THE TYRANT 
 
 IN 
 
 WHITE 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY HERMAN 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 HOME PUBLICATION SOCIETY 
 1217 MARKET ST.
 
 COPTEIQHT, 1909, BY 
 
 HENRY HERMAN. 
 
 ENTERED AT STATIONERS' 
 
 All right* reserved.
 
 To ALL PARENTS 
 
 THIS BOOK 
 is EARNESTLY DEDICATED. 
 
 2134565
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 SHIVERING now and then as they crouched behind an 
 outbuilding of the military academy on a raw March day, 
 two boys were sharing a box of cigarettes. If there was 
 the discomfort of being out of doors, it was amply compen- 
 sated for by the two-fold joy of breaking the academy rules 
 about smoking, and of doing it at a place which had been 
 closely watched for such a breach of discipline. 
 
 This flying in the teeth of likely discovery was just a 
 week old, and had been prompted by the older boy, who 
 had offered in argument : 
 
 "All the fellows keep away from this place because they 
 don't want to get caught. So there's going to be a let-up 
 in the watching. It's a place worth trying, Lenny." 
 
 After a week of uninterrupted smoking, the younger boy 
 was ready to admit the shrewdness of this guess. He had 
 already paid tribute to his companion in a letter home 
 when he had written : 
 
 "Don't be surprised that I've taken up with Bob Maur. 
 He's changing quite a lot, and we get along. I really 
 think he has it over the other boys for cleverness. You 
 know that isn't a new notion of mine." 
 6
 
 6 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 The mother to whom this letter was sent read it without 
 delight, although her return letter showed no displeasure 
 at the sudden chumming. "Shrewd" was, to her thinking, 
 a better word for "Bob" Maur than "clever." Others who 
 knew him were inclined to be less kind. When they spoke 
 of him they were in the habit of saying, "Oh, he will get 
 on!" But the tone would be loaded with mistrust. 
 
 A judgment of this sort is, after all, best tested by the 
 opinions of a boy's companions; In Maur's case, although 
 he had many cronies, they exhibited no deep affection for 
 him. Oversized for his seventeen years, overconfident, and 
 of a bullying nature, he might have spent a very lonely 
 existence at the school but for his unusual athletic ability. 
 This transformed his vices into virtues. Qualities which 
 would ordinarily have made him enemies were looked upon 
 as invaluable for contests with other schools. 
 
 In football he invariably left a feeling of rage in his 
 opponents because of foul tactics, without giving the latter 
 the slightest loophole for lodging a complaint with the 
 officials of the game. He was always ready in baseball to 
 spike a good player by sliding to base where there was 
 ample time to reach it on a run. No one could more clev- 
 erly foul a runner at a track meet, and he had been dis- 
 qualified but once in three years of track athletics, despite 
 numerous protests, so well did he cover up his methods. 
 
 The applause which all this won him was as hearty in 
 season as out of season. Many looked upon him as des- 
 tined for a brilliant college career. Even the few upper 
 classmen who had the courage to pronounce him "a dirty 
 player" admitted that he was invaluable to the academy. 
 
 There was one in a class lower than his own, however, 
 who waa quite free in criticism of this style of play the 
 slender, nervous boy now sitting at his side, who never hes-
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 7 
 
 itated to point out the ill-repute which Maur's unsports- 
 manlike tricks brought the school. 
 
 The sudden intimacy of the two, therefore, puzzled their 
 fellows. Their smoking together did not explain it, since 
 it was the younger who did the most of this, with a vim 
 which created unfavorable comment. "If Bob Maur ex- 
 pects Lenny Craigie to fill Eddie Wheeler's shoes as short- 
 stop, he ought to sit down on his cigarettes," was generally 
 remarked when the coming baseball season was under dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 Cigarettes had attracted Leonard (or "Lenny") Craigie 
 but fitfully in the past. If he readily went along when 
 Maur became generous in the matter of inviting him to 
 "come and have a smoke," it was out of pride, lest he 
 should face the sneering question, "Are you afraid?" 
 
 Pride was one of the qualities in which Lenny differed 
 from Maur. It was that which made unfair play impos- 
 sible for him. Not that he looked upon this as a distinc- 
 tion in his own favor to be held up for others' applause, 
 but, as he put it: "I get more fun out of being on the 
 square. That's all." He did not see that it was his pride 
 which made it "fun." 
 
 Craigie himself was not passed by when the student body 
 took stock of its promising "men." In their opinion, he 
 was on the eve of many things, since he had shown great 
 cleverness in his trials for quarter-back during the pre- 
 vious fall, when only his light weight had kept him out of 
 the regular line-up. And as an infielder in baseball, he 
 was nimble, covered much territory, and was an accurate 
 thrower. Only his light hitting of the ball was against 
 him. 
 
 "He ought to make good in a year," was the general ver- 
 dict. "All he needs is a few more inches and pounds."
 
 8 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 He was regarded as impulsive, although not in a self- 
 seeking way. Those in charge of the school liked his re- 
 markably steady brown eyes and he resented this to some 
 degree because favor with the teachers meant disfavor with 
 one's fellows. 
 
 But if ever the latter were inclined to sneer, they took 
 care to suppress it. Sneering was a dangerous pastime in 
 his presence. So extremely sensitive was he that when a 
 sense of injustice mastered him he allowed his temper to 
 leap into the saddle, and then boys much stronger or bigger 
 than he did not care to face him, for he did not know when 
 he was beaten until he had been badly worsted. 
 
 Older minds would have said that this impulsiveness 
 would always keep Lenny young, just as they would have 
 put Maur down as a promising politician. Of late this 
 same impulsiveness had allowed Lenny to overlook his fre- 
 quent "roasting" of Maur's ways, and his frequent accusa- 
 tions that Maur put inferior men on the different teams 
 out of friendship for them. 
 
 As things stood, Lenny himself was likely to make the 
 baseball team for that very reason. Bob Maur talked little 
 else than baseball as they squatted behind the outbuilding 
 day after day, smoking, and waiting for warmer weather 
 to admit of baseball practice. In the week which had gone 
 by Lenny had been less and less able to understand why 
 he was being favored by Maur"s confidences. But on this 
 particular day Maur had not been as free with talk, and 
 the smoothness of their intimacy was in danger of receiving 
 a jolt when Maur unexpectedly remarked : 
 
 "You aren't inhaling! You're doing nothing but stow- 
 ing the smoke away in your cheeks. You've smoked long 
 enough not to look like the girls on the stage who make
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 9 
 
 believe they're cigarette fiends. You're afraid to inhale, 
 aren't you?" 
 
 Craigie's face became muscle-bound, and there was dan- 
 ger of an outburst. The remark, however, seemed to have 
 been thrown off rather carelessly. There was nothing 
 Lenny felt he could do but to take the "dare," and he in- 
 haled the smoke of the cigarette with a long, loud breath. 
 The next moment he was doubled up by a stifling cough 
 which he could not suppress. 
 
 Maur said dryly: "If you don't look out, you'll have the 
 whole school down here." 
 
 At this the choking cough became a sputtering. Lenny 
 soon overcame this and resumed his smoking with dignified 
 aloofness. Maur sought to shake his composure by saying : 
 
 "I wonder what sort of an example the Colonel would 
 make of us if he caught us. He might know about this 
 and might be saving it all up to soak us so much harder. 
 It would be like him. They switch boys in schools in Eng- 
 land for breaking the rules, you know. I'd rather stand 
 that than the line of talk the Colonel hands out. And he 
 smokes himself! Think you could stand a switching?" 
 
 "No!" said Craigie, uneasy at the picture his mind had 
 promptly conjured up. "I might bear it for a bang or 
 two; then I'd have to get the switch away." 
 
 Maur merely commented, "Oh, you think you would!" 
 
 "But I would!" was the reply. Then Craigie com- 
 plained, "They don't always get the right fellow, anyway. 
 One who's tricky and makes the most trouble is just the one 
 to slip out the easiest. Why, take this smoking. You've 
 been at it for a long time " 
 
 "Catch me overdoing it!" interposed Maur. 
 
 "Well, as far as that goes, neither do I. But while 
 you smoked a couple of years without being caught, I no
 
 10 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 sooner got a whiff of a cigarette last year than the Colonel 
 hauled me over the coals. And you never had a word said 
 to you ! If they catch me this time I'm not even going to 
 pretend that I'll quit smoking." 
 
 "You don't intend to keep it up at this rate, do you?" 
 asked Maur, secretly amused, but pretending to be serious. 
 
 "Oh, no! It's a sort of dissipation before we settle 
 down to baseball. It hasn't hurt me so far this year, and 
 I've been smoking two or three a day. I don't see the 
 sense of their kicking about a fellow of sixteen using that 
 number." 
 
 "Why don't you get up a petition about it?" laughed 
 Maur. "The Colonel might give in." 
 
 "Well, he'd be doing an honest thing, for the wonder of 
 it!" Lenny replied with a frown for the laughter. 
 
 Maur grew serious. "You don't seem to catch on why 
 this place is run," he said. "If the fellows' mothers knew 
 about the cigarettes, the old man might as well close up 
 shop and shake his military walk. Take your own mother, 
 for instance." 
 
 "Oh, of course women don't like tobacco!" said Lenny 
 uneasily. "Mother couldn't stand dad smoking. You've 
 seen the fine cigarette cases he brought home from cruises. 
 A fellow might be twenty, and there would be the same 
 kick." 
 
 "They've got their reasons, I guess," Maur argued. 
 "Smoking ain't chewing gum. Who's the champion liar 
 in the school with the yellowest streak in him? Dick 
 Hays ! And yet he was held up for a proper, spunky kid 
 when I turned up here !" 
 
 "What do you expect with four packs a day?" was the 
 retort. 
 
 "Well, what about Joe Cable? He's a moderate fiend,
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 11 
 
 all right ! And he's getting deaf with it. Told me on the 
 quiet that's what a doctor he stole off to see told him." 
 
 "Cable is a fine chap," said Lenny. 
 
 "Oh, he's that, I guess," replied Maur grudgingly. 
 "But deaf people aren't popular. Anyhow, that's two in 
 my own class. And then, Dolliver fired for stealing ! The 
 Colonel was right about him. Cigarettes put him on the 
 toboggan." 
 
 Maur now puffed his cigarette with less of an air of 
 boredom, certain that Craigie would lose his temper. He 
 did ; and there came with a snap : 
 
 "If I wanted to croak like that, I'd throw my cigarette 
 away first !" 
 
 The reply was prompt. "Oh, it never hurt me, and it 
 isn't likely to. I've got a constitution that wouldn't balk 
 at a few cigarettes." And Maur pulled the cape of his 
 military overcoat closer about his head. 
 
 "You mean to say you're not coddling yourself?" 
 Craigie rebelled against the boastful tone. "You needn't 
 worry about the smoking you're doing. If you thought it 
 was hurting you, you'd scare in a minute." 
 
 Maur looked with narrowed eyes at the offender. His 
 answer, however, did not show a trace of ill-feeling. 
 
 "Who'd go in behind the bat if I got out of condition?" 
 he asked. "The boys don't understand the work a good 
 catcher hps got to put in. I've made several pitchers 
 right here in the academy out of bum material. Butter- 
 worth would go to pieces with those rank cigars of his ; but 
 didn't I make him toe the mark last year? He's going 
 to pitch great ball this year, too ! But I couldn't think of 
 letting Dolley take my place, because he'd never steady 
 him. As captain of the team, no matter who doesn't make 
 good, it's up to me to keep straight. If I did nothing but
 
 12 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 read novels like Hale, I'd have a trunkful of cigarettes to 
 keep me company." 
 
 And then, very deliberately, he threw his cigarette down 
 and put his heel on it. Craigie kept on smoking, but 
 paused to say, with a smile : 
 
 "I might take a notion to do that, too, some time. But 
 I'm not going to scare at a few cigarettes. Why, what 
 about Justin Mahan?" There was triumph in his voice. 
 "What did cigarettes ever do to him? And he was the 
 greatest third baseman that ever went to college ! He'd be 
 on top of the heap in professional ball if he wanted to. 
 Even Conny had to give in that all her talk about cigarettes 
 was nonsense when she remembered Justin Mahan's doing 
 five boxes a day." 
 
 At the mention, of the girl's name, Maur's listless air 
 vanished. All that week he had been patiently smoking 
 with Lenny, in the hope that her name would come up. 
 But Lenny, boy though he was, and uncalculating, had 
 managed to keep it out of their daily talk, because he re- 
 sented Maur's fondness for the girl. 
 
 He had never ceased to be sorely vexed that Conny 
 should have forgiven the bullying she had suffered at 
 Maur's hands when she had lived a tomboy life from six 
 to thirteen, among the boys of her neighborhood. It was 
 true that Maur had begun to regard her altogether differ- 
 ently since he had discovered during the previous summer 
 that she had blossomed into a remarkable young woman. 
 But Lenny's pride demanded that Conny should think of 
 old scores in dealing with her old enemy. 
 
 The quick turn Maur now gave the talk was not to 
 Lenny's liking; at the same time it somewhat staggered 
 him.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 13 
 
 "Has Conny said anything to you about me?" Maur 
 asked. 
 
 "Great guns, Bob Maur, aren't you satisfied with what 
 she says about you in your own letters?" cried Lenny. 
 "Why should you think she would stick you into mine?" 
 
 There was a second surprise in store for him. 
 
 "She's quit writing to me," Maur replied. "It was be- 
 cause I roasted her for going with all sorts of fellows. 
 Germantown is getting a lot of Philadelphia's riff-raff. It 
 was all right when she was a kid. But it's about time she 
 grew up." 
 
 Lenny now had an inkling why Maur had taken up with 
 him, and he decided that since it was to make him talk 
 about Conny, he would do so in a way which would not 
 give Maur much joy. 
 
 "She must be mighty sore at your writing that sort of 
 thing," he said, "even though you did get chummy with 
 her up there in Maine last summer. Can't you see the nice 
 thing about her is that she don't put on airs ? That's why 
 she forgave you for all your tricks when we were kids to- 
 gether. And here you are trying to make her miserable 
 because she's a good fellow ! I guess someone needed a call- 
 down !" 
 
 "Cut that, will you !" cried Maur, red with anger. "You 
 come of a good enough family to know that a girl friend of 
 yours should stick to her set. She can't be making friends 
 of everybody ! Do you think her aunt likes it ?" 
 
 "Why not?" asked Lenny. "It's just like Conny to be 
 making friends of everybody. If you only guessed that she 
 had lots of sense, you wouldn't be telling her she was doing 
 the wrong thing." 
 
 "The best place for Conny," growled Maur, "is some 
 girls' school five hundred miles from Germantown. These
 
 14 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 places near home aren't much good except for fond 
 mammas. If I had my way, I'd be miles away from here. 
 Wait till I go to college ! My old man thinks it will be 
 Penn. Not if I know it ! Look at the trouble you must 
 have keeping your mother from coming over here every 
 other day !" 
 
 "Guess again!" said Lenny, flushing. "It isn't like 
 her!" 
 
 "Well, anyhow, that isn't what we started to talk about. 
 If Conny goes up in the air about my wanting to have her 
 act sensibly, I've got nothing more to say!" And Maur 
 got to his feet with a dogged look. 
 
 "Oh, you'll write again differently," said Lenny. 
 
 "Who? Me? Don't you believe it !" cried Maur. 
 
 Turning on his heel, he stalked off, his head very high. 
 But this did not deceive Lenny, who reflected that if Maur 
 was willing to hang about him for a week to get some news 
 of Conny, he must be hard hit indeed. 
 
 "Trying to make a snob of her !" he laughed. 
 
 It was almost time to go to the mess-hall, but he pre- 
 ferred to stay out until the last moment, and to do what 
 he had often seen older men do smoke and muse. The 
 wind had died down; he felt mere comfortable, although 
 the cigarette fumes parched his throat. 
 
 He considered his chances for the baseball team. They 
 appeared promising. His mother would be glad; Conny 
 would be equally so. He saw himself in all sorts of brilliant 
 plays, with the whole school agape. He would not smoke 
 so much; no one would expect him to when he was in 
 training. 
 
 Although he realized that he might have bettered his 
 chances for the team by soothing Maur's feelings about
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 15 
 
 Conny, he rebelled against this manner of currying favor. 
 He felt that Conny had but repaid Maur in his own coin. 
 
 "It's only she who would forgive him for the trouble he 
 made for her/' he reflected. "And I guess she'll do it 
 again," he added sadly. 
 
 As he got up to go across the campus the cheerfulness 
 he had felt suddenly vanished. He discovered that he had 
 also lost his appetite, and he began to look forward to lying 
 down for a nap. 
 
 "That's queer!" he thought, puzzled. "It couldn't be 
 the smoking? Perhaps I have overdone it." 
 
 Then, somewhat ashamed to have been found wanting 
 where other boys of his age appeared to get along without 
 any complaint, he straightened up as he joined the stream 
 of boys pouring out of the "barracks." 
 
 "Lenny," said a pudgy-faced boy beside him while they 
 were entering the mess-hall, "can you give me a lift in my 
 algebra to-night ? I'm in an awful hole." 
 
 "Don't feel like working to-night. I'm out of sorts," 
 was the answer. 
 
 The other mistook his listlessnesa for curtness, and 
 exclaimed : 
 
 "Too thick with Bob Maur to have any use for other 
 fellows, eh? If I couldn't make the baseball team without 
 toadying to Maur, I'd never look at a ball !" 
 
 He was seized by the shoulders and flung against the 
 wall. As Lenny lunged at him, the crowding boys hastened 
 to interfere, and managed to pull Lenny off. 
 
 "Oh, I'll settle this outside !" he stormed. "If you say 
 I'm thick with Maur for baseball reasons, you're lying! 
 I'll make you eat those words !" 
 
 The presence of an instructor quieted him. Before the 
 meal was finished, a note came his way.
 
 16 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Sorry I said it," was written in a large scrawl. "I 
 don't think you care much for Maur. But I'm not saying it 
 because I'm afraid." 
 
 "0. K," Lenny wrote back to close the incident. "Watch 
 me make the ball team with Maur against me I"
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 CONNY was short for Constance Trevor, and that name 
 was very often on many lips on those of boys who idolized 
 her, of mothers who were scornful when their sons went 
 visiting to the Breen house, of their fathers, who always 
 found a smile for the laughter-loving girl, and of the 
 neighborhood people in general. Aristocratic mammas con- 
 stantly had visions of runaway matches, undesirable be- 
 cause Conny's origin was still food for gossip. 
 
 This gossip was not shouted from the house-tops, because, 
 although the mother of Conny had made a runaway match, 
 the Breen name stood high in the community, and there 
 existed a wealthy young aunt to give Conny the benefit of 
 her social position. Conny's own share of the Breen wealth 
 would not be small so rumor had it. But even that could 
 not overcome the shrugs with which the oft-repeated story 
 of her mother's elopement was met. That the exact details 
 of the story were not known mattered little. The story 
 itself, however, was simpler than gossip made it. 
 
 Marie Trevor had come home after a runaway match 
 with an actor, to die, a girl of twenty, in the arms of a stern 
 father, and to leave him the charge of her babe. To one 
 Marie's step-sister Gertrude, a girl of nine when Marie 
 died the babe Constance was from the first a constant 
 source of delight. But when Gertrude was fifteen, her love 
 for six-year old Conny was to know grave responsibility, 
 17
 
 18 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 for the spectre of Death came again to that home, to take 
 Mr. Breen himself. A trusted housekeeper was Breen's 
 only ray of hope as death closed in upon him, leaving the 
 girls of fifteen and six without kin to care for them. 
 
 During his last moments, there came to Breen the part- 
 ing injunction of his dead daughter : 
 
 "Take care of the child, dad. There will be no one but 
 you ! Surely you hold nothing against it ! See what a 
 little, helpless thing it is !" 
 
 He remembered how he had been tempted to cry, "If you 
 had but married a man, not a loose-living actor !" 
 
 And now, in his own last moments, Breen appealed to 
 his sobbing, fifteen-year-old daughter: 
 
 "Have I not done my best by the little one, Gertrude?" 
 
 The answer of the young girl brought him some peace, 
 for he had come to regard her judgment as that of one 
 beyond her years. 
 
 And now she needed that maturity in dividing with a 
 governess the care of bringing up Constance. As time 
 passed, those who watched Gertrude Breen grow into a 
 young woman spoke of her many points of resemblance to 
 her father. Her firmness helped her to deal successfully 
 with the light-hearted child in her charge, who was prone 
 to disregard scoldings, and who joined the boys upon all 
 their excursions. The hard task was to be silent when 
 Constance asked questions about her father. Gertrude 
 steeled herself to that silence by her disgust for the mistake 
 her sister Marie had made. 
 
 That Marie should have married a man out of her own 
 sphere of life was as nothing to the fact that this man had 
 exerted brutal pressure to turn her into an actress. Ger- 
 trude knew little more than this; her father had sought to 
 cover his grief with silence. It was easy to surmise, how-
 
 THE TYBANT IN WHITE 19 
 
 ever, that Marie had finally fled from the strange life into 
 which she had come. Fortunately, when with the birth of 
 her child, her young life flickered and went out, the shadow 
 of Trevor seemed to be less upon the house. And as Ger- 
 trude grew older, she sought to get rid of her curiosity 
 about him. 
 
 In this she was in time aided by Conny's own tactful 
 silence. The child, growing into a beautiful girl, often 
 wondered. But when the question would be on her lips, 
 she would look at her aunt, and realizing the devotion 
 Gertrude had given her, would leave that question unasked. 
 
 But there came a day when the silence of years was 
 threatened. As Conny sat in the library one afternoon 
 after school, pretending to study, but really debating 
 whether to write to Maur, despite the rebuke of which he 
 had spoken to Lenny, she saw a letter brought in to her 
 aunt. When Gertrude opened it, Conny was startled to see 
 her rise from her seat with a cry. 
 
 "What is it, Aunt Gerty?" asked the girl, hurrying over 
 to her. 
 
 "Nothing, dear ; nothing !" was the tremulous but instant 
 reply. Then Gertrude hastened away to the privacy of her 
 bedroom. 
 
 There, very white, she tremblingly reread a letter post- 
 marked "Chicago," and afterwards stood staring at it with 
 terrified eyes. It was from Conny's father ! Eobert Trevor 
 wrote to ask whether there was a child that bore his name ! 
 
 For a time Gertrude was stunned by this voice out of a 
 terrible past a past which she had believed beyond recall. 
 She knew that whatever happened now must destroy the 
 peace she had sought to secure. Either she would have to 
 lie to Trevor, or permit him to meet Conny. She was
 
 20 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 frightened by the situation which had developed in so short 
 a time. 
 
 There were old friends of the family to whom she could 
 turn for advice ; but at that moment her thoughts centered 
 upon one man who was neither old nor could be quite looked 
 upon as a friend. He was the Justin Mahan of Lenny's 
 conversation with Maur, and was one of the many suitors 
 who sought Gertrude's home in the hope that she would 
 say "Yes" to their entreaties. 
 
 When Gertrude hit upon Justin as the one who might 
 help her in her dilemma, she blushingly told herself that it 
 was because she wished advice from a lawyer. But there 
 was no escaping the fact that if she chose Justin in this 
 period of need, he would consider that she was saying the 
 necessary "Yes." Robert Trevor thus promised to play a 
 stranger part in Gertrude Breen's life than anyone could 
 have prophesied. 
 
 Several times through the long afternoon, as Gertrude 
 waited for evening, she shrank back from the step she was 
 about to take. But her turning to Justin, she knew, was 
 no whim. Anything might have brought that about. At 
 the same time, frightened by the suddenness of this big 
 step in her life, she hoped that Justin would not hurry 
 matters, but would give all his attention to what so much 
 concerned Conny. 
 
 Late in the afternoon, the old housekeeper, Mrs. Shep- 
 herd, a stout body with a round, grave face, hurried into 
 the room, having been sent there by Conny, who had waited 
 anxiously for her to return from a shopping trip in 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 "Well, Gertrude?" Mrs. Shepherd asked, looking keenly 
 at the mistress of the house.
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 21 
 
 "Conny's father has written!" was the reply. "I am 
 trying to keep it from her." 
 
 Mrs. Shepherd sat down heavily, with her mouth wide- 
 open. 
 
 "I intend to have Mr. Mahan tell me how far the law 
 can keep Conny out of that man's reach," went on 
 Gertrude. 
 
 The housekeeper slowly recovered from her surprise. 
 
 "He must not get his finger on the money that is to come 
 to her!" she warned. Then she asked, "But isn't there 
 some older man than Mr. Mahan to advise you, Gertrude?" 
 and immediately discovered that the question was a foolish 
 one, as her extended arms to Gertrude attested. 
 
 Gertrude smilingly refused to admit anything, and kept 
 out of reach of those arms for fear she would be forced to 
 make the expected confession. 
 
 "Well, there won't be so many people here now," said the 
 housekeeper, as if that was an important consideration. 
 Since Gertrude did not deny this possibility of the 
 dropping away of the many men who courted her, Mrs. 
 Shepherd was ready to cry heartily, "I'm glad !" And she 
 left the room to better digest all the news, as there was no 
 likelihood of Gertrude saying anything more. 
 
 Left alone, Gertrude was once more overwhelmed by the 
 significance of Robert Trevor's letter. It was not easy to 
 face Conny, and she turned away a little when the latter 
 knocked to ask permission to go to Mrs. Craigie's for 
 dinner. 
 
 "She just telephoned me," the young girl cried. "Sends 
 her love to you, aunty, of course !" 
 
 "Go certainly !" said Gertrude ; and as the door closed, 
 she was ready to take herself to task for not having told 
 Conny everything.
 
 22 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 There was not the slightest resemblance between the girl 
 growing into a young woman, and her young aunt. Ger- 
 trude was tall, dignified, precise, with grave hazel eyes, 
 which at almost all times were sombre. Conny had gray 
 eyes under black lashes, eyes constantly full of laughter, 
 and her growing body would never reach beyond medium 
 height. It was a dancing body, restless, alert, expres- 
 sionful. If she curled up at attention for a moment, it 
 was with the intensity of a wound spring. 
 
 At dinner, Gertrude was not sorry to have her meal out 
 of range of Conny's quizzical eyes. She said but little to 
 Mrs. Shepherd until the meal was finished. Then she told 
 her: 
 
 "I will see no one but Mr. Mahan this evening. Have 
 the maid tell anyone else who may call that I am not at 
 home." 
 
 "But," Mrs. Shepherd saw a difficulty, and wriggled her 
 stout body in her chair, "suppose he happens to ring the 
 bell just when someone else does ?" 
 
 "That will make no difference. He will be admitted, and 
 the others not. I can't invite them in, and then try to get 
 rid of them ! What a task it would be !" 
 
 Nothing more was said. Mrs. Shepherd was a woman of 
 few words. This had allowed Mr. Breen when he was alive 
 to say of her, "Her silence carries great weight," thus slyly 
 referring to her stoutness as well as the still tongue she 
 bore in her head. 
 
 In the present instance, she was the more silent because 
 she did not wish to make the mistake of talking tactlessly 
 at a critical time in Justin Mahan's fortunes, which she 
 favored. Her silence concerning the Trevor letter could be 
 patient for another reason. She knew that when Gertrude 
 would have something important to impart, it would not
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 23 
 
 be kept from her. Mrs. Shepherd reasoned that Gertrude 
 was evidently in great distress. Else why this sudden need 
 of Justin Mahan, who would know how to use his 
 
 Twice the bell rang; and twice Gertrude feli that some 
 disappointed man had taken himself off in a rather puzzled 
 frame of mind. For it was not Gertrude's habit to have 
 them sent away with a brief, "Not at home !" 
 
 The next time there was a ring for admission, it was 
 followed by the maid's appearance in the library, where 
 Gertrude was sitting, with the announcement of Justin 
 Mahan's name. He came in with a quick stride, and put 
 out his hand with the hopeful cry : 
 
 "Am I to have the chance of finding you alone this 
 time?" 
 
 "Yes, you are," replied Gertrude quietly, and colored 
 under his astonished gaze. "I thought of telephoning you 
 to-day when I remembered that you were a lawyer." 
 
 At her invitation, he sought a seat, happy to have become 
 of importance. He was on the alert for her next words. 
 His blue eyes studied her eagerly ; and as he sat in the full 
 light, he showed himself an example of the type chosen by 
 American artists as typical of the American with high 
 cheek bones, a tapering face, and deep-set eyes. 
 
 "I want more than your advice," said Gertrude, still 
 standing up. "I want all the help you can give me." 
 . He was on his feet at once, with a little cry, which shook 
 Gertrude as a leaf is shaken by the wind. 
 
 "No! No!" she said hastily. "You must be fairer to 
 both you and myself in my need, and must not try to seek 
 any advantage." 
 
 Being quite sure that he had an advantage, he could be 
 patient. He hid his great love as well as he could under
 
 24 THE TYKANT IN WHITE ' 
 
 the words, "I beg your pardon, Gertrude. It was a poof 
 way to show you that I might be of help." 
 
 Gertrude seated herself somewhat out of range of the 
 lamp on the table. As she looked at Justin, she knew that 
 the die was cast; that no matter whether he would advise 
 soundly or not, that she was for all time after to come to 
 him for counsel. Yet when she began to speak, she had 
 herself well in hand, and talked with quiet earnestness. 
 
 "It concerns Conny and her father," she said. "I will 
 have to withhold a great deal; you will be able to tell 
 whether I am withholding too much. You may as well 
 know that Mr. Trevor is in Chicago, that he is now an in- 
 valid, and was an actor ; that my step-sister Marie left him 
 because he wished to make an actress of her. We have 
 never heard from him until to-day. He has written to 
 ask whether there is a child that bears his name. Justin, 
 can he force me to give up Conny ?" 
 
 He reflected a moment, putting aside his happiness at 
 being brought so close to her in her affairs. 
 
 "Suppose we ask ourselves another question ?" he replied. 
 "Would you want to have a noise made about this ? since 
 Trevor certainly has it in his power to make a noise." 
 
 "No! No!" Gertrude cried. "There has been too much 
 grief already ! And I would not want Conny to know about 
 him." 
 
 "Do you mean to say she does not know ?" Justin asked 
 in surprise. 
 
 "Nothing. Have I done wrong, Justin? Should I not 
 have kept her in ignorance? You see, I meant it for the 
 best " 
 
 Justin took a turn about the room. He finally said : 
 
 "I doubt whether he could take Conny from you. We
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 25 
 
 could put up the hardest kind of a fight against that. But 
 there are other things to be considered." 
 
 "I know ! I know !" said Gertrude, covering her face with 
 her hands. "I ought at last to break my silence, and tell 
 Conny. But I have never forgiven that man, because Marie 
 must have suffered terribly ! I thought to-day that if 
 I told Conny, I might make it possible for him to come 
 and see her every now and then. I feel that I ought not 
 to stand completely between them any longer." 
 
 She threw back her head to fight off the tears. 
 
 "Do you know/' she whispered, "I have even thought 
 to-day of writing that there was no Conny. See how dread- 
 ful I am !" 
 
 "No. You are only bewildered, because of your great 
 love for Conny," Justin said soothingly. "You feel to- 
 ward her as a mother would. But spare yourself all qualms 
 of conscience. He may simply be in need of money. If 
 he found there was a child, it might prove an easier method 
 of getting money. You will have to pardon me, Gertrude, 
 for speaking so plainly to you." 
 
 "Blackmail?" she said, shrinking back. "You think he 
 is after that?" 
 
 "Perhaps I will be better able to tell if you will show me 
 his letter," said Justin. 
 
 Gertrude pulled open a drawer of the table with trem- 
 bling hands, and drew it out. Justin perused the letter 
 under the hood of the lamp. 
 
 In a cramped hand was written : 
 
 ME. PBESCOTT BBEEN, 
 
 Dear Sir When you wrote me sixteen years ago inform- 
 ing me of the death of the woman who had so unfortunately 
 joined her destiny to mine, there appeared to be no reason
 
 26 THE TYBANT IN WHITE 
 
 for saying anything more, although you gave me your news 
 in a single line. 
 
 However, I have never been able to shake off the feeling 
 that there was something else which should have gone into 
 that letter, something of importance to me. 
 
 As man to man, I ask of you that you tett me whether 
 there is some child which bears my name. 
 
 I am here in Chicago, an invalid, living on the bounty 
 of a friend. Do not believe I have spoken to anyone of the 
 wretchedness I brought your daughter. 
 
 But my purpose was not to write of that. If there is 
 some boy or girl of whom I am the father, may I know of 
 it? Most respectfully, 
 
 ROBERT TREVOR. 
 
 "Confound it!" exclaimed Justin, perplexed. "Why was 
 he so brief? It looks both trustworthy and suspicious." 
 He studied the letter a little longer, and then said, de- 
 cisively, "Conny must be told. She is old enough. Put 
 the whole case to her. If she stands by you, it will 
 strengthen your position in any legal contest." 
 
 "Justin, she would want to have him here right off!" 
 Gertrude cried it once. "The novelty of it would make 
 her thoughtless. You surely know her !" 
 
 "If you gave her all the facts?" Justin asked. 
 
 "But she will regard all that as past, and will only re- 
 member that he is her father. Oh, I would not stand in 
 the way an instant if I were sure that his motives were 
 decent. But how could he have changed so completely since 
 the time when Marie had to flee from him? After all, 
 Conny is mine ! mine ! It is I who have given my life for 
 her, not he ! I was father and mother to her " 
 
 She paused abruptly. The love in Justin's eyes was un- 
 mistakable. Her own eyes sought to keep him within the
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 27 
 
 bounds of the grave problem the day had brought, and 
 forced him to command himself. 
 
 "So I cannot let him come in and get some unfair hold 
 upon her," she went on. "I would never forgive myself 
 if I did." 
 
 "Well, let me go to Chicago to see him," Justin advised. 
 "In the first few minutes with him I would know my man, 
 and we would steer our course accordingly. We can't 
 delay. That letter may be followed by another, and instead 
 of timidly asking questions, he may begin to threaten. 
 What did Marie say about him? Did your father tell 
 you?" 
 
 "She rarely spoke of him, it seems," said Gertrude. 
 "She was like a ghost in the house when she came back, 
 and I think even father was fearful of putting questions. 
 What a strange man this Trevor must have been ! For how 
 can one be brutal to a person one loves ?" 
 
 Promptly Justin declared, "There are all sorts of bru- 
 talities. For instance, you are silent on a question I would 
 give my life to have answered." He put out a pleading 
 hand. "Won't you answer it?" 
 
 "Please, not now, Justin," she begged. "Please, Justin !" 
 Then she said, "I am keeping you from smoking. Don't 
 let me. You will be more comfortable." 
 
 "I do want to smoke badly," he said; "but you are 
 trying to distract my attention. Let us compromise. I 
 promise not to tell you that I love you until the matter 
 relating to Trevor is cleared up. But after that, you will 
 have to listen !" 
 
 "I will listen then," she said. 
 
 To hide his great joy, Justin drew out his cigarette case, 
 and settled himself composedly in a seat for a smoke, al- 
 though he was shaking with excitement.
 
 28 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "You have not told me what you think about my inten- 
 tion of going to Chicago," he said, with a glad light in his 
 eyes. 
 
 "I will tell you. I intend to go myself. That is the 
 only way that will satisfy me!" Gertrude exclaimed. "I 
 saw it the moment you said you would go. I will make 
 terms with him. The terms will depend on the sort of man 
 he is. I will gladly give him money if that is all he wants 
 and then I will tell Conny." 
 
 "What if he is not that sort of a man?" Justin inquired. 
 
 Lowering her head, Gertrude said in a stifled voice, 
 "Then I will have to bring them together. I can't keep 
 up this secret lying everlastingly!" 
 
 "She would still remain here, and she would remember 
 all you had done for her," Justin sought to lessen her pain. 
 "As for Trevor, I will arm you with your legal rights in 
 the case, so that you will be prepared to meet any sort of 
 emergency. You can be trusted to carry the whole thing 
 through in splendid style. If I didn't believe that, I 
 would insist on going myself!" 
 
 He continued to talk in this strain to give her confidence. 
 Then, before he was aware, he was discussing his own af- 
 fairs, thrilled to find her listening intently. 
 
 "The assistant district attorneyship has come a little 
 closer," he said. "It will take that to make me forget the 
 sort of politics I have to give myself to." 
 
 "Are you not disgusted?" Gertrude asked. "Can't you 
 get high position without making this sacrifice ?" 
 
 "By a means still less honorable by spending lots of 
 money. No, that won't do. I'm in the thick of the fight, 
 and I will stay in it. But if there is ever a cleaning up of 
 politics, I know where I will stand! But even for that 
 sort of thing, one must have influence. And influence is
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 29 
 
 bought by knowing all the rungs of the ladder one has to 
 climb. So I must not kick about the appearance of the 
 rungs." 
 
 Their talk went on until they heard Conny in the hall 
 thanking a woman a companion to Mrs. Craigie who 
 had brought her home. Gertrude, going to the door, 
 called: 
 
 "Won't you come in, Mrs. Mulholland?" 
 
 Mrs. Mulholland, whose robust person boasted a pair of 
 rosy cheeks and twinkling eyes, stopped in the doorway. 
 
 "Thanks, Miss Breen, but I must be going," she said. 
 "I was glad to take the walk and to bring Conny back. 
 Isn't she growing up ? No wonder the young fellows in the 
 neighborhood look spruced up all the time. Bless me, she's 
 almost as tall as I am." 
 
 There was no pause in her stream of talk, until Justin 
 got a chance to suggest that he would be the one to take 
 her back to Mrs. Craigie's house. Somewhat confused, she 
 looked helplessly towards Gertrude. It was Conny who 
 put in a word here. 
 
 "If we had to vote for the most gallant man in German- 
 town, wouldn't it be Mr. Mahan?" she cried'. "Well, I 
 
 "Oh, but I can go home alone!" cried Mrs. Mulholland. 
 "Why should a body like me, who's seen forty-five nine 
 months ago, need an escort?" 
 
 As she turned to Gertrude to give some message from 
 Mrs. Craigie, Conny slipped over to Justin, and whispered: 
 
 "You haven't massacred all the other fellows, have you ?" 
 
 "So you believe that's the only thing that would have 
 kept them away from here?" he replied lightly. 
 
 She studied him with her head at an angle, until, in
 
 30 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 justice to Gertrude, lie said, "Your aunt called me in to 
 discuss business." 
 
 "That," she said with marked slowness, "might be a 
 reason for paying her a visit. Are you going to call often 
 on business?" 
 
 "Sh!" he warned, with a glance in Gertrude's direction. 
 
 " Oh, she couldn't hear anything through that cloud of 
 smoke. It ought to be good for the bookworms. Do you 
 know, Lenny Craigie wrote me that he was smoking ! Of 
 course, I'm not to tell his mother although he didn't say 
 that. I bet he don't make the baseball team now." 
 
 "Don't you know a fellow who was a pretty good third 
 baseman who is responsible for this cloud of smoke?" 
 Justin asked with a smile. "If you can keep a secret, he 
 smoked when he was Lenny's age." 
 
 "Well, if you are going to come often on business, I'm 
 going to have an electric fan put in, and you can smoke 
 right in front of that. Or get one of those new-fangled 
 vacuum-cleaners. " 
 
 By this time Mrs. Mulholland was ready to go, and 
 Conny and Gertrude saw her out. When they returned, 
 Conny said: 
 
 "Aunt Gerty, guess what Mrs. Mulholland read from 
 the tea-leaves in my cup this evening." 
 
 Justin, believing that Conny was up to mischief, which 
 would be a comment on his being alone with Gertrude, said 
 hastily : 
 
 "The tea-leaves remarked, very sensibly, that it was un- 
 wise for you to indulge yourself with tea at this time of the 
 day. Which reminds me that it must be rather late." 
 And he rose to his feet. 
 
 "That's all you know about those tea-leaves !" Conny re- 
 plied with a toss of the head. "Those particular ones said
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 31 
 
 that Aunt Gerty would take a long journey of real 
 importance." 
 
 Gertrude started, perceptibly. Justin laughed. 
 
 "It's a long time ahead to forecast where both of you 
 will go this summer," he said. "Most prophecies, anyhow, 
 promise long journeys. Particularly those of teacups. 
 And we must remember that Mrs. Mulholland is a sailor's 
 wife, although sailors nowadays have too much to do with 
 steam-engines and electricity to be superstitious." 
 
 "I know what you are making long speeches like that 
 for," said Conny. 
 
 "Eh?" said Justin blankly. 
 
 "You're trying to make me sleepy," Conny declared. 
 
 Then she laughingly slipped out, and all Justin could 
 say was: 
 
 "She leaves me feeling peculiarly young." 
 
 "Now you see why we must not be hasty about telling 
 her!" cried Gertrude. "If she were more serious, perhaps 
 I would have told her long ago !" 
 
 "It ia true," returned Justin. "At the same time, who 
 can say what change a little responsibility would work 
 in her ?" 
 
 He was ready to go. 
 
 "You have helped me," said Gertrude. 
 
 "I dare not believe my luck," he replied. 
 
 "I will write to Robert Trevor; but, Justin, I will post- 
 pone my visit for two months. Summer will be here by 
 then, and I will have the whole of it away from German- 
 town to plan after I have seen him." 
 
 "You are a wizard," exclaimed Justin. "Perhaps I am 
 only imagining that I have been of help to you." 
 
 She gave him her hand. When he put it to his lips, 
 she said simply :
 
 32 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Do not fail me now by complicating matters." 
 
 So Justin held himself in leash, and suppressed the 
 words he would have spoken. 
 
 As he walked down the street, he was unconscious of 
 anything but the great joy which suffused him. It was 
 intoxicating, and he laughed loudly. 
 
 "What a day this has been !" he said again and again. 
 
 As he stopped at a gas lamp to light another cigarette, 
 he suddenly staggered, and was forced to seize upon the 
 iron post for support. Everything before his eyes became 
 wild confusion, and in the waving mass he felt his footing 
 uncertain. 
 
 "Good God!" he gasped at last, as his vertigo began to 
 lessen. 
 
 The perspiration stood out in beads on his forehead. He 
 waited before he attempted to walk on, but was hurried into 
 going for fear of being regarded as drunk by a chance 
 passerby. Drawing a deep breath, he sought to walk firmly, 
 incidentally throwing away the cigarette he had lighted. 
 
 "Can it be the smoking?" he wondered, conscious of the 
 insomnia which had beset him for several nights past. 
 
 "Nonsense ! Nonsense !" he waved off the thought. "It's 
 to-night's excitement on top of my overwork. There's 
 nothing the matter with me. Just overwork; that's all!" 
 
 At the Breen house, Gertrude had gone up to Conny's 
 bedroom, and had discovered that personage comfortably 
 fixed for a spell of reading. Fearing a rebuke, Conny was 
 prepared to put up a defense for the propped-up novel. 
 None was needed, for Gertrude sat down at the bedside, 
 and put an arm about her. 
 
 Conny snuggled against her, and shut her eyes as in
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 33 
 
 younger days when she would find rest in the circle of her 
 aunt's arms. 
 
 "Listen, dear," began Gertrude; "I have come for a talk. 
 You must be quite serious. Oh, I know I owe you more 
 than these occasional few words, for there must be times 
 when you are really lonely ! After all, I'm only an aunt to 
 you. It's a poor substitute for a mother and a father ! 
 Will you always believe that my love prompted me to do 
 all I could for you ?" 
 
 Conny, amazed, cried in alarm : 
 
 "Oh, Aunt Gerty, are you thinking of getting married?" 
 
 Gertrude said hastily, "No! But what difference in my 
 love for you would that make? You're to stay with me 
 until you are married." 
 
 With a great sigh of contentment, Conny curled in closer 
 to her, and nestled there. To Gertrude this was almost 
 torture, for her conscience kept crying: 
 
 "Why have you never spoken to her about her father? 
 Why are you trusting to chance to right things?" And 
 Gertrude, afraid, murmured, "I have managed stupidly!" 
 
 She looked with sorrow at the dark head against her 
 shoulder, and touched it lightly with her lips. 
 
 Suddenly Conny said, "Do you know, it often seems to 
 me that mother ccmes into this room. Her picture over 
 there is so natural, that I can see her right at my side 
 here by just closing my eyes. I never see father. Oh, I 
 know he wasn't good to her, or you would have talked about 
 him. Yet I think I would have loved both of them." 
 
 Gertrude could find nothing to say. Her emotions al- 
 most stifled her. When the silence threatened to become 
 unendurable, she managed to get out : 
 
 "It is true that I was only a step-sister to your mother, 
 but no one loved her more dearly. If I have been silent
 
 34 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 about certain things, it has been out of great love for you. 
 Will you always remember that, if anything is not clear to 
 you? And if trouble should come, there are always these 
 arms to protect you, dear." 
 
 "What! Worry you with my troubles?" cried Conny. 
 "If I have. any, I'll laugh hard at first, and see what that 
 W ill do " 
 
 "Oh, I must have you more serious!" demanded Ger- 
 trude. 
 
 "And may I not laugh when I want to? Why, it would 
 even do you good to laugh, aunty!" came in the most 
 serious of tones. 
 
 "Yes, yes, be happy, dear!" said Gertrude hastily. 
 "Laugh if you want to always. If you can get happiness 
 for the asking, try to get it." 
 
 "Ugh ! That sounds like Mrs. Mulholland and the tea- 
 cups !" And Conny pretended to shiver, although the next 
 moment she was saying all sorts of endearments to her 
 aunt, down whose cheeks the tears were coursing. 
 
 Conny tried by a stretch of the imagination to connect 
 Justin Mahan with this strange breakdown on Gertrude's 
 part. Then she reversed the order of things by holding her 
 aunt closely, and rocking her, until Gertrude became aware 
 of this turn-about, and released herself. 
 
 "Go to sleep, dear," she said. And then she asked as she 
 stood up, "Would you want to go to Europe for the 
 summer?" 
 
 "Phew!" came from Conny in a shrill whistle to express 
 her extreme delight. 
 
 A little later, Gertrude was penning the following letter : 
 DEAB MR. TREVOR 
 
 Mr. Breen has not beefc with us for some years. So I 
 took the liberty of opening the letter you sent him.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 35 
 
 It Is a very important letter, and I believe that the only 
 way in which I could do it justice is by coming to see you. 
 I will be in Chicago during June. You will receive a 
 letter previous to my arrival. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 GEBTBUDE BBEEN. 
 
 "In two months," Gertrude reflected, "I will be prepared 
 for anything ! If I have to fight for Conny, I will do it 
 with all my strength I" 
 
 She folded the note-paper into an envelope, and put it 
 under lock and key until morning.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE name of Craigie is a deathless one, not only in the 
 American navy, but wherever, the world over, stories of 
 courage are narrated. Its fame had preceded Lenny when 
 he went to the military academy, and during his first weeks 
 there he had often been made to recite to wondering stu- 
 dents the heroic deed of the Captain who was his father. 
 And the same story is retold to-day where naval men 
 congregate. 
 
 It had to do with a certain afternoon in May, when 
 Lenny was but three. The cruiser Niagara was coming up 
 the Atlantic coast with Captain Craigie in command. Sud- 
 denly the crew was startled by a muffled report. At the 
 sound, the Captain flung away the cigarette he waa 
 smoking, and hurried on deck. 
 
 Flames were shooting from a turret. Below this turret 
 lay the magazine!' Fire-quarters had been immediately 
 sounded, bringing the men to the various stations in the 
 twinkling of an eye, but it was an unhappy crew, for the 
 magazine over which the flames were playing could not be 
 reached by the flood-cocks and put under water. It 
 promised to be only a question of time before the cruiser 
 would be strewn over the ocean. 
 
 Captain Craigie's first command was to head the ship for 
 the beach, which lay near by. Meanwhile, the men flung
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 37 
 
 buckets of water through a scuttle in the door of the turret, 
 but to properly reach the flames the door would have to be 
 opened an impossible procedure, for this would create a 
 draft which would only hasten the explosion. 
 
 All watched 'with sinking hearts the futile attempts to 
 check the blaze by means of the fire-buckets. A hose was 
 now ready ; but to be effective, it would have to be directed 
 against the flames from within the turret. For this pur- 
 pose, someone would have to crawl through the eighteen- 
 inch scuttle into the small room. Every moment of delay 
 meant the surer approach of the flames to the magazine, 
 and final destruction. 
 
 The Captain looked about at the men waiting for some 
 word of command from him. The suggestion on his lips, 
 that one of them go through the scuttle into the blazing 
 turret with a hose, was never spoken. He could not force 
 himself to send any man to threatening death, either by 
 request or order. 
 
 Flinging away his cap, he strode over to the door, and 
 with a single effort sent his slim body through the scuttle. 
 This move on the part of the head of the ship was so 
 unexpected that it left the bluejackets and officers too 
 astounded to interfere. Then not only was it too late to 
 head off the Captain, but no one could follow him, lest his 
 only avenue of escape be blocked, and return made 
 impossible. 
 
 A bluejacket had been self-possessed enough to thrust 
 the hose into the aperture through which the Captain had 
 disappeared. The few seconds during which the latter was 
 able to make out anything in the blinding smoke and to 
 seize upon the nozzle, seemed to stretch into long hours for 
 the silent staring men. Then the hose was drawn within; 
 and there, in the midst of the flames, alone with death,
 
 38 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 Captain Craigie began his fight below him the magazine 
 with its tons of explosives, above him a pall of smoke. 
 
 Outside stood trembling men, agonized by the uneven 
 combat, and watching for either a lessening of the flames 
 or the cry, "Open the door!" It seemed impossible that 
 the Captain should win single-handed against the blaze. 
 The men were conscious that any moment might sound 
 their death-knell, for a spark in the magazine would bring 
 the catastrophe. 
 
 At last the flames appeared to lessen. The men held 
 their breath, unable to believe their good fortune. Then 
 came in a muffled voice: 
 
 "Open the door!" 
 
 Was the Captain about to retreat, beaten, unaware that 
 he had been close to success ? Or had he really conquered 
 the flames? The door was pulled open. The figure that 
 staggered out was in a smoking uniform. The face was 
 blackened, the hair singed. The hands were bruised and 
 burned, and bled through the grime with which they were 
 covered. Captain Craigie had fought with his hands as 
 well as with the hose. But behind him the smoke was 
 clearing away. The flames had been beaten down ! 
 
 Eager arms caught the fainting man. who was carried to 
 his cabin, while officers and bluejackets burst into wild 
 cheers, which they took up again and again. Pandemonium 
 reigned. The men yelled, and slapped each other on the 
 back, and forgot rank and dignity. 
 
 But Captain Craigie was not to escape unscathed. Be- 
 fore a year was out, he was forced to secure sick-leave, 
 which he continued until he resigned from the navy. 
 Physicians feared for his heart. He was advised to give 
 up smoking, of which he had made a habit during his 
 early cruises in the Mediterranean. The shock he had
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 39 
 
 undergone in the turret demanded a composed life, a con- 
 dition the Captain's nervousness made impossible, and he 
 fretted away his days in his library, deftly rolling his 
 cigarettes as he had been taught by the Spaniards. 
 
 His task, as he brooded over his idleness, was doubly 
 hard, for he had to wear a smiling countenance to brighten 
 his wife a beautiful, frail woman. The only touch of 
 color in their lives was young Lenny, who promised to in- 
 herit nothing of the physical disability of either side of the 
 house. His innumerable antics robbed many days of their 
 bitterness for the Captain. The latter rested easy when he 
 remembered how his money, well invested, would take care 
 of the boy when he should have to face the world. 
 
 "We won't make a soldier or sailor of him," he would 
 say to his wife. "Years of peace on board of a warship 
 or in the army won't satisfy him. There was never a chap 
 as restless as he at six. No, he's got to have a profession 
 that will keep him on the go all the time." 
 
 There came a day when the Captain did not rise from his 
 bed. He lay very still, with the final sleep of death upon 
 his eyelids, while his wife and boy clung wildly to each 
 other in their loneliness. All the praise which follows the 
 passing of a man who has done a brilliant thing, only sad- 
 dened Mrs. Craigie. Her existence became an untiring 
 devotion to Lenny, who in turn fairly worshiped her. 
 
 The shifting scenes of these years passed quickly 
 through her mind as she waited on a bright May day for 
 the home-coming of Lenny from the academy for his third 
 summer vacation. She had risen from a bed of pain to 
 watch the road up which he would travel in the cab. As 
 she relived the past and dwelt on the future, she was 
 less conscious of her physical distress. It appeared trifling 
 alongside of the griefs which she had borne and the re-
 
 40 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 sponsibilities which the future would bring. She regretted 
 not having gone to the station to meet Lenny. 
 
 Mrs. Mulholland bustled about, smiling and chattering, 
 her talk about the boy's home-coming being broken by a 
 lengthy reference to Gertrude Breen's departure for Chi- 
 cago, of which she had learned from Conny. 
 
 Mr. Mulholland had served under Captain Craigie, 
 and had paid with his life for a brawl in South America. 
 His career as a bluejacket had been a distinguished one; 
 his record of three rescues from drowning, of which Mrs. 
 Mulholland boasted, was no invention on her part. And 
 when Mulholland proved slower than a Spanish stiletto, 
 Captain Craigie had the widow established as the com- 
 panion of his wife. 
 
 Had a stranger come upon Mrs. Craigie as she sat on 
 the porch, he might have addressed her as "Miss." The 
 face was young, and its steady, luminous brown eyes were 
 like those of the boy for whom she was waiting. Her black 
 hair was simply parted in front, and gathered up in a great 
 heap at the back, so heightening the suggestion of youth. 
 
 The house itself was two-storied, and covered much 
 ground too much for the simple tastes of its mistress. 
 Through the trees could be seen the weather-vane of the 
 Breen residence, with its castellated roof. Green leaves, 
 green vines, green trees mingled in the sunlight to flood the 
 avenue and its houses with a riot of color. Only snatches 
 of talk and the heavy tread of Mrs. Mulholland disturbed 
 the silence, the trooper-walk of that lady being one of the 
 unconquerable faults in her struggle for lady-like qualities. 
 
 She suddenly startled Mrs. Craigie by hinting that 
 Lenny might be turning his attention somewhat to girls. 
 
 "The boys weren't much older, not a bit, when they came 
 courting me!" And Mrs. Mulholland started off for a five-
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 41 
 
 minute word-jog, which broke into a trot, then a gallop, 
 and wound up in a helter-skelter of words as she neared 
 the subject of Jack Mulholland. 
 
 Mrs. Craigie listened absently, her ears only for the 
 sounds of the road. She was slightly anxious ; the last few 
 letters from Lenny had been less cheerful in tone than 
 usual, despite the fact that the thought of vacation days 
 had, in the past, always made him wildly happy. He spoke 
 of some sudden increase of work at the school as if it had 
 proved too much for him. She had seriously considered 
 telephoning the authorities at the academy to find out what 
 this extra pressure at the end of the school year meant. 
 Instead, however, she had advised Lenny not to overwork 
 in any scramble for marks. 
 
 Up the road at last came a cab, with a familiar head 
 sticking out of the door. Mrs. Craigie exclaimed: 
 
 "Nance, he is here !" 
 
 Mrs. Mulholland hurried down to meet him. He leaped 
 out, shook hands with the beaming woman, and hurried 
 past her to his mother. The two embraced and clung to 
 each other until Mrs. Craigie suddenly held him off from 
 her in alarm. 
 
 "You have been smoking!" she cried. 
 
 "Dear mother, I must settle with the man if we are ever 
 to get a chance to talk," was the "grown-up" answer that 
 met her. He immediately sought to soften this by saying, 
 "Maybe I'm not glad to be home, mamsy !" 
 
 He paid the cabman, and giving his arm to his mother, 
 helped her into the house. 
 
 "I know you've got something in the dining-room for 
 me !" he cried. "Catch me taking time to wash up ! That 
 ten minutes of train ride didn't blacken me. Honest, it
 
 43 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 didn't! And after the academy rations, a bite with you 
 would really spell home !" 
 
 He fell to with a relish, all the while smiling at his 
 mother, and repeatedly appealing to Mrs. Mulholland to 
 agree that her mistress was more beautiful than ever. Soon 
 he was acclaiming his delight in getting away from school 
 work. 
 
 "If it was only a real military academy, mother !" he said 
 depreciatingly. "I don't suppose one out of the whole 
 bunch is really thinking of going to West Point or An- 
 napolis! And all the drilling and sham battles oh, what 
 shams! don't interest the fellows. I'd like to go some- 
 where else, if you'd let me." 
 
 "But you surely would not want to leave the many 
 friends you have made at the academy !" said his mother. 
 
 "Oh, that wouldn't worry me a minute !" he replied. *'I 
 haven't been awfully thick with many fellows. Maur is the 
 sort they're fond of. If I had the muscle, they'd toady to 
 me, too. Not that I'd like it, mind you!" 
 
 "I didn't suppose you would," said his mother softly. 
 "But I thought you were getting along with Maur." 
 
 "Oh, I tried hard! But I don't like any guesswork 
 when I'm making friends ; and he kept me guessing. Why, 
 I'd have made the baseball team, mother, if he hadn't been 
 captain! Now you've got his measure! And- the fellows 
 sided with him when he chose Sinclair shortstop instead of 
 me. I was done with them then ! I wouldn't mind a bit 
 if I thought Sinclair had played a better game ! Maur 
 would have all sorts of balls batted in my direction, and 
 then jump on me for an occasional error. When I did do 
 well, he said I was erratic as if it was all accidental 1 
 Well, you can guess how it wound up. He got my nerve, 
 and I went to pieces two days running. But before I was
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 43 
 
 ready to quit I saw it was Sinclair for shortstop sure 
 then-r I got into practice the next time, and accepted 
 chances a professional would have side-stepped. The boys 
 clapped. But I was 'erratic,' you know ! So Maur claimed- 
 And I dropped out. But say, mother, maybe I haven't got 
 a bully baseball scheme for this summer !" 
 
 "But what did your baseball have to do with your 
 breaking with all the friends you once had?" asked his 
 mother. 
 
 "Well, I suppose I wasn't pleasant after being kept off 
 the nine. It doesn't make a fellow happy to lose, .you 
 know/' 
 
 "And is it on account of that you want to change schools, 
 Lenny?" 
 
 "N-no, not altogether," he said slowly. "But I'd rather 
 go somewhere where they are more in earnest. I'm tired 
 of the fake front they put on in the academy. There are 
 other fellows there who are sore about the place. I'm not 
 the only one." 
 
 His mother sat as if spellbound under this new language, 
 until a light dawned upon her mind. 
 
 "Have they been very disagreeable there about enforcing 
 the rules against smoking?" she asked. 
 
 Lenny blinked a little as he replied, "I guess a fellow can 
 smoke 'most anywhere if he wants to." 
 
 In the silence which fell upon mother and son, Mrs. Mul- 
 holland broke in by speaking of Conny, but the name fell 
 on deaf ears, thus somewhat shattering Mrs. Mulholland's 
 romantic notions. When the dainties on the table ceased 
 to tempt Lenny, his mother said in a grave manner which 
 made him wonder : 
 
 "Let us go to your father's room." 
 
 He helped her up the stairs to the library where Captain
 
 44 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 Craigie had spent his last days. On the wall between two 
 windows was a portrait of the Captain in uniform. Below 
 it hung a large photograph of the Niagara riding at 
 anchor. A letter from the President of the United States, 
 commending the brave deed performed in the turret, was 
 draped in the country's colors, and hung beside the medal 
 presented by Congress for that act. 
 
 The other walls were covered with rare objects brought 
 from the four corners of the globe. There were several 
 cabinets of curios, and a good library, consisting mainly 
 of sea-literature. Through the windows of the room could 
 be seen the trees in full foliage, which cast a soft light 
 within the room, and made it, despite the odd appearance 
 of foreign objects, a place where one might find peace from 
 the world itself. 
 
 Mrs. Craigie pointed to the seat she wished Lenny to 
 take. It faced the portrait of his father. With her hand 
 on her boy's shoulder, she said: 
 
 "There is something I ought no longer keep quiet about, 
 Lenny. It will not do to postpone it. You know what 
 it is. I must speak about your smoking." 
 
 She pretended not to see his annoyance, and went on, 
 "I thought of nothing else while you sat at the table, my 
 dear boy. No, I'm not going to lecture you ! Don't think 
 that! I'm just going to tell you something of which you 
 have been ignorant." 
 
 Very restless, Lenny was ready to break in and make 
 light of the whole thing; but he was impressed by his 
 mother's grave earnestness. 
 
 "I knew, Lenny, that you would pick up the habit," she 
 said. "Did I look very frightened to-day when I found 
 that you had? Oh, there was reason a reason brought 
 home to me by terrible experience !"
 
 THE TYBANT IN WHITE 45 
 
 Lenny was bewildered by the grief she showed. 
 
 "It was that habit, dear, which helped to kill your 
 father/' she finished tremulously. 
 
 Lenny became pale,, and sat as if stricken. As he slowly 
 caught the full significance of what he had heard, his jaw 
 fell. He was the picture of wretchedness, and his voice was 
 a whisper when he asked: 
 
 "You you mean it, mother?" 
 
 "Yes! I knew all along, but your father would not 
 believe it. He thought the physicians had frightened me 
 without cause." 
 
 Lenny lowered his eyes .before his mother's evident 
 struggle to master her tears. She resumed : 
 
 "When your father stirred the whole country by his 
 deed on the Niagara, he was already far from a strong man. 
 It must have been the years of cigarette smoking. Those 
 few terrible moments in the turret would never have 
 harmed him as much as they did except for that. And on 
 top of it all, he had a weak heart. His heart trouble found 
 an easy victim ! I know you believe me, my boy !" 
 
 "Why, yes, I do," he replied, in hardly audible tones. 
 
 "He was more than a brave man," went on his mother: 
 "he was always a kind and considerate one. His crew 
 loved him. He treated them like a father, and was always 
 fair. He did not play the autocrat like other officers. And 
 that incident on the Niagara was not the first time he 
 showed what big things he could do. When he was at 
 Annapolis, he took on his own shoulders the blame for 
 something for which three other men were responsible; 
 and when they did not have the courage to own up to save 
 him from trouble, he never complained, even though it 
 almost cost him his career in the navy. I would not have 
 known about it hadn't one of those men come clear across
 
 46 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 the country, just before your father died, to ask his 
 forgiveness." 
 
 Some moments of silence intervened. Then Mrs. Craigie 
 concluded : 
 
 "He could do these wonderful things, yet he could not 
 shake off a habit that sapped his very life !" She put out a 
 hand to Lenny, and pleaded, "Surely you, my boy, will not 
 continue that habit !" 
 
 The promise sprang to his lips but he withheld it. 
 When he spoke, nothing could have shown his mother more 
 decidedly how he had aged during the last year than his 
 words : 
 
 "If I said I wouldn't, and then I did smoke, it would 
 be the worst kind of lying, wouldn't it ?" 
 
 She waited, and he went on, "Father smoked a great 
 deal; I won't. I'll most likely have to smoke a little at 
 college. Everybody does. Only it would be a pipe, I 
 guess. Don't make me promise that I'll quit altogether. 
 I would only be getting ready to lie ! I'll stop for a little 
 while; I give you my word for that. I wasn't overdoing 
 it, you know " 
 
 "Ah, but your father believed he was not overdoing it !" 
 cried his mother. 
 
 "Well, but you must remember that he had a pretty 
 dull time of it when he was cruising, and he had to do 
 something!" argued Lenny. "I'll be too busy when I get 
 to studying law. No, you mustn't worry about me, mother ! 
 Of course you're right; but you bet we're going to be 
 sensible !" 
 
 To her, as he sat there arguing, his voice and manner 
 brought his father back vividly. She debated whether to 
 apply pressure, or to rely upon his honesty. Would he 
 be able to control the habit ? As she looked at the intense
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 47 
 
 figure still talking, she was not sure; but she sought to 
 control her fears. 
 
 "Dad," he was saying, "must have smoked when he was 
 a small boy." 
 
 " Oh, but it isn't when one begins a habit !" his mother 
 warned. "It is easy enough for you to believe that you will 
 give it up when you please ! Yet he could not ! You must 
 grow up to be a strong man, Lenny, able, and masterful, 
 sure of yourself, complete in mind and body ! It is because 
 cigarettes may keep you from being any of these things 
 that I am pleading with you. Your father would have 
 been an admiral and he threw the chance away! God 
 knows I am not saying it out of lack of love and loyalty 
 to him ! But he did throw his whole life away ! So I 
 must warn you, Lenny. You must not remain in ignorance 
 of so vital a thing !" 
 
 Lenny was racked by the struggle going on within him. 
 But the more the matter was brought home to him, the less 
 ready he was to promise, because of the honesty of his na- 
 ture. 
 
 He was afraid, far down in himself, that he would not 
 be able to stick by his word. He feared that lying would 
 be followed by more lies. It was partially a confession of 
 the hold the cigarette already had upon him. All that 
 seemed left to him was to hide that fact and to begin a 
 silent fight against the habit. To promise to cease smoking 
 altogether appeared to him less sensible than to break off 
 little by little. 
 
 He started as his mother laid her hand on his, and was 
 miserable under her look of complete trust. He threw him- 
 eelf into her arms, crying : 
 
 "Oh, I'll try not to let it get a hold on me! I'll try."
 
 48 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 His mother stroked his hair, and said, "I know you 
 will !" 
 
 Immediately after, as if it was the most natural thing 
 in the world to say on the heels of this, she suggested, "You 
 must want to see your room. There have been some 
 changes there. I think you will approve of them." 
 
 Stifling under the trying situation which had developed 
 BO soon after his home-coming, Lenny was thankful that 
 his mother allowed him to go to his room alone. She was 
 now equally glad to be alone. Her day of thrilling ex- 
 pectancy had revealed an abyss. It frightened her, although 
 she kept telling herself that there should be no cause for 
 alarm when dealing with a conscience as strong as Lenny's. 
 
 She saw only one sensible course open to her that of 
 having him as much a friend as a son. If she showed her 
 trust, if she made a practice of facing him with confidence, 
 she might call forth in him a full sense of responsibility 
 which would serve him for all times. 
 
 "He must feel that he can come to me always without 
 any concealment," she said. "I must have him respect me, 
 and to do that, I must show that I respect him. I must 
 prove myself above suspicion !" 
 
 She would have been satisfied had she seen Lenny's box 
 of cigarettes sailing out of the window as soon as he reached 
 his room. He hardly looked about him. Instead he sat 
 down, with his feet on the window-sill, and pondered what 
 he had just heard. An hour passed before he attempted 
 to find an argument in favor of his weeks of smoking. 
 
 "Dad must have started earlier than I to let it get such 
 a hold on him," he said. "And then, with the quantities 
 of cigarettes he used, no wonder it affected his heart ! No, 
 dad can't be my example dear dad! It all depends on 
 the man. Doesn't Justin Mahan smoke? I wouldn't
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 49 
 
 overdo it. And if it ever hurts me, I'll quit. Can't blame 
 mother, though! Phew, what a lot she's been, through! 
 But there are plenty of worse habits boys pick up that I 
 haven't got. Isn't mother fine ? No one could have been 
 more careful about not hurting a fellow's feelings !" 
 
 And so his thoughts rambled on, slowly getting around 
 to his father's exploit on the Niagara. He pictured the 
 deed in a new light with his father struggling at the same 
 time against physical weakness. It did not tend to make 
 his father less the hero. Instead Lenny seemed to come 
 closer to him. 
 
 A naval career never loomed more interesting, but Lenny 
 put away the idea. He had a secret ambition which made 
 this out of the question; it was to be Justin Mahan's law 
 partner at some future time. He had kept his eye on 
 that man's doings from the day Conny began reporting his 
 visits to her aunt. It was Justin's cordiality which had 
 won him, coupled with the fact that the lawyer had rowed 
 a good oar at college, and had done still better on the base- 
 ball field. Justin did not have a stronger sympathizer than 
 Lenny in his efforts to win Gertrude. 
 
 Having once seen him speak at a public meeting, Lenny 
 ever afterwards found a fascination in the thought of a 
 political career, with its appeal to large audiences. He 
 often, in imagination, faced these crowds. 
 
 As he sat and thought of these things, Lenny's mind 
 leaped enthusiastically to the baseball project of which he 
 had spoken to his mother, and on which he had spent many 
 spare moments since its conception. It had come to him 
 during the bitterness of his defeat for a place on the acad- 
 emy team, and was first planned to prove that he could out- 
 general Maur when it came to baseball. The scheme had, 
 however, gotten to be of such importance that Lenny no
 
 50 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 longer thought of it in the light of proving anything, but 
 sought to make it effective for its own sake. 
 
 He intended to organize a number of baseball clubs in 
 the poorer section of Germantown, as well as to secure 
 grounds for their daily practice and weekly matches, and to 
 pick from these clubs several teams to contest the best ama- 
 teur ones in Philadelphia proper. He intended to see to it 
 that these teams were supplied with balls, bats and clubs, 
 and that they were rewarded with prizes for good playing. 
 He believed that the encouragement of this sport would 
 be a help to the boys of the section, who might eventually 
 contribute to the ranks of the professional baseball in 
 America. 
 
 "And I'll do it if I have to stay here the whole of sum- 
 mer !" he declared.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 GEBTRUDE'S stay in Chicago had not been a brief one, yet 
 during the entire time Justin received no word from her 
 about the result of her mission. He awaited her return 
 with more than an attorney's interest in a client. She had 
 been silent when, on the eve of her going, he had pleaded 
 that she should come back with her mind made up about 
 him. But when he had put her on the train, she had said : 
 
 "Before I can begin to consider my own future, I must 
 be free of all worry." 
 
 These words had shown him how much depended on her 
 interview with Trevor; and so her silence left him dis- 
 quieted. Why had she not written? Had matters come 
 to a bad pass? Then surely she needed his services more 
 than ever ! 
 
 Relief came with a telegram giving the time of her re- 
 turn train; and Justin met the "Chicago Limited" at 
 North Philadelphia. When he approached Gertrude on her 
 descent from a Pullman car he found her weary, unhappy 
 and at first but little inclined to talk. He took a cab and 
 drove to a cafe in the heart of the city, where they could 
 be alone. 
 
 When the waiter had departed with their order, Justin 
 asked : 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 She leaned back in her seat and said, "I don't know 
 61
 
 52 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 whether I have acted like a fool ! Yet there did not seem 
 to be any other way out of it. After my first interview 
 with him, I believed myself frightened, so I remained in 
 my hotel for two days before venturing to see him again." 
 
 As she paused, Justin said : 
 
 "Suppose you begin at the beginning. When you go 
 over the course you have pursued, you will be able to see 
 how you have managed." 
 
 She told him, "I went to the house, and found him in- 
 stalled in a small room. He was a nervous wreck n6t a 
 very proud one. He must be fifty, although he easily looks 
 ten years older. I can't understand how he ever fas- 
 cinated Marie ! " 
 
 "Fifteen years will work many changes," said Justin. 
 
 "Well, he looked at me in a sad way. Then he mur- 
 mured, 'So you are Marie's sister ! Marie's sister !' And 
 then, suddenly, he was crying just like a child. I told 
 him of Conny. It popped out before I knew it ! At once 
 he was changed. It made him so eager, that I grew fright- 
 ened, and I said I would have to go that I would be back 
 in a day or two, after I had arranged certain things. I 
 did not lie. It was my thoughts that I 'had to arrange. 
 They were in such a whirl !" 
 
 Justin was tempted to lay his hand on hers. But the 
 waiter brought their order at this moment. When Ger- 
 trude resumed the story of her meeting, she was calmer. 
 
 "I went there two days afterwards. He told me about 
 his harshness to Marie. He did not spare himself. Then 
 he asked me about Conny. After that he sat like a man 
 in a dream. At last he asked, 'Can you come to-morrow? 
 I am not strong, and this has shaken me rather badly.' 
 
 "So I went the next day. I guessed that there wasn't 
 much money in that house. Still, Justin, I could not offer
 
 THE TYKANT IN" WHITE 53 
 
 any to the husband of Marie. He did most of the talking, 
 because I was rather helpless. I had come to offer resist- 
 ance, to meet him harshly if necessary but there was no 
 one to fight ! I got to wondering whether he might not 
 be allowed to get a glimpse of Conny in some way. He 
 well, he said that the thought of seeing her unnerved him ; 
 that he was satisfied to know that she existed. He asked 
 for a photograph of her asked me to send it. And with 
 that was ready to bid me good-by ! I can still see him 
 standing with outstretched hand." 
 
 Justin stared at the dreamy eyes before him, surprised 
 at this strange ending to the difficult journey Gertrude had 
 undertaken. 
 
 "Well, things have certainly not gone against us!" he 
 said. 
 
 "Ah, Justin, but he is coming here!" cried Gertrude. 
 
 Mahan was dumbfounded at this sudden turn. But in 
 a moment all traces of the effect it had upon him were 
 gone. He asked, as if her course had been the most nat- 
 ural in the world : 
 
 "How did you arrange it?" 
 
 "He is to come here under an assumed name as a 
 brother of Conny's father." 
 
 "How much of that suggestion was yours?" asked Jus- 
 tin. 
 
 "Most of it, I think. I got to the point where I wanted 
 him to come to see her under some name not his own. 
 He was afraid of the idea. I could see that, Justin ! 'As 
 a relative then/ he finally conceded. It must sound to 
 you as if I had been stupid. When you see the man, you 
 will understand everything !" 
 
 Justin weighed his words before he spoke ; then he said :
 
 54 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Was there anything in his manner to remind you of 
 his career as an actor ?" 
 
 "Well, his voice would get dramatic when he was moved. 
 But, oh, Justin, I am sure that I did not allow him to de- 
 ceive me !" was the way she fought the suspicions he had 
 aroused in her mind. 
 
 "You are sure that you were not watching a fine piece 
 of acting?" he asked impressively to force her to look back. 
 
 "No! No! He could not have gone about it in that 
 way! I showed him from the beginning that I could be 
 firm although I could be just at the same time. Every- 
 thing will work out all right, Justin. I am confident it 
 will !" 
 
 "If it does not, it will not be because I will fail you!" 
 he reassured her. "The first false move he makes here is 
 sure to alienate Conny's sympathy. As for the rest well, 
 we must expect ihat serious conditions will bring serious 
 remedies. When is he to come ?" 
 
 "Next week. He will be near Conny! Justin, do you 
 realize that? Where father and Marie never dreamed he 
 would come !" she said in a voice of awe. Then she wailed, 
 "But even that will not stop the lies! To be everlastingly 
 deceiving Conny about something so important to her!" 
 
 "Never mind that just now," said Justin. "We must 
 plan how to keep Trevor from playing too important a part 
 when he does come. You must arm yourself with a thor- 
 ough knowledge of how he treated Marie. I will consider 
 the legal moves we might make in case of trouble. If he 
 is playing some game, I wouldn't lay odds on his success ! 
 You had better inform Conny to-day of the coming of her 
 'uncle.' That will explain your visit to Chicago." 
 
 Summing up courage to tell her lie, Gertrude faced 
 Conny's welcome home with a hasty :
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 55 
 
 "I had such a time, dear! And I've asked an uncle of 
 yours, on your father's side, to come and, stay with us for 
 a while." 
 
 "Goody!" came with a shout. Then Conny fell silent, 
 as she guessed that further talk would only bring up her 
 father's name. She tingled with happiness, however, to 
 have someone to whom she might speak of him. 
 
 Of all the boys who called at the house only Lenny was 
 regaled with the news of the promised visit of "uncle." 
 He displayed no enthusiasm, however, because the visitor 
 was certain to use up a considerable amount of Conny'a 
 time. 
 
 "You don't mind my smoking, do you?" he asked 
 gravely, as he produced a box of cigarettes. 
 
 "Oh, I shouldn't think I'd be the one to mind !" was the 
 quick reply. 
 
 Lenny lighted a cigarette, and tilting his chair against 
 the wall of the porch, said, "It's my third since I came 
 home. That's five days, you know. Would you call me 
 a cigarette fiend, miss ?" 
 
 "Oh, I'd call you an amateur," said Conny. "Let it go 
 at that !" 
 
 "I'll stay one," said Lenny; and added, "Seeing that I'll 
 be in college in about two years, I thought I'd smoke some 
 of the green out of me." 
 
 "Oh, there'll be green over you green turf if you try 
 to get all the green out of you that way !" was the rejoinder. 
 
 Lenny frowned. How could the girl talking so care- 
 lessly know the terrible struggle the three cigarettes had 
 cost him? 
 
 "You're awfully solemn these days," she said. 
 
 "I've got my mind full of a scheme," was the reply. 
 Then he hastened to square himself, seeing how crestfallen.
 
 56 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 she was: "I can't tell it to you until I've seen Justin 
 Mahan." 
 
 Bob Maur and several other boys hove into sight. In 
 the rattle of talk which followed, Lenny sat silent, because 
 the boys were boasting of their athletic successes during 
 the past year. When one asked him where he intended, 
 spending the summer, he said: 
 
 "Here in Germantown, I think." 
 
 At once the talk ceased, and everyone, including Conny, 
 eyed him in surprise, fully aware that he was not remain- 
 ing at home for want of money. At the same time they 
 could guess if he were forced into staying, he would be the 
 last one to speak of it so readily. 
 
 "Is it that scheme?" asked Conny; and then she could 
 have bitten her tongue off for speaking of it before the 
 others. 
 
 "Planning an opposition military academy to the Colo- 
 nel's?" Maur got out easily, as if he and Lenny were not 
 at dagger's points. 
 
 "Oh, I wouldn't think of it unless you came and ran all 
 the teams, and your friends turned up to fill all the nice 
 places on them !" was the reply. 
 
 Everyone present grew tense. The two principals were 
 equally so. There was a retort on Maur's tongue; but he 
 preferred to have Conny find him courteous just when she 
 would expect him the' very opposite. 
 
 She sprang into the breach by crowing lustily, and then 
 proclaiming : 
 
 "If anybody dares to make a sound like that, he goes 
 home quicker than a wink!" 
 
 It was a threat which enforced peace. She followed it 
 up by turning the talk into calmer channels. 
 
 Later, when Lenny took himself off, he could not regret
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 57 
 
 his words, try as he might. Maur's treatment of him dur- 
 ing the academy's baseball season still rankled. Lenny 
 was only sorry that he might have created the impression 
 of having taken Conny into his confidence about this. 
 
 He waylaid Justin Mahan at the corner where the latter 
 usually appeared on his way home from the office. 
 
 "Hello, Lenny!" came with a smile, and the thrust of 
 an arm for a hand-shake. "Going my way?" 
 
 "Long enough to get something off my mind," was the 
 reply. 
 
 Then Lenny plunged into an account of his baseball 
 project, to which Justin listened with mounting surprise. 
 Finally the older man stopped, and slapped Lenny on the 
 back, crying: 
 
 "By George, but you're a schemer! It looks all right, 
 too. Don't worry if a whole lot of people don't contribute 
 money. Come to me. It oughtn't to require a large sum, 
 anyhow. Do you mean to say you will stay on all summer 
 if necessary?" 
 
 "If nothing else will do! I think the boys will stand 
 management, don't you?" 
 
 "You're democratic enough to get along with them," 
 said Justin. 
 
 Then he was struck with a thought. Would not Lenny's 
 project be ah excellent way of appealing to the voters of 
 that district through their children? Why should not he 
 co-operate with the boy ? 
 
 The next moment he was saying to himself, "Not a bit 
 of it ! I'll not play at that sort of politics !" But he sug- 
 gested to Lenny, "If you ever run for a political office at 
 this end of Philadelphia, what you intend to do this sum- 
 mer might prove of help to you. Boys grow up and make 
 voters, you know."
 
 58 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 He was amused when he noted how 'thoughtful the words 
 left Lenny. But the latter, too, was soon repudiating the 
 idea that he was to seek any personal gain out of the ven- 
 ture. 
 
 "The boys need it, and that's all I'm doing it for," he 
 insisted stoutly. "It's for the good of the place." 
 
 "Ah, that's what all politicians claim!" Justin replied 
 with a twinkle in his eye. Then he ceased to poke fun 
 at Lenny. "Stick by your plan, old man, no matter what 
 opposition you find. If the traveling gets too rough, why, 
 call me in ! I'll try not to inject politics into it," he 
 wound up with a smile. 
 
 Lenny caught his mood and laughed. When they sep- 
 arated, he walked home as if on air. As yet he had not 
 revealed the project to his mother, in his desire to be surer 
 of the details. That evening, however, he was ready to 
 spring the plan. 
 
 He had a host of compliments for his mother when they 
 sat down to dinner. She was undeniably beautiful in her 
 dress of black, with her brown eyes quite dark in contrast 
 to her pallor, and her slender form youthful. 
 
 "And you are looking stronger, too," he insisted. 
 
 "I will surely believe it, now that you are going to tell it 
 to me for a whole summer," she said in return. "This eve- 
 ning we are going to plan for our long holiday together." 
 
 "Already?" he cried. 
 
 "Isn't it time?" she replied. "Why, don't you want to 
 go away, Lenny?" 
 
 "We'll, let's see if you think I will be able to !" he said. 
 
 So he unfolded his scheme, with more enthusiasm than 
 he had displayed before Justin. His mother sat very still 
 through it all. When he wound up with an eager, "Well, 
 mamsy?" she told him,
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 59 
 
 "You make me very happy, dear." 
 
 "But you go ahead and arrange for your summer!" he 
 cried. "Unless you want to stay on a little, and help." 
 
 "As your secretary?" she suggested. 
 
 "Bully!" he cried. "There'll be lots of letters to write 
 to people who own vacant lots." He added with a laugh, 
 "I guess you'll have to be something of a treasurer, too." 
 
 "Even if it should cost twice what you believe it will 
 cost !" she declared. 
 
 He came around to her, and shook hands solemnly. 
 
 "You can accept your own resignation as secretary any 
 time you want to quit to go away for the summer," he 
 hastened to say, as he returned to his seat. "I don't in- 
 tend to interfere any too much with your getting out of 
 town. In fact, you're not to stay very long. It won't 
 take me much time, though, to get the clubs off the paper 
 and on real lots." 
 
 After the meal he won against the temptation to smoke, 
 helped by his excitement, and settled himself in the library 
 for a series of calculations dealing with the cost of base- 
 ball outfits. He was soon drafting, instead, a letter to the 
 owners of vacant lots which he saw to be of prior impor- 
 tance. 
 
 Difficulty with a phrase sent him downstairs to his 
 mother. He walked into the great parlor and stopped 
 abruptly. In conversation with her was a man for whom 
 he had always entertained an aversion one who, rumor 
 had it, would have won Mrs. Craigie had not the Captain 
 come on the scene. 
 
 Colonel Richard Henderson was a florid, handsome per- 
 son, cordial, frank, and extremely wealthy; and he had 
 never denied that he was still in love with the widow of
 
 60 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 the brave naval officer. He got to his feet with an ex- 
 clamation of pleasure when his eyes fell on Lenny. 
 
 "How he has grown !" he cried, shaking hands with him. 
 And he remarked, "He is getting to resemble you more 
 every day!" 
 
 "That's new to me," said Lenny. "I think I look very 
 much like father." 
 
 It was intended to be full of meaning; but finding that 
 his mother, instead of appearing guilty, only displayed 
 greater affection toward him, Lenny felt ashamed of his 
 trick. 
 
 "There was never a braver man !" said the Colonel. "It 
 was a privilege to know him. And none knew him better 
 than I !" 
 
 He went on in this vein, piling up incidents to show the 
 fineness of the C.-sptain. Almost reconciled to the visitor, 
 Lenny was about to sit down to help entertain him, when 
 the Colonel suggested: 
 
 "Come over to my place to-morrow, and we will have 
 Tim and Prince out for a trot." 
 
 Like a flash, Lenny's distrust of the Colonel's motives 
 in visiting them was again uppermost. 
 
 "Thank you," he said; "but I have laid out some work, 
 which is going to occupy all my time to-morrow. Thank 
 you, nevertheless." 
 
 His hauteur was somewhat forced, and left both his 
 mother and the Colonel rather nonplussed. 
 
 "Oh, don't let me interfere with your plans!" said the 
 latter, with the suspicion of a frown. 
 
 Mrs. Craigie told the Colonel, "You are to learn all 
 about them speedily enough. Leonard intends that every- 
 body shall in proper time." 
 
 Lenny refused tc warm out of his chilly manner, and,
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 61 
 
 excusing himself, slipped away. He made a bee-line for 
 the dining-room, where Mrs. Mulholland was dozing over 
 a magazine. 
 
 "How long has this been going on?" he said abruptly. 
 He had not noticed that she was half-asleep. 
 
 Mrs. Mulholland gave a start, and looked up at the pale 
 figure standing over her. 
 
 "W-what did you say?" she asked, trying to look wide- 
 awake. 
 
 "How long that" motioning toward the parlor "has 
 been going on," repeated Lenny. 
 
 "Goodness me, child, what are you talking about?" 
 gasped Mrs. Mulholland. 
 
 "I wanted to know how often the Colonel has been com- 
 ing here," was the reply. 
 
 "Oh !" And then Mrs. Mulholland, laying her magazine 
 face downwards, regarded Lenny curiously. She asked, 
 "Weren't you allowed to stay there?" 
 
 "What has that to do with it?" he demanded. "Don't 
 answer questions by asking other ones !" 
 
 "Yes, I will! Is there anything your mother would 
 keep from you that you ought to know?" 
 
 "Oh, isn't there?" snapped Lenny. "Then will you tell 
 me why that man looks as if as if " 
 
 "As if fiddlesticks!" Mrs. Mulholland broke in. ."Old 
 friends like your mother and Colonel Henderson don't have 
 to apologize to you for talking to each other, young man!" 
 
 "That doesn't tell me how often he has been coming here 
 lately !" Lenny insisted. 
 
 "Well, all / can say, Leonard Craigie, is that he don't 
 come half often enough!" said Mrs. Mulholland. "Your 
 mother should have more visitors,"
 
 68 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Well, she's got a big memory to keep her from being 
 lonely!" he retorted. "Even he was praising father!" 
 
 "Was the Colonel praising him?" asked Mrs. Mulhol- 
 land. It proved a slip on her part, for Lenny at once 
 cried : 
 
 "Surprised, are you? Then you have reasons for being 
 so ! Oh, I'll get the correct facts from her ! I'm no boy 
 now !" 
 
 He was too wroth to listen to what he believed to be 
 evasions, and got to his room in a perfect fury. 
 
 "Dad dad loved her!" he cried, burying his head in 
 his arms. Then he cried in a stifled voice, "Anybody 
 could see that she was interested in the Colonel. Oh, his 
 praise of dad wasn't honest ! Not a bit ! He was trying 
 to make a good impression, and to stand in with me! If 
 mother didn't see through that game, it was because she 
 didn't want to !" 
 
 His suspicions continued to fill his mind until he was 
 almost frantic. 
 
 "She'll always treat me like a kid," he complained bit- 
 terly. "Else why did she jump on my smoking, when I 
 wasn't doing enough of it worth talking about? Just to 
 keep me in my place ! a kid's place !" 
 
 When his mother passed the library on retiring, she was 
 surprised to see Lenny huddled up in a chair sound asleep. 
 As she advanced toward him, something caught her eye 
 which made her pause abruptly in great amazement. Over 
 Lenny's head she could see her husband's portrait turned 
 toward the wall ! She gazed at it blankly. Some seconds 
 passed, ana the full significance of Lenny's act burst upon 
 her. He had interpreted the Colonel's visit to mean that 
 the latter was certain to become her husband.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 63 
 
 In that moment she was not sure that in having allowed 
 the Colonel to continue his visits she had not given Lenny 
 just cause for grief. Nor could she shut her eyes to the 
 reasons for the Colonel's visits. 
 
 "But," she insisted as she stood looking at the sleeping 
 boy, "if I have tolerated his coming here it was because I 
 believed he would prove a friend to Lenny the sort Lenny 
 will need in the future. No, I would never have agreed 
 to marry him." 
 
 She went over to the portrait and turned it about again. 
 Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at the thoughtful 
 figure of the hero. Then she came back to Lenny and 
 laid her hands on his shoulders. As she spoke his name 
 he awoke with a start. 
 
 It took him some time to realize that he was at home 
 and not at the academy. As he stood up he guiltily stole a 
 glance in the direction of the portrait. The movement was 
 almost involuntary. When he found that the portrait had 
 been righted, he was covered with confusion ; but instead of 
 hanging his head, he stared straight ahead, past his mother. 
 
 "Lenny," she said, "this has been a terrible misunder- 
 standing. And you could not have cared very much for 
 me when you did that. You are sorry, are you not ?" 
 
 Sullen, he waited for her to proceed, uncertain as to 
 what she precisely meant by the word "misunderstand- 
 ing." 
 
 A little pale, his mother exclaimed: "Do you know that 
 you have insulted me ?" 
 
 "No!" came in a high-pitched voice. "I'm sure I only 
 did what I thought was right !" His voice broke. "You'd 
 have done the same thing if you felt like me." 
 
 "You were sure that you had reason for feeling as you 
 did, Lenny ?" asked his mother.
 
 64 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Oh, how could I have known different ?" he cried. 
 
 "You never came to me to ask whether what you believed 
 was really so. Then you no longer trust me, it appears," 
 she said. When he made no answer, she began to leave the 
 room. 
 
 In a moment his arms were about her, and he was saying : 
 
 "Oh, I did want to come to you! But I was so miser- 
 able ! I couldn't make out why he visited here. And I 
 grew so lonely. I know that I wasn't right when I turned 
 the picture, but oh ! how I was wrought up ! I couldn't 
 think !" 
 
 "If there was anything to tell you, Lenny, I would not 
 keep it from you," said his mother, holding him tightly 
 in her arms. 
 
 "Then I was all wrong?" he demanded eagerly. 
 
 She drew a long breath and told him : "All wrong." 
 
 He dared not ask : "And will we two always only belong 
 to each other?" Instead he said: "I know why you let 
 him come. You think his pull may help me. But we'll 
 never need that help, mother. I don't believe in being 
 pushed along. I'd rather start at the bottom and work up. 
 Oh, I've got it in me! And I'm not boasting. A good 
 many folks are going to be surprised before I'm ten years 
 older. There won't always be a Bob Maur to rule me out. 
 Before this summer is up I'll show them that it don't take 
 an overgrown bully to do things !" 
 
 His manner was that of one who had been wronged. Evi- 
 dently he was still smarting over his defeat for a place on 
 the baseball team. Feeling that there was no conceit be- 
 hind his words, only determination, his mother smiled 
 cheerily at him. 
 
 "More important than all this just now is that you.
 
 THE TYHANT IN WHITE 65 
 
 and I, dear boy, should never do things blindly," she ad- 
 monished him. 
 
 "No! no! It was a mistake ! I was excited. You see, 
 when I thought I might lose you, I lost hold of myself. 
 There was another reason, too," he said. 
 
 They turned at the same moment and looked at the por- 
 trait of the hero of the Niagara. 
 
 Mrs. Craigie knew that the memory of her husband was 
 "the other reason." 
 
 "As if I could ever forget!" she breathed. 
 
 Lenny's eyea glowed at the words.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 LIVING under a constant strain, yet bravely concealing 
 all signs of it, Gertrude Breen kept asking herself as she 
 awaited the coming of Trevor : 
 
 "What if Justin was right? What if Trevor was only 
 acting? What if he appears here only ta create a scandal 
 by throwing off his mask?" 
 
 She kept her fears from Justin ; but he had no difficulty 
 in guessing her unrest. While he was ready to cry " Con- 
 found Trevor !" he could not overlook the debt he owed that 
 man. Had there been no Trevor, Gertrude might have re- 
 frained from expressing any preference among the men 
 who sought her hand. Her youth would have frightened 
 her out of any decision. As it was, Trevor had frightened 
 her into one. 
 
 Justin did not prove as much of a help to Gertrude in her 
 difficulty as he would have wished. Unexpected difficulties 
 of his own had arisen, both in his law work and in the 
 politics of his ward. He found that he was not going 
 forward with any smoothness. Somehow it required more 
 labor on his part to get things done than ever before. He 
 believed he needed a rest, and he looked forward anxiously 
 to getting away for several weeks during the summer. 
 
 All of this he kept from Gertrude, certain that there 
 was no reason for worry. On one occasion, when he learned 
 of the failure of a fellow attorney, and heard it attributed 
 66
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 67 
 
 to excessive cigarette smoking, he hesitated the next time 
 he put his hand on his cigarette-case. Then he laughed the 
 whole matter off. 
 
 "With my physique, any serious breakdown would be 
 impossible!" he insisted. 
 
 Gertrude had only one topic of conversation when they 
 were alone how they were to manage with Robert Trevor. 
 The latter had written to her that the "Robert" was to 
 become "John." At the same time he had asked for ad- 
 vice concerning his behavior in the house whether he 
 could walk out after dusk ; if he might not have his meals 
 in his room, so as not to disturb her at the table ; if he could 
 address Conny by her first name; and other matters 
 which he considered of great importance. 
 
 Far from being delighted by this thoughtfulness, Ger- 
 trude was only made the more uncomfortable. If Trevor 
 was not acting a part, and if he was really sincere, how 
 long would she be able to keep the truth from coming out? 
 Would not Conny so endear herself to him as to force him 
 to reveal everything? 
 
 "When he comes he will be the real master of the situa- 
 tion, not I," she declared. Then she exclaimed: "Oh, I 
 am a weak girl ! I can no longer count on my pride. Per- 
 haps I would not be so afraid of the consequences if I had 
 made this place more of a home for Conny !" 
 
 She could not deny that this last self-accusation was an 
 injustice to herself. Where other girls had used their in- 
 comes to chase wildly after social position and then to 
 worry about a still higher footing in society, she had given 
 all her attention to her home. 
 
 At the root of all the distress she felt lay the continual 
 falsehoods to which she had to resort in preparing Conny 
 for the arrival of her uncle. Conny showed agitation when
 
 68 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 the eventful day approached, and she dismayed her aunt by 
 asking: 
 
 "I'm not to talk to him about father, am I ?" 
 
 "I think it would disturb your uncle very much if you 
 did," was the answer. "You are no longer a child, dear; 
 BO I can trust you to be sensible. If you believe that every 
 one concerned would be happier if you were not curious, 
 don't you think you should not be?" 
 
 As if to prove to Conny that she trusted her, Gertrude 
 did the daring thing of sending her to the station to meet 
 her "uncle." 
 
 "They will have to see each other to-day, anyhow," Ger- 
 trude reasoned. "I will begin by showing that I place con- 
 fidence in him. If he intends to make trouble, I can't keep 
 him from it. Let him start right there and then. The 
 sooner the better, if it must be !" 
 
 Her courage forsook her somewhat when the carriage 
 disappeared from view with Conny. The latter could 
 hardly keep her seat during the ride. People looked twice 
 at the beribboned girl, and wondered at her visible excite- 
 ment. She chanced upon Lenny, and called: 
 
 "See you later!" 
 
 "Not to-day! I'm too busy!" he shouted in return. 
 
 The station was alive with people beginning their exodus 
 to the summer resorts. Among these Conny moved rest- 
 lessly as she kept a lookout for the train which was to 
 bring her "uncle." When they questioned her, she unhesi- 
 tatingly told them for whom she was waiting. The re- 
 sult was a buzz of wonder among the various groups, who 
 were well acquainted with her mother's elopement seven- 
 teen years before. They regretted that their train, now 
 coming into sight, went out before the arrival of the one 
 which was to bring Conny's relative.
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 69 
 
 When his finally pulled up at the station, there alighted 
 a tall, slim man, tightly buttoned into a long coat which 
 looked both new and hastily fitted. A brown soft hat, also 
 new, covered a well-formed head, and from under the hat 
 straggled black hair, plentifully besprinkled with gray. 
 The face was lined, the eyes dark and capable of a great 
 range of emotion. There was a slight stoop to the shoul- 
 ders. 
 
 He looked about him with almost childish timidity. 
 Conny knew instinctively that this was her uncle. 
 
 As she accosted him, he trembled. 
 
 "You're my Uncle John, aren't you?" she asked. 
 
 He was deathly white as he removed his hat with shaking 
 fingers and bowed in a half-dignified, half-uncertain sort 
 of way. 
 
 "Is is this Constance?" he murmured. 
 
 She bowed in return with a gravity which would have 
 made her aunt stare. Just as she was about to make a care- 
 less remark, she caught sight of two tears stealing down 
 the tall man's cheeks. It left her speechless. 
 
 "Can we go?" hastily asked Trevor. 
 
 Still at a loss before the emotion he displayed, Connie 
 humbly led the way to the carriage. He handed her in 
 with a hand which shook. Once the carriage was under 
 way, Conny was more at ease. Trevor, however, was trem- 
 ulous with the emotion which surged through him. 
 
 "Did you ever look anything like my father?" was the 
 first question put to him. Even as she said it, Conny was 
 shamed by the thought of the disapproval it would have 
 excited in her aunt. 
 
 Until she spoke, Trevor had stared straight ahead. Now 
 he gathered himself together with a great effort, and draw-
 
 70 THE TYRANT IS WHITE 
 
 ing a long breath, he turned his eyes upon her. Then he 
 gasped : 
 
 "Why, you are the very picture of your mother !" 
 
 Conny, now somewhat more herself, asked: "Is that 
 a compliment? Or do all actors carry on like that when 
 they aren't acting? You'll teach me to act, won't you, 
 uncle?" 
 
 "No!" came with startling sharpness. Trevor passed 
 his hand over his forehead and said quickly: "I under- 
 stand that I'm to live very quietly here. You see," he ex- 
 plained, "I am neither very strong, nor very young." 
 
 He dared not look at her again. When she laid a hand 
 on his arm, he almost shrank away. 
 
 "Aren't there any lively old men?" she asked. "Don't 
 you think I'll always he a gad-about ? If you believe we'll 
 have time to be solemn, you're mighty mistaken ! Oh, to 
 think you'll be able to tell me all about the stage ! Why, 
 it'll be better than a book !" 
 
 "The stage!" murmured Trevor. "Ah, child, I can un- 
 derstand what pleasure you might derive from talks about 
 it but," he said with finality in his tone, "we will not 
 talk about it ! I would rather, if you cared to spend an ac- 
 casional hour with me, we used it in some other way." 
 
 He anxiously awaited her reply. 
 
 "Oh, we'll have lots of hours! And we'll get mighty 
 chummy, too, never fear !" she cried. Then she risked, 
 "You will tell me about father, too, won't you? I don't 
 know a thing about him." 
 
 "Nothing?" came in a faltering voice. When she shook 
 her head, he drew a long breath of relief. Immediately 
 afterward he cried: "Better that you should not! He 
 may have been admirable as an actor, but praise would have
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 71 
 
 to stop there. No, we will not talk about him, Con- 
 stance !" 
 
 " Oh, how pretty that sounded !" she exclaimed, clapping 
 her hands. "Con stance! Why, it was beautiful!" 
 
 "And you, too, are beautiful ! That name was just what 
 your mother should have found for you," said Trevor soft- 
 
 iy. 
 
 When he lowered his voice it was hoarse and rather 
 broken. When he raised it, it had both musical power and 
 dramatic force. 
 
 Another disturbing question was put to him: 
 
 "Was father a better actor than you, uncle? Honor 
 bright, now !" 
 
 Trevor smiled sadly as he said: "As good an actor, cer- 
 tainly." And he stole a glance at the small, radiant figure 
 at his side, and then became filled with strange awe. Her 
 prattle had kept him from feeling, in all its intensity, the 
 wonder of seeing his child for the first time. 
 
 They were near the house now. Trevor's uneasiness was 
 quite pronounced. At the same time he was not sure that 
 he was not moving in some dream. When the carriage 
 stopped, he glanced toward the great house without seeing 
 it, and then handed Conny out almost mechanically. 
 
 "Go before me, me lord!" Conny got off in an august 
 tone, which she had practiced for just that occasion. 
 
 She laughed merrily; but Trevor's form drooped as he 
 ascended the steps of the porch where Gertrude stood scru- 
 tinizing both father and daughter. There was a formal 
 exchange of greetings, and a little later Trevor was being 
 shown to his room by the housekeeper, while Conny obeyed 
 her aunt's imperative gesture to remain below. 
 
 The cool manner in which her uncle was received was 
 a surprise to Conny. Gertrude had not intended to display
 
 72! THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 this lack of cordiality, but when she saw the gaunt figure of 
 the man coming toward the house whose peace he had de- 
 stroyed, she could not stifle her resentment. The memory 
 of Marie and her sad fate had intruded to crush out for 
 the moment Gertiude's natural kindliness. 
 
 She had a moment of apprehension while she waited 
 for Conny to speak. Had Trevor begun to undermine the 
 peace of the household ? 
 
 "Isn't he a queer fellow?" said Conny. "Actors now- 
 adays aren't like that! They don't look as if they had 
 swapped clothes with somebody else by mistake the way 
 uncle does. And as if they were going to sob right out 
 in company !" 
 
 Gertrude breathed somewhat easier. 
 
 "I expect you to treat him with respect," she said.- "He 
 is not a young man." 
 
 "Oh, he's not a very old one," replied Conny. "And 
 he'll look better when he gets a couple of good meals in 
 him and gets rested up. I've heard lots about starved 
 actors ; but he looks as if he had starved for ages ! I tried 
 to liven him up a bit !" 
 
 Taken aback, Gertrude cried, "You must behave with 
 dignity towards him ! He will believe you were spoiled 
 when he sees what manners you have !" 
 
 "I'll make him so jolly happy, he won't worry about my 
 manners," Conny persisted. 
 
 "But he might want quiet," Gertrude argued. "You 
 must not be thoughtless. Why should you be so irrespon- 
 sible when I have to rely on your good sense ? To find you 
 but a child " 
 
 Conny threw her arms about her to check the words, 
 and Gertrude held her tightly to herself that it might ease 
 the pain caused by the part she was playing. Then she
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 73 
 
 went to see that refreshments were sent up to the tired 
 traveler. When she came back to Conny, Justin Mahan 
 was awaiting her. 
 
 Aware that the arrival of Trevor must prove a trial 
 for her, he had put aside his work, and had hastened to 
 her, even though she had given no sign of her need of him. 
 After their handshake, an exchange of glances between 
 them sufficed. Justin said: 
 
 "Conny was telling me that she has made good friends 
 with the old gentleman. He wouldn't be human if she 
 didn't worm herself into his confidence of course !" 
 
 "I tried to get him to talk about the theatre," said 
 Conny. "Oh, if I ever cared to become an actress, 
 wouldn't it be jolly to know all he could tell me?" 
 
 It fell with bomb-like effect upon Gertrude's ears. 
 
 "Nonsense!" she cried vehemently. "Never bring up 
 that topic when you talk to him! If I find that you do, 
 you will not be allowed to see him!" 
 
 Stunned by the outburst, Conny could only look to Jus- 
 tin to smooth matters over. He said: 
 
 "Gertrude, you can rely on Conny's good sense. I think 
 she is willing right now to give us her word she won't do 
 anything stupid!" 
 
 Conny promised to do so "To the best of my ability!" 
 She went on to explain, "I thought I'd talk about things 
 which would interest him. As he had been an actor, didn't 
 it seem right to ask him about the theatre ? If you think 
 he's going to be on your hands this summer, aunty, when 
 we go away, you're mistaken ! I'll take care of him ! He 
 needs sprucing up, and I'll make him look like a young 
 'un!" 
 
 And Conny took herself off, whistling.
 
 74 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Now you see how much we are at Trevor's mercy!" 
 cried Gertrude. 
 
 "Not yet," said Justin. "Not if we seek to develop a 
 sense of responsibility in Conny in preparation for telling 
 her the truth. She loves the very thought of her mother. 
 And she has only a sort of curiosity about Trevor. You 
 will be with her every day. The moment you see this 
 curiosity become something stronger, be ready to tell her 
 of the treatment her mother received. I intend to see 
 Trevor to-day, and to gently hint that I am a lawyer. I 
 
 wish I could tell him that you and I " He broke off to 
 
 look at her entreatingly. 
 
 "Not yet, Justin," she pleaded. "Not yet. Please!" 
 
 Here Conny came back from dismissing several boys who 
 had dropped in on her. 
 
 "Say, Mr. Justin Mahan, do you know anything about 
 Mr. Leonard Craigie?" she inquired solemnly. 
 
 "Isn't paying much attention to you lately, is he?" he 
 replied. 
 
 "Oh, I wouldn't say that! He isn't paying any atten- 
 tion. When you meet him, he runs off shouting, 'I haven't 
 any time to waste to-day !' And there you are ! What's 
 he up to ? Or shall I find out from his mother ?" 
 
 "Lenny is loaded with a big project which will use up a 
 great deal of his time and gray matter, young lady," said 
 Justin. "I would advise you not to scold him. It inter- 
 feres with a man's usefulness." 
 
 Conny eyed him mockingly. "As if Lenny was going to 
 be particularly useful just because he was in a hurry !" she 
 retorted. 
 
 " Oh, but he is !" said Justin, serious now. "He is going 
 to get together all the boys in Germantown who want to 
 play ball, and who haven't a place to play it, nor the nee-
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 75 
 
 essary gloves, maeks, nor suits to make them look like 
 ball players. In other words, our Lenny is branching out 
 as a philanthropist, although he'd cut you dead if you told 
 him so. All this is between ourselves! You're not to 
 blab what you've heard, mind you !" 
 
 Aglow with enthusiasm, Conny gave vent to several 
 cheers. Before she could interpose a word, Justin had 
 started off in praise of baseball. 
 
 "I am half-sorry that when I left college I refused an 
 offer of doing professional ball in summer," he said. "The 
 men going into the game to-day are not of the 'tough' va- 
 riety; and the college man could raise the social status of 
 the game. I'd jump at the chance of investing in a base- 
 ball club, and of helping this great outdoor game. Base- 
 ball is going to take the American people more into the 
 open, with a corresponding increase of health." 
 
 "And Lenny got his notion all out of his own head?" 
 asked Conny. 
 
 "So it seems. I guess he isn't thinking of any vacation. 
 It will be his making, though," commented Justin. "When 
 a boy gets a grip on himself like that, he don't fall by the 
 wayside, as a rule, later in life. Now everybody about here 
 thinks that Bob Maur is going to bring honor to the com- 
 munity. I trust Lenny to make a better showing cer- 
 tainly a cleaner one. Which shows I dislike Maur and I 
 am not going to apologize for it." 
 
 Here Conny ventured on a defence, without, however, 
 drawing Justin into an argument. He had no wish to dis- 
 turb her friendships. When Conny said that she wished to 
 go up and see her uncle, Justin interposed : 
 
 "I was about to do it myself," he said. "I think he 
 wants to talk to a man for a little while. It would be like
 
 76 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 a man to do so, after a tiresome journey, during which he 
 most likely kept very quiet." 
 
 "Dollars to doughnuts you talk about the theatre!" ex- 
 claimed Conny. 
 
 "Certainly if he won't talk about anything else," Jus- 
 tin replied. 
 
 Gertrude followed him to the foot of the stairs, and 
 thanked him for what he was about to do. 
 
 "I haven't yet," he told her. "I am on a journey of 
 discovery. If he holds out a chance of peace, I'll promptly 
 make peace!" 
 
 "For Conny's sake!" said Gertrude. "As for me well, 
 his presence will always be too terrible a reminder of the 
 past." 
 
 Justin was grave when he knocked upon Trevor's door. 
 The actor received him with a sort of confused dignity. 
 Justin introduced himself as a "close friend to Miss Breen 
 a very close friend, who has the interest of both Conny 
 and Miss Breen at heart, and who knows of your relation- 
 ship to Conny." 
 
 He studied the drooping figure as he spoke; and before 
 he had finished introducing himself, he had decided that 
 he would not frighten Trevor by revealing the fact that he 
 was a lawyer. In the passage of those few moments, Jus- 
 tin saw why Gertrude had been influenced to allow Trevor 
 to come from Chicago. Nothing of guile could be con- 
 cealed behind the actor's candid exterior, not even if he 
 was the most consummate actor in the world. Only great 
 suffering was apparent in the visage and bearing of the 
 sad, quiet personage. 
 
 Justin exclaimed mentally, "The issue will be peace!" 
 
 He extended his cigarette-case to the nervous man. The 
 actor courteously thanked him, but refused.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 77 
 
 "I broke myself of smoking," he hastened to explain 
 apologetically, "when I found how it was increasing the 
 nervousness which finally drove me from the stage. Will 
 you kindly be seated? I wish indeed to talk to you if you 
 are in the confidence of Miss Breen. I want to have myself 
 understood, particularly as I have found Miss Breen an 
 unusual woman for her years, and since much of my des- 
 tiny will depend upon her good will." 
 
 " Conny's aunt has, among other qualities, a fine sense of 
 justice," Justin remarked. "She may sometimes be at a 
 loss how to face a trying situation, but she will act thought- 
 fully and justly. Depend upon it, she will in the end be- 
 come your ally in your difficulties." 
 
 For a time Trevor stood motionless, buried in thought. 
 Then his lips murmured in gratitude, "Thank God!" 
 
 He dropped into a chair with a sigh, only to rear his 
 gaunt form into the air, and to stagger about the room as 
 if the inner tension was too much for him. 
 
 Coming back to his seat with a sudden air of determine 
 tion, he drew his chair close to Justin's, and said : 
 
 "I do not know whether you will have patience for what 
 I want to relate to you. I have not dared to tell it to 
 Miss Breen as I wished. But it weighs down my conscience 
 with a crushing burden and I must speak. You, sir, 
 appear a worthy man. Hear me out. It will certainly not 
 better your opinion of me! But the relief I will perhaps 
 find will take some measure of weight from my soul !" 
 
 Justin felt that he dared not interfere; rather that he 
 must respect the crying need of the wretched man to be 
 heard. Trevor took a long breath like one who is about 
 to undertake some trying task. Then he began, in a pen- 
 sive voice, which soon took on a tone of half-terror. The
 
 78 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 words came in a torrent, at times musical, at times hoarse, 
 but finally bitter with self-accusation. 
 
 "I was playing Shakespearean roles at a theatre in Phil- 
 adelphia when Marie first saw me," he recounted. "Eight- 
 een years ago I was a somewhat more prepossessing indi- 
 vidual, sir ! I was not this miserable, useless wreck. Mad 
 women worshiped me. Although spells of illness already 
 presaged the end of my acting and the setting of my sun, I 
 felt confident, strong ! 
 
 "Marie came along. She secured an introduction to me 
 and praise from her sounded sweet to ears which you 
 would suppose weary of praise ! Ah, what a glorious being 
 she was ! Her child-like beauty fascinated me. More than 
 that, I believed she had talent for acting. The moneyed 
 family she represented was of no interest to me. We 
 hastily married. Ah, how renewed my art became ! How 
 wonderfully I played! 
 
 "But folly broke in upon our happiness. I struck at 
 the glory of Marie's love for me by insisting that she should 
 act, that she should give herself heart and soul to a career 
 of which she had never dreamed! It was one thing for 
 her to watch with delight another's work on the stage; it 
 was a totally different thing for her to don a costume and 
 play a part. She was revolted, terrified. 
 
 "Was it folly for me to insist? It was madness ! The 
 wildest act of a madman ! But I was equally wild about 
 my art; and when I saw ability within reach, I sought to 
 press it into service. I was seeking to build up a follow- 
 ing among playgoers a following which would insure my 
 success, and bring me favorably to the notice of the big 
 managers. You see, I had not been snapped up by these 
 men, because tha tide had set in the direction of poor 
 plays.
 
 THE TYKAOT IN WHITE 79 
 
 "And I sought to make Marie's beauty and high intelli- 
 gence serve me. At first she faced me with tearful re- 
 bellion. Then she stood stoutly upon her rights. Storm 
 followed storm. In my ambition I threw all sense of duty 
 to her overboard. At last I stood defeated : she would not 
 act. But although I gave up the effort to force her to 
 do so, we had both of us gone too far for peace. 
 
 "Ah, would that I had died before Marie met me! I 
 who was to bring her woe ! She deserved better of life, 
 she who had begun with health and youth and beauty! 
 Better of life than a turbulent spirit for a husband ! Bet- 
 ter of life than death ! Surely !" 
 
 The tears streamed down the seamed face. Trevor sat 
 very still, his head bowed, his thin fingers locked with 
 crushing force. Fighting back his grief, he went on: 
 
 "It is a late day for atonement, you will say! Believe 
 me, I have paid dearly for it all. After I realized that she 
 had gone, the world seemed empty. Illness came on. With 
 the applause of audiences no longer in my ears, I had lei- 
 sure for contemplation. During many a sleepless night did 
 I scourge my soul ! Every brutal word I used to that sweet 
 young girl was to return to torture me a thousandfold! 
 Only one thing kept me from crawling into a suicide's 
 grave the possibility that there had been a child born to 
 me. Yet I dared not ask until a little while ago ; and then 
 only after a sudden fear one night that I was soon to die. 
 Punishment ? Yes, I have been punished ! But I am de- 
 serving of more ! I dare not entirely believe that I am 
 near the child who is my daughter. It would be too much 
 after the years of loneliness ! Is the long period of tor- 
 ture to end? It would seem impossible!" 
 
 After an interval of silence, Trevor added: 
 
 "Miss Breen has put me so much in her debt that I
 
 80 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 am at a loss how to meet her generosity. Had she acted 
 with harshness, I might have been more at ease. I did 
 not expect to find my daughter within reach for the ask- 
 ing. Let Miss Breen have no fear for the future. Before 
 I have been many hours with Constance, she will know that 
 her father was unspeakable! That also is part of my 
 atonement !" 
 
 Justin, hardened though he had somewhat become to the 
 punishment meted out in court-rooms for wrongdoing, was 
 deeply stirred, both by the simple sincerity of the man be- 
 fore him, and the anguish he had revealed. 
 
 "Leave all to time, that cure for all our wounds!" he 
 said quietly to the suffering man. "If I can be of service 
 to you, command me." 
 
 From below rang out Conny's laughter, breaking in on 
 the quiet about the house. 
 
 "Do you hear that!" cried Trevor, lifting his head. 
 "That is life to me ! Oh, do not blame me for loving her I 
 She ia all I have in the world !"
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THOSE of Lenny's boy acquaintances who did not get 
 away early for the summer marveled at the sudden manner 
 in which he sprang into local fame. His baseball project 
 became the absorbing topic with every young lover of the 
 game in Germantown. Prior to calling together the lead- 
 ing spirits among the boys that were to make up the clubs, 
 he interviewed owners of vacant lots. The favorable man- 
 ner in which his intended work was received by them sur- 
 passed his most sanguine hopes. Several of the men asked 
 to be remembered when there would be a call for contribu- 
 tions. 
 
 Then came the meeting of the recognized leaders of the 
 boys. These assembled at Lenny's home, and he outlined 
 hia plans in full. The conference was shy at first, and 
 somewhat disinclined to offer suggestions; but Lenny im- 
 pressed upon it that the success of the baseball league lay 
 in its hands, rather than in his. 
 
 "You fellows will have to run this, not I," he said. "The 
 sooner you all jump in and have your say, the quicker will 
 we get life into the league." 
 
 It was not long before suggestions came plentifully, and 
 differences just as frequently. The spirit which ruled the 
 boys was, however, fairer than Lenny had expected. He 
 was astonished at the ability of some to reason beyond their 
 years. When the meeting adjourned after electing officers 
 81
 
 83 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 and appointing a time for arranging the games, he fairly 
 danced for joy. 
 
 "Don't they look like dandy material!" he cried to his 
 mother. "Oh, they mayn't have seemed so to you! But I 
 can tell a lively lot of fellows when I get my eyes on them. 
 And some of them have a reputation for great baseball." 
 
 "I was most interested in the little fellows/' said Mrs. 
 Craigie, who had watched them file into the house. 
 
 " So was I ! Those junior clubs aren't going to be dull ! 
 And they'll graduate grown-up material in a few years ! 
 That's what will keep the league going. As for the older 
 chaps why, they'll be getting into big professional com- 
 pany, and give the league a national reputation. I was 
 glad to have a rule passed about worrying the umpire. Any 
 fellow who does a lot of that gets expelled. That was the 
 only motion I worked for." 
 
 "And the name of the league?" asked his mother. 
 
 "They wanted to call it the Captain Craigie Baseball As- 
 sociation, but I wouldn't have it. It would look as if they 
 were thankful to me, although that wasn't the reason why 
 they picked out the name. I didn't want everybody to 
 think I chose it for them," Lenny explained. 
 
 "You told them about your father?" asked his mother 
 with a wan smile. 
 
 "Yes. It came out when they were speaking about a 
 catcher who broke his thumb, but kept right on playing. 
 So I told them a pretty brave story I had heard ! They 
 took it all right, too!" 
 
 "I shouldn't wonder!" said his mother. 
 
 "You would have laughed at the airs the kids put on 
 when we got to speaking about their schedule! You see, 
 we've arranged everything according to age. We've got 
 nine vacant lots now, and some of them hold more than
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 83 
 
 one diamond. But I'm not satisfied yet. Every kid in 
 Germantown over ten will get a chance to play ball, if 
 hustling will do anything!" 
 
 "You think you will get along with the boys?" Mrs. 
 Craigie queried. 
 
 "I think so. And it won't be because I did anything for 
 them ! No favoritism ! I saw too much of it at the acad- 
 emy. I'm not going to interfere ! not in the slightest ! 
 Every one is to have the same say. The only reason my 
 ideas were taken up was because I worked them out pretty 
 carefully beforehand; that was why." 
 
 To his mother, the importance of Lenny's interest in the 
 league lay in it8 effect upon him. In the few days of its 
 organization his manner had become more manly. He 
 talked with an air of considerable thoughtfulness. But 
 still more important was his lessened restlessness. When 
 he spent an evening at home, he would sit quietly and plan, 
 either with pencil and paper before him, or by discussing 
 details with his mother. 
 
 Among his suggestions had been one for rewarding those 
 boys who played two years in the league. They were to 
 come into complete possession of the gloves and baseball 
 shoes they used, and this applied equally to the catchers' 
 masks. The gifts would not be trifling, for the best sort 
 of baseball equipment was to be supplied to the league. 
 
 When his mother spoke of paying out of her own purse 
 for a considerable number of baseball suits, Lenny argued 
 that it would be better to promise them for the future, so 
 as to stimulate interest. He decided that the clubs which 
 won the championships in their respective classes should be 
 presented with these suits as prizes. 
 
 "I am going to try to win one of those suits for myself !" 
 he declared. "I'm going to play the genuine article of
 
 84 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 baseball this summer on one of the teams. But you may 
 be sure, mother, that if any man shows up better for the 
 position I am trying for than I, he gets the place, not 
 yours truly! No Bob Maur business in the Germantown 
 League of Baseball Clubs." 
 
 At the same time, he urged his mother to get ready to 
 go away for the summer. 
 
 "There is time, dear," she said. "I want to see the 
 league at work before I go. It won't be hard to stay here, 
 for Gertrude Breen told me that she does not intend to 
 leave for the entire summer. She will run down to the 
 shore occasionally instead." 
 
 Lenny had no chance to wonder at this. His own affairs 
 occupied almost all his waking moments. His mother, how- 
 ever, had seen some connection between the arrival of 
 Conny's uncle and the uneasy air Gertrude wore, and 
 sought to be of help to her. She guessed that Justin 
 Mahan was trying to do the very same thing. It was not 
 like Mrs. Craigie, though, to ask questions. 
 
 From Gertrude she learned that Conny spent almost all 
 her spare time with her uncle. It appeared that Lenny 
 also showed a fondness for the actor. On one of his rare 
 visits he smoked a cigarette in that man's presence, and 
 was promptly rebuked by Conny, who had set herself up 
 as guardian of her uncle. 
 
 "You boys are funny!" she cried. "You roll up a silly 
 plant, and light it, and then fill yourself with its smoke ! 
 If only the men didn't do such a silly thing, you boys 
 might quit !" 
 
 "I won't smoke here if you think your uncle isn't fond 
 of it," replied Lenny. "At the same time, you needn't 
 turn up your nose about it ! Why can Justin Mahan be 
 puffing away at cigarettes all day ?"
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 85 
 
 "Oh, I don't care so much about him!" replied Conny 
 with an arch smile which killed all of Lenny's resentment 
 at a stroke. 
 
 "Suppose you come to the opening game of the league 
 and throw the ball out to the umpire," he said. 
 
 "Is that an honor?" she asked carelessly. 
 
 "Now pretend you don't know that it is !" he cried. 
 
 "An honor for me or the league?" she queried, with her 
 head now aslant. 
 
 "Since you're asking why, for you!" he replied, smil- 
 ing maliciously. "If you hadn't asked, it might have been 
 an honor for the league. You might as well know, though, 
 that the boys will play like the very dickens with you look- 
 ing on !" 
 
 Then he went on to explain that on the opening day, 
 only two clubs and these were of the class represented by 
 the oldest boys would start the season, with all the other 
 boys looking on. The two clubs would be drawn by lot, 
 so as not to arouse any ill-feeling among the others. After 
 the opening day, all the vacant lots would be occupied, and 
 the league would settle down to its season of play according 
 to a regular schedule. 
 
 "Oh, I couldn't throw the ball!" suddenly cried Conny. 
 "Not with such a lot of people looking on ! But I'll come 
 to see the games, and bring uncle, if the boys won't say 
 things about him." 
 
 Lenny's eyes flashed. "If they did," he told her, "there 
 wouldn't be enough of the league left to write about on 
 your thumb-nail ! You bring your uncle ; and if he won't 
 be cheering at the end of the first inning well, you'll have 
 to bring him another time !" Lenny unexpectedly finished 
 with a smile. "He's got a few cheers in him, I bet. It 
 won't be any Borneo and Juliet performance, though, and
 
 86 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 the boys might be impolite to the umpire, you know. But 
 you'll pretend not to hear, won't you?" 
 
 Here Conny whispered, " You ought to see the newspaper 
 notices I made uncle show me about father's acting ! They 
 couldn't say enough about him ! Every one of them, too!" 
 Then she held up a warning finger. "Just between us, you 
 know, Lenny! Aunt would never forgive me if she 
 thought I gabbed !" 
 
 There were many things similar to this, told "just be- 
 tween us," of which Conny never breathed a word to the 
 other boys. One incident, however, was withheld from 
 Lenny. It had to do with Maur, and occurred prior to his 
 departure to the mountains for the summer. 
 
 Bob Maur had freely expressed his disgust that Conny 
 should remain in Germantown because of what he termed 
 her aunt's "whim." On parting, as he held Conny's hand, 
 he hastily glanced about him, and then asked for a kiss. 
 The deadly silence which followed drove him to excuses; 
 then he made a confession which left Conny panic-stricken. 
 
 "Why, Bob," she gasped, "we're only kids! You must 
 be joking ! In love with me ! You don't mean it ! I'm 
 a child yet ! Don't you see ? Oh, you surely must be jok- 
 ing ! You are !" 
 
 She had stepped away from him in alarm. He never 
 faltered. Instead, he said : 
 
 " Oh, no, I'm not ! I'm perfectly serious about it ! And 
 I want you to be so, too ! If you wish, I'll not speak of it 
 soon again. But if I drop it, that won't mean I'll keep 
 mum about it very long. I care too much for you to just 
 mention it, and then forget it. That's not like me !" 
 
 Conny insisted on viewing his proposal in an amusing 
 light. When alone, however, she did not dismiss it lightly. 
 No matter how much she tried to put it out of her thoughts,
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 87 
 
 it continued to worry her. She was soon at her wits' end ; 
 and to make matters worse, she found herself unable to 
 speak of it to any one, for fear that what was serious to 
 her would only prove amusing to another. For the first 
 time in her life she was likely to make a secret of a thing 
 about which she needed advice. 
 
 The more she considered it, the more she felt that unless 
 she could get it off her mind by a talk with some one, it 
 would continue to give her no peace. From the first, her 
 uncle seemed the most likely person to whom to go; but 
 in his case she was as much afraid of the solemn way in 
 which he would treat it as of the amusement it might 
 arouse in any other person. 
 
 Justin might have served; only he would be likely to 
 send her to Gertrude. And, again, she felt that if he 
 laughed at her, she might never forgive him. So in the 
 end, she went to her uncle, and related the whole thing, in 
 one breath, with pleas for secrecy, advice, help and under- 
 standing. She was not prepared for her uncle's dismay 
 at the recital of her first proposal of marriage. 
 
 "No! No! No, Constance!" he cried, seizing her 
 wildly by the arm. "No ! Do not listen to such things ! 
 Do not let them fill your mind even for an instant ! Not 
 at this time of your life ! Oh, do not be hasty ! A world 
 of grief can follow the impulse of a moment! And you 
 are but a child!" 
 
 As Conny smiled at him, he exclaimed : 
 
 "What joy you have given me in thus coming to me! 
 It is heaven's own kindness that you did this ! I feel im- 
 measurably rich !" 
 
 With these words he lifted his head joyously. A moment 
 later, the unforgettable years had swept down upon him, 
 to point out his arrogance in asking for happiness. He
 
 88 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 bowed his head humbly. When he saw with what tender 
 curiosity Conny was watching him, he hastened to say : 
 
 "Always come to me! Oh, I must have you do that! 
 True, your aunt has been very kind to me. These rooms 
 are spacious. The view from those windows is beautiful. 
 I can dream and contemplate. I can read aloud and yet 
 disturb no one. But all this only leaves a great void within 
 my soul. Your your laughter, your lightness of spirit 
 buoys me up. Bring me these, if nothing else !" 
 
 Here Conny put a question which wiped out all ihe 
 eagerness in his manner. 
 
 "Why do you look so down-hearted when I mention 
 father's name?" she asked. "Do you really feel so set 
 against him?" 
 
 "Yes! Because my love of justice in his case is greater 
 than any kindliness I might discover towards him," was 
 the reply, spoken rather sadly. 
 
 "But 7 have forgiven him !" cried Conny. 
 
 "Ah, because you know nothing!" cried Trevor, turning 
 away, so as not to have to face her. "And forgiveness does 
 not lie with you. It lies with the dead." 
 
 Conny objected to "being given the 'creeps,' " as she put 
 it. She forced her uncle out of his sadness by demanding 
 some story which would have laughter in it. He had but 
 to turn to his store of amusing incidents behind the scenes 
 to bring this laughter. But as the voice of Gertrude 
 sounded suddenly in the stillness of the garden behind the 
 house, the smile crept away from his lips. He thrust him- 
 self back in his chair, shame-faced and silent. 
 
 Into the rooms which Robert Trevor occupied Gertrude 
 never came; and he never dined below. They mutually 
 sought to keep out of each other's way. Although by not 
 seeing him often, Gertrude could not learn the real nature
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 89 
 
 of the man, she felt at the same time that she might be 
 saving herself from any unpleasantness contact might 
 bring. What the upshot of Conny's fondness for him 
 would be she dared not contemplate. For her there was 
 the memory, often revived, of her sister's return home, half- 
 dead with terror ard grief. 
 
 "But," Justin insisted, "if you met Trevor, and if you 
 gave him a few minutes now and then, you would see him 
 in a different light. He feels most keenly the suffering he 
 brought Marie. In fact, he persists in perpetually pun- 
 ishing himself by brooding over it. Conny is not going to 
 have a wholesome respect for her father the father that 
 Trevor was. It is safe to leave matters in the hands of 
 destiny; but incidentally don't you think it would be weli 
 to make destiny wear a smile?" 
 
 "Not yet," Gertrude said. "Not yet. I must get ac- 
 customed to his presence here. When Conny grows older 
 and less irresponsible, perhaps I shall not find it so hard 
 to think of her knowing the truth, and of her liking this 
 man. Oh, Justin, am I a coward ?" 
 
 He shook his head; then added, "I am not seeking to 
 flatter you. The situation happens to be a tough one. But 
 you must have patience; you must be prepared for any- 
 thing and you must learn to smile." 
 
 As he reached out for her hand, she unconsciously gave 
 it to him. Then she hastily withdrew it. 
 
 "Soon," he firmly declared, "I will have my needs con- 
 sidered, too ! Yes, Gertrude, I have reached a point where a 
 word from you would mean a big lease of life. Since you 
 know your own restlessness because of your indecision con- 
 cerning Trevor, it should be easy for you to see how rest- 
 less I am because you have not made up your mind about
 
 90 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 me. Oh, you see it ! Yet have I not put up a good fight 
 in not demanding a speedy answer from you ?" 
 
 "But but your fight has not been very long," she re- 
 minded him. 
 
 "What has time to do with it? Your concern about 
 Trevor has not been very long! Of course, if I believed 
 for one moment that you did not care for me, that would 
 be the end of my visits here ! The strain is becoming un- 
 bearable." 
 
 "If I asked you to wait until next winter for my decision, 
 would the strain really be too great for you?" she asked, 
 turning away so as not to see the appeal in his eyes. She 
 immediately faced him again, to cry, "Oh, I am not tri- 
 fling ! I am not holding you off for flimsy reasons ! Surely 
 you believe me, Justin!" 
 
 "Since I respect you yes," he replied. "Only I believe 
 we would both be happier if you made up your mind right 
 away." 
 
 "There will be time to think of my own needs when I 
 am not so anxious about Conny, and when I am somewhat 
 calmer." She asked, "Will you not get away to the shore 
 to-morrow? Do not think of me! You need a rest from 
 that office work. You are not looking too well." 
 
 "I not well ?" he laughed. "That would be strange ! I 
 do feel tired. But trust to luck to bring me some refresh- 
 ing excitement ! You know, I am to umpire the first game 
 of the Germantown League of Baseball Clubs to-morrow. 
 A serious affair and full of honor! Surely you have been 
 invited! Young Craigie will never forgive you if you do 
 not grace the occasion !" 
 
 "Yes, Mrs. Craigie spoke of my coming, but I did not 
 promise because I did not know you were going to um- 
 pire." And Gertrude asked, "Have you considered what
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 91 
 
 those boys might say to you if your decisions did not hap- 
 pen to suit them ?" 
 
 Justin laughed. Then he hastened to reassure her. 
 
 "I don't think Lenny would tolerate that," he said; "so 
 it will most likely be conspicuous by its absence. He must 
 have thought about it, since his mother is to be there. He 
 is a very likeable chap. There hasn't been the least pose 
 about the way he has managed this baseball business. In 
 fact, he is actually trying to avoid having a noise made 
 about his connection with it. It isn't likely that the boys 
 for whom he is doing this thing will forget. When they 
 grow up into citizens, if he ever needs them, he will have 
 them with him. That is the only sort of a following to 
 have one that has grown up with you. I wouldn't have 
 been forced to truckle to political bosses if that had been 
 the case." 
 
 " You surely are not going to grieve about that now !" 
 Gertrude protested. "It would be as reasonable as to be- 
 lieve that Leonard Craigie can be thinking of politics in 
 helping those boys. That would be as bad as the remark 
 Miss Sutton let fall when she was here yesterday about 
 Mrs. Craigie staying in town because Colonel Henderson 
 has not left it." 
 
 "Miss Sutton should have lived in a time when people 
 were tarred and feathered for gossip like that !" said Jus- 
 tin in disgust. "How did you get back at her? I know 
 you would want to do it politely. Oh, there is no fun in 
 being a woman !" 
 
 "Well," said Gertrude, "I inquired very gently whether 
 the thought hadn't struck Miss Sutton that things might 
 be just the other way that the Colonel might be staying 
 because Mrs. Craigie had not gone away. Then I added, 
 'The beauty of Mrs. Craigifc's friendship is that it always
 
 93 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 selects fine persons to whom to devote itself ; for everyone 
 knows that Mrs. Craigie never cared for Miss Sutton. That 
 was the way I got back at her. Could a man have done 
 better ? I never knew I could be so cruel : but I was urged 
 on by indignation righteous indignation !" 
 
 At this moment Conny entered the room with her arms 
 full of flowers. Coming up to Justin, she thrust her bou- 
 quet at him. As the odor of the flowers filled his nostrils, 
 he became dizzy, and had a feeling of suffocation. 
 
 "How white you are!" cried Gertrude, hurrying over 
 to him. 
 
 Conny had stepped back when his hand roughly thrust 
 the flowers aside. She gazed at his pallid features with 
 amazement. 
 
 "I never could stand wild flowers," he said; and was 
 immediately ashamed of the falsehood. "Strange, is it 
 not, that they should have such an effect upon me !" 
 
 Some inkling of the reason for this cropped out when he 
 and Gertrude took dinner at Mrs. Craigie's home that eve- 
 ning. Lenny was not present. He was eating his meal 
 in the company of Trevor and Conny, at the latter's invi- 
 tation. 
 
 This change-about was not discussed at his mother's 
 table. Mrs. Craigie carefully avoided any talk about 
 Trevor. The conversation that evening dealt with sport, 
 greatly to Justin's delight. He did not agree with Mrs. 
 Craigie when she spoke of the bad influence the boys of 
 the league might have on Lenny. 
 
 "You must know that boys of his own station can go 
 just as far when it comes to knavery, meanness and 
 wrong," he said. "As for Lenny, I have an idea he can be 
 relied upon to take care of himself always ! I have seen 
 how he managed with those boys. At the same time, you
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 93 
 
 must consider that his efforts in their behalf will do much 
 to give him self-reliance." 
 
 Without denying this, Mrs. Craigie hastened to point 
 out: 
 
 "Those boys smoke a great deal. And I believe Lenny 
 indulges in that habit occasionally. Even if he does not do 
 it to any extent, it is cause for worry." 
 
 "If he does only indulge occasionally," said Justin, 
 "what have you to fear? He is almost full-grown. And 
 I am sure he has no other vices if we may call it a vice !" 
 
 "I am afraid of the cigarette habit," replied Mrs. 
 Craigie. "A physician's letter to a newspaper the other 
 day pointed out how frequently a sensitive, nervous organ- 
 ization will go to pieces under its influence. Think how 
 high-strung most boys are ! He recounted how a patient of 
 his who was an inveterate smoker would collapse when 
 given a whiff of a strong perfume. Is that not enough 
 proof of the effect of tobacco? But what this physician 
 said was no news to me !" 
 
 She grew silent, and was unaware of the uneasiness her 
 words had created in Justin's mind. 
 
 "It all depends upon the individual," he finally haz- 
 arded in his own defence. 
 
 "But consider, Mr. Mahan, what the constant breathing 
 of tobacco fumes in place of fresh air must do to even the 
 most robust constitution!" said Mrs. Craigie. "There 
 must be some reason for the stringent rules about smoking 
 athletes have to follow." 
 
 "There are individuals who are left nervous wrecks by 
 going to concerts," Justin argued with a smile. "The 
 world is made up of all sorts of people. In Lenny's case, 
 if he lives out in the open enough, an occasional cigarette 
 won't harm him. Anyway, remember that too much pres-
 
 94 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 sure about his smoking might magnify his need of to- 
 bacco." 
 
 Then Justin spoke of something else, displeased by the 
 grave manner in which Gertrude had followed the talk. 
 He wondered if it would be in place for him to take Lenny 
 to task about his cigarettes. 
 
 " Hardly!" he reflected. "Not when I indulge myself 
 in them as much as I do ! Lenny won't overdo it. 
 
 That boy was overdoing it, but his open-air life helped 
 to counteract its effects. He did not, however, escape 
 scot free. Without his being aware of the fact, the un- 
 usually long stretches of sleep he needed were the result of 
 his apparently mild indulgence. But since no unpleasant 
 symptoms showed themselves, he grew quite sceptical about 
 the ills for which tobacco was blamed. 
 
 There was little time for him to think of himself; the 
 baseball clubs demanded all his attention. His success 
 with these made his name known in almost every house- 
 hold in Germantown which possessed a boy. He had gone 
 so far as to secure prominent people to umpire the games. 
 In addition, professional and business men rallied to his 
 support with a heartiness which assured the financial suc- 
 cess of the undertaking. 
 
 He found an occasional chance, however, to steal off for 
 a visit to Conny and her uncle. Of the few boys who still 
 remained in Germantown, none had so warm a place in 
 Trevor's affection as Lenny. Two of the boy visitors had 
 been summarily dismissed by Conny when she caught them 
 winking at each other while her uncle recited "Eugene 
 Aram's Dream," although they lied frantically in denial of 
 the winking. 
 
 Lenny's interest in the actor was genuine. Under the 
 stimulus of hia and Conny's presence, Trevor would often
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 95 
 
 repeat whole scenes from plays which he had given to the 
 public. He would forget his physical weakness, and would 
 storm up and down the room, while his auditors sat spell- 
 bound. Or he would enthusiastically describe some first- 
 night, and the numberless rehearsals which had ushered it 
 in. 
 
 He was careful, nevertheless, to warn his young hearers 
 against the terrible price too often paid for success on the 
 stage. The fickleness of audiences and of critics, the ter- 
 rible rivalry in the theatrical profession itself, and the fear- 
 ful amount of work involved to get small returns, were 
 spread before them, until they saw the stage in its naked 
 reality. 
 
 " Oh, I guess there's lots of work in 'most everything one 
 tries one's hand at!" Lenny philosophized. "As for what 
 people say the critics, you know why, there are lots of 
 fellows I chummed with who grinned hard when they 
 heard what I was going to do for the boys of Germantown. 
 It's human nature." 
 
 Later Lenny again complained of the attitude of the 
 boys in his own circle towards the league. 
 
 "I'm glad Jordan and Cuthbertson and Phil Stanley 
 have gone at last," he told Conny. "They kept asking me 
 fool questions about the clubs, in order to make the whole 
 thing look ridiculous !" 
 
 "Why, you silly boy!" cried Conny. "They didn't feel 
 like that at all ! You're dreaming !" 
 
 "Can't people do mean things, even though you do like 
 them?" retorted Lenny. 
 
 "Just because I don't know whether that's a compli- 
 ment or not, you're to walk around the porch on your 
 hands in plain sight of everybody !" he was ordered.
 
 96 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 He only looked at her gravely. When she repeated her 
 command, he began: 
 
 A man " 
 
 But she began to laugh, and held her sides as if the joke 
 she saw was too much for her. 
 
 She was more serious in a moment as she told how she 
 had coaxed her uncle to take drives with her, instead of 
 indulging in early morning walks. 
 
 "And at such hours !" she cried. "There can't be a soul 
 up except footpads. I keep worrying about them, but he 
 is sure no one would want to hurt him. I spoke to auntie 
 about it. 'Why should I interfere with what gives him 
 pleasure?' she said. Do you know, he seems to be hiding 
 himself from people !" 
 
 "Why haven't you asked him to quit it, for your sake?" 
 asked Lenny, much concerned. 
 
 "I did. But he got so quiet, I was frightened! I used 
 to think I understood folks. I'm not so sure now that I 
 do. Even you are queer with nothing but your notions 
 about the league and what it is going to do !" 
 
 "Oh, but look at the attendance we are getting, and what 
 the papers are saying about us !" cried Lenny jubilantly. 
 "It isn't for one year. It's going to have its effect on the 
 whole present generation of Germantown 'boys ! And it's 
 nothing alongside of what I'm planning for next year !" 
 
 "Way down in your heart, how do you feel about it?" 
 asked Conny. "Your inside idea, mind you! Is it doing 
 you any good?" 
 
 "Well, I'm really useful for the first time in my life. 
 I'm not merely a fellow who gets three square meals a day, 
 and pocket-money, and is stuffing himself with an educa- 
 tion which may be no good to anybody ! To tell the truth, 
 I feel grown up !"
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 97 
 
 He said it quietly, earnestly. As Conny looked into his 
 thoughtful face, she felt that something of the old play- 
 mate she had known was gone, never to return. It was 
 undeniable that he was no longer altogether a boy. A sub- 
 tle sadness stole over Conny for a moment, a feeling quite 
 new to her. Then she laughed. 
 
 In answer to Lenny's look of inquiry, she said : 
 
 "Oh, I was mooning, and caught myself at it. I was 
 afraid we couldn't be kids again never ! But there can 
 be grown-up kids, can't there? Come, let's slip away for 
 a long tramp ! Let's get lost for the rest of the day !" 
 
 "Great guns, I've loafed too long as it is !" cried Lenny, 
 springing to his feet. "Simes, the clothier, has promised 
 me a contribution for the league. I'm going to collect it. 
 So long !" 
 
 And he was off, with long strides, his hands in his 
 pockets. 
 
 "No," said Conny sadly, shaking her head, "kid days are 
 over."
 
 CHAPTEE VII 
 
 THE baseball league drew crowds which taxed the ca- 
 pacity of the various lots. Before the end of summer the 
 games attracted people from the neighboring sections of 
 Philadelphia. During the contests of the various clubs 
 for the championships of their respective classes, so much 
 bitterness was shown, that Lenny had to use considerable 
 tact to keep the different elements at peace. 
 
 A system of double umpiring one behind the plate and 
 one for the bases was found necessary. Even then only 
 the fear of expulsion for umpire-baiting averted serious 
 trouble. On the other hand, as if to balance the ill-feeling 
 which resulted from the keen struggle, there was a readi- 
 ness to help along the work of the league, and to build up 
 its reputation. 
 
 "Baseball," said Justin after a trying day as an umpire, 
 "simply typifies the American spirit. Those scraps were 
 typically American. What other nation would take its 
 play so seriously?" 
 
 "Wouldn't you rather they hadn't called you a 'chump'?" 
 asked Lenny, not happy over the incident. 
 
 "I remember what 7 once called an umpire, and it makes 
 my ears tingle to think of it!" was the reply. "So how 
 can I blame these fellows, who haven't the pretensions of a 
 college-bred man?" 
 
 When Lenny spoke of his fear that Justin's experience 
 98
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 99 
 
 as an umpire might drive him from the league grounds, 
 the older man said with a laugh : 
 
 "If you knew the fun I get out of the job, you wouldn't 
 worry about me. And you may as well know that I cut 
 short what vacation I took so as to get back behind the 
 plate." 
 
 It was not because of Gertrude that Justin stayed in 
 town, for there was an entire month during which she had 
 gone to some friends at Long Branch. Conny had been 
 taken along, and in that short time Gertrude discovered 
 how attached the young girl was to Trevor. It was some- 
 what of a shock for her to hear Conny say : 
 
 "I can't have any fun while poor uncle is alone in that 
 big house !" 
 
 "But he hadn't the slightest desire to go anywhere for 
 the summer," Gertrude replied. 
 
 "Perhaps we didn't coax him hard enough," said Conny. 
 
 "Your uncle knows his own mind. Anyhow, there is 
 Leonard Craigie to run in and see him often," Gertrude re- 
 minded her. 
 
 "Oh, there's nothing in the wide world for Lenny but 
 baseball!" came in a petulant voice. 
 
 So some of his boy acquaintances thought when they 
 drifted back into town at the end of summer. Lenny ap- 
 peared in a more favorable light to them, although a few 
 agreed with Maur when he claimed that all Lenny sought 
 was newspaper notice. 
 
 "Why should he want to bother with a bunch of fellows 
 like that?" Maur argued. 
 
 He came to look on at the final games with a superior 
 air, not at all happy over the attention which Lenny re- 
 ceived. On catching a remark of dissatisfaction from a 
 boy who sat near him one who had been expelled from
 
 100 THE TYBANT IN WHITE 
 
 the league, and who had never made his peace with it 
 Maur was tempted to begin the formation of opposition 
 clubs. But he saw at a glance that this would arouse un- 
 favorable comment, and that his motives would be ques- 
 tioned. 
 
 "Oh, the league will fall apart and split up in a year or 
 two, anyhow!" he claimed. "Craigie isn't ingenious 
 enough to think up new ways of keeping the boys inter- 
 ested." 
 
 And he laid a bet with himself that the baseball asso- 
 ciation would not survive another season. 
 
 "Trying to make friends of boys of that sort!" Maur 
 mused with a grin. 
 
 However, despite all his hopes that the battles for the 
 various championships would precipitate trouble, the games 
 as a whole went along smoothly. Finally the day arrived 
 when these championships were decided, and prizes were to 
 be presented to the members of the winning clubs. Most 
 noticeable were the baseball suits, which were piled up in 
 considerable number in front of the diamond, all carefully 
 boxed. These were somewhat larger than the boys to 
 whom they were to go, in order to allow for the bodily 
 growth which the time until the following season would 
 bring. 
 
 The eventful day began with a baseball game between the 
 champion team representing the oldest boys of the league 
 and an out-of-town club. The contest was handily won 
 by the home team, amid great rejoicing. By this time the 
 carriages and automobiles of well-known people, including 
 professional and business men, politicians, and persons of 
 social prominence, formed a conspicuous part of the attend- 
 ance. Conny was there with a bevy of girl friends. Mrs. 
 Craigie was surrounded by a host of neighbors who had
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 101 
 
 come out of curiosity, and who finished by being as enthu- 
 siastic as she. Gertrude had appeared on the scene some- 
 what early, in order to witness Justin's umpiring of the 
 game. 
 
 A sudden silence fell upon the crowd when a Councilman 
 stepped forward. After a lengthy speech, during which 
 Lenny's name was frequently mentioned, much to the dis- 
 comfort of that boy, the Councilman presented to him the 
 captains of the various winning teams for the prizes. It de- 
 veloped that there were not only suits, but small medals 
 and flowers. Then the captains of the teams which had 
 been second best in the contests were called forward, and 
 the members of their clubs were surprised and made happy 
 by orders on a Philadelphia sporting goods establishment 
 for baseball shoes. To bring a full measure of joy to the 
 teams, a Germantown merchant contributed fine caps to the 
 entire league. 
 
 Lenny was much embarrassed when he addressed the 
 players. After complimenting the winning clubs, he spoke 
 at considerable length of those in the league who had made 
 good records, and pointed out some of the pitching feats, 
 and examples of excellent fielding and base-running. He 
 ended by saying: 
 
 "I hope this section will get to be famous all over the 
 country for the great players it will contribute to Amer- 
 ican baseball. I feel sure it will after some of the work 
 done on the lots which were loaned to us. I hope there 
 will always be property owners who will let ball teams have 
 grounds for the asking. Baseball is the great American 
 game. Good Americans ought to encourage it. And now, 
 good-by to the game until next spring!" 
 
 The occasion was not to end there, for one of the players 
 came forward with a small loving cup, bought by contribu-
 
 103 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 tiona from all the teams, and he presented this to 
 with the words : 
 
 "The Germantown League of Baseball Clubs thanks you 
 for your efforts in its behalf. Please accept this with our 
 warmest regards and esteem." 
 
 Justin, who was standing nearby, cried, "Three cheers 
 for Lenny Craigie !" 
 
 They were given with a will. Then the clubs marched 
 in a body to Mrs. Craigie's lawn, where there was a 
 "spread," more speeches, and great enthusiasm for the 
 prospects of the next baseball season. 
 
 When the boys had gone, Lenny exclaimed : 
 
 "I wouldn't have missed this summer for anything in 
 the world! It's been as good as an education. I feel as 
 if now I really was part of Germantown !" 
 
 That evening at dinner, to which Justin and several 
 other men had been invited, Lenny outlined his plans for 
 the following summer. These included a series of games 
 at the end of the following season, to which an admission 
 fee would be charged, the proceeds to go to the erection of 
 a club-house. 
 
 "I know the money we will get from that will not 
 amount to a whole lot," he said. "But it would show every- 
 body that we were in dead earnest, and so we could find 
 better backing. At the same time, it would keep the fel- 
 lows together, because every one of them would be inter- 
 ested in the way the pile of money was growing. The club- 
 house would be free for the boys; there wouldn't be any 
 charge. That's the only fair way, because most of those 
 fellows can't even afford a quarter a week!" 
 
 Colonel Henderson, who was there, offered to write a 
 check for one thousand dollars in support of the project, at 
 any time Lenny would say the word. Justin promised to
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 103 
 
 secure an equal amount by subscription whenever condi- 
 tions were ripe for the start. 
 
 Mrs. Craigie was pleased to see that no one attempted 
 to compliment Lenny on his thoughtfulness in behalf of 
 others. More gratifying to her than this was the natural 
 and unconceited manner in which he looked upon his own 
 activities. She knew that this impressed many, for it had 
 been frequently spoken of to her. 
 
 The Colonel's visits to the house now passed without 
 comment from Lenny. At one time during the summer 
 these visits had ceased. The Colonel had put a certain 
 question to Mrs. Craigie, and had received an unfaltering 
 "No!" for an answer. But the visits were resumed; the 
 Colonel came back, apparently humbled, but in reality un- 
 beaten. He asked to be allowed to resume his visits on a 
 basis of friendship. He pleaded with such fine dignity, 
 that Mrs. Craigie could not send him away. She did not 
 know that he was patience itself. 
 
 He was sincere, however, when he talked of Lenny's fu- 
 ture. Mrs. Craigie was eager that Lenny should finish 
 with his preparatory school education. Since he intended 
 to take law at the University of Pennsylvania, his studying 
 would be done at home, and she would have him near her. 
 This prospect, somehow, did not bring the Colonel a great 
 deal of happiness when they discussed it. 
 
 Lenny was more anxious than his mother to be done with 
 the military academy. 
 
 "I am not sure of myself at that place," he confided to 
 Conny. "There are so many very young boys all about, 
 that one doesn't feel grown up. I am getting older. And 
 there are a whole lot of things I used to care for that don't 
 interest me now. A few months make a lot of difference I" 
 
 "I'm feeling old myself," said Conny ruefully.
 
 104 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Oh, I'd think it would wear anybody out entertaining 
 the number of fellows that come around here !" Lenny re- 
 marked with disgust. 
 
 "You goose, that's what keeps me young !" was the reply. 
 
 Lenny was about to retbrt, but Maur hove into sight, his 
 muscular body set off to advantage by the clothes he wore. 
 It was his boast that he was as careful as his father about 
 the tailor he chose. At that moment, he looked as if he 
 had stepped out of a fashion plate. His visits to Conny 
 were on the increase, for she was daily growing prettier. 
 He even pretended an interest in Trevor, although this was 
 a trial since he did not like the actor. 
 
 Conny saw through his aversion. To make him pay for 
 his fidgetting when he was near her uncle, she brought him 
 to the latter's rooms every time he came. In the end she 
 said: 
 
 "I know you don't like him, Bob. I can't understand 
 why. Lenny is glad to go up there every time he comes." 
 
 "But it's you I come to see !" Maur insisted. 
 
 "That's nice, Bob, I'm sure. But I'm not half so proud 
 about myself as I am about uncle," returned Conny. "I 
 don't know why you don't appreciate him, he is so loving, 
 and there's not a more interesting man in the world." 
 
 "I still will have it that it is you I come to see," said 
 Maur. "I am not trying to hide the truth. I want to be 
 honest about it. And I'd really care more for your uncle 
 if you only gave me some of your time alone before the 
 blamed academy opened." 
 
 "Why should I give you more time away from uncle?" 
 Conny asked. "You haven't got any consideration when 
 you want anything badly, Bob Maur ! It's so much like a 
 kid's way that you'd make even a cat laugh to watch you."
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 105 
 
 "Can't you be more earnest with me?" said Maur, re- 
 sentful of the light way she treated his regard for her. 
 
 "Why should we be awfully solemn all of a sudden?" 
 Conny demanded. "We weren't any 'mister' or 'miss' so 
 very long ago ! Let's see : when did you quit knicker- 
 bockers ?" 
 
 "Do you treat Craigie like this?" Maur asked angrily. 
 
 "No!" she answered at once. "Do you know why?" 
 
 "Don't talk to me about him!" he cried. "I never pay 
 any attention to him ! What is there about him to make a 
 fuss over? If you only saw how he gets along, you'd find 
 that he banks on what his father did ! What has he done 
 himself? There's no backbone to him!" 
 
 "I remember," Conny mused aloud, "when there wasn't 
 a fellow in our crowd who dared to get Lenny mad. Am 
 I correct, backboney sir?" 
 
 The shot told; but Maur swallowed his wrath, and said 
 with a shrug: 
 
 "A temper isn't spunk. And just because he is willing 
 to sit around and listen to Mr. Trevor in order to get into 
 your good graces, you needn't expect me to resort to the 
 same means !" 
 
 Conny's face became hard. 
 
 "Lenny and I," she said with spirit, "have never tried 
 to make believe to each other ! There never was any one 
 more honest than he ! I am surprised at you !" 
 
 "When you get to know the world as much as I do, you 
 won't be swearing by everybody such an awful lot," he said 
 confidently. 
 
 "Why, what dreadful ideas to have !" Conny cried in a 
 tone of horror. 
 
 "Do you think I'm a romantic fool?" he asked. 
 
 "Well, I'm not such a fool either, Bob Maur! If Lenny
 
 106 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 was making believe, do you think he could keep it up week 
 after week without my finding it out? You ought to get 
 a better opinion of people before you grow much older, or 
 no one will want to have anything to do with you. I cer- 
 tainly don't!" 
 
 In a moment he was pleading for forgiveness in a hum- 
 bled spirit, against which she could not hold out. 
 
 "Of course I'll overlook it; but in case your opinion of 
 me, for forgiving you, Bob, should be pretty small, I want 
 to tell you that I don't respect you as much as I did be- 
 fore." 
 
 "That means you don't respect me for saying what I hon- 
 estly believe," he returned. "It's pretty bad not to be able 
 to lay bare all my thoughts to you!" 
 
 "Such thoughts!" And she eyed him wonderingly. "If 
 they were mine, I'd hide them, so no one would ever 
 guess!" 
 
 "I'm not ashamed of my honesty !" he offered in defence. 
 
 By clinging to this statement, he held his own with her. 
 At the same time he smarted at her preference for Lenny. 
 Despite his regret at having to leave her on his return to the 
 academy, he found some satisfaction in the thought of re- 
 turning there. He felt that at the school no one would 
 question his supremacy. Lenny would be relegated to an 
 inferior place despite his summer achievement. 
 
 Once within the walls of the academy, Maur waited with 
 smiling patience while the flattering attention accorded 
 Lenny wore off. Maur looked forward to the beginning of 
 the regular football practice, certain that Lenny would try 
 for a place on the team. 
 
 The latter had wasted no time in getting back to his 
 books, in his determination to make a good record. This, 
 however, did not keep him from getting into football togs
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 107 
 
 when practice was called. It required but two days for 
 him to discover that Maur was preparing to nullify all hia 
 efforts to secure a position on the regular team. 
 
 Wild with anger, Lenny kept up such a pace in practice, 
 that it began to be the talk of the school. Maur persisted 
 in keeping him on the scrub team, playing him as quar- 
 ter-back, in the hope that the exacting position would con- 
 fuse Lenny. The result was not what Maur expected. Not 
 only were the regulars kept from scoring, but they could 
 not stop the scrub's tricky plays. But still Maur ignored 
 Lenny. He put down the gains of the scrub team to the 
 credit of several of the other men, and advanced these to 
 the regular team. The scrub team, however, continued to 
 score victory after victory. 
 
 Lenny saw that Maur would fight the opinion of the 
 whole school if it was necessary to keep him off the team. 
 Although the scrub quarter-back knew that patience would 
 go a long way in winning out over Maur, he found that he 
 would not be able to wait much longer to tell that man 
 what he thought of him and his methods. And when one 
 of Maur's cronies jumped on him after a line play, and on 
 a second occasion put his knee with kicking force into his 
 side, Lenny exploded with wrath, and accused Maur of con- 
 spiring to put him out of the game. The lie was passed, 
 and Lenny was ready to fling himself upon the football 
 captain, when the appearance of an instructor belonging 
 to the school put a stop to the threatening hostilities. 
 
 Lenny went to the gymnasium and took off his football 
 outfit, his teeth shut tight against the desire to resume 
 practice. Many believed that by next day his anger would 
 be gone, and he would be back on the field. But he smoked 
 himself into a still more hostile frame of mind, and re-
 
 108 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 fused to listen to the coaxing of those boys who wished him 
 to re-enter the game. 
 
 If the incident angered Lenny, it also gave him some 
 satisfaction. He had demonstrated that he had the mak- 
 ing of a first-class player, who, with the proper encourage- 
 ment, might have proved a valuable asset to the school 
 team. But he soon found that, although the manner in 
 which he had "made good" continued to be the talk of the 
 academy, all friendly support for his course practically 
 vanished after Maur had brilliantly captained the academy 
 team to victory in several contests with outside schools. 
 
 Even then Lenny was not sure that the academy had 
 altogether forgotten him. He was confident that once the 
 season was over, the boys in their talk would rake up 
 Maur's behavior, and it would heighten their growing dis- 
 trust of him. So Lenny once more attacked his books, and 
 tried not to think of the practice daily going on almost 
 under his window. 
 
 In this he was aided by the cigarettes in which he in- 
 dulged, despite the lookout kept by the school authorities 
 for such a breach of discipline. It was the practice of the 
 boys either to lean out of the windows while they smoked, 
 regardless of the weather, or to sit near the draught cre- 
 ated by an open window, so that the odor of the cigarettes 
 might be carried out. This latter method was responsible 
 for the first serious scrape into which Lenny got at the 
 academy that fall. 
 
 As he was about to go to the window after lighting a cig- 
 arette, the door cf his room suddenly opened. Lenny felt 
 instinctively that it was an instructor on one of his rounds 
 of inspection. Unable to fling his cigarette out of the win- 
 dow without betraying the action, he crushed it in his hand,
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 109 
 
 and carelessly seating himself on the bed, he slipped it, 
 supposedly extinguished, under the pillow. 
 
 It was done with such speed and smoothness, that the 
 instructor was entirely deceived, although there was the 
 faint odor of cigarette smoke in the room. When the in- 
 structor proceeded on his rounds, there was a shrill whistle 
 from below, as a signal for an appointment which Lenny 
 was to keep, and he went down, without giving any thought 
 to the cigarette he had hidden. 
 
 An hour later, the boy who roomed with Lenny came to 
 prepare his lessons, but, instead, aroused the whole school 
 with a yell of "Fire!" It had not reached that propor- 
 portion, but the smoke which came from the neighborhood 
 of the pillow was sufficiently alarming. It also served to 
 awaken the suspicions of the instructor who had visited the 
 room when Lenny had made away with his cigarette. The 
 result was that the latter was ordered before the head of 
 the academy. 
 
 Colonel Ainsworth, the principal, had been an important 
 member of the army before he founded his school. In 
 order not to drive boys away, he had been forced to modify 
 the ideas of discipline with which he had unmercifully 
 handled enlisted men. The result was that the discipline 
 of the school oscillated between merciless bulldozing and 
 no discipline at all. 
 
 In Lenny's case the principal was particularly troubled 
 because during the previous year Mrs. Craigie had written 
 to inquire what was being done by the academy to check 
 smoking. At that time he had replied that it was entirely 
 stamped out. And now her own son had almost burned 
 down the academy with a cigarette! 
 
 The Colonel was bald, rather stout, and with a protrud- 
 ing chest, which gave him an air of dignity. A weak jaw,
 
 110 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 however, undid the formidable appearance he sought to 
 present. He looked better standing up than, sitting, for 
 his long legs carried a somewhat short bust. But though 
 he always stood when boys were brought before him, they 
 were never impressed a fact of which he was well aware. 
 
 As Lenny entered the Colonel's room, he saluted the 
 figure standing solemnly near the desk. There was no one 
 else present. The Colonel believed that he could manage 
 without the attendance of the accusing instructor. 
 
 "And so, Craigie, you defy our discipline, and smoke!" 
 he delivered himself with elevated brows. "What is more, 
 you try to burn down the building over our heads ! I ex- 
 pect a full confession from you, sir ! Let us have it. It 
 will save much annoyance and misunderstanding." 
 
 Seeing from the Colonel's air that he was in possession 
 of the main facts, Lenny told what had happened. When 
 he finished, the Colonel said : 
 
 "But you are not the only one at the academy who 
 smokes." 
 
 "I would rather speak for myself," returned Lenny. 
 
 "Well," said the Colonel, stiffening, "I have made up 
 my mind to break up the habit here ! It is the ruin of the 
 health and discipline of the academy. Since you will not 
 aid me in any way, I cannot be lenient." 
 
 Still Lenny refused to play the informer. The princi- 
 pal, drawing himself up, imposed sentence. 
 
 "Since I have reason to believe that you picked up the 
 habit while with us, and that we are therefore indirectly 
 responsible for it, I will not summarily expel you," he 
 said. "But this breach of discipline, which almost de- 
 stroyed the establishment, is to be brought to the atten- 
 tion of the whole academy. Then after a short time, you
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 111 
 
 will leave. I have not yet decided how long you will stay 
 before you go." 
 
 A red swirl swept before Lenny's eyes. He had to put 
 his hand on the back of a chair to keep from falling over. 
 The Colonel saw a very pale boy whose eyes glowed wildly. 
 
 "You mean to make an example of me?" asked Lenny 
 in a choking voice. 
 
 "I am not to be interrogated !" was the reply. "You do 
 not seem to realize that your presence here almost cost us 
 life and property. You are very thoughtless, and, I might 
 say, very dangerous. Patience has ceased to be a virtue ! 
 I shall no longer be lenient !" 
 
 Lenny was thinking fast, and, oddly enough, found him- 
 self very calm. A few seconds served to create for him the 
 picture of his mother receiving the news of his expulsion. 
 Then he saw the great stir it would make in Germantown. 
 At a stroke he decided on desperate measures. 
 
 "I don't believe," he said deliberately, "that I will wait 
 to be kicked out. I'll go to-day. And now, if you will 
 excuse me, I will telephone home. You are at liberty to 
 tell the boy a that you expelled me." 
 
 Instead of a rebuke, Lenny was astonished to hear in 
 mournful accents: 
 
 "Ah, Craigie, can this be the sen of the gallant Cap- 
 tain ? I am sorry for your mother." 
 
 This was too much for Lenny, who burst out : 
 
 "I suppose, sir, you are sorry for my mother! But as 
 for making an example of me well, isn't it too much like 
 a joke to pick me out for punishment when the other fel- 
 lows who have smoked never had anything done to them? 
 I'm not the worst. People will see that right away. They 
 won't understand why it was I who was picked out. I may 
 have been thoughtless, sir, but I'm not usually given to
 
 112 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 destroying property or lives. I'm not such an awful crim- 
 inal. It doesn't seem quite fair to make an example of 
 me." 
 
 "Craigie," stormed the Colonel, "stop at once! Go to 
 your room ! You will know shortly just how I will dis- 
 pose of this ! Silence, sir !" 
 
 Lenny went through the empty formula of a salute, and 
 retired. 
 
 His roommate asked: 
 
 "Was it really a cigarette that set the bed on fire, Len?" 
 
 "Now, honestly, don't you think a piece of chewing-gum 
 could do it?" was all the satisfaction he got. 
 
 Then Lenny settled himself for a letter, which ran as 
 follows : 
 
 DEAR JUSTIN MAHAN: I'm in a deuce of a stew here 
 except that it was more like a roast. I put a cigarette under 
 my pillow so one of the teachers who popped in wouldn't catch 
 me smoking, and the whole bed smoked, too. The Colonel who 
 runs this pop-gun academy threatens to raise some more smoke 
 by firing me as an example. I don't really think he will if 
 some one talks to him. He's got to be headed off mighty quick. 
 I would be sorry about being expelled, because of mother. 
 
 Would you care to come up to the school to see the Colonel, 
 and to tell him I'm not a crook, or in the habit of burning 
 down places as valuable as this? It hurts all over to think 
 that I am to be picked out as a bad case of wickedness. I know 
 the Colonel would give you a hearing. 
 
 As your client, would you mind if I asked you to keep mum 
 about this? Please oblige, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 LEONARD EWART CRAIGIE (LENNY). 
 
 P. S. The Colonel smokes, too, so if you bring along a 
 couple of good cigars, it ought to help. 
 
 Another P. S. This may sound as if I wasn't in earnest. 
 But you have no idea how I feel. And it grows worse every 
 minute. 
 
 By the time Lenny had turned in for sleep, the whole 
 school knew that his case was a serious one. In the mess-
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 113 
 
 room next morning, many crowded about him with ques- 
 tions, and he was the subject of considerable discussion. 
 There was no chance for sympathy, since he was not in- 
 clined to air his troubles. In fact, he talked very little. 
 He was anxiously awaiting the outcome of his letter, al- 
 though he was certain that Justin would not fail him. 
 
 As he dwelt on the difficulty in which he found himself, 
 his anxiety increased. The expulsion itself did not matter 
 much, particularly as it would bring the substitution of a 
 tutor for the academy. He was concerned about the dis- 
 tress it would create at home. He wondered which would 
 be the greater blow to his mother the enforced with- 
 drawal from the school, or the fact that it was the result 
 of his smoking. 
 
 For a few moments Lenny, suddenly frightened, was in- 
 clined to call in Colonel Henderson to help him. But 
 though a boy, he saw how it would put him under obliga- 
 tion to his mother's admirer, and pride kept him from 
 making this move, despite the fact that the conference of 
 the two colonels would have smoothed matters out. 
 
 So he put his entire trust in Justin, who was prompt to 
 respond to the appeal. Instead of first seeing Lenny, 
 Mahan sent up his card to the Colonel, and was immedi- 
 ately shown into his office. Justin had no difficulty in siz- 
 ing up the former army man as a weak individual, whose 
 main object in life was to squeeze dollars out of bis school. 
 
 After briefly giving his reasons for coming to the acad- 
 emy, Justin added : 
 
 "I would like to act for both mother and son, even if it 
 was Leonard who called me in." Then he asked for an 
 exact statement of what had occurred. 
 
 At first the Colonel was disinclined to put himself out
 
 114 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 for the young man who sat composedly opposite him; and 
 he declared pompously : 
 
 "I would prefer to deal directly with Mrs. Craigie, rather 
 than with any representative of the boy." 
 
 "It would be unfortunate, perhaps, to bring this to her 
 attention," said Justin thoughtfully. "She is not a very 
 strong woman. You know how frail she is. And Leonard 
 is her only child. When it comes to placing the blame, she 
 might be inclined to feel outraged that he should have 
 learned to smoke at this place." 
 
 "Am I to be held responsible for that?" cried the Colo- 
 nel vehement!}^ taken aback by the argument. "They ac- 
 quire other habits here. Am I for that reason to put a 
 guard over every boy? Impossible, sir! That sort of 
 thing is unattainable even at home !" 
 
 "I am still not convinced that it is impossible to check 
 the boys' constant smoking," persisted Justin. "It would 
 seem more reasonable to do that than to seek to make an 
 example of one who had innocently acquired the habit at 
 the academy. Leonard Craigie is not naturally vicious. 
 I am sure that you do not believe he is ! Why you should 
 want to strike at him by any punishment which would hold 
 him up to ridicule is beyond me !" 
 
 "To conceal his cigarette to virtually lie about it !" 
 began the Colonel, trying to be stern. 
 
 "That was an impulse on his part," said Justin. "Noth- 
 ing more. Every one will tell you that he is an honorable 
 chap. But what we have to consider is how Mrs. Craigie 
 will feel when she finds that expulsion came on top of his 
 having acquired the habit here! And allow me to put 
 this to you : Mrs. Craigie has an unusually large circle of 
 friends who are very fond of Leonard. They will not 
 readily believe the worst of. him. What they will wonder
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 115 
 
 at is that he should have been punished, and others passed 
 by. If I may be permitted to say it, it would be unfor- 
 tunate for the academy. Consider! All this publicity 
 would advertise, not your strict discipline, but the fact 
 that there was smoking at your school ! That is the thing 
 which would linger in the memory of people after they 
 had forgotten all about Lenny's expulsion. It's human 
 nature !" 
 
 The Colonel was frightened. 
 
 "But to burn down a bed!" he murmured helplessly, 
 missing hia chance for sounder argument. 
 
 "Allow me to ask this: Is Leonard Craigie one of your 
 worst pupils?" demanded Justin. "Is it customary with 
 him to defy your discipline ? Has he been a leader in what 
 trouble you may have had at the academy ? Then why not 
 ehow some leniency? Allow me to suggest that you have 
 him apologize before the assembled school for this act. Do 
 not, I pray you, bring grief to his mother by using drastic 
 measures." 
 
 The Colonel showed signs of relenting. He said with a 
 shake of the head : 
 
 "Craigie would not allow himself to get up before the 
 whole school and admit his fault. He would balk at the 
 idea." 
 
 "Ah, but I give you my word that he will not!" 
 cried Justin ; although the next moment he felt that a tus- 
 sle would be needed to bend the boy's pride. 
 
 "Very well, sir, I agree to that!" the Colonel conceded. 
 "I will do it for his mother and for the sake of the mem- 
 ory of the brave Captain!" 
 
 The concession was made so pompously, that Justin was 
 amused. He said with a bow, "I knew you would think 
 of them."
 
 116 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Do you wish to see Craigie?" asked the principal. "If 
 you do, lecture him for his act! Impress upon him its 
 enormity." 
 
 "I shall. But I would prefer to take him aside rather 
 than have it out here," advised Justin. "He would feel 
 rebellious under your eye, and what I would have to say 
 would be lost upon him." 
 
 "Then I will have him sent up to his room, and you 
 can. see him there. He is in the Latin class at present." 
 
 Justin was guided to Lenny's quarters. The latter soon 
 came in, with a hesitating air, as if he feared that some one 
 else than Justin might be there. On catching sight of the 
 visitor, he gave a glad cry. 
 
 "You young scoundrel !" laughed Justin. 
 
 "Oh, I know it was pretty bad!" said Lenny seriously, 
 thus pleasing the man who had come to intercede for him. 
 "But I felt awful at the notion of the Colonel picking me 
 out as an example ! If he had only shown the least fair- 
 ness, it would have been different." 
 
 "Although you were really to be fired," said Justin, smil- 
 ing, "and the fact burned into the memory of every boy 
 who came here, J hardly feel that your principal is now 
 going to do either. To tell the truth, when I heard the 
 story from him, I was not pleased with the idea of your 
 being punished by a man of that sort. And, anyhow, 
 there is no particular fun in seeing you picked out as a bad 
 case. The Colonel is afraid that somehow he hasn't been 
 strict enough about the smoking. But you're to be let off 
 easy." 
 
 "Mother to be told, eh ?" Lenny said, trying not to show 
 his anxiety. 
 
 "No. You are to make a public apology for the acci- 
 dent." Then when Justin saw the distress on Lenny's
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 117 
 
 face, he said in a tone of pleading, "I gave the Colonel my 
 word you would. I believed you'd get up and say the few 
 words he expects of you." 
 
 "Why, yes," said Lenny, drawing a long breath, "I will." 
 
 "It's a big thing for a fellow to do to stand up and 
 admit he was in the wrong!" Justin let him see another 
 side to the issue. 
 
 "Oh, that part of it was all right," said Lenny. "But 
 I'm not feeling up to the mark these days, and I don't like 
 getting up before all the boys. I get so nervous, that I 
 can't find my voice. But I'll do it." 
 
 "Eight, old man !" cried Justin. "Bully boy! I knew 
 you would rise to the occasion." 
 
 "But hadn't you better tell me what you said to the 
 Colonel?" Lenny coaxed. "You must have got around 
 him somehow. He wanted to make it harder when I saw 
 him, you know." 
 
 "Never mind how I did it!" laughed Justin. "You 
 come along for a talk with him." 
 
 It was not exactly a crushed wrongdoer that Justin led 
 into the principal's room, and even the latter was conscious 
 o Lenny's dignity and impressed by his frank avowal of 
 wrong. 
 
 Justin left the school with an odd feeling at heart. Be- 
 fore him trooped his own many "prep" and college days, 
 all alive with boys and men and festivities and stirring 
 athletic contests. The whole now seemed part of some 
 dream; and he wondered at the distance separating him 
 from the countless happy hours spent with schoolmates, 
 who were now scattered far and wide, and from whom he 
 rarely heard, except at an occasional commencement. 
 
 "Time flies. There is no going back," he mused. "Even 
 the fellows are not the same now that they were."
 
 118 THE T YE ANT IN WHITE 
 
 He thought of several whom failure had blighted; of 
 some who cared little for place or fame, and lived quietly ; 
 of others, again, who were eager for the best that life could 
 give them, and who struggled to obtain a high place. A 
 few had been swept away by death. 
 
 He considered his own future. Against the great joy 
 of knowing that it would be only a short time before Ger- 
 trude would consent to their marriage, there was to be 
 counted the fact that he was not finding his own advance- 
 ment in politics easy. The small part he had played in the 
 fall elections dismayed him. The fault, he admitted, did 
 not altogether lie with the ward boss. Justin had not been 
 able to do the campaigning he had laid out for himself. 
 Strength had not come to him as abundantly as he could 
 call it forth in the past. 
 
 This had frightened him into a visit to a physician. The 
 latter put the blame upon his smoking ; and Justin resigned 
 it for just three days. Finding no improvement in his con- 
 dition at the end of that time, and tempted back to his 
 cigarettes, he had gone to another physician. This one 
 overlooked the cigarettes and advised less office work. 
 Justin was disgusted by this conflict of opinion. 
 
 "Medicine," he had mentally growled as he left the 
 physician's office, "is the only profession in which danger- 
 ous guesswork is made legal !" 
 
 On the train from the academy into Philadelphia, his 
 thoughts gradually grew more cheerful, and finally dwelt 
 rn the manner in which he had aided Lenny. 
 
 "I would not have missed that for any court victory!" 
 he exclaimed. "To think of that Colonel getting ready to 
 pillory Lenny without a grain of sympathy for a decent 
 chap like him ! I suppose the boy will tell his mother in
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 119 
 
 good time. And he won't hesitate to get up and declare his 
 mistake before the whole school, either !" 
 
 Could he have seen how Lenny began to be troubled 
 about this, Justin might have been dubious about his 
 victory. It was not the shame of publicly apologizing which 
 distressed Lenny, but the thought of facing a large crowd. 
 The longer he worried about it, the more fearful did the 
 coming ordeal grow. Two days were to intervene, but each 
 day assumed the proportion of weeks. 
 
 During recitations his attention would constantly wander 
 from the work in hand to what he would say in the 
 assembly hall. It was not long before he began to regard 
 the position in which he found himself as a worse punish- 
 ment than expulsion itself. Every hour proved a terrible 
 strain, and he showed the effects of it. 
 
 He was certain that his voice would break when he spoke. 
 In the period through which he had already passed, he had 
 found it difficult to speak with ease while reciting. As he 
 pictured himself climbing up the platform steps in the 
 assembly hall, he trembled with fear. 
 
 He began to consider ways by which he might evade go- 
 ing through the ordeal. There was a chance that if he went 
 to the Colonel and told him how he was suffering, he might 
 be released from his promise. On the other hand, the 
 Colonel might set him down as a coward. Soon he began 
 to believe that the only way of ending the torture was to 
 leave the academy, and to make a clean breast of his 
 wrong-doing to his mother. He was tempted to do so, but 
 put aside the thought. 
 
 On the night before the eventful day, Lenny did not 
 sleep a wink. He arose in the morning with his eyeballs 
 on fire and his limbs hot. Not a morsel of breakfast passed 
 his lips. When he stood on his ieet, he shook lite ft leaf-
 
 I 
 
 120 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "I'm licked !" he grieved. "It's no use! I've got to tell 
 the old man that I'm down and out!" 
 
 And he sought the office, white-faced, trembling, haggard, 
 yet desperate. He did not care what the outcome would be, 
 for he saw only defeat ahead. The Colonel, who had been 
 about to go out, looked curiously at the boy. Lenny 
 saluted and waited to be asked what he wanted. 
 
 In answer to the principal's "What is it, sir?" he said: 
 
 "I am not feeling very well. In fact, I'm pretty sick. 
 I'm afraid I won't be able to do to-day what you wanted 
 me to. And I'd like to get excused from recitations. I'm 
 really sick. I'm not shamming, sir." 
 
 "Just what is the matter with you?" asked the head of 
 the school, who was inclined to believe the boy from the 
 external evidences he presented. 
 
 "I don't know," replied Lenny. "I am weak all over. 
 My heart beats too strongly, and my head is dizzy. I feel 
 as if somebody was sitting on my chest. If you please, sir, 
 could I call up home on long distance? I think I ought 
 to be there." 
 
 He was trembling perceptibly now. 
 
 "Come, don't be frightened!" said the Colonel, some- 
 what scared himself. "Go to your room and lie down, and 
 I will have the doctor take a look at you. You'll feel 
 better soon. You are excused from recitations." 
 
 Murmuring his thanks, Lenny staggered up to his room. 
 There he fell across the bed, and lay with a madly beating 
 heart, shaking from head to foot. The physician who was 
 called in prescribed quiet, and had Lenny transferred to a 
 room where he would not be disturbed. To the Colonel the 
 physician said: 
 
 "You've got a bad attack of nerves on your hands there. 
 Keep him quiet for a week. It won't be the last time he
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 121 
 
 will go to pieces like that. He's the type. A frequent 
 instance of too much energy at one moment, and none at 
 all the next. It's the American disease." 
 
 "He was to have been disciplined/' said the Colonel, 
 "but I guess that's all off. I don't want to make any 
 mistakes. You're sure he isn't shamming?" 
 
 "With that pulse? By the way, I saw the yellow stains 
 on his fingers. They will smoke despite you, eh?" 
 
 "He was going to be disciplined for it," said the Colonel. 
 
 "A little easier than disciplining the whole school, I sup- 
 pose!" laughed the physician. " Three- fourths of your boys 
 are users of cigarettes. Why don't you apply the brakes?" 
 
 Since the physician and the Colonel were good friends, 
 the latter could express his helplessness openly. 
 
 "They'd find a pretext for going elsewhere, if I did put 
 on the brakes," said the principal with a shrug. "If I 
 did not care about that and tried to stop the smoking, I'd 
 have to double my staff. I remember how I used to get 
 around watchful people in my own day." 
 
 "Those boys will pay for it," remarked the physician. 
 
 "Pooh! Has it harmed me?" cried the Colonel, throwing 
 out his chest, and stretching himself to his full height. 
 
 "Um, well, your eyes are not of the best," the physician 
 began. "And your digestion is not a winner. To amble 
 over to your circulation, why, that is rather poor. You 
 are liable to colds of the throat. The occasional ringing 
 in your ears you complain of isn't due to the pressure of 
 thoughts in your head. And those lazy spells which bother 
 you come from the same source. If you would quit smok- 
 ing, you would have a few more years to yourself before 
 you joined your fathers and bereaved your pupils." 
 
 All the Colonel said in answer was: 
 
 "Have a cigar, Bill. I've got a new brand you'll like."
 
 CHAPTEK VIII 
 
 ALTHOUGH the terror of being publicly branded was past, 
 Lenny did not immediately return to his former cheerful- 
 ness. One idea now possessed him to be done with the 
 academy aa soon as possible, and to have a tutor prepare 
 him for college. His letters occupied themselves more and 
 more with this, and he built his ambitions around it to such 
 an extent that his mother found herself falling in with his 
 plana. 
 
 She believed that his work with the baseball league had 
 suddenly matured him, and that the academy could never 
 be pleasing again. This did not make her altogether 
 happy. She would have preferred that he remain very 
 much of a boy for some time to come. 
 
 His spell of illness had not been allowed to worry her, 
 for Lenny insisted that she should not be told at once, and 
 the Colonel had agreed. When Lenny did write of it, after 
 resuming his work, it was mentioned carelessly. 
 
 "The Colonel wished to spare me useless worry, I sup- 
 pose," Mrs. Craigie reflected, never having been able to see 
 the weaknesses of the principal. "I am sorry Lenny is 
 thinking of leaving the academy." 
 
 She felt less regret, however, when she learned that one 
 of the boys of the school had been expelled for stealing a 
 thing before unheard; of there. Lenny had not been her 
 
 m
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 123 
 
 informant in this, and he appeared reluctant to discuss it 
 when she asked him about it. 
 
 Of well-to-do parents, there was no reason why Sylvester 
 Bancroft, the expelled student, should have resorted to 
 stealing. Many complaints of the loss of valuables brought 
 a strict watch, and Bancroft was trapped. The sort of boy 
 he was showed in a remark of one of his classmates. 
 
 "When he came, we called him Sylvy. 'Silly' was good 
 enough lately." 
 
 After he had been sent home, the boys spoke in derision 
 of his "chalk-face" and his cigarette-stained fingers. He 
 was known to have the widest range of oaths ever heard at 
 the academy. Yet there were many who remembered him 
 as an unusually pleasant chap when he first came. 
 
 The Colonel was hard hit by the occurrence. He roundly 
 lectured the school on vicious habits, and made a reference 
 to "one among you who almost destroyed the academy be- 
 cause of the vile habit of smoking." 
 
 "It was cigarettes which led Bancroft to his downfall!" 
 he thundered at the assembled school. "I shall stamp this 
 out, if it costs me my entire attendance !" 
 
 He became vigilant, and for a time the neighboring 
 tobacco stores found their incomes dwindling. Lenny did 
 not touch a cigarette for three weeks, not because of the 
 watch which had been set, but out of fear that cigarettes 
 might work some great harm which would make another 
 Bancroft of him. But when temptation sorely beset him, 
 he laughed himself out of the fear that smoking could be 
 responsible for rascality. 
 
 "Isn't Justin Mahan the soul of honor?" he argued. 
 "Oh, I can indulge a little I haven't any other vices. And 
 if I have overdone it, it's because of the terrible dullness 
 here. Once I am out of the place, and begin real study
 
 124 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 and real work, there will be something else to think of. 
 It isn't hurting me. anyhow." 
 
 So he returned to his cigarettes, although he was very 
 careful to avoid detection. Discovery would have been 
 disastrous, for the Colonel was in no mood to be lenient. 
 In fact, he eyed Lenny rather sternly every time they met. 
 
 The approaching Christmas holidays meant more for 
 that boy than an opportunity of seeing his mother. He 
 wanted to discuss the matter of leaving the academy, and 
 to exact some promise on that score. At the same time he 
 intended to have Justin put in a word for him. He was 
 certain that his hopes would prevail, and so the day of de- 
 parture for home found him no longer worried and wan, 
 but cheerful and smiling. 
 
 His mother's unconcealed joy as she put her arms around 
 him smote his conscience. He regretted keenly at that 
 moment that he had not, in his letters, confessed about his 
 smoking. But this feeling of compunction soon vanished. 
 
 "A fellow can't tell his mother everything," he argued. 
 
 At dinner, he asked her whether she was displeased with 
 his first term's marks. 
 
 "Not if I knew you were a little remorseful about your 
 laziness," she said with a smile. 
 
 "Well," he returned gravely, "I feel out of place at the 
 academy. It began with Maur. I was disgusted to see 
 that bully lead the school around by the nose. The place 
 didn't seem pleasant because of him. But I also saw that I 
 wasn't really preparing for college. I am not sure that the 
 academy will help me in my entrance exams. So there 
 you are ! When a fellow's half-hearted, he's not going to 
 exert himself. I'd like to have a big pace set me ! Oh, I'm 
 not just mooning, mother!" 
 
 Then he showered her with questions about Conny, Ger-
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 125 
 
 trude, and Trevor. She tried to answer his inquiries as fast 
 as they were put. 
 
 She did not say that she was very much at a loss to 
 understand Trevor's position in the household, although 
 his pent-up life mystified her. It had become a subject for 
 neighborhood gossip. But Mrs. Craigie had never gone 
 farther than to remark to herself, "It is all very strange; 
 but we shall know what it means in time, since Gertrude 
 has nothing to hide." 
 
 The gossips were not so kind. Trevor learned of this 
 from chance remarks dropped by Conny. It worried him. 
 He asked himself whether he would not in the end be 
 standing in his daughter's way, if there was a chance of 
 her marrying well. 
 
 "True, it would be very hard! to go away," he said with a 
 groan. "And I may even have been of help to her. But 
 this gossip is bound to hurt her and her aunt. No ! No ! 
 I must not stay !" 
 
 For a week his hours were filled with fearful debate. At 
 times he thought of stealing off, never to return. This 
 seemed cowardly. So he summed up courage one day, and 
 presented himself before Gertrude. 
 
 "I want to ask a favor of you," he said, his attitude very 
 humble so humble that Gertrude dismissed the idea that 
 he was going to beg for the right to tell Conny of his 
 relationship to her. 
 
 "I want to go away," he announced. 
 
 She gazed at him with an air of stupefaction. 
 
 "To go away!" she repeated mechanically. 
 
 "Yes. I know that my presence in this house is becom- 
 ing the talk of those about us; and rather than stand in 
 your way or Conny's, I will take myself off. I am feeling 
 a little stronger; and perhaps if I went to England, I could
 
 1261 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 do character work on the stage. I would prefer to drop 
 out of your lives. I feel how much of an intruder I have 
 been." 
 
 Gertrude turned away a little with lowered head. When 
 she spoke at last, there was a tremor in her voice. 
 
 "I want to ask a favor of you" she said. Trevor's eyea 
 opened wide. "I want you to take your meals at my table," 
 she told him. 
 
 "And not to go away?" he gasped. 
 
 "No. I wish you to remain with us/' she said. 
 
 "But think " he cried. * 
 
 "About what people will say, Mr. Trevor? They gosaip 
 about everyone," Gertrude returned calmly. 
 
 "Believe me," he stammered, "I cannot bear this good 
 fortune!" Then he pointed out, "See how hard it will be 
 for you and myself if I should come into your dining- 
 room where she Marie ate ! If you but knew how her 
 presence seems to fill this house ! At nights I start at what 
 appear to be footfalls ! No I No ! I must not tell you these 
 things !" 
 
 He buried his face in his hands. Gertrude had to exert 
 great will power to keep from going over to him, and 
 soothing him. 
 
 "No," she said instead, "you must not tell me things 
 like that." She asked, "Do your surroundings wear too 
 much upon you? I know everything suggests Marie. But 
 worse than all is our silence about your relationship to 
 Conny." 
 
 She waited for him to speak, fearful that her kindness 
 had given him an advantage. He said : 
 
 "I am not restive under that silence. Will you allow me 
 to make a bargain? When you have completely forgiven 
 me, I will be ready to consider telling Conny who I am. I
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 127 
 
 do not promise to tell her even then. But I will be free to 
 consider it." Then he cried, "No! no! We must not 
 think of it at all ! I am not worthy ! I am not worthy !" 
 Gathering himself together, he said with an effort at com- 
 posure, "I will dine at your table, if you so wish." 
 
 "I do wish it," replied Gertrude. When Trevor bowed 
 his way out, she asked herself in wonder, "What can time 
 not do if this is the man whose heartlessness almost killed 
 Marie?" 
 
 It was at the dining-table that Lenny found Trevor on 
 the next day. The surprise of the visitor was evident 
 enough, although he tried to conceal it. Trevor sought to 
 save the situation by commenting on Lenny's changed 
 appearance. 
 
 "I would say you were graver," he declared. "It is not 
 the proper air to bring home for the holidays. Do they not 
 meaa the same to you as in the past? What is it that 
 Shakespeare says about holidays? Ah, yes 
 
 "'If all the year were playing holidays, 
 To sport would be as tedious as to work.' 
 
 But I do not think we sport enough in life ; and if we use 
 an hour for lighter things, we take it too seriously, the way 
 you do your athletics." 
 
 Conny proposed, "Suppose we get up a little play for 
 New Year's Eve !" 
 
 The momentary light in Trevor's eyes showed how much 
 he was tempted. But he foresaw that the rehearsals which 
 would have to be undertaken with the necessary boys and 
 girls would focus the attention of the community upon 
 him. He started when he remembered that Conny was 
 waiting for his answer. Gertrude's lowered eyes harried 
 him into speech.
 
 128 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "No," he said, "I cannot." 
 
 "Why?" asked Conny. 
 
 Gertrude was wondering how to close the discussion with- 
 out appearing to interfere. But Trevor saved the evening 
 in his own way. 
 
 "I do not wish to create false longings for acting and 
 the stage," he said, with a touch of sternness. "I am not so 
 sure now, when I see what is becoming of the theater in our 
 country, that I wculd serve any good purpose by inflaming 
 boys and girls with a desire for it. The applause of friends 
 and relatives here might give them an exaggerated notion 
 of what they could do. Then when they would be con- 
 fronted by failure and misery in their attempts to get a 
 foothold on the professional stage, they would lay the 
 blame at my door. The theater called Life is trying 
 enough. Let us be satisfied with that !" 
 
 His voice had taken on an oratorical tone and he spoke 
 almost grandly. When he found Gertrude staring at him, 
 he blushed like a girl. 
 
 "But a pretty little play wouldn't spoil any of us, I'm 
 sure," argued Conny. " Oh, don't be afraid of my running 
 off and joining some company. I know that I would be 
 a grand failure on the stage !" 
 
 But Trevor knew otherwise. He had watched with un- 
 easiness Conny's wonderful power of mimicry. Her 
 ability to play a part had often encouraged him to fancy 
 her toying with audiences, making them worship her, laugh 
 with her, cry with her, and sending them away enthralled. 
 At those moments, his hopes for a daughter who would 
 win fame on two continents battled with his fears. 
 
 Sitting at Gertrude's table, he cringed from these 
 thoughts. 
 
 "I am not afraid of your running away," he said un-
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 129 
 
 steadily. "You have more useful work to do in the world 
 than to amuse people, and to wear yourself out doing so. 
 If you must dream, let it be in other directions." 
 
 When Conny was alone with him in his own room, she 
 shook her finger at him and cried : 
 
 "You said that just for Aunt Gertrude's sake! Don't I 
 know ? To lecture like that after all the wonderful things 
 you told me about the stage ! If I'd been an actor, I 
 would have stuck up for my profession ! Oh, yes, I 
 would !" 
 
 "It would kill me if I thought I was influencing you to 
 go on the stage !" Trevor said sternly. Then he asked, 
 more calmly, "Why didn't you bring Lenny up with you?" 
 
 "Justin Mahfm came in, and they're planning about 
 that baseball league for next summer. Oh, why can't a 
 boy be a boy for all time? Lenny has grown to be as 
 solemn as a rooster ! Here I go after him !" 
 
 She rushed downstairs to break up the baseball con- 
 ference, and brought Lenny back with her. 
 
 "Uncle and I decided that you can put that talk off for 
 at least a couple of months!" she told him. "As punish- 
 ment for hunting game out of season, you are to promise 
 me something." 
 
 Thinking it was to be something trifling, he nodded. 
 
 "You are to try for the baseball team this spring at the 
 academy and to try hard !" was the unexpected demand. 
 
 When Lenny had recovered his composure, he could only 
 insist, "Of course I'll not! No, sir! I wont!" Then he 
 asked, "Someone has been putting you up to this! Don't 
 get out of it now !" 
 
 "All I know is that you've promised!" Conny said. 
 
 "It's been mother!" Lenny suddenly exclaimed. The 
 silence which followed this guess convinced him of its
 
 130 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 correctness. He pleaded, "Can't you see that even if it is 
 my last spring at the academy, Maur wouldn't forgive me 
 for the way I've called him down about his crookedness in 
 athletics ? I know mother wants me to try " 
 
 "Gabby, it wasn't altogether your mother!" Conny 
 broke in. "She does want you in the practice for the ball 
 team, and she has spoken of the way you've cut out 
 athletics. But she hasn't put me up to this !" 
 
 Lenny spent some moments in hard thought. Then he 
 waved aside the plea. "There's no use letting Maur get an 
 extra laugh on me before I quit the school !" he said. He 
 added, "It's been awfully good of you, Conny, to think of 
 what mother would want." Then he asked, "Mr. Trevor, 
 is pride a bad thing?" 
 
 "Aye, that it is !" came in a sad voice. "But perhaps 
 you are right in refusing to allow Mr. Maur to humble you 
 again." 
 
 "Now I've got you!" cried Conny. "At last I've heard 
 you find fault with someone right out aloud ! Poor Bob ! 
 Poor Bob !" 
 
 Then believing that she had thoughtlessly wounded her 
 uncle, she began a series of capers about the room; and 
 finally burst out into a Christmas carol, in which she 
 insisted that Lenny should join. 
 
 Trevor was beginning to find joy in watching young peo- 
 ple. It was for that reason that he had listened with keen 
 interest to Lenny's account of his quarrel with the academy 
 ball team. It was the sincerity of young people which 
 cheered the actor. He saw that the exception among them 
 was Maur. But Trevor's distrust of him also grew out of 
 the fear that 'llie bulldog tenacity of that boy might in time 
 fascinate Conny, and that she might learn to love him.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 131 
 
 "I must teach her the value of thoughtfulness, just as 
 she has educated me to laughter," he planned; 
 
 He could not understand how he had managed to get 
 along during the last years without the light-heartedness 
 which Conny now brought him. Her sunny moods drove 
 the shadows from the rooms. When Conny smiled it 
 seemed that the whole house was glad. The merry gleam 
 in her eyes would often save Trevor from fits of depression. 
 Her prattle made him a willing listener. He saw why she 
 had the reputation for brightening men and women three 
 times her age. 
 
 "She has made me sleek with contentment," he would 
 murmur. 
 
 It was her presence which helped him to forget that he 
 was practically an invalid, and that his nervous condition 
 was no passing ailment. When he had spoken to Gertrude 
 of going to England to act, it was out of sheer desperation. 
 A few days of hard work would have meant a serious re- 
 lapse. Even when he entertained Conny's visitors for a 
 few hours, it taxed his strength. Of this he never spoke 
 to anyone. His ills were forgotten when Conny would 
 say: 
 
 "The boys and girls all glory in you! You are like a 
 person out of a story-book to them ! How, uncle, did I 
 ever do without you?" 
 
 It could not be otherwise when he spent most of his 
 moments in planning to interest her, and in seeking in 
 every possible way to add to her happiness. Her books 
 occupied his leisure moments. She discussed her likes and 
 dislikes with him. She told him all her thoughts. 
 
 He sought to have her reason clearly, for he was not 
 sure that unhappiness might not come to her, and he 
 wanted her sensitive nature strengthened.
 
 132 THE TYBANT IN WHITE 
 
 At times he would cry : 
 
 "Marie, Marie, surely you are watching! Help me! For 
 I am groping. Even if you have not forgiven me, remem- 
 ber that I must help to mould her future ! I must under- 
 stand her heart !" 
 
 In these moments of loneliness, he questioned the wisdom 
 of his silence about his paternity. There were times when 
 his patience suddenly dwindled, and he was forced to fight 
 fiercely against the impulse to gather Conny into his arms, 
 and to tell her who he was. But he kept sternly reminding 
 himself : 
 
 "That would not be atonement for my cruelty to Marie ! 
 I must not fail my soul ! Is it not enough that I can see 
 the child's face from day to day?" 
 
 He had never written a line of drama, despite the years 
 he had spent upon other people's lines. But now there were 
 occasions when he would see his own life in the light of a 
 subject for a play. This, too, was part of his self-punish- 
 ment, for the episodes of this play were like a naming sword 
 to his conscience. He would end by being mentally crushed 
 under the weight of their accusations. No crueler task 
 could have been set for him. 
 
 The sad hours brought him by memory Conny never 
 guessed as she eagerly watched the seamed face. Her 
 "uncle" refused to speak of her father except when she 
 caught him off his guard. But he never touched on Eobert 
 Trevor the actor without bringing in the failings of Eobert 
 Trevor the man. 
 
 "I guess you will be the last one to forgive him," Conny 
 said with a sigh one day. 
 
 "I hope so ! I hope so !" was the fervent reply. 
 
 "What!" she gasped, amazed by this seeming cruelty.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 133 
 
 "Oh, how can you, uncle? You, the kindest man in the 
 world !" 
 
 "Because I know how much there is to forgive," said 
 Trevor. "But let us not speak of it any more," he pleaded. 
 
 "But / forgive him!" said Conny. 
 
 Trevor helplessly averted his head. 
 
 Lenny, for one, was not altogether ignorant of the grief 
 Conny felt at this strange silence about her parents. There 
 were moments when she would suddenly come out of a 
 spell of cheerfulness to give herself to tears. Lenny was 
 not only tactful enough not to speak of it to anyone, but 
 he never asked her for an explanation. It only confirmed 
 Conny's belief that he was growing "queer." 
 
 When she charged him with ceasing to like her, as he 
 stood before her to say good-by when the holidays were at 
 an end, he first laughed, then reminded her : 
 
 "I'm about ready to enter the university, you know. So 
 the quicker I get rid of kid habits, the better. That's why 
 I'm quieter now, I guess." 
 
 "Am I one of your kid habits?" she asked. 
 
 It gave them a chance to part jokingly. But Conny 
 repeated her charge of "queer" before Mrs. Craigie. The 
 latter warned her : 
 
 "Don't tell him he is. You don't want to put such ideas 
 in his head. We must not show ourselves too conscious 
 about his growing up. It is bad enough that he is worry- 
 ing about his future already." 
 
 "Well, I guess I'm some of his future, too !" said Conny 
 innocently. "He's got to worry a little about me." 
 
 His mother laughingly admitted the soundness of the 
 argument. After Conny had gone, Mrs. Mulholland in- 
 sisted that it was a very sound argument indeed, and a
 
 134 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 sign that the two young people were more than ordinarily 
 fond of each other. 
 
 "Oh, you mustn't plan ahead for them that way !" ex- 
 claimed Mrs. Craigie. "How little you allow for the 
 changes time will bring! Lenny will be more and more 
 engrossed in his work; and before he has had a chance to 
 thoroughly prepare himself for life, Conny will be carried 
 off by some suitor. She will have many. She is growing 
 more beautiful every day. You must know that a girl at 
 twenty-one is ready to become the mistress of a household ; 
 Lenny at twenty-one will be just beginning to climb the 
 ladder of his profession." 
 
 But Mrs. Mulholland kept her own counsel in the matter. 
 And she was continually advancing arguments to herself 
 to back up her hopes. 
 
 "Haven't they always picked each other out in the 
 crowd?" she would ask. "Isn't she always coming here to 
 talk about him? Hasn't he begun to be a little shy about 
 her?" 
 
 At the same time, this did not prevent her from seeing 
 possible rivals in the other boys who called upon Conny. 
 She was also somewhat concerned at the latter's frequent 
 mention of Bob Maur's name, even if Conny did not show 
 herself over-enthusiastic about him. 
 
 Mrs. Mulholland would have been worried had she known 
 how untiringly Maur kept up his campaign of interesting 
 Conny, how frequently he wrote her, and of the gifts he 
 sent. For Maur's whole life was run on a systematic plan. 
 His shrewdness had allowed him to keep his hold upon 
 the academy boys. But this had ceased to be his ambition. 
 He was building for the future, and the academy had grown 
 to be unimportant. His immediate goal was not a career 
 at college, despite the athletic honors it promised, but his
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 135 
 
 father's brokerage office. In preparation for this, he was 
 reading stock-market literature. 
 
 Lenny's seriousness was not lost upon him. For a time 
 he was of the belief that the smoking in which Lenny in- 
 dulged would cripple all that boy's efforts. Lenny's 
 thoughtful manner, however, and the report that he was 
 making ready for college forced Maur to resign this idea. 
 There came a time soon after the Christmas holidays when 
 the older boy began to consider whether it would not be 
 wise to patch up his differences with Lenny. 
 
 "If he goes down and out," reasoned Maur, "I can't be 
 the loser for standing in with him. If he succeeds, why, 
 it will never do for me to have him strong with Conny, 
 and me his enemy." 
 
 He told himself that he was not afraid of Lenny as a 
 possible rival in Conny's affection, especially when, in time, 
 she should grow serious about the idea of marriage. But 
 he decided, nevertheless, to make his peace with Lenny. 
 After knocking about for an excuse to break down the 
 barriers between them, he hit upon the plan of offering 
 Lenny the manager's post on the academy baseball team. 
 
 When he approached Lenny, the latter was thunder- 
 struck. 
 
 "Why do you want me on the ball-team?" he asked when 
 he had recovered from his astonishment. 
 
 Suspicion was in his tone, and his manner was not in- 
 viting. Maur, however, overlooked this, for he had been 
 prepared to be received in just this way. 
 
 "I saw what you did with the league last summer," he 
 said. "That proved to me how well you could manage. 
 We won't have a cinch this season. It's your last year and 
 mine at the academy, and we want to see that the school 
 makes a record in the Inter-Academic before we go."
 
 136 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 Lenny was silent for a moment. He suddenly said : 
 
 "If the fellows really want me, let them ask me." 
 
 "I'm running the team," replied Maur decisively. 
 
 "And the whole school, too! I know it!" said Lenny. 
 "But I never cared for a one-man team. If the boys elect 
 me manager, I will consider the offer. Put it up to them 
 first. So far, no one else has spoken to me about it. But 
 it must come from the whole team; understand?" 
 
 It was a bitter pill for Maur to swallow. But swallow 
 it he did, like a good politician. 
 
 "I was throwing out a feeler to see if you cared to 
 manage the team," he said. "Of course, it's up to the 
 boys now." 
 
 He and Lenny separated without further words. Maur 
 was so filled with rage that he was sorely tempted to get 
 the team to vote down his own suggestion, when it was 
 made. But in a few hours he was himself again. 
 
 On the next day he approached Lenny and put out his 
 hand. 
 
 "Shake!" he said. "You're to manage the team! It 
 was unanimous ! The boys were glad to know you would 
 doit!" 
 
 Then Lenny stunned him by declaring: 
 
 "I have decided not to. Tell the boys that I'm sorry 
 I can't do it for them, but that I appreciated their vote of 
 confidence." 
 
 Aa he turned on his heel, conscious that Maur was left 
 speechless, baffled, furious and white, Lenny felt that there 
 had been some squaring of accounts. He had at last partly 
 repaid the other for the many humiliations, and for the 
 persistency with which Maur had kept him off the athletic 
 field. Not a pang of regret marred Lenny's feeling of tri- 
 umph. He realized then, more clearly than ever, that life
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 137 
 
 at the academy would have been a great deal of an inspira- 
 tion and a finer thing in many ways if Maur had not been 
 there. So he looked upon his humbling of the "boss" of 
 the school, in so decisive a manner, as a worthy task well 
 accomplished.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 INTENT upon finishing up his academy work creditably, 
 and beginning as soon as possible the bigger work which 
 was to follow, Lenny resisted the temptation of trying for 
 a place on the ball team that spring. Maur's antagonism 
 would not have deterred him. Lenny felt that there was 
 room for a public clash. Opposition to Maur had cropped 
 up in several quarters, and the school was ready to awaken 
 to the fact that he had been running things with a high 
 hand. And since it promised to be Lenny's last year at the 
 academy, the boys would have encouraged his trials for the 
 shortstop position. 
 
 But there loomed before Lenny the words, "Mahan and 
 Craigie, Attorneys-at-law ;" and he was eager for the time 
 when this ambition would be realized. Maur played no 
 part in his plans for the future. 
 
 "Wait until he gets out of the academy ! It won't be 
 eo easy for him to boss everybody !" was the way Lenny 
 dismissed him from his thoughts. 
 
 Another reason for his withdrawal from athletics was the 
 somewhat backward physical condition in which he found 
 himself. He could not altogether understand this. 
 
 "Too much study hasn't done it," he reflected. "I've 
 studied just as hard in other years. It can't be the smok- 
 ing, for that sort of tones me up when I get fagged. I 
 wonder what it is!" 
 
 138
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 139 
 
 He came to the conclusion that his summer's stay in 
 town had not been in his favor. This did not deter him, 
 however, from planning to further strengthen the baseball 
 league. The fund for its permanent home was growing. 
 Another successful season would bring still more generous 
 support. And Lenny made ready to catch the well-to-do 
 Germantown dwellers before they departed for the various 
 summer resorts. 
 
 When the academy sessions closed, he was full of regret 
 for the many farewells his going meant. He never be- 
 lieved that so many boys would care. But as his home 
 came into sight, after he left the train, this ceased to 
 occupy him. 
 
 His mother was more inclined to discuss the next fall's 
 tutoring, than his intended stay in Germantown that sum- 
 mer to further the success of the league. 
 
 "You are not looking well," she said. 
 
 "Ah, but I was living indoors !" he replied. "We'll give 
 the league a chance to reverse things. I'll be on the out- 
 side most of the time, you know." 
 
 "Outside during hot weather is as bad as inside during 
 winter," she argued. 
 
 There was a discussion until he promised to spend part 
 of his summer away from Germantown. 
 
 "Of course, I shall do a little reading each day on the 
 subjects I will have to prepare for college, whether it is 
 summer or not!" he said. 
 
 But almost immediately he was forced to scurry about to 
 secure grounds for the numerous clubs, because several of 
 the vacant lots had been used for the erection of houses. 
 
 "The men I go to for the money," he told Conny, "are 
 not so slow to respond to the 'touch' as they were last
 
 140 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 summer. Is it because I have added to my growth, or be- 
 cause the league has made good?" 
 
 "It must be because you're really beginning to resemble 
 a man," was the malicious reply. 
 
 Conny did not seem as important to him as on the pre- 
 vious summer until she left for a Massachusetts resort with 
 her aunt, Trevor accompanying them. 
 
 ! "Say, Conny, come back!" Lenny wrote her. "It's 
 gotten so lonely all of a sudden, that I stop in front of your 
 house every time I pass, and whistle to make believe you're 
 there. Not that I haven't plenty to do. But here's mother 
 gone, and you. The houskeeper is all the company I have 
 for meals. Her brilliant 'yes' and 'no' in conversation 
 wears on me. Once in a while I invite somebody down. 
 Mother keeps urging me to get away. But the league 
 won't let me. And I've found that when a fellow wants 
 something done, the best thing is for him to do it him- 
 self." 
 
 Instead of herself praising his devotion to the German- 
 town boys, Conny let him see how she felt by merely re- 
 peating what her uncle said in praise of it. Lenny was 
 hugely pleased. Later, Conny spoke of the odd way in 
 which her uncle had begun to keep to his room. The rea- 
 son for this did not lie in the coolness Gertrude displayed 
 when in his presence. An incident had occurred which 
 had frightened Trevor. 
 
 It began when he discovered that a theatrical manager 
 he had known in former years was stopping at a neighbor- 
 ing hotel. For a while Trevor hid his anxiety from 
 Gertrude. But there came a time when this was no longer 
 possible. The manager passed him on an unfrequented 
 path which Trevor had purposely chosen in the hope of
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 141 
 
 escaping this encounter and had caught sight of the 
 actor's half averted face. 
 
 He called at once after the rapidly moving figure. 
 
 "I say, Trevor! Trevor!" 
 
 Finding that the tall figure would neither turn nor halt, 
 the manager stood perplexed for a moment, ready to believe 
 himself mistaken. But the temptation to have another look 
 at the familiar face was too much for him. He rapidly 
 caught up with Trevor, and touched him on the arm. 
 
 The actor's past training now stood him in good stead. 
 He contorted his face out of semblance to itself, and easily 
 looked eighty when he turned. 
 
 "I beg your rmrdon," said the manager, somewhat be- 
 wildered. "I thought you were one Robert Trevor. As it 
 is, you resemble him although he would be a younger 
 man." 
 
 "My name is not Craven, sir. No, sir," came in a 
 squeaky voice. 
 
 The manager apologized, and went on his way. Trevor 
 hurried tremblingly to his hotel, in a very troubled frame 
 of mind. Seeking out Gertrude, he asked to have a few 
 moments with her, and told her what had happened. When 
 she spoke, it was to say : 
 
 "Perhaps you might go to some other resort for a few 
 weeks. This man is not likely to stay here long." 
 
 Trevor could not hide how he felt about this threatening 
 separation from Conny. As he stammered some words of 
 agreement with what Gertrude advised, she, filled with pity 
 for his distress, said : 
 
 "After all, there may be no reason for alarm. There 
 are many striking resemblances in this world, and he will 
 really believe he made a mistake."
 
 1421 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "I shall take care not to encounter him again/' said 
 Trevor, sternly, as if it would be a crime to do so. 
 
 Gertrude let the matter drop at this point. But as she 
 saw how severely Trevor was inclined to deal with himself, 
 she stood ready to admit that his punishment had been 
 sufficient, and that they should no longer seek to prolong it. 
 
 "I believe he is sincere," she told herself. "But should 
 I not wait a little longer? There is too much at stake. 
 Not that he is playing a part. Still, there is Conny's 
 money ; and, besides, he might be tempted by the chance of 
 separating her from me." 
 
 She was sorry for this mistrust of Trevor. She felt that 
 she would have been less inclined to it if Conny were 
 stronger-minded. 
 
 "If I died," Gertrude reflected, "and if by some chance 
 Trevor's nervousness should make him irresponsible or less 
 kind, who would stand between him and Conny?" 
 
 So Gertrude stiffened herself against the carelessness 
 with which she had come to regard the actor. He was too 
 troubled by his encounter with the manager to notice this. 
 He now wore his glasses at all times to give him an aged 
 appearance, although for two weeks he hardly ventured out 
 of his room. When Conny complained of his shut-in life 
 to Gertrude, the reply was: 
 
 "He most likely prefers it, even if he has given no 
 reason. You ought to understand that there are lots of 
 things we do not explain. Oh, how young you are !" 
 
 "Well, there are very few things, aunt, that he doesn't 
 explain to me!" said Conny, surprised at her aunt's 
 impatience. 
 
 In her next letter to Lenny, Conny wrote: 
 
 "Do you know what I've been thinking and thinking 
 about ? That when aunt gets married and I guess it isn't
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 143 
 
 hard TO guess who the lucky man will be! and when I 
 come into my property, I am going to have a pretty home 
 of my own I And uncle is going to sit at the head of the 
 table to carve, and boss ! I tell you, he's glorious !" 
 
 From German town came in a hurried scrawl: 
 
 "Count on me for a carving set when you start your 
 establishment. But the day you come into your money, 
 a slice of it is going to the league ! Oh, yes, it will always 
 be needing things! There are new kids growing up all the 
 time, you know. 
 
 "Say," went on the letter, "you ought to see how the 
 league is licking everything it tackles around Philadelphia. 
 A couple of high school fellows joined. I wasn't in favor 
 of that kind of thing at first. But they're not snobbish, 
 and it sort of helps along. And when it comes to yelling 
 at the umpire, I guess the high school fellows are no better 
 than the others. Justin Mahan has been doing a lot of 
 coaching. I am going to join mother for a week. No 
 more than that ! Am reading all the time so as to drop 
 right in on study in September." 
 
 He did not tell Conny that he was badly in need of the 
 week's rest he was to take. He would have gone earlier 
 except that he knew his smoking would have to be lessened 
 when he was near his mother. When the latter saw his 
 tired face and nervous manner, that week became two. 
 
 On his return to the city he found the clubs of the 
 league in a wrangle over the question of charging admis- 
 sion to the more important games. The idea was prompted 
 by the wish to secure additional funds for the erection of 
 the club-house. 
 
 Lenny lined up with the opposition. 
 
 "No matter how low an admission you charge," he 
 argued, "you will keep out the people who enjoy seeing you
 
 144, THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 play your own folks. You want the crowd, and not the 
 very few who think they do you a favor by coming to the 
 games. We are getting the money we need about as fast 
 as we expected to get it and a little faster. You will do 
 more by making the game popular than by giving it an 
 appearance of professional baseball. And if you sat down 
 and figured out how much you would make by charging 
 admission, you'd find it wasn't worth while !" 
 
 The final vote supported Lenny's contention. When he 
 was on the way home, some one slapped him on the back 
 and cried: 
 
 "Good boy! You've got the right idea!" 
 
 "I didn't know you were there, Mr. Mahan," said Lenny, 
 coloring like a girl. "Strange I didn't see you!" 
 
 "I was, though. And I heard you. The idea of hiring 
 enclosed fields and charging an admission was really out of 
 spirit with what they should be after. It was certain to 
 lead to wrangling, in time. You were right, too, about 
 their having their own people instead of toadying to those 
 who have money even if it means us," Mahan said with a 
 smile. Then he hastened to correct himself. "No, not 
 exactly us, I suppose but our friends who drop in at the 
 end of summer, and 'Oh !' and 'Ah !' over the thing. Still," 
 he added, smiling again, "you sounded dangerously like a 
 demagogue when you set those fellows against aristocrats 
 who could afford five and ten cents to witness a game." 
 
 "I know it is a small sum " began Lenny. 
 
 "It's all right! I understand! I must have my joke, 
 you know!" said Mahan. "Of course you were looking 
 out for the principle of the thing ! That's what makes me 
 hope you won't be a politician." 
 
 "Oh, I've got to get to Congress some time!" Lenny 
 laughingly replied.
 
 THE TYBANT IN WHITE 145 
 
 "As if I didn't know why you started the baseball 
 league !" said Mahan. 
 
 "That's why I'm going to start as a law freshman next 
 year, too ! But suppose you come and have dinner with me 
 in my loneliness this evening, and we'll talk politics or 
 rather, you'll talk it." 
 
 Justin accepted the invitation, much to Lenny's joy ; and 
 as they walked on and chatted, there sang through that 
 boy's veins : 
 
 "You and I, Justin Mahan, are going in for team work 
 in law in a few years ! In a few years !" 
 
 And Lenny's voice deepened as he conversed. He was 
 slower in making replies, as if he wished to weigh what he 
 said. His eyes were full of seriousness. His stride was 
 measured. And altogether he seemed to have aged five 
 years in as many minutes. 
 
 The thing which struck Justin, and of which he spoke in 
 his next letter to Gertrude, was the increasing resemblance 
 of Lenny to his father. 
 
 "He is Captain Craigie to the life," Justin wrote. "You 
 know how I fairly worshiped the Captain; so all his man- 
 nerisms stuck in my memory. And here is Lenny with the 
 same boundless energy, the same restlessness, the same 
 habit of throwing back his head during excitement, the 
 same quick, sharp laugh, the same sudden moodiness. Every 
 expression of his face brings back the Captain, although 
 I was but a boy when the Captain died. How a boy's mind 
 will fix memories for all time ! As for Lenny, let us hope 
 that no calamity of inaction will fret him to death as it 
 did the Captain." 
 
 That sort of inaction was far removed from Lenny's 
 daily existence. Every moment of his time was fully oc- 
 cupied. To get money for the clubhouse, he interviewed
 
 146 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 storekeepers and politicians, professional men and real 
 estate dealers, and whatever well-to-do women happened to 
 be in Germantown during the warm weather. He was not 
 content to rest with a plea for support. He urged upon 
 those whom he tried to interest that they should come to 
 the ball games. 
 
 One of the business men he approached tried to cut him 
 short by saying: 
 
 "And so you believe people will care to listen to a boy, 
 eh ? Some of them may. But what you had better do is to 
 turn over this collection of funds to a committee of men 
 who have standing in the community. You can't have 
 gotten very much/* 
 
 Lenny began his reply by bringing out a formidable list 
 of names and contributions. When the astonished man had 
 studied these for several moments, Lenny said: 
 
 "It's only right that a boy should do it, for he knows 
 just what a boy wants. He certainly needs a clubhouse, 
 just like a man, especially those fellows who haven't at- 
 tractive homes. You've seen them standing around corners 
 on winter evening?, or in cigar-stores, because there were 
 no other places to go to. And we're after an athletic club. 
 It would be partly run by the boys themselves. Many boys' 
 clubs don't succeed because they're sort of 'hand-me-down' 
 affairs. Why, the more I think of it, the more I wonder 
 how the boys ever did without the club we have in mind !" 
 
 This was his line of argument ; and because of the back- 
 ing he had received at the start, the club ceased to be merely 
 "in the air." His mother had difficulty in getting him 
 away to the seashore again for two more weeks before the 
 season ended. During this fortnight, he spent half of his 
 time in writing letters to people in Germantown about the
 
 THE TYRANT IN" WHITE 147 
 
 league. It was then that his mother found him doing 
 considerable smokicg. She was frightened. 
 
 "You never told me !" she said. 
 
 "Well, you see, when I am busy I haven't much desire 
 to smoke," he said. "That's the reason I wanted to get 
 back to Germantown as fast as I could." 
 
 Mrs. Craigie was thunderstruck. 
 
 "Why, you speak like a confirmed cigarette-smoker !" she 
 cried. 
 
 "Oh, no, mother!" he replied. "I do indulge occasion- 
 ally. But if I thought it was getting any hold on me, 
 don't you think I would come to you and tell you?" 
 
 "Would you, Lenny?" she asked, almost pleadingly. 
 
 "Of course," he said, putting his arm about her. "But 
 it's all because I'm restless and not working. Now that I've 
 promised to stay the two weeks, I will. But I'm anxious to 
 get back. You have no idea how much ! Even though I 
 feel bad about leaving you. What fun to think of being 
 near you while I am tutoring!" 
 
 "You promise never to hold back anything from me that 
 concerns your well-being?" his mother asked. 
 
 "I promise, mamsy. Whom else could I go to?" 
 
 After this when he wished to smoke, he took care to be 
 out of her way. It was one of the reasons why he was 
 happy at last to get back to Germantown. There the needs 
 of the league once more absorbed him. When his mother 
 returned, she discovered that he was but little inclined to 
 talk about a tutor. He was full of the clubhouse project 
 from the very moment she crossed the threshold. 
 
 She cast about for some means of bringing back his in- 
 terest in hia tutoring, for she did not wish to humiliate him 
 by pointing out that he had ceased to care. A happy
 
 148 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 thought struck her. She decided to ask Justin Mahan to 
 engage Lenny in a long talk about his future law work. 
 
 The result was what she had expected. In a week Lenny 
 was clamoring for a tutor. In another week he was under 
 the wing of one. It was not without great hesitancy that 
 he allowed his clubhouse project to pass into the hands of a 
 committee of Germantown citizens. He only turned over 
 his lists of names and promised sums of money after he 
 had seen Justin Mahan elected head of this committee. 
 
 Then, satisfied with the wide newspaper publicity which 
 had come to the league, and certain of its future, he was 
 ready to give his entire attention to his work. 
 
 "It's to be 'Mahan and Craigie' !" he kept repeating when 
 he encountered difficulties in his studies. 
 
 An additional impulse to get on was to come from a 
 visit to Conny and the actor. Maur had just left Trevor's 
 rooms; and as Lenny settled himself comfortably for a 
 chat, he found Conny's uncle still under the spell of that 
 boy's visit. 
 
 "I am amazed at his energy," said the actor. "I have 
 never seen a youth who builded so confidently. And it is 
 more than conceit. He has a sure hold upon himself, and 
 he will succeed. But I do not like his too intimate 
 knowledge of the world. He ought not to have it at his 
 age. When he takes on that air of worldliness, I am sad- 
 dened. He has changed greatly in the last year !" 
 
 " He will certainly succeed," said Lenny. 
 
 "I told him he should not give up the idea of going to 
 college," the actor went on. "But he believes that he would 
 not profit by it. He thinks a man should fall on his feet 
 early. I did not wish to tell him that we were talking 
 about boys." 
 
 Lenny was tempted to laugh, but did not, lest it should
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 149 
 
 appear that he was enjoying the joke because it was at 
 Maur's expense. 
 
 "He spoke/' Trevor said, "of how he astounded his 
 father with his knowledge of the stock-market. He must 
 he a hard worker. Ah, success is in the blood !" 
 
 For once the actor's talk irritated Lenny. But he mas- 
 tered his jealous}^, and rose to the occasion. 
 
 "Bob Maur has grit," he said. "He must have had a 
 tussle with himself about not going to college, where he 
 would have shone in athletics. They would have made 
 much of him there. But when he sets his mind on any- 
 thing, nothing else counts, and he can stand a great deal." 
 
 "Even me," said Trevor with a laugh. "I know he 
 tolerates me because of Conny. I suppose I mustn't bear 
 him a grudge for that." 
 
 As Lenny turned to see what effect these words had upon 
 Conny, there suddenly and startlingly dawned upon that 
 boy's mind a reason for Maur's great ambition. It was 
 Conny that Maur wanted ! And knowing his bulldog de- 
 termination, Lenny felt that Maur would keep on until 
 Conny found that she preferred him to any one else, and 
 would not be able to do without him. 
 
 "Why, what is the matter? You look frightened!" cried 
 Conny. 
 
 "Frightened ? What about ?" asked Lenny with a forced 
 laugh. 
 
 Then he found an excuse for getting hurriedly away, so 
 he could think matters over. Boy though he was, he saw 
 clearly that Conny's present likes and dislikes would not be 
 her future ones. And even Maur might change. 
 
 At once Lenny began to consider how he might fight 
 the latter's influence. Lenny had no thought of regarding 
 his girl friend in a more serious light than heretofore. His
 
 150 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 entire object was to defeat Maur because he did not believe 
 him worthy of Conny. 
 
 No sooner did he come to this conclusion than it colored 
 everything he did. He went at his lessons energetically, 
 and was not at all frightened when his tutor pointed out 
 that the year would have to be a strenuous one if he ex- 
 pected to enter the law school the following fall without 
 conditions. 
 
 Working in the midst of his home surroundings, he got 
 more out of his books than at the academy. By dint of 
 mighty effort, he partly overcame the poor memory with 
 which he had been troubled during the previous year. 
 When the tendency to sit back and idle would come on, he 
 would picture Maur happy with many tasks at his father's 
 brokerage office; and it sufficed to set Lenny going again. 
 
 As a consequence of his arduous application, he went out 
 but little, and when he had leisure he planned the interior 
 of the boys' clubhouse. Conny took him to task more than 
 once for the too few visits he paid her. 
 
 "But I'm trying to be somebody!" he said. "Can't you 
 see that I've got to be up and doing, or I'll be left behind 
 by everybody?" "By Maur" was on the tip of his tongue, 
 but he checked himself in time. "And you know my rea- 
 son for hustling. I've got to be good enough to be worthy 
 of becoming Justin Mahan's partner. I've told you that 
 before " 
 
 "But now I know you mean it !" cried Conny exultantly. 
 "Isn't it glorious to stop thinking about things, and to 
 begin doing them!" 
 
 "So you mustn't mind if I don't come often," Lenny 
 urged. 
 
 "But you do get out for walks! Didn't your mother 
 tell me ?" Conny tripped him up.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 151 
 
 "Well, I like lo moon by myself," Lenny said weakly. 
 
 "Just to smoke and to pretend you're thinking!" Then 
 seeing that he was hurt, Conny cried, " Say, isn't it fine to 
 be working where your dad spent so much time? No 
 wonder you have such big ambitions!" 
 
 "Yes, it is fine," said Lenny simply. 
 
 He did not tell her that there were times when he had 
 the feeling of his father's presence hovering over the room. 
 It grew to be a conviction, but it brought no fears in its 
 train. He had but to study the portrait of the hero with 
 eagerness to evoke this feeling. So there was an additional 
 prompting for hard work. 
 
 The tutor was all praise. And Mrs. Craigie saw Lenny's 
 application with a thrill similar to the one which had 
 shaken her when she received the news of her husband's 
 heroism on the Niagara. But Lenny was finding the strain 
 a little too great, although he did not give any sign of it. 
 Soon he began to dwell on the relief Christmas week would 
 bring. His mother insisted, when that time came, that the 
 week should be lengthened to two. It was stretched into 
 four, because during the second week he grew suddenly 
 ill. 
 
 There was no hurt anywhere; just a general collapse. 
 He put his case thus to the doctor when his mother was 
 out of earshot: "I feel as if I could rest forever. I never 
 thought there was that kind of a quit to me!" 
 
 During these four weeks Lenny's ambition was like the 
 smoky flame of a lamp whose oil has been burned away. 
 Several times there was this question on the tip of his 
 tongue: "Doctor, do you think the cigarettes did it?" 
 But since the physician spoke only of hiu overwork, and 
 did not at all mention the smoking, Lenny felt that the 
 question would be ridiculous.
 
 152 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Why should it be cigarettes?" he asked. 
 
 His mother crushed down the fears which assailed her, 
 and tried to lighten his hours. Conny came to cheer him, 
 and to read to him. Justin brought him the news of the 
 latest increases in the clubhouse funds. Finally a visitor 
 appeared whose coming made Lenny stare with wide-open 
 eyes, his mouth agape. It was Bob Maur. Lenny was al- 
 most speechless when the visitor extended his hand. 
 
 "Heard you were laid up, old man," said Maur in the 
 most composed of voices. "But I thought it wouldn't hurt 
 if we had a talk. I'm deuced sorry to see you down." 
 
 Despite this seeming display of friendship, Lenny could 
 have taken his oath that Maur had come to gloat secretly 
 over his breakdown. Although Lenny tried to overcome 
 this feeling of distrust, he could not. 
 
 Bob Maur was saying, "I want to see more of you when 
 you get up. It's foolish for us not to get together. Scraps 
 might have been all right when we were kids, but I guess 
 there isn't anything more to scrap about !" 
 
 With one mighty effort, Lenny flung away his suspi- 
 cions, and accepted Maur's visit as if it had come from an 
 old friend. 
 
 "If I get the time we shall certainly see more of each 
 other," he said. "I'll be up soon. Those law school exams 
 have to be passed this fall, and I'm tired of being an 
 invalid !" 
 
 Lenny suddenly felt while he was talking that he was 
 being studied in a far from sympathetic way. But he took 
 himself to task again. 
 
 "Why, Maur may have the best intentions in the world 
 in coming here !" he mentally exclaimed. 
 
 It happened, however, that the visitor's thoughts ran 
 somewhat thus :
 
 THE TYKANT IN" WHITE 153 
 
 "You aren't going to enter the law school in a hurry! 
 Nor set the world on fire ! How can anybody take you 
 seriously? Conny will soon see what a failure you are, 
 and will be done with you !" 
 
 Outwardly Maur was cordiality itself, and wanted to 
 know all about Lenny's preparations for the "exams." In 
 return he spoke of his intention of entering a large broker- 
 age firm in New York, where he would profit by being close 
 to Wall Street. 
 
 "No amateur stunts for me!" he declared. "I want to 
 get close to the men doing the big things ! We're slow in 
 Philadelphia. I'm the sort of man who's not satisfied with 
 half a loaf. And I like a good big fight! Even if I am 
 young, I won't be awfully handicapped, because there's a 
 bunch of money coming to mo soon. Queer, isn't it, the 
 way we were kids at school ?" 
 
 At once they were busy reviving academy days. Before 
 leaving, Maur showed his interest in the league clubhouse 
 by speaking of the way it had endeared Lenny to the boys 
 in Germantown. 
 
 "Oh, I guess the whole thing has done as much for me 
 as I have done for it!" was the reply of the boy propped 
 up in bed. "When a fellow gets useful, it gives him more 
 confidence in himself. We've certainly had a bully after- 
 noon, haven't we ?" 
 
 "We'll have another one pretty soon," said Maur, with a 
 warm shake of Lenny's hand. 
 
 When he had gone, Lenny was sorry that his mother had 
 not been at home to listen to the talk. 
 
 "She would have known right away whether he was 
 sincere or not !" he was certain. 
 
 He was amused to think that not once had Conny's name 
 been mentioned. Then he set his jaws, and his eyes glowed
 
 154 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 as the determination to succeed surged through him with 
 new force. The presence of Maur had aroused him from 
 his lassitude. It was not the visitor's show of friendship 
 which had stirred him; it was Maur's air of assurance, his 
 energy, and his plans. 
 
 "I am going to get out of bed this week," Lenny said to 
 his mother when she appeared. "I've got work in my 
 bones, and it's time I quit lying here ! Don't be afraid that 
 I'll overdo it. But you see, when I'm doing nothing I 
 only worry !" 
 
 And he had his way, although he got into harness again 
 rather slowly, out of deference to his mother's wishes. His 
 decision, "The law school this fall, or bust!" was only for 
 Conny's ears. When his mother pleaded that he should 
 not be in haste, he said, "If you only knew how naturally 
 lazy I was, you wouldn't worry a minute !" 
 
 Mrs. Craigie's great grief was that he did not have a 
 physique which would tide him over exacting periods. De- 
 spite her belief in useful people, she would have been satis- 
 fied if he had fallen back on a less trying profession than 
 law. Remembering the high marks Lenny had won for 
 essay writing, she had an ambition that he should 
 write books ; and she would have been happy in this, even if 
 he never won fame or place. 
 
 But she recognized that his nature loved contest, and 
 that law would somewhat satisfy his restlessness. Where 
 his father had sought for the chance to conquer on the 
 seas, Lenny would seek to do the same on land. To his 
 mother there was terrible pathos in his having inherited 
 this love of struggle in a weak body. 
 
 Without having had any reason for doing so, she resigned 
 the idea that he would ever give himself to excessive 
 smoking. As she watched him, she came to believe that she
 
 THE TYEANT Itf WHITE 155 
 
 had put too much blame on the cigarette for her husband's 
 tragic end. In both his case and Lenny's it appeared that 
 ambitious souls had been planted in unambitious bodies. 
 She prayed for strength for her son; and she prayed for 
 strength for herself, that she might be of use to him. 
 
 It did not take long for Lenny to guess the troubled 
 state of his mother's mind. He began to seek ways of les- 
 sening it. When he felt moody, he hid the fact. He 
 hid his weariness. He laughed when he was far from in- 
 clined to do so, and tried always to bring her a cheerful 
 countenance. More than this, he never argued with her 
 when she offered advice, much as he always differed with 
 others. When he found himself worn out after a stretch 
 of hard study, he would take himself out of the house 
 rather than risk showing his excessive tiredness. 
 
 All this proved a nervous strain on his mind and body. 
 But he schooled himself against it. "I am not a boy any 
 longer, and I must get a grip on myself !" he kept saying. 
 
 Because of the fact that he did not believe himself a boy 
 any longer, he entered into a humorous exchange of words 
 with his mother on what he considered an important issue. 
 This was after she had called him "Lenny" before some 
 visitors. On their departure, he said: 
 
 "You'll think I'm queer, mother. But won't you please 
 call me Leonard from now on ?" 
 
 "Of all things!" she exclaimed, taken aback. "What 
 has gotten over you ?" 
 
 "I wish you would," he pleaded. "There's a kid sound 
 about 'Lenny' that makes folks smile. It's as bad as 
 'Willy.' I remember when Will Burchell was at the acad- 
 emy during my first year there. A chum of his on the 
 campus yelled, '0 Willy !' up to his room. Well, every fel- 
 low at the academy had his head out of a window in a min-
 
 156 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 ute, and there was a roar of '0 Willy !' You could have 
 heard it a mile. Burchell pulled in his head as if he had 
 been shot. Talk about being mad ! Of course, they didn't 
 try to kid him about it, for he had his full growth six 
 feet in his stockings and had a fist like a Belgian block. 
 Let's try Leonard, mother." 
 
 She yielded, although reluctant to surrender a name she 
 had used from his babyhood days. Conny was less tracta- 
 ble. She suggested, with a roguish tilt of her head, "Len- 
 no," and decided to make it Len. 
 
 "Len it is then," said the boy concerned. "But Lenny 
 is taboo. If you make it Leonard, I'll forgive you for 
 that 'Lenno'." 
 
 But Conny wanted at least a week to think the change 
 over, with the right to "Lenny" him in the meantime to 
 her heart's content. 
 
 "I guess I won't be around for that week," he said. 
 
 "If you don't, I'll call you Tienny' until you're old 
 enough to be in your second childhood again !" she warned 
 him. 
 
 "Oh, you're a shrew, and no mistake!" said Lenny with 
 a sigh. 
 
 He had time for only one visit during that week. The 
 briefness of his stay did not allow him to escape the stream 
 of "Lennys" she hurled at him. He stood it heroically 
 for a while. Then he began to roll "Con-stance" off his 
 tongue with a solemn air, and with telling effect, for Conny 
 hauled down her colors at once. 
 
 Most people now called him Leonard. . At first the nov- 
 elty of this pleased him. But there were other things to 
 absorb his attention. The year of preparation for college 
 was going rather fast. Spring, the period of his first en- 
 trance examinations, hove into sight at an alarming rate,
 
 THE TYBANT IN WHITE 157 
 
 before Lenny was ready to admit that the time for the test 
 was actually at hand. 
 
 Justin, whom he encountered just before the examina- 
 tions, noted the lifeless eyes and the tense face which Lenny 
 had masked before his mother. 
 
 "Heigh ho, man!" cried the attorney. "You're over- 
 doing it ! You'd better pull up !" 
 
 "Do I look it?" asked Lenny. "Well, I guess it's a case 
 of too much midnight oil. But it will be over soon. The 
 work was a little tougher than I expected. Once I've 
 passed the harder subjects, I won't have so much to think 
 about this summer. Then I'll take a long rest. Have you 
 got a cigarette ?" 
 
 "Nice question for a man in mental training to put!" 
 laughed Justin. 
 
 "I guess you've got to keep fit as a fiddle yourself, and 
 I've never seen you without your cigarettes !" Lenny got 
 back at him. 
 
 "That point counts for you! But really it's rot about 
 the harm of smoking!" said Justin, as he handed him a 
 cigarette. "It's hard work that does one up, not a few 
 whiffs of this little white friend of ours. You talk 
 about exams, Leonard ! Why, I never quit having them ! 
 They're cropping up for me in one form or another all the 
 time. But I'm not going to preach. Say, I've a notion to 
 get up a crack non-professional baseball team this summer, 
 and to tour the country with it, in a series of exhibition 
 games." 
 
 "Wouldn't that be splendid !" cried Lenny, his eyes glow- 
 ing. 
 
 "It might be if I had the time. But our boy-days are the 
 only leisure ones we ever get. Turn the affairs of the 
 league this summer over to somebody else, Leonard, and
 
 158 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 do rest up," was Justin's parting admonition as he held 
 out his hand. 
 
 "Oh, it will he fun to live and dream baseball after the 
 long nightmares of exams !" was Lenny's reply. 
 
 He hailed the first day of the trials with relief. Al- 
 though he entered the class-room a little nervously, he was 
 certain about his subject. After he read the algebraic 
 questions on the paper handed to him, he was startled to 
 find his mind a complete blank about the means of solving 
 the problems. 
 
 He sat stunned. Then he waited fearfully for his mem- 
 ory to right itself. Thinking that his new surroundings 
 had unduly upset him, he lolled back and tried to be at 
 ease. But a renewed attempt at work proved futile. 
 
 "What can be the matter with me?" he gasped, the per- 
 spiration in beads on his forehead. 
 
 He went at the questions like a madman. Everything 
 came wrong, even the easiest of the problems. Finally, 
 when he looked fit his watch, he saw that no matter how 
 quickly and surely he might now work, there was no hope 
 for his finishing in time. 
 
 Getting dully out of his seat, he left the room, ignoring 
 the look of surprise of the instructor, who had expected a 
 paper from him. On the train home, he studied the ex- 
 amination questions. As he saw how they could have been 
 solved, tears of mortification sprang to his eyes. He an- 
 grily brushed them away. 
 
 "How can I tell her? How can I tell her?" he kept 
 repeating, as he pictured his mother standing on the porch, 
 eager for news of what he had done. "Won't she be fright- 
 ened?" he asked himself. 
 
 As he hopelessly watched the streets of Philadelphia 
 change into those of Germantown, there flashed through
 
 THE TYBANT IK WHITE 159 
 
 his mind the possibility of saving his mother from grief by 
 telling her a lie. At once he was in the turmoil of a strug- 
 gle with his conscience. The arrival of the train at his 
 station decided him in favor of the lie. 
 
 So he said that he had been mistaken about the hour of 
 the examination, and had come too late. He wound up 
 by cheerfully declaring: 
 
 "I'll pass that subject in fall, never fear ! It isn't as if 
 I had failed. I've got the algebra down pat! So there 
 won't be much about it to study again." 
 
 Happy that he had not taken the mistake too much to 
 heart, his mother readily agreed with him that there was 
 no cause for worry. He decamped as quickly as possible, 
 flying desperately to the subject which would come up on 
 the next day. 
 
 With it he fared better in the test. History was the 
 topic, and he answered all the questions in full. But dur- 
 ing the examinations which followed, the outcome was a 
 blow to him. Three more subjects than he had counted 
 upon would have to be carried into the fall for another 
 trial. 
 
 No one but his mother knew of this. His humiliation 
 was bitter. When his mother pleaded with him to put off 
 his entrance to college for a year, he cried : 
 
 "Oh, I couldn't now! I've set all my hopes on going 
 this fall. After all, mother, even if I don't pass every- 
 thing then, I can carry a few 'conditions' for a little while. 
 A year of law would mean a great deal to me. I'll study 
 three hours every day this summer, so that I'll enter with- 
 out any conditions at all !" 
 
 He only had his way when he agreed that for that sum- 
 mer at least he would not devote any time to the league,
 
 160 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 but would go to some quiet resort where a tutor would help 
 him over difficulties, and where there would be a chance 
 both to rest and work. 
 
 Lenny was puzzled to understand why he had failed "to 
 come up to the mark" in his studies, since in former years 
 the same amount of application would have carried every- 
 thing before it. His spells of weakness also gave him con- 
 cern. 
 
 "They always said I had ability," he kept telling him- 
 self. "But now, when I need it most, I haven't any !" 
 
 During the summer, Justin, who had virtually taken 
 charge of the league, kept him informed of all its doings. 
 
 "We're the talk for miles around," he wrote. "Chal- 
 lenges are coming from every direction." 
 
 Whimsical letters from Conny filled in many of Leon- 
 ard's leisure moments. They often recalled the days when 
 he and Conny were children together. In the lonely mo- 
 ments which visited him every now and then, he would 
 admit that he needed her very much. A letter which she 
 treasured read as follows: 
 
 It's all right to talk about a smoke. And gab with a man 
 may be good. But give mo Us, Conny, Us! You are one of the 
 few people I have endless time for. So when your letter don't 
 turn up when I expect it, there's an awful silence. 
 
 Of course, I meet girls here. But, oh! And again, oh! Your 
 uncle always speaks about holding up a mirror to nature. 
 I don't think the girls here would have time to make any such 
 spare use of their mirrors. 
 
 Why were you born a girl? Just think of the fine tom- 
 boy you were when we were kids together. Not that you've 
 altogether outgrown it! But I get the creeps sometimes think- 
 ing you might. It leaves me with a feeling as if I had been 
 put on a raft in the middle of the ocean. 
 
 I often think of the nuisance you were when you wanted to 
 go along with the fellows. You couldn't have been higher 
 than two feet then. The fellows did certainly hate you. It 
 makes me laugh to remember the time you fell into that
 
 THE TYRANT IN* WHITE 161 
 
 drinking trough for horses. Oh, Miss Constance, you were 
 a sight when we got you out! 
 
 I wonder whether I ever bore you. I puzzle even myself at 
 times. Ever do that? Don't! It makes me think of a kitten 
 chasing after its own tail. 
 
 Think of me plenty. I believe I'd know if you stopped. 
 That's one of the ghost feelings I have. Oh, I'm a wizard! 
 But an awfully sleepy one just now. So good-night. 
 
 Although Conny knew that his friendship for her waa 
 strong and sincere, she did not dream that her letters often 
 urged him on in his work when he was tempted to stop. 
 
 There was some one else to whom letters from her proved 
 encouraging. This was Bob Maur, who was putting in his 
 whole summer with a brokerage house in New York. He 
 took care to let her know that without an occasional word 
 from her, he would not be able to apply himself so uncom- 
 plainingly to his work. 
 
 "If I get where I want (and I don't see any reason why 
 I will not), I'll have you to thank for it !" he wrote.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 JUSTIN" received a letter from Gertrude during August, 
 saying that she intended to come home sooner than she had 
 planned. She was brief, and gave him no clue to the rea- 
 son for this move, greatly to his bewilderment. 
 
 "Whatever may have prompted her to do it, 'it is an ill 
 wind that doesn't blow somebody good'!" he reflected. 
 "When she is away from me it is not as if I were near her 
 and influencing her." 
 
 With Gertrude came Conny and Trevor. Justin took 
 them home from the station, surprised that Gertrude kept 
 her face averted during the ride. Once at the house, 
 Conny scurried to her uncle's room to see that he was made 
 comfortable. Gertrude led Justin into the spacy library, 
 which was shaded to keep out the summer heat. 
 
 "I can't understand why you should have returned in 
 the awful torrid weather we are having!" Justin began 
 when Gertrude remained silent. 
 
 "Were you not braving it, and working in it?" came al- 
 most timidly. 
 
 Justin was dazed for a moment. 
 
 "I?" he murmured. "Why, it was necessary for me to 
 be here ! But you !" 
 
 He waited for some real explanation of her early return. 
 None seemed forthcoming. At a stride he was at her side, 
 and leaning over her chair. 
 
 162
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 163 
 
 "Is it possible that you are here because because of 
 me ?" he asked, almost halted by the sound of his own voice. 
 
 She looked up at last, and said quietly, though with a 
 tremor in her voice : 
 
 "For several weeks I tried to bear being alone. But I 
 needed you too much. You remember those short, halt- 
 ing letters of which you could make nothing? My being 
 away from you, dear, was getting to be unbearable. And 
 now and now " 
 
 Justin folded her into his arms. 
 
 "Life has begun to mean something tangible and some- 
 thing grand for me !" he said at last. 
 
 "Oh, you knew I would come to you soon ! Why, every- 
 body was waiting for me to do this," Gertrude told him 
 with a smile, although there were tears in her eyes. 
 
 The Germantown residents, when they returned from 
 the resorts, learned of the engagement without manifesting 
 any surprise, although a goodly number of prominent 
 young men mourned the news. To Mrs. Craigie and 
 Lenny particularly it was full of satisfaction. The latter, 
 however, was too busy to say more than, "Oh, I knew it 
 would happen !" for the fall examinations were ahead. 
 
 A furious last moment spurt carried him into the law 
 school. Failure in two subjects kept the victory from be- 
 ing complete. In order to remain a law student, he would 
 have to pass these subjects before spring. 
 
 This did not trouble Lenny as much as the new method 
 of instruction he encountered. Instead of daily recita- 
 tions, he attended lectures, at which many courses of read- 
 ing were mapped out. 
 
 Worried by tht; possibility of not being able to keep pace 
 with these courses, he took his difficulties tp Justin, who 
 bore him away to lunch to talk matters over.
 
 164 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Although I'm awfully glad you're not to have as much 
 time to spare as before," said Lenny, to show how he felt 
 about Justin's engagement, "I won't be sorry to use some 
 of it." 
 
 "Ah, my boy, don't you know that when a fellow gets a 
 thing off his mind, he has more time than ever ?" said the 
 happy man in a burst of joyous confidence. "So you're to 
 come down every day, and ask all the questions you want. 
 You're perfectly right not to be groping about. I don't 
 believe it always helps to throw a fellow upon his own re- 
 sources when he is learning the a-b-c of anything." 
 
 During the many hours and half-hours they spent to- 
 gether, Justin was somewhat surprised to discover the 
 amount of smoking Lenny did. The older man said noth- 
 ing about this, as he considered it hypocrisy to take Lenny 
 to task for something which he was himself doing. He 
 saw that when Lenny was not indulging in cigarettes he 
 was restless. 
 
 The latter spoke to his mother enthusiastically of Jus- 
 tin's patience, kindness and unlimited good nature. 
 
 "You think he's a very fortunate man to win Gertrude 
 Breen, don't you?" he said. "Let me tell you, she's just 
 as fortunate !" 
 
 Although Lenny found himself less bewildered now in 
 his study of law, because of Justin's help, he was having 
 a great deal of irouble to memorize the work laid out for 
 him. He also had to combat periods of lassitude, when his 
 inclination waa to throw books aside and to be careless 
 about the consequences. 
 
 He could not understand this. Nor did it at first give 
 him much concern, because pressure, in the shape of recita- 
 tions, was not being applied. But his habit of putting 
 things off began to fill him with worry as examination
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 165 
 
 period rolled around again after what appeared to be a very 
 fehort year. Justin's help, it was true, had been fortunate 
 in certain directions. It could not, however, entirely take 
 the place of study. 
 
 As spring came, Lenny saw with fear a likelihood of his 
 failing completely in the trials for promotion. Going to 
 Justin, he confessed his state of mind. Justin was sur- 
 prised and puzzled. 
 
 "You certainly worked very hard!" he said. 
 
 "I am not sure that I did, now that I see what a mesa 
 I have made of it," was Lenny's honest statement of the 
 case. 
 
 "You don't mean that you deliberately wasted your 
 time !" exclaimed Justin. 
 
 "I don't really know what happened. Something was 
 wrong ! I don't know whether it was my fault. You know 
 I haven't any vices, and I don't dissipate. I assure you 
 I don't!" Lenny said. "Yet I can't concentrate, I can't 
 make facts stick in my memory, and I haven't the vim I 
 once had. Oh, I knew all along that the failure would 
 accumulate ! It sort of made me ashamed of myself. I 
 cut out visiting Conny and other people, thinking that if 
 I stayed at home I would get lots of work done. What the 
 dickens do you think is the matter with me ? Have I got 
 a yellow streak?" 
 
 "Why, no! Of course not!" said Justin. "I think I 
 understand now. It brings me back to my first year at 
 college. At the start I got an attack of something like 
 stage-fright. Things went against me all the time. I 
 blundered fearfully in recitations. I got behind in my 
 work. And I found everything going wrong. It made 
 me mad clean through; so I put the brakes on that down- 
 hill slide. But although I got a grip on myself, it took
 
 166 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 fearfully hard work to keep from losing a year. The start 
 had been wrong, you see. Now your case may be similar. 
 The academy was no sort of preparation, and you got at 
 your law in a timorous frame of mind." 
 
 "Yes, it's something like that!" said Lenny. "What 
 would you advise ?" 
 
 "That you take the year over again," said Justin; and 
 was immediately sorry he had spoken as he saw Lenny's 
 head fall miserably on his breast. "Go up for the exami- 
 nations, though," Justin suggested. "It's the sort of ex- 
 perience you need. Come, you're a young chap ; and you'll 
 be studying law, anyhow, for some time after you graduate. 
 We never quit. Why are you so bent on doing the course 
 in exactly the three years laid out by the college, anyhow ?" 
 
 "Because most of the fellows will do it in that time," 
 said Lenny. "And I hate to lose a year! The thought 
 fairly upsets me!" 
 
 "But those three years are only a sort of average," Jus- 
 tin argued. "Any professor you've been with would ad- 
 vise you to make it four. Take the whole four, and con- 
 sider yourself lucky that you are young enough to be able 
 to do so, and have the money. But by all means go up 
 for the exams. Even if you don't pass in all the subjects, 
 it's an education to tussle with examination papers for a 
 couple of hours." 
 
 "Yes, I'll take them all !" Lenny said. 
 
 "Good! And if you can stand any more advice from 
 me, use all your summer to rest up in," Justin urged. 
 "Don't open a book for the four months. Never mind 
 about your haste to become a Judge. You don't mind my 
 preaching, do you?" 
 
 "Certainly not !" replied Lenny. "But," he added with
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 167 
 
 a smile, "it wouldn't be a bad idea if you took a couple of 
 months off !" 
 
 Justin flicked the ashes from the end of his cigarette, 
 and looked thoughtfully at the speaker. 
 
 "I don't know but what you're right," he said. "But I 
 simply can't get the time!" He spoke regretfully. As 
 Lenny arose to go, Justin told him, "Old man, I believe 
 in your ultimate big success. I think you will get all you 
 want. But take your time. Never mind about not get- 
 ting through college on schedule time. Ten years from 
 now it won't make a bit of difference!" 
 
 Lenny's face flushed with pleasure when he left the of- 
 fice. But Justin was far from happy. 
 
 "By George!" he was saying in a low voice, "all the 
 troubles which have beset Lenny seem almost a repetition 
 of mine !" He got to his feet, and began to pace the floor. 
 "No energy, no power of concentration nothing! And 
 yet I didn't start with that frail physique of his. I had 
 muscles to burn! Strange! Everything hasi come topsy- 
 turvy!" 
 
 He began to reconsider what he ought to do about leav- 
 ing the firm with which he was practicing. It was not a 
 new subject of discussion. The two partners of the firm 
 seemed to be ignoring him, and the chance of his soon be- 
 ing made one of them looked slim. 
 
 "Oh, I will get out for myself!" he told Gertrude that 
 evening. "I must start on my own hook! They'll never 
 make a partner of me. They have no use for young blood. 
 Do you know, I have an idea that they're beginning to 
 consider me a failure !" 
 
 "Impossible! Impossible!" cried Gertrude. "You must 
 be patient ! And I would rather you gave up all your time 
 to law, and did not bother about politics. That is taking
 
 168 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 your time from work in the office. It is handicapping 
 you." 
 
 "Oh, I must do both, and do them well!" he replied. 
 "You surely don't think I'm a weakling! If you hadn't 
 discouraged my intended fight against the ward bosses, I 
 would have scored heavily, dear. As it is, I must be pa- 
 tient while other men are climbing over my head ! Fight 
 is the keynote of politics !" 
 
 "But you know what your support would have been in 
 that fight !" Gertrude reminded him. 
 
 He had nothing to say. The fact was that in seeking 
 to band together the younger men of the ward who were 
 disgruntled with the party leaders, he had been somewhat 
 unfortunate. He had turned to men who were discredited 
 among the better people of Germantown. In most cases 
 they had money, which would have been valuable in finan- 
 cing the fight. But when he asked Gertrude to receive 
 them in her house, she raised her hands in horror. 
 
 "Why, you know what I think of Lucas Clifton and the 
 rest, dear!" she said. "Do give up this revolt against the 
 bosses until you are stronger in the ward ! Your battle is 
 half won if you have a fine following." 
 
 But Justin, who had been losing friends of late, rather 
 than making them, because of his general unrest and im- 
 patience, could not allow his plans to be overridden like 
 this. 
 
 "Why can't you be tolerant about Clifton?" he asked. 
 
 "You know why, Justin," she said. "He is untrust- 
 worthy. What is his pretence of practicing law, if not a 
 plan to stand in well with his grandfather, to get his money 
 when he dies?" 
 
 "But if I'm to succeed in a big way, and at once, how 
 can I afford to spend my time questioning each man's mo-
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 169 
 
 tives?" asked Justin. "I must gather what elements I 
 can. When I have succeeded, I can discard the untrust- 
 worthy ones. I must make use of men like Clifton and 
 Pierce." 
 
 "Pierce, the gambler! How can you?" Gertrude asked, 
 amazed. "Surely you can wait if you are determined to 
 build up a strong reform movement ! You must have 
 friends at your side, not cast-offs !" 
 
 "And be betrayed by one's friends!" he exclaimed. "I 
 tell you, my eyes have been opened of late! I have found 
 that men upon whom I banked have proved treacherous. 
 Why am I being neglected ? No, I will not wait for these 
 so-called good friends ! I will build up a following of my 
 own !" 
 
 He was to mistrust that following when Lucas Clifton 
 in an unsober moment at a cafe spoke slightingly of Ger- 
 trude in his hearing. There was the impact of a fist 
 against a jaw, and the half-drunken Clifton measured hia 
 length on the floor. Only the interference of bystanders 
 kept Justin from giving the offender a severe thrashing. 
 
 That blow effectively knocked out Justin's hopes for a 
 new political party. His career in politics was saved only 
 because of Clifton's fear that if he told the ward leaders 
 about Mahan's intentions, he would have to explain why 
 he was so ready to help him. 
 
 Justin used every means to keep what had taken place in 
 the cafe from reaching Gertrude's ears. It got there, nev- 
 ertheless, in a roundabout way. Gertrude, horrified, re- 
 fused to see Justin for a week, and finally fled to Atlantic 
 City. He followed her, and when she saw his half-crazed 
 appearance, she relented. 
 
 "I think," she said, "that you have been sufficiently 
 punished."
 
 170 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 "I think so," he said humbly. Then with flashing eyes, 
 he added, "Never will I disappoint you again ! The lesson 
 has cost me too dear !" 
 
 He tried to atone by feverish application to his law 
 practice, and he stuck to his resolution to work sixteen 
 hours a day, although this often kept him from seeing Ger- 
 trude. But despite the fearful strain of the work, all he 
 told Gertrude was: 
 
 "Somehow, I cannot get enough sleep. It reminds me 
 of my growing years when I used to fairly cry when morn- 
 ing came and I had to get out of bed." 
 
 Left orphaned when a child, he had been under the care 
 of a severe guardian, who believed in sternly rearing young 
 people. Justin used to relate: 
 
 "When I was at last sent away from home to boarding 
 school, it merely served me as a place for sleep. I used to 
 fairly revel in the chance of getting up late. I got quite a 
 reputation for it. And even to-day, the very thought of 
 the early risings to which I was subjected when 'Guardy' 
 had me in tow almost tempts me to drowse off." 
 
 He saw Lenny the day the latter went up for the first 
 of his examinations for promotion. Lenny was in need of 
 a word of encouragement from someone who knew of his 
 troubles, and before whom he could honestly speak his 
 mind. He had hidden from his mother the fact that he 
 was going up to the examinations in a hopeless frame of 
 mind. 
 
 "That's what hurts worse than anything else!" he 
 frankly told Justin. " Oh, haven't I made a mess of every- 
 thing!" 
 
 "You'll go to her in the end; so it will be all right," said 
 Justin soothingly. "When I was in trouble, I never had
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 171 
 
 any mother to go to, you know." He shrugged his shoul- 
 ders to suppress a sigh. 
 
 "Maybe you think it is easy to bring her that sort of 
 thing!" Lenny grieved. 
 
 "There you go again!" scolded Justin. "Why, none of 
 us will feel any differently about you because you are go- 
 ing to take the year over again. Come! Be sensible!" 
 He put his hand on Lenny's shoulder and smiled at him, 
 although his weariness made it an effort for him to smile. 
 The next moment he was serious. "I want you to promise 
 me something," he said. 
 
 "Certainly!" Lenny promptly replied, somewhat sur- 
 prised at the grave tone in which Justin made his request. 
 
 "That you will not go into politics for at least five years 
 after you have graduated," said Justin. "In other words, 
 not until you have had a chance to get a grip on yourself." 
 
 "There is only one thing I want to do badly," Lenny 
 returned. "I want to be as successful in law at your age 
 as you have been. The rest can wait." And he wondered 
 why Justin turned away wearily. "I'm off to those exams 
 now. Don't wish me luck. Luck won't answer the ques- 
 tions I'll get." 
 
 "Next year you won't be sorry about going up for the 
 test," said Justin, pressing his hand warmly. 
 
 Day after day Lenny took his place among his class- 
 mates and made feeble attempts to answer the questions. 
 He had no need of confessing his failure to his mother. 
 She saw it in his silence, his abstracted, worried air, and 
 his guilty glance when he caught her eye. 
 
 On the last day he came to her and put his arms about 
 her. As she looked at the dull eyes and the pale face of 
 the boy upon whom her whole life was centred, she said 
 quickly ;
 
 170 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "I know ! Doesn't it all show that you made a mistake 
 to hurry as you did ? What need was there of it, Leonard ? 
 And the result has been, not a real test of your ability, but 
 an amount of endless worry I should not have allowed!" 
 
 "Then you do not believe me a miserable shirker?" he 
 cried. "You do not believe that I am only good for the 
 scrap heap?" 
 
 "What strange things you say!" his mother exclaimed. 
 "You have simply not given yourself any chance at all. I 
 should have insisted on an additional year of tutoring. 
 Then you could have entered a lawyer's office for a year, 
 so as to get accustomed to law books and the profession 
 itself. There was time for college. And I should have 
 opposed your using your summers for the league !" 
 
 "I'm afraid you will always try to spoil me by coddling," 
 said Lenny. 
 
 "A little of it doesn't harm when we are about to put 
 all our energy to the test. Encouragement is a sort of 
 breathing spell." 
 
 "Oh, I want no more breathing spells !" cried Lenny, be- 
 ginning to pace the floor. "I simply won't let myself be 
 spoiled! It's my last 'flunk.' I'll take the year over 
 again ; but I'll squeeze out of it every bit in it ! Dear 
 mamsy, it's been very hard not to pass up with the other 
 fellows in the course." 
 
 "There isn't time to talk about that now!" she said. 
 "We have got to prepare to enjoy our summer. And you 
 have visits to pay, you know, after the way you have neg- 
 lected people." 
 
 "Mother, there isn't anybody like you in the whole 
 world!" Lenny cried. 
 
 But he deferred the visit his mother expected him to pay 
 to Gertrude Breen's home. He could not face Conny with
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 173 
 
 the story of his year's failure. He preferred that this 
 should get to her some other way. So instead of going, he 
 prepared to write. 
 
 Planting his feet on the window-sill, and lighting a cig- 
 arette, he began his letter. It was in a whimsical vein, 
 very much as she might have written it herself ; and Lenny 
 laughed, and labored at his whim until it covered several 
 pages. 
 
 Then he stopped, caught by a fit of moodiness. He was 
 too fagged to light another cigarette. As he stared out of 
 the window, he wondered how kind the future would be to 
 him. 
 
 "It is true that I am a boy," he reflected. "But I want 
 all the things that a man wants place, fame, recognition 
 everything ! How hard will I have to fight ? Because I 
 must not be beaten ! For mamsy's sake and Conny's, too 
 and all my friends !" 
 
 He glanced down at the words he had written. They 
 seemed empty, even silly; and he wondered how he had 
 come to laugh at them. He thought of many things as he 
 idly watched the landscape. 
 
 "I haven't failed because of the amount of work I had 
 to do!" he exclaimed. "I simply haven't worked ! What's 
 the use of faking? I can't fool myself! I haven't got 
 the will power to stick out any hard job ! It has got to 
 stop!" Then he asked, "But what could have broken me 
 down?" 
 
 A moment later he sat back stiffly in his chair. There 
 had arisen in his mind the robust figure of Maur, healthy, 
 vigorous, almost unbeatable. Lenny had made a fleeting 
 comparison between that powerful figure and his own. 
 Tears of intense dissatisfaction sprang to his eyes. Then 
 he started, conscious of the gaze of some one.
 
 174: THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 Although he kept himself under control as he turned, 
 his nerves almost shrieked. His mother laid her hand on 
 his arm. 
 
 "You are not thinking about anything except your big 
 plans for the future surely?" she said in an insistent 
 voice. 
 
 He mastered his depression at once, and cried, "Oh, no !" 
 Then he pulled up a chair for her. "This smoke doesn't 
 bother you, does it?" he asked. "There isn't much of it, 
 to be sure." As he talked, he kept patting her hand. "I 
 always want to plan. But it is about time I resigned that 
 and got to doing things. If I could only win my first 
 case! It might be the smallest affair in the world, but I 
 would feel like Alexander the Great!" 
 
 His mother spoke of the better English he now used. 
 He was pleased that she noticed it. 
 
 "My law work was responsible for that, I guess," he 
 said. "It's nothing to boast of. You know I've had bet- 
 ter opportunities than most fellows, mother ! I've done 
 nothing but gotten spoiled, instead of making use of my 
 chances." 
 
 "You're quite too sensitive to be spoiled," she answered. 
 "I've always been afraid of just the opposite. It is like 
 all my foolish fears, I suppose. You remember, I believed 
 you might learn to smoke to excess." Lenny sat very rigid. 
 "But you have not become a slave to the habit. A mother 
 is a strange being !" 
 
 "What a wise mamsy I have!" he said, in lieu of any- 
 thing else. 
 
 "Then let me tell you the plan I have formed for our 
 vacation. Gertrude Breen has asked me to chaperon her 
 this summer, since Mr. Mahan intends to run down to the
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 175 
 
 shore to see her. I intend to get a big cottage, and we will 
 divide the rooms " 
 
 "Too bad! I forgot to tell you something, I was so 
 upset about the exams!" Lenny broke in. "A couple of 
 classmates of mine intend to take a motor boat to the banks 
 of the St. Lawrence, and to camp there. They've invited 
 me to make one of the party. I said I would go. Of 
 course, I'll tell them now I can't. They were the only 
 fellows I cared to chum with, what little chumming I had 
 time for. They'll get somebody else." 
 
 "Oh, but you're to go with them!" cried his mother. 
 "Don't you see that I will have Gertrude and Conny with 
 me? You will spoil my summer by refusing this chance 
 to live out in the open ! Why, it is glorious !" 
 
 "As if you aren't sorry to have me do it to get so far 
 away from you !" said Lenny. 
 
 His mother drew a long breath then smiled. 
 
 "I must get accustomed to your being grown up," she 
 told him. "You must begin to plan for yourself. And 
 you can't be very satisfied with women chattering near you 
 all the time. I'm glad, very, that you are going! How 
 happy you look ! You did want to go !" 
 
 "That wasn't it." said Lenny. "I have a big secret to 
 tell you. Suppose I keep it quiet for a day." 
 
 She agreed. They sat there for some time, joking like 
 two old friends, Lenny still holding back the mysterious 
 "something" of which he had hinted. When his mother 
 left him, there was laughter on his lips. 
 
 "Oh, I shall get a hold on myself this summer!" he sud- 
 denly cried, rising, and extending his arms. "I'm going 
 to put up the biggest sort of a fight ! for her sake ! What 
 if I have lost a year? There won't be any quit now! Or 
 tiredness, either !"
 
 176 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 He shook off his indolence and his apologetic air. He 
 was soon living in an atmosphere of ambition again. Fight- 
 ing off every return of depression, he plunged busily into 
 the preparation for his summer outing. 
 
 In this mood he did not need much spurring to visit 
 Conny and her uncle. When he came up the walk, Conny 
 was looking over her rose-bushes. 
 
 "Ah, how dy do, Mr. Craigie?" she said with a little 
 bow. 
 
 "I don't think I quite know this minute," he returned 
 with a smile, holding out his hand. 
 
 But Conny was inexorable. 
 
 "Taking a stroll through the country?" she continued, 
 coolly. "Fine day, isn't it?" 
 
 Too taken aback to answer in kind, Lenny could only 
 say: 
 
 "That's a nice way to receive a fellow when he has found 
 time for a visit !" 
 
 "Oh, is it a visit?" said Conny. "And you've sent no 
 card?" 
 
 "Quit it!" Lenny cried. "You know I couldn't come!" 
 
 "Yes, so you've kept reminding me every now and then 
 about six times in four months. But here comes uncle !" 
 
 Trevor, brighter, but with his shoulders very stooped, 
 came hurrying toward Lenny, with both his hands ex- 
 tended. There was a glad light in Conny's eyes when she 
 eaw how warmly Lenny responded to the greeting. 
 
 "I've just been trying to tell your niece that I've been 
 a home body," said Leonard. 
 
 "But ^home-keeping youth have ever homely wits'," 
 Trevor quoted. 
 
 "I felt that way when I framed up the excuse; and 
 Conny helped along the feeling," said the offender.
 
 THE TYRANT IN" WHITE 177 
 
 "Which reminds me that, although I'm going, 1 needn't 
 frame up any excuse for it," said Conny. "I've got an 
 appointment. See you again, Mr. Craigie." 
 
 And with a nod, she hurried away, while Lenny looked 
 angrily after her. The next moment he was pleading : 
 
 "Now, Mr. Trevor, is that fair? No one can know the 
 uphill time I've had this year ! I stayed away because I 
 didn't want to speak of it, and you make a fellow open 
 right up ! I want to bring my friends my successes, not 
 my failures." 
 
 "Tut! tut! Youth to speak of failure!" cried Trevor. 
 "What nonsense! A little set-back, I imagine. Why call 
 it anything else? Mr. Mahan, I hear, has looked with dis- 
 favor on your hurrying into law without taking a college 
 course of a general character first. You see, we are think- 
 ing of you all the time. So you owe it to Conny, at least, 
 to bring her all your news, good, bad and indifferent ! And 
 to come often. But your thoughts seem to be turned in- 
 wards always! They must be, or they would have no- 
 ticed a very decided fact." 
 
 Lenny shook his head, at a loss to know what he meant. 
 
 "What a preoccupied young man!" said Trevor. 
 " 'None is so blind as he who will not see !' And thus you 
 have missed the chance of making yourself useful. My 
 dear friend, do you know that Constance is growing more 
 beautiful every day?" 
 
 "Certainly !" said Lenny. "I have seen that for a dozen 
 years. In fact, she has made a habit of growing beau- 
 tiful!" 
 
 "Ah, but you must tell her so!" cried Trevor. "Do not 
 take it so much for granted. Tell her she is beautiful! 
 Don't look at her as if she were an unchangeable bit of 
 bric-a-brac you had seen again and again !"
 
 178 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Great Caesar's ghost!" gasped Lenny. "Why should I 
 tell her that she is fine ? She won't stand for that sort of 
 thing from me!" 
 
 "How do you know?" asked Trevor promptly. "Ah, 
 you don't seem to catch just what I mean " 
 
 "Oh, yes, I do!" Lenny said. "But she won't stand it 
 from me. She'll laugh at me." 
 
 "Her laugh won't be what you expect hecause she 
 thinks highly of you," said her uncle. 
 
 "But Conny knows what I think of her. And if I spoke 
 in any flattering way, it mightn't leave us the sort of 
 friends we've always been," Lenny argued. "We're just 
 the same two kids we were ten years ago ; and we'll always 
 keep that way." 
 
 Nevertheless, Trevor's words were not thrown away upon 
 him. He began to see Conny in a somewhat different light 
 not the slip of a girl whom he used to banter, or with 
 whom he might while away an hour in talk ; but a growing 
 young woman, of considerable importance to a great many 
 people. And during his visits prior to his departure for 
 the camping trip, he found that Conny's band of admirers 
 had been on the increase. The additions were men of al- 
 most Justin's age. Their constant "Miss Trevor" bewil- 
 dered him. 
 
 "Why, one of them might marry her before we least ex- 
 pected it !" he exclaimed one day to himself. 
 
 During his remaining visits, in his anxiety to see what 
 impression these admirers were making upon Conny, he 
 misread a good deal of her interest in them. He also 
 missed the fact that she was making a great deal of him 
 before the others, and that they were jealous. 
 
 Finally he blurted out one day :
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 179 
 
 "Conny, dear, you won't marry before I come back, will 
 you?" 
 
 She first stared at him, and then exploded with laughter. 
 
 "Ah," he said, "that's good! Go ahead! Keep on 
 laughing! It removes all my doubts!" 
 
 "I may disappoint you yet," she replied, smiling now. 
 
 Lenny was surprised to find himself thrilled by a sudden 
 shy look she darted at him. 
 
 "You would only be squaring up for the way I've dis- 
 appointed you, I guess," he said. 
 
 "Silly!" she cried, and pinned a flower to the lapel of 
 his coat with an elaborate ado. 
 
 "Now that you've been that nice, I've got something to 
 tell you," he began. He was surprised to see Conny step 
 back a little. "I'm going to write a book," he said. "It 
 is to be about brave deeds of American soldiers and sailors. 
 If I wasn't going to dedicate it to mother (which I will, 
 of course), I would have dedicated it to you." 
 
 "Thanks," she said, simply, holding out her hand. "The 
 first chapter in that book will be about your father. I 
 know! What does your mother say?" 
 
 "She doesn't know it yet," said Lenny. 
 
 He had intended that she should be the first to know. 
 Now he hastened to tell her. As he unfolded the scheme 
 of the book to her, she listened gravely, pleased with the 
 care with which he was planning this newest venture of his. 
 
 "It came to me," he said, "when I saw that I couldn't 
 be of much use to the baseball league this summer. Not 
 that I won't be ready to jump right in if things go wrong 
 with the boys ! But I began to feel that I wasn't serving 
 a big purpose any more. So I got the idea of gathering 
 together these brave exploits. The important thing was 
 to know where to go for my information. Well, I've got
 
 180 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 a fine list of books and magazines. There's one act, 
 though, I won't need any information about!" 
 
 "It will be the sort of book that will do us all good!" 
 said his mother. "You will find that many men have per- 
 formed deeds as brave as your father's " 
 
 "As brave!" exclaimed Lenny in wonder. 
 
 "Why, yes. There were many other brave exploits to 
 make one tremble with pride for the brave men who did 
 them I" said his mother. 
 
 "Oh, I can be fair, too!" Lenny told her. "But to me 
 what he did overtops them all! Think of crawling into 
 that place !" 
 
 "When has a day passed that I did not think of it?" 
 said his mother, with a faraway look in her eyes. After 
 a little while she suddenly said, "You would have done the 
 same thing." 
 
 He sought to imagine himself in precisely the position 
 his father occupied on that memorable day. Then he said 
 earnestly : 
 
 "Yes, I would have climbed through the scuttle." 
 
 They kept talking about the projected book up to the 
 day of his going. The excitement of the camping trip 
 robbed him of his listless air, and gave a touch of 
 color to his face. When he went to say good-by to Trevor 
 and Conny, his smile evoked from the latter : 
 
 "Look at that grin, would you! You must be awfully 
 glad to go away from folks you know, Leonard Craigie !" 
 
 "Guess again," said Lenny. He told her, "You're per- 
 fectly dazzling to-day, miss. Who has been talking to 
 you?" 
 
 "Now you're silly!" she retorted, coloring. 
 
 "I wouldn't be hung for lying, I guess," he persisted, 
 
 Conny eyed him in wonder. "You've become a plain
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 181 
 
 goose just because you're going to get a long holiday !" 
 she said. 
 
 The actor greeted him with the exclamation : 
 
 "How like a chameleon you are! You are never twice 
 the same ! Ah, you young people ! We old ones change, 
 too; but ours is no tramp uphill and downhill. It is all 
 downhill!" 
 
 His remark dealt with himself. He had been growing 
 more lank, his gaunt features were dreamier than ever, and 
 his manner was of one who was fighting great inner bat- 
 tles. He was pleased when Lenny paid him a compliment 
 by saying : 
 
 "I always find the youngest people I know right here in 
 this room !" 
 
 "Yes, isn't uncle looking actually boyish?" cried Conny. 
 
 "Ah, Constance and I have promised each other to keep 
 young for all time!" said Trevor. "Why should one bend 
 before the advancing years ? It is as unwise as when youth 
 tries to assume the habits of age. Which reminds me that 
 our friend Eobert Maur is creating a stir over in New 
 York. They are calling him 'The Young Phenom.' A 
 mere boy, too! I wonder if the newspaper notices he is 
 receiving are spoiling him ?" 
 
 "Well, we will leave it to Conny to take a fall out of 
 him if they are," said Lenny, looking mischievously at her 
 out of the corner of his eye. "She humbles us all, when 
 necessary. Even me." 
 
 He was solemn about it until he saw how seriously she 
 took his words. Then he broke out into laughter. It was 
 full of abandon and forgetfulness. Lenny seemed to throw 
 all worry overboard. Both his hearers were to remember 
 that laughter as long as they lived. 
 
 He caught at Conny's hands, and swung her about.
 
 183 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 After a few turns she was swinging him. When she 
 paused, he went down to the floor in a heap, his face 
 ashen. 
 
 He tried to smile when they helped him to his feet. 
 
 "My head will catch up with my toes pretty soon," he 
 said. "Queer how that upset me !" 
 
 In the Pullman car that night, as he traveled toward 
 Buffalo, where he was to join the campers, his thoughts 
 divided themselves between his mother and Conny. In 
 musing about the latter, he dwelt on the way she had clung 
 to hia hand when he had told her about his failure at the 
 examinations. With equal tact she had kept silent about 
 the baseball league, fully aware how he felt about being 
 away from it for a whole summer. 
 
 The rocking Pullman berth soon made him drowsy. But 
 before sleep came, he murmured : 
 
 "She's splendid! Nothing like her! She's worth doing 
 things for!" 
 
 To his sleepy brain this meant both his mother and 
 Conny.
 
 CHAPTEE XI 
 
 LENNY'S camping trip was hardly to prove the invigorat- 
 ing rest to which he had looked forward. His two com- 
 panions, quiet enough when at college, took the bit into 
 their mouths, and turned the outing into a period of reck- 
 less dissipation. At first Lenny was prone to be backward 
 about this new way of living. But his highly nervous state 
 and his depression soon drove him to follow the example 
 of the others. During the moments when he would rebel 
 against this, he felt that if he had been in better physical 
 condition, he might have resisted the temptation to live 
 wildly and unreasonably. 
 
 The motor boat took the party of three and their helper 
 to Canadian towns. But for the helper (a quiet, muscular 
 man who could cook and make up a bed, and who soon 
 learned to run the boat), the three might have gone to the 
 bottom of the St. Lawrence on more than one occasion. 
 Staggering into the boat in the last stages of drunkenness, 
 they would insist on steering, sending the launch at top 
 speed down the river. 
 
 John McCormick, the servant, was forced to take the 
 law into his own hands when this happened, despite his 
 youthful employers. During every drunken period they 
 discharged him. But he would land them safely and finish 
 out the evening, certain that on next morning they would 
 thank him for getting them alive to their tenting place, 
 188
 
 184 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 In one instance, as he forcibly took the steering wheel 
 from one of them when they had piled into the boat in a 
 drunken condition, he received a blow in the face. The 
 aggressor found himself measuring his length on the bot- 
 tom of the boat under the impact of a bony fist. In the 
 squabble which followed, Lenny, although tipsy, took Mc- 
 Cormick's part. His two companions resented this, and 
 attacked him. In the melee, the three young fellows went 
 overboard, almost overturning the boat as they did so. 
 Only McCormick's coolness saved the launch. As they 
 went over the side, he flung himself in the other direction, 
 and so balanced the vessel. His whole thought at that mo- 
 ment was to save it, in order to have some place from 
 which to pull the boys out of the water. 
 
 The next moment he realized that they were in a perilous 
 state indeed. Only Lenny came to the surface near the 
 boat. The other two, some distance away, were trying, in 
 a half-drunken manner, to keep their heads above water. 
 There was enough moonlight to guide McCormick, but it 
 was dangerous to maneuver the rather large boat among 
 the struggling boys. 
 
 He threw a rope to Lenny, who, somewhat sobered now, 
 clambered on board. As soon as that boy could catch his 
 breath, he cried: 
 
 "You take Wells, and I'll go after Grosse!" 
 
 And he dived back into the water, followed by McCor- 
 mick. The latter, powerful though he was, found himself 
 almost overpowered by the frantic Wells, and it was some 
 time before he managed to get him into the boat. When 
 he turned to see what had become of young Craigie, he 
 immediately plunged back into the water. 
 
 Lenny had seized Grosse just as that man was going 
 down for the last time, and had struggled towards the rope
 
 THE TYEANT IN" WHITE 185 
 
 dangling from the boat. But the man he held, who had 
 imbibed more than the others that evening, instead of help- 
 ing him, tried to throw him off. Lenny did not let go and 
 yelled words of advice, only to find that he was gradually 
 being pulled under water. 
 
 There was- a moment when he was tempted to release his 
 hold, in order not to go down with the half-crazed man. 
 But he did not, and fought on, although weariness was 
 numbing him. Gathering together all the nervous force 
 which had so far sustained him, he made a desperate lunge 
 for the rope. He caught it, and then tried to cling to it, 
 the while sobbing in his despair of continuing the hold, 
 although he was gritting his teeth at the same time. 
 
 He held to the rope until it slipped out of his powerless 
 hand. As he feebly struck out in an effort to keep the 
 water from dragging him down to death, he was seized in 
 a powerful grip. By a wonderful display of strength, Mc- 
 Cormick managed to get the two on board the boat. 
 
 "Pretty good for one night's work," he remarked with 
 a shrug as he surveyed the three students lying at his feet. 
 Then he discovered that Lenny had fainted, and set to 
 work to revive him. 
 
 The latter asked, as soon as he recovered consciousness: 
 
 "Did I let go of him?" 
 
 "No. You held on," McCormick replied. 
 
 "Well, that was the hardest half-hour of my life!" said 
 Lenny with a sigh. 
 
 "It wasn't more than four or five minutes," McCormick 
 told him. But at the same time he put out his hand and 
 took Lenny's, which he shook warmly, without a word. 
 
 While Lenny's companions got over the accident without 
 showing any ill-effects, he needed two days to recover from 
 the nervous shock. During that time he told them bluntly
 
 186 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 that he was going to cut down the amount of drinking he 
 did. They were too conscious of what they owed him to 
 sneer at this. So they left him to his cigarettes, while 
 they continued their roystering excursions. 
 
 The monotonous life Lenny now led soon proved too tax- 
 ing for him, however. He tried canoeing. As a result, in 
 a month his old-time vigor and ambition showed them- 
 selves again. He would glide away to some quiet, isolated 
 spot, and would then either fish or jot down notes for his 
 intended book. But his loneliness grew unbearable. So 
 he slipped back into the visits to town with his companions, 
 although his excesses never reached the stage of complete 
 drunkenness now. 
 
 Before summer waa over, the three students began to 
 quarrel, and finally separated. Lenny, rather than give 
 his mother the impression that the camping had been a 
 failure, went on an extended canoeing trip. He managed 
 to get through a part of August without giving in to the 
 wish to join her. At last he hastily packed his belongings, 
 and set out for home. Instead, however, of going to the 
 resort where his mother was staying, he headed for Ger- 
 mantown. 
 
 As he walked to the field where two of the major clubs 
 of the league were in the midst of a stirring contest, he 
 changed his mind about showing himself openly, and 
 slipped to the rear of the crowd. 
 
 "Ah," he murmured, while watching the excited crowd, 
 and the sharp struggle for victory, "this is home! These 
 are my friends!" 
 
 Then he felt a little depressed, and stole home, where he 
 sought his room, and dropped into his favorite chair be- 
 fore one of the windows. 
 
 "What a rotten summer I've made of it!" he growled, as
 
 THE TYKANT IK WHITE 187 
 
 he tapped a cigarette on the arm of his chair, preparatory 
 to lighting it. 
 
 That evening he joined his mother. Only the tan which 
 he had accumulated kept the pallor of his face from show- 
 ing. And from the moment he saw his mother, until they 
 were ready to return to Germantown, he pretended a buoy- 
 ancy of spirit which completely deceived her. When he 
 was with others his unrest cropped out, so he spent most of 
 his time alone. 
 
 "A fine year of law, and the writing of that book ! That's 
 what I am going to do !" he declared to his mother. 
 
 Deep down in his heart he felt that the coming period 
 of study would be a trying one, despite his familiarity with 
 the subjects. As the weeks wore on, he grew less inclined 
 to forgive the use he had made of his summer, and was 
 disgusted with his two camping companions. 
 
 They, for their part, spoke of him as the greatest "cigar- 
 ette fiend" they had e^er met. 
 
 "He's a fine chap, and a brave one, and all that," was 
 their verdict. "But he's 'dopey' on cigarettes. He'd rather 
 smoke than eat. That's what's knocked him out. And he 
 hasn't tumbled to it." 
 
 Lenny started the work of the first term briskly. Later 
 he was too indisposed to attend lectures, and spent his 
 time in the college club-house playing billiards, and laying 
 bets on the result of the games. At times, for no reason 
 that he would have been able to give, he felt that he would, 
 after all, finish the year in good style. 
 
 This self-delusion came at longer and longer intervals; 
 for the more he got behind in his work, the less inclined he 
 was to catch up. At home he kept up his show of cheer- 
 fulness, a smiling exterior covering a very distressed state
 
 188 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 of mind. He put aside the thought of seeking Justin 
 again for help in his studies. 
 
 "I've troubled him enough already," he reflected. "And 
 he would think it mighty queer that I couldn't keep up 
 with things after flunking a year. He doesn't look awfully 
 happy himself, either." 
 
 He did not go to see Conny, and letters ceased to pass 
 between them. When she came over to take dinner with 
 his mother, he would either treat her with indifference, or 
 tease her unmercifully. Even the fact that the club-house 
 of the league was actually being erected failed to rouse him. 
 
 But after this period of ebb came one of flow. He be- 
 gan to fight against the prospect of going down in defeat 
 again at the law school. Fortifying himself with strong 
 coffee, he managed to keep awake at nights to do his law 
 reading. His Christmas holidays were sacrificed to this 
 spirit of work. When his mother remonstrated with him 
 at his late hours under a lamp, he gently, but firmly, asked 
 to be left alone. 
 
 "This first year will make or mar my course at college," 
 he said. "Won't I have next summer to idle in?" 
 
 His application continued, although his waning strength 
 was crying for a halt. Fatigue not only wore him out, but 
 it left his mind foggy. He plodded on, however, and was 
 bitter against the use he had made of the first term. With 
 the approach of the examination period, his sleep became 
 a series of nightmares, when he was haunted by visions of 
 failure. 
 
 But with the arrival of the time of the test, he got a 
 measure of confidence in himself. He attacked the exami- 
 nation papers without the uncertainty he had feared. In- 
 stead of going down in ignominious failure, he passed with 
 credit. The task, however, had been too great. When he
 
 THE TYKANT IN" WHITE 189 
 
 came home to announce that "he was through with the first 
 year at last !" his haggard appearance almost belied the 
 victory. 
 
 It was then that his mother decided to bring this nerve- 
 racking state of affairs to an end. 
 
 "Leonard, you are done with college !" she declared. "It 
 is time we stopped acting like mad people ! I don't believe 
 in sacrificing you to your ambitions! You are going to 
 enter a lawyer's office, and to acquire your law in a more 
 leisurely way. The thought of your passing through a 
 mental crisis at the end of every college year is becoming 
 frightful to me!" 
 
 Instead of the opposition she expected, especially after 
 his success, Lenny said: 
 
 "Yes, I'll enter a lawyer's office. You're right. You 
 always are. Lumped up examinations at the end of a year 
 are bound to be a strain. I dreamed about them every 
 night. They almost drove me crazy !" He laughed a lit- 
 tle in sheer relief at being able to speak about it. He was 
 serious as he went on: "I had begun to regard the end of 
 the year with dread. It was terrible ! It made a coward 
 of me !" 
 
 He struggled with his tears when his mother put her 
 arms about him. 
 
 "I know you won't let me tell you that I have disap- 
 pointed you," he said. "But perhaps I haven't wasted 
 much time, after all. Those months at college haven't 
 been thrown away." 
 
 "Every day must have brought you something of value," 
 she replied. "No, we won't speak of time wasted ! I wish 
 you had suggested long ago that you wished to enter a 
 lawyer's office to get your theory and practice." 
 
 "Oh, I have often thought of it!" said Lenny. "But
 
 190 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 there is a great glamor about a college degree and college 
 associations. Well, there will be satisfaction, instead, in 
 being in touch with men who are doing law work right at 
 one's elbow ! Will you let me begin right away, slowly ? 
 I'll tell you if it proves too hard during these warm months. 
 Honest !" 
 
 "We will do nothing for a week but talk about your 
 book," said his mother. 
 
 He gave in reluctantly. As they settled themselves for 
 a chat about the several chapters he had already finished, 
 the physical frailly of both mother and son would have 
 struck a beholder. But as Lenny talked, his excitement 
 played its customary part in giving him an appearance of 
 energy, and it actually robbed him of fatigue. 
 
 The novelty of the change he was about to make gave 
 him a new lease of life. He also felt that the opportuni- 
 ties for idling would be less, and a great burden fell from 
 his shoulders because of the fact. 
 
 "Now that I will have to work every day," he told him- 
 self, "I won't be putting all my strength in a last minute 
 spurt." 
 
 For him there was only one firm which he cared to enter 
 for his legal apprenticeship the one to which Justin 
 Mahan belonged. That Justin might dissuade him from 
 entering that office was the last thing he expected in the 
 world. He was, therefore, somewhat stunned when hia 
 proposition found the older -man dubiously shaking hia 
 head. 
 
 "Don't think of it," Justin urged. "I may as well tell 
 you, Leonard, I'm going to get out of it myself very soon. 
 Everything you would do here would be criticised by fault- 
 finding superiors, and you'd get mental ague every time 
 you submitted anything for their approval. I know your
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 191 
 
 mother thinks quite highly of them. But she can do better 
 for you with her other influential lawyer friends. No, 
 don't come here !" 
 
 Justin's advice was dictated by other reasons than the 
 wish to keep Lenny away from "fault-finding" superiors. 
 He did not want Lenny to find out how he the Justin 
 Mahan of great expectations had fallen short in his law 
 work. 
 
 His declaration that he would open an independent of- 
 fice aroused Lenny to a high pitch of enthusiasm. He saw, 
 more surely outlined than ever, the sign, "Mahan & 
 Craigie, Attorneys-at-Law." 
 
 "I should think you would be jolly glad to get out on 
 your own hook !" he said. 
 
 "Well, it wouldn't be as good as being a member of this 
 firm, of course," Justin frankly admitted. "I would be 
 virtually starting all over again. But since my services are 
 not appreciated here, why should I keep in a stew of dis- 
 satisfaction all the time?" 
 
 And he held out his cigarette-case, with the words, 
 "Here is the great soother of all cares ! the magician that 
 takes the sting out of dismal days !" 
 
 As Lenny was going, Justin said : 
 
 "Let me know what firm you decide upon. Your 
 mother's influence ought to give you the pick of the best. 
 Good luck to you, old man !" 
 
 Lenny stepped jauntily out of the elevator of the office 
 building, only to go reeling against the opposite wall in a 
 spell of dizziness which kept the ground about him whirling 
 for some moments. When he staggered out into the street, 
 he was thoroughly frightened. 
 
 "That's a new one on me!" he gasped. 
 
 He was alarmed. "Can that be the result of last sum-
 
 193 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 mer's dissipation ?" he wondered, fearful that it had worked 
 some grave harm. 
 
 Slowly making his way through the busy Philadelphia 
 thoroughfare, he began to review the set-backs ill-health 
 had brought him. He finished by deciding to go to a phy- 
 sician, but to do so alone. 
 
 "There's no use in frightening mother," he reasoned; 
 "especially if there is really nothing the matter with me 
 worth worrying about." 
 
 Picking out a name which ranked high in Philadelphia 
 medicine, he found enough courage to take his seat among 
 a roomful of patients. He glanced about furtively to dis- 
 cover whether he had stumbled upon any of his mother's 
 friends, but escaped that embarrassment. 
 
 When the physician finally nodded in his direction, 
 Lenny was very far from happy. He was regretting his 
 visit. NOT was the physician's professional smile very re- 
 assuring. But Lenny unhesitatingly plunged into a recital 
 of his ailments. He was surprised at the length of time 
 the physician took to look him over. 
 
 "One would think I was a prize-fighter," Lenny re- 
 marked to himself. 
 
 At last the doctor broke the silence to say : 
 
 "You must stop smoking. With your nervous organiza- 
 tion, you must cut out cigarettes, or tobacco in any form, 
 or it will use you worse than this. It works slower in other 
 people. But you, and many like you, go down under it as 
 if it were a battering ram. In the long run, it catches 
 them all yes, and breaks them all." 
 
 Then he went on to add to the list of ailments which 
 Lenny had discovered for himself, and in every instance 
 the physician was correct. 
 
 "In the main all of these troubles," he said, "have their
 
 THE TYEANT IN" WHITE 193 
 
 origin in the smoke which you take into your lungs. When 
 the heart sends its blood to the lung cells to be purified, 
 you supply it smoke, not air. Then the same blood must 
 feed your brain and your nervous system, as well as other 
 equally important parts of your body. I will give you 
 some prescriptions. But they are only meant to correct 
 trifling troubles. The cause of your graver troubles, to- 
 bacco, must be gotten rid of if you wish to be a well man 
 again." 
 
 After some general advice about exercise and diet, he 
 wound up : "I am now ready to turn you over to yourself. 
 The rest is in your hands, Mr. Mr. " 
 
 He had paused with a smile, for he knew that the name 
 Lenny had given him was an assumed one. 
 
 "I would rather not have you call me other than Mr. 
 Brown," said Lenny. 
 
 He paid the required fee, thanked the physician for his 
 advice, and made his way out of the office rather mechan- 
 ically. The open street, flooded by sunlight, made him 
 dizzy. He walked to a nearby public square, where he 
 sat down on a bench. As he sought to catch the signifi- 
 cance of his interview with the physician, he unconsciously 
 lighted a cigarette and began to smoke. 
 
 Suddenly, with a gesture of repulsion and horror, he 
 flung the cigarette away. His fright increased as he re- 
 membered how the physician had accurately hit off his 
 physical troubles. The advice he had received appeared 
 too necessary to be laughed off. 
 
 " 'You must stop smoking/ " he repeated. "It looks 
 easy but it's already taken some of the will power I need 
 to fight it with unless he was all wrong ! And if he was 
 wrong about any one thing, he was wrong about every-
 
 194 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 thing else ! But he was not no, not after those wonder- 
 ful guesses." 
 
 Finally he shook himself together, and walked to the 
 station for a train home. He asked: 
 
 "What will I do without cigarettes? Won't I be fussy 
 and nervous, and won't I be upset all the time?" 
 
 All that day he struggled frantically against the lure of 
 "a smoke," and succeeded by holding up before himself his 
 spells of illness, his failure in his work, and his duty to his 
 mother. When hard beset, he would cry, "I must get rid 
 of the habit for her sake ! Oh, I must !" 
 
 For a whole week victory was his. During that time he 
 did not go to see Justin, for fear that a cigarette-case would 
 be extended to him. When he passed a tobacco store, he 
 flew by it with his teeth shut. The odor of cigarettes on 
 some of his coats almost drove him frantic. He did not 
 dare to take in any of the professional baseball games then 
 starting, much as he wished to, because of the smoking 
 which would go on around him. 
 
 Then one day he found a half-filled package of cigar- 
 ettes while rummaging in one of the drawers of his bureau 
 and the week's fight was lost. A little later he was say- 
 ing exultantly: 
 
 "Why, I am feeling better than ever ! It's like a tonic ! 
 For the first time in a long while I am myself again ! It 
 can't be hurting me ! I could never feel like this if it 
 was !" 
 
 He was soon deriding the advice of the physician. 
 
 "He couldn't take my money without trying to square 
 himself somehow," Lenny laughingly said. 
 
 Once more he dropped back into the long spells of smok- 
 ing. To ease his conscience somewhat he gave attention to 
 the remainder of the physician's advice. He tried to diet,
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 195 
 
 and overcame his dislike for long walks, taking care that 
 they did not bring him near Conny's home. Something 
 more undesirable than a talk with her was in store for him, 
 however, when he went out one afternoon. He met Bob 
 Maur. 
 
 Lenny felt as if he had received a shock. He could not 
 summon up enough strength to steady his glance against 
 the searching gaze of the robust stock broker, who looked 
 twenty-five, confident and strong. Lenny slouched some- 
 what ; and his eyes had a haunted, apologetic look. 
 
 "Well, well!" exclaimed Maur, smiling at him. "I was 
 bound to run into you ! Tell me about every blessed thing ! 
 Are you realizing your expectations? How is your work 
 going?" 
 
 "Not particularly well," Lenny blurted out, in spite of 
 himself. 
 
 "That so?" Maur said, somewhat surprised by this 
 frank confession. "Bad health again?" 
 
 "Yes, I guess I'm run down a bit," Lenny replied. He 
 was sorry now that he had spoken hastily. "I wanted to 
 pass my examinations with credit. I did do quite well. 
 But I'm going to enter a lawyer's office, instead of finish- 
 ing the whole course." Then he allowed himself a lie. 
 "It was at the request of a big corporation attorney who 
 ia a friend of mother's. I am not free, though, to give 
 his name, old man." 
 
 "Then I don't see what you're kicking about!" said 
 Maur quickly, with unbelief in his manner. 
 
 "My bad health, of course," Lenny replied. "But I 
 oughtn't to take a passing indisposition seriously! A 
 youngster like me to worry about his health ! It's ridicu- 
 lous, isn't it ? I'll get straightened out pretty soon ! I've
 
 196 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 got a lot of important work next year, for which I'll need 
 every ounce of strength I can accumulate." 
 
 "/ haven't had time to think of anything except the re- 
 sponsibilities that have been thrust upon me!" said Maur, 
 tapping the ground with his cane. "Have you heard 
 about what brought me to Philadelphia ? It may be luck, 
 but it means still more responsibility." 
 
 "What was it?" Lenny asked, a griping feeling of envy 
 within him, a feeling he had not known so intensely before, 
 which sickened him at heart, and almost made him fever- 
 ish. 
 
 "Eemember my Aunt Harriet? But say, didn't Conny 
 tell you all about it ? You couldn't have been around there 
 lately!" exclaimed Maur. 
 
 The astonishment with which he said this revealed now 
 little he gleaned from Conny about Lenny's moves. 
 
 "My time has been divided between the law library at 
 the University and home. Didn't Conny tell you that?" 
 Leonard sparred. He asked, "What about your Aunt Har- 
 riet? We were talking about her." 
 
 "When she died last month, she was good enough to 
 leave me all she had," Maur related. "Sounds too good 
 to be true, doesn't it? That's the way it looked to me 
 when I first heard of it, especially when I found out what 
 a pile of money it involved." 
 
 Lenny made no comment. Had his soul's salvation de- 
 pended upon it, he could not have forced himself to say 
 that he was glad. 
 
 "That's what brought me back from New York," Maur 
 went on after waiting for the other to remark about his 
 good luck, and enjoying the fact that Lenny could not. 
 "I intend to put that money to use right away. I'm go- 
 ing into the brokerage business in Philadelphia with Dan
 
 THE TYEANT Iff WHITE 197 
 
 Howell, of Ruyder, Cressman and Company. Though he's 
 over thirty-five, we've chummed splendidly. He's a con- 
 servative man. You'll wonder why I don't go in with dad. 
 But what fun is there in being bossed, even by one's father ? 
 He is sore on me for not throwing my capital into his 
 office. Come around to see me when I get fixed. I'll send 
 you a card." 
 
 "I will," said Lenny briefly. 
 
 There was no slouch in his walk when he left Maur, 
 until a turn of the corner allowed him to fall back into 
 his nerveless gait. Then his hands clenched desperately. 
 Tears of mortification were in his eyes. He tried to shrug 
 away the loneliness he felt. But "Beaten!" loomed large 
 before him. 
 
 He had no inclination to go home ; it was the last place 
 to which he cared to bring the feeling of defeat which was 
 suffocating him. He told himself that he had been more 
 unkind to his mother than to himself. So why should he 
 trouble her with his presence especially since she believed 
 him to be living in a happier frame of mind than for some 
 time past ? 
 
 Brooding, he walked aimlessly on. He tried to see the 
 future, fully aware now that his smoking had been entirely 
 responsible for the sapping of his energies. The belief 
 that cigarettes could not harm him had given way to the 
 certainty that he was once more going downhill because of 
 them. He asked himself whether he had a right to with- 
 hold from his mother what the physician had told him. 
 Then he hit upon the idea of going West for a year's life 
 on horseback. 
 
 "My law will have to wait," he said. "With renewed 
 health I will be able to put up a stronger fight. I can get 
 through my preparation for the bar in two years. I won't
 
 198 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 be over twenty-three then. No, I'm not down and out by 
 any means! Mother will go West with me. She would 
 profit by the change, too." 
 
 Renewed ambition urged him on again. Everything 
 became luminous with promise. A moment later his 
 dreams collapsed as physical faintness seized him. He was 
 glad to be near one of Germantown's main streets, within 
 . reach of a saloon. There he took a drink of brandy. 
 
 At dinner that evening he forced joke after joke to hide 
 his gloom from his mother. Afterwards he sought a cor- 
 ner of the porch, and wearily watched the landscape darken 
 as night came on. His stagnation of spirit almost made 
 him shudder. 
 
 As the shadows about the house darkened into night, he 
 felt a tightening of his heart-strings. The blended chirp 
 of crickets was like a wail to his ears, and he shrank fur- 
 ther into his seat. He covered his ears with his hands, 
 and shut his eyes. But the roar within his brain was as 
 maddening as that without. 
 
 His hands dropped to his sides. He stared with wide- 
 open eyes into the inky sky beyond the branches of the 
 trees. A sob stole past his throat. He battered the next 
 one back with furious self-command. Then the strength 
 ebbed again. He lay back, with parched lips, hardly dar- 
 ing to breathe. 
 
 There was a step on the porch. He was sure it was his 
 mother, and at once he decided upon a course of action. 
 As he waited with suspended breath, a hand was laid upon 
 his shoulder. With more volume of tone than he believed 
 himself master of, he said : 
 
 "Sit down. I want to talk to you. I am glad you're 
 here at this moment."
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 199 
 
 The chair beside him creaked. Then Lenny, without 
 turning, broke out : 
 
 "I want to tell you that I'm a wreck. I'm beaten 
 badly! I'm done for. It's the cigarettes. My nerves 
 have all gone to pieces. I'm tobacco soaked. I've been told 
 that by a doctor. And now there's no hope for me here. 
 I've got to go away. I've been hiding it from you. I've 
 been lying about my condition. I've been keeping back 
 how much I've been smoking. Cigarettes killed my col- 
 lege career. I can't sleep. I'm sick half the time. I've 
 gotten to be useless. There's no use trying to delude you 
 or myself any longer. The jig is up ! I feel that if I'm 
 not to die right under your eyes, I must get away. Mother, 
 I'm not a coward, and I'm not afraid of death, but but 
 I'm afraid now !" 
 
 The chair beside him had been thrust back, and its occu- 
 pant had risen with a moan. 
 
 "It's been the smoking," Lenny went on, as if to have 
 done with it; "the same thing that struck down dad. You 
 were right when you warned me. I didn't believe it could 
 be so. But because of the cigarettes, my studying never 
 amounted to much. I had to loaf most of the time. I 
 couldn't get down to any work until it was too late. All 
 the studying I did in the last two years could never have 
 been the cause of all this. Well, it's all up with me ! I'm 
 going away. And I'd rather go away alone." 
 
 "Lenny!" came in a choked, terrified voice which did 
 not belong to his mother. 
 
 He started up, clinging to the arms of his chair, and 
 glared, like a trapped wild thing, at Conny ! 
 
 "I did not mean to listen," she sobbed. "At first I 
 thought you knew it waa I. Then when you talked on, I
 
 200 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 wanted to hear. I had to ! Say that it's all exaggerated, 
 Lenny ! Say it ! my Lenny !" 
 
 His amazement was slowly giving way to chagrin and 
 anger. 
 
 "But why should you have listened?" he demanded. 
 "What could it have meant to you to hear those terrible 
 things? You should have stopped me!" 
 
 At once there came in return : 
 
 "I had to hear because I am your friend! And I'm 
 glad it was I, and not your mother ! Think what those 
 words would have meant to her ! And you had to speak 
 them to somebody ! Why not to me ? I want to help you, 
 Lenny. Why shouldn't you win out against the cigar- 
 ettes? You always could fight! Who knows that better 
 than I ? You are no coward ! But you should win out 
 right here, and not run away from a difficulty. Stay at 
 home, and cut down your smoking a little at a time. You 
 needn't stop it all at once. Oh, you will succeed. You 
 will! You are going to start all over again, too! You 
 can do it ! You are young ! I know you are going to real- 
 ize all you've been hoping for, you dear boy ! You are go- 
 ing to be one of my wishes come true." 
 
 He was eyeing her almost sullenly. Then he said in 
 a tone of derision: 
 
 " Start all over again ? It sounds easy enough ! But I 
 can't concentrate on anything. And I must smoke. No, 
 it's too late. Nothing is easy any more. All the fight has 
 gone out of me !" 
 
 He went on, in a tone of surprise, as if speaking to him- 
 self : "Who would have believed cigarettes could have done 
 it? I always thought drink was the curse to be afraid of. 
 And there was Justin smoking, and it didn't seem to harm 
 him. That's what kept me from quitting long ago. Ever
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 201 
 
 since I knew him, he's had a cigarette in his mouth. So it 
 seemed all right for me to do it. Not that I blame him ! 
 He wasn't urging me on. He was just an example. But 
 I never had his strength. It's all right now to say, 'Break 
 it off!' I can't. I've tried. You wouldn't understand. 
 You couldn't. It may seem funny a little cigarette, and 
 I a man ! But I guess I'm not much of a man now. I'm 
 going away out West. But why should I be telling you 
 all this? And what right have you to listen?" 
 
 "Because, except for your mother, Lenny, there isn't any 
 one in the whole world who cares quite as much as I. You 
 think I'm still a young girl. But you forget we've been 
 growing up," Conny reminded him. "You've got to listen 
 to me because I'm your friend because never have I 
 stopped thinking about you, even though you tried to for- 
 get all about me. All I want to say is that you've got to 
 stay, Lenny. You'd smoke just as much if you went West. 
 If you stayed on, and made an effort, all the old ambition 
 would come back. There are so many here who care for 
 you! If you kept near them, you could do lots of things 
 to advance yourself. If you were far away, you would not 
 care. Then there is your mother. And Justin Mahan is 
 awfully fond of you. Aunt thinks you're splendid. Uncle 
 Trevor is one of the best friends you have. And am 7 not ? 
 All these almost in one house, too ! And there are plenty 
 of people in Germantown who care. Why, all those boys 
 you made the league for! No, you're not going away! 
 You're going to make us all proud of you right here !" 
 
 To Lenny the list of those who cared did not appear very 
 long, so utter was his loneliness just then. But in that mo- 
 ment he was greatly moved by the sweet beauty of the girl 
 pleading with him. It winged its way through the dark- 
 ness, and stirred him. He could see Conny quite clearly
 
 203 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 now. His dullness began to give way to interest. It was 
 true she was no longer a child in short skirts, but a young 
 woman. It stood out as something he had not quite seen 
 before as something very strange and very important. 
 And a great respect for her grew up within him in that 
 short space of time. 
 
 "I know that your mother will not let you go, if you 
 are going in that spirit," she was saying. "And I " 
 her hand went out to him, " I wouldn't know what to do 
 without you, even though you have neglected me so much. 
 Will you not stay for our sakes?" 
 
 "I'll stay," he said, drawing a deep breath. "I see now 
 that I would have had to come back soon, anyhow. You're 
 good to me, Conny and I'm not worth it !" 
 
 "Aren't you, though!" she cried, her voice quivering 
 with feeling. "If you only knew what you mean to us! 
 And you're going to mean more !" 
 
 As a shadow cast by some one moving in front of the 
 light in the Captain's library showed on the path leading 
 from the house, Conny said, "Your mother is up there. 
 You want to go in and talk to her, don't you ? Don't tell 
 her I was here, though." 
 
 "Dear mother!" he said, turning away a little. 
 
 "You know I never saw my mother," Conny said simply. 
 
 "Think what little joy I have brought mine !" he replied. 
 
 "But how could you when you are just beginning?" she 
 said as she covered his hands with hers. "Don't you know 
 you will bring her a great deal when you tell her that 
 you've won out against this terrible habit?" 
 
 Then she softly slipped away. As the white-garbed fig- 
 ure vanished, he extended his hands with a gesture of de- 
 termination. 
 
 "We aren't beaten yet !" he exclaimed.
 
 CHAPTEE XII 
 
 COLONEL HENDERSON waa a more frequent visitor at 
 Mrs. Craigie's home than ever, despite the gossip which 
 this created. He claimed that he came as a friend noth- 
 ing more. And so he proved himself, for he took care to 
 have information about safe investments on the occasion of 
 every visit. Mrs. Craigie was gratitude itself for this help, 
 for she was making plans for the future. 
 
 "Leonard must have all the money he can make use of," 
 she said to Gertrude when the Colonel's name came up. 
 "Suppose Lenny should give up law, and take to writing. 
 How valuable it would be for him to have an inde- 
 pendent income ! The book at which he has been working 
 shows that he has literary ability. And I am safe in se- 
 curing him that income, for he has always been chary 
 about spending large sums. He is too thoughtful to do 
 BO." 
 
 Yet only several days after, Lenny asked for money; 
 and he repeated this request on the following day; and 
 still again on the day after this. Just a week had inter- 
 vened between his interview with Conny and this sudden 
 call for funds. With that money he had gone to the bet- 
 tors' section at one of the professional baseball parks, and 
 had wagered sums, not once, but six times, spread over as 
 many afternoons. 
 
 803
 
 204 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 This betting had its origin in an accident. In a train 
 going into Philadelphia, he had overheard a discussion on 
 "betting on pitchers." The claim was made that a wager 
 laid on a reputable pitcher, rather than on the work of a 
 club as a whole, would win. The man who argued claimed, 
 further, that most of the bettors were not keen students 
 of the game, and did not follow with any care the out-of- 
 town work of the baseball clubs. 
 
 Eager to test this, and tempted by the excitement it 
 promised, Lenny had gone to the games and had "betted 
 on pitchers." He had no trouble in locating that portion 
 of the grand-stand where the bettors congregated. His 
 money, however, went to his opponents four times in suc- 
 cession. Careless playing on the part of the club behind 
 the pitcher upon whom he had wagered had been the cause. 
 
 But the fifth and sixth times he won. When he visited 
 the grand-stand again, he chanced upon Justin Mahan. 
 Lenny hid his disappointment at this interruption to his 
 week of excitement. He derived some pleasure, however, 
 in listening to Justin's comments upon the various plays 
 as they came off. In the end he was also pleased to see 
 that had he betted, he would have won. 
 
 When he asked Justin to have something to drink after 
 the game, the older man was first surprised, and then 
 amused. 
 
 "I keep forgetting that your tender years are no more!" 
 he immediately said to mollify Lenny. "Still, I think 
 we'll be wise to keep your dissipation down to beer." 
 
 Over the glasses they spoke of the increasing profits 
 which every season brought those who were financing base- 
 ball teams. 
 
 "Nothing else in the world gets the enormous free ad- 
 vertising which falls to the game," said Justin; and sud-
 
 THE TYBANT IN WHITE 205 
 
 denly awoke to the fact that Lenny was ordering a second 
 round of drinks. 
 
 "None of that for you !" he said, rising, and halting the 
 waiter. 
 
 "Why, it's only beer!" said Lenny. 
 
 "Well, we've had enough, even if it is!" And Justin 
 led him off, remarking, "It was only yesterday that you 
 were a bit of a fellow, and now you're trying to pose as a 
 toper !" 
 
 They went into Germantown, talking and smoking like 
 tried comrades. Mahan advised: 
 
 "Go to Europe for a couple of years, Leonard. There is 
 time to break into law. And people have a way of looking 
 up to a traveled man. They would forgive you all your 
 sins of omission such as not taking a college degree." 
 
 "Ah, then people are really making remarks about it !" 
 Lenny cried at once. "I knew they would ! I knew it !" 
 
 "Oh, only one fellow, that's all about whom we need 
 not concern ourselves," said Justin carelessly, conscious of 
 the break he had made. 
 
 "Bob Maur, I suppose!" Lenny guessed at once. 
 
 "Well, if we must speak about it, why, who else but Bob 
 Maur?" said Justin with a shrug. "But he need not con- 
 cern us. We could count his friends on the fingers of one 
 hand, and have some fingers to spare; unless he believes 
 that those who want to use him are his friends. So why 
 should we bother about him ?" He looked at his companion 
 out of the corner of his eye as he added, "He is paying a 
 good deal of attention to Conny." 
 
 Leonard lowered his eyelids a little, and did not reply at 
 once. When he spoke, he said, "I would wish him any- 
 thing in the world but that! If he were deserving of her, 
 I would wish him well in that too !"
 
 2061 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 They were ready to alight. Lenny had thrown away his 
 cigarette as they came out of the smoking-car, and he was 
 happy that he had done so, for Conny and Gertrude were 
 at the station. As Justin went ahead with the latter, 
 Conny said in a low voice, "Let us walk slowly, Leonard. 
 I must have you to myself for a little while." 
 
 After an unendurable silence, Lenny exclaimed, "Well, 
 won't you say something?" 
 
 "I expected that you would come to see me," Conny said 
 somewhat hesitatingly. 
 
 "I might have done so instead of going to these base- 
 ball games. But but I'd rather not, Conny," he was 
 candid enough to tell her. 
 
 She changed the conversation by saying, "You are going 
 to the shore next week with your mother, I suppose." 
 
 "Yes, thank goodness!" he exclaimed. "I'm so nervous 
 that even the small excitement of watching a baseball game 
 upsets me! I'll rest this summer and finish that book." 
 
 "Why don't you bring it around, and show me what you 
 have done?" she pleaded. 
 
 "Don't ask me to come to see you," he said hurriedly. 
 
 "I won't, if you are not worried about how things are 
 going with you," she replied. 
 
 "I'm trying to see my way clear. I am not sure of my- 
 self yet !" he confessed. 
 
 "But it must be soon ! soon ! Don't put it off !" she cried. 
 
 "Oh, I would so much rather you stopped thinking about 
 me, Conny!" he begged. "There are whole troops of boys 
 and girls who can make you happy. Just forget me. I'll 
 let you get on good terms with me when I fall on my feet 
 again. Not before that ! Come, it's a bargain !" 
 
 "Oh, no!" she exclaimed. Then she said in a whimsical
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 207 
 
 manner, "It would be a poor return for the many times you 
 stood up for me against the boys when we were kids !" 
 
 "I hardly remember those times now," he said. 
 
 "Oh, but I do !" she cried. Then she asked, "What were 
 you and Justin so chummy about?" 
 
 "He was urging me to go to Europe for a couple of 
 years. But I'm still stuck on the idea of forcing him into 
 partnership with me," Lenny said, with the ghost of a 
 smile. "Well, I turn off here. But tell me what has 
 Bob Maur been saying about me?" 
 
 "Just as much as I would let him, so he's had to keep 
 you out of our talks," she replied. "Why? Did Justin 
 mention his name ? They were together for a few moments 
 yesterday. I suppose Bob asked about you. No wonder 
 he waa quiet when I came back. Trust Justin to make 
 him uncomfortable ! Oh, why shouldn't everybody get 
 along with everybody else?" 
 
 Lenny held out his hand in parting. She took it with a 
 quick little motion which gladdened him for the time being. 
 
 "Your vacation must be half play and half work, Jack, 
 my dear boy !" she counseled. 
 
 "What wouldn't I give to make every day a whole work- 
 day !" he exclaimed. 
 
 "You could give your promise," said Conny. " But 
 I had better catch up with aunty." 
 
 He smiled at her as he bade her good-by. She watched 
 him walk toward his home, and her lips were tightly com- 
 pressed to keep back the tears. When she reached her own 
 home, she threw herself into her uncle's arms, and clung 
 to him. 
 
 He could not understand why she was silent. She waa 
 eaying to herself : 
 
 "It won't do to tell anybody about Lenny. He'll manage
 
 208 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 for himself. I must not talk about him. If I interfered 
 too much, I might lose his friendship ! He will be himself 
 again soon ! Oh, he will !" 
 
 Then suddenly she whispered to her uncle, "Sometimes 
 I think you and I might go away somewhere, and never, 
 never come back !" 
 
 His eyes flashed, as if vistas of joy had been unfolded to 
 his eager soul. He remained like one in a dream, absently 
 stroking Conny^s hair. Then he shook himself together, 
 and put away the gripping desire to cry: "But you really 
 belong to me anyhow ! You, Constance, are my own child ! 
 Of course we can go and never come back !" 
 
 Instead he asked, "What made you sad so suddenly?" 
 
 "Because I can't understand things. When I was 
 young, everything was simpler. Why, for instance, 
 shouldn't Aunt Gertrude be happy about you?" 
 
 "But your aunt is not altogether happy about many 
 other things," he told her, seizing the opportunity to 
 impress upon Conny that she should give more time and 
 attention to Gertrude, instead of lavishing all upon him. 
 
 "Aunt is happy, but is hiding it," Conny insisted. 
 "That's like her, uncle. She's all pride. You ought to 
 know her by this time !" 
 
 Almost at that very moment, Gertrude was saying: 
 
 "My pride, silly though it was, Justin, used to help me 
 over difficulties. I am not so certain about myself now. 
 There have been many things to weaken me. The coming 
 of Trevor to this house was one. My perpetual lie about 
 his relationship to Conny was another. Then there was 
 Conny's transference of her affection from me to him. 
 
 And finally, Justin dear " she hesitated a moment, and 
 
 finished with an effort: "I am afraid that I have been of 
 very little help to you."
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 209 
 
 He fairly leaped from his seat. 
 
 "How can you speak that way?" he cried. "You can't 
 mean it ! Don't tell me that again, or I will say that it is 
 7 who am disappointing you! That is it ! It is I who have 
 been the failure ! I promised so much and am still 
 empty-handed !" 
 
 He was deathly pale now. Gertrude had also risen to 
 her feet, but she sought to keep some control over herself. 
 
 "If you continue to talk in that strain, I will surely not 
 forgive you !" she warned. 
 
 There was a tense moment. The ring of the telephone 
 broke the suspense. The call proved to be from Mrs. 
 Craigie, who asked if they could come over after dinner. 
 Justin and Gertrude swiftly exchanged glances; and than 
 Gertrude hesitated long enough to allow Mrs. Craigie to 
 guess that the two wished to have their evening alone. 
 
 When Gertrude hung up the receiver, Justin said, "She 
 wants us as much for Lenny as for herself. He has been 
 brooding about his shortcomings, when there are really 
 none worth talking about. The people who have real prob- 
 lems are usually older than twenty. Anyhow, he's too 
 sensitive to be happy in the practice of law. I am going 
 to bring pressure to bear on his mother about that." 
 
 It was this very question about Lenny's sensitiveness as 
 related to his future in law which his mother was constantly 
 debating. At an unexpected moment she said to him : 
 
 "Suppose you were to round out your education thor- 
 oughly before you actually settled down to a profession. 
 You have never really gotten a good education " 
 
 "But I have gotten to know the world better during these 
 two years of life among men," he interposed. "Could there 
 be anything more fortunate than that for a young fellow ?" 
 
 "Yes, there could be something more fortunate," said his
 
 210 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 mother. "It is to discover just what will make one most 
 happy for an entire lifetime. I would not be surprised if 
 some day you came to me and confessed that you had been 
 mistaken about your choice of law ; that you had found an 
 aptitude for something else which would give you more 
 joy. Then would come the moment when you would shake 
 off all your doubts, and would rise to the full height of 
 your ability ! I am watching and waiting for that time. 
 Your unrest would cease then !" 
 
 Lenny stared at the frail woman sitting quietly before 
 him. He cried in warning, "Mother, you believe me finer 
 than I am!" in a voice which struggled with anger. It 
 almost drove him to tear the veil from her eyes, brutal as 
 that might have been. 
 
 She merely smiled. To hide his despair, he seized some 
 flowers from a vase near-by, and with a forced smile scat- 
 tered them over her. Then they laughed together because 
 the flowers proved quite wet. But his laughter halted 
 abruptly when he stiffened under the effect of a sharp 
 nervous tremor which shot through his body. He gripped 
 a chair to steady himself. It was all too brief to be noticed 
 by his mother. 
 
 At the shore, she set out to fight his moodiness by 
 insisting that he should get about a great deal. This was 
 speedily to be realized, for he chanced upon a former class- 
 mate who hailed from the Middle West. When, however, 
 the latter proposed that they hunt up "a few good fellows 
 and a game," Lenny did not leap at the chance. 
 
 "The last hand of poker I played was on the banks of the 
 St. Lawrence with Grosse," he said. "We weren't brilliant 
 at it." 
 
 "Well, you won't find us so, either!" said the other. 
 "It's just to while away an evening. I know two or three
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 211 
 
 chaps who would enjoy a game if it was merely social and 
 we weren't stuck on making money out of each other. Pm 
 going to count you in !" 
 
 Lenny was too eager to escape the monotony of the life 
 he was leading to offer further objections; although be- 
 tween that time and the hour when they assembled in the 
 hotel room of the one who had suggested the game he was 
 several times on the brink of withdrawing, but was lured 
 on by the prospect of spending several exciting hours. 
 
 A bellboy traveled to that room many times with 
 liquor. It was close to sunrise before Lenny got away. 
 He had telephoned his mother early in the evening; so he 
 was enabled to delay returning to his hotel without worry- 
 ing her. The liquor he had drunk made it hard for him to 
 find his way easily through the streets. When he staggered 
 into bed, he was too helpless to take off his clothes. 
 
 The sun was quite high before, in answer to his mother's 
 knock, he awoke. He asked in a sleepy voice to be allowed 
 to have another hour, and dropped dizzily back into bed. 
 On finally awakening, he was greeted by a racking head- 
 ache. His mother mistook the signs of dissipation for 
 drowsiness, and smiled when Mrs. Mulholland made a 
 remark about "sowing one's wild oats." 
 
 "Well, the seashore is a mighty strange place for agri- 
 culture !" said Lenny. 
 
 When he came back to take stock of his money, he found 
 his original sum increased by fifty dollars. 
 
 For a time he was disgusted. Then he laughed weakly. 
 In the end, the night's doings bore a pleasurable aspect 
 since they had disposed of a great deal of time very 
 quickly. 
 
 "All those fellows were of good family," he hastened to 
 defend the dissipation in reply to his conscience. "A few
 
 213 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 drinks and a congenial game in a social way won't neces- 
 sarily spell my undoing." 
 
 It seemed a relief to let it go at that, and the argument 
 was carried no further. 
 
 He tried to do some work on his manuscript, but fell 
 asleep over the pages. His attempt to finish the doze in 
 his room was interrupted hy a telephone call. It proved to 
 be an invitation to repeat his previous evening's luck at 
 cards. 
 
 "I am spending my afternoon taking naps," he said. 
 "How about to-morrow?" 
 
 "Need two days to recuperate after a mild affair like 
 ours?" came over the wire. 
 
 "Looks that way," Lenny replied. "And it'll take me 
 two days to count over what I have won from you fellows." 
 
 This brought the laugh he had expected. After he hung 
 up the receiver, he shrank back in disgust from the thought 
 of his part in that morning's dissipation. He decided upon 
 a courteous, yet firm, refusal should the invitation be 
 repeated. 
 
 At dinner Mrs. Mulholland took care to personally place 
 a letter from Conny beside his plate, with a ceremonious 
 bow. When Lenny ignored the letter, she broke out : 
 
 "If Conny wasn't so charitable, some people would be 
 less conceited ! Let us hope some real man will make her 
 happy mighty soon, too!" 
 
 "Let us hope so," he echoed carelessly. 
 
 " 'None but the brave deserves the fair/ " Mrs. Mul- 
 holland followed up the attack. 
 
 "Trust her to find that out!" Lenny exclaimed. 
 
 "Spoken like a brave man!" came mockingly. 
 
 "Who was it that said, 'He who fights and runs away, 
 may live to fight another day ?' " asked Lenny.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 213 
 
 "Don't boast of being all legs and no heart!" cried Mrs. 
 Mulholland. 
 
 Resentful that the talk should have become so direct, 
 Lenny announced : 
 
 "The game is called!" 
 
 When he was out of the way, Mrs. Mulholland com- 
 plained to his mother, "If he would only flirt or make a 
 fool of himself like a real live young fellow!" 
 
 "Don't you see he is far from happy because he believes 
 he has done nothing else but make a fool of himself?" said 
 his mother. 
 
 That night Lenny smoked himself into a fit of loneliness 
 on the beach, and determined never again to spend such 
 tormenting hours,, even if he had to go back to the card- 
 players. Such a course looked ridiculous on the following 
 morning. But the day dragged again, and in the mental 
 fog in which he moved in his nervous weariness, he sought 
 out his companions of the previous night, his pride and 
 resistance, for the time being, at the zero point. 
 
 Following this, for three nights in succession his hour of 
 return was pushed far into the morning. His mother soon 
 began to wonder what time he did come back. Vague fears 
 prompted her to go to his room on the fourth night, and 
 to wait up for him. 
 
 As midnight came and went, she only shook her head 
 indulgently, mindful of the fact that he was no longer a 
 boy, and then continued her reading of the magazine she 
 had brought with her. When one o'clock showed on the 
 time-piece on his bureau, she grew visibly anxious. At two 
 she was no longer reading. 
 
 Suddenly she started as a fearful thought struck her. 
 Had he kept similar late hours on other occasions, and lied 
 to her about it? As she dwelt on his disinclination to
 
 214 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 rise early, and his fagged air even with this additional 
 sleep, the probability that he was dissipating seemed cer- 
 tain, and she was almost suffocated by her grief. 
 
 A little past three there was a fumbling at the door, in a 
 peculiar manner, which she could not understand as the 
 hall was well lighted, even at that hour. A hand moved 
 the knob, and the key which struck the key-hole frequently 
 appeared very unsteady. Mrs. Craigie hastily went to the 
 door, less fearful of intruders than of Lenny in a state of 
 extreme weariness. What else could that groping mean? 
 
 The door opened before she could lay her hand on it. 
 She was about to speak, in order to keep Lenny from 
 starting when he came in. Speech, however, was abruptly 
 halted by the way in which he staggered into the room. 
 She cried out when she saw that he was drunk, and re- 
 mained rooted where she stood, her hands on her heart. 
 
 As the knowledge of who was in the room slowly dawned 
 upon Lenny's clouded mind, he made an effort to straighten 
 himself, but he only saved himself from falling by seizing 
 a chair for support. The sight of his mother sobered him 
 slightly. He was able to find his tongue to say: 
 
 "Dear mamsy, it's funny, isn't it, your stayin' up for 
 me!" 
 
 He hiccoughed and grinned foolishly at her. Then he 
 made for the bed, but found a chair a half-way road to it, 
 and dropped into the seat with a thud. His eyes were 
 almost closed now. 
 
 "Lenny!" cried his mother in agony. 
 
 Her distress aroused him. Starting up with an unsteady 
 gesture, he said : 
 
 "Go to bed, mamsy, dear. You know I've got a right 
 to go out with the boys. Yes, mamsy, it's right. Ain't I
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 215 
 
 grown up? Sure! Now go to bed like a good fellow. 
 It's awfully late. You ain't strong either, you know." 
 
 He was sobering fast. 
 
 "Made lots of friends just like you wanted me to," he 
 told her, conscious, despite his very helpless state, of hia 
 need of squaring himself. "Fine boys. Go to bed, now, 
 mamsy, or there won't be any night left to go to sleep in." 
 
 Then a very strange thing happened. Walking over to 
 him, his mother first gazed sternly into his tipsy face. Then 
 she seized him, and shook him with all her strength, her 
 eyes blazing. 
 
 His jaw dropped with astonishment. He sobered suf- 
 ficiently to catch his mother as she collapsed. Staring at 
 the inert figure in his arms he tried to comprehend what 
 had happened. 
 
 "Mamsy!" he cried. "Say you're all right! Say 
 there's nothing the matter ! God ! I haven't killed you, 
 have I ? Talk to me, mamsy ! Talk to me ! Say some- 
 thing!" 
 
 "Help me to my room," she whispered. 
 
 "No! no!" he said. "Just lie down here for a few 
 moments !" 
 
 "No, you had better take me to my room," she told 
 him. 
 
 When he did so, and had laid her upon her bed, he 
 knelt beside it and gazed at her with frightened eyes. 
 
 " I wish I had died on my way here !" he finally said, his 
 voice choked with sobs. 
 
 "You forget that you are all I have," she replied. 
 
 "Mother," he said, covering his face with his hands, 
 "why should you not marry Colonel Henderson?" 
 
 "You insult me!" she exclaimed in a voice of decide^
 
 216 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 anger, sitting up. "You cannot respect me or yourself 
 when you seek to evade responsibility in this way !" 
 
 "I I beg your pardon," he said, in a strange, quiet 
 voice. "I suppose I am the sort of fellow who tries to 
 escape responsibilities. That is the whole trouble. I'm 
 not really worth your love. I'm just a weak fool ; nothing 
 more. That's the reason I am thoughtless about you and 
 about myself." 
 
 This was too much for his mother. She reached out her 
 arms and held him close ; and the next moment they were 
 both crying like children. 
 
 He was the first to speak. 
 
 "Don't, mamsy!" he begged. "You're breaking my 
 heart ! Oh, you've got to forgive me this time ! Perhaps 
 the real trouble is you can't do anything else but forgive 
 me ! If you would only rage at me ! If you would only be 
 harsh and tell me that I have disappointed you, and that 
 you are ashamed of me, and done with me ! Dear mamsy, 
 you're no mamsy at all! You're just the softest-souled 
 person in all the world ! A dear person who should have 
 had a daughter like Conny instead of a son like me." 
 
 "You will not find me so lenient or soft again unless you 
 promise never to mention Colonel Henderson's name as you 
 mentioned it to-night," she said, almost entreatingly. 
 
 He was not glad when he promised. He was afraid of 
 the future. Then he wondered why she had not exacted 
 another promise from him; why she was now ignoring his 
 return that morning in a drunken condition. 
 
 "If she would but mistrust me !" he mentally exclaimed. 
 
 He looked at the frail figure, and a strong detestation of 
 himself swept up through his being. He stood off, as if 
 afraid that his touch would defile her.
 
 THE TYEANT IK WHITE 217 
 
 "My dear boy, it is very late," she reminded him as he 
 stood staring ahead, his head on his breast. 
 
 He started. 
 
 "Yes, I have been keeping you from sleep," he said. He 
 came to her, and took her hand. "I am sure you won't 
 have to worry about my late hours after this," he told her. 
 "Nor about my drinking. I know you won't." 
 
 A tremor shot through her. She whispered, "Your voice 
 just then brought your father vividly before me. Oh, 
 Lenny, remember that it is you who will have to make my 
 way smooth in the years ahead of me!" 
 
 He soothed her with stumbling, tender words. As he 
 left the room, all his grief for the occurrence of the last 
 few hours summed itself up in the thought : 
 
 "If I were reasonably sure that I could smooth my own 
 way during those years 1"
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 FOR some days Lenny did not appear in the rooms of 
 his card-loving acquaintances. But there came an after- 
 noon when he smoked himself into a resigned frame of 
 mind, and surrendered to his craving for the racket, the 
 talk, and the excitement of the card table. He met some- 
 what shame-facedly the uproar which greeted him. How- 
 ever, when drinks were ordered in his honor, he insisted: 
 
 "I am going to cut out cocktails and highballs, boys. 
 Also late hours. That may sound goody-goody, but I've 
 got a nervous mother at the other end of the route. Now 
 grin, the lot of you !" 
 
 No one "grinned;" so he was almost reconciled to his 
 return. He promised to increase still further the number 
 who came to the "game." He was able to do this because 
 his mother had been seeking out her women friends, so 
 that their male relatives might be added to Lenny's circle 
 of acquaintances. Little did she dream that she was help- 
 ing to recruit players for "select" card parties. 
 
 About this time Lenny suggested an increase in his 
 allowance. His mother freely opened her pocketbook to 
 him. She also spoke of turning over to him some real es- 
 tate, that he might be placed on a more independent foot- 
 ing. Not a suspicion of the play in which he was indulging 
 crossed her mind. His hours were regular enough now, 
 218
 
 THE TYRANT IK WHITE 219 
 
 and his drinking was not sufficiently in evidence to be 
 noticeable. 
 
 "I know you are having an enjoyable summer at last," 
 she said. 
 
 "Look at the bushels of acquaintances you have gotten 
 for me!" he replied evasively. Then he hesitatingly said, 
 "But they can certainly spend money!" 
 
 "I will not have you go to the other extreme by not 
 spending anything at all !" she told him. "You must know 
 no cares this summer !" She added, "I have not seen you 
 look so well for some time," deceived by his tan. 
 
 "You, mamsy, are radiantly beautiful!" he said in 
 return, smiling at her, although his heart was sick within 
 him at the part he was playing. 
 
 As he stood there, apparently cheerful, his mother was 
 happy. She noted with satisfaction not for the first 
 time that he had grown to be taller than she, with a 
 slimness which gave him an appearance beyond his regular 
 height. His black hair was thrown back carelessly from his 
 broad forehead, beneath which the brown eyes looked out 
 thoughtfully and wistfully. 
 
 Uneasy under her gaze, he suddenly began to talk about 
 his book of brave men's exploits. His time away from the 
 card table, when he was not drowsing on the beach, was 
 occupied with this manuscript. 
 
 Occasionally he would drop into a barroom with his 
 newly acquired acquaintances. He took care to order only 
 the mildest drinks, and listened with amazement to the un- 
 manly gossip and small talk of supposedly important peo- 
 ple. This, however, was more bearable than their stories, 
 which made him ashamed when he left the atmosphere of 
 the barrooms.
 
 320 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Ah, well, they all tell them," he reflected. "The old 
 fellows are just as bad as the young." 
 
 He did not hide from himself the fact that the gaming 
 table was a considerable strain on his nervous system. Try 
 as he might, he could not master the trembling of his 
 hands when cards were being dealt out to him. It put 
 him in mind of the several betting days at the baseball 
 games, when each throwing-motion of the pitcher's arm 
 was like a shock. 
 
 He had expected that by playing long enough, he would 
 overcome the strain he felt during the dealing of cards. 
 But his nervousness on every occasion almost paralyzed 
 him. This did not grow out of his fear of losing. Money 
 had never been a ruling passion with him. He was 
 satisfied to find that his winnings and losses balanced each 
 other throughout the summer. This was mainly due to 
 the careless manner in which the others, except in one or 
 two instances, played. 
 
 A letter which disturbed him greatly came to him toward 
 the end of summer. It was from Conny, who wrote: 
 
 "All you say sounds strange, and not at all like you. 
 You seem to have changed an awful lot. If it was any- 
 body else, I would say it was a case of conceit. But I 
 couldn't be that unfair to you. It isn't that you've grown 
 older. You simply don't seem to remember about us. You 
 write as if somebody had dictated the letter to you. What's 
 more, not once do you mention the league ! It's all so 
 queer! I seem to have let go of your hand. In fact, I'm 
 getting to feel that I'd rather you didn't write at all !" 
 
 A subsequent letter demolished all his resentment. 
 Conny wound up, after a string of whimsical trifles, by 
 Baying, "I am eager to have a look at you. That's the 
 reason I'm wishing summer was over !"
 
 THE TYRANT IN" WHITE 221 
 
 He, on the other hand, regarded with gloom its 
 approaching end. To offset the chance of a dull fall and 
 winter, he secured a number of addresses from those whom 
 he had met at the card table. The changing character of 
 the circle there had brought him in contact with men of all 
 walks of life. It surprised him how easily they forgot 
 their different social stations when they dealt each other 
 card-hands. Whether some of them would be as cordial to 
 him in the city, he could not tell. 
 
 When he made no mention of his plans for the future 
 to hia mother, she was happy to think that his summer had 
 occupied him to the exclusion of everything else. 
 
 " Once he gets back to Germantown he will be clamoring 
 to start right in again on his law work !" she told herself. 
 "Let him have his holiday!" 
 
 When on his return home he still persisted in being 
 silent about his plans, his mother did not press the matter. 
 
 "At last," she reasoned, "he has learned to bide his time ! 
 Contact with older men has taught him patience." 
 
 During his first days he found considerable relief in the 
 quiet of the Germantown streets after the shore's uproar. 
 His trips past the Breen home were taken without any 
 misgivings ; Conny was not to be back for two weeks. 
 
 The mirror in his room showed him that he had changed 
 much. There were lines about his mouth and eyes. &t 
 first glance, any observer would have said his age was 
 twenty-eight. Only the fact that his mother saw him 
 constantly kept her from noting these changes. 
 
 After a week, he said to her, "I am so anxious about 
 that book, that I am going to give a month to it before you 
 pick out some law office for me to enter. That's the reason 
 I haven't talked law." 
 
 "Since the writing of the book will be a valuable train-
 
 222 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 ing, I want you to take all the time you need, dear," was 
 her reply. 
 
 His search for material with which to finish the manu- 
 script took him to libraries ; but he often changed his route, 
 and went to the closing games of the professional baseball 
 clubs instead. Here his system of "betting on pitchers" 
 brought him some winnings. There was no opportunity 
 of going to the games of his own league, for its season had 
 closed some time before. 
 
 When the professional baseball season came to an end, he 
 fell into the habit of wandering into fashionable cafes, 
 where he would order wine and listen to the music. At one 
 of these cafes he encountered a man whom he had met at 
 the shore. Lenny was effusive in his greeting, although he 
 remembered that this man was the most pronounced 
 gambler at the card parties. 
 
 "You look bored, Craigie," came in silken tones. "If 
 you have time on your hands, there's something interest- 
 ing in the poker line not a thousand miles from here." 
 
 "Fm too dull for a game to-day," said Lenny. 
 
 "Well, perhaps I have something for you still more 
 interesting than that," persisted his acquaintance, extend- 
 ing his cigarette-case. 
 
 "You must really believe I am bored!" Lenny laughed. 
 
 "You weren't trying to hide the fact, you know," was 
 the reply. Then the man leaned over and whispered, 
 "Millionaires may have their stock market, and may play 
 at buying on margin. As for the rest of us, there's some- 
 thing just as good, which doesn't need any more apology 
 than Wall Street. Have you ever seen a bucketshop? It 
 will appeal to any one who knows anything about stocks, 
 or wants to learn about them." 
 
 Graham was the man's name, and he carried himself
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 223 
 
 well, and had an air of breeding. Lenny might not have 
 paid much attention to his offer to guide him through a 
 bucketshop; but the thought that Maur was interested in 
 stocks influenced him, and after a moment of hesitation 
 he went along. 
 
 The bucketshop hardly proved terrifying. On one wall 
 was a list of stocks, alongside of which various numbers 
 were changed from time to time. There was a flashily 
 dressed cashier, several assistants, and many "customers." 
 These last stared fixedly at the changing numbers. Every 
 now and then one of them would utter an exclamation. 
 Those who were successful appeared to be in the minority. 
 There was the rattle of small coin. The number of cus- 
 tomers changed as frequently as the figures on the board. 
 Despite this, everything wore a furtive air. 
 
 "I guess I've had enough for one day," said Lenny. "I 
 suppose I can come in whenever I want to, eh?" 
 
 "I can fix that all right," said his guide; and proceeded 
 to introduce him to the man who watched the door. 
 
 On leaving the building, Graham hastened to overcome 
 what scruples the visit to the bucketshop might have 
 aroused in Lenny's mind. 
 
 "I know it's gambling," said the older man. "But it 
 isn't any more dishonest than the stock market. And 
 you'll have the one as long as you have the other. As for 
 the sort of people who were in that place they didn't look 
 disreputable, did they ? Certainly not ! They are small 
 merchants, clerks, and professional men. And they have 
 a right there, too ! I can't see why the law should dis- 
 criminate against the bucketshop and not against the stock 
 exchange! I'm against laws that take away the liberty of 
 the people. That's not mob talk, either! I'm a college- 
 bred man, and my people had money. So I'm hardly of
 
 224 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 the mob. If you feel like finding out whether you've got a 
 good knowledge of the stock market, go to the bucketshop. 
 It's less costly than the stock exchange." 
 
 Lenny was yet to learn that Graham had an interest in 
 the undertaking. But after the lengthy defense of the 
 bucketshop, the well-groomed, courteous man was ready to 
 drop the subject, and to inquire whether his companion 
 would join in "a quiet hand." which was played in an 
 office-building in the very heart of the city. 
 
 "You'll find politicians, lawyers, business men, and 
 even doctors there," said Graham. "It won't hurt you to 
 get acquainted. Surprised at my knowledge of things, are 
 you?" he asked with a smile. "I'm what they call a man- 
 about-town. If / introduce you there, it will be all right. 
 Aa a rule, they steer clear of strangers." 
 
 The class of men around the card-table in the office 
 building proved to be an improvement over those in the 
 bucketshop. They received Lenny through the cloud of 
 tobacco smoke with half-friendly nods. He came into the 
 game for a few minutes, and played with reckless bravado, 
 which brought him some winnings and the increased re- 
 spect of those present. Then excusing himself, on the 
 plea of an engagement, he slipped away. 
 
 Once out of reach of the habitues of the card-table, his 
 conscience rose against him in self-accusation. The 
 struggle which followed was too much for his nervous state 
 of mind. He flung off his remorse by offering the 
 argument : 
 
 "I am learning to know men, and am getting close to 
 human nature. Those are acquaintances worth having. I 
 must not be a snob !" 
 
 He continued his belated walk to the library, only to find
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 225 
 
 on his arrival there, that the excitement of the afternoon 
 had left him unfit for work. 
 
 During the sleepless night which followed a not un- 
 usual occurrence with him of late he dealt himself 
 imaginary card-hands without number. The next morning 
 was gray with rain, and Lenny, depressed, hastened back to 
 the company of the gamblers. He played for an entire 
 afternoon, while the circle about the table kept changing. 
 Once he mentioned Mahan's name to a politician who sat 
 at his elbow. 
 
 "Who? Justin Mahan?" came abruptly in reply. "He's 
 traveling pretty fast backwards!" 
 
 "No, he'll never make good even though he has 
 money," said another who had overheard the remark. 
 
 "Getting so cranky lately, he's not fit for decent com- 
 pany," said a third. "He's about due to blossom into one 
 of those mushroom reformers." 
 
 Afterwards Lenny saw the folly of mentioning Justin's 
 name in such a place, since it might, in a roundabout way, 
 bring the card-playing to the ears of those in Germantown. 
 He lived in great fear of this for a week, until he met 
 Justin, who shook his hand warmly, and scolded him for 
 not coming up to the office. Justin's talk showed that the 
 card-playing crowd was not in the habit of repeating what 
 it heard while gaming. 
 
 Although Lenny's scruples about what he was doing did 
 not cease to torment him, he did not discontinue his play- 
 ing. Again and again he promised himself to stop; only 
 to go back to the stale atmosphere of tobacco and perspir- 
 ing men. He spent many sleepless hours asking himself 
 what fascination there could be in tremblingly watching 
 how the cards fell. His wearied brain was too bewildered 
 to attempt an answer. Instead, he got out of the difficulty
 
 226 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 by dwelling on the fact that men high in finance, who gave 
 money to churches, colleges and charity, also gambled 
 on the race-track, during trips across the ocean, and at 
 their clubs. 
 
 He claimed that he was only "sowing his wild oats," and 
 that in a short time he would be done with gambling. But 
 he kept on going ; and he began to pay visits to the bucket- 
 shop. Although careful at first about the men with whom 
 he talked, he soon drew no line about his associates. He 
 had no doubt that there were crooks among those whom he 
 met at the bucketshop. But very soon his surroundings, 
 instead of revolting him, grew to have a fascination, which 
 he made no effort to resist. 
 
 He lied to his mother about what took him to town. He 
 believed that if she knew the truth it would kill her. So 
 he refrained from telling her just as he concealed his 
 sleeplessness and his general ill-health. 
 
 One day he discovered what he considered an important 
 excuse for the life he was leading. 
 
 "The reason Justin has been a failure is because he don't 
 understand the man in the crowd," he argued. "He isn't 
 democratic enough. He wants to pull them off their feet, 
 instead of walking alongside of them until he gets what 
 he wants. That explains his failure. I shall have easier 
 sailing in politics !" 
 
 This seemed reasonable ; and he went out of his way to 
 treat every one as an equal, although there were many 
 men, both in the bucketshop and at the card-table, whose 
 nearness filled him with disgust. Among these were white- 
 faced and white-fingered young fellows, always carefully 
 attired, who were credited with being "dope-fiends" or 
 users of drugs. And they were never without cigarettes in 
 their mouths.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 227 
 
 Several of them were noticeably consumptive. Lenny 
 soon saw that the disease had a hold upon others about him, 
 in the main those who indulged in "chain-smoking," a 
 fact which did not escape Lenny's naturally observant eye. 
 
 During periods of depression he allowed himself to 
 wonder how morphine or opium would affect him. On one 
 occasion when one of his repulsive acquaintances who was 
 unquestionably a user of drugs invited him "to come 
 along for a little fun," Lenny happened to be struggling 
 with a racking headache, and his will-power was at low 
 ebb. Before he knew what he was doing, he had accepted 
 the invitation. But by the time he had walked a little dis- 
 tance, he had a revulsion of feeling, and hastily said : 
 
 "No, I can't go along. I I have an appointment. 
 Some other time, if you please !" 
 
 And he hurried off in an opposite direction. 
 
 Then he realized the enormity of what he had escaped. 
 He had to lean against a wall to fight the mental and phys- 
 ical sickness which engulfed him. Vertigo sapped the 
 remainder of his strength. He never remembered how he 
 got home. When he reached his room, he was thankful 
 that his mother was not in the house. He crawled into 
 bed, shivering as if with the ague. 
 
 By dinner time his nerves had steadied somewhat. The 
 night, however, brought him a succession of curious dreams 
 which added to the horror of that day. In the first one 
 his father stood before him, clad in his uniform, holding 
 out his hands pleadingly. There was a look of entreaty 
 in his sad eyes, and appeal was evident in every line of his 
 slim figure. 
 
 Lenny awoke with a cry, his body bathed in perspiration. 
 Then he lay very still, unable to believe that he had slept, 
 for his father's living presence had never been more real
 
 228 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 than this dream one. But fatigue conquered his fears, and 
 he dozed again. 
 
 Again the Captain came, this time his head swathed in 
 bandages as he must have appeared during the hours 
 following his wonderful exploit on the Niagara. He held 
 his sword in his hand, and his whole attitude was one of 
 command. His eyes seemed to flash as he looked at Lenny. 
 
 The latter leaped out of bed, and almost with the same 
 motion turned up the light. He was struggling for breath, 
 and his body was deathly cold. Despite this, his mind was 
 in a heated, frenzied whirl. He lighted a cigarette with 
 shaking fingers, and sought to steady his unstrung nerves 
 by trying to laugh. The attempt was a dismal failure. 
 Sleep appeared out of the question now; but after a time, 
 Lenny essayed it, with the light turned up quite high. 
 
 His father came yet again. This time he looked waxen, 
 and dead, and stared at his son out of sightless eyes. His 
 appearance spelled death so plainly that the sleeper moaned 
 and tossed about to get out of range of the inert figure and 
 its terrible stare. The figure remained fixed before him, 
 until Lenny, with a cry, sprang to the floor. 
 
 He was thankful for the light. Afraid of dropping off 
 to sleep again, he limply sought a chair. Soon he was 
 attempting to face facts as he had not faced them for 
 some time, and for the first time in days he sought to get 
 an idea of what his gambling had cost him in dollars and 
 cents. 
 
 As he began to figure, he grew frightened. His winnings 
 had dwindled, while his losses had kept steadily mounting. 
 Borrowing had been comparatively easy at first. When it 
 did not supply his needs fast enough he had pawned some 
 of his jewelry. 
 
 Against these continual losses he had set up the hope of
 
 THE TYBANT IN WHITE 229 
 
 finally proving a winner in a big way. That his losses 
 might be a reason for leaving gambling alone did not enter 
 his head. His whole passion now was to win back the sums 
 he had spent at the card-table. 
 
 As he sat under the light and hastily cast up the long 
 row of figures, he was glad, in a measure, that his mother 
 had not hurried the transfer of the houses to him. These, 
 too, might have been swept away by his gambling. He 
 quailed before the thought. 
 
 "Oh, it's going to be all right !" he exclaimed. "A week 
 of luck will wipe out the losses. Then I'll quit !" 
 
 The next moment he was despondent again. Conny had 
 come into his thoughts. 
 
 "No, I mustn't go to see her," he moaned. "She is right 
 not to bother about me any more. I don't deserve her 
 friendship. What use could she have for a man like me? 
 What is going to become of me?" 
 
 He felt himself doomed. He seemed to be slipping so 
 fast that it appeared useless to put out a hand to stop the 
 slide. This was not, of course, consistent with his notion 
 that he was merely "sowing his wild oats." But his mind 
 had lost the habit of following out regular lines of thought. 
 He was only aware that he had thrown compass overboard. 
 It was only in such a moment as this that he allowed him- 
 Belf to see the doom written along the road he was 
 traveling. 
 
 In his despair he demanded, "Why should mother have 
 trusted me? Why doesn't she guess? How wrong of her 
 to have so much faith ! It isn't because I lied. She takes 
 everything for granted! When I lost interest in the 
 league, she never said anything. She isn't pressing me 
 about my law work. Oh, it is all wrong ! And I can't tell 
 her ! I haven't the courage !"
 
 230 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 His mind reverted to the three dreams. The more he 
 dwelt upon them, the more they frightened him. He 
 relived the visions many times before dawn came. 
 
 "Get out West !" was the message of the first glimmer of 
 light. 
 
 But he shook his head. He knew that the West con- 
 tained numerous gambling hells; and his smoking would 
 still continue. The possibility of going there only to be lost 
 altogether, appalled him. 
 
 He was overwhelmed with grief. Flinging himself on 
 the bed, he buried his head in the pillows, and cried as if 
 his heart would break. Had his mother entered the room 
 at that moment, he would have made a clean breast of his 
 wrong-doing, even at the risk of losing both her love and 
 respect. 
 
 Then he lay very still, his body feverish and aching. He 
 was sure that he would not be able to get up that morning. 
 His tired eyes took in the last signs of Indian summer 
 outside the windows, and, without knowing why, he counted 
 the few remaining leaves on one of the trees. The sudden 
 chirp of a sparrow near the window was too much for his 
 strained nerves, and he cried again. 
 
 His eye could not avoid the many cigarette stumps on 
 the bureau. He cursed them, loudly, madly, and grated 
 his teeth at them like a wild man. Then his young body, 
 overtaxed, surrendered itself to sleep. 
 
 With the breakfast bell, his years once more asserted 
 themselves. He put out of his mind the night of pain, the 
 tears, and the strange dreams. As he looked into the 
 mirror while he was making his toilet, he was at a loss to 
 understand how the man who was reflected there had come 
 to feel like a boy. 
 
 "I'll recover all I've lost. Then I'll chuck the whole
 
 THE TYRANT Itf WHITE 231 
 
 crowd and the playing!" he promised himself. "That will 
 be the end of it ! It's worry that's hammering my 
 nerves; and the cigarettes aren't helping, either!" 
 
 In his attempt that week to win hack everything, he 
 found himself only sinking deeper into deht. The lines on 
 his face grew more pronounced. He spent sleepless nights 
 in endless calculation of ways out of his money tangles. 
 
 The need of money sapped the remnant of his will-power. 
 He pla} r ed on, frantically, desperately, consuming hundreds 
 of cigarettes as he hung over the card-table. More than 
 once he was on the verge of confessing everything to his 
 mother. But he shrank from the ordeal. Instead he kept 
 up the lie about his visits to the libraries. 
 
 One day he caught sight of Maur, in Philadelphia, but 
 by hurried flight got out of that man's way without being 
 seen. He was not so fortunate on a second occasion, when 
 Maur came up behind him in Germantown, and tapped him 
 on the shoulder, saying loudly as he did so, "Ah, I've got 
 you at last, old chap !" 
 
 Hate welled into Lenny's heart as he looked at the 
 smiling man, who was regarding him with his head slightly 
 cocked; and when the latter offered his hand, it was not 
 taken. 
 
 "Glad to see you," went on the young stock broker 
 pleasantly, overlooking Lenny's refusal to shake hands. "I 
 thought you were going to hunt me up! Too busy, eh? 
 I am laying off a bit, just to rest up. Oh, I do need a rest 
 once in a while, so don't laugh at that !" He ignored the 
 fact that Lenny was not laughing. "I know it sounds 
 funny for a fellow with my health to pretend that he needs 
 to lay up for repairs. It won't harm, though. My part- 
 ner the best a fellow could have is taking care of things.
 
 233 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 We've done splendidly. Say, I'm awfully glad to see you, 
 Leonard." 
 
 He waited for the latter to reply. Finding only silence 
 and a chilly exterior where he had expected to be greeted 
 at least courteously, he broke out : 
 
 "Look here, if you've heard anybody say that I took 
 customers away from my father, you can tell them for me 
 that it is a lie !" The accusation was news to Lenny, but 
 he did not show any surprise. "It is true that I am not 
 living with my father now," went on Maur, greatly excited. 
 "But that's because we never agreed which is nobody's 
 affair but ours ! The lies that the gossips work up are rot- 
 ten ! Why, they say you have gone to the bad ! What do 
 you think of that, eh? You ought to punch somebody's 
 head! It's a nasty thing to lay up to a fellow! But 
 they're spreading it, all right !" 
 
 Lenny was stunned by this. 
 
 "Why, that's worse than a lie !" he cried furiously. "It's 
 a crooked attempt to harm me !" 
 
 "Of course it is!" said Maur, in a very earnest manner. 
 
 Neither of them doubted the charge against the other. 
 The word of sympathy which Maur let fall, however, came 
 at a time when Lenny was starved for something of the 
 kind, even though he mistrusted its source. Offering Maur 
 a cigarette, he lighted a fresh one himself. His hands, 
 Maur noted, shook. The two walked down the street 
 together. 
 
 "You're right about the way people gossip here," said 
 Lenny. "But it's not easy to punch everybody's head in the 
 hope of reaching the right one. I'm too busy just now to 
 worry about the remarks of my enemies. I'm preparing to 
 enter the offices of Wright & Simpson. They are friends
 
 THE TYBANT IN WHITE 233 
 
 of mother, and want me to go through the preliminaries 
 with them, so that I may get into the firm in time." 
 
 Here Maur mentally remarked, "There was only one 
 lawyer when you last spoke to me. You're a poor hand at 
 lying." 
 
 Lenny was relating, "After I am admitted to the bar, 
 I'll go in for corporation law. Sounds like brag, I guess. 
 But those are my plans. It would be queer if I were to be 
 of use to you at some time, wouldn't it?" 
 
 Maur thought, without saying so, "It would be queer!" 
 
 "As for my going to the bad," went on Lenny, "well, 
 some puritan must have seen me coming home at midnight. 
 Which don't explain why he was out at that hour, eh? 
 But joking aside, it's an awful place for keeping friendships 
 alive ! What have I ever done to deserve this slander ?" 
 
 "Oh, I have known for a long time the sort of people 
 we have here!" said Maur. "Anyhow, we've got some- 
 thing in common at last ! So it is about time we buried 
 the hatchet, old man." 
 
 "I am beginning to feel that way about it myself," re- 
 plied Lenny, his tone warmer and less suspicious. 
 
 Then he became limp and nerveless as the possibility of 
 getting a loan from Maur suggested itself. In order to 
 arrive at such a point with a clear conscience, he allowed 
 all his hostility towards the one-time bully to vanish. This 
 was easily accomplished after he had inwardly remarked, 
 several times, "I haven't been fair to him. He has been 
 changing for the better." 
 
 Maur interrupted his talk about the methods of Wall 
 Street to ask: 
 
 "Wasn't there considerable property to come to you at 
 twenty-one ?" 
 
 "Under dad's will, everything went to mother," said
 
 234 THE TYRANT IN" WHITE 
 
 Lenny. "But she has decided to turn some houses over to 
 me. They'll be a help. There's nothing like an inde- 
 pendent income." 
 
 "No, nothing like it!" echoed Maur. 
 
 "And I need the additional money," said Lenny, "al- 
 though I've been keeping within limits. A meal at a first- 
 class restaurant is an item. So is a box at the theater. 
 And friends have a habit of being short themselves, and 
 feel hurt if the 'touch' don't work right. I haven't joined 
 any clubs yet; but that will be an additional tax. All of 
 which must be a bit stale to you, Bob." 
 
 "Oh, I got my education in that some time ago!" Maur 
 replied. He added in the friendliest of tones, " Say, if you 
 happen to be short, I'll be offended if you don't speak out. 
 I am plentifully supplied with cash just now. There's lots 
 of it. And you needn't be in any hurry to repay it, either." 
 
 Had Lenny known the malignancy of spirit which was 
 behind the offer, he would have struck at the man before 
 him. Instead, his heart beat loudly, and he found speech 
 difficult. When he averted his head almost shamefacedly, 
 Maur exclaimed : 
 
 "It's nonsense for you to hesitate just because it's I ! It 
 isn't fair to me ! You are mistrusting me again " 
 
 "I am not !" protested Lenny. 
 
 "I'll take your word for it," said Maur. "As for being 
 short, why, that's liable to happen to any man. Of course, 
 it didn't happen to us when we were younger !" he added 
 with a laugh. 
 
 "Bob," said Lenny, his voice breaking, "do you know 
 you oughtn't to think of doing me a favor ? I've harbored 
 the unfairest notions about you ! Even when I was sick, 
 and you were so fine about coming to see me, mind you ! 
 I'm heartily ashamed of myself! I understand now how
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 235 
 
 easy it is for a fellow to have enemies for no reason at all ! 
 I have been disgustingly unfair toward you !" 
 
 "What difference does it make as long as it's all right 
 now?" cried Maur. "Here shake and forget it, old 
 man !" 
 
 They clasped hands warmly. Lenny said, "I am glad I 
 met you to-day ! Think of having gone around for months 
 with that opinion of you ! It isn't too late to get a thing 
 like that right !" 
 
 "Fortunately not!" replied Maur. "Now that we've 
 cleared that up, you must come to see me. I'm staying at 
 'The Elms.' Hunt me up any time. But suppose you put 
 your absurd pride aside, and tell me if I can't advance you 
 a little money. Oh, I know you wouldn't ask for it after 
 confessing that you had made a mistake about me ! That 
 wouldn't be like you !" 
 
 He had stopped near a turn in the street, and had drawn 
 out a wallet. Lenny's self-control oozed away when he 
 saw the money it contained. 
 
 "Oh, I'd want a hundred at least," he said, trying to 
 smile. "You couldn't advance that conveniently, so let's 
 not talk about it any more." 
 
 "Why, of course I can let you have a hundred!" Maur 
 hastened to assure him. "Or two hundred if you needed 
 it!" 
 
 "Only on one condition that I give you an I U for 
 the money," Lenny insisted. 
 
 "If you want to be stubborn about it certainly." And 
 Maur handed him a fountain pen and one of his cards, on 
 the back of which Lenny wrote out his indebtedness in a 
 faltering hand. 
 
 The hundred dollars was soon stowed away in his pocket. 
 Lenny did not see the look of satisfaction which shone for
 
 236 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 an instant in Maul's eyes as he put back the wallet. That 
 look declared: 
 
 "You, Leonard Craigie, have been delivered into my 
 hands !" 
 
 Lenny said, "I will repay you soon. Do you know, the 
 odd part of the whole thing is that if somebody had 
 told me I would meet you to-day, and would let you loan 
 me a hundred dollars, I would have laughed at the idea! 
 It's a queer way for us to start out in our friendship, 
 isn't it, Bob?" 
 
 "As good as any!" said the latter. "Why not? But 
 let's not speak of it any more. You're to come and see me 
 soon. Mind you, no excuses !" 
 
 They shook hands again, and separated. Lenny looked 
 after the retreating figure with a feeling of wonder for the 
 way in which a few moments had cleared up years of mis- 
 understanding. Suddenly a shadow of misgiving fell 
 athwart his satisfaction. His head went back with distrust. 
 But he checked himself, and protested : 
 
 "There's my unfairness again! I'm vile! It's only 
 prejudice and stubbornness! I've always believed the 
 worst of him because of the ease with which he always got 
 things, I suppose. As if that should make any difference ! 
 JN"o, I've never taken the right view of him !" 
 
 Another fact stood out as an important outcome of this 
 meeting : 
 
 "You have some money now. You may use part of it 
 to redeem the articles you have pawned." 
 
 He knew that it would only be a matter of a few days 
 before his mother would note the absence of his watch, his 
 rings, his scarfpins, his silver-backed brushes, and other 
 personal belongings of value. "A few of these must come 
 back at once," he decided.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 237 
 
 Then he grieved at the readiness with which he had 
 accepted the loan from Maur. 
 
 "But didn't Bob himself say I wouldn't have borrowed 
 the money unless I honestly believed in our friendship ?" 
 he sought to override his sensitiveness. 
 
 Greatly wearied by this questioning, he put his pride 
 aside, and made ready to go into town to recover some of 
 the pawned valuables. On the journey thither, he deducted 
 twenty dollars, which were to be used the next day at the 
 gaming table in the attempt to bring a change of luck. 
 
 Maur had guessed as much, and his afternoon was one 
 of amusement and great happiness. 
 
 " Oh, I don't intend to stand in the way of our good boy's 
 bad habits!" he gloated. "If a few hundred dollars will 
 hasten his slide to the bottom, so much the better. He was 
 destined for it, anyhow. And the sooner he is found out, 
 the better. Conny will be able to make comparisons be- 
 tween me and him when the explosion takes place, and 
 her saint is proved to be a very ordinary mortal with sev- 
 eral ugly vices." 
 
 He realized that to escape being charged with hastening 
 Lenny's downfall he would have to move carefully. 
 
 "I will always be able to say that I wanted to help him," 
 he reflected. "The date of my I U will prove that I 
 loaned him the money after he had started on his downward 
 career." 
 
 He wondered, "Does he use 'dope'? His mother's affec- 
 tion is a pretty dangerous thing when it shuts its eyes to 
 his condition ! What a chalk-face ! Trembling hands, un- 
 steady jaw How the world does move in a few years! 
 And in a few more who can tell? If he made some in- 
 excusable mistake, Conny would never forgive herself for 
 believing in him. From the looks of things, he ought to
 
 238 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 turn up for a loan, in about a week or so. No one ever 
 said Robert Maur wasn't a good waiter. And I can now 
 patiently watch the tobogganing of Mr. Leonard Craigie to 
 disgrace."
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Within two weeks Lenny went to "The Elms." The 
 beggar was in his eye and bearing; but in the shadows 
 cast by the pretty hoods of Maur's electric lamps, he looked 
 the Leonard Craigie of old. 
 
 Maur pushed a comfortable chair toward him, and passed 
 him cigarettes, which were somewhat better than the brands 
 Lenny had been using of late in his attempts to economize. 
 The odor of the expensive cigarettes, the warmth, cosiness, 
 and luxury of his surroundings, sapped the last vestiges of 
 his power of resistance. Maur, in his feeling of mastery, 
 was ready to play with him as a cat plays with a mouse. If 
 Maur had been asked why he was devoid of pity, he would 
 not have spoken of revenge. He would have said that it 
 gave him pleasure to mock at a failure. 
 
 Remembering their school day feuds and Lenny's pride, 
 Maur was tempted to laugh in his face. He could not as- 
 sume the cordiality which he had shown on their last meet- 
 ing. Instead his attitude was one of superiority. 
 
 "Your health doesn't seem to be at the best," he said. 
 
 "That's a matter of inheritance," Lenny replied. "There 
 may be a whole lot in a fellow, Bob, that will be against 
 his getting things for himself. In fact, I've been up against 
 it from the start. You know I'm not a quitter. But, to 
 use an athletic term, I don't seem to get second wind when
 
 240 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 I need it. You see what I mean, don't you? You don't 
 
 know how much I have been thinking about my own case !" 
 
 "You ought to have left law alone. You're clever enough 
 
 to have turned your hand to something else," Maur sug- 
 
 Lenny's reply, after the way he had boasted on their last 
 meeting about his intention of doing corporation law, made 
 Maur chuckle inwardly. 
 
 "Well, I may go in for writing," Lenny said. "But 
 there is plenty of time. I am not looking too far ahead. 
 And I'm not such a believer in haste as I used to be." 
 
 Silence followed. Maur was studying his visitor, and 
 was now able to discern the havoc the few years had worked 
 with Lenny. 
 
 "You haven't been worrying about that small sum?" 
 he suddenly asked. 
 
 "Well, I tried not to, Bob," returned Lenny. "I've been 
 pulling along pretty well, but I haven't a surplus yet out 
 of which to pay you back. That's what I came to tell you. 
 I'm very sorry. I thought I'd have my debt squared up 
 by now." 
 
 "What's the difference?" Maur said with a careless wave 
 of the hand. "What do you say to a little brandy? I've 
 got a bottle that would make a king sit up and take notice. 
 How about a thimbleful ? It's awfully good !" 
 
 Lenny was equal to a considerable number of thimbles- 
 ful, and as he sipped the liquor, he talked. He boasted of 
 the number of politicians he knew. He displayed his re- 
 cently-acquired knowledge of the world. He dwelt at con- 
 siderable length on his plans for the future. The more he 
 drank the more he talked, with a tendency to jumble words, 
 and to contradict himself. 
 
 At an unexpected moment he grew melancholy. He was
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 241 
 
 soon telling of days spent in fearful worry about money. 
 Before long he was asking for another loan not at all with 
 the pride which had marked his first request some two 
 weeks previous. 
 
 "I can give you another hundred," said Maur, almost in- 
 clined, in his disgust, to refuse him the money, and tempted 
 to bring the interview to a sudden finish. 
 
 But instead of putting Lenny out of the rooms, he pre- 
 ferred to continue toying with him. The visitor almost 
 wept his thanks when a check was extended to him. In 
 using bank paper instead of currency Maur had a purpose 
 in view. He wanted a proof of Lenny's borrowings which 
 would be more dignified than I TJ's, and the checks which 
 the bank would return to him after paying Lenny would 
 serve this purpose. 
 
 For an instant he was on the verge of asking, "What 
 would your mother think of this? What would Conny 
 say?" But mentally calling himself a fool, Maur refused 
 to cut short an incident which was giving him so much 
 pleasure. He was also inclined to remember Lenny's tem- 
 per, the only quality in that man which he respected. 
 
 When he finally got rid of his visitor, he laughed heartily 
 at the amusement which Lenny had furnished him. 
 
 A few days later he received a letter from Lenny asking 
 for another loan, which he granted, at the same time care- 
 fully filing the letter. The request was not worded as 
 humbly as Maur might have desired, but he overlooked this. 
 The next two letters, which followed closely on the heels of 
 the first, were more to his liking, however. They seemed 
 to be written in a spirit of despair. 
 
 He was now sure that Lenny was gambling, and on a 
 scale which could only terminate in disaster. With a hy-
 
 243 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 pocrisy which surprised even himself, he wrote Lenny as 
 follows in answer to a fourth begging letter : 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND 
 
 I have been giving considerable thought to this new re- 
 quest for a loan. It made me pause in my desire to extend 
 a helping hand to you, because I cannot understand what 
 use you can be making of the money. 
 
 I don't mind a fellow going the pace somewhat; but you, 
 my dear Lenny, seem to be doing it at breakneck speed if 
 you will allow a friend to be frank with you. 
 
 Now don't you think it was time you slowed up? You 
 ought to! 
 
 As one who wishes you well, I am going to refuse your 
 request. If I can be of help in any other way, just say the 
 word. 
 
 Try to be fair about my turning you down. Look upon 
 it as an exhibition of friendship by one who signs himself, 
 Yours most devotedly, 
 
 BOB. 
 
 "For if there is going to be a big blow-up, I don't want 
 to appear too mixed up in his affairs," Maur said, as he 
 signed the letter he had dictated to his stenographer. "It 
 is time for me to stand from under." 
 
 The letter of refusal proved less of a blow to Lenny 
 than Maur had expected it would. In fact, the appeal for 
 money had been written half-heartedly. Lenny had turned 
 to a new source of funds his mother's jewel box. 
 
 When the idea of going to it first presented itself to him, 
 after he had searched among his own remaining things for 
 something to pawn, he stood paralyzed with fear, bathed in 
 a cold sweat. The horror of even giving it a thought was 
 sufficient to keep him from cards that day. 
 
 By evening cigarettes played their customary part in
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 243 
 
 smoking out this display of will-power. Night brought 
 a complete surrender. He eased his conscience by deciding 
 that after he secured the key of the strong box containing 
 the jewel-case, he would take only a few of his mother's val- 
 uables. Then he would win back enough money not only 
 to redeem these jewels, but to clear himself entirely of debt. 
 And he would at the same time escape depending upon 
 Maur for help. 
 
 "Suppose you lose the money you get by pawning the 
 jewels?" beat through his brain. 
 
 He refused to consider the possibility of this, and his 
 weary mind had no difficulty in shutting out the thought 
 of failure. Duty, consideration, affection, hope, ambition, 
 fear, and even despair, had vanished. His brain occupied 
 itself with combinations of cards which would win against 
 all other hands. It did not occupy itself for any length 
 of time with anything else. The world had become a 
 cigarette-fumed place, in which all his actions looked rea- 
 sonable, and did not matter. There seemed to be nothing 
 ridiculous in setting straight a wrong by another wrong. 
 In the maze in which he found himself, every turn ap- 
 peared to be a path. When lucid moments came in these 
 hours of degradation, he staved everything off with the 
 remark : 
 
 "Things will all come right soon!" 
 
 His face masked itself with a smile when he saw his 
 mother off for her shopping trip to Philadelphia on the 
 eventful morning. Mrs. Mulholland, of course, went also. 
 So the coast was clear for his visit to the strong box. But 
 when the abstraction of a few valuable rings had been ac- 
 complished, he hardly had sufficient strength to drag him- 
 self back to his room. 
 
 He pawned the rings at various places in order not to
 
 244 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 arouse suspicion, and took care to be carefully attired, for 
 the same reason. During the week which followed, his 
 manner about the house was very subdued. The week saw 
 the complete loss of the money he had borrowed on the 
 rings. 
 
 He had counted upon his mother's dislike of show to 
 keep the theft from being discovered. Unless some affair 
 of importance broke in upon her lonely existence, she would 
 not make any visits to her jewel box. So Lenny used the 
 key again and again. 
 
 There came a time, however, when he looked at the gap 
 he had created in the box and fell in a faint to the floor. 
 He lay unconscious for many minutes. 
 
 As he stumbled to his feet at last, he had enough pres- 
 ence of mind to turn the key in the box. He shambled 
 back to his room, and bathed his head in cold water. Some 
 whisky helped to restore the circulation in his numbed 
 body. Then he locked himself in, and, flinging himself 
 on the bed, tried to think. 
 
 "No! No! No more!" he whispered with chattering 
 teeth, as he contemplated the chance of getting money by 
 pitting more jewelry against his ill-luck at cards. 
 
 He snatched at the idea of making some use of the houses 
 which were certain to be transferred to him as a Christmas 
 gift. At once this means of redeeming the pawned articles 
 engaged his fevered mind. It was true that either the sale 
 or mortgage of these houses would be impossible, because 
 the agent acting for his mother would be likely to remain 
 in charge of them. But there was a loophole. He could 
 go to the so-called "loan-sharks" who advanced money at 
 high rates of interest. These might be induced to act in 
 secrecy. 
 
 "If only mother does not have occasion to go to her
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 245 
 
 jewel box!" he groaned, appalled as he saw in imagination 
 her discovery of the theft. 
 
 For the first time since his father had appeared to him 
 in the succession of strange dreams, he screwed up enough 
 courage to count up his debts. When he had finished add- 
 ing the sums on his pawn tickets, and the interest which 
 they represented, he fell to pacing the room like a mad- 
 man. He owed over nineteen hundred dollars. Later 
 he remembered his debts to a host of card-playing acquaint- 
 ances who were beginning to clamor for their money. 
 
 "My God!" he moaned. "What is going to become of 
 me?" 
 
 To face his mother with the story of his day-by-day lies, 
 his card-playing, and his thieving, would be to destroy for 
 all time her faith in him, if the blow would not completely 
 wreck her life. Her forgiveness would be a mockery under 
 the circumstances. He felt that after his confession he 
 would have to go away and never see her again. 
 
 "It's too late to tell her, anyhow !" he cried. The shame 
 it would bring rose up before him with crushing effect. 
 "Wouldn't it be better to die and end it all?" he asked. 
 But he put that thought aside with a desperate cry of "No ! 
 No!" 
 
 "I have a month before the houses will be turned over 
 to me," he told himself. "In that time I can get some 
 money together even from mother. I will have to buy 
 Christmas gifts. I'll let her see the gifts, then I'll return 
 them to the stores, and recover the money. It may not be 
 much, but everything will help. I'll have to see Justin 
 and Colonel Henderson. This is no time to be proud. Oh, 
 I must find a way ! She won't need her jewelry for a 
 long time ! There's a chance !" 
 
 He walked about, smoking with nervous fury, his brain
 
 24 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 a tangle of figures. For several minutes he contemplated 
 flight from the city, that he might not have to enter on any 
 explanations should his mother discover her loss. This 
 plan suggested another. He would work up a clever rob- 
 bery scene to account for the disappearance of the jewels, 
 in which he would inflict some severe hurt upon himself, to 
 pretend an encounter with an imaginary thief. 
 
 It appeared feasible, until he remembered : 
 
 "The pawn-shops would give me away ! They would be 
 able to describe me as the thief !" He added, " Maur would 
 guess the same thing. And mother might, after all, not 
 believe me. My story would be sure to break down at some 
 point. Mother might see some connection between the lost 
 jewelry and my irregular life." 
 
 Mistrusting himself he could not believe otherwise than 
 that she should mistrust him. He could not realize that 
 her faith in him which had prompted her to allow him to 
 do as he wished all through the fall, and which never asked 
 for explanations, would blind her to graver things. 
 
 He fled from the house before she returned, that he 
 might not face her in his present frame of mind. The late 
 afternoon was cheery and smiling. His way, unintention- 
 ally, led him near the Breen home. Already lights were 
 appearing in its windows. 
 
 Lenny slackened his pace, tremulous with the longing to 
 go in. What would not a ring of the bell bring? Conny 
 would be wildly happy. Her uncle's greeting would be 
 warm. Gertrude would hasten to make him feel at home. 
 And Justin might be there to slap him on the shoulder, 
 and to gossip about interesting law cases. 
 
 "Oh, I don't belong there any more!" Lenny cried. 
 "They are out of my life! What would they say if they 
 knew?"
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 247 
 
 He could have prayed in his despair. His awful loneli- 
 ness awed him. It was as if prison walls penned him in. 
 At last he stumbled on down the road. He was forced to 
 throw back his head to fight the threatening tears. 
 
 "No, nothing will come right any more," he said. 
 "Nothing ! It is too late !" 
 
 He returned home in time to find his mother just in 
 from her shopping, sitting under the hall-light in her 
 wraps, reading a letter with evident delight. He could not 
 help noting her almost girlish beauty ; but he was too sick 
 at heart to comment upon it. She looked up and said : 
 
 "I've got some news for you. But let us keep it for the 
 dinner-table. It is such good news !" 
 
 Reaching his room, Lenny bathed his head with cold 
 water to ward off a threatening headache. His stomach 
 was nauseous. He had a craving for some odd strong 
 drink, unlike anything with which he was acquainted. At 
 table he talked, in a lying strain, of his doings during the 
 day. Finally he expressed himself as curious about the 
 letter his mother had received. 
 
 "You and I are to take a holiday, dear," she said, "a 
 whole week in Boston. Have you any recollection of Mrs. 
 Trowbridge to whom I took you when you were a little 
 fellow? She is so eager to have us. I will have to see 
 whether you don't need some new clothes. You and I will 
 shine, won't we, dear ? I'll wear all my finery. We've got 
 a week in which to prepare. A holiday with that dear 
 woman ! You will like her. We must begin to get ready 
 at once." 
 
 Here Mrs. Mulholland broke in. 
 
 "Thank goodness!" she said. "For the first time in 
 years, we'll have a chance to show that we're as good as the 
 best!"
 
 248 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 "I don't think I want to go," Lenny made the startling 
 announcement. His forehead was damp with perspiration. 
 "I was counting on putting the final touches to my book 
 next week. And I'm so full of the subject that I can't 
 think of being distracted." 
 
 "The book can surely wait, dear," said his mother. 
 "Why, we can use part of that week to talk about it! You 
 won't be distracted, I'm sure. You must get away from the 
 lonely existence you have been leading lately. You have 
 been living within yourself. Haven't I seen it? Why, I 
 know you are lonely ! So let us have our holiday ! You 
 and I !" 
 
 Lenny held out a little longer. Then he abruptly gave 
 his consent. There appeared to be little use in doing any- 
 thing else. 
 
 "Are you not glad to go with me?" asked his mother, 
 nonplussed by his lack of interest. 
 
 "Why, of course, mamsy!" he replied. "But I didn't 
 like the idea of the fuss it involved. If we hadn't to think 
 about clothes, or be watching our p's and q's Oh, I like 
 the freedom of our own home ! We should have done the 
 inviting. A Christmas here is worth two in Boston !" he 
 finished with a little gay air, which was close to tears, nev- 
 ertheless. 
 
 "I promise you, you shall be spoiled by the good time 
 you will have !" said his mother. 
 
 "As if anyone could spoil me after the way you have 
 been at it !" he told her. 
 
 These words, innocent enough at that moment, were to 
 remain in his mother's memory as long as she lived. 
 
 "Anyhow," she remonstrated, with a sudden display of 
 spirit, "it is out of the question for you to talk about work- 
 ing on your book during the holidays, whether at home or
 
 THE TYEANT IN" WHITE 249 
 
 anywhere else ! Does that sound like a free rein ?" she 
 asked, breaking into a smile. 
 
 Lenny tried to drink some water, only to spill part of 
 the glass on the table. He complained because the maid 
 had filled it to the brim. 
 
 "You are not yourself to-night, dear," said his mother. 
 
 He apologized at once for his display of temper. When 
 his mother dwelt at some length on her plans for their Bos- 
 ton trip, he listened in a dazed manner, and answered in 
 monosyllables. 
 
 After the meal, he got away from the table as quickly 
 as good manners would allow. Vertigo seized him on the 
 stairs. Only by a severe effort did he maintain his hold 
 on the bannister, and, after rocking dizzily for a few mo- 
 ments, managed to make his way to his room. 
 
 There he laughed hysterically, and fell to wringing his 
 hands. The room seemed to be spinning around him. He 
 had to walk about quickly to suppress the desire to scream. 
 At last he rolled himself into the bedclothes, and, covering 
 his head, writhed about. 
 
 The physical torture lasted for a long time, until it com- 
 pletely sapped his strength. Then came a period of quiet, 
 in which he was able to think. 
 
 The net result was a letter to Maur. Lenny begged for 
 an appointment, "to discuss business." Then he went to 
 the library and secured one of his father's revolvers, which 
 he inspected with some care. After this he paced the room 
 like a caged animal, smoking a chain of cigarettes. He 
 finally resigned his attempt to see a way out of the diffi- 
 culty, and left everything to the interview with Maur, too 
 tired to consider what that man's refusal would mean. 
 
 Throwing a window open to let out the smoke, he re-
 
 250 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 mained staring into the night, the cold air a balm to his 
 throbbing forehead. 
 
 "Oh, if I could only have my start over again !" he cried, 
 extending his arms with a gesture of passionate appeal. 
 
 Without knowing why, he began to consider how he 
 would act were a new opportunity to be granted him. He 
 broke off to say: 
 
 "If I get the money from Maur, I am saved! Then 
 good-bye to card-playing ! Good-bye to that crowd ! Good- 
 bye to cigarettes ! to idleness ! to lying ! I'll get to work, 
 and make something of myself !" 
 
 He questioned whether a letter to Maur was wiser than 
 a personal visit. 
 
 "Oh, I can write better than I can talk! And, anyhow, 
 it is more dignified to go about it as if I was not in a 
 hurry," he decided. 
 
 Sleep was kind that night. But he awoke at dawn with 
 a loud cry. 
 
 During the morning, he watched with straining eyes for 
 the visits of the postman. He was waiting for word from 
 Maur, who must have received his letter at The Elms in 
 the first delivery of mail. 
 
 As hour after hour went by, Lenny began to prepare for 
 no answer at all. "I can't escape ! I must prepare for the 
 consequences !" he said dully. 
 
 But toward evening, the letter arrived. As he opened it, 
 he tried to keep his shaking fingers from tearing the en- 
 velope. Maur wrote: 
 
 "You will find me at the Lotus Club, in the reading- 
 room, to-morrow afternoon at five. I hope your business is 
 not serious, for I am getting in the habit of leaving my 
 cares behind me when I step out of my office." 
 
 The sting of the letter did not altogether lie in the last
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 251 
 
 words. Manr seemed to have chosen the Lotus Club because 
 Lenny had been eager to join that organization. Only the 
 latter's unsocial life had kept him out of this exclusive 
 club. At one time he had spoken to Justin of seeking ad- 
 mission to it. But Justin, who was a member, had hinted 
 that unless Lenny went out of the way to make himself 
 more popular, he would be blackballed. Therefore, noth- 
 ing but his desperate need of Maur's help could force him 
 to enter the club-house. 
 
 That evening he went to the theatre, although a prey at 
 every moment to the thought that on his return he would 
 find his mother over the depleted jewel-box. He was be- 
 ginning to blame her sorely for leaving temptation in his 
 way, instead of depositing the jewelry in the vaults of some 
 bank. 
 
 After the play, he drank heavily, until he was keyed 
 up to face any scene. The house proved perfectly quiet. 
 Next morning, however, on his descent to breakfast, he car- 
 ried the revolver in his pocket, fearful of what the day 
 might bring. In his frame of mind, death was the least 
 terrible thing of all. 
 
 He was startled to find his mother distressed. The cause 
 of her anxiety affected him greatly. The figure of his 
 father had appeared to her in her sleep, first with his hands 
 covering his face, and then as he had presented himself to 
 Lenny in the third vision of his terrible series of dreams. 
 
 "I have never been so frightened!" said Mrs. Craigie. 
 "It seemed like an ill-omen ! I cannot attribute it to ner- 
 vousness, for I have been feeling very well." 
 
 Lenny tried to soothe her, although he was himself under 
 the spell of the strange occurrence. He felt as if death had 
 laid its hand upon his heart. Hurriedly changing the con- 
 versation, he spoke of spending the whole day in town.
 
 252 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 Instead, when he left the house, he wandered out to the 
 winding paths of Wissahickon, where only an occasional 
 automobile or carriage disturbed the silence of the snow- 
 clad park. A two hours' rambling talk with a guard 
 whom he met helped to while away some of the time which 
 must elapse until his meeting with Maur. As he finally 
 went to keep the appointment, the fact that he had taken 
 neither food nor rest since morning did not trouble him. 
 He only knew that he had passed through the longest day 
 of his existence. 
 
 Just before he reached the street where the Lotus Club 
 was situated he sought a telephone to call up his home. 
 
 "If mother has found out that her jewelry is gone, I 
 won't have to keep the appointment," he said grimly. 
 
 She happened to be near the telephone when he called. 
 
 "I just wanted to know, mother," he said, "if you had 
 gotten over that scare about your dream. It would be 
 wrong if you worried." 
 
 "I have tried to put it out of my mind," was the reply. 
 "You will be home for dinner, won't you?" 
 
 "I think so. I'm doing some tall hustling, so that my 
 book may be in shape before we get away." 
 
 "Your foolish conscience again, I see!" his mother 
 scolded. Then she told him, "The girl said to-day that 
 your brushes haven't been on your bureau for some time. 
 What are you having done to them ?" 
 
 "Didn't I tell you they were being fixed up?" he asked, 
 pretending surprise. "I suppose you thought they were 
 stolen !" 
 
 "No; or I would have looked to see if anything else had 
 been taken," said his mother. 
 
 "Well, you have a fool girl there ! She should have told 
 you the first time she saw the brushes were missing,"
 
 THE TYRANT IN" WHITE 253 
 
 Lenny discovered a grievance, to hide his relief at the ease 
 with which he had escaped discovery. 
 
 "Don't shift the blame!" came with a laugh over the 
 wire. "It was you who should have told me !" 
 
 Lenny wiped the perspiration from his forehead when he 
 hung up the receiver. As he walked up the stairs of the 
 Lotus Club, he murmured : 
 
 "Wouldn't it be my confounded luck to find Justin here ! 
 I wouldn't know how to explain my interview with Maur." 
 
 No one was in the reading-room when he entered. He 
 still had a quarter of an hour until Maur would put in 
 appearance, so he tried to interest himself in some comic 
 journals. Wearied in spirit and body, sick at heart, and 
 with, fever burning his frame, he could only crouch in his 
 seat in a dazed manner. Suddenly some one touched him 
 on the arm. 
 
 The effect was electrical. His whole body seemed to re- 
 spond. The tremor which shook him amused Maur, who 
 eyed him critically, with a smile on his lips. The young 
 stockbroker was attired like a dandy. His self-satisfied 
 carriage went with a proud tilt of the head. Before him 
 Lenny felt subdued, and very inferior, and showed his 
 servility in his manner. 
 
 "We won't be disturbed, I think," said Maur, conde- 
 scendingly. "No one is at the club at this time of the 
 day. I can give you twenty minutes." 
 
 "Thanks," Lenny got out hurriedly. 
 
 He followed Maur up the staircase to the next floor. 
 Coming upon an empty room, they paused, and Maur 
 nodded. When they found seats, Lenny said : 
 
 "I will be very brief." 
 
 "If you please. I have an engagement for dinner," 
 came with brutal carelessness.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Although Maur's financial success in after years made 
 his early career of small importance to him, he was never 
 to forget this meeting with Lenny. There was to be im- 
 printed upon his memory for all time the figure huddled in 
 the chair opposite him, the blanched trembling lips and 
 the frightened eyes staring ghastly out of a white face. 
 
 Lenny began by speaking of the houses which were to 
 be deeded to him as a Christmas gift. Finally he blurted 
 out that he needed two thousand dollars, to make good a 
 number of debts contracted through stock-gambling. He 
 said that he had to have the money at once. 
 
 "Will you advance me that sum on a promissory note?" 
 he asked. 
 
 Instead of replying directly to the question, Maur asked 
 about the stock which had brought Lenny to grief. The 
 latter stood the cross-examination quite well as a result 
 of the knowledge he had gleaned from his visits to the 
 bucket-shop. He fell through badly, however, when he 
 gave the name of the firm with which he claimed he had 
 dealt. 
 
 "Those people went to the wall four months ago," said 
 Maur very deliberately. " I suppose that is the reason their 
 name happened to stick in your memory. I don't know 
 what to believe now, Leonard. Why should I take it for 
 granted that you are to get the houses, after this invention 
 about the stock-gambling? I can't risk two thousand dol- 
 254
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 255 
 
 lars. Suppose we leave the matter until you do come into 
 your property. That's fair enough! And then I'll ad- 
 vance you the money on the quiet. I promise to, my dear 
 fellow! So that's settled. Eh?" 
 
 Lenny was livid with rage. 
 
 "You're too fast about calling me a liar!" he cried. 
 
 "If I was wrong," said Maur composedly, "I beg your 
 pardon. More than that, if you can prove that you act- 
 ually lost two thousand dollars on stocks, I'll not only lend 
 you the money I'll give it to you ! That's the way I in- 
 tend to punish myself for mistrusting you. Admit that I 
 can be fair !" 
 
 It was a ghastly joke, and it crushed Lenny. 
 
 "Bob," he pleaded, "for God's sake, lend me the money! 
 I swear I'll repay it ! I expect the houses in two weeks. 
 That is no lie even though the other was ! You couldn't 
 do a greater kindness it would mean so much to me 
 lend me the sum I need, Bob!" 
 
 "Pshaw, man !" said Maur, making a motion as if about 
 to rise. "Why don't you get it from your mother?" 
 
 "Bob, I daren't!" gasped the unfortunate Lenny. 
 
 "It would spoil your mother's good opinion of you, eh?" 
 
 Then Maur leaned forward and said, "By the way, 
 Conny has an idea that you are a better man than I 
 that I don't shine by comparison. If you are desirous of 
 showing your friendship for me, suppose you disillusion 
 her a bit. Tell her about this. I may be more inclined 
 to help you then." 
 
 "I I couldn't resort to trading of that sort," said 
 Lenny, drawing back, and immediately aware that he had 
 wounded Maur beyond any hope of recall. 
 
 "Trading!" roared the latter. "Somebody would think
 
 256 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 that under the circumstances you'd pick your words better ! 
 You to preach to me ! Bah ! You miserable failure !" 
 
 Cut to the quick, Lenny cried, "What other word could 
 I use for what you proposed ? As for Conny, do you think 
 what I'd say in your favor would help you, after what she 
 knows about you?" 
 
 Then he stopped abruptly, his resentment gone. De- 
 spair gripped him as he realized how he had been undone 
 by his temper. And his nervous, irresponsible condition 
 made it impossible for him to fall back on his pride in 
 this hour of defeat. 
 
 "What Conny knows about me, eh?" snapped Maur. 
 "Well, if I am all that you and she believe me to be, why 
 do you seek my help? You, who are afraid to tell your 
 own mother what you are, fling in my face what you have 
 heard people say about me ! You are a man, and I am a 
 rogue, eh ! Two thousand dollars ! Why should you need 
 it right away, unless you stole it, and have to put it back in 
 a hurry ? It is time you were found out for what you are !" 
 
 Lenny flung himself at him with a cry of fury, but was 
 thrown back by a sweep of Maur's arm, his weak frame no 
 match for the strength of the old-time academy leader. 
 Then Lenny's hand flashed to his back-pocket. 
 
 "What's that!" cried Maur, his eye following the motion 
 of the hand. 
 
 Neither of them saw a figure loom up in the doorway of 
 the adjoining room. As Lenny dropped his arm and said, 
 in terrified tones, "Nothing! Nothing!" the figure dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 Maur, believing that Lenny had almost drawn a knife 
 upon him, was not so aggressive now. He was on his guard 
 as he backed toward the door. 
 
 "I am sorry you have made it impossible for me to be of
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 257 
 
 help to you, or to listen to you any longer," he said un- 
 steadily. "But I forgive you for the way you have insulted 
 me. This is where our paths separate !" 
 
 As he hurried out, Lenny fell back limply into his seat, 
 his body an inert mass. The retreating footsteps sounded 
 loudly in the stillness of the club-house. Suddenly the 
 crumpled body came to life. It exclaimed in a sobbing 
 voice : 
 
 "Yes, I'll end it! I'll end it!" 
 
 Lenny struggled to his feet and drew a revolver from 
 his pocket. Before he could use it, a voice sounded 
 through the room, a voice that palsied his arm. 
 
 " Stop, man !" came in a tone which was both a command 
 and an entreaty. 
 
 It was Justin who leaped toward him. 
 
 "Wait!" he pleaded; and by this time his restraining 
 hand was on the pistol. "You are crazy!" he cried. 
 "Death isn't the only way out of trouble!" He had to 
 hold up the collapsing form. "Surely you didn't mean 
 to use that revolver ! Why, it is unbelievable ! You ?" 
 
 "Oh, but I did mean to," came wearily. "I am done 
 with life. I am down and out. Please leave me alone, 
 Justin. I know the best way to manage this." 
 
 "Nonsense!" said Mahan. "It isn't quite that bad, 
 even though it sounded so. Yes, I heard it all uninten- 
 tionally." 
 
 A great groan burst from Lenny, and he slid back into 
 the seat, and covered his face with his hands. 
 
 "It was providential that I was in the next room," Jus- 
 tin said. "I've been coming here to get away from the 
 noise of the city even Germantown's. I was dozing when 
 you started in. When I heard who were talking, and what 
 you were talking about, I couldn't for the life of me get
 
 258 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 away without knowing how you intended to pull out of 
 your difficulty. Why in the name of all that is sensible 
 you didn't come to me instead of to this fellow, is beyond 
 me ! To have expected Maur to deal mercifully with you ! 
 Now tell me all about it ! The whole thing !" 
 
 He sat down near Lenny and placed his hand affection- 
 ately on his shoulder. Lenny drew away abruptly. 
 
 "I can't tell you anything," he said. But his stubborn- 
 ness yielded to Justin's silence. "I couldn't, Justin," he 
 suddenly wailed. "You've heard everything. What is 
 there for me to tell ?" 
 
 "Surely women have not been at the bottom of this!" 
 cried Justin. 
 
 Lenny shook his head impatiently. 
 
 "Well, never mind the cause just now," said Justin. 
 "We've got other things to think about. First of all, I 
 want to ask what objection you would have to my advanc- 
 ing you the money." 
 
 "You?" whispered Lenny, trying to accustom himself 
 to this unexpected way out of his terrible difficulty. "You 
 will give me two thousand dollars? Why, I may not be 
 able to return it for a long time ! Suppose I don't get 
 the houses? You might lose all your money !" But he im- 
 mediately cried, "Yes, yes, I must take it! I must! 
 Please, Justin, don't back down !" 
 
 And he sprang out of the chair with a glad cry. The 
 ordeal, however, had been too much for him. He pitched 
 forward into Justin's arms, and lay there in a swoon. 
 
 When he opened his eyes, the older man was bathing his 
 temples. 
 
 "You'll be all right!" said Justin cheerfully. "It was 
 rather sudden but not dangerous. Are you yourself 
 again? Because we've got lots to talk about, and you're
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 259 
 
 due at home in a little while. And we've got to dispose of 
 those two thousand dollars to-morrow, you know." 
 
 Lenny tried to smile, in response to the encouraging 
 words. 
 
 "I'll get you something to steady you," Justin suggested. 
 
 "No!" said Lenny. "Please don't! I mustn't drink 
 anything now." 
 
 In half an hour he was able to walk down the stairs and 
 into the street, although his legs were still unsteady. So 
 far he had not spoken a word about the use to which he 
 intended putting the money Justin was to lend him. After 
 they had gone along for some time in silence, Lenny asked : 
 
 "At what time can I see you to-morrow?" 
 
 "Any hour of the morning. I will have ready cash just 
 as soon as the bank opens," was the reply. "Can you wait 
 until then?" 
 
 Fearful of managing any longer without some advice, 
 Lenny made a clean breast of how he had come to need so 
 large a sum of money. He told his story with his face 
 on fire, and with tears of shame in his eyes. Both had come 
 to a stop, but Lenny spoke on with averted head. Twice 
 he broke down, and Justin walked him about, until he 
 could speak again. 
 
 "So you see," Lenny said finally, "why I can't leave the 
 house for a minute to-morrow. If I'm there, I can keep 
 mother from fussing around in her room and learning 
 everything." 
 
 "Suppose you give me the pawn-tickets," said Justin. 
 "I will redeem the things. Then I will arrange to meet 
 you somewhere near the house with them. Meanwhile, I 
 believe, we can get your mother into Philadelphia for the 
 day. I haven't a plan as yet. But I'll have one before 
 the evening is out."
 
 260 THE TYRANT IN WHITS 
 
 He had difficulty in not voicing his grief at the sad pass 
 to which Lenny had come. 
 
 "How can I thank you?" cried Leonard. "You have 
 been so good to me I Any one else would have rubbed it 
 in!" 
 
 "I think you can attend to all the rubbing-in that is 
 necessary," Justin said hastily, to check the words of grati- 
 tude. He asked, "Won't you give me your word that when 
 you have escaped from the senseless world in which you 
 have been living lately, that you will tell your mother 
 everything? Not, however, before you have gotten to be 
 your old self again ! Not before then ! You want to get 
 all the mistrust of yourself out of your system !" 
 
 "I will tell her, everything!" said Lenny. "Oh, if I 
 only get out of this !" He broke off tremulously. 
 
 "You will! You will!" said Justin cheerily. 
 
 "And you are willing to trust me with all that money, 
 after all you heard?" cried Lenny. 
 
 "If you will hand over to me your revolver," said Justin, 
 suddenly remembering it. 
 
 "Oh, I'll put it back in the library. It's father's, you 
 know. It might be missed," said Lenny. 
 
 "Very well. I can depend on you to put it back. I 
 suppose you are carrying the pawn-tickets with you." 
 
 Lenny's face was crimson when he handed them over. 
 Justin made no comment about their number. He said, 
 "God be with you, old man," and let their wretched owner 
 
 g- 
 
 "It is unbelievable!" Justin mused as he took his way 
 to Gertrude. "I wonder if I am not dreaming this! It 
 sounds impossible ! Yet it is a fact ! And of all people, 
 Lenny Craigie !" 
 
 Before he reached the Breen home he had ceased to spec-
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 261 
 
 ulate about the sad affair and the causes which might have 
 led up to it, and was considering what means he could use 
 to get Mrs. Craigie out of the house next morning. 
 
 "I have it!" he exclaimed, just at the moment when 
 Gertrude was advancing to greet him. 
 
 "What, dear?" she said, surprised by his abstraction. 
 
 He smiled at her, and asked to be excused for a few mo- 
 ments while he went into the library. There he did some 
 quick thinking. 
 
 "I can pretend a mistake about Beecher's property. It 
 will be perfectly safe to do so," he told himself. "I simply 
 heard twenty thousand when thirty thousand was meant." 
 
 He went to the telephone, and called up Mrs. Craigie. 
 
 "Will you come to my office early to-morrow morning?" 
 he asked. "I've got a bit of property for you which ought 
 to net you ten thousand in a month. You will be aston- 
 ished at the stupidity of the people who are willing to part 
 with it. But please come early will you ? Say half -past 
 nine." 
 
 Mrs. Craigie thanked him warmly, and promised to be 
 there. His generosity did not surprise her. She saw in 
 the appointment he had made for the next day his way of 
 presenting her with a Christmas gift. Little did she 
 dream that Justin had planned to send her in the company 
 of some one else than himself to inspect the property. He 
 intended that she should discover the mistake about the 
 valuation long after the jewels had been replaced in the 
 box. 
 
 At the dinner-table she told Lenny of Justin's kindness. 
 He bubbled over with happiness, for he guessed at once the 
 reason for the appointment. He praised Justin to the 
 skies, and spoke of numerous other proofs of that man's 
 friendship.
 
 363 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Was there ever a more lovable fellow in the world!" 
 he cried. "I'm never surprised at anything like that from 
 him ! What I wonder at is that he doesn't impress every- 
 body the same way. Why, there are people who dislike 
 him! Just as there are people who laugh at his ability!" 
 
 "He doesn't really seem to be as energetic as of old," 
 said Mrs. Craigie slowly. "Perhaps he is passing through 
 one of those periods when everything will go wrong. There 
 are such periods in all our lives." 
 
 "Do you believe that, mother?" cried Lenny eagerly, his 
 whole face glowing in the certainty of her "Yes." 
 
 "I feel sure that the abler the individual, the more mo- 
 ments there are of doubt and weakness," she replied. 
 
 Lenny confided to his soul: "You shall know everything 
 soon I" 
 
 He hastened through his meal, and asked to be excused. 
 
 "I am going out for a little while, mother," he said. 
 "While I am away, will you look over my manuscript? I'll 
 bring it down. Put in all the corrections you want to. I'll 
 do some work on it after I come back. I won't be more 
 than an hour." 
 
 His purpose in putting her over the manuscript of his 
 book was to keep her from going to her rooms. After she 
 began reading the scribbled pages, he hurried to a drug- 
 store, where he telephoned Justin. He could not think of 
 going over to the Breen home. 
 
 "Why, yes," Justin said, "I can get away for a few 
 moments." And he appointed a place nearby. 
 
 The first question he asked when they met was: "You 
 weren't worried about your mother's intended visit down- 
 town to-morrow morning, were you?" 
 
 "Oh, I saw through that at once!" Lenny replied. "But
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 263 
 
 that changes your plan about redeeming those things, 
 doesn't it?" 
 
 "Not necessarily. I had intended to send some one else 
 to inspect the property with your mother. But now that 
 you have suggested it, it would be a good idea to have you 
 meet me before the hour I appointed with her. I will have 
 the money for you, and you can make the rounds with the 
 tickets. That," said Justin, "will give me a chance to go 
 with your mother myself. Here are the pawn tickets. 
 They are more likely to be safe in your pocket than mine." 
 
 As Lenny took them, Justin added, "Another reason 
 why it would be better for you to go to the pawnbrokers 
 yourself, is because they know you, and would not ask ques- 
 tions." 
 
 Lenny saw the importance of this at once. 
 
 "Yes ! Yes!" he said. "And now I'll not trouble you 
 any more to-night. I really wanted to see you again for 
 it was good to be able to go to some one who knew. But 
 you understand !" 
 
 Justin said, "Yes." And he added mentally, "Poor fel- 
 low!" 
 
 When they were separating, he exclaimed: 
 
 " Good luck to you, Lenny ! We will make much of the 
 future, won't we ?" 
 
 "How can I thank you?" was all Lenny could reply. 
 
 It was Justin's refusal to preach which had touched him 
 most deeply. A more effective course could not have been 
 chosen to drive home to him the gravity of what he had 
 done. He left Justin with a greater dignity of soul than 
 he had known for months. 
 
 He found his mother wrinkling her forehead over the 
 manuscript. 
 
 "It is still so disjointed !" she said. "You ought to have
 
 264 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 written some of these heroic episodes at a single sitting 
 after you gathered your facts, dear. But let us get at this 
 in detail." 
 
 So they settled themselves for a long evening of discus- 
 sion and correction. Finally the night was far enough ad- 
 vanced to make it safe for Lenny to resign his task of 
 keeping his mother from her room. As he went up the 
 stairs, he might have challenged Trevor to equal the part 
 he had played that evening. 
 
 But his thoughts were far from boastful. When he re- 
 tired, he lay perfectly still for a long time, listening for 
 any sound from his mother's room which might announce 
 the discovery of the theft. When midnight came, and si- 
 lence reigned through the house, he breathed a long quiv- 
 ering sigh of relief, that swept up from his whole body. 
 
 "At last there is some chance of my pulling through!" 
 he whispered. 
 
 Sleep was not easy. He lay motionless, and tried to plan 
 for the future. 
 
 "All this experience will not be thrown away on me !" he 
 said. "And now I will go back to my law, and corpora- 
 tion law at that after I regain some of my strength." 
 
 Despite this, he dared not tell himself that he was a 
 physical wreck, and that his mind would have considerable 
 difficulty in resuming hard study. Instead, he wondered 
 where he could pick up a law library cheaply, and was cal- 
 culating how soon he would be in a position to enter into 
 partnership with Justin. His only concession to his broken 
 state of health was the promise, "I won't smoke as much 
 from now on. I mustn't !" 
 
 He never knew when sleep intervened. It proved full of 
 fantastic horrors, which tossed him about as a leaf is blown
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 265 
 
 about in a gale. Once he awoke, and smoked for an hour. 
 When he awoke again, day was breaking. 
 
 He dozed until it was time to dress. Then he went over 
 his pawn-tickets, in order to lay out a route which would 
 take him to all the pawnshops in the least amount of time. 
 
 Again he listened for a sound of alarm from his mother's 
 room. Suddenly he was startled by the fact that rain was 
 coming down, mingled with sleet, and that the ground was 
 ice-covered. He grew terrified. Would not the state of 
 the weather prevent his mother's visit to Justin's office? 
 Was she not likely to postpone the inspection of the prop- 
 erty, and to remain at home ? 
 
 He hurried below in time to get the mail from the post- 
 man, who had rung. His hope for a letter from Justin was 
 not realized. 
 
 "He might have expected bad weather!" Lenny said bit- 
 terly. "If he would only telephone that any delay would 
 cost her the property !" 
 
 He trembled when he heard his mother's step on the 
 stairs. She tried to smile a greeting, but finally had to 
 confess : 
 
 "I have a bad headache. It will force me to stay in- 
 doors after all. I don't believe I should venture out in 
 weather like this, should I ?" 
 
 "Not if if you think it will be all right to break the 
 appointment " Lenny stammered. 
 
 "There isn't really any need of my going," said his 
 mother. "I'll just telephone Mr. Mahan to buy." 
 
 "He wanted so much to show it to you !" said Lenny, in 
 a hollow voice. 
 
 "1 shall get the chance before we leave for Boston. 
 After breakfast I'll make an effort to get rid of my head- 
 ache by going over the things we will need next week. I
 
 266 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 want you to look over your clothes, dear, and not to leave 
 it to the last moment." 
 
 Lenny was too stunned to speak. There seemed to be 
 some way of postponing the moment when she would stum- 
 ble upon her loss. But his cigarette-fumed mind failed 
 him utterly at this juncture. 
 
 As he nibbled at his breakfast, he kept debating whether 
 to flee the house or to remain. Although he saw the folly 
 of staying when every moment brought the fatal discovery 
 nearer, there was a meaningless fascination in wanting to 
 watch for what would happen when his mother opened her 
 jewelry box. This fascination was not unlike that exerted 
 by the gaze of a snake on a bird, which moves to its doom, 
 wildly piping, but helpless. 
 
 There was a similarity between this and the paralysis of 
 Lenny's will power. He could do nothing but keep mov- 
 ing about within reach of his mother's voice. When she 
 ascended the stairs, he mechanically followed her. Then 
 he strayed off to his own room, where he crouched on the 
 edge of the bed, listening to the murmur of voices coming 
 from his mother's apartments, where she and Mrs. Mulhol- 
 land had set to work looking over articles of wear for the 
 Boston trip. 
 
 Suddenly there was a hush, followed by a cry of alarm. 
 The exclamation snapped the invisible bonds which had 
 held Lenny during the last hours. He was on his feet at 
 once, prepared for the words which would follow. 
 
 "Lenny! Quick!" came clamoring through the house. 
 "Somebody has been at your mother's things!" 
 
 His hands went out with a sob. He was pleading for 
 life. 
 
 Again Mrs. Mulholland's voice sounded loudly: 
 
 "Come quick, Lenny! Where are you?"
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 267 
 
 He made no answer. Instead he took the revolver from 
 the bureau, and slipped it into his pocket. Then he scrib- 
 bled three words on a card. They said : 
 
 "Forgive me, mother." 
 
 Placing this on the bureau, he put the pawn-tickets on 
 top of it. 
 
 The next moment he had hurried down the rear stairway. 
 No one happened to be in the kitchen when he fled through 
 it. When he reached the path leading from the rear of the 
 house around to the street, he preferred, on second thought, 
 to go straight across the open space to the hedge at the far 
 corner. 
 
 Over this hedge he fell rather than climbed. Then he 
 ran on through the chilling drizzle, his mouth wide open, 
 and his eyes fixed glassily. He moaned as he struggled 
 for breath. 
 
 When he had gone some distance, he looked back to see 
 if the house was still within sight. A sudden slope in the 
 ground entirely obscured it. Gasping a sigh of relief, he 
 put one arm about the trunk of a tree to steady himself. 
 With his free hand he drew the revolver from his pocket. 
 
 " Mother I" he wailed. " Mother !" 
 
 It was a boy's cry rather than a man's, and the wild, 
 staring eyes were those of a boy. He had to use two rin- 
 gers to pull the trigger.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 At nine o'clock that morning, Justin telephoned to Mrs. 
 Craigie. Mrs. Mulholland was the one who answered the 
 call, and in her excitement she did not note how unnerved 
 the man at the other end of the wire was. She said : 
 
 "I don't helieve Mrs. Craigie can talk to you, Mr. Ma- 
 han. She is very much disturbed. Will you call her up 
 later?" 
 
 "Why, what has happened?" Justin found voice to ask. 
 
 "N" nothing. Were you to see Leonard this morning?" 
 
 "Lenny? Why? Is there anything the matter with 
 him?" 
 
 "No. But if he should come to your office, will you tell 
 him that his mother wants him at home as soon as he can 
 get here?" 
 
 "Certainly. In fact, I do expect him. Can I be of 
 service to you?" 
 
 "No, only to send him home. His mother is anxious to 
 see him." 
 
 "Will you get Mrs. Craigie to call me up as soon as she 
 is able to?" said Justin. 
 
 Mrs. Mulholland hurriedly promised. Then she hung 
 up the receiver. Before Justin could get another oppor- 
 tunity to telephone Mrs. Craigie, he was approached by a 
 member of the firm, and asked to go to court. The matter 
 was so urgent that Justin could not delay. 
 268
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 269 
 
 When he returned three hours later, he was informed 
 that there had been several telephone calls for him "By a 
 lady," said the boy, "but she gave no name." 
 
 Justin immediately took up the receiver, only to relin- 
 quish it and to sit helplessly before the telephone. 
 
 He did not dare to make a move to find out the state of 
 affairs at Mrs. Craigie's home. While he had been trans- 
 acting his business in court, he had several times imagined 
 that Lenny was waiting for him at the office. The fat 
 that he had not been there, coupled with the several tele- 
 phone calls, which must have come from Mrs. Craigie, 
 heightened Justin's fears. 
 
 As he sought to see his way clear through the incidents 
 of the morning, he stumbled upon an explanation. "Mrs. 
 Craigie did not wish to be explicit, and so sent Mrs. Mul- 
 holland to the telephone, because she guessed that Lenny 
 had been responsible for the abstraction of the jewels," he 
 reasoned. 
 
 He got up and paced the room nervously. 
 
 "Poor woman! Poor Lenny!" he said. "His mother 
 must believe that he has run away to hide himself. As 
 long as she believes that nothing more serious has hap- 
 pened, she will not turn to me for aid." 
 
 He went to the telephone boy and asked, "Did that lady 
 inquire if Mr. Craigie was here." 
 
 "Yes, sir," came in reply. 
 
 "Why didn't you tell me so?" Justin demanded. 
 
 The answer, "You didn't ask me, sir," although exas- 
 perating at first, could not, on second thought, evoke much 
 blame from Justin. 
 
 He reflected, "The boy is right. I should have asked 
 confound my stupidity ! Mrs. Craigie telephoned only be- 
 cause she must have wanted to know whether he was here.
 
 270 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 
 
 It would not have been like her to have told me anything 
 until she saw him." 
 
 He asked himself whether he ought not to remain in the 
 office so as to give Lenny every chance of finding him and 
 of straightening matters out in case there had really been 
 no discovery of the loss of the jewelry. 
 
 "No, Mrs. Craigie must know all !" he said with a sad 
 shake of his head. "What else can the telephoning and 
 Lenny's disappearance mean? He has been found out!" 
 
 As he strode about, his forehead wrinkled with anxiety, 
 he kept asking himself : 
 
 "At a critical moment like this, is it not my place to be 
 in Germantown?" 
 
 Going to the telephone, he called up the police depart- 
 ment. He gave his name, and inquired what the last po- 
 lice news from Germantown was. "Two fires/' came in 
 reply. 
 
 But Justin was not relieved. "Something more serious 
 than the loss of her jewelry may confront Mrs. Craigie !" 
 he said, pale with anxiety, and he hastily got on his over- 
 coat. 
 
 He told the boy at the telephone to inform all who 
 might inquire for him that he was at Miss Breen's home 
 in Germantown. Hurrying to the station, he caught a 
 local train just as it was about to pull out. When he" 
 alighted at his stopping place, a friend's automobile gave 
 him a "lift" to Gertrude's door. The rain on the glass 
 of the vehicle's hood kept him from getting a glimpse of 
 Mrs. Craigie's house as they flew by. 
 
 Gertrude proved to be out. When Justin lifted his eye- 
 brows at the risk she was running in braving such weather, 
 her maid said, to reassure him : 
 
 "Mrs. Crandall's carriage will bring her home. Miss
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 271 
 
 BreeD spoke of being back at two. She ought to be here 
 directly, sir." 
 
 Justin went to the library and flung himself into a chair 
 before the fireplace. The grayness outside which thick- 
 ened the shadows all over the room was somewhat set off by 
 the blaze in the fireplace. 
 
 But this did not cheer Justin, who puffed his cigarette 
 nervously, while his thoughts dwelt in gloomy fashion on 
 Lenny's inexplicable mania for gambling. 
 
 Before long his uneasiness about Lenny gave way to de- 
 pressing thoughts about himself. He asked : 
 
 "What successes have I brought Gertrude? How have I 
 proved myself worthy of her love? Was I the right sort 
 of man for this wonderful girl, after all?" 
 
 And he admitted sorrowfully, "I am the one mistake 
 she has made she who was able to accomplish so much, 
 who was able to mould Conny into a woman, though herself 
 only a girl, and who could have led a real man to great 
 heights I" 
 
 He saw in that moment wnat a failure he promised to be 
 in politics. This threatened to prove equally true of his 
 law work. Instead of the brilliancy everyone had expected 
 of him, he was hardly holding his own. 
 
 "I am only second-rate, mediocre, useless!" he declared. 
 
 Facing the situation fully, ha was frank enough to con- 
 fess that he had laid too great stress on how he had been 
 passed by in law and politics, and not enough on the way 
 in which he had shirked responsibility. 
 
 "I could have overcome all obstacles if I had fought 
 hard enough," he exclaimed. "My love for Gertrude should 
 have helped me to do so. The important thing was that I 
 owed it to her to bring her the greatest possible happiness. 
 It was not enough to offer her explanations for failure !"
 
 273 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 Then he voiced in a whisper a thought which had dimly 
 presented itself to him before : 
 
 "Ought I not to give Gertrude her freedom?" 
 
 "That would really be a big thing!" he said. "True, I 
 would be striking a blow at my own happiness; but what 
 other chance have I of showing her that I'm not a puny 
 self-seeker? She will not want to consider it. She will 
 say that it is an insult to her love for me and my love for 
 her. But I will talk plainly. I will prove to her how wise 
 it would be for her to let me go. It is the only thing in my 
 power that I have to offer her." 
 
 He pondered this until his soul quivered with pain. 
 
 "Oh, what a coward I am !" he snarled. "If I weren't, I 
 would not be thinking about my feelings! Her welfare 
 comes first. It is paramount. How dare I consider my 
 convenience? This namby-pamby way of living is not de- 
 cent! And she shall not share it!" 
 
 Gertrude entered at this moment. At once he found his 
 good resolutions melting away like wax in a flame. Every 
 thought of giving up the beautiful girl vanished, as her 
 little cry of surprise and happiness at finding him there 
 sent the blood leaping through his veins. 
 
 "Tell me," she said hastily, not understanding why he 
 was there at that hour, "is everything all right, dear?" 
 
 "As always," he said with the suggestion of a shrug. 
 "So I thought I would come to Germantown for the rest 
 of the day." 
 
 "You did not have Mrs. Craigie go into town in a day 
 like this?" she said, taking his reluctant hand. 
 
 "No, not in this beastly weather. It would be almost 
 night in here if it wasn't for your fireplace." 
 
 Inwardly he was saying, "How will I ever find courage
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 273 
 
 to speak about what concerns us ? Am I never to face her 
 in the right way on a matter so vital to her ?" 
 
 Gertrude had remarked, "Yes, it is very dark, and grow- 
 ing darker. I shall have the lamp lighted. But I must 
 get my hat off ! It was so good to find you here, I forgot 
 everything else !" 
 
 He let her go without a word. When the maid came in 
 to light the lamp, he watched the operation dully until, to 
 shake off his mental numbness, he leaped to his feet and 
 began pacing the room. 
 
 Gertrude slipped in again, unseen by him, and uneasily 
 watched his preoccupation. He sighed, and went to the 
 window, out of which he stared, his head bowed, and his 
 shoulders stooped in dejection. As Gertrude, greatly 
 moved by the sadness which revealed itself in every line of 
 his body, was about to speak, he started and cried: 
 
 " Conny is running here full tilt like a mad person ! 
 She is frightened about something. She hasn't even put 
 her umbrella up. Where has she been? Good heavens, 
 what is the matter with the girl ?" 
 
 He threw up the long window and whistled shrilly. 
 Conny came running in with a wild cry, leaped past him, 
 and flung herself into the arms of Gertrude, sobbing hys- 
 terically as she clung to her, the sobs broken by shrieks. 
 
 "Why, what's the matter?" cried Justin, dashing the 
 window into place and coming hurriedly over. 
 
 "Oh ! oh ! oh !" Conny wailed in tones of despair. 
 
 "Come, now," Justin insisted. "You are frightening 
 Gertrude. Speak out. Do you hear? Don't keep your 
 aunt in this terrible suspense." 
 
 It was almost a command. Justin was nervous enough 
 to seize her arm forcibly as he spoke. 
 
 "Oh, he's dead, he's dead!" Conny sobbed out wildly.
 
 274 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 Justin reeled. He knew at once what she had to impart. 
 His head felt as if it had been filled with fire. 
 
 "Who is dead?" Gertrude demanded in terror, holding 
 Conny off to force an answer. 
 
 "Oh, oh, he has killed himself! He is dead!" sobbed 
 the grief-stricken girl. 
 
 "Who?" thundered Justin, to bring the suspense to an 
 end. 
 
 "Lenny ! Lenny ! My Lenny is dead !" And as if an in- 
 visible hand had struck her down, Conny went to the floor 
 in a heap, and lay moaning there. 
 
 "Lenny Craigie!" cried Gertrude, steadying herself only 
 by an effort. 
 
 Justin stood immovable, his heart's pulsations almost at 
 a fading point. 
 
 "Yes," he answered for the speechless girl lying on the 
 floor, "it must be Lenny." 
 
 Gertrude by a supreme effort kept from fainting. Then 
 she said: "I must go over there. She will need me. Oh, 
 how was it possible? He kill himself he a boy a mere 
 boy!" 
 
 "Yes, yes !" cried Conny, and shrieked : "He did it with 
 a pistol ! Why ? why ? Oh, my Lenny !" 
 
 "We must go over there at once, Gertrude," Justin said 
 hoarsely. "I'll get the maid to bring you some extra 
 wraps " 
 
 He put out his arm just in time to save her from fall- 
 ing. The enormity of the horror had come to her in full 
 at that moment, as she mentally saw the bereaved mother 
 over the body of her dead son. 
 
 "I will be all right in a minute!" she gasped, clinging 
 to him. "How terrible! Justin, think what it means for 
 his mother. It will kill her !" Then she knelt down be-
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 275 
 
 side Conny, who was lying at full length on the floor weep- 
 ing wildly, and the two sobbed in each other's arms. 
 
 "I'll call down Trevor," said Justin. "He had better 
 be with you while I go over to Mrs. Craigie's." 
 
 "No! No! Let me go to her!" cried Gertrude. 
 
 "You must not," said Justin. "You couldn't bear it. 
 Not now. But I ought to be there. And the sooner the 
 better." 
 
 Conny suddenly released herself from Gertrude's arms, 
 and brushing the wet hair from her eyes, exclaimed vehe- 
 mently : 
 
 "No, you won't, Justin Mahan! You shan't go there!" 
 
 The antagonism in her voice dumbfounded him. He 
 stared at the rebellious figure, and asked sharply: 
 
 "What do you mean? What are you talking about? 
 Why do you speak that way?" 
 
 " Not you !" she cried, her eyes flashing as she stood up. 
 "Oh, no ! Because it was you who brought Lenny to this ! 
 Yes, you !" 
 
 Before either of her astounded auditors could find voice, 
 and before Justin had time to imagine how any fault of 
 his during the last twenty-four hours could have brought 
 about the tragedy, Conny plunged into a hysterical denun- 
 ciation. 
 
 "It was his cigarette-smoking that led him to this. The 
 cigarettes drove him crazy. He must have done something 
 of which he was ashamed. Didn't we all hear about his go- 
 ing to the bad ? I didn't believe it. But now I know there 
 must have been some truth in it. And all because he 
 wanted to imitate you that's how he got the cigarette 
 habit!" 
 
 Justin stepped back, astounded. But Conny did not 
 pause.
 
 276 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "A doctor told him long ago that he was becoming a 
 wreck because of cigarettes. And Lenny knew that the 
 habit was hurting him that it spoiled his studying, his 
 ambitions, his friendships everything! Oh, I can't tell 
 you how I got to know it, but I did." 
 
 "But why do you drag me into this?" stormed Justin. 
 
 "Because he thought at first the smoking couldn't hurt 
 him because it didn't hurt you. That's not all, either. He 
 worshiped you. He wanted to do everything you did. And 
 because you smoked he started it early. You saw him do 
 it, yet you never said a word. He believed all the time 
 that if it was all right for you, it was all right for him. 
 And he got sicker and sicker. Then he grew to be idle 
 and downhearted. He couldn't study, he couldn't do any 
 work. Didn't Bob Maur tell me that cigarettes kept Lenny 
 from making the baseball or football teams ? And you en- 
 couraged him to become a cigarette-fiend. And now he 
 has killed himself ! My Lenny is dead dead !" 
 
 She had stumbled through this brokenly, but it was none 
 the less impressive. The words were like hammer-blows. 
 As she once more sank to the floor and rocked back and 
 forth with heartrending sobs, Justin, deathly pale, did not 
 dare to look at her or at Gertrude. He heard the latter 
 say in horrified tones : 
 
 "Constance, you cannot know what you are saying! 
 Why, this is a terrible accusation ! How dared you talk 
 like that?" 
 
 Justin shook himself together out of the stupor into 
 which Conny's words had thrown him. Before he could 
 speak, however, she had taken up her charges again. 
 
 "It is a terrible accusation, but it is true!" she insisted. 
 "Didn't a big physician show him that cigarettes were re- 
 sponsible for all his troubles? And Lenny, too, was sure
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 277 
 
 his smoking hurt him dreadfully. But he couldn't stop. 
 His cigarettes kept him from putting up any sort of a 
 fight. They robbed him of all his strength. All because 
 he wanted to copy Justin ! He was always pointing to him 
 when I scolded about the lot of smoking he did. He found 
 out too late. Then he must have gotten into terrible com- 
 pany. And he is dead, dead !" 
 
 "You do not mean that they are saying these things over 
 at his home?" Justin hoarsely demanded. 
 
 Conny shook her head. 
 
 "Only I knew," she said. "His mother never dreamed 
 what was the matter with him. I hope she never will. My 
 poor Lenny ! Oh, I can't bear it, I can't ! And he never 
 came to me. He got to be ashamed. Why didn't I help 
 him even if he didn't want to let me ! He was too proud, 
 my Lenny ! Oh, I shall go crazy I" 
 
 She staggered to her feet once more, to go to the one 
 person to whom she now instinctively turned in her de- 
 spair her "uncle." But Justin, aroused, blocked the way. 
 
 "Listen," he said. "You don't appear to realize the 
 gravity of your words. You have made a terrible charge, 
 which is not founded on fact. I am in a position to know 
 that Lenny did make a great mistake, but that he was led 
 into temptation as any boy might have been. To say that 
 I was at the bottom of it well, I can only forgive your 
 strange words when I see how overwrought you are. But 
 you must not tax my patience by repeating these sweeping 
 charges," he warned. 
 
 "Can't you see it was the smoking?" persisted Conny. 
 "From the time he began, everything went wrong. He 
 got poor in his work. He got too nervous for athletics. 
 He was always moody and sick. All his ambition vanished. 
 And he knew it himself. That doctor wasn't guessing.
 
 278 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 Lenny wouldn't have believed him if there hadn't been 
 some cause for it. And all of it started because he wor- 
 shiped you, and he imitated you. I can't forget how he al- 
 ways excused his smoking by pointing to you." 
 
 Justin sought for words, but could only say : 
 
 "Although he was going down-hill, he never hinted to 
 me that I was the cause of it that I was to be blamed." 
 
 "Oh, it isn't he who blames you," said Conny bitterly, 
 through her tears. "It is I who blame you. Didn't I see 
 you giving him cigarettes ? So often ! And when he was 
 fighting them, too ! But he couldn't refuse you. Not you ! 
 Why, you're a cigarette-fiend yourself!" came in strident 
 tones. "Smell the smoke in this room! Isn't it enough 
 to make one sick? Think of him breathing smoke like 
 that, day in and day out, year after year ! No wonder he 
 never amounted to much ! My poor Lenny !" 
 
 Then as she went on, her eyes became dry and angry. 
 She was no longer the light-hearted girl who had brought 
 laughter to the house. She was vengeance itself. Her in- 
 tense earnestness carried conviction and crushed out argu- 
 ment. 
 
 "He dreamt of becoming your partner. He wanted to 
 be useful, and to grow into a big man. When he had 
 strength he could work even when he was sick, too. How 
 he did fight at times! It is a torture to remember how 
 lonely he must have been when he did. If he had only be- 
 lieved in himself from the start, and not in you ! But to 
 him you were the perfect man. How blind he was ! And 
 when he believed in people, he believed with his whole soul. 
 And he did some great wrong, because the fight had died 
 out of him. And when he saw how terrible the wrong was, 
 instead of remembering what he owed his mother and me 
 and all of us, he killed himself. He had become a coward.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 279 
 
 My brave Lenny a coward ! Who helped to kill him, Jus- 
 tin ? It was the man who had encouraged him to become a 
 cigarette-fiend !" 
 
 Only the countless hours with Trevor had enabled Conny 
 to acquire the richness of vocabulary and the dramatic 
 power which she threw into her denunciation, and which 
 served her in that strange hour. She had not, however, 
 striven for effect. The whole was put powerfully because 
 she had been armed by the soul-racking events at Mrs. 
 Craigie's death-filled home, and by her own grief and hor- 
 ror. 
 
 The point was now reached when Justin found himself 
 unable to make light of the grave charges. Deep within 
 him a voice declared: "They are true. Do you not see 
 that cigarettes have crushed out your own energies and 
 left you a useless individual? What else has been the 
 cause of your failure?" 
 
 He dared not look in Gertrude's direction. When with 
 a moan she stole out of the room, he felt the ground slip- 
 ping from under his feet. In that moment he understood 
 as never before why one might be driven to end one's life. 
 Suddenly he saw again, very distinctly, Lenny's almost 
 successful attempt at suicide in the Lotus Club. 
 
 Justin's despair at the pass to which he had himself come 
 was forgotten when Conny's sobbing fell upon his ear in the 
 profound silence about them. She had groped her way to 
 a chair, too weak to leave the room. Infinite pity for her 
 welled through him as he suddenly caught at something 
 he had not seen before. He asked in a whisper : 
 
 "Conny, did you love him?" 
 
 There came in a tired voice: "I don't know." Imme- 
 diately after he heard, with a feeling of awe: "I suppose 
 I did."
 
 280 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 Conny burst into sobs again, wild sobs which shook her 
 body and which were like knife-thrusts to Justin, who 
 writhed in pain. He covered his face with his clenched 
 hands. 
 
 The next moment he was at Conny's side. Bending over 
 her, he said : 
 
 "It is too late to atone for anything it would be so 
 useless ! I can't do more than to beg your forgiveness. I 
 do feel now that I led him on by example. Of course, it 
 won't be easy for you to forgive me. But think how heavy 
 God's punishment will be as time goes on ! I will pay 
 dearly for this during every living, breathing moment. 
 God help me ! I think I have most need of it now." 
 
 "Oh, Justin, Justin, he is dead!" came wailingly in 
 answer. 
 
 "I would gladly change places with him if I could !" said 
 Justin. "Heaven forgive me for the harm I have inadver- 
 tently done you and his mother!" 
 
 Conny slipped away. He heard as in a dream the sound 
 of her feet on the stairs. Walking to the table, he me- 
 chanically opened his cigarette case and, taking out a cigar- 
 ette, he as mechanically lighted it. The next instant he 
 threw it and the cigarette case, with a tremor of intense re- 
 vulsion, into the fireplace, where a last log was smouldering. 
 
 The silence about him was oppressive. He tried to think, 
 but he only knew that terrible days were before him, and 
 that he had gone through a disastrous defeat which might 
 leave him nothing of a future. In his overwhelming lone- 
 liness, he cried : 
 
 "Gertrude! Gertrude!" 
 
 There was no answer. As his arm fell limply to his 
 side, it struck the ash tray standing nearby, and sent its 
 contents over his clothes. The incident passed unobserved.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 281 
 
 A cloud had settled over his thoughts, and he grew more 
 and more unable to make his way through the torturing 
 horrors which beset him. 
 
 Then he saw in its full aspect how a habit had made his 
 life an utter failure. He did not remember whether Conny 
 had pointed this out when she charged him with respon- 
 sibility for Lenny's death. There was no doubt, however, 
 that Gertrude had seen it in its full significance. 
 
 Justin could not ignore the fact. He was soon asking 
 himself : 
 
 "Why should I not be honest enough to admit that 
 Lenny's excessive smoking was, in the main, responsible for 
 his wrong-doing, and for his death?" 
 
 He remembered his own visits to the physician. 
 
 "Am I not destroying my life, even as I indirectly en- 
 couraged Lenny to destroy his ?" he reflected. 
 
 The perspiration beaded itself on his forehead. 
 
 "To whom could I first make atonement for the tragedy 
 of to-day ?" he asked, pacing the room like a madman. "To 
 the frantic mother who is to take her only son to a suicide's 
 grave? To Conny, who, in this dreadful hour, has found 
 that she loved the dead boy ? To Gertrude, who has hidden 
 until this moment the sorrow my failure has brought her?" 
 
 He cried aloud, "Lenny dead is much more fortunate 
 than I living!" 
 
 "Do not say that!" came in frightened tones from the 
 door. As he halted with a start, Gertrude came to him 
 and laid her hands on his shoulders. 
 
 Her unexpected return unnerved him, and sent him 
 weakly into a chair. Gertrude slipped down by his side. 
 
 "You must not forget that all you do has to take two 
 into account !" she said. "Just as my life has become a 
 planning for two ! And when your terrible hurt came with
 
 283 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 Conny's words, I, too, was wounded. But as I thought 
 it all over, I believed more and more that you could sur- 
 mount all obstacles, that you could conquer the past. I be- 
 lieved this because of my faith in you. My whole being is 
 tied up with yours. All you will do will be either life or 
 death to me. Will you remember this? It is all I ask 
 now, dear." 
 
 "But you are ignoring my part in Lenny's death!" he 
 cried. "It was the smoking ! I am sure of it now ! When 
 is my punishment to begin?" 
 
 "No one could be more cruel to you than you are your- 
 self," said Gertrude gently. "Surely, you will not ask me 
 to add to the punishment !" 
 Justin threw back his head. 
 
 "I swear to you," he said with fierce determination, 
 "that I will never again touch tobacco! I will get for you 
 and for myself all the things that you and I have set our 
 hearts on ! Instead of a mere shell of a man, I will bring 
 you strength, and ambition, and honor, and achievement! 
 I have lived like a fool, but I shall live like a man!" 
 
 He took her head in his hands, and kissed her brow with 
 a profound earnestness which sealed his promise. 
 
 Both became conscious of the odor of newly-lighted ciga- 
 rettes in the room. Justin looked at the fireplace. The ciga- 
 rette case he had flung into it had been slowly heated by the 
 embers until its contents had begun to burn. Gertrude fol- 
 lowed the direction of Justin's eyes, and both watched the 
 cigarettes in the opened silver case become consumed until 
 nothing was left of them except a little heap of ashes. 
 Gertrude flung up her arms eagerly, and cried : 
 "Kiss me, dearest!" 
 As his arms released her, he said : 
 "Now you must go over to his mother. I cannot !"
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Colonel Henderson had embarked for Europe just a day 
 prior to the calamity at the home of the woman he had 
 courted so long and so hopelessly. At Plymouth he se- 
 cured a copy of the London "Times," glad to be brought in 
 touch with home again, even if the American news occu- 
 pied but a small portion of the paper. As the steamer con- 
 tinued its course to Liverpool, the Colonel settled himself 
 comfortably for an hour's reading. 
 
 Before he had passed the second page, he was brought to 
 his feet by an astounding item. 
 
 "Great heavens !" he gasped. "It isn't possible !" 
 
 The paper spoke of the suicide of "a son of Captain 
 Craigie, himself deceased, who so heroically saved the ship 
 of which he was in command, the Niagara, some fifteen 
 years ago." The suicide could not be attributed to any 
 known cause. 
 
 For a full minute the Colonel stared dumbly at the 
 printed words before him, unable to reread the single para- 
 graph. Gathering himself together, he went over to a pas- 
 senger who was lounging near the rail, and said : 
 
 "My dear Mr. Hallock, may I ask you to do me a favor? 
 Will you kindly read these few lines for me? I haven't 
 my glasses handy, and it concerns a friend. I believe it is 
 bad news."
 
 284 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 The words lie had read were repeated to him. Bowing 
 his thanks, the Colonel hastily descended to his cabin. 
 
 As a result of the facts that had come to him so unex- 
 pectedly, he took the next steamer home after landing at 
 Liverpool. Never was an ocean voyage so long or so 
 tedious, despite the new ocean record the boat created. 
 When he appeared in Germantown within two weeks after 
 having left it, his friends were not surprised. 
 
 Those who were not well acquainted with Mrs. Craigie 
 said: "She must have cabled him." Her friends saw the 
 matter in another light. "He must have gotten the news, 
 and is making a last effort to win her," they argued. "It's 
 his 'now or never' !" 
 
 So the Colonel thought, for his first visit was to the be- 
 reaved mother. She received him in a forlorn way, which 
 seemed to him to fit in with his purpose. He was sincere, 
 however, when he said: 
 
 "I know what this has meant to you. It has been a sad 
 blow to me, too. I loved the boy." 
 
 He spent but little time on this visit, or on the next. 
 The third time he spoke his mind. 
 
 "Let me share your grief in the way in which I wish to 
 share it," he pleaded. "You and I will treasure his mem- 
 ory together. Surely you will not send me away ! I want 
 to be of help to you, yet something more than a friend !" 
 
 She sobbed silently for a while. When she was some- 
 what composed, she told him : 
 
 "What you ask is impossible. I cannot enter upon any 
 new life now. The memory of the two I have loved must 
 fill my whole existence. Do not be harsh in your judg- 
 ment of me, my friend. I no longer live in the present. 
 I have even prayed that I may die quickly. That is wrong,
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 285 
 
 I know especially since I feel the nearness of my two 
 loved ones. You see how impossible your request is !" 
 
 "How can you make your existence a living tomb!" he 
 protested. 
 
 "Don't you see that it is no tomb that the two live for 
 me!" cried Mrs. Craigie. "That is what makes life bear- 
 able. Do not be impatient with me, my friend. You 
 won't be if you will try to understand." 
 
 The gentleness with which she spoke left him helpless, 
 although he was resentful of her resignation. He decided 
 to be as patient as in the past. Victory might finally be 
 his reward if he could in time make himself indispensable 
 to her. 
 
 As he was about to go, she suddenly put her hand on 
 her heart in a frightened manner. 
 
 "I I must ask a favor of you," she said. 
 
 The Colonel bowed with his customary courtliness. 
 
 "Do not come to see me," she asked. "I want you to 
 count me among the dead. I must, really, insist upon 
 your not coming !" There was passionate command in her 
 voice when she cried, "Somehow, your presence here seems 
 treason to them both !" 
 
 The words rang the death-knell of his hopes. He helped 
 the trembling woman gently into the seat from which she 
 had risen, and left the house. There was never to be erased 
 from his memory the intensity with which she had spoken 
 her words of dismissal, nor the strange, sweet figure she 
 presented as she stood up, her slim body in black, her eyes 
 fixed upon another world. 
 
 After the passage of a few days, she was able to send 
 Mrs. Mulholland upon an errand, for which she could 
 hardly find words. Mrs. Mulholland redeemed the jewelry, 
 and Lenny's things. When the gold, and gems, and other
 
 286 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 valuables were once more in Mrs. Craigie's possession, she 
 kept only those which the Captain had given her, and 
 Lenny's belongings. The rest was sold, and the proceeds 
 distributed to charity. 
 
 "What better use could I make of them?" she had asked 
 herself. "They brought him destruction. Now let them 
 bring some poor souls a little happiness." 
 
 She remained in total ignorance of both Maur's and Jus- 
 tin's knowledge of the cause of the tragedy. Maur was 
 curious enough about Lenny's wrong-doing to attempt to 
 find out if the persons from whom he had borrowed money 
 would have any newspaper comment to make about the sui- 
 cide. It seemed reasonable to him that reporters should 
 find someone who would talk, particularly because of the 
 stir the suicide had created. He was never to know that 
 the only large creditor was Mrs. Craigie herself. 
 
 But to his surprise and disappointment the papers did 
 not devote considerable space to Lenny's death. The cur- 
 tailing of newspaper notices was due to Justin. Enlisting 
 the services of two prominent Philadelphians, he had vis- 
 ited newspaper managers, with the result that the bereave- 
 ment of Mrs. Craigie was neither given large headlines nor 
 put on front pages after the first issue of the papers. 
 
 Only once during the week of the tragedy did Justin 
 meet Maur, and he snubbed the stockbroker with a direct- 
 ness which sent the color rioting to the tetter's face. After 
 that Justin sought to put him out of his mind. He was 
 too conscious of his own blame in the matter to find fault 
 with any one else. 
 
 Little time was left him to ponder what had occurred. 
 At a stroke he had entered into a law partnership with an 
 able man, and had once more thrown himself actively 
 into politics. At first all his work entailed the greatest
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 287 
 
 hardship, for a single reason because of the constant, fev- 
 erish longing for cigarettes. 
 
 There were times when the need of them almost drove 
 him frantic. It required every grain of will-power he pos- 
 sessed to pass a tobacco store without entering; and, oddly, 
 this desire produced an effect akin to nausea. During this 
 period he appeared to be physically losing ground rather 
 than gaining it. But although he worried, he would insist 
 angrily : 
 
 "I won't give in, even if it kills me!" 
 
 He was observant of himself sufficiently to soon note lit- 
 tle changes in his favor. His voice grew steadier, and his 
 throat did not trouble him as much as in the past. Before 
 long other favorable changes began to manifest themselves. 
 His fatigue at night was not as exhausting as formerly, nor 
 did it assume the form of extreme nervousness. He found 
 less difficulty in looking people straight in the eye. The 
 old-time firmness of his jaw was also in evidence. 
 
 Then other signs of the return of his former confident 
 self began to show themselves. He ceased to quake before 
 getting up in court. He did not easily lose his temper 
 with opposing attorneys, but "held up his end" composedly. 
 The springiness of his step, which took the place of the 
 lolling walk he had developed in the last half dozen years, 
 once more evinced the athlete. He was able to concentrate 
 on his work for long periods of time, instead of finding two 
 hours of application his limit of endurance. 
 
 Food did not have to be peculiarly prepared to awaken 
 his appetite. Nor was he fearful of exposure to bad 
 weather. A cold day lent zest to a walk instead of merely 
 furnishing an excuse for not getting out. And one day 
 he stumbled upon the fact that he was putting on weight. 
 
 "By George!" he said with a happy laugh, "this is ser-
 
 288 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 ions ! It won't be so hard to make people believe I am a 
 success !" 
 
 Although he did not tell Gertrude of the new life flow- 
 ing through his veins, nor of the wonders it had wrought, 
 he was almost driven to boasting of it after an experience 
 which showed that his cigarette habit had at last been con- 
 quered. 
 
 He took refuge, by accident, in the door of a tobacco 
 store during a severe rain storm. The odor of the place, 
 instead of attracting, repelled him. Exclaiming, "Thank 
 God !" he hurried away with an exultant heart. 
 
 All that day he walked about as if on wings. 
 
 Gertrude had no need to be told that the tide was setting 
 in his direction. She saw before her a smiling, optimistic 
 man, steady of gaze and decisive of speech, who radiated 
 confidence, who daily came to her with additional proofs of 
 his success in law, and whose circle of friends once more 
 included men of strong personality. If he indulged in crit- 
 icism of individuals now, it was for good reasons, and not 
 because he was out of humor. 
 
 In the peace which thus came to Gertrude she arrived 
 at the conclusion that there was a great gift which it was 
 in her power to bestow, and which ought not to be held 
 back any longer. She sent a servant to Trevor one day 
 with the request for an interview. She asked that this take 
 place in his rooms. 
 
 The old actor was thrown into a flurry. 
 
 "Gertrude Breen to see me here !" he wondered. He was 
 greatly disturbed. " It must be about Conny," he said. 
 "She must want Conny to do something and believes I 
 have more influence with her. My poor Conny. It was 
 indeed time that we discussed her future!" 
 
 When Gertrude came up he was waiting at the head of
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 289 
 
 the stairs. Conducting her to what he called his "library," 
 he moved the most comfortable seat toward her, but did 
 not himself sit down. 
 
 "No! No! You must not stand!" she said hastily, 
 greatly embarrassed by his display of humility. "Please 
 take that seat. I expect to stay for some time if you will 
 let me." 
 
 After he had seated himself, she began, 
 
 "I have come to talk over a serious matter, one which has 
 been engaging my thoughts ever since the death of Leonard 
 Craigie." 
 
 For the first time since he had known her, she became 
 confused and was at a loss for words. 
 
 "We have passed through a trying period," he sought to 
 help her, wondering whether her evident distress arose from 
 the memory of Lenny's act, or because of what she wished 
 to say. 
 
 "Well," Gertrude drew a long breath as she spoke 
 "I want you to tell Conny that you are her father." 
 
 Trevor stood up with staring eyes, his mien that of one 
 who had been very much frightened, and he became deathly 
 pale. Gertrude, seeing the startling effect her words had 
 produced, also rose from her seat, and the two remained 
 standing during the entire colloquy. 
 
 "Aside from the fact that you have been like a father to 
 her anyhow during your entire stay here," said Gertrude, 
 "my reason for having Constance know the truth arises 
 from the new condition we are facing. It is certain that 
 Conny concealed, almost from herself, the love she bore for 
 Leonard Craigie. His death has brought it to light as 
 you have seen." 
 
 "Yes, yes, I have seen it," said Trevor, turning away to
 
 290 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 hide the tears which stole down his cheeks. "I guessed it 
 long before that, however." 
 
 "You saw more of her than the rest of us," said Ger- 
 trude. 
 
 "And because I knew, his death was a two-fold blow," 
 Trevor went on, shaken by his grief. "She has shown re- 
 markable strength in the face of it as much as we could 
 expect from a nature of her sensitiveness I" 
 
 "Yes, but she is grieving, and going over to Mrs. Crai- 
 gie's where she grieves the more, for hours at a time!" 
 said Gertrude. "If we told her this important news, it 
 would mean much to her just now. And it were time that 
 you spoke. You have faithfully kept your word almost 
 too faithfully! I had hoped that at some moment you 
 would no longer be able to hide your relationship from 
 her." 
 
 Trevor stood bowed in thought for a while. Then he 
 lifted his head to say : 
 
 "If it were not that we were facing a serious situation, I 
 might refuse to tell her who I am. Oh, you forget what 
 harm I have done you and yours ! You forget !" 
 
 "We must no longer deal with the past," said Gertrude 
 gently. "Let us give all our thought to the present and 
 the future. Let us do what we can with the living moment 
 rather than with the dead. Do you not agree with me that 
 your telling her would distract her mind sufficiently to ease 
 her grief?" 
 
 "I feel it would," said Trevor. "But I am afraid of 
 misunderstandings. Unless I revealed to her the extent of 
 my brutality to her mother, she might not be able to look 
 at things in the right light. She might blame both you 
 and myself for the silence we have kept. You see," he said 
 apologetically, "in her great regard for me, she would make
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 291 
 
 the childish error of thinking that you had been unkind 
 when you have really taken the most proper course in the 
 world ! Oh, you know I cannot thank you enough for what 
 you have done for me " 
 
 She checked him with a hasty "Please !" Then she told 
 him: 
 
 "I am not going to let you speak to her about your 
 your difficulties with her mother. What if Conny does not 
 understand why we have kept silent so long? It would be 
 preferable to your going through the torture of raking up 
 the past ! Oh, I cannot allow you to be so brutal to your- 
 self ! No ! No ! Let her only guess what has been ! 
 Bring her your love, for she loves you with all the intensity 
 of a daughter !" 
 
 "I would rather tell her," Trevor said with sudden stub- 
 bornness. "It is my last opportunity to punish myself, and 
 I must seize it ! What ! Shall that terrible offense against 
 the love of Marie be buried out of sight so quickly? You 
 forget my brutality my criminal brutality ! But if you 
 are kind enough to overlook it, I am not !" 
 
 "Oh, but this is dreadful!" protested Gertrude. "It ia 
 almost madness ! It will only sadden Conny, and undo our 
 wish to help her !" 
 
 "Perhaps I shall not make the blow too sudden for her," 
 Trevor compromised somewhat. " But she shall know, never- 
 theless all the facts! Why should she remain in ig- 
 norance of them ? Would I not be living a lie to resort to 
 concealment? I am certain that I owe it to Marie to be- 
 gin my new relationship with Conny by telling her the 
 truth!" 
 
 "I do not know that Marie would be glad about what 
 you intend to do," said Gertrude, with a little sob for the 
 griefs with which the years had burdened them. "But do
 
 292 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 as you see fit. My responsibility in the matter is at an end. 
 You are Conny's father. I give her into your hands for 
 all time ! When she comes back from Mrs. Craigie's, tell 
 her. I need not advise you to be careful. Your love for 
 her should make the shock easy for her to bear. You must 
 soften your past in telling her! Be merciful to yourself, 
 as well as to her, I beg of you !" 
 
 But Trevor was unrelenting. Gertrude knew, when she 
 gave him her hand, that the interview between him and 
 Conny would be painful to both. 
 
 "You would prefer to speak to her alone, I suppose," 
 she said resignedly. "It is better so, since I could not 
 bear to be a spectator of the scene." 
 
 "I would not be worthy of calling myself her father if 
 I hid the truth from her!" said Trevor. 
 
 He followed Gertrude to the head of the stairs in silence. 
 When she was ready to descend, he said: 
 
 "Let us hope that this day will usher in an era of good 
 understanding, as it certainly is the beginning of a sincere 
 relationship between us all. Harmony will mean peace." 
 
 "I intend that it should," she told him. 
 
 There were tears in her eyes when she reached her rooms ; 
 she stood quite still for a few moments in wonder of the 
 changes which time had wrought. 
 
 "Poor Marie ! Poor Trevor ! Poor Conny ! Poor dad !" 
 she sighed. Then she asked, "Should I not have brought 
 this about sooner? Or was it destined that his confession 
 should come at a time when Conny most needed it ? Well, 
 we are all instruments in the hands of God! I may have 
 acted blindly, but I sought to be just, even as Trevor will 
 be just when he tells why Marie left him. Will Conny bear 
 me any grudge for the silence I imposed upon her father?" 
 
 Conny, unaware of the momentous news which
 
 THE TYKANT IN WHITE 293 
 
 awaited her on her return home, was walking back very 
 slowly after a visit to Mrs. Craigie. She fought her tears 
 until she was on the stairs leading to her "uncle's" rooms 
 Unwilling to grieve him by showing how she felt, she sat 
 down on the stairs, and had her cry out. By that time she 
 discovered that she wished to be alone. This was a new 
 experience in Conny's life. But the changes in her nature 
 which a few weeks had brought had been many. 
 
 Yet when she entered her uncle's rooms, she flew into the 
 embrace of his arms with a sob of gladness. Her nearness 
 left him helpless, and he hardly knew how to begin to tell 
 her what so vitally concerned them both. 
 
 "Speak to me," she said. "I am so lonely! It will do 
 me good to hear your voice ! I came here for that." 
 
 "I do want to speak to you, Constance," he said. "Won't 
 you go over to that chair ? I want to talk to you about a 
 most important thing." 
 
 "Why can't I sit alongside of you? Let me," she 
 pleaded. "I must hold your hand, so as to feel that you 
 are near me!" 
 
 "No, not this time, Constance," he said gently. "Here, 
 let me fix some cushions for you. So! Now you are go- 
 ing to hear a strange story. And you must sit still, and 
 not disturb me !" 
 
 Curiosity quieted Conny. When Trevor was ready to 
 speak, he was vividly reminded of his experience during 
 "first nights" of new plays when he had to combat great 
 nervousness. 
 
 "What I have to say will sadden you," he began. "I 
 wish with all my heart that it could be helped. But you 
 have faced greater sorrow than this; so you have, in a 
 measure, been prepared for this new trial. Be patient with 
 what you hear."
 
 294 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "There was a man," he commenced his recital, "whose 
 ambition knew no bounds. He lived in a narrow world 
 which shut out God's light from his soul. He wanted his 
 name to ring out over land and sea. He wanted his voice 
 to subjugate men and women. A gesture was to make 
 them thrill. They were to laugh when he smiled, to cry 
 when he was sad. 
 
 "In this struggle for mastery, everything else became of 
 little importance. He lived only for applause and praise. 
 These were food to him, his guiding light, his all-in-all. 
 He sought to turn the whole world into a song of laudation. 
 A day had no existence unless he saw in print his name 
 coupled with eulogies of his genius, or heard the roar of 
 approval from audiences. He shook with frightful jeal- 
 ousy when this praise fell to others. He looked upon those 
 who shared in the praise as enemies." 
 
 Conny gasped, "What a madman ! Did he ever think of 
 loving any one? For that would have made it all differ- 
 ent!" 
 
 "Would it?" said Trevor sadly. "Let us see if it did! 
 Into the desert of selfishness which surrounded him came 
 a flower, a most glorious one, with which a hero might 
 have been proud to adorn his brow ! But if this man placed 
 it there, it was only with the thought of winning thereby 
 more attention. That flower was to serve no other pur- 
 pose than to bring him more of the much-coveted praise 
 by making him more conspicuous. He would have put it 
 under foot if it would have served the same purpose." 
 
 "Oh!" cried Conny, guessing that this flower was a 
 woman. 
 
 "And when the delicate, fragile, exquisite flower." he 
 went on, "asked to be loved rather than to feed a mad am- 
 bition "
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 295 
 
 "He flung it away !" Conny finished for him in a tone of 
 horror. 
 
 Trevor did not face her as he continued, "The girl who 
 came to him it was her destiny to live the brief life of a 
 flower because of his brutality, and to never know a ray of 
 sunshine because his selfishness made everything about him 
 dark and miserable." 
 
 "And he did he never come to realize what he lost?" 
 asked Conny, the tears large in her eyes. 
 
 "When he came to know, it was too late. The flower 
 was dead ! Oh, my God ! My flower was dead !" cried 
 Trevor, burying his face in his hands, and sobbing out 
 aloud. 
 
 Conny could infer only one thing from these words 
 that the girl who had suffered had been her uncle's own 
 child. 
 
 "She came back to your arms to die?" she asked timidly. 
 
 "What?" said Trevor. Then as he caught her mistake, 
 he cried, "Can you not guess that it was I who crushed 
 out the life of that flower ?" 
 
 Conny shrank back and whispered, "Oh, it is impossi- 
 ble ! I can't believe it ! That is not like you ! You, of 
 all persons! You are trying to test me to see if I be- 
 lieve in you !" 
 
 "Ah, my story is not ended," said Trevor sadly. "Be- 
 fore that flower died, a tiny flower, much like herself, was 
 in her arms. My Constance, my Constance, you were that 
 flower ! You are the daughter of that madman ! You are 
 my own child! It was I who brought your mother that 
 perfect flower the grief I have pictured to you! Yes, I 
 am your father! And now you know!" 
 
 Had Trevor, in his career as an actor, gone through a 
 scene with the pathos he threw into these last words, the
 
 296 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 fame for which he had hungered in those days would 
 never have been withheld. But his tone and gesture just 
 then were not studied. He was too overwhelmed by emo- 
 tion to act. 
 
 Conny stood as if rooted. Finally she murmured: 
 
 "My father!" 
 
 "Yes," he said. "I punished myself for that past 
 cruelty by keeping silent about the fact. But I had to 
 come here to be near you. It was not brave of me to 
 come at all. Oh, how hard it has been to be here, to love 
 you, and to say nothing of our relationship ! But now that 
 I have told you, I am not so sure that I have done well to 
 break the silence ! For I feel that your love is a thin? of 
 the past !" 
 
 "But but you cannot be the same man !" said Conny, 
 her hands on her heart "You who are kind, and thought- 
 ful, and considerate, and so fine! And he! " 
 
 "He was a monster, nothing less!" said Trevor, prepar- 
 ing himself for a terrible blow. Not until that moment 
 did he learn how the years had sapped his strength; and 
 he had to hold on tightly to the chair against which he was 
 leaning, that he might not fall. 
 
 "But but I love you!" said Conny helplessly. "And 
 nothing you have told me seems to make any difference 
 about my love for you !" 
 
 She had made things more difficult for Trevor than if 
 she had denied his right to her love. 
 
 "But you should allow it to make a difference!" he told 
 her unsteadily. 
 
 "How can I after you have been so good to me, after 
 you have made me so happy and Lenny, too !" 
 
 "Yet I am the man who was responsible for the terrible 
 grief your mother had to bear !" he insisted.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 297 
 
 There was a seemingly long interval of silence. He 
 hardly dared to breathe as he waited. Suddenly Conny 
 clasped her hands, and cried: 
 
 "But mother must have forgiven you because you, too, 
 have suffered ! Oh, I know you have ! You couldn't love 
 me as much as you do, and not suffer! Yes! Yes! 
 Mother has surely forgiven you !" 
 
 Trevor turned away abruptly that Conny might not see 
 his tears. His heaving shoulders told her that he was cry- 
 ing. In a twinkling two arms were about his neck; 
 
 "Don't, father!" she begged. "I know how it feels 
 when one's heart hurts and hurts ! Oh, yes, I know ! Dear, 
 dear father ! For now you are really that !" 
 
 As the full meaning of the word she had used grew upon 
 her, she clung to him with a feeling of awe. At last he 
 took her in his arms, and they held to each other, and tried 
 to accustom themselves to their new relationship. Then 
 her father asked: 
 
 "Will you let me remain with you? Do you think you 
 could bear to have me near after you realize how terrible the 
 past has been ?" 
 
 "Let you remain?" she cried. "Why, you are always to 
 be near me ! Always !" She added gravely, "but you and 
 I are not to stay here. Do you know what we are going to 
 do ? We will get some little place, and have a home of our 
 own ! A real home ! For you and me ! Where we will 
 be able to do lots of reading. And we will have a garden. 
 And you will sit at the head of the table. Could there be 
 anything finer, father?" 
 
 "There could be nothing finer than a chance to make you 
 happy," he said. 
 
 "Ah, you are going to !" she said. "I want so much to
 
 298 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 be made happy !" As she nestled closer to him, she told 
 him with a sigh, "I feel so tired-ish!" 
 
 Suddenly she started. 
 
 "But we haven't told aunt !" she cried. Then she awoke 
 to the fact that Gertrude must have known all along. 
 
 "It was she who urged me to do this," said Trevor. "She 
 is a wonderful woman. What do you not owe to her !" 
 
 "Yes, yes, I know!" said Conny. "But she and Justin 
 must be alone after they marry. And that will be soon. 
 So you and I, dear dad, are going to have a home of our 
 own. There everything will be quiet. Very quiet. And 
 you must keep me from being afraid when I think of 
 Lenny!" 
 
 "Ah, but you are going to learn to smile again," said her 
 father abruptly, to break the spell of sadness which held 
 her in its grip. 
 
 "I don't know that I will ever be able to," she replied. 
 
 There was a knock at the door, and a maid asked whether 
 they preferred to have dinner served where they were. 
 
 "Tell my aunt yes, if she doesn't mind," said Conny. 
 
 "Wasn't that dearly thoughtful of her!" she cried when 
 the maid had shut the door. 
 
 "She will not be happy about your going away to live 
 by yourself," said her father. 
 
 "That can't be helped. But let us not talk any more. 
 You must be very tired." And Conny placed a pillow un- 
 der his head. 
 
 A ray of sunlight fell athwart his face. Conny noted the 
 many wrinkles, the weary, sad eyes, and the hollow cheeks. 
 Pity and love overwhelmed her. How old he looked ! How 
 broken ! What a storm-tossed soul his had been ! 
 
 "Yes," said Conny to herself, "I must learn to smile! 
 Soon!"
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Into the home which Conny created for herself and her 
 father came many of her former suitors. They found her 
 very changed, and could not accustom themselves to her 
 long spells of silence. The new way in which she ad- 
 dressed the worn, nervous man who occupied the places of 
 honor at the pretty house was another feature that filled 
 them with surprise as much so as the fact that she had 
 gone into a home of her own. 
 
 If they thought that the last was the result of any dif- 
 ferences with Gertrude, they were soon disabused of the 
 idea, for Gertrude was often to be seen at the house, and 
 was always affectionately received. Yet she was frequently 
 left unhappy after these visits. She told Justin : 
 
 "Conny does not seem to be getting back to her old self 
 at all ! You must have noticed that far-away look of 
 hers." 
 
 "Not when I am around ! I get her talking about the 
 flowers she is to plant in her garden," he said, "or about 
 her father's new books. Catch me sitting silent in that 
 place!" 
 
 "Yes, but I am dreaming of a completer sort of home for 
 her!" said Gertrude; "where a man will restore her gay- 
 heartedness, and where her beauty will shine with a whole- 
 some power, and not be eaten up by sadness. I want my 
 Conny happy the Conny I gave so many years to!"
 
 300 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 "Perhaps she would not remain so unhappy if she did 
 not keep visiting Mrs. Craigie," Justin suggested. 
 
 "Oh, I could not speak to her about that!" cried Ger- 
 trude. 
 
 Conny visited the bereaved mother every day. Their 
 talk at first would deal with Conny's housekeeping, but it 
 would always slowly veer about until one of them found 
 courage to speak Lenny's name, and then both women 
 would be left too tremulous for words. 
 
 Once Mrs. Craigie suggested that Conny and her father 
 should come to live with her. The girl shrank from the 
 thought of being constantly in the presence of so many 
 reminders of Lenny. Mrs. Craigie guessed the reason for 
 the silence with which her offer was met, and said : 
 
 "I should not have asked it. I keep forgetting that you 
 are but a child, and that sorrow has laid its hand too heav- 
 ily on you as it is." 
 
 "Be sure that I will always be near you," said Conny, aa 
 she kissed the white brow on which lines were already show- 
 ing themselves. 
 
 They were saved from the pain of continuing the trying 
 talk by the maid's entrance with Justin's name. 
 
 His visits to Lenny's mother were a great trial to him, 
 and he came only at long intervals, depending upon Ger- 
 trude to atone for this by frequent visits of her own. He 
 was less backward about going to Conny, who always 
 brightened perceptibly when he came. As soon as spring 
 was fully ushered in, both devoted themselves to her gar- 
 den. Justin found many spare moments in which to 
 throw off his coat and to handle a spade. 
 
 "It is all the exercise I get," he said when Conny one 
 day protested against his neglect of his work in town.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 301 
 
 "But I don't see how you can spare the time," she said, 
 "with your politics and law !" 
 
 "Ah," he said, with a twinkle in his eye, "I am even go- 
 ing to find time to get married soon. So there you are ! 
 I tell you, there's nothing of the idler about me !" he added 
 with a laugh. 
 
 He had said to Gertrude that very day : "Let us make it 
 September. I want to feel that I have covered considerable 
 ground in my work; and by fall I'll have something to 
 show for what I am doing. Although things are moving 
 astonishingly well, I don't want to slow up. I want to go 
 right on all summer. You are not to talk to me about tak- 
 ing a vacation. I feel this year that I can do without one." 
 
 And as Gertrude noted the suggestion of healthy color on 
 the cheeks which had been white for many months, she 
 breathed, "Thank God!" 
 
 He was always bringing her happy surprises. On one 
 occasion he told her : 
 
 "I have come across a most clever young chap found 
 him making his way through a preparatory school on the 
 quiet while working at the Lotus Club. He was interested 
 in law. I told him that I would take him into the office, 
 so that he would have time to study and be near law books, 
 while at the same time his income would be boosted a bit. 
 But I attached a condition." 
 
 "I can guess it!" said Gertrude with a happy smile. 
 
 "Of course, I knew you would! Yes, I insisted he was 
 to quit smoking. If he didn't, our bargain was off! He 
 has given up his cigarettes, and it is interesting to watch 
 the fight he is putting up against the habit. I'm on the 
 spot to help. I have promised myself that when I get a 
 bigger say in public affairs and I don't think that time is 
 as far distant as it was I'll help to make it an offence to
 
 302 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 sell cigarettes. Drink don't compare with it, for no one 
 goes around sipping from a flask in the open highway, 
 while a mere child will puff away at a cigarette, and be 
 proud of it!" 
 
 "Do you think Lenny's mother knows what was really 
 responsible for his death?" Gertrude asked for the first 
 time, softly, so as not to wound Justin. 
 
 "No," he said, drawing a long breath. "It seems that 
 one of the curses of the cigarette is the tendency it has of 
 getting its victims to make light of its effect upon them. 
 Yet I forgot that Lenny knew, and that he told Conny !" 
 
 Justin often pondered, "Did his mother ever learn how 
 the large sum of money was spent ? Does she know about 
 the sums he received from Bob Maur ?" 
 
 That man studiously avoided passing Mrs. Craigie's 
 home when he went to the station in the morning on his 
 way to business. This, however, ceased when he invested 
 in an automobile. During his visits to Conny, he never 
 mentioned either Leonard's name or that of Mrs. Craigie. 
 
 He carried his well-groomed person into the small home 
 with a proud air, and overlooked the indifferent reception 
 accorded him. Conny would have met him with greater 
 friendliness if the purpose of his visits had not been ap- 
 parent to her. As soon as he discovered this, he pretended 
 that for the time being he was not bent on doing any 
 courting, but he could not altogether conceal his love. 
 
 Despite his care, on one occasion his impatience with 
 Conny's grief for Leonard almost cost him his standing 
 in the house. He had allowed himself to comment on the 
 sombre clothes which Conny were, which were in marked 
 contrast to the gay attire of which she had been so fond in 
 the past.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 303 
 
 "You know, oh, you must surely know why I wear this !" 
 Conny said. 
 
 "But it is impossible to be happy about you while you 
 cover yourself with hideous things like that !" he replied. 
 
 Conny's eyes flashed. 
 
 "Your visits pain me," she said sternly. 
 
 At once he was on his knees in apology. When this did 
 not appease her, he blurted out: 
 
 "You will yet learn that I, too, was his friend, and that 
 I tried to help him in that critical period. Don't be pre- 
 judiced against me, Conny. You have always been so fair ! 
 If I am impatient, it is not out of a desire to be unkind to 
 his memory. You will never know how close to each other 
 he and I came. If he had only listened to me !" 
 
 Startled by his words, she asked him to tell her more. 
 
 "No, I cannot out of respect for his memory," he re- 
 plied; and so silenced her, although he had at a bound 
 risen in her esteem. 
 
 As a result, his visits grew more frequent, but were 
 timed so as not to conflict with those of Justin. One after- 
 noon, however, the latter came at an unexpected hour to 
 get through some spading in Conny's garden, and was sur- 
 prised to find Maur lounging familiarly in the sitting- 
 room. 
 
 "Conny ought to be here any moment," said Maur, sup- 
 pressing a yawn. His careless air, though, was assumed. 
 In reality, he was taking stock of the changes in Justin, 
 and was much surprised at that man's somewhat robust 
 appearance. 
 
 Justin was about to turn on his heel and to give himself 
 to the work for which he had come, when Maur interposed : 
 
 "I'd like to have a talk with you, Mahan, if you'll sit 
 down. Don't hurry off!"
 
 304 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "I can't imagine what you would want to say to me, Mr. 
 Maur," came in chilly tones. 
 
 "Well, 1 can't imagine why you should go up in the air 
 the moment I look at you!" Maur exclaimed resentfully. 
 Then he claimed, "Why, I was telling my partner only to- 
 day that you were just the man for some work we have ! 
 You're mistaken about me entirely! And you are the 
 last man I would believe capable of petty prejudices, too !" 
 
 "Thank you," said Justin. He almost lost his temper 
 when he declared, "I haven't the least desire to do any of 
 your work or your partner's. It isn't because I happen to 
 know of some crookedness of your firm, either." 
 
 "That's a lie!" shouted Maur, growing scarlet. 
 
 "Well, since one of my clients happened to be involved, 
 you will find out in a few days whether I am lying or not," 
 said Justin, quite calm now. "I imagine you wanted me 
 to defend you in just that suit when you suggested my 
 name to your partner. But my wish to have nothing to 
 do with you outside of a court-room springs from other 
 causes. However, I have no desire just now to discuss my 
 reasons for disliking you. Good-by!" 
 
 "Oh, I know how happy you are to think that you have 
 caught me tripping in business !" sneered Maur. "But if 
 you make out a case against me, I will give five thousand 
 dollars to any charity organization you may name. Your 
 clients are pretty nearly on a par with you in intelligence. 
 Just because Mr. Jermon got squeezed on the market but 
 why should I argue with you? You're an example of 
 blind prejudice !" 
 
 "It may be that my client will not be able to make out a 
 good case against you," said Justin. "And I would be 
 the last one to give a man the benefit of the doubt because
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 305 
 
 he was my client. But where it concerns you, I have rea- 
 son to believe that he may not be very far in the wrong." 
 
 "And what the devil may that reason be?" cried Maur. 
 "It's fortunate that we are in this house, or you'd have 
 to mend your speech ! If I didn't respect Conny, I might 
 have a hard time forgetting in whose house I was !" 
 
 "Oh, you do respect something!" said Justin. "I imag- 
 ine that is rather trying. As for making me mend my 
 speech, are you not afraid that if you tried, it might make 
 things very hard for you ? But suppose we close the inci- 
 dent without any further parley." 
 
 "You're mysterious now, aren't you?" Maur snapped. 
 "But I have very little fear of you. I never was afraid of 
 a man who was fond of people without character, who was 
 sentimental about nobodies, and an enemy of those who 
 stand on their own feet. That is the reason you dislike 
 me ! You are prejudiced against people who get along. 
 Well, I am proud that you cannot call me your friend! 
 Continue to swear by weaklings ! Although in one case it 
 didn't help one person !" 
 
 "So!" cried Justin, growing pale. He wondered if 
 Lenny had told this man what he had told Conny. He 
 doubted it. But Justin now felt that only one course was 
 open to him to show Maur that he was partially to blame 
 for Lenny's death. Justin was confident that but for 
 Maur's loans Lenny would never have gone as far as he 
 did. 
 
 As the two men faced each other, Justin knew there 
 was no going back now. The fight was on to a finish. "It 
 it will save Conny from him, it will have served some pur* 
 pose !" he reflected. He said to Maur : 
 
 "As long as you did not drag in Leonard Craigie, I 
 could have let everything pass. But we have gone too far
 
 306 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 to recede. It was Lenny you meant. Denial would be of 
 little use, for it seems that the dead as well as the living 
 must serve your purpose !" 
 
 "I don't know what you are talking about," said Maur. 
 "Of course, if you want to discuss Lenny Craigie, why, go 
 ahead. I can guess what your oratory will consist of. 
 You'll make me out a sort of devil, because you believe he 
 was a sort of angel. Well, go ahead! We might as well 
 quarrel until Conny comes." 
 
 His show of patience exasperated Justin, who cried : 
 
 "No one is assuming Leonard to have been an angel! 
 Don't make comparisons like that, or I'll make one. Sup- 
 pose I say that you tried to play angel to Lenny's devil ! 
 How does that strike you?" 
 
 "As an attempt to be smart, if not impertinent!" Maur 
 replied, somewhat uneasily. 
 
 "I'll make it clearer, then. Suppose you let me do 
 what I have wanted to do for some time to pay you back 
 the money Lenny borrowed from you." Maur started. 
 Justin pretended not to notice this, and went on, "I did 
 not care to approach you about it before, because explana- 
 tions would have been necessary, and I was afraid of losing 
 my temper. But we might as well have it out right here. 
 I do not suppose Mrs. Craigie knew of her son's indebted- 
 ness to you " 
 
 "If you are so thoroughly acquainted with the facts," 
 Maur broke in, coming quite close, and speaking in a low 
 but mocking voice, "Why didn't you lend him the two 
 thousand dollars?" 
 
 "Because it was too late!" said Justin. "Perhaps you 
 think Lenny came to me, and made a clean breast of his 
 difficulties ! If he had done so in time, he would be alive 
 to-day. I'll tell you how I found out. I was in the Lotus
 
 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 30? 
 
 Club when he and you met by appointment. What is 
 more, I was in the next room ! That is how I got to know 
 of the peculiar way in which you were helping Lenny." 
 
 Maur, agitated, stepped back. 
 
 "So you listened, did you?" was all he could say. 
 
 "Such a thing must sound very dishonorable to you," 
 Justin replied. "But, in reality, I didn't mean to be lis- 
 tening! I was dozing in the next room when your voices 
 aroused me. Of course, after I got the gist of Lenny's 
 difficulty, I was not going to run away ! Oh, if I had only 
 known sooner ! Why didn't he come to me ? Why didn't 
 he remember that I was his friend ?" 
 
 He hardly saw the man before him as he gave vent to his 
 grief in these words. Maur asked defiantly : 
 
 "What else have you got to say to me ? I think I've had 
 enough of your posing!" 
 
 "I have only one more thing to say," Justin told him. 
 Then he got out in icy tones, " I have been wondering ever 
 since that day at the Lotus Club how you came to lend 
 Leonard Craigie money. It is because I don't believe in 
 your honesty that I have had certain suspicions about your 
 motives in opening your purse to him. I will be glad if 
 you will offer some explanation of your friendship for 
 Lenny for you made it clear some moments ago that you 
 fairly detest the memory of him. How much more then 
 must you have hated him when he was alive!" 
 
 Maur cried furiously, "When you say I had some crooked 
 reason for lending him money, you lie ! No one, except 
 with a mind as foul as yours, could manufacture such a 
 charge! Why should I not have loaned him small sums 
 when he came whining to me? And why should I not 
 have refused to lend him two thousand dollars in a lump 
 sum ? I did want to do him a favor. But when I guessed
 
 308 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 where the money was going, and saw that there was a 
 chance of trouble which might involve me, I was done with 
 him ! So would you have been ! You may believe what 
 I have told you, or you may not ! But I repeat that your 
 foul insinuations could only come from a coward ! If you 
 ever make them public, I will horsewhip you ! I am not 
 afraid of you, Justin Mahan !" 
 
 Instead of losing his temper, Justin sought to gain the 
 upper hand by coolly driving home certain facts. 
 
 "Despite all your fine words," he said, "I cannot be con- 
 vinced that you did not gloat over Lenny's predicament 
 that day at the Lotus Club. I can hear even now the tones 
 in which you mocked at him ! It is true that I can prove 
 nothing. But I could take my oath that you just played 
 with him that afternoon for the fun of it. It was done 
 with a brutality which horrifies me as I look back ! Against 
 your fine phrases I have only to pit the way in which you 
 spoke to him, and I am satisfied that I have done you no 
 injustice. So how can I believe that you meant well when 
 you loaned him the money? And now I am ready to pay 
 whatever the sum amounted to. You have only to name 
 the figure!" 
 
 "You hound, you lie when you say I had a double mo- 
 tive !" cried Maur. " Come outside, and you will get some- 
 thing else than money to remember this by, you sneak ! I 
 tell you, you are a liar! And I will make you admit it 
 before we leave this house !" 
 
 Both grew tense as they realized that a third person had 
 come into the room. They remembered, as Conny stood 
 before them, that they had spoken very loudly, and that 
 their voices must have carried to the hall below where 
 Conny had most likely overheard them. 
 
 "Did he die because of the need of money?" she asked
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 309 
 
 plaintively. Then she grieved, "He did not come to me 
 when I could have helped him ! And he could have come ! 
 Why didn't he? I could have saved him! Oh, that he 
 should have killed himself for want of money!" 
 
 "It can do no good to talk about it now," said Justin 
 gently. "You are not alone in your regret of his refusal 
 to come to his friends when they could have helped him." 
 
 Conny turned upon Maur. 
 
 "Can it be true that you maliciously lent Leonard 
 money?" she asked. "Because I could never look in your 
 face again with that hanging over you! Why, it is hor- 
 rible !" 
 
 "You heard me say that he lied, did you not ?" was the 
 reply. "This man, for some reason or other, does not like 
 me; so he invents this terrible fiction. It's a fearful 
 charge ! He will yet withdraw it, if I have my way !" 
 
 "But why should Lenny ever have gone to you for 
 money?" she demanded. "You and he never got along. 
 You fairly hated each other !" 
 
 "His letters to me, written just before he died, will show 
 the very opposite," said Maur. "Remember, I did lend 
 him money! While you will find out, for the mere ask- 
 ing, that Justin Mahan, Lenny's supposed friend, did not 
 come forward with the necessary funds which would have 
 saved him from suicide ! Why does he keep harping on my 
 unkindness and overlook that fact?" 
 
 Conny turned glazed eyes upon Justin, and her startled 
 look hurried him into words quicker than the accusation 
 itself. 
 
 "My conscience is clear on that score," he said; "and 
 this man's guess, thank God, is wrong! I did draw two 
 thousand dollars from my bank within a few hours after
 
 310 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 discovering Lenny's predicament. But it was useless for 
 his purpose then. He should have had it a day before." 
 
 "Of course, we will have to take your word for that!" 
 said Maur quickly, his manner very incredulous. 
 
 "Not at all," Justin replied. "I have proofs of the 
 help I wished to extend Lenny. Here are the keys to my 
 desk. In one of the drawers you will find my check-book. 
 My check-stubs will show that I drew two thousand dollars 
 from my bank on the day of the suicide. I returned it on 
 the next. The money had come too late ! Why had he 
 not appealed to me instead of to you from the first? But 
 he shunned me, as he shunned Conny ! It is all too fright- 
 ful for words !" 
 
 At that moment he relived Lenny's despair at the Lotus 
 Club when Maur had refused him help. 
 
 Maur was saying, "How could I have known he was go- 
 ing to commit suicide if I did not at once deliver over to 
 him two thousand dollars ? I was frightened to think that 
 he should need such a sum ! The only course open to him, 
 it seemed to me, was for him to go to his mother and to 
 make a clean breast of his troubles. I cannot understand 
 why he did not go. As it was, I saw the danger to myself 
 of being drawn deeper and deeper into his difficulties. So 
 I decided that he must tell his mother everything, and to 
 force that I refused him the money. You see, Conny, I 
 had his welfare in mind. You would have done the same 
 thing." 
 
 Justin was silent, and he refused to answer when Conny 
 asked : 
 
 "Didn't you say that he," pointing to Maur, "seemed 
 to gloat over Lenny's predicament ?" 
 
 "He won't say <Yes'!" cried Maur. "He dare not per-
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 311 
 
 jure his soul by such a terrible statement! He knows he 
 may have been deceived at the time !" 
 
 But the attack came from a new direction. 
 
 "I remember," said Conny sternly, "that you were in un- 
 usually fine spirits during the time when you must have 
 been lending Lenny those sums of money. I remember it 
 distinctly ! And there was one day two evenings before 
 his death when you came to the house, and you spent an 
 entire hour laughing at trifles ! Oh, how abominable !" 
 
 Trembling with anger, yet showing much of the self- 
 command which was to serve him in his climb for moneyed 
 power, Maur made a last stand. He was conscious that 
 the battle was lost, but he was determined not to leave the 
 field with a beaten air. 
 
 "You would still call me a liar/' he said, "if I told you 
 that during the time of which you speak, I was made cheer- 
 ful by several fine strokes of business which fell to my part- 
 ner and myself. You have heaped terrible accusations upon 
 me, and are driving me from your home! You will have 
 to answer to your conscience for that! If this has been 
 a terrible blow to me, it has at the same time been of value, 
 since it proved to me, Constance, how impossible it is for 
 us to have anything in common. I know that I am bigger 
 than you all, just as I know that you will all deeply regret 
 your wild words. So I forgive you. Yes, although you 
 think you have humbled me, I forgive you! As for my 
 love for you, I take it and trample it under foot as some- 
 thing unworthy of me ! I am sorry for myself, but, oh, 
 Conny, how sorry I am for you !" 
 
 For an instant she was tempted to talk things over ; but 
 Maur gave her no chance. He passed her with a haughty 
 bow, and slowly descended the stairs. As he took his hat 
 and cane in the hall, he saw Trevor, who had just come in,
 
 312 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 "What is your haste?" asked Conny's father. 
 
 "Should not one fly from one's enemies?" was the reply. 
 
 And Maur took himself off with his head high in the 
 air. 
 
 "There was no use staying," he said to himself. "She 
 would never have married me with that hanging over us. 
 If I ever get a chance to square accounts with Justin Ma- 
 han, won't I, though !" 
 
 Justin had given voice to only one word when Maur was 
 heard shutting the door : 
 
 "Hypocrite!" 
 
 "Yes! Yes!" cried Conny. "I feel instinctively that 
 he is one ! Why did you not warn me before ? And now 
 I have learned all those terrible things! Surely, surely, 
 there will be nothing more to learn !" 
 
 Justin mentally remarked, "Not if it is in my power to 
 prevent it !" 
 
 He was satisfied with the manner in which she had kept 
 herself in hand during Mauris eloquence. It showed that 
 she was no longer the impulsive girl who could not be 
 trusted to make her way through shams. 
 
 As Justin set to work in the garden, he was inclined, 
 however, to feel somewhat sorry for Maur. 
 
 "I laid on the whip too heavily," he said. "It was a 
 terrible defeat for him. And I must remember that I, too, 
 worked harm in Lenny's life, even though I did so uncon- 
 sciously I" 
 
 After an interval, Conny joined him. He dared not 
 look up at her, and worked on silently. She asked : 
 
 "Do you think we will have lots of flowers?" 
 
 Wondering how she could give any thought to so second- 
 ary a matter after the storm through which she had just
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 313 
 
 passed, he said briefly, "I think so," adding, "You will cer- 
 tainly have a pretty spot here in two months !" 
 
 "It is not that ! I want them because because " 
 
 She broke off with a sob. 
 
 "I know," said Justin gently. "You will have many 
 for his resting place." 
 
 And a tear slowly trickled down his cheek.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 There were two places in Mrs. Craigie's home constantly 
 filled with flowers the Captain's library and Lenny's bed- 
 room. And her time, when she was not visiting the graves, 
 or receiving her many visitors, was divided between the two 
 rooms. The strength she could command for the continual 
 climbing of the stairs in going from x the library to Lenny's 
 bedroom was remarkable. She would not allow Mrs. Mul- 
 bolland to help her. It was sweet labor for her to toil up 
 the stairs, and to totter into the quiet chamber where Lenny 
 had slept. 
 
 There she would spend her time rearranging his clothes, 
 or going over the gifts she had given him from year to 
 year, or doing other things which brought him quite close 
 to her. It filled her with joy to take up and study his first 
 scrawl, and to read the letters he had written his father 
 when the Captain was cruising in both instances the 
 child's moving hand as real to her as when it had moved 
 over the pages she fingered. 
 
 To the treasures of the room she had added all the re- 
 membrances Lenny had given her. These had a place on 
 the bureau with his jewelry. His favorite books were in a 
 little heap on a table within reach of the chair, in which 
 he had always preferred to lounge, near the window. The 
 tokens from the baseball league adorned the walls. The 
 newspaper mention of the league had been clipped, and 
 were pasted into a scrap-book, which was also kept in that 
 room. 
 
 314
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 315 
 
 Lenny's linen, scented, lay in the bureau, to be often 
 touched by his mother's caressing hands. The first pair 
 of shoes he had worn shared a place with the last. 
 
 In the drawer of his table lay his unfinished manuscript, 
 blotted in many places with tears. Again and again had 
 his mother considered the advisability of publishing the 
 finished chapters, only to decide that the written words 
 were for her, and for no one else. 
 
 "He cannot mean to others what he means to me!" she 
 would say. 
 
 Hovering over these reminders, his mother always felt 
 him within reach. So she clung to them with longing fin- 
 gers, and murmured his name, until her grief would fling 
 her sobbing across his bed, her arms about the pillow where 
 his head had rested. 
 
 She was to spend in that room many nights as sleepless 
 as his had been. At those times, she would often call his 
 name, first softly, then louder and louder, her arms out- 
 stretched. There were times when she was certain that 
 he pillowed his head within the circle of her arms. 
 
 There were also periods of self-accusation, in which she 
 would charge: 
 
 "I did not watch over his welfare sufficiently ! I should 
 have seen how troubled he was. I should have been the 
 friend to him I had planned to be. He would never have 
 gone from me if I had taken care ! And he was slipping 
 further and further away, and I did not put out a hand to 
 keep him! How blind I was ! To have called myself his 
 mother, and not to have safe-guarded his life ! It was not 
 that I trusted him too much ! He did not trust me 
 enough ! I should have brought his friends into this house, 
 and then those who were unworthy of him would never have 
 had any influence. Instead, 1 let him wander about, aim- 
 lessly, to choose his companions in a boy's way, and to let
 
 316 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 them drag him down to destruction. Oh, my Lenny, I 
 could have kept you, against all the world, if I had taken 
 care !" 
 
 One day, as she sat musing, a thought presented itself 
 which she had not seen with distinctness before. 
 
 "His cigarette smoking was at the bottom of his trou- 
 bles !" 
 
 She got to her feet with a terrible cry. Extending her 
 arms with a gesture of profound despair, she asked : 
 
 "Can it have cost me both husband and son? Then I 
 have indeed allowed Lenny to go to his death without put- 
 ting out a restraining hand !" 
 
 She fell to the floor as if stricken. 
 
 ******** 
 
 Gertrude and Justin came to see Conny on an evening 
 some days later when they had instinctively felt that she 
 needed them. So it proved, for she exclaimed : 
 
 "How did you know I was lonely? Perhaps it was be- 
 cause I really wished very hard that you would find time 
 for me. I have been so restless all day !" 
 
 As they passed the little parlor, Conny held up a warn- 
 ing finger. Her father was dozing in a seat near the lamp. 
 They tiptoed to another room. 
 
 "He's always falling asleep in the evening," she said. 
 "My reading to him don't keep him awake, although he is 
 always so sorry about it ! He wants to keep awake by read- 
 ing to me, but I won't let him. His eyes are not strong. 
 He is more nervous than ever, too, and he hardly gets 
 about !' I am sure he looks very old ! Doesn't he ?" 
 
 They denied this. Justin said: 
 
 "His actor's life was very trying ; and this, coupled with 
 his natural nervousness, was bound to tell on him. Rest 
 for a few years will make him a well man again." 
 
 But Conny knew better, although she hardly dared to tell
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 3ir 
 
 herself the truth. Despite her hints, Trevor refused to see 
 a physician. Conny complained of this as she made her 
 visitors comfortable. 
 
 "Don't insist that he should!" Justin advised. "Why 
 should you worry him about his health ?" 
 
 Then he hastened to change the topic of conversation. 
 Their plans for the summer came up for discussion. Jus- 
 tin was obdurate about wanting to stay in town. Conny 
 wanted to remain so as to spend as much time as possible at 
 a stretch in her new home. 
 
 "As if it wasn't because of your garden!" Justin teased 
 her. 
 
 "And what are you growing in your garden?" she asked, 
 seriously. 
 
 "A lot of clients and some political hopes," he replied. 
 
 He spoke of his chances of being the "dark horse" at the 
 primaries which were to nominate a councilman. 
 
 "Do you know who is beginning to take a quiet hand 
 in politics?" he asked. "Robert Maur! I know his pur- 
 pose. It is to kill my chances for office. Another client 
 of mine has complained about Maur's methods. Sooner or 
 later there will be an explosion, and then that gentleman 
 will do his business on a more honest basis." 
 
 "Won't such an explosion drive him out of politics?" 
 asked Conny. 
 
 "Not with his money," said Justin. "And I can see 
 that my whole political future will mean a series of ex- 
 tended fights with him. It adds zest to life to know that I 
 can serve the community by keeping him out of office. You 
 would be surprised to learn how many members of Lenny's 
 league of baseball clubs have begun to gather around me as 
 a political following, simply because I was associated with 
 Lenny in the work. No, there is no reason to fear Maur !" 
 
 The mention of the dead boy's name had made Conny's
 
 318 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 
 
 head droop. As Gertrude was about to go over to her, 
 Justin sprang up with a cry. 
 
 "There's a fire in the neighborhood!" he exclaimed. 
 
 They rushed to the window. After a glance, Conny 
 burst out : 
 
 "Why, it's either your house, Gertrude, or Mrs. Crai- 
 gie's !" 
 
 "It is Mrs. Craigie's !" said Justin. 
 
 In a moment they had joined the crowd streaming 
 toward the place. 
 
 "I was dimly conscious of some excitement on the 
 street," Justin remembered, as they arrived on the main 
 thoroughfare and began to elbow their way hurriedly 
 through the mass of people moving in the direction of the 
 fire. "Of course Mrs. Craigie can be in no danger," he 
 said reassuringly. "She does not retire early. And Mrs. 
 Mulholland is always with her, you know." 
 
 "Her wandering about the house must have done it!" 
 Conny moaned. 
 
 She had hit upon the cause. Mrs. Craigie, after visiting 
 Lenny's room, had not given any heed to' the match with 
 which she lighted the gas there, and a spark slowly worked 
 itself into a flame, and soon the room was in a blaze. How 
 could the worn body have known its old caution? It was 
 resting wearily on the porch when the alarm of fire sounded 
 through the house. 
 
 Only one thought dominated the bereaved woman when 
 she learned what had happened. Gathering all her 
 strength, she rushed up to the library and snatched from 
 its place on the wall the tribute from the President of the 
 United States to her husband. From there she was ready 
 to fly to Lenny's room. But a wall of flame opposed her. 
 Mrs. Mulholland, however, was forced to hold her tightly, 
 lest she should defy death and cross into that room.
 
 THE TYRANT IN WHITE 319 
 
 Almost carrying the frail form, Mrs. Mulholland helped 
 her down to the hall and, snatching up some wraps, took 
 the half-fainting woman out of reach of danger. But Mrs. 
 Craigie would not leave the scene and, standing in the 
 street, she watched with streaming eyes the destruction of 
 her home. 
 
 It was thus that Conny and Gertrude found her when 
 they pushed the neighbors aside and took her in their arms. 
 Justin had at once approached a friend who had come to 
 the scene in an automobile, and suggested that he should 
 put Mrs. Craigie in it, and take her to Gertrude's home. 
 
 "My dear fellow," said the other, "we have all tried to 
 get her away from the place. She won't go. I suppose 
 you can't blame her for wanting to stay. The house is 
 doomed with that increasing wind and our poor water sup- 
 ply at this particular place. Poor Mrs. Craigie! Phew, 
 aren't thrfse upper portions going fast, though ! That is 
 the library burning now, eh ? A thousand pities ! It was 
 certainly a beautiful home ! And with what it has meant 
 to her, I don't see how she will bear the loss of it !" 
 
 Justin, deep down in his heart was not sorry that the 
 terrible reminders of Lenny were going up in flame. 
 
 "No woman could stand the strain of handling every 
 day the belongings of one who had been lost to her !" he re- 
 flected. 
 
 Lenny's mother was grieving, "Not a thing left me! 
 Everything gone ! All in an hour ! A little while ago I 
 could touch what they had loved and what had been theirs ! 
 Now there is nothing !" 
 
 Conny suddenly slipped away. When Gertrude persisted 
 in her pleading with Mrs. Craigie that she should give up 
 the heart-rending task of watching the destruction of her 
 home, and should come to hers, the older woman asked: 
 
 "But where is she? Where is Conny?"
 
 320 THE TYEANT IN WHITE 
 
 There was not a sign of her. Then some one remem- 
 bered that she had hurried away but a moment before. As 
 Mrs. Craigie stood looking at the blazing shell which had 
 been her home, Justin, who had guided the automobile 
 within reach, lifted her into it before she could object. 
 
 "You will only catch cold if you remain," he said sim- 
 ply, but insistently. 
 
 He put Gertrude in beside her, and then clambered in to 
 take the wheel. 
 
 As they made their way out of the crowd, Mrs. Craigie 
 leaned forward and said: 
 
 "Justin, take me to Conny." 
 
 When the automobile turned the corner of the street 
 where her home had occupied a proud position, she looked 
 back at the blazing ruins and burst into tears. Gertrude 
 folded her into her arms and spoke soothing words, al- 
 though on the verge of tears herself. 
 
 "It was the place that sheltered my boy and his father!" 
 sobbed Mrs. Craigie. 
 
 "I know ! I know !" said Gertrude. 
 
 The automobile came to a stop. Mrs. Craigie, helped 
 out by Justin, did not wait for his arm. Summing up sur- 
 prising strength, she hurried up the narrow path towards 
 the small house. Before she could lay her hand upon the 
 bell, the door was pulled open and Conny had her arms 
 about the neck of the homeless woman. 
 
 "Conny," said the latter, "will you shelter me?" 
 
 "I was all ready for you, mother!" came in reply. "I 
 knew you would find your way here ! I knew ! That's the 
 reason I stole back and waited ! You're to be with me for 
 all time !" 
 
 And as the lips of the two women met in a long kiss 
 Justin and Gertrude silently slipped away.
 
 &SSSRS2S!"- "WARY FAOUT 
 
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