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diff --git a/45206.txt b/45206.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 22dab2e..0000000 --- a/45206.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14056 +0,0 @@ - THE CALL OF THE SOUTH - - - - -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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - - -Title: The Call of the South -Author: Robert Lee Durham -Release Date: March 24, 2014 [EBook #45206] -Language: English -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CALL OF THE SOUTH *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines. - - - - -[Illustration: Cover art] - - - - -[Illustration: "HAYWARD ... SENT PRINCE WILLIAM AFTER THE MARE UNDER -PRESSURE OF THE SPUR." (See page 114)] - - - - - *The Call of the - South* - - By - - Robert Lee Durham - - - - Illustrated by - Henry Roth - - - - "_When your Fear Cometh as Desolation and - Your Destruction Cometh as a Whirlwind_" - - - - Boston - L. C. Page & Company - MDCCCCVIII - - - - - Copyright, 1908 - BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY - (INCORPORATED) - - Entered at Stationers' Hall, London - - All rights reserved - - - - First Impression, March, 1908 - Second Impression, April, 1908 - - - - COLONIAL PRESS - Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. - Boston, U.S.A. - - - - - TO THE - LION OF HIS TRIBE - Stonewall Jackson Durham - - - - - *List of Illustrations* - - -"HAYWARD ... SENT PRINCE WILLIAM AFTER THE MARE UNDER PRESSURE OF THE -SPUR" (See page 114) . . . _Frontispiece_ - -"CARRIED HIM FOR FORTY YARDS OR MORE THROUGH THE HURRICANE OF LEAD" - -"HIS WHIP WAS DESCENDING AGAIN WHEN JOHN'S PISTOL FLASHED" - -"ELISE ... STOPPED SHORT IN THE DOORWAY--AND TURNED QUICKLY BACK" - -"'I AM HIS WIFE,' SHE SAID" - -"HIS ARMS UPON HIS DESK AND HIS FACE UPON HIS ARM--DEAD" - - - - - *The Call of the South* - - - - *CHAPTER I* - - -The President had called upon the Governors for troops; and the -brilliantly lighted armory was crowded with the citizen-soldiers who -followed the standards of the 71st Ohio, waiting for the bugle to call -them to order for the simple and formal ceremony of declaring their -desire to answer the President's call. - -A formal and useless ceremony surely: for it was a foregone conclusion -that this gallant old regiment, with its heroic record in two wars, -would volunteer to a man. It was no less certain that, presenting -unbroken ranks of willing soldiers, it would be the first selected by -the Governor to assist Uncle Sam's regulars in impressing upon the -Kaiser the length and breadth and thickness of the Monroe Doctrine. - -For many bothersome years the claimant nations had abided by the Hague -Tribunal's award, though with evidently decreasing patience because of -Venezuela's lame compliance with it. Three changes of government and -dwindling revenues had made the collection of the indebtedness by the -agent of the claimants more and more difficult. Finally on the 6th of -January, 191-, Senor Emilio Manana executed his coup d'etat, overthrew -the existing government, declared himself Protector of Venezuela, and -"for the people of Venezuela repudiated every act and agreement of the -spurious governments of the last decade," seized the customs, and gave -the agent of the creditor allies his passports in a manner more -effective than ceremonious: all of this with his weather eye upon the -Monroe Doctrine and a Washington administration in some need of a -rallying cry and a diverting issue. - -The Kaiser's patience was exhausted, and his army and navy were in the -pink of condition. On the 10th of January his ministers informed the -allies that their most august sovereign would deal henceforth with -Venezuela as might seem to him best to protect Germany's interests and -salve the Empire's honour. - -In less than a week the President sent to Congress a crisp message, -saying that the Kaiser and the great doctrine were in collision. The -Senate resolution declaring war was adopted after being held up long -enough to permit fifty-one Senators to embalm their patriotism in the -_Congressional Record_, and, being sent to the House, was concurred in -in ten minutes after the clerk began to read the preamble. - -The country was a-tremble with the thrill and excitement of a man who is -preparing to go against an antagonist worthy of his mettle, and in the -71st's armory a crowd of people jammed the balconies to the last inch. -The richly varicoloured apparel of the women, in vivid contrast to the -sombre walls of the armory, the kaleidoscopic jumble and whirl of -soldiers in dress uniforms on the floor, the frequent outbursts of -hand-clapping and applause as favourite officers of the regiment were -recognized by the galleries, the surging and unceasing din and hubbub of -the shouting and gesticulating mass of people on floor and balcony, gave -the scene a holiday air which really belied the feelings of the greater -number both of soldiers and onlookers. There was a serious thought in -almost every mind: but serious thoughts are not welcome at such times to -a man who has already decided to tender his life to his country, nor to -the woman who knows that she must say good-bye to him on the morrow. So -they both try to overwhelm unwelcome reflections by excited chatter and -patriotic enthusiasm. They will think of to-morrow when it comes: let -the clamour go on. - -On the very front seat and leaning over the balcony rail are seated -three women who receive more than the ordinary number of salutes and -greetings from the officers and men on the floor. Two young women and -their mother they are, and any one of the three is worthy of a second -glance by right of her looks. The mother, who, were it not for the -becoming fulness of her matronly figure, might be mistaken for an elder -sister of the older daughter, has a face in which strength and dignity -and gentleness and kindliness and a certain air of distinction proclaim -her a gentlewoman of that fineness which is Nature's patent of nobility. -The older daughter is a young woman of eighteen years perhaps, -inheriting her mother's distinction of manner and dignity of carriage, -and showing a trace of hauteur, attributable to her youth, which is -continually striving with a spirit of mischief for possession of her -gray eyes and her now solemn, now laughing mouth. The younger daughter, -hardly more than a child, has an undeveloped but fast ripening beauty -which her sister cannot be said to possess. They have gray eyes and -erect figures in common; but there the likeness ceases. The younger -girl's mass of hair, impatient of its braids, looks black in the -artificial light; but three hours ago, with the setting sun upon it, a -stranger had thought it was red. Her skin indeed, where it is not -tinted with rose, is of that rare whiteness which sometimes goes with -red hair, but never unaccompanied by perfect health. She has been -straining her eyes in search of some one since the moment she entered -the gallery, and finally asks impatiently, "Why doesn't papa come out -where we can see him? The people would shout for him, I know." - -"Don't be a fidget," answers her sister in a low voice, "he will come -presently;" and continues, "I declare, mamma, I believe Helen thinks all -these soldiers are just for papa's glorification, and that if papa -failed to volunteer the country would be lost." - -"Well, there isn't any one to take his place in the regiment, for I -heard Captain Elkhard say so." - -"Captain Elkhard would except himself, I suppose, even though he thought -like you that papa is perfection." - -"Yes, and I suppose that you would except Mr. Second Lieutenant Morgan, -wouldn't you? Humph! he is too young sort, too much like a lady-killer -to be a soldier. I don't care if I do think papa is perfection. He is -most--isn't he, mamma?" - -A roar of applause drowns the mother's amused assent; and they look up -to see this father, the colonel of the 71st, uncover for a moment to the -noisy greeting whose vigour seems to stamp with approval his younger -daughter's good opinion of him. In a moment a trumpet-call breaks -through and strikes down and overwhelms all this clamour of applause, -and there is no sound save the hurrying into ranks of the men on the -floor. Then comes the confused shouting of a dozen roll-calls at once, -the cracking of the rifle-butts on the floor, the boisterous counting of -fours, a succession of sharp commands and trumpet-calls,--and the noise -and confusion grow rapidly less until only is heard the voice of the -adjutant as he salutes and presents the regiment in line of masses to -the colonel, saying, "Sir, the regiment is formed." - -A short command brings the rifles to the floor, and there is absolute -quiet as every one waits to catch each word that its commander will say -in asking the regiment to volunteer. But Colonel Phillips knows the -value of the psychological moment and the part that emotion plays in -patriotism, and he does not intend to lose a feather-weight of force in -his appeal to the loyal spirits of his men. So he brings the guns again -quickly to salute as the colour-guard emerge from an office door behind -him, bearing "Old Glory" and the 71st's regimental colours; and, -turning, he presents his sword as the field music sounds _To the Colour_ -and the bullet-torn standards sweep proud and stately to their posts in -the centre battalion. This sudden and unexpected adaptation of the -ceremony for _The Escort of the Colour_, which for lack of space is -never attempted in the armory, is not without effect. The men in the -ranks, being restrained, are bursting to yell. The onlookers, free to -cheer, cannot express by cheap hand-clapping what wells up in them at -sight of the flags, and they, too, are silent. When the rifle-butts -again rest on the floor the Colonel begins his soldierly brief address: - -"The President has asked the Governor for six regiments. While under -the terms of their enlistment he could name any he might choose, he -prefers volunteer soldiers as far as may be. So you are here this -evening to indicate the extent of your willingness and wishfulness to -answer the President's call. I need make no appeal to you. The 71st is -a representative regiment in its personnel. Its men are of all sections -and classes and parties. My mother was a South Carolinian, my father -from Massachusetts. Your colour-sergeant is a Texan, and your -regimental colours are borne by a native of Ohio, grandson of him who -placed those colours on the Confederate earthworks at Petersburg. You -in the aggregate most fitly represent the sentiment of the whole people -of this union of states. This sentiment is a loyalty that has never to -this moment failed to answer a call to arms. It is not to be supposed -that the present generation is degenerate either in courage or -patriotism. When the trumpet sounds _forward_ the ranks will stand -fast, and such as for any reason may not volunteer will fall out to the -rear and retire." - -At the lilting call there was silence for ten seconds, in which not a -breath was taken by man or woman in the house: then the galleries broke -out to cheer. Not a man had moved; though not a few felt as did -Corporal Billie Catling, who remarked to his chum when the ranks were -dismissed, "It's going to be devilish hard for my folks to get along -without my salary; but to fall out to the rear when that bugle said -'forward'--damned if I could do it." - -One of the most deeply interested spectators of the scene in the armory -had stood back against the wall in the gallery during the whole time, -and had apparently not wished to be brought into notice of the crowd, -mostly women, packed in the limited gallery space. His goodly length -enabled him to see over the heads of the other spectators everything of -interest happening on the floor. A long overcoat could not conceal his -perfectly developed outlines; and many heads were turned to look a -second time at him, attracted both by his appearance and by the fact -that he seemed to be an utter stranger to every one around him, not -having changed his position nor spoken to a soul since coming up into -the gallery. He was broad of shoulder, full-chested, straight-backed, -with a head magnificently set on; and had closely cropped black hair -showing a decided tendency to curl, dark eyes, evenly set teeth as white -as a fox-hound's, a clean-shaved face neither full nor lean, and -pleasing to look upon, a complexion of noticeable darkness, yet all but -white and without a trace of colour. While nine-tenths of the people -who saw him that evening had no impression at all as to his race or -nationality, an observant eye would have noted that he was unobtrusively -but unmistakably a negro. - -He had been quite unconscious of anything around him in his absorbed -interest in the ceremony below him. This manifest interest was -evidenced by his nervous hands which he clinched and opened and shut as -varying expressions of enthusiasm, resentment and disappointment, -humiliation, disdain and determination came and went over his face. He, -Hayward Graham, had applied to enlist in this regiment a month before, -and had been refused admission because of the small portion of negro -blood in his veins,--and that in a manner, too, that added unnecessary -painfulness to the refusal. He rather despised himself for coming to -witness the regiment's response to the call for troops, but his -patriotic interest and his love for his friend Hal Lodge, who had -loyally assisted his effort to enlist in the 71st, overcame his pride, -and he had come to see the decision of Hal's enthusiastic wager that -nine-tenths of the regiment would volunteer. - -The first trumpet-call had stirred his enthusiasm, only to have it -turned to chagrin and resentfulness when the roll-calls brought to him -the realization that his name was not among the elect, and the black -humiliation of the thought that he might not even offer to die for his -country in this select company because he was part--so small a -part--negro; and he gnawed his lips in irritation. But when the flags -had come in so suddenly--he involuntarily straightened up and took in -his breath quickly to relieve the smothering sensation in his throat, -and forgot his wrongs in an exaltation of patriotic fervour. - -He stood abstracted for some time after the outflow from the galleries -began, and came down just behind the three women of the Colonel's -family. At the foot of the stairs Lieutenant Morgan met the party and -said, "Mrs. Phillips, the Colonel told me to bring you ladies over to -his office." - -"So that's the Colonel's wife and daughters," thought Graham, as he -passed out into the street. "Where have I seen that little one?" - - - - - *CHAPTER II* - - -After lingering at the entrance of the armory for a few minutes to see -Hal Lodge, and failing to find him, Graham, still gloomily and -resentfully meditating upon his rejection by the regiment, started -briskly toward the temporary lodgings of his mother and himself as if he -had some purpose in mind. Arrived there, he began catechizing her even -while removing his overcoat. - -"Look here, mother, put down that work for awhile, and tell me all about -my people." - -"What is it, Hayward? What do you want to know?" his mother asked. - -"I want you to tell me all about my father and grandfathers and -grandmothers, everything you know--who they were, and what they were, -and what they did, and where they lived--the whole thing." - -"And what is the matter that you want to know all that at once? Are you -still worrying about not getting into that regiment?" - -"Yes; I want to know why I am not good enough to go to war along with -respectable people--if there is any reason." - -"Honey, you are just as good as any of them, and better than most. I -wouldn't think about it any more if I were you." - -"Well, I'm not going to think about it any more--after to-night; but I -want to know all about it right now. Where was father from? You have -never told me that." - -"Well, honey, I don't know myself; for he never told me nor any one else -that. All I know is that something--he never would say what--made him -leave his father and mother when he was not twenty years old and he -never saw them afterwards,--didn't let them know where he was or even -that he was alive. Your pa was mighty high-spirited, and he never -seemed to forget whatever it was that came between him and his father; -though he would talk about him some too, and appeared to worship his -mother's memory. They must have been very prominent people from what he -said of them. His mother died very soon after he left home, he told me; -and your grandfather was killed not long after that in a battle right at -the beginning of the war, I've heard him say; but he didn't seem to like -to talk of them." - -"Didn't father say which side my grandfather was on?" - -"On our side--the Union side." - -"And father was in the war?" - -"Yes, but I forget what he did. He had some sort of a badge or medal -tied up with a red, white and blue ribbon that I found in his trunk -after he died; but I gave it to you to play with when you were little -and you lost it. That had something to do with the war, but I didn't -understand exactly what. He didn't like to talk about the war. When we -were first married he used to say that the war was the first battle and -the easiest, and that he was enlisted for the second and intended to see -it through. But before he died I often heard him say that the war was -only clearing away the brush, and what the crop would be depended on -what was planted and how it was tended, and that his great-grandchildren -might see the harvest." - -"Where did you first meet him?" - -"Down in Alabama. He went down there soon after the war to teach -school, just as I did. I had been to college and got my diploma and I -wanted to teach; but it seemed I could not get a position in the whole -State of New Hampshire. So when some of the people offered to send me -down to Alabama to teach the negroes, I went. Your father had a school -for negroes not very far from mine, and he had had a hard time from the -very first. None of the respectable white people would have anything to -do with him, and he could not get board from any one but negroes. But -the worse the people treated him the harder he worked, and his school -grew. Finally it became so large that he could not do the work alone. -He tried every way to get another teacher, but could not. As a last -resort he asked me to combine my school with his and see if we could not -manage in that way to teach all the children who came. I never saw -anybody with a heart so set as his was on giving every little negro a -chance to learn. - -"So we combined the schools and were getting along very well when one -day as your father was coming out of the post-office in the little town -near which we taught, a young man named Bush stepped up in front of him -and cursed him and said something about me that your father never would -tell me. Your father knocked him down and he was nearly killed by -striking his head against a hitching-post as he fell. The next morning a -committee of some of the citizens came to the schoolhouse, and Colonel -Allen, who was one of them, told your father that the community was -greatly aroused by the condition of affairs, and that the injury done to -young Bush, while they didn't approve of Bush's conduct, had brought the -trouble to a head. He said that sober-minded citizens didn't want any -outbreak, but that the peculiar relation existing between your father -and me outraged the sentiments of every respectable man and woman in the -county." - -"Did father hit him?" - -"No, honey; but he rose right up without waiting to hear any more and -told Colonel Allen that as for the injury to young Bush he had done -nothing more than defend the good name of a woman and had no apologies -or explanations to offer. He talked quite a long time to them, and I -could see that they didn't like some of the things he said. As he -finished he told them that he could see that our condition, cut off as -we were from association with respectable people by prejudice and from -the lower classes because of their dense ignorance, and thrown into -intimacy by our work, was somewhat unusual, but that was because of -conditions we could not control and be true to our work. He would try -to arrange, he told them, if they would give him a week, so that there -would be no grounds for these criticisms. They asked him what he -proposed to do, but he said he couldn't answer them then. - -"They gave him the week he asked for, and left us. He dismissed the -school when the committee was gone, and when all the children had -scampered out of the schoolhouse he told me that while we could not be -blamed for the way things had come about, it was true that our being so -much together and cut off from everybody else gave our critics a chance -to talk, and his solution of the difficulty was for us to be married--at -once. He went on to say a whole lot of things, honey, that I never -imagined he thought of, and wound up by declaring that I owed it to the -work we had begun to make any sacrifices to carry it on. Now, honey, -there was never a better, braver man than your father, nor a better -looking one, I think, and there was no reason why I should not love him. -I was younger then than I am now and I was not a bad-looking girl -myself, and I did not think till long afterwards that when he spoke of -my sacrifices he was thinking of his own. - -"Well, he made what arrangements were necessary that evening, and we -were married by a Bureau officer of some kind or other next morning -before time for school. When school assembled he sent a note by one of -the boys to Colonel Allen, saying that we had arranged the matter so -that there could be no further objection to our running the school in -together, and informed him that we were married." - -"And what reply did Colonel Allen send to that note?" Hayward asked his -mother with great interest. - -"He didn't send any," she replied; "but came along with some others of -the committee in about half an hour to bring his answer himself." - -"What did he say?" - -"Well, he started off by saying to your father that there could be no -doubt that what we had done would make the people forget their former -objections, but he thought it would be because the former offence -against their notions of propriety would be lost sight of in their -unspeakable indignation at this method we had adopted, which, he said, -struck at the very foundation of their civilization. He talked very -high and mighty, I thought, and though he pretended to try to hold -himself down and not get mad, he ripped and charged a long time right -there before the whole school, and finally told us he would do all he -could to keep the people from doing us harm, but he advised us to leave -the community just as soon as we could, as he wouldn't be responsible -for the result of our act." - -"What did father say to that?" Hayward asked eagerly. - -"Well, he waited until Colonel Allen got through and then said very -quietly that he had done what he had because he had appreciated the -force of the objections that had been raised to our intimate association -and was always willing to be governed by the proprieties, but that he -did not agree with Colonel Allen about uprooting any principle of -civilization, that times and conditions had changed, and, while he knew -the sentiment of the people would be against our marriage, he thought -that sentiment was wrong and would have to give way before the pressure -of the new order of things, that the law had married us and we would -look to the law to protect us. He said that the work we were doing was -worthy of any man's effort, that he had consecrated himself to it and -was not going to be driven from it by any predictions of danger, that I -was his wife and he would protect me." - -"What did the honourable committee think of that?" - -"I don't know. Colonel Allen and the other men just turned around -without saying another word and left the schoolhouse." - -"Did you run the school on after that?" - -"Yes, honey, but not for long. One night when those awful people came -to destroy things at the schoolhouse as they had done several times -before, your father was there to meet them and identify them. Instead of -running away as he thought they would, they crowded around him, and -after a struggle in the dark they left him lying just outside the door -with a broken arm, a pistol-ball through his side, and unconscious from -a lick on the head. Some of the coloured people who lived near there -heard the row, and after it was all over and all those folks were gone, -they slipped up there and found your father and brought him home. - -"It was hard for us to get a doctor at first. A young one who lived -nearest to us wouldn't come, though we sent for him, and we were all -frightened nearly to death. We could hear those awful people yell every -once and awhile away off on all sides of the house, then they would fire -off guns and pistols--it was an awful night, Hayward. At last old -Doctor Wright came about three o'clock in the morning. He lived ten -miles or more from us, and we thought that your father, who was raving -and moaning, would surely die before he got there. But the old doctor -told us as soon as he examined him that he would pull through all right. -He said that he had been a surgeon in Stonewall Jackson's corps and that -he had seen men forty times worse hurt back in the army in two months. -That made us feel a great deal better, I tell you. Your father came to -his senses before the old man quit working with him, and when he heard -that the young doctor had refused to come to see him (because he was -scared, the negro who went for him said), and that the old man had -ridden so far through a very cold and wet night to help him, I never -heard any one say more to express his thanks than your father did. The -old doctor listened to it all without making any answer except an -occasional grunt. When he got ready to go home I asked him if he would -not prefer to wait till daylight, for fear those awful men would hurt -him." - -"And did he wait?" interrupted Graham. - -"No. He stiffened up as straight as his rheumatism would let him and -stumped indignantly out of the house with his pill-bags in one hand and -in the other an old pair of home-knit woollen gloves he wouldn't stop to -put on--I can see him now." - -"Did he ever come back?" asked Graham. - -"Oh, yes. The sight of him on his tall pacing bay mare made us glad -every two or three days till your father got well." - -"The old doctor evidently didn't agree with his neighbours about you and -father, then." - -"I don't know about that. He never would discuss our troubles or speak -any words of sympathy; and on the last day he came, when your father was -thanking him as he had done so often for his kindness to him, the old -man asked him in his rather curt manner, 'Don't they need -school-teachers up north?'" - -"Did you and father leave that place as soon as he got well?" - -"No. Your father said that we would stick to it to the end; and as soon -as he was able to teach we opened the school again, but in less than a -week the schoolhouse was burned down. We rented another after some -trouble, but that was burned promptly also. Then it became impossible -to get one. - -"We decided it would be best for us to go away to some place where the -people were not prejudiced against us. We moved more than a dozen -times, but were never able to stay longer than a few months at most, and -often had to pack up almost before we finished unpacking. Finally we -lost all hope of being able to teach the negroes in the South, and -decided to go home. Your father did go so far as to suggest that if I -would go back North and leave him down there alone the people might not -molest him. He certainly did have his heart in the work. As I did not -like the idea, however, he dropped it." - -"And that's when father got the professorship at Oberlin?" - -"Yes; and kept it till his death." - -"I can hardly recollect father at all," said the son, "though it seems -sometimes I remember how he looked. I wish I could have been older -before he died." - -"Well, you were not two years old at your father's death, Hayward, and -really saw very little of him. He never seemed to care for children. -Your two sisters that died before you were born--it seemed that -sometimes a week would pass without his being conscious that they were -in the house. He was so absorbed in his work that he didn't have time -for anything else. His hard work and disappointment over the failure -that he had made down South was what killed him, I have always thought. -Though he lingered for many years, he was so broken-spirited after we -went to Ohio that his health gave way, and he was not more than a shadow -when he died. I am not sorry that you do not remember how he looked at -the last. - -"But, honey," the mother continued after some moments of silence, "you -ought to be proud of your father. I wish you could have heard the -funeral sermon Doctor Johnson preached. He did not say anything about -your father's being in the war of the rebellion, but he told about his -trials and struggles to teach the negroes in the South, and said that in -that work John Graham was as much a soldier and was as brave and -faithful as any man who ever fought for the flag. If these folks here -could have heard that sermon they never would have voted to keep you -from joining the regiment." - -"Oh, it's not because of what my father did or did not do," said Graham -impatiently; "nor is it because of what I've done or left undone, nor of -what they think I would do or would not do if they kindly permitted me -to enlist. No, no. It's because I'm part negro--though I'm quite as -white as a number I saw there to-night. Now, mother, exactly how much -negro am I? You've told me your father was a white man; but who was -your mother, and what do you know about her?" - -"Yes, my father was a white man. He was a German just come over to this -country. He had a beer saloon in a New Hampshire town--at least he -bought it afterwards. He worked in the saloon when my mother, who had -run away from Kentucky, was hired to work in his employer's house. He -boarded there and she was treated something like a member of the family, -although she was a servant, and they were married after awhile. Some -few of the people didn't like it, I've heard mammy say, but they got -along without any trouble; and when my father saved up some money he -bought the little saloon from his employer and made some little money -before he died. We had a hard enough time getting it, though, goodness -knows. I moved back to New Hampshire from Ohio after your father's -death in order to push the case through the--" - -"Yes, yes, I've heard that before," said Hayward; "but tell me about -your mother's running away from her master. You have never told me -anything about her, except that her name was Cindy or Lucinda, and that -she belonged to General Young." - -"Well, honey, she was just a slave girl that belonged to General Young -over in Kentucky. She ran away and got across the river without being -caught, and some of the white people helped her to get on as far as New -Hampshire and got her that place to work where my father boarded. She -and my father were--" - -"Yes, yes, I know," the son interrupted again, "but what made her run -away and leave her father and mother--did she know her father and -mother?" - -"I don't know that I remember it all," said the mother evasively, "and -it doesn't make any difference anyway." - -"Oh, well, go on and tell what you know or have heard. Let's get at the -bottom of it. I declare I believe you don't like my being a negro any -better than those dudes in the 71st." - -The mother laughed at his statement; and seemed pleased at the -interruption, for she made no move to proceed with the narrative. -Graham looked at her quietly a few moments, and, ascribing her reticence -to unwillingness to descant upon the negro element in her ancestry, -which was indeed a part but a very small part of her motive, repeated -his demand for information sharply. - -"Oh, honey," cried his mother, "don't ask me any more about it. I just -made mammy tell me all about her father and mother and her running away -from Kentucky, and I wish to the Lord I never had! It was just awful." - -"So! Well, now I must know. Go on and tell it. The quicker you do the -sooner it will be over. Go on, I say. What was your mother's father -named?" - -"Gumbo--Guinea Gumbo." - -"Poetic name that! And her mother's name, what was it?" - -"Big Lize." - -"Not so poetic, though it sounds like some poetry I've read, too. And -now what did this pair do or suffer that was so terrible? It's no use -dodging any longer." - -"Well, child, if I must, I suppose I must. My mother's mother didn't do -anything that was awful; but Guinea Gumbo--I wish I knew I was no kin to -him. Mammy said he was brought right from Africa and was as wild as a -wolf. Nobody could understand much that he said, and General Young had -a time keeping him from tearing things up. He used to run away and stay -in the swamp for weeks at a time. The children on the place, black and -white, were as scared of him as death, and none of the slave women would -ever go about him if they could help it. Not long after General Young -bought him, Gumbo and his first wife, who was brought over from Africa -with him, had the plans all fixed to steal one of the General's little -boys, five or six years old, and carry him off to the river-swamp and -have a regular cannibal feast of him. General Young found it out in -time; and mammy said the old negroes on the plantation said that was -what killed the woman, the whipping she and Gumbo got for it. It laid -Gumbo up for a long time, but he got over it. It seemed that nothing -but shooting could kill him." - -"Did they shoot him to kill him? What was that for?" asked Graham. - -"Honey, that is the awful part of it. Mammy said that one day her young -mistis, the General's oldest daughter, didn't come home from a ride she -had taken, and the whole plantation was turned out to find her. But some -one came along and told the General that she had eloped across the river -with a young man he had forbidden to come on the place, and all the -people on the plantation went back to their quarters. As the young man -could not be found, everybody thought that he and Miss Lily had run away -and married and were too much afraid of her father to come back home. -The next day, however, the young man turned up, and swore he had not -seen Miss Lily in a week. Then the plantation was in terror.--Honey, I -can't tell you the rest.--They found her.--When they were calling out -all the people from the quarters, the General learned that Gumbo had not -been seen since Miss Lily was lost. He had run away so often that no -attention was paid to it, for he always came back after a time.--They -got the bloodhounds, mammy said, and went to the swamp. After a long -time the dogs struck Gumbo's trail, and--yes, they found her,--tied -hands and feet and her clothing torn to strings, in a kind of hut made -of bark and brush way back in the swamp. She was dead, but she had not -been dead an hour, from a gash in her head made by an axe. The dogs -followed a hot scent from the hut for another hour, and led the men to -where they had run Gumbo down. That was where they shot him--and left -him. He still had the axe, and had killed one of the dogs, and nobody -could get to him. They didn't want to, I suppose." - -Graham had listened to his mother's last words without breathing, and -when she stopped he dropped his face in his hands with a groan.... She -began again in a few moments: - -"Mammy said that when they brought her young mistis back home the -General went off in a fit, and raved and cursed till the doctors and the -rest of 'em had to hold him to keep him from killing somebody. Mammy was -one of her old mistis's house-girls, and she heard all the General's -ravings and screams that he would kill every nigger on the place; and he -kept it up so long and kept breaking out again so after they thought -they had him pacified that mammy said she was scared so bad she just -couldn't stay there any longer: and that's what made her run away the -very next night. She had a hard time getting across the river, but -after she got over safe she didn't have much trouble, for some of the -white people took charge of her and helped her to get further on north. -Pappy always said--" - -"Oh, Lord, that's enough!" the son broke in, raising his head out of his -hands, and interrupting his mother's flow of words, of which he had -noted little since hearing the tragic story of his savage -great-grandfather. He rose from his chair impatiently. - -"So I am Hayward Graham, son of Patricia Schmidt, daughter of -Cindy--nothing, daughter of Gumbo--nothing." - -"Guinea Gumbo," corrected his mother. - -"Oh, I beg my distinguished ancestor's pardon for presuming to credit -him with only one name. A gentleman with his record ought to have as -many as Kaiser Bill," drawled Graham sarcastically. Then with better -humour he said to his mother, "And will you please to inform me from -which of your ancestors you inherited that name of Patricia?" - -"Mammy named me that for her old mistis." - - * * * * * - -Graham stood for awhile looking at the blank wall. Then he spoke as if -he had settled his problem. - -"Yes I'm a negro--no doubt about that; and a negro I'll be from -to-morrow morning." - -"Why, honey, you are not going to lower yourself to--" - -"No, no. I'm not going to lower myself to anything; but I'm going to go -with my own crowd, where I'll not be insulted by people who are no -better than I am. I got along very well at college, but these people -here are different. I'll show 'em. I'll go to the war, and I'll get as -much glory out of it as any of 'em. My father was a soldier, and his -father died in battle: I rather guess I can't stay out of it. Good -night, mummer." - -And he took himself off to bed. - - - - - *CHAPTER III* - - -Hayward Graham was twenty-three years old. He had half finished his -senior year at Harvard--with credit, it must be said--when the imminence -of war drove all desire for study from his mind. He wrote to Harry -Lodge a former college chum who had graduated in the class ahead of him -and gone to Ohio to make a name for himself--fortune he had already--and -asked that his name be proposed for membership in Lodge's company of the -71st, as a regiment most likely to get in the scrimmage when it came. -Lodge had done this and had written to Graham that doubtless he would be -received on the next meeting night as war was at that time a certainty. -Whereupon Graham had bundled up his traps and come without delay. - -Graham's mother also had travelled to Ohio, for the double purpose of -telling her soldier good-bye and making a passing, and what promised to -be a last visit to some, of her old Oberlin friends, drawing for -expenses upon limited funds she had religiously hoarded and applied to -her son's tuition. - -Her husband had always impressed upon her, and in his last moment -enjoined, that the boy should be educated; and she had obeyed his wishes -to the limit of her power and as a command from heaven. She had -husbanded her small patrimony, recovered after a costly suit at law, -slow-dragging through the New Hampshire courts, and had allowed it to -accumulate while her son was in the graded schools against the time when -it would be needed to send him to college. When that time had come it -required no little faith to see how the small bank account would be -sufficient to meet the expenses of four years at Harvard. She would -better have sent the boy to a less expensive school, but no: John Graham -had gone to Harvard, and nothing less than Harvard for his son would -satisfy her idea of loyalty to his father's memory and admonitions. So -to Harvard she sent him, while she planned and worked to stretch and -patch out the limited purse; and--miracle of financiering--she had -fetched him to the half of his last year, and could have carried him to -his graduation and still had enough dollars left to attend that -momentous ceremony in a new frock. - -Hayward Graham had repaid his mother's sacrifices by diligence in his -studies. He had been a close second to the leader of his class at the -graded school, an exemplary and hard-working pupil in the grammar -school, and at college his literary labours were diminished only by his -efforts in athletics, which, indeed, did his work as a student little -serious damage. He was quick to learn everything that his college -career offered, not only the lore of books, but good-fellowship, easy -manners and how to get on. His naturally friendly disposition did him -little service at first in finding or making friends at Harvard, where -there seemed to him to be so many desirable circles that he would be -glad to enter, and he had thought for awhile his colour would bar him -from any close friendships there. However, near the end of his freshman -year he had occasion by personal combat to demonstrate his willingness -to fight for the honour of his class and to show that his pugilistic -powers were of no mean calibre, by thoroughly dressing down a couple of -sophomores who had held him up to tell him what they thought of the -whole tribe of freshmen, and who, upon his being so bold as to take -issue with them, had attempted to "regulate" him. Kind-hearted Harry -Lodge, himself a sophomore, had witnessed the trial of Graham's courage, -class loyalty and fistic abilities, and being struck with admiration had -shaken hands with him and congratulated him on his prowess. From that -moment Graham was by every token a member of the small coterie known as -"Lodge's Gang," to whom Lodge had introduced him as "the only freshman I -know that's worth a damn." - -From the time of his admission into this set of good fellows Graham's -social side was provided with all it desired. Lodge and his friends -seemed to think nothing at all of Graham's colour; or, if they did, made -the more of him in their enthusiastic support of the idea that "a man's -a man for a' that." They had enough rollicking fun to keep their spare -hours filled to the brim and sought the society of women very seldom; -but when they did go to pay their vows at the shrine of the feminine, -Graham was as often of the party as any other of "the gang." - -The young women they visited seemed to find no fault with his coming; -for he could do his share of stunts, had a good voice and a musical ear, -and was never at a loss for something to say, while his colour meant no -more to them than that of a Chinaman or a Jap. He was promptly and -effectually smitten with each new pretty face that he saw on these -occasional forays, just as were Hal and Jim Aldrich; but his -ever-changing devotions showed plainly that it was as yet to no one -woman, but to women, that his soul paid homage. As for the young women, -any of them as soon would have thought of marrying one of the Chinese -students in the University as him. In fact they did not associate him -with the matrimonial idea, but were interested in him as in an unusual -species of that ever-interesting genus, man. They made quite a lion of -him for a time after his performance in the Harvard-Yale football game -of 19--; so much so that he had become just a mite vain, which condition -of mind precluded his falling in love with anybody for several weeks. - -It was right at the height of his popularity that he had left Harvard to -join the ranks of the 71st. But Corporal Lodge had written with too -much assurance. Lieutenant Morgan of Lodge's company caught the sound of -that name, Hayward Graham, and remarked casually, "He has the same name -as that Harvard nigger who was smashed up in the Yale game." - -Some of the men thought the lieutenant said the applicant was a negro, -and began to question Lodge. When that gentleman stood up to speak for -his friend he quite captured them with his description of Graham's -courage and other excellences, but when he answered "yes" to a direct -question whether his candidate was a negro, the enthusiasm and Graham's -chance of enlistment in the 71st died together, and suddenly. -Lieutenant Morgan, who was presiding at the company meeting, sneered, -"This is not a negro regiment," and the ballot was overwhelmingly -adverse. - -Lodge was offended deeply at Graham's rejection, and said hotly that if -the regiment was too good for Graham it was too good for him, and he -would apply for his discharge at once. Lieutenant Morgan replied drily -that "one pretext is as good as another if a man really doesn't want to -get into the fighting." This angered Harry to the point of profanity, -but he thought no more of a discharge. - -This blackballing of his name was Graham's first rebuff, and it bore -hard upon his spirits. He had never had an occasion to take an -inventory of the elements in his blood, and this sudden jolt to his -pride and eager patriotic impulses made him first angry, then -heart-sick, then cynically scornful. - -The morning after his mother had gone into the history of his ancestry, -as far as she knew it, he sought an army recruiting station without -delay. The gray-headed captain in charge did not betray the surprise he -felt when Graham told him he desired to enlist,--his recruits, -especially negroes, did not often come from the class to which Graham -evidently belonged. - -"May I join any branch of the service I prefer?" Hayward asked. - -"Yes," said the officer; and added, as a fleeting suspicion entered his -mind that this negro might intend passing himself off for a white man if -possible, "that is, of course, infantry or cavalry. There are no -negroes in the artillery." - -Graham winced in spite of himself at this blunt reminder of his -compromising blood, and mentally resented the statement as an -unnecessary taunt. But he had determined to fight for the flag if he -had to swallow his pride, and he was quickly put through all the -necessary formalities of enlistment. His physical qualifications -aroused the unbounded admiration of the examining surgeon, who called -the old captain back into the room where Graham stood stripped for the -examination, to look upon his perfect physique. - -"I don't know about that broken leg, though," the surgeon said. "How -long has it been well?" - -"I've had the full use of it for more than a month now," Graham -answered. "It's as good as the other, I think. It wasn't such a bad -break anyway." - -"How did you break it?" - -"In the Yale game at Cambridge last November." - -"Say," the surgeon broke out, "were you the Harvard man that was laid -out in that last rush?" - -"Yes." - -"Well, I saw that game," the surgeon went on; "and I say, Captain, be -sure to assign this young fellow to a regiment that will get into the -scrimmage. Nothing but the firing-line will suit his style." - -"Which do you prefer, infantry or cavalry?" questioned the Captain -briefly. - -"As I've walked all my life, I think that I'll ride now that I have the -chance," Graham answered. - -"Very well. You are over regulation weight and length for a trooper, -but special orders will let you in for the war only." - -"The fighting is all I want," said Graham - -"All right," replied the officer. "I'll send you to the 10th. They -have always gotten into it so far, and likely nobody will miss seeing -service in this affair." - -Graham was given a suit of uniform and ordered to report morning and -afternoon each day till his squad would be sent to join the regiment. -He carried the uniform to a tailor to have it fitted to his figure, in -which he took some little pride; and lost no time in getting into it -when the tailor had finished with it, and hurrying to parade himself -before his mother's admiring eyes. That worthy woman was as proud of -him as only a combination of mother love, womanly admiration for a -soldier, and a negro's surpassing delight in brass buttons, could make -her. - -Graham busied himself with the study of a book on cavalry tactics -borrowed from the old sergeant at the recruiting station, and with that -experienced soldier's help he picked up in the ten days that elapsed -before he was sent away no little knowledge of the business before him. -He was an enthusiastic student, took great pains to perfect himself in -the ceremonious side of soldiering, and delighted in the punctilios -which the regulations prescribed. He went at every opportunity to -witness the drills of the national guard troops who were preparing to -leave for the front; and began to acquire the feeling of superiority -which the regular has for the volunteer, and to sniff at the little -laxities of the guardsmen, and with the air of a veteran comment -sarcastically upon them to the old sergeant: till he finally persuaded -himself that his good angel had saved him from these amateurs to make a -real soldier of him. - -Two days before Graham was sent away the 71st gave its farewell parade. -Graham was there, of course. It was near sunset. The wide street was -lined with spectators. The ranks were standing at rest, and the -soldiers and their friends were saying all manner of good-byes. The -band was blowing itself breathless in patriotic selections, and as it -crashed into one after another soldiers and people cheered and shouted -with gathering enthusiasm. Colonel Phillips, sitting on his horse by -his wife's carriage, said, "Orderly, tell Brandt to play 'Dixie,'" and, -addressing the crowd of friends about him, "My mother was a South -Carolinian," he added jocularly. When the band burst in on that -unaccountably inspiring air the assemblage stood on its toes to yell and -scream, and the tall Texas colour-sergeant came near letting "Old Glory" -fall in the dust in his conscientious effort to split his lungs. - -Graham stood quite near the Colonel and his party, and was much -interested in watching both this man of whom he had heard Harry Lodge -speak so enthusiastically, and his daughters, Miss Elise and Miss Helen, -who were abundantly attractive on their own account without the added -distinction of being children of their father. It was interesting to -him to note the differing expressions of patriotic enthusiasm as it -forced itself through the well-bred restraint of the elder sister or -bubbled up unrestrainedly in the unaffected girlish spirits of Helen. -Her spontaneous outbursts were irresistibly fascinating to him, and he -could hardly avoid staring at her. - -When the parade was formed, however, he was true to his new learning; -and after the bugle had sounded _retreat_, and while the band was -swinging slow and stately through that grandest and most uplifting of -military airs, "The Star-Spangled Banner," he for the first time had -uncovered and stood at _attention_, erect and steady as a young ash, his -heart thumping like that of a young devotee at his first orison. - -As he looked up when the band had ceased, he met the full gaze of Helen -Phillips. She was looking straight at him, with a rapt smile upon her -fresh young face. Then he remembered where he had seen that face -before. - -It was at that Yale game at Cambridge. Harvard was due to win; but Yale -had scored once in the first half, and all but scored again before the -Harvard men pulled themselves together. During the intermission Captain -"Monk" Eliot had corralled his crimson warriors in the dressing-room and -addressed to them a few disjointed remarks that made history. - -He began moderately; but as he talked his choler rose, and he took off -the limit: "You lobsters are the blankety-blankedest crowd of wooden -Indians that ever advertised a dope-house. You seem to think you are -out here for your health. What in the blank is the matter with you? Do -you think Soldiers Field is a Chinese opium joint where you can go to -sleep and forget your troubles? Maybe you don't want to get your -clothes dirty, or you are afraid some big, bad, blue Yale man will eat -you up without salt. Now look here! I want you to understand that -we've got to win this game if it breaks every damn one of our infernal -necks, and if any of you overgrown babies doesn't like what I say or -hasn't the nerve to go into the second half on that basis, just say so -right now, damn you, and I'll give you the job of holding some _man's_ -sweater for the rest of this game--and we'll settle it when it's over." - -It was a desperate crowd of men in crimson who went into that second -half; and their collision with the Yale line was terrific. But Eli -didn't seem to change his mind about winning the game--for he hadn't -heard the crimson captain's crimson speech. - -For twenty minutes the giants reeled and staggered in an equal struggle. -Yale then saw that she must win by holding the score as it was, and -began all manner of dilatory tactics. This drove Captain Eliot frantic. -He must score in five minutes--or lose. Fifty-five yards in five minutes -against that wall of blue fiends!--nothing but desperation could -accomplish it. He glanced at his squad of reserves on the side-lines; -and with spendthrift recklessness that counted not the cost he began to -burn men up. He sent his best and strongest in merciless repetition -against the weakest--no, not that--against the least strong man in the -Yale line. - -Harvard began to creep forward slowly, so slowly; and the five minutes -were no longer five, but four--three--two and a half--hurry! Still -forward the crimson surged with every hammering shock. But flesh and -blood could not stand it! Out went Field, the pick of the Harvard -flock, carried off mumbling like a crazy man, with a bleeding cut across -his forehead. Next went Lee, then Carmichael, then Eliot himself, after -a desperately reckless dash, with a turned ankle. - -Can Harvard score? Perhaps,--if the time and the men last long -enough.... Graham was a substitute. Eliot, supported between two of -his men and breathing threatenings and slaughter against those who would -carry him off, called Graham's name; and with a nervous shiver the negro -was out of his sweater in a jiffy. Eliot whispered to the crimson -quarter, "Graham's fresh; send him against that tackle till he faints." - -_Bang--Smash_. _Bang--Smash_. Yes, he's making it every time, but -hurry! _hurry_! - -"Kill that nigger," growls Chreitsberg, the Kentucky Captain of the -Blue, between his set teeth: and now "that nigger" comes up with his -nose dripping blood, next with his ear ground half off. But he will -score this time! No, the Yale eleven are on him like a herd of -buffaloes. He stands up and draws his sleeve across his nose with a -determined swipe. Eliot screams from the side-lines, "You _must_ make -it this trip--time's up,"--but he can't hear his own voice in the -pandemonium. - -A last crunching, grinding crash,--and the twenty-two maniacs heave, and -reel, and topple, and stagger, and slowly wring and twist themselves -into a writhing mass of bone and muscle which becomes motionless and -quiet at the bottom while still struggling and tearing without let-up on -the outside. They refuse to desist even when the referee's whistle -sounds the end of the game, for no man knows just where under that mass -of players which is lying above the goal-line is the man with the ball. -The referee and the umpire begin to pull them off one by one in the -midst of an indescribable tumult: and at the bottom, with a broken leg, -but with the ball hugged tight against his breast and a saving foot and -a half beyond the line, they find Graham. - -He is picked up by the roughly tender hands of his steaming, breathless -fellows, who are ready to cry with exultation, and hurried to a -carriage. It was while they were carrying him off the field he had -redeemed that he first saw Helen Phillips. She was standing on the rear -seat of a big red touring-car, waving a crimson pennant and excited -beyond measure. As she looked down on him as they carried him past, -there came into her face a look of childish admiration and pity -commingled; and she hesitated a moment, then impulsively pitched out the -pennant she held, and it fell across his chest like a decoration and was -carried with him thus to his room across the Charles. - -When he had surprised her gaze at him as he turned from the parade of -the 71st, and saw her smile upon him, he thought she had recognized him -as the line-smashing half-back,--and he very properly drew in his middle -and shoved out his chest another notch. But not so! She did not -recognize him nor remember him. In her overflowing patriotism she saw -only a soldier of the Republic; and her smiling face had but -unconsciously paid tribute to an ideal. - - - - - *CHAPTER IV* - - -On the first day of April, 191-, Hayward Graham, wearing the -single-barred yellow chevrons of a lance-corporal in Troop M of the 10th -Cavalry, was sitting flat on the ground, perspiring and inwardly -grumbling as he rubbed away at his sawed-off rifle, and mentally -moralizing on his inglorious condition. There was he, almost a graduate -of Harvard, a gentleman, accustomed to a bath-tub and a toothbrush, -bound up hard and fast for three years' association with a crowd of -illiterate, roistering, unwashed, and in the present situation -unwashable, negroes of every shade from pale yellow to ebony. Why, -thought he, should negroes always be dumped all into one heap as if they -were all of one grade? Didn't the government know there were negroes -and negroes? Whimsically he wondered why the officers didn't sort them -out among the troops like they did the horses, according to -colour,--blacks, browns, yellows, ash-coloured, snuff-coloured. Then -what possibilities in matching or contrasting the shades of the troopers -with those of their mounts: black horse, yellow rider,--bay horse, black -rider,--sorrel horse, gingersnap rider--no, that wouldn't do, inartistic -combination! And what colour of steed would tastily trim off that -freckled abomination of a sergeant yonder? Can't be done,--scheme's a -failure!--damn that sergeant anyhow, he had confiscated Graham's only -toothbrush to clean his gun with. Graham again records his oath to -thrash him when his three years is up. - -But three years is an age. It will never roll round. Only two months -has he been a soldier, and yet everything that happened before that is -becoming vague--even the smile on Helen Phillips' face. He cannot close -his eyes and conjure up the picture as he did at first. - -Graham was out of temper. Cavalry wasn't what it is cracked up to be, -and a horse was of more trouble than convenience anyway, he was -convinced. In the battle-drills the men had been put through so -repeatedly day after day the horse played no part, and what riding -Graham had done so far had served only to make him so sore and stiff -that he could neither ride nor walk in comfort. He heartily repented -his choice and wished he had taken the infantry, where a man has to look -out only for himself and his gun. Oh, the troubles, the numberless -troubles, of a green soldier! - -All of Corporal Graham's military notions were affronted, and his -right-dress, upstanding ideas of soldiering were shattered. The reality -is a matter of pushing a curry-comb, getting your nose and mouth and -eyes filled with horse-hairs, which get down your neck and up your -sleeves, and stick in the sweat and won't come off and there's no water -to wash them off. Then the drills--save the mark!--not as much -precision in them as in a football manoeuvre,--just a spreading out into -a thin line and running forward for five seconds perhaps, falling on -your belly and pretending to fire three rounds at an imaginary foe, then -jumping up and doing it all over again till you feel faint and -foolish,--every man for himself, no order, no alignment, one man -crouching behind a shrub, another falling prone on the ground, another -hiding behind a tree,--surely no pomp or circumstance or glory in that -business. Graham's study of punctilios did him no service there. Not a -parade had the regiment had. Mobilized at a Southern port only three -days before the sailing of the transport, it had taken every hour of the -time to load the horses and equipment and supplies. Graham had found -that fighting is a very small part of soldiering, which is mostly -drudgery, and he had revised his idea of war several times since his -enlistment. - -He thought as he sat cleaning his rifle that surely the preliminaries -were about over, and, if camp rumour counted for anything, that the day -of battle could not be more than one or two suns away. He would have -his gun in fine working order, for good luck might bring some shooting -on the morrow. At any rate his carbine must glisten when he becomes -part of to-morrow's guard, and he hoped that he would be put right on -the point of the advance picket. He hadn't had a shave in three weeks, -and his uniform was sweat-stained and dusty, and he could not hope to -look spick and span; but his gun could be shiny, and he knew Lieutenant -Wagner well enough by that time to have learned that a clean gun counted -for more with him than a clean shirt. So he hoped and prayed that he -would be selected for some duty that was worth while. - -The brigades under General Bell, which had been landed at Alta Gracia -with difficulty, were pressing forward with all haste to cut off a -garrison of Germans that had been thrown into Puerto Cabello from the -German cruisers, and to prevent the arrival of reinforcements which were -being rushed to their aid from Caracas. Reports from native scouts and -communications from General Manana himself placed the number of these -reinforcements at from five to seven thousand. General Bell doubted -that this force was so large, but was anxious to meet it, whatever its -size. - -Despite the vigilance of the all too meagre patrol of warships for -Venezuelan waters which the United States had been able to spare from -the necessary guard for her Atlantic and Gulf ports, the forehanded and -ever-ready Kaiser had landed seven or eight thousand troops from a fleet -of transports at Cumana, and with characteristic German promptness had -occupied Caracas and Barcelona before Uncle Sam had been able to put any -troops on Venezuelan soil. It seemed nonsense for either Germany or the -United States to care to fight any battles down in that little -out-of-the-way place. They could find other more accessible and far -more important battle-grounds: but no, as the Monroe Doctrine forbade -Germany to make a foothold in Venezuela and her doing so was the casus -belli, the ethics of the affair demanded that there should be a bona -fide forcible ejectment of the Kaiser's troops from Venezuelan territory -by the United States. The battles there might be only a side issue, and -the real test of strength might come at any or all of a dozen places on -land and sea, but there must be some fighting done in Venezuela just to -prove that the cause of war was not fanciful. - -General Bell's brigades were one under General Earnhardt, consisting of -the 5th, 7th, 10th and 15th Cavalry, and a second, including the 4th and -11th regular infantry, the 71st Ohio, and the 1st X----, under General -Cowles, with a battalion of engineers and four batteries of field -artillery. General Earnhardt's cavalry brigade was striving to reach -the Valencia road, the only passable route from Caracas to Puerto -Cabello, before the German force should pass. General Manana had sent a -courier to say that he would hold the Germans in check till Earnhardt's -arrival. - -On the morning of April 2d Graham was among the advance pickets and -almost forgot his saddle pains and creaking joints in the excitement of -expected battle. For half a day Earnhardt pushed forward as fast as the -trail would permit. He had halted his troops for five minutes' rest -about noon, when a native on a wiry pony, riding like one possessed, -dashed into the picket and came near getting his head punched off before -he could make Graham understand that he was a friend with a message for -the _Americano capitan_. Graham carried him before General Earnhardt, -who at the head of his column was reclining on a bank beside the trail, -perspiring and dusty and brushing viciously at the flies and mosquitoes -that swarmed around him. The general did not change his position when -the native, who was clad in a nondescript but much-beribboned uniform, -slid from his horse and with a ceremonious bow and salute informed him -that he was Captain Miguel of General Manana's staff, and had the honour -to report that he was despatched by General Manana to say that, despite -that gentleman's earnest and desperate resistance, a large and -outnumbering force of German cavalry had forced a passage of the road to -Puerto Cabello about eleven o'clock that morning. While Captain Miguel -was delivering his elaborate message to the disgusted cavalryman, the -picket passed in an old soldier of the 10th who had been detailed as a -scout at the beginning of the campaign; and this scout rode up to report -just as the native captain finished speaking. Earnhardt turned -impatiently from Manana's aide to his own trusted man and said: - -"Well, Morris, what is it?" - -"Small force of German cavalry, sir, had a scrimmage with General -Manana's troops this morning on the Valencia road, and rode on in the -direction of Puerto Cabello." - -"How many Germans got through?" asked the general. - -"All of them, sir; about two troops, as near as I could count." - -"And how many men did Manana have?" the question came sharply. - -"Something like fifteen hundred I should judge, sir, from the sound of -the firing and what I could see," answered the scout. - -General Earnhardt, without rising, turned with unconcealed contempt to -Captain Miguel and said: - -"My compliments to General Manana, and he's a ---- old fraud and I don't -want to have anything more to do with him;" and while the red-splashed -aide was trying to solve the curt message which he but half understood, -the trumpeter at a word from the angry cavalryman sounded _mount_ and -_forward_ and the brigade was again off at top speed, hoping still to -cut off the main relief force sent out from Caracas. General Earnhardt -considered himself a lucky soldier to find that this force had not -passed when at last he reached the road (which was hardly worthy of the -name highway, though one of the thoroughfares of Venezuela); and he -hastily disposed his forces to meet the German advance. - -It was not long in coming. The crack of a rifle was the first notice -Corporal Graham had that he was about to be under fire. He felt a cold -breeze blow upon his back for a moment, and then as the popping began to -approach a rattle the joy of contest entered his soul and sent his blood -bounding. - -But the joy was short-lived. When the Germans came near enough to see -that they were opposed by men in Uncle Sam's uniform, and not by the -nagging natives who had been popping harmlessly away at them from the -roadside, they decided it was best not to be too precipitate. They -stopped and began to feel for the American line. After some desultory -sharpshooting they finally located it, and quieted down to wait till the -German commander could get his little army up and into line of battle. - -Then Hayward Graham had to sit still and hold his gun while the -exhilaration and enthusiasm died down in him like the fiz in a glass of -soda-water. He had worked his nerves up to such a tension that the -reaction was nothing less than painful, and he was full of impatience -and profanity. He could hardly wait for to-morrow, when Germany and -Uncle Sam would get up after a good night's rest and lay on like men. - -Again what was his unspeakable disgust and almost unbearable -disappointment when the next morning came and he was detailed as stable -guard, and given charge of the 10th's corral, quite a distance in rear -of the line of battle and absolutely out of all danger. Profanity was a -lame and feeble remedy for that situation. He sat down and growled. - -"Oh, for an assorted supply of languages in which to separately and -collectively and properly consign this whole bloody system of details to -the cellar of Hades!" - -A veteran sergeant of Graham's troop, who on occasions wore a medal of -honour on his blouse, and at all times bore an unsightly scar on his -cheek as a souvenir of Wounded Knee, sought to soothe the young man's -feelings. - -"It all comes along in the run of the business, corporal," he said. -"Soldiering is not all fighting. A man earns his money by doing whatever -duty is assigned to him." - -Graham answered with heat: "I didn't come into this nasty, sweaty, -horse-smelly business for any such consideration as fifteen dollars a -month and feed, and if I am to miss the scrapping and the glory I prefer -to cut the whole affair." - -His temper improved, however, as the day began to drag itself away with -no sound of conflict from the battle-line save the occasional pop of a -pot-shot by the pickets, and as the rumour began to leak back to the -corral that both sides must be waiting for their guns to come up. This -was doubtless true: for the four batteries of American artillery arrived -late in the afternoon, and the infantry brigade was all up by nightfall. - - - - - *CHAPTER V* - - -The two small armies were separated by the valley of a small stream -which ran in a broad circle around the low wooded hills or range of -hills upon which the Germans were entrenched. This valley was from a -mile to a mile and a half wide, and the water-course was much nearer the -outer or American side. The bed of this stream would furnish an -excellent breastwork or entrenchment for the American troops if they -should see fit to use it, but it was not tenable by the Germans because -it was at most all points subject to an enfilading fire from the -American position. The surface of the valley was slightly broken and -undulating on the German side, but clear of timber and covered only with -grass, while on the American side the rise was more precipitous and -covered with a scattering growth of trees and bush. - -On arriving and looking over the ground General Bell ordered that during -the night his artillery should be placed and concealed on the commanding -heights which his position afforded; and that his fighting-line, -composed of the 5th and 15th Cavalry as his left wing, the 1st X---- as -his centre, and the 4th and 11th Infantry as his right wing, be moved -forward down the slope and into the bed of the stream, leaving as a -reserve the 71st Ohio and the 10th Cavalry located approximately in rear -of the centre of his line of battle. The 7th Cavalry he had sent out -toward Puerto Cabello to hold in check any possible German troops that -might appear from that quarter. - -Corporal Hayward Graham, back at the 10th's corral, had recovered his -spirits as the day dragged along without any sound of battle, and he -began to congratulate himself that he would finish up in good time all -details that would keep him out of the fighting. When he walked over to -the line late in the afternoon, however, and learned that the whole -regiment was to be held out of the fight as a reserve, he immediately -surmised that the 10th was kept out of it because they were negroes, and -that the others from the general down wanted to scoop all the glory for -the white soldiery,--and again he sat down and cursed the negro blood in -his veins. The only salve to his outraged spirit was the information -that those high and mighty prigs of the 71st were also to miss the -glory. He even chuckled when he thought of the chagrin of Lieutenant -Morgan and pictured to himself the scene of the lieutenant's meeting -with Miss Elise Phillips if he should have to go back and explain to her -how he came not to be under fire. Then he remembered Helen Phillips and -the crimson pennant locked up in his trunk, and he felt that the whole -war would count for naught if he had no chance to do something worthy of -that pennant and of her. He wandered listlessly along the lines and -tried to forget his troubles in listening to the talk of the fortunates -who were going in. - -He came to where a crowd of 1st X---- men were chaffing a squad of the -71st for "taking a gallery-seat at the show." Corporal Billie Catling -of the 71st replied that they took the "gallery-seat" under orders and -were put behind the 1st X---- to see that they didn't dodge a fight -again like they did in Cuba. - -"That's a damn lie!" came the 1st X----'s rejoinder in chorus; to which -one of them added, "The 1st X---- never ran out of any fight in Cuba, -and you gallery-gods can go to sleep or go to the devil, for we'll stay -here till hell freezes over so thick you can skate on the ice." - -"Well, you may not have run _out_ of any fight in Cuba, but it's blamed -certain you didn't _run in_to one," retorted the 71st's spokesman. - -"Now, sonny," yelled the X---- man, "don't get sassy because you're not -permitted to sit down along with your betters. Run along and wait for -the second table with the niggers!" - -The 71st's contingent could not find a suitable retort to this sally, -and, as fighting was out of the question, they walked away muttering -imprecations amid the jeers of the men from X----. - -Graham enjoyed the discomfiture of the 71st; but he was more than ever -convinced that the colour of the 10th accounted for its being robbed of -a chance for fame in this campaign: and he went back to his duty in a -mutinous mood. He could not know that General Bell had held this -veteran negro regiment in reserve because of its proved steadiness and -valour; nor that he had placed the untried 1st X---- in his centre -because it would thus be in the easiest supporting distance of his -reserves. - -The battle opened on April 3d the moment it became light enough for the -gunners to locate the half-hidden German lines and artillery. For -awhile the cannoneers had it all between themselves; and in this duel -the advantage was with the Americans, for their position gave them -better protection--the fighting-line being sheltered by the stream-bed -and the guns and reserves by the hill. The Germans were entrenched on a -hill as high as the Americans, but it was much flatter and afforded less -natural cover. - -After two or three hours of pounding the Germans with his artillery, -which was evidently inflicting great damage, General Bell ordered his -line forward to carry the German position by assault. Then the battle -began in earnest. The German machine-guns opened on the American line -as it rose out of the stream-bed and began its slow and terrible journey -across the open valley by short rushes. The first breath of lead and -iron that dashed in the faces of the American troops as they stood up -began the work of death; and it came so promptly and so viciously that -it overwhelmed the raw discipline and untempered metal of the 1st X----; -for before advancing thirty paces the line wavered and broke and -retreated ignobly to the sheltering bank of the stream. Not all the -regiment broke at once; but the break and stampede of one company -quickly spread along the entire regimental front, and back into the -ditch they dived. Some of the officers cursed and commanded and -entreated; but to no purpose. The wings of the American line were -advancing steadily but slowly, standing up for a few moments to dash -forward a dozen yards, and then lying as close to the ground as possible -while returning the terrible fire from the hills in front of them. - -General Bell from his position of vantage saw the failure of the 1st -X---- to advance, and waited a few moments in hope that a half-dozen -officers who were recklessly exposing themselves in their attempts to -urge the men forward might succeed in their efforts. As it became -evident that the regiment would not face the deadly fire of the Germans, -however, and as the wings of the battle-line were diverging as they -advanced because of the formation of the ground in their front, General -Bell waited no longer, but ordered forward both the 10th Cavalry and the -71st Ohio. These came over the hill on the run and dropped down the -slope into the water-course, where the heroic handful of officers were -still making frantic efforts to have the 1st X---- go forward. A -captain was violently berating his men for their cowardice and imploring -them to advance, while his first lieutenant squeezed down behind the -bank was yelling at them not to move. A major of one battalion was -standing up straight and fully exposed, waving his sword and appealing -to his men by every token of courage, while another major was lying as -close to the bottom of the ditch as a spreading-adder. At places the -men seemed to want to move, while the officers crouched in fear; while -at others officers by no amount of commands or entreaties could get a -man out of the ditch. A panic of terror seemed to be upon the regiment -which the few untouched spirits were not able to overcome by any power -of sharp commands, or violent pleading, or reckless examples of courage. - -The boys of the 71st and the negro troopers of the 10th did not treat -the X---- men tenderly as they passed over them. They jumped down upon -them as they lay in the ditch and tramped upon them or kicked them out -of the way contemptuously, while the fear-smitten creatures were as -unresentful as hounds. Corporal Graham, near the left flank of the 10th, -heard an officer of the 71st yell as they passed over the ditch, "Why -don't you go forward? What the devil are you waiting for?" to which -Billie Catling, as he knocked a cowering X---- man from his path, cried -out in answer, "It's too hot for 'em, captain. They are going to stay -here till this hell freezes over!" - -As many perhaps as a fourth of the 1st X----, officers and men, fell in -with the 71st and the 10th and bravely charged with them up the long -slope. The remainder waited till the battle was so far ahead of them -that their belated advance could not wipe out the black shame of -cowardice. - -In the hurry of their rush into the breach the adjoining flanks of the -10th and the 71st overlapped and were confused; but it was well that the -two regiments were sent to replace the one, for the loss was appalling -as they surged forward toward the German lines, and they were not long -in being thinned out to an uncrowded basis. - -The first sight of a man struck and falling to the ground shook Corporal -Graham's nerves, and he had to pull himself together sharply to save -himself from the weakening horror death always had for him. He turned -his eyes resolutely away from the first half-dozen, that were knocked -down, and applied himself religiously and consciously to the prescribed -method of advancing by rushes; but all his faculties were alert to the -dangers of the situation, and he could not shake off his keen sense of -peril and of the tragedies around him. Not for long did he suffer thus, -however, for as he rose up from the grass for one rush forward a bullet -grazed his shin--and changed his whole nature in a twinkling. It did -him no real damage and little blood came from the wound, but the pain -was intense. He dropped on the earth and grabbed his leg to see what -the harm was, and was surprised to find himself uninjured save for the -burning, stinging sensation. Then he forgot everything but his pain, -and became as pettishly angry in a moment as if he had collided with a -rocking-chair in the dark. In that moment he conceived a personal -enmity and grudge against the whole German army, and proceeded to avenge -his injury on a personal basis. He became as cool and collected as if -he were playing a game of checkers, and went in a business-like way -about reducing the distance between himself and the gentlemen who had -hurt his shin. His anger had dissolved his confusion and neutralized -the horrors that were at first upon him. He was more than ever -conscious of the falling men about him; but he had his debt to pay,--let -them look after their own scores. He saw Lieutenant Wagner stagger and -fall and raise up and drag himself into a protecting depression in the -ground; he saw the colonel of the 1st X----, fighting with a carbine in -his hand right alongside the black troopers of the 10th, drop in a heap -and lie so still he knew he was dead; he saw Corporal Billie Catling -straighten up and pitch his gun from him as a bullet hit him in the face -and carried away the whole back of his head;--yet Graham stopped not to -help or to think. He had only one purpose--to reach the man who hit his -shin. He saw man after man, many of his own troop, drop in death or -blood or agony--and his purpose did not change. Then, a little distance -to his left and somewhat to his rear, he saw Colonel Phillips of the -71st go down in the grass; he saw him try to gain his feet, and fail; -and then try to drag himself from his very exposed position, and fail. -Then Corporal Graham forgot his personal grievance, and thought of the -girl and the pennant. He ran across to Colonel Phillips and, finding him -shot through both legs, picked him up and carried him for forty yards or -more through the hurricane of lead to where the Valencia road made a cut -in the long slope; and in this cut, down behind a sheltering curve, he -placed him. Not a moment too promptly had the trooper acted, for of all -the unfortunates who had fallen anywhere near Colonel Phillips not one -but was found riddled with the bullets of the machine-guns when the -battle was ended. Graham's own hat was shot away from his head and the -officer in his arms received another wound as he bore him out of harm's -way.... At the Colonel's request the negro tried to remove the boot -from the bleeding right leg, which was broken below the knee. As this -was so painful Colonel Phillips handed him a pearl-handled pocket-knife -and asked him to cut the boot-top away. Graham did so, and bound a -handkerchief around the leg to stop the flow of blood. Having made -every other disposition for the officer's comfort which his situation -permitted, he looked out in the direction of the battle so wistfully -that the Colonel told him he might return to the fight. He did so with -a rush, absent-mindedly pocketing the pearl-handled knife as he ran. - -[Illustration: "CARRIED HIM FOR FORTY YARDS OR MORE THROUGH THE -HURRICANE OF LEAD."] - -The firing-line had advanced quite a distance while Graham was rescuing -Colonel Phillips and ministering to him; and in his overweening desire -to be right at the front of the battle he ran forward without the -customary stops for lying down and firing. That they should carry him -safe through that driving rain of bullets, despite his indifference to -the ordinary rules of the desperate game, was more than reasonably could -have been expected of the Fates which had protected him up to that -moment from serious harm; and--down he crashed in the grass and lay -still without design, while the battle passed farther and farther up the -long slope, away from him. In dim half-consciousness he realized what -had befallen him; and the only two ideas which found place in his mind -were the uncomfortable thought that he would be buried without a bath, -and a feeling of satisfaction that the god of battle at least had -dignified him with a more respectable wound than a bruised shin-bone. - - - - - *CHAPTER VI* - - -When two strong, alert men, disputing, come to the final appeal to -battle, the decision is usually made quickly. It is only the weak or -the unprepared who prolong a fight. - -So was it that late summer in 191- saw an end of war between Germany and -the United States--thanks partially to the intervention of the Powers. -And with what result? The result does appear so inadequate! The Monroe -Doctrine was still unshaken--and that was worth much perhaps; but ten -thousand sailors and the flower of two navies were under the tide, and -half as many soldiers dead of fever or fighting in Venezuela; small -armies of newly made orphans and widows in Germany and America; mourning -and despair in the houses of the desolate,--some hope in the heart of -the pension attorney; a new set of heroes on land and sea,--at the top. -Long, who at the battle of the Bermudas, finding his own small craft and -a wounded German cruiser left afloat of twenty-odd vessels that had -begun the fight, in answer to her demand for his surrender, had -torpedoed and sunk the German promptly, and to his own everlasting -astonishment had managed to save his neck and prevent the battle's -becoming a Kilkenny affair by beaching his riddled boat and keeping her -flag above water: from Long an endless list of real and fictitious -heroes, dwindling by nice gradations in importance as they increased in -numbers, till they touched bottom in the raw volunteer infantryman whose -wildest tale of adventure was of his exemplary courage in a great storm -that swept the God-forsaken sand-bar on which his company had been -stationed,--to prevent the German navy's purloining the new-laid -foundations of a fort to guard Catfish River. - -In the long list of heroes Colonel Hayne Phillips was not without -prominence. The sailormen were first for their deeds were more numerous -and spectacular; but among the soldiers who were in the popular eye he -was easily the most lauded. He was a volunteer; and that was everything -in his favour, for it put him on a par with members of the regular -establishment of ten times his merit. He was nothing more than a brave -and patriotic man with a taste for the military and with but little of a -professional soldier's knowledge or training; and yet his demonstrated -possession of those two qualities alone, patriotism and personal courage -(which most men indeed possess, and which are so inseparably associated -with one's thought of a regular army officer as to add nothing to his -fame or popularity),--the possession of these two simple American -virtues had brought to Colonel Phillips the enthusiastic admiration of a -hero-loving people, and--what was of more personal advantage to him--the -consequent consideration and favour of party-managers in need of a -popular idol. - -These political prestidigitators, mindful of the political successes of -the soldiers, Taylor, Grant and Roosevelt, took him and his war record -in hand and proceeded to work a few easy miracles. The love and -plaudits of a great State and a great nation for a favourite regiment -coming home with honour and with the glory of hard-won battle upon its -standards were skilfully turned to account for partisan political uses. -The deeds and virtues of a thousand men were deftly placed to the credit -of one, and before the very eyes of the people was the legerdemain -wrought by which one political party and one Colonel Phillips drew all -the dividends from the investment of treasure and of blood and of -patriotic energy and devotion which that thousand men had made without a -thought of politics or pay. - -The partisan press, as always advertent to the peculiar penchant -hero-worship has for ignoring patent absurdities, overdrew the -picture--but no harm was done: for while truth of fact was disregarded -and abused, essential truth suffered no hurt. Although enterprising -newspapers did furnish for the political campaign one photogravure of -Colonel Phillips leading the 71st regiment over the German earthworks at -the battle of Valencia, and another of him in the act of receiving the -German commander's sword on that occasion--these things did the gallant -Colonel no injustice. He gladly would have attended to those little -matters of the surrender in place of the veteran officer of regulars who -officiated. It was through no fault of the 71st's commander that -shortness of breath made it impossible for him to keep pace with his men -up that long slope; nor in the least to his discredit that he was shot -down in the rear of the regiment and his life saved through the bravery -of a negro trooper. - -The Colonel's courage was indeed of the genuine metal and he willingly -would have met all the dangers and performed all the mighty deeds -accredited to him if opportunity had come to him. Being conscious of -this willingness in his own soul, he took no measures to correct -impressions of his prowess made upon the minds of misinformed thousands -of voters. The error was not in a mistaken public opinion as to his -valour, for that was all that was claimed for it, but in the people's -belief in certain spectacular exhibitions of that valour which were -really totally imaginary. He knew that he was as brave a man as the -people thought: why then quibble over facts that were entirely -incidental? The hero-idolaters swallowed in faith and ecstasy all the -details which an inventive and energetic press bureau could turn out, -and cried for more: and the nomination for the presidency practically -had been tendered to him by acclamation almost a year before the -convention assembled which officially commissioned him its -standard-bearer. - -Colonel Phillips' campaign was attended by one wild hurrah from start to -finish. It was pyrotechnic. Other candidates for this office of all -dignity have awaited calmly at home the authoritative call of the -people; but the materia medica of politics teaches that to quicken a -sluggish pulse in the electorate a hero must be administered directly -and vigorously into the system. So the Colonel was sent upon his mighty -"swing around the circle." - -In that sweeping vote-drive many weapons were displayed, but only one -saw any real service. That was the Colonel's gray and battered campaign -hat. He wore it for the sake of comfort, to be sure; but, like the log -cabin and grandfather's hat of the Harrisons, the rails of Lincoln, and -the Rough Riders uniform of Roosevelt, it was the tumult-raising and -final answer to every argument and appeal of the opposition. It uprooted -party loyalties, silenced partisan prejudices, overrode eloquence and -oratory, beat back and battered down the shrewd attacks and defences of -political manipulation, and contemptuously kicked aside anything -savouring of serious political reasoning. The convention which -nominated him had indeed formulated and declared an admirable platform -upon which he should go before the people, and he placed himself -squarely on that platform; but the gaze of the people never got far -enough below that campaign hat to notice what its wearer was standing -on. - -Colonel Phillips was a sincere, honest, candid, plain-spoken -politician--for politician he was if he was anything, while yet so -fearless of party whips and mandates that his name was synonymous with -honesty and lofty civic purpose. So, feeling his own purposes ringing -true to the declarations of his party's platform he did not deem it -necessary to direct the distracted attention of the people to these -prosy matters of statecraft when they were taking such a friendly -interest in his headgear. If they were willing to blindly follow the -hat, he knew in his honest heart that the man under it would carry that -hat along paths of political righteousness. - -He was indeed playing upon every chord of popular feeling and seeking -the favour of every man with a ballot. He had always fought to win in -every contest he had entered, from single-stick to war, and he made no -exception of this race for the chieftaincy of the Republic. It was to -be expected, therefore, that the large negro vote in pivotal States, as -well as his natural love of justice and his admiration for a brave -soldiery, would lead him to pay enthusiastic and deserved tribute to the -negro troops who had served in the Venezuelan campaign. He paid these -tributes religiously and brilliantly in every speech he made, but always -in general and impersonal terms and without a hint of his own debt to a -corporal of the 10th Cavalry. There was no need for such minutiae of -course, for that was a purely personal affair between him and an unknown -negro who might be dead and buried for all he knew; while, besides, a -recital of these unimportant details would necessitate a fruitless -revision of other incidental ideas now pleasantly fixed in the public -mind. He sometimes entertained his wife and daughters with the story of -how a trooper of the 10th had saved his life, but never did he sound the -personal note in public. - -Colonel Phillips made votes with every speech and it looked as if he -would win. He deserved to win, for he was honest, capable, clean. As -election day drew near the opposing candidate received a confidential -letter from his campaign manager in which that veteran politician said: - -"I have lost and won many hats in my political career, but this is the -first time I have ever been called upon to fight a hat--just a hat--to -settle a Presidency. This is a hat campaign; and you have evidently -made the mistake of going bareheaded all your life. You seem, too, to -have limited yourself to a home-grown ancestry. The Colonel is simply -wearing a hat and claiming kin with everything from a Plymouth Rock -rooster to a palmetto-tree. The newspapers are getting on my nerves -with their unending references to that campaign-hat and Phillips' -ding-dong about the unity and virility of American blood and his -mother's being a South Carolinian." - - * * * * * - -"The cards are running against us." - - - - - *CHAPTER VII* - - -Colonel Phillips' daughters were enjoying life to the full in their long -summer outing on the St. Lawrence. The older, Elise, had just finished -with the schools and was free from many of the restraints which the -strict and old-fashioned ideas of her mother had put upon her during her -girlhood, and was filled with a lively enjoyment of her first -untrammelled association with the males of her kind. Helen was still a -girl, and her mother yet threw about her all the guards and fences that -properly hedge about the days of maidenhood. But this did not in the -slightest check the flow of Helen's joy in life, for the matter of sex -in her associates was not an element in her happiness. Boy or girl, it -mattered not to her, if her fellow in the hour's sport was quick-witted, -quick-moving and mischief-loving. The extent of her thoughts of love -was that it and its victims were most excellent objects of banter and -ridicule; and she found the incipient affair between Elise and Evans -Rutledge a source of much fun. - -"Are you a hero?" she once asked Mr. Rutledge solemnly. - -"Not to my own knowledge," Rutledge answered. "Why?" - -"Because if you are you may be my brother sometime. Elise likes you a -little, I think, and she thinks your hair would curl beautifully if you -didn't crop it so close--but you will have to be a hero. You needn't -fear Mr. Morgan. He failed to be a hero when he had the chance, and now -his chance is gone. Nobody but a hero can interest Elise for keeps." - -"When did Morgan have his chance?" asked Rutledge, amused at the -mischief-maker's plain speaking. - -"He went to Venezuela in papa's regiment, but never had a shot fired at -him the whole time he was gone. That's what he did. Elise cannot love -a man like that." - -"Perhaps it was not his fault. He may have been detailed to such duties -as kept him away from the shots." - -"Yes, I think he says he was; but what of that? He wasn't in the -fighting, and that's what it takes to make a hero. Oh, I wish I were a -man. I would ride a horse and hunt lions and tigers, and I would have -gone to the war in Venezuela and nobody's orders would have kept me from -the firing-line--I believe that's what papa calls it--the place where -all the fun and danger is. When papa talks about it I can hear my heart -beat. Elise says she wouldn't be a man for anything; but I've heard her -say that she could love a man if he was a _man_--brave and strong--you -know--a man who did things. I would prefer to do the things myself. I -wouldn't love any man I ever saw--unless he was just like papa. What -regiment were you in, Mr. Rutledge?" - -"I wasn't in any regiment," said Rutledge meekly. - -"What! Didn't you volunteer?" asked Helen in surprise. - -"I did not volunteer"--a trifle defiantly. - -"Why?" Helen demanded scornfully. "If I had a brother and he had failed -to volunteer I would never have spoken to him again! I thought all -South Carolinians were fighters." - -"I had other things to attend to," said Rutledge shortly. "Where is -Miss Phillips this afternoon?" - -"She's out on the river with Mr. Morgan. They will not be back till -dinner, so you would just as well sit down here and talk to me.... But -I'm sorry you didn't volunteer--you will never be my brother now.... And -I was beginning to like you so much." - -"I thank you, little girl, for your attempt to think well of me. I see -that I have sinned past your forgiveness in not being a hero. Remember -that it is only because ninety and nine men are commonplace that the -hundredth may be a hero. I am one of the ninety and nine that make the -hero possible--a modest king-maker, in a way. A hero must have some one -else to fight for, or die for, or live for. He cannot do these things -for himself, for that would make him anything but a hero. So you see -that the second person is as necessary to the process of hero-making as -the hero himself. It's all in the process and not in the product, -anyway. It's the hero in act and not in fact, in the making and not in -the taking, that enjoys his own heroism and is worth our interest. While -he is making himself he thrills with the effort and with the uncertainty -as to whether he will get a commission, a lathe-and-plaster arch, or a -court of inquiry; and we the ninety and nine, we thrill with the -gambling fever and make wagers that his trolley will get off the wire. -But when he gets himself done--clean done, so to speak, wrapped in -tinfoil and ready for use--then there is nothing left for the hero to do -but to pose and await our applause--which is most unheroic; and we, -after one whoop, forget him in the excitement of watching the next -candidate risk his neck. Besides, the hero's work in hero-making is -temporary and limited, for he stops with making one; but we, when we -have finished with one, turn to the making of another, and our work is -never done. While I am not even one hero, I have helped to make a -hundred. Come now--you are generous and unselfish--which would you most -admire, one finished hero listening for applause, or a hero-maker, who, -without reward or the hope of reward, modestly and continuously assists -in thus bringing glory to an endless procession of his fellows?" - -"You think you are brilliant, Mr. Rutledge," answered Helen with an -impatient toss of her head, "but you can't confuse me by any such talk -as that. You needn't think you will be able to persuade Elise by any -long jumble of words that you are greater than a hero. A king-maker!" -She laughed mockingly at him. - -"Don't fear that I will use any sophistry or doubtful method to become -your brother," Rutledge rejoined amusedly. "I have only one thing to -tell Miss Phillips." - -"And what is that?" asked Helen with interest. - -"I am inexpressibly pained to refuse your lightest wish," said Rutledge -grandiloquently, "but to grant your request would be--telling; and I -may--not tell,--perhaps,--even Miss Phillips." - -"Do not suffer so," said Helen with an assumption of great indifference. -"I don't care to hear it." - -"Yes, I predict that you will be delighted to listen to it when it is -told to you," said Rutledge confidently. "And it will be beyond doubt. -But you are too young to hear such things yet. Be patient. You'll get -older if you live long enough." - -It fretted Helen to be told that she was young, as she was told a dozen -times a day--not that she disliked her youth, but because of the -suggestion that she was not free to do as she pleased; and her eyes -began to flash at Rutledge's taunt and her mind to form a suitable -expression of resentment--when that gentleman walked away from her -smiling at her petulant anger. - -Evans Rutledge had more interest in Helen's words about her sister than -he showed in his manner or conversation. He had not told Elise what his -heart had told him for many days past, though she did not need spoken -words to know. He, manlike, thought that he was keeping this knowledge -of his supreme affection for her a secret in his own soul, to be -delivered as a startling and effective surprise when an impressive and -strategic opportunity should come to tell her of it. She, womanlike, -read him as easily as a college professor is supposed to read Greek, and -concerned herself chiefly with feigning ignorance of his interest in -her. - -Elise's true attitude toward Rutledge was a sort of neutrality. She was -neither for him nor against him. She was attracted by everything she -saw or knew of him, and looked upon him with that more than passing -interest which every woman has for a man who has asked or will ask her -to be his wife. - -On the other hand she was decided she could not accept Rutledge. She -had but crossed the threshold of her unfettered young womanhood, and her -natural and healthy zest in its pleasures overcame any natural impulse -to choose a mate. Added to this were the possibilities held out in her -romantic imagination as the increasing newspaper prophecies concerning -her father induced day-dreams of court-like scenes and princely suitors -when she should be the young lady of the White House, the most exalted -maiden in great America, with the prerogative of a crown princess. A -temporary prerogative surely, but well-nigh irresistible when combined -with the compelling charm of American womanhood, that by right of genius -assumes the high positions for which nature has endowed the gentlewomen -of this republic, and by right of fine adaptability and inborn -queenliness establishes and fortifies them, as if born to the purple, in -the social high places of older civilizations. - -Elise Phillips, with all her democratic training, with her admirable -good common sense, with her adorable kindliness of heart and -friendliness of spirit for every man and woman of high or low degree, -with her sincere admiration for true manliness and pure womanliness -unadorned by any tinsel of arbitrary rank, with all her contempt for the -shams and pretences of decayed nobilities parading dishonoured titles, -was yet too much a woman and too full of the romantic optimism of life's -spring-time not to dream of princely youths wearing the white flower of -blameless lives who would come in long procession to attend her -temporary court. - -And in that procession as it even now passed before her imagination, she -kept watch for _him_,--the ideal of her maiden soul, the master of her -virgin heart;--_him_, with the blue eyes and flaxen hair and the -commanding figure that looked down upon all other men;--_him_, with the -look and gesture of power that men obeyed and women adored, and that -became tender and adoring only for her;--_him_, with a rank that made -him to stand before kings with confidence, and a clean life that might -stand before her white soul and feel no shame;--_him_, with a strength -and courage that failed not nor faltered along the rocky paths by which -the laurel and Victoria Crosses grow, and that yet would falter and -tremble with love in her presence. Oh, the wonderful dreams of Youth! -How real they are, and how powerful in changing the issues of life and -of death. - -Had Rutledge taken counsel of his mother or heeded her disapprobation of -Miss Elise Phillips, he would have saved himself at least from the pain -of a flouted love; and if he could have made his heart obey his mother's -wish he would have avoided the stress of many heartaches and jealousies, -and of slow-dying hope. - -Mrs. Rutledge had her young womanhood in the heart-burning days of the -Great War, and the partisan impress then seared into her young soul was -ineradicable. She had a youth that knew fully the passions and the -sorrows of that awful four years of blood and strife: for every man of -her house, father and five brothers, had she seen dead and cold in their -uniforms of gray; and her antipathy for "those people" who had sent -anguish and never-ending desolation into her life might lie dormant if -memory was unprovoked, but it could never change nor lose its sharp -vehemence. - -She had objected to Elise from the moment her son showed a fancy for -her, and began quietly to sow in his mind the seeds she hoped would grow -into dislike and aversion. She told him that "those people," as she -invariably called persons who came from that indefinite stretch of -country which her mind comprehended in the term "the North," were "not -of our sort,"--that they were intelligent and interesting in a -way;--that Elise Phillips was unquestionably fascinating to a young man, -that her money had given her a polish of mind and manner that was -admittedly attractive; but that she was not fitted to be the life -companion of a man whose culture and gentlemanliness was not a product -of schools and of dollars but a heritage from long generations of gentle -ancestors who had bequeathed to him converging legacies of fine and -gentle breeding. - -Evans Rutledge, however, was of a new day; and his mother's theory that -good blood was a Southern and sectional product found no place in his -thought. He was tender, however, and considerate of his mother's -prejudices, and was never so rude as to brush them aside contemptuously. -He always treated them with deference and tried always to meet them with -some show of reason. In the case of Elise Phillips he sought to placate -his mother's whim and capture her prejudice by tacitly agreeing to the -general proposition while excepting Elise from it by the use of Colonel -Phillips' well-worn statement that his mother was a South Carolinian. - -"That makes Miss Phillips a granddaughter of South Carolina," said -Rutledge to his mother; "and surely there cannot be much degeneracy in -two generations,--especially when the Southern blood was of the finest -strain." - -Mrs. Rutledge admitted that the argument was not without force, but -solemnly warned her son there was no telling when the common strain -might crop out. - -"What's bred in the bone will come out in the blood," she said, "and bad -blood is more assertive than good." - -Evans loved his mother better than any other soul except Elise, and he -would go far and deny himself much to obey even her most unreasonable -whim, but his love for Elise was too fervid a passion to be stifled for -the sake of a war-born prejudice. He would win her; yes, he must win -her; and he waited only the winning moment to plead openly for his -happiness. - - - - - *CHAPTER VIII* - - -It was a morning in late September that Elise and Rutledge went for -their last canoe ride on the mighty river. Mrs. Phillips and her -daughters were to leave for home on an early afternoon train, and Mrs. -Rutledge and Evans for Montreal an hour later. - -It was a day to live. By an occasional splash of yellow or red among -the green that lined the riverside and clothed the diminutive island in -the stream, Summer gave notice that in thirty days Nature must find -another tenant; and a taste of chill in the air was Winter's advance -agent looking over the premises and arranging to decorate them in the -soberer grays and browns for the coming of his serious and mighty -master. - -The lassitude of the hot days was gone, and life and impulse were in the -autumn breeze. There was not a suggestion of melancholy or decay or -death in earth, air or sky. It was more as if a strong man was risen -from drowsy sleep and stretching his muscles and breathing a fresh air -into his lungs for a day of vigorous doing. Not exhaustion but -strength, not languor but briskness, not the end but the beginning, was -indicated in every breath and aspect of Nature. - -It was a morning not to doubt but to believe: and Rutledge felt the -tightening spring in mind and body and heart, and the bracing influence -made his love and his hopes to vibrate and thrill. As with easy strokes -he sent the canoe through the water he drank in the fresh beauty of -Elise as an invigorating draught. She was so _en rapport_ with the -morning and the sunlight and the life as she sat facing and smiling upon -him, her cheeks aglow with health and her face alight with the exquisite -keenness of joy in living, that she seemed to him the incarnate spirit -of the day. - -The crisp tingle in the air was not without its spell upon Elise. No -blood could respond more quickly than hers to Nature's quickening -heart-beats, and it sang in her pulses with unaccustomed sensations that -morning. She looked upon Rutledge as he smartly swung the paddle, and -was struck with the strength he seemed to possess without the coarse -obtrusion of muscle. She accredited the easiness of his movements to -the smooth water, in which he had kept the canoe because of his desire -to be as little distracted as possible from contemplation of Elise's -charms and graces. The swing of his body and arms was as graceful as if -he had learned it from a dancing-master, and there was a touch of -daintiness about it which was his only personal trait that Elise had -positively designated in her mind as not belonging to her ideal man. -She did not object to it on its own account, but surmised it might have -its origin in some vague unmanly weakness--and weakness in a man she -despised. - -She had talked to him of a score of things since they had embarked, -passing rapidly from one to another in order to keep him away from the -one subject he seemed attracted to from any point of the conversational -compass. At the moment she had been so clearly impressed with his -almost feminine gracefulness the conversation was taking a dangerous -swerve, she thought; and for a minute she was at a loss how to divert -the course of language from the matter nearest his heart. In a blind -effort to do so she unthinkingly challenged him to prove his sterner -strength which she had never seen put to the test. - -"It's easy going here, isn't it?" she said. "What a pity we couldn't -have one visit to the island before we go away." - -"Do you wish to go there?" asked Rutledge. - -"I would like to," she replied, "but of course we cannot attempt it -without an experienced canoe-man. It is about time for us to return; -don't you think so?" - -"That depends on whether you really want to go to the island," returned -Rutledge, who was quick to see and resent the intimation that he was not -equal to the business of putting her across the racing water between -them and the small cluster of trees and shrubs growing among a misshapen -pile of rocks nearly across the river. - -"I am told no one but these half-breed guides have ever tried the -passage," he continued. "Not because it is so very dangerous, I -suppose, but because it is too small to attract visitors to try the -rough water." - -"They can get to it easily from the other side, can't they? It seems so -near to that," said Elise. - -"No. Jacques tells me that the narrow water on the other side runs like -a race-horse, and has many rocks to smash the canoe. Even going from -this side I would prefer to leave you here, Miss Phillips, and of course -that would make the visit without inducement to me." - -"You allow your carefulness of me and your politeness to me to reason -you out of the danger," said Elise, without any sinister purpose; but -Rutledge recalled Helen Phillips' words about Elise and heroes, and -became uncomfortable. - -"I used them to reason you out of the danger," he replied. "If the -argument does not appeal to you I am ready for your orders." - -"Then let's go over," said Elise, prompted half by the challenge in his -eyes and half by her subconscious desire to see him vindicate his -feminine grace. - -"I admit I am a coward," Rutledge remarked as he turned the canoe toward -the island. - -"Oh, if you confess to being afraid!" said Elise in mingled surprise and -pity. "I certainly cannot insist. Let's return to the hotel." - -"You mistake me," Rutledge replied as he sent the light craft on toward -the rapids. "My cowardice is in permitting you to bully me into -carrying you into some danger. I should have the courage to refuse." - -"You would have me believe in your courage, then, whether you choose -danger or avoid it. That is artful," Elise rejoined. - -The word "artful" nettled Rutledge, and he put his resentment into the -strokes which sent the canoe forward. If Elise Phillips could believe -of him that he would attempt to establish a reputation for courage by a -trick of words, words would be inadequate, of course, to defend him from -the imputation. There was no chance now to convince her, he thought, -save to try the passage. So, despising the weakness which would not let -him point the canoe homeward, he set his strength against the increasing -current, and soon lost thought of the argument in the zest of sparring -with the river. - -Elise became absorbedly interested in the contest and in his handling of -the boat. The interest of both became more and more intense as the -water began to slap the canoe viciously and toss them with careless -strength. A wave rolling over a sunken rock rushed upon them with a -gurgle and swash and passed under the canoe with a heave and splash that -tilted them uncomfortably and threw a hatful of water over the side. -Another came with a more impatient toss, and Elise crouched upon the -seat to preserve her equilibrium. Rutledge looked round at her face, -which was unsmiling but without fear, and asked: - -"Shall we go back?" - -"No," the girl answered. - -They soon found that the water was swifter than they had judged it from -the shore, and that they had not put across far enough up-stream to make -the island easily. They were nearing it, but the current was becoming -boisterous and they were drifting faster and faster down-stream. -Swifter water and rougher met the canoe at every paddle-stroke. -Rutledge with his back to Elise dropped on one knee in the water in the -canoe bottom and gave every energy to his work. If Elise had not been -with him he would have liked nothing better. - -As for the girl, she would not insist on this wild ride again, but, -being in, she was having many thrills of pleasure. Rutledge's manner -gave her confidence that they would reach the island, but with how much -discomfiture she was as yet uncertain. She was drenched with water from -the slapping waves and the swiftly flying paddle, which was Rutledge's -only weapon against the wrath of the river. She saw in his resolute -efforts that their situation was at least serious if not dangerous, and -she hardly took her eyes from him; but with her closest scrutiny she did -not detect the slightest indecision or apprehension. - -Only once did fear come to her, and that but for a moment. The struggle -was now quick and furious. They were in the mad whirl of crushing water -that tore alongside the island and was ripped and ground among the -bullying rocks. She heard Rutledge stifle a cry as he sent the canoe -out with a back-stroke that almost threw her overboard, and the rioting -current slammed them past a jagged vicious-looking rock just under the -river's surface which would have smashed their cockle-shell to -splinters. When she looked down upon it as they were shot past she -thought for an instant of death and dead men's bones. Then-- - -"Out! Quick--now!" yelled Rutledge, as with a strength that seemed as -much of will as of muscle, he shoved the canoe's nose up against the -island and held it for a moment against the fury of the water. - -Elise rose at his sharp command and leaped lightly out upon a bare rock, -giving the canoe a back kick which sent it swinging around broad across -the current. As it swung off Rutledge, seeing no favourable place below -him to make another landing, quickly gave his end of the boat a cant -toward the island, dropped the paddle in the canoe, grabbed the mooring -chain and jumped for the land. He jumped and alighted unsteadily but -without further mishap than so far capsizing the canoe that it shipped -enough water to more than half submerge it and threaten to sink it. With -his effort to draw it up on the rock and save it from sinking entirely, -the water in the canoe rushed to the outer end, sending that completely -under and floating the paddle out and away. He yanked the canoe up on -the island and, turning, looked straight into Elise's eyes for ten -seconds without speaking. - -"Why don't you say it?" the young woman asked with amused defiance. - -"Say what?" inquired Rutledge. - -"What you are dying to tell me." - -"I love you," answered Rutledge simply. - -"Oh! You--you--impudent--you horrible!" cried Elise with a gasp. "To -presume I would invite you to tell me--that! How dare you!" - -"I dare anything for you," said Rutledge. "I love you and--" - -"Stop! Not another word on that subject--lest your presumption become -unbearable! You know very well, Mr. Stupidity, that I expected you to -say 'I told you so.'" - -"I have told you--so--your--exp--" - -"Stop, I say! I will not listen to another word. Your persistence is -almost--insulting!" - -"Insulting!" said Rutledge in amazement. "Then pardon me and I'll not -offend again;" and he turned to take a look at the fast-riding paddle as -it turned and flashed far down the river. - -Elise was glad of the chance to gather her wits together and prepare a -defence against this abrupt method of wooing. Indeed she was on the -defensive against her own heart. One fact alone, however, would justify -her deliberation: that she was not certain of her own mind. Friendship -may halt and consider, admiration may sit in judgment; but love that -questions, or is of two minds, or hesitates, is not love. - -She turned away from him and the river to give attention to this new -problem which was of more immediate interest to her than the question of -how they were to get away from the island. Rutledge came to her after -awhile. - -"Miss Phillips," he said, "I have the honour to report that, while we -are prisoners on this island now, our imprisonment will not be lengthy. -Fortunately I saw Jacques on the other side of the river and made him -understand, I think, that we have lost our paddle. At any rate he put -off toward the hotel at great speed, and will be down with another canoe -I hope before you become tired of your island." And he added, as if to -relieve the tense situation: "While we wait I shall be glad to show you -over the premises and to talk about anything that you may prefer to -discuss." - -Elise could not tell from the formal manner of Rutledge's words whether -he was really offended or humourously stilted in his speech. She could -be as coldly polite as any occasion demanded; but, believing that she -had effectually put an end to his love-making for the day, she met his -formality of manner in her naturally charming and friendly spirit. - -"Sit down here then, and tell me where you learned to handle a canoe. I -did not know canoeing was a Southern sport." - -"It is not," Rutledge said, taking the place she gave him at her feet. -"I was never in a canoe till I came here this summer." - -"Now, Mr. Rutledge, don't ask too much of credulity. One surely cannot -become skilful without practice." - -"I did not mean that I have never been on the water before," said -Rutledge; "but in my country we do not have these curved and graceful -canoes. We navigate our rivers with the primitive dugout or pirogue. I -have used one of those on my father's Pacolet plantation since I was a -boy. The dugout is made by hollowing out a section of a tree. That -makes the strongest and best boat, for it never leaks or gets smashed -up. It is very narrow and shallow, however, and it takes some skill to -handle it in a flood." - -"Were you ever in a flood?--a worse flood than this?" asked Elise. - -"Yes. When our little rivers get up they are as bad as this or worse. -I have seen them worse. During the great flood on the Pacolet some years -ago, when railroad bridges, mill dams, saw-mills, cotton mills, houses, -barns, cotton bales, lumber, cattle, men, women and children were all -engulfed in one watery burial, the little river was for six hours a -monster--a demon." - -"Tell me about that," Elise said; and to entertain her Rutledge told her -at length the story of that cataclysm of piedmont South Carolina. He -went into the details without which such description is only awful, not -interesting. Many were the incidents of heroism and hairbreadth escapes -and unspeakable calamity which he related; and he told the stories with -such vividness of portraiture, dramatic fire and touches of pathos that, -with the roar of many waters actually pounding upon her ear-drums, Elise -could close her eyes and see the scenes he depicted. - -In looking upon the pictures he drew with such living interest she found -herself straining her tight-shut eyes in search of his figure among the -throng that lined the river-bank or fought the awful flood. Time after -time as he described an act of heroic courage in words that burned and -glowed and crackled with the fire that could stir only an eye-witness or -an actor in the unstudied drama he was reproducing, she would clothe the -hero with Rutledge's form, identify his distinctive gestures and -movement and catch even the tones of his voice as it shouted against the -booming of the waters: but with studied regularity and distinctness -Rutledge at some point in every story, incidentally and apparently -unconsciously, would make it plain that the hero of that incident was a -person other than himself. - -He might have told her, indeed, many things to his own credit: -especially of a desperate ride and struggle in one of those dugouts -which he had volunteered to make in order to prevent an old negro man -adrift on a cabin-top from going over Pacolet Dam Number 3, where so -many unfortunates went down and came not up again; but at no time could -Elise infer from his speech that he was the hero of his own story. Her -word "artful" still rankled in his memory, and he swore to his own soul -that she should never, never hear him utter a word that might show he -possessed or claimed to possess courage. - -The only method by which Elise could deduce from his words the -conclusion that Rutledge was of courageous heart was that courage seemed -such a commonplace virtue among the people of his section that he -probably possessed his share of it. Her curiosity was finally aroused -to know whether by any artifice she might induce him to tell of his own -exploits, which his very reticence persuaded her must be many and -interesting, and she brought all her powers into play to draw him out: -but to no purpose. She refrained from any direct appeal to him in fear -that a personal touch might turn the conversation along dangerous lines; -and Rutledge, having been properly rebuked, waited for some intimation -of permission before presuming to discuss other than impersonal themes. - -While indeed it only confirmed her woman's intuition, Elise was -unconsciously happier because of Rutledge's blunt statement of his love, -for it made certain a fact that was not displeasing to her. Yet she -would hold him at arm's length, for she could with sincerity bid him -neither hope nor despair. The glamour of her day-dreams made the -reading of her heart's message uncertain. Rutledge had not the -glittering accessories that attended the wooer of her visions; and yet -as he talked to her she was mentally placing him in every picture her -mind drew of the future, and was impressed that whether in the soft -scenes where knightly gallantry and grace wait upon fair women, or in -the stern dramas where bitter strength of mind and heart and body is -poured out in libation to the god of grinding conflict, he, in every -scene, looked all that became a man. - -Rutledge's flow of narrative and Elise's absent-minded reverie were -broken in upon by the hail of Jacques, who was approaching them from -almost directly up-stream. His canoe was doing a grapevine dance as he -pushed it yet farther across the river and dropped rapidly down to a -landing on the far side of the island. - -"Sacre! Wrong side!" he exclaimed when he came across and saw where -Rutledge had pulled his canoe out of the water. "Here I lose two canoe -sometime. How you mek him land?" - -Rutledge did not answer the question but set about getting his canoe -across the island to the point designated by Jacques as the place for -leaving it. He had no desire to stay longer since all hope of further -_tete-a-tete_ with Elise was gone; and in a few minutes they were ready -to embark. - -"No hard pull, but kvick paddle lak feesh-tail," said Jacques in -explaining the course by which they were to return, the which was -plainly beset with numberless rocks and shoals. - -"Sweem out seex times befor I lairn road," he added as a comforting -proof of the thoroughness of his knowledge. The return was a simple -matter of dropping off from the far side of the island, floating down a -few rods, and then picking along through the rocks across the river as -the canoe gathered speed down-stream. - -"Miss Phillips," Rutledge said when they were ready, "perhaps you had -better take ship with Jacques. He knows the road." - -Their rescuer looked pleased at the honour, and turned to pull his canoe -within easier reach. - -"No, thank you," she said to Rutledge. "I prefer to go with you." - -Rutledge caught his breath at the loyalty and the caress in her voice, -and ungratefully wished Jacques at the bottom of the river. He handed -her into his canoe with a tenderness that was eloquent; and Jacques, -seeing through the game which robbed him of the graceful young woman for -a passenger, put off just ahead of them, saying: - -"I go fairst. Follow me shairp." - -It was no easy task to follow that canoe; and Elise, as she watched the -precision with which Rutledge used the "kvick paddle lak feesh-tail," -was convinced that such skill had not gone to waste at the Pacolet -flood. As she looked at him when the rough water was past and he was -sending the canoe up the river with even swing again, graceful as -before, her eyes had a light in them that would have gladdened his heart -to see. - -They landed near the hotel and hurried straight to it upon Elise's plea -that she was late and must hurry to dress for her train. Rutledge -walked beside her down the long hall of the hotel, and at the foot of -the stairway, feeling that opportunity was slipping past him, he stopped -her short with-- - -"Your answer, Elise! In heaven's name, your answer!" - -Elise was again startled by his abruptness, and her unrestrained heart's -impulse sent a look of tenderness to her eyes that would have crowned -Rutledge's life with all happiness, had not that glamour of her -daydreams, fateful, insistent, overclouded and banished it in a moment. -She looked at him confusedly a moment more, then took a quick step away -from him, hesitated, and, turning quickly, said: - -"There is no answer,"--and fled up the stairs. - -Rutledge turned away dazed by the reply to his heart's question. "There -is no answer!"--as if he were a "Buttons" who had carried to her -ladyship an inconsequential message which deserved no reply. He could -not get his mind to comprehend the import of it; and he was walking back -down the hallway with a vexed frown upon his face trying to untangle his -thoughts, when Helen Phillips passed him and, seeing him in such a mood -after his parting ride with Elise, prodded him with-- - -"None but heroes need apply, Mr. Rutledge. I warned you." - -Rutledge passed on with an irritated shrug of the shoulders; and Helen, -laughing, ran to tease Elise for a history of the morning's ride and the -reason "why Mr. Rutledge is so grumpy." Little satisfaction did she get -from Elise, however, for that young woman evinced as much of reticence -as Rutledge had shown of irritation. - -"I told him none but heroes need apply," laughed Helen. - -"What do you know of heroes?" asked Elise with a snap. - - - - - *CHAPTER IX* - - -Within a week after Evans Rutledge and Elise Phillips parted at the St. -Lawrence resort, the newspapers told the people that at a Saratoga -restaurant Colonel Phillips and his wife and daughter, and Doctor -Martin, a negro of national reputation, had sat down to dine together. -It was soon after this that one evening, at his home in Cleveland, Ohio, -Colonel Phillips happened upon a mixed quartette (all negroes) who had -been brought over from New York to sing at a sacred concert in one of -the fashionable churches, but who could not obtain what they considered -a respectable lodging-place. With characteristic impulsiveness the -Colonel, who heard of it, invited the two men and two women up to his -house and entertained them overnight. - -On those occasions Mrs. Phillips had shown unmistakable opposition to -the acts of her liege lord. Elise had more than seconded her mother in -haughty indignation; though with her superb training in obedience she -could not be openly rebellious. When he had brought the quartette into -his home Mr. Phillips could not fail to see the pain in his wife's eyes -as she asked: - -"Was that necessary?" - -"Why, can you not see," he replied with some hot feeling in his tones, -"that it was the only thing to be done? They are very respectable -people, all of them. They are intelligent and well-bred, as you can see. -Why should the simple matter of colour alone keep me from doing what I -just as quickly might have done for a white man?" - -The unconscious humour of this way of putting it did not reach Mrs. -Phillips, and the Colonel's tone and manner, not his words, kept her -silent when he had finished. She could not quarrel with him; and he -thought he had answered her reason, though he admitted inwardly that her -prejudices were unconverted. Nevertheless he did not open the discussion -again. - -Helen, however, naturally siding with her father, did not hesitate to -bring it up repeatedly, and youthfully to descant at length and with -some elaboration of ideas on the propriety and admirableness of her -father's act. Mrs. Phillips, with the sole purpose of preserving -parental discipline and not wishing even slightly to encourage -insubordination, had very little to say to Helen about it; while Elise -answered all the younger girl's effusions with sniffs of disdain. - - * * * * * - -These incidents and Elise's womanly perversity and curiosity really gave -Evans Rutledge a great opportunity if he only could have read the -portents of circumstance and calculated to a nicety the eccentricity of -a woman's heart. The entertainment of negro guests at the mansion of an -aspirant for the presidency was given wide publicity by the press and -was the subject of universal though temporary notice by newspapers and -editorial writers of every class. Rutledge, in his capacity as -Washington representative of a half-dozen newspapers over the country, -contributed his share to the general chorus of comment. - -When Elise read in a Cleveland paper a clipping accredited to "Evans -Rutledge in Chicago American," she suddenly became desirous of seeing -that young man again. The sentiments, stripped of the tartness in their -expression and a seeming lack of appreciation of her distinguished -father's dignity, were so in accord with hers that she was startled at -the exact coincidence of thought--while still resentful of the free and -fierce criticism. - -Resentment and thoughts of coincidences were pushed out of her mind, -however, by the question, "Would he tell me again he loves me?" This -was both a personal and a sentimental question and was therefore of -chief interest to her woman's mind. Not that she had a whit more of -love for him than upon that last day upon the St. Lawrence--oh, no; but -his love for her? his willingness to avow it? was it still hers? was it -ever hers really?--for not a word or a line had he addressed to her -since the day they fought the river. She would confess to a slight -curiosity and desire to meet him when she should go to Washington on -that promised visit to Lola DeVale. - -Rutledge assuredly had escaped none of the untoward influences which the -Phillips-negro incidents might have had upon his love for Elise. His -good mother religiously attended to the duty of impressing upon him the -disgraceful horrors of those affairs. She found no words forceful enough -properly to characterize them, though she applied herself with each new -day to the task. What might have been the result if her son's heart had -been inclined to fight for the love of Elise of course cannot be known. -His mother's philippics effected nothing, for the good reason that he -had lost hope of winning Elise before the negro incidents occurred, and -the personal turn his mother gave them was only tiresome to him. -Elise's last words to him, "There is no answer," had put their affair -beyond the effect of anything of that sort. She had not only refused -him, but had flouted him, treated him with contempt: yes, had said to -him in effect that his proffer of love was not worth even a negative -answer. He had gone over every incident of their association, and, with -a lover's carefulness of detail, had considered and weighed her every -word and look and gesture; and, with a lover's proverbial blundering, -had found as a fact the only thing that was not true. - - * * * * * - -When Elise came to Washington on her visit Rutledge knew of course that -she was in town, and he kept his eyes open for her. His pride would not -let him call upon her, for he had meditated upon her treatment of him -till his grievance had been magnified many fold and his view had become -so distorted that in all her acts he saw only a purpose to play with his -heart. Yet, he wished to see her, wished very much to see -her--doubtless for the same reason that a bankrupt will look in upon -"the pit" that has gulfed his fortune. - -They met unexpectedly at Senator Ruffin's, where only time was given -them to shake hands in a non-committal manner before Mrs. Ruffin sent -them in to dinner together. If each had spoken the thoughts in the -heart a perfect understanding would have brought peace and friendship at -least, but no words were spoken from the heart. All of their -conversational sparring was of the brain purely. They fenced with -commonplaces for some little time, each on guard. Rutledge, without a -thought of Doctor Martin or the negro quartette, formed all of his -speeches for the ear of a woman who had mocked his love; while Elise -talked only for the man who had written the article in the _Chicago -American_. She saw the change in his manner, in his polite aloofness, -his insincere, careless pleasantries. - -"It is delightfully kind of you, Miss Phillips, to come over and give -Washington some of those thrills with which you have favoured -Cleveland." - -"What is the answer?" asked Elise blankly. - -"My meaning is no riddle surely," said Rutledge. "The Cleveland -newspaper reporters have taught us to believe that you are the centre of -interest in that city and that, as one signing himself 'Q' wrote in -yesterday's _Journal_,--something to the effect that you radiate a sort -of three-syllable waves which make the younger men to thrill and the old -beaux to take a new lease on life. When I read that, I could see a lot -of small boys crowding around an electric machine, all wanting to get a -touch of the current but fearful of being knocked endways." - -"Now diagnose the form of your dementia," said the girl. "You not only -read but you _believe_ the statements of the penny-a-liners. Your case -is hopeless." - -"I must read somewhat of such things--to know my craft. I must believe -somewhat of them--to respect my craft." - -"Is either knowledge or respect necessary, Mr. Rutledge? The craft is -admitted; but I had thought the purpose of all this craft was the -penny-a-line,--not knowledge or truth--which are not only incidental but -often unwelcome. Why read or believe the line after the cent has been -paid?" - -"You are unmerciful to us, Miss Phillips. It is true every news item of -interest has its money value for a newspaper man, but you must -understand that we try to use them honestly and say no more than we -feel--often far less than we feel." - -Rutledge's manner was serious when he had finished; and Elise, feeling -sure that the same incident was in his mind as in hers, had it on her -tongue's end to reply with spirit and point, when he continued lightly: - -"But that is shop. It is good of you to come over now and gradually -accustom us to those Q-waves instead of giving us the sudden full -current when Colonel Phillips rents the White House. You will not care -if some few become immune before that time, for there will be no end of -rash youths to get tangled up with the wires." - -Elise had not been a woman if Rutledge's impersonal "we" and "us" and -suggestion of persons immune to her charms had not piqued her. He need -not put his change of heart so bluntly, she thought. Yet what incensed -her was not the loss of his love, but that that love had been so poor -and frail a thing. - -"I am glad you guarantee a full supply of the raw material, Mr. -Rutledge. It is a very interesting study, I think, to watch the effect -of the--current--on youths of different temperaments: on the -black-haired, black-eyed one who raves and swears his love--to two women -in the same month; or the light-haired, blue-eyed one who laughs both -while the current is on and when it is off; or the red-headed lover who -will not take 'no' for an answer; or the gray-eyed, brown-haired man who -would appear indifferent while his heart is consuming with a passion -that changes not even when hope is gone. I will depend on you to see -that they all come along, Mr. Rutledge--even to that young Congressman -over there who is so devoted to Lola," she added in an undertone, "if he -can be persuaded to change his court." - -"Oh, he will come. His present devotion does not signify. There is -nothing true but Heaven," Rutledge replied, not to be outdone in -cynicism by this young woman who had quite taken his breath away with -her impromptu classification of lovers. His own hair was black and his -eyes, like hers, were gray; and he saw she was making sport of him under -both categories and yet betraying not her real thought in the slightest -degree. - -"Beware, Mr. Rutledge. Only woman may change her mind. Men must not -usurp our prerogative." - -"True," said Rutledge; "but a man does not know his mind or his heart -either till he's forty. He is not responsible for the guesses he makes -before that time. After that, he knows only what he does _not_ want -which is much; and, if undisturbed, can enjoy a negative consistency and -content." - -"I may not defend the sex against such an able and typical -representative," said Elise as the diners arose. - -Neither of these wholesome-minded young people had any taste for such a -fictitious basis of conversation; but each was on the defensive against -the supposed attitude of the other, and the moment their thoughts went -outside conventional platitudes they were given an unnatural and cynical -twist. Both felt a sense of relief when the evening was past. But -despite this condition, which prevailed during Elise's visit, Rutledge -could not put away the desire to see as much of her as an assumption of -indifference would permit, if only with the unformulated hope that he -might catch unawares if but for a moment the unstudied good camaraderie -and congenial spirit which had won his heart on the St. Lawrence. But -the sensitive consciousness of one or the other ever had been present to -exorcise the natural spirit from their conversations. - -Rutledge lived bravely up to his ideas of what a proper pride demanded -of him, but his assumption of indifference was sorely tried from their -first meeting at Senator Ruffin's. The mischief began with Elise's -offhand little discourse on the colour of eyes and hair as indicia of -the traits and fates of lovers--particularly with her statement that a -red-headed man will not take a woman's "no" for an answer. The point in -that which irritated the cuticle of Mr. Rutledge's indifference was that -Mr. Second Lieutenant Morgan had a head of flame. - -Now man--natural man--usually has the intelligence to know when a thing -is beyond his reach, and the philosophy to content himself without it. -He rejoices also in his neighbour's successes. But natural man, with -all his intelligence and all his philosophy and all his brotherly love, -cannot look with patience or self-deceit upon another's success or -probable success where he himself, striving, has failed. In the whole -realm of human experience there are exceptions to this rule perhaps; but -in the tropical province of Love there is none. There a man may -conclude that the woman he wants would not be good for him, even -perforce may decide he loves her not: but the merest suggestion of -another man as a probable winner will surely bring his decision up for -review--and always to overrule it. So with Rutledge: from the moment of -Elise's unstudied remark he conceded to his own heart that his -indifference was the veriest sham and pretence--while still a pretence -necessary to his self-respect. - - - - - *CHAPTER X* - - -Hayward Graham, with an honourable discharge from the service of the -United States buttoned up in his blouse, was taking a look at Washington -before going back to re-enlist. He liked the army life, with all its -restrictions; and having by his intelligence and aptitude attained the -highest non-commissioned rank, he was optimistic enough to believe he -could win a commission before another term of enlistment expired. In -this hope he was not without a fair idea of the obstacle which his -colour placed in the path of his ambition; but in weighing his chances -he counted much on the friendliness of the newly inaugurated executive -for the negro race generally, and most of all on the President's -according his deserts to a man who had saved his life. He would keep -his identity in that respect a secret till the time was ripe, so that -the President's sense of obligation, if it existed, might not be dulled -by the granting of any premature favours--and then he would see whether -gratitude would make a man do justice. - -He had more than a month yet in which to re-enlist without loss of rank -or pay, and his visit to Washington was intended to be short, as he had -several other little picnics planned with which to fill out his -vacation. He had been there ten days or more and he had walked and -looked and lounged till he was thoroughly tired of the city and was -decided to leave on the morrow. - -But that last afternoon he saw Helen Phillips. Her carriage was driven -slowly across the sidewalk in front of him to enter the White House -grounds. The sudden quickening of his pulses at sight of her was -unaccountable to him. His gaze followed her as she went away from him, -and for the first time in months he remembered in dumb pain he was a -negro. He tried to separate the thought of his blood from his thought of -the young woman, and to put the first and its unpleasantness out of his -mind while he enjoyed the latter and its association with his college -victory and his patriotic enthusiasms: but he could not think of her -without that indefinable and subconscious heartache. - -When he came to his lodgings and opened up the afternoon paper, the only -item among all the notes of interest that had the power to catch or hold -his thought for a moment was a brief statement to the effect that the -veteran White House coachman was dead. Hayward sat and turned this over -in his mind a few minutes and then asked himself "Why not?" - -Next morning he applied for the vacant position of coachman to the -President. With the purpose to conceal his identity during his little -adventure, as he thought of it, he gave only his Christian names: John -Hayward. With similar purpose he had dressed himself in civilian -clothes; but these could not conceal his magnificent lines, and, though -another employee had been given the dead coachman's place, Hayward's -fine appearance was so much in his favour that he was engaged as footman -on trial. This was really better suited to his wishes than the other. -He had not foregone his army ambition in a night, but neither had he -been able to resist the temptation to spend a short time--the remainder -of his furlough at least--where he could see something of the young -woman who was so closely associated in his mind with the events in his -life that were worth while. - -Hayward was not in love with Helen Phillips in any sense--at least not -in the ordinary sense; for that undefined pain, a dumb monitor of the -impossible, kept him hedged away from that. On the other hand, to his -mite of natural feeling of inferiority was added the respect for rank -and dignity which his army life had hammered into him; and his attitude -toward her was the devotion which a loyalist peasant soldier might have -for the daughter of his king. He wished to be near her, to serve her; -and he counted himself fortunate that this opportunity had come to him. - ---And a superb footman he made, having every aptitude and manner both of -mind and body for form and show; and being relieved of any humiliation -of spirit by his secret feeling that he had set himself to guard and -serve a crown princess. - -A superb footman he made--and a new-rich Pittsburger offered him double -wages to enter his service. The sneer with which Hayward told him that -he was not working for money ever will be a riddle to that Pittsburg -brain. - -A superb footman he made; and with the added distinction of the -President's livery he always drew attention and comment. The veteran -Senator Ruffin was entertaining a few friends with reminiscences once -when Hayward passed. One of the party said: "Look at that footman. -Phillips has a fine eye for form, hasn't he?" - -"Yes," Senator Ruffin answered, "if he saw him before he employed him, -which he very likely did not. - -"But do you know," he went on, "I never see that nigger but I think of -John Hayward of whose last speech in Congress I was telling some of you -yesterday. The nigger has his figure and carriage, even the set and toss -of his head, about everything save his colour. The first time I saw him -get down from the Phillips' carriage I thought of John Hayward, who is -dead these fifty years. - -"There was a man for you, gentlemen. No more knightly spirit was ever -carried in a kinglier figure of a man. He was just out of college when -I was a boy, but I can remember that even then John Hayward was a toast -and a young man of mark down in Carolina. Our fathers' plantations -adjoined, and he was the first man that ever stirred in my boyish heart -the sentiment of hero-worship. The Haywards were men of note in my -State in that day as in this, and young John Hayward's future was as -brilliant and well-assured as wealth, fine family, abounding talent, -high purpose and personal force of character could make it." - ---"But we lost him. A former half-Spanish, half-devil overseer on his -father's plantation, who had been discharged because of his cruelty and -general wickedness, had bought a small farm near the elder Hayward's -place, and was trying to establish himself as a land and slave holder. -This overseer came back from one of his periodical trips bringing with -him one of the likeliest mulatto girls, as I remember it now, that I -ever saw. All the neighbours knew he could have no good purpose in -buying her, for he needed no house-girl to keep dressed up in calico as -he began to keep her. It was but a few days before reports of his -terrible cruelty to her began to be circulated by both negroes and white -people, who heard her screams as he whipped her day and night. - -"Late one afternoon, a week perhaps after he had brought her home, John -Hayward and Dick Whitaker were riding through the overseer's farm and -heard the girl scream. John, who was acquainted with the situation, -said, 'Come on, Dick, let's go up and stop that;' and put his horse at -the little gate and was pounding on the overseer's door before Dick -could reply. - -"The sound of blows ceased and the overseer came and opened the door, -revealing the girl crouched down on the floor moaning and sobbing. When -the slave-driver saw it was John his eyes snapped in wrath. - -"'What do you want?' he demanded. - -"'I want you to quit whipping that nigger,' said John. - -"'You go to hell,' retorted the overseer. 'I'll whip my slaves whenever -they won't work like I--' - -"'Oh, master, I work, I work,' protested the girl to John. - -"'Shut up! you--' began the overseer. - -"'Yes, I know you work,' said John to the girl; and he turned to the -man, 'and I know--everybody knows--what your purpose is, you fiend! My -God, it is crime enough for such as you to own the bodies of women -without your tearing their souls!' - -"'Get off my land, damn you!' ordered the overseer; and then, as if to -show his contempt for Hayward and Whitaker, he turned again to begin -flogging the cowering girl, saying: 'She's my property, and the law -gives me the right to make her obey!' - -"'Stop!' thundered John, laying his hand on his pistol as the -slave-driver raised his arm to strike. 'You son of hell! The man who -puts the weight of his hand on a woman, even his wife, to make her obey -his passions, deserves to die!' - -"Whitaker said it was all over before he could slide from his horse. -The overseer struck the girl a vicious cut as John was speaking, and his -whip was descending again when John's pistol flashed and the brute -dropped to the floor with a ball through his brain...." - -[Illustration: "HIS WHIP WAS DESCENDING AGAIN WHEN JOHN'S PISTOL -FLASHED."] - -"That was why my State lost John Hayward," the Senator continued after a -pause. "It was seen at once that he must not come to trial. While the -plea of self-defence can always be set up, the fact that John had killed -the overseer in his own house and after being ordered out, would have -made the law quite too risky. But beyond that it would have been -necessary, in order that the jury's sympathy might override the law, to -make such a presentation of the proper limitations, and the abuses and -horrors, of slave management as would be clearly inimical, if not -actually dangerous, to public order and safety. - -"So the State lost John Hayward," the Senator rambled on. "He exiled -himself less for his own safety than for the sake of a system for which -he had no sympathy, but in which seemed to be bound up the peace and -happiness, the very existence, of his people.... He went away, but the -shadow of the Black Peril was upon his life to the end.... He went to -Massachusetts, located in Boston, and began to practise law. He was -successful from the beginning, though he always spent everything he -made. He married a most lovable and beautiful woman of the finest -family, and life again promised all he had once seemingly lost.... He -had been in Congress two terms when I was first elected to the House. -Mrs. Hayward was the most gracious lady I ever knew, and they made my -first years here at Washington altogether enjoyable, for they knew -everybody that was worth knowing and were great entertainers. I remember -that as a young bachelor Congressman I used to think that if I only had -John Hayward's constituency and a wife the equal of his in beauty, -intelligence and diplomacy, I could be President without trouble.... We -served together in Congress till the beginning of the Great War. It was -just before the outbreak that that fateful shadow fell again upon him. -His son--named for him: John Graham Hayward--a boy that I had watched -grow up from a lad and loved as my own, was a student at Harvard and had -acquired many ideas of which his father had no knowledge, and which -would have startled him--with all his well-known anti-slavery -sentiments. The boy's mother looked on the negro race purely from a -missionary standpoint, and had never given a serious thought, I am sure, -to the negro's social status. - -"You perhaps may imagine the shock that came to John Hayward on going -home late one afternoon to dinner to find already seated at his table -his wife, his son, and a young negro about his son's age whom the boy -had brought in to dine with him.... John told me about it a few months -afterward, and even then, with all his heart-break, his eyes would blaze -with an insane anger as he thought of that nigger at his table.... He -looked at the three for a moment; and then he said things that blasted -his home. He kicked the nigger incontinently out of his house, and was -beside himself in the furious wrath he hurled upon his wife and son. -The boy resented his outburst, especially because of its cruel effect -upon the mother. The father in uncontrollable anger at his son's -resentful opposition ordered him to leave his roof, and told him that he -was unworthy of the name of Hayward and had disgraced it beyond repair. -The boy replied with spirit that he would not carry the name of Hayward -away from the house, but would renounce both the house and it then, -there and for ever, and walked out of the door.... On his knees did -John implore his wife's forgiveness, and receive it; but neither father -nor mother ever saw the boy again.... John tried, I think, to learn his -whereabouts, and was driven to desperation as he met failure at every -point. The moment the call came for troops, he resigned his seat in -Congress, volunteered in a Massachusetts regiment and was killed at Bull -Run.... - -"As he was lost to his native State, so he was lost to the -nation--because the baleful shadow of the Black Peril seemed to be upon -his life.... Heaven save my people--nine-tenths of whom, like him, -would deal with the negro in justice and righteousness and -helpfulness--from the stress and the blood of an open conflict against -social equality with the negro race, and from the further unspeakable, -unthinkable horror of defeat in such a conflict if it shall come upon -them." - - - - - *CHAPTER XI* - - -There can be no doubt Hayward found scant recompense for his first -month's service as part of the White House _menage_. The money -consideration of that service, as he told the gentleman from Pittsburg, -he valued as nothing; and yet it was the money that held him over beyond -the time limit he had set for his little adventure and his return to the -army. He put his eyes on Helen but twice during the month, and that -only for a moment, and he had taken his leave of Washington in less than -a fortnight if his training in the service had not accustomed him to -bear monotony with patience. - -Before his time was up, however, a letter from his mother told him that -she was hardly able longer to bear the burden of her own support or even -to supplement his contributions by any appreciable efforts of her own. -Too long and too closely indeed had she striven in his behalf, and the -overwork was demanding its pound of flesh in severe and relentless -compensation. Hayward thought he saw the hand of a kindly Providence in -having already provided him with a wage sufficient to keep both his -mother and himself from want--which his soldier's pay would not have -accomplished; and he postponed his military ambition and brought her to -Washington, where he might look after her comfort more carefully and -less expensively. Very grateful was he for an opportunity to care and -provide for her whose devotion he had always known, but the heroism and -stress of whose struggles and the wonders of whose money-working he was -beginning to appreciate only since leaving the all-providing care with -which she and the quartermaster had hedged him about from the morning of -his birth till ninety days ago. - -While his intelligence, his spirit, his cultivated ideals would not let -him rest in entire content as a menial--a footman to however high a -personage--Hayward yet found his first real basis of self-respect in the -consciousness of his responsibility for his mother's support and -happiness, and in the feeling that he was equal to the duty so plainly -laid upon him. However he had no thought but that his present work was -temporary; and, to satisfy his taste for mental recreation and -improvement as well as to have a definite purpose in his mental -pursuits, he began in his spare hours to study the books that pertained -to his proposed life-work as an officer of the army. - -His first summer in Washington added no little to his stock of that -knowledge which men acquire not out of books but at first hand. He had -seen as an onlooker something of life on both sides of the earth, and -had acquired more of the spirit of a cosmopolite than nine-tenths of the -statesmen who foregathered in the nation's capital to formulate -world-policies: and yet of the actual conditions of life, of living, -which affected him as a bread-winner, as a social unit, as one having a -part in the Kingdom of the Spirit, he was at the very beginning of -knowledge when he donned the White House livery. His effervescence of -interest in Helen Phillips in great measure subsided, naturally, among -the many new problems that came to meet him, and with his frequent -commonplace beholding of her. - -He soon was brought to realize that rigid limitations were upon him not -only by the colour-line which was drawn straight as a knife's edge from -top to bottom of Washington, but by fences and barriers inside the -confines of his own race against which he stumbled repeatedly and -blindly before he dreamed they existed. On several occasions he had met -with slight rebuffs in his friendly advances to persons of his own -colour, and ascribed them to ill-temper or uncouth manners; but he -finally received a jolt which waked him up--in this fashion: - -He dropped in at the most imposing negro church in the city one Sunday -evening, and heard a young woman of comely face and person, dressed in -perfect taste, sing a solo which, in the sentiment and the purity and -pathos of the singer's voice, met his idea of all that is exquisite in -song. When the service was finished he spoke to a well-groomed man past -middle age who had sat beside him. - -"The young lady who sang did it with marvellous taste and beauty. She -knows both how to sing and what to sing; and since I'm at it I may as -well say that she's no-end good-looking." - -The older man could not conceal his satisfaction and interest, for he -had expended many dollars on the singer. - -"I'm delighted you think so," he returned. "My daughter has had great -advantages and she ought to sing well." - -"Your daughter?" said Hayward. "You should be very proud of her. Will -you not introduce me to her? I'd like to thank her for my share. I am -John Hayward"--and feeling some identification was necessary--"footman -at the White House." - -"Excuse me, suh," said the other, with but a very slightly overdone -manner; "we don't introduce strangers to our families--specially -footmen." - -The father's manner was not intended to be offensive, but his answer -verily exploded in Hayward's face. Thanks to the younger man's training -he did not wince or change countenance, but he was so bursting full of -wrath that he never knew whether any further word was spoken between -them. He moved with the throng toward the door, but stepped into a -vacant pew for fear he would run over some one in furious impatience. -True it was that in his attempt to volunteer three years before, he had -been roughly impressed with the idea that there was some recognized -difference between a white man and a negro, and in his association with -the rough troopers of the 10th Cavalry he had become in a measure -converted to the correctness of the proposition generally: "but," he -thought in infuriated scorn, "I'm as good as any _nigger_ that ever drew -breath! A footman, am I?"--and he threw back his head with pride as he -recalled his answer to the man from Pittsburg--but dropped it again with -some humility at the thought that he was now a footman for the money it -brought. At the door he spoke to an usher. - -"Who was the young woman who sang?" - -"Miss Porter--old Henry Porter's daughter." - -"So the old scoundrel is Washington's richest negro," he thought. -"Well, his manners and his money are not well matched. I'll even the -score with him yet." - -After the first heat of his resentment was off he admitted that his -request to be presented to the negro magnate's daughter was abrupt, -informal and unwarranted, perhaps, but he argued and insisted that old -Porter ought to have seen that his unconventional request was an -impulsive outcome of his admiration for the girl's singing, and at least -have been a little more gracious in his refusal. No, he would not -forgive the manner of it; and when he remembered the song and its -delight to his senses he found it about as hard to forgive the refusal -itself. - -Not in three years, except for an occasional moment of patriotic uplift, -had his soul had a taste of something to drink--till he heard that song. -His spiritual sense had virtually lain dormant those three years in the -monotonous round of his world-circling outpost duty. In successive -enlistments he might indeed altogether have stifled it, while perfecting -his intelligence, courage, strength and skill as a soldier: for the only -possibility--and there is only possibility, no certainty or even -probability--of spiritual uplift incident to the profession of arms, is -that of developing a surpassing, unselfish love of the flag. This -sentiment in its pure fulness of bloom is of the spirit, and is an -exalted virtue; but not all even of the heroes whose ashes the nations -keep have appropriated to their souls, untainted with selfish or fleshly -impulse, this the very flowering recompense of their travail and -heroism. - -Hayward had enlisted at the bidding of the most admirable impulses and -had made an excellent soldier; but the monotonous round of garrison duty -after the brief war was ended had benumbed his purely patriotic motive, -and left only a great desire for personal advancement. In the dull -grind his very highest nature had become stagnated; and it was with the -joy of one first awakened to unforeseen possibilities that he felt -reawakened within him by that one song desires not of the flesh but of -the spirit so long stupefied and unfed. - -As he became acutely conscious of his need in this behalf, he was more -seriously regretful than before that an acquaintance with the singer who -had revivified his finer sensibilities might not be had to satisfy in a -measure the need which her singing had recreated. Under the impulse of -such desires he set about seeking associates, friendships, wherefrom he -might appropriate to himself his God-given share in the kingdom of the -Mind. In his quiet and unobtrusive search for friends among his race -who would be congenial and satisfy the craving of his higher nature for -companionship, success came with starving sloth. Most of the negroes -with whom he came at first in contact were of an order of intelligence -so far below his own that they met not in any degree the demand from -within him, and the few that possessed the intelligence were so -unbearable in manner that he found little pleasure in them. - -He had held aloof from the troopers of the 10th with the certain feeling -that they were below his type and below the type of the best negroes he -knew must exist somewhere: but he came to doubt the correctness of his -own estimate in his search for congenial spirits in Washington. -Educated negroes? Yes, there were many that had seen as much of the -schools as he, and more. Men of money? Yes, scores of negroes who -could buy him ten times over with a month's income. And yet it seemed -that he could not happen upon any in his limited and slowly growing -acquaintance who did not in some way offend his tastes. - - - - - *CHAPTER XII* - - -When the heat of summer came down upon Washington, President Phillips' -wife and daughters fled to the shades of the family summer home, -"Hill-Top," at Stag Inlet on Lake Ontario. There, in a roomy, rambling -old house set back on the low wooded bluffs which enclose in more than -half-circle the peaceful little bay, he and his wife and daughters, with -a few congenial but not too closely situated neighbours, passed the hot -days of summer, and stayed on usually into the red-splashed autumn, when -the little cove put on its most inviting dress and brewed its most -exhilarating air. - -It was Hayward's fortune to be carried to the Inlet with the family -carriage and horses for the summer outing. He was happy enough to be -quit of brick walls and asphalt pavements for a time, and to get into -God's out-of-doors, for whose open air he had become so hungry in a few -short months. His duties were not very onerous, and he had much time to -employ himself with his own pleasures. One form which this took was in -learning to handle the various kinds of diminutive water-craft with -which his master's family and their neighbours helped to while away -their summer vacations. Before the summer was over he was a fairly good -fisherman, a safe skipper on any small sail-craft used in the inlet, and -a devoted and skilful driver of the gasoline, naphtha and electric -launches of which the cottagers had quite a number. He was quick and -adept at any and everything that came to his hand, and so careful and -entertaining of the children of the near-by families whom he met and -amused when they came down to play by the water's edge, that he came to -be quite in demand as one servant who "knew how" and could be depended -upon in any circumstances. - -Helen Phillips was still a girl, natural, ingenuous, untouched by pride -or affectation. She looked forward with some zest of anticipation to -the time of her debut two winters to come; but was well content to have -that time approach without haste. She evinced much interest in the -plans that her mother and Elise made and re-made, discarded and revised -for the social campaign of the next winter, and many lively and original -suggestions did she make offhand and unasked. But as for her own -personal plans she gave them no thought a day's time ahead. She was -quite willing to receive her pleasures in the order chance ordained. - -"I am so glad to get away from Washington and back to Hill-Top," she -wrote to her Cleveland chum. "It was awful dull down there. Five whole -days in the week I had to spend trying to catch the style dispensed at a -Finishing School for Young Ladies there, where it is possible to take -lady-like sips and nibbles at literature and music and art and things -like that, but where the real purpose seems to be to teach young women -to descend from a carriage gracefully. Just think! Another whole year -of finishing touches will have to be applied to me before Miss Eugenia -can in good conscience certify that I may be depended upon properly to -arrange myself upon a chair in case it ever becomes necessary for me to -sit down." - -Helen's tastes were along lines widely different from the Finishing -School's curriculum. She preferred above all things else a talk or a -walk, a ride or a romp with her father. She had no brother to share her -pranks and enthusiasms, her little sister Katherine was much too young -to be companionable, and her father was her necessary and natural ally. -Him did she not only love, but him did she glorify. Tall and straight, -seemingly lacking in flesh but tough as whip-cord, with a patrician -face, prematurely gray hair and moustache, Helen thought he was the -model of all manly beauty. None in life or in fiction was to her -thinking so brave or strong or good as he. Being in her esteem strong in -body, unerring in wisdom, pure in purpose, fearless in spirit, he -touched the periphery of her ideal of manhood at every point. Her mother -and Elise often were amused at her headlong championship of him upon the -slightest intimation of criticism, and rightfully were astonished at her -information upon public questions as they affected or were connected -with his political fortunes or good name. Helen devoured the newspapers -(a limited number it is true) with no other purpose, seemingly, than to -know what people said of him. Of those that favoured him and his -policies she thought well, and mentally commended their good taste and -excellent sense: but those that criticized! Woe to them had she had -power to utter condemnation! - - * * * * * - -One morning in midsummer Hayward brought the saddle-horses to the door -for the father and daughter to take a canter and prove Helen's new mount -before the mother and Elise were up. They were about ready to be off -when a telegram was brought out to Mr. Phillips by the operator who had -an office in the house. - -"I was ordered not to wake you, sir, but to give it to you at once when -you were up." - -Mr. Phillips read it over slowly. Then he turned to Helen. - -"Well, little girl, you must miss your ride again. I'm sorry, but it -can't be helped." - -"Oh, no, papa! Let the country go play till we come back. You promised -me this ride sure when we missed the last one." - -"Can't do it, little woman. Take the horses back, Hayward," he said, -and turned to follow the telegraph man. But seeing the great -disappointment in Helen's face, he called to the man. - -"Here, Hayward. Get into a proper coat and on my horse and see that -Miss Helen has her gallop round the Inlet and back without damage. Can -you ride?" - -"Yes, sir," answered Hayward. - -"I thought so. You seem to be able to do everything else. Now you are -fixed up, old girl," he said as he chucked Helen under the chin. "Don't -let the mare all the way out. You don't know her yet,"--and he was -gone. - -Most of Helen's pleasure in the ride was lost with her father's absence, -and yet there was much enjoyment in it for her. She felt the liberty to -choose her own road, and decided to do a little exploring. She set out -at a good canter, with Hayward swinging along a protective distance in -the rear; and with the exercise her spirits rose and she gave herself up -to the full joy of it. She forgot her father's injunction and sent the -mare along several stretches of road with little restraint. - -Hayward, on Mr. Phillips' favourite saddler, was having the time of his -life, and for himself wished nothing better than that his young mistress -would keep up the pace; though he did not altogether approve of her -speeding down-hill. He did not like the way the mare managed her feet -on the down grades. When Helen pulled up to ask him where a certain -road led, he spoke, unconsciously with decision, out of his experience, -but with all deference, and said: - -"Pardon me, Miss Helen, but it is a little dangerous the speed with -which you ride down-hill. I'm afraid your mount is not so sure-footed -as she might be.... This road you speak of leads out by Mr. Radwine's -cottage into the Lake Drive. It is worse riding than those you have -tried." - -Helen thought Hayward's apprehensions were creatures of his discomfort -in keeping pace with her, and she was nothing more than amused at his -attempts to limit the speed to his abilities under pretence of care for -her safety. She thought she would give him one more shaking-up to tell -her father about--and plunged off down the Radwine road, leaving him to -follow as best he might. - -Hayward had passed over that cross-road but a few days earlier and he -knew its present condition. Helen heard him call to her, but her spirit -of mischief was fully aroused at the thought of his bumping along after -her, and she gave the mare free rein. - -They were going down a longer and steeper hill than any they had passed, -near the foot of which the summer rains had washed out the roadway. -Hayward, knowing of this dangerous place ahead, and seeing that it was -impossible to stop the young woman in his front before she reached it, -sent Prince William after the mare under pressure of the spur and with -the hope to come up with her in time. He arrived on the very moment of -fate. The thundering horse tore alongside the flying mare just as she -reached the washed-out road. Either through feminine excitability at -being overtaken or because of the defective foot action Hayward had -noted, the mare, when she struck the rough road, stumbled and went down. -In that instant the open-eyed Prince William cleared the washout with a -magnificent stride, and the ex-cavalryman swept his right arm about -Helen and lifted her out of the saddle. - -Slowly reining in his horse, Hayward brought him to a standstill and -gently lowered his astonished young mistress to the ground. She was -almost too overcome to stand, and walked unsteadily a few steps before -she recovered herself. Hayward had thrown himself off Prince William -and was leading him back down the road to where the mare had fallen. -She had already picked herself up, minus a saddle and plus a few -bruises, and was standing in the road comparatively unhurt but shaking -as with an ague. - -Hayward approached her quietly and she came eagerly up to him as if to -escape from her fears. He looked her over carefully, and finding no -serious damage done, set himself about brushing the dust from her with -wisps of weeds and grass. Helen came down while he worked with the -mare, and watched him some minutes without speaking. She hardly could -think of anything civil to say. She knew that she had disobeyed orders -and that he had warned her--and that made her angry. The very silence -of the man became irritating to her. - -When he had done all he could to put the mare in order he picked up -Helen's saddle and started to put it on, but stopped to ask whether he -should exchange mounts with her. - -"No," his young mistress replied. "I've ridden her here and I will ride -her home." - -The negro put her saddle on the mare while the girl looked on. When he -came to buckle the girth he found that the leather tongue was torn off. -He lengthened the girth on the other side and proceeded to bore with his -pocket-knife a new hole in the short broken tab. Helen's eyes fell at -length on the knife. She looked at it uncertainly a few moments, and -then lost interest in everything else. Finally she could keep quiet no -longer. - -"Where did you get that knife, Hayward?" she asked with something like -accusation in her voice. - -"Miss Helen, I got this knife in--that is, this knife belongs to--" - -"Wait a moment," interrupted Helen. "Let me see it.... Yes, it's the -same. I gave my father this knife on his birthday four years ago. I -had the carving done at Vantine's. How long have you had it?" - -"Miss Helen, I have had it long before I entered your father's service. -I--" - -"Yes, I know; but just how long have you had it, Hayward?" - -"Well, Miss Helen, to be accurate, I've had it three years and--four -months." - -"Hayward, were you ever in the army--the cavalry--the 10th Cavalry?" - -"Yes, Miss Helen." - -"You were in the battle of Valencia?" - -"Yes, Miss Helen." - -"You took this knife from an officer whose life you had saved, didn't -you?" - -"Yes, Miss Helen." - -"Papa says the negro trooper saved his life and stole his knife." - -"But I did not steal the knife, Miss Helen--I did not know I had it till -two months after the battle, when they gave me back my clothes in the -hospital. There was--" - -"That stealing part is one of papa's jokes, Hayward. But you didn't -know it was papa, did you?" - -"Yes, Miss Helen. I knew him when I saw him fall." - -"What? And you've never let him know? Why have you kept it secret?" - -Hayward did not answer. She continued. - -"He would be very grateful. He does not know who it was, for I've heard -him say so. All that he knows is that it was a trooper of the 10th." - -She stopped and waited for an answer, but he stood in silent indecision -as to what he should say to her. If he should now disclose himself the -President would doubtless weaken the force of his obligation by giving -him in token of his gratitude some appointment which not only would fall -far short of the lieutenant's commission to which he aspired, but also -would remove him from the young woman who in the last minute had become -so simply and earnestly sympathetic in her manner. He weighed the pros -and cons quickly. - -"Why haven't you told him?" persisted Helen. - -"I have preferred not, Miss Helen. In fact there are reasons why I -cannot--must not--now." - -"What reasons?" demanded Helen. - -"Please, Miss Helen, I cannot tell you--nor him." - -"You are not ashamed of it, surely?" - -"No, Miss Helen. I would do it again this morning--willingly--at any -cost to myself. But do not ask me to tell of it." - -Helen regarded him narrowly for a minute in silence. - -"And you kept me from--death--also. Am I not to tell him of that -either?" - -"Please no, Miss Helen. If I have done you a service and you think it -worth reward, I ask that you repay me by telling no one that I am either -your father's rescuer or your own." - -Mystery always annoyed Helen unbearably, and she looked at Hayward as if -uncertain whether to peremptorily demand his secret or to inform him she -herself would acquaint her father with the facts he sought to conceal. -Hayward saw something of her purpose in her eyes, and pleaded with her. - -"Miss Helen, I beg you. My reasons are imperative--and honourable. -When the time comes that I may I will gladly tell your father, but if -now you would do me the greatest favour you will say nothing of it." - -While Hayward was speaking it occurred to Helen that she willingly would -have her father remain in ignorance of her disobedience and reckless -riding and its consequent narrowly averted disaster. This -consideration, together with Hayward's earnestness in his mystifying -request, finally prevailed upon her. - -"Very well, Hayward, if you insist. You only will be the loser. It is -puzzling to me.... But tell me about your rescue of papa." - -Hayward, glad to buy her silence, gave her a modest account of his very -creditable bit of heroism, and in response to Helen's interested -questioning he was still recounting incidents of the battle and his -hospital experiences when they reached the Lake Drive and quickened -their pace into a fast canter for home. They arrived and alighted and -Hayward got the horses away to the stable without any one's seeing the -dust-splashed mare. - -Helen could hardly contain herself with her knowledge, but she was as -scrupulously honest as she was impulsive, and stood by her promise not -to divulge the footman's secret. She vainly tried to imagine some -satisfactory explanation of his strange request, but could conceive none -that seemed plausible. She finally came to believe that he was a heroic -soul whom some implacable misfortune had denied the right to the fruits -of his heroism, and in her heart she pitied him. - -Hayward was not certain just how far his young mistress credited him -with good and honest reasons for wishing his identity to remain -undisclosed to her father. He feared that she must think any reason -inadequate. He was very much afraid that in all her interested -inquiries she would discover that he was not using his real name. If -she became possessed of that knowledge she doubtless would think the -circumstance sufficiently suspicious to warrant her laying all the facts -before her father. This matter of his name perplexed him no little. He -gladly would have Helen acquainted with the facts relating to the -crimson pennant, and yet he must guard against it. That would reveal -his masquerade, as she certainly would remember the name of the Harvard -man who had saved his college from defeat. He heartily regretted the -excess of caution which had made him place himself in this dilemma. - - * * * * * - -In the long and lazy summer days that came after that morning's ride -Helen was given without seeking it some little opportunity to question -the footman about the ever interesting matter of her father's rescue and -allied incidents of battle and campaign. Her father insisted, on a few -occasions when he could not accompany her, on her riding alone, with -Hayward as a guard. In her sailing parties, also, in which Hayward was -usually skipper of sailboat or launch, she was thrown occasionally with -him alone before she had picked up, or after she had dropped off, her -guests at the several landings around the Inlet. - -She had a child's interest in listening to the ex-trooper's -reminiscences of the battle of Valencia, the Venezuelan campaign, and of -his world's-end following of the flag. The footman, never for a moment -lacking in deference or presuming upon the liberty of speech allowed -him, was an entertaining talker. He had used his eyes and his ears in -his journeyings through the earth, and the lively imagination -characteristic of his race and his negro knack of mimicry, together with -his intelligence and his ability to use the English language with -precision and skill, made him a raconteur of fascinating charm. Helen -quite often wished to acquaint her father and mother and Elise with some -of the things he recounted to her, but the tales were always so mixed in -with his experiences as a soldier that she could not re-relate them -without breaking her promise to respect his secret.... - -And thus the summer days dragged slowly to an end, with Helen and her -footman becoming at odd times better acquainted with the thoughts and -personal views each of the other on a wider and ever wider range of -subjects. Helen was too unsophisticated in her thought to notice -anything unusual in a lackey's being possessed of Hayward's intelligence -and ease of manner. The ever present mystery of his refusal to exploit -his heroic deeds dwarfed or overshadowed all other questions that might -have arisen in her mind as to anything out of the ordinary in him. She -did believe that he was suffering some sort of martyrdom in silence, and -her womanly sympathy grew stronger as she knew more of him. Not for a -moment was the relation of mistress and man lost sight of by either; but -the revelation of the real woman and man, each to other, went steadily -on. - - - - - *CHAPTER XIII* - - -The era of good feeling seemed to have been ushered in along with Mr. -Phillips' inauguration. The country was prosperous to a degree. Labour -was receiving steady employment and a fair wage and uttered no -complaint. Capital was adding surplus to per cent., and was content. -The Cuban skirmish with Spain and the trial-by-battle with Germany had -cemented again in blood the sections divided by the Great War--so -closely indeed that nobody, not even Presidents on hand-shaking junkets, -thought to mention it. Any sporadic "waver of the bloody shirt" was -considered an anachronism and laughed at as a harmless idiot. It was -true that the negro question, being present in the flesh and incapable -of banishment, was yet a momentous problem: but it was considered in -cooler temper as being either a national or a local question--not -sectional in any sense. - -President Phillips in his first message to Congress, as in his inaugural -address, felicitated his countrymen upon the unity of the American -people and the American spirit, and on both occasions gave a new -rhetorical turn and oratorical flourish to the statement that his father -was from Massachusetts and his mother a South Carolinian. In sections -of the South where his party was admittedly effete or undoubtedly -odorous he hesitated not to appoint to office men of political faith -radically differing from his own--and all good citizens applauded. -Partisanry was settling itself down for a good long sleep, and strife -had ceased. The lion and the lamb were lain down together, and there was -none that made afraid in all the holy mountain of American good-will and -fair prospect. - -Into this sectionally serene and peaceful situation, which Mr. Phillips -deemed largely the result of his personal effort as a non-sectional -American executive, he deliberately or impulsively pitched an issue -which set one-third of his admiring countrymen by the ears. - -The good commonwealth of Mississippi was in a state of upheaval. A -peaceable revolution was being attempted there which would have changed -the essential nature and purpose of the State government. Incited by the -wordy eloquence of a provincial governor, with a few scraps of -statistics gone mad, good men, honest men, men of intelligence were -seriously considering the proposition to so amend the State constitution -as to put upon the negro in his ignorance and poverty the whole burden -of his own education--by a division of the school fund between the races -in proportion to the taxes each paid to the State. - -This reactionary and truly astonishing proposition of Governor -Wordyfellow was commonly known as the Wordyfellow Idea. It was giving -great concern to the sober statesmanship of the entire nation, North and -South--indeed greater concern to the thoughtful men of the South who -realized its momentous import, its far-reaching effect upon Southern -white people, than to the thoughtful outsiders who viewed it -philosophically as having a speculative interest but no actual part in -its settlement or effects. - -The proposition to so divide the school funds indeed found its most -violent and active opposition, as it found its strongest advocates, not -only among the men of the South but even in the very State of -Mississippi itself. The fact soon developed that this was to be the -greatest political battle that was to be fought concerning the negro. -All prior conflicts had been white man against negro. This was white -man against white man, with the negro as an interested onlooker. - -The lines were drawn roughly with the church, the schools and the -independent press allied against the politicians, the political press -and the less intelligent citizenship. Notable individual exceptions -there were to this alignment--which all men remember--but the line of -cleavage, taking it by and large, was as stated. Though the matter of -an actual constitutional revision was presented as yet only to the -people of Mississippi, the battle was being waged in serious purpose to -a no less actual finish in every State from the Potomac to the Rio -Grande. - -It was into this situation, fraught with dire possibilities of course, -but full of promise to the negro's friends, that the new President -projected his impulsive and forceful personality. Anxious as always to -be in the fight and leader in the fight, he set about to devise some -plan for helping along the black man's cause. That he might do this -more intelligently he conferred often with his most trusted advisers. - -It was on the occasion of the memorable Home-Coming Week at Cleveland in -191- that he held the famous conference which gave that great civic -celebration a fixed place in history. He stood loyally by his home city -in its effort to enjoy and advertise itself, for he betook himself and -family and several friends, including two members of his cabinet, away -from busiest Washington for two days, and opened up his Cleveland home -at great expense for that brief stay. - -Doctor Woods, a negro of national reputation, also claimed Cleveland as -his birthplace, and he had journeyed thither from afar to swell the -throng of loyal sons of the city, and had brought with him Doctor -Martin, now a bishop of the A.M.E. Zion Church, to add dignity and -strength to the negro end of the programme. Meeting officially with -these two dignitaries of colour suggested to Mr. Phillips a discussion -of the Wordyfellow disturbance, and he called an impromptu consultation. - -In between the review of a morning parade and luncheon, therefore, on -the second day of his stay, he sandwiched this hurried conference. At -it, beside Martin and Woods, were Secretary of the Navy Mackenzie, whose -wisdom seemed to cover all politics and statecraft, and the Secretary of -Agriculture, Baxter--himself a Mississippian, but thoroughly opposed to -the Mississippi governor's policy. - -The conference, which was held at Mr. Phillips' home, rejoiced his -heart. He was pleased at the favourable reports which Bishop Martin and -Doctor Woods gave of the situation in the several Southern States. He -accepted with approval the suggestions of the sapient Mackenzie; and -when he saw with what earnestness and vigour and assured personal -knowledge of the situation Baxter was putting his energies into the -fight and predicting victory even in Mississippi, his enthusiasm knew no -bounds. The conference was of such interest that luncheon was announced -before a definite plan of action was threshed out. - -"By George, I'm hungry as a wolf!" exclaimed Mr. Phillips. "Come along -to the dining-room, gentlemen, and we'll wind this thing up while we -replenish our stores." - -While this invitation was quite unexpected by the bishop and Doctor -Woods, it completely confounded Secretary Baxter who was right in the -middle of a little speech when the interruption and invitation came. He -looked confused for a moment, and began mumbling some excuse as Mr. -Phillips held open the door and his other guests passed out into the -hall. - -"Oh, you don't have to go," said Mr. Phillips. "Come on and finish up -your idea. I know you have no other engagement, for you were to lunch -with me to-day to discuss that Williams matter." - -The Secretary of Agriculture saw he was caught, and his manner changed -in a moment as he decided to meet the issue squarely. - -"You will please excuse me, Mr. President," he said formally and -finally. - -"Why, Baxter, surely I do not have to explain to you that--" - -"You certainly do not, Mr. President," interrupted the Secretary. "Good -morning, gentlemen,"--and he bowed himself out. - -President Phillips turned in ill-restrained anger and followed his -guests to the dining-room. They found Mrs. Phillips and Helen awaiting -them. With these Mr. Mackenzie shook hands, and to them the President -introduced Doctor Woods. The bishop was already acquainted, and spoke -of the dinner at the Saratoga restaurant. - -Mrs. Phillips had long been accustomed to the surprises her husband made -for her, and had too good control of her faculties to show any annoyance -on beholding her unexpected and unwelcome guests. - -Any possible shade of restraint in her manner would not have been -noticed, however, in the general feeling of constraint which Mr. -Baxter's abrupt departure had left on Mr. Phillips and his other guests. -The host set himself to the task of throwing off this feeling by -plunging volubly into a resume of the discussion they had been having. -His vigour and enthusiasm were such that by their very physical force he -was bringing a wholesome situation to pass, when Elise came humming down -the hall with Lola DeVale, stopped short in the doorway--and turned -quickly back. - -[Illustration: "ELISE ... STOPPED SHORT IN THE DOORWAY--AND TURNED -QUICKLY BACK."] - -While there was nothing unusual or pointed in Elise's manoeuvre her -father felt and resented her protest. He talked away for a few minutes -in nervous hope that his supposition was wrong and that she would come -and bring Lola in to lunch. When she did not his choler rose at this -open mutiny in his own household, and he awkwardly tossed the ball of -conversation to Mackenzie and busied himself keeping his indignation -within bounds. - -From this point the meal progressed uncertainly. In the midst of the -embarrassment of it all there was brought to the President a note, upon -opening which he read: - - -"SIR:--I have the honour to present my resignation as Secretary of -Agriculture, to take effect at the earliest moment you may be able to -relieve me of the duties of the office. - -"With assurances of my highest consideration and sincerest good wishes -for yourself and the success of your administration, I am - -"Your obedient servant, - "W. E. BAXTER." - - -At the bottom of the page there was added: - - -"P.S.--I am willing to assign any plausible reason for this resignation -that you may desire, or that may suggest itself to you as likely to -relieve you of any embarrassment as a result of it. W.E.B." - - -Mr. Phillips punctuated his first hasty perusal of the note with a snort -of contempt, and checked an outburst of sarcastic, wrathful comment to -read it over a second time. Fortunately at this moment Bishop Martin -and Doctor Woods rose and apologized for having to withdraw in order to -catch a train. - -Their host was loth to have them go, and expressed regret that they had -not been able to arrive at some definite plan of campaign. He asked -that they inform him if they should come to Washington, so that he might -discuss the subject further with them. Expressing their great pleasure -that the chief executive took such a lively and intelligent interest in -the weal and progress of their race, the two negro worthies withdrew, -Mrs. Phillips dismissing them with a formal bow and smile and Helen, -following her father, giving them a cordial hand-shake as they retired. - -When they had gone Mr. Phillips thrust the letter of resignation at -Mackenzie, and exploded: - -"Mac, just read that! The provincial, patronizing, postscript-writing -popinjay! Could you have imagined the impudence of it! Does not wish -me to be embarrassed as a result of his quitting us--the conceited ass! -I wonder if he thinks I care a rap, or that the people care, for his -cheap little melodramatics. I might have known that it was too much to -have expected a sensible secretary from that cursed negro-phobia State! -But he was so strongly pressed for a cabinet appointment, and really did -appear to be such a strong fellow. I might have guessed his apparent -excellences were too good to be true! Oh, but the patronizing insolence -of his offer to hush it up for us! I swear it's unbearable. Damn the -superior high-and-mighty airs these Southerners assume! My mother was a -South Carolinian, but I can't feel a sympathetic tremor in my blood for -any such damnable bigotry. I'll give Mr. Baxter and all his hide-bound, -moss-backed, supercilious gang to know that this is one administration -that proposes to make a democratic government a reality in this -democratic country. A man shall be measured by the essential qualities -of manhood he possesses, and dealt with accordingly, whatever his -position, pull, size, sentiments, claims or colour! What do you think -of that infernal note?" - -"He does show great consideration for us--distinguished consideration, I -may say. He will not tell it on us," sarcastically commented Mackenzie. - -"The devil take his distinguished consideration!" snapped Mr. Phillips. -"I'll accept his little resignation before he can wink, and give the -papers a full statement of the circumstances just as they occurred. I'll -show the upstart what a small potato he is--damn his impudence! And -then just to think, Mac, of the inexpressible insult in refusing to -lunch with persons that I deem worthy to dine with my wife and -daughters! It really makes it almost too damnably personal to be -overlooked. He must understand that respectability, presentability, -acceptability, in my home is a matter that is as sacred to me as such -things are to him with all his Bourbon notions!--but thank God he may -understand also that such acceptability is based on true merit, and that -a man's colour has absolutely nothing to do with it.... Come along with -me to the library and we will accept this little resignation before it -gets cold, and have it at his hotel before he gets cold!" - - - - - *CHAPTER XIV* - - -Mrs. Phillips, ill at ease during the luncheon, had taken the -opportunity to retire offered by the departure of the negro guests, and -had taken Helen with her; but that young lady, feeling the electric -condition of the atmosphere and full of lively curiosity, had returned -to hover around the dining-room door and learn what all the row was -about. She heard her father's outburst with great interest--being no -little shocked at his sulphurous words, but no less deeply concerned at -the suggestion of embarrassment to him politically, and forcibly and -enthusiastically impressed with his fine scorn of subterfuge and manly -decision to fight out his battles in the open. - -When President Phillips came in to dinner and asked for his daughters, -their mother told him Helen was in her room and Elise had gone driving -with Lola. "I did not like Elise's conduct at lunch. It was too -pointed, entirely too pointed. I shall talk to the young lady very -plainly." - -"Now, Hayne, don't worry the child with this affair. It is bad enough -as it is. I hope--" - -"Bad enough as it is! Why, one would think you wished to resign also. -Were you insulted, too?" - -"Not insulted, Hayne; but ever since you sent me to the pinelands of -North Carolina that winter for Elise's throat I have not been able to -think of a negro as I did before--and Elise feels the same way, I know. -It is so plain down there: the negroes are so many and so--different. I -can't receive them with any sort of pleasure. Just think of what the -Southern papers will have to say. The awful things they said about your -negro quartette were almost unbearable, and I know that was mild to what -this will be. I do wish you had not brought them in to lunch, Hayne." - -"Why, May, you are surely not going over against me with those -supercilious Southern fanatics?" - -"Hayne! That is almost insulting. You know that I am for you against -the world, whatever comes. No one, not even Elise or Helen, has ever -heard me offer the least criticism of anything you have done--and no one -ever will, my dearest"--she spoke simply and earnestly as she held her -hands up toward him in a gesture eloquent of abiding love--"but I cannot -have pleasure in receiving negroes. I have seen the negro as he really -is, and I cannot feel that some soap and water and a silk hat make a--" - -"Stop, May, right there"--Mr. Phillips' arms went about his wife in -tenderness as he placed a hand upon her lips. "Listen to me. You dear -women are creatures of impulse and sentiment--and thank Heaven for that, -too: for when the time ever comes that you shall judge men from your -heads instead of your hearts, woe to us!"--and he kissed her hair in -reverent gentleness---"but--" - -"Well, this is an idyllic scene!" exclaimed Elise, coming into the room -with Helen. "It is better than a play. Daddy dear, you do it -beautifully. You should have gone on the stage." - -Mr. Phillips' state of mind, his bottled-up vexation because of Elise's -behaviour at luncheon, his impatience at the interruption of his -conversation with his wife at the point where she seemed to have made -out her case against him and before he had opportunity to demolish her -sentiment with masculine logic, added to Elise's lightness of manner and -speech, which nettled him in his serious concern over Baxter's -resignation, were, all together, too much for moderation. - -"Now look here, young lady," he growled out ungraciously, "you have -presumed entirely too much upon your privileges to-day. When did you -become too good to dine with people your mother and sister were -entertaining?" - -"Why, papa!" the girl exclaimed in amazement at the roughness of his -manner;--but the sternness of his face did not relax, and she stumbled -along seeking some excuse. "Lola and I did not want any lunch, and all -those men--" - -"Stop! Don't be a dodger! You know very well, miss, that you declined -to lunch because Bishop Martin and Doctor Woods were there. Now you -must understand that I am as regardful of your honour as you are, that -my life is at your service to protect it against the slightest affront, -but that I will not be sponsor for any silliness, and will certainly not -overlook or permit any high-flown impertinence that affronts me in the -presence of guests of my choosing. What do you suppose Mr. Mackenzie -thinks of your high-and-mighty rebuke to him for sitting at my table in -that company? He must feel very properly subdued, I suppose you think. -And the bishop and Doctor Woods--they are doubtless overcome with -humiliation because of your refusal to meet them." - -He dropped his overbearing manner as Elise's face turned from crimson to -white and her lips began to tremble--for he was a tender-hearted and -gallant gentleman. - -"Now let me say once for all, my daughter, that I must be the judge of -who is a proper person to be entertained in this household, and I want -no more such exhibitions of filial disrespect as you made to-day. I -think no explanation is due: but I will tell you that one of the -gentlemen who lunched with us to-day is a bishop in his church and a -leader of ten million citizens of this country, while Doctor Woods is a -graduate of Harvard and Heidelberg, a man whose learning is surpassed by -that of very few men in America, and is the very best type of his own -race and a creditable product of any race. Both these gentlemen are -entirely worthy of your highest respect." - -"But, papa, they are negroes!" said Elise, emboldened to attempt a -defence when her father dropped his browbeating tone and assumed to -address her reason. - -"Negroes?--and what of that? It is not the first time a negro has -lunched with a President of the United States. Calm your misgivings by -remembering that it is assuredly safe, either socially or politically, -to follow any precedent set by Mr. Roosevelt. But further, my daughter, -what does the term 'negro' impute to these men more than a colour of -skin? Nothing. My child, 'the man's the thing,'--his colour is -absolutely nothing. A negro must be judged individually, by his own -character and ability--you judge white men so. He is not responsible -for the whole race, but for himself, and must stand or fall upon his -individual merit and not upon his colour or caste. It is the glory of -our America that it has but one order of nobility--a man; and when that -order is abolished or others established our democratic institutions -will be a hollow pretence and our decadence have set in. Heaven defend -a daughter of mine should be either dazzled by a tinselled rank or class -pretension, or fail to appreciate simple, genuine, personal excellence." - -Elise was glad enough her father had calmed down and branched off into -generalities. She was discreetly, not impudently, silent, and took the -first opportunity to retire. - - * * * * * - -On that afternoon Elise had met Evans Rutledge and had really found -pleasure in his friendliness. She speculated whether his manner would -have been quite so cordial if he had known of the luncheon then but two -hours past. She had seen no little of him in a casual way since living -in Washington, for he was an acceptable visitor at most of the desirable -places. With repeated meetings they had come to an unspoken truce, -Elise being impelled to friendly simplicity by her very nature, and -Rutledge by the love which would not permit him to deny himself any -opportunity to be near her despite some rebellious notions of -self-respect. - -Rutledge's vacillation of mind concerning Elise was evidenced by his -presence in Cleveland. It comported very well with his former status as -a freelance correspondent that in search of "copy" he should have -followed the President out to Ohio, but he confessed to himself that it -was somewhat below the dignity of his present position and standing as -an editorial writer that he should have asked for the assignment as news -representative allotted to his paper on the Presidential special. He -called himself a fool, and--thought of many situations that might happen -to evolve themselves on the train.... They didn't evolve. - -Only one paltry three minutes' talk with Elise did he win for all his -journeying. He had stood by her carriage that afternoon as she waited -for Lola DeVale in front of Vantine's, and they had talked in the -unaffected manner of the first days of their acquaintance until Lola -came out and invited him to join them on an evening at the end of the -week at an informal gathering of young people at her home in Washington. -He had accepted with what he afterward thought was childish and -compromising eagerness. - -"I like that Mr. Rutledge so much. I invited him for you, Elise," Lola -said as they drove homeward. - -"Why for me?" asked Elise. - -"Perhaps I should say because of you. Can't you see the reason in his -eyes every time he looks at you? I can." - -"You are mistaken there, my dear. I happen to know that Mr. Rutledge -loves, or once loved, a young woman who has greatly disappointed him." - -"How?" - -"He has learned that her family--and perhaps she--is impossible." - -"How did you know of his love for the girl?" - -"He told me himself," Elise answered with a nonchalant air that proved -her an actress of the finest art. - -"He did! You were playing with fire, Elise. The sympathetic 'other -girl' is always in a dangerous role. Did he tell you of his -disappointment also?" - -"Oh, no. But that was--and is--evident." - -"But the girl? Was she really--nice--better than her people?" - -"Yes. No--yes--that is, nice. Of course you know Mr. Rutledge would -not love a woman who was not--nice." - -"Oh, certainly; but if he was really disappointed in her, all the more -reason he might find a solace in your smiles." - -"It was her family rather than herself, I think. He is uncertain about -her--is afraid to love her." - -"He does seem to have an uncertain look at times that has puzzled me. I -think you are responsible for some of his uncertainty, however; or -perhaps the other girl makes him uncertain about you. If it were not -for her you would have to look to your defences.... He must have loved -her very much or he could not stand the temptation you are to him.... -I'm glad you've solved the riddle, but very sorry you told me. I have -liked Mr. Rutledge; but I despise any man who would not brush aside all -obstacles to marry the woman he loves and who loves him. Don't you?" - -"Oh," said Elise uncertainly, "but, really, it was--it may have -been--because she did not love him. I do not think he lacks -courage--exactly. He simply would not--pursue--the young woman because -her father's--because the--the obstacle -was--seemed--insurmountable,--but really I must not be violating -confidences. There is no reason why you should not at least respect -him, Lola. His course is not without some justification, for the -objection, from his point of view, is--vital." - -"But what if the girl loves him? Does she love him?" - -"Really, Lola, he--he did not inform me--whether she does or not. He -has not made the slightest reference to the subject, nor spoken the -smallest of confidences to me since that summer on the St. Lawrence.... -I think he regrets ever having told me anything about his--heart's -affairs. I suppose I should not repeat them--they were spoken under -peculiar circumstances." - -"There is nothing peculiar, my dear. It is easy to see why a man who is -not free to make love to you will choose the next best thing and talk of -love with you.... You would better be careful of Mr. Rutledge, however, -for I fear his loyalty to that first love totters on its throne every -time he looks into your gray eyes. You must not shatter his faith in -his own faithfulness." - - - - - *CHAPTER XV* - - -The second morning's papers were aflame with the news of it! President -Phillips, true to his outspoken character, himself had called in the -Associated Press representative immediately on his return to Washington -and dictated a concise statement of all the circumstances leading to Mr. -Baxter's resignation. The Secretary's house was besieged by reporters, -but all were referred to the White House for information. The daily -newspapers featured the item in every conceivable style of display -head-lines, and the affair was a nine-day sensation in Washington and a -reverberating tempest throughout the South. - -Evans Rutledge by the force of his genius, his wide knowledge of men and -affairs and the accuracy of his political information had gone rapidly -toward the front rank in his profession. He was now the leading -editorial writer on the _Washington Mail_, an anti-administration organ. - -Of that paper Elise sought the first issue with surreptitious eagerness. -She picked it up fully expecting to read quite the most scathing -philippic she had ever seen in print. She was surprised to find that -the former correspondent had put off his extravagances for a more -judicial editorial manner. She recognized his work by several phrases -that had been in the _Chicago American_ article. - -The editorial was severe, but dignified and fairly respectful. Rutledge -commended Secretary Baxter for his prompt and emphatic refusal to lunch -with a negro even though at the table of a President of the United -States and at the President's personal invitation or "command." He said -the fact that Mr. Phillips had intended no insult made the insult no -less real; and that Baxter had done the only possible thing--the duel -being no longer in vogue--declined and resigned. - -He went on to say that there was an irreconcilable difference between -the Northern and the Southern ideas of the social equality of the races; -that the Southern man's idea was bred in the bone, and no amount of -argument or abuse or lofty advice from the Northern press, or boyish -impulsiveness in the President's chair, could change that idea one iota; -that while their fears sometimes might be lulled to sleep, might be -forgotten like other ills in the interest or excitement of other -concerns, the black peril was their great Terror in both their waking -and sleeping hours, and even when asleep they slept upon their arms. - -Elise read that in face of this Terror all other questions were -insignificant, and all arguments, prejudices, passions, _loves and -hates_ (she put her fingertip on the words) among Southern gentlemen -melted away or were fused into a mighty and unalterable sentiment to go -down to death rather than to permit social intermingling with the negro -race. - -The editorial concluded that the Southern feeling on this subject was -ineradicable, and was so deep-seated and universal that it became a -great Fact which any man of fair discretion and sensible purpose would -have recognized and reckoned with; that no President with an abiding -sense of the proprieties would have proposed the luncheon to Baxter, and -no gentleman of the South would have hesitated for a moment in declining -the insulting invitation. The subject was dismissed with the prediction -that the cause of the negro immediate and remote would be damaged -immeasurably by this act of the impulsive gentleman in the White House -who would take the Southern situation by the seat of the trousers as -though it were a self-willed small boy pouting in a cellar and yank it -incontinently up the Phillips stairs of progress. - -There was no other subject discussed in hotel lobbies, committee-rooms -or wherever else two or more men were gathered together on the day after -the facts were known. In the afternoon in one of the committee-rooms of -the Senate, Senators Ruffin and Killam, Representatives Smith and -Calhoun of Killam's State, and Representative Hazard of a New York City -district, were ventilating their views on the matter when Rutledge -joined them, on the hunt for Calhoun. - -The comments on the President's negro luncheon were all adverse, though -expressed in terms of varying elegance and force from the keen and -polished irony of Mr. Ruffin to Mr. Killam's brutal outbursts and -picturesque profanity. Mr. Hazard, not having the same sectional -view-point as the others, though of the same political creed, was an -interested listener. Senator Ruffin referred to the editorial in _The -Mail_ and drew Evans into the discussion. - -The young man, glad to be untrammelled by editorial discretion, gave -free rein to his indignation, but in deference to Mr. Hazard's presence -was careful to make some allowance and excuses for the opinion of -Northern people on the matter of social amenities to negroes. However, -to compensate for this concession and leave no doubt of his opinion, he -was even more picturesque than Mr. Killam, if not so profane--and -consequently more forcible, Hazard thought--in paying his respects to -Mr. Phillips' negro policy. - -But Senator Killam resented even the suggestion of excuse for Northern -opinion, and opened up an even more choice and outrageous assortment of -profanity and invective. Rutledge, Calhoun and Senator Ruffin were -ashamed at his disregard of ordinary decencies, while Hazard assumed a -look of polite amusement. Mr. Killam's satellite, Smith, however, was -vastly tickled at his master's performance, and took pains to show his -surpassing admiration. Smith was a raw-boned, half-washed giant with -long hair that never knew a shampoo, who owed his election to Congress -to a gift of stump-speaking and a consistent devotion to Senator -Killam's political fortunes. He usually kept quiet when his chief was -there to speak. He did so on that afternoon till, carried away by Mr. -Killam's extravagances about niggers in white dining-rooms, he blurted -out: - -"Yes; I suppose now Miss Elise Phillips will be getting sweet on Doctor -Woods. The nig--" - -Smash! - -Rutledge struck him on the point of the jaw and he fell in an awkward -heap between a chair and the wall. He was up in a moment growling like -a mastiff, but was restrained by Calhoun and Hazard. Rutledge was -standing perfectly still, his thumbs in his trousers pockets, showing no -excitement save in the glint of his eye. Smith was muttering his desire -to fight it out. He could not talk plainly, for the blow had unhinged -his loosely clacking jaw. Hazard, Killam and Calhoun held him by force -till he was quiet. It would have been impossible to prevent his forcing -a further clash perhaps if Senator Ruffin had not insisted on ending the -matter just there. - -"Gentlemen!" he said, "this must stop right here. None of us can afford -to pursue the miserable affair further. We should all be ashamed that a -young lady's name has been used in this discussion at all, and -especially in such a manner was it unpardonable! Mr. Smith certainly -forgot himself; and while Mr. Rutledge acted from a chivalrous impulse -he will learn when he is older that a blow usually advertises rather -than suppresses an insult to a woman." - -It began to dawn upon Mr. Smith by this time that he had committed a -woeful breach of good manners, and with a parvenu's awe of "propriety" -he was more than anxious to have the affair hushed up. None the less did -he wish to keep secret his knockdown. He got out as quietly as possible -in search of a surgeon. Rutledge retired with Calhoun, who slapped him -on the back as they went down the corridor and whispered, "Good old boy! -Served him right, the damn dog." - -Senator Ruffin sent for the attendant who had left the committee-room as -soon as quiet was restored, and bought his silence with a five-dollar -bill. This honest man was true to his promise to keep his mouth shut, -but he overlooked informing the Senator that he had already given the -first of his co-labourers he met in the hall a fragmentary account of -the mix-up. He had given the names only of Senators Ruffin and Killam, -as he did not know the others, all of whom he thought were members of -the Lower House. - -The reporters were on the trail in an hour. They interviewed the -Senators, but these were dumb. They found that the Senate attendant who -had his information second-hand was the only source of news supply. What -this fellow lacked in knowledge, however, he supplied out of his -imagination; and the details grew and multiplied as different reporters -interviewed him. At best there was much to be supplied by the young -gentlemen of the press, and the result was as many different stories as -there were men on the job. The nearest any of them got to the truth was -to say that two Congressmen had been discussing the negro question and -had come to blows because some woman's name had been dragged in, and -that one had broken the other's jaw. This much in the evening papers. - -By the next morning the newspaper ferrets had located all the actors and -eye-witnesses and gave their names to the public. Fortunately the -attendant had not caught Smith's remark but only his rebuke by Senator -Ruffin. So that the public knew only that Evans Rutledge had unset or -broken the jaw of Congressman Smith because of some improper use of a -young lady's name. Whose, none of the gentlemen would say. - - * * * * * - -Evans Rutledge was in a fever of anxiety lest that name should get to -the public. He was sure that he could not face Elise again if it did. -Senator Ruffin's rebuke had sunk deep into his heart and he felt more -guilty than Smith. He looked over the morning and evening papers very -carefully to see whether they had discovered the young woman, before he -finally decided to go to Senator DeVale's as he had promised Lola. When -he arrived he found, beside Elise, only Alice Mackenzie, Hazard and -young MacLane, an under-secretary of the British embassy. Others who -were to come failed to appear. - -Elise was not pleased with the situation. She was quite willing to be -ordinarily civil to Mr. Rutledge, but she knew that nothing could -separate MacLane and Alice Mackenzie, and that Hazard had known Lola so -long and had proposed to her so regularly and insistently that he was -for her or for nobody. It looked a little too much, therefore, as if she -had chosen Evans for her very own for the evening. She did not want him -to think such a thing possible. She remembered his point-blank -editorial utterance that those small sentiments--loves and hates--melted -away before exhibitions of social equality with negroes--so at least she -construed it--and she could not but resent it, though she would not -admit she troubled herself to do that. - -"Now, young people," said Lola, "as the programme has been spoiled we -will make this an evening of do-as-you-please." - -"Good, very good," commented Hazard. "In that case you will please to -come over here and take this chair and let's finish that conversation we -were having last night when the unpronounceable Russian took you away -from me." - -"I am afraid that conversation is a serial story," she laughed, taking -the chair he placed for her. - -MacLane asked Alice Mackenzie some vague question about a song, which -only she could interpret, and they by common impulse went through the -wide door to the piano in the back parlour, where after she had hummed a -short love ballad for him to piano accompaniment they dropped into a -pianissimo duet of love without accompaniment. - -Elise, feeling that she was being thus thrown at Mr. Rutledge's head, -came to the mark with spirit and kept him guessing for an hour. She -resented his possible inference that she had chosen him for an evening's -_tete-a-tete_, and set about to show him that such was not the fact by a -display of perversity and brilliance which dazzled while it irritated -him. She would assume for a moment an intimately friendly, even -confiding, manner that like the breath of the honeysuckle at his Pacolet -plantation home would set his senses a-swim,--and in the next moment -chill his glowing heart with the iciest of conventional reserve or -answer his sincerest speeches with the light disdain and indifference of -a mocking spirit. At one time she would kindle his admiration for her -quickness of thought and keenness of repartee; and again appear so dull -and careless that he must needs explain his own essays at wit. - -Her caprices, so plainly intentional yet inexplicable, exasperated him -almost to the point of open rebellion, and the more evident his -perturbation became, the more spirit she put into the game. She won him -back from a half-dozen fits of resentful impatience to the very edge of -intoxication,--only to bait him again more outrageously. - -Lola DeVale, perfectly familiar with the theme of Oliver Hazard's -serial, found time even while admiring Hazard's ability to decorate his -story in ever-changing and ever pleasing colours, to note that Elise was -giving Rutledge a tempestuous hour. - -"It's a shame for her to treat him so," she said to Hazard, interpreting -her meaning by a nod toward Elise and Evans. - -"I hadn't noticed. What's she doing to him?" - -"I believe he loves her, and she has been treating him shamefully all -evening." - -"So that was it," murmured Hazard. "She certainly ought to be good to -him." - -"Beg pardon, I didn't understand you," said Lola. - -"I said she ought to be good to him." - -"I heard that. But the other remark you made?" - -Hazard caught himself, and looked at Lola steadily. "I was so bold as to -express an opinion--which had not been requested--and to aver -that--she--er--ought to be good to him," he repeated with an over-done -blankness of countenance. - -"You come on," said Lola as she rose. "We are going to scare up -something for you people to eat," she remarked to the others. - -"Now, sir," she said when she had gotten him into the dining-room, "I'll -see what sort of a reporter I could be. Stand right there, and look at -me. Now.--why did Mr. Rutledge knock Congressman Smith down? No, no, -stand perfectly still--and no evasion." - -"What are you talking about?" asked Hazard. - -"Don't be silly," the girl said impatiently. "I read something more -than the society and fashion columns in the newspapers. Tell me. Why -did he break Mr. Smith's jaw?--who was the young lady?--and what did Mr. -Smith say of her? I know it was Elise; but tell me about it--and hurry, -for those people are getting hungry." - -"I must not tell that, Lola," Hazard answered her seriously. - -"A man should have no secrets from his--proposed--wife." - -"Make it _promised_ wife and I'll agree," Hazard replied eagerly, taking -her hand. - -"No; we'll leave it _proposed_ awhile longer," she answered him archly. -"I've become so accustomed to it that way that I'd hate to change it." -The smile she gave him as she slowly drew away her hand would have -bribed any man to treason. - -"But we will compromise it," Lola continued. "I will be real careful of -your honour. I'll ask you a question, and if the answer is _yes_ you -needn't answer it. Now--was it not an insult to Elise that Mr. Rutledge -resented?" - -"Lola, when you said that word _wife_ a moment since you -were--heavenly." - -"Hush your nonsense, Ollie.... I knew it was Elise when you said that -thing in the parlour.... Did Mr. Rutledge really break his jaw?" - -"Oh, it was beautiful, beautiful," said Hazard with enthusiasm. "Such a -clean left-hander! Dropped him like a beef--he's big as two of -Rutledge--in a wink--before he could finish his sentence,--the low-bred -dog! Yes, beautifully done, beaut--" - -"Here they come," said Lola. She was busily breaking out the stores -from the sideboard when Elise and Rutledge appeared. - -"Here, Mr. Hazard, take this dish in to that mooning young couple in the -back parlour. And you, Mr. Rutledge, just force them to eat enough of -these pickles to keep their tempers in equilibrium." - - * * * * * - -"Oh, my dear," she exclaimed when the two men were gone, "I've -discovered the name of the young woman Mr. Rutledge fought for. Ollie -let it get away from him--not the name, but I figured it out. And for -whom do you suppose it was?" - -"I haven't the slightest idea," answered Elise in all truthfulness. - -"Of all women you should. I told you I could see it in his eyes,"' -laughed Lola. - -"Not for me?" Elise cried in genuine surprise. - -"For you." - -"What did the man say?" she asked quickly. - -"Some caddish thing, of course. Men are so nasty. I didn't have time to -get the particulars before you and Mr. Rutledge followed us in here. -But Ollie says it was just b-e-a-u-t-iful the way Mr. Rutledge dropped -him--and he's three times as big as Mr. Rutledge, too--" - -"We've tried moral suasion, strategy, force, every expedient," -interrupted Hazard as he and Rutledge came back into the dining-room, -"but the Scotch lass and her laddie positively decline to be fed by us. -They are fully supplied by their own ravings--ho! don't throw that salad -at me!" - -"Here, take a dose of celery quick--a biblical pun like that is a too -serious tax upon the simple Congressional brain," said Lola. - -Hazard looked foolish, and he felt like a fool; but what real manly -lover outside the story-books was ever else than foolish when love's fit -was upon him? - -None of the quartette in the dining-room was the least bit hungry, and -it was but a very few moments till the young hostess led the way back to -the parlour, Elise and Rutledge following slowly. When they reached the -stairway Elise seated herself on the third step and by the gesture with -which she arranged her skirts invited Evans to a seat below her. - -"Look at that," said Lola to Hazard, glancing over her shoulder as they -passed into the parlour. "Now she's going to be good to him." - -"In the name of heavens, woman, you didn't tell her!" - -"Why not? She's the very one that ought to know. She will not inform -the reporters." - -"But what will she think of me?" asked Hazard in some concern. - -"You? Why, you don't count! You are only a pawn in their game." As -his eyes flashed she added, with a bewildering tilt of her chin: "I -promise to make good all your losses." - -"May my losses prosper!" prayed Hazard audibly. - - * * * * * - -Elise used a makeshift conversation with Rutledge till she heard the -humming accents of the others well going, and then-- - -"Mr. Rutledge," she said. "I wish to speak to you of your defence of my -name when that Mr. Smith--" - -The suddenness of it routed all Rutledge's cool senses. - -"Oh, Miss Phillips," he broke in, "I am so sorry that I should have done -anything to accentuate that abominable fellow's remark. I am so -heartily ashamed of my unpardonable boyish thoughtlessness and lack of -consideration that I cannot find words to express my contempt for -myself," etc., to the same effect, without giving Elise a chance to -speak, till she was surprised in turn, then amused, then annoyed. -Finally, in order to bring him to a reasonable coherency, she -interrupted his self-denunciations. - -"What did Mr. Smith say of me, Mr. Rutledge?" - -"I can't repeat that to you, Miss Phillips." - -"You must if the words are decent. Tell me at once. I must know." - -"He simply coupled your name with that of--Doctor Woods--the negro -who--lunched at your home in Cleveland." - -Evans forced out the last half-dozen words with a visible effort--which -the girl may have misinterpreted. - -"Oh!" She dropped her face in her hands. She had not dreamed of that -explanation. But she gathered herself in a moment. Every pennyweight -of her admirable pride came to her support. At the mention of "negro -luncheon" she was on guard against Rutledge, her kindly purpose -forgotten. She sat straight up and with a perfect dignity said: - -"I thank you, Mr. Rutledge, for your well-meant efforts in my behalf, -but my father is abundantly able both to choose the guests who shall -dine at his table, and to protect my name, whenever indeed it shall need -a champion." She closed the discussion by rising. - -Evans did not tarry long. He was too badly scattered. The other guests -soon followed, except Elise, who remained overnight at Lola's -insistence. - -"Come right up to my room and tell me all about it.... What _did_ you -do to that miserable man? You ought to be spanked, Elise." - -"I did nothing to him." - -"And why didn't you? I said to Ollie when you sat down on the stairs, -'Now she's going to be good to him.' Did you tell him you knew?" - -"Yes." - -"What did he say?" - -"He--apologized," said Elise with a nervous laugh. - -"_Apologized_! For mercy's sake!--and what else?" - -"I accepted his apology--on condition he would not do it again;" and she -broke out into real mirth at sight of Lola's scandalized face. - - - - - *CHAPTER XVI* - - -If _The Mail's_ editorial was conservative, other papers were not so -respectful. It was worse even than Mrs. Phillips had predicted. All -over the South the papers ran the whole gamut of indignation and abuse -from lofty scorn all the way down to plain editorial fits. The entire -Southern press, Democratic, Republican, and Independent, except a few -sheets edited by negroes, were of one mind on the subject of negroes -dining with white men. Papers that had supported Mr. Phillips heartily -were all severe, some of them bitter, in their denunciations. - -The Wordyfellow element in the school-fund fight welcomed the -President's act as a boon from heaven. They raised a howl that was heard -in every nook and corner of the Southland, and that by the very -thundering shock of its roar broke through and drove back the forces of -the negro's friends. The weak-willed were borne down and the timid and -the doubting were carried away by the purely physical force of noise or -by having lashed to fury their sometimes latent but ever-present terror -of the Black Peril. And not only the weak, indeed, and the timid and -the doubting went in crowds to the Wordyfellow camp, but strong men, -fearless men, men of the most philanthropic impulses toward the negro -race, men who had fought openly and ably the Wordyfellow propaganda, -became silent and began to waver, or deserted the negro's cause and -unhesitatingly espoused the other side. - -In vain did the negro's staunchest friends proclaim their indignation at -the President's lunching with Bishop Martin and Doctor Woods, and try to -convince their people that the South should be true to its own interests -and do simple justice to the negro despite any act of his fool friends. -It was useless. The Southern people--the floating vote, the balance of -power--were in no mood to draw fine distinctions, nor to listen to -theories in face of facts. A careless hand had struck the wavering -balance, and the beam went steadily down. - -Reports of defections began to come rapidly to Mr. Phillips. Those from -the negroes in the South told of the losses faithfully, but gave any -other than the true reason for the change of sentiment; while letters -from his white advisers told him more or less plainly that his negro -luncheon had done the damage and that the cause was as good as lost. - -These reports roused the President's fighting blood. He sent for -Mackenzie. - -"Read that stack of letters, Mac, and you will see that the negroes in -the South are in a fair way to be trampled to death. Now I must head -this thing off, and I want your help. I am determined to defeat that -Wordyfellow movement if there is power in the Federal government. I'll -not be content to have the laws annulled by the Federal Supreme Court -after they are passed, even if that can be done. We must find some way -to win this fight _in the elections_ and thus give the lie to these -prophecies that that luncheon has lost the battle." - -So he and the astute Mackenzie rubbed their heads together for a week: -and finally came to a remedy so simple that they were ashamed not to -have thought of it at once. Simple indeed--if they could apply it. In -less than another week, Mr. Hare, the recognized administration -mouthpiece in the House, introduced a bill appropriating moneys from the -national treasury to the States in proportion to population for purposes -of public education. The milk in this legislative cocoanut was a -provision that the money apportioned to each State should be so -distributed among the individual public schools of the State that, when -taken together with the State's own appropriation, all the schools in -the State should be open for terms of equal length. - -From statistics carefully compiled in the office of the Commissioner of -Education Mr. Phillips and Mr. Mackenzie had calculated the amount of -the appropriation so that if the Southern States adopted the Wordyfellow -plan the negro race would get virtually the whole of the appropriation -from the national government. - -Elise Phillips, persuading herself that she was on the lookout for -reasons to despise Mr. Rutledge, regularly read the editorial column of -_The Mail_. - -There one morning she learned that "the immediate effect of the -introduction of the Hare Bill in the House has been to transfer the -fight from the South to Washington. True, the Wordyfellow speakers and -press have raised a more ear-splitting howl, and opened up with every -gun of argument, appeal, abuse, expletive and rant; but they see clearly -that this bill if passed will bring all their schemes to naught, and -that the issue has been taken out of their hands. It is tantalizingly -uncertain to them whether the bill will become a law; for there are many -incidental questions and considerations which complicate the issue here -at Washington. But all men know that when Mr. Phillips sets his head -for anything he will move heaven and earth to attain it. Few doubt his -power to whip many Representatives and Senators into line or his -readiness to wield the whip if the fate of any pet measure demands it. -There is much of the Jesuit in Mr. Phillips' philosophy of life and -action. When he believes a thing is right he believes that no squeamish -notion should prevent his bringing it to pass. Keep your eyes on him! -It is always interesting to see how he does it." - -"Pity he is not a Senator!" Elise commented with scornful impatience as -she threw the paper down, "that papa might whip him into becoming -modesty!" - - * * * * * - -At the moment Elise was so delivering her mind, a telegraph boy was -handing Rutledge a message. He tore it open and read: - -"COLUMBIA, S.C, Jan. 9th, 191-. - -"EVANS RUTLEDGE, - "Washington, D.C. - -"Exactly how old are you and where do you vote? - -"W. D. ROBERTSON." - -Evans looked around behind the telegraph-sheet as if seeking an -explanation. He gazed quizzically at the messenger-boy, but that young -gentleman only grinned and then looked solemn. - -"Well," Evans muttered, "what the devil's up Robbie's back now?" - -He sat down and thought the thing over awhile. Then he constructed a -reply. - - -"WASHINGTON, Jan. 9th, 191-. - -"W. D. ROBERTSON, Atty.-General, - "Columbia, S.C. - -"Your telegram received. If it is official I decline to answer. _Entre -nous_ I will be thirty-one on the 29th of February at something like -twenty minutes past three in the morning--they didn't have a stopwatch -in the house. I vote in Cherokee County, Pacolet precinct, generally of -late in a cigar-box in the shed-room of Jake Sims's store where Gus -Herndon used to run a barber-shop when you and I were young, Maggie. -Why? EVANS RUTLEDGE." - - -"Send that _collect_, youngster. We'll make old Robbie pay for his -impertinence." - -"Look here, sonny," he called to the boy who had gotten out the door, -"bring any answer to that down to the Capitol. I am going to have a -look at the Senate." - -He was sitting beside Lola DeVale in the members' gallery when the -answer came. - - -"COLUMBIA, S.C, Jan. 9th, 191-. - -HON. EVANS RUTLEDGE, - "Washington, D.C. - -"Nothing much. The governor of South Carolina simply did not feel like -giving a United States Senatorship either to a boy or to a man from -another State. He is just mailing your commission as Jones's successor. -Don't decline it before you hear the whole story. Congratulations to -you. - -"W. D. ROBERTSON." - - -"This has 'an ancient and fish-like smell.' Read it," Rutledge said to -Lola when he had recovered from his astonishment sufficiently to speak. - -She took the telegram and while she was trying to interpret its import -Senator Killam came hurriedly into the gallery and seized upon Rutledge. - -"I got a telegram from the governor half an hour ago and have been -trying to find you ever since," he exclaimed. "He has appointed -you--oh, you have heard, I see. Well, come right down with me. I want -to present you to your colleagues." - -Evans could doubt no longer, and Lola DeVale had grasped the meaning of -it. - -"I am so glad to be the first to congratulate you," she said, and he -felt the sincerity of her good wishes in her warm hand-grasp. Then -Senator Killam carried him off. - - * * * * * - -"I know it came 'like a bolt from the blue' to you," Robertson wrote to -him; "but the whys and wherefores need not mystify you. There cannot be -the slightest doubt of your ability to fill the office--full to the -brim; and the rest is easy. You know the old man fully intended all -along to contest for the place with Jones, whose term would have expired -with the old man's term as governor. Jones's demise, however, presented -a problem to him that has driven him to the verge of lunacy for a week. -He couldn't give himself the commission, of course. He couldn't resign -and get it, for the lieutenant-governor has been the avowed supporter of -LaRoque for the Senatorship. He couldn't give it to LaRoque or Pressley, -for the three of them are too evenly matched.... When he finally came to -the idea of appointing some one to fill the vacancy who was clearly not -in the running so that the primaries might settle it among the three of -them, I suggested you. He jumped at the idea.... The old man has every -reason to feel kindly toward you both for your father's sake and for -your own excellent work's sake, and he does not doubt your friendliness -to himself.... You will have less than six months in which to make a -name for yourself, but--perhaps--who can tell? ... I wish I had such an -opportunity. I am heartily glad you have it." - - * * * * * - -Senator Rutledge was pitched right into the middle of the fight on the -Hare Bill--and fight it was for him. Senator Killam essayed to take the -young man under his wing and chaperone his conduct according to his -ideas of the political proprieties, but he found that the junior Senator -had a mind of his own, and could not be managed, overawed or bullied. -This roused Mr. Killam's ire at once. He wasn't accustomed to it. The -dead Senator Jones had never had the effrontery to think for himself; -and for this youngster to presume to walk alone was more than Mr. Killam -could forgive. - -Solely because of Mr. Killam's personal attitude and treatment of him, -Rutledge wished it were over and done with long before the finish; but -he never lost his nerve. - - * * * * * - -It seemed that the suspense would be ended quickly when the House under -pressure of the rules passed the Hare Bill almost without debate: but -when it came before the Senate it was evident at once that those -dignitaries would take abundance of time to consider it,--if for no -other reason than to prove to themselves they were the greatest -deliberative body on earth. - -However, with all the Senate's deliberation the very frenzy of the -Wordyfellow crowd's screams evidenced their realization that their game -was balked--and that, too, in a manner that was maddening: for it left -them not the frenzied pleasure of fighting their precious battle against -the negro out to the end and going down to harmless defeat in -pyrotechnic glory. No; it placed them in a dilemma where they must -humiliate themselves by a surrender before the battle, or fight it to a -barren victory at the polls, which would not only bring actual benefit -to the negro in the South but also give to the Northern States the -lion's share of a large appropriation. - -Facing this dilemma, they lost heart if they lost nothing of noise. In -all of the interested States except Mississippi serious discussion of -the question grew less and less rapidly, and was postponed until after -the Senate should vote. In Mississippi, however, the tension was -increased by the Senate's deliberation because the date set for the -election on the proposed Wordyfellow amendment to the State constitution -was some time before the Senate would be forced to vote. The -Mississippians could not decide for their lives whether they preferred -to vote on their amendment first or have the Senate vote first on the -bill. With a faint hope that the bill might not pass, they were in -obvious difficulties in either case. - -Southern Senators were overwhelmed with all manner of conflicting and -confusing petitions, and as a result about one half of them favoured the -bill for one reason or another, while the other half more or less -bitterly opposed it. The discussion, when the bill finally came out of -committee, took the widest range,--from the constitutional objections -raised by the Texas Senator (whose State, having a large school-fund -income, did not need the appropriation) and the savage attacks upon the -negro race generally by Senator Killam, to the purely pro-educational -reasoning of most of the supporting Senators from the South--among whom -was Senator Ruffin--and the pro-negro speech of the young Senator -Rutledge. - -The adjective _pro-negro_ may give an erroneous impression of Senator -Rutledge's ideas. The term is the Senator's own. From his speech in -full in the _Congressional Record_ the reader may determine for himself -whether the term is apt. - - - - - *CHAPTER XVII* - - -Senator Rutledge gave notice that on February 23d he would address the -Senate on the Hare Bill. On that day the galleries were crowded to hear -him, his State's delegation in the House was present in a body, -accompanied by many other representatives from North and South. No one -knew how he would vote, for he had listened much and talked little. He -said: - -"Mr. President: There have been many terms used on this floor and in the -public prints since this bill was introduced, by which to distinguish -and define and lay open to public view the motives which are supposed to -lie behind the votes that will be cast for and against it. - -"We have heard 'unconstitutional,' 'anti-negro,' 'pro-educational,' -'watch-dog of the treasury,' and others equally descriptive if less -parliamentary. I have not heard 'pro-negro.' - -"So, to save my friends--and enemies, if I have any--the trouble of -search and imaginings, I adopt that term, '_pro-negro_,' as descriptive -of my attitude toward the matters affected by this bill. - -"It is an open secret, Mr. President, that this measure, which bears the -non-committal title of 'an act to promote education' is a White House -production designed and introduced for the single purpose of defeating -what is known as the Wordyfellow school-fund movement in the South -generally, more specifically now in the State of Mississippi. Because I -think it will accomplish that purpose, both general and -special,--because I am 'for the negro,'--for him on his own -account,--for his elevation as a race to the highest level which his -essential nature in the purposes of God will permit him to -attain,--because I believe the success of the Wordyfellow movement would -mean his degradation, his hopeless continuance in his present low -estate,--because, in a word, I am _pro-negro_; I shall vote for this -bill. - -"I should despise myself, sir, if I had within me other sentiments -toward any man or race of men, and I feel, therefore, that it is not -unbecoming in me to arrogate to myself the pure unselfishness of this -motive. And yet, sir, if the love of one's race may be called a selfish -passion, I must confess that right alongside of this unselfish desire -for the negro's welfare, there lies in my heart a selfish passion for -the progress, the multiplying prosperity and more abounding happiness of -my own people, the white men and women of the South, which desire also -with no less power but indeed with compelling forcefulness bids me to -oppose the Wordyfellow idea with every faculty and expedient, and -therefore to vote for this measure. - -"I wish to make it clear at the outset that, while I shall heartily -support this White House bill, I give not the slightest credit to the -President for having prepared it and sent it here. He deserves none. -The bill is a necessity, and as such I vote for it: but the President is -the one man who has made it a necessity. - -"If he had not injected into the situation his negro luncheon (and to -that I will pay my respects before I have finished), my people would -have defeated the Wordyfellow movement; for the battle was going our -way. It is as little as President Phillips can do now to suggest this -method, expensive though it is, to repair the damage he has done the -negro's cause in the South. He comes praying us to pay the negro out of -the difficulty in which he has involved him, and _as friends of the -negro_ there is nothing for us to do but furnish the money, however much -we may deplore the Executive folly that makes the outlay imperative. - -"Now, Mr. President, let us inquire directly into the merits of the -Wordyfellow plan. The proposed amendment to the constitution of -Mississippi provides that the school fund shall be divided between the -white and negro schools in proportion to the taxes paid to the State by -each of the two races for school purposes. As there are six negroes to -four whites in the State, and as the negroes pay less than ten per cent -of the school taxes, such a division of the school fund will give the -white children thirteen days' schooling to the negro's one. - -"Such a proposition is illogical, pernicious, insane. - -"Look at the logic of it. Governor Wordyfellow defends the general -proposition by some scattering statistics which prove to his mind that -education generally is not good for the negro; but he justifies the -division of the school fund on the basis of contribution upon the -supposed principle that the negro will get back all that he pays in and -therefore cannot rightly demand more. - -"That so-called principle will not hold water a moment. I would say to -the gentlemen from the South, Mr. President,--to those who are -supporting the Wordyfellow propaganda--that if they proceed on that -theory they must give to _every_ man what he pays into the treasury: -which means that the State must expend more for the tuition of the sons -of the rich than the sons of the poor. If every man has a right to -demand for his own children the taxes he pays for school purposes, then -the State has no right to tax one man to educate another's child--and -the promoters of this idea have pulled down the whole public school -system about their ears. - -"If such a division is proposed on the ground that no sort of education -is good for the negro, and we believe that, then let us take away from -the negro by constitutional amendment _all_ the money collected from him -by the State for school purposes and give it to the white children. -That would be logical, that would be sensible, that would be Scriptural. -Let us be logical and sensible and fearless about this matter. - -"But I cannot think these leaders of the Wordyfellow forces believe -that, Mr. President, though I fear that they have persuaded thousands of -their less intelligent following to believe it thoroughly. No, you do -not believe it; but you do believe that some particular kinds of -education--literary education, for example--is positively harmful to the -negro, while some other particular sort--industrial education, -perhaps--is beneficial and would uplift the negro race. - -"If you admit that,--and it has been conceded on this floor by some of -the leaders of the Wordyfellow movement that industrial education is -good for the negro and will make a better man and a better citizen of -him; then in face of the appalling menace of his ignorance and depravity -which have been painted in such lurid colours here, _let us by -constitutional amendment give him more than his per capita share of the -school tax_. Yes, let us give to him proportionately in keeping with -our keenest fears, our wildest terror, of the Black Peril--all if need -be--to educate him _in that particular line that will uplift him_ and -make a safe citizen of him, in order that we may save ourselves alive -and escape the woes of that peril. All education administered by the -State is given in the exercise of a sort of quasi police power--to -protect itself from the violence of ignorance: and we would be well -within an ancient principle if we should lay out extraordinary funds to -police the black cesspools that threaten our civic life. - -"It is clearly demonstrable, therefore, that upon any theory of the -negro's inability or limited ability to be benefited by education, or -upon the assumption of its positive hurtfulness to him, the Wordyfellow -amendment is absolutely illogical. The whole Wordyfellow proposition is -based upon a false assumption in the first place, and the Wordyfellow -remedy does not have the merit of being true even to the fictitious -Wordyfellow premises. For all this agitation against the education of -the negro race proceeds upon the theory that the negro is not altogether -a man, that he is without the one aptitude common to all other peoples, -white, yellow or red--the disposition to be uplifted in civilization by -the spread of a higher intelligence among his race. - -"That theory, Mr. President, is false! And while I believe the great -majority of my people reject it despite the insistence with which it has -been in small measure openly, in large measure indirectly, presented to -them for acceptance, I have thought it worth while to inquire closely -and specifically into the effect of the _higher literary_ education upon -the black men and women who have been so fortunate as to acquire it. I -give to the Senators not only as the result of my investigation but as -the result of my personal observation as a man brought up in the South, -my sincere opinion that education of the negro in the usual literary -studies from the kindergarten to the college, as well as along -industrial lines, is as a rule beneficial and uplifting to him. - -"It is true that a smattering of education in some instances gives a -negro the idea that he is to get a living without work, and that such -notions would not be wholesome if prevailing among a population which -must do manual labour. This need not alarm us, however; for it is not -an unusual thing for a college education to give a white boy the same -notion. We do not limit his education on that account. In the -post-graduate school of Hard Knocks he always finds out--and no less -surely will the negro boy of similar delusion learn--especially as -education becomes more and more a possession of the masses and not a -privilege of the few--that the great majority of men, whether black or -white, lettered or unlettered, must work, and work with their hands. - -"Let me add, lest I be misunderstood, that while I believe the negro -race as a race will be hewers of wood and drawers of water for -generations to come, and that education will be beneficial to them as a -toiling class, I am not of those who believe that when by education you -spoil a negro field-hand you have committed a crime. I have no sympathy -with a sentiment that would confine any man to a limited though -respectable and honourable work when he has within him the aspiration -and the ability to serve his race and his time in broader fields. - -"Those, in a nutshell, Mr. President, are the primary reasons why I am -opposed to the Wordyfellow movement, and shall vote for this bill. The -secondary reasons are hardly less forceful. - -"I want this bill passed and passed quickly in order to avoid the -pernicious incidental effects of the agitation of this question among my -people. It has bred and is breeding antagonisms between the white and -black races in the South such as did not result from the horrors of -reconstruction or the excitement of negro disfranchisement. In those -issues the negro truthfully was told and well may have believed that the -white man was driven to protect himself against the ignorance and -depravity of the black. In this case, however, the negro feels, and -rightly, that the white man would condemn him perpetually to that -ignorance and depravity. From the negro's view-point the white man's -motive is now what it never was before: base, worse than selfish, -wantonly, vindictively cruel. - -"Again the propagation of the Wordyfellow idea teaches incidentally that -in this democratic country, where by the very nature of our institutions -the welfare of each is the welfare of all, where forsooth a Christian -civilization has reached its highest development, even here, the strong -may desert the weak and leave them to their own pitiful devices and -defences. - -"It teaches also the doctrine--more potent for evil--that the government -may take note of racial classes for the purpose of dealing out its -favours and benefits with uneven hands, preferring one to the other. If -it may do this when the class differences are racial, it is but half a -step to the proposition that it may do so when the differences exist -whether they be racial or other. It takes no seer to see that after -that proposition--no, _with_ that proposition--comes the deluge. - -"Such, Mr. President, are some, not all, of the incidental effects of -the propagation of the Wordyfellow idea which clearly and with vast -conservatism may be called pernicious. But there is yet another effect -which will be inevitable upon the adoption of the Wordyfellow plan, and -which has been in large measure produced already by the discussion of -it, in the light of which deliberate advocacy of the Wordyfellow idea -fairly may be called insane; and that is the severing of all bonds of -sympathy and good-will between the races when the negro is told by white -men, 'Here, take the pitiful portion that is yours, and go work out your -own bitter, black salvation, alone--if you can.' - -"All this agitation, all our concern, is predicated upon the deadly -menace which this people, numbering one-third of the population of the -South and gathered in many sections in overwhelming majorities, is to -our civic and industrial happiness and progress: and it does seem the -sheerest insanity to sever the bonds of sympathy and helpfulness which -now bind the races together, surrender all our interest and right to -control in the method of the negro's uplifting, and leave him to develop -along any haphazard or dangerous lines without sympathy, respect, or -regard for us, our ideas, or our ideals. - -"The negro has been enough of a problem and a terror to my people with -all our ability to control him through his ignorance, his fears, his -affection and his respect for us. We have been careless at times -perhaps as to how we made use of these instruments for his management. -The more fools we if we now throw away his affection and his respect, -cut loose from him entirely, and leave him to develop under teachers of -his own race who with distorted vision or prejudiced heart will replace -his ignorance with a knowledge at least of his brute strength, and -cancel his fears with hate. - -"My people give freely hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly to the -degraded of other lands in whom they have only the interest which -Christians have in universal humanity, and they place in the calendar of -the saints the names of the godly men and women who go to work -personally to uplift the heathen. I do not think that in their cool -senses their Christian impulses, to which is added the motive of -self-interest, will permit them to cut off their contributions to and -support of any instrumentality which will elevate the degraded in their -own land whose depravity is so pregnant with dire possibilities to them. -I pray the day to come when, among my people, it shall be thought just -as praiseworthy, as noble, as saintly for a Southern white man to give -his life and energies to the personal instruction, uplifting and -redemption of the negroes in America as of the negroes in Africa or the -heathen in any land. - -"That prayer, Mr. President, which is sincerely from my heart, brings me -to the discussion of President Phillips' negro policy. I shall not -expect to see the prayer answered so long as the Chief Executive of this -nation shows a disposition to deal so carelessly, so arbitrarily, with -such cock-sure flippancy, with the convictions, prejudices if you will, -of the brave and generous people who are face to face in their race -problem not with a far-away academic question about which they may -safely speculate and theorize, but face to face with a present, -tangible, appalling issue in whose solution is life or death to them. - -"To my people the consequences are so vital that they sometimes are led -perhaps beyond what is really necessary in the way of defence,--for any -sane man prefers to be doubly guarded against death. So it has been -that while they are not favourable to the Wordyfellow plan they have -been stampeded to it by the Phillips negro luncheon. - -"Let me explain that when I speak of the President's negro policy I do -not mean to include his appointments of negroes to office. I think we -of the South have in these matters to some extent confused the issues, -and proportionately weakened our position before the outside public. -Not that I approve of appointing negroes to office in the South, for I -do not. I think the weight of all considerations is against it. But the -considerations either for or against it are considerations of -expediency. They are not vital. If the President wishes to vindicate -his negro appointments on the ground that his appointees are of his -party, the best men of his party, and fairly efficient,--let him. Such -reasons have been given for political appointments time out of mind, -although they are not conclusive in any case and especially not in the -matter of negro office-holding in the South. _But let him not_ go into -cheap heroics such as were indulged in by a recent negro appointee, who -tragically exclaimed that if his appointment was not confirmed his race -would be set back thirty years! - -"Such rant is only ridiculous. Office-holding is not a recognized or an -actual instrumentality for uplifting or civilizing a people; and it is -not a theory of this or any other form of government that its mission or -method is to uplift its citizenship, white or black, by making -place-holders of them. It is not closing any legitimate door of hope to -negro or white man to refuse him a Presidential appointment. The 'door -of hope,' whatever else it may be to white or black, is not the door to -a government office. - -"The real basis of the race issue, Mr. President, has nothing to do with -politics or political appointments, with office-getting or -office-holding. If by some trick of chance a negro--some prodigy lofty -in character and in the science and wisdom of statecraft--were President -of this nation to-day, and were by unanimous consent a model Executive, -the real race problem would not be affected a feather's weight. The -world must understand that the Southern white people in the measures -they have taken and will take to protect themselves against the negro -are impelled by weightier considerations than the pre-emption of the -dignities or emoluments of politics. It is true that they have taken the -governments of the Southern States into their own hands, away from negro -majorities in many sections. It may be true that in order to do this -they have nullified provisions of the Federal constitution. But they -have done so from no such small motive as a desire to hold public -office. - -"My people have all respect for the wisdom of the makers of the -constitution, who framed an instrument perfectly suited to the -conditions as they existed at the time and continued to exist for eighty -years, prescribing the method of majority rule for a people who were of -an approximately equal civic intelligence and virtue. But when the -conditions were changed and a vast horde of illiterate and--in the hands -of unscrupulous leaders--vicious voters were added to the electorate, -stern necessity forbade them longer to give a sentimental support to -so-called fundamental principles in the constitution and permit -ignorance to rule intelligence and vice to rule virtue. - -"The 'fundamental principles' in that constitution, Mr. President, are -nothing more or less than wisely conceived _policies_ which were tried, -proved, and found good under the conditions for which they were devised. -The 'fundamental principle' upon which the race problem of the South may -be solved will have been discovered with certainty only _after_ a -solution has been accomplished by the conscientious effort and best -thought of Southern white men. - -"And they will solve this problem. It can never be settled, of course, -till Southern white men acquiesce in its settlement. They will settle -it in righteousness and will accept with gratefulness any suggestion -which their fellow countrymen have to offer in a spirit of sympathy and -helpfulness. But it may as well be understood that any such exhibition -as the President's negro luncheon, which affronts the universal -sentiment of the final arbiters of this question, must necessarily put -further away the day of settlement. The negro problem cannot be worked -out by any simple little rule o' thumb, and the negro will always be the -loser by any such melodramatic display of super-assertive backbone and -misinformed conscience. - -"The President would settle this matter upon a purely theoretical -academic basis, this matter that in its practical effects will not touch -him nor his family nor his section, but will affect vitally the -happiness, the lives, the destiny of a chivalrous people whose ideas, -traditions, sentiments and convictions he carelessly ignores or -impetuously insults. Such exhibitions do not become a brave man. They -betoken, rather, a headstrong man, an inconsiderate man, a thoughtless -man, a fanatical man. It does seem that President Phillips would have -learned wisdom from the experience of his illustrious predecessor, -President Roosevelt, who did somewhat less of this sort of thing -once--and only once. - -"Mr. President, it has been repeatedly said that the hostility of the -white people of the South to social intermingling with the negro race is -an instinct--a race instinct. I do not so consider it,--and for two -reasons: first, because many men of Anglo-Saxon blood--and of these -President Phillips is the most conspicuous example--do not have such an -instinct; second, because instinct is not the result of reason, while -the Southern white man's opposition to social recognition of the negro -is defensible by the purest, most dispassionate reason. These -convictions are so well fixed in the Southern mind that they may appear -to be instinctive and measurably serve the purpose of instinct; but the -vital objections of my people to intermingling socially with the negro -are not founded in any race antipathy, whim, pretence, or prejudice. -They are grounded in the clearest common sense, and as such only do I -care to present or defend them. - -"In face of the disaster to be averted, I could wish that it were an -instinct; for instinct does not fail in a crisis. But men are more than -beasts: the power to rise is given to them conditioned upon the chance -to fall. So in this race matter: instinct does not forbid a white man -to marry a black woman; instinct--more's the horror!--does not forbid a -white woman to wed a negro man. For this reason it is--for the very -lack of a race instinct is it--that the social intermingling of the -white and black races, as advocated and practised by President Phillips, -would inevitably bring to pass an amalgamation of the races with all its -foul brood of evils. - -"President Phillips, living in a section of the country where negroes -are few--especially such as are of sufficient intelligence to be -interesting to a man of his attainments--does not dream of amalgamation. -I would not insult him by assuming such a thing. And yet upon a -superficial estimate of conditions in the South he gives us this -impulsive exhibition of what in one of his high official position is -criminal carelessness. - -"The positive element of crime in it is not in the affront which a -Presidential negro luncheon puts upon Southern sentiment, but in the -suggestion to Southern and Northern people alike that a social -intermingling of the races--which means amalgamation, however blind he -may be to the fact--is the solution of the race problem. The crime -would be complete in all its horror if the South, if the nation, should -follow his lead and achieve the logical result of his teaching. - -"From long and intimate acquaintance with the negro's character, my -people know that the Phillips negro luncheon stimulates not the negro's -ambition and endeavour to improve himself as it tickles and arouses his -vanity. When the ordinary darkey hears of it he thinks it not a -recognition of the superior abilities of Bishop Martin and Doctor Woods, -but a social recognition of the negro race; and forthwith deems himself -the equal of the white man and desires unutterable things. And not -without reason. - -"The black people appreciate what the President's act means for them. -They do not misinterpret its tendency. A prominent negro said in a -recent mass meeting in Richmond: 'No two peoples having the same -religion and speaking the same tongue, living together, have ever been -kept apart. This is well known and is one of the reasons why the -dominant race is crushing out the strength of the negro in the South. I -am afraid we are anarchistic and I give warning that if this oppression -in the South continues the negro must resort to the torch and the sword, -and that the Southland will become a land of blood and desolation.' - -"This inflammatory utterance indicates the interpretation put by negroes -upon President Phillips' open-dining-room-door policy, and the nature of -the hopes and aspirations it arouses in the black man's heart. And the -serious thing is the element of truth in the negro's erroneous -statement. It is true as gospel that no two races of people, living -together, have ever _intermingled socially_ without amalgamating. It is -hardly necessary to cite evidence of that fact or to give the reasons -underlying it. It might be taken as axiomatic that social intermingling -means amalgamation. - -"If men and women were attracted to each other and loved and mated -because of equal endowments of virtue, or intelligence, or beauty, or -upon any basis of similar accomplishments, tastes, or mental, moral or -physical excellences, then a gulf-stream of Anglo-Saxon blood might flow -unmixed and pure through a sea of social contact with the negro race; -but until love and marriage are placed among the exact sciences, social -intermingling of races will ever result as it ever has resulted: in the -general admixture of racial bloods. - -"When racial barriers are broken down and it is proper for negroes and -whites to associate freely and intimately, when you--white men--receive -negroes on a plane of social equality, your women will marry them, your -sons will take them to wife. Shall you say to your daughter of the -negro whom you receive in your home: 'He is an excellent man but--do not -marry him'? Shall you say to your son enamoured of a quadroon: 'She is -a very worthy young woman and an ornament to our circle of friends, -but--I have chosen another wife for you'? When did such considerations -ever guide or curb the fancy of the youthful heart or diminish the -travel to Gretna Green? No, the line never has been drawn between free -social intercourse and intermarriage; and while the Southern people -believe they could draw that line if any people could, they do not -propose to make any reckless experiments where all is to be lost and -nothing gained. - -"A president of one of our great universities is quoted as saying: 'The -Southern white sees a race danger in eating at the same table with a -negro; he sees in being the host or the guest of a negro an act of race -infidelity. The Northern white sees nothing of the kind. The race -danger does not enter into his thoughts at all. To be the host or the -guest of a negro, a Mexican or a Japanese would be for him simply a -matter of present pleasure, convenience or courtesy. It would never -occur to him that such an act could possibly harm his own race. His -pride of race does not permit him to entertain such an idea. This is a -significant difference between Northern white and Southern white.' - -"In noting significant differences between Northern white and Southern -white this authority must have been advertent to the fact that the pride -of race of his 'Northern white' does not prevent them from furnishing -the overwhelming majority of interracial marriages with negroes, as well -as with Chinese, Japanese and every other alien race--this, too, with a -very small negro population. If the negroes were proportionately as -numerous in the North as in the South and such sentiments prevailed, how -long, with interracial marriages increased in numbers in proportion to -opportunity, would there be an Anglo-Saxon 'Northern white' to have a -pride of race? If with these facts before his eyes the distinguished -educator sees no race danger in the social mingling of white and black -people, it easily may be inferred that he sees no objection to -amalgamation. - -"The Southern white man does see a race danger in these social -amenities, Mr. President; for he cannot view amalgamation or the -faintest prospect of it with any sentiment save horror: and he fortifies -himself against that danger not only with the peculiar pride of race--of -which he has a comfortable supply--but with every expedient suggested by -his common sense, his experience, and by the horrible example which that -distinguished educator's 'Northern white' has furnished him. - -"In providing against this danger my people are moved from without by -the sight of no occasional negro such as at odd times crosses this New -Englander's vision, nor from within by any unreasonable or jealous -hatred of the negro such as has characterized certain 'Northern whites' -from the time they burned negro orphan asylums in resentment at being -drafted to fight their country's battles down to this good day when they -mob a negro for trying to do an honest day's work. No! the Southern -white man is driven to his defences by a sentiment void of offence -toward the negro, and by the daily impending spectacle of black, -half-barbarous hosts who menace the Anglo-Saxon civilization of the -South and of the nation. - -"President Phillips has modestly borrowed from one of his predecessors -words with which to defend his social amenities to negroes. He quotes -and says he would 'bow his head in shame' were he 'by word or deed to -add anything to the misery of the awful isolation of the negroes who -have risen above their race.' Two things may be said of that, Mr. -President: first, isolation has been the price of leadership in all -ages, and the negroes who are the pioneers of their race in their long -and painful journey upward may not hope to escape it: second, the -President's borrowed sentimental reason cuts the ground from under his -feet, for that forcible Rooseveltian phrase, 'the misery of the awful -isolation of black men who have risen above their race,' concedes the -premises on which the South's contention is based, since it admits there -is such a great gulf between the negro _race_ and the _risen_ negro that -his isolation fitly may be described in the words 'misery,' 'awful.' It -is a peculiar order of Executive intellect and sensibility that can have -such a keen sense of the misery which association with the lowly of his -own race brings to an educated negro--who cannot in the very nature of -things have put off all his hereditary deficiencies and tastes in a -generation; and that yet seems not to be touched with any sense of the -unspeakable misery such association and its inevitable consequences -would have for my people--his Anglo-Saxon brethren--who, if there be any -virtue in the refining processes of civilization, any redemptive power -in the Christian religion, any progression in the purposes of God in the -earth, are a thousand years ahead of the negro--any negro--in every -racial excellence. - -"Oh, but, you say, President Phillips means for us to associate only -with those who are worthy, those who have 'risen.' Even that would be -fatal, Mr. President. Beyond the truth already stated that -considerations of merit will be forgotten and brushed aside if the -social racial barrier is broken down at any point, and that social -intermingling inevitably leads to intermarriage, there is a greater -fact, a deeper truth, underlying this question. That fact, that truth, -is that in estimating the result of mixing racial bloods not the man -only and his personal accomplishments or individual culture must be -considered, but his heredity, his race peculiarities and proclivities, -every element that has gone into his blood. - -"An occasional isolated negro may have broken the shackles of ignorance, -measurably and admirably brought under control the half-savage passions -of his nature, acquired palpable elegances of person and manner, and -taken on largely the indefinable graces of culture: yet beneath all this -creditable but thin veneer of civilization there slumber in his blood -the primitive passions and propensities of his immediate ancestors, -which are transmitted through him as latent forces of evil to burst out -in his children and grandchildren in answer to the call of the wild. A -man is not made in one generation or two. Every man gets the few ruling -passions of his life from the numberless endowments of a hundred -progenitors, and these few show out, while scores of others run so deep -in his blood that they never crop out in his deeds but pass quietly on -as static forces of good or evil to his children and their children -before rising to the surface as dynamics in life and character. - -"A Northern gentlewoman in a recent magazine article, defending her -willingness to offer social courtesies to a prominent negro, speaks of -him as one 'of whom an exquisite woman once said he has the soul of a -Christian, the heart of a gentleman, and the eyes of the jungle.' That -illustrates the idea perfectly, Mr. President,--_the eyes of the -jungle_. Despite the fact that it is easier to breed up physical than -temperamental qualities in man or beast, easier to breed out physical -than mental or moral or spiritual blood-traits, this negro, with all his -culture, with a large mixture of white blood in his veins, has yet in -his very face that sinister mark--the eyes of the jungle: and in his -blood who shall say what jungle passions, predilections and impulses, -nobly and hardly held in check, that hark back to the African wilds from -which they are so lately transplanted. - -"A negro--any primitive being--may be developed mentally in one or two -generations to the point where a certain polish has been put upon his -mind and upon his manners; his purposes may be gathered and set toward -the goal of final good; the whole trend of his life may be set upward: -but there is yet between his new purposes and the savagery of the -primitive man in him a far thinner bulwark of heredity than protects a -white man from the elemental brute and animal forces of his nature. A -number of educated negroes in this country to-day are superior in -culture of mind and in personal morals to many white men, but even these -individual shining lights of the negro race do not possess the power to -endow their offspring so favourably as white men of less polish but -longer seasoned hereditary strength of mental and moral fibre. - -"It always offends a proper sense of decency to hear the suggestion that -the negro may be bred up by crossing his blood with that of white -men,--for the obvious reason that with our ideas of morals the most -common principles of the breeder's art cannot be applied to the problem: -but one single fact which eliminates such cold-blooded animal methods -from our consideration is that when animals are cross-bred it is in the -hope and for the purpose of combining mutually supplementary elements of -strength and of eliminating supplementary weaknesses; while in this race -matter the Anglo-Saxon is the superior of the negro in every racial -characteristic--in physical strength and grace, in mental gifts and -forces, and in spiritual excellence. Even if amalgamation did the very -best that could be expected of it, it offers to the world nothing and to -the white man less than nothing: for it would be a compromise, a -striking of an average, by which naught is added to the total: it would -pull down the strong to upraise the weak, degrade the superior to uplift -the inferior: it would be a levelling process, not a method of progress. -_And yet amalgamation does not even that much_, for it does not make an -average-thick, even-thick retaining wall of culture between the hybrid -product and the weaknesses of his mottled ancestry. There are always -blow-holes in this mongrel culture, for heredity does not work by -averages. It is an elusive combination of forces whose eccentricities -and resultants cannot be formulated, calculated, or fore-determined. It -is certain only that by no mere manipulation of it can the slightest -_addition_ be made to the stock of ancestral virtues. Only slow -processes working in each individual through generation after generation -can add increments of strength to racial fibre. - -"Therefore, if the negro will insist upon some _race manipulation_ in -order to raise the average of intelligence, thrift and morality in our -national citizenship, the only safe and sane method is to take measures -to restrict the increase of the negro race and let it die out like the -Indian. But, you scream, that would be to suggest the annihilation of a -race God has put here for some wise purpose! Even so: but amalgamation -would no less surely annihilate _the race_--two races--and fly in the -face of a Providence that has segregated all races with no less -distinctness of purpose, and so far has visited with disaster all -attempts to violate that segregation. - -"Now, Mr. President, what is the immediate past history, status and -condition in Africa and America of this race with which Southern white -men are asked to mingle socially? What are the racial endowments of -these _risen_ negroes whom we are urged by lofty example to invite into -our drawing-rooms upon terms of broadest equality--for upon other terms -would be a mockery--as eligible associates, companions, suitors, -husbands for our sisters and daughters?--for a sensible father or -brother does not admit white men to his home on any other basis. Of -what essential racial elements and sources is the negro, risen and -unrisen alike? - -"Let answer the scientists and explorers, missionaries and -travellers,--a long list of them, English, French, German, stretching -all the way back a hundred years before there was a negro problem in the -South. I quote verbatim, as nearly as the form will permit, their very -words and phrases. Listen. - -"The negro in Africa was, and is yet, in largest measure 'Without law -except in its very crudest form'--'no law at all as we conceive it'--'in -densest savage ignorance'--'no writing, no literature, no arts, no -sciences'--'some development of perceptive and imitative faculties and -of memory, but little of the higher faculties of abstract -reasoning'--'in temperament intensely emotional, fitful, passionate, -cruel'--'without self-control in emotional crises, callously indifferent -to suffering in others, easily aroused to ferocity by sight of blood or -under great fear'--'particularly deficient in strength of will, -stability of purpose and staying power'--'dominated by impulse, void of -foresight, unable to realize the future or restrain present -desire'--'indolent, lazy, improvident, neglectful, happy-go-lucky, -innately averse to labour or to care'--'given to uncleanness'--'an eater -of snakes and snails, cannibal, eating his own dead'--'vilely -superstitious, a maker of human sacrifices, charm-wearing, -fetich-worshipping'--'of a religion grossly anthropomorphic, explaining -all natural phenomena by a reference to evil spirits'--'his religion has -no connection with morality, nothing to do with man's relation to -man'--'thieving his beloved pastime, deception more common than -theft'--'national character strongly marked by duplicity'--'lying -habitually and thinking lying an enviable accomplishment'--'a more -thorough and unhesitating liar than one of these negroes is not to be -found anywhere'--'cruelly obliges his women to work'--'sensual, -polygamous, unchaste'--'buying and selling his women'--'valuing his -daughter's virginity solely as a marketable commodity'--'accounting -adultery simply as a trespass upon a husband's property rights, and -seduction and rape as a violence only to parent's property in daughters -as destroying their marketable value'--'wifehood is but an enslavement -to the husband's will'--'no conception of chastity as a virtue'--'of -strong sexual passions'--'a devoted worshipper at the shrine of his -phallic gods'--'sexual instincts dominate even the most public -festivals, and public dances exhibit all degrees of sex suggestion.' - -"Those in short, Mr. President, are some of the horrible details of the -bestial degradation of the west-coast Africans, from whom our -slave-marts were recruited almost to the time of the Civil War, and who, -says Keane, are 'the very worst sweepings of the Sudanese plateau,' and, -Ellis says, are 'the dregs and offscourings of Africa.' - -"Such was the negro in Africa. What he is in America, only my people -know. He has been the gainer at all points, the loser at none, because -of his enforced residence here and his bondage to Southern white men: -and yet that awful picture of the negro in Africa is so startlingly -familiar to one who has spent his life in the South that he examines it -closely with something of fear. - -"He finds the colouring too vividly heavy and some details untrue for a -picture of the negro in America to-day: but the negro as the Southern -white man knows him is too alarmingly alike, too closely akin to, that -African progenitor. He has advanced--yes! but just how much, and _just -how little_, from out the shadow of that awful category of horrors, my -people know. - -"They know that he has but just emerged from those depths that those -bestial racial traits held in check by the man's law have only well -begun to be refined by a change of environment and the slow processes of -heredity: and yet we, white men of the South, are in a way advised to -treat as our social equals certain immediate heirs to such a blood -inheritance because, forsooth, they have _risen_. - -"We resent bitterly the insulting suggestion, however high or -respectable or official its source: and we call upon you, white men of -the North, to warn you against appeals for social recognition as a balm -for 'the misery of the awful isolation of black men who have risen above -their race.' When the blood of your daughter or your son is mixed with -that of one of this race, however _risen_, redolent of newly applied -polish or bewrapped with a fresh culture, how shall sickly -sentimentalities solace your shame if in the blood of your mulatto -grandchild the vigorous red jungle corpuscles of some savage ancestor -shall overmatch your more gentle endowment, and under your name and in a -face and form perhaps where a world may see your very image in darker -hue there shall be disported primitive appetites, propensities, passions -fit only to endow an Ashanti warrior or grace the orgies of an African -bacchanalia? In Heaven's name think to the bottom of this -question!--and think _now_! Await not the day '_when your fear cometh_ -as desolation, _and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when -distress and anguish cometh upon you_.' Do not be distracted by -considerations that are superficial and incidental--such for example as -the negro's record for criminal assaults upon women. The crime of rape -will be abated by some means, but long after that must the negro develop -before he loses his primal jungle habit of regarding woman as a personal -possession. It is a matter of attitude and not of assault: and as in -his fundamental attitude toward women, so in every racial characteristic -the superiority of the white man is blood deep, generations old, -ingrained, inherent, essential. - -"Knowing this, my people despise President Phillips' social amenities to -negroes of high degree. They do not fear the issue; but what insults and -outrages them is that a personage in the highest official position, by -an act in itself impulsive, empty, and futile, should put desires and -hopes of miscegenation into the minds and hearts of the inflammable, -muttering, passionate black masses of the South. Standing themselves -ever in the shadow of dire calamity which they are facing and must face -for long years to come as they painfully work out a righteous and -practical solution of their problem, my people cry out to you, oh, white -men of the North, of the insidious danger in these sentimental social -practices of an exuberant Executive; and we tell you that, however well -or ill you may guard the purity and integrity of your race, we will -stand fast. Whatever else may or may not be true, we will never -acknowledge any equality on the negro's side that does not _overtake_ -the white race in its advancing civilization, and we will certainly not -submit to an equality produced by degrading the white race to or toward -the negro's level. We will not make with the negro a common treasure of -our Anglo-Saxon blood by putting it in hotch-pot with his in a mongrel -breed. - -"The Anglo-Saxon has blazed the way of civilization for a world to -follow in: but if he, the torch-bearer, the pioneer, goes back to join -hands with the tribes who are following afar his torch and trail, then -the progression of civilization and of character must not only stop but -must actually recede for him to effect a juncture with the black and -backward race in the blood of a hybrid progeny. There the fine edge -would be taken off every laudable characteristic of the white man. -There the splendid Anglo-Saxon spirit of leadership and initiative would -be neutralized by the sluggish blood of the Ethiop race. There the -Anglo-Saxon's fine energies and clear sensibilities would be deadened -and muddled by the infusion of this soporific into his veins. There -vile, unknown, ancestral impulses, the untamed passions of a barbarous -blood, would be planted in the Anglo-Saxon's very heart. - -"You may believe that in the dim beginning God by imperial decree set -the dividing line between these races; or, less orthodox and more coldly -scientific, you may know that Nature, impartial mother of men, giving -her white and black sons equal endowment and an even start in body, mind -and spirit, since has stood, in unerring wisdom still impartial, to -watch the white bound away from the black in his rush toward that -perfection of mind, of heart, of character, which she has set as goal -for the striving of her children. From whichever view-point you look -upon the age-long history of men and the age-long lead of white men over -their black brothers,--whether evolutionist or traditionist, scientist -or mystic, you offer violence to your own particular deity, be it God or -Nature, when in their present measureless inequality of development you -by amalgamation would beat back the white into the lagging footsteps and -gross animalism of the black. - -"Menacing thus the effectiveness and integrity of a race which is the -pathfinder for the progress of a world of men, the danger is not only a -race danger, but a danger to universal civilization; and the -preventative is a social separation of the white and black races in -America _from the lowest to the highest_,--at least, yes in all reason, -at the dictate of the plainest common sense, _at least_, if so be, till -the black becomes approximately equal to the white in racial excellence. -After which let the ethnologists take the question and give us the -answer of science as to the advisability of mixing racial bloods. - -"Naturally you ask me when the time of equality in racial excellence -will come. I answer that I commit myself unreservedly to the support of -every means used for the negro's uplifting; I admit--nay more, I -contend--that we white men cannot be dogs in the manger with -civilization; we cannot as a Christian people even hope that the negro -race may not come _up_ to our level, nor can there be any reason why we -should refuse to acknowledge that race as our equal if it shall indeed -become our equal. And yet, while I would not in puny wisdom presume to -foretell the purposes of God in the earth, nor to set bounds to the -efficacy of his unspeakable redemption, nor to appoint the places of -white, black, yellow, red or brown men in the pageantry of 'that far-off -divine event toward which the whole creation moves'--yet, I say, with -carefully acquired information of the negro's history and habits in -Africa, and with an intimate knowledge of his present status and rate of -progress toward civilization in America, I tell you frankly that the day -of his approximate equality in racial excellence with the white man is -beyond the furthest reach of my vision into the future." - - - - - *CHAPTER XVIII* - - -Senator Killam was against the bill tooth and nail,--and he was against -Rutledge. He obtained the floor and began to speak in a desultory but -picturesque fashion in ridicule of some of the junior Senator's -new-fangled heresies almost before Rutledge had caught his breath, and -his vitriolic opening stayed the steps of many who in courtesy would -have gone over to Rutledge's seat to felicitate him upon his maiden -effort. Mr. Killam presented his felicitations openly and with such a -mixture of sarcasm, irony and some seeming admiration that his colleague -was puzzled. When Mr. Killam talked his dearest enemy would stop to -listen. Rutledge, tired and blown, leaned back in his chair to hear him -thunder. - -As he sank back into a comfortable pose he caught sight for the first -time of Lola DeVale and Elise Phillips in the gallery. They had heard -his speech from start to finish,--and were differently affected by it. -Lola was more impressed with the Senator's manner than by his words. - -"Senator Rutledge verily believes all that he says against the negroes," -she had commented; "but surely they are not so black as he paints them. -Papa says that it is impossible for a Southern man to judge the negro -fairly." - -Elise did not reply. She was filled with revulsion amounting almost to -nausea, and her temper was on edge. As her father's daughter, the -personal element was unbearably irritating to her. She resented the -entire situation and discussion. She had not known what was under -consideration, nor who was to speak, and she would have left the gallery -if she had not felt that it would be beating a retreat. She also had a -desire to see whether Evans had the impudence to say what he thought -right in her face. - -In her stay in the South she had seen a very disreputable class of -negroes, and under the spell of Rutledge's words her antipathies were -over-excited to such a degree that she was faint with disgust. On the -other hand she was full of barely suppressed anger. Rutledge smiled a -salutation to the young women; and though Elise was looking straight at -him she did not join Lola in her gracious acknowledgment. - -"Don't you see Mr. Rutledge, Elise? He waits for your smile like a dog -for a bone." - -"I wish that man were dead," Elise declared. - -Lola raised her eyebrows and scanned the profile of her friend for some -moments, and there came into her mind an idea that appeared to be worth -some thinking over.... - -If Senator Rutledge was distasteful to her, Elise had little cause to -complain of him: for seldom had any of the scores of young fellows who -followed in her train the good fortune of a minute's talk with her -alone; and Rutledge, oppressed by the result of their last meeting at -Senator DeVale's, unsatisfied with the empty nothings which passed for -conversation in the brief glimpses he had of her at formal gatherings, -and chilled by the coldness of her manner which had been oh, so -different in that halcyon summer when he had lost his heart to her, was -well content to stand further and further away from her in the crowd -that was always about her, and to worship in spirit the real Elise -Phillips unfettered by convention and unaffected by untoward incident. -He took what comfort he could from the fact that as yet no favoured one -appeared among Elise's admirers, and that among the sons of fortune, -army officers, attaches, and all that sort who aspired to make life -interesting for the President's eldest daughter it seemed none could -flatter himself he was preferred above another. - -As for those who exhibited the liveliest interest in Elise, gossip gave -that distinction to two. One evening at a reception at Secretary -Mackenzie's Senator Rutledge was talking to Lola DeVale when Elise -passed, accompanied by a stalwart young fellow whom Rutledge had never -seen. - -"Who is Sir Monocle?" he asked. - -"Where?" asked Lola. - -"Miss Phillips' escort." - -"Oh. He has no monocle." - -"I know. But he should have. He looks it. Who is he?" - -"Captain George St. Lawrence Howard, second son of the Earl of -Duddeston. He was taking a look at America, but an introduction to -Elise seems to have persuaded him to limit his observations to -Washington City." - -"Sensible fellow," commented Rutledge. - -"Yes," said Lola, "and a very likable fellow. He won his captaincy with -Younghusband in the Thibetan campaign before he was twenty; and the fact -that an invalid brother is all that stands between him and the earldom -doesn't make him any the less interesting." - -"Titles are talismanic--whether military or other. With two, he ought to -be fairly irresistible." - -"Yes, and besides that he has plenty of money and leisure to make love -with a thorough care for detail." - -"With all those and a manifest supremely good taste," said Rutledge, "I -would back him for a winner." - -"You are forgetting Senatorial courtesy!" - -"How now?" - -"Senator Richland." - -"What of him?" - -"He also is in the running." - -"Richland? I hadn't heard." - -"Yes; and remember that his fortune is ten times that of the Earl of -Duddeston, and his brains are of the same grade as his bank account." - -Rutledge was interested. He had a thorough respect for Richland's -ability. - -"He is nearly twice Elise's age," Lola continued, "and Senatorial -dignity will not permit a display of violent enthusiasm. But Senator -Richland has acquired the habit of winning, and he is young enough and -abundantly able to make the game interesting both for Elise and for any -rivals. He is young indeed for his honours, has the ear of the people, -and is a politician of rare acumen. His followers predict for him -nothing less than the Presidency itself when his time is ripe. What -more could a girl wish? Don't lay all your salary on the -Englishman--you might lose." - - * * * * * - -Lola DeVale had not misread Senator Richland's purposes. He was -seriously in the running. Elise was the first woman he had ever thought -of marrying. She seemed to him to fit perfectly into all the plans which -his ambition had made for the future. He had met her at Mr. Phillips' -inauguration, and after thinking over her charms during the summer -vacation had come back to Washington in December fully determined to -wage a vigorous campaign for her hand. - -Of the other men who were rash enough to dream of Elise it is needless -and would be tiresome to go into detail. They were more or less -interested, enamoured or devoted: but the Senator and Captain Howard -were too fast company for them, and they are of interest only as a -numerous field which made the running more or less difficult for the -leaders. - -Evans Rutledge willingly would have entered the lists against Richland -or the Englishman--against anybody--if Elise had been ordinarily civil -to him; but he had been in such evident disfavour since the Smith -knock-down that he deemed himself one of "the gallery" at this game of -hearts. Elise when indeed she had time to think of it, felt that she -had dealt with him ungenerously if not unjustly, but that only made his -presence less grateful to her. - -The unreasonableness of Elise's attitude toward Rutledge and Rutledge's -behaviour whenever she saw him near Elise, mildly stirred the womanly -curiosity of Lola DeVale to the point of investigation. She found Elise -averse to the slightest discussion of Senator Rutledge or of anything -connected with him. Baffled there, she turned with more determination -and softer skill to the man. He will never know how he came upon terms -of such friendliness and sympathy with Miss DeVale. Soon doubtless he -would have confided the story of his love to her. But events came about -differently. - -A score of young people were at Senator DeVale's country-place one -evening in May. Elise had met Evans with something of her old-time -friendliness and he was in an uncertain state of happiness. - -"Now don't make an ass of yourself because the Lady Beautiful is in a -mood to be gracious," he solemnly admonished his heart. "Sir Monocle -may just have proposed and been accepted." - -The thought was as bracing as a cold shower and gave him a vigorous grip -on his rebellious affections. Then he danced with her--on the wide, -dimly lighted veranda--a slow, lotus-land waltz, just coming back in -vogue after more than a decade of galloping two-steps. - -He took another grip on himself. He must not think of the woman in his -arms. Luckily the old-fashioned dance was diverting: while the movement -was intoxicating it was reminiscent. He remembered his first waltz--the -Carolina hill-town--the moonlight, the smell of the roses--the plump -little girl in the white dress, with the red, red sash, and the cheeks -as red, with the black eyes and the blacker hair, with the indefinable -sensuous physical perfume of Woman, and the very Spirit of the -Dance,--she who--yes, she who married the station-agent and was now such -a motherly person. He began a speech that would have been cynical. -Elise stopped him. - -"Don't talk," she said. "Let's dream." - -Tumult! Riot! What's the use to hold one's pulses steady when the Lady -Beautiful herself incites revolt! - -"Let's dream." His heart-strings were set a-tremble by the vibrant -richness of her voice, which seemed to have caught the dreaminess and -rhythm and resonance of the violins that drew them on. And-- - -"Don't talk." No: he would not profane the enchantment of that waltz -with words; and yet surely My Lady Beautiful were heartless indeed not -to catch the messages of love which, pure of the alloy of breath and -speech, his every pulse-beat sent unfettered to her heart. - -He held her for a moment after the violins had ceased, and the spell of -the slow-swinging waltz was still upon them both--when a quick jerk of -the fiddles in the ever rollicking two-step brought Sir Monocle to -Elise's side. Evans resigned her with a bow and, without so much as a -"thank you," went out on the lawn to commune with his heart. - -How long that two-step continued, he, seated in a retired nook, did not -know. Sometime after it was finished he saw Elise and the Englishman -walk down the winding path that led from the front door to the roadside. -They stood talking together a minute perhaps till Captain Howard boarded -a passing car city-bound. Rutledge noted with a twinge of jealousy the -cordial good-bye the girl gave the man, but even at that distance and -through the uncertain light he thought he saw--and, queer to say, -resented--a certain formality in Captain Howard's adieus to the woman. - -He watched her through the trees as she came slowly back up the hill -following the turns of the smooth hard walk as it wound through darkness -and half lights from the broad gateway to the house. She moved along, a -white shadow, slowly at first, and Evans imagined that she was in some -such mood as possessed him. Then she started suddenly and ran at a -stone stairway which mounted a terrace. She tripped, stumbled and fell -against the granite steps. - -Rutledge was flying to her before she was fairly prone. He spoke to her -and tried to help her up. She made no answer, and her hand and arm were -limp. - -"Elise!" he said, with fear in his voice. Still no answer. - -He took her in his arms and made directly up the hill for the front -door. - -"Elise," he whispered fearfully again. "Oh, my heart, speak to me!" - -Her cheek was against his shoulder. He buried his face in her hair, as -he prayerfully kissed the snow-white part visible even in that darkness. -Her head dropped limply back, and a sigh came from her lips so close to -his. Still she answered not his call. He loved her very much and--he -kissed her again, softly, where the long lashes lay upon her cheek, -and--"Elise!" he murmured appealingly. She turned her face feebly away -from him, like a child restless in sleep. - -He had not delayed his climb to the house. - -"Here!" he cried. "Get Dr. Sheldon quick! Miss Phillips is dangerously -hurt!" - -There were excited screams among the women and a stir among the men as -he carried his burden across the piazza and into the wide hall. There -in the full light he saw--Miss Elise Phillips talking quietly to Donald -MacLane. He almost let fall the woman in his arms. He looked again at -her face. She was Lola DeVale. - -Dr. Sheldon and Lola's mother fortunately were at hand. At their -direction Rutledge carried the young woman up the stairs and laid her on -a couch in her sitting-room. She opened her eyes and smiled languidly -at him as he put her down. - -Elise and all the other young people knew of Rutledge's mistake as to -Lola's identity, but Elise could not understand why he blushed so -furiously as he gave her an account of the mishap. - - * * * * * - -At her next _tete-a-tete_ with Rutledge Lola gave him her very sincerest -thanks and--laughed at him till he was uncomfortable. Finally she said: -"You are a very gallant but a very mercenary knight, Mr. Rutledge." -Rutledge was hopelessly confused. - -Lola continued, mischief in her eyes: "Alas! the spirit of commercialism -has pervaded even Southern Chivalry, and forlorn maidens must pay as -they go." Rutledge was plainly resentful. - -"Now I am very unselfish, Mr. Rutledge, and--I wish it _had_ been -Elise." Her mischief dissolved in a confiding smile, full of -sympathy,--and Rutledge was very humble. - -Lola DeVale's sympathy was warm and irresistible, and before he was -aware he was telling her of his love for Elise in a way to set her -interest a-tingle. - -"Why don't you tell her of it?" asked Lola. "Tell her that it just -overwhelms all earlier loves." - -"Earlier loves? I never loved any other woman," Rutledge answered. - -"Oh, of course not." Lola could scarcely repress a smile at the thought -that a man always swears only his last passion is genuine. - -"But tell her--tell her!" she repeated. - -"I have told her." - -"When?" - -"Three years ago." - -"Plainly? or with artistic indirectness?" - -"Plainly." - -Lola looked at him incredulously, but saw that he was telling the truth. - -"The sly thing!" she exclaimed under her breath. "But tell her _again_! -I declare if I were a man and loved Elise--and I would love none -else--I'd tell her so every time I saw her." - -"Oh I'll not love another--no fear of that," Evans replied half lightly; -"but as for telling her again, self-respect will not--" - -"Self-respect--fudge! If I loved a girl I'd tell her so a hundred -times--and marry her too--in spite of everything." - -"Perhaps so," Evans commented skeptically. - -Lola was shooting in the dark, but her warm heart would not let her -leave the matter at rest. Both because of her desire, being happily in -love herself, to see the love affairs of her friends go smoothly, and -because of the riddle it presented to her, she approached Elise again in -order to straighten out the tangled skein for everybody's satisfaction. -She thought to match her wits against Elise's and proceeded with more -caution. - -"By the way, Elise," she said, apropos of nothing at all, "I think you -were right about Senator Rutledge's being very much in love with that -young woman you told me about." - -Elise exhibited a perfect indifference and said nothing. - -"I asked him about her, after becoming duly confidential and -sympathetic, of course, and he confirmed your statement. He still loves -the girl--oh, you ought to hear him tell of it. 'He will never love -another till he's dead, dead, dead,'--or words to that effect: but he -will not tell her--" - -Elise was listening with a polite but languid interest. - -"--again. He thinks his self-respect forbids; but _I_ think--" - -"Did he say that? To you?" Elise demanded. - -"Yes; when I asked h--" - -"Well now, once and for all, Lola, I tell you I despise that man, and -never must you mention his name to me again!" - -"But Elise, I think he--" - -"Stop, Lola! I'll not hear another word!" - -"But let me tell you, Elise. He--" - -"No! Stop _now_! Not another word if you care for my friendship. I'll -never speak to you again if you speak of him to me!" - -Elise's anger was at white heat, and she looked and spoke like her -father. Lola was frightened at her manner, but made another brave -attempt to set matters straight, which was met by such a blaze of -personal resentment in Elise's eyes that she gave up in abject -defeat--though she did pluck up courage to fire a parting shot. - -"Very well, my dear," she said, as if dismissing the subject.... "I -have something of yours I must give you before I go. There--take it," -and she kissed the expectant Elise warmly on the lips as she added: -"Senator Rutledge gave it to me by mistake as he carried me up the hill -the other night." - - - - - *CHAPTER XIX* - - -Lily Porter finally became conscious that she was the special attraction -for a stranger who regularly every other Sunday evening sat in a forward -pew and listened to her singing with attentive interest, but who showed -little or no care for any of the service beside. Several months had gone -by before she noticed him and his faithful attention to herself. When -she did realize his presence she was conscious that he had been paying -her this tribute for a long time. She observed him quietly and -satisfied herself that he came only to see or to hear her. He did not -force himself upon her vision, but none the less did she understand that -she was the chief object of his respectful consideration. - -The preacher's manner and style of thought did not appeal to Hayward, -while Lily Porter's face and voice did. He always sat where he could -look at her in the choir-loft, for he argued that as he went only to see -her he would see as much of her as possible. His face was mobile and -easily read, and as he was good to look upon and so evidently -appreciative of her efforts the girl came ere long to sing with an eye -to his approval and admiration--to sing for him and to him. This -interested her for a time, but she was piqued at length for that he -seemed content to admire at a distance and made no effort to come nearer -to her. - -One evening, unexpectedly to them both, a negro prominent among his race -because of his position as Registrar for the District, John K. Brown, -with whom Hayward had picked up a mutually agreeable though casual -acquaintance, introduced him to the singer in the aisle of the church. - -"Miss Lily, I want to introduce my friend Mr. John Hayward, who goes -into extravagances about your singing--as he very properly should." - -Hayward was overjoyed at his good fortune. To be presented as John -Brown's friend was a passport to the best negro society in Washington. -He was as much pleased to know that Brown regarded him so favourably as -he was delighted to meet the young woman. As he walked with her to the -door she presented him to her mother, a bright mulatto woman about fifty -or more, who did the grand dame to the best of her ability: which was -indeed perfect as to manner but was betrayed the moment she tried to do -too many things with the English language. - -When he had opportunity Hayward was profuse in his thanks to Brown, and -told him volubly of his love for music. Finding a sympathetic listener, -he was led on to an impulsive story of the social longings and lackings -in his life. Brown, more than ever impressed with the young fellow's -intelligence and worthiness, was at some pains thereafter to look after -him and set him going in a congenial social current. - -With Brown's approval and his own gifts and graces it was not remarkable -that Hayward won his way to social popularity as fast as his confining -duties would permit. He began to see much of Lily Porter and was -consistent in his devotion to her despite the fact that the habit of his -college days of being attracted by each new and pretty face still -measurably clung to him. His information and accomplishments were of a -sort superior to that of any of the young women he met, and none made a -serious impression on his heart. Lily Porter was more nearly his equal -in education and general cultivation of mind and manner, and was really -the most attractive to him; but his harmless vanity could not forego the -admiration of the others, and he gave some little time to small -conquests. He did homage to Lily by his evident admiration of her -talents and comeliness and by his unconcealed pleasure in her -friendship. At the same time he met her petty tyrannies and autocratic -demands with an unmoved indifference. - -He had become very well acquainted with Lily and had called on her -several times before Henry Porter knew that his daughter was receiving -the footman whom he had snubbed some months before. - -"Lily, who was that young man that called on you last night?" - -"Mr. Hayward." - -"Umhuh, I thought he was the same fellow. You'll have to drop him. I -don't want you to be receivin' no footman in this house. We must draw -the line somewhere." - -"He's no footman, papa. He's one of Mr. Brown's friends. Mr. Brown -introduced him to me himself. I think he is connected with Mr. Brown's -office." - -"No such thing. Hayward's footman at the White House--told me so -hisself 'bout a year ago, and I saw him on the President's carriage no -longer'n yesterday. Nice lie he's told you 'bout bein' in Brown's -office." - -"Oh, he didn't say so, papa. I supposed so because Mr. Brown said he -was his friend and has introduced him to all the nice people. Surely -you can't object to one of Mr. Brown's friends. Everybody likes Mr. -Hayward and he is received everywhere." - -"Everybody likes him, do they? Well you see to it you don't like him -any too much. I can't kick him out if Brown stands for him, but you -make it your business to let him down easy. Have you seen Bob Shaw -lately?" - -"He was here last night when Mr. Hayward came," answered Lily; and she -seemed to be amused at something. - -"Well, what's funny 'bout that?" - -Lily knew that she must not tell her father what she was laughing at. -She created a diversion. - -"Mr. Shaw is so backward, and so--dark." - -"Dark! He's jus' a good hones' black,--so'm I--all African and proud of -it. Mebbe I'm too dark to suit yuh. Bob Shaw is not backward, miss. -He's got the bes' law practice of all the niggers in the Distric', and -he'll be leader of the whole crowd in a few years. He's the bes' one in -the bunch of these fellers who tag after you and you better take him. -My money and his brains and pull with the party 'd make a great -combernation." - -Lily did not commit herself. She was accustomed to her father's blunt -method of indicating his wishes. She liked Shaw well enough, but old -Henry's awkward interference and zeal did the lawyer's cause no good. -Shaw was below the ordinary in the matter of good looks, and in his love -for Lily was too submissive to her whims. He had not Hayward's easy -manner, nor his assurance--for the footman was not at all abashed by -Henry Porter's money nor his daughter's gentle arrogance. It is -needless to say the girl preferred the serving-man to the lawyer. - -After the first flush of interest in Lily and her songs had subsided -Hayward made love to the pampered belle warmly or indifferently as the -mood was upon him. He noted that, taking her charms in detail, they -were alluring without exception; and such moments of reflective analysis -were always followed by a more determined pursuit of her. Yet the -careless moods came. However, he always delighted in and could be -extravagant in praising her singing, even when the personal attraction -was the weakest, and the general effect on the woman was a continuous -tattoo of love-taps at the door of her heart. - -The negro magnate's favourite, Shaw, clearly was being outdistanced, and -the outraged father stamped and threatened and commanded: but to no -purpose. When Hayward discovered the bitterness of the old man's -opposition he chuckled. - -"Here's where I get even," he said; and became more assiduous in his -attentions to Lily and more aggressive in his methods. - -"Your father does not appear to hold much love for me," he told Lily one -evening after she had sung him into an affectionate frame of mind and -the conversation had drifted along to the confidential and personal -stage. - -"Did I ever tell you what he did with my first request for an -introduction to you?" - -"No. What?" - -"He stamped the feathers off of it," said Hayward, and laughingly told -her the details. - -"Papa thinks--everybody--should be a lawyer, or a politician with a -pull," Lily commented complainingly. - -The temptation to vindicate his dignity was too much for Hayward. - -"I was not always a footman and do not intend always to be a footman; -and yet, footman as I am, if your father values a pull with the -President, perhaps, if he knew--oh, well, he might think better of me." - -"Oh, you have a pull? How interesting. Do tell me about it. I have -read so much about pulls that I am dying to know what one is like. How -do you work it? I believe you work a pull, don't you? Or do you pull -the--" - -"I haven't pulled mine yet. I'm waiting," said Hayward. "But it will -work when the time comes." - -"And when will the time come? Tell me. I'm so anxious to see the -wheels go round in a genuine political machine. How many Southern -delegates can you influence in the next national convention? That's the -mainspring, isn't it?" - -"I'm no politician or vote vender. I've never had the pleasure of -influencing my own vote yet, and won't as long as I live in the -District." - -"What! Without politics or votes, and yet you have a pull?" - -"It is a personal matter entirely," Hayward answered carelessly, as if -personal friendships with Presidents were very ordinary affairs for him. -Lily Porter was a mite skeptical, but she hoped he spoke the truth, for -it would more than confirm her estimate of him and would be such an -effective counter to her father's nagging opposition. - -"Oh, isn't that interesting! Tell me all about it!" - -"Really I cannot. I have never told that, even to my mother. There is -only one other person who knows of it. It is my one secret, and my -life--that is, my future--depends largely upon it. There's too much at -stake." - -"Would you fear to trust your life--your future--in my hands?" asked the -woman softly. "I could be a very good and a very faithful friend." - -The lure in her voice was irresistible. - -"I would trust my soul with you," he answered, and with the spoken faith -the trust was perfected in his heart. "Listen." - -He told her all about himself, of his name and his history, of his life -and his hopes. He was modest in his recital of the creditable things he -had done; but when he had told her of his claim upon the President's -gratitude and the purpose toward which he would use it, and began to -talk of his ambition and his dreams, his heart was fired by its own -fervour, and before the very warmth of his own eloquence all obstacles -and difficulties faded as mists before the sun, and he felt that he -needed only to put forth his hands to grasp his heart's desires. - -The girl was touched with his fire. She listened with ready sympathy to -the beginning of his story, heard with quickening pulses of his rescue -of Colonel Phillips, and in the telling of his hopes was caught in the -current of his transporting fervency and carried along with him to -realize the vision of his martial career. - -"And that is the picture of your life! It is--it will be--glorious!" -She rose in her enthusiasm. "Oh, that a woman might--" - -"Glorious--yes," the man said; "and till to-night it had seemed perfect -to me. But I have been blind to its greatest lack. You have made me -conscious of it." Hayward stood up and moved toward the girl, who -wavered uncertainly between reserve and complaisance. - -"I would paint another figure into that picture, Lily--the figure of a -woman." He put his hands out toward her, and her coldness was melting -when--"Lily," said her father from the hall, "what did you do with the -evenin' paper? I want to read Mr. Shaw's speech before the convention -this mornin'. Mr. Brown told me that it is the greates' speech that's -been made yet." - -Henry Porter came into the parlour in time to catch a glimpse of -confusion and unusual attitude in his daughter and Hayward. He thought -best to mount guard, and decided to talk Hayward into flight. He began -with a panegyric on Shaw. Hayward caught the hint and took his leave, -pulling Lily to the front door by a chain of conversation. - -"Now remember," he murmured tenderly, "you hold my secret; and must keep -it sacredly." - -"Have no fear of me. Watch your other confidante," Lily whispered, her -manner full as his of tenderness. - -"Oh, she is--" - -"Shaw told 'em," began the persistent and suspicious parent, coming out -of the parlour;--but the footman was gone down the steps. - -Hayward's mood changed in a twinkling and with a jolt. He walked a -hundred paces thinking confusedly. - -The question slowly framed itself in his mind.... "Do I love Lily?" - -But he did not answer it. - - - - - *CHAPTER XX* - - -The oncoming summer promised to be long and uneventful for Helen -Phillips. Late in May her mother took her and her two little sisters to -Stag Inlet, leaving a perspiring father to await the perverse pleasure -of a stubborn Congress before beginning his vacation, and Elise to set -out upon a round of visiting that would permit her to see very little of -home during the hot months. To Mrs. Phillips the restfulness of -"Hill-Top" was gratefully refreshing after her trying first winter in -Washington. She gave herself over fully to its soothing quiet and -arranged her daily programmes on the simplest lines. - -Hayward, because of his versatile abilities an indispensable part of the -simple Hill-Top outfit, did not have an opportunity before leaving for -Stag Inlet to see Lily Porter again. Nor indeed was he regretful on -that account. He was in a state of indecision and wanted time to think. -He heartily wished that he had not been so free with his confidences: -yet could not justify this feeling when he sought a reason for it. - -After awhile he wrote Lily a letter which was a model of -diplomacy--which said much and said nothing. It did not disappoint or -displease her. She read between the lines an admirable modesty and -restraint, complimentary to herself and true to the artistic instinct -which, she had read somewhere, always saves a full confession for a -personal interview. She took her own good time to answer it. She felt -sure of the man's devotion, despite the fact that his other and unknown -confidante was a woman other than his mother. The tenor of her reply -was reserved, though not discouraging. Hayward's impatience was not -excited by the delay, nor his interest quickened by the coy missive. - - * * * * * - -The first morning Helen was on the lake after coming to the Inlet her -launch passed a small catboat commanded by Jimmie Radwine and flying a -Yale pennant from her diminutive masthead. The crew, consisting of -Captain Jimmie and another youngster, both younger than Helen, were -yelling themselves dizzy. - -"What's Jimmie Radwine saying, Helen?" asked Nell Stewart. - -Jimmie had no intention of leaving them uninformed. He had put his boat -about, and come up alongside. - -"Hello, Helen!" he shouted, "Harvard can't play ball! Quincy can't -pitch! Tom got a home run and two two-baggers off him in four times up! -Rah! rah! rah! YALE!" - -Helen was a famous Harvard partisan, and many a verbal tilt had she had -with Jimmie, whose brother Tom was Yale's right-fielder, as to the -comparative merits of the blue and the crimson in all things from -scholarship to shot-putting. - -"What was the score, Jimmie?" she asked him. - -"Wasn't any score--for Harvard: all for Yale. Wow! Yale--Yale--Yale!" -he yelled. - -Helen looked a dignified reproof of his unmannerly enthusiasm, but -Jimmie's youth was proof against any such mild rebuke, and her -irritation only kindled his joy. She nodded to Hayward for more speed, -but as Jimmie was favoured by a stiff breeze they could not shake him -off. He followed them for two miles or more up the lake, volunteering -much information sandwiched between cheers for Eli, which, when he had -delivered it fully and in detail, he began to repeat in order to impress -it upon them. Hayward cheerfully would have bumped him with the launch. - -Having so thoroughly enjoyed the morning's sport, Captain Jimmie -regularly afterward flew the blue pennant from his mast, and was ever on -the alert to greet Helen with the Yale yell and further particulars. - - * * * * * - -Less than a month later the Harvard crew rowed rings around the Yale men -at New London. Helen's cup was full. The next day she and Nell Stewart -and Nancy Chester were sitting out on the lawn reading an account of the -race when they saw Jimmie's catboat beating about the lake. - -"Come, girls," exclaimed Helen, "we must carry the news to Jimmie!" - -"Hayward, come here," she called to the footman, who was tinkering at a -gasoline runabout a hundred yards from them. "Get the launch ready," -she added when he came nearer, "we want to overtake Mr. Radwine's boat -out there." - -"I guess Jimmie will haul down that blue flag now," said one of the -girls when they had come to the boat-house. - -"Hayward," said Helen, "run up to the house and tell mamma to give you -the Harvard pennant that is in my room--and hurry!" - -Hayward needed no urging. Out of the chatter he had caught the news of -Harvard's victory at the oars, and he was as full of excited pleasure as -Helen herself. He hurried up the hill and, not finding Mrs. Phillips, -rushed to his own quarters and turned out from his trunk the crimson -pennant. - -Helen was too intent on the chase of Jimmie Radwine to notice that the -short staff of the flag Hayward brought her, and the faded and wrinkled -folds of the cloth, did not belong to the crimson emblem which was part -of the decoration of her dressing-table. Jimmie, already informed of -Yale's bitter defeat, surmised the purpose of the Phillips launch's -coming, and tried to sail away and away: but he was relentlessly pursued -and overtaken, and mercilessly repaid for all of his taunts of the last -fortnight. As they came up with him Helen cried out to her friends: - -"Now, everybody give the Harvard yell!" - -The feminine chorus was shrill, but lacked volume. - -"Again! and louder!" she commanded. "You too, Hayward!" - -That was the most grateful order Hayward had received since the 10th was -sent into the charge at Valencia. He stood up to drive the -deep-mouthed, long-drawn rah-rah-rah's from his lungs, and added a few -kinks and wrinkles at the end in orthodox phrasing and intonation by way -of trimming off the severely plain Harvard slogan. Helen looked at him -in some surprise, and saw that he was oblivious to his situation and -seemed bent on "rattling" the hostile blue skipper. He came to himself -at last, and pulled himself together in some confusion to give attention -solely to his duties in running the launch. Helen thought his behaviour -unusual, and watched him covertly while the badgering of Jimmie Radwine -was in progress. - -Jimmie was far from an easy mark, however, for by his unblushing -impudence and boyish pretension to vast knowledge of facts and figures -he time and again crowded Helen to her defences. Hayward could hardly -keep his tongue when Jimmie presumed too much on the ignorance of the -young women as to the athletic history of the blue and the crimson, and -Helen could see that the negro was keeping quiet with difficulty. At -one of Jimmie's most reckless statements, which overwhelmed Helen, -Hayward, bending over the launch's little engine, shook his head in -violent dissent. - -"What is it, Hayward?" his mistress called to him. - -"Beg pardon, Miss Helen, but he's--he's--misstating it!" Hayward -answered with vigour. - -"Then tell him of it!" Helen exclaimed impulsively. - -"Pardon me, but you are altogether mistaken about that, Mr. Radwine," -the negro sang out to Jimmie, shoving the launch up a little nearer the -boat's windward quarter. - -"What do you know about it?" Jimmie demanded scornfully. - -"I know all about it," retorted Hayward with rising spirit; and he went -into details in a way to take Jimmie's breath. Warming up, he did not -desist on finishing the matter in dispute, but challenged others of -Jimmie's audacious inaccuracies and proceeded to straighten them out. -Jimmie demurred and replied more recklessly, and was soon in a rough and -tumble discussion covering the whole field of college excellences. He -found he was no match for Hayward either in information and enthusiasm -or in assurance. Before the argument was half finished the footman was -talking to him in a patronizing and fatherly way that pricked him like -needles. He did not relish the idea of a controversy with, much less -being routed by, this serving-man, especially in the presence of the -young women. He wished the girls anywhere else so that he might smother -the lackey with a sulphurous blast. But he had to stand to the losing -game while Helen and her friends laughed at his defeat or waved the -crimson flag and cheered the Harvard hits in a shrill treble. Helen -indeed felt some compunctions for having brought about the situation but -was enjoying Jimmie's discomfiture too much to end it. - -Hayward had forgotten he was a lackey, had forgotten he was a negro, had -forgotten he was anything save a Harvard man proud of his college, -proclaiming her fair record with love and joy, confident in himself as -one of her sons.... "As a man thinketh. so is he." ... The occasion was -trivial, but the transforming power of thought, its triumph over -circumstance, was strikingly evidenced in the footman's face. Helen -noted that his bearing had lost every trace of conventional or conscious -servility, that he looked easily and confidently _a man_, calling no man -master. - -After harrying Captain Jimmie enough to pay off all old scores they gave -him good-bye with a final yell for the crimson, and turned the launch -for home. In the run back Helen had her first opportunity to notice the -pennant. It was not hers. - -"Hayward, whose flag is this?" - -"Mine, Miss Helen. I could not find your mother quickly, and I brought -that to save time." - -She looked from the flag to the negro. A nebulous idea floated through -her mind, and she tried to fix it, but it was too elusive. She put Nell -and Nancy off at their landings, and tried to grasp the intangible -explanation that was hovering about her brain. It was characteristic of -her to prefer working out her own answers to looking at them in the back -of the book. Finally, however, she decided she did not have a full -statement of the problem. - -"When did you go to Harvard, Hayward?" she ventured. - -"Class of 191-, Miss Helen." - -"191-. Then you did not finish. The battle of Valencia was--" - -"No, Miss Helen, I did not finish: but I understand two others of my -class who volunteered were passed on the spring term's work and -graduated by a special resolution of the Overseers. I think I will -apply for my diploma sometime--if I need it." - -Hayward spoke lightly, but his last words brought to Helen the same -question which had occurred to her so often in the last year since she -had discovered in him her father's rescuer. They only made the question -more insistent. - -He was a Harvard man,--to Helen's mind a title of all excellence and -dignity. That explained much. His intelligence, even his physical grace -and soldierly courage, seemed to fit naturally into that character. But -why a flunkey?--shirking higher duties and the honours that pertained to -his degree, careless of the evidence of his scholarly merit, putting -aside the rewards of his soldierly heroism. - -"Do you care nothing for everything, Hayward?--except this flag? You -seem to have valued it." - -"It is the one possession dearest to my heart," he answered in simple -truth, and then showed the first faint trace of embarrassment she had -ever seen him exhibit. - -"Yes, you have loved the Harvard pennant but concealed your Harvard -lineage. You champion Harvard's name enthusiastically against Jimmie -Radwine's gibes, but you affect to be careless of Harvard's diploma. -You carry the Harvard culture, and yet--you choose to be a footman." - -Hayward winced. Helen tempered the thrust by adding: - -"You do a soldier's work, but decline a soldier's honours. You are -_too_ modest. You overdo the part." - -"I hope yet to do something worthy of Harvard, Miss Helen. I am not -without ambition, however much you may think it. Indeed I fear I have -too much ambition." - -A Harvard man need set no limit to his ambition. Helen spoke with the -wisdom and confidence of youth and loyalty. - -The launch was at the landing. The girl climbed out and up the steep -stairs. At the top she bethought herself and turned about. - -"Oh, here's your 'heart's dearest possession,'" she said with a laugh, -and she pitched the little crimson flag down upon Hayward, who was -making the boat fast. - -The man looked up to catch the flag as it fell, and memory in that -instant worked the magic which brought the scene on Soldiers Field -clearly before Helen's mind. She knew him in that moment. She gazed at -him without speaking. She looked at the flag and then at him--once, and -again. All the incidents of the driving finish of that ever memorable -football game came back to her, bringing to her pulses an echoing tremor -of its tense excitement and wild enthusiasm and her unstinted girlish -admiration for the player who had saved his college, her Harvard, from -black defeat. - -At last she remembered his words about the pennant which she had quoted -to him a moment since. Her cheek flushed and she was in two minds -whether to be offended or amused. Graham saw her look of surprised -recognition, her glances at the pennant, and read the significance of -her rising colour. He felt the presumption of his very presence, and, -conscious and guilty, he looked abjectly out across the lake. - -The man's humility went far to mollify Helen's anger or levity; but she -could not spare him entirely. - -"So you prefer another name to your own," she said. "Why is that?" - -"Oh, no, Miss Helen. I am not ashamed of my name. There's no reason -why I should be. I--" - -"Then why use another?" - -"My name is John Hayward Graham. I am using my own, but not all of my -own." - -"But why the masquerade? It doesn't look well. What have you done to be -afraid of your full name?" - -"Nothing, Miss Helen, I declare upon honour. I'll tell you the whole -story. You have been kind to respect my wishes not to make known my -services to your father, and I'll gladly tell you all about it. But I -must go now, if you will excuse me? Mrs. Phillips ordered the carriage -for five o'clock and it's nearly that time now." - -"I'll excuse you, Hayward," Helen answered, intending a dismissal of the -subject as well as of the servant. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXI* - - -For a year now Helen had had an unconsciously growing regard for her -footman's mental abilities and for his gift of entertaining her with his -tales of battle and camp and other incidental themes of conversation -which at odd times had beguiled the moments of the past summer after his -identity had been revealed to her as "the trooper of the 10th" of her -father's most thrilling battle story. It was but natural that -conversation with a man of his cultivation of mind and wide information -should dull the sense of caste and superiority and enhance a feeling of -genuine respect. It was only occasionally now that she assumed an air -of command:--at best it is a difficult thing to patronize intellect. - -Helen did not have an opportunity to hear Hayward's proffered -explanation for quite a long time, and she cared little to know anything -further of it; but her attitude of mind toward him had changed. Formerly -she sometimes had wondered that a footman should be so intelligent. -Finding that he was a Harvard man, however, had reversed the problem. -It raised him to a level of respectability above his calling, and left -the fact that he was a serving-man to be accounted for as anomalous. -That he was a negro counted with her, of course, for naught one way or -the other. He was nothing less than a footman. - -However, with all her democratic ideas, she was a President's daughter; -and that he was a footman, until it was explained, and even after it was -explained,--as long, in fact, as he remained a footman,--would cause -that vacillation between anger and amusement which came to her yet with -the remembrance of his embarrassed declaration that her pennant was his -heart's dearest possession.... She was somewhat annoyed by her own mild -self-consciousness--an unusual mental state for her; more so than by any -forwardness on the man's part in speaking the speech,--for there had -been nothing of that.... She would not think of it.... Why should she -think of it? The idea was ridiculous. She would laugh it away.... Of -course the pennant was a dear possession: the man prized it as a memento -of his college life and his daringly won victory.... Certainly, it was -a very dear possession: she had similar school-day souvenirs which were -precious to her heart though recalling moments of less energy of loyalty -and wild delirium of joy.... Besides he may have meant, he could have -meant, nothing personal to herself,--for he could not have known -her--she was nothing more than a child seeing her first great football -match--and he had caught but a glimpse of her in all that yelling -throng--if he had seen her at all.... It would be a miracle if he -remembered her... And yet he seemed to remember.... Though why should -she think so? He had _said_ nothing to indicate it.... But he -knew--she was sure that he knew.... And what if he did know, and did -value the pennant on that account? The personal consideration was not -imperative. Was she not the President's daughter, and would not any man -deem it an honour to be decorated by her hand or high privilege to carry -her flag? The lowest menial might properly take pride in her -approbation and set great store by a token of her approval.... -But--this man is neither low nor menial, for all his servile livery. He -is a gentleman by every token: educated, brave, strong, modest, -self-sacrificing, chivalrous. It is hard to consider him as an -underling--a footman.... And why is he a footman? ... She does not care -why he is a footman ... or that he is a footman.... He must keep his -place. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXII* - - -Helen was taking her early morning ride. She pulled her horse up -sharply and waited for her groom to overtake her. - -"Why are you a footman, Hayward?" - -Hayward was startled. The girl had been uncertain in her treatment of -him for a month, and he was expecting anything that might happen, from a -plain discharge to arrest as a suspicious character. He was confused by -the suddenness of the question, and by the peculiar mingling of sympathy -and impatience in Helen's voice. - -"Who are you, and what are you trying to do?" - -"I am John Hayward Graham, Miss Helen, as I told you before. I am a -footman now because it seems to be necessary. I did not intend to be a -footman so long as this when I obtained the position." Helen thought -she detected a shade of embarrassment again. "But after I was employed -at the White House my mother's health gave way suddenly and she could no -longer support herself and I was compelled to keep the place." - -The man saw that he was making an awkward mess of it, and the quick -intelligence of Helen's eyes showed him her inferences were all adverse. - -"Oh, well," he said, "I'll begin again. It took all the money my mother -had, Miss Helen, to pay for my education--all, and more. That she ever -met the expense of my tuition has been a miracle to me. But she did -it--insisted upon doing it. My father was a Harvard man. He died when -I was two years old, leaving as his only admonition the injunction that -I be thoroughly educated. My mother was faithful to that exhortation. -She spent her meagre fortune and the abundant strength of her life to -the last cent and almost to the last heart-beat in a religious obedience -to it." - -"Your mother is still living?" - -"Yes; and please do not think I was so ungrateful and so unfilial as -purposely to wait till she was helpless before lifting the burden of -breadwinning from her shoulders. I was in five months of graduation -when the call came for volunteers in the spring of 191-; yet I could not -resist that call, nor would my mother have me resist it." - -"A Spartan mother," commented Helen. - -"My grandfather died in the front of battle, Miss Helen,--to make men -free. My father was a soldier. The first bauble that I can remember -playing with as a child was a medal of honour with its red, white and -blue ribbon which was given to him for some daring service to the flag, -I know not what. That medal and his good name was all that he left to -me. I lost the medal before I knew what it stood for, and I have -temporarily laid aside the name of Graham; but none the less is the -memory of that bronze eagle-and-star an inspiration to me to a life work -creditable to the name. - -"When I enlisted I was really taking a large financial burden from my -mother, and if, after my first term of enlistment was up, I was -unthinking of her, it was because out of the blood of my fathers and my -army experience had been born a life ambition which filled all my -thoughts: the ambition to be a soldier. I was off my guard, for I had -never thought of my mother as having a human frailty. When she came to -place herself in my care I noticed, as I had not a month before, how far -spent was her strength, and I was alarmed at the sudden change in her -appearance. This change had come to her as it comes to many--with the -moment of her surrender to the inevitable. Men and women may stand with -determined and unshaken front against the assaults of weakness until it -wins into the very citadel of their strength and possesses everything -save the flag which flies at the tower-top. So with my mother: she had -stood to her duty till there remained of her wonderful energies only her -unshaken resolution, and when that flag was hauled down there was -nothing left to surrender." - -Everything in the man's tribute to his mother--sentiment and -metaphor--appealed to Helen, and the tears came to her lashes. - -"But she still has the strength to be vastly ambitious for her son, Miss -Helen. Death itself will hardly weaken that. She talks to me of little -beside the day when I shall be an officer in the army." - -"You aspire to a commission, then?" - -"Yes; and it is for that reason that I desire the President shall not -know now that I am the man who carried him out of danger at Valencia. I -know that naturally he will be grateful, and I wish to make no draft -upon his gratitude till I ask for that commission. I expect much -difficulty, and I wish to marshal at one moment every circumstance in my -favour." - -"As papa says, 'attack with horse, foot and guns,'" said Helen. - -"Yes, that's the idea. I had hoped that by the end of a second term of -enlistment my preparedness together with your father's friendliness and -a growing liberality in public sentiment toward men of my race would win -for me my heart's desire--a lieutenancy of cavalry." - -"Your race will not count against you, Hayward," said Helen. "Papa has -no such provincial notions as that. And I am sure he will not be -ungrateful." - -"I thank you for the assurance, Miss Helen. Your father is my ideal of -a fearless and just man. I count more upon his fearlessness and -fairness than upon his gratitude. But my heart is too keenly set on -realizing this ambition for me to omit to enlist any favourable -influence." - -"But why are you a footman?" Helen repeated the question with which she -had first addressed him. - -"I was on my furlough, Miss Helen, when I took this place temporarily, -fully intending to re-enlist when my time was up; but my mother's -break-down just before that time compelled me to forego re-enlistment -and to hold this position which pays a wage sufficient to support the -two of us. A soldier's pay would not accomplish it, and my mother's -condition would not permit me to leave her. However, I have not thought -of foregoing my career as a soldier. I am studying every day to prepare -myself for the duties of an officer. My Harvard training fortunately -supplies me with all but the purely technical knowledge required, and -makes it possible for me to acquire that without assistance. I will win -yet, Miss Helen." - -"A Harvard man _must_ win." Helen spoke with dogmatic faith. - -"And _I_ must win,--not only a commission, but the 'well-done' which is -a soldier's real recompense for a life-time's service. Not only my -'Harvard lineage,' as you once called it, but my grandfather's death, my -father's life, my mother's toil and sacrifice, lay the compulsion of -endeavour and success upon me. My mother is a hopeless invalid, but I -pray she may live to read my lieutenant's commission. I have concealed -from her the juggling with my name. I--" - -"And why did you juggle with it?" - -"Some pride in my patronymic and in that very Harvard lineage would not -permit me to degrade either by becoming a footman as John Graham." - -"And again, then: why are you a footman? You have not answered that -question yet. Your purposes in life are admirable, your motives -are--beautiful, your success will be brilliant I earnestly hope,--even -more, I dare to prophesy; and I shall be proud to know when your name is -famous, that I gave you your first flag;"--She laughed--"but why did you -become a _footman_, Hayward?" - -She pulled her horse up to wait for his answer. Hayward looked steadily -in her eyes, which were regarding him with frank enquiry, until a -quickness came to his pulses and a rashness into his heart, and by his -gaze her eyes were beaten down and the colour brought to her cheek. - -"Why?" Her voice had as much of appeal as of demand. - -Hayward caught his breath quickly. - -"You have read Ruy Blas, Miss Helen?" - -"No," Helen answered. "What has that to do with it?" - -Hayward had the same sensation as when in the Venezuelan campaign he had -first keyed his nerves for battle at sound of the picket's shots only to -have the danger pass. Then the releasing tension had been painful. -Here it was grateful. He drew a breath of relief. He was very glad the -girl had not read of _Ruy Blas_,--of the lackey who loved a queen. - -"The place of footman was the only position open to me. I applied for -another but failed to get it." He ignored the question and through this -lie outright, told in words of perfect truth, he made a precipitate -retreat. "The service was to be short, and it gave me an opportunity to -see at close range something of the man upon whom my hopes so much -depend," he added as an afterthought. - -"And a closer view has not dampened your hope?" asked Helen. - -"No, Miss Helen. Increased it, rather. Your father puts heart into a -man. His broad sympathies and firm principles of justice inspire one to -the highest and best that is in him. The lofty example of his courage -and purity and effectiveness, personal and civic, is a living -inspiration to the nation." - -"For which the nation is indebted to your heroism," added Helen. "For -myself and all the people I thank you." - -If Hayward had been white he would have blushed. The personal turn Helen -gave the matter left him with nothing to say. He sat his horse abashed. - -A stray thought of her dignity flitted across Helen's mind. She drew -herself up, touched her horse with the crop, and rode on. Hayward, at -the command of her manner, stiffened into _attention_ as she drew away, -and followed--at the proper distance. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXIII* - - -Helen inherited Bobby Scott when the real men came around. - -Elise had brought Lola DeVale, Dorothy Scott and Caroline Whitney with -her for a two-weeks stay at Hill-Top and they had planned for a -breathing-spell in which they hoped to be rid of men and have a restful -girlish good time. Bobby Scott, Dorothy's brother, had been asked to -come because he was present when the thing was first proposed, and had -accepted--much to Caroline's disappointment. But really he did not -disturb their plans very much. Bobby was somewhat young, and entirely -manageable: and, as said before, Helen inherited him when the real men -came along. - -And they came: Hazard, the moment Congress adjourned; Tom Radwine, every -minute he was not asleep after he knew Caroline Whitney was there; -Captain Howard, after three days' wait at Newport; and, for a day and a -half, no less a personage than Senator Richland. The Senator had a -heart to heart talk with President Phillips about a certain matter of -politics, but he deceived no one, not even himself. - -Bobby Scott felt his importance, for the reason that he and the Senator -were entertained at Hill-Top. He felt that he was in a position of -vantage and really ought to profit by it. But the ease and sang-froid -with which Tom Radwine always relieved him of Caroline was not only -exasperating but rather confusing to him. Why couldn't Tom look out for -Dorothy? She was not his sister; and, beside, she was no end better -looking than Caroline. Here came Tom now, straight past the other young -women, to disturb his _tete-a-tete_ with Caroline. - -"Come on, Mr. Scott," called Helen, "we'll go and have a ride." - -Bobby pretended not to hear. Helen's assumption that he must vacate -when Radwine appeared nettled him. He liked Helen in everything save -that she would not take him seriously. He sat still, determined to hold -his position against all comers. - -"I've won in a walk," said Radwine to the young woman. "It's ten -minutes yet to five o'clock--good afternoon, Mr. Scott--oh, I am all -sorts of a winner." - -Caroline's answer to Radwine was just as meaningless to Bobby, and in -half a minute without the slightest discourtesy on the part of the -others, he felt that he was a rank outsider. - -"Are you coming, Mr. Scott?" Helen called to him again--and Bobby went. - -"If you will excuse me?"--he asked Caroline's permission. - -"Certainly, if you must go. Take good care of Helen. She is so young -and venturesome." - -This last speech in a measure placated Bobby's offended notions of -dignity, and he and Helen went off toward the stables, where Hayward -brought the horses out and put the saddles on while Bobby looked them -over. - -"That is a very handsome mount," he said to Helen, indicating Prince -William. "He's a dead match for the horse of Lieutenant Lavine, of the -Squadron." - -"Beg pardon, sir," Hayward interrupted to ask, "what squadron?" - -"Squadron A, New York," Bobby replied, and began to relate to Helen some -incident of his experience as a trooper in that organization, and -afterward to dispense general information as to horses and horsemanship. -He would not have been so garrulous about these things perhaps but for -the fact that his membership in Squadron A was a new toy from which the -gilt had not been worn off. Hayward listened to him, first with -interest and then with wonder. He did not know the young gentleman was -a very new and very raw recruit in the Squadron's forces, and he came -near dropping a saddle at some of Bobby's ebullitions of ignorance. - -"This knee," said Bobby with a look of concern as he ran his hand down -Prince William's fore-leg, "seems to be slightly swollen. You should be -careful to guard against spavin. It is a serious--" - -The negro laughed in his face before he could check himself. - -"Well, what is it?" demanded Bobby. - -"Beg pardon, sir,"--Hayward pulled his face into respectful -shape--"spavin is a disease of the hock, not of the knee. The Prince -struck that knee against a hub on the carriage this morning. No damage -done, I think, sir.... They are ready, ma'am." - -As Mr. Scott prepared to mount he noticed that Prince William's bridle -had only one rein. - -"Where is the snaffle-rein?" he asked Hayward. - -"The curb rein was broken this morning, sir, and I haven't another yet. -I changed that rein from the snaffle-rings to the curb." - -"Change it back," Mr. Scott directed. "He will not trot with the curb." - -"True, sir, he'll not; but the Prince has not been ridden in several -days, and he'll be hard to hold. I think you'd better use the curb, -sir." - -No use to advise Mr. Scott. He had heard that your true cavalryman -delights in a trot. - -"Just change it, will you," he commanded. - -The footman glanced at Helen before complying. - -"Certainly," she said; "put the rein on the snaffle-rings, Hayward." - -Hayward obeyed and they were off. He watched them out of sight, and -remarked as he turned into the stable: - -"What he doesn't know is something considerable." - - * * * * * - -"If all the flunkeys were as modest and respectful as they are -timorous," Bobby said to Helen as they rode off, "the service would be -greatly improved the world over. And if they were as full of courage as -they are of conceit, bravery would be a drug on the market. I believe -you said Hayward is your footman?" - -"Yes," Helen answered. - -"That explains it. These coachmen and footmen become so accustomed to -carriage cushions that the saddle is an uncertain and rather fearsome -seat for them. Their personal fears would not be out of the way if they -would not impute them to men who can ride." - -The sparkle of interest in Helen's eyes encouraged Mr. Scott to proceed. - -"My observation has been that the under-classes do not ride well--or -cannot ride at all. I think that riding is naturally and really the -diversion of gentlemen, the _hoi polloi_ do not take to it." - -It occurred to Helen that the _hoi polloi_ of Bobby's town of New York -had not the money with which to "take to" saddle-horses, but she did not -raise the point. Bobby continued to talk. - -"I would not consider my education complete if I were not accustomed to -the saddle. I think that many of our young fellows are not only -careless of a most healthful and gentlemanly sport, but are recreant to -duty as citizens, in not perfecting themselves in feats of arms and -horsemanship. What is it that Kipling says in lamenting the degeneracy -in sterner virtues of the gentry of Britain? Something like - - "'And ye vaunted your fathomless power, and ye flaunted your - iron pride - Ere--ye fawned on the Younger Nations for the men who could - shoot and ride.'" - - -"Good for you, Mr. Scott. I did not imagine you were so seriously -interested in Kipling as to memorize his lines. He is fine, though, -isn't he?" - -"Yes, that couplet impressed itself upon me without effort on my part. -It appeals to me. I think it is a disgrace for a young man not to know -how to shoot and ride. Alas, there are so many who do not. Little -wonder that I am asked to put myself within the precautionary -limitations of a timid flunkey." - -Helen said nothing. She saw Mr. Scott was deeply offended because he -had known so little about spavin. His dissertation on horsemanship -caused her to note with some interest his manner of doing the thing. As -they rode along, her mare in a slow canter and Prince William in a trot, -the young man was giving a faithful exhibition of the method taught by -"Old Stirrups," the Squadron's riding-master; but Helen could see that -he was keenly conscious of every detail of the process, from the tilt of -his toes to the crook of his left elbow. - -Yet Mr. Scott was enjoying the ride--no doubt of that. Never had he had -such an opportunity to parade his pet ideas and conceits, and never had -he had such a respectful hearing. At last the younger Miss Phillips was -taking him seriously. He plumed himself, and essayed a more elaborate -panegyric on manly preparedness. Helen permitted him to do all the -talking. - -He was at some pains to instruct her in the art of riding. He advised -her how to hold the reins, how to make her horse change from a canter to -a trot then to a gallop, how to change the step-off in the gallop, and, -all together, passed on to her about all he could remember of the -information acquired from "Old Stirrups." It was imparted, however, -after the manner of first hand knowledge born of large experience. He -felt that he was living up to Caroline's admonition to look well after -Helen, and was gratified that the young lady received his coaching with -such beautiful humility and seriousness. - -"This the best part of the Lake Drive," Helen suggested finally, "the -mile from here to 'The Leap.' May we not let the horses go a little?" - -"Why, certainly, if you wish," Mr. Scott consented. "Don't be nervous. -Just keep the rein tight enough to feel her mouth firmly so she won't -stumble, and let her go 'long." - -Helen clucked to her mare and swung into a moderately fast gallop.... -The exhilaration of it occupied her for a time, and then she noticed Mr. -Scott was not altogether comfortable. The Prince was pulling against -the bit in a stiff trot that was making a monkey of the young man's -memorized method. Helen thought that the riding would be easier for him -if Prince William would break into a gallop, and she pushed her mount to -a faster pace in order to make the horse break over. Feeling perfectly -at ease in her saddle, she unwittingly urged the mare faster and faster -in kindly meant effort, till finally the increasing speed became so -furious that she was a bit alarmed, and pulled in on her bridle-rein. -Horror! the mare was beyond control! - -The horses were about neck and neck, with Prince William a nose in the -lead and going hard against the snaffle in a trot of such driving speed -as the young Mr. Scott had never been taught to negotiate. He was -pulling his arms stiff against the smooth bit, but that only steadied -the Prince to his work. Helen gave a despairing pull with all her -strength, but it did not affect the mare's seeming determination to -overcome the Prince's lead. She called to her escort. - -"Stop her! I can't hold her, Mr. Scott!" - -Mr. Scott tried to reply, but his effort at speech resulted in a stutter -which that merciless trot jolted from between his teeth.... He could -not help her.... His own emergency was more than he could meet. His -right foot had been shaken from its stirrup, and could not regain it. -With his right hand he held in grim determination and desperation the -cantle of the combative saddle which was treating him so roughly. No, -no help from him. - -Helen, riding in perfect comfort, though at a frightful pace, looked -toward Mr. Scott to see why he gave no aid. She saw his predicament was -worse than hers. He had no hand to offer her. He needed both of his, -and more.... She remembered her footman and his lifting her from her -falling horse,--and wished heartily for him in this crisis. She -realized that she must save herself, and with that to reinforce and -stiffen her resolution she again pitted her strength and will against -those of the headstrong mare. Her heart sank when she thought how near -they were coming to "The Leap," and she threw every ounce of will and -muscle against the bit, and held it there. - -At last, as if with a knowledge of the danger just ahead, the mare -slowed down. But the madcap Prince William took a longer chance. - -On a little promontory jutting out into the lake the roadway makes a -sharp turn at a point some seven or eight feet above the water and -almost overhanging it. Helen and her father had facetiously named it -"Lover's Leap." Prince William knew as much about that turn as Helen's -mare, but he disdained caution. He was a bold and close -calculator,--for he made the turn by a hair's-breadth, at top speed. - -Not so Mr. Scott. As the horse swung mightily to the left the rider's -momentum pried him away from the saddle, and he took the water clear of -all obstacles.... Helen, close behind him, but already relieved of fear -for herself, felt her heart stop beating when the man went off his -horse, for he missed a tree by a dangerously narrow margin. But he -picked himself up unhurt out of two feet of water, and clambered up to -the driveway, covered with humiliation and the friendly lake mud. - -Helen had been too thoroughly frightened to laugh then, but she -preserved in memory the picture of "Bobby's stunt," and many a time -afterward laughed at it till the tears came. For many moons she could -not think of Kipling or "flaunting an iron pride" without an insane -impulse to giggle. - -Prince William, having caused all the distress, afterward acted very -nicely about it. He permitted himself to be caught, and carried Mr. -Scott back to Hill-Top in the most manageable and equable of tempers. -Mr. Scott himself, however, was in a temper entirely other. Inwardly he -was choking with stifled oaths, for in Helen's presence he must needs be -decent in speech. He began at once to berate Hayward, but realized -before he had finished a sentence that he could not make out a case -against him, and he saw disapproval in Helen's face. He gave it over as -a situation to which no words were adequate, and the ride home was a -strenuous essay at lofty silence. - -Helen, despite her rising mirth and her contempt for Bobby's puerile -desire to shift the blame for his mishap, had enough pity for him in his -miserable plight to suggest that they make a detour and approach home -from the rear side and avoid the eyes of the people assembled there. -Bobby was grateful for the suggestion. It promised success. That -Hayward should see him, he of course expected, and he rode up to the -stable-door, dismounted and handed his bridle to the footman with an air -of unconcern and assurance befitting a man at ease with himself and in -good humour with the world. Hayward regarded him calmly from head to -heel, but did not betray his flunkey's role by so much as the tremble of -an eyelash. This made Mr. Scott angry. He had expected something -different, and had prepared a very dignified reproof. - -"Damn that insufferable negro. Why didn't he laugh outright?" he -growled as he walked around the house. Helen had run away as soon as -she had dismounted in order to save her fast toppling dignity. Mr. -Scott's flanking movement was successful and he was almost safe when--he -ran plump into Caroline and Tom Radwine on the side porch. Caroline's -outburst brought the others to see what the fun was. - -"Mis-ter Scott!" she exclaimed. "What kind of a stunt have you been -doing? You look comical to kill. Oo--ooh!" - -Bobby took on a sickly grin when Caroline's gaze first fell upon him; -but when she called him comical it was a serious affair at once, and his -face showed it. Dorothy rushed up at that moment. - -"Oh, Robert, Robert!" she cried, putting her hand upon his shoulder, -"what have you done? Tell me. Are you hurt? Have you been pulling -Helen out of the lake?" A glance at Helen answered that question. -"Well what, then, you precious boy?" - -This was the first time that his older sister had ever complied with -Bobby's insistent request that she call him Robert, and he somehow -wished she hadn't. - -"Oh, Dorothy, have some sense--let me go--I must have on some dry -clothes. I took a tumble into the lake--yes--that's all." - -"Next time you decide to do that, Mr. Scott, I'll be glad to loan you a -bathing-suit." This from Tom Radwine made Bobby mad as a hornet. - -"Took a tumble into the lake, you say, Mr. Scott?" asked President -Phillips, pushing through the crowd. "How did that happen?" - -"I was riding your horse, Prince William, sir, and he was on edge. He -spilled me off the drive into the water at that sharp turn a couple of -miles up. I had only a snaffle-rein and could not hold him." - -"Only a snaffle-rein! Why I would never think of riding that rascal -myself without a curb. Hayward," he called to the footman, who was -passing, "what kind of carelessness is this?--your sending the Prince to -Mr. Scott with only a snaffle-rein? You know very well that brute -cannot be controlled without a curb. I'm surprised at you. Such a lack -of sense as that is almost criminal. You ought to be ashamed of -yourself. Don't repeat that performance--see to it you don't!" - -As Helen was standing in a yard of her father, Hayward heard this -stinging rebuke in unalloyed surprise, but as she made no demur, he -saluted when the President was done, and said only: - -"Yes, sir; it shall not occur again, sir." - -When her father had spoken so sharply to the footman Helen had turned to -Mr. Scott, expecting him to exonerate Hayward; but Caroline Whitney's -look of genuine sympathy when Mr. Phillips spoke of that brute's being -uncontrollable without the curb bribed the bedraggled young man to -silence. Helen saw Caroline's glance, and caught the reason for Bobby's -lack of candour, but she was disgusted with him. - -She was uncomfortable because of the injustice her silence had done, for -she was of an eminently fair mind: and she told her father the whole -truth of the affair at the first opportunity.... - -She could not see how Hayward bore himself so composedly under the -undeserved rebuke. If he would abase himself thus, would barter his -self-respect, would lick the hand that smote him, in order that he might -obtain his commission--if he would sell his manhood for it--for -anything--he would be contemptible in her sight.... Again the question -came: Why was he a footman? She could not remember that he had ever -answered it. Oh, yes,--the idea had but just recurred to her--she would -read _Ruy Blas_. - -So, on a long summer's afternoon she read _Ruy Blas_--read the tale of -the love of a flunkey for his Queen: and while, when the idea finally -dawned upon her, and she first clearly understood the significance of it -all, she was-- But let us not detail that. - - * * * * * - -Helen and Hayward Graham were married on a day in late October. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXIV* - - -The chronicler of these events is aware that to the readers of this -history the bare statement of the fact that Helen and her footman were -wed comes as a shock. Nevertheless, it was a plain and straightforward -path by which a careless and pitiless Fate had blindly brought Helen to -her husband. A girl, treading by chance such a way as has been followed -since the world was young by the feet of maidens of high degree who have -loved below their station,--among the accidents and incidents of her -romance she had come, unwitting, to an open door, an ill-placed door not -designed for her passage, a "door of hope for the negro race" which her -idolized father had thought to fashion and set wide: and she had passed -it through--in reverse. - -A secret marriage was not characteristic of Helen's ideas. She was -betrayed into that by her warm impulsiveness. She had had a beautiful -programme arranged for the fates to follow in. With a heart full of -love and of dreams, and with faith in a future that would order itself -at her bidding, she had planned the whole course of events that should -lead up to a resplendent army wedding after Hayward had won his -commission. She never doubted for a moment that all her roseate -imaginings would come to pass, and railed upon him that he had not her -faith: for Hayward was a doubter. The sheer altitude of his good -fortune made him fearful and distrustful. - -For the twentieth time she told off to him on her finger-tips the order -in which his fortune should ascend. - ---"And then, when you are an officer--and famous--you will marry--me." - -"But that may never be," the man had answered. "Suppose the Senate -should refuse to confirm my nomination? By your condition I should lose -the commission and--infinitely more--you. If your love and faith are -supreme you will marry me whether I win or lose." - -"You shall not doubt my love or faith," Helen exclaimed impetuously. "I -will marry you now, and as the President's son-in-law you can the more -surely succeed. The Senators would not offer a personal affront to--" - -"But I must bring this honour to you, not you to me," Hayward -interrupted; "and, besides that, while I willingly, gladly, here and -now, surrender all hope of this commission for ever and for ever if only -you will marry me now, it is only fair to you for me to remind you that -your father would never appoint his own son-in-law to a lieutenancy in -the army." - -"Oh, bother!" Helen protested. "I have my heart set on being a -soldier's wife. Of course Papa couldn't give a commission to one of his -family--what was I thinking about.... Well, there's nothing to do but -wait, I suppose." - -"And it may be an endless wait if the commission is to come first," -Hayward reiterated. "It was an awful temptation to silence a moment ago -when you said you'd marry me now, but I could not trick you into it, -knowing how much you desire that commission." - -Helen's mind worked rapidly for half a minute. - -"But I _will_ marry you--and _now_!" she cried. The girl's romantic -spirit was aroused and her spontaneous, unsophisticated feminine ideal -of love was in the ascendant. "I will _prove_ my love and faith. I -will marry you now, and you may claim me when you have won your laurels. -Let the Senate refuse you a commission if they dare!" - -"And would you be willing to trust me to keep that secret?" Hayward -asked. "I almost would be afraid to trust myself--I would want to yell -it from the housetops! Married to you and not tell it! Why, it would -just tell itself to any open-eyed man who looked at me." - -"No, no," Helen answered. "I'm willing to trust you. It's a hardship -that cannot be avoided, and we must make the best of it." - - * * * * * - -"And now," Helen had given her husband a last laughing admonition, -"since we must be clandestine against our wills, let's be romantic to -the last most fiercely orthodox degree. No love-lit glances or -conscious looks. You be a perfect footman with that indifferent and -superior and high-and-mighty air while you can, for when your bondage -actually begins you will never swagger again; and I will be so haughty -as almost to spurn your very presence. We must make no foolish attempts -at conversation, and when we write must deliver our letters personally -into the hand, not trusting even the mails with our secret. And then, -when you become an officer we will give the dear people the surprise of -their lives. My! won't it be fun to see them! And it may be that when -the time comes we will not tell them that we are already married, but -will have another ceremony, a brilliant army affair such as I have set -my heart on. Wouldn't that be gorgeous!" - -"I hardly would have acquaintances enough among the officers to provide -my share of the attendants," Hayward answered. - -"Oh, yes, you would. You would make then fast enough," the girl -replied. "An American army officer has the entree everywhere--I've -heard papa say so a score of times--and, besides, Mr. Humility, I -suppose that my friends among the officers would be numerous enough to -fill all vacancies." - -Hayward saw clearly wherein his wife's forecasts were faulty; but it -profited nothing to take issue with her enthusiasms and he gladly joined -in them. She was his wife--that could not be changed; and he felt that -with that a fact accomplished he reasonably might work for, and hope -for, and expect, anything. He returned to his work in the city, -therefore, overflowing with happiness and pride. It was not surprising -that as a White House footman he was more than ever the subject of -notice and comment, for never one carried a perfect physique with such -an air. If his confident swing and tread had been the expression of -personal vanity, it had been insufferable; but love is not insolent nor -its struttings offensive. - -Hayward was on good terms with the world. For the first time he -accepted the overbearing manner of superiority of white men with -complacency and even with amusement. His time was coming--he could -wait. He went so far as almost to invite affronts from several negroes -of more or less prominence, who had aforetime rebuffed his advances, in -order, as it were, to keep their offences in pickle so that their -chagrin might be more keen when the day of his elevation should come. -He was at particular pains to keep Henry Porter's opposition going, and -smiled when he thought how thoroughly he would pay him off in his own -coin. - -For a few weeks he put himself with buoyant determination to the regular -study of his text-books, which he had theretofore read with more or less -intermittent interest, and began to lay out plans for the political -campaign which would be necessary to bring about the issuing and -confirmation of his commission. He arranged with a personal friend, a -lawyer in New Hampshire, for the transmission of all correspondence and -papers relating to the matter in the name of John H. Graham through this -lawyer's hands,--thus to conceal from the President even after the -request for the appointment had been made the fact that his footman was -the applicant. - -The thinking out and arranging of these details and the first rush of -his attack upon his military studies engrossed him for a month or more -in every moment he was off duty. So closely did he hold himself that -Lily Porter reproved him gently for his remissness several times before -he made his first call upon her. He was really working very hard--in his -leisure hours. He had completely reversed the order of work and -diversion. To the one-time monotony of his daily tasks he was now held -by the fascination of chance moments of speech--most often conventional, -occasionally personal, always delightful--with the radiant young woman -his wife, upon whom even to look in silence was enough to send his blood -a-leap. Every day from the very first he took time from his work of -preparation to write to her.... The habit grew. At first briefly, -though always with fervent protestations, and, as the days and weeks ran -on, more and more at length and with livening heat did he put his -heart-beats in his letters.... The habit grew too fast. By the time -that Congress met and the currents of the great capital were in full -swing, the forces of Hayward's love had eaten into his ambition's -boundaries and the time that he gave to thoughts of Helen, and in -seeking variant and worthy phrases in which to indite his passion, more -than equalled that in which he worked to earn those things which by her -decree should precede possession of her.... It was hard not to stop and -think of her. He wrote: - -"You disturb me in my work. You ride ruthlessly through the plans of -battle and campaign my textbooks show, and make sixes and sevens of -them. At sight of you the heaviest lines of battle dissolve into thin -air and into mist the fastest fortress falls. At the coming thought of -you brigades and armies melt away, and your face stands out a radiant -evangel of peace, the very thought even of wars and turbulences -dispelling.... What am I to do? I cannot chain myself to study the -science of strife when this heavenly vision is calling me--and it is -ever calling--to love and love only.... I am fully persuaded there is -only one thing worth thinking on in all the earth--and that is you." - - * * * * * - -His wife's letters were all that mortal man could desire, but only the -more distracting for all that. They were always short, but grew in -warmth as the sense of freedom grew upon the writer. Hayward devoured -them with increasing hunger, and with the ever-recurring, never varying -signature, "Your wife," spark upon spark of impatience was enkindled -with his love. Finally he must of very necessity have some vent for his -restlessness. He sought diversion in the society of Lily Porter. In -fact he could with difficulty avoid her: she too had set her heart on an -army wedding. - -Hayward had only the very kindliest of purposes toward Lily. He had -continued his correspondence with her during the summer. For the sake -of his plans unfolded to her in their last meeting before his going away -he could not break abruptly away from her--though the task of remaining -on friendly terms and yet not proceeding with the suit so nearly openly -avowed was a serious tax upon his resources and ingenuity. In his -apprehension "the fury of a woman scorned" loomed fearful and -threatening. The object of his apprehensions, on the other hand, while -she felt rather than saw the subtle change in him, was yet flattered by -his unaccustomed submissiveness to her caprices and experienced -delightful thrills of expectancy as she waited for a trembling -confession to crown his new-found humility. - -"Lily," her father had said to her on a morning after one of Hayward's -scattered visits, "I tol' you once to drop that feller and I hoped you'd -done it. Understan' I don' want any footman comin' here. We ain't in -that class. You ought to have mo' respec' for yourse'f. What you want -with a servant hangin' roun' you when you can take your pick of the -professional men in town, I can't see." - -"Don't worry about me, papa," the girl sang as she danced over to the -piano, "I'll wed a military-tary man." - -"Well, thank Heaven you ain't got no idee of marryin' that Hayward. -I'll make it wuth while for you to marry a professional or a military -man either one, but none of my money for a footman, I tell you now." - -"No footman for me either, papa. I'll not marry a footman, I promise -you. I tell you I'm thinking of a military man." - -"Not that Ohio major who was here with the troops at the inauguration? -I'd forgot all about him," her father questioned. - -"He's not the only soldier in sight, but don't you think he would do in -a pinch?" Lily had forgotten about him too, till her father mentioned -him. - -"I'd better look into that and see what sort of a feller he is," said -the father jokingly, greatly relieved in mind. - -"Maybe you had," the daughter replied insinuatingly. - -Lily had as many aristocratic notions as her father. More, in fact. Her -promise was sincerely given. It was only when Hayward had told her of -his purpose and prospect of becoming an officer that he had broken -through her reserve. While she had always liked him she had never had -any idea of marrying a footman. But an officer in the army!--she would -have capitulated on that evening she heard his story but for her -father's timely appearance. The idea had grown upon her since, and she -loved to reflect upon it and plan for the outcome; though she had had -time to collect her thoughts and decide not to precipitate or render a -final decision till the commission was in the footman's name. She -really had to hold herself firmly in hand to manage it so, for she loved -the young fellow with a whole-hearted fervour, and of his love for her -she was blissfully assured. - -The girl was developing quite an interest in military matters. In one -of their not unusual discussions of Hayward's career it was arranged -that at his first convenient opportunity he should accompany her out to -Fort Myer to see a parade. Hayward went for her on his first half -holiday--rather, he went with her, for she drove him out in her own -stanhope. As they were turning a corner they were halted for a moment -in a knot of vehicles. Lily was driving and Hayward was talking to her -with so much interest in her and in what he was saying to her that he -was oblivious to the things about them.... He was accustomed to sit -quiet and indifferent while another driver solved the problems of the -streets.... The first thing that diverted his attention from the girl -beside him was the small red-white-and-blue White House cockades on the -headstalls of a pair of horses just drawing ahead of Lily's cob. He -glanced quickly across to the carriage--and met the full gaze of his -wife's eyes. She was sitting on the front seat of the landau facing to -the rear, and her eyes were upon him for a half minute at very close -range. Helen looked away several times in her effort to be unconscious -of his presence. But she could not be perfectly oblivious or withhold -her glances altogether. She had heard the very speech--the very gallant -speech--Hayward was making. - -Lily looked about to find the cause of collapse in her escort's talk, -and saw the man's peculiar look at Helen, whom she knew by sight. She -accounted for his confusion at once, but the blush that came to the -young Miss Phillips' cheek and her evident self-consciousness were so -unaccountable as to be puzzling. She searched Hayward's face keenly for -an explanation of his young mistress's behaviour--and he did not bear -the scrutiny with entire nonchalance. Lily felt insulted in a way. - -"I hope she will know us next time she sees us," she said snappishly. - -No answer from Hayward; though he felt like a traitor for letting the -implied criticism go unchallenged. - -"You must hurry and get your commission. It seems to disturb the fine -lady to see her footman enjoy the privileges of a gentleman. No doubt -she thinks it impertinent for a servant to deal in gallant speeches at -all, especially such a beautiful sentiment as she must have heard you -speaking." - -Lily had hit the mark in the centre--but of course she did not know it. -That finely turned sentiment which he had thrown out with such impromptu -grace and rhetorical finish was taken word for word from his last letter -to his wife, and he had puzzled his brain for an hour in the choosing -and setting of the dozen words in which it sparkled. There was nothing -particularly personal in that dozen words, but how was Helen to know but -that they had been strung upon the same thread in the man's conversation -with his unknown companion as they were in the letter lying at that -moment upon her own bosom. - -Hayward did not enjoy the afternoon with Lily. He had hoped Helen had -not heard what he was saying, but Lily's statement of opinion that she -had heard seemed to put the matter beyond doubt. He came home quite -disturbed in mind. He debated to himself whether to write to Helen or -wait for her answer to his last letter. He decided not to plead till he -was accused. - -With the next morning came--no letter. Night--no letter. Another -morning--no letter. He wrote: - -"Why do you not write to me--and why is your face so cold?" - -The answer came: "Who is that woman? She is not your sister--for your -sister would not look at you like that--no, nor would you look at your -sister like that--nor would you say such a speech to your sister. Who -is she? And what right has such a woman, what right has any woman to -hear what your letters have said to me? That sentiment is mine--you -gave it to me. It is mine, _mine_--do you understand?--and you take it -and fritter it away on that--who is she? Keep away from her." - -"The woman is a very good friend of mine," Hayward wrote in reply, "_and -nothing more_. The words you overheard were spoken to her, I swear to -you, in no such connection as they were written in my letter to you. If -I had thought that you would so value them and consider them your very -own I never would have 'frittered them away' on any person, believe me. -Do be forgiving and remember that men are not so finely wrought as -women. Only a woman--only you, the most finely wrought of women--ever -would have conceived such a nicety of conduct for a lover. There are -good reasons why I cannot keep away from the young lady as you request. -I wish I could, since you desire it. She is Miss Lily Porter, and a -most estimable young woman. I am indebted to her for very much that -goes to make life bearable. She is a great musician and has filled with -pleasure for me many an hour that otherwise would have been monotonous -and dead. Please do not decree that I shall not hear her sing. To -listen to her is such a cooling, refreshing oasis in the dry-hot -barrenness of a workaday life; and I declare to you my love for you -grows warmer if possible in hearing the ballads that she sings, and to -the lullabies she hums so beautifully I dream alone of you. Believe me -when I swear that nothing can affect the perfect singleness of my -devotion,--and let your face shine upon me. It was so cold yesterday -that a most horrible dream came to me last night: they were hunting us -with bloodhounds to take you away from me! Just think, I have not so -much as touched your hand since the preacher so hurriedly made us -one--only your eyes have been mine, and now you withdraw them from me! -Oh my queen, smile upon me!" - - - - - *CHAPTER XXV* - - -Helen's reply to Hayward's pleading letter was for the most part -reassuring and he felt that the incident of the drive with Lily Porter -was closed: but the pains of love were only beginning to be upon him. - -Helen's letters grew briefer and briefer. There was no lack of -affection shown in them, but the expression was not so elaborate as at -first. She was in the rush of preparation for her debut, and less and -less was she free to write. Occasionally, as if in specific answer to -his prayer and to atone for her shortcomings, she smiled upon him with -such warmth that his heart-hunger was appeased. Only for a space, -however, did that satisfy. The desire came back with redoubled fury the -instant the intoxication was off. - -Like any other sufferer from intoxicants he had his periods of -depression. In such moments he felt that his marriage was a mockery, -that Helen was not his, would never be his, could never be his. Long -odds were against his getting his commission--even if the President -signed it the Senate would never confirm it. The fight would be too -long, and the issue hopeless--he could not win--his colour was too great -a handicap--curse it! A negro,--yes, a negro--and white men so -insufferably unjust to a negro--curse them all!--curse the whole -white-faced race!--save only her--she was his--yes, she _was_ his--his -by love and law--they could not take her from him, and he would have her -yet despite the whine of all the purblind, race-proud Senators who might -oppose his confirmation--curse them all! curse them all!! - -Such moods were happily intermittent. Again he was himself--a man among -men--already a winner--the crowned king of Helen's heart--the -President's son-in-law. Away with doubt! To whom so much had come with -ease everything would come with effort. Confidence uplifted him. - - * * * * * - -Helen's debut was an event of note. No need for her to be the -President's daughter to make it so. Her sensational beauty needed not -the stamp of official rank to give it currency, nor the sparkle of her -manner and speech any studied purpose to give them vogue. Dominion came -to her by divine right of beauty and wit and ingenuous girlish honesty. - -In the stately East Room, dressed but not over-dressed for that occasion -in palms and ferns and flowers, beside her mother for two hours she -stood, the fairest, loveliest flower that ever graced that historic -hall, and received the new world which came to take her to itself. -Gowned in simplicity and maiden white--with the flush of unaffected joy -in her cheeks and the sparkle of genuine youth in her gray eyes--with -the splash of October sunsets in her dark hair--with a skin white and -clear as purity, but shot through with the evanescent glows and tints of -health--with neck, shoulders and arms rising from her gown like a -half-opened lily from its calyx--lissome and graceful indeed as a -lily-stem--virginal freshness in mind, manner and person: she was a -May-day morning. - -"My dear," said Senator Ruffin as he bowed low over her hand, "may an -old man who admired your grandmother in her youth presume to express the -extravagant wish that you may be as happy as you are beautiful!" - -"And may a young man," said Senator Rutledge, close following Mr. -Ruffin, "who has the orthodox faith that _perfect_ happiness is found -only in heaven, express the hope that the full consummation of Senator -Ruffin's wishes for you may be long delayed?" - -"And may you both live to repent of trying to turn a young girl's head," -Helen replied, making them a curtsey. - -"Once on a time I warned you against the day when such speeches would be -made to you," said Rutledge, "and you have grown even more astonishingly -into the danger than the eye of prophecy could perceive. I warn you -again. Senator Ruffin spoke only the words of soberness, as befits his -age and station, but wait you till ardent youth tells you what it -thinks--and you will have to hold your head on straight with your hands: -and--which dances may I have?" - -"You unblushing bribe-giver!" said Helen. "But you are just in time. -I've only one left if I've counted them right,--the very last. Why did -you come so late? The very last man. Listen, the clocks are striking -eleven." - -"Just couldn't get here sooner. But I'll wait for that last dance if -it's a month." - -The receiving-party was broken up and proceeded to the refreshment room, -afterward to go to the ballroom, where were gathered those younger -people who were bidden to both reception and dance. - -"Remember," said Evans to Helen as they left the East Room, "I shall -worry along with existence till the last number on the card. See if you -can't run in an extra for my long-suffering benefit. By the way, where -is your sister?" - -"In bed and cried herself to sleep two hours ago. Poor thing, she wanted -to come in and see me shine, but mamma said 'no,' and packed her off to -bed on schedule time." - -"Now look here," said Evans, "little Miss Katherine is a young lady of -vast consequence--and it's a shame she should be treated so: but I think -you knew very well I was inquiring for your older sister." - -"Oh, Elise?" she laughed. "She had gone across the hall with Captain -Howard just before you came in." - -Rutledge did not thank her for the information, and Helen regarded him -narrowly with amusement. - -"Victoria Crosses are not to be resisted, Mr. Rutledge. Heroes always -have right of way." - -"Do you speak from theory or experience?" asked Rutledge. - -"Both," said Helen, as for the first time that night she thought of her -husband. - -She thought of him quite a number of times before the evening was over. -In her thinking there was no disloyalty to her love nor to her vows: but -with all the glowing prospects for a round of gayety which the -brilliance of this evening of her debut promised for her first season, -she felt a vague regret that she was not approaching the pleasures of it -in the fullest freedom. Some quite well-defined notions of what was due -her estate as a wife threatened to put certain limitations and -restraints upon her. She half wished that that ceremony had been -deferred--only deferred--till the time when she would be ready to enter -upon the duties of her wedded life, assume its responsibilities and be -obedient to the restrictions which very properly pertain to it. - -Her husband, also, was giving some thought to the questions which the -situation presented, with the difference that he had not thought of -anything else since the evening began. With nothing to do since eight -o'clock, and free to go home, he had stopped to see Helen in her -coming-out glory. - -His livery was a passport; and he divided the time of the -reception--rather unequally, to be sure--between scraps of conversation -with coming and going coachmen he knew and long periods of gazing upon -Helen's loveliness through a broad low window of the East Room. He had -never seen her in the role or in the conventional evening dress of -womanhood, and the vision enchanted him. Crowning the piquancy of youth -and freshness and _elan_ in the girl, was the unstudied dignity and -stateliness and graciousness of the woman; and the metamorphosis held -him entranced. - -He looked and looked and looked at her while every variant tremor of -love and pride and impatience swept over his heart-strings. He saw the -most notable men in America, men whose business was world-politics, bow -in evident admiration before her beauty, and linger to barter persiflage -for her smiles and airy speeches: and she was _his_ wife. - -He saw her receive the magnificent Chief of Staff of the Army, -resplendent in the uniform of his exalted rank: her, the wife of -Sergeant Graham of "the 10th." And that towering figure with the stamp -of "Briton" in every massive line? Yes, Hayward recognized him: the -English member of the Canadian Fisheries Commission--a lawyer of -international repute, a belted earl--bending a grand head low in -obeisance to a footman's wife--to _his_ wife. The insolence of pride -filled his heart for a minute. Then a twinge of doubt went through him: -she would not be a _footman's_ wife: she had decreed _her_ husband must -be an officer--oh, the bother and the worry of it--and the uncertainty! -But she was his beyond escape, and if the worst came to--no, that would -be disloyalty.... Look, who is that shaking hands with her now? Hal -Lodge, by all that's Boston! Where did he come from, and what's he doing -here? No matter, he's here. Look out, Hal, old boy, don't hold my -wife's hand so long--nor gaze into her eyes so meaningly--I know your -failing! My what a joke it would be if you fell in love with her!--it -would be too funny. I owe it to old friendship to warn you, but I -mustn't." - -For the greater part of two hours Hayward watched the reception. He saw -the last man presented. - -"Yes, I know you, too," he thought. "You made that infernal speech in -the Senate last year--said some good things for us, too, but on the -whole it was damnable.... I'll excuse you from talking to my wife, you -race-proud bigot! You needn't try any of your 'ardent Southerner' on -her.... Keep off the grass. She belongs to me. She is mine--mine, -curse you! and all your raving speeches can't take her away from me! ... -Oh, well, talk on--yes, talk on to her. I wish to heaven _you would_ -fall in love with her! That would be quite the most delicious -dispensation of fate that could ever come to me--it would be too good, -too good to hope for--to have you hopelessly in love with _my wife_! ... -Oh, you beauty, how can any man resist you!" - -On the other side of the house Rutledge afterward swung past the -footman's window in several dances with Elise. - -"Oh," growled Hayward at last, "it's my brother-in-law you aspire to be! -Well, I don't approve of that either. I'm surprised that your -High-Mightiness condescends to my humble father-in-law's family -anyway--and how they can suffer you to set foot in the house after your -deliverances I can't see--I'd jump at the chance to pitch you out." - - * * * * * - -An idea akin to the footman's had come that night to Elise. For other -reasons she, too, wondered why she permitted Evans Rutledge to continue -his friendly attentions to herself. She had half made several resolves -to put an end to them. But--it is a fact noted by close observers that -even the most womanly woman has some curiosity--that she is mildly -attracted by a riddle--that she detests--that is, she thinks about--what -she can't understand. In the case in point Miss Elise Phillips was the -woman and Mr. Evans Rutledge was the riddle. - -From the moment that Lola DeVale had told her that Rutledge had kissed -_her_ believing her to be Elise the eldest Miss Phillips had had a -growing desire to know why he should have done it. She was properly -resentful that he had taken the liberty with her even by proxy--oh yes, -she felt sometimes she could box his ears for his impudence.... But -aside from all that, why had he kissed her? Lola had told her plainly -long time ago that Mr. Rutledge had told her no less plainly that his -self-respect would not permit him to confess his love again. Why then -should he kiss her? ... Oh, of course, men kissed women, she knew, or at -least had been led to believe, just for the downright fun of the thing: -but Mr. Rutledge surely was not so common--and would not deal with _her_ -on _that_ basis. No, she would not believe it of him.... If she had -only been there, she thought, and had seen the way the thing was done, -the answer doubtless would appear. The answer to the why was evidently -locked up in the _how_. Only Lola knew the details of _how_. Elise had -finally decided that she might as well know them also. - -Lola was no match for her friend in subtlety. On her own initiative, as -she supposed and at the peril of severing their friendship, she gave -Elise the whole story. When she saw that the listening Elise was only -mildly offended at the disclosure, she again rehearsed the episode for -the purpose of colouring it with the eloquence in Mr. Rutledge's -tendernesses. - -"It's a pity I was just enough stunned to be unable to stop him. I -heard every wasted word he spoke and was conscious of all his misplaced -kisses." - -"Oh, there was no harm done," Elise replied with a contemptuous sniff. -"I guess you are not the first young woman upon whom he was thrown away -kisses. The modern young man never neglects any opportunity." - -"Hear experience speak!" said Lola. - -"My experience is not so far advanced as yours, apparently," rejoined -Elise; "but I'm not so uninviting that no young man has ever shown a -willingness to kiss me. With all my inexperience I know what they would -do if I chose to bump my head against the terrace steps." - -"Don't be envious and scratchy, dear. Remember I gave you your property -as soon as--" but she desisted as Elise angrily tossed up her head and -drew her fingers across her lips in belated protest against the -transplanted caress. - -Elise was verily displeased with Mr. Rutledge, whom she saw at irregular -intervals, neither too long nor too short--for the times and seasons of -his meetings with her were entirely insignificant. She even went to the -trouble of making a special resolve that she would not think of him; but -it died and went to the place where all good resolutions go. Now, -Captain Howard was her devoted attendant, as far as she would permit him -to monopolize her time. Outsiders conceded him first place and probable -success in his wooing, and Elise herself had come to feel a sort of -possessory interest in him. He was at her beck and call, quietly but -evidently elated when at her side, and unmistakably bored when passing -time with some other young woman and awaiting Elise's summons. But -Rutledge: he was not less elated than Howard when it was his fortune to -have Elise's whole attention, and made no effort to conceal his love for -her;--and yet he did not attempt by word or look or gesture to add a jot -of confirmation to his one declaration of it, or even to remind Elise -that he had made it. A score of times she had seen his love in his -eyes--plainly, so plainly, when he talked to her: but he talked always -about impersonal matters--in an abominably interesting way--and when she -dismissed him seemed to become oblivious to her existence and very -careless as to what time should elapse before he came to her again. -Indeed he showed no apparent purpose to come--or to _stay away_, which -was worse. If it would not give the lie to her indifference she would -send him about his business for good and all. - -Did he love her? Yes, she was convinced of it--without Lola's -assurances. Then, why had he kissed her? Would he kiss a woman for the -love of her and yet be unwilling to tell that love to her? Would his -self-respect permit him to kiss her whom his self-respect would not -permit him to marry because her father received negroes at his table? -"Self-respect" would be making some peculiar distinctions in that -case,--even if everything be conceded to a Southerner's ideas of "social -equality." A girl to be kissed, but not to be courted!--Elise's face -burned at the thought. No, she would not insult herself by believing -Mr. Rutledge's love had lost its chivalry--that he could deal with her -on any such Tim-and-Bridget basis--there must be some other -explanation.... Sometimes she desired the explanation very heartily. - -In their last waltz on the evening of Helen's debut, both these -wrong-headed young folks had been alive to the sensations bordering on -the delicious with which her heavenly mood, his unspoken love and the -sensuous music had quickened their pulses. There was something, -however, in the suddenness, in the completeness, with which he turned -away from her which Elise resented, and which made her want to know who -it was that must have been in his thoughts even while he was making that -last gallant speech to her. As she turned to see, he was being welcomed -by little Miss Margaret Preston, a one-year's blossom, with such a -tell-tale flutter of shy admiration, that Elise chose to look that way -again after a few moments. Then he was bent down above the little lady -in that manner full of all gentleness and deference Elise knew so well, -and was saying something to her,--as if nothing else in all the world -was worth while,--which sent a rich, red blush to over-colour the -blossom's white and pink. - -"So you keep in practice of your arts at all hazards," thought Miss -Phillips, "even at the expense of young things like that! ... I hope -that some _woman_ will teach you your lesson yet!"--and she turned to -Captain Howard with a bewildering smile, and did not look at Mr. -Rutledge again that evening. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXVI* - - -All this time the footman-husband was doing sentry. With the passing of -the receiving party into the supper-room he had changed position and -mounted guard where he could look in on the dancing. A White House -policeman who had had an eye on him all evening thought his conduct -unusual and walked close by to give him a searching inspection. -Afterward a secret-service man thought best to look him over carefully. -None of these things moved him from his purpose, however; nor did the -cold wind nor a thirty minutes' flurry of sleet unset his resolution. He -watched his wife's every glide and turn in the dance till the violins -sleepily sang of _Home, Sweet Home_. - -The effect of his vigil on the dancing side was disturbing to Hayward. -As Helen passed from the arms of one man to another he began to grow -nervous. His positive resentment was aroused when she was whirled past -the window in the embrace of a sprig of nobility attached to the Italian -embassy. Her shivering husband's blood jumped. He had heard things -about that chap!--oh, the profanation of his even touching the hand of -Helen--thank Heaven the muse has stopped to catch its breath! Next it -was Rutledge treading a measure with the debutante, and his anger burned -again,--flaming no doubt it would have been had he known that the number -was an extra devised by his wife in Rutledge's special favour. Anything -was better than the Italian though!--some comfort in that.... And now -comes Hal Lodge piloting her through the swirl. Careful, old man, don't -hold her so close. She is quite able to carry a part of her own weight! - -There can be no doubt it takes some culture--of a sort--for a man to be -able to look with entire complacency upon his wife in another's arms, -however fine a fellow or fast a friend that other is. There be those -who have attained unto such culture: but Hayward had had few -opportunities in that school--he was happily--in this case -unhappily--ignorant of its refinements of learning. He knew, of course, -as a matter of pure mentality, that it was a perfectly harmless pastime, -but his heart would not subscribe to the knowledge. No, he thought, it -was no use to try to deceive himself: he didn't like it and he didn't -care to try to like it. She was his wife, and to have other men putting -their arms about her even in the dance, when he himself did not have the -privilege and would not have it until--oh, damn that commission! - - * * * * * - -The weeks following Helen's coming-out gave nothing to allay the tumult -rising in her husband's heart. The duties of his service compelled him -to look on many scenes from which he gladly would have turned his -jealous eyes. - -By the grim humour of fate was it, too, that his friend Hal Lodge should -cause him the keenest heart-burnings. Hayward wrote to Helen all about -their friendship and intimate association at Harvard, and in letter -after letter purposely related many incidents of Hal's college loves and -flirtations so that Helen might know him as he knew him. He was loyal -to his friendship however, and gave also a faithful account of Hal's -excellences. There was no stint in his praise, nor any attempt to -belittle Lodge in his wife's esteem. In such glowing terms did he sing -of his friend's many virtues that he did not have the courage to unsay a -word of it when friendship was turned to gall. - -Thanks to Hayward's three years in the army he held it not a violation -of their friendship that Hal had never given him the slightest word or -nod of recognition, though the footman knew his livery had not concealed -his identity. However, they met one evening when Hayward was off duty -and in citizen's dress. They were on the street, unattended, with no -other person in a block of them. - -"Hello, Hal!" Hayward cried with the old-time ring in his voice, meeting -Lodge squarely in front and holding out his hand. - -Lodge stopped and looked at him. - -"It's Graham. Cut the stare, old chap. I'd have sworn you knew me all -these weeks, but now I see you didn't. Have I changed so much?" - -"Oh, I knew you," said Lodge impassively--and turned and left him. - -Hayward stared after him in speechless amazement that fast passed into -speechless wrath. A hot wave of blood dashed a tingle of fire against -every inch of his cuticle.... In such moments men have done murder.... -He stood perfectly still till the February breeze had cooled him off.... -He was again at his normal temperature, but the brief conflagration had -brought calamity--tragedy: it had burned out a part of his life. In the -inventory of loss were comradeship and loyalty and faith and affection -and friendliness and inspirations and memories--burned to ashes, or -charred and blackened and wrecked. Tragedy? The elemental tragedy of -all the eternities is in the death of a friendship.... Despite the -praises he had sung, Hayward might have told Helen about it--if the iron -had not gone so deep into his soul. Men will parade their lighter hurts -and gabble of them for pastime or to entertain their neighbours, but -death-wounds bring the silence with them. - - * * * * * - -Helen's letters babbled on with occasional references to Mr. Lodge, in -whom from time to time she saw exemplified one and another of the graces -which Hayward had described and which she in turn recounted to him, as -she thought, for his delectation. After some months of this it is not to -be doubted or wondered at that Hayward took time to despise Lodge very -thoroughly and sincerely. - -From the moment of his rebuff the footman felt that he was not in a -position to show his resentment. He wrote to Helen that his friend did -not know him and asked her to make no mention of him to Lodge even in -the most casual, inferential or roundabout fashion. No need to warn -Helen: she had been frightened out of her wits by an incident occurring -early after their coming from Hill-Top, and the footman's name was never -on her tongue save in connection with his duties as a servant. - - * * * * * - -As the winter wore on and melted into spring, less and less indeed was -the thought of her husband upon Helen's mind. Not, let it be -understood, that she loved him less than upon the day of their marriage; -but the rush of events gave her little time to think of him. Her -letters proved that she thought of him regularly and affectionately, but -proved no less that she thought of him briefly--and yet more briefly as -time passed. - -To Hayward, by nothing diverted from his hungry thoughts of her, his -wife's slow but palpable withdrawing from him and from his life was an -increasing torment; and the daily sight of her, to which his duties held -him, as she attracted and received and appropriated and enjoyed the -homage and admiration of the men who crowded about her, among whom in -high favour was Lodge, was little less than a maddening torture. She -seemed to be escaping him, and his heart was wrung--with -love--fear--jealousy--hate. In a nervous hurry of desperation he sent to -his lawyer-politician friend in New Hampshire all the information and -recommendations he had in hand that were to accompany his application -for appointment to a lieutenancy, and wrote to him: "Stir around and get -whatever else is necessary and fire them at Washington. Make all haste, -as you value human life, for there is almost that dependent on this -appointment. It is no little matter of military rank or of dollars and -cents, but of life and--love." - - - - - *CHAPTER XXVII* - - -In the months leading up to another summer Hayward was more and more -racked with impatience and with a reckless vacillation between hope and -pessimism. The one thing that made Helen's gayeties in Washington at all -bearable to him was the promise of the coming summer days at Hill-Top -when he would get at least an occasional chance of speaking to her and -would be rid of the sight of the army of young fellows who were -besieging her. There were heartsease and undisturbed love in the -Hill-Top prospect, and his anticipations grew apace as the time for the -migration came near.... The day was set, and arrived. The ex-trooper's -kit was packed. He was ready, expectant. - -He got Helen's letter about an hour before their train was to start. It -told him good-bye. He looked at the word with dismay. After a time he -read on. It had been decided she was not to go to Hill-Top with her -mother and the little girls that morning--she did not know just when she -would come--she was going to New York for a short visit to Alice -Rhinelander, then she was going to Newport, after that to Bar -Harbor--she had promised Daisy Sherrol a visit in the Catskills, and -Madge Parker to join her house-party at Lake Placid, time not yet -fixed--Alice was insisting that she come back to her for the Cup Races -in September--besides these there were a number of other things under -consideration--and taking it all together it was quite uncertain whether -she would get home at all--she was so sorry that she wouldn't, but he -must not begrudge her the pleasures of that season--when another came -she would probably be an old married woman, steady and settled down--he -would please look carefully after mamma and Katherine and May--and with -her love she told him again good-bye. - -Hayward went to Hill-Top and performed his service admirably as usual: -but all the spring and snap were taken out of him. The days were -monotonous in their lack of diverting occupation and he had much time to -sit still and hold his hands--and think of his wife. But that would not -do at all. He tried not to do so much of it. He wrote to his New -Hampshire lawyer and had forwarded to him at Hill-Top all the papers -relating to his commission, and filled out his spare time for several -days in reviewing these momentous documents. - -There was indeed a large and various collection of them. He and his -friend had pulled many wires--political, personal, military and other. -Beginning with a New Hampshire Senator and local politicians, up through -army officers and men personally notable to the President of Harvard, -from one or another he had drawn largely or moderately of the ammunition -with which to wage his battle. Half of these did not know the use he -intended to make of their commendations, but they were all sincerely -given. - -And he had made out a strong case. Such a forcible one in truth that, -barring the handicap of his colour, he would win hands down. A man of -his intelligence could not but know that it was a strong case, stronger -indeed than he had dared to hope for. In the contemplation of it he was -elated. The colouring of his outlook was roseate with promise. In that -outlook he saw Helen _coming toward him_, not going away as she had been -all these months. With his commission was she coming, and his -commission was coming so fast, so fast. - -He felt that his appeal was irresistible, and his spirit was on a high -wave of assurance. So high, indeed, that he decided to omit the -personal claim upon the President's gratitude. He had felt for some -time that perhaps that would not be altogether fair.... He bundled up -the papers along with his final suggestions and sent them back to his -lawyer with orders to lick them into shape and forward them to the -President without another minute's delay. - -He wrote to Helen of the imminence of the crisis in their affairs, but -of doubt or apprehension he did not speak. He told her of his decision -not to appeal to her father's sense of personal obligation. He exulted -in his approaching triumph as if he had already apprehended and went -into rhapsodies about the double prize it would bring to him: the -shoulder-straps and her: a gentleman's work in serving the flag, and a -gentleman's supremest guerdon--her love openly confessed and without -reserve. - -Helen's answer was brief but warmly sympathetic. She applauded his -purpose to win on merit alone. His decision only confirmed her estimate -of him. Her faith in his winning was fixed. A tender line closed the -missive, and a laughing postscript besought him not to believe the half -he saw in the papers about her. - -Ah, the postscript! It suggested a thing which Hayward had not thought -of before. He began to read the society notes in the metropolitan -dailies, with special reference to Newport and Bar Harbor gossip, and -with more especial reference to Miss Helen Phillips' doings thereat. He -bought one or another of the papers at the village every day, and -studied them religiously. In the very first was the interesting item -that Mr. Harry Lodge was spending a time at Newport. So was Helen, as -Hayward knew, though that paper did not say so. But the next day's -issue did: and he began to exercise his brain with a continuous problem -of its own devising. The problem was to figure out in his imagination -the details of Helen's daily life. - -Some days the papers said nothing of her, and then there would be so -much that her husband resented the intrusion upon the right of privacy -which the correspondents so ruthlessly invaded,--but he welcomed the -news of her. The President's daughter was a public personage, and the -great newspapers did not hesitate to treat her as such. Her comings and -goings, her graces and beauty, her dresses and dances, her thoughts and -her tastes, her wit and her charm were never-ending sources of supply -for the bright young men who were paid by the column for their "stuff." -Hayward read every word of it--though a Harvard man ought to have had -more sense: and Mr. Lodge began to figure more and more largely in "the -conditions of the problem." - -Hayward made no allowance for reportorial zeal or mendacity, the first -always much, and the last, while unusual, always possible. The young -gentlemen furnished him enough to think about, and his imagination began -to add enough, and more than enough, to worry about. When imagination -sets out to go wrong it invariably goes badly wrong, for the reason that -it plays a game without a limit. - -However, the footman's imaginings were not entirely without provocation. -As the days passed, Helen's letters became mere scraps, generally -tender, sometimes quite tender, but hurried, snatchy, with long silences -between. To supply the lack of authentic information of her, her -husband studied more assiduously the newspaper columns: and the poisoned -tooth of jealousy struck deeper into his heart. At last, between -Helen's indifference and the nagging news-notes, he could not endure it -longer. He wrote her a protest hot with the fever of heart-burning and -of outraged love. He re-read that letter a dozen times in -indecision--and trembled as he dropped it in the box.... Nervously he -waited for an answer,--and yet he waited.... The silence grew -ominous.... His fears grew also. But why, thought he, should he fear? -She was his wife, and he had the right to protest.... His anger rose at -her contemptuous disregard of him: his anger--and his fear. He knew she -was bound to him past undoing. Nevertheless, his fears did abide and -thicken, while the summer and the silence drew along slowly hand in -hand. - - * * * * * - -September had come, bringing yet no letter from his wife to fetch the -confusion of Hayward's fear, his resentment, his love and his jealousy -to something of peaceful order. His spirit was already beset with wild -imaginings and desire, when one day he opened a _Journal_ to read: - - - ROMANCE IN HIGH PLACES - - _The President's Daughter, Besought - By Eligibles of Many Lands, Will - Wed An American Citizen - Superb American Beauty Follows Her Heart - Engagement of Miss Helen Phillips and Mr. Harry - Lodge_ - - -Hayward sat down on the first thing that offered itself. He felt just a -little uncertain about standing up. He read the staring headlines over -again, and, hot and cold by turns, plunged into the details of this High -Romance. - -Unbelievable? Beyond doubt. Unthinkable even--to him who knew. But -the fabrication artist hammered his brain and heart with such a mass of -detail, with such a crushing tone of assuredness and authority, that the -footman's thoughts and beliefs were pounded into stupefaction and he -knew neither what to think nor what to believe. His brain jumped to -recall the details of their marriage, in fearful search of a possible -defect or omission which might vitiate it. It had been very hurriedly -done, all superfluities were omitted, but the officer had assured him -that they were hard and fast man and wife. - -Had Helen discovered a flaw in the contract? And would she evade it -thus? ... When that last question struck his brain, a dozen passions -swarmed to fight within his heart: love, jealousy, fear, defiance. -Shaking with the tumult of them all, he wrote to Helen again. - -"It has been six long weeks since you received my last letter. Not a -word has come to me in answer till this, to-day: - -(Here he pasted in the headlines clipped from the _Journal_.) - -"Is this your reply? If it is, I swear to you it shall not be. That -insufferable cad cannot live upon the earth to take you from me. I will -snuff his contemptible life out rather. You know that you are -mine--wife--by every vow and promise which the law prescribes. It is -incredible that you should ignore your troth plighted to me. It is -impossible for you to break it in this fashion. I would not have -believed you could be a fickle and unfaithful Helen. I do not believe -it. It is a lie. Write and tell me it is a lie. Write quickly for the -love of God. No, no, you need not write. It is false. I know it is -false--for you cannot be false. - -"But oh my Helen, why did you not listen to me? Why did you, a wedded -wife, persist in receiving attentions from men, from this one man in -particular, the most contemptibly caddish creature among all your -admirers? I have deplored your unrestraint but I resent it that _Lodge_ -should have found such special favour at your hands as to give currency -to this report. He is unutterably unworthy. I beseech you by the love -I shall dare to believe is mine until you tell me I have lost it to -conduct yourself so that such lies as this shall not be printed. Think -what will be said of your gayeties when it is announced that you have -been married a year. I love you, wildly, madly, as this incoherent -letter shows. You have told me that your love is mine and I believe it. -Forgive me and write to me, queen of my heart. I am starving for lack -of the love which is already my own." - -Helen's reply to that letter came quickly enough. - -"I refer you to yesterday's papers," it said icily, "for my answer to -your ravings about that absurd newspaper story. Your jealousy is -insulting, and your aspersions of Mr. Lodge are inexplicable. He is -everything that is honourable, and it is only your frenzied attack upon -him that is 'unutterably unworthy.' I sincerely regret that I was so -foolish as to marry you when I did. You are unreasonably exacting and I -will not be bound by it. You have no right to make demands of me." - -Hayward had the sensation of being struck in the face. If he had been -disturbed with vague doubts theretofore, he was now harassed by very -certain and lively fear. The "yesterday's papers" to which Helen -referred him had had a very explicit denial of the engagement, and -Helen's sharp reply admitted her marriage to him; but the last -declarations of her letter were ambiguous and defiant, and his heart -sank when he remembered that marriages were often annulled, and that, -even though the courts might not give freedom, there was no way to -compel a wife to live with her husband. - -Every manner of possibility and expedient whirled round and round in his -brain until his thoughts were an almost insane jumble of fear, -indecision and wrath. Finally out of the travail of his hopelessness and -confusion of ideas there rose his fighting spirit and was born the -mighty oath he swore, that she was his, he must have her, and in spite -of the world, flesh and the devil, by God, he would have her! - -One never-to-be-forgotten night was the first he spent after receiving -Helen's letter: a nightmare from his lying down until the dawn. A -tumult of shifting phantasms, disordered, chaotic, terrible, assailed -him with incessant horrors the night long, while through it all there -ran as a continuing and connecting tragedy his struggle to possess -himself of Helen. In his wild dreams she was sometimes his and again -escaping him; but always when he held her it was by right of might. A -time he was clasping her close and warm in his arms, but fainting and -unconscious, as he ran with her down Pennsylvania Avenue, Lodge, -Rutledge, Phillips and an angry horde in hot pursuit. Again, he was -dragging her through a never-ending swamp, limp and lifeless, one side -of her face a-drip with blood. With a blood-stained axe he was fighting -a furious, breath-spent way through vines and tangled undergrowth, the -while there sounded in his ears the lone-drawn baying of hounds upon his -track. - -From that bed of horrors he sprang with relief before the first light in -the east. He was glad just to be awake and he felt as if he wished -never to close his eyes again. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXVIII* - - -"You will have Shortman and the landau at the door at ten o'clock," said -Mrs. Phillips to Hayward when he appeared for duty that morning. -Shortman was the coachman. - -When the servants appeared at ten for orders they were told that they -should proceed to Cahudaga and bring back with them in the afternoon -Miss Helen and two friends.... Shortman, stolid and indifferent as he -usually was, was yet interested to note that he could not understand -some of the things the footman said and did on that ride to Cahudaga. - -Alice Rhinelander's sudden indisposition forbade her to attempt the long -drive to Hill-Top, and Lucile Hammersley, of course, could not leave her -guest. As Helen was to have but one day at home, however, she decided to -go alone, and leave the two others to follow her on the morrow. As it -was, she deferred starting till the latest possible moment. A -threatening sky, splashed with sunshine but brushed with the fleeting -clouds and winds of the close-coming equinox, was Mr. Hammersley's -pretext for insisting that she also remain over night; but a childish -desire to go home now that she was near it impelled her to tear herself -away at the last minute for the solitary drive. - -She spoke pleasantly to Shortman and Hayward when she came out to get in -the carriage, and Hayward thought that her perfect composure in what -seemed to him a tense situation was marvellous to behold. At the first -sight of her glorious beauty he had an impulse to prostrate himself in -adoration, but that something of the grand lady which she had -unconsciously taken on held him stiffly to his character, if nothing -else had done so. He held open the door for her, pushed her skirt -clear--his pulses gone wild at the touch of it--shut her in securely, -climbed to his seat beside Shortman and faced steadily to the front. He -was afraid to seek a personal look from Helen's eyes. She, looking upon -his broad back, erect and flat, strong in every line, did not guess the -storm that was shaking him within. She was no little surprised at the -grip he had on himself, and really indulged in some admiration of his -indifferent air in what had been to her notion, also, a rather tense -situation--for him. Her father's daughter, she had never met or -imagined the situation to which she would not be equal... - -While Hayward's spirit was being storm-swept, a literal tempest was -driving down upon them. They were less than half-way home and on a -lonely and unpeopled part of their road when the storm fell. The men -and Helen, too, had ascribed the increasing darkness to the fast-coming -nightfall, for the air about them was still and warm, and the sun had -gone some time before behind a bank of low-lying clouds. A -lightning-flash was the first herald of danger; and drive then as -Shortman might, it was a losing race. - -The storm seemed disposed to play cat-and-mouse with them. Hurrying -over them in scurrying clouds darker and blacker growing, it only -watched the hard-driven horses, nor so much as blew a breath upon -them.... Mocking them now, it blew a puff, puff--and again was silence. -As if to incite them to more amusing endeavours, along with another puff -it threw at them a capful of giant rain-drops: and again drew off from -the game to watch them run with fright.... Next came a brilliant sheet -of lightning, revealing the cavernous furrows and writhing convulsions -on the storm-god's front--but not the _sound_ of thunder nor the jarring -shock of the riving bolt--that would be carrying the joke with these -scared and fleeing pigmies too far.... Another awful, mocking grimace -of the storm, and then another. After each, the darkness coming like a -down-flung blanket closer and closer to envelop the earth. And through -it all, that awful silent stillness, broken so far only by the clatter -of those sportive raindrops and the rustle of the contemptuous puffs.... -But the giant hadn't time to play with children: Crash, ROAR--the -hurricane struck the hapless carriage! - -Shortman was driving wildly to reach a little farmhouse two miles yet -ahead, the first hope of shelter. In the sheets of light his eyes swept -the ill-kept road to fix his course, and in the inky blackness following -he held to it in desperate and unslacking haste till another flash -revealed it further to him. - -The thundering wind mauled and pummelled them. It shook and tore them. -It shook and tore the very earth as they plunged fearfully forward -through the terrible light and the awful darkness. In the deafening, -blinding roar and rush, sight and hearing were pounded almost into -insensibility and Helen tried to cry out to the swaying figures on the -driver's seat--but screamed instead in terror as calamity caught them. -Crack! _Crash_! CRUSH!--and woman, men, horses and carriage were -buried under a down-coming treetop. - - * * * * * - -Helen felt she had not lost consciousness, but she did not know. -Hayward was struggling to release her from the wrecked landau. He was -calling to her, screaming rather,--for the shrieking wind was raging as -if with the taste of blood. She could see him plainly as he fought -through the threshing branches of the giant oak that had smashed them. -The light which revealed him to her was continuous, but flashing and -dancing. She looked to see whence it came, and her blood froze as she -saw the sputtering end of an electric transmission cable which the -falling forest monarch had broken and carried down. At the foot of -Niagara were mighty turbines a-whirl which sent the deadly current to -threaten and to slay. Men had intended it for works of peace and -industry in lake villages, but Nature had stepped in to reclaim it as -one of her own cataclysmic forces, and Niagara's rioting waters, -unwitting and uncaring, sent it just as merrily and as mightily to works -of death. - -Hayward well knew that death was in the touch of that whipping wire, -tangled in boughs beaten and lashed by the demoniac winds: but Helen was -in danger, and he hesitated not to come to her. After a struggle that -tested muscle as well as courage, he dragged her free and started to -carry her up the roadside bank to a small hut or shack which the light -revealed. Helen shook herself from his arms. - -"Where is Shortman?" she cried against the tempest. - -Hayward pointed to the wrecked carriage. As she looked, one of the -horses, uttering a cry and trying to rise, was flicked on the head by -the end of the hissing wire, and, in a flash of greenish-blue flame, -sank down and was still. - -"Help Shortman!" Helen cried again. - -At her command Hayward plunged into the tree-top and after a longer -struggle than had been necessary in rescuing Helen, he pulled the -coachman out and laid him limp at his wife's feet. He understood rather -than heard the question she asked. He nodded his head in affirmative -answer, and said, as if talking to himself: - -"Dead, Miss Helen." - -It had not been more than two minutes since the fury of the storm broke -upon them. The rain-drops, which had been desultory, now came down in -torrents. Hayward turned toward his wife. She was sinking trembling to -the road. He caught her up and hurried her to the hut. - -Their refuge was quite small, but afforded shelter from the downpour of -water. It was a little patched-up affair that had been used by the -labourers who constructed the electric transmission line, and was -without opening except the door, there being no shutter to that. A rude -table of rough planks built against the wall was its only furnishing. -What had been a small bench was broken up and useless. - -Hayward held Helen in his arms while he inventoried the contents in the -uncertain light, but at her first movement to free herself from his -embrace he gently seated her on the little table and stood beside her at -the end of it. She was faint with horror and fright and, closing her -eyes, sank back against the wall for support: while the wind-driven -torrent howled and surged past the door and the fierce but unspeaking -lightning lit up the awful night.... Helen was getting some sort of -grip on her nerves again when, turning toward the door, in the pallid -light she had a vision of the ghastly face lying in the road below them. -She shuddered--the faintness was overmastering--and toppled unconscious -against her husband's arm. He caught her tenderly, not knowing she had -lost consciousness, and, putting his arm around her, drew her softly and -closely to himself. - -For a long time he stood thus in silence, fearing that speech might -break the spell. At last he spoke to her, but she did not answer. He -ascribed her silence to fright, and with gentle and reassuring words -essayed to compose her fears. He took note of her failure to speak to -him: but she was submissive to his caresses, and he was well content -with that. At her non-resistance he became more affectionate in his -tendernesses, and was lost in the ecstasy of holding her to his heart. - -Gone--far removed--from him was the thought of the storm-riven night. -An end, he exulted, to nightmares in which she was fleeing from him. -His wife was in his arms at last! The silent modesty with which she had -committed herself to him was eloquent of her heart's love and -faithfulness:--and his pulses sang with joy despite the tragedy that had -befallen. - -The wind and rain were slackening, but the lightning played on. With a -sigh and shiver Helen stirred, and pushed feebly away. - -"Where am I? Where are we?" she asked confusedly. - -"About two miles and a half from the Lake Drive," Hayward answered, -"about four miles from home." - -"But what are we doing here? How did we get here?" - -Hayward started. In heaven's name, her mind was not unsettled! - -"The wreck--I carried you in here out of the storm." - -"Oh--yes,--now I remember," Helen said, leaning back against the wall -and putting her hands before her eyes as if to shut out memory. - -In a flash Hayward was in the clutch of the old terror. - -"She did not know, then," he thought. "She was unconscious, and did not -give herself to me." Again he was on the rack, all his doubts and fears -and jealousies a-surge, but maddened and fired by the memory, the -lingering perfume, of her smooth cheek and warm lips. - -"How long must we stay here?" Helen asked, starting up. - -"Until the storm is over, at the least. They may send after us when we -do not arrive on time. I cannot leave you here, or I would go after -help now." - -"No! you must not leave me here! We will wait till help comes or -until--I can go with you. Do you think it will be long?" - -Hayward went to the little door and surveyed the heavens. - -"Another storm seems to be headed this way," he said. "If that strikes -us there's no telling when we will get away. We are perfectly safe -here, however. This cabin is built back against the hill and there are -no trees near enough to fall on us." - -"Were you hurt?" asked Helen abruptly, for the first time thinking of -the dangers they had gone through as dangers. - -"Nothing worth reporting," said Hayward in order to allay her fears. It -was a lie well told, for he had a decidedly caved-in feeling about his -ribs. - -"You saved my life again--this time at risk of your own. When the -carriage was crushed I thought that I--oh, it is too horrible!" She -trembled violently. - -Hayward saw that he must divert her thoughts from this direful night. -He was much desirous of discussing other matters anyway. After a silent -minute he began. - -"Your return was quite unexpected to--us," he said. - -"Yes, and a very short visit I'm to make as it is. I leave again day -after to-morrow morning." - -She stopped and apparently did not care to say more of herself--or of -her plans.... Hayward was of a different mind. - -"You didn't say anything of this visit in your last letter," he -ventured. - -"No, I had not decided on it then." ... Silence again. - -"Helen, why did you write me that letter?" Hayward squared himself for -battle and fired the first shot. - -"I only answered yours--your two letters, rather. You insisted on making -your--demands, and I simply told you what I thought. You also attacked -one of my friends, and I defended him." - -Helen was not versed in the art of indirection or evasion. Hayward was -very thankful for that. It made the issue clear, and made it quickly. - -"As for your friend," said Hayward, "your defence of him is without -knowledge--" - -"As your attack upon him was without justice," Helen interrupted. - -"I said he was a contemptible cad, and I stand ready to prove it. You -may be the judge of it. He was my friend at college, and our relations -were of such intimacy as I have told you about, and yet, knowing me full -well, he refused to know me in Washington, or to shake hands with me, or -to speak to me, even." - -"Perhaps he did not remember you. Remember it has been five or six--" - -"I'm telling you he did know me. He admitted it--in order that his -affront might be unequivocal. I tell you he's a cad, a damnable cad, -and I want you to cut him off your list. Promise me that you will have -nothing more to do with him." - -The man in his half-demand, half-plea, put out his arm toward her to -reinforce his appeal with a caress, but his wife drew away from him and -warded off his hand as she spoke to him. - -"No," she cried, "I cannot believe it. There must be some -explanation--I cannot do it--I'm to be one of his automobile party next -Thursday.... Don't--don't!" - -"What! May I not kiss you?" - -"No, no. Not--not now." - -"But you are my wife--I have the right to kiss you." - -"You have no right," said Helen. - -Hayward grew suddenly cold with passion. - -"I have every right--more right than that contemptible Lodge has to put -his arm around you in the dance!" - -"He at least has my permission," Helen replied spiritedly. But she -would not have provoked him perhaps if she had known of the fever rising -in his blood for all these months. - -"Your permission, has he! And I am to beg for rights that are mine--and -be refused!" His voice rose in anger with the roar and rush of the -new-coming storm. - -"You are mine!" he screamed. "I forbid you to meet him again! No man -shall take you from me! I love you--I love you---and I will kill any man -who tries to rob me of you! Helen, Helen, tell me you are mine--mine -now! Not that you will be mine when I win my commission, but that you -are already mine--_mine now_!" - -Helen turned away from him, terrified by his violence of speech. The -man's every passion went wild as he read refusal in her movement. Only -for a moment does she look away, however. In that instant she sees -again the dead coachman, prone and ghastly as before, but with the end -of that blazing wire lying against the back of his head, from which -rises the vapour of burning flesh. Sickened with horror she turns to -Hayward and reaches out her hand for his support. He clutches her -passionately. His blood rushes to his heart in a flood--and then stands -still. - -"This is surrender," he thinks,--and his veins are aflame. - -Helen is quiescent in his arms for a short space and suffers his -caresses. Suddenly startled, she looks at his face. In a flash of -light she sees it--distorted! With a shriek of terror she wildly tries -to push him from her: but the demon of the blood of Guinea Gumbo is -pitiless, and against the fury of it, as of the storm, she fights and -cries--in vain. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXIX* - - -With his editorial duties and with the plans of his campaign for Mr. -Killam's seat in the Senate, Evans Rutledge was as busy a man as -Washington knew. However, he dropped his work long enough to attend upon -Lola DeVale's marriage. He was no little surprised when Oliver Hazard -asked him to stand by at his wedding. He was on friendly terms with the -bride--and with Hazard, too, for that matter; but he did not know the -strength and sincerity of Lola DeVale's friendship for him. - -"We must have Mr. Rutledge," she had said to Hazard when they were -choosing their attendants; "and he shall be paired with Elise. I have -set my heart on that match, for if it fails I have been kissed for -nothing." - -"Certainly we'll have him if you wish. He's a great fellow, I think, -and he'll be a winner all right, don't worry yourself. He'll win out on -naked luck, for any man who can just stumble along and kiss you by -mistake is evidently a special protege of the gods." ... - -The score or more of young people in the bridal party met at Grace -Church on the afternoon before the event to get the details of their -marching and countermarching in order. Lola was there to overlook -putting them through their paces, but she left the details of -straightening out the chattering, rollicking bridesmaids and groomsmen -to Elise and Hazard. Rutledge soon learned his role and stood to it like -a schoolboy when he was ordered, but he spent most of the time in -sympathetic talk with the bride-to-be. - -That night when the other girls who filled the house were scattered to -their rooms and Elise and Lola were snuggled up in bed, Lola put her arm -around her friend and began to say what was on her mind. - -"I think it's very rude to refuse to answer a civil question, don't you, -Elise?" - -Elise was thinking of something else, but she heard enough of what Lola -said to answer "yes" in an absent-minded way. - -"That would be so with any question. But if it was about a matter of -importance the refusal to answer would be more than rude, it would -be--exasperating, don't you think?" - -"What are you talking about?" Elise asked. - -"And if it were a matter of the very greatest importance," Lola -continued, "and by every right and custom an answer of some sort was -due, and one was flatly told there was _no answer_, then such -unpardonable rudeness should be resented, and self-respect would -_demand_ that the question be not repeated." - -"Lola DeVale," said Elise, turning to face her, "in the name of sense, -have you gone daffy?" - -"I agree with Mr. Rutledge," said Lola in the same monotone, as she in -turn faced away from Elise, "self-respect forbids." - -"Here," exclaimed Elise, "turn back over here and say all that again." - -"Haven't time," said Lola with a yawn. "I must be getting my -beauty-sleep. Good night." - -Elise was quiet half a minute. - -"Of all the silly people!"--she stirred Lola up with a poke in the -ribs--"when did he tell you that?" - -"I'm not divulging any confidences," said Lola. - -"And what, pray, are you divulging?" asked Elise. - -"My opinion that a civil question demands an answer of some sort--a good -round 'no,' if nothing else--not the dismissal one gives a telegraph -messenger." - -"There you go again---and I don't understand; but you said something of -'self-respect'?" - -"I'm glad he has it. A man's not made for a woman to wipe her feet on, -even if he does love her." - -"For goodness sake, Lola, quit making riddles. Just what do you think -you are talking about?" - -"Do you mean to tell me," demanded Lola, turning toward her, "that Mr. -Rutledge did not ask you to marry him and that you didn't tell him there -was _no answer_,--that you didn't treat him with contempt, with -indifference, with just about as much consideration as you would a clerk -who gave you a hand-bill of a cut-price sale? There now!" - -"So that's the cause of all this--this _self-respect_, the reason for -all this religious silence of his lips--while his eyes work overtime? I -thought it was becau--that it--that there was really something; and is -_that_ all!" Elise laughed merrily. - -"I think it's shameful, myself!" said Lola severely. "I glory in his -resentment." - -"I have never noticed any resentment, and--_I did not treat him so_," -replied the quick-witted Elise combatively. Quietly her heart laughed -on. - -"You deny it?" asked Lola. - -"Yes, I deny it. He did not ask me to marry him. He simply told -me--quite abruptly--that he loved me, and, after some time, asked me for -my answer. What was I to answer? When there is no question there can be -no answer. So I told him there was _no answer_. If a man will insist -upon an answer he must not be so stupid as to forget to put a question." - -Elise chuckled inwardly as she constructed this specious defence. She -was in very good humour with herself,--and with Lola. - -"But promise me," she hurried on to say, "that you will not intimate to -Mr. Rutledge that it is his stupidity that has swelled his bump of -self-respect for these last four years." - -Lola demurred to this form of statement: bless her, she was a loyal -friend. But Elise insisted. - -"Not a word to Mr. Rutledge! Let him discover his mistakes unaided. -Promise me. _Promise_," she demanded. - -Lola promised. - -"Cross your heart and hope you may die," Elise added. - -Lola laughingly went through these binding formalities. - -"Now the goblins will get you if you ever tell him and besides that I -would know it at once. If you do I'll send him packing for good and -all." - -Lola protested that she would leave Mr. Rutledge entirely to his own -devices,--and she kept her promise. - -Lola had insisted on retiring early for a good night's rest, but it was -long after midnight before she and her school-day chum grew sleepy over -their confidences. Along at the last Elise pressed her face down in the -pillow beside Lola's cheek and whispered: - -"Honey, if it wasn't very dark and our last night together I couldn't -tell you; but do you know if Mr. Rutledge were to ask me to marry him -to-morrow I would have to tell him there was no answer." - -Lola lay still till she caught the meaning of this confession. Then she -softly kissed Elise good-night. - -"Let your heart decide, dearest," she said. - -At the wedding breakfast next morning, and at the church at noon, -Rutledge was bewildered by the softness, the gentleness of Elise's -manner toward him. There was nothing of the cold brilliance, nor of the -warm combativeness, nor of the lukewarm indifference of her moods for -such a long time past. Like the breath of long forgotten summers, of -one particular halcyon summer, was her simple-hearted friendliness on -that day. He harked back by a conscious effort to keep in touch with -his grievance, but it seemed to be eluding his grasp. - -For a great part of five hours on the train returning to Washington he -sat beside her and steadily forgot everything that had come to pass -since the days when he first knew and loved this adorable girl. His -resentment and his resolutions were toppling and falling, despite his -efforts at reserve in his few scattering lucid intervals of -"self-respect." - -Elise, outrageously well-informed of the reasons and resources and -weaknesses of his resistance, almost laughed outright at the ease with -which she scattered his forces and at his spasmodic attempts to regather -them. She recalled the rigour of her treatment of him, the contempt she -had had for the quality of his love, the apparent heartless lack of -appreciation of his championship of her name in the Smith affair: and -she was of a mind to make amends. In making amends she tore Rutledge's -resentment and "self-respect" to tatters, and set his love a-fire. She -really did not intend to overdo it. She sincerely wished only to make -amends. - -At last he turned to her with a look which scared her. She saw that the -last shred of his "self-respect" was gone, and that only the crowded car -prevented a precipitate, outspoken surrender. She felt very generous -toward that "self-respect" now that it was defeated. She did not care -to humiliate it. She was also in a temper to be mischievous and a mite -reckless. And, further, she was not ready to have Rutledge putting any -questions. As the train was rolling under the shed at Washington she -said to him in the very friendliest and most serious way: - -"Mr. Rutledge, it seems that you are under the delusion that once upon a -time you asked me a question which has never been answered. In order -that I may not appear rude or unappreciative I will say that my answer -to that question would have been 'no.'" - -And she left him to think over that. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXX* - - -On the day that Congress convened after the Christmas holidays President -Phillips sent to the Senate, among other nominations, that of John H. -Graham to be a second lieutenant of cavalry. - -Hayward had been for a long time unhappy, depressed, apprehensive of -failure. That his name had not been among those submitted at the -beginning of the session in December had almost assured his defeat. - -All his attempts at communication with Helen since the night of the -storm had been met with an accusing silence. Her pale face, which had -not regained its colour for weeks, was always averted, and by no trick -or chance, by no wild torrent of self-denunciation, nor heart-moving -prayer for pardon, nor protestations of love, nor dumb humility of -sorrow in his eyes or attitude, could she be brought to look upon him. -Neither had she written a line in answer to all his letters of pleading -and repentance. True, he had his fiery moments of self-assertion and -desperate resolves, and they had fought self-revilings for possession of -his soul in many an hour since that wild night, but he crushed them -under heel within his heart, and ever wrote contritely to his wife. - -For several days after his nomination went to the Senate he waited in -hope to receive Helen's congratulations. It had meant so much to them. -With a last remnant of hope he wrote to her of it. If that would not -break the silence he was undone. At the end of the letter he added in -most abject contrition: - -"I would joyfully die to atone. My life awaits your command." - -The silence was not broken. - - * * * * * - -Miss Lily Porter's eyes had not fallen on Hayward since his return from -Hill-Top. When she saw in the papers that his nomination was before the -Senate she hesitated not to write to him to come to see her. On his -first night off, Hayward went. - -If ever a man was pursued by a woman the White House footman was that -man. He saw the game ahead of him before he had been five minutes -within the door. A proposal was expected of him. Clearly, it was -expected that evening. Hayward was in a frame of mind to welcome the -diversion. He had no idea of making the proposal, of course, but he was -careless enough of what should happen to him to be quite willing to give -Miss Porter the worth of her trouble in the way of mild excitement. - -Lily opened up the subject with her congratulations: and the game was -on. Up and down, back and forth, round and round the field of -conversation she chased the quick-tongued, nimble-witted young fellow in -her effort to coax, persuade, lead, drive, push him into the net. The -young man was entertaining, but elusive. He was gallant, admiring, -soft-spoken, confiding--but there was no way of bringing him to book. -The girl took another tack. She went to the piano and sang for him. -She sang for him at first, many of the ballads and one thing and another -that he formerly had delighted in. Then she sang to him. Hayward leaned -against the piano and listened with a very lively appreciation. Music -had a power for him where many other things would fail, and the music in -Lily Porter's throat was enough to enthrall even though he were deaf to -the song in her heart. - -Henry Porter was caught by the real note in his daughter's voice as he -passed the door, and, stopping where he could see as well as hear, he -was enlightened by the tale her face was telling. He was mad all over -in a minute, and he made short work of it. - -"Git out of my house," he blurted out at Hayward as he stalked angrily -into the midst of Lily's melodious love-making. "I tol' you once I -didn' want any footman callin' on my daughter!" - -"Oh, papa! What do you mean?" Lily cried, springing up from the piano. - -"I mean git out when I say git out!" - -"Wait a moment, Mr. Hayward," Lily called to the footman, who, chin in -air, was leaving the room, truth to tell, no little relieved at this -complete solution of what was fast becoming an embarrassing situation -for him. - -"No use to wait. Move on!" the father growled, placing himself across -the door to prevent Lily's following her caller. Upon her attempt to -push by him he caught her and shoved her into a chair. As the outer -door closed with a very modest and well-mannered snap, he released his -hold upon her arm. He was yet in a fury. - -"So you've lied to me! Thought you could fool your ol' daddy! But I -guess not!" - -"I haven't lied to you." - -"You have! You tol' me you were goin' to marry a military man, and here -you are, dead gone on this footman--and no use to deny out of it!" - -Lily didn't attempt to deny it. - -"Umhuh, I knew it! Already promised him, ain't yuh?" - -No denial of that either, to her father's consternation. - -"What! And you a-tellin' me all the time you were goin' to marry a -military man! You lyin' huzzy!" - -"But he's a military man--he's the John H. Graham whose commission is -before the Senate--now I hope you are satisfied!" - -Henry Porter stopped his stamping about and looked at his daughter -several seconds in silence. - -"He's--he's who?" he asked in astonishment. - -"He's the same John H. Graham you were reading about in the _Post_ this -morning--the man the President has appointed a lieutenant in the -cavalry." - -"But his name's not Graham." - -"His name _is_ Graham--John Hayward Graham--Lieutenant John Hayward -Graham when the Senate confirms it." - -Old Henry looked a little bit nonplussed. His daughter took courage. -She jumped up and grabbed him. - -"Come on right now and write him an apology, and send it so that it will -get to his rooms by the time he does!" - -Old Henry demurred. His dignity was a very real thing--as hard and -substantial as his dollars. - -"Oh, no, no. Wait awhile. Le's think about it. No use to be in a -hurry. He'll come back agin. What did he go sneakin' roun' here -without his name for if he wanted people to treat him right? A man's -got no business monkeyin' with his name." - -"But you _must_ write him an apology, papa. You just must!" - -"Oh, well, mebbe I will. But I'll wait till to-morrer. Better wait till -the Senate confirms him though, and be certain about it." - -"Oh, no! That would _never_ do. It would be too plain,"--and Lily went -into a long disquisition to fetch her hard-headed old daddy to her way -of thinking. He showed some signs of relenting but could not be -persuaded that night. When the morning came it took all her powers to -push him to the point of sending a suitable note to Hayward: but she -accomplished it. Hayward's stinging, sarcastic, withering reply was not -written till late in the afternoon, and in the footman's agitation over -other concerns was not mailed till his mother found it in his room on -the day after that. By the time Mr. Henry Porter received it, other -events had come to pass that gave it some emphasis.... - -When Hayward Graham returned to his room after his dismissal from -Porter's house he found a letter addressed to him in his wife's writing. -He tore it open hungrily. - - -"You say you would joyfully die to atone. That would be the very best -thing you could do--the only fitting thing you could do.--H." - - -A grim smile lighted the man's face. At the moment the blood of some -long-dead cavalier ancestor splashed through his heart, and he wrote the -brief reply. - - -"Your wish is law, and shall be obeyed. Grant me one day to put my -house in order." - - * * * * * - -Her maid handed the message to Helen before she was out of bed the next -morning. The girl read it, caught its meaning, and shook with an ague -of fear. Her love for her husband, outraged and stricken, may not have -been dead--for who shall speak the last word for a woman's heart?--and -her tender soul recoiled at the murder so calmly forespoken: and yet -neither of these impulses was elemental in her agony of terror. Her -impetuous letter of the day before, breaking a silence she had sworn to -keep, was not intended as a reply to anything that Hayward had written. -It was but a wild protest against the new-born realization that her -situation was tragic, and could not be ignored nor long concealed. She -had not meant to suggest or to counsel death, but to rail against life. -The possibility of his taking-off had not occurred to her. His letter -terrified her! Death!--her husband's death? It was the one thing that -must _not_ be! When she had read his words, her blood was ice. "No! -No!" her teeth chattered as she dressed, "he must not, he must not!" In -the nervousness, the weakness, the faintness, the sickness into which -fevered meditations upon the day-old revelation had shaken her, she did -not think to question the sincerity of Hayward's purpose at -self-destruction. The calamity was imminent--and trebly calamitous. -The chill of more than death was upon her. When she had dressed she -dashed off a hurried scrawl. - - -"No, no, no. I did not mean that. It is not my wish that you destroy -yourself. You must not. _You must not_! I need you--above everything -I _need you_. If you die I am undone! Where is our marriage -certificate? Or was there one? And who was that witness? Do not die, -do not die. As you love me _do not die_!" - - -She carefully arranged every detail of her toilet, pinched her pale -cheeks into something of pink, put on her morning smile, and, with a -very conscious effort at lightness of manner, tripped out into the hall -and down the stairs. She knew the very spot on which she would see her -husband standing. With a round-about journey she approached it. He was -not there. She laughed nervously, and with an aimless air, but a faster -thumping heart, sought him at another haunt. Failure. And failure -again. She went to breakfast, and displayed a lack of appetite and a -tendency to hysterics. After breakfast she lingered down-stairs on -every conceivable pretext, and journeyed from one end of the house to -the other many times and again. At last when her nerves could not stand -the strain a second longer she asked the coachman, who had driven the -carriage to the door, where Hayward was. She felt that there was a full -confession in the tones of her voice. - -"Hayward asked for a day off this mornin', mum. He didn't come. Just -telephoned." - -Helen felt the tension of her nerves snap. She hurried to her room, -suppressing fairly by force an impulse to scream, and locking the door, -threw herself across the bed. There for three hours, pleading a -headache and denying admittance to all who knocked, she cowered before -the thoughts of her seething brain--and suffered torment. - -Along about two o'clock she sprang up suddenly and turned out of her -trunk all of her husband's letters and began feverishly to search for -one she remembered written long ago which by chance contained the street -number of his lodgings. She was nearly an hour finding it. - -Again she went through the womanly process of making herself -presentable, and sauntered freshly forth in quest of the post office and -a special delivery stamp. With an added prayer that he relieve her -suspense quickly, she dropped her agonized note into the box under the -hurry postage. Having thus done all that was possible to save her -husband's life--and her own--she went back to her bed in collapse, and -waited for the night-fall as one, hoping for a reprieve, who must die at -sunset. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXXI* - - -Helen waited in vain for a word from her husband. Her letter did not -come to his hand. She tossed in agonized suspense through the long -hours--through the snail-paced minutes--through the dragging, tortured -moments. - -Elise came in to see her. Helen gave the first explanation of her -indisposition that came to mind, and declined all ministrations. Her -mother came, and she would have dismissed her as briefly had not Mrs. -Phillips asserted authority and ordered her into bed and suggested -calling the family physician. At this intimation Helen demurred. She -felt that she would suffocate if she were to be tucked up and made to -lie quiet, with the doctor fingering her pulse and talking of sleeping -potions while her soul was throbbing in such a frenzy of horror. - -To escape from them and from herself, she suddenly sat up and announced -her intention of attending the dancing party which Elise was giving for -the evening. There was a vigorous opposition to this procedure by both -her mother and Elise, and by her father also, who had come in to have a -look at her: but she outwilled them all. - - * * * * * - -Elise's dancing party was an affair to be remembered--an affair that is -remembered. It deserved to be an unusual occasion, for in arranging it -Elise was conscious of being in an unusual frame of mind. She was in -some way disposed to be so perfectly even-handed in her dispensations. -She directed the three invitations to Mr. Evans Rutledge, Captain George -St. Lawrence Howard and Senator Joseph Richland with her own hand and -with almost one continuous stroke of the pen. She took this batch of -three invitations as a separate handful and placed them together in the -basket for the mail. She assigned to each of these gentlemen one dance -with herself, and one only, in the programme of the formal first half of -the evening. She appointed as attendants for the eleven o'clock -collation Mr. Rutledge to Mrs. Hazard, Captain Howard to Helen, and -Senator Richland to Alice Mackenzie--the fiancee of Donald MacLane. In -everything she was judicially impartial. She played no favourites. - -Her plans carried through charmingly, and after dancing through the card -a delighted lot of guests sat down to the light luncheon, though three -men in the party, despite all their gallant attentions to the women -beside them, were using half of their brains at least in planning for -the catch-as-catch-can hour and a half that was to follow. Elise had -smiled upon them equally and tormentingly, and not a man of them but -felt that the briefest little five minutes _tete-a-tete_ might do -magical things. - -"Well," said Lola, after she and Rutledge had effervesced in a few -minutes of commonplaces and conventionalities, "is your money still on -the Englishman?" - -"No," said Rutledge, "I've quit gambling." - -"Lost your sporting nerve?" - -"No, not that; but a man who bets against himself deserves to lose, and -I can't afford to lose." - -"But your self-respect?" laughed Lola. - -"Now Miss--ah--Mrs. Hazard, don't jump on a fellow when he's down. -Self-respect is nothing less than an abomination when it comes between a -man and a girl like--that,--and besides, she didn't mean it that way." - -"Oh, didn't she?" - -"No, she didn't, and she's just the finest, dearest woman in the whole -wide--unmarried state!" - -"Thank you," said Lola, "but you needn't have minded. And so I'm to -congratulate you? I've been so anxious to hear, but our mail has never -caught up with us since the day we left New York." - -"Oh, bless your heart, there are no congratulations--only good wishes, I -hope. Take note of the exact mathematical equality in the distances by -which Richland and Sir Monocle and I are removed from the chair of the -Lady Beautiful. Could anything be more beautifully impartial?" - -"And who is the ancient gentleman with Elise?" Lola asked. - -"Some old party from York State. Bachelor uncle or cousin or some such -chap--quite a character too, it seems--danced with Dolly Madison or -Martha Washington or the Queen of Sheba or somebody like that in his -youth. Miss Phillips was telling me of him awhile ago." - -"That was a very safe subject of discussion," said Lola. - -"Yes," Rutledge replied grimly, "and do you know I tried my very hardest -to lose him out of the conversation and he just wouldn't drop. Miss -Phillips must be greatly interested in him." - -"Anything will do in a pinch, Mr. Rutledge. What were you trying to -talk about?" - -"Oh, that's it, you think? Well I wish I had ten good minutes with her. -I'd make the talk--for half the time--or know the reason why." - -"I think I remember that Elise told me once that you could be very -abrupt." - -"Yes, and I'm going to do a few stunts in abruptness that will surprise -her the next time I have a chance. I've tried the easy and graceful -approach for the last six weeks, and it's getting on my nerves." - -"I tell you what, Mr. Rutledge," Lola laughed, "Elise is to be with me -to-morrow evening. You come around after dinner, and I promise you -shall have a square deal and ten minutes at least for your very own. -Come early and avoid the rush." - -"Good. I'll do it. You are a trump!" - -"And you may run along now if you wish," she said as they came out of -the dining-room, "and take her away from the old party before the others -get a chance at her." - -"You'll go to heaven when you die," Rutledge whispered as he left -her.... - -Evans met some difficulty in cutting Elise out of the herd. It took -time and determination and some strategy to carry the smiling young -hostess off down the hall alone; but he brought it to pass, and drew a -breath of exultation when he had shaken himself free. However, turn -where he would, every nook and corner seemed to be occupied. He was not -openly on the hunt for a retired spot, but he was wishing for one with a -prayerful heart and wide-open eyes. - -Now a man can make love to a girl right out in the open--in full view of -the multitude--in fact there is a sort of fascination in it--in telling -her what a dear she is with the careless air and gesture which, to the -onlookers, suggests a remark anent the blizzard in the west or the hot -times in South Carolina; but when it comes to putting the cap-sheaf on -the courting and running the game to earth, in pushing the inquiry to -ultimate conclusions and demanding the supreme reply,--a man who dares -to hope to win and whose blood has not been thinned by promiscuous -flirtations ever wants the girl to be in a situation grab-able. - -When Evans became convinced that the fates were against him on that -evening, he set definite plans in order for the next. - -"Mrs. Hazard tells me that you are to be with her to-morrow evening," he -said to Elise, with something of that abruptness. "May I not call upon -you there? There is something I wish very much to tell you, and the -crowd here is always too great." - -Elise looked up at him quickly. The something he wished to tell her was -to be read in his face, but she could not presume to assume it had been -said. The man waited quietly for his answer. - -"Why, certainly, yes, I will be very glad to see you," she said in a -tone of conventional politeness; but assuredly, Rutledge thought, the -light in her gray eyes was not discouraging. - -"But I must be going now, if you will take me back," she said; and they -turned to go up the hall. A lumbering crash and a stifled little cry -changed their purpose. - -Three minutes before, they had seen Helen and Harry Lodge turn a corner -in the hall and pass round behind some of the overflowing greenery which -almost shut off a side entrance. Lodge was as intent upon the pursuit -of Helen as Rutledge of Elise, and was making more of his opportunities. -Helen was welcoming any excitement that carried her out of herself. With -Lodge's pushfulness and her indifference to consequences, it did not -take long to bring the issue to a point. From her manner Harry did not -gather the faintest idea of losing. She listened to his speeches with a -smile which was not in the least false but none the less deceiving. She -did not offer the slightest objection to his wooing nor put the smallest -obstruction in the way of it. In his enthusiasm he developed an -eloquence, and, taking her unresisting hand, he rushed along to the -climax of a rapturous declaration. - -"--And will you be my wife?" he asked, with his arm already half about -her. - -"No," Helen answered dispassionately, drawing herself back from him as -if his meaning were but just now made clear to her: but that "no" came -too late. - -A pair of eyes in which the lightnings had gathered and gone wild had -looked upon the whole of this tender scene except the last moments of -it. Hayward Graham felt the devils in the blood of all his ancestors -white and black cry to be uncaged as he looked upon Lodge in his ecstasy -of love-making, and when Lodge took Helen's hand and it was not -withdrawn, the devils broke the bars. - -"So," cried Hayward in his soul, "it's for you--to resign her to your -arms--that I am asked to die! No! If I may not possess her, not you, -you hound!" - -A door was wrenched open and Lodge had only time to straighten himself -before he was knocked senseless by the infuriated husband. - -Hayward drew himself up, terrible, before his wife, and Helen in the -moment of recognition threw herself into his arms with a glad cry. - -"Oh, you have come at last!" she moaned. "You got my letter at last and -have come to me!" - -"No. What letter?" asked Hayward--but as he asked it Helen was pushing -herself from him as savagely as she freely had thrown herself to him. -Her ear had caught the sound of people approaching. Hayward was too -confused to notice that. He was in consternation at the lightning -change from love to aversion, and clung to her desperately. - -A second later he was lying prone upon the floor with Evans Rutledge -standing above him, murder in his eyes. He made a wild attempt to rise, -when another terrific blow from Rutledge's arm sent him again to the -floor. The hall was in an uproar, and a couple of palms were knocked -aside as President Phillips burst into the midst of the melee in time to -restrain another smash from Rutledge's clenched fist. - -"In the name of God, what's the row?" he asked. - -"This nigger has assaulted Miss Helen," said Rutledge, gasping and -choking with fury. - -Mr. Phillips trembled with a fearful passion, but, seeing Helen -apparently unhurt, pulled himself down to a terrible quiet. - -"Get up," he growled to Hayward. "Now"--when the footman was on his -feet--"what have you to say for yourself?" - -Hayward looked for the hundredth part of a second in Helen's eyes. - -"I have no excuse," he answered simply. - -Only silence could greet such an admission. For five seconds the -silence and the stillness were torturing. - -As Mr. Phillips moved to speak, Helen took two quick steps to the -negro's side. His renunciation, his silent, unhesitating committal of -the issue--of his life--to her decision, had touched her heart. - -"I am his wife," she said, as she took his hand and turned to face the -circle of her friends. - -[Illustration: "'I AM HIS WIFE,' SHE SAID."] - - - - - *CHAPTER XXXII* - - -Helen's announcement was made quietly, without any melodramatic display. - -In the circle immediately surrounding her and her husband were her -father and mother, Elise and Evans Rutledge, and Hal Lodge but just now -coming to his senses and his feet. Behind these were Mrs. Hazard, -Captain Howard, Senator Richland, and a gathering of other excited -guests. For a space after Helen's speech the scene was steady and fixed -as for a flashlight picture, and was photographed on Elise's brain: the -incredulity on her father's face--the horror on that of Evans -Rutledge--the perfectly restrained features of Howard--the quickly -suppressed smile of Richland as he glanced at Evans in lightning -comprehension of all the situation meant--the ghastly pallor of Mrs. -Phillips as she sank voiceless in a dead faint-- - -"No--o!" - -The harshly aspirated protest of Mr. Phillips was propelled from his -lungs with a burst of indignant anger, but drawn out at the end into a -pathetic quaver--and the scene dissolved. - -Rutledge caught and lifted Mrs. Phillips whose collapse was unnoticed by -her husband in his transfixed stare at Helen, and pushing back through -the crowd was about to place her upon a settle in the hall; but at -Elise's bidding he carried her up the broad stairs and left her in the -care of her daughter and Lola Hazard. There could be no good-bye -said--no time for it; but at the glance of dismissal Elise gave him from -her mother's bedside--at the look of suffering in her eyes--his heart -was like to burst. - -Down-stairs the confusion was painful. The guests were hesitating -between being accounted so ill-bred as to stare at a family scene, and -running away from it as from a scourge. - -To her father's unsteady denial Helen repeated her simple statement: "I -am his wife." - -"Since when?" Mr. Phillips demanded. - -"A year ago last October." - -The father looked about him as for help. - -"Come along with me," he said. "Both of you. Good night, ladies and -gentlemen," he added to the hesitating guests--and there was a breath of -relief and a scattering for home. - - * * * * * - -With his hand upon Helen's arm, and Hayward following, President -Phillips led the way to his offices. - -"I am not to be disturbed," he told a servant after he had stopped at -the door and waved Helen and Hayward into the room. "Ask Mrs. Phillips -if she will please come here." - -Entering, he motioned Hayward to a chair, and, taking Helen with him, -went into the inner office and closed the door behind him. - -"Now, my child," he said, with a break in his voice despite every effort -to keep it steady, "tell me all about this, and we--we'll find a way -out." - -He patted her hand reassuringly. - -"There's no way out, papa. I loved Hayward, and I married him." - -"No, no, child, not love. You were infatuated--he was a footman and you -are--" - -"He was a gentleman," interrupted Helen. - -"In a way, perhaps, but uncultured and common--how could--" - -"He is a Harvard man," Helen cut in again, "a man of intelligence and -education. He is--" - -"But a weakling--no genuine Harvard man could be a menial--a flunkey--" - -"He's not a weakling, papa. He stooped to the service for love of me. -He loved me long before we came here--when he was a student at Harvard. -It was so romantic, papa--he saw me first at a football game and he has -loved me from that day. He was the hero of the game and he has yet the -Harvard pennant I gave him--and, oh, he's a greater hero than that, -papa--he was a soldier and he was the trooper that--wait a moment." -Helen ran to the door. - -"Here, Hayward, give me the knife," she called; and she came running -back, holding it out to her father. - -"The knife that the trooper stole!" she said, with a pitiful little -attempt at gayety in her voice and face. - -"What's that?" her father asked harshly. - -"Why, papa, you surely don't forget the knife I gave you on your -birthday? The one that was taken by the trooper who rescued you at -Valencia?" - -The light of understanding came to her father's eyes. - -"Well, Hayward was the man, papa! He it was who saved your life to -us--oh, how I have loved him for that! Just think, daddy dear, how -often you have told me what a heroic thing it was--and for such a long -time I have known it was Hayward and wanted so to tell you, but I -couldn't." - -"Why couldn't you?" demanded her father. - -"Well, I found it out by accident when he caught me off my falling -horse--there it is again, papa--he saved my life as well as yours--it -was just the grandest thing the way he did it!--no wonder I have loved -and married him--he's the sort that can take care of a woman--enough -different from Bobby Scott, who couldn't stay in his own saddle!" - -"But Mr. Scott is of an excellent family--distinguished for -generations--while Hayward is a nobody--a--a nothing--no family and no -recognized personal distinction or merit of his own--the commonest -circus clown can ride a horse, my child." - -"But he is personally distinguished, papa; and you have approved his -merit by making him a lieutenant of cavalry." - -"When? How?" the father asked. - -"He is John H. Graham, papa--John Hayward Graham; and there can be no -denying his fitness or ability, for you have certified to both." - -Mr. Phillips saw he was estopped on that line; but it only made him -angry and stirred his fighting blood. - -"That's the reason," Helen continued, "that Hayward wouldn't let me tell -you who he was or thing about his service to you. He wanted to obtain -his commission absolutely on his merit and without appealing to your -gratitude--wasn't it noble of him?" - -A grunt was all the answer Helen got to her question. - -"But his people, who are they? What sort of a family have you married -into? Do you know?" Mr. Phillips demanded sharply. - -"He lives with his mother--his father is dead--oh, I wish you could hear -him tell about his father and mother, and his grandfather--it's just -beautiful. I don't know whether he has any other relatives,--but that -doesn't make any difference. I am not married to them, papa, and he's -not responsible for his people but must be judged by his own personal -character and excellence!" - -In this last speech of Helen, Mr. Phillips thought he caught an echo of -something he had heard himself say, and he winced a little: but it only -added a spark more to his anger. - -"But he's so far below you socially, Helen. You cannot be happy with -him! You must remember that you are the President's daughter and--" - -"And my husband," interrupted Helen, "is of the one order of American -nobility--_a man_! I've thought about all that--the man's the thing, -you said, papa--and besides, an army officer has no social superiors." - -There was no mere echo in Helen's defence now. It was plain fighting her -father with his own words: and it irritated him beyond endurance. His -wrath burst through and threw off the shell of theories and sentiment -which he had built up around himself and the man's real self spoke. - -"But he's a negro, Helen! _A negro_! How could you!" - -"A _negro_, papa?" Helen questioned in unmixed surprise. "What has that -to do with it? He's the finest looking man in Washington if he is--and -didn't you tell Elise that that was nothing more than a colour of -skin?--that the man was the thing?--that a--that a--negro must stand or -fall upon his own merit and not upon his colour or caste?--and did you -not say to Mr. Mackenzie that colour has nothing to do with a man's -acceptability in your house?--and that--" - -"Oh, my God! yes, my child, but I did not mea--you are too young, too -young to be married, my child,--too young and too--yes, too young, and -we must annul this marriage--yes, we must annul it, we must annul it--we -can annul it without trouble, don't worry about it, child, don't -worry--we can annul it, and--for you are too young, my little girl, my -little girl, my little girl!" - -At sight of her father's tears, and the trembling that shook him as he -sank down in a chair, Helen's combative attitude began to melt and her -eyes to fill. - -"Yes, little girl, don't worry," he said, drawing her tenderly down -within his arms, "don't worry, and we will have it annulled in short -order." - -"It's too late, papa," she spoke against his shoulder. - -"No, no, precious heart, it's not too late--we can have it -annulled--don't cry, and don't worry, we can have it annulled." - -"But, papa," she said again as she pushed herself back so that he looked -her full in the face, "it's too late, I tell you! -It's--too--late!"--and with outburst of weeping she curled herself up -against him. - -With a dry sob of comprehension her father gathered her close to his -heart. - - * * * * * - -For a long time after he heard the voices cease Hayward Graham waited in -Mr. Phillips' outer office to learn his fate. He had caught some of the -excited discussion--enough to be convinced of his father-in-law's -opposition; but he could not be sure of the details. A servant had come -in to say that Mrs. Phillips could not come to the office, and had -knocked softly on the inner door several times while the discussion was -at its warmest. Failing to get an answer, he had left his message with -Hayward and retired. When the voices were quiet and the inner room -became silent Hayward was on the _qui vive_ for developments; and stood -facing the door in a fever of expectation.... His fever, however, had -time to burn itself out.... In that long silence President Phillips -fought his greatest battle.... The issue was predestined, of course. -In his heart there was no passion at all comparable to his love for -Helen, and that love won over all obstacles.... He saw clearly in what -measure he was responsible for her undoing; and he came squarely to the -mark with a courage that would face _all_ odds for his little girl--that -would face a frowning world, a laughing, a mocking world--that would -face his own soul even to the death--that her gentle heart might not be -troubled.... He held her while her sobs shook themselves out, and then -on and on he held her, close and warm, as if he would never again let -her out of his sheltering arms,--while he gazed over her bowed head into -the dying fire, and fixed and fortified his resolution. - -At last Graham summoned courage to knock upon the door. President -Phillips started as from a reverie. - -"Come in," he said, rising unsteadily and placing Helen gently on her -feet, his arm still about her. - -"Why, certainly, Hayward, come in,"--and then he added after a short -pause: "Helen has told me all about it, and, while I can't approve of -the clandestine marriage, I shall do what I can to make my little girl -happy--yes, I'll do what I can to make her happy.... And since this has -been such an--unusual--evening I'll ask you to go now and come back -to-morrow morning." - -Hayward delivered the belated message from Mrs. Phillips, stood for a -moment uncertain whether Helen would speak to him, and then turned to -go. - -"And do not wear your livery in the morning, Hayward," said Mr. -Phillips. - -"Very well, sir," said Hayward, as he withdrew. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXXIII* - - -When President Phillips came out of his office after dismissing Hayward, -he found a score of reporters and newspaper correspondents fighting for -places at the great front door. They were awaiting with what patience -they could Mr. Phillips' pleasure in giving to the public an -authoritative statement of his daughter's marriage. - -The President, after he had obtained from Helen the details of time and -place, and other items of interest, gave the press men the story. He -customarily had his secretary to make statements to the newspaper -people, but he chose to do this for himself: in his infinite loyalty to -his little girl he was taking the situation by the horns. There was no -elation in his manner, but there certainly was nothing to indicate his -slightest objection to Helen's marriage, nor to Hayward Graham as his -son-in-law. He gave a short sketch of that young man's life and -excellences. He stated that he had not known Graham was either his -footman or his daughter's husband when he had nominated him for a -lieutenancy in the cavalry. He did not state that Graham had carried -him off the battlefield at Valencia. - -When he had finished with the men of the pencil Mr. Phillips went back -to his office for Helen, and they sought the mother's room together. -With another flood of tears Helen dropped on her knees by her mother's -bed. - -This scene was hardly less a trial for the father than had been the -travail of his own soul. Here also must he win if he would save his -child's happiness: and so, amid the tears and the sobs of the mother and -daughters, and with misgivings and dread in his own heart, at first -unflinchingly, then more zealously, and at last of necessity reserving -nothing, he excused, and upheld, and vindicated, Helen. - -Mrs. Phillips was too heart-broken to utter a word in opposition or -condemnation, and Elise did not open her lips to speak. It was against -accusing silence, therefore, and upbraiding tears, that the father made -his desperate defence.... Such a debate can never be brought to any -real finish; and it was at last only in exhaustion, Helen of nerves, her -father of words, and Elise and her mother of lamentation, that the -distressed family found peace--enough at least to permit of dispersal to -their rooms for the night. - -Elise was bowed down in grief for Helen, and for Helen she wept upon her -pillow till the fountain of tears was dry: but even then there was no -sleep for her. Her mind was painfully alive to her own personal -problems, and her brain was awake the night long although weariness held -her scalded eyelids down. The incident of the evening, like an electric -storm, had clarified the haze of uncertainty for her heart--but only to -plunge it into a more intense perplexity. - -No longer unchoosing, her heart had spoken its choice. It were better -had it never spoken at all; but there could be no mistaking its -decree--she loved Evans Rutledge. As she had looked upon the three men -who loved her in that brief time when Helen proclaimed her husband, _she -had known_: and she had known that not for her was the man who in the -fleetest moment could smile while her heart was breaking; nor for her -that other, who, with his alien point of view, was untouched with her -distress, and who with his perfect breeding--she resented it--could be -so contained, so unmoved, in a situation which brought anguish to her. -In the throes of that anguish her soul had turned, unerring, to its -affinity in suffering, to _the heart that understood_ and wept, not in a -ready sympathy for her pain, but in the pains of a common grief. - -In such manner Elise accounted for the reading of her heart's message. -She believed that it had been undecipherable, confused, until that -evening. Yet in all her distress then, and in the heartaches afterward -resulting from its choosing, she was strangely happy because her heart -had been true to the fancy of its earlier years, had been faithful to -its first girlish inclination to love, had not misled her, had not been -fickle in any degree, or false. She told herself with a tremor of -rapturous, prideful humility that one man had been the master of her -love from the beginning. - -Thinking on it as she lay unsleeping through the night, she more than -once forgot her tears and was lost in the transport of loving. She -petted and caressed her heart for its constancy. She made excuses for -its indecision in that long time when the man's love had seemed -unworthy. She murmured tender things to it because it had prevailed, -even though with a hesitating loyalty, against her head's capricious -disapproval. - -In her wanderings back and forth through the desert of her miseries on -that night, she straggled back many times to this oasis of her love and -stopped to soothe her troubled heart with its upspringing -freshnesses.... And yet a wildness of perplexity was set about her, and -she could not find a way out. She knew that Rutledge loved her--had -loved her from the time he declared it on the flood-beaten rock in the -St. Lawrence till the moment of his tender unspoken good-night three -hours ago. That his love could not be shaken by any act not her own, -she verily believed. But would he have loved her?--would he have dared -to love her?--could he, with his blood-deep, immutable ideas, _could_ he -have loved her?--if he had known that his love would bring him to this -unspeakable extremity, to this heart-breaking dilemma, where he must be -traitor to himself and to her--or become brother-in-law to a negro? - -Yes, he would have _loved_ her--her of all women--despite the slings and -arrows of the most outrageous fortune, her heart told her: but, with -prescience of such calamity, would he have _spoken_ his love?--would he -have asked for that interview for to-morrow evening that he might tell -it to her again? Was he not even now regretting that appointment? Was he -not even now _pitying_ his love for her? She must know. But how could -she know? By what means could she learn _the truth_? ... Way there was -none: and yet she _must know_. Doubt, uncertainty, here would be -unendurable--and implacable for she could no longer find peace in -indifference. She loved Evans Rutledge, and her love would fight, was -fighting, desperately for its own.... But again, her own must be -worthy, without compulsion, or she would repudiate it. Her heart's -tenderness, virgin, single, measureless, she held too precious to barter -for a love, withal sincere and beautiful, which were weighted with a -minim of regret or limitation. Rather would she crush back its -fragrance eternally in her own bosom, than dishonour it by exchange for -less than the highest.... Yes, she must know.... And she could _not_ -know.... And the morning came, bringing no relief for heart or -brain.... - -Mr. Phillips was at some pains to intimate to his wife and Elise what he -thought a proper pride demanded in the way of the "front" they should -show to the public. Queer that he should have thought it necessary: -but, unhappy man, he spoke out of his fears for his own steadiness. -Elise, at least, had no need for his admonitions. Her pride was the -pride of youth: the pride which finds all sufficiency in itself, and -needs not the prop of outward circumstance which age requires to hold -its chin in air. - -It was this pride which gave Elise some hesitation in deciding what she -should do with her promise to see Rutledge that evening. Pride said: -"Meet him as if nothing has happened to disturb the serenity of your -life. Do not show--to him, of all men--chagrin at this episode _en -famille_." But pride said: "No! Recall that engagement. Do not appear -to hold him by so much as a hair. His love must be undistrained!" - -She wavered between these conflicting demands of a consistent -self-respect until the middle afternoon. Then the pride of her love -overmastered the pride in her pride: and she wrote Rutledge a short -note. - - -"MY DEAR MR. RUTLEDGE:--I find it necessary to change my plans for this -evening. This will prevent my seeing you at Mrs. Hazard's as I -promised. I am very sorry. - -"Sincerely, - "ELISE PHILLIPS." - - -This was her afternoon at home; and after having dispatched the message -to Rutledge Elise gave her mind over as far as might be to receiving her -callers. They were more numerous than usual, despite many notable -absences, and before they fairly well had begun to crowd in she realized -that she was on parade. Oh, the duplicity of women! How they chirruped -and chattered about every imaginable thing under heaven, while they -listened and looked for only one thing: to find out what Helen's family -really thought of her marriage. - -This was not Mrs. Phillips' afternoon, nor Helen's and they did not -appear--to have done so would have been to overdo composure: and so it -was that Elise alone fenced with the dear, dear procession of sensation -hunters who passed in and out of her doors. The women came in such -flocks that she really did not have time to be embarrassed, for the -sympathetic creatures who showed a disposition to sidle up close to her -and begin with low-voiced confidences covert attacks upon her reserve -were quite regularly bowled over by their oncoming followers before they -could get their sly little schemes of investigation well going. It -became fascinating to her to watch them defeat each other's plans, and -she was somewhat regretful when they stopped coming. They stopped quite -suddenly, for the reason that, in eagerness to see for herself, every -daughter of Eve among them had made the White House the first -stopping-place in her round of visits for the afternoon. - -When the women were all come and gone, save two who evidently were -trying to sit each other out, Captain Howard was announced. Elise was -unfeignedly glad to see him and in a few minutes the two contesting -ladies departed and left the Englishman and the girl together. - -Captain Howard's coming was very refreshing, and Elise was grateful. He -was the only person she had seen that day who did not seem to be -conscious of the electric condition of the atmosphere, and she sat down -to talk to him with a feeling of genuine relief and pleasure. His -conversation began easily and unconstrainedly and ran along the usual -lines with all freedom. As chance demanded he spoke of Helen several -times in connection with one small matter, and another, and his manner -of doing it was positively restful. - -Elise felt so comfortable sitting there talking to him that for the -first time she was impressed to think that it might be a nice thing to -have him always to come and sit beside her and make her forget that -things went wrong. The unfluttered ease and peacefulness of his manner -and his words appealed very strongly to her distressed heart, and it -warmed toward him in simple gratefulness. - -Captain Howard was not without knowledge of the tense situation created -by the announcement of Helen Phillips' marriage. He read the newspapers -and could not but know that a tremendous sensation was a-blow. He was -himself excited by the affair--in a steady-going fashion. It was as if -a princess of the blood had eloped and married a--say a tradesman--or, -maybe, a gentleman--of course it was sensational. - -In his amorous state of mind, however, the captain thought kindly of the -wealth of love which had inspired the young woman with such a sublime -contempt for rank--for that very real and very puissant divinity, Rank. -He also had shaken himself sufficiently free from the shackles of -provincialism to be able to recognize the effect of democratic ideas in -making possible and permissible such an event. Affairs of this sort -could not be entirely unlooked for in a genuinely democratic society; -and, since the President acquiesced in his daughter's choice and had no -regrets, there was no more to be said. Altogether Captain Howard viewed -the matter very calmly and philosophically. - -Having this attitude, he had no hesitation after a time in speaking -directly of Helen's marriage and its dramatic announcement. He was a -gentleman in every instinct, was Captain Howard; and there could not be -the slightest offence taken by Elise at his natural and sympathetic -interest in what he considered a most romantic episode. But while one -may not be offended or resentful, one may become nauseated. Captain -Howard did not know of the chill of disgust and horror that was creeping -over the girl's heart, nor notice the silence to which she was come. -Her friendliness had been so graciously simple and so promising that his -purpose had been formed and he was moving straight toward it, not -noticing her silence further than to be glad she was saying nothing to -create a diversion.... Elise felt that if she spoke she would be very, -very rude. - - * * * * * - -"--And your America, Miss Phillips, is assuredly the natural home of -Romance. Here every man is a peer in posse, and every woman a princess -incognita--and possibility keeps pace with imagination. In England a -footman is a footman to the end of his life. Here the footman of -yesterday is the President's son-in-law to-day, and may himself be the -ruler of his people to-morrow! Can life hold more for a man? The right -to aspire and the luck to win!--and to win not only the recognition -which his personal merits deserve, but that supreme gift which no man -could deserve: your beautiful sister's love! It is almost unthinkable -to an outsider like me, but it is glorious! Yes, your America is the -Land of Romance!" - -This all sounded very well, but Elise's nerves were on the ragged edge. -She knew if she spoke it would be to cry out: "Yes, a rank outsider! -Oh, why can't you drop that subject before I scream!" - -But Captain Howard had only finished the preliminaries. He continued: - -"And in this land, Miss Phillips, where a man may hope for anything, I, -too, have taken courage to aspire to the highest, and--" - -"A note for you, Miss Elise; the messenger is waiting," a servant said. - -Excusing herself to Howard, Elise read. - - -"MY DEAR MISS PHILLIPS:--If I may not see you to-night, may I not see -you to-morrow afternoon--or evening? Or day after to-morrow? When? - -"Sincerely yours, - "EVANS RUTLEDGE." - - -Elise read this over several times, and gazed idly at the paper for some -time longer. She quite forgot the waiting messenger and Captain Howard. -At last she thought, "On his own head be the result!" and sat down at a -daintily carved desk to write. - - -"MY DEAR MR. RUTLEDGE:--The disturbance of my programme for the evening -seems to have been largely imaginary. I will be very glad to see you at -Mrs. Hazard's as at first agreed. - -"Sincerely, - "ELISE PHILLIPS." - - -When she had given her answer to the servant Elise came back to Captain -Howard with a commonplace question which made for naught all his words -up to that point. He realized he must make a new beginning if he would -tell her what he wished. Her face and mood had changed and he saw that -her thoughts were elsewhere. After several attempts to pull the -conversation back into the old channel he gave it up and retired, -mentally cursing his luck and hoping for a more auspicious occasion. - - * * * * * - -Elise awaited Rutledge's coming at Lola Hazard's with some trepidation. -She was uncertain of herself. She did not know what she would do. Being -assured of what Rutledge would say to her, under ordinary conditions she -would have been elusive for a season, and finally have surrendered when -overtaken. But with outside circumstance warring against her love, she -felt wildly impelled to let herself go, to fling restraint to the winds -and give her heart's impulse free rein. Delicious were the tremors of -anticipation with which she waited to hear again words of tenderness -from him. Overflowing was her heart with tender response. His -insistence on the meeting when she had given him an opportunity to avoid -it, proved his faith was fast. He had met the supreme test for a -Southern white man: he loved her more than his caste. In her own spirit -she knew the agony of his trial. How sweet to surrender to such a love! -How tenderly she could reward it! She longed to meet it with a frank -and blissful confession. So, she was in some trepidation: she was -afraid she might not be properly reserved. - -Lola Hazard came into the sitting-room and found Elise sitting before -the open grate. - -"Honey," she said, slipping an arm about the girl's waist, "you look -positively glorious to-night. I never saw you half so pretty. What -have you done to yourself? Your eyes are brilliants, and your colour -is--delicious!" - -"I have been looking at the fire," said Elise in explanation. - -"The pictures you saw must be very pleasing," Lola answered. "I hope -they'll all come true. But before we begin to discuss that, let me tell -you that Mr. Rutledge asked to call this evening, and he may be here any -moment." - -"Yes," said Elise, "I know. He told me last night." - -"Oh, he did, did he? Well, I promised him if he came early he might -have ten minutes for his very own to talk to you to-night. I hope -you--" - -"He may have ten minutes--and as many--more--as--he--wants," said Elise -brazenly. - -"Oh, you darling!" Lola gave her a squeeze. "No wonder you are -beautiful. It will make any woman heavenly, and you are _such a help_ -to it!" - -"What is _it_?" asked Elise. - -"Love," replied Mrs. Hazard. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXXIV* - - -"Come along back to my own little parlour, Mr. Rutledge. Elise has been -singing for me, and we'll not let her stop for awhile yet." - -Elise was not expecting Rutledge to be brought in there, and was still -sitting at the piano idly weaving the chords into soft and improvised -harmonies when he spoke. She slipped from the stool quickly, shook -hands with him in an embarrassed way, and crossed the room to sit down. - -"Oh, no, please do not leave the piano," Rutledge pleaded, "now that I -have just discovered you are a musician." - -"I am not a musician, Mr. Rutledge; certainly not for the public." - -Rutledge drew himself up as if offended. - -"I have been called names variously in my time, Miss Phillips, but never -till this moment 'the public.' I resent it as an aspersion--I am not -'the public'--and demand an abject apology. Think of all the horrible -things 'the public' is--and are!" - -"And you a politician!" exclaimed Elise. "You would be lost for ever if -those words were quoted against you. Senator Killam would give a -thousand dollars for them. See--I hold your fate in my hands--" - -Rutledge's eyes leaped to hers with a quick look that confused her, and -she hurried to cut off his words. - -"--But--oh, mercy, I'm--I'm sorry, and I retract if it was really as bad -as that. The public is really awful, I suppose. I humbly apologize for -the aspersion." - -"Then bring forth fruits meet for repentance by returning at once to -that piano stool." - -"But I'm such a very amateurish singer, Mr. Rutledge. I fear you will--" - -"And I am an amateur listener, the most humbly appreciative, uncritical -soul on earth. Please sing. Mrs. Hazard, if you have any influence with -this administration will you not use it here?" - -"Authority is better than influence," said Lola. "Elise, march to that -piano." - -Elise complied with an exaggerated air of obedience. - -"Since I am singing under orders, I will sing only according to orders. -What shall it be?" - -"Sing _My Rosary_," said Lola. "That's an old one--and the dearest." - -"I commend to you Mrs. Hazard for sentiment, Mr. Rutledge. Her -honeymoon is not yet on the wane." Having thus made Lola responsible -for the song, Elise sang it without further delay or hesitation. - -When she had well begun to sing Rutledge recalled having heard that song -a long time before. It had not impressed him. - -Elise sang simply. The fullness of her low voice and the clearness of -her words, together with the unaffected "heart" in her singing, left her -nothing to be desired as a singer of ballads. As Evans listened to the -song of sentiment of Mrs. Hazard's choosing he reformed his opinion of -it. Always hitherto he had deemed sentiment an -effervescence--refreshing at times as apollinaris, but none the less an -effervescence--and the words of _My Rosary_ a fair type of it: - - "The hours I spent with thee, dear Heart, - Are as a string of pearls to me. - I count them over, every one apart, - My rosary, my rosary. - - "Each hour a pearl, each pearl a prayer - To still a heart in absence wrung-- - I tell each bead unto the end - And there a cross is hung. - - "Oh memories that bless and burn, - Oh barren gain, and bitter loss. - I kiss each bead, and strive at last to learn - To kiss the cross, Sweetheart, - To kiss the cross." - - -But with Elise sitting there before him, a vision of loveliness and -grace entirely, appealingly feminine, "the lady" all gone, and the -girl--the woman--unaffected, natural, singing of love with such an air -of truth and faith: sentiment became a very real thing to Rutledge.... -When she finished he was silent. To comment would have been to comment -on Elise, and for her every drop of his blood was singing, "I love you, -I love you." He felt that if he spoke to her he must crush her in his -arms and tell her so. - -"That is a song according to my notion," said Lola. "No _mesalliance_ of -sentiment and melody there, such as you often see. The words and the -music made a love-match--they were born for each other. Who wrote it, -Elise?" - -"I forget--if I ever knew," said Elise. - -"Woman, of course," Lola continued; and Rutledge interpolated "Why?" - -"Because a woman always mixes her religion with her love--if she has any -religion. A man may have one or the other, or both, but he never -confuses them." - -"Pardon me for taking issue with you, Mrs. Hazard; but with many a man -his love for a woman is his only religion." - -"Which means, Mr. Rutledge, that he has love--not religion." - -As Rutledge turned to Mrs. Hazard Elise had the first opportunity to -look at him unobserved. She saw that his face had less colour than -usual, that his manner seemed to lack its accustomed spontaneity, that -there was a tired look about his eyes--which provoked in her heart a -fleeting maternal impulse to lay her hand upon them. She watched him -furtively and became convinced that he was in some measure distressed. -At first it rather amused her and flattered her vanity to think that he -was approaching her with a becoming self-distrust. As she studied him -longer, however, she began to doubt the reason for his constraint. - -Lola Hazard turned from her discussion with Rutledge to give Elise -another song, and the young woman at the piano sang three or four while -Rutledge listened in appreciative silence. Before the last was finished -Mrs. Hazard was gone to receive other guests. - -"Now will you not sing one of your own choosing?" asked Rutledge. - -"I have no choice;" said Elise, "but this occurs to me." She sang him -Tosti's _Good-bye_. - -If she put more of the spirit in that song than into the others it was -not because she felt its pertinence to the present status of her love. -But through the wakeful night, and all the day long till Rutledge's note -had come, the words of that _Good-bye_ had come and gone through her -brain with passionate realism: - - "Falling leaf and fading tree, - Lines of white on a sullen sea, - Shadows rising on you and me--" - -her heart had sung its "good-bye for ever" with all the smothered -passion of renunciation. So, in the very moment of blissful waiting for -the telling of his love, she could sing to Rutledge with all the -wildness of farewell which so short a time since had wrung her spirit. - -She struck the last chord softly, and, after holding down the keys till -the strings were dumb, dropped her hands in her lap. She did not look -up, but she knew that Rutledge's gaze was upon her. She waited for a -space unspeaking, without lifting her eyes--and realized that she had -waited too long.... The silence was eloquent; and with every moment -became more significant. She tried to look up, but could not. She knew -that the situation had gotten beyond her in that careless ten seconds, -and that if she looked up now she was lost.... She sat as if under a -spell--and waited for Rutledge to move or to speak.... After an age he -was coming toward her.... And he was so very slow in coming. Her heart -was thumping suffocatingly, her breathing in suspense.... He did not -speak as he came to her.... She felt he was very near.... Still -unspeaking--was he going to take her in his arms? ... Her head drooped -lower over the keyboard.... - -Oh, why did he not take her in his arms. - -"Elise, I love you. I've always loved you." - -Elise's eyes were upon the idle hands in her lap; and her heart had -stopped to listen. Rutledge's sentences were broken and jerky. She had -never heard him speak in that fashion. - -"I've loved you always, Elise, and once I was rash enough to think--you -loved me. My presumption was fitly punished.... Now I have only--hope. -In the last few months you--have been so--gracious that--I have been led -to think you--wait, wait till I have done--so gracious that I have been -led to think--not that you love me, but at least that I--do not excite -your antipathy--as for a long time it seemed.... So now I have only -hope--but such a hope, Elise--a hope that is--beyond words, for my love -is such. My love is--I love you, Elise--I love you as--as my father -loved my mother." - -Elise slowly raised her eyes to his. There was no smile upon her face, -but as she turned it to him it was ineffably sweet, and a smile was in -her heart. But she was startled by his look. His was not the face of a -lover, whether triumphant, despondent, hopeful or militant. She did not -know that he had not been able to banish his mother from his thought for -a waking moment since he parted with her at her mother's bed-side the -night before. - -"Will you--be my wife, Elise?" - -Never before in all the world was that question asked in such a voice. -Its tone like a dagger of ice touched the girl's heart with a deadly -chill. She looked steadily and long into his eyes. At last with a -little shiver she murmured inaudibly "_noblesse oblige_"--and answered -his question: - -"No, Mr. Rutledge, I will not be your wife." - -Her words were as cold as her heart, and her self-possession as cold as -either. She was surprised that her answer did not bring the faintest -shadow of relief to Rutledge's drawn face--rather a greater distress. A -tingle of fire shot through her bosom. (It was not too late--oh why did -he not take her in his arms.) - -"No, I will not be your wife," she repeated slowly. (It was not yet too -late--oh why--) "I am deeply sensible of the honour you--" - -"Stop! Don't say that! In God's name don't say that! Don't add -mockery to--" - -"Mr. Rutledge!" - -For the moment Rutledge forgot that there was any person in the world -other than Elise and himself. - -"You _have_ mocked me--you have _played_ with me! And--" - -"Will you please go, Mr. Rutledge!" - -"Played with me--yes--as if I were the simplest--oh well, I have -been--and you--you have been--you are--an artist. Tell me that you do -not love me, that you have only laughed at me. Tell me!" he sneered. - -"Go, I say! Oh, _can't_ you _go_!" - -"Yes, I'll go--when you say it. Tell me! Do you love me--have you ever -loved me?--the veriest little bit?" - -"Never. Not the veriest little bit," she said, looking straight at him. - -"That's it!--the truth at last--spoken like a m--like a lady!"--he bowed -mockingly at her--"and it proves you are false--false, do you -understand?--unspeakably false! And I have loved you like m--but very -well, it's better so--perhaps." - -He turned to go; but turned quickly about. - -"I'll kiss you once if I swing for it!--for what I thought you -were"--and, for a moment robbed by anger of his sense of proprieties, -with unpardonable roughness he crushed and kissed her, flung her -violently from him, and went, without looking back at her. - - * * * * * - -Mrs. Hazard, looking across the shoulders of a knot of her guests, -caught a glimpse of Rutledge as he passed down the hall toward the outer -door. She waited a minute or more for him to reappear, and when he had -not done so she lost interest in the people and things about her. At -the first possible moment she sought Elise, and found her again sitting -before the grate. Lola came into the room so quickly and quietly that -Elise had not time to dissemble, if she had wished to do so. Her head -was thrown back against the chair and both hands covered her face. Lola -took her wrists and against some little resistance pulled her hands -away. - -"Elise?" she said. - -"He does not love me," Elise replied, defensively, without opening her -eyes. - -"Didn't he tell you?" - -"Oh, yes," the answer came wearily; "he told me; but he told me because -he thought he had given me to expect it. It was _noblesse oblige_--not -love." - -"Noblesse fiddlesticks! I don't believe a word of it." - -"Oh well," said Elise, looking up, "he said it was just as well that I -refused him, there's no mistaking that." - -"Oh, certainly, _after_ you refused him. What did you expect?" - -"I expected him to--no, I didn't. I didn't expect anything. Southern -men are so--" Elise stopped. She was about to be unjust to Rutledge. - -"But come, let's go," she said, rising from her chair. "Are all the -people here?" - -"All except Senator Richland, and he never fails _me_," Lola answered. - -"I don't want to see that man to-night," said Elise; and yet she joined -the other guests appearing nothing other than her usual self save for -the added brightness of her eyes, and when Senator Richland managed -finally to isolate her she gave him quite the most interesting twenty -minutes of his life. - -When the company was broken up, Elise, who was stopping over night with -Lola, avoided the customary heart to heart talk by asking for a pen and -paper with which to write a letter. Mrs. Hazard was consumed with -desire to hear all about it, but she deferred her inquiries with good -grace as she argued that a note written by Elise at such an unearthly -hour could be only to Rutledge, and must, therefore, be important. - -Elise shut herself in her room and, pitching the paper on the -dressing-table, sat down to think. For nearly an hour she sat without -turning a hand to undress, trying to unravel the tangled skein of her -heart's affairs and see a way out; but she could not get her thoughts to -the main issue. Like a fiery barrier to her thinking was the man's -burning denunciation: "You are false--unspeakably false!" It had rung -in her ears all the evening, and however she tried she could not get -away from it. At last she began hurriedly to undress, but before that -process was half finished she brushed the toilet articles from a corner -of the dressing-table, drew up a chair, and began to write. - -"Unspeakably false? No, no, Evans, I am not false. I have not been -false: for I love you. Such a long time I have loved you. Sometimes I -have believed you loved me, and sometimes I have doubted; but I do not -doubt since you told me to-night I was unspeakably false. Shame on you -to swear at your sweetheart so!--and bless you for saying it, for now I -know. O why did you not say it earlier so that I might not have misread -you? I thought you felt yourself committed, and must go on: that your -love was dead, but honour held you. You looked so distressed, dear -heart, that I was misled. Forgive me. And do not think I do not know -your distress. I, too--but no, I must not. I love you, I cannot do -more. In your rage were you conscious that your kiss fell upon _my -lips_, dearest? Blind you were when you said I was unspeakably -false.--" - -She had written rapidly and almost breathlessly while the impulse was -warm within her heart. She paused for a moment--held the pen poised as -if uncertain what to say next--hesitated as to how to say it--next, as -to whether to say it--laid the pen down and picked up the sheet to read -what she had written. A blush came to her cheeks as she read, and at -the end she dropped her face upon her arm on the table and suffered a -revulsion of shame for her unmaidenliness. She tried hard to justify -her writing and had all but succeeded when Rutledge's words, "It is -better so," put all her love's excuses to final rout. She took the -written sheet and went across to drop it on the smoldering fire. But -her resolution failed her: she felt that it would be to burn her very -heartbeats if she gave these words to the flames. - -Going again to the dressing-table she laid the letter upon the scattered -sheets of paper to await a more mature decision, and, hurriedly -disrobing, went to bed. - -She found it very hard to go to sleep. Even in the dark she could feel -the continuing blushes in her cheeks as she thought of what she had -written. Finally in desperation she tumbled up and in the dim glow of -the coals in the grate crossed the room to the dressing-table, snatched -up and crumpled in her hand the disturbing letter, hurriedly gathered up -the remaining sheets of paper and chucked them in the table drawer, -walked quickly over and dropped the offending tender missive upon the -coals and went to bed again in the light of its destruction. A very -long time after its last gleam was dark and dead she found the sleep she -sought. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXXV* - - -It is not within the province of this chronicle to recall the -sensational excitement that swept the nation in those days further than -as it affected the persons mentioned in this narrative. The details of -that sensation, the screams, the howls, the jeers, the predictions, the -warnings, the laments, the philosophizings, a newspaper-reading people -but too well remember. They have no proper place of rehearsal in this -history; and if they had, a comprehensive statement which would present -the matter fairly to those who come after would be too voluminous for -the plan upon which this book is projected. - -In that time of tumult and of trial Mr. Phillips stood indeed alone. If -he had braced himself firmly in his determination to save Helen's -happiness at all cost, it was well: for his trial was to the uttermost. -Although it would have crushed any other than his adamantine will, the -storm-beaten father withstood, as one accustomed to do battle, the -pressure from without: but the rebellion of his own soul was an -unrelieved tragedy that shook him day and night with its terror. If his -love for Helen had not approached the infinite, surely in the shrieking -revulsion of his spirit he would have cast her off. There was a demand -from loud-mouthed people the nation over that he should disown her and -drive her into the outer darkness. Some relief there was in that -demand, for it only stirred the combative in his nature. The yells and -hoots aroused his fighting blood. But the silence, the unspeaking -horror--as if in the presence of death--in which sober-minded friend and -foe stood aghast and looked upon Helen's plight, made his courage faint -and tremulous. It was so awfully akin to the sickening horror and -silence in his own heart. - -He was indeed alone; and in that loneliness it was given to him to teach -to himself the far bounds of a father's love. If he only could have -fought something!--or somebody! If he only openly could have snapped -his fingers in the face of public opinion, in the teeth of his own -mutinous soul--openly--and told them he cared more for Helen's -untroubled laugh than for them all, and be damned to 'em! If he only -could have died! But no: he must stand and be still to the most -thankless task that ever called for a hidden loyalty. Helen must not -know of the travail of his love, lest that defeat love's purpose. It -was too late, too late, for knowledge to do other than tear her -heart-strings out, blight her young soul, and write _Remorse_ eternally -upon her life. She must _never_ know how much he loved her! - -There was no lack of personal--and professing---friends to stand more or -less loyally beside the father in that time, but their support was -wormwood to him. From the very few who were altogether sincere he turned -in aversion even as he suffered their commendations, while for the -insincere and sycophantic he had a doubly unspeakable contempt; and that -disgust and scorn was agony, for that he must swallow it and belie his -own spirit as he listened to these friends. - -His private correspondence furnished him as little comfort. Some -persons there were--and a few of these men and women of repute--who -wrote to him letters that should have been consoling, for they agreed -very heartily with his view, or what they thought was his view, and -commended him without stint for his attitude: but never an one spoke of -the sacrificial love of a father for his daughter--_justice to the -negro_ was their theme. Upon such letters from men--it would have -surprised the writers much to hear it--he uttered maledictions profane; -while, for the one woman who thus approved him, he forebore profanity, -but relieved his wrath with a volcanic "Freak!" - -From the time the announcement burst upon the public the President was -overwhelmed with a flood of newspaper comment, most of it harsh, the -best of it deprecatingly sympathetic, none, except that from negro -papers, uncritical. Very shortly the clippings bureau which served him -was ordered to discontinue everything referring to Mrs. Hayward Graham's -marriage. - -Mr. Phillips did not give that order because he was too weak to stand -criticism. Far from it. He was schooled to conflict, and knew the -rules. He had never asked concession from an opponent in all his life -of struggle, and he would have scorned to ask it then, even with the -uncounted odds against him. His critics might have shrieked till the -crack o' doom and he would have listened without a quiver of his -resolution. - -But the impartial bureau had sent, among an avalanche of criticism, an -appreciation in the form of the following editorial clipped from the -columns of _The Star of Zion_: - -"The dramatic culmination of the beautiful romance in which Miss Helen -Phillips, daughter of the President of the United States, proudly -proclaims herself the wife of Mr. John Hayward Graham, and the graceful -acquiescence of the bride's distinguished father in his beautiful -daughter's love-match, is but another proof of the rapid coming of the -negro race into its own as the recognized equal of any race of men on -earth. Mr. Graham's career is an inspiration to his people, for it -teaches the rising generation of negro boys and girls that they need no -longer live Within the Veil, that in the most enlightened minds there is -no longer a silly prejudice against colour, but that if the young negro -will only make the most of himself and his opportunities he will be -graciously received as an equal, as a member, in the proudest families -in this mighty nation.--" - -President Phillips read just that much of that editorial. Then went the -order to shut off the press clippings. - -It required all the father's self-control to dissemble in Helen's -presence and he feared that he would be unable to keep the truth from -her. It was fortunate for the girl that her condition demanded -seclusion and that her removal from Washington took her away from the -danger of enlightenment. At her father's instance preparations were -hurried with all speed, and she and her husband went to Hill-Top for -their belated honeymoon and a stay indefinite.... - -Hayward Graham would have been a paragon if he had conducted himself -with entire discretion when the limelight first was turned upon him. -The colour of his skin was not responsible for his foolish mistakes in -those first days. Any footman so suddenly elevated to that pinnacle -likely would have made them. One of his errors of judgment was serious. -That was his continued offence against the dignity of Henry Porter. The -withering letter he had written in answer to the old man's apology was -of itself enough to call up the devil in old Henry's heart; but that -doubtless would have been forgotten had Hayward remained in obscurity. - -To dispute with the President the title to a son-in-law, however, was a -distinction too fascinating to the negro magnate. He had already been -to Bob Shaw's office for a tentative discussion of the law in his case -and was just coming away when he ran plump into Hayward on the sidewalk. -A judicious condescension on the young man's part even then might have -placated him, but instead an evil spirit called to Hayward's memory his -first meeting with Porter, the insufferable affront, and his own oath to -even the score. Too strong in Hayward's heart was the temptation to -"take it out of him for keeps" then and there. At the worst, though, he -hardly did more than any gentleman would do upon meeting another who had -driven him from his house. - -"Mr. Hay-- Mr. Graham!" said Porter, hardly knowing himself whether he -intended to be polite or other, but having a general purpose to fetch -the young fellow up roundly for that letter. - -"I believe I don't know you," said Hayward, stopping and observing him -coolly for two seconds, and turning away to continue his journey up the -street. - -Now, to those of his race, Henry Porter was a "figure" on the streets of -Washington, and Graham was by that time almost as well known as the -President himself. There were but four people who could have witnessed -the meeting of these celebrities. These were three negroes of low -degree loafing along the sidewalk and a dago pushing a cart just outside -the curb. - -At his rebuff Henry Porter gave a gasp, swallowed it, and looked around -to see who had seen him. The "common niggers" at his elbow snickered, -and as they passed on burst out into loud guffaws. - -"Um-huh! Tried to butt into the White House, but _Mister_ Graham _he_ -don't know him! Can't interdoose 'im! _Too_ black! Law-dee, didn't he -th'ow 'im down!" - -Henry Porter heard enough of this. He rapidly retraced his steps to -Shaw's office. - -"Here, Mr. Shaw, you can jist git them papers out this evenin'. There's -no use waitin'." - -"All right, Mr. Porter," said Shaw, who didn't favour the idea but was -too much afraid of his client to refuse. "But wouldn't to-morrow do as -well? We could think it over a little further." - -"No, suh, Mr. Shaw. We don't wait till no to-morrer. We don't think -about that damn young nigger no mo' till we take him with the papers and -let him think about hisself awhile. Can't you git 'em served on him -this evenin'?" - -"If he's to be found in the city," said Shaw. - -"Oh, he's to be found all right. I saw him goin' up the street jist -awhile ago. You jist git them papers out and have 'em served on him -this evenin' and no mistake about it." - -"All right, if you say so," Shaw consented. - -"Well, I say so--and I can pay the damage," said the irate client with -emphasis, and stalked out of the office, only to stick his head back -into the door with the last injunction: - -"This evenin' now, and no mistake about it!" - - * * * * * - -As chance ordained, Henry Porter did not go amiss in his haste to have -the summons served on Graham. It was late in the afternoon and less than -four hours before the former footman and his wife were scheduled to -leave the city for Stag Inlet that the officer served the paper. - -A bomb exploding under Hayward's feet could not have been so unexpected -by him. As the officer read the summons and its import broke upon his -mind he felt, for the first time in his life, physical weakness in the -presence of danger. It staggered him to think of possible results. He -had no feeling of guilt: but an awful fear. - -President Phillips had passed out of the White House for his regular -constitutional while the process was being served, and recognized the -officer by his badge and Graham's excitement by the look on his face, -but had not stopped to inquire what the trouble was,--for which Graham -was profoundly thankful, as it gave him time to catch his breath. - -Think as he would, no way of escape could Graham conceive. Being -virtually without money, he could not hope in four hours to bring Henry -Porter to terms and avoid a publication of the scandal. Exactly what -the old man had in mind, anyway, was uncertain, excruciatingly -uncertain. The precise nature of the complaint did not appear from the -summons. As the suit was based on a lie, it well might be any sort of a -lie. But surely, surely, he thought, no woman would _falsely_ speak -disgrace to herself. He had had a genuine respect for Lily Porter's -character. She had been the best of them all, with the highest ideas -and the highest ideals. He would have sworn that she could not have -lent herself to a thing of this sort. But since she had been willing to -do so at all, to what lengths might she not go? What was the limit they -had set? To what public disgrace were they trying to bring him? To -what awful lie must he make answer? - -As he thought of it the keen sense of his peril, the disgrace, the loss -of his commission, and his helplessness, became well-nigh unbearable. -If Henry Porter could only have known the extremity of torture he had -inflicted in thus making the young fellow "think about hisself awhile," -his wrath might have been appeased. - -Hayward trembled to think of the moment when the public should know of -this suit, but he quaked in absolute terror as he thought of Mr. -Phillips' hearing it. And Helen!--what must he do to save her from this -shame?--he gladly at the moment could have strangled Old Henry.... But -heroics would do no good. He was helpless, bound hand and foot. If he -could be saved, if Helen was to be saved, there was but one arm that had -the power: her father's. Perhaps, _perhaps_, with all his attributes of -strength and force, he might be able to bring the vengeful negro -capitalist to terms. Whatever his terror of Mr. Phillips, he must tell -him.... And what were done must be done quickly. - - * * * * * - -"I would like to speak with you a moment, sir, about a--a matter," said -Hayward to the President as soon as he returned from his walk. - -Mr. Phillips could tell with half an eye that it was a matter of some -moment. He led the way to his private office. - -"Well, what is it, Hayward? You look excited." - -Mr. Phillips spoke very kindly, for he did so with studied purpose. It -was necessary that he keep that purpose continually and consciously -before him. For Hayward the footman he had had quite a high regard: as -he had for any man or thing that was efficient. For the negro as his -son-in-law, he could not bring himself to consider him with any -toleration, nor did he lie to his soul by telling it he wished to. For -the negro as a mate for Helen, every rebellious, tortured nerve and -fibre of the man was an eternal, agonized protest. It was indeed very -necessary that he keep his kindly purpose always consciously before him. - -"What is it?" he asked again. - -"I had a paper--a summons, I believe they call it--served on me this -afternoon," Hayward stumbled along to say; and then stopped, uncertain -how to go at it. - -"Well. And what's the trouble?" - -"I don't know, sir, exactly what's the trouble; or, rather, I would say -I didn't know there was any trouble." - -"Then what's it about? Who is it that's suing you? What does the -summons say?" - -"The summons doesn't say what the trouble is about." Graham was dodging -in spite of himself. - -"But who is the person that is suing you?" Mr. Phillips questioned again -testily. - -"The summons says '_Lily Porter, by her father and next friend, Henry S. -Porter, against John Hayw--_" - -"Says _what_? A WOMAN?" - -President Phillips jumped to his feet and went pale as ashes. Graham, -dry-lipped, could only nod his head weakly in affirmation. For five -seconds Mr. Phillips was speechless. Then words came back, along with a -rush of blood to his face that looked to burst it. So terrible was his -wrath, the killing look in his eyes, that Graham instinctively squared -away to defend himself from bodily injury. Such a torrent, such a -blast, of withering, blistering profanity, wild, incoherent, -unutterable, he never had listened to in all his life. Try as he would -to interpose a word, an explanation, a defence, his efforts only drove -the father to more abandoned fury. After a dozen fruitless attempts he -realized there was nothing to do but wait for the furor to burn itself -out. To the young man, conscious of the passing of precious time, it -seemed that his anger would never cool. When the President showed the -first signs of exhaustion he took courage to speak again. - -"I swear to you, sir, the young woman has no cause to complain of me. I -have done her no--" - -"Oh of course not, of course not," said Mr. Phillips in the most -bitingly sarcastic tone. "Of course not, of course not! But who the -devil is she?" - -"Miss Lily Porter, daughter of Henry S. Porter--_Black Henry_ the -newspapers sometimes call him. Perhaps you have heard--" - -"What! That nigger? Not a _nigger_ woman! But of cour--oh my God, -Helen, how can I pr--" but he choked for a moment in livid anger before -he writhed into another frenzy, that was as volcanic, as horrible, and -as pitiable as it is unprintable. He cursed, he raved, he choked, he -tore wildly at his collar for breath. - -It was frightful to look upon, and if Graham had feared for his own -safety in the first outburst, he feared for Mr. Phillips' life in the -last. It looked as if in the violence of his wrath he would burst a -blood-vessel. Graham was in mortal fear that he would die in his -tracks, and tried desperately to reinforce his denial of guilt as the -only possible relief for his father-in-law's dementia, but all his -attempts only inflamed Mr. Phillips the more. The negro seemed not to -know that it was not a question of his guilt or innocence that was -tearing the father's vitals and threatening his reason, but -shame--insufferable shame! - -After an age, it seemed to Graham, Mr. Phillips became calmer. His -son-in-law, wholly at a loss what to say or do, started out of the door -in search of a clearer atmosphere and a chance to regain his scattered -faculties. The President looked around and saw him beating a retreat. - -"Come back here!" he ordered sharply. "We can't leave this thing like -this! Something must be done with it at once, or the scandal will be -all over the--" He trembled with the passion of another outburst, but -controlled himself by a mighty effort. - -"I swear to you no scandal may rightly be laid at my door," said Graham -with some dignity. The outrageous injustice of the thing gave him a -little of the dignity of righteousness. - -"Scandal doesn't depend on truth or falsehood, so we needn't discuss -that now." Mr. Phillips cut him off short. "What we must do is to stop -this scandal, for scandal it will be if it gets to the public. Where -does this--this Porter live? How far from here?" - -"About fifteen minutes drive, sir." - -"Well--er--send Mr. O'Neill here--in a hurry." - -Graham, glad to get action on himself, was out of the room and back with -the secret service man in less than a minute. In that short space the -President had taken a grip on his self-control. - -"Here, O'Neill, take Hayward with you to show you the house, and go -fetch Henry Porter up here to see me. He's not to be arrested, mind -you, but is to come to see me at my request _at once_, and nobody is to -know. And he is not to speak to anybody or see anybody, not even -Hayward here, before you bring him to me. So get along and get him here -as soon as you can. No force, remember; but he is to come along, at my -request." ... - -O'Neill and Hayward hurried out, and, finding a street cab, lost no time -in getting to Henry Porter's house. On the way Hayward gave the officer -some idea of the man he was to deal with and, bringing him to the door, -left him to his own devices and himself took a car back home. When Old -Henry came to the door O'Neill told him half a dozen lies in half as -many minutes, and at the end of the time he had the worthy coloured -gentleman safely in the cab and on the way to the White House. - -The President was waiting for him, and when the two fathers were alone -together he went at him with a directness calculated to take the negro's -breath. Black Henry was much awed, in fact well-nigh overcome by the -situation, and he was hardly in condition to make the most of his -opportunities; but his native shrewdness did not entirely forsake him. -In the drive to the White House he had had time to think it over, and he -had concluded that the President wanted to see him very much or he would -not have sent for him. He tried to keep that in mind all the time the -negotiations were pending. It helped in some degree to steady his -shaking confidence in himself. - -"You are Henry S. Porter, I believe?" There was an accusing quality in -the voice. - -"Yes, suh." - -"The father of Lily Porter who has instituted a suit against my--against -Hayward Graham?" The tone was more accusing. - -"Yes, suh." Black Henry wished the suit hadn't been instituted. But he -remembered again he had been sent for and he braced up a little. - -"Now what is the nature of that suit?" The President was somewhat in -fear of his own question, for all his bravado of manner. - -"Breach o' promise," Henry answered shortly. - -"Anything else?" - -"Nothin' but breach o' promise to my daughter Lily. He was engaged to -her and married your daughter, or was already married to her, I don' -know which." - -For five seconds a murderous passion all but got control of Mr. -Phillips' will. He turned away and closed his eyes tight till he had -subdued it. - -"What evidence have you that he was engaged to your daughter?" - -Henry Porter knew he was a fool to give away his case to the opposition, -but the President's eyes and manner were too compelling for him. - -"My daughter says so and--and I've seen enough myself, and besides that -he has written letters to her. I reckon we've got evidence enough all -right." - -"Well, I have evidence that there is not a word of it true, and I sent -for you to tell you you'd better drop it. You'll find it a -profitless--more than that--a _very expensive_ undertaking." - -The last statement was unfortunate. It struck fire in Old Henry's pet -vanity. - -"Oh, I guess I can stan' the expense all right," he rejoined with the -oddest possible mixture of deference and defiance. - -"You can, can you!" said Mr. Phillips sharply, his anger beginning to -redden. "But I tell you again you can't get a verdict from the -courts--no, sir, not for a cent--so what's the use?" - -"I don't need the money." ... Clearly Mr. Phillips had given the -purse-proud old darkey the wrong cue. - -"Then what the devil are you after?" - -"That young nig--young man is mos' too sassy. He's got to know his -place." - -"His place!" Mr. Phillips' face was again twisted in wrath. But wrath -could not serve Helen's cause. He stifled it. - -"Yes; he mus'n' come flyin' roun' my daughter for fun, and then go off -when he fin's somebody mo' to his notion, and th'ow his impidence in my -face." - -Through all his blinding anger Mr. Phillips could see clearly enough to -realize that it was indeed not a matter of money, but of insult. He was -more and more inclined to believe Hayward's statement that there was -little or no basis for the suit. But that didn't help matters in the -least. - -"Now look here, Porter," he said in his most vigorous and decided -manner, "I am convinced your claim has no real basis in fact, but is the -outcome of pique pure and simple. Nevertheless, it must be settled -here, to-night; and I'm willing to see that you don't lose any money in -the way of expenses and lawyer's fees for the procedure so far. To that -end I will have Hayward pay you a thousand dollars if you will withdraw -the suit to-night. What do you say?" - -"I don' need the money," said Porter in maddening reiteration. "Besides -that I don' know what my lawyer will charge." At the mention of money, -however, the sharp-dealing old negro felt a little more at ease and -interested in the discussion. - -"Who is your lawyer?" - -"Mistuh Shaw--Mistuh Robert Shaw." - -"Robert Shaw. Is he the Shaw that wants that special solicitorship in -the treasury department? A negro?" - -"Yes, suh, a negro; but I don' know about the treasury department." - -"Well, he's the man, I have no doubt--Robert Shaw, a negro lawyer. Now -let me tell you. I had had some idea of giving him the place he asks -for, but I say right now if he's inclined to be a fool in a matter of -this sort he's not the man the government wants. If he gets his fee he -will be well enough satisfied, won't he? He's not the fool kind that -wants to advertise himself in a sensational suit, is he?" - -"No, suh, no, _suh_! Mistuh Shaw is a ve'y nice young man, suh. He -ain't no fool, suh." - -"Well, he would be if he disobeyed your wishes and mine in this matter. -I think I can speak for _him_ myself. Now what do _you_ say? A -thousand dollars?" - -Involving Shaw in the affair was most fortunate for Mr. Phillips. With -Hayward out of the running, Henry Porter now looked with much assurance -upon Shaw as a son-in-law. That financial-political combination between -himself and Shaw was again his pet dream as before Hayward's -interference. With Black Henry the controversy was really settled and -he was ready to compromise. The smaller purpose was lost in the -presence of the master passion. But his personal pride and cupidity -were aroused. If his hoped-for son-in-law Shaw was going to get both -honour and revenue out of this thing, he himself ought not to fall too -far behind.... And again he remembered that he had been sent for. - -"Of cou'se I don' need the money," he said once more, "but if money is -to settle it I think five thousan' 'd be little enough. We was suin' -for twenty-five." - -"Five thousand the devil! I'll not pay it. It's outrageous!" - -"Well, suh, I don't need the m--" - -"Ah, shut that up, for heaven's sake! What's the best you'll do? Speak -out now in a hurry." - -"Well, suh, five thousan' is mighty little considerin' the standin' of -the pahties. As my lawyer, Mistuh Shaw, said, the standin' of the -pahties calls for big damages. My daughter and your son-in-law are up -in the pic--" - -"Hold on!" said Mr. Phillips. "You can stop that argument right there. -Will you take five thousand and shut the thing up?" - -"Well, suh, as I said, I don' need--" - -"Will you take the five thousand?" The President's eyes had a dangerous -blaze in them. - -"Yes, suh." - -"That settles it. Now get right out after that lawyer of yours at once, -to-night, and have him withdraw those papers and destroy them--or no, -better than that, you bring them here to me to-morrow--no, bring them -_to-night_--I'll wait for you. And hurry, will you please, for I'm -quite busy and must be rid of this as quickly as possible. I'll look -for you within an hour." - - * * * * * - -Mr. Phillips could not have been very busy, for he did nothing but walk -the room till Porter returned. And two hours had passed before that -time. - -"I'm sorry to keep you waitin' so long, suh," the negro apologized; "but -me and Mistuh Shaw had to hunt up the officer to git the papers. It was -so late when he served 'em he couldn' retu'n 'em to court to-night, and -he was holdin' 'em over in his pocket till mornin'." - -"Thank Heaven for that. Did you tell him to keep his mouth shut?" - -"Yes, suh." - -"And will he do it?" - -"I think he will, suh. Mistuh Shaw fixed him. He's a frien' of Mistuh -Shaw." - -"Well, he'd better. I'll hold Shaw responsible for him. Let me see the -papers.... Yes, this is all right.... Now here's ten dollars and a -receipt for that much in full of all claims for breach of promise and so -forth you and your daughter have against Hayward Graham. You just sign -the receipt, and I'll pay you the balance of the five thousand -to-morrow--there's not a tenth of that sum in the house to-night. You'll -take my promise for the balance, won't you?" - -"Yes, suh--oh yes, suh," said Mr. Porter, his manner showing his full -appreciation of the fact that between gentlemen of standing the ordinary -strict rules of business could be waived with perfect safety. With all -his discernment, however, he saw nothing more in this proceeding than -his trusting Mr. Phillips for $4,990 till the morning. - - * * * * * - -When he was ushered into the President's office the next morning Henry -Porter received from Mr. Phillips' own hands the $4,990 in currency of -the highest denominations fresh from the treasury. He verified the -correctness of the amount almost at a glance. - -"I'll give you a receipt, suh," he said. - -"Oh, no, don't trouble; the receipt for ten dollars in Hayward Graham's -name in settlement of the claim for breach of promise answers every -purpose legally." - -As he spoke the President smiled in a satisfied way, and it occurred to -Black Henry that a ten dollar breach of promise suit would be quite a -contemptible and ridiculous affair if it got to the newspapers. - -"And now, Mr. Porter," said Mr. Phillips, anxious as ever to make every -bid for silence, "you can see that, adding force to your contract, every -consideration of decency and self-respect demands that not the slightest -whisper of this matter shall reach the public. The highest consideration -I have not hitherto referred to. That is your daughter's good name. It -could only do injury to her reputation--injury, and nothing but injury. -I am indeed surprised that she was so unwise, that she had the -disposition to bring this suit and bring herself into what would have -been such unfavourable public notice." - -"Well, suh, _Mistuh Shaw_ said she wouldn't like it, and I had a hard -time makin' him bring the suit. He said she wou--" - -"Didn't she instigate it?" asked Mr. Phillips. - -"No, _suh_--that she didn'. Fact is I've been fraid to tell her about -it--fraid she'd make me stop it, she thinks such a heap of Mistuh -Hayward.... But we've got it all settled satisfact'ry now and there -ain't no reason why she sh'd ever know it happened, suh. Good mornin', -Mistuh President." - -"You old scoundrel!"--when Mr. Porter had closed the door behind him. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXXVI* - - -In trying to be philosophical Rutledge took what comfort he could from -Elise's "no" in the fact that he would be less distracted from the work -of his campaign against Senator Killam. He gave all his energies to -that task, which promised to tax his resources to the utmost if he would -hope to win. The owners of _The Mail_ were more than willing that he -should make the attempt. His temporary stay in the Senate had given the -paper a very considerable shove toward the front rank in prominence and -authority in affairs political, and there was nothing to be lost by a -tilt with that most picturesque figure in national politics, Senator -Killam. - -Let it be understood, however, that Rutledge did not run simply to -advertise himself or his paper. His unfailing friend Robertson wrote to -him: "There is a very real opposition to Senator Killam growing up in -the State, although at this time its force and numbers are very -difficult to compute with accuracy. Your admirable conduct of yourself -in your short trying-out has commended you to those who are looking for -a leader of conceded ability yet not identified with any of the petty -factions in State politics nor with any of the local issues upon which -the party is divided and dissentient. Your friends think you fill all -the requirements in the broader sense and, besides, that you are the -antipode of all things peculiarly, personally and offensively Killamic." - -Although they were of the same broad political creed, the stage of -antagonism to which he and Senator Killam had come during the younger -man's short term in the Senate bordered on the acute. It had reached -the point where they were studiously polite to each other. Senator -Killam did not usually trouble himself to be civil to any person who -aroused his antipathy, but he had the idea that it would be conceding -too much to young Rutledge's importance to show any personal -unfriendliness to him. Nevertheless, with all their outward show of -friendliness, they were both out for blood: Rutledge, because of the -many of the older man's taunts and sarcasms which still rankled in his -memory; and Senator Killam, because, whatever the time and whoever his -opponent, he always gave a correct imitation of being out for the blood -of any man that opposed him. - -Rutledge had already begun to be very busy with his campaign before his -decisive conversation with Elise. When, some ten days later, he -received a letter from his mother in which she set out to discuss his -admiration for Elise in light of Helen's marriage, he found himself -entirely too pressed for time to do more than read the opening -sentences, and lay it reverently away. - -He tried to forget Elise,--as many another lover has done before him, -and with about the usual lack of success. For the remainder of the -Washington season he cut all his social engagements that were not -positively compelling and fortunately did not chance to see her again -but twice before he went South to take an active hand in the primary -campaign. - -On those two occasions she exhibited the perfection of impersonal -interest, but Rutledge, remorseful for his indefensible behaviour toward -her at Mrs. Hazard's, was conscious that, curiously enough to him, her -gentle dignity had not the faintest trace of offence. It seemed rather -to hold an elusive though palpable element of friendliness. This was -puzzling, but he did not attempt to explain it to himself. He had -suffered enough from the riddle of her moods, and he was afraid to try -to explain it. He was convinced that she was not for him--had she not -told him so?--and that, having lost her, it was imperative that he think -no more about her lest he lose everything else he had set to strive for. -So he strove only to lose the disquieting thought of her out of his -work. - -President Phillips, also, in those days was attempting to flee his -thoughts in a wilderness of work. Unlike Rutledge, with him there was a -tax upon heart as well as brain in the political task before him. -Rutledge could not feel aggrieved if the people of his State declined to -send him to the Senate, for by no merit or custom had he a pre-eminent -claim upon them. Defeat, however disappointing, could bring him no -heart-burning. - -Mr. Phillips, however, was asking no more than was his due: renomination -at the hands of his party. By every consideration both of merit and -custom it was his due. His official record was _efficiency, faithful -execution, striking ability and uncompromising honesty_. But by very -virtue of his honesty and ability he had gone up against the two powers -in this country that go furthest to make or unmake Presidents: -law-breaking corporations and machine politicians. The Greed and The -Graft could never be at ease while a Fearless Honesty abode in the White -House. They long had planned to displace Mr. Phillips. - -The fight was not an open one, with each army aligned under its own -banners. It was a night attack where the clash and the struggle could -be heard and felt but the assailants could not be distinguished and -called by name. Mr. Phillips could well imagine who were the leaders of -his enemies, but they were too shrewd as yet to openly declare their -opposition. - -The consummate skill with which the campaign was conducted made it -appear that there was a growing manifestation of the people's -disapproval. The boomlets of a dozen or more favourite sons were -assiduously cultivated each in its limited field--but all by the master -hand. The favourite sons as a rule deprecated the mention of their -names and waived it aside as unworthy of serious thought; but it takes a -very great or a very small man to recognize his own unfitness for the -presidency of the nation,--and modesty would permit no favourite son to -say he was too big for the office. - -Mr. Phillips was not of the holy sort that is above using some of the -traditional methods of the politician. With good conscience he could -drive men to righteousness when necessity demanded it: and believing -that his own re-election would be for the country's weal he would not -have hesitated perhaps to turn the power of the administration to that -purpose if he had not been measurably handicapped. - -He was an honest man--as his predecessors in office had been. He -desired--as they had desired before him--to give the country a clean and -honest lot of officials to administer its interests. But, unlike some -of the Presidents gone before, he had made extraordinary personal -efforts to see and know for himself that the men of the government corps -were of honest purposes at heart and honest practices in office. -Result: many and many a cog-wheel, great and small, in the machine had -been broken and thrown into the scrap pile. - -Therefore the machine silently prayed for deliverance from this Militant -Honesty in the executive office, and, with its praying, believed--first -article in the creed of Graft: Heaven helps those who help -themselves--to deliverance as well as to the public money. So, there -was no pernicious activity in Mr. Phillips' behalf among the -office-holding class. The defection from his support was impalpable but -none the less assured. He could not put his finger upon the men and say -"Here are the deserters," for they had not as yet, at four months before -the convention, declared against him. But they were not throwing up -their hats for him. It was apathy that presaged disaster. - -And Greed had so quietly and effectively extended its propaganda that -"vested" interests began to think they "viewed with alarm" Mr. Phillips' -activities. They were persuaded that he had already gone to the limit in -bringing to book the methods of Capital and of Business, and were asked -to note that not even yet was there the faintest hint of a promise that -he would not run amuck amongst them. They preferred to defeat him in -the convention. If not, they would defeat him at the polls. With them -there was no sentiment about it. They simply wanted no more of him. -They desired a "safe" man.... Few times in the political history of -this nation has Money failed to get what it really truly wanted. - -Finished politician that he was, Mr. Phillips could read the signs -clear. He knew that his political death was being plotted, had been -plotted for months. In the consciousness of his official rectitude and -efficiency, and with confidence in the discernment and appreciation of -his countrymen, for a long time he had thought contemptuously of the -plotters. At length, however, his trained eye had caught the flash of -real danger: and his heart was oppressed. Not that overweening ambition -made him crave continuance in his exalted office and sicken at the -thought of denial. It was not that: not the loss of a double meed of -honour in a second term. No; it was the threatened loss of his first -term, of the four years already gone, with their unstinted expenditure -of energy and honest purpose, brain-fag and strain of heart. To be -disapproved, discredited, by the people for whom he had given the very -essence of his life! Keener than the sting of ingratitude, even, was -the sense of possible loss. _Four years_ for naught! four years _for -naught_!--if the people should repudiate him. He trembled to think it -was possible for him to fail of renomination. He was fighting for his -life: for the life he had already given to his country in that four -years. - -As the weeks and months wore on toward summer he felt that he was losing -strength with every sunset. The Southern delegations, makers of so many -second terms, were being sent to the national convention uninstructed. -That was not conclusive; but it was ominous, for any administration -having Mr. Phillips' political faith that cannot hold the delegations -from that section is politically in a bad way. - -Plausible explanations were offered, assuredly: "Southern delegates have -so regularly worn the administration label that they have lost influence -and self-respect"--"This time it is unnecessary. There is only one real -candidate and they must all vote for him"--"It is better not to appear -to endorse the negro luncheon too vigorously, for the negro in the South -does not count any more and some of the tenderfoot white recruits might -desert." The explanations did appear to explain it; but Mr. Phillips -knew that Money and the Machine were taking his Southern delegates from -him. - -And the Southern delegates were not the only ones that were going wrong. -The Trusts and the Grafters were throwing Northern and Western -delegations into confusion. Beyond that, the Southern country was -somewhat surprised to hear that a negro son-in-law to the Presidency was -a little too strong even for Northern stomachs, and that some Northern -white folks were making bold to say so. - -Hayward Graham's commission? The opposition in the Senate did not have -the slightest difficulty in holding it up. Mr. Phillips with -unflinching courage unhesitatingly used every whit of his power and -influence to have that commission confirmed. He had nominated Hayward -because he believed him worthy; and he said to the Senators with a touch -of humour, but with much emphasis nevertheless, that being his -son-in-law ought not to be held to the negro's discredit. He said many -other things, for he was really very much in earnest: but the Senate was -non-committal. It postponed consideration of Mr. Hayward Graham for -days, and weeks, and finally adjourned without a vote upon him. That -ended it.... With a show of grim determination the President stated -that he would send the nomination to the next session, but he knew when -he said it that Helen's husband would never be a lieutenant of cavalry -in the United States Army. - -Let it not be inferred that, as the matter is thus dismissed briefly -here, there was little or no discussion of it. This entire volume would -not compass a tenth of what was said about it, and the reader who cares -for details must seek the files of the newspapers of the period. There -is not space here even for a digest of all that talk. - - * * * * * - -Mr. Phillips could ill brook defeat. In his thinking there were few -things worse than failure. So it was that, while in the desperate fight -he was making he did nothing unconscionable, he did stand for some -things nauseating to him. - -It was necessary that in the North he hold the full negro vote, which -was the balance of power in several States. It certainly looked an easy -thing to do. And it was easy--to everybody concerned except Mr. -Phillips. The negro race rallied to him with an enthusiasm that was -surpassing even for those emotional folk. The overflowing, smothering -approbation which they heaped upon him was loud-mouthed, unceasing, -extravagant. Yet it took all his self-control to receive it with any -show of satisfaction. In fact on several occasions he was almost goaded -to break with his negro allies for good and all. In some of those -moments he easily could have done so--as far as personal reasons held -him. The personal pride in being decorated with a second term was not -always a match or antidote for his personal humiliation and suffering -under the mouthings and love-makings of the admiring black men. But a -rupture, and a declaration of his real sentiments, meant not alone his -defeat: it meant the success of the enemies of honest government: it -meant that, his tongue once unloosed, Helen must know--and her heart -would break. So he held his peace, and let the negroes say on with -their fulsome friendlinesses. - -And what he bore as he kept the faith! It tore his nerves to tatters. -One incident as an example: - -He was invited to address a convention of the Afro-American Association, -which was holding its biennial meeting in Washington in May. He -accepted the invitation with very great pleasure. It gave him the -opportunity he desired. The negroes had been talking to him or at him -for months: and he had somewhat to say to them. He welcomed the chance -to say it. He was full of his speech, and was intending to be very -emphatic. It was _his_ day to talk. - -But the distinguished chairman of the convention who introduced him -thought that it was _his_ day to talk. He presented Mr. Phillips in -fifteen minutes of perfervid oratory, sonorous, unctuous, and filled -with African imagery. He recited a brief history of the President's -life, lauded him as Civilian, Soldier, and Chief Executive, credited to -him about every good thing that had come to the human race since he was -inducted into office, and crowned him as the negro's Friend, Champion -and Hope. He detailed the evidence of Mr. Phillips' love for the negro -race, and hailed him as the true and great Exemplar of the Genuine -Brotherhood of Man. - -"Yes, my Brothers," the orator-chairman swept volubly to his conclusion, -"this great man who holds the Stars of Our Flag in his right hand and in -his left hand the Golden Sceptre of Supreme Authority and Power in this -Peerless Nation has proved himself beyond any Question or Peradventure -the very Apostle and Archetype of Equality and Fraternity in this land -of theoretical Freedom and Equal Rights. In each of the three great -departments of our life he has practised that Equality and Fraternity. -In the civil administration of this Great Government he has called to -his assistance black men of Mighty Brain-Power to advise with him about -his policies of Statecraft and they have spoken Words of Wisdom to him. -In the military department he has appointed to an officer's commission -under the Stars and Stripes a brave young negro, a Gentleman, a Scholar, -a Soldier, who will reflect Honour upon the Star-Spangled Banner and -show the world that the Negro is a Patriot and a Fighter. And more than -that, my Brothers! As the crowning act of his Fearless Career the -Honourable and Honoured Gentleman who will address you has openly -recognized the negro's rightful place in the Homes of this Country, for -he has admitted the race as an Equal into the Holy of Holies of his own -domestic life, and furnished supreme and convincing proof of his love -for black men by freely giving his tender and gentle daughter, the -Fairest among Ten Thousand and the One Altogether Lovely, over into the -arms and affections of that same young Negro Soldier! Connubial Bliss -knows no Colour Line, my Brothers! May the union be blessed with--" - -But fifteen hundred lusty black throats, not able longer to choke down -their cheers, were wildly, exultingly screaming "Phillips! Phillips!! -Phillips!!!" The chairman said a few more words in pantomime and gave -Mr. Phillips the right to speak. - -Mr. Phillips was very slow in coming to his feet. The speech that he had -purposed to make was gone--all gone. The chairman's last words like a -chemical reagent, had turned his every though to vitriol, and he was all -afire with the impulse to pour it burning and blistering down their open -throats. - -He stood impassive with tight-shut lips while they cheered and cheered -and cheered. In the fires that scorched his spirit, personal and -political ambition shrivelled into a cinder and was entirely consumed. A -second term--the honour, the approval, the country's weal--might sink -into the Pit rather than that he would blacken his soul even by tacit -assent to such a monstrous, awful lie! Given Helen freely to a negro's -arms!--he would blast that lie with-- - -But Helen! in the tumult he thought of _her_. And the tenderness of his -love for her made him to tremble. In a moment a war was on within him, -and the struggle between his pride and his love shook him as with an -ague. - -But he knew the end from the beginning. As the cheering died away Helen -dominated his thoughts as she dominated his heart,--and he did make a -speech to the convention. It was not a forcible speech nor a very long -speech, for a man cannot think about one thing and discourse very -effectively about another. It was on the order of a prayer-meeting talk, -consisting mainly of platitudes and good advice. When it was finished -he went directly home and lay down on a couch to rest, for he was tired, -mortally tired. - -From that day forth Mr. Phillips was in terror of his negro allies. He -made no other addresses to them. But he could not escape them. The -negro papers called on the race to rally to the Phillips standard. This -the joyful blacks construed to mean that they must form themselves in -squads and go over to Washington and tell Mr. Phillips about it -personally. Many were the delegations from political clubs and orders -and associations of all black sorts that called to pay their respects -and assure the President of their loyal support and good wishes; and -despite all his forehandedness and precautions it was a very dull day -when he was not openly hailed as a brother to the race by virtue of the -affinity in Helen's choice of a mate. He was not permitted to forget -Helen's plight for an hour,--if he had chosen to forget. - -Indeed, however, he had lost the zest of thinking about anything else. -True, he fought his political battle with energy to the finish, and gave -it the best thought his brain could furnish--but that was because he was -a born fighter and knew not how to be a laggard: the burden of his -voluntary, uncompelled thinking was of Helen, and it grew larger and -larger upon his mind. And the more he thought of her, the more he would -think of her: and the tragedy of her mating loomed more darkly hopeless -and appalling before his face, until his days became one long prayer for -a miracle of deliverance. - -In his meditations he suffered the tortures of a lost soul. He was too -brave a man to shirk his accountability for Helen's undoing. In moments -of solitude when he was most racked with remorse and wildly despairing -he would cry out against the fatal interpretation she had put upon his -words and his deeds--"I did not _mean_ that, I did not mean _that_, oh -my daughter, my little girl, my little girl!"--but these moments of -self-excusing were only the wild cries of unbearable agony. In composed -self-confession he accused himself--with a bitterness that had in it the -bitterness of death--and in the genuineness of his penitence he might -have proclaimed his error and put his countrymen on guard: if only -_Helen must not know_! - - * * * * * - -Summer was come and the convention was less than two weeks away when Mr. -Phillips' first political lieutenant came back from a trip to New York -with the very definite news for his chief that even if at that late day -he would promise to be more considerate of the business interests of the -country the nomination might yet be his. Mr. Phillips promptly sent his -answer to the railroad president who had presumed to speak for Business -that he "would see the _business interests_ damned before he would make -any such promise." ... - -Three days before the convention met, Mr. Phillips received a letter -written in pencil in a weak and uncertain handwriting. - - -"We have named the boy Hayne Phillips. When are you coming to see us? -Daddy dear, it tires me so to write. I love you. HELEN." - - - - - *CHAPTER XXXVII* - - -The Mr. Phillips who on July the 3d, 191-, alighted from the car at the -little station that served the Stag Inlet folks was a very different -figure of a man from the vigorous person who on a day in the preceding -October had taken the train there to go back to his work in Washington. - -There was now no spring in his step, no quickness in his movement. He -was plainly fatigued and preoccupied, and he was alone. There was no -member of his family with him, nor any of them, except Hayward, to meet -him at the station. A single secretary followed him at some little -distance as he walked down the platform mechanically raising his hat and -smiling at the half score of persons who had stopped to see him take his -carriage. He climbed up beside Hayward into the single-seated affair -the negro was driving, nodded to the secretary to follow him in the -formal and stately victoria that was waiting, and with a parting lift of -his hat left the small crowd staring at him as he drove away. - -The onlookers commented, as onlookers will, upon everything that struck -their eyes in the simple proceeding. They wondered why he appeared so -listless and careworn. They wondered why he crowded into the narrow -buggy instead of taking the roomy carriage. They wondered why none of -his daughters nor his wife accompanied him--why he looked just a little -bit carelessly dressed--and what had become of his swinging, buoyant -stride--and whether he was altogether in good health and--well, they -left no question unasked, no surmise unturned. - -Mr. Phillips had very little to say to Hayward during the drive to -Hill-Top. He really desired to say nothing, but it was impossible to -ignore all the demands of gentlemanly politeness and interest in his -son-in-law's family. - -"How is Helen?" he asked after a long while. - -"Not so very well yet, sir," answered Hayward. "She doesn't seem to -regain her strength very rapidly." - -A very much longer silence. - -"And the baby?" - -"The finest boy in the world, sir--you ought to see him--strong and -healthy, with lungs like a steam piano." - -Mr. Phillips made no comment. Hayward looked round at him. - -"He's not very pretty, sir--no really young baby is, I'm told--but the -nurse says it's unusual the way he notices things already. I know all -new fathers are said to talk like that about the first baby, but really -I think he must be an exception, sir. I think he'll be a credit to his -name--which is the most I could say for him." - -Mr. Phillips acknowledged the compliment by nothing further than a -lifting of his chin---which Hayward had no means of interpreting. -Having exhausted the subject and not being encouraged to proceed, the -young father became silent--and Mr. Phillips was glad. He had not -chosen to ride with Hayward for the pleasure of his conversation, but -for the benefit of the onlookers at the railway station; and, having -asked the questions absolutely demanded by the occasion, he did no more. - - * * * * * - -Mr. Phillips waited in the library till he should be told that his -daughter and grandson were ready to receive him. Not in the lull before -the battle of Valencia did he so prepare himself for a trial of his -nerves and his courage. His courage was of the same old sort, but his -nerves were sadly shaken by the cumulative happenings of the last half -year; and with Helen's happiness as the ruling purpose of his life he -felt almost afraid to trust himself before her eyes in the ordeal -through which he must pass. Perhaps she might still be unable to read -his dissembling. God save them both if she should read him truly. - -The nurse came in to tell him that Mrs. Graham was waiting to see him. -Hayward had intended to witness that meeting, but there was something in -the father's manner as he passed him in the hall which caused him to -forego his purpose. Mr. Phillips followed the nurse into the darkened -room. Helen half rose to a sitting posture and clasped her white arms -about his neck and sobbed in nervous joy. - -"Oh, daddy, you have come!" she said brokenly--and for a long time -neither spoke.... "I thought you would never come! I have wanted to -see you so. I've been so lonely, daddy. Where are mamma and Elise that -they have deserted me?" - -Mr. Phillips as he bent down over her almost lifted her out of bed in -the force and tenderness of his embrace. The pitiful little cry of -loneliness almost tore his heart-strings out of him. - -"Your mother has not been strong enough to come, precious heart, and -Elise has to stay at her side to care for her. When Dr. Hamilton -prescribed Virginia Springs for her in April he thought that two months -of rest would restore her to strength. Last winter was a very trying -season, and your mother was more broken than usual by its burdens. The -doctor tells me that she is recuperating very slowly, almost too slowly, -but that rest and absolute quiet and freedom from excitement is the only -thing that will cure her. I saw them a week ago to-day--I wrote you--and -they sent their love to you. They hope to see you before very long." - -"Elise might have come, papa. She has written to me quite -regularly--but she might have come if only for two or three days--so -that I could see some of you"--and her mouth quivered into another -muffled sob. - -"No, no, child, she could not leave her mother--you cannot imagine how -near your mother has been to collapse--they would not write you for fear -that you would worry too much about it--and she is still very -weak--nothing seems to benefit her much--the doctor can hardly find the -cause of her continued weakness--and perfect rest is the only thing that -can help her back to health. So Elise must be there to relieve her from -every exertion and effort and be a companion to her, for my visits are -necessarily brief. They love you, little girl, as always--though they -haven't been permitted to be with you. Katherine is too young to have -come, of course, and she would have been more of a care than a comfort, -anyway." - -"Oh, yes, she's young, but she would have been _somebody_. The last -month has been the _longest_ month, daddy, that I ever lived in all my -life--" - -"Well, well, little girl," the father said soothingly as he smoothed the -hair on her temple, "don't cry any more. The waiting is over now and we -won't be away from you so long again. I could not get away from -Washington a day earlier. I have been very busy, you know--doubly busy -with the official work and the political campaign too." - -"Oh, yes, daddy, I want to ask you. Are you going to get the -renomination?" There was an excitement in Helen's question that her -father saw was unusual for her, with all her characteristic interest in -his political fortunes. - -"Why child, I--I think so. We'll know certainly in a very short time -now. The convention is in session and they will have the first ballot -to-morrow, I think." - -"But do you really think you will win, daddy? Is there no danger of -losing?" - -"I really think I'll win, little woman; but you know politics is a most -uncertain thing." - -"Then you do think there is some danger! Oh, daddy, is what I've done -going to hurt you?" There was distress in her accents. - -"What _you've_ done?" - -"Yes, daddy. It never occurred to me till yesterday. I've seen very -little of the papers since we've been up here, but none of them had ever -mentioned such a thing--until last night in the very first one the nurse -would let me look at even for a minute it said that 'just how many or -just how few votes the President will lose in the convention because of -his daughter's having married a negro it is impossible at this time to -forecast. Southern delegations this year are unusually uncertain -quantities.' It said just that, daddy--and oh, I'm so sorry if--" - -"Oh, no--no--child. You haven't hurt me, my chance of renomination, in -the least. The idea is ridiculous. Haven't you learned by this time -that the papers will say anything? They must say something, you know; -and when they haven't anything sensible to say they are compelled to say -things that are absurd. Suppose the Southern delegates are uncertain. -They always have been, except when the machine had them tied hard and -fast. Don't distress your heart about political rumours, little girl. -I'll win all right. I've never failed in my life." - -"Oh, I'm so glad if it is false, daddy. It would break my heart if I -thought I had done anything to defeat you. I wish there were no -Southern delegates--and no Southern people, with their bigoted notions!" - -"You are forgetting, little woman, that your grandmother was a South -Carolinian--and the dearest, gentlest soul! If she could have lived to -know you she would have loved you more than any other girl in all the -world, I think. And you would have loved her, Helen.... Don't quarrel -with the Southern people. Their ideas about the--about the negro are in -the blood, and cannot be eradicated in two or three generations." - -Helen began to speak and turned her face casually toward the baby lying -tucked in on the far side of the bed--when her father snatched the -conversation suddenly from her and, taking it thoroughly in hand, gave -her little time except to listen. - -The blow had fallen! And with all his preparation he was unprepared! -Helen was confused and bewildered by the incoherency of his talk, by his -hurried, disjointed speeches, by his half-made questions. He was making -a blind effort to put off and push back the inevitable. His eyes had -grown accustomed to the subdued light of the room and as his vision -became clear his heart almost ceased to beat. The baby! In that half -light was revealed the darkness of the little fellow's face!--many, many -shades darker than the face of Hayward Graham: and the spectral fear -that had been with Mr. Phillips at noonday, at morning, at evening, at -all the midnights through the last months, was now a real, weakening, -flesh-and-blood terror. - -With a hope that was faltering indeed had he prayed for the miracle that -might deliver Helen entirely from the consequences of her thoughtless -folly, but with all his faith had he besought a merciful Heaven that the -child which would come to her should not fall below a fair average of -its parental graces. Even that were a torture, that were horrible -enough: that Helen's gentle blood should be _evenly_ mixed and tainted -with a baser sort. But this recession below the father's type!--this -resurgence of the negro blood, with its "vile unknown ancestral -impulses!"--there came to him an almost overpowering desire, such as had -come of late with increasing frequency but never with such physical -weakness as now: the desire to lie down at full length and to rest. - -As he talked volubly and scatteringly to Helen, his shaking soul cried -against fate. Why should Nature have chosen his Helen, the very flower -of his heart, as a subject upon which to demonstrate her eccentric laws! -Why, oh--but he must keep his tongue going to distract Helen from his -distress--why, oh, why should atavism have thought to play its tricks -and assert its prerogative here! Were there not enough other mongrel -children in all the earth through whom heredity could establish her -heartless caprices without the sacrifice of Helen and of Helen's baby! -Oh, the sarcasm of pitiless Chance, that the most dear, the _very_ -highest, should be sacrificed to establish the law of the Persistence of -the Lowest in the blood of men! Surely, in _this_ lesson, that law had -been taught at an awful cost: and, as if to show that it had been taught -beyond cavil, there was poked out from under the white coverlet a -tight-shut baby fist that was almost black. - - * * * * * - -All things human must have an end,--and Mr. Phillips' subterfuge was -very human. His expedients finally failed, he had not a word more to -say: and yet he was no nearer being prepared for the inevitable than -before. The supreme test was come, and his spirit cowered before it. -For the first time in his life he greeted flight as a deliverer, and -decided to run away from danger. - -"Well, little woman, I must go and rid myself of the dust of travel;" -and he was half way to the door when Helen's weak voice arrested him. - -"Are you not going to notice the baby, daddy?" - -The pathos in that trembling question would have called him to go -against all the Furies. Turning, he hesitated an instant, of which the -double would have been fatal: but he saved the moment from disaster. - -"Dear me, I was about forgetting the youngster." - -He walked quickly around the bed and sat down beside the boy. Pulling -the covering a little away, he took the tiny hand in his, and -grandfather and grandson looked for the first time each into the face of -the other. - -It was a negro baby: the colour that was of Ethiopia, the unmistakable -nose, the hair that curled so tightly, the lips that were African, the -large whites of the eyes. Verily a negro baby: and yet in an -indefinable way a likeness to Helen, a caricature of Helen, a horrible -travesty of Helen's features in combination with--with whose? Not -Hayward Graham's. But whose, then? Helen's and whose? ... Mr. Phillips -could not answer his own question--he had never seen Guinea Gumbo. - -In a moment the smaller hand closed over the man's finger as if in -approval; but the man straightened up as if to get a freer breath, and -glanced involuntarily at the pale mother. Her eyes were painfully -intent upon him. Driving himself, he turned. Murmuring a nursery -commonplace, he leaned over and kissed the little darkey as tenderly as -he might. - -There was no escape from Helen's eyes. He prayed that she had not seen -that his were shut when he kissed her son--it was his only concession to -himself. - -With another pat or two of the small fist he stood up by the bedside, -bracing his knees against the rail that he might stand steadily. The -fever was not yet gone from Helen's eyes. She had smiled when he -caressed the boy, but she was yet expectant. On her father's verdict -hung all her hopes, and his face for once in her life she was unable to -read. She was vaguely uneasy. His manner was inscrutable, and she had -never seen him look just like that. Their eyes met, and the unconscious -pleading in hers would have wrung any verdict from him. - -"He's a fine boy, isn't he, little woman? ... So strong and healthy -looking.... Shakes hands as if he meant it.... And he looks somewhat -like you, missy. That will be the making of him.... But I must go -now,"--and he went rather precipitately. - -"And will you hurry back to us, daddy?" Helen called to him. - -"Yes, child; I'll hurry back," he answered,--as he hurried away. - -His secretary handed him a telegram. He took the yellow envelope and, -without so much as glancing at it, went into the library and shut the -door. - - * * * * * - -Very late in the afternoon the library door was opened, without -invitation from within. Mr. Phillips was sitting in a chair with his -arms upon his desk and his face upon his arm--dead. - -[Illustration: "HIS ARMS UPON HIS DESK AND HIS FACE UPON HIS -ARM--DEAD."] - - - - - *CHAPTER XXXVIII* - - -Again, and of necessity, is the reader cited to the newspapers of the -time. - -It is not meet that the passing of a chief magistrate of this nation -should be passed over quickly or lightly in any history. The people -stopped to mourn, to cast up his life in total, and pay respect to its -multiplied excellences, to study his virtues as if in hope to -reincarnate them, and to glory in his life as a common possession of his -country. And yet this narrative may not pause to pay befitting tribute -to him, nor to detail the tides of grief that swept the hearts of his -countrymen with his outgoing, or the stateliness and grandeur of the -ceremonies with which they committed his body to the ground. We may not -here give the comprehensive view, for our canvas is not broad enough. -Let it be said only that he died as he had lived: a gentleman brave and -tender,--honest to his undoing, but dead without having known -defeat,--faithful to his love for Helen even to the death, yet making no -plaint against love. - -The physicians ascribed the President's death to heart failure,--which -meant little more than that he was dead. They ventured to say that the -heart failure had been superinduced by overwork. This verdict doubtless -would have stood if a newspaper man the first at Hill-Top had not -chanced to hear of a telegram. - -The telegram could not be found although the secretary searched -diligently for it. The energetic reporter conceived that that statement -was a subterfuge which in some way betokened a lack of confidence in his -discretion, and, besides, it smacked of mystery for a telegram to -evaporate into thin air in a dead man's hand. Put on his mettle thus, -he made it his business to know what was in that telegram. Being an old -telegraph man himself, he hied him down to the station and made himself -pleasant and useful to the youngish man in charge. - -President Phillips had intended to await the decision of the convention -in Washington, and all telegraphic arrangements for convention bulletins -had been made accordingly. At the last moment Helen's trembling little -letter had changed his purpose, and he had slipped quietly off to -Hill-Top, notifying only Mr. Mackenzie how to communicate with him -directly. - -The moment the President's death had flashed upon the wires, the -capacity of the little Stag Inlet office became sadly overtaxed. The -perspiring and flustered operator was very grateful for the assistance -of the kindly newspaper man who modestly proffered his help in getting -the deluge of messages speedily copied, enveloped, addressed and -dispatched. Once having his hand on the copy-file it was an easy thing -for the good Samaritan to get the full text of the last message that had -gone to Hill-Top. - -He could not decide whether it was so very valuable now that Mr. -Phillips was dead; but he sent it to his paper along with his other -stuff, riding a dozen miles in a midnight search for an open telegraph -key. Much pride he had in his achievement when he added to his news -report a statement to his managing editor that the text of the telegram -was a "beat" for his paper and might be displayed as "exclusive." But -his feelings were very much hurt next day that they should have -published his find under a Chicago dateline and robbed him of his glory. - - THE PRESIDENT DIES OF A BROKEN HEART - - He Takes the Telegram which Tells of - Defeat and Is Seen No More Alive - -Chicago, July 3d--After a conference of the leaders of the Phillips -cohorts this afternoon the following telegram was sent to the President -at Stag Inlet: "We are moving heaven and earth; but the forces of evil -are too many for us. First ballot to-morrow." - - -The news column was after that fashion. The leading editorial was a -scream under the caption, "The Trusts Have Murdered Him!" - -Mr. Mackenzie, who had sent the telegram, was mortally angry that the -odium of actual defeat from which death had relieved his friend should -have been fixed thus upon his memory. He was offended almost beyond -endurance with his confidential clerk despite that young man's violent -disclaimer of responsibility for the leak; but he was most enraged at -the diabolical discretion of the managing editor of _The Yellow_ in -omitting the name of the sender of the telegram: which would necessitate -that he admit having sent it before he could demand to know whence the -paper had knowledge of it. - -The convention took a recess for ten days, and, upon reassembling after -Mr. Phillips' burial, passed by a unanimous vote a set of resolutions -that lifted him to the stars and gave him place among the gods. Then it -set out upon a long round of balloting; and without being altogether -conscious of the reasons and causes impelling, it finally nominated a -"safe" man for President. - - * * * * * - -Helen could not attend her father's funeral. Pitifully weakened by the -awful shock of his sudden passing, she cried out with all her remaining -strength to be carried in to look upon his face in death. Her -physician's consent after long refusal was due to his kindliness of -heart, and the result vindicated his professional judgment, in that it -came frightfully near to taking her life. - -In utter desolation of spirit was she left when they had taken the great -man out of the house upon his stately procession to Washington and the -grave. Her husband was unfailing in devoted and anxious attendance, but -she was listless to his tenderest efforts to console her. Elise's -letters, coming now every day from the bedside of the prostrated mother, -Helen read faithfully to the last word, and really tried to take comfort -and courage from them, but they could not get down, it seemed, to touch -and dissolve the cold mists of desolation in the deeps of her heart. -Her father, the stay and fixative of her life, was gone: and there was -nothing now to give her footing upon the earth. No one to interpret -life, to give meaning to life, to give purpose to life, to give value to -life. The days might as well move backward as forward. They appeared not -to be moving at all. There was no one to give them direction. He -toward whom or from whom or about whom the days had always turned as a -sort of first cause or incarnation of the reason and sense of things, -was gone: and she was in chaos. - -With her weakness of body, her mental processes were weak, and her mind -did not take vigorous hold of things: but, confidently as it had -followed her father's sentimental speeches about the negro race and -loyally as she would defend and abide his words and the consequences of -them, she could not control her thinking, even in its weakness, and put -down the thoughts which her every look upon her baby brought to disturb -her. Very slowly the natural spring and rebound of youth brought her -out of her physical relapse, and yet more slowly out of her mental -depression. But, even as strength of body and mind returned, there came -more insistently the questioning that could not be answered. - -In her heart she had always glorified mother-love. In the days and weeks -before the baby's coming she had revelled in the dreams of motherhood, -and her heart had been overcharged with love and visions of it. - -But this little fellow was not the baby of her dreams. Never in all the -hundred varied pictures her heart had painted had there been a child -like him. He was not of her mind, surely; and vaguely uneasy and -distressed was she that he was not of her kind. Nervously she swung -between the moments when pent-up mother-love swept away all questions -and poured itself out upon her little son in fullness of tenderness, and -the other moments of revulsion when she could not coerce her rebellious -spirit. - -Feverishly in the doubting moments would she repeat over and over her -father's brief words of assurance. Hungrily had she awaited them before -he had come to look upon the boy, greedily had she seized upon them when -he had pronounced a favourable judgment, and longingly she wished now -that he could come back to reinforce them and reassure her faint -confidence that all was well. Not finding a sufficient volume of -testimony in the few words he had spoken in that last interview, she -supplemented them with all she could recall of everything she had ever -heard him say about the excellence of the negro race, and added to that -all the nurse had to say of the proverbial uncomeliness and -possibilities of phenomenal "come out" in very young babies: and for -days her pitiful daily mental task was to lie with closed eyes and -interminably to construct and reconstruct of these things an argument to -prop up her ever-wavering faith. - - * * * * * - -Hayward Graham was a man of too much intelligence not to see the -uncertainty of his wife's attitude toward the boy. He was of too much -white blood in his own veins not to have suffered measurably the same -torments because of the baby's recession in type. What Mr. Phillips had -said of it, he did not know, and dared not ask Helen. In all kindliness -of purpose he encouraged her to believe _The Yellow's_ theory that her -father's heart had broken under defeat. He did not know that she was -agonizingly fearful of having contributed to that defeat. - - * * * * * - -Helen was rummaging through her father's desk in the library. With the -first escape from the prison-house of her bedroom, her feet had turned -instinctively toward the workshop which had been the scene of Mr. -Phillips' labours at Hill-Top, and the scene also of much that had been -joyous in her association with him. But even as she idly tumbled the -odds and ends of papers about--in solemn and fascinated inspection, for -that they seemed in a way to breathe his spirit and to invoke his -presence--the undercurrent of her mind was busy as ever with its -never-ending task. - -She turned up a small package of notes marked "Cincinnati speech," and -examined them absent-mindedly; but found nothing that caught her -interest. Tossing them back in the desk, she picked up a letter -addressed to her father in her own hand. She recognized a rambling and -rollicking message she had sent to him more than a year before. From -the appearance of the envelope she judged that he must have carried it -in his pocket awhile. She had a little cry when she came to the -characteristic closing sentence: "Daddy, I want to see you so bad." -That had been a simple message of love. Now it was the cry of her -heart's loneliness and need. - - * * * * * - -Dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief, she pulled out from the -bottom of the drawer an unbound section of the _Congressional Record_, -from which protruded a slip of paper. Opening it at this marker, she -saw a blue pencil-mark which indicated the beginning of a speech before -the Senate by Mr. Rutledge. Half-way down the second column her father -had made the marginal comment "good." Further along was a blue cross -without explanatory note. Still further, "very good." With such -commendations in her father's own words she began to read what Mr. -Rutledge had to say.... For a short space she noticed her father's -occasional marginal notes, favourable or critical, and the more frequent -non-committal blue cross. It appeared that he had contemplated -preparing an answer of some sort. Very soon Helen became so interested -that she saw only the text. - - * * * * * - -With faster beating heart and breath that came more irregularly she was -drawn irresistibly along. It was an answer to her soul's cry for a word; -and whether true or false, welcome or unwelcome, she could not but -listen to that answer with quickening pulse as it ran hurriedly under -her eyes. Long before she reached the end her anger was ablaze and her -fears a-tremble, but she could not throw the speech from her unfinished. -Almost in a frenzy of excitement and resentment she rushed along to the -very last word: and with a gasping cry of horror and wrath grabbed at -the desk-drawer with the intention to hurl the pamphlet viciously back -into it. She caught the slide instead, and pulled that out with a jerk. -Lying on the slide was a telegraph envelope which her violence threw on -the floor. With another impatient trial she slammed the pamphlet into -the drawer, and mechanically picked up the telegram. - -It was addressed to "The President, Hill-Top." Turning it over to take -out the message, she found it sealed. Instinctively she hesitated a -moment, long enough for the question to come, "Why is it unopened?" -Then she tore the end off the envelope. - -The message read, "We are moving heaven and earth but the forces of evil -are too many for us. First ballot to-morrow," and was signed by Mr. -Mackenzie. - -She read it over and over, stupidly at first, for her mind was excited -by other things. Then the meaning of it began to be appreciated, and -her heart sank. Confirmation of the newspaper story! The telegram _had_ -been sent! And her father _had_ been defeated, and death alone had -saved him from the damning ballot! Defeated, yes, really defeated!--and -she had contributed, if only a mite, to that defeat which broke his -heart! Guilty--_guilty_! She bowed her head in grief and agonized -self-condemnation.... - -But no:--she started up--the telegram! He had not read it! Had he read -it?--she caught up the envelope and examined it feverishly.... It could -not have been opened--it had not been opened! He had not read it--he -did not know! He had not known of his defeat--he had not died of his -defeat--and she had not helped to send him to his death! Oh the joy of -this acquittal!--and she held the envelope as one under sentence might -clasp a reprieve, and almost caressed it as she made sure of its -testimony in her behalf. - -When she had assured herself that the envelope had not been opened, the -burden upon her heart would have been lifted entirely if the telegram -had not confirmed the fact of his defeat. He had not died because of -defeat, and she was acquitted therefore of his death, yet she was -acutely sensible of the fact that he had gone to his grave in the shadow -of defeat, and that death alone had saved him from the shameful -actuality. - -This was gall and wormwood to her, for his name could never be flung -free of that shadow. The very time and manner of his going-out had -fixed failure eternally upon him. Oh why, her heart cried, could he not -have died before or lived beyond it? Why had he died _then_? Mr. -Mackenzie might have been mistaken, or the sentiment might have changed -with the balloting, victory have come out of defeat and his fame have -been without a cloud upon it. Oh, why had he not lived?--lived to -outlive that one reverse--lived to overwhelm his enemies in another -trial, lived to put those hateful Southern delegates again under heel? -Why had he died so inopportunely? ... Why had he died at all? ... _Why -had he died_? ... How could death have taken him so quickly and so -unawares? He had gone briskly out of her room with the promise on his -lips to hurry back. He had kissed the baby and said it looked like -her.... Yes, said it looked like her--the baby-- - -Hurriedly she snatched the _Congressional Record_ out of the drawer into -which she had angrily flung it! Breathlessly she turned the pages to -see what comment he had made upon that last part of Rutledge's speech. - -Mr. Phillips had put but one marginal note against all that fearful -presentation. Opposite the words, "when the blood of your daughter ... -is mixed with that of one of this race, however 'risen,' redolent of -newly applied polish," etc., Helen saw the single written word, -"unthinkable." - -Unthinkable! Quickly she searched again that portion of the speech that -had given supreme offence--and found nothing. Nothing beside the word -"unthinkable." No denial had her father entered that "vile unknown -ancestral impulses, the untamed passions of a barbarous blood would be -planted in the Anglo-Saxon's very heart" by such unions as hers. No hint -of his thought as to a "mongrel progeny." No answer to the question, -"How shall sickly sentimentalities solace your shame if in the blood of -your mulatto grandchild the vigorous red jungle corpuscles of some -savage ancestor shall overmatch your more gentle endowment...?" A free -expression, critical or approving, of the first half of the speech; but -silence, an awful silence, when it comes to this part so pertinent to -her situation. Silence!--_for the reason_ that her situation is -UNTHINKABLE! - -In an illuminating flash she sees the Truth--sees all the minute -incidents of the past months, the looks, the gestures, the things -unsaid, which, unnoted by her at the time, were yet registered in her -subconsciousness, and which make so plain, now that she reads them -aright, all her father's thoughts and sufferings and sacrifice from the -moment when he had cried, "But a _negro_, Helen! How could you!" until -the time he had rushed away after kissing her negro baby--rushed away to -die! .... She knew! ... _Despoiled herself!--polluted her blood beyond -cleansing!--brought to life a mongrel fright, and brought to death her -father!_--with a scream of horror she staggered to her feet.... At the -door she met the nurse, who was hurrying to her, still holding in her -arms the baby whom she had not tarried to put down. - -"Take it away! _Take it away_!" shrieked Helen, pushing it from her so -violently as to hurl it from the nurse's arms, and staggered on through -the hall, out the door, and down the path toward the lake. - - - - - *CHAPTER XXXIX* - - -The candidates for the Senate were come to Spartanburg in their canvass -of the State before the primary election. The campaign was about half -finished and had already reached the very personal stage of discussion -so dear and so interesting to the South Carolina heart. LaRoque, -Rutledge, Preston and Darlington were all out after Mr. Killam's scalp, -and that gentleman was making it sufficiently entertaining for the four -of them and for the crowds who flocked to hear. - -Major Darlington and "Judge" Preston were running each in the hope that -"something might happen:" Mr. Rutledge and Colonel LaRoque each in an -effort to poll the largest vote next to Mr. Killam and thus be left to -try conclusions alone with the old man in a second primary--provided the -four of them in an unformulated coalition could keep the old man from -winning out of hand in the first trial. - -At the hotels on the Saturday morning of the Spartanburg meeting, each -of the candidates was surrounded by a coming and going crowd of his -admirers and supporters and persons curious to see what he looked like. -Senator Killam, as by right, was the centre of the largest interest. -Nearest about him were his most trusted lieutenants in the county, who -did not come and go with the changing crowd but stood by to whisper -confidences to the Senator, to receive his more intimate disclosures, -and to present formally sundry citizens who desired to shake the great -man's hand and be called by name. - -A little further removed from the Senator's person were the inevitable -two or three of that super-admiring yokel type which, too ignorant, -unwashed and boorish to stand in the Very Presence, is yet vastly joyed -to hang about, open-mouthed and open-eared, in the immediate -neighbourhood of greatness, in the hope to be counted in among its -_entourage_. Still further out the curious viewed "the old man" from a -respectful distance and commented upon him, freely and respectfully or -otherwise, as freeborn American citizens are wont to do. The while the -crowd shifted and eddied, came and went. As about Senator Killam, so in -less degree moved the tides about the other aspirants. - -"Senator," asked one of the inner circle in a quiet moment, "what do you -think of our chances with the national ticket?" - -"Not so good as they'd have been with Phillips against us," answered Mr. -Killam. - -"Oh, of course not," said the questioner, glad to display his political -wisdom, "I've told the boys all along that we could have beaten Phillips -with that nigger son-in-law of his sure as shootin'." - -"That's where you are mistaken," replied the Senator oracularly. "We -might have beaten Phillips if we had nominated a dyed-in-the-wool -corporation law-agent like they have now put up against us; but the -nigger son-in-law wouldn't have cut any ice. I believe at heart they -don't like that any more than we do, but if the Trusts would have -permitted it they would have put Phillips and his nigger back there just -to show us they could do it.... They've got a lot of fool notions about -'justice to the nigger' that make me sick.... Justice to the nigger is -to make him know his place and teach him to be happy in it; but the -Yankees haven't got the sense to see it. Rutledge, even, had a lot of -that damn nonsense in his speech on the Hare Bill. Half of what he said -was very good, if he had only voted accordingly and left out all that -rot about educating the nigger.... How in the devil he got his ideas I -can't see. He didn't inherit 'em, for his aristocratic old daddy -thought it was a dangerous thing to educate the lower classes of white -folks." - -"You are not worrying yourself much about Rutledge in this race, are -you, Senator?" - -"No, no, he'll never hear the gun fire. Why man, he's neither one thing -nor the other. Some of his ideas about the nigger will make any _white_ -man mad, and yet nobody ever did make a more forcible protest against -Phillips' nigger luncheon, nor paint a more horrible picture of -miscegenation.... Strange thing about that, too,"--the Senator lowered -his voice to reach only the inmost circle, and the yokels almost -dislocated their necks in attempts to burglarize his confidence--"do you -know it was whispered that Rutledge was engaged to Phillips' oldest -daughter"--the Senator's voice dropped still lower--"no doubt, they say, -that he is, or was, very much in love with her." - -The smaller circle exchanged glances of interest, and a smile went -round. - -"Gosh, isn't that a situation!" said one of them. - -"Yes, but don't mention it," Mr. Killam requested. - -"Certainly not." - - * * * * * - -"What was it he told 'em?" asked one of the unwashed of his more -fortunately placed fellow. - -"I didn't ketch it all," replied the other, proud nevertheless to -possess even a fragment of a state secret. - - * * * * * - -The crowd was far too large for the Spartanburg court-house, so the -public discussion was had under the oaks of Burnett Park. An improvised -platform of planks laid upon empty boxes lifted the candidates high into -view of the assembled Spartans, who stood without thought of fatigue for -six hours and listened to the merry war of words, and encouraged, -interrogated, cheered and howled at the speakers in good old primary -campaign fashion. - -The primary campaign is inherently prolific of heat and hate: for the -candidates, being agreed on political principles, are driven perforce to -the discussion of personal records and foibles. This campaign had -developed the most friction between Mr. LaRoque and Mr. Killam, these -two having been long in public life and having accumulated the usual -assorted odds and ends of memories they would desire to forget. - -In the very beginning of the canvass the Senator and the Colonel had -rushed through Touchstone's category from the Retort Courteous to the -Quip Modest, the Reply Churlish, the Reproof Valiant, the Countercheck -Quarrelsome, the Lie with Circumstance, and had pulled up on the very -ragged edge of the Lie Direct. There they had hung for days, while an -appreciative public feigned to wait in breathless suspense for the -moment when the unequivocal words "You are a liar" should precipitate a -tragedy and the coroner count one of the gentlemen out of the race. At -many of the meetings, the reports had it, were the people "standing on -the crust of a muttering volcano," or in tense situations where "a -single spark to the powder" would have--played hell; and especially at -Gaffney on the preceding day, so the newspapers said, was the feeling so -bitter and the words so caustic that partisans of Killam and LaRoque, -"desperate men who would shoot at the drop of a hat, had stood with -bated breath, hand on pistol, imminently expectant of the fatal word -that should cause rivers of blood to flow." - -Non-residents who occasionally read of the South Carolina campaigns and -have formed the idea that they are things of blood, battle, murder and -sudden death, may be somewhat relieved and reassured to learn that in -the last thirty years not a single volcano has erupted, not a -powder-mine has exploded, not a teaspoonful of blood have all the -candidates together shed--notwithstanding the fact that a fiery Lie -Direct has more than once been pitched sputtering hot into the powder of -these debates. Let timid outsiders not be too much overwrought, -therefore, because of these bated breaths and hands full of pistols,--it -is just a cute way the good South Carolinians have of manifesting an -interest in the proceedings. - -The Spartanburg debate drew itself along after the usual fashion. There -was plenty of noise, gesticulation and heat, and the usual allotment of -"critical moments" when "tragedy was miraculously averted" by the -"marvelous self-control and cool head of the Honourable" Thomas, Richard -or Henry. - -Senator Killam followed Colonel LaRoque, and long before he had -finished, the crust over the volcano had been worn thinner than ever, -the crowd was in a tumult, and no man could have made an altogether -coherent speech to it. - -The Senator had not referred to Rutledge in his talk, but at the end of -it, as Rutledge was to follow him, he introduced him to the people as -"my young friend who believes it is possible for a negro to become the -equal of a white man." It had been Mr. Killam's studied practice to -ignore Rutledge and treat his candidacy as a harmless youthful caper, -and he usually referred to his former colleague briefly in the very -words in which he then presented him to the assembled Spartans. - -Mr. Killam's shrewd but unfair characterization of him gave Rutledge a -fine opening for a speech, but it gave him no little trouble also, for -the Senator always appeared to make the statement casually with an air -that said it didn't make the slightest difference anyway what the young -Mr. Rutledge thought; and it was a difficult thing for Rutledge to -straighten the matter out without magnifying the gravity of the charge. - -Rutledge was quite able to take care of himself in any controversy where -calm and intelligent reason was the arbiter, but it requires a peculiar -order of ability to be master of such assemblies as was gathered there. -While far from being a novice or a failure at stump-speaking, Rutledge -was not in Senator Killam's class at that business. He had not learned -that, whatever else it may be, and however much it may be such -incidentally, a stump-speech is not primarily an appeal to reason. He -took too much pains to be perfectly accurate, consistent and logical in -all the details of his argument. He dealt too much in argument. His -reasoning was excellent--as far as he was permitted to deliver it; but -many of his choicest webs of logic were demolished half-spun by the -irrelevant, irreverent, impertinent questions yelled at him by the -crowd. - -It takes a shifty man to accept all these challenges and turn them to -his own account. Rutledge was well aware of that fact, but it was not -for that reason alone that he ignored them as far as possible. He had -started out on the campaign with the high purpose and resolve to pay his -countrymen the compliment to talk to them as to men who think, and he -had held as religiously to that ideal as his countrymen would permit. - -Like the other three he was addressing himself principally to the record -and claims of Mr. Killam, and the Killam partisans, already fomented by -LaRoque's speech, were in a ferment of disorder. In a perfect shower of -interruptions Rutledge had held his way unturned and apparently -unnoticing when-- - -"You want to marry ol' Phillips' oldes' daughter, don't yuh?" split the -air like the crack of a bull-whip. - -Rutledge, hand uplifted in the middle of a sentence, stopped so quickly, -so astonished, that he forgot to lower his arm. - -"Um-huh! Thought that'd fetch yuh! When're yuh goin' to marry the -nigger's sister?" - -Before Rutledge could locate the disturber the crowd was in an uproar. - -"Kill him!" "Kick him out!" "Hit him in the head with an axe!"--these -were only a few of the cries that tore themselves through the -pandemonium. - -Rutledge stood, pale with passion, while the outburst spent itself. It -seemed a very long time. - -"My fellow countrymen," he said, when his voice could be heard--and at -the sound of it the assemblage became very quiet--"I will answer my -unknown and unseen questioner as though he were a man and not a dog. I -have not the honour or the hope to be engaged to Miss Phillips; but, if -I had, I would account myself most fortunate. So much for the -question.... As for the man who asked it, we certainly have come upon -strange times in South Carolina, my countrymen, if the names of women -are to be bandied in political debates. It has not surprised me to see -you rebuke it. By your quick indignation at such an outrage you have -spontaneously vindicated the good name of your State. The dog who made -this attack cannot be of South Carolina. If born so he is a degenerate -hound. You have no part with him: and before you kick him out there is -only left for you to inquire whose collar he wears. What master has fed -him and trained him and taught him this trick, and secretly has set him -on to make this attack? That is the only question, my countrymen: _Whose -hound dog is this_?" - -"Rutledge! Rutledge! Hurrah for Rutledge!" "Kick him out!" "Shoot the -dog!" "Tie a can to his tail!" "Who's lost a dog?" "Hurrah for -Rutledge!" Rutledge's supporters bestirred their lungs to make the most -of the situation. - -"You go to hell! Hurrah for Killam!"--the defiant voice was the voice -of the offender. - -Senator Killam sprang to his feet with the bound of a panther. - -"Say, you!"--he leaned far over the edge of the platform and shook his -fist in a towering rage at his admirer who now stood revealed--"I give -you to understand that I don't want the support of any such damn -scoundrel as you or any of your folks, you infernal--" but bless you, -though the Senator was screaming his denunciation, the rest of it was -lost to history in the war of applause in which "Killam!" and -"Rutledge!" seemed to bear about equal weight. The deafening crash of -sound seemed to double when Mr. Killam, ceasing his screaming pantomime, -stepped quickly over to Rutledge and extended his hand, which Rutledge -took and shook with warmth as the old man spoke something that of course -the crowd could not hear. - - * * * * * - -After the speaking was finished, Rutledge went back to his hotel, and, -taking from the clerk a bundle of mail that had been forwarded to him, -climbed up to his room to look it over. - -The third letter he opened was in a plain business envelope with -typewritten address. He read: - -"Unspeakably false? No, no, Evans, I am not false. I have not been -false: for I love you. Such a long time I have loved you. Sometimes I -have believed you loved me, and sometimes I have doubted; but I do not -doubt since you told me to-night I was unspeakably false. Shame on you -to swear at your sweetheart so!--and bless you for saying it, for now I -know. O why did you not say it earlier so that I might not have misread -you? I thought you felt yourself committed, and must go on: that your -love was dead, but honour held you. You looked so distressed, dear -heart, that I was misled. Forgive me. And do not think I do not know -your distress. I, too--but no, I must not. I love you, I cannot do -more. In your rage were you conscious that your kiss fell upon _my -lips_, dearest? Blind you were when you said I was unspeakably false--" - - - - - *CHAPTER XL* - - -Elise Phillips had not stirred from Virginia Springs since coming there -with her mother and two little sisters early in April. Her father had -visited them regularly each week-end except when imperative official -duties forbade, and had suggested at his almost every coming that Elise -take some little outing from her mother's bedside. Elise would not go. -She was as constant in ministering to her mother as was the nurse in -charge. - -Not even when her father died did she go to look upon him in farewell, -for she was momentarily fearful lest her mother go away also for ever. -It was a forced choice between the claims of the living and the dead. -Her heart was torn with a distressing sense of her father's loneliness -in death--going to his grave in state, thousands following his -catafalque--and yet not a single member of his family beside him: her -mother and Helen prostrated, Katherine and May too very young, and she -herself drawn on the rack of a divided duty. - -Her daily life had been secluded and monotonous, except in the moments -when her cumulating sorrows were so poignant that they drove out -monotony. With religious regularity and with tenderest love--as for a -wayward unfortunate child--she had written to Helen at Hill-Top, and at -the private hospital in which she was now detained, until the physician -in charge had requested that she discontinue her letters except at such -times as he should advise. - -Only in the last fortnight, since her mother was beginning slowly to -recover strength, had Elise given the slightest heed to her physician's -orders that she herself take some appreciable outdoor exercise and care -of her health. Few of the summer visitors stopping at the one hotel of -the quiet resort ever had a glimpse of her, for the reason that the -cottage taken by Mrs. Phillips was quite removed and secluded. The few -friends who did see her remarked upon her loss of flesh and added -beauty. - -Elise was never beautiful after an assertive, flamboyant fashion, but -was of that sublimated type of loveliness that, stealing slowly and -softly in upon the senses, at last holds them rapt before the Rare -Vision: Woman in Excelsis. Now, however, vigils and griefs had touched -her face and form with a spirituelle quality not ordinarily possessed by -them, and this ethereal effect caught the eye more quickly, and revealed -at once the fine and exquisite modelling of her beauty. - -She had seen and heard very little of Rutledge for half a year. During -the remainder of the Washington season after Helen's marriage was -announced she had bravely kept up appearances by missing none of the -functions and gayeties that had claim upon her time and interest, and on -one or two occasions had been face to face with him and exchanged brief -but formal salutations. Since she had been at Virginia Springs an -occasional brief press notice of the South Carolina senatorial campaign -was all the word she had of him except a couple of lines in a letter -from Lola Hazard in May. - -On the Sunday morning after the Spartanburg meeting, at about the usual -hour of eleven o'clock, the boy brought the Washington papers. As Elise -sat down in the shadow of the porch and unfolded _The Post_ she -experienced the most acute sensations of interest that had stirred her -for months. Over and again she read that Mr. Rutledge had neither "the -honour nor the hope to be engaged to" her. - -After the first surprise, came anger. The publicity was very offensive; -and, beyond that, the denial itself was to be resented. As she -understood it, no gentleman has the right to deny an engagement to any -_lady_--that was the woman's privilege: and for the man's denial to -savour of meeting an accusation--unpardonable! - -But he had said "the honour:" oh, yes, of course; she admitted the word -was all right, but at best it was such a formal word: and it might have -been sarcasm--she could hardly imagine it other--for had he not told her -she was unspeakably false? If she only could have heard how he said it! -... "Nor the hope:" worse still, he was trying to purge himself of the -very slightest mental taint of guilt. It was an utter repudiation of -her--in the face of the mob, he had not even _the hope_--very well, let -it be so--doubtless his political career and a South Carolina mob was -what he had in mind when he had said to her, "It is better so." ... -"Would account himself most fortunate:" oh, certainly, Elise sneered, -make a brave show of gallantry, but be particular to have the mob -understand that you have _not even the hope_ (by which it will -understand _desire_)--it will be better so, for the politician.... -Resentment possessed Elise. - -This state of mind did abide with her--on through luncheon, and after. -She thought of little else. - -As evening approached she took Katherine and May for a stroll. -Following the roadway some little distance toward the hotel, the three -turned into a well-defined path leading up the hill that robbed the -cottagers of their sunsets. - -With an open prospect toward the east, the Virginia Springs folk might -have all the glories of the morning as the free gift of God; but to -possess the sunsets they must pay tribute of breath and strength in a -climb of what the low-country visitors called "the mountain." The long -ridge was really not of montane height, but was sufficiently uplifted to -stay the feet of all except such as "in the love of Nature hold -communion with her visible forms." - -Once on top, however,--with its broad, open, wind-swept reaches rolling -down to the wide river valley on the west and southwest, with a sweep of -vision over the lower hills and lowlands to the north, east and south, -and in the west across the river to the far-lying mountains showing -under the afternoon sunlight only their smoky heads indistinct above the -white haze that veiled the foothills: one had measurably the sensation -of standing on top of the world.... The climb was a favourite diversion -of Elise, and the red-splashed and golden sunsets and the sense of -physical and spiritual uplift, a passion with her. - -Before they reached the summit on this summer afternoon, the little May -was sufficiently exercised, and wished to return. Permitting her and -Katherine to go back alone, Elise climbed on to the top of the hill. and -sitting down in her favourite seat, looked steadily into the west--into -the future--into her heart.... Pride is inherently not a bad thing. Nor -are its works always evil. Elise's pride in her love finally rebelled -against her evil thinking of her lover. It preferred to think good of -him, and it began to construct a defence of him.... First it set up -that she had refused him pointblank, had denied her own love, and that -after such a dismissal she certainly could demand from him nothing in -the way of loyalty. Further, before dismissing him she had led him on -to hope, no doubt about that; and in the light of her conduct his -denunciation was just: she had mocked him--he was justified in thinking -she was unspeakably false. What right, then, had she now to demand of -his love that it should be loyal, that it should sacrifice his political -future, that it should confess to a hope,--or even to a desire, if he -had so meant it? Her heart admitted she was estopped.... Yet it could -not be content and dismiss the matter from her thinking.... Had he meant -to deny desire in denying hope? She asked herself the question.... -Could one negative hope without admitting desire? ... Is there not -desire in the dead as in the living hope? Do not hope and hopeless -premise desire? ... Elise's mind was wandering in the maze of the -psychology of hope, when she looked about to see coming up toward her -_the man_. - - * * * * * - -Rutledge caught a train Washington bound in thirty minutes after reading -Elise's fragment of a letter. He sent a telegram to his campaign -manager, Robertson: "I am called north on business. Will miss -Greenville meeting. Represent me there. It is probable I can make -Laurens meeting Tuesday." - -The hurry of his departure over, he sat in the Pullman and persuaded -himself that he was undecided as to what he should do and was giving a -judicial consideration to the advisability of marrying a woman -sister-in-law to a negro: but the while he thought he was debating the -matter Kale Lineberger was whisking the New York and New Orleans Limited -along the curves of the Big Thicketty and across the bridges of the -Broad and the Catawba--speeding him on toward the girl--as fast as an -expert handling of throttle, lever and "air" could turn the -driving-wheels of the mammoth "1231" and keep her feet on the rails.... - -As Rutledge in the cool of Sunday morning stepped from the rear sleeper, -Jim McQueen climbed down from the engine, oil-can in hand. - -"Well," said Jim, taking a look at his watch, "here's one Southern train -under a Washington shed on time,--if I do say it, as shouldn't." ... -Rutledge had not lost ten seconds in his coming to Elise. - -Buying a copy of _The Mail_ from a boy, he took a cab to his lodgings. -From habit he looked first at the editorials. Turning then to the first -page he saw under a modest headline an accurate account of the -yesterday's episode at Spartanburg, and his statement that he was not -engaged to Miss Phillips. He read it over a second time. Then, as if -by the recurrence of a lapsed instinct, unthinkingly he turned the -leaves and was reading an item on the "society page." - -"Virginia Springs, Va.--Her physician states that Mrs. Hayne Phillips is -recovering very slowly from the effects of the terrible shock caused by -Mr. Phillips' death, and will hardly be strong enough to be removed to -her home in Cleveland before the first of October." - -Rutledge had been buried in South Carolina politics for ten weeks and in -that time had not seen the Virginia Springs date-line sometime so -familiar to him. Of course, he thought, Elise is with her mother! and -from the dating-stamp on that letter he had carelessly assumed she was -in Washington. He turned back a page and glanced hurriedly at a -railroad time-card, then at his watch. - -"Here," he called sharply to the cabby, who jerked up his horse, "you've -but three minutes to get me back to the station--get a move on!" ... Out -of the cab through the waiting-room and at the gate he rushed. The -placid keeper barred the way. - -"C. & O. west!" snapped Rutledge. - -"Gone." The gateman seemed to be thinking of something else. - -"How long since?" - -"Half minute. Lynchburg, yes, madam--third track." - -"When's the next?" Rutledge demanded impatiently. - -"Three-eighteen. Don't block the way." - - * * * * * - -Desiring to avoid interviews and interviewers, Rutledge drove to his -sleeping quarters and shut himself in for the seven or eight hours wait. -His fever of impatience had time to rise and fall many times before the -hour and minute of 3:18 came slowly and grudgingly to pass. He had so -desired to tell Elise that he had come without delay. - -It was very late in the afternoon when he reached the Virginia Springs -hotel. He was somewhat undecided how to proceed: whether to ask Elise's -permission to call or to present himself unannounced, whether to inquire -of the clerk in the crowded lobby the way to the Phillips' cottage or to -acquire the information more quietly. He noted that not less than half -a dozen men within ear-shot of the clerk's desk were at the moment -reading various papers that had Elise's name and his own in display type -on their front pages. - -As he came down from his room after hurriedly making himself presentable -he met at the foot of the stairs Mr. Sanders, the managing owner of _The -Mail_. He was surprised, but annoyed more than surprised--for he must be -deferential to his chief,--and another precious half-hour was consumed -in the effort to pull himself away without giving offence. His only -compensation for the delay was in learning casually from Mr. Sanders -where to seek the Phillips cottage. - -Finally shaking himself loose, he set out with more impatience than -haste to find Elise. When he had gotten beyond the eyes of the people -in the hotel he put some little speed into his steps. He was striding -along rapidly when just in front of him Katherine and May Phillips came -down out of the hill path into the road. - -"Isn't this Katherine Phillips?" he asked, overtaking them. - -"Yes," said Katherine, looking doubtfully at him. - -"Well," said Rutledge, hesitating a moment, "you permitted me to shake -hands with you once. I'm Mr. Rutledge. Do you remember?" - -"Yes," said Katherine, though with a shade of uncertainty in her tone. - -"That's good. And who is this?" - -"May," said Katherine. - -"Why, certainly. I might have guessed." Rutledge extended his hand and -the little girl took it in simple confidence. "And where are you two -little ladies going, if I may ask?" - -"Elise sent us home," said May, permitting him still to hold her -fingers. - -"And where is she?" Involuntarily Rutledge almost came to a halt as he -asked the question. - -"Way up on the mountain." May waved her small arm indefinitely back the -way they had come.... Rutledge's steps became slower and slower. - -"Well, young ladies, I'm glad to have met you. I must be getting back. -I suppose you can get home safe." - -"Oh, yes," said Katherine. "It's not far." - -"So? Well, good-bye." - -"Good-bye," said the little girls. - -Rutledge's steps quickened as he came to the path and turned hurriedly -up the hill. - - * * * * * - -Your woman of the world is marvelous in her self-possession. In a -moment of complete abandon to thoughts of her love and her lover, Elise -looked about and saw the man coming to her. With her mind so intent -upon him that she wavered for a moment in doubt lest his appearing was -an hallucination, her manner of greeting him was the perfection of -indifferent politeness--neither warm nor frosty. - -"Good afternoon, Mr. Rutledge. What wind blows you across the world -to-day?"--she seemed to know that he was just passing across the hill. - -With her heart-revealing letter in his pocket--nay more, committed every -word to memory in his heart--Rutledge was taken aback by the casual way -in which she spoke to him. He knew, of course, that she had not mailed -him the letter and was not aware that he had it; yet on the basis of the -letter he had conceived words he would say to her and she to him: but -not a word he had prepared was possible at the moment. - -"I am--I came--I have an appointment with Mr. Sanders, the owner of _The -Mail_--at the hotel--at half past eight." The appointment had been made -ten minutes ago. It was the only wind he could think of that was -blowing him across the world. - -The man's confusion and seriousness and conscientious statement of -detail ordinarily would have amused Elise; but she had not for months -been in a mood to be amused. - -A moment later Rutledge was laughing inwardly at himself, his confusion -gone, his self-possession perfect. His prosaic accounting for his -presence smothered the tiny romantic flame that had kindled in Elise's -bosom, and she in turn was taken aback: and the man saw, and knew, and -laughed unholily. Not even the most observing eye, fairly limited, -would have detected the effect upon her; but he had an unfair -advantage--for had he not her letter at that moment snuggled up close to -his heart? - -His laugh was not out-breaking, but the girl saw embarrassment drop as a -cloak from his manner, and a flicker of amusement in his eyes; and the -quickness of the change was a bit bewildering to her. The word upon her -lips was stayed as she looked steadily at him as if for an explanation. - -Rutledge spoke first,--but he did not presume upon his unfair advantage. -All the tenderness of his soul was bowing before the clear-eyed young -woman as she stood there so adorable, swinging her black hat in her -hand, the light hill-breeze stirring the loose strands of sunlit hair -about her temples and the folds of her simple summery mourning dress. -If he had obeyed the impulse he would have knelt to kiss the hem of that -dress. Emboldened by the words of her letter, he could not even then -with unseemly assurance come to her heart to possess it. Confidently as -he came to claim it, he drew near to her love as one whose steps -approach a shrine. - -"It is a very pleasant surprise to find you up here," he said. "And -this view is a surprise also--a revelation. They did not tell me at the -hotel that such an one was to be had from this hill." - -Elise was deceived by his words, and convinced that the merest chance -had appointed this meeting: and yet she could not dismiss from her mind -the question, "Why did he walk so straight at me as he came up the -hill?" His words, however, put the situation on an impersonal basis and -her reply in kind established the conventional status. - -They talked of indifferent things, and she was speaking of the splendour -that was flaming in the west when the man's impatience broke the bands -he had put upon it. - -"Elise, I love you, and I want you to be my wife." It was abrupt but it -was in tones of humble entreaty. - -Taken completely unawares, Elise turned quickly about from the sunset to -look at him. Her gray eyes weighed his truth in the balance for five -seconds. His manner was softened and natural, his face and attitude -spoke love in every line. Her eyes dropped before his, and a rich -colour came to her throat, cheek and temple as she turned again to the -golden west. - -Rutledge made a step toward her as if to take her. Her hand went up to -stay him, though the lovelight was on her face. - -"Don't," she said gently. She was disposed to play with her happiness, -to hold him at arm's length. "Why do you come to me again, Mr. Rutledge? -You have had my answer once, and it must have convinced you." Her words -and her manner were contradictory, and Rutledge was confused. "You -plead without hope. You told the people yesterday that you had not even -the hope to be engaged to me. Why pursue a hopeless--no, no, don't!" -she again commanded as, ignoring her words, he moved to answer her -smile. - -"And it's better so, Mr. Rutledge. You yourself have said it; and you -can hardly expect me to gainsay it." - -Despite the smile on her face this was a shot that went home, and it put -Rutledge on the defensive. - -"You could hardly expect me to say less, Elise, after your denial of -your love for me." - -"My love for you? Of all the presumption!" - -Elise caught her breath at this rejoinder, but it only gave zest to the -game and she tilted her chin mockingly at him. - -Rutledge, with some deliberation, took from an inside coat pocket a -letter, and handed it to her. She glanced at it in astonished surprise, -and her face went hard. - -"Where did you get this?" she cried. - -"In the mail, yesterday afternoon. Elise, I didn't delay a moment in -coming to you. It came--" - -"So this is what brought you!" - -"Yes. I--" - -"And you thought I sent it?"--her voice was as hard as her eyes were -cold. - -"No. But you wrote it, and--" - -"Did I?" - -"Didn't you?" - -"What a question!--and you came because you thought a lady called. -Certainly you did! You Southerners are so abominably gallant.... You -have acquitted yourself very handsomely, Mr. Rutledge. I congratulate -you. You have thoroughly vindicated your claim to the name of -'gentleman'--'Southern gentleman,' if the term is of more excellence. -Assuredly nothing further is required of you. I ex--" - -"Elise, you wrote that letter." - -"No." - -"Elise!" - -"Stop. Don't touch me!"--but his left arm went determinedly about her, -and only with both hands could she hold his right hand away. - -"You wrote that letter, Elise; and you love me." - -"No--never--no!" ... Her physical resistance seemed a match for his -strength. - -"It is useless, Elise," he said to her as with tense muscles he strove -to subdue her will and her wilful pride. "I have always loved you, and -now that I know you love me nothing shall divide us. Why should you -hold out against love?" - -But Elise's resistance was fixed and set. Rutledge pleaded and begged -and made love to her with all the tenderness of his heart and the energy -of his passion for her, and exerted his physical strength to break down -her defence. - -"Tell me that you wrote it, sweetheart," he implored and besought her -again and again: but she only shook her head in dissent. He exhausted -every prayer and plea without avail. - -Desperately resolved to win at any cost, he could only hold her fast and -swear in his heart she should not escape him. Finally he called upon -all his muscular power to crush her into surrender, and mercilessly bore -in upon her. - -Elise bore out against him with all her strength. Her face became first -crimson and then pale with the effort. Her teeth bit into her lips. -Her breathing became fast and faster. But her will would not bend. The -man's brute force was almost vicious in its unrestraint. A tear was -forced through her tight-shut lashes, but her chin was still uplifted in -defiance when-- - -"You hurt me, Evans," she said, as her resistance collapsed and her face -fell hidden against his breast. - -"And you wrote the letter, Elise?" he contended, broken-hearted that he -had hurt her, but holding her fiercely yet. - -"Yes, dear;"--and he is holding her so tenderly now. - - * * * * * - -Weakly she stood, held close within his arms, until her exhaustion -passed, while he murmured to her the gentle nothings which have been -messengers of love in all ages. Very gently then she freed herself from -his embrace, permitting him still to hold her fingers. - -"Let your own lips tell me you love me, Elise." - -She looked up at him from under drooping lashes. Her mental decision -came before her actual complaisance. She revelled for a time in the -ecstasy of her mental abandon to love, and trembled in the very joy of -it. - -"Yes, yes, I love you,"--and with closing eyes she lifted her face in -surrender. A long, long caress intoxicates them, and then, as if in -expiation for the blessed delirium of it-- - -"But not while Helen--not until Helen--oh, it is too horrible to wait -for your own sister to die!"--and she is crying her heart out against -his shoulder. - -Rutledge waited till her tears were spent, and then tenderly he -protested. - -"But Elise, you will not make any such decree as that. There's no need -that we should wait on Helen's account." - -"Not while she lives, not while she lives," Elise repeated, looking into -his eyes. "I cannot permit your love to bring you to--" - -"My love is all-sufficient, Elise; and all else is nothing since you -love me. Do not let your pride defeat us of our happiness, sweetheart. -Already it--" - -"Pride? I have no pride any more for you, my dear. I do not conceal my -heart's love nor its woes from you. I believe that love alone, not -_noblesse_, brings you to me now. I love you, yes, I love you, but my -love forbids that I should marry you and destroy your career and your -mother's happiness." - -"My mother! What do you know of that?" - -"It is so, then! I knew it, Evans;--prescience, I suppose. I am a -granddaughter of South Carolina, you know. I know in my own heart what -her sorrow would be." - -"No, no, Elise, you misjudge my mother. She would love you as she loves -me." - -"Love me, yes--as well as even now I love--your mother. I believe it -and am glad, Evans. But, with all her loving, she could not put away -shame and grief. I know, dear, I know. She would love me and--curse -me." - -"No, no, you do not know. I am willing to speak for my mother. She -will--" - -"But who can speak for the voters in the coming election? No, Evans, I -must not! It would defeat you. Your sacrifice would be too great!" - -"There would be no sacrifice. You are worth it all to me, dearest -heart--and more. And beside, I do not think the voters of my State -would--" - -"Wait," said Elise. "Answer me--and answer me truly, for remember my -pride is gone and only love is in my heart. Will you win the -Senatorship?" - -"The prospect is quite alluring," the man replied. "The betting is 2 to -1 that the first primary will not elect, and 9 to 10 that I will defeat -Mr. Killam in the second. Robertson really seems to be convinced that I -am to succeed." - -"Oh, how good that is! I pray for you--but would it not cost you votes, -maybe the election, to marry me?--to be engaged to me, even? Do not -deceive me. Have you not thought of the hurt it would do your chance of -success? Truth and honour, now,--as I love you." - -In the face of that sacred obligation Rutledge hesitated an instant. - -"_Thought_ of it, yes," he said at last, "but--" - -"Then the danger is something considerable. I knew it. My letter's -coming was untimely, thanks to the unknown person who mailed it to you. -No, my dear, I will not marry you. I will not engage myself to you. I -will not defeat you." - -Rutledge gathered her to himself again, confident to crush her -opposition by brute mastery as before. But there was no physical -opposition to be mastered now. - -"It is useless," she said wearily. "I love you too much to marry you -now, Evans." - -"Now?" repeated Rutledge. "If not now, when?" - -"Or to engage myself to you." - -Her impassive manner was tantalizingly irritating to him as he laid -under tribute every resource of his mind and heart to overturn her -decision. Her non-resisting resistance was proof against attack. It -was like fighting a fog. Seemingly it offered no opposition, and yet -when he had exhausted himself in attempts to brush it aside, it was -there, filling all space. - -"No, no!" she cried out at last, thoroughly aroused by his passionate -plea for their happiness; "go! it is sinful even to dream of being happy -while one's sister is so wretched--and I will not have your blood upon -my hands--nor your mother's curse upon me!" - -Rutledge gazed steadily at her a few moments,--and for an answer drew -out his watch to see what the hour was. - -"Kiss me good-bye," she said, holding her lips up. to him simply as a -child. - -Taking her hands and drawing them to his heart he bent his head down to -hers as reverently as if that gentle, lingering kiss were a sacrament. -Turning away, he went swiftly down the path he had come. - -Elise sat down upon the boulder from which she had risen at his coming. -With her arms clasping her knees, her head was bowed above them, and her -shoulders drooped in abject hopelessness. - -Looking up at the sound of his steps returning, she half turns to motion -him away. - -"No, no. It means only that I no longer dissemble before you. Go. -There is no hope." And as he obeys she settles back motionless again -into that living statue of Despair. - - * * * * * - -When Mrs. Hazard read in that Sunday's paper an account of the -Spartanburg meeting she was dismayed. She had been on the _qui vive_ -for nearly a week, though not looking to the newspapers for information. -Rutledge's repudiation of Elise angered her. - -Monday's papers, however, brought her better temper. She laughed softly -as she read among the Virginia Springs items that Mr. Rutledge had -arrived there on Sunday afternoon. She was somewhat mystified, though, -by the fact that Mr. Rutledge had been so hopeless on Saturday -afternoon,--and she was struck with consternation when at last she -happened upon a local item which said Mr. Rutledge had passed through -the city Sunday night on his return to South Carolina. - -"I think she might have written me!" she said when Monday's noon mail -brought no letter from her friend. - -"I'm going to run over to see Elise this afternoon, if I can catch the -train," she told her husband at luncheon; and at 3:18 she was on the -way. A wreck ahead of them put her at the Virginia Springs hotel about -bed-time. - - * * * * * - -"How did you get here? I'm so glad to see you!" Elise exclaimed when -Lola appeared at the cottage next morning. - -"Came last night," Lola said, giving her a hug, "but a miserable wreck -held us up till long after dark. I would have come directly here even -then, but I did not know how your mother was." - -"She is much better," Elise said. "Come right in to see her." - -Lola loved Mrs. Phillips very heartily, but she felt that Elise was -precipitate in taking her immediately to her mother's room. She went -along, of course, and sat down and talked to the two of them for an hour -or more. There seemed to be no end to the things they discussed,--the -more interminable they were because of the fact that Mrs. Hazard had not -made her journey for the pleasure of a general conversation. - -She could not understand why Elise did this thing. She tried to read the -young lady's reason in her face, but that told nothing. It had not the -elation that bespoke a heart joyous in its love. Neither, in the -conventional gayety of the three-cornered conversation, did it betray a -heart that was desolate. The only thing certain was Elise's evident -avoidance of a _tete-a-tete_ with her best friend. - -It came to pass Mrs. Phillips had to dismiss them on the plea of -exhaustion. Lola apologized profusely. Elise felt guilty, but she asked -for no pardon. - -The young women went out on the broad veranda. Elise offered Lola the -hammock; but Mrs. Hazard was unconsciously too intent upon a present -purpose to assume such a purposeless attitude. She took a -rocking-chair, but she did not rock. As Elise arranged herself in the -hammock, her friend bethought herself as to how she should begin her -inquiries. She thought best not to display too minute an acquaintance -with the situation. - -Elise had indeed some curiosity to know how Rutledge had come into -possession of the letter, and believed that Lola could throw light on -that matter. But to ask about it was too much like opening the grave of -love: and she recoiled. Looking at her face in repose, Lola was -convinced that things had gone wrong. This made her take the more -thought for an opening. - -In the hush before the talk would begin, the boy brought the morning's -paper. Lola, seated nearest the steps, took it from his hand. She did -not have to unfold it to read what was of supreme interest. As she -read, her eyes danced. Half finished, she glanced from the paper to -Elise, whose face was apathy clothed in flesh. Lola sought the paper -again, feeling that the spooks were playing a trick upon her. It was -very plain reading, however. She crushed the paper in her lap, and -studied the profile of the girl in the hammock. - -"Elise!" she called, still feeling that the spooks had her. - -Elise slowly turned toward her a listless face,--which, indeed, took on -some life at sight of Mrs. Hazard's excitement. - -"What is it?" she asked. - -"Oh, full of all guile and subtlety!" Lola exclaimed with a gasp. -"Well, I have never!" - -Elise looked at her inquiringly. - -"Listen, miss; while I read you the news." - -Lola picked up the paper and took time to smooth out its wrinkles. - -"Don't be impatient, my lady.... Now. Here is the paragraph. It is -part of a special despatch from Greenville, South Carolina. You have no -idea where that is, of course; but listen: - -"Ex-Senator Rutledge spoke last. He had just arrived from Washington, -unexpectedly, on a delayed train, and had not had time to brush the -coal-dust from his clothes. He made the usual forcible speech with -which he has dignified the campaign. At the end of it he said: 'My -fellow countrymen, I must be honest and candid with you. At the -Spartanburg meeting day before yesterday, in answer to the question of a -disreputable dog, I said that I had neither the honour nor the hope to -be engaged to the eldest daughter of the late President Phillips. That -was the exact truth, my countrymen. To-day I tell you that I do have -the happiness to be engaged to Miss Elise Phillips and that we will be -married on the last Thursday in next March.'" - -There was no apathy in Elise's profile when Lola looked up from her -reading. The girl had covered her face with her hands, and flood upon -flood of colour was racing over it. - -"Is that 'the exact truth, my countrymen?'" Lola demanded, standing over -the hammock. - -"Yes," Elise said, "why not?"--and Lola grabbed her with a joyful shout. - -"Don't make such a fuss," Elise sputtered from out the smother of Mrs. -Hazard's kisses, "for I haven't told mamma yet." - - * * * * * - -"--And look here," a radiant Elise demanded when the two of them had -become somewhat composed, "I want to know how it came about that a -letter I wrote _and burned_ should have--" - -"Stop, stop, honey; I will not answer.... But I _do_ think it is a very -bad Samaritan who will not help Dan Cupid when he's in trouble." - - - - - *CHAPTER XLI* - - -The communications between Hayward Graham and the physician in charge of -the private hospital in which Helen was detained had become caustic. So -much so, that the great specialist had asked Graham to remove her from -his care. This Hayward was unable to do. Mrs. Phillips was paying the -hospital fees and expenses, and Hayward felt that he could not keep his -wife in proper and befitting manner even if she were altogether sane and -sound in health. He had no means with which properly to provide for her -if she was really in such a condition as the physician declared. - -Not being willing or able to assume responsibility for her removal, he -was all the more angered at what he believed to be the eminent -alienist's positive misrepresentation of the gravity of Helen's ailment -and his unwarranted and cavalier treatment of him, her husband. -Provoked beyond endurance he went at last to the hospital. - -"Mr. Hayward Graham? Yes. Well, come right into my office. Now, what -may I do for you?" - -"Your last letter about my wife, doctor, was very unsatisfactory," said -Hayward, "and I came to see about it. Surely she cannot be so ill as -you report. When you admitted her you said she would recover her health -in a very short time." - -"Excuse me, Mr. Graham; but if you wish to take issue with me as to your -wife's condition, I will have to insist on the request in my letter of -yesterday--that you remove her at once," the physician said with -decision. - -"I do not desire to do that," Graham replied; "but I cannot understand -what has happened here to change her prospects of recovery, of which you -were so confident when you admitted her. Besides that I do not see why -you forbid me to communicate with her. She is certa--" - -"Wait a moment, Mr. Graham. You must understand that in our prejudgment -of these cases we do not arrogate to ourselves infallibility; but that -in our treatment of them we do demand for ourselves absolute authority -to say what shall and what shall not be done, and the very strictest -obedience to that. This is a very peculiar case. It has one element -that is altogether unique. Never before have I met it in my practice or -seen it in the books. I am doing the best I can with it, and if you do -not de--" - -"That is not it, doctor. I have no suggestions to make to you as to the -proper treatment, nor any objection, indeed, to complying with any -reasonable restriction; but when you say that I shall not see or -communicate with my wife at any time, it seems unreasonable. Does she -have no lucid intervals in which I might see her? Does she never think -or speak of me--never write to me?" - -"Yes, Mr. Graham, she has lucid intervals. She speaks of you at times, -oftentimes. And she writes to you occasionally, but I have decided that -it would not--" - -"Has written to me? And you have not sent me the letters? Surely, -surely, doctor, I am not crazy, that you should withhold letters from -me! Have you the letters? Has she written often?" - -"She has written often; but only on two occasions was there anything -except disjointed sentences. She--" - -"And when was that? And where are the letters?" - -"I have them," replied the doctor, "but I do not think that--" - -"I demand to see them, sir! I'm not in your hospital for treatment!" - -"Very well," said the doctor, "I'll get them for you." - -He went to a filing cabinet and took out a package of papers and came -back across the room with two sheets of paper which he handed to -Hayward, and watched him as he read them. - -The first was as sweet and gentle and loving a letter as the heart of -man could desire. Some of the references in it were a little bit -obscure and inaccurate, but Hayward was too much elated with the tender, -petting things it said to notice trifles so inconsequential. He -revelled in it like a hungry man at a feast. He gulped down its -sweetness ravenously: and took the second. What! The first sentence -was the jab of a misshapen barb--and every following sentence a twisting -of that barb in the flesh. - -"My God, this is awful!" he groaned. "I am sorry you gave it to me. -Have you no other like the first?" - -"No," said the doctor. "All her other writings have been mere scraps or -incoherent mixtures of such things as are in the first letter you have -there with such as are in the one you have just read. These are the -only ones in each of which her mood was fixed and distinct." - -Hayward took the first letter and read it over again as hungrily as at -first. - -"In which mood does she seem most to be?" he asked. - -"In the mood to write that first letter, fortunately; but the case is -peculiar in that very fact. I have studied it with--" - -"Let me see her," Hayward broke in. "May I see her? I must see her!" - -"I would advise against it," the doctor said, in a tone and manner that -was intended to be a polite refusal of permission. - -"But I _must_ see her, I tell you. I demand to see her! I am her -husband, and if she is quiet to-day I demand to see and speak to her." - -"Mr. Graham, this case is unique, as I have told you before; and even if -she is quiet I think it best not to--" - -"Now, doctor, stop right there a moment. She is my wife, and I will not -be bound by any orders her mother may have given you! I am going to see -her this once. I assume all responsibility, sir!" - -The physician looked at him with a sneer of contempt on his face. - -"Very well, Mr. Graham," he said finally. "You shall see her. But -permit me to say that Mrs. Phillips has had the good sense and the good -taste to make no suggestions to me as to how I shall manage this -case.... Come right along down to the ward, sir." - -He led the way down a long hall and, tapping upon a door, was admitted -into a transverse corridor by an attendant. - -"How is Mrs. Graham?" he asked in an undertone. - -"Quiet at the moment, sir." - -Hayward heard Helen's voice and started forward eagerly. The physician -caught him by the arm and restrained him. - -"Wait," he whispered. "Let's listen a minute." - -It was hard for Hayward to wait. He could hear Helen's words coming -from the second door down the corridor, and only the doctor's hand -stayed him from rushing into her presence. They moved quietly nearer to -the door and stood still to hear what she was saying. As they listened -tides of joy rolled in upon Hayward's heart.... - -Helen was humming a song that her husband had heard of old. Her voice, -though somewhat weak, had its old joyous ring. Hayward could easily -imagine she was coming tripping down to the stable for her horse to take -a morning canter. When she finished the song and was silent, he noted -for the first time that the grated door to her cell was locked and its -rungs and pickets were heavily padded. He resented that, and turned -upon the physician to protest, but was held by the doctor's signal for -silence. He obeyed, but his resentment grew as Helen's words came again -in gentle accents to them. - -She was moving slowly about, and was evidently arranging some -flowers--to judge by the things she was saying to them. It was very -kind of the doctor, her husband thought, to let her have her -flowers--she was always so fond of them.... In half a minute she was -singing a lullaby that she had sung to their baby. Hayward could hardly -contain himself. And when he heard her walk across the room,--to a -window, it seemed,--and say, in a tone so expressive of longing: "If -Hayward would only come and take me out to-day! It is such a beautiful -day outside," he snatched his arm free of the doctor's hand and called -to her as he sprang in front of the door. - -Helen turned at his call, and looked at him for a space with dilated -eyes. In that space Hayward saw that her cell was padded throughout, -floor and walls, and that there was not a flower or a flower-pot in the -room, that her clothing was torn, her hair streaming and dishevelled. -Before he had time to make any inferences from these facts, Helen, still -gazing at him with that peculiar stare, started across the room to him, -saying gladly, "Oh, you have come to take me out driving!" - -Nearly to the door she stopped. Slowly her face changed its whole -expression. The wide-eyed stare gave way, and the old Helen looked at -him a moment from her eyes. In another moment her face was convulsed in -a spasm of aversion. - -"Go away! Go away!" she cried out wildly as she turned from him. -Retreating into a far corner of her cell, she called to the attendant, -"Oh, save me!--take him away!--keep him away!" - -"Why, Helen, don't you know me?" Hayward called to her. - -"Yes, yes, I know you, but in God's name leave me! Don't let him in! -Don't let him in!" she pleaded with the physician, who also had come to -the door. - -"I'll not hurt you, Helen. You know I'll not hurt you. Don't run from -me. You know I'll not hurt you." - -Hayward motioned to the physician to unlock the door. Whereupon Helen -uttered a blood-curdling scream as she cowered back into her corner. - -"Don't! Don't!! He has already hurt me, doctor! Go away! Go _away_! -The poison of your blood is in my veins and will not come out! It is -polluted, forever polluted! A knife--_a knife_! Give me a knife, -doctor, that I may let it out. Please give me a knife. I have prayed -you daily for one and you won't give it to me. Kill me--_save me_! My -blood is _unclean_, and he did it! My baby was black, _black_!--and its -negro blood is in my veins! A knife, doctor! A knife!! Oo-o-a-ugh!! -I'll tear it out, then!"--and she clawed and tore and bit at her wrists -in an agony of endeavour to purge her veins of the tainted fluid which -had brought to life that fright, her baby. - -Hayward stood helpless and terror-stricken before the door, and his -staying only drove Helen into more horrible paroxysms. - -"Come away, man, come away," the doctor commanded; and he obeyed weakly. - -"Great God," he said when he was back in the physician's office, "that -is awful, awful! How can she live, doctor, if she is shaken and torn by -such dementia as that?" - -"I cannot say whether she will live, Mr. Graham," the doctor replied; -"but her periods of dementia give her the only relief that she enjoys. -As a remedy for exhaustion they are our only hope for her life so far -appearing." - -"I don't understand," said Graham, "how such suffering as that can be a -relief from exhaustion." - -"I did not say that," said the doctor. "I said her _periods of -dementia_ give her relief from exhaustion. As I said before, Mr. Graham, -this is an absolutely unique case. It is--" - -"Unique in what?" asked Graham. - -"It is unique in this," said the physician: "It is in her sane -moments--in her lucid intervals, when she is fully conscious of her -condition and situation--that she raves and tears herself and cries out -against the devils that are torturing her. It is in such moments that -her eyes have the light of reason in them. On the other hand, it is when -she is _insane_, demented--when her mind is unhinged and wandering--that -she is quiet and peaceful and happy. The letter you enjoyed was written -when she was crazy. The one that tortured you was written when she was -clothed and in her right mind." - -"My God, doctor, that cannot be! Do not tell me that!" cried Hayward, -shaken like a reed. "Tell me whether there is hope for her?" - -"As I said, Mr. Graham, the case is unique and therefore any opinion is -nothing more than a bare opinion, but to me her case is hopeless for the -reason that her violences are based not upon hallucinations--which might -pass--but upon _facts_ which no sane mind can deny. At present the only -hope for her life is that her periods of dementia, with their peace and -quiet, will increase: and that her sane moments, in which she suffers -the tortures of the damned, will become briefer and fewer. Only that -will save her from death from exhaustion." - -"No, no, doctor! Can't you--" - - * * * * * - -A soldier in uniform stepped into the recruiting office, saluted, handed -the officer his papers, and stood at _attention_, saying simply, "I -desire to re-enlist." - -The officer unfolded the "honourable discharge" and read aloud, -"Sergeant John Hayward Graham." Looking the paper over, he turned to -Graham. - -"Yes, this is all right--if you are physically fit; but you have waited -so long you have lost your rank and will have to begin at the very -bottom again." - -"Yes, sir. I understand, sir." - -"Very well, the clerk can make out the new papers from these while the -surgeon looks you over. Where do you wish to serve--in the United -States or the Philippines?" - -"Anywhere my country needs a man, sir." - - - - - THE END. - - - - - * * * * * * * * - - - - - *From* - - *L. C. Page & Company's - Announcement List - of New Fiction* - - - -*The Call of the South* - -BY ROBERT LEE DURHAM. Cloth decorative, with 6 illustrations by Henry -Roth . . . $1.50 - -A very strong novel dealing with the race problem in this country. The -principal theme is the _danger_ to society from the increasing -miscegenation of the black and white races, and the encouragement it -receives in the social amenities extended to negroes of distinction by -persons prominent in politics, philanthropy and educational endeavor; -and the author, a Southern lawyer, hopes to call the attention of the -whole country to the need of earnest work toward its discouragement. He -has written an absorbing drama of life which appeals with apparent logic -and of which the inevitable denouement comes as a final and convincing -climax. - -The author may be criticized by those who prefer not to face the hour -"When Your Fear Cometh As Desolation And Your Destruction Cometh As A -Whirlwind;" but his honesty of purpose in the frank expression of a -danger so well understood in the South, which, however, many in the -North refuse to recognize, while others have overlooked it, will be -upheld by the sober second thought of the majority of his readers. - - - * * * * * - - -*The House in the Water* - -BY CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS, author of "The Haunters of the Silences," "Red -Fox," "The Heart of the Ancient Wood," etc. With cover design, sixteen -full-page drawings, and many minor decorations by Charles Livingston -Bull. Cloth decorative, with decorated wrapper . . . $1.50 - -Professor Roberts's new book of nature and animal life is one long story -in which he tells of the life of that wonderfully acute and tireless -little worker, the beaver. "The Boy" and Jabe the Woodsman again -appear, figuring in the story even more than they did in "Red Fox;" and -the adventures of the boy and the beaver make most absorbing reading for -young and old. - -The following chapter headings for "The House in the Water" will give an -idea of the fascinating reading to come: - -THE SOUND IN THE NIGHT (Beavers at Work). - -THE BATTLE IN THE POND (Otter and Beaver). - -IN THE UNDER-WATER WORLD (Home Life of the Beaver). - -NIGHT WATCHERS ("The Boy" and Jabe and a Lynx See the Beavers at Work). - -DAM REPAIRING AND DAM BUILDING (A "House-raising" Bee). - -THE PERIL OF THE TRAPS (Jabe Shows "The Boy"). - -WINTER UNDER WATER (Safe from All but Man). - -THE SAVING OF BOY'S POND ("The Boy" Captures Two Outlaws). - -"As a writer about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an enviable place. He -is the most literary, as well as the most imaginative and vivid of all -the nature writers."--_Brooklyn Eagle_. - -"His animal stories are marvels of sympathetic science and literary -exactness."--_New York World_. - -"Poet Laureate of the Animal World, Professor Roberts displays the -keenest powers of observation closely interwoven with a fine imaginative -discretion."--_Boston Transcript_. - - - * * * * * - - -*Captain Love* - -THE HISTORY OF A MOST ROMANTIC EVENT IN THE LIFE OF AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN -DURING THE REIGN OF HIS MAJESTY GEORGE THE FIRST. CONTAINING INCIDENTS -OF COURTSHIP AND DANGER AS RELATED IN THE CHRONICLES OF THE PERIOD AND -NOW SET DOWN IN PRINT - -BY THEODORE ROBERTS, author of "The Red Feathers," "Brothers of Peril," -etc. Cloth decorative, illustrated by Frank T. Merrill . . . $1.50 - -A stirring romance with its scene laid in the troublous times in England -when so many broken gentlemen foregathered with the "Knights of the -Road;" when a man might lose part of his purse to his opponent at -"White's" over the dice, and the next day be relieved of the rest of his -money on some lonely heath at the point of a pistol in the hand of the -self-same gambler. - -But, if the setting be similar to other novels of the period, the story -is not. Mr. Roberts's work is always original, his style is always -graceful, his imagination fine, his situations refreshingly novel. In -his new book he has excelled himself. It is undoubtedly the best thing -he has done. - - - * * * * * - - -*Bahama Bill* - -BY T. JENKINS HAINS, author of "The Black Barque," "The Voyage of the -Arrow," etc. Cloth decorative, with frontispiece in colors by H. R. -Reuterdahl . . . $1.50 - -The scene of Captain Hains's new sea story is laid in the region of the -Florida Keys. His hero, the giant mate of the wrecking sloop, -_Sea-Horse_, while not one to stir the emotions of gentle feminine -readers, will arouse interest and admiration in men who appreciate -bravery and daring. - -His adventures while plying his desperate trade are full of the danger -that holds one at a sharp tension, and the reader forgets to be on the -side of law and order in his eagerness to see the "wrecker" safely -through his exciting escapades. - -Captain Hains's descriptions of life at sea are vivid, absorbingly frank -and remarkably true. "Bahama Bill" ranks high as a stirring, realistic, -unsoftened and undiluted tale of the sea, chock full of engrossing -interest. - - - * * * * * - - -*Matthew Porter* - -BY GAMALIEL BRADFORD, JR., author of "The Private Tutor," etc. With a -frontispiece in colors by Griswold Tyng . . . $1.50 - -When a young man has birth and character and strong ambition it is safe -to predict for him a brilliant career; and, when The Girl comes into his -life, a romance out of the ordinary. Such a man is Matthew Porter, and -the author has drawn him with fine power. - -Mr. Bradford has given us a charming romance with an unusual motive. -Effective glimpses of the social life of Boston form a contrast to the -more serious purpose of the story; but, in "Matthew Porter," it is the -conflict of personalities, the development of character, the human -element which grips the attention and compels admiration. - - - * * * * * - - -*Anne of Green Gables* - -BY L. M. MONTGOMERY. Cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -Every one, young or old, who reads the story of "Anne of Green Gables," -will fall in love with her, and tell their friends of her irresistible -charm. In her creation of the young heroine of this delightful tale -Miss Montgomery will receive praise for her fine sympathy with and -delicate appreciation of sensitive and imaginative girlhood. - -The story would take rank for the character of Anne alone; but in the -delineation of the characters of the old farmer, and his crabbed, -dried-up spinster sister who adopt her, the author has shown an insight -and descriptive power which add much to the fascination of the book. - - - * * * * * - - -*Spinster Farm* - -BY HELEN M. WINSLOW, author of "Literary Boston." Illustrated from -original photographs . . . $1.50 - -Whatever Miss Winslow writes is good, for she is in accord with the life -worth living. The Spinster, her niece "Peggy," the Professor, and young -Robert Graves,--not forgetting Hiram, the hired man,--are the characters -to whom we are introduced on "Spinster Farm." Most of the incidents and -all of the characters are real, as well as the farm and farmhouse, -unchanged since Colonial days. - -Light-hearted character sketches, and equally refreshing and unexpected -happenings are woven together with a thread of happy romance of which -Peggy of course is the vivacious heroine. Alluring descriptions of -nature and country life are given with fascinating bits of biography of -the farm animals and household pets. - - - * * * * * - - - *Selections from - L. C. Page and Company's - List of Fiction* - - - *WORKS OF ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS* - - _Each one vol., library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50_ - - -*The Flight of Georgiana* - -A ROMANCE OF THE DAYS OF THE YOUNG PRETENDER. Illustrated by H. C. -Edwards. - -"A love-story in the highest degree, a dashing story, and a remarkably -well finished piece of work."--_Chicago Record-Herald_. - - -*The Bright Face of Danger* - -Being an account of some adventures of Henri de Launay, son of the Sieur -de la Tournoire. Illustrated by H. C. Edwards. - -"Mr. Stephens has fairly outdone himself. We thank him heartily. The -story is nothing if not spirited and entertaining, rational and -convincing."--_Boston Transcript_. - - -*The Mystery of Murray Davenport* - -(40th thousand.) - -"This is easily the best thing that Mr. Stephens has yet done. Those -familiar with his other novels can best judge the measure of this -praise, which is generous."--Buffalo News. - - -*Captain Ravenshaw* - -OR, THE MAID OF CHEAPSIDE. (52d thousand.) A romance of Elizabethan -London. Illustrations by Howard Pyle and other artists. - -Not since the absorbing adventures of D'Artagnan have we had anything so -good in the blended vein of romance and comedy. - - -*The Continental Dragoon* - -A ROMANCE OF PHILIPSE MANOR HOUSE IN 1778. (53d thousand.) Illustrated -by H. C. Edwards. - -A stirring romance of the Revolution, with its scene laid on neutral -territory. - - -*Philip Winwood* - -(70th thousand.) A Sketch of the Domestic History of an American Captain -in the War of Independence, embracing events that occurred between and -during the years 1763 and 1785 in New York and London. Illustrated by -E. W. D. Hamilton. - - -*An Enemy to the King* - -(70th thousand.) From the "Recently Discovered Memoirs of the Sieur de -la Tournoire." Illustrated by H. De M. Young. - -An historical romance of the sixteenth century, describing the -adventures of a young French nobleman at the court of Henry III., and on -the field with Henry IV. - - -*The Road to Paris* - -A STORY OF ADVENTURE. (35th thousand.) Illustrated by H. C. Edwards. - -An historical romance of the eighteenth century, being an account of the -life of an American gentleman adventurer of Jacobite ancestry. - - -*A Gentleman Player* - -HIS ADVENTURES ON A SECRET MISSION FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH. (48th thousand.) -Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. - -The story of a young gentleman who joins Shakespeare's company of -players, and becomes a friend and protege of the great poet. - - -*Clementina's Highwayman* - -Cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -Mr. Stephens has put into his new book, "Clementina's Highway man," the -finest qualities of plot, construction, and literary finish. - -The story is laid in the mid-Georgian period. It is a dashing, -sparkling, vivacious comedy, with a heroine as lovely and changeable as -an April day, and a hero all ardor and daring. - -The exquisite quality of Mr. Stephens's literary style clothes the story -in a rich but delicate word-fabric; and never before have his setting -and atmosphere been so perfect. - - - * * * * * - - - *WORKS OF - CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS* - - -*Haunters of the Silences* - -Cloth, one volume, with many drawings by Charles Livingston Bull, four -of which are in full color . . . $2.00 - -The stories in Mr. Roberts's new collection are the strongest and best -he has ever written. - -He has largely taken for his subjects those animals rarely met with in -books, whose lives are spent "In the Silences," where they are the -supreme rulers. Mr. Roberts has written of them sympathetically, as -always, but with fine regard for the scientific truth. - -"As a writer about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an enviable place. He -is the most literary, as well as the most imaginative and vivid of all -the nature writers."--_Brooklyn Eagle_. - -"His animal stories are marvels of sympathetic science and literary -exactness."--_New York World_. - - -*Red Fox* - -THE STORY OF HIS ADVENTUROUS CAREER IN THE RINGWAAK WILDS, AND OF HIS -FINAL TRIUMPH OVER THE ENEMIES OF HIS KIND. With fifty illustrations, -including frontispiece in color and cover design by Charles Livingston -Bull. - -Square quarto, cloth decorative . . . $2.00 - -"Infinitely more wholesome reading than the average tale of sport, since -it gives a glimpse of the hunt from the point of view of the -hunted."--_Boston Transcript_. - -"True in substance but fascinating as fiction. It will interest old and -young, city-bound and free-footed, those who know animals and those who -do not."--_Chicago Record-Herald_. - -"A brilliant chapter in natural history."--_Philadelphia North -American_. - - -*The Kindred of the Wild* - -A BOOK OF ANIMAL LIFE. With fifty-one full-page plates and many -decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston Bull. Square quarto, -decorative cover . . . $2.00 - -"Is in many ways the most brilliant collection of animal stories that -has appeared; well named and well done."--John Burroughs. - - -*The Watchers of the Trails* - -A companion volume to "The Kindred of the Wild." With forty-eight -full-page plates and many decorations from drawings by Charles -Livingston Bull. - -Square quarto, decorative cover . . . $2.00 - -"These stories are exquisite in their refinement, and yet robust in -their appreciation of some of the rougher phases of woodcraft. Among the -many writers about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an enviable -place.--_The Outlook_. - -"This is a book full of delight. An additional charm lies in Mr. Bull's -faithful and graphic illustrations, which in fashion all their own tell -the story of the wild life, illuminating and supplementing the pen -pictures of the author."--_Literary Digest_. - - -*The Heart That Knows* - -Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -"A novel of singularly effective strength, luminous in literary color, -rich in its passionate, yet tender drama."--_New York Globe_. - - -*Earth's Enigmas* - -A new edition of Mr. Roberts's first volume of fiction, published 1892, -and out of print for several years, with the addition of three new -stories, and ten illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull. - -Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -"It will rank high among collections of short stories. In 'Earth's -Enigmas' is a wider range of subject than in the 'Kindred of the -Wild.'"--_Review from advance sheets of the illustrated edition by -Tiffany Blake in the Chicago Evening Post_. - - -*Barbara Ladd* - -With four illustrations by Frank Verbeck. - -Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -"From the opening chapter to the final page Mr. Roberts lures us on by -his rapt devotion to the changing aspects of Nature and by his keen and -sympathetic analysis of human character."--_Boston Transcript_. - - -*Cameron of Lochiel* - -Translated from the French of Philippe Aubert de Gaspe, with -frontispiece in color by H. C. Edwards. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 - -"Professor Roberts deserves the thanks of his reader for giving a wider -audience an opportunity to enjoy this striking bit of French Canadian -literature."--_Brooklyn Eagle_. - -"It is not often in these days of sensational and philosophical novels -that one picks up a book that so touches the heart."--_Boston -Transcript_. - - -*The Prisoner of Mademoiselle* - -With frontispiece by Frank T. Merrill. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative, gilt top . . . $1.50 - -A tale of Acadia,--a land which is the author's heart's delight,--of a -valiant young lieutenant and a winsome maiden, who first captures and -then captivates. - -"This is the kind of a story that makes one grow younger, more innocent, -more light-hearted. Its literary quality is impeccable. It is not every -day that such a heroine blossoms into even temporary existence, and the -very name of the story bears a breath of charm."--_Chicago -Record-Herald_. - - -*The Heart of the Ancient Wood* - -With six illustrations by James L. Weston. - -Library 12mo, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -"One of the most fascinating novels of recent days."--_Boston Journal_. - -"A classic twentieth-century romance."--_New York Commercial -Advertiser_. - - -*The Forge in the Forest* - -Being the Narrative of the Acadian Ranger, Jean de Mer, Seigneur de -Briart, and how he crossed the Black Abbe, and of his adventures in a -strange fellowship. Illustrated by Henry Sandham, R.C.A. - -Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top . . . $1.50 - -A story of pure love and heroic adventure. - - -*By the Marshes of Minas* - -Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -Most of these romances are in the author's lighter and more playful -vein; each is a unit of absorbing interest and exquisite workmanship. - - -*A Sister to Evangeline* - -Being the Story of Yvonne de Lamourie, and how she went into exile with -the villagers of Grand Pre. - -Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -Swift action, fresh atmosphere, wholesome purity, deep passion, and -searching analysis characterize this strong novel. - - - * * * * * - - - *WORKS OF - LILIAN BELL* - - -*Carolina Lee* - -With a frontispiece in color from an oil painting by Dora Wheeler Keith. -Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -"A Christian Science novel, full of action, alive with incident and -brisk with pithy dialogue and humor."--_Boston Transcript_. - -"A charming portrayal of the attractive life of the South, refreshing as -a breeze that blows through a pine forest."--_Albany Times-Union_. - - -*Hope Loring* - -Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. - -Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -"Tall, slender, and athletic, fragile-looking, yet with nerves and -sinews of steel under the velvet flesh, frank as a boy and tender and -beautiful as a woman, free and independent, yet not bold--such is 'Hope -Loring,' by long odds the subtlest study that has yet been made of the -American girl."--_Dorothy Dix, in the New York American_. - - -*Abroad with the Jimmies* - -With a portrait, in duogravure, of the author. - -Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -"Full of ozone, of snap, of ginger, of swing and momentum."--_Chicago -Evening Post_. - - -*At Home with the Jardines* - -A companion volume to "Abroad with the Jimmies" - -Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -"Bits of gay humor, sunny, whimsical philosophy and keen indubitable -insight into the less evident aspects and workings of pure human nature, -with a slender thread of a cleverly extraneous love story, keep the -interest of the reader fresh."--_Chicago Record-Herald_. - - -*The Interference of Patricia* - -With a frontispiece from drawing by Frank T. Merrill. - -Small 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -"There is life and action and brilliancy and dash and cleverness and a -keen appreciation of business ways in this story."--_Grand Rapids -Herald_. - -"A story full of keen and flashing satire."--_Chicago Record-Herald_. - - -*A Book of Girls* - -With a frontispiece. - -Small 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.25 - -"The stories are all eventful and have effective humor."--_New York -Sun_. - -"Lilian Bell surely understands girls, for she depicts all the -variations of girl nature so charmingly."--_Chicago Journal_. - -_The above two volumes boxed in special holiday dress, per set, $2.50_ - - - * * * * * - - - *WORKS OF - NATHAN GALLIZIER* - - -*The Sorceress of Rome* - -With four drawings in color by "The Kinneys." - -Cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -The love-story of Otto III., the boy emperor, and Stephania, wife of the -Senator Crescentius of Rome, has already been made the basis of various -German poems and plays. - -Mr. Gallizier has used it for the main theme of "The Sorceress of Rome," -the second book of his trilogy of romances on the mediaeval life of -Italy. In detail and finish the book is a brilliant piece of work, -describing clearly an exciting and strenuous period. - - -*Castel del Monte* - -With six illustrations by H. C. Edwards. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 - -A powerful romance of the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in Italy and -the overthrow of Manfred by Charles of Anjou, the champion of Pope -Clement IV. - -"There is color; there is sumptuous word painting in these pages; the -action is terrific at times; vividness and life are in every part; and -brilliant descriptions entertain the reader and give a singular -fascination to the tale."--_Chicago Record-Herald_. - - - * * * * * - - - *WORKS OF - MORLEY ROBERTS* - - -*Rachel Marr* - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 - -"A novel of tremendous force, with a style that is sure, luxuriant, -compelling, full of color and vital force."--_Elia W. Peattie in Chicago -Tribune_. - -"In atmosphere, if nothing else, the story is absolutely -perfect."--_Boston Transcript_. - - -*Lady Penelope* - -With nine illustrations by Arthur W. Brown. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 - -"A fresh and original bit of comedy as amusing as it is -audacious."--_Boston Transcript_. - - -*The Idlers* - -With frontispiece in color by John C. Frohn. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 - -"It is absorbing as the devil. Mr. Roberts gives us the antithesis of -'Rachel Marr' in an equally masterful and convincing work."--_The New -York Sun_. - -"It is a work of great ethical force."--_Professor Charles G. D. -Roberts_. - - -*The Promotion of the Admiral* - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -"If any one writes better sea stories than Mr. Roberts, we don't know -who it is; and if there is a better sea story of its kind than this it -would be a joy to have the pleasure of reading it."--_New York Sun_. - -"There is a hearty laugh in every one of these stories."--_The Reader_. - - -*The Flying Cloud* - -Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece . . . $1.50 - - - * * * * * - - - *WORKS OF - ALICE MacGOWAN AND GRACE MacGOWAN COOKE* - - -*Return* - -A STORY OF THE SEA ISLANDS IN 1739. With six illustrations by C. D. -Williams. - -Library 12mo, cloth . . . $1.50 - -"So rich in color is this story, so crowded with figures, it seems like -a bit of old Italian wall painting, a piece of modern tapestry, rather -than a modern fabric woven deftly from the threads of fact and fancy -gathered up in this new and essentially practical country, and therein -lies its distinctive value and excellence."--_N. Y. Sun_. - - -*The Grapple* - -With frontispiece in color by Arthur W. Brown. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 - -"The movement of the tale is swift and dramatic. The story is so -original, so strong, and so finely told that it deserves a large and -thoughtful public. It is a book to read with both enjoyment and -enlightenment."--_N. Y. Times Saturday Review of Books_. - - -*The Last Word* - -Illustrated with seven portraits of the heroine. - -Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . $1.50 - -"When one receives full measure to overflowing of delight in a tender, -charming, and wholly fascinating new piece of fiction, the enthusiasm is -apt to come uppermost."--_Louisville Post_. - - -*Huldah* - -With illustrations by Fanny Y. Cory. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 - -Here we have the great-hearted, capable woman of the Texas plains -dispensing food and genial philosophy to rough-and-ready cowboys. Her -sympathy takes the form of happy laughter, and her delightfully funny -phrases amuse the fancy and stick in one's memory. - - - * * * * * - - -*Richard Elliott, Financier* - -By GEORGE CARLING. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 - -"Clever in plot and effective in style. The author has seized on some -of the most sensational features of modern finance and uses them pretty -much as Alexandre Dumas did."--_N. Y. Post_. - - - * * * * * - - - *WORKS OF - G. SIDNEY PATERNOSTER* - - -*The Motor Pirate* - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with frontispiece . . . $1.50 - -"Its originality, exciting adventures, into which is woven a charming -love theme, and its undercurrent of fun furnish a dashing detective -story which a motor-mad world will thoroughly enjoy reading."--_Boston -Herald_. - - -*The Cruise of the Motor-Boat Conqueror* - -Being the Further Adventures of the Motor Pirate. - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece by Frank T. Merrill -. . . $1.50 - -"As a land pirate Mannering was a marvel of resource, but as a sea-going -buccaneer he is almost a miracle of devilish ingenuity. His exploits are -wonderful and plausible, for he avails himself of every modern device -and applies recent inventions to the accomplishment of all his pet -schemes."--_Chicago Evening Post_. - - -*The Lady of the Blue Motor* - -Cloth decorative, with a colored frontispiece by John C. Frohn . . . -$1.50 - -The Lady of the Blue Motor is an audacious heroine who drove her -mysterious car at breakneck speed. Her plea for assistance in an -adventure promising more than a spice of danger could not of course be -disregarded by any gallant fellow motorist. Across France they tore and -across the English Channel. There, the escapade past, he lost her. Mr. -Paternoster, however, allows the reader to follow their separate -adventures until the Lady of the Blue Motor is found again and properly -vindicated of all save womanly courage and affection. A unique romance, -one continuous exciting series of adventure. - - - * * * * * - - -*The Treasure Trail. By FRANK L. POLLOCK.* - -Library 12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece by Louis D. Cowing . -. . $1.25 - -A clever story, which describes a series of highly exciting adventures -of a bold lot of rascals."--_Boston Transcript_. - - - * * * * * - - - *WORKS OF - T. JENKINS HAINS* - - -*The Black Barque* - -With five illustrations by W. Herbert Dunton. - -Library 12mo, cloth . . . $1.50 - -According to a high naval authority, whose name must be withheld, this -is one of the best sea stories ever offered to the public. "The Black -Barque" is a story of slavery and piracy upon the high seas about 1815, -and is written with a thorough knowledge of deep-water sailing. - - -*The Windjammers* - -Library 12mo, cloth . . . $1.50 - -"A collection of short sea stories unmatched for interest."--_New York -Sun_. - - -*The Voyage of the Arrow* - -With six illustrations by H. C. 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