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+Project Gutenberg's Elder Conklin and Other Stories, by Frank Harris
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Elder Conklin and Other Stories
+
+Author: Frank Harris
+
+
+Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7153]
+This file was first posted on March 18, 2003
+Last Updated: April 12, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELDER CONKLIN AND OTHER STORIES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Blain Nelson, Eric Eldred, Charles Franks and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ELDER CONKLIN
+
+AND OTHER STORIES
+
+
+By Frank Harris
+
+
+New York
+
+Macmillan And Co.
+
+And London 1894
+
+
+_All rights reserved_
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1894,
+
+BY MACMILLAN AND CO.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ELDER CONKLIN
+
+THE SHERIFF AND HIS PARTNER
+
+A MODERN IDYLL
+
+EATIN' CROW
+
+THE BEST MAN IN GAROTTE
+
+GULMORE, THE BOSS
+
+
+
+
+
+ELDER CONKLIN.
+
+As soon as the Elder left the supper-table his daughter and the new
+schoolmaster went out on the stoop or verandah which ran round the
+frame-house. The day had been warm, but the chilliness of the evening
+air betokened the near approach of the Indian summer. The house stood
+upon the crest of what had been a roll in the prairie, and as the two
+leant together on the railing of the stoop, they looked out over a small
+orchard of peach-trees to where, a couple of hundred yards away, at the
+foot of the bluff, Cottonwood Creek ran, fringed on either bank by the
+trees which had suggested its name. On the horizon to their right, away
+beyond the spears of yellow maize, the sun was sinking, a ball of orange
+fire against the rose mist of the sky. When the girl turned towards him,
+perhaps to avoid the level rays, Bancroft expressed the hope that she
+would go with him to the house-warming. A little stiffly Miss Conklin
+replied that she'd be pleased, but--
+
+"What have I done, Miss Loo, to offend you?" the young man spoke
+deprecatingly.
+
+"Nothin', I guess," she answered, with assumed indifference.
+
+"When I first came you were so kind and helped me in everything. Now for
+the last two or three days you seem cold and sarcastic, as if you were
+angry with me. I'd be sorry if that were so--very sorry."
+
+"Why did you ask Jessie Stevens to go with you to the house-warmin'?"
+was the girl's retort.
+
+"I certainly didn't ask her," he replied hotly. "You must know I
+didn't."
+
+"Then Seth lied!" exclaimed Miss Conklin. "But I guess he'll not try
+that again with me--Seth Stevens I mean. He wanted me to go with him
+to-night, and I didn't give him the mitten, as I should if I'd thought
+you were goin' to ask me."
+
+"What does 'giving the mitten' mean?" he questioned, with a puzzled air.
+
+"Why, jest the plainest kind of refusal, I guess; but I only told him
+I was afraid I'd have to go with you, seein' you were a stranger.
+'Afraid,'" she repeated, as if the word stung her. "But he'll lose
+nothin' by waitin', nothin'. You hear me talk." And her eyes flashed.
+
+As she drew herself up in indignation, Bancroft thought he had never
+seen any one so lovely. "A perfect Hebe," he said to himself, and
+started as if he had said the words aloud. The comparison was apt.
+Though Miss Loo Conklin was only seventeen, her figure had all the
+ripeness of womanhood, and her height--a couple of inches above the
+average--helped to make her look older than she was. Her face was more
+than pretty; it was, in fact, as beautiful as youth, good features, and
+healthy colouring could make it. A knotted mass of chestnut hair set off
+the shapely head: the large blue eyes were deepened by dark lashes. The
+underlip, however, was a little full, and the oval of the face through
+short curve of jaw a trifle too round. Her companion tried in vain to
+control the admiration of his gaze. Unelated by what she felt to be
+merely her due, Miss Conklin was silent for a time. At length she
+observed:
+
+"I guess I'll have to go and fix up."
+
+Just then the Elder appeared on the stoop. "Ef you're goin'," he said
+in the air, as his daughter swept past him into the house, "you'd better
+hitch Jack up to the light buggy."
+
+"Thank you," said the schoolmaster; and for the sake of saying
+something, he added, "What a fine view." The Elder paused but did not
+answer; he saw nothing remarkable in the landscape except the Indian
+corn and the fruit, and the words "fine view" conveyed no definite
+meaning to him; he went on towards the stables.
+
+The taciturnity of the Elder annoyed Bancroft excessively. He had now
+passed a couple of weeks as a boarder with the Conklins, and the Elder's
+unconscious rudeness was only one of many peculiarities that had brought
+him to regard these Western folk as belonging almost to a distinct
+species. George Bancroft was an ordinary middle-class Bostonian. He
+had gone through the University course with rather more than average
+success, and had the cant of unbounded intellectual sympathies. His
+self-esteem, however, was not based chiefly on his intelligence, but on
+the ease with which he reached a conventional standard of conduct. Not
+a little of his character showed itself in his appearance. In figure he
+was about the middle height, and strongly though sparely built. The head
+was well-proportioned; the face a lean oval; the complexion sallow;
+the hair and small moustache very dark; the brown eyes inexpressive
+and close-set, revealing a tendency to suspiciousness--Bancroft prided
+himself on his prudence. A certain smartness of dress and a conscious
+carriage discovered a vanity which, in an older man, would have been
+fatuous. A large or a sensitive nature would in youth, at least,
+have sought unconsciously to bring itself into sympathy with strange
+surroundings, but Bancroft looked upon those who differed from him in
+manners or conduct as inferior, and this presumption in regard to the
+Conklins was strengthened by his superiority in book-learning, the
+importance of which he had been trained to over-estimate.
+
+During their drive Miss Conklin made her companion talk of Eastern life;
+she wanted to know what Chicago was like, and what people did in New
+York. Stirred by her eager curiosity, Bancroft sketched both cities
+in hasty outline, and proceeded to tell what he had read and heard of
+Paris, and Rome, and London. But evidently the girl was not interested
+by his praise of the art-life of European capitals or their historical
+associations; she cut short his disquisition:
+
+"See here! When I first seed you an' knew you was raised in Boston, an'
+had lived in New York, I jest thought you no account for comin' to this
+jumpin'-off place. Why did you come to Kansas, anyway, and what did you
+reckon upon doin'? I guess you ain't goin' to teach school always."
+
+The young man flushed under the frankness of the girl's gaze and
+question, and what appeared like contempt in her opinion of him. Again
+he became painfully conscious that there was a wide social difference
+between Miss Conklin and himself. He had been accustomed to more
+reticence, and such direct questioning seemed impertinent. But he was so
+completely under the spell of her beauty, that he answered with scarcely
+visible hesitation:
+
+"I came out here because I wanted to study law, and wasn't rich enough
+to do it in the East. This school was the first position offered to me.
+I had to take it, but I intend, after a term or two, to find a place in
+a lawyer's office in some town, and get admitted to practice. If I'd had
+fifteen hundred dollars I could have done that in Boston or New York,
+but I suppose it will all come right in time."
+
+"If I'd been you I'd have stayed in New York," and then, clasping her
+hands on her knee, and looking intently before her, she added, "When
+I get to New York--an' that won't be long--I'll stay there, you bet!
+I guess New York's good enough for me. There's style there," and she
+nodded her head decisively as she spoke.
+
+Miss Loo and Bancroft were among the latest arrivals at the Morrises'.
+She stood beside him while he hitched Jack to a post of the fence amidst
+a crowd of other horses, and they entered the house together. In
+due form she presented the schoolmaster to Mr. and Mrs. Morris, and
+smilingly produced three linen tablecloths as her contribution to the
+warming. After accepting the present with profuse thanks and unmeasured
+praise of it and of the giver, Mrs. Morris conducted the newcomers
+across the passage into the best sitting-room, which the young folk had
+already appropriated, leaving the second-best room to their elders.
+
+In the small square apartment were some twenty boys and girls, ranging
+between sixteen and twenty-two years of age. The boys stood about at
+one end of the room, while the girls sat at the other end chattering
+and enjoying themselves. Bancroft did not go among those of his own
+sex, none of whom he knew, and whom he set down as mere uncouth lads. He
+found it more amusing to stand near the girls and talk with them. By so
+doing he unconsciously offended the young men.
+
+Presently a tall youth came towards them:
+
+"I guess we'd better play somethin'?"
+
+"Forfeits! Mr. Stevens," was a girl's quick reply, and it was arranged
+to play forfeits in a queer educational fashion. First of all Mr.
+Stevens left the room, presumably to think. When he came in again he
+went over to Miss Conklin and asked her to spell "forgive." After a
+moment's pause she spelt it correctly. He retired slowly, and on
+his return stopped again in front of Miss Conklin with the word
+"reconciliation." She withstood the test triumphantly. Annoyed
+apparently with the pains she took, Mr. Stevens, on his next entrance,
+turned to a pretty, quiet girl named Miss Black, and gave her
+"stranger," with a glance at Bancroft, which spread a laugh among the
+boys. Miss Black began with "strai," and was not allowed to go on, for
+Mr. Stevens at once offered his arm, and led her into the passage.
+
+"What takes place outside?" asked Bancroft confidentially of the girl
+sitting nearest to him, who happened to be Miss Jessie Stevens. She
+replied with surprise:
+
+"I guess they kiss each other!"
+
+"Ah!--Now I understand," he said to himself, and from that moment
+followed the proceedings with more interest. He soon found that
+successive pairs called each other out in turn, and he had begun to tire
+of the game, when Miss Jessie Stevens stopped before him and pertly gave
+the word "friendship." Of course he spelt it wrongly, and accompanied
+her outside the door. As he kissed her cheek, she drew away her head
+quickly:
+
+"I only called you out to give you a chance of kissin' Loo Conklin."
+
+He thought it wiser not to reply to this, and contented himself with
+thanking her as they entered the room. He paused before Miss Conklin,
+and gave her "bumpkin," adding, by way of explanation, "a rude country
+fellow." She spelt it cheerfully, without the "p." When the mistake was
+made plain to her, which took some little time, she accepted his arm,
+and went with him into the passage. He kissed her more than once,
+murmuring, "At last, Miss Loo!" She replied seriously:
+
+"See here! You're goin' to get into a fuss with Seth Stevens if you call
+me out often. And he's the strongest of them all. You ain't afraid? O.K.
+then. I guess we'll pay him out for lyin'."
+
+On returning to the room, Bancroft became conscious of a thinly veiled
+antagonism on the part of the young men. But he had hardly time to
+notice it, when Miss Loo came in and said to him demurely, "Loo." He
+spelt "You." Much laughter from the girls greeted the simple pleasantry.
+
+So the game, punctuated by kisses, went on, until Miss Loo came in
+for the fourth time, and stopped again before Bancroft, whereupon Seth
+Stevens pushed through the crowd of young men, and said:
+
+"Miss Loo Conklin! You know the rule is to change after three times."
+
+At once she moved in front of the stout youth, Richards, who had come
+forward to support his friend, and said "liar!" flashing at the same
+time an angry glance at Stevens. "Lire," spelt Richards painfully, and
+the pair withdrew.
+
+Bancroft went over to the men's corner; the critical moment had come;
+he measured his rival with a glance. Stevens was tall, fully six feet
+in height, and though rather lank, had the bow legs and round shoulders
+which often go with strength.
+
+As he took up his new position, Stevens remarked to a companion, in a
+contemptuous drawl:
+
+"Schoolmasters kin talk an' teach, but kin they fight?"
+
+Bancroft took it upon himself to answer, "Sometimes."
+
+"Kin you?" asked Stevens sharply, turning to him.
+
+"Well enough."
+
+"We kin try that to-morrow. I'll be in the lot behind Richards' mill at
+four o'clock."
+
+"I'll be there," replied the schoolmaster, making his way again towards
+the group of girls.
+
+Nothing further happened until the old folk came in, and the party broke
+up. Driving homewards with Miss Conklin, Bancroft began:
+
+"How can I thank you enough for being so kind to me? You called me out
+often, almost as often as I called you."
+
+"I did that to rile Seth Stevens."
+
+"And not at all to please me?"
+
+"Perhaps a little," she said, and silence fell upon them.
+
+His caution led him to restrain himself. He was disturbed by vague
+doubts, and felt the importance of a decisive word. Presently Miss
+Conklin spoke, in a lower voice than usual, but with an accent of
+coquettish triumph in the question:
+
+"So you like me after all? Like me really?"
+
+"Do you doubt it?" His accent was reproachful. "But why do you say
+'after all'?"
+
+"You never kissed me comin' back from church last Sunday, and I showed
+you the school and everythin'!"
+
+"Might I have kissed you then? I was afraid of offending you."
+
+"Offendin' me? Well, I guess not! Every girl expects to be kissed when
+she goes out with a man."
+
+"Let's make up for it now, Loo. May I call you Loo?" While speaking he
+slipped his arm round her waist, and kissed her again and again.
+
+"That's my name. But there! I guess you've made up enough already." And
+Miss Conklin disengaged herself. On reaching the house, however, she
+offered her lips before getting out of the buggy.
+
+When alone in his bedroom, Bancroft sat and thought. The events of the
+evening had been annoying. Miss Loo's conduct had displeased him; he did
+not like familiarity. He would not acknowledge to himself that he
+was jealous. The persistent way Stevens had tried to puzzle her had
+disgusted him--that was all. It was sufficiently plain that in the past
+she had encouraged Stevens. Her freedom and boldness grated upon his
+nerves. He condemned her with a sense of outraged delicacy. Girls ought
+not to make advances; she had no business to ask him whether he liked
+her; she should have waited for him to speak plainly. He only required
+what was right. Yet the consciousness that she loved him flattered his
+vanity and made him more tolerant; he resolved to follow her lead or to
+improve upon it. Why shouldn't he? She had said "every girl expects to
+be kissed." And if she wanted to be kissed, it was the least he could do
+to humour her.
+
+All the while, at the bottom of his heart there was bitterness. He would
+have given much to believe that an exquisite soul animated that lovely
+face. Perhaps she was better than she seemed. He tried to smother
+his distrust of her, till it was rendered more acute by another
+reflection--she had got him into the quarrel with Seth Stevens. He did
+not trouble much about it. He was confident enough of his strength and
+the advantages of his boyish training in the gymnasium to regard the
+trial with equanimity. Still, the girls he had known in the East would
+never have set two men to fight, never--it was not womanly. Good girls
+were by nature peacemakers. There must be something in Loo, he argued,
+almost--vulgar, and he shrank from the word. To lessen the sting of
+his disappointment, he pictured her to himself and strove to forget her
+faults.
+
+On the following morning he went to his school very early. The girls
+were not as obtrusive as they had been. Miss Jessie Stevens did not
+bother him by coming up every five minutes to see what he thought of her
+dictation, as she had been wont to do. He was rather glad of this; it
+saved him importunate glances and words, and the propinquity of girlish
+forms, which had been more trying still. But what was the cause of the
+change? It was evident that the girls regarded him as belonging to Miss
+Conklin. He disliked the assumption; his caution took alarm; he would
+be more careful in future. The forenoon melted into afternoon quietly,
+though there were traces on Jake Conklin's bench of unusual agitation
+and excitement. To these signs the schoolmaster paid small heed at the
+moment. He was absorbed in thinking of the evening before, and in trying
+to appraise each of Loo's words and looks. At last the time came for
+breaking up. When he went outside to get into the buggy--he had brought
+Jack with him--he noticed, without paying much attention to it, that
+Jake Conklin was not there to unhitch the strap and in various other
+ways to give proof of a desire to ride with him. He set off for
+Richards' mill, whither, needless to say, Jake and half-a-dozen other
+urchins had preceded him as fast as their legs could carry them.
+
+As soon as he was by himself the schoolmaster recognized that the affair
+was known to his scholars, and the knowledge nettled him. His anger
+fastened upon Loo. It was all her fault; her determination to "pay
+Stevens out" had occasioned the quarrel. Well, he would fight and win,
+and then have done with the girl whose lips had doubtless been given to
+Stevens as often and as readily as to himself. The thought put him in
+a rage, while the idea of meeting Stevens on an equality humiliated
+him--strife with such a boor was in itself a degradation. And Loo had
+brought it about. He could never forgive her. The whole affair was
+disgraceful, and her words, "Every girl expects to be kissed when she
+goes out with a man," were vulgar and coarse! With which conclusion in
+his mind he turned to the right round the section-line, and saw the mill
+before him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After the return from the house-warming, and the understanding, as she
+considered it, with Bancroft, Miss Loo gave herself up to her new-born
+happiness. As she lay in bed her first thought was of her lover: he
+was "splendid," whereby she meant pleasant and attractive. She wondered
+remorsefully how she had taken him to be quite "homely-looking" when
+she first saw him. Why, he was altogether above any one she knew--not
+perhaps jest in looks, but in knowledge and in manners--he didn't stand
+in the corner of the room like the rest and stare till all the girls
+became uncomfortable. What did looks matter after all? Besides, he
+wasn't homely, he was handsome; so he was. His eyes were lovely--she had
+always liked dark eyes best--and his moustache was dark, too, and she
+liked that. To be sure it wasn't very long yet, or thick, but it would
+grow; and here she sighed with content. Most girls in her place would
+be sorry he wasn't taller, but she didn't care for very tall men; they
+sorter looked down on you. Anyway, he was strong--a pang of fear shot
+suddenly through her--he might be hurt by that brute Seth Stevens on the
+morrow. Oh, no. That was impossible. He was brave, she felt sure, very
+brave. Still she wished they weren't going to fight; it made her uneasy
+to think that she had provoked the conflict. But it couldn't be helped
+now; she couldn't interfere. Besides, men were always fightin' about
+somethin' or other.
+
+Mr. Crew, the Minister, had said right off that he'd make his mark in
+the world; all the girls thought so too, and that was real good. She'd
+have hated a stupid, ordinary man. Fancy being married to Seth Stevens,
+and she shuddered; yet he was a sight better than any of the others;
+he had even seemed handsome to her once. Ugh! Then Bancroft's face came
+before her again, and remembering his kisses she flushed and grew hot
+from head to foot. They would be married soon--right off. As George
+hadn't the money, her father must give what he could and they'd go
+East. Her father wouldn't refuse, though he'd feel bad p'r'aps; he never
+refused her anythin'. If fifteen hundred dollars would be enough for
+George alone, three thousand would do for both of them. Once admitted
+as a lawyer, he would get a large practice: he was so clever and
+hard-working. She was real glad that she'd be the means of giving him
+the opportunity he wanted to win riches and position. But he must begin
+in New York. She would help him on, and she'd see New York and all the
+shops and elegant folk, and have silk dresses. They'd live in a hotel
+and get richer and richer, and she'd drive about with--here she grew hot
+again. The vision, however, was too entrancing to be shut out; she
+saw herself distinctly driving in an open carriage, with a negro nurse
+holding the baby all in laces in front, "jest too cute for anythin',"
+and George beside her, and every one in Fifth Avenue starin'.
+
+Sleep soon brought confusion into her picture of a happy future; but
+when she awoke, the glad confidence of the previous night had given
+place to self-reproach and fear. During the breakfast she scarcely
+spoke or lifted her eyes. Her silent preoccupation was misunderstood by
+Bancroft; he took it to mean that she didn't care what happened to him;
+she was selfish, he decided. All the morning she went about the house in
+a state of nervous restlessness, and at dinner-time her father noticed
+her unusual pallor and low spirits. To the Elder, the meal-times were
+generally a source of intense pleasure. He was never tired of feasting
+his eyes upon his daughter when he could do so without attracting
+attention, and he listened to her fluent obvious opinions on men and
+things with a fulness of pride and joy which was difficult to divine
+since his keenest feelings never stirred the impassibility of his
+features. He had small power of expressing his thoughts, and even in
+youth he had felt it impossible to render in words any deep emotion.
+For more than forty years the fires of his nature had been "banked up."
+Reticent and self-contained, he appeared to be hard and cold; yet his
+personality was singularly impressive. About five feet ten in height, he
+was lean and sinewy, with square shoulders and muscles of whipcord. His
+face recalled the Indian type; the same prominent slightly beaked nose,
+high cheek bones and large knot of jaw. But there the resemblance ended.
+The eyes were steel-blue; the upper lip long; the mouth firm; short,
+bristly, silver hair stood up all over his head, in defiant contrast to
+the tanned, unwrinkled skin. He was clean-shaven, and looked less than
+his age, which was fifty-eight.
+
+All through the dinner he wondered anxiously what could so affect his
+daughter, and how he could find out without intruding himself upon her
+confidence. His great love for his child had developed in the Elder
+subtle delicacies of feeling which are as the fragrance of love's
+humility. In the afternoon Loo, dressed for walking, met him, and, of
+her own accord, began the conversation:
+
+"Father, I want to talk to you."
+
+The Elder put down the water-bucket he had been carrying, and drew the
+shirt-sleeves over his nervous brown arms, whether out of unconscious
+modesty or simple sense of fitness it would be impossible to say. She
+went on hesitatingly, "I want to know--Do you think Mr. Bancroft's
+strong, stronger than--Seth Stevens?"
+
+The Elder gave his whole thought to the problem. "P'r'aps," he said,
+after a pause, in which he had vainly tried to discover how his daughter
+wished him to answer, "p'r'aps; he's older and more sot. There ain't
+much difference, though. In five or six years Seth'll be a heap
+stronger than the schoolmaster; but now," he added quickly, reading his
+daughter's face, "he ain't man enough. He must fill out first."
+
+She looked up with bright satisfaction, and twining her hands round his
+arm began coaxingly:
+
+"I'm goin' to ask you for somethin', father. You know you told me
+that on my birthday you'd give me most anythin' I wanted. Wall, I want
+somethin' this month, not next, as soon as I can get it--a pianner. I
+guess the settin'-room would look smarter-like, an' I'd learn to play.
+All the girls do East," she added, pouting.
+
+"Yes," the Elder agreed thoughtfully, doubting whether he should follow
+her lead eastwards, "I reckon that's so. I'll see about it right off,
+Loo. I oughter hev thought of it before. But now, right off," and as
+he spoke he laid his large hand with studied carelessness on her
+shoulder--he was afraid that an intentional caress might be inopportune.
+
+"I'm cert'in Mr. Bancroft's sisters play, an' I--" she looked down
+nervously for a moment, and then, still blushing deeply, changed the
+attack: "He's smart, ain't he, father? He'd make a good lawyer, wouldn't
+he?"
+
+"I reckon he would," replied the Elder.
+
+"I'm so glad," the girl went on hurriedly, as if afraid to give herself
+time to think of what she was about to say, "for, father, he wants to
+study in an office East and he hain't got the money, and--oh, father!"
+she threw her arms round his neck and hid her face on his shoulder, "I
+want to go with him."
+
+The Elder's heart seemed to stop beating, but he could not hold his
+loved one in his arms and at the same time realize his own pain. He
+stroked the bowed head gently, and after a pause:
+
+"He could study with Lawyer Barkman in Wichita, couldn't he? and then
+you'd be to hum still. No. Wall! Thar!" and again came a pause of
+silence. "I reckon, anyhow, you knew I'd help you. Didn't you now?"
+
+His daughter drew herself out of his embrace. Recalled thus to the
+matter in hand he asked: "Did he say how much money 'twould take?"
+
+"Two or three thousand dollars"--and she scanned his face
+anxiously--"for studyin' and gettin' an office and everythin' in New
+York. Things are dearer there."
+
+"Wall, I guess we kin about cover that with a squeeze. It'll be full all
+I kin manage to onc't--that and the pianner. I've no one to think of but
+you, Loo, only you. That's what I've bin workin' for, to give you a fair
+start, and I'm glad I kin jess about do it. I'd sorter take it better if
+he'd done the studyin' by himself before. No! wall, it don't make much
+difference p'r'aps. Anyway he works, and Mr. Crew thinks him enough
+eddicated even for the Ministry. He does, and that's a smart lot. I
+guess he'll get along all right." Delighted with the expression of
+intent happiness in his daughter's eyes, he continued: "He's young
+yet, and couldn't be expected to hev done the studyin' and law and
+everythin'. You kin be sartin that the old man'll do all he knows to
+help start you fair. All I kin. If you're sot upon it! That's enough fer
+me, I guess, ef you're rale sot on it, and you don't think 'twould be
+better like to wait a little. He could study with Barkman fer a year
+anyway without losin' time. No! wall, wall. I'm right thar when you want
+me. I'll go to work to do what I kin....
+
+"P'r'aps we might sell off and go East, too. The farm's worth money now
+it's all settled up round hyar. The mother and me and Jake could get
+along, I reckon, East or West. I know more'n I did when I came out in
+'59.
+
+"I'm glad you've told me. I think a heap more of him now. There must
+be a pile of good in any one you like, Loo. Anyhow he's lucky." And he
+stroked her crumpled dress awkwardly, but with an infinite tenderness.
+
+"I've got to go now, father," she exclaimed, suddenly remembering the
+time. "But there!"--and again she threw her arms round his neck and
+kissed him. "You've made me very happy. I've got to go right off, and
+you've all the chores to do, so I mustn't keep you any longer."
+
+She hurried to the road along which Jake would have to come with the
+news of the fight. When she reached the top of the bluff whence the road
+fell rapidly to the creek, no one was in sight. She sat down and gave
+herself up to joyous anticipations.
+
+"What would George say to her news? Where should they be married?"----a
+myriad questions agitated her. But a glance down the slope from time to
+time checked her pleasure. At last she saw her brother running towards
+her. He had taken off his boots and stockings; they were slung round his
+neck, and his bare feet pattered along in the thick, white dust of the
+prairie track. His haste made his sister's heart beat in gasps of fear.
+Down the hill she sped, and met him on the bridge.
+
+"Wall?" she asked quietly, but the colour had left her cheeks, and Jake
+was not to be deceived so easily.
+
+"Wall what?" he answered defiantly, trying to get breath. "I hain't said
+nothin'."
+
+"Oh, you mean boy!" she cried indignantly. "I'll never help you again
+when father wants to whip you--never! Tell me this minute what happened.
+Is _he_ hurt?"
+
+"Is who hurt?" asked her brother, glorying in superiority of knowledge,
+and the power to tease with impunity.
+
+"Tell me right off," she said, taking him by the collar in her
+exasperation, "or--"
+
+"I'll tell you nothin' till you leave go of me," was the sullen reply.
+But then the overmastering impulse ran away with him, and he broke out:
+
+"Oh, Loo! I jest seed everythin'. 'Twar a high old fight! They wuz
+all there, Seth Stevens, Richards, Monkey Bill--all of 'em, when
+schoolmaster rode up. He was still--looked like he wanted to hear a
+class recite. He hitched up Jack and come to 'em, liftin' his hat. Oh,
+'twas O.K., you bet! Then they took off their clo's. Seth Stevens jerked
+hisn loose on the ground, but schoolmaster stood by himself, and folded
+hisn up like ma makes me fold mine at night. Then they comed together
+and Seth Stevens he jest drew off and tried to land him one, but
+schoolmaster sorter moved aside and took him on the nose, an' Seth he
+sot down, with the blood runnin' all over him. An'--an'--that's all.
+Every time Seth Stevens hauled off to hit, schoolmaster was thar first.
+It war bully!--That's all. An' I seed everythin'. You kin bet your life
+on that! An' then Richards and the rest come to him an' said as how Seth
+Stevens was faintin', an' schoolmaster he ran to the crick an' brought
+water and put over him. An' then I runned to tell you--schoolmaster's
+strong, I guess, stronger nor pappa. I seed him put on his vest, an'
+Seth Stevens he was settin' up, all blood and water on his face, streaky
+like; he did look bad. But, Loo----say, Loo! Why didn't schoolmaster
+when he got him down the first time, jest stomp on his face with his
+heels?--he had his boots on--an' that's how Seth Stevens broke Tom
+Cooper's jaw when _they_ fit."
+
+The girl was white, and trembling from head to foot as the boy ended his
+narrative, and looked inquiringly into her face. She could not answer.
+Indeed, she had hardly heard the question. The thought of what might
+have happened to her lover appalled her, and terror and remorse held her
+heart as in a vice. But oh!--and the hot tears came into her eyes--she'd
+tell him when they met how sorry she was for it all, and how bad she had
+been, and how she hated herself. She had acted foolish, very; but she
+hadn't meant it. She'd be more careful in future, much more careful. How
+brave he was and kind! How like him it was to get the water! Oh! if he'd
+only come.
+
+All this while Jake looked at her curiously; at length he said, "Say,
+Loo, s'pose he'd had his eye plugged out."
+
+"Go away--do!" she exclaimed angrily. "I believe you boys jest love
+fightin' like dogs."
+
+Jake disappeared to tell and retell the tale to any one who cared to
+listen.
+
+Half an hour later Loo, who had climbed the bluff to command the view,
+heard the sound of Jack's feet on the wooden bridge. A moment or two
+more and the buggy drew up beside her; the schoolmaster bent forward and
+spoke, without a trace of emotion in his voice:
+
+"Won't you get in and let me drive you home, Miss Loo?" His victory
+had put him in a good humour, without, however, altering his critical
+estimate of the girl. The quiet, controlled tone of his voice chilled
+and pained her, but her emotions were too recent and too acute to be
+restrained.
+
+"Oh, George!" she said, leaning forward against the buggy, and scanning
+his face intently. "How can you speak so? You ain't hurt, are you?"
+
+"No!" he answered lightly. "You didn't expect I should be, did you?" The
+tone was cold, a little sarcastic even.
+
+Again she felt hurt; she scarcely knew why; the sneer was too
+far-fetched for her to understand it.
+
+"Go and put the horse up, and then come back. I'll wait right here for
+you."
+
+He did as he was told, and in ten minutes was by her side again. After a
+long pause, she began, with quivering lips:
+
+"George, I'm sorry--so sorry. 'Twas all my fault! But I didn't
+know"--and she choked down a sob--"I didn't think.
+
+"I want you to tell me how your sisters act and--an' what they wear and
+do. I'll try to act like them. Then I'd be good, shouldn't I?
+
+"They play the pianner, don't they?" He was forced to confess that one
+of them did.
+
+"An' they talk like you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"An' they're good always? Oh, George, I'm jest too sorry for anythin',
+an' now--now I'm too glad!" and she burst into tears. He kissed and
+consoled her as in duty bound. He understood this mood as little as he
+had understood her challenge to love. He was not in sympathy with her;
+she had no ideal of conduct, no notion of dignity. Some suspicion
+of this estrangement must have dawned upon the girl, or else she was
+irritated by his acquiescence in her various phases of self-humiliation.
+All at once she dashed the tears from her eyes, and winding herself out
+of his arms, exclaimed:
+
+"See here, George Bancroft! I'll jest learn all they know--pianner and
+all. I ken, and I will. I'll begin right now. You'll see!" And her blue
+eyes flashed with the glitter of steel, while her chin was thrown up in
+defiant vanity and self-assertion.
+
+He watched her with indifferent curiosity; the abrupt changes of mood
+repelled him. His depreciatory thoughts of her, his resolution not to
+be led away again by her beauty influencing him, he noticed the keen
+hardness of the look, and felt, perhaps out of a spirit of antagonism,
+that he disliked it.
+
+After a few quieting phrases, which, though they sprang rather from
+the head than the heart, seemed to achieve their aim, he changed the
+subject, by pointing across the creek and asking:
+
+"Whose corn is that?"
+
+"Father's, I guess!"
+
+"I thought that was the Indian territory?"
+
+"It is!"
+
+"Is one allowed to sow corn there and to fence off the ground? Don't the
+Indians object?"
+
+"'Tain't healthy for Indians about here," she answered carelessly, "I
+hain't ever seen one. I guess it's allowed; anyhow, the corn's there an'
+father'll have it cut right soon."
+
+It seemed to Bancroft that they had not a thought in common. Wrong done
+by her own folk did not even interest her. At once he moved towards
+the house, and the girl followed him, feeling acutely disappointed
+and humiliated, which state of mind quickly became one of rebellious
+self-esteem. She guessed that other men thought big shucks of her
+anyway. And with this reflection she tried to comfort herself.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A week or ten days later, Bancroft came downstairs one morning early
+and found the ground covered with hoar-frost, though the sun had already
+warmed the air. Elder Conklin, in his shirt-sleeves, was cleaning his
+boots by the wood pile. When he had finished with the brush, but not
+a moment sooner, he put it down near his boarder. His greeting, a mere
+nod, had not prepared the schoolmaster for the question:
+
+"Kin you drive kyows?"
+
+"I think so; I've done it as a boy."
+
+"Wall, to-day's Saturday. There ain't no school, and I've some cattle
+to drive to the scales in Eureka. They're in the brush yonder, ef you'd
+help. That is, supposin' you've nothin' to do."
+
+"No. I've nothing else to do, and shall be glad to help you if I can."
+
+Miss Loo pouted when she heard that her lover would be away the greater
+part of the day, but it pleased her to think that her father had asked
+him for his help, and she resigned herself, stipulating only that he
+should come right back from Eureka.
+
+After breakfast the two started. Their way lay along the roll of ground
+which looked down upon the creek. They rode together in silence, until
+the Elder asked:
+
+"You ain't a Member, air you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"That's bad. I kinder misdoubted it las' Sunday; but I wasn't sartin. Ef
+your callin' and election ain't sure, I guess Mr. Crew oughter talk to
+you."
+
+These phrases were jerked out with long pauses separating them, and then
+the Elder was ominously silent.
+
+In various ways Bancroft attempted to draw him into conversation--in
+vain. The Elder answered in monosyllables, or not at all. Presently he
+entered the woods on the left, and soon halted before the shoot-entrance
+to a roughly-built corral.
+
+"The kyows is yonder," he remarked; "ef you'll drive them hyar, I'll
+count them as they come in."
+
+The schoolmaster turned his horse's head in the direction pointed
+out. He rode for some minutes through the wood without seeing a single
+animal. Under ordinary circumstances this would have surprised him;
+but now he was absorbed in thinking of Conklin and his peculiarities,
+wondering at his habit of silence and its cause:
+
+"Has he nothing to say? Or does he think a great deal without being able
+to find words to express his thoughts?"
+
+A prolonged moan, a lowing of cattle in pain, came to his ears. He made
+directly for the sound, and soon saw the herd huddled together by the
+snake-fence which zigzagged along the bank of the creek. He went on till
+he came to the boundary fence which ran at right angles to the water,
+and then turning tried to drive the animals towards the corral. He met,
+however, with unexpected difficulties. He had brought a stock-whip with
+him, and used it with some skill, though without result. The bullocks
+and cows swerved from the lash, but before they had gone ten yards they
+wheeled and bolted back. At first this manoeuvre amused him. The Elder,
+he thought, has brought me to do what he couldn't do himself; I'll show
+him I can drive. But no! in spite of all his efforts, the cattle would
+not be driven. He grew warm, and set himself to the work. In a quarter
+of an hour his horse was in a lather, and his whip had flayed one or
+two of the bullocks, but there they stood again with necks outstretched
+towards the creek, lowing piteously. He could not understand it.
+Reluctantly he made up his mind to acquaint the Elder with the
+inexplicable fact. He had gone some two hundred yards when his tired
+horse stumbled. Holding him up, Bancroft saw he had tripped over a mound
+of white dust. A thought struck him. He threw himself off the horse,
+and tasted the stuff; he was right; it was salt! No wonder he could not
+drive the cattle; no wonder they lowed as if in pain--the ground had
+been salted.
+
+He remounted and hastened to the corral. He found the Elder sitting on
+his horse by the shoot, the bars of which were down.
+
+"I can't move those cattle!"
+
+"You said you knew how to drive."
+
+"I do, but they are mad with thirst; no one can do anything with them.
+Besides, in this sun they might die on the road."
+
+"Hum."
+
+"Let them drink; they'll go on afterwards."
+
+"Hum." And the Elder remained for some moments silent. Then he said, as
+if thinking aloud: "It's eight miles to Eureka; they'll be thirsty again
+before they get to the town."
+
+Bancroft, too, had had his wits at work, and now answered the other's
+thought. "I guess so; if they're allowed just a mouthful or two they can
+be driven, and long before they reach Eureka they'll be as thirsty as
+ever."
+
+Without a word in reply the Elder turned his horse and started off at
+a lope. In ten minutes the two men had taken down the snake fence for a
+distance of some fifty yards, and the cattle had rushed through the gap
+and were drinking greedily.
+
+After they had had a deep draught or two, Bancroft urged his horse into
+the stream and began to drive them up the bank. They went easily enough
+now, and ahead of them rode the Elder, his long whitey-brown holland
+coat fluttering behind him. In half an hour Bancroft had got the herd
+into the corral. The Elder counted the three hundred and sixty-two
+beasts with painstaking carefulness as they filed by.
+
+The prairie-track to Eureka led along the creek, and in places ran close
+to it without any intervening fence. In an hour under that hot October
+sun the cattle had again become thirsty, and it needed all Bancroft's
+energy and courage to keep them from dashing into the water. Once or
+twice indeed it was a toss-up whether or not they would rush over him.
+He was nearly exhausted when some four hours after the start they came
+in sight of the little town. Here he let the herd into the creek. Glad
+of the rest, he sat on his panting horse and wiped the perspiration from
+his face. After the cattle had drunk their fill, he moved them quietly
+along the road, while the water dripped from their mouths and bodies.
+At the scales the Elder met the would-be purchaser, who as soon as he
+caught sight of the stock burst into a laugh.
+
+"Say, Conklin," he cried out, "I guess you've given them cattle enough
+to drink, but I don't buy water for meat. No, sir; you bet, I don't."
+
+"I didn't allow you would," replied the Elder gravely; "but the track
+was long and hot; so they drank in the crik."
+
+"Wall," resumed the dealer, half disarmed by this confession, which
+served the Elder's purpose better than any denial could have done, "I
+guess you'll take off fifty pound a head for that water."
+
+"I guess not," was the answer. "Twenty pound of water's reckoned to be
+about as much as a kyow kin drink."
+
+The trading began and continued to Bancroft's annoyance for more than
+half an hour. At last it was settled that thirty pounds' weight
+should be allowed on each beast for the water it had drunk. When this
+conclusion had been arrived at, it took but a few minutes to weigh the
+animals and pay the price agreed upon.
+
+The Elder now declared himself ready to go "to hum" and get somethin'
+to eat. In sullen silence Bancroft remounted, and side by side they
+rode slowly towards the farm. The schoolmaster's feelings may easily
+be imagined. He had been disgusted by the cunning and hypocrisy of
+the trick, and the complacent expression of the Elder's countenance
+irritated him intensely. As he passed place after place where the cattle
+had given him most trouble in the morning, anger took possession of him,
+and at length forced itself to speech.
+
+"See here, Elder Conklin!" he began abruptly, "I suppose you call
+yourself a Christian. You look down on me because I'm not a Member.
+Yet, first of all, you salt cattle for days till they're half mad with
+thirst, then after torturing them by driving them for hours along this
+road side by side with water, you act lies with the man you've sold them
+to, and end up by cheating him. You know as well as I do that each of
+those steers had drunk sixty-five pounds' weight of water at least; so
+you got" (he couldn't use the word "stole" even in his anger, while the
+Elder was looking at him) "more than a dollar a head too much. That's
+the kind of Christianity you practise. I don't like such Christians, and
+I'll leave your house as soon as I can. I am ashamed that I didn't tell
+the dealer you were deceiving him. I feel as if I had been a party to
+the cheat."
+
+While the young man was speaking the Elder looked at him intently. At
+certain parts of the accusation Conklin's face became rigid, but he
+said nothing. A few minutes later, having skirted the orchard, they
+dismounted at the stable-door.
+
+After he had unsaddled his horse and thrown it some Indian corn,
+Bancroft hastened to the house; he wanted to be alone. On the stoop he
+met Loo and said to her hastily:
+
+"I can't talk now, Loo; I'm tired out and half crazy. I must go to my
+room and rest. After supper I'll tell you everything. Please don't keep
+me now."
+
+Supper that evening was a silent meal. The Elder did not speak once;
+the two young people were absorbed in their own reflections, and Mrs.
+Conklin's efforts to make talk were effectual only when she turned
+to Jake. Mrs. Conklin, indeed, was seldom successful in anything she
+attempted. She was a woman of fifty, or thereabouts, and her face still
+showed traces of former good looks, but the light had long left her
+round, dark eyes, and the colour her cheeks, and with years her figure
+had grown painfully thin. She was one of the numerous class who delight
+in taking strangers into their confidence. Unappreciated, as a rule,
+by those who know them, they seek sympathy from polite indifference or
+curiosity. Before he had been a day in the house Bancroft had heard
+from Mrs. Conklin all about her early life. Her father had been a
+large farmer in Amherst County, Massachusetts; her childhood had been
+comfortable and happy: "We always kept one hired man right through the
+winter, and in summer often had eight and ten; and, though you mightn't
+think it now, I was the belle of all the parties." Dave (her husband)
+had come to work for her father, and she had taken a likin' to him,
+though he was such a "hard case." She told of Dave's gradual conversion
+and of the Revivalist Minister, who was an Abolitionist as well, and had
+proclaimed the duty of emigrating to Kansas to prevent it from becoming
+a slave state. Dave, it appeared, had taken up the idea zealously, and
+had persuaded her to go with him. Her story became pathetic in spite
+of her self-pity as she related the hardships of that settlement in
+the wilds, and described her loneliness, her shivering terror when her
+husband was away hauling logs for their first home, and news came that
+the slave-traders from Missouri had made another raid upon the scattered
+Abolitionist farmers. The woman had evidently been unfit for such
+rude transplanting. She dwelt upon the fact that her husband had never
+understood her feelings. If he had, she wouldn't have minded so much.
+Marriage was not what girls thought; she had not been happy since
+she left her father's house, and so forth. The lament was based on
+an unworthy and futile egoism, but her whining timidity appeared to
+Bancroft inexplicable. He did not see that just as a shrub pales and
+dies away under the branches of a great tree, so a weak nature is apt
+to be further enfeebled by association with a strong and self-contained
+character. In those early days of loneliness and danger the Elder's
+steadfastness and reticence had prevented him from affording to his wife
+the sympathy which might have enabled her to overcome her fears. "He
+never talked anythin' over with me," was the burden of her complaint.
+Solitude had killed every power in her save vanity, and the form her
+vanity took was peculiarly irritating to her husband, and in a lesser
+degree to her daughter, for neither the Elder nor Loo would have founded
+self-esteem on adventitious advantages of upbringing. Accordingly, Mrs.
+Conklin was never more than an uncomfortable shadow in her own house,
+and this evening her repeated attempts to bring about a semblance of
+conversation only made the silence and preoccupation of the others
+painfully evident.
+
+As soon as the supper things were cleared away, Loo signalled to
+Bancroft to accompany her to the stoop, where she asked him what had
+happened.
+
+"I insulted the Elder," he said, "and I told him I should leave his
+house as soon as I could."
+
+"You don't mean that!" she exclaimed. "You must take that back, George.
+I'll speak to pappa; he'll mind me."
+
+"No," he replied firmly; "speaking won't do any good. I've made up my
+mind. It's impossible for me to stay here."
+
+"Then you don't care for me. But that's not so. Say it's not so, George.
+Say you'll stay--and I'll come down this evening after the old folks
+have gone to bed, and sit with you. There!"
+
+Of course the man yielded to a certain extent, the pleading face
+upturned to his was too seductive to be denied, but he would not promise
+more than that he would tell her what had taken place, and consult with
+her.
+
+Shortly after nine o'clock, as usual, Mr. and Mrs. Conklin retired. Half
+an hour later Bancroft and Loo were seated together in the corner of the
+back stoop. They sat like lovers, his arm about her waist, while he told
+his story. She expressed relief; she had feared it would be much worse;
+he had only to say he didn't mean anythin', and she'd persuade her
+father to forget and forgive. But the schoolmaster would not consent to
+that. He had meant and did mean every word, and could take back nothing.
+And when she appealed to his affection, he could only repeat that
+he'd think it over. "You know I like you, Loo, but I can't do
+impossibilities. It's unfortunate, perhaps, but it's done and can't be
+undone." And then, annoyed at being pressed further, he thought they
+had better go in: it was very cold; she'd catch a chill if she stayed
+longer, and there was no sense in that. The girl, seeing that her
+pleading was of no avail, grew angry; his love was good enough to talk
+about, but it could not be worth much if he denied her so little
+a thing; it didn't matter, though, she'd get along somehow, she
+guessed--here they were startled by the sound of a door opening. Loo
+glided quickly round the corner of the stoop, and entered the house.
+Bancroft following her heard the back door shut, and some one go down
+the steps. He could not help looking to see who was on foot at such an
+untimely hour, and to his surprise perceived the Elder in a night-shirt,
+walking with bare feet towards the stables through the long grass
+already stiff with frost. Before the white figure had disappeared
+Bancroft assured himself that Loo had gone up to bed the front way.
+Curiosity conquering his first impulse, which had been to follow her
+example, he went after the Elder, without, however, intending to play
+the spy. When he had passed through the stables and got to the top of
+the slope overlooking the creek, he caught sight of the Elder twenty
+yards away at the water's edge. In mute surprise he watched the old man
+tie his night-shirt up under his armpits, wade into the ice-cold water,
+kneel down, and begin what was evidently meant to be a prayer. His first
+words were conventional, but gradually his earnestness and excitement
+overcame his sense of the becoming, and he talked of what lay near his
+heart in disjointed phrases.
+
+"That young man to-day jes' jumped on me! He told me I'd plagued them
+cattle half to death, and I'd acted lies and cheated Ramsdell out of
+three hundred dollars. 'Twas all true. I s'pose I did plague the cattle,
+though I've often been as thirsty as they were--after eatin' salt pork
+and workin' all day in the sun. I didn't think of hurtin' them when I
+salted the floor. But I did act to deceive Ramsdell, and I reckon I
+made nigh on three hundred dollars out of the deal. 'Twas wrong. But,
+O God!"--and unconsciously the old man's voice rose--"You know all my
+life. You know everythin'. You know I never lied or cheated any one fer
+myself. I've worked hard and honest fer more'n forty years, and always
+been poor. I never troubled about it, and I don't now, but fer Loo.
+
+"She's so pretty and young. Jes' like a flower wants sunshine, she wants
+pleasure, and when she don't git it, she feels bad. She's so young and
+soft. Now she wants a pile of money and a pianner, and I couldn't git it
+fer her no other way. I had to cheat.
+
+"O Lord, ef I could kneel down hyar and say I repented with godly
+repentance fer sin and determination never to sin agen, I'd do it,
+and ask you to pardon me for Jesus' sake, but I kain't repent--I jes'
+kain't! You see my heart, O God! and you know I'll go on cheatin' ef
+that'll get Loo what she wants. An' so I've come down hyar to say that
+Loo ain't with me in the cheatin'; it's all my sin. I know you punish
+sin. The stiff-necked sinner ought to be punished. Wall; I'll take the
+punishment. Put it right on to me--that's justice. But, O Lord! leave
+Loo out; she don't know nothin' about it. That's why I've come down hyar
+into the water to show I'm willin' to bear what you send. Amen, O Lord
+God! In Jesus' name, Amen."
+
+And he rose quietly, came out of the creek, wiped his dripping limbs
+with his hand as well as he could, let down his night-shirt, and
+prepared to climb the bank. Needless to say, Bancroft had slipped
+through the stables and reached the house before the Elder could get
+within sight of him.
+
+When alone in his room the schoolmaster grew a little ashamed of
+himself. There could be no doubt of the Elder's sincerity, and he had
+insulted him. The Elder had sacrificed his principles; had done violence
+to the habits of his life, and shame to his faith and practice--all
+in order that his daughter might have her "pianner." The grotesque
+pronunciation of the word appeared pathetic to Bancroft now; it brought
+moisture into his eyes. What a fine old fellow Conklin was! Of course he
+wished to bear the whole burden of his sin and its punishment. It would
+be easy to go to him on the morrow and beg his pardon. Wrong done as the
+Elder did it, he felt, was more than right. What a Christian at heart!
+And what a man!
+
+But the girl who asked for such a sacrifice--what was she? All the
+jealousy, all the humiliation he had suffered on her account, came back
+to him; she would have her father steal provided she got her piano. How
+vain she was and self-willed; without any fine moral feeling or proper
+principle! He would be worse than a fool to give his life to such a
+woman. If she could drive her father--and such a father--to theft, in
+what wrongdoing might she not involve her husband? He was warned in
+time; he would not be guilty of such irreparable folly. He would match
+her selfishness with prudence. Who could blame him? That was what the
+hard glitter in her eyes betokened--cold selfishness; and he had thought
+of her as Hebe--a Hebe who would give poisoned wine to those who loved
+her. He was well saved from that.
+
+The old Greek word called her up before him, and the spell of her
+physical charm stole over his astonished senses like perfumed summer
+air. Sitting beside her that evening, his arm round her waist, he had
+felt the soft, full curves of her form, and thinking of it his
+pulses throbbed. How fair her face was! That appealing air made her
+irresistible; and even when she was angry, how splendidly handsome! What
+a pity she should be hard and vulgar! He felt estranged from her, yet
+still cherished the bitterness of disappointment. She was detestably
+vain, common and selfish; he would be on his guard.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Next day at breakfast Mr. Morris came in. He was an ordinary young
+Western farmer, rough but kindly, ill-educated but sensible. When his
+appetite was satisfied he wanted to know whether they had heard the
+news.
+
+"No," Mrs. Conklin replied eagerly, "we've heard nothing unless p'r'aps
+the Elder in Eureka"--but her husband shook his head, and Morris went
+on:
+
+"Folks say the Government in Washington has sent General Custer out
+with troops to pertect the Indian Territory. Away East they think the
+settlers have been stealing the Reserve, an' the soldiers are coming
+with surveyors to draw the line again."
+
+After a pause, "That seems right," said the Elder; "thar' ain't nothin'
+agen that."
+
+"But you've ploughed and raised crops on the Indian land across the
+crik," objected Morris; "we all hev. Air we to give it up?"
+
+There was no answer.
+
+"Anyway," Morris continued, "Custer's at Wichita now. He'll be here in
+a day or two, an' we've called a meetin' in the school-house for this
+evenin' an' we hope you'll be on hand. 'Tain't likely we're goin' to
+stand by an' see our crops destroyed. We must hold together, and all'll
+come right."
+
+"That's true," said the Elder, thinking aloud, "and good. Ef we all held
+together there'd not be much wrong done."
+
+"Then I kin tell the boys," resumed Morris, rising, "that you'll be with
+us, Elder. All us young uns hold by you, an' what you say, we'll do,
+every time."
+
+"Wall," replied the Elder slowly, "I don't know. I kain't see my way
+to goin'. I've always done fer myself by myself, and I mean to--right
+through; but the meetin' seems a good idee. I'm not contradictin' that.
+It seems strong. I don't go much though on meetin's; they hain't ever
+helped me. But a meetin' seems strong--for them that likes it."
+
+With this assurance Morris was fain to be satisfied and go his way.
+
+Bancroft had listened to the colloquy with new feelings. Prepared
+to regard with admiration all that the Elder said or did, it was not
+difficult for him now to catch the deeper meaning of the uncouth words.
+He was drawn to the Elder by moral sympathy, and his early training
+tended to strengthen this attraction. It was right, he felt, that the
+Elder should take his own course, fearing nothing that man could do.
+
+In the evening he met Loo. She supposed with a careless air that he was
+goin' to pack them leather trunks of his.
+
+"No, I've reconsidered it," he answered. "I'm going to beg your father's
+pardon, and take back all I said to him."
+
+"Oh! then you do care for me, George," cried the girl enthusiastically,
+"an' we ken be happy again. I've been real miserable since last night; I
+cried myself to sleep, so I did. Now I know you love me I'll do anythin'
+you wish, anythin'. I'll learn to play the pianner; you see if I don't."
+
+"Perhaps," he replied harshly, the old anger growing bitter in him at
+the mention of the "pianner"--"perhaps it would be better if you gave up
+the idea of the piano; that _costs_ too much," he added significantly,
+"far too much. If you'd read good books and try to live in the thought
+of the time, it would be better. Wisdom is to be won cheaply and by all,
+but success in an art depends upon innate qualities."
+
+"I see," she exclaimed, flaming up, "you think I can't learn to play
+like your sister, and I'm very ignorant, and had better read and get
+to know all other people have said, and you call that wisdom. I don't.
+Memory ain't sense, I guess; and to talk like you ain't everythin'."
+
+The attack pricked his vanity. He controlled himself, however, and took
+up the argument: "Memory is not sense, perhaps; but still one ought to
+know the best that has been said and done in the world. It is easier to
+climb the ladder when others have shown us the rungs. And surely to talk
+correctly is better than to talk incorrectly."
+
+"It don't matter much, I reckon, so long as one gets your meanin', and
+as for the ladder, a monkey could do that."
+
+The irrelevant retort puzzled him, and her tone increased his annoyance.
+But why, he asked himself, should he trouble to lift her to a higher
+level of thought? He relapsed into silence.
+
+With wounded heart the girl waited; she was hurt, afraid he did not care
+for her, could not even guess how she had offended him; but, as he would
+not speak, her pride came to her aid, and she remarked:
+
+"I'm asked out this evenin', so I'll have to get ready and go. Good
+night, George Bancroft."
+
+"Good night, Miss Loo," he replied calmly, though the pain he suffered
+proved that jealousy may outlive love. "I think I shall go to this
+meeting at the school-house."
+
+They parted. Loo went upstairs to her room to cry over her misery and
+George's coldness; to wish she had been better taught, and had learned
+her lessons in school carefully, for then he might have been kinder. She
+wondered how she should get books to read. It was difficult. Besides,
+couldn't he see that she was quick and would learn everythin' afterwards
+if he'd be good to her. Why did he act so? Why!
+
+Bancroft went to the meeting, and found the house crowded. A young
+farmer from the next county was present, who told how a United States
+officer with twelve men and a surveyor had come and drawn the boundary
+line, torn up his fences, and trampled down the corn which he had
+planted in the Indian Reserve. The meeting at once adopted the following
+resolution:
+
+"In view of the fact that the land cultivated by American citizens in
+or upon the Indian Reserve has never been used or cultivated by the
+Indians, who keep to the woods, and that it is God's will that land
+should bring forth fruit for the sustenance of man, we are resolved to
+stand upon our rights as citizens and to defend the same against all
+aggressors."
+
+Every one signed this document, copies of which were to be sent to
+General Custer, and also to the President, to the Senate, and to
+Congress. It was arranged further to write to their own representatives
+at Washington giving an account of the situation.
+
+After this the meeting broke up, but not before all present had agreed
+to stand by any of their number who should resist the troops.
+
+When Bancroft returned home Mr. and Mrs. Conklin were still up, and he
+related to them all that had taken place. The Elder rose and stretched
+himself without having made a remark. In a whisper Bancroft asked Mrs.
+Conklin to let him have a word with her husband. As soon as they were
+alone, he began:
+
+"Mr. Conklin, I insulted you yesterday. I am sorry for it. I hope you'll
+forgive me."
+
+"Yes," replied the Elder meditatively, overlooking the proffered hand,
+"yes, that's Christian, I reckon. But the truth's the truth." Turning
+abruptly to leave the room, he added: "The corn's ripe, waitin' to be
+cut; ef the United States troops don't eat it all up we'll have a
+good year." There was a light in his steady eyes which startled the
+schoolmaster into all sorts of conjectures.
+
+A day or two later, the Conklins and Bancroft were seated at dinner
+when a knock came at the door. "Come in!" said Mrs. Conklin, and a young
+officer appeared in the uniform of the United States cavalry. He paused
+on the threshold, lifted his cap, and apologized for his intrusion:
+
+"Elder Conklin, I believe?" The Elder nodded his head, but continued
+eating. "My business isn't pleasant, I fear, but it needn't take long.
+I'm sent by General Custer to draw the boundary line between the State
+of Kansas and the Indian Reserve, to break down all fences erected by
+citizens of the United States in the Territory, and to destroy such
+crops as they may have planted there. I regret to say our surveyor tells
+me the boundary line here is Cottonwood Creek, and I must notify you
+that tomorrow about noon I shall be here to carry out my orders, and to
+destroy the crops and fences found on the further side of the creek."
+
+Before withdrawing he begged pardon again, this time for the short
+notice he was compelled to give--a concession apparently to Miss
+Conklin's appearance and encouraging smiles.
+
+"Oh, pappa!" cried Loo, as he disappeared, "why didn't you ask him
+to have some dinner? He jest looked splendid, and that uniform's too
+lovely."
+
+The Elder made no answer. Neither the courteous menace of the lieutenant
+nor his daughter's reproach seemed to have had any effect upon him. He
+went on with his dinner.
+
+Loo's outspoken admiration of the officer did not move Bancroft as she
+had anticipated. It simply confirmed his worst suspicions. His nature
+was neither deep nor passionate; he had always lived in the conventions
+which the girl constantly outraged, and they now exercised their
+influence. Moreover, he had self-possession enough to see that she meant
+to annoy him. He was exceedingly anxious to know what the Elder intended
+to do, and what Loo might think or feel did not interest him greatly.
+
+A few hours later a clue was given to him: Jake came and told him as a
+piece of news that "Pa's shot-gun ain't in his room." Bancroft could
+not rid himself of the thought that the fact was significant. But the
+evening passed away quietly; Loo busied herself with some work, and the
+Elder seemed content to watch her.
+
+At breakfast next morning nothing of moment happened. Bancroft took
+occasion to say that he was coming home early to dinner. On his return
+from school, some three hours after, he saw a troop of horsemen riding
+up the valley a mile or so away. With quickened pulses he sprang up the
+steps and met the Elder in the doorway.
+
+"There they come!" he said involuntarily, pointing to the little cloud
+of dust.
+
+"Hum," grunted the Elder, and left the stoop, going towards the
+outhouses.
+
+Bancroft turned into the parlour, where he found Mrs. Conklin. She
+seemed to be irritated, and not at all anxious, as he had expected:
+
+"Did you see the Elder?"
+
+"Yes," he replied. "He went to the barn. I thought of accompanying him,
+but was afraid he wouldn't like it."
+
+"I guess he's worrying about that corn," Mrs. Conklin explained. "When
+he broke that land I told him 'twould bring trouble, but he never
+minds what any one says to him. He should listen to his wife, though,
+sometimes, shouldn't he? But bein' a man p'r'aps you'll take his part.
+Anyway, it has all happened as I knew it would. And what'll he do now?
+that's what I'd like to know. All that corn lost and the fences--he jest
+worked himself to death on those logs--all lost now. We shall be bare
+poor again. It's too bad. I've never had any money since I left home."
+And here Mrs. Conklin's face puckered itself up as if she were about to
+cry, but the impulse of vanity being stronger, she burst out angrily:
+"I think it's real wicked of the Elder. I told him so. If he'd ask that
+young man to let him cut the corn, I'm sure he wouldn't refuse. But
+he'll never take my advice, or even answer me. It's too aggravatin' when
+I know I'm right."
+
+He looked at her in astonishment. She had evidently no inkling of
+what might occur, no vivid understanding of her husband's character.
+Preferring to leave her in ignorance, he said lightly, "I hope it'll be
+all right," and, in order to change the subject, added, "I've not seen
+Miss Loo, and Jake wasn't in school this morning."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Bancroft, if anythin' has happened to Jake!" and Mrs. Conklin
+sank weakly into the nearest chair; "but thar ain't no swimmin' nor
+skatin' now. When he comes in I'll frighten him; I'll threaten to tell
+the Elder. He mustn't miss his schoolin', for he's real bright, ain't
+he?--Loo? Her father sent her to the Morrises, about somethin'--I don't
+know what."
+
+When Bancroft came downstairs, taking with him a small revolver, his
+only weapon, he could not find the Elder either in the outbuildings or
+in the stable. Remembering, however, that the soldiers could only get to
+the threatened cornfield by crossing the bridge, which lay a few hundred
+yards higher up the creek, he made his way thither with all speed.
+When he reached the descent, he saw the Elder in the inevitable, long,
+whitey-brown holland coat, walking over the bridge. In a minute or two
+he had overtaken him. As the Elder did not speak, he began:
+
+"I thought I'd come with you, Elder. I don't know that I'm much good,
+but I sympathize with you, and I'd like to help you if I could."
+
+"Yes," replied the Elder, acknowledging thereby the proffered aid. "But
+I guess you kain't. I guess not," he repeated by way of emphasis.
+
+In silence the pair went on to the broad field of maize. At the corner
+of the fence, the Elder stopped and said, as if speaking to himself:
+
+"It runs, I reckon, seventy-five bushel to the acre, and there are two
+hundred acres." After a lengthened pause he continued: "That makes nigh
+on three thousand dollars. I must hev spent two hundred dollars this
+year in hired labour on that ground, and the half ain't cut yet. Thar's
+a pile of money and work on that quarter-section."
+
+A few minutes more passed in silence. Bancroft did not know what to say,
+for the calm seriousness of the Elder repelled sympathy. As he looked
+about him there showed on the rise across the creek a knot of United
+States cavalry, the young lieutenant riding in front with a civilian,
+probably the surveyor, by his side. Bancroft turned and found that the
+Elder had disappeared in the corn. He followed quickly, but as he
+swung himself on to the fence the Elder came from behind a stook with a
+burnished shot-gun in his right hand, and said decisively:
+
+"Don't come in hyar. 'Tain't your corn and you've no cause to mix
+yourself in this fuss."
+
+Bancroft obeyed involuntarily. The next moment he began to resent the
+authority conveyed in the prohibition; he ought to have protested, to
+have insisted--but now it was too late. As the soldiers rode up the
+lieutenant dismounted and threw his reins to a trooper. He stepped
+towards the fence, and touching his cap carelessly, remarked:
+
+"Well, Mr. Conklin, here we are." The earnestness of the Elder appeared
+to have its effect, too, upon him, for he went on more respectfully: "I
+regret that I've orders to pull down your fences and destroy the crop.
+But there's nothing else to be done."
+
+"Yes," said the Elder gravely, "I guess you know your orders. But you
+mustn't pull down my fence," and as he spoke he drew his shot-gun in
+front of him, and rested his hands upon the muzzle, "nor destroy this
+crop." And the long upper lip came down over the lower, giving an
+expression of obstinate resolve to the hard, tanned face.
+
+"You don't seem to understand," replied the lieutenant a little
+impatiently; "this land belongs to the Indians; it has been secured to
+them by the United States Government, and you've no business either to
+fence it in or plant it."
+
+"That's all right," answered Conklin, in the same steady, quiet,
+reasonable tone. "That may all be jes' so, but them Indians warn't usin'
+the land; they did no good with it. I broke this prairie ten years ago,
+and it took eight hosses to do it, and I've sowed it ever sence till
+the crops hev grown good, and now you come and tell me you're goin' to
+tromple down the corn and pull up the fences. No sir, you ain't--that
+ain't right."
+
+"Right or wrong," the officer retorted, "I have to carry out my orders,
+not reason about them. Here, sergeant, let three men hold the horses and
+get to work on this fence."
+
+As the sergeant advanced and put his hand on the top layer of the heavy
+snake-fence, the Elder levelled his shot-gun and said:
+
+"Ef you pull down that bar I'll shoot."
+
+The sergeant took his hand from the bar quickly, and turned to his
+commander as if awaiting further instructions.
+
+"Mr. Conklin," exclaimed the lieutenant, moving forward, "this is pure
+foolishness; we're twelve to one, and we're only soldiers and have to
+obey orders. I'm sorry, but I must do my duty."
+
+"That's so," said the Elder, lowering his gun deliberately. "That's so,
+I guess. You hev your duty--p'r'aps I hev mine. 'Tain't my business to
+teach you yours."
+
+For a moment the lieutenant seemed to be undecided; then he spoke:
+
+"Half-a-dozen of you advance and cover him with your rifles. Now, Mr.
+Conklin, if you resist you must take the consequences. Rebellion against
+the United States Government don't generally turn out well--for the
+rebel. Sergeant, down with the bar."
+
+The Elder stood as if he had not heard what had been said to him, but
+when the sergeant laid hold of the bar, the shot-gun went up again to
+the old man's shoulder, and he said:
+
+"Ef you throw down that bar I'll shoot _you_." Again the sergeant
+paused, and looked at his officer.
+
+At this juncture Bancroft could not help interfering. The Elder's
+attitude had excited in him more than mere admiration; wonder, reverence
+thrilled him, and his blood boiled at the thought that the old man might
+possibly be shot down. He stepped forward and said:
+
+"Sir, you must not order your men to fire. You will raise the whole
+country against you if you do. This is surely a law case, and not to
+be decided by violence. Such a decision is not to be taken without
+reflection and distinct instructions."
+
+"Those instructions I have," replied the lieutenant, "and I've got to
+follow them out--more's the pity," he added between his teeth, while
+turning to his troopers to give the decisive command. At this moment
+down from the bluff and over the wooden bridge came clattering a crowd
+of armed farmers, the younger ones whirling their rifles or revolvers as
+they rode. Foremost among them were Morris and Seth Stevens, and between
+these two young Jake Conklin on Jack. As they reached the corner of the
+fence the crowd pulled up and Morris cried out:
+
+"Elder, we're on time, I reckon." Addressing the lieutenant he added
+violently: "We don't pay United States soldiers to pull down our fences
+and destroy our crops. That's got to stop right here, and right now!"
+
+"My orders are imperative," the officer declared, "and if you resist you
+must take the consequences." But while he spoke the hopelessness of his
+position became clear to him, for reinforcements of farmers were still
+pouring over the bridge, and already the soldiers were outnumbered two
+to one. Just as Seth Stevens began with "Damn the consequences," the
+Elder interrupted him:
+
+"Young man," he said to the lieutenant, "you'd better go back to
+Wichita. I guess General Custer didn't send you to fight the hull
+township." Turning to Stevens, he added, "Thar ain't no need fer any
+cussin'." Amid complete silence he uncocked his shot-gun, climbed over
+the fence, and went on in the same voice:
+
+"Jake, take that horse to the stable an' wipe him dry. Tell your mother
+I'm coming right up to eat."
+
+Without another word he moved off homewards. His intervention had put
+an end to the difficulty. Even the lieutenant understood that there was
+nothing more to be done for the moment. Five minutes later the troopers
+recrossed the bridge. Morris and a few of the older men held a brief
+consultation. It was agreed that they should be on the same spot at six
+o'clock on the morrow, and some of the younger spirits volunteered to
+act as scouts in the direction of Wichita and keep the others informed
+of what took place in that quarter.
+
+When Bancroft reached the house with Morris--neither Stevens nor any of
+the others felt inclined to trespass on the Elder's hospitality without
+an express invitation--he found dinner waiting. Loo had not returned;
+had, indeed, arranged, as Morris informed them, to spend the day with
+his wife; but Jake was present and irrepressible; he wanted to tell all
+he had done to secure the victory. But he had scarcely commenced when
+his father shut him up by bidding him eat, for he'd have to go right
+back to school.
+
+There was no feeling of triumph in the Elder. He scarcely spoke, and
+when Morris described the protective measures that had been adopted, he
+merely nodded. In fact, one would have inferred from his manner that he
+had had nothing whatever to do with the contest, and took no interest
+in it. The only thing that appeared to trouble him was Loo's absence and
+the fear lest she should have been "fussed;" but when Morris declared
+that neither his wife nor Loo knew what was going on, and Bancroft
+announced his intention of driving over to fetch her, he seemed to be
+satisfied.
+
+"Jack, I reckon, has had enough," he said to his boarder. "You'd better
+take the white mare; she's quiet."
+
+On their way home in the buggy, Bancroft told Loo how her father had
+defied the United States troops, and with what unconcern he had taken
+his victory:
+
+"I think he's a great man, a hero. And if he had lived in another time,
+or in another country, poets would have sung his courage."
+
+"Really," she observed. Her tone was anything but enthusiastic, though
+hope stirred in her at his unusual warmth. "Perhaps he cares for me
+after all," she thought.
+
+"What are you thinking about, Loo?" he asked, surprised at her silence.
+
+"I was just wonderin'," she answered, casting off her fit of momentary
+abstraction, "how father made you like him. It appears as if I couldn't,
+George," and she turned towards him while she spoke her wistful eyes
+seeking to read his face.
+
+There was a suggestion of tears in her voice, and her manner showed
+a submission and humility which touched Bancroft deeply. All his good
+impulses had been called into active life by his admiration of the
+Elder. He put his disengaged arm round her and drew her to him as he
+replied:
+
+"Kiss me, Loo dear, and let us try to get on better together in future.
+There's no reason why we shouldn't," he added, trying to convince
+himself. The girl's vain and facile temperament required but little
+encouragement to abandon itself in utter confidence. In her heart
+of hearts she was sure that every man must admire her, and as her
+companion's manner and words gave her hope, she chattered away in the
+highest spirits till the homestead was reached. Her good-humour and
+self-satisfaction made the evening pass merrily. Everything she said
+or did delighted the Elder, Bancroft saw that clearly now. Whether she
+laughed or talked, teased Jake, or mimicked the matronly airs of Mrs.
+Morris, her father's eyes followed her with manifest pleasure and
+admiration. On rising to go to bed the Elder said simply:
+
+"It has been a good day--a good day," he repeated impressively, while he
+held his daughter in his arms and kissed her.
+
+The next morning Bancroft was early afoot. Shortly after sunrise he went
+down to the famous cornfield and found a couple of youths on watch. They
+had been there for more than an hour, they said, and Seth Stevens and
+Richards had gone scouting towards Wichita. "Conklin's corner's all
+right," was the phrase which sent the schoolmaster to breakfast with
+a light heart. When the meal was over he returned to the centre of
+excitement. The Elder had gone about his work; Mrs. Conklin seemed as
+helplessly indifferent as usual; Loo was complacently careless; but
+Bancroft, having had time for reflection, felt sure that all this was
+Western presumption; General Custer could not accept defeat so easily.
+At the "corner" he found a couple of hundred youths and men assembled.
+They were all armed, but the general opinion was that Custer would do
+nothing. One old farmer summed up the situation in the phrase, "Thar
+ain't nothin' for him to do, but set still."
+
+About eight o'clock, however, Richards raced up, with his horse in a
+lather, and announced that Custer, with three hundred men, had started
+from Wichita before six.
+
+"He'll be hyar in half an hour," he concluded.
+
+Hurried counsel was taken; fifty men sought cover behind the stooks of
+corn, the rest lined the skirting woods. When all was in order, Bancroft
+was deputed to go and fetch the Elder, whom he eventually discovered at
+the wood pile, sawing and splitting logs for firewood.
+
+"Make haste, Elder," he cried, "Morris has sent me for you, and there's
+no time to be lost. Custer, with three hundred men, left Wichita at six
+o'clock this morning, and they'll be here very soon."
+
+The Elder paused unwillingly, and resting on his axe asked: "Is Morris
+alone?"
+
+"No!" replied Bancroft, amazed to think the Elder could have forgotten
+the arrangements he had heard described the evening before. "There
+are two hundred men down there in the corner and in the woods," and he
+rapidly sketched the position.
+
+"It's all right then, I guess," the Elder decided. "They'll get along
+without me. Tell Morris I'm at my chores." Beginning his work again, he
+added, "I've something to _do_ hyar."
+
+From the old man's manner Bancroft was convinced that solicitation would
+be a waste of time. He returned to the corner, where he found Morris
+standing inside the fence.
+
+"I guessed so," was Morris's comment upon the Elder's attitude; "we'll
+hev to do without him, I reckon. You and me'll stay hyar in the open;
+we don't want to shoot ef we kin avoid it; there ain't no reason to as I
+kin see."
+
+Ten minutes afterwards the cavalry crossed the bridge two deep, and
+wound snake-like towards the corner. With the first files came General
+Custer, accompanied by half-a-dozen officers, among whom Bancroft
+recognized the young lieutenant. Singling Morris out, the General rode
+up to the fence and addressed him with formal politeness:
+
+"Mr. Conklin?"
+
+"No," replied Morris, "but I'm hyar fer him, I guess--an' about two
+hundred more ef I'm not enough," he added drily, waving his hand towards
+the woods.
+
+With a half-turn in his saddle and a glance at the line of trees on his
+flank, General Custer took in the situation. Clearly there was nothing
+to do but to retreat, with some show of dignity.
+
+"Where shall I find Mr. Conklin? I wish to speak to him."
+
+"I'll guide you," was Morris's answer, "ef you'll come alone; he
+mightn't fancy so many visitors to onc't."
+
+As Morris and Bancroft climbed over the fence and led the way towards
+the homestead, some of the armed farmers strolled from behind the stocks
+into the open, and others showed themselves carelessly among the trees
+on the bank of the creek. When the Elder was informed that General
+Custer was at the front door, he laid down his axe, and in his
+shirtsleeves went to meet him.
+
+"Mr. Conklin, I believe?"
+
+"That's my name, General."
+
+"You've resisted United States troops with arms, and now, it seems,
+you've got up a rebellion."
+
+"I guess not, General; I guess not. I was Union all through the war; I
+came hyar as an Abolitionist. I only want to keep my fences up as long
+as they'll stand, an' cut my corn in peace."
+
+"Well," General Custer resumed, after a pause, "I must send to
+Washington for instructions and state the facts as I know them, but if
+the Federal authorities tell me to carry out the law, as I've no doubt
+they will, I shall be compelled to do so, and resistance on your part
+can only cause useless bloodshed."
+
+"That's so," was the quiet reply; but what the phrase meant was not
+very clear save to Bancroft, who understood that the Elder was unable or
+unwilling to discuss a mere hypothesis.
+
+With a curt motion of his hand to his cap General Custer cantered off to
+rejoin his men, who shortly afterwards filed again across the bridge on
+their way back to camp.
+
+When the coast was clear of soldiers some of the older settlers went up
+to Conklin's to take counsel together. It was agreed to collect from all
+the farmers interested two dollars a head for law expenses, and to send
+at once for Lawyer Barkman of Wichita, in order to have his opinion
+on the case. Morris offered to bring Barkman next day about noon to
+Conklin's, and this proposal was accepted. If any other place had been
+fixed upon, it would have been manifestly impossible to secure the
+Elder's presence, for his refusal again to leave the wood pile had
+converted his back-stoop into the council-chamber. Without more ado the
+insurgents dispersed, every man to his house.
+
+On returning home to dinner next day Bancroft noticed a fine buggy
+drawn up outside the stable, and a negro busily engaged in grooming two
+strange horses. When he entered the parlour he was not surprised to find
+that Morris had already arrived with the lawyer. Barkman was about forty
+years of age; above the medium height and very stout, but active. His
+face was heavy; its outlines obscured by fat; the nose, however, was
+thin and cocked inquisitively, and the eyes, though small, were restless
+and intelligent. He was over-dressed; his black frockcoat was brand
+new; the diamond stud which shone in the centre of a vast expanse of
+shirt-front, was nearly the size of a five-cent piece--his appearance
+filled Bancroft with contempt. Nevertheless he seemed to know his
+business. As soon as he had heard the story he told them that an action
+against the Elder would lie in the Federal Courts, and that the damages
+would certainly be heavy. Still, something might be done; the act of
+rebellion, he thought, would be difficult to prove; in fine, they must
+wait on events.
+
+At this moment Mrs. Conklin accompanied by Loo came in to announce that
+dinner was ready. It was manifest that the girl's beauty made a deep
+impression on Barkman. Before seeing her he had professed to regard the
+position as hopeless, or nearly so; now he was ready to reconsider his
+first opinion, or rather to modify it. His quick intelligence appeared
+to have grown keener as he suddenly changed his line of argument, and
+began to set forth the importance of getting the case fully and fairly
+discussed in Washington.
+
+"I must get clear affidavits from all the settlers," he said, "and then,
+I guess, we'll show the authorities in Washington that this isn't a
+question in which they should interfere. But if I save you," he went
+on, with a laugh intended to simulate frank good-nature, "I s'pose I may
+reckon on your votes when I run for Congress."
+
+It was understood at once that he had pitched upon the best possible
+method of defence. Morris seemed to speak for all when he said:
+
+"Ef you'll take the trouble now, I guess we'll ensure your election."
+
+"Never mind the election, that was only a jest," replied the lawyer
+good-humouredly; "and the trouble's not worth talkin' about. If Miss
+Conklin," and here he turned respectfully towards her, "would take a
+seat in my buggy and show me the chief settlers' houses, I reckon I
+could fix up the case in three or four days."
+
+The eyes of all were directed upon Loo. Was it Bancroft's jealousy that
+made him smile contemptuously as he, too, glanced at her? If so, the
+disdain was ill-timed. Flushing slightly, she answered, "I guess I'll be
+pleased to do what I can," and she met the schoolmaster's eyes defiantly
+as she spoke.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With the advent of Barkman upon the scene a succession of new
+experiences began for Bancroft. He was still determined not to be
+seduced into making Loo his wife. But now the jealousy that is born of
+desire and vanity tormented him, and the mere thought that Barkman
+might marry and live with her irritated him intensely. She was worthy of
+better things than marriage with such a man. She was vain, no doubt, and
+lacking in the finer sensibilities, the tremulous moral instincts which
+are the crown and glory of womanhood; but it was not her fault that her
+education had been faulty, her associates coarse--and after all she was
+very beautiful.
+
+On returning home one afternoon he saw Barkman walking with her in the
+peach orchard. As they turned round the girl called to him, and came
+at once to meet him; but his jealousy would not be appeased. Her
+flower-like face, framed, so to speak, by the autumn foliage, only
+increased his anger. He could not bear to _see_ her flirting. Were she
+out of his sight, he felt for the first time, he would not care what she
+did.
+
+"You were goin' in without speakin'," she said reproachfully.
+
+"You have a man with you whose trade is talk. I'm not needed," was his
+curt reply.
+
+Half-incensed, half-gratified by his passionate exclamation, she drew
+back, while Barkman, advancing, said:
+
+"Good day, Mr. Bancroft, good day. I was just tryin' to persuade Miss
+Conklin to come for another drive this evenin' in order to get this
+business of ours settled as soon as possible."
+
+"Another drive." Bancroft repeated the words to himself, and then
+steadying his voice answered coolly: "You'll have no difficulty, lawyer.
+I was just telling Miss Conklin that you talked splendidly--the result
+of constant practice, I presume."
+
+"That's it, sir," replied the lawyer seriously; "it's chiefly a matter
+of practice added to gift--natural gift," but here Barkman's conceit
+died out as he caught an uneasy, impatient movement of Miss Conklin,
+and he went on quietly with the knowledge of life and the adaptability
+gained by long experience: "But anyway, I'm glad you agree with me, for
+Miss Conklin may take your advice after rejectin' mine."
+
+Bancroft saw the trap, but could not restrain himself. With a
+contemptuous smile he said:
+
+"I'm sure no advice of mine is needed; Miss Conklin has already made up
+her mind to gratify you. She likes to show the country to strangers," he
+added bitterly.
+
+The girl flushed at the sarcasm, but her spirit was not subdued.
+
+"Wall, Mr. Barkman," she retorted, with a smiling glance at the lawyer,
+"I guess I must give in; if Mr. Bancroft thinks I ought ter, there's no
+more to be said. I'm willin'."
+
+An evening or two later, Barkman having gone into Wichita, Bancroft
+asked Loo to go out with him upon the stoop. For several minutes he
+stood in silence admiring the moonlit landscape; then he spoke as if to
+himself:
+
+"Not a cloud in the purple depths, no breath of air, no sound nor stir
+of life--peace absolute that mocks at man's cares and restlessness.
+Look, Loo, how the ivory light bathes the prairie and shimmers on the
+sea of corn, and makes of the little creek a ribband of silver....
+
+"Yet you seem to prefer a great diamond gleaming in a white shirt-front,
+and a coarse, common face, and vulgar talk.
+
+"You," and he turned to her, "whose beauty is like the beauty of nature
+itself, perfect and ineffable. When I think of you and that coarse
+brute together, I shall always remember this moonlight and the hateful
+zig-zagging snake-fence there that disfigures and defiles its beauty."
+
+The girl looked up at him, only half understanding his rhapsody, but
+glowing with the hope called to life by his extravagant praise of her.
+"Why, George," she said shyly, because wholly won, "I don't think no
+more of Lawyer Barkman than the moon thinks of the fence--an' I guess
+that's not much," she added, with a little laugh of complete content.
+
+The common phrases of uneducated speech and the vulgar accent of what
+he thought her attempt at smart rejoinder offended him. Misunderstanding
+her literalness of mind, he moved away, and shortly afterwards
+re-entered the house.
+
+Of course Loo was dissatisfied with such incidents as these. When she
+saw Bancroft trying to draw Barkman out and throw contempt upon him, she
+never dreamed of objecting. But when he attacked her, she flew to her
+weapons. What had she done, what was she doing, to deserve his sneers?
+She only wished him to love her, and she felt indignantly that every
+time she teased him by going with Barkman, he was merciless, and
+whenever she abandoned herself to him, he drew back. She couldn't bear
+that; it was cruel of him. She loved him, yes; no one, she knew, would
+ever make him so good a wife as she would. No one ever could. Why,
+there was nothin' she wouldn't do for him willingly. She'd see after
+his comforts an' everythin'. She'd tidy all his papers an' fix up his
+things. And if he ever got ill, she'd jest wait on him day and night--so
+she would. She'd be the best wife to him that ever was.
+
+Oh, why couldn't he be good to her always? That was all she wanted, to
+feel he loved her; then she'd show him how she loved him. He'd be happy,
+as happy as the day was long. How foolish men were! they saw nothin'
+that was under their noses.
+
+"P'r'aps he does love me," she said to herself; "he talked the other
+evenin' beautiful; I guess he don't talk like that to every one, and
+yet he won't give in to me an' jest be content--once for all. It's their
+pride makes 'em like that; their silly, stupid pride. Nothin' else. Men
+air foolish things. I've no pride at all when I think of him, except I
+know that no one else could make him as happy as I could. Oh my!" and
+she sighed with a sense of the mysterious unnecessary suffering in life.
+
+"An' he goes on bein' mad with Lawyer Barkman. Fancy, that fat old man.
+He warn't jealous of Seth Stevens or the officer, no; but of him. Why,
+it's silly. Barkman don't count anyway. He talks well, yes, an' he's
+always pleasant, always; but he's jest not in it. Men air foolish
+anyway." She was beginning to acknowledge that all her efforts to gain
+her end might prove unsuccessful.
+
+Barkman, with his varied experience and the cooler blood of forty,
+saw more of the game than either Bancroft or Loo. He had learnt that
+compliments and attention count for much with women, and having studied
+Miss Conklin he was sure that persistent flattery would go a long way
+towards winning her. "I've gained harder cases by studying the jury,"
+he thought, "and I'll get her because I know her. That schoolmaster
+irritates her; I won't. He says unpleasant things to her; I'll say
+pleasant things and she'll turn to me. She likes to be admired; I guess
+that means dresses and diamonds. Well, she shall have them, have all
+she wants.... The mother ain't a factor, that's plain, and the father's
+sittin' on the fence; he'll just do anythin' for the girl, and if he
+ain't well off--what does that matter? I don't want money;" and his
+chest expanded with a proud sense of disinterestedness.
+
+"Why does the schoolmaster run after her? what would he do with such a
+woman? He couldn't even keep her properly if he got her. It's a duty to
+save the girl from throwin' herself away on a young, untried man like
+that." He felt again that his virtue ought to help him to succeed.
+
+"What a handsome figure she has! Her arms are perfect, firm as marble;
+and her neck--round, too, and not a line on it, and how she walks! She's
+the woman I want--so lovely I'll always be proud of her. What a wife
+she'll make! My first wife was pretty, but not to be compared to her.
+Who'd ever have dreamt of finding such a beauty in this place? How lucky
+I am after all. Yes, lucky because I know just what I want, and go for
+it right from the start. That's all. That's what luck means.
+
+"Women are won little by little," he concluded. "Whoever knows them
+and humours them right along, flattering their weak points, is sure to
+succeed some time or other. And I can wait."
+
+He got his opportunity by waiting. As Loo took her seat in the buggy one
+afternoon he saw that she was nervous and irritable. "The schoolmaster's
+been goin' for her--the derned fool," he said to himself, and at once
+began to soothe her. The task was not an easy one. She was cold to him
+at first and even spiteful; she laughed at what he said and promised,
+and made fun of his pretensions. His kindly temper stood him in good
+stead. He was quietly persistent; with the emollient of good-nature
+he wooed her in his own fashion, and before they reached the first
+settler's house he had half won her to kindliness. Here he made his
+victory complete. At every question he appealed to her deferentially for
+counsel and decision; he reckoned Miss Conklin would know, he relied on
+her for the facts, and when she spoke he guessed that just settled the
+matter; her opinion was good enough for him, and so forth.
+
+Wounded to the soul by Bancroft's persistent, undeserved contempt, the
+girl felt that now at last she had met some one who appreciated her, and
+she gave herself up to the charm of dexterous flattery.
+
+From her expression and manner while they drove homewards, Barkman
+believed that the game was his own. He went on talking to her with the
+reverence which he had already found to be so effective. There was no
+one like her. What a lawyer she'd have made! How she got round the wife
+and induced the husband to sign the petition--'twas wonderful! He had
+never imagined a woman could be so tactful and winning. He had never met
+a man who was her equal in persuading people.
+
+The girl drank in the praise as a dry land drinks the rain. He meant
+it all; that was clear. He had shown it in his words and acts--there,
+before the Croftons. She had always believed she could do such
+things; she didn't care much about books, and couldn't talk fine about
+moonlight, but the men an' women she knew, she understood. She was sure
+of that. But still, 'twas pleasant to hear it. He must love her or he
+never could appreciate her as he did. She reckoned he was very clever;
+the best lawyer in the State. Every one knew that. And he had said no
+man was equal to her. Oh, if only the other, if only George had told her
+so; but he was too much wrapped up in himself, and after all what was he
+anyway? Yet, if he had--
+
+At this point of her musings the lawyer, seeing the flushed cheeks and
+softened glance, believed his moment had come, and resolved to use it.
+His passion made him forget that it was possible to go too fast.
+
+"Miss Conklin," he began seriously, "if you'd join with me there's
+nothin' we two couldn't do, nothin'! They call me the first lawyer in
+the State, and I guess I'll get to Washington soon; but with you to
+help me I'd be there before this year's out. As the wife of a Member of
+Congress, you would show them all the way. I'm rich already; that is, I
+can do whatever you want, and it's a shame for such genius as yours, and
+such talent, to be hidden here among people who don't know how to value
+you properly. In New York or in Washington you'd shine; become a social
+power," and as the words "New York" caused the girl to look at him with
+eager attention, he added, overcome by the foretaste of approaching
+triumph: "Miss Loo, I love you; you've seen that, for you notice
+everythin'. I know I'm not young, but I can be kinder and more faithful
+than any young man, and," here he slipped his arm round her waist, "I
+guess all women want to be loved, don't they? Will you let me love you,
+Loo, as my wife?"
+
+The girl shrank away from him nervously. Perhaps the fact of being in a
+buggy recalled her rides with George; or the caress brought home to
+her the difference between the two men. However that may be, when she
+answered, it was with full self-possession:
+
+"I guess what you say's about right, and I like you. But I don't want to
+marry--anyway not yet. Of course I'd like to help you, and I'd like to
+live in New York; but--I can't make up my mind all at once. You must
+wait. If you really care for me, that can't be hard."
+
+"Yes, it's hard," Barkman replied, "very hard to feel uncertain of
+winning the only woman I can ever love. But I don't want to press you,"
+he added, after a pause, "I rely on you; you know best, and I'll do just
+what you wish."
+
+"Well, then," she resumed, mollified by his humility, "you'll go back
+to Wichita this evenin', as you said you would, and when you return,
+the day after to-morrow, I'll tell you Yes or No. Will that do?" and she
+smiled up in his face.
+
+"Yes, that's more than I had a right to expect," he acknowledged. "Hope
+from you is better than certainty from any other woman." In this mood
+they reached the homestead. Loo alighted at the gate; she wouldn't allow
+Barkman even to get down; he was to go right off at once, but when he
+returned she'd meet him. With a grave respectful bow he lifted his
+hat, and drove away. On the whole, he had reason to be proud of his
+diplomacy; reason, too, for saying to himself that at last he had got on
+"the inside track." Still, all the factors in the problem were not seen
+even by his keen eyes.
+
+The next morning, Loo began to reflect upon what she should do. It did
+not occur to her that she had somewhat compromised herself with the
+lawyer by giving him leave, and, in fact, encouragement to expect a
+favourable answer. She was so used to looking at all affairs from the
+point of view of her own self-interest and satisfaction, that such an
+idea did not even enter her head. She simply wanted to decide on what
+was best for herself. She considered the matter as it seemed to her,
+from all sides, without arriving at any decision. Barkman was kind, and
+good to her; but she didn't care for him, and she loved George still.
+Oh, why wasn't he like the other, always sympathetic and admiring? She
+sat and thought. In the depths of her nature she felt that she couldn't
+give George up, couldn't make up her mind to lose him; and why should
+she, since they loved each other? What could she do?
+
+Of a sudden she paused. She remembered how, more than a year before, she
+had been invited to Eureka for a ball. She had stayed with her friend
+Miss Jennie Blood; by whose advice and with whose help she had worn for
+the first time a low-necked dress. She had been uncomfortable in it at
+first, very uncomfortable, but the men liked it, all of them. She had
+seen their admiration in their eyes; as Jennie had said, it fetched
+them. If only George could see her in a low-necked dress--she flushed
+as she thought of it--perhaps he'd admire her, and then she'd be quite
+happy. But there were never any balls or parties in this dead-and-alive
+township! How could she manage it?
+
+The solution came to her with a shock of half-frightened excitement. It
+was warm still, very warm, in the middle of the day; why shouldn't she
+dress as for a dance, somethin' like it anyway, and go into George's
+room to put it straight just before he came home from school? Her heart
+beat quickly as she reflected. After all, what harm was there in it? She
+recollected hearing that in the South all the girls wore low dresses
+in summer, and she loved George, and she was sure he loved her. Any one
+would do it, and no one would know. She resolved to try on the dress,
+just to see how it suited her. There was no harm in that. She took off
+her thin cotton gown quickly, and put on the ball-dress. But when she
+had dragged the chest of drawers before the window and had propped up
+the little glass on it to have a good look at herself, she grew hot. She
+couldn't wear that, not in daylight; it looked, oh, it looked--and she
+blushed crimson. Besides, the tulle was all frayed and faded. No,
+she couldn't wear it! Oh!--and her eyes filled with tears of envy and
+vexation. If only she were rich, like lots of other girls, she could
+have all sorts of dresses. 'Twas unfair, so it was. She became desperate
+with disappointment, and set her wits to work again. She had plenty of
+time still. George wouldn't be back before twelve. She must choose a
+dress he had never seen; then he wouldn't know but what she often wore
+it so. Nervously, hurriedly, she selected a cotton frock, and before the
+tiny glass pinned and arranged it over her shoulders and bust, higher
+than the ball-dress, but still, lower than she had ever worn in the
+daytime. She fashioned the garment with an instinctive sense of form
+that a Parisian _couturière_ might have envied, and went to work. Her
+nimble fingers soon cut and sewed it to the style she had intended, and
+then she tried it on. As she looked at herself in the mirror the vision
+of her loveliness surprised and charmed her. She had drawn a blue
+ribband that she happened to possess, round the arms of the dress and
+round the bodice of it, and when she saw how this little thread of
+colour set off the full outlines of her bust and the white roundness of
+her arms, she could have kissed her image in the glass. She was lovely,
+prettier than any girl in the section. George would see that; he loved
+beautiful things. Hadn't he talked of the scenery for half an hour? He'd
+be pleased.
+
+She thought again seriously whether her looks could not be improved.
+After rummaging a little while in vain, she went downstairs and borrowed
+a light woollen shawl from her mother on the pretext that she liked the
+feel of it. Hastening up to her own room, she put it over her shoulders,
+and practised a long time before the dim glass just to see how best she
+could throw it back or draw it round her at will.
+
+At last, with a sigh of content, she felt herself fully equipped for
+the struggle; she was looking her best. If George didn't care for her
+so--and she viewed herself again approvingly from all sides--why, she
+couldn't help it. She had done all she could, but if he did, and he
+must--why, then, he'd tell her, and they'd be happy. At the bottom of
+her heart she felt afraid. George was strange; not a bit like other
+men. He might be cold, and at the thought she felt inclined to cry out.
+Pride, however, came to her aid. If he didn't like her, it would be his
+fault. She had just done her best, and that she reckoned, with a flush
+of pardonable conceit, was good enough for any man.
+
+An hour later Bancroft went up to his room. As he opened the door Loo
+turned towards him from the centre-table with a low cry of surprise,
+drawing at the same time the ends of the fleecy woollen wrap tight
+across her breast.
+
+"Oh, George, how you scared me! I was jest fixin' up your things." And
+the girl crimsoned, while her eyes sought to read his face.
+
+"Thank you," he rejoined carelessly, and then, held by something of
+expectation in her manner, he looked at her intently, and added: "Why,
+Loo, how well you look! I like that dress; it suits you." And he stepped
+towards her.
+
+She held out both hands as if to meet his, but by the gesture the
+woollen scarf was thrown back, and her form unveiled. Once again her
+mere beauty stung the young man to desire, but something of a conscious
+look in her face gave him thought, and, scrutinizing her coldly, he
+said:
+
+"I suppose that dress was put on for Mr. Barkman's benefit."
+
+"Oh, George!" she cried, in utter dismay, "he hain't been here to-day."
+And then, as the hard expression did not leave his face, she added
+hurriedly: "I put it on for you, George. Do believe me."
+
+Still his face did not alter. Suddenly she understood that she had
+betrayed her secret. She burst into bitter tears.
+
+He took her in his arms and spoke perfunctory words of consolation; her
+body yielded to his touch, and in a few moments he was soothing her
+in earnest. Her grief was uncontrollable. "I've jest done everythin',
+everythin' and it's all no use," she sobbed aloud. When he found that
+he could not check the tears, he grew irritated; he divined her little
+stratagem, and his lip curled. How unmaidenly! In a flash, she stood
+before him, her shallow, childish vanity unmasked. The pity of it did
+not strike him; he was too young for that; he felt only contempt for
+her, and at once drew his arms away. With a long, choking sob she moved
+to the door and disappeared. She went blindly along the passage to her
+room, and, flinging herself on the bed, cried as if her heart would
+break. Then followed a period of utter abject misery. She had lost
+everythin'; George didn't care for her; she'd have to live all her life
+without him, and again slow, scalding tears fell.
+
+The thought of going downstairs to supper and meeting him was
+intolerable. The sense of what she had confessed to him swept over her
+in a hot flood of shame. No, she couldn't go down; she couldn't face his
+eyes again. She'd sit right there, and her mother'd come up, and she'd
+tell her she had a headache. To meet him was impossible; she just hated
+him. He was hard and cruel; she'd never see him again; he had degraded
+her. The whole place became unbearable as she relived the past; she
+must get away from him, from it all, at any cost, as soon as she could.
+They'd be sorry when she was gone. And she cried again a little, but
+these tears relieved her, did her good.
+
+She tried to look at the whole position steadily. Barkman would take her
+away to New York. Marry him?--she didn't want to, but she wouldn't make
+up her mind now; she'd go away with him if he'd be a real friend to her.
+Only he mustn't put his arm round her again; she didn't like him to do
+that. If he wished to be a friend to her, she'd let him; if not, she'd
+go by herself. He must understand that. Once in New York, she'd meet
+kind people, live as she wanted to live, and never think of this horrid
+time.
+
+She was all alone; no one in the world to talk to about her trouble--no
+one. No one cared for her. Her mother loved Jake best; and besides, if
+she told her anythin', she'd only set down an' cry. She'd write and
+say she was comfortable; and her father?--he'd get over it. He was
+kind always, but he never felt much anyway--leastwise, he never showed
+anythin'. When they got her letter 'twould be all right. That was what
+she'd do--and so, with her little hands clenched and feverish face, she
+sat and thought, letting her imagination work.
+
+A few mornings later Bancroft came down early. He had slept badly,
+had been nervous and disturbed by jealous forebodings, and had not won
+easily to self-control. He had only been in the sitting-room a minute or
+two when the Elder entered, and stopping in front of him asked sharply:
+
+"Hev you seen Loo yet?"
+
+"No. Is she down?"
+
+"I reckoned you'd know ef she had made out anythin' partikler to do
+to-day."
+
+"No," he repeated seriously, the Elder's manner impressing him. "No! she
+told me nothing, but perhaps she hasn't got up yet."
+
+"She ain't in her room."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"You didn't hear buggy-wheels last night--along towards two o'clock?"
+
+"No, but--you don't mean to say? Lawyer Barkman!" And Bancroft started
+up with horror in his look.
+
+The Elder stared at him, with rigid face and wild eyes, but as he
+gradually took in the sincerity of the young man's excitement, he
+turned, and left the room.
+
+To his bedroom he went, and there, after closing the door, fell on his
+knees. For a long time no word came; with clasped hands and bowed head
+the old man knelt in silence. Sobs shook his frame, but no tears fell.
+At length broken sentences dropped heavily from his half-conscious lips:
+
+"Lord, Lord! 'Tain't right to punish her. She knowed nothin'. She's so
+young. I did wrong, but I kain't bear her to be punished.
+
+"P'r'aps You've laid this on me jes' to show I'm foolish and weak.
+That's so, O Lord! I'm in the hollow of Your hand. But You'll save her,
+O Lord! for Jesus' sake.
+
+"I'm all broke up. I kain't pray. I'm skeered. Lord Christ, help her;
+stan' by her; be with her. O Lord, forgive!"
+
+JUNE AND JULY, 1891.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE SHERIFF AND HIS PARTNER.
+
+One afternoon in July, 1869, I was seated at my desk in Locock's
+law-office in the town of Kiota, Kansas. I had landed in New York from
+Liverpool nearly a year before, and had drifted westwards seeking in
+vain for some steady employment. Lawyer Locock, however, had promised to
+let me study law with him, and to give me a few dollars a month besides,
+for my services as a clerk. I was fairly satisfied with the prospect,
+and the little town interested me. An outpost of civilization, it was
+situated on the border of the great plains, which were still looked
+upon as the natural possession of the nomadic Indian tribes. It owed its
+importance to the fact that it lay on the cattle-trail which led from
+the prairies of Texas through this no man's land to the railway system,
+and that it was the first place where the cowboys coming north could
+find a bed to sleep in, a bar to drink at, and a table to gamble on. For
+some years they had made of Kiota a hell upon earth. But gradually the
+land in the neighbourhood was taken up by farmers, emigrants chiefly
+from New England, who were determined to put an end to the reign of
+violence. A man named Johnson was their leader in establishing order
+and tranquillity. Elected, almost as soon as he came to the town, to the
+dangerous post of City Marshal, he organized a vigilance committee
+of the younger and more daring settlers, backed by whom he resolutely
+suppressed the drunken rioting of the cowboys. After the ruffians
+had been taught to behave themselves, Johnson was made Sheriff of the
+County, a post which gave him a house and permanent position. Though
+married now, and apparently "settled down," the Sheriff was a sort of
+hero in Kiota. I had listened to many tales about him, showing desperate
+determination veined with a sense of humour, and I often regretted that
+I had reached the place too late to see him in action. I had little
+or nothing to do in the office. The tedium of the long days was almost
+unbroken, and Stephen's "Commentaries" had become as monotonous and
+unattractive as the bare uncarpeted floor. The heat was tropical, and
+I was dozing when a knock startled me. A negro boy slouched in with a
+bundle of newspapers:
+
+"This yer is Jedge Locock's, I guess?"
+
+"I guess so," was my answer as I lazily opened the third or fourth
+number of the "Kiota Weekly Tribune." Glancing over the sheet my eye
+caught the following paragraph:
+
+"HIGHWAY ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE.
+
+"JUDGE SHANNON STOPPED.
+
+"THE OUTLAW ESCAPES.
+
+"HE KNOWS SHERIFF JOHNSON.
+
+"Information has just reached us of an outrage perpetrated on the person
+of one of our most respected fellow-citizens. The crime was committed in
+daylight, on the public highway within four miles of this city; a crime,
+therefore, without parallel in this vicinity for the last two years.
+Fortunately our County and State authorities can be fully trusted,
+and we have no sort of doubt that they can command, if necessary, the
+succour and aid of each and every citizen of this locality in order to
+bring the offending miscreant to justice.
+
+"We now place the plain recital of this outrage before our readers.
+
+"Yesterday afternoon, as Ex-Judge Shannon was riding from his law-office
+in Kiota towards his home on Sumach Bluff, he was stopped about four
+miles from this town by a man who drew a revolver on him, telling him
+at the same time to pull up. The Judge, being completely unarmed and
+unprepared, obeyed, and was told to get down from the buckboard, which
+he did. He was then ordered to put his watch and whatever money he had,
+in the road, and to retreat three paces.
+
+"The robber pocketed the watch and money, and told him he might tell
+Sheriff Johnson that Tom Williams had 'gone through him,' and that he
+(Williams) could be found at the saloon in Osawotamie at any time. The
+Judge now hoped for release, but Tom Williams (if that be the robber's
+real name) seemed to get an afterthought, which he at once proceeded to
+carry into effect. Drawing a knife he cut the traces, and took out of
+the shafts the Judge's famous trotting mare, Lizzie D., which he mounted
+with the remark:
+
+"'Sheriff Johnson, I reckon, would come after the money anyway, but the
+hoss'll fetch him----sure pop.'
+
+"These words have just been given to us by Judge Shannon himself, who
+tells us also that the outrage took place on the North Section Line,
+bounding Bray's farm.
+
+"After this speech the highway robber Williams rode towards the township
+of Osawotamie, while Judge Shannon, after drawing the buckboard to the
+edge of the track, was compelled to proceed homewards on foot.
+
+"The outrage, as we have said, took place late last evening, and Judge
+Shannon, we understand, did not trouble to inform the County authorities
+of the circumstance till to-day at noon, after leaving our office.
+What the motive of the crime may have been we do not worry ourselves to
+inquire; a crime, an outrage upon justice and order, has been committed;
+that is all we care to know. If anything fresh happens in this
+connection we propose to issue a second edition of this paper. Our
+fellow-citizens may rely upon our energy and watchfulness to keep them
+posted.
+
+"Just before going to press we learn that Sheriff Johnson was out of
+town attending to business when Judge Shannon called; but Sub-Sheriff
+Jarvis informs us that he expects the Sheriff back shortly. It is
+necessary to add, by way of explanation, that Mr. Jarvis cannot leave
+the jail unguarded, even for a few hours."
+
+As may be imagined this item of news awakened my keenest interest. It
+fitted in with some things that I knew already, and I was curious to
+learn more. I felt that this was the first act in a drama. Vaguely I
+remembered some one telling in disconnected phrases why the Sheriff had
+left Missouri, and come to Kansas:
+
+"'Twas after a quor'll with a pardner of his, named Williams, who kicked
+out."
+
+Bit by bit the story, to which I had not given much attention when I
+heard it, so casually, carelessly was it told, recurred to my memory.
+
+"They say as how Williams cut up rough with Johnson, and drawed a
+knife on him, which Johnson gripped with his left while he pulled
+trigger.--Williams, I heerd, was in the wrong; I hain't perhaps got the
+right end of it; anyhow, you might hev noticed the Sheriff hes lost the
+little finger off his left hand.--Johnson, they say, got right up and
+lit out from Pleasant Hill. Perhaps the folk in Mizzoori kinder liked
+Williams the best of the two; I don't know. Anyway, Sheriff Johnson's
+a square man; his record here proves it. An' real grit, you bet your
+life."
+
+The narrative had made but a slight impression on me at the time; I
+didn't know the persons concerned, and had no reason to interest myself
+in their fortunes. In those early days, moreover, I was often homesick,
+and gave myself up readily to dreaming of English scenes and faces. Now
+the words and drawling intonation came back to me distinctly, and with
+them the question: Was the robber of Judge Shannon the same Williams who
+had once been the Sheriff's partner? My first impulse was to hurry into
+the street and try to find out; but it was the chief part of my duty to
+stay in the office till six o'clock; besides, the Sheriff was "out of
+town," and perhaps would not be back that day. The hours dragged to an
+end at last; my supper was soon finished, and, as night drew down, I
+hastened along the wooden side-walk of Washington Street towards the
+Carvell House. This hotel was much too large for the needs of the little
+town; it contained some fifty bedrooms, of which perhaps half-a-dozen
+were permanently occupied by "high-toned" citizens, and a billiard-room
+of gigantic size, in which stood nine tables, as well as the famous bar.
+The space between the bar, which ran across one end of the room, and
+the billiard-tables, was the favourite nightly resort of the prominent
+politicians and gamblers. There, if anywhere, my questions would be
+answered.
+
+On entering the billiard-room I was struck by the number of men who had
+come together. Usually only some twenty or thirty were present, half
+of whom sat smoking and chewing about the bar, while the rest watched a
+game of billiards or took a "life" in pool. This evening, however, the
+billiard-tables were covered with their slate-coloured "wraps," while
+at least a hundred and fifty men were gathered about the open space of
+glaring light near the bar. I hurried up the room, but as I approached
+the crowd my steps grew slower, and I became half ashamed of my eager,
+obtrusive curiosity and excitement. There was a kind of reproof in the
+lazy, cool glance which one man after another cast upon me, as I went
+by. Assuming an air of indecision I threaded my way through the chairs
+uptilted against the sides of the billiard-tables. I had drained a glass
+of Bourbon whisky before I realized that these apparently careless men
+were stirred by some emotion which made them more cautious, more silent,
+more warily on their guard than usual. The gamblers and loafers, too,
+had taken "back seats" this evening, whilst hard-working men of the
+farmer class who did not frequent the expensive bar of the Carvell House
+were to be seen in front. It dawned upon me that the matter was serious,
+and was being taken seriously.
+
+The silence was broken from time to time by some casual remark of no
+interest, drawled out in a monotone; every now and then a man invited
+the "crowd" to drink with him, and that was all. Yet the moral
+atmosphere was oppressive, and a vague feeling of discomfort grew upon
+me. These men "meant business."
+
+Presently the door on my left opened--Sheriff Johnson came into the
+room.
+
+"Good evenin'," he said; and a dozen voices, one after another, answered
+with "Good evenin'! good evenin', Sheriff!" A big frontiersman, however,
+a horse-dealer called Martin, who, I knew, had been on the old vigilance
+committee, walked from the centre of the group in front of the bar to
+the Sheriff, and held out his hand with:
+
+"Shake, old man, and name the drink." The
+
+Sheriff took the proffered hand as if mechanically, and turned to the
+bar with "Whisky--straight." Sheriff Johnson was a man of medium height,
+sturdily built. A broad forehead, and clear, grey-blue eyes that met
+everything fairly, testified in his favour. The nose, however, was
+fleshy and snub. The mouth was not to be seen, nor its shape guessed at,
+so thickly did the brown moustache and beard grow; but the short beard
+seemed rather to exaggerate than conceal an extravagant outjutting
+of the lower jaw, that gave a peculiar expression of energy and
+determination to the face. His manner was unobtrusively quiet and
+deliberate.
+
+It was an unusual occurrence for Johnson to come at night to the
+bar-lounge, which was beginning to fall into disrepute among the
+puritanical or middle-class section of the community. No one, however,
+seemed to pay any further attention to him or to remark the unusual
+cordiality of Martin's greeting. A quarter of an hour elapsed before
+anything of note occurred. Then, an elderly man whom I did not know,
+a farmer, by his dress, drew a copy of the "Kiota Tribune" from his
+pocket, and, stretching it towards Johnson, asked with a very marked
+Yankee twang:
+
+"Sheriff, hev yeou read this 'Tribune'?"
+
+Wheeling half round towards his questioner, the Sheriff replied:
+
+"Yes, sir, I hev." A pause ensued, which was made significant to me by
+the fact that the bar-keeper suspended his hand and did not pour out the
+whisky he had just been asked to supply--a pause during which the two
+faced each other; it was broken by the farmer saying:
+
+"Ez yeou wer out of town to-day, I allowed yeou might hev missed seein'
+it. I reckoned yeou'd come straight hyar before yeou went to hum."
+
+"No, Crosskey," rejoined the Sheriff, with slow emphasis; "I went home
+first and came on hyar to see the boys."
+
+"Wall," said Mr. Crosskey, as it seemed to me, half apologetically,
+"knowin' yeou I guessed yeou ought to hear the facks," then, with some
+suddenness, stretching out his hand, he added, "I hev some way to go,
+an' my old woman 'ull be waitin' up fer me. Good night, Sheriff." The
+hands met while the Sheriff nodded: "Good night, Jim."
+
+After a few greetings to right and left Mr. Crosskey left the bar.
+The crowd went on smoking, chewing, and drinking, but the sense
+of expectancy was still in the air, and the seriousness seemed, if
+anything, to have increased. Five or ten minutes may have passed when a
+man named Reid, who had run for the post of Sub-Sheriff the year before,
+and had failed to beat Johnson's nominee Jarvis, rose from his chair and
+asked abruptly:
+
+"Sheriff, do you reckon to take any of us uns with you to-morrow?"
+
+With an indefinable ring of sarcasm in his negligent tone, the Sheriff
+answered:
+
+"I guess not, Mr. Reid."
+
+Quickly Reid replied: "Then I reckon there's no use in us stayin';" and
+turning to a small knot of men among whom he had been sitting, he added,
+"Let's go, boys!"
+
+The men got up and filed out after their leader without greeting the
+Sheriff in any way. With the departure of this group the shadow lifted.
+Those who still remained showed in manner a marked relief, and a
+moment or two later a man named Morris, whom I knew to be a gambler by
+profession, called out lightly:
+
+"The crowd and you'll drink with me, Sheriff, I hope? I want another
+glass, and then we won't keep you up any longer, for you ought to have a
+night's rest with to-morrow's work before you."
+
+The Sheriff smiled assent. Every one moved towards the bar, and
+conversation became general. Morris was the centre of the company, and
+he directed the talk jokingly to the account in the "Tribune," making
+fun, as it seemed to me, though I did not understand all his allusions,
+of the editor's timidity and pretentiousness. Morris interested and
+amused me even more than he amused the others; he talked like a man of
+some intelligence and reading, and listening to him I grew light-hearted
+and careless, perhaps more careless than usual, for my spirits had been
+ice-bound in the earlier gloom of the evening.
+
+"Fortunately our County and State authorities can be fully trusted,"
+some one said.
+
+"Mark that 'fortunately,' Sheriff," laughed Morris. "The editor was
+afraid to mention you alone, so he hitched the State on with you to
+lighten the load."
+
+"Ay!" chimed in another of the gamblers, "and the 'aid and succour of
+each and every citizen,' eh, Sheriff, as if you'd take the whole town
+with you. I guess two or three'll be enough fer Williams."
+
+This annoyed me. It appeared to me that Williams had addressed a
+personal challenge to the Sheriff, and I thought that Johnson should
+so consider it. Without waiting for the Sheriff to answer, whether in
+protest or acquiescence, I broke in:
+
+"Two or three would be cowardly. One should go, and one only." At once I
+felt rather than saw the Sheriff free himself from the group of men; the
+next moment he stood opposite to me.
+
+"What was that?" he asked sharply, holding me with keen eye and
+out-thrust chin--repressed passion in voice and look.
+
+The antagonism of his bearing excited and angered me not a little. I
+replied:
+
+"I think it would be cowardly to take two or three against a single man.
+I said one should go, and I say so still."
+
+"Do you?" he sneered. "I guess you'd go alone, wouldn't you? to bring
+Williams in?"
+
+"If I were paid for it I should," was my heedless retort. As I spoke his
+face grew white with such passion that I instinctively put up my hands
+to defend myself, thinking he was about to attack me. The involuntary
+movement may have seemed boyish to him, for thought came into his eyes,
+and his face relaxed; moving away he said quietly:
+
+"I'll set up drinks, boys."
+
+They grouped themselves about him and drank, leaving me isolated. But
+this, now my blood was up, only added to the exasperation I felt at his
+contemptuous treatment, and accordingly I walked to the bar, and as
+the only unoccupied place was by Johnson's side I went there and said,
+speaking as coolly as I could:
+
+"Though no one asks me to drink I guess I'll take some whisky,
+bar-keeper, if you please." Johnson was standing with his back to me,
+but when I spoke he looked round, and I saw, or thought I saw, a sort of
+curiosity in his gaze. I met his eye defiantly. He turned to the others
+and said, in his ordinary, slow way:
+
+"Wall, good night, boys; I've got to go. It's gittin' late, an' I've had
+about as much as I want."
+
+Whether he alluded to the drink or to my impertinence I was unable to
+divine. Without adding a word he left the room amid a chorus of "Good
+night, Sheriff!" With him went Martin and half-a-dozen more.
+
+I thought I had come out of the matter fairly well until I spoke to
+some of the men standing near. They answered me, it is true, but in
+monosyllables, and evidently with unwillingness. In silence I finished
+my whisky, feeling that every one was against me for some inexplicable
+cause. I resented this and stayed on. In a quarter of an hour the rest
+of the crowd had departed, with the exception of Morris and a few of the
+same kidney.
+
+When I noticed that these gamblers, outlaws by public opinion, held away
+from me, I became indignant. Addressing myself to Morris, I asked:
+
+"Can you tell me, sir, for you seem to be an educated man, what I have
+said or done to make you all shun me?"
+
+"I guess so," he answered indifferently. "You took a hand in a game
+where you weren't wanted. And you tried to come in without ever having
+paid the _ante,_ which is not allowed in any game--at least not in any
+game played about here."
+
+The allusion seemed plain; I was not only a stranger, but a foreigner;
+that must be my offence. With a "Good night, sir; good night,
+bar-keeper!" I left the room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The next morning I went as usual to the office. I may have been seated
+there about an hour--it was almost eight o'clock--when I heard a knock
+at the door.
+
+"Come in," I said, swinging round in the American chair, to find myself
+face to face with Sheriff Johnson.
+
+"Why, Sheriff, come in!" I exclaimed cheerfully, for I was relieved
+at seeing him, and so realized more clearly than ever that the
+unpleasantness of the previous evening had left in me a certain
+uneasiness. I was eager to show that the incident had no importance:
+
+"Won't you take a seat? and you'll have a cigar?--these are not bad."
+
+"No, thank you," he answered. "No, I guess I won't sit nor smoke jest
+now." After a pause, he added, "I see you're studyin'; p'r'aps you're
+busy to-day; I won't disturb you."
+
+"You don't disturb me, Sheriff," I rejoined. "As for studying, there's
+not much in it. I seem to prefer dreaming."
+
+"Wall," he said, letting his eyes range round the walls furnished with
+Law Reports bound in yellow calf, "I don't know, I guess there's a big
+lot of readin' to do before a man gets through with all those."
+
+"Oh," I laughed, "the more I read the more clearly I see that law is
+only a sermon on various texts supplied by common sense."
+
+"Wall," he went on slowly, coming a pace or two nearer and speaking with
+increased seriousness, "I reckon you've got all Locock's business to see
+after: his clients to talk to; letters to answer, and all that; and when
+he's on the drunk I guess he don't do much. I won't worry you any more."
+
+"You don't worry me," I replied. "I've not had a letter to answer in
+three days, and not a soul comes here to talk about business or anything
+else. I sit and dream, and wish I had something to do out there in the
+sunshine. Your work is better than reading words, words--nothing but
+words."
+
+"You ain't busy; hain't got anything to do here that might keep you?
+Nothin'?"
+
+"Not a thing. I'm sick of Blackstone and all Commentaries."
+
+Suddenly I felt his hand on my shoulder (moving half round in the
+chair, I had for the moment turned sideways to him), and his voice was
+surprisingly hard and quick:
+
+"Then I swear you in as a Deputy-Sheriff of the United States, and of
+this State of Kansas; and I charge you to bring in and deliver at the
+Sheriff's house, in this county of Elwood, Tom Williams, alive or dead,
+and--there's your fee, five dollars and twenty-five cents!" and he laid
+the money on the table.
+
+Before the singular speech was half ended I had swung round facing him,
+with a fairly accurate understanding of what he meant. But the moment
+for decision had come with such sharp abruptness, that I still did not
+realize my position, though I replied defiantly as if accepting the
+charge:
+
+"I've not got a weapon."
+
+"The boys allowed you mightn't hev, and so I brought some along. You ken
+suit your hand." While speaking he produced two or three revolvers of
+different sizes, and laid them before me.
+
+Dazed by the rapid progress of the plot, indignant, too, at the trick
+played upon me, I took up the nearest revolver and looked at it almost
+without seeing it. The Sheriff seemed to take my gaze for that of an
+expert's curiosity.
+
+"It shoots true," he said meditatively, "plumb true; but it's too small
+to drop a man. I guess it wouldn't stop any one with grit in him."
+
+My anger would not allow me to consider his advice; I thrust the weapon
+in my pocket:
+
+"I haven't got a buggy. How am I to get to Osawotamie?"
+
+"Mine's hitched up outside. You ken hev it."
+
+Rising to my feet I said: "Then we can go."
+
+We had nearly reached the door of the office, when the Sheriff stopped,
+turned his back upon the door, and looking straight into my eyes said:
+
+"Don't play foolish. You've no call to go. Ef you're busy, ef you've
+got letters to write, anythin' to do--I'll tell the boys you sed so, and
+that'll be all; that'll let you out."
+
+Half-humorously, as it seemed to me, he added: "You're young and a
+tenderfoot. You'd better stick to what you've begun upon. That's the way
+to do somethin'.--I often think it's the work chooses us, and we've just
+got to get down and do it."
+
+"I've told you I had nothing to do," I retorted angrily; "that's the
+truth. Perhaps" (sarcastically) "this work chooses me."
+
+The Sheriff moved away from the door.
+
+On reaching the street I stopped for a moment in utter wonder. At that
+hour in the morning Washington Street was usually deserted, but now
+it seemed as if half the men in the town had taken up places round the
+entrance to Locock's office stairs. Some sat on barrels or boxes tipped
+up against the shop-front (the next store was kept by a German, who sold
+fruit and eatables); others stood about in groups or singly; a few were
+seated on the edge of the side-walk, with their feet in the dust of the
+street. Right before me and most conspicuous was the gigantic figure
+of Martin. He was sitting on a small barrel in front of the Sheriff's
+buggy.
+
+"Good morning," I said in the air, but no one answered me. Mastering
+my irritation, I went forward to undo the hitching-strap, but Martin,
+divining my intention, rose and loosened the buckle. As I reached him,
+he spoke in a low whisper, keeping his back turned to me:
+
+"Shoot off a joke quick. The boys'll let up on you then. It'll be all
+right. Say somethin', for God's sake!"
+
+The rough sympathy did me good, relaxed the tightness round my heart;
+the resentment natural to one entrapped left me, and some of my
+self-confidence returned:
+
+"I never felt less like joking in my life, Martin, and humour can't be
+produced to order."
+
+He fastened up the hitching-strap, while I gathered the reins together
+and got into the buggy. When I was fairly seated he stepped to the
+side of the open vehicle, and, holding out his hand, said, "Good day,"
+adding, as our hands clasped, "Wade in, young un; wade in."
+
+"Good day, Martin. Good day, Sheriff. Good day, boys!"
+
+To my surprise there came a chorus of answering "Good days!" as I drove
+up the street.
+
+A few hundred yards I went, and then wheeled to the right past the post
+office, and so on for a quarter of a mile, till I reached the descent
+from the higher ground, on which the town was built, to the river.
+There, on my left, on the verge of the slope, stood the Sheriff's house
+in a lot by itself, with the long, low jail attached to it. Down the
+hill I went, and across the bridge and out into the open country. I
+drove rapidly for about five miles--more than halfway to Osawotamie--and
+then I pulled up, in order to think quietly and make up my mind.
+
+I grasped the situation now in all its details. Courage was the one
+virtue which these men understood, the only one upon which they prided
+themselves. I, a stranger, a "tenderfoot," had questioned the courage
+of the boldest among them, and this mission was their answer to my
+insolence. The "boys" had planned the plot; Johnson was not to blame;
+clearly he wanted to let me out of it; he would have been satisfied
+there in the office if I had said that I was busy; he did not like to
+put his work on any one else. And yet he must profit by my going. Were I
+killed, the whole country would rise against Williams; whereas if I shot
+Williams, the Sheriff would be relieved of the task. I wondered whether
+the fact of his having married made any difference to the Sheriff.
+Possibly--and yet it was not the Sheriff; it was the "boys" who had
+insisted on giving me the lesson. Public opinion was dead against me. "I
+had come into a game where I was not wanted, and I had never even paid
+the _ante_"--that was Morris's phrase. Of course it was all clear now. I
+had never given any proof of courage, as most likely all the rest had at
+some time or other. That was the _ante_ Morris meant....
+
+My wilfulness had got me into the scrape; I had only myself to thank.
+Not alone the Sheriff but Martin would have saved me had I profited by
+the door of escape which he had tried to open for me. Neither of them
+wished to push the malice to the point of making me assume the Sheriff's
+risk, and Martin at least, and probably the Sheriff also, had taken
+my quick, half-unconscious words and acts as evidence of reckless
+determination. If I intended to live in the West I must go through with
+the matter.
+
+But what nonsense it all was! Why should I chuck away my life in the
+attempt to bring a desperate ruffian to justice? And who could say that
+Williams was a ruffian? It was plain that his quarrel with the Sheriff
+was one of old date and purely personal. He had "stopped" Judge Shannon
+in order to bring about a duel with the Sheriff. Why should I fight the
+Sheriff's duels? Justice, indeed! justice had nothing to do with this
+affair; I did not even know which man was in the right. Reason led
+directly to the conclusion that I had better turn the horse's head
+northwards, drive as fast and as far as I could, and take the train as
+soon as possible out of the country. But while I recognized that this
+was the only sensible decision, I felt that I could not carry it into
+action. To run away was impossible; my cheeks burned with shame at the
+thought.
+
+Was I to give my life for a stupid practical joke? "Yes!"--a voice
+within me answered sharply. "It would be well if a man could always
+choose the cause for which he risks his life, but it may happen that he
+ought to throw it away for a reason that seems inadequate."
+
+"What ought I to do?" I questioned.
+
+"Go on to Osawotamie, arrest Williams, and bring him into Kiota,"
+replied my other self.
+
+"And if he won't come?"
+
+"Shoot him--you are charged to deliver him 'alive or dead' at the
+Sheriff's house. No more thinking, drive straight ahead and act as if
+you were a representative of the law and Williams a criminal. It has to
+be done."
+
+The resolution excited me, I picked up the reins and proceeded. At the
+next section-line I turned to the right, and ten or fifteen minutes
+later saw Osawotamie in the distance.
+
+I drew up, laid the reins on the dashboard, and examined the revolver.
+It was a small four-shooter, with a large bore. To make sure of its
+efficiency I took out a cartridge; it was quite new. While weighing it
+in my hand, the Sheriff's words recurred to me, "It wouldn't stop any
+one with grit in him." What did he mean? I didn't want to think, so
+I put the cartridge in again, cocked and replaced the pistol in my
+right-side jacket pocket, and drove on. Osawotamie consisted of a single
+street of straggling frame-buildings. After passing half-a-dozen of
+them I saw, on the right, one which looked to me like a saloon. It was
+evidently a stopping-place. There were several hitching-posts, and
+the house boasted instead of a door two green Venetian blinds put upon
+rollers--the usual sign of a drinking-saloon in the West.
+
+I got out of the buggy slowly and carefully, so as not to shift the
+position of the revolver, and after hitching up the horse, entered the
+saloon. Coming out of the glare of the sunshine I could hardly see in
+the darkened room. In a moment or two my eyes grew accustomed to the dim
+light, and I went over to the bar, which was on my left. The bar-keeper
+was sitting down; his head and shoulders alone were visible; I asked him
+for a lemon squash.
+
+"Anythin' in it?" he replied, without lifting his eyes.
+
+"No; I'm thirsty and hot."
+
+"I guessed that was about the figger," he remarked, getting up leisurely
+and beginning to mix the drink with his back to me.
+
+I used the opportunity to look round the room. Three steps from me stood
+a tall man, lazily leaning with his right arm on the bar, his fingers
+touching a half-filled glass. He seemed to be gazing past me into
+the void, and thus allowed me to take note of his appearance. In
+shirt-sleeves, like the bar-keeper, he had a belt on in which were two
+large revolvers with white ivory handles. His face was prepossessing,
+with large but not irregular features, bronzed fair skin, hazel eyes,
+and long brown moustache. He looked strong and was lithe of form, as if
+he had not done much hard bodily work. There was no one else in the room
+except a man who appeared to be sleeping at a table in the far corner
+with his head pillowed on his arms.
+
+As I completed this hasty scrutiny of the room and its inmates, the
+bar-keeper gave me my squash, and I drank eagerly. The excitement had
+made me thirsty, for I knew that the crisis must be at hand, but I
+experienced no other sensation save that my heart was thumping and my
+throat was dry. Yawning as a sign of indifference (I had resolved to
+be as deliberate as the Sheriff) I put my hand in my pocket on the
+revolver. I felt that I could draw it out at once.
+
+I addressed the bar-keeper:
+
+"Say, do you know the folk here in Osawotamie?"
+
+After a pause he replied:
+
+"Most on 'em, I guess."
+
+Another pause and a second question:
+
+"Do you know Tom Williams?"
+
+The eyes looked at me with a faint light of surprise in them; they
+looked away again, and came back with short, half suspicious, half
+curious glances.
+
+"Maybe you're a friend of his'n?"
+
+"I don't know him, but I'd like to meet him."
+
+"Would you, though?" Turning half round, the bar-keeper took down a
+bottle and glass, and poured out some whisky, seemingly for his own
+consumption. Then: "I guess he's not hard to meet, isn't Williams, ef
+you and me mean the same man."
+
+"I guess we do," I replied; "Tom Williams is the name."
+
+"That's me," said the tall man who was leaning on the bar near me,
+"that's my name."
+
+"Are you the Williams that stopped Judge Shannon yesterday?"
+
+"I don't know his name," came the careless reply, "but I stopped a man
+in a buck-board."
+
+Plucking out my revolver, and pointing it low down on his breast, I
+said:
+
+"I'm sent to arrest you; you must come with me to Kiota."
+
+Without changing his easy posture, or a muscle of his face, he asked in
+the same quiet voice:
+
+"What does this mean, anyway? Who sent you to arrest me?"
+
+"Sheriff Johnson," I answered.
+
+The man started upright, and said, as if amazed, in a quick, loud voice:
+
+"Sheriff Johnson sent _you_ to arrest me?"
+
+"Yes," I retorted, "Sheriff Samuel Johnson swore me in this morning as
+his deputy, and charged me to bring you into Kiota."
+
+In a tone of utter astonishment he repeated my words, "Sheriff Samuel
+Johnson!"
+
+"Yes," I replied, "Samuel Johnson, Sheriff of Elwood County."
+
+"See here," he asked suddenly, fixing me with a look of angry suspicion,
+"what sort of a man is he? What does he figger like?"
+
+"He's a little shorter than I am," I replied curtly, "with a brown beard
+and bluish eyes--a square-built sort of man."
+
+"Hell!" There was savage rage and menace in the exclamation.
+
+"You kin put that up!" he added, absorbed once more in thought. I paid
+no attention to this; I was not going to put the revolver away at his
+bidding. Presently he asked in his ordinary voice:
+
+"What age man might this Johnson be?"
+
+"About forty or forty-five, I should think."
+
+"And right off Sam Johnson swore you in and sent you to bring me into
+Kiota--an' him Sheriff?"
+
+"Yes," I replied impatiently, "that's so."
+
+"Great God!" he exclaimed, bringing his clenched right hand heavily down
+on the bar. "Here, Zeke!" turning to the man asleep in the corner,
+and again he shouted "Zeke!" Then, with a rapid change of manner, and
+speaking irritably, he said to me:
+
+"Put that thing up, I say."
+
+The bar-keeper now spoke too: "I guess when Tom sez you kin put it up,
+you kin. You hain't got no use fur it."
+
+The changes of Williams' tone from wonder to wrath and then to quick
+resolution showed me that the doubt in him had been laid, and that I
+had but little to do with the decision at which he had arrived, whatever
+that decision might be. I understood, too, enough of the Western spirit
+to know that he would take no unfair advantage of me. I therefore
+uncocked the revolver and put it back into my pocket. In the meantime
+Zeke had got up from his resting-place in the corner and had made his
+way sleepily to the bar. He had taken more to drink than was good for
+him, though he was not now really drunk.
+
+"Give me and Zeke a glass, Joe," said Williams; "and this gentleman,
+too, if he'll drink with me, and take one yourself with us."
+
+"No," replied the bar-keeper sullenly, "I'll not drink to any damned
+foolishness. An' Zeke won't neither."
+
+"Oh, yes, he will," Williams returned persuasively, "and so'll you, Joe.
+You aren't goin' back on me."
+
+"No, I'll be just damned if I am," said the barkeeper, half-conquered.
+
+"What'll you take, sir?" Williams asked me.
+
+"The bar-keeper knows my figger," I answered, half-jestingly, not yet
+understanding the situation, but convinced that it was turning out
+better than I had expected.
+
+"And you, Zeke?" he went on.
+
+"The old pizen," Zeke replied.
+
+"And now, Joe, whisky for you and me--the square bottle," he continued,
+with brisk cheerfulness.
+
+In silence the bar-keeper placed the drinks before us. As soon as the
+glasses were empty Williams spoke again, putting out his hand to Zeke at
+the same time:
+
+"Good-bye, old man, so long, but saddle up in two hours. Ef I don't come
+then, you kin clear; but I guess I'll be with you."
+
+"Good-bye, Joe."
+
+"Good-bye, Tom," replied the bar-keeper, taking the proffered hand,
+still half-unwillingly, "if you're stuck on it; but the game is to wait
+for 'em here--anyway that's how I'd play it."
+
+A laugh and shake of the head and Williams addressed me:
+
+"Now, sir, I'm ready if you are." We were walking towards the door, when
+Zeke broke in:
+
+"Say, Tom, ain't I to come along?"
+
+"No, Zeke, I'll play this hand alone," replied Williams, and two minutes
+later he and I were seated in the buggy, driving towards Kiota.
+
+We had gone more than a mile before he spoke again. He began very
+quietly, as if confiding his thoughts to me:
+
+"I don't want to make no mistake about this business--it ain't worth
+while. I'm sure you're right, and Sheriff Samuel Johnson sent you, but,
+maybe, ef you was to think you could kinder bring him before me. There
+might be two of the name, the age, the looks--though it ain't likely."
+Then, as if a sudden inspiration moved him:
+
+"Where did he come from, this Sam Johnson, do you know?"
+
+"I believe he came from Pleasant Hill, Missouri. I've heard that he left
+after a row with his partner, and it seems to me that his partner's name
+was Williams. But that you ought to know better than I do. By-the-bye,
+there is one sign by which Sheriff Johnson can always be recognized;
+he has lost the little finger of his left hand. They say he caught
+Williams' bowie with that hand and shot him with the right. But why he
+had to leave Missouri I don't know, if Williams drew first."
+
+"I'm satisfied now," said my companion, "but I guess you hain't got that
+story correct; maybe you don't know the cause of it nor how it began;
+maybe Williams didn't draw fust; maybe he was in the right all the way
+through; maybe--but thar!--the first hand don't decide everythin'. Your
+Sheriff's the man--that's enough for me."
+
+After this no word was spoken for miles. As we drew near the bridge
+leading into the town of Kiota I remarked half-a-dozen men standing
+about. Generally the place was deserted, so the fact astonished me a
+little. But I said nothing. We had scarcely passed over half the length
+of the bridge, however, when I saw that there were quite twenty men
+lounging around the Kiota end of it. Before I had time to explain
+the matter to myself, Williams spoke: "I guess he's got out all the
+vigilantes;" and then bitterly: "The boys in old Mizzouri wouldn't
+believe this ef I told it on him, the doggoned mean cuss."
+
+We crossed the bridge at a walk (it was forbidden to drive faster over
+the rickety structure), and toiled up the hill through the bystanders,
+who did not seem to see us, though I knew several of them. When we
+turned to the right to reach the gate of the Sheriff's house, there
+were groups of men on both sides. No one moved from his place; here and
+there, indeed, one of them went on whittling. I drew up at the sidewalk,
+threw down the reins, and jumped out of the buggy to hitch up the horse.
+My task was done.
+
+I had the hitching-rein loose in my hand, when I became conscious of
+something unusual behind me. I looked round--it was the stillness that
+foreruns the storm.
+
+Williams was standing on the side-walk facing the low wooden fence, a
+revolver in each hand, but both pointing negligently to the ground; the
+Sheriff had just come down the steps of his house; in his hands also
+were revolvers; his deputy, Jarvis, was behind him on the stoop.
+
+Williams spoke first:
+
+"Sam Johnson, you sent for me, and I've come."
+
+The Sheriff answered firmly, "I did!"
+
+Their hands went up, and crack! crack! crack! in quick succession, three
+or four or five reports--I don't know how many. At the first shots the
+Sheriff fell forward on his face. Williams started to run along the
+side-walk; the groups of men at the corner, through whom he must pass,
+closed together; then came another report, and at the same moment he
+stopped, turned slowly half round, and sank down in a heap like an empty
+sack.
+
+I hurried to him; he had fallen almost as a tailor sits, but his head
+was between his knees. I lifted it gently; blood was oozing from a hole
+in the forehead. The men were about me; I heard them say:
+
+"A derned good shot! Took him in the back of the head. Jarvis kin
+shoot!"
+
+I rose to my feet. Jarvis was standing inside the fence supported by
+some one; blood was welling from his bared left shoulder.
+
+"I ain't much hurt," he said, "but I guess the Sheriff's got it bad."
+
+The men moved on, drawing me with them, through the gate to where the
+Sheriff lay. Martin turned him over on his back. They opened his shirt,
+and there on the broad chest were two little blue marks, each in the
+centre of a small mound of pink flesh.
+
+4TH APRIL, 1891.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+A MODERN IDYLL.
+
+"I call it real good of you, Mr. Letgood, to come and see me. Won't you
+be seated?"
+
+"Thank you. It's very warm to-day; and as I didn't feel like reading or
+writing, I thought I'd come round."
+
+"You're just too kind for anythin'! To come an' pay me a visit when you
+must be tired out with yesterday's preachin'. An' what a sermon you gave
+us in the mornin'--it was too sweet. I had to wink my eyes pretty hard,
+an' pull the tears down the back way, or I should have cried right
+out--and Mrs. Jones watchin' me all the time under that dreadful
+bonnet."
+
+Mrs. Hooper had begun with a shade of nervousness in the hurried words;
+but the emotion disappeared as she took up a comfortable pose in the
+corner of the small sofa.
+
+The Rev. John Letgood, having seated himself in an armchair, looked at
+her intently before replying. She was well worth looking at, this Mrs.
+Hooper, as she leaned back on the cushions in her cool white dress,
+which was so thin and soft and well-fitting that her form could be seen
+through it almost as clearly as through water. She appeared to be about
+eighteen years old, and in reality was not yet twenty. At first sight
+one would have said of her, "a pretty girl;" but an observant eye on
+the second glance would have noticed those contradictions in face and in
+form which bear witness to a certain complexity of nature. Her features
+were small, regular, and firmly cut; the long, brown eyes looked out
+confidently under straight, well-defined brows; but the forehead was
+low, and the sinuous lips a vivid red. So, too, the slender figure and
+narrow hips formed a contrast with the throat, which pouted in soft,
+white fulness.
+
+"I am glad you liked the sermon," said the minister, breaking the
+silence, "for it is not probable that you will hear many more from me."
+There was just a shade of sadness in the lower tone with which he ended
+the phrase. He let the sad note drift in unconsciously--by dint of
+practice he had become an artist in the management of his voice.
+
+"You don't say!" exclaimed Mrs. Hooper, sitting up straight in her
+excitement. "You ain't goin' to leave us, I hope?"
+
+"Why do you pretend, Belle, to misunderstand me? You know I said three
+months ago that if you didn't care for me I should have to leave this
+place. And yesterday I told you that you must make up your mind at once,
+as I was daily expecting a call to Chicago. Now I have come for your
+answer, and you treat me as if I were a stranger, and you knew nothing
+of what I feel for you."
+
+"Oh!" she sighed, languorously nestling back into the corner. "Is that
+all? I thought for a moment the 'call' had come."
+
+"No, it has not yet; but I am resolved to get an answer from you to-day,
+or I shall go away, call or no call."
+
+"What would Nettie Williams say if she heard you?" laughed Mrs. Hooper,
+with mischievous delight in her eyes.
+
+"Now, Belle," he said in tender remonstrance, leaning forward and taking
+the small cool hand in his, "what is my answer to be? Do you love me? Or
+am I to leave Kansas City, and try somewhere else to get again into the
+spirit of my work? God forgive me, but I want you to tell me to stay.
+Will you?"
+
+"Of course I will," she returned, while slowly withdrawing her hand.
+"There ain't any one wants you to go, and why should you?"
+
+"Why? Because my passion for you prevents me from doing my work. You
+tease and torture me with doubt, and when I should be thinking of my
+duties I am wondering whether or not you care for me. Do you love me? I
+must have a plain answer."
+
+"Love you?" she repeated pensively. "I hardly know, but--"
+
+"But what?" he asked impatiently.
+
+"But--I must just see after the pies; this 'help' of ours is Irish, an'
+doesn't know enough to turn them in the oven. And Mr. Hooper don't like
+burnt pies."
+
+She spoke with coquettish gravity, and got up to go out of the room. But
+when Mr. Letgood also rose, she stopped and smiled--waiting perhaps for
+him to take his leave. As he did not speak she shook out her frock
+and then pulled down her bodice at the waist and drew herself up, thus
+throwing into relief the willowy outlines of her girlish form. The
+provocative grace, unconscious or intentional, of the attitude was not
+lost on her admirer. For an instant he stood irresolute, but when she
+stepped forward to pass him, he seemed to lose his self-control, and,
+putting his arms round her, tried to kiss her. With serpent speed and
+litheness she bowed her head against his chest, and slipped out of the
+embrace. On reaching the door she paused to say, over her shoulder: "If
+you'll wait, I'll be back right soon;" then, as if a new thought had
+occurred to her, she added turning to him: "The Deacon told me he was
+coming home early to-day, and he'd be real sorry to miss you."
+
+As she disappeared, he took up his hat, and left the house.
+
+It was about four o'clock on a day in mid-June. The sun was pouring down
+rays of liquid flame; the road, covered inches deep in fine white dust,
+and the wooden side-walks glowed with the heat, but up and down the
+steep hills went the minister unconscious of physical discomfort.
+
+"Does she care for me, or not? Why can't she tell me plainly? The
+teasing creature! Did she give me the hint to go because she was afraid
+her husband would come in? Or did she want to get rid of me in order not
+to answer?... She wasn't angry with me for putting my arms round her,
+and yet she wouldn't let me kiss her. Why not? She doesn't love him.
+She married him because she was poor, and he was rich and a deacon. She
+can't love him. He must be fifty-five if he's a day. Perhaps she doesn't
+love me either--the little flirt! But how seductive she is, and what a
+body, so round and firm and supple--not thin at all. I have the feel of
+it on my hands now--I can't stand this."
+
+Shaking himself vigorously, he abandoned his meditation, which, like
+many similar ones provoked by Mrs. Hooper, had begun in vexation and
+ended in passionate desire. Becoming aware of the heat and dust, he
+stood still, took off his hat, and wiped his forehead.
+
+The Rev. John Letgood was an ideal of manhood to many women. He was
+largely built, but not ungainly--the coarseness of the hands being the
+chief indication of his peasant ancestry. His head was rather round, and
+strongly set on broad shoulders; the nose was straight and well formed;
+the dark eyes, however, were somewhat small, and the lower part of the
+face too massive, though both chin and jaw were clearly marked. A long,
+thick, brown moustache partly concealed the mouth; the lower lip could
+just be seen, a little heavy, and sensual; the upper one was certainly
+flexile and suasive. A good-looking man of thirty, who must have been
+handsome when he was twenty, though even then, probably, too much drawn
+by the pleasures of the senses to have had that distinction of person
+which seems to be reserved for those who give themselves to thought
+or high emotions. On entering his comfortable house, he was met by his
+negro "help," who handed him his "mail":
+
+"I done brot these, Massa; they's all."
+
+"Thanks, Pete," he replied abstractedly, going into his cool study. He
+flung himself into an armchair before the writing-table, and began to
+read the letters. Two were tossed aside carelessly, but on opening the
+third he sat up with a quick exclamation. Here at last was the "call"
+he had been expecting, a "call" from the deacons of the Second Baptist
+Church in Chicago, asking him to come and minister to their spiritual
+wants, and offering him ten thousand dollars a year for his services.
+
+For a moment exultation overcame every other feeling in the man. A light
+flashed in his eyes as he exclaimed aloud: "It was that sermon did it!
+What a good thing it was that I knew their senior deacon was in the
+church on purpose to hear me! How well I brought in the apostrophe on
+the cultivation of character that won me the prize at college! Ah, I
+have never done anything finer than that, never! and perhaps never shall
+now. I had been reading Channing then for months, was steeped in him;
+but Channing has nothing as good as that in all his works. It has more
+weight and dignity--dignity is the word--than anything he wrote. And
+to think of its bringing me this! Ten thousand dollars a year and the
+second church in Chicago, while here they think me well paid with five.
+Chicago! I must accept it at once. Who knows, perhaps I shall get to New
+York yet, and move as many thousands as here I move hundreds. No! not I.
+I do not move them. I am weak and sinful. It is the Holy Spirit, and the
+power of His grace. O Lord, I am thankful to Thee who hast been good to
+me unworthy!" A pang of fear shot through him: "Perhaps He sends this to
+win me away from Belle." His fancy called her up before him as she had
+lain on the sofa. Again he saw the bright malicious glances and the red
+lips, the full white throat, and the slim roundness of her figure. He
+bowed his head upon his hands and groaned. "O Lord, help me! I know not
+what to do. Help me, O Lord!"
+
+As if prompted by a sudden inspiration, he started to his feet. "Now
+she must answer! Now what will she say? Here is the call. Ten thousand
+dollars a year! What will she say to that?"
+
+He spoke aloud in his excitement, all that was masculine in him glowing
+with the sense of hard-won mastery over the tantalizing evasiveness of
+the woman.
+
+On leaving his house he folded up the letter, thrust it into the
+breast-pocket of his frock-coat, and strode rapidly up the hill towards
+Mrs. Hooper's. At first he did not even think of her last words, but
+when he had gone up and down the first hill and was beginning to climb
+the second they suddenly came back to him. He did not want to meet her
+husband--least of all now. He paused. What should he do? Should he wait
+till to-morrow? No, that was out of the question; he couldn't wait. He
+must know what answer to send to the call. If Deacon Hooper happened
+to be at home he would talk to him about the door of the vestry, which
+would not shut properly. If the Deacon was not there, he would see her
+and force a confession from her....
+
+While the shuttle of his thought flew thus to and fro, he did not at all
+realize that he was taking for granted what he had refused to believe
+half an hour before. He felt certain now that Deacon Hooper would not
+be in, and that Mrs. Hooper had got rid of him on purpose to avoid his
+importunate love-making. When he reached the house and rang the bell his
+first question was:
+
+"Is the Deacon at home?"
+
+"No, sah."
+
+"Is Mrs. Hooper in?"
+
+"Yes, sah."
+
+"Please tell her I should like to see her for a moment. I will not keep
+her long. Say it's very important."
+
+"Yes, Massa, I bring her shuah," said the negress with a good-natured
+grin, opening the door of the drawing-room.
+
+In a minute or two Mrs. Hooper came into the room looking as cool and
+fresh as if "pies" were baked in ice.
+
+"Good day, _again_, Mr. Letgood. Won't you take a chair?"
+
+He seemed to feel the implied reproach, for without noticing her
+invitation to sit down he came to the point at once. Plunging his hand
+into his pocket, he handed her the letter from Chicago.
+
+She took it with the quick interest of curiosity, but as she read, the
+colour deepened in her cheeks, and before she had finished it she broke
+out, _"Ten thousand dollars a year!_"
+
+As she gave the letter back she did not raise her eyes, but said
+musingly: "That is a call indeed...." Staring straight before her she
+added: "How strange it should come to-day! Of course you'll accept it."
+
+A moment, and she darted the question at him:
+
+"Does she know? Have you told Miss Williams yet? But there, I suppose
+you have!" After another pause, she went on:
+
+"What a shame to take you away just when we had all got to know and like
+you! I suppose we shall have some old fogey now who will preach against
+dancin' an' spellin'-bees an' surprise-parties. And, of course, he won't
+like me, or come here an' call as often as you do--makin' the other
+girls jealous. I shall hate the change!" And in her innocent excitement
+she slowly lifted her brown eyes to his.
+
+"You know you're talking nonsense, Belle," he replied, with grave
+earnestness. "I've come for your answer. If you wish me to stay, if you
+really care for me, I shall refuse this offer."
+
+"You don't tell!" she exclaimed. "Refuse ten thousand dollars a year
+and a church in Chicago to stay here in Kansas City! I know I shouldn't!
+Why," and she fixed her eyes on his as she spoke, "you must be real good
+even to think of such a thing. But then, you won't refuse," she added,
+pouting. "No one would," she concluded, with profound conviction.
+
+"Oh, yes," answered the minister, moving to her and quietly putting both
+hands on her waist, while his voice seemed to envelope and enfold her
+with melodious tenderness.
+
+"Oh, yes, I shall refuse it, Belle, if _you_ wish me to; refuse it as
+I should ten times as great a prize, as I think I should refuse--God
+forgive me!--heaven itself, if you were not there to make it beautiful."
+
+While speaking he drew her to him gently; her body yielded to his touch,
+and her gaze, as if fascinated, was drawn into his. But when the flow
+of words ceased, and he bent to kiss her, the spell seemed to lose its
+power over her. In an instant she wound herself out of his arms, and
+with startled eyes aslant whispered:
+
+"Hush! he's coming! Don't you hear his step?" As Mr. Letgood went again
+towards her with a tenderly reproachful and incredulous "Now, Belle,"
+she stamped impatiently on the floor while exclaiming in a low, but
+angry voice, "Do take care! That's the Deacon's step."
+
+At the same moment her companion heard it too. The sounds were distinct
+on the wooden side-walk, and when they ceased at the little gate four or
+five yards from the house he knew that she was right. He pulled himself
+together, and with a man's untimely persistence spoke hurriedly:
+
+"I shall wait for your answer till Sunday morning next. Before then you
+must have assured me of your love, or I shall go to Chicago--"
+
+Mrs. Hooper's only reply was a contemptuous, flashing look that
+succeeded in reducing the importunate clergyman to silence--just in
+time--for as the word "Chicago" passed his lips the handle of the door
+turned, and Deacon Hooper entered the room.
+
+"Why, how do you do, Mr. Letgood?" said the Deacon cordially. "I'm glad
+to see you, sir, as you are too, I'm sartin," he added, turning to his
+wife and putting his arms round her waist and his lips to her cheek in
+an affectionate caress. "Take a seat, won't you? It's too hot to stand."
+As Mrs. Hooper sank down beside him on the sofa and their visitor drew
+over a chair, he went on, taking up again the broken thread of his
+thought. "No one thinks more of you than Isabelle. She said only last
+Sunday there warn't such a preacher as you west of the Mississippi
+River. How's that for high, eh?"--And then, still seeking back like a
+dog on a lost scent, he added, looking from his wife to the clergyman,
+as if recalled to a sense of the actualities of the situation by a
+certain constraint in their manner, "But what's that I heard about
+Chicago? There ain't nothin' fresh--Is there?"
+
+"Oh," replied Mrs. Hooper, with a look of remonstrance thrown sideways
+at her admirer, while with a woman's quick decision she at once cut the
+knot, "I guess there is something fresh. Mr. Letgood, just think of it,
+has had a 'call' from the Second Baptist Church in Chicago, and it's
+ten thousand dollars a year. Now who's right about his preachin'? And he
+ain't goin' to accept it. He's goin' to stay right here. At least," she
+added coyly, "he said he'd refuse it--didn't you?"
+
+The Deacon stared from one to the other as Mr. Letgood, with a forced
+half-laugh which came from a dry throat, answered: "That would be going
+perhaps a little too far. I said," he went on, catching a coldness in
+the glance of the brown eyes, "I wished to refuse it. But of course I
+shall have to consider the matter thoroughly--and seek for guidance."
+
+"Wall," said the Deacon in amazement, "ef that don't beat everythin'.
+I guess nobody would refuse an offer like that. _Ten thousand dollars
+a year!_ Ten thousand. Why, that's twice what you're gettin' here. You
+can't refuse that. I know you wouldn't ef you war' a son of mine--as
+you might be. Ten thousand. No, sir. An' the Second Baptist Church in
+Chicago is the first; it's the best, the richest, the largest. There
+ain't no sort of comparison between it and the First. No, sir! There
+ain't none. Why, James P. Willis, him as was here and heard you--that's
+how it came about, that's how!--he's the senior Deacon of it, an' I
+guess he can count dollars with any man this side of New York. Yes, sir,
+with any man west of the Alleghany Mountains." The breathless excitement
+of the good Deacon changed gradually as he realized that his hearers
+were not in sympathy with him, and his speech became almost solemn in
+its impressiveness as he continued. "See here! This ain't a thing to
+waste. Ten thousand dollars a year to start with, an' the best church
+in Chicago, you can't expect to do better than that. Though you're young
+still, when the chance comes, it should be gripped."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" broke in Mrs. Hooper irritably, twining her fingers and
+tapping the carpet with her foot, "Mr. Letgood doesn't want to leave
+Kansas City. Don't you understand? Perhaps he likes the folk here just
+as well as any in Chicago." No words could describe the glance which
+accompanied this. It was appealing, and coquettish, and triumphant, and
+the whole battery was directed full on Mr. Letgood, who had by this time
+recovered his self-possession.
+
+"Of course," he said, turning to the Deacon and overlooking Mrs.
+Hooper's appeal, "I know all that, and I don't deny that the 'call' at
+first seemed to draw me." Here his voice dropped as if he were speaking
+to himself: "It offers a wider and a higher sphere of work, but there's
+work, too, to be done here, and I don't know that the extra salary
+ought to tempt me. _Take neither scrip nor money in your purse_," and he
+smiled, "you know."
+
+"Yes," said the Deacon, his eyes narrowing as if amazement were giving
+place to a new emotion; "yes, but that ain't meant quite literally, I
+reckon. Still, it's fer you to judge. But ef you refuse ten thousand
+dollars a year, why, there are mighty few who would, and that's all I've
+got to say--mighty few," he added emphatically, and stood up as if to
+shake off the burden of a new and, therefore, unwelcome thought.
+
+When the minister also rose, the physical contrast between the two men
+became significant. Mr. Letgood's heavy frame, due to self-indulgence
+or to laziness, might have been taken as a characteristic product of the
+rich, western prairies, while Deacon Hooper was of the pure Yankee type.
+His figure was so lank and spare that, though not quite so tall as his
+visitor, he appeared to be taller. His face was long and angular; the
+round, clear, blue eyes, the finest feature of it, the narrowness of
+the forehead the worst. The mouth-corners were drawn down, and the lips
+hardened to a line by constant compression. No trace of sensuality. How
+came this man, grey with age, to marry a girl whose appeal to the senses
+was already so obvious? The eyes and prominent temples of the idealist
+supplied the answer. Deacon Hooper was a New Englander, trained in the
+bitterest competition for wealth, and yet the Yankee in him masked a
+fund of simple, kindly optimism, which showed itself chiefly in his
+devoted affection for his wife. He had not thought of his age when he
+married, but of her and her poverty. And possibly he was justified. The
+snow-garment of winter protects the tender spring wheat.
+
+"It's late," Mr. Letgood began slowly, "I must be going home now. I
+thought you might like to hear the news, as you are my senior Deacon.
+Your advice seems excellent; I shall weigh the 'call' carefully;
+but"--with a glance at Mrs. Hooper--"I am disposed to refuse it." No
+answering look came to him. He went on firmly and with emphasis, _"I
+wish_ to refuse it.--Good day, Mrs. Hooper, _till next Sunday_. Good
+day, Deacon."
+
+"Good day, Mr. Letgood," she spoke with a little air of precise
+courtesy.
+
+"Good day, sir," replied the Deacon, cordially shaking the proffered
+hand, while he accompanied his pastor to the street door.
+
+The sun was sinking, and some of the glory of the sunset colouring
+seemed to be reflected in Deacon Hooper's face, as he returned to the
+drawing-room and said with profound conviction:--
+
+"Isabelle, that man's jest about as good as they make them. He's what I
+call a real Christian--one that thinks of duty first and himself last.
+Ef that ain't a Christian, I'd like to know what is."
+
+"Yes," she rejoined meditatively, as she busied herself arranging the
+chairs and tidying the sofa into its usual stiff primness; "I guess he's
+a good man." And her cheek flushed softly.
+
+"Wall," he went on warmly, "I reckon we ought to do somethin' in this.
+There ain't no question but he fills the church. Ef we raised the
+pew-rents we could offer him an increase of salary to stay--I guess that
+could be done."
+
+"Oh! don't do anything," exclaimed the wife, as if awaking to the
+significance of this proposal, "anyway not until he has decided. It
+would look--mean, don't you think? to offer him somethin' more to stay."
+
+"I don't know but you're right, Isabelle; I don't know but you're
+right," repeated her husband thoughtfully. "It'll look better if he
+decides before hearin' from us. There ain't no harm, though, in thinkin'
+the thing over and speakin' to the other Deacons about it. I'll kinder
+find out what they feel."
+
+"Yes," she replied mechanically, almost as if she had not heard.
+"Yes, that's all right." And she slowly straightened the cloth on the
+centre-table, given over again to her reflections.
+
+Mr. Letgood walked home, ate his supper, went to bed and slept that
+night as only a man does whose nervous system has been exhausted by
+various and intense emotions. He even said his prayers by rote. And
+like a child he slept with tightly-clenched fists, for in him, as in the
+child, the body's claims were predominant.
+
+When he awoke next morning, the sun was shining in at his bedroom
+window, and at once his thoughts went back to the scenes and emotions
+of the day before. An unusual liveliness of memory enabled him to review
+the very words which Mrs. Hooper had used. He found nothing to regret.
+He had certainly gained ground by telling her of the call. The torpor
+which had come upon him the previous evening formed a complete contrast
+to the blithesome vigour he now enjoyed. He seemed to himself to be a
+different man, recreated, as it were, and endowed with fresh springs of
+life. While he lay in the delightful relaxation and warmth of the bed,
+and looked at the stream of sunshine which flowed across the room, he
+became confident that all would go right.
+
+"Yes," he decided, "she cares for me, or she would never have wished me
+to stay. Even the Deacon helped me--" The irony of the fact shocked him.
+He would not think of it. He might get a letter from her by two o'clock.
+With pleasure thrilling through every nerve, he imagined how she would
+word her confession. For she had yielded to him; he had felt her body
+move towards him and had seen the surrender in her eyes. While musing
+thus, passion began to stir in him, and with passion impatience.
+
+"Only half-past six o'clock," he said to himself, pushing his watch
+again under the pillow; "eight hours to wait till mail time. Eight
+endless hours. What a plague!"
+
+His own irritation annoyed him, and he willingly took up again the
+thread of his amorous reverie: "What a radiant face she has, what fine
+nervefulness in the slim fingers, what softness in the full throat!"
+Certain incidents in his youth before he had studied for the ministry
+came back to him, bringing the blood to his cheeks and making his
+temples throb. As the recollections grew vivid they became a torment. To
+regain quiet pulses he forced his mind to dwell upon the details of his
+"conversion"--his sudden resolve to live a new life and to give himself
+up to the service of the divine Master. The yoke was not easy; the
+burden was not light. On the contrary. He remembered innumerable
+contests with his rebellious flesh, contests in which he was never
+completely victorious for more than a few days together, but in which,
+especially during the first heat of the new enthusiasm, he had struggled
+desperately. Had his efforts been fruitless?...
+
+He thought with pride of his student days--mornings given to books and
+to dreams of the future, and evenings marked by passionate emotions, new
+companions reinspiring him continually with fresh ardour. The time spent
+at college was the best of his life. He had really striven, then, as few
+strive, to deserve the prize of his high calling. During those years, it
+seemed to him, he had been all that an earnest Christian should be.
+He recalled, with satisfaction, the honours he had won in Biblical
+knowledge and in history, and the more easily gained rewards for
+rhetoric. It was only natural that he should have been immediately
+successful as a preacher. How often he had moved his flock to tears! No
+wonder he had got on.
+
+Those first successes, and the pleasures which they brought with them of
+gratified vanity, had resulted in turning him from a Christian into an
+orator. He understood this dimly, but he thrust back the unwelcome truth
+with the reflection that his triumphs in the pulpit dated from the time
+when he began consciously to treat preaching as an art. After all, was
+he not there to win souls to Christ, and had not Christ himself praised
+the wisdom of the serpent? Then came the change from obscurity and
+narrow living in the country to Kansas City and luxury. He had been wise
+in avoiding that girl at Pleasant Hill. He smiled complacently as he
+thought of her dress, manners, and speech. Yet she was pretty, very
+pretty, and she had loved him with the exclusiveness of womanhood, but
+still he had done right. He congratulated himself upon his intuitive
+knowledge that there were finer girls in the world to be won. He had not
+fettered himself foolishly through pity or weakness.
+
+During his ten years of life as a student and minister he had been
+chaste. He had not once fallen into flagrant sin. His fervour of
+unquestioning faith had saved him at the outset, and, later, habit and
+prudence. He lingered over his first meeting with Mrs. Hooper. He had
+not thought much of her then, he remembered, although she had appeared
+to him to be pretty and perfectly dressed. She had come before him as an
+embodiment of delicacy and refinement, and her charm had increased, as
+he began, in spite of himself, to notice her peculiar seductiveness.
+Recollecting how insensibly the fascination which she exercised over
+him had grown, and the sudden madness of desire that had forced him to
+declare his passion, he moaned with vexation. If only she had not
+been married. What a fatality! How helpless man was, tossed hither and
+thither by the waves of trivial circumstance!
+
+She had certainly encouraged him; it was her alternate moods of yielding
+and reserve which had awakened his senses. She had been flattered by his
+admiration, and had sought to call it forth. But, in the beginning, at
+least, he had struggled against the temptation. He had prayed for help
+in the sore combat--how often and how earnestly!--but no help had come.
+Heaven had been deaf to his entreaties. And he had soon realized that
+struggling in this instance was of no avail. He loved her; he desired
+her with every nerve of his body.
+
+There was hardly any use in trying to fight against such a craving as
+that, he thought. But yet, in his heart of hearts, he was conscious that
+his religious enthusiasm, the aspiration towards the ideal life and the
+reverence for Christ's example, would bring about at least one supreme
+conflict in which his passion might possibly be overcome. He dreaded the
+crisis, the outcome of which he foresaw would be decisive for his whole
+life. He wanted to let himself slide quietly down the slope; but all the
+while he felt that something in him would never consent thus to endanger
+his hopes of Heaven.
+
+And Hell! He hated the thought! He strove to put it away from him, but
+it would not be denied. His early habits of self-analysis reasserted
+themselves. What if his impatience of the idea were the result of
+obdurate sinfulness--sinfulness which might never be forgiven? He
+compelled himself, therefore, to think of Hell, tried to picture it to
+himself, and the soft, self-indulgent nature of the man shuddered as he
+realized the meaning of the word. At length the torture grew too acute.
+He would not think any longer; he could not; he would strive to do the
+right. "O Lord!" he exclaimed, as he slipped out of bed on to his knees,
+"O Christ! help Thy servant! Pity me, and aid!" Yet, while the words
+broke from his lips in terrified appeal, he knew that he did not wish to
+be helped. He rose to his feet in sullen dissatisfaction.
+
+The happy alertness which he had enjoyed at his waking had disappeared;
+the self-torment of the last few minutes had tired him; disturbed and
+vexed in mind, he began to dress. While moving about in the sunlight
+his thoughts gradually became more cheerful, and by the time he left his
+room he had regained his good spirits.
+
+After a short stroll he went into his study and read the daily paper.
+He then took up a book till dinner-time. He dined, and afterwards forgot
+himself in a story of African travels. It was only the discomfort of the
+intense heat which at length reminded him that, though it was now past
+two o'clock, he had received no letter from Mrs. Hooper. But he was
+resolved not to think about her, for thoughts of her, he knew, would
+lead to fears concerning the future, which would in turn force him to
+decide upon a course of action. If he determined to commit the sin, his
+guilt would thereby be increased, and he would not pledge himself to
+refrain from it. "She couldn't write last night with the Deacon at her
+elbow all the time," he decided, and began to read again. Darkness had
+fallen before he remembered that he owed an immediate answer to the
+letter from Chicago. After a little consideration, he sat down and wrote
+as follows:
+
+"DEAR BROTHERS IN CHRIST,
+
+"Your letter has just reached me. Needless to say it has touched me
+deeply. You call me to a wider ministry and more arduous duties. The
+very munificence of the remuneration which you offer leads me to doubt
+my own fitness for so high a post. You must bear with me a little, and
+grant me a few days for reflection. The 'call,' as you know, must
+be answered from within, from the depths of my soul, before I can be
+certain that it comes from Above, and this Divine assurance has not yet
+been vouchsafed to me.
+
+"I was born and brought up here in Missouri, where I am now labouring,
+not without--to Jesus be the praise!--some small measure of success.
+I have many ties here, and many dear friends and fellow-workers in
+Christ's vineyard from whom I could not part without great pain. But I
+will prayerfully consider your request. I shall seek for guidance where
+alone it is to be found, at the foot of the Great White Throne, and
+within a week or so at most I hope to be able to answer you with the
+full and joyous certitude of the Divine blessing.
+
+"In the meantime, believe that I thank you deeply, dear Brethren, for
+your goodness to me, and that I shall pray in Jesus' Name that the
+blessing of the Holy Ghost may be with you abundantly now and for
+evermore.
+
+"Your loving Servant in Christ,
+
+"JOHN P. LETGOOD."
+
+He liked this letter so much that he read it over a great many times.
+It committed him to nothing; it was dignified and yet sufficiently
+grateful, and the large-hearted piety which appeared to inform it
+pleased him even more than the alliteration of the words "born and
+brought up." He had at first written "born and reared;" but in spite
+of the fear lest "brought up" should strike the simple Deacons of the
+Second Baptist Church in Chicago as unfamiliar and far-fetched, he could
+not resist the assonance. After directing the letter he went upstairs to
+bed, and his prayers that night were more earnest than they had been of
+late--perhaps because he avoided the dangerous topic. The exercise of
+his talent as a letter-writer having put him on good terms with himself,
+he slept soundly.
+
+When he awoke in the morning his mood had changed. The day was cloudy;
+a thunderstorm was brewing, and had somehow affected his temper. As soon
+as he opened his eyes he was aware of the fact that Mrs. Hooper had not
+written to him, even on Tuesday morning, when she must have been
+free, for the Deacon always went early to his dry-goods store. The
+consciousness of this neglect irritated him beyond measure. He tried,
+therefore, to think of Chicago and the persons who frequented the Second
+Baptist Church. Perhaps, he argued, they were as much ahead of the
+people in Kansas City as Mrs. Hooper was superior to any woman he had
+previously known. But on this way of thought he could not go far. The
+houses in Chicago were no doubt much finer, the furniture more elegant;
+the living, too, was perhaps better, though he could not imagine how
+that could be; there might even be cleverer and handsomer women there
+than Mrs. Hooper; but certainly no one lived in Chicago or anywhere else
+in the world who could tempt and bewitch him as she did. She was formed
+to his taste, made to his desire. As he recalled her, now laughing
+at him; now admiring him; to-day teasing him with coldness, to-morrow
+encouraging him, he realized with exasperation that her contradictions
+constituted her charm. He acknowledged reluctantly that her odd turns of
+speech tickled his intellect just as her lithe grace of movement excited
+his senses. But the number and strength of the ties that bound him to
+her made his anger keener. Where could she hope to find such love as
+his? She ought to write to him. Why didn't she? How could he come to
+a decision before he knew whether she loved him or not? In any case he
+would show her that he was a man. He would not try to see her until she
+had written--not under any circumstances.
+
+After dinner and mail time his thoughts ran in another channel. In
+reality she was not anything so wonderful. Most men, he knew, did
+not think her more than pretty; "pretty Mrs. Hooper" was what she was
+usually called--nothing more. No one ever dreamed of saying she was
+beautiful or fascinating. No; she was pretty, and that was all. He was
+the only person in Kansas City or perhaps in the world to whom she was
+altogether and perfectly desirable. She had no reason to be so conceited
+or to presume on her power over him. If she were the wonder she thought
+herself she would surely have married some one better than old Hooper,
+with his lank figure, grey hairs, and Yankee twang. He took a pleasure
+in thus depreciating the woman he loved--it gave his anger vent, and
+seemed to make her acquisition more probable. When the uselessness of
+the procedure became manifest to him, he found that his doubts of her
+affection had crystallized.
+
+This was the dilemma; she had not written either out of coquetry or
+because she did not really care for him. If the former were the true
+reason, she was cruel; if the latter, she ought to tell him so at once,
+and he would try to master himself. On no hypothesis was she justified
+in leaving him without a word. Tortured alternately by fear, hope, and
+anger, he paced up and down his study all the day long. Now, he said to
+himself, he would go and see her, and forthwith he grew calm--that was
+what his nature desired. But the man in him refused to be so servile.
+He had told her that she must write; to that he would hold, whatever it
+cost him. Again, he broke out in bitter blame of her.
+
+At length he made up his mind to strive to forget her. But what if she
+really cared for him, loved him as he loved her? In that case if he went
+away she would be miserable, as wretched as he would be. How unkind it
+was of her to leave him without a decided answer, when he could not help
+thinking of her happiness! No; she did not love him. He had read enough
+about women and seen enough of them to imagine that they never torture
+the man they really love. He would give her up and throw himself again
+into his work. He could surely do that. Then he remembered that she
+was married, and must, of course, see that she would risk her
+position--everything--by declaring her love. Perhaps prudence kept her
+silent. Once more he was plunged in doubt.
+
+He was glad when supper was ready, for that brought, at least for half
+an hour, freedom from thought. After the meal was finished he realized
+that he was weary of it all--heart-sick of the suspense. The storm
+broke, and the flashing of the lightning and the falling sheets of rain
+brought him relief. The air became lighter and purer. He went to bed and
+slept heavily.
+
+On the Thursday morning he awoke refreshed, and at once determined
+not to think about Mrs. Hooper. It only needed resolution, he said to
+himself, in order to forget her entirely. Her indifference, shown in not
+writing to him, should be answered in that way. He took up his pocket
+Bible, and opened it at the Gospels. The beautiful story soon exercised
+its charm upon his impressionable nature, and after a couple of hours'
+reading he closed the book comforted, and restored to his better self.
+He fell on his knees and thanked God for this crowning mercy. From his
+heart went forth a hymn of praise for the first time in long weeks. The
+words of the Man of Sorrows had lifted him above the slough. The marvel
+of it! How could he ever thank Him enough? His whole life should now be
+devoted to setting forth the wonders of His grace. When he arose he felt
+at peace with himself and full of goodwill to every one. He could even
+think of Mrs. Hooper calmly--with pity and grave kindliness.
+
+After his midday dinner and a brisk walk--he paid no attention to the
+mail time--he prepared to write the sermon which he intended to preach
+as his farewell to his congregation on the following Sunday. He was
+determined now to leave Kansas City and go to Chicago. But as soon as he
+began to consider what he should say, he became aware of a difficulty.
+He could talk and write of accepting the "call" because it gave him "a
+wider ministry," and so forth, but the ugly fact would obtrude itself
+that he was relinquishing five thousand dollars a year to accept ten,
+and he was painfully conscious that this knowledge would be uppermost in
+the minds of his hearers. Most men in his position would have easily
+put the objection out of their minds. But he could not put it aside
+carelessly, and it was characteristic of him to exaggerate its
+importance. He dearly loved to play what the French call _le beau
+rôle_, even at the cost of his self-interest. Of a sensitive, artistic
+temperament, he had for years nourished his intellect with good books.
+He had always striven, too, to set before his hearers high ideals of
+life and conduct. His nature was now subdued to the stuff he had worked
+in. As an artist, an orator, it was all but impossible for him to
+justify what must seem like sordid selfishness. He moved about in his
+chair uneasily, and strove to look at the subject from a new point of
+view. In vain; ten thousand dollars a year instead of five--that was to
+be his theme.
+
+The first solution of the problem which suggested itself to him was to
+express his very real disdain of such base material considerations, but
+no sooner did the thought occur to him than he was fain to reject it.
+He knew well that his hearers in Kansas City would refuse to accept that
+explanation even as "high-falutin' bunkum!" He then tried to select
+a text in order to ease for a time the strain upon his reflective
+faculties. "Feed my sheep" was his first choice--"the largest flock
+possible, of course." But no, that was merely the old cant in new words.
+
+He came reluctantly to the conclusion that there was no noble way out of
+the difficulty. He felt this the more painfully because, before sitting
+down to think of his sermon, he had immersed himself, to use his own
+words, in the fountain-head of self-sacrificing enthusiasm. And now he
+could not show his flock that there was any trace of self-denial in his
+conduct. It was apparent that his acceptance of the call made a great
+sermon an utter impossibility. He must say as little about the main
+point as possible, glide quickly, in fact, over the thin ice. But his
+disappointment was none the less keen; there was no splendid peroration
+to write; there would be no eyes gazing up at him through a mist
+of tears. His sensations were those of an actor with an altogether
+uncongenial and stupid part.
+
+After some futile efforts he abandoned the attempt to sketch out a
+sermon. Some words would come to him at the time, and they would have
+to do. In the evening a new idea presented itself to his over-excited
+brain. Might not his dislike of that sermon be a snare set by the Devil
+to induce him to reject the call and stay in Kansas City? No. A fine
+sermon would do good--the Evil One could not desire that--perhaps even
+more good than his sin would do harm? Puzzled and incapable of the
+effort required to solve this fresh problem he went to bed, after
+praying humbly for guidance and enlightenment.
+
+On the Friday morning he rose from his knees with a burden of sorrow.
+No kindly light had illumined the darkness of his doubtings. Yet he
+was conscious of a perfect sincerity in his desires and in his prayers.
+Suddenly he remembered that, when in a pure frame of mind, he had only
+considered the acceptance of the call. But in order to be guided aright,
+he must abandon himself entirely to God's directing. In all honesty of
+purpose, he began to think of the sermon he could deliver if he resolved
+to reject the call. Ah! that sermon needed but little meditation. With
+such a decision to announce, he felt that he could carry his hearers
+with him to heights of which they knew nothing. Their very vulgarity
+and sordidness of nature would help instead of hindering him. No one in
+Kansas City would doubt for a moment the sincerity of the self-sacrifice
+involved in rejecting ten thousand dollars a year for five. That sermon
+could be preached with effect from any text. "Feed my sheep" even would
+do. He thrilled in anticipation, as a great actor thrills when reading a
+part which will allow him to discover all his powers, and in which he
+is certain to "bring down the house." Completely carried away by his
+emotions, he began to turn the sermon over in his head. First of all he
+sought for a text; not this one, nor that one, but a few words breathing
+the very spirit of Christ's self-abnegation. He soon found what he
+wanted: "For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever
+will lose his life for My sake, shall find it." The unearthly beauty of
+the thought and the divine simplicity of its expression took the orator
+captive. As he imagined that Godlike Figure in Galilee, and seemed to
+hear the words drop like pearls from His lips, so he saw himself in the
+pulpit, and had a foretaste of the effect of his own eloquence. Ravished
+by the vision, he proceeded to write and rewrite the peroration. Every
+other part he could trust to his own powers, and to the inspiration
+of the theme, but the peroration he meant to make finer even than his
+apostrophe on the cultivation of character, which hitherto had been the
+high-water mark of his achievement.
+
+At length he finished his task, but not before sunset, and he felt weary
+and hungry. He ate and rested. In the complete relaxation of mental
+strain, he understood all at once what he had done. He had decided to
+remain in Kansas City. But to remain meant to meet Mrs. Hooper day after
+day, to be thrown together with her even by her foolishly confiding
+husband; it meant perpetual temptation, and at last--a fall! And yet
+God had guided him to choose that sermon rather than the other. He had
+abandoned himself passively to His guidance--could _that_ lead to the
+brink of the pit?... He cried out suddenly like one in bodily anguish.
+He had found the explanation. God cared for no half-victories. Flight to
+Chicago must seem to Him the veriest cowardice. God intended him to stay
+in Kansas City and conquer the awful temptation face to face. When he
+realized this, he fell on his knees and prayed as he had never prayed
+in all his life before. If entreated humbly, God would surely temper the
+wind to the shorn lamb; He knew His servant's weakness. "_Lead us not
+into temptation_," he cried again and again, for the first time in his
+life comprehending what now seemed to him the awful significance of the
+words. "_Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil_"--thus
+he begged and wept. But even when, exhausted in body and in mind,
+he rose from his knees, he had found no comfort. Like a child, with
+streaming eyes and quivering features, he stumbled upstairs to bed and
+fell asleep, repeating over and over again mechanically the prayer that
+the cup might pass from him.
+
+On the Saturday morning he awoke as from a hideous nightmare. Before
+there was time for thought he was aware of what oppressed and frightened
+him. The knowledge of his terrible position weighed him down. He was
+worn out and feverishly ill; incapable of reflection or resolution,
+conscious chiefly of pain and weariness, and a deep dumb revolt against
+his impending condemnation. After lying thus for some time, drinking
+the cup of bitterness to the very dregs, he got up, and went downstairs.
+Yielding to habit he opened the Bible. But the Book had no message for
+him. His tired brain refused, for minutes together, to take in the
+sense of the printed words. The servant found him utterly miserable and
+helpless when she went to tell him that "the dinner was a-gittin' cold."
+
+The food seemed to restore him, and during the first two hours of
+digestion he was comparatively peaceful in being able to live without
+thinking; but when the body had recovered its vigour, the mind grew
+active, and the self-torture recommenced. For some hours--he never knew
+how many--he suffered in this way; then a strange calm fell upon him.
+Was it the Divine help which had come at last, or despair, or the
+fatigue of an overwrought spirit? He knelt down and prayed once more,
+but this time his prayer consisted simply in placing before his Heavenly
+Father the exact state of the case. He was powerless; God should do
+with him according to His purpose, only he felt unable to resist if
+the temptation came up against him. Jesus, of course, could remove the
+temptation or strengthen him if He so willed. His servant was in His
+hands.
+
+After continuing in this strain for some time he got up slowly, calm but
+hopeless. There was no way of escape for him. He took up the Bible and
+attempted again to read it; but of a sudden he put it down, and throwing
+his outspread arms on the table and bowing his head upon them he cried:
+
+"My God, forgive me! I cannot hear Thy voice, nor feel Thy presence. I
+can only see her face and feel her body."
+
+And then hardened as by the consciousness of unforgivable blaspheming,
+he rose with set face, lit his candle, and went to bed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The week had passed much as usual with Mrs. Hooper and her husband. On
+the Tuesday he had seen most of his brother Deacons and found that they
+thought as he did. All were agreed that something should be done to
+testify to their gratitude, if indeed their pastor refused the "call."
+In the evening, after supper, Mr. Hooper narrated to his wife all that
+he had done and all that the others had said. When he asked for her
+opinion she approved of his efforts. A little while later she turned
+to him: "I wonder why Mr. Letgood doesn't marry?" As she spoke she laid
+down her work. With a tender smile the Deacon drew her on to his knees
+in the armchair, and pushing up his spectacles (he had been reading a
+dissertation on the meaning of the Greek verb [Greek: baptizo]) said
+with infinite, playful tenderness in his voice:
+
+"'Tain't every one can find a wife like you, my dear." He was rewarded
+for the flattering phrase with a little slap on the cheek. He continued
+thoughtfully: "'Taint every one either that wants to take care of a
+wife. Some folks hain't got much affection in 'em, I guess; perhaps Mr.
+Letgood hain't." To the which Mrs. Hooper answered not in words, but her
+lips curved into what might be called a smile, a contented smile as from
+the heights of superior knowledge.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Letgood's state of mind on the Sunday morning was too complex for
+complete analysis: he did not attempt the task. He preferred to believe
+that he had told God the whole truth without any attempt at reservation.
+He had thereby placed himself in His hands, and was no longer chiefly
+responsible. He would not even think of what he was about to do, further
+than that he intended to refuse the call and to preach the sermon the
+peroration of which he had so carefully prepared. After dressing he sat
+down in his study and committed this passage to memory. He pictured
+to himself with pleasure the effect it would surely produce upon his
+hearers. When Pete came to tell him the buggy was ready to take him to
+church, he got up almost cheerfully, and went out.
+
+The weather was delightful, as it is in June in that part of the Western
+States. From midday until about four o'clock the temperature is that of
+midsummer, but the air is exceedingly dry and light, and one breathes it
+in the morning with a sense of exhilaration. While driving to church Mr.
+Letgood's spirits rose. He chatted with his servant Pete, and even took
+the reins once for a few hundred yards. But when they neared the church
+his gaiety forsook him. He stopped talking, and appeared to be a little
+preoccupied. From time to time he courteously greeted one of his flock
+on the side-walk: but that was all. As he reached the church, the
+Partons drove up, and of course he had to speak to them. After the usual
+conventional remarks and shaking of hands, the minister turned up the
+sidewalk which led to the vestry. He had not taken more than four or
+five steps in this direction before he paused and looked up the street.
+He shrugged his shoulders, however, immediately at his own folly, and
+walked on: "Of course she couldn't send a messenger with a note. On
+Sundays the Deacon was with her."
+
+As he opened the vestry door, and stepped into the little room,
+he stopped short. Mrs. Hooper was there, coming towards him with
+outstretched hand and radiant smile:
+
+"Good mornin', Mr. Letgood, all the Deacons are here to meet you, and
+they let me come; because I was the first you told the news to, and
+because I'm sure you're not goin' to leave us. Besides, I wanted to
+come."
+
+He could not help looking at her for a second as he took her hand and
+bowed:
+
+"Thank you, Mrs. Hooper." Not trusting himself further, he began to
+shake hands with the assembled elders. In answer to one who expressed
+the hope that they would keep him, he said slowly and gravely:
+
+"I always trust something to the inspiration of the moment, but I
+confess I am greatly moved to refuse this call."
+
+"That's what I said," broke in Mr. Hooper triumphantly, "and I said,
+too, there were mighty few like you, and I meant it. But we don't want
+you to act against yourself, though we'd be mighty glad to hev you
+stay."
+
+A chorus of "Yes, sir! Yes, indeed! That's so" went round the room in
+warm approval, and then, as the minister did not answer save with an
+abstracted, wintry smile, the Deacons began to file into the church.
+Curiously enough Mrs. Hooper having moved away from the door during this
+scene was now, necessarily it seemed, the last to leave the room. While
+she was passing him, Mr. Letgood bent towards her and in an eager tone
+whispered:
+
+"And my answer?"
+
+Mrs. Hooper paused, as if surprised.
+
+"Oh! ain't you men stupid," she murmured and with a smile tossed the
+question over her shoulder: "What _did_ I come here for?"
+
+That sermon of Mr. Letgood's is still remembered in Kansas City. It is
+not too much to say that the majority of his hearers believed him to be
+inspired. And, in truth, as an artistic performance his discourse was
+admirable. After standing for some moments with his hand upon the desk,
+apparently lost in thought, he began in the quietest tone to read the
+letter from the Deacons of the Second Baptist Church in Chicago. He then
+read his reply, begging them to give him time to consider their request.
+He had considered it--prayerfully. He would read the passage of Holy
+Scripture which had suggested the answer he was about to send to
+the call. He paused again. The rustling of frocks and the occasional
+coughings ceased--the audience straining to catch the decision--while
+in a higher key he recited the verse, "For whosoever will save his life,
+shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake, shall find
+it."
+
+As the violinist knows when his instrument is perfectly attuned, so Mr.
+Letgood knew when he repeated the text that his hearers had surrendered
+themselves to him to be played upon. It would be useless here to
+reproduce the sermon, which lasted for nearly an hour, and altogether
+impossible to give any account of the preacher's gestures or dramatic
+pauses, or of the modulations and inflections of his voice, which now
+seemed to be freighted with passionate earnestness, now quivered in
+pathetic appeal, and now grew musical in the dying fall of some poetic
+phrase. The effect was astonishing. While he was speaking simply of the
+text as embodying the very spirit of the Glad Tidings which Christ first
+delivered to the world, not a few women were quietly weeping. It was
+impossible, they felt, to listen unmoved to that voice.
+
+But when he went on to show the necessity of renunciation as the first
+step towards the perfecting of character, even the hard, keen faces of
+the men before him began to relax and change expression. He dwelt, in
+turn, upon the startling novelty of Christ's teaching and its singular
+success. He spoke of the shortness of human life, the vanity of human
+effort, and the ultimate reward of those who sacrifice themselves for
+others, as Jesus did, and out of the same divine spirit of love. He
+thus came to the peroration. He began it in the manner of serious
+conversation.
+
+All over the United States the besetting sin of the people was the
+desire of wealth. He traced the effects of the ignoble struggle for
+gain in the degradation of character, in the debased tone of public and
+private life. The main current of existence being defiled, his duty
+was clear. Even more than other men he was pledged to resist the evil
+tendency of the time. In some ways, no doubt, he was as frail and faulty
+as the weakest of his hearers, but to fail in this respect would be, he
+thought, to prove himself unworthy of his position. That a servant of
+Christ in the nineteenth century should seek wealth, or allow it in
+any way to influence his conduct, appeared to him to be much the same
+unpardonable sin as cowardice in a soldier or dishonesty in a man of
+business. He could do but little to show what the words of his text
+meant to him, but one thing he could do and would do joyously. He would
+write to the good Deacons in Chicago to tell them that he intended to
+stay in Kansas City, and to labour on among the people whom he knew and
+loved, and some of whom, he believed, knew and loved him. He would
+not be tempted by the greater position offered to him or by the larger
+salary. _"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever
+will lose his life for My sake, shall find it."_
+
+As his voice broke over the last words, there was scarcely a dry eye in
+the church. Many of the women were sobbing audibly, and Mrs. Hooper had
+long ago given up the attempt "to pull her tears down the back way." She
+expressed the general sentiment of her sex when she said afterwards,
+"It was just too lovely for anythin'." And the men were scarcely less
+affected, though they were better able to control their emotion. The
+joyous renunciation of five thousand dollars a year struck these hard
+men of business as something almost uncanny. They would have considered
+it the acme of folly in an ordinary man, but in a preacher they felt
+vaguely that it was admirable.
+
+When Deacon Hooper met his brother Deacons before the platform where the
+collection-plates were kept, he whispered, "The meetin' is at my house
+at three o'clock. Be on time." His tone was decided, as were also the
+nods which accepted the invitation.
+
+After the service Mr. Letgood withdrew quietly without going, as usual,
+amongst his congregation. This pleased even Mrs. Parton, whose husband
+was a judge of the Supreme Court. She said: "It was elegant of him."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Hooper received the twelve Deacons in his drawing-room, and when the
+latest comer was seated, began:
+
+"There ain't no need for me to tell you, brethren, why I asked you all
+to come round here this afternoon. After that sermon this mornin' I
+guess we're all sot upon showin' our minister that we appreciate him.
+There are mighty few men with five thousand dollars a year who'd give
+up ten thousand. It seems to me a pretty good proof that a man's a
+Christian ef he'll do that. 'Tain't being merely a Christian: it's
+Christ-like. We must keep Mr. Letgood right here: he's the sort o' man
+we want. If they come from Chicago after him now, they'll be comin' from
+New York next, an' he oughtn't to be exposed to sich great temptation.
+
+"I allow that we'll be able to raise the pew-rents from the first of
+January next, to bring in another two thousand five hundred dollars a
+year, and I propose that we Deacons should jest put our hands deep down
+in our pockets and give Mr. Letgood that much anyway for this year, and
+promise the same for the future. I'm willin', as senior Deacon, though
+not the richest, to start the list with three hundred dollars."
+
+In five minutes the money was subscribed, and it was agreed that each
+man should pay in his contribution to the name of Mr. Hooper at the
+First National Bank next day; Mr. Hooper could then draw his cheque for
+the sum.
+
+"Wall," said the Deacon, again getting up, "that's settled, but I've
+drawn that cheque already. Mrs. Hooper and me talked the thing over,"
+he added half apologetically, and as if to explain his unbusinesslike
+rashness; "an' she thinks we oughter go right now to Mr. Letgood as a
+sort of surprise party an' tell him what we hev decided--that is, ef
+you're all agreed."
+
+They were, although one or two objected to a "surprise party" being held
+on Sunday. But Deacon Hooper overruled the objection by saying that
+he could find no better _word_, though of course 'twas really not a
+"surprise party." After this explanation, some one proposed that Deacon
+Hooper should make the presentation, and that Mrs. Hooper should be
+asked to accompany them. When Mr. Hooper went into the dining-room to
+find his wife she was already dressed to go out, and when he expressed
+surprise and delivered himself of his mission, she said simply:
+
+"Why, I only dressed to go and see Mrs. Jones, who's ill, but I guess
+I'll go along with you first."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The same afternoon Mr. Letgood was seated in his study considering a
+sermon for the evening--it would have to be very different from that of
+the morning, he felt, or else it would fall flat.
+
+He still avoided thinking of his position. The die was cast now, and
+having struggled hard against the temptation he tried to believe that he
+was not chiefly responsible. In the back of his mind was the knowledge
+that his responsibility would become clear to him some time or other,
+but he confined it in the furthest chamber of his brain with repentance
+as the guardian.
+
+He had just decided that his evening address must be doctrinal and
+argumentative, when he became aware of steps in the drawing-room.
+Opening the door he found himself face to face with his Deacons. Before
+he could speak, Deacon Hooper began:
+
+"Mr. Letgood! We, the Deacons of your church, hev come to see you. We
+want to tell you how we appreciate your decision this mornin'. It was
+Christ-like! And we're all proud of you, an' glad you're goin' to stay
+with us. But we allow that it ain't fair or to be expected that you
+should refuse ten thousand dollars a year with only five. So we've
+made a purse for this year among ourselves of two thousand five hundred
+dollars extry, which we hope you'll accept. Next year the pew-rents can
+be raised to bring in the same sum; anyway, it shall be made up.
+
+"There ain't no use in talkin'; but you, sir, hev jest sot us an example
+of how one who loves the Lord Jesus, and Him only, should act, and we
+ain't goin' to remain far behind. No, sir, we ain't. Thar's the cheque."
+
+As he finished speaking, tears stood in the kind, honest, blue eyes.
+
+Mr. Letgood took the cheque mechanically, and mechanically accepted at
+the same time the Deacon's outstretched hand; but his eyes sought Mrs.
+Hooper's, who stood behind the knot of men with her handkerchief to her
+face. In a moment or two, recalled to himself by the fact that one after
+the other all the Deacons wanted to shake his hand, he tried to sustain
+his part in the ceremony. He said:
+
+"My dear brothers, I thank you each and all, and accept your gift, in
+the spirit in which you offer it. I need not say that I knew nothing of
+your intention when I preached this morning. It is not the money that
+I'm thinking of now, but your kindness. I thank you again."
+
+After a few minutes' casual conversation, consisting chiefly of praise
+of the "wonderful discourse" of the morning, Mr. Letgood proposed
+that they should all have iced coffee with him; there was nothing so
+refreshing; he wanted them to try it; and though he was a bachelor, if
+Mrs. Hooper would kindly give her assistance and help him with his
+cook, he was sure they would enjoy a glass. With a smile she consented.
+Stepping into the passage after her and closing the door, he said
+hurriedly, with anger and suspicion in his voice:
+
+"You didn't get this up as my answer? You didn't think I'd take money
+instead, did you?"
+
+Demurely, Mrs. Hooper turned her head round as he spoke, and leaning
+against him while he put his arms round her waist, answered with arch
+reproach:
+
+"You are just too silly for anythin'."
+
+Then, with something like the movement of a cat loath to lose the
+contact of the caressing hand, she turned completely towards him and
+slowly lifted her eyes. Their lips met.
+
+21 APRIL, 1891.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+EATIN' CROW
+
+The evening on which Charley Muirhead made his first appearance at
+Doolan's was a memorable one; the camp was in wonderful spirits. Whitman
+was said to have struck it rich. Garotte, therefore, might yet become
+popular in the larger world, and its evil reputation be removed.
+Besides, what Whitman had done any one might do, for by common consent
+he was a "derned fool." Good-humour accordingly reigned at Doolan's,
+and the saloon was filled with an excited, hopeful crowd. Bill Bent,
+however, was anything but pleased; he generally was in a bad temper, and
+this evening, as Crocker remarked carelessly, he was "more ornery than
+ever." The rest seemed to pay no attention to the lanky, dark man with
+the narrow head, round, black eyes, and rasping voice. But Bent would
+croak: "Whitman's struck nothin'; thar ain't no gold in Garotte; it's
+all work and no dust." In this strain he went on, offending local
+sentiment and making every one uncomfortable.
+
+Muirhead's first appearance created a certain sensation. He was a fine
+upstanding fellow of six feet or over, well made, and good-looking.
+But Garotte had too much experience of life to be won by a stranger's
+handsome looks. Muirhead's fair moustache and large blue eyes counted
+for little there. Crocker and others, masters in the art of judging
+men, noticed that his eyes were unsteady, and his manner, though genial,
+seemed hasty. Reggitt summed up their opinion in the phrase, "looks as
+if he'd bite off more'n he could chaw." Unconscious of the criticism,
+Muirhead talked, offered drinks, and made himself agreeable.
+
+At length in answer to Bent's continued grumbling, Muirhead said
+pleasantly: "'Tain't so bad as that in Garotte, is it? This bar don't
+look like poverty, and if I set up drinks for the crowd, it's because
+I'm glad to be in this camp."
+
+"P'r'aps you found the last place you was in jes' a leetle too warm,
+eh?" was Bent's retort.
+
+Muirhead's face flushed, and for a second he stood as if he had been
+struck. Then, while the crowd moved aside, he sprang towards Bent,
+exclaiming, "Take that back--right off! Take it back!"
+
+"What?" asked Bent coolly, as if surprised; at the same time, however,
+retreating a pace or two, he slipped his right hand behind him.
+
+Instantly Muirhead threw himself upon him, rushed him with what seemed
+demoniac strength to the open door and flung him away out on his back
+into the muddy ditch that served as a street. For a moment there was a
+hush of expectation, then Bent was seen to gather himself up painfully
+and move out of the square of light into the darkness. But Muirhead did
+not wait for this; hastily, with hot face and hands still working with
+excitement, he returned to the bar with:
+
+"That's how I act. No one can jump me. No one, by God!" and he glared
+round the room defiantly. Reggitt, Harrison, and some of the others
+looked at him as if on the point of retorting, but the cheerfulness
+was general, and Bent's grumbling before a stranger had irritated them
+almost as much as his unexpected cowardice. Muirhead's challenge was not
+taken up, therefore, though Harrison did remark, half sarcastically:
+
+"That may be so. You jump them, I guess."
+
+"Well, boys, let's have the drink," Charley Muirhead went on, his manner
+suddenly changing to that of friendly greeting, just as if he had not
+heard Harrison's words.
+
+The men moved up to the bar and drank, and before the liquor was
+consumed, Charley's geniality, acting on the universal good-humour,
+seemed to have done away with the discontent which his violence and
+Bent's cowardice had created. This was the greater tribute to his
+personal charm, as the refugees of Garotte usually hung together, and
+were inclined to resent promptly any insult offered to one of their
+number by a stranger. But in the present case harmony seemed to be
+completely reestablished, and it would have taken a keener observer than
+Muirhead to have understood his own position and the general opinion.
+It was felt that the stranger had bluffed for all he was worth, and that
+Garotte had come out "at the little end of the horn."
+
+A day or two later Charley Muirhead, walking about the camp, came
+upon Dave Crocker's claim, and offered to buy half of it and work as a
+partner, but the other would not sell; "the claim was worth nothin'; not
+good enough for two, anyhow;" and there the matter would have ended, had
+not the young man proposed to work for a spell just to keep his hand
+in. By noon Crocker was won; nobody could resist Charley's hard work
+and laughing high spirits. Shortly afterwards the older man proposed
+to knock off; a day's work, he reckoned, had been done, and evidently
+considering it impossible to accept a stranger's labour without
+acknowledgment, he pressed Charley to come up to his shanty and eat.
+The simple meal was soon despatched, and Crocker, feeling the obvious
+deficiencies of his larder, produced a bottle of Bourbon, and the two
+began to drink. Glass succeeded glass, and at length Crocker's reserve
+seemed to thaw; his manner became almost easy, and he spoke half
+frankly.
+
+"I guess you're strong," he remarked. "You threw Bent out of the saloon
+the other night like as if he was nothin'; strength's good, but 'tain't
+everythin'. I mean," he added, in answer to the other's questioning
+look, "Samson wouldn't have a show with a man quick on the draw who
+meant bizness. Bent didn't pan out worth a cent, and the boys didn't
+like him, but--them things don't happen often." So in his own way he
+tried to warn the man to whom he had taken a liking.
+
+Charley felt that a warning was intended, for he replied decisively: "It
+don't matter. I guess he wanted to jump me, and I won't be jumped, not
+if Samson wanted to, and all the revolvers in Garotte were on me."
+
+"Wall," Crocker went on quietly, but with a certain curiosity in his
+eyes, "that's all right, but I reckon you were mistaken. Bent didn't
+want to rush ye; 'twas only his cussed way, and he'd had mighty bad
+luck. You might hev waited to see if he meant anythin', mightn't ye?"
+And he looked his listener in the face as he spoke.
+
+"That's it," Charley replied, after a long pause, "that's just it. I
+couldn't wait, d'ye see!" and then continued hurriedly, as if driven
+to relieve himself by a full confession: "Maybe you don't _sabe_. It's
+plain enough, though I'd have to begin far back to make you understand.
+But I don't mind if you want to hear. I was raised in the East, in Rhode
+Island, and I guess I was liked by everybody. I never had trouble with
+any one, and I was a sort of favourite.... I fell in love with a girl,
+and as I hadn't much money, I came West to make some, as quick as I knew
+how. The first place I struck was Laramie--you don't know it? 'Twas a
+hard place; cowboys, liquor saloons, cursin' and swearin', poker and
+shootin' nearly every night. At the beginning I seemed to get along
+all right, and I liked the boys, and thought they liked me. One night a
+little Irishman was rough on me; first of all I didn't notice, thought
+he meant nothin', and then, all at once, I saw he meant it--and more.
+
+"Well, I got a kind of scare--I don't know why--and I took what he said
+and did nothin'. Next day the boys sort of held off from me, didn't
+talk; thought me no account, I guess, and that little Irishman just rode
+me round the place with spurs on. I never kicked once. I thought I'd get
+the money--I had done well with the stock I had bought--and go back
+East and marry, and no one would be any the wiser. But the Irishman kept
+right on, and first one and then another of the boys went for me, and
+I took it all. I just," and here his voice rose, and his manner became
+feverishly excited, "I just ate crow right along for months--and tried
+to look as if 'twas quail.
+
+"One day I got a letter from home. She wanted me to hurry up and come
+back. She thought a lot of me, I could see; more than ever, because I
+had got along--I had written and told her my best news. And then, what
+had been hard grew impossible right off. I made up my mind to sell the
+stock and strike for new diggings. I couldn't stand it any longer--not
+after her letter. I sold out and cleared.... I ought to hev stayed in
+Laramie, p'r'aps, and gone for the Irishman, but I just couldn't. Every
+one there was against me."
+
+"I guess you oughter hev stayed.... Besides, if you had wiped up the
+floor with that Irishman the boys would hev let up on you."
+
+"P'r'aps so," Charley resumed, "but I was sick of the whole crowd. I
+sold off, and lit out. When I got on the new stage-coach, fifty miles
+from Laramie, and didn't know the driver or any one, I made up my mind
+to start fresh. Then and there I resolved that I had eaten all the crow
+I was going to eat; the others should eat crow now, and if there was any
+jumpin' to be done, I'd do it, whatever it cost. And so I went for Bent
+right off. I didn't want to wait. 'Here's more crow,' I thought, 'but
+I won't eat it; he shall, if I die for it,' and I just threw him out
+quick."
+
+"I see," said Crocker, with a certain sympathy in his voice, "but you
+oughter hev waited. You oughter make up to wait from this on, Charley.
+'Tain't hard. You don't need to take anythin' and set under it. I'm not
+advisin' that, but it's stronger to wait before you go fer any one. The
+boys," he added significantly, "don't like a man to bounce, and what
+they don't like is pretty hard to do."
+
+"Damn the boys," exclaimed Charley vehemently, "they're all alike out
+here. I can't act different. If I waited, I might wait too long--too
+long, d'you _sabe?_ I just can't trust myself," he added in a subdued
+tone.
+
+"No," replied Crocker meditatively. "No, p'r'aps not. But see here,
+Charley, I kinder like you, and so I tell you, no one can bounce the
+crowd here in Garotte. They're the worst crowd you ever struck in your
+life. Garotte's known for hard cases. Why," he went on earnestly, as if
+he had suddenly become conscious of the fact, "the other night Reggitt
+and a lot came mighty near goin' fer you--and Harrison, Harrison took
+up what you said. You didn't notice, I guess; and p'r'aps 'twas well you
+didn't; but you hadn't much to spare. You won by the odd card.
+
+"No one can bounce this camp. They've come from everywhere, and can only
+jes' get a livin' here--no more. And when luck's bad they're"--and he
+paused as if no adjective were strong enough. "If a man was steel, and
+the best and quickest on the draw ever seen, I guess they'd bury him if
+he played your way."
+
+"Then they may bury me," retorted Charley bitterly, "but I've eaten my
+share of crow. I ain't goin' to eat any more. Can't go East now with the
+taste of it in my mouth. I'd rather they buried me."
+
+And they did bury him--about a fortnight after.
+
+July, 1892.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE BEST MAN IN GAROTTE.
+
+Lawyer Rablay had come from nobody knew where. He was a small man,
+almost as round as a billiard ball. His body was round, his head was
+round; his blue eyes and even his mouth and chin were round; his nose
+was a perky snub; he was florid and prematurely bald--a picture of
+good-humour. And yet he was a power in Garotte. When he came to the
+camp, a row was the only form of recreation known to the miners. A
+"fuss" took men out of themselves, and was accordingly hailed as an
+amusement; besides, it afforded a subject of conversation. But after
+Lawyer Rablay's arrival fights became comparatively infrequent. Would-be
+students of human nature declared at first that his flow of spirits was
+merely animal, and that his wit was thin; but even these envious ones
+had to admit later that his wit told, and that his good-humour was
+catching.
+
+Crocker and Harrison had nearly got to loggerheads one night for no
+reason apparently, save that each had a high reputation for courage,
+and neither could find a worthier antagonist. In the nick of time Rablay
+appeared; he seemed to understand the situation at a glance, and broke
+in:
+
+"See here, boys. I'll settle this. They're disputin'--I know they are.
+Want to decide with bullets whether 'Frisco or Denver's the finest city.
+'Frisco's bigger and older, says Crocker; Harrison maintains Denver's
+better laid out. Crocker replies in his quiet way that 'Frisco ain't
+dead yet." Good temper being now re-established, Rablay went on: "I'll
+decide this matter right off. Crocker and Harrison shall set up drinks
+for the crowd till we're all laid out. And I'll tell a story," and he
+began a tale which cannot be retold here, but which delighted the boys
+as much by its salaciousness as by its vivacity.
+
+Lawyer Rablay was to Garotte what novels, theatres, churches, concerts
+are to more favoured cities; in fact, for some six months, he and
+his stories constituted the chief humanizing influence in the camp.
+Deputations were often despatched from Doolan's to bring Rablay to the
+bar. The miners got up "cases" in order to give him work. More than once
+both parties in a dispute, real or imaginary, engaged him, despite his
+protestations, as attorney, and afterwards the boys insisted that,
+being advocate for both sides, he was well fitted to decide the issue
+as judge. He had not been a month in Garotte before he was christened
+Judge, and every question, whether of claim-boundaries, the suitability
+of a nickname, or the value of "dust," was submitted for his decision.
+It cannot be asserted that his enviable position was due either to
+perfect impartiality or to infallible wisdom. But every one knew that
+his judgments would be informed by shrewd sense and good-humour,
+and would be followed by a story, and woe betide the disputant
+whose perversity deferred that pleasure. So Garotte became a sort of
+theocracy, with Judge Rablay as ruler. And yet he was, perhaps, the
+only man in the community whose courage had never been tested or even
+considered.
+
+One afternoon a man came to Garotte, who had a widespread reputation.
+His name was Bill Hitchcock. A marvellous shot, a first-rate
+poker-player, a good rider--these virtues were outweighed by his
+desperate temper. Though not more than five-and-twenty years of age
+his courage and ferocity had made him a marked man. He was said to have
+killed half-a-dozen men; and it was known that he had generally provoked
+his victims. No one could imagine why he had come to Garotte, but he
+had not been half an hour in the place before he was recognized. It was
+difficult to forget him, once seen. He was tall and broad-shouldered;
+his face long, with well-cut features; a brown moustache drooped
+negligently over his mouth; his heavy eyelids were usually half-closed,
+but when in moments of excitement they were suddenly updrawn, one was
+startled by a naked hardness of grey-green eyes.
+
+Hitchcock spent the whole afternoon in Doolan's, scarcely speaking a
+word. As night drew down, the throng of miners increased. Luck had been
+bad for weeks; the camp was in a state of savage ill-humour. Not a
+few came to the saloon that night intending to show, if an opportunity
+offered, that neither Hitchcock nor any one else on earth could scare
+them. As minute after minute passed the tension increased. Yet Hitchcock
+stood in the midst of them, drinking and smoking in silence, seemingly
+unconcerned.
+
+Presently the Judge came in with a smile on his round face and shot off
+a merry remark. But the quip didn't take as it should have done. He
+was received with quiet nods and not with smiles and loud greetings as
+usual. Nothing daunted, he made his way to the bar, and, standing next
+to Hitchcock, called for a drink.
+
+"Come, Doolan, a Bourbon; our only monarch!"
+
+Beyond a smile from Doolan the remark elicited no applause. Astonished,
+the Judge looked about him; never in his experience had the camp been
+in that temper. But still he had conquered too often to doubt his powers
+now. Again and again he tried to break the spell--in vain. As a last
+resort he resolved to use his infallible receipt against ill-temper.
+
+"Boys! I've just come in to tell you one little story; then I'll have to
+go."
+
+From force of habit the crowd drew towards him, and faces relaxed.
+Cheered by this he picked up his glass from the bar and turned towards
+his audience. Unluckily, as he moved, his right arm brushed against
+Hitchcock, who was looking at him with half-opened eyes. The next moment
+Hitchcock had picked up his glass and dashed it in the Judge's face.
+Startled, confounded by the unexpected suddenness of the attack, Rablay
+backed two or three paces, and, blinded by the rush of blood from his
+forehead, drew out his handkerchief. No one stirred. It was part of the
+unwritten law in Garotte to let every man in such circumstances play his
+game as he pleased. For a moment or two the Judge mopped his face, and
+then he started towards his assailant with his round face puckered up
+and out-thrust hands. He had scarcely moved, however, when Hitchcock
+levelled a long Navy Colt against his breast:
+
+"Git back, you ---- "
+
+The Judge stopped. He was unarmed but not cowed. All of a sudden those
+wary, long eyes of Hitchcock took in the fact that a score of revolvers
+covered him.
+
+With lazy deliberation Dave Crocker moved out of the throng towards the
+combatants, and standing between them, with his revolver pointing to the
+ground, said sympathetically:
+
+"Jedge, we're sorry you've been jumped, here in Garotte. Now, what would
+you like?"
+
+"A fair fight," replied Rablay, beginning again to use his handkerchief.
+
+"Wall," Crocker went on, after a pause for thought. "A square fight's
+good but hard to get. This man," and his head made a motion towards
+Hitchcock as he spoke, "is one of the best shots there is, and I reckon
+you're not as good at shootin' as at--other things." Again he paused
+to think, and then continued with the same deliberate air of careful
+reflection, "We all cotton to you, Jedge; you know that. Suppose you
+pick a man who kin shoot, and leave it to him. That'd be fair, an' you
+kin jes' choose any of us, or one after the other. We're all willin'."
+
+"No," replied the Judge, taking away the handkerchief, and showing a
+jagged, red line on his forehead. "No! he struck _me_. I don't want any
+one to help me, or take my place."
+
+"That's right," said Crocker, approvingly; "that's right, Jedge, we all
+like that, but 'tain't square, and this camp means to hev it square.
+You bet!" And, in the difficult circumstances, he looked round for the
+approval which was manifest on every one of the serious faces. Again he
+began: "I guess, Jedge, you'd better take my plan, 'twould be surer. No!
+Wall, suppose I take two six-shooters, one loaded, the other empty, and
+put them under a _capote_ on the table in the next room. You could both
+go in and draw for weapons; that'd be square, I reckon?" and he waited
+for the Judge's reply.
+
+"Yes," replied Rablay, "that'd be fair. I agree to that."
+
+"Hell!" exclaimed Hitchcock, "I don't. If he wants to fight, I'm here;
+but I ain't goin' to take a hand in no sich derned game--with the cards
+stocked agen me."
+
+"Ain't you?" retorted Crocker, facing him, and beginning slowly. "I
+reckon _you'll_ play any game we say. _See_! any damned game _we_ like.
+D'ye understand?"
+
+As no response was forthcoming to this defiance, he went into the other
+room to arrange the preliminaries of the duel. A few moments passed
+in silence, and then he came back through the lane of men to the two
+combatants.
+
+"Jedge," he began, "the six-shooters are there, all ready. Would you
+like to hev first draw, or throw for it with him?" contemptuously
+indicating Hitchcock with a movement of his head as he concluded.
+
+"Let us throw," replied Rablay, quietly.
+
+In silence the three dice and the box were placed by Doolan on the bar.
+In response to Crocker's gesture the Judge took up the box and rolled
+out two fives and a three--thirteen. Every one felt that he had lost the
+draw, but his face did not change any more than that of his adversary.
+In silence Hitchcock replaced the dice in the box and threw a three, a
+four, and a two--nine; he put down the box emphatically.
+
+"Wall," Crocker decided impassively, "I guess that gives you the draw,
+Jedge; we throw fer high in Garotte--sometimes," he went on, turning
+as if to explain to Hitchcock, but with insult in his voice, and then,
+"After you, Jedge!"
+
+Rablay passed through the crowd into the next room. There, on a table,
+was a small heap covered with a cloak. Silently the men pressed round,
+leaving Crocker between the two adversaries in the full light of the
+swinging lamp.
+
+"Now, Jedge," said Crocker, with a motion towards the table.
+
+"No!" returned the Judge, with white, fixed face, "he won; let him draw
+first. I only want a square deal."
+
+A low hum of surprise went round the room. Garotte was more than
+satisfied with its champion. Crocker looked at Hitchcock, and said:
+
+"It's your draw, then." The words were careless, but the tone and face
+spoke clearly enough.
+
+A quick glance round the room and Hitchcock saw that he was trapped.
+These men would show him no mercy. At once the wild beast in him
+appeared. He stepped to the table, put his hand under the cloak, drew
+out a revolver, dropped it, pointing towards Rablay's face, and pulled
+the trigger. A sharp click. That revolver, at any rate, was unloaded.
+Quick as thought Crocker stepped between Hitchcock and the table. Then
+he said:
+
+"It's your turn now, Jedge!"
+
+As he spoke a sound, half of relief and half of content came from the
+throats of the onlookers. The Judge did not move. He had not quivered
+when the revolver was levelled within a foot of his head; he did not
+appear to have seen it. With set eyes and pale face, and the jagged
+wound on his forehead whence the blood still trickled, he had waited,
+and now he did not seem to hear. Again Crocker spoke:
+
+"Come, Jedge, it's your turn."
+
+The sharp, loud words seemed to break the spell which had paralyzed the
+man. He moved to the table, and slowly drew the revolver from under the
+cloak. His hesitation was too much for the crowd.
+
+"Throw it through him, Jedge! Now's your chance. Wade in, Jedge!"
+
+The desperate ferocity of the curt phrases seemed to move him. He raised
+the revolver. Then came in tones of triumph:
+
+"I'll bet high on the Jedge!"
+
+He dropped the revolver on the floor, and fled from the room.
+
+The first feeling of the crowd of men was utter astonishment, but in
+a moment or two this gave place to half-contemptuous sympathy. What
+expression this sentiment would have found it is impossible to say, for
+just then Bill Hitchcock observed with a sneer:
+
+"As he's run, I may as well walk;" and he stepped towards the bar-room.
+
+Instantly Crocker threw himself in front of him with his face on fire.
+
+"Walk--will ye?" he burst out, the long-repressed rage flaming
+up--"walk! when you've jumped the best man in Garotte--walk! No, by God,
+you'll crawl, d'ye hear? crawl--right out of this camp, right now!" and
+he dropped his revolver on Hitchcock's breast.
+
+Then came a wild chorus of shouts.
+
+"That's right! That's the talk! Crawl, will ye! Down on yer hands and
+knees. Crawl, damn ye! Crawl!" and a score of revolvers covered the
+stranger.
+
+For a moment he stood defiant, looking his assailants in the eyes. His
+face seemed to have grown thinner, and his moustache twitched with the
+snarling movement of a brute at bay. Then he was tripped up and thrown
+forwards amid a storm of, "Crawl, damn ye--crawl!" And so Hitchcock
+crawled, on hands and knees, out of Doolan's.
+
+Lawyer Rablay, too, was never afterwards seen in Garotte. Men said his
+nerves had "give out."
+
+JULY, 1892.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+GULMORE, THE BOSS
+
+The habits of the Gulmore household were in some respects primitive.
+Though it was not yet seven o'clock two negro girls were clearing away
+the breakfast things under the minute supervision of their mistress,
+an angular, sharp-faced woman with a reedy voice, and nervously abrupt
+movements. Near the table sat a girl of nineteen absorbed in a book. In
+an easy-chair by the open bay-window a man with a cigar in his mouth
+was reading a newspaper. Jonathan Byrne Gulmore, as he always signed
+himself, was about fifty years of age; his heavy frame was muscular, and
+the coarse dark hair and swarthy skin showed vigorous health. There was
+both obstinacy and combativeness in his face with its cocked nose, low
+irregular forehead, thick eyebrows, and square jaw, but the deep-set
+grey eyes gleamed at times with humorous comprehension, and the usual
+expression of the countenance was far from ill-natured. As he laid the
+paper on his knees and looked up, he drew the eye. His size and strength
+seemed to be the physical equivalents of an extraordinary power of
+character and will. When Mrs. Gulmore followed the servants out of the
+room the girl rose from her chair and went towards the door. She was
+stopped by her father's voice:
+
+"Ida, I want a talk with you. You'll be able to go to your books
+afterwards; I won't keep you long." She sat down again and laid her book
+on the table, while Mr. Gulmore continued:
+
+"The election's next Monday week, and I've no time to lose." A moment's
+silence, and he let his question fall casually:
+
+"You know this--Professor Roberts--don't you? He was at the University
+when you were there--eh?" The girl flushed slightly as she assented.
+
+"They say he's smart, an' he ken talk. I heard him the other night;
+but I'd like to know what you think. Your judgment's generally worth
+havin'."
+
+Forced to reply without time for reflection, Miss Gulmore said as little
+as possible with a great show of frankness:
+
+"Oh, yes; he's smart, and knows Greek and Latin and German, and a great
+many things. The senior students used to say he knew more than all the
+other professors put together, and he--he thinks so too, I imagine," and
+she laughed intentionally, for, on hearing her own strained laughter,
+she blushed, and then stood up out of a nervous desire to conceal her
+embarrassment. But her father was looking away from her at the glowing
+end of his cigar; and, as she resumed her seat, he went on:
+
+"I'm glad you seem to take no stock in him, Ida, for he's makin' himself
+unpleasant. I'll have to give him a lesson, I reckon, not in Greek or
+Latin or them things--I never had nothin' taught me beyond the 'Fourth
+Reader,' in old Vermont, and I've forgotten some of what I learned
+then--but in election work an' business I guess I ken give Professor
+Roberts points, fifty in a hundred, every time. Did you know he's always
+around with Lawyer Hutchin's?"
+
+"Is he? That's because of May--May Hutchings. Oh, she deserves him;" the
+girl spoke with sarcastic bitterness, "she gave herself trouble enough
+to get him. It was just sickening the way she acted, blushing every time
+he spoke to her, and looking up at him as if he were everything. Some
+people have no pride in them."
+
+Her father listened impassively, and, after a pause, began his
+explanation:
+
+"Wall, Ida, anyway he means to help Hutchin's in this city election.
+'Tain't the first time Hutchin's has run for mayor on the Democratic
+ticket and come out at the little end of the horn, and I propose to whip
+him again. But this Professor's runnin' him on a new track, and I want
+some points about _him_. It's like this. At the Democratic meetin'
+the other night, the Professor spoke, and spoke well. What he said was
+popcorn; but it took with the Mugwumps--them that think themselves too
+highfalutin' to work with either party, jest as if organization was no
+good, an' a mob was as strong as an army. Wall, he talked for an hour
+about purity an' patriotism, and when he had warmed 'em up he
+went bald-headed for me. He told 'em--you ken read it all in the
+'Tribune'--that this town was run by a ring, an' not run honestly;
+contracts were given only to members of the Republican party; all
+appointments were made by the ring, and never accordin' to ability--as
+if sich a ring could last ten years. He ended up by saying, though he
+was a Republican, as his father is, he intended to vote Democratic--he's
+domiciled here--as a protest against the impure and corrupt Boss-system
+which was disgracin' American political life. 'Twas baby talk. But it's
+like this. The buildin' of the branch line South has brought a lot
+of Irish here--they're all Democrats--and there's quite a number of
+Mugwumps, an' if this Professor goes about workin' them all up--what
+with the flannel-mouths and the rest--it might be a close finish. I'm
+sure to win, but if I could get some information about him, it would
+help me. His father's all right. We've got him down to a fine point.
+Prentiss, the man I made editor of the 'Herald,' knows him well; ken
+tell us why he left Kaintucky to come West. But I want to know somethin'
+about the Professor, jest to teach him to mind his own business, and
+leave other folk to attend to theirs. Ken you help me? Is he popular
+with the students and professors?"
+
+She thought intently, while the colour rose in her cheeks; she was eager
+to help.
+
+"With the students, yes. There's nothing to be done there. The
+professors--I don't think they like him much; he is too clever. When he
+came into the class-room and talked Latin to Johnson, the Professor
+of Latin, and Johnson could only stammer out a word or two, I guess he
+didn't make a friend;" and the girl laughed at the recollection.
+
+"I don't know anything else that could be brought against him. They say
+he is an Atheist. Would that be any use? He gave a lecture on 'Culture
+as a Creed' about three months ago which made some folk mad. The other
+professors are Christians, and, of course, all the preachers took it
+up. He compared Buddha with Christ, and said--oh, I remember!--that
+Shakespeare was the Old Testament of the English-speaking peoples. That
+caused some talk; they all believe in the Bible. He said, too, that
+'Shakespeare was inspired in a far higher sense than St. Paul, who was
+thin and hard, a logic-loving bigot.' And President Campbell--he's a
+Presbyterian--preached the Sunday afterwards upon St. Paul as the great
+missionary of Protestantism. I don't think the professors like him, but
+I don't know that they can do anything, for all the students, the senior
+ones, at least, are with him," and the girl paused, and tried to find
+out from her father's face whether what she had said was likely to be of
+service.
+
+"Wall! I don't go much on them things myself, but I guess somethin'
+ken be done. I'll see Prentiss about it: send him to interview this
+President Campbell, and wake him up to a sense of his duty. This is a
+Christian country, I reckon," the grey eyes twinkled, "and those who
+teach the young should teach them Christian principles, or else--get
+out. I guess it ken be worked. The University's a State institution. You
+don't mind if he's fired out, do you?" And the searching eyes probed her
+with a glance.
+
+"Oh! I don't mind," she said quickly, in a would-be careless tone,
+rising and going towards him, "it has nothing to do with me. He belongs
+to May Hutchings--let her help him, if she can. I think you're quite
+right to give him a lesson--he needs one badly. What right has he to
+come and attack you?" She had passed to her father's side, and was
+leaning against his shoulder. Those grey eyes saw more than she cared to
+reveal; they made her uncomfortable.
+
+"Then I understand it's like this. You want him to get a real lesson? Is
+that it? You ken talk straight to me, Ida. I'm with you every time. You
+know that."
+
+The feminine instinct of concealment worked in her, but she knew this
+father of hers would have plain speech, and some hidden feeling forced
+her violent temper to an outburst of curiously mingled hatred of the
+Professor and exultation in her power of injuring him.
+
+"Why, father, it's all the same to me. I've no interest in it, except
+to help you. You know I never said a word against him till you asked
+me. But he has no business to come down and attack _you_," and the voice
+grew shrill. "It's shameful of him. If he were a man he'd never do it.
+Yes--give him a _real_ lesson; teach him that those he despises are
+stronger than he is. Let him lose his place and be thrown out of work,
+then we'll see if May Hutchings," and she laughed, "will go and help
+him. We'll see who is--"
+
+Her father interrupted her in the middle of a tirade which would have
+been complete self-revelation; but it is not to be presumed that he did
+this out of a delicate regard for his daughter's feelings. He had got
+the information he required.
+
+"That's all right, Ida. I guess he'll get the lesson. You ken count on
+me. You've put me on the right track, I believe. I knew if any one could
+help me, you'd be able to. Nobody knows what's in you better'n I do.
+You're smarter'n any one I know, and I know a few who think they're real
+smart--"
+
+In this vein he continued soothing his daughter's pride, and yet
+speaking in an even, impersonal tone, as if merely stating facts.
+
+"Now I've got to go. Prentiss'll be waiting for me at the office."
+
+While driving to the office, Mr. Gulmore's thoughts, at first, were with
+his daughter. "I don't know why, but I suspicioned that. That's why she
+left the University before graduatin', an' talked of goin' East, and
+makin' a name for herself on the stage. That Professor's foolish. Ida's
+smart and pretty, and she'll have a heap of money some day. The ring
+has a few contracts on hand still--he's a fool. How she talked: she
+remembered all that lecture--every word; but she's young yet. She'd have
+given herself away if I hadn't stopped her. I don't like any one to do
+that; it's weak. But she means business every time, just as I do; she
+means him to be fired right out, and then she'd probably go and cry over
+him, and want me to put him back again. But no. I guess not. That's not
+the way I work. I'd be willin' for him to stay away, and leave me alone,
+but as she wants him punished, he shall be, and she mustn't interfere
+at the end. It'll do her good to find out that things can't both be done
+and undone, if she's that sort. But p'r'aps she won't want to undo
+them. When their pride's hurt women are mighty hard--harder than men
+by far.... I wonder how long it'll take to get this Campbell to move. I
+must start right in; I hain't got much time."
+
+As soon as her father left her, Miss Ida hurried to her own room, in
+order to recover from her agitation, and to remove all traces of it. She
+was an only child, and had accordingly a sense of her own importance,
+which happened to be uncorrected by physical deficiencies. Not that
+she was astonishingly beautiful, but she was tall and just good-looking
+enough to allow her to consider herself a beauty. Her chief attraction
+was her form, which, if somewhat flat-chested, had a feline flexibility
+rarer and more seductive than she imagined. She was content to believe
+that nature had fashioned her to play the part in life which, she knew,
+was hers of right. Her name, even, was most appropriate--dignified. Ida
+should be queen-like, stately; the oval of her face should be long, and
+not round, and her complexion should be pallid; colour in the cheeks
+made one look common. Her dark hair, too, pleased her; everything, in
+fact, save her eyes; they were of a nameless, agate-like hue, and she
+would have preferred them to be violet. That would have given her face
+the charm of unexpectedness, which she acknowledged was in itself a
+distinction. And Miss Ida loved everything that conduced to distinction,
+everything that flattered her pride with a sense of her own superiority.
+It seemed as if her mother's narrowness of nature had confined and shot,
+so to speak, all the passions and powers of the father into this one
+characteristic of the daughter. That her father had risen to influence
+and riches by his own ability did not satisfy her. She had always felt
+that the Hutchingses and the society to which they belonged, persons who
+had been well educated for generations, and who had always been more or
+less well off, formed a higher class. It was the longing to become one
+of them that had impelled her to study with might and main. Even in
+her school-days she had recognized that this was the road to social
+eminence. The struggle had been arduous. In the Puritan surroundings of
+middle-class life her want of religious training and belief had almost
+made a pariah of the proud, high-tempered girl, and when as a clever
+student of the University and a daughter of one of the richest and most
+powerful men in the State, she came into a circle that cared as little
+about Christian dogmas as she did, she attributed the comparative
+coolness with which her companions treated her, to her father's want of
+education, rather than to the true cause, her own domineering temper. As
+she had hated her childish playmates, who, instructed by their mothers,
+held aloof from the infidel, so she had grown to detest the associates
+of her girlhood, whose parents seemed, by virtue of manners and
+education, superior to hers. The aversion was acrid with envy, and had
+fastened from the beginning on her competitor as a student and her rival
+in beauty, Miss May Hutchings. Her animosity was intensified by the fact
+that, when they entered the Sophomore class together, Miss May had made
+her acquaintance, had tried to become friends with her, and then, for
+some inscrutable reason, had drawn coldly away. By dint of working twice
+as hard as May, Ida had managed to outstrip her, and to begin the Junior
+year as the first of the class; but all the while she was conscious that
+her success was due to labour, and not to a larger intelligence. And
+with the coming of the new professor of Greek, this superiority, her one
+consolation, was called in question.
+
+Professor Roberts had brought about a revolution in the University. He
+was young and passionately devoted to his work; had won his Doctor's
+degree at Berlin _summa cum laude_, and his pupils soon felt that
+he represented a standard of knowledge higher than they had hitherto
+imagined as attainable, and yet one which, he insisted, was common
+in the older civilization of Europe. It was this nettling comparison,
+enforced by his mastery of difficulties, which first aroused the ardour
+of his scholars. In less than a year they passed from the level of
+youths in a high school to that of University students. On the best
+heads his influence was magical. His learning and enthusiasm quickened
+their reverence for scholarship, but it was his critical faculty which
+opened to them the world of art, and nerved them to emulation.
+
+"Until one realizes the shortcomings of a master," he said in a lecture,
+"it is impossible to understand him or to take the beauty of his works
+to heart. When Sophocles repeats himself--the Electra is but a feeble
+study for the Antigone, or possibly a feeble copy of it--we get near the
+man; the limitations of his outlook are characteristic: when he
+deforms his Ajax with a tag of political partisanship, his servitude to
+surroundings defines his conscience as an artist; and when painting by
+contrasts he poses the weak Ismene and Chrysothemis as foils to their
+heroic sisters, we see that his dramatic power in the essential was
+rudimentary. Yet Mr. Matthew Arnold, a living English poet, writes that
+Sophocles 'saw life steadily and saw it whole.' This is true of no man,
+not of Shakespeare nor of Goethe, much less of Sophocles or Racine. The
+phrase itself is as offensively out of date as the First Commandment."
+The bold, incisive criticism had a singular fascination for his hearers,
+who were too young to remark in it the crudeness that usually attaches
+to originality.
+
+Miss Hutchings was the first of the senior students to yield herself to
+the new influence. In the beginning Miss Gulmore was not attracted by
+Professor Roberts; she thought him insignificant physically; he was neat
+of dress too, and ingenuously eager in manner--all of which conflicted
+with her ideal of manhood. It was but slowly that she awoke to a
+consciousness of his merits, and her awakening was due perhaps as much
+to jealousy of May Hutchings as to the conviction that with Professor
+Roberts for a husband she would realize her social ambitions. Suddenly
+she became aware that May was passing her in knowledge of Greek, and was
+thus winning the notice of the man she had begun to look upon as worthy
+of her own choice. Ida at once addressed herself to the struggle with
+all the energy of her nature, but at first without success. It was
+evident that May was working as she had never worked before, for as the
+weeks flew by she seemed to increase her advantage. During this period
+Ida Gulmore's pride suffered tortures; day by day she understood more
+clearly that the prize of her life was slipping out of reach. In
+mind and soul now she realized Roberts' daring and charm. With the
+intensified perceptions of a jealous woman, she sometimes feared that he
+sympathized with her rival. But he had not spoken yet; of that she was
+sure, and her conceit enabled her to hope desperately. A moment arrived
+when her hatred of May was sweetened by contempt. For some reason or
+other May was neglecting her work; when spoken to by the Professor her
+colour came and went, and a shyness, visible to all, wrapped her in
+confusion. Ida felt that there was no time to be lost, and increased
+her exertions. As she thought of her position she determined first
+to surpass her competitor, and then in some way or other to bring
+the Professor to speech. But, alas! for her plans. One morning she
+demonstrated her superiority with cruel clearness, only to find that
+Roberts, self-absorbed, did not notice her. He seemed to have lost the
+vivid interest in the work which aforetime had characterized him,
+and the happiness of the man was only less tell-tale than the pretty
+contentment and demure approval of all he said which May scarcely tried
+to conceal. Wild with fear, blinded by temper, Ida resolved to know the
+truth.
+
+One morning when the others left the room she waited, busying herself
+apparently with some notes, till the Professor returned, as she knew he
+would, in time to receive the next class. While gathering up her books,
+she asked abruptly:
+
+"I suppose I should congratulate you, Professor?"
+
+"I don't think I understand you."
+
+"Yes, you do. Why lie? You are engaged to May Hutchings," and the girl
+looked at him with flaming eyes.
+
+"I don't know why you should ask me, or why I should answer, but we have
+no motive for concealment--yes, I am."
+
+His words were decisive; his reverence for May and her affection had
+been wounded by the insolent challenge, but before he finished speaking
+his manner became considerate. He was quick to feel the pain of others
+and shrank from adding to it--these, indeed, were the two chief articles
+of the unformulated creed which directed his actions. His optimism was
+of youth and superficial, but the sense of the brotherhood of human
+suffering touched his heart in a way that made compassion and tenderness
+appear to him to be the highest and simplest of duties. It was Ida's
+temper that answered his avowal. Still staring at him she burst into
+loud laughter, and as he turned away her tuneless mirth grew shriller
+and shriller till it became hysterical. A frightened effort to regain
+her self-control, and her voice broke in something like a sob, while
+tears trembled on her lashes. The Professor's head was bent over
+his desk and he saw nothing. Ida dashed the tears from her eyes
+ostentatiously, and walked with shaking limbs out of the room. She would
+have liked to laugh again scornfully before closing the door, but she
+dared not trust her nerves. From that moment she tried to hate Professor
+Roberts as she hated May Hutchings, for her disappointment had been very
+sore, and the hurt to her pride smarted like a burn. On returning home,
+she told her father that she had taken her name off the books of the
+University; she meant to be an actress, and a degree could be of no use
+to her in her new career. Her father did not oppose her openly; he was
+content to postpone any decisive step, and in a few days she seemed to
+have abandoned her project. But time brought no mitigation of her spite.
+She was tenacious by nature, and her jealous rage came back upon her in
+wild fits. To be outdone by May Hutchings was intolerable. Besides, the
+rivalry and triumphs of the class-room had been as the salt of life to
+her; now she had nothing to do, nothing to occupy her affections or give
+object to her feverish ambition. And the void of her life she laid to
+the charge of Roberts. So when the time came and the temptation, she
+struck as those strike who are tortured by pain.
+
+Alone in her room, she justified to herself what she had done. She
+thought with pleasure of Professor Roberts' approaching defeat
+and punishment. "He deserves it, and more! He knows why I left the
+University; drew myself away from him for ever. What does he care for my
+suffering? He can't leave me in peace. I wasn't good enough for him, and
+my father isn't honest enough. Oh, that I were a man! I'd teach him that
+it was dangerous to insult the wretched.
+
+"How I was mistaken in him! He has no delicacy, no true manliness of
+character. I'm glad he has thrown down the challenge. Father may not be
+well-educated nor refined, but he's strong. Professor Roberts shall
+find out what it means to attack _us_. I hope he'll be turned out of the
+University; I hope he will. Let me think. I have a copy of that lecture
+of his; perhaps there's something in it worse than I remembered. At any
+rate, the report will be proof."
+
+She searched hurriedly, and soon found the newspaper account she wanted.
+Glancing down the column with feverish eagerness, she burst out: "Here
+it is; this will do. I knew there was something more."
+
+"... Thus the great ones contribute, each his part, towards the
+humanization of man. Christ and Buddha are our teachers, but so also,
+and in no lower degree, are Plato, Dante, Goethe, and Shakespeare....
+
+"But strange to say, the _Divina Commedia_ seems to us moderns more
+remote than the speculations of Plato. For the modern world is founded
+upon science, and may be said to begin with the experimental philosophy
+of Bacon. The thoughts of Plato, the 'fair humanities' of Greek
+religion, are nearer to the scientific spirit than the untutored
+imaginings of Christ. The world to-day seeks its rule of life in exact
+knowledge of man and his surroundings; its teachers, high-priests in
+the temple of Truth, are the Darwins, the Bunsens, the Pasteurs. In the
+place of God we see Law, and the old concept of rewards and punishments
+has been re-stated as 'the survival of the fittest.' If, on the other
+hand, you need emotions, and the inspiration of concrete teaching, you
+must go to Balzac, to Turgenief, and to Ibsen...."
+
+"I think that'll do," said the girl half-aloud as she marked the above
+passages, and then sent the paper by a servant to her father's office.
+"The worst of it is, he'll find another place easily; but, at any rate,
+he'll have to leave this State.... How well I remember that lecture. I
+thought no one had ever talked like that before. But the people disliked
+it, and even those who stayed to the end said they wouldn't have come
+had they known that a professor could speak against Christianity. How
+mad they made me then! I wouldn't listen to them, and now--now he's with
+May Hutchings, perhaps laughing at me with her. Or, if he's not so base
+as that, he's accusing my father of dishonesty, and I mean to defend
+him. But if, ah, if--" and the girl rose to her feet suddenly, with
+paling face.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The house of Lawyer Hutchings was commodious and comfortable. It was
+only two storeys high, and its breadth made it appear squat; it was
+solidly built of rough, brown stone, and a large wooden verandah gave
+shade and a lounging-place in front. It stood in its own grounds on the
+outskirts of the town, not far from Mr. Gulmore's, but it lacked the
+towers and greenhouse, the brick stables, and black iron gates, which
+made Mr. Gulmore's residence an object of public admiration. It had,
+indeed, a careless, homelike air, as of a building that disdains show,
+standing sturdily upon a consciousness of utility and worth. The study
+of the master lay at the back. It was a room of medium size, with two
+French windows, which gave upon an orchard of peach and apple-trees
+where lush grass hid the fallen fruit. The furniture was plain and
+serviceable. A few prints on the wall and a wainscoting of books showed
+the owner's tastes.
+
+In this room one morning Lawyer Hutchings and Professor Roberts
+sat talking. The lawyer was sparely built and tall, of sympathetic
+appearance. The features of the face were refined and fairly regular,
+the blue eyes pleasing, the high forehead intelligent-looking.
+Yet--whether it was the querulous horizontal lines above the brows, or
+the frequent, graceful gestures of the hands--Mr. Hutchings left on one
+an impression of weakness, and, somehow or other, his precise way of
+speaking suggested intellectual narrowness. It was understood, however,
+that he had passed through Harvard with honours, and had done well in
+the law-course. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that when he
+went West, he went with the idea that that was the shortest way to
+Washington. Yet he had had but a moderate degree of success; he was too
+thoroughly grounded in his work not to get a good practice, but he was
+not the first in his profession. He had been outdone by men who fought
+their cases, and his popularity was due to affable manners, and not to
+admiration of his power or talents. His obvious good nature had got
+with years a tinge of discontent; life had been to him a series of
+disappointments.
+
+One glance at Professor Roberts showed him to be a different sort of
+a man, though perhaps harder to read. Square shoulders and attenuated
+figure--a mixture of energy and nervous force without muscular strength;
+a tyrannous forehead overshadowing lambent hazel eyes; a cordial
+frankness of manner with a thinker's tricks of gesture, his nervous
+fingers emphasizing his words.
+
+Their talk was of an article assailing the Professor that had appeared
+that morning in "The Republican Herald."
+
+"I don't like it," Mr. Hutchings was saying. "It's inspired by Gulmore,
+and he always means what he says--and something more."
+
+"Except the suggestion that my father had certain good, or rather bad,
+reasons for leaving Kentucky, it seems to me merely spiteful. It's very
+vilely written."
+
+"He only begins with your father. Then he wonders what the real motives
+are which induce you to change your political creed. But the affectation
+of fairness is the danger signal. One can't imagine Gulmore hesitating
+to assert what he has heard, that you have no religious principles.
+Coming from him, that means a declaration of war; he'll attack you
+without scruple--persistently. It's well known that he cares nothing
+for religion--even his wife's a Unitarian. What he's aiming at, I don't
+know, but he's sure to do you harm. He has done me harm, and yet he
+never gave me such a warning. He only went for me when I ran for office.
+As soon as the elections were over, he left me in peace. He's eminently
+practical, and rather good-natured. There's no small vicious malice or
+hate in him; but he's overbearing and loves a fight. Is it worth your
+while to make an enemy of him? We're sure to be beaten."
+
+"Of course it isn't worth my while in that sense, but it's my duty, I
+think, as you think it yours. Remark, too, that I've never attacked
+Mr. Gulmore--never even mentioned him. I've criticised the system, and
+avoided personalities."
+
+"He won't take it in that way. He is the system; when you criticise it,
+you criticise him. Every one will so understand it. He makes all the
+appointments, from mayor down to the boy who sweeps out an office; every
+contract is given to him or his appointees; that's how he has made his
+fortune. Why, he beat me the second time I ran for District Court Judge,
+by getting an Irishman, the Chairman of my Committee, to desert me at
+the last moment. He afterwards got Patrick Byrne elected a Justice of
+the Peace, a man who knows no law and can scarcely sign his own name."
+
+"How disgraceful! And you would have me sit down quietly under the
+despotism of Mr. Gulmore? And such a despotism! It cost the city half a
+million dollars to pave the streets, and I can prove that the work
+could have been done as well for half the sum. Our democratic system of
+government is the worst in the world, if a tenth part of what I hear
+is true; and before I admit that, I'll see whether its abuses are
+corrigible. But why do you say we're sure to be beaten? I thought you
+said--"
+
+"Yes," Mr. Hutchings interrupted, "I said that this railway extension
+gives us a chance. All the workmen are Irishmen, Democrats to a man,
+who'll vote and vote straight, and that has been our weak point. You
+can't get one-half the better classes to go to the polls. The negroes
+all vote, too, and vote Republican--that has been Gulmore's strength.
+Now I've got the Irishmen against his negroes I may win. But what I feel
+is that even if I do get to be Mayor, you'll suffer for it more than I
+shall gain by your help. Do you see? And, now that I'm employed by the
+Union Pacific I don't care much for city politics. I'd almost prefer
+to give up the candidature. May'll suffer, too. I think you ought to
+consider the matter before going any further."
+
+"This is not the time for consideration. Like you I am trying to put
+an end to a corrupt tyranny. I work and shall vote against a venal and
+degrading system. May and I will bear what we must. She wouldn't have
+me run away from such adversaries. Fancy being governed by the most
+ignorant, led on by the most dishonest! It's incomprehensible to me how
+such a paradoxical infamy can exist."
+
+"I think it'll become comprehensible to you before this election's over.
+I've done my best for years to alter it, and so far I've not been very
+successful. You don't seem to understand that where parties are almost
+equal in strength, a man who'll spend money is sure to win. It has paid
+Gulmore to organize the Republican party in this city; he has made
+it pay him and all those who hold office by and through him. 'To the
+victors, the spoils.' Those who have done the spoiling are able to pay
+more than the spoiled--that's all."
+
+"Yes, but in this case the spoilers are a handful, while the spoiled are
+the vast majority. Why should it be impossible to convince the majority
+that they're being robbed?"
+
+"Because ideas can't get into the heads of negroes, nor yet into the
+heads of illiterate Irishmen. You'll find, too, that five Americans out
+of every ten take no interest in ordinary politics, and the five who
+do are of the lowest class--a Boss is their natural master. Our party
+politics, my friend, resembles a game of faro--the card that happens to
+be in the box against the same card outside--and the banker holding the
+box usually manages to win. Let me once get power and Gulmore'll find
+his labour unremunerative. If it hadn't been for him I'd have been in
+Congress long ago. But now I'll have to leave you. Talk it over with May
+and--you see that Gulmore challenges you to prove the corruption or else
+withdraw the imputation? What do you mean to do?"
+
+"I'll prove it, of course. Long before I spoke I had gone into that
+paving contract; it was clearly a fraud."
+
+"Well, I'd think, if I were you, before I acted, though you're a great
+help to me; your last speech was very powerful."
+
+"Unfortunately I'm no speaker, but I'll do as well as I can, and you
+may rely on me to go on to the end. The rich at least must be forced
+to refrain from robbing the poor.... That malicious sneer at my father
+hurts me. It can only mean that he owed money in Kentucky. He was always
+careless in money matters, too careless, but he's very generous at
+heart. I owe him everything. I'll find out about it at once, and if it
+is as I fear, the debt shall be paid. That'll be one good result of
+Mr. Gulmore's malice. As for me, let him do his worst. At any rate I'm
+forewarned."
+
+"A poor satisfaction in case--but here's May, and I must go. I've stayed
+too long already. You should look through our ticket; it's strong, the
+men are all good, I think--anyway, they're the best we can get. Teach
+him to be careful, May; he's too bold."
+
+"I will, father," replied a clear, girlish voice; "it's mother who
+spoils him," and then, as the door shut, she moved to her lover, and
+holding out both her hands, with a little air of dignity, added, "He
+tries to spoil _me_. But, dear, what's the matter? You seem annoyed."
+
+"It's nothing. An article in that paper strikes at my father, and hurts
+me; but it can be made right, and to look at you is a cure for pain."
+
+"Let me read it--no, please! I want to help you, and how can I do that
+if I don't know what pains you?" The girl took the "Herald" and sat down
+to read it.
+
+May Hutchings was more than good-looking, were it only by reason of
+a complexion such as is seldom given even to blondes. The inside of a
+sea-shell has the same lustre and delicacy, but it does not pale and
+flush as did May's cheeks in quick response to her emotions. Waves of
+maize-coloured hair with a sheen of its own went with the fairness of
+the skin, and the pretty features were redeemed from a suspicion of
+insipidity by large violet eyes. She was of good height and lissom, with
+small feet and hands, but the outlines of her figure were Southern in
+grace and fulness.
+
+After reading the article, she put down the paper without saying a word.
+
+"Why, May, you seem to take it as seriously as your father does. It's
+nothing so very terrible, is it?"
+
+"What did father say?"
+
+"That it was inspired by Gulmore, and that he was a dangerous man; but
+I don't see much in it. If my father owed money in Kentucky it shall be
+repaid, and there the matter ends."
+
+"'Tisn't that I'm troubling about; it's that lecture of yours. Oh, it
+was wonderful! but I sat trembling all the time. You don't know the
+people. If they had understood it better, they'd have made a big fuss
+about it. I'm frightened now."
+
+"But what fuss can they make? I've surely a right to my own opinions,
+and I didn't criticise any creed offensively."
+
+"That's it--that's what saved you. Oh, I wish you'd see it as I do! You
+spoke so enthusiastically about Jesus, that you confused them. A lot
+of them thought, and think still, that you're a Christian. But if it's
+brought up again and made clear to them--Won't you understand? If it's
+made quite clear that Jesus to you was only a man, and not superior
+even to all other men, and that you believe Christianity has served
+its purpose, and is now doing harm rather than good in the world, why,
+they'd not want to have you in the University. Don't you know that?"
+
+"Perhaps you're right," returned the Professor thoughtfully. "You see
+I wasn't brought up in any creed, and I've lived in so completely
+different an atmosphere for years past, that it's hard to understand
+such intolerant bigotry. I remember enough, though, to see that you
+are right. But, after all, what does it matter? I can't play hypocrite
+because they're blind fanatics."
+
+"No, but you needn't have gone _quite_ so far--been _quite_ so frank;
+and even now you might easily--" She stopped, catching a look of
+surprise in her lover's face, and sought confusedly to blot out the
+effect of her last words. "I mean--but of course you know best. I want
+you to keep your place; you love the work, and no one could do it so
+well as you. No one, and--"
+
+"It doesn't matter, May. I'm sure you were thinking of what would be
+best for both of us, but I've nothing to alter or extenuate. They must
+do as they think fit, these Christians, if they have the power. After
+all, it can make no difference to us; I can always get work enough
+to keep us, even if it isn't such congenial work. But do you think
+Gulmore's at the bottom of it? Has he so much influence?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," and the girl nodded her head, but she did not give
+the reasons for her opinion. She knew that Ida Gulmore had been in love
+with him, so she shrank instinctively from mentioning her name, partly
+because it might make him pity her, and partly because the love
+of another woman for him seemed to diminish her pride of exclusive
+possession. She therefore kept silence while seeking for a way to warn
+her lover without revealing the truth, which might set him thinking of
+Ida Gulmore and her fascinating because unrequited passion. At length
+she said:
+
+"Mr. Gulmore has injured father. He knows him: you'd better take his
+opinion."
+
+"Your father advises me to have nothing more to do with the election."
+He didn't say it to try her; he trusted her completely. The girl's
+answer was emphatic:
+
+"Oh, that's what you should do; I'm frightened for you. Why need you
+make enemies? The election isn't worth that, indeed it isn't. If father
+wants to run for Mayor, let him; he knows what he's about. But you, you
+should do great things, write a great book; and make every one as proud
+of you as I am." Her face flushed with enthusiasm. She felt relieved,
+too; somehow she had got into the spirit of her part once more. But her
+lover took the hot face and eager speech as signs of affection, and he
+drew her to him while his face lit up with joy.
+
+"You darling, darling! You overrate me, dear, but that does me good:
+makes me work harder. What a pity it is, May, that one can't add a cubit
+to his stature. I'd be a giant then.... But never fear; it'll be all
+right. You wouldn't wish me, I'm sure, to run away from a conflict I
+have provoked; but now I must see my father about those debts, and then
+we'll have a drive, or perhaps you'd go with me to him. You could wait
+in the buggy for me. You know I have to speak again this evening."
+
+The girl consented at once, but she was not satisfied with the decision
+her lover had come to. "It's too plain," she thought in her clear,
+common-sense way, "that he's getting into a 'fuss' when he might just as
+well, or better, keep out of it."
+
+May was eminently practical, and not at all as emotional as one might
+have inferred from the sensitive, quick-changing colour that at one
+moment flushed her cheeks and at another ebbed, leaving her pallid, as
+with passion. Not that she was hardhearted or selfish. Far from it. But
+her surroundings had moulded her as they do women. Her mother had been
+one of the belles of Baltimore, a Southerner, too, by temperament. May
+had a brother and a sister older than herself (both were now married),
+and a younger brother who had taken care that she should not be spoiled
+for want of direct personal criticism. It was this younger brother, Joe,
+who first called her "Towhead," and even now he often made disparaging
+remarks about "girls who didn't weigh 130"--in Joe's eyes, a Venus of
+Rubens would have seemed perfect. May was not vain of her looks; indeed,
+she had only come to take pleasure in them of recent years. As a young
+girl, comparing herself with her mother, she feared that she would
+always be "quite homely." Her glass and the attentions of men had
+gradually shown her the pleasant truth. She did not, however, even now,
+overrate her beauty greatly. But her character had been modified
+to advantage in those schoolgirl days, when, with bitter tears, she
+admitted to herself that she was not pretty. Her teacher's praise of her
+quickness and memory had taught her to set her pride on learning. And
+indeed she had been an intelligent child, gifted with a sponge-like
+faculty of assimilating all kinds of knowledge--the result, perhaps, of
+generations of educated forbears. The admiration paid to her looks
+did not cause her to relax her intellectual efforts. But when at the
+University she found herself outgrowing the ordinary standards of
+opinion, conceit at first took possession of her. It seemed to her
+manifest that she had always underrated herself. She was astonished by
+her own excessive modesty, and keenly interested in it. She had thought
+herself ugly and she was beautiful, and now it was evident that she was
+a genius as well. With soul mightily uplifted by dreams of all she would
+do and the high part she would play in life, always nobly serious, yet
+with condescension of exquisite charming kindliness, taking herself
+gravely for a perfect product of the race and time, she proceeded to
+write the book which should discover to mankind all her qualities--the
+delicacy, nobility, and sweetness of an ideal nature.
+
+During this period she even tried to treat Joe with sweet courtesy, but
+Joe told her not to make herself "more of a doggoned fool" than she
+was. And soon the dream began to lose its brightness. The book would not
+advance, and what she wrote did not seem to her wonderful--not inspired
+and fascinating as it ought to have been. Her reading had given her some
+slight critical insight. She then showed parts of it to her admirers,
+hoping thus to justify vanity, but they used the occasion to pay
+irrelevant compliments, and so disappointed her--all, save Will
+Thornton, who admitted critically that "it was poetic" and guessed "she
+ought to write poetry." Accordingly she wrote some lyrics, and one on
+"Vanished Hopes" really pleased her. Forthwith she read it to Will, who
+decided "'twas fine, mighty fine. Tennyson had written more, of course,
+but nothing better--nothing easier to understand." That last phrase
+killed her trust in him. She sank into despondence. Even when Ida
+Gulmore, whom she had learned to dislike, began to outshine her in the
+class, she made no effort. To graduate first of her year appeared a
+contemptible ambition in comparison with the dreams she had foregone.
+About this period she took a new interest in her dress; she grew
+coquettish even, and became a greater favourite than ever. Then
+Professor Roberts came to the University, and with his coming life
+opened itself to her anew, vitalized with hopes and fears. She was drawn
+to him from the first, as spirit is sometimes drawn to spirit, by an
+attraction so imperious that it frightened her, and she tried to hold
+herself away from him. But in her heart she knew that she studied and
+read only to win his praise. His talents revealed to her the futility of
+her ambition. Here was one who stood upon the heights beyond her power
+of climbing, and yet, to her astonishment, he was very doubtful of
+his ability to gain enduring reputation. Not only was there a plane of
+knowledge and feeling above the conventional--that she had found out by
+herself--but there were also table-lands where teachers of repute in the
+valley were held to be blind guides. Her quick receptivity absorbed
+the new ideas with eagerness; but she no longer deluded herself. Her
+practical good sense came to her aid. What seemed difficult or doubtful
+to the Professor must, she knew, be for ever impossible to her. And
+already love was upon her, making her humility as sweet as was her
+admiration. At last he spoke, and life became altogether beautiful to
+her. As she learned to know him intimately she began to understand
+his unworldliness, his scholar-like idealism, and ignorance of men and
+motives, and thus she came to self-possession again, and found her true
+mission. She realized with joy, and a delightful sense of an assured
+purpose in life, that her faculty of observation and practical insight,
+though insufficient as "bases for Eternity," would be of value to
+her lover. And if she now and then fell back into the part of a
+nineteenth-century Antigone, it was but a momentary relapse into what
+had been for a year or so a dear familiar habit. The heart of the girl
+grew and expanded in the belief that her new _rôle_ of counsellor and
+worldly guide to her husband was the highest to which any woman could
+attain.
+
+A few days later Mr. Hutchings had another confidential talk with
+Professor Roberts, and, as before, the subject was suggested by an
+article in "The Republican Herald." This paper, indeed, devoted a column
+or so every day to personal criticism of the Professor, and each attack
+surpassed its forerunner in virulence of invective. All the young man's
+qualities of character came out under this storm of unmerited abuse.
+He read everything that his opponents put forth, replied to nothing, in
+spite of the continual solicitation of the editor of "The Democrat,"
+and seemed very soon to regard "The Herald's" calumnies merely from the
+humorous side. Meanwhile his own speeches grew in knowledge and vigour.
+With a scholar's precision he put before his hearers the inner history
+and significance of job after job. His powers of study helped him to
+"get up his cases" with crushing completeness. He quickly realized the
+value of catch-words, but his epigrams not being hardened in the fire of
+life refused to stick. He did better when he published the balance-sheet
+of the "ring" in pamphlet form, and showed that each householder paid
+about one hundred and fifty dollars a year, or twice as much as all his
+legal taxes, in order to support a party organization the sole object
+of which was to enrich a few at the expense of the many. One job, in
+especial, the contract for paving the streets, he stigmatized as a
+swindle, and asserted that the District Attorney, had he done his duty,
+would long ago have brought the Mayor and Town Council before a criminal
+court as parties to a notorious fraud. His ability, steadfastness, and
+self-restraint had had a very real effect; his meetings were always
+crowded, and his hearers were not all Democrats. His courage and
+fighting power were beginning to win him general admiration. The public
+took a lively though impartial interest in the contest. To critical
+outsiders it seemed not unlikely that the Professor (a word of
+good-humoured contempt) might "whip" even "old man Gulmore." Bets were
+made on the result and short odds accepted. Even Mr. Hutchings allowed
+himself to hope for a favourable issue.
+
+"You've done wonderfully well," was the burden of his conversations with
+Roberts; "I should feel certain of success against any one but Gulmore.
+And he seems to be losing his head--his perpetual abuse excites sympathy
+with you. If we win I shall owe it mainly to you."
+
+But on this particular morning Lawyer Hutchings had something to say to
+his friend and helper which he did not like to put into plain words. He
+began abruptly:
+
+"You've seen the 'Herald'?"
+
+"Yes; there's nothing in it of interest, is there?"
+
+"No; but 'twas foolish of your father to write that letter saying you
+had paid his Kentucky debts."
+
+"I was sorry when I saw it. I know they'll say I got him to write the
+letter. But it's only another incident."
+
+"It's true, then? You did pay the money?"
+
+"Yes; I was glad to."
+
+"But it was folly. What had you to do with your father's debts? Every
+house to-day should stand on its own foundation."
+
+"I don't agree with you; but in this case there was no question of
+that sort. My father very generously impoverished himself to send me
+to Europe and keep me there for six years. I owed him the five thousand
+dollars, and was only too glad to be able to repay him. You'd have done
+the same."
+
+"Would I, indeed! Five thousand dollars! I'm not so sure of that." The
+father's irritation conquered certain grateful memories of his
+younger days, and the admiration which, in his heart, he felt for the
+Professor's action, only increased his annoyance. "It must have nearly
+cleaned you out?"
+
+"Very nearly."
+
+"Well, of course it's your affair, not mine; but I think you foolish.
+You paid them in full, I suppose? Whew!
+
+"Do you see that the 'Herald' calls upon the University authorities to
+take action upon your lecture? 'The teaching of Christian youth by an
+Atheist must be stopped,' and so forth."
+
+"Yes; but they can do nothing. I'm not responsible to them for my
+religious opinions."
+
+"You're mistaken. A vote of the Faculty can discharge you."
+
+"Impossible! On what grounds?"
+
+"On the ground of immorality. They've got the power in that case. It's a
+loose word, but effective."
+
+"I'd have a cause of action against them."
+
+"Which you'd be sure to lose. Eleven out of every twelve jurymen in this
+state would mulct an Agnostic rather than give him damages."
+
+"Ah! that's the meaning, then, I suppose, of this notice I've just
+got from the secretary to attend a special Faculty meeting on Monday
+fortnight."
+
+"Let me see it. Why, here it is! The object of the meeting is 'To
+consider the anti-Christian utterances of Professor Roberts, and to take
+action thereon.' That's the challenge. Didn't you read it?"
+
+"No; as soon as I opened it and saw the printed form, I took it for the
+usual notification, and put it aside to think of this election work. But
+it would seem as if the Faculty intended to out-herald the 'Herald.'"
+
+"They are simply allowed to act first in order that the 'Herald,' a
+day later, may applaud them. It's all worked by Gulmore, and I tell you
+again, he's dangerous."
+
+"He may be; but I won't change for abuse, nor yet to keep my post. Let
+him do his worst. I've not attacked him hitherto for certain reasons of
+my own, nor do I mean to now. But he can't frighten me; he'll find that
+out."
+
+"Well, we'll see. But, at any rate, it was my duty to warn you. It
+would be different if I were rich, but, as it is, I can only give May a
+little, and--"
+
+"My dear Hutchings, don't let us talk of that. In giving me May, you
+give me all I want." The young man's tone was so conclusive that it
+closed the conversation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Gulmore had not been trained for a political career. He had begun
+life as a clerk in a hardware store in his native town. But in his early
+manhood the Abolition agitation had moved him deeply--the colour of his
+skin, he felt, would never have made him accept slavery--and he became
+known as a man of extreme views. Before he was thirty he had managed to
+save some thousands of dollars. He married and emigrated to Columbus,
+Ohio, where he set up a business. It was there, in the stirring years
+before the war, that he first threw himself into politics; he laboured
+indefatigably as an Abolitionist without hope or desire of personal
+gain. But the work came to have a fascination for him, and he saw
+possibilities in it of pecuniary emolument such as the hardware business
+did not afford. When the war was over, and he found himself scarcely
+richer than he had been before it began, he sold his store and emigrated
+again--this time to Tecumseh, Nebraska, intending to make political
+organization the business of his life. He wanted "to grow up" with
+a town and become its master from the beginning. As the negroes
+constituted the most ignorant and most despised class, a little
+solicitation made him their leader. In the first election it was found
+that "Gulmore's negroes" voted to a man, and that he thereby controlled
+the Republican party. In the second year of his residence in Tecumseh he
+got the contract for lighting the town with gas. The contract was to
+run for twenty years, and was excessively liberal, for Mr. Gulmore had
+practically no competitor, no one who understood gas manufacture, and
+who had the money and pluck to embark in the enterprise. He quickly
+formed a syndicate, and fulfilled the conditions of the contract. The
+capital was fixed at two hundred thousand dollars, and the syndicate
+earned a profit of nearly forty per cent, in the first year. Ten years
+later a one hundred dollar share was worth a thousand. This first
+success was the foundation of Mr. Gulmore's fortune. The income derived
+from the gas-works enabled him to spend money on the organization of his
+party. The first manager of the works was rewarded with the position of
+Town Clerk--an appointment which ran for five years, but which under Mr.
+Gulmore's rule was practically permanent. His foremen became the most
+energetic of ward-chairmen. He was known to pay well, and to be a kind
+if strenuous master. What he had gained in ten years by the various
+contracts allotted to him or his nominees no one could guess; he was
+certainly very rich. From year to year, too, his control of the city
+government had grown more complete. There was now no place in the civil
+or judicial establishment of the city or county which did not depend on
+his will, and his influence throughout the State was enormous.
+
+A municipal election, or, indeed, any election, afforded Mr. Gulmore
+many opportunities of quiet but intense self-satisfaction. He loved
+the struggle and the consciousness that from his office-chair he had so
+directed his forces that victory was assured. He always allowed a broad
+margin in order to cover the unforeseen. Chance, and even ill-luck,
+formed a part of his strategy; the sore throat of an eloquent speaker;
+the illness of a popular candidate; a storm on polling-day--all were to
+him factors in the problem. He reckoned as if his opponents might have
+all the luck upon their side; but, while considering the utmost malice
+of fortune, it was his delight to base his calculations upon the
+probable, and to find them year by year approaching more nearly
+to absolute exactitude. As soon as his ward-organization had been
+completed, he could estimate the votes of his party within a dozen or
+so. His plan was to treat every contest seriously, to bring all his
+forces to the poll on every occasion--nothing kept men together, he used
+to say, like victory. It was the number of his opponent's minority which
+chiefly interested him; but by studying the various elections carefully,
+he came to know better than any one the value as a popular candidate of
+every politician in the capital, or, indeed, in the State. The talent of
+the man for organization lay in his knowledge of men, his fairness and
+liberality, and, perhaps, to a certain extent, in the power he possessed
+of inspiring others with confidence in himself and his measures. He was
+never satisfied till the fittest man in each ward was the Chairman of
+the ward; and if money would not buy that particular man's services,
+as sometimes though rarely happened, he never rested until he found the
+gratification which bound his energy to the cause. Besides--and this was
+no small element in his successes--his temper disdained the applause of
+the crowd. He had never "run" for any office himself, and was not nearly
+so well known to the mass of the electorate as many of his creatures.
+The senator, like the mayor or office-messenger of his choice, got
+all the glory: Mr. Gulmore was satisfied with winning the victory, and
+reaping the fruits of it. He therefore excited, comparatively speaking,
+no jealousy; and this, together with the strength of his position,
+accounts for the fact that he had never been seriously opposed before
+Professor Roberts came upon the scene.
+
+Better far than Lawyer Hutchings, or any one else, Mr. Gulmore knew that
+the relative strength of the two parties had altered vastly within the
+year. Reckoning up his forces at the beginning of the campaign, he felt
+certain that he could win--could carry his whole ticket, including a
+rather unpopular Mayor; but the majority in his favour would be small,
+and the prospect did not please him, for the Professor's speeches had
+aroused envy. He understood that if his majority were not overwhelming
+he would be assailed again next year more violently, and must in the
+long run inevitably lose his power. Besides, "fat" contracts required
+unquestionable supremacy. He began, therefore, by instituting such
+a newspaper-attack upon the Professor as he hoped would force him to
+abandon the struggle. When this failed, and Mr. Gulmore saw that it had
+done worse than fail, that it had increased his opponent's energy and
+added to his popularity, he went to work again to consider the whole
+situation. He must win and win "big," that was clear; win too, if
+possible, in a way that would show his "smartness" and demonstrate
+his adversary's ignorance of the world. His anger had at length been
+aroused; personal rivalry was a thing he could not tolerate at any time,
+and Roberts had injured his position in the town. He was resolved to
+give the young man such a lesson that others would be slow to follow his
+example.
+
+The difficulty of the problem was one of its attractions. Again and
+again he turned the question over in his mind--How was he to make his
+triumph and the Professor's defeat sensational? All the factors were
+present to him and he dwelt upon them with intentness. He was a man of
+strong intellect; his mind was both large and quick, but its activity,
+owing to want of education and to greedy physical desires, had been
+limited to the ordinary facts and forces of life. What books are to most
+persons gifted with an extraordinary intelligence, his fellow-men
+were to Mr. Gulmore--a study at once stimulating and difficult, of
+an incomparable variety and complexity. His lack of learning was of
+advantage to him in judging most men. Their stock of ideas, sentiments
+and desires had been his for years, and if he now viewed the patchwork
+quilt of their morality with indulgent contempt, at least he was
+familiar with all the constituent shades of it. But he could not make
+the Professor out--and this added to his dislike of him; he recognized
+that Roberts was not, as he had at first believed, a mere mouthpiece of
+Hutchings, but he could not fathom his motives; besides, as he said to
+himself, he had no need to; Roberts was plainly a "crank," book-mad, and
+the species did not interest him. But Hutchings he knew well; knew that
+like himself Hutchings, while despising ordinary prejudices, was ruled
+by ordinary greeds and ambitions. In intellect they were both above
+the average, but not in morals. So, by putting himself in the lawyer's
+place, a possible solution of the problem occurred to him.
+
+A couple of days before the election, Mr. Hutchings, who had been hard
+at work till the evening among his chief subordinates, was making his
+way homeward when Mr. Prentiss accosted him, with the request that he
+would accompany him to his rooms for a few minutes on a matter of the
+utmost importance. Having no good reason for refusing, Mr. Hutchings
+followed the editor of the "Herald" up a flight of stairs into a large
+and comfortable room. As he entered and looked about him Mr. Gulmore
+came forward:
+
+"I wanted a talk with you, Lawyer, where we wouldn't be disturbed, and
+Prentiss thought it would be best to have it here, and I guess he was
+about right. It's quiet and comfortable. Won't you be seated?"
+
+"Mr. Gulmore!" exclaimed the surprised lawyer stopping short. "I don't
+think there's anything to be discussed between us, and as I'm in a hurry
+to get home to dinner, I think I'll--"
+
+"Don't you make any mistake," interrupted Mr. Gulmore; "I mean
+business--business that'll pay both you and me, and I guess 'twon't do
+you any damage to take a seat and listen to me for a few minutes."
+
+As Lawyer Hutchings, overborne by the authority of the voice and manner,
+sat down, he noticed that Mr. Prentiss had disappeared. Interpreting
+rightly the other's glance, Mr. Gulmore began:
+
+"We're alone, Hutchin's. This matter shall be played fair and square.
+I guess you know that my word can be taken at its face-value." Then,
+settling himself in his chair, he went on:
+
+"You and I hev been runnin' on opposite tickets for a good many years,
+and I've won right along. It has paid me to win and it has not paid you
+to lose. Now, it's like this. You reckon that those Irishmen on the line
+give you a better show. They do; but not enough to whip me. You appear
+to think that that'll have to be tried the day after tomorrow, but you
+ought to know by now that when I say a thing is so, it's so--every time.
+If you had a chance, I'd tell you: I'm playin' square. I ken carry my
+ticket from one end to the other; I ken carry Robinson as Mayor against
+you by at least two hundred and fifty of a majority, and the rest of
+your ticket has just no show at all--you know that. But, even if you
+could get in this year or next what good would it do you to be Mayor?
+You're not runnin' for the five thousand dollars a year salary, I
+reckon, and that's about all you'd get--unless you worked with me. I
+want a good Mayor, a man like you, of position and education, a fine
+speaker that knows everybody and is well thought of--popular. Robinson's
+not good enough for me; he hain't got the manners nor the knowledge, nor
+the popularity. I'd have liked to have had you on my side right along.
+It would have been better for both of us, but you were a Democrat, an'
+there wasn't any necessity. Now there is. I want to win this election by
+a large majority, an' you ken make that sartin. You see I speak square.
+Will you join me?"
+
+The question was thrown out abruptly. Mr. Gulmore had caught a gleam in
+the other's eye as he spoke of a good Mayor and his qualifications. "He
+bites, I guess," was his inference, and accordingly he put the question
+at once.
+
+Mr. Hutchings, brought to himself by the sudden interrogation,
+hesitated, and decided to temporize. He could always refuse to join
+forces, and Gulmore might "give himself away." He answered:
+
+"I don't quite see what you mean. How are we to join?"
+
+"By both of us givin' somethin'."
+
+"What am I to give?"
+
+"Withdraw your candidature for Mayor as a Democrat."
+
+"I can't do that."
+
+"Jest hear me out. The city has advertised for tenders for a new Court
+House and a new Town Hall. The one building should cover both, and be
+near the middle of the business part. That's so--ain't it? Well, land's
+hard to get anywhere there, and I've the best lots in the town. I guess"
+(carelessly) "the contract will run to a million dollars; that
+should mean two hundred thousand dollars to some one. It's like this,
+Hutchin's: Would you rather come in with me and make a joint tender, or
+run for Mayor and be beaten?"
+
+Mr. Hutchings started. Ten years before the proposal would have won
+him. But now his children were provided for----all except Joe, and
+his position as Counsel to the Union Pacific Railroad lifted him above
+pecuniary anxieties. Then the thought of the Professor and May came
+to him--No! he wouldn't sell himself. But in some strange way the
+proposition excited him; he felt elated. His quickened pulse-beats
+prevented him from realizing the enormity of the proposed transaction,
+but he knew that he ought to be indignant. What a pity it was that
+Gulmore had made no proposal which he might have accepted--and then
+disclosed!
+
+"If I understand you, you propose that I should take up this contract,
+and make money out of it. If that was your business with me, you've made
+a mistake, and Professor Roberts is right."
+
+"Hev I?" asked Mr. Gulmore slowly, coldly, in sharp contrast to the
+lawyer's apparent excitement and quick speech. Contemptuously he thought
+that Hutchings was "foolisher" than he had imagined--or was he sincere?
+He would have weighed this last possibility before speaking, if the
+mention of Roberts had not angered him. His combativeness made him
+persist:
+
+"If you don't want to come in with me, all you've got to do is to say
+so. You've no call to get up on your hind legs about it; it's easy to
+do settin'. But don't talk poppycock like that Professor; he's silly. He
+talks about the contract for street pavin', and it ken be proved--'twas
+proved in the 'Herald'--that our streets cost less per foot than the
+streets of any town in this State. He knows nothin'. He don't even know
+that an able man can make half a million out of a big contract, an' do
+the work better than an ordinary man could do it who'd lose money by it.
+At a million our Court House'll be cheap; and if the Professor had the
+contract with the plans accordin' to requirement to-morrow, he'd
+make nothin' out of it--not a red cent. No, sir. If I ken, that's my
+business--and yours, ain't it? Or, are we to work for nothin' because
+he's a fool?"
+
+While Mr. Gulmore was speaking, Mr. Hutchings gave himself to thought.
+After all, why was he running for Mayor? The place, as Gulmore said,
+would be of no use to him. He was weary of fighting which only ended in
+defeat, and could only end in a victory that would be worthless. Mayor,
+indeed! If he had a chance of becoming a Member of Congress, that would
+be different. And across his brain flitted the picture so often evoked
+by imagination in earlier years. Why not? Gulmore could make it certain.
+Would he?
+
+"What you say seems plausible enough, but I don't see my way. I don't
+feel inclined to go into business at my time of life."
+
+"You don't need to go into the business. I'll see to that."
+
+"No. I don't need money now particularly."
+
+"Next year, Hutchin's, I'll have a better man than Robinson against you.
+Lawyer Nevilson's as good as ken be found, I reckon, and he wouldn't
+refuse to join me if I gave him the chance." But while he was speaking,
+Mr. Gulmore kept his opponent's answer in view. He considered it
+thoughtfully; "I don't need money now particularly." What did the
+man need? Congress? As a Republican? That would do as well. When Mr.
+Hutchings shook his head, careless of the menace, Mr. Gulmore made up
+his mind. His obstinacy came out; he would win at any price. He began:
+
+"It's what I said at first, Hutchin's; we've each got to give what the
+other wants. I've told you what I want; tell me squarely what you want,
+an' p'r'aps the thing ken be settled."
+
+As Mr. Hutchings did not answer at once, the Boss went on:
+
+"You're in politics for somethin'. What is it? If you're goin' to buck
+agen me, you might as well draw out; you'll do no good. You know that.
+See here! Is it the State Legislature you're after, or--Congress?"
+
+The mere words excited Mr. Hutchings; he wanted to be back again in the
+East as a victor; he longed for the cultivated amenities and the social
+life of Washington. He could not help exclaiming:
+
+"Ah! if it hadn't been for you I'd have been in Congress long ago."
+
+"As a Democrat? Not from this State, I guess."
+
+"What does it matter? Democrat or Republican, the difference now is only
+in the name."
+
+"The price is high, Hutchin's. I ask you to give up runnin' for Mayor,
+and you ask me for a seat in Congress instead. But--I'll pay it, if you
+do as I say. You've no chance in this State as a Democrat; you know that
+yourself. To run for Mayor as a Democrat hurts you; that must stop right
+now--in your own interest. But what I want from you is that you don't
+announce your withdrawal till the day after to-morrow, an' meantime you
+say nothin' to the Professor or any one else. Are you agreed?"
+
+Mr. Hutchings paused. The path of his desire lay open before him; the
+opportunity was not to be missed; he grew eager. But still there was
+something disagreeable in an action which demanded secrecy. He must
+think coolly. What was the proposal? What was he giving? Nothing. He
+didn't wish to be Mayor with Gulmore and all the City Council against
+him. Nothing--except the withdrawal on the very morning of the election.
+That would look bad, but he could pretend illness, and he had told the
+Professor he didn't care to be Mayor; he had advised him not to mix in
+the struggle; besides, Roberts would not suspect anything, and if he
+did there'd be no shadow of proof for a long time to come. In the other
+scale of the balance he had Gulmore's promise: it was trustworthy, he
+knew, but--:
+
+"Do you mean that you'll run me for the next term and get me elected?"
+
+"I'll do all I know, and I guess you'll succeed."
+
+"I have nothing but your word."
+
+"Nothin'."
+
+Again Mr. Hutchings paused. To accept definitively would be dangerous if
+the conversation had had listeners. It was characteristic of the place
+and time that he could suspect a man of laying such a trap, upon
+whose word he was prepared to rely. Mr. Gulmore saw and understood his
+hesitation:
+
+"I said we were alone, Hutchin's, and I meant it. Jest as I say now,
+if you withdraw and tell no one and be guided by me in becoming a
+Republican, I'll do what I ken to get you into Congress," and as he
+spoke he stood up.
+
+Mr. Hutchings rose, too, and said, as if in excuse: "I wanted to think
+it over, but I'm agreed. I'll do as you say," and with a hurried "Good
+night!" he left the room.
+
+Mr. Gulmore returned to his chair and lit a cigar. He was fairly
+satisfied with the result of his efforts. His triumph over the Professor
+would not be as flagrant, perhaps, as if Hutchin's' name had been linked
+with his in a city contract; but, he thought with amusement, every one
+would suspect that he had bought the lawyer for cash. What a fool the
+man was! What did he want to get into Congress for? Weak vanity! He'd
+have no weight there. To prefer a seat in Congress to wealth--silly.
+Besides, Hutchin's would be a bad candidate. Of course the party name
+would cover anythin'. But what a mean skunk! Here Mr. Gulmore's thoughts
+reverted to himself. Ought he to keep his word and put such a man
+into Congress? He hated to break a promise. But why should he help the
+Professor's father-in-law to power? Wall, there was no hurry. He'd make
+up his mind later. Anyway, the Professor'd have a nice row to hoe on the
+mornin' of the election, and Boss Gulmore'd win and win big, an' that
+was the point. The laugh would be on the Professor--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the morning of the election Professor Roberts was early afoot. He
+felt hopeful, light-hearted, and would not confess even to himself
+that his good spirits were due chiefly to the certainty that in
+another twelve hours his electioneering would be at an end. The work of
+canvassing and public speaking had become very disagreeable to him. The
+mere memory of the speeches he had listened to, had left, as it were,
+an unpleasant aftertaste. How the crowds had cheered the hackneyed
+platitudes, the blatant patriotic appeals, the malevolent caricature
+of opponents! Something unspeakably trivial, vulgar, and evil in it
+all reminded him of tired children when the romping begins to grow
+ill-natured.
+
+And if the intellectual side of the struggle had been offensive, the
+moral atmosphere of the Committee Rooms, infected as it was by the
+candidates, had seemed to him to be even worse--mephitic, poisonous. He
+had shrunk from realizing the sensations which had been forced upon him
+there--a recoil of his nature as from unappeasable wild-beast greeds,
+with their attendant envy, suspicion, and hatred seething like lava
+under the thin crust of a forced affability, of a good-humour assumed
+to make deception easy. He did not want to think of it; it was horrible.
+And perhaps, after all, he was mistaken; perhaps his dislike of the
+work had got upon his nerves, and showed him everything in the darkest
+colours. It could scarcely be as bad as he thought, or human society
+would be impossible. But argument could not blunt the poignancy of his
+feelings; he preferred, therefore, to leave them inarticulate, striving
+to forget. In any case, the ordeal would soon be over; it had to be
+endured for a few hours more, and then he would plunge into his books
+again, and enjoy good company, he and May together.
+
+He was still lingering over this prospect when the servant came to
+tell him that some gentlemen were waiting for him, and he found in the
+sitting-room half-a-dozen of his favourite students. One of the Seniors,
+named Cartrell, a young man of strong figure, and keen, bold
+face, remarked, as he shook hands, that they had come to accompany
+him--"Elections are sometimes rough, and we know the ropes." Roberts
+thanked them warmly, and they set off.
+
+The Committee Rooms of the Democratic party were situated near the Court
+House, in what had been once the centre, but was now the edge of the
+town. The little troop had to pass through the negro quarter--small
+frame-houses, peppered over grassless, bare lots, the broken-down fences
+protesting against unsociable isolation. The Rooms, from the outside,
+reminded one of a hive of angry bees. In and out of the door men were
+hurrying, and a crowd swarmed on the side-walk talking in a loud,
+excited hum. As soon as the Professor was recognized, a silence of
+astonishment fell upon the throng. With stares of curiosity they
+drew aside to let him enter. Slightly surprised by the reception, the
+Professor passed into the chief room. At a table in the middle a man was
+speaking in a harsh, loud voice--one Simpson, a popular orator, who had
+held aloof from the meetings of the party. He was saying:
+
+"It's a put-up game between them, but the question is, who's to go on
+the ticket in--"
+
+As Simpson's eyes met those of Roberts he stopped speaking.
+
+"Good morning, gentlemen. Please continue, Mr. Simpson; I hope I'm not
+interrupting you."
+
+The Professor did not like Mr. Simpson. The atrabilious face, the
+bitter, thin lips, and grey eyes veined with yellow, reminded him
+indefinably of a wild beast. Mr. Simpson seemed to take the courteous
+words as a challenge. Drawing his wiry figure up he said, with insult in
+voice and manner:
+
+"Perhaps you've come to nominate a Mayor; we'd all like to know your
+choice."
+
+"I don't understand you."
+
+The Professor's tone was frank, his sincerity evident, but Simpson went
+on:
+
+"Don't ye? Perhaps Hutchin's has sent you to say, as he's sick it'd be
+well to run Robinson on both tickets--eh?"
+
+"I don't know what you mean. I expected to meet Mr. Hutchings here. Is
+he ill?"
+
+"He'll get well soon, I reckon; but after taking a perscription from
+Gulmore, he's mighty bad and can't leave the house."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that Hutchings has withdrawn his candidature as Mayor. I mean
+that the 'Herald' has the announcin' of it. I mean it's a put-up job
+between him and Gulmore to ruin the Democratic party in this town. I
+mean--"
+
+As the Professor drew back in amazement, young Cartrell stepped in front
+of him and addressed Simpson:
+
+"What proof have you of what you say?"
+
+"Proof! Proof enough. Does an honest man resign a candidature on the
+morning of an election, and give the other side the news before his own
+party?"
+
+The interruption had given Roberts time for reflection. He felt that
+Simpson's facts must be right. It was characteristic of him that his
+first thought was, Had Hutchings withdrawn in order to save him from
+further attacks? No. If he had he'd have told him before the event.
+A sort of nausea overpowered him as he remembered that Hutchings had
+related how Gulmore had bought Patrick Byrne--and now he, too, had sold
+himself. As in a flash Hutchings' weakness of fibre was laid bare to
+him. "That's the reason I couldn't find him yesterday." His heart sank
+within him. "How could Hutchings have been so--?" With the belief in
+the lawyer's guilt came the understanding that he too was concerned,
+suspected even. Disgust of traitorism, conscious innocence impelled him
+to clear himself--but how? To his surprise he found that companionship
+with these men had given him some insight into their character. He put
+the question to Simpson:
+
+"Can anything be done now?"
+
+The steadiness of the tone, the resolve in his face, excited a certain
+curiosity. Shrugging his shoulders, Simpson replied:
+
+"We've not got a candidate. It's too late to get the party together. New
+tickets'd have to be printed. I--"
+
+"Will you accept the candidature?" Reading the man at once, Roberts
+turned to the others: "Gentlemen, I hope some one will second me; I
+nominate Mr. Simpson as Mayor, and propose that his name should be
+substituted for that of Mr. Hutchings. To show that I'm in earnest I'll
+contribute five hundred dollars towards the expense of printing the
+tickets."
+
+The Professor's offer of money seemed to exercise a magical influence
+upon the crowd; the loud tones, the provocative rudeness of speech and
+bearing, disappeared at once; the men began to show him the respect of
+attention, and Mr. Simpson was even quicker than the rest in changing
+his attitude--perhaps because he hoped to gain more than they did.
+
+"I had no idee," he began, "but if the Committee thinks I oughter run
+I've no objection. I hain't ever cared for office, but I'm a party-man,
+an' what the party wants me to do I'll do every time. I'm a Democrat
+right through. I guess Lawyer Hutchin's has gone back on us, but that's
+not your fault, Professor, and five hundred dollars--an' your work will
+do a pile. The folk all like you an'--respect you an'--"
+
+Roberts looked at the man; his offer had been a movement of indignant
+contempt, and yet it had succeeded. He could have laughed; the key
+to the enigma was in his hands; these men answered to the motive of
+self-interest as a ship answers to the helm, and yet--how revolting it
+all was! The next moment he again banished reflection.
+
+"I'll go and get the money, and return as soon as possible. In the
+meantime, perhaps you, Mr. Simpson, will see that the printing is
+begun without delay. Then if you'll tell us what polling-stations need
+superintendence, my friends and I will do our best."
+
+The appeal found an immediate response--in a few minutes order and
+energetic work had taken the place of the former angry excitement and
+recrimination.
+
+To Professor Roberts the remainder of the day was one whirl of restless
+labour; he hastened from one polling-station to another, and when the
+round was completed drove to the Central Rooms, where questions had to
+be answered, and new arrangements made without time for thought. Then he
+was off again on his hurried round as canvasser. One incident, however,
+made a definite impression upon him. Returning for the second or third
+time to the Central Rooms he found himself in a crowd of Irish labourers
+who had come in deference to priestly bidding to record their votes. Mr.
+Hutchings' retirement had excited their native suspiciousness; they
+felt that they had been betrayed, and yet the peremptory orders they had
+received must be followed. The satisfaction of revolt being denied
+to them, their anger became dangerous. Professor Roberts faced them
+quietly; he soon saw that they were sincere, or were playing the part of
+sincerity; he therefore spoke for the cause, for the party to which they
+belonged; surely they wouldn't abandon the struggle because a leader had
+deserted them! His words and manner; his appeal to their combativeness;
+his earnestness and good temper were successful. The storm of invective
+gradually subsided, and although one or two, for the sake of a row,
+sought to insult him, they did not go to extremes in face of the
+resolute disapprobation of the American party-leaders. Loyalty to their
+shibboleth was beginning to draw them, still grumbling and making use of
+expressive imprecations, on the way to the nearest polling-station, when
+one of their leaders drew Professor Roberts aside, and asked him:
+
+"Are the bhoys to have nothin' for their throuble? Half a day they'll
+lose, so they will--a dollar each now would be no more than fair--"
+
+The Professor shook his head; he was not rich, he said, and had already
+spent more money in the contest than he could afford.
+
+"Be gob, it's poor worruk this talkin' an' votin' for us that gets
+nothin' by it"--the phrase stuck in his memory as illustrating the
+paltry baseness of the whole affair. It was with a sense of relief that
+he threw himself again into the turmoil that served to deaden thought.
+As the day wore towards evening he became conscious of fatigue, a
+weariness that was not of the body alone, but of the head and heart.
+After the closing of the polls he returned to the Central Rooms. They
+were filled with an enthusiastic crowd, most of whom professed to
+believe that the Democratic party had won all along the line. Roberts
+found it hard to bear their self-gratulation and the exuberance of their
+triumph, but when Simpson began to take the liberties of comradeship
+with him, the cup ran over. He cut the man short with a formally polite
+phrase, and betook himself to his house. He would not think even of May;
+her image brought him face to face with her father; and he wanted rest.
+
+In the morning the Professor awoke with a feeling of utter depression.
+Before he opened the paper he was sure that his hopelessness had been
+justified. He was right--Gulmore had carried his whole ticket, and
+Simpson had been beaten by a majority of more than a thousand. The
+Democratic organ did not scruple to ascribe the defeat to the fact that
+Lawyer Hutchings had sold his party. The simulated indignation of the
+journalist found expression in phrases which caricatured the simplicity
+of sincere condemnation. "Never did shameless corruption...." Roberts
+could not read the stuff. Yet the feigned passion and tawdry rhetoric
+in some way stirred up his bile; he would see Hutchings and--but if he
+unpacked his heart's bitterness upon her father, he would hurt May. He
+must restrain himself; Hutchings would understand from his manner, and
+May would be sympathetic--as she always was.
+
+Another thought exasperated him afresh. His idealism had made him
+ridiculous in the eyes of the townsfolk. He had spent money he could
+ill spare in a hopeless cause, which was not even a worthy one. And now
+everybody was laughing at him or sneering--he grew hot with shame. That
+his motives were honourable only heightened the ludicrousness of his
+action: it seemed as if he had made a fool of himself. He almost wished
+that he had left the Democrats to their own devices. But no! he had done
+the right, and that was the main point. The sense of failure, however,
+robbed him of confidence in regard to the future. How should he act?
+Since high motives were ineffectual, Quixotic, ought he to discard them
+and come down to the ordinary level? 'Twould be better not to live at
+all. The half-life of a student, a teacher, dwelling apart from the
+world, would be preferable to such degradation; but----
+
+The situation appeared to him to be so difficult that as soon as he had
+taken his breakfast he went out for a walk away from the town in order
+to avoid importunate visits, and to decide upon a course of conduct. The
+air and exercise invigorated him; the peace and solitude of the prairie,
+the beauty of earth and sky, the unconsciousness of nature consoled him,
+reduced his troubles to relative unimportance, and allowed him to regain
+his equanimity.
+
+Even his ideas in regard to Hutchings underwent a change. After all it
+was not his part to condemn; his indignation owed its heat to baffled
+egotism and paltry vanity. When the personal element was abstracted from
+the causes of his vexation, what remained? Were Hutchings a figure in
+history, would he judge him with the same intolerance? No; weakness,
+corruptibility even, would then excite no harsher feeling than a sort of
+amused contempt. The reflection mitigated his anger. He began to take
+an intellectual pleasure in the good-humoured acceptance of the wrong
+inflicted upon him. Plato was right, it was well to suffer injustice
+without desiring to retaliate. He had yet to learn that just as oil only
+smoothes the surface of waves, so reason has merely a superficial effect
+upon character.
+
+Early in the afternoon he made his way to May's home. According to
+his habit he passed by the servant-girl and entered the study--to find
+himself face to face with the lawyer.
+
+The shock of disappointment and a certain latent antagonism caused him
+to speak with a directness which was in itself discourteous.
+
+"Is Miss May in? I wished to see her." After a momentary pause he added,
+with a tinge of sarcasm, "Your illness wasn't serious, I see."
+
+Mr. Hutchings was not taken by surprise; he had prepared for this
+meeting, and had resolved to defend himself. The task, he believed,
+would be easy. He had almost persuaded himself that he had acted in the
+Professor's interest. Roberts was singularly unworldly; he might accept
+the explanation, and if he didn't--what did it matter? His own brighter
+prospects filled him with a sense of triumph; in the last three days
+his long-repressed vanity had shot up to self-satisfaction, making him
+callous to what Roberts or any one else might think. But the sneer in
+his visitor's words stung him, induced him to throw off the mask of
+illness which he had intended to assume. He replied with an indifference
+that was defiant:
+
+"No; I wasn't well yesterday, but I'm better now, though I shall keep
+indoors for a day or two. A chill, I suppose."
+
+Receiving no answer, he found relief in complete boldness.
+
+"You see my prediction as to the result of the election has been
+justified?"
+
+"You might even say _pars magna fui_."
+
+The retort slipped out. The impudent challenge had to be met. The
+Professor did not realize how contemptuously he spoke.
+
+The womanish weakness in Hutchings sprang to hurried attack.
+
+"At any rate you've no cause for reproach. I resigned chiefly to shield
+you. I told you long ago that I didn't want particularly to be Mayor,
+and the assault upon your position in the University decided me. There
+was no way to save your place except by giving Gulmore the victory he
+wanted. You're engaged to May, and May is fond of you: I'm not rich, and
+a post of three thousand dollars a year is not often to be found by a
+young man. What would you do if you were dismissed? I had to--sacrifice
+myself. Not that it matters much, but I've got myself into a fuss with
+the party, injured myself all round on your account, and then you
+talk as if you had some reason to be offended. That's hardly right,
+Professor." The lawyer was satisfied with his case; his concluding
+phrase built a bridge for a magnanimous reconciliation.
+
+"You wish me to believe that you resigned at the last moment without
+telling me of your intention in order to further my interests?" Mr.
+Hutchings was disagreeably shocked by the disdainful, incredulous
+question; Roberts was harder to blind than he had supposed; his
+indignation became more than half sincere.
+
+"I didn't make up my mind till the last minute--I couldn't. It wasn't
+easy for me to leave the party I've fought with for ten years. And the
+consequences don't seem likely to be pleasant to me. But that doesn't
+signify. This discussion is useless. If you'll take my advice you'll
+think of answering the charge that will be brought against you in the
+Faculty meeting, instead of trying to get up a groundless accusation
+against me." The menace in the words was not due solely to excitement
+and ill-temper. Mr. Hutchings had been at pains to consider all his
+relations with the Professor. He had hoped to deceive him, at least for
+the moment, and gain time--postpone a painful decision. He had begun to
+wish that the engagement between Roberts and May might be broken off. In
+six months or a year he would have to declare himself on Gulmore's side;
+the fact would establish his complicity, and he had feared what he
+now knew, that Roberts would be the severest of critics--an impossible
+son-in-law. Besides, in the East, as the daughter of a Member of
+Congress, May might command a high position--with her looks she could
+marry any one--while Roberts would be dismissed or compelled to resign
+his post. A young man without a career who would play censor upon him
+in his own house was not to be thought of. The engagement must be
+terminated. May could be brought to understand....
+
+The Professor did not at once grasp the situation in so far as he
+himself was concerned. But he divined the cause of the lawyer's
+irritability, and refrained from pushing the argument further. The
+discussion could, indeed, serve no purpose, save to embitter the
+quarrel. He therefore answered quietly:
+
+"I didn't come here to dispute with you. I came to see May. Is she in?"
+
+"No, I think not. I believe she went out some time ago."
+
+"In that case I'll go home. Perhaps you'll tell her I called. Good day."
+
+"Good day!"
+
+As the Professor left the house his depression of the morning returned
+upon him. He was dissatisfied with himself. He had intended to show no
+anger, no resentment, and, nevertheless, his temper had run away
+with him. He recognized that he had made a grave mistake, for he was
+beginning to foresee the consequences of it. Trained to severe
+thinking, but unaccustomed to analyze motives, the full comprehension
+of Hutchings' attitude and its probable effects upon his happiness only
+came to him gradually, but it came at length so completely that he could
+remember the very words of the foregoing conversation, and recall the
+tones of the voices. He could rebuild the puzzle; his understanding of
+it, therefore, must be the true one. The irrationality of the defence
+was a final proof that the lawyer had played him false. "Hutchings sold
+himself--most likely for place. He didn't fear a quarrel with me--that
+was evident; perhaps he wishes to get rid of me--evident, too. He
+believes that I shall be dismissed, or else he wouldn't have laid stress
+upon the importance of my keeping my position. When I spoke of May he
+was curt. And the explanation? He has wronged me. The old French proverb
+holds true, 'The offender seldom forgives.' He'll probably go on to harm
+me further, for I remind him of his vileness. This, then, is life, not
+as I imagined it, but as it is, and such creatures as Hutchings are
+human beings. Well, after all, it is better to know the truth than to
+cheat oneself with a mirage. I shall appreciate large natures with noble
+and generous impulses better, now that I know how rare they are."
+
+In his room he found May awaiting him. Across his surprise and joy there
+came an intense admiration of her, a heart-pang of passionate gratitude.
+As she moved towards him her incommunicable grace of person and manner
+completed the charm. The radiant gladness of the eyes; the outstretched
+hands; the graceful form, outlined in silver-grey; the diadem of
+honey-coloured hair; something delicate yet courageous, proud yet tender
+in her womanhood remained with him ever afterwards.
+
+"Ah, May!" The word seemed to bring joy and tingling life to his
+half-numbed heart. He seized her hands and drew her to him, and kissed
+her on the hair, and brows, and eyes with an abandonment of his whole
+nature, such as she had never before known in him. All her shyness, her
+uneasiness vanished in the happiness of finding that she had so pleased
+him, and mingled with this joy was a new delightful sense of her own
+power. When released from his embrace she questioned him by a look. His
+emotion astonished her.
+
+"My love," he said, kissing her hands, "how good of you to come to me,
+how sweet and brave you are to wait for me here! I was growing weak with
+fear lest I should lose you, too, in the general wreck. And you came and
+sat here for me patiently--Darling!"
+
+There was a mingling of self-surrender and ruffled pride in her smiling
+reproach:
+
+"Lose me? What do you mean? I waited for you last night, sir, and all
+this weary morning, till I could wait no longer; I had to find you. I
+would have stayed at home till you came; I meant to, but father startled
+me: he said he was afraid you'd lose your place as Professor in spite
+of all he had done for you. 'Twas good of him, wasn't it, to give up
+running for Mayor, so as not to embitter Gulmore against you? I was
+quite proud of him. But you won't lose your post, will you? Has anything
+serious happened?--Dear!"
+
+He paused to think, but he could not see any way to avoid telling her
+the truth. Disappointments had so huddled upon him, the insight he
+had won into human nature was so desolating that his heart ached for
+sympathy and affection. He loved her; she was to be his wife; how could
+he help winning her to his side? Besides, her words voiced his own
+fears--her father had already begun to try to part them. She must know
+all and judge. But how? Should he give her "The Tribune" to read? No--it
+was vindictive.
+
+"Come and sit down, May, and I'll tell you what happened yesterday. You
+shall judge for yourself whether I was right or wrong."
+
+He told her, point by point, what had occurred. May listened in silence
+till he stopped.
+
+"But why did he resign? What could he gain by that?"
+
+While she was speaking a thought crimsoned her cheeks; she had found
+the key to the enigma. Three nights before her father had talked of
+Washington and the East with a sort of exultation. At the time she
+had not paid much attention to this, though it had struck her as very
+different from his habit. Now the peculiarity of it confirmed her
+suspicion. In some way or other his action in resigning was connected
+with his inexplicable high spirits. A wave of indignation swept over
+her. Not that she felt the disgust which had sickened the Professor when
+he first heard of the traitorism. He had condemned Mr. Hutchings on the
+grounds of public morality; May's anger was aroused because her father
+had sought to deceive _her_; had tried by lying suggestion to take
+credit to himself, whereas--
+
+"I wouldn't have believed it," she murmured, with the passionate revolt
+of youth against mean deceit. "I can never forgive him or trust him
+again."
+
+"Don't let us talk of it any more, dear. I wouldn't have told you only
+I was afraid that he would try to separate us. Now I know you are on my
+side I wouldn't have you judge him harshly."
+
+"On your side," she repeated, with a certain exaltation of manner. "On
+your side always in spite of everything. I feel for you more intensely
+than for myself." In a lower voice and with hesitating speech she added:
+"Did he--did he tell you that he resigned on your account?"
+
+He nodded.
+
+"And you're not angry?"
+
+"No." He smiled slightly. "I understand men better now than I did
+yesterday. That's all."
+
+"Oh, but you ought to be mad. I am. How can you--"
+
+"Let us talk, dear, of what concerns us more. Have you heard anything?
+From what your father said I half fear that the meeting to-morrow may go
+against me. Has no one called?"
+
+"Professor Krazinski. I saw his card on the table when I came in. You
+think it's a bad sign that he's the only one?"
+
+"I'm afraid so. It may be merely anxiety, but I'm growing suspicious
+of every one now. I catch myself attributing low motives to men without
+reason. That electioneering has infected me. I hate myself for it, but
+I can't help it; I loathe the self-seeking and the vileness. I'd rather
+not know men at all than see them as they've shown themselves lately.
+I want to get away and rinse my mouth out and forget all about it--away
+somewhere with you, my sweet love."
+
+"But you mustn't let them condemn you without an effort." While speaking
+she put her hand on his shoulder and moved close to him. "It might
+injure us later. And you know you can persuade them if you like. No one
+can listen to you without being won over. And I want you to keep your
+post; you love teaching and you're the best teacher in the world, ah--"
+
+He put his arms round her, and she bowed her head on his neck, that he
+might not see the gathering tears.
+
+"You're right, dear. I spoke hastily. I'll do my best. It won't be as
+bad as we think. My colleagues are men of some education and position.
+They're not like the crowd of ignorant voters and greedy place-hunters;
+they'll listen to reason, and"--half bitterly--"they've no motive to
+do me wrong. Besides, Krazinski has called, and I scarcely know him;
+perhaps the others didn't think of coming. It was kind of him, wasn't
+it? I'm very grateful to him. He must be a good fellow."
+
+"What has he done so wonderful? Oh, my!"--and she turned her face up to
+his with half-laughing deprecation--"I'm afraid I'm deteriorating too. I
+can't hear you praise any one now without feeling horribly jealous. Yes,
+he must be good. But don't be too grateful to him, or--I must be going
+now, and, oh! what a long time it'll be until to-morrow! I shall have
+grown old before--to-morrow."
+
+"Sweetheart! You'll come here and wait for me in the afternoon, won't
+you? I shall want to see you so much."
+
+"Yes, if you like; but I intended to go up to the University--mayn't I?
+It'll seem ages--aeons--waiting here by myself."
+
+"The meeting will not last long, and I'll come to you as soon as it's
+over. Darling, you don't know how much you have helped me. You have
+given me courage and hope," and he folded her in his arms.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Gulmore liked to spend his evenings with his wife and daughter. It
+amused him to hear what they had been doing during the day. Their gossip
+had its value; sentimental or spiteful, it threw quaint sidelights upon
+character. On the evening before the Faculty meeting Ida was bending
+over a book, while Mr. Gulmore smoked, and watched her. His daughter was
+somewhat of a puzzle to him still, and when occasion offered he studied
+her. "Where does she get her bitterness from? I'm not bitter, an' I had
+difficulties, was poor an' ignorant, had to succeed or go under, while
+she has had everythin' she wanted. It's a pity she ain't kinder...."
+
+Presently Mrs. Gulmore put away her work and left the room. Taking up
+the thread of a conversation that had been broken off by his wife's
+presence, Mr. Gulmore began:
+
+"I don't say Roberts'll win, Ida. The bettin''s the other way; but I'm
+not sure, for I don't know the crowd. He may come out on top, though I
+hev noticed that young men who run into their first fight and get badly
+whipped ain't likely to fight desperate the second time.--Grit's half
+trainin'!"
+
+"I wish I could be there to _see_ him beaten!" Ida had tried to turn her
+wounded pride into dislike, and was succeeding. "I hate to feel he's in
+the same town with us--the coward!"
+
+At this moment Mrs. Gulmore re-entered the room.
+
+"To think of it! Sal left the gas-stove flarin'. I made her get up and
+come downstairs to put it out. That'll learn her! Of all the careless,
+shiftless creatures, these coloured people are the worst. Come, Ida,
+it's long after nine, and I'm tired. You can read in your bedroom if you
+want to."
+
+After the usual "good night" and kisses, Ida went upstairs. While
+Mrs. Gulmore busied herself putting "things straight," Mr. Gulmore sat
+thinking:
+
+"She takes after her mother in everythin', but she has more pride. It's
+that makes her bitter. She's jest like her--only prettier. The same
+peaky nose, pointed chin, little thin ears set close to her head, fine
+hair--the Yankee school-marm. First-rate managin' women; the best wives
+in the world to keep a house an' help a man on. But they hain't got
+sensuality enough to be properly affectionate."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the following afternoon Roberts stopped before the door of his house
+and looked back towards the University. There on the crest of the hill
+stood the huge building of bluish-grey stone with the round tower of
+the observatory in the middle--like a mallet with a stubby handle in the
+air.
+
+While gazing thus a shrill voice reached him, the eager treble of a
+newsboy:
+
+"Great Scandal!" he heard--and then "Scandal in the University! Full
+Report! Only five cents! Five cents for the 'Herald's' Special!"
+
+He hastened to the gate and beckoned to the little figure in the
+distance. His thoughts were whirling. What did it mean? Could the
+"Herald" have issued a special edition with the report of the meeting?
+Impossible! there wasn't time for that. Yet, he had walked leisurely
+with Krazinski, and newspapers did wonders sometimes. Wonders! 'twould
+be a breach of confidence. There was an honourable understanding that
+no one should divulge what took place in a Faculty meeting. "Honourable"
+and Gulmore--the two words wouldn't go together. Could it be?
+
+A glance at the contents-bill brought a flush to his face. He gave a
+quarter for the sheet, and as the boy fumbled for change he said, taking
+hold of the bill:
+
+"I want this too; you can keep the rest of the money," and hurried into
+the house.
+
+May met him at the door of the sitting-room, but did not speak, while
+he opened out the paper, and in silence showed her the six columns,
+containing a verbatim report of the meeting.
+
+"What do you think of that?" he asked, and without waiting for an answer
+he spread the contents-bill upon the table.
+
+"This is better," he went on, bitterly. "Read this!" And she read:
+
+RUCTIONS IN LEARNING'S HOME.
+
+THE PRESIDENT'S FLANK ATTACK.
+
+FOURS TO A PAIR.
+
+THE PAGAN RETIRES AND THE POLE.
+
+"Oh, the brutes! How could they?" May exclaimed. "But what does it
+mean?"
+
+"You have it all there," he said, touching the bill; "all in two or
+three lines of cheerful insult, as is our American fashion. In spite of
+the opinion of every leading lawyer in the State, sixteen--fanatics, to
+give them the benefit of the doubt, voted that a disbelief in Christian
+dogma was the same thing as 'open immorality.' The Father of Lies made
+such men!"
+
+"Did no one vote for you?"
+
+"Two, Krazinski and some one else, I think 'twas little Black, and two
+papers were blank. But fancy the President speaking against me, though
+he has a casting-vote. All he could say was that the parents were the
+only proper judges of what a student should be taught. Let us grant
+that; I may have been mistaken, wrong, if you like; but my fault was not
+'open immorality,' as specified in the Statute. They lied against me,
+those sixteen."
+
+May sympathized too keenly with his indignation to think of trying to
+allay it; she couldn't help asking, "What did you do after the voting?"
+
+"What could I do? I had had enough of such opponents. I told them that
+if they dismissed me I'd take the case into the courts, where at the
+worst their reading of the words 'open immorality' would be put upon
+record, and my character freed from stain. But, if they chose to rescind
+their vote I said I was willing to resign."
+
+"They accepted that?"
+
+"Krazinski forced them to. He told them some home-truths. They dared not
+face the law courts lest it should come out that the professorships were
+the rewards of sectarian bigotry. He went right through the list, and
+ended by resigning his position.
+
+"Then Campbell got up and regretted his speech. It was uncalled-for
+and--you know the sort of thing. My colleagues, he said, would have
+preferred to retain my services if I had yielded to the opinion of the
+parents. Under the circumstances there was no course open but to accept
+my resignation. They would not enter the vote upon the minutes; they
+would even write me a letter expressing regret at losing me, etc. So the
+matter ended.
+
+"Coming down the hill I tried to persuade Krazinski not to resign on my
+account. But the dear old fellow was obstinate; he had long intended to
+retire. He was very kind. He thinks I shall find another place easily.
+
+"Now, May, you have heard the whole tale, what is your opinion? Are you
+disappointed with me? You might well be. I'm disappointed with myself.
+Somehow or other I've not got hate enough in me to be a good fighter."
+
+"Disappointed? How little you know me! It's my life now to be with you.
+Whatever you say or do is right to me. I think it's all for the best; I
+wouldn't have you stay here after what has passed."
+
+May meant all she said, and more. At the bottom of her heart she was
+not sorry that he was going to leave Tecumseh. If she thereby lost the
+pleasure of appearing as his wife before the companions of her youth, on
+the other hand, he would belong to her more completely, now that he
+was cut off from all other sympathy and no longer likely to meet Miss
+Gulmore. Moreover, her determination to follow him in single-hearted
+devotion seemed to throw the limelight of romance upon her disagreement
+with her father, which had been much more acute than she had given
+Roberts to suppose. She had loved her father, and if he had appealed
+to her affection he could have so moved her that she would have shown
+Roberts a hesitation which, in his troubled and depressed condition,
+might have brought about a coldness between them, if not a rupture of
+their relations. But Hutchings, feeling that he was in the wrong, had
+contented himself with depreciating Roberts by sneer and innuendo, and
+so had aroused her generous partisanship. The proceedings of the Faculty
+naturally increased her sympathy with her lover, and her enthusiastic
+support did much to revive his confidence in himself. When they parted
+in the evening he had already begun to think of the preparations to be
+made for his journey Eastwards.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A few weeks later a little knot of friends stood together one morning on
+the down-platform of the Tecumseh station, waiting for the train to come
+in. Professor Roberts was the centre of the group, and by his side stood
+dainty May Hutchings, the violet eyes intense with courage that held the
+sweet lips to a smile. Around them were some ten or a dozen students and
+Krazinski, all in the highest spirits. They were talking about Roberts'
+new appointment at Yale, which he attributed to Krazinski's influence.
+Presently they became aware of an unwonted stir at the entrance-door
+behind them. As they turned in wonder they saw that the negro hands had
+formed a lane through which, heralded by the obsequious station-master,
+Mr. Gulmore, with his daughter on his arm, was coming towards them.
+Heedless of their astonishment, the Boss walked on till he stood in
+front of Roberts.
+
+"Professor, we've heard of your good fortune, and are come to
+congratulate you. Ida here always thought a pile of your knowledge an'
+teachin', an' I guess she was right. Our little difference needn't count
+now. You challenged me to a sort of wrastle an' you were thrown; but
+I bear no malice, an' I'm glad to offer you my hand an' to wish
+you--success."
+
+Roberts shook hands without hesitation. He was simply surprised, and had
+no inkling of the reason which had led Gulmore to come to the station
+and to bring Ida. Had he been told that this was the father's plan for
+protecting his daughter against the possibility of indiscreet gossip
+he would have been still more astonished. "Nor do I bear malice," he
+rejoined, with a smile; "though the wrestling can hardly be considered
+fair when twenty pull one man down."
+
+"'Twas my crowd against yours," replied the Boss indifferently. "But I'm
+kinder sorry that you're leavin' the town. I'd never have left a place
+where I was beaten. No, sir; I'd have taken root right there an' waited.
+Influence comes with time, an' you had youth on your side."
+
+"That may be your philosophy, Mr. Gulmore," said Roberts lightly, as the
+other paused, "but it's not mine. I'm satisfied with one or two falls;
+they've taught me that the majority is with you."
+
+Gulmore's seriousness relaxed still further; he saw his opponent's
+ingenuousness, and took his statement as a tribute to his own power.
+
+"My philosophy," he began, as if the word pleased him, "my philosophy--I
+guess I ken give you that in a few words. When I was a boy in Vermont
+I was reckoned smart at figgerin'. But one day an old farmer caught me.
+'See here, boy,' he said, 'I live seventeen miles out of town, and
+when in late fall the roads are bad and I drive in with a cartload of
+potatoes, the shakin' sends all the big potatoes to the top and all the
+little ones to the bottom. That's good for me that wants to sell, but
+why is it? How does it come?'
+
+"Well, I didn't know the reason then, an' I told him so. But I took
+the fact right there for my philosophy. Ef the road was long enough and
+rough enough I was sure to come to the top."
+
+"I understand," said Roberts laughingly. "But I've heard farmers here
+say that the biggest potatoes are not the best; they are generally
+hollow at the--in the middle, I mean."
+
+"That's weak," retorted Gulmore with renewed seriousness. "I shouldn't
+hev thought you'd hev missed the point like that. When I was a boy I
+skipped away from the meanin' out of conceit. I thought I'd climb high
+because I was big, and meant gettin' up more'n a little un could.
+But before I was a man I understood the reason. It isn't that the big
+potatoes want partic'lar to come to the top; it is that the little
+potatoes are _de_termined to get to the bottom.
+
+"You may now be havin' a boost up, Professor, I hope you are; but you've
+gone underneath once, an' that looks bad."
+
+"The analogy seems perfect," replied Roberts thoughtfully. "But, by
+your own showing, the big men owe their position to the number of
+their inferiors. And at the bottom lie the very smallest, helpless and
+bruised, supporting their fortunate brethren. A sad state of things at
+the best, Mr. Gulmore; but unbearable if the favoured ones forget their
+debt to those beneath them."
+
+"Sad or not," said the Boss, "it represents the facts, an' it's well to
+take account of them; but I guess we must be goin', your time'll soon be
+up. We wish you success, Professor."
+
+SEPTEMBER, 1892 AND 1893.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Elder Conklin and Other Stories, by Frank Harris
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