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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7931-8.txt b/7931-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3262c53 --- /dev/null +++ b/7931-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9392 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of All-Wool Morrison, by Holman Day + +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: All-Wool Morrison + +Author: Holman Day + +Posting Date: August 11, 2011 [EBook #7931] +Release Date: April, 2005 +[This file was first posted on June 2, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALL-WOOL MORRISON *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, S.R. Ellison +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + +ALL-WOOL MORRISON + +_Time:_ Today _Place:_ The United States + +_Period of Action:_ Twenty-four Hours + +by HOLMAN DAY + +Author of _"The Rider of King Log" "The Red Lane" "King Spruce" "Where +Your Treasure Is"_ + + + + To + +PERCIVAL P. BAXTER + +A Consistent and Courageous Champion in the Protection of "The People's +White Coal." With the Author's Sincere Friendship and High Regard. + + + _CONTENTS_ + + I. HOW "THE MORRISON" BROKE ST. RONAN'S RULE + II. THE THREAT OF WHAT THE NIGHT MAY BRING + III. THE MORRISON ASSUMES SOME CONTRACTS + IV. ANSWERING THE FIRST ALARM + V. THE MEN WHO WERE WAITING TO BE SHOWN + VI. THE MAN'S WORD OF THE MAYOR OF MARION + VII. THE THIN CRUST OVER BOILING LAVA + VIII. A ROD IN PICKLE + IX. MAKING IT A SQUARE BREAK + X. A SENATOR SIZES UP A FOE + XI. FLAREBACKS IN THE CASE OF LOVE AND A MOB + XII. RIFLES RULE IN THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE + XIII. THE LINE-UP FORMS IN THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE + XIV. THE IMPENDING SHAME OF A STATE + XV. THE BOSS OF THE JOB + XVI. THE CITY OF MARION SEEKS ITS MAYOR + XVII. THE CAPITOL IN SHADOW +XVIII. THE CAPITOL ALIGHT + XIX. LANA CORSON HAS HER DOUBTS + XX. IN THE COLD AND CANDID DAYLIGHT + XXI. A WOMAN CHOOSES HER MATE + + + +_All-Wool Morrison_ + + + + +I + +HOW "THE MORRISON" BROKE ST. RONAN'S RULE + + +On this crowded twenty-four-hour cross-section of contemporary American +life the curtain goes up at nine-thirty o'clock of a January forenoon. + +Locality, the city of Marion--the capital of a state. + +Time, that politically throbbing, project-crowded, anxious, and expectant +season of plot and counterplot--the birth of a legislative session. + +Disclosed, the office of St. Ronan's Mill of the city of Marion. + +From the days of old Angus, who came over from Scotland and established a +woolen mill and handed it down to David, who placed it confidently in the +possession of his son Stewart, the unalterable rule was that "The +Morrison" entered the factory at seven o'clock in the morning and could +not be called from the mill to the office on any pretext whatsoever till +he came of his own accord at ten o'clock in the forenoon. + +In the reign of David the old John Robinson wagon circus paraded the +streets of Marion early on a forenoon and the elephant made a break in a +panic and ran into the mill office of the Morrisons through the big door, +and Paymaster Andrew Mac Tavish rapped the elephant on the trunk with a +penstock and, only partially awakened from abstraction in figures, stated +that "Master Morrison willna see callers till he cooms frae the mill at +ten." + +To go into details about the Morrison manners and methods and doggedness +in attending to the matter in hand, whatever it might be, would not limn +Stewart Morrison in any clearer light than to state that old Andrew, at +seventy-two, was obeying Stewart's orders as to the ten-o'clock rule and +was just as consistently a Cerberus as he had been in the case of Angus +and David. He was a bit more set in his impassivity--at least to all +appearances--because chronic arthritis had made his neck permanently +stiff. + +It may be added that Stewart Morrison was thirty-odd, a bachelor, dwelt +with his widowed mother in the Morrison mansion, was mayor of the city of +Marion, though he did not want to be mayor, and was chairman of the State +Water Storage Commission because he particularly wanted to be the +chairman; he was, by reason of that office, in a position where he could +rap the knuckles of those who should attempt to grab and selfishly exploit +"The People's White Coal," as he called water-power. These latter +appertaining qualifications were interesting enough, but his undeviating +observance of the mill rule of the Morrisons of St. Ronan's served more +effectively to point the matter of his character. Stewart Morrison when he +was in the mill was in it from top to bottom, from carder to spinner and +weaver, from wool-sorter to cloth-hall inspector, to make sure that the +manufacturing principles for which All-Wool Morrison stood were carried +out to the last detail. + +On that January morning, as usual, he was in the mill with his sleeves +rolled up. + +On his high stool in the office was Andrew Mac Tavish, his head framed in +the wicket of his desk, and the style of his beard gave him the look of a +Scotch terrier in the door of a kennel. + +The office was near the street, a low building of brick, having one big +room; a narrow, covered passage connected the room with the mill. A rail +divided the office into two small parts. + +According to his custom in the past few months, Mac Tavish, when he dipped +his pen, stabbed pointed glances beyond the rail and curled his lips and +made his whiskers bristle and continually looked as if he were going to +bark; he kept his mouth shut, however. + +But his silence was more baleful than any sounds he could have uttered; it +was a sort of ominous, canine silence, covering a hankering to get in a +good bite if the opportunity was ever offered. + +It was the rabble o' the morning--the crowd waiting to see His Honor the +Mayor--on the other side of the rail. It was the sacrilegious invasion of +a business office in the hours sacred to business. It was like that every +morning. It was just as well that the taciturn Mac Tavish considered that +his general principle of cautious reserve applied to this situation as it +did to matters of business in general, otherwise the explosion through +that wicket some morning would have blown out the windows. Mac Tavish did +not understand politics. He did not approve of politics. Government was +all right, of course. But the game of running it, as the politicians +played the game! Bah! + +He had taken it upon himself to tell the politicians of the city that +Stewart Morrison would never accept the office of mayor. Mac Tavish had +frothed at the mouth as he rolled his r's and had threshed the air with +his fist in frantic protest. Stewart Morrison was away off in the +mountains, hunting caribou on the only real vacation he had taken in half +a dozen years--and the city of Marion took advantage of a good man, so Mac +Tavish asserted, to shove him into the job of mayor; and a brass band was +at the station to meet the mayor and the howling mob lugged him into City +Hall just as he was, mackinaw jacket, jack-boots, woolen Tam, rifle and +all--and Mac Tavish hoped the master would wing a few of 'em just to show +his disapprobation. In fact, it was allowed by the judicious observers +that the new mayor did display symptoms of desiring to pump lead into the +cheering assemblage instead of being willing to deliver a speech of +acceptance. + +He did not drop, as his manner indicated, all his resentment for some +weeks--and then Mac Tavish picked up the resentment and loyally carried it +for the master, in the way of outward malevolence and inner seething. The +regular joke in Marion was built around the statement that if anybody +wanted to get next to a hot Scotch in these prohibition times, step into +the St. Ronan's mill office any morning about nine-thirty. + +Up to date Mac Tavish had not thrown any paper-weights through the wicket, +though he had been collecting ammunition in that line against the day when +nothing else could express his emotions. It was in his mind that the +occasion would come when Stewart Morrison finally reached the limit of +endurance and, with the Highland chieftain's battle-cry of the old clan, +started in to clear the office, throwing his resignation after the gang o' +them! Mac Tavish would throw the paper-weights. He wondered every day if +that would be the day, and the encouraging expectation helped him to +endure. + +Among those present was a young fellow with his chaps tied up; there was a +sniveling old woman who patted the young man's shoulder and evoked +protesting growls. There were shifty-eyed men who wanted to make a +touch--Mac Tavish knew the breed. There was a fat, wheezy, pig-farm keeper +who had a swill contract with the city and came in every other day with a +grunt of fresh complaint. There were the usual new faces, but Mac Tavish +understood perfectly well that they were there to bother a mayor, not to +help the woolen-goods business. There was old Hon. Calvin Dow, a pensioner +of David Morrison, now passed on to the considerately befriending Stewart, +and Mac Tavish was deeply disgusted with a man who was so impractical in +his business affairs that, though he had been financially busted for ten +years, he still kept along in the bland belief, based on Stewart's +assurances, that money was due him from the Morrisons. Whenever Mac Tavish +went to the safe, obeying Stewart's word, he expressed _sotto voce_ the +wish that he might be able to drop into the Hon. Calvin Dow's palm red-hot +coins from the nippers of a pair of tongs. It was not that Mac Tavish +lacked the spirit of charity, but that he wanted every man to know to the +full the grand and noble goodness of the Morrisons, and be properly +grateful, as he himself was. Dow's complacency in his hallucination was +exasperating! + +But there was no one in sight that morning who promised the diversion or +the effrontery that would make this the day of days, and there seemed to +be no excuse that would furnish the occasion for the battle-cry which +would end all this pestiferous series of levees. + +The muffled rackelty-chackle of the distant looms soothed Mac Tavish. The +nearer rick-tack of Miss Delora Bunker's typewriter furnished obbligato +for the chorus of the looms. It was all good music for a business man. But +those muttering, mumbling mayor-chasers--it was a tin-can, cow-bell +discord in a symphony concert. + +Mac Tavish, honoring the combat code of Caledonia, required presumption to +excuse attack, needed an upthrust head to justify a whack. + +Patrolman Cornelius Rellihan, six feet two, was lofty enough. He marched +to and fro beyond the rail, his heavy shoes flailing down on the hardwood +floor. Every morning the bang of those boots started the old pains to +thrusting in Mac Tavish's neck. But Officer Rellihan was the mayor's +major-domo, officially, and Stewart's pet and protégé and worshiping +vassal in ordinary. An intruding elephant might be evicted; Rellihan could +not even receive the tap of a single word of remonstrance. + +It promised only another day like the others, with nothing that hinted at +a climacteric which would make the affairs of the mill office of the +Morrisons either better or worse. + +Then Col. Crockett Shaw marched in, wearing a plug-hat to mark the +occasion as especial and official, but taking no chances on the dangers of +that unwonted regalia in frosty January; he had ear-tabs close clamped to +the sides of his head. + +Mac Tavish took heart. He hated a plug-hat. He disliked Col. Crockett +Shaw, for Shaw was a man who employed politics as a business. Colonel Shaw +was carrying his shoulders well back and seemed to be taller than usual, +his new air of pomposity making him a head thrust above the horde. Colonel +Shaw offensively banged the door behind himself. Mac Tavish removed a +package of time-sheets that covered a pile of paper-weights. Colonel Shaw +came stamping across the room, clapping his gloved hands together, as if +he were as cold under the frosty eyes of Mac Tavish as he had been in the +nip of the January chill outdoors. + +"Mayor Morrison! Call him at once!" he commanded, at the wicket. + +Mac Tavish closed his hand over one of the paper-weights. He opened his +mouth. + +But Colonel Shaw was ahead of him with speech! "This is the time when that +fool mill-rule goes bump!" The colonel's triumphant tone hinted that he +had been waiting for a time like this. His entrance and his voice of +authority took all the attention of the other waiters off their own +affairs. "Call out Mayor Morrison." + +"Haud yer havers, ye keckling loon! Whaur's yer een for the tickit +gillie?" The old paymaster jabbed indignant thumb over his shoulder to +indicate the big clock on the wall. + +"I can't hear what you say on account of these ear-pads, and it doesn't +make any difference what you say, Andy! This is the day when all rules are +off." He was fully conscious that he had the ears of all those in the +room. He braced back. With an air of a functionary calling on the +multitude to make way for royalty he declaimed, "Call His Honor Mayor +Morrison at once to this room for a conference with the Honorable Jodrey +Wadsworth Corson, United States Senator. I am here to announce that +Senator Corson is on the way." + +Mac Tavish narrowed his eyes; he whittled his tone to a fine point to +correspond, and the general effect was like impaling a puffball on a +rat-tail file. "If ye hae coom sunstruck on a January day, ye'd best stick +a sopped sponge in the laft o' yer tar-pail bonnet. Sit ye doon and speir +the hands o' the clock for to tell when the Morrison cooms frae the mill." + +The colonel banged the flat of his hand on the ledge outside the wicket. +"It isn't an elephant this time, Mac Tavish. It's a United States Senator. +Act on my orders, or into the mill I go, myself!" + +The old man slid down from the stool, a paperweight in each hand. "Only +o'er my dead body will ye tell him in yer mortal flesh. Make the start to +enter the mill, and it's my thocht that ye'll tell him by speeritual +knocks or by tipping a table through a meejum!" + +"Lay off that jabber, old bucks, the two of ye!" commanded Officer +Rellihan, swinging across the room. "I'm here to kape th' place straight +and dacint!" + +"I hae the say. I'll gie off the orders," remonstrated Mac Tavish; there +was grim satisfaction in the twist of his mouth; it seemed as if the day +of days had arrived. + +"On that side your bar ye may boss the wool business. But this is the +mayor's side and the colonel is saying he's here to see His Honor. +Colonel, ye'll take your seat and wait your turn!" He cupped his big hand +under the emissary's elbow. + +Mac Tavish and Rellihan, by virtue of jobs and natures, were foes, but +their team-work in behalf of the interests of the Morrison was +comprehensively perfect. + +"What's the matter with your brains, Rellihan?" demanded the colonel, +hotly. + +"I don't kape stirring 'em up to ask 'em, seeing that they're resting +aisy," returned the policeman, smiling placidly. "And there's nothing the +matter with my muscle, is there?" He gently but firmly pushed the colonel +down into a chair. + +"Don't you realize what it means to have a United States Senator come to a +formal conference?" + +"No! I never had one call on me." + +"Rellihan, Morrison will fire you off the force if it happens that a +United States Senator has to wait in this office." + +The officer pulled off his helmet and plucked a card from the sweatband. +"It says here, 'Kape 'em in order, be firm but pleasant, tell 'em to wait +in turn, and'--for meself--'to do no more talking than necessary.' If +there's to be a new rule to fit the case of Senators, the same will +prob'bly be handed to me as soon as Senators are common on the +calling-list." He put up a hand in front of the colonel's face--a broad +and compelling hand. "Now I'm going along on the old orders and the clock +tells ye that ye have a scant twinty minutes to wait. And if I do any more +talking, of the kind that ain't necessary, I'll break a rule. Be aisy, +Colonel Shaw!" He resumed his noisy promenade. + +Mac Tavish was back on the stool and he clashed glances with Colonel Shaw +with alacrity. + +"There'll be an upheaval in this office, Mac Tavish." + +"Aye! If ye make one more step toward the mill door ye'll not ken of a +certainty whaur ye'll land when ye're upheaved." + +After a few minutes of the silence of that armed truce, Miss Bunker +tiptoed over to Mac Tavish, making an excuse of a sheet of paper which she +laid before him; the paper was blank. "Daddy Mac!" Miss Bunker enjoyed +that privilege in nomenclature along with other privileges usually won in +offices by young ladies who know how to do their work well and are able to +smooth human nature the right way. She went on in a solicitous whisper. +"We must be sure that we're not making any office mistake. This being +Senator Corson!" + +"I still hae me orders, lassie!" + +"But listen, Daddy Mac! When I came from the post-office the Senator's car +went past me. Miss Lana was with him. Don't you think we ought to get a +word to Mr. Morrison?" + +"Word o' what?" The old man wrinkled his nose, already sniffing what was +on the way. + +"Why, that Miss Lana may be calling, along with her father." + +"What then?" + +"Mr. Morrison is a gentleman, above all things," declared the girl, +nettled by this supercilious interrogation. "If Miss Corson calls with her +father and is obliged to wait, Mr. Morrison will be mortified. Very likely +he will be angry because he wasn't notified. I understand the social end +of things better than you, Daddy Mac. I think it's my duty to take in a +word to him." + +"Aye! Yus! Gude! And tell him the music is ready, the flowers are here, +and the tea is served! Use the office for all owt but the wool business. +To Auld Hornie wi' the wool business! Politeeks and socieety! Lass, are ye +gone daffie wi' the rest?" + +"Hush, Daddy Mac! Don't raise your voice in your temper. What if he should +still be in love with Miss Lana, spite of her being away among the great +folks all this long time?" + +Mac Tavish was holding the paper-weights. He banged them down on his desk +and shoved his nose close to hers. "Fash me nae mair wi' your silly talk +o' love, in business hours! If aye he wanted her when she was here at hame +and safe and sensible, the Morrison o' the Morrisons had only to reach his +hand to her and say, 'Coom, lass!' But noo that she is back wi' head high +and notions alaft, he'd no accept her! She's nowt but a draft signed by +Sham o' Shoddy and sent through the Bank o' Brag and Blaw! No! He'd no' +accept her! And now back wi' ye to yer tickety-tack! I hae my orders, and +the Queen o' Sheba might yammer and be no' the gainer!" + +Miss Bunker swept up the sheet of blank paper with a vicious dab and went +back to her work, crumpling it. Passing the hat-tree, she was tempted to +grab the Morrison's coat and waistcoat and run into the mill with them, +dodging Mac Tavish and his paper-weights in spite of what she knew of his +threats regarding the use he proposed to make of them in case of need. She +believed that Miss Lana Corson would come to the office with the others +who were riding in the automobile. She had her own special cares and a +truly feminine apprehension in this matter, and she believed that the +young man, who was one of the guests at the reopened Corson mansion on +Corson Hill, was a suitor, just as Marion gossip asserted he was. + +Miss Bunker had two good eyes in her head and womanly intuitiveness in her +soul, and she had read three times into empty air a dictated letter while +Stewart Morrison looked past her in the direction which the Corson car had +taken that first day when Lana Corson had shown herself on the street. + +And here was that stiff-necked old watch-dog callously laying his corns so +that Stewart Morrison would appear to be boor enough to allow a young lady +to wait along with that unspeakable rabble; and when he did come he would +arrive in his shirt-sleeves to be matched up against a handsome young man +in an Astrakhan top-coat! Under those circumstances, what view would Miss +Lana Corson take of the man who had stayed in Marion? Miss Bunker was +profoundly certain that Mac Tavish did not know what love was and never +did understand and could not be enlightened at that period in his life. +But he might at least put the matter on a business basis, she reflected, +incensed, and show some degree of local pride in grabbing in with the rest +of Mr. Morrison's friends to assist in a critical situation. + +And right then the situation became pointedly critical. + +The broad door of the office was flung open by a chauffeur. + +It was the Corson party. + +Colonel Shaw was not in a mood to apologize for anybody except himself. He +rose and saluted. "Coming here to herald your call, Senator Corson, I have +been insulted by a bumptious understrapper and held in leash by an +ignorant policeman. They say it's according to a rule of the Morrison +mills. I suppose that when Mayor Morrison comes out of the mill at ten +o'clock, following his own rule, he can explain to you why he maintains +that insulting custom of his and continues this kind of an office crew to +enforce it." + +Miss Bunker flung the sheet of paper that she had crumpled into a ball and +it struck Mac Tavish on the side of the head that he bent obtrusively over +his figures. + +The old man snapped stiffly upright and distributed implacable stare among +the members of the newly arrived party. He was not softened by Miss +Corson's glowing beauty, nor impressed by the United States Senator's +dignity, nor won by the charming smile of Miss Corson's well-favored +squire, nor daunted by the inquiring scowl of a pompous man whose +mutton-chop whiskers mingled with the beaver fur about his neck; a +stranger who was patently prosperous and metropolitan. + +Furthermore, Mac Tavish, undaunted, promptly dared to exchange growls with +"Old Dog Tray," himself. The latter, none else than His Excellency, +Lawrence North, Governor of the state, marched toward the wicket, wagging +his tail, but the wagging was not a display of amiability. The politicians +called North "Old Dog Tray" because his permanent limp caused his +coattails to sway when he walked. + +"Be jing! I've been on the job here at manny a deal of a morn," confided +Officer Rellihan to Calvin Dow, "but here's the first natural straight +flush r'yal, dealt without a draw." He tagged the Corson party with +estimating squints, beginning with the Governor. "Ace, king, queen, +John-jack, and the ten-spot! They've caught the office, this time, with a +two-spot high!" + +Mac Tavish played it pat! "And 'tis the mill rule; it lacks twal' meenutes +o' the hour--and the clock yon on the wall is richt!" Thus referring all +responsibility to the clock, the paymaster dipped his pen and went on with +his figures. + +The Governor cross-creased the natural deep furrows in his face with +ridges which registered indignant amazement. "You have lost your wits, but +you seem to have your eyes! Use them!" + +"It's the mill rule!" + +"But we are not here on mill business!" + +"Then it canna concern me." + +"Officer, do you know what part of the mill Mayor Morrison is in?" The +Governor turned from Mac Tavish to Rellihan. + +"He is nae sic thing as mayor till ten o' the clock and till he cooms here +for the crackin wi' yon corbies!" declared the old paymaster, pointing +derogatory penstock through the wicket at "the crows" who were ranged +along the settees. + +Rellihan shook his head. + +"Well, at any rate, go hunt him up," commanded His Excellency. + +Rellihan shook his head again; this seemed to be an occasion where +unnecessary talking fell under interdiction; for that matter, Rellihan +possessed only a vocabulary to use in talking down to the proletariat; he +was debarred from telling these dignitaries to "shut up and sit aisy!" + +"A blind man, now a dumb man--Colonel Shaw, go and hunt up the man we're +here to see!" + +The colonel feigned elaborately not to hear. + +"And finally a deaf one! Take off those ear-tabs! Go and bring the mayor +here!" + +Mac Tavish dropped from his stool, armed himself with two paper-weights, +and took up a strategic position near the door which led into the passage +to the mill. + +"Roderick Dhu at bay! Impressive tableau!" whispered the young man of the +Corson party in Lana's ear, displaying such significant and wonted +familiarity that Miss Bunker, employing her vigilance exclusively in the +direction in which her fears and her interest lay, sighed and muttered. + +The door of the corridor was flung open suddenly! The staccato of the +orchestra of the looms sounded more loudly and provided entrance music. +Astonishment rendered Mac Tavish _hors de combat_. He dropped his weights +and his lower jaw sagged. + +It was the Morrison--breaking the ancient rule of St. Ronan's--ten minutes +ahead of time! + + + + +II + +THE THREAT OF WHAT THE NIGHT MAY BRING + + +All the Morrisons were upstickit chiels in point of height. + +Stewart had appeared so abruptly, he towered so dominantly, that a +stranger would have expected a general precipitateness of personality and +speech to go with his looks. + +But after he had closed the door he stood and stroked his palm slowly over +his temple, smoothing down his fair hair--a gesture that was a part of his +individuality; and his smile, while it was not at all diffident, was +deprecatory. He began to roll down the sleeves of his shirt. + +There was the repressed humor of his race in the glint in his eyes; he +drawled a bit when he spoke, covering thus the Scotch hitch-and-go-on in +the natural accent that had come down to him from his ancestors. + +"I saw your car arrive, Senator Corson, and I broke the sprinting record." + +"And the mill rule!" muttered Mac Tavish. + +"It's only an informal call, Stewart," explained the Senator, amiably, +walking toward the rail. + +"And you have caught me in informal rig, sir!" He pulled his coat and +waistcoat from the hooks and added, while he tugged the garments on, "So +I'll say, informally, I'm precious glad to see old neighbors home again +and to know the Corson mansion is opened, if only for a little while." + +"Lana came down with the servants a few days ago. I couldn't get here till +last evening. I have some friends with me, Stewart, who have come along in +the car to join me in paying our respects to the mayor of Marion." + +Morrison threw up the bar of the rail and stepped through. He clutched the +hand of the Senator in his big, cordial grip. "And now, being out in the +mayor's office, I'll extend formal welcome in the name of the city, sir." + +He looked past the father toward the daughter. + +"But I must interrupt formality long enough to present my most respectful +compliments to Miss Corson, even walking right past you, Governor North, +to do so!" explained Stewart, marching toward Lana, smiling down on her. + +Their brief exchange of social commonplaces was perfunctory enough, their +manner suggested nothing to a casual observer; but Miss Bunker was not a +casual observer. "She's ashamed," was her mental conviction. "Her eyes +give her away. She don't look up at him like a girl can look at any man +when there's nothing on her conscience. Whatever it was that happened, +she's the one who's to blame--but if she can't be sorry it doesn't excuse +her because she's ashamed." + +Possibly Miss Corson was covering embarrassment with the jaunty +grandiloquence that she displayed. + +"I have dared to intrude among the mighty of the state and city, Mister +Mayor, in order to impress upon you by word of mouth that your invitation +to the reception at our home this evening isn't merely an invitation +extended to the chief executive of the city. It's for Stewart Morrison +himself," ran her little speech. + +"I hoped so. This word from you certifies it. And Stewart Morrison will +strive to behave just as politely as he used to behave at other parties of +Lana Corson's when he steeled his heart against a second helping of cake +and cream." + +She forestalled her father. "Allow me to make you acquainted with Coventry +Daunt, Stewart." + +Morrison surveyed the young stranger with frank and appraising interest. +Then the big hand went out with no hint of any reservation in cordiality. + +"I'm sure you two are going to be excellent friends!" prophesied Lana. +"You're so much alike." + +The florid giant and the dapper, dark young man swapped apologies in a +faint flicker of a mutual grin. + +"I mean in your tastes! Mr. Daunt is tremendously interested in +water-power," Miss Corson hastened to say. "But father is waiting for you, +Stewart." + +So, however, was the sniveling old woman waiting! + +She had not presumed to break in on a conference with another of her +sex--but when the mayor turned from the lady and started to be concerned +with mere men, the old woman asserted her prerogative. "Out of me way. Con +Rellihan, ye omadhaun, that I have chased manny the time out o' me patch! +I'm a lady and I have me rights first!" She struggled and squalled when +the officer set his palms against her to push her away. + +Morrison dropped the Governor's hand, broke off his "duty speech," and +with rueful smile pleaded for tolerance from the Corson party. + +"Hush, Mother Slattery!" he remonstrated. + +"Ah, that's orders from him as has the grand right to give 'em! Niver a +wor-rd from me mouth, Your 'Anner, till I may say me say at your call!" + +A prolonged, still more deprecatory smile was bestowed by the mayor on the +élite among his guests! + +"I was out of town when I was elected mayor, and they hadn't taken the +precaution to measure me for an office room at the city building. I didn't +fit anything down there. Some day they're going to build the place over +and have room for the mayor to transact business without holding callers +on his knee. In the mean time, what mayoralty business I don't do out of +my hat on the street I attend to here where I can give a little attention +to my own business as well. Now, just a moment please!" he pleaded, +turning from them. + +He went to the old woman, checking the outburst with which she flooded him +when he approached. "I know! I know, Mother Slattery! No need to tell me +about it. As a fellow-martyr, I realize just how Jim has been up against +it--again!" He slid something into her hand "Rellihan will speak to the +judge!" He passed hastily from person to person, the officer at his heels +with ear cocked to receive the orders of his master as to the disposition +of cases and affairs. Then Rellihan marshaled the retreat of the +supplicants from the presence. + +"I do hope you understand why I attended to that business first," +apologized the mayor. + +"Certainly! It's all in the way of politics," averred the Senator, out of +his own experience. "I have been mayor of Marion, myself!" + +"With me it's business instead of politics," returned Morrison, gravely. +"I don't know anything about politics. Mac Tavish, there, says I don't. +And Tavish knows me well. But when I took this job--" + +"Ye didna tak' it," protested Mac Tavish, determined then, as always, that +the Morrison should be set in the right light. "They scrabbled ye by yer +scruff and whamped ye into a--" + +"Yes! Aye! Something of the sort! But I'm in, and I feel under obligations +to attend to the business of the city as it comes to hand. And business--I +have made business sacred when I have taken on the burden of it." + +"I fully understand that, Stewart, and my friend Daunt will be glad to +hear you say what I know is true. For he is here in our state on +business--business in your line," affirmed the Senator. He put his hand on +the arm of the elderly man with the assertive mutton-chop whiskers. "Silas +Daunt, Mayor Morrison! Mr. Daunt of the banking firm of Daunt & Cropley." + +"Business in my line, you say, sir?" demanded Morrison, pursuing a matter +of interest with characteristic directness. + +"Development of water-power, Mister Mayor. We are taking the question up +in a broad and, I hope, intelligent way." + +"Good! You touch me on my tenderest spot, Mr. Daunt." + +"Senator Corson has explained your intense interest in the water-power in +this state. And this state, in my opinion, has more wonderful +possibilities of development than any other in the Union." + +Morrison did not drawl when he replied. His demeanor corroborated his +statement as to his tenderest spot. "It's a sleeping giant!" he cried. + +"It's time to wake it up and put it to work," stated Daunt. + +"Exactly!" agreed Senator Corson. "I'm glad I'm paying some of the debt I +owe the people of this state by bringing two such men as you together. I +have wasted no time, Stewart!" + +"Round and round the wheels of great affairs begin to whirl!" declaimed +Lana. "The grain of sand must immediately eliminate itself from this +atmosphere; otherwise, it may fall into the bearings and cause annoying +mischief. I'll send the car back, father. I mustn't bother a business +meeting." + +A grimace that hinted at hurt wrinkled the candor of the Morrison's +countenance. "I hoped it wasn't mere business that brought you--all!" He +dwelt on the last word with wistful significance, staring at Lana. + +"No, no!" said the Senator, hastily. "Not business--not business, wholly. +A neighborly call, Stewart! The Governor, Mr. Daunt, Lana--all of us to +pay our respects. But"--he glanced around the big room--"now that we're +here, and the time will be so crowded after the legislature assembles, why +not let Daunt express some of his views on the power situation? Without +you and your support nothing can be done. We must develop our noble old +state! Where is your private office?" + +"I have never needed one," confessed Stewart; it was a pregnant hint as to +the Morrison methods. "I never expected to be honored as I am to-day." + +The Hon. Calvin Dow was posted near a window in a big chair, comfortably +reading one of Stewart's newspapers. Several other citizens of Marion, +sheep of such prominence that they could not be shooed away with the mere +goats who had been excluded, were waiting an audience with the mayor. + +"You understand, of course, that there is no secrecy--that is to say, no +secrecy beyond the usual business precautions involved," protested the +Senator. The frank query in Stewart's eyes had been a bit disconcerting. +"But to have matters of business bandied ahead of time by the mouth of +gossip, on half-information, is as damaging as all this ridiculous talk +that's now rioting through the city regarding politics." + +"It's all an atrocious libel on my administration," exploded Governor +North. "It's damnable nonsense!" + +"Old Dog Tray," when he had occasion to bark, was not noted for polite +reticence. + +Lana took Coventry Daunt's arm and started off with an elaborate display +of mock terror. "And now politics goes whirling, too! My, how the ground +shakes! Mister Mayor, I'll promise you more serene conditions on Corson +Hill this evening." + +There was an unmistakable air of proprietorship in her manner with the +young man who accompanied her. + +The Governor shook his finger before the mayor's face and, in his complete +absorption in his own tribulation, failed to remark that he was not +receiving undivided attention. "I'm depending on men like you, Morrison. I +have dropped in here to-day to tell you that I'm depending on you." + +Senator Corson had apparently convinced himself that the mill office of +St. Ronan's was too much of an open-faced proposition; it seemed more like +an arena than a conference-room. Dow and the waiting gentlemen of Marion +showed that they were frankly interested in the Governor's outbreak. Right +then there were new arrivals. + +The Senator hastily made himself solitaire manager of that particular +chess-game and ordered moves: "Lana, wait with Coventry in the car. We'll +be only a moment. At my house this evening it will be a fine opportunity +for you and Daunt to have your little chat, Stewart, and get together to +push the grand project for our good state." + +"Yes," agreed Morrison; "I'll be glad to come." He was giving the young +woman and her escort his close attention and spoke as if he meant what he +said. He blinked when the door closed behind them. + +"And what say if you wait till then, Governor, to confer with the +mayor--if you really find that there is need of a conference?" suggested +the director of moves. + +"But I want to tell you right now, Morrison, seeing that you're mayor of +the city where our state Capitol is located, that I expect your full +co-operation in case of trouble to-night or to-morrow," His Excellency +declared, with vigor. + +"Oh, there will be no trouble," asserted the Senator, airily. "Coming in +fresh from the outside--from a wider horizon--I can estimate the situation +with a better sense of proportion than you can, North, if you'll allow me +to say so. We can always depend on the sane reliability of our grand old +state!" + +The Governor was not reassured or placated. + +"And you can always depend on a certain number of sore-heads to make fools +of themselves here--you could depend on it in the old days; it's worse in +these times when everybody is ready to pitch into a row and clapper-claw +right and left simply because they're aching for a fight." + +The closed door had no more revelations to offer to Morrison; he turned +his mystified gaze on the Senator and the Governor as if he desired to +solve at least one of the problems that had come to hand all of a sudden. + +"I can take care of things up on Capitol Hill, Morrison! I'm the Governor +of this state and I have been re-elected to succeed myself, and that ought +to be proof that the people are behind me. But I want you to see to it +that the damnation mob-hornets are kept at home in the city here, where +they belong." + +"When father kept bees I used to save many a hiveful for him by banging on +mother's dishpan when they started to swarm. As to the hornets--" + +"I don't care what you bang on," broke in His Excellency. "On their heads, +if they show them! But do I have your co-operation in the name of law and +order?" + +"You may surely depend on me, even if I'm obliged to mobilize Mac Tavish +and his paper-weights," said the mayor, and for the first time in the +memory of Miss Bunker, at least, Mac Tavish flushed; the paymaster had +been hoping that the laird o' St. Ronan's had not noted the full extent of +the belligerency that had been displayed in making mill rules respected. + +But the abstraction that had marked Morrison's demeanor when he had looked +over the Governor's head at the closed door and the later glint of jest in +his eyes departed suddenly. The eyes narrowed. + +"You talk of trouble that's impending this night, Governor North!" + +"There'll be no trouble," insisted the Senator. + +"Fools can always stir a row," declared His Excellency, with just as much +emphasis. "Fools who are led by rascals! Rascals who would wreck an +express train for the chance to pick pocketbooks off corpses! There's been +that element behind every piece of political hellishness and every strike +we've had in this country in the last two years since the Russian bear +stood up and began to dance to that devil's tune! On the eve of the +assembling of this legislature, Morrison, you're probably hearing the +blacklegs in the other party howl 'state steal' again!" + +"No, I haven't heard any such howl--not lately--not since the November +election," said Morrison. "Why are they starting it now?" + +"I don't know," retorted the Governor. But the mayor's stare was again +wide-open and compelling, and His Excellency's gaze shifted to Mac Tavish +and then jumped off that uncomfortable object and found refuge on the +ceiling. + +"The licked rebels know! They're the only ones who do know," asserted the +Senator. + +Col. Crockett Shaw, practical politician, felt qualified to testify as an +expert. "Those other fellows won't play the game according to the rules, +Morrison! They sit in and draw cards and then beef about the deal and rip +up the pasteboards and throw 'em on the floor and try to grab the pot. +They won't play the game!" + +"That's it exactly!" the Governor affirmed. + +Senator Corson patted Morrison's arm. "Now that you're in politics for +yourself, Stewart, you can see the point, can't you?" + +"I don't think I'm in politics, sir," demurred the mayor, smiling +ingenuously. "At any rate, there isn't much politics in _me!_" + +"But the game must be played by the rules!" Senator Corson spoke with the +finality of an oracle. + +"If you don't think that way," persisted Governor North, nettled by +Morrison's hesitancy in jumping into the ring with his own party, "what +_do_ you think?" + +"I wouldn't presume," drawled Stewart, "to offer political opinions to +gentlemen of your experience. However, now that you ask me a blunt +question, I'm going to reply just as bluntly--but as a business man! I +believe that running the affairs of the people on the square is +business--it ought to be made good business. Governor North, you're at the +head of the biggest corporation in our state. That corporation is the +state itself. And I don't believe the thing ought to be run as a +game--naming the game politics." + +"That's the only way the thing can be run--and you've got to stand by your +own party when it's running the state. You need a little lesson in +politics, Morrison, and I'm going to show you--" + +The mayor of Marion raised a protesting hand. "I never could get head nor +tail out of a political oration, sir. But I do understand facts and +figures. Let's get at facts! Is this trouble you speak of as imminent--is +it due to the question of letting certain members of the House and Senate +take their seats to-morrow?" + +"I must go into that matter with you in detail!" + +"It has been gone into with detail in the newspapers till I'm sick of it, +with all due respect to you, Governor North. It has been played back and +forth like a game--and I don't understand games. There has been no more +talk of trouble since you and your executive council let it be known that +all the members were to walk into the State House and take their seats and +settle among themselves their rights." + +"We never deliberately and decisively let that be known." + +"Then it has been guessed by your general attitude, sir. That's the common +talk--and the common talk comes to me like it does to all others. That +talk has smoothed things. Why not keep things smooth?" + +"Breaking election laws to keep sore-heads smooth? Is that your idea of +politics?" + +"You cannot get me into any argument over politics, sir! I'm talking about +the business of the state. I have found that I could do business openly in +this office. It has served me even though it has no private room. I say +nothing against you and your council because you have done the state's +business behind closed doors at the State House. However--" + +"The law obliges us to canvass returns in executive session, Morrison." + +"I say nothing against the business you have done there," proceeded +Morrison, inexorably. "I can't say anything. I don't know what has been +done. I'm in no position, therefore, to criticize. If I did know I'd +probably have, good reason to praise you state managers as good and +faithful servants of our people. But the people don't know. You have left +'em to guess. It's their business. It's bad policy to keep folks guessing +when their own business is concerned. What's the matter with throwing wide +the doors to-morrow and saying 'Come along in, people, and we'll talk this +over'?" + +"That's admitting the mob to riot, to intimidate, to rule!" + +"Impractical--wholly impractical, Stewart," the Senator chided. + +Calvin Dow came toward the group, stuffing his spectacles back into their +case. Given a decoration for his coat lapel, the Hon. Calvin Dow, with his +white mustache and his imperial, would have served for an excellent model +in a study of a marshal of France. His intrusion, if such it was, was not +resented; with his old-school manners and his gentle voice he was the +embodiment of apology that demanded acceptance. "Jodrey, you never said a +truer word. As old politicians, you and I, we understand just how +impractical such an idea is. But I must be allowed to put the emphasis +very decidedly on the word 'old.' There seems to be something new in the +air all of a sudden." + +"Yes, a fresh crop of moonshiners in politics," was the Senator's acrid +response. "And the stuff they're putting out is as raw and dangerous as +this prohibition-ducking poison." + +"The trouble is, Jodrey," pursued the old man, gently, but undeterred, +"those honest folks who really do own the country show signs of waking up +and wanting to pay off the mortgage the politicians hold on it; and those +radicals who think they're going to own the country right soon, now, +believe they can turn the trick overnight by killing off the politicians +and browbeating the proprietors. It looks to me as if the politicians and +the real owners better hitch up together on a clean, business basis." + +"Excellent! Excellent!" declared Banker Daunt, who had been shifting +uneasily from foot to foot, chafing his heavy neck against the beaver +collar, perceiving that his own projects were only marking time. "Hitch up +on a better business basis! It should be the slogan of the times. Eh, +Mister Mayor?" + +"Right you are! crisply agreed Stewart, complimenting Daunt with a cheery +smile that promised excellent understanding. + +"And harmony among the progressive leaders of city and state! Eh, Mister +Mayor? What say, Governor North?" The metropolitan Mr. Daunt was not +disposed to allow his commercial proposition to be run away with by a +stampeding political team. + +"That's what I'm asking for--the co-operation that will fetch harmony," +admitted the Governor, grudgingly. "But--" + +However, when His Excellency turned to the mayor with the plain intent of +getting down to a working understanding, Mr. Daunt broke up what +threatened to be an embarrassing clinch. As if carried away by enthusiasm +in meeting one of his own kind in business affairs, Daunt grabbed +Morrison's hand and pulled the mayor away with him toward the door, +assuring him that he was glad to pitch in, heart and soul, with a man who +had the best interests of a grand state to conserve and develop in the +line of water-power. Then he went on as if quoting from a prospectus. + +"When the veins and the arteries of old Mother Earth have been drained of +the coal and oil, Mr. Morrison, God's waters will still be flowing along +the valleys, roaring down the cliffs, ready to turn the wheels of +commerce. On the waters we must put our dependence. They are the Creator's +best heritage to His people, in lifting and making light the burden of +labor!" was the promoter's pompous declaration. + +"You cannot shout that truth too loudly, sir! I have been crying it, +myself. But I always add with my cry the warning that if the people don't +look sharp, the folks who hogged the other heritages, grabbed the iron, +hooked onto the coal, and have posted themselves at the tap o' the +nation's oil-can, will have the White Coal, too! God will still make water +run downhill, but it will run for the profit of the men who peddle what it +performs. I'll be glad to have you help me in that warning!" + +"Exactly!" agreed Mr. Daunt. "When you and I are thoroughly _en rapport_, +we can accomplish wonders." His rush of the willing Morrison to the door +had accomplished one purpose: he had created a diversion that staved off +further political disagreement for the moment. "You must pardon my haste +in being off, Mister Mayor. Senator Corson has promised to motor me along +the river as far as possible before lunch, so that I may inspect the +water-power possibilities. Come, Governor North!" he called. + +Daunt again addressed Morrison. "The Senator tells me that your mill +privilege is the key power on the river." + +"Aye, sir! The Morrison who was named Angus built the first dam," stated +Stewart, with pride. "But we have never hoarded the water nor hampered the +others who have come after us. We use what we need--only that--and let the +water flow free--and we're glad to see it go down to turn other wheels +than our own. Without the many wheels a-turning there would not have been +the many homes a-building!" + +"Exactly! Development--along the broadest lines! Do you promise me your +aid and your co-operation?" + +"I do," declared Stewart. + +"You're the kind of a man who makes a spoken word of that sort more +binding than a written pledge with a notarial seal." Again Daunt shook the +Morrison hand. "I consider it settled!" + +Daunt's wink when he grabbed Morrison had tipped off Senator Corson, and +the latter collaborated with alacrity; he hustled the Governor toward the +door. "We must show Daunt all we can before lunch, Your Excellency! All +the possibilities of the grand old state!" + +"I haven't got your promise for myself, Morrison," snapped North over his +shoulder. "But I reckon I can depend on you to do as much for your party +and for law and order as you'll do for the sake of a confounded mill-dam. +And we'll leave it that way!" + +"There'll be no trouble, I repeat," promised Senator Corson, making +himself file-closer. "North has been sticking too close to politics on +Capitol Hill, and he has let it make him nervous. But we'll put festivity +ahead of everything else on Corson Hill, to-night, and the girls will be +on hand to make the boys all sociable. Come early, Stewart!" + +The mayor flung up his hand--a boyish gesture of faith in the best. "Hail +to you as a peacemaker! We have been needing you! We're glad you're home +again, sir." + +For a few moments he turned his back on the business of the city, as it +awaited him in the persons of the citizens. He went to the front window +and gazed at the Corson limousine until it rolled away; Lana had Coventry +Daunt with her in the cozy intimacy afforded by the twin seats forward in +the tonneau. + +"They make a smart-looking couple, bub," commented Calvin Dow, feeling +perfectly free to stand at Stewart's elbow to inspect any object that the +younger man found of interest. "Is it to be a hitch, as the gossip runs?" + +"There seems to be some gossip that's running ahead of my ken in this city +just now, Calvin!" The mayor frowned, his eyes fixed on the departing car. +His demeanor hinted that his thoughts were wholly absorbed by the persons +in that car. "I hope you're spry enough to catch it. Go find out for me, +will you, what the blue mischief they're up to?" + +"In politics? Or--" + +"In politics! Yes!" returned Morrison, tartly. "What other kind of gossip +would I be interested in, this day?" + +He snapped himself around on his heels and started toward the men who were +waiting. He singled one and clapped brisk hands smartly with the air of a +man who wanted to wake himself from the abstraction of bothersome visions. +"Well, Mister Public Works, how about the last lap of paving on McNamee +Avenue? Can we open up to-morrow? I plan on showing our arriving +legislative cousins clean thoroughfares on Capitol Hill, you know!" + +"I'm losing fourteen men off the job at noon today, Your Honor! Grabbed +off without notice," grumbled the superintendent. + +"Grabbed off for what?" + +"Well, maybe, to keep our paving-blocks from being thrown through the +windows of the State House!" + +"Who is taking those men from their work?" + +"The adjutant-general. They're Home Guard boys." + +"Something busted out in Patagonia needing the attention of a League of +Nations army?" inquired the mayor, putting an edge of satire on his +astonishment. + +The superintendent shot a swift stare past the mayor. "Perhaps Danny +Sweetsir, there, can tell you--_Captain_ Daniel Sweetsir." The public +works man copied the mayor's sarcasm by dwelling on the title he applied +to Sweetsir. + +The mayor took a look, too. + +A young man in overalls and jumper had hurried into the office from the +private passage; he was trotting toward a closet in one corner. He had the +privileges of the office because he was "a mill student," studying the +textile trade, and was a son of the Morrison's family physician. + +Sweetsir shucked off his jumper, leaped out of his overalls, threw them in +at the closet door, and was revealed in full uniform of O. D. except for +cap and sword. He secured those two essentials of equipment from the +closet and strode toward the rail, buckling on his sword. + +Miss Bunker was surveying him with telltale and proprietary pride that was +struggling with an expression of utter amazement. + +"The deil-haet ails 'em a' this day!" exploded Mac Tavish. The banked +fires of his smoldering grudges blazed forth in a sudden outburst of words +that revealed the hopes he had been hiding. His natural cautiousness in +his dealings with the master went by the board. "Noo it's yer time, chief! +I'll hae at 'em--the whole fause, feth'rin' gang o' the tykes, along wi' +ye! Else it's heels o'er gowdie fer the woolen business." + +Morrison flicked merely a glance of mystification at Mac Tavish. The +master's business was with his mill student. "What's wrong with you, +Danny? Hold yourself for a moment on that side of the rail where you're +still a man of the mill! I'm afraid of a soldier, like you'll be when +you're out here in the mayor's office," he explained, softening the +situation with humor. "What does it mean?" + +"The whole company of the St. Ronan's Rifles has been ordered to the +armory, sir. The adjutant-general just informed me over the mill 'phone." + +"What's amiss?" + +Captain Sweetsir saluted stiffly. "I am not allowed to ask questions of a +superior officer, sir, or to answer questions put by a civilian. I am now +a soldier on duty, sir!" + +"Come through the rail." + +The officer obeyed and stood before Morrison. + +"Now, Captain, you're in the office of the mayor of Marion, and the mayor +officially asks you why the militia has been ordered out in his city?" + +Again Captain Sweetsir saluted. "Mister Mayor, I refer you to my superior +officer, the adjutant-general of the state." + +Morrison promptly shook the young man cordially by the hand. "That's the +talk, Captain Sweetsir! Attend honestly to whatever job you're on! It's my +own motto." + +"I try to do it, Mr. Morrison. You have always set me the example!" + +Mac Tavish groaned. He saw mill discipline going into the garbage along +with everything else that had been sane and sensible and regular at St. +Ronan's. And the Morrison himself had come from the mill that day ten +minutes ahead of the hour! + +"So, on with you, lad, and do your duty!" Stewart forwarded Sweetsir with +a commendatory clap of the palm on the barred shoulder. + +Calvin Dow was lingering. "We mustn't let the youngsters shame us, +Calvin," Morrison murmured in the old man's ear. "We all seem to have our +jobs cut out for us--and I can't tend to mine in an understanding way till +you have attended to yours." + +The veteran saluted as smartly as had the soldier and trudged away on the +heels of Sweetsir. + +"Ain't there any way of your making that infernal old tin soldier up at +the State House lay his paws off our paving crew?" asked the +superintendent. + +"Hush, Baldwin!" chided the mayor, unruffled, speaking indulgently. "We +seem to have a new war on the board! Have you forgotten, after all that +has been happening in this world, that in time of war we must sacrifice +public improvements and private enterprises? Go on and do your best with +the paving." + +"Hell is paved with good intentions, but I can't put 'em down on McNamee +Avenue." + +"Of course not, Baldwin! That would be using war material that will be +urgently needed, if I'm any judge of these times." + +"How's that, Mister Mayor?" + +"Why, the hell architects seem to be planning an extension of the +premises," drawled Morrison. + + + + +III + +THE MORRISON ASSUMES SOME CONTRACTS + + +In the past, each day after lunch, Mac Tavish had been enabled to get back +to the sanity of a well-conducted woolen-mill business; in the peace that +descended on the office afternoons he put out of his mind the nightmare of +the forenoons and tried not to think too much of what the morrows +promised. + +Stewart Morrison had caused it to be known in Marion that he reserved +afternoons for the desk affairs of St. Ronan's mill. + +Mac Tavish always brought his lunch; he cooked it himself in his bachelor +apartment and warmed it up in the office over a gas-burner at high noon. + +While he was brushing the crumbs of an oaten cake off his desk, six men +filed in. He knew them well. They were from the Marion Chamber of +Commerce; they made up the Industrial Development Committee. + +"I'm afraid we're a bit too early to see the mayor," suggested Chairman +Despeaux. + +"Ye are! Nigh twenty-two hours too early to see the mayor!" + +"But we 'phoned the house and were told he had left to come to the +office!" + +"The mayor--mind ye, the _mayor_--he cooms frae the mill at--" + +Mac Tavish remembered the crashing blow to his proud pronunciamiento that +forenoon, and his natural caution regarding statements caused him to +hesitate. "He is supposed to coom frae the mill at ten o'clock, +antemeridian! Postmeridian, Master Morrison, of St. Ronan's--not the +mayor--he cooms to his desk yon--well, when he cooms isna the concern o' +those who are speirin for a mayor." + +The gentlemen of the committee exchanged wise grins, suggestively sardonic +grins, and sat down. + +Mac Tavish, bristling in silence over his figures, was comforted by the +ever-springing hope that this intrusion might serve as the last straw on +the overloaded Morrison endurance. + +He perked up expectantly when Stewart came striding in. Then he wilted +despondently, because Morrison greeted the gentlemen with breezy +hospitality, led them beyond the rail, and gave them chairs near his desk. + +"Command me! I am at your service!" + +"We're on our way to Senator Corson's. We have been invited to meet Mr. +Daunt at lunch," said Despeaux; a thin veneer of suavity suited his thin +lips. + +"Fine!" + +"I'm glad to hear you say so. We felt that we'd like your opinion of him +and his plans before we commit ourselves." + +"I like his personality," stated Stewart, heartily. "But I have only a +general notion of his plans." + +"Same here," admitted the chairman, though not in a tone of convincing +sincerity. "The Senator brought him into my office for a minute or so +before they started up-river. Told me to get the boys together and come +for lunch. But if it's to put the water-power of this state on a bigger +and broader basis, you and the storage commission are with us, aren't +you?" Despeaux demanded rather than queried; his air was a bit offensive. + +"I'm a citizen of Marion and a native of this state, body and soul for all +the good that can come to us, by our own efforts or through the aid of +outsiders," declared Morrison, spacking his palm upon the arm of his +chair. + +"Well, I guess we don't need any better promise than that, for a starter, +at any rate. Of course, we knew it--but there's nothing like having a +right-out word of mouth." Despeaux rose and pulled out his watch. "We'd +better move on toward the eats, boys!" + +"Just a moment, however, Despeaux! My father was a Morrison and my mother +a Mac Dougal. I can't help what's in me!" + +"What is it that's in you?" inquired Despeaux, pausing in the act of +putting back his watch. + +"Scotch cautiousness!" + +"You don't suspect that a man like the big Silas Daunt, of Daunt and +Cropley--" + +"I don't suspect. I haven't got as far as that! But I want to know exactly +what he means by coming into this state. I have a man out getting me some +facts about what kind of a devil's mess is being stirred up all of a +sudden to-day in politics. Suppose you get under Daunt's hide and find out +whether he wants to _do_ us or do _for_ us, on the water-power matter." + +An observant bystander would have perceived a queer sort of crispness in +Morrison's manner from the outset of the interview; the same perspicacity +would have detected something hard under the smooth surface of Despeaux's +early politeness. Mr. Despeaux was not so elaborately polite when he +retorted that he did not propose to play the spy on a guest while eating a +host's victuals. + +Mr. Morrison promptly put more of a snap into his crispness. + +"Having balanced to partners, for politeness's sake, Despeaux, we'll take +hold of hands and swing, with both feet on the floor. That was a good job +you did in the legislative lobby two years ago for the crowd that called +itself 'The Consolidated Development Company.' You're a smart lawyer and +we had hard work beating you." + +"I'll tell you what you franchise-owners did, Morrison! You beat a grand +and comprehensive plan that was going to take in the whole state." + +"It did take in a lot of folks for a time, but, thank God, it didn't take +in a few of us who were wise to the scheme. I know why you have called on +me to-day. But you haven't put me on record. Let no man of you think I +have made a pledge or have committed myself till I know what's what!" + +"You're Scotch, all right, Morrison. You're canny! You're for yourself and +the main chance. Now let me tell you! You caught us foul two years ago +because you jumped the newspapers into coming out with broadsides about a +thing they didn't understand. Their half-baked scare stuff made the state +think somebody was trying to steal the whole water-power." + +"According to that general franchise bill, as it was framed, somebody +was!" + +"Morrison, in the last two years the people have been educated to +understand that broad-gaged consolidation of water-power is what we must +have." + +"You have put out good propaganda. That fellow you have hired is a mighty +fine press-agent," admitted Morrison, smiling ingenuously. + +"And the men who get in the way and try to trig development this year will +be ticketed before an understanding public for what they are," declared +Despeaux. + +"Try me as a part of the public, and see whether I'll understand! Ticketed +as what, Brother Despeaux?" + +"As profiting dogs in the manger of manufacturing, sir!" + +There were expostulatory murmurs in the group. + +"We're rather non-committal as a body on this matter, Despeaux," protested +a committeeman. "We're waiting to be shown. In the mean time, we don't +like to have a man like Morrison here called any hard names." + +"Oh, I don't mind being called a watch-dog, boys! That's what I am. So you +think I'm wholly selfish, do you, Despeaux?" + +"The water-power franchises of this state were grabbed away from the +people years ago, like the timber-lands were, by first-comers, and the +state got nothing! The waters belong to the people. The people have a +right to realize on their property! Morrison, considering what kind of a +free gift you had handed to you, you've got to be careful about the +position you take in these enlightened days when the people propose to +profit from their own. It's mighty easy to shift public opinion these +days!" + +"Yes, I have seen tons of sand shifted in no time by a stream from a +squirt-gun," confessed Morrison, placidly. + +"And that leaves it a fifty-fifty break between us on the name-calling +proposition," rejoined Despeaux, "I'll bid you a kind good day!" He strode +away and his group trailed him. + +A deprecating committeeman turned back, however. "I know you are honest, +Morrison. But a lot of us are beginning to think that the general policy +in the state regarding outside capital has been a bit too conservative. +These are new times." + +"Very!" said the mayor, pleasantly. "They're creaking about as loud as +Squire Despeaux's new shoes." There was a snarl of ire from the shoes +every time the retreating chairman lifted a foot. "I hope they won't pinch +us, Doddridge! Good day!" He sat down at his desk. + +Mac Tavish held his place on his stool in silence for a long time. The +stiffness of his neck seemed to embrace all his members, even his tongue. +Miss Bunker came in from her lunch, bringing the afternoon mail. Mac +Tavish maintained his silence while Morrison picked out what were patently +his personal letters before surrendering the others to the girl to be +opened and assorted. Mac Tavish waited till his master had gone through +his personal mail. The paymaster maintained a demeanor of what may be +termed hopeful apprehension; this baiting, this impugning of honesty must +needs turn the trick! No Morrison would stand for it! Mac Tavish found the +laird's suppression of all comment promisingly bodeful. The fuse must be +sizzling. There would be an explosion! + +But Morrison began to play a lively tattoo on his desk with the knob of a +paper-slitter and whistled "The Campbells Are Coming, Hurrah, Hurrah!" +with the cheery gusto of a man who had not a care to trouble him. + +"Snoolin' and snirtlin' o'er it!" spat the old man. + +"Eh?" queried Stewart, amiably. + +"Do ye let whigmaleeries flimmer in yer noddle at a time like this?" + +"Why, Andy, speaking of a day like this, you'd have the crochets whiffed +from your head if you'd go out for your lunch in the pep of the air +instead of penning yourself in the office." + +Mac Tavish leaped from his stool and marched toward this non-combatant. +"Whaur's the fire o' yer spunk, Stewart Morrison?" + +"Go on, Andy!" permitted the master, leaning back in his chair. + +"Do ye allow such feckless loons to coom and beard ye in yer ain castle?" + +"Andy, if I were playing their game, as they call it, I'd say that I'm +going to give 'em all a chance to lay their cards, face up, on the table. +But, putting it in a way you and I understand, I'm touching a match to +their goods." + +Mac Tavish nodded approvingly. He did understand that metaphor. A burning +match will not ignite pure wool; threads of shoddy will catch fire. + +"Aye! The fire test o' the fabric! Well and gude! But the toe o' yer boot +for 'em. Such was ca'd for when he said ye set yer ainsel' in the way for +muckle profeet!" + +"Soft! Soft and slow, Andy," reproved the master. "There may be some truth +in what he said. I'll have to stop right here and do some thinking about +it! A chap gets to slamming ahead in his own line, you know. All of us +ought to stop short once in a while and make a cold, calm estimate. Take +account of stock! Balance the books! Discover how much of it is for +ourselves, personally, and how much for the other fellow! No telling how +the figures of debit and credit may surprise us!" + +He spun around in his swivel chair. + +"Lora, get Mr. Blanchard of the Conawin Mills on the 'phone, that's the +girl!" + +"Yes, Andy, I'm going to get down to the figures in my case! I hope +there's a balance in my favor--but we never can tell!" + +He set his elbows on his desk and clutched his hands into the hair above +his temples. Mac Tavish tiptoed away. Morrison had apparently prostrated +himself in the fane of figures; in the case of Mac Tavish figures were +holy. + +"Mr. Blanchard on the 'phone, Mr. Morrison," reported Miss Bunker. + +Morrison put questions, quickly, emphatically, searchingly. He listened. +He hung up. "Memo., Miss Bunker." He was curt. His eyes were hard. One +observing his manner and hearing his tone would have realized that quarry +had broken cover and that Mr. Blanchard had not been able to confuse the +trail by dragging across it an anise-bag; in fact, Morrison had said so +over the telephone just before he hung up. "Get me Cooper of the Waverly, +Finitter of the Lorton Looms, Labarre of the Bleachery, Sprague of the +Bates." He named four of the great textile operators of the river. "One +after the other, as I finish with each!" + +After he had finished with all, pondering while he waited between calls, +he strode to Mac Tavish and brought the old man around on his stool by a +clap on the shoulder. "A devil of a mouser, I am! I've been sitting +purring on the top and they have hollowed it out underneath me." + +"Eh? What?" + +"The cheese, Andy, the water-power cheese! They have been playing me for +the cat in the case! Left me till the last, left me sitting on an empty +shell! The mice have made away with the cheese from under me. They have +engineered a combine! There's a syndicate a-forming! It's for me to tumble +down among 'em when the shell caves. I was right about Despeaux!" + +"He's Auld Bartie, wi'out the horns!" + +"Oh no! Not as smart as Satan, Andy! But smart, nevertheless! Very smart. +He has shown 'em a good thing. They're ready to run in! And the devil take +the hindmost. I'm the hindmost and I'd better get a gait on." + +"But the company ye'll be keeping!" + +"You don't suppose that I'll run away from the mice instead of after 'em, +do you?" + +"A thoct has been wi' me, Master Morrison! May I speak it?" + +"Out with it!" + +"Ye'll ne'er find a better chance to break from the kin o' Auld Cloven +Cootie and mind yer ain wi' the claith business! Resign!" + +"It's good advice, backed up by a good excuse, Andy!" + +"And noo that I may speak freely," rattled on the old man, after a gasp of +delight, "I can tell ye how I hae been list'nin' for yer interests till +ten o' the clock each forenoon, and the dyvor loons--deil tak' it, and +here cooms back one o' the waurst o' the widdifu's." + +It was the Hon. Calvin Dow and Morrison hurried to meet him. "Sum it +short, Uncle Calvin!" + +"They're going to play straight politics, Stewart." + +"God save the state--in times like these!" + +"They're going to admit to seats only the Senators and Representatives who +are clearly and indisputably elected by the face of the returns." + +"The picked and the chosen!" scoffed Morrison. + +"The matter of the right to take seats is going to be referred to the full +bench instead of being left to the legislature--taken out of politics, +they say." + +"Going to be put into cold storage, with all due respect to our eminent +justices!" + +"It means the careful weighing of evidence--and the courts are obliged to +move with judicial slowness, Stewart!" + +"And in the mean time those picked and chosen ones will elect the state +officers whom the legislature has the power to name, will have the +machinery to distribute all state patronage and to make the legislative +committees safe for the big measures. There's no telling when the bench +will hand down a decision." + +"No telling, Stewart!" admitted the sage. + +"After it has been done, it will be hard to undo it, no matter what the +judges may decide as to members." + +"But we can't throw the law out of the window, my son! On the outside of +the thing, the Big Boys on Capitol Hill are playing the game strictly +according to the legal rules. The legal rules, understand! On the +outside!" Dow's emphasis on certain words was significant. He put up his +hand and drew Morrison's head down close to his mouth. He began to +whisper. + +"Talk out loud, Calvin!" commanded Stewart, jerking away. "Keep in the +habit of talking out loud with me! I won't even talk politics in a +whisper." + +"It really shouldn't be talked out, not at this time," expostulated Dow, +wedded to the old ways. "I have had to burrow deep for it. It ought to be +saved carefully--to do business with later! To win a stroke in politics +it's necessary to jump the people with a sensation!" + +"Try it on me! I'm one of the people. See if it will work," insisted +Morrison, after the manner of his methods with Despeaux. + +"They propose to go according to the strict letter of the law." + +"Important but not sensational." + +Dow was plainly having hard work to keep his voice above a whisper. +"Returns not properly sworn to or not attested in due form by city clerks, +returns not signed in open town meeting or otherwise defective on account +of strictly technical errors, no matter how plainly the intent of the +voters was registered, have been finally and definitely thrown out by +North and his executive council, acting as a canvassing board." + +"Damn'd picayune hair-splitting! Why can't they use business horse-sense?" + +"I'll tell you what they've used! They've used Tim Snell and Waddy Sturges +and a few other safe hounds with muffled paws to run around and lug back +to cities and towns deficient returns and have 'em quietly and secretly +corrected where it was a case of adding a safe man to the legislature. I +know that, Stewart. I know how to make some of my close friends brag to +me. I know it, but I can't prove it. Clean-scrubbed are the faces of those +returns. They'll show up to-morrow like the faces of the good boys on the +first day at school." + +"That's North's idea of that game he was talking about, is it?" Morrison +exploded. "I don't believe that Senator Corson knows about those dirty +details, or is a party to 'em." + +"Well," asserted the Hon. Calvin Dow, stroking his nose contemplatively, +"Jodrey and I used to cut sharp corners on two wheels of the four of the +old wagon, in past times when he was a politician. But now that he's a +statesman he doesn't like to be bothered by details." + +"Do you see any joke to this, Calvin?" demanded Morrison, not relishing +the veteran's chuckle. + +"I can't help seeing the humor," confessed Dow, blandly. "The other, boys +would be grinding the same grist if they had control of the machinery. +It's only what I myself used to do." Then his face became grave. "But, +confound it! in these days there seems to be an element that can't take a +joke in politics. There's trouble in the air!" + +"Probably!" agreed Morrison, dryly. + +Dow walked to the window and looked out with the air of a man who wanted +proof to confirm a statement. "I reckon I'll let you be informed direct +from Trouble Headquarters, Stewart. Headquarters was at the Soldiers' +Memorial in the park when I came past. I gathered that they were picking +out a delegation to call on you. Post-Commander Lanigan of the American +Legion was doing the picking. He's heading the bunch that I see coming +across the street." + +"Resign!" barked Mac Tavish through his wicket. But the mayor of Marion +did not appear to hear, nor Calvin Dow to understand. + +Morrison faced the door of his office. + +Lanigan led in his companions with the marching stride of an overseas +veteran and halted them with a top-sergeant's yelp. Click o' heels and +snap o' the arm! The salute made Captain Sweetsir's previous effort seem +torpid by comparison. That a further comparison with Home Guard methods +and morale was in Commander Lanigan's mind became promptly evident. + +"Your Honor the Mayor, we represent John P. Dunn Post, American Legion, +and the independent young men of this city in general. May we have a word +with you?" + +"Certainly, Mr. Commander!" + +In the stress of his emotions Lanigan immediately sloughed off his +official air. "It's a hell of a note when a bunch of sissy slackers can +keep real soldiers ten feet from the door of the city armory at the end of +a bayonet." + +The mayor strolled over and placed a placatory palm on the shoulder of the +spokesman. "What's, all the row, Joe? Let's not get excited!" + +"I have been away fighting for liberty and justice and I don't know what's +been going on in politics at home. I don't know anything about politics." + +"Nor I, Joe, so let's not try to discuss 'em. What else?" + +"They've got three machine-guns up in our State House. What for? They are +going to put in them sissy slackers--" + +"Let's not call names, Joe. Those boys would have followed you across if +you boys hadn't been so all-fired smart that you cleaned it all up in a +hurry! What else?" + +"Why have a gang of politicians got to barricade our State House against +the people?" + +"Let's keep cool, Joe, my boy, and find out." + +"They won't let us in to find out. How are we going to find out?" + +"Why, I was thinking of doing something in that line--thinking about it +just before you came in." + +Lanigan looked relieved, also a bit ashamed. "Excuse me for being pretty +hot, Mr. Morrison. But the boys have been saying we couldn't depend on +anybody to stand up for the people. By gad! I told 'em we'd come to you. +Says I, 'All-Wool Morrison is our kind!'" + +"I hope the name fits the goods, Joe! Suppose you boys keep all quiet and +calm for the good name of the city and let me find out how the thing +stands?" + +He was assured of support and compliance by a chorus of voices. + +Lanigan trailed the chorus in solo. "Does that settle it? I'll say it +does. It's up to you--the whole thing. You've given us the word of a +square man! We can depend on you. And we thank you for taking the full +responsibility for seeing to it that the people get theirs--and not in the +neck, either!" + +But the mayor looked like a man who had stretched forth his hand to take a +kitten and had had an elephant tossed at him. "It's a pretty big contract, +that! See here, Joe--" + +"You're good for any contract you take on, sir! We should worry after what +you promise!" He whirled on his heels. "'Bout face! Forward, march!" He +followed them and turned at the door. "All the rest of the Big Ones seem +to be too almighty busy to bother with the common folks to-day, sir! The +Governor with his politics, the adjutant-general with his tin soldiers, +and the high and mighty Senator Corson with that party he's giving +to-night so as to spout socially the news that his daughter is engaged to +marry a millionaire dude. Thank God, we've got a man who 'ain't taken up +with anything of that sort and can put all his mind on to a square deal!" + +Morrison did not turn immediately to face the three persons, his familiars +in the office of St. Ronan's. He clasped his hands behind him and went to +the window, as if to survey the departure of the delegation. + +"What with one thing and another, they're loading the boy up--they're +piling it on," observed Dow to Mac Tavish in sympathetic undertone. + +"He'll resign out o' the meeser-r-rable pother," growled Mac Tavish. "The +word he just gied the gillies! It was as much as to say, 'I'll be coomin' +along wi' ye from noo on.'" The old man's hankerings were helping his +persistent hope, in spite of his respect for the Morrison trait of +devotion to duty. + +"Resign, Andy! Confound it, he's only nailing his grit to the mast and +planning on what end of the row to tackle first. You'll see!" + +Stewart walked slowly, meditating deeply, went through the opening in the +rail, sat down at his desk and fumbled in a drawer and sought deeply under +many papers. He brought out a book, a worn volume. + +Calvin Dow, daring to peer more closely than Miss Bunker or Mac Tavish had +the courage to venture, noted that the place to which Morrison opened was +marked by a slip of paper, a snapshot photograph. + +"Miss Bunker!" called the master. "A memo.!" + +She came with her note-book and sat at the lid of the desk, facing him. + +"His resignation, I tell ye," whispered Mac Tavish. "I ken the look o' +detar-rmination!" + +"I want it typed on a narrow strip that I can slip into my pocketbook," +stated Stewart. Then, to all appearances entirely unconcerned with the +listening veterans, he dictated: + + "Meanwhile I was thinking of my first love, + As I had not been thinking of aught for years. + Till over my eyes there began to move + Something that felt like tears." + +Mac Tavish bent on Dow a wild look and swapped with the old pensioner of +the Morrisons a stare of amazement for one of bewildered concern. + + "I thought of the dress that she wore last time + When we stood 'neath the cypress-tree together + In that lost land, in that soft clime, + In the crimson evening weather. + + "Of that muslin dress (for the eve was hot) + And her warm white neck in its golden chain, + And her full, soft hair, just tied in a knot, + And falling loose again. + +"I thought of our little quarrels and strife, + And the letter that brought me back my ring. + And it all seemed then, in the waste of life, + Such a very little thing." + +The girl dabbed up her hand under pretense of fixing a lock of hair; she +scrubbed away tears that were trickling. So this was it! The powwow over +business and politics had not been stirring even languid interest in her. +Now her emotions were rioting. Here seemed to be something worth while in +the life of the master! + + "But I will marry my own first love + With her primrose face; for old things are best. + And the flower in her bosom I prize it above-- + +"My God!" Mac Tavish gasped. "Next he'll be playing jiggle-ma-ree wi' +dollies on his desk! His wits hae gane agley!" + +In the horror of his discovery he flung his arms and knocked off the desk +his full stock of paperweight ammunition. Then he was convinced beyond +doubt that the Morrison was daft. Stewart did not even raise his eyes from +the book; he kept on dictating above the clatter of the rolling weights; +his intentness on the matter in hand was that of a business man putting a +proposition on paper for the purpose of making it definite and cogent and +clear. + +But Stewart's thoughts were not at all clear, he was confessing to +himself; in spite of his assumed indifference, he was embarrassed by the +focused stares of Dow and Mac Tavish. He wondered what sudden, +devil-may-care whimsy was this that was galloping him away from business +and politics and every other sane subject! He was conscious that there was +in him a freakish and juvenile hankering to astonish his friends. + +He heard Dow say: "Oh, don't worry about the boy, Andy! We do strange +things in big times! Even Nero fiddled when Rome was burning!" + +Stewart finished the dictation and closed the book. + +"Losh! I canna understand!" mourned Mac Tavish, not troubling to hush his +tones. + +The girl hesitated, her gaze on her notes. Then she looked full into +Morrison's face, all her woman's intuitive and long-repressed sympathy in +her brimming eyes. "But I understand, sir!" She arose. She extended her +hand and when he took it she put into her clasp of his fingers what she +did not presume to say in words. + +"Thank you!" said Morrison. + +Then he left his chair and strolled across to the old men, while Miss +Bunker rattled her typewriter. "It begins to look, boys, like we're going +to have quite a large evening!" he remarked, sociably. + + + + +IV + +ANSWERING THE FIRST ALARM + + +After his dinner with his mother, Stewart went to the library-den, his own +room, the habitat consecrated to the males of the Morrison menage. He was +in formal garb for the reception at Senator Corson's. He removed and hung +up his dress-coat and pulled on his house-jacket; he was prompted to make +this precautionary change by a woolen man's innate respect for honest +goods as much as he was by his desire for homely comfort when he smoked. +He lighted a jimmy-pipe and marched up and down the room. He was +determined to give the situation a good going-over in his mind. + +He had settled many a problem in that old room! + +He was always helped by Grandfather Angus and Father David. + +When he walked in one direction he was looking at the portrait of Angus on +the end wall of the long narrow room; Angus bored him with eyes as hard as +steel buttons and out from the close-set lips seemed to issue many an +aphorism to put the grit into a man. + +From the opposite wall, when Morrison whirled on his heels, David looked +down. David's eyes had little, softening scrolls at the corners of them; +the artist had painted from life, in the case of David, and had caught the +glint of humor in the eyes. The picture of Angus had been enlarged from a +daguerreotype and seemed to lack some of the truly human qualities of +expression. But it was a strong face, the face of a pioneer who had come +into a strange land to make his way and to smooth that way for the +children who were to have life made easier for them. "Tak' it! Wi' all the +strength o' ye, reach oot and tak' it for yer ainsel' else ithers will +gr-rasp ahead and snigger at ye!" So said Angus from the wall, whenever +Stewart pondered on problems. + +But David, though the pictured countenance was resolute enough, always put +in a shrewd and cautionary amendment, whenever Stewart came down the room, +stiffened by the counsel of Angus, "Mind ye, laddie, when ye tak', that +the mon wha tak's slidd'ry serpents to tussle wi' 'em, he haes nae hand to +use for his ainsel' whilst the slickit beasties are alive; and a deid +snake serves nae guid." + +That evening Stewart was distinctly getting no help from either Angus or +David. They did not appear to understand his new and peculiar mood. He had +been in the habit of fusing their clashing arbitraments by a humor of his +own which he knew was fantastic, yet helpful according to his whimsical +custom, welding their judgments twain into one dominant counsel of +determination, softened by the spirit of fairness. + +But after he had plucked a certain slip of paper from his waistcoat +pocket, squinting at it through the pipe smoke, as he walked to and fro, +mumbling as if he were engaged in the task of memorizing, he ceased to +look up to Angus and David for assistance. He was sure they would not +know! Here were warp and woof of a fabric beyond their ken. He would not +admit to himself that he understood in full measure this emotion that had +come surging up in him, overwhelming and burying all the ordinarily +steadfast landmarks by which he regulated his daily thoughts and actions. +"I had built a dam," he muttered, using the metaphor that was natural, +"and I've been thinking it was safe and sure. Whether it wasn't strong +enough--whether it was undermined, I don't know. It has given way." + +There was a tap on the door and he hastily tucked the paper back into his +pocket. He knew it was his mother, trained in the way of the Morrisons to +respect the sanctuary of the family lairds when they were paying their +devotions at the shrine of business. + +"I'm saying my gude nicht to ye, bairnie, for ye're telling me ye'll no' +be hame till late," she said when he flung open the door. + +He copied affectionately her Scotch "braidness" of dialect when they were +alone together. "No, wee mither, not till late." + +He stepped out into the corridor and kissed her. She patted his cheek and +walked on. + +More of that whimsy into which he had been allowing his troubled emotions +to lead him! He realized it fully! His brow wrinkled, he shook his head, +but he called to her. He went to meet her when she returned. + +"It's like it is at the office, these days! I'm Morrison of St. Ronan's on +one side o' the rail; I'm the mayor of Marion on t'other! Here in the +corridor, ye're wee mither!" He put his arm about her and lifted her into +the library. "Coom awa' wi' ye, noo!" he cried. He threw himself into a +big chair and pulled her upon his knee. "Ye're Jeanie Mac Dougal--only a +woman. I need to talk wi' a woman. I canna talk wi' Mac Tavish or sic as +he. He thinks I'm daft. He said so. I canna get counsel frae grands'r or +sire yon on the walls. They don't understand, Jeanie Mac Dougal. I'm in +love!" + +"Aye! Wi' the lass o' the Corsons!" + +"But ye shouldna sigh when ye say it, Jeanie Mac Dougal." + +"A gashing guidwife sat wi' me to-day in the ben, bairnie, and said the +lass brings her ain laddie wi' her frae the great town." + +"I tak' no gossip for my guide!" he protested. "In business I tak' my +facts only frae the lips o' the one I ask. I'll do the same in love." + +She did not speak. + +"I know, Jeanie Mac Dougal! Ye canna forget ye are wee mither and it's +hard for ye to be only woman richt noo. I know the kind of wife ye hae in +mind for me. The patient wife, the housewife, the meek wife wi' only her +een for back-and-ben, for kitchen and parlor. But I love Lana." + +"She promised and she took her promise back! Again she promised, and again +she took it back!" The proud resentment of a mother flamed. "And I'm no' +content wi' the lass who once may win my laddie's word and doesna treasure +it and be thankfu' and proud for all the years to come." + +"Oh, I know, mither! But she was young. She must needs wonder what there +was in the world outside Marion. I loved her just the same." + +"But noo that she is hame they tell me that her heid 'tis held perkit and +her speech is high and the polished shell is o'er all." + +Stewart looked away from his mother's frank eyes. He was too honest to +argue or dispute. "I love her just the same!" + +"She ca'd wi' her father at the mill this day, eh? The guidwife said as +much." + +"Aye, in the way o' politeness!" He remembered that the politeness seemed +too elaborate, too florid, altiloquent to the extent of insincerity. "To +see her again is to love her the more," he insisted. "I have never been to +Washington. Probably I'd be able to understand better the manners one is +obliged to put on there, if I had been to Washington. I ought to have gone +there on my vacation, instead of into the woods. I'm afraid I have been +keeping in the woods too much!" + +"But did she talk high and flighty to you, bairnie?" + +"It meant nowt except it's the way one must talk when great folks stand +near to hear. The Governor was there!" he said, lamely. + +"That was unco trouble to mak' for hersel' in the hearing o' that auld +tyke whose tongue is as rough as his gruntle!" + +"Still, he's the Governor in spite of his phiz, and that shows her tact in +getting on well with the dignitaries, Jeanie Mac Dougal, and you're a +woman and must praise the wit of the sex. She has seen much. She has been +obliged to do as the others do. But good wool is ne'er the waur for the +finish of it! My faith is in her from what I know of the worth o' her in +the old days. And now that she has seen, she can understand better. Yes, +back here at home she'll be able to understand better. Listen, Jeanie Mac +Dougal!" He fumbled in his pocket. "Here's a bit of a poem. I have loved +it ever since she recited it at the festival when she was a little girl. +You have forgotten--I remember! And here's one verse: + + "And I think, in the lives of most women and men, + There's a moment when all would go smooth and even, + If only the dead could find out when + To come back and be forgiven." + +"But I would change it to read, 'If only we all could find out when,'" he +proceeded. "It wasn't all her fault, mother. I was younger, then. I'm old +enough now to be humble. She is home again, and I'm going to ask to be +forgiven!" + +Then the telephone-bell called. + +He lifted her gently off his knee and stood up. "As to the lad who is here +with his father! Gossip is playing all sorts of capers this day, wee +mither! And do not be worried if gossip of another sort comes to you after +I'm gone this evening. There may be matters in the city for me to attend +to as mayor. If I'm not home you'll know that I'm attending to them." + +He went to the telephone, replied to an inquiring voice and listened +intently, and then he assented with heartiness. + +"It's Blanchard of the Conawin Mills! He has a bit of business with me and +offers to take me along with him to the reception. Tell Jock he'll not +have to bother with my car!" he said, coming to her where she waited at +the door. She had picked up the slip of paper which he had dropped in his +haste to attend to the telephone. + +"I daured to peep at yer bit poem, Stewart, so that my ear might not seem +to be put to o'erhearing your business discourse," she apologized, stanch +in her adherence to the rules of the Morrisons. "And I'll tell ye that +Jeanie Mac Dougal says aye to one sentiment I hae found in it." + +"Good! Read it aloud to me, that's my own girlie!" He folded his arms and +shut his eyes. She read in tones that thrilled with conviction: + + "The world is filled with folly and sin + And love must cling where it can, I say; + For Beauty is easy enough to win, + But one isn't loved every day." + +She tucked the paper into the fingers of his hand that lay lightly along +his arm. He opened his eyes and gazed down into her straightforward ones. + +"Whoever may be the lass my bairnie loves will be honored by that love; +aye, and sanctified by that love! And sic a lass will deserve from Jeanie +Mac Dougal a smile at our threshold and respect in our hame." She went +away. Her eyes were dim with unshed tears; but she held her chin high and +trailed her bit of a train with dignity. + +Morrison folded the paper and put it away. He took a turn up and down the +long room, confronting the portrait faces in turn. He eyed them as if he +were approaching them on a matter where there now could be a better +understanding than on the subject suggested by the slip of paper. "I don't +know whether Blanchard ought to be kicked or coddled," he confessed. "He's +a fair sample of the rest. They don't kick so often in these days, +Grands'r Angus, as you did in yours. On the other hand, Daddy David, there +has been too much coddling in this country, lately, by the cowardice of +men who ought to know better and the coddling has continued to the hurt of +all of us!" + +He sat down and looked at the clock; the face of that would, at least, +tell him something definite: Blanchard said that he was talking from the +club, around the corner, and would be along in five minutes. + +And Blanchard arrived on time! + +"I suppose I ought to be offended by what you said to me over the 'phone +to-day, Morrison. I was hurt, at any rate!" + +"So was I!" retorted Stewart, promptly. "Hurt and offended, both! So we +start from the scratch, neck and neck!" + +"But why do you assume that attitude on account of what I told you?" + +"I was obliged to put questions to you in order to get the news that you +propose to hitch up with a dominating water-power syndicate!" + +"Only following out your proposition that we must get down to development +in this state." + +"The development is taking care of itself, Brother Blanchard. As chairman +of the water-power commission, I shall submit my report to the incoming +legislature. And in that report I propose to make conservation the +corollary of development." + +Blanchard blinked inquiringly. "What do you mean?" + +"Why, I mean just this! Putting it in business terms, I propose to ask for +legislation that will make the public the partners of the men who handle +and control the water-power." + +"I don't know how you're going about to do that in any sensible way," +grumbled the other. "There have been a good many rumors about that +forthcoming report of yours, Morrison. What's the big notion in keeping it +so secret?" + +"I have been ordered to report to the legislature, Blanchard! I have +prepared my case for that general court, and customary deference and +common politeness in such matters oblige me to hold my mouth till I do +report officially." + +"Nothing to be hidden, then?" probed the magnate. + +"Not a thing--not when the proper time comes!" + +"But we have been left guessing--and I don't like the sound of the rumors. +You must expect big interests to get an anchor out to windward. There's no +telling what a damphool legislature will do in case a theory is put up and +there are no sensible business arguments to contradict it." + +"As owners of water-power, Blanchard--you and I--let's bring our business +arguments into the open this year, in the committee-rooms and on the floor +of the House and Senate, instead of in the buzzing-corners of the lobby or +down in the hotel button-holing boudoirs! Now we'll get right down to +cases! You have been leaving me out of your conferences ever since I +refused to drop my coin into the usual pool to hire lobbyists. I take the +stand that these times are more enlightened and that we can begin to trust +the people's business to the people's general court in open sessions." + +Blanchard showed the heat of a man whose conscience was not entirely +comfortable. "Just what is this _people_ idea that you're making so much +of all of a sudden, Morrison? People as partners, people as +judges--people--people--" Blanchard hitched over the word wrathfully. + +"People be damned?" inquired Stewart, with a provocative grin. + +"There's too much of this soviet gabble loose these days. It all leads to +the same thing, and you've got to choke it for the good of this +government!" + +"Right you are to a big extent, Blanchard! But just now we are talking of +a vital problem in our own state and it has nothing to do with sovietism." + +"But you spoke of making the people our partners!" + +"I merely put the matter to you in a nutshell, for we'll need to be moving +on pretty quick!" He glanced at the clock. He threw off his jacket and +pulled on his coat. + +"Partners how?" + +"It will be explained in my official report, as chairman of the power and +storage commission." + +"I don't relish the rumors about what that report is likely to recommend." + +"Rumors are prevalent, are they?" + +"Prevalent, Morrison, and devilish pointed, too!" + +"I suppose that's why the old horned stags of the lobby are whetting their +antlers," surmised Morrison, giving piquant emphasis to his remark by a +gesture toward a caribou head, a trophy of his vacation chase. "I have +heard a rumor, too, Blanchard. Are they going to introduce legislation to +abolish my commission and turn the whole water-power matter over to the +public utilities commission?" + +Blanchard flushed and said he knew nothing about any such move. + +"I'm sorry that syndicate isn't taking you into their confidence," +sympathized Morrison. "I know just how you feel. The boys who ought to +train with me are not taking me into their conferences, either!" + +"You spoke of coming down to cases!" snapped Blanchard, his uneasy +conscience getting behind the mask of temper. "I don't ask you to reveal +any official report. But can you tell me what this 'people-partners' thing +is?" + +"I can, Blanchard, because it isn't anything that is specifically a part +of the report. It's principle, and principle belongs in everything. I +merely apply it to the case of water-power in this state." + +He went close to his caller and beamed down on him in a sociable manner. +"I rather questioned my own good taste and the propriety of my effort to +get on to the commission and be made its chairman. As an owner of power +and of an important franchise I might be considered a prejudiced party. +But I hoped I had established a bit of a reputation for square-dealing in +business and I wanted to feel that my own kind were in touch with me and +would have faith that I was working hard for all interests. You and I can +both join in damning these demagogues and radicals and visionaries and +Bolshevists. We must be practical even when we're progressive, Blanchard." + +"Now you're talking sense!" + +"I hope so!" But his next statement, made while the millman glared and +muttered oaths, fell far short of sanity in Blanchard's estimation. "I'm +fully convinced that one of the inalienable rights of the people is +ownership of water-power. We franchise-proprietors ought to content +ourselves with being custodians, managers, lessees of that power that +comes from the lakes that God alone owns." + +"Are you putting that notion in your confounded report?" + +"I am." + +"Are you sticking in something about confiscating the coal and the oil and +the iron and--" + +"Oh no!" broke in Morrison, calm in the face of fury. "Those particular +packages all seem to be nicely tied up and laid on the shelf out of the +people's reach. And whether they are or not is not my concern now. I'm +only a little fellow up here in a small puddle, Brother Blanchard. I'm not +undertaking the reorganization of the world. I'll say frankly that I don't +know just what kind of legislation in regard to the already developed +water-power in this state can be passed and be made constitutional. But +now when coal is scarcer and high, or monopolized, at any rate, to make it +high and scarce in the market, the exploiters are turning to water-power +possibilities with hearty hankering, and the people are turning with +hope." + +"I'm afraid I'm getting hunks out of that report of yours, ahead of +official time." + +"You're getting the principle underlying it--and you're welcome." + +"Morrison, the idea that the people have any overhead right and ownership +in franchise-granted and privately developed water-power is ridiculous and +dangerous nonsense." + +"It does sound a bit that way, considering the fact that the people of +this state have never even taxed water-power, as such. The ideas of the +fathers, who gave away the power for nothing, seem to have come down to +the sons, who haven't even woke up to the fact that it's worth +taxing--yes, Blanchard, taxing even to the extent that the people will get +enough profits from the taxation to make 'em virtual partners! And as to +the millions of horse-power yet to be developed, let the profits be called +lease-money instead of taxation. Then we'll be going on a business basis +without having the matter everlastingly muddled and mixed and lobbied in +politics!" + +Blanchard knew inflexibility when he saw it; and he knew Stewart Morrison +when it came to matters of business. He did not attempt argument. "Well, +I'll be good and cahootedly condemned!" he exploded. + +"No, you'll be helped and I'll be helped by putting this on a business +basis where the radicals, if they grab off more political power, won't be +able to rip it up by crazy methods; the radicals don't know when to stop +when they get to reforming." + +"Radicals! Confound it, it looks to me as if we had one of 'em at the head +of that power commission! Morrison, have you turned Bolshevik?" + +"My friend," expostulated Stewart, gently, "when you opposed the principle +of prohibition the fanatics called you 'Rummy.' The name hurt your +feelings." + +"They had no right to impugn my motives!" + +"Certainly not! It's all wrong to try to turn a trick by sticking a +slurring name on to conscientiousness." + +"You're turning around and hammering your friends and associates, no +matter what name you put on it." + +"It has always been considered perfectly proper to lobby for the big +interests in this state for pay! Why shouldn't I lobby for the people for +nothing?" + +"You and I are the people! The business men are the people. The +enterprising capitalists who pay wages are the people. The people are--" + +He halted; the telephone-bell had broken in on him. + +Morrison apologized with a smile and answered the call. He sprawled in his +chair, his elbow on the table, and listened for a few moments. "But don't +stutter so, Joe!" he adjured. "Take your time, now, boy! Say it again!" + +He attended patiently on the speaker. + +"They won't take your word on the matter, you say? Why, Joe, that's not +courteous in the case of an American Legion commander! Hold on! I can't +come down there! I have to attend the reception at Senator Corson's." + +He listened again to what was evidently expostulation and entreaty, and, +while he listened, he gazed at the sullen Blanchard with an expression of +mock despair. + +"Joe, just a word for myself," he broke in. "I'm afraid you have pledged +me a little too strongly. You went off half cocked this afternoon! Oh no! +I don't take it back. I'm not a quitter to that extent. But I really +didn't undertake to run the whole state government, you know! Those folks +up on Capitol Hill don't need my advice, they think!" + +With patience unabated he listened again. "If it's that way, Joe, I'll +have to come down. I'll certainly never put an honest chap in bad or leave +him in wrong, when a word can straighten the thing. Hold 'em there! I'll +be right along!" He hung up. + +"As I was saying," persisted Blanchard, "the people--" + +Morrison put up his hand and shook his head. + +"I guess we'd better hang up the joint debate on the people right here, +Blanchard! What say if you come along with me and pick up a few facts? The +facts may give you a new light on your theories." He hastened to a closet +and secured his top-coat and his silk hat. + +"Come where?" + +"Down to the Central Labor Union hall. There's a big crowd waiting there." + +Blanchard surveyed his own evening apparel in a mirror. "I'm headed for a +reception--not the kind I'd get as the head of the Conawin corporation +from a labor crowd." + +"Nevertheless, I urge you to come with me. I believe that a little contact +with the people in this instance will clear your thoughts." + +"Another one of your riddles!" snorted the manufacturer. "What's it all +about?" + +"Blanchard," declared Morrison, setting his jaws grimly while he pondered +for a moment and then coming out explosively, "it's about what we may +expect from the people when damned fools try to play politics according to +the old rules in these new times. It's about what we may expect of the +people when they're denied a showdown by men at the head of public +affairs. There's trouble brewing in the city of Marion to-night. What +would you do if you happened to glance out of your office window and saw a +leak spurting big as a lead-pencil from the base of the Conawin dam? You'd +know the leak would be as big as a hogshead in a few minutes, wouldn't +you?" + +"Yes!" admitted the other. + +"You'd get to that leak and plug it mighty quick, wouldn't you?" + +"No need to ask!" + +"Well, this is a hurry call and I need your help." + +"I don't stand in well with the labor crowd--" demurred Blanchard. + +"I know all that! You're hiring too many aliens and Red radicals in your +mill! But you ought to have some influence with your own gang, such as +they are! I suspect that they're the leading trouble-makers down in that +hall. Blanchard, if you're not afraid of your own men, come along!" He +clapped the millman on the shoulder and led the way toward the door. + +"If there are scalawags starting that 'state steal' howl again somebody +ought to tell 'em that there are three machine-guns and plenty of loaded +rifles on Capitol Hill to-night, and the men behind 'em propose to shoot +to kill," stated Blanchard, vengefully, shaking his silk hat. + +Morrison whirled on him. "You're just the man to go down there and tell +'em so! You probably have inside information. All I know is hearsay! I'll +advise 'em and you threaten 'em. Come along, Blanchard! We'll make a good +team!" + + + + +V + +THE MEN WHO WERE WAITING TO BE SHOWN + + +While Commander Lanigan talked with the mayor from a telephone-booth in a +drug-store under Central Labor Union hall, Post-Adjutant Demeter stood with +his nose pressed against the glass door, waiting anxiously. + +Lanigan pushed open the door with one hand while he hung up the receiver +with the other, and by his precipitate exit nigh bowled his adjutant over; +Mr. Lanigan, it was plain to be seen, was wound up tightly that evening +and his mainspring was operating him by jumps. + +"He's the boy! He's coming! Tell the world so! And I'll go back up-stairs +and tell them blistered sons o' seefo that there are such things as truth +and a bar o' soap in this country, spite o' the fact they have never used +either one!" + +Demeter followed his commander into the street. + +In spite of his haste, Lanigan was halted; he gazed up into the heavens, +his breath streaming on the crackly-cold air. + +The skies were blazing with shuttlings of lambent flame. From nadir to +zenith the mystic light shivered and sheeted. Never had Lanigan beheld a +more vivid display of the phenomenon of the aurora borealis. He seemed to +be waiting for something. He sighed and shook his head. + +"Peter, my heart jumped at first glimpse! 'Tis like the flash of the +Argonne big guns! Thank God, the thunder of 'em isn't following!" + +"Yes, thank God!" murmured Demeter, his soul in his tones! + +They stood there for a few minutes, shoulder to shoulder, the contact of +arm with arm serving for an exchange of thoughts between those veterans in +a silence that would have been profaned by words. + +The phantasmagoria overhead was shifting infinitely and rapidly; there +were flashes that seemed to presage a thunderous roar of an explosion and +were more bodeful because the hush aloft in the heavenly spaces remained +unbroken; then the filaments and streamers of light made one mighty +oriflamme across the skies, an expanse of woven hues, wavering and lashing +as if a great wind were threshing across the main fabric and flinging its +attendant bannerets. + +"It's in the air; it's in the nerves! It puts hell into a man, doesn't it, +Peter?" + +"Yes!" + +"It was in that telephone back there! It crackled and snapped! A lot of it +may be in those poor fools up in that hall--and they ain't knowing what +the matter is with 'em! You and I have been over in the Big Bow-wow, boy, +and we have had some good lessons in how to handle rattled nerves. I guess +it's up to us to hold things steady, as experts. Soothe 'em and smooth +'em! It was All-Wool Morrison's lesson to me to-day! Soft and careful with +'em, seeing that they're full of what's in the air this night, and don't +know just what ails 'em!" + +He lowered his gaze from the skies. A man was passing on his way toward +the door of the hall. + +Lanigan had just laid down a general rule of diplomatic conduct for the +evening, but he made a prompt exception. He leaped on the man, struggled +with him for a moment, and yanked off a red necktie, taking with it the +man's collar and a part of his shirt, "But some stuff that they're full of +can't be smoothed out--it's got to be whaled out!" panted Lanigan. He did +not release his captive. "The nerve o' ye, parading your red wattles on a +night like this, ye Tom Gobbler of a Bullshevist!" + +"I have the right to pick the color of my own necktie!" snarled the man. + +"Not for the reason why you picked it! Not to wear it up into that hall, +my bucko boy!" + +When the man expostulated with oaths, Lanigan tripped him and held him on +the sidewalk. "Hush your yawp! You can't fool me about your taste in ties! +I know what's behind that color like I'd know what's behind an Orangeman's +yellow! I don't need to wait for him to hooray for the battle o' the Boyne +ere I get my brick ready! Peter, frisk his pockets!" + +Demeter obeyed. + +A crowd was collecting. Through the press rushed a young man. "Need help, +Commander?" + +"Only keep your eye peeled to see that another Bullshevist don't sneak up +and kick me from behind, after the like o' the breed!" + +Demeter's exploration produced a bulldog revolver, a slungshot, a packet +of pamphlets, and several small red flags. + +"What's your name?" demanded the commander. + +"No business of yours!" + +Lanigan kneeled on the captive and roweled cruel thumbs into the man's +neck. "Out with it before I dig deeper for it." + +"Nicolai Krylovensky!" + +"I knew it must be bad, but I didn't think it was as bad as that! I don't +blame ye for trying to keep it mum! And ye look as though it tasted bitter +coming up. I'll not poison me own mouth." He stood up and yanked the man +to his feet. "So I'll call ye Bill the Bomber! Where do ye work, or don't +ye work?" + +"Conawin!" + +"I thought so! One of that bunch down there that's trying to undermine the +best government on the face of the earth. Come along! I've got a bit o' +business on hand right now and I need you in it." + +Then he turned, pushing the man ahead of him. + +Lanigan became aware that the young fellow who had proffered aid was +muttering in a derogatory fashion. + +"What's on your mind, Jeff?" demanded the commander, recognizing a member +of the post. + +"Nothing!" + +"I'm in an inquiring turn o' mind right now," rasped Lanigan. "And ye have +just seen me go after information. I heard ye damning something. Ye'd best +make me understand that you wasn't damning _me_!" + +"I sure wasn't, sir! But as for this government being the best, I want to +say--" + +Lanigan's yelp broke in like an explosion. "Hold this Bullshevist, Peter! +I want both hands free!" + +"I wasn't saying anything against our government, Commander Lanigan! Not a +word!" wailed the overseas man. "So help me!" + +"I'm in a soothing frame of mind this night," returned the ex-sergeant. "I +have been having some good lessons in soothing from the mayor of Marion, +God bless him! I was nigh making a fool of myself till he showed me that +the soothing way is the best way. And I shall keep right on soothing. But +this is a night when the plain truth and the word of man-to-man have got +to operate to prevent trouble! And I want the truth out o' ye, Jeff +Tolson, or else ye'll be calling for toast, well soaked, in the hospital +in the morning!" + +"I went up to one of them sissy slackers--" + +"Mind the kind of a name ye stick on to a soldier of the government! Do ye +see who's listening?" He grabbed his prisoner again and shook him. "Be +careful of what you say as an American citizen in the hearing of rats like +this, Tolson! It encourages 'em. They think we mean it. Get the bile out +of your system in a strictly family fuss! Spit out a lot you don't mean, +if it's going to make you feel better! But first slam down the windows so +that the outsiders can't overhear. I'll see you later!" + +"But I want you to get me right, Commander," Tolson pleaded. "I went up to +one of the boys to show him how to hold his gun and he banged me with the +butt of it!" + +"He did!" Lanigan clicked his teeth and showed that he was having hard +work to control his own resentment. + +"I was only trying to be helpful. I tried to take his gun and show him. +And he insulted an overseas veteran!" + +Lanigan had himself in hand again. "Tried to take away his gun, you say! +You in civics and he in uniform and on duty! Jeff, if it's that hard to +wake up and know that you're no longer a soldier, I reckon your +wrist-watch is acting too much like a reminder-string around a Jane's +finger! Better hang it from the end of your nose. It's a wonder he didn't +give you the bayonet!" + +"The butt was aplenty, sir!" + +"I can stand it better to be banged on the knob by a gun-butt by a good +American than batted in the eye by this color on a Bullshevist!" asserted +Lanigan, waving the red necktie that he still retained in his clutch. He +gave the owner of it another push. "Along with you, Bill the Bomber." + +Tolson trailed. "But what are they trying to do up on Capitol Hill, sir? +What does it all mean?" + +"I don't know," confessed the commander. He drove his way through the +bystanders. "You see, boys, I have started in along the way of telling the +truth to-night. So I own up that I don't know! We're going to find out +what it means!" He kept on toward the door of the hall with his prisoner. +"I've arranged to have a man come down here and tell us what it means and +tell us how to act." + +"Well, he'll know more than anybody else I have tackled on the subject +to-night," said Tolson, sourly. "He's a wonder, if he does know!" + +"He's All-Wool Morrison--and that's your answer, buddie," retorted +Lanigan. And that answer did seem to suffice for Tolson. + +There were many men on the stairs leading up to the hall, and the elbowing +throng at the door of the auditorium furnished further evidence of the +overflowing nature of the gathering. + +"Gangway!" commanded Lanigan at the top of his voice. "Make way, there! +I'm bringing something straight in my mouth and something crooked in my +mit, and neither one of 'em will ye have till free passage is made to the +platform." + +The crowd's curiosity served effectively to clear that passage. + +Lanigan's captive went along, sullenly unresisting. There was no +opportunity for rebellion in that mob that opened a narrow passage +grudgingly, only to pack together again in a solid mass. But certain men +whom Krylovensky passed or men who caught his eye by swift motions spat +whispers at him in a language that Lanigan did not understand. + +"Is it three cheers that your brother rattlesnakes are giving ye in the +natural hissing way of 'em?" inquired the captor. "They're a fine bunch!" + +With his hand twisted tightly into the slack of the man's coat and the +torn shirt, the ex-sergeant forced the prisoner up the short stairs that +conducted to the platform; Demeter followed. + +Tobacco smoke streamed up in whirls from the banked faces that filled the +hall from side to side, and the eddying clouds floated in strata above the +rows of heads. Lanigan peered sternly at the crowd through the haze. "Here +I am back! And I'm thanking the good saints for the few mouthfuls of fresh +air I got outside and the news I got, and for this here I found and +fetched along. I need him. I was on a jury once, in a murder case, and +they had the tool that done the job and the lawyers tagged it Exhibit A. +This is it! He's got a name, but if I tried to say it, it would cramp my +jaws and hold my mouth open so long that I'd get assifixiated with this +smoke. This is Bill the Bomber! Demeter, hold up the goods we found on +him!" + +The post-adjutant obeyed the order. + +"Now, Bill the Bomber," demanded Lanigan, "tell me and the bunch what's +the big idea of the arsenal, in a peaceful American city?" + +"Is it peaceful?" screamed the captive, at bay. "There are soldiers +marching with guns. There are men threatening and cursing! There are--" + +"Hold right on--right where you are! Are you naturalized?" + +"No!" + +"Well, let me tell you, you red-gilled Bullshevist, that till you're a +voting American citizen, our private and personal and strictly family rows +are none of your damn' business! All American citizens kindly applaud!" + +He was answered by cheers, stamping feet, and clapping hands. + +"Contrary-minded?" he invited in the silence that followed. + +"Hiss a few hisses, you snakes!" he urged. "Or show those red flags you're +carrying in your pockets!" + +There was no demonstration, either by act or by word. + +Lanigan pushed his captive to the rear of the platform and jolted him down +into a chair behind which, on the wall, was draped a large United States +flag. "Set there and see if you can't absorb a little of the white and +blue into your system, along with the red that's already there," counseled +the patriot. "You're going to hear some man-talk in a little while, and I +hope 'twill do you good!" + +A man in the audience rose to his feet when Lanigan marched back to the +front of the rostrum. + +"I am a voter here, yet I was born in another country. Will you allow me +to ask a question, Commander Lanigan?" + +"Sure! But let's start even on names. What's yours?" + +"Otto Weisner!" + +Lanigan made a grimace. "But even at that I'm going to keep my word and I +call on all present to back me up." + +"See here!" bawled a voice from a far corner. "Let that Hun wait! How +about your word to us in another matter? Where's the mayor of Marion?" + +"The mayor of Marion is on his way to this hall!" The soldier's face was +set into a grim expression and deep ridges lined his jaws. "I gave you all +once to-night his word to me that he'd stand up for us on Capitol Hill, +whatever it is they're trying to put over. I got the hoot from you when I +said it. You wouldn't take my word and I just told him so. Now he's coming +down here for himself! I say it. If some gent would like to hoot another +hoot on that subject will he kindly step up here and hoot?" He doubled his +fists. + +There was no indication that anybody wanted to accept the invitation. + +"Very well, then!" proceeded Lanigan. "I'm in a soothing frame of mind, +myself, and I hope you're all soothed, too. And so that we won't be +wasting any time on a busy evening I'll state that the meeting is now open +for that question, Mister Weisner. Shoot!" + + + + +VI + +THE MAN'S WORD OF THE MAYOR OF MARION + + +Commander Lanigan had constituted himself the presiding officer of the +assemblage that had been gathered under no special auspices and by no +formal call. It was a flocking together of those uneasy persons who had +been informing one another that they wanted to be shown! Mr. Lanigan's +unconventional methods in the chair were tolerated because he had +displayed much alacrity in putting the mob in the way of securing +information from such high authority as the mayor of Marion. Chairman +Lanigan's compelling methods in pumping this time-filler kept up the +interest of the auditors. + +"I belong to der Socialist party," stated Weisner. + +"We don't want no Boche speeches!" warned a voice. + +In his absorption in affairs, Lanigan was still hanging on to the captured +red necktie. He noted that fact and held the danger signal aloft. "I don't +approve of this color at this time," he remarked. "But when I have seen it +waved in times past I have known that it meant a blast going off or a +train coming on, and I have never taken foolish chances. Does the +objecting gent down there in the corner need any further instruction from +here, or shall I come down and whisper in his ear?" + +Silence assured him and again he ordered Mr. Weisner to ask his question. + +The querist ceased from showing deference to the volunteer in the chair; +Weisner turned his back on Lanigan and addressed all in hearing, shaking +his fist over his head: "Who tells me dis vhat I don'd know? Does Karl +Trimbach his seat haf in der State House vhere der Socialists haf elected +him?" + +"If he has been elected, sure he'll have his seat," declared Lanigan, +loyally. "That's the way we do things in this country! Why shouldn't he +have his seat?" + +"Den vhere--vhere is dot zertificate dot should show to Karl Trimbach dot +he shall valk into der State House und sit on his seat? He don't get it. +Why don'd dey send it?" Weisner bellowed his questions. He threshed his +arms wildly about him. + +"This is no time to be starting anything, Weisner! Don't stand there and +be a Dutch windmill--be an American citizen! Soothe yourself!" + +Another gentleman arose. He was distinctly Hibernian. He wore an obtrusive +ribbon-knot of green, white, and yellow, the colors of the flag of the +Irish Republic. "Lanigan, ye may not be able to reply satisfact'rily to +th' questions o' the sour-krauters, but when I ask ye whether or not the +Hon'rable Danyel O'Donnell, riprisent'thive-ilict, put in that high office +be th' votes o' th' Marion pathrits of a free Ireland, takes his sate, +what does th' blood o' yer race say to me?" + +Lanigan blinked and hesitated. He felt the sudden Celtic surging of a +natural impulse to run with his kind, to swing the cudgel valiantly for +the cause, and to ask questions after the shindy was over. + +"You know th' principles o' th' Hon'rable O'Donnell," insisted the speaker +in loud tones. "Tis his intint to raise his voice in th' halls o' state +and shout ear-rly and late, 'Whativer it is ye're about, gents, it all may +be very well, but what will ye be doing for the cause o' free Ireland?' +That's th' kind of a hero we're putting in th' State House en the hill." + +"Putting a pest there, ye mean!" returned Lanigan. + +"Is that the blood o' yer race speaking?" + +"No, it's the common sense up here," declared the commander, tapping his +knuckles against the side of his head. "Look, here, Mulcahy, my man! +You're spouting about a subject that's too big for me to understand or you +to explain. And that's why you're muddling yourself and mixing up the +minds of others with your questions. I ask you no questions. I'm going to +tell you something--and it's so! If the kids in your family was down with +the measles, and the missus was all snarled up with the tickdoolooroo and +you wasn't feeling none too well yourself, what with a hold-over, a black +eye, and a lot o' bumps, what would you--Hold on! I say, I ask no +questions! I know the answer. If Tommy O'Rourke came howling and whooping +into your back door and asked you to go out and shin up a tree and fetch +down his tomcat, ye'd tell Tommy to bounce along and mind his own matters +till ye'd settled your own--and if he didn't go you'd kick him out." + +"I'm discussing th' rights and wrongs of a suffering people." + +"And playing safe for yourself because the subject is so big--and putting +others in wrong because they can't settle all the troubles of the universe +offhand to suit ye! My family is America, Mulcahy! It ought to be yours, +first, last, and all the time. But we've got our own aches to mind, right +now! And the way I'm putting it, a plain man can understand. If the tomcat +don't know enough to come down all by himself, leave him be up there till +the doctor tells us we can be out and about." + +Weisner put his demand again and Mulcahy made the affair a vociferous +duet; other men were on their feet, shouting. But a top sergeant has a +voice of his own and a manner to go with the voice: Lanigan yelled the +chorus into silence. + +While he was engaged in this undertaking a diversion at the door assisted +him. The crowd parted. Men shouted, pleading, "Make way for the mayor!" + +Morrison came up the aisle toward the platform, Blanchard at his heels. + +There were cheers--plenty of them! + +But sibilantly, steadily, ominously the derogatory hisses were threaded +with the frank clamor of welcome; hisses whose sources were concealed. + +The mayor ran up the steps of the platform and marched to Lanigan, doffing +the silk hat and extending his hand cordially. + +With his forearm the commander scrubbed off the sweat that was streaming +down into his eyes. "It's been like hauling a seventy-five into action +with mules, Your Honor! For the love o' Mike, shoot!" + +The hisses continued along with the applause when Stewart faced the +throng. + +Lanigan leaped off the platform, not bothering with the stairs. "I'm going +to wade through this grass," he yelped. "God pity the rattlesnake I +locate!" + +A shrill voice from somewhere dared to taunt, "Pipe the dude!" + +Morrison smiled. He had unbuttoned his top-coat, and his evening garb, in +that congress of the rough and ready, made him as conspicuous as a bird of +paradise in a rookery. "I seem to be double-crossed by my scenic effects, +Blanchard," he stated in an aside to the magnate, who had stepped upon the +platform because that elevation seemed safer than a position on the floor. +"We must fix that! Furthermore, it's hot up here!" He pulled off his +top-coat. He realized that the full display of his formal dress only +aggravated the situation. In St. Ronan's mill he mingled with men in his +shirt-sleeves. He turned and saw Nicolai Krylovensky in the chair where +Lanigan had thrust him. There was no other chair on the platform. Stewart +hastily laid the coat across the alien's knees. "Keep 'em out of the dirt +for me, will you, brother? I'm notional about good cloth!" He pushed his +silk hat into the man's hand and then he stripped off the claw-hammer and +white waistcoat, piled them upon the overcoat; and whirled to face his +audience. + +All eyes were engaged with the mayor. + +Krylovensky, unobserved, let the garments slip to the floor and dropped +the hat. + +"Now, boys, we'll get down to business together in an understanding way! +What's it all about?" Stewart invited, cheerily. + +"Just a minute!" cried Lanigan, heading off all the possibilities that +were threatening by a general powwow. "I've just been up against the bunch +here, Mister Mayor, and they're trying to turn it into a +congress-of-nations debate, and it ain't nothing of the kind. And I know +you're in a hurry, and we don't expect a speech!" + +"You won't get one!" retorted the mayor, tartly. "I have dropped down here +merely in a business way to find out what's wanted of me as the executive +head of this city." + +"Your Honor, I have been preaching the notion of telling the truth +to-night, and I'm going to come across with something about myself," +confessed Lanigan, manfully. "I've gone off half cocked twice to-day. I've +been thinking it over and I realize it. In your office I grabbed in on a +word or two you said and took it for granted that you were going to lift +the whole load of the people's case up at the State House and stop +anything being put over on the people, whatever it is the Big Boys are +planning. But you didn't promise me to do it." + +"I did not, Joe!" + +"And I've been telling this gang that you did promise me and that I'd get +you down here to back up my word. I don't ask you to back up my lie. +You're too square a proposition, Mayor Morrison!" + +"After that man-talk, Joe, I've just naturally got to make a little of my +own. And the boys can't help seeing that both you and I mean all right. I +did give you good reasons for jumping at conclusions as you say you did, +Joe! Understand that, boys! But my head isn't swelled to the extent that I +believe I can settle everything. + +"Now that I'm down here I'll say this. I'll do everything I can, as mayor +of Marion, to straighten things out to-night so that the people won't be +left guessing. Guessing starts gabble and gabble starts trouble! Don't do +any more shouting about 'state steal,' and don't allow others to shout. +Most of us don't know what it means, anyway, and others don't care, so +long as it gives 'em a chance to stir up riots and grab off something for +themselves under cover of the trouble. There are a lot of outsiders in +this country, standing ready to make just such plays! Don't let your ears +be scruffed by mischief-makers, boys. Let's have our city come through +with a clean name! I'm going to do my part as best I can. But you've all +got to do yours--understand that!" He smacked his fist down into his palm. + +"Do you bromise me dot Karl Trimbach gets dot seat?" boomed Mr. Weisner. + +"The same question goes as to th' Hon'rable Danyel O'Donnell," said +Adherent Mulcahy. + +"I cannot promise." + +Then sounded that voice of the unknown troublemaker, sneeringly shrill, +the senseless, passion-provoking common, human fife of the mob spirit, +persistently present and consistently cowardly in concealment. "Of course +you don't promise anything to the people! Dudes stand together! Go back +and dance!" + +Lanigan began to claw a passage for himself. + +"Stand where you are, Joe!" commanded Stewart. "Don't flatter a fool by +making any account of him!" + +"Those kinds of fools are going to make trouble in this city before the +night is over, Your Honor!" + +"That's the trouble with politics," declared Mulcahy. "Ye can't get a +square promise in politics fr'm th' Big Boys!" + +Morrison put up a monitory forefinger. + +"But you can get a square promise from me in business--and I can see that +it's time to give that promise and make it specific. That's the way a +business contract must be drawn. Hear me, then! It's the business of this +city to see that no man abuses its good name or its hospitality, no matter +whether he's a resident or comes here because it's the capital of the +state. And I'll see to it that the men up at the State House end +understand that they must play fair for the good of all of us. You must +understand the same at this end. I'll take no sides in politics. The men +who are entitled to their seats in this legislature will have those seats. +I'm only one man, boys! But one man who is perfectly honest and is +depending on the right will find the whole law of the land behind him--and +wise men and good men have attended to the law. Will you take my word and +let it stand that way between us?" + +A chorused yell of assent greeted him. + +"All right! It's a contract! Mind your end of it!" + +He turned sharply from them and faced Krylovensky. The alien leaped up and +kicked the mayor's garments to one side. + +"Say! See here, my friend!" expostulated Stewart. + +"Down with rulers!" screamed the man. "I'll be a martyr, but not a +hat-rack!" + +The mayor walked toward the frantic person. "I'm sorry! I was +thoughtless!" + +"You and your kind think of nothing but yourselves. You try to make slaves +of free citizens of the world!" Krylovensky had been buffeted and had +controlled himself. But the fires of his narrow fanaticism were now +whirling in his brain; sitting there on high before the eyes of his +fellows, the men to whom he had been preaching the doctrines of soviet +sovereignty--the supremacy of the people--he had just suffered what his +distorted views held as the enormity of ignominy; he had been used as a +clothes-tree for discarded garments. Used by a ruler! + +When Morrison, not realizing that the man had become little short of a +maniac, stooped to pick up the garments Krylovensky dove forward and +struck the mayor's face with open hand. "Now throw me to your dogs! I'll +die a martyr to my cause!" he squalled. + +The mayor snapped upright and laid restraining hands on the man who was +threatening him with doubled fists. + +A roaring mob came milling toward the platform. + +"I'll be a martyr!" insisted the alien. + +"I can't humor you to that extent," replied Morrison, in the tone of a +father denying indulgence in the case of a wilful child. + +He got between the man and the mob. He held Krylovensky from him with one +hand and put up the other protestingly, authoritatively. + +"No man that's a real man lets another man bang him in the face," declared +Lanigan with fury. + +"That's a nice point, to be argued later by us when things are quieter, +Joe. Stand back!" + +"I'm going to kill him even if you haven't got the grit to do it." Lanigan +was showing the bitter disappointment of a worshiper kicking among the +fragments of a shattered idol. + +"I won't allow you to do that, Joe! A dead man can't answer questions. +Stand back, all of you, I say!" He twisted the grip of his hand in the +man's collar until Krylovensky ceased his struggles. + +"Do you work in this city?" asked the mayor. + +"He works in the Conawin," shouted Lanigan. "And I shook him down this +evening for a gun, a knob-knocker, and a lot of red flags." + +Blanchard was backed against the big Stars and Stripes, apprehensively +seeking refuge from the crowd massing on the platform. Morrison caught his +eye. "Seems to be one of your patriots, Blanchard! Shall I hand him over +to you?" + +"I never saw the renegade before." + +"I'm sorry you don't get into your mill the way I do into mine. I'd like +to know something about this gentleman who doesn't show any inclination to +speak for himself." + +"I'm not afraid to speak," declared the captive, all cautiousness burned +out of him by the fires of his martyr zeal. "I'm an ambassador of the +grand and good Soviet Government of Russia." + +The mayor preserved his serenity. + +"Ah, I think I understand! One of the estimable gentlemen who have been +coming to us by the way of the Mexican border of late! When you picked up +such a good command of our language, my friend, it's too bad you didn't +pick up a better understanding of our country. I haven't any time just now +to give you an idea of it, sir. I'll have a talk with you to-morrow." + +The mayor had seen Officer Rellihan at the door of the hall. As a +satellite, Rellihan was constant in his attendance on his controlling +luminary in public places, even though the luminary issued no special +orders to that effect; Morrison's intended visit to the hall had been +quickly advertised down-town. + +Stewart glanced about him and found Rellihan at his elbow. + +"Here's the honorable ambassador of Soviet Russia, Rellihan," said his +chief. "Take him along with you, keep harm from him on the way, and see +that he is well lodged for the night in a place where enemies can't get at +him." + +"I know just the right place, Your Honor," stated the policeman, pulling +his club from his belt and waving it to part the throng. + +Morrison broke in upon Lanigan's mumbled threats. "Mind your manners, +Joe!" + +"But he hit you!" + +The mayor picked up his garments, one by one, inspected them, and dusted +them with his palm; then he pulled them on. The crowd gazed at him. + +"He hit you!" Lanigan insisted, bellicosely. "When a man hits me, I lick +him!" + +"You're a good fighter, Joe," agreed His Honor, running his forearm about +his silk hat to smooth the nap. "But let me tell you something! Unless you +put yourself in better shape there'll be a fellow some day that you'll +want to lick, and you won't be able to lick him, and you'll be almighty +sorry because you can't turn the trick." + +"Show me the feller, Mister Mayor!" + +"Go look in the glass, Joe." + +"Lick myself--is that what you mean, sir?" + +"Sure! If you can do it when it ought to be done, you'll have the right to +feel rather proud of yourself." + +He invited Blanchard with a side wag of his head and led the way from the +hall. + +"Morrison, let me say this," blurted the mill magnate, when they were on +their way in the limousine. "By reason of this people-side-partner notion +of yours, you have gone to work and got yourself into an infernal fix. How +do you expect to make good that promise?" + +"I suppose I did sound rather boastful, but I had to put it strong. A +mealy-mouthed promise wouldn't hold them in line!" + +"But that promise only encourages such muckers in the belief that they +have a right to demand, to boss their betters, to call for accountings and +concessions. You have put the devil into 'em!" + +"I hope not! Faith in a contract--that's what I tried to put into 'em. +They'll wait and let me operate!" + +"Operate! You're one man against the whole state government and you're +defying single-handed the political powers! You can't deliver the goods! +That gang down-town will wait about so long and then 'twill be hell to pay +to-night!" + +Morrison had found his pipe in his overcoat pocket. He was soothing +himself with a smoke on the way toward the Corson mansion. + +"But why worry so much when the night is still young?" he queried, +placidly. + + + + +VII + +THE THIN CRUST OVER BOILING LAVA + + +Senator Corson, at the head of the receiving-line, attended strictly to +the task in hand as an urbane and assiduous host. + +Wonted by long political usage to estimate everything on the basis of +votes for and against, he was entirely convinced, by the face of the +returns that evening, that the reception he was tendering was a grand +success, unanimously indorsed; he would have been immensely surprised to +learn that under his roof there was a bitterly incensed, furiously +resentful minority that was voting "No!" + +The "Yes!" was by the applausive, open, _viva voce_ vote of all those who +filed past him and shook his hand and thronged along toward the buffet +that was operated in _de luxe_ style by a metropolitan caterer's corps of +servants. + +The Senator's mansion was spacious and luxuriously appointed, and the +millions from the products of his timber-land barony were lavishly behind +his hospitality. Consoled by the knowledge that Corson could well afford +the treat, his guests, after that well-understood quality in human nature, +relished the hospitality more keenly. At the buffet all the plates were +piled high. In the smoking-room men took handfuls of the Senator's cigars +from the boxes. And the pleasantry connected with Governor Lawrence +North's custom in campaigning was frequently heard. It was related of +North that he always thriftily passed his cigars by his own hand and +counseled the recipient: "Help yourself! Take all you want! Take two!" + +The guests adopted the comfortable attitude that Corson had dropped down +home to Marion to pay a debt which he owed to his constituents, and they +all jumped in with alacrity to help him pay it. + +While the orchestra played and the ware of the buffet clattered, the +joyous voices of the overwhelming majority gave Senator Corson to +understand that he was the idol of his people and the prop of the state. + +The minority kept her mouth closed and her teeth were set hard. + +The minority was racked by agony that extended from finger-tips to +shoulder. + +The minority was distinctly groggy. + +This minority was compassed in the person of a single young and handsome +matron who was Mrs. J. Warren Stanton in her home city Blue Book, and +Doris in the family register of Father Silas Daunt, and "Dorrie" in the +good graces of Brother Coventry Daunt. + +In addition she was the close friend, the social mentor, the volunteer +chaperon for Lana Corson, whose mother had become voicelessly and meekly +the mistress of the Corson mausoleum, as she had been meekly and +unobtrusively the mistress of the Corson mansion. + +Miss Lana had suddenly observed warning symptoms in the case of Mrs. +Stanton. + +Mrs. Stanton, according to a solicitous friend's best judgment, was no +longer assisting in the receiving-line; Mrs. Stanton needed assistance! + +Therefore, sooner than the social code might have permitted in an affair +of more rigorously formal character, Lana left the receiving job to her +father and the Governor and the aides, and rescued Mrs. Stanton and +accompanied the young matron to the sanctuary of a boudoir above-stairs. + +Mrs. Stanton extended to the tender touch of her maid a wilted hand, +lifted by a stiffened arm, the raising of which pumped a groan from the +lady. The white glove which incased the hand and arm was smutched +liberally in telltale fashion. + +"Pull it off, Hibbert! But careful! Don't pull off my fingers unless they +are very loose and beyond hope. But hurry! Let me know the worst as soon +as possible." + +"I realize that the reception--" began Lana. + +"Reception!" Mrs. Stanton snapped her head around to survey her youthful +hostess. The flame on the matron's cheeks matched the fire in her tones. + +"Reception, say you? Lana Corson, don't you know the difference between a +reception and a political rally?" + +"I'm sorry, Doris! But father simply must do this duty thing when the +legislature meets. The members expect it. It keeps up his fences, he says. +It's politics!" + +"I'm glad my father is a banker instead of a United States Senator. If +this is what a Senator has to do when he comes back to his home, I think +he'd better stay in Washington and send down a carload of food and stick a +glove on the handle of the town pump and let his constituents operate +that! At any rate, the power wouldn't be wasted in a dry time!" + +Lana surveyed her own hand. The glove was not immaculate any more, but it +covered a firm hand that was unweary. "Father has given me good advice. +It's to shake the hand of the other chap, not let yours be shaken." + +"Those brutes gave me no chance!" + +"I noticed that they were very enthusiastic, Doris. I'm afraid you're too +handsome!" + +But that flattery did not placate Mrs. Stanton. "It's only a rout and a +rabble, Lana! The feminine element does not belong in it. My father dines +his gentlemen and accomplishes his objects. And I think you have become +one of these political hypocrites! You actually looked as if you were +enjoying that performance down-stairs." + +"I was enjoying it, Doris! I was helping my father as best I could, and at +the same time I was meeting many of my old, true friends. I'm glad to be +home again." The girl was unaffectedly sincere in her statement. + +The glove was off and Mrs. Stanton was surveying her hand, wriggling the +fingers tentatively. + +"And they all seemed so glad to see me that I'm a bit penitent," Lana went +on. "I'm ashamed to own up to myself that I have allowed California and +Palm Beach to coax me away from Marion these last two winters. I ought to +have come down here with father. I'm not talking like a politician now, +Doris. Honestly, I'm stanch for old friends!" + +"I trust you don't think I'm an ingrate in the case of my own old friends, +Lana!" Mrs. Stanton, unappeased, was willing to take issue right then with +anybody, on that topic. "But the main trouble with old friends is, they +take too many liberties. Your old friends certainly did take liberties +with my poor hand, and they took liberties with your own private business +in my hearing." + +"How--in what way?" + +"I overheard persons say distinctly, over and over again, that one feature +of this--no, I'll not muddle my own ideas of society functions by calling +it a reception--they declared that your father proposes to announce +to-night in his home town your engagement to Coventry." + +The question that she did not put into words she put into the searching, +quizzical stare she gave Lana. + +"Ah!" remarked Miss Corson, revealing nothing either by tone or +countenance. + +"It looks to me as if you've been receiving other lessons from your +father, outside of the hand-shaking art. You are about as non-committal as +the best of our politicians, Lana dear!" + +For reply the Senator's daughter smiled. The smile was so ingenuous that +it ought to have disarmed the young matron of her petulance. + +But Mrs. Stanton went on with the sharp insistence of one who had +discovered an opportunity and proposed to make the most of it. "Seeing +that the matter has come up in this way--quite by chance--" Mrs. Stanton +did not even blink when she said it--"though I never would have presumed +to speak of it to you, Lana, without good and sufficient provocation--I +think that you and Coventry should have confided in me, first of all. Of +course, I know well enough how matters stand! I really believe I do! But I +think I'm entitled to know, officially, to put it that way, as much as +your highly esteemed old friends here in Marion know." + +"Yes," agreed Miss Corson. + +"But _first_, Lana dear! To know it first--as a sister should! I'm not +blaming you! I realize that you met some of those aforesaid old, true +friends while you were out around the city to-day. One does drop +confidences almost without realizing how far one goes, when old friends +are met. I'm sure such reports as I overheard couldn't be made up out of +whole cloth." + +Mrs. Stanton's air and tone were certainly provoking, but Miss Corson's +composure was not ruffled. "Out of the knowledge that you profess in +regard to old friends, Doris, you must realize that they are energetic and +liberal guessers." She turned toward the door. + +"Where are you going?" + +"To my room for a fresh pair of gloves, dear." + +"Do you mean to tell me that you're going back for another turn among +those jiu-jitsu experts?" + +"We're to have dancing later." + +"For myself, I'd as soon dance with performing bears. I must be excused. +I'll do anything in reason, but I have reached my limit!" + +Lana walked back to her, both hands extended. "You have been a dear martyr +to the cause of politics. But now you are going to be the queen of our +little festival. Listen, Doris! All the political buzzing bees will be +thinning out, right soon. Those elderly gentlemen from the country who +shook hands with a good Grange grip--they'll be wanting to get plenty of +sleep so as to be wide awake to-morrow to hear the Governor's inaugural +address. The other vigorous gentlemen who are so deeply in politics will +be hurrying back to their hotels for their caucuses, or whatever it is +they have to attend to in times like these. And the younger folks, who +have no politics on their minds, will stay and enjoy themselves. There are +some really dear folks in Marion!" + +"I thank you for the information," returned Mrs. Stanton, dryly. "It's +important if true. But there's other information that's more important in +my estimation just now and you don't allow me the opportunity to thank you +for it." + +"I have been thinking, Doris! I really don't feel in the mood, when all +those friends are under my roof, to stand here and brand them as +prevaricators. Mayn't we let the matter stand till later?" + +"Until after it has been officially announced?" queried Mrs. Stanton, +sarcastically. + +"I'm afraid that father's lessons have trained me better in political +methods than I have realized," said Lana, meekly apologetic. "Because, +right now, I'm obliged to run the risk of offending you, Doris, by quoting +him and making his usual statement my rule of conduct." + +"Well?" + +"'Nothing can be officially declared until all the returns are in.'" + +"What am I to understand from that?" + +"It isn't so awfully clear, I know! But let's not talk any more about it." + +Lana had dropped her friend's hands. She took them again in her grasp and +swung Mrs. Stanton's arms to and fro in girlish and frolicsome fashion. +"Now go ahead and be your own jolly Doris Stanton! You're going to meet +folks who'll understand you and appreciate all your wit. One especially +I'll name. I don't know why he's so late in coming, for he had a special +invitation from my own mouth. He's the mayor of Marion!" + +"What?" demanded Mrs. Stanton, irefully, pulling away from the girl who +was trying to coax back good nature. "Picking out another politician for +my special consideration, after what I have been through?" + +"Oh, he's not a politician, Doris dear! Father says he isn't one; he says +so himself and his party newspaper here in the city says regularly that he +isn't, in a complimentary way, and the opposition paper says so in a +sneering way--and I suppose that makes the thing unanimous. He is one of +my oldest friends; he was my hero when I was a little girl in school; he +is tall and big and handsome and--" + +Mrs. Stanton narrowed her eyes. + +She broke in impatiently on the panegyric. "I'm so thoroughly disgusted +with the ways of politics, Lana, that I draw the line at a speech of +nomination. You said you'd name him! Who is he?" + +"Stewart Morrison." + +"I thought so!" Mrs. Stanton's tone was vastly significant. + +Lana flushed. The composure that she had been maintaining was losing its +serenity and her friend noted that fact and became more irritable. + +"My dear Lana, I gathered so much enlightenment from the twittering of +those old friends of yours down-stairs that you'll not be obliged, I +think, to break your most excellent rule of reticence in order to humor my +impertinent curiosity in this instance!" + +"Don't be sarcastic with me, Doris! I don't find it as funny as when +you're caustic with other folks." + +"There does seem to be a prevailing lack of humor in the affairs of this +evening," acknowledged Mrs. Stanton. "We'll drop the subject, dear!" + +"I don't like you to feel that I'm putting you to one side as my dearest +friend--not in anything." + +"If you haven't felt like being candid with me in a matter where I'd +naturally be vitally interested, I can hardly expect you to pour out your +heart about a dead-and-gone love-affair with a rustic up in these parts. I +understood from the chatter of your old friends that it _is_ dead and +gone. I can congratulate you on that proof of your newer wisdom, Lana. It +shows that my counsels haven't been entirely wasted on you." + +"It was dead and gone before you began to counsel me, Doris. It's not a +matter of withholding confidence from you. Why should I talk about such +things to anybody?" + +"Oh, a discreet display of scalp-locks decorates a boudoir and interests +one's friends," vouchsafed the worldly matron. + +"Such confidences are atrocious!" Miss Corson displayed spirit. + +"Now both of us are getting peppery, dear Lana, and I always reserve that +privilege exclusively for myself in all my friendly relations. I have to +keep a sharp edge on my tongue because folks expect me to perform the +social taxidermy in my set, and it's only brutal and messy if done with a +dull tool. Run and get your gloves! But take your own time in returning to +me. There are still two of my fingers that need a further period of +convalescence." + +Mrs. Stanton promptly neglected her duties as a finger nurse the moment +Miss Corson was out of the room. "Hibbert, ask one of the servants to find +my brother and tell him I want to see him here. He will undoubtedly be +located in some group where there is a rural gentleman displaying the +largest banner of beard. My brother has an insatiable mania for laying +bets with sporting young men that he can fondle any set of luxuriant +whiskers without giving the wearer cause for offense." + +Coventry answered his sister's call with promptitude. + +"I'll keep you only a moment from your whisker-parterres, Cov! When you go +back into that down-stairs garden please give some of those beards a good +hard yank for my sake." + +But young Mr. Daunt was serious and rebuked her. "This isn't any lark +we're on up here, Dorrie! Dad needs to have everybody's good will and I'm +doing my little best on the side-lines for him. And he isn't tickled to +pieces by your quitting. It's a big project we're gunning through this +legislature!" + +"It may be so! It probably is! But I'm not sacrificing four fingers, a +thumb, and a perfectly good arm for the cause and I'm not allowing public +affairs to take my mind wholly off private matters. So here's at it! Are +you and Lana formally engaged?" + +"Well, I must say you're not abrupt or anything of the sort!" + +"Certain semi-coaxing methods haven't seemed to succeed, and therefore I'm +shooting the well, as our oil friend Whitaker puts it!" + +"Simply for the sake of keeping our affectionate brother-and-sister +relations on the safe and approved plane, I'll say it's none of your +blamed business," declared Coventry. "On the other hand, in a purely +tolerant and friendly way, I'll say that Lana and I are proceeding +agreeably, I think, and dad told me the other day that the Senator talked +as if the matrimonial bill might receive favorable consideration when duly +reported from committee--meaning Lana and myself and--" + +"Gas!" broke in Mrs. Stanton. "I shot and I get only gas! I'm looking for +oil! Is there an actual and formal engagement, I ask?" + +"Oh, say!" expostulated her brother, registering disgust. "The motion +pictures have spoiled that sort of thing. They have to propose bang +outright in the films because the fans can't be bothered by the nuances of +courtship. But for a chap to get down on his knees these days in real life +would make the girl laugh as loud as the fans would whoop if the hero in +reel life stood on his head and popped the question. Nothing of that kind +of formal stuff in my case, sis! Of course not!" + +"There better be! You go ahead this very night and attend to it!" + +"Where do you get your appointment as general manager of the matter, +Dorrie? You certainly don't get it from me!" + +"Leaving it to be inferred--" + +"I leave nothing to be inferred," declared her brother, righteously +indignant. "Dorrie, you absolutely must get off that habit of carving your +own kin in order to keep up the edge of your tongue. I wouldn't as much as +intimate it, by denying it, that you get your meddling commission from +Lana. If this is all you wanted to talk about, I'll have to be going. This +is my busy evening!" + +"Just one moment! It's always the busiest man who has time to attend to +one thing more! I'm assuming that you love Lana." + +"Conceded! You always did have a good eye in that line, Dorrie!" + +"Then my advice, as an expert, ought to be respected. You go ahead and get +a promise from Lana Corson. Then you'll have somebody working for your +interests day and night." + +"Who?" + +"Her New England conscience!" + +Young Mr. Daunt gave his sister a long, searching, and sophisticated +stare. "I think I have a little the advantage of you, Dorrie. I met to-day +this Mr. Stewart Morrison you're speaking of!" + +"I haven't spoken of him! I haven't mentioned his name!" + +"Oh, didn't you?" purred the brother. "Then I must have anticipated what +you were going to say, or else I read your mind for the name--and that +only shows that the Daunt family's members are thoroughly _en rapport_, to +use dad's favorite phrase when he's showing the strawberry mark on ideas +and making the other fellow adopt 'em as his own children. And I have +heard how Lana and Morrison have been twice engaged and twice estranged. +So, how about her New England conscience in the matter of a promise in +love?" + +"As I understand it, the New England conscience grows up with the +possessor and comes of age and asserts itself. You can't expect an infant +or juvenile conscience to boss and control like a grown-up conscience. +Coventry, what kind of a man is Morrison?" + +"A big, opinionated ramrod of a Scotchman who'd drive any girl to break +her engagement a dozen times if she had promised as often as that." + +Mrs. Stanton relaxed in her chair and sighed with relief. "Oh, from what +she said about him--But no matter! I think you do know men very well, Cov! +I'll do no more worrying where he's concerned. Forgive me for advising you +so emphatically." + +"He'd boss any girl into breaking her engagement," continued Coventry, +with conviction. "Any dreaming, wondering, restless girl, curious to find +out for herself and afraid of restraint." + +"I know the type. Impossible as husbands," averred Mrs. Stanton, a caustic +and unwearying counselor of sex independence. + +"But there are some girls who grow up into real women, though you probably +have hard work to believe that," said her brother, equally caustic in +stating his opinions, "and they are waiting for the right man to come +along and take sole possession of them, body and soul and affairs--when +they are women! Then it isn't bossing any more! It's love, glorified! +Letting 'em have their own way would seem like neglect and indifference, +and their hearts would be broken. They eat it up, sis, eat it up, that +kind of love!" + +His sister leaped from her chair. "How anybody with an ounce of brains can +take stock in this caveman nonsense is more than I can understand!" + +"It has nothing to do with brains, sis! It's in here!" He tapped his +finger on his breast. "It was put in when the first heart started +beating." + +"But you listen to reason! No woman wants a--" + +He put his hand up and broke in on her furious remonstrance. "If I listen +to reason, sis, you'll have me against the ropes in thirty seconds. I +admit that there's no reason why a woman should want it that way! Brains +can argue us right out of the notion. I won't argue. But I don't want you +to think I'm keeping anything away from you that a sister ought to know. +As my sister and as Lana's good friend, I'm sure you'll be glad to know +that I love her with all my heart and I hope I haven't misunderstood her +feelings in regard to me. I don't want to be too complacent, but I think +she's still girl enough to welcome my kind of love and to take me for what +I am." + +He and his sister were thoroughly absorbed in their dialogue. Having +summed up the situation in his final declaration, he turned hastily to +leave the room and was assured, to his dismay, that Miss Corson had heard +the declaration; she was at the threshold, her lips apart; she was plainly +balancing a desire to flee against a more heroic determination to step in +and ignore the situation and the words which had accompanied it. + +Young Mr. Daunt manfully did his best to get that situation out of the +chancery of embarrassing silence. + +"Lana, the three of us are too good friends to allow this foozle to make +us feel altogether silly. Despite present appearances I don't go around +making speeches on a certain subject. Nor will I lay it all on Dorrie by +saying, 'The woman tempted me and I fell.'" + +"Yes, we may as well be sensible," affirmed Mrs. Stanton. In spite of her +momentary embarrassment her countenance was displaying bland satisfaction. +This was an occasion to be grasped. "I'll say right out frankly that I +consider I'm one too many in this room just now!" + +Lana retreated across the threshold. She was distinctly frightened. + +Young Mr. Daunt laughed and his merriment helped to relieve the situation +still more. "Oh, I say, Lana! This isn't a trap set by the Daunts. You +come right in! I'm leaving!" + +"I didn't mean to overhear," the girl faltered. + +"You and I have nothing to apologize for--either of us! I take nothing +back, but this is no kind of a time to go forward. I'd be taking advantage +of your confusion." + +"Well, of all the mincing minuets!" blurted the young matron. "One word +will settle it all. I tell you, I'm going!" + +But Daunt rushed to the door, seized Lana's hands, and swung her into the +room. "This is a political night, and we'll go by the rules. The gentleman +has introduced the bill and on motion of the lady it has been tabled. But +it will be taken from the table on a due and proper date and assigned at +the head of the calendar. I think that's the way the Senator would state +it. It ought to be good procedure." He released her hands. + +"And speaking of the calendar, Lana, may I have a peep at your +dance-list?" + +She gave him the engraved card. + +"All the waltzes for me, eh?" he queried, wistfully. "I note that you're +free." + +"One, please, Coventry--for now! No, please select some of the new dances. +You know them all! Some of my Marion friends are old-fashioned and I must +humor them with the waltzes." Her hands were trembling. She laughed +nervously. "I feel free to task your good nature." + +"Thank you," he returned, gratefully, accepting the implied compliment she +paid him. He dabbed on his initials here and there and hurried away. + +Mrs. Stanton had plenty of impetuous zeal for all her quests, but she had +also abundance of worldly tact. "One does get so tremendously interested +in friends and family, Lana! Affection makes nuisances of us so often! But +no more about it! I feel quite happy now. I'm even so kindly disposed +toward politics that I'm ready to go down and dance for the cause, +whatever it is your father and mine are going after. These men in +politics--they always seem to me to be like small boys building card +houses. Piling up and puffing down! Putting in little tin men and pulling +out little tin men. And to judge by the everlasting faultfinding, nobody +is ever satisfied by what is accomplished." + +Miss Corson plainly welcomed this consoling shift from an embarrassing +topic. And, in order to get as far from love as possible, she turned to +business. When she and her friend descended the broad stairway of the +mansion Lana was discoursing on the need of coaxing men of big commercial +affairs into politics. Her views were rather immature and her fervor was a +bit hysterical, but the subject was plainly more to her taste than that on +which Mrs. Stanton had been dwelling. + +The crowd below them, as they stood for a moment on the landing, half-way +down the stairs, gave comforting evidence that it had thinned, according +to Lana's prophecy. The receiving-line was broken. Senator Corson was +sauntering here and there, saying a word to this one or that in more +intimate manner than his formal post in the line permitted. Governor +North, also released from conventional restrictions as a hand-shaker, was +on his rounds and wagged his coattails and barked and growled +emphatically. + +The word "Law," oft repeated, fitted itself to his growls; when he barked +he ejaculated, "Election statutes!" + +"It's a pity your state is wasting such excellent material on the mere job +of Governor, Lana. What a perfectly wonderful warden he would make for +your state prison," suggested Mrs. Stanton, sweetly. But she did not +provoke a reply from the girl and noted that Lana was frankly interested +in somebody else than the Governor. It was a new arrival; his busy +exchange of greetings revealed that fact. + +"Ah! Your dilatory mayor of Marion!" said the matron, needing no +identification. + +Nor did Stewart require any word to indicate the whereabouts of the +hostess of the Corson mansion. His eyes had been searching eagerly. As +soon as he saw Lana he broke away from the group of men who were engaging +him. The Governor accosted Morrison sharply, when the mayor hurried past +on the way to the stairway. But again, within a few hours, Stewart +slighted the chief executive of the state. + +"I am late, I fear," he called to Lana, leaping up the stairs. "And after +my solemn promise to come early! But you excused me this morning when I +was obliged to attend to petty affairs. Same excuse this time! Do I +receive the same pardon?" + +The girl displayed greater ease in his presence at this second meeting. +She received him placidly. There were no more of those disconcerting and +high-flown forensics in her greeting. There was the winning candor of old +friendship in her smile and he flushed boyishly in his frank delight. She +presented him to Mrs. Stanton and that lady's modish coolness did not +dampen his spirits, which had become plainly exuberant. In fact, he paid +very little attention to Mrs. Stanton. + +"It has got to you, Lana--this coming home again, hasn't it?" he demanded, +with an unconventionality of tone and phraseology that caused the +metropolitan matron to express her startled emotions by a blink. "I knew +it would!" + +"I am glad to be home, Stewart. But I have been tiring Mrs. Stanton by my +enthusiasm on that subject," was her suggestive move toward another topic. +"You're in time for the dancing. That's the important feature of the +evening." + +"Certainly!" he agreed. "May I be pardoned, Mrs. Stanton, for consulting +my hostess's card first?" + +He secured Lana's program without waiting for the matron's indifferent +permission. + +"A waltz--two waltzes, anyway!" he declared. "They settle arrearages in +your accounts, Lana, for the two winters you have been away. And why not +another?" He was scribbling with the pencil. "It will settle the current +bill." + +"It is a business age," murmured Mrs. Stanton, "and collections cannot be +looked after too sharply." + +"Will you not permit me to go in debt to you, madam?" he asked. "I'll be +truly obligated if you'll allow me to put my name on your card." + +"As a banker's daughter, I'll say that the references that have been +submitted by Miss Corson in regard to your standing are excellent," said +Mrs. Stanton, with a significance meant for Lana's confusion. But while +she was detaching the tassel from her girdle Governor North interrupted. +He was standing on the stairs, just below the little group. + +"Excuse me for breaking in on the party, but I'm due at the State House. +I'll bother you only a second, Morrison. Then you won't have a thing to do +except be nice to the ladies." + +"I know I'll be excused by them for a few moments, Governor." He started +to descend. His Excellency put up his hand. + +"We can attend to it right here, Mister Mayor!" + +"But I have a word or two--" + +"That's all I have!" was the blunt retort. "And I'm in a hurry. Have you +got 'em smoothed down, according to our understanding?" + +"I have, I think! But whether they'll stay smooth depends on you, Governor +North!" + +"And I can be depended on! I told you so at the office." He turned away. + +"I think I ought to have a few words with you in private, however," +Morrison insisted. "That general understanding is all right. But I need to +know something specific." + +The Governor was well down the stairs; he trudged energetically, his +coattails wagging in wide arcs. It was not premeditated insolence; it was +the usual manner of Lawrence North when he did not desire an interview +prolonged to an extent that might commit him. "I'll be at the State House +in case there's any need of my attention to something specific. I'll +attend to it over the telephone--over the telephone, understand!" + +The diversion on the stairs had attracted a considerable audience and +produced a result that interfered further with Stewart's immediate social +plans. + +Senator Corson came across the reception-hall, beckoning amiably, and the +three descended obediently. + +"Stewart, before you get too deep into the festivities with the girls, I +want you to have a bit of a chat with Mr. Daunt. We arranged it, you +know." + +"But Stewart isn't up here to attend to business, father," protested the +daughter, with a warmth that the subject of the controversy welcomed with +a smile of gratitude. + +"There is an urgent reason why Mr. Daunt should have a few words with +Stewart to-night--before the legislature assembles." The Senator assumed +an air of mock autocratic dignity. "I command the obedience of my +daughter!" He saw the banker approaching. "I call on you, sir, to put down +rebellion in your own family! These daughters of ours propose to spirit +away this young gentleman." + +"I'll keep you from the merrymaking only a few moments, Mayor Morrison," +apologized Daunt. "But I feel that it is quite essential for us to get +together on that matter we mentioned in the forenoon. I'm sure that only a +few words will put us thoroughly _en rapport_." + +Mrs. Stanton lifted her eyebrows. "That phrase means that father will do +the talking, Mister Mayor. I recommend that you go along with him. You +won't have to do a thing except listen. You can come later and dance with +us with all your energy unimpaired." + +"Yes!" urged Lana. "The waltzes will be waiting!" + +"Use my den, Daunt! If I can get away from my gang, here, I'll run in on +you," stated the Senator. He smacked his palm on Stewart's shoulder. "I +know you always put business ahead of pleasure, though it may be hard to +do it in this case, my boy! But after you and my friend Daunt get matters +all tied up snug you won't have a thing to do for the rest of the night +but enjoy yourself and be nice to the girls--not another thing, Stewart." + + + + +VIII + +A ROD IN PICKLE + + +With great promptitude Attorney Despeaux fastened upon Blanchard, of the +Conawin, the moment the latter left the company of Mayor Morrison on the +arrival of the twain at the Corson mansion; and Mr. Blanchard seemed +alertly willing to break off his companionship with the passenger he had +brought in his limousine. + +"What's that bull-headed fool been stirring up down-town?" demanded +Despeaux when he had Blanchard safely to himself in a corner. + +"Have you heard something about it?" + +"I was called on the 'phone a few minutes ago." + +"Who called you?" + +"No matter! But hold on, Blanchard! I may as well tell you that I'm using +a part of our fund to have Morrison shadowed. I suppose the reason you +went along was to get a line on him. But it was imprudent. It looked like +lending your countenance." + +Blanchard explained sullenly why he did accompany Morrison to the meeting. + +"Well, I'm glad you were there and heard him inflaming the mob," admitted +the syndicate's lobbyist and lawyer. "I want to have Senator Corson fully +informed on the point and it will come better from you than from a paid +detective. Give it to Corson, and give it to him strong!" + +"I don't know that I can justly say that he was inflaming the mob," +demurred Blanchard. + +"But you've got to say it! You must make it appear that way! Blanchard, it +has come to a clinch and we must smash Morrison's credit in every +direction. I didn't realize till to-day that he is out to blow up the +whole works. Didn't he preach to you on the text of that infernal +people-partner notion of his?" + +"Yes! He's crazy!" + +"The people own the moon, if you want to put it that way! But they can't +do anything sensible with it, any more than they can with ownership of the +state's water-power." + +The Conawin magnate exhibited bewilderment. "Despeaux, I'm a business man. +I suppose you lawyers go to work in a different way than we do in +business. But as I have read the propaganda you're putting out--as I +understand it--_you_ are shouting for the people's rights, too!" + +"I am! Strongly! Right out open! I even preached on people's rights to +Morrison this very day--and looked him right in that canny Scotch eye of +his while I preached. I like to keep in good practice!" + +"Then why is Morrison so dangerous, if he's only doing what you do?" +inquired the business man, with an artlessness that the attorney greeted +with an oath. + +"Because the infernal ramrod means what he says, Blanchard!" + +"But if you don't mean it--if you have put yourself on record--and if +you're obliged to step up and honor the draft you've sanctioned--what's +going to happen in the showdown?" + +Attorney Despeaux moderated his mordancy and became tolerantly patient in +enlightening the ignorance of one of his employers. "The people are hungry +for some kind of fodder in this water-power proposition. I've been telling +all you power-owners so! We'll have to admit it, Blanchard! The time is +played out when you can drive the people in this country. You've got to be +a nice, kind shepherd and get their confidence and lead 'em. I'm a +shepherd! See?" He patted himself on the breast. "There are two cribs!" + +"You'll have to name 'em to me, Despeaux. I'm apt to be pretty dull +outside of matters in my own line." + +"I guess I'd do better to designate the chaps who are managing the cribs." +The two men were in a window embrasure. Despeaux pointed to one side of +the niche. "Over there, behold Morrison and his 'storage and power' crowd, +made up of pig-headed engineers and scientific experts who are thinking +only of how much power can be developed for the people as proprietors; +over here, the public utilities commission made up of safe men, +judiciously appointed, tractable in politics, consistently on the side of +vested interests and right on the job to see to it that the state keeps +its contracts with capital. I propose to be something of a shepherd and +lead the people to the public utilities crib! And I'm going to show folks +that they'll be eating poison-ivy out of the Morrison crib--even if I have +to put the poison-ivy in there myself. This is no time to be squeamish, +Blanchard! You've got to do your part in nailing a disturber like Morrison +to the cross. Speak like a business man and say that he is dangerous in +good business. We've got a Governor who is safe; we've got to have a +legislature that will see to it that the committees are all right. And +that's why we're standing no monkey business from any mob up on Capitol +Hill to-night! Down at that hall, so my man told me, Morrison talked as if +he's going to take hold and run the state! Didn't he?" + +"Well, one might draw some such conclusions, I suppose, by stretching his +words!" + +"Blanchard, you must stretch words when you talk to Senator Corson and to +all others who need to be stirred up and can help us. If that wild +Scotchman butts into this plan he's inviting trouble, and we've got to see +that he gets it. He's got to be choked now or never! Don't have any mercy! +Just look at it this way! Talk it this way! He's turning on his own, if he +does what he threatens! He played the sneak, he, a mill-owner, getting on +to that commission! And he proposes to shove in a report that will smother +development by outside capital. Play up the reason for his interest in the +thing along that line! A hog for himself! It's easy to turn public +sentiment by the right kind of talk! If I really start out to go the limit +I can have him tarred and feathered as a chief conspirator, rigging a +scheme to have our big industries knocked in the head." + +Despeaux spoke low, but his tone conveyed the malice and the menace of a +man who had been nursing a grudge for a long time. "Two years ago his +newspaper letters and his rant killed that Consolidated project, and I had +a contingent fee of fifty thousand dollars at stake; as it was, I got only +a little old regular lobby fee and my expense money. And the power hasn't +been developed by the infernal, dear, protected people, has it?" he +sneered. "If the Consolidated folks had been let alone and given their +franchise, we'd now be marketing over our high-tension wires two millions +of horse-power in big centers two or three hundred miles from this state." + +"Well, I'm not so awfully strong, myself, for making a mere power station +of our own state, and letting outsiders ship our juice over the border." + +"But you ought to be devilish strong against a man who is proposing to +have the state break existing contracts, take back power rights and +franchises and make you simply a lessee of what you already own! You've +got yours! Give the outsiders a show! It's all snarled up together, +Blanchard, and you've got to kill him and his crowd and their whole mushy, +socialistic scheme and eliminate him from the proposition. Then we can go +ahead and do something sensible in this state!" affirmed Mr. Despeaux, +with the lustful ardor of one who foresaw the possibility of eliminating, +also, the hateful word "contingent" in the case of fees. + +But Business-man Blanchard was displaying symptoms of worriment. + +The lawyer viewed with concern this evidence of backsliding, but his +attention was suddenly diverted from his companion; then Despeaux nudged +Blanchard and directed the latter's gaze by a thumb jerk. + +They saw Morrison hurry up the stairs to greet Lana Corson when she +appeared with her house guest. The attorney seemed to be vastly interested +in the scene. + +"I don't mean to scare you," went on Despeaux, his manner milder. "I'm not +planning to commit murder or steal a state! It's Morrison right now! He's +the one we're after! This whole thing may be taken care of in another +way--so easily that it may make us smile. I've been keeping my eyes open, +Blanchard--ears, too! Did you see Morrison rush to the Senator's daughter? +A fellow can work himself into a terrible state of worry over the dear, +unprotected people, when he has nothing else better to take up his mind. +But after a Scotchman goes crazy over a girl--well, when the whole of 'em +hold Poet Bobby Burns up as the type of their race, they know what they're +talking about!" + +"I can hardly conceive of Morrison being a poet or relishing poetry or the +ways of a poet," returned Blanchard, dryly. + +"And he probably has never read a line of it in his whole life," agreed +Despeaux. "But that isn't the point! You may think I've gone off on a +queer tack, all of a sudden, but I know human nature! That girl is back +here with a slick young fellow, and he's the pepper in a certain mess of +Scotch broth that has been heated up all over again, if I'm any guesser. +That girl has been living in Washington, Blanchard. It's a great school! +I've been watching her shake hands. You saw her just now when she shook +with our friend, the mayor. That girl isn't down here on this trip simply +to see whether the care-takers have been looking after the Corson mansion +in good shape," opined the cynical Mr. Despeaux, having excellent personal +reasons to distrust everybody else in the matter of motives. + +"That sort of a trick is beneath Senator Corson and his daughter." + +"Well," drawled the lawyer, "that all depends how closely he and Silas +Daunt are tied up in a common interest in this water-power question and +other matters. I suspect everybody in this world. I go on that principle. +It eases my mind about slipping something over on the other fellow when I +get the chance. I'm talking out pretty frankly, Blanchard, to a man who +has his money in the syndicate pool, as you have! But I play square with +the crowd I take money from, so long's I'm with 'em. The fee makes me +yours to command, heart and soul! There's something--some one thing--that +can control every man, according to his tastes. Stewart Morrison can be +controlled right now by that black-eyed Corson girl more effectually than +he can by any other person or consideration on God's earth. I've known him +ever since he was a boy--I have watched the thing between 'em--and now +that she's back here where he can see her, be near her, and be worried by +the sight of another fellow trailing her, he'll be doing more thinking +about her than he will about the partner-people, as he calls that dream of +his about something that isn't so! I wish I could know just how sly the +Senator is! I wish I could get a line on what's underneath that girl's +curly topknot," he said, fervently. + +Apparently absorbed by that speculation, Lawyer Despeaux again gave close +attention to the tableau on the landing presented by Lana, Mrs. Stanton, +and Morrison. + +When Governor North marched up the stairs, said his vociferous say, and +marched down again Despeaux grunted his satisfaction. "That's the talk, +old boy! Show him where he gets off!" + +The manner in which Senator Corson handed Morrison over to Silas Daunt +elicited further commendation from the lawyer. "He's being pulled into +camp smoothly and scientifically, Blanchard! The Senator is on to his job, +but did you see Morrison's mug when he had to leave the girl?" + +"I'll admit that it's the first time I ever saw him make up a face when he +was called on to tend to business!" + +"The Senator is a wise old bird! He knows human nature down to the ground. +He's got the right kind of a daughter to help him, and he's making her +useful. It's a case of shutting Morrison's mouth, and Corson is hep to the +right play. I don't think the Senator needs any advice from us, but a +little of the proper kind of information about Morrison's latest +demfoolishness will make Corson understand that he needs to put some hot +pep as well as sugar into his politeness. We'll get to him as soon as we +can. Make it strong, Blanchard, make it strong!" + +As soon as opportunity offered, Blanchard did make it strong. He was +harboring a pretty large-sized grudge of his own in the case of Morrison, +and it was easy to put malice into the report he gave the Senator. + +"But hold on!" protested Corson. "You're making Stewart out to be a +radical as red as any of them!" + +"I can't help that, Senator," retorted the millman. "He dragged me down to +his cursed meeting over my protest and he made a speech that put himself +in hand in glove with 'em." + +Corson pursed his lips and displayed the concern of a friend who had heard +bad news regarding a favorite. "I always found the boy a bit inclined to +mix high-flown notions in with the business practicality of his family. +But I didn't realize that he was going so far wrong in his theories. +That's the danger in permitting even one unsound doctrine to get into a +level-headed chap's apple-basket, gentlemen! First thing you know, it has +affected all the fruit. I'm glad you told me. I'm not surprised that your +arguments have had no effect, Despeaux. He's naturally headstrong. Do you +know, these fellows with poetic, chivalrous natures are hard boys to bring +to reason in certain practical matters?" + +"I was just telling Despeaux that I never saw much poetry sentiment in +Stewart Morrison," affirmed the millman. + +Senator Corson's condescending smile assured Mr. Blanchard that he was all +wrong. "He was much in our family as a boy. Very sentimental if approached +from the right angle! Very! And I think this is a matter to be handled +wholly by Stewart's closest friends. Sentiment has led him off on a wrong +slant. He'll only fight harder if he's tackled by a man like you, +Despeaux. That's the style of him. But in his case sentiment can be guided +by sentiment. And all for his best good! He mustn't run wild in this +folly! I believe there's no one who can approach him with more tact than +my daughter Lana." Despeaux found an opportunity to dig his thumb +suggestively into Blanchard's side. "They have been extremely good +friends, I believe, in boy-and-girl fashion; between us three old +townsmen, I'll go as far as to say they were very much interested in each +other. But in the case of both of 'em their horizons are naturally wider +these days; however, first-love affairs, even if rather silly, are often +the basis for really sensible and enduring friendships. And friendship +must handle this thing. We'll leave it to Lana. I'll speak to her." + +He went on his way toward the ballroom, pausing to chat with this or that +group of constituents. + +"There!" exclaimed the lawyer, relieving his high pressure by a vigorous +exhalation of breath. "What did I tell you?" + +"It's mighty kind and sensible of the Senator! Morrison is making a big +mistake and the way to handle him is by friendship." + +"Friendship hell!" + +"Say, look here, Despeaux, I don't believe in spoiling my teeth by biting +every coin that's handed to me in this world." + +"Are you as devilish green as you pretend to be, Blanchard? If you had +ever hung around in Washington as I have, you'd have wisdom teeth growing +so fast that they'd keep your jaws propped open like a country yap's +unless you kept 'em filed by biting all the coin of con! Now I know what's +in the Senator's dome and what's under his girl's topknot! But let's not +argue about that. Let's take a look at the probabilities in regard to the +water-power matter--that's of more importance just now. I doubt that even +friendship"--he dwelt satirically on the word--"can shut Morrison up on +the storage report that he will shove into the legislature. But we're +going to have safe committees this year, thanks to the election laws and +guns, and that report will be pocketed. Then if Morrison keeps still about +making the dear people millionaires by having 'em peddle their puddles to +the highest bidders, capital can go ahead and do business in this state. I +think his mouth is going to be effectively shut! The right operators are +on the job!" + +Despeaux took a peep at his watch. + +"Time slipped by while we were waiting to get at Corson. Daunt has had +half an hour for laying down the law to Morrison. And Daunt can do a whole +lot of business in half an hour." + +"He'll only stir up Morrison's infernal scrapping spirit by laying down +the law," objected Blanchard, sourly. + +Despeaux took both of the millman's coat lapels in his clutch. "He'll lay +down in front of Morrison the prospect of the profits to be made by the +deal that is proposed. And if you had ever heard Silas Daunt talk profits +as a promoter you would reckon just as I'm reckoning, Blanchard--to see +our Scotch friend come out of that conference walking like the man who +broke the bank at Monte Carlo, instead of bobbing around astraddle of that +damnation hobby-goat of his! Daunt can talk money in the same tone that a +Holy Roller revivalist talks religion, Blanchard! And he makes converts, +he sure does!" + +A moment later the mayor of Marion strode across the reception-hall. + +Lawyer Despeaux, giving critical attention, was not ready to affirm that +Morrison's gait was that of a man who had broken a bank. But the manner in +which he marched, shoulders back and chin up, and the dabs of color on his +cheeks, would have suggested to a particularly observant person that the +mayor had broken something. He pushed past those who addressed him and +went on toward the ballroom, staring straight ahead; the music was pulsing +in the ballroom; he seemed to be thoroughly entranced by the strains; at +any rate, he was attending strictly to the business of going somewhere! He +passed Senator Corson, who was returning to the reception-hall; the mayor +gave his host only a nod. + +While the Senator stood and gazed at the precipitate young man, Banker +Daunt, following on Morrison's trail, arrived in front of Corson. + +Lawyer Despeaux stepped from the window embrasure to get a good view and +was not at all reassured by Daunt's looks. The banker displayed none of +the symptoms of a victor. There was more of choler than complacency in his +air. He hooked his arm inside the Senator's elbow and they went away +together. + +"Blanchard," said the lawyer, after a period of pondering, "that infernal +Scotch idiot says that he isn't interested in politics and now he seems to +have put promoting in the same class. Our hope is that he's interested in +something else. Suppose we stroll along and see just how much interested +he is." + +By the time they reached the ballroom Morrison was waltzing with Lana. + +He was distinctly another person from that tense, saturnine, defiant, +brusk person who strode through the reception-hall. He was radiantly and +boyishly happy. He was clasping the girl tenderly. He directed her steps +in a small circle outside the throng of dancers, and waltzed as slowly as +the tempo would allow. He was talking earnestly. + +"Look at him! There you have it!" whispered Despeaux, recovering his +confidence. "Every man has his price--but it's a mistake to think that the +price must always be counted down in cash. Daunt didn't act as if he had +captured our friend. He's dancing to a girl's tune now. Corson will +whistle a jig when he gets ready and Morrison will dance to that tune, +too!" + + + + +IX + +MAKING IT A SQUARE BREAK + + +In the privacy of Senator Corson's study Mr. Daunt had allowed himself to +raise his voice and express some decided opinions by the way of venting +his emotions. + +In his heat he disregarded the amenities that should govern a guest in the +presence of his host. In fact, Mr. Daunt asserted that the host was partly +responsible for the awkward position in which Mr. Daunt found himself. + +The Senator, whenever he was able to make himself heard, put in protesting +"buts." Mr. Daunt, riding his grievance wildly, hurdled every "but" and +kept right on. "Confound it, Corson, I accepted him as your friend, as +your guest, as a gentleman under the roof of a mutual friend. Most of all, +I accepted him as a safe and sane business man. I talked to him as I would +to the gentlemen who put their feet under my table. I know how to be +cautious in the case of men I meet in places of business. But you bring +this man to your house and you put me next to him with the assurance that +he is all right--and I go ahead with him on that basis. I was perfectly +and entirely honest with him. I disregarded all the rules that govern me +in ordinary business offices," the banker added, too excited to appreciate +the grim humor flashed by the flint and the steel of his last, juxtaposed +sentences. + +"You say you told him all your plans in full?" suggested Corson, referring +to the outburst with which Daunt began his arraignment of the situation. + +"Of course I told him! You gave me no warning. I dealt with him, gentleman +with gentleman, under your roof!" + +"I didn't think it was necessary to counsel a man like you about the +ordinary prudence required in all business matters." + +"I had his word in his own office that he was heartily with me. You told +me he was as square as a brick when it came to his word. I went on that +basis, Corson!" + +"I'm sorry," admitted the Senator. "I thought I knew Stewart through and +through. But I haven't been keeping in touch as closely as I ought. I have +heard things this evening--" He hesitated. + +"You have heard things--and still you allowed me to go on and empty my +basket in front of him?" + +"I heard 'em only after you were closeted here with him, Daunt. And I +can't believe it's as bad as it has been represented to me. And even as it +stands, I think I know how to handle him. I have already taken steps to +that end." + +"How?" + +"Please accept my say-so for the time being, Daunt! It isn't a matter to +be canvassed between us." + +"I suppose you learn that sort of reticence in politics, even in the case +of a friend, Corson," growled the banker. "I wish I had taken a few +lessons from you before talking with one of your friends this evening." + +"Was it necessary for you to do so much talking before you got a line on +his opinions?" + +"Confound it, Corson, with that face of his--with that candor in his +countenance--he looks as good and reliable as a certified check--and in +addition I had your indorsement of him." + +"I felt that I had a right to indorse him." The Senator showed spirit. +"Daunt, I don't like to hear you condemn Stewart Morrison so utterly." + +"Not utterly! He has qualities of excellence! For instance, he's a +damnation fine listener," stated the disgusted banker. + +"But he couldn't have thrown down your whole proposition--he couldn't have +done that, after the prospects you held out to him, as you outlined them +to me when we first discussed the matter," Corson insisted. "Morrison has +a good business head on him. He comes of business stock. He has made a big +success of his mill. He must be on the watch for more opportunities. All +of us are." + +"Well, here was the offer I made to him, seeing that he is a _friend_ of +yours," said Banker Daunt, dilating his nostrils when he dwelt on the word +"friend." "I offered to double his own appraisal of his properties when we +pay him in the preferred stock of the consolidation. I told him that he +would receive, like the others, an equal amount of common stock for a +bonus. I assured him that we would be able to pay dividends on the common. +And he asked me particularly if I was certain that dividends would be paid +on the common. I gave him that assurance as a financier who knows his +card." Daunt had been attempting to curb his passion and talk in a +business man's tone while on the matter of figures. But he abandoned the +struggle to keep calm. He cracked his knuckles on the table and shouted: +"But do you know--can you imagine what he said after I had twice assured +him as to those dividends on common, replying to his repeated questions? +Can you?" + +"No," admitted Corson, having reason to be considerably uncertain in +regard to Stewart Morrison's newly developed notions about affairs in +general. + +"He told me I ought to be ashamed of myself--then he pulled out his watch +and apologized for monopolizing me so long on a gay evening, hoped I was +enjoying it, and said he must hurry away and dance with Miss Corson. What +did he mean by saying that I ought to be ashamed of myself? What did he +mean by that gratuitous insult to a man who had made him a generous +proposition in straight business--to a guest under your roof, Senator +Corson?" + +"By gad! I'll find out what it means!" snapped the Senator, pricked in his +pride and in his sense of responsibility as a go-between. He pushed a +button in the row on his study table. "This new job as mayor seems to be +playing some sort of a devil's trick with Stewart. I'll admit, Daunt, that +I didn't relish some of the priggish preachment on politics mouthed by him +in his office when we were there. But I didn't pay much attention--any +more than I did to his exaggerated flourish in the way he attended to city +business. The new brooms! You know!" + +"Yes, I know!" The banker was sardonic. "I could overlook his display of +importance when he neglected gentlemen in order to parade his tuppenny +mayor's business. I paid no attention to his vaporings on the water +question. I've heard plenty of franchise-owners talk that way for effect! +He's an especially avaricious Scot, isn't he? Confound him! How much more +shall I offer him?" + +"I'll admit that Stewart seems to be different these days in some +respects, but unless he has made a clean change of all his nature in this +shift of some of his ideas, you'd better not offer him any more!" warned +the Senator. "I never detected any 'For Sale' sign on him!" + +The Senator's secretary stepped into the study. + +"Find Mayor Morrison in the ballroom and tell him I want to see him here." + +"Corson, you're a United States Senator," proceeded the banker when the +man had departed, "and your position enables you to take a broad view of +business in general. But naturally you're for your own state first of +all." + +"Certainly! Loyally so!" + +"I think you thoroughly understand my play for consolidated development of +the water-power here. Every single unit should be put at work for the good +of the country. Isn't that so?" + +"Yes, decidedly." + +"To set up such arbitrary boundaries as state lines in these matters of +development is a narrow and selfish policy," insisted Daunt. "It would be +like the coal states refusing to sell their surplus to the country at +large. If this Morrison proposes to play the bigoted demagogue in the +matter, exciting the people to attempt impractical control that will +paralyze the whole proposition, he must be stepped on. You can show due +regard for the honor and the prosperity of your own state, but as a +statesman, working for the general welfare of the country at large, you've +got to take a broader view than his." + +"I do. I can make Stewart understand." + +Daunt paced up and down the room, easing his turgid neck against a damp +collar. The Senator pondered. + +The secretary, after a time, tapped and entered. + +"Mayor Morrison is not in the ballroom, sir. And I could not find him." + +"You should have inquired of Miss Corson." + +"I could not find Miss Corson." + +The Senator started for the door. He turned and went back to Daunt. "It's +all right! I gave her a bit of a commission. It's in regard to Morrison. +She seems to be attending to it faithfully. Be easy! I'll bring him." + +The father went straight to the library. He knew the resources of his own +mansion in the matter of nooks for a tete-a-tete interview; now he was +particularly assisted by remembrance of Stewart's habits in the old days. +He found his daughter and the mayor of Marion cozily ensconced among the +cushions of a deep window-seat. + +Stewart was listening intently to the girl, his chin on his knuckles, his +elbow propped on his knee. His forehead was puckered; he was gazing at her +with intent seriousness. + +"Senator Corson," warned the girl, "we are in executive session." + +"I see! I understand! But I need Stewart urgently for a few moments." + +"I surrendered him willingly a little while ago. But this conference must +not be interrupted, sir!" + +"Certainly not, Senator Corson!" asserted Stewart, with a decisive snap in +his tone. "We have a great deal of ground to go over." + +"I'll allow you plenty of time--but a little later. There is a small +matter to be set straight. 'Twill take but a few moments." + +"It's undoubtedly either business or politics, sir," declared Lana, with a +fine assumption of parliamentary dignity. "But I have the floor for +concerns of my own, and I'll not cede any of my time." + +"It is hardly business or politics," returned the Senator, gravely. "It +concerns a matter of courtesy between guests in my home, and I'm anxious +to have the thing straightened out at once. I beg of you, Stewart!" + +The mayor rose promptly. + +"I suppose I must consider it a question of privilege and yield," +consented Lana, still carrying on her little play of procedure. "But do I +have your solemn promise, Senator Corson, that this gentleman will be +returned to me by you at the earliest possible moment?" + +"I promise." + +"And I want your promise that you will hurry back," said the girl, +addressing Stewart. "I'll wait right here!" + +"But, Lana, remember your duties to our guests," protested her father. + +"I have been fulfilling them ever since the reception-line was formed." +She waved her hand to draw their attention to the distant music. "The +guests are having a gorgeous time all by themselves. I'll be waiting +here," she warned. "Remember, please, both of you that I am waiting. That +ought to hurry your settlement of that other matter you speak of." + +"I'll waste no time!" Morrison assured her. He marched away with the +Senator. + +In the study Corson took his stand between his two guests. Daunt was +bristling; Morrison displayed no emotion of any sort. + +"Mr. Daunt, I think you'd better state your grievance, as you feel it, so +that Mr. Morrison can assure both of us that it arises from a +misunderstanding." + +The banker took advantage of that opportunity with great alacrity. "Now +that Senator Corson is present--now that we have a broad-minded referee, +Mr. Morrison, I propose to go over that matter of business." + +"Exactly on the same lines?" inquired Stewart, mildly. + +"Exactly! And for obvious reasons--so that Corson may understand just how +much your attitude hurt my feelings." + +"Pardon me, Mr. Daunt. I have no time to listen to the repetition. It will +gain you nothing from me. My mind remains the same. And Miss Corson is +waiting for me. I have promised to return to her as soon as possible." + +"But it will take only a little while to go over the matter," pleaded +Corson. + +"It will be time wasted on a repetition, sir. I have no right to keep Miss +Corson waiting, on such an excuse." + +"You give me an almighty poor excuse for unmannerly treatment of my +business, Morrison," Daunt stated, with increasing ire. + +"I really must agree in that," chided the Senator. + +"Sir, you gave your daughter the same promise for yourself," declared +Stewart. + +"Now let's not be silly, Stewart. Lana was playing! You can go right on +with her from where you left off." + +"Perhaps!" admitted the mayor. "I hope so, at any rate. But I don't +propose to break my promise." He added in his own mind that he did not +intend to allow a certain topic between him and Lana Corson to get cold +while he was being bullyragged by two elderly gentlemen in that study. + +"By the gods! you'll have to talk turkey to me on one point!" asserted +Daunt, his veneer of dignity cracking wide and showing the coarser grain +of his nature. "I made you a square business proposition and you insulted +me--under the roof of a gentleman who had vouched for both of us." + +"Thank you! Now we are not retracing our steps, as you threatened to do. +We go on from where we left off. Therefore, I can give you a few moments, +sir. What insult did I offer you?" + +"You told me that I ought to be ashamed of myself." + +"That was not an insult, Mr. Daunt. I intended it to be merely a frank +expression of opinion. Just a moment, please!" he urged, breaking in on +violent language. He brought his thumb and forefinger together to make a +circle and poised his hand over his head. "I don't wear one of these. I +have no right to wear one. Halo, I mean! I'm no prig or preacher--at +least, I don't mean to be. But when I talk business I intend to talk it +straight and use few words--and those words may sound rather blunt, +sometimes. Just a moment, I say!" + +He leaned over the table and struck a resounding blow on it with his +knuckles. "This is a nutshell proposition and we'll keep it in small +compass. You gave me a layout of your proposed stock issue. No matter what +has been done by the best of big financiers, no matter what is being done +or what is proposed to be done, in this particular case your consolidation +means that you've got to mulct the people to pay unreasonably high charges +on stock. It isn't a square deal. My property was developed on real money. +I know what it pays and ought to pay. I won't put it into a scheme that +will oblige every consumer of electricity to help pay dividends on +imaginary money. And if you're seriously attempting to put over any +consolidation of that sort on our people, Mr. Daunt, I repeat that you +ought to be ashamed of yourself." + +"And now you have heard him with your own ears," clamored the banker. +"What do you say to that, Mr. Corson?" + +"All capitalization entails a fair compromise--values to be considered in +the light of new development," said the Senator. "Let's discuss the +proposition, Stewart." + +"Discussion will only snarl us up. I'm stating the principle. You can't +compromise principle! I refuse to discuss." + +"Have you gone crazy over this protection-of-the-people idea?" demanded +Corson, with heat. + +"Maybe so! I'm not sure. I may be a little muddled. But I see a principle +ahead and I'm going straight at it, even though I may tread on some toes. +I believe that the opinion doesn't hold good, any longer, as a matter of +right, that because a man has secured a franchise, and his charter permits +him to build a dam across a river or the mouth of a lake, he is thereby +entitled to all the power and control and profit he can get from that +river or lake without return in direct payment on that power to the people +of the state. We know it's by constitutional law that the people own the +river and the lake. I'm putting in a report on this whole matter to the +incoming legislature, Senator Corson." + +"Good Heavens! Morrison, you're not advocating the soviet doctrine that +the state can break existing contracts, are you?" shouted the Senator. + +"I take the stand that charters do not grant the right for operators of +water-power to charge anything their greed prompts 'em to charge on +ballooned stock. I assert that charters are fractured when operators +flagrantly abuse the public that way! I'm going to propose a legislative +bill that will oblige water-power corporations to submit in public reports +our state engineers' figures on actual honest profit-earning valuation; to +publish complete lists of all the men who own stock so that we may know +the interests and the persons who are secretly behind the corporations." + +Corson displayed instant perturbation. + +"Such publication can be twisted to injure honest investors. It can be +used politically by a man's enemies. Stewart, I am heavily interested +financially in Daunt's syndicate, because I believe in developing our +grand old state. I bring this personal matter to your attention so that +you may see how this general windmill-tilting is going to affect your +friends." + +"I'm for our state, too, sir! And I'll mention a personal matter that's +close to me, seeing that you have broached the subject. St. Ronan's mill +is responsible for more than two hundred good homes in the city of Marion, +built, owned, and occupied by our workers. And in order to clean up a +million profit for myself, I don't propose to go into a syndicate that may +decide to ship power out of this state and empty those homes." + +"You are leaping at insane conclusions," roared Daunt. He shook his finger +under Morrison's nose. + +"I'll admit that I have arrived at some rather extreme conclusions, sir," +admitted Stewart, putting his threatened nose a little nearer Daunt's +finger. "I based the conclusions on your own statement to me that you +proposed to make my syndicate holdings more valuable by a legislative +measure that would permit the consolidation to take over poles and wires +of existing companies or else run wires into communities in case the +existing companies would not sell." + +"That's only the basic principle of business competition for the good of +the consuming public. Competition is the demand, the right of the people," +declared Daunt. + +"I'm a bit skeptical--still basing my opinion on your own statements as to +common-stock dividends--as to the price per kilowatt after competitors +shall have been sandbagged according to that legislative measure," drawled +the mayor. He turned to the Senator. "You see, sir, your guest and myself +are still a good ways apart in our business ideas!" + +"We'll drop business--drop it right where it is," said the Senator, +curtly. "Mr. Daunt has tried to meet you more than half-way in business, +in my house, taking my indorsement of you. When I recommended you I was +not aware that you had been making radical speeches to a down-town mob. I +am shocked by the change in you, Stewart. Have you any explanation to give +me?" + +"I'm afraid it would take too long to go over it now in a way to make you +understand, sir. I don't want to spoil my case by leaving you half +informed. Mr. Daunt and I have reached an understanding. Pardon me, but I +insist that I must keep my promise to Miss Corson." + +The father did not welcome that announcement. "I trust that the +understanding you mention includes the obligation to forget all that Mr. +Daunt has said under my roof this evening." + +"I have never betrayed confidences in my personal relations with any man, +Senator Corson," returned Morrison. + +"Then your honor naturally suggests your course in this peculiar +situation." + +"Let's not stop to split hairs of honor! What do you expect me to do?" +demanded Morrison, bruskly business-like. + +"I'll tell you what I expect," volunteered Daunt. "You have possession of +facts----" + +"I did not solicit them, sir. I was practically forced into an interview +with you when I much rather would have been enjoying myself in the +ballroom." + +"Nevertheless, you have the facts. Under the circumstances you have no +right to them. I expect you to show a gentleman's consideration and keep +carefully away from my affairs." + +"I, also, must ask that much, as your mutual host," put in Corson. + +"Gentlemen," declared Stewart, setting back his shoulders, "by allowing +myself to stretch what you term 'honor' to that fine point I would be held +up in a campaign I have started--prevented from going on with my work, +simply because Mr. Silas Daunt is among the men I'm fighting. I'm exactly +where I was before Mr. Daunt talked to me. I propose to lick a water-power +monopoly in this state if it's in my humble power to do it. If you stay in +that crowd, Mr. Daunt, you've got to take your chances along with the rest +of 'em." + +"Stewart, your position is outrageous," blazed Corson. "You're not only +throwing away a wonderful business opportunity on lines wholly approved by +general usage--simply to indulge an impractical whim for which you'll get +no thanks--taking a nonsensical stand for a mere dream in the way of +public ownership--but you're insulting me, myself, by the inference that +may be drawn." + +"I don't understand, sir." + +"Well, then, understand!" said the Senator, carried far by his +indignation. "You know how I made my fortune!" + +"I do!" + +"Was I not justified in buying in all the public timber-lands at the going +price?" + +"Yes, seeing that the people of the state were fools enough to stay asleep +and let lands go for a dollar or so an acre--lands to-day worth thousands +of dollars an acre for the timber on 'em!" + +"I paid the price that was asked. That's as far as a business man is +expected to go." + +"Certainly, Senator. I'm glad for you. But, I repeat, the people were +asleep! Now I'm going to wake 'em up to guard their last great +heritage--the water-power that they still own! I'll keep 'em awake, if +I've got strength enough in this arm to keep on drumming and breath enough +to keep the old trumpet sounding!" + +"The corporations in this state are organized, they will protect their +charters, they will make you let go of your wild scheme," bellowed the +banker. "By the jumped-up Jehoshaphat, they will make you let go, +Morrison! By the great--" + +"Hush!" pleaded their host. "They can hear outside. No profanity!" + +Stewart had started toward the door; he paused for a moment when he had +his hand on the knob. "We will not let go!" he said, calmly. "We won't let +go--and this is not profanity, Senator Corson--we won't let go of as much +as one dam-site!" + + + + +X + +A SENATOR SIZES UP A FOE + + +After Stewart had closed the door behind himself Senator Corson rose +hastily. For a few moments he surveyed the panels of the oaken portal with +the intentness of one who was studying a problem on a printed page. Then, +plainly, his thoughts went traveling beyond the closed door. But he +appeared to be receiving no satisfaction from his scrutiny or from his +thoughts. He scowled and muttered. + +He stared into the palms of his soiled gloves; the suggestion they offered +did not improve his temper. He ripped them from his hands. "What the +mischief ails 'em, down here? They're all more or less slippery, Daunt! +I've been sensing it all the evening! I feel as if I'd been handling +eels." + +Banker Daunt was calming himself by a patrol of the room. + +"I can view matters like a statesman when I'm in the Senate Chamber," +Corson asserted, "but down here at home these days I can't see the forest +on account of the trees! I don't know what tree to climb first, Daunt, I +swear I don't! What with North getting the party into this scrape it's in, +and playing his sharp politics, and this power question fight and--and--" + +He gazed at the door again. It now suggested a definite course of +procedure, apparently. He crumpled his gloves into a ball and threw them +on the table. There was a hint in that action; the Senator was showing his +determination to handle matters without gloves for the rest of the +evening. "There's one thing about it, Daunt, a man can't do his best in +public concerns till he has freed his mind of his private troubles. You +wait here. I'll be right back." + +"Where are you going, Senator?" + +"I'm going to regain my self-respect! I'm going to assert myself as master +of my own home. I'm going to tell Stewart Morrison that I have business +with him, and that I'll attend to it in a strictly business office, later, +where he can't insult my friends and abuse my hospitality!" + +"Wait a minute! I've had an acute attack of it, too, this evening--the +same ailment, but I'm getting over it. Don't lose your head and your +temper, both at the same time. You're not in the right trim just now to go +against that bullhead. Let's estimate him squarely. That's always my plan +in business." Mr. Daunt plucked a cigar from a box on the table and +lighted up leisurely, soothing himself into a matter-of-fact mood. Corson +waited with impatience, but his politician's caution began to tug on the +bits, moderating the rush of his passion, and he took a cigar for himself. + +"Outside of this petty mayor business, does Morrison cut any figure--have +any special power in state politics?" the banker asked. + +"Not a particle--not as a politician. He doesn't know the A B C's of the +game." + +"How much influence can he wield as an agitator, as he threatens to +become?" + +Corson's declaration was less emphatic. "We're conservative, the mass of +us, in these parts. Starting trouble isn't wielding influence, Daunt. +He'll be going up against the political machine that has always handled +this state safely and sanely--and we know what to do with trouble-makers." + +"This communistic stand of his certainly discredits him with the +corporations, also. Despeaux has been doing good work, and practically all +of 'em have come over to the Consolidated camp. Of course, Morrison is +antagonizing the banking interests, too. Is he a heavy borrower?" + +"He doesn't borrow. He works on his own capital. St. Ronan's is free and +clear," admitted the Senator, crossly. + +"That's too bad! Calling loans is always effective in improving a +radical's opinions. Then this friend, whom you have held up to me as so +important in our plans----" + +"I did consider him important, Daunt! I do now. I know him. I have seen +him go after things, ever since he was a boy. That storage-commission +scheme is his own device and, as the head of it, he occupies a strategic +position." + +"But it's only a scheme; he has no actual organization of the people +behind it." + +"Confound it! I'm afraid he will have!" + +"It's an impractical dream--trying to establish such shadowy ownership of +what vested capital under private control must naturally possess and +develop. We have sound business on our side." + +"It may not seem so much like a dream after he puts that report into the +legislature," complained the Senator. "I tell you, I know Stewart +Morrison. He indulges in visions, but he'll back this particular one up +with so many facts and figures that it will make a treasury report look +like a ghost-story by comparison. Talk about sound business! That's +Morrison's other name!" + +"What's going to be done with that report, Corson?" + +The Senator hesitated a few moments. + +"Understand that I'm no kin of old Captain Teach, the buccaneer, either in +politics or business, Daunt. But I'm not fool enough to believe that the +millennium has arrived in this world, even if the battle of Armageddon has +been fought, as the parsons are preaching. We still must deal with human +conditions. The tree is full of good ideas, I'll admit. But we've got to +let 'em ripen. Eat 'em now--and it's a case of the gripes for business and +politics, both. Therefore"--the Senator paused and squinted at the end of +his cigar. "Well, Daunt, we'll have to apply a little common sense to +conditions, even though the opposition may squeal. That ownership of the +water-power by the people isn't ripe. The legislative committee will +pocket Morrison's report, or will refer the thing to the public utilities +commission." + +"Both plans meaning the same thing?" + +"I won't put it as coarsely as that. It only means handling the situation +with discretion. Discretion by those in power is going to save us a lot of +trouble in times like these." + +"You are sure of the right legislative committee, are you?" + +"Certainly! North is on the job up at the State House. I'll admit that he +isn't tactful. He's very old-fashioned in his political ideas. But he +doesn't mind clamor and criticism, and he isn't afraid of the devil +himself. Between you and me, I think," continued the Senator, judicially, +"that North is skating pretty near the edge this time. I would not have +allowed him to go so far if I had been in better touch with conditions +down here. But it's too late to modify his plans much at this hour. He +must bull the thing through as he's going. I can undo the mischief to the +party by the selection of a smooth diplomat for the gubernatorial +nomination next year. But jumping back to the main subject--Stewart +Morrison! Seeing what he is, in the water-power matter, I hoped I could +smooth things by your getting next to him. I'm sorry you have been so much +annoyed, Daunt! He may make it uncomfortable by his mouth, but he cannot +control anything by direct political influence. Absolutely not!" The +Senator was recovering his confidence in himself as a leader; he started +up from his chair and stamped down an emphatic foot. "He is a nonentity in +that direction. Politics will handle the thing! The legislature will be +all right! The situation on Capitol Hill is safe. However, I think I'll +pass a word or two with North!" + +He went to the wall of the study, slipped aside a small panel, and lifted +out a telephone instrument. "A little precaution I've held over from the +old days," Corson informed his guest, with a smile. "A private line to the +Executive Chamber." + +From where he sat Daunt could hear the Governor's voice. The tones rasped +and rattled and jangled in the receiver, which, for the sake of his +eardrum, Senator Corson held away from his head. The puckers on his +countenance indicated that he was annoyed, both by the news and by the +discordant violence of its delivery. + +"But it's not as threatening as all that! It can't be!" the listener kept +insisting. + +"Well, I'll come up," he promised, at last. "I'll come, but I think you're +over-anxious, North!" + +There was a sound as if somebody were banging on a tin pan at the other +end of the line; His Excellency had merely put more vigor into his voice. + +"I think--I'm quite sure that he's still here--in my house," Corson +replied. "Yes--yes--I certainly will!" He hung up. + +"You seemed to think, Daunt, that I didn't have a good and a sufficient +reason for saying a few words to Morrison when I started to hunt him up a +few minutes ago. However, this time you'll have to excuse me. I'm going to +him." + +"But you're not intending to make him of any especial importance in +affairs, are you? You said he could be ignored." + +"Yes! But I don't propose to ignore his efforts to stir up the mob spirit +in a city of which he happens to be mayor. He has been up to that +mischief! I have heard straight reports from various sources this evening. +The Governor has been posted and he is very emphatic on the point." Corson +rubbed the ear that was still reminding him of that emphasis. + +"That's the trouble with men like Morrison, when they begin to talk +people's rights these days, Senator! They go up in the air and jump all +the way over into Bolshevism. I'm sorry now because I counseled you to +smooth your temper. Go at him. I'll sit here and finish my smoke." + +At the head of the broad staircase Senator Corson came upon Mrs. Stanton +and Coventry Daunt. + +They wore expressions of bewilderment that would have fitted the +countenances of explorers who had missed their quest and had lost their +reckoning. + +Mrs. Stanton put out her fan, and the striding father halted at the polite +barrier with a greeting, but evinced anxiety to be on the way. + +"I'm so glad to see you, Senator Corson!" This with delight. "But isn't +Lana with you?" this with anxiety. "I mean, hasn't she been with you?" + +"My dance contracts with Miss Corson have been shot quite all to pieces," +said Coventry. + +"I have searched everywhere for her--I think I have," supplemented the +sister. "But we guessed she must be with you, and we didn't venture to +intrude." + +"And you are sure she is not in the ballroom?" + +"Absolutely!" Young Mr. Daunt plainly knew what he was talking about. + +"Coventry, if you and Mrs. Stanton will go there and wait a few moments, I +am positive that Lana will come to you very promptly!" + +Senator Corson also seemed to know what he was talking about! + + + + +XI + +FLAREBACKS IN THE CASE OF LOVE AND A MOB + + +Again was Stewart a close listener, his chin resting on his knuckles, his +serious eyes searching Lana's face while she talked. + +A cozy harbor was afforded by the bay of the great window in the library. +When Stewart had returned to the girl he noticed that she had provided the +harbor with a breakwater--a tall Japanese screen; waiting there she had +found the room draughty, she informed him. + +He was placid when he returned. His demeanor was so untroubled and his air +so eagerly invited her to go on from where she had left off that she did +not bother her mind about the errand which had called him away. + +"I'm really glad because we adjourned the executive session for a recess," +she confided. "I've had a chance to think over what I was saying to you, +Stewart. While I talked I found myself getting a bit hysterical. I +realized that I was presumptuous, but I couldn't seem to stop. But I have +been going over it in my mind and I'm glad now that my feelings did carry +me away. Friendship has a right to be impetuous on some occasions. I never +tried to advise you in the old days. You wouldn't have listened, anyway." + +"I've always been glad to listen to you," he corrected. + +"But it makes a friend so provoked to have one listen and then go ahead +and do just as one likes. I want to ask you--while you have been away from +me have you been reflecting on what I said?" + +He stammered a bit, and there was not absolute candor in his eyes. "To +tell the truth, Lana, I allowed myself to be taken up considerably with +other matters. But I did remember my promise to hurry back to you, just +the minute I could break away," he added, apologetically. + +"I'm a little disappointed in you, just the same, Stewart! I've been +hoping that you were putting your mind on what I said to you. I was hoping +that when you came back----" + +"Well, go on, Lana!" he prompted, gently, when she paused. + +"It's so hard for me to say it so it will sound as I mean it," she +lamented. "To make my interest appear exactly what it is. To find the +words to fit my thoughts just now! I know what they're saying about me +these days in Marion. I know our folks so well! I don't need to hear the +words; I have been studying their faces this evening. You, also, know what +they're saying, Stewart!" + +He confined his assent to a significant nod; Jeanie MacDougal's few words +on the subject had been, for him, a comprehensive summary of the general +gossip. + +"When I was speechifying to you in St. Ronan's office you thought I had +come back here filled with airs and lofty notions. I knew how you felt!" + +He shook his head and allowed the extent of his negation to be limited to +that! "I'll tell you how I felt--some time--but now I'll listen to you." + +"I was putting all that on for show, Stewart! I felt so--so--I don't know! +Embarrassed, perhaps! And I felt that you--" her color deepened then in +true embarrassment. "And--and--they were all there!" It was naďve +confession, and he smiled. + +"So I said to my wee mither, Lana, by way of setting her right as to +meddlesome tongues." + +"I am sincere and honest still, Stewart, where my real friends are +concerned. I've just complained because I can't find words to express my +thoughts to you. Well, I never was at a loss when we were boy and girl +together." She paused and they heard the sound of music. + +"There's a frilly style of talk that belongs with that--down there," she +went on. There was a hint of contempt in her gesture. "But you and I used +to get along better--or worse--with plain speech." The flash of a smile of +her own softened her _moue_. + +"I make it serve me well in my affairs," agreed Morrison. + +"Do you think I'm airy and notional and stuck up?" + +"No!" + +"Do you think I'm posing as a know-it-all because I have been about in the +world and have seen and heard?" + +"No!" + +"But you do think I'm broader and wiser and more open-minded and have +better judgment on matters in general than I had when I was penned up here +in Marion, don't you?" + +"Yes!" + +"Stewart, you're not helping me much, staring at me and popping those noes +and yesses at me! You make me feel like--but, honestly, I'm not! I don't +intend to seem like that!" + +"Eh?" + +"Why, like an opinionated lecturer, laying down the law of conduct to you! +I don't mean to do all the talking." + +"You'd better, Lana--for the present," he advised, seriously; "If you have +something to say to me, take care and not let me get started on what I +want to say to you." + +She flushed. She drew away from him slightly. In her apprehensiveness she +hurried on for her own protection. "I hoped you were coming back just now, +Stewart, and put out your hand to me as your friend, a good pal who had +given sensible advice, and say to me, 'Lana, you have used your wits to +good advantage while you have been out and about in the world, and your +suggestions to me are all right.' Aren't you going to say so, Stewart?" + +"As I understand it, putting all you said to me awhile back in that plain +language we have agreed on, you tell me that I'm missing my opportunities, +have gone to sleep down here in Marion, am allowing myself to be +everlastingly tied up by petty business details that keep me away from +real enjoyment of a bigger and better life, and that there's not the least +need of my spending my best years in that fashion." + +"You state it bluntly, but that is the gist of it!" + +"Yes, I was blunt. I'm going to be even more blunt! What do I get out of +this prospective, bigger life, Lana?" He drew a deep breath. "Do I +get--you?" + +"Stewart, hush! Wait!" He had spread his hands to her appealingly. "I am +talking to you as your friend--I'm talking of your business, your outlook. +I must say something further to you!" + +He set as firm a grip on his emotions as he had on his anger earlier in +the evening when Krylovensky's hand had dealt him a blow. Her demeanor had +thrust him away effectually. The fire died in his eyes. "Go on, Lana! I +have promised to allow you to have your say. And, once I start, only a +'Yes!' can stop me." + +She displayed additional apprehension and plunged into a strictly +commercial topic with desperate directness. "I'm positive that you have no +further need of making yourself a slave to details of business. I know +that you can be free to devote yourself to the higher things that are +worthy of your real self and your talents, Stewart. Father says that +through Mr. Daunt there will come to you the grandest opportunity of your +life. I suppose that's what Mr. Daunt explained to you when you were with +him this evening. Even though you may not consider me wise in men's +business affairs, Stewart, you must admit that my father and Mr. Daunt +know. You haven't any silly notions, have you? You're ready to seize every +opportunity to make a grand success in business, the way the great men do, +aren't you?" + +There was a very different light in Morrison's eyes than had flamed in +them a few moments before. He stared at her appraisingly, wonderingly. His +demanding survey of her was disconcerting, but his somberness was that of +disappointment rather than of any distrust. + +"Has your father asked you to talk to me on the subject of that business?" + +She did not reply promptly. But his challenge was too direct. + +"I confess that father did intimate that there'd be no need of mentioning +him in the matter." + +"He asked you to talk to me, then?" + +"Yes, Stewart!" + +"And I thought you were talking only for yourself when you begged me to +step up into that broader life!" His voice trembled. She did not appear to +understand his emotion. + +"But I _am_ talking for myself," protested the girl. + +"You're talking only your father's views, his plans, his ambition, his +scheme of life--talking Daunt's project for his own selfish ends!" + +"I don't understand!" + +"I hope you don't! For the sake of my love for you, I hope so!" He was +striving to control himself. "In the name of what we have been to each +other in days past, I hope you are not their--that you don't realize they +are making you a----But I can't say it! I want proof from you now by word +o' mouth! I don't want any more prattle of business! I want you to show me +that you are talking for yourself. Lana Corson, say to me some word from +your own heart--something for me alone--something from old times--to prove +that you are what I want you to be! I love you. You are mine! I don't +believe their gossip. I have never given you up. I've been waiting +patiently for you to come back to me. Can't you go back to the old +times--and speak from your own soul?" + +The intensity of his appeal carried her along in the rush of his emotion. +"Stewart, I have been speaking for myself, as best I knew how! I'm back to +the old times! If you need further words from me, you shall have them." + +Senator Corson stepped around the end of the screen. "You will postpone +any further words to Mr. Morrison! I have some words of my own for him! +Lana, Coventry Daunt is waiting for you in the ballroom and I have told +him that you will be there at once." + +"Mr. Daunt must continue to wait, father. I have something to tell +Stewart, and you must allow me to say it--say it to him, alone." + +"You shall never speak another word to him on any subject with my +permission. I have been listening and--" + +"Father, do you confess that you have been eavesdropping?" + +"My present code of manners is perfectly suited to the tactics of this +fellow who has flouted me and insulted an honored guest under my roof this +evening. Morrison, leave the house!" + +"He shall stay at the request of his hostess," declared the girl, +defiantly. + +"On with you to your guests--that's where your hostess duties are!" Corson +reached to take her arm. + +Stewart hastily raised Lana's hand and bent over it. "I am indebted to you +for a charming evening." He stood erect and his demeanor of manly +sincerity removed every suggestion of sarcasm from the conventional phrase +he had spoken quietly. "The charm, Senator Corson, has outweighed all the +unpleasantness." + +When he turned to retire Corson halted him with a curt word. + +"Lana, I command you to go and join your partner." + +But Miss Corson persisted in her rebelliousness. She did not relish the +ominous threat that she perceived in the situation. "I shall stay with you +till you're in a better state of temper, father." + +"You'll hear nothing to this man's credit if you do stay," said the +Senator, acridly. "I have just talked on the 'phone with the Governor, +Mayor Morrison. He asked me to notify you that your mob which you have +stirred up in your own city, by your devilish speeches this evening, is +evidently on the war-path. He, expects you to undo the mischief, seeing +that your tongue is the guilty party!" + +Lana turned startled gaze from her father to Morrison; amazement struggled +with her indignation. Her amazement was deepened by the mayor's mild +rejoinder. + +"Very well, Senator. I have an excellent understanding with that mob." + +"Making speeches to a mob!" Lana gasped. "I'll not allow even my father to +say that about you, Stewart, and leave it undisputed." + +"Your father is angry just now, Lana! Any discussion will provoke further +unpleasantness!" + +"Confound you! Don't you dare to insult me by your condescending airs," +thundered Corson. "You have your orders. Go and mix with your rabble and +continue that understanding with 'em, if you can make 'em understand that +law and order must prevail in this city to-night." + +The library was in a wing of the mansion, far from the street, and the +three persons behind the screen had been entirely absorbed in their +troubled affairs. They had heard none of the sounds from the street. + +Somebody began to call in the corridor outside the library. The voice +sounded above the music from the ballroom, and quavered with anxious +entreaty as it demanded, over and over: "Senator Corson! Where are you, +Senator Corson?" + +"Here!" replied the Senator. + +The secretary rushed in. "There's a mob outside, sir! A threatening mob!" + +"Ah! Morrison, your friends are looking you up!" + +"They are radicals--anarchists. They must be!" panted the messenger. "They +are yelling: 'Down with the capitalists! Down with the aristocrats!' I +ordered the shades pulled. The men seemed to be excited by looking in +through the windows at the dancers in the ballroom!" + +"There'll be no trouble. I'll answer for that," promised the Mayor, +marching away. + +Before he reached the door the crash of splintered glass, the screams of +women and shouts of men; drowned the music. + +Stewart went leaping down the stairs. When he reached the ballroom he +found the frightened guests massed against the wall, as far from the +windows as they could crowd. A wild battle of some sort was going on +outside in the night, so oaths and cries and the grim thudding of +battering fists revealed. + +Before Stewart could reach a window--one of those from which the glass had +been broken--Commander Lanigan came through the aperture with a rush, +skating to a standstill along the polished floor. Blood was on his hands. +His sleeves hung in ribbons. In that scene of suspended gaiety he was a +particularly grisly interloper. + +"They sneaked it over on us, Mister Mayor!" he yelled. "I got a tip and +routed out the Legion boys and chased 'em, but the dirty, Bullshevists +beat us to it up the hill. But we've got 'em licked!" + +"Keep 'em licked for the rest of the night," Morrison suggested. "I'll be +down-town with you, right away!" + +But Lanigan, in his raging excitement, was not amenable to hints or +orders, nor was he cautious in his revelations. "We can handle things +down-town, Your Honor! What we want to know is, what about up-town--up on +Capitol Hill?" + +"You've had my promise of what I'll do. And I'll do it!" + +Senator Corson and his daughter had arrived in the ballroom. The Senator +was promptly and intensely interested in this cocksure declaration by +Morrison. + +"Your promise is the same as hard cash for me and the level-headed ones," +retorted Commander Lanigan. "But whether it's the Northern Lights in the +skies or plain hellishness in folks or somebody underneath stirring and +stirring trouble and starting lies, I don't know! Lots of good boys have +stopped being level-headed! I'll hold the gang down if I can, sir. But +what I want to know is, can we depend on you to tend to Capitol Hill? Are +you still on the job? Can I tell 'em that you're still on the job?" + +"You can tell 'em all that I'm on the job from now till morning," shouted +the mayor. He was heard by the men outside. They gave his declaration a +howl of approval. + +"The people will be protected," shouted an unseen admirer. + +Stewart hurried to Senator Corson and was not daunted by that gentleman's +blazing countenance. + +"I'm sorry, sir. This seems to be a flareback of some sort. I'll have +police on guard at once!" + +"You'll protect the people, eh? There's a flatterer in your mob, Morrison! +You can't even give window-glass in this city suitable protection--a mayor +like you! I'll have none of your soviet police around my premises." He +turned to his secretary. "Call the adjutant-general at the State House and +tell him to send a detachment of troops here." + +"I trust they'll co-operate well with the police I shall send," stated the +Mayor, stiffly. He hastened from the room. + +When Stewart had donned hat and overcoat and was about to leave the +mansion by the main door, Lana stepped in front of him. "Stewart, you must +stop for a moment--you must deny it, what father has been saying to me +about you just now!" + +"Your father is angry--and in anger a man says a whole lot that he doesn't +mean. I'm in a hurry--and a man in a hurry spoils anything he tries to +tell. We must let it wait, Lana." + +"But if you go on--go on as you're going--crushing Mr. Daunt's +plans--spoiling your own grand prospects--antagonizing my father--paying +no heed to my advice!" The girl's sentences were galloping breathlessly. + +"We'll have time to talk it over, Lana!" + +"What! Talk it over after you have been reckless enough to spoil +everything? You must stand with your friends, I tell you! Father is wiser +than you! Isn't he right?" + +"I--I guess he thinks he is--but I can't talk about it." He was backing +toward the door. + +"You must know what it means--for us two--if you go headlong against him. +I stand stanchly for my father--always!" + +"I reckon you'll have to be sort of loyal to your father--but I can't talk +about it! Not now!" he repeated. He was uncomfortably aware that he had no +words to fit the case. + +"But if you don't stand with him, you're in with the rabble--the rabble," +she declared, indignantly. "He says you are! Stewart, I know you won't +insult his wisdom and deny my prayer to you! Only a few moments ago I was +ready----But I cannot say those words to you unless----You understand!" + +This interview had been permitted only because Senator Corson's attention +had been absorbed by Mrs. Stanton's hysterical questions. But the lady's +fears did not affect her eyesight. She had noted Lana's departure and she +caught a glimpse of the mayor when he strode past the ballroom door with +his hat in his hand. + +"Yes, I'll be calm, Senator! I'm sure that we'll be perfectly protected. +Lana followed the mayor just now, and I suppose she is insisting on a +double detail of police." + +The Senator promptly followed, too, to find out more exactly what Lana was +insisting on. + +"Haven't you joined your rabble yet, Morrison?" Corson queried, +insolently, when he came upon the two. + +"I'm going, sir--going right along!" + +Lana set her hands together, the fingers interlaced so tightly that the +flesh was as white as her cheeks. "'Your rabble!' Stewart! Oh! Oh!" In +spite of her thinly veiled threat of a few moments ago, there was piteous +protest in her face and voice. + +"According to suggestions from all quarters, I don't seem to fit any other +kind of society just now," he replied, ruefully. He marched out into the +night. + +"Call my car," Senator Corson directed a servant. + +In the reception-hall he encountered Silas Daunt, "Slip on your hat and +coat. Come along with me to the State House. I'll show you how practical +politics can settle a rumpus, after a visionary has tumbled down on his +job!" + + + + +XII + +RIFLES RULE IN THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE + + +At eleven o'clock Adj.-Gen. Amos Totten set up the cinch of his sword-belt +by a couple of holes and began another tour of inspection of the State +House. He considered that the parlous situation in state affairs demanded +full dress. During the evening he had been going on his rounds at +half-hour intervals. On each trip he had been much pleased by the strict, +martial discipline and alertness displayed by his guardsmen. The alertness +was especially noticeable; every soldier was tautly at 'tention when the +boss warrior hove in sight. General Totten was portly and came down hard +on his heels with an elderly man's slumping gait, and his sword clattered +loudly and his movements were as well advertised as those of a belled cat +in a country kitchen. + +In the interims, between the tours of General Totten, Captain Danny +Sweetsir did his best to keep his company up to duty pitch. But he was +obliged to admit to himself that the boys were not taking the thing as +seriously as soldiers should. + +Squads were scattered all over the lower part of the great building, +guarding the various entrances. While Captain Sweetsir was lecturing the +tolerant listeners of one squad, he was irritably aware that the boys of +the squads that were not under espionage were doing nigh about everything +that a soldier on duty should not do, their diversions limited only by +their lack of resources. + +Therefore, when General Totten complimented him at eleven o'clock, Captain +Sweetsir had no trouble at all in disguising his gratification and in +assuming the approved, sour demeanor of military gravity. Even then his +ears, sharpened by his indignation, caught the clicking of dice on tiles. + +"Of course, there will be no actual trouble to-night," said the general, +removing his cap and stroking his bald head complacently. "I have assured +the boys that there will be no trouble. But this experience is excellent +military training for them, and I'm pleased to note that they're +thoroughly on the _qui vive_." + +Captain Sweetsir, on his own part, did not apprehend trouble, either, but +the A.-G.'s bland and unconscious encouragement of laxity was distinctly +irritating, "Excuse me, sir, but I have been telling 'em right along that +there will be a rumpus. I was trying to key 'em up!" + +"Remember that you're a citizen as well as a soldier!" The general rebuked +his subaltern sternly. "Don't defame the fair name of your city and state, +sir! The guard has been called out by His Excellency, the +Commander-in-Chief, merely as a precaution. The presence of troops in the +State House--their mere presence here--has cleared the whole situation. +Mayor Morrison agrees with me perfectly on that point." + +"He does?" demanded the captain, eagerly, showing relief. "Why, I was +afraid--" He checked himself. + +"Of what, sir?" + +"He didn't look like giving three cheers when I told him in the mill +office that we had been ordered out." + +"Mayor Morrison called me on the telephone in the middle of the day and I +explained to him why it was thought necessary to have the State House +guarded." + +"And what did he say?" urged the captain, still more eagerly. Again he +caught himself. He saluted. "I beg your pardon, General Totten. I have no +right to put questions to my superior officer." + +But General Totten was not a military martinet. He was an amiable +gentleman from civil life, strong with the proletariat because he had been +through the chairs in many fraternal organizations and, therefore, handy +in politics; and he was strong with the Governor on account of another +fraternal tie--his sister was the Governor's wife. General Totten, as a +professional mixer, enjoyed a chat. + +"That's all right, Captain! What did the mayor say, you ask? He +courteously made no comment. Official tact! He is well gifted in that +line. His manner spoke for him--signified his complete agreement. He was +cordially polite! Very!" + +The general put on his cap and slanted it at a jaunty angle. "And he still +approves. Is very grateful for the manner in which I'm handling the +situation. He called me only a few minutes ago. From his residence! I +informed him that all was serene on Capitol Hill." + +"And what did he say when he called you this time?" + +"Nothing! Oh, nothing by way of criticism! Distinctly affable!" + +Captain Sweetsir did not display the enthusiasm that General Totten seemed +to expect. + +"Let's see, Captain! You are employed by him?" + +"Not quite that way! I'm a mill student--learning the wool business at St. +Ronan's." + +"Aren't you and Mayor Morrison friendly?" + +"Oh yes! Certainly, sir! But--" Captain Sweetsir appeared to be having +much difficulty in completing his sentences, now that Stewart Morrison had +become the topic of conversation. + +"But what?" + +"He didn't say anything, you tell me?" + +"His cordiality spoke louder than words. And, of course, I was glad to +meet him half-way. I have invited him to call at the State House, if he +cares to do so, though the hour is late. And now I come to the matter of +my business with you, Captain Sweetsir," stated the general, putting a +degree of official sanction on his garrulity in the case of this +subordinate. "If Mayor Morrison does come to the State House to-night, by +any chance, you may admit him." + +"Did he say anything about coming?" + +"Mayor Morrison understands that I am handling everything so tactfully +that an official visit by him might be considered a reflection on my +capability. His politeness equals mine, Captain. Undoubtedly he will not +trouble to come. If he should happen to call unofficially you will please +see to it that politeness governs." + +"Yes, sir! But the other orders hold good, do they, politeness or no +politeness?" + +"For mobs and meddling politicians, certainly! I put them all in the same +class in a time like this." + +General Totten clucked a stuffy chuckle and clanked on his official way. + +Captain Sweetsir heard a sound that was as fully exasperating as the click +of dice; somebody, somewhere in the dimly lighted rotunda, was snoring. He +had previously found sluggards asleep on settees; he went in search of the +latest offender. But his thoughts were occupied principally by reflection +on that peculiar reticence of the Morrison of St. Ronan's; Mill-student +Sweetsir was assailed by doubts of the correctness of General Totten's +comfortable conclusions. Mr. Sweetsir, in the line of business, had had +opportunity on previous occasions to observe the reaction of the +Morrison's reticence. + +The adjutant-general did not bother with the elevator. He marched up the +middle of the grand stairway. + +The State House was only partially illuminated with discreet stint of +lights. All the outside incandescents of dome, _porte-cochčre_, and +vestibules had been extinguished. The inside lights were limited to those +in the corridors and the lobbies. The great building on Capitol Hill +seemed like a cowardly giant, clumsily intent on being inconspicuous. + +General Totten did not harmonize with the hush. He was distinctly an +ambulatory noise in the corridor which led to the executive department. He +was announced informally, therefore, to His Excellency. There was no way +of announcing oneself formally to the Governor at that hour, except by +rapping on the door of the private chamber. The reception-room was empty, +the private secretary was not on duty, the messenger of the Governor and +of the Executive Council had been informed by Governor North that his +services would not be required for the rest of the evening. + +Being both adjutant-general and brother-in-law, Totten did not bother to +knock. + +The Governor was at his broad table in the center of the room; the big +chandelier above the table was ablaze, and the shadows of the grooves on +North's face were accentuated. He was staring at the opening door with an +expectancy that had been fully apprised as to the caller's identity, and +he was not cordial. "You make a devilish noise lugging that meat-cleaver +around, Amos. What's the use of all the full-dress nonsense?" + +"Official example _and_"--the general bore down hard on the +conjunction--"the absolute necessity of a civilian officer getting into +uniform when he exercises authority. I know human nature!" + +"All right! Maybe you do. But don't trip yourself up with that sword and +fall down and break your neck," advised the Governor, satirically +solicitous as one of the family. "Anything stirring down-stairs?" + +"The situation is being handled perfectly. Everybody alert. It's wonderful +training for the guards." + +"I haven't liked the sound of reports from the city. Has any news come to +you lately?" + +"Nothing of special importance. Only a little disturbance, or the threat +of one, in the vicinity of Senator Corson's residence. His secretary +called up. I sent a few boys down there." + +"A disturbance?" barked North. + +"I didn't quite gather the details. The man ran his words together." +General Totten helped himself to one of his brother-in-law's cigars. + +"This sounds serious. Why the infernal blazes don't you wake up?" + +"An officer commanding troops mustn't be thrown off his poise by every +flurry. What would happen if I didn't keep my head?" + +"When was this?" + +"Oh, maybe half an hour ago," replied the adjutant-general, with martial +indifference to any mere rumblings of popular discontent. + +"That's probably the reason why Corson hasn't got along yet. I'm expecting +him. I sent for him." North twitched his nose; his eye-glasses dropped off +and dangled at the end of their cord. "I have sent explicit orders to +Mayor Morrison to tend to that mob that he has been coddling. He's letting +'em get away from him, if what you say is so." + +"Oh, the mayor and I are in perfect accord and are handling the situation. +I have just been talking with him on the telephone." Totten settled his +cigar into the corner of his mouth. + +"Where is he?" + +"At his residence! Showing that he isn't any more worried than I am." + +"Well, if he has got the thing in hand again, I hope he'll stay at his +residence. If reports are anything to go by, he didn't help matters by +going down-town and making speeches to that rabble." + +"Politeness wins in the long run, Lawrence, whether you're talking to the +mob or the masters. I make it my principle in life. Tact and diplomacy. +Harmony and--" + +"Hell and repeat!" stormed North. "You and Morrison are not taking this +thing the way you ought to! In accord, say you! He is torching 'em up and +you are grinning while the fire burns! Fine team-work! Amos, you get in +accord with me and my orders. You keep away from Morrison till I can make +sure that he stands clean in his party loyalty." + +His Excellency was stuttering in his wrath and the general determined to +be discreetly silent as to his recent tender of politeness to Morrison +through the captain of the guards. Furthermore, Totten's self-complacency +assured him that the mayor of Marion was leaving the affairs on Capitol +Hill in the hands of the accredited commander on Capitol Hill. + +Governor North pulled open a drawer of the table. He threw a bunch of keys +to his brother-in-law. "I had the messenger leave these with me. Lock up +all the doors of the Council Chamber. Leave only my private door +unlocked." + +The adjutant-general caught the keys. "But you certainly don't expect any +trouble up here, with my guards--" + +"It's plenty enough of a job for a cat to watch one rat-hole! Lock up, I +tell you!" + + +XIII + +THE LINE-UP FORMS IN THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE + +While General Totten was bruising his dignity in the menial work of a +turnkey, Governor North received two visitors. They were furred gentlemen +who entered abruptly by the private door--the before-mentioned +rat-hole--but the waiting cat did not pounce. On the contrary, one of the +furred intruders did the pouncing. It was Senator Corson and he was +furiously angry. + +"What kind of a damnable fool has been giving off orders to those +soldiers? I have been tramping around outside this State House from door +to door, held up everywhere and insulted by those young whelps." + +"I don't see how that could happen," protested the Governor. + +"Who gave off such orders?" + +"There were no orders, not in your case. I didn't think it was necessary +to specify anything in regard to you, Senator. Do you mean to tell me that +there's a man down there who didn't recognize you--who refused to allow +you to pass without question?" + +"They all know me! Of course they know me. And that's the whole trouble. +They made that the reason why they wouldn't let me in here." + +"How in the devil's name could that be?" The Governor's anger that +promised punishment for the offenders served Senator Corson in lieu of +apology. + +"I was informed that there were strict orders not to admit politicians. +According to those lunkheads at the doors I came under that +classification." The Senator threw off his coat. "And Daunt, here, was +penalized on account of the company he was keeping. Find out who gave +those orders." + +General Totten had locked the doors and was nervously jangling the keys. + +"Amos, what kind of a fool have you been making yourself with your +orders?" the Governor demanded. + +"I--I think some instructions of mine in regard to admitting any of those +persons whose seats are in dispute--probably those orders were +misconstrued. My guards are very zealous--very alert," affirmed the +adjutant-general, putting as good a face on the matter as was possible. He +fully realized that this was no time to mention that exception in favor of +Mayor Morrison, or to explain that he had intended to have Captain +Sweetsir accept humorously instead of literally the more recent statement +about politicians. + +"There are two of those alert patriots who have had their zeal dulled for +the time being," stated the Senator, showing his teeth with a grim smile. +"I stood the impertinence as long as I could and then I cuffed the ears of +the fools and walked in." + +"We did issue strict instructions, as Amos has intimated," the Governor +pleaded. "Some of those Socialists and Progressives who are claiming their +seats have hired counsel and they proposed to force their way into the +House and Senate chambers and make a test case, inviting forcible +expulsion. I'm reckoning that my plan of forcible exclusion leaves us in +cleaner shape." + +"I'm not sure just how clean the whole thing is going to leave us, North." +The Senator tossed his coat upon a huge divan at one side of the chamber +and invited Daunt to dispose of his own coat in like fashion. Corson came +to the table and sat sidewise on one corner of it. "You know how I feel +about your pressing the election statutes to the extent you have. But +we've got the old nag right in the middle of the river, and we've got to +attend to swimming instead of swapping. I think, in spite of all their +howling, the other crowd will take their medicine, as the courts hand it +to them, when the election cases go up for adjudication. But there's a +gang in every community that always takes advantage of any signs of a +mix-up in high authority. My house got merry hell from a mob a little +while ago. There's no political significance in the matter, however!" + +The Governor queried anxiously for details and Corson gave them. He +bitterly arraigned Morrison's stand. + +North came to his feet and banged his fist on the table. "What? Take that +attitude toward a mob in his own city? Strike hands with a ringleader of a +riot--do it under a violated roof? Do it after what he promised me in the +way of co-operation for law and order? Has he completely lost his mind, +Senator Corson?" + +"I think so," stated the Senator, with sardonic venom. "I'll admit that +the thing isn't exactly clear to me--what he's trying to do--what he's +thinking. A crazy man's actions and whims seldom are understandable by a +sane man. But, so I gather, after showing us, as he has this evening, a +sample of his work in running municipal government, he now proposes to +take full charge of state matters." + +"What?" yelled the Governor. + +"Yes! Promised the ringleader of the mob to come up here and run +everything on Capitol Hill. In behalf of the people--as the people's +protector!" The Senator's irony rasped like a file on metal. + +Banker Daunt was provoked to add his evidence. "It's exactly as my friend +Corson says, Governor. I have been hearing some fine soviet doctrines from +the mouth of Morrison this evening. Not at all stingy about giving his +help to all those who need it! Gave his pledge of assistance to the fellow +in the ballroom, as Corson says. Understood him to say that he is coming +up here to help you, too!" + +"I rather expected to find him here," pursued the Senator. "He went away +in a great hurry to go somewhere. But after my experience with your alert +soldiers down-stairs, Totten, I'm afraid our generous savior is going to +be bothered about getting in." + +The adjutant-general pulled off his cap and scrubbed his palm nervously +over the glossy surface that was revealed. + +"You might give some special orders to admit him," suggested Corson. +"He'll be a great help in an emergency." + +"This settles it with me as to Morrison and his conception of law and +order," affirmed Governor North. "I have been depending on him to handle +his city. I'd as soon depend on Lenin and the kind of government he's +running in Russia." + +"According to the samples furnished by both, I think Lenin would rank +higher as help," said the Senator. "At least he has shown that he knows +how to handle a mob. But we may as well calm down, North, and attend to +our own business. We are making altogether too much account of a silly +nincompoop. Daunt and I let our feelings get away from us this evening on +the same subject. But we woke up promptly. Morrison was in a position to +help his friends and to amount to something as an aid in that line. Now +that he is running with the rabble, for some purpose of his own, he can be +ignored. He amounts to nothing--to that!" He snapped a derogatory finger +into his palm. "We can handle that rabble, Morrison included." He turned +to the adjutant-general. "Your men seem to be alert enough in keeping out +gentlemen who ought to be let in. Do you think you can depend on them to +keep out real intruders?" + +"Oh yes!" faltered Totten, absent-mindedly. He was trying to clear his +troubled thoughts in regard to the matter of Morrison, who was now +presented in a light where politeness might not be allowed to govern the +situation. + +"Have they been put to any test of their courage and reliability? Have +they been up against any actual threats from the outside, this evening?" + +"No, but I can depend on them to the limit, Senator Corson. I have been on +regular tours of inspection. They are a cool and nervy set of young men +and I have impressed on them a sense of what a soldier on duty should be." + +"Very well, Totten! Nevertheless, let us hope that the mob fools have gone +home to bed, including our friend Morrison. He needs his sleep; I believe +he still follows the family rule of being in his mill at seven in the +morning. He's a good millman, even if he isn't much of a politician." + +"And I don't look for any trouble, anyway," declared General Totten, +adding in his thoughts, for his further consolation, the assurance that, +at half past eleven, so the clock on the wall revealed to his gaze, such +an early riser as Morrison must be abed and asleep; therefore, the +exception for the sake of politeness did not threaten to complicate +affairs! + +But at that instant something else did threaten. + +Through the arches and corridors of the State House rang the sounds of +tumult, breaking on the hush with terrifying suddenness. One voice, +shouting with frenzied violence, prefaced the general uproar; there was +the crashing of shattered wood. + +The rifles barked angrily. + +"My God, North! I've been afraid of it!" Corson lamented. "You have +crowded 'em too hard!" + +"I'm going by the law, Corson! The election law! The statute law! And the +riot laws of this state! The law says a mob must be put down!" + +An immediate and reassuring silence suggested that the law had prevailed +and that a mob had been put down in this instance. Corson, whose face was +white and whose eyes were distended, voiced that conviction. "If a gang +had been able to get in they'd be howling their heads off. But it was +quick over!" + +The men in the Executive Chamber stood in their tracks and exchanged +troubled glances in silence. + +"Amos, what are you waiting for?" demanded His Excellency. + +"For a report--an official report on the matter," mumbled the +adjutant-general, steadying his trembling hands by shoving them inside his +sword-belt. + +"Go down and find out what it all means." + +"I can save time by telephoning to the watchman's room," demurred Totten. + +"Incidentally saving your skin!" the Governor rapped back. "But I don't +care how you get the information, if only you get it and get it sudden!" + +Totten went to the house telephone in the private secretary's room and +called and waited; he called again and waited. + +"Nobody is on his job in this State House to-night!" His Excellency's fears +had wire-edged his temper. "By gad! you go down there and tend to yours, +as I have told you to do, Amos, or I'll take that sword and race you along +the corridor on the point of it!" + +"We must be informed on what this means," insisted the Senator. + +There was a rap on the private door. Again the men in the Executive +Chamber swapped uneasy glances. Corson's demeanor invited the Governor to +assume the responsibility. His Excellency was manifestly shirking. He +looked over his shoulder in the direction of the fireplace, as if he felt +an impulse to arm himself with the ornamental poker and tongs. + +"May I come in?" The voice was that of the mayor of Marion. The voice was +deprecatory. + +"Come in!" invited North. + +Morrison entered. He greeted them with a wide smile that did not fit the +seriousness of the situation, as they viewed it. There was humor behind +the smile; it suggested suppressed hilarity; it hinted that he had +something funny to tell them. + +But their grim countenances did not encourage him. + +"If I am intruding on important business----" + +"Shut the door behind you! What is it? What happened?" demanded North. + +Before shutting the door Morrison reached into the gloom behind him and +pulled in a soldier. + +Stewart had put off his evening garb. He wore a business suit of the +shaggy gray mixture that was one of the staples among the products of St. +Ronan's mill. His matter-of-fact attire was not the only element that set +him out in sharp contrast among the claw-hammers and uniforms in the room; +he was bubbling with undisguised merriment; Corson, Daunt, and the +Governor were sullenly anxious; even the young soldier looked flustered +and frightened. + +"I have brought along Paul Duchesne so that you may have it from his own +mouth! Go ahead, Duchesne! Let 'em in on the joke! Gentlemen, get ready +for a laugh!" Stewart set an example for them by a suggestive chuckle. + +"Your arrival in the State House seems to have been attended by +considerable of a demonstration," commented Senator Corson, recovering +himself sufficiently to indulge in his animosity. "Judging from your +success in starting other riots this evening, I ought to have guessed that +you were in the neighborhood." + +"My arrival had nothing whatever to do with the demonstration, Senator. Go +on, Duchesne!" + +"I jomped myself," stammered the soldier, a particularly crestfallen +Canuck. + +"I see you don't grasp the idea," Morrison hastened to put in. "We mustn't +have the flavor of the joke spoiled. I know Paul, here. He works in my +mill. He has a little affliction that's rather common among French +Canadians. He's a jumper." He suddenly clapped the youth on the shoulder +and yelled "Hi!" so loudly that all the auditors leaped in trepidation. +The soldier leaped the highest, flung his arms about wildly, and let out a +resounding yelp. + +"That's the idea!" explained Stewart. "A congenital nervous trouble. +Jumpers, they are called!" + +"What the devil is this all about?" raged the Governor. + +"Tell 'em, Paul. Hurry up!" + +"I gone off on de nap on a settee," muttered Duchesne, twisting his +fingers together. + +General Totten winced. + +"Dere ban whole lot o' dem gone off on de nap, too," asserted the guard, +offering defense for himself. + +"By way of showing alertness, Totten!" growled the Senator. + +"So I ban dream somet'ing! Ba gar! I dream dat t'ree or two bobcat he +come--" + +"Never mind the details of the dream, Paul!" interposed Morrison. "These +gentlemen have business! Get 'em to the laugh, quick!" + +"Ma big button on ma belt she caught on de crack between de slat of dat +settee. And when I fight all dat bobcat dat jomp on maself, ba gee! it was +de settee dat fall on me and I fight dat all over de floor. Dat's all! Oh +yes! Dey all wake up and shoot!" + +"And nobody hurt!" stated Morrison. He gazed at the sour faces of the +listeners. "Great Scott! Doesn't Duchesne's battle to the death with a +settee get even a grin? What's the matter with all of you?" + +"We seem to be quite all right--in our normal senses," returned the +Senator, icily. "I believe there are persons who gibber and giggle at +mishaps to others--but I also believe that such a peculiar sense of humor +is confined largely to institutions for the refuge of the feeble-minded." + +"You may go back to your nap, Duchesne!" The mayor turned on the soldier +and spoke sharply. He followed the young man to the door and closed it +behind Duchesne. + +He marched across the chamber and faced the surly Governor. "I brought the +boy here, Your Excellency, so that you might get the thing straight. I +hope you believe him, even if you don't take much stock in me!" Morrison's +face matched the others in gravity. There was an incisive snap in his +tone. "I happened to be in the rotunda when the--" + +"How did you happen to be in the rotunda, sir--past the guards?" + +"I walked in." + +"By whose permission?" + +"Why, I reckoned it must have been yours," returned Stewart, calmly. + +"I gave no such permission." + +"Well, at any rate, I was informed by the guards that a special exception +had been made in my case. Furthermore, Governor North, you told me this +evening that if I needed any specific information I could find you at the +State House." + +"By telephone, sir! By telephone! I distinctly stipulated that!" + +"I'm sorry! I was considerably engrossed by other matters just then. +Perhaps I didn't get you straight. However, telephone conferences are apt +to be unsatisfactory for both parties. I'm glad I came up. I assure you +it's no personal inconvenience to me, sir!" + +"There's a fine system of military guard here, and a fine bunch to enforce +it. That's what I've got on my mind to say!" whipped out the Senator. "If +one man and a settee can show up your soldiers in that fashion, Totten, +what will a real affair do to them?" + +"Nobody sent for you, Mayor Morrison. Nobody understands why you're here," +stated Governor North. "You're not needed." + +The intruder hesitated for a few moments. His eyes found no welcome in any +of the faces in the Executive Chamber. He swapped a whimsical smile for +their frowns. + +"Well, at all events, I'm here," he said, mildly. + +He was carrying his overcoat on his arm, his hat in his hand. He went +across the room and laid the garment carefully on the divan, smoothing its +folds. His manner indicated that he felt that the coat might be lying +there for some little time, and consideration for good cloth was ingrained +in a Morrison. + + + + +XIV + +THE IMPENDING SHAME OF A STATE + + +Morrison, returning from the shadows, standing in the light-flood from the +great chandelier, confronted three men who were making no effort to +disguise their angry hostility. + +The adjutant-general, nervously neutral, dreading incautious words that +would reveal his unfortunate policy of politeness, tiptoed to the table +and laid there the bunch of keys. "I'm needed officially down-stairs, Your +Excellency!" + +"By Judas! I should think you were!" + +Stewart placed a restraining hand on Totten's arm. "I beg your pardon, +Governor, but we need the adjutant-general of the state in our +conference." + +"Conference about _what_?" + +"About the situation that's developing outside, sir." + +"I'm principally interested in the situation that has developed inside. In +just what capacity do you appear here?" + +There was offensive challenge in every intonation of North's voice. His +eyes protruded, purple circlets made his cheek-bones look like little +knobs, he shoved forward his eye-glasses as far as the cord permitted and +waggled them with a hand that trembled. + +Morrison's good humor continued; his calmness was giving him a distinct +advantage, and North, still shaken by the panic of a few moments before, +was forced farther off his poise by realization of that advantage. + +"Allow me to be present simply as an unprejudiced constituent of yours, +Governor North." + +"Judging from all reports, I'm not sure whether you are a constituent or +not. I'm considerably doubtful about your politics, Morrison." + +"I hope you don't intend to read me out of the party, sir! But if that +question is in doubt, please permit me to be here as the mayor of the city +of Marion. There's no doubt about my being that!" + +"Let me remind you that this is the State House, not City Hall." + +"But tolerate me for a few minutes! I beg of you, sir! Both of us are +sworn executives!" + +"Your duties lie where you belong--down in your city. This is the State +House, I repeat!" + +"Do you absolutely refuse to give me a courteous hearing?" + +"Under the circumstances, after your actions this evening, after your +public alliance with the mob and your boasts of what you were coming up +here to do, I'm taking no chances on you. You're only an intruder. Again, +this is the State House!" + +Morrison dropped his deference. He shot out a forefinger that was just as +emphatic as the Governor's eye-glasses. "I accept your declaration as to +what this place is! It is the State House. It is the Big House of the +People. I'm a joint owner in it. I'm here on my own ground as a citizen, +as a taxpayer in this state. I have personal business here. Let me inform +you, Governor North, that I'm going to stay until I finish that business." + +"That poppycock kind of reasoning would allow every mob-mucker in this +state to rampage through here at his own sweet will. General Totten, call +a corporal and his squad. Put this man out." + +Senator Corson grunted his indorsement and went to a chair and sat down. +His Excellency was pursuing his familiar tactics in an emergency--the +rough tactics that were characteristic of him. In this case Senator Corson +approved and allowed the Governor to boss the operation. + +"I--I think, Mayor Morrison," ventured the adjutant-general, "considering +that recent perfect understanding we had on the matter, that we'd do well +to keep this on the plane of politeness." + +"So do I," Stewart agreed. + +"Then I hazard the guess that you'll accompany me down-stairs to the door. +Calling a guard would be mutually embarrassing." + +"It sure would," asserted Stewart, agreeing still. + +"Then--" The general crooked a polite arm and offered it. + +"But your guess was too much of a hazard! You don't win!" + +However, Morrison turned on his heel and ran toward the private door. He +appeared to be solving all difficulties by flight. It was plain that those +in the room supposed so; their tension relaxed; the mayor of Marion was +manifestly avoiding the ignominy of ejection from the Capitol by the +militia--and that would be a fine piece of news to be bruited on the +streets next day, if he had remained to force that issue! + +Stewart flung open the door. But instead of stepping through he stepped +back. "Come in," he called. + +Paymaster Andrew Mac Tavish led the way, plodding stolidly, his neck +particularly rigid. Delora Bunker, stenographer at St. Ronan's mill, +followed. Last came Patrolman Rellihan, his bulk nigh filling the door, +his helmeted head almost scraping the lintel. He carried a night-stick +that resembled a flail-handle rather than the usual locust club. Morrison +slammed the door and Rellihan put his back against it. + +There was a profound hush in the Executive Chamber. The feet of those who +entered made no sound on the thick carpet. Those who were in the chamber +offered evidence of the truism that there are situations where words fail +to do justice to the emotions. + +Morrison was the first to speak. He walked to the table before uttering a +word; on his way across the room his eyes were on the keys. When he leaned +on the table he put one hand over them. "This invasion seems outrageous, +gentlemen. Undoubtedly it is. But I have tried another plan with you and +it did not succeed. I had hoped that I would not need these assistants +whom I have just called in." + +"Totten, go bring the guard!" North's voice was balefully subdued. + +Rellihan looked straight ahead and twirled his stick. + +"I apologize for stretching my special exception a bit, and introducing +these guests past the boys at the door," Stewart went on. "I'm breaking +the rules of politeness--and the rules of everything else, I'm afraid. But +all rules seem to be suspended to-night!" + +"Totten!" the Governor roared, pounding his fist on the arm of his chair. + +Morrison gave the policeman a side-glance as if to inform himself that all +was right with Rellihan. + +Then he pulled a handy chair to the table and motioned to Miss Bunker. She +sat down and opened her note-book. + +"I have come here on business, gentlemen, and you must allow me to follow +some of my business methods. The heat of argument often causes men to +forget what has been said. I'm willing to leave what I may say to the +record, and, in view of the fact that all this is public business, I trust +I'll have your co-operation along the same line. And there's a young lady +present," he added. "That fact will help us to get along wonderfully well +together." + +"What's that devilish policeman doing at my door?" demanded the Governor, +finding that his frantic gestures were not starting the adjutant-general +on his way. + +"Insuring complete privacy!" The mayor beamed on the Governor. "Nothing +gets in--nothing gets out!" + +North grabbed the telephone instrument on his desk. + +One of Stewart's hands was covering the keys; with the fingers of the +other hand he had been fumbling under the edge of the desk. He suddenly +pulled wires from the confining staples; he yanked a big mill-knife from +his trousers pocket and cut the wires. North flung a dead instrument +clattering on the broad table and found only oaths fit to apply to this +perfectly amazing effrontery. + +"You need not take, Miss Bunker!" The quiet dignity of Morrison and the +rebuke the Governor found in the girl's contemplative eyes choked off the +profanity as effectively as would gripping fingers at his throat. + +"I realize that all this is absolutely unprecedented--has never been done +before--is unadulterated gall on my part, Governor North. Perhaps I +haven't a leg to stand on." + +"Morrison, this infernal nonsense must cease!" + +Senator Corson shouted, leaping from his chair and shaking both fists. + +"You need not take, Miss Bunker!" + +Corson gulped and surveyed the young lady, and found her eyes as +disconcertingly rebuking as they had proved in the case of North. + +"Not especially on account of the style of your language, Senator! But you +are merely a visitor here, the same as I! At the present time your +comments on the business between the Governor and myself can scarcely have +any weight in the record." + +"What in blazes is that business? Get it out of you!" commanded the other +principal in the controversy. + +"With pleasure! Thank you for coming down to the matter in hand. You may +take, Miss Bunker. + +"Governor North, I have been about among people this evening and--" + +"You have been making incendiary speeches, and I demand to know what you +have said and why you have said it!" + +"I have no time now to go into those details. My business is more +pressing, sir." + +"You're in cahoots with a mob! I saw you operating, with my own eyes, +under my own roof," asserted Senator Corson, violently. + +"I have no time for discussing that matter." Morrison looked up at the +clock on the wall. "This other business, I assert, is urgent." + +Banker Daunt had been holding his peace, growling anathema to himself in +the depths of a big chair. + +He struggled to the edge of that chair. "I am in this building right now +to warn the Governor of this state that you are playing your own selfish +game to stifle enterprise and development and to discourage outside +capital--hundreds of thousands of it--waiting to come in here." + +"Pardon me, sir! I have no time to discuss water-power, either! Right now +I'm submitting news instead of theories!" He faced the Governor again. +"That's why I'm here--I'm bringing news. That news must put everything +else to one side. We have minutes only to deal with the matter. And if we +don't use those minutes with all the wisdom that's in us, the shame of our +state will be on the wires of the world inside of an hour!" + +His vehemence intimidated them. His manner as the bearer of ill tidings +won what his appeals had not secured--an instant hearing. + +"What I say will be a matter of record, and the blame will be placed where +it belongs. You can't claim that you didn't have facts. I have been among +the people. I have sent others among 'em and I have received reports and I +know what I am talking about. There's a mob massing down-town--a mob made +up of many different elements! That kind of mob can't be handled by mere +arguments or by machine-guns. That mob must be shown! Talking won't do any +good. Just a moment! You won't do what you ought to do, Governor, unless +you have this thing driven straight at you! In that mob are the men who +have voted for various members of the legislature who claim seats and +whose seats are threatened. It's a personal matter with those men. You +can't soft-soap 'em to-night with promises of what the courts will do. +Several hundred huskies are on the way over here from the Agawam quarries +Those men don't care about this or that candidate. They have been paid to +grab in on general principles--and they're bringing sledge-hammers. In +that mob, also, are the Red aliens who keep under cover till a row breaks +out; any kind of trouble suits their purpose--and you know what their +purpose is in regard to this government of ours. They're coming, I tell +you. They're coming on to Capitol Hill!" + +"And what have you been doing to stop 'em, after all your promises of what +you'd do?" raged North. + +"I've been doing the best I could, with what loyal boys I could depend on. +But I want to know now what _you're_ going to do?" + +"Shoot every damnation thug of 'em who gets in range of our machine-guns. +Totten, hustle yourself down-stairs and see that it's done!" + +"Genera! Totten will not leave this room--not now! You're all wrong, +Governor." + +"That's the way a mob was handled in one state in this Union not so very +long ago, and the Governor was right! He was hailed from one end of the +country to the other as right!" + +"The principle behind him was right--that's what you mean, Governor North. +That was just the point he made!" + +"Do you dare to stand there and intimate that I haven't got principle +behind me? Statute law, election law?" + +Morrison glanced again at the clock; then he tossed a bomb into the +argument. "The principle in this instance is a pretty wabbly backing, sir. +I'm afraid that even my loyal boys will join the mob if the news gets out +about those election returns in certain districts--the returns that were +sent back secretly to be corrected." + +The bomb had all the effect that Morrison hoped for. His Excellency +slumped back in his chair and "pittered" his lips wordlessly. + +"I don't think the news has actually got out among the general public, but +it's apt to leak any minute, sir. You can't afford to take chances." + +"Such slander is preposterous!" Corson asserted. "What used to be +done--reviving old stories--I say that our party will not lend its +countenance to any such tricks." In his excitement he had dropped an +admission as to the past in politics while offering a disclaimer as to the +present. + +"There's no time now for any political discussions," retorted Morrison, +curtly. "It's a matter right now of side-tracking a fight. If that fight +comes off, Governor North, the truth will come out. And you can't point to +a principle in your case as an excuse for bloodshed!" + +"If a mob attacks this State House there's got to be a fight." + +"It takes two to make a fight, sir. Order General Totten to march his +troops out of the State House. Machine-guns and all! Tell 'em to go home +and go to bed." + +That audacious advice was a second bomb! + +After a few moments Senator Corson leaped out of his chair, strode across +the room, and plucked his coat and hat from the divan. "Come along, +Daunt!" he counseled, his voice cracking hoarsely. + +"Hold on, Senator!" expostulated the Governor. "I need your help!" + +"I won't allow myself to be mixed into this mess, North. I can't afford to +help shoulder the blame where I have not been fully informed. And I won't +allow a lunatic to endanger my life. Come on, Daunt, I tell you!" + +"If you're bound to go, I'll go along, too," proffered the Governor, +rising hastily. "This thing can be handled. It's got to be handled. We'll +go where this infernal, clattering loom from St. Ronan's mill can't break +up a gentlemen's conference." + +Stewart did not suggest that the gentlemen remain; nor did he offer to go; +nor did he plead for a decision. He stood quietly and watched them pull on +their overcoats. + +The Senator led the retreat toward the private door. + +Morrison dropped the captured bunch of keys into his pocket. + +Rellihan held his club horizontally in front of him with both hands. + +"Get out of the way!" yelped Corson. + +The officer shook his head. + +"General Totten, open that door." + +"No chance!" Rellihan growled. + +North wagged his way close to the barring "fender" and shook an admonitory +finger under the policeman's nose. "I'm the Governor of this state! I +order you to move away from that door." + +"I can't help what ye are! I'm taking me orders on'y fr'm the mayor o' +Marion." + +"You see, gentlemen!" suggested Morrison. "It looks as if we'd be obliged +to settle our business right where we are--in this room. Time is short. +Won't you come back here to the table?" + +There was absolute silence in the Executive Chamber--a silence that +continued. The dignitaries at the door deigned to accord to Morrison +neither glance nor word; they would not indulge his incredible audacity to +that extent. As to Rellihan, they did not feel like stooping so low as to +waste words on the impassive giant who personified an ignorant insolence +that made no account of personalities. They adventured in no move against +that obstacle in their path, either by concerted attack or individual +effort to pass. They looked like wakened sleepers who were struggling with +the problems proposed in a nightmare. It was a situation which seemed +beyond solution by the ordinary sensible methods. + +After a time Governor North voiced in a coarse manner, inadequately, some +expression of the emotion that was dominating the group. "What in hell is +the matter with us, anyway?" + +Again there was a prolonged silence. + +"Seeing that nobody else seems to want to express an opinion on the +subject, I'll tell you what the matter is, as I look at it," ventured +Stewart, chattily matter-of-fact. "We're all native-born Americans in this +room. Right down deep in our hearts we're not afraid of our soldiers. We +good-naturedly indulge the boys when they are called on to exercise +authority. But from the time an American youngster begins to steal apples +and junk and throw snowballs and break windows a healthy fear of a regular +cop is ingrained in him. It's a fear he doesn't stop to analyze. It's just +there, that's all he knows. Even a perfectly law-abiding citizen walking +home late feels a little tingle of anxiety in him when he marches past a +cop. Puts on an air as much as to say, 'I hope you think I'm all right, +officer--tending right to my own business!' So, in this case, it's only +your ingrained American nature talking to you, gentlemen! You're all +right! Nothing is the matter with you! It ought to please you because you +feel that way! Proves you are truly American. 'Don't monkey with the cop!' +Just as long as we obey that watchword we've got a good government!" + +Senator Corson was more infuriated by that bland preachment than he would +have been by vitriolic insult. While he marched back to the table he +prefaced his arraignment of Morrison by calling him an impudent pup. He +dwelt on that subject with all his power of invective for some minutes. + +"I agree with you, Senator," admitted Morrison when Corson stopped to +gather more ammunition of anathema. "But what are you going to do about +it?" + +He asked the same question after the Senator had finished a statement of +his opinion on the obstinacy of the lunkhead at the door. + +The Senator kept on in his objurgation. But whenever he looked at the door +he found the policeman there, an immovable obstacle. + +Whenever Corson looked at Morrison he met everlastingly that hateful +query. + +Both the question and the cop were impossible, impassable. Corson found +the thing too outrageously ridiculous to be handled by sane argument; his +insanity in declamation was getting him nowhere. + +"There's only one subject before the meeting," insisted Stewart. "We've +got to keep this state from being ashamed of itself when it wakes up +to-morrow morning!" + +Somewhere, in some hidden place in the room, a subdued buzzing began and +continued persistently. + +The understanding that passed between Corson and North in the glance which +they exchanged was immediate and highly informative, even had the observer +been obtuse. But in that crisis Stewart Morrison was not obtuse. + +Whether it was deference, one to the other, or caution in general that was +dominating the Senator and the Governor was not clearly revealed by their +countenance. At any rate, they made no move. + +"Pardon me, Senator Corson," said Stewart. "I'm quite sure I know where +the other end of that telephone line is. I think your daughter is +calling!" His inquisitive eyes were searching the walls of the chamber; +the source of the buzzing was not easily to be located by the sound. + +The Governor suddenly dumped himself out of his chair and started across +the room. + +Morrison strode into His Excellency's path and extended a restraining arm +that was as authoritative as Rellihan's club. "I beg your pardon, too, +Governor! But that call is undoubtedly for Senator Corson. I happen to +know quite a lot about the conveniences in his residence!" + +"And all the evening you have been using that knowledge to help you in +violating my hospitality! Morrison, you're not much else than a sneak!" +affirmed Corson. + +The Governor struck his fist against the rigid arm and spat an oath in +Morrison's face, "Get out of my way! I'm in my own office--I'll tend to +that call!" + +"No, you'll not!" was Morrison's quick rejoinder. "Senator Corson, if you +want to inform your daughter that you're all safe--if you want to ask her +not to worry, you'd better answer. But I must insist that a private line +shall not be used to convey out of this room any of our public business!" + +Corson then became the only moving figure in the tableau; he went to the +wall, pushed aside a huge frame which held the state's coat of arms, and +pulled from a niche a telephone on an extension arm. He proceeded to +display his utter contempt for commands issuing from the absurd interloper +who was presuming in such dictation to dignity "Yes! Lana! Call +High-sheriff Dalton! As quickly as possible! Tell him to secure a posse. +Tell him I'm in the State House, threatened by a lunatic. Tell him--" + +By that time Morrison was at Corson's side and was wresting the instrument +from the wall. He broke off the arm and the wires and flung them across +the room. + +"There's fight enough on the docket, as the thing stands, without calling +in another bunch to make it three-sided, sir! Rellihan, open the door for +Mac Tavish! Andy, run to the public booth in the corridor and call Dalton +and tell him to pay no attention to any hullabaloo by hysterical women. +Tell him I said so! Ask him to keep that to himself. And rush back!" + +He turned on the Senator and the Governor. + +There was no longer apology or compromise in the demeanor of the mayor of +Marion. "I know I'm a rank outsider! You needn't try to tell me what I +know myself. I didn't think I'd need to be so rank! But I'm just what +you're forcing me to be. I have jumped in here to stop something that +there's no more sense in than there is in a dog-fight. They may fight in +spite of all I can do! But, by the gods! I'm not going to stand by and see +men like you rub their ears! Senator Corson, I advise you and Governor +North to go and sit down. You're only making spectacles of yourselves!" + + + + +XV + +THE BOSS OF THE JOB + + +After Senator Corson had recovered his poise his dignity asserted itself +and he sat down and assumed an attitude that suggested the frigidity of a +statue on an ice-cake. He checked Governor North with an impatient flap of +the hand. "You have had your innings as a manager, North!" + +He proceeded frostily with Morrison. "There was never a situation in state +history like this one you have precipitated, sir, and if I have made an +ass of myself I was copying current manners." + +"It is a strange situation, I'll admit, Senator," Morrison agreed. + +"As a newsmonger, you say, do you, that minutes are valuable?" + +"Yes, sir!" + +"Well, we'd better find out how valuable they are. Will you send General +Totten below to investigate?" + +Morrison surveyed appraisingly the panoplied adjutant-general. "I'd never +think of making General Totten an errand-boy, sir, if I'm to imply that I +have any say in affairs just now." + +"You have assumed all say! You have put gentlemen in a position where they +can't help themselves." The Senator scowled in the direction of Rellihan. +But Rellihan did not mind; right then he was opening the door to the +returning Mac Tavish. + +"I routed Mac Tavish out of bed and brought him along to attend to +errands. He will go and see how matters are below, and outside," proffered +Morrison, courteously. + +The self-appointed manager gave Mac Tavish his new orders and added: +"Inquire, please, if any telegrams have arrived for me. I'm expecting +some." + +Rellihan again deferentially opened the door for the messenger of the +mayor of Marion; Mac Tavish had knocked and given his name. "It's all +richt, sir!" he had reported on his arrival from his mission to the +telephone. + +The exasperated Governor viewed that free ingress and muttered. + +Mac Tavish's unimpeded egress on the second errand provoked the Governor +more acutely. + +"Morrison, I'm now talking strictly for myself," went on the Senator. "I +shall use plain words. By your attitude you directly accuse me of being a +renegade in politics. To all intents and purposes I am under arrest, as a +person dangerous to be at large in the affairs that are pressing." + +"Senator Corson, I don't believe you ever did a deliberately wrong or +wicked thing in your life, as an individual." + +"I thank you!" + +"But deliberately political methods can be wicked in their general +results, even if those methods are sanctioned by usage. It's wicked to +start a fight here to-night by allowing political misunderstandings to +play fast and loose with the people." + +"You're a confounded imbecile, that's what you are," shouted Governor +North. + +The mayor turned on him. "Replying in the same sort of language, so that +you may understand right where you and I get off in our relations, I'll +tell you that you're the kind of man who would use grandmothers in a +matched fight to settle a political grudge--if the other fellow had a +grandmother and you could borrow one. Now let me alone, sir! I am talking +with Senator Corson!" + +The Senator squelched the Governor with another gesture. "We have our +laws, Morrison. We must abide by 'em. And the political game must be +played according to the law." + +"I think I have already expressed my opinion to you about that game, sir. +I'll say again that in this country politics is no longer a mere game to +be played for party advantage and the aggrandizement of individuals. The +folks won't stand for that stuff any longer." + +"I think you and North, both of you, are overexcited. You're going off +half cocked. You are exaggerating a tempest in a teapot." + +"If every community in this country gets right down to business and stops +the teapot tempests by good sense in handling them when they start, we'll +be able to prevent a general tornado that may sweep us all to Tophet, +Senator Corson." + +"Legislation on broad lines will remedy our troubles. We are busy in +Washington on such matters." + +"Good luck to the cure-all, sir! But in the mean time we need specific +doses, right at home, in every community, early and often. That's what we +ought to be tending to to-night, here in Marion. If every city and town +does the same thing, the country at large won't have to worry." + +Senator Corson kept his anxious gaze on the private door. "Well, let's +have it, Morrison! You seem to be bossing matters, just as you threatened +to do. What's your dose in this case?" + +"I wasn't threatening! I was promising." + +"Promising what?" + +"That the people would get a square deal in this legislative matter." + +"You don't underrate your abilities, I note!" + +"Oh, I was not promising to do it myself. I have no power in state +politics. I was promising that Governor North and his Executive Councilors +who canvassed the election returns would give the folks a square deal." + +In his rage the Governor, defying such presumptuous interference, was not +fortunate in phrasing his declaration that Morrison had no right to +promise any such thing. + +The big millman surveyed His Excellency with a whimsical expression of +distress. "Why, I supposed I had the right to promise that much on behalf +of our Chief Executive. You aren't going to deny 'em a square deal--you +don't mean that, do you, sir?" + +"Confound your impudence, you have no right to twist my meaning. I'm going +by the law--strictly by the statutes! The question will be put up to the +court." + +"Certainly!" affirmed Senator Corson. "It must go to the court." + +Just then Rellihan slammed the private door with a sort of official +violence. + +Mac Tavish had entered. He marched straight to Morrison with the stiff +jerkiness of an automaton. He carried a sealed telegram and held it as far +in front of himself as possible. Stewart seized upon it and tore the +envelope. "I'm glad to hear you say that about the court, gentlemen. I +have taken a liberty this evening. Will you please wait a moment while I +glance at this?" + +It was plainly, so his manner indicated, something that had a bearing on +the issue. They leaned forward and attended eagerly on him when he began +to read aloud: + +"My opinion hastily given for use if emergency is such as you mention is +that mere technicalities, clerical errors that can be shown to be such or +minor irregularities should not be allowed to negative will of voter when +same has been shown beyond reasonable doubt. Signed, Davenport, Judge +Supreme Judicial Court." + +Morrison waited a few moments, gazing from face to face. Then he leaned +across the table and gave the telegram into the hands of Miss Bunker. +"Make it a part of the record, please," he directed. + +"Well, I'll be eternally condemned!" roared the Governor. "You're a rank +outsider. You don't know what you're talking about. How do you dare to +involve the judges? They don't know what they're talking about, either, on +a point of law, in this case." + +"Perhaps Judge Davenport isn't talking law, wholly, in that telegram. He +may be saying a word as an honest man who doesn't want to see his state +disgraced by riot and bloodshed to-night." The mayor addressed Mac Tavish +with eager emphasis. "What do you find down below, Andy?" + +"Nae pairticular pother withindoors. Muckle powwow wi'out," reported the +old man, tersely. + +"Then you got a look outside?" + +"Aye! When I took the message frae the telegraph laddie at the door." + +"Was Joe Lanigan in sight?" + +"Aye!" + +"It's all right so far, gentlemen," the mayor assured his involuntary +conferees. "Joe is on the job with his American Legion boys, as he +promised me he'd be. Now I'm going to be perfectly frank and inform you +that I have made a promise of my own in this case. I haven't meant to be +presumptuous. I don't want you to feel that I've got a swelled head. I'm +merely trying to keep my word and carry out a contract on a business +oasis. It's only a matter of starting right; then everything can be kept +right." + +He whirled on Mac Tavish. "Trot down again, Andy. I'm expecting more +messages. And keep us posted on happenings!" + +"Are such humble persons as North and I are entitled to be let in on any +details of your contract, Mister Boss-in-Chief?" inquired the Senator. + +"I think the main contract is your own, sir--yours and the Governor's. I +don't like to seem too forward in suggesting what it is." + +"Nothing you can say or do from now on will seem forward, Morrison. Even +if you should order that Hereford steer, there, at the door, to bang us +over our heads with his shillalah, it would seem merely like an +anticlimax, matched with the rest of your cheek! What's the contract?" + +"You and North stated the terms of it, yourselves, when you were +campaigning last election. You said that if you were elected you'd be the +servants of the people." + +"What in the devil do you claim we are now?" + +"I make no assertion. But when I was down with the bunch this evening I +was able to get into the spirit of the crowd. I found myself, feeling, +just as they said they felt, that it's a queer state of affairs when +servants barricade themselves in a master's castle and use other paid +servants to threaten with rifles and machine-guns when the master demands +entry." + +"I'd be carrying out my contract, would I, by disbanding that militia and +opening this State House to the mob?" demanded North. + +"This is a peculiar emergency, sir," Morrison insisted. "Outside are +massing all the elements of a know-nothing, rough-house męlée. Even the +Legion boys don't know just where they're at till there's a showdown. I +can depend on 'em right now while they're waiting for that showdown. +They'll fight their finger-nails off to hold the plain rowdies in line. +Such boys have been showing their mettle in one city in this country, +haven't they? But a mere licking, no matter which side wins, doesn't last +long enough for any general good unless the licking is based on principle +and the principle is thereby established as right! Now let me tell you, +Governor North. You can't fool those Legion boys outside. They have come +home with new conceptions of what is a square deal. They're plumb on to +the old-fashioned tricks in cheap politics. They're not letting +officeholders play checkers with 'em any longer. + +"Governor--and you, Senator Corson--this is now a question of to-night--an +emergency--an exigency! I have told those boys that they will be shown! +You've got to show 'em. Show 'em that this State House is always open to +decent citizens. Show 'em that you, as officeholders, don't need +machine-guns to back you up in your stand." He emphasized each declaration +by a resounding thump of his fist on the table. "Show 'em that it's a +square deal, and that your cuffs are rolled up when you deal! Show 'ern +that you're not bluffing honestly elected members of this incoming +legislature out of their seats by closing the doors on 'em to-morrow. +That's your contract! Are you going to keep it?" + +Mac Tavish returned. He brought another telegram. + +Morrison ripped the inclosure from the envelope. + +"It's of the same purport as the other," he reported. "Signed, 'Madigan, +Justice Supreme Judicial Court.' Back to the door, Mac Tavish. Here, Miss +Bunker, insert this in the record." + +"This is simply preposterous!" exploded the Senator. + +"Rather irregular, certainly," Stewart confessed. "But I didn't ask 'em +for red tape! I asked 'em for quick action to prevent bloodshed!" + +Senator Corson's fresh fury did not allow him to reason with himself or +argue with this interloper, this lunatic who was flailing about in that +sanctuary of vested authority, knocking down hallowed procedure, sacred +precedents--all the gods of the fane! + +"Morrison, no such an outrage as this was ever perpetrated in American +politics!" + +"It surely does seem to be a new wrinkle, Senator! I'll confess that I +don't know much about politics. It's all new to me. I apologize for the +mistakes I'm making. Probably I'll know more when I've been in politics a +little longer." + +"You will, sir!" + +Governor North agreed with that dictum, heartily, irefully. + +"I do seem to be finding out new things every minute or so," went on +Stewart, making the agreement unanimous. "Taking your opinion as experts, +perhaps I may qualify as an expert, too, before the evening is over." + +"Where is this infernal folly of yours heading you?" Corson permitted his +wrath to dominate him still farther. He shook his fist under Morrison's +nose. + +"Straight toward a Bright Light, Senator! I'm putting no name on it. But +I'm keeping my eyes on it. And I can't stop to notice what I'm knocking +down or whose feet I'm treading on." + +The Senator went to Governor North and struck his fist down on His +Excellency's shoulder. "I've been having some doubts about your methods, +sir, but now I'm with you, shoulder to shoulder, to save this situation. +Pay no attention to those telegrams. There's no telling what that idiot +has wired to the justices. This man has not an atom of authority. You +cannot legally share your authority with him. To defer to one of his +demands will be breaking your oath to preserve order and protect state +property." + +"Exactly! I don't need that advice, Corson, but I do need your support. I +shall go ahead strictly according to the constitution and the statutes." + +"I am glad to hear you say that, Governor," stated Morrison. + +"Did you expect that I was going to join you and your mob of lawbreakers?" + +"Your explicit statement pleases me, I say. Shall you follow the +constitution absolutely, in every detail?" + +"Absolutely! In every detail." + +"Right down to the last technical letter of it?" + +"Good gad! what do you mean by asking me such fool questions?" + +"I'm getting a direct statement from you on the point. For the record!" He +pointed to the stenographer. + +"I shall observe the constitution of this state to the last letter of it, +absolutely, undeviatingly. And now, as Governor of this state, I shall +proceed to exert my authority. Put that statement in the record! I order +you to leave the State House immediately. Record that, too! Otherwise I +shall prefer charges before the courts that will put you in state prison, +Morrison!" + +"Do you know exactly the provisions of the constitution relating to your +office, sir?" + +"I do." + +"Don't you realize that, according to the technical stand you take, you +have no more official right in this Capitol than I have, just now?" + +His Excellency's silence, his stupefaction, suggested that his convictions +as to Morrison's lunacy were finally clinched. + +"The constitution, that you have invoked, expressly provides that a +Governor's term of office expires at midnight, on the day preceding the +assembling of the first session of the legislature. You will be Governor +in the morning at ten-thirty o'clock, when you take your oath before the +joint session. But by your own clock up there you ceased to be Governor of +this state five minutes ago!" Morrison drawled that statement in a very +placid manner. His forefinger pointed to the clock on the wall of the +Executive Chamber. + +Governor North did know the constitution, even if he did not know the time +o' night until his attention had been drawn to it. He was disconcerted +only for a moment; then he snorted his disgust, roused by this attempt of +a tyro to read him a lesson in law. + +Senator Corson expressed himself. "Don't bother us with such nonsense! +Such a ridiculous point has never been raised." + +"But this is a night of new wrinkles, as we have already agreed," insisted +the mayor of Marion. "I'm right along with the Governor, neck and neck, in +his observance of the letter of the law." + +"Well, then, we'll stick to the letter," snapped His Excellency. "I have +declared this State House under martial law. The adjutant-general, here, +is in command of the troops and the situation." + +"I'm glad to know that. I'll talk with General Totten in a moment!" + +Again Mac Tavish came trotting past Rellihan. + +Morrison snatched away the telegram that his agent proffered; but the +master demanded news before proceeding to open the missive. + +"There's summat in the air," reported Andrew. "Much blust'ring; the square +is crowded! Whilst I was signing the laddie's book Lanigan cried me the +word for ye to look sharp and keep the promise, else he wouldna answer for +a'!" + +"Gentlemen, I'll let you construe your own contracts according to your +consciences. I have one of my own to carry out. Mac Tavish has just handed +me a jolt on it! + +"Governor North, seeing that your contract with the state is temporarily +suspended, I suppose we'll have to excuse you to some extent, after all! +Mac Tavish, step here, close to me!" + +The old man obeyed; the two stood in the full glare of the chandelier. + +Stewart held up his right hand. "You're a notary public, Andrew. +Administer an oath! Like that one you administered to me when I was sworn +in as mayor of Marion. You can remember the gist of it." + +"In what capaceety do you serve, Master Morrison?" inquired Mac Tavish, +stolidly. + +Stewart hesitated a moment, taking thought. "I'm going to volunteer as a +sort of an Executive, gentlemen," he explained, deferentially. "The +exigency seems to need one. I have heard that a good Executive is one who +acts quickly and is right--part of the time! I'm indebted to Senator +Corson for a suggestion he made a little while ago. I think, Mac Tavish, +you'd better swear me in as Boss of the Job." + + + + +XVI + +THE CITY OF MARION SEEKS ITS MAYOR + + +Gaiety's glaring brilliancy on Corson Hill had been effectually snuffed by +the onslaught of the mob. The mansion hid its lights behind shades and +shutters. The men of the orchestra had packed their instruments; the +dismayed guests put on their wraps and called for their carriages. + +In the place of lilting violins and merry tongues, hammers clattered and +saws rasped; the servants were boarding up the broken windows. + +Lana Corson, closeted with Mrs. Stanton, found the discord below-stairs +peculiarly hateful; it suggested so much, replacing the music. + +The rude hand of circumstance had been laid so suddenly on the melody of +life! + +"And I'll say again--" pursued Mrs. Stanton, breaking a silence that had +lain between the two. + +"Don't say it again! Don't! Don't!" It was indignant expostulation instead +of supplication and the matron instantly exhibited relief. + +"Thank goodness, Lana! Your symptoms are fine! You're past the crisis and +are on the mend. Get angrier! Stay angry! It's a healthy sign in any woman +recovering from such a relapse as has been threatening you since you came +back home." + +"Will you not drop the topic?" demanded Miss Corson, with as much menace +as a maiden could display by tone and demeanor. + +"As your nurse in this period of convalescence," insisted the +imperturbable lady, "I find your temperature encouraging. The higher the +better, in a case like this! But I'd like to register on your chart a +hard-and-fast declaration from you that you'll never again expose yourself +to infection from the same quarter!" + +Lana did not make that declaration; she did not reply to her friend. + +The two were in the Senator's study. Lana had led the retreat to that +apartment; its wainscoted walls and heavy door shut out in some measure +the racket of hammers and saws. + +She walked to the window and pulled aside the curtain and looked out into +the night. + +Between Corson Hill and Capitol Hill, in the broad bowl of a valley, most +of the structures of the city of Marion were nested. The State House +loomed darkly against the radiance of the winter sky. + +She was still wondering what that blood-stained intruder had meant when he +declaimed about the job waiting on Capitol Hill, and she found disquieting +suggestiveness in the gloom which wrapped the distant State House. Even +the calm in the neighborhood of the Corson mansion troubled her; the scene +of the drama, whatever it was all about, had been shifted; the talk of men +had been of prospective happenings at the State House, and that talk was +ominous. Her father was there. She was fighting an impulse to hasten to +the Capitol and she assured herself that the impulse was wholly concerned +with her father. + +"I'll admit that the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts, just as +that poet has said they are," Mrs. Stanton went on, one topic engrossing +her. "But I'm assuming that there's an end to 'em, just as there is to the +much-talked-of long lane. In poems there's a lot of nonsense about +marrying one's own first love--and I suppose the thing is done, sometimes. +Yes, I'm quite sure of it, because it's written up so often in the divorce +cases. If I had married any one of the first five fellows I was engaged +to, probably my own case would have been on record in the newspapers +before this. Lana dear, why don't you come here and sit down and confide +in a friend and assure her that you're safe and sane from now on?" + +Miss Corson, as if suddenly made aware that somebody in the room was +talking, snapped herself 'bout face. + +"Doris, what are you saying to me?" + +"I'm giving you a little soothing dissertation on love--the right kind of +love--the sensible kind--" + +"How do you dare to annoy me with such silliness in a time like this?" + +"Why, because this is just the right moment for you to tell me that you +are forever done with the silly kind of love. Mushy boy-and-girl love is +wholly made up of illusions. This Morrison man isn't leaving you any +illusions in regard to himself, is he?" + +Miss Corson came away from the window with a rush; her cheeks were +danger-flags. "You seem to be absolutely determined to drive me to say +something dreadful to you, Doris! I've been trying so hard to remember +that you're my guest." + +"Your friend, you mean!" + +"You listen to me! I'm making my own declarations to myself about the men +in this world--the ones I know. If I should say out loud what I think of +them--or if I should say what I think of friends who meddle and maunder on +about love--_love_--I'd be ashamed if I were overheard. Now not another +word, Doris Stanton!" She stamped her foot and beat her hand hard on the +table in a manner that smacked considerably of the Senator's violence when +his emotions were stirred. "I'm ashamed of myself for acting like this. I +hate such displays! But I mean to protect myself. And now keep quiet, if +you please. I have something of real importance to attend to, even if you +haven't." + +She went to a niche in the wall and pulled out the private telephone +instrument; the pressure of a button was required to put in a call. After +the prolonged wait, Senator Corson's voice sounded, high-pitched, urgent. +His appeal was broken short off. + +Lana stared at Mrs. Stanton while making futile efforts to get a reply to +frantic questions; fear paled the girl's face and widened her eyes. + +"What has happened, Lana?" + +"It's father! He asked for help! It's something--some danger--something +dreadful." She clung to the telephone for several minutes, demanding, +listening, hoping for further words--the completion of his orders to her. + +Then, abandoning her efforts, she made haste to call the sheriff of the +county, using the study extension of the regular telephone. + +The customary rattle informed her that the line was in use, after she had +called for the number, looking it up in the directory. When she finally +did succeed in getting the ear of the sheriff she was informed in +placatory orotund by that official that all her fears were groundless. "I +have been talking with the State House just before you called me, Miss +Corson. I am assured on the best of authority that everything is all +right, there." He was plainly indulging what he accepted as the vagaries +of hysteria--having been apprised by the matter-of-fact Mac Tavish that +some nonsensical news might come through an excited female. "I think you +must have misconstrued what your father said. My informant is known to me +as reliable. Oh no, Miss Corson, I cannot give you his name. It's a rule +of the sheriff's office that individuals who give information have their +identities respected. If the Senator is at the State House you can +undoubtedly reach him by 'phone in the Executive Chamber." He placidly +bade her good night. + +But Miss Corson was unable to communicate with the Executive Chamber. + +After many delays she was informed that central had tried repeatedly and +directly through the State House exchange, as was the custom after the +departure of the exchange operators for the night; central officially +reported, "Line out of order." + +During her efforts to communicate, Coventry Daunt hastened into the study; +he had tapped and he obeyed his sister's admonition, "Come in!" + +"I tell you something terrible is the matter," Lana declared, giving up +her efforts to get news over the wire. "Coventry, your looks tell me that +you have heard bad news of some sort!" + +"I don't want to be an alarmist," admitted young Daunt, "but all sorts of +whip-whap stuff seem to be in the air all of a sudden. I just took a run +down to the foot of the hill. The bees are buzzing a little livelier there +than they are in the neighborhood of the house. Up here some soldier boys +are waving their bayonets and fat cops are swinging clubs. We're all +right, ladies, but there are all sorts of stories about what's likely to +happen up at the State House. I've come to tell you that if you can do +without me I think I'll take a swing over to Capitol Hill. I don't want to +miss anything good, and I'll bring back straight news." + +"I can't endure to wait here for news, Coventry," Lana said. "Order the +car; I'll go along with you." + +"It's absolute folly!" declared Mrs. Stanton, aghast, "Haven't you had +enough experience with mobs for one evening?" + +"I am going to my father, mobs or no mobs! I know his voice and I know +he's in trouble, no matter what that idiot of a sheriff tells me." She +hurried to the door. "Order the car, I say! I'll get my wraps." + +Mrs. Stanton divided rueful gaze between her own evening gown and Lana's. +"Are you going with that dress on?" + +"I certainly am!" Lana called from the corridor, running toward her +apartments. + +"Well," Mrs. Stanton informed her brother, "this gown has served me all +evening during the political rally that somebody tried to pass off as a +reception. Probably it will do very well for the mob-affair. I'll go for +my furs." + +"That's a brick!" was her brother's indorsement. "She needs us both. But +don't be frightened, sis! It's only a political flurry, and such fusses +are usually more fizz than fight. I'll have the car around to the door in +a jab of a jiffy!" + +By the time the limousine swung under the _porte-cochčre_ Lana was down +and waiting; Mrs. Stanton came hurrying after, ready to defy a January +midnight in a cocoon of kolinsky. + +Coventry had ridden from the garage with the chauffeur. "I have been +talking with Wallace. He thinks he'd better drive to the State House by +detour through the parkway." + +"Go straight down through the city," commanded the mistress. "I'm not +afraid of my hometown folks. Besides, I have an errand. Stop at the Marion +_Monitor_ office, Wallace!" + +The city certainly offered no cause for alarm when they traversed the +streets of the business district. Nobody was in sight; they did not see +even a patrolman. + +"The bees seem to have hived all of a sudden," remarked young Daunt. "All +fizz, as I told you, and now the fizz has fizzled." + +When the car stopped in front of the newspaper office Lana asked her +guests to wait in the automobile. "That is, if you don't mind!" Then Miss +Corson revealed a bit of nerve strain; she allowed herself to copy some of +the sarcasm that was characteristic of Doris Stanton. "One of those old +friends whom we have been discussing so pleasantly this evening, Doris, is +the city editor of the _Monitor_. Gossipy, of course, from the nature of +his business. But I'm sure that he'll gossip more at his ease if there are +no strangers present." + +Coventry had opened the door of the car. Lana hastened past him and +disappeared in the building. + +"Dorrie, I'm afraid you are overtraining Lana," the brother complained. "I +have never heard her speak like that before." + +"I'm giving her special training for a special occasion which will present +itself very soon, I hope. When she talks to a certain man I want to feel +that my efforts haven't been thrown away." + +"Oh, Morrison has botched everything for himself--all around!" + +"Thank you! I'm glad to hear you admit that a caveman can be too much of a +good thing with his stone hatchet or club or whatever he uses to bang and +whack all heads with!" + +Mrs. Stanton impatiently invited Coventry to step in and shut the door and +make sure that the electric heater was doing business. + +City Editor Tasper had a pompadour like a penwiper, round eyes, and a wide +smile. He trotted out to Lana in the reception-room and gave her comradely +greeting. "Any other night but this, Lana Corson, and I'd have been up to +your house to pat Juba on the side-lines even if I couldn't squeeze in one +assignment on your dance order. But as a Marionite you know what we're up +against in this office the night before an inauguration. Afraid the +reception-spread will be squeezed? Don't worry. It's a big night, but I'm +giving you a first-page send-off just the same." + +"Billy, I'm not here to talk about that reception. I don't care if there +isn't a word about it." + +"Oh, I get you! Don't worry about that fracas, either! I'm killing all +mention of it. We're not advertising that Marion has Bolshevists. Hurts!" + +"But I'm not trying to tell you your business about the paper!" the girl +protested. "I'm here after news. What is the trouble at the State House?" + +"I don't know," he confessed. "That is to say, I'm not on to the real +inside of the proposition. We can't get our boys in and we can't get any +news out! Those soldiers won't even admit the telephone crew to restore +connection with the Executive Chamber." + +"My father is there! He's there with the Governor." + +"Well, I should say for a guess that the Senator is in the safest place in +the city, judging from the way Danny Sweetsir and his warriors are on +their jobs at those doors." + +"Billy, who else is there with the Governor?" she questioned, anxiously, +harrowed by that memory of her father's tone when he shouted the word +"lunatic!" + +"No know! No can tell!" returned Tasper. "But why all the excitement? +There's a crowd outside the State House, but all my reports say that it's +still orderly. It's only the old 'state steal' stuff warmed over by the +sore-heads. But we're printing a statement from Governor North in the +morning. The whole matter is going up to the full bench in the usual way. +If the opposition starts any rough-stuff to-night, the gang hasn't got a +Pekingese's chance in a bulldog convention. There are three machine-guns +in that State House!" + +A young chap who was trying hard to be professionally _blasé_ bolted into +the reception-room in search of his chief. "Excuse me! But four +truck-loads of men from the Agawam quarries just went through toward the +State House. They had crowbars and sledge-hammers!" + +"So? Warson is making a demonstration, is he? I'll be back there in a +minute, Jack!" Tasper turned to Lana again. "Warson was turned down by +North on the state-prison-wing stone contract. If Warson is setting up +stone-cutters to be shot as rowdies, Warson and his party will be the ones +who'll get hurt." + +"But our state will be hurt most of all, Billy," the girl declared, with +passionate earnestness. "We'll be ashamed and disgraced from one end of +the country to the other. Just think of our own good state making a +hideous exhibition when we're all trying so hard to get back to peace!" + +"Must have law and order," Tasper insisted. + +"Will Governor North tell those soldiers to shoot and kill?" + +"Sure thing! His oath of office obliges him to protect state property. +I've just been reading proof of an interview he gave us this afternoon." + +Lana walked up and down the room, beating her hands together. + +"I'll explain to you, Lana. There's quite a story goes with it. You +haven't been in touch with conditions here at home. The election statutes +provide that the Governor and his Council--" + +"I haven't any time to listen to explanations! My father is in that State +House! In the name of Heaven, Billy Tasper, isn't there some man in this +state big enough, broad enough, honest enough to get between the fools who +are threatening this thing?" + +"He doesn't seem to be in sight--at any rate, just now." + +She paused in her walk, hesitated, and then blurted, "What part is Stewart +Morrison playing in all this?" + +"I see you have some news about him, too!" Mr. Tasper fenced, eying her +with some curiosity. + +"Dealing in news is your business, not mine," she said, tartly. "But I did +hear him declare in public to-night that he would give the people a square +deal--or that he would see to it that it is done--or--or something!" She +showed the embarrassment of a person who was dealing with affairs in the +details of which she was not well informed. + +"All right, I'll give you news as we get it in the office, here. Morrison +has gone nuts over this People thing. He is bucking the corporations in +this water-power dream of his. Playing to the people! I think it's bosh. +Holds capital out of the state! But I see you're in a hurry! He made a +speech to a hit-or-miss gang down-town to-night. It was snapped as a +surprise and we didn't have our men there. But from what we gather he +incited feeling against the State House crowd. Told his merry men he'd +grab in and fix it for 'em. Bad foozle, Lana! Bad! When a mayor of a city +talks like that he's putting a fool notion into the heads of unthinking +irresponsibles, making 'em believe that there is really something to be +fixed. He ought to have told 'em that everything was all right and to go +home and go to bed. Your father would have told 'em that. That's good +politics. But you and I know Stewart from the ground up! He is about as +much a politician as I am parson--and I'd wreck a well-established parish +in less than five minutes by the clock. He's taking a little more time as +a wrecker in his line--but he's making a thorough job of it!" + +When Tasper mentioned "job" he suggested a natural question to Miss +Corson. "Where is he right now?" + +This time the stare that the city editor gave the girl was distinctly +peculiar. "According to what we can get in the way of reports, Lana, the +last time Morrison was seen in public he was talking with you. If he has +talked with anybody since then the folks he has talked with are keeping +mighty mum about it. Perhaps he has told you where he was going." + +Miss Corson exhibited an emotion that was more profound than mere +embarrassment. + +"Pardon me! But I'd like to know, Lana! It's mighty important to me in the +line of my business right now." + +"What? Can't you find the mayor of the city in a time like this?" + +"He's not at home! He's not at City Hall. The chief of police won't say a +word. And he's not in the crowd outside the State House." + +Lana did not disclose the fact that she had suggested to the mayor, in a +way, the rabble as Morrison's probable destination, and that he had agreed +with her. + +"And a fine chance he has of being let inside the State House," Tasper +went on, with conviction, "after the attitude he has taken in regard to +the administration!" + +"He may be there, nevertheless!" Whether hope that he was there or fear +that he might be there prompted Lana's suggestion was not clear from her +manner. + +"You'll sooner find a rat down the back of my neck than find Stewart +Morrison inside that State House after the brags he has been making around +this city in the past few hours," declared Tasper, with the breezy freedom +of long friendship with the caller. "He is A Number One in the list of +those who can't get in!" + +"But Captain Sweetsir is his mill-student!" + +"Captain Sweetsir, in this new importance of his, is leaning so far +backward, in trying to stand straight, that he's scratching the back of +his head on his heels. His own brother is one of our reporters and what +Dan did to Dave when Dave made a holler at the door is a matter of record +on the emergency-hospital blotter. That's straight! Inch of sword-blade. +Not dangerous, but painful!" + +All through this interview Lana had maintained the demeanor of one who was +poised on tiptoes, ready to run. She gathered her coat's broad collar more +tightly in its clasp of her throat, and started for the door. But she +whirled and ran back to Tasper. + +"You say that Stewart Morrison is no politician! But I noticed the queer +flash in your eyes, Billy Tasper! Do you think he is a coward and has run +away?" + +"Tut, tut! Not so strong!" The newspaper man put up a protesting palm. "I +simply state that His Honor the Mayor is under-somewhere! I never saw any +signs of his being a coward--but a lot of us have never been tested by a +real crisis, you know!" + +"You say he has no power in politics! Could he do anything in a case like +this?" + +Tasper clawed his hand over his head and the crest of his pompadour +bristled more horrently. "He could at least try to undo some of the +trouble he has caused by his tongue. He could be at City Hall, where he +belongs. The fact that he isn't there--that he can't be found--speaks a +whole lot to the people of this city, Lana Corson! Why, there isn't a +policeman to be seen on the streets of Marion to-night! We can't get any +explanation from police headquarters. A devil of a mayor, say I!" + +She turned and fled to the door. + +"Lana!" called the editor. "He has made promises that he can't back +up--and he has ducked. That's the story! We're going to say so in the +_Monitor_. We can't say anything else!" + +She made no reply. + +She did not wait for the elevator to take her down the single flight of +stairs; she ran, holding her wrap about her. + +Coventry Daunt, on the watch for her, opened the limousine's door and she +plunged in. "Wallace! To the State House! Quick!" she commanded. + +When Tasper returned to the city-room he was told that somebody was +waiting on the telephone. It was one of the men assigned to the matter on +Capitol Hill; he was calling from a drug-store booth in that neighborhood. + +"Boss, it looks as if they're going to mix it. The tough mutts are ready +to grab any excuse and they won't listen to men like Commander Lanigan of +the Legion." + +"If there's a fight pulled off all we can do is to see that we have a good +story. What else?" + +"I think I've located the mayor. I can't get anything at all out of those +tin Napoleons at the doors, but Lanigan says that Morrison is in the State +House--'on his job,' so Lanigan puts it." + +"Lanigan is a liar!" the city editor yelped. "He has been a two-legged +Hurrah-for-Morrison ever since his high-school days. I like a good lie +when it's told to help a friend! This one isn't good enough! Stewart +Morrison is in that State House like tissue-paper napkins are in Tophet." + +"But sha'n't I send in what Lanigan says?" + +"We won't have any room for the joke column in the morning," returned +the city editor, hanging up. + + + + +XVII + +THE CAPITOL IN SHADOW + + +Capitol Square was choked with men. The gathering was characteristically a +mob made up of diverse elements. It was not swayed by a set purpose and a +common motive. It was not welded by coherence of intent. Its eddies rushed +here or filtered there, according as arguments or protests gained +attention by sharp clamor above the continuous diapason of voices. One who +was versed in the natures and the moods of mobs would have found that mass +particularly menacing by reason of the lack of unanimity. Too many men of +the component elements did not know what it was all about! The arguments +pro and con were developing animosities that were new, fresh, of the +moment, creating factions, collecting groups that were ready to jump into +an affray that would enable them to avoid embarrassing explanations of why +they were there. + +A mob of that sort is easily stampeded! + +Some men who captained the factions did know why they were there! A few of +them harangued; others went about, whispering and muttering, inciting +malice by their counsel. + +The scum of that yeasty gallimaufry was on the outskirts. + +When the Corson limousine rolled into the square and sought to part its +way through that scum somebody in the crowd made a proposition that was +promptly favored as far as the votes by voices went: "Tip the lapdog +kennel upside down!" + +Chauffeur Wallace met the emergency with quick tactics. He reversed and +drove the car backward. The fingers of the attackers slipped from the +smooth varnish and the wheels threatened those who tried to grab the +running-boards. Men who seized the fender-bar were dragged off their feet. + +When Coventry Daunt showed a praiseworthy inclination to jump out and whip +a few hundred of them, so he declared in his ire, he was pushed back into +a corner by his sister. + +The chauffeur made a long drive in reverse, circling, and then put the car +ahead with a rush and they escaped into a side-street. + +"Wallace, get us home as quick as the good Lord will let you!" Mrs. +Stanton's command was hysterically shrill. + +"Wallace, take the first turn to the left," countermanded the mistress. +"Then around the State House to the west portico." + +"You crazy girl, what--after that--why--what are you trying to do?" +demanded Mrs. Stanton, fear making her furious. + +"I'm trying to get into that building--and I'm going to get in!" + +"You can't get in! They won't let you in! Lana Corson, you sha'n't +endanger our lives again!" + +"Here, Wallace! This turn!" + +The driver obeyed. + +Doris set rude hands upon Lana and shook her. "There's nothing sensible +you can do if you do get in!" + +"Perhaps not! But my father is there; he has asked me to help and I'm +going to explain to him how I did my best. Doris, I must tell him, so that +he won't get into worse danger by waiting and depending on that idiot of a +sheriff." + +"You are the idiot!" + +"I may be. But I'm going in there!' + +"Coventry, you are sitting like a prune glacé! Help me to prevail on this +girl to use some common sense!" + +"You'll help me very much if you'll do some prevailing with your sister, +Coventry," affirmed Miss Corson, resentfully, trying to unclasp the +chaperon's vigorous hands. + +"After what has been happening, I don't think Lana needs any more shaking, +Dorrie," the brother remonstrated. "Everything having been well shaken, +it's time to do a little taking. Won't you take some advice, Lana?" + +"If it's advice about going home and deserting my father I'll not take +it." + +"I was afraid you wouldn't. But do you really think you can get into the +State House?" + +The girl did not disclose the discouraging information given to her by +Editor Tasper on the subject of effecting an entrance. "I'm going to try! +And I warn you, Doris, that I'm about at the end of my endurance." + +Mrs. Stanton sat back and gritted her teeth. + +The car traversed a boulevard; the arc-lights showed that it was deserted. +A narrow street, empty of humankind, led to the west portico. That +entrance, so Lana knew, was used almost wholly by the State House +employees. The door was closed; nobody was in sight. + +"If you insist on the venture, I'll go with you, of course," offered the +young man. When the car stopped he stepped out. + +"I'm afraid you'll only make it harder for me, Coventry. I know the +captain of the guard. But it will never do for me to bring a stranger." + +She hurried into the shadow of the portico. "Get back into the car! You +must! Wallace, drive Mrs. Stanton and Mr. Daunt to the house." + +When Coventry protested indignantly she broke in: "I haven't any time to +argue with you. We may be watched. Wait at the corner yonder with the car. +If you see me go in, take Doris home and send the car back. Wallace, I'll +find you down there at the fountain!" She designated with a toss of her +hand the statuary, gleaming in the starlight, and when the car moved on +she ran up the steps of the State House. + +The big door had neither bell nor knocker. She turned her back on it and +kicked with the heel of her slipper. + +The voice that inquired "Who's there?" revealed that the warder was not +wholly sure of his nerves. + +"I am Senator Corson's daughter!" + +She received no reply. + +"I tell you I am Senator Corson's daughter! I want to come in. My father +is there!" + +She was answered by a different voice; she recognized it. It was the +unmistakable drawl and nasal twang of Perley Wyman. Her girlhood memories +of Perley's voice had been freshened very recently because he had been +assigned to the Corson mansion by Thompson the florist as her chief aide +in decorating for the reception. "Wal, I should say he was here--and then +some! This was the door he came in through." + +"Open it! Open it at once, Perley Wyman!" + +"I dunno about that, Miss Corson! We've got orders about politicians and +mobbers--" + +"I'm neither. I command you to open this door." + +"Who else is there?" + +"I'm alone." + +Soldier Wyman pulled the bolts and opened. "I ain't feeling like taking +any more chances with the Corson family this evening," he admitted, with a +grin that set his long jaw awry. "Your father nigh cuffed my head up to a +peak when I tried to tell him what my orders were." + +Miss Corson was not interested in the troubles of Guard Wyman. He was +talking through a narrow crack; she set her hands against the door and +pushed her way in. "Where is my father? What trouble is he in?" + +"I reckon it can't be any kind of trouble but what he'll be capable of +taking care of himself in it all right," opined the guard, fondling his +cheek with the back of his hand. "But there ain't any trouble in here, +Miss Corson. It's all serene as a canned sardine that was canned for the +siege of Troy, as it said in the opery the High School Cadets put on that +year you was in the--" + +"There's a mob in front of the State House!" + +"It'll stay there," stated Wyman, remaining as serene as the comestible he +had mentioned. "The St. Ronan's Rifles can't be backed down by any mob. We +have been ordered to shoot, and that kind of a gang in this city might as +well learn its lesson to-night as any other night. It's getting time to do +a lot of law-and-order shooting in this country." + +The girl, harrowed by her apprehensions, was not in the mood to discuss +affairs with this amateur belligerent. But his complacency in his +bloodthirsty attitude was peculiarly exasperating in her case. He seemed +to typify that unreasonable spirit of slaughter that disdained to employ +the facilities of good sense first of all. This florist's clerk, whom she +had last seen on a step-ladder with his mouth full of tacks, was talking +of shooting down his fellow-civilians as if there were no other +alternative. + +"My father may be in danger in this State House, but I'm glad he is here. +He is not condoning this! He is not allowing this shame! Who is the +lunatic who is threatening my father and bringing disgrace on this state?" +She remembered the Senator's assertion over the telephone and, in her +eagerness for news, she was willing to start with the humble Soldier +Wyman. + +She realized suddenly that her spirit of fiery protest was provoking her +into an argument that might seem rather ridiculous if somebody in real +authority should overhear her talking to Wyman and his mate. The portico +door opened into a remote corridor. + +"The only lunatic, up to date, Miss Corson, has been a Canuck who had a +knock-down and drag-out with a settee and--" + +Lana was not finding Wyman's statement especially convincing in the way of +establishing faith in his sanity. "I thank you for letting me in! I must +find my father." + +The interior of the Capitol building was familiar ground to her. + +It occurred to her sense of discretion that it might be well to avoid +Captain Sweetsir in his new exaltation as a military martinet. She found a +narrow, curving stairway which served employees. + +On the second floor, hastening along the dimly lighted corridors, turning +several corners, she reached the spacious hall outside the Senate lobby. +She paused for a moment. From the hall she could look down the broad, main +stairway which conducted to the rotunda. The rumble of trucks had +attracted her attention. Soldiers were moving a machine-gun; they lined it +up with two others that were already facing the great doors of the main +entrance. She had half hoped that her father was in the rotunda, using his +influence and his wisdom, now that the mob was threatening the building +outside those great doors. She did not understand just how the Senator +would be able to operate, she admitted to herself, but she felt that his +manly advice could prevail in keeping his fellow-citizens from murdering +one another! + +In the gloom below her she saw only soldiers and uniformed Capitol +watchmen. + +Across from her in the upper hall where she waited there was the entrance +to the wing which contained the Executive Chambers. Two men, one of whom +was talking earnestly, came along the corridor from the direction of the +chambers. Still mindful of what Tasper had said about the State House +rules of that evening, she did not want to take chances with others who +might be less amenable than Florist-Clerk Wyman. There were high-backed +chairs in the corners of the hall; she hid herself behind the nearest +chair. Her dark fur coat and the twilight concealed her effectually. + +"General Totten, if you don't fully comprehend your plain duty in this +crisis, you'd better stop right here with me until you do. We can't afford +to have those soldiers overhear. Are you going to order them to march out +of this State House?" This peremptory gentleman was Stewart Morrison! + +Lana choked back what threatened to be an exclamation. + +"I refuse to take that responsibility on myself." + +"You must! Such a command to state troops must come from you, the +adjutant-general." + +"This is a political exigency, Mister Mayor!" + +"It seems like that to me!" + +"It requires martial law." + +"But not civil war." + +"This building is threatened by a mob." + +"That's because you have put it in a state of siege against citizens." + +"There's no telling what those men will do if they are allowed to enter." + +"They'll do worse if they are kept out by guns." + +"It means wreck and rampage if they are permitted to come through those +doors." + +"Look here, Totten, this State House has stood here for a good many years, +with the citizens coming and going in it at will. I don't see any dents!" + +"This is an exigency, and it's different, sir. The state must assert its +authority." + +"I'll not argue against the state and authority with you, Totten, for +you're right and there's no time for argument. But when you said political +exigency you said a whole lot--and we'll let this particular skunk cabbage +go under that name. Don't try that law-and-order and state-authority bluff +with me in such a case as this is. You're right in with the bunch and you +know just as well as I do what the game is this time. Probably those folks +outside there don't know what they want, but they do know that something +is wrong! Something is almighty wrong when elected servants are obliged to +get behind closed doors to transact public affairs. I'm putting this on a +business basis because business is my strong point. These red-tape fellows +go to war and use the people for the goats to settle a matter that could +be settled peaceably by hard-headed every-day men in five minutes. Now +with these few words, and admitting that I'm all that you want to tell me +I am--and confessing to a whole lot more that I personally know about my +unadulterated brass cheek in the whole thing--we'll close debate. Order +those militia boys to march out!" + +"I--" + +Morrison held a little sheaf of papers in his hand. He flapped the papers +violently under General Totten's nose. "Do you dare to ignore these +telegrams--the opinions of the justices of the supreme judicial court of +this state?" + +"I don't--" + +The papers flicked the end of the general's nose and he shuffled slowly +backward. "Do you dare, I say?" + +"This exigency--" + +"That's the name we've agreed on--for a dirty political trick without an +atom of principle behind it. These telegrams will make great reading on +the same page with the list of names in the hospitals and the morgue!" +General Totten was retreating more rapidly, but the vibrating papers +inexorably kept pace with his nose. + +"But to leave this State House unguarded--" + +"I have already shown you what I can do with one single cop! I gave you a +little lecture on cops in general back yonder. You fully understand how +one cop handled the adjutant-general of a state. I'll answer for the +guarding of this State House. Send away your militia!" + +"I'm afraid to do it!" wailed Totten. + +"Then you're afraid of a shadow, sir! But I'll tell you what you may well +be afraid of. I'm giving you your chance to save your face and your +dignity. Order away those boys or I'll go and stand on the main stairway +and tell 'em just how they're being used as tools by political tricksters. +And then even your tricksters will land on your back and blame you for +forcing an exposure. I'll tell the boys! I swear I'll do it! And I'll bet +you gold-dust against sawdust that they'll refuse to commit murder. +Totten, this exigency is now working under a full head of steam. You can +hear that mob now! This thing is getting down to minutes, I'll give you +just one of those minutes to tramp down into that rotunda and issue your +orders." + +"But what--" The general's tone unmistakably indicated surrender; the +Governor had already shifted the onus; Totten knew his brother-in-law's +nature; the Governor would just as soon shift the odium after such an +explosion as this wild Scotchman threatened. + +"You needn't bother about the what, sir. You give the order. And as soon +as the thing is on a business basis I'll tend to it." + +Stewart took the liberty of hooking his arm inside the general's. The +officer seemed to be experiencing some difficulty in getting his feet +started. The two hurried along and trudged down the middle of the main +stairway. + +Lana followed. She halted at the gallery rail and surveyed the scene +below. + +Even in her absorption in the affair between Stewart and the +adjutant-general she had been aware of the rising tumult outside. + +The bellow of voices had settled into a sort of chant of, "Time's +up--time's up!" + +Captain Sweetsir had deployed his men across the rotunda behind the +machine-guns. + +When he beheld the mayor and the general on the stairs he saluted +nervously. "They're getting ready to use sledge-hammers, sir. Shall I hand +'em the rifle-fire first or let loose with the machine-guns?" + +Stewart still held to the general's arm. + +Totten hesitated. His face was white and his lips quivered. + +Morrison's gaze was set straight ahead, but a twist of his face indicated +that he said something through the corner of his mouth. + +The general made his plunge. + +"Captain Sweetsir, instruct your men to empty their magazines, assemble +accoutrements, and stand at ease in marching order." + +The captain came onto his tiptoes in order to elongate himself as a human +interrogation-point. + +"Captain Sweetsir, order your bugler to sound retreat!" + +The officer forced an amazed croak out of his throat by way of a command, +and on the hush within the rotunda the clarion of the bugle rang out. It +echoed in the high arches. Its sharp notes cut into the clamor outdoors. + +Morrison recognized a voice that was keyed to a pitch almost as high as +the bugle's strains. "Hold your yawp! Don't you hear that?" Lanigan +screamed. "Don't you know the difference between that and a fish-peddler's +horn? That's the tune we fellers heard the Huns play just before Armistice +Day. That's retreat! Come on, Legion!" he urged, frantically. "Ram back +those sledge-hammers!" + +Morrison grinned and released the general's arm. + +"You hear that, do you, sir? When you can convince fair men that you're on +the right slant, the fair men will proceed to show rough-necks where they +get off if they go to trying on the wrong thing!" + +"There's going to be the devil to pay!" insisted the adjutant-general. +"You're going to let that mob into the State House, and they'll fight all +over the place." + +"We'll see what they'll do after the showdown, sir! And you can't make +much of a showdown in the dark." + +He left General Totten on the stairs, leaped down the remaining steps, and +ran to a group of watchmen and night employees of the State House who were +bulwarking the soldiers. + +"I'm beginning to see that it's some advantage, after all, to be the mayor +of this city," Stewart informed himself. One of Marion's aldermen was +chief electrician of the Capitol building and was in the group, very much +on duty on a night like that. "Torrey has always backed me in the city +government meetings, at any rate!" + +The alderman came out of the ranks, obeying the mayor's gesture. + +"Alderman, I'm in the minority here, right now, but I hope you're going to +vote with me for more light on the subject." + +Torrey did not understand what this quick shift in all plans signified, +and said so, showing deference to the mayor at the same time. + +"If we've got to fight that gang we need these soldiers, Mayor Morrison!" + +"Our kind of men, Alderman, fight best in the light; the cowards like the +dark so that they can get in their dirty work. Do you get me? Yes! Thanks! +Excuse me for hurrying you. But get to that switchboard! We need quick +action. You and I represent the city of Marion right now. Must keep her +name clean! I'll explain later. But give 'er the juice! Jam on every +switch. Dome to cellar! Lots of it! Put their night-beetle eyes out with +it." + +He was hustling along with Torrey toward the electrician's room. He was +clapping his hand on the alderman's shoulder. + +"I'm going outside there, Torrey! Touch up the old dome and give me all +the front lights. If the bricks begin to whiz I want to see who's throwing +'em!" + + + + +XVIII + +THE CAPITOL ALIGHT + + +First of all, within the State House, there was burgeoning of the separate +lights of the wall brackets and then the great chandeliers burst into +bloom. + +Electrician Torrey possessed a quick understanding and was in the habit of +doing a thorough job whenever he tackled anything. He threw in the +switches as rapidly as he could operate them. + +Story by story the great building was flooded with glory that mounted to +the upper windows and overflowed into the night with a veritable cascade +of brilliancy when the thousand bulbs of the dome's circlet flashed their +splendor against the sky. The lamps of the broad front portico and its +approaches added the final, dazzling touch to the general illumination. + +From a sullen, gloomy hulk of a building, with its few lights showing like +glowering eyes in ambush, the State House was transformed into a temple of +glory, thrust into the heavens from the top of Capitol Hill, a torch that +signaled comforting candor, a reassuring beacon. + +The surprise of the happening stilled the uproar. + +Neither Morrison, inside, nor the mob, outside, was bothering with the +mental analysis of the psychology of the thing! + +Something had happened! There was The Light! It threw into sharp relief +every upturned face in the massed throng. Their voices remained hushed. + +Commander Lanigan, standing above them on a marble rail, his figure +outlined against a pergola column, did his best to put some of his +emotions into speech. He shouted, "_Some_ night-blooming cereus, I'll tell +the world!" + +The great doors swung open slowly. They remained open. + +Now curiosity replaced astonishment and held the rioters in their tracks; +their mouths were wide, the voices mute. + +The mayor of Marion walked into view. + +The columns of the _porte-cochčre_ were supported on a broad base, and he +climbed up and was elevated in the radiance high above their heads. + +He smiled hospitably. "Boys, it's open house, and the house is yours. Hope +you like its looks! But what's the big idea of the surprise party?" + +No one took it on himself to reply. He waited tolerantly. + +"Well, out with it!" he suggested. + +Somebody with a raucous voice ventured. "You probably know what they've +been trying to hide away from the people inside there. Suppose you do the +talking." + +"I'm not here to make a speech." + +"Well, answer a question, then!" This was a shrill voice. "What about +those soldiers and those machine-guns in there?" + +"Not a word!" + +With yells, oaths, and catcalls the crowd offered comment on that +declaration. + +His demeanor as a statue of patience was more effective than remonstrance +in quieting them. + +"Any other gentlemen wish to offer more remarks? Get it all out of you!" + +He utilized the hush. "Boys, I'm going to give you something better than +words. Hearing can't always be trusted. But seeing is believing!" + +He pulled a police whistle from his pocket and shrilled a signal. + +For a time there was no answer or demonstration of any sort. + +Then the tramp of marching feet was heard on the pavement of the square. + +It was Marion's police force, issuing from some point of mobilization near +at hand; it was the force in full strength, led by the chief; he was in +dress-parade garb and the radiance of the square was reflected in imposing +high-lights by his gold braid. + +The crowd was shaken by eddies and was convulsed by quickly formed +vortices. Morrison was studying that mob with his keen gaze, watching the +movements as they sufficed to reveal an expression of emotions. + +"Hold on, boys! Don't run away!" he counseled. "Wait for the big show! No +arrests intended! Only cowards and guilty men will run!" + +The light that was shed from the State House was pitilessly revealing; men +could not hide their movements. Morrison reiterated his promise and dwelt +hard on the "coward and guilty" part of his declaration. + +The chief of police waved his hand and the crowd parted obediently and the +officers marched up the lane, four abreast. + +"Hold open that passage as you stand, fellow-citizens!" the mayor +commanded. "There's more to this show! You haven't seen all of it! Hold +open, I tell you!" + +Men whom he recognized as Lanigan's Legion members were jumping in on the +side-lines as the policemen passed. With arms extended the veterans held +back those whom Morrison's commands were not restraining. + +"That's good team-work, Joe," Stewart informed Lanigan when the latter +hurried past to take his place as a helper. + +The advent of the police had provoked a flurry; their movements after +their arrival caused a genuine surprise. They gave no indication of being +interested in the crowd that was packed into Capitol Square. The ears of +the mob were out for orders of dispersal! Eyes watched to see the officers +post themselves and operate according to the usual routine in such +matters. + +But the policemen marched straight into the State House, preserving their +solid formation. + +The bugle sounded again within. + +With a promptness that indicated a good understanding of the procedure to +be followed, the St. Ronan's Rifles came marching out. + +Captain Sweetsir saluted smartly as he passed the place where the mayor of +Marion was perched. + +"How about three cheers for the boys?" Morrison shouted. "What's the +matter with you down there?" + +He led them off as cheer-leader. He marked the sullen groups, the +voiceless malcontents as best he was able. The Legion boys were vehemently +enthusiastic in their acclaim. + +The guards marched briskly. The machine-guns clanged along the pavement, +bringing up the rear. + +"That's all!" Stewart declared, when the soldiers were well on their way. +"Now you don't need any words, do you? I'll merely state that your State +House is open to the people!" + +"Like blazes it is," bawled somebody. + +He pointed to the open doors, his reply to that challenge. + +"How about those cops?" demanded somebody else. + +"Your State House is open, I tell you. If you want to go in, go ahead. +It's open for straight business, and it will stay open. There are no dark +corners for dirty tricks or lying whispers. It's your property. If there's +any whelp mean enough to damage his own property, he'll be taken care of +by a policeman. That's why they're in there. That's what you're paying +taxes for, to have policemen who'll take care of sneaks who can't be made +decent in any other way. Some other gentleman like to ask a question?" + +Morrison realized that he had not won over the elements that were +determined to make trouble. His searching eyes were marking the groups of +the rebels. + +He directed an accusatory finger at one man, a Marion politician. +"Matthewson, what's on your mind? Don't keep it all to yourself and those +chaps you're buzzing with!" + +Matthewson, thus singled out, was embarrassed and incensed at the same +time. "What have they been trying to put over with that militia, anyway?" + +"Put protection over state property because such mouths as yours have been +making threats ever since election. But just as soon as it was realized +that good citizens, like the most of these here, were misunderstanding the +situation and were likely to be used as tools of gangsters, out went the +militia! You saw it go, didn't you?" + +"I'd like to know who did all that realizing you're speaking of!" + +"It's not in good taste for an errand-boy of my caliber to gossip about +the business of those for whom he is doing errands. I'll merely say, +Matthewson, that the people of this state can always depend on the +broad-gaged good sense of United States Senator Corson to suggest a +solution of a political difficulty. And you may be sure that the state +government will back him up. Go down-town and ask the boys of the guard +who it was that gave the command for them to leave the State House. After +that you'd better go home to bed. That's good advice for all of you." + +A shrill voice from the center of the massed throng cut in sharply. "Go +home like chickens and wait to have your necks wrung! Go home like sheep +and wait for the shearer and the butcher." + +The mayor leaned forward and tried to locate the agitator. "Hasn't the +gentleman anything to say about goats? He's missing an excellent +opportunity!" Morrison showed the alert air of a hunter trying to flush +game in a covert. + +The provoking query had its effect. "Yes, that's what you call us-all you +rulers call us the goats!" + +A brandished fist marked the man's position in the mob. + +"Ah, there you are, my friend! What else have you on your mind?" + +"I'll tell you what you have on your face. You have the mark of an honest +man's hand there! I saw him plant that mark!" + +"And what's the answer?" asked Stewart, pleasantly. + +"You're a coward! You're not fit to advise real men what to do!" + +"I'm afraid you have me sized up all too well!" There was something like +wistful apology in Morrison's smile. + +Lanigan had forced his way close to the foot of the plinth where the mayor +was elevated. The commander's head was tipped back, his goggling eyes were +full of anguished rebuke, and his mouth was wide open. + +The man in the crowd yelped again, encouraged by his distance and by +Morrison's passivity under attack. "You think you own a mill. Your honest +workmen own it. You are a thief!" + +"My Gawd!" Lanigan squawked, hoarsely. "Ain't it in you? Ain't a spark of +it in you?" + +Morrison delivered sharp retort in an undertone. "Don't you know better +than to tangle my lines when I'm playing a fish? Shut up!" He tossed his +hand at the individual in the crowd, inviting him to speak further. + +"You're a liar, tool," responded the disturber. + +"That's a tame epithet, my friend. Commonly used in debate. I'm afraid +you're running out of ammunition. Haven't you anything really important to +say, now that I'm giving you the floor?" + +Men were beginning to remonstrate and to threaten in behalf of the mayor +of the city. + +"Hold on, boys!" Morrison entreated. "We must give our friend a minute +more if he really has anything to say. Otherwise we'll adjourn--" + +The bait had been dangled ingratiatingly; a movement had been made to jerk +it away--the "fish" bit, promptly and energetically. + +"I'll say it--I'll say what ought to be said--I'll shame the cowards +here!" + +"Let Brother What's-his-name come along, boys! Please! Please!" The mayor +stretched forth his arms and urged persuasively. "Keep your hands off him! +Let him come!" + +"They're going over him for a gat, Mister Mayor," called Lanigan. "I've +given 'em one lesson in that line this evening, already!" + +The volunteers who were patting the disturber released him. The patting +had not been in the way of encouragement. "Nothing on him! Let him go!" +commanded one of the searchers. + +The man who came forcing his way through the press, his clinched fists +waving over his head, was young, pallid, typically an academic devotee of +radicalism, a frenetic disciple, obsessed by _furor loquendi_ He was +calling to the mob, trying to rouse followers. "You have been standing +here, freezing in the night, damning tyrants, boasting what you would do. +Why don't you do it? Do you let a smirking ruler bluff all the courage of +real men out of you? He's only doing the bidding of those higher up. He +admits it! He's a tool, too! He's a fool, along with you, if he tries to +excuse tyranny. You have your chance, now, and all the provocation that +honest men need. The rulers tried to scare you with guns. But you have +called the bluff. Their hired soldiers have run away. Now is your time! +Take your government into your hands! Down with aristocrats! Smash 'em +like we smash their windows. They hold up an idol and ask you to bow down +and be slaves to it; but you're only bowing to the drivers of slaves! They +hide behind that idol and work it for all it's worth. They point to it and +tell you that you must empty your pockets to add to their wealth, and work +your fingers off for their selfish ends." + +He halted a short distance from the plinth, declaiming furiously. + +Morrison broke in, snapping out his words. "Down to cases, now! What is +the idol?" + +"A patchwork of red, white, and blue rags!" + +Morrison whirled, crouched on his hands and knees, set his fingers on the +edge of the plinth, and slid down the side. He swung for an instant at the +end of his arms and dropped the rest of the way to the pavement. + +Lanigan had started for the man, but Stewart overtook the commander, +seized him by the collar and coattail slack, and tossed him to one side. + +"Here's a case at last where I don't need any help or advice from you, +Joe!" + +"Punch the face offn him!" adjured Lanigan, even while he was floundering +among the legs of the men against whom he had been thrown. + +The mayor plunged through the crowd in the direction of the vilifier. + +The man did not attempt to escape. "Strike me! Strike me down. I offer +myself for my cause to shame these cowards!" + +But Morrison did not use his fists, though Lanigan continued to exhort. + +"There are altogether too many of you would-be martyrs around this city +to-night. I can't accommodate you all!" Stewart made the same tackle he +had used in the case of Lanigan and Spanish-walked his captive back toward +the _porte-cochčre_. + +"I reckon I do need your help, after all, Joe!" confessed Morrison, noting +that Lanigan was on his feet again. "Give me your back and a boost!" + +Then the captor suddenly tripped the captive and laid him sprawling at +Lanigan's feet; before the fallen man was up, Morrison, using the +commander's sturdy shoulders and the thrust of the willing arms of his +helper, had swung himself back to the top of the plinth. He kneeled and +reached down his hands. "Up with him, Joe! Toss! I won't miss him!" + +Lanigan was helped by a comrade in making the toss. Morrison grasped the +man and yanked him upright and held him in a firm clutch. + +The mayor was receiving plenty of advice from the crowd by that time. The +gist of the counsel followed Lanigan's suggestion about punching off the +fellow's face. But the mob was by no means unanimous. Men were daring to +voice threats against Morrison. + +As it had availed before that evening, Morrison's imperturbable silence +secured quiet on the part of others. + +"The opinion of the meeting seems to be divided," he said. He had +recovered his poise along with his breath. "But no matter! I shall not +adopt the advice of either side. I shall not let this fellow go until I +have finished my business with him. I shall not punch his face off him. +I'll not flatter him to that extent. A good American reserves his fists +for a man-fight with a real man." He shook the captive, holding him at +arm's-length. "Here's a young fool who has been throwing stones at +windows. Here's a fresh rowdy who has been sticking out his tongue at +authority. I know exactly what he needs!" + +"He insulted the flag of this country! Turn him over to the police!" +somebody insisted, and a roar of indorsement hailed the demand. + +"Citizens, that would be like giving a mongrel cur a court trial for +sheep-killing! This perverted infant simply needs--_dingbats!_" He shouted +the last word. He twisted the radical off his feet, stooped, and laid the +victim across a knee that was as solid as a tree-trunk, and with the flat +of a broad hand began to whale the culprit with all his might. + +The onlookers were silent for a few moments. Then there was a chorus of +jeering approbation. + +When the shamed, humiliated, agonized radical--thus made a mark for gibes +instead of winning honor as a martyr for the cause--began to wail and +plead the men who were nearest the scene of flagellation started to laugh. +The laughter spread like a fire through dry brambles. It ran crackling +from side to side of the great square. It mounted into higher bursts of +merriment. It became hilarity that was expended by a swelling roar that +split wide the night silence and came beating back in riotous echoes from +the façade of the State House. That amazing method of handling anarchy had +snapped the tense strain of a situation which had been holding men's +emotions in leash for hours. The ludicrousness of the thing was heightened +by the nervous solemnity immediately preceding. Men beat their neighbors +on the back in instant comradeship of convulsed, rollicking jubilation. + +"Always leave 'em laughing when you say good-by!" Morrison advised the +chap whom he was manhandling. He held the fellow over the edge of the +plinth by the collar and dropped him, wilted and whimpering, into the +waiting arms of the appreciative Lanigan. "Dry his eyes, Joe, and wipe his +nose, and see that he gets started for home all right." + +Morrison stood straight and secured a hearing after a time. "Boys, those +of you who are in the right mind--and I hope all of you are that way now, +after a good laugh--I've given you a sample of how to handle the +Bolshevist blatherskites when you come across 'em in this country. Look +around and if you find any more of 'em in the crowd go ahead and dose 'em +with dingbats! Fine remedy for childish folly! I reckon all of us have +found out that much for ourselves in the old days. I won't keep you +standing in the cold here any longer. Good night!" + +He leaped down on to the porch and went into the State House. + +General Totten was near the big door. + +The men outside were guffawing again. + +Morrison was dusting his palms with the air of a man who had finished a +rather unpleasant job. "Do you hear 'em, Totten? Sounds better than howls +of a crowd bored by machine-gun bullets, eh? How much chance do you think +there is of starting a civil war among men who are laughing like that?" + + + + +XIX + +LANA CORSON HAS HER DOUBTS + + +The chief of police had distributed his officers to posts of duty and was +patrolling the rotunda. + +He saluted the mayor when Morrison came hurrying in through the main +entrance. + +"All is fine, Chief! I thank you for your work. I don't look for anything +out of the way, after this. But keep your men on till further orders." + +At the foot of the grand stairway Stewart's self-possession left him. + +Lana Corson was standing half-way up the stairs. Her furs were thrown +back, revealing her festival attire. Her beauty was heightened by the +flush on her cheeks and by the vivid animation in her luminous eyes. + +He paused for a moment, his gaze meeting hers, and then he hastened to +her. + +"How did it happen--that you're here, Lana?" + +"I'm here--let that be an answer for now. But this, Stewart--this what I +have been seeing and hearing! Does it mean what it seems to mean?" + +"I'll have to admit that I don't know exactly how it does show up from the +side-lines. Suppose you say!" + +"I heard you talk to General Totten. I heard you talk to that mob. I saw +what you did. But I heard you give all the credit to my father." She +searched Stewart's face with more earnest stare. "You have saved the state +from disgracing itself, haven't you? Isn't that what you have done--you +yourself?" + +"Oh, nonsense! Tell me! How did you get in and who came with you?" + +"I'm here alone, Stewart, and it's of no importance how I got in. The +question I have asked you is the important one just now." + +Her insistence was disconcerting; he had not recovered from the +astonishment of the sudden meeting; he felt that he ought to lie to that +daughter, in the interests of her family pride, but he was conscious of +his inability to lie glibly just then. + +"Where is your car?" + +"Waiting for me in the little park." + +"Lana, there'll be no more excitement here--not a bit. Nothing to see! +Suppose you allow me to take you to the car. Come!" He put out his arm. + +"Certainly not! Not till I see my father! He is in danger!" + +"I assure you he is not. I left him with the Governor only a few minutes +ago, and the Senator was never better in his life--nor safer!" In spite of +his best endeavor to be consolatory and matter-of-fact he was not able to +keep a certain significance out of his tone. + +From where she stood she could look across the rotunda and down into the +square. The glare of the lights made all movements visible. The crowd was +melting away. + +"Stewart, brains and tact have accomplished wonders here to-night. I want +to know all the truth. Why shouldn't you be as candid to me as you seemed +to be with those men when you were talking to them? I want to give my +gratitude to somebody! The name of our good state has been kept clean. +You're not fair to me if you leave me in the dark any longer." + +"I did my little bit, that's all! I'm only one of the cogs!" + +"I know how I'll make you tell. I propose to give you all the credit. And +I never knew you to keep anything that didn't belong to you." + +"Now you're not fair yourself, Lana! We just put our heads together--the +whole of us--that's all! Put our heads together! You know! As men will!" +His stammering eagerness did not satisfy her feminine penetration. Her +daughterly interest in the Senator's political standing was stirred as she +reflected. + +"My father is down here to see that his fences are in good shape," she +declared, with true Washington sapience. "I think it was his duty and +privilege to step out there and make the speech. I'm surprised because he +let such an opportunity slip. With all due respect to the mayor of Marion, +you were not at all dignified, Stewart. They laughed at you--and I didn't +blame them!" + +"I can't blame 'em, either," he confessed. "I--I--I guess I lost my head. +I'm not used to making speeches. I have made two since supper, and both of +'em have seemed to stir up a lot of trouble for me." + +"I think, myself, that you're rather unfortunate as a speechmaker," she +returned, dryly. "I suppose you're going back to report to father. I'll go +with you." In her manner there was implied promise that she would proceed +to learn more definitely in what quarters her especial gratitude ought to +be expended. + +"Lana," he urged, "I wish you'd go home and wait for your talk with your +father when he comes. He'll be coming right along. I'll see that he does. +There's nothing--not much of anything to keep him here. But I need to have +a little private confab with him." + +"So private that I mustn't listen? I hope that we're still old friends, +Stewart, you and I, though your attitude in regard to father's affairs has +made all else between us impossible." + +He did not pursue the topic she had broached. There was a certain finality +about her deliverance of the statement, a decisiveness that afforded no +hint that she would consider any compromise or reconsideration. His face +was very grave. "I have a little business--a few loose ends to take up +with the Senator. Once more I beg that you will defer--" + +"I will go with you to the Executive Chamber. I'll be grateful for your +escort. If you don't care to have me go along with you, I can easily find +my way there alone." + +Her manner left no opportunity for further appeal. + +He bowed. He did not offer his arm. They walked together up the stairway. +With side-glances she surveyed his countenance wonderingly; in his +expression true distress was mingled with apprehensiveness. He had the air +of an unwilling guide detailed to conduct an unsuspecting innocent to be +shocked by the revelations of a chamber of horrors; she put it that way to +herself in jesting hyperbole. + +The newspaper men, who had followed Mayor Morrison into the State House, +had been holding aloof, politely, from a conference which seemed to have +no bearing on the political situation. They hurried behind and overtook +Stewart and the young lady at the head of the stairway; their spokesman +asked for a statement. + +"I made it! Out there a few minutes ago! Boys, you heard what I said, +didn't you?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, I talked more than I intended to! Boil it down to a few lines and +let it go at that!" + +"We want to get the matter just right, Mister Mayor, and give credit where +it's due." + +"I covered the matter of credit. There's nothing more to say," replied +Stewart, curtly. + +The reporters surveyed him with considerable wonderment; his manner in +times past had always been distinguished by frank graciousness. + +"We'd like to see Senator Corson and Governor North." + +That request seemed to provoke the mayor's irritability still more. "I'm +not the guardian of those gentlemen or of this State House!" He turned on +his heel abruptly. "Miss Corson!" She was waiting a few paces away. He +rejoined her and by a gesture invited her to walk along. "I'm sorry! I did +not mean to delay you!" + +The newspaper men followed on as far as the door of the Executive Chamber. + +Morrison faced them there. "I don't mean to interfere with you, boys, in +any way. And you mustn't interfere with me. As soon as the Senator and the +Governor finish with me they'll give you all the time you want, no doubt! +Please wait outside!" He tapped on the door and gave his name. Rellihan +opened. Morrison seized the officer's arm and pulled him outside. "Keep +everybody away from the door for a few moments--till further orders." + +Stewart escorted Miss Corson into the chamber with almost as much celerity +as he had employed in escorting Rellihan out; and he promptly banged the +door. He walked slowly across the room toward the big table, following +Lana, who hastened toward her father. The Senator was standing behind the +table, flanked by North and Daunt. The three of them formed a portentous +battery. Morrison did not speak. His expression indicated humility. He +drooped his shoulders. There was appeal in his eyes. "Here I am!" the eyes +informed the glowering Senator. But a side-glance hinted: "Here is your +daughter, too. Use judgment!" + +Lana was manifestly perplexed by what she saw. Three distinguished +gentlemen were presenting the visages of masculine Furies. She looked away +from them and received a little comfort from the placid countenances of +Andrew Mac Tavish and Delora Bunker, but their presence in that place and +at that hour only made her mystification more complete. + +She had been allowing her imagination to paint pictures before she stepped +into the Executive Chamber; she had expected to find her father virtuously +triumphant, serenely a successful molder of pacific plans. His scowl was +so forbidding that she stopped short. + +"Father, it's wonderful--perfectly wonderful, isn't it?" She tried to +speak joyously, but she faltered. "I saw it all! I saw how your plan +succeeded." + +"Damn you, Morrison! What has happened?" The Senator did not merely +demand--he exploded. + +The silence which followed became oppressive. Miss Corson was too +thoroughly horrified to proceed. Apparently Governor North and Daunt had +selected their spokesman and had nothing to say for themselves. Morrison +seemed to be especially helpless as an informant; he wagged his head and +pointed to Lana. + +"Answer my question, Morrison!" + +"I think Miss Corson better tell you, sir. She was an impartial observer." + +"Perhaps she _had_ better tell me! You're right! After this night I +wouldn't take your word as to the wetness of water. Lana, speak out!" + +"I don't know what I can tell you--you have been right here all the time +in the State House--" + +The Senator jammed a retort between the links of her stammering speech. +"Yes, I have been right here! What has happened below, I ask you?" + +"Why, the troops marched out. They went away! Right through the mob! And +it's all calm and quiet." + +Governor North stamped his way a half-dozen paces to the rear, and whirled +and marched back into line. + +"Morrison, have you--have you--" Senator Corson choked. Not knowing +exactly what to say, he shook his fist. + +"Father, what's the matter? It was only carrying out your orders." + +"Orders--my orders?" + +"Stewart Morrison, why don't you say something?" she demanded. + +"I'm sure your father prefers to hear from you." + +"Confound it! I do want to hear, and hear immediately!" + +Lana displayed some of the paternal ire. "Stewart, I asked you to be +candid with me. You're leaving me to flounder around disgracefully in this +matter." + +The Senator advanced on his daughter and seized her arm. "I don't want +that renegade to say another word to me as long as I live--and he knows +it. I'll tell you later what has been going on here. But now tell me to +what orders of mine you are referring! Quick and short!" + +"Mayor Morrison made a little speech to the mob and said that you thought +it was best to send away the troops to prevent bad feelings and +misunderstanding, and said you were backed up by the Governor." + +The Senator swapped looks with the goggling North over Lana's head. + +"And the mob has gone home, and the State House is thrown wide open, and +the policemen are on duty, and I say again that it's wonderful," insisted +the girl. + +"Morrison, did you say that? Have you done that?" + +Stewart was fully aware that he had allowed the men in the square to draw +an inference from a compliment that he had paid to Senator Corson's +sagacity, and had refrained from making a direct declaration. But he was +not minded to embarrass the girl any further. He bowed. "I thank Miss +Corson for giving the gist of the thing so neatly." + +"I know I don't understand it all yet, father!" Lana was both frightened +and wistful. The Senator had turned from her and was striding to and fro, +scuffing his feet hard on the carpet. "If you're blaming Mayor Morrison +for revealing confidences, I'm sorry. But you can't help being proud when +it is spread abroad how your handling of the dreadful affair prevented +bloodshed and shame in this state." + +"Spread abroad!" Senator Corson brought down his feet more violently. + +The situation, if it remained bottled up there in the Executive Chamber +any longer, threatened to explode in still more damaging fashion, was +Stewart's uncomfortable thought. The Senator's remark suggested a +diversion in the way of topics, at any rate. + +"That reminds me that the newspaper boys are waiting outside in the +corridor, Senator Corson. I asked them to be patient for a few minutes. +Please allow me to say that I have added no statement to what I said to +the crowd in the square. I shall not add any." + +"I don't see how you could add anything!" retorted the Senator with venom. + +He continued his promenade. + +Again the silence in the room became oppressive. + +Morrison was scrutinizing Governor North with especial intentness. + +His Excellency was giving unmistakable evidence that he was surcharged. He +was working his elbows and was whispering to himself with a fizzling +sound. He had turned his back on Lana Corson as if he were resolved to +ignore the fact of her presence. + +Stewart, exhibiting deference while a United States Senator was pondering, +strolled leisurely across the room to North and fondled the lapel of the +Governor's coat. "I beg your pardon, and I hope you'll excuse curiosity in +a chap who makes cloth, Governor. But this is as fine a piece of worsted +as I've seen in many a day." + +North lifted his arm as if to knock the presumptuous hand away; but +Stewart slowly clenched his fist, holding the fabric in his close clutch, +exerting a strength that dominated the man upon whom his hold was +fastened. The mayor went on in an undertone, as if anxious to show +additional deference in the presence of the senatorial ponderings. +"Governor, petty politics haven't been allowed to make a bad mess of what +has been turned into an open proposition. Now don't allow your tongue to +make a mess of this new development as it stands right now. Humor Miss +Corson's notions! And let me tell you! My policemen are going to stay on +the job until after the legislature assembles." + +"Morrison, you're a coward!" grated North. "You brought Corson's girl here +so that you can sneak behind her petticoats." + +Stewart released his hold, clapped His Excellency on the shoulder, raised +his voice, and cried, heartily: + +"Thank you. Governor! You're right. You have an excellent idea of a piece +of goods, yourself." + +Senator Corson arrived at a decision which he did not confide to anybody. +He spoke to Daunt and the two of them went to the divan and dragged on the +overcoats which they had discarded when Rellihan's obstinacy had been +found to be unassailable. + +Lana, studying the faces of the men, drew her furs about her. + +"The car is waiting near the west portico, father," she ventured to say. + +Corson took his time about buttoning his coat. Lana had her heritage of +dark eyes from her father; his wrath had settled into cold malevolence and +his eyes above his white cheeks were not pleasant objects. He surveyed the +various persons in the room. He took his time in that process, too! + +"For the present--for now--for to-night," he said, quietly, elaborating +his mention of the moment with significance, "we seem to have cleaned up +all the business before us. In view of that interregnum, Governor, of +which you have been so kindly reminded, I suppose you feel that you can go +to your hotel and rest for the remainder of the night so as to be in good +trim for the inaugural ceremonies. Allow me to offer you a lift in my +car." + +The Governor trudged toward, a massive wardrobe in a corner of the +chamber. + +"I do not presume to offer you the convenience of my car, Mayor Morrison," +the Senator went on. + +"I take it that your recent oath as supreme Executive during the aforesaid +interregnum obliges you to stay on the job. Ah--er--do we require a +countersign in order to get out of the building?" + +The mayor was walking toward the private door. "No, sir!" he said, mildly. + +"I hope you hear that, Governor North! I was compelled to give +countersigns to your soldiers--quite emphatic countersigns. The new regime +is to be complimented." + +Morrison threw open the door. "That's all, Rellihan! Report to the chief!" + +The newspaper men came crowding to the threshold. + +"You have interviewed Mayor Morrison on the situation, haven't you?" +demanded the Senator, breaking in on their questions. + +"Yes!" + +"To-night--for the time being--for now," returned Corson, dwelling on the +point as emphatically as he had when he spoke before, "Mayor Morrison +seems to be doing very well in all that has been undertaken. I have no +statement to make--absolutely no word to say!" + +He stepped back and allowed the Governor to lead the retreat; His +Excellency collided with two of the more persistent news-gatherers. With +volleyed "No! Nothing!" he marked time for the thudding of his feet. + +Apparently Lana had entered into the spirit of that armed truce which, so +her father's manner informed her, was merely a rearrangement of the +battle-front. She hurried out of the chamber without even a glance in +Morrison's direction. + +Stewart's grim countenance intimidated the reporters; they went away. + +For a long time the mayor paced up and down the Executive Chamber, his +hands clasped behind him. + +Miss Bunker thumbed the leaves of her note-book, putting on an air of +complete absorption in that matter. + +Mac Tavish studied the mayor's face; Morrison was wearing that expression +which indicated a mood strange for him. Mac Tavish had seen it on the +master's face altogether too many times since the Morrison had come from +the mill in the forenoon. It was not the look he wore when matters of +business engrossed him. The old paymaster liked to see Morrison pondering +on mill affairs; it was meditation that always meant solution of +difficulties, and the solution was instantly followed by a laugh and good +cheer. + +But it was plain that Morrison had not solved anything when he turned to +Mac Tavish. + +"Not much like honest, real business--this, eh, Andy?" + +"Naething like, sir!" + +"Doesn't seem to be a polite job, either--politics--if you go in and fight +the other fellow on his own ground." + +"I've e'er hated the sculch and the scalawags!" + +"Totten calls this a political exigency." + +"I'll no name it for mysel' in the hearing o' the lass!" + +"Seems to need a lot of fancy lying when a greenhorn like me starts late +and is obliged to do things in a hurry. Gives business methods an awful +wrench, Andy!" + +"Aye!" The old Scotchman was emphatic. + +"In fact, in a political exigency, according to what I've found out this +evening, the quickest liar wins!" He walked to Miss Bunker's side. "You +might jot that down as sort of summing the thing up and consider the +record closed." + +"Do ye think it's all closed and that ye're weel out of it?" inquired Mac +Tavish, anxiously. + +"I think, Andy," drawled the mayor, a wry smile beginning to twist at the +corners of his mouth, "that I may have the militia and the people and the +politicians well out of it, but considering the mess, as it concerns me, +myself, I'm only beginning to be good and properly in it." + +"Ye hae the record, as jotted by the lass, and I heard ye say naething but +what was to your credit. And the words o' the high judges! Ye're well +backed!" + +"Oh, that reminds me, Andy. That boy who brought the telegrams to the +door! He'll come to the mill in the morning. Pay him ten dollars. I didn't +have the money in my clothes when I hired him." + +"And that reminds me, too, Mr. Morrison!" said Miss Bunker. "Do you want +me to keep the telegrams with the record? You remember you took them when +you went out with the general." + +Morrison reached into his breast pocket for the papers, tore them slowly +across, and stuffed the scraps back into a side-pocket. "I reckon they +won't do the record much good. It's more of the political exigency stuff, +Andy! I wrote 'em myself!" + +His hands had touched his pipe when he had shoved the bits of paper into +his pocket. He took it out and peered into the bowl. There was tobacco +there and he fumbled for a match. + +"Andy, usually I like to have morning come, for there's always business +waiting for me in the mornings and honest daylight helps any matter of +clean business. But I'm not looking ahead to this next sunrise with a +great deal of relish. Those telegrams were clinchers in the case of +Totten, but I don't know what the judges will say. What I said about +Senator Corson to the mob helped a lot--but I don't know what the Senator +is going to say in the morning. And I don't know what Governor North +proposes to say. Or what--" He checked himself and shook his head. "Well, +there's considerable going to be said, at any rate! I'll run over the +thing in my mind right now while I have time and everything is quiet. Mac +Tavish, take Miss Bunker to the car and tell Jock to carry you and her +home and to come back here for me." + +After they had gone he lighted his pipe and sat down in the Governor's big +chair and smoked and pondered. Every little while he thrust his forefinger +and thumb into his vest pocket and ransacked without avail. "I must have +left it in my dress clothes," he muttered. "But no matter! I'm not in the +right frame of mind to enjoy poetry. However, merely in the way of taking +a new clinch on the proposition I do remember this much, 'But I will marry +my own first love!' There's truth in poetry if you go after it hard +enough. And, on second thought, I'd better keep my mind on poetry as +closely as I can! I certainly don't dare to think of politics right now!" + + + + +XX + +IN THE COLD AND CANDID DAYLIGHT + + +For the first time in his life Governor North had his breakfast served to +him in his room at his hotel; he ate alone, chewing savagely and studying +newspapers. He did not welcome this method of breakfasting as a pleasing +indulgence. Rugged Lawrence North was no sybarite; he hated all +assumptions of exclusiveness; he loved to mingle and mix, and his morning +levees in the hotel breakfast-room catered to all his vanity as a public +functionary. He did not own up squarely to himself that he was afraid to +go down and face men and answer questions. He had ordered the hotel +telephone exchange to give him no calls; he had told the desk clerk to +state to all inquirers that the Governor was too busy to be seen; he paid +no attention to raps on his door. His self-exculpation in this unwonted +privacy was that he could not afford to allow himself to be bothered by +questioners until he and Senator Corson could arrange for effectual +team-work by another conference. When he and the Senator parted they +agreed to get together at the Corson mansion the first thing after +breakfast. + +While the Governor ground his food between his teeth he also chewed on the +savage realization that he had nothing sensible to say in public on the +situation, considering his uncompromising declarations of the day before; +there were those declarations thrusting up at him from the newspaper page +like derisive fingers; by the reports in parallel columns he was +represented as saying one thing and doing another! And a bumptious, +blundering, bull-headed Scotchman had put the Governor of a state in that +tongue-tied, skulking position on the proud day of inauguration! + +His Excellency slashed his ham, and stabbed his eggs, making his food +atone vicariously. + +He did not order his car over the hotel telephone. The hotel _attachés_ +were obsequious and would be waiting to escort him in state across the +main office. The politicians would surround the car. And he was perfectly +sure that some of the big men of an amazed State House lobby might step +into that car along with him and seek to know what in the name o' mischief +had happened overnight to change all the sane and conservative plans in +the way of making a legislature safe! + +He bundled himself and his raw pride into his overcoat, turned the fur +collar up around his head, and went down a staircase. He was sneaking and +he knew it and no paltering self-assurance that he was handling a touchy +situation with necessary tact helped his feelings in the least. He stepped +into a taxicab and was glad because the breath of previous passengers that +morning had frosted the windows. That consolation was merely a back-fire +in the rest of the conflagration that raged in him. + +It was a dull morning, somber and cold. + +When he stamped up the broad walk from the gate of the Corson mansion he +beheld the boarded windows of the ballroom, and the spectacle added to his +sense of chill. But his anger was not cooled. + +Senator Corson's secretary was waiting in the hall; he showed the Governor +up to the Senator's study. + +Either because the outdoors was not cheerful that morning or because the +Senator had been too much engrossed in meditation to remember that +daylight would serve him, the curtains of the study were drawn and the +electric lamps were on. + +Corson was walking up and down the room, chewing on one end of a cigar and +making a soggy torch of the other end. He continued to pace while North +pulled off his coat. + +"I have sent word to Morrison to come here," reported the host. + +The mantel clock reported the hour as nine; His Excellency scowled at the +clock's face. "And you got word back, I suppose, that after he has come +out of his mill at ten o'clock and has washed his hands and--" + +"He's at City Hall," snapped Corson, with an acerbity that matched the +Governor's. "I called the mill and was referred to Morrison at City Hall. +He's on his way up here! At any rate, he said he'd start at once." + +"Did he condescend to intimate in what capacity he proposes to land on us +this time?" + +"I'm going to allow you to draw your own conclusions. I've been trying to +draw some of my own from what he said." + +"What did he say?" + +"Apologized because I was put to any trouble in locating him. Said he was +expecting to be called by me and thought he would go to City Hall and +await my summons in order to put himself and the whole situation on a +strictly official basis." The Senator delivered that information sullenly. + +"What kind of a devilish basis does he think he's been operating on?" + +"Look here, North! If you have come up here to fight with me after the row +you have been having down-town this morning I warn you--" + +"I have had no row down-town. I wouldn't see anybody. I wouldn't talk with +anybody. Blast it! Corson, I don't know what to say to anybody!" + +"Well, that's one point, at least, on which you and I can get together +even if we can't agree on anything else. If you have been so cursedly +exclusive as all that, North, perhaps you haven't been in touch with any +of the justices of the supreme court, as I have." + +"You have, eh?" + +"I called Davenport and Madigan on the telephone." + +"What excuse could they give for sending their snap opinions over the wire +on the inquiry of a fool?" + +"They offered no excuse. They couldn't. They knew nothing about any +telegrams till I informed 'em. They received no inquiry. They sent no +replies, naturally." + +"That--that--Did that--" The Governor pawed at his scraggly neck. "He +faked all that stuff?" + +"Absolutely!" + +Comment which could not have been expressed in long speeches and violent +denunciation was put into the pregnant stare exchanged by the two men. + +Then the Senator took another grip on his cigar with bared teeth and began +to march again. + +"Corson, what's going to be done with that blue-blazed understudy of +Ananias?" + +"Depend on the wrath of Heaven, perhaps," said the Senator, sarcastically. +"I haven't had time to look in Holy Writ this morning and ascertain just +what kind of a lie Ananias told. But whatever it was, it was tame beside +what Morrison told that mob about me last night." + +"You've had your fling at me about my exclusiveness! What are you putting +out yourself this morning in the way of statements?" The Governor banged +his fist down on the newspapers which littered the study table. + +"Nothing! Not yet!" + +"I've got to have my self-respect with me when I deliver my inaugural +address this forenoon. The only way I can possess it is by ramming +Morrison into jail." + +"On what ground, may I ask?" + +"Interference with the Chief Executive of this state! Inciting the mob +against the militia! Putting state property in danger. Forgery--contempt +of court! I'll appeal to the judges to act. I'll call in the +attorney-general. You and I were forcibly detained!" + +"Yes, we might allege abduction," was Corson's dry rejoinder. "Our +helplessness in the hands of a usurper would win a lot of public +sympathy." + +"I tell you, we would have the sympathy of the people," asserted the +Governor, too angry to be anything else than literal. + +"And they'd express it by giving us the biggest laugh ever tendered to two +public men in this state, North. We've got to look this thing straight in +the eye. I told Morrison last night that no such preposterous thing was +ever put over in American politics, and he agreed with me. You must agree, +too! That makes us unanimous on one point, and that's something gained, +because it's an essential point. We can't afford to let the public know +just how preposterous the situation was. A man in American public life can +get away with almost any kind of a fix, if it's taken seriously. But the +right sort of a general laugh will snuff him like that!" He snapped his +finger. "We're not dealing with politics and procedure in the case of +Morrison." + +"We're dealing with a fool and his folly!" the Governor shouted. + +It was another of those cases where the expected guest under discussion +becomes an eavesdropper at just the wrong moment; Morrison was not +deliberately an eavesdropper. He had followed the instructed secretary to +the study door, and the Governor had declared himself with a violence that +was heard outside the room. + +The mayor stepped in when the secretary opened the door + +After the secretary had closed the door and departed Morrison stepped +forward. "Governor North, you're perfectly right, and I agree with you +without resenting your remark. I did make quite a fool of myself last +night. Perhaps you are not ready to concede that the ends justify the +means." + +"I do not, sir!" + +"A result built on falsehoods is a pretty poor proposition," declared the +Senator. "I refer especially to those fake telegrams and to your impudent +assertion to the mob that I said this or that!" + +"Yes, that telegram job was a pretty raw one, sir," Morrison admitted. +"But I really didn't lie straight out to those men in the square about +your participation. I let 'em draw an inference from the way I +complimented your fairness and good sense. I was a little hasty last +night--but I didn't have much time to do advance thinking." + +"I'm going to express myself about last night," stated Senator Corson. + +"Will you wait a moment, sir?" Morrison had not removed his overcoat; he +had not even unbuttoned it; he afforded the impression of a man who +intended to transact business and be on his way with the least possible +delay. He glanced at the electric lights and at the shaded windows. "This +seems too much like last night. Won't you allow me? It's a little +indulgence to my state of mind!" + +He hurried across the room and snapped up the shades and pulled apart the +curtains. He reached his hand to the wall-switch and turned off the +lights. + +"This isn't last night--it's this morning--and there's nothing like honest +daylight on a proposition, gentlemen! Nothing like it! Last night things +looked sort of tragic. This morning the same things will look comical +if"--he raised his forefinger--"if the inside of 'em is reported. If the +real story is told, the people in this state will laugh their heads off." +Again the Governor and the Senator put a lot of expression into the look +which they exchanged. "I got that mob to laughing last night and, as I +told General Totten, that settled the civil war. If the people get to +laughing over what happened when Con Rellihan took his orders only from +the mayor of Marion, it will--well, it'll be apt to settle some political +hash." + +"Do you threaten?" demanded North. He was blinking into the matter-of-fact +daylight where Morrison stood, framed in a window. + +"Governor North, take a good look at me. I'm not a pirate chief. I'm +merely a business man up here to do a little dickering. I can't trade on +my political influence, because I haven't any. You have all the politics +on your side. I propose to do the best I can with the little stock in +trade I have brought." He walked to the table and flapped on it his hand, +palm up. "You are two almighty keen and discerning gentlemen. I don't need +to itemize the stock in trade I have laid down here. You see what I've +got!" + +He paused and, his eyes glinting with a suppressed emotion that the +discerning gentlemen understood, he glanced from one to the other of them. + +"You've got a cock-and-bull yarn in which you are shown up as a liar and a +lawbreaker," the Governor declared. "You've got some guess--so about +errors in returns--" + +"Hold on! Hold on, North!" protested Senator Corson. "It's just as +Morrison says--we don't need to itemize his stock in trade. I can estimate +it for myself. Morrison, you say you're ready to dicker. What do you +want?" + +"A legislature that's organized open and above-board, with all claimants +in their seats and having their word to say as to the sort of questions +that will be sent up to the court. Staying in their seats, gentlemen, till +the decisions are handed down! Let the legislature, as a whole, draft the +questions about the status of its membership. I've got my own interest in +this--and I'll be perfectly frank in stating it. I have a report on +water-power to submit. I don't want that report to go to a committee that +has been doctored up by a hand-picked House and Senate." + +"You don't expect that Governor North and myself are going to stand here +and give you guaranties as to proposed legislation, do you?" + +"You are asking me, as an executive, to interfere with the legislative +branch," expostulated His Excellency. + +"Gentlemen, I don't expect to settle the problems of the world here this +morning, or even this water-power question. I'm simply demanding that the +thing be given a fair start on the right track." There was a great deal of +significance in his tone when he added: "I hope there'll be no need of +going into unpleasant details, gentlemen. All three of us know exactly +what is meant." + +Senator Corson was distinctly without enthusiasm; he maintained his air of +chilly dignity. "What legislation is contemplated under that report that +you will submit?" + +"Some of the lawyers say that a general law prohibiting the shipping of +power over wires out of the state must be backed by a change in our +constitution. Until we can secure that change there must be a prohibitive +clause on every water-power charter granted by the legislature--a clause +that restricts all the developed power for consumption in this state." + +"A policy of selfishness, sir." + +"No, Senator Corson, a policy that protects our own development until we +can create a surplus of power. Sell our surplus, perhaps! That's a sound +rule of business. If you'll allow me to volunteer a word or two more as to +plans, I'll say that eventually I hope to see the state pay just +compensation and take back and control the water-power that was given away +by our forefathers. + +"As to power that is still undeveloped, I consider it the heritage of the +people, and I refuse to be a party to putting a mortgage on it. My ideas +may be a little crude just now--I say again that everything can't be +settled and made right in a moment, but I have stated the principle of the +thing and we fellows who believe in it are going ahead on that line. I +realize perfectly well, sir, that this plan discourages the kind of +capital that Mr. Daunt represents, but if there is one thing in this God's +country of ours that should not be put into the hands of monopoly it's the +power in the currents of the rivers that are fed by the lakes owned by the +people. I'm a little warm on the subject, Senator Corson, I'll confess. I +have been stubbing my toes around in pretty awkward shape. But I had to do +the best I could on short notice." + +"You have been very active in the affair," was the Senator's +uncompromising rejoinder. + +Governor North continued to be frankly a skeptic and had been expressing +his emotions by wagging his head and grunting. In the line of his general +disbelief in every declaration and in everybody, he pulled his watch from +his pocket as if to assure himself as to the real time; he had scowled at +the Senator's mantel clock as if he suspected that even the timepiece +might be trying to put something over on him. "I must be moving on toward +the State House." He wore the air of a defendant headed for the court-room +instead of a Governor about to be inaugurated. "I must know where I stand! +Morrison, what's it all about, anyway?" + +The Governor was convincingly sincere in his query. He had the manner of +one who had decided, all of a sudden, to come into the open. There was +something almost wistful in this new candor. Stewart's poise was plainly +jarred. + +"What's it all about?" He blinked with bewilderment. "Why, I have been +telling you, Governor!" + +"Do you think for one minute that I believe all that Righteous Rollo +rant?" + +"I have been stating my principles and--" + +"Hold on! I've had all the statements that I can absorb. What's behind +'em? That's what I want to know. Wait, I tell you! Don't insult my +intelligence any more by telling me it's altruism, high-minded +unselfishness in behalf of the people! I have heard others and myself talk +that line of punk to a finish. Are you going to run for Governor next +election?" + +"Absolutely not!" + +"Are you grooming a man?" + +"No, sir!" + +"Building up a political machine?" + +"Certainly I am not," + +"Going to organize a water-power syndicate of your own after you get +legislation that will give you a clear field against outside capital?" + +"No--no, most positively!" + +"Senator Corson, you claim you know Morrison better than I do. How much is +he lying?" + +"I think he means what he says." + +North picked up his overcoat and plunged his arms into the sleeves. "If I +should think so--if I should place implicit faith in any man who talks +that way--I'd be ashamed of my weakness--and I've got too many things +about myself to be ashamed of, all the way from table manners to morals! +There's one thing that I'm sort of holding on to, and that's the fact that +my intellect seems to be unimpaired in my old age. Morrison, I don't +believe half what you say." + +The mayor of Marion made no reply for some moments. Corson, surveying him, +showed uneasiness. A retort that would fit the provocation was likely to +lead to results that would embarrass the host of the two Executives. + +"Oh, by the way, Governor," said Stewart, quietly, "I just came from City +Hall. I really did not intend to drift so far from strictly official +business when I came up here. I want to assure you that there will be no +expense to the state connected with the police guard at the Capitol. They +are at your service till after the inaugural ceremonies. Do you think you +will need the officers on duty at your residence any longer, Senator +Corson?" + +"No, sir!" + +"I agree with you that everything seems to have quieted down beautifully. +Governor, you have my best wishes for your second term. I'm sorry I'll not +be able to go to the State House to hear your address." + +He went to the Governor and put out his hand, an act which compelled +response in kind. + +"I'm much obliged!" His Excellency was curt and caustic. "After the +vaudeville show of last night there won't be much to-day at the State +House to suit anybody who is fond of excitement." + +Before North, departing, reached the door Senator Corson's secretary +tapped and entered. He gave several telegrams into the hand of his +employer. + +"Pardon me, gentlemen!" apologized the Senator, tearing open an envelope. +"Wait a moment, North. These messages may bear on the situation." + +He read them in silence one after the other, his face betraying nothing of +his thoughts. + +He stacked the sheets on the table. "Evidently several notable gentlemen +in our state rise early, read the newspapers before breakfast, and are +handy to telegraph offices," he remarked, leveling steady gaze at Stewart. +"These telegrams are addressed to me, but by good rights they belong to +you, Mister Mayor, I'm inclined to believe." + +There was irony in the Senator's tone; Morrison offered no reply. + +"They're all of the same tenor, North," explained Senator Corson. "I'm +bracketed with you. You'll probably find some of your own waiting at the +State House for you. And more to come!" + +"Well, what are they--what are they?" + +"Compliments for the sane, safe, and statesmanlike way we handled a crisis +and saved the good name of the state." + +"Now, Morrison," raged the Governor, "you can begin to understand what +kind of a damnable mess you've jammed me into along with Corson, here! +That steer of a policeman will blab, that Scotchman will snarl, and that +loose-mouthed girl will babble!" + +"Governor, I haven't resented anything you have said to me, personally. +You can go ahead and say a lot more to me, and I'll not resent it. But let +me tell you that I can depend on the business loyalty of the folks who +serve me; and if you go to classing my kind of helpers in with the cheap +politicians with whom you have been associating, I shall say something to +you that will break up this friendly party. My folks will not talk! Save +your sarcasm for your agents who have been running around getting you into +a real scrape by telling about those election returns." + +He snapped about face, on his heels, and walked out of the door. + + + + +XXI + +A WOMAN CHOOSES HER MATE + + +The haste displayed by Mayor Morrison in getting away from the study door +suggested that he was glad to escape and was not fishing for any +invitation to return for further parley. + +But when he approached the head of the stairway he moved more slowly. His +demeanor hinted that he would welcome some excuse, outside of politics, to +keep him longer in the Corson mansion. He paused on the stairs and made an +elaborate arrangement of a neck muffler as if he expected to confront +polar temperature outside. He pulled on his gloves, inspected them +critically as if to assure himself that there were no crevices where the +cold could enter. He looked over the banisters. There was nobody in the +reception-hall. He arranged the muffler some more. Step by step, very +slowly, he descended as far as the landing where he had met Lana Corson +joyously the night before. Not expectantly, with visage downcast, he +looked behind him. + +Lana was framed in the library door at the head of the stairs. + +"I was trying to make up my mind to call to you. But you seemed to be in +so much of a hurry! I suppose you have a great deal to attend to this +morning." + +"The principal rush seems to be over. Was it anything--Did you want to +speak to me?" + +"Perhaps it isn't of much importance. It did seem to be, for a moment. But +it's something of a family matter. I think, after all, it will be +imprudent to mention it." + +He waited for her to go on. + +"Probably under the circumstances you'll not be especially interested," +she ventured. + +"The trouble is, I'm afraid I'll show too much interest and seem to be +prying." + +"Will you please step up here where I'll not be obliged to shout at you?" + +He obeyed so promptly that he fairly scrambled up the stairs. + +"You said down there in the hall last evening that my father was angry and +that an angry man says a great deal that he doesn't mean. My father was +very, very angry when he and. I arrived home last night." + +"I reckoned he would be." + +"In his anger he talked to me very freely about you. The question is, +should I believe anything he said?" + +"I--I don't know," he stammered, "You're not going back on your own +statement about an angry man, are you?" + +"I don't think it's fair to accept all his statements." + +"I'm sorry you still hold that opinion. You see I drew some conclusions of +my own from what my father said to me, and those conclusions urge me to +apologize to you for the Corson family. I'm afraid you didn't find my +father in an apologetic mood this morning." + +"Not exactly." + +"Doris tells me that I have a New England conscience. I'm not sure. At any +rate, I'm feeling very uncomfortable about something! It may be because +you're misunderstood by our family. Do I seem forward?" + +"No! Of course you don't. But you're putting me in a terrible position. I +don't know what to say. I don't want any apologies. They'd make me feel +like a fool--more of a fool than I have been." + +"Are you admitting now that you were wrong in the stand you took about the +water-power and--and--well, about everything?" + +He had been listening in distress and perplexity, striving to understand +her, groping for the meaning she was hiding behind her quiet manner. But +her question struck fire from the flint of his resolution. "That power +matter is a principle, and I am not wrong in it. As to the means I used +last night, it was brass and blunder and I'm ashamed of acting that way." + +"There's no need of going into the matter. I received a great deal of +information from my father--when he was angry. And I woke up early this +morning and began to consider the evidence. I was hard at it when you +drove up in your car. I have been waiting for you to come from your talk +with my father and the Governor. I want to say, Stewart, that when I stood +up last night, like a fool, and lectured you about neglecting your +opportunities in life I was considering you only as the boss of St. +Ronan's mill. But my father told me what you really are. I have always +respected him as a very truthful man, even when he is well worked up by +any subject. I must take his word in this matter, though he didn't realize +just how complimentary he was in your case. And if you can spare me a few +moments, I want you to come into the library." + +She walked ahead of him toward the door. + +"I think I'll leave the Corson family right out of it, Stewart. I'm a +loyal daughter of this state. I'm home again and I've waked up. Humor me +in a little conceit, won't you? Let me make believe that I'm the state and +listen to me while I tell you what a big, brave, unselfish--" + +They were inside the door and he put his arm about her and led her toward +the big screen and broke in on her little speech that she was making +tremulously, apprehensively, with a sob in her voice, trying to hide her +deeper emotions under her mock-dramatics. + +"Hush, dear! I don't want to hear any state talk to me! I want to hear +only Lana Corson talk. I didn't understand her last night! Now, bless her +honest, true heart, I do understand her." + +Speech, long repressed, was rushing from his mouth. Then he struggled with +words; his excitement choked him. He looked down at her through his tears. +"The bit poem, lassie! You remember it. The poem you recited, and when I +sent you the big basket o' posies! All the time since yesterday it has +been running in my head. I sat alone in the State House last night and all +I could remember was, 'But I will marry my own first love!' I tried to say +it out like a man, believing that God has meant you for me. But I couldn't +think I'd be forgiven!" + +Lana took his hand between her palms and stopped him at the edge of the +screen. She quoted, meeting his adoring eyes with full understanding: + + "And I think, in the lives of most women and men, + There's a moment when all would go smooth and even--" + +She drew him gently with her when she stepped backward. + +She had heard the Senator's voice in the corridor; he was escorting +Governor North. + +On the panels of the screen were embroidered some particularly grotesque +Japanese countenances. Those pictured personages seemed to be making up +faces at the dignitaries who passed the open door. + +"But I must go to your father, sweetheart," Stewart insisted. "I'd best do +it this morning and have it all over with." + +This declaration as to duty and deference was not made while Senator +Corson was passing the door; nor was it made with anything like the +promptitude the Senator might have expected in a matter which was so +vitally concerned with a father's interests. In fact it was a long, long +time before Stewart had anything to say on that subject. If Senator Corson +had been listening again on the other side of the screen, he, no doubt, +would have been mightily offended by a delay which seemed to make the +father an afterthought in the whole business. + +If he had been eavesdropping he would not have heard much, anyway, of an +informing nature. He would have heard two voices, tenderly low and +incoherent, interrupting eagerly, breaking in on each other to explain and +protest and plead. If Stewart's protracted neglect of the interests of a +father would have availed to rouse resentment, Lana's reply to Stewart's +rueful declaration more surely would have exasperated the Senator; she +emphatically commanded Stewart to say not one word on the subject to her +father. + +"Why, Stewart Morrison, for twenty-four hours you have been taking away my +breath by doing the unexpected! You have been grand. Now are you going to +spoil everything by dropping right back into the conventional, every-day +way of doing things? You shall not! You shall not spoil my new worship of +a hero!" + +"Well, I won't seem much like a hero if I act as though I'm afraid of your +father!" + +She raised her voice in amazed query. "For mercy's sake, haven't you been +proving that you're not afraid of him?" Once more, jubilantly, teasingly, +wrought upon by the revived spirit of the intimacy of the old days, she +assumed a playful pose with him, but this time her sincerity of soul was +behind the situation. "Don't you realize, sir, that the calendar of the +Hon. Jodrey Wadsworth Corson, on this day and date, is crowded with +strictly new business? He is due at the State House very soon. Do you +think he can afford to be bothered with unfinished business?" + +He worshiped her with silence and a smile. + +"Yes, Mister Mayor of Marion, unfinished business--yours and mine! Our +business of the old days. But the honorable Senator is perfectly well +aware that the business aforesaid is on the calendar. He had been +supposing that we had forgotten it. I see a big question in your eyes, +Stewart dear! Well, now that you're a party to the action and interested +in the matter to be presented, I'll say that after Senator Corson had done +his talking to me last evening, or very early this morning, to be more +exact, I called on my family grit of which he's so proud and I did a +little talking to Senator Corson. And he knows that the business is +unfinished--he knows it will be brought duly to his attention--and he'll +be in a better frame of mind after his present petulance has worn off." + +"Petulance!" Morrison was rather skeptical. + +"Exactly! He's just as much of a big child as most men are when another +big child tries to take away a plaything. Oh, he was furious, Stewart! But +let me tell you something for your comfort. He dwelt most savagely on the +fact that you had grabbed in single-handed and beaten a Governor and a +United States Senator at their own game! Wonderful, isn't it--admission +like that? He has always patronized you as a countryman who knew how to +make good cloth and who didn't amount to anything else in the world. Why, +in a few days he'll be admitting that he admires you and respects you!" + +She paused. After a few moments she went on, her tones low and thrilling. +"I've been trying to explain myself to you, Stewart. You know, now, that I +have always loved you. I have told you so in a way that leaves no doubts +in a man such as you are. You have forgiven me for being simply human and +silly before I woke up to understand you. And you don't misunderstand me +any more, do you?" she pleaded, wistfully. "Last night I saw--your big +_self_!" + +"Lana, it was a wonderful night--more wonderful than I realized till now!" + +After a time they became aware of a stir below-stairs and they came out +from behind the screen where the Japanese faces grinned knowingly. + +"Please obey me, Stewart; you must! It's really my trial of you to see if +you're obedient when I know it's for your own good. Go down and wait for +me." She left him in the corridor and ran away. + +He marched down the stairs with as much self-possession as he could +command. + +Below him he saw Senator Corson, Mrs. Stanton, Silas Daunt, and the +banker's son. All were garbed for outdoors and the Senator was inquiring +of Mrs. Stanton why Lana was not ready. + +From the landing down to the hall Stewart found the ordeal an exacting +one. Those below surveyed him with an open astonishment that was more +disconcerting than hostility; he was in a mood to fight for himself and +his own; but to deal in mere polite explanations, after Lana's imperious +command to keep silent on an important matter, was beyond any sagacity he +possessed in that period of abashed wonder what to say or do. + +It was his thought that Miss Corson, in her efforts to avoid an anticlimax +of conventional procedure, was making a rather too severe test of him in +forcing him to endure the unusual. + +He did manage to say, "Good morning!" and smiled at them in a deprecatory +way. + +Coventry Daunt amiably responded as a spokesman for the group; but he had +waited deferentially for his elders to make some response. + +The Senator held a packet of telegrams in his hand. After Stewart had +halted in the hall, putting on the best face he could and evincing a +determination to stick the thing out, Senator Corson walked over and +offered to give the mayor the telegrams. "They're beginning to arrive from +Washington, sir. Better read 'em. They'll afford you a great deal of joy, +I'm sure." + +Stewart shook his head, declining to receive the missives. He wanted to +tell the Senator that more joy right at that moment would overtask the +Morrison capacity. + +"I wish I were younger and more of an opportunist," Corson avowed. "In +these guessing times among the booms, here is gas enough to inflate a +pretty good-sized presidential balloon." He waved the papers. + +The Senator's tone was still rather ironical, but Stewart was seeking for +straws to buoy his new hopes; whether he was so recently away from Lana's +dark eyes that the encouragement in them lingered with him, he was not +sure. He felt, however, that the Senator's eyes did seem a little less +hard than the polished ebony they had resembled. + +An awkward silence ensued. The Senator stood in front of the caller and +queried uncompromisingly with those eyes. + +The caller, having been enjoined from babbling about the business that had +been transacted behind the screen in the library, had no excuse to offer +for hanging around there. "I--I suppose you're going to the State House," +he suggested, after he decided that the weather called for no comments. + +"We are! We are waiting for my daughter," stated Corson, with a severity +which indicated that he was determined, then and there, to rebuke the +cause of her delay. + +"I'm so sorry you have waited!" Lana called to them from the landing, and +came hurrying down, fastening the clasp of her furs. + +She went to Mrs. Stanton, her face expressing apologetic distress. "It's +so comforting, Doris, to know that you and I don't need to bother with all +these guest and hostess niceties. You'll understand--because you're a dear +friend! Father will make the doors of the Capitol fly open for his +party--and you'll be looked after wonderfully." She bestowed her gracious +glances on the others of the Daunt family, "I know you'll all forgive me +if I don't come along." + +She did not allow her amazed father to embarrass the situation by the +outburst that he threatened. She fled past him, patting his arm with a +swift caress. "I'm going with Stewart--over to Jeanie Mac Dougal +Morrison's house. It's really dreadfully important. You know why, father. +I'll tell you all about it later. Come, Stewart! We must hurry!" + +Young Mr. Daunt was near the door. He opened it for her. When Stewart +passed, following the girl closely, the volunteer door-tender qualified as +a good sport. He whispered, "Good luck, old man!" + +When Coventry closed the door he gave his sister a prolonged and pregnant +stare of actual triumph. + +It was only a look, but he put into it more significance than sufficed for +Doris's perspicacity. + +He had confided to his sister, the evening before, his hopeful reliance on +a girl's heart. + +But the Lana Corson who came down the stairs, who confronted them, who had +fearlessly chosen her mate before their hostile eyes, was a woman. + +And Coventry's gaze told his sister boastingly that he had made good in +one respect--he had called the turn in his estimate of a woman. + + THE END + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of All-Wool Morrison, by Holman Day + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALL-WOOL MORRISON *** + +***** This file should be named 7931-8.txt or 7931-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/3/7931/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, S.R. 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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: All-Wool Morrison + +Author: Holman Day + +Posting Date: August 11, 2011 [EBook #7931] +Release Date: April, 2005 +[This file was first posted on June 2, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALL-WOOL MORRISON *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, S.R. Ellison +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + +ALL-WOOL MORRISON + +_Time:_ Today _Place:_ The United States + +_Period of Action:_ Twenty-four Hours + +by HOLMAN DAY + +Author of _"The Rider of King Log" "The Red Lane" "King Spruce" "Where +Your Treasure Is"_ + + + + To + +PERCIVAL P. BAXTER + +A Consistent and Courageous Champion in the Protection of "The People's +White Coal." With the Author's Sincere Friendship and High Regard. + + + _CONTENTS_ + + I. HOW "THE MORRISON" BROKE ST. RONAN'S RULE + II. THE THREAT OF WHAT THE NIGHT MAY BRING + III. THE MORRISON ASSUMES SOME CONTRACTS + IV. ANSWERING THE FIRST ALARM + V. THE MEN WHO WERE WAITING TO BE SHOWN + VI. THE MAN'S WORD OF THE MAYOR OF MARION + VII. THE THIN CRUST OVER BOILING LAVA + VIII. A ROD IN PICKLE + IX. MAKING IT A SQUARE BREAK + X. A SENATOR SIZES UP A FOE + XI. FLAREBACKS IN THE CASE OF LOVE AND A MOB + XII. RIFLES RULE IN THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE + XIII. THE LINE-UP FORMS IN THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE + XIV. THE IMPENDING SHAME OF A STATE + XV. THE BOSS OF THE JOB + XVI. THE CITY OF MARION SEEKS ITS MAYOR + XVII. THE CAPITOL IN SHADOW +XVIII. THE CAPITOL ALIGHT + XIX. LANA CORSON HAS HER DOUBTS + XX. IN THE COLD AND CANDID DAYLIGHT + XXI. A WOMAN CHOOSES HER MATE + + + +_All-Wool Morrison_ + + + + +I + +HOW "THE MORRISON" BROKE ST. RONAN'S RULE + + +On this crowded twenty-four-hour cross-section of contemporary American +life the curtain goes up at nine-thirty o'clock of a January forenoon. + +Locality, the city of Marion--the capital of a state. + +Time, that politically throbbing, project-crowded, anxious, and expectant +season of plot and counterplot--the birth of a legislative session. + +Disclosed, the office of St. Ronan's Mill of the city of Marion. + +From the days of old Angus, who came over from Scotland and established a +woolen mill and handed it down to David, who placed it confidently in the +possession of his son Stewart, the unalterable rule was that "The +Morrison" entered the factory at seven o'clock in the morning and could +not be called from the mill to the office on any pretext whatsoever till +he came of his own accord at ten o'clock in the forenoon. + +In the reign of David the old John Robinson wagon circus paraded the +streets of Marion early on a forenoon and the elephant made a break in a +panic and ran into the mill office of the Morrisons through the big door, +and Paymaster Andrew Mac Tavish rapped the elephant on the trunk with a +penstock and, only partially awakened from abstraction in figures, stated +that "Master Morrison willna see callers till he cooms frae the mill at +ten." + +To go into details about the Morrison manners and methods and doggedness +in attending to the matter in hand, whatever it might be, would not limn +Stewart Morrison in any clearer light than to state that old Andrew, at +seventy-two, was obeying Stewart's orders as to the ten-o'clock rule and +was just as consistently a Cerberus as he had been in the case of Angus +and David. He was a bit more set in his impassivity--at least to all +appearances--because chronic arthritis had made his neck permanently +stiff. + +It may be added that Stewart Morrison was thirty-odd, a bachelor, dwelt +with his widowed mother in the Morrison mansion, was mayor of the city of +Marion, though he did not want to be mayor, and was chairman of the State +Water Storage Commission because he particularly wanted to be the +chairman; he was, by reason of that office, in a position where he could +rap the knuckles of those who should attempt to grab and selfishly exploit +"The People's White Coal," as he called water-power. These latter +appertaining qualifications were interesting enough, but his undeviating +observance of the mill rule of the Morrisons of St. Ronan's served more +effectively to point the matter of his character. Stewart Morrison when he +was in the mill was in it from top to bottom, from carder to spinner and +weaver, from wool-sorter to cloth-hall inspector, to make sure that the +manufacturing principles for which All-Wool Morrison stood were carried +out to the last detail. + +On that January morning, as usual, he was in the mill with his sleeves +rolled up. + +On his high stool in the office was Andrew Mac Tavish, his head framed in +the wicket of his desk, and the style of his beard gave him the look of a +Scotch terrier in the door of a kennel. + +The office was near the street, a low building of brick, having one big +room; a narrow, covered passage connected the room with the mill. A rail +divided the office into two small parts. + +According to his custom in the past few months, Mac Tavish, when he dipped +his pen, stabbed pointed glances beyond the rail and curled his lips and +made his whiskers bristle and continually looked as if he were going to +bark; he kept his mouth shut, however. + +But his silence was more baleful than any sounds he could have uttered; it +was a sort of ominous, canine silence, covering a hankering to get in a +good bite if the opportunity was ever offered. + +It was the rabble o' the morning--the crowd waiting to see His Honor the +Mayor--on the other side of the rail. It was the sacrilegious invasion of +a business office in the hours sacred to business. It was like that every +morning. It was just as well that the taciturn Mac Tavish considered that +his general principle of cautious reserve applied to this situation as it +did to matters of business in general, otherwise the explosion through +that wicket some morning would have blown out the windows. Mac Tavish did +not understand politics. He did not approve of politics. Government was +all right, of course. But the game of running it, as the politicians +played the game! Bah! + +He had taken it upon himself to tell the politicians of the city that +Stewart Morrison would never accept the office of mayor. Mac Tavish had +frothed at the mouth as he rolled his r's and had threshed the air with +his fist in frantic protest. Stewart Morrison was away off in the +mountains, hunting caribou on the only real vacation he had taken in half +a dozen years--and the city of Marion took advantage of a good man, so Mac +Tavish asserted, to shove him into the job of mayor; and a brass band was +at the station to meet the mayor and the howling mob lugged him into City +Hall just as he was, mackinaw jacket, jack-boots, woolen Tam, rifle and +all--and Mac Tavish hoped the master would wing a few of 'em just to show +his disapprobation. In fact, it was allowed by the judicious observers +that the new mayor did display symptoms of desiring to pump lead into the +cheering assemblage instead of being willing to deliver a speech of +acceptance. + +He did not drop, as his manner indicated, all his resentment for some +weeks--and then Mac Tavish picked up the resentment and loyally carried it +for the master, in the way of outward malevolence and inner seething. The +regular joke in Marion was built around the statement that if anybody +wanted to get next to a hot Scotch in these prohibition times, step into +the St. Ronan's mill office any morning about nine-thirty. + +Up to date Mac Tavish had not thrown any paper-weights through the wicket, +though he had been collecting ammunition in that line against the day when +nothing else could express his emotions. It was in his mind that the +occasion would come when Stewart Morrison finally reached the limit of +endurance and, with the Highland chieftain's battle-cry of the old clan, +started in to clear the office, throwing his resignation after the gang o' +them! Mac Tavish would throw the paper-weights. He wondered every day if +that would be the day, and the encouraging expectation helped him to +endure. + +Among those present was a young fellow with his chaps tied up; there was a +sniveling old woman who patted the young man's shoulder and evoked +protesting growls. There were shifty-eyed men who wanted to make a +touch--Mac Tavish knew the breed. There was a fat, wheezy, pig-farm keeper +who had a swill contract with the city and came in every other day with a +grunt of fresh complaint. There were the usual new faces, but Mac Tavish +understood perfectly well that they were there to bother a mayor, not to +help the woolen-goods business. There was old Hon. Calvin Dow, a pensioner +of David Morrison, now passed on to the considerately befriending Stewart, +and Mac Tavish was deeply disgusted with a man who was so impractical in +his business affairs that, though he had been financially busted for ten +years, he still kept along in the bland belief, based on Stewart's +assurances, that money was due him from the Morrisons. Whenever Mac Tavish +went to the safe, obeying Stewart's word, he expressed _sotto voce_ the +wish that he might be able to drop into the Hon. Calvin Dow's palm red-hot +coins from the nippers of a pair of tongs. It was not that Mac Tavish +lacked the spirit of charity, but that he wanted every man to know to the +full the grand and noble goodness of the Morrisons, and be properly +grateful, as he himself was. Dow's complacency in his hallucination was +exasperating! + +But there was no one in sight that morning who promised the diversion or +the effrontery that would make this the day of days, and there seemed to +be no excuse that would furnish the occasion for the battle-cry which +would end all this pestiferous series of levees. + +The muffled rackelty-chackle of the distant looms soothed Mac Tavish. The +nearer rick-tack of Miss Delora Bunker's typewriter furnished obbligato +for the chorus of the looms. It was all good music for a business man. But +those muttering, mumbling mayor-chasers--it was a tin-can, cow-bell +discord in a symphony concert. + +Mac Tavish, honoring the combat code of Caledonia, required presumption to +excuse attack, needed an upthrust head to justify a whack. + +Patrolman Cornelius Rellihan, six feet two, was lofty enough. He marched +to and fro beyond the rail, his heavy shoes flailing down on the hardwood +floor. Every morning the bang of those boots started the old pains to +thrusting in Mac Tavish's neck. But Officer Rellihan was the mayor's +major-domo, officially, and Stewart's pet and protege and worshiping +vassal in ordinary. An intruding elephant might be evicted; Rellihan could +not even receive the tap of a single word of remonstrance. + +It promised only another day like the others, with nothing that hinted at +a climacteric which would make the affairs of the mill office of the +Morrisons either better or worse. + +Then Col. Crockett Shaw marched in, wearing a plug-hat to mark the +occasion as especial and official, but taking no chances on the dangers of +that unwonted regalia in frosty January; he had ear-tabs close clamped to +the sides of his head. + +Mac Tavish took heart. He hated a plug-hat. He disliked Col. Crockett +Shaw, for Shaw was a man who employed politics as a business. Colonel Shaw +was carrying his shoulders well back and seemed to be taller than usual, +his new air of pomposity making him a head thrust above the horde. Colonel +Shaw offensively banged the door behind himself. Mac Tavish removed a +package of time-sheets that covered a pile of paper-weights. Colonel Shaw +came stamping across the room, clapping his gloved hands together, as if +he were as cold under the frosty eyes of Mac Tavish as he had been in the +nip of the January chill outdoors. + +"Mayor Morrison! Call him at once!" he commanded, at the wicket. + +Mac Tavish closed his hand over one of the paper-weights. He opened his +mouth. + +But Colonel Shaw was ahead of him with speech! "This is the time when that +fool mill-rule goes bump!" The colonel's triumphant tone hinted that he +had been waiting for a time like this. His entrance and his voice of +authority took all the attention of the other waiters off their own +affairs. "Call out Mayor Morrison." + +"Haud yer havers, ye keckling loon! Whaur's yer een for the tickit +gillie?" The old paymaster jabbed indignant thumb over his shoulder to +indicate the big clock on the wall. + +"I can't hear what you say on account of these ear-pads, and it doesn't +make any difference what you say, Andy! This is the day when all rules are +off." He was fully conscious that he had the ears of all those in the +room. He braced back. With an air of a functionary calling on the +multitude to make way for royalty he declaimed, "Call His Honor Mayor +Morrison at once to this room for a conference with the Honorable Jodrey +Wadsworth Corson, United States Senator. I am here to announce that +Senator Corson is on the way." + +Mac Tavish narrowed his eyes; he whittled his tone to a fine point to +correspond, and the general effect was like impaling a puffball on a +rat-tail file. "If ye hae coom sunstruck on a January day, ye'd best stick +a sopped sponge in the laft o' yer tar-pail bonnet. Sit ye doon and speir +the hands o' the clock for to tell when the Morrison cooms frae the mill." + +The colonel banged the flat of his hand on the ledge outside the wicket. +"It isn't an elephant this time, Mac Tavish. It's a United States Senator. +Act on my orders, or into the mill I go, myself!" + +The old man slid down from the stool, a paperweight in each hand. "Only +o'er my dead body will ye tell him in yer mortal flesh. Make the start to +enter the mill, and it's my thocht that ye'll tell him by speeritual +knocks or by tipping a table through a meejum!" + +"Lay off that jabber, old bucks, the two of ye!" commanded Officer +Rellihan, swinging across the room. "I'm here to kape th' place straight +and dacint!" + +"I hae the say. I'll gie off the orders," remonstrated Mac Tavish; there +was grim satisfaction in the twist of his mouth; it seemed as if the day +of days had arrived. + +"On that side your bar ye may boss the wool business. But this is the +mayor's side and the colonel is saying he's here to see His Honor. +Colonel, ye'll take your seat and wait your turn!" He cupped his big hand +under the emissary's elbow. + +Mac Tavish and Rellihan, by virtue of jobs and natures, were foes, but +their team-work in behalf of the interests of the Morrison was +comprehensively perfect. + +"What's the matter with your brains, Rellihan?" demanded the colonel, +hotly. + +"I don't kape stirring 'em up to ask 'em, seeing that they're resting +aisy," returned the policeman, smiling placidly. "And there's nothing the +matter with my muscle, is there?" He gently but firmly pushed the colonel +down into a chair. + +"Don't you realize what it means to have a United States Senator come to a +formal conference?" + +"No! I never had one call on me." + +"Rellihan, Morrison will fire you off the force if it happens that a +United States Senator has to wait in this office." + +The officer pulled off his helmet and plucked a card from the sweatband. +"It says here, 'Kape 'em in order, be firm but pleasant, tell 'em to wait +in turn, and'--for meself--'to do no more talking than necessary.' If +there's to be a new rule to fit the case of Senators, the same will +prob'bly be handed to me as soon as Senators are common on the +calling-list." He put up a hand in front of the colonel's face--a broad +and compelling hand. "Now I'm going along on the old orders and the clock +tells ye that ye have a scant twinty minutes to wait. And if I do any more +talking, of the kind that ain't necessary, I'll break a rule. Be aisy, +Colonel Shaw!" He resumed his noisy promenade. + +Mac Tavish was back on the stool and he clashed glances with Colonel Shaw +with alacrity. + +"There'll be an upheaval in this office, Mac Tavish." + +"Aye! If ye make one more step toward the mill door ye'll not ken of a +certainty whaur ye'll land when ye're upheaved." + +After a few minutes of the silence of that armed truce, Miss Bunker +tiptoed over to Mac Tavish, making an excuse of a sheet of paper which she +laid before him; the paper was blank. "Daddy Mac!" Miss Bunker enjoyed +that privilege in nomenclature along with other privileges usually won in +offices by young ladies who know how to do their work well and are able to +smooth human nature the right way. She went on in a solicitous whisper. +"We must be sure that we're not making any office mistake. This being +Senator Corson!" + +"I still hae me orders, lassie!" + +"But listen, Daddy Mac! When I came from the post-office the Senator's car +went past me. Miss Lana was with him. Don't you think we ought to get a +word to Mr. Morrison?" + +"Word o' what?" The old man wrinkled his nose, already sniffing what was +on the way. + +"Why, that Miss Lana may be calling, along with her father." + +"What then?" + +"Mr. Morrison is a gentleman, above all things," declared the girl, +nettled by this supercilious interrogation. "If Miss Corson calls with her +father and is obliged to wait, Mr. Morrison will be mortified. Very likely +he will be angry because he wasn't notified. I understand the social end +of things better than you, Daddy Mac. I think it's my duty to take in a +word to him." + +"Aye! Yus! Gude! And tell him the music is ready, the flowers are here, +and the tea is served! Use the office for all owt but the wool business. +To Auld Hornie wi' the wool business! Politeeks and socieety! Lass, are ye +gone daffie wi' the rest?" + +"Hush, Daddy Mac! Don't raise your voice in your temper. What if he should +still be in love with Miss Lana, spite of her being away among the great +folks all this long time?" + +Mac Tavish was holding the paper-weights. He banged them down on his desk +and shoved his nose close to hers. "Fash me nae mair wi' your silly talk +o' love, in business hours! If aye he wanted her when she was here at hame +and safe and sensible, the Morrison o' the Morrisons had only to reach his +hand to her and say, 'Coom, lass!' But noo that she is back wi' head high +and notions alaft, he'd no accept her! She's nowt but a draft signed by +Sham o' Shoddy and sent through the Bank o' Brag and Blaw! No! He'd no' +accept her! And now back wi' ye to yer tickety-tack! I hae my orders, and +the Queen o' Sheba might yammer and be no' the gainer!" + +Miss Bunker swept up the sheet of blank paper with a vicious dab and went +back to her work, crumpling it. Passing the hat-tree, she was tempted to +grab the Morrison's coat and waistcoat and run into the mill with them, +dodging Mac Tavish and his paper-weights in spite of what she knew of his +threats regarding the use he proposed to make of them in case of need. She +believed that Miss Lana Corson would come to the office with the others +who were riding in the automobile. She had her own special cares and a +truly feminine apprehension in this matter, and she believed that the +young man, who was one of the guests at the reopened Corson mansion on +Corson Hill, was a suitor, just as Marion gossip asserted he was. + +Miss Bunker had two good eyes in her head and womanly intuitiveness in her +soul, and she had read three times into empty air a dictated letter while +Stewart Morrison looked past her in the direction which the Corson car had +taken that first day when Lana Corson had shown herself on the street. + +And here was that stiff-necked old watch-dog callously laying his corns so +that Stewart Morrison would appear to be boor enough to allow a young lady +to wait along with that unspeakable rabble; and when he did come he would +arrive in his shirt-sleeves to be matched up against a handsome young man +in an Astrakhan top-coat! Under those circumstances, what view would Miss +Lana Corson take of the man who had stayed in Marion? Miss Bunker was +profoundly certain that Mac Tavish did not know what love was and never +did understand and could not be enlightened at that period in his life. +But he might at least put the matter on a business basis, she reflected, +incensed, and show some degree of local pride in grabbing in with the rest +of Mr. Morrison's friends to assist in a critical situation. + +And right then the situation became pointedly critical. + +The broad door of the office was flung open by a chauffeur. + +It was the Corson party. + +Colonel Shaw was not in a mood to apologize for anybody except himself. He +rose and saluted. "Coming here to herald your call, Senator Corson, I have +been insulted by a bumptious understrapper and held in leash by an +ignorant policeman. They say it's according to a rule of the Morrison +mills. I suppose that when Mayor Morrison comes out of the mill at ten +o'clock, following his own rule, he can explain to you why he maintains +that insulting custom of his and continues this kind of an office crew to +enforce it." + +Miss Bunker flung the sheet of paper that she had crumpled into a ball and +it struck Mac Tavish on the side of the head that he bent obtrusively over +his figures. + +The old man snapped stiffly upright and distributed implacable stare among +the members of the newly arrived party. He was not softened by Miss +Corson's glowing beauty, nor impressed by the United States Senator's +dignity, nor won by the charming smile of Miss Corson's well-favored +squire, nor daunted by the inquiring scowl of a pompous man whose +mutton-chop whiskers mingled with the beaver fur about his neck; a +stranger who was patently prosperous and metropolitan. + +Furthermore, Mac Tavish, undaunted, promptly dared to exchange growls with +"Old Dog Tray," himself. The latter, none else than His Excellency, +Lawrence North, Governor of the state, marched toward the wicket, wagging +his tail, but the wagging was not a display of amiability. The politicians +called North "Old Dog Tray" because his permanent limp caused his +coattails to sway when he walked. + +"Be jing! I've been on the job here at manny a deal of a morn," confided +Officer Rellihan to Calvin Dow, "but here's the first natural straight +flush r'yal, dealt without a draw." He tagged the Corson party with +estimating squints, beginning with the Governor. "Ace, king, queen, +John-jack, and the ten-spot! They've caught the office, this time, with a +two-spot high!" + +Mac Tavish played it pat! "And 'tis the mill rule; it lacks twal' meenutes +o' the hour--and the clock yon on the wall is richt!" Thus referring all +responsibility to the clock, the paymaster dipped his pen and went on with +his figures. + +The Governor cross-creased the natural deep furrows in his face with +ridges which registered indignant amazement. "You have lost your wits, but +you seem to have your eyes! Use them!" + +"It's the mill rule!" + +"But we are not here on mill business!" + +"Then it canna concern me." + +"Officer, do you know what part of the mill Mayor Morrison is in?" The +Governor turned from Mac Tavish to Rellihan. + +"He is nae sic thing as mayor till ten o' the clock and till he cooms here +for the crackin wi' yon corbies!" declared the old paymaster, pointing +derogatory penstock through the wicket at "the crows" who were ranged +along the settees. + +Rellihan shook his head. + +"Well, at any rate, go hunt him up," commanded His Excellency. + +Rellihan shook his head again; this seemed to be an occasion where +unnecessary talking fell under interdiction; for that matter, Rellihan +possessed only a vocabulary to use in talking down to the proletariat; he +was debarred from telling these dignitaries to "shut up and sit aisy!" + +"A blind man, now a dumb man--Colonel Shaw, go and hunt up the man we're +here to see!" + +The colonel feigned elaborately not to hear. + +"And finally a deaf one! Take off those ear-tabs! Go and bring the mayor +here!" + +Mac Tavish dropped from his stool, armed himself with two paper-weights, +and took up a strategic position near the door which led into the passage +to the mill. + +"Roderick Dhu at bay! Impressive tableau!" whispered the young man of the +Corson party in Lana's ear, displaying such significant and wonted +familiarity that Miss Bunker, employing her vigilance exclusively in the +direction in which her fears and her interest lay, sighed and muttered. + +The door of the corridor was flung open suddenly! The staccato of the +orchestra of the looms sounded more loudly and provided entrance music. +Astonishment rendered Mac Tavish _hors de combat_. He dropped his weights +and his lower jaw sagged. + +It was the Morrison--breaking the ancient rule of St. Ronan's--ten minutes +ahead of time! + + + + +II + +THE THREAT OF WHAT THE NIGHT MAY BRING + + +All the Morrisons were upstickit chiels in point of height. + +Stewart had appeared so abruptly, he towered so dominantly, that a +stranger would have expected a general precipitateness of personality and +speech to go with his looks. + +But after he had closed the door he stood and stroked his palm slowly over +his temple, smoothing down his fair hair--a gesture that was a part of his +individuality; and his smile, while it was not at all diffident, was +deprecatory. He began to roll down the sleeves of his shirt. + +There was the repressed humor of his race in the glint in his eyes; he +drawled a bit when he spoke, covering thus the Scotch hitch-and-go-on in +the natural accent that had come down to him from his ancestors. + +"I saw your car arrive, Senator Corson, and I broke the sprinting record." + +"And the mill rule!" muttered Mac Tavish. + +"It's only an informal call, Stewart," explained the Senator, amiably, +walking toward the rail. + +"And you have caught me in informal rig, sir!" He pulled his coat and +waistcoat from the hooks and added, while he tugged the garments on, "So +I'll say, informally, I'm precious glad to see old neighbors home again +and to know the Corson mansion is opened, if only for a little while." + +"Lana came down with the servants a few days ago. I couldn't get here till +last evening. I have some friends with me, Stewart, who have come along in +the car to join me in paying our respects to the mayor of Marion." + +Morrison threw up the bar of the rail and stepped through. He clutched the +hand of the Senator in his big, cordial grip. "And now, being out in the +mayor's office, I'll extend formal welcome in the name of the city, sir." + +He looked past the father toward the daughter. + +"But I must interrupt formality long enough to present my most respectful +compliments to Miss Corson, even walking right past you, Governor North, +to do so!" explained Stewart, marching toward Lana, smiling down on her. + +Their brief exchange of social commonplaces was perfunctory enough, their +manner suggested nothing to a casual observer; but Miss Bunker was not a +casual observer. "She's ashamed," was her mental conviction. "Her eyes +give her away. She don't look up at him like a girl can look at any man +when there's nothing on her conscience. Whatever it was that happened, +she's the one who's to blame--but if she can't be sorry it doesn't excuse +her because she's ashamed." + +Possibly Miss Corson was covering embarrassment with the jaunty +grandiloquence that she displayed. + +"I have dared to intrude among the mighty of the state and city, Mister +Mayor, in order to impress upon you by word of mouth that your invitation +to the reception at our home this evening isn't merely an invitation +extended to the chief executive of the city. It's for Stewart Morrison +himself," ran her little speech. + +"I hoped so. This word from you certifies it. And Stewart Morrison will +strive to behave just as politely as he used to behave at other parties of +Lana Corson's when he steeled his heart against a second helping of cake +and cream." + +She forestalled her father. "Allow me to make you acquainted with Coventry +Daunt, Stewart." + +Morrison surveyed the young stranger with frank and appraising interest. +Then the big hand went out with no hint of any reservation in cordiality. + +"I'm sure you two are going to be excellent friends!" prophesied Lana. +"You're so much alike." + +The florid giant and the dapper, dark young man swapped apologies in a +faint flicker of a mutual grin. + +"I mean in your tastes! Mr. Daunt is tremendously interested in +water-power," Miss Corson hastened to say. "But father is waiting for you, +Stewart." + +So, however, was the sniveling old woman waiting! + +She had not presumed to break in on a conference with another of her +sex--but when the mayor turned from the lady and started to be concerned +with mere men, the old woman asserted her prerogative. "Out of me way. Con +Rellihan, ye omadhaun, that I have chased manny the time out o' me patch! +I'm a lady and I have me rights first!" She struggled and squalled when +the officer set his palms against her to push her away. + +Morrison dropped the Governor's hand, broke off his "duty speech," and +with rueful smile pleaded for tolerance from the Corson party. + +"Hush, Mother Slattery!" he remonstrated. + +"Ah, that's orders from him as has the grand right to give 'em! Niver a +wor-rd from me mouth, Your 'Anner, till I may say me say at your call!" + +A prolonged, still more deprecatory smile was bestowed by the mayor on the +elite among his guests! + +"I was out of town when I was elected mayor, and they hadn't taken the +precaution to measure me for an office room at the city building. I didn't +fit anything down there. Some day they're going to build the place over +and have room for the mayor to transact business without holding callers +on his knee. In the mean time, what mayoralty business I don't do out of +my hat on the street I attend to here where I can give a little attention +to my own business as well. Now, just a moment please!" he pleaded, +turning from them. + +He went to the old woman, checking the outburst with which she flooded him +when he approached. "I know! I know, Mother Slattery! No need to tell me +about it. As a fellow-martyr, I realize just how Jim has been up against +it--again!" He slid something into her hand "Rellihan will speak to the +judge!" He passed hastily from person to person, the officer at his heels +with ear cocked to receive the orders of his master as to the disposition +of cases and affairs. Then Rellihan marshaled the retreat of the +supplicants from the presence. + +"I do hope you understand why I attended to that business first," +apologized the mayor. + +"Certainly! It's all in the way of politics," averred the Senator, out of +his own experience. "I have been mayor of Marion, myself!" + +"With me it's business instead of politics," returned Morrison, gravely. +"I don't know anything about politics. Mac Tavish, there, says I don't. +And Tavish knows me well. But when I took this job--" + +"Ye didna tak' it," protested Mac Tavish, determined then, as always, that +the Morrison should be set in the right light. "They scrabbled ye by yer +scruff and whamped ye into a--" + +"Yes! Aye! Something of the sort! But I'm in, and I feel under obligations +to attend to the business of the city as it comes to hand. And business--I +have made business sacred when I have taken on the burden of it." + +"I fully understand that, Stewart, and my friend Daunt will be glad to +hear you say what I know is true. For he is here in our state on +business--business in your line," affirmed the Senator. He put his hand on +the arm of the elderly man with the assertive mutton-chop whiskers. "Silas +Daunt, Mayor Morrison! Mr. Daunt of the banking firm of Daunt & Cropley." + +"Business in my line, you say, sir?" demanded Morrison, pursuing a matter +of interest with characteristic directness. + +"Development of water-power, Mister Mayor. We are taking the question up +in a broad and, I hope, intelligent way." + +"Good! You touch me on my tenderest spot, Mr. Daunt." + +"Senator Corson has explained your intense interest in the water-power in +this state. And this state, in my opinion, has more wonderful +possibilities of development than any other in the Union." + +Morrison did not drawl when he replied. His demeanor corroborated his +statement as to his tenderest spot. "It's a sleeping giant!" he cried. + +"It's time to wake it up and put it to work," stated Daunt. + +"Exactly!" agreed Senator Corson. "I'm glad I'm paying some of the debt I +owe the people of this state by bringing two such men as you together. I +have wasted no time, Stewart!" + +"Round and round the wheels of great affairs begin to whirl!" declaimed +Lana. "The grain of sand must immediately eliminate itself from this +atmosphere; otherwise, it may fall into the bearings and cause annoying +mischief. I'll send the car back, father. I mustn't bother a business +meeting." + +A grimace that hinted at hurt wrinkled the candor of the Morrison's +countenance. "I hoped it wasn't mere business that brought you--all!" He +dwelt on the last word with wistful significance, staring at Lana. + +"No, no!" said the Senator, hastily. "Not business--not business, wholly. +A neighborly call, Stewart! The Governor, Mr. Daunt, Lana--all of us to +pay our respects. But"--he glanced around the big room--"now that we're +here, and the time will be so crowded after the legislature assembles, why +not let Daunt express some of his views on the power situation? Without +you and your support nothing can be done. We must develop our noble old +state! Where is your private office?" + +"I have never needed one," confessed Stewart; it was a pregnant hint as to +the Morrison methods. "I never expected to be honored as I am to-day." + +The Hon. Calvin Dow was posted near a window in a big chair, comfortably +reading one of Stewart's newspapers. Several other citizens of Marion, +sheep of such prominence that they could not be shooed away with the mere +goats who had been excluded, were waiting an audience with the mayor. + +"You understand, of course, that there is no secrecy--that is to say, no +secrecy beyond the usual business precautions involved," protested the +Senator. The frank query in Stewart's eyes had been a bit disconcerting. +"But to have matters of business bandied ahead of time by the mouth of +gossip, on half-information, is as damaging as all this ridiculous talk +that's now rioting through the city regarding politics." + +"It's all an atrocious libel on my administration," exploded Governor +North. "It's damnable nonsense!" + +"Old Dog Tray," when he had occasion to bark, was not noted for polite +reticence. + +Lana took Coventry Daunt's arm and started off with an elaborate display +of mock terror. "And now politics goes whirling, too! My, how the ground +shakes! Mister Mayor, I'll promise you more serene conditions on Corson +Hill this evening." + +There was an unmistakable air of proprietorship in her manner with the +young man who accompanied her. + +The Governor shook his finger before the mayor's face and, in his complete +absorption in his own tribulation, failed to remark that he was not +receiving undivided attention. "I'm depending on men like you, Morrison. I +have dropped in here to-day to tell you that I'm depending on you." + +Senator Corson had apparently convinced himself that the mill office of +St. Ronan's was too much of an open-faced proposition; it seemed more like +an arena than a conference-room. Dow and the waiting gentlemen of Marion +showed that they were frankly interested in the Governor's outbreak. Right +then there were new arrivals. + +The Senator hastily made himself solitaire manager of that particular +chess-game and ordered moves: "Lana, wait with Coventry in the car. We'll +be only a moment. At my house this evening it will be a fine opportunity +for you and Daunt to have your little chat, Stewart, and get together to +push the grand project for our good state." + +"Yes," agreed Morrison; "I'll be glad to come." He was giving the young +woman and her escort his close attention and spoke as if he meant what he +said. He blinked when the door closed behind them. + +"And what say if you wait till then, Governor, to confer with the +mayor--if you really find that there is need of a conference?" suggested +the director of moves. + +"But I want to tell you right now, Morrison, seeing that you're mayor of +the city where our state Capitol is located, that I expect your full +co-operation in case of trouble to-night or to-morrow," His Excellency +declared, with vigor. + +"Oh, there will be no trouble," asserted the Senator, airily. "Coming in +fresh from the outside--from a wider horizon--I can estimate the situation +with a better sense of proportion than you can, North, if you'll allow me +to say so. We can always depend on the sane reliability of our grand old +state!" + +The Governor was not reassured or placated. + +"And you can always depend on a certain number of sore-heads to make fools +of themselves here--you could depend on it in the old days; it's worse in +these times when everybody is ready to pitch into a row and clapper-claw +right and left simply because they're aching for a fight." + +The closed door had no more revelations to offer to Morrison; he turned +his mystified gaze on the Senator and the Governor as if he desired to +solve at least one of the problems that had come to hand all of a sudden. + +"I can take care of things up on Capitol Hill, Morrison! I'm the Governor +of this state and I have been re-elected to succeed myself, and that ought +to be proof that the people are behind me. But I want you to see to it +that the damnation mob-hornets are kept at home in the city here, where +they belong." + +"When father kept bees I used to save many a hiveful for him by banging on +mother's dishpan when they started to swarm. As to the hornets--" + +"I don't care what you bang on," broke in His Excellency. "On their heads, +if they show them! But do I have your co-operation in the name of law and +order?" + +"You may surely depend on me, even if I'm obliged to mobilize Mac Tavish +and his paper-weights," said the mayor, and for the first time in the +memory of Miss Bunker, at least, Mac Tavish flushed; the paymaster had +been hoping that the laird o' St. Ronan's had not noted the full extent of +the belligerency that had been displayed in making mill rules respected. + +But the abstraction that had marked Morrison's demeanor when he had looked +over the Governor's head at the closed door and the later glint of jest in +his eyes departed suddenly. The eyes narrowed. + +"You talk of trouble that's impending this night, Governor North!" + +"There'll be no trouble," insisted the Senator. + +"Fools can always stir a row," declared His Excellency, with just as much +emphasis. "Fools who are led by rascals! Rascals who would wreck an +express train for the chance to pick pocketbooks off corpses! There's been +that element behind every piece of political hellishness and every strike +we've had in this country in the last two years since the Russian bear +stood up and began to dance to that devil's tune! On the eve of the +assembling of this legislature, Morrison, you're probably hearing the +blacklegs in the other party howl 'state steal' again!" + +"No, I haven't heard any such howl--not lately--not since the November +election," said Morrison. "Why are they starting it now?" + +"I don't know," retorted the Governor. But the mayor's stare was again +wide-open and compelling, and His Excellency's gaze shifted to Mac Tavish +and then jumped off that uncomfortable object and found refuge on the +ceiling. + +"The licked rebels know! They're the only ones who do know," asserted the +Senator. + +Col. Crockett Shaw, practical politician, felt qualified to testify as an +expert. "Those other fellows won't play the game according to the rules, +Morrison! They sit in and draw cards and then beef about the deal and rip +up the pasteboards and throw 'em on the floor and try to grab the pot. +They won't play the game!" + +"That's it exactly!" the Governor affirmed. + +Senator Corson patted Morrison's arm. "Now that you're in politics for +yourself, Stewart, you can see the point, can't you?" + +"I don't think I'm in politics, sir," demurred the mayor, smiling +ingenuously. "At any rate, there isn't much politics in _me!_" + +"But the game must be played by the rules!" Senator Corson spoke with the +finality of an oracle. + +"If you don't think that way," persisted Governor North, nettled by +Morrison's hesitancy in jumping into the ring with his own party, "what +_do_ you think?" + +"I wouldn't presume," drawled Stewart, "to offer political opinions to +gentlemen of your experience. However, now that you ask me a blunt +question, I'm going to reply just as bluntly--but as a business man! I +believe that running the affairs of the people on the square is +business--it ought to be made good business. Governor North, you're at the +head of the biggest corporation in our state. That corporation is the +state itself. And I don't believe the thing ought to be run as a +game--naming the game politics." + +"That's the only way the thing can be run--and you've got to stand by your +own party when it's running the state. You need a little lesson in +politics, Morrison, and I'm going to show you--" + +The mayor of Marion raised a protesting hand. "I never could get head nor +tail out of a political oration, sir. But I do understand facts and +figures. Let's get at facts! Is this trouble you speak of as imminent--is +it due to the question of letting certain members of the House and Senate +take their seats to-morrow?" + +"I must go into that matter with you in detail!" + +"It has been gone into with detail in the newspapers till I'm sick of it, +with all due respect to you, Governor North. It has been played back and +forth like a game--and I don't understand games. There has been no more +talk of trouble since you and your executive council let it be known that +all the members were to walk into the State House and take their seats and +settle among themselves their rights." + +"We never deliberately and decisively let that be known." + +"Then it has been guessed by your general attitude, sir. That's the common +talk--and the common talk comes to me like it does to all others. That +talk has smoothed things. Why not keep things smooth?" + +"Breaking election laws to keep sore-heads smooth? Is that your idea of +politics?" + +"You cannot get me into any argument over politics, sir! I'm talking about +the business of the state. I have found that I could do business openly in +this office. It has served me even though it has no private room. I say +nothing against you and your council because you have done the state's +business behind closed doors at the State House. However--" + +"The law obliges us to canvass returns in executive session, Morrison." + +"I say nothing against the business you have done there," proceeded +Morrison, inexorably. "I can't say anything. I don't know what has been +done. I'm in no position, therefore, to criticize. If I did know I'd +probably have, good reason to praise you state managers as good and +faithful servants of our people. But the people don't know. You have left +'em to guess. It's their business. It's bad policy to keep folks guessing +when their own business is concerned. What's the matter with throwing wide +the doors to-morrow and saying 'Come along in, people, and we'll talk this +over'?" + +"That's admitting the mob to riot, to intimidate, to rule!" + +"Impractical--wholly impractical, Stewart," the Senator chided. + +Calvin Dow came toward the group, stuffing his spectacles back into their +case. Given a decoration for his coat lapel, the Hon. Calvin Dow, with his +white mustache and his imperial, would have served for an excellent model +in a study of a marshal of France. His intrusion, if such it was, was not +resented; with his old-school manners and his gentle voice he was the +embodiment of apology that demanded acceptance. "Jodrey, you never said a +truer word. As old politicians, you and I, we understand just how +impractical such an idea is. But I must be allowed to put the emphasis +very decidedly on the word 'old.' There seems to be something new in the +air all of a sudden." + +"Yes, a fresh crop of moonshiners in politics," was the Senator's acrid +response. "And the stuff they're putting out is as raw and dangerous as +this prohibition-ducking poison." + +"The trouble is, Jodrey," pursued the old man, gently, but undeterred, +"those honest folks who really do own the country show signs of waking up +and wanting to pay off the mortgage the politicians hold on it; and those +radicals who think they're going to own the country right soon, now, +believe they can turn the trick overnight by killing off the politicians +and browbeating the proprietors. It looks to me as if the politicians and +the real owners better hitch up together on a clean, business basis." + +"Excellent! Excellent!" declared Banker Daunt, who had been shifting +uneasily from foot to foot, chafing his heavy neck against the beaver +collar, perceiving that his own projects were only marking time. "Hitch up +on a better business basis! It should be the slogan of the times. Eh, +Mister Mayor?" + +"Right you are! crisply agreed Stewart, complimenting Daunt with a cheery +smile that promised excellent understanding. + +"And harmony among the progressive leaders of city and state! Eh, Mister +Mayor? What say, Governor North?" The metropolitan Mr. Daunt was not +disposed to allow his commercial proposition to be run away with by a +stampeding political team. + +"That's what I'm asking for--the co-operation that will fetch harmony," +admitted the Governor, grudgingly. "But--" + +However, when His Excellency turned to the mayor with the plain intent of +getting down to a working understanding, Mr. Daunt broke up what +threatened to be an embarrassing clinch. As if carried away by enthusiasm +in meeting one of his own kind in business affairs, Daunt grabbed +Morrison's hand and pulled the mayor away with him toward the door, +assuring him that he was glad to pitch in, heart and soul, with a man who +had the best interests of a grand state to conserve and develop in the +line of water-power. Then he went on as if quoting from a prospectus. + +"When the veins and the arteries of old Mother Earth have been drained of +the coal and oil, Mr. Morrison, God's waters will still be flowing along +the valleys, roaring down the cliffs, ready to turn the wheels of +commerce. On the waters we must put our dependence. They are the Creator's +best heritage to His people, in lifting and making light the burden of +labor!" was the promoter's pompous declaration. + +"You cannot shout that truth too loudly, sir! I have been crying it, +myself. But I always add with my cry the warning that if the people don't +look sharp, the folks who hogged the other heritages, grabbed the iron, +hooked onto the coal, and have posted themselves at the tap o' the +nation's oil-can, will have the White Coal, too! God will still make water +run downhill, but it will run for the profit of the men who peddle what it +performs. I'll be glad to have you help me in that warning!" + +"Exactly!" agreed Mr. Daunt. "When you and I are thoroughly _en rapport_, +we can accomplish wonders." His rush of the willing Morrison to the door +had accomplished one purpose: he had created a diversion that staved off +further political disagreement for the moment. "You must pardon my haste +in being off, Mister Mayor. Senator Corson has promised to motor me along +the river as far as possible before lunch, so that I may inspect the +water-power possibilities. Come, Governor North!" he called. + +Daunt again addressed Morrison. "The Senator tells me that your mill +privilege is the key power on the river." + +"Aye, sir! The Morrison who was named Angus built the first dam," stated +Stewart, with pride. "But we have never hoarded the water nor hampered the +others who have come after us. We use what we need--only that--and let the +water flow free--and we're glad to see it go down to turn other wheels +than our own. Without the many wheels a-turning there would not have been +the many homes a-building!" + +"Exactly! Development--along the broadest lines! Do you promise me your +aid and your co-operation?" + +"I do," declared Stewart. + +"You're the kind of a man who makes a spoken word of that sort more +binding than a written pledge with a notarial seal." Again Daunt shook the +Morrison hand. "I consider it settled!" + +Daunt's wink when he grabbed Morrison had tipped off Senator Corson, and +the latter collaborated with alacrity; he hustled the Governor toward the +door. "We must show Daunt all we can before lunch, Your Excellency! All +the possibilities of the grand old state!" + +"I haven't got your promise for myself, Morrison," snapped North over his +shoulder. "But I reckon I can depend on you to do as much for your party +and for law and order as you'll do for the sake of a confounded mill-dam. +And we'll leave it that way!" + +"There'll be no trouble, I repeat," promised Senator Corson, making +himself file-closer. "North has been sticking too close to politics on +Capitol Hill, and he has let it make him nervous. But we'll put festivity +ahead of everything else on Corson Hill, to-night, and the girls will be +on hand to make the boys all sociable. Come early, Stewart!" + +The mayor flung up his hand--a boyish gesture of faith in the best. "Hail +to you as a peacemaker! We have been needing you! We're glad you're home +again, sir." + +For a few moments he turned his back on the business of the city, as it +awaited him in the persons of the citizens. He went to the front window +and gazed at the Corson limousine until it rolled away; Lana had Coventry +Daunt with her in the cozy intimacy afforded by the twin seats forward in +the tonneau. + +"They make a smart-looking couple, bub," commented Calvin Dow, feeling +perfectly free to stand at Stewart's elbow to inspect any object that the +younger man found of interest. "Is it to be a hitch, as the gossip runs?" + +"There seems to be some gossip that's running ahead of my ken in this city +just now, Calvin!" The mayor frowned, his eyes fixed on the departing car. +His demeanor hinted that his thoughts were wholly absorbed by the persons +in that car. "I hope you're spry enough to catch it. Go find out for me, +will you, what the blue mischief they're up to?" + +"In politics? Or--" + +"In politics! Yes!" returned Morrison, tartly. "What other kind of gossip +would I be interested in, this day?" + +He snapped himself around on his heels and started toward the men who were +waiting. He singled one and clapped brisk hands smartly with the air of a +man who wanted to wake himself from the abstraction of bothersome visions. +"Well, Mister Public Works, how about the last lap of paving on McNamee +Avenue? Can we open up to-morrow? I plan on showing our arriving +legislative cousins clean thoroughfares on Capitol Hill, you know!" + +"I'm losing fourteen men off the job at noon today, Your Honor! Grabbed +off without notice," grumbled the superintendent. + +"Grabbed off for what?" + +"Well, maybe, to keep our paving-blocks from being thrown through the +windows of the State House!" + +"Who is taking those men from their work?" + +"The adjutant-general. They're Home Guard boys." + +"Something busted out in Patagonia needing the attention of a League of +Nations army?" inquired the mayor, putting an edge of satire on his +astonishment. + +The superintendent shot a swift stare past the mayor. "Perhaps Danny +Sweetsir, there, can tell you--_Captain_ Daniel Sweetsir." The public +works man copied the mayor's sarcasm by dwelling on the title he applied +to Sweetsir. + +The mayor took a look, too. + +A young man in overalls and jumper had hurried into the office from the +private passage; he was trotting toward a closet in one corner. He had the +privileges of the office because he was "a mill student," studying the +textile trade, and was a son of the Morrison's family physician. + +Sweetsir shucked off his jumper, leaped out of his overalls, threw them in +at the closet door, and was revealed in full uniform of O. D. except for +cap and sword. He secured those two essentials of equipment from the +closet and strode toward the rail, buckling on his sword. + +Miss Bunker was surveying him with telltale and proprietary pride that was +struggling with an expression of utter amazement. + +"The deil-haet ails 'em a' this day!" exploded Mac Tavish. The banked +fires of his smoldering grudges blazed forth in a sudden outburst of words +that revealed the hopes he had been hiding. His natural cautiousness in +his dealings with the master went by the board. "Noo it's yer time, chief! +I'll hae at 'em--the whole fause, feth'rin' gang o' the tykes, along wi' +ye! Else it's heels o'er gowdie fer the woolen business." + +Morrison flicked merely a glance of mystification at Mac Tavish. The +master's business was with his mill student. "What's wrong with you, +Danny? Hold yourself for a moment on that side of the rail where you're +still a man of the mill! I'm afraid of a soldier, like you'll be when +you're out here in the mayor's office," he explained, softening the +situation with humor. "What does it mean?" + +"The whole company of the St. Ronan's Rifles has been ordered to the +armory, sir. The adjutant-general just informed me over the mill 'phone." + +"What's amiss?" + +Captain Sweetsir saluted stiffly. "I am not allowed to ask questions of a +superior officer, sir, or to answer questions put by a civilian. I am now +a soldier on duty, sir!" + +"Come through the rail." + +The officer obeyed and stood before Morrison. + +"Now, Captain, you're in the office of the mayor of Marion, and the mayor +officially asks you why the militia has been ordered out in his city?" + +Again Captain Sweetsir saluted. "Mister Mayor, I refer you to my superior +officer, the adjutant-general of the state." + +Morrison promptly shook the young man cordially by the hand. "That's the +talk, Captain Sweetsir! Attend honestly to whatever job you're on! It's my +own motto." + +"I try to do it, Mr. Morrison. You have always set me the example!" + +Mac Tavish groaned. He saw mill discipline going into the garbage along +with everything else that had been sane and sensible and regular at St. +Ronan's. And the Morrison himself had come from the mill that day ten +minutes ahead of the hour! + +"So, on with you, lad, and do your duty!" Stewart forwarded Sweetsir with +a commendatory clap of the palm on the barred shoulder. + +Calvin Dow was lingering. "We mustn't let the youngsters shame us, +Calvin," Morrison murmured in the old man's ear. "We all seem to have our +jobs cut out for us--and I can't tend to mine in an understanding way till +you have attended to yours." + +The veteran saluted as smartly as had the soldier and trudged away on the +heels of Sweetsir. + +"Ain't there any way of your making that infernal old tin soldier up at +the State House lay his paws off our paving crew?" asked the +superintendent. + +"Hush, Baldwin!" chided the mayor, unruffled, speaking indulgently. "We +seem to have a new war on the board! Have you forgotten, after all that +has been happening in this world, that in time of war we must sacrifice +public improvements and private enterprises? Go on and do your best with +the paving." + +"Hell is paved with good intentions, but I can't put 'em down on McNamee +Avenue." + +"Of course not, Baldwin! That would be using war material that will be +urgently needed, if I'm any judge of these times." + +"How's that, Mister Mayor?" + +"Why, the hell architects seem to be planning an extension of the +premises," drawled Morrison. + + + + +III + +THE MORRISON ASSUMES SOME CONTRACTS + + +In the past, each day after lunch, Mac Tavish had been enabled to get back +to the sanity of a well-conducted woolen-mill business; in the peace that +descended on the office afternoons he put out of his mind the nightmare of +the forenoons and tried not to think too much of what the morrows +promised. + +Stewart Morrison had caused it to be known in Marion that he reserved +afternoons for the desk affairs of St. Ronan's mill. + +Mac Tavish always brought his lunch; he cooked it himself in his bachelor +apartment and warmed it up in the office over a gas-burner at high noon. + +While he was brushing the crumbs of an oaten cake off his desk, six men +filed in. He knew them well. They were from the Marion Chamber of +Commerce; they made up the Industrial Development Committee. + +"I'm afraid we're a bit too early to see the mayor," suggested Chairman +Despeaux. + +"Ye are! Nigh twenty-two hours too early to see the mayor!" + +"But we 'phoned the house and were told he had left to come to the +office!" + +"The mayor--mind ye, the _mayor_--he cooms frae the mill at--" + +Mac Tavish remembered the crashing blow to his proud pronunciamiento that +forenoon, and his natural caution regarding statements caused him to +hesitate. "He is supposed to coom frae the mill at ten o'clock, +antemeridian! Postmeridian, Master Morrison, of St. Ronan's--not the +mayor--he cooms to his desk yon--well, when he cooms isna the concern o' +those who are speirin for a mayor." + +The gentlemen of the committee exchanged wise grins, suggestively sardonic +grins, and sat down. + +Mac Tavish, bristling in silence over his figures, was comforted by the +ever-springing hope that this intrusion might serve as the last straw on +the overloaded Morrison endurance. + +He perked up expectantly when Stewart came striding in. Then he wilted +despondently, because Morrison greeted the gentlemen with breezy +hospitality, led them beyond the rail, and gave them chairs near his desk. + +"Command me! I am at your service!" + +"We're on our way to Senator Corson's. We have been invited to meet Mr. +Daunt at lunch," said Despeaux; a thin veneer of suavity suited his thin +lips. + +"Fine!" + +"I'm glad to hear you say so. We felt that we'd like your opinion of him +and his plans before we commit ourselves." + +"I like his personality," stated Stewart, heartily. "But I have only a +general notion of his plans." + +"Same here," admitted the chairman, though not in a tone of convincing +sincerity. "The Senator brought him into my office for a minute or so +before they started up-river. Told me to get the boys together and come +for lunch. But if it's to put the water-power of this state on a bigger +and broader basis, you and the storage commission are with us, aren't +you?" Despeaux demanded rather than queried; his air was a bit offensive. + +"I'm a citizen of Marion and a native of this state, body and soul for all +the good that can come to us, by our own efforts or through the aid of +outsiders," declared Morrison, spacking his palm upon the arm of his +chair. + +"Well, I guess we don't need any better promise than that, for a starter, +at any rate. Of course, we knew it--but there's nothing like having a +right-out word of mouth." Despeaux rose and pulled out his watch. "We'd +better move on toward the eats, boys!" + +"Just a moment, however, Despeaux! My father was a Morrison and my mother +a Mac Dougal. I can't help what's in me!" + +"What is it that's in you?" inquired Despeaux, pausing in the act of +putting back his watch. + +"Scotch cautiousness!" + +"You don't suspect that a man like the big Silas Daunt, of Daunt and +Cropley--" + +"I don't suspect. I haven't got as far as that! But I want to know exactly +what he means by coming into this state. I have a man out getting me some +facts about what kind of a devil's mess is being stirred up all of a +sudden to-day in politics. Suppose you get under Daunt's hide and find out +whether he wants to _do_ us or do _for_ us, on the water-power matter." + +An observant bystander would have perceived a queer sort of crispness in +Morrison's manner from the outset of the interview; the same perspicacity +would have detected something hard under the smooth surface of Despeaux's +early politeness. Mr. Despeaux was not so elaborately polite when he +retorted that he did not propose to play the spy on a guest while eating a +host's victuals. + +Mr. Morrison promptly put more of a snap into his crispness. + +"Having balanced to partners, for politeness's sake, Despeaux, we'll take +hold of hands and swing, with both feet on the floor. That was a good job +you did in the legislative lobby two years ago for the crowd that called +itself 'The Consolidated Development Company.' You're a smart lawyer and +we had hard work beating you." + +"I'll tell you what you franchise-owners did, Morrison! You beat a grand +and comprehensive plan that was going to take in the whole state." + +"It did take in a lot of folks for a time, but, thank God, it didn't take +in a few of us who were wise to the scheme. I know why you have called on +me to-day. But you haven't put me on record. Let no man of you think I +have made a pledge or have committed myself till I know what's what!" + +"You're Scotch, all right, Morrison. You're canny! You're for yourself and +the main chance. Now let me tell you! You caught us foul two years ago +because you jumped the newspapers into coming out with broadsides about a +thing they didn't understand. Their half-baked scare stuff made the state +think somebody was trying to steal the whole water-power." + +"According to that general franchise bill, as it was framed, somebody +was!" + +"Morrison, in the last two years the people have been educated to +understand that broad-gaged consolidation of water-power is what we must +have." + +"You have put out good propaganda. That fellow you have hired is a mighty +fine press-agent," admitted Morrison, smiling ingenuously. + +"And the men who get in the way and try to trig development this year will +be ticketed before an understanding public for what they are," declared +Despeaux. + +"Try me as a part of the public, and see whether I'll understand! Ticketed +as what, Brother Despeaux?" + +"As profiting dogs in the manger of manufacturing, sir!" + +There were expostulatory murmurs in the group. + +"We're rather non-committal as a body on this matter, Despeaux," protested +a committeeman. "We're waiting to be shown. In the mean time, we don't +like to have a man like Morrison here called any hard names." + +"Oh, I don't mind being called a watch-dog, boys! That's what I am. So you +think I'm wholly selfish, do you, Despeaux?" + +"The water-power franchises of this state were grabbed away from the +people years ago, like the timber-lands were, by first-comers, and the +state got nothing! The waters belong to the people. The people have a +right to realize on their property! Morrison, considering what kind of a +free gift you had handed to you, you've got to be careful about the +position you take in these enlightened days when the people propose to +profit from their own. It's mighty easy to shift public opinion these +days!" + +"Yes, I have seen tons of sand shifted in no time by a stream from a +squirt-gun," confessed Morrison, placidly. + +"And that leaves it a fifty-fifty break between us on the name-calling +proposition," rejoined Despeaux, "I'll bid you a kind good day!" He strode +away and his group trailed him. + +A deprecating committeeman turned back, however. "I know you are honest, +Morrison. But a lot of us are beginning to think that the general policy +in the state regarding outside capital has been a bit too conservative. +These are new times." + +"Very!" said the mayor, pleasantly. "They're creaking about as loud as +Squire Despeaux's new shoes." There was a snarl of ire from the shoes +every time the retreating chairman lifted a foot. "I hope they won't pinch +us, Doddridge! Good day!" He sat down at his desk. + +Mac Tavish held his place on his stool in silence for a long time. The +stiffness of his neck seemed to embrace all his members, even his tongue. +Miss Bunker came in from her lunch, bringing the afternoon mail. Mac +Tavish maintained his silence while Morrison picked out what were patently +his personal letters before surrendering the others to the girl to be +opened and assorted. Mac Tavish waited till his master had gone through +his personal mail. The paymaster maintained a demeanor of what may be +termed hopeful apprehension; this baiting, this impugning of honesty must +needs turn the trick! No Morrison would stand for it! Mac Tavish found the +laird's suppression of all comment promisingly bodeful. The fuse must be +sizzling. There would be an explosion! + +But Morrison began to play a lively tattoo on his desk with the knob of a +paper-slitter and whistled "The Campbells Are Coming, Hurrah, Hurrah!" +with the cheery gusto of a man who had not a care to trouble him. + +"Snoolin' and snirtlin' o'er it!" spat the old man. + +"Eh?" queried Stewart, amiably. + +"Do ye let whigmaleeries flimmer in yer noddle at a time like this?" + +"Why, Andy, speaking of a day like this, you'd have the crochets whiffed +from your head if you'd go out for your lunch in the pep of the air +instead of penning yourself in the office." + +Mac Tavish leaped from his stool and marched toward this non-combatant. +"Whaur's the fire o' yer spunk, Stewart Morrison?" + +"Go on, Andy!" permitted the master, leaning back in his chair. + +"Do ye allow such feckless loons to coom and beard ye in yer ain castle?" + +"Andy, if I were playing their game, as they call it, I'd say that I'm +going to give 'em all a chance to lay their cards, face up, on the table. +But, putting it in a way you and I understand, I'm touching a match to +their goods." + +Mac Tavish nodded approvingly. He did understand that metaphor. A burning +match will not ignite pure wool; threads of shoddy will catch fire. + +"Aye! The fire test o' the fabric! Well and gude! But the toe o' yer boot +for 'em. Such was ca'd for when he said ye set yer ainsel' in the way for +muckle profeet!" + +"Soft! Soft and slow, Andy," reproved the master. "There may be some truth +in what he said. I'll have to stop right here and do some thinking about +it! A chap gets to slamming ahead in his own line, you know. All of us +ought to stop short once in a while and make a cold, calm estimate. Take +account of stock! Balance the books! Discover how much of it is for +ourselves, personally, and how much for the other fellow! No telling how +the figures of debit and credit may surprise us!" + +He spun around in his swivel chair. + +"Lora, get Mr. Blanchard of the Conawin Mills on the 'phone, that's the +girl!" + +"Yes, Andy, I'm going to get down to the figures in my case! I hope +there's a balance in my favor--but we never can tell!" + +He set his elbows on his desk and clutched his hands into the hair above +his temples. Mac Tavish tiptoed away. Morrison had apparently prostrated +himself in the fane of figures; in the case of Mac Tavish figures were +holy. + +"Mr. Blanchard on the 'phone, Mr. Morrison," reported Miss Bunker. + +Morrison put questions, quickly, emphatically, searchingly. He listened. +He hung up. "Memo., Miss Bunker." He was curt. His eyes were hard. One +observing his manner and hearing his tone would have realized that quarry +had broken cover and that Mr. Blanchard had not been able to confuse the +trail by dragging across it an anise-bag; in fact, Morrison had said so +over the telephone just before he hung up. "Get me Cooper of the Waverly, +Finitter of the Lorton Looms, Labarre of the Bleachery, Sprague of the +Bates." He named four of the great textile operators of the river. "One +after the other, as I finish with each!" + +After he had finished with all, pondering while he waited between calls, +he strode to Mac Tavish and brought the old man around on his stool by a +clap on the shoulder. "A devil of a mouser, I am! I've been sitting +purring on the top and they have hollowed it out underneath me." + +"Eh? What?" + +"The cheese, Andy, the water-power cheese! They have been playing me for +the cat in the case! Left me till the last, left me sitting on an empty +shell! The mice have made away with the cheese from under me. They have +engineered a combine! There's a syndicate a-forming! It's for me to tumble +down among 'em when the shell caves. I was right about Despeaux!" + +"He's Auld Bartie, wi'out the horns!" + +"Oh no! Not as smart as Satan, Andy! But smart, nevertheless! Very smart. +He has shown 'em a good thing. They're ready to run in! And the devil take +the hindmost. I'm the hindmost and I'd better get a gait on." + +"But the company ye'll be keeping!" + +"You don't suppose that I'll run away from the mice instead of after 'em, +do you?" + +"A thoct has been wi' me, Master Morrison! May I speak it?" + +"Out with it!" + +"Ye'll ne'er find a better chance to break from the kin o' Auld Cloven +Cootie and mind yer ain wi' the claith business! Resign!" + +"It's good advice, backed up by a good excuse, Andy!" + +"And noo that I may speak freely," rattled on the old man, after a gasp of +delight, "I can tell ye how I hae been list'nin' for yer interests till +ten o' the clock each forenoon, and the dyvor loons--deil tak' it, and +here cooms back one o' the waurst o' the widdifu's." + +It was the Hon. Calvin Dow and Morrison hurried to meet him. "Sum it +short, Uncle Calvin!" + +"They're going to play straight politics, Stewart." + +"God save the state--in times like these!" + +"They're going to admit to seats only the Senators and Representatives who +are clearly and indisputably elected by the face of the returns." + +"The picked and the chosen!" scoffed Morrison. + +"The matter of the right to take seats is going to be referred to the full +bench instead of being left to the legislature--taken out of politics, +they say." + +"Going to be put into cold storage, with all due respect to our eminent +justices!" + +"It means the careful weighing of evidence--and the courts are obliged to +move with judicial slowness, Stewart!" + +"And in the mean time those picked and chosen ones will elect the state +officers whom the legislature has the power to name, will have the +machinery to distribute all state patronage and to make the legislative +committees safe for the big measures. There's no telling when the bench +will hand down a decision." + +"No telling, Stewart!" admitted the sage. + +"After it has been done, it will be hard to undo it, no matter what the +judges may decide as to members." + +"But we can't throw the law out of the window, my son! On the outside of +the thing, the Big Boys on Capitol Hill are playing the game strictly +according to the legal rules. The legal rules, understand! On the +outside!" Dow's emphasis on certain words was significant. He put up his +hand and drew Morrison's head down close to his mouth. He began to +whisper. + +"Talk out loud, Calvin!" commanded Stewart, jerking away. "Keep in the +habit of talking out loud with me! I won't even talk politics in a +whisper." + +"It really shouldn't be talked out, not at this time," expostulated Dow, +wedded to the old ways. "I have had to burrow deep for it. It ought to be +saved carefully--to do business with later! To win a stroke in politics +it's necessary to jump the people with a sensation!" + +"Try it on me! I'm one of the people. See if it will work," insisted +Morrison, after the manner of his methods with Despeaux. + +"They propose to go according to the strict letter of the law." + +"Important but not sensational." + +Dow was plainly having hard work to keep his voice above a whisper. +"Returns not properly sworn to or not attested in due form by city clerks, +returns not signed in open town meeting or otherwise defective on account +of strictly technical errors, no matter how plainly the intent of the +voters was registered, have been finally and definitely thrown out by +North and his executive council, acting as a canvassing board." + +"Damn'd picayune hair-splitting! Why can't they use business horse-sense?" + +"I'll tell you what they've used! They've used Tim Snell and Waddy Sturges +and a few other safe hounds with muffled paws to run around and lug back +to cities and towns deficient returns and have 'em quietly and secretly +corrected where it was a case of adding a safe man to the legislature. I +know that, Stewart. I know how to make some of my close friends brag to +me. I know it, but I can't prove it. Clean-scrubbed are the faces of those +returns. They'll show up to-morrow like the faces of the good boys on the +first day at school." + +"That's North's idea of that game he was talking about, is it?" Morrison +exploded. "I don't believe that Senator Corson knows about those dirty +details, or is a party to 'em." + +"Well," asserted the Hon. Calvin Dow, stroking his nose contemplatively, +"Jodrey and I used to cut sharp corners on two wheels of the four of the +old wagon, in past times when he was a politician. But now that he's a +statesman he doesn't like to be bothered by details." + +"Do you see any joke to this, Calvin?" demanded Morrison, not relishing +the veteran's chuckle. + +"I can't help seeing the humor," confessed Dow, blandly. "The other, boys +would be grinding the same grist if they had control of the machinery. +It's only what I myself used to do." Then his face became grave. "But, +confound it! in these days there seems to be an element that can't take a +joke in politics. There's trouble in the air!" + +"Probably!" agreed Morrison, dryly. + +Dow walked to the window and looked out with the air of a man who wanted +proof to confirm a statement. "I reckon I'll let you be informed direct +from Trouble Headquarters, Stewart. Headquarters was at the Soldiers' +Memorial in the park when I came past. I gathered that they were picking +out a delegation to call on you. Post-Commander Lanigan of the American +Legion was doing the picking. He's heading the bunch that I see coming +across the street." + +"Resign!" barked Mac Tavish through his wicket. But the mayor of Marion +did not appear to hear, nor Calvin Dow to understand. + +Morrison faced the door of his office. + +Lanigan led in his companions with the marching stride of an overseas +veteran and halted them with a top-sergeant's yelp. Click o' heels and +snap o' the arm! The salute made Captain Sweetsir's previous effort seem +torpid by comparison. That a further comparison with Home Guard methods +and morale was in Commander Lanigan's mind became promptly evident. + +"Your Honor the Mayor, we represent John P. Dunn Post, American Legion, +and the independent young men of this city in general. May we have a word +with you?" + +"Certainly, Mr. Commander!" + +In the stress of his emotions Lanigan immediately sloughed off his +official air. "It's a hell of a note when a bunch of sissy slackers can +keep real soldiers ten feet from the door of the city armory at the end of +a bayonet." + +The mayor strolled over and placed a placatory palm on the shoulder of the +spokesman. "What's, all the row, Joe? Let's not get excited!" + +"I have been away fighting for liberty and justice and I don't know what's +been going on in politics at home. I don't know anything about politics." + +"Nor I, Joe, so let's not try to discuss 'em. What else?" + +"They've got three machine-guns up in our State House. What for? They are +going to put in them sissy slackers--" + +"Let's not call names, Joe. Those boys would have followed you across if +you boys hadn't been so all-fired smart that you cleaned it all up in a +hurry! What else?" + +"Why have a gang of politicians got to barricade our State House against +the people?" + +"Let's keep cool, Joe, my boy, and find out." + +"They won't let us in to find out. How are we going to find out?" + +"Why, I was thinking of doing something in that line--thinking about it +just before you came in." + +Lanigan looked relieved, also a bit ashamed. "Excuse me for being pretty +hot, Mr. Morrison. But the boys have been saying we couldn't depend on +anybody to stand up for the people. By gad! I told 'em we'd come to you. +Says I, 'All-Wool Morrison is our kind!'" + +"I hope the name fits the goods, Joe! Suppose you boys keep all quiet and +calm for the good name of the city and let me find out how the thing +stands?" + +He was assured of support and compliance by a chorus of voices. + +Lanigan trailed the chorus in solo. "Does that settle it? I'll say it +does. It's up to you--the whole thing. You've given us the word of a +square man! We can depend on you. And we thank you for taking the full +responsibility for seeing to it that the people get theirs--and not in the +neck, either!" + +But the mayor looked like a man who had stretched forth his hand to take a +kitten and had had an elephant tossed at him. "It's a pretty big contract, +that! See here, Joe--" + +"You're good for any contract you take on, sir! We should worry after what +you promise!" He whirled on his heels. "'Bout face! Forward, march!" He +followed them and turned at the door. "All the rest of the Big Ones seem +to be too almighty busy to bother with the common folks to-day, sir! The +Governor with his politics, the adjutant-general with his tin soldiers, +and the high and mighty Senator Corson with that party he's giving +to-night so as to spout socially the news that his daughter is engaged to +marry a millionaire dude. Thank God, we've got a man who 'ain't taken up +with anything of that sort and can put all his mind on to a square deal!" + +Morrison did not turn immediately to face the three persons, his familiars +in the office of St. Ronan's. He clasped his hands behind him and went to +the window, as if to survey the departure of the delegation. + +"What with one thing and another, they're loading the boy up--they're +piling it on," observed Dow to Mac Tavish in sympathetic undertone. + +"He'll resign out o' the meeser-r-rable pother," growled Mac Tavish. "The +word he just gied the gillies! It was as much as to say, 'I'll be coomin' +along wi' ye from noo on.'" The old man's hankerings were helping his +persistent hope, in spite of his respect for the Morrison trait of +devotion to duty. + +"Resign, Andy! Confound it, he's only nailing his grit to the mast and +planning on what end of the row to tackle first. You'll see!" + +Stewart walked slowly, meditating deeply, went through the opening in the +rail, sat down at his desk and fumbled in a drawer and sought deeply under +many papers. He brought out a book, a worn volume. + +Calvin Dow, daring to peer more closely than Miss Bunker or Mac Tavish had +the courage to venture, noted that the place to which Morrison opened was +marked by a slip of paper, a snapshot photograph. + +"Miss Bunker!" called the master. "A memo.!" + +She came with her note-book and sat at the lid of the desk, facing him. + +"His resignation, I tell ye," whispered Mac Tavish. "I ken the look o' +detar-rmination!" + +"I want it typed on a narrow strip that I can slip into my pocketbook," +stated Stewart. Then, to all appearances entirely unconcerned with the +listening veterans, he dictated: + + "Meanwhile I was thinking of my first love, + As I had not been thinking of aught for years. + Till over my eyes there began to move + Something that felt like tears." + +Mac Tavish bent on Dow a wild look and swapped with the old pensioner of +the Morrisons a stare of amazement for one of bewildered concern. + + "I thought of the dress that she wore last time + When we stood 'neath the cypress-tree together + In that lost land, in that soft clime, + In the crimson evening weather. + + "Of that muslin dress (for the eve was hot) + And her warm white neck in its golden chain, + And her full, soft hair, just tied in a knot, + And falling loose again. + +"I thought of our little quarrels and strife, + And the letter that brought me back my ring. + And it all seemed then, in the waste of life, + Such a very little thing." + +The girl dabbed up her hand under pretense of fixing a lock of hair; she +scrubbed away tears that were trickling. So this was it! The powwow over +business and politics had not been stirring even languid interest in her. +Now her emotions were rioting. Here seemed to be something worth while in +the life of the master! + + "But I will marry my own first love + With her primrose face; for old things are best. + And the flower in her bosom I prize it above-- + +"My God!" Mac Tavish gasped. "Next he'll be playing jiggle-ma-ree wi' +dollies on his desk! His wits hae gane agley!" + +In the horror of his discovery he flung his arms and knocked off the desk +his full stock of paperweight ammunition. Then he was convinced beyond +doubt that the Morrison was daft. Stewart did not even raise his eyes from +the book; he kept on dictating above the clatter of the rolling weights; +his intentness on the matter in hand was that of a business man putting a +proposition on paper for the purpose of making it definite and cogent and +clear. + +But Stewart's thoughts were not at all clear, he was confessing to +himself; in spite of his assumed indifference, he was embarrassed by the +focused stares of Dow and Mac Tavish. He wondered what sudden, +devil-may-care whimsy was this that was galloping him away from business +and politics and every other sane subject! He was conscious that there was +in him a freakish and juvenile hankering to astonish his friends. + +He heard Dow say: "Oh, don't worry about the boy, Andy! We do strange +things in big times! Even Nero fiddled when Rome was burning!" + +Stewart finished the dictation and closed the book. + +"Losh! I canna understand!" mourned Mac Tavish, not troubling to hush his +tones. + +The girl hesitated, her gaze on her notes. Then she looked full into +Morrison's face, all her woman's intuitive and long-repressed sympathy in +her brimming eyes. "But I understand, sir!" She arose. She extended her +hand and when he took it she put into her clasp of his fingers what she +did not presume to say in words. + +"Thank you!" said Morrison. + +Then he left his chair and strolled across to the old men, while Miss +Bunker rattled her typewriter. "It begins to look, boys, like we're going +to have quite a large evening!" he remarked, sociably. + + + + +IV + +ANSWERING THE FIRST ALARM + + +After his dinner with his mother, Stewart went to the library-den, his own +room, the habitat consecrated to the males of the Morrison menage. He was +in formal garb for the reception at Senator Corson's. He removed and hung +up his dress-coat and pulled on his house-jacket; he was prompted to make +this precautionary change by a woolen man's innate respect for honest +goods as much as he was by his desire for homely comfort when he smoked. +He lighted a jimmy-pipe and marched up and down the room. He was +determined to give the situation a good going-over in his mind. + +He had settled many a problem in that old room! + +He was always helped by Grandfather Angus and Father David. + +When he walked in one direction he was looking at the portrait of Angus on +the end wall of the long narrow room; Angus bored him with eyes as hard as +steel buttons and out from the close-set lips seemed to issue many an +aphorism to put the grit into a man. + +From the opposite wall, when Morrison whirled on his heels, David looked +down. David's eyes had little, softening scrolls at the corners of them; +the artist had painted from life, in the case of David, and had caught the +glint of humor in the eyes. The picture of Angus had been enlarged from a +daguerreotype and seemed to lack some of the truly human qualities of +expression. But it was a strong face, the face of a pioneer who had come +into a strange land to make his way and to smooth that way for the +children who were to have life made easier for them. "Tak' it! Wi' all the +strength o' ye, reach oot and tak' it for yer ainsel' else ithers will +gr-rasp ahead and snigger at ye!" So said Angus from the wall, whenever +Stewart pondered on problems. + +But David, though the pictured countenance was resolute enough, always put +in a shrewd and cautionary amendment, whenever Stewart came down the room, +stiffened by the counsel of Angus, "Mind ye, laddie, when ye tak', that +the mon wha tak's slidd'ry serpents to tussle wi' 'em, he haes nae hand to +use for his ainsel' whilst the slickit beasties are alive; and a deid +snake serves nae guid." + +That evening Stewart was distinctly getting no help from either Angus or +David. They did not appear to understand his new and peculiar mood. He had +been in the habit of fusing their clashing arbitraments by a humor of his +own which he knew was fantastic, yet helpful according to his whimsical +custom, welding their judgments twain into one dominant counsel of +determination, softened by the spirit of fairness. + +But after he had plucked a certain slip of paper from his waistcoat +pocket, squinting at it through the pipe smoke, as he walked to and fro, +mumbling as if he were engaged in the task of memorizing, he ceased to +look up to Angus and David for assistance. He was sure they would not +know! Here were warp and woof of a fabric beyond their ken. He would not +admit to himself that he understood in full measure this emotion that had +come surging up in him, overwhelming and burying all the ordinarily +steadfast landmarks by which he regulated his daily thoughts and actions. +"I had built a dam," he muttered, using the metaphor that was natural, +"and I've been thinking it was safe and sure. Whether it wasn't strong +enough--whether it was undermined, I don't know. It has given way." + +There was a tap on the door and he hastily tucked the paper back into his +pocket. He knew it was his mother, trained in the way of the Morrisons to +respect the sanctuary of the family lairds when they were paying their +devotions at the shrine of business. + +"I'm saying my gude nicht to ye, bairnie, for ye're telling me ye'll no' +be hame till late," she said when he flung open the door. + +He copied affectionately her Scotch "braidness" of dialect when they were +alone together. "No, wee mither, not till late." + +He stepped out into the corridor and kissed her. She patted his cheek and +walked on. + +More of that whimsy into which he had been allowing his troubled emotions +to lead him! He realized it fully! His brow wrinkled, he shook his head, +but he called to her. He went to meet her when she returned. + +"It's like it is at the office, these days! I'm Morrison of St. Ronan's on +one side o' the rail; I'm the mayor of Marion on t'other! Here in the +corridor, ye're wee mither!" He put his arm about her and lifted her into +the library. "Coom awa' wi' ye, noo!" he cried. He threw himself into a +big chair and pulled her upon his knee. "Ye're Jeanie Mac Dougal--only a +woman. I need to talk wi' a woman. I canna talk wi' Mac Tavish or sic as +he. He thinks I'm daft. He said so. I canna get counsel frae grands'r or +sire yon on the walls. They don't understand, Jeanie Mac Dougal. I'm in +love!" + +"Aye! Wi' the lass o' the Corsons!" + +"But ye shouldna sigh when ye say it, Jeanie Mac Dougal." + +"A gashing guidwife sat wi' me to-day in the ben, bairnie, and said the +lass brings her ain laddie wi' her frae the great town." + +"I tak' no gossip for my guide!" he protested. "In business I tak' my +facts only frae the lips o' the one I ask. I'll do the same in love." + +She did not speak. + +"I know, Jeanie Mac Dougal! Ye canna forget ye are wee mither and it's +hard for ye to be only woman richt noo. I know the kind of wife ye hae in +mind for me. The patient wife, the housewife, the meek wife wi' only her +een for back-and-ben, for kitchen and parlor. But I love Lana." + +"She promised and she took her promise back! Again she promised, and again +she took it back!" The proud resentment of a mother flamed. "And I'm no' +content wi' the lass who once may win my laddie's word and doesna treasure +it and be thankfu' and proud for all the years to come." + +"Oh, I know, mither! But she was young. She must needs wonder what there +was in the world outside Marion. I loved her just the same." + +"But noo that she is hame they tell me that her heid 'tis held perkit and +her speech is high and the polished shell is o'er all." + +Stewart looked away from his mother's frank eyes. He was too honest to +argue or dispute. "I love her just the same!" + +"She ca'd wi' her father at the mill this day, eh? The guidwife said as +much." + +"Aye, in the way o' politeness!" He remembered that the politeness seemed +too elaborate, too florid, altiloquent to the extent of insincerity. "To +see her again is to love her the more," he insisted. "I have never been to +Washington. Probably I'd be able to understand better the manners one is +obliged to put on there, if I had been to Washington. I ought to have gone +there on my vacation, instead of into the woods. I'm afraid I have been +keeping in the woods too much!" + +"But did she talk high and flighty to you, bairnie?" + +"It meant nowt except it's the way one must talk when great folks stand +near to hear. The Governor was there!" he said, lamely. + +"That was unco trouble to mak' for hersel' in the hearing o' that auld +tyke whose tongue is as rough as his gruntle!" + +"Still, he's the Governor in spite of his phiz, and that shows her tact in +getting on well with the dignitaries, Jeanie Mac Dougal, and you're a +woman and must praise the wit of the sex. She has seen much. She has been +obliged to do as the others do. But good wool is ne'er the waur for the +finish of it! My faith is in her from what I know of the worth o' her in +the old days. And now that she has seen, she can understand better. Yes, +back here at home she'll be able to understand better. Listen, Jeanie Mac +Dougal!" He fumbled in his pocket. "Here's a bit of a poem. I have loved +it ever since she recited it at the festival when she was a little girl. +You have forgotten--I remember! And here's one verse: + + "And I think, in the lives of most women and men, + There's a moment when all would go smooth and even, + If only the dead could find out when + To come back and be forgiven." + +"But I would change it to read, 'If only we all could find out when,'" he +proceeded. "It wasn't all her fault, mother. I was younger, then. I'm old +enough now to be humble. She is home again, and I'm going to ask to be +forgiven!" + +Then the telephone-bell called. + +He lifted her gently off his knee and stood up. "As to the lad who is here +with his father! Gossip is playing all sorts of capers this day, wee +mither! And do not be worried if gossip of another sort comes to you after +I'm gone this evening. There may be matters in the city for me to attend +to as mayor. If I'm not home you'll know that I'm attending to them." + +He went to the telephone, replied to an inquiring voice and listened +intently, and then he assented with heartiness. + +"It's Blanchard of the Conawin Mills! He has a bit of business with me and +offers to take me along with him to the reception. Tell Jock he'll not +have to bother with my car!" he said, coming to her where she waited at +the door. She had picked up the slip of paper which he had dropped in his +haste to attend to the telephone. + +"I daured to peep at yer bit poem, Stewart, so that my ear might not seem +to be put to o'erhearing your business discourse," she apologized, stanch +in her adherence to the rules of the Morrisons. "And I'll tell ye that +Jeanie Mac Dougal says aye to one sentiment I hae found in it." + +"Good! Read it aloud to me, that's my own girlie!" He folded his arms and +shut his eyes. She read in tones that thrilled with conviction: + + "The world is filled with folly and sin + And love must cling where it can, I say; + For Beauty is easy enough to win, + But one isn't loved every day." + +She tucked the paper into the fingers of his hand that lay lightly along +his arm. He opened his eyes and gazed down into her straightforward ones. + +"Whoever may be the lass my bairnie loves will be honored by that love; +aye, and sanctified by that love! And sic a lass will deserve from Jeanie +Mac Dougal a smile at our threshold and respect in our hame." She went +away. Her eyes were dim with unshed tears; but she held her chin high and +trailed her bit of a train with dignity. + +Morrison folded the paper and put it away. He took a turn up and down the +long room, confronting the portrait faces in turn. He eyed them as if he +were approaching them on a matter where there now could be a better +understanding than on the subject suggested by the slip of paper. "I don't +know whether Blanchard ought to be kicked or coddled," he confessed. "He's +a fair sample of the rest. They don't kick so often in these days, +Grands'r Angus, as you did in yours. On the other hand, Daddy David, there +has been too much coddling in this country, lately, by the cowardice of +men who ought to know better and the coddling has continued to the hurt of +all of us!" + +He sat down and looked at the clock; the face of that would, at least, +tell him something definite: Blanchard said that he was talking from the +club, around the corner, and would be along in five minutes. + +And Blanchard arrived on time! + +"I suppose I ought to be offended by what you said to me over the 'phone +to-day, Morrison. I was hurt, at any rate!" + +"So was I!" retorted Stewart, promptly. "Hurt and offended, both! So we +start from the scratch, neck and neck!" + +"But why do you assume that attitude on account of what I told you?" + +"I was obliged to put questions to you in order to get the news that you +propose to hitch up with a dominating water-power syndicate!" + +"Only following out your proposition that we must get down to development +in this state." + +"The development is taking care of itself, Brother Blanchard. As chairman +of the water-power commission, I shall submit my report to the incoming +legislature. And in that report I propose to make conservation the +corollary of development." + +Blanchard blinked inquiringly. "What do you mean?" + +"Why, I mean just this! Putting it in business terms, I propose to ask for +legislation that will make the public the partners of the men who handle +and control the water-power." + +"I don't know how you're going about to do that in any sensible way," +grumbled the other. "There have been a good many rumors about that +forthcoming report of yours, Morrison. What's the big notion in keeping it +so secret?" + +"I have been ordered to report to the legislature, Blanchard! I have +prepared my case for that general court, and customary deference and +common politeness in such matters oblige me to hold my mouth till I do +report officially." + +"Nothing to be hidden, then?" probed the magnate. + +"Not a thing--not when the proper time comes!" + +"But we have been left guessing--and I don't like the sound of the rumors. +You must expect big interests to get an anchor out to windward. There's no +telling what a damphool legislature will do in case a theory is put up and +there are no sensible business arguments to contradict it." + +"As owners of water-power, Blanchard--you and I--let's bring our business +arguments into the open this year, in the committee-rooms and on the floor +of the House and Senate, instead of in the buzzing-corners of the lobby or +down in the hotel button-holing boudoirs! Now we'll get right down to +cases! You have been leaving me out of your conferences ever since I +refused to drop my coin into the usual pool to hire lobbyists. I take the +stand that these times are more enlightened and that we can begin to trust +the people's business to the people's general court in open sessions." + +Blanchard showed the heat of a man whose conscience was not entirely +comfortable. "Just what is this _people_ idea that you're making so much +of all of a sudden, Morrison? People as partners, people as +judges--people--people--" Blanchard hitched over the word wrathfully. + +"People be damned?" inquired Stewart, with a provocative grin. + +"There's too much of this soviet gabble loose these days. It all leads to +the same thing, and you've got to choke it for the good of this +government!" + +"Right you are to a big extent, Blanchard! But just now we are talking of +a vital problem in our own state and it has nothing to do with sovietism." + +"But you spoke of making the people our partners!" + +"I merely put the matter to you in a nutshell, for we'll need to be moving +on pretty quick!" He glanced at the clock. He threw off his jacket and +pulled on his coat. + +"Partners how?" + +"It will be explained in my official report, as chairman of the power and +storage commission." + +"I don't relish the rumors about what that report is likely to recommend." + +"Rumors are prevalent, are they?" + +"Prevalent, Morrison, and devilish pointed, too!" + +"I suppose that's why the old horned stags of the lobby are whetting their +antlers," surmised Morrison, giving piquant emphasis to his remark by a +gesture toward a caribou head, a trophy of his vacation chase. "I have +heard a rumor, too, Blanchard. Are they going to introduce legislation to +abolish my commission and turn the whole water-power matter over to the +public utilities commission?" + +Blanchard flushed and said he knew nothing about any such move. + +"I'm sorry that syndicate isn't taking you into their confidence," +sympathized Morrison. "I know just how you feel. The boys who ought to +train with me are not taking me into their conferences, either!" + +"You spoke of coming down to cases!" snapped Blanchard, his uneasy +conscience getting behind the mask of temper. "I don't ask you to reveal +any official report. But can you tell me what this 'people-partners' thing +is?" + +"I can, Blanchard, because it isn't anything that is specifically a part +of the report. It's principle, and principle belongs in everything. I +merely apply it to the case of water-power in this state." + +He went close to his caller and beamed down on him in a sociable manner. +"I rather questioned my own good taste and the propriety of my effort to +get on to the commission and be made its chairman. As an owner of power +and of an important franchise I might be considered a prejudiced party. +But I hoped I had established a bit of a reputation for square-dealing in +business and I wanted to feel that my own kind were in touch with me and +would have faith that I was working hard for all interests. You and I can +both join in damning these demagogues and radicals and visionaries and +Bolshevists. We must be practical even when we're progressive, Blanchard." + +"Now you're talking sense!" + +"I hope so!" But his next statement, made while the millman glared and +muttered oaths, fell far short of sanity in Blanchard's estimation. "I'm +fully convinced that one of the inalienable rights of the people is +ownership of water-power. We franchise-proprietors ought to content +ourselves with being custodians, managers, lessees of that power that +comes from the lakes that God alone owns." + +"Are you putting that notion in your confounded report?" + +"I am." + +"Are you sticking in something about confiscating the coal and the oil and +the iron and--" + +"Oh no!" broke in Morrison, calm in the face of fury. "Those particular +packages all seem to be nicely tied up and laid on the shelf out of the +people's reach. And whether they are or not is not my concern now. I'm +only a little fellow up here in a small puddle, Brother Blanchard. I'm not +undertaking the reorganization of the world. I'll say frankly that I don't +know just what kind of legislation in regard to the already developed +water-power in this state can be passed and be made constitutional. But +now when coal is scarcer and high, or monopolized, at any rate, to make it +high and scarce in the market, the exploiters are turning to water-power +possibilities with hearty hankering, and the people are turning with +hope." + +"I'm afraid I'm getting hunks out of that report of yours, ahead of +official time." + +"You're getting the principle underlying it--and you're welcome." + +"Morrison, the idea that the people have any overhead right and ownership +in franchise-granted and privately developed water-power is ridiculous and +dangerous nonsense." + +"It does sound a bit that way, considering the fact that the people of +this state have never even taxed water-power, as such. The ideas of the +fathers, who gave away the power for nothing, seem to have come down to +the sons, who haven't even woke up to the fact that it's worth +taxing--yes, Blanchard, taxing even to the extent that the people will get +enough profits from the taxation to make 'em virtual partners! And as to +the millions of horse-power yet to be developed, let the profits be called +lease-money instead of taxation. Then we'll be going on a business basis +without having the matter everlastingly muddled and mixed and lobbied in +politics!" + +Blanchard knew inflexibility when he saw it; and he knew Stewart Morrison +when it came to matters of business. He did not attempt argument. "Well, +I'll be good and cahootedly condemned!" he exploded. + +"No, you'll be helped and I'll be helped by putting this on a business +basis where the radicals, if they grab off more political power, won't be +able to rip it up by crazy methods; the radicals don't know when to stop +when they get to reforming." + +"Radicals! Confound it, it looks to me as if we had one of 'em at the head +of that power commission! Morrison, have you turned Bolshevik?" + +"My friend," expostulated Stewart, gently, "when you opposed the principle +of prohibition the fanatics called you 'Rummy.' The name hurt your +feelings." + +"They had no right to impugn my motives!" + +"Certainly not! It's all wrong to try to turn a trick by sticking a +slurring name on to conscientiousness." + +"You're turning around and hammering your friends and associates, no +matter what name you put on it." + +"It has always been considered perfectly proper to lobby for the big +interests in this state for pay! Why shouldn't I lobby for the people for +nothing?" + +"You and I are the people! The business men are the people. The +enterprising capitalists who pay wages are the people. The people are--" + +He halted; the telephone-bell had broken in on him. + +Morrison apologized with a smile and answered the call. He sprawled in his +chair, his elbow on the table, and listened for a few moments. "But don't +stutter so, Joe!" he adjured. "Take your time, now, boy! Say it again!" + +He attended patiently on the speaker. + +"They won't take your word on the matter, you say? Why, Joe, that's not +courteous in the case of an American Legion commander! Hold on! I can't +come down there! I have to attend the reception at Senator Corson's." + +He listened again to what was evidently expostulation and entreaty, and, +while he listened, he gazed at the sullen Blanchard with an expression of +mock despair. + +"Joe, just a word for myself," he broke in. "I'm afraid you have pledged +me a little too strongly. You went off half cocked this afternoon! Oh no! +I don't take it back. I'm not a quitter to that extent. But I really +didn't undertake to run the whole state government, you know! Those folks +up on Capitol Hill don't need my advice, they think!" + +With patience unabated he listened again. "If it's that way, Joe, I'll +have to come down. I'll certainly never put an honest chap in bad or leave +him in wrong, when a word can straighten the thing. Hold 'em there! I'll +be right along!" He hung up. + +"As I was saying," persisted Blanchard, "the people--" + +Morrison put up his hand and shook his head. + +"I guess we'd better hang up the joint debate on the people right here, +Blanchard! What say if you come along with me and pick up a few facts? The +facts may give you a new light on your theories." He hastened to a closet +and secured his top-coat and his silk hat. + +"Come where?" + +"Down to the Central Labor Union hall. There's a big crowd waiting there." + +Blanchard surveyed his own evening apparel in a mirror. "I'm headed for a +reception--not the kind I'd get as the head of the Conawin corporation +from a labor crowd." + +"Nevertheless, I urge you to come with me. I believe that a little contact +with the people in this instance will clear your thoughts." + +"Another one of your riddles!" snorted the manufacturer. "What's it all +about?" + +"Blanchard," declared Morrison, setting his jaws grimly while he pondered +for a moment and then coming out explosively, "it's about what we may +expect from the people when damned fools try to play politics according to +the old rules in these new times. It's about what we may expect of the +people when they're denied a showdown by men at the head of public +affairs. There's trouble brewing in the city of Marion to-night. What +would you do if you happened to glance out of your office window and saw a +leak spurting big as a lead-pencil from the base of the Conawin dam? You'd +know the leak would be as big as a hogshead in a few minutes, wouldn't +you?" + +"Yes!" admitted the other. + +"You'd get to that leak and plug it mighty quick, wouldn't you?" + +"No need to ask!" + +"Well, this is a hurry call and I need your help." + +"I don't stand in well with the labor crowd--" demurred Blanchard. + +"I know all that! You're hiring too many aliens and Red radicals in your +mill! But you ought to have some influence with your own gang, such as +they are! I suspect that they're the leading trouble-makers down in that +hall. Blanchard, if you're not afraid of your own men, come along!" He +clapped the millman on the shoulder and led the way toward the door. + +"If there are scalawags starting that 'state steal' howl again somebody +ought to tell 'em that there are three machine-guns and plenty of loaded +rifles on Capitol Hill to-night, and the men behind 'em propose to shoot +to kill," stated Blanchard, vengefully, shaking his silk hat. + +Morrison whirled on him. "You're just the man to go down there and tell +'em so! You probably have inside information. All I know is hearsay! I'll +advise 'em and you threaten 'em. Come along, Blanchard! We'll make a good +team!" + + + + +V + +THE MEN WHO WERE WAITING TO BE SHOWN + + +While Commander Lanigan talked with the mayor from a telephone-booth in a +drug-store under Central Labor Union hall, Post-Adjutant Demeter stood with +his nose pressed against the glass door, waiting anxiously. + +Lanigan pushed open the door with one hand while he hung up the receiver +with the other, and by his precipitate exit nigh bowled his adjutant over; +Mr. Lanigan, it was plain to be seen, was wound up tightly that evening +and his mainspring was operating him by jumps. + +"He's the boy! He's coming! Tell the world so! And I'll go back up-stairs +and tell them blistered sons o' seefo that there are such things as truth +and a bar o' soap in this country, spite o' the fact they have never used +either one!" + +Demeter followed his commander into the street. + +In spite of his haste, Lanigan was halted; he gazed up into the heavens, +his breath streaming on the crackly-cold air. + +The skies were blazing with shuttlings of lambent flame. From nadir to +zenith the mystic light shivered and sheeted. Never had Lanigan beheld a +more vivid display of the phenomenon of the aurora borealis. He seemed to +be waiting for something. He sighed and shook his head. + +"Peter, my heart jumped at first glimpse! 'Tis like the flash of the +Argonne big guns! Thank God, the thunder of 'em isn't following!" + +"Yes, thank God!" murmured Demeter, his soul in his tones! + +They stood there for a few minutes, shoulder to shoulder, the contact of +arm with arm serving for an exchange of thoughts between those veterans in +a silence that would have been profaned by words. + +The phantasmagoria overhead was shifting infinitely and rapidly; there +were flashes that seemed to presage a thunderous roar of an explosion and +were more bodeful because the hush aloft in the heavenly spaces remained +unbroken; then the filaments and streamers of light made one mighty +oriflamme across the skies, an expanse of woven hues, wavering and lashing +as if a great wind were threshing across the main fabric and flinging its +attendant bannerets. + +"It's in the air; it's in the nerves! It puts hell into a man, doesn't it, +Peter?" + +"Yes!" + +"It was in that telephone back there! It crackled and snapped! A lot of it +may be in those poor fools up in that hall--and they ain't knowing what +the matter is with 'em! You and I have been over in the Big Bow-wow, boy, +and we have had some good lessons in how to handle rattled nerves. I guess +it's up to us to hold things steady, as experts. Soothe 'em and smooth +'em! It was All-Wool Morrison's lesson to me to-day! Soft and careful with +'em, seeing that they're full of what's in the air this night, and don't +know just what ails 'em!" + +He lowered his gaze from the skies. A man was passing on his way toward +the door of the hall. + +Lanigan had just laid down a general rule of diplomatic conduct for the +evening, but he made a prompt exception. He leaped on the man, struggled +with him for a moment, and yanked off a red necktie, taking with it the +man's collar and a part of his shirt, "But some stuff that they're full of +can't be smoothed out--it's got to be whaled out!" panted Lanigan. He did +not release his captive. "The nerve o' ye, parading your red wattles on a +night like this, ye Tom Gobbler of a Bullshevist!" + +"I have the right to pick the color of my own necktie!" snarled the man. + +"Not for the reason why you picked it! Not to wear it up into that hall, +my bucko boy!" + +When the man expostulated with oaths, Lanigan tripped him and held him on +the sidewalk. "Hush your yawp! You can't fool me about your taste in ties! +I know what's behind that color like I'd know what's behind an Orangeman's +yellow! I don't need to wait for him to hooray for the battle o' the Boyne +ere I get my brick ready! Peter, frisk his pockets!" + +Demeter obeyed. + +A crowd was collecting. Through the press rushed a young man. "Need help, +Commander?" + +"Only keep your eye peeled to see that another Bullshevist don't sneak up +and kick me from behind, after the like o' the breed!" + +Demeter's exploration produced a bulldog revolver, a slungshot, a packet +of pamphlets, and several small red flags. + +"What's your name?" demanded the commander. + +"No business of yours!" + +Lanigan kneeled on the captive and roweled cruel thumbs into the man's +neck. "Out with it before I dig deeper for it." + +"Nicolai Krylovensky!" + +"I knew it must be bad, but I didn't think it was as bad as that! I don't +blame ye for trying to keep it mum! And ye look as though it tasted bitter +coming up. I'll not poison me own mouth." He stood up and yanked the man +to his feet. "So I'll call ye Bill the Bomber! Where do ye work, or don't +ye work?" + +"Conawin!" + +"I thought so! One of that bunch down there that's trying to undermine the +best government on the face of the earth. Come along! I've got a bit o' +business on hand right now and I need you in it." + +Then he turned, pushing the man ahead of him. + +Lanigan became aware that the young fellow who had proffered aid was +muttering in a derogatory fashion. + +"What's on your mind, Jeff?" demanded the commander, recognizing a member +of the post. + +"Nothing!" + +"I'm in an inquiring turn o' mind right now," rasped Lanigan. "And ye have +just seen me go after information. I heard ye damning something. Ye'd best +make me understand that you wasn't damning _me_!" + +"I sure wasn't, sir! But as for this government being the best, I want to +say--" + +Lanigan's yelp broke in like an explosion. "Hold this Bullshevist, Peter! +I want both hands free!" + +"I wasn't saying anything against our government, Commander Lanigan! Not a +word!" wailed the overseas man. "So help me!" + +"I'm in a soothing frame of mind this night," returned the ex-sergeant. "I +have been having some good lessons in soothing from the mayor of Marion, +God bless him! I was nigh making a fool of myself till he showed me that +the soothing way is the best way. And I shall keep right on soothing. But +this is a night when the plain truth and the word of man-to-man have got +to operate to prevent trouble! And I want the truth out o' ye, Jeff +Tolson, or else ye'll be calling for toast, well soaked, in the hospital +in the morning!" + +"I went up to one of them sissy slackers--" + +"Mind the kind of a name ye stick on to a soldier of the government! Do ye +see who's listening?" He grabbed his prisoner again and shook him. "Be +careful of what you say as an American citizen in the hearing of rats like +this, Tolson! It encourages 'em. They think we mean it. Get the bile out +of your system in a strictly family fuss! Spit out a lot you don't mean, +if it's going to make you feel better! But first slam down the windows so +that the outsiders can't overhear. I'll see you later!" + +"But I want you to get me right, Commander," Tolson pleaded. "I went up to +one of the boys to show him how to hold his gun and he banged me with the +butt of it!" + +"He did!" Lanigan clicked his teeth and showed that he was having hard +work to control his own resentment. + +"I was only trying to be helpful. I tried to take his gun and show him. +And he insulted an overseas veteran!" + +Lanigan had himself in hand again. "Tried to take away his gun, you say! +You in civics and he in uniform and on duty! Jeff, if it's that hard to +wake up and know that you're no longer a soldier, I reckon your +wrist-watch is acting too much like a reminder-string around a Jane's +finger! Better hang it from the end of your nose. It's a wonder he didn't +give you the bayonet!" + +"The butt was aplenty, sir!" + +"I can stand it better to be banged on the knob by a gun-butt by a good +American than batted in the eye by this color on a Bullshevist!" asserted +Lanigan, waving the red necktie that he still retained in his clutch. He +gave the owner of it another push. "Along with you, Bill the Bomber." + +Tolson trailed. "But what are they trying to do up on Capitol Hill, sir? +What does it all mean?" + +"I don't know," confessed the commander. He drove his way through the +bystanders. "You see, boys, I have started in along the way of telling the +truth to-night. So I own up that I don't know! We're going to find out +what it means!" He kept on toward the door of the hall with his prisoner. +"I've arranged to have a man come down here and tell us what it means and +tell us how to act." + +"Well, he'll know more than anybody else I have tackled on the subject +to-night," said Tolson, sourly. "He's a wonder, if he does know!" + +"He's All-Wool Morrison--and that's your answer, buddie," retorted +Lanigan. And that answer did seem to suffice for Tolson. + +There were many men on the stairs leading up to the hall, and the elbowing +throng at the door of the auditorium furnished further evidence of the +overflowing nature of the gathering. + +"Gangway!" commanded Lanigan at the top of his voice. "Make way, there! +I'm bringing something straight in my mouth and something crooked in my +mit, and neither one of 'em will ye have till free passage is made to the +platform." + +The crowd's curiosity served effectively to clear that passage. + +Lanigan's captive went along, sullenly unresisting. There was no +opportunity for rebellion in that mob that opened a narrow passage +grudgingly, only to pack together again in a solid mass. But certain men +whom Krylovensky passed or men who caught his eye by swift motions spat +whispers at him in a language that Lanigan did not understand. + +"Is it three cheers that your brother rattlesnakes are giving ye in the +natural hissing way of 'em?" inquired the captor. "They're a fine bunch!" + +With his hand twisted tightly into the slack of the man's coat and the +torn shirt, the ex-sergeant forced the prisoner up the short stairs that +conducted to the platform; Demeter followed. + +Tobacco smoke streamed up in whirls from the banked faces that filled the +hall from side to side, and the eddying clouds floated in strata above the +rows of heads. Lanigan peered sternly at the crowd through the haze. "Here +I am back! And I'm thanking the good saints for the few mouthfuls of fresh +air I got outside and the news I got, and for this here I found and +fetched along. I need him. I was on a jury once, in a murder case, and +they had the tool that done the job and the lawyers tagged it Exhibit A. +This is it! He's got a name, but if I tried to say it, it would cramp my +jaws and hold my mouth open so long that I'd get assifixiated with this +smoke. This is Bill the Bomber! Demeter, hold up the goods we found on +him!" + +The post-adjutant obeyed the order. + +"Now, Bill the Bomber," demanded Lanigan, "tell me and the bunch what's +the big idea of the arsenal, in a peaceful American city?" + +"Is it peaceful?" screamed the captive, at bay. "There are soldiers +marching with guns. There are men threatening and cursing! There are--" + +"Hold right on--right where you are! Are you naturalized?" + +"No!" + +"Well, let me tell you, you red-gilled Bullshevist, that till you're a +voting American citizen, our private and personal and strictly family rows +are none of your damn' business! All American citizens kindly applaud!" + +He was answered by cheers, stamping feet, and clapping hands. + +"Contrary-minded?" he invited in the silence that followed. + +"Hiss a few hisses, you snakes!" he urged. "Or show those red flags you're +carrying in your pockets!" + +There was no demonstration, either by act or by word. + +Lanigan pushed his captive to the rear of the platform and jolted him down +into a chair behind which, on the wall, was draped a large United States +flag. "Set there and see if you can't absorb a little of the white and +blue into your system, along with the red that's already there," counseled +the patriot. "You're going to hear some man-talk in a little while, and I +hope 'twill do you good!" + +A man in the audience rose to his feet when Lanigan marched back to the +front of the rostrum. + +"I am a voter here, yet I was born in another country. Will you allow me +to ask a question, Commander Lanigan?" + +"Sure! But let's start even on names. What's yours?" + +"Otto Weisner!" + +Lanigan made a grimace. "But even at that I'm going to keep my word and I +call on all present to back me up." + +"See here!" bawled a voice from a far corner. "Let that Hun wait! How +about your word to us in another matter? Where's the mayor of Marion?" + +"The mayor of Marion is on his way to this hall!" The soldier's face was +set into a grim expression and deep ridges lined his jaws. "I gave you all +once to-night his word to me that he'd stand up for us on Capitol Hill, +whatever it is they're trying to put over. I got the hoot from you when I +said it. You wouldn't take my word and I just told him so. Now he's coming +down here for himself! I say it. If some gent would like to hoot another +hoot on that subject will he kindly step up here and hoot?" He doubled his +fists. + +There was no indication that anybody wanted to accept the invitation. + +"Very well, then!" proceeded Lanigan. "I'm in a soothing frame of mind, +myself, and I hope you're all soothed, too. And so that we won't be +wasting any time on a busy evening I'll state that the meeting is now open +for that question, Mister Weisner. Shoot!" + + + + +VI + +THE MAN'S WORD OF THE MAYOR OF MARION + + +Commander Lanigan had constituted himself the presiding officer of the +assemblage that had been gathered under no special auspices and by no +formal call. It was a flocking together of those uneasy persons who had +been informing one another that they wanted to be shown! Mr. Lanigan's +unconventional methods in the chair were tolerated because he had +displayed much alacrity in putting the mob in the way of securing +information from such high authority as the mayor of Marion. Chairman +Lanigan's compelling methods in pumping this time-filler kept up the +interest of the auditors. + +"I belong to der Socialist party," stated Weisner. + +"We don't want no Boche speeches!" warned a voice. + +In his absorption in affairs, Lanigan was still hanging on to the captured +red necktie. He noted that fact and held the danger signal aloft. "I don't +approve of this color at this time," he remarked. "But when I have seen it +waved in times past I have known that it meant a blast going off or a +train coming on, and I have never taken foolish chances. Does the +objecting gent down there in the corner need any further instruction from +here, or shall I come down and whisper in his ear?" + +Silence assured him and again he ordered Mr. Weisner to ask his question. + +The querist ceased from showing deference to the volunteer in the chair; +Weisner turned his back on Lanigan and addressed all in hearing, shaking +his fist over his head: "Who tells me dis vhat I don'd know? Does Karl +Trimbach his seat haf in der State House vhere der Socialists haf elected +him?" + +"If he has been elected, sure he'll have his seat," declared Lanigan, +loyally. "That's the way we do things in this country! Why shouldn't he +have his seat?" + +"Den vhere--vhere is dot zertificate dot should show to Karl Trimbach dot +he shall valk into der State House und sit on his seat? He don't get it. +Why don'd dey send it?" Weisner bellowed his questions. He threshed his +arms wildly about him. + +"This is no time to be starting anything, Weisner! Don't stand there and +be a Dutch windmill--be an American citizen! Soothe yourself!" + +Another gentleman arose. He was distinctly Hibernian. He wore an obtrusive +ribbon-knot of green, white, and yellow, the colors of the flag of the +Irish Republic. "Lanigan, ye may not be able to reply satisfact'rily to +th' questions o' the sour-krauters, but when I ask ye whether or not the +Hon'rable Danyel O'Donnell, riprisent'thive-ilict, put in that high office +be th' votes o' th' Marion pathrits of a free Ireland, takes his sate, +what does th' blood o' yer race say to me?" + +Lanigan blinked and hesitated. He felt the sudden Celtic surging of a +natural impulse to run with his kind, to swing the cudgel valiantly for +the cause, and to ask questions after the shindy was over. + +"You know th' principles o' th' Hon'rable O'Donnell," insisted the speaker +in loud tones. "Tis his intint to raise his voice in th' halls o' state +and shout ear-rly and late, 'Whativer it is ye're about, gents, it all may +be very well, but what will ye be doing for the cause o' free Ireland?' +That's th' kind of a hero we're putting in th' State House en the hill." + +"Putting a pest there, ye mean!" returned Lanigan. + +"Is that the blood o' yer race speaking?" + +"No, it's the common sense up here," declared the commander, tapping his +knuckles against the side of his head. "Look, here, Mulcahy, my man! +You're spouting about a subject that's too big for me to understand or you +to explain. And that's why you're muddling yourself and mixing up the +minds of others with your questions. I ask you no questions. I'm going to +tell you something--and it's so! If the kids in your family was down with +the measles, and the missus was all snarled up with the tickdoolooroo and +you wasn't feeling none too well yourself, what with a hold-over, a black +eye, and a lot o' bumps, what would you--Hold on! I say, I ask no +questions! I know the answer. If Tommy O'Rourke came howling and whooping +into your back door and asked you to go out and shin up a tree and fetch +down his tomcat, ye'd tell Tommy to bounce along and mind his own matters +till ye'd settled your own--and if he didn't go you'd kick him out." + +"I'm discussing th' rights and wrongs of a suffering people." + +"And playing safe for yourself because the subject is so big--and putting +others in wrong because they can't settle all the troubles of the universe +offhand to suit ye! My family is America, Mulcahy! It ought to be yours, +first, last, and all the time. But we've got our own aches to mind, right +now! And the way I'm putting it, a plain man can understand. If the tomcat +don't know enough to come down all by himself, leave him be up there till +the doctor tells us we can be out and about." + +Weisner put his demand again and Mulcahy made the affair a vociferous +duet; other men were on their feet, shouting. But a top sergeant has a +voice of his own and a manner to go with the voice: Lanigan yelled the +chorus into silence. + +While he was engaged in this undertaking a diversion at the door assisted +him. The crowd parted. Men shouted, pleading, "Make way for the mayor!" + +Morrison came up the aisle toward the platform, Blanchard at his heels. + +There were cheers--plenty of them! + +But sibilantly, steadily, ominously the derogatory hisses were threaded +with the frank clamor of welcome; hisses whose sources were concealed. + +The mayor ran up the steps of the platform and marched to Lanigan, doffing +the silk hat and extending his hand cordially. + +With his forearm the commander scrubbed off the sweat that was streaming +down into his eyes. "It's been like hauling a seventy-five into action +with mules, Your Honor! For the love o' Mike, shoot!" + +The hisses continued along with the applause when Stewart faced the +throng. + +Lanigan leaped off the platform, not bothering with the stairs. "I'm going +to wade through this grass," he yelped. "God pity the rattlesnake I +locate!" + +A shrill voice from somewhere dared to taunt, "Pipe the dude!" + +Morrison smiled. He had unbuttoned his top-coat, and his evening garb, in +that congress of the rough and ready, made him as conspicuous as a bird of +paradise in a rookery. "I seem to be double-crossed by my scenic effects, +Blanchard," he stated in an aside to the magnate, who had stepped upon the +platform because that elevation seemed safer than a position on the floor. +"We must fix that! Furthermore, it's hot up here!" He pulled off his +top-coat. He realized that the full display of his formal dress only +aggravated the situation. In St. Ronan's mill he mingled with men in his +shirt-sleeves. He turned and saw Nicolai Krylovensky in the chair where +Lanigan had thrust him. There was no other chair on the platform. Stewart +hastily laid the coat across the alien's knees. "Keep 'em out of the dirt +for me, will you, brother? I'm notional about good cloth!" He pushed his +silk hat into the man's hand and then he stripped off the claw-hammer and +white waistcoat, piled them upon the overcoat; and whirled to face his +audience. + +All eyes were engaged with the mayor. + +Krylovensky, unobserved, let the garments slip to the floor and dropped +the hat. + +"Now, boys, we'll get down to business together in an understanding way! +What's it all about?" Stewart invited, cheerily. + +"Just a minute!" cried Lanigan, heading off all the possibilities that +were threatening by a general powwow. "I've just been up against the bunch +here, Mister Mayor, and they're trying to turn it into a +congress-of-nations debate, and it ain't nothing of the kind. And I know +you're in a hurry, and we don't expect a speech!" + +"You won't get one!" retorted the mayor, tartly. "I have dropped down here +merely in a business way to find out what's wanted of me as the executive +head of this city." + +"Your Honor, I have been preaching the notion of telling the truth +to-night, and I'm going to come across with something about myself," +confessed Lanigan, manfully. "I've gone off half cocked twice to-day. I've +been thinking it over and I realize it. In your office I grabbed in on a +word or two you said and took it for granted that you were going to lift +the whole load of the people's case up at the State House and stop +anything being put over on the people, whatever it is the Big Boys are +planning. But you didn't promise me to do it." + +"I did not, Joe!" + +"And I've been telling this gang that you did promise me and that I'd get +you down here to back up my word. I don't ask you to back up my lie. +You're too square a proposition, Mayor Morrison!" + +"After that man-talk, Joe, I've just naturally got to make a little of my +own. And the boys can't help seeing that both you and I mean all right. I +did give you good reasons for jumping at conclusions as you say you did, +Joe! Understand that, boys! But my head isn't swelled to the extent that I +believe I can settle everything. + +"Now that I'm down here I'll say this. I'll do everything I can, as mayor +of Marion, to straighten things out to-night so that the people won't be +left guessing. Guessing starts gabble and gabble starts trouble! Don't do +any more shouting about 'state steal,' and don't allow others to shout. +Most of us don't know what it means, anyway, and others don't care, so +long as it gives 'em a chance to stir up riots and grab off something for +themselves under cover of the trouble. There are a lot of outsiders in +this country, standing ready to make just such plays! Don't let your ears +be scruffed by mischief-makers, boys. Let's have our city come through +with a clean name! I'm going to do my part as best I can. But you've all +got to do yours--understand that!" He smacked his fist down into his palm. + +"Do you bromise me dot Karl Trimbach gets dot seat?" boomed Mr. Weisner. + +"The same question goes as to th' Hon'rable Danyel O'Donnell," said +Adherent Mulcahy. + +"I cannot promise." + +Then sounded that voice of the unknown troublemaker, sneeringly shrill, +the senseless, passion-provoking common, human fife of the mob spirit, +persistently present and consistently cowardly in concealment. "Of course +you don't promise anything to the people! Dudes stand together! Go back +and dance!" + +Lanigan began to claw a passage for himself. + +"Stand where you are, Joe!" commanded Stewart. "Don't flatter a fool by +making any account of him!" + +"Those kinds of fools are going to make trouble in this city before the +night is over, Your Honor!" + +"That's the trouble with politics," declared Mulcahy. "Ye can't get a +square promise in politics fr'm th' Big Boys!" + +Morrison put up a monitory forefinger. + +"But you can get a square promise from me in business--and I can see that +it's time to give that promise and make it specific. That's the way a +business contract must be drawn. Hear me, then! It's the business of this +city to see that no man abuses its good name or its hospitality, no matter +whether he's a resident or comes here because it's the capital of the +state. And I'll see to it that the men up at the State House end +understand that they must play fair for the good of all of us. You must +understand the same at this end. I'll take no sides in politics. The men +who are entitled to their seats in this legislature will have those seats. +I'm only one man, boys! But one man who is perfectly honest and is +depending on the right will find the whole law of the land behind him--and +wise men and good men have attended to the law. Will you take my word and +let it stand that way between us?" + +A chorused yell of assent greeted him. + +"All right! It's a contract! Mind your end of it!" + +He turned sharply from them and faced Krylovensky. The alien leaped up and +kicked the mayor's garments to one side. + +"Say! See here, my friend!" expostulated Stewart. + +"Down with rulers!" screamed the man. "I'll be a martyr, but not a +hat-rack!" + +The mayor walked toward the frantic person. "I'm sorry! I was +thoughtless!" + +"You and your kind think of nothing but yourselves. You try to make slaves +of free citizens of the world!" Krylovensky had been buffeted and had +controlled himself. But the fires of his narrow fanaticism were now +whirling in his brain; sitting there on high before the eyes of his +fellows, the men to whom he had been preaching the doctrines of soviet +sovereignty--the supremacy of the people--he had just suffered what his +distorted views held as the enormity of ignominy; he had been used as a +clothes-tree for discarded garments. Used by a ruler! + +When Morrison, not realizing that the man had become little short of a +maniac, stooped to pick up the garments Krylovensky dove forward and +struck the mayor's face with open hand. "Now throw me to your dogs! I'll +die a martyr to my cause!" he squalled. + +The mayor snapped upright and laid restraining hands on the man who was +threatening him with doubled fists. + +A roaring mob came milling toward the platform. + +"I'll be a martyr!" insisted the alien. + +"I can't humor you to that extent," replied Morrison, in the tone of a +father denying indulgence in the case of a wilful child. + +He got between the man and the mob. He held Krylovensky from him with one +hand and put up the other protestingly, authoritatively. + +"No man that's a real man lets another man bang him in the face," declared +Lanigan with fury. + +"That's a nice point, to be argued later by us when things are quieter, +Joe. Stand back!" + +"I'm going to kill him even if you haven't got the grit to do it." Lanigan +was showing the bitter disappointment of a worshiper kicking among the +fragments of a shattered idol. + +"I won't allow you to do that, Joe! A dead man can't answer questions. +Stand back, all of you, I say!" He twisted the grip of his hand in the +man's collar until Krylovensky ceased his struggles. + +"Do you work in this city?" asked the mayor. + +"He works in the Conawin," shouted Lanigan. "And I shook him down this +evening for a gun, a knob-knocker, and a lot of red flags." + +Blanchard was backed against the big Stars and Stripes, apprehensively +seeking refuge from the crowd massing on the platform. Morrison caught his +eye. "Seems to be one of your patriots, Blanchard! Shall I hand him over +to you?" + +"I never saw the renegade before." + +"I'm sorry you don't get into your mill the way I do into mine. I'd like +to know something about this gentleman who doesn't show any inclination to +speak for himself." + +"I'm not afraid to speak," declared the captive, all cautiousness burned +out of him by the fires of his martyr zeal. "I'm an ambassador of the +grand and good Soviet Government of Russia." + +The mayor preserved his serenity. + +"Ah, I think I understand! One of the estimable gentlemen who have been +coming to us by the way of the Mexican border of late! When you picked up +such a good command of our language, my friend, it's too bad you didn't +pick up a better understanding of our country. I haven't any time just now +to give you an idea of it, sir. I'll have a talk with you to-morrow." + +The mayor had seen Officer Rellihan at the door of the hall. As a +satellite, Rellihan was constant in his attendance on his controlling +luminary in public places, even though the luminary issued no special +orders to that effect; Morrison's intended visit to the hall had been +quickly advertised down-town. + +Stewart glanced about him and found Rellihan at his elbow. + +"Here's the honorable ambassador of Soviet Russia, Rellihan," said his +chief. "Take him along with you, keep harm from him on the way, and see +that he is well lodged for the night in a place where enemies can't get at +him." + +"I know just the right place, Your Honor," stated the policeman, pulling +his club from his belt and waving it to part the throng. + +Morrison broke in upon Lanigan's mumbled threats. "Mind your manners, +Joe!" + +"But he hit you!" + +The mayor picked up his garments, one by one, inspected them, and dusted +them with his palm; then he pulled them on. The crowd gazed at him. + +"He hit you!" Lanigan insisted, bellicosely. "When a man hits me, I lick +him!" + +"You're a good fighter, Joe," agreed His Honor, running his forearm about +his silk hat to smooth the nap. "But let me tell you something! Unless you +put yourself in better shape there'll be a fellow some day that you'll +want to lick, and you won't be able to lick him, and you'll be almighty +sorry because you can't turn the trick." + +"Show me the feller, Mister Mayor!" + +"Go look in the glass, Joe." + +"Lick myself--is that what you mean, sir?" + +"Sure! If you can do it when it ought to be done, you'll have the right to +feel rather proud of yourself." + +He invited Blanchard with a side wag of his head and led the way from the +hall. + +"Morrison, let me say this," blurted the mill magnate, when they were on +their way in the limousine. "By reason of this people-side-partner notion +of yours, you have gone to work and got yourself into an infernal fix. How +do you expect to make good that promise?" + +"I suppose I did sound rather boastful, but I had to put it strong. A +mealy-mouthed promise wouldn't hold them in line!" + +"But that promise only encourages such muckers in the belief that they +have a right to demand, to boss their betters, to call for accountings and +concessions. You have put the devil into 'em!" + +"I hope not! Faith in a contract--that's what I tried to put into 'em. +They'll wait and let me operate!" + +"Operate! You're one man against the whole state government and you're +defying single-handed the political powers! You can't deliver the goods! +That gang down-town will wait about so long and then 'twill be hell to pay +to-night!" + +Morrison had found his pipe in his overcoat pocket. He was soothing +himself with a smoke on the way toward the Corson mansion. + +"But why worry so much when the night is still young?" he queried, +placidly. + + + + +VII + +THE THIN CRUST OVER BOILING LAVA + + +Senator Corson, at the head of the receiving-line, attended strictly to +the task in hand as an urbane and assiduous host. + +Wonted by long political usage to estimate everything on the basis of +votes for and against, he was entirely convinced, by the face of the +returns that evening, that the reception he was tendering was a grand +success, unanimously indorsed; he would have been immensely surprised to +learn that under his roof there was a bitterly incensed, furiously +resentful minority that was voting "No!" + +The "Yes!" was by the applausive, open, _viva voce_ vote of all those who +filed past him and shook his hand and thronged along toward the buffet +that was operated in _de luxe_ style by a metropolitan caterer's corps of +servants. + +The Senator's mansion was spacious and luxuriously appointed, and the +millions from the products of his timber-land barony were lavishly behind +his hospitality. Consoled by the knowledge that Corson could well afford +the treat, his guests, after that well-understood quality in human nature, +relished the hospitality more keenly. At the buffet all the plates were +piled high. In the smoking-room men took handfuls of the Senator's cigars +from the boxes. And the pleasantry connected with Governor Lawrence +North's custom in campaigning was frequently heard. It was related of +North that he always thriftily passed his cigars by his own hand and +counseled the recipient: "Help yourself! Take all you want! Take two!" + +The guests adopted the comfortable attitude that Corson had dropped down +home to Marion to pay a debt which he owed to his constituents, and they +all jumped in with alacrity to help him pay it. + +While the orchestra played and the ware of the buffet clattered, the +joyous voices of the overwhelming majority gave Senator Corson to +understand that he was the idol of his people and the prop of the state. + +The minority kept her mouth closed and her teeth were set hard. + +The minority was racked by agony that extended from finger-tips to +shoulder. + +The minority was distinctly groggy. + +This minority was compassed in the person of a single young and handsome +matron who was Mrs. J. Warren Stanton in her home city Blue Book, and +Doris in the family register of Father Silas Daunt, and "Dorrie" in the +good graces of Brother Coventry Daunt. + +In addition she was the close friend, the social mentor, the volunteer +chaperon for Lana Corson, whose mother had become voicelessly and meekly +the mistress of the Corson mausoleum, as she had been meekly and +unobtrusively the mistress of the Corson mansion. + +Miss Lana had suddenly observed warning symptoms in the case of Mrs. +Stanton. + +Mrs. Stanton, according to a solicitous friend's best judgment, was no +longer assisting in the receiving-line; Mrs. Stanton needed assistance! + +Therefore, sooner than the social code might have permitted in an affair +of more rigorously formal character, Lana left the receiving job to her +father and the Governor and the aides, and rescued Mrs. Stanton and +accompanied the young matron to the sanctuary of a boudoir above-stairs. + +Mrs. Stanton extended to the tender touch of her maid a wilted hand, +lifted by a stiffened arm, the raising of which pumped a groan from the +lady. The white glove which incased the hand and arm was smutched +liberally in telltale fashion. + +"Pull it off, Hibbert! But careful! Don't pull off my fingers unless they +are very loose and beyond hope. But hurry! Let me know the worst as soon +as possible." + +"I realize that the reception--" began Lana. + +"Reception!" Mrs. Stanton snapped her head around to survey her youthful +hostess. The flame on the matron's cheeks matched the fire in her tones. + +"Reception, say you? Lana Corson, don't you know the difference between a +reception and a political rally?" + +"I'm sorry, Doris! But father simply must do this duty thing when the +legislature meets. The members expect it. It keeps up his fences, he says. +It's politics!" + +"I'm glad my father is a banker instead of a United States Senator. If +this is what a Senator has to do when he comes back to his home, I think +he'd better stay in Washington and send down a carload of food and stick a +glove on the handle of the town pump and let his constituents operate +that! At any rate, the power wouldn't be wasted in a dry time!" + +Lana surveyed her own hand. The glove was not immaculate any more, but it +covered a firm hand that was unweary. "Father has given me good advice. +It's to shake the hand of the other chap, not let yours be shaken." + +"Those brutes gave me no chance!" + +"I noticed that they were very enthusiastic, Doris. I'm afraid you're too +handsome!" + +But that flattery did not placate Mrs. Stanton. "It's only a rout and a +rabble, Lana! The feminine element does not belong in it. My father dines +his gentlemen and accomplishes his objects. And I think you have become +one of these political hypocrites! You actually looked as if you were +enjoying that performance down-stairs." + +"I was enjoying it, Doris! I was helping my father as best I could, and at +the same time I was meeting many of my old, true friends. I'm glad to be +home again." The girl was unaffectedly sincere in her statement. + +The glove was off and Mrs. Stanton was surveying her hand, wriggling the +fingers tentatively. + +"And they all seemed so glad to see me that I'm a bit penitent," Lana went +on. "I'm ashamed to own up to myself that I have allowed California and +Palm Beach to coax me away from Marion these last two winters. I ought to +have come down here with father. I'm not talking like a politician now, +Doris. Honestly, I'm stanch for old friends!" + +"I trust you don't think I'm an ingrate in the case of my own old friends, +Lana!" Mrs. Stanton, unappeased, was willing to take issue right then with +anybody, on that topic. "But the main trouble with old friends is, they +take too many liberties. Your old friends certainly did take liberties +with my poor hand, and they took liberties with your own private business +in my hearing." + +"How--in what way?" + +"I overheard persons say distinctly, over and over again, that one feature +of this--no, I'll not muddle my own ideas of society functions by calling +it a reception--they declared that your father proposes to announce +to-night in his home town your engagement to Coventry." + +The question that she did not put into words she put into the searching, +quizzical stare she gave Lana. + +"Ah!" remarked Miss Corson, revealing nothing either by tone or +countenance. + +"It looks to me as if you've been receiving other lessons from your +father, outside of the hand-shaking art. You are about as non-committal as +the best of our politicians, Lana dear!" + +For reply the Senator's daughter smiled. The smile was so ingenuous that +it ought to have disarmed the young matron of her petulance. + +But Mrs. Stanton went on with the sharp insistence of one who had +discovered an opportunity and proposed to make the most of it. "Seeing +that the matter has come up in this way--quite by chance--" Mrs. Stanton +did not even blink when she said it--"though I never would have presumed +to speak of it to you, Lana, without good and sufficient provocation--I +think that you and Coventry should have confided in me, first of all. Of +course, I know well enough how matters stand! I really believe I do! But I +think I'm entitled to know, officially, to put it that way, as much as +your highly esteemed old friends here in Marion know." + +"Yes," agreed Miss Corson. + +"But _first_, Lana dear! To know it first--as a sister should! I'm not +blaming you! I realize that you met some of those aforesaid old, true +friends while you were out around the city to-day. One does drop +confidences almost without realizing how far one goes, when old friends +are met. I'm sure such reports as I overheard couldn't be made up out of +whole cloth." + +Mrs. Stanton's air and tone were certainly provoking, but Miss Corson's +composure was not ruffled. "Out of the knowledge that you profess in +regard to old friends, Doris, you must realize that they are energetic and +liberal guessers." She turned toward the door. + +"Where are you going?" + +"To my room for a fresh pair of gloves, dear." + +"Do you mean to tell me that you're going back for another turn among +those jiu-jitsu experts?" + +"We're to have dancing later." + +"For myself, I'd as soon dance with performing bears. I must be excused. +I'll do anything in reason, but I have reached my limit!" + +Lana walked back to her, both hands extended. "You have been a dear martyr +to the cause of politics. But now you are going to be the queen of our +little festival. Listen, Doris! All the political buzzing bees will be +thinning out, right soon. Those elderly gentlemen from the country who +shook hands with a good Grange grip--they'll be wanting to get plenty of +sleep so as to be wide awake to-morrow to hear the Governor's inaugural +address. The other vigorous gentlemen who are so deeply in politics will +be hurrying back to their hotels for their caucuses, or whatever it is +they have to attend to in times like these. And the younger folks, who +have no politics on their minds, will stay and enjoy themselves. There are +some really dear folks in Marion!" + +"I thank you for the information," returned Mrs. Stanton, dryly. "It's +important if true. But there's other information that's more important in +my estimation just now and you don't allow me the opportunity to thank you +for it." + +"I have been thinking, Doris! I really don't feel in the mood, when all +those friends are under my roof, to stand here and brand them as +prevaricators. Mayn't we let the matter stand till later?" + +"Until after it has been officially announced?" queried Mrs. Stanton, +sarcastically. + +"I'm afraid that father's lessons have trained me better in political +methods than I have realized," said Lana, meekly apologetic. "Because, +right now, I'm obliged to run the risk of offending you, Doris, by quoting +him and making his usual statement my rule of conduct." + +"Well?" + +"'Nothing can be officially declared until all the returns are in.'" + +"What am I to understand from that?" + +"It isn't so awfully clear, I know! But let's not talk any more about it." + +Lana had dropped her friend's hands. She took them again in her grasp and +swung Mrs. Stanton's arms to and fro in girlish and frolicsome fashion. +"Now go ahead and be your own jolly Doris Stanton! You're going to meet +folks who'll understand you and appreciate all your wit. One especially +I'll name. I don't know why he's so late in coming, for he had a special +invitation from my own mouth. He's the mayor of Marion!" + +"What?" demanded Mrs. Stanton, irefully, pulling away from the girl who +was trying to coax back good nature. "Picking out another politician for +my special consideration, after what I have been through?" + +"Oh, he's not a politician, Doris dear! Father says he isn't one; he says +so himself and his party newspaper here in the city says regularly that he +isn't, in a complimentary way, and the opposition paper says so in a +sneering way--and I suppose that makes the thing unanimous. He is one of +my oldest friends; he was my hero when I was a little girl in school; he +is tall and big and handsome and--" + +Mrs. Stanton narrowed her eyes. + +She broke in impatiently on the panegyric. "I'm so thoroughly disgusted +with the ways of politics, Lana, that I draw the line at a speech of +nomination. You said you'd name him! Who is he?" + +"Stewart Morrison." + +"I thought so!" Mrs. Stanton's tone was vastly significant. + +Lana flushed. The composure that she had been maintaining was losing its +serenity and her friend noted that fact and became more irritable. + +"My dear Lana, I gathered so much enlightenment from the twittering of +those old friends of yours down-stairs that you'll not be obliged, I +think, to break your most excellent rule of reticence in order to humor my +impertinent curiosity in this instance!" + +"Don't be sarcastic with me, Doris! I don't find it as funny as when +you're caustic with other folks." + +"There does seem to be a prevailing lack of humor in the affairs of this +evening," acknowledged Mrs. Stanton. "We'll drop the subject, dear!" + +"I don't like you to feel that I'm putting you to one side as my dearest +friend--not in anything." + +"If you haven't felt like being candid with me in a matter where I'd +naturally be vitally interested, I can hardly expect you to pour out your +heart about a dead-and-gone love-affair with a rustic up in these parts. I +understood from the chatter of your old friends that it _is_ dead and +gone. I can congratulate you on that proof of your newer wisdom, Lana. It +shows that my counsels haven't been entirely wasted on you." + +"It was dead and gone before you began to counsel me, Doris. It's not a +matter of withholding confidence from you. Why should I talk about such +things to anybody?" + +"Oh, a discreet display of scalp-locks decorates a boudoir and interests +one's friends," vouchsafed the worldly matron. + +"Such confidences are atrocious!" Miss Corson displayed spirit. + +"Now both of us are getting peppery, dear Lana, and I always reserve that +privilege exclusively for myself in all my friendly relations. I have to +keep a sharp edge on my tongue because folks expect me to perform the +social taxidermy in my set, and it's only brutal and messy if done with a +dull tool. Run and get your gloves! But take your own time in returning to +me. There are still two of my fingers that need a further period of +convalescence." + +Mrs. Stanton promptly neglected her duties as a finger nurse the moment +Miss Corson was out of the room. "Hibbert, ask one of the servants to find +my brother and tell him I want to see him here. He will undoubtedly be +located in some group where there is a rural gentleman displaying the +largest banner of beard. My brother has an insatiable mania for laying +bets with sporting young men that he can fondle any set of luxuriant +whiskers without giving the wearer cause for offense." + +Coventry answered his sister's call with promptitude. + +"I'll keep you only a moment from your whisker-parterres, Cov! When you go +back into that down-stairs garden please give some of those beards a good +hard yank for my sake." + +But young Mr. Daunt was serious and rebuked her. "This isn't any lark +we're on up here, Dorrie! Dad needs to have everybody's good will and I'm +doing my little best on the side-lines for him. And he isn't tickled to +pieces by your quitting. It's a big project we're gunning through this +legislature!" + +"It may be so! It probably is! But I'm not sacrificing four fingers, a +thumb, and a perfectly good arm for the cause and I'm not allowing public +affairs to take my mind wholly off private matters. So here's at it! Are +you and Lana formally engaged?" + +"Well, I must say you're not abrupt or anything of the sort!" + +"Certain semi-coaxing methods haven't seemed to succeed, and therefore I'm +shooting the well, as our oil friend Whitaker puts it!" + +"Simply for the sake of keeping our affectionate brother-and-sister +relations on the safe and approved plane, I'll say it's none of your +blamed business," declared Coventry. "On the other hand, in a purely +tolerant and friendly way, I'll say that Lana and I are proceeding +agreeably, I think, and dad told me the other day that the Senator talked +as if the matrimonial bill might receive favorable consideration when duly +reported from committee--meaning Lana and myself and--" + +"Gas!" broke in Mrs. Stanton. "I shot and I get only gas! I'm looking for +oil! Is there an actual and formal engagement, I ask?" + +"Oh, say!" expostulated her brother, registering disgust. "The motion +pictures have spoiled that sort of thing. They have to propose bang +outright in the films because the fans can't be bothered by the nuances of +courtship. But for a chap to get down on his knees these days in real life +would make the girl laugh as loud as the fans would whoop if the hero in +reel life stood on his head and popped the question. Nothing of that kind +of formal stuff in my case, sis! Of course not!" + +"There better be! You go ahead this very night and attend to it!" + +"Where do you get your appointment as general manager of the matter, +Dorrie? You certainly don't get it from me!" + +"Leaving it to be inferred--" + +"I leave nothing to be inferred," declared her brother, righteously +indignant. "Dorrie, you absolutely must get off that habit of carving your +own kin in order to keep up the edge of your tongue. I wouldn't as much as +intimate it, by denying it, that you get your meddling commission from +Lana. If this is all you wanted to talk about, I'll have to be going. This +is my busy evening!" + +"Just one moment! It's always the busiest man who has time to attend to +one thing more! I'm assuming that you love Lana." + +"Conceded! You always did have a good eye in that line, Dorrie!" + +"Then my advice, as an expert, ought to be respected. You go ahead and get +a promise from Lana Corson. Then you'll have somebody working for your +interests day and night." + +"Who?" + +"Her New England conscience!" + +Young Mr. Daunt gave his sister a long, searching, and sophisticated +stare. "I think I have a little the advantage of you, Dorrie. I met to-day +this Mr. Stewart Morrison you're speaking of!" + +"I haven't spoken of him! I haven't mentioned his name!" + +"Oh, didn't you?" purred the brother. "Then I must have anticipated what +you were going to say, or else I read your mind for the name--and that +only shows that the Daunt family's members are thoroughly _en rapport_, to +use dad's favorite phrase when he's showing the strawberry mark on ideas +and making the other fellow adopt 'em as his own children. And I have +heard how Lana and Morrison have been twice engaged and twice estranged. +So, how about her New England conscience in the matter of a promise in +love?" + +"As I understand it, the New England conscience grows up with the +possessor and comes of age and asserts itself. You can't expect an infant +or juvenile conscience to boss and control like a grown-up conscience. +Coventry, what kind of a man is Morrison?" + +"A big, opinionated ramrod of a Scotchman who'd drive any girl to break +her engagement a dozen times if she had promised as often as that." + +Mrs. Stanton relaxed in her chair and sighed with relief. "Oh, from what +she said about him--But no matter! I think you do know men very well, Cov! +I'll do no more worrying where he's concerned. Forgive me for advising you +so emphatically." + +"He'd boss any girl into breaking her engagement," continued Coventry, +with conviction. "Any dreaming, wondering, restless girl, curious to find +out for herself and afraid of restraint." + +"I know the type. Impossible as husbands," averred Mrs. Stanton, a caustic +and unwearying counselor of sex independence. + +"But there are some girls who grow up into real women, though you probably +have hard work to believe that," said her brother, equally caustic in +stating his opinions, "and they are waiting for the right man to come +along and take sole possession of them, body and soul and affairs--when +they are women! Then it isn't bossing any more! It's love, glorified! +Letting 'em have their own way would seem like neglect and indifference, +and their hearts would be broken. They eat it up, sis, eat it up, that +kind of love!" + +His sister leaped from her chair. "How anybody with an ounce of brains can +take stock in this caveman nonsense is more than I can understand!" + +"It has nothing to do with brains, sis! It's in here!" He tapped his +finger on his breast. "It was put in when the first heart started +beating." + +"But you listen to reason! No woman wants a--" + +He put his hand up and broke in on her furious remonstrance. "If I listen +to reason, sis, you'll have me against the ropes in thirty seconds. I +admit that there's no reason why a woman should want it that way! Brains +can argue us right out of the notion. I won't argue. But I don't want you +to think I'm keeping anything away from you that a sister ought to know. +As my sister and as Lana's good friend, I'm sure you'll be glad to know +that I love her with all my heart and I hope I haven't misunderstood her +feelings in regard to me. I don't want to be too complacent, but I think +she's still girl enough to welcome my kind of love and to take me for what +I am." + +He and his sister were thoroughly absorbed in their dialogue. Having +summed up the situation in his final declaration, he turned hastily to +leave the room and was assured, to his dismay, that Miss Corson had heard +the declaration; she was at the threshold, her lips apart; she was plainly +balancing a desire to flee against a more heroic determination to step in +and ignore the situation and the words which had accompanied it. + +Young Mr. Daunt manfully did his best to get that situation out of the +chancery of embarrassing silence. + +"Lana, the three of us are too good friends to allow this foozle to make +us feel altogether silly. Despite present appearances I don't go around +making speeches on a certain subject. Nor will I lay it all on Dorrie by +saying, 'The woman tempted me and I fell.'" + +"Yes, we may as well be sensible," affirmed Mrs. Stanton. In spite of her +momentary embarrassment her countenance was displaying bland satisfaction. +This was an occasion to be grasped. "I'll say right out frankly that I +consider I'm one too many in this room just now!" + +Lana retreated across the threshold. She was distinctly frightened. + +Young Mr. Daunt laughed and his merriment helped to relieve the situation +still more. "Oh, I say, Lana! This isn't a trap set by the Daunts. You +come right in! I'm leaving!" + +"I didn't mean to overhear," the girl faltered. + +"You and I have nothing to apologize for--either of us! I take nothing +back, but this is no kind of a time to go forward. I'd be taking advantage +of your confusion." + +"Well, of all the mincing minuets!" blurted the young matron. "One word +will settle it all. I tell you, I'm going!" + +But Daunt rushed to the door, seized Lana's hands, and swung her into the +room. "This is a political night, and we'll go by the rules. The gentleman +has introduced the bill and on motion of the lady it has been tabled. But +it will be taken from the table on a due and proper date and assigned at +the head of the calendar. I think that's the way the Senator would state +it. It ought to be good procedure." He released her hands. + +"And speaking of the calendar, Lana, may I have a peep at your +dance-list?" + +She gave him the engraved card. + +"All the waltzes for me, eh?" he queried, wistfully. "I note that you're +free." + +"One, please, Coventry--for now! No, please select some of the new dances. +You know them all! Some of my Marion friends are old-fashioned and I must +humor them with the waltzes." Her hands were trembling. She laughed +nervously. "I feel free to task your good nature." + +"Thank you," he returned, gratefully, accepting the implied compliment she +paid him. He dabbed on his initials here and there and hurried away. + +Mrs. Stanton had plenty of impetuous zeal for all her quests, but she had +also abundance of worldly tact. "One does get so tremendously interested +in friends and family, Lana! Affection makes nuisances of us so often! But +no more about it! I feel quite happy now. I'm even so kindly disposed +toward politics that I'm ready to go down and dance for the cause, +whatever it is your father and mine are going after. These men in +politics--they always seem to me to be like small boys building card +houses. Piling up and puffing down! Putting in little tin men and pulling +out little tin men. And to judge by the everlasting faultfinding, nobody +is ever satisfied by what is accomplished." + +Miss Corson plainly welcomed this consoling shift from an embarrassing +topic. And, in order to get as far from love as possible, she turned to +business. When she and her friend descended the broad stairway of the +mansion Lana was discoursing on the need of coaxing men of big commercial +affairs into politics. Her views were rather immature and her fervor was a +bit hysterical, but the subject was plainly more to her taste than that on +which Mrs. Stanton had been dwelling. + +The crowd below them, as they stood for a moment on the landing, half-way +down the stairs, gave comforting evidence that it had thinned, according +to Lana's prophecy. The receiving-line was broken. Senator Corson was +sauntering here and there, saying a word to this one or that in more +intimate manner than his formal post in the line permitted. Governor +North, also released from conventional restrictions as a hand-shaker, was +on his rounds and wagged his coattails and barked and growled +emphatically. + +The word "Law," oft repeated, fitted itself to his growls; when he barked +he ejaculated, "Election statutes!" + +"It's a pity your state is wasting such excellent material on the mere job +of Governor, Lana. What a perfectly wonderful warden he would make for +your state prison," suggested Mrs. Stanton, sweetly. But she did not +provoke a reply from the girl and noted that Lana was frankly interested +in somebody else than the Governor. It was a new arrival; his busy +exchange of greetings revealed that fact. + +"Ah! Your dilatory mayor of Marion!" said the matron, needing no +identification. + +Nor did Stewart require any word to indicate the whereabouts of the +hostess of the Corson mansion. His eyes had been searching eagerly. As +soon as he saw Lana he broke away from the group of men who were engaging +him. The Governor accosted Morrison sharply, when the mayor hurried past +on the way to the stairway. But again, within a few hours, Stewart +slighted the chief executive of the state. + +"I am late, I fear," he called to Lana, leaping up the stairs. "And after +my solemn promise to come early! But you excused me this morning when I +was obliged to attend to petty affairs. Same excuse this time! Do I +receive the same pardon?" + +The girl displayed greater ease in his presence at this second meeting. +She received him placidly. There were no more of those disconcerting and +high-flown forensics in her greeting. There was the winning candor of old +friendship in her smile and he flushed boyishly in his frank delight. She +presented him to Mrs. Stanton and that lady's modish coolness did not +dampen his spirits, which had become plainly exuberant. In fact, he paid +very little attention to Mrs. Stanton. + +"It has got to you, Lana--this coming home again, hasn't it?" he demanded, +with an unconventionality of tone and phraseology that caused the +metropolitan matron to express her startled emotions by a blink. "I knew +it would!" + +"I am glad to be home, Stewart. But I have been tiring Mrs. Stanton by my +enthusiasm on that subject," was her suggestive move toward another topic. +"You're in time for the dancing. That's the important feature of the +evening." + +"Certainly!" he agreed. "May I be pardoned, Mrs. Stanton, for consulting +my hostess's card first?" + +He secured Lana's program without waiting for the matron's indifferent +permission. + +"A waltz--two waltzes, anyway!" he declared. "They settle arrearages in +your accounts, Lana, for the two winters you have been away. And why not +another?" He was scribbling with the pencil. "It will settle the current +bill." + +"It is a business age," murmured Mrs. Stanton, "and collections cannot be +looked after too sharply." + +"Will you not permit me to go in debt to you, madam?" he asked. "I'll be +truly obligated if you'll allow me to put my name on your card." + +"As a banker's daughter, I'll say that the references that have been +submitted by Miss Corson in regard to your standing are excellent," said +Mrs. Stanton, with a significance meant for Lana's confusion. But while +she was detaching the tassel from her girdle Governor North interrupted. +He was standing on the stairs, just below the little group. + +"Excuse me for breaking in on the party, but I'm due at the State House. +I'll bother you only a second, Morrison. Then you won't have a thing to do +except be nice to the ladies." + +"I know I'll be excused by them for a few moments, Governor." He started +to descend. His Excellency put up his hand. + +"We can attend to it right here, Mister Mayor!" + +"But I have a word or two--" + +"That's all I have!" was the blunt retort. "And I'm in a hurry. Have you +got 'em smoothed down, according to our understanding?" + +"I have, I think! But whether they'll stay smooth depends on you, Governor +North!" + +"And I can be depended on! I told you so at the office." He turned away. + +"I think I ought to have a few words with you in private, however," +Morrison insisted. "That general understanding is all right. But I need to +know something specific." + +The Governor was well down the stairs; he trudged energetically, his +coattails wagging in wide arcs. It was not premeditated insolence; it was +the usual manner of Lawrence North when he did not desire an interview +prolonged to an extent that might commit him. "I'll be at the State House +in case there's any need of my attention to something specific. I'll +attend to it over the telephone--over the telephone, understand!" + +The diversion on the stairs had attracted a considerable audience and +produced a result that interfered further with Stewart's immediate social +plans. + +Senator Corson came across the reception-hall, beckoning amiably, and the +three descended obediently. + +"Stewart, before you get too deep into the festivities with the girls, I +want you to have a bit of a chat with Mr. Daunt. We arranged it, you +know." + +"But Stewart isn't up here to attend to business, father," protested the +daughter, with a warmth that the subject of the controversy welcomed with +a smile of gratitude. + +"There is an urgent reason why Mr. Daunt should have a few words with +Stewart to-night--before the legislature assembles." The Senator assumed +an air of mock autocratic dignity. "I command the obedience of my +daughter!" He saw the banker approaching. "I call on you, sir, to put down +rebellion in your own family! These daughters of ours propose to spirit +away this young gentleman." + +"I'll keep you from the merrymaking only a few moments, Mayor Morrison," +apologized Daunt. "But I feel that it is quite essential for us to get +together on that matter we mentioned in the forenoon. I'm sure that only a +few words will put us thoroughly _en rapport_." + +Mrs. Stanton lifted her eyebrows. "That phrase means that father will do +the talking, Mister Mayor. I recommend that you go along with him. You +won't have to do a thing except listen. You can come later and dance with +us with all your energy unimpaired." + +"Yes!" urged Lana. "The waltzes will be waiting!" + +"Use my den, Daunt! If I can get away from my gang, here, I'll run in on +you," stated the Senator. He smacked his palm on Stewart's shoulder. "I +know you always put business ahead of pleasure, though it may be hard to +do it in this case, my boy! But after you and my friend Daunt get matters +all tied up snug you won't have a thing to do for the rest of the night +but enjoy yourself and be nice to the girls--not another thing, Stewart." + + + + +VIII + +A ROD IN PICKLE + + +With great promptitude Attorney Despeaux fastened upon Blanchard, of the +Conawin, the moment the latter left the company of Mayor Morrison on the +arrival of the twain at the Corson mansion; and Mr. Blanchard seemed +alertly willing to break off his companionship with the passenger he had +brought in his limousine. + +"What's that bull-headed fool been stirring up down-town?" demanded +Despeaux when he had Blanchard safely to himself in a corner. + +"Have you heard something about it?" + +"I was called on the 'phone a few minutes ago." + +"Who called you?" + +"No matter! But hold on, Blanchard! I may as well tell you that I'm using +a part of our fund to have Morrison shadowed. I suppose the reason you +went along was to get a line on him. But it was imprudent. It looked like +lending your countenance." + +Blanchard explained sullenly why he did accompany Morrison to the meeting. + +"Well, I'm glad you were there and heard him inflaming the mob," admitted +the syndicate's lobbyist and lawyer. "I want to have Senator Corson fully +informed on the point and it will come better from you than from a paid +detective. Give it to Corson, and give it to him strong!" + +"I don't know that I can justly say that he was inflaming the mob," +demurred Blanchard. + +"But you've got to say it! You must make it appear that way! Blanchard, it +has come to a clinch and we must smash Morrison's credit in every +direction. I didn't realize till to-day that he is out to blow up the +whole works. Didn't he preach to you on the text of that infernal +people-partner notion of his?" + +"Yes! He's crazy!" + +"The people own the moon, if you want to put it that way! But they can't +do anything sensible with it, any more than they can with ownership of the +state's water-power." + +The Conawin magnate exhibited bewilderment. "Despeaux, I'm a business man. +I suppose you lawyers go to work in a different way than we do in +business. But as I have read the propaganda you're putting out--as I +understand it--_you_ are shouting for the people's rights, too!" + +"I am! Strongly! Right out open! I even preached on people's rights to +Morrison this very day--and looked him right in that canny Scotch eye of +his while I preached. I like to keep in good practice!" + +"Then why is Morrison so dangerous, if he's only doing what you do?" +inquired the business man, with an artlessness that the attorney greeted +with an oath. + +"Because the infernal ramrod means what he says, Blanchard!" + +"But if you don't mean it--if you have put yourself on record--and if +you're obliged to step up and honor the draft you've sanctioned--what's +going to happen in the showdown?" + +Attorney Despeaux moderated his mordancy and became tolerantly patient in +enlightening the ignorance of one of his employers. "The people are hungry +for some kind of fodder in this water-power proposition. I've been telling +all you power-owners so! We'll have to admit it, Blanchard! The time is +played out when you can drive the people in this country. You've got to be +a nice, kind shepherd and get their confidence and lead 'em. I'm a +shepherd! See?" He patted himself on the breast. "There are two cribs!" + +"You'll have to name 'em to me, Despeaux. I'm apt to be pretty dull +outside of matters in my own line." + +"I guess I'd do better to designate the chaps who are managing the cribs." +The two men were in a window embrasure. Despeaux pointed to one side of +the niche. "Over there, behold Morrison and his 'storage and power' crowd, +made up of pig-headed engineers and scientific experts who are thinking +only of how much power can be developed for the people as proprietors; +over here, the public utilities commission made up of safe men, +judiciously appointed, tractable in politics, consistently on the side of +vested interests and right on the job to see to it that the state keeps +its contracts with capital. I propose to be something of a shepherd and +lead the people to the public utilities crib! And I'm going to show folks +that they'll be eating poison-ivy out of the Morrison crib--even if I have +to put the poison-ivy in there myself. This is no time to be squeamish, +Blanchard! You've got to do your part in nailing a disturber like Morrison +to the cross. Speak like a business man and say that he is dangerous in +good business. We've got a Governor who is safe; we've got to have a +legislature that will see to it that the committees are all right. And +that's why we're standing no monkey business from any mob up on Capitol +Hill to-night! Down at that hall, so my man told me, Morrison talked as if +he's going to take hold and run the state! Didn't he?" + +"Well, one might draw some such conclusions, I suppose, by stretching his +words!" + +"Blanchard, you must stretch words when you talk to Senator Corson and to +all others who need to be stirred up and can help us. If that wild +Scotchman butts into this plan he's inviting trouble, and we've got to see +that he gets it. He's got to be choked now or never! Don't have any mercy! +Just look at it this way! Talk it this way! He's turning on his own, if he +does what he threatens! He played the sneak, he, a mill-owner, getting on +to that commission! And he proposes to shove in a report that will smother +development by outside capital. Play up the reason for his interest in the +thing along that line! A hog for himself! It's easy to turn public +sentiment by the right kind of talk! If I really start out to go the limit +I can have him tarred and feathered as a chief conspirator, rigging a +scheme to have our big industries knocked in the head." + +Despeaux spoke low, but his tone conveyed the malice and the menace of a +man who had been nursing a grudge for a long time. "Two years ago his +newspaper letters and his rant killed that Consolidated project, and I had +a contingent fee of fifty thousand dollars at stake; as it was, I got only +a little old regular lobby fee and my expense money. And the power hasn't +been developed by the infernal, dear, protected people, has it?" he +sneered. "If the Consolidated folks had been let alone and given their +franchise, we'd now be marketing over our high-tension wires two millions +of horse-power in big centers two or three hundred miles from this state." + +"Well, I'm not so awfully strong, myself, for making a mere power station +of our own state, and letting outsiders ship our juice over the border." + +"But you ought to be devilish strong against a man who is proposing to +have the state break existing contracts, take back power rights and +franchises and make you simply a lessee of what you already own! You've +got yours! Give the outsiders a show! It's all snarled up together, +Blanchard, and you've got to kill him and his crowd and their whole mushy, +socialistic scheme and eliminate him from the proposition. Then we can go +ahead and do something sensible in this state!" affirmed Mr. Despeaux, +with the lustful ardor of one who foresaw the possibility of eliminating, +also, the hateful word "contingent" in the case of fees. + +But Business-man Blanchard was displaying symptoms of worriment. + +The lawyer viewed with concern this evidence of backsliding, but his +attention was suddenly diverted from his companion; then Despeaux nudged +Blanchard and directed the latter's gaze by a thumb jerk. + +They saw Morrison hurry up the stairs to greet Lana Corson when she +appeared with her house guest. The attorney seemed to be vastly interested +in the scene. + +"I don't mean to scare you," went on Despeaux, his manner milder. "I'm not +planning to commit murder or steal a state! It's Morrison right now! He's +the one we're after! This whole thing may be taken care of in another +way--so easily that it may make us smile. I've been keeping my eyes open, +Blanchard--ears, too! Did you see Morrison rush to the Senator's daughter? +A fellow can work himself into a terrible state of worry over the dear, +unprotected people, when he has nothing else better to take up his mind. +But after a Scotchman goes crazy over a girl--well, when the whole of 'em +hold Poet Bobby Burns up as the type of their race, they know what they're +talking about!" + +"I can hardly conceive of Morrison being a poet or relishing poetry or the +ways of a poet," returned Blanchard, dryly. + +"And he probably has never read a line of it in his whole life," agreed +Despeaux. "But that isn't the point! You may think I've gone off on a +queer tack, all of a sudden, but I know human nature! That girl is back +here with a slick young fellow, and he's the pepper in a certain mess of +Scotch broth that has been heated up all over again, if I'm any guesser. +That girl has been living in Washington, Blanchard. It's a great school! +I've been watching her shake hands. You saw her just now when she shook +with our friend, the mayor. That girl isn't down here on this trip simply +to see whether the care-takers have been looking after the Corson mansion +in good shape," opined the cynical Mr. Despeaux, having excellent personal +reasons to distrust everybody else in the matter of motives. + +"That sort of a trick is beneath Senator Corson and his daughter." + +"Well," drawled the lawyer, "that all depends how closely he and Silas +Daunt are tied up in a common interest in this water-power question and +other matters. I suspect everybody in this world. I go on that principle. +It eases my mind about slipping something over on the other fellow when I +get the chance. I'm talking out pretty frankly, Blanchard, to a man who +has his money in the syndicate pool, as you have! But I play square with +the crowd I take money from, so long's I'm with 'em. The fee makes me +yours to command, heart and soul! There's something--some one thing--that +can control every man, according to his tastes. Stewart Morrison can be +controlled right now by that black-eyed Corson girl more effectually than +he can by any other person or consideration on God's earth. I've known him +ever since he was a boy--I have watched the thing between 'em--and now +that she's back here where he can see her, be near her, and be worried by +the sight of another fellow trailing her, he'll be doing more thinking +about her than he will about the partner-people, as he calls that dream of +his about something that isn't so! I wish I could know just how sly the +Senator is! I wish I could get a line on what's underneath that girl's +curly topknot," he said, fervently. + +Apparently absorbed by that speculation, Lawyer Despeaux again gave close +attention to the tableau on the landing presented by Lana, Mrs. Stanton, +and Morrison. + +When Governor North marched up the stairs, said his vociferous say, and +marched down again Despeaux grunted his satisfaction. "That's the talk, +old boy! Show him where he gets off!" + +The manner in which Senator Corson handed Morrison over to Silas Daunt +elicited further commendation from the lawyer. "He's being pulled into +camp smoothly and scientifically, Blanchard! The Senator is on to his job, +but did you see Morrison's mug when he had to leave the girl?" + +"I'll admit that it's the first time I ever saw him make up a face when he +was called on to tend to business!" + +"The Senator is a wise old bird! He knows human nature down to the ground. +He's got the right kind of a daughter to help him, and he's making her +useful. It's a case of shutting Morrison's mouth, and Corson is hep to the +right play. I don't think the Senator needs any advice from us, but a +little of the proper kind of information about Morrison's latest +demfoolishness will make Corson understand that he needs to put some hot +pep as well as sugar into his politeness. We'll get to him as soon as we +can. Make it strong, Blanchard, make it strong!" + +As soon as opportunity offered, Blanchard did make it strong. He was +harboring a pretty large-sized grudge of his own in the case of Morrison, +and it was easy to put malice into the report he gave the Senator. + +"But hold on!" protested Corson. "You're making Stewart out to be a +radical as red as any of them!" + +"I can't help that, Senator," retorted the millman. "He dragged me down to +his cursed meeting over my protest and he made a speech that put himself +in hand in glove with 'em." + +Corson pursed his lips and displayed the concern of a friend who had heard +bad news regarding a favorite. "I always found the boy a bit inclined to +mix high-flown notions in with the business practicality of his family. +But I didn't realize that he was going so far wrong in his theories. +That's the danger in permitting even one unsound doctrine to get into a +level-headed chap's apple-basket, gentlemen! First thing you know, it has +affected all the fruit. I'm glad you told me. I'm not surprised that your +arguments have had no effect, Despeaux. He's naturally headstrong. Do you +know, these fellows with poetic, chivalrous natures are hard boys to bring +to reason in certain practical matters?" + +"I was just telling Despeaux that I never saw much poetry sentiment in +Stewart Morrison," affirmed the millman. + +Senator Corson's condescending smile assured Mr. Blanchard that he was all +wrong. "He was much in our family as a boy. Very sentimental if approached +from the right angle! Very! And I think this is a matter to be handled +wholly by Stewart's closest friends. Sentiment has led him off on a wrong +slant. He'll only fight harder if he's tackled by a man like you, +Despeaux. That's the style of him. But in his case sentiment can be guided +by sentiment. And all for his best good! He mustn't run wild in this +folly! I believe there's no one who can approach him with more tact than +my daughter Lana." Despeaux found an opportunity to dig his thumb +suggestively into Blanchard's side. "They have been extremely good +friends, I believe, in boy-and-girl fashion; between us three old +townsmen, I'll go as far as to say they were very much interested in each +other. But in the case of both of 'em their horizons are naturally wider +these days; however, first-love affairs, even if rather silly, are often +the basis for really sensible and enduring friendships. And friendship +must handle this thing. We'll leave it to Lana. I'll speak to her." + +He went on his way toward the ballroom, pausing to chat with this or that +group of constituents. + +"There!" exclaimed the lawyer, relieving his high pressure by a vigorous +exhalation of breath. "What did I tell you?" + +"It's mighty kind and sensible of the Senator! Morrison is making a big +mistake and the way to handle him is by friendship." + +"Friendship hell!" + +"Say, look here, Despeaux, I don't believe in spoiling my teeth by biting +every coin that's handed to me in this world." + +"Are you as devilish green as you pretend to be, Blanchard? If you had +ever hung around in Washington as I have, you'd have wisdom teeth growing +so fast that they'd keep your jaws propped open like a country yap's +unless you kept 'em filed by biting all the coin of con! Now I know what's +in the Senator's dome and what's under his girl's topknot! But let's not +argue about that. Let's take a look at the probabilities in regard to the +water-power matter--that's of more importance just now. I doubt that even +friendship"--he dwelt satirically on the word--"can shut Morrison up on +the storage report that he will shove into the legislature. But we're +going to have safe committees this year, thanks to the election laws and +guns, and that report will be pocketed. Then if Morrison keeps still about +making the dear people millionaires by having 'em peddle their puddles to +the highest bidders, capital can go ahead and do business in this state. I +think his mouth is going to be effectively shut! The right operators are +on the job!" + +Despeaux took a peep at his watch. + +"Time slipped by while we were waiting to get at Corson. Daunt has had +half an hour for laying down the law to Morrison. And Daunt can do a whole +lot of business in half an hour." + +"He'll only stir up Morrison's infernal scrapping spirit by laying down +the law," objected Blanchard, sourly. + +Despeaux took both of the millman's coat lapels in his clutch. "He'll lay +down in front of Morrison the prospect of the profits to be made by the +deal that is proposed. And if you had ever heard Silas Daunt talk profits +as a promoter you would reckon just as I'm reckoning, Blanchard--to see +our Scotch friend come out of that conference walking like the man who +broke the bank at Monte Carlo, instead of bobbing around astraddle of that +damnation hobby-goat of his! Daunt can talk money in the same tone that a +Holy Roller revivalist talks religion, Blanchard! And he makes converts, +he sure does!" + +A moment later the mayor of Marion strode across the reception-hall. + +Lawyer Despeaux, giving critical attention, was not ready to affirm that +Morrison's gait was that of a man who had broken a bank. But the manner in +which he marched, shoulders back and chin up, and the dabs of color on his +cheeks, would have suggested to a particularly observant person that the +mayor had broken something. He pushed past those who addressed him and +went on toward the ballroom, staring straight ahead; the music was pulsing +in the ballroom; he seemed to be thoroughly entranced by the strains; at +any rate, he was attending strictly to the business of going somewhere! He +passed Senator Corson, who was returning to the reception-hall; the mayor +gave his host only a nod. + +While the Senator stood and gazed at the precipitate young man, Banker +Daunt, following on Morrison's trail, arrived in front of Corson. + +Lawyer Despeaux stepped from the window embrasure to get a good view and +was not at all reassured by Daunt's looks. The banker displayed none of +the symptoms of a victor. There was more of choler than complacency in his +air. He hooked his arm inside the Senator's elbow and they went away +together. + +"Blanchard," said the lawyer, after a period of pondering, "that infernal +Scotch idiot says that he isn't interested in politics and now he seems to +have put promoting in the same class. Our hope is that he's interested in +something else. Suppose we stroll along and see just how much interested +he is." + +By the time they reached the ballroom Morrison was waltzing with Lana. + +He was distinctly another person from that tense, saturnine, defiant, +brusk person who strode through the reception-hall. He was radiantly and +boyishly happy. He was clasping the girl tenderly. He directed her steps +in a small circle outside the throng of dancers, and waltzed as slowly as +the tempo would allow. He was talking earnestly. + +"Look at him! There you have it!" whispered Despeaux, recovering his +confidence. "Every man has his price--but it's a mistake to think that the +price must always be counted down in cash. Daunt didn't act as if he had +captured our friend. He's dancing to a girl's tune now. Corson will +whistle a jig when he gets ready and Morrison will dance to that tune, +too!" + + + + +IX + +MAKING IT A SQUARE BREAK + + +In the privacy of Senator Corson's study Mr. Daunt had allowed himself to +raise his voice and express some decided opinions by the way of venting +his emotions. + +In his heat he disregarded the amenities that should govern a guest in the +presence of his host. In fact, Mr. Daunt asserted that the host was partly +responsible for the awkward position in which Mr. Daunt found himself. + +The Senator, whenever he was able to make himself heard, put in protesting +"buts." Mr. Daunt, riding his grievance wildly, hurdled every "but" and +kept right on. "Confound it, Corson, I accepted him as your friend, as +your guest, as a gentleman under the roof of a mutual friend. Most of all, +I accepted him as a safe and sane business man. I talked to him as I would +to the gentlemen who put their feet under my table. I know how to be +cautious in the case of men I meet in places of business. But you bring +this man to your house and you put me next to him with the assurance that +he is all right--and I go ahead with him on that basis. I was perfectly +and entirely honest with him. I disregarded all the rules that govern me +in ordinary business offices," the banker added, too excited to appreciate +the grim humor flashed by the flint and the steel of his last, juxtaposed +sentences. + +"You say you told him all your plans in full?" suggested Corson, referring +to the outburst with which Daunt began his arraignment of the situation. + +"Of course I told him! You gave me no warning. I dealt with him, gentleman +with gentleman, under your roof!" + +"I didn't think it was necessary to counsel a man like you about the +ordinary prudence required in all business matters." + +"I had his word in his own office that he was heartily with me. You told +me he was as square as a brick when it came to his word. I went on that +basis, Corson!" + +"I'm sorry," admitted the Senator. "I thought I knew Stewart through and +through. But I haven't been keeping in touch as closely as I ought. I have +heard things this evening--" He hesitated. + +"You have heard things--and still you allowed me to go on and empty my +basket in front of him?" + +"I heard 'em only after you were closeted here with him, Daunt. And I +can't believe it's as bad as it has been represented to me. And even as it +stands, I think I know how to handle him. I have already taken steps to +that end." + +"How?" + +"Please accept my say-so for the time being, Daunt! It isn't a matter to +be canvassed between us." + +"I suppose you learn that sort of reticence in politics, even in the case +of a friend, Corson," growled the banker. "I wish I had taken a few +lessons from you before talking with one of your friends this evening." + +"Was it necessary for you to do so much talking before you got a line on +his opinions?" + +"Confound it, Corson, with that face of his--with that candor in his +countenance--he looks as good and reliable as a certified check--and in +addition I had your indorsement of him." + +"I felt that I had a right to indorse him." The Senator showed spirit. +"Daunt, I don't like to hear you condemn Stewart Morrison so utterly." + +"Not utterly! He has qualities of excellence! For instance, he's a +damnation fine listener," stated the disgusted banker. + +"But he couldn't have thrown down your whole proposition--he couldn't have +done that, after the prospects you held out to him, as you outlined them +to me when we first discussed the matter," Corson insisted. "Morrison has +a good business head on him. He comes of business stock. He has made a big +success of his mill. He must be on the watch for more opportunities. All +of us are." + +"Well, here was the offer I made to him, seeing that he is a _friend_ of +yours," said Banker Daunt, dilating his nostrils when he dwelt on the word +"friend." "I offered to double his own appraisal of his properties when we +pay him in the preferred stock of the consolidation. I told him that he +would receive, like the others, an equal amount of common stock for a +bonus. I assured him that we would be able to pay dividends on the common. +And he asked me particularly if I was certain that dividends would be paid +on the common. I gave him that assurance as a financier who knows his +card." Daunt had been attempting to curb his passion and talk in a +business man's tone while on the matter of figures. But he abandoned the +struggle to keep calm. He cracked his knuckles on the table and shouted: +"But do you know--can you imagine what he said after I had twice assured +him as to those dividends on common, replying to his repeated questions? +Can you?" + +"No," admitted Corson, having reason to be considerably uncertain in +regard to Stewart Morrison's newly developed notions about affairs in +general. + +"He told me I ought to be ashamed of myself--then he pulled out his watch +and apologized for monopolizing me so long on a gay evening, hoped I was +enjoying it, and said he must hurry away and dance with Miss Corson. What +did he mean by saying that I ought to be ashamed of myself? What did he +mean by that gratuitous insult to a man who had made him a generous +proposition in straight business--to a guest under your roof, Senator +Corson?" + +"By gad! I'll find out what it means!" snapped the Senator, pricked in his +pride and in his sense of responsibility as a go-between. He pushed a +button in the row on his study table. "This new job as mayor seems to be +playing some sort of a devil's trick with Stewart. I'll admit, Daunt, that +I didn't relish some of the priggish preachment on politics mouthed by him +in his office when we were there. But I didn't pay much attention--any +more than I did to his exaggerated flourish in the way he attended to city +business. The new brooms! You know!" + +"Yes, I know!" The banker was sardonic. "I could overlook his display of +importance when he neglected gentlemen in order to parade his tuppenny +mayor's business. I paid no attention to his vaporings on the water +question. I've heard plenty of franchise-owners talk that way for effect! +He's an especially avaricious Scot, isn't he? Confound him! How much more +shall I offer him?" + +"I'll admit that Stewart seems to be different these days in some +respects, but unless he has made a clean change of all his nature in this +shift of some of his ideas, you'd better not offer him any more!" warned +the Senator. "I never detected any 'For Sale' sign on him!" + +The Senator's secretary stepped into the study. + +"Find Mayor Morrison in the ballroom and tell him I want to see him here." + +"Corson, you're a United States Senator," proceeded the banker when the +man had departed, "and your position enables you to take a broad view of +business in general. But naturally you're for your own state first of +all." + +"Certainly! Loyally so!" + +"I think you thoroughly understand my play for consolidated development of +the water-power here. Every single unit should be put at work for the good +of the country. Isn't that so?" + +"Yes, decidedly." + +"To set up such arbitrary boundaries as state lines in these matters of +development is a narrow and selfish policy," insisted Daunt. "It would be +like the coal states refusing to sell their surplus to the country at +large. If this Morrison proposes to play the bigoted demagogue in the +matter, exciting the people to attempt impractical control that will +paralyze the whole proposition, he must be stepped on. You can show due +regard for the honor and the prosperity of your own state, but as a +statesman, working for the general welfare of the country at large, you've +got to take a broader view than his." + +"I do. I can make Stewart understand." + +Daunt paced up and down the room, easing his turgid neck against a damp +collar. The Senator pondered. + +The secretary, after a time, tapped and entered. + +"Mayor Morrison is not in the ballroom, sir. And I could not find him." + +"You should have inquired of Miss Corson." + +"I could not find Miss Corson." + +The Senator started for the door. He turned and went back to Daunt. "It's +all right! I gave her a bit of a commission. It's in regard to Morrison. +She seems to be attending to it faithfully. Be easy! I'll bring him." + +The father went straight to the library. He knew the resources of his own +mansion in the matter of nooks for a tete-a-tete interview; now he was +particularly assisted by remembrance of Stewart's habits in the old days. +He found his daughter and the mayor of Marion cozily ensconced among the +cushions of a deep window-seat. + +Stewart was listening intently to the girl, his chin on his knuckles, his +elbow propped on his knee. His forehead was puckered; he was gazing at her +with intent seriousness. + +"Senator Corson," warned the girl, "we are in executive session." + +"I see! I understand! But I need Stewart urgently for a few moments." + +"I surrendered him willingly a little while ago. But this conference must +not be interrupted, sir!" + +"Certainly not, Senator Corson!" asserted Stewart, with a decisive snap in +his tone. "We have a great deal of ground to go over." + +"I'll allow you plenty of time--but a little later. There is a small +matter to be set straight. 'Twill take but a few moments." + +"It's undoubtedly either business or politics, sir," declared Lana, with a +fine assumption of parliamentary dignity. "But I have the floor for +concerns of my own, and I'll not cede any of my time." + +"It is hardly business or politics," returned the Senator, gravely. "It +concerns a matter of courtesy between guests in my home, and I'm anxious +to have the thing straightened out at once. I beg of you, Stewart!" + +The mayor rose promptly. + +"I suppose I must consider it a question of privilege and yield," +consented Lana, still carrying on her little play of procedure. "But do I +have your solemn promise, Senator Corson, that this gentleman will be +returned to me by you at the earliest possible moment?" + +"I promise." + +"And I want your promise that you will hurry back," said the girl, +addressing Stewart. "I'll wait right here!" + +"But, Lana, remember your duties to our guests," protested her father. + +"I have been fulfilling them ever since the reception-line was formed." +She waved her hand to draw their attention to the distant music. "The +guests are having a gorgeous time all by themselves. I'll be waiting +here," she warned. "Remember, please, both of you that I am waiting. That +ought to hurry your settlement of that other matter you speak of." + +"I'll waste no time!" Morrison assured her. He marched away with the +Senator. + +In the study Corson took his stand between his two guests. Daunt was +bristling; Morrison displayed no emotion of any sort. + +"Mr. Daunt, I think you'd better state your grievance, as you feel it, so +that Mr. Morrison can assure both of us that it arises from a +misunderstanding." + +The banker took advantage of that opportunity with great alacrity. "Now +that Senator Corson is present--now that we have a broad-minded referee, +Mr. Morrison, I propose to go over that matter of business." + +"Exactly on the same lines?" inquired Stewart, mildly. + +"Exactly! And for obvious reasons--so that Corson may understand just how +much your attitude hurt my feelings." + +"Pardon me, Mr. Daunt. I have no time to listen to the repetition. It will +gain you nothing from me. My mind remains the same. And Miss Corson is +waiting for me. I have promised to return to her as soon as possible." + +"But it will take only a little while to go over the matter," pleaded +Corson. + +"It will be time wasted on a repetition, sir. I have no right to keep Miss +Corson waiting, on such an excuse." + +"You give me an almighty poor excuse for unmannerly treatment of my +business, Morrison," Daunt stated, with increasing ire. + +"I really must agree in that," chided the Senator. + +"Sir, you gave your daughter the same promise for yourself," declared +Stewart. + +"Now let's not be silly, Stewart. Lana was playing! You can go right on +with her from where you left off." + +"Perhaps!" admitted the mayor. "I hope so, at any rate. But I don't +propose to break my promise." He added in his own mind that he did not +intend to allow a certain topic between him and Lana Corson to get cold +while he was being bullyragged by two elderly gentlemen in that study. + +"By the gods! you'll have to talk turkey to me on one point!" asserted +Daunt, his veneer of dignity cracking wide and showing the coarser grain +of his nature. "I made you a square business proposition and you insulted +me--under the roof of a gentleman who had vouched for both of us." + +"Thank you! Now we are not retracing our steps, as you threatened to do. +We go on from where we left off. Therefore, I can give you a few moments, +sir. What insult did I offer you?" + +"You told me that I ought to be ashamed of myself." + +"That was not an insult, Mr. Daunt. I intended it to be merely a frank +expression of opinion. Just a moment, please!" he urged, breaking in on +violent language. He brought his thumb and forefinger together to make a +circle and poised his hand over his head. "I don't wear one of these. I +have no right to wear one. Halo, I mean! I'm no prig or preacher--at +least, I don't mean to be. But when I talk business I intend to talk it +straight and use few words--and those words may sound rather blunt, +sometimes. Just a moment, I say!" + +He leaned over the table and struck a resounding blow on it with his +knuckles. "This is a nutshell proposition and we'll keep it in small +compass. You gave me a layout of your proposed stock issue. No matter what +has been done by the best of big financiers, no matter what is being done +or what is proposed to be done, in this particular case your consolidation +means that you've got to mulct the people to pay unreasonably high charges +on stock. It isn't a square deal. My property was developed on real money. +I know what it pays and ought to pay. I won't put it into a scheme that +will oblige every consumer of electricity to help pay dividends on +imaginary money. And if you're seriously attempting to put over any +consolidation of that sort on our people, Mr. Daunt, I repeat that you +ought to be ashamed of yourself." + +"And now you have heard him with your own ears," clamored the banker. +"What do you say to that, Mr. Corson?" + +"All capitalization entails a fair compromise--values to be considered in +the light of new development," said the Senator. "Let's discuss the +proposition, Stewart." + +"Discussion will only snarl us up. I'm stating the principle. You can't +compromise principle! I refuse to discuss." + +"Have you gone crazy over this protection-of-the-people idea?" demanded +Corson, with heat. + +"Maybe so! I'm not sure. I may be a little muddled. But I see a principle +ahead and I'm going straight at it, even though I may tread on some toes. +I believe that the opinion doesn't hold good, any longer, as a matter of +right, that because a man has secured a franchise, and his charter permits +him to build a dam across a river or the mouth of a lake, he is thereby +entitled to all the power and control and profit he can get from that +river or lake without return in direct payment on that power to the people +of the state. We know it's by constitutional law that the people own the +river and the lake. I'm putting in a report on this whole matter to the +incoming legislature, Senator Corson." + +"Good Heavens! Morrison, you're not advocating the soviet doctrine that +the state can break existing contracts, are you?" shouted the Senator. + +"I take the stand that charters do not grant the right for operators of +water-power to charge anything their greed prompts 'em to charge on +ballooned stock. I assert that charters are fractured when operators +flagrantly abuse the public that way! I'm going to propose a legislative +bill that will oblige water-power corporations to submit in public reports +our state engineers' figures on actual honest profit-earning valuation; to +publish complete lists of all the men who own stock so that we may know +the interests and the persons who are secretly behind the corporations." + +Corson displayed instant perturbation. + +"Such publication can be twisted to injure honest investors. It can be +used politically by a man's enemies. Stewart, I am heavily interested +financially in Daunt's syndicate, because I believe in developing our +grand old state. I bring this personal matter to your attention so that +you may see how this general windmill-tilting is going to affect your +friends." + +"I'm for our state, too, sir! And I'll mention a personal matter that's +close to me, seeing that you have broached the subject. St. Ronan's mill +is responsible for more than two hundred good homes in the city of Marion, +built, owned, and occupied by our workers. And in order to clean up a +million profit for myself, I don't propose to go into a syndicate that may +decide to ship power out of this state and empty those homes." + +"You are leaping at insane conclusions," roared Daunt. He shook his finger +under Morrison's nose. + +"I'll admit that I have arrived at some rather extreme conclusions, sir," +admitted Stewart, putting his threatened nose a little nearer Daunt's +finger. "I based the conclusions on your own statement to me that you +proposed to make my syndicate holdings more valuable by a legislative +measure that would permit the consolidation to take over poles and wires +of existing companies or else run wires into communities in case the +existing companies would not sell." + +"That's only the basic principle of business competition for the good of +the consuming public. Competition is the demand, the right of the people," +declared Daunt. + +"I'm a bit skeptical--still basing my opinion on your own statements as to +common-stock dividends--as to the price per kilowatt after competitors +shall have been sandbagged according to that legislative measure," drawled +the mayor. He turned to the Senator. "You see, sir, your guest and myself +are still a good ways apart in our business ideas!" + +"We'll drop business--drop it right where it is," said the Senator, +curtly. "Mr. Daunt has tried to meet you more than half-way in business, +in my house, taking my indorsement of you. When I recommended you I was +not aware that you had been making radical speeches to a down-town mob. I +am shocked by the change in you, Stewart. Have you any explanation to give +me?" + +"I'm afraid it would take too long to go over it now in a way to make you +understand, sir. I don't want to spoil my case by leaving you half +informed. Mr. Daunt and I have reached an understanding. Pardon me, but I +insist that I must keep my promise to Miss Corson." + +The father did not welcome that announcement. "I trust that the +understanding you mention includes the obligation to forget all that Mr. +Daunt has said under my roof this evening." + +"I have never betrayed confidences in my personal relations with any man, +Senator Corson," returned Morrison. + +"Then your honor naturally suggests your course in this peculiar +situation." + +"Let's not stop to split hairs of honor! What do you expect me to do?" +demanded Morrison, bruskly business-like. + +"I'll tell you what I expect," volunteered Daunt. "You have possession of +facts----" + +"I did not solicit them, sir. I was practically forced into an interview +with you when I much rather would have been enjoying myself in the +ballroom." + +"Nevertheless, you have the facts. Under the circumstances you have no +right to them. I expect you to show a gentleman's consideration and keep +carefully away from my affairs." + +"I, also, must ask that much, as your mutual host," put in Corson. + +"Gentlemen," declared Stewart, setting back his shoulders, "by allowing +myself to stretch what you term 'honor' to that fine point I would be held +up in a campaign I have started--prevented from going on with my work, +simply because Mr. Silas Daunt is among the men I'm fighting. I'm exactly +where I was before Mr. Daunt talked to me. I propose to lick a water-power +monopoly in this state if it's in my humble power to do it. If you stay in +that crowd, Mr. Daunt, you've got to take your chances along with the rest +of 'em." + +"Stewart, your position is outrageous," blazed Corson. "You're not only +throwing away a wonderful business opportunity on lines wholly approved by +general usage--simply to indulge an impractical whim for which you'll get +no thanks--taking a nonsensical stand for a mere dream in the way of +public ownership--but you're insulting me, myself, by the inference that +may be drawn." + +"I don't understand, sir." + +"Well, then, understand!" said the Senator, carried far by his +indignation. "You know how I made my fortune!" + +"I do!" + +"Was I not justified in buying in all the public timber-lands at the going +price?" + +"Yes, seeing that the people of the state were fools enough to stay asleep +and let lands go for a dollar or so an acre--lands to-day worth thousands +of dollars an acre for the timber on 'em!" + +"I paid the price that was asked. That's as far as a business man is +expected to go." + +"Certainly, Senator. I'm glad for you. But, I repeat, the people were +asleep! Now I'm going to wake 'em up to guard their last great +heritage--the water-power that they still own! I'll keep 'em awake, if +I've got strength enough in this arm to keep on drumming and breath enough +to keep the old trumpet sounding!" + +"The corporations in this state are organized, they will protect their +charters, they will make you let go of your wild scheme," bellowed the +banker. "By the jumped-up Jehoshaphat, they will make you let go, +Morrison! By the great--" + +"Hush!" pleaded their host. "They can hear outside. No profanity!" + +Stewart had started toward the door; he paused for a moment when he had +his hand on the knob. "We will not let go!" he said, calmly. "We won't let +go--and this is not profanity, Senator Corson--we won't let go of as much +as one dam-site!" + + + + +X + +A SENATOR SIZES UP A FOE + + +After Stewart had closed the door behind himself Senator Corson rose +hastily. For a few moments he surveyed the panels of the oaken portal with +the intentness of one who was studying a problem on a printed page. Then, +plainly, his thoughts went traveling beyond the closed door. But he +appeared to be receiving no satisfaction from his scrutiny or from his +thoughts. He scowled and muttered. + +He stared into the palms of his soiled gloves; the suggestion they offered +did not improve his temper. He ripped them from his hands. "What the +mischief ails 'em, down here? They're all more or less slippery, Daunt! +I've been sensing it all the evening! I feel as if I'd been handling +eels." + +Banker Daunt was calming himself by a patrol of the room. + +"I can view matters like a statesman when I'm in the Senate Chamber," +Corson asserted, "but down here at home these days I can't see the forest +on account of the trees! I don't know what tree to climb first, Daunt, I +swear I don't! What with North getting the party into this scrape it's in, +and playing his sharp politics, and this power question fight and--and--" + +He gazed at the door again. It now suggested a definite course of +procedure, apparently. He crumpled his gloves into a ball and threw them +on the table. There was a hint in that action; the Senator was showing his +determination to handle matters without gloves for the rest of the +evening. "There's one thing about it, Daunt, a man can't do his best in +public concerns till he has freed his mind of his private troubles. You +wait here. I'll be right back." + +"Where are you going, Senator?" + +"I'm going to regain my self-respect! I'm going to assert myself as master +of my own home. I'm going to tell Stewart Morrison that I have business +with him, and that I'll attend to it in a strictly business office, later, +where he can't insult my friends and abuse my hospitality!" + +"Wait a minute! I've had an acute attack of it, too, this evening--the +same ailment, but I'm getting over it. Don't lose your head and your +temper, both at the same time. You're not in the right trim just now to go +against that bullhead. Let's estimate him squarely. That's always my plan +in business." Mr. Daunt plucked a cigar from a box on the table and +lighted up leisurely, soothing himself into a matter-of-fact mood. Corson +waited with impatience, but his politician's caution began to tug on the +bits, moderating the rush of his passion, and he took a cigar for himself. + +"Outside of this petty mayor business, does Morrison cut any figure--have +any special power in state politics?" the banker asked. + +"Not a particle--not as a politician. He doesn't know the A B C's of the +game." + +"How much influence can he wield as an agitator, as he threatens to +become?" + +Corson's declaration was less emphatic. "We're conservative, the mass of +us, in these parts. Starting trouble isn't wielding influence, Daunt. +He'll be going up against the political machine that has always handled +this state safely and sanely--and we know what to do with trouble-makers." + +"This communistic stand of his certainly discredits him with the +corporations, also. Despeaux has been doing good work, and practically all +of 'em have come over to the Consolidated camp. Of course, Morrison is +antagonizing the banking interests, too. Is he a heavy borrower?" + +"He doesn't borrow. He works on his own capital. St. Ronan's is free and +clear," admitted the Senator, crossly. + +"That's too bad! Calling loans is always effective in improving a +radical's opinions. Then this friend, whom you have held up to me as so +important in our plans----" + +"I did consider him important, Daunt! I do now. I know him. I have seen +him go after things, ever since he was a boy. That storage-commission +scheme is his own device and, as the head of it, he occupies a strategic +position." + +"But it's only a scheme; he has no actual organization of the people +behind it." + +"Confound it! I'm afraid he will have!" + +"It's an impractical dream--trying to establish such shadowy ownership of +what vested capital under private control must naturally possess and +develop. We have sound business on our side." + +"It may not seem so much like a dream after he puts that report into the +legislature," complained the Senator. "I tell you, I know Stewart +Morrison. He indulges in visions, but he'll back this particular one up +with so many facts and figures that it will make a treasury report look +like a ghost-story by comparison. Talk about sound business! That's +Morrison's other name!" + +"What's going to be done with that report, Corson?" + +The Senator hesitated a few moments. + +"Understand that I'm no kin of old Captain Teach, the buccaneer, either in +politics or business, Daunt. But I'm not fool enough to believe that the +millennium has arrived in this world, even if the battle of Armageddon has +been fought, as the parsons are preaching. We still must deal with human +conditions. The tree is full of good ideas, I'll admit. But we've got to +let 'em ripen. Eat 'em now--and it's a case of the gripes for business and +politics, both. Therefore"--the Senator paused and squinted at the end of +his cigar. "Well, Daunt, we'll have to apply a little common sense to +conditions, even though the opposition may squeal. That ownership of the +water-power by the people isn't ripe. The legislative committee will +pocket Morrison's report, or will refer the thing to the public utilities +commission." + +"Both plans meaning the same thing?" + +"I won't put it as coarsely as that. It only means handling the situation +with discretion. Discretion by those in power is going to save us a lot of +trouble in times like these." + +"You are sure of the right legislative committee, are you?" + +"Certainly! North is on the job up at the State House. I'll admit that he +isn't tactful. He's very old-fashioned in his political ideas. But he +doesn't mind clamor and criticism, and he isn't afraid of the devil +himself. Between you and me, I think," continued the Senator, judicially, +"that North is skating pretty near the edge this time. I would not have +allowed him to go so far if I had been in better touch with conditions +down here. But it's too late to modify his plans much at this hour. He +must bull the thing through as he's going. I can undo the mischief to the +party by the selection of a smooth diplomat for the gubernatorial +nomination next year. But jumping back to the main subject--Stewart +Morrison! Seeing what he is, in the water-power matter, I hoped I could +smooth things by your getting next to him. I'm sorry you have been so much +annoyed, Daunt! He may make it uncomfortable by his mouth, but he cannot +control anything by direct political influence. Absolutely not!" The +Senator was recovering his confidence in himself as a leader; he started +up from his chair and stamped down an emphatic foot. "He is a nonentity in +that direction. Politics will handle the thing! The legislature will be +all right! The situation on Capitol Hill is safe. However, I think I'll +pass a word or two with North!" + +He went to the wall of the study, slipped aside a small panel, and lifted +out a telephone instrument. "A little precaution I've held over from the +old days," Corson informed his guest, with a smile. "A private line to the +Executive Chamber." + +From where he sat Daunt could hear the Governor's voice. The tones rasped +and rattled and jangled in the receiver, which, for the sake of his +eardrum, Senator Corson held away from his head. The puckers on his +countenance indicated that he was annoyed, both by the news and by the +discordant violence of its delivery. + +"But it's not as threatening as all that! It can't be!" the listener kept +insisting. + +"Well, I'll come up," he promised, at last. "I'll come, but I think you're +over-anxious, North!" + +There was a sound as if somebody were banging on a tin pan at the other +end of the line; His Excellency had merely put more vigor into his voice. + +"I think--I'm quite sure that he's still here--in my house," Corson +replied. "Yes--yes--I certainly will!" He hung up. + +"You seemed to think, Daunt, that I didn't have a good and a sufficient +reason for saying a few words to Morrison when I started to hunt him up a +few minutes ago. However, this time you'll have to excuse me. I'm going to +him." + +"But you're not intending to make him of any especial importance in +affairs, are you? You said he could be ignored." + +"Yes! But I don't propose to ignore his efforts to stir up the mob spirit +in a city of which he happens to be mayor. He has been up to that +mischief! I have heard straight reports from various sources this evening. +The Governor has been posted and he is very emphatic on the point." Corson +rubbed the ear that was still reminding him of that emphasis. + +"That's the trouble with men like Morrison, when they begin to talk +people's rights these days, Senator! They go up in the air and jump all +the way over into Bolshevism. I'm sorry now because I counseled you to +smooth your temper. Go at him. I'll sit here and finish my smoke." + +At the head of the broad staircase Senator Corson came upon Mrs. Stanton +and Coventry Daunt. + +They wore expressions of bewilderment that would have fitted the +countenances of explorers who had missed their quest and had lost their +reckoning. + +Mrs. Stanton put out her fan, and the striding father halted at the polite +barrier with a greeting, but evinced anxiety to be on the way. + +"I'm so glad to see you, Senator Corson!" This with delight. "But isn't +Lana with you?" this with anxiety. "I mean, hasn't she been with you?" + +"My dance contracts with Miss Corson have been shot quite all to pieces," +said Coventry. + +"I have searched everywhere for her--I think I have," supplemented the +sister. "But we guessed she must be with you, and we didn't venture to +intrude." + +"And you are sure she is not in the ballroom?" + +"Absolutely!" Young Mr. Daunt plainly knew what he was talking about. + +"Coventry, if you and Mrs. Stanton will go there and wait a few moments, I +am positive that Lana will come to you very promptly!" + +Senator Corson also seemed to know what he was talking about! + + + + +XI + +FLAREBACKS IN THE CASE OF LOVE AND A MOB + + +Again was Stewart a close listener, his chin resting on his knuckles, his +serious eyes searching Lana's face while she talked. + +A cozy harbor was afforded by the bay of the great window in the library. +When Stewart had returned to the girl he noticed that she had provided the +harbor with a breakwater--a tall Japanese screen; waiting there she had +found the room draughty, she informed him. + +He was placid when he returned. His demeanor was so untroubled and his air +so eagerly invited her to go on from where she had left off that she did +not bother her mind about the errand which had called him away. + +"I'm really glad because we adjourned the executive session for a recess," +she confided. "I've had a chance to think over what I was saying to you, +Stewart. While I talked I found myself getting a bit hysterical. I +realized that I was presumptuous, but I couldn't seem to stop. But I have +been going over it in my mind and I'm glad now that my feelings did carry +me away. Friendship has a right to be impetuous on some occasions. I never +tried to advise you in the old days. You wouldn't have listened, anyway." + +"I've always been glad to listen to you," he corrected. + +"But it makes a friend so provoked to have one listen and then go ahead +and do just as one likes. I want to ask you--while you have been away from +me have you been reflecting on what I said?" + +He stammered a bit, and there was not absolute candor in his eyes. "To +tell the truth, Lana, I allowed myself to be taken up considerably with +other matters. But I did remember my promise to hurry back to you, just +the minute I could break away," he added, apologetically. + +"I'm a little disappointed in you, just the same, Stewart! I've been +hoping that you were putting your mind on what I said to you. I was hoping +that when you came back----" + +"Well, go on, Lana!" he prompted, gently, when she paused. + +"It's so hard for me to say it so it will sound as I mean it," she +lamented. "To make my interest appear exactly what it is. To find the +words to fit my thoughts just now! I know what they're saying about me +these days in Marion. I know our folks so well! I don't need to hear the +words; I have been studying their faces this evening. You, also, know what +they're saying, Stewart!" + +He confined his assent to a significant nod; Jeanie MacDougal's few words +on the subject had been, for him, a comprehensive summary of the general +gossip. + +"When I was speechifying to you in St. Ronan's office you thought I had +come back here filled with airs and lofty notions. I knew how you felt!" + +He shook his head and allowed the extent of his negation to be limited to +that! "I'll tell you how I felt--some time--but now I'll listen to you." + +"I was putting all that on for show, Stewart! I felt so--so--I don't know! +Embarrassed, perhaps! And I felt that you--" her color deepened then in +true embarrassment. "And--and--they were all there!" It was naive +confession, and he smiled. + +"So I said to my wee mither, Lana, by way of setting her right as to +meddlesome tongues." + +"I am sincere and honest still, Stewart, where my real friends are +concerned. I've just complained because I can't find words to express my +thoughts to you. Well, I never was at a loss when we were boy and girl +together." She paused and they heard the sound of music. + +"There's a frilly style of talk that belongs with that--down there," she +went on. There was a hint of contempt in her gesture. "But you and I used +to get along better--or worse--with plain speech." The flash of a smile of +her own softened her _moue_. + +"I make it serve me well in my affairs," agreed Morrison. + +"Do you think I'm airy and notional and stuck up?" + +"No!" + +"Do you think I'm posing as a know-it-all because I have been about in the +world and have seen and heard?" + +"No!" + +"But you do think I'm broader and wiser and more open-minded and have +better judgment on matters in general than I had when I was penned up here +in Marion, don't you?" + +"Yes!" + +"Stewart, you're not helping me much, staring at me and popping those noes +and yesses at me! You make me feel like--but, honestly, I'm not! I don't +intend to seem like that!" + +"Eh?" + +"Why, like an opinionated lecturer, laying down the law of conduct to you! +I don't mean to do all the talking." + +"You'd better, Lana--for the present," he advised, seriously; "If you have +something to say to me, take care and not let me get started on what I +want to say to you." + +She flushed. She drew away from him slightly. In her apprehensiveness she +hurried on for her own protection. "I hoped you were coming back just now, +Stewart, and put out your hand to me as your friend, a good pal who had +given sensible advice, and say to me, 'Lana, you have used your wits to +good advantage while you have been out and about in the world, and your +suggestions to me are all right.' Aren't you going to say so, Stewart?" + +"As I understand it, putting all you said to me awhile back in that plain +language we have agreed on, you tell me that I'm missing my opportunities, +have gone to sleep down here in Marion, am allowing myself to be +everlastingly tied up by petty business details that keep me away from +real enjoyment of a bigger and better life, and that there's not the least +need of my spending my best years in that fashion." + +"You state it bluntly, but that is the gist of it!" + +"Yes, I was blunt. I'm going to be even more blunt! What do I get out of +this prospective, bigger life, Lana?" He drew a deep breath. "Do I +get--you?" + +"Stewart, hush! Wait!" He had spread his hands to her appealingly. "I am +talking to you as your friend--I'm talking of your business, your outlook. +I must say something further to you!" + +He set as firm a grip on his emotions as he had on his anger earlier in +the evening when Krylovensky's hand had dealt him a blow. Her demeanor had +thrust him away effectually. The fire died in his eyes. "Go on, Lana! I +have promised to allow you to have your say. And, once I start, only a +'Yes!' can stop me." + +She displayed additional apprehension and plunged into a strictly +commercial topic with desperate directness. "I'm positive that you have no +further need of making yourself a slave to details of business. I know +that you can be free to devote yourself to the higher things that are +worthy of your real self and your talents, Stewart. Father says that +through Mr. Daunt there will come to you the grandest opportunity of your +life. I suppose that's what Mr. Daunt explained to you when you were with +him this evening. Even though you may not consider me wise in men's +business affairs, Stewart, you must admit that my father and Mr. Daunt +know. You haven't any silly notions, have you? You're ready to seize every +opportunity to make a grand success in business, the way the great men do, +aren't you?" + +There was a very different light in Morrison's eyes than had flamed in +them a few moments before. He stared at her appraisingly, wonderingly. His +demanding survey of her was disconcerting, but his somberness was that of +disappointment rather than of any distrust. + +"Has your father asked you to talk to me on the subject of that business?" + +She did not reply promptly. But his challenge was too direct. + +"I confess that father did intimate that there'd be no need of mentioning +him in the matter." + +"He asked you to talk to me, then?" + +"Yes, Stewart!" + +"And I thought you were talking only for yourself when you begged me to +step up into that broader life!" His voice trembled. She did not appear to +understand his emotion. + +"But I _am_ talking for myself," protested the girl. + +"You're talking only your father's views, his plans, his ambition, his +scheme of life--talking Daunt's project for his own selfish ends!" + +"I don't understand!" + +"I hope you don't! For the sake of my love for you, I hope so!" He was +striving to control himself. "In the name of what we have been to each +other in days past, I hope you are not their--that you don't realize they +are making you a----But I can't say it! I want proof from you now by word +o' mouth! I don't want any more prattle of business! I want you to show me +that you are talking for yourself. Lana Corson, say to me some word from +your own heart--something for me alone--something from old times--to prove +that you are what I want you to be! I love you. You are mine! I don't +believe their gossip. I have never given you up. I've been waiting +patiently for you to come back to me. Can't you go back to the old +times--and speak from your own soul?" + +The intensity of his appeal carried her along in the rush of his emotion. +"Stewart, I have been speaking for myself, as best I knew how! I'm back to +the old times! If you need further words from me, you shall have them." + +Senator Corson stepped around the end of the screen. "You will postpone +any further words to Mr. Morrison! I have some words of my own for him! +Lana, Coventry Daunt is waiting for you in the ballroom and I have told +him that you will be there at once." + +"Mr. Daunt must continue to wait, father. I have something to tell +Stewart, and you must allow me to say it--say it to him, alone." + +"You shall never speak another word to him on any subject with my +permission. I have been listening and--" + +"Father, do you confess that you have been eavesdropping?" + +"My present code of manners is perfectly suited to the tactics of this +fellow who has flouted me and insulted an honored guest under my roof this +evening. Morrison, leave the house!" + +"He shall stay at the request of his hostess," declared the girl, +defiantly. + +"On with you to your guests--that's where your hostess duties are!" Corson +reached to take her arm. + +Stewart hastily raised Lana's hand and bent over it. "I am indebted to you +for a charming evening." He stood erect and his demeanor of manly +sincerity removed every suggestion of sarcasm from the conventional phrase +he had spoken quietly. "The charm, Senator Corson, has outweighed all the +unpleasantness." + +When he turned to retire Corson halted him with a curt word. + +"Lana, I command you to go and join your partner." + +But Miss Corson persisted in her rebelliousness. She did not relish the +ominous threat that she perceived in the situation. "I shall stay with you +till you're in a better state of temper, father." + +"You'll hear nothing to this man's credit if you do stay," said the +Senator, acridly. "I have just talked on the 'phone with the Governor, +Mayor Morrison. He asked me to notify you that your mob which you have +stirred up in your own city, by your devilish speeches this evening, is +evidently on the war-path. He, expects you to undo the mischief, seeing +that your tongue is the guilty party!" + +Lana turned startled gaze from her father to Morrison; amazement struggled +with her indignation. Her amazement was deepened by the mayor's mild +rejoinder. + +"Very well, Senator. I have an excellent understanding with that mob." + +"Making speeches to a mob!" Lana gasped. "I'll not allow even my father to +say that about you, Stewart, and leave it undisputed." + +"Your father is angry just now, Lana! Any discussion will provoke further +unpleasantness!" + +"Confound you! Don't you dare to insult me by your condescending airs," +thundered Corson. "You have your orders. Go and mix with your rabble and +continue that understanding with 'em, if you can make 'em understand that +law and order must prevail in this city to-night." + +The library was in a wing of the mansion, far from the street, and the +three persons behind the screen had been entirely absorbed in their +troubled affairs. They had heard none of the sounds from the street. + +Somebody began to call in the corridor outside the library. The voice +sounded above the music from the ballroom, and quavered with anxious +entreaty as it demanded, over and over: "Senator Corson! Where are you, +Senator Corson?" + +"Here!" replied the Senator. + +The secretary rushed in. "There's a mob outside, sir! A threatening mob!" + +"Ah! Morrison, your friends are looking you up!" + +"They are radicals--anarchists. They must be!" panted the messenger. "They +are yelling: 'Down with the capitalists! Down with the aristocrats!' I +ordered the shades pulled. The men seemed to be excited by looking in +through the windows at the dancers in the ballroom!" + +"There'll be no trouble. I'll answer for that," promised the Mayor, +marching away. + +Before he reached the door the crash of splintered glass, the screams of +women and shouts of men; drowned the music. + +Stewart went leaping down the stairs. When he reached the ballroom he +found the frightened guests massed against the wall, as far from the +windows as they could crowd. A wild battle of some sort was going on +outside in the night, so oaths and cries and the grim thudding of +battering fists revealed. + +Before Stewart could reach a window--one of those from which the glass had +been broken--Commander Lanigan came through the aperture with a rush, +skating to a standstill along the polished floor. Blood was on his hands. +His sleeves hung in ribbons. In that scene of suspended gaiety he was a +particularly grisly interloper. + +"They sneaked it over on us, Mister Mayor!" he yelled. "I got a tip and +routed out the Legion boys and chased 'em, but the dirty, Bullshevists +beat us to it up the hill. But we've got 'em licked!" + +"Keep 'em licked for the rest of the night," Morrison suggested. "I'll be +down-town with you, right away!" + +But Lanigan, in his raging excitement, was not amenable to hints or +orders, nor was he cautious in his revelations. "We can handle things +down-town, Your Honor! What we want to know is, what about up-town--up on +Capitol Hill?" + +"You've had my promise of what I'll do. And I'll do it!" + +Senator Corson and his daughter had arrived in the ballroom. The Senator +was promptly and intensely interested in this cocksure declaration by +Morrison. + +"Your promise is the same as hard cash for me and the level-headed ones," +retorted Commander Lanigan. "But whether it's the Northern Lights in the +skies or plain hellishness in folks or somebody underneath stirring and +stirring trouble and starting lies, I don't know! Lots of good boys have +stopped being level-headed! I'll hold the gang down if I can, sir. But +what I want to know is, can we depend on you to tend to Capitol Hill? Are +you still on the job? Can I tell 'em that you're still on the job?" + +"You can tell 'em all that I'm on the job from now till morning," shouted +the mayor. He was heard by the men outside. They gave his declaration a +howl of approval. + +"The people will be protected," shouted an unseen admirer. + +Stewart hurried to Senator Corson and was not daunted by that gentleman's +blazing countenance. + +"I'm sorry, sir. This seems to be a flareback of some sort. I'll have +police on guard at once!" + +"You'll protect the people, eh? There's a flatterer in your mob, Morrison! +You can't even give window-glass in this city suitable protection--a mayor +like you! I'll have none of your soviet police around my premises." He +turned to his secretary. "Call the adjutant-general at the State House and +tell him to send a detachment of troops here." + +"I trust they'll co-operate well with the police I shall send," stated the +Mayor, stiffly. He hastened from the room. + +When Stewart had donned hat and overcoat and was about to leave the +mansion by the main door, Lana stepped in front of him. "Stewart, you must +stop for a moment--you must deny it, what father has been saying to me +about you just now!" + +"Your father is angry--and in anger a man says a whole lot that he doesn't +mean. I'm in a hurry--and a man in a hurry spoils anything he tries to +tell. We must let it wait, Lana." + +"But if you go on--go on as you're going--crushing Mr. Daunt's +plans--spoiling your own grand prospects--antagonizing my father--paying +no heed to my advice!" The girl's sentences were galloping breathlessly. + +"We'll have time to talk it over, Lana!" + +"What! Talk it over after you have been reckless enough to spoil +everything? You must stand with your friends, I tell you! Father is wiser +than you! Isn't he right?" + +"I--I guess he thinks he is--but I can't talk about it." He was backing +toward the door. + +"You must know what it means--for us two--if you go headlong against him. +I stand stanchly for my father--always!" + +"I reckon you'll have to be sort of loyal to your father--but I can't talk +about it! Not now!" he repeated. He was uncomfortably aware that he had no +words to fit the case. + +"But if you don't stand with him, you're in with the rabble--the rabble," +she declared, indignantly. "He says you are! Stewart, I know you won't +insult his wisdom and deny my prayer to you! Only a few moments ago I was +ready----But I cannot say those words to you unless----You understand!" + +This interview had been permitted only because Senator Corson's attention +had been absorbed by Mrs. Stanton's hysterical questions. But the lady's +fears did not affect her eyesight. She had noted Lana's departure and she +caught a glimpse of the mayor when he strode past the ballroom door with +his hat in his hand. + +"Yes, I'll be calm, Senator! I'm sure that we'll be perfectly protected. +Lana followed the mayor just now, and I suppose she is insisting on a +double detail of police." + +The Senator promptly followed, too, to find out more exactly what Lana was +insisting on. + +"Haven't you joined your rabble yet, Morrison?" Corson queried, +insolently, when he came upon the two. + +"I'm going, sir--going right along!" + +Lana set her hands together, the fingers interlaced so tightly that the +flesh was as white as her cheeks. "'Your rabble!' Stewart! Oh! Oh!" In +spite of her thinly veiled threat of a few moments ago, there was piteous +protest in her face and voice. + +"According to suggestions from all quarters, I don't seem to fit any other +kind of society just now," he replied, ruefully. He marched out into the +night. + +"Call my car," Senator Corson directed a servant. + +In the reception-hall he encountered Silas Daunt, "Slip on your hat and +coat. Come along with me to the State House. I'll show you how practical +politics can settle a rumpus, after a visionary has tumbled down on his +job!" + + + + +XII + +RIFLES RULE IN THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE + + +At eleven o'clock Adj.-Gen. Amos Totten set up the cinch of his sword-belt +by a couple of holes and began another tour of inspection of the State +House. He considered that the parlous situation in state affairs demanded +full dress. During the evening he had been going on his rounds at +half-hour intervals. On each trip he had been much pleased by the strict, +martial discipline and alertness displayed by his guardsmen. The alertness +was especially noticeable; every soldier was tautly at 'tention when the +boss warrior hove in sight. General Totten was portly and came down hard +on his heels with an elderly man's slumping gait, and his sword clattered +loudly and his movements were as well advertised as those of a belled cat +in a country kitchen. + +In the interims, between the tours of General Totten, Captain Danny +Sweetsir did his best to keep his company up to duty pitch. But he was +obliged to admit to himself that the boys were not taking the thing as +seriously as soldiers should. + +Squads were scattered all over the lower part of the great building, +guarding the various entrances. While Captain Sweetsir was lecturing the +tolerant listeners of one squad, he was irritably aware that the boys of +the squads that were not under espionage were doing nigh about everything +that a soldier on duty should not do, their diversions limited only by +their lack of resources. + +Therefore, when General Totten complimented him at eleven o'clock, Captain +Sweetsir had no trouble at all in disguising his gratification and in +assuming the approved, sour demeanor of military gravity. Even then his +ears, sharpened by his indignation, caught the clicking of dice on tiles. + +"Of course, there will be no actual trouble to-night," said the general, +removing his cap and stroking his bald head complacently. "I have assured +the boys that there will be no trouble. But this experience is excellent +military training for them, and I'm pleased to note that they're +thoroughly on the _qui vive_." + +Captain Sweetsir, on his own part, did not apprehend trouble, either, but +the A.-G.'s bland and unconscious encouragement of laxity was distinctly +irritating, "Excuse me, sir, but I have been telling 'em right along that +there will be a rumpus. I was trying to key 'em up!" + +"Remember that you're a citizen as well as a soldier!" The general rebuked +his subaltern sternly. "Don't defame the fair name of your city and state, +sir! The guard has been called out by His Excellency, the +Commander-in-Chief, merely as a precaution. The presence of troops in the +State House--their mere presence here--has cleared the whole situation. +Mayor Morrison agrees with me perfectly on that point." + +"He does?" demanded the captain, eagerly, showing relief. "Why, I was +afraid--" He checked himself. + +"Of what, sir?" + +"He didn't look like giving three cheers when I told him in the mill +office that we had been ordered out." + +"Mayor Morrison called me on the telephone in the middle of the day and I +explained to him why it was thought necessary to have the State House +guarded." + +"And what did he say?" urged the captain, still more eagerly. Again he +caught himself. He saluted. "I beg your pardon, General Totten. I have no +right to put questions to my superior officer." + +But General Totten was not a military martinet. He was an amiable +gentleman from civil life, strong with the proletariat because he had been +through the chairs in many fraternal organizations and, therefore, handy +in politics; and he was strong with the Governor on account of another +fraternal tie--his sister was the Governor's wife. General Totten, as a +professional mixer, enjoyed a chat. + +"That's all right, Captain! What did the mayor say, you ask? He +courteously made no comment. Official tact! He is well gifted in that +line. His manner spoke for him--signified his complete agreement. He was +cordially polite! Very!" + +The general put on his cap and slanted it at a jaunty angle. "And he still +approves. Is very grateful for the manner in which I'm handling the +situation. He called me only a few minutes ago. From his residence! I +informed him that all was serene on Capitol Hill." + +"And what did he say when he called you this time?" + +"Nothing! Oh, nothing by way of criticism! Distinctly affable!" + +Captain Sweetsir did not display the enthusiasm that General Totten seemed +to expect. + +"Let's see, Captain! You are employed by him?" + +"Not quite that way! I'm a mill student--learning the wool business at St. +Ronan's." + +"Aren't you and Mayor Morrison friendly?" + +"Oh yes! Certainly, sir! But--" Captain Sweetsir appeared to be having +much difficulty in completing his sentences, now that Stewart Morrison had +become the topic of conversation. + +"But what?" + +"He didn't say anything, you tell me?" + +"His cordiality spoke louder than words. And, of course, I was glad to +meet him half-way. I have invited him to call at the State House, if he +cares to do so, though the hour is late. And now I come to the matter of +my business with you, Captain Sweetsir," stated the general, putting a +degree of official sanction on his garrulity in the case of this +subordinate. "If Mayor Morrison does come to the State House to-night, by +any chance, you may admit him." + +"Did he say anything about coming?" + +"Mayor Morrison understands that I am handling everything so tactfully +that an official visit by him might be considered a reflection on my +capability. His politeness equals mine, Captain. Undoubtedly he will not +trouble to come. If he should happen to call unofficially you will please +see to it that politeness governs." + +"Yes, sir! But the other orders hold good, do they, politeness or no +politeness?" + +"For mobs and meddling politicians, certainly! I put them all in the same +class in a time like this." + +General Totten clucked a stuffy chuckle and clanked on his official way. + +Captain Sweetsir heard a sound that was as fully exasperating as the click +of dice; somebody, somewhere in the dimly lighted rotunda, was snoring. He +had previously found sluggards asleep on settees; he went in search of the +latest offender. But his thoughts were occupied principally by reflection +on that peculiar reticence of the Morrison of St. Ronan's; Mill-student +Sweetsir was assailed by doubts of the correctness of General Totten's +comfortable conclusions. Mr. Sweetsir, in the line of business, had had +opportunity on previous occasions to observe the reaction of the +Morrison's reticence. + +The adjutant-general did not bother with the elevator. He marched up the +middle of the grand stairway. + +The State House was only partially illuminated with discreet stint of +lights. All the outside incandescents of dome, _porte-cochere_, and +vestibules had been extinguished. The inside lights were limited to those +in the corridors and the lobbies. The great building on Capitol Hill +seemed like a cowardly giant, clumsily intent on being inconspicuous. + +General Totten did not harmonize with the hush. He was distinctly an +ambulatory noise in the corridor which led to the executive department. He +was announced informally, therefore, to His Excellency. There was no way +of announcing oneself formally to the Governor at that hour, except by +rapping on the door of the private chamber. The reception-room was empty, +the private secretary was not on duty, the messenger of the Governor and +of the Executive Council had been informed by Governor North that his +services would not be required for the rest of the evening. + +Being both adjutant-general and brother-in-law, Totten did not bother to +knock. + +The Governor was at his broad table in the center of the room; the big +chandelier above the table was ablaze, and the shadows of the grooves on +North's face were accentuated. He was staring at the opening door with an +expectancy that had been fully apprised as to the caller's identity, and +he was not cordial. "You make a devilish noise lugging that meat-cleaver +around, Amos. What's the use of all the full-dress nonsense?" + +"Official example _and_"--the general bore down hard on the +conjunction--"the absolute necessity of a civilian officer getting into +uniform when he exercises authority. I know human nature!" + +"All right! Maybe you do. But don't trip yourself up with that sword and +fall down and break your neck," advised the Governor, satirically +solicitous as one of the family. "Anything stirring down-stairs?" + +"The situation is being handled perfectly. Everybody alert. It's wonderful +training for the guards." + +"I haven't liked the sound of reports from the city. Has any news come to +you lately?" + +"Nothing of special importance. Only a little disturbance, or the threat +of one, in the vicinity of Senator Corson's residence. His secretary +called up. I sent a few boys down there." + +"A disturbance?" barked North. + +"I didn't quite gather the details. The man ran his words together." +General Totten helped himself to one of his brother-in-law's cigars. + +"This sounds serious. Why the infernal blazes don't you wake up?" + +"An officer commanding troops mustn't be thrown off his poise by every +flurry. What would happen if I didn't keep my head?" + +"When was this?" + +"Oh, maybe half an hour ago," replied the adjutant-general, with martial +indifference to any mere rumblings of popular discontent. + +"That's probably the reason why Corson hasn't got along yet. I'm expecting +him. I sent for him." North twitched his nose; his eye-glasses dropped off +and dangled at the end of their cord. "I have sent explicit orders to +Mayor Morrison to tend to that mob that he has been coddling. He's letting +'em get away from him, if what you say is so." + +"Oh, the mayor and I are in perfect accord and are handling the situation. +I have just been talking with him on the telephone." Totten settled his +cigar into the corner of his mouth. + +"Where is he?" + +"At his residence! Showing that he isn't any more worried than I am." + +"Well, if he has got the thing in hand again, I hope he'll stay at his +residence. If reports are anything to go by, he didn't help matters by +going down-town and making speeches to that rabble." + +"Politeness wins in the long run, Lawrence, whether you're talking to the +mob or the masters. I make it my principle in life. Tact and diplomacy. +Harmony and--" + +"Hell and repeat!" stormed North. "You and Morrison are not taking this +thing the way you ought to! In accord, say you! He is torching 'em up and +you are grinning while the fire burns! Fine team-work! Amos, you get in +accord with me and my orders. You keep away from Morrison till I can make +sure that he stands clean in his party loyalty." + +His Excellency was stuttering in his wrath and the general determined to +be discreetly silent as to his recent tender of politeness to Morrison +through the captain of the guards. Furthermore, Totten's self-complacency +assured him that the mayor of Marion was leaving the affairs on Capitol +Hill in the hands of the accredited commander on Capitol Hill. + +Governor North pulled open a drawer of the table. He threw a bunch of keys +to his brother-in-law. "I had the messenger leave these with me. Lock up +all the doors of the Council Chamber. Leave only my private door +unlocked." + +The adjutant-general caught the keys. "But you certainly don't expect any +trouble up here, with my guards--" + +"It's plenty enough of a job for a cat to watch one rat-hole! Lock up, I +tell you!" + + +XIII + +THE LINE-UP FORMS IN THE PEOPLE'S HOUSE + +While General Totten was bruising his dignity in the menial work of a +turnkey, Governor North received two visitors. They were furred gentlemen +who entered abruptly by the private door--the before-mentioned +rat-hole--but the waiting cat did not pounce. On the contrary, one of the +furred intruders did the pouncing. It was Senator Corson and he was +furiously angry. + +"What kind of a damnable fool has been giving off orders to those +soldiers? I have been tramping around outside this State House from door +to door, held up everywhere and insulted by those young whelps." + +"I don't see how that could happen," protested the Governor. + +"Who gave off such orders?" + +"There were no orders, not in your case. I didn't think it was necessary +to specify anything in regard to you, Senator. Do you mean to tell me that +there's a man down there who didn't recognize you--who refused to allow +you to pass without question?" + +"They all know me! Of course they know me. And that's the whole trouble. +They made that the reason why they wouldn't let me in here." + +"How in the devil's name could that be?" The Governor's anger that +promised punishment for the offenders served Senator Corson in lieu of +apology. + +"I was informed that there were strict orders not to admit politicians. +According to those lunkheads at the doors I came under that +classification." The Senator threw off his coat. "And Daunt, here, was +penalized on account of the company he was keeping. Find out who gave +those orders." + +General Totten had locked the doors and was nervously jangling the keys. + +"Amos, what kind of a fool have you been making yourself with your +orders?" the Governor demanded. + +"I--I think some instructions of mine in regard to admitting any of those +persons whose seats are in dispute--probably those orders were +misconstrued. My guards are very zealous--very alert," affirmed the +adjutant-general, putting as good a face on the matter as was possible. He +fully realized that this was no time to mention that exception in favor of +Mayor Morrison, or to explain that he had intended to have Captain +Sweetsir accept humorously instead of literally the more recent statement +about politicians. + +"There are two of those alert patriots who have had their zeal dulled for +the time being," stated the Senator, showing his teeth with a grim smile. +"I stood the impertinence as long as I could and then I cuffed the ears of +the fools and walked in." + +"We did issue strict instructions, as Amos has intimated," the Governor +pleaded. "Some of those Socialists and Progressives who are claiming their +seats have hired counsel and they proposed to force their way into the +House and Senate chambers and make a test case, inviting forcible +expulsion. I'm reckoning that my plan of forcible exclusion leaves us in +cleaner shape." + +"I'm not sure just how clean the whole thing is going to leave us, North." +The Senator tossed his coat upon a huge divan at one side of the chamber +and invited Daunt to dispose of his own coat in like fashion. Corson came +to the table and sat sidewise on one corner of it. "You know how I feel +about your pressing the election statutes to the extent you have. But +we've got the old nag right in the middle of the river, and we've got to +attend to swimming instead of swapping. I think, in spite of all their +howling, the other crowd will take their medicine, as the courts hand it +to them, when the election cases go up for adjudication. But there's a +gang in every community that always takes advantage of any signs of a +mix-up in high authority. My house got merry hell from a mob a little +while ago. There's no political significance in the matter, however!" + +The Governor queried anxiously for details and Corson gave them. He +bitterly arraigned Morrison's stand. + +North came to his feet and banged his fist on the table. "What? Take that +attitude toward a mob in his own city? Strike hands with a ringleader of a +riot--do it under a violated roof? Do it after what he promised me in the +way of co-operation for law and order? Has he completely lost his mind, +Senator Corson?" + +"I think so," stated the Senator, with sardonic venom. "I'll admit that +the thing isn't exactly clear to me--what he's trying to do--what he's +thinking. A crazy man's actions and whims seldom are understandable by a +sane man. But, so I gather, after showing us, as he has this evening, a +sample of his work in running municipal government, he now proposes to +take full charge of state matters." + +"What?" yelled the Governor. + +"Yes! Promised the ringleader of the mob to come up here and run +everything on Capitol Hill. In behalf of the people--as the people's +protector!" The Senator's irony rasped like a file on metal. + +Banker Daunt was provoked to add his evidence. "It's exactly as my friend +Corson says, Governor. I have been hearing some fine soviet doctrines from +the mouth of Morrison this evening. Not at all stingy about giving his +help to all those who need it! Gave his pledge of assistance to the fellow +in the ballroom, as Corson says. Understood him to say that he is coming +up here to help you, too!" + +"I rather expected to find him here," pursued the Senator. "He went away +in a great hurry to go somewhere. But after my experience with your alert +soldiers down-stairs, Totten, I'm afraid our generous savior is going to +be bothered about getting in." + +The adjutant-general pulled off his cap and scrubbed his palm nervously +over the glossy surface that was revealed. + +"You might give some special orders to admit him," suggested Corson. +"He'll be a great help in an emergency." + +"This settles it with me as to Morrison and his conception of law and +order," affirmed Governor North. "I have been depending on him to handle +his city. I'd as soon depend on Lenin and the kind of government he's +running in Russia." + +"According to the samples furnished by both, I think Lenin would rank +higher as help," said the Senator. "At least he has shown that he knows +how to handle a mob. But we may as well calm down, North, and attend to +our own business. We are making altogether too much account of a silly +nincompoop. Daunt and I let our feelings get away from us this evening on +the same subject. But we woke up promptly. Morrison was in a position to +help his friends and to amount to something as an aid in that line. Now +that he is running with the rabble, for some purpose of his own, he can be +ignored. He amounts to nothing--to that!" He snapped a derogatory finger +into his palm. "We can handle that rabble, Morrison included." He turned +to the adjutant-general. "Your men seem to be alert enough in keeping out +gentlemen who ought to be let in. Do you think you can depend on them to +keep out real intruders?" + +"Oh yes!" faltered Totten, absent-mindedly. He was trying to clear his +troubled thoughts in regard to the matter of Morrison, who was now +presented in a light where politeness might not be allowed to govern the +situation. + +"Have they been put to any test of their courage and reliability? Have +they been up against any actual threats from the outside, this evening?" + +"No, but I can depend on them to the limit, Senator Corson. I have been on +regular tours of inspection. They are a cool and nervy set of young men +and I have impressed on them a sense of what a soldier on duty should be." + +"Very well, Totten! Nevertheless, let us hope that the mob fools have gone +home to bed, including our friend Morrison. He needs his sleep; I believe +he still follows the family rule of being in his mill at seven in the +morning. He's a good millman, even if he isn't much of a politician." + +"And I don't look for any trouble, anyway," declared General Totten, +adding in his thoughts, for his further consolation, the assurance that, +at half past eleven, so the clock on the wall revealed to his gaze, such +an early riser as Morrison must be abed and asleep; therefore, the +exception for the sake of politeness did not threaten to complicate +affairs! + +But at that instant something else did threaten. + +Through the arches and corridors of the State House rang the sounds of +tumult, breaking on the hush with terrifying suddenness. One voice, +shouting with frenzied violence, prefaced the general uproar; there was +the crashing of shattered wood. + +The rifles barked angrily. + +"My God, North! I've been afraid of it!" Corson lamented. "You have +crowded 'em too hard!" + +"I'm going by the law, Corson! The election law! The statute law! And the +riot laws of this state! The law says a mob must be put down!" + +An immediate and reassuring silence suggested that the law had prevailed +and that a mob had been put down in this instance. Corson, whose face was +white and whose eyes were distended, voiced that conviction. "If a gang +had been able to get in they'd be howling their heads off. But it was +quick over!" + +The men in the Executive Chamber stood in their tracks and exchanged +troubled glances in silence. + +"Amos, what are you waiting for?" demanded His Excellency. + +"For a report--an official report on the matter," mumbled the +adjutant-general, steadying his trembling hands by shoving them inside his +sword-belt. + +"Go down and find out what it all means." + +"I can save time by telephoning to the watchman's room," demurred Totten. + +"Incidentally saving your skin!" the Governor rapped back. "But I don't +care how you get the information, if only you get it and get it sudden!" + +Totten went to the house telephone in the private secretary's room and +called and waited; he called again and waited. + +"Nobody is on his job in this State House to-night!" His Excellency's fears +had wire-edged his temper. "By gad! you go down there and tend to yours, +as I have told you to do, Amos, or I'll take that sword and race you along +the corridor on the point of it!" + +"We must be informed on what this means," insisted the Senator. + +There was a rap on the private door. Again the men in the Executive +Chamber swapped uneasy glances. Corson's demeanor invited the Governor to +assume the responsibility. His Excellency was manifestly shirking. He +looked over his shoulder in the direction of the fireplace, as if he felt +an impulse to arm himself with the ornamental poker and tongs. + +"May I come in?" The voice was that of the mayor of Marion. The voice was +deprecatory. + +"Come in!" invited North. + +Morrison entered. He greeted them with a wide smile that did not fit the +seriousness of the situation, as they viewed it. There was humor behind +the smile; it suggested suppressed hilarity; it hinted that he had +something funny to tell them. + +But their grim countenances did not encourage him. + +"If I am intruding on important business----" + +"Shut the door behind you! What is it? What happened?" demanded North. + +Before shutting the door Morrison reached into the gloom behind him and +pulled in a soldier. + +Stewart had put off his evening garb. He wore a business suit of the +shaggy gray mixture that was one of the staples among the products of St. +Ronan's mill. His matter-of-fact attire was not the only element that set +him out in sharp contrast among the claw-hammers and uniforms in the room; +he was bubbling with undisguised merriment; Corson, Daunt, and the +Governor were sullenly anxious; even the young soldier looked flustered +and frightened. + +"I have brought along Paul Duchesne so that you may have it from his own +mouth! Go ahead, Duchesne! Let 'em in on the joke! Gentlemen, get ready +for a laugh!" Stewart set an example for them by a suggestive chuckle. + +"Your arrival in the State House seems to have been attended by +considerable of a demonstration," commented Senator Corson, recovering +himself sufficiently to indulge in his animosity. "Judging from your +success in starting other riots this evening, I ought to have guessed that +you were in the neighborhood." + +"My arrival had nothing whatever to do with the demonstration, Senator. Go +on, Duchesne!" + +"I jomped myself," stammered the soldier, a particularly crestfallen +Canuck. + +"I see you don't grasp the idea," Morrison hastened to put in. "We mustn't +have the flavor of the joke spoiled. I know Paul, here. He works in my +mill. He has a little affliction that's rather common among French +Canadians. He's a jumper." He suddenly clapped the youth on the shoulder +and yelled "Hi!" so loudly that all the auditors leaped in trepidation. +The soldier leaped the highest, flung his arms about wildly, and let out a +resounding yelp. + +"That's the idea!" explained Stewart. "A congenital nervous trouble. +Jumpers, they are called!" + +"What the devil is this all about?" raged the Governor. + +"Tell 'em, Paul. Hurry up!" + +"I gone off on de nap on a settee," muttered Duchesne, twisting his +fingers together. + +General Totten winced. + +"Dere ban whole lot o' dem gone off on de nap, too," asserted the guard, +offering defense for himself. + +"By way of showing alertness, Totten!" growled the Senator. + +"So I ban dream somet'ing! Ba gar! I dream dat t'ree or two bobcat he +come--" + +"Never mind the details of the dream, Paul!" interposed Morrison. "These +gentlemen have business! Get 'em to the laugh, quick!" + +"Ma big button on ma belt she caught on de crack between de slat of dat +settee. And when I fight all dat bobcat dat jomp on maself, ba gee! it was +de settee dat fall on me and I fight dat all over de floor. Dat's all! Oh +yes! Dey all wake up and shoot!" + +"And nobody hurt!" stated Morrison. He gazed at the sour faces of the +listeners. "Great Scott! Doesn't Duchesne's battle to the death with a +settee get even a grin? What's the matter with all of you?" + +"We seem to be quite all right--in our normal senses," returned the +Senator, icily. "I believe there are persons who gibber and giggle at +mishaps to others--but I also believe that such a peculiar sense of humor +is confined largely to institutions for the refuge of the feeble-minded." + +"You may go back to your nap, Duchesne!" The mayor turned on the soldier +and spoke sharply. He followed the young man to the door and closed it +behind Duchesne. + +He marched across the chamber and faced the surly Governor. "I brought the +boy here, Your Excellency, so that you might get the thing straight. I +hope you believe him, even if you don't take much stock in me!" Morrison's +face matched the others in gravity. There was an incisive snap in his +tone. "I happened to be in the rotunda when the--" + +"How did you happen to be in the rotunda, sir--past the guards?" + +"I walked in." + +"By whose permission?" + +"Why, I reckoned it must have been yours," returned Stewart, calmly. + +"I gave no such permission." + +"Well, at any rate, I was informed by the guards that a special exception +had been made in my case. Furthermore, Governor North, you told me this +evening that if I needed any specific information I could find you at the +State House." + +"By telephone, sir! By telephone! I distinctly stipulated that!" + +"I'm sorry! I was considerably engrossed by other matters just then. +Perhaps I didn't get you straight. However, telephone conferences are apt +to be unsatisfactory for both parties. I'm glad I came up. I assure you +it's no personal inconvenience to me, sir!" + +"There's a fine system of military guard here, and a fine bunch to enforce +it. That's what I've got on my mind to say!" whipped out the Senator. "If +one man and a settee can show up your soldiers in that fashion, Totten, +what will a real affair do to them?" + +"Nobody sent for you, Mayor Morrison. Nobody understands why you're here," +stated Governor North. "You're not needed." + +The intruder hesitated for a few moments. His eyes found no welcome in any +of the faces in the Executive Chamber. He swapped a whimsical smile for +their frowns. + +"Well, at all events, I'm here," he said, mildly. + +He was carrying his overcoat on his arm, his hat in his hand. He went +across the room and laid the garment carefully on the divan, smoothing its +folds. His manner indicated that he felt that the coat might be lying +there for some little time, and consideration for good cloth was ingrained +in a Morrison. + + + + +XIV + +THE IMPENDING SHAME OF A STATE + + +Morrison, returning from the shadows, standing in the light-flood from the +great chandelier, confronted three men who were making no effort to +disguise their angry hostility. + +The adjutant-general, nervously neutral, dreading incautious words that +would reveal his unfortunate policy of politeness, tiptoed to the table +and laid there the bunch of keys. "I'm needed officially down-stairs, Your +Excellency!" + +"By Judas! I should think you were!" + +Stewart placed a restraining hand on Totten's arm. "I beg your pardon, +Governor, but we need the adjutant-general of the state in our +conference." + +"Conference about _what_?" + +"About the situation that's developing outside, sir." + +"I'm principally interested in the situation that has developed inside. In +just what capacity do you appear here?" + +There was offensive challenge in every intonation of North's voice. His +eyes protruded, purple circlets made his cheek-bones look like little +knobs, he shoved forward his eye-glasses as far as the cord permitted and +waggled them with a hand that trembled. + +Morrison's good humor continued; his calmness was giving him a distinct +advantage, and North, still shaken by the panic of a few moments before, +was forced farther off his poise by realization of that advantage. + +"Allow me to be present simply as an unprejudiced constituent of yours, +Governor North." + +"Judging from all reports, I'm not sure whether you are a constituent or +not. I'm considerably doubtful about your politics, Morrison." + +"I hope you don't intend to read me out of the party, sir! But if that +question is in doubt, please permit me to be here as the mayor of the city +of Marion. There's no doubt about my being that!" + +"Let me remind you that this is the State House, not City Hall." + +"But tolerate me for a few minutes! I beg of you, sir! Both of us are +sworn executives!" + +"Your duties lie where you belong--down in your city. This is the State +House, I repeat!" + +"Do you absolutely refuse to give me a courteous hearing?" + +"Under the circumstances, after your actions this evening, after your +public alliance with the mob and your boasts of what you were coming up +here to do, I'm taking no chances on you. You're only an intruder. Again, +this is the State House!" + +Morrison dropped his deference. He shot out a forefinger that was just as +emphatic as the Governor's eye-glasses. "I accept your declaration as to +what this place is! It is the State House. It is the Big House of the +People. I'm a joint owner in it. I'm here on my own ground as a citizen, +as a taxpayer in this state. I have personal business here. Let me inform +you, Governor North, that I'm going to stay until I finish that business." + +"That poppycock kind of reasoning would allow every mob-mucker in this +state to rampage through here at his own sweet will. General Totten, call +a corporal and his squad. Put this man out." + +Senator Corson grunted his indorsement and went to a chair and sat down. +His Excellency was pursuing his familiar tactics in an emergency--the +rough tactics that were characteristic of him. In this case Senator Corson +approved and allowed the Governor to boss the operation. + +"I--I think, Mayor Morrison," ventured the adjutant-general, "considering +that recent perfect understanding we had on the matter, that we'd do well +to keep this on the plane of politeness." + +"So do I," Stewart agreed. + +"Then I hazard the guess that you'll accompany me down-stairs to the door. +Calling a guard would be mutually embarrassing." + +"It sure would," asserted Stewart, agreeing still. + +"Then--" The general crooked a polite arm and offered it. + +"But your guess was too much of a hazard! You don't win!" + +However, Morrison turned on his heel and ran toward the private door. He +appeared to be solving all difficulties by flight. It was plain that those +in the room supposed so; their tension relaxed; the mayor of Marion was +manifestly avoiding the ignominy of ejection from the Capitol by the +militia--and that would be a fine piece of news to be bruited on the +streets next day, if he had remained to force that issue! + +Stewart flung open the door. But instead of stepping through he stepped +back. "Come in," he called. + +Paymaster Andrew Mac Tavish led the way, plodding stolidly, his neck +particularly rigid. Delora Bunker, stenographer at St. Ronan's mill, +followed. Last came Patrolman Rellihan, his bulk nigh filling the door, +his helmeted head almost scraping the lintel. He carried a night-stick +that resembled a flail-handle rather than the usual locust club. Morrison +slammed the door and Rellihan put his back against it. + +There was a profound hush in the Executive Chamber. The feet of those who +entered made no sound on the thick carpet. Those who were in the chamber +offered evidence of the truism that there are situations where words fail +to do justice to the emotions. + +Morrison was the first to speak. He walked to the table before uttering a +word; on his way across the room his eyes were on the keys. When he leaned +on the table he put one hand over them. "This invasion seems outrageous, +gentlemen. Undoubtedly it is. But I have tried another plan with you and +it did not succeed. I had hoped that I would not need these assistants +whom I have just called in." + +"Totten, go bring the guard!" North's voice was balefully subdued. + +Rellihan looked straight ahead and twirled his stick. + +"I apologize for stretching my special exception a bit, and introducing +these guests past the boys at the door," Stewart went on. "I'm breaking +the rules of politeness--and the rules of everything else, I'm afraid. But +all rules seem to be suspended to-night!" + +"Totten!" the Governor roared, pounding his fist on the arm of his chair. + +Morrison gave the policeman a side-glance as if to inform himself that all +was right with Rellihan. + +Then he pulled a handy chair to the table and motioned to Miss Bunker. She +sat down and opened her note-book. + +"I have come here on business, gentlemen, and you must allow me to follow +some of my business methods. The heat of argument often causes men to +forget what has been said. I'm willing to leave what I may say to the +record, and, in view of the fact that all this is public business, I trust +I'll have your co-operation along the same line. And there's a young lady +present," he added. "That fact will help us to get along wonderfully well +together." + +"What's that devilish policeman doing at my door?" demanded the Governor, +finding that his frantic gestures were not starting the adjutant-general +on his way. + +"Insuring complete privacy!" The mayor beamed on the Governor. "Nothing +gets in--nothing gets out!" + +North grabbed the telephone instrument on his desk. + +One of Stewart's hands was covering the keys; with the fingers of the +other hand he had been fumbling under the edge of the desk. He suddenly +pulled wires from the confining staples; he yanked a big mill-knife from +his trousers pocket and cut the wires. North flung a dead instrument +clattering on the broad table and found only oaths fit to apply to this +perfectly amazing effrontery. + +"You need not take, Miss Bunker!" The quiet dignity of Morrison and the +rebuke the Governor found in the girl's contemplative eyes choked off the +profanity as effectively as would gripping fingers at his throat. + +"I realize that all this is absolutely unprecedented--has never been done +before--is unadulterated gall on my part, Governor North. Perhaps I +haven't a leg to stand on." + +"Morrison, this infernal nonsense must cease!" + +Senator Corson shouted, leaping from his chair and shaking both fists. + +"You need not take, Miss Bunker!" + +Corson gulped and surveyed the young lady, and found her eyes as +disconcertingly rebuking as they had proved in the case of North. + +"Not especially on account of the style of your language, Senator! But you +are merely a visitor here, the same as I! At the present time your +comments on the business between the Governor and myself can scarcely have +any weight in the record." + +"What in blazes is that business? Get it out of you!" commanded the other +principal in the controversy. + +"With pleasure! Thank you for coming down to the matter in hand. You may +take, Miss Bunker. + +"Governor North, I have been about among people this evening and--" + +"You have been making incendiary speeches, and I demand to know what you +have said and why you have said it!" + +"I have no time now to go into those details. My business is more +pressing, sir." + +"You're in cahoots with a mob! I saw you operating, with my own eyes, +under my own roof," asserted Senator Corson, violently. + +"I have no time for discussing that matter." Morrison looked up at the +clock on the wall. "This other business, I assert, is urgent." + +Banker Daunt had been holding his peace, growling anathema to himself in +the depths of a big chair. + +He struggled to the edge of that chair. "I am in this building right now +to warn the Governor of this state that you are playing your own selfish +game to stifle enterprise and development and to discourage outside +capital--hundreds of thousands of it--waiting to come in here." + +"Pardon me, sir! I have no time to discuss water-power, either! Right now +I'm submitting news instead of theories!" He faced the Governor again. +"That's why I'm here--I'm bringing news. That news must put everything +else to one side. We have minutes only to deal with the matter. And if we +don't use those minutes with all the wisdom that's in us, the shame of our +state will be on the wires of the world inside of an hour!" + +His vehemence intimidated them. His manner as the bearer of ill tidings +won what his appeals had not secured--an instant hearing. + +"What I say will be a matter of record, and the blame will be placed where +it belongs. You can't claim that you didn't have facts. I have been among +the people. I have sent others among 'em and I have received reports and I +know what I am talking about. There's a mob massing down-town--a mob made +up of many different elements! That kind of mob can't be handled by mere +arguments or by machine-guns. That mob must be shown! Talking won't do any +good. Just a moment! You won't do what you ought to do, Governor, unless +you have this thing driven straight at you! In that mob are the men who +have voted for various members of the legislature who claim seats and +whose seats are threatened. It's a personal matter with those men. You +can't soft-soap 'em to-night with promises of what the courts will do. +Several hundred huskies are on the way over here from the Agawam quarries +Those men don't care about this or that candidate. They have been paid to +grab in on general principles--and they're bringing sledge-hammers. In +that mob, also, are the Red aliens who keep under cover till a row breaks +out; any kind of trouble suits their purpose--and you know what their +purpose is in regard to this government of ours. They're coming, I tell +you. They're coming on to Capitol Hill!" + +"And what have you been doing to stop 'em, after all your promises of what +you'd do?" raged North. + +"I've been doing the best I could, with what loyal boys I could depend on. +But I want to know now what _you're_ going to do?" + +"Shoot every damnation thug of 'em who gets in range of our machine-guns. +Totten, hustle yourself down-stairs and see that it's done!" + +"Genera! Totten will not leave this room--not now! You're all wrong, +Governor." + +"That's the way a mob was handled in one state in this Union not so very +long ago, and the Governor was right! He was hailed from one end of the +country to the other as right!" + +"The principle behind him was right--that's what you mean, Governor North. +That was just the point he made!" + +"Do you dare to stand there and intimate that I haven't got principle +behind me? Statute law, election law?" + +Morrison glanced again at the clock; then he tossed a bomb into the +argument. "The principle in this instance is a pretty wabbly backing, sir. +I'm afraid that even my loyal boys will join the mob if the news gets out +about those election returns in certain districts--the returns that were +sent back secretly to be corrected." + +The bomb had all the effect that Morrison hoped for. His Excellency +slumped back in his chair and "pittered" his lips wordlessly. + +"I don't think the news has actually got out among the general public, but +it's apt to leak any minute, sir. You can't afford to take chances." + +"Such slander is preposterous!" Corson asserted. "What used to be +done--reviving old stories--I say that our party will not lend its +countenance to any such tricks." In his excitement he had dropped an +admission as to the past in politics while offering a disclaimer as to the +present. + +"There's no time now for any political discussions," retorted Morrison, +curtly. "It's a matter right now of side-tracking a fight. If that fight +comes off, Governor North, the truth will come out. And you can't point to +a principle in your case as an excuse for bloodshed!" + +"If a mob attacks this State House there's got to be a fight." + +"It takes two to make a fight, sir. Order General Totten to march his +troops out of the State House. Machine-guns and all! Tell 'em to go home +and go to bed." + +That audacious advice was a second bomb! + +After a few moments Senator Corson leaped out of his chair, strode across +the room, and plucked his coat and hat from the divan. "Come along, +Daunt!" he counseled, his voice cracking hoarsely. + +"Hold on, Senator!" expostulated the Governor. "I need your help!" + +"I won't allow myself to be mixed into this mess, North. I can't afford to +help shoulder the blame where I have not been fully informed. And I won't +allow a lunatic to endanger my life. Come on, Daunt, I tell you!" + +"If you're bound to go, I'll go along, too," proffered the Governor, +rising hastily. "This thing can be handled. It's got to be handled. We'll +go where this infernal, clattering loom from St. Ronan's mill can't break +up a gentlemen's conference." + +Stewart did not suggest that the gentlemen remain; nor did he offer to go; +nor did he plead for a decision. He stood quietly and watched them pull on +their overcoats. + +The Senator led the retreat toward the private door. + +Morrison dropped the captured bunch of keys into his pocket. + +Rellihan held his club horizontally in front of him with both hands. + +"Get out of the way!" yelped Corson. + +The officer shook his head. + +"General Totten, open that door." + +"No chance!" Rellihan growled. + +North wagged his way close to the barring "fender" and shook an admonitory +finger under the policeman's nose. "I'm the Governor of this state! I +order you to move away from that door." + +"I can't help what ye are! I'm taking me orders on'y fr'm the mayor o' +Marion." + +"You see, gentlemen!" suggested Morrison. "It looks as if we'd be obliged +to settle our business right where we are--in this room. Time is short. +Won't you come back here to the table?" + +There was absolute silence in the Executive Chamber--a silence that +continued. The dignitaries at the door deigned to accord to Morrison +neither glance nor word; they would not indulge his incredible audacity to +that extent. As to Rellihan, they did not feel like stooping so low as to +waste words on the impassive giant who personified an ignorant insolence +that made no account of personalities. They adventured in no move against +that obstacle in their path, either by concerted attack or individual +effort to pass. They looked like wakened sleepers who were struggling with +the problems proposed in a nightmare. It was a situation which seemed +beyond solution by the ordinary sensible methods. + +After a time Governor North voiced in a coarse manner, inadequately, some +expression of the emotion that was dominating the group. "What in hell is +the matter with us, anyway?" + +Again there was a prolonged silence. + +"Seeing that nobody else seems to want to express an opinion on the +subject, I'll tell you what the matter is, as I look at it," ventured +Stewart, chattily matter-of-fact. "We're all native-born Americans in this +room. Right down deep in our hearts we're not afraid of our soldiers. We +good-naturedly indulge the boys when they are called on to exercise +authority. But from the time an American youngster begins to steal apples +and junk and throw snowballs and break windows a healthy fear of a regular +cop is ingrained in him. It's a fear he doesn't stop to analyze. It's just +there, that's all he knows. Even a perfectly law-abiding citizen walking +home late feels a little tingle of anxiety in him when he marches past a +cop. Puts on an air as much as to say, 'I hope you think I'm all right, +officer--tending right to my own business!' So, in this case, it's only +your ingrained American nature talking to you, gentlemen! You're all +right! Nothing is the matter with you! It ought to please you because you +feel that way! Proves you are truly American. 'Don't monkey with the cop!' +Just as long as we obey that watchword we've got a good government!" + +Senator Corson was more infuriated by that bland preachment than he would +have been by vitriolic insult. While he marched back to the table he +prefaced his arraignment of Morrison by calling him an impudent pup. He +dwelt on that subject with all his power of invective for some minutes. + +"I agree with you, Senator," admitted Morrison when Corson stopped to +gather more ammunition of anathema. "But what are you going to do about +it?" + +He asked the same question after the Senator had finished a statement of +his opinion on the obstinacy of the lunkhead at the door. + +The Senator kept on in his objurgation. But whenever he looked at the door +he found the policeman there, an immovable obstacle. + +Whenever Corson looked at Morrison he met everlastingly that hateful +query. + +Both the question and the cop were impossible, impassable. Corson found +the thing too outrageously ridiculous to be handled by sane argument; his +insanity in declamation was getting him nowhere. + +"There's only one subject before the meeting," insisted Stewart. "We've +got to keep this state from being ashamed of itself when it wakes up +to-morrow morning!" + +Somewhere, in some hidden place in the room, a subdued buzzing began and +continued persistently. + +The understanding that passed between Corson and North in the glance which +they exchanged was immediate and highly informative, even had the observer +been obtuse. But in that crisis Stewart Morrison was not obtuse. + +Whether it was deference, one to the other, or caution in general that was +dominating the Senator and the Governor was not clearly revealed by their +countenance. At any rate, they made no move. + +"Pardon me, Senator Corson," said Stewart. "I'm quite sure I know where +the other end of that telephone line is. I think your daughter is +calling!" His inquisitive eyes were searching the walls of the chamber; +the source of the buzzing was not easily to be located by the sound. + +The Governor suddenly dumped himself out of his chair and started across +the room. + +Morrison strode into His Excellency's path and extended a restraining arm +that was as authoritative as Rellihan's club. "I beg your pardon, too, +Governor! But that call is undoubtedly for Senator Corson. I happen to +know quite a lot about the conveniences in his residence!" + +"And all the evening you have been using that knowledge to help you in +violating my hospitality! Morrison, you're not much else than a sneak!" +affirmed Corson. + +The Governor struck his fist against the rigid arm and spat an oath in +Morrison's face, "Get out of my way! I'm in my own office--I'll tend to +that call!" + +"No, you'll not!" was Morrison's quick rejoinder. "Senator Corson, if you +want to inform your daughter that you're all safe--if you want to ask her +not to worry, you'd better answer. But I must insist that a private line +shall not be used to convey out of this room any of our public business!" + +Corson then became the only moving figure in the tableau; he went to the +wall, pushed aside a huge frame which held the state's coat of arms, and +pulled from a niche a telephone on an extension arm. He proceeded to +display his utter contempt for commands issuing from the absurd interloper +who was presuming in such dictation to dignity "Yes! Lana! Call +High-sheriff Dalton! As quickly as possible! Tell him to secure a posse. +Tell him I'm in the State House, threatened by a lunatic. Tell him--" + +By that time Morrison was at Corson's side and was wresting the instrument +from the wall. He broke off the arm and the wires and flung them across +the room. + +"There's fight enough on the docket, as the thing stands, without calling +in another bunch to make it three-sided, sir! Rellihan, open the door for +Mac Tavish! Andy, run to the public booth in the corridor and call Dalton +and tell him to pay no attention to any hullabaloo by hysterical women. +Tell him I said so! Ask him to keep that to himself. And rush back!" + +He turned on the Senator and the Governor. + +There was no longer apology or compromise in the demeanor of the mayor of +Marion. "I know I'm a rank outsider! You needn't try to tell me what I +know myself. I didn't think I'd need to be so rank! But I'm just what +you're forcing me to be. I have jumped in here to stop something that +there's no more sense in than there is in a dog-fight. They may fight in +spite of all I can do! But, by the gods! I'm not going to stand by and see +men like you rub their ears! Senator Corson, I advise you and Governor +North to go and sit down. You're only making spectacles of yourselves!" + + + + +XV + +THE BOSS OF THE JOB + + +After Senator Corson had recovered his poise his dignity asserted itself +and he sat down and assumed an attitude that suggested the frigidity of a +statue on an ice-cake. He checked Governor North with an impatient flap of +the hand. "You have had your innings as a manager, North!" + +He proceeded frostily with Morrison. "There was never a situation in state +history like this one you have precipitated, sir, and if I have made an +ass of myself I was copying current manners." + +"It is a strange situation, I'll admit, Senator," Morrison agreed. + +"As a newsmonger, you say, do you, that minutes are valuable?" + +"Yes, sir!" + +"Well, we'd better find out how valuable they are. Will you send General +Totten below to investigate?" + +Morrison surveyed appraisingly the panoplied adjutant-general. "I'd never +think of making General Totten an errand-boy, sir, if I'm to imply that I +have any say in affairs just now." + +"You have assumed all say! You have put gentlemen in a position where they +can't help themselves." The Senator scowled in the direction of Rellihan. +But Rellihan did not mind; right then he was opening the door to the +returning Mac Tavish. + +"I routed Mac Tavish out of bed and brought him along to attend to +errands. He will go and see how matters are below, and outside," proffered +Morrison, courteously. + +The self-appointed manager gave Mac Tavish his new orders and added: +"Inquire, please, if any telegrams have arrived for me. I'm expecting +some." + +Rellihan again deferentially opened the door for the messenger of the +mayor of Marion; Mac Tavish had knocked and given his name. "It's all +richt, sir!" he had reported on his arrival from his mission to the +telephone. + +The exasperated Governor viewed that free ingress and muttered. + +Mac Tavish's unimpeded egress on the second errand provoked the Governor +more acutely. + +"Morrison, I'm now talking strictly for myself," went on the Senator. "I +shall use plain words. By your attitude you directly accuse me of being a +renegade in politics. To all intents and purposes I am under arrest, as a +person dangerous to be at large in the affairs that are pressing." + +"Senator Corson, I don't believe you ever did a deliberately wrong or +wicked thing in your life, as an individual." + +"I thank you!" + +"But deliberately political methods can be wicked in their general +results, even if those methods are sanctioned by usage. It's wicked to +start a fight here to-night by allowing political misunderstandings to +play fast and loose with the people." + +"You're a confounded imbecile, that's what you are," shouted Governor +North. + +The mayor turned on him. "Replying in the same sort of language, so that +you may understand right where you and I get off in our relations, I'll +tell you that you're the kind of man who would use grandmothers in a +matched fight to settle a political grudge--if the other fellow had a +grandmother and you could borrow one. Now let me alone, sir! I am talking +with Senator Corson!" + +The Senator squelched the Governor with another gesture. "We have our +laws, Morrison. We must abide by 'em. And the political game must be +played according to the law." + +"I think I have already expressed my opinion to you about that game, sir. +I'll say again that in this country politics is no longer a mere game to +be played for party advantage and the aggrandizement of individuals. The +folks won't stand for that stuff any longer." + +"I think you and North, both of you, are overexcited. You're going off +half cocked. You are exaggerating a tempest in a teapot." + +"If every community in this country gets right down to business and stops +the teapot tempests by good sense in handling them when they start, we'll +be able to prevent a general tornado that may sweep us all to Tophet, +Senator Corson." + +"Legislation on broad lines will remedy our troubles. We are busy in +Washington on such matters." + +"Good luck to the cure-all, sir! But in the mean time we need specific +doses, right at home, in every community, early and often. That's what we +ought to be tending to to-night, here in Marion. If every city and town +does the same thing, the country at large won't have to worry." + +Senator Corson kept his anxious gaze on the private door. "Well, let's +have it, Morrison! You seem to be bossing matters, just as you threatened +to do. What's your dose in this case?" + +"I wasn't threatening! I was promising." + +"Promising what?" + +"That the people would get a square deal in this legislative matter." + +"You don't underrate your abilities, I note!" + +"Oh, I was not promising to do it myself. I have no power in state +politics. I was promising that Governor North and his Executive Councilors +who canvassed the election returns would give the folks a square deal." + +In his rage the Governor, defying such presumptuous interference, was not +fortunate in phrasing his declaration that Morrison had no right to +promise any such thing. + +The big millman surveyed His Excellency with a whimsical expression of +distress. "Why, I supposed I had the right to promise that much on behalf +of our Chief Executive. You aren't going to deny 'em a square deal--you +don't mean that, do you, sir?" + +"Confound your impudence, you have no right to twist my meaning. I'm going +by the law--strictly by the statutes! The question will be put up to the +court." + +"Certainly!" affirmed Senator Corson. "It must go to the court." + +Just then Rellihan slammed the private door with a sort of official +violence. + +Mac Tavish had entered. He marched straight to Morrison with the stiff +jerkiness of an automaton. He carried a sealed telegram and held it as far +in front of himself as possible. Stewart seized upon it and tore the +envelope. "I'm glad to hear you say that about the court, gentlemen. I +have taken a liberty this evening. Will you please wait a moment while I +glance at this?" + +It was plainly, so his manner indicated, something that had a bearing on +the issue. They leaned forward and attended eagerly on him when he began +to read aloud: + +"My opinion hastily given for use if emergency is such as you mention is +that mere technicalities, clerical errors that can be shown to be such or +minor irregularities should not be allowed to negative will of voter when +same has been shown beyond reasonable doubt. Signed, Davenport, Judge +Supreme Judicial Court." + +Morrison waited a few moments, gazing from face to face. Then he leaned +across the table and gave the telegram into the hands of Miss Bunker. +"Make it a part of the record, please," he directed. + +"Well, I'll be eternally condemned!" roared the Governor. "You're a rank +outsider. You don't know what you're talking about. How do you dare to +involve the judges? They don't know what they're talking about, either, on +a point of law, in this case." + +"Perhaps Judge Davenport isn't talking law, wholly, in that telegram. He +may be saying a word as an honest man who doesn't want to see his state +disgraced by riot and bloodshed to-night." The mayor addressed Mac Tavish +with eager emphasis. "What do you find down below, Andy?" + +"Nae pairticular pother withindoors. Muckle powwow wi'out," reported the +old man, tersely. + +"Then you got a look outside?" + +"Aye! When I took the message frae the telegraph laddie at the door." + +"Was Joe Lanigan in sight?" + +"Aye!" + +"It's all right so far, gentlemen," the mayor assured his involuntary +conferees. "Joe is on the job with his American Legion boys, as he +promised me he'd be. Now I'm going to be perfectly frank and inform you +that I have made a promise of my own in this case. I haven't meant to be +presumptuous. I don't want you to feel that I've got a swelled head. I'm +merely trying to keep my word and carry out a contract on a business +oasis. It's only a matter of starting right; then everything can be kept +right." + +He whirled on Mac Tavish. "Trot down again, Andy. I'm expecting more +messages. And keep us posted on happenings!" + +"Are such humble persons as North and I are entitled to be let in on any +details of your contract, Mister Boss-in-Chief?" inquired the Senator. + +"I think the main contract is your own, sir--yours and the Governor's. I +don't like to seem too forward in suggesting what it is." + +"Nothing you can say or do from now on will seem forward, Morrison. Even +if you should order that Hereford steer, there, at the door, to bang us +over our heads with his shillalah, it would seem merely like an +anticlimax, matched with the rest of your cheek! What's the contract?" + +"You and North stated the terms of it, yourselves, when you were +campaigning last election. You said that if you were elected you'd be the +servants of the people." + +"What in the devil do you claim we are now?" + +"I make no assertion. But when I was down with the bunch this evening I +was able to get into the spirit of the crowd. I found myself, feeling, +just as they said they felt, that it's a queer state of affairs when +servants barricade themselves in a master's castle and use other paid +servants to threaten with rifles and machine-guns when the master demands +entry." + +"I'd be carrying out my contract, would I, by disbanding that militia and +opening this State House to the mob?" demanded North. + +"This is a peculiar emergency, sir," Morrison insisted. "Outside are +massing all the elements of a know-nothing, rough-house melee. Even the +Legion boys don't know just where they're at till there's a showdown. I +can depend on 'em right now while they're waiting for that showdown. +They'll fight their finger-nails off to hold the plain rowdies in line. +Such boys have been showing their mettle in one city in this country, +haven't they? But a mere licking, no matter which side wins, doesn't last +long enough for any general good unless the licking is based on principle +and the principle is thereby established as right! Now let me tell you, +Governor North. You can't fool those Legion boys outside. They have come +home with new conceptions of what is a square deal. They're plumb on to +the old-fashioned tricks in cheap politics. They're not letting +officeholders play checkers with 'em any longer. + +"Governor--and you, Senator Corson--this is now a question of to-night--an +emergency--an exigency! I have told those boys that they will be shown! +You've got to show 'em. Show 'em that this State House is always open to +decent citizens. Show 'em that you, as officeholders, don't need +machine-guns to back you up in your stand." He emphasized each declaration +by a resounding thump of his fist on the table. "Show 'em that it's a +square deal, and that your cuffs are rolled up when you deal! Show 'ern +that you're not bluffing honestly elected members of this incoming +legislature out of their seats by closing the doors on 'em to-morrow. +That's your contract! Are you going to keep it?" + +Mac Tavish returned. He brought another telegram. + +Morrison ripped the inclosure from the envelope. + +"It's of the same purport as the other," he reported. "Signed, 'Madigan, +Justice Supreme Judicial Court.' Back to the door, Mac Tavish. Here, Miss +Bunker, insert this in the record." + +"This is simply preposterous!" exploded the Senator. + +"Rather irregular, certainly," Stewart confessed. "But I didn't ask 'em +for red tape! I asked 'em for quick action to prevent bloodshed!" + +Senator Corson's fresh fury did not allow him to reason with himself or +argue with this interloper, this lunatic who was flailing about in that +sanctuary of vested authority, knocking down hallowed procedure, sacred +precedents--all the gods of the fane! + +"Morrison, no such an outrage as this was ever perpetrated in American +politics!" + +"It surely does seem to be a new wrinkle, Senator! I'll confess that I +don't know much about politics. It's all new to me. I apologize for the +mistakes I'm making. Probably I'll know more when I've been in politics a +little longer." + +"You will, sir!" + +Governor North agreed with that dictum, heartily, irefully. + +"I do seem to be finding out new things every minute or so," went on +Stewart, making the agreement unanimous. "Taking your opinion as experts, +perhaps I may qualify as an expert, too, before the evening is over." + +"Where is this infernal folly of yours heading you?" Corson permitted his +wrath to dominate him still farther. He shook his fist under Morrison's +nose. + +"Straight toward a Bright Light, Senator! I'm putting no name on it. But +I'm keeping my eyes on it. And I can't stop to notice what I'm knocking +down or whose feet I'm treading on." + +The Senator went to Governor North and struck his fist down on His +Excellency's shoulder. "I've been having some doubts about your methods, +sir, but now I'm with you, shoulder to shoulder, to save this situation. +Pay no attention to those telegrams. There's no telling what that idiot +has wired to the justices. This man has not an atom of authority. You +cannot legally share your authority with him. To defer to one of his +demands will be breaking your oath to preserve order and protect state +property." + +"Exactly! I don't need that advice, Corson, but I do need your support. I +shall go ahead strictly according to the constitution and the statutes." + +"I am glad to hear you say that, Governor," stated Morrison. + +"Did you expect that I was going to join you and your mob of lawbreakers?" + +"Your explicit statement pleases me, I say. Shall you follow the +constitution absolutely, in every detail?" + +"Absolutely! In every detail." + +"Right down to the last technical letter of it?" + +"Good gad! what do you mean by asking me such fool questions?" + +"I'm getting a direct statement from you on the point. For the record!" He +pointed to the stenographer. + +"I shall observe the constitution of this state to the last letter of it, +absolutely, undeviatingly. And now, as Governor of this state, I shall +proceed to exert my authority. Put that statement in the record! I order +you to leave the State House immediately. Record that, too! Otherwise I +shall prefer charges before the courts that will put you in state prison, +Morrison!" + +"Do you know exactly the provisions of the constitution relating to your +office, sir?" + +"I do." + +"Don't you realize that, according to the technical stand you take, you +have no more official right in this Capitol than I have, just now?" + +His Excellency's silence, his stupefaction, suggested that his convictions +as to Morrison's lunacy were finally clinched. + +"The constitution, that you have invoked, expressly provides that a +Governor's term of office expires at midnight, on the day preceding the +assembling of the first session of the legislature. You will be Governor +in the morning at ten-thirty o'clock, when you take your oath before the +joint session. But by your own clock up there you ceased to be Governor of +this state five minutes ago!" Morrison drawled that statement in a very +placid manner. His forefinger pointed to the clock on the wall of the +Executive Chamber. + +Governor North did know the constitution, even if he did not know the time +o' night until his attention had been drawn to it. He was disconcerted +only for a moment; then he snorted his disgust, roused by this attempt of +a tyro to read him a lesson in law. + +Senator Corson expressed himself. "Don't bother us with such nonsense! +Such a ridiculous point has never been raised." + +"But this is a night of new wrinkles, as we have already agreed," insisted +the mayor of Marion. "I'm right along with the Governor, neck and neck, in +his observance of the letter of the law." + +"Well, then, we'll stick to the letter," snapped His Excellency. "I have +declared this State House under martial law. The adjutant-general, here, +is in command of the troops and the situation." + +"I'm glad to know that. I'll talk with General Totten in a moment!" + +Again Mac Tavish came trotting past Rellihan. + +Morrison snatched away the telegram that his agent proffered; but the +master demanded news before proceeding to open the missive. + +"There's summat in the air," reported Andrew. "Much blust'ring; the square +is crowded! Whilst I was signing the laddie's book Lanigan cried me the +word for ye to look sharp and keep the promise, else he wouldna answer for +a'!" + +"Gentlemen, I'll let you construe your own contracts according to your +consciences. I have one of my own to carry out. Mac Tavish has just handed +me a jolt on it! + +"Governor North, seeing that your contract with the state is temporarily +suspended, I suppose we'll have to excuse you to some extent, after all! +Mac Tavish, step here, close to me!" + +The old man obeyed; the two stood in the full glare of the chandelier. + +Stewart held up his right hand. "You're a notary public, Andrew. +Administer an oath! Like that one you administered to me when I was sworn +in as mayor of Marion. You can remember the gist of it." + +"In what capaceety do you serve, Master Morrison?" inquired Mac Tavish, +stolidly. + +Stewart hesitated a moment, taking thought. "I'm going to volunteer as a +sort of an Executive, gentlemen," he explained, deferentially. "The +exigency seems to need one. I have heard that a good Executive is one who +acts quickly and is right--part of the time! I'm indebted to Senator +Corson for a suggestion he made a little while ago. I think, Mac Tavish, +you'd better swear me in as Boss of the Job." + + + + +XVI + +THE CITY OF MARION SEEKS ITS MAYOR + + +Gaiety's glaring brilliancy on Corson Hill had been effectually snuffed by +the onslaught of the mob. The mansion hid its lights behind shades and +shutters. The men of the orchestra had packed their instruments; the +dismayed guests put on their wraps and called for their carriages. + +In the place of lilting violins and merry tongues, hammers clattered and +saws rasped; the servants were boarding up the broken windows. + +Lana Corson, closeted with Mrs. Stanton, found the discord below-stairs +peculiarly hateful; it suggested so much, replacing the music. + +The rude hand of circumstance had been laid so suddenly on the melody of +life! + +"And I'll say again--" pursued Mrs. Stanton, breaking a silence that had +lain between the two. + +"Don't say it again! Don't! Don't!" It was indignant expostulation instead +of supplication and the matron instantly exhibited relief. + +"Thank goodness, Lana! Your symptoms are fine! You're past the crisis and +are on the mend. Get angrier! Stay angry! It's a healthy sign in any woman +recovering from such a relapse as has been threatening you since you came +back home." + +"Will you not drop the topic?" demanded Miss Corson, with as much menace +as a maiden could display by tone and demeanor. + +"As your nurse in this period of convalescence," insisted the +imperturbable lady, "I find your temperature encouraging. The higher the +better, in a case like this! But I'd like to register on your chart a +hard-and-fast declaration from you that you'll never again expose yourself +to infection from the same quarter!" + +Lana did not make that declaration; she did not reply to her friend. + +The two were in the Senator's study. Lana had led the retreat to that +apartment; its wainscoted walls and heavy door shut out in some measure +the racket of hammers and saws. + +She walked to the window and pulled aside the curtain and looked out into +the night. + +Between Corson Hill and Capitol Hill, in the broad bowl of a valley, most +of the structures of the city of Marion were nested. The State House +loomed darkly against the radiance of the winter sky. + +She was still wondering what that blood-stained intruder had meant when he +declaimed about the job waiting on Capitol Hill, and she found disquieting +suggestiveness in the gloom which wrapped the distant State House. Even +the calm in the neighborhood of the Corson mansion troubled her; the scene +of the drama, whatever it was all about, had been shifted; the talk of men +had been of prospective happenings at the State House, and that talk was +ominous. Her father was there. She was fighting an impulse to hasten to +the Capitol and she assured herself that the impulse was wholly concerned +with her father. + +"I'll admit that the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts, just as +that poet has said they are," Mrs. Stanton went on, one topic engrossing +her. "But I'm assuming that there's an end to 'em, just as there is to the +much-talked-of long lane. In poems there's a lot of nonsense about +marrying one's own first love--and I suppose the thing is done, sometimes. +Yes, I'm quite sure of it, because it's written up so often in the divorce +cases. If I had married any one of the first five fellows I was engaged +to, probably my own case would have been on record in the newspapers +before this. Lana dear, why don't you come here and sit down and confide +in a friend and assure her that you're safe and sane from now on?" + +Miss Corson, as if suddenly made aware that somebody in the room was +talking, snapped herself 'bout face. + +"Doris, what are you saying to me?" + +"I'm giving you a little soothing dissertation on love--the right kind of +love--the sensible kind--" + +"How do you dare to annoy me with such silliness in a time like this?" + +"Why, because this is just the right moment for you to tell me that you +are forever done with the silly kind of love. Mushy boy-and-girl love is +wholly made up of illusions. This Morrison man isn't leaving you any +illusions in regard to himself, is he?" + +Miss Corson came away from the window with a rush; her cheeks were +danger-flags. "You seem to be absolutely determined to drive me to say +something dreadful to you, Doris! I've been trying so hard to remember +that you're my guest." + +"Your friend, you mean!" + +"You listen to me! I'm making my own declarations to myself about the men +in this world--the ones I know. If I should say out loud what I think of +them--or if I should say what I think of friends who meddle and maunder on +about love--_love_--I'd be ashamed if I were overheard. Now not another +word, Doris Stanton!" She stamped her foot and beat her hand hard on the +table in a manner that smacked considerably of the Senator's violence when +his emotions were stirred. "I'm ashamed of myself for acting like this. I +hate such displays! But I mean to protect myself. And now keep quiet, if +you please. I have something of real importance to attend to, even if you +haven't." + +She went to a niche in the wall and pulled out the private telephone +instrument; the pressure of a button was required to put in a call. After +the prolonged wait, Senator Corson's voice sounded, high-pitched, urgent. +His appeal was broken short off. + +Lana stared at Mrs. Stanton while making futile efforts to get a reply to +frantic questions; fear paled the girl's face and widened her eyes. + +"What has happened, Lana?" + +"It's father! He asked for help! It's something--some danger--something +dreadful." She clung to the telephone for several minutes, demanding, +listening, hoping for further words--the completion of his orders to her. + +Then, abandoning her efforts, she made haste to call the sheriff of the +county, using the study extension of the regular telephone. + +The customary rattle informed her that the line was in use, after she had +called for the number, looking it up in the directory. When she finally +did succeed in getting the ear of the sheriff she was informed in +placatory orotund by that official that all her fears were groundless. "I +have been talking with the State House just before you called me, Miss +Corson. I am assured on the best of authority that everything is all +right, there." He was plainly indulging what he accepted as the vagaries +of hysteria--having been apprised by the matter-of-fact Mac Tavish that +some nonsensical news might come through an excited female. "I think you +must have misconstrued what your father said. My informant is known to me +as reliable. Oh no, Miss Corson, I cannot give you his name. It's a rule +of the sheriff's office that individuals who give information have their +identities respected. If the Senator is at the State House you can +undoubtedly reach him by 'phone in the Executive Chamber." He placidly +bade her good night. + +But Miss Corson was unable to communicate with the Executive Chamber. + +After many delays she was informed that central had tried repeatedly and +directly through the State House exchange, as was the custom after the +departure of the exchange operators for the night; central officially +reported, "Line out of order." + +During her efforts to communicate, Coventry Daunt hastened into the study; +he had tapped and he obeyed his sister's admonition, "Come in!" + +"I tell you something terrible is the matter," Lana declared, giving up +her efforts to get news over the wire. "Coventry, your looks tell me that +you have heard bad news of some sort!" + +"I don't want to be an alarmist," admitted young Daunt, "but all sorts of +whip-whap stuff seem to be in the air all of a sudden. I just took a run +down to the foot of the hill. The bees are buzzing a little livelier there +than they are in the neighborhood of the house. Up here some soldier boys +are waving their bayonets and fat cops are swinging clubs. We're all +right, ladies, but there are all sorts of stories about what's likely to +happen up at the State House. I've come to tell you that if you can do +without me I think I'll take a swing over to Capitol Hill. I don't want to +miss anything good, and I'll bring back straight news." + +"I can't endure to wait here for news, Coventry," Lana said. "Order the +car; I'll go along with you." + +"It's absolute folly!" declared Mrs. Stanton, aghast, "Haven't you had +enough experience with mobs for one evening?" + +"I am going to my father, mobs or no mobs! I know his voice and I know +he's in trouble, no matter what that idiot of a sheriff tells me." She +hurried to the door. "Order the car, I say! I'll get my wraps." + +Mrs. Stanton divided rueful gaze between her own evening gown and Lana's. +"Are you going with that dress on?" + +"I certainly am!" Lana called from the corridor, running toward her +apartments. + +"Well," Mrs. Stanton informed her brother, "this gown has served me all +evening during the political rally that somebody tried to pass off as a +reception. Probably it will do very well for the mob-affair. I'll go for +my furs." + +"That's a brick!" was her brother's indorsement. "She needs us both. But +don't be frightened, sis! It's only a political flurry, and such fusses +are usually more fizz than fight. I'll have the car around to the door in +a jab of a jiffy!" + +By the time the limousine swung under the _porte-cochere_ Lana was down +and waiting; Mrs. Stanton came hurrying after, ready to defy a January +midnight in a cocoon of kolinsky. + +Coventry had ridden from the garage with the chauffeur. "I have been +talking with Wallace. He thinks he'd better drive to the State House by +detour through the parkway." + +"Go straight down through the city," commanded the mistress. "I'm not +afraid of my hometown folks. Besides, I have an errand. Stop at the Marion +_Monitor_ office, Wallace!" + +The city certainly offered no cause for alarm when they traversed the +streets of the business district. Nobody was in sight; they did not see +even a patrolman. + +"The bees seem to have hived all of a sudden," remarked young Daunt. "All +fizz, as I told you, and now the fizz has fizzled." + +When the car stopped in front of the newspaper office Lana asked her +guests to wait in the automobile. "That is, if you don't mind!" Then Miss +Corson revealed a bit of nerve strain; she allowed herself to copy some of +the sarcasm that was characteristic of Doris Stanton. "One of those old +friends whom we have been discussing so pleasantly this evening, Doris, is +the city editor of the _Monitor_. Gossipy, of course, from the nature of +his business. But I'm sure that he'll gossip more at his ease if there are +no strangers present." + +Coventry had opened the door of the car. Lana hastened past him and +disappeared in the building. + +"Dorrie, I'm afraid you are overtraining Lana," the brother complained. "I +have never heard her speak like that before." + +"I'm giving her special training for a special occasion which will present +itself very soon, I hope. When she talks to a certain man I want to feel +that my efforts haven't been thrown away." + +"Oh, Morrison has botched everything for himself--all around!" + +"Thank you! I'm glad to hear you admit that a caveman can be too much of a +good thing with his stone hatchet or club or whatever he uses to bang and +whack all heads with!" + +Mrs. Stanton impatiently invited Coventry to step in and shut the door and +make sure that the electric heater was doing business. + +City Editor Tasper had a pompadour like a penwiper, round eyes, and a wide +smile. He trotted out to Lana in the reception-room and gave her comradely +greeting. "Any other night but this, Lana Corson, and I'd have been up to +your house to pat Juba on the side-lines even if I couldn't squeeze in one +assignment on your dance order. But as a Marionite you know what we're up +against in this office the night before an inauguration. Afraid the +reception-spread will be squeezed? Don't worry. It's a big night, but I'm +giving you a first-page send-off just the same." + +"Billy, I'm not here to talk about that reception. I don't care if there +isn't a word about it." + +"Oh, I get you! Don't worry about that fracas, either! I'm killing all +mention of it. We're not advertising that Marion has Bolshevists. Hurts!" + +"But I'm not trying to tell you your business about the paper!" the girl +protested. "I'm here after news. What is the trouble at the State House?" + +"I don't know," he confessed. "That is to say, I'm not on to the real +inside of the proposition. We can't get our boys in and we can't get any +news out! Those soldiers won't even admit the telephone crew to restore +connection with the Executive Chamber." + +"My father is there! He's there with the Governor." + +"Well, I should say for a guess that the Senator is in the safest place in +the city, judging from the way Danny Sweetsir and his warriors are on +their jobs at those doors." + +"Billy, who else is there with the Governor?" she questioned, anxiously, +harrowed by that memory of her father's tone when he shouted the word +"lunatic!" + +"No know! No can tell!" returned Tasper. "But why all the excitement? +There's a crowd outside the State House, but all my reports say that it's +still orderly. It's only the old 'state steal' stuff warmed over by the +sore-heads. But we're printing a statement from Governor North in the +morning. The whole matter is going up to the full bench in the usual way. +If the opposition starts any rough-stuff to-night, the gang hasn't got a +Pekingese's chance in a bulldog convention. There are three machine-guns +in that State House!" + +A young chap who was trying hard to be professionally _blase_ bolted into +the reception-room in search of his chief. "Excuse me! But four +truck-loads of men from the Agawam quarries just went through toward the +State House. They had crowbars and sledge-hammers!" + +"So? Warson is making a demonstration, is he? I'll be back there in a +minute, Jack!" Tasper turned to Lana again. "Warson was turned down by +North on the state-prison-wing stone contract. If Warson is setting up +stone-cutters to be shot as rowdies, Warson and his party will be the ones +who'll get hurt." + +"But our state will be hurt most of all, Billy," the girl declared, with +passionate earnestness. "We'll be ashamed and disgraced from one end of +the country to the other. Just think of our own good state making a +hideous exhibition when we're all trying so hard to get back to peace!" + +"Must have law and order," Tasper insisted. + +"Will Governor North tell those soldiers to shoot and kill?" + +"Sure thing! His oath of office obliges him to protect state property. +I've just been reading proof of an interview he gave us this afternoon." + +Lana walked up and down the room, beating her hands together. + +"I'll explain to you, Lana. There's quite a story goes with it. You +haven't been in touch with conditions here at home. The election statutes +provide that the Governor and his Council--" + +"I haven't any time to listen to explanations! My father is in that State +House! In the name of Heaven, Billy Tasper, isn't there some man in this +state big enough, broad enough, honest enough to get between the fools who +are threatening this thing?" + +"He doesn't seem to be in sight--at any rate, just now." + +She paused in her walk, hesitated, and then blurted, "What part is Stewart +Morrison playing in all this?" + +"I see you have some news about him, too!" Mr. Tasper fenced, eying her +with some curiosity. + +"Dealing in news is your business, not mine," she said, tartly. "But I did +hear him declare in public to-night that he would give the people a square +deal--or that he would see to it that it is done--or--or something!" She +showed the embarrassment of a person who was dealing with affairs in the +details of which she was not well informed. + +"All right, I'll give you news as we get it in the office, here. Morrison +has gone nuts over this People thing. He is bucking the corporations in +this water-power dream of his. Playing to the people! I think it's bosh. +Holds capital out of the state! But I see you're in a hurry! He made a +speech to a hit-or-miss gang down-town to-night. It was snapped as a +surprise and we didn't have our men there. But from what we gather he +incited feeling against the State House crowd. Told his merry men he'd +grab in and fix it for 'em. Bad foozle, Lana! Bad! When a mayor of a city +talks like that he's putting a fool notion into the heads of unthinking +irresponsibles, making 'em believe that there is really something to be +fixed. He ought to have told 'em that everything was all right and to go +home and go to bed. Your father would have told 'em that. That's good +politics. But you and I know Stewart from the ground up! He is about as +much a politician as I am parson--and I'd wreck a well-established parish +in less than five minutes by the clock. He's taking a little more time as +a wrecker in his line--but he's making a thorough job of it!" + +When Tasper mentioned "job" he suggested a natural question to Miss +Corson. "Where is he right now?" + +This time the stare that the city editor gave the girl was distinctly +peculiar. "According to what we can get in the way of reports, Lana, the +last time Morrison was seen in public he was talking with you. If he has +talked with anybody since then the folks he has talked with are keeping +mighty mum about it. Perhaps he has told you where he was going." + +Miss Corson exhibited an emotion that was more profound than mere +embarrassment. + +"Pardon me! But I'd like to know, Lana! It's mighty important to me in the +line of my business right now." + +"What? Can't you find the mayor of the city in a time like this?" + +"He's not at home! He's not at City Hall. The chief of police won't say a +word. And he's not in the crowd outside the State House." + +Lana did not disclose the fact that she had suggested to the mayor, in a +way, the rabble as Morrison's probable destination, and that he had agreed +with her. + +"And a fine chance he has of being let inside the State House," Tasper +went on, with conviction, "after the attitude he has taken in regard to +the administration!" + +"He may be there, nevertheless!" Whether hope that he was there or fear +that he might be there prompted Lana's suggestion was not clear from her +manner. + +"You'll sooner find a rat down the back of my neck than find Stewart +Morrison inside that State House after the brags he has been making around +this city in the past few hours," declared Tasper, with the breezy freedom +of long friendship with the caller. "He is A Number One in the list of +those who can't get in!" + +"But Captain Sweetsir is his mill-student!" + +"Captain Sweetsir, in this new importance of his, is leaning so far +backward, in trying to stand straight, that he's scratching the back of +his head on his heels. His own brother is one of our reporters and what +Dan did to Dave when Dave made a holler at the door is a matter of record +on the emergency-hospital blotter. That's straight! Inch of sword-blade. +Not dangerous, but painful!" + +All through this interview Lana had maintained the demeanor of one who was +poised on tiptoes, ready to run. She gathered her coat's broad collar more +tightly in its clasp of her throat, and started for the door. But she +whirled and ran back to Tasper. + +"You say that Stewart Morrison is no politician! But I noticed the queer +flash in your eyes, Billy Tasper! Do you think he is a coward and has run +away?" + +"Tut, tut! Not so strong!" The newspaper man put up a protesting palm. "I +simply state that His Honor the Mayor is under-somewhere! I never saw any +signs of his being a coward--but a lot of us have never been tested by a +real crisis, you know!" + +"You say he has no power in politics! Could he do anything in a case like +this?" + +Tasper clawed his hand over his head and the crest of his pompadour +bristled more horrently. "He could at least try to undo some of the +trouble he has caused by his tongue. He could be at City Hall, where he +belongs. The fact that he isn't there--that he can't be found--speaks a +whole lot to the people of this city, Lana Corson! Why, there isn't a +policeman to be seen on the streets of Marion to-night! We can't get any +explanation from police headquarters. A devil of a mayor, say I!" + +She turned and fled to the door. + +"Lana!" called the editor. "He has made promises that he can't back +up--and he has ducked. That's the story! We're going to say so in the +_Monitor_. We can't say anything else!" + +She made no reply. + +She did not wait for the elevator to take her down the single flight of +stairs; she ran, holding her wrap about her. + +Coventry Daunt, on the watch for her, opened the limousine's door and she +plunged in. "Wallace! To the State House! Quick!" she commanded. + +When Tasper returned to the city-room he was told that somebody was +waiting on the telephone. It was one of the men assigned to the matter on +Capitol Hill; he was calling from a drug-store booth in that neighborhood. + +"Boss, it looks as if they're going to mix it. The tough mutts are ready +to grab any excuse and they won't listen to men like Commander Lanigan of +the Legion." + +"If there's a fight pulled off all we can do is to see that we have a good +story. What else?" + +"I think I've located the mayor. I can't get anything at all out of those +tin Napoleons at the doors, but Lanigan says that Morrison is in the State +House--'on his job,' so Lanigan puts it." + +"Lanigan is a liar!" the city editor yelped. "He has been a two-legged +Hurrah-for-Morrison ever since his high-school days. I like a good lie +when it's told to help a friend! This one isn't good enough! Stewart +Morrison is in that State House like tissue-paper napkins are in Tophet." + +"But sha'n't I send in what Lanigan says?" + +"We won't have any room for the joke column in the morning," returned +the city editor, hanging up. + + + + +XVII + +THE CAPITOL IN SHADOW + + +Capitol Square was choked with men. The gathering was characteristically a +mob made up of diverse elements. It was not swayed by a set purpose and a +common motive. It was not welded by coherence of intent. Its eddies rushed +here or filtered there, according as arguments or protests gained +attention by sharp clamor above the continuous diapason of voices. One who +was versed in the natures and the moods of mobs would have found that mass +particularly menacing by reason of the lack of unanimity. Too many men of +the component elements did not know what it was all about! The arguments +pro and con were developing animosities that were new, fresh, of the +moment, creating factions, collecting groups that were ready to jump into +an affray that would enable them to avoid embarrassing explanations of why +they were there. + +A mob of that sort is easily stampeded! + +Some men who captained the factions did know why they were there! A few of +them harangued; others went about, whispering and muttering, inciting +malice by their counsel. + +The scum of that yeasty gallimaufry was on the outskirts. + +When the Corson limousine rolled into the square and sought to part its +way through that scum somebody in the crowd made a proposition that was +promptly favored as far as the votes by voices went: "Tip the lapdog +kennel upside down!" + +Chauffeur Wallace met the emergency with quick tactics. He reversed and +drove the car backward. The fingers of the attackers slipped from the +smooth varnish and the wheels threatened those who tried to grab the +running-boards. Men who seized the fender-bar were dragged off their feet. + +When Coventry Daunt showed a praiseworthy inclination to jump out and whip +a few hundred of them, so he declared in his ire, he was pushed back into +a corner by his sister. + +The chauffeur made a long drive in reverse, circling, and then put the car +ahead with a rush and they escaped into a side-street. + +"Wallace, get us home as quick as the good Lord will let you!" Mrs. +Stanton's command was hysterically shrill. + +"Wallace, take the first turn to the left," countermanded the mistress. +"Then around the State House to the west portico." + +"You crazy girl, what--after that--why--what are you trying to do?" +demanded Mrs. Stanton, fear making her furious. + +"I'm trying to get into that building--and I'm going to get in!" + +"You can't get in! They won't let you in! Lana Corson, you sha'n't +endanger our lives again!" + +"Here, Wallace! This turn!" + +The driver obeyed. + +Doris set rude hands upon Lana and shook her. "There's nothing sensible +you can do if you do get in!" + +"Perhaps not! But my father is there; he has asked me to help and I'm +going to explain to him how I did my best. Doris, I must tell him, so that +he won't get into worse danger by waiting and depending on that idiot of a +sheriff." + +"You are the idiot!" + +"I may be. But I'm going in there!' + +"Coventry, you are sitting like a prune glace! Help me to prevail on this +girl to use some common sense!" + +"You'll help me very much if you'll do some prevailing with your sister, +Coventry," affirmed Miss Corson, resentfully, trying to unclasp the +chaperon's vigorous hands. + +"After what has been happening, I don't think Lana needs any more shaking, +Dorrie," the brother remonstrated. "Everything having been well shaken, +it's time to do a little taking. Won't you take some advice, Lana?" + +"If it's advice about going home and deserting my father I'll not take +it." + +"I was afraid you wouldn't. But do you really think you can get into the +State House?" + +The girl did not disclose the discouraging information given to her by +Editor Tasper on the subject of effecting an entrance. "I'm going to try! +And I warn you, Doris, that I'm about at the end of my endurance." + +Mrs. Stanton sat back and gritted her teeth. + +The car traversed a boulevard; the arc-lights showed that it was deserted. +A narrow street, empty of humankind, led to the west portico. That +entrance, so Lana knew, was used almost wholly by the State House +employees. The door was closed; nobody was in sight. + +"If you insist on the venture, I'll go with you, of course," offered the +young man. When the car stopped he stepped out. + +"I'm afraid you'll only make it harder for me, Coventry. I know the +captain of the guard. But it will never do for me to bring a stranger." + +She hurried into the shadow of the portico. "Get back into the car! You +must! Wallace, drive Mrs. Stanton and Mr. Daunt to the house." + +When Coventry protested indignantly she broke in: "I haven't any time to +argue with you. We may be watched. Wait at the corner yonder with the car. +If you see me go in, take Doris home and send the car back. Wallace, I'll +find you down there at the fountain!" She designated with a toss of her +hand the statuary, gleaming in the starlight, and when the car moved on +she ran up the steps of the State House. + +The big door had neither bell nor knocker. She turned her back on it and +kicked with the heel of her slipper. + +The voice that inquired "Who's there?" revealed that the warder was not +wholly sure of his nerves. + +"I am Senator Corson's daughter!" + +She received no reply. + +"I tell you I am Senator Corson's daughter! I want to come in. My father +is there!" + +She was answered by a different voice; she recognized it. It was the +unmistakable drawl and nasal twang of Perley Wyman. Her girlhood memories +of Perley's voice had been freshened very recently because he had been +assigned to the Corson mansion by Thompson the florist as her chief aide +in decorating for the reception. "Wal, I should say he was here--and then +some! This was the door he came in through." + +"Open it! Open it at once, Perley Wyman!" + +"I dunno about that, Miss Corson! We've got orders about politicians and +mobbers--" + +"I'm neither. I command you to open this door." + +"Who else is there?" + +"I'm alone." + +Soldier Wyman pulled the bolts and opened. "I ain't feeling like taking +any more chances with the Corson family this evening," he admitted, with a +grin that set his long jaw awry. "Your father nigh cuffed my head up to a +peak when I tried to tell him what my orders were." + +Miss Corson was not interested in the troubles of Guard Wyman. He was +talking through a narrow crack; she set her hands against the door and +pushed her way in. "Where is my father? What trouble is he in?" + +"I reckon it can't be any kind of trouble but what he'll be capable of +taking care of himself in it all right," opined the guard, fondling his +cheek with the back of his hand. "But there ain't any trouble in here, +Miss Corson. It's all serene as a canned sardine that was canned for the +siege of Troy, as it said in the opery the High School Cadets put on that +year you was in the--" + +"There's a mob in front of the State House!" + +"It'll stay there," stated Wyman, remaining as serene as the comestible he +had mentioned. "The St. Ronan's Rifles can't be backed down by any mob. We +have been ordered to shoot, and that kind of a gang in this city might as +well learn its lesson to-night as any other night. It's getting time to do +a lot of law-and-order shooting in this country." + +The girl, harrowed by her apprehensions, was not in the mood to discuss +affairs with this amateur belligerent. But his complacency in his +bloodthirsty attitude was peculiarly exasperating in her case. He seemed +to typify that unreasonable spirit of slaughter that disdained to employ +the facilities of good sense first of all. This florist's clerk, whom she +had last seen on a step-ladder with his mouth full of tacks, was talking +of shooting down his fellow-civilians as if there were no other +alternative. + +"My father may be in danger in this State House, but I'm glad he is here. +He is not condoning this! He is not allowing this shame! Who is the +lunatic who is threatening my father and bringing disgrace on this state?" +She remembered the Senator's assertion over the telephone and, in her +eagerness for news, she was willing to start with the humble Soldier +Wyman. + +She realized suddenly that her spirit of fiery protest was provoking her +into an argument that might seem rather ridiculous if somebody in real +authority should overhear her talking to Wyman and his mate. The portico +door opened into a remote corridor. + +"The only lunatic, up to date, Miss Corson, has been a Canuck who had a +knock-down and drag-out with a settee and--" + +Lana was not finding Wyman's statement especially convincing in the way of +establishing faith in his sanity. "I thank you for letting me in! I must +find my father." + +The interior of the Capitol building was familiar ground to her. + +It occurred to her sense of discretion that it might be well to avoid +Captain Sweetsir in his new exaltation as a military martinet. She found a +narrow, curving stairway which served employees. + +On the second floor, hastening along the dimly lighted corridors, turning +several corners, she reached the spacious hall outside the Senate lobby. +She paused for a moment. From the hall she could look down the broad, main +stairway which conducted to the rotunda. The rumble of trucks had +attracted her attention. Soldiers were moving a machine-gun; they lined it +up with two others that were already facing the great doors of the main +entrance. She had half hoped that her father was in the rotunda, using his +influence and his wisdom, now that the mob was threatening the building +outside those great doors. She did not understand just how the Senator +would be able to operate, she admitted to herself, but she felt that his +manly advice could prevail in keeping his fellow-citizens from murdering +one another! + +In the gloom below her she saw only soldiers and uniformed Capitol +watchmen. + +Across from her in the upper hall where she waited there was the entrance +to the wing which contained the Executive Chambers. Two men, one of whom +was talking earnestly, came along the corridor from the direction of the +chambers. Still mindful of what Tasper had said about the State House +rules of that evening, she did not want to take chances with others who +might be less amenable than Florist-Clerk Wyman. There were high-backed +chairs in the corners of the hall; she hid herself behind the nearest +chair. Her dark fur coat and the twilight concealed her effectually. + +"General Totten, if you don't fully comprehend your plain duty in this +crisis, you'd better stop right here with me until you do. We can't afford +to have those soldiers overhear. Are you going to order them to march out +of this State House?" This peremptory gentleman was Stewart Morrison! + +Lana choked back what threatened to be an exclamation. + +"I refuse to take that responsibility on myself." + +"You must! Such a command to state troops must come from you, the +adjutant-general." + +"This is a political exigency, Mister Mayor!" + +"It seems like that to me!" + +"It requires martial law." + +"But not civil war." + +"This building is threatened by a mob." + +"That's because you have put it in a state of siege against citizens." + +"There's no telling what those men will do if they are allowed to enter." + +"They'll do worse if they are kept out by guns." + +"It means wreck and rampage if they are permitted to come through those +doors." + +"Look here, Totten, this State House has stood here for a good many years, +with the citizens coming and going in it at will. I don't see any dents!" + +"This is an exigency, and it's different, sir. The state must assert its +authority." + +"I'll not argue against the state and authority with you, Totten, for +you're right and there's no time for argument. But when you said political +exigency you said a whole lot--and we'll let this particular skunk cabbage +go under that name. Don't try that law-and-order and state-authority bluff +with me in such a case as this is. You're right in with the bunch and you +know just as well as I do what the game is this time. Probably those folks +outside there don't know what they want, but they do know that something +is wrong! Something is almighty wrong when elected servants are obliged to +get behind closed doors to transact public affairs. I'm putting this on a +business basis because business is my strong point. These red-tape fellows +go to war and use the people for the goats to settle a matter that could +be settled peaceably by hard-headed every-day men in five minutes. Now +with these few words, and admitting that I'm all that you want to tell me +I am--and confessing to a whole lot more that I personally know about my +unadulterated brass cheek in the whole thing--we'll close debate. Order +those militia boys to march out!" + +"I--" + +Morrison held a little sheaf of papers in his hand. He flapped the papers +violently under General Totten's nose. "Do you dare to ignore these +telegrams--the opinions of the justices of the supreme judicial court of +this state?" + +"I don't--" + +The papers flicked the end of the general's nose and he shuffled slowly +backward. "Do you dare, I say?" + +"This exigency--" + +"That's the name we've agreed on--for a dirty political trick without an +atom of principle behind it. These telegrams will make great reading on +the same page with the list of names in the hospitals and the morgue!" +General Totten was retreating more rapidly, but the vibrating papers +inexorably kept pace with his nose. + +"But to leave this State House unguarded--" + +"I have already shown you what I can do with one single cop! I gave you a +little lecture on cops in general back yonder. You fully understand how +one cop handled the adjutant-general of a state. I'll answer for the +guarding of this State House. Send away your militia!" + +"I'm afraid to do it!" wailed Totten. + +"Then you're afraid of a shadow, sir! But I'll tell you what you may well +be afraid of. I'm giving you your chance to save your face and your +dignity. Order away those boys or I'll go and stand on the main stairway +and tell 'em just how they're being used as tools by political tricksters. +And then even your tricksters will land on your back and blame you for +forcing an exposure. I'll tell the boys! I swear I'll do it! And I'll bet +you gold-dust against sawdust that they'll refuse to commit murder. +Totten, this exigency is now working under a full head of steam. You can +hear that mob now! This thing is getting down to minutes, I'll give you +just one of those minutes to tramp down into that rotunda and issue your +orders." + +"But what--" The general's tone unmistakably indicated surrender; the +Governor had already shifted the onus; Totten knew his brother-in-law's +nature; the Governor would just as soon shift the odium after such an +explosion as this wild Scotchman threatened. + +"You needn't bother about the what, sir. You give the order. And as soon +as the thing is on a business basis I'll tend to it." + +Stewart took the liberty of hooking his arm inside the general's. The +officer seemed to be experiencing some difficulty in getting his feet +started. The two hurried along and trudged down the middle of the main +stairway. + +Lana followed. She halted at the gallery rail and surveyed the scene +below. + +Even in her absorption in the affair between Stewart and the +adjutant-general she had been aware of the rising tumult outside. + +The bellow of voices had settled into a sort of chant of, "Time's +up--time's up!" + +Captain Sweetsir had deployed his men across the rotunda behind the +machine-guns. + +When he beheld the mayor and the general on the stairs he saluted +nervously. "They're getting ready to use sledge-hammers, sir. Shall I hand +'em the rifle-fire first or let loose with the machine-guns?" + +Stewart still held to the general's arm. + +Totten hesitated. His face was white and his lips quivered. + +Morrison's gaze was set straight ahead, but a twist of his face indicated +that he said something through the corner of his mouth. + +The general made his plunge. + +"Captain Sweetsir, instruct your men to empty their magazines, assemble +accoutrements, and stand at ease in marching order." + +The captain came onto his tiptoes in order to elongate himself as a human +interrogation-point. + +"Captain Sweetsir, order your bugler to sound retreat!" + +The officer forced an amazed croak out of his throat by way of a command, +and on the hush within the rotunda the clarion of the bugle rang out. It +echoed in the high arches. Its sharp notes cut into the clamor outdoors. + +Morrison recognized a voice that was keyed to a pitch almost as high as +the bugle's strains. "Hold your yawp! Don't you hear that?" Lanigan +screamed. "Don't you know the difference between that and a fish-peddler's +horn? That's the tune we fellers heard the Huns play just before Armistice +Day. That's retreat! Come on, Legion!" he urged, frantically. "Ram back +those sledge-hammers!" + +Morrison grinned and released the general's arm. + +"You hear that, do you, sir? When you can convince fair men that you're on +the right slant, the fair men will proceed to show rough-necks where they +get off if they go to trying on the wrong thing!" + +"There's going to be the devil to pay!" insisted the adjutant-general. +"You're going to let that mob into the State House, and they'll fight all +over the place." + +"We'll see what they'll do after the showdown, sir! And you can't make +much of a showdown in the dark." + +He left General Totten on the stairs, leaped down the remaining steps, and +ran to a group of watchmen and night employees of the State House who were +bulwarking the soldiers. + +"I'm beginning to see that it's some advantage, after all, to be the mayor +of this city," Stewart informed himself. One of Marion's aldermen was +chief electrician of the Capitol building and was in the group, very much +on duty on a night like that. "Torrey has always backed me in the city +government meetings, at any rate!" + +The alderman came out of the ranks, obeying the mayor's gesture. + +"Alderman, I'm in the minority here, right now, but I hope you're going to +vote with me for more light on the subject." + +Torrey did not understand what this quick shift in all plans signified, +and said so, showing deference to the mayor at the same time. + +"If we've got to fight that gang we need these soldiers, Mayor Morrison!" + +"Our kind of men, Alderman, fight best in the light; the cowards like the +dark so that they can get in their dirty work. Do you get me? Yes! Thanks! +Excuse me for hurrying you. But get to that switchboard! We need quick +action. You and I represent the city of Marion right now. Must keep her +name clean! I'll explain later. But give 'er the juice! Jam on every +switch. Dome to cellar! Lots of it! Put their night-beetle eyes out with +it." + +He was hustling along with Torrey toward the electrician's room. He was +clapping his hand on the alderman's shoulder. + +"I'm going outside there, Torrey! Touch up the old dome and give me all +the front lights. If the bricks begin to whiz I want to see who's throwing +'em!" + + + + +XVIII + +THE CAPITOL ALIGHT + + +First of all, within the State House, there was burgeoning of the separate +lights of the wall brackets and then the great chandeliers burst into +bloom. + +Electrician Torrey possessed a quick understanding and was in the habit of +doing a thorough job whenever he tackled anything. He threw in the +switches as rapidly as he could operate them. + +Story by story the great building was flooded with glory that mounted to +the upper windows and overflowed into the night with a veritable cascade +of brilliancy when the thousand bulbs of the dome's circlet flashed their +splendor against the sky. The lamps of the broad front portico and its +approaches added the final, dazzling touch to the general illumination. + +From a sullen, gloomy hulk of a building, with its few lights showing like +glowering eyes in ambush, the State House was transformed into a temple of +glory, thrust into the heavens from the top of Capitol Hill, a torch that +signaled comforting candor, a reassuring beacon. + +The surprise of the happening stilled the uproar. + +Neither Morrison, inside, nor the mob, outside, was bothering with the +mental analysis of the psychology of the thing! + +Something had happened! There was The Light! It threw into sharp relief +every upturned face in the massed throng. Their voices remained hushed. + +Commander Lanigan, standing above them on a marble rail, his figure +outlined against a pergola column, did his best to put some of his +emotions into speech. He shouted, "_Some_ night-blooming cereus, I'll tell +the world!" + +The great doors swung open slowly. They remained open. + +Now curiosity replaced astonishment and held the rioters in their tracks; +their mouths were wide, the voices mute. + +The mayor of Marion walked into view. + +The columns of the _porte-cochere_ were supported on a broad base, and he +climbed up and was elevated in the radiance high above their heads. + +He smiled hospitably. "Boys, it's open house, and the house is yours. Hope +you like its looks! But what's the big idea of the surprise party?" + +No one took it on himself to reply. He waited tolerantly. + +"Well, out with it!" he suggested. + +Somebody with a raucous voice ventured. "You probably know what they've +been trying to hide away from the people inside there. Suppose you do the +talking." + +"I'm not here to make a speech." + +"Well, answer a question, then!" This was a shrill voice. "What about +those soldiers and those machine-guns in there?" + +"Not a word!" + +With yells, oaths, and catcalls the crowd offered comment on that +declaration. + +His demeanor as a statue of patience was more effective than remonstrance +in quieting them. + +"Any other gentlemen wish to offer more remarks? Get it all out of you!" + +He utilized the hush. "Boys, I'm going to give you something better than +words. Hearing can't always be trusted. But seeing is believing!" + +He pulled a police whistle from his pocket and shrilled a signal. + +For a time there was no answer or demonstration of any sort. + +Then the tramp of marching feet was heard on the pavement of the square. + +It was Marion's police force, issuing from some point of mobilization near +at hand; it was the force in full strength, led by the chief; he was in +dress-parade garb and the radiance of the square was reflected in imposing +high-lights by his gold braid. + +The crowd was shaken by eddies and was convulsed by quickly formed +vortices. Morrison was studying that mob with his keen gaze, watching the +movements as they sufficed to reveal an expression of emotions. + +"Hold on, boys! Don't run away!" he counseled. "Wait for the big show! No +arrests intended! Only cowards and guilty men will run!" + +The light that was shed from the State House was pitilessly revealing; men +could not hide their movements. Morrison reiterated his promise and dwelt +hard on the "coward and guilty" part of his declaration. + +The chief of police waved his hand and the crowd parted obediently and the +officers marched up the lane, four abreast. + +"Hold open that passage as you stand, fellow-citizens!" the mayor +commanded. "There's more to this show! You haven't seen all of it! Hold +open, I tell you!" + +Men whom he recognized as Lanigan's Legion members were jumping in on the +side-lines as the policemen passed. With arms extended the veterans held +back those whom Morrison's commands were not restraining. + +"That's good team-work, Joe," Stewart informed Lanigan when the latter +hurried past to take his place as a helper. + +The advent of the police had provoked a flurry; their movements after +their arrival caused a genuine surprise. They gave no indication of being +interested in the crowd that was packed into Capitol Square. The ears of +the mob were out for orders of dispersal! Eyes watched to see the officers +post themselves and operate according to the usual routine in such +matters. + +But the policemen marched straight into the State House, preserving their +solid formation. + +The bugle sounded again within. + +With a promptness that indicated a good understanding of the procedure to +be followed, the St. Ronan's Rifles came marching out. + +Captain Sweetsir saluted smartly as he passed the place where the mayor of +Marion was perched. + +"How about three cheers for the boys?" Morrison shouted. "What's the +matter with you down there?" + +He led them off as cheer-leader. He marked the sullen groups, the +voiceless malcontents as best he was able. The Legion boys were vehemently +enthusiastic in their acclaim. + +The guards marched briskly. The machine-guns clanged along the pavement, +bringing up the rear. + +"That's all!" Stewart declared, when the soldiers were well on their way. +"Now you don't need any words, do you? I'll merely state that your State +House is open to the people!" + +"Like blazes it is," bawled somebody. + +He pointed to the open doors, his reply to that challenge. + +"How about those cops?" demanded somebody else. + +"Your State House is open, I tell you. If you want to go in, go ahead. +It's open for straight business, and it will stay open. There are no dark +corners for dirty tricks or lying whispers. It's your property. If there's +any whelp mean enough to damage his own property, he'll be taken care of +by a policeman. That's why they're in there. That's what you're paying +taxes for, to have policemen who'll take care of sneaks who can't be made +decent in any other way. Some other gentleman like to ask a question?" + +Morrison realized that he had not won over the elements that were +determined to make trouble. His searching eyes were marking the groups of +the rebels. + +He directed an accusatory finger at one man, a Marion politician. +"Matthewson, what's on your mind? Don't keep it all to yourself and those +chaps you're buzzing with!" + +Matthewson, thus singled out, was embarrassed and incensed at the same +time. "What have they been trying to put over with that militia, anyway?" + +"Put protection over state property because such mouths as yours have been +making threats ever since election. But just as soon as it was realized +that good citizens, like the most of these here, were misunderstanding the +situation and were likely to be used as tools of gangsters, out went the +militia! You saw it go, didn't you?" + +"I'd like to know who did all that realizing you're speaking of!" + +"It's not in good taste for an errand-boy of my caliber to gossip about +the business of those for whom he is doing errands. I'll merely say, +Matthewson, that the people of this state can always depend on the +broad-gaged good sense of United States Senator Corson to suggest a +solution of a political difficulty. And you may be sure that the state +government will back him up. Go down-town and ask the boys of the guard +who it was that gave the command for them to leave the State House. After +that you'd better go home to bed. That's good advice for all of you." + +A shrill voice from the center of the massed throng cut in sharply. "Go +home like chickens and wait to have your necks wrung! Go home like sheep +and wait for the shearer and the butcher." + +The mayor leaned forward and tried to locate the agitator. "Hasn't the +gentleman anything to say about goats? He's missing an excellent +opportunity!" Morrison showed the alert air of a hunter trying to flush +game in a covert. + +The provoking query had its effect. "Yes, that's what you call us-all you +rulers call us the goats!" + +A brandished fist marked the man's position in the mob. + +"Ah, there you are, my friend! What else have you on your mind?" + +"I'll tell you what you have on your face. You have the mark of an honest +man's hand there! I saw him plant that mark!" + +"And what's the answer?" asked Stewart, pleasantly. + +"You're a coward! You're not fit to advise real men what to do!" + +"I'm afraid you have me sized up all too well!" There was something like +wistful apology in Morrison's smile. + +Lanigan had forced his way close to the foot of the plinth where the mayor +was elevated. The commander's head was tipped back, his goggling eyes were +full of anguished rebuke, and his mouth was wide open. + +The man in the crowd yelped again, encouraged by his distance and by +Morrison's passivity under attack. "You think you own a mill. Your honest +workmen own it. You are a thief!" + +"My Gawd!" Lanigan squawked, hoarsely. "Ain't it in you? Ain't a spark of +it in you?" + +Morrison delivered sharp retort in an undertone. "Don't you know better +than to tangle my lines when I'm playing a fish? Shut up!" He tossed his +hand at the individual in the crowd, inviting him to speak further. + +"You're a liar, tool," responded the disturber. + +"That's a tame epithet, my friend. Commonly used in debate. I'm afraid +you're running out of ammunition. Haven't you anything really important to +say, now that I'm giving you the floor?" + +Men were beginning to remonstrate and to threaten in behalf of the mayor +of the city. + +"Hold on, boys!" Morrison entreated. "We must give our friend a minute +more if he really has anything to say. Otherwise we'll adjourn--" + +The bait had been dangled ingratiatingly; a movement had been made to jerk +it away--the "fish" bit, promptly and energetically. + +"I'll say it--I'll say what ought to be said--I'll shame the cowards +here!" + +"Let Brother What's-his-name come along, boys! Please! Please!" The mayor +stretched forth his arms and urged persuasively. "Keep your hands off him! +Let him come!" + +"They're going over him for a gat, Mister Mayor," called Lanigan. "I've +given 'em one lesson in that line this evening, already!" + +The volunteers who were patting the disturber released him. The patting +had not been in the way of encouragement. "Nothing on him! Let him go!" +commanded one of the searchers. + +The man who came forcing his way through the press, his clinched fists +waving over his head, was young, pallid, typically an academic devotee of +radicalism, a frenetic disciple, obsessed by _furor loquendi_ He was +calling to the mob, trying to rouse followers. "You have been standing +here, freezing in the night, damning tyrants, boasting what you would do. +Why don't you do it? Do you let a smirking ruler bluff all the courage of +real men out of you? He's only doing the bidding of those higher up. He +admits it! He's a tool, too! He's a fool, along with you, if he tries to +excuse tyranny. You have your chance, now, and all the provocation that +honest men need. The rulers tried to scare you with guns. But you have +called the bluff. Their hired soldiers have run away. Now is your time! +Take your government into your hands! Down with aristocrats! Smash 'em +like we smash their windows. They hold up an idol and ask you to bow down +and be slaves to it; but you're only bowing to the drivers of slaves! They +hide behind that idol and work it for all it's worth. They point to it and +tell you that you must empty your pockets to add to their wealth, and work +your fingers off for their selfish ends." + +He halted a short distance from the plinth, declaiming furiously. + +Morrison broke in, snapping out his words. "Down to cases, now! What is +the idol?" + +"A patchwork of red, white, and blue rags!" + +Morrison whirled, crouched on his hands and knees, set his fingers on the +edge of the plinth, and slid down the side. He swung for an instant at the +end of his arms and dropped the rest of the way to the pavement. + +Lanigan had started for the man, but Stewart overtook the commander, +seized him by the collar and coattail slack, and tossed him to one side. + +"Here's a case at last where I don't need any help or advice from you, +Joe!" + +"Punch the face offn him!" adjured Lanigan, even while he was floundering +among the legs of the men against whom he had been thrown. + +The mayor plunged through the crowd in the direction of the vilifier. + +The man did not attempt to escape. "Strike me! Strike me down. I offer +myself for my cause to shame these cowards!" + +But Morrison did not use his fists, though Lanigan continued to exhort. + +"There are altogether too many of you would-be martyrs around this city +to-night. I can't accommodate you all!" Stewart made the same tackle he +had used in the case of Lanigan and Spanish-walked his captive back toward +the _porte-cochere_. + +"I reckon I do need your help, after all, Joe!" confessed Morrison, noting +that Lanigan was on his feet again. "Give me your back and a boost!" + +Then the captor suddenly tripped the captive and laid him sprawling at +Lanigan's feet; before the fallen man was up, Morrison, using the +commander's sturdy shoulders and the thrust of the willing arms of his +helper, had swung himself back to the top of the plinth. He kneeled and +reached down his hands. "Up with him, Joe! Toss! I won't miss him!" + +Lanigan was helped by a comrade in making the toss. Morrison grasped the +man and yanked him upright and held him in a firm clutch. + +The mayor was receiving plenty of advice from the crowd by that time. The +gist of the counsel followed Lanigan's suggestion about punching off the +fellow's face. But the mob was by no means unanimous. Men were daring to +voice threats against Morrison. + +As it had availed before that evening, Morrison's imperturbable silence +secured quiet on the part of others. + +"The opinion of the meeting seems to be divided," he said. He had +recovered his poise along with his breath. "But no matter! I shall not +adopt the advice of either side. I shall not let this fellow go until I +have finished my business with him. I shall not punch his face off him. +I'll not flatter him to that extent. A good American reserves his fists +for a man-fight with a real man." He shook the captive, holding him at +arm's-length. "Here's a young fool who has been throwing stones at +windows. Here's a fresh rowdy who has been sticking out his tongue at +authority. I know exactly what he needs!" + +"He insulted the flag of this country! Turn him over to the police!" +somebody insisted, and a roar of indorsement hailed the demand. + +"Citizens, that would be like giving a mongrel cur a court trial for +sheep-killing! This perverted infant simply needs--_dingbats!_" He shouted +the last word. He twisted the radical off his feet, stooped, and laid the +victim across a knee that was as solid as a tree-trunk, and with the flat +of a broad hand began to whale the culprit with all his might. + +The onlookers were silent for a few moments. Then there was a chorus of +jeering approbation. + +When the shamed, humiliated, agonized radical--thus made a mark for gibes +instead of winning honor as a martyr for the cause--began to wail and +plead the men who were nearest the scene of flagellation started to laugh. +The laughter spread like a fire through dry brambles. It ran crackling +from side to side of the great square. It mounted into higher bursts of +merriment. It became hilarity that was expended by a swelling roar that +split wide the night silence and came beating back in riotous echoes from +the facade of the State House. That amazing method of handling anarchy had +snapped the tense strain of a situation which had been holding men's +emotions in leash for hours. The ludicrousness of the thing was heightened +by the nervous solemnity immediately preceding. Men beat their neighbors +on the back in instant comradeship of convulsed, rollicking jubilation. + +"Always leave 'em laughing when you say good-by!" Morrison advised the +chap whom he was manhandling. He held the fellow over the edge of the +plinth by the collar and dropped him, wilted and whimpering, into the +waiting arms of the appreciative Lanigan. "Dry his eyes, Joe, and wipe his +nose, and see that he gets started for home all right." + +Morrison stood straight and secured a hearing after a time. "Boys, those +of you who are in the right mind--and I hope all of you are that way now, +after a good laugh--I've given you a sample of how to handle the +Bolshevist blatherskites when you come across 'em in this country. Look +around and if you find any more of 'em in the crowd go ahead and dose 'em +with dingbats! Fine remedy for childish folly! I reckon all of us have +found out that much for ourselves in the old days. I won't keep you +standing in the cold here any longer. Good night!" + +He leaped down on to the porch and went into the State House. + +General Totten was near the big door. + +The men outside were guffawing again. + +Morrison was dusting his palms with the air of a man who had finished a +rather unpleasant job. "Do you hear 'em, Totten? Sounds better than howls +of a crowd bored by machine-gun bullets, eh? How much chance do you think +there is of starting a civil war among men who are laughing like that?" + + + + +XIX + +LANA CORSON HAS HER DOUBTS + + +The chief of police had distributed his officers to posts of duty and was +patrolling the rotunda. + +He saluted the mayor when Morrison came hurrying in through the main +entrance. + +"All is fine, Chief! I thank you for your work. I don't look for anything +out of the way, after this. But keep your men on till further orders." + +At the foot of the grand stairway Stewart's self-possession left him. + +Lana Corson was standing half-way up the stairs. Her furs were thrown +back, revealing her festival attire. Her beauty was heightened by the +flush on her cheeks and by the vivid animation in her luminous eyes. + +He paused for a moment, his gaze meeting hers, and then he hastened to +her. + +"How did it happen--that you're here, Lana?" + +"I'm here--let that be an answer for now. But this, Stewart--this what I +have been seeing and hearing! Does it mean what it seems to mean?" + +"I'll have to admit that I don't know exactly how it does show up from the +side-lines. Suppose you say!" + +"I heard you talk to General Totten. I heard you talk to that mob. I saw +what you did. But I heard you give all the credit to my father." She +searched Stewart's face with more earnest stare. "You have saved the state +from disgracing itself, haven't you? Isn't that what you have done--you +yourself?" + +"Oh, nonsense! Tell me! How did you get in and who came with you?" + +"I'm here alone, Stewart, and it's of no importance how I got in. The +question I have asked you is the important one just now." + +Her insistence was disconcerting; he had not recovered from the +astonishment of the sudden meeting; he felt that he ought to lie to that +daughter, in the interests of her family pride, but he was conscious of +his inability to lie glibly just then. + +"Where is your car?" + +"Waiting for me in the little park." + +"Lana, there'll be no more excitement here--not a bit. Nothing to see! +Suppose you allow me to take you to the car. Come!" He put out his arm. + +"Certainly not! Not till I see my father! He is in danger!" + +"I assure you he is not. I left him with the Governor only a few minutes +ago, and the Senator was never better in his life--nor safer!" In spite of +his best endeavor to be consolatory and matter-of-fact he was not able to +keep a certain significance out of his tone. + +From where she stood she could look across the rotunda and down into the +square. The glare of the lights made all movements visible. The crowd was +melting away. + +"Stewart, brains and tact have accomplished wonders here to-night. I want +to know all the truth. Why shouldn't you be as candid to me as you seemed +to be with those men when you were talking to them? I want to give my +gratitude to somebody! The name of our good state has been kept clean. +You're not fair to me if you leave me in the dark any longer." + +"I did my little bit, that's all! I'm only one of the cogs!" + +"I know how I'll make you tell. I propose to give you all the credit. And +I never knew you to keep anything that didn't belong to you." + +"Now you're not fair yourself, Lana! We just put our heads together--the +whole of us--that's all! Put our heads together! You know! As men will!" +His stammering eagerness did not satisfy her feminine penetration. Her +daughterly interest in the Senator's political standing was stirred as she +reflected. + +"My father is down here to see that his fences are in good shape," she +declared, with true Washington sapience. "I think it was his duty and +privilege to step out there and make the speech. I'm surprised because he +let such an opportunity slip. With all due respect to the mayor of Marion, +you were not at all dignified, Stewart. They laughed at you--and I didn't +blame them!" + +"I can't blame 'em, either," he confessed. "I--I--I guess I lost my head. +I'm not used to making speeches. I have made two since supper, and both of +'em have seemed to stir up a lot of trouble for me." + +"I think, myself, that you're rather unfortunate as a speechmaker," she +returned, dryly. "I suppose you're going back to report to father. I'll go +with you." In her manner there was implied promise that she would proceed +to learn more definitely in what quarters her especial gratitude ought to +be expended. + +"Lana," he urged, "I wish you'd go home and wait for your talk with your +father when he comes. He'll be coming right along. I'll see that he does. +There's nothing--not much of anything to keep him here. But I need to have +a little private confab with him." + +"So private that I mustn't listen? I hope that we're still old friends, +Stewart, you and I, though your attitude in regard to father's affairs has +made all else between us impossible." + +He did not pursue the topic she had broached. There was a certain finality +about her deliverance of the statement, a decisiveness that afforded no +hint that she would consider any compromise or reconsideration. His face +was very grave. "I have a little business--a few loose ends to take up +with the Senator. Once more I beg that you will defer--" + +"I will go with you to the Executive Chamber. I'll be grateful for your +escort. If you don't care to have me go along with you, I can easily find +my way there alone." + +Her manner left no opportunity for further appeal. + +He bowed. He did not offer his arm. They walked together up the stairway. +With side-glances she surveyed his countenance wonderingly; in his +expression true distress was mingled with apprehensiveness. He had the air +of an unwilling guide detailed to conduct an unsuspecting innocent to be +shocked by the revelations of a chamber of horrors; she put it that way to +herself in jesting hyperbole. + +The newspaper men, who had followed Mayor Morrison into the State House, +had been holding aloof, politely, from a conference which seemed to have +no bearing on the political situation. They hurried behind and overtook +Stewart and the young lady at the head of the stairway; their spokesman +asked for a statement. + +"I made it! Out there a few minutes ago! Boys, you heard what I said, +didn't you?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, I talked more than I intended to! Boil it down to a few lines and +let it go at that!" + +"We want to get the matter just right, Mister Mayor, and give credit where +it's due." + +"I covered the matter of credit. There's nothing more to say," replied +Stewart, curtly. + +The reporters surveyed him with considerable wonderment; his manner in +times past had always been distinguished by frank graciousness. + +"We'd like to see Senator Corson and Governor North." + +That request seemed to provoke the mayor's irritability still more. "I'm +not the guardian of those gentlemen or of this State House!" He turned on +his heel abruptly. "Miss Corson!" She was waiting a few paces away. He +rejoined her and by a gesture invited her to walk along. "I'm sorry! I did +not mean to delay you!" + +The newspaper men followed on as far as the door of the Executive Chamber. + +Morrison faced them there. "I don't mean to interfere with you, boys, in +any way. And you mustn't interfere with me. As soon as the Senator and the +Governor finish with me they'll give you all the time you want, no doubt! +Please wait outside!" He tapped on the door and gave his name. Rellihan +opened. Morrison seized the officer's arm and pulled him outside. "Keep +everybody away from the door for a few moments--till further orders." + +Stewart escorted Miss Corson into the chamber with almost as much celerity +as he had employed in escorting Rellihan out; and he promptly banged the +door. He walked slowly across the room toward the big table, following +Lana, who hastened toward her father. The Senator was standing behind the +table, flanked by North and Daunt. The three of them formed a portentous +battery. Morrison did not speak. His expression indicated humility. He +drooped his shoulders. There was appeal in his eyes. "Here I am!" the eyes +informed the glowering Senator. But a side-glance hinted: "Here is your +daughter, too. Use judgment!" + +Lana was manifestly perplexed by what she saw. Three distinguished +gentlemen were presenting the visages of masculine Furies. She looked away +from them and received a little comfort from the placid countenances of +Andrew Mac Tavish and Delora Bunker, but their presence in that place and +at that hour only made her mystification more complete. + +She had been allowing her imagination to paint pictures before she stepped +into the Executive Chamber; she had expected to find her father virtuously +triumphant, serenely a successful molder of pacific plans. His scowl was +so forbidding that she stopped short. + +"Father, it's wonderful--perfectly wonderful, isn't it?" She tried to +speak joyously, but she faltered. "I saw it all! I saw how your plan +succeeded." + +"Damn you, Morrison! What has happened?" The Senator did not merely +demand--he exploded. + +The silence which followed became oppressive. Miss Corson was too +thoroughly horrified to proceed. Apparently Governor North and Daunt had +selected their spokesman and had nothing to say for themselves. Morrison +seemed to be especially helpless as an informant; he wagged his head and +pointed to Lana. + +"Answer my question, Morrison!" + +"I think Miss Corson better tell you, sir. She was an impartial observer." + +"Perhaps she _had_ better tell me! You're right! After this night I +wouldn't take your word as to the wetness of water. Lana, speak out!" + +"I don't know what I can tell you--you have been right here all the time +in the State House--" + +The Senator jammed a retort between the links of her stammering speech. +"Yes, I have been right here! What has happened below, I ask you?" + +"Why, the troops marched out. They went away! Right through the mob! And +it's all calm and quiet." + +Governor North stamped his way a half-dozen paces to the rear, and whirled +and marched back into line. + +"Morrison, have you--have you--" Senator Corson choked. Not knowing +exactly what to say, he shook his fist. + +"Father, what's the matter? It was only carrying out your orders." + +"Orders--my orders?" + +"Stewart Morrison, why don't you say something?" she demanded. + +"I'm sure your father prefers to hear from you." + +"Confound it! I do want to hear, and hear immediately!" + +Lana displayed some of the paternal ire. "Stewart, I asked you to be +candid with me. You're leaving me to flounder around disgracefully in this +matter." + +The Senator advanced on his daughter and seized her arm. "I don't want +that renegade to say another word to me as long as I live--and he knows +it. I'll tell you later what has been going on here. But now tell me to +what orders of mine you are referring! Quick and short!" + +"Mayor Morrison made a little speech to the mob and said that you thought +it was best to send away the troops to prevent bad feelings and +misunderstanding, and said you were backed up by the Governor." + +The Senator swapped looks with the goggling North over Lana's head. + +"And the mob has gone home, and the State House is thrown wide open, and +the policemen are on duty, and I say again that it's wonderful," insisted +the girl. + +"Morrison, did you say that? Have you done that?" + +Stewart was fully aware that he had allowed the men in the square to draw +an inference from a compliment that he had paid to Senator Corson's +sagacity, and had refrained from making a direct declaration. But he was +not minded to embarrass the girl any further. He bowed. "I thank Miss +Corson for giving the gist of the thing so neatly." + +"I know I don't understand it all yet, father!" Lana was both frightened +and wistful. The Senator had turned from her and was striding to and fro, +scuffing his feet hard on the carpet. "If you're blaming Mayor Morrison +for revealing confidences, I'm sorry. But you can't help being proud when +it is spread abroad how your handling of the dreadful affair prevented +bloodshed and shame in this state." + +"Spread abroad!" Senator Corson brought down his feet more violently. + +The situation, if it remained bottled up there in the Executive Chamber +any longer, threatened to explode in still more damaging fashion, was +Stewart's uncomfortable thought. The Senator's remark suggested a +diversion in the way of topics, at any rate. + +"That reminds me that the newspaper boys are waiting outside in the +corridor, Senator Corson. I asked them to be patient for a few minutes. +Please allow me to say that I have added no statement to what I said to +the crowd in the square. I shall not add any." + +"I don't see how you could add anything!" retorted the Senator with venom. + +He continued his promenade. + +Again the silence in the room became oppressive. + +Morrison was scrutinizing Governor North with especial intentness. + +His Excellency was giving unmistakable evidence that he was surcharged. He +was working his elbows and was whispering to himself with a fizzling +sound. He had turned his back on Lana Corson as if he were resolved to +ignore the fact of her presence. + +Stewart, exhibiting deference while a United States Senator was pondering, +strolled leisurely across the room to North and fondled the lapel of the +Governor's coat. "I beg your pardon, and I hope you'll excuse curiosity in +a chap who makes cloth, Governor. But this is as fine a piece of worsted +as I've seen in many a day." + +North lifted his arm as if to knock the presumptuous hand away; but +Stewart slowly clenched his fist, holding the fabric in his close clutch, +exerting a strength that dominated the man upon whom his hold was +fastened. The mayor went on in an undertone, as if anxious to show +additional deference in the presence of the senatorial ponderings. +"Governor, petty politics haven't been allowed to make a bad mess of what +has been turned into an open proposition. Now don't allow your tongue to +make a mess of this new development as it stands right now. Humor Miss +Corson's notions! And let me tell you! My policemen are going to stay on +the job until after the legislature assembles." + +"Morrison, you're a coward!" grated North. "You brought Corson's girl here +so that you can sneak behind her petticoats." + +Stewart released his hold, clapped His Excellency on the shoulder, raised +his voice, and cried, heartily: + +"Thank you. Governor! You're right. You have an excellent idea of a piece +of goods, yourself." + +Senator Corson arrived at a decision which he did not confide to anybody. +He spoke to Daunt and the two of them went to the divan and dragged on the +overcoats which they had discarded when Rellihan's obstinacy had been +found to be unassailable. + +Lana, studying the faces of the men, drew her furs about her. + +"The car is waiting near the west portico, father," she ventured to say. + +Corson took his time about buttoning his coat. Lana had her heritage of +dark eyes from her father; his wrath had settled into cold malevolence and +his eyes above his white cheeks were not pleasant objects. He surveyed the +various persons in the room. He took his time in that process, too! + +"For the present--for now--for to-night," he said, quietly, elaborating +his mention of the moment with significance, "we seem to have cleaned up +all the business before us. In view of that interregnum, Governor, of +which you have been so kindly reminded, I suppose you feel that you can go +to your hotel and rest for the remainder of the night so as to be in good +trim for the inaugural ceremonies. Allow me to offer you a lift in my +car." + +The Governor trudged toward, a massive wardrobe in a corner of the +chamber. + +"I do not presume to offer you the convenience of my car, Mayor Morrison," +the Senator went on. + +"I take it that your recent oath as supreme Executive during the aforesaid +interregnum obliges you to stay on the job. Ah--er--do we require a +countersign in order to get out of the building?" + +The mayor was walking toward the private door. "No, sir!" he said, mildly. + +"I hope you hear that, Governor North! I was compelled to give +countersigns to your soldiers--quite emphatic countersigns. The new regime +is to be complimented." + +Morrison threw open the door. "That's all, Rellihan! Report to the chief!" + +The newspaper men came crowding to the threshold. + +"You have interviewed Mayor Morrison on the situation, haven't you?" +demanded the Senator, breaking in on their questions. + +"Yes!" + +"To-night--for the time being--for now," returned Corson, dwelling on the +point as emphatically as he had when he spoke before, "Mayor Morrison +seems to be doing very well in all that has been undertaken. I have no +statement to make--absolutely no word to say!" + +He stepped back and allowed the Governor to lead the retreat; His +Excellency collided with two of the more persistent news-gatherers. With +volleyed "No! Nothing!" he marked time for the thudding of his feet. + +Apparently Lana had entered into the spirit of that armed truce which, so +her father's manner informed her, was merely a rearrangement of the +battle-front. She hurried out of the chamber without even a glance in +Morrison's direction. + +Stewart's grim countenance intimidated the reporters; they went away. + +For a long time the mayor paced up and down the Executive Chamber, his +hands clasped behind him. + +Miss Bunker thumbed the leaves of her note-book, putting on an air of +complete absorption in that matter. + +Mac Tavish studied the mayor's face; Morrison was wearing that expression +which indicated a mood strange for him. Mac Tavish had seen it on the +master's face altogether too many times since the Morrison had come from +the mill in the forenoon. It was not the look he wore when matters of +business engrossed him. The old paymaster liked to see Morrison pondering +on mill affairs; it was meditation that always meant solution of +difficulties, and the solution was instantly followed by a laugh and good +cheer. + +But it was plain that Morrison had not solved anything when he turned to +Mac Tavish. + +"Not much like honest, real business--this, eh, Andy?" + +"Naething like, sir!" + +"Doesn't seem to be a polite job, either--politics--if you go in and fight +the other fellow on his own ground." + +"I've e'er hated the sculch and the scalawags!" + +"Totten calls this a political exigency." + +"I'll no name it for mysel' in the hearing o' the lass!" + +"Seems to need a lot of fancy lying when a greenhorn like me starts late +and is obliged to do things in a hurry. Gives business methods an awful +wrench, Andy!" + +"Aye!" The old Scotchman was emphatic. + +"In fact, in a political exigency, according to what I've found out this +evening, the quickest liar wins!" He walked to Miss Bunker's side. "You +might jot that down as sort of summing the thing up and consider the +record closed." + +"Do ye think it's all closed and that ye're weel out of it?" inquired Mac +Tavish, anxiously. + +"I think, Andy," drawled the mayor, a wry smile beginning to twist at the +corners of his mouth, "that I may have the militia and the people and the +politicians well out of it, but considering the mess, as it concerns me, +myself, I'm only beginning to be good and properly in it." + +"Ye hae the record, as jotted by the lass, and I heard ye say naething but +what was to your credit. And the words o' the high judges! Ye're well +backed!" + +"Oh, that reminds me, Andy. That boy who brought the telegrams to the +door! He'll come to the mill in the morning. Pay him ten dollars. I didn't +have the money in my clothes when I hired him." + +"And that reminds me, too, Mr. Morrison!" said Miss Bunker. "Do you want +me to keep the telegrams with the record? You remember you took them when +you went out with the general." + +Morrison reached into his breast pocket for the papers, tore them slowly +across, and stuffed the scraps back into a side-pocket. "I reckon they +won't do the record much good. It's more of the political exigency stuff, +Andy! I wrote 'em myself!" + +His hands had touched his pipe when he had shoved the bits of paper into +his pocket. He took it out and peered into the bowl. There was tobacco +there and he fumbled for a match. + +"Andy, usually I like to have morning come, for there's always business +waiting for me in the mornings and honest daylight helps any matter of +clean business. But I'm not looking ahead to this next sunrise with a +great deal of relish. Those telegrams were clinchers in the case of +Totten, but I don't know what the judges will say. What I said about +Senator Corson to the mob helped a lot--but I don't know what the Senator +is going to say in the morning. And I don't know what Governor North +proposes to say. Or what--" He checked himself and shook his head. "Well, +there's considerable going to be said, at any rate! I'll run over the +thing in my mind right now while I have time and everything is quiet. Mac +Tavish, take Miss Bunker to the car and tell Jock to carry you and her +home and to come back here for me." + +After they had gone he lighted his pipe and sat down in the Governor's big +chair and smoked and pondered. Every little while he thrust his forefinger +and thumb into his vest pocket and ransacked without avail. "I must have +left it in my dress clothes," he muttered. "But no matter! I'm not in the +right frame of mind to enjoy poetry. However, merely in the way of taking +a new clinch on the proposition I do remember this much, 'But I will marry +my own first love!' There's truth in poetry if you go after it hard +enough. And, on second thought, I'd better keep my mind on poetry as +closely as I can! I certainly don't dare to think of politics right now!" + + + + +XX + +IN THE COLD AND CANDID DAYLIGHT + + +For the first time in his life Governor North had his breakfast served to +him in his room at his hotel; he ate alone, chewing savagely and studying +newspapers. He did not welcome this method of breakfasting as a pleasing +indulgence. Rugged Lawrence North was no sybarite; he hated all +assumptions of exclusiveness; he loved to mingle and mix, and his morning +levees in the hotel breakfast-room catered to all his vanity as a public +functionary. He did not own up squarely to himself that he was afraid to +go down and face men and answer questions. He had ordered the hotel +telephone exchange to give him no calls; he had told the desk clerk to +state to all inquirers that the Governor was too busy to be seen; he paid +no attention to raps on his door. His self-exculpation in this unwonted +privacy was that he could not afford to allow himself to be bothered by +questioners until he and Senator Corson could arrange for effectual +team-work by another conference. When he and the Senator parted they +agreed to get together at the Corson mansion the first thing after +breakfast. + +While the Governor ground his food between his teeth he also chewed on the +savage realization that he had nothing sensible to say in public on the +situation, considering his uncompromising declarations of the day before; +there were those declarations thrusting up at him from the newspaper page +like derisive fingers; by the reports in parallel columns he was +represented as saying one thing and doing another! And a bumptious, +blundering, bull-headed Scotchman had put the Governor of a state in that +tongue-tied, skulking position on the proud day of inauguration! + +His Excellency slashed his ham, and stabbed his eggs, making his food +atone vicariously. + +He did not order his car over the hotel telephone. The hotel _attaches_ +were obsequious and would be waiting to escort him in state across the +main office. The politicians would surround the car. And he was perfectly +sure that some of the big men of an amazed State House lobby might step +into that car along with him and seek to know what in the name o' mischief +had happened overnight to change all the sane and conservative plans in +the way of making a legislature safe! + +He bundled himself and his raw pride into his overcoat, turned the fur +collar up around his head, and went down a staircase. He was sneaking and +he knew it and no paltering self-assurance that he was handling a touchy +situation with necessary tact helped his feelings in the least. He stepped +into a taxicab and was glad because the breath of previous passengers that +morning had frosted the windows. That consolation was merely a back-fire +in the rest of the conflagration that raged in him. + +It was a dull morning, somber and cold. + +When he stamped up the broad walk from the gate of the Corson mansion he +beheld the boarded windows of the ballroom, and the spectacle added to his +sense of chill. But his anger was not cooled. + +Senator Corson's secretary was waiting in the hall; he showed the Governor +up to the Senator's study. + +Either because the outdoors was not cheerful that morning or because the +Senator had been too much engrossed in meditation to remember that +daylight would serve him, the curtains of the study were drawn and the +electric lamps were on. + +Corson was walking up and down the room, chewing on one end of a cigar and +making a soggy torch of the other end. He continued to pace while North +pulled off his coat. + +"I have sent word to Morrison to come here," reported the host. + +The mantel clock reported the hour as nine; His Excellency scowled at the +clock's face. "And you got word back, I suppose, that after he has come +out of his mill at ten o'clock and has washed his hands and--" + +"He's at City Hall," snapped Corson, with an acerbity that matched the +Governor's. "I called the mill and was referred to Morrison at City Hall. +He's on his way up here! At any rate, he said he'd start at once." + +"Did he condescend to intimate in what capacity he proposes to land on us +this time?" + +"I'm going to allow you to draw your own conclusions. I've been trying to +draw some of my own from what he said." + +"What did he say?" + +"Apologized because I was put to any trouble in locating him. Said he was +expecting to be called by me and thought he would go to City Hall and +await my summons in order to put himself and the whole situation on a +strictly official basis." The Senator delivered that information sullenly. + +"What kind of a devilish basis does he think he's been operating on?" + +"Look here, North! If you have come up here to fight with me after the row +you have been having down-town this morning I warn you--" + +"I have had no row down-town. I wouldn't see anybody. I wouldn't talk with +anybody. Blast it! Corson, I don't know what to say to anybody!" + +"Well, that's one point, at least, on which you and I can get together +even if we can't agree on anything else. If you have been so cursedly +exclusive as all that, North, perhaps you haven't been in touch with any +of the justices of the supreme court, as I have." + +"You have, eh?" + +"I called Davenport and Madigan on the telephone." + +"What excuse could they give for sending their snap opinions over the wire +on the inquiry of a fool?" + +"They offered no excuse. They couldn't. They knew nothing about any +telegrams till I informed 'em. They received no inquiry. They sent no +replies, naturally." + +"That--that--Did that--" The Governor pawed at his scraggly neck. "He +faked all that stuff?" + +"Absolutely!" + +Comment which could not have been expressed in long speeches and violent +denunciation was put into the pregnant stare exchanged by the two men. + +Then the Senator took another grip on his cigar with bared teeth and began +to march again. + +"Corson, what's going to be done with that blue-blazed understudy of +Ananias?" + +"Depend on the wrath of Heaven, perhaps," said the Senator, sarcastically. +"I haven't had time to look in Holy Writ this morning and ascertain just +what kind of a lie Ananias told. But whatever it was, it was tame beside +what Morrison told that mob about me last night." + +"You've had your fling at me about my exclusiveness! What are you putting +out yourself this morning in the way of statements?" The Governor banged +his fist down on the newspapers which littered the study table. + +"Nothing! Not yet!" + +"I've got to have my self-respect with me when I deliver my inaugural +address this forenoon. The only way I can possess it is by ramming +Morrison into jail." + +"On what ground, may I ask?" + +"Interference with the Chief Executive of this state! Inciting the mob +against the militia! Putting state property in danger. Forgery--contempt +of court! I'll appeal to the judges to act. I'll call in the +attorney-general. You and I were forcibly detained!" + +"Yes, we might allege abduction," was Corson's dry rejoinder. "Our +helplessness in the hands of a usurper would win a lot of public +sympathy." + +"I tell you, we would have the sympathy of the people," asserted the +Governor, too angry to be anything else than literal. + +"And they'd express it by giving us the biggest laugh ever tendered to two +public men in this state, North. We've got to look this thing straight in +the eye. I told Morrison last night that no such preposterous thing was +ever put over in American politics, and he agreed with me. You must agree, +too! That makes us unanimous on one point, and that's something gained, +because it's an essential point. We can't afford to let the public know +just how preposterous the situation was. A man in American public life can +get away with almost any kind of a fix, if it's taken seriously. But the +right sort of a general laugh will snuff him like that!" He snapped his +finger. "We're not dealing with politics and procedure in the case of +Morrison." + +"We're dealing with a fool and his folly!" the Governor shouted. + +It was another of those cases where the expected guest under discussion +becomes an eavesdropper at just the wrong moment; Morrison was not +deliberately an eavesdropper. He had followed the instructed secretary to +the study door, and the Governor had declared himself with a violence that +was heard outside the room. + +The mayor stepped in when the secretary opened the door + +After the secretary had closed the door and departed Morrison stepped +forward. "Governor North, you're perfectly right, and I agree with you +without resenting your remark. I did make quite a fool of myself last +night. Perhaps you are not ready to concede that the ends justify the +means." + +"I do not, sir!" + +"A result built on falsehoods is a pretty poor proposition," declared the +Senator. "I refer especially to those fake telegrams and to your impudent +assertion to the mob that I said this or that!" + +"Yes, that telegram job was a pretty raw one, sir," Morrison admitted. +"But I really didn't lie straight out to those men in the square about +your participation. I let 'em draw an inference from the way I +complimented your fairness and good sense. I was a little hasty last +night--but I didn't have much time to do advance thinking." + +"I'm going to express myself about last night," stated Senator Corson. + +"Will you wait a moment, sir?" Morrison had not removed his overcoat; he +had not even unbuttoned it; he afforded the impression of a man who +intended to transact business and be on his way with the least possible +delay. He glanced at the electric lights and at the shaded windows. "This +seems too much like last night. Won't you allow me? It's a little +indulgence to my state of mind!" + +He hurried across the room and snapped up the shades and pulled apart the +curtains. He reached his hand to the wall-switch and turned off the +lights. + +"This isn't last night--it's this morning--and there's nothing like honest +daylight on a proposition, gentlemen! Nothing like it! Last night things +looked sort of tragic. This morning the same things will look comical +if"--he raised his forefinger--"if the inside of 'em is reported. If the +real story is told, the people in this state will laugh their heads off." +Again the Governor and the Senator put a lot of expression into the look +which they exchanged. "I got that mob to laughing last night and, as I +told General Totten, that settled the civil war. If the people get to +laughing over what happened when Con Rellihan took his orders only from +the mayor of Marion, it will--well, it'll be apt to settle some political +hash." + +"Do you threaten?" demanded North. He was blinking into the matter-of-fact +daylight where Morrison stood, framed in a window. + +"Governor North, take a good look at me. I'm not a pirate chief. I'm +merely a business man up here to do a little dickering. I can't trade on +my political influence, because I haven't any. You have all the politics +on your side. I propose to do the best I can with the little stock in +trade I have brought." He walked to the table and flapped on it his hand, +palm up. "You are two almighty keen and discerning gentlemen. I don't need +to itemize the stock in trade I have laid down here. You see what I've +got!" + +He paused and, his eyes glinting with a suppressed emotion that the +discerning gentlemen understood, he glanced from one to the other of them. + +"You've got a cock-and-bull yarn in which you are shown up as a liar and a +lawbreaker," the Governor declared. "You've got some guess--so about +errors in returns--" + +"Hold on! Hold on, North!" protested Senator Corson. "It's just as +Morrison says--we don't need to itemize his stock in trade. I can estimate +it for myself. Morrison, you say you're ready to dicker. What do you +want?" + +"A legislature that's organized open and above-board, with all claimants +in their seats and having their word to say as to the sort of questions +that will be sent up to the court. Staying in their seats, gentlemen, till +the decisions are handed down! Let the legislature, as a whole, draft the +questions about the status of its membership. I've got my own interest in +this--and I'll be perfectly frank in stating it. I have a report on +water-power to submit. I don't want that report to go to a committee that +has been doctored up by a hand-picked House and Senate." + +"You don't expect that Governor North and myself are going to stand here +and give you guaranties as to proposed legislation, do you?" + +"You are asking me, as an executive, to interfere with the legislative +branch," expostulated His Excellency. + +"Gentlemen, I don't expect to settle the problems of the world here this +morning, or even this water-power question. I'm simply demanding that the +thing be given a fair start on the right track." There was a great deal of +significance in his tone when he added: "I hope there'll be no need of +going into unpleasant details, gentlemen. All three of us know exactly +what is meant." + +Senator Corson was distinctly without enthusiasm; he maintained his air of +chilly dignity. "What legislation is contemplated under that report that +you will submit?" + +"Some of the lawyers say that a general law prohibiting the shipping of +power over wires out of the state must be backed by a change in our +constitution. Until we can secure that change there must be a prohibitive +clause on every water-power charter granted by the legislature--a clause +that restricts all the developed power for consumption in this state." + +"A policy of selfishness, sir." + +"No, Senator Corson, a policy that protects our own development until we +can create a surplus of power. Sell our surplus, perhaps! That's a sound +rule of business. If you'll allow me to volunteer a word or two more as to +plans, I'll say that eventually I hope to see the state pay just +compensation and take back and control the water-power that was given away +by our forefathers. + +"As to power that is still undeveloped, I consider it the heritage of the +people, and I refuse to be a party to putting a mortgage on it. My ideas +may be a little crude just now--I say again that everything can't be +settled and made right in a moment, but I have stated the principle of the +thing and we fellows who believe in it are going ahead on that line. I +realize perfectly well, sir, that this plan discourages the kind of +capital that Mr. Daunt represents, but if there is one thing in this God's +country of ours that should not be put into the hands of monopoly it's the +power in the currents of the rivers that are fed by the lakes owned by the +people. I'm a little warm on the subject, Senator Corson, I'll confess. I +have been stubbing my toes around in pretty awkward shape. But I had to do +the best I could on short notice." + +"You have been very active in the affair," was the Senator's +uncompromising rejoinder. + +Governor North continued to be frankly a skeptic and had been expressing +his emotions by wagging his head and grunting. In the line of his general +disbelief in every declaration and in everybody, he pulled his watch from +his pocket as if to assure himself as to the real time; he had scowled at +the Senator's mantel clock as if he suspected that even the timepiece +might be trying to put something over on him. "I must be moving on toward +the State House." He wore the air of a defendant headed for the court-room +instead of a Governor about to be inaugurated. "I must know where I stand! +Morrison, what's it all about, anyway?" + +The Governor was convincingly sincere in his query. He had the manner of +one who had decided, all of a sudden, to come into the open. There was +something almost wistful in this new candor. Stewart's poise was plainly +jarred. + +"What's it all about?" He blinked with bewilderment. "Why, I have been +telling you, Governor!" + +"Do you think for one minute that I believe all that Righteous Rollo +rant?" + +"I have been stating my principles and--" + +"Hold on! I've had all the statements that I can absorb. What's behind +'em? That's what I want to know. Wait, I tell you! Don't insult my +intelligence any more by telling me it's altruism, high-minded +unselfishness in behalf of the people! I have heard others and myself talk +that line of punk to a finish. Are you going to run for Governor next +election?" + +"Absolutely not!" + +"Are you grooming a man?" + +"No, sir!" + +"Building up a political machine?" + +"Certainly I am not," + +"Going to organize a water-power syndicate of your own after you get +legislation that will give you a clear field against outside capital?" + +"No--no, most positively!" + +"Senator Corson, you claim you know Morrison better than I do. How much is +he lying?" + +"I think he means what he says." + +North picked up his overcoat and plunged his arms into the sleeves. "If I +should think so--if I should place implicit faith in any man who talks +that way--I'd be ashamed of my weakness--and I've got too many things +about myself to be ashamed of, all the way from table manners to morals! +There's one thing that I'm sort of holding on to, and that's the fact that +my intellect seems to be unimpaired in my old age. Morrison, I don't +believe half what you say." + +The mayor of Marion made no reply for some moments. Corson, surveying him, +showed uneasiness. A retort that would fit the provocation was likely to +lead to results that would embarrass the host of the two Executives. + +"Oh, by the way, Governor," said Stewart, quietly, "I just came from City +Hall. I really did not intend to drift so far from strictly official +business when I came up here. I want to assure you that there will be no +expense to the state connected with the police guard at the Capitol. They +are at your service till after the inaugural ceremonies. Do you think you +will need the officers on duty at your residence any longer, Senator +Corson?" + +"No, sir!" + +"I agree with you that everything seems to have quieted down beautifully. +Governor, you have my best wishes for your second term. I'm sorry I'll not +be able to go to the State House to hear your address." + +He went to the Governor and put out his hand, an act which compelled +response in kind. + +"I'm much obliged!" His Excellency was curt and caustic. "After the +vaudeville show of last night there won't be much to-day at the State +House to suit anybody who is fond of excitement." + +Before North, departing, reached the door Senator Corson's secretary +tapped and entered. He gave several telegrams into the hand of his +employer. + +"Pardon me, gentlemen!" apologized the Senator, tearing open an envelope. +"Wait a moment, North. These messages may bear on the situation." + +He read them in silence one after the other, his face betraying nothing of +his thoughts. + +He stacked the sheets on the table. "Evidently several notable gentlemen +in our state rise early, read the newspapers before breakfast, and are +handy to telegraph offices," he remarked, leveling steady gaze at Stewart. +"These telegrams are addressed to me, but by good rights they belong to +you, Mister Mayor, I'm inclined to believe." + +There was irony in the Senator's tone; Morrison offered no reply. + +"They're all of the same tenor, North," explained Senator Corson. "I'm +bracketed with you. You'll probably find some of your own waiting at the +State House for you. And more to come!" + +"Well, what are they--what are they?" + +"Compliments for the sane, safe, and statesmanlike way we handled a crisis +and saved the good name of the state." + +"Now, Morrison," raged the Governor, "you can begin to understand what +kind of a damnable mess you've jammed me into along with Corson, here! +That steer of a policeman will blab, that Scotchman will snarl, and that +loose-mouthed girl will babble!" + +"Governor, I haven't resented anything you have said to me, personally. +You can go ahead and say a lot more to me, and I'll not resent it. But let +me tell you that I can depend on the business loyalty of the folks who +serve me; and if you go to classing my kind of helpers in with the cheap +politicians with whom you have been associating, I shall say something to +you that will break up this friendly party. My folks will not talk! Save +your sarcasm for your agents who have been running around getting you into +a real scrape by telling about those election returns." + +He snapped about face, on his heels, and walked out of the door. + + + + +XXI + +A WOMAN CHOOSES HER MATE + + +The haste displayed by Mayor Morrison in getting away from the study door +suggested that he was glad to escape and was not fishing for any +invitation to return for further parley. + +But when he approached the head of the stairway he moved more slowly. His +demeanor hinted that he would welcome some excuse, outside of politics, to +keep him longer in the Corson mansion. He paused on the stairs and made an +elaborate arrangement of a neck muffler as if he expected to confront +polar temperature outside. He pulled on his gloves, inspected them +critically as if to assure himself that there were no crevices where the +cold could enter. He looked over the banisters. There was nobody in the +reception-hall. He arranged the muffler some more. Step by step, very +slowly, he descended as far as the landing where he had met Lana Corson +joyously the night before. Not expectantly, with visage downcast, he +looked behind him. + +Lana was framed in the library door at the head of the stairs. + +"I was trying to make up my mind to call to you. But you seemed to be in +so much of a hurry! I suppose you have a great deal to attend to this +morning." + +"The principal rush seems to be over. Was it anything--Did you want to +speak to me?" + +"Perhaps it isn't of much importance. It did seem to be, for a moment. But +it's something of a family matter. I think, after all, it will be +imprudent to mention it." + +He waited for her to go on. + +"Probably under the circumstances you'll not be especially interested," +she ventured. + +"The trouble is, I'm afraid I'll show too much interest and seem to be +prying." + +"Will you please step up here where I'll not be obliged to shout at you?" + +He obeyed so promptly that he fairly scrambled up the stairs. + +"You said down there in the hall last evening that my father was angry and +that an angry man says a great deal that he doesn't mean. My father was +very, very angry when he and. I arrived home last night." + +"I reckoned he would be." + +"In his anger he talked to me very freely about you. The question is, +should I believe anything he said?" + +"I--I don't know," he stammered, "You're not going back on your own +statement about an angry man, are you?" + +"I don't think it's fair to accept all his statements." + +"I'm sorry you still hold that opinion. You see I drew some conclusions of +my own from what my father said to me, and those conclusions urge me to +apologize to you for the Corson family. I'm afraid you didn't find my +father in an apologetic mood this morning." + +"Not exactly." + +"Doris tells me that I have a New England conscience. I'm not sure. At any +rate, I'm feeling very uncomfortable about something! It may be because +you're misunderstood by our family. Do I seem forward?" + +"No! Of course you don't. But you're putting me in a terrible position. I +don't know what to say. I don't want any apologies. They'd make me feel +like a fool--more of a fool than I have been." + +"Are you admitting now that you were wrong in the stand you took about the +water-power and--and--well, about everything?" + +He had been listening in distress and perplexity, striving to understand +her, groping for the meaning she was hiding behind her quiet manner. But +her question struck fire from the flint of his resolution. "That power +matter is a principle, and I am not wrong in it. As to the means I used +last night, it was brass and blunder and I'm ashamed of acting that way." + +"There's no need of going into the matter. I received a great deal of +information from my father--when he was angry. And I woke up early this +morning and began to consider the evidence. I was hard at it when you +drove up in your car. I have been waiting for you to come from your talk +with my father and the Governor. I want to say, Stewart, that when I stood +up last night, like a fool, and lectured you about neglecting your +opportunities in life I was considering you only as the boss of St. +Ronan's mill. But my father told me what you really are. I have always +respected him as a very truthful man, even when he is well worked up by +any subject. I must take his word in this matter, though he didn't realize +just how complimentary he was in your case. And if you can spare me a few +moments, I want you to come into the library." + +She walked ahead of him toward the door. + +"I think I'll leave the Corson family right out of it, Stewart. I'm a +loyal daughter of this state. I'm home again and I've waked up. Humor me +in a little conceit, won't you? Let me make believe that I'm the state and +listen to me while I tell you what a big, brave, unselfish--" + +They were inside the door and he put his arm about her and led her toward +the big screen and broke in on her little speech that she was making +tremulously, apprehensively, with a sob in her voice, trying to hide her +deeper emotions under her mock-dramatics. + +"Hush, dear! I don't want to hear any state talk to me! I want to hear +only Lana Corson talk. I didn't understand her last night! Now, bless her +honest, true heart, I do understand her." + +Speech, long repressed, was rushing from his mouth. Then he struggled with +words; his excitement choked him. He looked down at her through his tears. +"The bit poem, lassie! You remember it. The poem you recited, and when I +sent you the big basket o' posies! All the time since yesterday it has +been running in my head. I sat alone in the State House last night and all +I could remember was, 'But I will marry my own first love!' I tried to say +it out like a man, believing that God has meant you for me. But I couldn't +think I'd be forgiven!" + +Lana took his hand between her palms and stopped him at the edge of the +screen. She quoted, meeting his adoring eyes with full understanding: + + "And I think, in the lives of most women and men, + There's a moment when all would go smooth and even--" + +She drew him gently with her when she stepped backward. + +She had heard the Senator's voice in the corridor; he was escorting +Governor North. + +On the panels of the screen were embroidered some particularly grotesque +Japanese countenances. Those pictured personages seemed to be making up +faces at the dignitaries who passed the open door. + +"But I must go to your father, sweetheart," Stewart insisted. "I'd best do +it this morning and have it all over with." + +This declaration as to duty and deference was not made while Senator +Corson was passing the door; nor was it made with anything like the +promptitude the Senator might have expected in a matter which was so +vitally concerned with a father's interests. In fact it was a long, long +time before Stewart had anything to say on that subject. If Senator Corson +had been listening again on the other side of the screen, he, no doubt, +would have been mightily offended by a delay which seemed to make the +father an afterthought in the whole business. + +If he had been eavesdropping he would not have heard much, anyway, of an +informing nature. He would have heard two voices, tenderly low and +incoherent, interrupting eagerly, breaking in on each other to explain and +protest and plead. If Stewart's protracted neglect of the interests of a +father would have availed to rouse resentment, Lana's reply to Stewart's +rueful declaration more surely would have exasperated the Senator; she +emphatically commanded Stewart to say not one word on the subject to her +father. + +"Why, Stewart Morrison, for twenty-four hours you have been taking away my +breath by doing the unexpected! You have been grand. Now are you going to +spoil everything by dropping right back into the conventional, every-day +way of doing things? You shall not! You shall not spoil my new worship of +a hero!" + +"Well, I won't seem much like a hero if I act as though I'm afraid of your +father!" + +She raised her voice in amazed query. "For mercy's sake, haven't you been +proving that you're not afraid of him?" Once more, jubilantly, teasingly, +wrought upon by the revived spirit of the intimacy of the old days, she +assumed a playful pose with him, but this time her sincerity of soul was +behind the situation. "Don't you realize, sir, that the calendar of the +Hon. Jodrey Wadsworth Corson, on this day and date, is crowded with +strictly new business? He is due at the State House very soon. Do you +think he can afford to be bothered with unfinished business?" + +He worshiped her with silence and a smile. + +"Yes, Mister Mayor of Marion, unfinished business--yours and mine! Our +business of the old days. But the honorable Senator is perfectly well +aware that the business aforesaid is on the calendar. He had been +supposing that we had forgotten it. I see a big question in your eyes, +Stewart dear! Well, now that you're a party to the action and interested +in the matter to be presented, I'll say that after Senator Corson had done +his talking to me last evening, or very early this morning, to be more +exact, I called on my family grit of which he's so proud and I did a +little talking to Senator Corson. And he knows that the business is +unfinished--he knows it will be brought duly to his attention--and he'll +be in a better frame of mind after his present petulance has worn off." + +"Petulance!" Morrison was rather skeptical. + +"Exactly! He's just as much of a big child as most men are when another +big child tries to take away a plaything. Oh, he was furious, Stewart! But +let me tell you something for your comfort. He dwelt most savagely on the +fact that you had grabbed in single-handed and beaten a Governor and a +United States Senator at their own game! Wonderful, isn't it--admission +like that? He has always patronized you as a countryman who knew how to +make good cloth and who didn't amount to anything else in the world. Why, +in a few days he'll be admitting that he admires you and respects you!" + +She paused. After a few moments she went on, her tones low and thrilling. +"I've been trying to explain myself to you, Stewart. You know, now, that I +have always loved you. I have told you so in a way that leaves no doubts +in a man such as you are. You have forgiven me for being simply human and +silly before I woke up to understand you. And you don't misunderstand me +any more, do you?" she pleaded, wistfully. "Last night I saw--your big +_self_!" + +"Lana, it was a wonderful night--more wonderful than I realized till now!" + +After a time they became aware of a stir below-stairs and they came out +from behind the screen where the Japanese faces grinned knowingly. + +"Please obey me, Stewart; you must! It's really my trial of you to see if +you're obedient when I know it's for your own good. Go down and wait for +me." She left him in the corridor and ran away. + +He marched down the stairs with as much self-possession as he could +command. + +Below him he saw Senator Corson, Mrs. Stanton, Silas Daunt, and the +banker's son. All were garbed for outdoors and the Senator was inquiring +of Mrs. Stanton why Lana was not ready. + +From the landing down to the hall Stewart found the ordeal an exacting +one. Those below surveyed him with an open astonishment that was more +disconcerting than hostility; he was in a mood to fight for himself and +his own; but to deal in mere polite explanations, after Lana's imperious +command to keep silent on an important matter, was beyond any sagacity he +possessed in that period of abashed wonder what to say or do. + +It was his thought that Miss Corson, in her efforts to avoid an anticlimax +of conventional procedure, was making a rather too severe test of him in +forcing him to endure the unusual. + +He did manage to say, "Good morning!" and smiled at them in a deprecatory +way. + +Coventry Daunt amiably responded as a spokesman for the group; but he had +waited deferentially for his elders to make some response. + +The Senator held a packet of telegrams in his hand. After Stewart had +halted in the hall, putting on the best face he could and evincing a +determination to stick the thing out, Senator Corson walked over and +offered to give the mayor the telegrams. "They're beginning to arrive from +Washington, sir. Better read 'em. They'll afford you a great deal of joy, +I'm sure." + +Stewart shook his head, declining to receive the missives. He wanted to +tell the Senator that more joy right at that moment would overtask the +Morrison capacity. + +"I wish I were younger and more of an opportunist," Corson avowed. "In +these guessing times among the booms, here is gas enough to inflate a +pretty good-sized presidential balloon." He waved the papers. + +The Senator's tone was still rather ironical, but Stewart was seeking for +straws to buoy his new hopes; whether he was so recently away from Lana's +dark eyes that the encouragement in them lingered with him, he was not +sure. He felt, however, that the Senator's eyes did seem a little less +hard than the polished ebony they had resembled. + +An awkward silence ensued. The Senator stood in front of the caller and +queried uncompromisingly with those eyes. + +The caller, having been enjoined from babbling about the business that had +been transacted behind the screen in the library, had no excuse to offer +for hanging around there. "I--I suppose you're going to the State House," +he suggested, after he decided that the weather called for no comments. + +"We are! We are waiting for my daughter," stated Corson, with a severity +which indicated that he was determined, then and there, to rebuke the +cause of her delay. + +"I'm so sorry you have waited!" Lana called to them from the landing, and +came hurrying down, fastening the clasp of her furs. + +She went to Mrs. Stanton, her face expressing apologetic distress. "It's +so comforting, Doris, to know that you and I don't need to bother with all +these guest and hostess niceties. You'll understand--because you're a dear +friend! Father will make the doors of the Capitol fly open for his +party--and you'll be looked after wonderfully." She bestowed her gracious +glances on the others of the Daunt family, "I know you'll all forgive me +if I don't come along." + +She did not allow her amazed father to embarrass the situation by the +outburst that he threatened. She fled past him, patting his arm with a +swift caress. "I'm going with Stewart--over to Jeanie Mac Dougal +Morrison's house. It's really dreadfully important. You know why, father. +I'll tell you all about it later. Come, Stewart! We must hurry!" + +Young Mr. Daunt was near the door. He opened it for her. When Stewart +passed, following the girl closely, the volunteer door-tender qualified as +a good sport. He whispered, "Good luck, old man!" + +When Coventry closed the door he gave his sister a prolonged and pregnant +stare of actual triumph. + +It was only a look, but he put into it more significance than sufficed for +Doris's perspicacity. + +He had confided to his sister, the evening before, his hopeful reliance on +a girl's heart. + +But the Lana Corson who came down the stairs, who confronted them, who had +fearlessly chosen her mate before their hostile eyes, was a woman. + +And Coventry's gaze told his sister boastingly that he had made good in +one respect--he had called the turn in his estimate of a woman. + + THE END + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of All-Wool Morrison, by Holman Day + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALL-WOOL MORRISON *** + +***** This file should be named 7931.txt or 7931.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/3/7931/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, S.R. 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