all! If Mr. Pardriff had lived in +the eighteenth century, he would probably have referred as casually to +the Boston massacre as a street fight--which it was. + +Profoundly disgusted with human kind,--as the noblest of us will be at +times,--Mr. Crewe flung down the paper, and actually forgot to send the +fifty copies to his friends! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE DISTURBANCE OF JUNE SEVENTH + +After Mr. Speaker Doby had got his gold watch from an admiring and +apparently reunited House, and had wept over it, the Legislature +adjourned. This was about the first of April, that sloppiest and windiest +of months in a northern climate, and Mr. Crewe had intended, as usual, to +make a little trip southward to a club of which he was a member. A sense +of duty, instead, took him to Leith, where he sat through the days in his +study, dictating letters, poring over a great map of the State which he +had hung on the wall, and scanning long printed lists. If we could stand +behind him, we should see that these are what are known as check-lists, +or rosters of the voters in various towns. + +Mr. Crewe also has an unusual number of visitors for this muddy weather, +when the snow-water is making brooks of the roads. Interested observers +--if there were any--might have remarked that his friendship with Mr. +Hamilton Tooting had increased, that gentleman coming up from Ripton at +least twice a week, and aiding Mr. Crewe to multiply his acquaintances by +bringing numerous strangers to see him. Mr. Tooting, as we know, had +abandoned the law office of the Honourable Hilary Vane and was now +engaged in travelling over the State, apparently in search of health. +These were signs, surely, which the wise might have read with profit: in +the offices, for instance, of the Honourable Hilary Vane in Ripton +Square, where seismic disturbances were registered; but the movement of +the needle (to the Honourable Hilary's eye) was almost imperceptible. +What observer, however experienced, would have believed that such +delicate tracings could herald a volcanic eruption? + +Throughout the month of April the needle kept up its persistent +registering, and the Honourable Hilary continued to smile. The Honourable +Jacob Botcher, who had made a trip to Ripton and had cited that very +decided earthquake shock of the Pingsquit bill, had been ridiculed for +his pains, and had gone away again comforted by communion with a strong +man. The Honourable Jacob had felt little shocks in his fief: Mr. Tooting +had visited it, sitting with his feet on the tables of hotel +waiting-rooms, holding private intercourse with gentlemen who had been +disappointed in office. Mr. Tooting had likewise been a sojourner in the +domain of the Duke of Putnam. But the Honourable Brush was not troubled, +and had presented Mr. Tooting with a cigar. + +In spite of the strange omission of the State Tribune to print his speech +and to give his victory in the matter of the Pingsquit bill proper +recognition, Mr. Crewe was too big a man to stop his subscription to the +paper. Conscious that he had done his duty in that matter, neither +praise nor blame could affect him; and although he had not been mentioned +since, he read it assiduously every afternoon upon its arrival at Leith, +feeling confident that Mr. Peter Pardriff (who had always in private +conversation proclaimed himself emphatically for reform) would not +eventually refuse--to a prophet--public recognition. One afternoon +towards the end of that month of April, when the sun had made the last +snow-drift into a pool, Mr. Crewe settled himself on his south porch and +opened the State Tribune, and his heart gave a bound as his eye fell upon +the following heading to the leading editorial:-- + + A WORTHY PUBLIC SERVANT FOR GOVERNOR + +Had his reward come at last? Had Mr. Peter Pardriff seen the error of his +way? Mr. Crewe leisurely folded back the sheet, and called to his +secretary, who was never far distant. + +"Look here," he said, "I guess Pardriff's recovered his senses. Look +here!" + +The tired secretary, ready with his pencil and notebook to order fifty +copies, responded, staring over his employer's shoulder. It has been said +of men in battle that they have been shot and have run forward some +hundred feet without knowing what has happened to them. And so Mr. Crewe +got five or six lines into that editorial before he realized in full the +baseness of Mr. Pardriff's treachery. + +"These are times" (so ran Mr. Pardriff's composition) "when the sure and +steadying hand of a strong man is needed at the helm of State. A man of +conservative, business habits of mind; a man who weighs the value of +traditions equally with the just demands of a new era; a man with a +knowledge of public affairs derived from long experience;" (!!!) "a man +who has never sought office, but has held it by the will of the people, +and who himself is a proof that the conduct of State institutions in the +past has been just and equitable. One who has served with distinction +upon such boards as the Railroad Commission, the Board of Equalization, +etc., etc." (!!!) "A stanch Republican, one who puts party before--" here +the newspaper began to shake a little, and Mr. Crewe could not for the +moment see whether the next word were place or principle. He skipped a +few lines. The Tribune, it appeared, had a scintillating idea, which +surely must have occurred to others in the State. "Why not the Honourable +Adam B. Hunt of Edmundton for the next governor?" + +The Honourable Adam B. Hunt of Edmundton! + +It is a pleasure to record, at this crisis, that Mr. Crewe fixed upon his +secretary as steady an eye as though Mr. Pardriff's bullet had missed its +mark. + +"Get me," he said coolly, "the 'State Encyclopaedia of Prominent Men.'" +(Just printed. Fogarty and Co., Newcastle, publishers.) + +The secretary fetched it, open at the handsome and lifelike +steel-engraving of the Honourable Adam, with his broad forehead and +kindly, twinkling eyes, and the tuft of beard on his chin; with his ample +statesman's coat in natural creases, and his white shirt-front and little +black tie. Mr. Crewe gazed at this work of art long and earnestly. The +Honourable Adam B. Hunt did not in the least have the appearance of a +bolt from the blue. And then Mr. Crewe read his biography. + +Two things he shrewdly noted about that biography; it was placed, out of +alphabetical order, fourth in the book, and it was longer than any other +with one exception that of Mr. Ridout, the capital lawyer. Mr. Ridout's +place was second in this invaluable volume, he being preceded only by a +harmless patriarch. These facts were laid before Mr. Tooting, who was +directed by telephone to come to Leith as soon as he should arrive in +Ripton from his latest excursion. It was nine o'clock at night when that +long-suffering and mud-bespattered individual put in an appearance at the +door of his friend's study. + +"Because I didn't get on to it," answered Mr. Tooting, in response to a +reproach for not having registered a warning--for he was Mr. Crewe's +seismograph. "I knew old Adam was on the Railroads' governor's bench, but +I hadn't any notion he'd been moved up to the top of the batting list. I +told you right. Ridout was going to be their next governor if you hadn't +singed him with the Pingsquit bill. This was done pretty slick, wasn't +it? Hilary got back from New York day before yesterday, and Pardriff has +the editorial to-day. Say, I always told you Pardriff wasn't a reformer, +didn't I?" + +Mr. Crewe looked pained. + +"I prefer to believe the best of people until I know the worst," he said. +"I did not think Mr. Pardriff capable of ingratitude." + +What Mr. Crewe meant by this remark is enigmatical. + +"He ain't," replied Mr. Tooting, "he's grateful for that red ticket he +carries around with him when he travels, and he's grateful to the +Honourable Adam B. Hunt for favours to come. Peter Pardriff's a grateful +cuss, all-right, all right." + +Mr. Crewe tapped his fingers on the desk thoughtfully. + +"The need of a reform campaign is more apparent than ever," he remarked. + +Mr. Tooting put his tongue in his cheek; and, seeing a dreamy expression +on his friend's face, accidentally helped himself to a cigar out of the +wrong box. + +"It's up to a man with a sense of duty and money to make it," Mr. Tooting +agreed, taking a long pull at the Havana. + +"As for the money," replied Mr. Crewe, "the good citizens of the State +should be willing to contribute largely. I have had a list of men of +means prepared, who will receive notices at the proper time." + +Mr. Hamilton Tooting spread out his feet, and appeared to be studying +them carefully. + +"It's funny you should have mentioned cash," he said, after a moment's +silence, "and it's tough on you to have to be the public-spirited man to +put it up at the start. I've got a little memorandum here," he added, +fumbling apologetically in his pocket; "it certainly costs something to +move the boys around and keep 'em indignant." + +Mr. Tooting put the paper on the edge of the desk, and Mr. Crewe, without +looking, reached out his hand for it, the pained expression returning to +his face. + +"Tooting," he said, "you've got a very flippant way of speaking of +serious things. It strikes me that these expenses are out of all +proportion to the simplicity of the task involved. It strikes me--ahem +that you might find, in some quarters at least, a freer response to a +movement founded on principle." + +"That's right," declared Mr. Tooting, "I've thought so myself. I've got +mad, and told 'em so to their faces. But you've said yourself, Mr. Crewe, +that we've got to deal with this thing practically." + +"Certainly," Mr. Crewe interrupted. He loved the word. + +"And we've got to get workers, haven't we? And it costs money to move 'em +round, don't it? We haven't got a bushel basket of passes. Look here," +and he pushed another paper at Mr. Crewe, "here's ten new ones who've +made up their minds that you're the finest man in the State. That makes +twenty." + +Mr. Crewe took that paper deprecatingly, but nevertheless began a fire of +cross-questions on Mr. Tooting as to the personality, habits, and +occupations of the discerning ten in question, making certain little +marks of his own against each name. Thus it will be seen that Mr. Crewe +knew perfectly what he was about--although no one else did except Mr. +Tooting, who merely looked mysterious when questioned on the streets of +Ripton or Newcastle or Kingston. It was generally supposed, however, that +the gentleman from Leith was going to run for the State Senate, and was +attempting to get a following in other counties, in order to push through +his measures next time. Hence the tiny fluctuations of Hilary Vane's +seismograph an instrument, as will be shown, utterly out-of-date. Not so +the motto toujours l'audace. Geniuses continue (at long intervals) to be +born, and to live up to that motto. + +That seismograph of the Honourable Hilary's persisted in tracing only a +slightly ragged line throughout the beautiful month of May, in which +favourable season the campaign of the Honourable Adam B. Hunt took root +and flourished--apparently from the seed planted by the State Tribune. +The ground, as usual, had been carefully prepared, and trained gardeners +raked, and watered, and weeded the patch. It had been decreed and +countersigned that the Honourable Adam B. Hunt was the flower that was to +grow this year. + +There must be something vitally wrong with an instrument which failed to +register the great earthquake shock of June the seventh! + +Now that we have come to the point where this shock is to be recorded on +these pages, we begin to doubt whether our own pen will be able +adequately to register it, and whether the sheet is long enough and broad +enough upon which to portray the relative importance of the disturbance +created. The trouble is, that there is nothing to measure it by. What +other event in the history of the State produced the vexation of spirit, +the anger, the tears, the profanity; the derision, the laughter of fools, +the contempt; the hope, the glee, the prayers, the awe, the dumb +amazement at the superb courage of this act? No, for a just comparison we +shall have to reach back to history and fable: David and Goliath; Theseus +and the Minotaur; or, better still, Cadmus and the Dragon! It was Cadmus +(if we remember rightly) who wasted no time whatever, but actually jumped +down the dragon's throat and cut him up from the inside! And it was +Cadmus, likewise, who afterwards sowed the dragon's teeth. + +That wondrous clear and fresh summer morning of June the seventh will not +be forgotten for many years. The trees were in their early leaf in Ripton +Square, and the dark pine patches on Sawanec looked (from Austen's little +office) like cloud shadows against the shimmer of the tender green. He +sat at his table, which was covered with open law-books and papers, but +his eyes were on the distant mountain, and every scent-laden breeze +wafted in at his open window seemed the bearer of a tremulous, wistful, +yet imperious message--"Come!" Throughout the changing seasons Sawanec +called to him in words of love: sometimes her face was hidden by cloud +and fog and yet he heard her voice! Sometimes her perfume as to-day--made +him dream; sometimes, when the western heavens were flooded with the +golden light of the infinite, she veiled herself in magic purple, when to +gaze at her was an exquisite agony, and she became as one forbidden to +man. Though his soul cried out to her across the spaces, she was not for +him. She was not for him! + +With a sigh he turned to his law-books again, and sat for a while staring +steadfastly at a section of the 'Act of Consolidation of the Northeastern +Railroads' which he had stumbled on that morning. The section, if he read +its meaning aright, was fraught with the gravest consequences for the +Northeastern Railroads; if he read its meaning aright, the Northeastern +Railroads had been violating it persistently for many years and were +liable for unknown sums in damages. The discovery of it had dazed him, +and the consequences resulting from a successful suit under the section +would be so great that he had searched diligently, though in vain, for +some modification of it since its enactment. Why had not some one +discovered it before? This query appeared to be unanswerable, until the +simple--though none the less remarkable--solution came to him, that +perhaps no definite occasion had hitherto arisen for seeking it. +Undoubtedly the Railroads' attorneys must know of its existence--his own +father, Hilary Vane, having been instrumental in drawing up the Act. And +a long period had elapsed under which the Northeastern Railroads had been +a law unto themselves. + +The discovery was of grave import to Austen. A month before, chiefly +through the efforts of his friend, Tom, who was gradually taking his +father's place in the Gaylord Lumber Company, Austen had been appointed +junior counsel for that corporation. The Honourable Galusha Hammer still +remained the senior counsel, but was now confined in his house at +Newcastle by an illness which made the probability of his return to +active life extremely doubtful; and Tom had repeatedly declared that in +the event of his non-recovery Austen should have Mr. Hammer's place. As +counsel for the Gaylord Lumber Company, it was clearly his duty to call +the attention of young Mr. Gaylord to the section; and in case Mr. Hammer +did not resume his law practice, it would fall upon Austen himself to +bring the suit. His opponent in this matter would be his own father. + +The consequences of this culminating conflict between them, the coming of +which he had long dreaded--although he had not foreseen its specific +cause--weighed heavily upon Austen. It was Tom Gaylord himself who +abruptly aroused him from his revery by bursting in at the door. + +"Have you heard what's up?" he cried, flinging down a newspaper before +Austen's eyes. "Have you seen the Guardian?" + +"What's the matter now, Tom?" + +"Matter!" exclaimed Tom; "read that. Your friend and client, the +Honourable Humphrey Crewe, is out for governor." + +"Humphrey Crewe for governor!" + +"On an anti-railroad platform. I might have known something of the kind +was up when he began to associate with Tooting, and from the way he spoke +to me in March. But who'd have thought he'd have the cheek to come out +for governor? Did you ever hear of such tommyrot?" + +Austen looked grave. + +"I'm not sure it's such tommyrot," he said. + +"Not tommyrot?" Tom ejaculated. "Everybody's laughing. When I passed the +Honourable Hilary's door just now, Brush Bascom and some of the old +liners were there, reciting parts of the proclamation, and the boys down +in the Ripton House are having the time of their lives." + +Austen took the Guardian, and there, sure enough, filling a leading +column, and in a little coarser type than the rest of the page, he read: + + DOWN WITH RAILROAD RULE! + + The Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith, at the request + of twenty prominent citizens, consents to become a candidate + for the Republican Nomination for Governor. + + Ringing letter of acceptance, in which he denounces the + political power of the Northeastern Railroads, and declares + that the State is governed from a gilded suite of offices in + New Pork. + +"The following letter, evincing as it does a public opinion thoroughly +aroused in all parts of the State against the present disgraceful +political conditions, speaks for itself. The standing and character of +its signers give it a status which Republican voters cannot ignore." + +The letter followed. It prayed Mr. Crewe, in the name of decency and good +government, to carry the standard of honest men to victory. Too long had +a proud and sovereign State writhed under the heel of an all-devouring +corporation! Too long had the Northeastern Railroads elected, for their +own selfish ends, governors and legislatures and controlled railroad +commissions The spirit of 1776 was abroad in the land. It was eminently +fitting that the Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith, who had dared to +fling down the gauntlet in the face of an arrogant power, should be the +leader of the plain people, to recover the rights which had been wrested +from them. Had he not given the highest proof that he had the people's +interests at heart? He was clearly a man who "did things." + +At this point Austen looked up and smiled. + +"Tom," he asked, "has it struck you that this is written in the same +inimitable style as a part of the message of the Honourable Asa Gray?" + +Tom slapped his knee. + +"That's exactly what I said I!" he cried. "Tooting wrote it. I'll swear +to it." + +"And the twenty prominent citizens--do you know any of 'em, Tom?" + +"Well," said Tom, in delighted appreciation, "I've heard of three of 'em, +and that's more than any man I've met can boast of. Ed Dubois cuts my +hair when I go to Kingston. He certainly is a prominent citizen in the +fourth ward. Jim Kendall runs the weekly newspaper in Grantley--I +understood it was for sale. Bill Clements is prominent enough up at +Groveton. He wanted a trolley franchise some years ago, you remember." + +"And didn't get it." + +Mr. Crewe's answer was characteristically terse and businesslike. The +overwhelming compliment of a request from such gentlemen must be treated +in the nature of a command--and yet he had hesitated for several weeks, +during which period he had cast about for another more worthy of the +honour. Then followed a somewhat technical and (to the lay mind) obscure +recapitulation of the iniquities the Northeastern was committing, which +proved beyond peradventure that Mr. Crewe knew what he was talking about; +such phrases as "rolling stock," "milking the road"--an imposing array of +facts and figures. Mr. Crewe made it plain that he was a man who "did +things." And if it were the will of Heaven that he became governor, +certain material benefits would as inevitably ensue as the day follows +the night. The list of the material benefits, for which there was a +crying need, bore a strong resemblance to a summary of the worthy +measures upon which Mr. Crewe had spent so much time and labour in the +last Legislature. + +Austen laid down the paper, leaned back in his chair, and thrust his +hands in his pockets, and with a little vertical pucker in his forehead, +regarded his friend. + +"What do you think of that?" Tom demanded. "Now, what do you think of +it?" + +"I think," said Austen, "that he'll scare the life out of the +Northeastern before he gets through with them." + +"What!" exclaimed Tom, incredulously. He had always been willing to +accept Austen's judgment on men and affairs, but this was pretty stiff. +"What makes you think so?" + +"Well, people don't know Mr. Crewe, for one thing. And they are beginning +to have a glimmer of light upon the Railroad." + +"Do you mean to say he has a chance for the nomination?" + +"I don't know. It depends upon how much the voters find out about him +before the convention." + +Tom sat down rather heavily. + +"You could have been governor," he complained reproachfully, "by raising +your hand. You've got more ability than any man in the State, and you sit +here gazin' at that mountain and lettin' a darned fool millionaire walk +in ahead of you." + +Austen rose and crossed over to Mr. Gaylord's chair, and, his hands still +in his pockets, looked down thoughtfully into that gentleman's square and +rugged face. + +"Tom," he said, "there's no use discussing this delusion of yours, which +seems to be the only flaw in an otherwise sane character. We must try to +keep it from the world." + +Tom laughed in spite of himself. + +"I'm hanged if I understand you," he declared, "but I never did. You +think Crewe and Tooting may carry off the governorship, and you don't +seem to care." + +"I do care," said Austen, briefly. He went to the window and stood for a +moment with his back to his friend, staring across at Sawanec. Tom had +learned by long experience to respect these moods, although they were to +him inexplicable. At length Austen turned. + +"Tom," he said, "can you come in to-morrow about this time? If you can't, +I'll go to your office if you will let me know when you'll be in. There's +a matter of business I want to talk to you about." + +Tom pulled out his watch. + +"I've got to catch a train for Mercer," he replied, "but I will come in +in the morning and see you." + +A quarter of an hour later Austen went down the narrow wooden flight of +stairs into the street, and as he emerged from the entry almost bumped +into the figure of a young man that was hurrying by. He reached out and +grasped the young man by the collar, pulling him up so short as almost to +choke him. + +"Hully gee!" cried the young man whose progress had been so rudely +arrested. "Great snakes!" (A cough.) "What're you tryin' to do? Oh," +(apologetically) "it's you, Aust. Let me go. This day ain't long enough +for me. Let me go." + +Austen kept his grip and regarded Mr. Tooting thoughtfully. + +"I want to speak to you, Ham," he said; "better come upstairs." + +"Say, Aust, on the dead, I haven't time. Pardriff's waitin' for some copy +now." + +"Just for a minute, Ham," said Austen; "I won't keep you long." + +"Leggo my collar, then, if you don't want to choke me. Say, I don't +believe you know how strong you are." + +"I didn't know you wore a collar any more, Ham," said Austen. + +Mr. Tooting grinned in appreciation of this joke. + +"You must think you've got one of your Wild West necktie parties on," he +gasped. "I'll come. But if you love me, don't let the boys in Hilary's +office see me." + +"They use the other entry," answered Austen, indicating that Mr. Tooting +should go up first--which he did. When they reached the office Austen +shut the door, and stood with his back against it, regarding Mr. Tooting +thoughtfully. + +At first Mr. Tooting returned the look with interest swagger--aggression +would be too emphatic, and defiance would not do. His was the air, +perhaps, of Talleyrand when he said, "There seems to be an inexplicable +something in me that brings bad luck to governments that neglect me:" the +air of a man who has made a brilliant coup d'etat. All day he had worn +that air--since five o'clock in the morning, when he had sprung from his +pallet. The world might now behold the stuff that was in Hamilton +Tooting. Power flowed out of his right hand from an inexhaustible +reservoir which he had had the sagacity to tap, and men leaped into +action at his touch. He, the once, neglected, had the destiny of a State +in his keeping. + +Gradually, however, it became for some strange reason difficult to +maintain that aggressive stare upon Austen Vane, who shook his head +slowly. + +"Ham, why did you do it?" he asked. + +"Why?" cried Mr. Tooting, fiercely biting back a treasonable smile. "Why +not? Ain't he the best man in the State to make a winner? Hasn't he got +the money, and the brains, and the get-up-and-git? Why, it's a sure +thing. I've been around the State, and I know the sentiment. We've got +'em licked, right now. What have you got against it? You're on our side, +Aust." + +"Ham," said Austen, "are you sure you have the names and addresses of +those twenty prominent citizens right, so that any voter may go out and +find 'em?" + +"What are you kidding about, Aust?" retorted Mr. Tooting, biting back the +smile again. "Say, you never get down to business with me. You don't +blame Crewe for comin' out, do you?" + +"I don't see how Mr. Crewe could have resisted such an overwhelming +demand," said Austen. "He couldn't shirk such a duty. He says so himself, +doesn't he?" + +"Oh, go on!" exclaimed Mr. Tooting, who was not able to repress a grin. + +"The letter of the twenty must have been a great surprise to Mr. Crewe. +He says he was astonished. Did the whole delegation go up to Leith, or +only a committee?" + +Mr. Tooting's grin had by this time spread all over his face--a flood +beyond his control. + +"Well, there's no use puffin' it on with you, Aust. That was done pretty +slick, that twenty-prominent-citizen business, if I do say it myself. But +you don't know that feller Crewe--he's a full-size cyclone when he gets +started, and nothin' but a range of mountains could stop him." + +"It must be fairly exciting to--ride him, Ham." + +"Say, but it just is. Kind of breathless, though. He ain't very well +known around the State, and he was bound to run--and I just couldn't let +him come out without any clothes on." + +"I quite appreciate your delicacy, Ham." + +Mr. Tooting's face took on once more a sheepish look, which changed +almost immediately to one of disquietude. + +"Say, I'll come back again some day and kid with you. I've got to go, +Aust--that's straight. This is my busy day." + +"Wouldn't you gain some time if you left by the window?" Austen asked. + +At this suggestion Mr. Tooting's expressive countenance showed genuine +alarm. + +"Say, you ain't going to put up any Wild West tricks on me, are you? I +heard you nearly flung Tom Gaylord out of the one in the other room." + +"If this were a less civilized place, Ham, I'd initiate you into what is +known as the bullet dance. As it is, I have a great mind to speed you on +your way by assisting you downstairs." + +Mr. Hamilton Tooting became ashy pale. + +"I haven't done anything to you, Aust. Say--you didn't--?" He did not +finish. + +Terrified by something in Austen's eye, which may or may not have been +there at the time of the Blodgett incident, Mr. Tooting fled without +completing his inquiry. And, his imagination being great, he reproduced +for himself such a vivid sensation of a bullet-hole in his spine that he +missed his footing near the bottom, and measured his length in the entry. +Such are the humiliating experiences which sometimes befall the +Talleyrands--but rarely creep into their biographies. + +Austen, from the top of the stairway, saw this catastrophe, but did not +smile. He turned on his heel, and made his way slowly around the corner +of the passage into the other part of the building, and paused at the +open doorway of the Honourable Hilary's outer office. By the street +windows sat the Honourable Brush Bascom, sphinx-like, absorbing wisdom +and clouds of cigar smoke which emanated from the Honourable Nat +Billings. + +"Howdy, Austen?" said Brush, genially, lookin' for the Honourable Hilary? +Flint got up from New York this morning, and sent for him a couple of +hours ago. He'll be back at two." + +"Have you read the pronunciamento?" inquired Mr. Billings. "Say, Austen, +knowin' your sentiments, I wonder you weren't one of the twenty prominent +citizens." + +"All you anti-railroad fellers ought to get together," Mr. Bascom +suggested; "you've got us terrified since your friend from Leith turned +the light of publicity on us this morning. I hear Ham Tooting's been in +and made you an offer." + +News travels fast in Ripton. + +"Austen kicked him downstairs," said Jimmy Towle, the office boy, who had +made a breathless entrance during the conversation, and felt it to be the +psychological moment to give vent to the news with which he was bursting. + +"Is that straight?" Mr. Billings demanded. He wished he had done it +himself. "Is that straight?" he repeated, but Austen had gone. + +"Of course it's straight," said Jimmy Towle, vigorously. A shrewd +observer of human nature, he had little respect for Senator Billings. +"Ned Johnson saw him pick himself up at the foot of Austen's stairway." + +The Honourable Brush's agate eyes caught the light, and he addressed Mr. +Billings in a voice which, by dint of long training, only carried a few +feet. + +"There's the man the Northeastern's got to look out for," he said. "The +Humphrey Crewes don't count. But if Austen Vane ever gets started, +there'll be trouble. Old man Flint's got some such idea as that, too. I +overheard him givin' it to old Hilary once, up at Fairview, and Hilary +said he couldn't control him. I guess nobody else can control him. I wish +I'd seen him kick Ham downstairs." + +"I'd like to kick him downstairs," said Mr. Billings, savagely biting off +another cigar. + +"I guess you hadn't better try it, Nat," said Mr. Bascom. + +Meanwhile Austen had returned to his own office, and shut the door. His +luncheon hour came and went, and still he sat by the open window gazing +out across the teeming plain, and up the green valley whence the Blue +came singing from the highlands. In spirit he followed the water to +Leith, and beyond, where it swung in a wide circle and hurried between +wondrous hills like those in the backgrounds of the old Italians: hills +of close-cropped pastures, dotted with shapely sentinel oaks and maples +which cast sharp, rounded shadows on the slopes at noonday; with thin +fantastic elms on the gentle sky-lines, and forests massed here and +there--silent, impenetrable hills from a story-book of a land of mystery. +The river coursed between them on its rocky bed, flinging its myriad gems +to the sun. This was the Vale of the Blue, and she had touched it with +meaning for him, and gone. + +He drew from his coat a worn pocket-book, and from the pocket-book a +letter. It was dated in New York in February, and though he knew it by +heart he found a strange solace in the pain which it gave him to reread +it. He stared at the monogram on the paper, which seemed so emblematic of +her; for he had often reflected that her things--even such minute +insignia as this--belonged to her. She impressed them not only with her +taste, but with her character. The entwined letters, Y. F., of the design +were not, he thought, of a meaningless, frivolous daintiness, but stood +for something. Then he read the note again. It was only a note. + + "MY DEAR MR. VANE: I have come back to find my mother ill, and I am + taking her to France. We are sailing, unexpectedly, to-morrow, + there being a difficulty about a passage later. I cannot refrain + from sending you a line before I go to tell you that I did you an + injustice. You will no doubt think it strange that I should write + to you, but I shall be troubled until it is off my mind. I am + ashamed to have been so stupid. I think I know now why you would + not consent to be a candidate, and I respect you for it. + + "Sincerely your friend, + + "VICTORIA FLINT." + +What did she know? What had she found out? Had she seen her father and +talked to him? That was scarcely possible, since her mother had been ill +and she had left at once. Austen had asked himself these questions many +times, and was no nearer the solution. He had heard nothing of her since, +and he told himself that perhaps it was better, after all, that she was +still away. To know that she was at Fairview, and not to be able to see +her, were torture indeed. + +The note was formal enough, and at times he pretended to be glad that it +was. How could it be otherwise? And why should he interpret her interest +in him in other terms than those in which it was written? She had a warm +heart--that he knew; and he felt for her sake that he had no right to +wish for more than the note expressed. After several unsuccessful +attempts; he had answered it in a line, "I thank you, and I understand." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE "BOOK OF ARGUMENTS" IS OPENED + +The Honourable Hilary Vane returned that day from Fairview in no very +equable frame of mind. It is not for us to be present at the Councils on +the Palatine when the "Book of Arguments" is opened, and those fitting +the occasion are chosen and sent out to the faithful who own +printing-presses and free passes. The Honourable Hilary Vane bore away +from the residence of his emperor a great many memoranda in an envelope, +and he must have sighed as he drove through the leafy roads for Mr. +Hamilton Tooting, with his fertile mind and active body. A year ago, and +Mr. Tooting would have seized these memoranda of majesty, and covered +their margins with new suggestions: Mr. Tooting, on occasions, had even +made additions to the "Book of Arguments" itself--additions which had +been used in New York and other States with telling effect against Mr. +Crewes there. Mr. Tooting knew by heart the time of going to press of +every country newspaper which had passes (in exchange for advertising!). +It was two o'clock when the Honourable Hilary reached his office, and by +three all the edicts would have gone forth, and the grape-shot and +canister would have been on their way to demolish the arrogance of this +petty Lord of Leith.. + +"Tooting's a dangerous man, Vane. You oughtn't to have let him go," Mr. +Flint had said. "I don't care a snap of my finger for the other fellow." + +How Mr. Tooting's ears would have burned, and how his blood would have +sung with pride to have heard himself called dangerous by the president +of the Northeastern! + +He who, during all the valuable years of his services, had never had a +sign that that potentate was cognizant of his humble existence. + +The Honourable Brush Bascom, as we know, was a clever man; and although +it had never been given him to improve on the "Book of Arguments," he had +ideas of his own. On reading Mr. Crewe's defiance that morning, he had, +with characteristic promptitude and a desire to be useful, taken the +first train out of Putnam for Ripton, to range himself by the side of the +Honourable Hilary in the hour of need. The Feudal System anticipates, and +Mr. Bascom did not wait for a telegram. + +On the arrival of the chief counsel from Fairview other captains had put +in an appearance, but Mr. Bascom alone was summoned, by a nod, into the +private office. What passed between them seems too sacred to write about. +The Honourable Hilary would take one of the slips from the packet and +give it to Mr. Bascom. + +"If that were recommended, editorially, to the Hull Mercury, it might +serve to clear away certain misconceptions in that section. + +"Certain," Mr. Bascom would reply. + +"It has been thought wise," the Honourable Hilary continued, "to send an +annual to the Groveton News. Roberts, his name is. Suppose you recommend +to Mr. Roberts that an editorial on this subject would be timely." + +Slip number two. Mr. Bascom marks it 'Roberts.' Subject: "What would the +State do without the Railroad?" + +"And Grenville, being a Prohibition centre, you might get this worked up +for the Advertiser there." + +Mr. Bascom's agate eyes are full of light as he takes slip number three. +Subject: "Mr. Humphrey Crewe has the best-stocked wine cellar in the +State, and champagne every night for dinner." Slip number four, taken +direct from the second chapter of the "Book of Arguments": "Mr. Crewe is +a reformer because he has been disappointed in his inordinate ambitions," +etc. Slip number five: "Mr. Crewe is a summer resident, with a house in +New York," etc., etc. + +Slip number six, "Book of Arguments," paragraph, chapter: "Humphrey +Crewe, Defamer of our State." Assigned, among others, to the Ripton +Record. + +"Paul Pardriff went up to Leith to-day," said Mr. Bascom. + +"Go to see him," replied the Honourable Hilary. "I've been thinking for +some time that the advertising in the Ripton Record deserves an +additional annual." + +Mr. Bascom, having been despatched on this business, and having +voluntarily assumed control of the Empire Bureau of Publication, the +chief counsel transacted other necessary legal business with State +Senator Billings and other gentlemen who were waiting. At three o'clock +word was sent in that Mr. Austen Vane was outside, and wished to speak +with his father as soon as the latter was at leisure. Whereupon the +Honourable Hilary shooed out the minor clients, leaned back in his chair, +and commanded that his son be admitted. + +"Judge," said Austen, as he closed the door behind him, "I don't want to +bother you." + +The Honourable Hilary regarded his son for a moment fixedly out of his +little eyes. + +"Humph" he said. + +Austen looked down at his father. The Honourable Hilary's expression was +not one which would have aroused, in the ordinary man who beheld him, a +feeling of sympathy or compassion: it was the impenetrable look with +which he had faced his opponents for many years. But Austen felt +compassion. + +"Perhaps I'd better come in another time--when you are less busy," he +suggested. + +"Who said I was busy?" inquired the Honourable Hilary. + +Austen smiled a little sadly. One would have thought, by that smile, that +the son was the older and wiser of the two. + +"I didn't mean to cast any reflection on your habitual industry, Judge," +he said. + +"Humph!" exclaimed Mr. Vane. "I've got more to do than sit in the window +and read poetry, if that's what you mean." + +"You never learned how to enjoy life, did you, Judge?" he said. "I don't +believe you ever really had a good time. Own up." + +"I've had sterner things to think about. I've had 'to earn my living +--and give you a good time." + +"I appreciate it," said Austen. + +"Humph! Sometimes I think you don't show it a great deal," the Honourable +Hilary answered. + +"I show it as far as I can, Judge," said his son. "I can't help the way I +was made." + +"I try to take account of that," said the Honourable Hilary. + +Austen laughed. + +"I'll drop in to-morrow morning," he said. + +But the Honourable Hilary pointed to a chair on the other side of the +desk. + +"Sit down. To-day's as good as to-morrow," he remarked, with sententious +significance, characteristically throwing the burden of explanation on +the visitor. + +Austen found the opening unexpectedly difficult. He felt that this was a +crisis in their relations, and that it had come at an unfortunate hour. + +"Judge," he said, trying to control the feeling that threatened to creep +into his voice, "we have jogged along for some years pretty peaceably, +and I hope you won't misunderstand what I'm going to say." + +The Honourable Hilary grunted. + +"It was at your request that I went into the law. I have learned to like +that profession. I have stuck to it as well as my wandering, Bohemian +nature will permit, and while I do not expect you necessarily to feel any +pride in such progress as I have made, I have hoped--that you might feel +an interest." + +The Honourable Hilary grunted again. + +"I suppose I am by nature a free-lance," Austen continued. "You were good +enough to acknowledge the force of my argument when I told you it would +be best for me to strike out for myself. And I suppose it was inevitable, +such being the case, and you the chief counsel for the Northeastern +Railroads, that I should at some time or another be called upon to bring +suits against your client. It would have been better, perhaps, if I had +not started to practise in this State. I did so from what I believe was a +desire common to both of us to--to live together." + +The Honourable Hilary reached for his Honey Dew, but he did not speak. + +"To live together," Austen repeated. "I want to say that, if I had gone +away, I believe I should always have regretted the fact." He paused, and +took from his pocket a slip of paper. "I made up my mind from the start +that I would always be frank with you. In spite of my desire to amass +riches, there are some suits against the Northeastern which I have +--somewhat quixotically--refused. Here is a section of the act which +permitted the consolidation of the Northeastern Railroads. You are no +doubt aware of its existence." + +The Honourable Hilary took the slip of paper in his hand and stared at +it. "The rates for fares and freights existing at the time of the passage +of this act shall mot be increased on the roads leased or united under +it." What his sensations were when he read it no man might have read in +his face, but his hand trembled a little, and along silence ensued before +he gave it back to his son with the simple comment:--"Well?" + +"I do not wish to be understood to ask your legal opinion, although you +probably know that lumber rates have been steadily raised, and if a suit +under that section were successful the Gaylord Lumber Company could +recover a very large sum of money from the Northeastern Railroads," said +Austen. "Having discovered the section, I believe it to be my duty to +call it to the attention of the Gaylords. What I wish to know is, whether +my taking the case would cause you any personal inconvenience or +distress? If so, I will refuse it." + +"No," answered the Honourable Hilary, "it won't. Bring suit. Much use +it'll be. Do you expect they can recover under that section?" + +"I think it is worth trying," said Austen. + +"Why didn't somebody try it before?" asked the Honourable Hilary. + +"See here, Judge, I wish you'd let me out of an argument about it. Suit +is going to be brought, whether I bring it or another man. If you would +prefer for any reason that I shouldn't bring it--I won't. I'd much rather +resign as counsel for the Gaylords--and I am prepared to do so." + +"Bring suit," answered the Honourable Hilary, quickly, "bring suit by all +means. And now's your time. This seems to be a popular season for +attacking the property which is the foundation of the State's +prosperity." ("Book of Arguments," chapter 3.) + +In spite of himself, Austen smiled again. Long habit had accustomed +Hilary Vane to put business considerations before family ties; and this +habit had been the secret of his particular success. And now, rather than +admit by the least sign the importance of his son's discovery of the +statute (which he had had in mind for many years, and to which he had +more than once, by the way, called Mr. Flint's attention), the Honourable +Hilary deliberately belittled the matter as part and parcel of the +political tactics against the Northeastern. + +Sears caused by differences of opinion are soon healed; words count for +nothing, and it is the soul that attracts or repels. Mr. Vane was not +analytical, he had been through a harassing day, and he was unaware that +it was not Austen's opposition, but Austen's smile, which set the torch +to his anger. Once, shortly after his marriage, when he had come home in +wrath after a protracted quarrel with Mr. Tredway over the orthodoxy of +the new minister, in the middle of his indignant recital of Mr. Tredway's +unwarranted attitude, Sarah Austen had smiled. The smile had had in it, +to be sure, nothing of conscious superiority, but it had been utterly +inexplicable to Hilary Vane. He had known for the first time what it was +to feel murder in the heart, and if he had not rushed out of the room, he +was sure he would have strangled her. After all, the Hilary Vanes of this +world cannot reasonably be expected to perceive the humour in their +endeavours. + +Now the son's smile seemed the reincarnation of the mother's. That smile +was in itself a refutation of motive on Austen's part which no words +could have made more emphatic; it had in it (unconsciously, too) +compassion for and understanding of the Honourable Hilary's mood and +limitations. Out of the corner of his mental vision--without grasping +it--the Honourable Hilary perceived this vaguely. It was the smile in +which a parent privately indulges when a child kicks his toy locomotive +because its mechanism is broken. It was the smile of one who, unforgetful +of the scheme of the firmament and the spinning planets, will not be +moved to anger by him who sees but the four sides of a pit. + +Hilary Vane grew red around the eyes--a danger signal of the old days. + +"Take the suit," he said. "If you don't, I'll make it known all over the +State that you started it. I'll tell Mr. Flint to-morrow. Take it, do you +hear me? You ask me if I have any pride in you. I answer, yes. I'd like +to see what you can do. I've done what I could for you, and now I wash my +hands of you. Go,--ruin yourself if you want to. You've always been +headed that way, and there's no use trying to stop you. You don't seem to +have any notion of decency or order, or any idea of the principle on +which this government was based. Attack property destroy it. So much the +better for you and your kind. Join the Humphrey Crewes--you belong with +'em. Give those of us who stand for order and decency as much trouble as +you can. Brand us as rascals trying to enrich ourselves with politics, +and proclaim yourselves saints nobly striving to get back the rights of +the people. If you don't bring that suit, I tell you I'll give you the +credit for it--and I mean what I say." + +Austen got to his feet. His own expression, curiously enough, had not +changed to one of anger. His face had set, but his eyes held the look +that seemed still to express compassion, and what he felt was a sorrow +that went to the depths of his nature. What he had so long feared--what +he knew they had both feared--had come at last. + +"Good-by, Judge," he said. + +Hilary Vane stared at him dumbly. His anger had not cooled, his eyes +still flamed, but he suddenly found himself bereft of speech. Austen put +his hand on his father's shoulder, and looked down silently into his +face. But Hilary was stiff as in a rigour, expressionless save for the +defiant red in his eye. + +"I don't think you meant all that, Judge, and I don't intend to hold it +against you." + +Still Hilary stared, his lips in the tight line which was the emblem of +his character, his body rigid. He saw his son turn and walk to the door, +and turn again with his handle on the knob, and Hilary did not move. The +door closed, and still he sat there, motionless, expressionless. + +Austen was hailed by those in the outer office, but he walked through +them as though the place were empty. Rumours sprang up behind him of +which he was unconscious; the long-expected quarrel had come; Austen had +joined the motley ranks of the rebels under Mr. Crewe. Only the office +boy, Jimmy Towle, interrupted the jokes that were flying by repeating, +with dogged vehemence, "I tell you it ain't so. Austen kicked Ham +downstairs. Ned Johnson saw him." Nor was it on account of this +particular deed that Austen was a hero in Jimmy's eyes. + +Austen, finding himself in the square, looked at his watch. It was four +o'clock. He made his way under the maples to the house in Hanover Street, +halted for a moment contemplatively before the familiar classic pillars +of its porch, took a key from his pocket, and (unprecedented action!) +entered by the front door. Climbing to the attic, he found two +valises--one of which he had brought back from Pepper County--and took +them to his own room. They held, with a little crowding, most of his +possessions, including a photograph of Sarah Austen, which he left on the +bureau to the last. Once or twice he paused in his packing to gaze at the +face, striving to fathom the fleeting quality of her glance which the +photograph had so strangely caught. In that glance nature had stamped her +enigma--for Sarah Austen was a child of nature. Hers was the gentle look +of wild things--but it was more; it was the understanding of--the +unwritten law of creation, the law by which the flowers grow, and wither; +the law by which the animal springs upon its prey, and, unerring, seeks +its mate; the law of the song of the waters, and the song of the morning +stars; the law that permits evil and pain and dumb, incomprehensible +suffering; the law that floods at sunset the mountain lands with colour +and the soul with light; and the law that rends the branches in the blue +storm. Of what avail was anger against it, or the puny rage of man? +Hilary Vane, not recognizing it, had spent his force upon it, like a hawk +against a mountain wall, but Austen looked at his mother's face and +understood. In it was not the wisdom of creeds and cities, but the +unworldly wisdom which comprehends and condones. + +His packing finished, with one last glance at the room Austen went +downstairs with his valises and laid them on the doorstep. Then he went +to the stable and harnessed Pepper, putting into the buggy his stable +blanket and halter and currycomb, and, driving around to the front of the +house, hitched the horse at the stone post, and packed the valises in the +back of the buggy. After that he walked slowly to the back of the house +and looked in at the kitchen window. Euphrasia, her thin arms bare to the +elbow, was bending over a wash-tub. He spoke her name, and as she lifted +her head a light came into her face which seemed to make her young again. +She dried her hands hastily on her apron as she drew towards him. He +sprang through the window, and patted her on the back--his usual +salutation. And as she raised her eyes to his (those ordinarily sharp +eyes of Euphrasia's), they shone with an admiration she had accorded to +no other human being since he had come into the world. Terms of +endearment she had, characteristically, never used, she threw her soul +into the sounding of his name. + +"Off to the hills, Austen? I saw you a-harnessing of Pepper." + +"Phrasie," he said, still patting her, "I'm going to the country for a +while." + +"To the country?" she repeated. + +"To stay on a farm for a sort of vacation." + +Her face brightened. + +"Goin' to take a real vacation, be you?" + +He laughed. + +"Oh, I don't have to work very hard, Phrasie. You know I get out a good +deal. I just thought--I just thought I'd like to--sleep in the country +--for a while." + +"Well," answered Euphrasia, "I guess if you've took the notion, you've +got to go. It was that way with your mother before you. I've seen her +leave the house on a bright Sabbath half an hour before meetin' to be +gone the whole day, and Hilary and all the ministers in town couldn't +stop her." + +"I'll drop in once in a while to see you, Phrasie. I'll be at Jabe +Jenney's." + +"Jabe's is not more than three or four miles from Flint's place," +Euphrasia remarked. + +"I've thought of that," said Austen. + +"You'd thought of it!" + +Austen coloured. + +"The distance is nothing," he said quickly, "with Pepper." + +"And you'll come and see me?" asked Euphrasia. + +"If you'll do something for me," he said. + +"I always do what you want, Austen. You know I'm not able to refuse you." + +He laid his hands on her shoulders. + +"You'll promise?" he asked. + +"I'll promise," said Euphrasia, solemnly. + +He was silent for a moment, looking down at her. + +"I want you to promise to stay here and take care of the Judge." + +Fright crept into her eyes, but his own were smiling, reassuring. + +"Take care of him!" she cried, the very mention of Hilary raising the +pitch of her voice. "I guess I'll have to. Haven't I took care of him +nigh on forty years, and small thanks and recompense I get for it except +when you're here. I've wore out my life takin' care of him" (more +gently). "What do you mean by makin' me promise such a thing, Austen?" + +"Well," said Austen, slowly, "the Judge is worried now. Things are not +going as smoothly with him as usual." + +"Money?" demanded Euphrasia. "He ain't lost money, has he?" + +A light began to dance in Austen's eyes in spite of the weight within +him. + +"Now, Phrasie," he said, lifting her chin a little, "you know you don't +care any more about money than I do." + +"Lord help me," she exclaimed, "Lord help me if I didn't! And as long as +you don't care for it, and no sense can be knocked into your head about +it, I hope you'll marry somebody that does know the value of it. If +Hilary was to lose what he has now, before it comes rightly to you, he'd +ought to be put in jail." + +Austen laughed, and shook his head. + +"Phrasie, the Lord did you a grave injustice when he didn't make you a +man, but I suppose he'll give you a recompense hereafter. No, I believe I +am safe in saying that the Judge's securities are still secure. Not that +I really know--or care--" (shakes of the head from Euphrasia). "Poor old +Judge! Worse things than finance are troubling him now." + +"Not a woman!" cried Euphrasia, horror-stricken at the very thought. "He +hasn't took it into his head after all these years--" + +"No," said Austen, laughing, "no, no. It's not quite as bad as that, but +it's pretty bad." + +"In Heaven's name, what is it?" she demanded. "Reformers," said Austen. + +"Reformers?" she repeated. "What might they be?" + +"Well," answered Austen, "you might call them a new kind of caterpillar +--only they feed on corporations instead of trees." + +Euphrasia shook her head vigorously. + +"Go 'long," she exclaimed. "When you talk like that I never can follow +you, Austen. If Hilary has any worries, I guess he brought 'em on +himself. I never knew him to fail." + +"Ambitious and designing persons are making trouble for his railroad." + +"Well, I never took much stock in that railroad," said Euphrasia, with +emphasis. "I never was on it but an engine gave out, and the cars was +jammed, and it wasn't less than an hour late. And then they're eternally +smashin' folks or runnin' 'em down. You served 'em right when you made +'em pay that Meader man six thousand dollars, and I told Hilary so." She +paused, and stared at Austen fixedly as a thought came into her head. +"You ain't leavin' him because of this trouble, are you, Austen?" + +"Phrasie," he said, "I--I don't want to quarrel with him now. I think it +would be easy to quarrel with him." + +"You mean him quarrel with you," returned Euphrasia. "I'd like to see +him! If he did, it wouldn't take me long to pack up and leave." + +"That's just it. I don't want that to happen. And I've had a longing to +go out and pay a little visit to Jabe up in the hills, and drive his +colts for him. You see," he said, "I've got a kind of affection for the +Judge." + +Euphrasia looked at him, and her lips trembled. + +"He don't deserve it," she declared, "but I suppose he's your father." + +"He can't get out of that," said Austen. + +"I'd like to see him try it," said Euphrasia. "Come in soon, Austen," she +whispered, "come in soon." + +She stood on the lawn and watched him as he drove away, and he waved +good-by to her over the hood of the buggy. When he was out of sight she +lifted her head, gave her eyes a vigorous brush with her checked apron, +and went back to her washing. + +It was not until Euphrasia had supper on the table that Hilary Vane came +home, and she glanced at him sharply as he took his usual seat. It is a +curious fact that it is possible for two persons to live together for +more than a third of a century, and at the end of that time understand +each other little better than at the beginning. The sole bond between +Euphrasia and Hilary was that of Sarah Austen and her son. Euphrasia +never knew when Hilary was tired, or when he was cold, or hungry, or +cross, although she provided for all these emergencies. Her service to +him was unflagging, but he had never been under the slightest delusion +that it was not an inheritance from his wife. There must have been some +affection between Mr. Vane and his housekeeper, hidden away in the strong +boxes of both but up to the present this was only a theory--not quite as +probable as that about the inhabitants of Mars. + +He ate his supper to-night with his usual appetite, which had always been +sparing; and he would have eaten the same amount if the Northeastern +Railroads had been going into the hands of a receiver the next day. Often +he did not exchange a word with Euphrasia between home-coming and +bed-going, and this was apparently to be one of these occasions. After +supper he went, as usual, to sit on the steps of his porch, and to cut +his piece of Honey Dew, which never varied a milligram. Nine o'clock +struck, and Euphrasia, who had shut up the back of the house, was on her +way to bed with her lamp in her hand, when she came face to face with him +in the narrow passageway. + +"Where's Austen?" he asked. + +Euphrasia halted. The lamp shook, but she raised it to the level of his +eyes. + +"Don't you know?" she demanded. + +"No," he said, with unparalleled humility. + +She put down the lamp on the little table that stood beside her. + +"He didn't tell you he was a-goin'?" + +"No," said Hilary. + +"Then how did you know he wasn't just buggy-ridin'?" she said. + +Hilary Vane was mute. + +"You've be'n to his room!" she exclaimed. "You've seen his things are +gone!" + +He confessed it by his silence. Then, with amazing swiftness and vigour +for one of her age, Euphrasia seized him by the arms and shook him. + +"What have you done to him?" she cried; "what have you done to him? You +sent him off. You've never understood him--you've never behaved like a +father to him. You ain't worthy to have him." She flung herself away and +stood facing Hilary at a little distance. What a fool I was! What a fool! +I might have known it, and I promised him." + +"Promised him?" Hilary repeated. The shaking, the vehemence and anger, of +Euphrasia seemed to have had no effect whatever on the main trend of his +thoughts. + +"Where has he gone?" + +"You can find out for yourself," she retorted bitterly. "I wish on your +account it was to China. He came here this afternoon, as gentle as ever, +and packed up his things, and said he was goin' away because you was +worried. Worried!" she exclaimed scornfully. "His worry and his trouble +don't count--but yours. And he made me promise to stay with you. If it +wasn't for him," she cried, picking up the lamp, "I'd leave you this very +night." + +She swept past him, and up the narrow stairway to her bedroom. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +BUSY DAYS AT WEDDERBURN + +There is no blast so powerful, so withering, as the blast of ridicule. +Only the strongest men can withstand it, only reformers who are such in +deed, and not alone in name, can snap their fingers at it, and liken it +to the crackling of thorns under a pot. Confucius and Martin Luther must +have been ridiculed, Mr. Crewe reflected, and although he did not have +time to assure himself on these historical points, the thought stayed +him. Sixty odd weekly newspapers, filled with arguments from the Book, +attacked him all at once; and if by chance he should have missed the best +part of this flattering personal attention, the editorials which +contained the most spice were copied at the end of the week into the +columns of his erstwhile friend, the State Tribune, now the organ of that +mysterious personality, the Honourable Adam B. Hunt. 'Et tu, Brute!' + +Moreover, Mr. Peter Pardriff had something of his own to say. Some +gentlemen of prominence (not among the twenty signers of the new +Declaration of Independence) had been interviewed by the Tribune reporter +on the subject of Mr. Crewe's candidacy. Here are some of the answers, +duly tabulated. + +"Negligible."--Congressman Fairplay. + +"One less vote for the Honourable Adam B. Hunt."--The Honourable Jacob +Botcher. + +"A monumental farce."--Ex-Governor Broadbent. + +"Who is Mr. Crewe?"--Senator Whitredge. (Ah ha! Senator, this want shall +be supplied, at least.) + +"I have been very busy. I do not know what candidates are in the +field."--Mr. Augustus P. Flint, president of the Northeastern Railroads. +(The unkindest cut of all!) + +"I have heard that a Mr. Crewe is a candidate, but I do not know much +about him. They tell me he is a summer resident at Leith."--The +Honourable Hilary Vane. + +"A millionaire's freak--not to be taken seriously.--State Senator +Nathaniel Billings." + +The State Tribune itself seemed to be especially interested in the past +careers of the twenty signers. Who composed this dauntless band, whose +members had arisen with remarkable unanimity and martyr's zeal in such +widely scattered parts of the State? Had each been simultaneously +inspired with the same high thought, and--more amazing still--with the +idea of the same peerless leader? The Tribune modestly ventured the +theory that Mr. Crewe had appeared to each of the twenty in a dream, with +a flaming sword pointing to the steam of the dragon's breath. Or, +perhaps, a star had led each of the twenty to Leith. (This likening of +Mr. H--n T--g to a star caused much merriment among that gentleman's +former friends and acquaintances.) The Tribune could not account for this +phenomenon by any natural laws, and was forced to believe that the thing +was a miracle--in which case it behooved the Northeastern Railroads to +read the handwriting on the wall. Unless--unless the twenty did not +exist! Unless the whole thing were a joke! The Tribune remembered a time +when a signed statement, purporting to come from a certain Mrs. Amanda P. +Pillow, of 22 Blair Street, Newcastle, had appeared, to the effect that +three bottles of Rand's Peach Nectar had cured her of dropsy. On +investigation there was no Blair Street, and Mrs. Amanda P. Pillow was as +yet unborn. The one sure thing about the statement was that Rand's Peach +Nectar could be had, in large or small quantities, as desired. And the +Tribune was prepared to state; on its own authority, that a Mr. Humphrey +Crewe did exist, and might reluctantly consent to take the nomination for +the governorship. In industry and zeal he was said to resemble the +celebrated and lamented Mr. Rand, of the Peach Nectar. + +Ingratitude merely injures those who are capable of it, although it +sometimes produces sadness in great souls. What were Mr. Crewe's feelings +when he read this drivel? When he perused the extracts from the "Book of +Arguments" which appeared (with astonishing unanimity, too!) in sixty odd +weekly newspapers of the State--an assortment of arguments for each +county. + +"Brush Bascom's doin' that work now," said Mr. Tooting, contemptuously, +"and he's doin' it with a shovel. Look here! He's got the same squib in +three towns within a dozen miles of each other, the one beginning +'Political conditions in this State are as clean as those of any State in +the Union, and the United Northeastern Railroads is a corporation which +is, fortunately, above calumny. A summer resident who, to satisfy his +lust for office, is rolling to defame--'" + +"Yes," interrupted Mr. Crewe, "never mind reading any more of that rot." + +"It's botched," said Mr. Tooting, whose artistic soul was jarred. "I'd +have put that in Avalon County, and Weave, and Marshall. I know men that +take all three of those papers in Putnam." + +No need of balloonists to see what the enemy is about, when we have a Mr. +Tooting. + +"They're stung!" he cried, as he ran rapidly through the bundle of +papers--Mr. Crewe having subscribed, with characteristic generosity, to +the entire press of the State. "Flint gave 'em out all this stuff about +the railroad bein' a sacred institution. You've got 'em on the run right +now, Mr. Crewe. You'll notice that, Democrats and Republicans, they've +dropped everybody else, that they've all been sicked on to you. They're +scared." + +"I came to that conclusion some time ago," replied Mr. Crewe, who was +sorting over his letters. + +"And look there!" exclaimed Mr. Tooting, tearing out a paragraph, +"there's the best campaign material we've had yet. Say, I'll bet Flint +taken that doddering idiot's pass away for writing that." + +Mr. Crewe took the extract, and read:-- + + "A summer resident of Leith, who is said to be a millionaire + many times over, and who had a somewhat farcical career as a + legislator last winter, has announced himself as a candidate + for the Republican nomination on a platform attacking the + Northeastern Railroads. Mr. Humphrey Crewe declares that the + Northeastern Railroads govern us. What if they do? Every + sober-minded citizen, will agree that they give us a pretty + good government. More power to them." + +Mr. Crewe permitted himself to smile. + +"They are playing into our hands, sure enough. What?" + +This is an example of the spirit in which the ridicule and abuse was met. + +It was Senator Whitredge--only, last autumn so pleased to meet Mr. Crewe +at Mr. Flint's--who asked the hypocritical question, "Who is Humphrey +Crewe?" A biography (in pamphlet form, illustrated,--send your name and +address) is being prepared by the invaluable Mr. Tooting, who only sleeps +six hours these days. We shall see it presently, when it emerges from +that busy hive at Wedderburn. + +Wedderburn was a hive, sure enough. Not having a balloon ourselves, it is +difficult to see all that is going on there; but there can be no mistake +(except by the Honourable Hilary's seismograph) that it has become the +centre of extraordinary activity. The outside world has paused to draw +breath at the spectacle, and members of the metropolitan press are +filling the rooms of the Ripton House and adding to the prosperity of its +livery-stable. Mr. Crewe is a difficult man to see these days--there are +so many visitors at Wedderburn, and the representatives of the +metropolitan press hitch their horses and stroll around the grounds, or +sit on the porch and converse with gentlemen from various counties of the +State who (as the Tribune would put it) have been led by a star to Leith. + +On the occasion of one of these gatherings, when Mr. Crewe had been +inaccessible for four hours, Mrs. Pomfret drove up in a victoria with her +daughter Alice. + +"I'm sure I don't know when we're going to see poor dear Humphrey again," +said Mrs. Pomfret, examining the group on the porch through her +gold-mounted lenses; these awful people are always here when I come. I +wonder if they sleep here, in the hammocks and lounging chairs! Alice, we +must be very polite to them--so much depends on it." + +"I'm always polite, mother," answered Alice, "except when you tell me not +to be. The trouble is I never know myself." + +The victoria stopped in front of the door, and the irreproachable Waters +advanced across the porch. + +"Waters," said Mrs. Pomfret, "I suppose Mr. Crewe is too busy to come +out." + +"I'm afraid so, madam," replied Waters; "there's a line of gentlemen +waitin' here" (he eyed them with no uncertain disapproval). and I've +positive orders not to disturb him, madam." + +"I quite understand, at a time like this," said Mrs. Pomfret, and added, +for the benefit of her audience, "when Mr. Crewe has been public-spirited +and unselfish enough to undertake such a gigantic task. Tell him Miss +Pomfret and I call from time to time because we are so interested, and +that the whole of Leith wishes him success." + +"I'll tell him, madam," said Waters, + +But Mrs. Pomfret did not give the signal for her coachman to drive on. +She looked, instead, at the patient gathering. + +"Good morning, gentlemen," she said. + +"Mother!" whispered Alice, "what are you going to do?" + +The gentlemen rose. + +"I'm Mrs. Pomfret," she said, as though that simple announcement were +quite sufficient,--as it was, for the metropolitan press. Not a man of +them who had not seen Mrs. Pomfret's important movements on both sides of +the water chronicled. "I take the liberty of speaking to you, as we all +seem to be united in a common cause. How is the campaign looking?" + +Some of the gentlemen shifted their cigars from one hand to the other, +and grinned sheepishly. + +"I am so interested," continued Mrs. Pomfret; "it is so unusual in +America for a gentleman to be willing to undertake such a thing, to +subject himself to low criticism, and to have his pure motives +questioned. Mr. Crewe has rare courage--I have always said so. And we are +all going to put our shoulder to the wheel, and help him all we can." + +There was one clever man there who was quick to see his opportunity, and +seize it for his newspaper. + +"And are you going to help Mr. Crewe in his campaign, Mrs. Pomfret?" + +"Most assuredly," answered Mrs. Pomfret. "Women in this country could do +so much if they only would. You know," she added, in her most winning +manner, "you know that a woman can often get a vote when a man can't." + +"And you, and--other ladies will go around to the public meetings?" + +"Why not, my friend; if Mr. Crewe has no objection? and I can conceive of +none." + +"You would have an organization of society ladies to help Mr. Crewe?" + +"That's rather a crude way of putting it," answered Mrs. Pomfret, with +her glasses raised judicially. "Women in what you call I society are, I +am glad to say, taking an increasing interest in politics. They are +beginning to realize that it is a duty." + +"Thank you," said the reporter; "and now would you mind if I took a +photograph of you in your carriage." + +"Oh, mother," protested Alice, "you won't let him do that!" + +"Be quiet, Alice. Lady Aylestone and the duchess are photographed in +every conceivable pose for political purposes. Wymans, just drive around +to the other side of the circle." + +The article appeared next day, and gave, as may be imagined, a tremendous +impetus to Mr. Crewe's cause. "A new era in American politics!" "Society +to take a hand in the gubernatorial campaign of Millionaire Humphrey +Crewe!" "Noted social leader, Mrs. Patterson Pomfret, declares it a duty, +and saga that English women have the right idea." And a photograph of +Mrs. Patterson Pomfret herself, in her victoria, occupied a generous +portion of the front page. + +"What's all this rubbish about Mrs. Pomfret?" was Mr. Crewe's grateful +comment when he saw it. "I spent two valuable hours with that reporter +givin' him material and statistics, and I can't find that he's used a +word of it." + +"Never you mind about that," Mr. Tooting replied. "The more advertising +you get, the better, and this shows that the right people are behind you. +Mrs. Pomfret's a smart woman, all right. She knows her job. And here's +more advertising," he continued, shoving another sheet across the desk, +"a fine likeness of you in caricature labelled, 'Ajax defying the +Lightning.' Who's Ajax? There was an Italian, a street contractor, with +that name--or something like it--in Newcastle a couple of years ago--in +the eighth ward." + +In these days, when false rumours fly apace to the injury of innocent +men, it is well to get at the truth, if possible. It is not true that Mr. +Paul Pardriff, of the 'Ripton Record,' has been to Wedderburn. Mr. +Pardriff was getting into a buggy to go--somewhere--when he chanced to +meet the Honourable Brush Bascom, and the buggy was sent back to the +livery-stable. Mr. Tooting had been to see Mr. Pardriff before the +world-quaking announcement of June 7th, and had found Mr. Pardriff a +reformer who did not believe that the railroad should run the State. But +the editor of the Ripton Record was a man after Emerson's own heart: "a +foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"--and Mr. Pardriff +did not go to Wedderburn. He went off on an excursion up the State +instead, for he had been working too hard; and he returned, as many men +do from their travels, a conservative. He listened coldly to Mr. +Tooting's impassioned pleas for cleaner politics, until Mr. Tooting +revealed the fact that his pockets were full of copy. It seems that a +biography was to be printed--a biography which would, undoubtedly, be in +great demand; the biography of a public benefactor, illustrated with +original photographs and views in the country. Mr. Tooting and Mr. +Pardriff both being men of the world, some exceeding plain talk ensued +between them, and when two such minds unite, a way out is sure to be +found. One can be both a conservative and a radical--if one is clever. +There were other columns in Mr. Pardriff's paper besides editorial +columns; editorial columns, Mr. Pardriff said, were sacred to his +convictions. Certain thumb-worn schedules were referred to. Paul +Pardriff, Ripton, agreed to be the publisher of the biography. + +The next edition of the Record was an example of what Mr. Emerson meant. +Three columns contained extracts of absorbing interest from the +forthcoming biography and, on another page, an editorial. The Honourable +Humphrey Crewe, of Leith, is an estimable gentleman and a good citizen, +whose public endeavours have been of great benefit to the community. A +citizen of Avalon County, the Record regrets that it cannot support his +candidacy for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. We are not among +those who seek to impugn motives, and while giving Mr. Crewe every credit +that his charges against the Northeastern Railroads are made in good +faith, we beg to differ from him. That corporation is an institution +which has stood the test of time, and enriches every year the State +treasury by a large sum in taxes. Its management is in safe, conservative +hands. No one will deny Mr. Crewe's zeal for the State's welfare, but it +must be borne in mind that he is a newcomer in politics, and that +conditions, seen from the surface, are sometimes deceptive. We predict +for Mr. Crewe a long and useful career, but we do not think that at this +time, and on this platform, he will obtain the governorship." + +"Moral courage is what the age needs," had been Mr. Crewe's true and +sententious remark when he read this editorial. But, bearing in mind a +biblical adage, he did not blame Mr. Tooting for his diplomacy. "Send in +the next man." + +Mr. Tooting opened the study door and glanced over the public-spirited +citizens awaiting, on the porch, the pleasure of their leader. + +"Come along, Caldwell," said Mr. Tooting. "He wants your report from +Kingston. Get a hustle on!" + +Mr. Caldwell made his report, received many brief and business-like +suggestions, and retired, impressed. Whereupon Mr. Crewe commanded Mr. +Tooting to order his automobile--an occasional and rapid spin over the +country roads being the only diversion the candidate permitted himself. +Wishing to be alone with his thoughts, he did not take Mr. Tooting with +him on these excursions. + +"And by the way," said Mr. Crewe, as he seized the steering wheel a few +moments later, "just drop a line to Austen Vane, will you, and tell him I +want to see him up here within a day or two. Make an appointment. It has +occurred to me that he might be very useful." + +Mr. Tooting stood on the driveway watching the cloud of dust settle on +the road below. Then he indulged in a long and peculiarly significant +whistle through his teeth, rolled his eyes heavenward, and went into the +house. He remembered Austen's remark about riding a cyclone. + +Mr. Crewe took the Tunbridge road. On his excursion of the day before he +had met Mrs. Pomfret, who had held up her hand, and he had protestingly +brought the car to a stop. + +"Your horses don't frighten," he had said. + +"No, but I wanted to speak to you, Humphrey," Mrs. Pomfret had replied; +"you are becoming so important that nobody ever has a glimpse of you. I +wanted to tell you what an interest we take in this splendid thing you +are doing." + +"Well," said Mr. Crewe, "it was a plain duty, and nobody else seemed +willing to undertake it." + +Mrs. Pomfret's eyes had flashed. + +"Men of that type are scarce," she answered. "But you'll win. You're the +kind of man that wins." + +"Oh, yes, I'll win," said Mr. Crewe. + +"You're so magnificently sure of yourself," cried Mrs. Pomfret. "Alice is +taking such an interest. Every day she asks, 'When is Humphrey going to +make his first speech?' You'll let us know in time, won't you?" + +"Did you put all that nonsense in the New York Flare?" asked Mr. Crewe. + +"Oh, Humphrey, I hope you liked it," cried Mrs. Pomfret. "Don't make the +mistake of despising what women can do. They elected the Honourable Billy +Aylestone--he said so himself. I'm getting all the women interested." + +"Who've you been calling on now?" he inquired. + +Mrs. Pomfret hesitated. + +"I've been up at Fairview to see about Mrs. Flint. She isn't much +better." + +"Is Victoria home?" Mr. Crewe demanded, with undisguised interest. + +"Poor dear girl!" said Mrs. Pomfret, "of course I wouldn't have mentioned +the subject to her, but she wanted to know all about it. It naturally +makes an awkward situation between you and her, doesn't it?" + +"Oh, Victoria's level-headed enough," Mr. Crewe had answered; "I guess +she knows something about old Flint and his methods by this time. At any +rate, it won't make any difference with me," he added magnanimously, and +threw in his clutch. He had encircled Fairview in his drive that day, and +was, curiously enough, headed in that direction now. Slow to make up his +mind in some things, as every eligible man must be, he was now coming +rapidly to the notion that he might eventually decide upon Victoria as +the most fitting mate for one in his position. Still, there was no hurry. +As for going to Fairview House, that might be awkward, besides being open +to misconstruction by his constituents. Mr. Crewe reflected, as he rushed +up the hills, that he had missed Victoria since she had been abroad--and +a man so continually occupied as he did not have time to miss many +people. Mr. Crewe made up his mind he would encircle Fairview every day +until he ran across her. + +The goddess of fortune sometimes blesses the persistent even before they +begin to persist--perhaps from sheer weariness at the remembrance of +previous importuning. Victoria, on a brand-new and somewhat sensitive +five-year-old, was coming out of the stone archway when Mr. Crewe +(without any signal this time!) threw on his brakes. An exhibition of +horsemanship followed, on Victoria's part, which Mr. Crewe beheld with +admiration. The five-year-old swung about like a weathercock in a gust of +wind, assuming an upright position, like the unicorn in the British coat +of arms. Victoria cut him, and he came down on all fours and danced into +the wire fence that encircled the Fairview domain, whereupon he got +another stinging reminder that there was some one on his back. + +"Bravo!" cried Mr. Crewe, leaning on the steering wheel and watching the +performance with delight. Never, he thought, had Victoria been more +appealing; strangely enough, he had not remembered that she was quite so +handsome, or that her colour was so vivid; or that her body was so +straight and long and supple. He liked the way in which she gave it to +that horse, and he made up his mind that she would grace any position, +however high. Presently the horse made a leap into the road in front of +the motor and stood trembling, ready to bolt. + +"For Heaven's sake, Humphrey," she cried, "shut off your power? Don't sit +there like an idiot--do you think I'm doing this for pleasure?" + +Mr. Crewe good-naturedly turned off his switch, and the motor, with a +dying sigh, was silent. He even liked the notion of being commanded to do +a thing; there was a relish about it that was new. The other women of his +acquaintance addressed him more deferentially. + +"Get hold of the bridle," he said to the chauffeur. "You've got no +business to have an animal like that," was his remark to Victoria. + +"Don't touch him!" she said to the man, who was approaching with a true +machinist's fear of a high-spirited horse. "You've got no business to +have a motor like that, if you can't handle it any better than you do." + +"You managed him all right. I'll say that for you," said Mr. Crewe. + +"No thanks to you," she replied. Now that the horse was comparatively +quiet, she sat and regarded Mr. Crewe with an amusement which was +gradually getting the better of her anger. A few moments since, and she +wished with great intensity that she had been using the whip on his +shoulders instead. Now that she had time to gather up the threads of the +situation, the irresistibly comic aspect of it grew upon her, and little +creases came into the corners of her eyes--which Mr. Crewe admired. She +recalled--with indignation, to be sure--the conversation she had +overheard in the dining room of the Duncan house, but her indignation was +particularly directed, on that occasion, towards Mr. Tooting. Here was +Humphrey Crewe, sitting talking to her in the road--Humphrey Crewe, whose +candidacy for the governorship impugned her father's management of the +Northeastern Railroads--and she was unable to take the matter seriously! +There must be something wrong with her, she thought. + +"So you're home again," Mr. Crewe observed, his eyes still bearing +witness to the indubitable fact. "I shouldn't have known it--I've been so +busy." + +"Is the Legislature still in session?" Victoria soberly inquired. + +"You are a little behind the times--ain't you?" said Mr. Crewe, in +surprise. "How long have you been home? Hasn't anybody told you what's +going on?" + +"I only came up ten days ago," she answered, "and I'm afraid I've been +something of a recluse. What is going on?" + +"Well," he declared, "I should have thought you'd heard it, anyway. I'll +send you up a few newspapers when I get back. I'm a candidate for the +governorship." + +Victoria bit her lip, and leaned over to brush a fly from the neck of her +horse. + +"You are getting on rapidly, Humphrey," she said. "Do you think you've +got--any chance?" + +"Any chance!" he repeated, with some pardonable force. "I'm sure to be +nominated. There's an overwhelming sentiment among the voters of this +State for decent politics. It didn't take me long to find that out. The +only wonder is that somebody hasn't seen it before." + +"Perhaps," she answered, giving him a steady look, "perhaps somebody +has." + +One of Mr. Crewe's greatest elements of strength was his imperviousness +to this kind of a remark. + +"If anybody's seen it," he replied, "they haven't the courage of their +convictions." Such were the workings of Mr. Crewe's mind that he had +already forgotten that first talk with Mr. Hamilton Tooting. "Not that I +want to take too much credit on myself," he added, with becoming modesty, +"I have had some experience in the world, and it was natural that I +should get a fresh view. Are you coming down to Leith in a few days?" + +"I may," said Victoria. + +"Telephone me," said Mr. Crewe, "and if I can get off, I will. I'd like +to talk to you. You have more sense than most women I know." + +"You overwhelm me, Humphrey. Compliments sound strangely on your lips." + +"When I say a thing, I mean it," Mr. Crewe declared. "I don't pay +compliments. I'd make it a point to take a little time off to talk to +you. You see, so many men are interested in this thing from various parts +of the State, and we are so busy organizing, that it absorbs most of my +day." + +"I couldn't think of encroaching," Victoria protested. + +"That's all right--you can be a great help. I've got confidence in your +judgment. By the way," he asked suddenly, "you haven't seen your friend +Austen Vane since you got back, have you?" + +"Why do you call him my friend?" said Victoria. Mr. Crew perceived that +the exercise had heightened her colour, and the transition appealed to +his sense of beauty. + +"Perhaps I put it a little strongly," he replied. "You seemed to take an +interest in him, for some reason. I suppose it's because you like new +types." + +"I like Mr. Vane very much,--and for himself," she said quietly. "But I +haven't seen him since I came back. Nor do I think I am likely to see +him. What made you ask about him?" + +"Well, he seems to be a man of some local standing, and he ought to be in +this campaign. If you happen to see him, you might mention the subject to +him. I've sent for him to come up and see me." + +"Mr. Vane doesn't seem to me to be a person one can send for like that," +Victoria remarked judicially. "As to advising him as to what course he +should take politically--that would even be straining my friendship for +you, Humphrey. On reflection," she added, smiling, "there may appear to +you reasons why I should not care to meddle with--politics, just now." + +"I can't see it," said Mr. Crewe; "you've got a mind of your own, and +you've never been afraid to use it, so far as I know. If you should see +that Vane man, just give him a notion of what I'm trying to do." + +"What are you trying to do?" inquired Victoria, sweetly. + +"I'm trying to clean up this State politically," said Mr. Crewe, "and I'm +going to do it. When you come down to Leith, I'll tell you about it, and +I'll send you the newspapers to-day. Don't be in a hurry," he cried, +addressing over his shoulder two farmers in a wagon who had driven up a +few moments before, and who were apparently anxious to pass. "Wind her +up, Adolphe." + +The chauffeur, standing by the crank, started the engine instantly, and +the gears screamed as Mr. Crewe threw in his low speed. The five-year-old +whirled, and bolted down the road at a pace which would have seemed to +challenge a racing car; and the girl in the saddle, bending to the motion +of the horse, was seen to raise her hand in warning. + +"Better stay whar you be," shouted one of the farmers; "don't go to +follerin' her. The hoes is runnin' away." + +Mr. Crewe steered his car into the Fairview entrance, and backed into the +road again, facing the other way. He had decided to go home. + +"That lady can take care of herself," he said, and started off towards +Leith, wondering how it was that Mr. Flint had not confided his recent +political troubles to his daughter. + +"That hoss is ugly, sure enough," said the farmer who had spoken before. + +Victoria flew on, down the narrow road. After twenty strides she did not +attempt to disguise from herself the fact that the five-year-old was in a +frenzy of fear, and running away. Victoria had been run away with before, +and having some knowledge of the animal she rode, she did not waste her +strength by pulling on the curb, but sought rather to quiet him with her +voice, which had no effect whatever. He was beyond appeal, his head was +down, and his ears trembling backwards and straining for a sound of the +terror that pursued him. The road ran through the forest, and Victoria +reflected that the grade, on the whole, was downward to the East +Tunbridge station, where the road crossed the track and took to the hills +beyond. Once among them, she would be safe--he might run as far, as he +pleased. But could she pass the station? She held a firm rein, and tried +to keep her mind clear. + +Suddenly, at a slight bend of the road, the corner of the little red +building came in sight, some hundreds of yards ahead; and, on the side +where it stood, in the clearing, was a white mass which Victoria +recognized as a pile of lumber. She saw several men on the top of the +pile, standing motionless; she heard one of them shout; the horse +swerved, and she felt herself flung violently to the left. + +Her first thought, after striking, was one of self-congratulation that +her safety stirrup and habit had behaved properly. Before she could rise, +a man was leaning over her--and in the instant she had the impression +that he was a friend. Other people had had this impression of him on +first acquaintance--his size, his genial, brick-red face, and his honest +blue eyes all doubtless contributing. + +"Are you hurt, Miss Flint?" he asked. + +"Not in the least," she replied, springing to her feet to prove the +contrary. What's become of my horse?" + +"Two of the men have gone after him," he said, staring at her with +undisguised but honest admiration. Whereupon he became suddenly +embarrassed, and pulled out a handkerchief the size of a table napkin. +"Let me dust you off." + +"Thank you," said Victoria, laughing, and beginning the process herself. +Her new acquaintance plied the handkerchief, his face a brighter +brick-red than ever. + +"Thank God, there wasn't a freight on the siding," he remarked, so +fervently that Victoria stole a glance at him. The dusting process +continued. + +"There," she exclaimed, at last, adjusting her stock and shaking her +skirt, "I'm ever so much obliged. It was very foolish in me to tumble +off, wasn't it?" + +"It was the only thing you could have done," he declared. "I had a good +view of it, and he flung you like a bean out of a shooter. That's a +powerful horse. I guess you're the kind that likes to take risks." + +Victoria laughed at his expressive phrase, and crossed the road, and sat +down on the edge of the lumber pile, in the shade. + +"There seems to be nothing to do but wait," she said, "and to thank you +again. Will you tell me your name?" + +"I'm Tom Gaylord," he replied. + +Her colour, always so near the surface, rose a little as she regarded +him. So this was Austen Vane's particular friend, whom he had tried to +put out of his window. A Herculean task, Victoria thought, from Tom's +appearance. Tom sat down within a few feet of her. + +"I've seen you a good many times, Miss Flint," he remarked, applying the +handkerchief to his face. + +"And I've seen you--once, Mr. Gaylord," some mischievous impulse prompted +her to answer. Perhaps the impulse was more deep-seated, after all. + +"Where?" demanded Tom, promptly. + +"You were engaged," said Victoria, "in a struggle in a window on Ripton +Square. It looked, for a time," she continued, "as if you were going to +be dropped on the roof of the porch." + +Tom gazed at her in confusion and surprise. + +"You seem to be fond, too, of dangerous exercise," she observed. + +"Do you mean to say you remembered me from that?" he exclaimed. "Oh, you +know Austen Vane, don't you?" + +"Does Mr. Vane acknowledge the acquaintance?" Victoria inquired. + +"It's funny, but you remind me of Austen," said Tom, grinning; "you seem +to have the same queer way of saying things that he has." Here he was +conscious of another fit of embarrassment. "I hope you don't mind what I +say, Miss Flint." + +"Not at all," said Victoria. She turned, and looked across the track. + +"I suppose they are having a lot of trouble in catching my horse," she +remarked. + +"They'll get him," Tom assured her, "one of those men is my manager. He +always gets what he starts out for. What were we talking about? Oh, +Austen Vane. You see, I've known him ever since I was a shaver, and I +think the world of him. If he asked me to go to South America and get him +a zebra to-morrow, I believe I'd do it." + +"That is real devotion," said Victoria. The more she saw of young Tom, +the better she liked him, although his conversation was apt to be +slightly embarrassing. + +"We've been through a lot of rows together," Tom continued, warming to +his subject, "in school and college. You see, Austen's the kind of man +who doesn't care what anybody thinks, if he takes it into his head to do +a thing. It was a great piece of luck for me that he shot that fellow out +West, or he wouldn't be here now. You heard about that, didn't you?" + +"Yes," said Victoria, "I believe I did." + +"And yet," said Tom, "although I'm as good a friend as he has, I never +quite got under his skin. There's some things I wouldn't talk to him +about. I've learned that. I never told him, for instance, that I saw him +out in a sleigh with you at the capital." + +"Oh," said Victoria; and she added, "Is he ashamed of it?" + +"It's not that," replied Tom, hastily, "but I guess if he'd wanted me to +know about it, he'd have told me." + +Victoria had begun to realize that, in the few minutes which had elapsed +since she had found herself on the roadside, gazing up into young Tom's +eyes, she had somehow become quite intimate with him. + +"I fancy he would have told you all there was to tell about it--if the +matter had occurred to him again," she said, with the air of finally +dismissing a subject already too prolonged. But Tom knew nothing of the +shades and conventions of the art of conversation. + +"He's never told me he knew you at all!" he exclaimed, staring at +Victoria. Apparently some of the aspects of this now significant omission +on Austen's part were beginning to dawn on Tom. + +"It wasn't worth mentioning," said Victoria, briefly, seeking for a +pretext to change the subject. + +"I don't believe that," said Tom, "you can't expect me to sit here and +look at you and believe that. How long has he known you?" + +"I saw him once or twice last summer, at Leith," said Victoria, now +wavering between laughter and exasperation. She had got herself into a +quandary indeed when she had to parry the appalling frankness of such +inquiries. + +"The more you see of him, the more you'll admire him, I'll prophesy," +said Tom. "If he'd been content to travel along the easy road, as most +fellows are, he would have been counsel for the Northeastern. Instead of +that--" here Tom halted abruptly, and turned scarlet: "I forgot," he +said, "I'm always putting my foot in it, with ladies." + +He was so painfully confused that Victoria felt herself suffering with +him, and longed to comfort him. + +"Please go on, Mr. Gaylord," she said; "I am very much interested in my +neighbours here, and I know that a great many of them think that the +railroad meddles in politics. I've tried to find out what they think, but +it is so difficult for a woman to understand. If matters are wrong, I'm +sure my father will right them when he knows the situation. He has so +much to attend to." She paused. Tom was still mopping his forehead. "You +may say anything you like to me, and I shall not take offence." + +Tom's admiration of her was heightened by this attitude. + +"Austen wouldn't join Mr. Crewe in his little game, anyway," he said. +"When Ham Tooting, Crewe's manager, came to him he kicked him +downstairs." + +Victoria burst out laughing. + +"I constantly hear of these ferocious deeds which Mr. Vane commits," she +said, "and yet he seems exceptionally good-natured and mild-mannered." + +"That's straight--he kicked him downstairs. Served Tooting right, too." + +"There does seem to have been an element of justice in it," Victoria +remarked. + +"You haven't seen Austen since he left his father?" Mr. Gaylord inquired. + +"Left him! Where--has he gone?" + +"Gone up to live with Jabe Jenney. If Austen cared anything about money, +he never would have broken with the old man, who has some little put +away." + +"Why did he leave his father?" asked Victoria, not taking the trouble now +to conceal her interest. + +"Well," said Tom, "you know they never did get along. It hasn't been +Austen's fault--he's tried. After he came back from the West he stayed +here to please old Hilary, when he might have gone to New York and made a +fortune at the law, with his brains. But after Austen saw the kind of law +the old man practised he wouldn't stand for it, and got an office of his +own." + +Victoria's eyes grew serious. + +"What kind of law does Hilary Vane practise?" she asked. + +Tom hesitated and began to mop his forehead again. + +"Please don't mind me," Victoria pleaded. + +"Well, all right," said Tom, "I'll tell you the truth, or die for it. But +I don't want to make you-unhappy." + +"You will do me a kindness, Mr. Gaylord," she said, "by telling me what +you believe to be true." + +There was a note in her voice which young Tom did not understand. +Afterwards, when he reflected about the matter, he wondered if she were +unhappy. + +"I don't want to blame Hilary too much," he answered. "I know Austen +don't. Hilary's grown up with that way of doing things, and in the old +days there was no other way. Hilary is the chief counsel for the +Northeastern, and he runs the Republican organization in this State for +their benefit. But Austen made up his mind that there was no reason why +he should grow up that way. He says that a lawyer should keep to his +profession, and not become a lobbyist in the interest of his clients. He +lived with the old man until the other day, because he has a real soft +spot for him. Austen put up with a good deal. And then Hilary turned +loose on him and said a lot of things he couldn't stand. Austen didn't +answer, but went up and packed his bags and made Hilary's housekeeper +promise to stay with him, or she'd have left, too. They say Hilary's +sorry, now. He's fond of Austen, but he can't get along with him." + +"Do--Do you know what they quarreled about?" asked Victoria, in a low +voice. + +"This spring," said Tom, "the Gaylord Lumber Company made Austen junior +counsel. He ran across a law the other day that nobody else seems to have +had sense enough to discover, by which we can sue the railroad for +excessive freight rates. It means a lot of money. He went right in to +Hilary and showed him the section, told him that suit was going to be +brought, and offered to resign. Hilary flew off the track--and said if he +didn't bring suit he'd publish it all over the State that Austen started +it. Galusha Hammer, our senior counsel, is sick, and I don't think he'll +ever get well. That makes Austen senior counsel. But he persuaded old +Tom, my father, not to bring this suit until after the political +campaign, until Mr. Crewe gets through with his fireworks. Hilary doesn't +know that." + +"I see," said Victoria. + +Down the hill, on the far side of the track, she perceived the two men +approaching with a horse; then she remembered the fact that she had been +thrown, and that it was her horse. She rose to her feet. + +"I'm ever so much obliged to you, Mr. Gaylord," she said; "you have done +me a great favour by--telling me these things. And thanks for letting +them catch the horse. I'm afraid I've put you to a lot of bother." + +"Not at all," said Tom, "not at all." He was studying her face. Its +expression troubled and moved him strangely, for he was not an analytical +person. "I didn't mean to tell you those things when I began," he +apologized, "but you wanted to hear them." + +"I wanted to hear them," repeated Victoria. She held out her hand to him. + +"You're not going to ride home!" he exclaimed. "I'll take you up in my +buggy--it's in the station shed." + +She smiled, turned and questioned and thanked the men, examined the +girths and bridle, and stroked the five-year-old on the neck. He was wet +from mane to fetlocks. + +"I don't think he'll care to run much farther," she said. "If you'll pull +him over to the lumber pile, Mr. Gaylord, I'll mount him." + +They performed her bidding in silence, each paying her a tribute in his +thoughts. As for the five-year-old, he was quiet enough by this time. +When she was in the saddle she held out her hand once more to Tom. + +"I hope we shall meet soon again," she said, and smiling back at him, +started on her way towards Fairview. + +Tom stood for a moment looking after her, while the two men indulged in +surprised comments. + +"Andrews," said young Mr. Gaylord, "just fetch my buggy and follow her +until she gets into the gate." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A SPIRIT IN THE WOODS + +Empires crack before they crumble, and the first cracks seem easily +mended--even as they have been mended before. A revolt in Gaul or Britain +or Thrace is little to be minded, and a prophet in Judea less. And yet +into him who sits in the seat of power a premonition of something +impending gradually creeps--a premonition which he will not acknowledge, +will not define. Yesterday, by the pointing of a finger, he created a +province; to-day he dares not, but consoles himself by saying he does not +wish to point. No antagonist worthy of his steel has openly defied him, +worthy of recognition by the opposition of a legion. But the sense of +security has been subtly and indefinably shaken. + +By the strange telepathy which defies language, to the Honourable Hilary +Vane, Governor of the Province, some such unacknowledged forebodings have +likewise been communicated. A week after his conversation with Austen, on +the return of his emperor from a trip to New York, the Honourable Hilary +was summoned again to the foot of the throne, and his thoughts as he +climbed the ridges towards Fairview were not in harmony with the carols +of the birds in the depths of the forest and the joy of the bright June +weather. Loneliness he had felt before, and to its ills he had applied +the antidote of labour. The burden that sat upon his spirit to-day was +not mere loneliness; to the truth of this his soul attested, but Hilary +Vane had never listened to the promptings of his soul. He would have been +shocked if you had told him this. Did he not confess, with his eyes shut, +his sins every Sunday? Did he not publicly acknowledge his soul? + +Austen Vane had once remarked that, if some keen American lawyer would +really put his mind to the evasion of the Ten Commandments, the High +Heavens themselves might be cheated. This saying would have shocked the +Honourable Hilary inexpressibly. He had never been employed by a +syndicate to draw up papers to avoid these mandates; he revered them, as +he revered the Law, which he spelled with a capital. He spelled the word +Soul with a capital likewise, and certainly no higher recognition could +be desired than this! Never in the Honourable Hilary's long, laborious, +and preeminently model existence had he realized that happiness is +harmony. It would not be true to assert that, on this wonderful June day, +a glimmering of this truth dawned upon him. Such a statement would be +open to the charge of exaggeration, and his frame of mind was +pessimistic. But he had got so far as to ask himself the question,--Cui +bono? and repeated it several times on his drive, until a verse of +Scripture came, unbidden, to his lips. "For what hate man of all his +labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under +the sun?" and "there is one event unto all." Austen's saying, that he had +never learned how to enjoy life, he remembered, too. What had Austen +meant by that? + +Hitherto Hilary Vane had never failed of self-justification in any event +which had befallen him; and while this consciousness of the rectitude of +his own attitude had not made him happier, there had been a certain grim +pleasure in it. To the fact that he had ruined, by sheer +over-righteousness, the last years of the sunny life of Sarah Austen he +had been oblivious--until to-day. The strange, retrospective mood which +had come over him this afternoon led his thoughts into strange paths, and +he found himself wondering if, after all, it had not been in his power to +make her happier. Her dryad-like face, with its sweet, elusive smile, +seemed to peer at him now wistfully out of the forest, and suddenly a new +and startling thought rose up within him--after six and thirty years. +Perhaps she had belonged in the forest! Perhaps, because he had sought to +cage her, she had pined and died! The thought gave Hilary unwonted pain, +and he strove to put it away from him; but memories such as these, once +aroused, are not easily set at rest, and he bent his head as he recalled +(with a new and significant pathos) those hopeless and pitiful flights +into the wilds she loved. + +Now Austen had gone. Was there a Law behind these actions of mother and +son which he had persisted in denouncing as vagaries? Austen was a man: a +man, Hilary could not but see, who had the respect of his fellows, whose +judgment and talents were becoming recognized. Was it possible that he, +Hilary Vane, could have been one of those referred to by the Preacher? +During the week which had passed since Austen's departure the house in +Hanover Street had been haunted for Hilary. The going of his son had not +left a mere void,--that would have been pain enough. Ghosts were there, +ghosts which he could but dimly feel and see, and more than once, in the +long evenings, he had taken to the streets to avoid them. + +In that week Hilary's fear of meeting his son in the street or in the +passages of the building had been equalled by a yearning to see him. +Every morning, at the hour Austen was wont to drive Pepper to the Ripton +House stables across the square, Hilary had contrived to be standing near +his windows--a little back, and out of sight. And--stranger still!--he +had turned from these glimpses to the reports of the Honourable Brush +Bascom and his associates with a distaste he had never felt before. + +With some such thoughts as these Hilary Vane turned into the last +straight stretch of the avenue that led to Fairview House, with its red +and white awnings gleaming in the morning sun. On the lawn, against a +white and purple mass of lilacs and the darker background of pines, a +straight and infinitely graceful figure in white caught his eye and held +it. He recognized Victoria. She wore a simple summer gown, the soft +outline of its flounces mingling subtly with the white clusters behind +her. She turned her head at the sound of the wheels and looked at him; +the distance was not too great for a bow, but Hilary did not bow. +Something in her face deterred him from this act,--something which he +himself did not understand or define. He sought to pronounce the incident +negligible. What was the girl, or her look, to him? And yet (he found +himself strangely thinking) he had read in her eyes a trace of the riddle +which had been relentlessly pursuing him; there was an odd relation in +her look to that of Sarah Austen. During the long years he had been +coming to Fairview, even before the new house was built, when Victoria +was in pinafores, he had never understood her. When she was a child, he +had vaguely recognized in her a spirit antagonistic to his own, and her +sayings had had a disconcerting ring. And now this simple glance of hers +had troubled him--only more definitely. + +It was a new experience for the Honourable Hilary to go into a business +meeting with his faculties astray. Absently he rang the stable bell, +surrendered his horse, and followed a footman to the retired part of the +house occupied by the railroad president. Entering the oak-bound sanctum, +he crossed it and took a seat by the window, merely nodding to Mr. Flint, +who was dictating a letter. Mr. Flint took his time about the letter, but +when it was finished he dismissed the stenographer with an impatient and +powerful wave of the hand--as though brushing the man bodily out of the +room. Remaining motionless until the door had closed, Mr. Flint turned +abruptly and fixed his eyes on the contemplative figure of his chief +counsel. + +"Well?" he said. + +"Well, Flint," answered the Honourable Hilary. + +"Well," said Mr. Flint, "that bridge over Maple River has got loosened up +so by the freshet that we have to keep freight cars on it to hold it +down, and somebody is trying to make trouble by writing a public letter +to the Railroad Commission, and calling attention to the head-on +collision at Barker's Station." + +"Well," replied the Honourable Hilary, again, "that won't have any +influence on the Railroad Commission." + +"No," said Mr. Flint, "but it all goes to increase this confounded public +sentiment that's in the air, like smallpox. Another jackass pretends to +have kept a table of the through trains on the Sumsic division, and says +they've averaged forty-five minutes late at Edmundton. He says the +through express made the run faster thirty years ago." + +"I guess that's so," said the Honourable Hilary, "I was counsel for that +road then. I read that letter. He says there isn't an engine on the +division that could pull his hat off, up grade." + +Neither of the two gentlemen appeared to deem this statement humorous. + +"What these incendiaries don't understand," said Mr. Flint, "is that we +have to pay dividends." + +"It's because they don't get 'em," replied Mr. Vane, sententiously. + +"The track slid into the water at Glendale," continued Mr. Flint. "I +suppose they'll tell us we ought to rock ballast that line. You'll see +the Railroad Commission, and give 'em a sketch of a report." + +"I had a talk with Young yesterday," said Mr. Vane, his eyes on the +stretch of lawn and forest framed by the window. For the sake of the +ignorant, it may be well to add that the Honourable Orrin Young was the +chairman of the Commission. + +"And now," said Mr. Flint, "not that this Crewe business amounts to that" +(here the railroad president snapped his fingers with the intensity of a +small pistol shot), "but what's he been doing?" + +"Political advertising," said the Honourable Hilary. + +"Plenty of it, I guess," Mr. Flint remarked acidly. "That's one thing +Tooting can't teach him. He's a natural-born genius at it." + +"Tooting can help--even at that," answered Mr. Vane, ironically. "They've +got a sketch of so-called Northeastern methods in forty weekly newspapers +this week, with a picture of that public benefactor and martyr, Humphrey +Crewe. Here's a sample of it." + +Mr. Flint waved the sample away. + +"You've made a list of the newspapers that printed it?" Mr. Flint +demanded. Had he lived in another age he might have added, "Have the +malefactors burned alive in my garden." + +"Brush has seen some of 'em," said Mr. Vane, no doubt referring to the +editors, "and I had some of 'em come to Ripton. They've got a lot to say +about the freedom of the press, and their right to take political +advertising. Crewe's matter is in the form of a despatch, and most of 'em +pointed out at the top of the editorial columns that their papers are not +responsible for despatches in the news columns. Six of 'em are out and +out for Crewe, and those fellows are honest enough." + +"Take away their passes and advertising," said Mr. Flint. ("Off with +their heads!" said the Queen of Hearts.) + +"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Flint; they might make capital out of +it. I think you'll find that five of 'em have sent their passes back, +anyway." + +"Freeman will give you some new ideas" (from the "Book of Arguments," +although Mr. Flint did not say so) "which have occurred to me might be +distributed for editorial purposes next week. And, by the way, what have +you done about that brilliant Mr. Coombes of the 'Johnstown Ray,' who +says 'the Northeastern Railroads give us a pretty good government'?" + +The Honourable Hilary shook his head. + +"Too much zeal," he observed. "I guess he won't do it again." + +For a while after that they talked of strictly legal matters, which the +chief counsel produced in order out of his bag. But when these were +finally disposed of, Mr. Flint led the conversation back to the +Honourable Humphrey Crewe, who stood harmless--to be sure--like a bull on +the track which it might be unwise to run over. + +"He doesn't amount to a soap bubble in a gale," Mr. Flint declared +contemptuously. "Sometimes I think we made a great mistake to notice him. + +"We haven't noticed him," said Mr. Vane; "the newspapers have." + +Mr. Flint brushed this distinction aside. + +"That," he said irritably, "and letting Tooting go--" + +The Honourable Hilary's eyes began to grow red. In former days Mr. Flint +had not often questioned his judgment. + +"There's one thing more I wanted to mention to you," said the chief +counsel. "In past years I have frequently drawn your attention to that +section of the act of consolidation which declares that rates and fares +existing at the time of its passage shall not be increased." + +"Well," said Mr. Flint, impatiently, "well, what of it?" + +"Only this," replied the Honourable Hilary, "you disregarded my advice, +and the rates on many things are higher than they were." + +"Upon my word, Vane," said Mr. Flint, "I wish you'd chosen some other day +to croak. What do you want me to do? Put all the rates back because this +upstart politician Crewe is making a noise? Who's going to dig up that +section?" + +"Somebody has dug it up," said Mr. Vane: + +This was the last straw. + +"Speak out, man!" he cried. "What are you leading up to?" + +"Just this," answered the Honourable Hilary; "that the Gaylord Lumber +Company are going to bring suit under that section." + +Mr. Flint rose, thrust his hands in his pockets, and paced the room +twice. + +"Have they got a case?" he demanded. + +"It looks a little that way tome," said Mr. Vane. "I'm not prepared to +give a definite opinion as yet." + +Mr. Flint measured the room twice again. + +"Did that old fool Hammer stumble on to this?" + +"Hammer's sick," said Mr. Vane; "they say he's got Bright's disease. My +son discovered that section." + +There was a certain ring of pride in the Honourable Hilary's voice, and a +lifting of the head as he pronounced the words "my son," which did not +escape Mr. Flint. The railroad president walked slowly to the arm of the +chair in which his chief counsel was seated, and stood looking down at +him. But the Honourable Hilary appeared unconscious of what was +impending. + +"Your son!" exclaimed Mr. Flint. "So your son, the son of the man who has +been my legal adviser and confidant and friend for thirty years, is going +to join the Crewel and Tootings in their assaults on established decency +and order! He's out for cheap political preferment, too, is he? By +thunder! I thought that he had some such thing in his mind when he came +in here and threw his pass in my face and took that Meader suit. I don't +mind telling you that he's the man I've been afraid of all along. He's +got a head on him--I saw that at the start. I trusted to you to control +him, and this is how you do it." + +It was characteristic of the Honourable Hilary, when confronting an angry +man, to grow cooler as the other's temper increased. + +"I don't want to control him," he said. + +"I guess you couldn't," retorted Mr. Flint. + +"That's a better way of putting it," replied the Honourable Hilary, "I +couldn't." + +The chief counsel for the Northeastern Railroads got up and went to the +window, where he stood for some time with his back turned to the +president. Then Hilary Vane faced about. + +"Mr. Flint," he began, in his peculiar deep and resonant voice, "you've +said some things to-day that I won't forget. I want to tell you, first of +all, that I admire my son." + +"I thought so," Mr. Flint interrupted. + +"And more than that," the Honourable Hilary continued, "I prophesy that +the time will come when you'll admire him. Austen Vane never did an +underhanded thing in his life--or committed a mean action. He's be'n +wild, but he's always told me the truth. I've done him injustice a good +many times, but I won't stand up and listen to another man do him +injustice." Here he paused, and picked up his bag. "I'm going down to +Ripton to write out my resignation as counsel for your roads, and as soon +as you can find another man to act, I shall consider it accepted." + +It is difficult to put down on paper the sensations of the president of +the Northeastern Railroads as he listened to these words from a man with +whom he had been in business relations for over a quarter of a century, a +man upon whose judgment he had always relied implicitly, who had been a +strong fortress in time of trouble. Such sentences had an incendiary, +blasphemous ring on Hilary Vane's lips--at first. It was as if the sky +had fallen, and the Northeastern had been wiped out of existence. + +Mr. Flint's feelings were, in a sense, akin to those of a traveller by +sea who wakens out of a sound sleep in his cabin, with peculiar and +unpleasant sensations, which he gradually discovers are due to cold +water, and he realizes that the boat on which he is travelling is +sinking. + +The Honourable Hilary, with his bag, was halfway to the door, when Mr. +Flint crossed the room in three strides and seized him by the arm. + +"Hold on, Vane," he said, speaking with some difficulty; "I'm--I'm a +little upset this morning, and my temper got the best of me. You and I +have been good friends for too many years for us to part this way. Sit +down a minute, for God's sake, and let's cool off. I didn't intend to say +what I did. I apologize." + +Mr. Flint dropped his counsel's arm, and pulled out a handkerchief, and +mopped his face. "Sit down, Hilary," he said. + +The Honourable Hilary's tight lips trembled. Only three or four times in +their long friendship had the president made use of his first name. + +"You wouldn't leave me in the lurch now, Hilary," Mr. Flint continued, +"when all this nonsense is in the air? Think of the effect such an +announcement would have! Everybody knows and respects you, and we can't +do without your advice and counsel. But I won't put it on that ground. +I'd never forgive myself, as long as I lived, if I lost one of my oldest +and most valued personal friends in this way." + +The Honourable Hilary looked at Mr. Flint, and sat down. He began to cut +a piece of Honey Dew, but his hand shook. It was difficult, as we know, +for him to give expression to his feelings. + +"All right," he said. + +Half an hour later Victoria, from under the awning of the little balcony +in front of her mother's sitting room, saw her father come out bareheaded +into the sun and escort the Honourable Hilary Vane to his buggy. This was +an unwonted proceeding. + +Victoria loved to sit in that balcony, a book lying neglected in her lap, +listening to the summer sounds: the tinkle of distant cattle bells, the +bass note of a hurrying bee, the strangely compelling song of the +hermit-thrush, which made her breathe quickly; the summer wind, stirring +wantonly, was prodigal with perfumes gathered from the pines and the +sweet June clover in the fields and the banks of flowers; in the +distance, across the gentle foreground of the hills, Sawanec beckoned +--did Victoria but raise her eyes!--to a land of enchantment. + +The appearance of her father and Hilary had broken her reverie, and a new +thought, like a pain, had clutched her. The buggy rolled slowly down the +drive, and Mr. Flint, staring after it a moment, went in the house. After +a few minutes he emerged again, an old felt hat on his head which he was +wont to wear in the country and a stick in his hand. Without raising his +eyes, he started slowly across the lawn; and to Victoria, leaning forward +intently over the balcony rail, there seemed an unwonted lack of purpose +in his movements. Usually he struck out briskly in the direction of the +pastures where his prize Guernseys were feeding, stopping on the way to +pick up the manager of his farm. There are signs, unknown to men, which +women read, and Victoria felt her heart beating, as she turned and +entered the sitting room through the French window. A trained nurse was +softly closing the door of the bedroom on the right. + +"Mrs. Flint is asleep," she said. + +"I am going out for a little while, Miss Oliver," Victoria answered, and +the nurse returned a gentle smile of understanding. + +Victoria, descending the stairs, hastily pinned on a hat which she kept +in the coat closet, and hurried across the lawn in the direction Mr. +Flint had taken. Reaching the pine grove, thinned by a famous landscape +architect, she paused involuntarily to wonder again at the ultramarine of +Sawanec through the upright columns of the trunks under the high canopy +of boughs. The grove was on a plateau, which was cut on the side nearest +the mountain by the line of a gray stone wall, under which the land fell +away sharply. Mr. Flint was seated on a bench, his hands clasped across +his stick, and as she came softly over the carpet of the needles he did +not hear her until she stood beside him. + +"You didn't tell me that you were going for a walk," she said +reproachfully. + +He started, and dropped his stick. She stooped quickly, picked it up for +him, and settled herself at his side. + +"I--I didn't expect to go, Victoria," he answered. + +"You see," she said, "it's useless to try to slip away. I saw you from +the balcony." + +"How's your mother feeling?" he asked. + +"She's asleep. She seems better to me since she's come back to Fairview." + +Mr. Flint stared at the mountain with unseeing eyes. + +"Father," said Victoria, "don't you think you ought to stay up here at +least a week, and rest? I think so." + +"No," he said, "no. There's a directors' meeting of a trust company +to-morrow which I have to attend. I'm not tired." + +Victoria shook her head, smiling at him with serious eyes. + +"I don't believe you know when you are tired," she declared. "I can't see +the good of all these directors' meetings. Why don't you retire, and live +the rest of your life in peace? You've got--money enough, and even if you +haven't," she added, with the little quiver of earnestness that sometimes +came into her voice, "we could sell this big house and go back to the +farmhouse to live. We used to be so happy there." + +He turned abruptly, and fixed upon her a steadfast, searching stare that +held, nevertheless, a strange tenderness in it. + +"You don't care for all this, do you, Victoria?" he demanded, waving his +stick to indicate the domain of Fairview. + +She laughed gently, and raised her eyes to the green roof of the needles. + +"If we could only keep the pine grove!" she sighed. "Do you remember what +good times we had in the farmhouse, when you and I used to go off for +whole days together?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Flint, "yes." + +"We don't do that any more," said Victoria. "It's only a little drive and +a walk, now and then. And they seem to be growing--scarcer." + +Mr. Flint moved uneasily, and made an attempt to clear his voice. + +"I know it," he said, and further speech seemingly failed him. Victoria +had the greater courage of the two. + +"Why don't we?" she asked. + +"I've often thought of it," he replied, still seeking his words with +difficulty. "I find myself with more to do every year, Victoria, instead +of less." + +"Then why don't you give it up?" + +"Why?" he asked, "why? Sometimes I wish with my whole soul I could give +it up. I've always said that you had more sense than most women, but even +you could not understand." + +"I could understand," said Victoria. + +He threw at her another glance,--a ring in her words proclaimed their +truth in spite of his determined doubt. In her eyes--had he but known +it!--was a wisdom that exceeded his. + +"You don't realize what you're saying," he exclaimed; "I can't leave the +helm." + +"Isn't it," she said, "rather the power that is so hard to relinquish?" + +The feelings of Augustus Flint when he heard this question were of a +complex nature. It was the second time that day he had been shocked, +--the first being when Hilary Vane had unexpectedly defended his son. The +word Victoria had used, power, had touched him on the quick. What had she +meant by it? Had she been his wife and not his daughter, he would have +flown into a rage. Augustus Flint was not a man given to the +psychological amusement of self-examination; he had never analyzed his +motives. He had had little to do with women, except Victoria. The Rose of +Sharon knew him as the fountainhead from which authority and money +flowed, but Victoria, since her childhood, had been his refuge from care, +and in the haven of her companionship he had lost himself for brief +moments of his life. She was the one being he really loved, with whom he +consulted on such affairs of importance as he felt to be within her scope +and province,--the cattle, the men on the place outside of the household, +the wisdom of buying the Baker farm; bequests to charities, paintings, +the library; and recently he had left to her judgment the European baths +and the kind of treatment which her mother had required. Victoria had +consulted with the physicians in Paris, and had made these decisions +herself. From a child she had never shown a disposition to evade +responsibility. + +To his intimate business friends, Mr. Flint was in the habit of speaking +of her as his right-hand man, but she was circumscribed by her sex,--or +rather by Mr. Flint's idea of her sex,--and it never occurred to him that +she could enter into the larger problems of his life. For this reason he +had never asked himself whether such a state of affairs would be +desirable. In reality it was her sympathy he craved, and such an +interpretation of himself as he chose to present to her. + +So her question was a shock. He suddenly beheld his daughter transformed, +a new personality who had been thinking, and thinking along paths which +he had never cared to travel. + +"The power!" he repeated. "What do you mean by that, Victoria?" + +She sat for a moment on the end of the bench, gazing at him with a +questioning, searching look which he found disconcerting. What had +happened to his daughter? He little guessed the tumult in her breast. She +herself could not fully understand the strange turn the conversation had +taken towards the gateway of the vital things. + +"It is natural for men to love power, isn't it?" + +"I suppose so," said Mr. Flint, uneasily. "I don't know what you're +driving at, Victoria." + +"You control the lives and fortunes of a great many people." + +"That's just it," answered Mr. Flint, with a dash at this opening; "my +responsibilities are tremendous. I can't relinquish them." + +"There is no--younger man to take your place? Not that I mean you are +old, father," she continued, "but you have worked very hard all your +life, and deserve a holiday the rest of it." + +"I don't know of any younger man," said Mr. Flint. "I don't mean to say +I'm the only person in the world who can safeguard the stockholders' +interests in the Northeastern. But I know the road and its problems. I +don't understand this from you, Victoria. It doesn't sound like you. And +as for letting go the helm now," he added, with a short laugh tinged with +bitterness, "I'd be posted all over the country as a coward." + +"Why?" asked Victoria, in the same quiet way. + +"Why? Because a lot of discontented and disappointed people who have made +failures of their lives are trying to give me as much trouble as they +can." + +"Are you sure they are all disappointed and discontented, father?" she +said. + +"What," exclaimed Mr. Flint, "you ask me that question? You, my own +daughter, about people who are trying to make me out a rascal!" + +"I don't think they are trying to make you out a rascal--at least most of +them are not," said Victoria. "I don't think the--what you might call the +personal aspect enters in with the honest ones." + +Mr. Flint was inexpressibly amazed. He drew a long breath. + +"Who are the honest ones?" he cried. "Do you mean to say that you, my own +daughter, are defending these charlatans?" + +"Listen, father," said Victoria. "I didn't mean to worry you, I didn't +mean to bring up that subject to-day. Come--let's go for a walk and see +the new barn." + +But Mr. Flint remained firmly planted on the bench. + +"Then you did intend to bring up the subject--some day?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Victoria. She sat down again. "I have often wanted to hear +--your side of it." + +"Whose side have you heard?" demanded Mr. Flint. + +A crimson flush crept into her cheek, but her father was too disturbed to +notice it. + +"You know," she said gently, "I go about the country a good deal, and I +hear people talking,--farmers, and labourers, and people in the country +stores who don't know that I'm your daughter." + +"What do they say?" asked Mr. Flint, leaning forward eagerly and +aggressively. + +Victoria hesitated, turning over the matter in her mind. + +"You understand, I am merely repeating what they say--" + +"Yes, yes," he interrupted, "I want to know how far this thing has gone +among them." + +"Well," continued Victoria, looking at him bravely, "as nearly as I can +remember their argument it is this: that the Northeastern Railroads +control the politics of the State for their own benefit. That you appoint +the governors and those that go to the Legislature, and that--Hilary +Vane gets them elected. They say that he manages a political +machine--that's the right word, isn't it?--for you. And that no laws can +be passed of which you do not approve. And they say that the politicians +whom Hilary Vane commands, and the men whom they put into office are all +beholden to the railroad, and are of a sort which good citizens cannot +support. They say that the railroad has destroyed the people's +government." + +Mr. Flint, for the moment forgetting or ignoring the charges, glanced at +her in astonishment. The arraignment betrayed an amount of thought on the +subject which he had not suspected. + +"Upon my word, Victoria," he said, "you ought to take the stump for +Humphrey Crewe." + +She reached out with a womanly gesture, and laid her hand upon his. + +"I am only telling you--what I hear," she said. + +"Won't you explain to me the way you look at it? These people don't all +seem to be dishonest men or charlatans. Some of them, I know, are +honest." And her colour rose again. + +"Then they are dupes and fools," Mr. Flint declared vehemently. "I don't +know how to explain it to you the subject is too vast, too far-reaching. +One must have had some business experience to grasp it. I don't mean to +say you're not intelligent, but I'm at a loss where to begin with you. +Looked at from their limited point of view, it would seem as if they had +a case. I don't mean your friend, Humphrey Crewe--it's anything to get +office with him. Why, he came up here and begged me--" + +"I wasn't thinking of Humphrey Crewe," said Victoria. Mr. Flint gave an +ejaculation of distaste. + +"He's no more of a reformer than I am. And now we've got that wild son of +Hilary Vane's--the son of one of my oldest friends and associates +--making trouble. He's bitten with this thing, too, and he's got some +brains in his head. Why," exclaimed Mr. Flint, stopping abruptly and +facing his daughter, "you know him! He's the one who drove you home that +evening from Crewe's party." + +"I remember," Victoria faltered, drawing her hand away. + +"I wasn't very civil to him that night, but I've always been on the +lookout for him. I sent him a pass once, and he came up here and gave me +as insolent a talking to as I ever had in my life." + +How well Victoria recalled that first visit, and how she had wondered +about the cause of it! So her father and Austen Vane had quarrelled from +the first. + +"I'm sure he didn't mean to be insolent," she said, in a low voice. "He +isn't at all that sort." + +"I don't know what sort he is, except that he isn't my sort," Mr. Flint +retorted, intent upon the subject which had kindled his anger earlier in +the day. "I don't pretend to understand him. He could probably have been +counsel for the road if he had behaved decently. Instead, he starts in +with suits against us. He's hit upon something now." + +The president of the Northeastern dug savagely into the ground with his +stick, and suddenly perceived that his daughter had her face turned away +from his, towards the mountain. + +"Well, I won't bore you with that." + +She turned with a look in her eyes that bewildered him. + +"You're not--boring me," she said. + +"I didn't intend to go into all that," he explained more calmly, "but the +last few days have been trying, we've got to expect the wind to blow from +all directions." + +Victoria smiled at him faintly. + +"I have told you," she said, "that what you need is a trip abroad. +Perhaps some day you will remember it." + +"Maybe I'll go in the autumn," he answered, smiling back at her. "These +little flurries don't amount to anything more than mosquito-bites--only +mosquitoes are irritating. You and I understand each other, Victoria, and +now listen. I'll give you the broad view of this subject, the view I've +got to take, and I've lived in the world and seen more of it than some +folks who think they know it all. I am virtually the trustee for +thousands of stockholders, many of whom are widows and orphans. These +people are innocent; they rely on my ability, and my honesty, for their +incomes. Few men who have not had experience in railroad management know +one-tenth of the difficulties and obstructions encountered by a railroad +president who strives to do his duty by the road. My business is to run +the Northeastern as economically as is consistent with good service and +safety, and to give the stockholders the best return for their money. I +am the steward--and so long as I am the steward," he exclaimed, "I'm +going to do what I think is right, taking into consideration all the +difficulties that confront me." + +He got up and took a turn or two on the pine-needles. Victoria regarded +him in silence. He appeared to her at that moment the embodiment of the +power he represented. Force seemed to emanate from him, and she +understood more clearly than ever how, from a poor boy on an obscure farm +in Truro, he had risen to his present height. + +"I don't say the service is what it should be," he went on, "but give me +time--give me time. With all this prosperity in the country we can't +handle the freight. We haven't got cars enough, tracks enough, engines +enough. I won't go into that with you. But I do expect you to understand +this: that politicians are politicians; they have always been corrupt as +long as I have known them, and in my opinion they always will be. The +Northeastern is the largest property holder in the State, pays the +biggest tax, and has the most at stake. The politicians could ruin us in +a single session of the Legislature--and what's more, they would do it. +We'd have to be paying blackmail all the time to prevent measures that +would compel us to go out of business. This is a fact, and not a theory. +What little influence I exert politically I have to maintain in order to +protect the property of my stockholders from annihilation. It isn't to be +supposed," he concluded, "that I'm going to see the State turned over to +a man like Humphrey Crewe. I wish to Heaven that this and every other +State had a George Washington for governor and a majority of Robert +Morrises in the Legislature. If they exist, in these days, the people +won't elect 'em--that's all. The kind of man the people will elect, if +you let 'em alone, is--a man who brings in a bill and comes to you +privately and wants you to buy him off." + +"Oh, father," Victoria cried, "I can't believe that of the people I see +about here! They seem so kind and honest and high-principled." + +Mr. Flint gave a short laugh. + +"They're dupes, I tell you. They're at the mercy of any political schemer +who thinks it worth his while to fool 'em. Take Leith, for instance. +There's a man over there who has controlled every office in that town for +twenty-five years or more. He buys and sells votes and credentials like +cattle. His name is Job Braden." + +"Why," said Victoria, I saw him at Humphrey Crewe's garden-party." + +"I guess you did," said Mr. Flint, "and I guess Humphrey Crewe saw him +before he went." + +Victoria was silent, the recollection of the talk between Mr. Tooting and +Mr. Crewe running through her mind, and Mr. Tooting's saying that he had +done "dirty things" for the Northeastern. She felt that this was +something she could not tell her father, nor could she answer his +argument with what Tom Gaylord had said. She could not, indeed, answer +Mr. Flint's argument at all; the subject, as he had declared, being too +vast for her. And moreover, as she well knew, Mr. Flint was a man whom +other men could not easily answer; he bore them down, even as he had +borne her down. Involuntarily her mind turned to Austen, and she wondered +what he had said; she wondered how he would have answered her +father--whether he could have answered him. And she knew not what to +think. Could it be right, in a position of power and responsibility, to +acknowledge evil and deal with it as evil? That was, in effect, the gist +of Mr. Flint's contention. She did not know. She had never (strangely +enough, she thought) sought before to analyze the ethical side of her +father's character. One aspect of him she had shared with her mother, +that he was a tower of defence and strength, and that his name alone had +often been sufficient to get difficult things done. + +Was he right in this? And were his opponents charlatans, or dupes, or +idealists who could never be effective? Mr. Crewe wanted an office; Tom +Gaylord had a suit against the road, and Austen Vane was going to bring +that suit! What did she really know of Austen Vane? But her soul cried +out treason at this, and she found herself repeating, with intensity, "I +believe in him! I believe in him!" She would have given worlds to have +been able to stand up before her father and tell him that Austen would +not bring the suit at this time that Austen had not allowed his name to +be mentioned for office in this connection, and had spurned Mr. Crewe's +advances. But she had not seen Austen since February. + +What was his side of it? He had never told her, and she respected his +motives--yet, what was his side? Fresh from the inevitably deep +impressions which her father's personality had stamped upon her, she +wondered if Austen could cope with the argument before which she had been +so helpless. + +The fact that she made of each of these two men the embodiment of a +different and opposed idea did not occur to Victoria until that +afternoon. Unconsciously, each had impersonated the combatants in a +struggle which was going on in her own breast. Her father himself, +instinctively, had chosen Austen Vane for his antagonist without knowing +that she had an interest in him. Would Mr. Flint ever know? Or would the +time come when she would be forced to take a side? The blood mounted to +her temples as she put the question from her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MR. JABE JENNEY ENTERTAINS + +Mr. Flint had dropped the subject with his last remark, nor had Victoria +attempted to pursue it. Bewildered and not a little depressed (a new +experience for her), she had tried to hide her feelings. He, too, was +harassed and tired, and she had drawn him away from the bench and through +the pine woods to the pastures to look at his cattle and the model barn +he was building for them. At half-past three, in her runabout, she had +driven him to the East Tunbridge station, where he had taken the train +for New York. He had waved her a good-by from the platform, and smiled: +and for a long time, as she drove through the silent roads, his words and +his manner remained as vivid as though he were still by her side. He was +a man who had fought and conquered, and who fought on for the sheer love +of it. + +It was a blue day in the hill country. At noon the clouds had crowned +Sawanec--a sure sign of rain; the rain had come and gone, a June +downpour, and the overcast sky lent (Victoria fancied) to the +country-side a new atmosphere. The hills did not look the same. It was +the kind of a day when certain finished country places are at their +best--or rather seem best to express their meaning; a day for an event; a +day set strangely apart with an indefinable distinction. Victoria +recalled such days in her youth when weddings or garden-parties had +brought canopies into service, or news had arrived to upset the routine +of the household. Raindrops silvered the pines, and the light winds shook +them down on the road in a musical shower. + +Victoria was troubled, as she drove, over a question which had recurred +to her many times since her talk that morning: had she been hypocritical +in not telling her father that she had seen more of Austen Vane than she +had implied by her silence? For many years Victoria had chosen her own +companions; when the custom had begun, her mother had made a protest +which Mr. Flint had answered with a laugh; he thought Victoria's judgment +better than his wife's. Ever since that time the Rose of Sharon had taken +the attitude of having washed her hands of responsibility for a course +which must inevitably lead to ruin. She discussed some of Victoria's +acquaintances with Mrs. Pomfret and other intimates; and Mrs. Pomfret had +lost no time in telling Mrs. Flint about her daughter's sleigh-ride at +the State capital with a young man from Ripton who seemed to be seeing +entirely too much of Victoria. Mrs. Pomfret had marked certain danger +signs, and as a conscientious woman was obliged to speak of them. Mrs. +Pomfret did not wish to see Victoria make a mesalliance. + +"My dear Fanny," Mrs. Flint had cried, lifting herself from the lace +pillows, "what do you expect me to do especially when I have nervous +prostration? I've tried to do my duty by Victoria--goodness knows--to +bring her up--among the sons and daughters of the people who are my +friends. They tell me that she has temperament--whatever that may be. I'm +sure I never found out, except that the best thing to do with people who +have it is to let them alone and pray for them. When we go abroad I like +the Ritz and Claridge's and that new hotel in Rome. I see my friends +there. Victoria, if you please, likes the little hotels in the narrow +streets where you see nobody, and where you are most uncomfortable." +(Miss Oliver, it's time for those seven drops.) "As I was saying, +Victoria's enigmatical hopeless, although a French comtesse who wouldn't +look at anybody at the baths this spring became wild about her, and a +certain type of elderly English peer always wants to marry her. (I +suppose I do look pale to-day.) Victoria loves art, and really knows +something about it. She adores to potter around those queer places abroad +where you see strange English and Germans and Americans with red books in +their hands. What am I to do about this young man of whom you +speak--whatever his name is? I suppose Victoria will marry him--it would +be just like her. But what can I do, Fanny? I can't manage her, and it's +no use going to her father. He would only laugh. Augustus actually told +me once there was no such thing as social position in this country!" + +"American men of affairs," Mrs. Pomfret judicially replied, "are too busy +to consider position. They make it, my dear, as a by-product." Mrs. +Pomfret smiled, and mentally noted this aptly technical witticism for use +again. + +"I suppose they do," assented the Rose of Sharon, "and their daughters +sometimes squander it, just as their sons squander their money." + +"I'm not at all sure that Victoria is going to squander it," was Mrs. +Pomfret's comforting remark. "She is too much of a personage, and she has +great wealth behind her. I wish Alice were more like her, in some ways. +Alice is so helpless, she has to be prodded and prompted continually. I +can't leave her for a moment. And when she is married, I'm going into a +sanatorium for six months." + +"I hear," said Mrs. Flint, "that Humphrey Crewe is quite epris." + +"Poor dear Humphrey!" exclaimed Mrs. Pomfret, "he can think of nothing +else but politics." + +But we are not to take up again, as yet, the deeds of the crafty Ulysses. +In order to relate an important conversation between Mrs. Pomfret and the +Rose of Sharon, we have gone back a week in this history, and have left +Victoria--absorbed in her thoughts--driving over a wood road of many +puddles that led to the Four Corners, near Avalon. The road climbed the +song-laden valley of a brook, redolent now with scents of which the rain +had robbed the fern, but at length Victoria reached an upland where the +young corn was springing from the, black furrows that followed the +contours of the hillsides, where the big-eyed cattle lay under the heavy +maples and oaks or gazed at her across the fences. + +Victoria drew up in front of an unpainted farm-house straggling beside +the road, a farm-house which began with the dignity of fluted pilasters +and ended in a tumble-down open shed filled with a rusty sleigh and a +hundred nondescript articles--some of which seemed to be moving. Intently +studying this phenomenon from her runabout, she finally discovered that +the moving objects were children; one of whom, a little girl, came out +and stared at her. + +"How do you do, Mary?" said Victoria. "Isn't your name Mary?" + +The child nodded. + +"I remember you," she said; "you're the rich lady, mother met at the +party, that got father a job." + +Victoria smiled. And such was the potency of the smile that the child +joined in it. + +"Where's brother?" asked Victoria. "He must be quite grown up since we +gave him lemonade." + +Mary pointed to the woodshed. + +"O dear!" exclaimed Victoria, leaping out of the runabout and hitching +her horse, "aren't you afraid some of those sharp iron things will fall +on him?" She herself rescued brother from what seemed untimely and +certain death, and set him down in safety in the middle of the grass +plot. He looked up at her with the air of one whose dignity has been +irretrievably injured, and she laughed as she reached down and pulled his +nose. Then his face, too, became wreathed in smiles. + +"Mary, how old are you?" + +"Seven, ma'am." + +"And I'm five," Mary's sister chimed in. + +"I want you to promise me," said Victoria, "that you won't let brother +play in that shed. And the very next time I come I'll bring you both the +nicest thing I can think of." + +Mary began to dance. + +"We'll promise, we'll promise!" she cried for both, and at this juncture +Mrs. Fitch, who had run from the washtub to get into her Sunday waist, +came out of the door. + +"So you hain't forgot me!" she exclaimed. "I was almost afeard you'd +forgot me." + +"I've been away," said Victoria, gently taking the woman's hand and +sitting down on the doorstep. + +"Don't set there," said Mrs. Fitch; "come into the parlour. You'll dirty +your dress--Mary!" This last in admonition. + +"Let her stay where she is," said Victoria, putting her arm around the +child. "The dress washes, and it's so nice outside." + +"You rich folks certainly do have strange notions," declared Mrs. Fitch, +fingering the flounce on Victoria's skirt, which formed the subject of +conversation for the next few minutes. + +"How are you getting on?" Victoria asked at length. + +A look of pain came into the woman's eyes. + +"You've be'n so good to us, and done so much gettin' Eben a job on your +father's place, that I don't feel as if I ought to lie to you. He done it +again--on Saturday night. First time in three months. The manager up at +Fairview don't know it. Eben was all right Monday." + +"I'm sorry," said Victoria, simply. "Was it bad?" + +"It might have be'n. Young Mr. Vane is stayin' up at Jabe Jenney's--you +know, the first house as you turn off the hill road. Mr. Vane heard some +way what you'd done for us, and he saw Eben in Ripton Saturday night, and +made him get into his buggy and come home. I guess he had a time with +Eben. Mr. Vane, he came around here on Sunday, and gave him as stiff a +talkin' to as he ever got, I guess. He told Eben he'd ought to be ashamed +of himself goin' back on folks who was tryin' to help him pay his +mortgage. And I'll say this for Eben, he was downright ashamed. He told +Mr. Vane he could lick him if he caught him drunk again, and Mr. Vane +said he would. My, what a pretty colour you've got to-day." + +Victoria rose. "I'm going to send you down some washing," she said. + +Mrs. Fitch insisted upon untying the horse, while Victoria renewed her +promises to the children. + +There were two ways of going back to Fairview,--a long and a short way, +--and the long way led by Jabe Jenney's farm. Victoria came to the fork +in the road, paused,--and took the long way. Several times after this, +she pulled her horse down to a walk, and was apparently on the point of +turning around again: a disinterested observer in a farm wagon, whom she +passed, thought that she had missed her road. "The first house after you +turn off the hill road," Mrs. Fitch had said. She could still, of course, +keep on the hill road, but that would take her to Weymouth, and she would +never get home. + +It is useless to go into the reasons for this act of Victoria's. She did +not know them herself. The nearer Victoria got to Mr. Jenney's, the more +she wished herself back at the forks. Suppose Mrs. Fitch told him of her +visit! Perhaps she could pass the Jenneys' unnoticed. The chances of +this, indeed, seemed highly favourable, and it was characteristic of her +sex that she began to pray fervently to this end. Then she turned off the +hill road, feeling as though she had but to look back to see the smoke of +the burning bridges. + +Victoria remembered the farm now; for Mr. Jabe Jenney, being a person of +importance in the town of Leith, had a house commensurate with his +estate. The house was not large, but its dignity was akin to Mr. Jenney's +position: it was painted a spotless white, and not a shingle or a nail +was out of place. Before it stood the great trees planted by Mr. Jenney's +ancestors, which Victoria and other people had often paused on their +drives to admire, and on the hillside was a little, old-fashioned flower +garden; lilacs clustered about the small-paned windows, and a +bitter-sweet clung to the roof and pillars of the porch. These details of +the place (which she had never before known as Mr. Jenney's) flashed into +Victoria's mind before she caught sight of the great trees themselves +looming against the sombre blue-black of the sky: the wind, rising +fitfully, stirred the leaves with a sound like falling waters, and a +great drop fell upon her cheek. Victoria raised her eyes in alarm, and +across the open spaces, toward the hills which piled higher and higher +yet against the sky, was a white veil of rain. She touched with her whip +the shoulder of her horse, recalling a farm a quarter of a mile beyond +--she must not be caught here! + +More drops followed, and the great trees seemed to reach out to her a +protecting shelter. She spoke to the horse. Beyond the farm-house, on the +other side of the road, was a group of gray, slate-shingled barns, and +here two figures confronted her. One was that of the comfortable, +middle-aged Mr. Jenney himself, standing on the threshold of the barn, +and laughing heartily, and crying: "Hang on to him That's right--get him +by the nose!" + +The person thus addressed had led a young horse to water at the spring +which bubbled out of a sugar-kettle hard by; and the horse, quivering, +had barely touched his nostrils to the water when he reared backward, +jerking the halter-rope taut. Then followed, with bewildering rapidity, a +series of manoeuvres on the part of the horse to get away, and on the +part of the person to prevent this, and inasmuch as the struggle took +place in the middle of the road, Victoria had to stop. By the time the +person had got the horse by the nose,--shutting off his wind,--the rain +was coming down in earnest. + +"Drive right in," cried Mr. Jenney, hospitably; "you'll get wet. Look +out, Austen, there's a lady comin'. Why, it's Miss Flint!" + +Victoria knew that her face must be on fire. She felt Austen Vane's quick +glance upon her, but she did not dare look to the right or left as she +drove into the barn. There seemed no excuse for any other course. + +"How be you?" said Mr. Jenney; "kind of lucky you happened along here, +wahn't it? You'd have been soaked before you got to Harris's. How be you? +I ain't seen you since that highfalutin party up to Crewe's." + +"It's very kind of you to let me come in, Mr. Jenney." + +"But I have a rain-coat and a boot, and--I really ought to be going on." + +Here Victoria produced the rain-coat from under the seat. The garment was +a dark blue, and Mr. Jenney felt of its gossamer weight with a +good-natured contempt. + +"That wouldn't be any more good than so much cheesecloth," he declared, +nodding in the direction of the white sheet of the storm. "Would it, +Austen." + +She turned her head slowly and met Austen's eyes. Fortunate that the barn +was darkened, that he might not see how deep the colour mantling in her +temples! His head was bare, and she had never really marked before the +superb setting of it on his shoulders, for he wore a gray flannel shirt +open at the neck, revealing a bronzed throat. His sinewy arms +--weather-burned, too--were bare above the elbows. + +Explanations of her presence sprang to her lips, but she put them from +her as subterfuges unworthy of him. She would not attempt to deceive him +in the least. She had wished to see him again--nor did she analyze her +motives. Once more beside him, the feeling of confidence, of belief in +him, rose within her and swept all else away--burned in a swift consuming +flame the doubts of absence. He took her hand, but she withdrew it +quickly. + +"This is a fortunate accident," he said, "fortunate, at least, for me." + +"Perhaps Mr. Jenney will not agree with you," she retorted. + +But Mr. Jenney was hitching the horse and throwing a blanket over him. +Suddenly, before they realized it, the farmer had vanished into the +storm, and this unexplained desertion of their host gave rise to an +awkward silence between them, which each for a while strove vainly to +break. In the great moments of life, trivialities become dwarfed and +ludicrous, and the burden of such occasions is on the woman. + +"So you've taken to farming," she said,-"isn't it about haying time?" + +He laughed. + +"We begin next week. And you--you've come back in season for it. I hope +that your mother is better." + +"Yes," replied Victoria, simply, "the baths helped her. But I'm glad to +get back,--I like my own country so much better,--and especially this +part of it," she added. "I can bear to be away from New York in the +winter, but not from Fairview in the summer." + +At this instant Mr. Jenney appeared at the barn door bearing a huge green +umbrella. + +"Come over to the house--Mis' Jenney is expectin' you," he said. + +Victoria hesitated. To refuse would be ungracious; moreover, she could +risk no misinterpretation of her acts, and she accepted. Mrs. Jenney met +her on the doorstep, and conducted her into that sanctum reserved for +occasions, the parlour, with its Bible, its flat, old-fashioned piano, +its samplers, its crayon portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Jenney after their +honeymoon; with its aroma that suggested Sundays and best manners. Mrs. +Jenney, with incredible rapidity (for her figure was not what it had been +at the time of the crayon portrait), had got into a black dress, over +which she wore a spotless apron. She sat in the parlour with her guest +until Mr. Jenney reappeared with shining face and damp hair. + +"You'll excuse me, my dear," said Mrs. Jenney, "but the supper's on the +stove, and I have to run out now and then." + +Mr. Jenney was entertaining. He had the shrewd, humorous outlook upon +life characteristic of the best type of New England farmer, and Victoria +got along with him famously. His comments upon his neighbours were kindly +but incisive, except when the question of spirituous liquors occurred to +him. Austen Vane he thought the world of, and dwelt upon this subject a +little longer than Victoria, under the circumstances, would have wished. + +"He comes out here just like it was home," said Mr. Jenney, "and helps +with the horses and cows the same as if he wasn't gettin' to be one of +the greatest lawyers in the State." + +"O dear, Mr. Jenney," said Victoria, glancing out of the window, "I'll +really have to go home. I'm sure it won't stop raining for hours. But I +shall be perfectly dry in my rain-coat,--no matter how much you may +despise it." + +"You're not a-going to do anything of the kind," cried Mrs. Jenney from +the doorway. "Supper's all ready, and you're going to walk right in." + +"Oh, I really have to go," Victoria exclaimed. + +"Now I know it ain't as grand as you'd get at home," said Mr. Jenney. +"It ain't what we'd give you, Miss Victoria,--that's only simple home +fare,--it's what you'd give us. It's the honour of having you," he +added,--and Victoria thought that no courtier could have worded an +invitation better. She would not be missed at Fairview. Her mother was +inaccessible at this hour, and the servants would think of her as dining +at Leith. The picture of the great, lonely house, of the ceremonious +dinner which awaited her single presence, gave her an irresistible +longing to sit down with these simple, kindly souls. Austen was the only +obstacle. He, too, had changed his clothes, and now appeared, smiling at +her behind Mrs. Jenney. The look of prospective disappointment in the +good woman's face decided Victoria. + +"I'll stay, with pleasure," she said. + +Mr. Jenney pronounced grace. Victoria sat across the table from Austen, +and several times the consciousness of his grave look upon her as she +talked heightened the colour in her cheek. He said but little during the +meal. Victoria heard how well Mrs. Jenney's oldest son was doing in +Springfield, and how the unmarried daughter was teaching, now, in the +West. Asked about Europe, that land of perpetual mystery to the native +American, the girl spoke so simply and vividly of some of the wonders she +had seen that she held the older people entranced long after the meal was +finished. But at length she observed, with a start, the gathering +darkness. In the momentary happiness of this experience, she had been +forgetful. + +"I will drive home with you, if you'll allow me," said Austen. + +"Oh, no, I really don't need an escort, Mr. Vane. I'm so used to driving +about at night, I never think of it," she answered. + +"Of course he'll drive home with you, dear," said Mrs. Jenney. "And, +Jabe, you'll hitch up and go and fetch Austen back." + +"Certain," Mr. Jenney agreed. + +The rain had ceased, and the indistinct outline of the trees and fences +betrayed the fact that the clouds were already thinning under the moon. +Austen had lighted the side lamps of the runabout, revealing the shining +pools on the road as they drove along--for the first few minutes in +silence. + +"It was very good of you to stay," he said; "you do not know how much +pleasure you have given them." + +Her feminine appreciation responded to the tact of this remark: it was so +distinctly what he should have said. + +How delicate, she thought, must be his understanding of her, that he +should have spoken so! + +"I was glad to stay," she answered, in a low voice. "I--enjoyed it, too." + +"They have very little in their lives," he said, and added, with a +characteristic touch, "I do not mean to say that your coming would not be +an event in any household." + +She laughed with him, softly, at this sally. + +"Not to speak of the visit you are making them," she replied. + +"Oh, I'm one of the family," he said; "I come and go. Jabe's is my +country house, when I can't stand the city any longer." + +She saw that he did not intend to tell her why he had left Ripton on this +occasion. There fell another silence. They were like prisoners, and each +strove to explore the bounds of their captivity: each sought a lawful +ground of communication. Victoria suddenly remembered--with an access of +indignation--her father's words, "I do not know what sort he is, but he +is not my sort." A while ago, and she had blamed herself vehemently for +coming to Jabe Jenney's, and now the act had suddenly become sanctified +in her sight. She did not analyze her feeling for Austen, but she was +consumed with a fierce desire that justice should be done him. "He was +honourable--honourable!" she found herself repeating under her breath. No +man or woman could look into his face, take his hand, sit by his side, +without feeling that he was as dependable as the stars in their courses. +And her father should know this, must be made to know it. This man was to +be distinguished from opportunists and self-seekers, from fanatics who +strike at random. His chief possession was a priceless one--a conscience. + +As for Austen, it sufficed him for the moment that he had been lifted, by +another seeming caprice of fortune, to a seat of torture the agony +whereof was exquisite. An hour, and only the ceaseless pricking memory of +it would abide. The barriers had risen higher since he had seen her last, +but still he might look into her face and know the radiance of her +presence. Could he only trust himself to guard his tongue! But the heart +on such occasions will cheat language of its meaning. + +"What have you been doing since I saw you last?" she asked. "It seems +that you still continue to lead a life of violence." + +"Sometimes I wish I did," he answered, with a laugh; "the humdrum +existence of getting practice enough to keep a horse is not the most +exciting in the world. To what particular deed of violence do you refer?" + +"The last achievement, which is in every one's mouth, that of assisting +Mr. Tooting down-stairs." + +"I have been defamed," Austen laughed; "he fell down, I believe. But as I +have a somewhat evil reputation, and as he came out of my entry, people +draw their own conclusions. I can't imagine who told you that story." + +"Never mind," she answered. "You see, I have certain sources of +information about you." + +He tingled over this, and puzzled over it so long that she laughed. + +"Does that surprise you?" she asked. "I fail to see why I should be +expected to lose all interest in my friends--even if they appear to have +lost interest in me." + +"Oh, don't say that!" he cried so sharply that she wished her words +unsaid. "You can't mean it! You don't know!" + +She trembled at the vigorous passion he put into the words. + +"No, I don't mean it," she said gently. + +The wind had made a rent in the sheet of the clouds, and through it burst +the moon in her full glory, flooding field and pasture, and the black +stretches of pine forest at their feet. Below them the land fell away, +and fell again to the distant broadening valley, to where a mist of white +vapour hid the course of the Blue. And beyond, the hills rose again, tier +upon tier, to the shadowy outline of Sawanec herself against the hurrying +clouds and the light-washed sky. Victoria, gazing at the scene, drew a +deep breath, and turned and looked at him in the quick way which he +remembered so well. + +"Sometimes," she said, "it is so beautiful that it hurts to look at it. +You love it--do you ever feel that way?" + +"Yes," he said, but his answer was more than the monosyllable. "I can see +that mountain from my window, and it seriously interferes with my work. I +really ought to move into another building." + +There was a little catch in her laugh. + +"And I watch it," she continued, "I watch it from the pine grove by the +hour. Sometimes it smiles, and sometimes it is sad, and sometimes it is +far, far away, so remote and mysterious that I wonder if it is ever to +come back and smile again." + +"Have you ever seen the sunrise from its peak?" said Austen. + +"No. Oh, how I should love to see it!" she exclaimed. + +"Yes, you would like to see it," he answered simply. He would like to +take her there, to climb, with her hand in his, the well-known paths in +the darkness, to reach the summit in the rosy-fingered dawn: to see her +stand on the granite at his side in the full glory of the red light, and +to show her a world which she was henceforth to share with him. + +Some such image, some such vision of his figure on the rock, may have +been in her mind as she turned her face again toward the mountain. + +"You are cold," he said, reaching for the mackintosh in the back of the +trap. + +"No," she said. But she stopped the horse and acquiesced by slipping her +arms into the coat, and he felt upon his hand the caress of a stray wisp +of hair at her neck. Under a spell of thought and feeling, seemingly laid +by the magic of the night, neither spoke for a space. And then Victoria +summoned her forces, and turned to him again. Her tone bespoke the subtle +intimacy that always sprang up between them, despite bars and +conventions. + +"I was sure you would understand why I wrote you from New York," she +said, "although I hesitated a long time before doing so. It was very +stupid of me not to realize the scruples which made you refuse to be a +candidate for the governorship, and I wanted to--to apologize." + +"It wasn't necessary," said Austen, "but--I valued the note." The words +seemed so absurdly inadequate to express his appreciation of the treasure +which he carried with him, at that moment, in his pocket. "But, really," +he added, smiling at her in the moonlight, "I must protest against your +belief that I could have been an effective candidate! I have roamed about +the State, and I have made some very good friends here and there among +the hill farmers, like Mr. Jenney. Mr. Redbrook is one of these. But it +would have been absurd of me even to think of a candidacy founded on +personal friendships. I assure you," he added, smiling, "there was no +self denial in my refusal." + +She gave him an appraising glance which he found at once enchanting and +disconcerting. + +"You are one of those people, I think, who do not know their own value. +If I were a man, and such men as Mr. Redbrook and Mr. Jenney knew me and +believed sufficiently in me and in my integrity of purpose to ask me to +be their candidate" (here she hesitated an instant), "and I believed that +the cause were a good one, I should not have felt justified in refusing. +That is what I meant. I have always thought of you as a man of force and +a man of action. But I did not see--the obstacle in your way." + +She hesitated once more, and added, with a courage which did not fail of +its direct appeal, "I did not realize that you would be publicly opposing +your father. And I did not realize that you would not care to criticise +--mine." + +On the last word she faltered and glanced at his profile. + +Had she gone too far? + +"I felt that you would understand," he answered. He could not trust +himself to speak further. How much did she know? And how much was she +capable of grasping? + +His reticence served only to fortify her trust--to elevate it. It was +impossible for her not to feel something of that which was in him and +crying for utterance. She was a woman. And if this one action had been +but the holding of her coat, she would have known. A man who could keep +silent under these conditions must indeed be a rock of might and honour; +and she felt sure now, with a surging of joy, that the light she had seen +shining from it was the beacon of truth. A question trembled on her +lips--the question for which she had long been gathering strength. +Whatever the outcome of this communion, she felt that there must be +absolute truth between them. + +"I want to ask you something, Mr. Vane--I have been wanting to for a long +time." + +She saw the muscles of his jaw tighten,--a manner he had when earnest or +determined,--and she wondered in agitation whether he divined what she +was going to say. He turned his face slowly to hers, and his eyes were +troubled. + +"Yes," he said. + +"You have always spared my feelings," she went on. "Now--now I am asking +for the truth--as you see it. Do the Northeastern Railroads wrongfully +govern this State for their own ends?" + +Austen, too, as he thought over it afterwards, in the night, was +surprised at her concise phrasing, suggestive; as it was, of much +reflection. But at the moment, although he had been prepared for and had +braced himself against something of this nature, he was nevertheless +overcome by the absolute and fearless directness of her speech. + +"That is a question," he answered, "which you will have to ask your +father." + +"I have asked him," she said, in a low voice; "I want to know what--you +believe." + +"You have asked him!" he repeated, in astonishment. + +"Yes. You mustn't think that, in asking you, I am unfair to him in any +way--or that I doubt his sincerity. We have been" (her voice caught a +little) "the closest friends ever since I was a child." She paused. "But +I want to know what you believe." + +The fact that she emphasized the last pronoun sent another thrill through +him. Did it, then, make any difference to her what he believed? Did she +mean to differentiate him from out of the multitude? He had to steady +himself before he answered:--"I have sometimes thought that my own view +might not be broad enough." + +She turned to him again. + +"Why are you evading?" she asked. "I am sure it is not because you have +not settled convictions. And I have asked you--a favour." + +"You have done me an honour," he answered, and faced her suddenly. "You +must see," he cried, with a power and passion in his voice that startled +and thrilled her in turn, "you must see that it's because I wish to be +fair that I hesitate. I would tell you--anything. I do not agree with my +own father,--we have been--apart--for years because of this. And I +do--not agree with Mr. Flint. I am sure that they both are wrong. But I +cannot help seeing their point of view. These practices are the result of +an evolution, of an evolution of their time. They were forced to cope +with conditions in the way they did, or go to the wall. They make the +mistake of believing that the practices are still necessary to-day." + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, a great hope rising within her at these words. "Oh, +and you believe they are not!" His explanation seemed so simple, so +inspiring. And above and beyond that, he was sure. Conviction rang in +every word. Had he not, she remembered, staked his career by disagreeing +with his father? Yes, and he had been slow to condemn; he had seen their +side. It was they who condemned him. He must have justice--he should have +it! + +"I believe such practices are not necessary now," he said firmly. "A new +generation has come--a generation more jealous of its political rights, +and not so willing to be rid of them by farming them out. A change has +taken place even in the older men, like Mr. Jenney and Mr. Redbrook, who +simply did not think about these questions ten years ago. Men of this +type, who could be leaders, are ready to assume their responsibilities, +are ready to deal fairly with railroads and citizens alike. This is a +matter of belief. I believe it--Mr. Flint and my father do not. They see +the politicians, and I see the people. I belong to one generation, and +they to another. With the convictions they have, added to the fact that +they are in a position of heavy responsibility toward the owners of their +property, they cannot be blamed for hesitating to try any experiments." + +"And the practices are--bad?" Victoria asked. + +"They are entirely subversive of the principles of American government, +to say the least," replied Austen, grimly. He was thinking of the pass +which Mr. Flint had sent him, and of the kind of men Mr. Flint employed +to make the practices effective. + +They descended into the darkness of a deep valley, scored out between the +hills by one of the rushing tributaries of the Blue. The moon fell down +behind the opposite ridge, and the road ran through a deep forest. He no +longer saw the shades of meaning in her face, but in the blackness of +Erebus he could have sensed her presence at his side. Speech, though of +this strange kind of which neither felt the strangeness, had come and +gone between them, and now silence spoke as eloquently. Twice or thrice +their eyes met through the gloom,--and there was light. At length she +spoke with the impulsiveness in her voice that he found so appealing. + +"You must see my father--you must talk to him. He doesn't know how fair +you are!" + +To Austen the inference was obvious that Mr. Flint had conceived for him +a special animosity, which he must have mentioned to Victoria, and this +inference opened the way to a wide speculation in which he was at once +elated and depressed. Why had he been so singled out? And had Victoria +defended him? Once before he remembered that she had told him he must see +Mr. Flint. They had gained the ridge now, and the moon had risen again +for them, striking black shadows from the maples on the granite-cropped +pastures. A little farther on was a road which might have been called the +rear entrance to Fairview. + +What was he to say? + +"I am afraid Mr. Flint has other things to do than to see me," he +answered. "If he wished to see me, he would say so." + +"Would you go to see him, if he were to ask you?" said Victoria. + +"Yes," he replied, "but that is not likely to happen. Indeed, you are +giving my opinion entirely too much importance in your father's eyes," he +added, with an attempt to carry it off lightly; "there is no more reason +why he should care to discuss the subject with me than with any other +citizen of the State of my age who thinks as I do." + +"Oh, yes, there is," said Victoria; "he regards you as a person whose +opinion has some weight. I am sure of that. He thinks of you as a person +of convictions--and he has heard things about you. You talked to him +once," she went on, astonished at her own boldness, "and made him angry. +Why don't you talk to him again?" she cried, seeing that Austen was +silent. "I am sure that what you said about the change of public opinion +in the State would appeal to him. And oh, don't quarrel with him! You +have a faculty of differing with people without quarrelling with them. My +father has so many cares, and he tries so hard to do right as he sees it. +You must remember that he was a poor farmer's son, and that he began to +work at fourteen in Brampton, running errands for a country printer. He +never had any advantages except those he made for himself, and he had to +fight his way in a hard school against men who were not always +honourable. It is no wonder that he sometimes takes--a material view of +things. But he is reasonable and willing to listen to what other men have +to say, if he is not antagonized." + +"I understand," said Austen, who thought Mr. Flint blest in his advocate. +Indeed, Victoria's simple reference to her father's origin had touched +him deeply. "I understand, but I cannot go to him. There is every reason +why I cannot," he added, and she knew that he was speaking with +difficulty, as under great emotion. + +"But if he should send for you?" she asked. She felt his look fixed upon +her with a strange intensity, and her heart leaped as she dropped her +eyes. + +"If Mr. Flint should send for me," he answered slowly, "I would come--and +gladly. But it must be of his own free will." + +Victoria repeated the words over to herself, "It must be of his own free +will," waiting until she should be alone to seek their full +interpretation. She turned, and looked across the lawn at Fairview House +shining in the light. In another minute they had drawn up before the open +door. + +"Won't you come in--and wait for Mr. Jenney?" she asked. + +He gazed down into her face, searchingly, and took her hand. + +"Good night," he said; "Mr. Jenney is not far behind. I think--I think I +should like the walk." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MR. CREWE: AN APPRECIATION (1) + +It is given to some rare mortals--with whom fame precedes grey hairs or +baldness to read, while still on the rising tide of their efforts, that +portion of their lives which has already been inscribed on the scroll of +history--or something like it. Mr. Crewe in kilts at five; and (prophetic +picture!) with a train of cars which--so the family tradition runs--was +afterwards demolished; Mr. Crewe at fourteen, in delicate health; this +picture was taken abroad, with a long-suffering tutor who could speak +feelingly, if he would, of embryo geniuses. Even at this early period +Humphrey Crewe's thirst for knowledge was insatiable: he cared little, +the biography tells us, for galleries and churches and ruins, but his +comments upon foreign methods of doing business were astonishingly +precocious. He recommended to amazed clerks in provincial banks the use +of cheques, ridiculed to speechless station-masters the side-entrance +railway carriage with its want of room, and the size of the goods trucks. +He is said to have been the first to suggest that soda-water fountains +might be run at a large profit in London. + +In college, in addition to keeping up his classical courses, he found +time to make an exhaustive study of the railroads of the United States, +embodying these ideas in a pamphlet published shortly after graduation. +This pamphlet is now, unfortunately, very rare, but the anonymous +biographer managed to get one and quote from it. If Mr. Crewe's +suggestions had been carried out, seventy-five per cent of the railroad +accidents might have been eliminated. Thorough was his watchword even +then. And even at that period he foresaw, with the prophecy of genius, +the days of single-track congestion. + +His efforts to improve Leith and the State in general, to ameliorate the +condition of his neighbours, were fittingly and delicately dwelt upon. A +desire to take upon himself the burden of citizenship led--as we know--to +further self-denial. He felt called upon to go to the Legislature--and +this is what he saw:--(Mr. Crewe is quoted here at length in an +admirable, concise, and hair-raising statement given in an interview to +his biographer. But we have been with him, and know what he saw. It is, +for lack of space, reluctantly omitted.) + +And now we are to take up where the biography left off; to relate, in a +chapter if possible, one of the most remarkable campaigns in the history +of this country. A certain reformer of whose acquaintance the honest +chronicler boasts (a reformer who got elected!) found, on his first visit +to the headquarters he had hired--two citizens under the influence of +liquor and a little girl with a skip rope. Such are the beginnings that +try men's souls. + +The window of every independent shopkeeper in Ripton contained a +large-sized picture of the Leith statesman, his determined chin slightly +thrust down into the Gladstone collar. Underneath were the words, "I will +put an end to graft and railroad rule. I am a Candidate of the People. +Opening rally of the People's Campaign at the Opera House, at 8 P.M., +July 10th. The Hon. Humphrey Crewe, of Leith, will tell the citizens of +Ripton how their State is governed." + +"Father," said Victoria, as she read this announcement (three columns +wide, in the Ripton Record) as they sat at breakfast together, "do you +mind my going? I can get Hastings Weare to take me." + +"Not at all," said Mr. Flint, who had returned from New York in a better +frame of mind. "I should like a trustworthy account of that meeting. +Only," he added, "I should advise you to go early, Victoria, in order to +get a seat." + +"You don't object to my listening to criticism of you?" + +"Not by Humphrey Crewe," laughed Mr. Flint. + +Early suppers instead of dinners were the rule at Leith on the evening of +the historic day, and the candidate himself, in his red Leviathan, was +not inconsiderably annoyed, on the way to Ripton, by innumerable +carryalls and traps filled with brightly gowned recruits of that +organization of Mrs. Pomfret's which Beatrice Chillingham had nicknamed +"The Ladies' Auxiliary.". In vain Mr. Crewe tooted his horn: the sound of +it was drowned by the gay talk and laughter in the carryalls, and shrieks +ensued when the Leviathan cut by with only six inches to spare, and the +candidate turned and addressed the drivers in language more forceful than +polite, and told the ladies they acted as if they were going to a +Punch-and-Judy show. + +"Poor dear Humphrey!" said, Mrs. Pomfret, "is so much in earnest. I +wouldn't give a snap for a man without a temper." + +"Poor dear Humphrey" said Beatrice Chillingham, in an undertone to her +neighbour, "is exceedingly rude and ungrateful. That's what I think." + +The occupants of one vehicle heard the horn, and sought the top of a +grassy mound to let the Leviathan go by. And the Leviathan, with +characteristic contrariness, stopped. + +"Hello," said Mr. Crewe, with a pull at his cap. "I intended to be on the +lookout for you." + +"That is very thoughtful, Humphrey, considering how many things you have +to be on the lookout for this evening," Victoria replied. + +"That's all right," was Mr. Crewe's gracious reply. "I knew you'd be +sufficiently broad-minded to come, and I hope you won't take offence at +certain remarks I think it my duty to make." + +"Don't let my presence affect you," she answered, smiling; "I have come +prepared for anything." + +"I'll tell Tooting to give you a good seat," he called back, as he +started onward. + +Hastings Weare looked up at her, with laughter-brimming eyes. + +"Victoria, you're a wonder!" he remarked. "Say, do you remember that tall +fellow we met at Humphrey's party, Austen Vane?" + +Yes." + +"I saw him on the street in Ripton the other day, and he came right up +and spoke to me. He hadn't forgotten my name. Now, he'd be my notion of a +candidate. He makes you feel as if your presence in the world meant +something to him." + +"I think he does feel that way," replied Victoria. + +"I don't blame him if he feels that way about you," said Hastings, who +made love openly. + +"Hastings," she answered, "when you get a little older, you will learn to +confine yourself to your own opinions." + +"When I do," he retorted audaciously, "they never make you blush like +that." + +"It's probably because you have never learned to be original," she +replied. But Hastings had been set to thinking. + +Mrs. Pomfret, with her foresight and her talent for management, had given +the Ladies' Auxiliary notice that they were not to go farther forward +than the twelfth row. She herself, with some especially favoured ones, +occupied a box, which was the nearest thing to being on the stage. One +unforeseen result of Mrs. Pomfret's arrangement was that the first eleven +rows were vacant, with the exception of one old man and five or six +schoolboys. Such is the courage of humanity in general! On the arrival of +the candidate, instead of a surging crowd lining the sidewalk, he found +only a fringe of the curious, whose usual post of observation was the +railroad station, standing silently on the curb. Within, Mr. Tooting's +duties as an usher had not been onerous. He met Mr. Crewe in the +vestibule, and drew him into the private office. + +"The railroad's fixed 'em," said the manager, indignantly, but sotto +voce; "I've found that out. Hilary Vane had the word passed around town +that if they came, somethin' would fall on 'em. The Tredways and all the +people who own factories served notice on their men that if they paid any +attention to this meeting they'd lose their job. But say, the people are +watchin' you, just the same." + +"How many people are in there?" Mr. Crewe demanded. + +"Twenty-seven, when I came out," said Mr. Tooting, with commendable +accuracy. "But it wants fifteen minutes to eight." + +"And who," asked Mr. Crewe, "is to introduce me?" + +An expression of indignation spread over Mr. Tooting's face. + +"There ain't a man in Ripton's got sand enough!" he exclaimed. "Sol +Gridley was a-goin' to, but he went to New York on the noon train. I +guess it's a pleasure trip," Mr. Tooting hinted darkly. + +"Why," said Mr. Crewe, "he's the fellow--" + +"Exactly," Mr. Tooting replied, "and he did get a lot of 'em, travelling +about. But Sol has got to work on the quiet, you understand. He feels he +can't come out right away." + +"And how about Amos Ricketts? Where's he?" + +"Amos," said Mr. Tooting, regretfully, "was taken very sudden about five +o'clock. One of his spells come on, and he sent me word to the Ripton +House. He had his speech all made up, and it was a good one, too. He was +going to tell folks pretty straight how the railroad beat him for mayor." + +Mr. Crewe made a gesture of disgust. + +"I'll introduce myself," he said. "They all know me, anyhow." + +"Say," said Mr. Tooting, laying a hand on his candidate's arm. "You +couldn't do any better. I've bin for that all along." + +"Hold on," said Mr. Crewe, listening, "a lot of people are coming in +now." + +What Mr. Crewe had heard, however, was the arrival of the Ladies' +Auxiliary,--five and thirty strong, from Leith. But stay! Who are these +coming? More ladies--ladies in groups of two and three and five! ladies +of Ripton whose husbands, for some unexplained reason, have stayed at +home; and Mr. Tooting, as he watched them with mingled feelings, became a +woman's suffragist on the spot. He dived into the private office once +more, where he found Mr. Crewe seated with his legs crossed, calmly +reading a last winter's playbill. (Note for a more complete biography.) + +"Well, Tooting," he said, "I thought they'd begin to come." + +"They're mostly women," Mr. Tooting informed him. + +"Women!" + +"Hold on!" said Mr. Tooting, who had the true showman's instinct. "Can't +you see that folks are curious? They're afraid to come 'emselves, and +they're sendin' their wives and daughters. If you get the women tonight, +they'll go home and club the men into line." + +Eight strokes boomed out from the tower of the neighbouring town hall, +and an expectant flutter spread over the audience,--a flatter which +disseminated faint odours of sachet and other mysterious substances in +which feminine apparel is said to the laid away. The stage was empty, +save for a table which held a pitcher of water and a glass. + +"It's a pretty good imitation of a matinee," Hastings Weare remarked. "I +wonder whom the front seats are reserved for. Say, Victoria, there's your +friend Mr. Vane in the corner. He's looking over here." + +"He has a perfect right to look where he chooses," said Victoria. She +wondered whether he would come over and sit next to her if she turned +around, and decided instantly that he wouldn't. Presently, when she +thought Hastings was off his guard, she did turn, to meet, as she +expected, Austen's glance fixed upon her. Their greeting was the signal +of two people with a mutual understanding. He did not rise, and although +she acknowledged to herself a feeling of disappointment, she gave him +credit for a nice comprehension of the situation. Beside him was his +friend Tom Gaylord, who presented to her a very puzzled face. And then, +if there had been a band, it would have been time to play "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes!" + +Why wasn't there a band? No such mistake, Mr. Tooting vowed, should be +made at the next rally. + +It was Mrs. Pomfret who led the applause from her box as the candidate +walked modestly up the side aisle and presently appeared, alone, on the +stage. The flutter of excitement was renewed, and this time it might +almost be called a flutter of apprehension. But we who have heard Mr. +Crewe speak are in no alarm for our candidate. He takes a glass of iced +water; he arranges, with the utmost sangfroid, his notes on the desk and +adjusts the reading light. Then he steps forward and surveys the +scattered groups. + +"Ladies--" a titter ran through the audience,--a titter which started +somewhere in the near neighbourhood of Mr. Hastings Weare--and rose +instantly to several hysterical peals of feminine laughter. Mrs. Pomfret, +outraged, sweeps the frivolous offenders with her lorgnette; Mr. Crewe, +with his arm resting, on the reading-desk, merely raises the palm of his +hand to a perpendicular reproof,--"and gentlemen." At this point the +audience is thoroughly cowed. "Ladies and gentlemen and fellow citizens. +I thank you for the honour you have done me in coming here to listen to +the opening speech of my campaign to-night. It is a campaign for decency +and good government, and I know that the common people of the State--of +whom I have the honour to be one--demand these things. I cannot say as +much for the so-called prominent citizens," said Mr. Crewe, glancing +about him; "not one of your prominent citizens in Ripton would venture to +offend the powers that be by consenting to introduce me to-night, or +dared come into this theatre and take seats within thirty feet of this +platform." Here Mr. Crewe let his eyes rest significantly on the eleven +empty rows, while his hearers squirmed in terrified silence at this +audacity. Even the Ripton women knew that this was high treason beneath +the walls of the citadel, and many of them glanced furtively at the +strangely composed daughter of Augustus P. Flint. + +"I will show you that I can stand on my own feet," Mr. Crewe continued. +"I will introduce myself. I am Humphrey Crewe of Leith, and I claim to +have added something to the welfare and prosperity of this State, and I +intend to add more before I have finished." + +At this point, as might have been expected, spontaneous applause broke +forth, originating in the right-hand stage box. Here was a daring +defiance indeed, a courage of such a high order that it completely +carried away the ladies and drew reluctant plaudits from the male +element. "Give it to 'em, Humphrey!" said one of those who happened to be +sitting next to Miss Flint, and who received a very severe pinch in the +arm in consequence. + +"I thank the gentleman," answered Mr. Crewe, "and I propose to +--(Handclapping and sachet.) I propose to show that you spend something +like two hundred thousand dollars a year to elect legislators and send +'em to the capital, when the real government of your State is in a room +in the Pelican Hotel known as the Railroad Room, and the real governor is +a citizen of your town, the Honourable Hilary Vane, who sits there and +acts for his master, Mr. Augustus P. Flint of New York. And I propose to +prove to you that, before the Honourable Adam B. Hunt appeared as that +which has come to be known as the 'regular' candidate, Mr. Flint sent for +him to go to New York and exacted certain promises from him. Not that it +was necessary, but the Northeastern Railroads never take any chances. +(Laughter.) The Honourable Adam B. Hunt is what they call a 'safe' man, +meaning by that a man who will do what Mr. Flint wants him to do. While I +am not 'safe' because I have dared to defy them in your name, and will do +what the people want me to do. (Clapping and cheers from a gentleman in +the darkness, afterwards identified as Mr. Tooting.) Now, my friends, are +you going to continue to allow a citizen of New York to nominate your +governors, and do you intend, tamely, to give the Honourable Adam B. Hunt +your votes?" + +"They ain't got any votes," said a voice--not that of Mr. Hastings Weare, +for it came from the depths of the gallery. + +"'The hand that rocks the cradle sways the world,'" answered Mr. Crewe, +and there was no doubt about the sincerity of the applause this time. + +"The campaign of the Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith," said the State +Tribune next day, "was inaugurated at the Opera House in Ripton last +night before an enthusiastic audience consisting of Mr. Austen Vane, Mr. +Thomas Gaylord, Jr., Mr. Hamilton Tooting, two reporters, and +seventy-four ladies, who cheered the speaker to the echo. About half of +these ladies were summer residents of Leith in charge of the well-known +social leader, Mrs. Patterson Pomfret,--an organized league which, it is +understood, will follow the candidate about the State in the English +fashion, kissing the babies and teaching the mothers hygienic cooking and +how to ondule the hair." + +After speaking for an hour and a half, the Honourable Humphrey Crewe +declared that he would be glad to meet any of the audience who wished to +shake his hand, and it was Mrs. Pomfret who reached him first. + +"Don't be discouraged, Humphrey,--you are magnificent," she whispered. + +"Discouraged!" echoed Mr. Crewe. "You can't kill an idea, and we'll see +who's right and who's wrong before I get through with 'em." + +"What a noble spirit!" Mrs. Pomfret exclaimed aside to Mrs. Chillingham. +Then she added, in a louder tone, "Ladies, if you will kindly tell me +your names, I shall be happy to introduce you to the candidate. Well, +Victoria, I didn't expect to see you here." + +"Why not?" said Victoria. "Humphrey, accept my congratulations." + +"Did you like it?" asked Mr. Crewe. "I thought it was a pretty good +speech myself. There's nothing like telling the truth, you know. And, by +the way, I hope to see you in a day or two, before I start for Kingston. +Telephone me when you come down to Leith." + +The congratulations bestowed on the candidate by the daughter of the +president of the Northeastern Railroads quite took the breath out of the +spectators who witnessed the incident, and gave rise to the wildest +conjectures. And the admiration of Mr. Hastings Weare was unbounded. + +"You've got the most magnificent nerve I ever saw, Victoria," he +exclaimed, as they made their way towards the door. + +"You forget Humphrey," she replied. + +Hastings looked at her and chuckled. In fact, he chuckled all the way +home. In the vestibule they met Mr. Austen Vane and Mr. Thomas Gaylord, +the latter coming forward with a certain palpable embarrassment. All +through the evening Tom had been trying to account for her presence at +the meeting, until Austen had begged him to keep his speculations to +himself. "She can't be engaged to him!" Mr. Gaylord had exclaimed more +than once, under his breath. "Why not?" Austen had answered; "there's a +good deal about him to admire." "Because she's got more sense," said Tom +doggedly. Hence he was at a loss for words when she greeted him. + +"Well, Mr. Gaylord," she said, "you see no bones were broken, after all. +But I appreciated your precaution in sending the buggy behind me, +although it wasn't necessary. + +"I felt somewhat responsible," replied Tom, and words failed him. "Here's +Austen Vane," he added, indicating by a nod of the head the obvious +presence of that gentleman. "You'll excuse me. There's a man here I want +to see." + +"What's the matter with Mr. Gaylord?" Victoria asked. "He seems so +--queer." + +They were standing apart, alone, Hastings Weare having gone to the +stables for the runabout. + +"Mr. Gaylord imagines he doesn't get along with the opposite sex," Austen +replied, with just a shade of constraint. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Victoria; "we got along perfectly the other day +when he rescued me from the bushes. What's the matter with him?" + +Austen laughed, and their eyes met. + +"I think he is rather surprised to see you here," he said. + +"And you?" returned Victoria. "Aren't you equally out of place?" + +He did not care to go into an explanation of Tom's suspicion in regard to +Mr. Crewe. + +"My curiosity was too much for me," he replied, smiling. + +"So was mine," she replied, and suddenly demanded: "What did you think of +Humphrey's speech?" + +Their eyes met. And despite the attempted seriousness of her tone they +joined in an irresistible and spontaneous laughter. They were again on +that plane of mutual understanding and intimacy for which neither could +account. + +"I have no criticism to make of Mr. Crewe as an orator, at least," he +said. + +Then she grew serious again, and regarded him steadfastly. + +"And--what he said?" she asked. + +Austen wondered again at the courage she had displayed. All he had been +able to think of in the theatre, while listening to Mr. Crewe's words of +denunciation of the Northeastern Railroads, had been of the effect they +might have on Victoria's feelings, and from time to time he had glanced +anxiously at her profile. And now, looking into her face, questioning, +trustful--he could not even attempt to evade. He was silent. + +"I shouldn't have asked you that," she said. "One reason I came was +because--because I wanted to hear the worst. You were too considerate to +tell me--all." + +He looked mutely into her eyes, and a great desire arose in him to be +able to carry her away from it all. Many times within the past year, when +the troubles and complications of his life had weighed upon him, his +thoughts had turned to, that Western country, limited only by the bright +horizons where the sun rose and set. If he could only take her there, or +into his own hills, where no man might follow them! It was a primeval +longing, and, being a woman and the object of it, she saw its essential +meaning in his face. For a brief moment they stood as completely alone as +on the crest of Sawanec. + +"Good night," she said, in a low voice. + +He did not trust himself to speak at once, but went down the steps with +her to the curb, where Hastings Weare was waiting in the runabout. + +"I was just telling Miss Flint," said that young gentleman, "that you +would have been my candidate." + +Austen's face relaxed. + +"Thank you, Mr. Weare," he said simply; and to Victoria, "Good night." + +At the corner, when she turned, she saw him still standing on the edge of +the sidewalk, his tall figure thrown into bold relief by the light which +flooded from the entrance. The account of the Ripton meeting, +substantially as it appeared in the State Tribune, was by a singular +coincidence copied at once into sixty-odd weekly newspapers, and must +have caused endless merriment throughout the State. Congressman +Fairplay's prophecy of "negligible" was an exaggeration, and one +gentleman who had rashly predicted that Mr. Crewe would get twenty +delegates out of a thousand hid himself for shame. On the whole, the +"monumental farce" forecast seemed best to fit the situation. A +conference was held at Leith between the candidate, Mr. Tooting, and the +Honourable Timothy Watling of Newcastle, who was preparing the nominating +speech, although the convention was more than two months distant. Mr. +Watling was skilled in rounded periods of oratory and in other things +political; and both he and Mr. Tooting reiterated their opinion that +there was no particle of doubt about Mr. Crewe's nomination. + +"But we'll have to fight fire with fire," Mr. Tooting declared. It was +probably an accident that he happened to kick, at this instant, Mr. +Watling under cover of the table. Mr. Watling was an old and valued +friend. + +"Gentlemen," said Mr. Crewe, "I haven't the slightest doubt of my +nomination, either. I do not hesitate to say, however, that the expenses +of this campaign, at this early stage, seem to me out of all proportion. +Let me see what you have there." + +The Honourable Timothy Wading had produced a typewritten list containing +some eighty towns and wards, each followed by a name and the number of +the delegates therefrom--and figures. + +"They'd all be enthusiastic Crewe men--if they could be seen by the right +party," declared Mr. Tooting. + +Mr. Crewe ran his eye over the list. + +"Whom would you suggest to see 'em?" he asked coldly. + +"There's only one party I know of that has much influence over 'em," Mr. +Tooting replied, with a genial but deferential indication of his friend. + +At this point Mr. Crewe's secretary left the room on an errand, and the +three statesmen went into executive session. In politics, as in charity, +it is a good rule not to let one's right hand know what the left hand +doeth. Half an hour later the three emerged into the sunlight, Mr. +Tooting and Mr. Watling smoking large cigars. + +"You've got a great lay-out here, Mr. Crewe," Mr. Watling remarked. "It +must have stood you in a little money, eh? Yes, I'll get mileage books, +and you'll hear from me every day or two." + +And now we are come to the infinitely difficult task of relating in a +whirlwind manner the story of a whirlwind campaign--a campaign that was +to make the oldest resident sit up and take notice. In the space of four +short weeks a miracle had begun to show itself. First, there was the +Kingston meeting, with the candidate, his thumb in his watch-pocket, +seated in an open carriage beside Mr. Hamilton Tooting,--a carriage +draped with a sheet on which was painted "Down with Railroad Ring Rule." + +The carriage was preceded by the Kingston Brass Band, producing throbbing +martial melodies, and followed (we are not going to believe the State +Tribune any longer) by a jostling' and cheering crowd. The band halts +before the G.A.R. Hall; the candidate alights, with a bow of +acknowledgment, and goes to the private office until the musicians are +seated in front of the platform, when he enters to renewed cheering and +the tune of "See, the Conquering Hero Comes!" + +An honest historian must admit that there were two accounts of this +meeting. Both agree that Mr. Crewe introduced himself, and poured a +withering sarcasm on the heads of Kingston's prominent citizens. One +account, which the ill-natured declared to be in Mr. Tooting's style, and +which appeared (in slightly larger type than that of the other columns) +in the Kingston and local papers, stated that the hall was crowded to +suffocation, and that the candidate was "accorded an ovation which lasted +for fully five minutes." + +Mr. Crewe's speech was printed--in this slightly larger type. Woe to the +Honourable Adam B. Hunt, who had gone to New York to see whether he could +be governor! Why didn't he come out on the platform? Because he couldn't. +"Safe" candidates couldn't talk. His subservient and fawning reports on +accidents while chairman of the Railroad Commission were ruthlessly +quoted (amid cheers and laughter). What kind of railroad service was +Kingston getting compared to what it should have? Compared, indeed, to +what it had twenty years ago? An informal reception was held afterwards. + +More meetings followed, at the rate of four a week, in county after +county. At the end of fifteen days a selectman (whose name will go down +in history) voluntarily mounted the platform and introduced the +Honourable Humphrey Crewe to the audience; not, to be sure, as the +saviour of the State; and from that day onward Mr. Crewe did not lack for +a sponsor. On the other hand, the sponsors became more pronounced, and at +Harwich (a free-thinking district) a whole board of selectmen and five +prominent citizens sat gravely beside the candidate in the town hall. + +(1) Paul Pardriff, Ripton. Sent post free, on application, to voters and +others. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Mr. Crewe's Career, Book II., by Winston Churchill + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. 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Somebody +has likened the state-house to pioneer Kentucky, a dark and bloody ground +over which the battles of selfish interests ebbed and flowed,--no place +for an innocent and unselfish bystander like Mr. Crewe, who desired only +to make of his State an Utopia; whose measures were for the public good-- +not his own. But if any politician were fatuous enough to believe that +Humphrey Crewe was a man to introduce bills and calmly await their fate; +a man who, like Senator Sanderson, only came down to the capital when he +was notified by telegram, that politician was entirely mistaken. + +No sooner had his bills been assigned to the careful and just +consideration of the committees in charge of the Honourable Brush Bascom, +Mr. Botcher, and others than Mr. Crewe desired of each a day for a +hearing. Every member of the five hundred was provided with a copy; nay, +nearly every member was personally appealed to, to appear and speak for +the measures. Foresters, road builders, and agriculturists (expenses +paid) were sent for from other States; Mr. Ball and others came down from +Leith, and gentlemen who for a generation had written letters to the +newspapers turned up from other localities. In two cases the largest +committee rooms proved too small for the gathering which was the result +of Mr. Crewe's energy, and the legislative hall had to be lighted. The +State Tribune gave column reports of the hearings, and little editorial +pushes besides. And yet, when all was over, when it had been proved +beyond a doubt that, if the State would consent to spend a little money, +she would take the foremost rank among her forty odd sisters for +progression, the bills were still under consideration by those hardheaded +statesmen, Mr. Bascom and Mr. Botcher and their associates. + +It could not be because these gentlemen did not know the arguments and +see the necessity. Mr. Crewe had had them to dinner, and had spent so +much time in their company presenting his case--to which they absolutely +agreed--that they took to a forced seclusion. The member from Leith also +wrote letters and telegrams, and sent long typewritten arguments and +documents to Mr. Flint. Mr. Crewe, although far from discouraged, began +to think there was something mysterious about all this seemingly +unnecessary deliberation. + +Mr. Crewe, though of great discernment, was only mortal, and while he was +fighting his battle single-handed, how was he to know that the gods above +him were taking sides and preparing for conflict? The gods do not give +out their declarations of war for publication to the Associated Press; +and old Tom Gaylord, who may be likened to Mars, had no intention of +sending Jupiter notice until he got his cohorts into line. The strife, +because it was to be internecine, was the more terrible. Hitherto the +Gaylord Lumber Company, like the Winona Manufacturing Company of +Newcastle (the mills of which extended for miles along the Tyne), had +been a faithful ally of the Empire; and, on occasions when it was needed, +had borrowed the Imperial army to obtain grants, extensions, and +franchises. + +The fact is that old Tom Gaylord, in the autumn previous, had quarreled +with Mr. Flint about lumber rates, which had been steadily rising. Mr. +Flint had been polite, but firm; and old Tom, who, with all his +tremendous properties, could ship by no other railroad than the +Northeastern, had left the New York office in a black rage. A more +innocent citizen than old Tom would have put his case (which was without +doubt a strong one) before the Railroad Commission of the State, but old +Tom knew well enough that the Railroad Commission was in reality an +economy board of the Northeastern system, as much under Mr. Flint's +orders as the conductors and brakemen. Old Tom, in consulting the map, +conceived an unheard-of effrontery, a high treason which took away the +breath of his secretary and treasurer when it was pointed out to him. +The plan contemplated a line of railroad from the heart of the lumber +regions down the south side of the valley of the Pingsquit to Kingston, +where the lumber could take to the sea. In short, it was a pernicious +revival of an obsolete state of affairs, competition, and if persisted +in, involved nothing less than a fight to a finish with the army, the +lobby of the Northeastern. Other favoured beings stood aghast when they +heard of it, and hastened to old Tom with timely counsel; but he had +reached a frame of mind which they knew well. He would listen to no +reason, and maintained stoutly that there were other lawyers in the world +as able in political sagacity and lobby tactics as Hilary Vane; the +Honourable Galusha Hammer, for instance, an old and independent and wary +war-horse who had more than once wrung compromises out of the Honourable +Hilary. The Honourable Galusha Hammer was sent for, and was now +industriously, if quietly and unobtrusively, at work. The Honourable +Hilary was likewise at work, equally quietly and unobtrusively. When the +powers fall out, they do not open up at once with long-distance +artillery. There is always a chance of a friendly settlement. The news +was worth a good deal, for instance, to Mr. Peter Pardriff (brother of +Paul, of Ripton), who refrained, with praiseworthy self-control, from +publishing it in the State Tribune, although the temptation to do so must +have been great. And most of the senatorial twenty saw the trouble +coming and braced their backs against it, but in silence. The capital +had seen no such war as this since the days of Jethro Bass. + +In the meantime Mr. Crewe, blissfully ignorant of this impending +conflict, was preparing a speech on national affairs and national issues +which was to startle an unsuspecting State. Mrs. Pomfret, who had +received many clippings and pamphlets, had written him weekly letters of +a nature spurring to his ambition, which incidentally contained many +references to Alice's interest in his career. And Mr. Crewe's mind, when +not intent upon affairs of State, sometimes reverted pleasantly to +thoughts of Victoria Flint; it occurred to him that the Duncan house was +large enough for entertaining, and that he might invite Mrs. Pomfret to +bring Victoria and the inevitable Alice to hear his oration, for which +Mr. Speaker Doby had set a day. + +In his desire to give other people pleasure, Mr. Crewe took the trouble +to notify a great many of his friends and acquaintances as to the day of +his speech, in case they might wish to travel to the State capital and +hear him deliver it. Having unexpectedly received in the mail a cheque +from Austen Vane in settlement of the case of the injured horse, Austen +was likewise invited. + +Austen smiled when he opened the letter, and with its businesslike +contents there seemed to be wafted from it the perfume and suppliance of +a September day in the Vale of the Blue. From the window of his back +office, looking across the railroad tracks, he could see Sawanec, pale in +her winter garb against a pale winter sky, and there arose in him the old +restless desire for the woods and fields which at times was almost +irresistible. His thoughts at length descending from the azure above +Sawanec, his eyes fell again on Mr. Crewe's typewritten words: "It may be +of interest to you that I am to deliver, on the 15th instant, and as the +Chairman of the House Committee on National Affairs, a speech upon +national policies which is the result of much thought, and which touches +upon such material needs of our State as can be supplied by the Federal +Government." + +Austen had a brief fancy, whimsical as it was, of going to hear him. Mr. +Crewe, as a type absolutely new to him, interested him. He had followed +the unusual and somewhat surprising career of the gentleman from Leith +with some care, even to the extent of reading of Mr. Crewe's activities +in the State Tribunes which had been sent him. Were such qualifications +as Mr. Crewe possessed, he wondered, of a kind to sweep their possessor +into high office? Were industry, persistency, and a capacity for taking +advantage of a fair wind sufficient? + +Since his return from Pepper County, Austen Vane had never been to the +State capital during a session, although it was common for young lawyers +to have cases before the Legislature. It would have been difficult to +say why he did not take these cases, aside from the fact that they were +not very remunerative. On occasions gentlemen from different parts of +the State, and some from outside of it who had certain favours to ask at +the hands of the lawmaking body, had visited his back office and closed +the door after them, and in the course of the conversation had referred +to the relationship of the young lawyer to Hilary Vane. At such times +Austen would freely acknowledge the debt of gratitude he owed his father +for being in the world--and refer them politely to Mr. Hilary Vane +himself. In most cases they had followed his advice, wondering not a +little at this isolated example of quixotism. + +During the sessions, except for a day or two at week ends which were +often occupied with conferences, the Honourable Hilary's office was +deserted; or rather, as we have seen, his headquarters were removed to +room Number Seven in the Pelican Hotel at the capital. Austen got many +of the lay clients who came to see his father at such times; and--without +giving an exaggerated idea of his income--it might be said that he was +beginning to have what may be called a snug practice for a lawyer of his +experience. In other words, according to Mr. Tooting, who took an +intense interest in the matter, "not wearing the collar" had been more of +a financial success for Austen than that gentleman had imagined. There +proved to be many clients to whom the fact that young Mr. Vane did not +carry a "retainer pass" actually appealed. These clients paid their +bills, but they were neither large nor influential, as a rule, with the +notable exception of the Gaylord Lumber Company, where the matters for +trial were not large. If young Tom Gaylord had had his way, Austen would +have been the chief counsel for the corporation. + +To tell the truth, Austen Vane had a secret aversion to going to the +capital during a session, a feeling that such a visit would cause him +unhappiness. In spite of his efforts, and indeed in spite of Hilary's, +Austen and his father had grown steadily apart. They met in the office +hallway, in the house in Hanover Street when Hilary came home to sleep, +and the elder Mr. Vane was not a man to thrive on small talk. His world +was the battlefield from which he directed the forces of the great +corporation which he served, and the cherished vision of a son in whom he +could confide his plans, upon whose aid and counsel he could lean, was +gone forever. Hilary Vane had troublesome half-hours, but on the whole +he had reached the conclusion that this son, like Sarah Austen, was one +of those inexplicable products in which an extravagant and inscrutable +nature sometimes indulged. On the rare evenings when the two were at +home together, the Honourable Hilary sat under one side of the lamp with +a pile of documents and newspapers, and Austen under the other with a +book from the circulating library. No public questions could be broached +upon which they were not as far apart as the poles, and the Honourable +Hilary put literature in the same category as embroidery. Euphrasia, +when she paused in her bodily activity to darn their stockings, used to +glance at them covertly from time to time, and many a silent tear of +which they knew nothing fell on her needle. + +On the subject of his protracted weekly absences at the State capital, +the Honourable Hilary was as uncommunicative as he would have been had he +retired for those periods to a bar-room. He often grunted and cleared +his throat and glanced at his son when their talk bordered upon these +absences; and he was even conscious of an extreme irritation against +himself as well as Austen because of the instinct that bade him keep +silent. He told himself fiercely that he had nothing to be ashamed of, +nor would he have acknowledged that it was a kind of shame that bade him +refrain even from circumstantial accounts of what went on in room Number +Seven of the Pelican. He had an idea that Austen knew and silently +condemned; and how extremely maddening was this feeling to the Honourable +Hilary may well be imagined. All his life long he had deemed himself +morally invulnerable, and now to be judged and ethically found wanting by +the son of Sarah Austen was, at times, almost insupportable. Were the +standards of a long life to be suddenly reversed by a prodigal son? + +To get back to Austen. On St. Valentine's Day of that year when, to tell +the truth, he was seated in his office scribbling certain descriptions of +nature suggested by the valentines in Mr. Hayman's stationery store, the +postman brought in a letter from young Tom Gaylord. Austen laughed as he +read it. "The Honourable Galusha Hammer is well named," young Tom wrote, +"but the conviction has been gaining ground with me that a hammer is +about as much use as a shovel would be at the present time. It is not +the proper instrument." "But the 'old man'" (it was thus young Tom was wont +to designate his parent) "is pig-headed when he gets to fighting, and +won't listen to reason. If he believes he can lick the Northeastern with +a Hammer, he is durned badly mistaken, and I told him so. I have been +giving him sage advice in little drops--after meals. I tell him there is +only one man in the State who has sense enough even to shake the +Northeastern, and that's you. He thinks this a pretty good joke. Of +course I realize where your old man is planted, and that you might have +some natural delicacy and wish to refrain from giving him a jar. But +come down for an hour and let me talk to you, anyway. The new statesman +from Leith is cutting a wide swath. Not a day passes but his voice is +heard roaring in the Forum; he has visited all the State institutions, +dined and wined the governor and his staff and all the ex-governors he +can lay his hands on, and he has that hard-headed and caustic journalist, +Mr. Peter Pardriff, of the State Tribune, hypnotized. He has some swells +up at his house to hear his speech on national affairs, among them old +Flint's daughter, who is a ripper to look at, although I never got nearer +to her than across the street. As you may guess, it is something of a +card for Crewe to have Flint's daughter here." + +Austen sat for a long time after reading this letter, idly watching the +snow-clouds gathering around Sawanec. Then he tore up the paper, on +which he had been scribbling, into very small bits, consulted a time- +table, and at noon, in a tumult of feelings, he found himself in a back +seat of the express, bound for the capital. + +Arriving at the station, amidst a hurry and bustle of legislators and +politicians coming and going, many of whom nodded to him, he stood for a +minute in the whirling snow reflecting. Now that he was here, where was +he to stay? The idea of spending the night at the Pelican was repellent +to him, and he was hesitating between two more modest hostelries when he +was hailed by a giant with a flowing white beard, a weather-beaten face, +and a clear eye that shone with a steady and kindly light. It was James +Redbrook, the member from Mercer. + +"Why, how be you, Austen?" he cried, extending a welcome hand; and, when +Austen had told him his dilemma: "Come right along up to my lodgings. I +live at the Widow Peasley's, and there's a vacant room next to mine." + +Austen accepted gratefully, and as they trudged through the storm up the +hill, he inquired how legislative matters were progressing. Whereupon +Mr. Redbrook unburdened himself. + +"Say, I just warmed up all over when I see you, Austen. I'm so glad to +run across an honest man. We ain't forgot in Mercer what you did for Zeb +Meader, and how you went against your interests. And I guess it ain't +done you any harm in the State. As many as thirty or forty members have +spoke to me about it. And down here I've got so I just can't hold in any +more." + +"Is it as bad as that, Mr. Redbrook?" asked Austen, with a serious glance +at the farmer's face. + +"It's so bad I don't know how to begin," said the member from Mercer, and +paused suddenly. "But I don't want to hurt your feelings, Austen, seeing +your father is--where he is." + +"Go on," said Austen, "I understand." + +"Well," said Mr. Redbrook, "it just makes me tremble as an American +citizen. The railrud sends them slick cusses down here that sit in the +front seats who know all this here parliamentary law and the tricks of +the trade, and every time any of us gets up to speak our honest minds, +they have us ruled out of order or get the thing laid on the table until +some Friday morning when there ain't nobody here, and send it along up to +the Senate. They made that fat feller, Doby, Speaker, and he's stuffed +all the important committees so that you can't get an honest measure +considered. You can talk to the committees all you've a mind to, and +they'll just listen and never do anything. There's five hundred in the +House, and it ain't any more of a Legislature than a camp-meetin' is. +What do you suppose they done last Friday morning, when there wahn't but +twenty men at the session? We had an anti-pass law, and all these +fellers were breakin' it. It forbid anybody riding on a pass except +railroad presidents, directors, express messengers, and persons in +misfortune, and they stuck in these words, 'and others to whom passes +have been granted by the proper officers.' Ain't that a disgrace to the +State? And those twenty senators passed it before we got back on +Tuesday. You can't get a bill through that Legislature unless you go up +to the Pelican and get permission of Hilary--" + +Here Mr. Redbrook stopped abruptly, and glanced contritely at his +companion. + +"I didn't mean to get goin' so," he said, "but sometimes I wish this +American government'd never been started." + +"I often feel that way myself, Mr. Redbrook," said Austen. + +"I knowed you did. I guess I can tell an honest man when I see one. +It's treason to say anything against this Northeastern louder than a +whisper. They want an electric railrud bad up in Greenacre, and when +some of us spoke for it and tried to get the committee to report it, +those cheap fellers from Newcastle started such a catcall we had to set +down." + +By this time they were at the Widow Peasley's, stamping the snow from off +their boots. + +"How general is this sentiment?" Austen asked, after he had set down his +bag in the room he was to occupy. + +"Why," said Mr. Redbrook, with conviction, "there's enough feel as I do +to turn that House upside down--if we only had a leader. If you was only +in there, Austen." + +"I'm afraid I shouldn't be of much use," Austen answered. "They'd have +given me a back seat, too." + +The Widow Peasley's was a frame and gabled house of Revolutionary days +with a little terrace in front of it and a retaining wall built up from +the sidewalk. Austen, on the steps, stood gazing across at a square +mansion with a wide cornice, half hidden by elms and maples and pines. +It was set far back from the street, and a driveway entered the picket- +fence and swept a wide semicircle to the front door and back again. +Before the door was a sleigh of a pattern new to him, with a seat high +above the backs of two long-bodied, deep-chested horses, their heads held +with difficulty by a little footman with his arms above him. At that +moment two figures in furs emerged from the house. The young woman +gathered up the reins and leaped lightly to the box, the man followed; +the little groom touched his fur helmet and scrambled aboard as the +horses sprang forward to the music of the softest of bells. The sleigh +swept around the curve, avoided by a clever turn a snow-pile at the +entrance, the young woman raised her eyes from the horses, stared at +Austen, and bowed. As for Austen, he grew warm as he took off his hat, +and he realized that his hand was actually trembling. The sleigh flew on +up the hill, but she turned once more to look behind her, and he still +had his hat in his hand, the snowflakes falling on his bared head. Then +he was aware that James Redbrook was gazing at him curiously. + +"That's Flint's daughter, ain't it?" inquired the member from Mercer. +"Didn't callate you'd know her." + +Austen flushed. He felt exceedingly foolish, but an answer came to him. + +"I met her in the hospital. She used to go there to see Zeb Meader." + +"That's so," said Mr. Redbrook; "Zeb told me about it, and she used to +come to Mercer to see him after he got out. She ain't much like the old +man, I callate." + +"I don't think she is," said Austen. + +"I don't know what she's stayin' with that feller Crewe for," the farmer +remarked; of all the etarnal darn idiots--why, Brush Bascom and that +Botcher and the rest of 'em are trailin' him along and usin' him for the +best thing that ever came down here. He sets up to be a practical man, +and don't know as much as some of us hayseeds in the back seats. Where +be you goin'?" + +"I was going to the Pelican." + +"Well, I've got a committee meetin' of Agriculture," said Mr. Redbrook. +"Could you be up here at Mis' Peasley's about eight to-night?" + +"Why, yes," Austen replied, "if you want to see me." + +"I do want to see you," said Mr. Redbrook, significantly, and waved a +farewell. + +Austen took his way slowly across the state-house park, threading among +the groups between the snow-banks towards the wide facade of the Pelican +Hotel. Presently he paused, and then with a sudden determination crossed +the park diagonally into Main Street, walking rapidly southward and +scrutinizing the buildings on either side until at length these began to +grow wide apart, and he spied a florist's sign with a greenhouse. behind +it. He halted again, irresolutely, in front of it, flung open the door, +and entered a boxlike office filled with the heated scents of flowers. A +little man eyed him with an obsequious interest which he must have +accorded to other young men on similar errands. Austen may be spared a +repetition of the very painful conversation that ensued; suffice it to +say that, after mature deliberation, violets were chosen. He had a +notion--not analyzed--that she would prefer violets to roses. The +information that the flowers were for the daughter of the president of +the Northeastern Railroads caused a visible quickening of the little +florist's regard, an attitude which aroused a corresponding disgust and +depression in Austen. + +"Oh, yes," said the florist, "she's up at Crewe's." He glanced at Austen +apologetically. "Excuse me," he said, "I ought to know you. Have you a +card?" + +"No," said Austen, with emphasis. + +"And what name, please?" + +"No name," said the donor, now heartily repenting of his rashness, and +slamming the glass door in a manner that made the panes rattle behind +him. + +As he stood hesitating on the curb of the crossing, he began to wish that +he had not left Ripton. + +"Hello, Austen," said a voice, which he recognized as the Honourable +Brush Bascom's, "didn't know you ever came down here in session time." + +"What are you doing down here, Brush?" Austen asked. + +Mr. Bascom grinned in appreciation of this pleasantry. + +"I came for my health," he said; "I prefer it to Florida." + +"I've heard that it agrees with some people," said Austen. + +Mr. Bascom grinned again. + +"Just arrived?" he inquired. + +"Just," said Austen. + +"I thought you'd get here sooner or later," said Mr. Bascom. "Some folks +try stayin' away, but it ain't much use. You'll find the honourable +Hilary doing business at the same old stand, next to the governor, in +Number Seven up there." And Mr. Bascom pointed to the well-known window +on the second floor. + +"Thanks, Brush," said Austen, indifferently. "To tell the truth, I came +down to hear that promising protege of yours speak on national affairs. +I understand you're pushing his bills along." + +Mr. Bascom, with great deliberation, shut one of his little eyes. + +"So long," he said, "come and see me when you get time." + +Austen went slowly down the street and entered the smoke-clouded lobby of +the Pelican. He was a man to draw attention, and he was stared at by +many politicians there and spoken to by some before he reached the +stairs. Mounting, he found the door with the numeral, and knocked. The +medley of voices within ceased; there were sounds of rattling papers, and +of closing of folding doors. The key turned in the lock, and State +Senator Nathaniel Billings appeared in the doorway, with a look of polite +inquiry on his convivial face. This expression, when he saw Austen, +changed to something like consternation. + +"Why, hello, hello," said the senator. "Come in, come in. The +Honourable Hilary's here. Where'd you come down?" + +"Hello, Nat," said Austen, and went in. + +The Honourable Hilary sat in his usual arm-chair; Mr. Botcher severely +strained the tensile strength of the bedsprings; Mr. Hamilton Tooting +stood before the still waving portieres in front of the folding doors; +and Mr. Manning, the division superintendent, sat pensively, with his pen +in his mouth, before the marble-topped table from which everything had +been removed but a Bible. Two gentlemen, whom Austen recognized as +colleagues of Mr. Billings in the State Senate, stood together in a +window, pointing out things of interest in the street. Austen walked up +to his father and laid a hand on his shoulder. + +"How are you, Judge?" he said. "I only came into pay my respects. I +hope I have not disturbed any--entertainment going on here," he added, +glancing in turn at the thoughtful occupants of the room, and then at the +curtains which hid the folding doors to the apartment of his Excellency. + +"Why, no," answered the Honourable Hilary, his customary grunt being the +only indication of surprise on his part; "didn't know you were coming +down." + +"I didn't know it myself until this morning," said Austen. + +"Legislative case, I suppose," remarked the Honourable Jacob Botcher, in +his deep voice. + +"No, merely a pleasure trip, Mr. Botcher." + +The Honourable Jacob rubbed his throat, the two State senators in the +window giggled, and Mr. Hamilton Tooting laughed. + +"I thought you took to the mountains in such cases, sir," said Mr. +Botcher. + +"I came for intellectual pleasure this time," said Austen. "I understand +that Mr. Crewe is to deliver an epoch-making speech on the national +situation to-morrow." + +This was too much even for the gravity of Mr. Manning; Mr. Tooting and +Mr. Billings and his two colleagues roared, though the Honourable Jacob's +laugh was not so spontaneous. + +"Aust," said Mr. Tooting, admiringly, you're all right." + +"Well, Judge," said Austen, patting his father's shoulder again, "I'm +glad to see you so comfortably fixed. Good-by, and give my regards to +the governor. I'm sorry to have missed him," he added, glancing at the +portieres that hid the folding doors. + +"Are you stopping here?" asked the Honourable Hilary. + +"No, I met Mr. Redbrook of Mercer, and he took me up to his lodgings. If +I can do anything for you, a message will reach me there." + +"Humph," said the Honourable Hilary, while the others exchanged +significant glances. + +Austen had not gone half the length of the hall when he was overtaken by +Mr. Tooting. + +"Say, Aust, what's up between you and Redbrook?" he asked. + +"Nothing. Why?" Austen asked, stopping abruptly. + +"Well, I suppose you know there's an anti-railroad feeling growing in +that House, and that Redbrook has more influence with the farmers than +any other man." + +"I didn't know anything about Mr. Redbrook's influence," said Austen. + +Mr. Tooting looked unconvinced. + +"Say, Aust, if anything's in the wind, I wish you'd let me know. I'll +keep it quiet." + +"I think I shall be safe in promising that, Ham," said Austen. "When +there's anything in the wind, you generally find it out first." + +"There's trouble coming for the railroad," said Mr. Tooting. "I can see +that. And I guess you saw it before I did." + +"They say a ship's about to sink when the rats begin to leave it," said +Austen. + +Although Austen spoke smilingly, Mr. Tooting looked pained. + +"There's no chance for young men in that system," he said. + +"Young men write the noble parts of the governor's inaugurals," said +Austen. + +"Yes," said Mr. Tooting, bitterly, "but you never get to be governor and +read 'em. You've got to be a 'come on' with thirty thousand dollars to +be a Northeastern governor and live next door to the Honourable Hilary in +the Pelican. Well, so long, Aust. If anything's up, give me the tip, +that's all I ask." + +Reflecting on the singular character of Mr. Tooting, Austen sought the +Gaylords' headquarters, and found them at the furthermost end of the +building from the Railroad Room. The door was opened by young Tom +himself, whose face became wreathed in smiles when he saw who the visitor +was. + +"It's Austen!" he cried. "I thought you'd come down when you got that +appeal of mine." + +Austen did not admit the self-sacrifice as he shook Tom's hand; but +remembered, singularly enough, the closing sentences of Tom's letter-- +which had nothing whatever to do with the Gaylord bill. + +At this moment a commotion arose within the room, and a high, tremulous, +but singularly fierce and compelling voice was heard crying out:-- + +"Get out! Get out, d-n you, all of you, and don't come back until you've +got some notion of what you're a-goin' to do. Get out, I say!" + +These last words were pronounced with such extraordinary vigour that four +gentlemen seemed to be physically impelled from the room. Three of them +Austen recognized as dismissed and disgruntled soldiers from the lobby +army of the Northeastern; the fourth was the Honourable Galusha Hammer, +whose mode of progress might be described as "stalking," and whose lips +were forming the word "intolerable." In the corner old Tom himself could +be seen, a wizened figure of wrath. + +"Who's that?" he demanded of his son, "another d-d fool?" + +"No," replied young Tom, "it's Austen Vane." + +"What's he doin' here?" old Tom demanded, with a profane qualification as +to the region. But young Tom seemed to be the only being capable of +serenity amongst the flames that played around him. + +"I sent for him because he's got more sense than Galusha and all the rest +of 'em put together," he said. + +"I guess that's so," old Tom agreed unexpectedly, "but it ain't sayin' +much. Bring him in--bring him in, and lock the door." + +In obedience to these summons, and a pull from young Tom, Austen entered +and sat down. + +"You've read the Pingsquit bill?" old Tom demanded. + +"Yes," said Austen. + +"Just because you won a suit against the Northeastern, and nearly killed +a man out West, Tom seems to think you can do anything. He wouldn't, +give me any peace until I let him send for you," Mr. Gaylord remarked +testily. "Now you're down here, what have you got to propose?" + +"I didn't come here to propose anything, Mr. Gaylord," said Austen. + +"What!" cried Mr. Gaylord, with one of his customary and forceful +exclamations. "What'd you come down for?" + +"I've been asking myself that question ever since I came, Mr. Gaylord," +said Austen, "and I haven't yet arrived at any conclusion." + +Young Tom looked at his friend and laughed, and Mr. Gaylord, who at first +gave every indication of being about to explode with anger, suddenly +emitted a dry cackle. + +"You ain't a d-n fool, anyway," he declared. + +"I'm beginning to think I am," said Austen. + +"Then you've got sense enough to know it," retorted old Tom. Most of +'em haven't." And his glance, as it fell upon the younger man, was +almost approving. Young Tom's was distinctly so. + +"I told you Austen was the only lawyer who'd talk common sense to you," +he said. + +"I haven't heard much of it yet," said old Tom. + +"Perhaps I ought to tell you, Mr. Gaylord," said Austen, smiling a +little, "that I didn't come down in any legal capacity. That's only one +of Tom's jokes." + +"Then what in h--l did you bring him in here for?" demanded old Tom of his +son. + +"Just for a quiet little powwow," said young Tom, "to make you laugh. +He's made you laugh before." + +"I don't want to laugh," said old Tom, pettishly. Nevertheless, he +seemed to be visibly cooling. "If you ain't in here to make money," he +added to Austen, "I don't care how long you stay." + +"Say, Austen," said young Tom, "do you remember the time we covered the +old man with shavings at the mills in Avalon, and how he chased us with a +two-by-four scantling?" + +"I'd made pulp out'n you if I'd got you," remarked Mr. Gaylord, with a +reminiscent chuckle that was almost pleasant. But you were always a +goldurned smart boy, Austen, and you've done well with them little +suits." He gazed at Austen a moment with his small, filmy-blue eye. "I +don't know but what you might take hold here and make it hot for those d- +d rascals in the Northeastern, after all. You couldn't botch it worsen +Hammer has, and you might do some good. I said I'd make 'em dance, and +by G-d, I'll do it, if I have to pay that Teller Levering in New York, +and it takes the rest of my life. Look the situation over, and come back +to-morrow and tell me what you think of it." + +"I can tell you what I think of it now, Mr. Gaylord," said Austen. + +"What's that?" old Tom demanded sharply. + +"That you'll never get the bill passed, this session or next, by +lobbying." + +For the moment the elder Mr. Gaylord was speechless, but young Tom +Gaylord clapped his hand heartily on his friend's shoulder. + +"That's the reason I wanted to get you down here, Austen," he cried; +that's what I've been telling the old man all along--perhaps he'll +believe you." + +"Then you won't take hold?" said Mr. Gaylord, his voice trembling on the +edge of another spasm. "You refuse business?" + +"I refuse that kind of business, Mr. Gaylord," Austen answered quietly, +though there was a certain note in his voice that young Tom knew well, +and which actually averted the imminent explosion from Mr. Gaylord, whose +eyes glared and watered. "But aside from that, you must know that the +Republican party leaders in this State are the heads of the lobby of the +Northeastern Railroads." + +"I guess I know about Number Seven as well as you do," old Tom +interjected. + +Austen's eye flashed. + +"Now hold on, father," said young Tom, "that's no way to talk to Austen." + +"Knowing Number Seven," Austen continued, "you probably realize that the +political and business future of nearly every one of the twenty State +senators depends upon the favour of the Northeastern Railroads." + +"I know that the d-d fools won't look at money," said Mr. Gaylord; +"Hammer's tried 'em." + +"I told you that before you started in," young Tom remarked, "but when +you get mad, you won't listen to sense. And then there's the Honourable +Asa Gray, who wants to represent the Northeastern some day in the United +States Senate." + +The bill ought to pass," shrieked old Tom; "it's a d-d outrage. There's +no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to build a railroad if I've got the +money to do it. What in blazes are we comin' to in this country if we +can't git competition? If Flint stops that bill, I'll buy a newspaper +and go to the people with the issue and throw his d-d monopoly into +bankruptcy." + +"It's all very well to talk about competition and monopolies and +lobbies," said young Tom, "but how about the Gaylord Lumber Company? How +about the time you used the lobby, with Flint's permission? This kind of +virtuous talk is beautiful to listen to when you and Flint get into a +row." + +At this remark of his son's, the intermittent geyser of old Tom's wrath +spouted up again with scalding steam, and in a manner utterly impossible +to reproduce upon paper. Young Tom waited patiently for the exhibition +to cease, which it did at length in a coughing fit of sheer exhaustion +that left his father speechless, if not expressionless, pointing a lean +and trembling finger in the direction of a valise on the floor. + +"You'll go off in a spell of that kind some day," said young Tom, opening +the valise and extracting a bottle. Uncorking it, he pressed it to his +father's lips, and with his own pocket-handkerchief (old Tom not +possessing such an article) wiped the perspiration from Mr. Gaylord's +brow and the drops from his shabby black coat. "There's no use gettin' +mad at Austen. He's dead right--you can't lobby this thing through, and +you knew it before you started. If you hadn't lost your temper, you +wouldn't have tried." + +"We'll see, by G-d, we'll see," said the indomitable old Tom, when he got +his breath. "You young men think you know a sight, but you haven't got +the stuff in you we old Tellers have. Where would I be if it wasn't for +fightin'? You mark my words, before this session's ended I'll scare h-l +out of Flint--see if I don't." + +Young Tom winked at his friend. + +"Let's go down to supper," he said. + +The dining room of the Pelican Hotel during a midweek of a busy session +was a scene of bustle and confusion not likely to be forgotten. Every +seat was taken, and gentlemen waited their turn in the marble-flagged +rotunda who had not the honour of being known to Mr. Giles, the head +waiter. If Mr. Hamilton Tooting were present, and recognized you, he +would take great pleasure in pointing out the celebrities, and especially +that table over which the Honourable Hilary Vane presided, with the +pretty, red-checked waitress hovering around it. At the Honourable +Hilary's right hand was the division superintendent, and at his left, Mr. +Speaker Doby--a most convenient and congenial arrangement; farther down +the board were State Senator Nat Billings, Mr. Ridout (when he did not +sup at home), the Honourables Brush Bascom and Elisha Jane, and the +Honourable Jacob Botcher made a proper ballast for the foot. This table +was known as the Railroad Table, and it was very difficult, at any +distance away from it, to hear what was said, except when the Honourable +Jacob Botcher made a joke. Next in importance and situation was the +Governor's Table--now occupied by the Honourable Asa Gray. Mr. Tooting's +description would not have stopped here. + +Sensations are common in the Pelican Hotel, but when Austen Vane walked +in that evening between the Gaylords, father and son, many a hungry guest +laid down his knife and fork and stared. Was the younger Vane (known to +be anti-railroad) to take up the Gaylords' war against his own father? +All the indications were that way, and a rumour flew from table to table- +leaping space, as rumours will--that the Gaylords had sent to Ripton for +Austen. There was but one table in the room the occupants of which +appeared not to take any interest in the event, or even to grasp that an +event had occurred. The Railroad Table was oblivious. + +After supper Mr. Tooting found Austen in the rotunda, and drew him +mysteriously aside. + +"Say, Aust, the Honourable Hilary wants to see you to-night," he +whispered. + +"Did he send you with the message?" Austen demanded. + +"That's right," said Mr. Tooting. "I guess you know what's up." + +Austen did not answer. At the foot of the stairway was the tall form of +Hilary Vane himself, and Austen crossed the rotunda. + +"Do you want to see me, Judge?" he asked. + +The Honourable Hilary faced about quickly. + +"Yes, if you've got any spare time." + +"I'll go to your room at half-past nine to-night, if that's convenient." + +"All right," said the Honourable Hilary, starting up the stairs. + +Austen turned, and found Mr. Hamilton Tooting at his elbow. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Mr. REDBROOK'S PARTY + +The storm was over, and the bare trees, when the moon shone between the +hurrying clouds, cast lacelike shadows on the white velvet surface of the +snow as Austen forged his way up the hill to the Widow Peasley's in +keeping with his promise to Mr. Redbrook. Across the street he paused +outside the picket-fence to gaze at the yellow bars of light between the +slats of the windows of the Duncan house. It was hard to realize that +she was there, within a stone's throw of where he was to sleep; but the +strange, half-startled expression in her eyes that afternoon and the +smile--which had in it a curious quality he could not analyze--were so +vivid in his consciousness as to give him pain. The incident, as he +stood there ankle-deep in the snow, seemed to him another inexplicable +and uselessly cruel caprice of fate. + +As he pictured her in the dining room behind Mr. Crewe's silver and cut +glass and flowers, it was undoubtedly natural that he should wonder +whether she were thinking of him in the Widow Peasley's lamp-lit cottage, +and he smiled at the contrast. After all, it was the contrast between +his life and hers. As an American of good antecedents and education, +with a Western experience thrown in, social gulfs, although awkward, +might be crossed in spite of opposition from ladies like the Rose of +Sharon,--who had crossed them. Nevertheless, the life which Victoria led +seemingly accentuated--to a man standing behind a picket-fence in the +snow--the voids between. + +A stamping of feet in the Widow Peasley's vestibule awoke in him that +sense of the ridiculous which was never far from the surface, and he made +his way thither in mingled amusement and pain. What happened there is of +interest, but may be briefly chronicled. Austen was surprised, on +entering, to find Mrs. Peasley's parlour filled with men; and a single +glance at their faces in the lamplight assured him that they were of a +type which he understood--countrymen of that rugged New England stock to +which he himself belonged, whose sons for generations had made lawyers +and statesmen and soldiers for the State and nation. Some were talking +in low voices, and others sat silent on the chairs and sofa, not +awkwardly or uncomfortably, but with a characteristic self-possession and +repose. Mr. Redbrook, towering in front of the stove, came forward. + +"Here you be," he said, taking Austen's hand warmly and a little +ceremoniously; "I asked 'em here to meet ye." + +"To meet me!" Austen repeated. + +"Wanted they should know you," said Mr. Redbrook. + +"They've all heard of you and what you did for Zeb." + +Austen flushed. He was aware that he was undergoing a cool and critical +examination by those present, and that they were men who used all their +faculties in making up their minds. + +"I'm very glad to meet any friends of yours, Mr. Redbrook," he said. +"What I did for Meader isn't worth mentioning. It was an absolutely +simple case." + +"Twahn't so much what ye did as how ye did it," said Mr. Redbrook. "It's +kind of rare in these days," he added, with the manner of commenting to +himself on the circumstance, "to find a young lawyer with brains that +won't sell 'em to the railrud. That's what appeals to me, and to some +other folks I know--especially when we take into account the situation +you was in and the chances you had." + +Austen's silence under this compliment seemed to create an indefinable +though favourable impression, and the member from Mercer permitted +himself to smile. + +"These men are all friends of mine, and members of the House," he said, +"and there's more would have come if they'd had a longer notice. Allow +me to make you acquainted with Mr. Widgeon of Hull." + +"We kind of wanted to look you over," said Mr. Widgeon, suiting the +action to the word. "That's natural ain't it?" + +"Kind of size you up," added Mr. Jarley of Wye, raising his eyes. +"Callate you're sizable enough." + +"Wish you was in the House," remarked Mr. Adams of Barren. "None of us +is much on talk, but if we had you, I guess we could lay things wide +open." + +"If you was thar, and give it to 'em as hot as you did when you was +talkin' for Zeb, them skunks in the front seats wouldn't know whether +they was afoot or hossback," declared Mr. Williams of Devon, a town +adjoining Mercer. + +"I used to think railrud gov'ment wahn't so bad until I come to the House +this time," remarked a stocky member from Oxford; "it's sheer waste of +money for the State to pay a Legislature. They might as well run things +from the New York office--you know that." + +"We might as well wear so many Northeastern uniforms with brass buttons," +a sinewy hill farmer from Lee put in. He had a lean face that did not +move a muscle, but a humorous gray eye that twinkled. + +In the meantime Mr. Redbrook looked on with an expression of approval +which was (to Austen) distinctly pleasant, but more or less mystifying. + +"I guess you ain't disappointed 'em much," he declared, when the round +was ended; "most of 'em knew me well enough to understand that cattle and +live stock in general, includin' humans, is about as I represent 'em to +be." + +"We have some confidence in your judgment, Brother Redbrook," answered +Mr. Terry of Lee, "and now we've looked over the goods, it ain't set back +any, I callate." + +This observation, which seemed to meet with a general assent, was to +Austen more mystifying than ever. He laughed. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I feel as though some expression of thanks were +due you for this kind and most unexpected reception." Here a sudden +seriousness came into his eyes which served, somehow, only to enhance his +charm of manner, and a certain determined ring into his voice. "You have +all referred to a condition of affairs," he added, "about which I have +thought a great deal, and which I deplore as deeply as you do. There is +no doubt that the Northeastern Railroads have seized the government of +this State for three main reasons: to throttle competition; to control +our railroad commission in order that we may not get the service and +safety to which we are entitled,--so increasing dividends; and to make +and maintain laws which enable them to bribe with passes, to pay less +taxes than they should, and to manipulate political machinery." + +"That's right," said Mr. Jarley of Wye, with a decided emphasis. + +"That's the kind of talk I like to hear," exclaimed Mr. Terry. + +"And nobody's had the gumption to fight 'em," said Mr. Widgeon. + +"It looks," said Austen, "as though it must come to a fight in the end. +I do not think they will listen to reason. I mean," he added, with a +flash of humour, "that they will listen to it, but not act upon it. +Gentlemen, I regret to have to say, for obvious reasons, something which +you all know, that my father is at the head of the Northeastern machine, +which is the Republican party organization." + +There was a silence. + +"You went again' him, and we honour you for it, Austen," said Mr. +Redbrook, at length. + +"I want to say," Austen continued, "that I have tried to look at things +as Mr. Vane sees them, and that I have a good deal of sympathy for his +point of view. Conditions as they exist are the result of an evolution +for which no one man is responsible. That does not alter the fact that +the conditions are wrong. But the railroads, before they consolidated, +found the political boss in power, and had to pay him for favours. The +citizen was the culprit to start with, just as he is the culprit now, +because he does not take sufficient interest in his government to make it +honest. We mustn't blame the railroads too severely, when they grew +strong enough, for substituting their own political army to avoid being +blackmailed. Long immunity has reenforced them in the belief that they +have but one duty to pay dividends. I am afraid," he added, "that they +will have to be enlightened somewhat as Pharaoh was enlightened." + +"Well, that's sense, too," said Mr. Widgeon; "I guess you're the man to +enlighten 'em." + +"Moderate talk appeals to me," declared Mr. Jarley. + +"And when that fails," said Mr. Terry, 'hard, tellin' blows." + +"Don't lose track of the fact that we've got our eye on you," said Mr. +Emerson of Oxford, who had a blacksmith's grip, and came back to renew it +after he had put on his overshoes. He was the last to linger, and when +the door had closed on him Austen turned to Mr. Redbrook. + +"Now what does all this mean?" he demanded. + +"It means," said Mr. Redbrook, "that when the time comes, we want you to +run for governor." + +Austen went to the mantelpiece, and stood for a long time with his back +turned, staring at a crayon portrait of Colonel Peasley, in the uniform +in which he had fallen at the battle of Gettysburg. Then he swung about +and seized the member from Mercer by both broad shoulders. + +"James Redbrook," he said, "until to-night I thought you were about as +long-headed and sensible a man as there was in the State." + +"So I be," replied Mr. Redbrook, with a grin. "You ask young Tom +Gaylord." + +"So Tom put you up to this nonsense." + +"It ain't nonsense," retorted Mr. Redbrook, stoutly, "and Tom didn't put +me up to it. It's the' best notion that ever came into my mind." + +Austen, still clinging to Mr. Redbrook's shoulders, shook his head +slowly. + +"James," he said, "there are plenty of men who are better equipped than I +for the place, and in a better situation to undertake it. I--I'm much +obliged to you. But I'll help. I've got to go," he added; "the +Honourable Hilary wants to see me." + +He went into the entry aud put on his overshoes and his coat, while James +Redbrook regarded him with a curious mingling of pain and benevolence on +his rugged face. + +"I won't press you now, Austen," he said, "but think on it. For God's +sake, think on it." + +Outside, Austen paused in the snow once more, his brain awhirl with a +strange exaltation the like of which he had never felt before. Although +eminently human, it was not the fact that honest men had asked him to be +their governor which uplifted him,--but that they believed him to be as +honest as themselves. In that hour he had tasted life as he had never +yet tasted it, he had lived as he might never live again. Not one of +them, he remembered suddenly, had uttered a sentence of the political +claptrap of which he had heard so much. They had spoken from the soul; +not bitterly, not passionately, but their words had rung with the +determination which had made their forefathers and his leave home, toil, +and kindred to fight and die at Bunker Hill and Gettysburg for a +principle. It had bean given him to look that eight into the heart of a +nation, and he was awed. + +As he stood there under the winter moon, he gradually became conscious of +music, of an air that seemed the very expression of his mood. His eyes, +irresistibly drawn towards the Duncan house, were caught by the +fluttering of lace curtains at an open window. The notes were those of a +piano,--though the instrument mattered little,--that with which they were +charged for him set the night wind quivering. It was not simple music, +although it had in it a grand simplicity. At times it rose, vibrant with +inexpressible feeling, and fell again into gentler, yearning cadences +that wrung the soul with a longing that was world-old and world-wide, +that reached out towards the unattainable stare--and, reaching, became +immortal. Thus was the end of it, fainting as it drifted heavenward. + +Then the window was closed. + +Austen walked on; whither, he knew not. After a certain time of which he +had no cognizance he found himself under the glaring arc-light that hung +over Main Street before the Pelican Hotel, in front of what was known as +the ladies' entrance. He slipped in there, avoiding the crowded lobby +with its shifting groups and its haze of smoke,--plainly to be seen +behind the great plates of glass,--went upstairs, and gained room Number. +Seven unnoticed. Then, after the briefest moment of hesitation, he +knocked. A voice responded--the Honourable Hilary's. There was but one +light burning in the room, and Mr. Vane sat in his accustomed chair in +the corner, alone. He was not reading, nor was he drowsing, but his head +was dropped forward a little on his breast. He raised it slowly at his +son's entrance, and regarded Austen fixedly, though silently. + +"You wanted to see me, Judge?" said Austen. + +"Come at last, have you?" said Mr. Vane. + +"I didn't intend to be late," said Austen. + +"Seem to have a good deal of business on hand these days," the Honourable +Hilary remarked. + +Austen took a step forward, and stopped. Mr. Vane was preparing a piece +of Honey Dew. + +"If you would like to know what the business was, Judge, I am here to +tell you." + +The Honourable Hilary grunted. + +"I ain't good enough to be confided in, I guess," he said; "I wouldn't +understand motives from principle." + +Austen looked at his father for a few moments in silence. To-night he +seemed at a greater distance than ever before, and more lonely than ever. +When Austen had entered the room and had seen him sitting with his head +bowed forward, the hostility of months of misunderstanding had fallen +away from the son, and he had longed to fly to him as he had as a child +after punishment. Differences in after life, alas, are not always to be +bridged thus. + +"Judge," he said slowly, with an attempt to control his voice, wouldn't +it have been fairer to wait awhile, before you made a remark like that? +Whatever our dealings may have been, I have never lied to you. Anything +you may want to know, I am here to tell you." + +"So you're going to take up lobbying, are you? I had a notion you were +above lobbying." + +Austen was angered. But like all men of character, his face became stern +under provocation, and he spoke more deliberately. + +"Before eve go any farther," he said, "would you mind telling me who your +informant is on this point?" + +"I guess I don't need an informant. My eyesight is as good as ever," +said the Honourable Hilary. + +"Your deductions are usually more accurate. If any one has told you that +I am about to engage in lobbying, they have lied to you." + +"Wouldn't engage in lobbying, would you?" the Honourable Hilary asked, +with the air of making a casual inquiry. + +Austen flushed, but kept his temper. + +"I prefer the practice of law," he replied. + +"Saw you were associatin' with saints," his father remarked. + +Austen bit his lip, and then laughed outright,--the canonization of old +Tom Gaylord being too much for him. + +"Now, Judge," he said, "it isn't like you to draw hasty conclusions. +Because I sat down to supper with the Gaylords it isn't fair to infer +that they have retained me in a legislative case." + +The Honourable Hilary did not respond to his son's humour, but shifted +the Honey Dew to the left cheek. + +"Old Tom going in for reform?" + +"He may bring it about," answered Austen, instantly becoming serious +again, "whether he's going in for it or not." + +For the first time the Honourable Hilary raised his eyes to his son's +face, and shot at him a penetrating look of characteristic shrewdness. +But he followed in conversation the same rule as in examining a witness, +rarely asking a direct question, except as a tactical surprise. + +"Old Tom ought to have his railroad, oughtn't he?" + +"So far as I can see, it would be a benefit to the people of that part of +the State," said Austen. + +"Building it for the people, is he?" + +"His motive doesn't count. The bill should be judged on its merits, and +proper measures for the safeguarding of public interests should be put +into it." + +"Don't think the bill will be judged on its merits, do you?" + +"No, I don't," replied Austen, "and neither do you." + +"Did you tell old Tom so?" asked Mr. Vane, after a pause. "Did you tell +old Tom so when he sent for you to take hold?" + +"He didn't send for me," answered Austen, quietly, "and I have no +business dealings with him except small suits. What I did tell him was +that he would never get the bill through this session or next by +lobbying." + +The Honourable Hilary never showed surprise. He emitted a grunt which +evinced at once impatience and amusement. + +"Why not?" he asked. + +"Well, Judge, I'll tell you what I told him--although you both know. +It's because the Northeastern owns the Republican party machine, which is +the lobby, and because most of the twenty State senators are dependent +upon the Northeastern for future favours." + +"Did you tell Tom Gaylord that?" demanded Mr. Vane. "What did he say?" + +Austen braced himself. He did not find the answer easy. + +"He said he knew about Number Seven as well as I did." + +The Honourable Hilary rose abruptly--perhaps in some secret agitation-- +Austen could not discern. His father walked as far as the door, and +turned slowly and faced him, but he did not speak. His mouth was tightly +closed, almost as in pain, and Austen went towards him, appealingly. + +"Judge," he said, "you sent for me. You have asked me questions which I +felt obliged in honesty to answer. God knows I don't wish to differ with +you, but circumstances seem always against us. I will talk plainly, if +you will let me. I try to look at things from your point of view. I +know that you believe that a political system should go hand in hand with +the great commercial system which you are engaged in building. I +disagree with your beliefs, but I do not think that your pursuit of them +has not been sincere, and justified by your conscience. I suppose that +you sent for me to know whether Mr. Gaylord has employed me to lobby for +his bill. He has not, because I refused that employment. But I will +tell you that, in my opinion, if a man of any ability whatever should get +up on the floor of the House and make an argument for the Pingsquit bill, +the sentiment against the Northeastern and its political power is so +great that the House would compel the committee to report the bill, and +pass it. You probably know this already, but I mention it for your own +good if you do not, in the hope that, through you, the Northeastern +Railroads may be induced to relax their grip upon the government of this +State." + +The Honourable Hilary advanced, until only the marble-topped table was +between himself and his son. A slight noise in the adjoining room caused +him to turn his head momentarily. Then he faced Austen again. + +"Did you tell Gaylord this?" he asked. + +Austen made a gesture of distaste, and turned away. + +"No," he said, "I reserved the opinion, whatever it is worth, for your +ears alone." + +"I've heard that kind of calculation before," said the Honourable Hilary. +"My experience is that they never come to much. As for this nonsense +about the Northeastern Railroads running things," he added more +vigorously, "I guess when it's once in a man's head there's no getting it +out. The railroad employs the best lawyers it can find to look after its +interests. I'm one of 'em, and I'm proud of it. If I hadn't been one of +'em, the chances are you'd never be where you are, that you'd never have +gone to college and the law school. The Republican party realizes that +the Northeastern is most vitally connected with the material interests of +this State; that the prosperity of the road means the prosperity of the +State. And the leaders of the party protect the road from vindictive +assaults on it like Gaylord's, and from scatterbrains and agitators like +your friend Redbrook." + +Austen shook his head sadly as he gazed at his father. He had always +recognized the futility of arguments, if argument on this point ever +arose between them. + +"It's no use, Judge," he said. "If material prosperity alone were to be +considered, your contention would have some weight. The perpetuation of +the principle of American government has to be thought of. Government by +a railroad will lead in the end to anarchy. You are courting destruction +as it is." + +"If you came in here to quote your confounded Emerson--" the Honourable +Hilary began, but Austen slipped around the table and took him by the arm +and led him perforce to his chair. + +"No, Judge, that isn't Emerson," he answered. "It's just common sense, +only it sounds to you like drivel. I'm going now,--unless you want to +hear some more about the plots I've been getting into. But I want to say +this. I ask you to remember that you're my father, and that--I'm fond of +you. And that, if you and I happen to be on opposite sides, it won't +make any difference as far as my feelings are concerned. I'm always +ready to tell you frankly what I'm doing, if you wish to know. Good-by. +I suppose I'll see you in Ripton at the end of the week." And he pressed +his father's shoulder. + +Mr. Vane looked up at his son with a curious expression. Perhaps (as +when Austen returned from the shooting of Mr. Blodgett in the West) there +was a smattering of admiration and pride in that look, and something of +an affection which had long ceased in its strivings for utterance. It +was the unconscious tribute, too,--slight as was its exhibition,--of the +man whose life has been spent in the conquest of material things to the +man who has the audacity, insensate though it seem, to fling these to the +winds in his search after ideals. + +"Good-by, Austen," said Mr. Vane. + +Austen got as far as the door, cast another look back at his father,--who +was sitting motionless, with head bowed, as when he came,--and went out. +So Mr. Vane remained for a full minute after the door had closed, and +then he raised his head sharply and gave a piercing glance at the +curtains that separated Number Seven from the governor's room. In three +strides he had reached them, flung them open, and the folding doors +behind them, already parted by four inches. The gas was turned low, but +under the chandelier was the figure of a young man struggling with an +overcoat. The Honourable Hilary did not hesitate, but came forward with +a swiftness that paralyzed the young man, who turned upon him a face on +which was meant to be written surprise and a just indignation, but in +reality was a mixture of impudence and pallid fright. The Honourable +Hilary, towering above him, and with that grip on his arm, was a +formidable person. + +"Listening, were you, Ham?" he demanded. + +"No," cried Mr. Tooting, with a vehemence he meant for force. "No, I +wasn't. Listening to who?" + +"Humph!" said the Honourable Hilary, still retaining with one hand the +grip on Mr. Tooting 's arm, and with the other turning up the gas until +it flared in Mr. Tooting's face. "What are you doing in the governor's +room?" + +"I left my overcoat in here this afternoon when you sent me to bring up +the senator." + +"Ham," said Mr. Vane, "it isn't any use lying to me." + +"I ain't lying to you," said Mr. Tooting, "I never did. I often lied for +you," he added, "and you didn't raise any objections that I remember." + +Mr. Vane let go of the arm contemptuously. + +"I've done dirty work for the Northeastern for a good many years," cried +Mr. Tooting, seemingly gaining confidence now that he was free; "I've +slaved for 'em, and what have they done for me? They wouldn't even back +me for county solicitor when I wanted the job." + +"Turned reformer, Ham?" + +"I guess I've got as much right to turn reformer as some folks I know." + +"I guess you have," agreed the Honourable Hilary; unexpectedly. He +seated himself on a chair, and proceeded to regard Mr. Tooting in a +manner extremely disconcerting to that gentleman. This quality of +impenetrability, of never being sure when he was angry, had baffled more +able opponents of Hilary Vane than Mr. Hamilton Tooting. + +"Good-night, Ham." + +"I want to say--" Mr. Tooting began. + +"Good-night, Ham," said Mr. Vane, once more. + +Mr. Tooting looked at him, slowly buttoned up his overcoat, and departed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE REALM OF PEGASUS + +The eventful day of Mr. Humphrey Crewe's speech on national affairs +dawned without a cloud in the sky. The snow was of a dazzling whiteness +and sprinkled with diamond dust; and the air of such transcendent +clearness that Austen could see--by leaning a little out of the Widow +Peasley's window--the powdered top of Holdfast Mountain some thirty miles +away. For once, a glance at the mountain sufficed him; and he directed +his gaze through the trees at the Duncan house, engaging in a pleasant +game of conjecture as to which was her window. In such weather the +heights of Helicon seemed as attainable as the peak of Holdfast; and he +had but to beckon a shining Pegasus from out a sun-shaft in the sky. +Obstacles were mere specks on the snow. + +He forgot to close the window, and dressed in a temperature which would +have meant, for many mortals, pneumonia. The events of yesterday; +painful and agitating as they had been, had fallen away in the prospect +that lay before him--he would see her to-day, and speak with her. These +words, like a refrain; were humming in his head as honest Mr. Redbrook +talked during breakfast, while Austen's answers may have been both +intelligent and humorous. Mr. Redbrook, at least; gave no sign that they +were not. He was aware that Mr. Redbrook was bringing arguments to bear +on the matter of the meeting of the evening before, but he fended these +lightly, while in spirit he flung a gem-studded bridle aver the neck of +Pegasus. + +And after breakfast--away from the haunts of men! Away from the +bickerings, the subjection of mean spirits; material loss and gain and +material passion! By eight o'clock (the Widow Peasley's household being +an early and orderly one) he was swinging across the long hills, cleaving +for himself a furrowed path in the untrodden snow, breathing deep as he +gazed across the blue spaces from the crests. Bellerophon or Perseus, +aided by immortals, felt no greater sense of achievements to come than +he. Out here, on the wind-swept hills that rolled onward and upward to +the mountains, the world was his. + +With the same speed he returned, still by untrodden paths until he +reached the country road that ended in the city street. Some who saw him +paused in their steps, caught unconsciously by the rhythmic perfection of +his motion. Ahead of him he beheld the state-house, its dial aflame in +the light, emblematic to him of the presence within it of a spirit which +cleansed it of impurities. She would be there; nay, when he looked at +the dial from a different angle, was there. As he drew nearer, there +rose out of the void her presence beside him which he had daily tried to +summon since that autumn afternoon--her voice and her eyes, and many of +the infinite expressions of each and both. Sprites that they were, they +had failed him until to-day, when he was to see her again! + +And then, somehow, he had threaded the groups beside the battle-flags in +the corridor, and mounted the stairway. The doorkeeper of the House +looked into his face, and, with that rare knowledge of mankind which +doorkeepers possess, let him in. There were many ladies on the floor +(such being the chivalrous custom when a debate or a speech of the +importance of Mr. Crewe's was going on), but Austen swept them with a +glance of disappointment. Was it possible, after all, that she had not +come, or--more agitating thought--had gone back to New York? + +At this disturbing point in his reflections Austen became aware that the +hall was ringing with a loud and compelling voice which originated in +front of the Speaker's desk. + +The Honourable Humphrey Crewe was delivering his long-heralded speech on +national affairs, and was arrayed for the occasion in a manner befitting +the American statesman, with the conventional frock coat, which he wore +unbuttoned. But the Gladstone collar and a tie gave the touch of +individuality to his dress which was needed to set him aside as a marked +man. Austen suddenly remembered, with an irresistible smile, that one of +the reasons which he had assigned for his visit to the capital was to +hear this very speech, to see how Mr. Crewe would carry off what appeared +to be a somewhat difficult situation. Whether or not this motive had +drawn others,--for the millionaire's speech had not lacked +advertisement,--it is impossible to say, but there was standing room only +on the floor of the House that day. + +The fact that Mr. Crewe was gratified could not be wholly concealed. The +thing that fascinated Austen Vane and others who listened was the aplomb +with which the speech was delivered. The member from Leith showed no +trace of the nervousness naturally to be expected in a maiden effort, but +spoke with the deliberation of an old campaigner, of the man of weight +and influence that he was. He leaned, part of the time, with his elbow +on the clerk's desk, with his feet crossed; again, when he wished to +emphasize a point, he came forward and seized with both hands the back of +his chair. Sometimes he thrust his thumb in his waistcoat pocket, and +turned with an appeal to Mr. Speaker Doby, who was apparently too +thrilled and surprised to indulge in conversation with those on the bench +beside him, and who made no attempt to quell hand-clapping and even +occasional whistling; again, after the manner of experts, Mr. Crewe +addressed himself forcibly to an individual in the audience, usually a +sensitive and responsive person like the Honourable Jacob Botcher, who on +such occasions assumed a look of infinite wisdom and nodded his head +slowly. There was no doubt about it that the compelling personality of +Mr. Humphrey Crewe was creating a sensation. Genius is sure of itself, +and statesmen are born, not made. + +Able and powerful as was Mr. Crewe's discourse, the man and not the words +had fastened the wandering attention of Austen Vane. He did not perceive +his friend of the evening before, Mr. Widgeon, coming towards him up the +side aisle, until he felt a touch on the arm. + +"Take my seat. It ain't exactly a front one," whispered the member from +Hull, "my wife's cousin's comin' on the noon train. Not a bad speech, is +it?" he added. "Acts like a veteran. I didn't callate he had it in +him." + +Thus aroused, Austen made his way towards the vacant chair, and when he +was seated raised his eyes to the gallery rail, and Mr. Crewe, the +legislative chamber, and its audience ceased to exist. It is quite +impossible--unless one is a poetical genius--to reproduce on paper that +gone and sickly sensation which is, paradoxically, so exquisite. The +psychological cause of it in this instance was, primarily, the sight, by +Austen Vane, of his own violets on a black, tailor-made gown trimmed with +wide braid, and secondarily of an oval face framed in a black hat, the +subtle curves of which no living man could describe. The face was turned +in his direction, and he felt an additional thrill when he realized that +she must have been watching him as he came in, for she was leaning +forward with a gloved hand on the railing. + +He performed that act of conventionality known as a bow, and she nodded +her head--black hat and all. The real salutation was a divine ray which +passed between their eyes--hers and his--over the commonplace mortals +between. And after that, although the patient legislative clock in the +corner which had marked the space of other great events (such as the +Woodchuck Session) continued to tick, undisturbed in this instance by the +pole of the sergeant-at-arms, time became a lost dimension for Austen +Vane. He made a few unimportant discoveries such as the fact that Mrs. +Pomfret and her daughter were seated beside Victoria, listening with a +rapt attention; and that Mr. Crewe had begun to read statistics; and that +some people were gaping and others leaving. He could look up at the +gallery without turning his head, and sometimes he caught her momentary +glance, and again, with her chin in her hand, she was watching Mr. Crewe +with a little smile creasing the corners of her eyes. + +A horrible thought crossed Austen's mind--perhaps they were not his +violets after all! Because she had smiled at him, yesterday and to-day, +he had soared heavenwards on wings of his own making. Perhaps they were +Mr. Crewe's violets. Had she not come to visit Mr. Crewe, to listen to +his piece de resistance, without knowing that he, Austen Vane, would be +in the capital? The idea that her interest in Austen Vane was possibly +connected with the study of mankind had a sobering effect on him; and the +notion that she had another sort of interest in Mr. Crewe seemed +ridiculous enough, but disturbing, and supported by feats. + +Austen had reached this phase in his reflections when he was aroused by a +metallic sound which arose above the resonant tones of the orator of the +day. A certain vessel, to the use of which, according to Mr. Dickens, +the satire male portion of the American nation was at one time addicted,- +-a cuspidor, in plain language,--had been started, by some unknown agency +in the back seats, rolling down the centre aisle, and gathering impetus +as it went, bumped the louder on each successive step until it hurled +itself with a clash against the clerk's desk, at the feet of the orator +himself. During its descent a titter arose which gradually swelled into +a roar of laughter, and Austen's attention was once more focused upon the +member from Leith. But if any man had so misjudged the quality of +Humphrey Crewe as to suppose for an instant that he could be put out of +countenance by such a manoeuvre, that man was mightily mistaken. Mr. +Crewe paused, with his forefinger on the page, and fixed a glassy eye on +the remote neighbourhood in the back seats where the disturbance had +started. + +"I am much obliged to the gentleman," he said coldly, "but he has sent me +an article which I never use, under any conditions. I would not deprive +him of its convenience." + +Whereupon, it is not too much to say, Mr. Crews was accorded an ovation, +led by his stanch friend and admirer, the Honourable Jacob Botcher, +although that worthy had been known to use the article in question. + +Mr. Speaker Doby glanced at the faithful clock, and arose majestically. + +"I regret to say," he announced, "that the time of the gentleman from +Leith is up." + +Mr. Botcher rose slowly to his feet. + +"Mr. Speaker," he began, in a voice that rumbled through the crevices of +the gallery, "I move you, sir, that a vote of thanks be accorded to the +gentleman from Leith for his exceedingly able and instructive speech on +national affairs." + +"Second the motion," said the Honourable Brush Bascom, instantly. + +"And leave to print in the State Tribune!" cried a voice from somewhere +among the submerged four hundred and seventy. + +"Gentlemen of the House," said Mr. Crewe, when the laughter had subsided, +"I have given you a speech which is the result of much thought and +preparation on my part. I have not flaunted the star-spangled banner in +your faces, or indulged in oratorical fireworks. Mine have been the +words of a plain business man, and I have not indulged in wild +accusations or flights of imagination. Perhaps, if I had," he added, +"there are some who would have been better pleased. I thank my friends +for their kind attention and approbation." + +Nevertheless, amidst somewhat of a pandemonium, the vote of thanks was +given and the House adjourned; while Mr. Crewe's friends of whom he had +spoken could be seen pressing around him and shaking him by the hand. +Austen got to his feet, his eyes again sought the gallery, whence he +believed he received a look of understanding from a face upon which +amusement seemed plainly written. She had turned to glance down at him, +despite the fact that Mrs. Pomfret was urging her to leave. Austen +started for the door, and managed to reach it long before his neighbours +had left the vicinity of their seats. Once in the corridor, his eye +singled her out amongst those descending the gallery stairs, and he had a +little thrill of pride and despair when he realized that she was the +object of the scrutiny, too, of the men around him; the women were +interested, likewise, in Mrs. Pomfret, whose appearance, although +appropriate enough for a New York matinee, proclaimed her as hailing from +that mysterious and fabulous city of wealth. This lady, with her +lorgnette, was examining the faces about her in undisguised curiosity, +and at the same time talking to Victoria in a voice which she took no +pains to lower. + +"I think it outrageous," she was saying. "If some Radical member had +done that in Parliament, he would have been expelled from the House. But +of course in Parliament they wouldn't have those horrid things to roll +down the aisles. Poor dear Humphrey! The career of a gentleman in +politics is a thankless one in this country. I wonder at his fortitude." + +Victoria's eyes alone betokened her amusement. + +"How do you do, Mr. Vane?" she said. "I'm so glad to see you again." + +Austen said something which he felt was entirely commonplace and +inadequate to express his own sentiments, while Alice gave him an +uncertain bow, and Mrs. Pomfret turned her glasses upon him. + +"You remember Mr. Vane," said Victoria; "you met him at Humphrey's." + +"Did I?" answered Mrs. Pomfret. "How do you do? Can't something be done +to punish those rowdies?" + +Austen grew red. + +"Mr. Vane isn't a member of the House," said Victoria. + +"Oh," exclaimed Mrs. Pomfret. "Something ought to be done about it. In +England such a thing wouldn't be allowed to drop for a minute. If I +lived in this State, I think I should do something. Nobody in America +seems to have the spirit even to make a protest." + +Austen turned quietly to Victoria. + +"When are you going away?" he asked. + +"To-morrow morning--earlier than I like to think of. I have to be in New +York by to-morrow night." + +She flashed at him a look of approbation for his self-control, and then, +by a swift transition which he had often remarked, her expression changed +to one of amusement, although a seriousness lurked in the depths of her +eyes. Mrs. Pomfret had gone on, with Alice, and they followed. + +"And--am I not to see you again before you go?" he exclaimed. + +He didn't stop to reason than upon the probable consequences of his act +in seeking her. Nature, which is stronger than reason, was compelling +him. + +"That depends," said Victoria. + +"Upon whom?" + +"Upon you." + +They were on the lower stairs by this times, and there was silence +between then for a few moments as they descended,--principally because, +after this exalting remark, Austen could not trust himself to speak. + +"Will you go driving with me?" he asked, and was immediately +thunderstruck at his boldness. + +"Yes," she answered, simply. + +"How soon may I come?" he demanded, + +She laughed softly, but with a joyous note which was not hidden from him +as they stepped out of the darkened corridor into the dazzling winter +noonday. + +"I will be ready at three o'clock," she said. + +He looked at his watch. + +"Two hours and a half!" he cried. + +"If that is too early," she said mischievously, "we can go later." + +"Too early!" he repeated. But the rest of his protest was cut short by +Mr. Crewe. + +"Hello, Victoria, what did you think of my speech?" + +"The destinies of the nation are settled," said Victoria. "Do you know +Mr. Vane?" + +"Oh, yes, how are you?" said Mr, Crewe; "glad to see you," and he +extended a furred glove. "Were you there?" + +"Yes," said Austen. + +"I'll send you a copy. I'd like to talk it over with you. Come on, +Victoria, I've arranged for an early lunch. Come on, Mrs. Pomfret--get +in, Alice." + +Mrs. Pomfret, still protesting against the profane interruption to Mr. +Crewe's speech, bent her head to enter Mr. Crewe's booby sleigh, which +had his crest on the panel. Alice was hustled in next, but Victoria +avoided his ready assistance and got in herself, Mr. Crewe getting in +beside her. + +"Au revoir," she called out to Austen, as the door slammed. The coachman +gathered his horses together, and off they went at a brisk trot. Then +the little group which had been watching the performance dispersed. +Halfway across the park Austen perceived some one signaling violently to +him, and discovered his friend, young Tom Gaylord. + +"Come to dinner with me," said young Tom, "and tell me whether the speech +of your friend from Leith will send him to Congress. I saw you +hobnobbing with him just now. What's the matter, Austen? I haven't seen +that guilty expression on your face since we were at college together." + +"What's the best livery-stable in town?" Austen asked. + +"By George, I wondered why you came down here. Who are you going to take +out in a sleigh? There's a girl in it, is there?" + +"Not yet, Tom," said Austen. + +"I've often asked myself why I ever had any use for such a secretive cuss +as you," declared young Mr. Gaylord. "But if you're really goin' to get +interested in girls, you ought to see old Flint's daughter. I wrote you +about her. Why," exclaimed Tom, "wasn't she one of those that got into +Crewe's sleigh?" + +"Tom," said Austen, "where did you say that livery-stable was?" + +"Oh, dang the livery-stable!" answered Mr. Gaylord. "I hear there's +quite a sentiment for you for governor. How about it? You know I've +always said you could be United States senator and President. If you'll +only say the word, Austen, we'll work up a movement around the State +that'll be hard to beat." + +"Tom," said Austen, laying his hand on young Mr. Gaylord's farther +shoulder, "you're a pretty good fellow. Where did you say that livery- +stable was? + +"I'll go sleigh-riding with you," said Mr. Gaylord. "I guess the +Pingsquit bill can rest one afternoon." + +"Tom, I don't know any man I'd rather take than you," said Austen. + +The unsuspecting Tom was too good-natured to be offended, and shortly +after dinner Austen found himself in the process of being looked over by +a stout gentleman named Putter, proprietor of Putter's Livery, who +claimed to be a judge of men as well as horses. Austen had been through +his stalls and chosen a mare. + +"Durned if you don't look like a man who can handle a horse," said Mr. +Putter. And as long as you're a friend of Tom Gaylord's I'll let you +have her. Nobody drives that mare but me. What's your name?" + +"Vane." + +"Ain't any relation to old Hilary, be you?" + +"I'm his son," said Austen, "only he doesn't boast about it." + +"Godfrey!" exclaimed Mr. Putter, with a broad grin, "I guess you kin have +her. Ain't you the man that shot a feller out West? Seems to me I heerd +somethin' about it." + +"Which one did you hear about?" Austen asked. + +"Good Lord!" said Mr. Putter, "you didn't shoot more'n one, did you?" + +It was just three o'clock when Austen drove into the semicircle opposite +the Widow Peasley's, rang Mr. Crewe's door-bell, and leaped into the +sleigh once more, the mare's nature being such as to make it undesirable +to leave her. Presently Mr. Crewe's butler appeared, and stood dubiously +in the vestibule. + +"Will you tell Miss Flint that Mr. Vane has called for her, and that I +cannot leave the horse?" + +The man retired with obvious disapproval. Then Austen heard Victoria's +voice in the hallway:-- + +"Don't make a goose of yourself, Humphrey." Here she appeared, the +colour fresh in her cheeks, her slender figure clad in a fur which even +Austen knew was priceless. She sprang into the sleigh, the butler, with +annoying deliberation, and with the air of saying that this was an affair +of which he washed his hands, tucked in Mr. Putter's best robe about her +feet, the mare leaped forward, and they were off, out of the circle and +flying up the hill on the hard snow-tracks. + +"Whew!" exclaimed Victoria, "what a relief! Are you staying in that dear +little house?" she asked, with a glance at the Widow Peasley's. + +"Yes," said Austen. + +"I wish I were." + +He looked at her shyly. He was not a man to do homage to material gods, +but the pomp and circumstance with which she was surrounded had had a +sobering effect upon him, and added to his sense of the instability and +unreality of the present moment. He had an almost guilty feeling of +having broken an unwritten law, of abducting a princess, and the old +Duncan house had seemed to frown protestingly that such an act should +have taken place under its windows. If Victoria had been--to him--an +ordinary mortal in expensive furs instead of a princess, he would have +snapped his fingers at the pomp and circumstance. These typified the +comforts which, in a wild and forgetful moment, he might ask her to +leave. Not that he believed she would leave them. He had lived long +enough to know that an interest by a woman in a man--especially a man +beyond the beaten track of her observation--did not necessarily mean that +she might marry him if he asked her. And yet--oh, Tantalus! here she was +beside him, for one afternoon again his very own, their two souls ringing +with the harmony of whirling worlds in sunlit space. He sought refuge in +thin thought; he strove, in oblivion, to drain the cup of the hour of its +nectar, even as he had done before. Generations of Puritan Vanes (whose +descendant alone had harassed poor Sarah Austere) were in his blood; and +there they hung in the long gallery of Time, mutely but sternly +forbidding when he raised his hand to the stem. + +In silence they reached the crest where the little city ended abruptly in +view of the paradise of the silent hills,--his paradise, where there were +no palaces or thought of palaces. The wild wind of the morning was +still. In this realm at least, a heritage from his mother, seemingly +untrodden by the foot of man, the woman at his side was his. From +Holdfast over the spruces to Sawanec in the blue distance he was lord, a +domain the wealth of which could not be reckoned in the coin of Midas. +He turned to her as they flew down the slope, and she averted her face, +perchance perceiving in that look a possession from which a woman +shrinks; and her remark, startlingly indicative of the accord between +them, lent a no less startling reality to the enchantment. + +"This is your land, isn't it?" she said. + +"I sometimes feel as though it were," he answered. "I was out here this +morning, when the wind was at play," and he pointed with his whip at a +fantastic snowdrift, before I saw you." + +"You looked as though you had come from it," she answered. You seemed-- +I suppose you will think me silly--but you seemed to bring something of +this with you into that hail. I always think of you as out on the hills +and mountains." + +"And you," he said, "belong here, too." + +She drew a deep breath. + +"I wish I did. But you--you really do belong here. You seem to have +absorbed all the clearness of it, and the strength and vigour. I was +watching you this morning, and you were so utterly out of place in those +surroundings." Victoria paused, her colour deepening. + +His blood kept pace with the mare's footsteps, but he did not reply. + +"What did you think of Humphrey's speech?" she asked, abruptly changing +the subject. + +"I thought it a surprisingly good one,--what I heard of it," he answered. +"That wasn't much. I didn't think he'd do as well." + +"Humphrey's clever in a great many ways," Victoria agreed. "If he didn't +have such an impenetrable conceit, he might go far, because he learns +quickly, and has an industry that is simply appalling. But he hasn't +quite the manner for politics, has he?" + +"I think I should call his manner a drawback," said Austen, "though not +by any means an insurmountable one." + +Victoria laughed. + +"The other qualities all need to be very great," she said. "He was +furious at me for coming out this afternoon. He had it all arranged to +drive over to the Forge, and had an early lunch." + +"And I," said Austen, "have all the more reason to be grateful to you." + +"Oh, if you knew the favour you were doing me," she cried, "bringing me +out here where I can breathe. I hope you don't think I dislike +Humphrey," she went on. "Of course, if I did, I shouldn't visit him. +You see, I have known him for so long." + +"I hadn't a notion that you disliked him," said Austen. "I am curious +about his career; that's one reason I came down. He somehow inspires +curiosity." + +"And awe," she added. "Humphrey's career has all the fascination of a +runaway locomotive. One watches it transfixed, awaiting the inevitable +crash." + +Their eyes met, and they both laughed. + +"It's no use trying to be a humbug," said Victoria, "I can't. And I do +like Humphrey, in spite of his career." + +And they laughed again. The music of the bells ran faster and faster +still, keeping time to a wilder music of the sunlit hills and sky; nor +was it strange that her voice, when she spoke, did not break the spell, +but laid upon him a deeper sense of magic. + +"This brings back the fairy books," she said, "and all those wonderful +and never-to-be-forgotten sensations of the truant, doesn't it? You've +been a truant--haven't you?" + +"Yes," he laughed, "I've been a truant, but I never quite realized the +possibilities of the part--until to-day." + +She was silent a moment, and turned away her head, surveying the +landscape that fell away for miles beyond. + +"When I was a child," she said, "I used to think that by opening a door I +could step into an enchanted realm like this. Only I could never find +the door. Perhaps," she added, gayly pursuing the conceit, "it was +because you had the key, and I didn't know you in those days." She gave +him a swift, searching look, smiling, whimsical yet startled,--so elusive +that the memory of it afterwards was wont to come and go like a flash of +light. "Who are you?" she asked. + +His blood leaped, but he smiled in delighted understanding of her mood. +Sarah Austen had brought just such a magic touch to an excursion, and +even at that moment Austen found himself marvelling a little at the +strange resemblance between the two. + +"I am a plain person whose ancestors came from a village called Camden +Street," he replied. "Camden Street is there, on a shelf of the hills, +and through the arch of its elms you can look off over the forests of the +lowlands until they end in the blue reaches of the ocean,--if you could +see far enough." + +"If you could see far enough," said Victoria, unconsciously repeating his +words. "But that doesn't explain you," she exclaimed: "You are like +nobody I ever met, and you have a supernatural faculty of appearing +suddenly, from nowhere, and whisking me away like the lady in the fable, +out of myself and the world I live in. If I become so inordinately +grateful as to talk nonsense, you mustn't blame me. Try not to think of +the number of times I've seen you, or when it was we first met." + +"I believe," said Austen, gravely, "it was when a mammoth beast had his +cave on Holdfast, and the valleys were covered with cocoanut-palms." + +"And you appeared suddenly then, too, and rescued me. You have always +been uniformly kind," she said, "but--a little intangible." + +"A myth," he suggested, "with neither height, breadth, nor thickness." + +"You have height and breadth," she answered, measuring him swiftly with +her eye; "I am not sure about the thickness. Perhaps. What I mean to +say is, that you seem to be a person in the world, but not of it. Your +exits and entrances are too mysterious, and then you carry me out of it,- +-although I invite myself, which is not at all proper." + +"I came down here to see you," he said, and took a firmer grip on the +reins. "I exist to that extent." + +"That's unworthy of you," she cried. "I don't believe you--would have +known I was here unless you had caught eight of me." + +"I should have known it," he said. + +"How?" + +"Because I heard you playing. I am sure it was you playing." + +"Yes, it was I," she answered simply, "but I did not know that--you +heard. Where were you? + +"I suppose," he replied, "a sane witness would have testified that I was +in the street--one of those partial and material truths which are so +misleading." + +She laughed again, joyously. + +"Seriously, why did you come down here?" she insisted. "I am not so +absorbed in Humphrey's career that I cannot take an interest in yours. +In fact, yours interests me more, because it is more mysterious. +Humphrey's," she added, laughing, "is charted from day to day, and +announced in bulletins. He is more generous to his friends than--you." + +"I have nothing to chart," said Austen, "except such pilgrimages as +this,--and these, after all, are unchartable. Your friend, Mr. Crewe, on +the other hand, is well away on his voyage after the Golden Fleece. I +hope he is provided with a Lynceus." + +She was silent for a long time, but he was feverishly conscious of her +gaze upon him, and did not dare to turn his eyes to hers. The look in +them he beheld without the aid of physical vision, and in that look was +the world-old riddle of her sex typified in the image on the African +desert, which Napoleon had tried to read, and failed. And while wisdom +was in the look, there was in it likewise the eternal questioning of a +fate quite as inscrutable, against which wisdom would avail nothing. It +was that look which, for Austen, revealed in her in their infinite +variety all women who had lived; those who could resist, and those who +could yield, and yielding all, bestow a gift which left them still +priceless; those to whom sorrow might bring sadness, and knowledge +mourning, and yet could rob them of no jot of sweetness. And knowing +this, he knew that to gain her now (could such a high prize be gained!) +would be to lose her. If he were anything to her (realize it or not as +she might), it was because he found strength to resist this greatest +temptation of his life. Yield, and his guerdon was lost, and he would be +Austen Vane no longer--yield, and his right to act, which would make him +of value in her eyes as well as in his own, was gone forever. + +Well he knew what the question in her eyes meant or something of what it +meant, so inexplicably is the soul of woman linked to events. He had +pondered often on that which she had asked him when he had brought her +home over the hills in the autumn twilight. He remembered her words, and +the very inflection of her voice. "Then you won't tell me?" How could +he tell her? He became aware that she was speaking now, in an even tone. + +"I had an odd experience this morning, when I was waiting for Mrs. +Pomfret outside the state-house," she said. "A man was standing looking +up at the statue of the patriot with a strange, rapt expression on his +face,--such a good face,--and he was so big and honest and uncompromising +I wanted to talk to him. I didn't realize that I was staring at him so +hard, because I was trying to remember where I had seen him before,--and +then I remembered suddenly that it was with you." + +"With me?" Austen repeated. + +"You were standing with him, in front of the little house, when I save +you yesterday. His name was Redbrook. It appears that he had seen me," +Victoria replied, "when I went to Mercer to call on Zeb Meader. And he +asked me if I knew you." + +"Of course you denied it," said Austen. + +"I couldn't, very well," laughed Victoria, "because you had confessed to +the acquaintance first." + +"He merely wished to have the fact corroborated. Mr. Redbrook is a man +who likes to be sure of his ground." + +"He told me a very interesting thing about you," she continued slowly, +with her eye upon. Austen's profile. "He said that a great many men +wanted you to be their candidate for governor of the State,--more than +you had any idea of,--and that you wouldn't consent. Mr. Redbrook grew +so enthusiastic that he forgot, for the moment, my--relationship to the +railroad. He is not the only person with whom I have talked who has-- +forgotten it, or hasn't known of it." + +Austen was silent. + +"Why won't you be a candidate," she asked, in a low voice, "if such men +as that want you?" + +"I am afraid Mr. Redbrook exaggerates," he said. "The popular demand of +which he spoke is rather mythical. And I should be inclined to accuse +him, too, of a friendly attempt to install me in your good graces." + +"No," answered Victoria, smiling, with serious eyes, "I won't be put off +that way. Mr. Redbrook isn't the kind of man that exaggerates--I've seen +enough of his type to know that. And he told me about your--reception +last night at the Widow Peasley's. You wouldn't have told me," she added +reproachfully. + +He laughed. + +"It was scarcely a subject I could have ventured," he said. + +"But I asked you," she objected. "Now tell me, why did you refuse to be +their candidate? It wasn't because you were not likely to get elected, +was it?" + +He permitted himself a glance which was a tribute of admiration--a glance +which she returned steadfastly. + +"It isn't likely that I should have been elected," he answered, "but you +are right--that is not the reason I refused." + +"I thought not," she said, "I did not believe you were the kind of man to +refuse for that reason. And you would have been elected." + +"What makes you think so?" he asked curiously. + +"I have been thinking since I saw you last--yes, and I have been making +inquiries. I have been trying to find out things--which you will not +tell me." She paused, with a little catch of her breath, and went on +again. "Do you believe I came all the way up here just to hear Humphrey +Crewe make a speech and to drive with him in a high sleigh and listen to +him talk about his career? When serious men of the people like Mr. +Redbrook and that nice Mr. Jenney at Leith and a lot of others who do not +ordinarily care for politics are thinking and indignant, I have come to +the conclusion there must be a cause for it. They say that the railroad +governs them through disreputable politicians,--and I--I am beginning to +believe it is true. I have had some of the politicians pointed out to me +in the Legislature, and they look like it." + +Austen did not smile. She was speaking quietly, but he saw that she was +breathing deeply, and he knew that she possessed a courage which went far +beyond that of most women, and an insight into life and affairs. + +"I am going to find out," she said, "whether these things are true." + +"And then?" he asked involuntarily. + +"If they are true, I am going to tell my father about them, and ask him +to investigate. Nobody seems to have the courage to go to him." + +Austen did not answer. He felt the implication; he knew that, without +realizing his difficulties, and carried on by a feeling long pent up, she +had measured him unjustly, and yet he felt no resentment, and no shock. +Perhaps he might feel that later. Now he was filled only with a sympathy +that was yet another common bond between them. Suppose she did find out? +He knew that she would not falter until she came to the end of her +investigation, to the revelation of Mr. Flint's code of business ethics. +Should the revolt take place, she would be satisfied with nothing less +than the truth, even as he, Austen Vane, had not been satisfied. And he +thought of the life-long faith that would be broken thereby. + +They had made the circle of the hills, and the sparkling lights of the +city lay under them like blue diamond points in the twilight of the +valley. The crests behind them deepened in purple as the saffron faded +in the west, and a gossamer cloud of Tyrian dye floated over Holdfast. +In silence they turned for a last lingering look, and in silence went +down the slope into the world again, and through the streets to the +driveway of the Duncan house. It was only when they had stopped before +the door that she trusted herself to speak. + +"I ought not to have said what I did," she began, in a low voice; "I +didn't realize--but I cannot understand you." + +"You have said nothing which you need ever have cause to regret," he +replied. He was too great for excuses, too great for any sorrow save +what she herself might feel, as great as the silent hills from which he +came. + +She stood for a moment on the edge of the steps, her eyes lustrous,--yet +gazing into his with a searching, troubled look that haunted him for many +days. But her self-command was unshaken, her power to control speech was +the equal of his. And this power of silence in her revealed in such +instants--was her greatest fascination for Austen, the thing which set +her apart among women; which embodied for him the whole charm and mystery +of her sex. + +"Good-by," she said simply. + +"Good-by," he said, and seized her hand--and drove away. + +Without ringing the bell Victoria slipped into the hall,--for the latch +was not caught,--and her first impulse was to run up the staircase to her +room. But she heard Mrs. Pomfret's voice on the landing above and fled, +as to a refuge, into the dark drawing-room, where she stood for a moment +motionless, listening for the sound of his sleigh-bells as they fainted +on the winter's night. Then she seated herself to think, if she could, +though it is difficult to think when one's heart is beating a little +wildly. It was Victoria's nature to think things out. For the first +time in her life she knew sorrow, and it made it worse that that sorrow +was indefinable. She felt an accountable attraction for this man who had +so strangely come into her life, whose problems had suddenly become her +problems. But she did not connect the attraction for Austen Vane with +her misery. She recalled him as he had left her, big and strong and +sorrowful, with a yearning look that was undisguised, and while her faith +in him came surging back again, she could not understand. + +Gradually she became aware of men's voices, and turned with a start to +perceive that the door of the library was open, and that Humphrey Crewe +and another were standing in the doorway against the light. With an +effort of memory she identified the other man as the Mr. Tooting who had +made himself so useful at Mr. Crewe's garden party. + +"I told you I could make you governor, Mr. Crewe," Mr. Tooting was +saying. "Say, why do you think the Northeastern crowd--why do you think +Hilary Vane is pushing your bills down the sidings? I'll tell you, +because they know you're a man of ability, and they're afraid of you, and +they know you're a gentleman, and can't be trusted with their deals, so +they just shunted you off at Kodunk with a jolly about sendin' you to +Congress if you made a hit on a national speech. I've been in the +business a good many years, and I've seen and done some things for the +Northeastern that stick in my throat"--(at this point Victoria sat down +again and gripped the arms of her chair), "I don't like to see a decent +man sawbucked the way they're teeterin' you, Mr. Crewe. I know what I'm +talkin' about, and I tell you that Ridout and Jake Botcher and Brush +Bascom haven't any more notion of lettin' your bills out of committee +than they have Gaylord's. Why? Because they've got orders not to." + +"You're making some serious charges, Mr. Tooting," said Mr. Crewe. + +"And what's more, I can prove 'em. You know yourself that anybody who +talks against the Northeastern is booted down and blacklisted. You've +seen that, haven't you?" + +"I have observed," said Mr. Crewe, "that things do not seem to be as they +should in a free government." + +"And it makes your blood boil as an American citizen, don't it? It does +mine," said Mr. Tooting, with fine indignation. "I was a poor boy, and +had to earn my living, but I've made up my mind I've worn the collar long +enough--if I have to break rocks. And I want to repeat what I said a +little while ago," he added, weaving his thumb into Mr. Crewe's +buttonhole; "I know a thing or two, and I've got some brains, as they +know, and I can make you governor of this State if you'll only say the +word. It's a cinch." + +Victoria started to rise once more, and realized that to escape she would +have to cross the room directly in front of the two men. She remained +sitting where she was in a fearful fascination, awaiting Humphrey Crewe's +answer. There was a moment's pause. + +"I believe you made the remark, Mr. Tooting," he said, "that in your +opinion there is enough anti-railroad sentiment in the House to pass any +bill which the railroad opposes." + +"If a leader was to get up there, like you, with the arguments I could +put into his hands, they would make the committee discharge that +Pingsquit bill of the Gaylords', and pass it." + +"On what do you base your opinion?" asked Mr. Crewe. + +"Well," said Mr. Tooting, "I guess I'm a pretty shrewd observer and have +had practice enough. But you know Austen Vane, don't you?" + +Victoria held her breath. + +"I've a slight acquaintance with him," replied Mr. Crewe; "I've helped +him along in one or two minor legal matters. He seems to be a little-- +well, pushing, you might say." + +"I want to tell you one thing about Austen," continued Mr. Tooting. +"Although I don't stand much for old Hilary, I'd take Austen Vane's +opinion on most things as soon as that of any man in the State. If he +only had some sense about himself, he could be governor next time-- +there's a whole lot that wants him. I happen to know some of 'em offered +it to him last night." + +"Austen Vane governor!" exclaimed Mr. Crewe, with a politely deprecating +laugh. + +"It may sound funny," said Mr. Tooting, stoutly; "I never understood what +he has about him. He's never done anything but buck old Hilary in that +damage case and send back a retainer pass to old Flint, but he's got +something in his make-up that gets under your belt, and a good many of +these old hayseeds'll eat out of his hand, right now. Well, I don't want +this to go any farther, you're a gentleman,--but Austen came down here +yesterday and had the whole thing sized up by last night. Old Hilary +thought the Gaylords sent for him to lobby their bill through. They may +have sent for him, all right, but he wouldn't lobby for 'em. He could +have made a pile of money out of 'em. Austen doesn't seem to care about +money--he's queer. He says as long as he has a horse and a few books and +a couple of sandwiches a day he's all right. Hilary had him up in Number +Seven tryin' to find out what he came down for, and Austen told him +pretty straight--what he didn't tell the Gaylords, either. He kind of +likes old Hilary,--because he's his father, I guess,--and he said there +were enough men in that House to turn Hilary and his crowd upside down. +That's how I know for certain. If Austen Vane said it, I'll borrow money +to bet on it," declared Mr. Tooting. + +"You don't think young Vane is going to get into the race?" queried Mr. +Crewe. + +"No," said Mr. Tooting, somewhat contemptuously. "No, I tell you he +hasn't got that kind of sense. He never took any trouble to get ahead, +and I guess he's sort of sensitive about old Hilary. It'd make a good +deal of a scandal in the family, with Austen as an anti-railroad +candidate." Mr. Tooting lowered his voice to a tone that was +caressingly confidential. "I tell you, and you sleep on it, a man of +your brains and money can't lose. It's a chance in a million, and when +you win you've got this little State tight in your pocket, and a desk in +the millionaire's club at Washington. Well, so long," said Mr. Tooting, +"you think that over." + +"You have, at least, put things in a new and interesting light," said Mr. +Crewe. "I will try to decide what my duty is." + +"Your duty's pretty plain to me," said Mr. Tooting. "If I had money, I'd +know that the best way to use it is for the people,--ain't that so?" + +"In the meantime," Mr. Crewe continued, "you may drop in to-morrow at +three." + +"You'd better make it to-morrow night, hadn't you?" said Mr. Tooting, +significantly. "There ain't any back way to this house." + +"As you choose," said Mr. Crewe. + +They passed within a few feet of Victoria, who resisted an almost +uncontrollable impulse to rise and confront them. The words given her to +use were surging in her brain, and yet she withheld them why, she knew +not. Perhaps it was because, after such communion as the afternoon had +brought, the repulsion she felt for Mr. Tooting aided her to sit where +she was. She heard the outside door open and close, and she saw Humphrey +Crewe walk past her again into his library, and that door closed, and she +was left in darkness. Darkness indeed for Victoria, who throughout her +life had lived in light alone; in the light she had shed, and the light +which she had kindled in others. With a throb which was an exquisite +pain, she understood now the compassion in Austen's eyes, and she saw so +simply and so clearly why he had not told her that her face burned with +the shame of her demand. The one of all others to whom she could go in +this trouble was denied her, and his lips were sealed, who would have +spoken honestly and without prejudice. She rose and went quietly out +into the biting winter night, and stood staring through the trees at the +friendly reddened windows of the little cottage across the way with a +yearning that passed her understanding. Out of those windows, to +Victoria, shone honesty and truth, and the peace which these alone may +bring. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE DESCENDANTS OF HORATIUS + +So the twenty honourable members of the State Senate had been dubbed by +the man who had a sense of humour and a smattering of the classics, +because they had been put there to hold the bridge against the Tarquins +who would invade the dominions of the Northeastern. Twenty picked men, +and true they were indeed, but a better name for their body would have +been the 'Life Guard of the Sovereign.' The five hundred far below them +might rage and at times revolt, but the twenty in their shining armour +stood undaunted above the vulnerable ground and smiled grimly at the mob. +The citadel was safe. + +The real Horatius of the stirring time of which we write was that old and +tried veteran, the Honourable Brush Bascom; and Spurius Lartius might be +typified by the indomitable warrior, the Honourable Jacob Botcher, while +the Honourable Samuel Doby of Hale, Speaker of the House, was +unquestionably Herminius. How the three held the bridge that year will +be told in as few and as stirring words as possible. A greater than +Porsena confronted them, and well it was for them, and for the Empire, +that the Body Guard of the Twenty stood behind them. + + "Lars Porsena of Clusium, + By the Nine Gods he swore." + +The morning after the State Tribune had printed that memorable speech on +national affairs--statistics and all, with an editorial which gave every +evidence of Mr. Peter Pardriff's best sparkle--Mr. Crewe appeared on the +floor of the House with a new look in his eye which made discerning men +turn and stare at him. It was the look of the great when they are justly +indignant, when their trust--nobly given--has been betrayed. Washington, +for instance, must have had just such a look on the battlefield of +Trenton. The Honourable Jacob Botcher, pressing forward as fast as his +bulk would permit and with the newspaper in his hand, was met by a calm +and distant manner which discomposed that statesman, and froze his stout +index finger to the editorial which "perhaps Mr. Crewe had not seen." + +Mr. Crewe was too big for resentment, but he knew how to meet people who +didn't measure up to his standards. Yes, he had seen the editorial, and +the weather still continued fine. The Honourable Jacob was left behind +scratching his head, and presently he sought a front seat in which to +think, the back ones not giving him room enough. The brisk, cheery +greeting of the Honourable Brush Bascom fared no better, but Mr. Bascom +was a philosopher, and did not disturb the great when their minds were +revolving on national affairs and the welfare of humanity in general. +Mr. Speaker Doby and Mr. Ridout got but abstract salutations also, and +were correspondingly dismayed. + +That day, and for many days thereafter, Mr. Crewe spent some time--as was +entirely proper--among the back seats, making the acquaintance of his +humbler fellow members of the submerged four hundred and seventy. He had +too long neglected this, so he told them, but his mind had been on high +matters. During many of his mature years he had pondered as to how the +welfare of community and State could be improved, and the result of that +thought was embodied in the bills of which they had doubtless received +copies. If not, down went their names in a leather-bound memorandum, and +they got copies in the next mails. + +The delight of some of the simple rustic members at this unbending of a +great man may be imagined. To tell the truth, they had looked with +little favour upon the intimacy which had sprung up between him and those +tyrannical potentates, Messrs. Botcher and Bascom, and many who had the +courage of their convictions expressed then very frankly. Messrs. +Botcher and Bascom were, when all was said, mere train despatchers of the +Northeastern, who might some day bring on a wreck the like of which the +State had never seen. Mr. Crewe was in a receptive mood; indeed his +nature, like Nebuchadnezzar's, seemed to have experienced some +indefinable and vital change. Was this the Mr. Crewe the humble rural +members had pictured to themselves? Was this the Mr. Crewe who, at the +beginning of the session, had told them roundly it was their duty to vote +for his bills? + +Mr. Crewe was surprised, he said, to hear so much sentiment against the +Northeastern Railroads. Yes, he was a friend of Mr. Flint's--they were +neighbours in the country. But if these charges had any foundation +whatever, they ought to be looked into--they ought to be taken up. A +sovereign people should not be governed by a railroad. Mr. Crewe was a +business man, but first of all he was a citizen; as a business man he did +not intend to talk vaguely, but to investigate thoroughly. And then, if +charges should be made, he would make them specifically, and as a citizen +contend for the right. + +It is difficult to restrain one's pen in dealing with a hero, but it is +not too much to say that Mr. Crewe impressed many of the country members +favourably. How, indeed, could he help doing so? His language was +moderate, his poise that of a man of affairs, and there was a look in his +eye and a determination in his manner that boded ill for the Northeastern +if he should, after weighing the facts, decide that they ought to be +flagellated. His friendship with Mr. Flint and the suspicion that he +might be inclined to fancy Mr. Flint's daughter would not influence him +in the least; of that many of his hearers were sure. Not a few of them +were invited to dinner at the Duncan house, and shown the library and the +conservatory. + +"Walk right in," said Mr. Crewe. "You can't hurt the flowers unless you +bump against the pots, and if you walk straight you can't do that. I +brought the plants down from my own hothouse in Leith. Those are French +geraniums--very hard to get. They're double, you see, and don't look +like the scrawny things you see in this country. Yes (with a good- +natured smile), I guess they do cost something. I'll ask my secretary +what I paid for that plant. Is that dinner, Waters? Come right in, +gentlemen, we won't wait for ceremony." + +Whereupon the delegation would file into the dining room in solemn +silence behind the imperturbable Waters, with dubious glances at Mr. +Waters' imperturbable understudy in green and buff and silver buttons. +Honest red hands, used to milking at five o'clock in the morning, and +hands not so red that measured dry goods over rural counters for +insistent female customers fingered in some dismay what seemed an +inexplicable array of table furniture. + +"It don't make any difference which fork you take," said the good-natured +owner of this palace of luxury, "only I shouldn't advise you to use one +for the soup you wouldn't get much of it--what? Yes, this house suits me +very well. It was built by old man Duncan, you know, and his daughter +married an Italian nobleman and lives in a castle. The State ought to +buy the house for a governor's mansion. It's a disgrace that our +governor should have to live in the Pelican Hotel, and especially in a +room next to that of the chief counsel of the Northeastern, with only a +curtain and a couple of folding doors between." + +"That's right," declared an up-state member, the governor hadn't ought to +live next to Vane. But as to gettin' him a house like this--kind of +royal, ain't it? Couldn't do justice to it on fifteen hundred a year, +could he? Costs you a little mite more to live in it, don't it?" + +"It costs me something," Mr. Crewe admitted modestly. "But then our +governors are all rich men, or they couldn't afford to pay the +Northeastern lobby campaign expenses. Not that I believe in a rich man +for governor, gentlemen. My contention is that the State should pay its +governors a sufficient salary to make them independent of the +Northeastern, a salary on which they can live as befits a chief +executive." + +These sentiments, and others of a similar tenor, were usually received in +silence by his rural guests, but Mr. Crewe, being a broad-minded man of +human understanding, did not set down their lack of response to surliness +or suspicion of a motive, but rather to the innate caution of the hill +farmer; and doubtless, also, to a natural awe of the unwonted splendour +with which they were surrounded. In a brief time his kindly hospitality +became a byword in the capital, and fabulous accounts of it were carried +home at week ends to toiling wives and sons and daughters, to incredulous +citizens who sat on cracker boxes and found the Sunday papers stale and +unprofitable for weeks thereafter. The geraniums--the price of which Mr. +Crewe had forgotten to find out--were appraised at four figures, and the +conservatory became the hanging gardens of Babylon under glass; the +functionary in buff and green and silver buttons and his duties furnished +the subject for long and heated arguments. And incidentally everybody +who had a farm for sale wrote to Mr. Crewe. Since the motives of every +philanthropist and public benefactor are inevitably challenged by cynics, +there were many who asked the question, "What did Mr. Crewe want?" It is +painful even to touch upon this when we know that Mr. Crewe was merely +doing his duty as he saw it, when we know that he spelled the word, +mentally, with a capital D. + +There were many, too, who remarked that a touching friendship in the +front seats (formerly plainly visible to the naked eye from the back) had +been strained--at least. Mr. Crewe still sat with Mr. Botcher and Mr. +Bascom, but he was not a man to pretend after the fires had cooled. The +Honourable Jacob Botcher, with his eyes shut so tight, that his honest +face wore an expression of agony, seemed to pray every morning for the +renewal of that friendship when the chaplain begged the Lord to guide the +Legislature into the paths of truth; and the Honourable Brush Bascom wore +an air of resignation which was painful to see. Conversation languished, +and the cosey and familiar haunts of the Pelican knew Mr. Crewe no more. + +Mr. Crewe never forgot, of course, that he was a gentleman, and a certain +polite intercourse existed. During the sessions, as a matter of fact, +Mr. Bascom had many things to whisper to Mr. Botcher, and Mr. Butcher to +Mr. Bascom, and in order to facilitate this Mr. Crewe changed seats with +the Honourable Jacob. Neither was our hero a man to neglect, on account +of strained relations, to insist upon his rights. His eyes were open +now, and he saw men and things political as they were; he knew that his +bills for the emancipation of the State were prisoners in the maw of the +dragon, and not likely to see the light of law. Not a legislative day +passed that he did not demand, with a firmness and restraint which did +him infinite credit, that Mr. Bascom's and Mr. Butcher's committees +report those bills to the House either favourably or unfavourably. And +we must do exact justice, likewise, to Messrs. Bascom and Butcher; they, +too, incited perhaps thereto by Mr. Crewe's example, answered courteously +that the very excellent bills in question were of such weight and +importance as not to be decided on lightly, and that there were necessary +State expenditures which had first to be passed upon. Mr. Speaker Doby, +with all the will in the world, could do nothing: and on such occasions +(Mr. Crewe could see) Mr. Doby bore a striking resemblance to the picture +of the mockturtle in "Alice m Wonderland"--a fact which had been pointed +out by Miss Victoria Flint. In truth, all three of these gentlemen wore, +when questioned, such a sorrowful and injured air as would have deceived +a more experienced politician than the new member from Leith. The will +to oblige was infinite. + +There was no doubt about the fact that the session was rapidly drawing to +a close; and likewise that the committees guided by the Honourables Jacob +Butcher and Brush Bascom, composed of members carefully picked by that +judge of mankind, Mr. Doby, were wrestling day and night (behind closed +doors) with the intellectual problems presented by the bills of the +member from Leith. It is not to be supposed that a man of Mr. Crewe's +shrewdness would rest at the word of the chairmen. Other members were +catechized, and in justice to Messrs. Bascom and Botcher it must be +admitted that the assertions of these gentlemen were confirmed. It +appeared that the amount of thought which was being lavished upon these +measures was appalling. + +By this time Mr. Crewe had made some new friends, as was inevitable when +such a man unbent. Three of these friends owned, by a singular chance, +weekly newspapers, and having conceived a liking as well as an admiration +for him, began to say pleasant things about him in their columns--which +Mr. Crewe (always thoughtful) sent to other friends of his. These new +and accidental newspaper friends declared weekly that measures of +paramount importance were slumbering in committees, and cited the +measures. Other friends of Mr. Crewe were so inspired by affection and +awe that they actually neglected their business and spent whole days in +the rural districts telling people what a fine man Mr. Crewe was and +circulating petitions for his bills; and incidentally the committees of +Mr. Butcher and Mr. Bascom were flooded with these petitions, +representing the spontaneous sentiment of an aggrieved populace. + + "Just then a scout came flying, + All wild with haste and fear + To arms! to arms! Sir Consul + Lars Porsena is here. + On the low hills to westward + The Consul fixed his eye, + And saw the swarthy storm of dust + Rise fast along the sky." + +It will not do to push a comparison too far, and Mr. Hamilton Tooting, of +course, ought not to be made to act the part of Tarquin the Proud. Like +Tarquin, however, he had been deposed--one of those fatuous acts which +the wisest will commit. No more could the Honourable Hilary well be +likened to Pandora, for he only opened the box wide enough to allow one +mischievous sprite to take wings--one mischievous sprite that was to +prove a host. Talented and invaluable lieutenant that he was, Mr. +Tooting had become an exile, to explain to any audience who should make +it worth his while the mysterious acts by which the puppets on the stage +were moved, and who moved them; who, for instance, wrote the declamation +which his Excellency Asa Gray recited as his own. Mr. Tooting, as we +have seen, had a remarkable business head, and combined with it--as +Austen Vane remarked--the rare instinct of the Norway rat which goes down +to the sea in ships--when they are safe. Burrowing continually amongst +the bowels of the vessel, Mr. Tooting knew the weak timbers better than +the Honourable Hilary Vanes who thought the ship as sound as the day +Augustus Flint had launched her. But we have got a long way from +Horatius in our imagery. + +Little birds flutter around the capital, picking up what crumbs they may. +One of them, occasionally fed by that humanitarian, the Honourable Jacob +Botcher, whispered a secret that made the humanitarian knit his brows. +He was the scout that came flying (if by a burst of imagination we can +conceive the Honourable Jacob in this aerial act)--came flying to the +Consul in room Number Seven with the news that Mr. Hamilton Tooting had +been detected on two evenings slipping into the Duncan house. But the +Consul--strong man that he was--merely laughed. The Honourable Elisha +Jane did some scouting on his own account. Some people are so small as +to be repelled by greatness, to be jealous of high gifts and power, and +it was perhaps inevitable that a few of the humbler members whom Mr. +Crewe had entertained should betray his hospitality, and misinterpret his +pure motives. + +It was a mere coincidence, perhaps, that after Mr. Jane's investigation +the intellectual concentration which one of the committees had bestowed +on two of Mr. Crewe's bills came to an end. These bills, it is true, +carried no appropriation, and, were, respectively, the acts to +incorporate the State Economic League and the Children's Charities +Association. These suddenly appeared in the House one morning, with +favourable recommendations, and, mirabile dicta, the end of the day saw +them through the Senate and signed by the governor. At last Mr. Crewe by +his Excellency had stamped the mark of his genius on the statute books, +and the Honourable Jacob Botcher, holding out an olive branch, took the +liberty of congratulating him. + +A vainer man, a lighter character than Humphrey Crewe, would have been +content to have got something; and let it rest at that. Little Mr. +Butcher or Mr. Speaker Doby, with his sorrowful smile, guessed the iron +hand within the velvet glove of the Leith statesman; little they knew the +man they were dealing with. Once aroused, he would not be pacified by +bribes of cheap olive branches and laurels. When the proper time came, +he would fling down the gauntlet--before Rome itself, and then let +Horatius and his friends beware. + +The hour has struck at last--and the man is not wanting. The French +Revolution found Napoleon ready, and our own Civil War General Ulysses +Grant. Of that ever memorable session but three days remained, and those +who had been prepared to rise in the good cause had long since despaired. +The Pingsquit bill, and all other bills that spelled liberty, were still +prisoners in the hands of grim jailers, and Thomas Gaylord, the elder, +had worn several holes in the carpet of his private room in the Pelican, +and could often be descried from Main Street running up and down between +the windows like a caged lion, while young Tom had been spied standing, +with his hands in his pockets, smiling on the world. + +Young Tom had his own way of doing things, though he little dreamed of +the help Heaven was to send him in this matter. There was, in the lower +House, a young man by the name of Harper, a lawyer from Brighton, who was +sufficiently eccentric not to carry a pass. The light of fame, as the +sunset gilds a weathercock on a steeple, sometimes touches such men for +an instant and makes them immortal. The name of Mr. Harper is +remembered, because it is linked with a greater one. But Mr. Harper was +the first man over the wall. + +History chooses odd moments for her entrances. It was at the end of one +of those busy afternoon sessions, with a full house, when Messrs. +Bascom, Botcher, and Ridout had done enough of blocking and hacking and +hewing to satisfy those doughty defenders of the bridge, that a slight, +unprepossessing-looking young man with spectacles arose to make a motion. +The Honourable Jacob Botcher, with his books and papers under his arm, +was already picking his way up the aisle, nodding genially to such of the +faithful as he saw; Mr. Bascom was at the Speaker's desk, and Mr. Ridout +receiving a messenger from the Honourable Hilary at the door. The +Speaker, not without some difficulty, recognized Mr. Harper amidst what +seemed the beginning of an exodus--and Mr. Harper read his motion. + +Men halted in the aisles, and nudged other men to make them stop talking. +Mr. Harper's voice was not loud, and it shook a trifle with excitement, +but those who heard passed on the news so swiftly to those who had not +that the House was sitting (or standing) in amazed silence by the time +the motion reached the Speaker, who had actually risen to receive it. +Mr. Doby regarded it for a few seconds and raised his eyes mournfully to +Mr. Harper himself, as much as to say that he would give the young man a +chance to take it back if he could--if the words had not been spoken +which would bring the offender to the block in the bloom and enthusiasm +of youth. Misguided Mr. Harper had committed unutterable treason to the +Empire! + +"The gentleman from Brighton, Mr. Harper," said the Speaker, sadly, +"offers the following resolution, and moves its adoption: 'Resolved, that +the Committee on Incorporations be instructed to report House bill number +302, entitled "An act to incorporate the Pingsquit Railroad," by eleven- +thirty o'clock to-morrow morning'--the gentleman from Putnam, Mr. +Bascom." + +The House listened and looked on entranced, as though they were the +spectators to a tragedy. And indeed it seemed as though they were. +Necks were craned to see Mr. Harper; he didn't look like a hero, but one +never can tell about these little men. He had hurled defiance at the +Northeastern Railroads, and that was enough for Mr. Redbrook and Mr. +Widgeon and their friends, who prepared to rush into the fray trusting to +Heaven for speech and parliamentary law. O for a leader now! Horatius +is on the bridge, scarce concealing his disdain for this puny opponent, +and Lartius and Herminius not taking the trouble to arm. Mr. Bascom will +crush this one with the flat of his sword. + +"Mr. Speaker," said that gentleman, informally, "as Chairman of the +Committee on Incorporations, I rise to protest against such an unheard-of +motion in this House. The very essence of orderly procedure, of +effective business, depends on the confidence of the House in its +committees, and in all of my years as a member I have never known of such +a thing. Gentlemen of the House, your committee are giving to this bill +and other measures their undivided attention, and will report them at the +earliest practicable moment. I hope that this motion will be voted +down." + +Mr. Bascom, with a glance around to assure himself that most of the +hundred members of the Newcastle delegation--vassals of the Winona +Corporation and subject to the Empire--had not made use of their passes +and boarded, as usual, the six o'clock train, took his seat. A buzz of +excitement ran over the house, a dozen men were on their feet, including +the plainly agitated Mr. Harper himself. But who is this, in the lunar +cockpit before the Speaker's desk, demanding firmly to be heard--so +firmly that Mr. Harper, with a glance at him, sits down again; so firmly +that Mr. Speaker Doby, hypnotized by an eye, makes the blunder that will +eventually cost him his own head? + +"The gentleman from Leith, Mr. Crewe." + +As though sensing a drama, the mutterings were hushed once more. Mr. +Jacob Botcher leaned forward, and cracked his seat; but none, even those +who had tasted of his hospitality, recognized that the Black Knight had +entered the lists--the greatest deeds of this world, and the heroes of +them, coming unheralded out of the plain clay. Mr. Crewe was the calmest +man under the roof as he saluted the Speaker, walked up to the clerk's +desk, turned his back to it, and leaned both elbows on it; and he +regarded the sea of faces with the identical self-possession he had +exhibited when he had made his famous address on national affairs. He +did not raise his voice at the beginning, but his very presence seemed to +compel silence, and curiosity was at fever heat. What was he going to +say? + +"Gentlemen of the House," said Mr. Crewe, "I have listened to the +gentleman from Putnam with some--amusement. He has made the statement +that he and his committee are giving to the Pingsquit bill and other +measures--some other measures--their undivided attention. Of this I have +no doubt whatever. He neglected to define the species of attention he is +giving them--I should define it as the kindly care which the warden of a +penitentiary bestows upon his charges." + +Mr. Crewe was interrupted here. The submerged four hundred and seventy +had had time to rub their eyes and get their breath, to realize that +their champion had dealt Mr. Bascom a blow to cleave his helm, and a roar +of mingled laughter and exultation arose in the back seats, and there was +more craning to see the glittering eyes of the Honourable Brush and the +expressions of his two companions-in-arms. Mr. Speaker Doby beat the +stone with his gavel, while Mr. Crewe continued to lean back calmly until +the noise was over. + +"Gentlemen," he went on, "I will enter at the proper time into a +situation--known, I believe, to most of you--that brings about a +condition of affairs by which the gentleman's committee, or the gentleman +himself, with his capacious pockets, does not have to account to the +House for every bill assigned to him by the Speaker. I have taken the +trouble to examine a little into the gentleman's past record--he has been +chairman of such committees for years past, and I find no trace that +bills inimical to certain great interests have ever been reported back by +him. The Pingsquit bill involves the vital principle of competition. I +have read it with considerable care and believe it to be, in itself, a +good measure, which deserves a fair hearing. I have had no conversation +whatever with those who are said to be its promoters. If the bill is to +pass, it has little enough time to get to the Senate. By the gentleman +from Putnam's own statement his committee have given it its share of +attention, and I believe this House is entitled to know the verdict, is +entitled to accept or reject a report. I hope the motion will prevail." + +He sat down amidst a storm of applause which would have turned the head +of a lesser man. No such personal ovation had been seen in the House for +years. How the Speaker got order; how the Honourable Brush Bascom +declared that Mr. Crewe would be called upon to prove his statements; how +Mr. Botcher regretted that a new member of such promise should go off at +half-cock; how Mr. Ridout hinted that the new member might think he had +an animus; how Mr. Terry of Lee and Mr. Widgeon of Hull denounced, in +plain hill language, the Northeastern Railroads and lauded the man of +prominence who had the grit to oppose them, need not be gone into. Mr. +Crewe at length demanded the previous question, which was carried, and +the motion was carried, too, two hundred and fifty to one hundred and +fifty-two. The House adjourned. + +We will spare the blushes of the hero of this occasion, who was +threatened with suffocation by an inundation from the back seats. In +answer to the congratulations and queries, he replied modestly that +nobody else seemed to have had the sand to do it, so he did it himself. +He regarded it as a matter of duty, however unpleasant and unforeseen; +and if, as they said, he had been a pioneer, education and a knowledge of +railroads and the world had helped him. Whereupon, adding tactfully that +he desired the evening to himself to prepare for the battle of the morrow +(of which he foresaw he was to bear the burden), he extricated himself +from his admirers and made his way unostentatiously out of a side door +into his sleigh. For the man who had kindled a fire--the blaze of which +was to mark an epoch--he was exceptionally calm. Not so the only visitor +whom Waters had instructions to admit that evening. + +"Say, you hit it just right," cried the visitor, too exultant to take off +his overcoat. "I've been down through the Pelican, and there ain't been +such excitement since Snow and Giddings had the fight for United States +senator in the '80's. The place is all torn up, and you can't get a room +there for love or money. They tell me they've been havin' conferences +steady in Number Seven since the session closed, and Hilary Vane's sent +for all the Federal and State office-holders to be here in the morning +and lobby. Botcher and Jane and Bascom are circulatin' like hot water, +tellin' everybody that because they wouldn't saddle the State with a debt +with your bills you turned sour on 'em, and that you're more of a +corporation and railroad man than any of 'em. They've got their machine +to working a thousand to the minute, and everybody they have a slant on +is going into line. One of them fellers, a conductor, told me he had to +go with 'em. But our boys ain't idle, I can tell you that. I was in the +back of the gallery when you spoke up, and I shook 'em off the leash +right away." + +Mr. Crewe leaned back from the table and thrust his hands in his pockets +and smiled. He was in one of his delightful moods. + +"Take off your overcoat, Tooting," he said; "you'll find one of my best +political cigars over there, in the usual place." + +"Well, I guessed about right, didn't I?" inquired Mr. Tooting, biting off +one of the political cigars. "I gave you a pretty straight tip, didn't +I, that young Tom Gaylord was goin' to have somebody make that motion to- +day? But say, it's funny he couldn't get a better one than that feller +Harper. If you hadn't come along, they'd have smashed him to pulp. I'll +bet the most surprised man in the State to-night, next to Brush Bascom, +is young Tom Gaylord. It's a wonder he ain't been up here to thank you." + +"Maybe he has been," replied Mr. Crewe. "I told Waters to keep everybody +out to-night because I want to know exactly what I'm going to say on the +floor tomorrow. I don't want 'em to give me trouble. Did you bring some +of those papers with you?" + +Mr. Tooting fished a bundle from his overcoat pocket. The papers in +question, of which he had a great number stored away in Ripton, +represented the foresight, on Mr. Tooting's part, of years. He was a +young man with a praiseworthy ambition to get on in the world, and during +his apprenticeship in the office of the Honourable Hilary Vane many +letters and documents had passed through his hands. A less industrious +person would have neglected the opportunity. Mr. Tooting copied them; +and some, which would have gone into the waste-basket, he laid carefully +aside, bearing in mind the adage about little scraps of paper--if there +is one. At any rate, he now had a manuscript collection which was unique +in its way, which would have been worth much to a great many men, and +with characteristic generosity he was placing it at the disposal of Mr. +Crewe. + +Mr. Crewe, in reading them, had other sensations. He warmed with +indignation as an American citizen that a man should sit in a mahogany +office in New York and dictate the government of a free and sovereign +State; and he found himself in the grip of a righteous wrath when he +recalled what Mr. Flint had written to him. "As a neighbour, it will +give me the greatest pleasure to help you to the extent of my power, but +the Northeastern Railroads cannot interfere in legislative or political +matters." The effrontery of it was appalling! Where, he demanded of Mr. +Tooting, did the common people come in? And this extremely pertinent +question Mr. Tooting was unable to answer. + +But the wheels of justice had begun to turn. + +Mr. Tooting had not exaggerated the tumult and affright at the Pelican +Hotel. The private telephone in Number Seven was busy all evening, while +more or less prominent gentlemen were using continually the public ones +in the boxes in the reading room downstairs. The Feudal system was +showing what it could do, and the word had gone out to all the holders of +fiefs that the vassals should be summoned. The Duke of Putnam had sent +out a general call to the office-holders in that county. Theirs not to +reason why--but obey; and some of them, late as was the hour, were +already travelling (free) towards the capital. Even the congressional +delegation in Washington had received telegrams, and sent them again to +Federal office-holders in various parts of the State. If Mr. Crewe had +chosen to listen, he could have heard the tramp of armed men. But he was +not of the metal to be dismayed by the prospect of a great conflict. He +was as cool as Cromwell, and after Mr. Tooting had left him to take +charge once more of his own armies in the yield, the genlemon from Leith +went to bed and slept soundly. + +The day of the battle dawned darkly, with great flakes flying. As early +as seven o'clock the later cohorts began to arrive, and were soon as +thick as bees in the Pelican, circulating in the lobby, conferring in +various rooms of which they had the numbers with occupants in bed and +out. A wonderful organization, that Feudal System, which eould mobilize +an army overnight! And each unit of it, like the bee, working +unselfishly for the good of the whole; like the bee, flying straight for +the object to be attained. Every member of the House from Putnam County, +for instance, was seen by one of these indefatigable captains, and if the +member had a mortgage or an ambition, or a wife and family that made life +a problem, or a situation on the railroad or in some of the larger +manufacturing establishments, let him beware! If he lived in lodgings in +the town, he stuck his head out of the window to perceive a cheery +neighbour from the country on his doorstep. Think of a system which +could do this, not for Putnam County alone, but for all the counties in +the State! + +The Honourable Hilary Vane, captain-general of the Forces, had had but +four hours' sleep, and his Excellency, the Honourable Asa Gray, when he +arose in the twilight of the morning, had to step carefully to avoid the +cigar butts on the floor which--like so many empty cartridge shells were +unpleasant reminders that a rebellion of no mean magnitude had arisen +against the power to which he owed allegiance, and by the favour of which +he was attended with pomp and circumstance wherever he chose to go. + +Long before eleven o'clock the paths to the state-house were thronged +with people. Beside the office-holders and their friends who were in +town, there were many residents of the capital city in the habit of going +to hear the livelier debates. Not that the powers of the Empire had +permitted debates on most subjects, but there could be no harm in +allowing the lower House to discuss as fiercely as they pleased dog and +sheep laws and hedgehog bounties. But now! The oldest resident couldn't +remember a case of high treason and rebellion against the Northeastern +such as this promised to be, and the sensation took on an added flavour +from the fact that the arch rebel was a figure of picturesque interest, a +millionaire with money enough to rent the Duncan house and fill its long- +disused stable with horses, who was a capitalist himself and a friend of +Mr. Flint's; of whom it was said that he was going to marry Mr. Flint's +daughter! + +Long before eleven, too, the chiefs over tens and the chiefs over +hundreds had gathered their men and marched them into the state-house; +and Mr. Tooting, who was everywhere that morning, noticed that some of +these led soldiers had pieces of paper in their hands. The chaplain +arose to pray for guidance, and the House was crowded to its capacity, +and the gallery filled with eager and expectant faces--but the hero of +the hour had not yet arrived. When at length he did walk down the aisle, +as unconcernedly as though he were an unknown man entering a theatre, +feminine whispers of "There he is!" could plainly be heard above the +buzz, and simultaneous applause broke out in spots, causing the Speaker +to rap sharply with his gavel. Poor Mr. Speaker Doby! He looked more +like the mock-turtle than ever! and might have exclaimed, too, that once +he had been a real turtle: only yesterday, in fact, before he had made +the inconceivable blunder of recognizing Mr. Humphrey Crewe. Mr. Speaker +Doby had spent a part of the night in room Number Seven listening to +things about himself. Herminius the unspeakable has given the enemy a +foothold in Rome. + +Apparently unaware that he was the centre of interest, Mr. Crewe, +carrying a neat little bag full of papers, took his seat beside the +Honourable Jacob Botcher, nodding to that erstwhile friend as a man of +the world should. And Mr. Botcher, not to be outdone, nodded back. + +We shall skip over the painful interval that elapsed before the bill in +question was reached: painful, at least, for every one but Mr. Crewe, who +sat with his knees crossed and his arms folded. The hosts were facing +each other, awaiting the word; the rebels prayerfully watching their +gallant leader; and the loyal vassals--whose wavering ranks had been +added to overnight--with their eyes on Mr. Bascom. And in justice to +that veteran it must be said, despite the knock-out blow he had received, +that he seemed as debonair as ever. + + "Now while the three were tightening + The harness on their backs." + +Mr. Speaker Doby read many committee reports, and at the beginning of +each there was a stir of expectation that it might be the signal for +battle. But at length he fumbled among his papers, cleared away the lump +in his throat, and glanced significantly at Mr. Bascom. + +"The Committee on Incorporations, to whom was referred House bill number +302, entitled "An act to incorporate the Pingsquit Railroad," having +considered the same, report the same with the following resolution: +'Resolved, that it is inexpedient to legislate. Brush Bascom, for the +Committee.' Gentlemen, are you ready for the question? As many as are of +opinion that the report of the Committee should be adopted--the gentleman +from Putnam, Mr. Bascom." + +Again let us do exact justice, and let us not be led by our feelings to +give a prejudiced account of this struggle. The Honourable Brush Bascom, +skilled from youth in the use of weapons, opened the combat so adroitly +that more than once the followers of his noble opponent winced and +trembled. The bill, Mr. Bascom said, would have been reported that day, +anyway--a statement received with mingled cheers and jeers. Then +followed a brief and somewhat intimate history of the Gaylord Lumber +Company, not at all flattering to that corporation. Mr. Bascom hinted, +at an animus: there was no more need for a railroad in the Pingsquit +Valley than there was for a merry-go-round in the cellar of the state- +house. (Loud laughter from everybody, some irreverent person crying out +that a merry-go-round was better than poker tables.) When Mr. Bascom came +to discuss the gentleman from Leith, and recited the names of the +committees for which Mr. Crewe--in his desire to be of service to the +State had applied, there was more laughter, even amongst Mr. Crewe's +friends, and Mr. Speaker Doby relaxed so far as to smile sadly. Mr. +Bascom laid his watch on the clerk's desk and began to read the list of +bills Mr. Crewe had introduced, and as this reading proceeded some of the +light-minded showed a tendency to become slightly hysterical. Mr. Bascom +said that he would like to see all those bills grow into laws,--with +certain slight changes,--but that he could not conscientiously vote to +saddle the people with another Civil War debt. It was well for the +State, he hinted, that those committees were composed of stanch men who +would do their duty in all weathers, regardless of demagogues who sought +to gratify inordinate ambitions. + +The hope of the revolutionists bore these strokes and others as mighty +with complacency, as though they had been so manyplayful taps; and while +the battle surged hotly around him he sat calmly listening or making +occasional notes with a gold pencil. Born leader that he was, he was +biding his time. Mr. Bascom's attack was met valiantly, but +unskillfully, from the back seats. The Honourable Jacob Botcher arose, +and filled the hall with extracts from the "Book of Arguments"--in which +he had been coached overnight by the Honourable Hilary Vane. Mr. +Botcher's tone towards his erstwhile friend was regretful,--a good man +gone wrong through impulse and inexperience. "I am, sir," said Mr. +Bascom to the Speaker, "sincerely sorry--sincerely sorry that an +individual of such ability as the member from Leith should be led, by the +representations of political adventurers and brigands and malcontents, +into his present deplorable position of criticising a State which is his +only by adoption, the political conditions of which were as sound and as +free from corporate domination, sir, as those of any State in the broad +Union." (Loud cheers.) This appeal to State pride by Mr. Botches is a +master stroke, and the friends of the champion of the liberties of the +people are beginning (some of them) to be a little nervous and doubtful. + +Following Mr. Botches were wild and scattering speeches from the back +benches--unskillful and pitiable counter-strokes. Where was the +champion? Had he been tampered with overnight, and persuaded of the +futility of +rebellion? Persuaded that his head would be more useful on his own neck +in the councils of the nation than on exhibition to the populace from the +point of a pike? It looks, to a calm spectator from the gallery, as +though the rebel forces are growing weaker and more demoralized every +moment. Mr. Redbrook's speech, vehement and honest, helps a little; +people listen to an honest and forceful man, however he may lack +technical knowledge, but the majority of the replies are mere incoherent +denunciations of the Northeastern Railroads. + +On the other hand, the astounding discipline amongst the legions of the +Empire excites the admiration and despair even of their enemies; there is +no random fighting here and breaking of ranks to do useless hacking. A +grave farmer with a beard delivers a short and temperate speech (which he +has by heart), mildly inquiring what the State would do without the +Northeastern Railroads; and the very moderation of this query coming from +a plain and hard-headed agriculturist (the boss of Grenville, if one but +knew it!) has a telling effect. And then to cap the climax, to make the +attitude of the rebels even more ridiculous in the minds of thinking +people, Mr. Ridout is given the floor. Skilled in debate when he chooses +to enter it, his knowledge of the law only exceeded by his knowledge of +how it is to be evaded--to Lartius is assigned the task of following up +the rout. And Mr. Crewe has ceased taking notes. + +When the House leader and attorney for the Northeastern took his seat, +the victory to all appearances was won. It was a victory for +conservatism and established order against sensationalism and anarchy-- +Mr. Ridout had contrived to make that clear without actually saying so. +It was as if the Ute Indians had sought to capture Washington and conduct +the government. Just as ridiculous as that! The debate seemed to be +exhausted, and the long-suffering Mr. Doby was inquiring for the fiftieth +time if the House were ready for the question, when Mr. Crewe of Leith +arose and was recognized. In three months he had acquired such a +remarkable knowledge of the game of parliamentary tactics as to be able, +patiently, to wait until the bolt of his opponents had been shot; and a +glance sufficed to revive the drooping spirits of his followers, and to +assure them that their leader knew what he was about. + +"Mr. Speaker," he said, "I have listened with great care to the masterly +defence of that corporation on which our material prosperity and civic +welfare is founded (laughter); I have listened to the gentleman's learned +discussion of the finances of that road, tending to prove that it is an +eleemosynary institution on a grand scale. I do not wish to question +unduly the intellects of those members of this House who by their votes +will prove that they have been convinced by the gentleman's argument." +Here Mr. Crewe paused and drew a slip of paper from his pocket and +surveyed the back seats. "But I perceive," he continued, "that a great +interest has been taken in this debate--so great an interest that since +yesterday numbers of gentlemen have come in from various parts of the +State to listen to it (laughter and astonishment), gentlemen who hold +Federal and State offices. (Renewed laughter and searching of the +House.) I repeat, Mr. Speaker, that I do not wish to question the +intellects of my fellow-members, but I notice that many of them who are +seated near the Federal and State office-holders in question have in +their hands slips of paper similar to this. And I have reason to believe +that these slips were written by somebody in room Number Seven of the +Pelican Hotel." (Tremendous commotion, and craning to see whether one's +neighbour has a slip. The, faces of the redoubtable three a study.) + +"I procured one of these slips," Mr. Crewe continued, "through a fellow- +member who has no use for it--whose intelligence, in fact, is underrated +by the gentlemen in Number Seven. I will read the slip. + +"'Vote yes on the question. Yes means that the report of the Committee +will be accepted, and that the Pingsquit bill will not pass. Wait for +Bascom's signal, and destroy this paper."' + +There was no need, indeed, for Mr. Crewe to say any more than that--no +need for the admirable discussion of railroad finance from an expert's +standpoint which followed to controvert Mr. Ridout's misleading +statements. The reading of the words on the slip of paper of which he +had so mysteriously got possession (through Mr. Hamilton Tooting) was +sufficient to bring about a disorder that for a full minute--Mr. Speaker +Doby found it impossible to quell. The gallery shook with laughter, and +honourable members with slips of paper in their hands were made as +conspicuous as if they had been caught wearing dunces' caps. + +It was then only, with belated wisdom, that Mr. Bascom and his two noble +companions gave up the fight, and let the horde across the bridge--too +late, as we shall see. The populace, led by a redoubtable leader, have +learned their strength. It is true that the shining senatorial twenty of +the body-guard stand ready to be hacked to pieces at their posts before +the Pingsquit bill shall become a law; and should unutterable treason +take place here, his Excellency is prepared to be drawn and quartered +rather than sign it. It is the Senate which, in this somewhat inaccurate +repetition of history, hold the citadel if not the bridge; and in spite +of the howling mob below their windows, scornfully refuse even to discuss +the Pingsquit bill. The Honourable Hilary Vane, whose face they study at +dinner time, is not worried. Popular wrath does not continue to boil, +and many changes will take place in the year before the Legislature meets +again. + +This is the Honourable Hilary's public face. But are there not private +conferences in room Number Seven of which we can know nothing-- +exceedingly uncomfortable conferences for Horatius and his companions? +Are there not private telegrams and letters to the president of the +Northeastern in New York advising him that the Pingsquit bill has passed +the House, and that a certain Mr. Crewe is primarily responsible? And +are there not queries--which history may disclose in after years--as to +whether Mr. Crewe's abilities as a statesman have not been seriously +underrated by those who should have been the first to perceive them? +Verily, pride goeth before a fall. + +In this modern version of ours, the fathers throng about another than +Horatius after the session of that memorable morning. Publicly and +privately, Mr. Crewe is being congratulated, and we know enough of his +character to appreciate the modesty with which the congratulations are +accepted. He is the same Humphrey Crewe that he was before he became the +corner-stone of the temple; success is a mere outward and visible sign of +intrinsic worth in the inner man, and Mr. Crewe had never for a moment +underestimated his true value. + +"There's, no use wasting time in talking about it," he told the grateful +members who sought to press his hands. "Go home and organize. I've got +your name. Get your neighbours into line, and keep me informed. I'll +pay for the postage-stamps. I'm no impractical reformer, and if we're +going to do this thing, we'll have to do it right." + +They left him, impressed by the force of this argument, with an added +respect for Mr. Crewe, and a vague feeling that they were pledged to +something which made not a few of them a trifle uneasy. Mr. Redbrook was +one of these. + +The felicitations of his new-found friend and convert, Mr. Tooting, Mr. +Crewe cut short with the terseness of a born commander. + +"Never mind that," he said, "and follow 'em up and get 'em pledged if you +can." + +Get 'em pledged! Pledged to what? Mr. Tooting evidently knew, for he +wasted no precious moments in asking questions. + +There is no time at this place to go into the feelings of Mr. Tom Gaylord +the younger when he learned that his bill had passed the House. He, too, +meeting Mr. Crewe in the square, took the opportunity to express his +gratitude to the member from Leith. + +"Come in on Friday afternoon, Gaylord," answered Mr. Crewe. "I've got +several things to talk to you about. Your general acquaintance around +the State will be useful, and there must be men you know of in the lumber +sections who can help us considerably." + +"Help us?" repeated young Tom, in same surprise. + +"Certainly," replied Mr. Crewe; "you don't think we're going to drop the +fight here, do you? We've got to put a stop in this State to political +domination by a railroad, and as long as there doesn't seem to be anyone +else to take hold, I'm going to. Your bill's a good bill, and we'll pass +it next session." + +Young Tom regarded Mr. Crewe with a frank stare. + +"I'm going up to the Pingsquit Valley on Friday," he answered. + +"Then you'd better come up to Leith to see me as soon as you get back," +said Mr. Crewe. "These things can't wait, and have to be dealt with +practically." + +Young Tom had not been the virtual head of the Gaylord Company for some +years without gaining a little knowledge of politics and humanity. The +invitation to Leith he valued, of course, but he felt that it would not +do to accept it with too much ardour. He was, he said, a very busy man. + +"That's the trouble with most people," declared Mr. Crewe; "they won't +take the time to bother about politics, and then they complain when +things don't go right. Now I'm givin' my time to it, when I've got other +large interests to attend to." + +On his way back to the Pelican, young Tom halted several times +reflectively, as certain points in this conversation which he seemed to +have missed at the time--came back to him. His gratitude to Mr. Crewe as +a public benefactor was profound, of course; but young Tom's sense of +humour was peculiar, and he laughed more than once, out loud, at nothing +at all. Then he became grave again, and went into the hotel and wrote a +long letter, which he addressed to Mr. Austen Vane. + +And now, before this chapter which contains these memorable events is +closed, one more strange and significant fact is to be chronicled. On +the evening of the day which saw Mr. Crewe triumphantly leading the +insurgent forces to victory, that gentleman sent his private secretary to +the office of the State Tribune to leave an order for fifty copies of the +paper to be delivered in the morning. Morning came, and the fifty +copies, and Mr. Crewe's personal copy in addition, were handed to him by +the faithful Waters when he entered his dining room at an early hour. +Life is full of disillusions. Could this be the State Tribune he held in +his hand? The State Tribune of Mr. Peter Pardriff, who had stood so +stanchly for Mr. Crewe and better things? Who had hitherto held the +words of the Leith statesman in such golden estimate as to curtail +advertising columns when it was necessary to print them for the public +good? + +Mr. Crewe's eye travelled from column to column, from page to page, in +vain. By some incredible oversight on the part of Mr. Pardriff, the +ringing words were not there,--nay, the soul-stirring events of that +eventful day appeared, on closer inspection, to have been deliberately +edited out! The terrible indignation of the righteous arose as Mr. Crewe +read (in the legislative proceedings of the day before) that the +Pingsquit bill had been discussed by certain members--of whom he was one- +-and passed. This was all--literally all! If Mr. Pardriff had lived in +the eighteenth century, he would probably have referred as casually to +the Boston massacre as a street fight--which it was. + +Profoundly disgusted with human kind,--as the noblest of us will be at +times,--Mr. Crewe flung down the paper, and actually forgot to send the +fifty copies to his friends! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE DISTURBANCE OF JUNE SEVENTH + +After Mr. Speaker Doby had got his gold watch from an admiring and +apparently reunited House, and had wept over it, the Legislature +adjourned. This was about the first of April, that sloppiest and +windiest of months in a northern climate, and Mr. Crewe had intended, as +usual, to make a little trip southward to a club of which he was a +member. A sense of duty, instead, took him to Leith, where he sat +through the days in his study, dictating letters, poring over a great map +of the State which he had hung on the wall, and scanning long printed +lists. If we could stand behind him, we should see that these are what +are known as check-lists, or rosters of the voters in various towns. + +Mr. Crewe also has an unusual number of visitors for this muddy weather, +when the snow-water is making brooks of the roads. Interested observers- +-if there were any--might have remarked that his friendship with Mr. +Hamilton Tooting had increased, that gentleman coming up from Ripton at +least twice a week, and aiding Mr. Crewe to multiply his acquaintances by +bringing numerous strangers to see him. Mr. Tooting, as we know, had +abandoned the law office of the Honourable Hilary Vane and was now +engaged in travelling over the State, apparently in search of health. +These were signs, surely, which the wise might have read with profit: in +the offices, for instance, of the Honourable Hilary Vane in Ripton +Square, where seismic disturbances were registered; but the movement of +the needle (to the Honourable Hilary's eye) was almost imperceptible. +What observer, however experienced, would have believed that such +delicate tracings could herald a volcanic eruption? + +Throughout the month of April the needle kept up its persistent +registering, and the Honourable Hilary continued to smile. The +Honourable Jacob Botcher, who had made a trip to Ripton and had cited +that very decided earthquake shock of the Pingsquit bill, had been +ridiculed for his pains, and had gone away again comforted by communion +with a strong man. The Honourable Jacob had felt little shocks in his +fief: Mr. Tooting had visited it, sitting with his feet on the tables of +hotel waiting-rooms, holding private intercourse with gentlemen who had +been disappointed in office. Mr. Tooting had likewise been a sojourner +in the domain of the Duke of Putnam. But the Honourable Brush was not +troubled, and had presented Mr. Tooting with a cigar. + +In spite of the strange omission of the State Tribune to print his speech +and to give his victory in the matter of the Pingsquit bill proper +recognition, Mr. Crewe was too big a man to stop his subscription to the +paper. Conscious that he had done his duty in that matter, neither +praise nor blame could affect him; and although he had not been mentioned +since, he read it assiduously every afternoon upon its arrival at Leith, +feeling confident that Mr. Peter Pardriff (who had always in private +conversation proclaimed himself emphatically for reform) would not +eventually refuse--to a prophet--public recognition. One afternoon +towards the end of that month of April, when the sun had made the last +snow-drift into a pool, Mr. Crewe settled himself on his south porch and +opened the State Tribune, and his heart gave a bound as his eye fell upon +the following heading to the leading editorial:-- + + A WORTHY PUBLIC SERVANT FOR GOVERNOR + +Had his reward come at last? Had Mr. Peter Pardriff seen the error of +his way? Mr. Crewe leisurely folded back the sheet, and called to his +secretary, who was never far distant. + +"Look here," he said, "I guess Pardriff's recovered his senses. Look +here!" + +The tired secretary, ready with his pencil and notebook to order fifty +copies, responded, staring over his employer's shoulder. It has been +said of men in battle that they have been shot and have run forward some +hundred feet without knowing what has happened to them. And so Mr. Crewe +got five or six lines into that editorial before he realized in full the +baseness of Mr. Pardriff's treachery. + +"These are times" (so ran Mr. Pardriff's composition) when the sure and +steadying hand of a strong man is needed at the helm of State. A man of +conservative, business habits of mind; a man who weighs the value of +traditions equally with the just demands of a new era; a man with a +knowledge of public affairs derived from long experience;" (!!!), a man +who has never sought office, but has held it by the will of the people, +and who himself is a proof that the conduct of State institutions in the +past has been just and equitable. One who has served with distinction +upon such boards as the Railroad Commission, the Board of Equalization, +etc., etc." (!!!) "A stanch Republican, one who puts party before--" here +the newspaper began to shake a little, and Mr. Crewe could not for the +moment see whether the next word were place or principle. He skipped a +few lines. The Tribune, it appeared, had a scintillating idea, which +surely must have occurred to others in the State. "Why not the +Honourable Adam B. Hunt of Edmundton for the next governor?" + +The Honourable Adam B. Hunt of Edmundton! + +It is a pleasure to record, at this crisis, that Mr. Crewe fixed upon his +secretary as steady an eye as though Mr. Pardriff's bullet had missed its +mark. + +"Get me," he said coolly, "the 'State Encyclopaedia of Prominent Men.'" +(Just printed. Fogarty and Co., Newcastle, publishers.) + +The secretary fetched it, open at the handsome and lifelike steel- +engraving of the Honourable Adam, with his broad forehead and kindly, +twinkling eyes, and the tuft of beard on his chin; with his ample +statesman's coat in natural creases, and his white shirt-front and little +black tie. Mr. Crewe gazed at this work of art long and earnestly. The +Honourable Adam B. Hunt did not in the least have the appearance of a +bolt from the blue. And then Mr. Crewe read his biography. + +Two things he shrewdly noted about that biography; it was placed, out of +alphabetical order, fourth in the book, and it was longer than any other +with one exception that of Mr. Ridout, the capital lawyer. Mr. Ridout's +place was second in this invaluable volume, he being preceded only by a +harmless patriarch. These facts were laid before Mr. Tooting, who was +directed by telephone to come to Leith as soon as he should arrive in +Ripton from his latest excursion. It was nine o'clock at night when that +long-suffering and mud-bespattered individual put in an appearance at the +door of his friend's study. + +"Because I didn't get on to it," answered Mr. Tooting, in response to a +reproach for not having registered a warning--for he was Mr. Crewe's +seismograph. "I knew old Adam vas on the Railroads' governor's bench, +but I hadn't any notion he'd been moved up to the top of the batting +list. I told you right. Ridout was going to be their next governor if +you hadn't singed him with the Pingsquit bill. This was done pretty +slick, wasn't it? Hilary got back from New York day before yesterday, +and Pardriff has the editorial to-day. Say, I always told you Pardriff +wasn't a reformer, didn't I?" + +Mr. Crewe looked pained. + +"I prefer to believe the best of people until I know the worst," he said. +"I did not think Mr. Pardriff capable of ingratitude." + +What Mr. Crewe meant by this remark is enigmatical. + +"He ain't," replied Mr. Tooting, "he's grateful for that red ticket he +carries around with him when he travels, and he's grateful to the +Honourable Adam B. Hunt for favours to come. Peter Pardriff's a grateful +cuss, all-right, all right." + +Mr. Crewe tapped his fingers on the desk thoughtfully. + +"The need of a reform campaign is more apparent than ever," he remarked. + +Mr. Tooting put his tongue in his cheek; and, seeing a dreamy expression +on his friend's face, accidentally helped himself to a cigar out of the +wrong box. + +"It's up to a man with a sense of duty and money to make it," Mr. Tooting +agreed, taking a long pull at the Havana. + +"As for the money," replied Mr. Crewe, "the good citizens of the State +should be willing to contribute largely. I have had a list of men of +means prepared, who will receive notices at the proper time." + +Mr. Hamilton Tooting spread out his feet, and appeared to be studying +them carefully. + +"It's funny you should have mentioned cash," he said, after a moment's +silence, "and it's tough on you to have to be the public-spirited man to +put it up at the start. I've got a little memorandum here," he added, +fumbling apologetically in his pocket; "it certainly costs something to +move the boys around and keep 'em indignant." + +Mr. Tooting put the paper on the edge of the desk, and Mr. Crewe, without +looking, reached out his hand for it, the pained expression returning to +his face. + +"Tooting," he said, "you've got a very flippant way of speaking of +serious things. It strikes me that these expenses are out of all +proportion to the simplicity of the task involved. It strikes me--ahem +that you might find, in some quarters at least, a freer response to a +movement founded on principle." + +"That's right," declared Mr. Tooting, "I've thought so myself. I've got +mad, and told 'em so to their faces. But you've said yourself, Mr. +Crewe, that we've got to deal with this thing practically." + +"Certainly," Mr. Crewe interrupted. He loved the word. + +"And we've got to get workers, haven't we? And it costs money to move +'em round, don't it? We haven't got a bushel basket of passes. Look +here," and he pushed another paper at Mr. Crewe, "here's ten new ones +who've made up their minds that you're the finest man in the State. That +makes twenty." + +Mr. Crewe took that paper deprecatingly, but nevertheless began a fire of +cross-questions on Mr. Tooting as to the personality, habits, and +occupations of the discerning ten in question, making certain little +marks of his own against each name. Thus it will be seen that Mr. Crewe +knew perfectly what he was about--although no one else did except Mr. +Tooting, who merely looked mysterious when questioned on the streets of +Ripton or Newcastle or Kingston. It was generally supposed, however, +that the gentleman from Leith was going to run for the State Senate, and +was attempting to get a following in other counties, in order to push +through his measures next time. Hence the tiny fluctuations of Hilary +Vane's seismograph an instrument, as will be shown, utterly out-of-date. +Not so the motto toujours l'audace. Geniuses continue (at long +intervals) to be born, and to live up to that motto. + +That seismograph of the Honourable Hilary's persisted in tracing only a +slightly ragged line throughout the beautiful month of May, in which +favourable season the campaign of the Honourable Adam B. Hunt took root +and flourished--apparently from the seed planted by the State Tribune. +The ground, as usual, had been carefully prepared, and trained gardeners +raked, and watered, and weeded the patch. It had been decreed and +countersigned that the Honourable Adam B. Hunt was the flower that was to +grow this year. + +There must be something vitally wrong with an instrument which failed to +register the great earthquake shock of June the seventh! + +Now that we have come to the point where this shock is to be recorded on +these pages, we begin to doubt whether our own pen will be able +adequately to register it, and whether the sheet is long enough and broad +enough upon which to portray the relative importance of the disturbance +created. The trouble is, that there is nothing to measure it by. What +other event in the history of the State produced the vexation of spirit, +the anger, the tears, the profanity; the derision, the laughter of fools, +the contempt; the hope, the glee, the prayers, the awe, the dumb +amazement at the superb courage of this act? No, for a just comparison +we shall have to reach back to history and fable: David and Goliath; +Theseus and the Minotaur; or, better still, Cadmus and the Dragon! It +was Cadmus (if we remember rightly) who wasted no time whatever, but +actually jumped down the dragon's throat and cut him up from the inside! +And it was Cadmus, likewise, who afterwards sowed the dragon's teeth. + +That wondrous clear and fresh summer morning of June the seventh will not +be forgotten for many years. The trees were in their early leaf in +Ripton Square, and the dark pine patches on Sawanec looked (from Austen's +little office) like cloud shadows against the shimmer of the tender +green. He sat at his table, which was covered with open law-books and +papers, but his eyes were on the distant mountain, and every scent-laden +breeze wafted in at his open window seemed the bearer of a tremulous, +wistful, yet imperious message--" Come!" Throughout the changing +seasons Sawanec called to him in words of love: sometimes her face was +hidden by cloud and fog and yet he heard her voice! Sometimes her +perfume as to-day--made him dream; sometimes, when the western heavens +were flooded with the golden light of the infinite, she veiled herself in +magic purple, when to gaze at her was an exquisite agony, and she became +as one forbidden to man. Though his soul cried out to her across the +spaces, she was not for him. She was not for him! + +With a sigh he turned to his law-books again, and sat for a while staring +steadfastly at a section of the 'Act of Consolidation of the Northeastern +Railroads' which he had stumbled on that morning. The section, if he +read its meaning aright, was fraught with the gravest consequences for +the Northeastern Railroads; if he read its meaning aright, the +Northeastern Railroads had been violating it persistently for many years +and were liable for unknown sums in damages. The discovery of it had +dazed him, and the consequences resulting from a successful suit under +the section would be so great that he had searched diligently, though in +vain, for some modification of it since its enactment. Why had not some +one discovered it before? This query appeared to be unanswerable, until +the simple--though none the less remarkable--solution came to him, that +perhaps no definite occasion had hitherto arisen for seeking it. +Undoubtedly the Railroads' attorneys must know of its existence--his own +father, Hilary Vane, having been instrumental in drawing up the Act. And +a long period had elapsed under which the Northeastern Railroads had been +a law unto themselves. + +The discovery was of grave import to Austen. A month before, chiefly +through the efforts of his friend, Tom, who was gradually taking his +father's place in the Gaylord Lumber Company, Austen had been appointed +junior counsel for that corporation. The Honourable Galusha Hammer still +remained the senior counsel, but was now confined in his house at +Newcastle by an illness which made the probability of his return to +active life extremely doubtful; and Tom had repeatedly declared that in +the event of his non-recovery Austen should have Mr. Hammer's place. As +counsel for the Gaylord Lumber Company, it was clearly his duty to call +the attention of young Mr. Gaylord to the section; and in case Mr. Hammer +did not resume his law practice, it would fall upon Austen himself to +bring the suit. His opponent in this matter would be his own father + +The consequences of this culminating conflict between them, the coming of +which he had long dreaded--although he had not foreseen its specific +cause--weighed heavily upon Austen. It was Tom Gaylord himself who +abruptly aroused him from his revery by bursting in at the door. + +"Have you heard what's up?" he cried, flinging down a newspaper before +Austen's eyes. "Have you seen the Guardian?" + +"What's the matter now, Tom?" + +"Matter!" exclaimed Tom; "read that. Your friend and client, the +Honourable Humphrey Crewe, is out for governor." + +"Humphrey Crewe for governor!" + +"On an anti-railroad platform. I might have known something of the kind +was up when he began to associate with Tooting, and from the way he spoke +to me in March. But who'd have thought he'd have the cheek to come out +for governor? Did you ever hear of such tommyrot?" + +Austen looked grave. + +"I'm not sure it's such tommyrot," he said. + +"Not tommyrot?" Tom ejaculated. "Everybody's laughing. When I passed +the Honourable Hilary's door just now, Brush Bascom and some of the old +liners were there, reciting parts of the proclamation, and the boys down +in the Ripton House are having the time of their lives." + +Austen took the Guardian, and there, sure enough, filling a leading +column, and in a little coarser type than the rest of the page, he read: + + DOWN WITH RAILROAD RULE! + + The Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith, at the request + of twenty prominent citizens, consents to become a candidate + for the Republican Nomination for Governor. + + Ringing letter of acceptance, in which he denounces the + political power of the Northeastern Railroads, and declares + that the State is governed from a gilded suite of offices in + New Pork. + +"The following letter, evincing as it does a public opinion thoroughly +aroused in all parts of the State against the present disgraceful +political conditions, speaks for itself. The standing and character of +its signers give it a status which Republican voters cannot ignore." + +The letter followed. It prayed Mr. Crewe, in the name of decency and +good government, to carry the standard of honest men to victory. Too +long had a proud and sovereign State writhed under the heel of an all- +devouring corporation! Too long had the Northeastern Railroads elected, +for their own selfish ends, governors and legislatures and controlled +railroad commissions The spirit of 1776 was abroad in the land. It was +eminently fitting that the Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith, who had +dared to fling down the gauntlet in the face of an arrogant power, should +be the leader of the plain people, to recover the rights which had been +wrested from them. Had he not given the highest proof that he had the +people's interests at heart? He was clearly a man who "did things." + +At this point Austen looked up and smiled. + +"Tom," he asked, "has it struck you that this is written in the same +inimitable style as a part of the message of the Honourable Asa Gray?" + +Tom slapped his knee. + +"That's exactly what I said I!" he cried. "Tooting wrote it. I'll swear +to it." + +"And the twenty prominent citizens--do you know any of 'em, Tom?" + +"Well," said Tom, in delighted appreciation, "I've heard of three of 'em, +and that's more than any man I've met can boast of. Ed Dubois cuts my +hair when I go to Kingston. He certainly is a prominent citizen in the +fourth ward. Jim Kendall runs the weekly newspaper in Grantley--I +understood it was for sale. Bill Clements is prominent enough up at +Groveton. He wanted a trolley franchise some years ago, you remember." + +"And didn't get it." + +Mr. Crewe's answer was characteristically terse and businesslike. The +overwhelming compliment of a request from such gentlemen must be treated +in the nature of a command--and yet he had hesitated for several weeks, +during which period he had cast about for another more worthy of the +honour. Then followed a somewhat technical and (to the lay mind) obscure +recapitulation of the iniquities the Northeastern was committing, which +proved beyond peradventure that Mr. Crewe knew what he was talking about; +such phrases as "rolling stock," "milking the road"--an imposing array +of facts and figures. Mr. Crewe made it plain that he was a man who "did +things." And if it were the will of Heaven that he became governor, +certain material benefits would as inevitably ensue as the day follows +the night. The list of the material benefits, for which there was a +crying need, bore a strong resemblance to a summary of the worthy +measures upon which Mr. Crewe had spent so much time and labour in the +last Legislature. + +Austen laid down the paper, leaned back in his chair, and thrust his +hands in his pockets, and with a little vertical pucker in his forehead, +regarded his friend. + +"What do you think of that?" Tom demanded. "Now, what do you think of +it?" + +"I think," said Austen, "that he'll scare the life out of the +Northeastern before he gets through with them." + +"What!" exclaimed Tom, incredulously. He had always been willing to +accept Austen's judgment on men and affairs, but this was pretty stiff. +"What makes you think so?" + +"Well, people don't know Mr. Crewe, for one thing. And they are +beginning to have a glimmer of light upon the Railroad." + +"Do you mean to say he has a chance for the nomination?" + +"I don't know. It depends upon how much the voters find out about him +before the convention." + +Tom sat down rather heavily. + +"You could have been governor," he complained reproachfully, "by raising +your hand. You've got more ability than any man in the State, and you +sit here gazin' at that mountain and lettin' a darned fool millionaire +walk in ahead of you." + +Austen rose and crossed over to Mr. Gaylord's chair, and, his hands still +in his pockets, looked down thoughtfully into that gentleman's square and +rugged face. + +"Tom," he said, "there's no use discussing this delusion of yours, which +seems to be the only flaw in an otherwise sane character. We must try to +keep it from the world." + +Tom laughed in spite of himself. + +"I'm hanged if I understand you," he declared, "but I never did. You +think Crewe and Tooting may carry off the governorship, and you don't +seem to care." + +"I do care," said Austen, briefly. He went to the window and stood for a +moment with his back to his friend, staring across at Sawanec. Tom had +learned by long experience to respect these moods, although they were to +him inexplicable. At length Austen turned. + +"Tom," he said, "can you come in to-morrow about this time? If you +can't, I'll go to your office if you will let me know when you'll be in. +There's a matter of business I want to talk to you about." + +Tom pulled out his watch. + +"I've got to catch a train for Mercer," he replied, "but I will come in +in the morning and see you." + +A quarter of an hour later Austen went down the narrow wooden flight of +stairs into the street, and as he emerged from the entry almost bumped +into the figure of a young man that was hurrying by. He reached out and +grasped the young man by the collar, pulling him up so short as almost to +choke him. + +"Hully gee!" cried the young man whose progress had been so rudely +arrested. "Great snakes!" (A cough.) "What're you tryin' to do? Oh," +(apologetically) "it's you, Aust. Let me go. This day ain't long enough +for me. Let me go." + +Austen kept his grip and regarded Mr. Tooting thoughtfully. + +"I want to speak to you, Ham," he said; "better come upstairs." + +"Say, Aust, on the dead, I haven't time. Pardriff's waitin' for some +copy now." + +"Just for a minute, Ham," said Austen; "I won't keep you long." + +"Leggo my collar, then, if you don't want to choke me. Say, I don't +believe you know how strong you are." + +"I didn't know you wore a collar any more, Ham," said Austen. + +Mr. Tooting grinned in appreciation of this joke. + +"You must think you've got one of your Wild West necktie parties on," he +gasped. "I'll come. But if you love me, don't let the boys in Hilary's +office see me." + +"They use the other entry," answered Austen, indicating that Mr. Tooting +should go up first--which he did. When they reached the office Austen +shut the door, and stood with his back against it, regarding Mr. Tooting +thoughtfully. + +At first Mr. Tooting returned the look with interest swagger--aggression +would be too emphatic, and defiance would not do. His was the air, +perhaps, of Talleyrand when he said, "There seems to be an inexplicable +something in me that brings bad luck to governments that neglect me:" the +air of a man who has made a brilliant coup d'etat. All day he had worn +that air--since five o'clock in the morning, when he had sprung from his +pallet. The world might now behold the stuff that was in Hamilton +Tooting. Power flowed out of his right hand from an inexhaustible +reservoir which he had had the sagacity to tap, and men leaped into +action at his touch. He, the once, neglected, had the destiny of a State +in his keeping. + +Gradually, however, it became for some strange reason difficult to +maintain that aggressive stare upon Austen Vane, who shook his head +slowly. + +"Ham, why did you do it?" he asked. + +"Why?" cried Mr. Tooting, fiercely biting back a treasonable smile. "Why +not? Ain't he the best man in the State to make a winner? Hasn't he got +the money, and the brains, and the get-up-and-git? Why, it's a sure +thing. I've been around the State, and I know the sentiment. We've got +'em licked, right now. What have you got against it? You're on our +side, Aust." + +"Ham," said Austen, "are you sure you have the names and addresses of +those twenty prominent citizens right, so that any voter may go out and +find 'em?" + +"What are you kidding about, Aust?" retorted Mr. Tooting, biting back the +smile again. "Say, you never get down to business with me. You don't +blame Crewe for comin' out, do you?" + +"I don't see how Mr. Crewe could have resisted such an overwhelming +demand," said Austen. "He couldn't shirk such a duty. He says so +himself, doesn't he?" + +"Oh, go on!" exclaimed Mr. Tooting, who was not able to repress a grin. + +"The letter of the twenty must have been a great surprise to Mr. Crewe. +He says he was astonished. Did the whole delegation go up to Leith, or +only a committee?" + +Mr. Tooting's grin had by this time spread all over his face--a flood +beyond his control. + +"Well, there's no use puffin' it on with you, Aust. That was done pretty +slick, that twenty-prominent-citizen business, if I do say it myself. +But you don't know that feller Crewe--he's a full-size cyclone when he +gets started, and nothin' but a range of mountains could stop him." + +"It must be fairly exciting to--ride him, Ham." + +"Say, but it just is. Kind of breathless, though. He ain't very well +known around the State, and he was bound to run--and I just couldn't let +him come out without any clothes on." + +"I quite appreciate your delicacy, Ham." + +Mr. Tooting's face took on once more a sheepish look, which changed +almost immediately to one of disquietude. + +"Say, I'll come back again some day and kid with you. I've got to go, +Aust--that's straight. This is my busy day." + +"Wouldn't you gain some time if you left by the window?" Austen asked. + +At this suggestion Mr. Tooting's expressive countenance showed genuine +alarm. + +"Say, you ain't going to put up any Wild West tricks on me, are you? I +heard you nearly flung Tom Gaylord out of the one in the other room." + +"If this were a less civilized place, Ham, I'd initiate you into what is +known as the bullet dance. As it is, I have a great mind to speed you on +your way by assisting you downstairs." + +Mr. Hamilton Tooting became ashy pale. + +"I haven't done anything to you, Aust. Say--you didn't--?" He did not +finish. + +Terrified by something in Austen's eye, which may or may not have been +there at the time of the Blodgett incident, Mr. Tooting fled without +completing his inquiry. And, his imagination being great, he reproduced +for himself such a vivid sensation of a bullet-hole in his spine that he +missed his footing near the bottom, and measured his length in the entry. +Such are the humiliating experiences which sometimes befall the +Talleyrands--but rarely creep into their biographies. + +Austen, from the top of the stairway, saw this catastrophe, but did not +smile. He turned on his heel, and made his way slowly around the corner +of the passage into the other part of the building, and paused at the +open doorway of the Honourable Hilary's outer office. By the street +windows sat the Honourable Brush Bascom, sphinx-like, absorbing wisdom +and clouds of cigar smoke which emanated from the Honourable Nat +Billings. + +"Howdy, Austen?" said Brush, genially, lookin' for the Honourable Hilary? +Flint got up from New York this morning, and sent for him a couple of +hours ago. He'll be back at two." + +"Have you read the pronunciamento?" inquired Mr. Billings. "Say, Austen, +knowin' your sentiments, I wonder you weren't one of the twenty prominent +citizens." + +"All you anti-railroad fellers ought to get together," Mr. Bascom +suggested; "you've got us terrified since your friend from Leith turned +the light of publicity on us this morning. I hear Ham Tooting's been in +and made you an offer." + +News travels fast in Ripton. + +"Austen kicked him downstairs," said Jimmy Towle, the office boy, who had +made a breathless entrance during the conversation, and felt it to be the +psychological moment to give vent to the news with which he was bursting. + +"Is that straight?" Mr. Billings demanded. He wished he had done it +himself. "Is that straight?" he repeated, but Austen had gone. + +"Of course it's straight," said Jimmy Towle, vigorously. A shrewd +observer of human nature, he had little respect for Senator Billings. +"Ned Johnson saw him pick himself up at the foot of Austen's stairway." + +The Honourable Brush's agate eyes caught the light, and he addressed Mr. +Billings in a voice which, by dint of long training, only carried a few +feet. + +"There's the man the Northeastern's got to look out for," he said. "The +Humphrey Crewes don't count. But if Austen Vane ever gets started, +there'll be trouble. Old man Flint's got some such idea as that, too. I +overheard him givin' it to old Hilary once, up at Fairview, and Hilary +said he couldn't control him. I guess nobody else can control him. I +wish I'd seen him kick Ham downstairs." + +"I'd like to kick him downstairs," said Mr. Billings, savagely biting off +another cigar. + +"I guess you hadn't better try it, Nat," said Mr. Bascom. + +Meanwhile Austen had returned to his own office, and shut the door. His +luncheon hour came and went, and still he sat by the open window gazing +out across the teeming plain, and up the green valley whence the Blue +came singing from the highlands. In spirit he followed the water to +Leith, and beyond, where it swung in a wide circle arid hurried between +wondrous hills like those in the backgrounds of the old Italians: hills +of close-cropped pastures, dotted with shapely sentinel oaks and maples +which cast sharp, rounded shadows on the slopes at noonday; with thin +fantastic elms on the gentle sky-lines, and forests massed here and +there--silent, impenetrable hills from a story-book of a land of mystery. +The river coursed between them on its rocky bed, flinging its myriad gems +to the sun. This was the Vale of the Blue, and she had touched it with +meaning for him, and gone. + +He drew from his coat a worn pocket-book, and from the pocket-book a +letter. It was dated in New York in February, and though he knew it by +heart he found a strange solace in the pain which it gave him to reread +it. He stared at the monogram on the paper, which seemed so emblematic +of her; for he had often reflected that her things--even such minute +insignia as this--belonged to her. She impressed them not only with her +taste, but with her character. The entwined letters, Y. F., of the +design were not, he thought, of a meaningless, frivolous daintiness, but +stood for something. Then he read the note again. It was only a note. + + "MY DEAR MR. VANE: I have come back to find my mother ill, and I am + taking her to France. We are sailing, unexpectedly, to-morrow, + there being a difficulty about a passage later. I cannot refrain + from sending you a line before I go to tell you that I did you an + injustice. You will no doubt think it strange that I should write + to you, but I shall be troubled until it is off my mind. I am + ashamed to have been so stupid. I think I know now why you would + not consent to be a candidate, and I respect you for it. + + Sincerely your friend, + + "VICTORIA FLINT." + +What did she know? What had she found out? Had she seen her father and +talked to him? That was scarcely possible, since her mother had been ill +and she had left at once. Austen had asked himself these questions many +times, and was no nearer the solution. He had heard nothing of her +since, and he told himself that perhaps it was better, after all, that +she was still away. To know that she was at Fairview, and not to be able +to see her, were torture indeed. + +The note was formal enough, and at times he pretended to be glad that it +was. How could it be otherwise? And why should he interpret her +interest in him in other terms than those in which it was written? She +had a warm heart--that he knew; and he felt for her sake that he had no +right to wish for more than the note expressed. After several +unsuccessful attempts; he had answered it in a line, "I thank you, and I +understand." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE "BOOK OF ARGUMENTS" IS OPENED + +The Honourable Hilary Vane returned that day from Fairview in no very +equable frame of mind. It is not for us to be present at the Councils on +the Palatine when the "Book of Arguments" is opened, and those fitting +the occasion are chosen and sent out to the faithful who own printing- +presses and free passes. The Honourable Hilary Vane bore away from the +residence of his emperor a great many memoranda in an envelope, and he +must have sighed as he drove through the leafy roads for Mr. Hamilton +Tooting, with his fertile mind and active body. A year ago, and Mr. +Tooting would have seized these memoranda of majesty, and covered their +margins with new suggestions: Mr. Tooting, on occasions, had even made +additions to the "Book of Arguments" itself--additions which had been +used in New York and other States with telling effect against Mr. Crewes +there. Mr. Tooting knew by heart the time of going to press of every +country newspaper which had passes (in exchange for advertising!). It +was two o'clock when the Honourable Hilary reached his office, and by +three all the edicts would have gone forth, and the grape-shot and +canister would have been on their way to demolish the arrogance of this +petty Lord of Leith.. + +"Tooting's a dangerous man, Vane. You oughtn't to have let him go," Mr. +Flint had said. "I don't care a snap of my finger for the other fellow." + +How Mr. Tooting's ears would have burned, and how his blood would have +sung with pride to have heard himself called dangerous by the president +of the Northeastern! + +He who, during all the valuable years of his services, had never had a +sign that that potentate was cognizant of his humble existence. + +The Honourable Brush Bascom, as we know, was a clever man; and although +it had never been given him to improve on the "Book of Arguments," he had +ideas of his own. On reading Mr. Crewe's defiance that morning, he had, +with characteristic promptitude and a desire to be useful, taken the +first train out of Putnam for Ripton, to range himself by the side of the +Honourable Hilary in the hour of need. The Feudal System anticipates, +and Mr. Bascom did not wait for a telegram. + +On the arrival of the chief counsel from Fairview other captains had put +in an appearance, but Mr. Bascom alone was summoned, by a nod, into the +private office. What passed between them seems too sacred to write +about. The Honourable Hilary would take one of the slips from the packet +and give it to Mr. Bascom. + +"If that were recommended, editorially, to the Hull Mercury, it might +serve to clear away certain misconceptions in that section. + +"Certain," Mr. Bascom would reply. + +"It has been thought wise," the Honourable Hilary continued, "to send an +annual to the Groveton News. Roberts, his name is. Suppose you +recommend to Mr. Roberts that an editorial on this subject would be +timely." + +Slip number two. Mr. Bascom marks it 'Roberts.' Subject: "What would +the State do without the Railroad?" + +"And Grenville, being a Prohibition centre, you might get this worked up +for the Advertiser there." + +Mr. Bascom's agate eyes are full of light as he takes slip number three. +Subject: "Mr. Humphrey Crewe has the best-stocked wine cellar in the +State, and champagne every night for dinner." Slip number four, taken +direct from the second chapter of the "Book of Arguments": "Mr. Crewe is +a reformer because he has been disappointed in his inordinate ambitions," +etc. Slip number five: "Mr. Crewe is a summer resident, with a house in +New York," etc., etc. + +Slip number six, "Book of Arguments," paragraph, chapter: "Humphrey +Crewe, Defamer of our State." Assigned, among others, to the Ripton +Record. + +"Paul Pardriff went up to Leith to-day," said Mr. Bascom. + +"Go to see him," replied the Honourable Hilary. "I've been thinking for +some time that the advertising in the Ripton Record deserves an +additional annual." + +Mr. Bascom, having been despatched on this business, and having +voluntarily assumed control of the Empire Bureau of Publication, the +chief counsel transacted other necessary legal business with State +Senator Billings and other gentlemen who were waiting. At three o'clock +word was sent in that Mr. Austen Vane was outside, and wished to speak +with his father as soon as the latter was at leisure. Whereupon the +Honourable Hilary shooed out the minor clients, leaned back in his chair, +and commanded that his son be admitted. + +"Judge," said Austen, as he closed the door behind him, "I don't want to +bother you." + +The Honourable Hilary regarded his son for a moment fixedly out of his +little eyes. + +"Humph" he said. + +Austen looked down at his father. The Honourable Hilary's expression was +not one which would have aroused, in the ordinary man who beheld him, a +feeling of sympathy or compassion: it was the impenetrable look with +which he had faced his opponents for many years. But Austen felt +compassion. + +"Perhaps I'd better come in another time--when you are less busy," he +suggested. + +"Who said I was busy?" inquired the Honourable Hilary. + +Austen smiled a little sadly. One would have thought, by that smile, +that the son was the older and wiser of the two. + +"I didn't mean to cast any reflection on your habitual industry, Judge," +he said. + +"Humph!" exclaimed Mr. Vane. "I've got more to do than sit in the window +and read poetry, if that's what you mean." + +"You never learned how to enjoy life, did you, Judge?" he said. "I don't +believe you ever really had a good time. Own up." + +"I've had sterner things to think about. I've had 'to earn my living-- +and give you a good time." + +"I appreciate it," said Austen. + +"Humph! Sometimes I think you don't show it a great deal," the Honourable +Hilary answered. + +"I show it as far as I can, Judge," said his son. "I can't help the way +I was made." + +"I try to take account of that," said the Honourable Hilary. + +Austen laughed. + +"I'll drop in to-morrow morning," he said. + +But the Honourable Hilary pointed to a chair on the other side of the +desk. + +"Sit down. To-day's as good as to-morrow," he remarked, with sententious +significance, characteristically throwing the burden of explanation on +the visitor. + +Austen found the opening unexpectedly difficult. He felt that this was a +crisis in their relations, and that it had come at an unfortunate hour. + +"Judge," he said, trying to control the feeling that threatened to creep +into his voice, "we have jogged along for some years pretty peaceably, +and I hope you won't misunderstand what I'm going to say." + +The Honourable Hilary grunted. + +"It was at your request that I went into the law. I have learned to like +that profession. I have stuck to it as well as my wandering, Bohemian +nature will permit, and while I do not expect you necessarily to feel any +pride in such progress as I have made, I have hoped--that you might feel +an interest." + +The Honourable Hilary grunted again. + +"I suppose I am by nature a free-lance," Austen continued. "You were +good enough to acknowledge the force of my argument when I told you it +would be best for me to strike out for myself. And I suppose it was +inevitable, such being the case, and you the chief counsel for the +Northeastern Railroads, that I should at some time or another be called +upon to bring suits against your client. It would have been better, +perhaps, if I had not started to practise in this State. I did so from +what I believe was a desire common to both of us to--to live together." + +The Honourable Hilary reached for his Honey Dew, but he did not speak. + +"To live together," Austen repeated. "I want to say that, if I had gone +away, I believe I should always have regretted the fact." He paused, and +took from his pocket a slip of paper. "I made up my mind from the start +that I would always be frank with you. In spite of my desire to amass +riches, there are some suits against the Northeastern which I have-- +somewhat quixotically--refused. Here is a section of the act which +permitted the consolidation of the Northeastern Railroads. You are no +doubt aware of its existence." + +The Honourable Hilary took the slip of paper in his hand and stared at +it. "The rates for fares and freights existing at the time of the +passage of this act shall mot be increased on the roads leased or united +under it." What his sensations were when he read it no man might have +read in his face, but his hand trembled a little, and along silence +ensued before he gave it back to his son with the simple comment:-- + +"Well?" + +"I do not wish to be understood to ask your legal opinion, although you +probably know that lumber rates have been steadily raised, and if a suit +under that section were successful the Gaylord Lumber Company could +recover a very large sum of money from the Northeastern Railroads," said +Austen. "Having discovered the section, I believe it to be my duty to +call it to the attention of the Gaylords. What I wish to know is, +whether my taking the case would cause you any personal inconvenience or +distress? If so, I will refuse it." + +"No," answered the Honourable Hilary, "it won't. Bring suit. Much use +it'll be. Do you expect they can recover under that section?" + +"I think it is worth trying," said Austen. + +"Why didn't somebody try it before?" asked the Honourable Hilary. + +"See here, Judge, I wish you'd let me out of an argument about it. Suit +is going to be brought, whether I bring it or another man. If you would +prefer for any reason that I shouldn't bring it--I won't. I'd much +rather resign as counsel for the Gaylords--and I am prepared to do so." + +"Bring suit," answered the Honourable Hilary, quickly, "bring suit by all +means. And now's your time. This seems to be a popular season for +attacking the property which is the foundation of the State's +prosperity." ("Book of Arguments," chapter 3.) + +In spite of himself, Austen smiled again. Long habit had accustomed +Hilary Vane to put business considerations before family ties; and this +habit had been the secret of his particular success. And now, rather +than admit by the least sign the importance of his son's discovery of the +statute (which he had had in mind for many years, and to which he had +more than once, by the way, called Mr. Flint's attention), the Honourable +Hilary deliberately belittled the matter as part and parcel of the +political tactics against the Northeastern. + +Sears caused by differences of opinion are soon healed; words count for +nothing, and it is the soul that attracts or repels. Mr. Vane was not +analytical, he had been through a harassing day, and he was unaware that +it was not Austen's opposition, but Austen's smile, which set the torch +to his anger. Once, shortly after his marriage, when he had come home in +wrath after a protracted quarrel with Mr. Tredway over the orthodoxy of +the new minister, in the middle of his indignant recital of Mr. Tredway's +unwarranted attitude, Sarah Austen had smiled. The smile had had in it, +to be sure, nothing of conscious superiority, but it had been utterly +inexplicable to Hilary Vane. He had known for the first time what it was +to feel murder in the heart, and if he had not rushed out of the room, he +was sure he would have strangled her. After all, the Hilary Vanes of +this world cannot reasonably be expected to perceive the humour in their +endeavours. + +Now the son's smile seemed the reincarnation of the mother's. That smile +was in itself a refutation of motive on Austen's part which no words +could have made more emphatic; it had in it (unconsciously, too) +compassion for and understanding of the Honourable Hilary's mood and +limitations. Out of the corner of his mental vision--without grasping +it--the Honourable Hilary perceived this vaguely. It was the smile in +which a parent privately indulges when a child kicks his toy locomotive +because its mechanism is broken. It was the smile of one who, +unforgetful of the scheme of the firmament and the spinning planets, will +not be moved to anger by him who sees but the four sides of a pit. + +Hilary Vane grew red around the eyes--a danger signal of the old days. + +"Take the suit," he said. "If you don't, I'll make it known all over the +State that you started it. I'll tell Mr. Flint to-morrow. Take it, do +you hear me? You ask me if I have any pride in you. I answer, yes. I'd +like to see what you can do. I've done what I could for you, and now I +wash my hands of you. Go,--ruin yourself if you want to. You've always +been headed that way, and there's no use trying to stop you. You don't +seem to have any notion of decency or order, or any idea of the principle +on which this government was based. Attack property destroy it. So much +the better for you and your kind. Join the Humphrey Crewes--you belong +with 'em. Give those of us who stand for order and decency as much +trouble as you can. Brand us as rascals trying to enrich ourselves with +politics, and proclaim yourselves saints nobly striving to get back the +rights of the people. If you don't bring that suit, I tell you I'll give +you the credit for it--and I mean what I say." + +Austen got to his feet. His own expression, curiously enough, had not +changed to one of anger. His face had set, but his eyes held the look +that seemed still to express compassion, and what he felt was a sorrow +that went to the depths of his nature. What he had so long feared--what +he knew they had both feared--had come at last. + +"Good-by, Judge," he said. + +Hilary Vane stared at him dumbly. His anger had not cooled, his eyes +still flamed, but he suddenly found himself bereft of speech. Austen put +his hand on his father's shoulder, and looked down silently into his +face. But Hilary was stiff as in a rigour, expressionless save for the +defiant red in his eye. + +"I don't think you meant all that, Judge, and I don't intend to hold it +against you." + +Still Hilary stared, his lips in the tight line which was the emblem of +his character, his body rigid. He saw his son turn and walk to the door, +and turn again with his handle on the knob, and Hilary did not move. The +door closed, and still he sat there, motionless, expressionless. + +Austen was hailed by those in the outer office, but he walked through +them as though the place were empty. Rumours sprang up behind him of +which he was unconscious; the long-expected quarrel had come; Austen had +joined the motley ranks of the rebels under Mr. Crewe. Only the office +boy, Jimmy Towle, interrupted the jokes that were flying by repeating, +with dogged vehemence, "I tell you it ain't so. Austen kicked Ham +downstairs. Ned Johnson saw him." Nor was it on account of this +particular deed that Austen was a hero in Jimmy's eyes. + +Austen, finding himself in the square, looked at his watch. It was four +o'clock. He made his way under the maples to the house in Hanover +Street, halted for a moment contemplatively before the familiar classic +pillars of its porch, took a key from his pocket, and (unprecedented +action!) entered by the front door. Climbing to the attic, he found two +valises--one of which he had brought back from Pepper County--and took +them to his own room. They held, with a little crowding, most of his +possessions, including a photograph of Sarah Austen, which he left on the +bureau to the last. Once or twice he paused in his packing to gaze at +the face, striving to fathom the fleeting quality of her glance which the +photograph had so strangely caught. In that glance nature had stamped +her enigma--for Sarah Austen was a child of nature. Hers was the gentle +look of wild things--but it was more; it was the understanding of--the +unwritten law of creation, the law by which the flowers grow, and wither; +the law by which the animal springs upon its prey, and, unerring, seeks +its mate; the law of the song of the waters, and the song of the morning +stars; the law that permits evil and pain and dumb, incomprehensible +suffering; the law that floods at sunset the mountain lands with colour +and the soul with light; and the law that rends the branches in the blue +storm. Of what avail was anger against it, or the puny rage of man? +Hilary Vane, not recognizing it, had spent his force upon it, like a hawk +against a mountain wall, but Austen looked at his mother's face and +understood. In it was not the wisdom of creeds and cities, but the +unworldly wisdom which comprehends and condones. + +His packing finished, with one last glance at the room Austen went +downstairs with his valises and laid them on the doorstep. Then he went +to the stable and harnessed Pepper, putting into the buggy his stable +blanket and halter and currycomb, and, driving around to the front of the +house, hitched the horse at the stone post, and packed the valises in the +back of the buggy. After that he walked slowly to the back of the house +and looked in at the kitchen window. Euphrasia, her thin arms bare to +the elbow, was bending over a wash-tub. He spoke her name, and as she +lifted her head a light came into her face which seemed to make her young +again. She dried her hands hastily on her apron as she drew towards him. +He sprang through the window, and patted her on the back--his usual +salutation. And as she raised her eyes to his (those ordinarily sharp +eyes of Euphrasia's), they shone with an admiration she had accorded to +no other human being since he had come into the world. Terms of +endearment she had, characteristically, never used, she threw her soul +into the sounding of his name. + +"Off to the hills, Austen? I saw you a-harnessing of Pepper." + +"Phrasie," he said, still patting her, "I'm going to the country for a +while." + +"To the country?" she repeated. + +"To stay on a farm for a sort of vacation." + +Her face brightened. + +"Goin' to take a real vacation, be you?" + +He laughed. + +"Oh, I don't have to work very hard, Phrasie. You know I get out a good +deal. I just thought--I just thought I'd like to--sleep in the country-- +for a while." + +"Well," answered Euphrasia, "I guess if you've took the notion, you've +got to go. It was that way with your mother before you. I've seen her +leave the house on a bright Sabbath half an hour before meetin' to be +gone the whole day, and Hilary and all the ministers in town couldn't +stop her." + +"I'll drop in once in a while to see you, Phrasie. I'll be at Jabe +Jenney's." + +"Jabe's is not more than three or four miles from Flint's place," +Euphrasia remarked. + +"I've thought of that," said Austen. + +"You'd thought of it!" + +Austen coloured. + +The distance is nothing," he said quickly, "with Pepper." + +"And you'll come and see me?" asked Euphrasia. + +"If you'll do something for me," he said. + +"I always do what you want, Austen. You know I'm not able to refuse +you." + +He laid his hands on her shoulders. + +"You'll promise?" he asked. + +"I'll promise," said Euphrasia, solemnly. + +He was silent for a moment, looking down at her. + +"I want you to promise to stay here and take care of the Judge." + +Fright crept into her eyes, but his own were smiling, reassuring. + +"Take care of him!" she cried, the very mention of Hilary raising the +pitch of her voice. "I guess I'll have to. Haven't I took care of him +nigh on forty years, and small thanks and recompense I get for it except +when you're here. I've wore out my life takin' care of him" (more +gently). "What do you mean by makin' me promise such a thing, Austen?" + +"Well," said Austen, slowly, "the Judge is worried now. Things are not +going as smoothly with him as usual." + +"Money?" demanded Euphrasia. "He ain't lost money, has he?" + +A light began to dance in Austen's eyes in spite of the weight within +him. + +"Now, Phrasie," he said, lifting her chin a little, "you know you don't +care any more about money than I do." + +"Lord help me," she exclaimed, "Lord help me if I didn't! And as long as +you don't care for it, and no sense can be knocked into your head about +it, I hope you'll marry somebody that does know the value of it. If +Hilary was to lose what he has now, before it comes rightly to you, he'd +ought to be put in jail." + +Austen laughed, and shook his head. + +"Phrasie, the Lord did you a grave injustice when he didn't make you a +man, but I suppose he'll give you a recompense hereafter. No, I believe +I am safe in saying that the Judge's securities are still secure. Not +that I really know--or care--" (shakes of the head from Euphrasia). +"Poor old Judge! Worse things than finance are troubling him now." + +"Not a woman!" cried Euphrasia, horror-stricken at the very thought. "He +hasn't took it into his head after all these years--" + +"No," said Austen, laughing, "no, no. It's not quite as bad as that, but +it's pretty bad." + +"In Heaven's name, what is it?" she demanded. +"Reformers," said Austen. + +"Reformers?" she repeated. "What might they be?" + +"Well," answered Austen, "you might call them a new kind of caterpillar-- +only they feed on corporations instead of trees." + +Euphrasia shook her head vigorously. + +"Go 'long," she exclaimed. "When you talk like that I never can follow +you, Austen. If Hilary has any worries, I guess he brought 'em on +himself. I never knew him to fail." + +"Ambitious and designing persons are making trouble for his railroad." + +"Well, I never took much stock in that railroad," said Euphrasia, with +emphasis. "I never was on it but an engine gave out, and the cars was +jammed, and it wasn't less than an hour late. And then they're eternally +smashin' folks or runnin' 'em down. You served 'em right when you made +'em pay that Meader man six thousand dollars, and I told Hilary so." She +paused, and stared at Austen fixedly as a thought came into her head. +"You ain't leavin' him because of this trouble, are you, Austen?" + +"Phrasie," he said, "I--I don't want to quarrel with him now. I think it +would be easy to quarrel with him." + +"You mean him quarrel with you," returned Euphrasia. "I'd like to see +him! If he did, it wouldn't take me long to pack up and leave." + +"That's just it. I don't want that to happen. And I've had a longing to +go out and pay a little visit to Jabe up in the hills, and drive his +colts for him. You see," he said, "I've got a kind of affection for the +Judge." + +Euphrasia looked at him, and her lips trembled. + +"He don't deserve it," she declared, "but I suppose he's your father." + +"He can't get out of that," said Austen. + +"I'd like to see him try it," said Euphrasia. "Come in soon, Austen," she +whispered, "come in soon." + +She stood on the lawn and watched him as he drove away, and he waved +good-by to her over the hood of the buggy. When he was out of sight she +lifted her head, gave her eyes a vigorous brush with her checked apron, +and went back to her washing. + +It was not until Euphrasia had supper on the table that Hilary Vane came +home, and she glanced at him sharply as he took his usual seat. It is a +curious fact that it is possible for two persons to live together for +more than a third of a century, and at the end of that time understand +each other little better than at the beginning. The sole bond between +Euphrasia and Hilary was that of Sarah Austen and her son. Euphrasia +never knew when Hilary was tired, or when he was cold, or hungry, or +cross, although she provided for all these emergencies. Her service to +him was unflagging, but he had never been under the slightest delusion +that it was not an inheritance from his wife. There must have been some +affection between Mr. Vane and his housekeeper, hidden away in the strong +boxes of both but up to the present this was only a theory--not quite as +probable as that about the inhabitants of Mars. + +He ate his supper to-night with his usual appetite, which had always been +sparing; and he would have eaten the same amount if the Northeastern +Railroads had been going into the hands of a receiver the next day. +Often he did not exchange a word with Euphrasia between home-coming and +bed-going, and this was apparently to be one of these occasions. After +supper he went, as usual, to sit on the steps of his porch, and to cut +his piece of Honey Dew, which never varied a milligram. Nine o'clock +struck, and Euphrasia, who had shut up the back of the house, was on her +way to bed with her lamp in her hand, when she came face to face with him +in the narrow passageway. + +"Where's Austen?" he asked. + +Euphrasia halted. The lamp shook, but she raised it to the level of his +eyes. + +"Don't you know?" she demanded. + +"No," he said, with unparalleled humility. + +She put down the lamp on the little table that stood beside her. + +"He didn't tell you he was a-goin'?" + +"No," said Hilary. + +"Then how did you know he wasn't just buggy-ridin'?" she said. + +Hilary Vane was mute. + +"You've be'n to his room!" she exclaimed. "You've seen his things are +gone!" + +He confessed it by his silence. Then, with amazing swiftness and vigour +for one of her age, Euphrasia seized him by the arms and shook him. + +"What have you done to him?" she cried; "what have you done to him? You +sent him off. You've never understood him--you've never behaved like a +father to him. You ain't worthy to have him." She flung herself away +and stood facing Hilary at a little distance. What a fool I was! What a +fool! I might have known it, and I promised him." + +"Promised him?" Hilary repeated. The shaking, the vehemence and anger, +of Euphrasia seemed to have had no effect whatever on the main trend of +his thoughts. + +"Where has he gone?" + +"You can find out for yourself," she retorted bitterly. "I wish on your +account it was to China. He came here this afternoon, as gentle as ever, +and packed up his things, and said he was goin' away because you was +worried. Worried!" she exclaimed scornfully. "His worry and his trouble +don't count--but yours. And he made me promise to stay with you. If it +wasn't for him," she cried, picking up the lamp, "I'd leave you this very +night." + +She swept past him, and up the narrow stairway to her bedroom. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +BUSY DAYS AT WEDDERBURN + +There is no blast so powerful, so withering, as the blast of ridicule. +Only the strongest men can withstand it, only reformers who are such in +deed, and not alone in name, can snap their fingers at it, and liken it +to the crackling of thorns under a pot. Confucius and Martin Luther must +have been ridiculed, Mr. Crewe reflected, and although he did not have +time to assure himself on these historical points, the thought stayed +him. Sixty odd weekly newspapers, filled with arguments from the Book, +attacked him all at once; and if by chance he should have missed the best +part of this flattering personal attention, the editorials which +contained the most spice were copied at the end of the week into the +columns of his erstwhile friend, the State Tribune, now the organ of that +mysterious personality, the Honourable Adam B. Hunt. 'Et tu, Brute!' + +Moreover, Mr. Peter Pardriff had something of his own to say. Some +gentlemen of prominence (not among the twenty signers of the new +Declaration of Independence) had been interviewed by the Tribune reporter +on the subject of Mr. Crewe's candidacy. Here are some of the answers, +duly tabulated. + +"Negligible."--Congressman Fairplay. + +"One less vote for the Honourable Adam B. Hunt."--The Honourable Jacob +Botcher. + +"A monumental farce."--Ex-Governor Broadbent. + +"Who is Mr. Crewe?"--Senator Whitredge. (Ah ha! Senator, this want shall +be supplied, at least.) + +"I have been very busy. I do not know what candidates are in the +field."--Mr. Augustus P. Flint, president of the Northeastern Railroads. +(The unkindest cut of all!) + +"I have heard that a Mr. Crewe is a candidate, but I do not know much +about him. They tell me he is a summer resident at Leith."--The +Honourable Hilary Vane. + +"A millionaire's freak--not to be taken seriously.--State Senator +Nathaniel Billings." + +The State Tribune itself seemed to be especially interested in the past +careers of the twenty signers. Who composed this dauntless band, whose +members had arisen with remarkable unanimity and martyr's zeal in such +widely scattered parts of the State? Had each been simultaneously +inspired with the same high thought, and--more amazing still--with the +idea of the same peerless leader? The Tribune modestly ventured the +theory that Mr. Crewe had appeared to each of the twenty in a dream, with +a flaming sword pointing to the steam of the dragon's breath. Or, +perhaps, a star had led each of the twenty to Leith. (This likening of +Mr. H--n T--g to a star caused much merriment among that gentleman's +former friends and acquaintances.) The Tribune could not account for this +phenomenon by any natural laws, and was forced to believe that the thing +was a miracle--in which case it behooved the Northeastern Railroads to +read the handwriting on the wall. Unless--unless the twenty did not +exist! Unless the whole thing were a joke! The Tribune remembered a +time when a signed statement, purporting to come from a certain Mrs. +Amanda P. Pillow, of 22 Blair Street, Newcastle, had appeared, to the +effect that three bottles of Rand's Peach Nectar had cured her of dropsy. +On investigation there was no Blair Street, and Mrs. Amanda P. Pillow was +as yet unborn. The one sure thing about the statement was that Rand's +Peach Nectar could be had, in large or small quantities, as desired. And +the Tribune was prepared to state; on its own authority, that a Mr. +Humphrey Crewe did exist, and might reluctantly consent to take the +nomination for the governorship. In industry and zeal he was said to +resemble the celebrated and lamented Mr. Rand, of the Peach Nectar. + +Ingratitude merely injures those who are capable of it, although it +sometimes produces sadness in great souls. What were Mr. Crewe's +feelings when he read this drivel? When he perused the extracts from the +"Book of Arguments" which appeared (with astonishing unanimity, too!) in +sixty odd weekly newspapers of the State--an assortment of arguments for +each county. + +"Brush Bascom's doin' that work now," said Mr. Tooting, contemptuously, +"and he's doin' it with a shovel. Look here! He's got the same squib in +three towns within a dozen miles of each other, the one beginning +'Political conditions in this State are as clean as those of any State in +the Union, and the United Northeastern Railroads is a corporation which +is, fortunately, above calumny. A summer resident who, to satisfy his +lust for office, is rolling to defame--'" + +"Yes," interrupted Mr. Crewe, "never mind reading any more of that rot." + +"It's botched," said Mr. Tooting, whose artistic soul was jarred. "I'd +have put that in Avalon County, and Weave, and Marshall. I know men that +take all three of those papers in Putnam." + +No need of balloonists to see what the enemy is about, when we have a Mr. +Tooting. + +"They're stung!" he cried, as he ran rapidly through the bundle of +papers--Mr. Crewe having subscribed, with characteristic generosity, to +the entire press of the State. "Flint gave 'em out all this stuff about +the railroad bein' a sacred institution. You've got 'em on the run right +now, Mr. Crewe. You'll notice that, Democrats and Republicans, they've +dropped everybody else, that they've all been sicked on to you. They're +scared." + +"I came to that conclusion some time ago," replied Mr. Crewe, who was +sorting over his letters. + +"And look there!" exclaimed Mr. Tooting, tearing out a paragraph, +"there's the best campaign material we've had yet. Say, I'll bet Flint +taken that doddering idiot's pass away for writing that." + +Mr. Crewe took the extract, and read:-- + + "A summer resident of Leith, who is said to be a millionaire + many times over, and who had a somewhat farcical career as a + legislator last winter, has announced himself as a candidate + for the Republican nomination on a platform attacking the + Northeastern Railroads. Mr. Humphrey Crewe declares that the + Northeastern Railroads govern us. What if they do? Every + sober-minded citizen, will agree that they give us a pretty + good government. More power to them." + +Mr. Crewe permitted himself to smile. + +"They are playing into our hands, sure enough. What?" + +This is an example of the spirit in which the ridicule and abuse was met. + +It was Senator Whitredge--only, last autumn so pleased to meet Mr. Crewe +at Mr. Flint's--who asked the hypocritical question, "Who is Humphrey +Crewe?" A biography (in pamphlet form, illustrated,--send your name and +address) is being prepared by the invaluable Mr. Tooting, who only sleeps +six hours these days. We shall see it presently, when it emerges from +that busy hive at Wedderburn. + +Wedderburn was a hive, sure enough. Not having a balloon ourselves, it +is difficult to see all that is going on there; but there can be no +mistake (except by the Honourable Hilary's seismograph) that it has +become the centre of extraordinary activity. The outside world has +paused to draw breath at the spectacle, and members of the metropolitan +press are filling the rooms of the Ripton House and adding to the +prosperity of its livery-stable. Mr. Crewe is a difficult man to see +these days--there are so many visitors at Wedderburn, and the +representatives of the metropolitan press hitch their horses and stroll +around the grounds, or sit on the porch and converse with gentlemen from +various counties of the State who (as the Tribune would put it) have been +led by a star to Leith. + +On the occasion of one of these gatherings, when Mr. Crewe had been +inaccessible for four hours, Mrs. Pomfret drove up in a victoria with her +daughter Alice. + +"I'm sure I don't know when we're going to see poor dear Humphrey again," +said Mrs. Pomfret, examining the group on the porch through her gold- +mounted lenses; these awful people are always here when I come. I wonder +if they sleep here, in the hammocks and lounging chairs! Alice, we must +be very polite to them--so much depends on it." + +"I'm always polite, mother," answered Alice, "except when you tell me not +to be. The trouble is I never know myself." + +The victoria stopped in front of the door, and the irreproachable Waters +advanced across the porch. + +"Waters," said Mrs. Pomfret, "I suppose Mr. Crewe is too busy to come +out." + +"I'm afraid so, madam," replied Waters; "there's a line of gentlemen +waitin' here" (he eyed them with no uncertain disapproval). and I've +positive orders not to disturb him, madam." + +"I quite understand, at a time like this," said Mrs. Pomfret, and added, +for the benefit of her audience, "when Mr. Crewe has been public-spirited +and unselfish enough to undertake such a gigantic task. Tell him Miss +Pomfret and I call from time to time because we are so interested, and +that the whole of Leith wishes him success." + +"I'll tell him, madam," said Waters, + +But Mrs. Pomfret did not give the signal for her coachman to drive on. +She looked, instead, at the patient gathering. + +"Good morning, gentlemen," she said. + +"Mother!" whispered Alice, "what are you going to do?" + +The gentlemen rose. + +"I'm Mrs. Pomfret," she said, as though that simple announcement were +quite sufficient,--as it was, for the metropolitan press. Not a man of +them who had not seen Mrs. Pomfret's important movements on both sides of +the water chronicled. "I take the liberty of speaking to you, as we all +seem to be united in a common cause. How is the campaign looking?" + +Some of the gentlemen shifted their cigars from one hand to the other, +and grinned sheepishly. + +"I am so interested," continued Mrs. Pomfret; "it is so unusual in +America for a gentleman to be willing to undertake such a thing, to +subject himself to low criticism, and to have his pure motives +questioned. Mr. Crewe has rare courage--I have always said so. And we +are all going to put our shoulder to the wheel, and help him all we can." + +There was one clever man there who was quick to see his opportunity, and +seize it for his newspaper. + +"And are you going to help Mr. Crewe in his campaign, Mrs. Pomfret?" + +"Most assuredly," answered Mrs. Pomfret. "Women in this country could do +so much if they only would. You know," she added, in her most winning +manner, "you know that a woman can often get a vote when a man can't." + +"And you, and--other ladies will go around to the public meetings?" + +"Why not, my friend; if Mr. Crewe has no objection? and I can conceive of +none." + +"You would have an organization of society ladies to help Mr. Crewe?" + +"That's rather a crude way of putting it," answered Mrs. Pomfret, with +her glasses raised judicially. "Women in what you call I society are, I +am glad to say, taking an increasing interest in politics. They are +beginning to realize that it is a duty." + +"Thank you," said the reporter; "and now would you mind if I took a +photograph of you in your carriage." + +"Oh, mother," protested Alice, "you won't let him do that!" + +"Be quiet, Alice. Lady Aylestone and the duchess are photographed in +every conceivable pose for political purposes. Wymans, just drive around +to the other side of the circle." + +The article appeared next day, and gave, as may be imagined, a tremendous +impetus to Mr. Crewe's cause. "A new era in American politics!" +"Society to take a hand in the gubernatorial campaign of Millionaire +Humphrey Crewe!" "Noted social leader, Mrs. Patterson Pomfret, declares +it a duty, and saga that English women have the right idea." And a +photograph of Mrs. Patterson Pomfret herself, in her victoria, occupied a +generous portion of the front page. + +"What's all this rubbish about Mrs. Pomfret?" was Mr. Crewe's grateful +comment when he saw it. "I spent two valuable hours with that reporter +givin' him material and statistics, and I can't find that he's used a +word of it." + +"Never you mind about that," Mr. Tooting replied. "The more advertising +you get, the better, and this shows that the right people are behind you. +Mrs. Pomfret's a smart woman, all right. She knows her job. And here's +more advertising," he continued, shoving another sheet across the desk, +"a fine likeness of you in caricature labelled, 'Ajax defying the +Lightning.' Who's Ajax? There was an Italian, a street contractor, with +that name--or something like it--in Newcastle a couple of years ago--in +the eighth ward." + +In these days, when false rumours fly apace to the injury of innocent +men, it is well to get at the truth, if possible. It is not true that +Mr. Paul Pardriff, of the 'Ripton Record,' has been to Wedderburn. Mr. +Pardriff was getting into a buggy to go--somewhere--when he chanced to +meet the Honourable Brush Bascom, and the buggy was sent back to the +livery-stable. Mr. Tooting had been to see Mr. Pardriff before the +world-quaking announcement of June 7th, and had found Mr. Pardriff a +reformer who did not believe that the railroad should run the State. +But the editor of the Ripton Record was a man after Emerson's own heart: +"a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"--and Mr. Pardriff +did not go to Wedderburn. He went off on an excursion up the State +instead, for he had been working too hard; and he returned, as many men +do from their travels, a conservative. He listened coldly to Mr. +Tooting's impassioned pleas for cleaner politics, until Mr. Tooting +revealed the fact that his pockets were full of copy. It seems that a +biography was to be printed--a biography which would, undoubtedly, be in +great demand; the biography of a public benefactor, illustrated with +original photographs and views in the country. Mr. Tooting and Mr. +Pardriff both being men of the world, some exceeding plain talk ensued +between them, and when two such minds unite, a way out is sure to be +found. One can be both a conservative and a radical--if one is clever. +There were other columns in Mr. Pardriff's paper besides editorial +columns; editorial columns, Mr. Pardriff said, were sacred to his +convictions. Certain thumb-worn schedules were referred to. Paul +Pardriff, Ripton, agreed to be the publisher of the biography. + +The next edition of the Record was an example of what Mr. Emerson meant. +Three columns contained extracts of absorbing interest from the +forthcoming biography and, on another page, an editorial. The +Honourable Humphrey Crewe, of Leith, is an estimable gentleman and a good +citizen, whose public endeavours have been of great benefit to the +community. A citizen of Avalon County, the Record regrets that it cannot +support his candidacy for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. We +are not among those who seek to impugn motives, and while giving Mr. +Crewe every credit that his charges against the Northeastern Railroads +are made in good faith, we beg to differ from him. That corporation is +an institution which has stood the test of time, and enriches every year +the State treasury by a large sum in taxes. Its management is in safe, +conservative hands. No one will deny Mr. Crewe's zeal for the State's +welfare, but it must be borne in mind that he is a newcomer in politics, +and that conditions, seen from the surface, are sometimes deceptive. We +predict for Mr. Crewe a long and useful career, but we do not think that +at this time, and on this platform, he will obtain the governorship." + +"Moral courage is what the age needs," had been Mr. Crewe's true and +sententious remark when he read this editorial. But, bearing in mind a +biblical adage, he did not blame Mr. Tooting for his diplomacy. "Send in +the next man." + +Mr. Tooting opened the study door and glanced over the public-spirited +citizens awaiting, on the porch, the pleasure of their leader. + +"Come along, Caldwell," said Mr. Tooting. "He wants your report from +Kingston. Get a hustle on!" + +Mr. Caldwell made his report, received many brief and business-like +suggestions, and retired, impressed. Whereupon Mr. Crewe commanded Mr. +Tooting to order his automobile--an occasional and rapid spin over the +country roads being the only diversion the candidate permitted himself. +Wishing to be alone with his thoughts, he did not take Mr. Tooting with +him on these excursions. + +"And by the way," said Mr. Crewe, as he seized the steering wheel a few +moments later, "just drop a line to Austen Vane, will you, and tell him I +want to see him up here within a day or two. Make an appointment. It +has occurred to me that he might be very useful." + +Mr. Tooting stood on the driveway watching the cloud of dust settle on +the road below. Then he indulged in a long and peculiarly significant +whistle through his teeth, rolled his eyes heavenward, and went into the +house. He remembered Austen's remark about riding a cyclone. + +Mr. Crewe took the Tunbridge road. On his excursion of the day before he +had met Mrs. Pomfret, who had held up her hand, and he had protestingly +brought the car to a stop. + +"Your horses don't frighten," he had said. + +"No, but I wanted to speak to you, Humphrey," Mrs. Pomfret had replied; +"you are becoming so important that nobody ever has a glimpse of you. I +wanted to tell you what an interest we take in this splendid thing you +are doing." + +"Well," said Mr. Crewe, "it was a plain duty, and nobody else seemed +willing to undertake it." + +Mrs. Pomfret's eyes had flashed. + +"Men of that type are scarce," she answered. "But you'll win. You're +the kind of man that wins." + +"Oh, yes, I'll win," said Mr. Crewe. + +"You're so magnificently sure of yourself," cried Mrs. Pomfret. "Alice +is taking such an interest. Every day she asks, 'When is Humphrey going +to make his first speech?' You'll let us know in time, won't you?" + +"Did you put all that nonsense in the New York Flare?" asked Mr. Crewe. + +"Oh, Humphrey, I hope you liked it," cried Mrs. Pomfret. "Don't make the +mistake of despising what women can do. They elected the Honourable +Billy Aylestone--he said so himself. I'm getting all the women +interested." + +"Who've you been calling on now?" he inquired. + +Mrs. Pomfret hesitated. + +"I've been up at Fairview to see about Mrs. Flint. She isn't much +better." + +"Is Victoria home?" Mr. Crewe demanded, with undisguised interest. + +"Poor dear girl!" said Mrs. Pomfret, "of course I wouldn't have mentioned +the subject to her, but she wanted to know all about it. It naturally +makes an awkward situation between you and her, doesn't it?" + +"Oh, Victoria's level-headed enough," Mr. Crewe had answered; "I guess +she knows something about old Flint and his methods by this time. At any +rate, it won't make any difference with me," he added magnanimously, and +threw in his clutch. He had encircled Fairview in his drive that day, +and was, curiously enough, headed in that direction now. Slow to make up +his mind in some things, as every eligible man must be, he was now coming +rapidly to the notion that he might eventually decide upon Victoria as +the most fitting mate for one in his position. Still, there was no +hurry. As for going to Fairview House, that might be awkward, besides +being open to misconstruction by his constituents. Mr. Crewe reflected, +as he rushed up the hills, that he had missed Victoria since she had been +abroad--and a man so continually occupied as he did not have time to miss +many people. Mr. Crewe made up his mind he would encircle Fairview every +day until he ran across her. + +The goddess of fortune sometimes blesses the persistent even before they +begin to persist--perhaps from sheer weariness at the remembrance of +previous importuning. Victoria, on a brand-new and somewhat sensitive +five-year-old, was coming out of the stone archway when Mr. Crewe +(without any signal this time!) threw on his brakes. An exhibition of +horsemanship followed, on Victoria's part, which Mr. Crewe beheld with +admiration. The five-year-old swung about like a weathercock in a gust +of wind, assuming an upright position, like the unicorn in the British +coat of arms. Victoria cut him, and he came down on all fours and danced +into the wire fence that encircled the Fairview domain, whereupon he got +another stinging reminder that there was some one on his back. + +"Bravo!" cried Mr. Crewe, leaning on the steering wheel and watching the +performance with delight. Never, he thought, had Victoria been more +appealing; strangely enough, he had not remembered that she was quite so +handsome, or that her colour was so vivid; or that her body was so +straight and long and supple. He liked the way in which she gave it to +that horse, and he made up his mind that she would grace any position, +however high. Presently the horse made a leap into the road in front of +the motor and stood trembling, ready to bolt. + +"For Heaven's sake, Humphrey," she cried, "shut off your power? Don't +sit there like an idiot--do you think I'm doing this for pleasure?" + +Mr. Crewe good-naturedly turned off his switch, and the motor, with a +dying sigh, was silent. He even liked the notion of being commanded to +do a thing; there was a relish about it that was new. The other women of +his acquaintance addressed him more deferentially. + +"Get hold of the bridle," he said to the chauffeur. "You've got no +business to have an animal like that," was his remark to Victoria. + +"Don't touch him!" she said to the man, who was approaching with a true +machinist's fear of a high-spirited horse. "You've got no business to +have a motor like that, if you can't handle it any better than you do." + +"You managed him all right. I'll say that for you," said Mr. Crewe. + +"No thanks to you," she replied. Now that the horse was comparatively +quiet, she sat and regarded Mr. Crewe with an amusement which was +gradually getting the better of her anger. A few moments since, and she +wished with great intensity that she had been using the whip on his +shoulders instead. Now that she had time to gather up the threads of the +situation, the irresistibly comic aspect of it grew upon her, and little +creases came into the corners of her eyes--which Mr. Crewe admired. She +recalled--with indignation, to be sure--the conversation she had +overheard in the dining room of the Duncan house, but her indignation was +particularly directed, on that occasion, towards Mr. Tooting. Here was +Humphrey Crewe, sitting talking to her in the road--Humphrey Crewe, whose +candidacy for the governorship impugned her father's management of the +Northeastern Railroads--and she was unable to take the matter seriously! +There must be something wrong with her, she thought. + +"So you're home again," Mr. Crewe observed, his eyes still bearing +witness to the indubitable fact. "I shouldn't have known it--I've been +so busy." + +"Is the Legislature still in session?" Victoria soberly inquired. + +"You are a little behind the times--ain't you?" said Mr. Crewe, in +surprise. "How long have you been home? Hasn't anybody told you what's +going on?" + +"I only came up ten days ago," she answered, "and I'm afraid I've been +something of a recluse. What is going on?" + +"Well," he declared, "I should have thought you'd heard it, anyway. I'll +send you up a few newspapers when I get back. I'm a candidate for the +governorship." + +Victoria bit her lip, and leaned over to brush a fly from the neck of her +horse. + +"You are getting on rapidly, Humphrey," she said. "Do you think you've +got--any chance?" + +"Any chance!" he repeated, with some pardonable force. "I'm sure to be +nominated. There's an overwhelming sentiment among the voters of this +State for decent politics. It didn't take me long to find that out. The +only wonder is that somebody hasn't seen it before." + +"Perhaps," she answered, giving him a steady look, "perhaps somebody has." + +One of Mr. Crewe's greatest elements of strength was his imperviousness +to this kind of a remark. + +"If anybody's seen it," he replied, "they haven't the courage of their +convictions." Such were the workings of Mr. Crewe's mind that he had +already forgotten that first talk with Mr. Hamilton Tooting. "Not that I +want to take too much credit on myself," he added, with becoming modesty, +"I have had some experience in the world, and it was natural that I +should get a fresh view. Are you coming down to Leith in a few days?" + +"I may," said Victoria. + +"Telephone me," said Mr. Crewe, "and if I can get off, I will. I'd like +to talk to you. You have more sense than most women I know." + +"You overwhelm me, Humphrey. Compliments sound strangely on your lips." + +"When I say a thing, I mean it," Mr. Crewe declared. "I don't pay +compliments. I'd make it a point to take a little time off to talk to +you. You see, so many men are interested in this thing from various +parts of the State, and we are so busy organizing, that it absorbs most +of my day." + +"I couldn't think of encroaching," Victoria protested. + +That's all right--you can be a great help. I've got confidence in your +judgment. By the way," he asked suddenly, "you haven't seen your friend +Austen Vane since you got back, have you?" + +"Why do you call him my friend?" said Victoria. Mr. Crew perceived that +the exercise had heightened her colour, and the transition appealed to +his sense of beauty. + +"Perhaps I put it a little strongly," he replied. "You seemed to take an +interest in him, for some reason. I suppose it's because you like new +types." + +"I like Mr. Vane very much,--and for himself," she said quietly. "But I +haven't seen him since I came back. Nor do I think I am likely to see +him. What made you ask about him?" + +"Well, he seems to be a man of some local standing, and he ought to be in +this campaign. If you happen to see him, you might mention the subject +to him. I've sent for him to come up and see me." + +"Mr. Vane doesn't seem to me to be a person one can send for like that," +Victoria remarked judicially. "As to advising him as to what course he +should take politically--that would even be straining my friendship for +you, Humphrey. On reflection," she added, smiling, "there may appear to +you reasons why I should not care to meddle with--politics, just now." + +"I can't see it," said Mr. Crewe; "you've got a mind of your own, and +you've never been afraid to use it, so far as I know. If you should see +that Vane man, just give him a notion of what I'm trying to do." + +"What are you trying to do?" inquired Victoria, sweetly. + +"I'm trying to clean up this State politically," said Mr. Crewe, "and I'm +going to do it. When you come down to Leith, I'll tell you about it, and +I'll send you the newspapers to-day. Don't be in a hurry," he cried, +addressing over his shoulder two farmers in a wagon who had driven up a +few moments before, and who were apparently anxious to pass. "Wind her +up, Adolphe." + +The chauffeur, standing by the crank, started the engine instantly, and +the gears screamed as Mr. Crewe threw in his low speed. The five-year- +old whirled, and bolted down the road at a pace which would have seemed +to challenge a racing car; and the girl in the saddle, bending to the +motion of the horse, was seen to raise her hand in warning. + +"Better stay whar you be," shouted one of the farmers; "don't go to +follerin' her. The hoes is runnin' away." + +Mr. Crewe steered his car into the Fairview entrance, and backed into the +road again, facing the other way. He had decided to go home. + +"That lady can take care of herself," he said, and started off towards +Leith, wondering how it was that Mr. Flint had not confided his recent +political troubles to his daughter. + +"That hoss is ugly, sure enough," said the farmer who had spoken before. + +Victoria flew on, down the narrow road. After twenty strides she did not +attempt to disguise from herself the fact that the five-year-old was in a +frenzy of fear, and running away. Victoria had been run away with +before, and having some knowledge of the animal she rode, she did not +waste her strength by pulling on the curb, but sought rather to quiet him +with her voice, which had no effect whatever. He was beyond appeal, his +head was down, and his ears trembling backwards and straining for a sound +of the terror that pursued him. The road ran through the forest, and +Victoria reflected that the grade, on the whole, was downward to the East +Tunbridge station, where the road crossed the track and took to the hills +beyond. Once among them, she would be safe--he might run as far, as he +pleased. But could she pass the station? She held a firm rein, and +tried to keep her mind clear. + +Suddenly, at a slight bend of the road, the corner of the little red +building came in sight, some hundreds of yards ahead; and, on the side +where it stood, in the clearing, was a white mass which Victoria +recognized as a pile of lumber. She saw several men on the top of the +pile, standing motionless; she heard one of them shout; the horse +swerved, and she felt herself flung violently to the left. + +Her first thought, after striking, was one of self-congratulation that +her safety stirrup and habit had behaved properly. Before she could +rise, a man was leaning over her--and in the instant she had the +impression that he was a friend. Other people had had this impression of +him on first acquaintance--his size, his genial, brick-red face, and his +honest blue eyes all doubtless contributing. + +"Are you hurt, Miss Flint?" he asked. + +"Not in the least," she replied, springing to her feet to prove the +contrary. What's become of my horse?" + +"Two of the men have gone after him," he said, staring at her with +undisguised but honest admiration. Whereupon he became suddenly +embarrassed, and pulled out a handkerchief the size of a table napkin. +"Let me dust you off." + +"Thank you," said Victoria, laughing, and beginning the process herself. +Her new acquaintance plied the handkerchief, his face a brighter brick- +red than ever. + +"Thank God, there wasn't a freight on the siding," he remarked, so +fervently that Victoria stole a glance at him. The dusting process +continued. + +"There," she exclaimed, at last, adjusting her stock and shaking her +skirt, "I'm ever so much obliged. It was very foolish in me to tumble +off, wasn't it?" + +"It was the only thing you could have done," he declared. "I had a good +view of it, and he flung you like a bean out of a shooter. That's a +powerful horse. I guess you're the kind that likes to take risks." + +Victoria laughed at his expressive phrase, and crossed the road, and sat +down on the edge of the lumber pile, in the shade. + +"There seems to be nothing to do but wait," she said, "and to thank you +again. Will you tell me your name?" + +"I'm Tom Gaylord," he replied. + +Her colour, always so near the surface, rose a little as she regarded +him. So this was Austen Vane's particular friend, whom he had tried to +put out of his window. A Herculean task, Victoria thought, from Tom's +appearance. Tom sat down within a few feet of her. + +"I've seen you a good many times, Miss Flint," he remarked, applying the +handkerchief to his face. + +"And I've seen you--once, Mr. Gaylord," some mischievous impulse prompted +her to answer. Perhaps the impulse was more deep-seated, after all. + +"Where?" demanded Tom, promptly. + +"You were engaged," said Victoria, "in a struggle in a window on Ripton +Square. It looked, for a time," she continued, "as if you were going to +be dropped on the roof of the porch." + +Tom gazed at her in confusion and surprise. + +"You seem to be fond, too, of dangerous exercise," she observed. + +"Do you mean to say you remembered me from that?" he exclaimed. "Oh, you +know Austen Vane, don't you?" + +"Does Mr. Vane acknowledge the acquaintance?" Victoria inquired. + +"It's funny, but you remind me of Austen," said Tom, grinning; you seem +to have the same queer way of saying things that he has." Here he was +conscious of another fit of embarrassment. "I hope you don't mind what I +say, Miss Flint." + +"Not at all," said Victoria. She turned, and looked across the track. + +"I suppose they are having a lot of trouble in catching my horse," she +remarked. + +"They'll get him," Tom assured her, "one of those men is my manager. He +always gets what he starts out for. What were we talking about? Oh, +Austen Vane. You see, I've known him ever since I was a shaver, and I +think the world of him. If he asked me to go to South America and get +him a zebra to-morrow, I believe I'd do it." + +"That is real devotion," said Victoria. The more she saw of young Tom, +the better she liked him, although his conversation was apt to be +slightly embarrassing. + +"We've been through a lot of rows together," Tom continued, warming to +his subject, "in school and college. You see, Austen's the kind of man +who doesn't care what anybody thinks, if he takes it into his head to do +a thing. It was a great piece of luck for me that he shot that fellow +out West, or he wouldn't be here now. You heard about that, didn't you?" + +"Yes," said Victoria, "I believe I did." + +"And yet," said Tom, "although I'm as good a friend as he has, I never +quite got under his skin. There's some things I wouldn't talk to him +about. I've learned that. I never told him, for instance, that I saw +him out in a sleigh with you at the capital." + +"Oh," said Victoria; and she added, "Is he ashamed of it?" + +"It's not that," replied Tom, hastily, "but I guess if he'd wanted me to +know about it, he'd have told me." + +Victoria had begun to realize that, in the few minutes which had elapsed +since she had found herself on the roadside, gazing up into young Tom's +eyes, she had somehow become quite intimate with him. + +"I fancy he would have told you all there was to tell about it--if the +matter had occurred to him again," she said, with the air of finally +dismissing a subject already too prolonged. But Tom knew nothing of the +shades and conventions of the art of conversation. + +"He's never told me he knew you at all!" he exclaimed, staring at +Victoria. Apparently some of the aspects of this now significant +omission on Austen's part were beginning to dawn on Tom. + +"It wasn't worth mentioning," said Victoria, briefly, seeking for a +pretext to change the subject. + +"I don't believe that," said Tom, "you can't expect me to sit here and +look at you and believe that. How long has he known you?" + +"I saw him once or twice last summer, at Leith," said Victoria, now +wavering between laughter and exasperation. She had got herself into a +quandary indeed when she had to parry the appalling frankness of such +inquiries. + +"The more you see of him, the more you'll admire him, I'll prophesy," +said Tom. "If he'd been content to travel along the easy road, as most +fellows are, he would have been counsel for the Northeastern. Instead of +that--" here Tom halted abruptly, and turned scarlet: "I forgot," he +said, "I'm always putting my foot in it, with ladies." + +He was so painfully confused that Victoria felt herself suffering with +him, and longed to comfort him. + +"Please go on, Mr. Gaylord," she said; "I am very much interested in my +neighbours here, and I know that a great many of them think that the +railroad meddles in politics. I've tried to find out what they think, +but it is so difficult for a woman to understand. If matters are wrong, +I'm sure my father will right them when he knows the situation. He has +so much to attend to." She paused. Tom was still mopping his forehead. +"You may say anything you like to me, and I shall not take offence." + +Tom's admiration of her was heightened by this attitude. + +"Austen wouldn't join Mr. Crewe in his little game, anyway," he said. +"When Ham Tooting, Crewe's manager, came to him he kicked him +downstairs." + +Victoria burst out laughing. + +"I constantly hear of these ferocious deeds which Mr. Vane commits," she +said, "and yet he seems exceptionally good-natured and mild-mannered." + +"That's straight--he kicked him downstairs. Served Tooting right, too." + +"There does seem to have been an element of justice in it," Victoria +remarked. + +"You haven't seen Austen since he left his father?" Mr. Gaylord inquired. + +"Left him! Where--has he gone?" + +"Gone up to live with Jabe Jenney. If Austen cared anything about money, +he never would have broken with the old man, who has some little put +away." + +"Why did he leave his father?" asked Victoria, not taking the trouble now +to conceal her interest. + +"Well," said Tom, "you know they never did get along. It hasn't been +Austen's fault--he's tried. After he came back from the West he stayed +here to please old Hilary, when he might have gone to New York and made a +fortune at the law, with his brains. But after Austen saw the kind of +law the old man practised he wouldn't stand for it, and got an office of +his own." + +Victoria's eyes grew serious. + +"What kind of law does Hilary Vane practise?" she asked. + +Tom hesitated and began to mop his forehead again. + +"Please don't mind me," Victoria pleaded. + +"Well, all right," said Tom, "I'll tell you the truth, or die for it. +But I don't want to make you-unhappy." + +"You will do me a kindness, Mr. Gaylord," she said, "by telling me what +you believe to be true." + +There was a note in her voice which young Tom did not understand. +Afterwards, when he reflected about the matter, he wondered if she were +unhappy. + +"I don't want to blame Hilary too much," he answered. "I know Austen +don't. Hilary's grown up with that way of doing things, and in the old +days there was no other way. Hilary is the chief counsel for the +Northeastern, and he runs the Republican organization in this State for +their benefit. But Austen made up his mind that there was no reason why +he should grow up that way. He says that'a lawyer should keep to his +profession, and not become a lobbyist in the interest of his clients. He +lived with the old man until the other day, because he has a real soft +spot for him. Austen put up with a good deal. And then Hilary turned +loose on him and said a lot of things he couldn't stand. Austen didn't +answer, but went up and packed his bags and made Hilary's housekeeper +promise to stay with him, or she'd have left, too. They say Hilary's +sorry, now. He's fond of Austen, but he can't get along with him." + +"Do--Do you know what they quarreled about?" asked Victoria, in a low +voice. + +"This spring," said Tom, "the Gaylord Lumber Company made Austen junior +counsel. He ran across a law the other day that nobody else seems to +have had sense enough to discover, by which we can sue the railroad for +excessive freight rates. It means a lot of money. He went right in to +Hilary and showed him the section, told him that suit was going to be +brought, and offered to resign. Hilary flew off the track--and said if +he didn't bring suit he'd publish it all over the State that Austen +started it. Galusha Hammer, our senior counsel, is sick, and I don't +think he'll ever get well. That makes Austen senior counsel. But he +persuaded old Tom, my father, not to bring this suit until after the +political campaign, until Mr. Crewe gets through with his fireworks. +Hilary doesn't know that." + +"I see," said Victoria. + +Down the hill, on the far side of the track, she perceived the two men +approaching with a horse; then she remembered the fact that she had been +thrown, and that it was her horse. She rose to her feet. + +"I'm ever so much obliged to you, Mr. Gaylord," she said; "you have done +me a great favour by--telling me these things. And thanks for letting +them catch the horse. I'm afraid I've put you to a lot of bother." + +"Not at all," said Tom, "not at all." He was studying her face. Its +expression troubled and moved him strangely, for he was not an analytical +person. "I didn't mean to tell you those things when I began," he +apologized, "but you wanted to hear them." + +"I wanted to hear them," repeated Victoria. She held out her hand to +him. + +"You're not going to ride home!" he exclaimed. "I'll take you up in my +buggy--it's in the station shed." + +She smiled, turned and questioned and thanked the men, examined the +girths and bridle, and stroked the five-year-old on the neck. He was wet +from mane to fetlocks. + +"I don't think he'll care to run much farther," she said. "If you'll +pull him over to the lumber pile, Mr. Gaylord, I'll mount him." + +They performed her bidding in silence, each paying her a tribute in his +thoughts. As for the five-year-old, he was quiet enough by this time. +When she was in the saddle she held out her hand once more to Tom. + +"I hope we shall meet soon again," she said, and smiling back at him, +started on her way towards Fairview. + +Tom stood for a moment looking after her, while the two men indulged in +surprised comments. + +"Andrews," said young Mr. Gaylord, "just fetch my buggy and follow her +until she gets into the gate." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A SPIRIT IN THE WOODS + +Empires crack before they crumble, and the first cracks seem easily +mended--even as they have been mended before. A revolt in Gaul or +Britain or Thrace is little to be minded, and a prophet in Judea less. +And yet into him who sits in the seat of power a premonition of something +impending gradually creeps--a premonition which he will not acknowledge, +will not define. Yesterday, by the pointing of a finger, he created a +province; to-day he dares not, but consoles himself by saying he does not +wish to point. No antagonist worthy of his steel has openly defied him, +worthy of recognition by the opposition of a legion. But the sense of +security has been subtly and indefinably shaken. + +By the strange telepathy which defies language, to the Honourable Hilary +Vane, Governor of the Province, some such unacknowledged forebodings have +likewise been communicated. A week after his conversation with Austen, +on the return of his emperor from a trip to New York, the Honourable +Hilary was summoned again to the foot of the throne, and his thoughts as +he climbed the ridges towards Fairview were not in harmony with the +carols of the birds in the depths of the forest and the joy of the bright +June weather. Loneliness he had felt before, and to its ills he had +applied the antidote of labour. The burden that sat upon his spirit to- +day was not mere loneliness; to the truth of this his soul attested, but +Hilary Vane had never listened to the promptings of his soul. He would +have been shocked if you had told him this. Did he not confess, with his +eyes shut, his sins every Sunday? Did he not publicly acknowledge his +soul? + +Austen Vane had once remarked that, if some keen American lawyer would +really put his mind to the evasion of the Ten Commandments, the High +Heavens themselves might be cheated. This saying would have shocked the +Honourable Hilary inexpressibly. He had never been employed by a +syndicate to draw up papers to avoid these mandates; he revered them, as +he revered the Law, which he spelled with a capital. He spelled the word +Soul with a capital likewise, and certainly no higher recognition could +be desired than this! Never in the Honourable Hilary's long, laborious, +and preeminently model existence had he realized that happiness is +harmony. It would not be true to assert that, on this wonderful June +day, a glimmering of this truth dawned upon him. Such a statement would +be open to the charge of exaggeration, and his frame of mind was +pessimistic. But he had got so far as to ask himself the question,--Cui +bono? and repeated it several times on his drive, until a verse of +Scripture came, unbidden, to his lips. "For what hate man of all his +labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under +the sun?" and "there is one event unto all." Austen's saying, that he +had never learned how to enjoy life, he remembered, too. What had Austen +meant by that? + +Hitherto Hilary Vane had never failed of self-justification in any event +which had befallen him; and while this consciousness of the rectitude of +his own attitude had not made him happier, there had been a certain grim +pleasure in it. To the fact that he had ruined, by sheer over- +righteousness, the last years of the sunny life of Sarah Austen he had +been oblivious--until to-day. The strange, retrospective mood which had +come over him this afternoon led his thoughts into strange paths, and he +found himself wondering if, after all, it had not been in his power to +make her happier. Her dryad-like face, with its sweet, elusive smile, +seemed to peer at him now wistfully out of the forest, and suddenly a new +and startling thought rose up within him--after six and thirty years. +Perhaps she had belonged in the forest! Perhaps, because he had sought +to cage her, she had pined and died! The thought gave Hilary unwonted +pain, and he strove to put it away from him; but memories such as these, +once aroused, are not easily set at rest, and he bent his head as he +recalled (with a new and significant pathos) those hopeless and pitiful +flights into the wilds she loved. + +Now Austen had gone. Was there a Law behind these actions of mother and +son which he had persisted in denouncing as vagaries? Austen was a man: +a man, Hilary could not but see, who had the respect of his fellows, +whose judgment and talents were becoming recognized. Was it possible +that he, Hilary Vane, could have been one of those referred to by the +Preacher? During the week which had passed since Austen's departure the +house in Hanover Street had been haunted for Hilary. The going of his +son had not left a mere void,--that would have been pain enough. Ghosts +were there, ghosts which he could but dimly feel and see, and more than +once, in the long evenings, he had taken to the streets to avoid them. + +In that week Hilary's fear of meeting his son in the street or in the +passages of the building had been equalled by a yearning to see him. +Every morning, at the hour Austen was wont to drive Pepper to the Ripton +House stables across the square, Hilary had contrived to be standing near +his windows--a little back, and out of sight. And--stranger still!--he +had turned from these glimpses to the reports of the Honourable Brush +Bascom and his associates with a distaste he had never felt before. + +With some such thoughts as these Hilary Vane turned into the last +straight stretch of the avenue that led to Fairview House, with its red +and white awnings gleaming in the morning sun. On the lawn, against a +white and purple mass of lilacs and the darker background of pines, a +straight and infinitely graceful figure in white caught his eye and held +it. He recognized Victoria. She wore a simple summer gown, the soft +outline of its flounces mingling subtly with the white clusters behind +her. She turned her head at the sound of the wheels and looked at him; +the distance was not too great for a bow, but Hilary did not bow. +Something in her face deterred him from this act,--something which he +himself did not understand or define. He sought to pronounce the +incident negligible. What was the girl, or her look, to him? And yet +(he found himself strangely thinking) he had read in her eyes a trace of +the riddle which had been relentlessly pursuing him; there was an odd +relation in her look to that of Sarah Austen. During the long years he +had been coming to Fairview, even before the new house was built, when +Victoria was in pinafores, he had never understood her. When she was a +child, he had vaguely recognized in her a spirit antagonistic to his own, +and her sayings had had a disconcerting ring. And now this simple glance +of hers had troubled him--only more definitely. + +It was a new experience for the Honourable Hilary to go into a business +meeting with his faculties astray. Absently he rang the stable bell, +surrendered his horse, and followed a footman to the retired part of the +house occupied by the railroad president. Entering the oakbound sanctum, +he crossed it and took a seat by the window, merely nodding to Mr. Flint, +who was dictating a letter. Mr. Flint took his time about the letter, +but when it was finished he dismissed the stenographer with an impatient +and powerful wave of the hand--as though brushing the man bodily out of +the room. Remaining motionless until the door had closed, Mr. Flint +turned abruptly and fixed his eyes on the contemplative figure of his +chief counsel. + +"Well?" he said. + +"Well, Flint," answered the Honourable Hilary. + +"Well," said Mr. Flint, "that bridge over Maple River has got loosened up +so by the freshet that we have to keep freight cars on it to hold it +down, and somebody is trying to make trouble by writing a public letter +to the Railroad Commission, and calling attention to the head-on +collision at Barker's Station." + +"Well," replied the Honourable Hilary, again, "that won't have any +influence on the Railroad Commission." + +"No," said Mr. Flint, "but it all goes to increase this confounded public +sentiment that's in the air, like smallpox. Another jackass pretends to +have kept a table of the through trains on the Sumsic division, and says +they've averaged forty-five minutes late at Edmundton. He says the +through express made the run faster thirty years ago." + +"I guess that's so," said the Honourable Hilary, "I was counsel for that +road then. I read that letter. He says there isn't an engine on the +division that could pull his hat off, up grade." + +Neither of the two gentlemen appeared to deem this statement humorous. + +"What these incendiaries don't understand," said Mr. Flint, "is that we +have to pay dividends." + +"It's because they don't get 'em," replied Mr. Vane, sententiously. + +"The track slid into the water at Glendale," continued Mr. Flint. "I +suppose they'll tell us we ought to rock ballast that line. You'll see +the Railroad Commission, and give 'em a sketch of a report." + +"I had a talk with Young yesterday," said Mr. Vane, his eyes on the +stretch of lawn and forest framed by the window. For the sake of the +ignorant, it may be well to add that the Honourable Orrin Young was the +chairman of the Commission. + +"And now," said Mr. Flint, "not that this Crewe business amounts to that" +(here the railroad president snapped his fingers with the intensity of a +small pistol shot), "but what's he been doing?" + +"Political advertising," said the Honourable Hilary. + +"Plenty of it, I guess," Mr. Flint remarked acidly. "That's one thing +Tooting can't teach him. He's a natural-born genius at it." + +"Tooting can help--even at that," answered Mr. Vane, ironically. +"They've got a sketch of so-called Northeastern methods in forty weekly +newspapers this week, with a picture of that public benefactor and +martyr, Humphrey Crewe. Here's a sample of it." + +Mr. Flint waved the sample away. + +"You've made a list of the newspapers that printed it?" Mr. Flint +demanded. Had he lived in another age he might have added, "Have the +malefactors burned alive in my garden." + +"Brush has seen some of 'em," said Mr. Vane, no doubt referring to the +editors, "and I had some of 'em come to Ripton. They've got a lot to say +about the freedom of the press, and their right to take political +advertising. Crewe's matter is in the form of a despatch, and most of +'em pointed out at the top of the editorial columns that their papers are +not responsible for despatches in the news columns. Six of 'em are out +and out for Crewe, and those fellows are honest enough." + +"Take away their passes and advertising," said Mr. Flint. ("Off with +their heads!" said the Queen of Hearts.) + +"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Flint; they might make capital out of +it. I think you'll find that five of 'em have sent their passes back, +anyway." + +"Freeman will give you some new ideas" (from the "Book of Arguments," +although Mr. Flint did not say so) "which have occurred to me might be +distributed for editorial purposes next week. And, by the way, what have +you done about that brilliant Mr. Coombes of the 'Johnstown Ray,' who +says 'the Northeastern Railroads give us a pretty good government'?" + +The Honourable Hilary shook his head. + +"Too much zeal," he observed. "I guess he won't do it again." + +For a while after that they talked of strictly legal matters, which the +chief counsel produced in order out of his bag. But when these were +finally disposed of, Mr. Flint led the conversation back to the +Honourable Humphrey Crewe, who stood harmless--to be sure--like a bull on +the track which it might be unwise to run over. + +"He doesn't amount to a soap bubble in a gale," Mr. Flint declared +contemptuously. "Sometimes I think we made a great mistake to notice +him. + +"We haven't noticed him," said Mr. Vane; "the newspapers have." + +Mr. Flint brushed this distinction aside. + +"That," he said irritably, "and letting Tooting go--" + +The Honourable Hilary's eyes began to grow red. In former days Mr. Flint +had not often questioned his judgment. + +"There's one thing more I wanted to mention to you," said the chief +counsel. "In past years I have frequently drawn your attention to that +section of the act of consolidation which declares that rates and fares +existing at the time of its passage shall not be increased." + +"Well," said Mr. Flint, impatiently, "well, what of it?" + +"Only this," replied the Honourable Hilary, "you disregarded my advice, +and the rates on many things are higher than they were." + +"Upon my word, Vane," said Mr. Flint, "I wish you'd chosen some other day +to croak. What do you want me to do? Put all the rates back because +this upstart politician Crewe is making a noise? Who's going to dig up +that section?" + +"Somebody has dug it up," said Mr. Vane: + +This was the last straw. + +"Speak out, man!" he cried. "What are you leading up to?" + +"Just this," answered the Honourable Hilary; "that the Gaylord Lumber +Company are going to bring suit under that section." + +Mr. Flint rose, thrust his hands in his pockets, and paced the room +twice. + +"Have they got a case?" he demanded. + +"It looks a little that way tome," said Mr. Vane. "I'm not prepared to +give a definite opinion as yet." + +Mr. Flint measured the room twice again. + +"Did that old fool Hammer stumble on to this?" + +"Hammer's sick," said Mr. Vane; "they say he's got Bright's disease. My +son discovered that section." + +There was a certain ring of pride in the Honourable Hilary's voice, and a +lifting of the head as he pronounced the words "my son," which did not +escape Mr. Flint. The railroad president walked slowly to the arm of the +chair in which his chief counsel was seated, and stood looking down at +him. But the Honourable Hilary appeared unconscious of what was +impending. + +"Your son!" exclaimed Mr. Flint. "So your son, the son of the man who +has been my legal adviser and confidant and friend for thirty years, is +going to join the Crewel and Tootings in their assaults on established +decency and order! He's out for cheap political preferment, too, is he? +By thunder! I thought that he had some such thing in his mind when he +came in here and threw his pass in my face and took that Meader suit. I +don't mind telling you that he's the man I've been afraid of all along. +He's got a head on him--I saw that at the start. I trusted to you to +control him, and this is how you do it." + +It was characteristic of the Honourable Hilary, when confronting an angry +man, to grow cooler as the other's temper increased. + +"I don't want to control him," he said. + +"I guess you couldn't," retorted Mr. Flint. + +"That's a better way of putting it," replied the Honourable Hilary, "I +couldn't." + +The chief counsel for the Northeastern Railroads got up and went to the +window, where he stood for some time with his back turned to the +president. Then Hilary Vane faced about. + +"Mr. Flint," he began, in his peculiar deep and resonant voice, "you've +said some things to-day that I won't forget. I want to tell you, first +of all, that I admire my son." + +"I thought so," Mr. Flint interrupted. + +"And more than that," the Honourable Hilary continued, "I prophesy that +the time will come when you'll admire him. Austen Vane never did an +underhanded thing in his life--or committed a mean action. He's be'n +wild, but he's always told me the truth. I've done him injustice a good +many times, but I won't stand up and listen to another man do him +injustice." Here he paused, and picked up his bag. "I'm going down to +Ripton to write out my resignation as counsel for your roads, and as soon +as you can find another man to act, I shall consider it accepted." + +It is difficult to put down on paper the sensations of the president of +the Northeastern Railroads as he listened to these words from a man with +whom he had been in business relations for over a quarter of a century, a +man upon whose judgment he had always relied implicitly, who had been a +strong fortress in time of trouble. Such sentences had an incendiary, +blasphemous ring on Hilary Vane's lips--at first. It was as if the sky +had fallen, and the Northeastern had been wiped out of existence. + +Mr. Flint's feelings were, in a sense, akin to those of a traveller by +sea who wakens out of a sound sleep in his cabin, with peculiar and +unpleasant sensations, which he gradually discovers are due to cold +water, and he realizes that the boat on which he is travelling is +sinking. + +The Honourable Hilary, with his bag, was halfway to the door, when Mr. +Flint crossed the room in three strides and seized him by the arm. + +"Hold on, Vane," he said, speaking with some difficulty; "I'm--I'm a +little upset this morning, and my temper got the best of me. You and I +have been good friends for too many years for us to part this way. Sit +down a minute, for God's sake, and let's cool off. I didn't intend to +say what I did. I apologize." + +Mr. Flint dropped his counsel's arm, and pulled out a handkerchief, and +mopped his face. "Sit down, Hilary," he said. + +The Honourable Hilary's tight lips trembled. Only three or four times in +their long friendship had the president made use of his first name. + +"You wouldn't leave me in the lurch now, Hilary," Mr. Flint continued, +"when all this nonsense is in the air? Think of the effect such an +announcement would have! Everybody knows and respects you, and we can't +do without your advice and counsel. But I won't put it on that ground. +I'd never forgive myself, as long as I lived, if I lost one of my oldest +and most valued personal friends in this way." + +The Honourable Hilary looked at Mr. Flint, and sat down. He began to cut +a piece of Honey Dew, but his hand shook. It was difficult, as we know, +for him to give expression to his feelings. + +"All right," he said. + +Half an hour later Victoria, from under the awning of the little balcony +in front of her mother's sitting room, saw her father come out bareheaded +into the sun and escort the Honourable Hilary Vane to his buggy. This +was an unwonted proceeding. + +Victoria loved to sit in that balcony, a book lying neglected in her lap, +listening to the summer sounds: the tinkle of distant cattle bells, the +bass note of a hurrying bee, the strangely compelling song of the hermit- +thrush, which made her breathe quickly; the summer wind, stirring +wantonly, was prodigal with perfumes gathered from the pines and the +sweet June clover in the fields and the banks of flowers; in the +distance, across the gentle foreground of the hills, Sawanec beckoned-- +did Victoria but raise her eyes!--to a land of enchantment. + +The appearance of her father and Hilary had broken her reverie, and a new +thought, like a pain, had clutched her. The buggy rolled slowly down the +drive, and Mr. Flint, staring after it a moment, went in the house. +After a few minutes he emerged again, an old felt hat on his head which +he was wont to wear in the country and a stick in his hand. Without +raising his eyes, he started slowly across the lawn; and to Victoria, +leaning forward intently over the balcony rail, there seemed an unwonted +lack of purpose in his movements. Usually he struck out briskly in the +direction of the pastures where his prize Guernseys were feeding, +stopping on the way to pick up the manager of his farm. There are signs, +unknown to men, which women read, and Victoria felt her heart beating, as +she turned and entered the sitting room through the French window. A +trained nurse was softly closing the door of the bedroom on the right. + +"Mrs. Flint is asleep," she said. + +"I am going out for a little while, Miss Oliver," Victoria answered, and +the nurse returned a gentle smile of understanding. + +Victoria, descending the stairs, hastily pinned on a hat which she kept +in the coat closet, and hurried across the lawn in the direction Mr. +Flint had taken. Reaching the pine grove, thinned by a famous landscape +architect, she paused involuntarily to wonder again at the ultramarine of +Sawanec through the upright columns of the trunks under the high canopy +of boughs. The grove was on a plateau, which was cut on the side nearest +the mountain by the line of a gray stone wall, under which the land fell +away sharply. Mr. Flint was seated on a bench, his hands clasped across +his stick, and as she came softly over the carpet of the needles he did +not hear her until she stood beside him. + +"You didn't tell me that you were going for a walk," she said +reproachfully. + +He started, and dropped his stick. She stooped quickly, picked it up for +him, and settled herself at his side. + +"I--I didn't expect to go, Victoria," he answered. + +"You see," she said, "it's useless to try to slip away. I saw you from +the balcony." + +"How's your mother feeling?" he asked. + +"She's asleep. She seems better to me since she's come back to +Fairview." + +Mr. Flint stared at the mountain with unseeing eyes. + +"Father," said Victoria, "don't you think you ought to stay up here at +least a week, and rest? I think so." + +"No," he said, "no. There's a directors' meeting of a trust company to- +morrow which I have to attend. I'm not tired." + +Victoria shook her head, smiling at him with serious eyes. + +"I don't believe you know when you are tired," she declared. "I can't +see the good of all these directors' meetings. Why don't you retire, and +live the rest of your life in peace? You've got--money enough, and even +if you haven't," she added, with the little quiver of earnestness that +sometimes came into her voice, "we could sell this big house and go back +to the farmhouse to live. We used to be so happy there." + +He turned abruptly, and fixed upon her a steadfast, searching stare that +held, nevertheless, a strange tenderness in it. + +"You don't care for all this, do you, Victoria?" he demanded, waving his +stick to indicate the domain of Fairview. + +She laughed gently, and raised her eyes to the green roof of the needles. + +"If we could only keep the pine grove!" she sighed. "Do you remember +what good times we had in the farmhouse, when you and I used to go off +for whole days together?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Flint, "yes." + +"We don't do that any more," said Victoria. "It's only a little drive +and a walk, now and then. And they seem to be growing--scarcer." + +Mr. Flint moved uneasily, and made an attempt to clear his voice. + +"I know it," he said, and further speech seemingly failed him. Victoria +had the greater courage of the two. + +"Why don't we?" she asked. + +"I've often thought of it," he replied, still seeking his words with +difficulty. "I find myself with more to do every year, Victoria, instead +of less." + +"Then why don't you give it up?" + +"Why?" he asked, "why? Sometimes I wish with my whole soul I could give +it up. I've always said that you had more sense than most women, but +even you could not understand." + +"I could understand," said Victoria. + +He threw at her another glance,--a ring in her words proclaimed their +truth in spite of his determined doubt. In her eyes--had he but known +it!--was a wisdom that exceeded his. + +"You don't realize what you're saying," he exclaimed; "I can't leave the +helm." + +"Isn't it," she said, "rather the power that is so hard to relinquish?" + +The feelings of Augustus Flint when he heard this question were of a +complex nature. It was the second time that day he had been shocked,-- +the first being when Hilary Vane had unexpectedly defended his son. The +word Victoria had used, power, had touched him on the quick. What had +she meant by it? Had she been his wife and not his daughter, he would +have flown into a rage. Augustus Flint was not a man given to the +psychological amusement of self-examination; he had never analyzed his +motives. He had had little to do with women, except Victoria. The Rose +of Sharon knew him as the fountainhead from which authority and money +flowed, but Victoria, since her childhood, had been his refuge from care, +and in the haven of her companionship he had lost himself for brief +moments of his life. She was the one being he really loved, with whom he +consulted on such affairs of importance as he felt to be within her scope +and province,--the cattle, the men on the place outside of the household, +the wisdom of buying the Baker farm; bequests to charities, paintings, +the library; and recently he had left to her judgment the European baths +and the kind of treatment which her mother had required. Victoria had +consulted with the physicians in Paris, and had made these decisions +herself. From a child she had never shown a disposition to evade +responsibility. + +To his intimate business friends, Mr. Flint was in the habit of speaking +of her as his right-hand man, but she was circumscribed by her sex,--or +rather by Mr. Flint's idea of her sex,--and it never occurred to him that +she could enter into the larger problems of his life. For this reason he +had never asked himself whether such a state of affairs would be +desirable. In reality it was her sympathy he craved, and such an +interpretation of himself as he chose to present to her. + +So her question was a shock. He suddenly beheld his daughter +transformed, a new personality who had been thinking, and thinking along +paths which he had never cared to travel. + +"The power!" he repeated. "What do you mean by that, Victoria?" + +She sat for a moment on the end of the bench, gazing at him with a +questioning, searching look which he found disconcerting. What had +happened to his daughter? He little guessed the tumult in her breast. +She herself could not fully understand the strange turn the conversation +had taken towards the gateway of the vital things. + +"It is natural for men to love power, isn't it?" + +"I suppose so," said Mr. Flint, uneasily. "I don't know what you're +driving at, Victoria." + +"You control the lives and fortunes of a great many people." + +"That's just it," answered Mr. Flint, with a dash at this opening; "my +responsibilities are tremendous. I can't relinquish them." + +"There is no--younger man to take your place? Not that I mean you are +old, father," she continued, "but you have worked very hard all your +life, and deserve a holiday the rest of it." + +"I don't know of any younger man," said Mr. Flint. "I don't mean to say +I'm the only person in the world who can safeguard the stockholders' +interests in the Northeastern. But I know the road and its problems. I +don't understand this from you, Victoria. It doesn't sound like you. +And as for letting go the helm now," he added, with a short laugh tinged +with bitterness, "I'd be posted all over the country as a coward." + +"Why?" asked Victoria, in the same quiet way. + +"Why? Because a lot of discontented and disappointed people who have +made failures of their lives are trying to give me as much trouble as +they can." + +"Are you sure they are all disappointed and discontented, father?" she +said. + +"What," exclaimed Mr. Flint, "you ask me that question? You, my own +daughter, about people who are trying to make me out a rascal!" + +"I don't think they are trying to make you out a rascal--at least most of +them are not," said Victoria. "I don't think the--what you might call +the personal aspect enters in with the honest ones." + +Mr. Flint was inexpressibly amazed. He drew a long breath. + +"Who are the honest ones?" he cried. "Do you mean to say that you, my +own daughter, are defending these charlatans?" + +"Listen, father," said Victoria. "I didn't mean to worry you, I didn't +mean to bring up that subject to-day. Come--let's go for a walk and see +the new barn." + +But Mr. Flint remained firmly planted on the bench. + +"Then you did intend to bring up the subject--some day?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Victoria. She sat down again. "I have often wanted to hear- +-your side of it." + +"Whose side have you heard?" demanded Mr. Flint. + +A crimson flush crept into her cheek, but her father was too disturbed to +notice it. + +"You know," she said gently, "I go about the country a good deal, and I +hear people talking,--farmers, and labourers, and people in the country +stores who don't know that I'm your daughter." + +"What do they say?" asked Mr. Flint, leaning forward eagerly and +aggressively. + +Victoria hesitated, turning over the matter in her mind. + +"You understand, I am merely repeating what they say--" + +"Yes, yes," he interrupted, "I want to know how far this thing has gone +among them." + +"Well," continued Victoria, looking at him bravely, "as nearly as I can +remember their argument it is this: that the Northeastern Railroads +control the politics of the State for their own benefit. That you +appoint the governors and those that go to the Legislature, and that-- +Hilary Vane gets them elected. They say that be manages a political +machine--that's the right word, isn't it?--for you. And that no laws can +be passed of which you do not approve. And they say that the politicians +whom Hilary Vane commands, and the men whom they put into office are all +beholden to the railroad, and are of a sort which good citizens cannot +support. They say that the railroad has destroyed the people's +government." + +Mr. Flint, for the moment forgetting or ignoring the charges, glanced at +her in astonishment. The arraignment betrayed an amount of thought on +the subject which he had not suspected. + +"Upon my word, Victoria," he said, "you ought to take the stump for +Humphrey Crewe." + +She reached out with a womanly gesture, and laid her hand upon his. + +"I am only telling you--what I hear," she said. + +"Won't you explain to me the way you look at it? These people don't all +seem to be dishonest men or charlatans. Some of them, I know, are +honest." And her colour rose again. + +"Then they are dupes and fools," Mr. Flint declared vehemently. "I don't +know how to explain it to you the subject is too vast, too far-reaching. +One must have had some business experience to grasp it. I don't mean to +say you're not intelligent, but I'm at a loss where to begin with you. +Looked at from their limited point of view, it would seem as if they had +a case. I don't mean your friend, Humphrey Crewe--it's anything to get +office with him. Why, he came up here and begged me--" + +"I wasn't thinking of Humphrey Crewe," said Victoria. Mr. Flint gave an +ejaculation of distaste. + +"He's no more of a reformer than I am. And now we've got that wild son +of Hilary Vane's--the son of one of my oldest friends and associates-- +making trouble. He's bitten with this thing, too, and he's got some +brains in his head. Why," exclaimed Mr. Flint, stopping abruptly and +facing his daughter, "you know him! He's the one who drove you home that +evening from Crewe's party." + +"I remember," Victoria faltered, drawing her hand away. + +"I wasn't very civil to him that night, but I've always been on the +lookout for him. I sent him a pass once, and he came up here and gave me +as insolent a talking to as I ever had in my life." + +How well Victoria recalled that first visit, and how she had wondered +about the cause of it! So her father and Austen Vane had quarrelled from +the first. + +"I'm sure he didn't mean to be insolent," she said, in a low voice. "He +isn't at all that sort." + +"I don't know what sort he is, except that he isn't my sort," Mr. Flint +retorted, intent upon the subject which had kindled his anger earlier in +the day. "I don't pretend to understand him. He could probably have +been counsel for the road if he had behaved decently. Instead, he starts +in with suits against us. He's hit upon something now." + +The president of the Northeastern dug savagely into the ground with his +stick, and suddenly perceived that his daughter had her face turned away +from his, towards the mountain. + +"Well, I won't bore you with that." + +She turned with a look in her eyes that bewildered him. + +"You're not--boring me," she said. + +"I didn't intend to go into all that," he explained more calmly, "but the +last few days have been trying, we've got to expect the wind to blow from +all directions." + +Victoria smiled at him faintly. + +"I have told you," she said, "that what you need is a trip abroad. +Perhaps some day you will remember it." + +"Maybe I'll go in the autumn," he answered, smiling back at her. "These +little flurries don't amount to anything more than mosquito-bites--only +mosquitoes are irritating. You and I understand each other, Victoria, +and now listen. I'll give you the broad view of this subject, the view +I've got to take, and I've lived in the world and seen more of it than +some folks who think they know it all. I am virtually the trustee for +thousands of stockholders, many of whom are widows and orphans. These +people are innocent; they rely on my ability, and my honesty, for their +incomes. Few men who have not had experience in railroad management know +one-tenth of the difficulties and obstructions encountered by a railroad +president who strives to do his duty by the road. My business is to run +the Northeastern as economically as is consistent with good service and +safety, and to give the stockholders the best return for their money. I +am the steward--and so long as I am the steward," he exclaimed, "I'm +going to do what I think is right, taking into consideration all the +difficulties that confront me." + +He got up and took a turn or two on the pine-needles. Victoria regarded +him in silence. He appeared to her at that moment the embodiment of the +power he represented. Force seemed to emanate from him, and she +understood more clearly than ever how, from a poor boy on an obscure farm +in Truro, he had risen to his present height. + +"I don't say the service is what it should be," he went on, "but give me +time--give me time. With all this prosperity in the country we can't +handle the freight. We haven't got cars enough, tracks enough, engines +enough. I won't go into that with you. But I do expect you to +understand this: that politicians are politicians; they have always been +corrupt as long as I have known them, and in my opinion they always will +be. The Northeastern is the largest property holder in the State, pays +the biggest tax, and has the most at stake. The politicians could ruin +us in a single session of the Legislature--and what's more, they would do +it. We'd have to be paying blackmail all the time to prevent measures +that would compel us to go out of business. This is a fact, and not a +theory. What little influence I exert politically I have to maintain in +order to protect the property of my stockholders from annihilation. It +isn't to be supposed," he concluded, "that I'm going to see the State +turned over to a man like Humphrey Crewe. I wish to Heaven that this and +every other State had a George Washington for governor and a majority of +Robert Morrises in the Legislature. If they exist, in these days, the +people won't elect 'em--that's all. The kind of man the people will +elect, if you let 'em alone, is--a man who brings in a bill and comes to +you privately and wants you to buy him off." + +"Oh, father," Victoria cried, "I can't believe that of the people I see +about here! They seem so kind and honest and high-principled." + +Mr. Flint gave a short laugh. + +"They're dupes, I tell you. They're at the mercy of any political +schemer who thinks it worth his while to fool 'em. Take Leith, for +instance. There's a man over there who has controlled every office in +that town for twenty-five years or more. He buys and sells votes and +credentials like cattle. His name is Job Braden." + +"Why," said Victoria, I saw him at Humphrey Crewe's garden-party." + +"I guess you did," said Mr. Flint, "and I guess Humphrey Crewe saw him +before he went." + +Victoria was silent, the recollection of the talk between Mr. Tooting and +Mr. Crewe running through her mind, and Mr. Tooting's saying that he had +done "dirty things" for the Northeastern. She felt that this was +something she could not tell her father, nor could she answer his +argument with what Tom Gaylord had said. She could not, indeed, answer +Mr. Flint's argument at all; the subject, as he had declared, being too +vast for her. And moreover, as she well knew, Mr. Flint was a man whom +other men could not easily answer; he bore them down, even as he had +borne her down. Involuntarily her mind turned to Austen, and she +wondered what he had said; she wondered how he would have answered her +father--whether he could have answered him. And she knew not what to +think. Could it be right, in a position of power and responsibility, to +acknowledge evil and deal with it as evil? That was, in effect, the gist +of Mr. Flint's contention. She did not know. She had never (strangely +enough, she thought) sought before to analyze the ethical side of her +father's character. One aspect of him she had shared with her mother, +that he was a tower of defence and strength, and that his name alone had +often been sufficient to get difficult things done. + +Was he right in this? And were his opponents charlatans, or dupes, or +idealists who could never be effective? Mr. Crewe wanted an office; Tom +Gaylord had a suit against the road, and Austen Vane was going to bring +that suit! What did she really know of Austen Vane? But her soul cried +out treason at this, and she found herself repeating, with intensity, "I +believe in him! I believe in him!" She would have given worlds to have +been able to stand up before her father and tell him that Austen would +not bring the suit at this time that Austen had not allowed his name to +be mentioned for office in this connection, and had spurned Mr. Crewe's +advances. But she had not seen Austen since February. + +What was his side of it? He had never told her, and she respected his +motives--yet, what was his side? Fresh from the inevitably deep +impressions which her father's personality had stamped upon her, she +wondered if Austen could cope with the argument before which she had been +so helpless. + +The fact that she made of each of these two men the embodiment of a +different and opposed idea did not occur to Victoria until that +afternoon. Unconsciously, each had impersonated the combatants in a +struggle which was going on in her own breast. Her father himself, +instinctively, had chosen Austen Vane for his antagonist without knowing +that she had an interest in him. Would Mr. Flint ever know? Or would +the time come when she would be forced to take a side? The blood mounted +to her temples as she put the question from her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MR. JABE JENNEY ENTERTAINS + +Mr. Flint had dropped the subject with his last remark, nor had Victoria +attempted to pursue it. Bewildered and not a little depressed (a new +experience for her), she had tried to hide her feelings. He, too, was +harassed and tired, and she had drawn him away from the bench and through +the pine woods to the pastures to look at his cattle and the model barn +he was building for them. At half-past three, in her runabout, she had +driven him to the East Tunbridge station, where he had taken the train +for New York. He had waved her a good-by from the platform, and smiled: +and for a long time, as she drove through the silent roads, his words and +his manner remained as vivid as though he were still by her side. He was +a man who had fought and conquered, and who fought on for the sheer love +of it. + +It was a blue day in the hill country. At noon the clouds had crowned +Sawanec--a sure sign of rain; the rain had come and gone, a June +downpour, and the overcast sky lent (Victoria fancied) to the country- +side a new atmosphere. The hills did not look the same. It was the kind +of a day when certain finished country places are at their best--or +rather seem best to express their meaning; a day for an event; a day set +strangely apart with an indefinable distinction. Victoria recalled such +days in her youth when weddings or garden-parties had brought canopies +into service, or news had arrived to upset the routine of the household. +Raindrops silvered the pines, and the light winds shook them down on the +road in a musical shower. + +Victoria was troubled, as she drove, over a question which had recurred +to her many times since her talk that morning: had she been hypocritical +in not telling her father that she had seen more of Austen Vane than she +had implied by her silence? For many years Victoria had chosen her own +companions; when the custom had begun, her mother had made a protest +which Mr. Flint had answered with a laugh; he thought Victoria's judgment +better than his wife's. Ever since that time the Rose of Sharon had +taken the attitude of having washed her hands of responsibility for a +course which must inevitably lead to ruin. She discussed some of +Victoria's acquaintances with Mrs. Pomfret and other intimates; and Mrs. +Pomfret had lost no time in telling Mrs. Flint about her daughter's +sleigh-ride at the State capital with a young man from Ripton who seemed +to be seeing entirely too much of Victoria. Mrs. Pomfret had marked +certain danger signs, and as a conscientious woman was obliged to speak +of them. Mrs. Pomfret did not wish to see Victoria make a mesalliance. + +"My dear Fanny," Mrs. Flint had cried, lifting herself from the lace +pillows, "what do you expect me to do especially when I have nervous +prostration? I've tried to do my duty by Victoria--goodness knows--to +bring her up--among the sons and daughters of the people who are my +friends. They tell me that she has temperament--whatever that may be. +I'm sure I never found out, except that the best thing to do with people +who have it is to let them alone and pray for them. When we go abroad I +like the Ritz and Claridge's and that new hotel in Rome. I see my +friends there. Victoria, if you please, likes the little hotels in the +narrow streets where you see nobody, and where you are most +uncomfortable." (Miss Oliver, it's time for those seven drops.) "As I +was saying, Victoria's enigmatical hopeless, although a French comtesse +who wouldn't look at anybody at the baths this spring became wild about +her, and a certain type of elderly English peer always wants to marry +her. (I suppose I do look pale to-day.) Victoria loves art, and really +knows something about it. She adores to potter around those queer places +abroad where you see strange English and Germans and Americans with red +books in their hands. What am I to do about this young man of whom you +speak--whatever his name is? I suppose Victoria will marry him--it would +be just like her. But what can I do, Fanny? I can't manage her, and +it's no use going to her father. He would only laugh. Augustus actually +told me once there was no such thing as social position in this country!" + +"American men of affairs," Mrs. Pomfret judicially replied, "are too busy +to consider position. They make it, my dear, as a by-product." Mrs. +Pomfret smiled, and mentally noted this aptly technical witticism for use +again. + +"I suppose they do," assented the Rose of Sharon, "and their daughters +sometimes squander it, just as their sons squander their money." + +"I'm not at all sure that Victoria is going to squander it," was Mrs. +Pomfret's comforting remark. "She is too much of a personage, and she +has great wealth behind her. I wish Alice were more like her, in some +ways. Alice is so helpless, she has to be prodded and prompted +continually. I can't leave her for a moment. And when she is married, +I'm going into a sanatorium for six months." + +"I hear," said Mrs. Flint, "that Humphrey Crewe is quite epris." + +"Poor dear Humphrey!" exclaimed Mrs. Pomfret, "he can think of nothing +else but politics." + +But we are not to take up again, as yet, the deeds of the crafty Ulysses. +In order to relate an important conversation between Mrs. Pomfret and the +Rose of Sharon, we have gone back a week in this history, and have left +Victoria--absorbed in her thoughts--driving over a wood road of many +puddles that led to the Four Corners, near Avalon. The road climbed the +song-laden valley of a brook, redolent now with scents of which the rain +had robbed the fern, but at length Victoria reached an upland where the +young corn was springing from the, black furrows that followed the +contours of the hillsides, where the big-eyed cattle lay under the heavy +maples and oaks or gazed at her across the fences. + +Victoria drew up in front of an unpainted farm-house straggling beside +the road, a farm-house which began with the dignity of fluted pilasters +and ended in a tumble-down open shed filled with a rusty sleigh and a +hundred nondescript articles--some of which seemed to be moving. +Intently studying this phenomenon from her runabout, she finally +discovered that the moving objects were children; one of whom, a little +girl, came out and stared at her. + +"How do you do, Mary?" said Victoria. "Isn't your name Mary?" + +The child nodded. + +"I remember you," she said; "you're the rich lady, mother met at the +party, that got father a job." + +Victoria smiled. And such was the potency of the smile that the child +joined in it. + +"Where's brother?" asked Victoria. "He must be quite grown up since we +gave him lemonade." + +Mary pointed to the woodshed. + +"O dear!" exclaimed Victoria, leaping out of the runabout and hitching +her horse, "aren't you afraid some of those sharp iron things will fall +on him?" She herself rescued brother from what seemed untimely and +certain death, and set him down in safety in the middle of the grass +plot. He looked up at her with the air of one whose dignity has been +irretrievably injured, and she laughed as she reached down and pulled his +nose. Then his face, too, became wreathed in smiles. + +"Mary, how old are you?" + +"Seven, ma'am." + +"And I'm five," Mary's sister chimed in. + +"I want you to promise me," said Victoria, "that you won't let brother +play in that shed. And the very next time I come I'll bring you both the +nicest thing I can think of." + +Mary began to dance. + +"We'll promise, we'll promise!" she cried for both, and at this juncture +Mrs. Fitch, who had run from the washtub to get into her Sunday waist, +came out of the door. + +"So you hain't forgot me!" she exclaimed. "I was almost afeard you'd +forgot me." + +"I've been away," said Victoria, gently taking the woman's hand and +sitting down on the doorstep. + +"Don't set there," said Mrs. Fitch; "come into the parlour. You'll dirty +your dress--Mary!" This last in admonition. + +"Let her stay where she is," said Victoria, putting her arm around the +child. "The dress washes, and it's so nice outside." + +"You rich folks certainly do have strange notions," declared Mrs. Fitch, +fingering the flounce on Victoria's skirt, which formed the subject of +conversation for the next few minutes. + +"How are you getting on?" Victoria asked at length. + +A look of pain came into the woman's eyes. + +"You've be'n so good to us, and done so much gettin' Eben a job on your +father's place, that I don't feel as if I ought to lie to you. He done +it again--on Saturday night. First time in three months. The manager up +at Fairview don't know it. Eben was all right Monday." + +"I'm sorry," said Victoria, simply. "Was it bad?" + +"It might have be'n. Young Mr. Vane is stayin' up at Jabe Jenney's--you +know, the first house as you turn off the hill road. Mr. Vane heard some +way what you'd done for us, and he saw Eben in Ripton Saturday night, and +made him get into his buggy and come home. I guess he had a time with +Eben. Mr. Vane, he came around here on Sunday, and gave him as stiff a +talkin' to as he ever got, I guess. He told Eben he'd ought to be +ashamed of himself goin' back on folks who was tryin' to help him pay his +mortgage. And I'll say this for Eben, he was downright ashamed. He told +Mr. Vane he could lick him if he caught him drunk again, and Mr. Vane +said he would. My, what a pretty colour you've got to-day." + +Victoria rose. "I'm going to send you down some washing," she said. + +Mrs. Fitch insisted upon untying the horse, while Victoria renewed her +promises to the children. + +There were two ways of going back to Fairview,--a long and a short way,-- +and the long way led by Jabe Jenney's farm. Victoria came to the fork in +the road, paused,--and took the long way. Several times after this, she +pulled her horse down to a walk, and was apparently on the point of +turning around again: a disinterested observer in a farm wagon, whom she +passed, thought that she had missed her road. "The first house after you +turn off the hill road," Mrs. Fitch had said. She could still, of +course, keep on the hill road, but that would take her to Weymouth, and +she would never get home. + +It is useless to go into the reasons for this act of Victoria's. She did +not know them herself. The nearer Victoria got to Mr. Jenney's, the more +she wished herself back at the forks. Suppose Mrs. Fitch told him of her +visit! Perhaps she could pass the Jenneys' unnoticed. The chances of +this, indeed, seemed highly favourable, and it was characteristic of her +sex that she began to pray fervently to this end. Then she turned off +the hill road, feeling as though she had but to look back to see the +smoke of the burning bridges. + +Victoria remembered the farm now; for Mr. Jabe Jenney, being a person of +importance in the town of Leith, had a house commensurate with his +estate. The house was not large, but its dignity was akin to Mr. +Jenney's position: it was painted a spotless white, and not a shingle or +a nail was out of place. Before it stood the great trees planted by Mr. +Jenney's ancestors, which Victoria and other people had often paused on +their drives to admire, and on the hillside was a little, old-fashioned +flower garden; lilacs clustered about the small-paned windows, and a +bitter-sweet clung to the roof and pillars of the porch. These details +of the place (which she had never before known as Mr. Jenney's) flashed +into Victoria's mind before she caught sight of the great trees +themselves looming against the sombre blue-black of the sky: the wind, +rising fitfully, stirred the leaves with a sound like falling waters, and +a great drop fell upon her cheek. Victoria raised her eyes in alarm, and +across the open spaces, toward the hills which piled higher and higher +yet against the sky, was a white veil of rain. She touched with her whip +the shoulder of her horse, recalling a farm a quarter of a mile beyond-- +she must not be caught here! + +More drops followed, and the great trees seemed to reach out to her a +protecting shelter. She spoke to the horse. Beyond the farm-house, on +the other side of the road, was a group of gray, slate-shingled barns, +and here two figures confronted her. One was that of the comfortable, +middle-aged Mr. Jenney himself, standing on the threshold of the barn, +and laughing heartily, and crying: "Hang on to him That's right--get him +by the nose!" + +The person thus addressed had led a young horse to water at the spring +which bubbled out of a sugar-kettle hard by; and the horse, quivering, +had barely touched his nostrils to the water when he reared backward, +jerking the halter-rope taut. Then followed, with bewildering rapidity, +a series of manoeuvres on the part of the horse to get away, and on the +part of the person to prevent this, and inasmuch as the struggle took +place in the middle of the road, Victoria had to stop. By the time the +person had got the horse by the nose,--shutting off his wind,--the rain +was coming down in earnest. + +"Drive right in," cried Mr. Jenney, hospitably; "you'll get wet. Look +out, Austen, there's a lady comin'. Why, it's Miss Flint!" + +Victoria knew that her face must be on fire. She felt Austen Vane's +quick glance upon her, but she did not dare look to the right or left as +she drove into the barn. There seemed no excuse for any other course. + +"How be you?" said Mr. Jenney; "kind of lucky you happened along here, +wahn't it? You'd have been soaked before you got to Harris's. How be +you? I ain't seen you since that highfalutin party up to Crewe's." + +"It's very kind of you to let me come in, Mr. Jenney." + +"But I have a rain-coat and a boot, and--I really ought to be going on." + +Here Victoria produced the rain-coat from under the seat. The garment +was a dark blue, and Mr. Jenney felt of its gossamer weight with a good- +natured contempt. + +"That wouldn't be any more good than so much cheesecloth," he declared, +nodding in the direction of the white sheet of the storm. "Would it, +Austen." + +She turned her head slowly and met Austen's eyes. Fortunate that the +barn was darkened, that he might not see how deep the colour mantling in +her temples! His head was bare, and she had never really marked before +the superb setting of it on his shoulders, for he wore a gray flannel +shirt open at the neck, revealing a bronzed throat. His sinewy arms-- +weather-burned, too--were bare above the elbows. + +Explanations of her presence sprang to her lips, but she put them from +her as subterfuges unworthy of him. She would not attempt to deceive him +in the least. She had wished to see him again--nor did she analyze her +motives. Once more beside him, the feeling of confidence, of belief in +him, rose within her and swept all else away--burned in a swift consuming +flame the doubts of absence. He took her hand, but she withdrew it +quickly. + +"This is a fortunate accident," he said, "fortunate, at least, for me." + +"Perhaps Mr. Jenney will not agree with you," she retorted. + +But Mr. Jenney was hitching the horse and throwing a blanket over him. +Suddenly, before they realized it, the farmer had vanished into the +storm, and this unexplained desertion of their host gave rise to an +awkward silence between them, which each for a while strove vainly to +break. In the great moments of life, trivialities become dwarfed and +ludicrous, and the burden of such occasions is on the woman. + +"So you've taken to farming," she said,-"isn't it about haying time?" + +He laughed. + +"We begin next week. And you--you've come back in season for it. I hope +that your mother is better." + +"Yes," replied Victoria, simply, "the baths helped her. But I'm glad to +get back,--I like my own country so much better,--and especially this +part of it," she added. "I can bear to be away from New York in the +winter, but not from Fairview in the summer." + +At this instant Mr. Jenney appeared at the barn door bearing a huge green +umbrella. + +"Come over to the house--Mis' Jenney is expectin' you," he said. + +Victoria hesitated. To refuse would be ungracious; moreover, she could +risk no misinterpretation of her acts, and she accepted. Mrs. Jenney met +her on the doorstep, and conducted her into that sanctum reserved for +occasions, the parlour, with its Bible, its flat, old-fashioned piano, +its samplers, its crayon portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Jenney after their +honeymoon; with its aroma that suggested Sundays and best manners. Mrs. +Jenney, with incredible rapidity (for her figure was not what it had been +at the time of the crayon portrait), had got into a black dress, over +which she wore a spotless apron. She sat in the parlour with her guest +until Mr. Jenney reappeared with shining face and damp hair. + +"You'll excuse me, my dear," said Mrs. Jenney, "but the supper's on the +stove, and I have to run out now and then." + +Mr. Jenney was entertaining. He had the shrewd, humorous outlook upon +life characteristic of the best type of New England farmer, and Victoria +got along with him famously. His comments upon his neighbours were +kindly but incisive, except when the question of spirituous liquors +occurred to him. Austen Vane he thought the world of, and dwelt upon +this subject a little longer than Victoria, under the circumstances, +would have wished. + +"He comes out here just like it was home," said Mr. Jenney, "and helps +with the horses and cows the same as if he wasn't gettin' to be one of +the greatest lawyers in the State." + +"O dear, Mr. Jenney," said Victoria, glancing out of the window, "I'll +really have to go home. I'm sure it won't stop raining for hours. But I +shall be perfectly dry in my rain-coat,--no matter how much you may +despise it." + +"You're not a-going to do anything of the kind," cried Mrs. Jenney from +the doorway. "Supper's all ready, and you're going to walk right in." + +"Oh, I really have to go," Victoria exclaimed. + +" Now I know it ain't as grand as you'd get at home," said Mr. Jenney. +"It ain't what we'd give you, Miss Victoria,--that's only simple home +fare,--it's what you'd give us. It's the honour of having you," he +added,--and Victoria thought that no courtier could have worded an +invitation better. She would not be missed at Fairview. Her mother was +inaccessible at this hour, and the servants would think of her as dining +at Leith. The picture of the great, lonely house, of the ceremonious +dinner which awaited her single presence, gave her an irresistible +longing to sit down with these simple, kindly souls. Austen was the only +obstacle. He, too, had changed his clothes, and now appeared, smiling at +her behind Mrs. Jenney. The look of prospective disappointment in the +good woman's face decided Victoria. + +"I'll stay, with pleasure," she said. + +Mr. Jenney pronounced grace. Victoria sat across the table from Austen, +and several times the consciousness of his grave look upon her as she +talked heightened the colour in her cheek. He said but little during the +meal. Victoria heard how well Mrs. Jenney's oldest son was doing in +Springfield, and how the unmarried daughter was teaching, now, in the +West. Asked about Europe, that land of perpetual mystery to the native +American, the girl spoke so simply and vividly of some of the wonders she +had seen that she held the older people entranced long after the meal was +finished. But at length she observed, with a start, the gathering +darkness. In the momentary happiness of this experience, she had been +forgetful. + +"I will drive home with you, if you'll allow me," said Austen. + +"Oh, no, I really don't need an escort, Mr. Vane. I'm so used to driving +about at night, I never think of it," she answered. + +"Of course he'll drive home with you, dear," said Mrs. Jenney. "And, +Jabe, you'll hitch up and go and fetch Austen back." + +"Certain," Mr. Jenney agreed. + +The rain had ceased, and the indistinct outline of the trees and fences +betrayed the fact that the clouds were already thinning under the moon. +Austen had lighted the side lamps of the runabout, revealing the shining +pools on the road as they drove along--for the first few minutes in +silence. + +"It was very good of you to stay," he said; "you do not know how much +pleasure you have given them." + +Her feminine appreciation responded to the tact of this remark: it was so +distinctly what he should have said. + +How delicate, she thought, must be his understanding of her, that he +should have spoken so! + +"I was glad to stay," she answered, in a low voice. "I--enjoyed it, +too." + +"They have very little in their lives," he said, and added, with a +characteristic touch, "I do not mean to say that your coming would not be +an event in any household." + +She laughed with him, softly, at this sally. + +"Not to speak of the visit you are making them," she replied. + +"Oh, I'm one of the family," he said; "I come and go. Jabe's is my +country house, when I can't stand the city any longer." + +She saw that he did not intend to tell her why he had left Ripton on this +occasion. There fell another silence. They were like prisoners, and +each strove to explore the bounds of their captivity: each sought a +lawful ground of communication. Victoria suddenly remembered--with an +access of indignation--her father's words, "I do not know what sort he +is, but he is not my sort." A while ago, and she had blamed herself +vehemently for coming to Jabe Jenney's, and now the act had suddenly +become sanctified in her sight. She did not analyze her feeling for +Austen, but she was consumed with a fierce desire that justice should be +done him. "He was honourable--honourable!" she found herself repeating +under her breath. No man or woman could look into his face, take his +hand, sit by his side, without feeling that he was as dependable as the +stars in their courses. And her father should know this, must be made to +know it. This man was to be distinguished from opportunists and self- +seekers, from fanatics who strike at random. His chief possession was a +priceless one--a conscience. + +As for Austen, it sufficed him for the moment that he had been lifted, by +another seeming caprice of fortune, to a seat of torture the agony +whereof was exquisite. An hour, and only the ceaseless pricking memory +of it would abide. The barriers had risen higher since he had seen her +last, but still he might look into her face and know the radiance of her +presence. Could he only trust himself to guard his tongue! But the +heart on such occasions will cheat language of its meaning. + +"What have you been doing since I saw you last?" she asked. "It seems +that you still continue to lead a life of violence." + +"Sometimes I wish I did," he answered, with a laugh; "the humdrum +existence of getting practice enough to keep a horse is not the most +exciting in the world. To what particular deed of violence do you +refer?" + +"The last achievement, which is in every one's mouth, that of assisting +Mr. Tooting down-stairs." + +"I have been defamed," Austen laughed; "he fell down, I believe. But as +I have a somewhat evil reputation, and as he came out of my entry, people +draw their own conclusions. I can't imagine who told you that story." + +"Never mind," she answered. "You see, I have certain sources of +information about you." + +He tingled over this, and puzzled over it so long that she laughed. + +"Does that surprise you?" she asked. "I fail to see why I should be +expected to lose all interest in my friends--even if they appear to have +lost interest in me." + +"Oh, don't say that!" he cried so sharply that she wished her words +unsaid. "You can't mean it! You don't know!" + +She trembled at the vigorous passion he put into the words. + +"No, I don't mean it," she said gently. + +The wind had made a rent in the sheet of the clouds, and through it burst +the moon in her full glory, flooding field and pasture, and the black +stretches of pine forest at their feet. Below them the land fell away, +and fell again to the distant broadening valley, to where a mist of white +vapour hid the course of the Blue. And beyond, the hills rose again, +tier upon tier, to the shadowy outline of Sawanec herself against the +hurrying clouds and the light-washed sky. Victoria, gazing at the scene, +drew a deep breath, and turned and looked at him in the quick way which +he remembered so well. + +"Sometimes," she said, "it is so beautiful that it hurts to look at it. +You love it--do you ever feel that way?" + +"Yes," he said, but his answer was more than the monosyllable. "I can +see that mountain from my window, and it seriously interferes with my +work. I really ought to move into another building." + +There was a little catch in her laugh. + +"And I watch it," she continued, "I watch it from the pine grove by the +hour. Sometimes it smiles, and sometimes it is sad, and sometimes it is +far, far away, so remote and mysterious that I wonder if it is ever to +come back and smile again." + +"Have you ever seen the sunrise from its peak?" said Austen. + +"No. Oh, how I should love to see it!" she exclaimed. + +"Yes, you would like to see it," he answered simply. He would like to +take her there, to climb, with her hand in his, the well-known paths in +the darkness, to reach the summit in the rosy-fingered dawn: to see her +stand on the granite at his side in the full glory of the red light, and +to show her a world which she was henceforth to share with him. + +Some such image, some such vision of his figure on the rock, may have +been in her mind as she turned her face again toward the mountain. + +"You are cold," he said, reaching for the mackintosh in the back of the +trap. + +"No," she said. But she stopped the horse and acquiesced by slipping her +arms into the coat, and he felt upon his hand the caress of a stray wisp +of hair at her neck. Under a spell of thought and feeling, seemingly +laid by the magic of the night, neither spoke for a space. And then +Victoria summoned her forces, and turned to him again. Her tone bespoke +the subtle intimacy that always sprang up between them, despite bars and +conventions. + +"I was sure you would understand why I wrote you from New York," she +said, "although I hesitated a long time before doing so. It was very +stupid of me not to realize the scruples which made you refuse to be a +candidate for the governorship, and I wanted to--to apologize." + +"It wasn't necessary," said Austen, "but--I valued the note." The words +seemed so absurdly inadequate to express his appreciation of the treasure +which he carried with him, at that moment, in his pocket. "But, really," +he added, smiling at her in the moonlight, "I must protest against your +belief that I could have been an effective candidate! I have roamed +about the State, and I have made some very good friends here and there +among the hill farmers, like Mr. Jenney. Mr. Redbrook is one of these. +But it would have been absurd of me even to think of a candidacy founded +on personal friendships. I assure you," he added, smiling, "there was no +self denial in my refusal." + +She gave him an appraising glance which he found at once enchanting and +disconcerting. + +"You are one of those people, I think, who do not know their own value. +If I were a man, and such men as Mr. Redbrook and Mr. Jenney knew me and +believed sufficiently in me and in my integrity of purpose to ask me to +be their candidate" (here she hesitated an instant), "and I believed that +the cause were a good one, I should not have felt justified in refusing. +That is what I meant. I have always thought of you as a man of force and +a man of action. But I did not see--the obstacle in your way." + +She hesitated once more, and added, with a courage which did not fail of +its direct appeal, "I did not realize that you would be publicly opposing +your father. And I did not realize that you would not care to criticise +--mine." + +On the last word she faltered and glanced at his profile. + +Had she gone too far? + +"I felt that you would understand," he answered. He could not trust +himself to speak further. How much did she know? And how much was she +capable of grasping? + +His reticence served only to fortify her trust--to elevate it. It was +impossible for her not to feel something of that which was in him and +crying for utterance. She was a woman. And if this one action had been +but the holding of her coat, she would have known. A man who could keep +silent under these conditions must indeed be a rock of might and honour; +and she felt sure now, with a surging of joy, that the light she had seen +shining from it was the beacon of truth. A question trembled on her +lips--the question for which she had long been gathering strength. +Whatever the outcome of this communion, she felt that there must be +absolute truth between them. + +"I want to ask you something, Mr. Vane--I have been wanting to for a long +time." + +She saw the muscles of his jaw tighten,--a manner he had when earnest or +determined,--and she wondered in agitation whether he divined what she +was going to say. He turned his face slowly to hers, and his eyes were +troubled. + +"Yes," he said. + +"You have always spared my feelings," she went on. "Now--now I am asking +for the truth--as you see it. Do the Northeastern Railroads wrongfully +govern this State for their own ends?" + +Austen, too, as he thought over it afterwards, in the night, was +surprised at her concise phrasing, suggestive; as it was, of much +reflection. But at the moment, although he had been prepared for and had +braced himself against something of this nature, he was nevertheless +overcome by the absolute and fearless directness of her speech. + +"That is a question," he answered, "which you will have to ask your +father." + +"I have asked him," she said, in a low voice; "I want to know what--you +believe." + +"You have asked him!" he repeated, in astonishment. + +"Yes. You mustn't think that, in asking you, I am unfair to him in any +way--or that I doubt his sincerity. We have been" (her voice caught a +little) "the closest friends ever since I was a child." She paused. +"But I want to know what you believe." + +The fact that she emphasized the last pronoun sent another thrill through +him. Did it, then, make any difference to her what he believed? Did she +mean to differentiate him from out of the multitude? He had to steady +himself before he answered:-- + +"I have sometimes thought that my own view might not be broad enough." + +She turned to him again. + +"Why are you evading?" she asked. "I am sure it is not because yon have +not settled convictions. And I have asked you--a favour." + +"You have done me an honour," he answered, and faced her suddenly. "You +must see," he cried, with a power and passion in his voice that startled +and thrilled her in turn, "you must see that it's because I wish to be +fair that I hesitate. I would tell you--anything. I do not agree with +my own father,--we have been--apart--for years because of this. And I +do--not agree with Mr. Flint. I am sure that they both are wrong. But I +cannot help seeing their point of view. These practices are the result +of an evolution, of an evolution of their time. They were forced to cope +with conditions in the way they did, or go to the wall. They make the +mistake of believing that the practices are still necessary to-day." + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, a great hope rising within her at these words. "Oh, +and you believe they are not!" His explanation seemed so simple, so +inspiring. And above and beyond that, he was sure. Conviction rang in +every word. Had he not, she remembered, staked his career by disagreeing +with his father? Yes, and he had been slow to condemn; he had seen their +side. It was they who condemned him. He must have justice--he should +have it! + +"I believe such practices are not necessary now," he said firmly. "A new +generation has come--a generation more jealous of its political rights, +and not so willing to be rid of them by farming them out. A change has +taken place even in the older men, like Mr. Jenney and Mr. Redbrook, who +simply did not think about these questions ten years ago. Men of this +type, who could be leaders, are ready to assume their responsibilities, +are ready to deal fairly with railroads and citizens alike. This is a +matter of belief. I believe it--Mr. Flint and my father do not. They +see the politicians, and I see the people. I belong to one generation, +and they to another. With the convictions they have, added to the fact +that they are in a position of heavy responsibility toward the owners of +their property, they cannot be blamed for hesitating to try any +experiments." + +"And the practices are--bad?" Victoria asked. + +"They are entirely subversive of the principles of American government, +to say the least," replied Austen, grimly. He was thinking of the pass +which Mr. Flint had sent him, and of the kind of men Mr. Flint employed +to make the practices effective. + +They descended into the darkness of a deep valley, scored out between the +hills by one of the rushing tributaries of the Blue. The moon fell down +behind the opposite ridge, and the road ran through a deep forest. He no +longer saw the shades of meaning in her face, but in the blackness of +Erebus he could have sensed her presence at his side. Speech, though of +this strange kind of which neither felt the strangeness, had come and +gone between them, and now silence spoke as eloquently. Twice or thrice +their eyes met through the gloom,--and there was light. At length she +spoke with the impulsiveness in her voice that he found so appealing. + +"You must see my father--you must talk to him. He doesn't know how fair +you are!" + +To Austen the inference was obvious that Mr. Flint had conceived for him +a special animosity, which he must have mentioned to Victoria, and this +inference opened the way to a wide speculation in which he was at once +elated and depressed. Why had he been so singled out? And had Victoria +defended him? Once before he remembered that she had told him he must +see Mr. Flint. They had gained the ridge now, and the moon had risen +again for them, striking black shadows from the maples on the granite- +cropped pastures. A little farther on was a road which might have been +called the rear entrance to Fairview. + +What was he to say? + +"I am afraid Mr. Flint has other things to do than to see me," he +answered. "If he wished to see me, he would say so." + +"Would you go to see him, if he were to ask you?" said Victoria. + +"Yes," he replied, "but that is not likely to happen. Indeed, you are +giving my opinion entirely too much importance in your father's eyes," he +added, with an attempt to carry it off lightly; "there is no more reason +why he should care to discuss the subject with me than with any other +citizen of the State of my age who thinks as I do." + +"Oh, yes, there is," said Victoria; "he regards you as a person whose +opinion has some weight. I am sure of that. He thinks of you as a +person of convictions--and he has heard things about you. You talked to +him once," she went on, astonished at her own boldness, "and made him +angry. Why don't you talk to him again?" she cried, seeing that Austen +was silent. "I am sure that what you said about the change of public +opinion in the State would appeal to him. And oh, don't quarrel with +him! You have a faculty of differing with people without quarrelling +with them. My father has so many cares, and he tries so hard to do right +as he sees it. You must remember that he was a poor farmer's son, and +that he began to work at fourteen in Brampton, running errands for a +country printer. He never had any advantages except those he made for +himself, and he had to fight his way in a hard school against men who +were not always honourable. It is no wonder that he sometimes takes--a +material view of things. But he is reasonable and willing to listen to +what other men have to say, if he is not antagonized." + +"I understand," said Austen, who thought Mr. Flint blest in his advocate. +Indeed, Victoria's simple reference to her father's origin had touched +him deeply. "I understand, but I cannot go to him. There is every +reason why I cannot," he added, and she knew that he was speaking with +difficulty, as under great emotion. + +"But if he should send for you?" she asked. She felt his look fixed upon +her with a strange intensity, and her heart leaped as she dropped her +eyes. + +"If Mr. Flint should send for me," he answered slowly, "I would come--and +gladly. But it must be of his own free will." + +Victoria repeated the words over to herself, "It must be of his own free +will," waiting until she should be alone to seek their full +interpretation. She turned, and looked across the lawn at Fairview House +shining in the light. In another minute they had drawn up before the +open door. + +"Won't you come in--and wait for Mr. Jenney?" she asked. + +He gazed down into her face, searchingly, and took her hand. + +"Good night," he said; "Mr. Jenney is not far behind. I think--I think I +should like the walk." + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MR. CREWE: AN APPRECIATION (1) + +It is given to some rare mortals--with whom fame precedes grey hairs or +baldness to read, while still on the rising tide of their efforts, that +portion of their lives which has already been inscribed on the scroll of +history--or something like it. Mr. Crewe in kilts at five; and +(prophetic picture!) with a train of cars which--so the family tradition +runs--was afterwards demolished; Mr. Crewe at fourteen, in delicate +health; this picture was taken abroad, with a long-suffering tutor who +could speak feelingly, if he would, of embryo geniuses. Even at this +early period Humphrey Crewe's thirst for knowledge was insatiable: he +cared little, the biography tells us, for galleries and churches and +ruins, but his comments upon foreign methods of doing business were +astonishingly precocious. He recommended to amazed clerks in provincial +banks the use of cheques, ridiculed to speechless station-masters the +side-entrance railway carriage with its want of room, and the size of the +goods trucks. He is said to have been the first to suggest that soda- +water fountains might be run at a large profit in London. + +In college, in addition to keeping up his classical courses, he found +time to make an exhaustive study of the railroads of the United States, +embodying these ideas in a pamphlet published shortly after graduation. +This pamphlet is now, unfortunately, very rare, but the anonymous +biographer managed to get one and quote from it. If Mr. Crewe's +suggestions had been carried out, seventy-five per cent of the railroad +accidents might have been eliminated. Thorough was his watchword even +then. And even at that period he foresaw, with the prophecy of genius, +the days of single-track congestion. + +His efforts to improve Leith and the State in general, to ameliorate the +condition of his neighbours, were fittingly and delicately dwelt upon. A +desire to take upon himself the burden of citizenship led--as we know--to +further self-denial. He felt called upon to go to the Legislature--and +this is what he saw:-- + +(Mr. Crewe is quoted here at length in an admirable, concise, and hair- +raising statement given in an interview to his biographer. But we have +been with him, and know what he saw. It is, for lack of space, +reluctantly omitted.) + +And now we are to take up where the biography left off; to relate, in a +chapter if possible, one of the most remarkable campaigns in the history +of this country. A certain reformer of whose acquaintance the honest +chronicler boasts (a reformer who got elected!) found, on his first visit +to the headquarters he had hired--two citizens under the influence of +liquor and a little girl with a skip rope. Such are the beginnings that +try men's souls. + +The window of every independent shopkeeper in Ripton contained a large- +sized picture of the Leith statesman, his determined chin slightly thrust +down into the Gladstone collar. Underneath were the words, "I will put +an end to graft and railroad rule. I am a Candidate of the People. +Opening rally of the People's Campaign at the Opera House, at 8 P.M., +July 10th. The Hon. Humphrey Crewe, of Leith, will tell the citizens of +Ripton how their State is governed." + +"Father," said Victoria, as she read this announcement (three columns +wide, in the Ripton Record) as they sat at breakfast together, "do you +mind my going? I can get Hastings Weare to take me." + +"Not at all," said Mr. Flint, who had returned from New York in a better +frame of mind. "I should like a trustworthy account of that meeting. +Only," he added, "I should advise you to go early, Victoria, in order to +get a seat." + +"You don't object to my listening to criticism of you?" + +"Not by Humphrey Crewe," laughed Mr. Flint. + +Early suppers instead of dinners were the rule at Leith on the evening of +the historic day, and the candidate himself, in his red Leviathan, was +not inconsiderably annoyed, on the way to Ripton, by innumerable +carryalls and traps filled with brightly gowned recruits of that +organization of Mrs. Pomfret's which Beatrice Chillingham had nicknamed +"The Ladies' Auxiliary.". In vain Mr. Crewe tooted his horn: the sound +of it was drowned by the gay talk and laughter in the carryalls, and +shrieks ensued when the Leviathan cut by with only six inches to spare, +and the candidate turned and addressed the drivers in language more +forceful than polite, and told the ladies they acted as if they were +going to a Punch-and-Judy show. + +"Poor dear Humphrey!" said, Mrs. Pomfret, "is so much in earnest. I +wouldn't give a snap for a man without a temper." + +"Poor dear Humphrey" said Beatrice Chillingham, in an undertone to her +neighbour, "is exceedingly rude and ungrateful. That's what I think." + +The occupants of one vehicle heard the horn, and sought the top of a +grassy mound to let the Leviathan go by. And the Leviathan, with +characteristic contrariness, stopped. + +"Hello," said Mr. Crewe, with a pull at his cap. "I intended to be on +the lookout for you." + +"That is very thoughtful, Humphrey, considering how many things you have +to be on the lookout for this evening," Victoria replied. + +"That's all right," was Mr. Crewe's gracious reply. "I knew you'd be +sufficiently broad-minded to come, and I hope you won't take offence at +certain remarks I think it my duty to make." + +"Don't let my presence affect you," she answered, smiling; "I have come +prepared for anything." + +"I'll tell Tooting to give you a good seat," he called back, as he +started onward. + +Hastings Weare looked up at her, with laughter-brimming eyes. + +"Victoria, you're a wonder!" he remarked. "Say, do you remember that +tall fellow we met at Humphrey's party, Austen Vane?" + +Yes." + +"I saw him on the street in Ripton the other day, and he came right up +and spoke to me. He hadn't forgotten my name. Now, he'd be my notion of +a candidate. He makes you feel as if your presence in the world meant +something to him." + +"I think he does feel that way," replied Victoria. + +"I don't blame him if he feels that way about you," said Hastings, who +made love openly. + +"Hastings," she answered, "when you get a little older, you will learn to +confine yourself to your own opinions." + +"When I do," he retorted audaciously, "they never make you blush like +that." + +"It's probably because you have never learned to be original," she +replied. But Hastings had been set to thinking. + +Mrs. Pomfret, with her foresight and her talent for management, had given +the Ladies' Auxiliary notice that they were not to go farther forward +than the twelfth row. She herself, with some especially favoured ones, +occupied a box, which was the nearest thing to being on the stage. One +unforeseen result of Mrs. Pomfret's arrangement was that the first eleven +rows were vacant, with the exception of one old man and five or six +schoolboys. Such is the courage of humanity in general! On the arrival +of the candidate, instead of a surging crowd lining the sidewalk, he +found only a fringe of the curious, whose usual post of observation was +the railroad station, standing silently on the curb. Within, Mr. +Tooting's duties as an usher had not been onerous. He met Mr. Crewe in +the vestibule, and drew him into the private office. + +"The railroad's fixed 'em," said the manager, indignantly, but sotto +voce; "I've found that out. Hilary Vane had the word passed around town +that if they came, somethin' would fall on 'em. The Tredways and all the +people who own factories served notice on their men that if they paid any +attention to this meeting they'd lose their job. But say, the people are +watchin' you, just the same." + +"How many people are in there?" Mr. Crewe demanded. + +"Twenty-seven, when I came out," said Mr. Tooting, with commendable +accuracy. "But it wants fifteen minutes to eight." + +"And who," asked Mr. Crewe, "is to introduce me?" + +An expression of indignation spread over Mr. Tooting's face. + +"There ain't a man in Ripton's got sand enough!" he exclaimed. "Sol +Gridley was a-goin' to, but he went to New York on the noon train. +I guess it's a pleasure trip," Mr. Tooting hinted darkly. + +"Why," said Mr. Crewe, "he's the fellow--" + +"Exactly," Mr. Tooting replied, "and he did get a lot of 'em, travelling +about. But Sol has got to work on the quiet, you understand. He feels +he can't come out right away." + +"And how about Amos Ricketts? Where's he?" + +"Amos," said Mr. Tooting, regretfully, "was taken very sudden about five +o'clock. One of his spells come on, and he sent me word to the Ripton +House. He had his speech all made up, and it was a good one, too. He +was going to tell folks pretty straight how the railroad beat him for +mayor." + +Mr. Crewe made a gesture of disgust. + +"I'll introduce myself," he said. "They all know me, anyhow." + +"Say," said Mr. Tooting, laying a hand on his candidate's arm. "You +couldn't do any better. I've bin for that all along." + +"Hold on," said Mr. Crewe, listening, "a lot of people are coming in +now." + +What Mr. Crewe had heard, however, was the arrival of the Ladies' +Auxiliary,--five and thirty strong, from Leith. But stay! Who are these +coming? More ladies--ladies in groups of two and three and five! ladies +of Ripton whose husbands, for some unexplained reason, have stayed at +home; and Mr. Tooting, as he watched them with mingled feelings, became a +woman's suffragist on the spot. He dived into the private office once +more, where he found Mr. Crewe seated with his legs crossed, calmly +reading a last winter's playbill. (Note for a more complete biography.) + +"Well, Tooting," he said, "I thought they'd begin to come." + +"They're mostly women," Mr. Tooting informed him. + +"Women!" + +"Hold on!" said Mr. Tooting, who had the true showman's instinct. "Can't +you see that folks are curious? They're afraid to come 'emselves, and +they're sendin' their wives and daughters. If you get the women tonight, +they'll go home and club the men into line." + +Eight strokes boomed out from the tower of the neighbouring town hall, +and an expectant flutter spread over the audience,--a flatter which +disseminated faint odours of sachet and other mysterious substances in +which feminine apparel is said to the laid away. The stage was empty, +save for a table which held a pitcher of water and a glass. + +"It's a pretty good imitation of a matinee," Hastings Weare remarked. +"I wonder whom the front seats are reserved for. Say, Victoria, there's +your friend Mr. Vane in the corner. He's looking over here." + +"He has a perfect right to look where he chooses," said Victoria. She +wondered whether he would come over and sit next to her if she turned +around, and decided instantly that he wouldn't. Presently, when she +thought Hastings was off his guard, she did turn, to meet, as she +expected, Austen's glance fixed upon her. Their greeting was the signal +of two people with a mutual understanding. He did not rise, and although +she acknowledged to herself a feeling of disappointment, she gave him +credit for a nice comprehension of the situation. Beside him was his +friend Tom Gaylord, who presented to her a very puzzled face. And then, +if there had been a band, it would have been time to play "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes!" + +Why wasn't there a band? No such mistake, Mr. Tooting vowed, should be +made at the next rally. + +It was Mrs. Pomfret who led the applause from her box as the candidate +walked modestly up the side aisle and presently appeared, alone, on the +stage. The flutter of excitement was renewed, and this time it might +almost be called a flutter of apprehension. But we who have heard Mr. +Crewe speak are in no alarm for our candidate. He takes a glass of iced +water; he arranges, with the utmost sangfroid, his notes on the desk and +adjusts the reading light. Then he steps forward and surveys the +scattered groups. + +"Ladies--" a titter ran through the audience,--a titter which started +somewhere in the near neighbourhood of Mr. Hastings Weare--and rose +instantly to several hysterical peals of feminine laughter. Mrs. +Pomfret, outraged, sweeps the frivolous offenders with her lorgnette; Mr. +Crewe, with his arm resting, on the reading-desk, merely raises the palm +of his hand to a perpendicular reproof,--and gentlemen." At this point +the audience is thoroughly cowed. Ladies and gentlemen and fellow +citizens. I thank you for the honour you have done me in coming here to +listen to the opening speech of my campaign to-night. It is a campaign +for decency and good government, and I know that the common people of the +State--of whom I have the honour to be one--demand these things. I +cannot say as much for the so-called prominent citizens," said Mr. Crewe, +glancing about him; "not one of your prominent citizens in Ripton would +venture to offend the powers that be by consenting to introduce me to- +night, or dared come into this theatre and take seats within thirty feet +of this platform." Here Mr. Crewe let his eyes rest significantly on the +eleven empty rows, while his hearers squirmed in terrified silence at +this audacity. Even the Ripton women knew that this was high treason +beneath the walls of the citadel, and many of them glanced furtively at +the strangely composed daughter of Augustus P. Flint. + +"I will show you that I can stand on my own feet," Mr. Crewe continued. +"I will introduce myself. I am Humphrey Crewe of Leith, and I claim to have +added something to the welfare and prosperity of this State, and I intend +to add more before I have finished." + +At this point, as might have been expected, spontaneous applause broke +forth, originating in the right-hand stage box. Here was a daring +defiance indeed, a courage of such a high order that it completely +carried away the ladies and drew reluctant plaudits from the male +element. "Give it to 'em, Humphrey!" said one of those who happened to +be sitting next to Miss Flint, and who received a very severe pinch in +the arm in consequence. + +"I thank the gentleman," answered Mr. Crewe, "and I propose to-- +(Handclapping and sachet.) I propose to show that you spend something +like two hundred thousand dollars a year to elect legislators and send +'em to the capital, when the real government of your State is in a room +in the Pelican Hotel known as the Railroad Room, and the real governor is +a citizen of your town, the Honourable Hilary Vane, who sits there and +acts for his master, Mr. Augustus P. Flint of New York. And I propose to +prove to you that, before the Honourable Adam B. Hunt appeared as that +which has come to be known as the 'regular' candidate, Mr. Flint sent for +him to go to New York and exacted certain promises from him. Not that it +was necessary, but the Northeastern Railroads never take any chances. +(Laughter.) The Honourable Adam B. Hunt is what they call a 'safe' man, +meaning by that a man who will do what Mr. Flint wants him to do. While +I am not 'safe' because I have dared to defy them in your name, and will +do what the people want me to do. (Clapping and cheers from a gentleman +in the darkness, afterwards identified as Mr. Tooting.) Now, my friends, +are you going to continue to allow a citizen of New York to nominate your +governors, and do you intend, tamely, to give the Honourable Adam B. Hunt +your votes?" + +"They ain't got any votes," said a voice--not that of Mr. Hastings Weare, +for it came from the depths of the gallery. + +"'The hand that rocks the cradle sways the world,'" answered Mr. Crewe, +and there was no doubt about the sincerity of the applause this time. + +"The campaign of the Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith," said the State +Tribune next day, "was inaugurated at the Opera House in Ripton last +night before an enthusiastic audience consisting of Mr. Austen Vane, Mr. +Thomas Gaylord, Jr., Mr. Hamilton Tooting, two reporters, and seventy- +four ladies, who cheered the speaker to the echo. About half of these +ladies were summer residents of Leith in charge of the well-known social +leader, Mrs. Patterson Pomfret,--an organized league which, it is +understood, will follow the candidate about the State in the English +fashion, kissing the babies and teaching the mothers hygienic cooking and +how to ondule the hair." + +After speaking for an hour and a half, the Honourable Humphrey Crewe +declared that he would be glad to meet any of the audience who wished to +shake his hand, and it was Mrs. Pomfret who reached him first. + +"Don't be discouraged, Humphrey,--you are magnificent," she whispered. + +"Discouraged!" echoed Mr. Crewe. "You can't kill an idea, and we'll see +who's right and who's wrong before I get through with 'em." + +"What a noble spirit!" Mrs. Pomfret exclaimed aside to Mrs. Chillingham. +Then she added, in a louder tone, "Ladies, if you will kindly tell me +your names, I shall be happy to introduce you to the candidate. Well, +Victoria, I didn't expect to see you here." + +"Why not?" said Victoria. "Humphrey, accept my congratulations." + +"Did you like it?" asked Mr. Crewe. "I thought it was a pretty good +speech myself. There's nothing like telling the truth, you know. And, +by the way, I hope to see you in a day or two, before I start for +Kingston. Telephone me when you come down to Leith." + +The congratulations bestowed on the candidate by the daughter of the +president of the Northeastern Railroads quite took the breath out of the +spectators who witnessed the incident, and gave rise to the wildest +conjectures. And the admiration of Mr. Hastings Weare was unbounded. + +"You've got the most magnificent nerve I ever saw, Victoria," he +exclaimed, as they made their way towards the door. + +"You forget Humphrey," she replied. + +Hastings looked at her and chuckled. In fact, he chuckled all the way +home. In the vestibule they met Mr. Austen Vane and Mr. Thomas Gaylord, +the latter coming forward with a certain palpable embarrassment. All +through the evening Tom had been trying to account for her presence at +the meeting, until Austen had begged him to keep his speculations to +himself. "She can't be engaged to him!" Mr. Gaylord had exclaimed more +than once, under his breath. "Why not?" Austen had answered; "there's a +good deal about him to admire." "Because she's got more sense," said +Tom doggedly. Hence he was at a loss for words when she greeted him. + +"Well, Mr. Gaylord," she said, "you see no bones were broken, after all. +But I appreciated your precaution in sending the buggy behind me, +although it wasn't necessary. + +"I felt somewhat responsible," replied Tom, and words failed him. +"Here's Austen Vane," he added, indicating by a nod of the head the +obvious presence of that gentleman. "You'll excuse me. There's a man +here I want to see." + +"What's the matter with Mr. Gaylord?" Victoria asked. "He seems so-- +queer." + +They were standing apart, alone, Hastings Weare having gone to the +stables for the runabout. + +"Mr. Gaylord imagines he doesn't get along with the opposite sex," Austen +replied, with just a shade of constraint. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Victoria; "we got along perfectly the other day +when he rescued me from the bushes. What's the matter with him?" + +Austen laughed, and their eyes met. + +"I think he is rather surprised to see you here," he said. + +"And you?" returned Victoria. "Aren't you equally out of place?" + +He did not care to go into an explanation of Tom's suspicion in regard to +Mr. Crewe. + +"My curiosity was too much for me," he replied, smiling. + +"So was mine," she replied, and suddenly demanded: "What did you think of +Humphrey's speech?" + +Their eyes met. And despite the attempted seriousness of her tone they +joined in an irresistible and spontaneous laughter. They were again on +that plane of mutual understanding and intimacy for which neither could +account. + +"I have no criticism to make of Mr. Crewe as an orator, at least," he +said. + +Then she grew serious again, and regarded him steadfastly. + +"And--what he said?" she asked. + +Austen wondered again at the courage she had displayed. All he had been +able to think of in the theatre, while listening to Mr. Crewe's words of +denunciation of the Northeastern Railroads, had been of the effect they +might have on Victoria's feelings, and from time to time he had glanced +anxiously at her profile. And now, looking into her face, questioning, +trustful--he could not even attempt to evade. He was silent. + +"I shouldn't have asked you that," she said. "One reason I came was +because--because I wanted to hear the worst. You were too considerate to +tell me--all." + +He looked mutely into her eyes, and a great desire arose in him to be +able to carry her away from it all. Many times within the past year, +when the troubles and complications of his life had weighed upon him, his +thoughts had turned to, that Western country, limited only by the bright +horizons where the sun rose and set. If he could only take her there, or +into his own hills, where no man might follow them! It was a primeval +longing, and, being a woman and the object of it, she saw its essential +meaning in his face. For a brief moment they stood as completely alone +as on the crest of Sawanec. + +"Good night," she said, in a low voice. + +He did not trust himself to speak at once, but went down the steps with +her to the curb, where Hastings Weare was waiting in the runabout. + +"I was just telling Miss Flint," said that young gentleman, "that you +would have been my candidate." + +Austen's face relaxed. + +"Thank you, Mr. Weare," he said simply; and to Victoria, "Good night." + +At the corner, when she turned, she saw him still standing on the edge of +the sidewalk, his tall figure thrown into bold relief by the light which +flooded from the entrance. The account of the Ripton meeting, +substantially as it appeared in the State Tribune, was by a singular +coincidence copied at once into sixty-odd weekly newspapers, and must +have caused endless merriment throughout the State. Congressman +Fairplay's prophecy of "negligible" was an exaggeration, and one +gentleman who had rashly predicted that Mr. Crewe would get twenty +delegates out of a thousand hid himself for shame. On the whole, the +"monumental farce" forecast seemed best to fit the situation. A +conference was held at Leith between the candidate, Mr. Tooting, and the +Honourable Timothy Watling of Newcastle, who was preparing the nominating +speech, although the convention was more than two months distant. Mr. +Watling was skilled in rounded periods of oratory and in other things +political; and both he and Mr. Tooting reiterated their opinion that +there was no particle of doubt about Mr. Crewe's nomination. + +"But we'll have to fight fire with fire," Mr. Tooting declared. It was +probably an accident that he happened to kick, at this instant, Mr. +Watling under cover of the table. Mr. Watling was an old and valued +friend. + +"Gentlemen," said Mr. Crewe, "I haven't the slightest doubt of my +nomination, either. I do not hesitate to say, however, that the expenses +of this campaign, at this early stage, seem to me out of all proportion. +Let me see what you have there." + +The Honourable Timothy Wading had produced a typewritten list containing +some eighty towns and wards, each followed by a name and the number of +the delegates therefrom--and figures. + +"They'd all be enthusiastic Crewe men--if they could be seen by the right +party," declared Mr. Tooting. + +Mr. Crewe ran his eye over the list. + +"Whom would you suggest to see 'em?" he asked coldly. + +"There's only one party I know of that has much influence over 'em," Mr. +Tooting replied, with a genial but deferential indication of his friend. + +At this point Mr. Crewe's secretary left the room on an errand, and the +three statesmen went into executive session. In politics, as in charity, +it is a good rule not to let one's right hand know what the left hand +doeth. Half an hour later the three emerged into the sunlight, Mr. +Tooting and Mr. Watling smoking large cigars. + +"You've got a great lay-out here, Mr. Crewe," Mr. Watling remarked. "It +must have stood you in a little money, eh? Yes, I'll get mileage books, +and you'll hear from me every day or two." + +And now we are come to the infinitely difficult task of relating in a +whirlwind manner the story of a whirlwind campaign--a campaign that was +to make the oldest resident sit up and take notice. In the space of four +short weeks a miracle had begun to show itself. First, there was the +Kingston meeting, with the candidate, his thumb in his watch-pocket, +seated in an open carriage beside Mr. Hamilton Tooting,--a carriage +draped with a sheet on which was painted "Down with Railroad Ring Rule." + +The carriage was preceded by the Kingston Brass Band, producing throbbing +martial melodies, and followed (we are not going to believe the State +Tribune any longer) by a jostling' and cheering crowd. The band halts +before the G.A.R. Hall; the candidate alights, with a bow of +acknowledgment, and goes to the private office until the musicians are +seated in front of the platform, when he enters to renewed cheering and +the tune of "See, the Conquering Hero Comes!" + +An honest historian must admit that there were two accounts of this +meeting. Both agree that Mr. Crewe introduced himself, and poured a +withering sarcasm on the heads of Kingston's prominent citizens. One +account, which the ill-natured declared to be in Mr. Tooting's style, and +which appeared (in slightly larger type than that of the other columns) +in the Kingston and local papers, stated that the hall was crowded to +suffocation, and that the candidate was "accorded an ovation which lasted +for fully five minutes." + +Mr. Crewe's speech was printed--in this slightly larger type. Woe to the +Honourable Adam B. Hunt, who had gone to New York to see whether he could +be governor! Why didn't he come out on the platform? Because he +couldn't. "Safe" candidates couldn't talk. His subservient and fawning +reports on accidents while chairman of the Railroad Commission were +ruthlessly quoted (amid cheers and laughter). What kind of railroad +service was Kingston getting compared to what it should have? Compared, +indeed, to what it had twenty years ago? An informal reception was held +afterwards. + +More meetings followed, at the rate of four a week, in county after +county. At the end of fifteen days a selectman (whose name will go down +in history) voluntarily mounted the platform and introduced the +Honourable Humphrey Crewe to the audience; not, to be sure, as the +saviour of the State; and from that day onward Mr. Crewe did not lack for +a sponsor. On the other hand, the sponsors became more pronounced, and +at Harwich (a free-thinking district) a whole board of selectmen and five +prominent citizens sat gravely beside the candidate in the town hall. + +(1) Paul Pardriff, Ripton. Sent post free, on application, to voters and +others. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Battles of selfish interests ebbed and flowed +A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds +His strength was his imperviousness to this kind of a remark +Many a silent tear of which they knew nothing +Politicians are politicians; they have always been corrupt + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Mr. Crewe's Career, V2 +by Winston Churchill + diff --git a/old/wc07v10.zip b/old/wc07v10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c7e8186 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wc07v10.zip diff --git a/old/wc07v11.txt b/old/wc07v11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cb3cc2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wc07v11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7592 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Mr. Crewe's Career, V2, by Churchill +#7 in our series by this Winston Churchill + +This author is a cousin of Sir Winston Churchill the Prime Minister + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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Somebody +has likened the state-house to pioneer Kentucky, a dark and bloody ground +over which the battles of selfish interests ebbed and flowed,--no place +for an innocent and unselfish bystander like Mr. Crewe, who desired only +to make of his State an Utopia; whose measures were for the public good-- +not his own. But if any politician were fatuous enough to believe that +Humphrey Crewe was a man to introduce bills and calmly await their fate; +a man who, like Senator Sanderson, only came down to the capital when he +was notified by telegram, that politician was entirely mistaken. + +No sooner had his bills been assigned to the careful and just +consideration of the committees in charge of the Honourable Brush Bascom, +Mr. Botcher, and others than Mr. Crewe desired of each a day for a +hearing. Every member of the five hundred was provided with a copy; nay, +nearly every member was personally appealed to, to appear and speak for +the measures. Foresters, road builders, and agriculturists (expenses +paid) were sent for from other States; Mr. Ball and others came down from +Leith, and gentlemen who for a generation had written letters to the +newspapers turned up from other localities. In two cases the largest +committee rooms proved too small for the gathering which was the result +of Mr. Crewe's energy, and the legislative hall had to be lighted. The +State Tribune gave column reports of the hearings, and little editorial +pushes besides. And yet, when all was over, when it had been proved +beyond a doubt that, if the State would consent to spend a little money, +she would take the foremost rank among her forty odd sisters for +progression, the bills were still under consideration by those hardheaded +statesmen, Mr. Bascom and Mr. Botcher and their associates. + +It could not be because these gentlemen did not know the arguments and +see the necessity. Mr. Crewe had had them to dinner, and had spent so +much time in their company presenting his case--to which they absolutely +agreed--that they took to a forced seclusion. The member from Leith also +wrote letters and telegrams, and sent long typewritten arguments and +documents to Mr. Flint. Mr. Crewe, although far from discouraged, began +to think there was something mysterious about all this seemingly +unnecessary deliberation. + +Mr. Crewe, though of great discernment, was only mortal, and while he was +fighting his battle single-handed, how was he to know that the gods above +him were taking sides and preparing for conflict? The gods do not give +out their declarations of war for publication to the Associated Press; +and old Tom Gaylord, who may be likened to Mars, had no intention of +sending Jupiter notice until he got his cohorts into line. The strife, +because it was to be internecine, was the more terrible. Hitherto the +Gaylord Lumber Company, like the Winona Manufacturing Company of +Newcastle (the mills of which extended for miles along the Tyne), had +been a faithful ally of the Empire; and, on occasions when it was needed, +had borrowed the Imperial army to obtain grants, extensions, and +franchises. + +The fact is that old Tom Gaylord, in the autumn previous, had quarreled +with Mr. Flint about lumber rates, which had been steadily rising. Mr. +Flint had been polite, but firm; and old Tom, who, with all his +tremendous properties, could ship by no other railroad than the +Northeastern, had left the New York office in a black rage. A more +innocent citizen than old Tom would have put his case (which was without +doubt a strong one) before the Railroad Commission of the State, but old +Tom knew well enough that the Railroad Commission was in reality an +economy board of the Northeastern system, as much under Mr. Flint's +orders as the conductors and brakemen. Old Tom, in consulting the map, +conceived an unheard-of effrontery, a high treason which took away the +breath of his secretary and treasurer when it was pointed out to him. +The plan contemplated a line of railroad from the heart of the lumber +regions down the south side of the valley of the Pingsquit to Kingston, +where the lumber could take to the sea. In short, it was a pernicious +revival of an obsolete state of affairs, competition, and if persisted +in, involved nothing less than a fight to a finish with the army, the +lobby of the Northeastern. Other favoured beings stood aghast when they +heard of it, and hastened to old Tom with timely counsel; but he had +reached a frame of mind which they knew well. He would listen to no +reason, and maintained stoutly that there were other lawyers in the world +as able in political sagacity and lobby tactics as Hilary Vane; the +Honourable Galusha Hammer, for instance, an old and independent and wary +war-horse who had more than once wrung compromises out of the Honourable +Hilary. The Honourable Galusha Hammer was sent for, and was now +industriously, if quietly and unobtrusively, at work. The Honourable +Hilary was likewise at work, equally quietly and unobtrusively. When the +powers fall out, they do not open up at once with long-distance +artillery. There is always a chance of a friendly settlement. The news +was worth a good deal, for instance, to Mr. Peter Pardriff (brother of +Paul, of Ripton), who refrained, with praiseworthy self-control, from +publishing it in the State Tribune, although the temptation to do so must +have been great. And most of the senatorial twenty saw the trouble +coming and braced their backs against it, but in silence. The capital +had seen no such war as this since the days of Jethro Bass. + +In the meantime Mr. Crewe, blissfully ignorant of this impending +conflict, was preparing a speech on national affairs and national issues +which was to startle an unsuspecting State. Mrs. Pomfret, who had +received many clippings and pamphlets, had written him weekly letters of +a nature spurring to his ambition, which incidentally contained many +references to Alice's interest in his career. And Mr. Crewe's mind, when +not intent upon affairs of State, sometimes reverted pleasantly to +thoughts of Victoria Flint; it occurred to him that the Duncan house was +large enough for entertaining, and that he might invite Mrs. Pomfret to +bring Victoria and the inevitable Alice to hear his oration, for which +Mr. Speaker Doby had set a day. + +In his desire to give other people pleasure, Mr. Crewe took the trouble +to notify a great many of his friends and acquaintances as to the day of +his speech, in case they might wish to travel to the State capital and +hear him deliver it. Having unexpectedly received in the mail a cheque +from Austen Vane in settlement of the case of the injured horse, Austen +was likewise invited. + +Austen smiled when he opened the letter, and with its businesslike +contents there seemed to be wafted from it the perfume and suppliance of +a September day in the Vale of the Blue. From the window of his back +office, looking across the railroad tracks, he could see Sawanec, pale in +her winter garb against a pale winter sky, and there arose in him the old +restless desire for the woods and fields which at times was almost +irresistible. His thoughts at length descending from the azure above +Sawanec, his eyes fell again on Mr. Crewe's typewritten words: "It may be +of interest to you that I am to deliver, on the 15th instant, and as the +Chairman of the House Committee on National Affairs, a speech upon +national policies which is the result of much thought, and which touches +upon such material needs of our State as can be supplied by the Federal +Government." + +Austen had a brief fancy, whimsical as it was, of going to hear him. Mr. +Crewe, as a type absolutely new to him, interested him. He had followed +the unusual and somewhat surprising career of the gentleman from Leith +with some care, even to the extent of reading of Mr. Crewe's activities +in the State Tribunes which had been sent him. Were such qualifications +as Mr. Crewe possessed, he wondered, of a kind to sweep their possessor +into high office? Were industry, persistency, and a capacity for taking +advantage of a fair wind sufficient? + +Since his return from Pepper County, Austen Vane had never been to the +State capital during a session, although it was common for young lawyers +to have cases before the Legislature. It would have been difficult to +say why he did not take these cases, aside from the fact that they were +not very remunerative. On occasions gentlemen from different parts of +the State, and some from outside of it who had certain favours to ask at +the hands of the lawmaking body, had visited his back office and closed +the door after them, and in the course of the conversation had referred +to the relationship of the young lawyer to Hilary Vane. At such times +Austen would freely acknowledge the debt of gratitude he owed his father +for being in the world--and refer them politely to Mr. Hilary Vane +himself. In most cases they had followed his advice, wondering not a +little at this isolated example of quixotism. + +During the sessions, except for a day or two at week ends which were +often occupied with conferences, the Honourable Hilary's office was +deserted; or rather, as we have seen, his headquarters were removed to +room Number Seven in the Pelican Hotel at the capital. Austen got many +of the lay clients who came to see his father at such times; and--without +giving an exaggerated idea of his income--it might be said that he was +beginning to have what may be called a snug practice for a lawyer of his +experience. In other words, according to Mr. Tooting, who took an +intense interest in the matter, "not wearing the collar" had been more of +a financial success for Austen than that gentleman had imagined. There +proved to be many clients to whom the fact that young Mr. Vane did not +carry a "retainer pass" actually appealed. These clients paid their +bills, but they were neither large nor influential, as a rule, with the +notable exception of the Gaylord Lumber Company, where the matters for +trial were not large. If young Tom Gaylord had had his way, Austen would +have been the chief counsel for the corporation. + +To tell the truth, Austen Vane had a secret aversion to going to the +capital during a session, a feeling that such a visit would cause him +unhappiness. In spite of his efforts, and indeed in spite of Hilary's, +Austen and his father had grown steadily apart. They met in the office +hallway, in the house in Hanover Street when Hilary came home to sleep, +and the elder Mr. Vane was not a man to thrive on small talk. His world +was the battlefield from which he directed the forces of the great +corporation which he served, and the cherished vision of a son in whom he +could confide his plans, upon whose aid and counsel he could lean, was +gone forever. Hilary Vane had troublesome half-hours, but on the whole +he had reached the conclusion that this son, like Sarah Austen, was one +of those inexplicable products in which an extravagant and inscrutable +nature sometimes indulged. On the rare evenings when the two were at +home together, the Honourable Hilary sat under one side of the lamp with +a pile of documents and newspapers, and Austen under the other with a +book from the circulating library. No public questions could be broached +upon which they were not as far apart as the poles, and the Honourable +Hilary put literature in the same category as embroidery. Euphrasia, +when she paused in her bodily activity to darn their stockings, used to +glance at them covertly from time to time, and many a silent tear of +which they knew nothing fell on her needle. + +On the subject of his protracted weekly absences at the State capital, +the Honourable Hilary was as uncommunicative as he would have been had he +retired for those periods to a bar-room. He often grunted and cleared +his throat and glanced at his son when their talk bordered upon these +absences; and he was even conscious of an extreme irritation against +himself as well as Austen because of the instinct that bade him keep +silent. He told himself fiercely that he had nothing to be ashamed of, +nor would he have acknowledged that it was a kind of shame that bade him +refrain even from circumstantial accounts of what went on in room Number +Seven of the Pelican. He had an idea that Austen knew and silently +condemned; and how extremely maddening was this feeling to the Honourable +Hilary may well be imagined. All his life long he had deemed himself +morally invulnerable, and now to be judged and ethically found wanting by +the son of Sarah Austen was, at times, almost insupportable. Were the +standards of a long life to be suddenly reversed by a prodigal son? + +To get back to Austen. On St. Valentine's Day of that year when, to tell +the truth, he was seated in his office scribbling certain descriptions of +nature suggested by the valentines in Mr. Hayman's stationery store, the +postman brought in a letter from young Tom Gaylord. Austen laughed as he +read it. "The Honourable Galusha Hammer is well named," young Tom wrote, +"but the conviction has been gaining ground with me that a hammer is +about as much use as a shovel would be at the present time. It is not +the proper instrument." "But the 'old man'" (it was thus young Tom was wont +to designate his parent) "is pig-headed when he gets to fighting, and +won't listen to reason. If he believes he can lick the Northeastern with +a Hammer, he is durned badly mistaken, and I told him so. I have been +giving him sage advice in little drops--after meals. I tell him there is +only one man in the State who has sense enough even to shake the +Northeastern, and that's you. He thinks this a pretty good joke. Of +course I realize where your old man is planted, and that you might have +some natural delicacy and wish to refrain from giving him a jar. But +come down for an hour and let me talk to you, anyway. The new statesman +from Leith is cutting a wide swath. Not a day passes but his voice is +heard roaring in the Forum; he has visited all the State institutions, +dined and wined the governor and his staff and all the ex-governors he +can lay his hands on, and he has that hard-headed and caustic journalist, +Mr. Peter Pardriff, of the State Tribune, hypnotized. He has some swells +up at his house to hear his speech on national affairs, among them old +Flint's daughter, who is a ripper to look at, although I never got nearer +to her than across the street. As you may guess, it is something of a +card for Crewe to have Flint's daughter here." + +Austen sat for a long time after reading this letter, idly watching the +snow-clouds gathering around Sawanec. Then he tore up the paper, on +which he had been scribbling, into very small bits, consulted a time- +table, and at noon, in a tumult of feelings, he found himself in a back +seat of the express, bound for the capital. + +Arriving at the station, amidst a hurry and bustle of legislators and +politicians coming and going, many of whom nodded to him, he stood for a +minute in the whirling snow reflecting. Now that he was here, where was +he to stay? The idea of spending the night at the Pelican was repellent +to him, and he was hesitating between two more modest hostelries when he +was hailed by a giant with a flowing white beard, a weather-beaten face, +and a clear eye that shone with a steady and kindly light. It was James +Redbrook, the member from Mercer. + +"Why, how be you, Austen?" he cried, extending a welcome hand; and, when +Austen had told him his dilemma: "Come right along up to my lodgings. I +live at the Widow Peasley's, and there's a vacant room next to mine." + +Austen accepted gratefully, and as they trudged through the storm up the +hill, he inquired how legislative matters were progressing. Whereupon +Mr. Redbrook unburdened himself. + +"Say, I just warmed up all over when I see you, Austen. I'm so glad to +run across an honest man. We ain't forgot in Mercer what you did for Zeb +Meader, and how you went against your interests. And I guess it ain't +done you any harm in the State. As many as thirty or forty members have +spoke to me about it. And down here I've got so I just can't hold in any +more." + +"Is it as bad as that, Mr. Redbrook?" asked Austen, with a serious glance +at the farmer's face. + +"It's so bad I don't know how to begin," said the member from Mercer, and +paused suddenly. "But I don't want to hurt your feelings, Austen, seeing +your father is--where he is." + +"Go on," said Austen, "I understand." + +"Well," said Mr. Redbrook, "it just makes me tremble as an American +citizen. The railrud sends them slick cusses down here that sit in the +front seats who know all this here parliamentary law and the tricks of +the trade, and every time any of us gets up to speak our honest minds, +they have us ruled out of order or get the thing laid on the table until +some Friday morning when there ain't nobody here, and send it along up to +the Senate. They made that fat feller, Doby, Speaker, and he's stuffed +all the important committees so that you can't get an honest measure +considered. You can talk to the committees all you've a mind to, and +they'll just listen and never do anything. There's five hundred in the +House, and it ain't any more of a Legislature than a camp-meetin' is. +What do you suppose they done last Friday morning, when there wahn't but +twenty men at the session? We had an anti-pass law, and all these +fellers were breakin' it. It forbid anybody riding on a pass except +railroad presidents, directors, express messengers, and persons in +misfortune, and they stuck in these words, 'and others to whom passes +have been granted by the proper officers.' Ain't that a disgrace to the +State? And those twenty senators passed it before we got back on +Tuesday. You can't get a bill through that Legislature unless you go up +to the Pelican and get permission of Hilary--" + +Here Mr. Redbrook stopped abruptly, and glanced contritely at his +companion. + +"I didn't mean to get goin' so," he said, "but sometimes I wish this +American government'd never been started." + +"I often feel that way myself, Mr. Redbrook," said Austen. + +"I knowed you did. I guess I can tell an honest man when I see one. +It's treason to say anything against this Northeastern louder than a +whisper. They want an electric railrud bad up in Greenacre, and when +some of us spoke for it and tried to get the committee to report it, +those cheap fellers from Newcastle started such a catcall we had to set +down." + +By this time they were at the Widow Peasley's, stamping the snow from off +their boots. + +"How general is this sentiment?" Austen asked, after he had set down his +bag in the room he was to occupy. + +"Why," said Mr. Redbrook, with conviction, "there's enough feel as I do +to turn that House upside down--if we only had a leader. If you was only +in there, Austen." + +"I'm afraid I shouldn't be of much use," Austen answered. "They'd have +given me a back seat, too." + +The Widow Peasley's was a frame and gabled house of Revolutionary days +with a little terrace in front of it and a retaining wall built up from +the sidewalk. Austen, on the steps, stood gazing across at a square +mansion with a wide cornice, half hidden by elms and maples and pines. +It was set far back from the street, and a driveway entered the picket- +fence and swept a wide semicircle to the front door and back again. +Before the door was a sleigh of a pattern new to him, with a seat high +above the backs of two long-bodied, deep-chested horses, their heads held +with difficulty by a little footman with his arms above him. At that +moment two figures in furs emerged from the house. The young woman +gathered up the reins and leaped lightly to the box, the man followed; +the little groom touched his fur helmet and scrambled aboard as the +horses sprang forward to the music of the softest of bells. The sleigh +swept around the curve, avoided by a clever turn a snow-pile at the +entrance, the young woman raised her eyes from the horses, stared at +Austen, and bowed. As for Austen, he grew warm as he took off his hat, +and he realized that his hand was actually trembling. The sleigh flew on +up the hill, but she turned once more to look behind her, and he still +had his hat in his hand, the snowflakes falling on his bared head. Then +he was aware that James Redbrook was gazing at him curiously. + +"That's Flint's daughter, ain't it?" inquired the member from Mercer. +"Didn't callate you'd know her." + +Austen flushed. He felt exceedingly foolish, but an answer came to him. + +"I met her in the hospital. She used to go there to see Zeb Meader." + +"That's so," said Mr. Redbrook; "Zeb told me about it, and she used to +come to Mercer to see him after he got out. She ain't much like the old +man, I callate." + +"I don't think she is," said Austen. + +"I don't know what she's stayin' with that feller Crewe for," the farmer +remarked; of all the etarnal darn idiots--why, Brush Bascom and that +Botcher and the rest of 'em are trailin' him along and usin' him for the +best thing that ever came down here. He sets up to be a practical man, +and don't know as much as some of us hayseeds in the back seats. Where +be you goin'?" + +"I was going to the Pelican." + +"Well, I've got a committee meetin' of Agriculture," said Mr. Redbrook. +"Could you be up here at Mis' Peasley's about eight to-night?" + +"Why, yes," Austen replied, "if you want to see me." + +"I do want to see you," said Mr. Redbrook, significantly, and waved a +farewell. + +Austen took his way slowly across the state-house park, threading among +the groups between the snow-banks towards the wide facade of the Pelican +Hotel. Presently he paused, and then with a sudden determination crossed +the park diagonally into Main Street, walking rapidly southward and +scrutinizing the buildings on either side until at length these began to +grow wide apart, and he spied a florist's sign with a greenhouse. behind +it. He halted again, irresolutely, in front of it, flung open the door, +and entered a boxlike office filled with the heated scents of flowers. A +little man eyed him with an obsequious interest which he must have +accorded to other young men on similar errands. Austen may be spared a +repetition of the very painful conversation that ensued; suffice it to +say that, after mature deliberation, violets were chosen. He had a +notion--not analyzed--that she would prefer violets to roses. The +information that the flowers were for the daughter of the president of +the Northeastern Railroads caused a visible quickening of the little +florist's regard, an attitude which aroused a corresponding disgust and +depression in Austen. + +"Oh, yes," said the florist, "she's up at Crewe's." He glanced at Austen +apologetically. "Excuse me," he said, "I ought to know you. Have you a +card?" + +"No," said Austen, with emphasis. + +"And what name, please?" + +"No name," said the donor, now heartily repenting of his rashness, and +slamming the glass door in a manner that made the panes rattle behind +him. + +As he stood hesitating on the curb of the crossing, he began to wish that +he had not left Ripton. + +"Hello, Austen," said a voice, which he recognized as the Honourable +Brush Bascom's, "didn't know you ever came down here in session time." + +"What are you doing down here, Brush?" Austen asked. + +Mr. Bascom grinned in appreciation of this pleasantry. + +"I came for my health," he said; "I prefer it to Florida." + +"I've heard that it agrees with some people," said Austen. + +Mr. Bascom grinned again. + +"Just arrived?" he inquired. + +"Just," said Austen. + +"I thought you'd get here sooner or later," said Mr. Bascom. "Some folks +try stayin' away, but it ain't much use. You'll find the honourable +Hilary doing business at the same old stand, next to the governor, in +Number Seven up there." And Mr. Bascom pointed to the well-known window +on the second floor. + +"Thanks, Brush," said Austen, indifferently. "To tell the truth, I came +down to hear that promising protege of yours speak on national affairs. +I understand you're pushing his bills along." + +Mr. Bascom, with great deliberation, shut one of his little eyes. + +"So long," he said, "come and see me when you get time." + +Austen went slowly down the street and entered the smoke-clouded lobby of +the Pelican. He was a man to draw attention, and he was stared at by +many politicians there and spoken to by some before he reached the +stairs. Mounting, he found the door with the numeral, and knocked. The +medley of voices within ceased; there were sounds of rattling papers, and +of closing of folding doors. The key turned in the lock, and State +Senator Nathaniel Billings appeared in the doorway, with a look of polite +inquiry on his convivial face. This expression, when he saw Austen, +changed to something like consternation. + +"Why, hello, hello," said the senator. "Come in, come in. The +Honourable Hilary's here. Where'd you come down?" + +"Hello, Nat," said Austen, and went in. + +The Honourable Hilary sat in his usual arm-chair; Mr. Botcher severely +strained the tensile strength of the bedsprings; Mr. Hamilton Tooting +stood before the still waving portieres in front of the folding doors; +and Mr. Manning, the division superintendent, sat pensively, with his pen +in his mouth, before the marble-topped table from which everything had +been removed but a Bible. Two gentlemen, whom Austen recognized as +colleagues of Mr. Billings in the State Senate, stood together in a +window, pointing out things of interest in the street. Austen walked up +to his father and laid a hand on his shoulder. + +"How are you, Judge?" he said. "I only came into pay my respects. I +hope I have not disturbed any--entertainment going on here," he added, +glancing in turn at the thoughtful occupants of the room, and then at the +curtains which hid the folding doors to the apartment of his Excellency. + +"Why, no," answered the Honourable Hilary, his customary grunt being the +only indication of surprise on his part; "didn't know you were coming +down." + +"I didn't know it myself until this morning," said Austen. + +"Legislative case, I suppose," remarked the Honourable Jacob Botcher, in +his deep voice. + +"No, merely a pleasure trip, Mr. Botcher." + +The Honourable Jacob rubbed his throat, the two State senators in the +window giggled, and Mr. Hamilton Tooting laughed. + +"I thought you took to the mountains in such cases, sir," said Mr. +Botcher. + +"I came for intellectual pleasure this time," said Austen. "I understand +that Mr. Crewe is to deliver an epoch-making speech on the national +situation to-morrow." + +This was too much even for the gravity of Mr. Manning; Mr. Tooting and +Mr. Billings and his two colleagues roared, though the Honourable Jacob's +laugh was not so spontaneous. + +"Aust," said Mr. Tooting, admiringly, you're all right." + +"Well, Judge," said Austen, patting his father's shoulder again, "I'm +glad to see you so comfortably fixed. Good-by, and give my regards to +the governor. I'm sorry to have missed him," he added, glancing at the +portieres that hid the folding doors. + +"Are you stopping here?" asked the Honourable Hilary. + +"No, I met Mr. Redbrook of Mercer, and he took me up to his lodgings. If +I can do anything for you, a message will reach me there." + +"Humph," said the Honourable Hilary, while the others exchanged +significant glances. + +Austen had not gone half the length of the hall when he was overtaken by +Mr. Tooting. + +"Say, Aust, what's up between you and Redbrook?" he asked. + +"Nothing. Why?" Austen asked, stopping abruptly. + +"Well, I suppose you know there's an anti-railroad feeling growing in +that House, and that Redbrook has more influence with the farmers than +any other man." + +"I didn't know anything about Mr. Redbrook's influence," said Austen. + +Mr. Tooting looked unconvinced. + +"Say, Aust, if anything's in the wind, I wish you'd let me know. I'll +keep it quiet." + +"I think I shall be safe in promising that, Ham," said Austen. "When +there's anything in the wind, you generally find it out first." + +"There's trouble coming for the railroad," said Mr. Tooting. "I can see +that. And I guess you saw it before I did." + +"They say a ship's about to sink when the rats begin to leave it," said +Austen. + +Although Austen spoke smilingly, Mr. Tooting looked pained. + +"There's no chance for young men in that system," he said. + +"Young men write the noble parts of the governor's inaugurals," said +Austen. + +"Yes," said Mr. Tooting, bitterly, "but you never get to be governor and +read 'em. You've got to be a 'come on' with thirty thousand dollars to +be a Northeastern governor and live next door to the Honourable Hilary in +the Pelican. Well, so long, Aust. If anything's up, give me the tip, +that's all I ask." + +Reflecting on the singular character of Mr. Tooting, Austen sought the +Gaylords' headquarters, and found them at the furthermost end of the +building from the Railroad Room. The door was opened by young Tom +himself, whose face became wreathed in smiles when he saw who the visitor +was. + +"It's Austen!" he cried. "I thought you'd come down when you got that +appeal of mine." + +Austen did not admit the self-sacrifice as he shook Tom's hand; but +remembered, singularly enough, the closing sentences of Tom's letter-- +which had nothing whatever to do with the Gaylord bill. + +At this moment a commotion arose within the room, and a high, tremulous, +but singularly fierce and compelling voice was heard crying out:-- + +"Get out! Get out, d-n you, all of you, and don't come back until you've +got some notion of what you're a-goin' to do. Get out, I say!" + +These last words were pronounced with such extraordinary vigour that four +gentlemen seemed to be physically impelled from the room. Three of them +Austen recognized as dismissed and disgruntled soldiers from the lobby +army of the Northeastern; the fourth was the Honourable Galusha Hammer, +whose mode of progress might be described as "stalking," and whose lips +were forming the word "intolerable." In the corner old Tom himself could +be seen, a wizened figure of wrath. + +"Who's that?" he demanded of his son, "another d-d fool?" + +"No," replied young Tom, "it's Austen Vane." + +"What's he doin' here?" old Tom demanded, with a profane qualification as +to the region. But young Tom seemed to be the only being capable of +serenity amongst the flames that played around him. + +"I sent for him because he's got more sense than Galusha and all the rest +of 'em put together," he said. + +"I guess that's so," old Tom agreed unexpectedly, "but it ain't sayin' +much. Bring him in--bring him in, and lock the door." + +In obedience to these summons, and a pull from young Tom, Austen entered +and sat down. + +"You've read the Pingsquit bill?" old Tom demanded. + +"Yes," said Austen. + +"Just because you won a suit against the Northeastern, and nearly killed +a man out West, Tom seems to think you can do anything. He wouldn't, +give me any peace until I let him send for you," Mr. Gaylord remarked +testily. "Now you're down here, what have you got to propose?" + +"I didn't come here to propose anything, Mr. Gaylord," said Austen. + +"What!" cried Mr. Gaylord, with one of his customary and forceful +exclamations. "What'd you come down for?" + +"I've been asking myself that question ever since I came, Mr. Gaylord," +said Austen, "and I haven't yet arrived at any conclusion." + +Young Tom looked at his friend and laughed, and Mr. Gaylord, who at first +gave every indication of being about to explode with anger, suddenly +emitted a dry cackle. + +"You ain't a d-n fool, anyway," he declared. + +"I'm beginning to think I am," said Austen. + +"Then you've got sense enough to know it," retorted old Tom. Most of +'em haven't." And his glance, as it fell upon the younger man, was +almost approving. Young Tom's was distinctly so. + +"I told you Austen was the only lawyer who'd talk common sense to you," +he said. + +"I haven't heard much of it yet," said old Tom. + +"Perhaps I ought to tell you, Mr. Gaylord," said Austen, smiling a +little, "that I didn't come down in any legal capacity. That's only one +of Tom's jokes." + +"Then what in h--l did you bring him in here for?" demanded old Tom of his +son. + +"Just for a quiet little powwow," said young Tom, "to make you laugh. +He's made you laugh before." + +"I don't want to laugh," said old Tom, pettishly. Nevertheless, he +seemed to be visibly cooling. "If you ain't in here to make money," he +added to Austen, "I don't care how long you stay." + +"Say, Austen," said young Tom, "do you remember the time we covered the +old man with shavings at the mills in Avalon, and how he chased us with a +two-by-four scantling?" + +"I'd made pulp out'n you if I'd got you," remarked Mr. Gaylord, with a +reminiscent chuckle that was almost pleasant. But you were always a +goldurned smart boy, Austen, and you've done well with them little +suits." He gazed at Austen a moment with his small, filmy-blue eye. "I +don't know but what you might take hold here and make it hot for those d- +d rascals in the Northeastern, after all. You couldn't botch it worsen +Hammer has, and you might do some good. I said I'd make 'em dance, and +by G-d, I'll do it, if I have to pay that Teller Levering in New York, +and it takes the rest of my life. Look the situation over, and come back +to-morrow and tell me what you think of it." + +"I can tell you what I think of it now, Mr. Gaylord," said Austen. + +"What's that?" old Tom demanded sharply. + +"That you'll never get the bill passed, this session or next, by +lobbying." + +For the moment the elder Mr. Gaylord was speechless, but young Tom +Gaylord clapped his hand heartily on his friend's shoulder. + +"That's the reason I wanted to get you down here, Austen," he cried; +that's what I've been telling the old man all along--perhaps he'll +believe you." + +"Then you won't take hold?" said Mr. Gaylord, his voice trembling on the +edge of another spasm. "You refuse business?" + +"I refuse that kind of business, Mr. Gaylord," Austen answered quietly, +though there was a certain note in his voice that young Tom knew well, +and which actually averted the imminent explosion from Mr. Gaylord, whose +eyes glared and watered. "But aside from that, you must know that the +Republican party leaders in this State are the heads of the lobby of the +Northeastern Railroads." + +"I guess I know about Number Seven as well as you do," old Tom +interjected. + +Austen's eye flashed. + +"Now hold on, father," said young Tom, "that's no way to talk to Austen." + +"Knowing Number Seven," Austen continued, "you probably realize that the +political and business future of nearly every one of the twenty State +senators depends upon the favour of the Northeastern Railroads." + +"I know that the d-d fools won't look at money," said Mr. Gaylord; +"Hammer's tried 'em." + +"I told you that before you started in," young Tom remarked, "but when +you get mad, you won't listen to sense. And then there's the Honourable +Asa Gray, who wants to represent the Northeastern some day in the United +States Senate." + +The bill ought to pass," shrieked old Tom; "it's a d-d outrage. There's +no reason why I shouldn't be allowed to build a railroad if I've got the +money to do it. What in blazes are we comin' to in this country if we +can't git competition? If Flint stops that bill, I'll buy a newspaper +and go to the people with the issue and throw his d-d monopoly into +bankruptcy." + +"It's all very well to talk about competition and monopolies and +lobbies," said young Tom, "but how about the Gaylord Lumber Company? How +about the time you used the lobby, with Flint's permission? This kind of +virtuous talk is beautiful to listen to when you and Flint get into a +row." + +At this remark of his son's, the intermittent geyser of old Tom's wrath +spouted up again with scalding steam, and in a manner utterly impossible +to reproduce upon paper. Young Tom waited patiently for the exhibition +to cease, which it did at length in a coughing fit of sheer exhaustion +that left his father speechless, if not expressionless, pointing a lean +and trembling finger in the direction of a valise on the floor. + +"You'll go off in a spell of that kind some day," said young Tom, opening +the valise and extracting a bottle. Uncorking it, he pressed it to his +father's lips, and with his own pocket-handkerchief (old Tom not +possessing such an article) wiped the perspiration from Mr. Gaylord's +brow and the drops from his shabby black coat. "There's no use gettin' +mad at Austen. He's dead right--you can't lobby this thing through, and +you knew it before you started. If you hadn't lost your temper, you +wouldn't have tried." + +"We'll see, by G-d, we'll see," said the indomitable old Tom, when he got +his breath. "You young men think you know a sight, but you haven't got +the stuff in you we old Tellers have. Where would I be if it wasn't for +fightin'? You mark my words, before this session's ended I'll scare h-l +out of Flint--see if I don't." + +Young Tom winked at his friend. + +"Let's go down to supper," he said. + +The dining room of the Pelican Hotel during a midweek of a busy session +was a scene of bustle and confusion not likely to be forgotten. Every +seat was taken, and gentlemen waited their turn in the marble-flagged +rotunda who had not the honour of being known to Mr. Giles, the head +waiter. If Mr. Hamilton Tooting were present, and recognized you, he +would take great pleasure in pointing out the celebrities, and especially +that table over which the Honourable Hilary Vane presided, with the +pretty, red-checked waitress hovering around it. At the Honourable +Hilary's right hand was the division superintendent, and at his left, Mr. +Speaker Doby--a most convenient and congenial arrangement; farther down +the board were State Senator Nat Billings, Mr. Ridout (when he did not +sup at home), the Honourables Brush Bascom and Elisha Jane, and the +Honourable Jacob Botcher made a proper ballast for the foot. This table +was known as the Railroad Table, and it was very difficult, at any +distance away from it, to hear what was said, except when the Honourable +Jacob Botcher made a joke. Next in importance and situation was the +Governor's Table--now occupied by the Honourable Asa Gray. Mr. Tooting's +description would not have stopped here. + +Sensations are common in the Pelican Hotel, but when Austen Vane walked +in that evening between the Gaylords, father and son, many a hungry guest +laid down his knife and fork and stared. Was the younger Vane (known to +be anti-railroad) to take up the Gaylords' war against his own father? +All the indications were that way, and a rumour flew from table to table- +leaping space, as rumours will--that the Gaylords had sent to Ripton for +Austen. There was but one table in the room the occupants of which +appeared not to take any interest in the event, or even to grasp that an +event had occurred. The Railroad Table was oblivious. + +After supper Mr. Tooting found Austen in the rotunda, and drew him +mysteriously aside. + +"Say, Aust, the Honourable Hilary wants to see you to-night," he +whispered. + +"Did he send you with the message?" Austen demanded. + +"That's right," said Mr. Tooting. "I guess you know what's up." + +Austen did not answer. At the foot of the stairway was the tall form of +Hilary Vane himself, and Austen crossed the rotunda. + +"Do you want to see me, Judge?" he asked. + +The Honourable Hilary faced about quickly. + +"Yes, if you've got any spare time." + +"I'll go to your room at half-past nine to-night, if that's convenient." + +"All right," said the Honourable Hilary, starting up the stairs. + +Austen turned, and found Mr. Hamilton Tooting at his elbow. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Mr. REDBROOK'S PARTY + +The storm was over, and the bare trees, when the moon shone between the +hurrying clouds, cast lacelike shadows on the white velvet surface of the +snow as Austen forged his way up the hill to the Widow Peasley's in +keeping with his promise to Mr. Redbrook. Across the street he paused +outside the picket-fence to gaze at the yellow bars of light between the +slats of the windows of the Duncan house. It was hard to realize that +she was there, within a stone's throw of where he was to sleep; but the +strange, half-startled expression in her eyes that afternoon and the +smile--which had in it a curious quality he could not analyze--were so +vivid in his consciousness as to give him pain. The incident, as he +stood there ankle-deep in the snow, seemed to him another inexplicable +and uselessly cruel caprice of fate. + +As he pictured her in the dining room behind Mr. Crewe's silver and cut +glass and flowers, it was undoubtedly natural that he should wonder +whether she were thinking of him in the Widow Peasley's lamp-lit cottage, +and he smiled at the contrast. After all, it was the contrast between +his life and hers. As an American of good antecedents and education, +with a Western experience thrown in, social gulfs, although awkward, +might be crossed in spite of opposition from ladies like the Rose of +Sharon,--who had crossed them. Nevertheless, the life which Victoria led +seemingly accentuated--to a man standing behind a picket-fence in the +snow--the voids between. + +A stamping of feet in the Widow Peasley's vestibule awoke in him that +sense of the ridiculous which was never far from the surface, and he made +his way thither in mingled amusement and pain. What happened there is of +interest, but may be briefly chronicled. Austen was surprised, on +entering, to find Mrs. Peasley's parlour filled with men; and a single +glance at their faces in the lamplight assured him that they were of a +type which he understood--countrymen of that rugged New England stock to +which he himself belonged, whose sons for generations had made lawyers +and statesmen and soldiers for the State and nation. Some were talking +in low voices, and others sat silent on the chairs and sofa, not +awkwardly or uncomfortably, but with a characteristic self-possession and +repose. Mr. Redbrook, towering in front of the stove, came forward. + +"Here you be," he said, taking Austen's hand warmly and a little +ceremoniously; "I asked 'em here to meet ye." + +"To meet me!" Austen repeated. + +"Wanted they should know you," said Mr. Redbrook. + +"They've all heard of you and what you did for Zeb." + +Austen flushed. He was aware that he was undergoing a cool and critical +examination by those present, and that they were men who used all their +faculties in making up their minds. + +"I'm very glad to meet any friends of yours, Mr. Redbrook," he said. +"What I did for Meader isn't worth mentioning. It was an absolutely +simple case." + +"Twahn't so much what ye did as how ye did it," said Mr. Redbrook. "It's +kind of rare in these days," he added, with the manner of commenting to +himself on the circumstance, "to find a young lawyer with brains that +won't sell 'em to the railrud. That's what appeals to me, and to some +other folks I know--especially when we take into account the situation +you was in and the chances you had." + +Austen's silence under this compliment seemed to create an indefinable +though favourable impression, and the member from Mercer permitted +himself to smile. + +"These men are all friends of mine, and members of the House," he said, +"and there's more would have come if they'd had a longer notice. Allow +me to make you acquainted with Mr. Widgeon of Hull." + +"We kind of wanted to look you over," said Mr. Widgeon, suiting the +action to the word. "That's natural ain't it?" + +"Kind of size you up," added Mr. Jarley of Wye, raising his eyes. +"Callate you're sizable enough." + +"Wish you was in the House," remarked Mr. Adams of Barren. "None of us +is much on talk, but if we had you, I guess we could lay things wide +open." + +"If you was thar, and give it to 'em as hot as you did when you was +talkin' for Zeb, them skunks in the front seats wouldn't know whether +they was afoot or hossback," declared Mr. Williams of Devon, a town +adjoining Mercer. + +"I used to think railrud gov'ment wahn't so bad until I come to the House +this time," remarked a stocky member from Oxford; "it's sheer waste of +money for the State to pay a Legislature. They might as well run things +from the New York office--you know that." + +"We might as well wear so many Northeastern uniforms with brass buttons," +a sinewy hill farmer from Lee put in. He had a lean face that did not +move a muscle, but a humorous gray eye that twinkled. + +In the meantime Mr. Redbrook looked on with an expression of approval +which was (to Austen) distinctly pleasant, but more or less mystifying. + +"I guess you ain't disappointed 'em much," he declared, when the round +was ended; "most of 'em knew me well enough to understand that cattle and +live stock in general, includin' humans, is about as I represent 'em to +be." + +"We have some confidence in your judgment, Brother Redbrook," answered +Mr. Terry of Lee, "and now we've looked over the goods, it ain't set back +any, I callate." + +This observation, which seemed to meet with a general assent, was to +Austen more mystifying than ever. He laughed. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I feel as though some expression of thanks were +due you for this kind and most unexpected reception." Here a sudden +seriousness came into his eyes which served, somehow, only to enhance his +charm of manner, and a certain determined ring into his voice. "You have +all referred to a condition of affairs," he added, "about which I have +thought a great deal, and which I deplore as deeply as you do. There is +no doubt that the Northeastern Railroads have seized the government of +this State for three main reasons: to throttle competition; to control +our railroad commission in order that we may not get the service and +safety to which we are entitled,--so increasing dividends; and to make +and maintain laws which enable them to bribe with passes, to pay less +taxes than they should, and to manipulate political machinery." + +"That's right," said Mr. Jarley of Wye, with a decided emphasis. + +"That's the kind of talk I like to hear," exclaimed Mr. Terry. + +"And nobody's had the gumption to fight 'em," said Mr. Widgeon. + +"It looks," said Austen, "as though it must come to a fight in the end. +I do not think they will listen to reason. I mean," he added, with a +flash of humour, "that they will listen to it, but not act upon it. +Gentlemen, I regret to have to say, for obvious reasons, something which +you all know, that my father is at the head of the Northeastern machine, +which is the Republican party organization." + +There was a silence. + +"You went again' him, and we honour you for it, Austen," said Mr. +Redbrook, at length. + +"I want to say," Austen continued, "that I have tried to look at things +as Mr. Vane sees them, and that I have a good deal of sympathy for his +point of view. Conditions as they exist are the result of an evolution +for which no one man is responsible. That does not alter the fact that +the conditions are wrong. But the railroads, before they consolidated, +found the political boss in power, and had to pay him for favours. The +citizen was the culprit to start with, just as he is the culprit now, +because he does not take sufficient interest in his government to make it +honest. We mustn't blame the railroads too severely, when they grew +strong enough, for substituting their own political army to avoid being +blackmailed. Long immunity has reenforced them in the belief that they +have but one duty to pay dividends. I am afraid," he added, "that they +will have to be enlightened somewhat as Pharaoh was enlightened." + +"Well, that's sense, too," said Mr. Widgeon; "I guess you're the man to +enlighten 'em." + +"Moderate talk appeals to me," declared Mr. Jarley. + +"And when that fails," said Mr. Terry, 'hard, tellin' blows." + +"Don't lose track of the fact that we've got our eye on you," said Mr. +Emerson of Oxford, who had a blacksmith's grip, and came back to renew it +after he had put on his overshoes. He was the last to linger, and when +the door had closed on him Austen turned to Mr. Redbrook. + +"Now what does all this mean?" he demanded. + +"It means," said Mr. Redbrook, "that when the time comes, we want you to +run for governor." + +Austen went to the mantelpiece, and stood for a long time with his back +turned, staring at a crayon portrait of Colonel Peasley, in the uniform +in which he had fallen at the battle of Gettysburg. Then he swung about +and seized the member from Mercer by both broad shoulders. + +"James Redbrook," he said, "until to-night I thought you were about as +long-headed and sensible a man as there was in the State." + +"So I be," replied Mr. Redbrook, with a grin. "You ask young Tom +Gaylord." + +"So Tom put you up to this nonsense." + +"It ain't nonsense," retorted Mr. Redbrook, stoutly, "and Tom didn't put +me up to it. It's the' best notion that ever came into my mind." + +Austen, still clinging to Mr. Redbrook's shoulders, shook his head +slowly. + +"James," he said, "there are plenty of men who are better equipped than I +for the place, and in a better situation to undertake it. I--I'm much +obliged to you. But I'll help. I've got to go," he added; "the +Honourable Hilary wants to see me." + +He went into the entry aud put on his overshoes and his coat, while James +Redbrook regarded him with a curious mingling of pain and benevolence on +his rugged face. + +"I won't press you now, Austen," he said, "but think on it. For God's +sake, think on it." + +Outside, Austen paused in the snow once more, his brain awhirl with a +strange exaltation the like of which he had never felt before. Although +eminently human, it was not the fact that honest men had asked him to be +their governor which uplifted him,--but that they believed him to be as +honest as themselves. In that hour he had tasted life as he had never +yet tasted it, he had lived as he might never live again. Not one of +them, he remembered suddenly, had uttered a sentence of the political +claptrap of which he had heard so much. They had spoken from the soul; +not bitterly, not passionately, but their words had rung with the +determination which had made their forefathers and his leave home, toil, +and kindred to fight and die at Bunker Hill and Gettysburg for a +principle. It had bean given him to look that eight into the heart of a +nation, and he was awed. + +As he stood there under the winter moon, he gradually became conscious of +music, of an air that seemed the very expression of his mood. His eyes, +irresistibly drawn towards the Duncan house, were caught by the +fluttering of lace curtains at an open window. The notes were those of a +piano,--though the instrument mattered little,--that with which they were +charged for him set the night wind quivering. It was not simple music, +although it had in it a grand simplicity. At times it rose, vibrant with +inexpressible feeling, and fell again into gentler, yearning cadences +that wrung the soul with a longing that was world-old and world-wide, +that reached out towards the unattainable stare--and, reaching, became +immortal. Thus was the end of it, fainting as it drifted heavenward. + +Then the window was closed. + +Austen walked on; whither, he knew not. After a certain time of which he +had no cognizance he found himself under the glaring arc-light that hung +over Main Street before the Pelican Hotel, in front of what was known as +the ladies' entrance. He slipped in there, avoiding the crowded lobby +with its shifting groups and its haze of smoke,--plainly to be seen +behind the great plates of glass,--went upstairs, and gained room Number. +Seven unnoticed. Then, after the briefest moment of hesitation, he +knocked. A voice responded--the Honourable Hilary's. There was but one +light burning in the room, and Mr. Vane sat in his accustomed chair in +the corner, alone. He was not reading, nor was he drowsing, but his head +was dropped forward a little on his breast. He raised it slowly at his +son's entrance, and regarded Austen fixedly, though silently. + +"You wanted to see me, Judge?" said Austen. + +"Come at last, have you?" said Mr. Vane. + +"I didn't intend to be late," said Austen. + +"Seem to have a good deal of business on hand these days," the Honourable +Hilary remarked. + +Austen took a step forward, and stopped. Mr. Vane was preparing a piece +of Honey Dew. + +"If you would like to know what the business was, Judge, I am here to +tell you." + +The Honourable Hilary grunted. + +"I ain't good enough to be confided in, I guess," he said; "I wouldn't +understand motives from principle." + +Austen looked at his father for a few moments in silence. To-night he +seemed at a greater distance than ever before, and more lonely than ever. +When Austen had entered the room and had seen him sitting with his head +bowed forward, the hostility of months of misunderstanding had fallen +away from the son, and he had longed to fly to him as he had as a child +after punishment. Differences in after life, alas, are not always to be +bridged thus. + +"Judge," he said slowly, with an attempt to control his voice, wouldn't +it have been fairer to wait awhile, before you made a remark like that? +Whatever our dealings may have been, I have never lied to you. Anything +you may want to know, I am here to tell you." + +"So you're going to take up lobbying, are you? I had a notion you were +above lobbying." + +Austen was angered. But like all men of character, his face became stern +under provocation, and he spoke more deliberately. + +"Before eve go any farther," he said, "would you mind telling me who your +informant is on this point?" + +"I guess I don't need an informant. My eyesight is as good as ever," +said the Honourable Hilary. + +"Your deductions are usually more accurate. If any one has told you that +I am about to engage in lobbying, they have lied to you." + +"Wouldn't engage in lobbying, would you?" the Honourable Hilary asked, +with the air of making a casual inquiry. + +Austen flushed, but kept his temper. + +"I prefer the practice of law," he replied. + +"Saw you were associatin' with saints," his father remarked. + +Austen bit his lip, and then laughed outright,--the canonization of old +Tom Gaylord being too much for him. + +"Now, Judge," he said, "it isn't like you to draw hasty conclusions. +Because I sat down to supper with the Gaylords it isn't fair to infer +that they have retained me in a legislative case." + +The Honourable Hilary did not respond to his son's humour, but shifted +the Honey Dew to the left cheek. + +"Old Tom going in for reform?" + +"He may bring it about," answered Austen, instantly becoming serious +again, "whether he's going in for it or not." + +For the first time the Honourable Hilary raised his eyes to his son's +face, and shot at him a penetrating look of characteristic shrewdness. +But he followed in conversation the same rule as in examining a witness, +rarely asking a direct question, except as a tactical surprise. + +"Old Tom ought to have his railroad, oughtn't he?" + +"So far as I can see, it would be a benefit to the people of that part of +the State," said Austen. + +"Building it for the people, is he?" + +"His motive doesn't count. The bill should be judged on its merits, and +proper measures for the safeguarding of public interests should be put +into it." + +"Don't think the bill will be judged on its merits, do you?" + +"No, I don't," replied Austen, "and neither do you." + +"Did you tell old Tom so?" asked Mr. Vane, after a pause. "Did you tell +old Tom so when he sent for you to take hold?" + +"He didn't send for me," answered Austen, quietly, "and I have no +business dealings with him except small suits. What I did tell him was +that he would never get the bill through this session or next by +lobbying." + +The Honourable Hilary never showed surprise. He emitted a grunt which +evinced at once impatience and amusement. + +"Why not?" he asked. + +"Well, Judge, I'll tell you what I told him--although you both know. +It's because the Northeastern owns the Republican party machine, which is +the lobby, and because most of the twenty State senators are dependent +upon the Northeastern for future favours." + +"Did you tell Tom Gaylord that?" demanded Mr. Vane. "What did he say?" + +Austen braced himself. He did not find the answer easy. + +"He said he knew about Number Seven as well as I did." + +The Honourable Hilary rose abruptly--perhaps in some secret agitation-- +Austen could not discern. His father walked as far as the door, and +turned slowly and faced him, but he did not speak. His mouth was tightly +closed, almost as in pain, and Austen went towards him, appealingly. + +"Judge," he said, "you sent for me. You have asked me questions which I +felt obliged in honesty to answer. God knows I don't wish to differ with +you, but circumstances seem always against us. I will talk plainly, if +you will let me. I try to look at things from your point of view. I +know that you believe that a political system should go hand in hand with +the great commercial system which you are engaged in building. I +disagree with your beliefs, but I do not think that your pursuit of them +has not been sincere, and justified by your conscience. I suppose that +you sent for me to know whether Mr. Gaylord has employed me to lobby for +his bill. He has not, because I refused that employment. But I will +tell you that, in my opinion, if a man of any ability whatever should get +up on the floor of the House and make an argument for the Pingsquit bill, +the sentiment against the Northeastern and its political power is so +great that the House would compel the committee to report the bill, and +pass it. You probably know this already, but I mention it for your own +good if you do not, in the hope that, through you, the Northeastern +Railroads may be induced to relax their grip upon the government of this +State." + +The Honourable Hilary advanced, until only the marble-topped table was +between himself and his son. A slight noise in the adjoining room caused +him to turn his head momentarily. Then he faced Austen again. + +"Did you tell Gaylord this?" he asked. + +Austen made a gesture of distaste, and turned away. + +"No," he said, "I reserved the opinion, whatever it is worth, for your +ears alone." + +"I've heard that kind of calculation before," said the Honourable Hilary. +"My experience is that they never come to much. As for this nonsense +about the Northeastern Railroads running things," he added more +vigorously, "I guess when it's once in a man's head there's no getting it +out. The railroad employs the best lawyers it can find to look after its +interests. I'm one of 'em, and I'm proud of it. If I hadn't been one of +'em, the chances are you'd never be where you are, that you'd never have +gone to college and the law school. The Republican party realizes that +the Northeastern is most vitally connected with the material interests of +this State; that the prosperity of the road means the prosperity of the +State. And the leaders of the party protect the road from vindictive +assaults on it like Gaylord's, and from scatterbrains and agitators like +your friend Redbrook." + +Austen shook his head sadly as he gazed at his father. He had always +recognized the futility of arguments, if argument on this point ever +arose between them. + +"It's no use, Judge," he said. "If material prosperity alone were to be +considered, your contention would have some weight. The perpetuation of +the principle of American government has to be thought of. Government by +a railroad will lead in the end to anarchy. You are courting destruction +as it is." + +"If you came in here to quote your confounded Emerson--" the Honourable +Hilary began, but Austen slipped around the table and took him by the arm +and led him perforce to his chair. + +"No, Judge, that isn't Emerson," he answered. "It's just common sense, +only it sounds to you like drivel. I'm going now,--unless you want to +hear some more about the plots I've been getting into. But I want to say +this. I ask you to remember that you're my father, and that--I'm fond of +you. And that, if you and I happen to be on opposite sides, it won't +make any difference as far as my feelings are concerned. I'm always +ready to tell you frankly what I'm doing, if you wish to know. Good-by. +I suppose I'll see you in Ripton at the end of the week." And he pressed +his father's shoulder. + +Mr. Vane looked up at his son with a curious expression. Perhaps (as +when Austen returned from the shooting of Mr. Blodgett in the West) there +was a smattering of admiration and pride in that look, and something of +an affection which had long ceased in its strivings for utterance. It +was the unconscious tribute, too,--slight as was its exhibition,--of the +man whose life has been spent in the conquest of material things to the +man who has the audacity, insensate though it seem, to fling these to the +winds in his search after ideals. + +"Good-by, Austen," said Mr. Vane. + +Austen got as far as the door, cast another look back at his father,--who +was sitting motionless, with head bowed, as when he came,--and went out. +So Mr. Vane remained for a full minute after the door had closed, and +then he raised his head sharply and gave a piercing glance at the +curtains that separated Number Seven from the governor's room. In three +strides he had reached them, flung them open, and the folding doors +behind them, already parted by four inches. The gas was turned low, but +under the chandelier was the figure of a young man struggling with an +overcoat. The Honourable Hilary did not hesitate, but came forward with +a swiftness that paralyzed the young man, who turned upon him a face on +which was meant to be written surprise and a just indignation, but in +reality was a mixture of impudence and pallid fright. The Honourable +Hilary, towering above him, and with that grip on his arm, was a +formidable person. + +"Listening, were you, Ham?" he demanded. + +"No," cried Mr. Tooting, with a vehemence he meant for force. "No, I +wasn't. Listening to who?" + +"Humph!" said the Honourable Hilary, still retaining with one hand the +grip on Mr. Tooting 's arm, and with the other turning up the gas until +it flared in Mr. Tooting's face. "What are you doing in the governor's +room?" + +"I left my overcoat in here this afternoon when you sent me to bring up +the senator." + +"Ham," said Mr. Vane, "it isn't any use lying to me." + +"I ain't lying to you," said Mr. Tooting, "I never did. I often lied for +you," he added, "and you didn't raise any objections that I remember." + +Mr. Vane let go of the arm contemptuously. + +"I've done dirty work for the Northeastern for a good many years," cried +Mr. Tooting, seemingly gaining confidence now that he was free; "I've +slaved for 'em, and what have they done for me? They wouldn't even back +me for county solicitor when I wanted the job." + +"Turned reformer, Ham?" + +"I guess I've got as much right to turn reformer as some folks I know." + +"I guess you have," agreed the Honourable Hilary; unexpectedly. He +seated himself on a chair, and proceeded to regard Mr. Tooting in a +manner extremely disconcerting to that gentleman. This quality of +impenetrability, of never being sure when he was angry, had baffled more +able opponents of Hilary Vane than Mr. Hamilton Tooting. + +"Good-night, Ham." + +"I want to say--" Mr. Tooting began. + +"Good-night, Ham," said Mr. Vane, once more. + +Mr. Tooting looked at him, slowly buttoned up his overcoat, and departed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE REALM OF PEGASUS + +The eventful day of Mr. Humphrey Crewe's speech on national affairs +dawned without a cloud in the sky. The snow was of a dazzling whiteness +and sprinkled with diamond dust; and the air of such transcendent +clearness that Austen could see--by leaning a little out of the Widow +Peasley's window--the powdered top of Holdfast Mountain some thirty miles +away. For once, a glance at the mountain sufficed him; and he directed +his gaze through the trees at the Duncan house, engaging in a pleasant +game of conjecture as to which was her window. In such weather the +heights of Helicon seemed as attainable as the peak of Holdfast; and he +had but to beckon a shining Pegasus from out a sun-shaft in the sky. +Obstacles were mere specks on the snow. + +He forgot to close the window, and dressed in a temperature which would +have meant, for many mortals, pneumonia. The events of yesterday; +painful and agitating as they had been, had fallen away in the prospect +that lay before him--he would see her to-day, and speak with her. These +words, like a refrain; were humming in his head as honest Mr. Redbrook +talked during breakfast, while Austen's answers may have been both +intelligent and humorous. Mr. Redbrook, at least; gave no sign that they +were not. He was aware that Mr. Redbrook was bringing arguments to bear +on the matter of the meeting of the evening before, but he fended these +lightly, while in spirit he flung a gem-studded bridle aver the neck of +Pegasus. + +And after breakfast--away from the haunts of men! Away from the +bickerings, the subjection of mean spirits; material loss and gain and +material passion! By eight o'clock (the Widow Peasley's household being +an early and orderly one) he was swinging across the long hills, cleaving +for himself a furrowed path in the untrodden snow, breathing deep as he +gazed across the blue spaces from the crests. Bellerophon or Perseus, +aided by immortals, felt no greater sense of achievements to come than +he. Out here, on the wind-swept hills that rolled onward and upward to +the mountains, the world was his. + +With the same speed he returned, still by untrodden paths until he +reached the country road that ended in the city street. Some who saw him +paused in their steps, caught unconsciously by the rhythmic perfection of +his motion. Ahead of him he beheld the state-house, its dial aflame in +the light, emblematic to him of the presence within it of a spirit which +cleansed it of impurities. She would be there; nay, when he looked at +the dial from a different angle, was there. As he drew nearer, there +rose out of the void her presence beside him which he had daily tried to +summon since that autumn afternoon--her voice and her eyes, and many of +the infinite expressions of each and both. Sprites that they were, they +had failed him until to-day, when he was to see her again! + +And then, somehow, he had threaded the groups beside the battle-flags in +the corridor, and mounted the stairway. The doorkeeper of the House +looked into his face, and, with that rare knowledge of mankind which +doorkeepers possess, let him in. There were many ladies on the floor +(such being the chivalrous custom when a debate or a speech of the +importance of Mr. Crewe's was going on), but Austen swept them with a +glance of disappointment. Was it possible, after all, that she had not +come, or--more agitating thought--had gone back to New York? + +At this disturbing point in his reflections Austen became aware that the +hall was ringing with a loud and compelling voice which originated in +front of the Speaker's desk. + +The Honourable Humphrey Crewe was delivering his long-heralded speech on +national affairs, and was arrayed for the occasion in a manner befitting +the American statesman, with the conventional frock coat, which he wore +unbuttoned. But the Gladstone collar and a tie gave the touch of +individuality to his dress which was needed to set him aside as a marked +man. Austen suddenly remembered, with an irresistible smile, that one of +the reasons which he had assigned for his visit to the capital was to +hear this very speech, to see how Mr. Crewe would carry off what appeared +to be a somewhat difficult situation. Whether or not this motive had +drawn others,--for the millionaire's speech had not lacked +advertisement,--it is impossible to say, but there was standing room only +on the floor of the House that day. + +The fact that Mr. Crewe was gratified could not be wholly concealed. The +thing that fascinated Austen Vane and others who listened was the aplomb +with which the speech was delivered. The member from Leith showed no +trace of the nervousness naturally to be expected in a maiden effort, but +spoke with the deliberation of an old campaigner, of the man of weight +and influence that he was. He leaned, part of the time, with his elbow +on the clerk's desk, with his feet crossed; again, when he wished to +emphasize a point, he came forward and seized with both hands the back of +his chair. Sometimes he thrust his thumb in his waistcoat pocket, and +turned with an appeal to Mr. Speaker Doby, who was apparently too +thrilled and surprised to indulge in conversation with those on the bench +beside him, and who made no attempt to quell hand-clapping and even +occasional whistling; again, after the manner of experts, Mr. Crewe +addressed himself forcibly to an individual in the audience, usually a +sensitive and responsive person like the Honourable Jacob Botcher, who on +such occasions assumed a look of infinite wisdom and nodded his head +slowly. There was no doubt about it that the compelling personality of +Mr. Humphrey Crewe was creating a sensation. Genius is sure of itself, +and statesmen are born, not made. + +Able and powerful as was Mr. Crewe's discourse, the man and not the words +had fastened the wandering attention of Austen Vane. He did not perceive +his friend of the evening before, Mr. Widgeon, coming towards him up the +side aisle, until he felt a touch on the arm. + +"Take my seat. It ain't exactly a front one," whispered the member from +Hull, "my wife's cousin's comin' on the noon train. Not a bad speech, is +it?" he added. "Acts like a veteran. I didn't callate he had it in +him." + +Thus aroused, Austen made his way towards the vacant chair, and when he +was seated raised his eyes to the gallery rail, and Mr. Crewe, the +legislative chamber, and its audience ceased to exist. It is quite +impossible--unless one is a poetical genius--to reproduce on paper that +gone and sickly sensation which is, paradoxically, so exquisite. The +psychological cause of it in this instance was, primarily, the sight, by +Austen Vane, of his own violets on a black, tailor-made gown trimmed with +wide braid, and secondarily of an oval face framed in a black hat, the +subtle curves of which no living man could describe. The face was turned +in his direction, and he felt an additional thrill when he realized that +she must have been watching him as he came in, for she was leaning +forward with a gloved hand on the railing. + +He performed that act of conventionality known as a bow, and she nodded +her head--black hat and all. The real salutation was a divine ray which +passed between their eyes--hers and his--over the commonplace mortals +between. And after that, although the patient legislative clock in the +corner which had marked the space of other great events (such as the +Woodchuck Session) continued to tick, undisturbed in this instance by the +pole of the sergeant-at-arms, time became a lost dimension for Austen +Vane. He made a few unimportant discoveries such as the fact that Mrs. +Pomfret and her daughter were seated beside Victoria, listening with a +rapt attention; and that Mr. Crewe had begun to read statistics; and that +some people were gaping and others leaving. He could look up at the +gallery without turning his head, and sometimes he caught her momentary +glance, and again, with her chin in her hand, she was watching Mr. Crewe +with a little smile creasing the corners of her eyes. + +A horrible thought crossed Austen's mind--perhaps they were not his +violets after all! Because she had smiled at him, yesterday and to-day, +he had soared heavenwards on wings of his own making. Perhaps they were +Mr. Crewe's violets. Had she not come to visit Mr. Crewe, to listen to +his piece de resistance, without knowing that he, Austen Vane, would be +in the capital? The idea that her interest in Austen Vane was possibly +connected with the study of mankind had a sobering effect on him; and the +notion that she had another sort of interest in Mr. Crewe seemed +ridiculous enough, but disturbing, and supported by feats. + +Austen had reached this phase in his reflections when he was aroused by a +metallic sound which arose above the resonant tones of the orator of the +day. A certain vessel, to the use of which, according to Mr. Dickens, +the satire male portion of the American nation was at one time addicted,- +-a cuspidor, in plain language,--had been started, by some unknown agency +in the back seats, rolling down the centre aisle, and gathering impetus +as it went, bumped the louder on each successive step until it hurled +itself with a clash against the clerk's desk, at the feet of the orator +himself. During its descent a titter arose which gradually swelled into +a roar of laughter, and Austen's attention was once more focused upon the +member from Leith. But if any man had so misjudged the quality of +Humphrey Crewe as to suppose for an instant that he could be put out of +countenance by such a manoeuvre, that man was mightily mistaken. Mr. +Crewe paused, with his forefinger on the page, and fixed a glassy eye on +the remote neighbourhood in the back seats where the disturbance had +started. + +"I am much obliged to the gentleman," he said coldly, "but he has sent me +an article which I never use, under any conditions. I would not deprive +him of its convenience." + +Whereupon, it is not too much to say, Mr. Crews was accorded an ovation, +led by his stanch friend and admirer, the Honourable Jacob Botcher, +although that worthy had been known to use the article in question. + +Mr. Speaker Doby glanced at the faithful clock, and arose majestically. + +"I regret to say," he announced, "that the time of the gentleman from +Leith is up." + +Mr. Botcher rose slowly to his feet. + +"Mr. Speaker," he began, in a voice that rumbled through the crevices of +the gallery, "I move you, sir, that a vote of thanks be accorded to the +gentleman from Leith for his exceedingly able and instructive speech on +national affairs." + +"Second the motion," said the Honourable Brush Bascom, instantly. + +"And leave to print in the State Tribune!" cried a voice from somewhere +among the submerged four hundred and seventy. + +"Gentlemen of the House," said Mr. Crewe, when the laughter had subsided, +"I have given you a speech which is the result of much thought and +preparation on my part. I have not flaunted the star-spangled banner in +your faces, or indulged in oratorical fireworks. Mine have been the +words of a plain business man, and I have not indulged in wild +accusations or flights of imagination. Perhaps, if I had," he added, +"there are some who would have been better pleased. I thank my friends +for their kind attention and approbation." + +Nevertheless, amidst somewhat of a pandemonium, the vote of thanks was +given and the House adjourned; while Mr. Crewe's friends of whom he had +spoken could be seen pressing around him and shaking him by the hand. +Austen got to his feet, his eyes again sought the gallery, whence he +believed he received a look of understanding from a face upon which +amusement seemed plainly written. She had turned to glance down at him, +despite the fact that Mrs. Pomfret was urging her to leave. Austen +started for the door, and managed to reach it long before his neighbours +had left the vicinity of their seats. Once in the corridor, his eye +singled her out amongst those descending the gallery stairs, and he had a +little thrill of pride and despair when he realized that she was the +object of the scrutiny, too, of the men around him; the women were +interested, likewise, in Mrs. Pomfret, whose appearance, although +appropriate enough for a New York matinee, proclaimed her as hailing from +that mysterious and fabulous city of wealth. This lady, with her +lorgnette, was examining the faces about her in undisguised curiosity, +and at the same time talking to Victoria in a voice which she took no +pains to lower. + +"I think it outrageous," she was saying. "If some Radical member had +done that in Parliament, he would have been expelled from the House. But +of course in Parliament they wouldn't have those horrid things to roll +down the aisles. Poor dear Humphrey! The career of a gentleman in +politics is a thankless one in this country. I wonder at his fortitude." + +Victoria's eyes alone betokened her amusement. + +"How do you do, Mr. Vane?" she said. "I'm so glad to see you again." + +Austen said something which he felt was entirely commonplace and +inadequate to express his own sentiments, while Alice gave him an +uncertain bow, and Mrs. Pomfret turned her glasses upon him. + +"You remember Mr. Vane," said Victoria; "you met him at Humphrey's." + +"Did I?" answered Mrs. Pomfret. "How do you do? Can't something be done +to punish those rowdies?" + +Austen grew red. + +"Mr. Vane isn't a member of the House," said Victoria. + +"Oh," exclaimed Mrs. Pomfret. "Something ought to be done about it. In +England such a thing wouldn't be allowed to drop for a minute. If I +lived in this State, I think I should do something. Nobody in America +seems to have the spirit even to make a protest." + +Austen turned quietly to Victoria. + +"When are you going away?" he asked. + +"To-morrow morning--earlier than I like to think of. I have to be in New +York by to-morrow night." + +She flashed at him a look of approbation for his self-control, and then, +by a swift transition which he had often remarked, her expression changed +to one of amusement, although a seriousness lurked in the depths of her +eyes. Mrs. Pomfret had gone on, with Alice, and they followed. + +"And--am I not to see you again before you go?" he exclaimed. + +He didn't stop to reason than upon the probable consequences of his act +in seeking her. Nature, which is stronger than reason, was compelling +him. + +"That depends," said Victoria. + +"Upon whom?" + +"Upon you." + +They were on the lower stairs by this times, and there was silence +between then for a few moments as they descended,--principally because, +after this exalting remark, Austen could not trust himself to speak. + +"Will you go driving with me?" he asked, and was immediately +thunderstruck at his boldness. + +"Yes," she answered, simply. + +"How soon may I come?" he demanded, + +She laughed softly, but with a joyous note which was not hidden from him +as they stepped out of the darkened corridor into the dazzling winter +noonday. + +"I will be ready at three o'clock," she said. + +He looked at his watch. + +"Two hours and a half!" he cried. + +"If that is too early," she said mischievously, "we can go later." + +"Too early!" he repeated. But the rest of his protest was cut short by +Mr. Crewe. + +"Hello, Victoria, what did you think of my speech?" + +"The destinies of the nation are settled," said Victoria. "Do you know +Mr. Vane?" + +"Oh, yes, how are you?" said Mr, Crewe; "glad to see you," and he +extended a furred glove. "Were you there?" + +"Yes," said Austen. + +"I'll send you a copy. I'd like to talk it over with you. Come on, +Victoria, I've arranged for an early lunch. Come on, Mrs. Pomfret--get +in, Alice." + +Mrs. Pomfret, still protesting against the profane interruption to Mr. +Crewe's speech, bent her head to enter Mr. Crewe's booby sleigh, which +had his crest on the panel. Alice was hustled in next, but Victoria +avoided his ready assistance and got in herself, Mr. Crewe getting in +beside her. + +"Au revoir," she called out to Austen, as the door slammed. The coachman +gathered his horses together, and off they went at a brisk trot. Then +the little group which had been watching the performance dispersed. +Halfway across the park Austen perceived some one signaling violently to +him, and discovered his friend, young Tom Gaylord. + +"Come to dinner with me," said young Tom, "and tell me whether the speech +of your friend from Leith will send him to Congress. I saw you +hobnobbing with him just now. What's the matter, Austen? I haven't seen +that guilty expression on your face since we were at college together." + +"What's the best livery-stable in town?" Austen asked. + +"By George, I wondered why you came down here. Who are you going to take +out in a sleigh? There's a girl in it, is there?" + +"Not yet, Tom," said Austen. + +"I've often asked myself why I ever had any use for such a secretive cuss +as you," declared young Mr. Gaylord. "But if you're really goin' to get +interested in girls, you ought to see old Flint's daughter. I wrote you +about her. Why," exclaimed Tom, "wasn't she one of those that got into +Crewe's sleigh?" + +"Tom," said Austen, "where did you say that livery-stable was?" + +"Oh, dang the livery-stable!" answered Mr. Gaylord. "I hear there's +quite a sentiment for you for governor. How about it? You know I've +always said you could be United States senator and President. If you'll +only say the word, Austen, we'll work up a movement around the State +that'll be hard to beat." + +"Tom," said Austen, laying his hand on young Mr. Gaylord's farther +shoulder, "you're a pretty good fellow. Where did you say that livery- +stable was? + +"I'll go sleigh-riding with you," said Mr. Gaylord. "I guess the +Pingsquit bill can rest one afternoon." + +"Tom, I don't know any man I'd rather take than you," said Austen. + +The unsuspecting Tom was too good-natured to be offended, and shortly +after dinner Austen found himself in the process of being looked over by +a stout gentleman named Putter, proprietor of Putter's Livery, who +claimed to be a judge of men as well as horses. Austen had been through +his stalls and chosen a mare. + +"Durned if you don't look like a man who can handle a horse," said Mr. +Putter. And as long as you're a friend of Tom Gaylord's I'll let you +have her. Nobody drives that mare but me. What's your name?" + +"Vane." + +"Ain't any relation to old Hilary, be you?" + +"I'm his son," said Austen, "only he doesn't boast about it." + +"Godfrey!" exclaimed Mr. Putter, with a broad grin, "I guess you kin have +her. Ain't you the man that shot a feller out West? Seems to me I heerd +somethin' about it." + +"Which one did you hear about?" Austen asked. + +"Good Lord!" said Mr. Putter, "you didn't shoot more'n one, did you?" + +It was just three o'clock when Austen drove into the semicircle opposite +the Widow Peasley's, rang Mr. Crewe's door-bell, and leaped into the +sleigh once more, the mare's nature being such as to make it undesirable +to leave her. Presently Mr. Crewe's butler appeared, and stood dubiously +in the vestibule. + +"Will you tell Miss Flint that Mr. Vane has called for her, and that I +cannot leave the horse?" + +The man retired with obvious disapproval. Then Austen heard Victoria's +voice in the hallway:-- + +"Don't make a goose of yourself, Humphrey." Here she appeared, the +colour fresh in her cheeks, her slender figure clad in a fur which even +Austen knew was priceless. She sprang into the sleigh, the butler, with +annoying deliberation, and with the air of saying that this was an affair +of which he washed his hands, tucked in Mr. Putter's best robe about her +feet, the mare leaped forward, and they were off, out of the circle and +flying up the hill on the hard snow-tracks. + +"Whew!" exclaimed Victoria, "what a relief! Are you staying in that dear +little house?" she asked, with a glance at the Widow Peasley's. + +"Yes," said Austen. + +"I wish I were." + +He looked at her shyly. He was not a man to do homage to material gods, +but the pomp and circumstance with which she was surrounded had had a +sobering effect upon him, and added to his sense of the instability and +unreality of the present moment. He had an almost guilty feeling of +having broken an unwritten law, of abducting a princess, and the old +Duncan house had seemed to frown protestingly that such an act should +have taken place under its windows. If Victoria had been--to him--an +ordinary mortal in expensive furs instead of a princess, he would have +snapped his fingers at the pomp and circumstance. These typified the +comforts which, in a wild and forgetful moment, he might ask her to +leave. Not that he believed she would leave them. He had lived long +enough to know that an interest by a woman in a man--especially a man +beyond the beaten track of her observation--did not necessarily mean that +she might marry him if he asked her. And yet--oh, Tantalus! here she was +beside him, for one afternoon again his very own, their two souls ringing +with the harmony of whirling worlds in sunlit space. He sought refuge in +thin thought; he strove, in oblivion, to drain the cup of the hour of its +nectar, even as he had done before. Generations of Puritan Vanes (whose +descendant alone had harassed poor Sarah Austere) were in his blood; and +there they hung in the long gallery of Time, mutely but sternly +forbidding when he raised his hand to the stem. + +In silence they reached the crest where the little city ended abruptly in +view of the paradise of the silent hills,--his paradise, where there were +no palaces or thought of palaces. The wild wind of the morning was +still. In this realm at least, a heritage from his mother, seemingly +untrodden by the foot of man, the woman at his side was his. From +Holdfast over the spruces to Sawanec in the blue distance he was lord, a +domain the wealth of which could not be reckoned in the coin of Midas. +He turned to her as they flew down the slope, and she averted her face, +perchance perceiving in that look a possession from which a woman +shrinks; and her remark, startlingly indicative of the accord between +them, lent a no less startling reality to the enchantment. + +"This is your land, isn't it?" she said. + +"I sometimes feel as though it were," he answered. "I was out here this +morning, when the wind was at play," and he pointed with his whip at a +fantastic snowdrift, before I saw you." + +"You looked as though you had come from it," she answered. You seemed-- +I suppose you will think me silly--but you seemed to bring something of +this with you into that hail. I always think of you as out on the hills +and mountains." + +"And you," he said, "belong here, too." + +She drew a deep breath. + +"I wish I did. But you--you really do belong here. You seem to have +absorbed all the clearness of it, and the strength and vigour. I was +watching you this morning, and you were so utterly out of place in those +surroundings." Victoria paused, her colour deepening. + +His blood kept pace with the mare's footsteps, but he did not reply. + +"What did you think of Humphrey's speech?" she asked, abruptly changing +the subject. + +"I thought it a surprisingly good one,--what I heard of it," he answered. +"That wasn't much. I didn't think he'd do as well." + +"Humphrey's clever in a great many ways," Victoria agreed. "If he didn't +have such an impenetrable conceit, he might go far, because he learns +quickly, and has an industry that is simply appalling. But he hasn't +quite the manner for politics, has he?" + +"I think I should call his manner a drawback," said Austen, "though not +by any means an insurmountable one." + +Victoria laughed. + +"The other qualities all need to be very great," she said. "He was +furious at me for coming out this afternoon. He had it all arranged to +drive over to the Forge, and had an early lunch." + +"And I," said Austen, "have all the more reason to be grateful to you." + +"Oh, if you knew the favour you were doing me," she cried, "bringing me +out here where I can breathe. I hope you don't think I dislike +Humphrey," she went on. "Of course, if I did, I shouldn't visit him. +You see, I have known him for so long." + +"I hadn't a notion that you disliked him," said Austen. "I am curious +about his career; that's one reason I came down. He somehow inspires +curiosity." + +"And awe," she added. "Humphrey's career has all the fascination of a +runaway locomotive. One watches it transfixed, awaiting the inevitable +crash." + +Their eyes met, and they both laughed. + +"It's no use trying to be a humbug," said Victoria, "I can't. And I do +like Humphrey, in spite of his career." + +And they laughed again. The music of the bells ran faster and faster +still, keeping time to a wilder music of the sunlit hills and sky; nor +was it strange that her voice, when she spoke, did not break the spell, +but laid upon him a deeper sense of magic. + +"This brings back the fairy books," she said, "and all those wonderful +and never-to-be-forgotten sensations of the truant, doesn't it? You've +been a truant--haven't you?" + +"Yes," he laughed, "I've been a truant, but I never quite realized the +possibilities of the part--until to-day." + +She was silent a moment, and turned away her head, surveying the +landscape that fell away for miles beyond. + +"When I was a child," she said, "I used to think that by opening a door I +could step into an enchanted realm like this. Only I could never find +the door. Perhaps," she added, gayly pursuing the conceit, "it was +because you had the key, and I didn't know you in those days." She gave +him a swift, searching look, smiling, whimsical yet startled,--so elusive +that the memory of it afterwards was wont to come and go like a flash of +light. "Who are you?" she asked. + +His blood leaped, but he smiled in delighted understanding of her mood. +Sarah Austen had brought just such a magic touch to an excursion, and +even at that moment Austen found himself marvelling a little at the +strange resemblance between the two. + +"I am a plain person whose ancestors came from a village called Camden +Street," he replied. "Camden Street is there, on a shelf of the hills, +and through the arch of its elms you can look off over the forests of the +lowlands until they end in the blue reaches of the ocean,--if you could +see far enough." + +"If you could see far enough," said Victoria, unconsciously repeating his +words. "But that doesn't explain you," she exclaimed: "You are like +nobody I ever met, and you have a supernatural faculty of appearing +suddenly, from nowhere, and whisking me away like the lady in the fable, +out of myself and the world I live in. If I become so inordinately +grateful as to talk nonsense, you mustn't blame me. Try not to think of +the number of times I've seen you, or when it was we first met." + +"I believe," said Austen, gravely, "it was when a mammoth beast had his +cave on Holdfast, and the valleys were covered with cocoanut-palms." + +"And you appeared suddenly then, too, and rescued me. You have always +been uniformly kind," she said, "but--a little intangible." + +"A myth," he suggested, "with neither height, breadth, nor thickness." + +"You have height and breadth," she answered, measuring him swiftly with +her eye; "I am not sure about the thickness. Perhaps. What I mean to +say is, that you seem to be a person in the world, but not of it. Your +exits and entrances are too mysterious, and then you carry me out of it,- +-although I invite myself, which is not at all proper." + +"I came down here to see you," he said, and took a firmer grip on the +reins. "I exist to that extent." + +"That's unworthy of you," she cried. "I don't believe you--would have +known I was here unless you had caught eight of me." + +"I should have known it," he said. + +"How?" + +"Because I heard you playing. I am sure it was you playing." + +"Yes, it was I," she answered simply, "but I did not know that--you +heard. Where were you? + +"I suppose," he replied, "a sane witness would have testified that I was +in the street--one of those partial and material truths which are so +misleading." + +She laughed again, joyously. + +"Seriously, why did you come down here?" she insisted. "I am not so +absorbed in Humphrey's career that I cannot take an interest in yours. +In fact, yours interests me more, because it is more mysterious. +Humphrey's," she added, laughing, "is charted from day to day, and +announced in bulletins. He is more generous to his friends than--you." + +"I have nothing to chart," said Austen, "except such pilgrimages as +this,--and these, after all, are unchartable. Your friend, Mr. Crewe, on +the other hand, is well away on his voyage after the Golden Fleece. I +hope he is provided with a Lynceus." + +She was silent for a long time, but he was feverishly conscious of her +gaze upon him, and did not dare to turn his eyes to hers. The look in +them he beheld without the aid of physical vision, and in that look was +the world-old riddle of her sex typified in the image on the African +desert, which Napoleon had tried to read, and failed. And while wisdom +was in the look, there was in it likewise the eternal questioning of a +fate quite as inscrutable, against which wisdom would avail nothing. It +was that look which, for Austen, revealed in her in their infinite +variety all women who had lived; those who could resist, and those who +could yield, and yielding all, bestow a gift which left them still +priceless; those to whom sorrow might bring sadness, and knowledge +mourning, and yet could rob them of no jot of sweetness. And knowing +this, he knew that to gain her now (could such a high prize be gained!) +would be to lose her. If he were anything to her (realize it or not as +she might), it was because he found strength to resist this greatest +temptation of his life. Yield, and his guerdon was lost, and he would be +Austen Vane no longer--yield, and his right to act, which would make him +of value in her eyes as well as in his own, was gone forever. + +Well he knew what the question in her eyes meant or something of what it +meant, so inexplicably is the soul of woman linked to events. He had +pondered often on that which she had asked him when he had brought her +home over the hills in the autumn twilight. He remembered her words, and +the very inflection of her voice. "Then you won't tell me?" How could +he tell her? He became aware that she was speaking now, in an even tone. + +"I had an odd experience this morning, when I was waiting for Mrs. +Pomfret outside the state-house," she said. "A man was standing looking +up at the statue of the patriot with a strange, rapt expression on his +face,--such a good face,--and he was so big and honest and uncompromising +I wanted to talk to him. I didn't realize that I was staring at him so +hard, because I was trying to remember where I had seen him before,--and +then I remembered suddenly that it was with you." + +"With me?" Austen repeated. + +"You were standing with him, in front of the little house, when I save +you yesterday. His name was Redbrook. It appears that he had seen me," +Victoria replied, "when I went to Mercer to call on Zeb Meader. And he +asked me if I knew you." + +"Of course you denied it," said Austen. + +"I couldn't, very well," laughed Victoria, "because you had confessed to +the acquaintance first." + +"He merely wished to have the fact corroborated. Mr. Redbrook is a man +who likes to be sure of his ground." + +"He told me a very interesting thing about you," she continued slowly, +with her eye upon. Austen's profile. "He said that a great many men +wanted you to be their candidate for governor of the State,--more than +you had any idea of,--and that you wouldn't consent. Mr. Redbrook grew +so enthusiastic that he forgot, for the moment, my--relationship to the +railroad. He is not the only person with whom I have talked who has-- +forgotten it, or hasn't known of it." + +Austen was silent. + +"Why won't you be a candidate," she asked, in a low voice, "if such men +as that want you?" + +"I am afraid Mr. Redbrook exaggerates," he said. "The popular demand of +which he spoke is rather mythical. And I should be inclined to accuse +him, too, of a friendly attempt to install me in your good graces." + +"No," answered Victoria, smiling, with serious eyes, "I won't be put off +that way. Mr. Redbrook isn't the kind of man that exaggerates--I've seen +enough of his type to know that. And he told me about your--reception +last night at the Widow Peasley's. You wouldn't have told me," she added +reproachfully. + +He laughed. + +"It was scarcely a subject I could have ventured," he said. + +"But I asked you," she objected. "Now tell me, why did you refuse to be +their candidate? It wasn't because you were not likely to get elected, +was it?" + +He permitted himself a glance which was a tribute of admiration--a glance +which she returned steadfastly. + +"It isn't likely that I should have been elected," he answered, "but you +are right--that is not the reason I refused." + +"I thought not," she said, "I did not believe you were the kind of man to +refuse for that reason. And you would have been elected." + +"What makes you think so?" he asked curiously. + +"I have been thinking since I saw you last--yes, and I have been making +inquiries. I have been trying to find out things--which you will not +tell me." She paused, with a little catch of her breath, and went on +again. "Do you believe I came all the way up here just to hear Humphrey +Crewe make a speech and to drive with him in a high sleigh and listen to +him talk about his career? When serious men of the people like Mr. +Redbrook and that nice Mr. Jenney at Leith and a lot of others who do not +ordinarily care for politics are thinking and indignant, I have come to +the conclusion there must be a cause for it. They say that the railroad +governs them through disreputable politicians,--and I--I am beginning to +believe it is true. I have had some of the politicians pointed out to me +in the Legislature, and they look like it." + +Austen did not smile. She was speaking quietly, but he saw that she was +breathing deeply, and he knew that she possessed a courage which went far +beyond that of most women, and an insight into life and affairs. + +"I am going to find out," she said, "whether these things are true." + +"And then?" he asked involuntarily. + +"If they are true, I am going to tell my father about them, and ask him +to investigate. Nobody seems to have the courage to go to him." + +Austen did not answer. He felt the implication; he knew that, without +realizing his difficulties, and carried on by a feeling long pent up, she +had measured him unjustly, and yet he felt no resentment, and no shock. +Perhaps he might feel that later. Now he was filled only with a sympathy +that was yet another common bond between them. Suppose she did find out? +He knew that she would not falter until she came to the end of her +investigation, to the revelation of Mr. Flint's code of business ethics. +Should the revolt take place, she would be satisfied with nothing less +than the truth, even as he, Austen Vane, had not been satisfied. And he +thought of the life-long faith that would be broken thereby. + +They had made the circle of the hills, and the sparkling lights of the +city lay under them like blue diamond points in the twilight of the +valley. The crests behind them deepened in purple as the saffron faded +in the west, and a gossamer cloud of Tyrian dye floated over Holdfast. +In silence they turned for a last lingering look, and in silence went +down the slope into the world again, and through the streets to the +driveway of the Duncan house. It was only when they had stopped before +the door that she trusted herself to speak. + +"I ought not to have said what I did," she began, in a low voice; "I +didn't realize--but I cannot understand you." + +"You have said nothing which you need ever have cause to regret," he +replied. He was too great for excuses, too great for any sorrow save +what she herself might feel, as great as the silent hills from which he +came. + +She stood for a moment on the edge of the steps, her eyes lustrous,--yet +gazing into his with a searching, troubled look that haunted him for many +days. But her self-command was unshaken, her power to control speech was +the equal of his. And this power of silence in her revealed in such +instants--was her greatest fascination for Austen, the thing which set +her apart among women; which embodied for him the whole charm and mystery +of her sex. + +"Good-by," she said simply. + +"Good-by," he said, and seized her hand--and drove away. + +Without ringing the bell Victoria slipped into the hall,--for the latch +was not caught,--and her first impulse was to run up the staircase to her +room. But she heard Mrs. Pomfret's voice on the landing above and fled, +as to a refuge, into the dark drawing-room, where she stood for a moment +motionless, listening for the sound of his sleigh-bells as they fainted +on the winter's night. Then she seated herself to think, if she could, +though it is difficult to think when one's heart is beating a little +wildly. It was Victoria's nature to think things out. For the first +time in her life she knew sorrow, and it made it worse that that sorrow +was indefinable. She felt an accountable attraction for this man who had +so strangely come into her life, whose problems had suddenly become her +problems. But she did not connect the attraction for Austen Vane with +her misery. She recalled him as he had left her, big and strong and +sorrowful, with a yearning look that was undisguised, and while her faith +in him came surging back again, she could not understand. + +Gradually she became aware of men's voices, and turned with a start to +perceive that the door of the library was open, and that Humphrey Crewe +and another were standing in the doorway against the light. With an +effort of memory she identified the other man as the Mr. Tooting who had +made himself so useful at Mr. Crewe's garden party. + +"I told you I could make you governor, Mr. Crewe," Mr. Tooting was +saying. "Say, why do you think the Northeastern crowd--why do you think +Hilary Vane is pushing your bills down the sidings? I'll tell you, +because they know you're a man of ability, and they're afraid of you, and +they know you're a gentleman, and can't be trusted with their deals, so +they just shunted you off at Kodunk with a jolly about sendin' you to +Congress if you made a hit on a national speech. I've been in the +business a good many years, and I've seen and done some things for the +Northeastern that stick in my throat"--(at this point Victoria sat down +again and gripped the arms of her chair), "I don't like to see a decent +man sawbucked the way they're teeterin' you, Mr. Crewe. I know what I'm +talkin' about, and I tell you that Ridout and Jake Botcher and Brush +Bascom haven't any more notion of lettin' your bills out of committee +than they have Gaylord's. Why? Because they've got orders not to." + +"You're making some serious charges, Mr. Tooting," said Mr. Crewe. + +"And what's more, I can prove 'em. You know yourself that anybody who +talks against the Northeastern is booted down and blacklisted. You've +seen that, haven't you?" + +"I have observed," said Mr. Crewe, "that things do not seem to be as they +should in a free government." + +"And it makes your blood boil as an American citizen, don't it? It does +mine," said Mr. Tooting, with fine indignation. "I was a poor boy, and +had to earn my living, but I've made up my mind I've worn the collar long +enough--if I have to break rocks. And I want to repeat what I said a +little while ago," he added, weaving his thumb into Mr. Crewe's +buttonhole; "I know a thing or two, and I've got some brains, as they +know, and I can make you governor of this State if you'll only say the +word. It's a cinch." + +Victoria started to rise once more, and realized that to escape she would +have to cross the room directly in front of the two men. She remained +sitting where she was in a fearful fascination, awaiting Humphrey Crewe's +answer. There was a moment's pause. + +"I believe you made the remark, Mr. Tooting," he said, "that in your +opinion there is enough anti-railroad sentiment in the House to pass any +bill which the railroad opposes." + +"If a leader was to get up there, like you, with the arguments I could +put into his hands, they would make the committee discharge that +Pingsquit bill of the Gaylords', and pass it." + +"On what do you base your opinion?" asked Mr. Crewe. + +"Well," said Mr. Tooting, "I guess I'm a pretty shrewd observer and have +had practice enough. But you know Austen Vane, don't you?" + +Victoria held her breath. + +"I've a slight acquaintance with him," replied Mr. Crewe; "I've helped +him along in one or two minor legal matters. He seems to be a little-- +well, pushing, you might say." + +"I want to tell you one thing about Austen," continued Mr. Tooting. +"Although I don't stand much for old Hilary, I'd take Austen Vane's +opinion on most things as soon as that of any man in the State. If he +only had some sense about himself, he could be governor next time-- +there's a whole lot that wants him. I happen to know some of 'em offered +it to him last night." + +"Austen Vane governor!" exclaimed Mr. Crewe, with a politely deprecating +laugh. + +"It may sound funny," said Mr. Tooting, stoutly; "I never understood what +he has about him. He's never done anything but buck old Hilary in that +damage case and send back a retainer pass to old Flint, but he's got +something in his make-up that gets under your belt, and a good many of +these old hayseeds'll eat out of his hand, right now. Well, I don't want +this to go any farther, you're a gentleman,--but Austen came down here +yesterday and had the whole thing sized up by last night. Old Hilary +thought the Gaylords sent for him to lobby their bill through. They may +have sent for him, all right, but he wouldn't lobby for 'em. He could +have made a pile of money out of 'em. Austen doesn't seem to care about +money--he's queer. He says as long as he has a horse and a few books and +a couple of sandwiches a day he's all right. Hilary had him up in Number +Seven tryin' to find out what he came down for, and Austen told him +pretty straight--what he didn't tell the Gaylords, either. He kind of +likes old Hilary,--because he's his father, I guess,--and he said there +were enough men in that House to turn Hilary and his crowd upside down. +That's how I know for certain. If Austen Vane said it, I'll borrow money +to bet on it," declared Mr. Tooting. + +"You don't think young Vane is going to get into the race?" queried Mr. +Crewe. + +"No," said Mr. Tooting, somewhat contemptuously. "No, I tell you he +hasn't got that kind of sense. He never took any trouble to get ahead, +and I guess he's sort of sensitive about old Hilary. It'd make a good +deal of a scandal in the family, with Austen as an anti-railroad +candidate." Mr. Tooting lowered his voice to a tone that was +caressingly confidential. "I tell you, and you sleep on it, a man of +your brains and money can't lose. It's a chance in a million, and when +you win you've got this little State tight in your pocket, and a desk in +the millionaire's club at Washington. Well, so long," said Mr. Tooting, +"you think that over." + +"You have, at least, put things in a new and interesting light," said Mr. +Crewe. "I will try to decide what my duty is." + +"Your duty's pretty plain to me," said Mr. Tooting. "If I had money, I'd +know that the best way to use it is for the people,--ain't that so?" + +"In the meantime," Mr. Crewe continued, "you may drop in to-morrow at +three." + +"You'd better make it to-morrow night, hadn't you?" said Mr. Tooting, +significantly. "There ain't any back way to this house." + +"As you choose," said Mr. Crewe. + +They passed within a few feet of Victoria, who resisted an almost +uncontrollable impulse to rise and confront them. The words given her to +use were surging in her brain, and yet she withheld them why, she knew +not. Perhaps it was because, after such communion as the afternoon had +brought, the repulsion she felt for Mr. Tooting aided her to sit where +she was. She heard the outside door open and close, and she saw Humphrey +Crewe walk past her again into his library, and that door closed, and she +was left in darkness. Darkness indeed for Victoria, who throughout her +life had lived in light alone; in the light she had shed, and the light +which she had kindled in others. With a throb which was an exquisite +pain, she understood now the compassion in Austen's eyes, and she saw so +simply and so clearly why he had not told her that her face burned with +the shame of her demand. The one of all others to whom she could go in +this trouble was denied her, and his lips were sealed, who would have +spoken honestly and without prejudice. She rose and went quietly out +into the biting winter night, and stood staring through the trees at the +friendly reddened windows of the little cottage across the way with a +yearning that passed her understanding. Out of those windows, to +Victoria, shone honesty and truth, and the peace which these alone may +bring. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE DESCENDANTS OF HORATIUS + +So the twenty honourable members of the State Senate had been dubbed by +the man who had a sense of humour and a smattering of the classics, +because they had been put there to hold the bridge against the Tarquins +who would invade the dominions of the Northeastern. Twenty picked men, +and true they were indeed, but a better name for their body would have +been the 'Life Guard of the Sovereign.' The five hundred far below them +might rage and at times revolt, but the twenty in their shining armour +stood undaunted above the vulnerable ground and smiled grimly at the mob. +The citadel was safe. + +The real Horatius of the stirring time of which we write was that old and +tried veteran, the Honourable Brush Bascom; and Spurius Lartius might be +typified by the indomitable warrior, the Honourable Jacob Botcher, while +the Honourable Samuel Doby of Hale, Speaker of the House, was +unquestionably Herminius. How the three held the bridge that year will +be told in as few and as stirring words as possible. A greater than +Porsena confronted them, and well it was for them, and for the Empire, +that the Body Guard of the Twenty stood behind them. + + "Lars Porsena of Clusium, + By the Nine Gods he swore." + +The morning after the State Tribune had printed that memorable speech on +national affairs--statistics and all, with an editorial which gave every +evidence of Mr. Peter Pardriff's best sparkle--Mr. Crewe appeared on the +floor of the House with a new look in his eye which made discerning men +turn and stare at him. It was the look of the great when they are justly +indignant, when their trust--nobly given--has been betrayed. Washington, +for instance, must have had just such a look on the battlefield of +Trenton. The Honourable Jacob Botcher, pressing forward as fast as his +bulk would permit and with the newspaper in his hand, was met by a calm +and distant manner which discomposed that statesman, and froze his stout +index finger to the editorial which "perhaps Mr. Crewe had not seen." + +Mr. Crewe was too big for resentment, but he knew how to meet people who +didn't measure up to his standards. Yes, he had seen the editorial, and +the weather still continued fine. The Honourable Jacob was left behind +scratching his head, and presently he sought a front seat in which to +think, the back ones not giving him room enough. The brisk, cheery +greeting of the Honourable Brush Bascom fared no better, but Mr. Bascom +was a philosopher, and did not disturb the great when their minds were +revolving on national affairs and the welfare of humanity in general. +Mr. Speaker Doby and Mr. Ridout got but abstract salutations also, and +were correspondingly dismayed. + +That day, and for many days thereafter, Mr. Crewe spent some time--as was +entirely proper--among the back seats, making the acquaintance of his +humbler fellow members of the submerged four hundred and seventy. He had +too long neglected this, so he told them, but his mind had been on high +matters. During many of his mature years he had pondered as to how the +welfare of community and State could be improved, and the result of that +thought was embodied in the bills of which they had doubtless received +copies. If not, down went their names in a leather-bound memorandum, and +they got copies in the next mails. + +The delight of some of the simple rustic members at this unbending of a +great man may be imagined. To tell the truth, they had looked with +little favour upon the intimacy which had sprung up between him and those +tyrannical potentates, Messrs. Botcher and Bascom, and many who had the +courage of their convictions expressed then very frankly. Messrs. +Botcher and Bascom were, when all was said, mere train despatchers of the +Northeastern, who might some day bring on a wreck the like of which the +State had never seen. Mr. Crewe was in a receptive mood; indeed his +nature, like Nebuchadnezzar's, seemed to have experienced some +indefinable and vital change. Was this the Mr. Crewe the humble rural +members had pictured to themselves? Was this the Mr. Crewe who, at the +beginning of the session, had told them roundly it was their duty to vote +for his bills? + +Mr. Crewe was surprised, he said, to hear so much sentiment against the +Northeastern Railroads. Yes, he was a friend of Mr. Flint's--they were +neighbours in the country. But if these charges had any foundation +whatever, they ought to be looked into--they ought to be taken up. A +sovereign people should not be governed by a railroad. Mr. Crewe was a +business man, but first of all he was a citizen; as a business man he did +not intend to talk vaguely, but to investigate thoroughly. And then, if +charges should be made, he would make them specifically, and as a citizen +contend for the right. + +It is difficult to restrain one's pen in dealing with a hero, but it is +not too much to say that Mr. Crewe impressed many of the country members +favourably. How, indeed, could he help doing so? His language was +moderate, his poise that of a man of affairs, and there was a look in his +eye and a determination in his manner that boded ill for the Northeastern +if he should, after weighing the facts, decide that they ought to be +flagellated. His friendship with Mr. Flint and the suspicion that he +might be inclined to fancy Mr. Flint's daughter would not influence him +in the least; of that many of his hearers were sure. Not a few of them +were invited to dinner at the Duncan house, and shown the library and the +conservatory. + +"Walk right in," said Mr. Crewe. "You can't hurt the flowers unless you +bump against the pots, and if you walk straight you can't do that. I +brought the plants down from my own hothouse in Leith. Those are French +geraniums--very hard to get. They're double, you see, and don't look +like the scrawny things you see in this country. Yes (with a good- +natured smile), I guess they do cost something. I'll ask my secretary +what I paid for that plant. Is that dinner, Waters? Come right in, +gentlemen, we won't wait for ceremony." + +Whereupon the delegation would file into the dining room in solemn +silence behind the imperturbable Waters, with dubious glances at Mr. +Waters' imperturbable understudy in green and buff and silver buttons. +Honest red hands, used to milking at five o'clock in the morning, and +hands not so red that measured dry goods over rural counters for +insistent female customers fingered in some dismay what seemed an +inexplicable array of table furniture. + +"It don't make any difference which fork you take," said the good-natured +owner of this palace of luxury, "only I shouldn't advise you to use one +for the soup you wouldn't get much of it--what? Yes, this house suits me +very well. It was built by old man Duncan, you know, and his daughter +married an Italian nobleman and lives in a castle. The State ought to +buy the house for a governor's mansion. It's a disgrace that our +governor should have to live in the Pelican Hotel, and especially in a +room next to that of the chief counsel of the Northeastern, with only a +curtain and a couple of folding doors between." + +"That's right," declared an up-state member, the governor hadn't ought to +live next to Vane. But as to gettin' him a house like this--kind of +royal, ain't it? Couldn't do justice to it on fifteen hundred a year, +could he? Costs you a little mite more to live in it, don't it?" + +"It costs me something," Mr. Crewe admitted modestly. "But then our +governors are all rich men, or they couldn't afford to pay the +Northeastern lobby campaign expenses. Not that I believe in a rich man +for governor, gentlemen. My contention is that the State should pay its +governors a sufficient salary to make them independent of the +Northeastern, a salary on which they can live as befits a chief +executive." + +These sentiments, and others of a similar tenor, were usually received in +silence by his rural guests, but Mr. Crewe, being a broad-minded man of +human understanding, did not set down their lack of response to surliness +or suspicion of a motive, but rather to the innate caution of the hill +farmer; and doubtless, also, to a natural awe of the unwonted splendour +with which they were surrounded. In a brief time his kindly hospitality +became a byword in the capital, and fabulous accounts of it were carried +home at week ends to toiling wives and sons and daughters, to incredulous +citizens who sat on cracker boxes and found the Sunday papers stale and +unprofitable for weeks thereafter. The geraniums--the price of which Mr. +Crewe had forgotten to find out--were appraised at four figures, and the +conservatory became the hanging gardens of Babylon under glass; the +functionary in buff and green and silver buttons and his duties furnished +the subject for long and heated arguments. And incidentally everybody +who had a farm for sale wrote to Mr. Crewe. Since the motives of every +philanthropist and public benefactor are inevitably challenged by cynics, +there were many who asked the question, "What did Mr. Crewe want?" It is +painful even to touch upon this when we know that Mr. Crewe was merely +doing his duty as he saw it, when we know that he spelled the word, +mentally, with a capital D. + +There were many, too, who remarked that a touching friendship in the +front seats (formerly plainly visible to the naked eye from the back) had +been strained--at least. Mr. Crewe still sat with Mr. Botcher and Mr. +Bascom, but he was not a man to pretend after the fires had cooled. The +Honourable Jacob Botcher, with his eyes shut so tight, that his honest +face wore an expression of agony, seemed to pray every morning for the +renewal of that friendship when the chaplain begged the Lord to guide the +Legislature into the paths of truth; and the Honourable Brush Bascom wore +an air of resignation which was painful to see. Conversation languished, +and the cosey and familiar haunts of the Pelican knew Mr. Crewe no more. + +Mr. Crewe never forgot, of course, that he was a gentleman, and a certain +polite intercourse existed. During the sessions, as a matter of fact, +Mr. Bascom had many things to whisper to Mr. Botcher, and Mr. Butcher to +Mr. Bascom, and in order to facilitate this Mr. Crewe changed seats with +the Honourable Jacob. Neither was our hero a man to neglect, on account +of strained relations, to insist upon his rights. His eyes were open +now, and he saw men and things political as they were; he knew that his +bills for the emancipation of the State were prisoners in the maw of the +dragon, and not likely to see the light of law. Not a legislative day +passed that he did not demand, with a firmness and restraint which did +him infinite credit, that Mr. Bascom's and Mr. Butcher's committees +report those bills to the House either favourably or unfavourably. And +we must do exact justice, likewise, to Messrs. Bascom and Butcher; they, +too, incited perhaps thereto by Mr. Crewe's example, answered courteously +that the very excellent bills in question were of such weight and +importance as not to be decided on lightly, and that there were necessary +State expenditures which had first to be passed upon. Mr. Speaker Doby, +with all the will in the world, could do nothing: and on such occasions +(Mr. Crewe could see) Mr. Doby bore a striking resemblance to the picture +of the mockturtle in "Alice m Wonderland"--a fact which had been pointed +out by Miss Victoria Flint. In truth, all three of these gentlemen wore, +when questioned, such a sorrowful and injured air as would have deceived +a more experienced politician than the new member from Leith. The will +to oblige was infinite. + +There was no doubt about the fact that the session was rapidly drawing to +a close; and likewise that the committees guided by the Honourables Jacob +Butcher and Brush Bascom, composed of members carefully picked by that +judge of mankind, Mr. Doby, were wrestling day and night (behind closed +doors) with the intellectual problems presented by the bills of the +member from Leith. It is not to be supposed that a man of Mr. Crewe's +shrewdness would rest at the word of the chairmen. Other members were +catechized, and in justice to Messrs. Bascom and Botcher it must be +admitted that the assertions of these gentlemen were confirmed. It +appeared that the amount of thought which was being lavished upon these +measures was appalling. + +By this time Mr. Crewe had made some new friends, as was inevitable when +such a man unbent. Three of these friends owned, by a singular chance, +weekly newspapers, and having conceived a liking as well as an admiration +for him, began to say pleasant things about him in their columns--which +Mr. Crewe (always thoughtful) sent to other friends of his. These new +and accidental newspaper friends declared weekly that measures of +paramount importance were slumbering in committees, and cited the +measures. Other friends of Mr. Crewe were so inspired by affection and +awe that they actually neglected their business and spent whole days in +the rural districts telling people what a fine man Mr. Crewe was and +circulating petitions for his bills; and incidentally the committees of +Mr. Butcher and Mr. Bascom were flooded with these petitions, +representing the spontaneous sentiment of an aggrieved populace. + + "Just then a scout came flying, + All wild with haste and fear + To arms! to arms! Sir Consul + Lars Porsena is here. + On the low hills to westward + The Consul fixed his eye, + And saw the swarthy storm of dust + Rise fast along the sky." + +It will not do to push a comparison too far, and Mr. Hamilton Tooting, of +course, ought not to be made to act the part of Tarquin the Proud. Like +Tarquin, however, he had been deposed--one of those fatuous acts which +the wisest will commit. No more could the Honourable Hilary well be +likened to Pandora, for he only opened the box wide enough to allow one +mischievous sprite to take wings--one mischievous sprite that was to +prove a host. Talented and invaluable lieutenant that he was, Mr. +Tooting had become an exile, to explain to any audience who should make +it worth his while the mysterious acts by which the puppets on the stage +were moved, and who moved them; who, for instance, wrote the declamation +which his Excellency Asa Gray recited as his own. Mr. Tooting, as we +have seen, had a remarkable business head, and combined with it--as +Austen Vane remarked--the rare instinct of the Norway rat which goes down +to the sea in ships--when they are safe. Burrowing continually amongst +the bowels of the vessel, Mr. Tooting knew the weak timbers better than +the Honourable Hilary Vanes who thought the ship as sound as the day +Augustus Flint had launched her. But we have got a long way from +Horatius in our imagery. + +Little birds flutter around the capital, picking up what crumbs they may. +One of them, occasionally fed by that humanitarian, the Honourable Jacob +Botcher, whispered a secret that made the humanitarian knit his brows. +He was the scout that came flying (if by a burst of imagination we can +conceive the Honourable Jacob in this aerial act)--came flying to the +Consul in room Number Seven with the news that Mr. Hamilton Tooting had +been detected on two evenings slipping into the Duncan house. But the +Consul--strong man that he was--merely laughed. The Honourable Elisha +Jane did some scouting on his own account. Some people are so small as +to be repelled by greatness, to be jealous of high gifts and power, and +it was perhaps inevitable that a few of the humbler members whom Mr. +Crewe had entertained should betray his hospitality, and misinterpret his +pure motives. + +It was a mere coincidence, perhaps, that after Mr. Jane's investigation +the intellectual concentration which one of the committees had bestowed +on two of Mr. Crewe's bills came to an end. These bills, it is true, +carried no appropriation, and, were, respectively, the acts to +incorporate the State Economic League and the Children's Charities +Association. These suddenly appeared in the House one morning, with +favourable recommendations, and, mirabile dicta, the end of the day saw +them through the Senate and signed by the governor. At last Mr. Crewe by +his Excellency had stamped the mark of his genius on the statute books, +and the Honourable Jacob Botcher, holding out an olive branch, took the +liberty of congratulating him. + +A vainer man, a lighter character than Humphrey Crewe, would have been +content to have got something; and let it rest at that. Little Mr. +Butcher or Mr. Speaker Doby, with his sorrowful smile, guessed the iron +hand within the velvet glove of the Leith statesman; little they knew the +man they were dealing with. Once aroused, he would not be pacified by +bribes of cheap olive branches and laurels. When the proper time came, +he would fling down the gauntlet--before Rome itself, and then let +Horatius and his friends beware. + +The hour has struck at last--and the man is not wanting. The French +Revolution found Napoleon ready, and our own Civil War General Ulysses +Grant. Of that ever memorable session but three days remained, and those +who had been prepared to rise in the good cause had long since despaired. +The Pingsquit bill, and all other bills that spelled liberty, were still +prisoners in the hands of grim jailers, and Thomas Gaylord, the elder, +had worn several holes in the carpet of his private room in the Pelican, +and could often be descried from Main Street running up and down between +the windows like a caged lion, while young Tom had been spied standing, +with his hands in his pockets, smiling on the world. + +Young Tom had his own way of doing things, though he little dreamed of +the help Heaven was to send him in this matter. There was, in the lower +House, a young man by the name of Harper, a lawyer from Brighton, who was +sufficiently eccentric not to carry a pass. The light of fame, as the +sunset gilds a weathercock on a steeple, sometimes touches such men for +an instant and makes them immortal. The name of Mr. Harper is +remembered, because it is linked with a greater one. But Mr. Harper was +the first man over the wall. + +History chooses odd moments for her entrances. It was at the end of one +of those busy afternoon sessions, with a full house, when Messrs. +Bascom, Botcher, and Ridout had done enough of blocking and hacking and +hewing to satisfy those doughty defenders of the bridge, that a slight, +unprepossessing-looking young man with spectacles arose to make a motion. +The Honourable Jacob Botcher, with his books and papers under his arm, +was already picking his way up the aisle, nodding genially to such of the +faithful as he saw; Mr. Bascom was at the Speaker's desk, and Mr. Ridout +receiving a messenger from the Honourable Hilary at the door. The +Speaker, not without some difficulty, recognized Mr. Harper amidst what +seemed the beginning of an exodus--and Mr. Harper read his motion. + +Men halted in the aisles, and nudged other men to make them stop talking. +Mr. Harper's voice was not loud, and it shook a trifle with excitement, +but those who heard passed on the news so swiftly to those who had not +that the House was sitting (or standing) in amazed silence by the time +the motion reached the Speaker, who had actually risen to receive it. +Mr. Doby regarded it for a few seconds and raised his eyes mournfully to +Mr. Harper himself, as much as to say that he would give the young man a +chance to take it back if he could--if the words had not been spoken +which would bring the offender to the block in the bloom and enthusiasm +of youth. Misguided Mr. Harper had committed unutterable treason to the +Empire! + +"The gentleman from Brighton, Mr. Harper," said the Speaker, sadly, +"offers the following resolution, and moves its adoption: 'Resolved, that +the Committee on Incorporations be instructed to report House bill number +302, entitled "An act to incorporate the Pingsquit Railroad," by eleven- +thirty o'clock to-morrow morning'--the gentleman from Putnam, Mr. +Bascom." + +The House listened and looked on entranced, as though they were the +spectators to a tragedy. And indeed it seemed as though they were. +Necks were craned to see Mr. Harper; he didn't look like a hero, but one +never can tell about these little men. He had hurled defiance at the +Northeastern Railroads, and that was enough for Mr. Redbrook and Mr. +Widgeon and their friends, who prepared to rush into the fray trusting to +Heaven for speech and parliamentary law. O for a leader now! Horatius +is on the bridge, scarce concealing his disdain for this puny opponent, +and Lartius and Herminius not taking the trouble to arm. Mr. Bascom will +crush this one with the flat of his sword. + +"Mr. Speaker," said that gentleman, informally, "as Chairman of the +Committee on Incorporations, I rise to protest against such an unheard-of +motion in this House. The very essence of orderly procedure, of +effective business, depends on the confidence of the House in its +committees, and in all of my years as a member I have never known of such +a thing. Gentlemen of the House, your committee are giving to this bill +and other measures their undivided attention, and will report them at the +earliest practicable moment. I hope that this motion will be voted +down." + +Mr. Bascom, with a glance around to assure himself that most of the +hundred members of the Newcastle delegation--vassals of the Winona +Corporation and subject to the Empire--had not made use of their passes +and boarded, as usual, the six o'clock train, took his seat. A buzz of +excitement ran over the house, a dozen men were on their feet, including +the plainly agitated Mr. Harper himself. But who is this, in the lunar +cockpit before the Speaker's desk, demanding firmly to be heard--so +firmly that Mr. Harper, with a glance at him, sits down again; so firmly +that Mr. Speaker Doby, hypnotized by an eye, makes the blunder that will +eventually cost him his own head? + +"The gentleman from Leith, Mr. Crewe." + +As though sensing a drama, the mutterings were hushed once more. Mr. +Jacob Botcher leaned forward, and cracked his seat; but none, even those +who had tasted of his hospitality, recognized that the Black Knight had +entered the lists--the greatest deeds of this world, and the heroes of +them, coming unheralded out of the plain clay. Mr. Crewe was the calmest +man under the roof as he saluted the Speaker, walked up to the clerk's +desk, turned his back to it, and leaned both elbows on it; and he +regarded the sea of faces with the identical self-possession he had +exhibited when he had made his famous address on national affairs. He +did not raise his voice at the beginning, but his very presence seemed to +compel silence, and curiosity was at fever heat. What was he going to +say? + +"Gentlemen of the House," said Mr. Crewe, "I have listened to the +gentleman from Putnam with some--amusement. He has made the statement +that he and his committee are giving to the Pingsquit bill and other +measures--some other measures--their undivided attention. Of this I have +no doubt whatever. He neglected to define the species of attention he is +giving them--I should define it as the kindly care which the warden of a +penitentiary bestows upon his charges." + +Mr. Crewe was interrupted here. The submerged four hundred and seventy +had had time to rub their eyes and get their breath, to realize that +their champion had dealt Mr. Bascom a blow to cleave his helm, and a roar +of mingled laughter and exultation arose in the back seats, and there was +more craning to see the glittering eyes of the Honourable Brush and the +expressions of his two companions-in-arms. Mr. Speaker Doby beat the +stone with his gavel, while Mr. Crewe continued to lean back calmly until +the noise was over. + +"Gentlemen," he went on, "I will enter at the proper time into a +situation--known, I believe, to most of you--that brings about a +condition of affairs by which the gentleman's committee, or the gentleman +himself, with his capacious pockets, does not have to account to the +House for every bill assigned to him by the Speaker. I have taken the +trouble to examine a little into the gentleman's past record--he has been +chairman of such committees for years past, and I find no trace that +bills inimical to certain great interests have ever been reported back by +him. The Pingsquit bill involves the vital principle of competition. I +have read it with considerable care and believe it to be, in itself, a +good measure, which deserves a fair hearing. I have had no conversation +whatever with those who are said to be its promoters. If the bill is to +pass, it has little enough time to get to the Senate. By the gentleman +from Putnam's own statement his committee have given it its share of +attention, and I believe this House is entitled to know the verdict, is +entitled to accept or reject a report. I hope the motion will prevail." + +He sat down amidst a storm of applause which would have turned the head +of a lesser man. No such personal ovation had been seen in the House for +years. How the Speaker got order; how the Honourable Brush Bascom +declared that Mr. Crewe would be called upon to prove his statements; how +Mr. Botcher regretted that a new member of such promise should go off at +half-cock; how Mr. Ridout hinted that the new member might think he had +an animus; how Mr. Terry of Lee and Mr. Widgeon of Hull denounced, in +plain hill language, the Northeastern Railroads and lauded the man of +prominence who had the grit to oppose them, need not be gone into. Mr. +Crewe at length demanded the previous question, which was carried, and +the motion was carried, too, two hundred and fifty to one hundred and +fifty-two. The House adjourned. + +We will spare the blushes of the hero of this occasion, who was +threatened with suffocation by an inundation from the back seats. In +answer to the congratulations and queries, he replied modestly that +nobody else seemed to have had the sand to do it, so he did it himself. +He regarded it as a matter of duty, however unpleasant and unforeseen; +and if, as they said, he had been a pioneer, education and a knowledge of +railroads and the world had helped him. Whereupon, adding tactfully that +he desired the evening to himself to prepare for the battle of the morrow +(of which he foresaw he was to bear the burden), he extricated himself +from his admirers and made his way unostentatiously out of a side door +into his sleigh. For the man who had kindled a fire--the blaze of which +was to mark an epoch--he was exceptionally calm. Not so the only visitor +whom Waters had instructions to admit that evening. + +"Say, you hit it just right," cried the visitor, too exultant to take off +his overcoat. "I've been down through the Pelican, and there ain't been +such excitement since Snow and Giddings had the fight for United States +senator in the '80's. The place is all torn up, and you can't get a room +there for love or money. They tell me they've been havin' conferences +steady in Number Seven since the session closed, and Hilary Vane's sent +for all the Federal and State office-holders to be here in the morning +and lobby. Botcher and Jane and Bascom are circulatin' like hot water, +tellin' everybody that because they wouldn't saddle the State with a debt +with your bills you turned sour on 'em, and that you're more of a +corporation and railroad man than any of 'em. They've got their machine +to working a thousand to the minute, and everybody they have a slant on +is going into line. One of them fellers, a conductor, told me he had to +go with 'em. But our boys ain't idle, I can tell you that. I was in the +back of the gallery when you spoke up, and I shook 'em off the leash +right away." + +Mr. Crewe leaned back from the table and thrust his hands in his pockets +and smiled. He was in one of his delightful moods. + +"Take off your overcoat, Tooting," he said; "you'll find one of my best +political cigars over there, in the usual place." + +"Well, I guessed about right, didn't I?" inquired Mr. Tooting, biting off +one of the political cigars. "I gave you a pretty straight tip, didn't +I, that young Tom Gaylord was goin' to have somebody make that motion to- +day? But say, it's funny he couldn't get a better one than that feller +Harper. If you hadn't come along, they'd have smashed him to pulp. I'll +bet the most surprised man in the State to-night, next to Brush Bascom, +is young Tom Gaylord. It's a wonder he ain't been up here to thank you." + +"Maybe he has been," replied Mr. Crewe. "I told Waters to keep everybody +out to-night because I want to know exactly what I'm going to say on the +floor tomorrow. I don't want 'em to give me trouble. Did you bring some +of those papers with you?" + +Mr. Tooting fished a bundle from his overcoat pocket. The papers in +question, of which he had a great number stored away in Ripton, +represented the foresight, on Mr. Tooting's part, of years. He was a +young man with a praiseworthy ambition to get on in the world, and during +his apprenticeship in the office of the Honourable Hilary Vane many +letters and documents had passed through his hands. A less industrious +person would have neglected the opportunity. Mr. Tooting copied them; +and some, which would have gone into the waste-basket, he laid carefully +aside, bearing in mind the adage about little scraps of paper--if there +is one. At any rate, he now had a manuscript collection which was unique +in its way, which would have been worth much to a great many men, and +with characteristic generosity he was placing it at the disposal of Mr. +Crewe. + +Mr. Crewe, in reading them, had other sensations. He warmed with +indignation as an American citizen that a man should sit in a mahogany +office in New York and dictate the government of a free and sovereign +State; and he found himself in the grip of a righteous wrath when he +recalled what Mr. Flint had written to him. "As a neighbour, it will +give me the greatest pleasure to help you to the extent of my power, but +the Northeastern Railroads cannot interfere in legislative or political +matters." The effrontery of it was appalling! Where, he demanded of Mr. +Tooting, did the common people come in? And this extremely pertinent +question Mr. Tooting was unable to answer. + +But the wheels of justice had begun to turn. + +Mr. Tooting had not exaggerated the tumult and affright at the Pelican +Hotel. The private telephone in Number Seven was busy all evening, while +more or less prominent gentlemen were using continually the public ones +in the boxes in the reading room downstairs. The Feudal system was +showing what it could do, and the word had gone out to all the holders of +fiefs that the vassals should be summoned. The Duke of Putnam had sent +out a general call to the office-holders in that county. Theirs not to +reason why--but obey; and some of them, late as was the hour, were +already travelling (free) towards the capital. Even the congressional +delegation in Washington had received telegrams, and sent them again to +Federal office-holders in various parts of the State. If Mr. Crewe had +chosen to listen, he could have heard the tramp of armed men. But he was +not of the metal to be dismayed by the prospect of a great conflict. He +was as cool as Cromwell, and after Mr. Tooting had left him to take +charge once more of his own armies in the yield, the genlemon from Leith +went to bed and slept soundly. + +The day of the battle dawned darkly, with great flakes flying. As early +as seven o'clock the later cohorts began to arrive, and were soon as +thick as bees in the Pelican, circulating in the lobby, conferring in +various rooms of which they had the numbers with occupants in bed and +out. A wonderful organization, that Feudal System, which eould mobilize +an army overnight! And each unit of it, like the bee, working +unselfishly for the good of the whole; like the bee, flying straight for +the object to be attained. Every member of the House from Putnam County, +for instance, was seen by one of these indefatigable captains, and if the +member had a mortgage or an ambition, or a wife and family that made life +a problem, or a situation on the railroad or in some of the larger +manufacturing establishments, let him beware! If he lived in lodgings in +the town, he stuck his head out of the window to perceive a cheery +neighbour from the country on his doorstep. Think of a system which +could do this, not for Putnam County alone, but for all the counties in +the State! + +The Honourable Hilary Vane, captain-general of the Forces, had had but +four hours' sleep, and his Excellency, the Honourable Asa Gray, when he +arose in the twilight of the morning, had to step carefully to avoid the +cigar butts on the floor which--like so many empty cartridge shells were +unpleasant reminders that a rebellion of no mean magnitude had arisen +against the power to which he owed allegiance, and by the favour of which +he was attended with pomp and circumstance wherever he chose to go. + +Long before eleven o'clock the paths to the state-house were thronged +with people. Beside the office-holders and their friends who were in +town, there were many residents of the capital city in the habit of going +to hear the livelier debates. Not that the powers of the Empire had +permitted debates on most subjects, but there could be no harm in +allowing the lower House to discuss as fiercely as they pleased dog and +sheep laws and hedgehog bounties. But now! The oldest resident couldn't +remember a case of high treason and rebellion against the Northeastern +such as this promised to be, and the sensation took on an added flavour +from the fact that the arch rebel was a figure of picturesque interest, a +millionaire with money enough to rent the Duncan house and fill its long- +disused stable with horses, who was a capitalist himself and a friend of +Mr. Flint's; of whom it was said that he was going to marry Mr. Flint's +daughter! + +Long before eleven, too, the chiefs over tens and the chiefs over +hundreds had gathered their men and marched them into the state-house; +and Mr. Tooting, who was everywhere that morning, noticed that some of +these led soldiers had pieces of paper in their hands. The chaplain +arose to pray for guidance, and the House was crowded to its capacity, +and the gallery filled with eager and expectant faces--but the hero of +the hour had not yet arrived. When at length he did walk down the aisle, +as unconcernedly as though he were an unknown man entering a theatre, +feminine whispers of "There he is!" could plainly be heard above the +buzz, and simultaneous applause broke out in spots, causing the Speaker +to rap sharply with his gavel. Poor Mr. Speaker Doby! He looked more +like the mock-turtle than ever! and might have exclaimed, too, that once +he had been a real turtle: only yesterday, in fact, before he had made +the inconceivable blunder of recognizing Mr. Humphrey Crewe. Mr. Speaker +Doby had spent a part of the night in room Number Seven listening to +things about himself. Herminius the unspeakable has given the enemy a +foothold in Rome. + +Apparently unaware that he was the centre of interest, Mr. Crewe, +carrying a neat little bag full of papers, took his seat beside the +Honourable Jacob Botcher, nodding to that erstwhile friend as a man of +the world should. And Mr. Botcher, not to be outdone, nodded back. + +We shall skip over the painful interval that elapsed before the bill in +question was reached: painful, at least, for every one but Mr. Crewe, who +sat with his knees crossed and his arms folded. The hosts were facing +each other, awaiting the word; the rebels prayerfully watching their +gallant leader; and the loyal vassals--whose wavering ranks had been +added to overnight--with their eyes on Mr. Bascom. And in justice to +that veteran it must be said, despite the knock-out blow he had received, +that he seemed as debonair as ever. + + "Now while the three were tightening + The harness on their backs." + +Mr. Speaker Doby read many committee reports, and at the beginning of +each there was a stir of expectation that it might be the signal for +battle. But at length he fumbled among his papers, cleared away the lump +in his throat, and glanced significantly at Mr. Bascom. + +"The Committee on Incorporations, to whom was referred House bill number +302, entitled "An act to incorporate the Pingsquit Railroad," having +considered the same, report the same with the following resolution: +'Resolved, that it is inexpedient to legislate. Brush Bascom, for the +Committee.' Gentlemen, are you ready for the question? As many as are of +opinion that the report of the Committee should be adopted--the gentleman +from Putnam, Mr. Bascom." + +Again let us do exact justice, and let us not be led by our feelings to +give a prejudiced account of this struggle. The Honourable Brush Bascom, +skilled from youth in the use of weapons, opened the combat so adroitly +that more than once the followers of his noble opponent winced and +trembled. The bill, Mr. Bascom said, would have been reported that day, +anyway--a statement received with mingled cheers and jeers. Then +followed a brief and somewhat intimate history of the Gaylord Lumber +Company, not at all flattering to that corporation. Mr. Bascom hinted, +at an animus: there was no more need for a railroad in the Pingsquit +Valley than there was for a merry-go-round in the cellar of the state- +house. (Loud laughter from everybody, some irreverent person crying out +that a merry-go-round was better than poker tables.) When Mr. Bascom came +to discuss the gentleman from Leith, and recited the names of the +committees for which Mr. Crewe--in his desire to be of service to the +State had applied, there was more laughter, even amongst Mr. Crewe's +friends, and Mr. Speaker Doby relaxed so far as to smile sadly. Mr. +Bascom laid his watch on the clerk's desk and began to read the list of +bills Mr. Crewe had introduced, and as this reading proceeded some of the +light-minded showed a tendency to become slightly hysterical. Mr. Bascom +said that he would like to see all those bills grow into laws,--with +certain slight changes,--but that he could not conscientiously vote to +saddle the people with another Civil War debt. It was well for the +State, he hinted, that those committees were composed of stanch men who +would do their duty in all weathers, regardless of demagogues who sought +to gratify inordinate ambitions. + +The hope of the revolutionists bore these strokes and others as mighty +with complacency, as though they had been so manyplayful taps; and while +the battle surged hotly around him he sat calmly listening or making +occasional notes with a gold pencil. Born leader that he was, he was +biding his time. Mr. Bascom's attack was met valiantly, but +unskillfully, from the back seats. The Honourable Jacob Botcher arose, +and filled the hall with extracts from the "Book of Arguments"--in which +he had been coached overnight by the Honourable Hilary Vane. Mr. +Botcher's tone towards his erstwhile friend was regretful,--a good man +gone wrong through impulse and inexperience. "I am, sir," said Mr. +Bascom to the Speaker, "sincerely sorry--sincerely sorry that an +individual of such ability as the member from Leith should be led, by the +representations of political adventurers and brigands and malcontents, +into his present deplorable position of criticising a State which is his +only by adoption, the political conditions of which were as sound and as +free from corporate domination, sir, as those of any State in the broad +Union." (Loud cheers.) This appeal to State pride by Mr. Botches is a +master stroke, and the friends of the champion of the liberties of the +people are beginning (some of them) to be a little nervous and doubtful. + +Following Mr. Botches were wild and scattering speeches from the back +benches--unskillful and pitiable counter-strokes. Where was the +champion? Had he been tampered with overnight, and persuaded of the +futility of +rebellion? Persuaded that his head would be more useful on his own neck +in the councils of the nation than on exhibition to the populace from the +point of a pike? It looks, to a calm spectator from the gallery, as +though the rebel forces are growing weaker and more demoralized every +moment. Mr. Redbrook's speech, vehement and honest, helps a little; +people listen to an honest and forceful man, however he may lack +technical knowledge, but the majority of the replies are mere incoherent +denunciations of the Northeastern Railroads. + +On the other hand, the astounding discipline amongst the legions of the +Empire excites the admiration and despair even of their enemies; there is +no random fighting here and breaking of ranks to do useless hacking. A +grave farmer with a beard delivers a short and temperate speech (which he +has by heart), mildly inquiring what the State would do without the +Northeastern Railroads; and the very moderation of this query coming from +a plain and hard-headed agriculturist (the boss of Grenville, if one but +knew it!) has a telling effect. And then to cap the climax, to make the +attitude of the rebels even more ridiculous in the minds of thinking +people, Mr. Ridout is given the floor. Skilled in debate when he chooses +to enter it, his knowledge of the law only exceeded by his knowledge of +how it is to be evaded--to Lartius is assigned the task of following up +the rout. And Mr. Crewe has ceased taking notes. + +When the House leader and attorney for the Northeastern took his seat, +the victory to all appearances was won. It was a victory for +conservatism and established order against sensationalism and anarchy-- +Mr. Ridout had contrived to make that clear without actually saying so. +It was as if the Ute Indians had sought to capture Washington and conduct +the government. Just as ridiculous as that! The debate seemed to be +exhausted, and the long-suffering Mr. Doby was inquiring for the fiftieth +time if the House were ready for the question, when Mr. Crewe of Leith +arose and was recognized. In three months he had acquired such a +remarkable knowledge of the game of parliamentary tactics as to be able, +patiently, to wait until the bolt of his opponents had been shot; and a +glance sufficed to revive the drooping spirits of his followers, and to +assure them that their leader knew what he was about. + +"Mr. Speaker," he said, "I have listened with great care to the masterly +defence of that corporation on which our material prosperity and civic +welfare is founded (laughter); I have listened to the gentleman's learned +discussion of the finances of that road, tending to prove that it is an +eleemosynary institution on a grand scale. I do not wish to question +unduly the intellects of those members of this House who by their votes +will prove that they have been convinced by the gentleman's argument." +Here Mr. Crewe paused and drew a slip of paper from his pocket and +surveyed the back seats. "But I perceive," he continued, "that a great +interest has been taken in this debate--so great an interest that since +yesterday numbers of gentlemen have come in from various parts of the +State to listen to it (laughter and astonishment), gentlemen who hold +Federal and State offices. (Renewed laughter and searching of the +House.) I repeat, Mr. Speaker, that I do not wish to question the +intellects of my fellow-members, but I notice that many of them who are +seated near the Federal and State office-holders in question have in +their hands slips of paper similar to this. And I have reason to believe +that these slips were written by somebody in room Number Seven of the +Pelican Hotel." (Tremendous commotion, and craning to see whether one's +neighbour has a slip. The, faces of the redoubtable three a study.) + +"I procured one of these slips," Mr. Crewe continued, "through a fellow- +member who has no use for it--whose intelligence, in fact, is underrated +by the gentlemen in Number Seven. I will read the slip. + +"'Vote yes on the question. Yes means that the report of the Committee +will be accepted, and that the Pingsquit bill will not pass. Wait for +Bascom's signal, and destroy this paper."' + +There was no need, indeed, for Mr. Crewe to say any more than that--no +need for the admirable discussion of railroad finance from an expert's +standpoint which followed to controvert Mr. Ridout's misleading +statements. The reading of the words on the slip of paper of which he +had so mysteriously got possession (through Mr. Hamilton Tooting) was +sufficient to bring about a disorder that for a full minute--Mr. Speaker +Doby found it impossible to quell. The gallery shook with laughter, and +honourable members with slips of paper in their hands were made as +conspicuous as if they had been caught wearing dunces' caps. + +It was then only, with belated wisdom, that Mr. Bascom and his two noble +companions gave up the fight, and let the horde across the bridge--too +late, as we shall see. The populace, led by a redoubtable leader, have +learned their strength. It is true that the shining senatorial twenty of +the body-guard stand ready to be hacked to pieces at their posts before +the Pingsquit bill shall become a law; and should unutterable treason +take place here, his Excellency is prepared to be drawn and quartered +rather than sign it. It is the Senate which, in this somewhat inaccurate +repetition of history, hold the citadel if not the bridge; and in spite +of the howling mob below their windows, scornfully refuse even to discuss +the Pingsquit bill. The Honourable Hilary Vane, whose face they study at +dinner time, is not worried. Popular wrath does not continue to boil, +and many changes will take place in the year before the Legislature meets +again. + +This is the Honourable Hilary's public face. But are there not private +conferences in room Number Seven of which we can know nothing-- +exceedingly uncomfortable conferences for Horatius and his companions? +Are there not private telegrams and letters to the president of the +Northeastern in New York advising him that the Pingsquit bill has passed +the House, and that a certain Mr. Crewe is primarily responsible? And +are there not queries--which history may disclose in after years--as to +whether Mr. Crewe's abilities as a statesman have not been seriously +underrated by those who should have been the first to perceive them? +Verily, pride goeth before a fall. + +In this modern version of ours, the fathers throng about another than +Horatius after the session of that memorable morning. Publicly and +privately, Mr. Crewe is being congratulated, and we know enough of his +character to appreciate the modesty with which the congratulations are +accepted. He is the same Humphrey Crewe that he was before he became the +corner-stone of the temple; success is a mere outward and visible sign of +intrinsic worth in the inner man, and Mr. Crewe had never for a moment +underestimated his true value. + +"There's, no use wasting time in talking about it," he told the grateful +members who sought to press his hands. "Go home and organize. I've got +your name. Get your neighbours into line, and keep me informed. I'll +pay for the postage-stamps. I'm no impractical reformer, and if we're +going to do this thing, we'll have to do it right." + +They left him, impressed by the force of this argument, with an added +respect for Mr. Crewe, and a vague feeling that they were pledged to +something which made not a few of them a trifle uneasy. Mr. Redbrook was +one of these. + +The felicitations of his new-found friend and convert, Mr. Tooting, Mr. +Crewe cut short with the terseness of a born commander. + +"Never mind that," he said, "and follow 'em up and get 'em pledged if you +can." + +Get 'em pledged! Pledged to what? Mr. Tooting evidently knew, for he +wasted no precious moments in asking questions. + +There is no time at this place to go into the feelings of Mr. Tom Gaylord +the younger when he learned that his bill had passed the House. He, too, +meeting Mr. Crewe in the square, took the opportunity to express his +gratitude to the member from Leith. + +"Come in on Friday afternoon, Gaylord," answered Mr. Crewe. "I've got +several things to talk to you about. Your general acquaintance around +the State will be useful, and there must be men you know of in the lumber +sections who can help us considerably." + +"Help us?" repeated young Tom, in same surprise. + +"Certainly," replied Mr. Crewe; "you don't think we're going to drop the +fight here, do you? We've got to put a stop in this State to political +domination by a railroad, and as long as there doesn't seem to be anyone +else to take hold, I'm going to. Your bill's a good bill, and we'll pass +it next session." + +Young Tom regarded Mr. Crewe with a frank stare. + +"I'm going up to the Pingsquit Valley on Friday," he answered. + +"Then you'd better come up to Leith to see me as soon as you get back," +said Mr. Crewe. "These things can't wait, and have to be dealt with +practically." + +Young Tom had not been the virtual head of the Gaylord Company for some +years without gaining a little knowledge of politics and humanity. The +invitation to Leith he valued, of course, but he felt that it would not +do to accept it with too much ardour. He was, he said, a very busy man. + +"That's the trouble with most people," declared Mr. Crewe; "they won't +take the time to bother about politics, and then they complain when +things don't go right. Now I'm givin' my time to it, when I've got other +large interests to attend to." + +On his way back to the Pelican, young Tom halted several times +reflectively, as certain points in this conversation which he seemed to +have missed at the time--came back to him. His gratitude to Mr. Crewe as +a public benefactor was profound, of course; but young Tom's sense of +humour was peculiar, and he laughed more than once, out loud, at nothing +at all. Then he became grave again, and went into the hotel and wrote a +long letter, which he addressed to Mr. Austen Vane. + +And now, before this chapter which contains these memorable events is +closed, one more strange and significant fact is to be chronicled. On +the evening of the day which saw Mr. Crewe triumphantly leading the +insurgent forces to victory, that gentleman sent his private secretary to +the office of the State Tribune to leave an order for fifty copies of the +paper to be delivered in the morning. Morning came, and the fifty +copies, and Mr. Crewe's personal copy in addition, were handed to him by +the faithful Waters when he entered his dining room at an early hour. +Life is full of disillusions. Could this be the State Tribune he held in +his hand? The State Tribune of Mr. Peter Pardriff, who had stood so +stanchly for Mr. Crewe and better things? Who had hitherto held the +words of the Leith statesman in such golden estimate as to curtail +advertising columns when it was necessary to print them for the public +good? + +Mr. Crewe's eye travelled from column to column, from page to page, in +vain. By some incredible oversight on the part of Mr. Pardriff, the +ringing words were not there,--nay, the soul-stirring events of that +eventful day appeared, on closer inspection, to have been deliberately +edited out! The terrible indignation of the righteous arose as Mr. Crewe +read (in the legislative proceedings of the day before) that the +Pingsquit bill had been discussed by certain members--of whom he was one- +-and passed. This was all--literally all! If Mr. Pardriff had lived in +the eighteenth century, he would probably have referred as casually to +the Boston massacre as a street fight--which it was. + +Profoundly disgusted with human kind,--as the noblest of us will be at +times,--Mr. Crewe flung down the paper, and actually forgot to send the +fifty copies to his friends! + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE DISTURBANCE OF JUNE SEVENTH + +After Mr. Speaker Doby had got his gold watch from an admiring and +apparently reunited House, and had wept over it, the Legislature +adjourned. This was about the first of April, that sloppiest and +windiest of months in a northern climate, and Mr. Crewe had intended, as +usual, to make a little trip southward to a club of which he was a +member. A sense of duty, instead, took him to Leith, where he sat +through the days in his study, dictating letters, poring over a great map +of the State which he had hung on the wall, and scanning long printed +lists. If we could stand behind him, we should see that these are what +are known as check-lists, or rosters of the voters in various towns. + +Mr. Crewe also has an unusual number of visitors for this muddy weather, +when the snow-water is making brooks of the roads. Interested observers- +-if there were any--might have remarked that his friendship with Mr. +Hamilton Tooting had increased, that gentleman coming up from Ripton at +least twice a week, and aiding Mr. Crewe to multiply his acquaintances by +bringing numerous strangers to see him. Mr. Tooting, as we know, had +abandoned the law office of the Honourable Hilary Vane and was now +engaged in travelling over the State, apparently in search of health. +These were signs, surely, which the wise might have read with profit: in +the offices, for instance, of the Honourable Hilary Vane in Ripton +Square, where seismic disturbances were registered; but the movement of +the needle (to the Honourable Hilary's eye) was almost imperceptible. +What observer, however experienced, would have believed that such +delicate tracings could herald a volcanic eruption? + +Throughout the month of April the needle kept up its persistent +registering, and the Honourable Hilary continued to smile. The +Honourable Jacob Botcher, who had made a trip to Ripton and had cited +that very decided earthquake shock of the Pingsquit bill, had been +ridiculed for his pains, and had gone away again comforted by communion +with a strong man. The Honourable Jacob had felt little shocks in his +fief: Mr. Tooting had visited it, sitting with his feet on the tables of +hotel waiting-rooms, holding private intercourse with gentlemen who had +been disappointed in office. Mr. Tooting had likewise been a sojourner +in the domain of the Duke of Putnam. But the Honourable Brush was not +troubled, and had presented Mr. Tooting with a cigar. + +In spite of the strange omission of the State Tribune to print his speech +and to give his victory in the matter of the Pingsquit bill proper +recognition, Mr. Crewe was too big a man to stop his subscription to the +paper. Conscious that he had done his duty in that matter, neither +praise nor blame could affect him; and although he had not been mentioned +since, he read it assiduously every afternoon upon its arrival at Leith, +feeling confident that Mr. Peter Pardriff (who had always in private +conversation proclaimed himself emphatically for reform) would not +eventually refuse--to a prophet--public recognition. One afternoon +towards the end of that month of April, when the sun had made the last +snow-drift into a pool, Mr. Crewe settled himself on his south porch and +opened the State Tribune, and his heart gave a bound as his eye fell upon +the following heading to the leading editorial:-- + + A WORTHY PUBLIC SERVANT FOR GOVERNOR + +Had his reward come at last? Had Mr. Peter Pardriff seen the error of +his way? Mr. Crewe leisurely folded back the sheet, and called to his +secretary, who was never far distant. + +"Look here," he said, "I guess Pardriff's recovered his senses. Look +here!" + +The tired secretary, ready with his pencil and notebook to order fifty +copies, responded, staring over his employer's shoulder. It has been +said of men in battle that they have been shot and have run forward some +hundred feet without knowing what has happened to them. And so Mr. Crewe +got five or six lines into that editorial before he realized in full the +baseness of Mr. Pardriff's treachery. + +"These are times" (so ran Mr. Pardriff's composition) when the sure and +steadying hand of a strong man is needed at the helm of State. A man of +conservative, business habits of mind; a man who weighs the value of +traditions equally with the just demands of a new era; a man with a +knowledge of public affairs derived from long experience;" (!!!), a man +who has never sought office, but has held it by the will of the people, +and who himself is a proof that the conduct of State institutions in the +past has been just and equitable. One who has served with distinction +upon such boards as the Railroad Commission, the Board of Equalization, +etc., etc." (!!!) "A stanch Republican, one who puts party before--" here +the newspaper began to shake a little, and Mr. Crewe could not for the +moment see whether the next word were place or principle. He skipped a +few lines. The Tribune, it appeared, had a scintillating idea, which +surely must have occurred to others in the State. "Why not the +Honourable Adam B. Hunt of Edmundton for the next governor?" + +The Honourable Adam B. Hunt of Edmundton! + +It is a pleasure to record, at this crisis, that Mr. Crewe fixed upon his +secretary as steady an eye as though Mr. Pardriff's bullet had missed its +mark. + +"Get me," he said coolly, "the 'State Encyclopaedia of Prominent Men.'" +(Just printed. Fogarty and Co., Newcastle, publishers.) + +The secretary fetched it, open at the handsome and lifelike steel- +engraving of the Honourable Adam, with his broad forehead and kindly, +twinkling eyes, and the tuft of beard on his chin; with his ample +statesman's coat in natural creases, and his white shirt-front and little +black tie. Mr. Crewe gazed at this work of art long and earnestly. The +Honourable Adam B. Hunt did not in the least have the appearance of a +bolt from the blue. And then Mr. Crewe read his biography. + +Two things he shrewdly noted about that biography; it was placed, out of +alphabetical order, fourth in the book, and it was longer than any other +with one exception that of Mr. Ridout, the capital lawyer. Mr. Ridout's +place was second in this invaluable volume, he being preceded only by a +harmless patriarch. These facts were laid before Mr. Tooting, who was +directed by telephone to come to Leith as soon as he should arrive in +Ripton from his latest excursion. It was nine o'clock at night when that +long-suffering and mud-bespattered individual put in an appearance at the +door of his friend's study. + +"Because I didn't get on to it," answered Mr. Tooting, in response to a +reproach for not having registered a warning--for he was Mr. Crewe's +seismograph. "I knew old Adam vas on the Railroads' governor's bench, +but I hadn't any notion he'd been moved up to the top of the batting +list. I told you right. Ridout was going to be their next governor if +you hadn't singed him with the Pingsquit bill. This was done pretty +slick, wasn't it? Hilary got back from New York day before yesterday, +and Pardriff has the editorial to-day. Say, I always told you Pardriff +wasn't a reformer, didn't I?" + +Mr. Crewe looked pained. + +"I prefer to believe the best of people until I know the worst," he said. +"I did not think Mr. Pardriff capable of ingratitude." + +What Mr. Crewe meant by this remark is enigmatical. + +"He ain't," replied Mr. Tooting, "he's grateful for that red ticket he +carries around with him when he travels, and he's grateful to the +Honourable Adam B. Hunt for favours to come. Peter Pardriff's a grateful +cuss, all-right, all right." + +Mr. Crewe tapped his fingers on the desk thoughtfully. + +"The need of a reform campaign is more apparent than ever," he remarked. + +Mr. Tooting put his tongue in his cheek; and, seeing a dreamy expression +on his friend's face, accidentally helped himself to a cigar out of the +wrong box. + +"It's up to a man with a sense of duty and money to make it," Mr. Tooting +agreed, taking a long pull at the Havana. + +"As for the money," replied Mr. Crewe, "the good citizens of the State +should be willing to contribute largely. I have had a list of men of +means prepared, who will receive notices at the proper time." + +Mr. Hamilton Tooting spread out his feet, and appeared to be studying +them carefully. + +"It's funny you should have mentioned cash," he said, after a moment's +silence, "and it's tough on you to have to be the public-spirited man to +put it up at the start. I've got a little memorandum here," he added, +fumbling apologetically in his pocket; "it certainly costs something to +move the boys around and keep 'em indignant." + +Mr. Tooting put the paper on the edge of the desk, and Mr. Crewe, without +looking, reached out his hand for it, the pained expression returning to +his face. + +"Tooting," he said, "you've got a very flippant way of speaking of +serious things. It strikes me that these expenses are out of all +proportion to the simplicity of the task involved. It strikes me--ahem +that you might find, in some quarters at least, a freer response to a +movement founded on principle." + +"That's right," declared Mr. Tooting, "I've thought so myself. I've got +mad, and told 'em so to their faces. But you've said yourself, Mr. +Crewe, that we've got to deal with this thing practically." + +"Certainly," Mr. Crewe interrupted. He loved the word. + +"And we've got to get workers, haven't we? And it costs money to move +'em round, don't it? We haven't got a bushel basket of passes. Look +here," and he pushed another paper at Mr. Crewe, "here's ten new ones +who've made up their minds that you're the finest man in the State. That +makes twenty." + +Mr. Crewe took that paper deprecatingly, but nevertheless began a fire of +cross-questions on Mr. Tooting as to the personality, habits, and +occupations of the discerning ten in question, making certain little +marks of his own against each name. Thus it will be seen that Mr. Crewe +knew perfectly what he was about--although no one else did except Mr. +Tooting, who merely looked mysterious when questioned on the streets of +Ripton or Newcastle or Kingston. It was generally supposed, however, +that the gentleman from Leith was going to run for the State Senate, and +was attempting to get a following in other counties, in order to push +through his measures next time. Hence the tiny fluctuations of Hilary +Vane's seismograph an instrument, as will be shown, utterly out-of-date. +Not so the motto toujours l'audace. Geniuses continue (at long +intervals) to be born, and to live up to that motto. + +That seismograph of the Honourable Hilary's persisted in tracing only a +slightly ragged line throughout the beautiful month of May, in which +favourable season the campaign of the Honourable Adam B. Hunt took root +and flourished--apparently from the seed planted by the State Tribune. +The ground, as usual, had been carefully prepared, and trained gardeners +raked, and watered, and weeded the patch. It had been decreed and +countersigned that the Honourable Adam B. Hunt was the flower that was to +grow this year. + +There must be something vitally wrong with an instrument which failed to +register the great earthquake shock of June the seventh! + +Now that we have come to the point where this shock is to be recorded on +these pages, we begin to doubt whether our own pen will be able +adequately to register it, and whether the sheet is long enough and broad +enough upon which to portray the relative importance of the disturbance +created. The trouble is, that there is nothing to measure it by. What +other event in the history of the State produced the vexation of spirit, +the anger, the tears, the profanity; the derision, the laughter of fools, +the contempt; the hope, the glee, the prayers, the awe, the dumb +amazement at the superb courage of this act? No, for a just comparison +we shall have to reach back to history and fable: David and Goliath; +Theseus and the Minotaur; or, better still, Cadmus and the Dragon! It +was Cadmus (if we remember rightly) who wasted no time whatever, but +actually jumped down the dragon's throat and cut him up from the inside! +And it was Cadmus, likewise, who afterwards sowed the dragon's teeth. + +That wondrous clear and fresh summer morning of June the seventh will not +be forgotten for many years. The trees were in their early leaf in +Ripton Square, and the dark pine patches on Sawanec looked (from Austen's +little office) like cloud shadows against the shimmer of the tender +green. He sat at his table, which was covered with open law-books and +papers, but his eyes were on the distant mountain, and every scent-laden +breeze wafted in at his open window seemed the bearer of a tremulous, +wistful, yet imperious message--" Come!" Throughout the changing +seasons Sawanec called to him in words of love: sometimes her face was +hidden by cloud and fog and yet he heard her voice! Sometimes her +perfume as to-day--made him dream; sometimes, when the western heavens +were flooded with the golden light of the infinite, she veiled herself in +magic purple, when to gaze at her was an exquisite agony, and she became +as one forbidden to man. Though his soul cried out to her across the +spaces, she was not for him. She was not for him! + +With a sigh he turned to his law-books again, and sat for a while staring +steadfastly at a section of the 'Act of Consolidation of the Northeastern +Railroads' which he had stumbled on that morning. The section, if he +read its meaning aright, was fraught with the gravest consequences for +the Northeastern Railroads; if he read its meaning aright, the +Northeastern Railroads had been violating it persistently for many years +and were liable for unknown sums in damages. The discovery of it had +dazed him, and the consequences resulting from a successful suit under +the section would be so great that he had searched diligently, though in +vain, for some modification of it since its enactment. Why had not some +one discovered it before? This query appeared to be unanswerable, until +the simple--though none the less remarkable--solution came to him, that +perhaps no definite occasion had hitherto arisen for seeking it. +Undoubtedly the Railroads' attorneys must know of its existence--his own +father, Hilary Vane, having been instrumental in drawing up the Act. And +a long period had elapsed under which the Northeastern Railroads had been +a law unto themselves. + +The discovery was of grave import to Austen. A month before, chiefly +through the efforts of his friend, Tom, who was gradually taking his +father's place in the Gaylord Lumber Company, Austen had been appointed +junior counsel for that corporation. The Honourable Galusha Hammer still +remained the senior counsel, but was now confined in his house at +Newcastle by an illness which made the probability of his return to +active life extremely doubtful; and Tom had repeatedly declared that in +the event of his non-recovery Austen should have Mr. Hammer's place. As +counsel for the Gaylord Lumber Company, it was clearly his duty to call +the attention of young Mr. Gaylord to the section; and in case Mr. Hammer +did not resume his law practice, it would fall upon Austen himself to +bring the suit. His opponent in this matter would be his own father + +The consequences of this culminating conflict between them, the coming of +which he had long dreaded--although he had not foreseen its specific +cause--weighed heavily upon Austen. It was Tom Gaylord himself who +abruptly aroused him from his revery by bursting in at the door. + +"Have you heard what's up?" he cried, flinging down a newspaper before +Austen's eyes. "Have you seen the Guardian?" + +"What's the matter now, Tom?" + +"Matter!" exclaimed Tom; "read that. Your friend and client, the +Honourable Humphrey Crewe, is out for governor." + +"Humphrey Crewe for governor!" + +"On an anti-railroad platform. I might have known something of the kind +was up when he began to associate with Tooting, and from the way he spoke +to me in March. But who'd have thought he'd have the cheek to come out +for governor? Did you ever hear of such tommyrot?" + +Austen looked grave. + +"I'm not sure it's such tommyrot," he said. + +"Not tommyrot?" Tom ejaculated. "Everybody's laughing. When I passed +the Honourable Hilary's door just now, Brush Bascom and some of the old +liners were there, reciting parts of the proclamation, and the boys down +in the Ripton House are having the time of their lives." + +Austen took the Guardian, and there, sure enough, filling a leading +column, and in a little coarser type than the rest of the page, he read: + + DOWN WITH RAILROAD RULE! + + The Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith, at the request + of twenty prominent citizens, consents to become a candidate + for the Republican Nomination for Governor. + + Ringing letter of acceptance, in which he denounces the + political power of the Northeastern Railroads, and declares + that the State is governed from a gilded suite of offices in + New Pork. + +"The following letter, evincing as it does a public opinion thoroughly +aroused in all parts of the State against the present disgraceful +political conditions, speaks for itself. The standing and character of +its signers give it a status which Republican voters cannot ignore." + +The letter followed. It prayed Mr. Crewe, in the name of decency and +good government, to carry the standard of honest men to victory. Too +long had a proud and sovereign State writhed under the heel of an all- +devouring corporation! Too long had the Northeastern Railroads elected, +for their own selfish ends, governors and legislatures and controlled +railroad commissions The spirit of 1776 was abroad in the land. It was +eminently fitting that the Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith, who had +dared to fling down the gauntlet in the face of an arrogant power, should +be the leader of the plain people, to recover the rights which had been +wrested from them. Had he not given the highest proof that he had the +people's interests at heart? He was clearly a man who "did things." + +At this point Austen looked up and smiled. + +"Tom," he asked, "has it struck you that this is written in the same +inimitable style as a part of the message of the Honourable Asa Gray?" + +Tom slapped his knee. + +"That's exactly what I said I!" he cried. "Tooting wrote it. I'll swear +to it." + +"And the twenty prominent citizens--do you know any of 'em, Tom?" + +"Well," said Tom, in delighted appreciation, "I've heard of three of 'em, +and that's more than any man I've met can boast of. Ed Dubois cuts my +hair when I go to Kingston. He certainly is a prominent citizen in the +fourth ward. Jim Kendall runs the weekly newspaper in Grantley--I +understood it was for sale. Bill Clements is prominent enough up at +Groveton. He wanted a trolley franchise some years ago, you remember." + +"And didn't get it." + +Mr. Crewe's answer was characteristically terse and businesslike. The +overwhelming compliment of a request from such gentlemen must be treated +in the nature of a command--and yet he had hesitated for several weeks, +during which period he had cast about for another more worthy of the +honour. Then followed a somewhat technical and (to the lay mind) obscure +recapitulation of the iniquities the Northeastern was committing, which +proved beyond peradventure that Mr. Crewe knew what he was talking about; +such phrases as "rolling stock," "milking the road"--an imposing array +of facts and figures. Mr. Crewe made it plain that he was a man who "did +things." And if it were the will of Heaven that he became governor, +certain material benefits would as inevitably ensue as the day follows +the night. The list of the material benefits, for which there was a +crying need, bore a strong resemblance to a summary of the worthy +measures upon which Mr. Crewe had spent so much time and labour in the +last Legislature. + +Austen laid down the paper, leaned back in his chair, and thrust his +hands in his pockets, and with a little vertical pucker in his forehead, +regarded his friend. + +"What do you think of that?" Tom demanded. "Now, what do you think of +it?" + +"I think," said Austen, "that he'll scare the life out of the +Northeastern before he gets through with them." + +"What!" exclaimed Tom, incredulously. He had always been willing to +accept Austen's judgment on men and affairs, but this was pretty stiff. +"What makes you think so?" + +"Well, people don't know Mr. Crewe, for one thing. And they are +beginning to have a glimmer of light upon the Railroad." + +"Do you mean to say he has a chance for the nomination?" + +"I don't know. It depends upon how much the voters find out about him +before the convention." + +Tom sat down rather heavily. + +"You could have been governor," he complained reproachfully, "by raising +your hand. You've got more ability than any man in the State, and you +sit here gazin' at that mountain and lettin' a darned fool millionaire +walk in ahead of you." + +Austen rose and crossed over to Mr. Gaylord's chair, and, his hands still +in his pockets, looked down thoughtfully into that gentleman's square and +rugged face. + +"Tom," he said, "there's no use discussing this delusion of yours, which +seems to be the only flaw in an otherwise sane character. We must try to +keep it from the world." + +Tom laughed in spite of himself. + +"I'm hanged if I understand you," he declared, "but I never did. You +think Crewe and Tooting may carry off the governorship, and you don't +seem to care." + +"I do care," said Austen, briefly. He went to the window and stood for a +moment with his back to his friend, staring across at Sawanec. Tom had +learned by long experience to respect these moods, although they were to +him inexplicable. At length Austen turned. + +"Tom," he said, "can you come in to-morrow about this time? If you +can't, I'll go to your office if you will let me know when you'll be in. +There's a matter of business I want to talk to you about." + +Tom pulled out his watch. + +"I've got to catch a train for Mercer," he replied, "but I will come in +in the morning and see you." + +A quarter of an hour later Austen went down the narrow wooden flight of +stairs into the street, and as he emerged from the entry almost bumped +into the figure of a young man that was hurrying by. He reached out and +grasped the young man by the collar, pulling him up so short as almost to +choke him. + +"Hully gee!" cried the young man whose progress had been so rudely +arrested. "Great snakes!" (A cough.) "What're you tryin' to do? Oh," +(apologetically) "it's you, Aust. Let me go. This day ain't long enough +for me. Let me go." + +Austen kept his grip and regarded Mr. Tooting thoughtfully. + +"I want to speak to you, Ham," he said; "better come upstairs." + +"Say, Aust, on the dead, I haven't time. Pardriff's waitin' for some +copy now." + +"Just for a minute, Ham," said Austen; "I won't keep you long." + +"Leggo my collar, then, if you don't want to choke me. Say, I don't +believe you know how strong you are." + +"I didn't know you wore a collar any more, Ham," said Austen. + +Mr. Tooting grinned in appreciation of this joke. + +"You must think you've got one of your Wild West necktie parties on," he +gasped. "I'll come. But if you love me, don't let the boys in Hilary's +office see me." + +"They use the other entry," answered Austen, indicating that Mr. Tooting +should go up first--which he did. When they reached the office Austen +shut the door, and stood with his back against it, regarding Mr. Tooting +thoughtfully. + +At first Mr. Tooting returned the look with interest swagger--aggression +would be too emphatic, and defiance would not do. His was the air, +perhaps, of Talleyrand when he said, "There seems to be an inexplicable +something in me that brings bad luck to governments that neglect me:" the +air of a man who has made a brilliant coup d'etat. All day he had worn +that air--since five o'clock in the morning, when he had sprung from his +pallet. The world might now behold the stuff that was in Hamilton +Tooting. Power flowed out of his right hand from an inexhaustible +reservoir which he had had the sagacity to tap, and men leaped into +action at his touch. He, the once, neglected, had the destiny of a State +in his keeping. + +Gradually, however, it became for some strange reason difficult to +maintain that aggressive stare upon Austen Vane, who shook his head +slowly. + +"Ham, why did you do it?" he asked. + +"Why?" cried Mr. Tooting, fiercely biting back a treasonable smile. "Why +not? Ain't he the best man in the State to make a winner? Hasn't he got +the money, and the brains, and the get-up-and-git? Why, it's a sure +thing. I've been around the State, and I know the sentiment. We've got +'em licked, right now. What have you got against it? You're on our +side, Aust." + +"Ham," said Austen, "are you sure you have the names and addresses of +those twenty prominent citizens right, so that any voter may go out and +find 'em?" + +"What are you kidding about, Aust?" retorted Mr. Tooting, biting back the +smile again. "Say, you never get down to business with me. You don't +blame Crewe for comin' out, do you?" + +"I don't see how Mr. Crewe could have resisted such an overwhelming +demand," said Austen. "He couldn't shirk such a duty. He says so +himself, doesn't he?" + +"Oh, go on!" exclaimed Mr. Tooting, who was not able to repress a grin. + +"The letter of the twenty must have been a great surprise to Mr. Crewe. +He says he was astonished. Did the whole delegation go up to Leith, or +only a committee?" + +Mr. Tooting's grin had by this time spread all over his face--a flood +beyond his control. + +"Well, there's no use puffin' it on with you, Aust. That was done pretty +slick, that twenty-prominent-citizen business, if I do say it myself. +But you don't know that feller Crewe--he's a full-size cyclone when he +gets started, and nothin' but a range of mountains could stop him." + +"It must be fairly exciting to--ride him, Ham." + +"Say, but it just is. Kind of breathless, though. He ain't very well +known around the State, and he was bound to run--and I just couldn't let +him come out without any clothes on." + +"I quite appreciate your delicacy, Ham." + +Mr. Tooting's face took on once more a sheepish look, which changed +almost immediately to one of disquietude. + +"Say, I'll come back again some day and kid with you. I've got to go, +Aust--that's straight. This is my busy day." + +"Wouldn't you gain some time if you left by the window?" Austen asked. + +At this suggestion Mr. Tooting's expressive countenance showed genuine +alarm. + +"Say, you ain't going to put up any Wild West tricks on me, are you? I +heard you nearly flung Tom Gaylord out of the one in the other room." + +"If this were a less civilized place, Ham, I'd initiate you into what is +known as the bullet dance. As it is, I have a great mind to speed you on +your way by assisting you downstairs." + +Mr. Hamilton Tooting became ashy pale. + +"I haven't done anything to you, Aust. Say--you didn't--?" He did not +finish. + +Terrified by something in Austen's eye, which may or may not have been +there at the time of the Blodgett incident, Mr. Tooting fled without +completing his inquiry. And, his imagination being great, he reproduced +for himself such a vivid sensation of a bullet-hole in his spine that he +missed his footing near the bottom, and measured his length in the entry. +Such are the humiliating experiences which sometimes befall the +Talleyrands--but rarely creep into their biographies. + +Austen, from the top of the stairway, saw this catastrophe, but did not +smile. He turned on his heel, and made his way slowly around the corner +of the passage into the other part of the building, and paused at the +open doorway of the Honourable Hilary's outer office. By the street +windows sat the Honourable Brush Bascom, sphinx-like, absorbing wisdom +and clouds of cigar smoke which emanated from the Honourable Nat +Billings. + +"Howdy, Austen?" said Brush, genially, lookin' for the Honourable Hilary? +Flint got up from New York this morning, and sent for him a couple of +hours ago. He'll be back at two." + +"Have you read the pronunciamento?" inquired Mr. Billings. "Say, Austen, +knowin' your sentiments, I wonder you weren't one of the twenty prominent +citizens." + +"All you anti-railroad fellers ought to get together," Mr. Bascom +suggested; "you've got us terrified since your friend from Leith turned +the light of publicity on us this morning. I hear Ham Tooting's been in +and made you an offer." + +News travels fast in Ripton. + +"Austen kicked him downstairs," said Jimmy Towle, the office boy, who had +made a breathless entrance during the conversation, and felt it to be the +psychological moment to give vent to the news with which he was bursting. + +"Is that straight?" Mr. Billings demanded. He wished he had done it +himself. "Is that straight?" he repeated, but Austen had gone. + +"Of course it's straight," said Jimmy Towle, vigorously. A shrewd +observer of human nature, he had little respect for Senator Billings. +"Ned Johnson saw him pick himself up at the foot of Austen's stairway." + +The Honourable Brush's agate eyes caught the light, and he addressed Mr. +Billings in a voice which, by dint of long training, only carried a few +feet. + +"There's the man the Northeastern's got to look out for," he said. "The +Humphrey Crewes don't count. But if Austen Vane ever gets started, +there'll be trouble. Old man Flint's got some such idea as that, too. I +overheard him givin' it to old Hilary once, up at Fairview, and Hilary +said he couldn't control him. I guess nobody else can control him. I +wish I'd seen him kick Ham downstairs." + +"I'd like to kick him downstairs," said Mr. Billings, savagely biting off +another cigar. + +"I guess you hadn't better try it, Nat," said Mr. Bascom. + +Meanwhile Austen had returned to his own office, and shut the door. His +luncheon hour came and went, and still he sat by the open window gazing +out across the teeming plain, and up the green valley whence the Blue +came singing from the highlands. In spirit he followed the water to +Leith, and beyond, where it swung in a wide circle arid hurried between +wondrous hills like those in the backgrounds of the old Italians: hills +of close-cropped pastures, dotted with shapely sentinel oaks and maples +which cast sharp, rounded shadows on the slopes at noonday; with thin +fantastic elms on the gentle sky-lines, and forests massed here and +there--silent, impenetrable hills from a story-book of a land of mystery. +The river coursed between them on its rocky bed, flinging its myriad gems +to the sun. This was the Vale of the Blue, and she had touched it with +meaning for him, and gone. + +He drew from his coat a worn pocket-book, and from the pocket-book a +letter. It was dated in New York in February, and though he knew it by +heart he found a strange solace in the pain which it gave him to reread +it. He stared at the monogram on the paper, which seemed so emblematic +of her; for he had often reflected that her things--even such minute +insignia as this--belonged to her. She impressed them not only with her +taste, but with her character. The entwined letters, Y. F., of the +design were not, he thought, of a meaningless, frivolous daintiness, but +stood for something. Then he read the note again. It was only a note. + + "MY DEAR MR. VANE: I have come back to find my mother ill, and I am + taking her to France. We are sailing, unexpectedly, to-morrow, + there being a difficulty about a passage later. I cannot refrain + from sending you a line before I go to tell you that I did you an + injustice. You will no doubt think it strange that I should write + to you, but I shall be troubled until it is off my mind. I am + ashamed to have been so stupid. I think I know now why you would + not consent to be a candidate, and I respect you for it. + + Sincerely your friend, + + "VICTORIA FLINT." + +What did she know? What had she found out? Had she seen her father and +talked to him? That was scarcely possible, since her mother had been ill +and she had left at once. Austen had asked himself these questions many +times, and was no nearer the solution. He had heard nothing of her +since, and he told himself that perhaps it was better, after all, that +she was still away. To know that she was at Fairview, and not to be able +to see her, were torture indeed. + +The note was formal enough, and at times he pretended to be glad that it +was. How could it be otherwise? And why should he interpret her +interest in him in other terms than those in which it was written? She +had a warm heart--that he knew; and he felt for her sake that he had no +right to wish for more than the note expressed. After several +unsuccessful attempts; he had answered it in a line, "I thank you, and I +understand." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE "BOOK OF ARGUMENTS" IS OPENED + +The Honourable Hilary Vane returned that day from Fairview in no very +equable frame of mind. It is not for us to be present at the Councils on +the Palatine when the "Book of Arguments" is opened, and those fitting +the occasion are chosen and sent out to the faithful who own printing- +presses and free passes. The Honourable Hilary Vane bore away from the +residence of his emperor a great many memoranda in an envelope, and he +must have sighed as he drove through the leafy roads for Mr. Hamilton +Tooting, with his fertile mind and active body. A year ago, and Mr. +Tooting would have seized these memoranda of majesty, and covered their +margins with new suggestions: Mr. Tooting, on occasions, had even made +additions to the "Book of Arguments" itself--additions which had been +used in New York and other States with telling effect against Mr. Crewes +there. Mr. Tooting knew by heart the time of going to press of every +country newspaper which had passes (in exchange for advertising!). It +was two o'clock when the Honourable Hilary reached his office, and by +three all the edicts would have gone forth, and the grape-shot and +canister would have been on their way to demolish the arrogance of this +petty Lord of Leith.. + +"Tooting's a dangerous man, Vane. You oughtn't to have let him go," Mr. +Flint had said. "I don't care a snap of my finger for the other fellow." + +How Mr. Tooting's ears would have burned, and how his blood would have +sung with pride to have heard himself called dangerous by the president +of the Northeastern! + +He who, during all the valuable years of his services, had never had a +sign that that potentate was cognizant of his humble existence. + +The Honourable Brush Bascom, as we know, was a clever man; and although +it had never been given him to improve on the "Book of Arguments," he had +ideas of his own. On reading Mr. Crewe's defiance that morning, he had, +with characteristic promptitude and a desire to be useful, taken the +first train out of Putnam for Ripton, to range himself by the side of the +Honourable Hilary in the hour of need. The Feudal System anticipates, +and Mr. Bascom did not wait for a telegram. + +On the arrival of the chief counsel from Fairview other captains had put +in an appearance, but Mr. Bascom alone was summoned, by a nod, into the +private office. What passed between them seems too sacred to write +about. The Honourable Hilary would take one of the slips from the packet +and give it to Mr. Bascom. + +"If that were recommended, editorially, to the Hull Mercury, it might +serve to clear away certain misconceptions in that section. + +"Certain," Mr. Bascom would reply. + +"It has been thought wise," the Honourable Hilary continued, "to send an +annual to the Groveton News. Roberts, his name is. Suppose you +recommend to Mr. Roberts that an editorial on this subject would be +timely." + +Slip number two. Mr. Bascom marks it 'Roberts.' Subject: "What would +the State do without the Railroad?" + +"And Grenville, being a Prohibition centre, you might get this worked up +for the Advertiser there." + +Mr. Bascom's agate eyes are full of light as he takes slip number three. +Subject: "Mr. Humphrey Crewe has the best-stocked wine cellar in the +State, and champagne every night for dinner." Slip number four, taken +direct from the second chapter of the "Book of Arguments": "Mr. Crewe is +a reformer because he has been disappointed in his inordinate ambitions," +etc. Slip number five: "Mr. Crewe is a summer resident, with a house in +New York," etc., etc. + +Slip number six, "Book of Arguments," paragraph, chapter: "Humphrey +Crewe, Defamer of our State." Assigned, among others, to the Ripton +Record. + +"Paul Pardriff went up to Leith to-day," said Mr. Bascom. + +"Go to see him," replied the Honourable Hilary. "I've been thinking for +some time that the advertising in the Ripton Record deserves an +additional annual." + +Mr. Bascom, having been despatched on this business, and having +voluntarily assumed control of the Empire Bureau of Publication, the +chief counsel transacted other necessary legal business with State +Senator Billings and other gentlemen who were waiting. At three o'clock +word was sent in that Mr. Austen Vane was outside, and wished to speak +with his father as soon as the latter was at leisure. Whereupon the +Honourable Hilary shooed out the minor clients, leaned back in his chair, +and commanded that his son be admitted. + +"Judge," said Austen, as he closed the door behind him, "I don't want to +bother you." + +The Honourable Hilary regarded his son for a moment fixedly out of his +little eyes. + +"Humph" he said. + +Austen looked down at his father. The Honourable Hilary's expression was +not one which would have aroused, in the ordinary man who beheld him, a +feeling of sympathy or compassion: it was the impenetrable look with +which he had faced his opponents for many years. But Austen felt +compassion. + +"Perhaps I'd better come in another time--when you are less busy," he +suggested. + +"Who said I was busy?" inquired the Honourable Hilary. + +Austen smiled a little sadly. One would have thought, by that smile, +that the son was the older and wiser of the two. + +"I didn't mean to cast any reflection on your habitual industry, Judge," +he said. + +"Humph!" exclaimed Mr. Vane. "I've got more to do than sit in the window +and read poetry, if that's what you mean." + +"You never learned how to enjoy life, did you, Judge?" he said. "I don't +believe you ever really had a good time. Own up." + +"I've had sterner things to think about. I've had 'to earn my living-- +and give you a good time." + +"I appreciate it," said Austen. + +"Humph! Sometimes I think you don't show it a great deal," the Honourable +Hilary answered. + +"I show it as far as I can, Judge," said his son. "I can't help the way +I was made." + +"I try to take account of that," said the Honourable Hilary. + +Austen laughed. + +"I'll drop in to-morrow morning," he said. + +But the Honourable Hilary pointed to a chair on the other side of the +desk. + +"Sit down. To-day's as good as to-morrow," he remarked, with sententious +significance, characteristically throwing the burden of explanation on +the visitor. + +Austen found the opening unexpectedly difficult. He felt that this was a +crisis in their relations, and that it had come at an unfortunate hour. + +"Judge," he said, trying to control the feeling that threatened to creep +into his voice, "we have jogged along for some years pretty peaceably, +and I hope you won't misunderstand what I'm going to say." + +The Honourable Hilary grunted. + +"It was at your request that I went into the law. I have learned to like +that profession. I have stuck to it as well as my wandering, Bohemian +nature will permit, and while I do not expect you necessarily to feel any +pride in such progress as I have made, I have hoped--that you might feel +an interest." + +The Honourable Hilary grunted again. + +"I suppose I am by nature a free-lance," Austen continued. "You were +good enough to acknowledge the force of my argument when I told you it +would be best for me to strike out for myself. And I suppose it was +inevitable, such being the case, and you the chief counsel for the +Northeastern Railroads, that I should at some time or another be called +upon to bring suits against your client. It would have been better, +perhaps, if I had not started to practise in this State. I did so from +what I believe was a desire common to both of us to--to live together." + +The Honourable Hilary reached for his Honey Dew, but he did not speak. + +"To live together," Austen repeated. "I want to say that, if I had gone +away, I believe I should always have regretted the fact." He paused, and +took from his pocket a slip of paper. "I made up my mind from the start +that I would always be frank with you. In spite of my desire to amass +riches, there are some suits against the Northeastern which I have-- +somewhat quixotically--refused. Here is a section of the act which +permitted the consolidation of the Northeastern Railroads. You are no +doubt aware of its existence." + +The Honourable Hilary took the slip of paper in his hand and stared at +it. "The rates for fares and freights existing at the time of the +passage of this act shall mot be increased on the roads leased or united +under it." What his sensations were when he read it no man might have +read in his face, but his hand trembled a little, and along silence +ensued before he gave it back to his son with the simple comment:-- + +"Well?" + +"I do not wish to be understood to ask your legal opinion, although you +probably know that lumber rates have been steadily raised, and if a suit +under that section were successful the Gaylord Lumber Company could +recover a very large sum of money from the Northeastern Railroads," said +Austen. "Having discovered the section, I believe it to be my duty to +call it to the attention of the Gaylords. What I wish to know is, +whether my taking the case would cause you any personal inconvenience or +distress? If so, I will refuse it." + +"No," answered the Honourable Hilary, "it won't. Bring suit. Much use +it'll be. Do you expect they can recover under that section?" + +"I think it is worth trying," said Austen. + +"Why didn't somebody try it before?" asked the Honourable Hilary. + +"See here, Judge, I wish you'd let me out of an argument about it. Suit +is going to be brought, whether I bring it or another man. If you would +prefer for any reason that I shouldn't bring it--I won't. I'd much +rather resign as counsel for the Gaylords--and I am prepared to do so." + +"Bring suit," answered the Honourable Hilary, quickly, "bring suit by all +means. And now's your time. This seems to be a popular season for +attacking the property which is the foundation of the State's +prosperity." ("Book of Arguments," chapter 3.) + +In spite of himself, Austen smiled again. Long habit had accustomed +Hilary Vane to put business considerations before family ties; and this +habit had been the secret of his particular success. And now, rather +than admit by the least sign the importance of his son's discovery of the +statute (which he had had in mind for many years, and to which he had +more than once, by the way, called Mr. Flint's attention), the Honourable +Hilary deliberately belittled the matter as part and parcel of the +political tactics against the Northeastern. + +Sears caused by differences of opinion are soon healed; words count for +nothing, and it is the soul that attracts or repels. Mr. Vane was not +analytical, he had been through a harassing day, and he was unaware that +it was not Austen's opposition, but Austen's smile, which set the torch +to his anger. Once, shortly after his marriage, when he had come home in +wrath after a protracted quarrel with Mr. Tredway over the orthodoxy of +the new minister, in the middle of his indignant recital of Mr. Tredway's +unwarranted attitude, Sarah Austen had smiled. The smile had had in it, +to be sure, nothing of conscious superiority, but it had been utterly +inexplicable to Hilary Vane. He had known for the first time what it was +to feel murder in the heart, and if he had not rushed out of the room, he +was sure he would have strangled her. After all, the Hilary Vanes of +this world cannot reasonably be expected to perceive the humour in their +endeavours. + +Now the son's smile seemed the reincarnation of the mother's. That smile +was in itself a refutation of motive on Austen's part which no words +could have made more emphatic; it had in it (unconsciously, too) +compassion for and understanding of the Honourable Hilary's mood and +limitations. Out of the corner of his mental vision--without grasping +it--the Honourable Hilary perceived this vaguely. It was the smile in +which a parent privately indulges when a child kicks his toy locomotive +because its mechanism is broken. It was the smile of one who, +unforgetful of the scheme of the firmament and the spinning planets, will +not be moved to anger by him who sees but the four sides of a pit. + +Hilary Vane grew red around the eyes--a danger signal of the old days. + +"Take the suit," he said. "If you don't, I'll make it known all over the +State that you started it. I'll tell Mr. Flint to-morrow. Take it, do +you hear me? You ask me if I have any pride in you. I answer, yes. I'd +like to see what you can do. I've done what I could for you, and now I +wash my hands of you. Go,--ruin yourself if you want to. You've always +been headed that way, and there's no use trying to stop you. You don't +seem to have any notion of decency or order, or any idea of the principle +on which this government was based. Attack property destroy it. So much +the better for you and your kind. Join the Humphrey Crewes--you belong +with 'em. Give those of us who stand for order and decency as much +trouble as you can. Brand us as rascals trying to enrich ourselves with +politics, and proclaim yourselves saints nobly striving to get back the +rights of the people. If you don't bring that suit, I tell you I'll give +you the credit for it--and I mean what I say." + +Austen got to his feet. His own expression, curiously enough, had not +changed to one of anger. His face had set, but his eyes held the look +that seemed still to express compassion, and what he felt was a sorrow +that went to the depths of his nature. What he had so long feared--what +he knew they had both feared--had come at last. + +"Good-by, Judge," he said. + +Hilary Vane stared at him dumbly. His anger had not cooled, his eyes +still flamed, but he suddenly found himself bereft of speech. Austen put +his hand on his father's shoulder, and looked down silently into his +face. But Hilary was stiff as in a rigour, expressionless save for the +defiant red in his eye. + +"I don't think you meant all that, Judge, and I don't intend to hold it +against you." + +Still Hilary stared, his lips in the tight line which was the emblem of +his character, his body rigid. He saw his son turn and walk to the door, +and turn again with his handle on the knob, and Hilary did not move. The +door closed, and still he sat there, motionless, expressionless. + +Austen was hailed by those in the outer office, but he walked through +them as though the place were empty. Rumours sprang up behind him of +which he was unconscious; the long-expected quarrel had come; Austen had +joined the motley ranks of the rebels under Mr. Crewe. Only the office +boy, Jimmy Towle, interrupted the jokes that were flying by repeating, +with dogged vehemence, "I tell you it ain't so. Austen kicked Ham +downstairs. Ned Johnson saw him." Nor was it on account of this +particular deed that Austen was a hero in Jimmy's eyes. + +Austen, finding himself in the square, looked at his watch. It was four +o'clock. He made his way under the maples to the house in Hanover +Street, halted for a moment contemplatively before the familiar classic +pillars of its porch, took a key from his pocket, and (unprecedented +action!) entered by the front door. Climbing to the attic, he found two +valises--one of which he had brought back from Pepper County--and took +them to his own room. They held, with a little crowding, most of his +possessions, including a photograph of Sarah Austen, which he left on the +bureau to the last. Once or twice he paused in his packing to gaze at +the face, striving to fathom the fleeting quality of her glance which the +photograph had so strangely caught. In that glance nature had stamped +her enigma--for Sarah Austen was a child of nature. Hers was the gentle +look of wild things--but it was more; it was the understanding of--the +unwritten law of creation, the law by which the flowers grow, and wither; +the law by which the animal springs upon its prey, and, unerring, seeks +its mate; the law of the song of the waters, and the song of the morning +stars; the law that permits evil and pain and dumb, incomprehensible +suffering; the law that floods at sunset the mountain lands with colour +and the soul with light; and the law that rends the branches in the blue +storm. Of what avail was anger against it, or the puny rage of man? +Hilary Vane, not recognizing it, had spent his force upon it, like a hawk +against a mountain wall, but Austen looked at his mother's face and +understood. In it was not the wisdom of creeds and cities, but the +unworldly wisdom which comprehends and condones. + +His packing finished, with one last glance at the room Austen went +downstairs with his valises and laid them on the doorstep. Then he went +to the stable and harnessed Pepper, putting into the buggy his stable +blanket and halter and currycomb, and, driving around to the front of the +house, hitched the horse at the stone post, and packed the valises in the +back of the buggy. After that he walked slowly to the back of the house +and looked in at the kitchen window. Euphrasia, her thin arms bare to +the elbow, was bending over a wash-tub. He spoke her name, and as she +lifted her head a light came into her face which seemed to make her young +again. She dried her hands hastily on her apron as she drew towards him. +He sprang through the window, and patted her on the back--his usual +salutation. And as she raised her eyes to his (those ordinarily sharp +eyes of Euphrasia's), they shone with an admiration she had accorded to +no other human being since he had come into the world. Terms of +endearment she had, characteristically, never used, she threw her soul +into the sounding of his name. + +"Off to the hills, Austen? I saw you a-harnessing of Pepper." + +"Phrasie," he said, still patting her, "I'm going to the country for a +while." + +"To the country?" she repeated. + +"To stay on a farm for a sort of vacation." + +Her face brightened. + +"Goin' to take a real vacation, be you?" + +He laughed. + +"Oh, I don't have to work very hard, Phrasie. You know I get out a good +deal. I just thought--I just thought I'd like to--sleep in the country-- +for a while." + +"Well," answered Euphrasia, "I guess if you've took the notion, you've +got to go. It was that way with your mother before you. I've seen her +leave the house on a bright Sabbath half an hour before meetin' to be +gone the whole day, and Hilary and all the ministers in town couldn't +stop her." + +"I'll drop in once in a while to see you, Phrasie. I'll be at Jabe +Jenney's." + +"Jabe's is not more than three or four miles from Flint's place," +Euphrasia remarked. + +"I've thought of that," said Austen. + +"You'd thought of it!" + +Austen coloured. + +The distance is nothing," he said quickly, "with Pepper." + +"And you'll come and see me?" asked Euphrasia. + +"If you'll do something for me," he said. + +"I always do what you want, Austen. You know I'm not able to refuse +you." + +He laid his hands on her shoulders. + +"You'll promise?" he asked. + +"I'll promise," said Euphrasia, solemnly. + +He was silent for a moment, looking down at her. + +"I want you to promise to stay here and take care of the Judge." + +Fright crept into her eyes, but his own were smiling, reassuring. + +"Take care of him!" she cried, the very mention of Hilary raising the +pitch of her voice. "I guess I'll have to. Haven't I took care of him +nigh on forty years, and small thanks and recompense I get for it except +when you're here. I've wore out my life takin' care of him" (more +gently). "What do you mean by makin' me promise such a thing, Austen?" + +"Well," said Austen, slowly, "the Judge is worried now. Things are not +going as smoothly with him as usual." + +"Money?" demanded Euphrasia. "He ain't lost money, has he?" + +A light began to dance in Austen's eyes in spite of the weight within +him. + +"Now, Phrasie," he said, lifting her chin a little, "you know you don't +care any more about money than I do." + +"Lord help me," she exclaimed, "Lord help me if I didn't! And as long as +you don't care for it, and no sense can be knocked into your head about +it, I hope you'll marry somebody that does know the value of it. If +Hilary was to lose what he has now, before it comes rightly to you, he'd +ought to be put in jail." + +Austen laughed, and shook his head. + +"Phrasie, the Lord did you a grave injustice when he didn't make you a +man, but I suppose he'll give you a recompense hereafter. No, I believe +I am safe in saying that the Judge's securities are still secure. Not +that I really know--or care--" (shakes of the head from Euphrasia). +"Poor old Judge! Worse things than finance are troubling him now." + +"Not a woman!" cried Euphrasia, horror-stricken at the very thought. "He +hasn't took it into his head after all these years--" + +"No," said Austen, laughing, "no, no. It's not quite as bad as that, but +it's pretty bad." + +"In Heaven's name, what is it?" she demanded. +"Reformers," said Austen. + +"Reformers?" she repeated. "What might they be?" + +"Well," answered Austen, "you might call them a new kind of caterpillar-- +only they feed on corporations instead of trees." + +Euphrasia shook her head vigorously. + +"Go 'long," she exclaimed. "When you talk like that I never can follow +you, Austen. If Hilary has any worries, I guess he brought 'em on +himself. I never knew him to fail." + +"Ambitious and designing persons are making trouble for his railroad." + +"Well, I never took much stock in that railroad," said Euphrasia, with +emphasis. "I never was on it but an engine gave out, and the cars was +jammed, and it wasn't less than an hour late. And then they're eternally +smashin' folks or runnin' 'em down. You served 'em right when you made +'em pay that Meader man six thousand dollars, and I told Hilary so." She +paused, and stared at Austen fixedly as a thought came into her head. +"You ain't leavin' him because of this trouble, are you, Austen?" + +"Phrasie," he said, "I--I don't want to quarrel with him now. I think it +would be easy to quarrel with him." + +"You mean him quarrel with you," returned Euphrasia. "I'd like to see +him! If he did, it wouldn't take me long to pack up and leave." + +"That's just it. I don't want that to happen. And I've had a longing to +go out and pay a little visit to Jabe up in the hills, and drive his +colts for him. You see," he said, "I've got a kind of affection for the +Judge." + +Euphrasia looked at him, and her lips trembled. + +"He don't deserve it," she declared, "but I suppose he's your father." + +"He can't get out of that," said Austen. + +"I'd like to see him try it," said Euphrasia. "Come in soon, Austen," she +whispered, "come in soon." + +She stood on the lawn and watched him as he drove away, and he waved +good-by to her over the hood of the buggy. When he was out of sight she +lifted her head, gave her eyes a vigorous brush with her checked apron, +and went back to her washing. + +It was not until Euphrasia had supper on the table that Hilary Vane came +home, and she glanced at him sharply as he took his usual seat. It is a +curious fact that it is possible for two persons to live together for +more than a third of a century, and at the end of that time understand +each other little better than at the beginning. The sole bond between +Euphrasia and Hilary was that of Sarah Austen and her son. Euphrasia +never knew when Hilary was tired, or when he was cold, or hungry, or +cross, although she provided for all these emergencies. Her service to +him was unflagging, but he had never been under the slightest delusion +that it was not an inheritance from his wife. There must have been some +affection between Mr. Vane and his housekeeper, hidden away in the strong +boxes of both but up to the present this was only a theory--not quite as +probable as that about the inhabitants of Mars. + +He ate his supper to-night with his usual appetite, which had always been +sparing; and he would have eaten the same amount if the Northeastern +Railroads had been going into the hands of a receiver the next day. +Often he did not exchange a word with Euphrasia between home-coming and +bed-going, and this was apparently to be one of these occasions. After +supper he went, as usual, to sit on the steps of his porch, and to cut +his piece of Honey Dew, which never varied a milligram. Nine o'clock +struck, and Euphrasia, who had shut up the back of the house, was on her +way to bed with her lamp in her hand, when she came face to face with him +in the narrow passageway. + +"Where's Austen?" he asked. + +Euphrasia halted. The lamp shook, but she raised it to the level of his +eyes. + +"Don't you know?" she demanded. + +"No," he said, with unparalleled humility. + +She put down the lamp on the little table that stood beside her. + +"He didn't tell you he was a-goin'?" + +"No," said Hilary. + +"Then how did you know he wasn't just buggy-ridin'?" she said. + +Hilary Vane was mute. + +"You've be'n to his room!" she exclaimed. "You've seen his things are +gone!" + +He confessed it by his silence. Then, with amazing swiftness and vigour +for one of her age, Euphrasia seized him by the arms and shook him. + +"What have you done to him?" she cried; "what have you done to him? You +sent him off. You've never understood him--you've never behaved like a +father to him. You ain't worthy to have him." She flung herself away +and stood facing Hilary at a little distance. What a fool I was! What a +fool! I might have known it, and I promised him." + +"Promised him?" Hilary repeated. The shaking, the vehemence and anger, +of Euphrasia seemed to have had no effect whatever on the main trend of +his thoughts. + +"Where has he gone?" + +"You can find out for yourself," she retorted bitterly. "I wish on your +account it was to China. He came here this afternoon, as gentle as ever, +and packed up his things, and said he was goin' away because you was +worried. Worried!" she exclaimed scornfully. "His worry and his trouble +don't count--but yours. And he made me promise to stay with you. If it +wasn't for him," she cried, picking up the lamp, "I'd leave you this very +night." + +She swept past him, and up the narrow stairway to her bedroom. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +BUSY DAYS AT WEDDERBURN + +There is no blast so powerful, so withering, as the blast of ridicule. +Only the strongest men can withstand it, only reformers who are such in +deed, and not alone in name, can snap their fingers at it, and liken it +to the crackling of thorns under a pot. Confucius and Martin Luther must +have been ridiculed, Mr. Crewe reflected, and although he did not have +time to assure himself on these historical points, the thought stayed +him. Sixty odd weekly newspapers, filled with arguments from the Book, +attacked him all at once; and if by chance he should have missed the best +part of this flattering personal attention, the editorials which +contained the most spice were copied at the end of the week into the +columns of his erstwhile friend, the State Tribune, now the organ of that +mysterious personality, the Honourable Adam B. Hunt. 'Et tu, Brute!' + +Moreover, Mr. Peter Pardriff had something of his own to say. Some +gentlemen of prominence (not among the twenty signers of the new +Declaration of Independence) had been interviewed by the Tribune reporter +on the subject of Mr. Crewe's candidacy. Here are some of the answers, +duly tabulated. + +"Negligible."--Congressman Fairplay. + +"One less vote for the Honourable Adam B. Hunt."--The Honourable Jacob +Botcher. + +"A monumental farce."--Ex-Governor Broadbent. + +"Who is Mr. Crewe?"--Senator Whitredge. (Ah ha! Senator, this want shall +be supplied, at least.) + +"I have been very busy. I do not know what candidates are in the +field."--Mr. Augustus P. Flint, president of the Northeastern Railroads. +(The unkindest cut of all!) + +"I have heard that a Mr. Crewe is a candidate, but I do not know much +about him. They tell me he is a summer resident at Leith."--The +Honourable Hilary Vane. + +"A millionaire's freak--not to be taken seriously.--State Senator +Nathaniel Billings." + +The State Tribune itself seemed to be especially interested in the past +careers of the twenty signers. Who composed this dauntless band, whose +members had arisen with remarkable unanimity and martyr's zeal in such +widely scattered parts of the State? Had each been simultaneously +inspired with the same high thought, and--more amazing still--with the +idea of the same peerless leader? The Tribune modestly ventured the +theory that Mr. Crewe had appeared to each of the twenty in a dream, with +a flaming sword pointing to the steam of the dragon's breath. Or, +perhaps, a star had led each of the twenty to Leith. (This likening of +Mr. H--n T--g to a star caused much merriment among that gentleman's +former friends and acquaintances.) The Tribune could not account for this +phenomenon by any natural laws, and was forced to believe that the thing +was a miracle--in which case it behooved the Northeastern Railroads to +read the handwriting on the wall. Unless--unless the twenty did not +exist! Unless the whole thing were a joke! The Tribune remembered a +time when a signed statement, purporting to come from a certain Mrs. +Amanda P. Pillow, of 22 Blair Street, Newcastle, had appeared, to the +effect that three bottles of Rand's Peach Nectar had cured her of dropsy. +On investigation there was no Blair Street, and Mrs. Amanda P. Pillow was +as yet unborn. The one sure thing about the statement was that Rand's +Peach Nectar could be had, in large or small quantities, as desired. And +the Tribune was prepared to state; on its own authority, that a Mr. +Humphrey Crewe did exist, and might reluctantly consent to take the +nomination for the governorship. In industry and zeal he was said to +resemble the celebrated and lamented Mr. Rand, of the Peach Nectar. + +Ingratitude merely injures those who are capable of it, although it +sometimes produces sadness in great souls. What were Mr. Crewe's +feelings when he read this drivel? When he perused the extracts from the +"Book of Arguments" which appeared (with astonishing unanimity, too!) in +sixty odd weekly newspapers of the State--an assortment of arguments for +each county. + +"Brush Bascom's doin' that work now," said Mr. Tooting, contemptuously, +"and he's doin' it with a shovel. Look here! He's got the same squib in +three towns within a dozen miles of each other, the one beginning +'Political conditions in this State are as clean as those of any State in +the Union, and the United Northeastern Railroads is a corporation which +is, fortunately, above calumny. A summer resident who, to satisfy his +lust for office, is rolling to defame--'" + +"Yes," interrupted Mr. Crewe, "never mind reading any more of that rot." + +"It's botched," said Mr. Tooting, whose artistic soul was jarred. "I'd +have put that in Avalon County, and Weave, and Marshall. I know men that +take all three of those papers in Putnam." + +No need of balloonists to see what the enemy is about, when we have a Mr. +Tooting. + +"They're stung!" he cried, as he ran rapidly through the bundle of +papers--Mr. Crewe having subscribed, with characteristic generosity, to +the entire press of the State. "Flint gave 'em out all this stuff about +the railroad bein' a sacred institution. You've got 'em on the run right +now, Mr. Crewe. You'll notice that, Democrats and Republicans, they've +dropped everybody else, that they've all been sicked on to you. They're +scared." + +"I came to that conclusion some time ago," replied Mr. Crewe, who was +sorting over his letters. + +"And look there!" exclaimed Mr. Tooting, tearing out a paragraph, +"there's the best campaign material we've had yet. Say, I'll bet Flint +taken that doddering idiot's pass away for writing that." + +Mr. Crewe took the extract, and read:-- + + "A summer resident of Leith, who is said to be a millionaire + many times over, and who had a somewhat farcical career as a + legislator last winter, has announced himself as a candidate + for the Republican nomination on a platform attacking the + Northeastern Railroads. Mr. Humphrey Crewe declares that the + Northeastern Railroads govern us. What if they do? Every + sober-minded citizen, will agree that they give us a pretty + good government. More power to them." + +Mr. Crewe permitted himself to smile. + +"They are playing into our hands, sure enough. What?" + +This is an example of the spirit in which the ridicule and abuse was met. + +It was Senator Whitredge--only, last autumn so pleased to meet Mr. Crewe +at Mr. Flint's--who asked the hypocritical question, "Who is Humphrey +Crewe?" A biography (in pamphlet form, illustrated,--send your name and +address) is being prepared by the invaluable Mr. Tooting, who only sleeps +six hours these days. We shall see it presently, when it emerges from +that busy hive at Wedderburn. + +Wedderburn was a hive, sure enough. Not having a balloon ourselves, it +is difficult to see all that is going on there; but there can be no +mistake (except by the Honourable Hilary's seismograph) that it has +become the centre of extraordinary activity. The outside world has +paused to draw breath at the spectacle, and members of the metropolitan +press are filling the rooms of the Ripton House and adding to the +prosperity of its livery-stable. Mr. Crewe is a difficult man to see +these days--there are so many visitors at Wedderburn, and the +representatives of the metropolitan press hitch their horses and stroll +around the grounds, or sit on the porch and converse with gentlemen from +various counties of the State who (as the Tribune would put it) have been +led by a star to Leith. + +On the occasion of one of these gatherings, when Mr. Crewe had been +inaccessible for four hours, Mrs. Pomfret drove up in a victoria with her +daughter Alice. + +"I'm sure I don't know when we're going to see poor dear Humphrey again," +said Mrs. Pomfret, examining the group on the porch through her gold- +mounted lenses; these awful people are always here when I come. I wonder +if they sleep here, in the hammocks and lounging chairs! Alice, we must +be very polite to them--so much depends on it." + +"I'm always polite, mother," answered Alice, "except when you tell me not +to be. The trouble is I never know myself." + +The victoria stopped in front of the door, and the irreproachable Waters +advanced across the porch. + +"Waters," said Mrs. Pomfret, "I suppose Mr. Crewe is too busy to come +out." + +"I'm afraid so, madam," replied Waters; "there's a line of gentlemen +waitin' here" (he eyed them with no uncertain disapproval). and I've +positive orders not to disturb him, madam." + +"I quite understand, at a time like this," said Mrs. Pomfret, and added, +for the benefit of her audience, "when Mr. Crewe has been public-spirited +and unselfish enough to undertake such a gigantic task. Tell him Miss +Pomfret and I call from time to time because we are so interested, and +that the whole of Leith wishes him success." + +"I'll tell him, madam," said Waters, + +But Mrs. Pomfret did not give the signal for her coachman to drive on. +She looked, instead, at the patient gathering. + +"Good morning, gentlemen," she said. + +"Mother!" whispered Alice, "what are you going to do?" + +The gentlemen rose. + +"I'm Mrs. Pomfret," she said, as though that simple announcement were +quite sufficient,--as it was, for the metropolitan press. Not a man of +them who had not seen Mrs. Pomfret's important movements on both sides of +the water chronicled. "I take the liberty of speaking to you, as we all +seem to be united in a common cause. How is the campaign looking?" + +Some of the gentlemen shifted their cigars from one hand to the other, +and grinned sheepishly. + +"I am so interested," continued Mrs. Pomfret; "it is so unusual in +America for a gentleman to be willing to undertake such a thing, to +subject himself to low criticism, and to have his pure motives +questioned. Mr. Crewe has rare courage--I have always said so. And we +are all going to put our shoulder to the wheel, and help him all we can." + +There was one clever man there who was quick to see his opportunity, and +seize it for his newspaper. + +"And are you going to help Mr. Crewe in his campaign, Mrs. Pomfret?" + +"Most assuredly," answered Mrs. Pomfret. "Women in this country could do +so much if they only would. You know," she added, in her most winning +manner, "you know that a woman can often get a vote when a man can't." + +"And you, and--other ladies will go around to the public meetings?" + +"Why not, my friend; if Mr. Crewe has no objection? and I can conceive of +none." + +"You would have an organization of society ladies to help Mr. Crewe?" + +"That's rather a crude way of putting it," answered Mrs. Pomfret, with +her glasses raised judicially. "Women in what you call I society are, I +am glad to say, taking an increasing interest in politics. They are +beginning to realize that it is a duty." + +"Thank you," said the reporter; "and now would you mind if I took a +photograph of you in your carriage." + +"Oh, mother," protested Alice, "you won't let him do that!" + +"Be quiet, Alice. Lady Aylestone and the duchess are photographed in +every conceivable pose for political purposes. Wymans, just drive around +to the other side of the circle." + +The article appeared next day, and gave, as may be imagined, a tremendous +impetus to Mr. Crewe's cause. "A new era in American politics!" +"Society to take a hand in the gubernatorial campaign of Millionaire +Humphrey Crewe!" "Noted social leader, Mrs. Patterson Pomfret, declares +it a duty, and saga that English women have the right idea." And a +photograph of Mrs. Patterson Pomfret herself, in her victoria, occupied a +generous portion of the front page. + +"What's all this rubbish about Mrs. Pomfret?" was Mr. Crewe's grateful +comment when he saw it. "I spent two valuable hours with that reporter +givin' him material and statistics, and I can't find that he's used a +word of it." + +"Never you mind about that," Mr. Tooting replied. "The more advertising +you get, the better, and this shows that the right people are behind you. +Mrs. Pomfret's a smart woman, all right. She knows her job. And here's +more advertising," he continued, shoving another sheet across the desk, +"a fine likeness of you in caricature labelled, 'Ajax defying the +Lightning.' Who's Ajax? There was an Italian, a street contractor, with +that name--or something like it--in Newcastle a couple of years ago--in +the eighth ward." + +In these days, when false rumours fly apace to the injury of innocent +men, it is well to get at the truth, if possible. It is not true that +Mr. Paul Pardriff, of the 'Ripton Record,' has been to Wedderburn. Mr. +Pardriff was getting into a buggy to go--somewhere--when he chanced to +meet the Honourable Brush Bascom, and the buggy was sent back to the +livery-stable. Mr. Tooting had been to see Mr. Pardriff before the +world-quaking announcement of June 7th, and had found Mr. Pardriff a +reformer who did not believe that the railroad should run the State. +But the editor of the Ripton Record was a man after Emerson's own heart: +"a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"--and Mr. Pardriff +did not go to Wedderburn. He went off on an excursion up the State +instead, for he had been working too hard; and he returned, as many men +do from their travels, a conservative. He listened coldly to Mr. +Tooting's impassioned pleas for cleaner politics, until Mr. Tooting +revealed the fact that his pockets were full of copy. It seems that a +biography was to be printed--a biography which would, undoubtedly, be in +great demand; the biography of a public benefactor, illustrated with +original photographs and views in the country. Mr. Tooting and Mr. +Pardriff both being men of the world, some exceeding plain talk ensued +between them, and when two such minds unite, a way out is sure to be +found. One can be both a conservative and a radical--if one is clever. +There were other columns in Mr. Pardriff's paper besides editorial +columns; editorial columns, Mr. Pardriff said, were sacred to his +convictions. Certain thumb-worn schedules were referred to. Paul +Pardriff, Ripton, agreed to be the publisher of the biography. + +The next edition of the Record was an example of what Mr. Emerson meant. +Three columns contained extracts of absorbing interest from the +forthcoming biography and, on another page, an editorial. The +Honourable Humphrey Crewe, of Leith, is an estimable gentleman and a good +citizen, whose public endeavours have been of great benefit to the +community. A citizen of Avalon County, the Record regrets that it cannot +support his candidacy for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. We +are not among those who seek to impugn motives, and while giving Mr. +Crewe every credit that his charges against the Northeastern Railroads +are made in good faith, we beg to differ from him. That corporation is +an institution which has stood the test of time, and enriches every year +the State treasury by a large sum in taxes. Its management is in safe, +conservative hands. No one will deny Mr. Crewe's zeal for the State's +welfare, but it must be borne in mind that he is a newcomer in politics, +and that conditions, seen from the surface, are sometimes deceptive. We +predict for Mr. Crewe a long and useful career, but we do not think that +at this time, and on this platform, he will obtain the governorship." + +"Moral courage is what the age needs," had been Mr. Crewe's true and +sententious remark when he read this editorial. But, bearing in mind a +biblical adage, he did not blame Mr. Tooting for his diplomacy. "Send in +the next man." + +Mr. Tooting opened the study door and glanced over the public-spirited +citizens awaiting, on the porch, the pleasure of their leader. + +"Come along, Caldwell," said Mr. Tooting. "He wants your report from +Kingston. Get a hustle on!" + +Mr. Caldwell made his report, received many brief and business-like +suggestions, and retired, impressed. Whereupon Mr. Crewe commanded Mr. +Tooting to order his automobile--an occasional and rapid spin over the +country roads being the only diversion the candidate permitted himself. +Wishing to be alone with his thoughts, he did not take Mr. Tooting with +him on these excursions. + +"And by the way," said Mr. Crewe, as he seized the steering wheel a few +moments later, "just drop a line to Austen Vane, will you, and tell him I +want to see him up here within a day or two. Make an appointment. It +has occurred to me that he might be very useful." + +Mr. Tooting stood on the driveway watching the cloud of dust settle on +the road below. Then he indulged in a long and peculiarly significant +whistle through his teeth, rolled his eyes heavenward, and went into the +house. He remembered Austen's remark about riding a cyclone. + +Mr. Crewe took the Tunbridge road. On his excursion of the day before he +had met Mrs. Pomfret, who had held up her hand, and he had protestingly +brought the car to a stop. + +"Your horses don't frighten," he had said. + +"No, but I wanted to speak to you, Humphrey," Mrs. Pomfret had replied; +"you are becoming so important that nobody ever has a glimpse of you. I +wanted to tell you what an interest we take in this splendid thing you +are doing." + +"Well," said Mr. Crewe, "it was a plain duty, and nobody else seemed +willing to undertake it." + +Mrs. Pomfret's eyes had flashed. + +"Men of that type are scarce," she answered. "But you'll win. You're +the kind of man that wins." + +"Oh, yes, I'll win," said Mr. Crewe. + +"You're so magnificently sure of yourself," cried Mrs. Pomfret. "Alice +is taking such an interest. Every day she asks, 'When is Humphrey going +to make his first speech?' You'll let us know in time, won't you?" + +"Did you put all that nonsense in the New York Flare?" asked Mr. Crewe. + +"Oh, Humphrey, I hope you liked it," cried Mrs. Pomfret. "Don't make the +mistake of despising what women can do. They elected the Honourable +Billy Aylestone--he said so himself. I'm getting all the women +interested." + +"Who've you been calling on now?" he inquired. + +Mrs. Pomfret hesitated. + +"I've been up at Fairview to see about Mrs. Flint. She isn't much +better." + +"Is Victoria home?" Mr. Crewe demanded, with undisguised interest. + +"Poor dear girl!" said Mrs. Pomfret, "of course I wouldn't have mentioned +the subject to her, but she wanted to know all about it. It naturally +makes an awkward situation between you and her, doesn't it?" + +"Oh, Victoria's level-headed enough," Mr. Crewe had answered; "I guess +she knows something about old Flint and his methods by this time. At any +rate, it won't make any difference with me," he added magnanimously, and +threw in his clutch. He had encircled Fairview in his drive that day, +and was, curiously enough, headed in that direction now. Slow to make up +his mind in some things, as every eligible man must be, he was now coming +rapidly to the notion that he might eventually decide upon Victoria as +the most fitting mate for one in his position. Still, there was no +hurry. As for going to Fairview House, that might be awkward, besides +being open to misconstruction by his constituents. Mr. Crewe reflected, +as he rushed up the hills, that he had missed Victoria since she had been +abroad--and a man so continually occupied as he did not have time to miss +many people. Mr. Crewe made up his mind he would encircle Fairview every +day until he ran across her. + +The goddess of fortune sometimes blesses the persistent even before they +begin to persist--perhaps from sheer weariness at the remembrance of +previous importuning. Victoria, on a brand-new and somewhat sensitive +five-year-old, was coming out of the stone archway when Mr. Crewe +(without any signal this time!) threw on his brakes. An exhibition of +horsemanship followed, on Victoria's part, which Mr. Crewe beheld with +admiration. The five-year-old swung about like a weathercock in a gust +of wind, assuming an upright position, like the unicorn in the British +coat of arms. Victoria cut him, and he came down on all fours and danced +into the wire fence that encircled the Fairview domain, whereupon he got +another stinging reminder that there was some one on his back. + +"Bravo!" cried Mr. Crewe, leaning on the steering wheel and watching the +performance with delight. Never, he thought, had Victoria been more +appealing; strangely enough, he had not remembered that she was quite so +handsome, or that her colour was so vivid; or that her body was so +straight and long and supple. He liked the way in which she gave it to +that horse, and he made up his mind that she would grace any position, +however high. Presently the horse made a leap into the road in front of +the motor and stood trembling, ready to bolt. + +"For Heaven's sake, Humphrey," she cried, "shut off your power? Don't +sit there like an idiot--do you think I'm doing this for pleasure?" + +Mr. Crewe good-naturedly turned off his switch, and the motor, with a +dying sigh, was silent. He even liked the notion of being commanded to +do a thing; there was a relish about it that was new. The other women of +his acquaintance addressed him more deferentially. + +"Get hold of the bridle," he said to the chauffeur. "You've got no +business to have an animal like that," was his remark to Victoria. + +"Don't touch him!" she said to the man, who was approaching with a true +machinist's fear of a high-spirited horse. "You've got no business to +have a motor like that, if you can't handle it any better than you do." + +"You managed him all right. I'll say that for you," said Mr. Crewe. + +"No thanks to you," she replied. Now that the horse was comparatively +quiet, she sat and regarded Mr. Crewe with an amusement which was +gradually getting the better of her anger. A few moments since, and she +wished with great intensity that she had been using the whip on his +shoulders instead. Now that she had time to gather up the threads of the +situation, the irresistibly comic aspect of it grew upon her, and little +creases came into the corners of her eyes--which Mr. Crewe admired. She +recalled--with indignation, to be sure--the conversation she had +overheard in the dining room of the Duncan house, but her indignation was +particularly directed, on that occasion, towards Mr. Tooting. Here was +Humphrey Crewe, sitting talking to her in the road--Humphrey Crewe, whose +candidacy for the governorship impugned her father's management of the +Northeastern Railroads--and she was unable to take the matter seriously! +There must be something wrong with her, she thought. + +"So you're home again," Mr. Crewe observed, his eyes still bearing +witness to the indubitable fact. "I shouldn't have known it--I've been +so busy." + +"Is the Legislature still in session?" Victoria soberly inquired. + +"You are a little behind the times--ain't you?" said Mr. Crewe, in +surprise. "How long have you been home? Hasn't anybody told you what's +going on?" + +"I only came up ten days ago," she answered, "and I'm afraid I've been +something of a recluse. What is going on?" + +"Well," he declared, "I should have thought you'd heard it, anyway. I'll +send you up a few newspapers when I get back. I'm a candidate for the +governorship." + +Victoria bit her lip, and leaned over to brush a fly from the neck of her +horse. + +"You are getting on rapidly, Humphrey," she said. "Do you think you've +got--any chance?" + +"Any chance!" he repeated, with some pardonable force. "I'm sure to be +nominated. There's an overwhelming sentiment among the voters of this +State for decent politics. It didn't take me long to find that out. The +only wonder is that somebody hasn't seen it before." + +"Perhaps," she answered, giving him a steady look, "perhaps somebody has." + +One of Mr. Crewe's greatest elements of strength was his imperviousness +to this kind of a remark. + +"If anybody's seen it," he replied, "they haven't the courage of their +convictions." Such were the workings of Mr. Crewe's mind that he had +already forgotten that first talk with Mr. Hamilton Tooting. "Not that I +want to take too much credit on myself," he added, with becoming modesty, +"I have had some experience in the world, and it was natural that I +should get a fresh view. Are you coming down to Leith in a few days?" + +"I may," said Victoria. + +"Telephone me," said Mr. Crewe, "and if I can get off, I will. I'd like +to talk to you. You have more sense than most women I know." + +"You overwhelm me, Humphrey. Compliments sound strangely on your lips." + +"When I say a thing, I mean it," Mr. Crewe declared. "I don't pay +compliments. I'd make it a point to take a little time off to talk to +you. You see, so many men are interested in this thing from various +parts of the State, and we are so busy organizing, that it absorbs most +of my day." + +"I couldn't think of encroaching," Victoria protested. + +That's all right--you can be a great help. I've got confidence in your +judgment. By the way," he asked suddenly, "you haven't seen your friend +Austen Vane since you got back, have you?" + +"Why do you call him my friend?" said Victoria. Mr. Crew perceived that +the exercise had heightened her colour, and the transition appealed to +his sense of beauty. + +"Perhaps I put it a little strongly," he replied. "You seemed to take an +interest in him, for some reason. I suppose it's because you like new +types." + +"I like Mr. Vane very much,--and for himself," she said quietly. "But I +haven't seen him since I came back. Nor do I think I am likely to see +him. What made you ask about him?" + +"Well, he seems to be a man of some local standing, and he ought to be in +this campaign. If you happen to see him, you might mention the subject +to him. I've sent for him to come up and see me." + +"Mr. Vane doesn't seem to me to be a person one can send for like that," +Victoria remarked judicially. "As to advising him as to what course he +should take politically--that would even be straining my friendship for +you, Humphrey. On reflection," she added, smiling, "there may appear to +you reasons why I should not care to meddle with--politics, just now." + +"I can't see it," said Mr. Crewe; "you've got a mind of your own, and +you've never been afraid to use it, so far as I know. If you should see +that Vane man, just give him a notion of what I'm trying to do." + +"What are you trying to do?" inquired Victoria, sweetly. + +"I'm trying to clean up this State politically," said Mr. Crewe, "and I'm +going to do it. When you come down to Leith, I'll tell you about it, and +I'll send you the newspapers to-day. Don't be in a hurry," he cried, +addressing over his shoulder two farmers in a wagon who had driven up a +few moments before, and who were apparently anxious to pass. "Wind her +up, Adolphe." + +The chauffeur, standing by the crank, started the engine instantly, and +the gears screamed as Mr. Crewe threw in his low speed. The five-year- +old whirled, and bolted down the road at a pace which would have seemed +to challenge a racing car; and the girl in the saddle, bending to the +motion of the horse, was seen to raise her hand in warning. + +"Better stay whar you be," shouted one of the farmers; "don't go to +follerin' her. The hoes is runnin' away." + +Mr. Crewe steered his car into the Fairview entrance, and backed into the +road again, facing the other way. He had decided to go home. + +"That lady can take care of herself," he said, and started off towards +Leith, wondering how it was that Mr. Flint had not confided his recent +political troubles to his daughter. + +"That hoss is ugly, sure enough," said the farmer who had spoken before. + +Victoria flew on, down the narrow road. After twenty strides she did not +attempt to disguise from herself the fact that the five-year-old was in a +frenzy of fear, and running away. Victoria had been run away with +before, and having some knowledge of the animal she rode, she did not +waste her strength by pulling on the curb, but sought rather to quiet him +with her voice, which had no effect whatever. He was beyond appeal, his +head was down, and his ears trembling backwards and straining for a sound +of the terror that pursued him. The road ran through the forest, and +Victoria reflected that the grade, on the whole, was downward to the East +Tunbridge station, where the road crossed the track and took to the hills +beyond. Once among them, she would be safe--he might run as far, as he +pleased. But could she pass the station? She held a firm rein, and +tried to keep her mind clear. + +Suddenly, at a slight bend of the road, the corner of the little red +building came in sight, some hundreds of yards ahead; and, on the side +where it stood, in the clearing, was a white mass which Victoria +recognized as a pile of lumber. She saw several men on the top of the +pile, standing motionless; she heard one of them shout; the horse +swerved, and she felt herself flung violently to the left. + +Her first thought, after striking, was one of self-congratulation that +her safety stirrup and habit had behaved properly. Before she could +rise, a man was leaning over her--and in the instant she had the +impression that he was a friend. Other people had had this impression of +him on first acquaintance--his size, his genial, brick-red face, and his +honest blue eyes all doubtless contributing. + +"Are you hurt, Miss Flint?" he asked. + +"Not in the least," she replied, springing to her feet to prove the +contrary. What's become of my horse?" + +"Two of the men have gone after him," he said, staring at her with +undisguised but honest admiration. Whereupon he became suddenly +embarrassed, and pulled out a handkerchief the size of a table napkin. +"Let me dust you off." + +"Thank you," said Victoria, laughing, and beginning the process herself. +Her new acquaintance plied the handkerchief, his face a brighter brick- +red than ever. + +"Thank God, there wasn't a freight on the siding," he remarked, so +fervently that Victoria stole a glance at him. The dusting process +continued. + +"There," she exclaimed, at last, adjusting her stock and shaking her +skirt, "I'm ever so much obliged. It was very foolish in me to tumble +off, wasn't it?" + +"It was the only thing you could have done," he declared. "I had a good +view of it, and he flung you like a bean out of a shooter. That's a +powerful horse. I guess you're the kind that likes to take risks." + +Victoria laughed at his expressive phrase, and crossed the road, and sat +down on the edge of the lumber pile, in the shade. + +"There seems to be nothing to do but wait," she said, "and to thank you +again. Will you tell me your name?" + +"I'm Tom Gaylord," he replied. + +Her colour, always so near the surface, rose a little as she regarded +him. So this was Austen Vane's particular friend, whom he had tried to +put out of his window. A Herculean task, Victoria thought, from Tom's +appearance. Tom sat down within a few feet of her. + +"I've seen you a good many times, Miss Flint," he remarked, applying the +handkerchief to his face. + +"And I've seen you--once, Mr. Gaylord," some mischievous impulse prompted +her to answer. Perhaps the impulse was more deep-seated, after all. + +"Where?" demanded Tom, promptly. + +"You were engaged," said Victoria, "in a struggle in a window on Ripton +Square. It looked, for a time," she continued, "as if you were going to +be dropped on the roof of the porch." + +Tom gazed at her in confusion and surprise. + +"You seem to be fond, too, of dangerous exercise," she observed. + +"Do you mean to say you remembered me from that?" he exclaimed. "Oh, you +know Austen Vane, don't you?" + +"Does Mr. Vane acknowledge the acquaintance?" Victoria inquired. + +"It's funny, but you remind me of Austen," said Tom, grinning; you seem +to have the same queer way of saying things that he has." Here he was +conscious of another fit of embarrassment. "I hope you don't mind what I +say, Miss Flint." + +"Not at all," said Victoria. She turned, and looked across the track. + +"I suppose they are having a lot of trouble in catching my horse," she +remarked. + +"They'll get him," Tom assured her, "one of those men is my manager. He +always gets what he starts out for. What were we talking about? Oh, +Austen Vane. You see, I've known him ever since I was a shaver, and I +think the world of him. If he asked me to go to South America and get +him a zebra to-morrow, I believe I'd do it." + +"That is real devotion," said Victoria. The more she saw of young Tom, +the better she liked him, although his conversation was apt to be +slightly embarrassing. + +"We've been through a lot of rows together," Tom continued, warming to +his subject, "in school and college. You see, Austen's the kind of man +who doesn't care what anybody thinks, if he takes it into his head to do +a thing. It was a great piece of luck for me that he shot that fellow +out West, or he wouldn't be here now. You heard about that, didn't you?" + +"Yes," said Victoria, "I believe I did." + +"And yet," said Tom, "although I'm as good a friend as he has, I never +quite got under his skin. There's some things I wouldn't talk to him +about. I've learned that. I never told him, for instance, that I saw +him out in a sleigh with you at the capital." + +"Oh," said Victoria; and she added, "Is he ashamed of it?" + +"It's not that," replied Tom, hastily, "but I guess if he'd wanted me to +know about it, he'd have told me." + +Victoria had begun to realize that, in the few minutes which had elapsed +since she had found herself on the roadside, gazing up into young Tom's +eyes, she had somehow become quite intimate with him. + +"I fancy he would have told you all there was to tell about it--if the +matter had occurred to him again," she said, with the air of finally +dismissing a subject already too prolonged. But Tom knew nothing of the +shades and conventions of the art of conversation. + +"He's never told me he knew you at all!" he exclaimed, staring at +Victoria. Apparently some of the aspects of this now significant +omission on Austen's part were beginning to dawn on Tom. + +"It wasn't worth mentioning," said Victoria, briefly, seeking for a +pretext to change the subject. + +"I don't believe that," said Tom, "you can't expect me to sit here and +look at you and believe that. How long has he known you?" + +"I saw him once or twice last summer, at Leith," said Victoria, now +wavering between laughter and exasperation. She had got herself into a +quandary indeed when she had to parry the appalling frankness of such +inquiries. + +"The more you see of him, the more you'll admire him, I'll prophesy," +said Tom. "If he'd been content to travel along the easy road, as most +fellows are, he would have been counsel for the Northeastern. Instead of +that--" here Tom halted abruptly, and turned scarlet: "I forgot," he +said, "I'm always putting my foot in it, with ladies." + +He was so painfully confused that Victoria felt herself suffering with +him, and longed to comfort him. + +"Please go on, Mr. Gaylord," she said; "I am very much interested in my +neighbours here, and I know that a great many of them think that the +railroad meddles in politics. I've tried to find out what they think, +but it is so difficult for a woman to understand. If matters are wrong, +I'm sure my father will right them when he knows the situation. He has +so much to attend to." She paused. Tom was still mopping his forehead. +"You may say anything you like to me, and I shall not take offence." + +Tom's admiration of her was heightened by this attitude. + +"Austen wouldn't join Mr. Crewe in his little game, anyway," he said. +"When Ham Tooting, Crewe's manager, came to him he kicked him +downstairs." + +Victoria burst out laughing. + +"I constantly hear of these ferocious deeds which Mr. Vane commits," she +said, "and yet he seems exceptionally good-natured and mild-mannered." + +"That's straight--he kicked him downstairs. Served Tooting right, too." + +"There does seem to have been an element of justice in it," Victoria +remarked. + +"You haven't seen Austen since he left his father?" Mr. Gaylord inquired. + +"Left him! Where--has he gone?" + +"Gone up to live with Jabe Jenney. If Austen cared anything about money, +he never would have broken with the old man, who has some little put +away." + +"Why did he leave his father?" asked Victoria, not taking the trouble now +to conceal her interest. + +"Well," said Tom, "you know they never did get along. It hasn't been +Austen's fault--he's tried. After he came back from the West he stayed +here to please old Hilary, when he might have gone to New York and made a +fortune at the law, with his brains. But after Austen saw the kind of +law the old man practised he wouldn't stand for it, and got an office of +his own." + +Victoria's eyes grew serious. + +"What kind of law does Hilary Vane practise?" she asked. + +Tom hesitated and began to mop his forehead again. + +"Please don't mind me," Victoria pleaded. + +"Well, all right," said Tom, "I'll tell you the truth, or die for it. +But I don't want to make you-unhappy." + +"You will do me a kindness, Mr. Gaylord," she said, "by telling me what +you believe to be true." + +There was a note in her voice which young Tom did not understand. +Afterwards, when he reflected about the matter, he wondered if she were +unhappy. + +"I don't want to blame Hilary too much," he answered. "I know Austen +don't. Hilary's grown up with that way of doing things, and in the old +days there was no other way. Hilary is the chief counsel for the +Northeastern, and he runs the Republican organization in this State for +their benefit. But Austen made up his mind that there was no reason why +he should grow up that way. He says that'a lawyer should keep to his +profession, and not become a lobbyist in the interest of his clients. He +lived with the old man until the other day, because he has a real soft +spot for him. Austen put up with a good deal. And then Hilary turned +loose on him and said a lot of things he couldn't stand. Austen didn't +answer, but went up and packed his bags and made Hilary's housekeeper +promise to stay with him, or she'd have left, too. They say Hilary's +sorry, now. He's fond of Austen, but he can't get along with him." + +"Do--Do you know what they quarreled about?" asked Victoria, in a low +voice. + +"This spring," said Tom, "the Gaylord Lumber Company made Austen junior +counsel. He ran across a law the other day that nobody else seems to +have had sense enough to discover, by which we can sue the railroad for +excessive freight rates. It means a lot of money. He went right in to +Hilary and showed him the section, told him that suit was going to be +brought, and offered to resign. Hilary flew off the track--and said if +he didn't bring suit he'd publish it all over the State that Austen +started it. Galusha Hammer, our senior counsel, is sick, and I don't +think he'll ever get well. That makes Austen senior counsel. But he +persuaded old Tom, my father, not to bring this suit until after the +political campaign, until Mr. Crewe gets through with his fireworks. +Hilary doesn't know that." + +"I see," said Victoria. + +Down the hill, on the far side of the track, she perceived the two men +approaching with a horse; then she remembered the fact that she had been +thrown, and that it was her horse. She rose to her feet. + +"I'm ever so much obliged to you, Mr. Gaylord," she said; "you have done +me a great favour by--telling me these things. And thanks for letting +them catch the horse. I'm afraid I've put you to a lot of bother." + +"Not at all," said Tom, "not at all." He was studying her face. Its +expression troubled and moved him strangely, for he was not an analytical +person. "I didn't mean to tell you those things when I began," he +apologized, "but you wanted to hear them." + +"I wanted to hear them," repeated Victoria. She held out her hand to +him. + +"You're not going to ride home!" he exclaimed. "I'll take you up in my +buggy--it's in the station shed." + +She smiled, turned and questioned and thanked the men, examined the +girths and bridle, and stroked the five-year-old on the neck. He was wet +from mane to fetlocks. + +"I don't think he'll care to run much farther," she said. "If you'll +pull him over to the lumber pile, Mr. Gaylord, I'll mount him." + +They performed her bidding in silence, each paying her a tribute in his +thoughts. As for the five-year-old, he was quiet enough by this time. +When she was in the saddle she held out her hand once more to Tom. + +"I hope we shall meet soon again," she said, and smiling back at him, +started on her way towards Fairview. + +Tom stood for a moment looking after her, while the two men indulged in +surprised comments. + +"Andrews," said young Mr. Gaylord, "just fetch my buggy and follow her +until she gets into the gate." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A SPIRIT IN THE WOODS + +Empires crack before they crumble, and the first cracks seem easily +mended--even as they have been mended before. A revolt in Gaul or +Britain or Thrace is little to be minded, and a prophet in Judea less. +And yet into him who sits in the seat of power a premonition of something +impending gradually creeps--a premonition which he will not acknowledge, +will not define. Yesterday, by the pointing of a finger, he created a +province; to-day he dares not, but consoles himself by saying he does not +wish to point. No antagonist worthy of his steel has openly defied him, +worthy of recognition by the opposition of a legion. But the sense of +security has been subtly and indefinably shaken. + +By the strange telepathy which defies language, to the Honourable Hilary +Vane, Governor of the Province, some such unacknowledged forebodings have +likewise been communicated. A week after his conversation with Austen, +on the return of his emperor from a trip to New York, the Honourable +Hilary was summoned again to the foot of the throne, and his thoughts as +he climbed the ridges towards Fairview were not in harmony with the +carols of the birds in the depths of the forest and the joy of the bright +June weather. Loneliness he had felt before, and to its ills he had +applied the antidote of labour. The burden that sat upon his spirit to- +day was not mere loneliness; to the truth of this his soul attested, but +Hilary Vane had never listened to the promptings of his soul. He would +have been shocked if you had told him this. Did he not confess, with his +eyes shut, his sins every Sunday? Did he not publicly acknowledge his +soul? + +Austen Vane had once remarked that, if some keen American lawyer would +really put his mind to the evasion of the Ten Commandments, the High +Heavens themselves might be cheated. This saying would have shocked the +Honourable Hilary inexpressibly. He had never been employed by a +syndicate to draw up papers to avoid these mandates; he revered them, as +he revered the Law, which he spelled with a capital. He spelled the word +Soul with a capital likewise, and certainly no higher recognition could +be desired than this! Never in the Honourable Hilary's long, laborious, +and preeminently model existence had he realized that happiness is +harmony. It would not be true to assert that, on this wonderful June +day, a glimmering of this truth dawned upon him. Such a statement would +be open to the charge of exaggeration, and his frame of mind was +pessimistic. But he had got so far as to ask himself the question,--Cui +bono? and repeated it several times on his drive, until a verse of +Scripture came, unbidden, to his lips. "For what hate man of all his +labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under +the sun?" and "there is one event unto all." Austen's saying, that he +had never learned how to enjoy life, he remembered, too. What had Austen +meant by that? + +Hitherto Hilary Vane had never failed of self-justification in any event +which had befallen him; and while this consciousness of the rectitude of +his own attitude had not made him happier, there had been a certain grim +pleasure in it. To the fact that he had ruined, by sheer over- +righteousness, the last years of the sunny life of Sarah Austen he had +been oblivious--until to-day. The strange, retrospective mood which had +come over him this afternoon led his thoughts into strange paths, and he +found himself wondering if, after all, it had not been in his power to +make her happier. Her dryad-like face, with its sweet, elusive smile, +seemed to peer at him now wistfully out of the forest, and suddenly a new +and startling thought rose up within him--after six and thirty years. +Perhaps she had belonged in the forest! Perhaps, because he had sought +to cage her, she had pined and died! The thought gave Hilary unwonted +pain, and he strove to put it away from him; but memories such as these, +once aroused, are not easily set at rest, and he bent his head as he +recalled (with a new and significant pathos) those hopeless and pitiful +flights into the wilds she loved. + +Now Austen had gone. Was there a Law behind these actions of mother and +son which he had persisted in denouncing as vagaries? Austen was a man: +a man, Hilary could not but see, who had the respect of his fellows, +whose judgment and talents were becoming recognized. Was it possible +that he, Hilary Vane, could have been one of those referred to by the +Preacher? During the week which had passed since Austen's departure the +house in Hanover Street had been haunted for Hilary. The going of his +son had not left a mere void,--that would have been pain enough. Ghosts +were there, ghosts which he could but dimly feel and see, and more than +once, in the long evenings, he had taken to the streets to avoid them. + +In that week Hilary's fear of meeting his son in the street or in the +passages of the building had been equalled by a yearning to see him. +Every morning, at the hour Austen was wont to drive Pepper to the Ripton +House stables across the square, Hilary had contrived to be standing near +his windows--a little back, and out of sight. And--stranger still!--he +had turned from these glimpses to the reports of the Honourable Brush +Bascom and his associates with a distaste he had never felt before. + +With some such thoughts as these Hilary Vane turned into the last +straight stretch of the avenue that led to Fairview House, with its red +and white awnings gleaming in the morning sun. On the lawn, against a +white and purple mass of lilacs and the darker background of pines, a +straight and infinitely graceful figure in white caught his eye and held +it. He recognized Victoria. She wore a simple summer gown, the soft +outline of its flounces mingling subtly with the white clusters behind +her. She turned her head at the sound of the wheels and looked at him; +the distance was not too great for a bow, but Hilary did not bow. +Something in her face deterred him from this act,--something which he +himself did not understand or define. He sought to pronounce the +incident negligible. What was the girl, or her look, to him? And yet +(he found himself strangely thinking) he had read in her eyes a trace of +the riddle which had been relentlessly pursuing him; there was an odd +relation in her look to that of Sarah Austen. During the long years he +had been coming to Fairview, even before the new house was built, when +Victoria was in pinafores, he had never understood her. When she was a +child, he had vaguely recognized in her a spirit antagonistic to his own, +and her sayings had had a disconcerting ring. And now this simple glance +of hers had troubled him--only more definitely. + +It was a new experience for the Honourable Hilary to go into a business +meeting with his faculties astray. Absently he rang the stable bell, +surrendered his horse, and followed a footman to the retired part of the +house occupied by the railroad president. Entering the oakbound sanctum, +he crossed it and took a seat by the window, merely nodding to Mr. Flint, +who was dictating a letter. Mr. Flint took his time about the letter, +but when it was finished he dismissed the stenographer with an impatient +and powerful wave of the hand--as though brushing the man bodily out of +the room. Remaining motionless until the door had closed, Mr. Flint +turned abruptly and fixed his eyes on the contemplative figure of his +chief counsel. + +"Well?" he said. + +"Well, Flint," answered the Honourable Hilary. + +"Well," said Mr. Flint, "that bridge over Maple River has got loosened up +so by the freshet that we have to keep freight cars on it to hold it +down, and somebody is trying to make trouble by writing a public letter +to the Railroad Commission, and calling attention to the head-on +collision at Barker's Station." + +"Well," replied the Honourable Hilary, again, "that won't have any +influence on the Railroad Commission." + +"No," said Mr. Flint, "but it all goes to increase this confounded public +sentiment that's in the air, like smallpox. Another jackass pretends to +have kept a table of the through trains on the Sumsic division, and says +they've averaged forty-five minutes late at Edmundton. He says the +through express made the run faster thirty years ago." + +"I guess that's so," said the Honourable Hilary, "I was counsel for that +road then. I read that letter. He says there isn't an engine on the +division that could pull his hat off, up grade." + +Neither of the two gentlemen appeared to deem this statement humorous. + +"What these incendiaries don't understand," said Mr. Flint, "is that we +have to pay dividends." + +"It's because they don't get 'em," replied Mr. Vane, sententiously. + +"The track slid into the water at Glendale," continued Mr. Flint. "I +suppose they'll tell us we ought to rock ballast that line. You'll see +the Railroad Commission, and give 'em a sketch of a report." + +"I had a talk with Young yesterday," said Mr. Vane, his eyes on the +stretch of lawn and forest framed by the window. For the sake of the +ignorant, it may be well to add that the Honourable Orrin Young was the +chairman of the Commission. + +"And now," said Mr. Flint, "not that this Crewe business amounts to that" +(here the railroad president snapped his fingers with the intensity of a +small pistol shot), "but what's he been doing?" + +"Political advertising," said the Honourable Hilary. + +"Plenty of it, I guess," Mr. Flint remarked acidly. "That's one thing +Tooting can't teach him. He's a natural-born genius at it." + +"Tooting can help--even at that," answered Mr. Vane, ironically. +"They've got a sketch of so-called Northeastern methods in forty weekly +newspapers this week, with a picture of that public benefactor and +martyr, Humphrey Crewe. Here's a sample of it." + +Mr. Flint waved the sample away. + +"You've made a list of the newspapers that printed it?" Mr. Flint +demanded. Had he lived in another age he might have added, "Have the +malefactors burned alive in my garden." + +"Brush has seen some of 'em," said Mr. Vane, no doubt referring to the +editors, "and I had some of 'em come to Ripton. They've got a lot to say +about the freedom of the press, and their right to take political +advertising. Crewe's matter is in the form of a despatch, and most of +'em pointed out at the top of the editorial columns that their papers are +not responsible for despatches in the news columns. Six of 'em are out +and out for Crewe, and those fellows are honest enough." + +"Take away their passes and advertising," said Mr. Flint. ("Off with +their heads!" said the Queen of Hearts.) + +"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Flint; they might make capital out of +it. I think you'll find that five of 'em have sent their passes back, +anyway." + +"Freeman will give you some new ideas" (from the "Book of Arguments," +although Mr. Flint did not say so) "which have occurred to me might be +distributed for editorial purposes next week. And, by the way, what have +you done about that brilliant Mr. Coombes of the 'Johnstown Ray,' who +says 'the Northeastern Railroads give us a pretty good government'?" + +The Honourable Hilary shook his head. + +"Too much zeal," he observed. "I guess he won't do it again." + +For a while after that they talked of strictly legal matters, which the +chief counsel produced in order out of his bag. But when these were +finally disposed of, Mr. Flint led the conversation back to the +Honourable Humphrey Crewe, who stood harmless--to be sure--like a bull on +the track which it might be unwise to run over. + +"He doesn't amount to a soap bubble in a gale," Mr. Flint declared +contemptuously. "Sometimes I think we made a great mistake to notice +him. + +"We haven't noticed him," said Mr. Vane; "the newspapers have." + +Mr. Flint brushed this distinction aside. + +"That," he said irritably, "and letting Tooting go--" + +The Honourable Hilary's eyes began to grow red. In former days Mr. Flint +had not often questioned his judgment. + +"There's one thing more I wanted to mention to you," said the chief +counsel. "In past years I have frequently drawn your attention to that +section of the act of consolidation which declares that rates and fares +existing at the time of its passage shall not be increased." + +"Well," said Mr. Flint, impatiently, "well, what of it?" + +"Only this," replied the Honourable Hilary, "you disregarded my advice, +and the rates on many things are higher than they were." + +"Upon my word, Vane," said Mr. Flint, "I wish you'd chosen some other day +to croak. What do you want me to do? Put all the rates back because +this upstart politician Crewe is making a noise? Who's going to dig up +that section?" + +"Somebody has dug it up," said Mr. Vane: + +This was the last straw. + +"Speak out, man!" he cried. "What are you leading up to?" + +"Just this," answered the Honourable Hilary; "that the Gaylord Lumber +Company are going to bring suit under that section." + +Mr. Flint rose, thrust his hands in his pockets, and paced the room +twice. + +"Have they got a case?" he demanded. + +"It looks a little that way tome," said Mr. Vane. "I'm not prepared to +give a definite opinion as yet." + +Mr. Flint measured the room twice again. + +"Did that old fool Hammer stumble on to this?" + +"Hammer's sick," said Mr. Vane; "they say he's got Bright's disease. My +son discovered that section." + +There was a certain ring of pride in the Honourable Hilary's voice, and a +lifting of the head as he pronounced the words "my son," which did not +escape Mr. Flint. The railroad president walked slowly to the arm of the +chair in which his chief counsel was seated, and stood looking down at +him. But the Honourable Hilary appeared unconscious of what was +impending. + +"Your son!" exclaimed Mr. Flint. "So your son, the son of the man who +has been my legal adviser and confidant and friend for thirty years, is +going to join the Crewel and Tootings in their assaults on established +decency and order! He's out for cheap political preferment, too, is he? +By thunder! I thought that he had some such thing in his mind when he +came in here and threw his pass in my face and took that Meader suit. I +don't mind telling you that he's the man I've been afraid of all along. +He's got a head on him--I saw that at the start. I trusted to you to +control him, and this is how you do it." + +It was characteristic of the Honourable Hilary, when confronting an angry +man, to grow cooler as the other's temper increased. + +"I don't want to control him," he said. + +"I guess you couldn't," retorted Mr. Flint. + +"That's a better way of putting it," replied the Honourable Hilary, "I +couldn't." + +The chief counsel for the Northeastern Railroads got up and went to the +window, where he stood for some time with his back turned to the +president. Then Hilary Vane faced about. + +"Mr. Flint," he began, in his peculiar deep and resonant voice, "you've +said some things to-day that I won't forget. I want to tell you, first +of all, that I admire my son." + +"I thought so," Mr. Flint interrupted. + +"And more than that," the Honourable Hilary continued, "I prophesy that +the time will come when you'll admire him. Austen Vane never did an +underhanded thing in his life--or committed a mean action. He's be'n +wild, but he's always told me the truth. I've done him injustice a good +many times, but I won't stand up and listen to another man do him +injustice." Here he paused, and picked up his bag. "I'm going down to +Ripton to write out my resignation as counsel for your roads, and as soon +as you can find another man to act, I shall consider it accepted." + +It is difficult to put down on paper the sensations of the president of +the Northeastern Railroads as he listened to these words from a man with +whom he had been in business relations for over a quarter of a century, a +man upon whose judgment he had always relied implicitly, who had been a +strong fortress in time of trouble. Such sentences had an incendiary, +blasphemous ring on Hilary Vane's lips--at first. It was as if the sky +had fallen, and the Northeastern had been wiped out of existence. + +Mr. Flint's feelings were, in a sense, akin to those of a traveller by +sea who wakens out of a sound sleep in his cabin, with peculiar and +unpleasant sensations, which he gradually discovers are due to cold +water, and he realizes that the boat on which he is travelling is +sinking. + +The Honourable Hilary, with his bag, was halfway to the door, when Mr. +Flint crossed the room in three strides and seized him by the arm. + +"Hold on, Vane," he said, speaking with some difficulty; "I'm--I'm a +little upset this morning, and my temper got the best of me. You and I +have been good friends for too many years for us to part this way. Sit +down a minute, for God's sake, and let's cool off. I didn't intend to +say what I did. I apologize." + +Mr. Flint dropped his counsel's arm, and pulled out a handkerchief, and +mopped his face. "Sit down, Hilary," he said. + +The Honourable Hilary's tight lips trembled. Only three or four times in +their long friendship had the president made use of his first name. + +"You wouldn't leave me in the lurch now, Hilary," Mr. Flint continued, +"when all this nonsense is in the air? Think of the effect such an +announcement would have! Everybody knows and respects you, and we can't +do without your advice and counsel. But I won't put it on that ground. +I'd never forgive myself, as long as I lived, if I lost one of my oldest +and most valued personal friends in this way." + +The Honourable Hilary looked at Mr. Flint, and sat down. He began to cut +a piece of Honey Dew, but his hand shook. It was difficult, as we know, +for him to give expression to his feelings. + +"All right," he said. + +Half an hour later Victoria, from under the awning of the little balcony +in front of her mother's sitting room, saw her father come out bareheaded +into the sun and escort the Honourable Hilary Vane to his buggy. This +was an unwonted proceeding. + +Victoria loved to sit in that balcony, a book lying neglected in her lap, +listening to the summer sounds: the tinkle of distant cattle bells, the +bass note of a hurrying bee, the strangely compelling song of the hermit- +thrush, which made her breathe quickly; the summer wind, stirring +wantonly, was prodigal with perfumes gathered from the pines and the +sweet June clover in the fields and the banks of flowers; in the +distance, across the gentle foreground of the hills, Sawanec beckoned-- +did Victoria but raise her eyes!--to a land of enchantment. + +The appearance of her father and Hilary had broken her reverie, and a new +thought, like a pain, had clutched her. The buggy rolled slowly down the +drive, and Mr. Flint, staring after it a moment, went in the house. +After a few minutes he emerged again, an old felt hat on his head which +he was wont to wear in the country and a stick in his hand. Without +raising his eyes, he started slowly across the lawn; and to Victoria, +leaning forward intently over the balcony rail, there seemed an unwonted +lack of purpose in his movements. Usually he struck out briskly in the +direction of the pastures where his prize Guernseys were feeding, +stopping on the way to pick up the manager of his farm. There are signs, +unknown to men, which women read, and Victoria felt her heart beating, as +she turned and entered the sitting room through the French window. A +trained nurse was softly closing the door of the bedroom on the right. + +"Mrs. Flint is asleep," she said. + +"I am going out for a little while, Miss Oliver," Victoria answered, and +the nurse returned a gentle smile of understanding. + +Victoria, descending the stairs, hastily pinned on a hat which she kept +in the coat closet, and hurried across the lawn in the direction Mr. +Flint had taken. Reaching the pine grove, thinned by a famous landscape +architect, she paused involuntarily to wonder again at the ultramarine of +Sawanec through the upright columns of the trunks under the high canopy +of boughs. The grove was on a plateau, which was cut on the side nearest +the mountain by the line of a gray stone wall, under which the land fell +away sharply. Mr. Flint was seated on a bench, his hands clasped across +his stick, and as she came softly over the carpet of the needles he did +not hear her until she stood beside him. + +"You didn't tell me that you were going for a walk," she said +reproachfully. + +He started, and dropped his stick. She stooped quickly, picked it up for +him, and settled herself at his side. + +"I--I didn't expect to go, Victoria," he answered. + +"You see," she said, "it's useless to try to slip away. I saw you from +the balcony." + +"How's your mother feeling?" he asked. + +"She's asleep. She seems better to me since she's come back to +Fairview." + +Mr. Flint stared at the mountain with unseeing eyes. + +"Father," said Victoria, "don't you think you ought to stay up here at +least a week, and rest? I think so." + +"No," he said, "no. There's a directors' meeting of a trust company to- +morrow which I have to attend. I'm not tired." + +Victoria shook her head, smiling at him with serious eyes. + +"I don't believe you know when you are tired," she declared. "I can't +see the good of all these directors' meetings. Why don't you retire, and +live the rest of your life in peace? You've got--money enough, and even +if you haven't," she added, with the little quiver of earnestness that +sometimes came into her voice, "we could sell this big house and go back +to the farmhouse to live. We used to be so happy there." + +He turned abruptly, and fixed upon her a steadfast, searching stare that +held, nevertheless, a strange tenderness in it. + +"You don't care for all this, do you, Victoria?" he demanded, waving his +stick to indicate the domain of Fairview. + +She laughed gently, and raised her eyes to the green roof of the needles. + +"If we could only keep the pine grove!" she sighed. "Do you remember +what good times we had in the farmhouse, when you and I used to go off +for whole days together?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Flint, "yes." + +"We don't do that any more," said Victoria. "It's only a little drive +and a walk, now and then. And they seem to be growing--scarcer." + +Mr. Flint moved uneasily, and made an attempt to clear his voice. + +"I know it," he said, and further speech seemingly failed him. Victoria +had the greater courage of the two. + +"Why don't we?" she asked. + +"I've often thought of it," he replied, still seeking his words with +difficulty. "I find myself with more to do every year, Victoria, instead +of less." + +"Then why don't you give it up?" + +"Why?" he asked, "why? Sometimes I wish with my whole soul I could give +it up. I've always said that you had more sense than most women, but +even you could not understand." + +"I could understand," said Victoria. + +He threw at her another glance,--a ring in her words proclaimed their +truth in spite of his determined doubt. In her eyes--had he but known +it!--was a wisdom that exceeded his. + +"You don't realize what you're saying," he exclaimed; "I can't leave the +helm." + +"Isn't it," she said, "rather the power that is so hard to relinquish?" + +The feelings of Augustus Flint when he heard this question were of a +complex nature. It was the second time that day he had been shocked,-- +the first being when Hilary Vane had unexpectedly defended his son. The +word Victoria had used, power, had touched him on the quick. What had +she meant by it? Had she been his wife and not his daughter, he would +have flown into a rage. Augustus Flint was not a man given to the +psychological amusement of self-examination; he had never analyzed his +motives. He had had little to do with women, except Victoria. The Rose +of Sharon knew him as the fountainhead from which authority and money +flowed, but Victoria, since her childhood, had been his refuge from care, +and in the haven of her companionship he had lost himself for brief +moments of his life. She was the one being he really loved, with whom he +consulted on such affairs of importance as he felt to be within her scope +and province,--the cattle, the men on the place outside of the household, +the wisdom of buying the Baker farm; bequests to charities, paintings, +the library; and recently he had left to her judgment the European baths +and the kind of treatment which her mother had required. Victoria had +consulted with the physicians in Paris, and had made these decisions +herself. From a child she had never shown a disposition to evade +responsibility. + +To his intimate business friends, Mr. Flint was in the habit of speaking +of her as his right-hand man, but she was circumscribed by her sex,--or +rather by Mr. Flint's idea of her sex,--and it never occurred to him that +she could enter into the larger problems of his life. For this reason he +had never asked himself whether such a state of affairs would be +desirable. In reality it was her sympathy he craved, and such an +interpretation of himself as he chose to present to her. + +So her question was a shock. He suddenly beheld his daughter +transformed, a new personality who had been thinking, and thinking along +paths which he had never cared to travel. + +"The power!" he repeated. "What do you mean by that, Victoria?" + +She sat for a moment on the end of the bench, gazing at him with a +questioning, searching look which he found disconcerting. What had +happened to his daughter? He little guessed the tumult in her breast. +She herself could not fully understand the strange turn the conversation +had taken towards the gateway of the vital things. + +"It is natural for men to love power, isn't it?" + +"I suppose so," said Mr. Flint, uneasily. "I don't know what you're +driving at, Victoria." + +"You control the lives and fortunes of a great many people." + +"That's just it," answered Mr. Flint, with a dash at this opening; "my +responsibilities are tremendous. I can't relinquish them." + +"There is no--younger man to take your place? Not that I mean you are +old, father," she continued, "but you have worked very hard all your +life, and deserve a holiday the rest of it." + +"I don't know of any younger man," said Mr. Flint. "I don't mean to say +I'm the only person in the world who can safeguard the stockholders' +interests in the Northeastern. But I know the road and its problems. I +don't understand this from you, Victoria. It doesn't sound like you. +And as for letting go the helm now," he added, with a short laugh tinged +with bitterness, "I'd be posted all over the country as a coward." + +"Why?" asked Victoria, in the same quiet way. + +"Why? Because a lot of discontented and disappointed people who have +made failures of their lives are trying to give me as much trouble as +they can." + +"Are you sure they are all disappointed and discontented, father?" she +said. + +"What," exclaimed Mr. Flint, "you ask me that question? You, my own +daughter, about people who are trying to make me out a rascal!" + +"I don't think they are trying to make you out a rascal--at least most of +them are not," said Victoria. "I don't think the--what you might call +the personal aspect enters in with the honest ones." + +Mr. Flint was inexpressibly amazed. He drew a long breath. + +"Who are the honest ones?" he cried. "Do you mean to say that you, my +own daughter, are defending these charlatans?" + +"Listen, father," said Victoria. "I didn't mean to worry you, I didn't +mean to bring up that subject to-day. Come--let's go for a walk and see +the new barn." + +But Mr. Flint remained firmly planted on the bench. + +"Then you did intend to bring up the subject--some day?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Victoria. She sat down again. "I have often wanted to hear- +-your side of it." + +"Whose side have you heard?" demanded Mr. Flint. + +A crimson flush crept into her cheek, but her father was too disturbed to +notice it. + +"You know," she said gently, "I go about the country a good deal, and I +hear people talking,--farmers, and labourers, and people in the country +stores who don't know that I'm your daughter." + +"What do they say?" asked Mr. Flint, leaning forward eagerly and +aggressively. + +Victoria hesitated, turning over the matter in her mind. + +"You understand, I am merely repeating what they say--" + +"Yes, yes," he interrupted, "I want to know how far this thing has gone +among them." + +"Well," continued Victoria, looking at him bravely, "as nearly as I can +remember their argument it is this: that the Northeastern Railroads +control the politics of the State for their own benefit. That you +appoint the governors and those that go to the Legislature, and that-- +Hilary Vane gets them elected. They say that be manages a political +machine--that's the right word, isn't it?--for you. And that no laws can +be passed of which you do not approve. And they say that the politicians +whom Hilary Vane commands, and the men whom they put into office are all +beholden to the railroad, and are of a sort which good citizens cannot +support. They say that the railroad has destroyed the people's +government." + +Mr. Flint, for the moment forgetting or ignoring the charges, glanced at +her in astonishment. The arraignment betrayed an amount of thought on +the subject which he had not suspected. + +"Upon my word, Victoria," he said, "you ought to take the stump for +Humphrey Crewe." + +She reached out with a womanly gesture, and laid her hand upon his. + +"I am only telling you--what I hear," she said. + +"Won't you explain to me the way you look at it? These people don't all +seem to be dishonest men or charlatans. Some of them, I know, are +honest." And her colour rose again. + +"Then they are dupes and fools," Mr. Flint declared vehemently. "I don't +know how to explain it to you the subject is too vast, too far-reaching. +One must have had some business experience to grasp it. I don't mean to +say you're not intelligent, but I'm at a loss where to begin with you. +Looked at from their limited point of view, it would seem as if they had +a case. I don't mean your friend, Humphrey Crewe--it's anything to get +office with him. Why, he came up here and begged me--" + +"I wasn't thinking of Humphrey Crewe," said Victoria. Mr. Flint gave an +ejaculation of distaste. + +"He's no more of a reformer than I am. And now we've got that wild son +of Hilary Vane's--the son of one of my oldest friends and associates-- +making trouble. He's bitten with this thing, too, and he's got some +brains in his head. Why," exclaimed Mr. Flint, stopping abruptly and +facing his daughter, "you know him! He's the one who drove you home that +evening from Crewe's party." + +"I remember," Victoria faltered, drawing her hand away. + +"I wasn't very civil to him that night, but I've always been on the +lookout for him. I sent him a pass once, and he came up here and gave me +as insolent a talking to as I ever had in my life." + +How well Victoria recalled that first visit, and how she had wondered +about the cause of it! So her father and Austen Vane had quarrelled from +the first. + +"I'm sure he didn't mean to be insolent," she said, in a low voice. "He +isn't at all that sort." + +"I don't know what sort he is, except that he isn't my sort," Mr. Flint +retorted, intent upon the subject which had kindled his anger earlier in +the day. "I don't pretend to understand him. He could probably have +been counsel for the road if he had behaved decently. Instead, he starts +in with suits against us. He's hit upon something now." + +The president of the Northeastern dug savagely into the ground with his +stick, and suddenly perceived that his daughter had her face turned away +from his, towards the mountain. + +"Well, I won't bore you with that." + +She turned with a look in her eyes that bewildered him. + +"You're not--boring me," she said. + +"I didn't intend to go into all that," he explained more calmly, "but the +last few days have been trying, we've got to expect the wind to blow from +all directions." + +Victoria smiled at him faintly. + +"I have told you," she said, "that what you need is a trip abroad. +Perhaps some day you will remember it." + +"Maybe I'll go in the autumn," he answered, smiling back at her. "These +little flurries don't amount to anything more than mosquito-bites--only +mosquitoes are irritating. You and I understand each other, Victoria, +and now listen. I'll give you the broad view of this subject, the view +I've got to take, and I've lived in the world and seen more of it than +some folks who think they know it all. I am virtually the trustee for +thousands of stockholders, many of whom are widows and orphans. These +people are innocent; they rely on my ability, and my honesty, for their +incomes. Few men who have not had experience in railroad management know +one-tenth of the difficulties and obstructions encountered by a railroad +president who strives to do his duty by the road. My business is to run +the Northeastern as economically as is consistent with good service and +safety, and to give the stockholders the best return for their money. I +am the steward--and so long as I am the steward," he exclaimed, "I'm +going to do what I think is right, taking into consideration all the +difficulties that confront me." + +He got up and took a turn or two on the pine-needles. Victoria regarded +him in silence. He appeared to her at that moment the embodiment of the +power he represented. Force seemed to emanate from him, and she +understood more clearly than ever how, from a poor boy on an obscure farm +in Truro, he had risen to his present height. + +"I don't say the service is what it should be," he went on, "but give me +time--give me time. With all this prosperity in the country we can't +handle the freight. We haven't got cars enough, tracks enough, engines +enough. I won't go into that with you. But I do expect you to +understand this: that politicians are politicians; they have always been +corrupt as long as I have known them, and in my opinion they always will +be. The Northeastern is the largest property holder in the State, pays +the biggest tax, and has the most at stake. The politicians could ruin +us in a single session of the Legislature--and what's more, they would do +it. We'd have to be paying blackmail all the time to prevent measures +that would compel us to go out of business. This is a fact, and not a +theory. What little influence I exert politically I have to maintain in +order to protect the property of my stockholders from annihilation. It +isn't to be supposed," he concluded, "that I'm going to see the State +turned over to a man like Humphrey Crewe. I wish to Heaven that this and +every other State had a George Washington for governor and a majority of +Robert Morrises in the Legislature. If they exist, in these days, the +people won't elect 'em--that's all. The kind of man the people will +elect, if you let 'em alone, is--a man who brings in a bill and comes to +you privately and wants you to buy him off." + +"Oh, father," Victoria cried, "I can't believe that of the people I see +about here! They seem so kind and honest and high-principled." + +Mr. Flint gave a short laugh. + +"They're dupes, I tell you. They're at the mercy of any political +schemer who thinks it worth his while to fool 'em. Take Leith, for +instance. There's a man over there who has controlled every office in +that town for twenty-five years or more. He buys and sells votes and +credentials like cattle. His name is Job Braden." + +"Why," said Victoria, I saw him at Humphrey Crewe's garden-party." + +"I guess you did," said Mr. Flint, "and I guess Humphrey Crewe saw him +before he went." + +Victoria was silent, the recollection of the talk between Mr. Tooting and +Mr. Crewe running through her mind, and Mr. Tooting's saying that he had +done "dirty things" for the Northeastern. She felt that this was +something she could not tell her father, nor could she answer his +argument with what Tom Gaylord had said. She could not, indeed, answer +Mr. Flint's argument at all; the subject, as he had declared, being too +vast for her. And moreover, as she well knew, Mr. Flint was a man whom +other men could not easily answer; he bore them down, even as he had +borne her down. Involuntarily her mind turned to Austen, and she +wondered what he had said; she wondered how he would have answered her +father--whether he could have answered him. And she knew not what to +think. Could it be right, in a position of power and responsibility, to +acknowledge evil and deal with it as evil? That was, in effect, the gist +of Mr. Flint's contention. She did not know. She had never (strangely +enough, she thought) sought before to analyze the ethical side of her +father's character. One aspect of him she had shared with her mother, +that he was a tower of defence and strength, and that his name alone had +often been sufficient to get difficult things done. + +Was he right in this? And were his opponents charlatans, or dupes, or +idealists who could never be effective? Mr. Crewe wanted an office; Tom +Gaylord had a suit against the road, and Austen Vane was going to bring +that suit! What did she really know of Austen Vane? But her soul cried +out treason at this, and she found herself repeating, with intensity, "I +believe in him! I believe in him!" She would have given worlds to have +been able to stand up before her father and tell him that Austen would +not bring the suit at this time that Austen had not allowed his name to +be mentioned for office in this connection, and had spurned Mr. Crewe's +advances. But she had not seen Austen since February. + +What was his side of it? He had never told her, and she respected his +motives--yet, what was his side? Fresh from the inevitably deep +impressions which her father's personality had stamped upon her, she +wondered if Austen could cope with the argument before which she had been +so helpless. + +The fact that she made of each of these two men the embodiment of a +different and opposed idea did not occur to Victoria until that +afternoon. Unconsciously, each had impersonated the combatants in a +struggle which was going on in her own breast. Her father himself, +instinctively, had chosen Austen Vane for his antagonist without knowing +that she had an interest in him. Would Mr. Flint ever know? Or would +the time come when she would be forced to take a side? The blood mounted +to her temples as she put the question from her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MR. JABE JENNEY ENTERTAINS + +Mr. Flint had dropped the subject with his last remark, nor had Victoria +attempted to pursue it. Bewildered and not a little depressed (a new +experience for her), she had tried to hide her feelings. He, too, was +harassed and tired, and she had drawn him away from the bench and through +the pine woods to the pastures to look at his cattle and the model barn +he was building for them. At half-past three, in her runabout, she had +driven him to the East Tunbridge station, where he had taken the train +for New York. He had waved her a good-by from the platform, and smiled: +and for a long time, as she drove through the silent roads, his words and +his manner remained as vivid as though he were still by her side. He was +a man who had fought and conquered, and who fought on for the sheer love +of it. + +It was a blue day in the hill country. At noon the clouds had crowned +Sawanec--a sure sign of rain; the rain had come and gone, a June +downpour, and the overcast sky lent (Victoria fancied) to the country- +side a new atmosphere. The hills did not look the same. It was the kind +of a day when certain finished country places are at their best--or +rather seem best to express their meaning; a day for an event; a day set +strangely apart with an indefinable distinction. Victoria recalled such +days in her youth when weddings or garden-parties had brought canopies +into service, or news had arrived to upset the routine of the household. +Raindrops silvered the pines, and the light winds shook them down on the +road in a musical shower. + +Victoria was troubled, as she drove, over a question which had recurred +to her many times since her talk that morning: had she been hypocritical +in not telling her father that she had seen more of Austen Vane than she +had implied by her silence? For many years Victoria had chosen her own +companions; when the custom had begun, her mother had made a protest +which Mr. Flint had answered with a laugh; he thought Victoria's judgment +better than his wife's. Ever since that time the Rose of Sharon had +taken the attitude of having washed her hands of responsibility for a +course which must inevitably lead to ruin. She discussed some of +Victoria's acquaintances with Mrs. Pomfret and other intimates; and Mrs. +Pomfret had lost no time in telling Mrs. Flint about her daughter's +sleigh-ride at the State capital with a young man from Ripton who seemed +to be seeing entirely too much of Victoria. Mrs. Pomfret had marked +certain danger signs, and as a conscientious woman was obliged to speak +of them. Mrs. Pomfret did not wish to see Victoria make a mesalliance. + +"My dear Fanny," Mrs. Flint had cried, lifting herself from the lace +pillows, "what do you expect me to do especially when I have nervous +prostration? I've tried to do my duty by Victoria--goodness knows--to +bring her up--among the sons and daughters of the people who are my +friends. They tell me that she has temperament--whatever that may be. +I'm sure I never found out, except that the best thing to do with people +who have it is to let them alone and pray for them. When we go abroad I +like the Ritz and Claridge's and that new hotel in Rome. I see my +friends there. Victoria, if you please, likes the little hotels in the +narrow streets where you see nobody, and where you are most +uncomfortable." (Miss Oliver, it's time for those seven drops.) "As I +was saying, Victoria's enigmatical hopeless, although a French comtesse +who wouldn't look at anybody at the baths this spring became wild about +her, and a certain type of elderly English peer always wants to marry +her. (I suppose I do look pale to-day.) Victoria loves art, and really +knows something about it. She adores to potter around those queer places +abroad where you see strange English and Germans and Americans with red +books in their hands. What am I to do about this young man of whom you +speak--whatever his name is? I suppose Victoria will marry him--it would +be just like her. But what can I do, Fanny? I can't manage her, and +it's no use going to her father. He would only laugh. Augustus actually +told me once there was no such thing as social position in this country!" + +"American men of affairs," Mrs. Pomfret judicially replied, "are too busy +to consider position. They make it, my dear, as a by-product." Mrs. +Pomfret smiled, and mentally noted this aptly technical witticism for use +again. + +"I suppose they do," assented the Rose of Sharon, "and their daughters +sometimes squander it, just as their sons squander their money." + +"I'm not at all sure that Victoria is going to squander it," was Mrs. +Pomfret's comforting remark. "She is too much of a personage, and she +has great wealth behind her. I wish Alice were more like her, in some +ways. Alice is so helpless, she has to be prodded and prompted +continually. I can't leave her for a moment. And when she is married, +I'm going into a sanatorium for six months." + +"I hear," said Mrs. Flint, "that Humphrey Crewe is quite epris." + +"Poor dear Humphrey!" exclaimed Mrs. Pomfret, "he can think of nothing +else but politics." + +But we are not to take up again, as yet, the deeds of the crafty Ulysses. +In order to relate an important conversation between Mrs. Pomfret and the +Rose of Sharon, we have gone back a week in this history, and have left +Victoria--absorbed in her thoughts--driving over a wood road of many +puddles that led to the Four Corners, near Avalon. The road climbed the +song-laden valley of a brook, redolent now with scents of which the rain +had robbed the fern, but at length Victoria reached an upland where the +young corn was springing from the, black furrows that followed the +contours of the hillsides, where the big-eyed cattle lay under the heavy +maples and oaks or gazed at her across the fences. + +Victoria drew up in front of an unpainted farm-house straggling beside +the road, a farm-house which began with the dignity of fluted pilasters +and ended in a tumble-down open shed filled with a rusty sleigh and a +hundred nondescript articles--some of which seemed to be moving. +Intently studying this phenomenon from her runabout, she finally +discovered that the moving objects were children; one of whom, a little +girl, came out and stared at her. + +"How do you do, Mary?" said Victoria. "Isn't your name Mary?" + +The child nodded. + +"I remember you," she said; "you're the rich lady, mother met at the +party, that got father a job." + +Victoria smiled. And such was the potency of the smile that the child +joined in it. + +"Where's brother?" asked Victoria. "He must be quite grown up since we +gave him lemonade." + +Mary pointed to the woodshed. + +"O dear!" exclaimed Victoria, leaping out of the runabout and hitching +her horse, "aren't you afraid some of those sharp iron things will fall +on him?" She herself rescued brother from what seemed untimely and +certain death, and set him down in safety in the middle of the grass +plot. He looked up at her with the air of one whose dignity has been +irretrievably injured, and she laughed as she reached down and pulled his +nose. Then his face, too, became wreathed in smiles. + +"Mary, how old are you?" + +"Seven, ma'am." + +"And I'm five," Mary's sister chimed in. + +"I want you to promise me," said Victoria, "that you won't let brother +play in that shed. And the very next time I come I'll bring you both the +nicest thing I can think of." + +Mary began to dance. + +"We'll promise, we'll promise!" she cried for both, and at this juncture +Mrs. Fitch, who had run from the washtub to get into her Sunday waist, +came out of the door. + +"So you hain't forgot me!" she exclaimed. "I was almost afeard you'd +forgot me." + +"I've been away," said Victoria, gently taking the woman's hand and +sitting down on the doorstep. + +"Don't set there," said Mrs. Fitch; "come into the parlour. You'll dirty +your dress--Mary!" This last in admonition. + +"Let her stay where she is," said Victoria, putting her arm around the +child. "The dress washes, and it's so nice outside." + +"You rich folks certainly do have strange notions," declared Mrs. Fitch, +fingering the flounce on Victoria's skirt, which formed the subject of +conversation for the next few minutes. + +"How are you getting on?" Victoria asked at length. + +A look of pain came into the woman's eyes. + +"You've be'n so good to us, and done so much gettin' Eben a job on your +father's place, that I don't feel as if I ought to lie to you. He done +it again--on Saturday night. First time in three months. The manager up +at Fairview don't know it. Eben was all right Monday." + +"I'm sorry," said Victoria, simply. "Was it bad?" + +"It might have be'n. Young Mr. Vane is stayin' up at Jabe Jenney's--you +know, the first house as you turn off the hill road. Mr. Vane heard some +way what you'd done for us, and he saw Eben in Ripton Saturday night, and +made him get into his buggy and come home. I guess he had a time with +Eben. Mr. Vane, he came around here on Sunday, and gave him as stiff a +talkin' to as he ever got, I guess. He told Eben he'd ought to be +ashamed of himself goin' back on folks who was tryin' to help him pay his +mortgage. And I'll say this for Eben, he was downright ashamed. He told +Mr. Vane he could lick him if he caught him drunk again, and Mr. Vane +said he would. My, what a pretty colour you've got to-day." + +Victoria rose. "I'm going to send you down some washing," she said. + +Mrs. Fitch insisted upon untying the horse, while Victoria renewed her +promises to the children. + +There were two ways of going back to Fairview,--a long and a short way,-- +and the long way led by Jabe Jenney's farm. Victoria came to the fork in +the road, paused,--and took the long way. Several times after this, she +pulled her horse down to a walk, and was apparently on the point of +turning around again: a disinterested observer in a farm wagon, whom she +passed, thought that she had missed her road. "The first house after you +turn off the hill road," Mrs. Fitch had said. She could still, of +course, keep on the hill road, but that would take her to Weymouth, and +she would never get home. + +It is useless to go into the reasons for this act of Victoria's. She did +not know them herself. The nearer Victoria got to Mr. Jenney's, the more +she wished herself back at the forks. Suppose Mrs. Fitch told him of her +visit! Perhaps she could pass the Jenneys' unnoticed. The chances of +this, indeed, seemed highly favourable, and it was characteristic of her +sex that she began to pray fervently to this end. Then she turned off +the hill road, feeling as though she had but to look back to see the +smoke of the burning bridges. + +Victoria remembered the farm now; for Mr. Jabe Jenney, being a person of +importance in the town of Leith, had a house commensurate with his +estate. The house was not large, but its dignity was akin to Mr. +Jenney's position: it was painted a spotless white, and not a shingle or +a nail was out of place. Before it stood the great trees planted by Mr. +Jenney's ancestors, which Victoria and other people had often paused on +their drives to admire, and on the hillside was a little, old-fashioned +flower garden; lilacs clustered about the small-paned windows, and a +bitter-sweet clung to the roof and pillars of the porch. These details +of the place (which she had never before known as Mr. Jenney's) flashed +into Victoria's mind before she caught sight of the great trees +themselves looming against the sombre blue-black of the sky: the wind, +rising fitfully, stirred the leaves with a sound like falling waters, and +a great drop fell upon her cheek. Victoria raised her eyes in alarm, and +across the open spaces, toward the hills which piled higher and higher +yet against the sky, was a white veil of rain. She touched with her whip +the shoulder of her horse, recalling a farm a quarter of a mile beyond-- +she must not be caught here! + +More drops followed, and the great trees seemed to reach out to her a +protecting shelter. She spoke to the horse. Beyond the farm-house, on +the other side of the road, was a group of gray, slate-shingled barns, +and here two figures confronted her. One was that of the comfortable, +middle-aged Mr. Jenney himself, standing on the threshold of the barn, +and laughing heartily, and crying: "Hang on to him That's right--get him +by the nose!" + +The person thus addressed had led a young horse to water at the spring +which bubbled out of a sugar-kettle hard by; and the horse, quivering, +had barely touched his nostrils to the water when he reared backward, +jerking the halter-rope taut. Then followed, with bewildering rapidity, +a series of manoeuvres on the part of the horse to get away, and on the +part of the person to prevent this, and inasmuch as the struggle took +place in the middle of the road, Victoria had to stop. By the time the +person had got the horse by the nose,--shutting off his wind,--the rain +was coming down in earnest. + +"Drive right in," cried Mr. Jenney, hospitably; "you'll get wet. Look +out, Austen, there's a lady comin'. Why, it's Miss Flint!" + +Victoria knew that her face must be on fire. She felt Austen Vane's +quick glance upon her, but she did not dare look to the right or left as +she drove into the barn. There seemed no excuse for any other course. + +"How be you?" said Mr. Jenney; "kind of lucky you happened along here, +wahn't it? You'd have been soaked before you got to Harris's. How be +you? I ain't seen you since that highfalutin party up to Crewe's." + +"It's very kind of you to let me come in, Mr. Jenney." + +"But I have a rain-coat and a boot, and--I really ought to be going on." + +Here Victoria produced the rain-coat from under the seat. The garment +was a dark blue, and Mr. Jenney felt of its gossamer weight with a good- +natured contempt. + +"That wouldn't be any more good than so much cheesecloth," he declared, +nodding in the direction of the white sheet of the storm. "Would it, +Austen." + +She turned her head slowly and met Austen's eyes. Fortunate that the +barn was darkened, that he might not see how deep the colour mantling in +her temples! His head was bare, and she had never really marked before +the superb setting of it on his shoulders, for he wore a gray flannel +shirt open at the neck, revealing a bronzed throat. His sinewy arms-- +weather-burned, too--were bare above the elbows. + +Explanations of her presence sprang to her lips, but she put them from +her as subterfuges unworthy of him. She would not attempt to deceive him +in the least. She had wished to see him again--nor did she analyze her +motives. Once more beside him, the feeling of confidence, of belief in +him, rose within her and swept all else away--burned in a swift consuming +flame the doubts of absence. He took her hand, but she withdrew it +quickly. + +"This is a fortunate accident," he said, "fortunate, at least, for me." + +"Perhaps Mr. Jenney will not agree with you," she retorted. + +But Mr. Jenney was hitching the horse and throwing a blanket over him. +Suddenly, before they realized it, the farmer had vanished into the +storm, and this unexplained desertion of their host gave rise to an +awkward silence between them, which each for a while strove vainly to +break. In the great moments of life, trivialities become dwarfed and +ludicrous, and the burden of such occasions is on the woman. + +"So you've taken to farming," she said,-"isn't it about haying time?" + +He laughed. + +"We begin next week. And you--you've come back in season for it. I hope +that your mother is better." + +"Yes," replied Victoria, simply, "the baths helped her. But I'm glad to +get back,--I like my own country so much better,--and especially this +part of it," she added. "I can bear to be away from New York in the +winter, but not from Fairview in the summer." + +At this instant Mr. Jenney appeared at the barn door bearing a huge green +umbrella. + +"Come over to the house--Mis' Jenney is expectin' you," he said. + +Victoria hesitated. To refuse would be ungracious; moreover, she could +risk no misinterpretation of her acts, and she accepted. Mrs. Jenney met +her on the doorstep, and conducted her into that sanctum reserved for +occasions, the parlour, with its Bible, its flat, old-fashioned piano, +its samplers, its crayon portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Jenney after their +honeymoon; with its aroma that suggested Sundays and best manners. Mrs. +Jenney, with incredible rapidity (for her figure was not what it had been +at the time of the crayon portrait), had got into a black dress, over +which she wore a spotless apron. She sat in the parlour with her guest +until Mr. Jenney reappeared with shining face and damp hair. + +"You'll excuse me, my dear," said Mrs. Jenney, "but the supper's on the +stove, and I have to run out now and then." + +Mr. Jenney was entertaining. He had the shrewd, humorous outlook upon +life characteristic of the best type of New England farmer, and Victoria +got along with him famously. His comments upon his neighbours were +kindly but incisive, except when the question of spirituous liquors +occurred to him. Austen Vane he thought the world of, and dwelt upon +this subject a little longer than Victoria, under the circumstances, +would have wished. + +"He comes out here just like it was home," said Mr. Jenney, "and helps +with the horses and cows the same as if he wasn't gettin' to be one of +the greatest lawyers in the State." + +"O dear, Mr. Jenney," said Victoria, glancing out of the window, "I'll +really have to go home. I'm sure it won't stop raining for hours. But I +shall be perfectly dry in my rain-coat,--no matter how much you may +despise it." + +"You're not a-going to do anything of the kind," cried Mrs. Jenney from +the doorway. "Supper's all ready, and you're going to walk right in." + +"Oh, I really have to go," Victoria exclaimed. + +" Now I know it ain't as grand as you'd get at home," said Mr. Jenney. +"It ain't what we'd give you, Miss Victoria,--that's only simple home +fare,--it's what you'd give us. It's the honour of having you," he +added,--and Victoria thought that no courtier could have worded an +invitation better. She would not be missed at Fairview. Her mother was +inaccessible at this hour, and the servants would think of her as dining +at Leith. The picture of the great, lonely house, of the ceremonious +dinner which awaited her single presence, gave her an irresistible +longing to sit down with these simple, kindly souls. Austen was the only +obstacle. He, too, had changed his clothes, and now appeared, smiling at +her behind Mrs. Jenney. The look of prospective disappointment in the +good woman's face decided Victoria. + +"I'll stay, with pleasure," she said. + +Mr. Jenney pronounced grace. Victoria sat across the table from Austen, +and several times the consciousness of his grave look upon her as she +talked heightened the colour in her cheek. He said but little during the +meal. Victoria heard how well Mrs. Jenney's oldest son was doing in +Springfield, and how the unmarried daughter was teaching, now, in the +West. Asked about Europe, that land of perpetual mystery to the native +American, the girl spoke so simply and vividly of some of the wonders she +had seen that she held the older people entranced long after the meal was +finished. But at length she observed, with a start, the gathering +darkness. In the momentary happiness of this experience, she had been +forgetful. + +"I will drive home with you, if you'll allow me," said Austen. + +"Oh, no, I really don't need an escort, Mr. Vane. I'm so used to driving +about at night, I never think of it," she answered. + +"Of course he'll drive home with you, dear," said Mrs. Jenney. "And, +Jabe, you'll hitch up and go and fetch Austen back." + +"Certain," Mr. Jenney agreed. + +The rain had ceased, and the indistinct outline of the trees and fences +betrayed the fact that the clouds were already thinning under the moon. +Austen had lighted the side lamps of the runabout, revealing the shining +pools on the road as they drove along--for the first few minutes in +silence. + +"It was very good of you to stay," he said; "you do not know how much +pleasure you have given them." + +Her feminine appreciation responded to the tact of this remark: it was so +distinctly what he should have said. + +How delicate, she thought, must be his understanding of her, that he +should have spoken so! + +"I was glad to stay," she answered, in a low voice. "I--enjoyed it, +too." + +"They have very little in their lives," he said, and added, with a +characteristic touch, "I do not mean to say that your coming would not be +an event in any household." + +She laughed with him, softly, at this sally. + +"Not to speak of the visit you are making them," she replied. + +"Oh, I'm one of the family," he said; "I come and go. Jabe's is my +country house, when I can't stand the city any longer." + +She saw that he did not intend to tell her why he had left Ripton on this +occasion. There fell another silence. They were like prisoners, and +each strove to explore the bounds of their captivity: each sought a +lawful ground of communication. Victoria suddenly remembered--with an +access of indignation--her father's words, "I do not know what sort he +is, but he is not my sort." A while ago, and she had blamed herself +vehemently for coming to Jabe Jenney's, and now the act had suddenly +become sanctified in her sight. She did not analyze her feeling for +Austen, but she was consumed with a fierce desire that justice should be +done him. "He was honourable--honourable!" she found herself repeating +under her breath. No man or woman could look into his face, take his +hand, sit by his side, without feeling that he was as dependable as the +stars in their courses. And her father should know this, must be made to +know it. This man was to be distinguished from opportunists and self- +seekers, from fanatics who strike at random. His chief possession was a +priceless one--a conscience. + +As for Austen, it sufficed him for the moment that he had been lifted, by +another seeming caprice of fortune, to a seat of torture the agony +whereof was exquisite. An hour, and only the ceaseless pricking memory +of it would abide. The barriers had risen higher since he had seen her +last, but still he might look into her face and know the radiance of her +presence. Could he only trust himself to guard his tongue! But the +heart on such occasions will cheat language of its meaning. + +"What have you been doing since I saw you last?" she asked. "It seems +that you still continue to lead a life of violence." + +"Sometimes I wish I did," he answered, with a laugh; "the humdrum +existence of getting practice enough to keep a horse is not the most +exciting in the world. To what particular deed of violence do you +refer?" + +"The last achievement, which is in every one's mouth, that of assisting +Mr. Tooting down-stairs." + +"I have been defamed," Austen laughed; "he fell down, I believe. But as +I have a somewhat evil reputation, and as he came out of my entry, people +draw their own conclusions. I can't imagine who told you that story." + +"Never mind," she answered. "You see, I have certain sources of +information about you." + +He tingled over this, and puzzled over it so long that she laughed. + +"Does that surprise you?" she asked. "I fail to see why I should be +expected to lose all interest in my friends--even if they appear to have +lost interest in me." + +"Oh, don't say that!" he cried so sharply that she wished her words +unsaid. "You can't mean it! You don't know!" + +She trembled at the vigorous passion he put into the words. + +"No, I don't mean it," she said gently. + +The wind had made a rent in the sheet of the clouds, and through it burst +the moon in her full glory, flooding field and pasture, and the black +stretches of pine forest at their feet. Below them the land fell away, +and fell again to the distant broadening valley, to where a mist of white +vapour hid the course of the Blue. And beyond, the hills rose again, +tier upon tier, to the shadowy outline of Sawanec herself against the +hurrying clouds and the light-washed sky. Victoria, gazing at the scene, +drew a deep breath, and turned and looked at him in the quick way which +he remembered so well. + +"Sometimes," she said, "it is so beautiful that it hurts to look at it. +You love it--do you ever feel that way?" + +"Yes," he said, but his answer was more than the monosyllable. "I can +see that mountain from my window, and it seriously interferes with my +work. I really ought to move into another building." + +There was a little catch in her laugh. + +"And I watch it," she continued, "I watch it from the pine grove by the +hour. Sometimes it smiles, and sometimes it is sad, and sometimes it is +far, far away, so remote and mysterious that I wonder if it is ever to +come back and smile again." + +"Have you ever seen the sunrise from its peak?" said Austen. + +"No. Oh, how I should love to see it!" she exclaimed. + +"Yes, you would like to see it," he answered simply. He would like to +take her there, to climb, with her hand in his, the well-known paths in +the darkness, to reach the summit in the rosy-fingered dawn: to see her +stand on the granite at his side in the full glory of the red light, and +to show her a world which she was henceforth to share with him. + +Some such image, some such vision of his figure on the rock, may have +been in her mind as she turned her face again toward the mountain. + +"You are cold," he said, reaching for the mackintosh in the back of the +trap. + +"No," she said. But she stopped the horse and acquiesced by slipping her +arms into the coat, and he felt upon his hand the caress of a stray wisp +of hair at her neck. Under a spell of thought and feeling, seemingly +laid by the magic of the night, neither spoke for a space. And then +Victoria summoned her forces, and turned to him again. Her tone bespoke +the subtle intimacy that always sprang up between them, despite bars and +conventions. + +"I was sure you would understand why I wrote you from New York," she +said, "although I hesitated a long time before doing so. It was very +stupid of me not to realize the scruples which made you refuse to be a +candidate for the governorship, and I wanted to--to apologize." + +"It wasn't necessary," said Austen, "but--I valued the note." The words +seemed so absurdly inadequate to express his appreciation of the treasure +which he carried with him, at that moment, in his pocket. "But, really," +he added, smiling at her in the moonlight, "I must protest against your +belief that I could have been an effective candidate! I have roamed +about the State, and I have made some very good friends here and there +among the hill farmers, like Mr. Jenney. Mr. Redbrook is one of these. +But it would have been absurd of me even to think of a candidacy founded +on personal friendships. I assure you," he added, smiling, "there was no +self denial in my refusal." + +She gave him an appraising glance which he found at once enchanting and +disconcerting. + +"You are one of those people, I think, who do not know their own value. +If I were a man, and such men as Mr. Redbrook and Mr. Jenney knew me and +believed sufficiently in me and in my integrity of purpose to ask me to +be their candidate" (here she hesitated an instant), "and I believed that +the cause were a good one, I should not have felt justified in refusing. +That is what I meant. I have always thought of you as a man of force and +a man of action. But I did not see--the obstacle in your way." + +She hesitated once more, and added, with a courage which did not fail of +its direct appeal, "I did not realize that you would be publicly opposing +your father. And I did not realize that you would not care to criticise +--mine." + +On the last word she faltered and glanced at his profile. + +Had she gone too far? + +"I felt that you would understand," he answered. He could not trust +himself to speak further. How much did she know? And how much was she +capable of grasping? + +His reticence served only to fortify her trust--to elevate it. It was +impossible for her not to feel something of that which was in him and +crying for utterance. She was a woman. And if this one action had been +but the holding of her coat, she would have known. A man who could keep +silent under these conditions must indeed be a rock of might and honour; +and she felt sure now, with a surging of joy, that the light she had seen +shining from it was the beacon of truth. A question trembled on her +lips--the question for which she had long been gathering strength. +Whatever the outcome of this communion, she felt that there must be +absolute truth between them. + +"I want to ask you something, Mr. Vane--I have been wanting to for a long +time." + +She saw the muscles of his jaw tighten,--a manner he had when earnest or +determined,--and she wondered in agitation whether he divined what she +was going to say. He turned his face slowly to hers, and his eyes were +troubled. + +"Yes," he said. + +"You have always spared my feelings," she went on. "Now--now I am asking +for the truth--as you see it. Do the Northeastern Railroads wrongfully +govern this State for their own ends?" + +Austen, too, as he thought over it afterwards, in the night, was +surprised at her concise phrasing, suggestive; as it was, of much +reflection. But at the moment, although he had been prepared for and had +braced himself against something of this nature, he was nevertheless +overcome by the absolute and fearless directness of her speech. + +"That is a question," he answered, "which you will have to ask your +father." + +"I have asked him," she said, in a low voice; "I want to know what--you +believe." + +"You have asked him!" he repeated, in astonishment. + +"Yes. You mustn't think that, in asking you, I am unfair to him in any +way--or that I doubt his sincerity. We have been" (her voice caught a +little) "the closest friends ever since I was a child." She paused. +"But I want to know what you believe." + +The fact that she emphasized the last pronoun sent another thrill through +him. Did it, then, make any difference to her what he believed? Did she +mean to differentiate him from out of the multitude? He had to steady +himself before he answered:-- + +"I have sometimes thought that my own view might not be broad enough." + +She turned to him again. + +"Why are you evading?" she asked. "I am sure it is not because yon have +not settled convictions. And I have asked you--a favour." + +"You have done me an honour," he answered, and faced her suddenly. "You +must see," he cried, with a power and passion in his voice that startled +and thrilled her in turn, "you must see that it's because I wish to be +fair that I hesitate. I would tell you--anything. I do not agree with +my own father,--we have been--apart--for years because of this. And I +do--not agree with Mr. Flint. I am sure that they both are wrong. But I +cannot help seeing their point of view. These practices are the result +of an evolution, of an evolution of their time. They were forced to cope +with conditions in the way they did, or go to the wall. They make the +mistake of believing that the practices are still necessary to-day." + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, a great hope rising within her at these words. "Oh, +and you believe they are not!" His explanation seemed so simple, so +inspiring. And above and beyond that, he was sure. Conviction rang in +every word. Had he not, she remembered, staked his career by disagreeing +with his father? Yes, and he had been slow to condemn; he had seen their +side. It was they who condemned him. He must have justice--he should +have it! + +"I believe such practices are not necessary now," he said firmly. "A new +generation has come--a generation more jealous of its political rights, +and not so willing to be rid of them by farming them out. A change has +taken place even in the older men, like Mr. Jenney and Mr. Redbrook, who +simply did not think about these questions ten years ago. Men of this +type, who could be leaders, are ready to assume their responsibilities, +are ready to deal fairly with railroads and citizens alike. This is a +matter of belief. I believe it--Mr. Flint and my father do not. They +see the politicians, and I see the people. I belong to one generation, +and they to another. With the convictions they have, added to the fact +that they are in a position of heavy responsibility toward the owners of +their property, they cannot be blamed for hesitating to try any +experiments." + +"And the practices are--bad?" Victoria asked. + +"They are entirely subversive of the principles of American government, +to say the least," replied Austen, grimly. He was thinking of the pass +which Mr. Flint had sent him, and of the kind of men Mr. Flint employed +to make the practices effective. + +They descended into the darkness of a deep valley, scored out between the +hills by one of the rushing tributaries of the Blue. The moon fell down +behind the opposite ridge, and the road ran through a deep forest. He no +longer saw the shades of meaning in her face, but in the blackness of +Erebus he could have sensed her presence at his side. Speech, though of +this strange kind of which neither felt the strangeness, had come and +gone between them, and now silence spoke as eloquently. Twice or thrice +their eyes met through the gloom,--and there was light. At length she +spoke with the impulsiveness in her voice that he found so appealing. + +"You must see my father--you must talk to him. He doesn't know how fair +you are!" + +To Austen the inference was obvious that Mr. Flint had conceived for him +a special animosity, which he must have mentioned to Victoria, and this +inference opened the way to a wide speculation in which he was at once +elated and depressed. Why had he been so singled out? And had Victoria +defended him? Once before he remembered that she had told him he must +see Mr. Flint. They had gained the ridge now, and the moon had risen +again for them, striking black shadows from the maples on the granite- +cropped pastures. A little farther on was a road which might have been +called the rear entrance to Fairview. + +What was he to say? + +"I am afraid Mr. Flint has other things to do than to see me," he +answered. "If he wished to see me, he would say so." + +"Would you go to see him, if he were to ask you?" said Victoria. + +"Yes," he replied, "but that is not likely to happen. Indeed, you are +giving my opinion entirely too much importance in your father's eyes," he +added, with an attempt to carry it off lightly; "there is no more reason +why he should care to discuss the subject with me than with any other +citizen of the State of my age who thinks as I do." + +"Oh, yes, there is," said Victoria; "he regards you as a person whose +opinion has some weight. I am sure of that. He thinks of you as a +person of convictions--and he has heard things about you. You talked to +him once," she went on, astonished at her own boldness, "and made him +angry. Why don't you talk to him again?" she cried, seeing that Austen +was silent. "I am sure that what you said about the change of public +opinion in the State would appeal to him. And oh, don't quarrel with +him! You have a faculty of differing with people without quarrelling +with them. My father has so many cares, and he tries so hard to do right +as he sees it. You must remember that he was a poor farmer's son, and +that he began to work at fourteen in Brampton, running errands for a +country printer. He never had any advantages except those he made for +himself, and he had to fight his way in a hard school against men who +were not always honourable. It is no wonder that he sometimes takes--a +material view of things. But he is reasonable and willing to listen to +what other men have to say, if he is not antagonized." + +"I understand," said Austen, who thought Mr. Flint blest in his advocate. +Indeed, Victoria's simple reference to her father's origin had touched +him deeply. "I understand, but I cannot go to him. There is every +reason why I cannot," he added, and she knew that he was speaking with +difficulty, as under great emotion. + +"But if he should send for you?" she asked. She felt his look fixed upon +her with a strange intensity, and her heart leaped as she dropped her +eyes. + +"If Mr. Flint should send for me," he answered slowly, "I would come--and +gladly. But it must be of his own free will." + +Victoria repeated the words over to herself, "It must be of his own free +will," waiting until she should be alone to seek their full +interpretation. She turned, and looked across the lawn at Fairview House +shining in the light. In another minute they had drawn up before the +open door. + +"Won't you come in--and wait for Mr. Jenney?" she asked. + +He gazed down into her face, searchingly, and took her hand. + +"Good night," he said; "Mr. Jenney is not far behind. I think--I think I +should like the walk." + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MR. CREWE: AN APPRECIATION (1) + +It is given to some rare mortals--with whom fame precedes grey hairs or +baldness to read, while still on the rising tide of their efforts, that +portion of their lives which has already been inscribed on the scroll of +history--or something like it. Mr. Crewe in kilts at five; and +(prophetic picture!) with a train of cars which--so the family tradition +runs--was afterwards demolished; Mr. Crewe at fourteen, in delicate +health; this picture was taken abroad, with a long-suffering tutor who +could speak feelingly, if he would, of embryo geniuses. Even at this +early period Humphrey Crewe's thirst for knowledge was insatiable: he +cared little, the biography tells us, for galleries and churches and +ruins, but his comments upon foreign methods of doing business were +astonishingly precocious. He recommended to amazed clerks in provincial +banks the use of cheques, ridiculed to speechless station-masters the +side-entrance railway carriage with its want of room, and the size of the +goods trucks. He is said to have been the first to suggest that soda- +water fountains might be run at a large profit in London. + +In college, in addition to keeping up his classical courses, he found +time to make an exhaustive study of the railroads of the United States, +embodying these ideas in a pamphlet published shortly after graduation. +This pamphlet is now, unfortunately, very rare, but the anonymous +biographer managed to get one and quote from it. If Mr. Crewe's +suggestions had been carried out, seventy-five per cent of the railroad +accidents might have been eliminated. Thorough was his watchword even +then. And even at that period he foresaw, with the prophecy of genius, +the days of single-track congestion. + +His efforts to improve Leith and the State in general, to ameliorate the +condition of his neighbours, were fittingly and delicately dwelt upon. A +desire to take upon himself the burden of citizenship led--as we know--to +further self-denial. He felt called upon to go to the Legislature--and +this is what he saw:-- + +(Mr. Crewe is quoted here at length in an admirable, concise, and hair- +raising statement given in an interview to his biographer. But we have +been with him, and know what he saw. It is, for lack of space, +reluctantly omitted.) + +And now we are to take up where the biography left off; to relate, in a +chapter if possible, one of the most remarkable campaigns in the history +of this country. A certain reformer of whose acquaintance the honest +chronicler boasts (a reformer who got elected!) found, on his first visit +to the headquarters he had hired--two citizens under the influence of +liquor and a little girl with a skip rope. Such are the beginnings that +try men's souls. + +The window of every independent shopkeeper in Ripton contained a large- +sized picture of the Leith statesman, his determined chin slightly thrust +down into the Gladstone collar. Underneath were the words, "I will put +an end to graft and railroad rule. I am a Candidate of the People. +Opening rally of the People's Campaign at the Opera House, at 8 P.M., +July 10th. The Hon. Humphrey Crewe, of Leith, will tell the citizens of +Ripton how their State is governed." + +"Father," said Victoria, as she read this announcement (three columns +wide, in the Ripton Record) as they sat at breakfast together, "do you +mind my going? I can get Hastings Weare to take me." + +"Not at all," said Mr. Flint, who had returned from New York in a better +frame of mind. "I should like a trustworthy account of that meeting. +Only," he added, "I should advise you to go early, Victoria, in order to +get a seat." + +"You don't object to my listening to criticism of you?" + +"Not by Humphrey Crewe," laughed Mr. Flint. + +Early suppers instead of dinners were the rule at Leith on the evening of +the historic day, and the candidate himself, in his red Leviathan, was +not inconsiderably annoyed, on the way to Ripton, by innumerable +carryalls and traps filled with brightly gowned recruits of that +organization of Mrs. Pomfret's which Beatrice Chillingham had nicknamed +"The Ladies' Auxiliary.". In vain Mr. Crewe tooted his horn: the sound +of it was drowned by the gay talk and laughter in the carryalls, and +shrieks ensued when the Leviathan cut by with only six inches to spare, +and the candidate turned and addressed the drivers in language more +forceful than polite, and told the ladies they acted as if they were +going to a Punch-and-Judy show. + +"Poor dear Humphrey!" said, Mrs. Pomfret, "is so much in earnest. I +wouldn't give a snap for a man without a temper." + +"Poor dear Humphrey" said Beatrice Chillingham, in an undertone to her +neighbour, "is exceedingly rude and ungrateful. That's what I think." + +The occupants of one vehicle heard the horn, and sought the top of a +grassy mound to let the Leviathan go by. And the Leviathan, with +characteristic contrariness, stopped. + +"Hello," said Mr. Crewe, with a pull at his cap. "I intended to be on +the lookout for you." + +"That is very thoughtful, Humphrey, considering how many things you have +to be on the lookout for this evening," Victoria replied. + +"That's all right," was Mr. Crewe's gracious reply. "I knew you'd be +sufficiently broad-minded to come, and I hope you won't take offence at +certain remarks I think it my duty to make." + +"Don't let my presence affect you," she answered, smiling; "I have come +prepared for anything." + +"I'll tell Tooting to give you a good seat," he called back, as he +started onward. + +Hastings Weare looked up at her, with laughter-brimming eyes. + +"Victoria, you're a wonder!" he remarked. "Say, do you remember that +tall fellow we met at Humphrey's party, Austen Vane?" + +Yes." + +"I saw him on the street in Ripton the other day, and he came right up +and spoke to me. He hadn't forgotten my name. Now, he'd be my notion of +a candidate. He makes you feel as if your presence in the world meant +something to him." + +"I think he does feel that way," replied Victoria. + +"I don't blame him if he feels that way about you," said Hastings, who +made love openly. + +"Hastings," she answered, "when you get a little older, you will learn to +confine yourself to your own opinions." + +"When I do," he retorted audaciously, "they never make you blush like +that." + +"It's probably because you have never learned to be original," she +replied. But Hastings had been set to thinking. + +Mrs. Pomfret, with her foresight and her talent for management, had given +the Ladies' Auxiliary notice that they were not to go farther forward +than the twelfth row. She herself, with some especially favoured ones, +occupied a box, which was the nearest thing to being on the stage. One +unforeseen result of Mrs. Pomfret's arrangement was that the first eleven +rows were vacant, with the exception of one old man and five or six +schoolboys. Such is the courage of humanity in general! On the arrival +of the candidate, instead of a surging crowd lining the sidewalk, he +found only a fringe of the curious, whose usual post of observation was +the railroad station, standing silently on the curb. Within, Mr. +Tooting's duties as an usher had not been onerous. He met Mr. Crewe in +the vestibule, and drew him into the private office. + +"The railroad's fixed 'em," said the manager, indignantly, but sotto +voce; "I've found that out. Hilary Vane had the word passed around town +that if they came, somethin' would fall on 'em. The Tredways and all the +people who own factories served notice on their men that if they paid any +attention to this meeting they'd lose their job. But say, the people are +watchin' you, just the same." + +"How many people are in there?" Mr. Crewe demanded. + +"Twenty-seven, when I came out," said Mr. Tooting, with commendable +accuracy. "But it wants fifteen minutes to eight." + +"And who," asked Mr. Crewe, "is to introduce me?" + +An expression of indignation spread over Mr. Tooting's face. + +"There ain't a man in Ripton's got sand enough!" he exclaimed. "Sol +Gridley was a-goin' to, but he went to New York on the noon train. +I guess it's a pleasure trip," Mr. Tooting hinted darkly. + +"Why," said Mr. Crewe, "he's the fellow--" + +"Exactly," Mr. Tooting replied, "and he did get a lot of 'em, travelling +about. But Sol has got to work on the quiet, you understand. He feels +he can't come out right away." + +"And how about Amos Ricketts? Where's he?" + +"Amos," said Mr. Tooting, regretfully, "was taken very sudden about five +o'clock. One of his spells come on, and he sent me word to the Ripton +House. He had his speech all made up, and it was a good one, too. He +was going to tell folks pretty straight how the railroad beat him for +mayor." + +Mr. Crewe made a gesture of disgust. + +"I'll introduce myself," he said. "They all know me, anyhow." + +"Say," said Mr. Tooting, laying a hand on his candidate's arm. "You +couldn't do any better. I've bin for that all along." + +"Hold on," said Mr. Crewe, listening, "a lot of people are coming in +now." + +What Mr. Crewe had heard, however, was the arrival of the Ladies' +Auxiliary,--five and thirty strong, from Leith. But stay! Who are these +coming? More ladies--ladies in groups of two and three and five! ladies +of Ripton whose husbands, for some unexplained reason, have stayed at +home; and Mr. Tooting, as he watched them with mingled feelings, became a +woman's suffragist on the spot. He dived into the private office once +more, where he found Mr. Crewe seated with his legs crossed, calmly +reading a last winter's playbill. (Note for a more complete biography.) + +"Well, Tooting," he said, "I thought they'd begin to come." + +"They're mostly women," Mr. Tooting informed him. + +"Women!" + +"Hold on!" said Mr. Tooting, who had the true showman's instinct. "Can't +you see that folks are curious? They're afraid to come 'emselves, and +they're sendin' their wives and daughters. If you get the women tonight, +they'll go home and club the men into line." + +Eight strokes boomed out from the tower of the neighbouring town hall, +and an expectant flutter spread over the audience,--a flatter which +disseminated faint odours of sachet and other mysterious substances in +which feminine apparel is said to the laid away. The stage was empty, +save for a table which held a pitcher of water and a glass. + +"It's a pretty good imitation of a matinee," Hastings Weare remarked. +"I wonder whom the front seats are reserved for. Say, Victoria, there's +your friend Mr. Vane in the corner. He's looking over here." + +"He has a perfect right to look where he chooses," said Victoria. She +wondered whether he would come over and sit next to her if she turned +around, and decided instantly that he wouldn't. Presently, when she +thought Hastings was off his guard, she did turn, to meet, as she +expected, Austen's glance fixed upon her. Their greeting was the signal +of two people with a mutual understanding. He did not rise, and although +she acknowledged to herself a feeling of disappointment, she gave him +credit for a nice comprehension of the situation. Beside him was his +friend Tom Gaylord, who presented to her a very puzzled face. And then, +if there had been a band, it would have been time to play "See, the +Conquering Hero Comes!" + +Why wasn't there a band? No such mistake, Mr. Tooting vowed, should be +made at the next rally. + +It was Mrs. Pomfret who led the applause from her box as the candidate +walked modestly up the side aisle and presently appeared, alone, on the +stage. The flutter of excitement was renewed, and this time it might +almost be called a flutter of apprehension. But we who have heard Mr. +Crewe speak are in no alarm for our candidate. He takes a glass of iced +water; he arranges, with the utmost sangfroid, his notes on the desk and +adjusts the reading light. Then he steps forward and surveys the +scattered groups. + +"Ladies--" a titter ran through the audience,--a titter which started +somewhere in the near neighbourhood of Mr. Hastings Weare--and rose +instantly to several hysterical peals of feminine laughter. Mrs. +Pomfret, outraged, sweeps the frivolous offenders with her lorgnette; Mr. +Crewe, with his arm resting, on the reading-desk, merely raises the palm +of his hand to a perpendicular reproof,--and gentlemen." At this point +the audience is thoroughly cowed. Ladies and gentlemen and fellow +citizens. I thank you for the honour you have done me in coming here to +listen to the opening speech of my campaign to-night. It is a campaign +for decency and good government, and I know that the common people of the +State--of whom I have the honour to be one--demand these things. I +cannot say as much for the so-called prominent citizens," said Mr. Crewe, +glancing about him; "not one of your prominent citizens in Ripton would +venture to offend the powers that be by consenting to introduce me to- +night, or dared come into this theatre and take seats within thirty feet +of this platform." Here Mr. Crewe let his eyes rest significantly on the +eleven empty rows, while his hearers squirmed in terrified silence at +this audacity. Even the Ripton women knew that this was high treason +beneath the walls of the citadel, and many of them glanced furtively at +the strangely composed daughter of Augustus P. Flint. + +"I will show you that I can stand on my own feet," Mr. Crewe continued. +"I will introduce myself. I am Humphrey Crewe of Leith, and I claim to have +added something to the welfare and prosperity of this State, and I intend +to add more before I have finished." + +At this point, as might have been expected, spontaneous applause broke +forth, originating in the right-hand stage box. Here was a daring +defiance indeed, a courage of such a high order that it completely +carried away the ladies and drew reluctant plaudits from the male +element. "Give it to 'em, Humphrey!" said one of those who happened to +be sitting next to Miss Flint, and who received a very severe pinch in +the arm in consequence. + +"I thank the gentleman," answered Mr. Crewe, "and I propose to-- +(Handclapping and sachet.) I propose to show that you spend something +like two hundred thousand dollars a year to elect legislators and send +'em to the capital, when the real government of your State is in a room +in the Pelican Hotel known as the Railroad Room, and the real governor is +a citizen of your town, the Honourable Hilary Vane, who sits there and +acts for his master, Mr. Augustus P. Flint of New York. And I propose to +prove to you that, before the Honourable Adam B. Hunt appeared as that +which has come to be known as the 'regular' candidate, Mr. Flint sent for +him to go to New York and exacted certain promises from him. Not that it +was necessary, but the Northeastern Railroads never take any chances. +(Laughter.) The Honourable Adam B. Hunt is what they call a 'safe' man, +meaning by that a man who will do what Mr. Flint wants him to do. While +I am not 'safe' because I have dared to defy them in your name, and will +do what the people want me to do. (Clapping and cheers from a gentleman +in the darkness, afterwards identified as Mr. Tooting.) Now, my friends, +are you going to continue to allow a citizen of New York to nominate your +governors, and do you intend, tamely, to give the Honourable Adam B. Hunt +your votes?" + +"They ain't got any votes," said a voice--not that of Mr. Hastings Weare, +for it came from the depths of the gallery. + +"'The hand that rocks the cradle sways the world,'" answered Mr. Crewe, +and there was no doubt about the sincerity of the applause this time. + +"The campaign of the Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith," said the State +Tribune next day, "was inaugurated at the Opera House in Ripton last +night before an enthusiastic audience consisting of Mr. Austen Vane, Mr. +Thomas Gaylord, Jr., Mr. Hamilton Tooting, two reporters, and seventy- +four ladies, who cheered the speaker to the echo. About half of these +ladies were summer residents of Leith in charge of the well-known social +leader, Mrs. Patterson Pomfret,--an organized league which, it is +understood, will follow the candidate about the State in the English +fashion, kissing the babies and teaching the mothers hygienic cooking and +how to ondule the hair." + +After speaking for an hour and a half, the Honourable Humphrey Crewe +declared that he would be glad to meet any of the audience who wished to +shake his hand, and it was Mrs. Pomfret who reached him first. + +"Don't be discouraged, Humphrey,--you are magnificent," she whispered. + +"Discouraged!" echoed Mr. Crewe. "You can't kill an idea, and we'll see +who's right and who's wrong before I get through with 'em." + +"What a noble spirit!" Mrs. Pomfret exclaimed aside to Mrs. Chillingham. +Then she added, in a louder tone, "Ladies, if you will kindly tell me +your names, I shall be happy to introduce you to the candidate. Well, +Victoria, I didn't expect to see you here." + +"Why not?" said Victoria. "Humphrey, accept my congratulations." + +"Did you like it?" asked Mr. Crewe. "I thought it was a pretty good +speech myself. There's nothing like telling the truth, you know. And, +by the way, I hope to see you in a day or two, before I start for +Kingston. Telephone me when you come down to Leith." + +The congratulations bestowed on the candidate by the daughter of the +president of the Northeastern Railroads quite took the breath out of the +spectators who witnessed the incident, and gave rise to the wildest +conjectures. And the admiration of Mr. Hastings Weare was unbounded. + +"You've got the most magnificent nerve I ever saw, Victoria," he +exclaimed, as they made their way towards the door. + +"You forget Humphrey," she replied. + +Hastings looked at her and chuckled. In fact, he chuckled all the way +home. In the vestibule they met Mr. Austen Vane and Mr. Thomas Gaylord, +the latter coming forward with a certain palpable embarrassment. All +through the evening Tom had been trying to account for her presence at +the meeting, until Austen had begged him to keep his speculations to +himself. "She can't be engaged to him!" Mr. Gaylord had exclaimed more +than once, under his breath. "Why not?" Austen had answered; "there's a +good deal about him to admire." "Because she's got more sense," said +Tom doggedly. Hence he was at a loss for words when she greeted him. + +"Well, Mr. Gaylord," she said, "you see no bones were broken, after all. +But I appreciated your precaution in sending the buggy behind me, +although it wasn't necessary. + +"I felt somewhat responsible," replied Tom, and words failed him. +"Here's Austen Vane," he added, indicating by a nod of the head the +obvious presence of that gentleman. "You'll excuse me. There's a man +here I want to see." + +"What's the matter with Mr. Gaylord?" Victoria asked. "He seems so-- +queer." + +They were standing apart, alone, Hastings Weare having gone to the +stables for the runabout. + +"Mr. Gaylord imagines he doesn't get along with the opposite sex," Austen +replied, with just a shade of constraint. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Victoria; "we got along perfectly the other day +when he rescued me from the bushes. What's the matter with him?" + +Austen laughed, and their eyes met. + +"I think he is rather surprised to see you here," he said. + +"And you?" returned Victoria. "Aren't you equally out of place?" + +He did not care to go into an explanation of Tom's suspicion in regard to +Mr. Crewe. + +"My curiosity was too much for me," he replied, smiling. + +"So was mine," she replied, and suddenly demanded: "What did you think of +Humphrey's speech?" + +Their eyes met. And despite the attempted seriousness of her tone they +joined in an irresistible and spontaneous laughter. They were again on +that plane of mutual understanding and intimacy for which neither could +account. + +"I have no criticism to make of Mr. Crewe as an orator, at least," he +said. + +Then she grew serious again, and regarded him steadfastly. + +"And--what he said?" she asked. + +Austen wondered again at the courage she had displayed. All he had been +able to think of in the theatre, while listening to Mr. Crewe's words of +denunciation of the Northeastern Railroads, had been of the effect they +might have on Victoria's feelings, and from time to time he had glanced +anxiously at her profile. And now, looking into her face, questioning, +trustful--he could not even attempt to evade. He was silent. + +"I shouldn't have asked you that," she said. "One reason I came was +because--because I wanted to hear the worst. You were too considerate to +tell me--all." + +He looked mutely into her eyes, and a great desire arose in him to be +able to carry her away from it all. Many times within the past year, +when the troubles and complications of his life had weighed upon him, his +thoughts had turned to, that Western country, limited only by the bright +horizons where the sun rose and set. If he could only take her there, or +into his own hills, where no man might follow them! It was a primeval +longing, and, being a woman and the object of it, she saw its essential +meaning in his face. For a brief moment they stood as completely alone +as on the crest of Sawanec. + +"Good night," she said, in a low voice. + +He did not trust himself to speak at once, but went down the steps with +her to the curb, where Hastings Weare was waiting in the runabout. + +"I was just telling Miss Flint," said that young gentleman, "that you +would have been my candidate." + +Austen's face relaxed. + +"Thank you, Mr. Weare," he said simply; and to Victoria, "Good night." + +At the corner, when she turned, she saw him still standing on the edge of +the sidewalk, his tall figure thrown into bold relief by the light which +flooded from the entrance. The account of the Ripton meeting, +substantially as it appeared in the State Tribune, was by a singular +coincidence copied at once into sixty-odd weekly newspapers, and must +have caused endless merriment throughout the State. Congressman +Fairplay's prophecy of "negligible" was an exaggeration, and one +gentleman who had rashly predicted that Mr. Crewe would get twenty +delegates out of a thousand hid himself for shame. On the whole, the +"monumental farce" forecast seemed best to fit the situation. A +conference was held at Leith between the candidate, Mr. Tooting, and the +Honourable Timothy Watling of Newcastle, who was preparing the nominating +speech, although the convention was more than two months distant. Mr. +Watling was skilled in rounded periods of oratory and in other things +political; and both he and Mr. Tooting reiterated their opinion that +there was no particle of doubt about Mr. Crewe's nomination. + +"But we'll have to fight fire with fire," Mr. Tooting declared. It was +probably an accident that he happened to kick, at this instant, Mr. +Watling under cover of the table. Mr. Watling was an old and valued +friend. + +"Gentlemen," said Mr. Crewe, "I haven't the slightest doubt of my +nomination, either. I do not hesitate to say, however, that the expenses +of this campaign, at this early stage, seem to me out of all proportion. +Let me see what you have there." + +The Honourable Timothy Wading had produced a typewritten list containing +some eighty towns and wards, each followed by a name and the number of +the delegates therefrom--and figures. + +"They'd all be enthusiastic Crewe men--if they could be seen by the right +party," declared Mr. Tooting. + +Mr. Crewe ran his eye over the list. + +"Whom would you suggest to see 'em?" he asked coldly. + +"There's only one party I know of that has much influence over 'em," Mr. +Tooting replied, with a genial but deferential indication of his friend. + +At this point Mr. Crewe's secretary left the room on an errand, and the +three statesmen went into executive session. In politics, as in charity, +it is a good rule not to let one's right hand know what the left hand +doeth. Half an hour later the three emerged into the sunlight, Mr. +Tooting and Mr. Watling smoking large cigars. + +"You've got a great lay-out here, Mr. Crewe," Mr. Watling remarked. "It +must have stood you in a little money, eh? Yes, I'll get mileage books, +and you'll hear from me every day or two." + +And now we are come to the infinitely difficult task of relating in a +whirlwind manner the story of a whirlwind campaign--a campaign that was +to make the oldest resident sit up and take notice. In the space of four +short weeks a miracle had begun to show itself. First, there was the +Kingston meeting, with the candidate, his thumb in his watch-pocket, +seated in an open carriage beside Mr. Hamilton Tooting,--a carriage +draped with a sheet on which was painted "Down with Railroad Ring Rule." + +The carriage was preceded by the Kingston Brass Band, producing throbbing +martial melodies, and followed (we are not going to believe the State +Tribune any longer) by a jostling' and cheering crowd. The band halts +before the G.A.R. Hall; the candidate alights, with a bow of +acknowledgment, and goes to the private office until the musicians are +seated in front of the platform, when he enters to renewed cheering and +the tune of "See, the Conquering Hero Comes!" + +An honest historian must admit that there were two accounts of this +meeting. Both agree that Mr. Crewe introduced himself, and poured a +withering sarcasm on the heads of Kingston's prominent citizens. One +account, which the ill-natured declared to be in Mr. Tooting's style, and +which appeared (in slightly larger type than that of the other columns) +in the Kingston and local papers, stated that the hall was crowded to +suffocation, and that the candidate was "accorded an ovation which lasted +for fully five minutes." + +Mr. Crewe's speech was printed--in this slightly larger type. Woe to the +Honourable Adam B. Hunt, who had gone to New York to see whether he could +be governor! Why didn't he come out on the platform? Because he +couldn't. "Safe" candidates couldn't talk. His subservient and fawning +reports on accidents while chairman of the Railroad Commission were +ruthlessly quoted (amid cheers and laughter). What kind of railroad +service was Kingston getting compared to what it should have? Compared, +indeed, to what it had twenty years ago? An informal reception was held +afterwards. + +More meetings followed, at the rate of four a week, in county after +county. At the end of fifteen days a selectman (whose name will go down +in history) voluntarily mounted the platform and introduced the +Honourable Humphrey Crewe to the audience; not, to be sure, as the +saviour of the State; and from that day onward Mr. Crewe did not lack for +a sponsor. On the other hand, the sponsors became more pronounced, and +at Harwich (a free-thinking district) a whole board of selectmen and five +prominent citizens sat gravely beside the candidate in the town hall. + +(1) Paul Pardriff, Ripton. Sent post free, on application, to voters and +others. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Battles of selfish interests ebbed and flowed +A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds +His strength was his imperviousness to this kind of a remark +Many a silent tear of which they knew nothing +Politicians are politicians; they have always been corrupt + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Mr. Crewe's Career, V2 +by Winston Churchill + diff --git a/old/wc07v11.zip b/old/wc07v11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8467880 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wc07v11.zip |