"THE SIDE -DOOR OPENED SOFTLY . . . AND ADOLPH BREEN 
 STOOD BEFORE HER" (see page 144).
 
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 THE CASE OF 
 PAUL BREEN 
 
 
 By 
 Atttljfltttj (Uubor, U1L1SL 
 
 
 Illustrated by 
 Sjpttrg SJolly 
 
 //BlS^ 
 
 w 
 
 
 loBtntt ::: . (. JJagj ^ 
 Olampattg ::: Hbrrrtxt 
 
 
 
 *###-"##:^^
 
 Copyright, 
 BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY 
 
 (INCORPORATED) 
 
 Entered at Stationers' Hall, London 
 All rights reserved 
 
 Fust Impression, June, 1911 
 
 Electrotyptd *nd Pri*ttd by 
 THE COLONIAL PRESS 
 C. H. S intends &* Co., Boston, U.S.A.
 
 3 5*3? 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 I. THE COMING or JOHN STRAIN . 
 
 II. EXIT MARY LANE . V*' . 
 
 III. THE BREEN FAMILY . . * 
 
 IV. THE SEAL BROKEN . . , 
 V. NEIL BREEN'S WILL ... . . 
 
 VI. THE THREE CHILDREN . . 
 
 VII. THE WORK OF AN INVENTOR . 
 
 VIII. ED FLYAWAY AND SOCI'TY DAN 
 
 IX. THE CORONER'S VERDICT . 
 
 X. THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PEOPLE 
 
 XI. PAUL'S TRIAL . .... 
 
 XII. CIVILLY DEAD . i . 
 
 XIII. PROFESSOR TANCREDI . ... 
 
 XIV. IN A NEW WORLD . . 
 XV. THE MISSING PAIR ' . , .,. 
 
 XVI. THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 
 
 XVII. ON TO WASHINGTON . 
 
 XVIII. IN THE HANDS OF THE EXPERT 
 
 XIX. THREADING THE MAZE 
 
 XX. THE COUNTER PLOTTING . 
 
 XXI. THE SHADOWINGS 
 
 XXII. THE USELESS WARNING . 
 
 XXIII. OUT OF His OWN MOUTH . 
 
 PAGE 
 I 
 
 29 
 
 45 
 61 
 
 74 
 io5 
 
 121 
 136 
 152 
 
 168 
 
 183 
 197 
 213 
 228 
 244 
 260 
 
 273 
 288 
 302 
 316 
 330
 
 VI 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XXIV. PAYING THE PENALTY 
 
 XXV. FACING THE Music . . . 
 
 XXVI. THE PARDON . . . , 
 
 XXVII. PREPARING FOR THE STRUGGLE 
 
 XXVIII. THE CASE AT ISSUE . 
 
 XXIX. THE STORY or THE WITNESSES 
 
 XXX. A CHANCE IN A THOUSAND 
 
 348 
 363 
 379 
 393 
 410 
 424 
 441
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 " THE SIDE - DOOR OPENED SOFTLY . . . AND ADOLPH 
 
 BREEN STOOD BEFORE HER " (see page 144) Frontispiece 
 
 " SHE SLOWLY STRODE AWAY " IO 
 
 "BUT A SILVER - BOUND NOTE - BOOK . . . KEPT 
 
 DRAWING HER ON " . . . . . . IO6 
 
 " ' TAKE us AT ONCE TO WHERE PAUL BREEN is HID, 
 
 AND WE'LL LET YOU GO ' " . . . . . 243 
 " ' YOUR SON? MY GOD, WHAT DO YOU MEAN? ' : ' . 354 
 " ' GET BACK FOR GOD'S SAKE, OR YOU'LL BE 
 
 HURT!' " . . . . . . . . . , 458 
 
 vii
 
 THE 
 CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE COMING OF JOHN STRAIN 
 
 ABIGAIL ALICE HAZLETT, the Judge's only child, 
 hurried from the front window, opera-glass in hand, 
 and peered curiously over the circular balustrade. 
 
 She had espied from afar, coming across the park, 
 and now watched passing through the hall to the 
 library, the new student, John Strain tall, burly, 
 vigorous, fresh from the country; with rugged 
 countenance and fierce blue eyes under a mass of 
 unruly yellow hair the very exemplification of 
 health, energy, will, strength, in fine, of all the 
 qualities that she admired and envied because she 
 had them not. 
 
 Abigail Alice was sallow and sickly. Discontent 
 had laid heavy lines across her face. Her sparse 
 
 1
 
 2 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 hair, tautly drawn above her ears, gave promise 
 of settled spinsterhood. Though the petted and 
 pampered daughter of Hamlin's foremost man, she 
 already knew the agonies of neglect. While she 
 had waited and hoped, her girl associates had been 
 chosen; while she had dreamed in vain, their 
 dreams had been realized. Invalidism had not de 
 veloped true womanliness in her; it had made her 
 both sensitive and selfish. The more patent her 
 defects, the more imperious became her desires. 
 Alone much of the time, reading avidly and indis 
 criminately, she fretted under the disappointment 
 of ideals proving mere mirages, until the coming 
 of this new student widened and lightened her 
 horizon. 
 
 Though she had met him only once or twice, and 
 that within a few days, her fancy multiplied in 
 definitely both time and opportunity. There had 
 been, before his arrival, other students, anemic, be 
 spectacled, predestined for early practice before the 
 Great Assizes ; but the contemptuous indifference 
 with which she had treated these deserted her in the 
 presence of John Strain. The grasp of his great 
 hand oppressed her mind long after her fingers had 
 ceased tingling. Her nerves quivered in response 
 to the careless force of his personality; her eyes 
 lowered before the normal power of his gaze, and 
 memory but intensified their influence. Here, at
 
 COMING OF JOHN STRAIN 3 
 
 length, was a man fit to be, fit to do; a viking, a 
 conqueror, knowing and taking his own. Weakness 
 paid tribute to strength, sentimentality to logical 
 purpose; and Abigail Alice Hazlett was fascinated. 
 
 She had observed him closely from the window as 
 he came from the office on some commission for her 
 father, his coat flying, his hands and feet swinging 
 and thumping ; brushing aside passers-by instead of 
 turning out for them, bursting his way through the 
 park as he would surely burst it through life. He 
 was so natural, so sufficient, so absolutely free from 
 artificial defences no wonder the girl was ab 
 sorbed. Would he not love as he lived, and serve 
 as he loved ? And so, she waited, eagerly, patiently, 
 by the balustrade, for a parting glimpse when he 
 should pass out. 
 
 The library door shut with a slam that jarred the 
 house. Abigail Alice leaned over, her tremulous 
 hands clutching the rail. The opera-glass slipped. 
 It fell, eluding her miserable, her ineffectual fingers. 
 It shot down and smashed on the marble pavement, 
 just grazing the prominent nose and chin that gave 
 so much individuality to the student's face. 
 
 John Strain looked down and scowled ; he looked 
 up and smiled patronizingly, as at a mischievous 
 child. " A miss is as good as a mile," he said, dis 
 missing the incident with a shrug. 
 
 Abigail Alice faltered, pale, despairing. Was this
 
 4 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 the end before there had been a beginning? Must 
 she be ignored, before she had been understood? 
 With a sudden resolve, she hastened down the broad 
 stairway. She snatched a rose from the cluster at 
 her belt and handed it to him. " This is what I 
 meant to throw to you," she whispered; and back 
 she tripped, prettier for the moment than ever be 
 fore or afterward. 
 
 Strain gazed stupidly on the flower; then he 
 thrust it into his pocket. " Thanks," he shouted, 
 saluting with two fingers. 
 
 He walked away slowly through the park. His 
 errand was over, he was free for the afternoon. 
 But there was thinking for him to do, and, with him, 
 thinking was a serious matter. No inspiration ever 
 favored this young man with its magic. Whatever 
 his mind evolved was wrought as from harsh, re 
 luctant iron. So he sat himself on a secluded bench, 
 and hammered out painfully from past and present 
 his all-important future. 
 
 Thus far there had been no positive feminine in 
 fluence in Strain's life. Once and again, it is true, 
 a woman had tempted him momentarily from his 
 path ; but that path had not swerved a hair's-breadth 
 in its direction for her smile or word. To him, 
 woman was a negligible quantity, a concomitant of 
 a household, perhaps, but never a comrade, and, 
 above all, never a counsellor. What he was to be,
 
 COMING OF JOHN STRAIN 5 
 
 that he would be, by and through himself. After 
 ward, as he might have a fast horse, a fine home, 
 so, too, might he have a wife. That was all there 
 was about it. 
 
 Now, however, he saw advantage, and facts sup 
 plied the lack of imagination. The Judge's daughter, 
 whom the men in the office described as so haughty 
 and disagreeable, had gone out of her way to honor 
 him. This was much, but there was more, far more. 
 What had she been doing at the balustrade with the 
 opera-glass in her hand? Had he not noticed the 
 flitting of a white form from the window as he came 
 up the walk to the house? She had watched his 
 coming and was awaiting his going that was it! 
 Why? 
 
 Because, of course, like any other girl, she had 
 taken a liking to him. He had had his experiences ; 
 he could see through a mill-stone as well as another. 
 Very well then; since such were the conditions, he 
 would draw fair, rational conclusions from them. 
 As if from a high tower, he saw the prospect before 
 him. 
 
 As if from a high tower, John Strain saw favor 
 and merit combine to give him success. He saw 
 himself win and wed the Judge's daughter, with the 
 Judge's consent. He saw himself become the 
 Judge's confidential clerk and then the Judge's 
 partner. He saw the Judge, an elderly man already,
 
 6 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 grow more aged and feeble. John Strain now oc 
 cupies the Judge's private office, and takes the 
 Judge's chair at the board of the bank directory, 
 and collects the rents and interest from the houses 
 and securities that the Judge had builded and ac 
 cumulated, while the Judge sleeps with his fathers. 
 Then follow notable victories before the bar, of 
 which he is the acknowledged leader, and yet the 
 prospect is widening. There are public services 
 well rendered, there is political work shrewdly done. 
 His foot is on the ladder of fame; he is mounting, 
 ever mounting. First, district attorney, then Gov 
 ernor of the State ; why may not the people call him 
 higher, even to the Presidential chair? 
 
 Well, indeed, did facts with their deductions serve 
 John Strain in place of imagination ; and well con 
 tent was he with the picture though sitting in the 
 background, in the background always, but always 
 there, was the unamiable, unattractive figure of 
 Abigail Alice Hazlett, to whom this glory must 
 primarily be due. 
 
 But was there anything, was there anybody, that 
 might prevent these facts from working out their 
 logical conclusions'? No Alnaschar was John 
 Strain. If his basket of china were imperilled it 
 would not be from his own unguarded movement. 
 Rather, far rather, he was alert, prepared, to fend 
 off any danger, whatever its source or nature.
 
 COMING OF JOHN STRAIN 7 
 
 Facing, then, the inevitable, he answered both ques 
 tions affirmatively, yet with a dogged shake of the 
 head. 
 
 Yes; there was something, the memory of which 
 filled him with mortification. He had been indis 
 creet. He had gone on a midnight frolic, and, to 
 appease the scruples of his companion, Mary Lane, 
 had uttered vows of marriage in the presence of a 
 witness. 
 
 Yes; there was some one who might be an ob 
 stacle; yes, indeed, there was. Mary was still 
 living in the village where they both had been born ; 
 she believed in him and was waiting for him; 
 within the week he had been with her, and she had 
 talked of the time when they should be known as 
 man and wife. 
 
 All this was bad. John Strain groaned as he 
 admitted it ; but what about the other side, the win 
 ning side? Well, the only witness to that foolish 
 transaction was dead. Mary herself was of little 
 account; her only relative, an aunt, poor and un- 
 respected, her own reputation injured by natural 
 frivolity. 
 
 Granted, then, that he as a lawyer knew that 
 pledge had constituted a lawful marriage under 
 the statutes of the State; what of it? Mary Lane 
 did not know it; she had cavilled, hesitated, almost 
 refused to consider it sufficient. So much the better
 
 8 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 his knowing; since knowledge, exclusive knowl 
 edge, was power. So he debated, so he decided; 
 not mitigating the cruel, cowardly wrong, but ac 
 cepting it as the one and only means to the one and 
 only end his successful career. 
 
 The sunlight, sifting through the interlacing 
 branches overhead, yielded a little to a shadow. 
 John Strain looked up from his cogitations. The 
 woman whom he had determined to repudiate stood 
 beside him. 
 
 " Oh, John," cried Mary Lane, her pretty face 
 all aglow with joy, " I am so glad to see you. 
 When I came to town for a bit of shopping, I was 
 hoping that we might meet." 
 
 " Yes," returned Strain, " it is pleasant to see 
 an old friend from home." 
 
 "A friend, John?" 
 
 " Well, acquaintance, then, if you like that better." 
 
 " Acquaintance! " 
 
 " Sit down," he commanded, shortly. " I want 
 to talk seriously with you. You're not a fool, 
 though the Lord knows you've often acted foolishly 
 enough." 
 
 A dull gray ness drove the roses from Mary Lane's 
 face, and, as she sat on the edge of the bench, she 
 drew her wrap closely about her as if she were 
 cold. " What is it, John? " she faltered. " I don't 
 understand you."
 
 COMING OF JOHN STRAIN 9 
 
 He looked her steadily, strongly, in the eyes. " I 
 have been planning my career," he answered slowly. 
 " It will be a difficult one at best ; with you, it would 
 be impossible. ' Acquaintance ' was the proper 
 word, for that is the most you can ever be to 
 me." 
 
 " But I am your wife, we were married, you 
 know we were," cried the girl, in high, piercing 
 tones. 
 
 " Nonsense, utter nonsense," Strain retorted, 
 frowning heavily. " It was a lark ; you know it 
 was only a lark; why, you said so yourself. Now, 
 listen ; this is the last time I'll ever talk it over with 
 you. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, between 
 us. I was only easing you along, and you knew 
 that, too; you know you did. Don't tell me; 
 what business did you have to go with me in the 
 first place? You have no proof; Remsen is dead; 
 there is no other witness; what, then, can you do? 
 Tell your lies, if you like, you can't hurt me. Do 
 you think your word could stand against mine? 
 Do you suppose people would believe that I would 
 throw away everything for your sake, and without 
 it being necessary either? Oh, no, no, my lady; 
 they know you too well; there have been too many 
 tales about you for that." 
 
 " John, John, as I live, before Almighty God, you 
 are the only one "
 
 10 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Very well ; let it go at that ; I've no wish to 
 disparage you. But, if I'm attacked, I shall fight, 
 and then you'll see " 
 
 " But John, dear John, you don't understand, you 
 don't know what I'm beginning to fear " 
 
 " I don't want to know. A woman, who doesn't 
 have her way, always fears. That for your whim 
 sies ! " and he snapped his fingers. 
 
 Mary gasped and sank back, silent, benumbed, 
 her emotions paralyzed by the unyielding, insistent 
 obduracy of the man. Then her natural gaiety 
 asserted itself, urged on by that poor pride which 
 so often masquerades as self-respect. 
 
 She sprang to her feet and tossed her head in a 
 reckless fashion. " Don't worry, you poor fellow," 
 she said, " it might make you ill. I don't amount 
 to much, as you say, but I won't give folks the 
 chance to say what they already think. Perhaps 
 you're right, too. Perhaps I didn't believe. But 
 I hoped, John; I hoped, because I was fond of you. 
 Yes, I'll go my way, though God only knows where 
 it may lead " and she laughed as those laugh, 
 too sorrowful, too desperate, to weep. " I'll go my 
 way, and you and your career will be safe for all of 
 me. Perhaps in the end you may be no better off 
 than I for this wicked, base beginning!" 
 
 There was ordinarily nothing impressive about 
 Mary Lane's rather vapid prettiness; but, as she
 
 SHE SLOWLY STRODE AWAY.
 
 COMING OF JOHN STRAIN 11 
 
 slowly strode away, the flash of her eyes, the poise 
 of her head, the carriage of her form, reflected, 
 faintly, evanescently, the grandeur of a passion, un- 
 blunted by outrage, unalloyed by selfishness. 
 
 Strain watched her moodily as she passed down 
 the path, as her stateliness dwindled in the distance, 
 as there came to her closely wrapped figure that 
 pathetic little stop which so clearly tells that the 
 heart is bleeding. He took the rose from his pocket, 
 and tore it savagely into bits. 
 
 " Damn life! " he muttered; " it's nothing but a 
 fight ! There must be the killed and the missing ! " 
 
 But he never hesitated in his purpose. His mind 
 was too single, too self-contained, for reflections 
 which itself had pronounced idle. 
 
 As if Mary Lane had never existed, he paid per 
 sistent court to the Judge's daughter. These atten 
 tions were graciously received. The Judge himself, 
 already impressed by Strain's qualities, gave* ready 
 assent. Within the year, the marriage took place. 
 
 Truly, it might have been that Mary Lane had 
 never existed; for, as Strain put her out of his 
 mind, so, too, did she drop out of his life. He never 
 saw her, he never heard from her. In his infrequent 
 visits to the village of their birth her name was 
 rarely mentioned, and then only in a slighting way 
 as of one whose death or disappearance is no loss. 
 From being a casual memory, she faded into a
 
 12 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN , 
 
 chance recollection ; finally, her pretty face was com 
 pletely hidden behind the clouds of time. 
 
 But the figure in the background did not fade; 
 it grew more and more prominent from its immobil 
 ity. What was unattractive and unamiable, even 
 though softened by the first glow of womanly hopes, 
 became more and more unattractive and unamiable 
 when those hopes were blighted by consistent in 
 difference. 
 
 Abigail Alice Strain only too soon came to realize 
 that she was a necessary concomitant to her hus 
 band's career, but never his comrade, and, above 
 all, never his counsellor or friend. The strength, 
 the forcefulness, the fitness to be and to do, from 
 which she had fondly argued love and service, were 
 in no wise devoted to so negligible a quantity as her 
 self. This knowledge made her bitter, though she 
 would not, if she could, have changed her lot. There 
 was something in her rights as a wife that gratified 
 her. There she was, there she would remain. At 
 least, while he was hers, he was no other's. A sense 
 of ownership, of possession, developed with the 
 years, and, in its turn, produced a jealousy that fed 
 upon itself. That she found no cause for suspicion 
 was a stronger reason for greater suspicion. As, 
 that day, she had espied him coming to the house 
 through the park, so now she covertly watched him 
 as he advanced upon his career, finding, if not de
 
 COMING OF JOHN STRAIN 13 
 
 light, at least sufficient occupation in tantalizing her 
 spirit with theories and situations, imaginary, but 
 yet possible, and therefore worthy of a reckoning. 
 That she thus contended against a state of absorp 
 tion in material matters, the human condition least 
 fecund of intrigue, while it did not disconcert her 
 purpose, did render her aspirations the more base 
 and degenerate; until, if their real motives could 
 have been demonstrated from disordered thought 
 and action, it would have appeared as shame for him 
 and even for herself. 
 
 But in this state of selfish absorption, John Strain 
 gave no heed to his wife's mental or spiritual proc 
 esses. He knew only that she was the more dis 
 agreeable, and so, as she had feared he would do 
 when he had waved away the dropping of the opera- 
 glass, he pushed her from consideration with a shrug 
 of his broad shoulders. She had served his pur 
 pose; and he, on his part, was ready to fulfil his 
 side of the bargain. With a comfortable home, 
 with servants and horses at her command, and noth 
 ing to do, what more could a woman want ? He had 
 no time to waste over abstractions. 
 
 John Strain's life was, indeed, busy. As one may 
 have recourse to a prophylactic, so did he find as 
 surance in work. He was a painstaking lawyer, 
 preparing his cases to the last possible contingency, 
 and then hewing his way through legal thickets,
 
 14 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 as if embodying the pioneer spirit of a new world. 
 He was a student of literature, a lover of books, 
 tracing out rare editions, elucidating mooted histor 
 ical points, indexing, cross-referencing, rinding re 
 laxation in what might well have been a sole and 
 serious occupation. From law-office to court-room, 
 from court-room to library, was the circuit at which 
 he practised continuously; and not once did a 
 woman's smile or word draw him from it or change 
 its direction an iota. 
 
 And men, though they did not know him in 
 timately, respected him, saying that he was honest, 
 competent, independent, brave; himself by his 
 living fixing the standard by which he judged his 
 fellows. Local pride was his; and his coldness, 
 his reserve, did him no harm. Rather did they pre 
 serve him intact for opportunity; for intimacy in 
 public life often breeds contempt. And so, slowly, 
 steadily, he worked out the career that evident facts 
 in the place of fancy had demonstrated for him ; un 
 aware, happily, of the deductions that other facts, 
 mightier if less patent, were logically, pitilessly, 
 drawing for his weal or woe.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 EXIT MARY LANE 
 
 ON the evening after her heartless rejection by 
 John Strain, Mary Lane sat in the upper story of 
 a small frame house, in the mountain village of their 
 birth, with her elbows resting on a little table. At 
 her feet was a small cloth-case fastened by a shawl- 
 strap. Upon the bed, beside her, lay her hat and a 
 stout jacket, both dark and of plain material. She 
 was absolutely still, except that now and then she 
 walked to her window and looked up and down the 
 street. It was about nine o'clock, and the street 
 was almost deserted, except for an occasional group 
 of passers-by usually a young man and girl, or 
 two or three young men. Sleep hovered early in 
 the village; and at eleven all was quiet, except on 
 the rare occasions when a church sociable or a 
 stereopticon lecture tempted the inhabitants to late 
 hours. Mary was watching the lights in the neigh 
 boring houses, and remained at her station for over 
 an hour, making no sound except now and then a 
 long, quivering sigh, wholly involuntary. 
 
 15
 
 16 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 At length, the last light, that in the minister's 
 study, was suddenly extinguished, and she rose 
 softly to her feet, went to the door, opened it, lis 
 tened intently for a few moments, and then returned. 
 She put on her jacket, adjusted her hat before the 
 uneven mirror that hung above the washstand, 
 picked up the cloth-case, and stole on tiptoe down 
 the stairs, pausing whenever they creaked. When 
 she reached the lower hallway, she laid a note on the 
 table standing against the wall, and then cautiously 
 opened the front door. As she stepped out, a big, 
 black dog came growling around the corner of the 
 house; but, as he sniffed at her dress, he whined 
 and wagged his tail. Mary dropped the cloth-case, 
 and, throwing her arms around the dog's neck, 
 began to cry, but without making an unnecessary 
 sound. The dog whimpered responsively, and she 
 quieted him by caresses. At length she rose, 
 stamped her foot on the grass, and thus drove him 
 back to his kennel. As he went reluctantly, she 
 picked up the case again, and walked rapidly toward 
 the road. 
 
 Keeping in the shadow of the houses, Mary passed 
 along the village street, her long, swinging stride 
 soon bringing her to the open country. At first, she 
 had held her head bent forward, but now she grad 
 ually raised it, until she was erect and seemed de 
 fiant, so far as an attitude can tell the mental state;
 
 EXIT MARY LANE 17 
 
 but the change in her pose may have been merely the 
 result of her more rapid pace. 
 
 Only once did she speak aloud, and that was when 
 she turned to look back at the town she was leaving. 
 As she resumed her walk, she said: "Let them 
 think what they like." 
 
 After two or three hours, Mary came to a bridge 
 that crossed a river. There she left the road, and 
 made her way through the bushes to the river bank, 
 which she followed for a few rods. Then she 
 stopped and searched about with her hands until 
 she felt a chain that was padlocked to a willow 
 leaning over the water. This was fastened to a 
 flat-bottomed scow, which she drew to the shore. 
 Then, putting in her baggage, she took a key from 
 her bosom, unfastened the chain, and pushed off. 
 She sat on the middle thwart, took up the oars, and 
 rowed away, helped by the current, for she was 
 going down stream. 
 
 About three o'clock in the morning, Mary turned 
 toward shore, and, when she had landed, deliber 
 ately took off her hat and jacket, though the night 
 was cold, threw them into the boat, and then pushed 
 it as far as she could into the river, where it floated 
 off down the rapid current. Then, opening the case, 
 she drew out another hat and jacket and laid them 
 on the ground beside her. This second hat was a 
 true country-milliner's " confection," being conspic-
 
 18 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 uous by brightness of ribbons and wealth of red 
 feathers, and the jacket, also, was much more showy 
 than that she had sent adrift, being adorned with 
 large, brass buttons. Next, she took a pair of 
 shears from the case, let down her hair, and clipped 
 off the long locks close to her head. Then, after 
 looking carefully about, and listening, she lighted 
 a bit of candle, and, using a small pocket mirror, 
 placed a slender strip of black silk around one of her 
 front teeth, which thus appeared to have been lost. 
 Having put on the hat and jacket, and extinguished 
 the light, she made her way toward a clump of 
 woods on the outskirts of the large town near which 
 she had landed and, concealing herself in the under 
 brush, remained hidden, sleeping uneasily, now and 
 then, until she heard the discordant blasts of the 
 whistles calling the mill-hands to work. Then, 
 walking with a marked limp in her gait, she entered 
 the town, and went circuitously through side-streets 
 to the railway station. There, having for a few 
 moments studied the time-table posted on the wall, 
 she bought a ticket and took a westward train, 
 apprehensive still of discovery, yet hopeful that 
 through her precautions she had avoided recogni 
 tion. 
 
 Poor Mary might have been less timorous and 
 cautious had she realized how small and fleeting 
 would be the eddies of her disappearance. The
 
 EXIT MARY LANE 19 
 
 scow, containing her hat and jacket, was picked up, 
 that morning, and identified by its owner, who said 
 he had rented it for a week to a young woman, 
 named Mary Lane, who had paid him in advance. 
 Gossips at the post office in the village whispered 
 that the girl was missing, and the local paper at the 
 end of the week announced that she had " gone to 
 parts unknown, after leaving a note for her aunt 
 declaring that she would no more trouble any one." 
 Surmise soon exhausted itself between suicide and 
 scandal, and then the unsolved mystery was by gen 
 eral consent put out of consideration. Even Mary's 
 aunt was not inconsolable, as may be seen by her 
 summary of the affair, delivered to a particular 
 crony over a special brew of tea. 
 
 " I can tell you, Eliza," said the worthy woman, 
 " for you're close-mouthed like me. The fact is 
 that she was keeping steady company with young 
 Strain. A fine, promising young fellow, too, same 
 as his father was. You remember him? Well, I 
 could see with half an eye that Mary set a lot more 
 store on him than he did on her. I warned her 
 that John wasn't the kind to settle down here. But 
 she wouldn't hearken to me, young things won't, 
 you know. So, when John came to say good-by, 
 I wasn't surprised. I knew he meant to go to the 
 city to study law, and that there would be an end 
 on't. But Mary took it so quiet that I didn't suspect
 
 20 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 anything, though I might have known she was all 
 cut up. She's got grit like her father, and wouldn't 
 talk to me, though I led her on more'n once. Well, 
 then, she left. I don't believe she meant to kill 
 herself ; but either the water tempted her, bein' low 
 in her mind, or she jest run away she always 
 was a-thinkin' more of the wonders of the world 
 than the work in hand. I s'pose it might have been 
 different if her mother had lived we never did 
 make out as well as some. She favored her father's 
 folks, which I couldn't abide. Of course, I hope 
 nothin' has happened to her, but, now she's gone 
 without fault of mine, I feel I've done my full duty 
 by her, and well I was always the kind that 
 didn't mind being alone. My ways is my ways, and 
 they ain't nobody else's. You understand, don't 
 you?" 
 
 Mary Lane, unconscious how rapidly oblivion 
 was settling over her memory, traveled all that day 
 and night. On the train she made acquaintance 
 with the mother of a family of emigrants the 
 wife of an Englishman who had a small ranch to 
 which she was bringing their three children. It 
 was the second time this woman had made the 
 journey, and she, unlike many Englishwomen, 
 proved talkative and friendly. Mary, who had now 
 ventured to remove the patch from her front tooth, 
 was, in spite of her closely cropped hair, still a very
 
 EXIT MARY LANE 21 
 
 bright and attractive girl, and she showed herself 
 so helpful with the rosy- faced, restless children that 
 their mother was glad to give the benefit of her 
 knowledge in return. From her, then, Mary learned 
 enough of the various stat'ions along the line of the 
 railway, to decide to leave the train at Kenyon, a 
 thriving town in Kansas, where she was advised 
 she might readily find work. 
 
 Mary Lane felt more grief at parting with her 
 train-acquaintances than she had felt in leaving her 
 aunt's home. They had occupied her mind, divert 
 ing her thoughts from herself. Now those thoughts 
 returned, indefinite, insinuating, threatening, she 
 knew not what. Work was a necessity, not only 
 because her little store of money was nearly ex 
 hausted, but more, far more, because she feared 
 that, should she remain idle, she must go mad. 
 This secret conviction stirred her to an activity to 
 which her natural buoyancy gave zest. Before 
 night, she had found a place as waitress in a small 
 commercial hotel. In her precautions against dis 
 covery she had decided to change her name; and 
 so Mary Lane became " Mary Blake," and began 
 her new employment the next day. 
 
 The advent of Mary Blake did not diminish trie 
 popularity of the hotel. She was bright, pretty, and 
 reckless enough to seem jolly. The waitresses liked 
 her because she was so anxious to do more than
 
 22 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 her share; while the traveling young men found 
 her ready talk attractive. Indeed, a feverish ac 
 tivity inspired Mary, making her forgetful of 
 both past and future, and binding her close to the 
 present- 
 One night, during the first week, she was sent to 
 wait on the table for a late arrival. He was a 
 short, thick-set man, with a keen blue eye, and a 
 mouth that seemed ever ready to turn up at one 
 corner in a quizzical smile. He began to speak as 
 soon as she came in. 
 
 " And now," he said, as if talking to himself, 
 " why can't they come at regular hours, instead of 
 dropping in when all the dishes are washed and 
 we're just settling down to a bit of embroidery. 
 Just like these men-folk expecting hot meals at 
 all hours!" 
 
 " It's nothing, sir, I'm sure," said Mary, laugh 
 ing at his odd way. " You've called for noth 
 ing but poached eggs and toast, and a cup of 
 coffee." 
 
 The man looked sharply at her. Then his tone 
 changed, as he said seriously, " You're new here? " 
 Mary nodded as she arranged the table. 
 " I didn't notice at first," he continued. " I've 
 often been coming through here lately, and thought 
 I knew you all. You mustn't mind my blarney; 
 sure I've kissed the stone."
 
 EXIT MARY LANE 23 
 
 "Then you've seen Blarney Castle?" Mary 
 asked. " I'd like to travel. I've never been any 
 where." 
 
 " Now, that's strange," the man reflected, while 
 his mouth twisted up into its half-smile, " I've al 
 ways been everywhere. It's the plain truth. I must 
 have been born under a shooting-star. My birth 
 place is not twenty miles from Blarney Castle, and 
 I ran away from home three times before I was 
 twelve it's in the blood. Once I went on a deep- 
 sea voyage, once to London, once across the Chan 
 nel. And I've been running away ever since. Well, 
 it's the old proverb that's come true with me, for 
 devil a bit of moss have I gathered." 
 
 " You don't seem discouraged," Mary said with 
 an answering smile to the frank face opposite. 
 
 " Never a mite. My mother worried over me till 
 she found out 'twas no use, and that I was never 
 happy except when in trouble; so she gave me her 
 blessing and bade me go. ' Sure this blessed land 
 is too small and quiet for the likes of you,' she said. 
 And so I shipped for South America, was wrecked, 
 lived on a desert island for a week, and precious 
 little dessert too, to say nothing of the lack of a solid 
 meal, and then was rescued and carried to the 
 West Indies. Then to New Orleans, St. Louis, New 
 York, and so out west. Since that time I find my 
 self half-Irishman, half-westerner."
 
 24 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 "Can I get you anything more?" Mary asked, 
 feeling that she ought to get back to the kitchen. 
 
 " You'd rather see me eat than hear me talk," he 
 retorted ; " now, that won't do ; I seldom find a 
 good listener like you. So you are hungry for 
 travel, are you? That sort of draws us together, 
 we're so different ! I've seen them all Peru, 
 China, Turkey while you, I wager, never got 
 beyond the pages of your geography at school. 
 Isn't that so?" 
 
 " Yes, sir ; I've always been curious about foreign 
 countries, and I've been nowhere. And now, I 
 should like to go far, far away, to the ends of the 
 
 earth." 
 
 I 
 
 " I know that feeling ; it fairly tingles your 
 toes, doesn't it? But you're from the East, aren't 
 you?" 
 
 ''' Yes," Mary answered hurriedly, provoked that 
 she should have inadvertently expressed her secret 
 longing. " But there must be something else you'd 
 like. You've taken a light supper for a hungry 
 man. Let me get you another cup of coffee." 
 
 "I'll not say no to that; the coffee is good 
 here." 
 
 When Mary went to the kitchen, she described 
 the guest and made inquiries about him. " Oh, 
 that's Neil Breen," cried one of the waitresses ; " no 
 body's enemy if not his own."
 
 EXIT MARY LANE 25 
 
 " What do you mean ? He doesn't look like a 
 drinking man." 
 
 " Not now," explained the girl ; " though they 
 do say there was a time when he crooked his elbow 
 more than was good for him, or any one else that 
 got in his way. But there's no stay to him. He's 
 smart enough, and might amount to something if 
 he could only settle down long enough to leave a 
 foot-print. He's never quiet, though, and spends 
 his money faster than he makes it. Fine-looking 
 man, isn't he? " 
 
 " He looks good-natured," Mary answered as 
 she turned toward the dining-room door. 
 
 " Oh, he's good-natured enough when he isn't 
 crossed," retorted the other. 
 
 " Thank you," said Breen, as Mary put down the 
 cup. " And what did they tell you of me? Noth 
 ing bad, I hope ? " 
 
 " What would you give to know ? " 
 
 " I do know, as if I had listened at the key-hole, 
 and it's all true, too, worse luck. I'm a thriftless, 
 wandering Irish lad, with a smiling mug and an 
 empty pocket. But there's many a heavier purse 
 carried by a sadder face." Then he became serious. 
 " You must not mind what they tell you. The day 
 may come when Neil Breen will have the laugh on 
 his side. It isn't always the stick in the mud that 
 makes the gold-headed cane. Where is your table ? "
 
 26 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " My table is the one in the corner," Mary an 
 swered. 
 
 " Then that's the place for me to-morrow morn 
 ing. I'm an old traveler and I know when I'm well 
 off. Good-night, my girl, good-night." 
 
 Neil came down early to breakfast, and talked 
 with Mary in the same voluble style; though now 
 his questions evinced a strong desire for a better 
 acquaintance. During the two days of his stay at 
 the hotel he sought her out in every possible way; 
 and, indeed, the other girls were playfully jealous 
 of his interest in the newcomer. When he left, he 
 shook her warmly by the hand, telling her that he 
 hoped to see her bright eyes soon again, though, 
 sure, he'd carry the memory of them away with 
 him. 
 
 Within the week Neil returned and this time his 
 attentions were plainly evident. Mary was at once 
 alarmed and tempted. That indefinite fear from 
 which she had striven to flee warned her that she 
 should not ; yet an irrepressible, innate hopefulness, 
 that will-o'-the-wisp which thus far had been the 
 only guide of her life, kept whispering back that she 
 would. Mary was ignorant, young and ignorant, 
 as yet skeptical of the ruthlessness of nature, as yet 
 steadfast to the instinct that the way to avoid an 
 unpleasant situation is to ignore it. "Why not?" 
 she asked herself defiantly; "there is no reason,
 
 EXIT MARY LANE 27 
 
 none, none ! " And, the next time she saw Breen, 
 she smiled more charmingly upon him. 
 
 The man was fascinated, hot with love ; and took 
 the first opportunity, when they were alone, to 
 make a formal proposal. There was something in 
 his halting words, so vibrant with truth and sincer 
 ity, that quivered the girl's heart; and she bowed 
 her head, the tears stealing through her white 
 fingers. 
 
 " Don't, my dear," said Neil Breen. " You 
 mustn't worry your little soul over something or 
 other that's nothing to me and nothing to you. I'm 
 asking for your hand with your heart, not your 
 history inside of it. Sure, a pretty girl like you 
 must have had her lovers ; and, as for me, a sailor's 
 no sailor, unless he's left a sweetheart in every port 
 'round the world. But now I'm in earnest for the 
 first time ; so I ask no more than ' Will you love 
 me true, through black and blue, with honor due, 
 my darling Sue ? ' 
 
 Mary's gay humor returned; her reckless spirit 
 shone mischievously from her eyes, and gave an 
 inspiring toss to her head. 
 
 " We'll leave the blackness all behind us," she 
 cried, " and only our skies shall be blue. You are 
 good to me, so good to me, I'll never forget it! 
 Yes, I will go with you, willingly, gladly; and the 
 further you wander, the better I'll like it. At least
 
 28 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 I'll be a faithful wife to you, Neil, ah, so faithful 
 and true, and who knows but the luck will change, 
 and you will find fortune, and I shall find happi 
 ness ? " 
 
 The hotel people were delighted with this rapid 
 wooing, and did all in their power to make the 
 wedding jolly. And so, without further ado, these 
 two waifs, drifted together from out of the un 
 known through the mighty force of unseen currents, 
 embarked confidently, buoyantly in a slighter craft 
 than those that they now abandoned. But safety is 
 not entirely a matter of precautions ; and sometimes 
 the sea continues so serene that it seems that the 
 gales have forgotten how to beat and the storms 
 how to rage.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BREEN FAMILY 
 
 ONE evening, soon after his marriage, Neil Breen 
 came home to the small hotel in a southwestern 
 town, where he had deposited his wife for safe keep 
 ing, in a state of exultant excitement, which he 
 vainly strove to suppress. " I have found out 
 something about you, Mary," he began gravely. 
 
 Mary's face turned white, and she sat silent; but 
 he went on unheeding. " You're a mascot," he ex 
 claimed; "a regular A i, first chop, clipper-built 
 mascot, my dear, that's what you are. There never 
 was a more reckless marriage than ours I could 
 hardly see a week's board ahead out of this hap 
 hazard, go-between, cover-the-ground business of 
 mine, with a slip-up at one end and a throw-down 
 at the other, as a general rule ; but now we're fixed, 
 settled, landed on the sunny side, and back from the 
 road, for life. You're a mascot, I say." 
 
 " Do you mean, Neil, that you have been success 
 ful in some of your prospecting? Oh, that's too 
 good to be true." 
 
 29
 
 30 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " More than that, colleen ; and the truer it is the 
 better it is. I've clinched and copper-fastened the 
 deal of my life, and to-morrow it's ho! for Glori- 
 osa and the Gloriosa mine." 
 
 " But you said that was no good," Mary ob 
 jected. 
 
 ' That was last week. This week, 'tis a good 
 thing, and we're pushing it along for all we're 
 worth, and next week," he sank his voice to a 
 whisper " if next week the Gloriosa isn't a bo 
 nanza, then I'm a Dutchman, and I can't say more 
 than that." 
 
 " But you don't own the mine, dear? " 
 
 " Not all of it ; if I did you'd be eating off gold 
 plate in a month. But I've some few shares, and 
 I'm promised the place of manager at a salary that 
 will keep the wolf so far from the door you'll never 
 hear his howls, my dear." 
 
 " It pleases me so," murmured Mary. " I seem 
 to see that all I dared to hope is coming true. Do 
 you remember 
 
 " I remember you hoped you'd change my luck," 
 he interrupted, " and it's all come true like gos 
 pel. Look here now." He drew from his inside 
 vest-pocket a roll of bills, and separated two crisp 
 ones from the rest. " There," he continued, hand 
 ing them over, " for your trousoo, my darlint. 
 I'm sorry it comes after the wedding instead of
 
 THE BREEN FAMILY 31 
 
 before it, but it's better late than never, so it 
 is." 
 
 Mary looked at the bills in amazement. There 
 was a large " C " in the corner of each of them. 
 " Two one-hundred dollar bills ! " she exclaimed ; 
 " why, I never saw so much money before ! Oh, I 
 can't take them." 
 
 " Whisht," said Neil, drawing out the roll again, 
 " if I didn't clean forget there's luck in odd num 
 bers. Here's another one to bring the two up to 
 the proper mark." 
 
 He rattled on, telling all the particulars of his 
 successful deal, finding supreme satisfaction in his 
 sanguine words, and never noting that his wife 
 gave little heed. She was persuading herself that 
 this surprising change in their fortunes was an omen 
 of still more surprising and enduring felicity; she 
 was realizing, dimly, questioningly, yet rapturously, 
 that her husband's simple faith and affection would 
 prove an ample shield against the fears that had 
 beset her. " Oh, you dear," she cried suddenly, 
 throwing her arms around his neck, in a burst of 
 heartfelt contrition, " I do love you, I do! " 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Breen, the next day, arrived at a 
 new but bustling little town, evidently of recent 
 prosperity. Even from the platform it was possible 
 to see the activity that promised a future. Skeleton 
 buildings in process of construction were visible on
 
 32 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 all sides. There were one or two tall chimneys that 
 yet retained the bright red of freshly-laid bricks. 
 The streets seemed too small for the traffic. New 
 houses and stores stood upon dirt-roads, with side 
 walks of aged planks. The sign on the station 
 the station itself was new. And the name " Glo- 
 riosa " shone resplendent in new gold-leaf, on a 
 brand new sign-board. 
 
 Neil called a ramshackle vehicle, and they drove 
 to a new hotel in a new street. When he signed 
 his name on the register, the young clerk hastened 
 to put on a coat, and came forward smiling a wel 
 come. 
 
 " We've got your rooms ready on the first floor, 
 Mr. Breen," he said. " You'll have to make allow 
 ances, of course. We opened only a week ago, and 
 the wheels don't go round quite smoothly yet. 
 This way, please, if you and your lady will follow 
 me." 
 
 Neil Breen soon proved himself invaluable to the 
 mine-owners. Not only did he acquaint himself 
 with the nature of the mine, and its product, but 
 also studied its business management in every de 
 tail, and, what was more vital, in every wholesale 
 view as well. Even if he could have been replaced 
 in these capacities, he yet had a more exceptional 
 claim upon his business associates. Every business 
 depends finally upon the disposition of the human
 
 THE BREEN FAMILY 33 
 
 souls engaged in it. If the workers be sullen, hos 
 tile, distrustful, dishonest, they can, and usually do, 
 wreck the whole enterprise. No dead rules can bind 
 the human soul; and, merely as an economic asset, 
 the good will of the worker is a main factor in 
 every success. Breen was, like all good Irishmen, 
 intensely human. He knew the men by names, not 
 by number. He knew when to drive, when to lead, 
 when to resist, arid when to yield. Capable himself, 
 he knew and recognized capability in others. No 
 miner, engineer or superintendent worked under 
 Breen ; all worked with him, sharing a pride in the 
 Gloriosa mine and a satisfaction in its advancing 
 fortunes. 
 
 Mary was soon triumphantly established in a new 
 home of her own, with a social position almost 
 dizzy in its unaccustomed flatteries and deferences. 
 As the days rolled by, each one leaving her wife- 
 hood the more honored, the more secure, she for 
 got the fears that had pictured her marriage as the 
 taking of a desperate chance. Ever a child of the 
 present, undisciplined, buoyant of spirit, vigorous 
 of health, governed by impulses, kindly, generous, 
 yet incapable of the self-sacrifice of principle, she 
 was happy in the brief sunshine of prosperity, un 
 mindful of the darkness that had preceded and 
 might succeed it. 
 
 And yet, when she became the mother of a son,
 
 34 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 she sobbed away her heart on Neil's breast with 
 such abjectness that he marveled at her sensibility. 
 " 'Tis holy you are to me now," he vowed, soothing 
 her emotions with such supreme pride and delight 
 that soon her eyes again were shining joyously 
 through their tears. 
 
 Maternity developed Mary. The child was puny 
 at birth, and for long did not thrive. He was an 
 eerie little being, who looked shrewdly about him 
 as if weighing the gravity of existence, and finding 
 it upon the whole overpowering. Only the mother's 
 devotion, tireless, sleepless, fiercely jealous of its 
 natural rights, battling against death with primeval 
 instincts, kept the flickering breath within the little 
 one. Yet, when the fight seemed most hopeless, she 
 showed little emotion, her faithfulness springing 
 less from affection than from an almost morbid 
 anxiety to do full duty by her child. 
 
 The long battle ended in a hard-won victory. 
 The boy lived and was duly christened Paul. As 
 often happens, with the illness he acquired a wiry 
 strength one would hardly expect in so frail a body. 
 His mind, too, proved clever and keen. Though 
 unusually silent for a little chap, he could talk when 
 he chose, using an amazing vocabulary with a humor 
 that delighted Neil. Though obedient and willing, 
 a. strange air of aloofness clung to Paul, a sense 
 of separateness, of loss, evanescent, trivial; yet at
 
 THE BREEN FAMILY 35 
 
 times marking him as if he were an orphan in his 
 own home. Neil laughed at the lad's odd ways and 
 called him a queer little tyke; but Mary pondered 
 them over within her heart. 
 
 Maternity, in thus developing Mary, acquainted 
 her with sorrow far different from the passionate 
 grief and ignorant fears of earlier days. The 
 blooming of the true womanly nature within her 
 made her less selfish, and more remorseful. She 
 dreaded not for herself, but for her son that in 
 nocent, unknowing flesh of her flesh, blameless, yet 
 involved, through her fault, in an intricacy of pos 
 sibilities, vague, yet all alike evil. A morbid anx 
 iety to do one's duty in a single respect is apt to 
 widen in time and take in subjects hitherto treated 
 with indifference. Mary began to be troubled over 
 her treatment of Neil. Ought she not to confess 
 to him that Paul was not his son, and would he not, 
 good-hearted and loyal that he was, understand that 
 she had fled headlong and heedless to the one refuge 
 open to her, as free from deliberate intention as a 
 deer in its wild flight from the hunters? 
 
 Then, in her doubt and uncertainty, there came 
 a happening that drove her back into silence. She 
 had acquired, among other accomplishments, that of 
 water-color painting, and joined a little sketching 
 class of ladies and gentlemen. One of the members 
 of this class was so foolish as to mistake her eager
 
 36 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 interest in his work for an interest in himself. Be 
 ing at the callow age when married women seem 
 especially attractive, because frank and kind, he 
 thought himself in love, and began paying atten 
 tions that meant nothing to her and much to him. 
 This caused some good-natured joking among the 
 other women, echoes of which came to Neil's 
 ears. 
 
 Neil went straight to his wife and asked her what 
 it meant. She, for the first time, saw him angry, 
 and angry in a way that petrified her. He plainly 
 told her that he was not the sort of man who would 
 permit the slightest scandal to attach to her 
 
 name. 
 
 it TJ 
 
 I'm a good husband to you, Mary," he said, 
 " and I trust you as I'd trust a saint In heaven. But 
 unless you tell me, now and here, that all this story 
 is a damned lie, I'll go out and kill that little snipe, 
 and you'll never see Neil Breen in this world or the 
 next. For if you weren't true to me, and went to 
 heaven, I'd choose hell ! " 
 
 Though her first words seemed to have satisfied 
 him, Neil was moody and sullen, and that night, 
 for the first time since their marriage, he came home 
 the worse for liquor. Such a manifestation of un 
 suspected traits was a supreme shock to Mary. 
 Where then was the careless, good-natured, irre 
 sponsible wanderer, who had rushed into a happy-
 
 THE BREEN FAMILY 37 
 
 go-lucky marriage with such utter confidence ? Her 
 newly-formed habits of reflection warned her that, 
 like herself, Neil had changed with the years. 
 
 Authority had developed Neil Breen, if the in 
 tensifying of the will, and the magnifying of the 
 personal concept, can properly be termed develop 
 ment. His mental dignity was enlarged, but not 
 strengthened, by the deference and obedience ac 
 corded him at the works. His anxiety no longer 
 was to gloze over his faults with a ready appeal to 
 human weaknesses; on the contrary, he had set up 
 in his own estimation a graven image of himself 
 before which his little world might well fall down 
 and worship. There is madness in long continued 
 power, unless it be qualified with a heavy sense of 
 responsibility and duty. As the waitress had said 
 years before, Neil was good-natured enough when 
 not crossed; but, now, a crossing seemed almost 
 sacrilege to his alert and sensitive vanity. Thus he 
 was more dictatorial, quick-tempered and passion 
 ate, prone to think offence, and, when the slight 
 was not easily adjusted to his self-esteem, some 
 times brooding over it in the deadly conviviality of 
 secret and solitary drink. 
 
 When Paul was ten years old, Edith, the second 
 child, was born, to Neil's supreme delight. " You've 
 got a real, roly-poly, Irish lass, this time, Mary, for 
 a fact," he cried. " Why, she's the very image of
 
 38 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 me. Somehow, I feel more drawn to her, don't you 
 know?" 
 
 " Yes," said Mary in a low tone, " I wish Paul 
 was more like her." 
 
 " Variety's the spice of babies," continued Neil 
 gaily, " and I hate to see a family all -a-row like 
 peas in a pod. Paul's a riddle perhaps he'll prove 
 a genius, and too much for the likes of us; but this 
 little lass is just a human package, filled with all the 
 comforts of home. Take them together, they're a 
 pair that's hard to beat." 
 
 Mary did not share her husband's complacency 
 over the contrast between the children. She mar 
 veled at his blindness, and, as the years made the 
 dissimilarity of feature and character the more 
 marked and distinct, she dreaded each day as the 
 one on which the shameful truth must flash over 
 him. Under the wearing suspense, her health be 
 gan to fail rapidly; and then, as she grew weaker 
 and weaker, to a purely physical fear was added the 
 spiritual anguish of divine wrath, the more inexo 
 rable the nearer it seemed. What should she do, 
 afraid of her husband, afraid of God? Almost in 
 evitably, with the instinct of refuge, like the filings 
 to the magnet, Mary turned to the one great source 
 of consolation and hope for suffering womankind, 
 throughout the ages the church. 
 
 One day, the Rev. Samuel Sanderson received an
 
 THE BREEN FAMILY 39 
 
 unsigned note, in a tremulous, feminine hand, sta 
 ting that one of his congregation was anxious to 
 have him express his views on the subject of the 
 confessional. The minister was a worthy and sin 
 cere man, fervid of purpose, but somewhat emo 
 tional and indiscreet. Long habit had made him 
 profuse in generalities, and here was the very string 
 upon which to hang some of the most precious of 
 them. Without ado, he drew a pad of paper to him 
 and began to write. As his pen moved, it quick 
 ened. He became interested, absorbed, carried away 
 by his theme, and when at length he was summoned 
 to his belated and lonely supper, he laid aside his 
 work with the gratified words : " That is the best 
 sermon I ever wrote." 
 
 Sunday, this conviction of power was confirmed. 
 There was no lolling in the pews, no shiftings of 
 feet upon the floor. The congregation was fixed 
 by his first word, and he, in turn, was inspired by 
 the rapt attention he secured. As his soul expanded 
 within him, he abandoned his text, and spoke im 
 promptu the thoughts, images and tropes, which 
 had come so slowly in his study, now tumbling in 
 exhaustibly from his teeming intellect. He burned 
 with love and sympathy for those who bore within 
 them the awful burden of unconfessed guilt. He 
 depicted the Great White Throne as the seat of 
 mercy and love; and the clergy as emissaries bear-
 
 40 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 ing tidings of exceeding joy whereby scarlet should 
 become snow-white. 
 
 To Mary, gazing up at the minister, forgetful of 
 all else but those healing words, he seemed as one 
 bringing water to a poor, parched traveler in a 
 desert. Here at last was the physician that could 
 minister to a mind diseased. He spoke with such 
 assurance, with such rapturous certainty of a cure 
 that could not fail. 
 
 "Confession pays the penalty," he reiterated; 
 " confession makes the soul again sound and whole. 
 Why then hesitate; why then delay? Your pastor 
 is only God's representative; God knows already. 
 By the lips of his representative on earth, your 
 Father in heaven shall give you the blessed peace 
 of forgiveness, the joy that is greater than mere 
 oblivion could bring; for the reconcilement with 
 God is sweeter than mere forgetfulness." 
 
 Little wonder that when the sermon ended with 
 the open-armed entreaty " Come," Mary was ready, 
 nay eager, to obey. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Sanderson rested from his 
 labors, in the pastor's study. He viewed his work 
 through the glasses of satisfaction and found that 
 it was good. A fitting ending, truly, climactic, even 
 dramatic, to the years of continuous toil in the vine 
 yard. Now, with a light heart, and a sense of the 
 worthiness of hire, he could avail himself of the
 
 THE BREEN FAMILY 41 
 
 vacation recently granted, and journey to the dis 
 tant town of Fremontia, in the northwest, where 
 he was to meet his little daughter, Constance, and 
 bring her back to the home from which she had 
 been separated since her mother's death. 
 
 As the good man thus rubbed his hands over the 
 pleasing prospects both behind and before him, there 
 came a slight rap, followed by the instant opening 
 and shutting of the door. Mrs. Neil Breen, the 
 wife of the richest member of his congregation, and 
 herself the most conspicuous and faithful of the 
 Woman's Auxiliary band of the church, passed 
 through like a shadow, and, falling prone at his feet, 
 sobbed out the secret of her life, most intimate, most 
 shameful. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Sanderson listened in silence. He 
 was frightened beyond expression of word or act. 
 Like many clergymen, he was so used to dealing 
 with abstractions that it had never occurred to him 
 that these were but algebraic symbols that had no 
 meaning except when translated into terms of flesh 
 and blood, of soul and body, of virtue and vice. 
 Now, in his fatuity, he had set in motion the secret 
 mechanism controlling human lives, and who could 
 foretell what hideous wreck and tragedy might not 
 ensue. 
 
 More than tfyis, being a good, true man, he was 
 ashamed of the blatant, unreasoning enthusiasm,
 
 42 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 which had always been the thorn in the flesh of his 
 conscience, and the snare to his feet on the path of 
 righteousness. Again and again, had he rushed in 
 where angels fear to tread, only to slink out in 
 humiliation and contrition. Even while Mary was 
 still speaking, finding a poor comfort perhaps in de 
 tail, he had breathed a vow to God that never again 
 would he through lack of discernment cause one of 
 these little ones to grieve; and when at length she 
 ceased, lying abased before him, her arms extended 
 in the form of a cross, he raised her tenderly, his 
 soul absorbed with the one purpose of preventing 
 further evil. 
 
 He told her that she had done her full duty to 
 herself in thus confessing her sins, and that now 
 her concern must be her duty to those with whom 
 she was so intimately connected. He warned her 
 that she was the guardian of Neil's rash and violent 
 nature, and the arbiter of the future weal and woe 
 of the children, Paul and Edith. " There is a self 
 ishness in confession against which you must be 
 especially on guard," he continued. " Where wrong 
 can be righted, then it may be one's duty to speak 
 openly, in defiance of consequences. But when only 
 disgrace, suffering and crime can be the fruits of 
 exposure, then the secret must be kept hidden, since 
 others have acquired a right in its hiding. Take 
 up again your burden, my poor sister, and bear it
 
 THE BREEN FAMILY 43 
 
 onward without repining; for such is the penalty 
 of your wrong-doing, imposed not in anger but in 
 loving-kindness. The road is hard, the way is steep, 
 but the light of God's love shines upon it; and she 
 who is doing the best for others, is doing the best 
 for herself." 
 
 So Mary went back to her home, determined to 
 accept her lot. She was dulled by the futility of 
 human efforts; she was dazed by the power of 
 human weaknesses. What was the use of strug 
 gling? With something of the forced abnegation 
 of the condemned, she put from her alike her sor 
 rows and her fears. As her health steadily grew 
 more delicate and she became more and more feeble, 
 she seldom left her home, limiting her interests to 
 its material needs. 
 
 Neil soon noticed a reserve in her manner toward 
 him, which he bitterly resented. With characteristic 
 lack of discrimination, he found his home-circle al 
 most repellent to him, exaggerating Paul's pecu 
 liarities, and belittling Edith's careless affection. 
 His rugged health made him impatient of invalid- 
 ism; and he spoke contemptuously of his wife's 
 " fine airs and whimsies." Though his wealth had 
 increased amazingly of late through speculation, 
 and he was never happier than when he was lavish 
 with it, he felt that his importance was unappre 
 ciated by his family; and he began more and more
 
 44 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 to welcome any excuse that took him from them. 
 Consequently, he was glad when business called him 
 to the distant city of Fremontia; though he was 
 vaguely worried over his wife's health and momen 
 tarily troubled at the thought of leaving her for so 
 long a period.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE SEAL BROKEN 
 
 NEIL BREEN was low of spirit on arriving at 
 Fremontia. The old light-heartedness, that once 
 had enabled him to find in the drama of life around 
 him a book of perennial interest, was gone. In its 
 stead, black care had journeyed with him. Vaguely 
 discontented with Mary and disturbed at her failing 
 strength, vaguely displeased with Paul, even the 
 thought of Edith failed to gratify him, since it re 
 called so many of his own traits, diminished, play 
 ful, yet vital in her, that he would, but could not, 
 change. In a dumb sort of way he felt that the 
 acquisition of wealth was after all but a part of a 
 greater, more mysterious business, in which he who 
 had bartered his contentment for it got far the worse 
 of the bargain. 
 
 The old restlessness, however, that innate craving 
 to be with rather than apart from men, though it 
 had lain dormant, was still a moving force with 
 Breen. The gloomy, cheerless office of the hotel 
 was repugnant to him; his room, with its crude 
 
 45
 
 46 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 comforts and solemn, foreboding silences, could 
 only be attractive to exhaustion; and so, having 
 digested the contents of a directory and a time-table 
 as a fitting dessert for a dinner not at all to his taste, 
 he wandered aimlessly through the streets, as once 
 he had wandered aimlessly over the world, though 
 then he had been alone and gay and now Black 
 Care stuck close to his side. 
 
 The night was starless and rainy, with a bitter 
 tang to the air. The houses, set back from the 
 street, seemed wrapped in repellent seclusion. But 
 few persons were abroad, and they all hurried in the 
 same direction. Breen followed listlessly until he 
 came to a broad, low edifice, flattened out by the 
 weight of a square bell-tower. Light streamed 
 through its windows with promise of warmth and 
 welcome ; while over the open doors were these 
 inscriptions : " Come, for all things are now ready," 
 and "Haste, ye sinner, will ye die?" 
 
 Neil Breen stopped and stared hesitatingly; then, 
 as a young man stepped forward and took him per 
 suasively by the arm, he entered and seated himself 
 in one of the rear pews of the well-filled aud'torium. 
 
 The scene was one of emotional excitement, 
 which the presiding clergyman, by frequent, per 
 sonal exclamation, did not fail to encourage. In 
 various parts of the church men were wildly ex 
 horting, indifferent to and unconscious of their
 
 THE SEAL BROKEN 47 
 
 mutual interference. Here, women were weeping 
 and wringing their hands ; there, mere children, 
 either ghastly with terror, or intoxicated with hope, 
 were sobbing or shouting. At the steps to the pul 
 pit, kneeling penitents muttered their sins incoher 
 ently. Amens resounded, with invocations to God, 
 crude, insistent. 
 
 An accumulating magnetism in the air kept 
 drawing the people closer and closer together. Ex 
 ample bred example; contagion spread contagion. 
 A universal impulse swelled and predominated, and 
 its purpose was confession and repentance. The 
 rush of its tide was marked by the progressive loss 
 of self-control. At times, the whole congregation 
 was on its feet, with waving arms and swaying 
 bodies, as if under a possession. At times, the 
 united outcry was a roar, discordant, inhuman. 
 Then, just as spontaneously, the volume harmonized 
 and melted into some old hymn, attuned to tender 
 memories and vibrant with tears. In such an ob 
 session, timidity and reserve ceased to exert any in 
 fluence. Extravagant imitation ruled the assem 
 blage as it has ruled many another mob. 
 
 But Neil Breen remained stolid and skeptical in 
 a rear pew. Indeed, disgust began to succeed won 
 der, as he heard a young girl in the aisle scream out 
 shameful self-accusations, and watched a woman at 
 the rail tear her gray hair in an agony of abasement.
 
 48 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 There was no relaxation or entertainment in all this 
 overwrought, unnatural relinquishment of the 
 sanely pleasant qualities which had bound him to 
 people, while at the same time attracting them to 
 him. It made him vaguely discontented and dis 
 pleased with the world, as he was with Mary and 
 Paul ; and he would have no more of it. 
 
 As Neil rose, about to seek the outer darkness in 
 preference to such inner light, a tall, elderly man, 
 in clerical dress, aglow with the ineffable air of al 
 ways doing the right thing at the right time, sprang 
 lightly up the pulpit steps, the presiding clergyman 
 yielding readily to him, and stretched out his hand. 
 " Peace, be still," he commanded, and the spiritual 
 tempest began to abate. Neil saw that it was the 
 Rev. Samuel Sanderson, his wife's pastor, his own 
 personal friend, who, had he been asked, he would 
 have said was a thousand miles away. With mouth 
 agape, he settled back in the pew, for once in accord 
 with the congregation in its surprise and expecta 
 tion. 
 
 His seemly appearance, his confident bearing, 
 gave Mr. Sanderson authority. As he kept his long 
 hand extended, his gaze steady and forceful, his 
 wide mouth spread into a smile, bland, reassuring, 
 certain, the neophytes crept away from the rail, the 
 exhorters lowered both voice and arm, the matrons 
 arid maids, gulping hysterically, smoothed their
 
 THE SEAL BROKEN 49 
 
 gowns and set their faces into decorum. The little 
 children lost their precocity, and nestled sleepily up 
 to their mothers. A Sabbatical calm prevailed. 
 
 " Dear friends," began the preacher, " As I, a 
 stranger in a far land, came, to-night, through di 
 vine guidance into this your Patmos, I felt that in 
 deed it was good to be here. It is by means of such 
 blessed seasons as this that the seed of the Gospel 
 fructifies, even as the tares of the world are plucked 
 out and cast into the oven to be burned. Verily, 
 your church is a city set on a hill, and its light shall 
 not be hid." 
 
 A hum of approval rose from the congregation, 
 and many a stern face relaxed into complacency. 
 Even in the higher life, molasses has its place as a 
 staple commodity. 
 
 " But," continued Mr. Sanderson,, employing 
 skilfully the oratorical device of contrast, " man at 
 best is fallible in his nature, as the sparks fly up 
 ward. In your professions and confessions, to 
 which it has been my privilege to listen, I detect one 
 grave danger, which an inner voice constrains me 
 to call to your prayerful attention. Therefore, I 
 say unto you, be not righteous overmuch. In 
 the superabundant joy of conversion, we are prone 
 to fall into the sin of selfishness. To confess is such 
 a. relief, such a cleansing and washing away of the 
 foul smudge of evil, that we seem to forget the
 
 50 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 intimate interrelations of this mundane existence, 
 and thus may become unmindful of that duty toward 
 one's neighbors which is the second great command 
 ment." 
 
 A stir of unease vibrated through the congrega 
 tion; for none are so sensitive to imputation of 
 fault as those who have just denounced themselves 
 as miserable sinners. The frowzy girl, who had 
 distinguished herself in the aisle, tossed her head 
 defiantly. 
 
 " The worldly have a saying," Mr. Sanderson 
 went on, " taken from the wisdom of ancient Rome, 
 and now established through inherent verity as a 
 legal maxim, or self-evident truth, and from this 
 saying we may derive a lesson of advantage, repu 
 diate and despise, though we do, its source and ad 
 aptation. It is to this effect : 'A man should so 
 use his own as not to injure another.' Of course, 
 in a wider, more spiritual sense, this may be con 
 strued to mean that, in seeking our own salvation, 
 we must do nothing to our neighbor's despite; and 
 here the philosophy of the heathen harmonizes with 
 the sublime teachings of our Master. 
 
 " Open confession, then, is good for the soul ; 
 yet I say unto you watch, lest it injuriously affect 
 those innocent and unoffending little ones who are 
 in your especial charge. 
 
 " Let the newly-born Christian, born again, in
 
 THE SEAL BROKEN 51 
 
 that mystical, blessed sense, cast his burdens on the 
 Lord. The Lord will surely sustain him. But, 
 when reparation for wrong-doing is impossible, 
 when shame and crime may result from the joys 
 of self-revelation, then let him hold his peace and 
 abide in silence. Self-revelation may be good; but 
 self-abnegation is often better. 
 
 " Such, dear friends, feebly expressed, imper 
 fectly stated, are the reflections that have come to 
 me with the force of a warning. They should ren 
 der us humble and vigilant, ever appreciative that 
 mortals, even while seeking immortality, are inclined 
 to err. My good father, long since gone to his ever 
 lasting reward, used to say that there was nothing 
 like a story to drive home and clinch a point; and 
 now there occurs to me an incident, an experience 
 taken from my own pastorate, so illustrative of just 
 what I have been trying to state for our mutual 
 edification, that I am constrained to relate it to you." 
 
 A sigh of relief rose from the congregation, and 
 there was a general settling back for the enjoyment 
 of a concrete instance that morsel of human 
 yeast that can leaven a batch of abstractions. That 
 the preacher, in the fulness of his heart, was about 
 to violate those principles which he had so ably laid 
 down seemed for the moment inconsistent with his 
 holy office to no one, and least of all to himself. 
 
 On the contrary, Mr. Sanderson grew more bland
 
 52 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 and expansive as he told this experience. He felt 
 that his audience must see him as he now appeared 
 to himself, the central figure, strong and sufficient, 
 in a moving picture replete with human emotions. 
 Forgotten were the mortifying strictures, the pru 
 dent resolutions, of only a few hours before. He 
 mouthed his words roundly, as if to prolong their 
 savor, self-hypnotized through his own irrepressible, 
 exhaustless enthusiasm. 
 
 " It was during an awakening of unusual power, 
 vouchsafed to my flock," he said, " that a woman, 
 still young and 'comely, though sorely stricken in 
 health, came to my study in the deepest distress. 
 Under Providence, some word of mine had pierced 
 through the armor of worldly indifference and the 
 deceitfulness of riches, and touched her conscience, 
 her heart. A sense of guilt oppressed her. The 
 past was black, the future without a ray of hope. 
 What oh, what, should she do to be saved? 
 
 " In abasement and tears, she told me her story, 
 and oh, my hearers, what a lesson there is in it, for 
 you, for me, for us all, not to think to hide our 
 secret sins from the all-seeing eye. Though appar 
 ently the happy wife of an opulent and worthy man, 
 the honored mother of two lovely and interesting 
 children, her life was a living lie. When a young 
 girl, romantic and silly, and under circumstances, I 
 admit, to a slight degree extenuating, she had
 
 THE SEAL BROKEN 53 
 
 formed a meretricious and shameful union with one 
 of the youths of her native village, who had soon 
 basely cast her aside. -Concealing these dreadful 
 facts, she had then hurriedly married her present 
 husband, though suspecting aye, knowing that 
 she bore in her bosom the fruits of her sin. This 
 child, born in wedlock, was of course accepted and 
 welcomed by the husband with all the sacred joys 
 of fatherhood ; and for years this duplicity had con 
 tinued, this imposition had been maintained as if a 
 righteous God no longer reigned in the heavens. 
 
 " But the icy touch of disease, the fear of ap 
 proaching death, broke the spell of deception, and 
 showed this woman where she stood on the 
 verge, on the brink with the things of earth fa 
 ding from her sight, with eternity yawning endlessly 
 before her. Terror-stricken, she confessed herself 
 to me as to God's representative ; nor could she feel 
 that true penance had been made until she also con 
 fessed herself, as fully, as absolutely, before men. 
 
 " I took that poor, suffering sinner by the hand ; 
 I raised her up from the mire of disgrace and de 
 spair. ' God does not require such a sacrifice of you, 
 my sister,' I said. ' He delights rather in a contrite 
 heart. The old dispensation of an eye for an eye, 
 a tooth for a tooth, has passed away. In perfect 
 forgiveness there can be no condition save that of 
 ceasing from evil and doing good. Undoubtedly,
 
 54 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 justice must be done; the right way will manifest 
 itself through prayer, never fear. But that way 
 cannot be right, which, without effecting any equi 
 table readjustment, would drive a well-meaning but 
 violent man to bloodshed, bring public shame on a 
 sensitive lad, and fatal knowledge to an imaginative 
 girl. Remember Paul's highly strung nature,' I 
 warned ; ' remember little Edith's wayward ' 
 
 In the full, headlong rush of his verbosity, the 
 Rev. Mr. Sanderson stopped short. A man had 
 emerged from the obscurity under the gallery into 
 the full glare of the central aisle. For an instant he 
 stood, his face livid and contorted, his strong hands 
 clutching the air, his shoulders pressed forward, his 
 back bowed, as if weighted with some horrible pur 
 pose. Then he rushed out into the darkness and 
 the storm. It was Neil Breen. 
 
 Mr. Sanderson, too, for a like instant, stood stiff 
 and staring, as if transfixed by the same bolt. Then 
 he raised his hands in proclamation of abject woe. 
 " Oh, the foolishness of preaching," he wailed. 
 " Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest 
 he fall. Pray, brethren, pray, that God may have 
 mercy on me, the chief of sinners ; pray, pray with 
 out ceasing that this cup may pass ! " 
 
 Hatless, his long, thin coat flying behind him like 
 useless habiliments of woe, the minister rushed 
 down the aisle and out into the darkness and the
 
 THE SEAL BROKEN 55 
 
 storm the congregation gazing after him in mute 
 amaze, as on one whom much learning had indeed 
 made mad. 
 
 Out into the darkness and the storm the minister 
 rushed, to wander blindly, indiscriminately, guided 
 only by the instincts of remorse and dread. The 
 bitter, beating rain had cleared the streets and 
 blotted out the friendly glimmers of home. Borne 
 like a leaf on the tempest, he drove along, seeking 
 the man whom his own folly had infuriated, hoping 
 to find him before greater wrong could be done. 
 
 The cold, the shiverings, the frequent collisions 
 with post and branch, the surge of his blood, re 
 sponsive to the beat of the wind, the thumpings of 
 his heart, deadening the dash of the rain, the phys 
 ical pain, so empty in comparison with enthralling 
 mental agony, all, all, were unreal to him. As if in 
 a dream he found himself inquiring at the police and 
 railway stations, in hotels and saloons, accosting the 
 weary compositors coming forth from the news 
 paper offices, and the hack-drivers and trolley-men 
 huddled about the sodden coffee-stand, learning 
 nothing anywhere, but everywhere rousing a strange . 
 apprehension which expressed itself in kindly, if 
 rough, warnings. 
 
 It was long after midnight when the Rev. Mr. 
 Sanderson asked at the desk of his hotel for the 
 key to the apartments he had engaged with such
 
 56 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 simple, joyous anticipations in the endless aeons of 
 twenty-four hours ago. The clerk looked up, genu 
 inely shocked to see his guest in such a pass. 
 
 " Bad night, Doc," he said, " to be out without 
 urnbrel or greatcut in them black flimsies of yours. 
 Better take a stiff go of quineen and juice before 
 retirin'. Nobody will be the wiser except yours 
 truly, and he'll never tell." 
 
 " My daughter, my little daughter," muttered the 
 minister thickly. " You remember I told you she 
 will join me here in the morning, brought hither by 
 the kind friends with whom she has been visiting 
 for over a year? Will you see that she is taken 
 properly to the room I have secured for her, next 
 to mine ; for I may slumber late I am weary, oh, 
 so weary." As if still groping in the dark for what 
 he could not find, he swayed heavily up the stairs. 
 
 The night-porter, with a keen glance after him, 
 turned to the clerk, tapping his forehead signifi 
 cantly. 
 
 ' Yes," agreed that functionary, " our good 
 brother is a little off the key in his upper register." 
 
 Somehow, despite the thickening clouds about 
 him, the voices calling, he knew not whither, that 
 so distracted his purpose, Mr. Sanderson entered his 
 room, lighted the gas, and, taking a fountain-pen 
 and paper from his satchel, seated himself at the 
 table and began to write, slowly, painfully, now and
 
 THE SEAL BROKEN 57 
 
 again looking around as if uncertain of his own 
 identity or of what he had in mind to do. 
 
 Though the physical pain was gone, and his drip 
 ping garments no longer chilled his blood, increas 
 ing weakness oppressed him. His head sunk down 
 on his hands ; his trembling fingers shirked their 
 task. To steady himself the better, he took an old 
 book from the shelf a treasure discovered and 
 purchased the previous day during a delightful 
 search through the shops and, settling back in a 
 great arm-chair, used the open pages as a desk. 
 Ah, that was better; the support would surely en 
 able him to finish. And then, then, he might rest 
 until the bright sun returned bringing with it the 
 brighter face of his dear daughter Constance. 
 
 Slowly, painfully, the lines were penned, vastly 
 different in expression and writing from those clear 
 and neat discourses in which he had taken such hon 
 est pride during the long years of his labors in the 
 vineyard. At length the trembling fingers ceased 
 to move, the head plunged forward, and then leaned 
 back, the pen rolled away to an unheeded corner, 
 the book fell shut on the floor, the white lips mur 
 mured " Of whom I am the chief; " and all was 
 still. The thickening clouds had dissipated, the 
 mystic voices were hushed; so, too, the faults of a 
 good man had disappeared forever, and only his 
 virtues endured.
 
 58 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 The storm vanished with the night. The bright 
 sun advanced in all the exultation of vital power, 
 and brighter, more expectant still, was the face of 
 Constance Sanderson as her friends brought her to 
 the hotel. 
 
 " Hain't been a peep out o' him, Miss," said the 
 porter, as he led the way upstairs ; " but you kin 
 rap on the side-door of your room, and he'll be a 
 hearin' of you fast enough. Lord, but he was full 
 of the talk of your tomin', last night ! " 
 
 " And well he might, too," continued the porter 
 confidentially to the clerk, on his return to the 
 office. " There's nothin' leery about that slip of a 
 girl at all ewents. She's all there, with bot' feet, 
 and the right stuff, too, smilin' cheery and givin' 
 the good word, as if to an old friend. It's pretty 
 she is, though more like a sinsible human than a 
 doll ; with her great brown eyes lookin' so brave 
 and true at yer, and her thick brown hair a hangin' 
 down her back, as if she was a good mother to 
 herself. No wonder the gospel-sharp was hot in 
 the neck over seein' her; I'd hev' been so/ meself, 
 belike." 
 
 Constance rapped, and then rapped again; joy 
 ously, mischievously, delighted to have caught her 
 father napping. But, when only silence responded 
 -that intelligent, brooding silence, that knows so 
 much and would withhold its knowledge through
 
 THE SEAL BROKEN 59 
 
 pity, her rappings grew feverishly insistent. She 
 twisted and turned the knob; she shook the door, 
 and it gave way before the impetus of her fears. 
 She darted into the shadowy room. 
 
 The next moment, the very ghost of her former 
 blitheness, she shot down the stairs to where her 
 friends were awaiting a pleasant greeting on the 
 porch. " He is dead, father is dead," she moaned; 
 " and I am left alone and comfortless." 
 
 But, after the first shock had dissipated itself in 
 merciful grief, the stout young heart of the girl, 
 already trained by responsibilities, reasserted its 
 sway. The look on the dead man's face also con 
 soled her. He had been so weary; he had found 
 rest. Why should she mourn when a peace that 
 passed all understanding, but not all belief, so mani 
 festly abided with him? 
 
 Truly, it was pitiful that he should have died 
 alone, yet sweet and assuaging to know that death 
 had come, not as a thief in the night, but rather as 
 the friend who creeps up behind and closes the book 
 when one has read over-late and is in need of 
 sleep. 
 
 He had always found comfort in reading, and 
 reading had comforted his last moments. The cus 
 tomary image of him formed in Constance's mind 
 by a succession of childish impressions showed him 
 in his great arm-chair gravely studying the open
 
 60 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 page. Only when life's task had finished, did the 
 book fall from his grasp. 
 
 So the child tranquillized her heart; so she deter 
 mined to face her little unknown as calmly as her 
 father had faced his great unknown. The thought 
 of what he would have her do was always with her ; 
 and, as she started on a new and eventful stage of 
 her journey, tucked away with her most precious 
 possessions was the book that he had been reading, 
 folded in the softest tissue-paper and tied with 
 black ribbon, reserved and set apart as a holy relic.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 NEIL BREEN'S WILL 
 
 MARY BREEN was preparing for rest. The chil 
 dren were abed and asleep. In her own room, the 
 night-lamp was burning dimly by the bed, with 
 snowy coverings turned back. There was peace, 
 there was refinement in the very air a neatness, a 
 simplicity, almost virginal. Something of this same 
 modest grace attended Mary in her final prepara 
 tions. Her hair hung about her like an aureole ; her 
 robe clung to her like a vestment. In her melan 
 choly pose, the exalted lift of her head, as she now 
 and again paused, absorbed by a reverie that re 
 curred against her will, there was the abnegation 
 and surrender of a martyr, awaiting a doom already 
 pronounced. 
 
 In the last few days, Mary's spirit had thus been 
 frequently oppressed. She had not heard from 
 Neil since his departure, though usually his pen was 
 as garrulous as his tongue. The time set for his 
 return had already elapsed, though it would have 
 been like him to surprise her by anticipating it. 
 
 61
 
 62 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 During his absence she had been very ill, and she 
 realized that the end was not far off. Stains of 
 blood had appeared on her handkerchief, recalling 
 how terrified she had been as a child when her 
 mother had lain back, pale and gasping, with that 
 same dry cough racking her breast, and those same 
 fatal signs thickening on her lips. 
 
 That gentle mother, taken from her so long ago, 
 when she had most needed her ministrations, and 
 almost forgotten in that struggle for protection and 
 safety that had been her life, once more seemed 
 close to her. She heard her feeble step, and the 
 sweep of her clothing; she even felt her hand on 
 her brow, soothing her, preparing her, for what? 
 " Ah, well," sighed Mary, as she composed herself 
 for the night, " only a little while, perhaps but a 
 few hours, and all these things will fade away." 
 
 A man was plodding heavily over the road leading 
 to Gloriosa. The waning light of evening, while 
 it obscured, yet to a degree accentuated with its 
 shadows the squalor, the vice, the evil and violent 
 passions accompanying him as a retinue. A soft 
 hat was pulled low over his roughly bearded face. 
 His clothing was dirty and disordered. The smell 
 of tobacco and alcohol permeated the air about 
 him. He muttered to himself broken expressions 
 of disgust and hatred.
 
 NEIL BREEN'S WILL 63 
 
 This was no belated wayfarer; this, no light- 
 hearted tramp. Either he was one habituated to 
 crime, pressing consistently over an often-trod way, 
 or, likelier still, he was one who, having degen 
 erated and retrograded, was now resolutely aban 
 doning the good of later years for the bad of youth, 
 and finding this latter state even worse than the 
 first. 
 
 A little lad, sent from home on an errand to a 
 neighboring house, darted across his path, only to 
 be grasped and halted by a great, resistless hand. 
 
 " What's your name ? " growled the man. 
 
 " Pau Paul, if you please, sir," faltered the 
 child. 
 
 " Then take that for a misbegotten brat ! " And 
 the man, as if maddened by the chance associations 
 of the name, spurned him with a heavy buffet. 
 
 The little lad ran home to soothe his heart and 
 hurt in his mother's lap. The night descended, close 
 and black, blotting out the twilight and hiding the 
 stars. So, too, without a ray of kindliness to miti 
 gate the dull rage possessing him, did Neil Breen 
 keep plodding his dogged way to Gloriosa. 
 
 It was late when Neil Breen reached the house, 
 and, at another time, he would have been startled 
 to see it lit so brightly; but, to-night, this unusual 
 sight, if noticed at all, made no impression on him 
 as he stumbled up the steps. Before he reached the
 
 64 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 door, it was opened by a weeping maid, who started 
 back in fright as she saw the wild-eyed man before 
 her. In a moment she recognized the master and, 
 hiding her fear at his appearance, whispered to him 
 between sobs : 
 
 " Thank God you have come, sir. The mistress is 
 dying ; the doctor says there is no hope for her 
 she has asked for you, sir." 
 
 For a full minute Neil Breen stood motionless 
 and stared at the girl. Gradually the look of brutal 
 passion, of drunken fury, faded from his face and 
 was succeeded by an expression of sorrow and 
 anguish. Forgotten was that fell purpose cherished 
 throughout the long journey he only remembered 
 the wife who, whatever her early sin, had loved him 
 and had been true to him; the wife whom he had 
 loved, and still loved. 
 
 He staggered up the stairs, entered the room and 
 approached the bed where his wife was lying, pale 
 and motionless. 
 
 As if she knew who was beside her she opened 
 her eyes and gazed weakly at him. She noted his 
 disordered clothes, his unshaven face, his blood-shot 
 eyes, and instantly the truth came to the dying 
 woman. 
 
 " I know what you have found out, Neil," she 
 whispered ; " you need not tell me. I know how 
 you are suffering; but do you think I have not
 
 NEIL BREEN'S WILL 65 
 
 suffered for years as you are suffering now, poor 
 dear?" 
 
 With a groan her husband flung himself down 
 beside the bed, and buried his face in the clothes, 
 while great sobs shook his frame. Mary reached 
 out a weak hand and placed it on his bowed head. 
 
 " I do not ask your forgiveness, dear, for all 
 these years I have loved you, and I know you will 
 forgive me. Besides, dear, I am dying, but there 
 are worse things than dying, Neil; the harder part 
 remains for you. You are going to make straight 
 the crooked places. You are going to be the 
 good, brave man you've always been to me 
 always, I say taking care of the motherless chil 
 dren, Edith and Paul " 
 
 "Paul!" 
 
 "Would you harm the innocent? Ah, Neil, I 
 can see now, when it's too late, how I've failed in 
 my duty to that poor boy. It was my love for you 
 that made me prefer our own, our really own child, 
 and, now, in remembrance of that love you must 
 make it up to him. Never, never promise me 
 shall he know his mother's sin, his own blight 
 and disgrace. You do promise me, don't you, 
 Neil?" 
 
 " I do," answered Neil, thickly. " But the man, 
 the man ? " 
 
 " The man, Neil, passed out of my life, the little
 
 66 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 life that now only holds those whom I love and 
 would guard even from themselves, and, pray God, 
 he shall never come within it again. You will never 
 know his name." 
 
 "And his brat must be the same as my son?" 
 " There is the sting; I know it, but I ask it of 
 your love for me, for the wife who loved you 
 and is dying. Shield him from humiliation, bring 
 him up properly, teach him to honor his mother's 
 name, prepare him for life. It's not the money, oh, 
 no; settle that part as you will; there's many a 
 young man ruined by too much of it. Did it ever 
 buy me happiness, Neil? And now, put your arms 
 closer around me, and try to pray for us both. My 
 heart, my breath, are going out of me dear God, 
 grant peace forgiveness rest." 
 
 The golden radiance streamed through the half- 
 drawn curtain, sending a chill to the heart of the 
 man, but caressing and blessing the dying woman. 
 It brought to her the message for which she had 
 cried, and again she strove to stretch out her poor 
 arms in welcome. What did she see in those mystic 
 rays reflected from the limitless bounds of the 
 unknown? What did she hear in the magic har 
 monies of their silent flight through space? When 
 a low-lying cloud presently shut them off from 
 earth, Mary Breen was gone with them; but she 
 left a smile behind her.
 
 NEIL BREEN'S WILL 67 
 
 Neil Breen met his bereavement, as he had met 
 other serious and sad matters of life, in an impul 
 sive, irrational, and extravagant way. The funeral 
 was the talk of the town ; and, when his plans for a 
 " mortuary chapel " became known, local pride 
 spread his name and fame far and wide. Much 
 was written about his personality and history, the 
 immense fortune he had accumulated, the poignancy 
 of his grief, and the priceless works of art that 
 would fittingly enshrine his wife's remains and 
 immortalize her memory. 
 
 It happened, one day, that some such account 
 caught the notice of a stranger in town from the 
 East, an elderly man, prosperous and dignified, yet 
 with a responsive twinkle in his eye. " Can that be 
 my bold Neil? " he mused. " Sure, 'tis as near to 
 him as two peas. There's nothing like the luck of a 
 lousy calf, as they used to say. I'll go and see 
 at all events." 
 
 An hour later, the two brothers, after a separation 
 of half a lifetime, were seated together in the library 
 at Neil's home. 
 
 Philip Breen gave a very good report of himself. 
 He was a merchant of recognized wealth and stand 
 ing in Hamlin. He had a fine house on the banks 
 of the river, a few miles from town, where he lived 
 with his wife and their son Adolph. He had had 
 his ups and downs, but had come out from them all
 
 68 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 the more prosperous. Life was a game to be sure; 
 but, if a man kept his nerves and wits, he was 
 certain to win. " You don't look much like a 
 winner yourself, Neil," he added, " for all the big 
 talk. What's wearing on you, man ? " 
 
 " I'm fagged out," replied Neil, wearily, " and 
 feel that I should get about setting my house in 
 order for the last time." 
 
 " Nonsense, you're too young a man, from too 
 vigorous a stock, to think of dying." 
 
 " It isn't thinking so much of dying as so little 
 of living." 
 
 " But do you mean to imply," asked Philip, his 
 business instincts rising, " that you haven't already 
 taken the ordinary precaution of making a will?" 
 
 " It's got to be thought out first," replied Neil 
 stolidly, " before it is written." 
 
 " There shouldn't be any difficulty about that," 
 Philip went on briskly, " you having only the two 
 children, and your affairs in the first-class shape 
 you've been telling me. Of course, I don't know 
 what you are mulling over in your mind, and I 
 don't want to know, since it's no business of mine. 
 It's half indigestion, I'll warrant, anyway. But 
 don't you put yourself in the hands of any cheap, 
 local pettifogger. The only kind of advice worth 
 buying is that which commands the highest price in 
 the judgment of the commercial world. Now, I'll
 
 NEIL BREEN'S WILL 69 
 
 tell you what I will do. My lawyer is coming west 
 presently on this same little matter of mine, and I'll 
 have him stop off and have a talk with you. Take 
 him all in all, he's about the best the market affords. 
 His name is John Strain." 
 
 " John Strain ? " repeated Neil, curiously. " It 
 seems to me that I have heard or read something -of 
 him, though I don't know what or where. Tell me 
 about him." 
 
 " He's after our sort, Neil ; sprung from the soil, 
 and making his way with his hands and his brains. 
 True, he married well; but it took a man of reso 
 lution to do that ha, ha when you think of the 
 wife he chose. But you can't buy learning, industry, 
 faithfulness, grit; the dread of other lawyers, the 
 respect of the judges; and these are the things he's 
 been piling up gradually year after year. He's a 
 fighter, is John Strain; with the strength and grip 
 of a bulldog. Once he tackles a case, he never lets 
 go. Honest and fearless Lord, how he has had 
 the ring of corruptionists, who have been looting our 
 city for years, on their ham-bones before him. 
 'What's the least you'll do to us?' they implored. 
 * The full extent,' he answered, and they got it, 
 too. It may take time everything that John 
 Strain does must take time, he's so thorough, so 
 complete but in the end I believe he'll change the 
 political complexion of our county Oleida County,
 
 70 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 you know and then he can have any place he 
 wants in the gift of the people. What a district 
 attorney he would make; what a district attorney 
 he would make! 
 
 " But all that is neither here nor there," continued 
 Philip; " the point I want to make is that here is a 
 bang-up lawyer, at your disposal in your house- 
 cleaning, without costing you a cent either. It will 
 all come out of the general retainer I give him 
 now what do you say? " 
 
 " No," answered Neil, doggedly; " there are some 
 things that must be thought out alone, no matter 
 how good the man may be that is offering advice. 
 I'll go to no local pettifogger, never fear. When I 
 know just what I want to do, then I'll set about it in 
 my own w-ay. It may be a clumsy one, belike, but 
 it gets there all right, I notice, for all that. So, 
 drop it, Philip. Perhaps, after all, you may have 
 the chance some day of fixing over my affairs with 
 your friend Strain, but not now, not now." 
 
 The brothers parted with that indifferent affec 
 tion to which absence has no significance, and they 
 never met again. Neil gathered together the frag 
 ments of what remained after the one great cata 
 clysm of his life, and tried to make the best of them. 
 The children were brought up in comfort, and 
 furnished proper instruction, but he saw little of 
 them. Each in a way was painful to him; Paul
 
 NEIL BREEN'S WILL 71 
 
 through what he was not, and Edith through what 
 she was. He, therefore, kept much by himself, and 
 the habit grew with the years until he became a 
 moody recluse, existing mechanically. Thinking 
 little of dying, but less of living, his health gradually 
 gave way; for cherished purpose of some sort is 
 the surest guard against mortality. 
 
 And so, at length, he died; and Philip Breen did 
 have the chance of fixing up his brother's affairs 
 with his friend Strain. After the funeral, he found 
 the will in an envelope addressed to him. It was a 
 holograph, clumsy and crude, embodying Neil's 
 prejudices, affected, so far as they could be affected, 
 by the promises he had made to Mary on her 
 death-bed. 
 
 The will started with a long, rambling dissertation 
 on the disadvantages and dangers of wealth to a 
 young man. It then branched off into a laborious 
 argument showing that property of every sort 
 should descend preferably in the female line. 
 Coming down to particulars, it discussed the char 
 acteristics of the two children, maintaining that 
 Edith's wild, undisciplined nature should be fortified 
 and protected by all the safeguards that money can 
 command, including " the pick of the world for a 
 husband ; " and that Paul's abilities might bring 
 fame to himself, and benefit to mankind, if only 
 developed under the incentives of need and hope.
 
 72 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Having laid down these premises, the will pro 
 vided as follows : 
 
 The sum of fifty thousand dollars was bequeathed 
 to Paul on reaching the age of forty, on the condi 
 tion that he had, at that time, an established fame 
 as a benefactor of the human race. 
 
 Subject to this contingent bequest, the entire 
 estate was left absolutely to Edith, on marrying or 
 reaching her majority. 
 
 In case of Edith's death, while unmarried and a 
 minor, and in that case only, Paul inherited the 
 property. 
 
 Evidently Mary's dying words had been potential 
 with her husband. She, herself, in her anxiety to 
 save Paul from repudiation and disgrace, had laid 
 the foundation for this discrimination by saying 
 that it was not the money she was worrying about, 
 and that it had proved the ruin of many a young 
 man. When to this suggested compromise were 
 added Neil's own private thoughts regarding the 
 children, the result arrived at was not surprising. 
 
 Clumsy and crude as this disposition was, it 
 showed that tendency to arrive which its maker had 
 predicted. What was there to be said against it? 
 It was simple, direct, certain, made by the testator 
 with his own hand, when undoubtedly of sound 
 mind and memory. True, it discriminated against 
 Paul ; but the motives for such discrimination were
 
 NEIL BREEN'S WILL 73 
 
 founded in solicitude and love, and appealed to the 
 best judgment of many men. Philip Breen, who 
 was named as executor and guardian of the children, 
 sputtered somewhat over what he was going to do 
 to rectify Neil's dyspeptic mullings; but, in the end, 
 entered into his trust. Under the skilful manage 
 ment of John Strain, probate was had, active busi 
 ness was settled, scattered assets collected, and the 
 great fortune finally invested in the proper securi 
 ties, to be held in trust until either Edith should 
 take it, subject to the conditional bequest, on marry 
 ing or coming of age, or Paul should take it 
 through Edith's death, during minority and while 
 single. 
 
 Paul and Edith went to live with Philip Breen 
 at his river-side home near Hamlin. To the strange 
 incompatibility which had always separated them, 
 over which Mary had grieved and Neil had delib 
 erated, the fact now was added, ominous at least to 
 the curious, the interested and the suspicious, that 
 the great prosperity of the one was inevitably 
 conditioned on the grave misfortune of the other. 
 And not yet, as Mary had fondly hoped, was the 
 tragedy ended in peace.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE THREE CHILDREN 
 
 PHILIP BREEN was enough like his brother to be 
 lieve that variety in the nature of children is desir 
 able, and he had no reason to complain of any uni 
 formity among the three that fate had gathered in 
 his big house on the Hamlin River. 
 
 " It's well I have plenty of room for them," he 
 remarked to his wife, " or they'd be like cats in a 
 bag. There's Edith, now, who wants to know 
 everybody's affairs, and yet can't keep still long 
 enough to make sure of anything for fear she'll 
 miss something else. Edith? Neil, poor fellow, 
 should have named her Will-o'-the-Wisp. As for 
 Paul, he'd do well for a milestone or a surveyors' 
 bench-mark. Give him some of his scientific con 
 traptions, and you're sure to find him where you left 
 him, providing that plague of the world, Edith, 
 hasn't driven him into his burrow. You mark my 
 words, Paul will amount to something in the world, 
 either bad or good. What he says which is little 
 enough, I'll allow is always worth hearing. He's 
 
 74
 
 THE THREE CHILDREN 75 
 
 bound to help or hinder, I don't say which. Didn't 
 he ask you to let him have the use of that room in 
 the north attic ? " 
 
 " I believe he did," answered Mrs. Breen, slowly. 
 She never wasted energy in either useless words or 
 aimless actions. This quietness was what had at 
 tracted her husband. He had enterprise where his 
 brother Neil had had restlessness ; but he had shown 
 wisdom in choosing his opposite for his wife. 
 While he was discussing the characters of the young 
 people, she was reading the morning paper, for they 
 were at breakfast. 
 
 " What did he want it for?" Philip inquired. 
 
 " A work-room," she replied, after she had fin 
 ished a paragraph. 
 
 " Let him have it, then. He resembles his father 
 in one respect, at least, he likes to mull. Have a 
 good lock put on the door, and he can have one 
 refuge for himself and his traps." 
 
 " Adolph wanted it, too," said Mrs. Breen. 
 
 " No matter," Philip insisted, " give it to . Paul. 
 Adolph will get all that's coming to him and a little 
 more, maybe. I'm not so sure that he didn't want 
 it only because he knew that Paul was after it. 
 Those two don't get along together any too well, 
 and, though Adolph is my own son, I'm bound to 
 look after Paul as if he- were my own. Owing to 
 that cranky will of Neil's he's got to make a way
 
 76 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 for himself in the world, so he ought to have free 
 swing. Luckily there is income enough to give 
 him the best education and something over. By the 
 way, can it be that he has some idea in his mind 
 about winning that fifty thousand dollars? Forty 
 years of age to most lads seems just this side of 
 death. But you're not listening, Gertrude?" 
 
 " I've heard all you said," she replied, rising. 
 " Paul shall have the room. I'll have it cleared out 
 for him. It will be a good thing to confine all his 
 messes to one place. But now I must attend to 
 my housekeeping." 
 
 Different as Paul and Edith were in most re 
 spects, they were alike in their impressions of their 
 cousin Adolph. Though he was good-looking, of 
 pleasant address, intelligent, and never out of 
 'temper, he made them both uneasy in his presence 
 and doubtful of his sincerity. Edith was always 
 attempting to irritate Adolph into some misbe 
 havior, but never succeeded. He never resented her 
 open hostility, nor replied to her fierce tirades ; but 
 she soon learned that he could not be attacked with 
 impunity. His retaliations were always effective, 
 but never confessed. If she flung one of his books 
 into the river, she soon after missed a favorite doll. 
 She would then run to her aunt and lodge informa 
 tion against Adolph, only to find herself helpless 
 for lack of proof. He would deny all knowledge
 
 THE THREE CHILDREN 77 
 
 of the loss, and this with a calm, though sorrowful 
 indifference that imposed upon every one. Once, 
 carried away by her rage, she struck him; where 
 upon he tripped her up and threw her heavily to the 
 ground, and then walked slowly away with un 
 ruffled dignity,' 
 
 Paul also |6und his cousin not at all desirable as 
 a companion. The two never quarrelled, but there 
 was a latent animosity between them. Adolph was 
 a hard student, and easily excelled Paul in all studies 
 except mathematics, for which the latter had un 
 usual aptitude and a strong taste. But Adolph's 
 supremacy gave him no pleasure since Paul was 
 absolutely unmoved by it. He used to taunt Paul 
 with wasting his time, interjecting many an adroit 
 and veiled reference to the fifty thousand dollars 
 worth of- fame that might be his ; but Paul would 
 listen as if thinking of something else. When they 
 went to college there was the same relation between 
 them. Paul became popular, but refused to be made 
 prominent. Adolph achieved prominence by sheer 
 ability, and could fix upon no cause for an unpopu 
 larity which he deeply regretted, and for which he 
 secretly blamed Paul. 
 
 After graduation they both entered the profes 
 sional schools in New Chester, from which, in due 
 course, they returned home, Adolph with a degree 
 of LL. B., summa cum laude, and Paul, with a
 
 78 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 hardly-won sheepskin, dubbing him M. D., to which 
 he attached apparently not the slightest importance. 
 
 Philip Breen called the young men into the 
 library, one evening, and (shutting out Edith, who 
 protested in vain against her exclusion) bade them 
 sit down, for he wished to talk over their future. 
 
 When they were settled, Philip Breen took his 
 place in a particularly large and impressive, stuffed 
 leather chair his favorite throne when acting the 
 part of an official paterfamilias and began what 
 sounded like a previously prepared address. 
 
 " You are now," he said, " upon the threshold of 
 your practical life, and for the first time are called 
 upon to make a distinctive and definite choice of a 
 career." 
 
 Adolph, at this point, interrupted him. " Say, 
 father," he asked drawlingly, " I don't like to cut 
 you off, but haven't you made a slight mistake ? " 
 
 Philip looked annoyed and then puzzled. " Mis 
 take? How do you mean?" he inquired. 
 
 " You're about two years late with your speech, 
 sir. It sounds something like the beginning of a 
 baccalaureate sermon. Our toes would get cold on 
 the threshold all this time." 
 
 " Adolph," said Paul, " let's hear what your 
 father has to say. You know what he means well 
 enough. We're both just out of school. What's 
 the use of interrupting him ? "
 
 THE THREE CHILDREN 79 
 
 " Oh, I don't mind," Adolph answered, lighting 
 a cigarette, " only, after spending six years in get 
 ting ready to practise law, it does jar one a little to 
 be advised about choosing a career." 
 
 " There's more than a degree in being a lawyer," 
 said Mr. Breen, " and there's many an LL. B. to 
 whom the practice of the law is a howling wilder 
 ness. ^As you get older and wiser, Adolph, you may 
 have more respect for your father's opinion. But 
 we are wasting time. So with your kind permission, 
 my son " 
 
 " I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said Adolph, 
 easily. " I'm all attention. There's nothing like 
 being told what to do after you have done it." 
 
 " You both have now reached the point where 
 you must choose your life-work, and and I want 
 to know your decision," resumed Philip Breen, 
 evidently abandoning his oration in despair. " You, 
 first, Adolph ; since you are so cocksure." 
 
 " I should have no hesitation in saying that I 
 mean to acquire a practice as soon as possible," 
 Adolph answered. " It suits my tastes and purposes 
 in life, so far as I feel justified in having such 
 things " 
 
 " So I have judged," interrupted his father, 
 " and on that opinion I have already acted. I don't 
 know a better man for you to begin with than John 
 Strain. He was my attorney in the canal-contract
 
 80 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 case, and has had a general retainer from me ever 
 since. I wrote him a week ago, asking whether he 
 could make room for you in his office, and here is 
 his answer." He tossed the letter on the table. 
 Adolph read it aloud. 
 
 JOHN STRAIN, 
 COUNSELOR AT LAW. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. BREEN : * 
 
 " You ask me to grant as a favor what I shall 
 deem it a privilege to accept. Your son's record at 
 the law-school augurs well for his future. I shall 
 be very glad to talk with him as to making the final 
 arrangements for receiving him in my office. Ask 
 him to call soon, at about two o'clock. 
 
 " Your very humble and obedient servant, 
 
 "JOHN STRAIN. 
 
 " MR. PHILIP BREEN." 
 
 Adolph's eyes sparkled. " I'd rather be in Strain's 
 office than in any in the city," he exclaimed ; " you 
 did a good job there, father." 
 
 " Well, it takes you off the threshold, at all 
 events. And now, Paul, I wish you were as easily 
 started." 
 
 " I wish I were," agreed Paul, smiling affec 
 tionately at his uncle. " But I'm afraid you can't 
 give me either of the things I most need." 
 
 " Let's hear what they are," answered Mr. Breen.
 
 THE THREE CHILDREN 81 
 
 " For though my brother, for reasons best known to 
 himself, has practically cut you out of your inherit 
 ance, I, thank the Lord, have enough for you. I 
 don't agree with his ideas, and I don't feel bound 
 by them. Neil and I always had our differences, 
 when we were most together, rest his soul; so, what 
 else could be expected, after he had turned himself 
 into a permit ? Let me know, then, what you mean 
 to do, and we'll see whether I can't give you a 
 helping hand." 
 
 " No doubt my father thought he was right," 
 said Paul. " I was a quiet, thoughtful child, and he 
 had an exaggerated idea of my natural ability. I am 
 sure he was convinced that the course he pursued 
 was the one to develop it. I don't care about the 
 money " 
 
 " We none of us do," murmured Adolph. 
 
 " But I do hope to do something for the sake of 
 his pride in me," continued Paul, with heightened 
 color. 
 
 " Then let me hear what you want," said Philip 
 impatiently. " Come, speak out." 
 
 " I will," Paul answered, seriously enough. " I 
 need two things more time and more brains." 
 
 " Two trifles that have tripped up many another 
 would-be benefactor of his kind," soliloquized 
 Adolph. 
 
 Philip Breen looked disappointed. He had always
 
 82 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 resented Paul's silence about his chief interests. 
 He believed that he had certain projects which he 
 would declare at the right season, and he had hoped 
 that his offer of assistance would be met with 
 frankness. So now he sat in silence for a moment 
 or two. 
 
 " You're a queer lad," at length he said ; " there's 
 little of the Breens in you, and that's not to be 
 gainsaid. I can't do much for you, I'm afraid. So 
 far as brains go, I think you have your share, my 
 boy. And as for time, why, if you really have your 
 father's bequest in mind, there's nearly seventeen 
 years ahead of you. But, it may be you speak in 
 parables. ' Time is money,' they say. So I'll do my 
 best to solve your riddle, Paul. You may have a 
 home here, and welcome, till you choose to go else 
 where. I can't pay you any more of the income 
 from the estate; the accumulations are about 
 exhausted. But perhaps this can help you out a 
 bit." So saying, he drew his check-book from the 
 drawer of the table, filled out a check for one 
 thousand dollars, and handed it over. " There, buy 
 glass retorts and chemicals with it, or what you 
 like, till you need more, my boy," he continued. 
 " Keep your own counsel, too, 'tis every man's 
 privilege ; but remember you've a place in your 
 uncle's heart as well as in his home so long as you 
 care to keep both."
 
 THE THREE CHILDREN 83 
 
 " I have a plan of my own," Paul said, moved by 
 his uncle's generosity of word and deed, " but truly 
 it is not the time to talk of it yet. You may be sure 
 no one will know about it before yourself, Uncle 
 Philip." 
 
 " Unless Edith gets a key to your den of mys 
 teries," suggested Adolph. " She's a regular Blue 
 beard's wife about that room of yours." 
 
 " There is nothing there which concerns her in 
 any way, or any one else, either," Paul replied, 
 somewhat fiercely. " I've expressly forbidden her 
 to come into it." 
 
 " We'll have a search-warrant out some day," 
 Adolph went on, " unless we have first to issue a 
 writ de lunatico to stop your practice of the Black 
 Art. Come, Paul, why don't you chuck all that 
 into the river, and get down to the practical hard- 
 pan, the same as I have to do? You know it's all a 
 pretence." 
 
 Paul made no reply, and, as just then Philip 
 Breen rose, all three returned to the parlor. As 
 they entered, Edith exclaimed : 
 
 " You needn't think you monopolize all the family 
 councils. Aunt Gertrude and I have been holding 
 one for ourselves, and I have a piece of news for 
 you. One that will delight you both Uncle Philip 
 knows it already." 
 
 " Well," said Adolph, picking up a magazine
 
 84 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 and turning over the leaves, " break it to us 
 gently." 
 
 " I'm going to boarding-school." 
 " Good idea. Only you won't stay." 
 " Where do you go? " Paul asked, " and when? " 
 " To the Cedars," said Edith ; " and I start next 
 week." And, while Adolph read and Paul's 
 thoughts were plainly enough elsewhere, she rattled 
 on, giving full particulars about the school, the 
 grounds, the girls and everything else she knew on 
 the subject, until bedtime silenced her. 
 
 Adolph Breen entered upon the busy and labo 
 rious work of a young attorney, and was soon, as he 
 deserved, high in favor with the able lawyer, John 
 Strain. He attracted his chiefs attention not more 
 by his diligence than by his ability, while methods 
 of detail which might not have met with approval 
 escaped notice in the engrossment of larger affairs. 
 Every mature man of unusual powers needs a 
 younger executive, and, in Adolph, John Strain had 
 found a second self, quick to comprehend, fertile in 
 resource, painstaking and unwearied in carrying out 
 whatever was entrusted to him. 
 
 One day, when Adolph had succeeded by a bril 
 liant manoeuvre in collecting what was thought a 
 hopeless judgment, Strain not only gave him due 
 meed of praise, but invited him to a dinner given 
 in his honor.
 
 I 
 THE THREE CHILDREN 85 
 
 Adolph thought the formal dinner rather a bore, 
 but it proved to have an interest for him far 
 exceeding that of any event of his life. He met, 
 that evening, three surprises. 
 
 On his arrival, Mrs. Strain called him to one 
 side. " Where was he? " she whispered, her white, 
 pinched face twitching with nervous excitement. 
 " Where was he last night ; what made him so 
 late?" 
 
 " It was nothing, my dear madam, I assure you," 
 answered Adolph with a solicitous air, " nothing 
 except an important conference with the Attorney 
 General, which detained us both, until all hours, at 
 the office." 
 
 Abigail Alice's lean face softened, and she put 
 out her hand. 
 
 " You will always tell me ? " she murmured. 
 " That's right ; I'm grateful, I am your friend. 
 You will see what I have done for you before the 
 evening is over." 
 
 Adolph, in his frequent meetings with Mrs. 
 Strain, had always answered her jealous inquiries 
 courteously and confidentially, but without any 
 reflection save a passing sense of amused pity. 
 Now, he was surprised by the fervor of jealous 
 passion possessing her, and resolved that he would 
 make of it an ally for his own advancement. 
 
 Then, this evening, for the first time, he met
 
 86 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Constance Sanderson, Mrs. Strain's new companion, 
 and began to realize the meaning of the phrase 
 " falling in love." He learned subsequently that 
 she was from the west, the daughter of a minister 
 who had died suddenly, leaving her a mere pittance ; 
 that John Strain had been so much impressed with 
 her, while she was acting as an instructor at a 
 Seminary of which he was a trustee, that he had 
 ventured to suggest her employment to his wife, 
 when she had complained of the loneliness of her 
 life ; and that, most unexpectedly, this exacting lady 
 had not only adopted the advice, but, thus far, had 
 got along amicably with this new member of the 
 family circle a fact which to Adolph's judgment 
 spoke volumes in favor of Constance's tact and 
 forbearance. 
 
 Constance was daintily made, had rippling chest 
 nut hair, beautiful dark eyes, and a bewitching little 
 laugh. Adolph caught himself gazing intently at 
 her whenever she was in sight, to the detriment of 
 the easy self-possession which was his secret pride. 
 He had never before been especially interested in a 
 woman. But now, but now well, this was the 
 second surprise in his series. The third came from 
 Mr. Strain. 
 
 After dinner, Mrs. Strain and Constance left the 
 gentlemen to their coffee and cigars, and Strain 
 flatly made Adolph an offer of a partnership. " We
 
 THE THREE CHILDREN 87 
 
 are lawyers," he said, " and needn't beat about the 
 bush. You are the ablest assistant I have ever had 
 in my office. I have confidence in your future, and 
 the time to help you is now. Now, on my part, I 
 have political ambitions. I need a keen, trustworthy, 
 able young fellow who will devote himself abso 
 lutely to my interests, with the feeling that he is 
 thereby advancing his own. Your father can aid 
 me he controls a large district. What do you 
 say?" 
 
 " I say," answered Adolph, " that it suits me 
 perfectly. Of course, what you want is the office of 
 District Attorney and to-morrow I shall begin to 
 hustle for you." 
 
 They shook hands. " I'll have the papers drawn 
 at once," said Strain. " Now, shall we join the 
 ladies ? " And Adolph eagerly followed, lured 
 by the unconscious magic of Constance's bright 
 eyes. 
 
 While Adolph was thus becoming engrossed in 
 love, politics and business, Edith, too, had her 
 experiences. She went to her boarding-school, was 
 happy there for a month, was restless the next 
 month, and, after a number of escapades, was disci 
 plined. The following week, she packed her clothing 
 into a satchel, dropped out of a window by means 
 of two knotted sheets, and appeared, next morning, 
 at her uncle's house. She refused to return to
 
 88 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 school, and thereby forestalled the principal's refusal 
 to receive her again among the lambs of her fold. 
 
 " I regret to say," this functionary wrote, " that 
 Miss Breen's example has left a deleterious effect 
 upon a number of the other girls. She is so im 
 patient of all restraint that I must, in justice to 
 myself and to those for whose welfare I am respon 
 sible, decline further charge of her. I must not 
 forget to say, however, that she is not at all vicious, 
 only she needs balance." 
 
 Edith was highly amused by this pedantic sum 
 mary of her character, and treated the whole matter 
 as an excellent joke. But Mr. Breen was pained by 
 her levity. He insisted that she must qualify herself 
 to receive the large property left by her father, and 
 secured a strict governess to give her lessons at 
 home. 
 
 Edith bore with the governess for a week, and 
 then disappeared, leaving a note saying she was 
 going back " toward the setting sun." Mr. Breen 
 at once sent out an alarm, found her in Carteret, 
 and, after an interview that really frightened the 
 girl, brought her back home. There she remained, 
 but with evident discontent. Her nature was essen 
 tially nomadic and untamed, and only fretted for 
 the opportunity to follow its instincts. 
 
 As for Paul, during this period he showed little 
 visible progress. He shut himself into his attic
 
 THE THREE CHILDREN 89 
 
 room regularly every day, and there remained 
 except for the brief intervals of meal-times. He sat 
 up late at night, and seemed to grow moody and 
 irritable as the months went by. At last even Mrs. 
 Breen became alarmed about him, and insisted that 
 he must go about somewhat. Paul laughed, but 
 offered no resistance arid no suggestions. 
 
 Chance, however, did for him what he would not 
 do for himself. One day, an errand sent him for 
 the first time to the law-offices of Strain and Breen, 
 and, while he was talking with his cousin, the senior 
 partner came lurching through from the library, 
 his arms filled with books. He caught sight of 
 Paul's face, and stopped abruptly. " Who's your 
 friend, Adolph ? " he asked. And Adolph, with an 
 outer grace that veiled an inner discomposure, pre 
 sented Paul. 
 
 " You look like a fellow who ought to be culti 
 vated," said the great lawyer. " Come up to the 
 house and see me." And on he lurched with his 
 books to his work. 
 
 Thus it came about that Paul Breen met Con 
 stance Sanderson. The two at once showed an 
 attraction which irritated Mrs. Strain and troubled 
 Adolph. Though neither was talkative, they seemed 
 to have an abundance to say to each other whenever 
 they were left undisturbed. Paul availed himself 
 of every opportunity of coming to the house, though
 
 90 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 he received but scant welcome from its mistress. In 
 fact, Abigail Alice at once took an aversion to him, 
 vague, irrational, but instinctive. In her hot par- 
 tizanship she drew many a contrast in Adolph's 
 favor between the two young men for Constance's 
 benefit. Constance listened, but usually made no 
 reply except by that provoking laugh of hers. 
 
 "What can you see in that Paul Breen?" Mrs. 
 Strain would demand. 
 
 " A purpose in life," Constance once replied.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE WORK OF AN INVENTOR 
 
 ADOLPH'S absorption in love, politics and business 
 took him much from home, and he soon almost 
 ceased to be an element in the daily life of the 
 Breen mansion. Paul, though present in body, was 
 hardly less absent in spirit. He appeared at meals, 
 but was usually silent, and wrapped in his own 
 thoughts. Mrs. Breen gave her whole soul to the 
 housekeeping required by the large establishment 
 over which she presided. Mr. Breen found his 
 daily life in his contractor-work. So there was 
 some justice in Edith's complaint that she might as 
 well live in a pyramid, surrounded by Egyptian 
 mummies. 
 
 Her aunt tried to interest her in the conducting 
 of the house, but was forced to desist when the 
 girl's impatient bungling had cost her two of her 
 most faithful servants, who declared that " little 
 Miss Edith would upset a saint, that she would ; 
 never knowing what she was after for t\vo days 
 together." 
 
 91
 
 92 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 At length, finding no interest in her home or its 
 inhabitants, Edith, in despair, took to voracious 
 novel-reading, in which she was as capricious as in 
 all else she did. There was in the house a fairly 
 good library of standard fiction, and she was too 
 alert and intelligent to care much for trash. She 
 began almost at random, but soon came to know 
 her favorites by a process of rigid elimination. 
 From the set of Dickens she chose " Pickwick 
 Papers," found it mildly amusing until she reached 
 the lugged-in stories, and then replaced it on the 
 shelves. " A Tale of Two Cities " perplexed her 
 with its abrupt changes of scene, and was never 
 finished. She tried Thackeray's " Henry Esmond," 
 only to find the dignity of the hero wearisome, and 
 then, through an innocent sympathy with Becky 
 Sharp, managed to read " Vanity Fair " through 
 out. George Eliot and Anthony Trollope were 
 speedily condemned as " poky ; " but Wilkie Collins 
 proved a delight, and Charles Reade was devoured 
 at all hours of the day and night. 
 
 " The Wandering Heir " gave Edith an idea. She 
 still longed to see the world, but had found it 
 impossible to elude pursuit when she fled from 
 home. Why should she not dress as a boy, and 
 thus at one stroke facilitate her travels and render 
 detection difficult ? She began to seek for books in 
 which such enterprises had been successful, and
 
 THE WORK OF AN INVENTOR 93 
 
 soon came upon Stevenson's " Black Arrow " and 
 " A Girl in the Karpathians," each of which made 
 the plan both alluring and rational. 
 
 The more she brooded, the more fascinated she 
 became with the project. The desire to escape from 
 the dull household was nearly irresistible, and she 
 did not mean to be brought back again. Adolph had 
 made much fun of her former, futile flight; and 
 Paul wonder of wonders had shown enough 
 interest in it to rebuke her most solemnly, dwelling 
 not more, on her ingratitude and thoughtlessness 
 than on the grave dangers to herself in going out 
 into the world alone. The keynote of her character 
 was curiosity. She longed to see sights and people, 
 to fathom secrets and to provoke remark. Not 
 naturally sly or secretive, she yet went about her 
 preparations for flight with the utmost caution, 
 though with a light-hearted contempt for conse 
 quences as innocent as it was pitiful. 
 
 Much to Mrs. Breen's surprise, Edith suddenly 
 began to go to Sunday School, and kept up her 
 attendance regularly, despite all Adolph's sarcastic 
 comments and Paul's amused skepticism. When 
 the novelty of this course had somewhat worn off, 
 she joined a Dorcas society, and became active in 
 providing clothing for the poor children of the 
 neighborhood. By a little management she was 
 appointed upon a committee to buy clothing, and
 
 94 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 then she would consult Paul, as the most taciturn 
 instrument available, and even entrust commissions 
 to him whenever it was necessary to get boys' gar 
 ments. Once this custom was established, it was 
 easy for her to add now and then an article of 
 clothing to a list given him, and thus before long 
 she gradually got together a complete outfit for 
 herself. She found in the attic an old dress-suit 
 case, and in this packed away, one by one, the things 
 so obtained, each of which she tried on and fitted. 
 
 All this occupied her mind and made her seem 
 so contented that gradually Mr. and Mrs. Breen 
 relaxed their vigilance and concluded that she had 
 outgrown her vagrant desires. But it led to a 
 complication. Edith's visits to the attic became 
 more and more frequent, and were of course rather 
 stealthy in appearance. No one in the household 
 noticed this except Paul. He was busy in his 
 laboratory-room, and, intent though he was on his 
 experiments, yet remained acutely sensitive to 
 external impressions. Now and then he heard 
 Edith moving about in her visits to the upper floor, 
 and, aware of her curiosity, could think of but one 
 motive for them. Once he went softly to the door, 
 suddenly threw it open, and found her within a few 
 feet of him. Her shoes were off, and she was 
 greatly startled. He lost his temper instantly. 
 
 " Edith," he said angrily, " this is unbearable.
 
 THE WORK OF AN INVENTOR 95 
 
 You are no longer a mere child, and I will not 
 submit to such treatment. Don't you dare to spy 
 upon me. What I am doing doesn't concern you 
 in the least. And you little know the danger you 
 run by putting yourself in my way. I won't answer 
 for your life " 
 
 At this moment, Mrs. Breen's voice was heard 
 at the foot of the stairs. She asked in a frightened 
 tone : " Paul, what are you saying? " 
 
 But he slammed the door and made no reply. 
 
 Edith hastily slipped on her shoes, which she had 
 left at the head of the stairs, and ran down to meet 
 her aunt. 
 
 "What is it, Edith?" Mrs. Breen asked. "I 
 heard Paul threaten you." 
 
 " I don't know," said Edith. " I think he must 
 be crazy. I went up to get a piece of silk I needed 
 to trim a hat, and he broke out upon me in the 
 most frightful rage. I think he must hate the very 
 sight of me." Here she began to cry. " I wish I 
 was away from all of you! There's no place for 
 me here, and nobody wants me about. I believe 
 Paul is bitter because father left me all that money. 
 I wish he had been the daughter and I the son. 
 The Lord wasted a good life when he gave it to 
 Paul." 
 
 Mrs. Breen was shocked and sent Edith to her 
 room, resolving to speak to Paul about his violence.
 
 96 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 But at her first word, Paul broke out in his own 
 defence. 
 
 " I have had all I can stand from her," he 
 declared. " I can't have her in my way. She inter 
 feres with my whole future. The rest of the family 
 have some sympathy with my work and my life, 
 but she is an obstacle, and she always has been. 
 She is provided for, the Lord knows ; why can't she 
 let me alone? Let her keep her distance, if she 
 knows what is good for her. I can't be responsible 
 for anything that may happen if she insists on 
 prowling about my attic room. I have given her 
 warning enough. For her own good, let her be 
 careful." 
 
 Mrs. Breen was amazed at this tirade. It was 
 rare for Paul to lose control of himself, and his 
 words left a deep impression on her mind. " Be 
 calm," she entreated, " you don't mean what you 
 say, I'm sure." 
 
 " Calm," Paul repeated, " how can I be calm, 
 when a few days may determine all I care for in 
 life? Do yon think that I will let a little chit like 
 that stand in my way? I do mean all I say, and 
 more, far more." 
 
 Paul saw how seriously his words were taken, but 
 he did not care. He was overstrained, and had lost 
 much sleep. When first he had entered upon his 
 present work, the thought of his father's will had
 
 THE WORK OF AN INVENTOR 97 
 
 inspired him ; not with a greedy desire to win fame 
 for the fortune dependent upon it ; that, as his uncle 
 Philip had said, seemed too remote to his years to 
 be considered; but, rather, with a noble ambition 
 to show to the world that his father's estimate of 
 him had been true, and that the discrimination of his 
 will was really the result of love and pride. 
 
 But, since he had met Constance Sanderson, this 
 object, cherished still, was no longer the moving 
 cause of his industry. He loved; and he believed 
 he was beloved. But how could he plead his suit 
 with empty hands? How dared he ask this young 
 girl, who already had known the hardships of 
 poverty, to accept a fate that might make those 
 hardships permanent? No, no; he must first suc 
 ceed; and success now meant not fame with a 
 fortune in the far future, but fortune, first and at 
 once, whether or no fame might be contingent 
 upon it. 
 
 During his studies at the medical school, Paul had 
 been deeply impressed with the writings of a young 
 doctor, of whom he knew nothing except the name 
 on the title-page of his text-books James Tan- 
 credi. One paragraph in particular had taken root 
 in his mind, and borne fruit. It was as follows : 
 
 " Life cannot exist without heat and moisture. 
 Complete desiccation, the lack of heat-vibrations, 
 spells death. All forms of morbific life require
 
 98 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 certain environments. To cure disease, then, we 
 have but to change the environment beyond the 
 life-limitations of the morbific agency. Matter is 
 rate of vibration. Cannot the physician of the 
 future attack diseases by vibratory modification? 
 Heat, light, electricity these are vibratory de 
 grees, and in these the medicine of the future will 
 find the ideal panacea." 
 
 Paul Breen, impressed by these words, resolved 
 to begin a series of experiments designed to deter 
 mine the life-limits of certain specific germs, and to 
 test the effect of these three agencies upon certain 
 germ-cultures. He had not chosen to make known 
 his experiments. He felt convinced that he should 
 meet only ridicule by a premature disclosure of his 
 dreams. Medicine, to his uncle, meant a jogging 
 about from door to door with pills, potions, steel 
 instruments and a subsequent bill; to his aunt, the 
 word " Doctor " stood for a kindly and patient 
 gentleman, hired to hearken to symptoms all the 
 rest of the world considered a bore ; to Adolph and 
 to Edith, he would be babbling an unknown tongue, 
 with jests and gibes as a reward for his pains. So 
 he had kept his counsel except to Constance San 
 derson. To her, led by a few enthusiastic words 
 about the glories and responsibilities of his pro 
 fession, he had talked of his purpose in life; at first 
 of the fame that might come to him were his labors
 
 THE WORK OF AN INVENTOR 99 
 
 successful, and latterly of the independence and 
 freedom that such success would bring. But, even 
 with her, he had kept carefully to generalities, fear 
 ful lest in being misunderstood he might weaken her 
 faith in him. 
 
 And his many months of intelligent experiment 
 were bearing fruit. Gradually he had installed in 
 his attic laboratory many pieces of powerful and 
 delicate apparatus. He used an electric current of 
 high tension or of high amperage at will. He had 
 many vacuum tubes of differing natures. He had 
 physical contrivances for producing mechanical 
 vibrations. He used many chemical substances both 
 rare and costly, and he handled all these powerful 
 agencies with a recklessness that amazed himself. 
 His first prohibitions against the family had been 
 dictated only by the wish for seclusion; but now he 
 found another and more serious motive in his desire 
 for their safety. There were accidents now and 
 again. There were dangerous gases evolved, and 
 even explosions slight, it is true, but eloquent of 
 possibilities against which he felt he must guard all 
 except himself. 
 
 But, step by step, he had gained ground. Despite 
 blind paths leading nowhere, and painfully retracted 
 steps, he yet accomplished enough to encourage him 
 to believe that he was on the road to some brilliant 
 results in curative and preventive medicine. He
 
 100 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 resolved to proceed with the work at all hazards, 
 feeling that the importance of the issues justified 
 any sacrifice. 
 
 Long ago he had used the money his uncle had 
 given him, and he had asked for and received a 
 similar amount, the larger part of which he deter 
 mined to devote to the construction of an apparatus 
 that would demonstrate the value and certainty of 
 his researches. It was when he had just completed 
 the putting together of this new machine that he 
 had been interrupted by Edith's visit, and his 
 warning to her was, he believed, warranted by the 
 peril to herself. 
 
 A few days later, he decided to make a final test, 
 and then, if that was successful, to ship the apparatus 
 to Carteret, where he hoped to exhibit it to the one 
 man capable of judging of its value to James 
 Tancredi, the author of the brilliant treatise he had 
 so long studied. Again and again he made the 
 calculations and experiments, submitting himself to 
 the operation of the machine, and recording the 
 results for his own guidance. He believed that he 
 could control the operations of the human organism 
 by means of agencies thus brought to bear, and had 
 even subjected his own skin to certain disease-germs 
 so that he might demonstrate their cure. 
 
 At length, satisfied with his test, he took the 
 machine apart and prepared to pack it for trans-
 
 THE WORK OF AN INVENTOR 101 
 
 portation. Going into one of the attic lofts, he 
 selected an old trunk he had used during his college 
 days, and, though it was well-battered and a little 
 large for his purpose, he took it to the laboratory, 
 put in the apparatus, and filled the whole with old 
 newspapers until he thought the brittle parts were 
 safe. 
 
 It was night when he finished, and he decided he 
 would send the trunk to the city some time the next 
 day. But he had over-tired his brain, and found it 
 hard to sleep. He caught himself mentally going 
 over and over every step in the process, until it was 
 apparent that so long as it was possible for him to 
 modify the apparatus he would never feel at rest. 
 Therefore, for his own sake, it would be well to ship 
 it as early in the morning as he could wake. 
 
 Then he fell asleep, and slept quietly till sunrise. 
 He had left the curtains of his room drawn up, and 
 woke as soon as the daylight came. Remembering 
 his resolution of the night before, Paul dressed at 
 once, carried the trunk downstairs, put it into a light 
 carriage, and took it down to the station. He had 
 to wait for the office to open, and was shaking with 
 the cold of the sharp morning air when the agent 
 came. Then he shipped the trunk to himself at the 
 Central Station in Carteret, and returned home, 
 relieved that the apparatus .was at last beyond his 
 reach.
 
 102 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 But there was still more than an hour before 
 breakfast, and, as Paul entered the house, there 
 occurred to him a slight modification of one part 
 of the machine. He had in the attic the first and 
 cruder apparatus he had made, and, though he 
 laughed at his own weakness, he stole softly up the 
 stairs and into his laboratory. He adjusted the 
 apparatus, turned on the electric current, and set it 
 in motion; and then began to prepare a chemical 
 combination used in the test. 
 
 Adolph Breen had spent a more restless night 
 than his cousin Paul. He had stopped at John 
 Strain's house on his way home, and Constance had 
 made a palpable excuse for not seeing him. More 
 than this, Abigail Alice, perceiving his chagrin, had 
 told him plainly that in her judgment his suit was 
 hopeless unless he managed to put Paul out of the 
 running. She had ridiculed his somewhat stilted 
 expressions of affection for the girl, but, at the 
 same time, had assured him that if such was his 
 choice, questionable as was his taste, she was pre 
 pared by reason of the offensive and defensive alli 
 ance existing between them to give him all possible 
 aid. Therefore, he would be wise to put on his 
 thinking-cap, remembering that all things were fair 
 in love as in war. And Adolph had gone home to a 
 sleepless bed, tormented by jealousy, rent by passion, 
 with the grim determination forming within him
 
 THE WORK OF AN INVENTOR 103 
 
 that in some way, he cared not how, he would frus 
 trate Paul's pretensions and have Constance for 
 himself. The dawn found him unrefreshed; so, 
 hastily dressing, he hurried out of the house, think 
 ing that a stroll through the woodland lining the 
 bank of the river might cool his blood and coalesce 
 his excited and disjointed thoughts. 
 
 Edith Breen, having completed all her prepara 
 tions for her flight from home, had stolen up into 
 the attic that morning, during Paul's absence, 
 meaning to slip out of the house before the family 
 rose. She had clipped off her pretty hair, and put 
 on the boy's clothes, and was just about to creep 
 down-stairs when Paul returned from his visit to 
 the station. She shrank back into the darkness and 
 remained quiet while he busied himself over his 
 apparatus. But, when it was put into motion, her 
 curiosity was so great that she forgot all prudence, 
 forgot her change of costume, and tip-toed to the 
 door of the laboratory where Paul was at work. 
 
 He had, for the first time, left the door slightly 
 ajar, and Edith, all breathless, pushed it softly open. 
 Paul, intent over the machine, did not turn. She 
 pushed the door a little wider, peering eagerly; it 
 came against the light stand upon which the chem 
 icals were standing, and the little table tipped and 
 began to fall. 
 
 Then Paul, hearing the tinkling glass, turned ; he
 
 104 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 saw Edith's head thrust through the doorway, and 
 had just cried out sharply " Edith, " when the con 
 tents of the table reached the floor; there was a 
 report like that of a revolver; the chemicals ex 
 ploded, and Paul fell insensible and lay as if dead. 
 The electric and chemical apparatus, struck by his 
 falling body, slipped from the bench, and covered 
 the floor with its fragments.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 ED FLYAWAY AND SOCl'TY DAN 
 
 EDITH turned cold and rigid under the petrifying 
 clutch of terror. Paul was hurt, and she was to 
 blame. Paul might even be dead, else why should 
 he lie there motionless, unknowing, the ghastly wax 
 image of himself? All her vague notions of crime 
 and its punishment beset her with threats. Since 
 she had done wrong, she must pay the penalty. Oh, 
 what should she do ; what should she do ? 
 
 Her strong, vital forces, returning triumphant, 
 sent their answer thrilling through her veins. Do? 
 Why, what she had just planned to do. Run away, 
 of course, out into that unknown, fascinating world 
 of wandering, where no one bothered, no one 
 restricted, no one said No. Was she not already 
 prepared down to the smallest item of appropriate 
 costume? And could there be a better hour than 
 this very one in which she had been unobserved 
 except by the person from whom, above all, she 
 must now flee, but who could not follow? A reck 
 less satisfaction convinced her that, whether she 
 
 105
 
 106 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 would or no, an .end of hesitation and delay had 
 come. As if by force, her decision was final, and 
 she must go. 
 
 Together with these stronger feelings, developing 
 into resolution beyond her years, there was that 
 childish curiosity, innate, persistent. She was alone, 
 at length, in the forbidden room. This was her last, 
 her only chance. What, then, should she stretch 
 out her hand and take? What a delight it would 
 be to rummage through the drawers of that bench, 
 to take down every mysterious article from that 
 shelf if only, oh, if only that awful, still presence 
 wasn't there on the floor; and yet, wasn't it better 
 that it should be still, since her will was so impera 
 tive? 
 
 She was hot, she was cold ; anxious to stay, eager 
 to go ; at one moment sure that Paul was dead, and 
 the very next positive that his eyes were open; 
 pulled forward and back by desire and fear; the 
 puppet at once of inexperience and experience. She 
 sidled cautiously around the room, prying into every 
 nook and crevice. As she groped among the frag 
 ments on the floor, she cut her finger on a lot of 
 broken glass, and some blood dripped down near 
 Paul's head before she knew it. But a silver-bound 
 note-book, which lay on the bench, kept drawing 
 her on. She had often seen Paul make strange 
 figures in it; she had often begged him to at least
 
 BUT A SILVER - BOUND NOTE - BOOK . . . KEPT DRAWING 
 HER ON."
 
 ED FLYAWAY AND SOCFTY DAN 107 
 
 let her look at it, but in vain. Now was her chance, 
 her last, her only chance. She thrust the book into 
 her pocket, crying out from the pain of her cut 
 finger as she did so; and then, when no response or 
 notice came from that grim, stiffened form before 
 her, she sobbed : 
 
 " Oh, he must be dead," and darted from the 
 room in a sudden panic. 
 
 A moment later, the picturesque and dapper form 
 of a lad crept down the stairs from the attic, close 
 to the wall, poising now and again on tip-toe, with 
 finger on lips, and then sped through the rear-door 
 into the seclusion of the wooded plantation, winding 
 over the river-bank. The slim, flashing feet were 
 indeed light, but Edith's heart, fluttering within 
 such strange apparel, was lighter still. She had 
 escaped ; no one had seen her, no one had heard her. 
 The unknown, fascinating world was now before 
 her, and clearly, oh, so clearly, she could see the 
 broad road traversing it, over which she should 
 stroll from pleasure to pleasure, and from wonder 
 to wonder. The fear of punishment, the loom and 
 threat of death, were forgotten. Like some fair, 
 young denizen of the woodland, without reflection, 
 without compunction, she tripped blithely along, 
 until a slight touch on her shoulder and the sound 
 of a mocking voice brought her face to face again 
 with terrifying realities.
 
 108 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 "What is all this, Edith?" asked Adolph, as, 
 cool, calm and smiling, he tried to hold the shrink 
 ing girl out into full view. " Is it burlesque or melo 
 drama? You favor both, I think. Why, you must 
 be going to be Ed Flyaway in dead earnest ! " 
 
 This name Adolph had given her, in joke, after 
 one of her escapades. 
 
 A burst of tears accompanied Edith back from 
 fairyland, and she clung to Adolph in ignominious 
 helplessness. " Oh, Adolph, dear Adolph," she 
 sobbed, " you won't tell on me, you will help me, 
 you will let me go? " And she blurted out all that 
 had happened. 
 
 Crises in life have a way of arriving unexpectedly 
 like some inspecting commander-in-chief, but their 
 mandates are none the less insistent for that. 
 Adolph's morning stroll had restored his normal 
 equanimity, without which he always felt himself 
 to be in a sort of moral undress; but it had not 
 made clear to him how he was to win Constance 
 and dispose of Paul. Now, with Paul dying or dead, 
 Constance seemed more attainable. Fate had re 
 moved one difficulty in his way; would not the 
 disappearance of this rash child remove yet another ? 
 There was the vast fortune left by Neil Breen, that 
 fortune which had made him hate his cousins for 
 having what he had not. If Paul were dead, and 
 Edith missing, would not the law, in five short years,
 
 ED FLYAWAY AND SOCI'TY DAN 109 
 
 give it to his own father, already an old man, 
 whose only heir he was? Constance in any and all 
 circumstances would be adorable, it was true; but 
 Constance, with all that money can give in addition 
 
 what vistas of bliss, and delight, of gratified am 
 bitions, of pomp and station, stretched endlessly 
 before him. Was not the hazard worth the throw; 
 and was he not a faint-hearted weakling to refuse 
 the chance that fate came tendering? Even before 
 he realized that he had decided, Adolph's face grew 
 portentously grave. 
 
 " Poor child," he said, shaking his head, " you 
 are in an awful fix, to be sure. No one will believe 
 it was an accident ; you and Paul got along together 
 too badly for that. I'll keep your secret safe, never 
 fear; and I shouldn't feel justified in stopping you 
 
 why, I hate to think of what might happen if I 
 did. After all, liberty is the thing. Take a bright, 
 handsome lad, such as you appear, with the stout 
 heart that you really have; why, the world is his 
 cocoanut, full of meat and drink for the breaking. 
 It isn't such a bad thing when one is young and full 
 of life to see what's going on. There's a heap of 
 fun and excitement, just as there's plenty of sun 
 shine; and pleasure is all the more delightful for 
 coming after a storm. But to be locked up in a 
 Reformatory, kept in close, gloomy quarters, behind 
 iron bars, with the coarsest food and clothing, sew-
 
 112 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 have you?" she faltered, "you won't stop me 
 from hiding in there, will you ? I'll do no harm." 
 
 The man took a cigar-stump from his pocket, and 
 crumpled it into his pipe. With a jack-knife he 
 deftly split the match, carried over his ear, into eight 
 parts lengthwise. One of these he kindled by a dex 
 terous twist between two finger-nails, and ignited 
 the tobacco with it. The others he folded away in the 
 layers of a red handkerchief. Then, after a luxuri 
 ous puff, he answered. 
 
 " C'nnected with the road ? Nope, unly as a 
 sorter soopernum'ry sarvin' without pay. Stop yer? 
 Not on yer life. I'll put yer nex' to the inside, all 
 right, young feller, seein' thet's your game, thet 
 is " and here the bluff tones changed into the 
 whine of the professional cadger, " thet is, if you 
 fulfils the Scriptur' and gives a trifle from your 
 plinty to my nawthin'." 
 
 " What is your name, please? " asked Edith, like 
 a true woman, hoping for better things through 
 talk. 
 
 " Soci'ty Dan they mostly calls me." 
 
 "Soci'ty? Why Soci'ty?" 
 
 " Oh, becuz I'm so free and easy and permiscus, 
 I s'pose; and what's on your wisitin' card?" 
 
 " Oh, I'm Ed Flyaway," replied Edith, giving the 
 nickname Adolph had just brought to her mind, 
 " but what's in a name anyway ? "
 
 ED FLYAWAY AND SOCFTY DAN 113 
 
 " There's a good deal in it, my bucky, if you're 
 up aginst a sicond offinse. But come, cough up the 
 gelt, the mazooma, the long greens, if you wants 
 an exclusive burt' on this air-line." 
 
 " I have nothing but this," said the girl with 
 brimming eyes. " I left very unexpectedly oh, 
 dear, you must know, I ran away. Won't you take 
 it and help me? " 
 
 " A note-book filled with high-old-glyphics," 
 mused Soci'ty Dan. " It ain't much, as the drownin' 
 man said when he grabbed the straw ; but, arter all, 
 it's got silver corners and will do for a go of booze 
 at all ewents. It's allus the way : thim thet has 
 nawthin' will give up iverythin', and thim thet has 
 iverythin' will give up nawthin'. Why, I struck a 
 withered old pelican, the mawn, and I ast her most 
 obsecus, so I did, for a bit of help. ' Give you 
 somethin'/ says she, ' Yes, so I will and gladly. 
 I'll give you over to the fust perleece in sight.' I 
 seen right enough she wud ; so I chucked a brick 
 t'roo her plate-glass door with me compliments, and 
 skedoozled. Strain is her name, they say, and strain 
 her natur' ; and she'd swaller a full-sized camel with 
 j'y, afore she let go of a stunted gnat. 
 
 " As for the book, my lob-lolly lad, I'll take it 
 and wilcome," continued Soci'ty, as he thrust it in 
 side of his jumper; "but mark me wud, you're 
 makin' a big mistake, in the inciptun of your career,
 
 114 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 as a blind un cud see, to be leavin' a luxurus home 
 without bein' properly loaded. To run away with 
 the stuff aboard is good; to run towards it ain't 
 bad; but to run from it, why, thet's sooicide; yes, 
 an' since we're speakin' of runnin', race sooicide, I 
 might say." 
 
 Having thus given vent to his considerate judg 
 ment, Soci'ty proved as good as his word. He 
 fetched out an iron bit from the resourceful depths 
 of his jumper, and, in an instant, had pried off the 
 staple holding the padlock. " A handy t'ing to 
 hev' in the fam'bly some odder wan's fam'bly," 
 he reflected, as he helped Edith up and drew the 
 door behind them ; " but its absince is desirable 
 whin they are a-wukkin' of the third degree on you 
 at Hidquarters." 
 
 The interior of the car was pretty well filled with 
 miscellaneous freight, but, off in one corner, where 
 an old trunk had been placed, there was a little space 
 in which a lad of Edith's size might curl up and lie 
 concealed. No sooner had Soci'ty selected the spot 
 as the one best adapted for conditions he so well 
 understood, than the girl cried out in joyous con 
 currence, " Yes, let me lie there. That is Paul's 
 trunk, and I won't feel so lonesome." 
 
 " Thin Paul must hev' come over in the May 
 flower or the steerage, belike," Soci'ty remarked 
 with a disdainful glance at the ancient receptacle.
 
 ED FLYAWAY AND SOCI'TY DAN 115 
 
 Edith was so exhausted by the clash of sensations 
 through which she had passed, so weary of seeking 
 the end of the mesh of strange events in which she 
 had entangled herself, that, with the supineness of 
 a little child, whose day had been over-long, she lay 
 down against the trunk and straightway went to 
 sleep. There was something in this innocent and 
 trustful abandon which affected Soci'ty with a vague 
 remembrance of that remote time when he, too, 
 may have known and then lacked tender care, and 
 he stood watching wistfully, like one at a door for 
 ever closed. 
 
 Presently Edith moved in order to lie more com 
 fortably, and raised her hand with familiar gesture 
 as if to brush away from her pillow the heavy braids 
 of hair which, only a few hours before, she had sac 
 rificed to her mad plan. Soci'ty's trained observa 
 tion instantly interpreted the significance of this un 
 conscious and natural impulse. " A gurl, a young 
 gurl, bedad!" he whispered, awestruck; "well, 
 Gawd save us all, for the divil is puttin' in double 
 licks these degin'ret days." And, sliding to the 
 door, and driving back the staple, he hurried away 
 on hospitable cares intent. 
 
 Alas for that burning thirst, destined to remain 
 unquenched through many a dreary can of tepid 
 water! As Soci'ty was leaving the pawnshop, 
 having pledged the silver-bound note-book for a
 
 116 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 sum small but sufficient to his needs, he noticed a 
 sealed package sticking out of the pocket of a cus 
 tomer awaiting his turn in an adjacent booth. As 
 instinctively as Edith had sought to brush back her 
 hair, he stretched out his hand and snatched the 
 tempting prize. 
 
 Unfortunately, the owner's wits and nerves were 
 keyed up to that pitch of expectancy which rules 
 when pressing troubles are about to be relieved. He 
 turned like a flash and throttled the thief. A small 
 boy shot over the counter, giving ready assistance. 
 The burglar-alarm rang ; the door was slammed and 
 bolted; and Soci'ty lay overcome on the floor, 
 pressed down by a half-ton of human rage until the 
 police should come and deliver him over to the tor 
 mentors. 
 
 Such a little thing as being caught in the act did 
 not disconcert a man of Soci'ty's experience. He 
 knew very well what he wanted to do before it was 
 too late. Already his agile hand was worming its 
 way to accomplish it. Under ordinary circumstances 
 his object undoubtedly would have been to cast from 
 his person the incriminatory iron bit. But now a 
 more unselfish thought inspired him. The little 
 girl, so wild, so passionately wild, to run away! 
 Should he let her people, her pursuers, gain a pos 
 sible clue through his mischance? There was no 
 likelihood of the pawnbroker volunteering any in-
 
 ED FLYAWAY AND SOCI'TY DAN 117 
 
 formation relative to his pledge, but should the 
 police, when they searched him, find the ticket 
 
 " What are you a-doin' there ? " demanded one of 
 his captors fiercely. 
 
 " Unly takin' a katchoo to make me prisince more 
 refined and agreeable in these clus quarters," gasped 
 Soci'ty, as he chewed up and swallowed the pawn- 
 ticket for the silver-bound note-book. 
 
 A policeman came bustling in, recognizing the cul 
 prit with that rough affability which obta'ins between 
 officers of the law and old offenders. 
 
 " I didn't think it of you, Soci'ty, really I didn't," 
 he said reproachfully, as he led away his unresisting 
 prisoner. " An old lag like you caught with the 
 goods on him; it's too bad, it's too bad. Well, a 
 ten-specker is the least that's coming to you, and it's 
 coming quick, too. The Grand Jury's sitting; the 
 Oyer's in full blast. Say, you'll be railroaded at 
 the rate of the special limited express." 
 
 " Railroaded," Soci'ty repeated with a resigned 
 smile. " That's all right. I'm a sorter sooper- 
 num'ry, you know, sarvin' without pay." 
 
 Meanwhile, a freight train was puffing along the 
 river road, like some stale runner making more noise 
 than speed. In the cab, the engineer and fireman 
 were busy over some defect in the machinery, com 
 plaining bitterly the while that they had been sent 
 out with an old and imperfect engine, and yet were
 
 118 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 expected to keep a dear track for the flyer, following 
 still many miles behind. Presently, however, the 
 trouble, whatever it was, seemed rectified, and under 
 increasing steam the miles began to roll regularly 
 and rapidly away. The two men settled back in 
 their seats on either side, reassured by the monoto 
 nous beat of "the drivers on the rails that the to-day 
 would be as the many yesterdays had been. So 
 habit lessens fear, giving fixity and substance to that 
 Hfe which is but the vapor that appeareth. 
 
 In the rear car, with her shorn head pillowed on 
 Paul's old trunk, Edith was sleeping, happy in im 
 possible dreams, as. unknowing and unknown, she 
 was borne along. Poor, wayward child, a type of 
 poor, wayward humanity. So, too. the great earth 
 swings through .space, hurrying its human freight, 
 unknowing and unknown, to that awakening from 
 dreams which is death. 
 
 Again the engine ran sluggishly, with waste of 
 steam from the cylinders, hindering and befogging 
 the efforts of the crew. The security of continued 
 power gave way to wild apprehension as the driving- 
 wheels at length hung set and stationary. The en 
 gineer sounded the whistle piercingly. The fire- 
 ran back, around the curve just passed, with red 
 
 and torpedoes. The hands, lolling half-asleep 
 in the sunshine on the tops of the cars, or smoking 
 and yarning on the benches in the caboose, sprang,
 
 ED FLYAWAY AND SOCITY DAN 119 
 
 alert and startled, to the ground, well aware that 
 any derangement in the carefully adjusted mecha 
 nism of the road meant disaster. On all sides there 
 was apprehension the selfish impulse of personal 
 safety save in the rear car, where Edith was still 
 sleeping peacefully, unknowing and unknown. 
 
 It is wonderful how insidiously a greater speed 
 consumes the advantage of a lesser speed, when that 
 lesser speed has ceased. The following flyer made 
 up its distance behind in a twinkling of mile-posts. 
 Before the fireman had a clear view of the track 
 around the curve irresistible power swept by him as 
 contemptuously as if he were a speck of the dust 
 that its onset raised. The air rent and rocked with 
 the shock of impact and explosion, and where the 
 freight train had halted was now a horrible confu 
 sion of wrecked and overturned cars. 
 
 But the rear car, the rear car ! The one car con 
 taining, though unknowing and unknown, that 
 human interest, intense in life, intenser in death! 
 Over its split and ground fragments a light flame 
 already swept, completing the destruction! 
 
 The men fought the fire perfunctorily for a. while, 
 and then ceased altogether. What difference did it 
 make about a lot of ruined stuff that would have to 
 be paid for anyway, since luckily there were no 
 lives in peril? And so they watched idly, until 
 smouldering succeeded the burst and roar of con-
 
 120 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 flagration like the low, contented growl of a satiated 
 beast. Then pole and pick were plied lustily to clear 
 the way for traffic. 
 
 As the men hauled out and raked over the under 
 most part, less thoroughly incinerated, there was a 
 wild tossing of stalwart hands, a ghastly whitening 
 of begrimed faces, a murmur of horror, inarticulate, 
 incoherent, frenzied; for a childish form was ex 
 posed, naked, black, distorted, half-consumed, lying 
 in the very midst of a skeleton of a trunk's frame 
 work, to which the ash of a label still clung! 
 
 " My God, my God," cried one of the men at 
 length, voicing the universal conviction, " the body 
 of a murdered girl was boxed up in that trunk and 
 shipped as freight! "
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 THE CORONER'S VERDICT 
 
 MRS. BREEN had kept house long enough to be 
 aware that there were certain impossibilities in 
 household economy. When younger, she had soon 
 seen that a late breakfast was the ruin of the day's 
 work, and had done her best by means of " rising 
 bells," special notifications, alarm-clocks and so on, 
 to bring all the family together in good season for 
 the morning meal. 
 
 But this ideal had been long abandoned, and she 
 now enforced penalties instead. " Any one who 
 wants a warm breakfast must get up while it is on 
 the table " was her inflexible rule, and that had 
 worked to the discomfort of Paul and of Edith, both 
 of whom were night-owls. Paul, lost in his scien 
 tific studies or experiments, was only too likely to 
 forget fatigue and remain in the laboratory until the 
 small hours; and Edith had never considered rules 
 as other than challenges to combat, and, when she 
 had taken to fiction, she found night the best time 
 
 121
 
 for escaping the interruptions of prosaic real 
 life. 
 
 Consequently, on the morning of the accident in 
 Paul's laboratory, the absence of these two from the 
 breakfast-table had caused no surprise ; that was the 
 usual order, and gave rise to only the usual annoy 
 ance. But Adolph's absence was a different matter, 
 since he was regularity and punctuality in one, and 
 Mrs. Breen was about to make inquiries when the 
 servant anticipated them by explaining " Mr. 
 Adolph had gone to the city by an early train, and 
 had asked that you be told he was very sorry, Mum. 
 He had left some valooable papers out of the safe, 
 by mistake, and must put them away before anny 
 clerks kem in. He said he would get breakfast in 
 the city, so he wud." 
 
 So, after Mr. and Mrs. Breen had breakfasted 
 alone, Mr. Breen left for the station, and Mrs. 
 Breen sat down " just to run over the headings of 
 the newspaper " which often took her more than 
 an hour's avid reading. 
 
 Paul lay for nearly three hours unconscious. 
 Then he awoke as one wakes from deep sleep, re 
 gaining the senses one by one. The back of his 
 head was resting on the board flooring, and the 
 pain caused by that was his first knowledge of his 
 state. He moved uneasily, and the glass-fragments 
 rattled as they were pushed aside. The sound
 
 THE CORONER'S VERDICT 123 
 
 brought him more to himself, but he still felt too 
 weak and confused to think at all clearly. He looked 
 about him, and burst out laughing. 
 
 " That's funny," he exclaimed. " I must have 
 smashed something, I guess." 
 
 He picked up one of the pieces of glass, and 
 looked at it curiously. " Hum," said he, after a 
 puzzled inspection, " it looks like some of those 
 crucibles and things I bought after leaving the medi 
 cal school. Now, why in the world did I ever spend 
 so much money on that trash ? " He rose, carefully 
 selecting clear spaces on the floor so as not to cut 
 himself on the glass. When he could stand he 
 felt weak and uncertain he put his hand to his 
 head, and, taking it down, found blood on his fin 
 gers. " Whew," said he, " I must have cut myself 
 somewhere, after all. I'll go to my room and wash 
 up. What did I come up here for, anyway? " 
 
 He stood still and tried to remember, but his head 
 whirled with the effort. " It's no use," said he, " I 
 must have muddled my brain when I fell. I re 
 member coming up here to look for something 
 what was it? I think I went into the back of the 
 attic, and pulled out the old dressing-cases and 
 trunks; but why did I do such an asinine thing, 
 and how did I land among all this brass and glass 
 and trash ? Queer ! I can't recall it seems I 
 meant to send something some of my chemicals
 
 124 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 or apparatus, maybe to the city. But no, that 
 can't be true, for here's the stuff lying about the 
 room." 
 
 Once more, Paul put his hand to his head with 
 an expression of distress and confusion ; and again, 
 on removing it, he found blood on his fingers. That 
 at least was something definite, and so was his dis 
 ordered clothing; so he \vent rather tremulously 
 to his room, took a bath and made a careful toilet, 
 which freshened his appearance. But he felt uneasy 
 and conscious that his memory was at fault. He, 
 therefore, returned to the attic, swept up the frag 
 ments of his broken apparatus and dumped them 
 into a big trash-basket. Near where he had lain 
 there was a little hammer lying over a blood-stain 
 on the floor. " Ah," he exclaimed, " that explains 
 how I hurt my head. It must have been that I fell, 
 and my head struck the hammer." 
 
 From a strong desire for occupation, he put the 
 room into some sort of order, but still the perplexing 
 problem of what had happened oppressed him. 
 " It's no use," he cried impatiently. " I do think 
 that I was trying some experiment, but, what it was 
 all about Heaven only knows. I must have been 
 working too hard, for my mind is a blank on that 
 subject. What was I doing up here this morning? 
 I feel like a man waked out of a dream only I 
 don't recall the dream." Then he began to wonder
 
 THE CORONER'S VERDICT 125 
 
 what time it was, and, looking at his watch, saw it 
 was about half-past nine. " Goodness ! " he ex 
 claimed, " they must have finished breakfast, and I 
 am ravenous. I'll go down at once; but mum is the 
 word. I don't want any one to suspect I've lost my 
 senses." 
 
 Paul found himself forced to go slowly, holding 
 to the hand-rail, for his steps were uncertain, and 
 his head turned dizzy now and then. Mrs. Breen 
 was by the window of the breakfast-room, reading 
 her paper. She was distant, conscientiously so be 
 cause of his tardiness, so he went to the table, mean 
 ing to forage for himself. He noticed that Edith's 
 place was still undisturbed, and he smiled to think 
 that this of itself was enough to account for his 
 aunt's taciturnity. 
 
 Suddenly there came the sound of a latch-key at 
 the front-door. The rattling was noticeable because 
 it was so rapid and irregular. Mrs. Breen and Paul 
 looked up in surprise, and then the door was flung 
 open. Philip Breen rushed in with his hat on, and, 
 turning to his wife, said in a low tone that was made 
 terrifying by his pale face and trembling lips : ' 
 
 " Do you know anything about Edith ? " 
 
 " Edith ? " Mrs. Breen repeated ; " she is not up 
 yet." 
 
 " Send up no, go up to her room," said her 
 husband, " at once."
 
 126 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Mrs. Breen left the room without a word, and 
 Philip, turning to his nephew, said still in the same 
 low tone : " There's been a collision on the road, 
 and the cars caught fire. They've found a body, 
 and I'm afraid I'm afraid I don't see how it 
 is possible though." 
 
 Paul rose, confused and white. Nothing was 
 clear to him, but the mention of the railroad recalled 
 vaguely for the moment his trip to the station. 
 " But what about the trunk ? " he stammered. 
 
 Mr. Breen looked amazed at this queer question. 
 Before he could answer, Mrs. Breen had returned. 
 
 " She isn't there," she cried. " Oh, Philip, what 
 is it? what is it? " 
 
 " Be quiet," Mr. Breen replied. " There has been 
 an accident on the road, and they have found among 
 the ruins of one of the cars the body of a young girl, 
 and " 
 
 Mrs. Breen began to cry. 
 
 " Now, there, there," continued her husband 
 soothingly, " it may all be a mistake. They're not 
 sure. But if Edith can't be found " 
 
 Paul could hardly follow their words. His head 
 whirled, and he repeated to himself, " If Edith can't 
 be found " Then he spoke aloud : " What is 
 it, Uncle Philip? Is Edith missing? has she run 
 away again ? " 
 
 Mr. Breen turned to him sharply. " Paul I
 
 THE CORONER'S VERDICT 127 
 
 never knew you so slow-witted. Don't you under 
 stand me? They think she has been killed." 
 
 "Killed? Killed? How?" 
 
 " Killed in a railway accident. When did you 
 see her last? " 
 
 Paul tried to think, and then, slowly answered as 
 he gathered his wits together : "I don't know 
 exactly. I was hurt this morning, on the head, and 
 my mind is all confused, uncle. I haven't seen Edith 
 since last night at dinner, I believe. I don't re 
 member, and it may be But I can't realize it. 
 Edith dead?" Paul spoke like one half dreaming. 
 [His brain was benumbed ; his manner was apathetic. 
 
 Mr. Breen, struck by his apparent indifference, 
 retorted angrily. " You hurt ? I don't see anything 
 the matter ; you look all right. But you don't seem 
 a bit sorry. Haven't you a heart in you, Paul? I 
 never thought you were very fond of your sister 
 but when the poor girl " Here his voice broke 
 and he went abruptly out of the room. Mrs. Breen 
 followed him, her hands clutching her broad bosom, 
 usually so placid, and Paul was left alone. He went 
 up to his own room, and sat down in a lounging 
 chair. He repeated to himself, " Edith is dead ; 
 Edith is killed; " and then ruminated stupidly upon 
 his words, as if {hey were in a forgotten tongue. 
 
 Early in the afternoon, Adolph returned from the 
 city, summoned by a telegram from his father. He
 
 128 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 stopped at the station, and positively identified the 
 stark remains as those of the light-hearted child 
 whom he had sent on her way to her death .only a 
 few hours before. Then he hurried home, exalted by 
 the speedy realization of his hopes; only to find in 
 Philip Breen's bitter account of Paul's queer be 
 havior a new complication which must be met. 
 
 " Have you seen Paul, Adolph ? " his father 
 asked, after his first exclamatory remarks. 
 
 Adolph shook his head, but remained silent; 
 startled to learn that Paul was alive and apparently 
 uninjured, and with wits all alert to work out some 
 advantage for himself from the changed situation. 
 
 " He hurt me," continued Philip Breen. " I knew 
 he had no particular sympathy with his poor sister, 
 but by the Lord Harry I've seen a man more 
 moved over the death of a bull-pup, Adolph. He 
 seemed as cool, as indifferent as Why, he made 
 me want to throttle him." 
 
 " I can hardly believe you," replied Adolph, 
 slowly, seeing light, but feeling his way; " Paul 
 may be hard-hearted, but I always thought him 
 prudent, at least." 
 
 " Prudent?" repeated his father, puzzled to make 
 out Adolph's meaning. "I. don't see why you say 
 that?" 
 
 " Why, father, I shouldn't have spoken so about 
 Paul, perhaps. That's the worst of having studied
 
 THE CORONER'S VERDICT 129 
 
 law. It only occurred to me that since Paul will in 
 herit the estate, now that Edith is not living, it 
 would be commented on if he seemed not to mourn 
 for her. I'm sorry I said it ; but " 
 
 " You're right," Philip Breen interrupted. " And 
 yet, if I really believed Paul was thinking of money 
 at such a time, by No, I can't believe it. Yet 
 he was cool enough. Oh, I don't know what to 
 think. Poor Edith, poor, foolish child, so bright, 
 so pretty. I can't get over it. I didn't know how 
 much I cared for her until Leave me alone, 
 Adolph, my boy; I must fight it out by myself; 
 and then " 
 
 " Yes, try to compose yourself," said Adolph. 
 " There is nothing we can do at present. The 
 coroner is in charge; there will have to be an in 
 quest. After a while, we must consult together; 
 but there is time for that." 
 
 Adolph went directly to Paul's room. To his 
 knock came the reply, "Who is it?" but when he 
 answered, Paul said eagerly, " Come in, I wanted 
 to see you." 
 
 Paul was seated by a little table, with his head 
 on his hands. He began at once : " Tell me, what 
 is all this about Edith? They say she is dead, and 
 somehow, I don't seem able to think so. Isn't it 
 a mistake ? " 
 
 " It is no mistake," Adolph replied. " I saw her
 
 130 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 body at the station. She is dead, indeed, poor 
 child." 
 
 " Horrible, horrible," Paul moaned. " I cannot 
 make it real. What do you suppose has come over 
 me ? I got up early this morning I went to the 
 station, I think " 
 
 " What for ? " asked Adolph, surprised. 
 
 Paul looked at him blankly. " Adolph, I don't 
 know," he answered. " It's all a muddle to me. 
 I had a fall, and something's gone wrong in my 
 brain. I cannot get anything straight. I hear you 
 say ' Edith is dead.' I repeat the words to myself, 
 but they do not affect me yet. There is a mist 
 over my mind." 
 
 Adolph was watching, with an eye, keen, hard 
 and cruel. He sat for a while, playing with a paper- 
 knife on the table. Then he said, without taking his 
 gaze from his cousin's face : 
 
 " It's most unfortunate, Paul ; most unfortunate." 
 
 "What is most unfortunate?" Paul inquired. 
 
 " Why, you must know that now you will come 
 into Edith's property " 
 
 "Shall I?" 
 
 Adolph's lip curled. "Drop that," he went on; 
 " don't try to play the innocent with me. You're 
 no fool, except about your old messes and bottles, 
 and I've always believed they were all a pretence. 
 You may not care about your sister's death; but, 
 
 ,
 
 THE CORONER'S VERDICT 131 
 
 if you want to keep people's good opinion, you had 
 better show some feeling over it. And this cock- 
 and-bull story about mist in your mind won't go 
 down with anybody. Don't try it, I say. When 
 were you at the station? and what for?" 
 
 " This morning very early. I went to see 
 something about a trunk." 
 
 "What trunk?" 
 
 " I don't know," Paul replied, like a child puz 
 zled by a problem. 
 
 " It's my opinion," Adolph continued, " that 
 you're dopey. I always wondered what kept you 
 up there in that lunatic cell in the attic. Did you 
 have any opium, up there ? " 
 
 "Opium? Not opium; but I did have laudanum. 
 I used to keep it for for my experiments." 
 
 " Experiments be hanged. What did you hope 
 to accomplish by them? Did they ever amount to 
 anything?" 
 
 " I think not," said Paul, drearily. " I know I 
 smashed all my apparatus " 
 
 " Of course, you did. You were dopey, I say. 
 Muddling up there, and playing for time. And 
 you've taken a dose this morning. You're off your 
 head, Paul, and had better sober up, or you may find 
 yourself in trouble before long." 
 
 " I don't think I took anything ; I never do touch 
 such things," Paul went on, still dispassionately.
 
 132 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " But, Adolph, I don't know. I remember going to 
 the attic " 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 " I don't remember. For the trunk, I think. The 
 next thing I recall is being at the station, and then 
 I don't know anything more until I woke up, lying 
 on the floor, with a wound in my head " 
 
 "A wound? Where?" 
 
 Paul put his hand to the back of his head. 
 Adolph arose, went behind him, and looked care 
 fully, but could find nothing. 
 
 " Paul," he said, " you are in a pipe-dream. 
 There is no wound on your head." 
 
 " But there was blood on my hand where I 
 touched it." 
 
 " Then, it wasn't your blood, or there wasn't 
 any." 
 
 " But there is some blood on that towel over 
 there," Paul insisted. 
 
 " Then," said Adolph even more impressively, 
 " it isn't your own. Paul you have been out of 
 your senses, and the Lord only knows what has hap 
 pened during that time.. Listen to me, if you can 
 keep your head clear of that damned drug for an 
 instant. Edith's body, the body of your sister, upon 
 whose death your material happiness depends, was 
 found in the wreck of your trunk. So you can 
 think that over at your leisure. I want you to know
 
 THE CORONER'S VERDICT 133 
 
 this. I learned it when I came by the station. I'm 
 afraid to say what may happen to you if you can't 
 tell a better story than you have told me. You'd 
 better pull your wits together and try." And 
 Adolph left him. 
 
 Paul heard the words, and afterwards they came 
 back to him in their full meaning. But now they 
 sounded muffled, and from afar, as did the tidings 
 of Edith's death. He made several vain efforts to 
 think connectedly; but, exhausted by the physical 
 and mental shocks he had successively undergone, 
 he fell asleep where he sat, murmuring : " Did I 
 take laudanum? What is it that clogs my brain? 
 I don't know ; oh, God, I can't remember ! " 
 
 When Paul awoke, he was ravenously hungry 
 again. He ate something in his own room, for he 
 was beginning to understand from the averted faces 
 of the servants, and the general concurrence in his 
 seclusion, the position in which he was placed by 
 his sister's death. Then he wandered out, and, 
 driven more by instinct than by any reason he could 
 have given, he went to John Strain's house, and 
 asked for Constance Sanderson. She was his only 
 confidante; perhaps she could restore him to him 
 self. 
 
 And perhaps Constance, who had already heard 
 something of the story, and who was more intensely 
 alarmed than she dared betray, might, through the
 
 134 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 guidance of that divine sympathy, which is one of 
 the attributes of love, have led his troubled thoughts 
 back to the purposes which had inspired him and 
 thence on to what but yesterday had seemed the 
 beginning of their realization, had not another fem 
 inine passion, less retiring, more alert and pertina 
 cious, and as evil as hers was good, prevented. She 
 began by advising Paul to attend at once to his state 
 of health upon that all else might depend. " Go 
 without delay to a doctor," she entreated. 
 
 "Doctor?" repeated Paul bitterly. "Don't I 
 look sound and well in every respect? Why should 
 I go to a doctor? And who is there that can min 
 ister to a mind diseased ? " 
 
 " No one can under this honest roof," cried a 
 strident voice; and Abigail Alice, aflame with her 
 instinctive hatred of Paul, entered the room, and 
 stood significantly pointing to the door. " Miss 
 Sanderson," she continued, " if you have any re 
 spect for my authority, or any wish to keep your 
 position here under it, you will at once go upstairs. 
 And you, sir, you who are involved in the foulest 
 deed that ever disgraced humanity, you leave this 
 house instantly, or I will send for the police, who 
 must be looking for you, to put you out." 
 
 As Constance hesitated, glancing toward Paul, 
 with her hands half outstretched, a dull, heavy look 
 crept over his face. He bowed his head ; without a
 
 THE CORONER'S VERDICT 135 
 
 word, without looking to right or left, he went out 
 of the house, the personification of stolidity, yawn 
 ing as he went. And when he reached home, in a 
 stupor, resembling somnambulism, he threw himself 
 on his bed, and sank at once into a dreamless sleep 
 that lasted unbroken until morning. 
 
 That day, the inquest was held. From the facts 
 established there seemed no escape from the con 
 clusion that the trunk in the burning wreck had con 
 tained the body of Edith Breen. The agent testified 
 that Paul had shipped this trunk, addressed to him 
 self, to be delivered at the Central Station in Car- 
 teret. Adolph, with apparent reluctance, deposed 
 as to his interview with Paul. Mr. Breen produced 
 the will of his brother Neil, showing how material 
 an interest Paul had in his sister's death, and then 
 detailed his unfeeling conduct when informed of 
 that event. Mrs. Breen testified to the quarrel be 
 tween Edith and Paul, and his threats to her, sub 
 sequently repeated to herself. Paul, on going to the 
 stand of his own volition, made an unfavorable im 
 pression by his confused and unsatisfactory account 
 of his actions. Everything pointed out the one and 
 only criminal. Without leaving their seats, the 
 jury rendered a verdict that Edith Breen had been 
 done to death by her brother, Paul Breen. There 
 upon he was committed without bail, charged with 
 deliberate and premeditated murder.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE 'ATTORNEY FOR THE PEOPLE 
 
 A POLITICAL uprising of the people is likely to be 
 a temporary triumph of logic. The right man for 
 once is chosen for the right place, and then there is 
 a relapse to those haphazard methods of luck and 
 influence which make our boasted civilization not 
 only free but easy. 
 
 John Strain's fight against local corruption, 
 adroitly reinforced as it was by Adolph's astute 
 methods, had its logical results. In the fall, he was 
 swept into the office of district attorney by a tre 
 mendous majority. Then the ordinary citizen de 
 voted himself once more to his private affairs, con 
 fident that public business, for a time at least, would 
 receive an equal attention. 
 
 Public business at this juncture, in the minds of 
 the many, meant the " Breen Murder Case." 
 Though the defendant had waived examination, 
 and, since his first incoherent protestations of inno 
 cence, had preserved a moody silence, popular in 
 dignation against him was still evident in wild talk 
 
 136
 
 ATTORNEY FOR THE PEOPLE 137 
 
 on the streets, and in the wilder gestures of the 
 crowd that daily thronged about the jail, causing 
 the sheriff to keep double watch and ward. Noth 
 ing could be plainer to a man of Strain's keenness 
 than that a thorough and successful prosecution of 
 this notable case would make him master of his own 
 political future. 
 
 And yet, though he had his witnesses well in 
 hand, ready for the meeting of the Grand Jury, to 
 the vigilant, tireless eyes of one person he showed 
 little of that zeal which ordinarily inspired him in 
 the conduct of an important matter. That person 
 was his wife ; and her jealousy not only interpreted 
 the cause of his seeming lukewarmness, but sug 
 gested the methods by which it might be revivified 
 and intensified to the detriment of the two beings 
 whom, above all others, she detested. 
 
 Paul she had long hated for reasons vague, psy 
 chological, instinctive, yet satisfactory and conclu 
 sive. Now, that burning, insistent hatred of him 
 included her kind, faithful and one-time congenial 
 companion, Constance Sanderson, not only on his 
 account, but also on her own, the girl's, and above 
 all, on her husband's. It made no difference that 
 she might very well know that the one and only 
 reason why Constance was closeted frequently of 
 late with John Strain was her pure affection for 
 Paul, and her absolute faith in his innocence. They,
 
 138 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 who at first had scarcely spoken to each other, were 
 now closeted together; while she, the wife, who 
 ought to be the confidante, was shut out, ignored, 
 as a negligible quantity. Did not that prove that 
 her husband had had a sinister motive when he had 
 induced her to employ this creature? Did not his 
 present conduct tally with the slights and shames 
 he had put on her for years? Well, so let it be; 
 she had one stanch avenger, and that was herself! 
 
 When all the forces of a starved, unsatisfied 
 nature are concentrated on a single object, they 
 either find an opportunity or they make one. The 
 next time that Adolph called, only to receive the 
 monotonous message that " Miss Sanderson begged 
 to be excused," Mrs. Strain beckoned him into her 
 own sitting-room. 
 
 " She is shut up in the library, as usual, with 
 John," she said viciously. 
 
 " Ah, improving each shining hour like our un 
 exceptionable friend, the bee ? " 
 
 " Improving each possible chance to say a good 
 word for that abominable cousin of yours. I'm 
 sorry to say so, Adolph, but Miss Sanderson has 
 become the intermediary of that wretch to cause 
 my husband to do less than his full duty. She neg 
 lects me shamefully, spending all her time in con 
 cocting schemes in the jail, and then carrying them 
 out in the library. Mark my words : Let her once
 
 ATTORNEY FOR THE PEOPLE 139 
 
 persuade John that Paul's pretended lapse of mem 
 ory is real, the result of some accident, or better 
 yet of a blow from Edith's unknown murderer, and, 
 from being his prosecutor, he will become his par- 
 tizan. He is a hard man, ah, yes, none knows it 
 so well as I ; but, above all things, he wishes to be 
 a just one." 
 
 " And then ? " asked Adolph easily. 
 
 " And then ? Why, Paul will be vindicated ; the 
 crime will pass into the mysteries, soon to be for 
 gotten, and they two will be happy on the fortune 
 that ought to be yours. Yes, yours, in the course 
 of time, when your father dies. Oh, I know very 
 well what I'm talking about ; John explained it all 
 to me when the murder first came out, and before 
 that girl had made him chicken-hearted. If Paul 
 is convicted of having killed Edith, he will lose all 
 title to an inheritance that thus would come only 
 to him through his own wrong, and the entire 
 property will go to your father as heir-at-law and 
 next of kin of Neil Breen. But what's the use of 
 talking about it; you know it much better than I 
 do." 
 
 " Yes, I do know it," admitted Adolph, with a 
 thoughtful sigh. " I have figured it all out, as any 
 other lawyer would. And now, from what you 
 say, I stand to lose both ducats and daughter." 
 
 " ' Stand to lose ? ' " repeated Mrs. Strain
 
 140 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 fiercely. " A true man advances to win. You must 
 destroy her interest in Paul, you must secure it for 
 yourself " 
 
 " She loves him, I fear curse him that I must 
 say it ! " 
 
 " She loves herself more. Take a young woman 
 like that, who has made her living, her position, by 
 her own exertions, she has an absurdly high esti 
 mation of her reputation; not character, under 
 stand, but reputation. She will do anything rather 
 than compromise herself, even change lovers, do 
 you see? You men make me positively sick, the 
 timid way you handle the women you desire as if 
 they were porcelain. Now, what prevents you from 
 turning Constance into your instrument ? one 
 doesn't have to marry a girl in her station unless 
 one wants to, you know. Why such lack of a little 
 courage, a little ingenuity, of course, and not the 
 lack, I promise you, of a serviceable friend?" So 
 speaking, Mrs. Strain changed the subject abruptly, 
 nor did Adolph succeed in recurring to it that 
 evening. 
 
 There was something in the woman's words, in 
 sidious, insinuating, vibrating with unrestrained 
 power, that inflamed Adolph's imagination. Since 
 his parting talk with Edith, his nature had either 
 deteriorated or developed it surely had changed 
 for the worse. He had stood on the Mount and
 
 ATTORNEY FOR THE PEOPLE 141 
 
 yielded to the Temptation ; thenceforth, whether or 
 no he knew the better, he must choose the worse. 
 Indeed, he had figured out all the contingencies of 
 Paul's surprising misadventure. Already they had 
 kept him silent, when a word would have set his 
 cousin free; what active hostility might they not 
 cause him to take, instigated as he now was by all 
 the elemental passions ! 
 
 What, then, had the woman meant, or, rather, 
 how much had she meant ? There was malice surely 
 in her hints; was there also truth? If Constance 
 was a mere creature of conventionalities, held in 
 check by prudence, but not by principle, why 
 shouldn't he have her instead of Paul ? Already the 
 poison had begun to work, already the girl, brought 
 out from the glow of ideality into the glare of the 
 market-place, seemed more to be desired than alto 
 gether desirable. She was beautiful, ah, yes; but 
 rather as the flower to be plucked than the star to 
 be adored ! 
 
 So Adolph mused, going from bad to worse, not 
 plotting yet, but willing to avail himself of a plot, 
 and, in his wildest thoughts, finding encouragement 
 in Mrs. Strain's assurance of a serviceable friend. 
 
 The house, which had been Judge Hazlett's, and 
 now was John Strain's by conquest of marriage, was 
 a broad and comfortable structure, with a great hall 
 way running through the centre and extending up
 
 142 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 to the roof, giving a view of the successive floors 
 with their rooms opening on galleries. Constance 
 Sanderson's room was on the second floor. It had 
 two doors ; one to the gallery overlooking the main 
 hall, and the other, which was never used and al 
 ways locked, leading to a rear passage and thence 
 to the servants' stairway. 
 
 Constance sat in this room, in somewhat melan 
 choly thought, one evening, when the Strains were 
 entertaining a few friends. She had refused to be 
 present at the gathering, thereby arousing the dis 
 pleasure of her mistress. 
 
 " I don't see why you act in such a ridiculous 
 way," Mrs. Strain had said. " Everybody will 
 know that you stay away on Paul Breen's account, 
 and yet Adolph, his own cousin more's the pity 
 is coming." 
 
 " Yes, Adolph puzzles me by his indifference," 
 the girl had replied sadly. " It must be, of course, 
 because he is so sure of Paul's innocence, but " 
 
 " That's it, no doubt," the matron had interrupted 
 with fine sarcasm. " Of course, every one thinks 
 Paul is innocent. That is why they keep him locked 
 up in a cage like some w r ild beast." 
 
 This conversation now recurred to Constance as 
 one of the many hard things she had of late been 
 forced to endure from Mrs. Strain. The woman's 
 growing malignity towards her was too evident for
 
 ATTORNEY FOR THE PEOPLE 143 
 
 question, but its cause seemed unfathomable. She 
 knew that she had pleased at first; and surely she 
 was trying even harder now. Under ordinary cir 
 cumstances, her pride would have led her long since 
 to leave her place, but on Paul's account she had 
 remained, and, on his account, she would remain if 
 possible. It must be that her daily accounts to John 
 Strain of what Paul told her would win his confi 
 dence through the intrinsic strength of truth. The 
 District Attorney was hard, every one said so; and 
 she herself had struck repeatedly against the rough, 
 unyielding substance of his nature, to be repelled as 
 if from a rock. But yet, every one said, too, that 
 he was just, and, oh, she believed it. Though he 
 had waved aside her entreaties as impertinent, he 
 had listened willingly to her arguments, anxious, 
 seemingly, to give them the weight of conviction 
 they carried to her. 
 
 As she recalled little incidents of consideration 
 from this man, harsh, self-contained, grossly mate 
 rial though he was, Constance sought gratefully for 
 something she might do or give to show her appre 
 ciation. She was so alone, so helpless, so poor. 
 But yet did not he love old books, and was there 
 not in her possession that memento of her father, 
 cherished through the years as a sacred relic, yet 
 which might well be devoted now to a still more 
 sacred cause? So reflecting, the girl hurried over
 
 144 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 to the trunk in the corner and brought out the an 
 cient volume, wrapped in white tissue-paper and tied 
 with black ribbon. As she did so, a stealthy sound 
 sent her to her feet with wildly throbbing bosom. 
 A key grated in the lock of the side-door, and then 
 turned. The side-door opened softly, and closed 
 again; and Adolph Breen stood before her. 
 
 " How dare you " she began. 
 
 " Hear me first," he interrupted with a reassur 
 ing gesture, " and remember that the people below 
 are certain to put the worst construction on any out 
 cry, and that there are things for which a man may 
 be forgiven, but a woman, never. All I want is to 
 have a frank and full understanding with you. The 
 time has come when you must cast in your lot with 
 me for good or for bad. You won't hear me? 
 You're bound to disgrace yourself?" he whispered 
 tremulously, torn by chagrin and fear, as Constance 
 pressed by him, in her cold silence, the very type of 
 abhorrence : " Well, go, then, you proud fool ; but 
 dare to mention my name, and I'll hang Paul " 
 
 The decorous guests below were enjoying them 
 selves mildly after their kind, when a door on the 
 second gallery slammed violently, and Constance 
 Sanderson, darting down the stairs, confronted Mrs. 
 Strain as she came bustling forward. 
 
 " So it was you, madam," the girl exclaimed, 
 pale, agitated, yet with an indomitable light in her
 
 ATTORNEY FOR THE PEOPLE 145 
 
 eyes, " yes, it must have been you who contrived 
 this foul insult against one who never injured you, 
 one under your protection. Shame upon you, I say ; 
 shame in the name of pure womanhood." 
 
 For a moment, Mrs. Strain cowered, disconcerted, 
 confused. Then she caught a glimpse of Adolph 
 coming carelessly into the hall from the rear, as if 
 ignorant of what had occurred. With the instanta 
 neous, comprising vision which imminent necessity 
 often gives to the feminine mind, she saw that, if 
 her plotting had failed in one way, it might prove 
 successful in another and even more desirable one. 
 Constance's courage had evidently been stronger 
 than had seemed probable ; but would not the result 
 of it drive away the girl in disgrace from her house ? 
 
 Adolph must have protected himself in some fash 
 ion; his manner asserted that plainly. Likely 
 enough he had threatened to work Paul's destruc 
 tion ; and she who had been so stout-hearted for 
 her own sake would, with this in mind, prove as 
 wax for the sake of her lover. Very well, then; 
 it was the one chance to take. If the girl couldn't 
 accuse, she might be accused with impunity. 
 
 " Hoity-toity," cried Mrs. Strain. " Do you 
 think to face me down in my own house by such 
 heroics? There is an explanation due from you to 
 me, my young lady, not from me to you. I asked 
 you kindly to join us this evening; but no, you pre-
 
 146 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 ferred for some reason to secrete yourself in your 
 room. If you have been insulted, if you are blame 
 less, tell us plainly just what has happened. We 
 are all friends here." 
 
 " Yes, Miss Sanderson, we are all friends here," 
 Adolph repeated gently, as he pressed forward. 
 
 Constance gasped, as well she might, for John 
 Strain now pushed his broad shoulders through the 
 throng. " Yes, speak up frankly and without fear," 
 he said admonishingly. " You must realize that 
 such intemperate words, uttered before my guests, 
 can not pass unexplained under my roof." 
 
 " Your wife knows," she faltered ; tf she must 
 have let him in through the side-door of my room." 
 
 " Let whom in, you hussy ? " screamed Mrs. 
 Strain; and those standing about nodded concur 
 rence. 
 
 Constance looked full at Adolph. He smiled 
 back a challenge in insolent superiority. She re 
 membered his threat she hesitated she made 
 up her mind. She dared not sacrifice Paul. 
 
 " I can not name him," she protested to Mrs. 
 Strain, " but you did it." 
 
 "I did it? Oh, isn't the brazen wickedness of 
 this creature beyond all bearing?" that lady re 
 torted. " Don't you see, my husband, don't you see, 
 my friends, what must have happened? Taking 
 advantage of our little gathering, she managed to
 
 ATTORNEY FOR THE PEOPLE 147 
 
 conceal some low admirer of hers in her room. 
 Then why then, they quarrelled, and exposure 
 seemed to be upon them. He fled by the back way, 
 and she, thinking they had been overheard to 
 shield him, to salve her shame has trumped up 
 this ridiculous story. It must be so; let her deny 
 it if she dare. Why, not a week ago, she persuaded 
 me to let her have the key of her side-door." 
 
 " I certainly heard loud voices," said an imagi 
 native guest. 
 
 " Yes, and a scream," added another, more im 
 aginative. 
 
 Constance looked on those she had counted as 
 friends; they turned their faces from her. She 
 looked on Adolph; he showed a pained expression. 
 She looked on her mistress, and the woman shot 
 back the fires of relentless triumph. She looked on 
 John Strain, the hard, but just, man. His brows 
 had lowered, his lips were set. Merciful God, might 
 it not be that in his unbelief of her would also be 
 included an unbelief of Paul ! She was condemned, 
 rejected, most despitefully treated; and yet the 
 thought of how far more pitiful was her lover's con 
 dition brought back her pride and strength with 
 every pulsation of her loyal heart. Paul needed her ; 
 she would live, she would serve him. Paul needed 
 her; she would put her trust in God. Without a 
 word, without a glance, she passed through the part-
 
 148 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 ing guests. Only as she reached John Strain, stand 
 ing apart, moody, sulky, brooding, she realized, for 
 the first time, that she held in her hand, pressed to 
 her bosom, her father's book. " You have been 
 good to me," she whispered. " Please keep this 
 until the days come when you will think better of 
 me." And then she went out into the night. 
 
 Out into the night went Constance Sanderson, 
 like distressed maiden of old, attended only by her 
 virtue and her grace. With head erect, she looked 
 up at the stars as serenely as they looked down upon 
 her. She lived, she loved; and she was pure of 
 heart. Why should she fear? Light would come 
 after the darkness, kindness would succeed the tri 
 umph of malicious wish and jealous rage. Some 
 where in that world where good people still dwelt 
 there was a home for her, in which she might still 
 work for Paul. Let her soul, therefore, be lifted 
 up within her, for God reigned and His mercy en 
 dured forever! 
 
 From this state of exaltation Constance was re 
 called suddenly by a feeble voice crying for help. 
 The road along which she had been walking was 
 lonesome, with few houses and no persons in sight. 
 She peered this way and that before she could locate 
 the sound. Then she caught the glimmer of some 
 thing shining on the adjacent bank, and quickly 
 discovered there an old man, with long, flowing,
 
 ATTORNEY FOR THE PEOPLE 149 
 
 white beard, his eyes shielded in front and at the 
 side by black glasses. He explained, in a few words, 
 that, though totally blind, he was able to go to and 
 from the court, where he held the position of crier, 
 if only some one placed him on a car that ran within 
 a block of the County Building and of his home. 
 Returning late, to-night, a mistake had been made; 
 for, on alighting at what had seemed the proper 
 distance to him, he had found none of the signs by 
 which he determined locality. Therefore, for fear 
 lest he might come to a worse pass, he had waited 
 patiently for a helping hand. His name, he said, 
 was Phineas Twigg, and he lived with his daughter 
 Millicent, who would be glad indeed to thank Con 
 stance for her kindness to him. 
 
 " She might not be," Constance replied impul 
 sively as she conducted the old man along the road, 
 " if she knew what some people think of me." 
 
 " What some people think, my dear," Mr. Twigg 
 asserted, " can make no possible difference to me ; 
 for I know that you are a good, true girl, full of 
 trouble, no doubt, but free from guile or sin." 
 
 " You know? " repeated Constance, wonderingly. 
 
 " Yes, I know. There are compensations ac 
 corded the blind, which, in some ways at least, make 
 up for their deprivations. For instance, my ear has 
 become as vibrant to the truth as the stretched 
 string is to the faintest current of air. I recognize
 
 150 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 its tones as I do the voice of a friend ; and I never 
 have been, I never can be, mistaken. Come, then, 
 home with me, since for some reason your own 
 home is so cold and distressful for you. Come 
 home, if only to rest for a while. Millicent will 
 welcome you; and when you feel that you know 
 her and trust her, tell your troubles to her, in order 
 that she and I may help you." 
 
 And, while Constance was finding so truly that 
 good people still dwelt in the world, John Strain, 
 in his library, was undergoing that revulsion of 
 sentiment and predisposition which she had seemed 
 to read in his very mien. There was never any 
 half-way for his obduracy. A person, or a thing, 
 was either all right, or all wrong. He tossed the 
 book Constance had pressed upon him carelessly on 
 a back shelf, as he paced up and down, thinking how 
 close he had been to allowing her to beguile him 
 into a mistaken mercy. Never, never, again would 
 he hesitate. The law was a vast machine, set in 
 motion for the safety of the people; and he who 
 failed to carry out his allotted part without shadow 
 of turning, failed in his sworn duty. Adolph, who 
 was with him, attempted now and again, so it 
 seemed, to assuage his righteous indignation; but, 
 somehow, what he said was but adding fuel to fire. 
 
 " He may have done it in the heat of passion," 
 the young lawyer pleaded as a last resort.
 
 ATTORNEY FOR THE PEOPLE 151 
 
 " Nonsense, rot, utter drivel," roared John Strain, 
 red- faced and truculent. " Adolph, your intentions 
 may be all right, but I hope you will never try any 
 of our cases in like fashion. Why, your logic, sir, 
 is damnable. Do those who murder in the heat of 
 passion arrange beforehand how to dispose of the 
 bodies of their victims, as this villain must have 
 done? No, no'j I'll hear no more. As there's a 
 God in heaven, I'll avenge the sordid, deliberate 
 slaughtering of that little girl; as there's a God in 
 heaven, I'll swing that execrable cousin of yours. 
 So be it unto me, and more, if I fail ! "
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 PAUL'S TRIAL 
 
 BUT John Strain, once engaged heart and soul 
 in the preparation for Paul's conviction, found little 
 of that stern joy which warriors feel in foemen 
 worthy of their steel. The contrast between the 
 strength of the prosecution and the weakness of the 
 defence was too marked for that. On his side were 
 the people, strong in the belief that the railway ac 
 cident was the interposition of the hand of Aven 
 ging Justice, and fortifying their assurance of Paul's 
 guilt with the old adage, " Murder will out." He 
 had, too, all the wealth of the County, and the power 
 of its police behind him. On the other side, Paul 
 was friendless and poor. His relatives had repudi 
 ated him ; and for this reason he had refused to 
 accept the help they had coldly tendered. He was 
 thus forced to entrust his case to a young lawyer, 
 assigned by the Court, whose hands he made haste 
 to tie by insisting that under no circumstances would 
 he submit to medical examination, nor permit the 
 question of his sanity to be raised. 
 
 152
 
 PAUL'S TRIAL 153 
 
 This young lawyer was soon sick of his task, and 
 hopeless of any success; as appeared from a talk 
 he had with the District Attorney, during a chance 
 meeting a few days before the term set for trial. 
 
 " Hello, Chadwick," said Strain. " I hear you 
 are going to move for an adjournment." 
 
 " I ought to, and it ought to be granted," replied 
 the other. " But what can you do with a client 
 who vetoes every sensible suggestion, and insists 
 that there shall be no delays, no technical defences, 
 but that all the facts shall be brought out as speed 
 ily as may be ? " 
 
 " I know what I shall do to him," retorted Strain, 
 with a grim shake of his head, longing for the vig 
 orous resistance that would excite his powers of in 
 vestigation, of logical arrangement, of denunciatory 
 eloquence. 
 
 On the morning of the trial, as the two lawyers 
 came together, while the Court was engaged in set 
 tling its calendar, Mr. Chadwick spoke earnestly to 
 the District Attorney in an undertone. Strain shook 
 his head, and smiled disdainfully; whereupon the 
 other, with a resigned shrug of the shoulders, took 
 his seat beside Constance Sanderson, who seemed 
 the only friend of the man about to be tried for his 
 life. 
 
 " I asked him whether he would accept a plea of 
 guilty to a less degree," he whispered, " and you
 
 154 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 saw how he answered. Well, perhaps it's just as 
 well, though I want to try every chance; for if he 
 had agreed I don't believe I could persuade Breen 
 to enter such a plea." 
 
 " Of course you couldn't," Constance replied in 
 dignantly. " Paul is not guilty." 
 
 " Let us admit it, but how can we show it ? You 
 can't make evidence out of nothing, Miss Sander 
 son. I never knew of such a desperate case. The 
 only thing I can do is to throw doubt on the corpus 
 delicti, and then try to induce the jury to believe 
 that Breen is irresponsible." 
 
 " Paul is not insane," again protested Constance, 
 with a little sob. 
 
 " Well, I nearly am," sighed Mr. Chadwick, as 
 he started to take his place at the table in front of 
 the bar. 
 
 The case was called. The indictment dragged its 
 slow length of legal verbiage to an incomprehensible 
 end of its terrible repetitions. Paul pleaded " Not 
 guilty ; " standing erect, with head tossed back, his 
 wan face showing a flush, his eyes flashing fear 
 lessly, for the instant transformed by the magic of 
 conscious innocence from the dull, apathetic crea 
 ture who had seemed too inert for passing pity. 
 And Constance's heart leaped rapturously in her 
 bosom with the hope that the change had come, only 
 to resume its painful throbbing as he settled back
 
 PAUL'S TRIAL 155 
 
 in his chair, again the most unconcerned of specta 
 tors. 
 
 Then Strain opened the case, and an admirable 
 statement it was, though a dry one. No eloquence 
 was expended upon the demonstration of Paul's 
 position and Paul's character; they were left to 
 speak for themselves. The peculiar will was set 
 forth and explained, and even the stupidest of the 
 jurymen comprehended that this brooding, melan 
 choly young man had found himself about to be 
 thrust from a life of ease and luxury merely by the 
 passing of the years that brought his sister to 
 womanhood. Her existence meant poverty; her 
 death would mean wealth. Paul's silent abstraction 
 was interpreted as the germination of criminal im 
 pulse. His experiments were derided as pretences 
 for delay, mere subterfuges to gain time, in which 
 he himself had had no faith. It was alleged that 
 he had been without even the remote chance of win 
 ning the contingent bequest; while the desires of 
 his heart were so urgent that, even if he could have 
 been assured of it at the age of forty, it would have 
 seemed too late. 
 
 The lack of sympathy between brother and sister 
 was skilfully exaggerated into an enmity, a hate that 
 could not be quenched, a jealousy that was murder 
 ous, beginning in childhood, and possibly fostered 
 by parental partiality. Then Edith's escapades were
 
 156 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 recounted, and it was asserted that the accused had 
 relied upon them to explain her disappearance from 
 home, if his crime should be successful. The Dis 
 trict Attorney admitted with a show of fairness that 
 all these were merely deductions, that might be 
 minimized or explained away, had they not been 
 illuminated by the murderous threats overheard by 
 the prisoner's own relatives, and confirmed by the 
 providential discovery of the body in the trunk. 
 But the awful power that guides the destinies of 
 earthly beings had said, " This shall not be." The 
 unforeseen had happened; a puff of steam escapes, 
 a train is delayed, another dashes upon it, and be 
 hold a foul murder is revealed, and the blood of 
 the slain cries from the ground for vengeance! 
 
 Strain described the crime in its terrible inge 
 nuity. He showed how the young girl had been 
 called to the upper room by adroitly devised lures 
 addressed to her curiosity. He depicted the quick, 
 deadly fall of the hammer upon the childish curly 
 head bent over some object the brother had ex 
 hibited to his sister's wondering eyes. The scream, 
 the downward plunge, the silence, the disposal of 
 the body in the trunk, already prepared for its re 
 ception, the shipping of this ghastly freight to Paul 
 himself, the accident that made all calculations 
 futile all were related with a straightforward 
 simplicity that thrilled and horrified the court room.
 
 PAUL'S TRIAL 157 
 
 The witnesses confirmed all that the District At 
 torney had formulated. The body was identified as 
 that of Edith Breen, though Mr. Chadwick strove 
 manfully on cross-examination to raise the merciful 
 doubt. Mrs. Breen's evidence began the direct 
 proof of the murder. Her appearance, poor woman, 
 so bowed under the burden of grief, horror and 
 shame, and so unlike the placid comfort she had 
 once embodied, was a striking commentary to her 
 sincerity, as she told the story of the threats she had 
 overheard Paul making to his sister, threats which 
 he had afterward reiterated with such singular bit 
 terness to herself. 
 
 Mr. Chadwick again cross-examined, not unskil 
 fully, bringing out all of Edith's nomadic traits, her 
 dislike of restraint, her rebellion under discipline, 
 together with a full account of her flight from 
 boarding-school, and her running away " toward 
 the setting sun." 
 
 Mrs. Breen's eyes were averted from the prisoner 
 as she testified ; she was convinced of his guilt ; she 
 could not endure the sight of his face, blurred and 
 blighted, as it seemed, by abominable wickedness. 
 But, as she stepped from the stand and by his chair, 
 she laid her hand shrinkingly on her nephew's 
 shoulder. " Oh, Paul, how could you? " she sobbed. 
 
 Matilda Grafton, a servant at the Breens' home, 
 identified the clothing and two long braids of hair,
 
 158 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 found in a dark corner of the attic, where Edith had 
 thrust them. The station-agent recounted the inter 
 view when Paul had delivered the trunk to him, 
 dilating upon the trembling, the confusion, the pre 
 occupied air, so noticeable in his appearance. Mr. 
 Breen told of Paul's demeanor when the body had 
 been found, and repeated his startled inquiry about 
 the trunk a damning confession, it seemed now 
 his artful suggestion that Edith had run away 
 again, and the cold-hearted indifference, unable even 
 to feign a grief. And Paul bent forward as his 
 uncle testified, with the manner of one hearing 
 strange tidings to which he must give full credence 
 through his respect for the bearer. 
 
 Then Adolph testified, reluctantly, yet firmly. 
 His appearance on the stand was admirable, typify 
 ing the well-equipped, conscientious lawyer, cut off 
 from the influences of natural affection by his deep 
 sense of the obligations of his oath. He told of his 
 interview with Paul, of the blood found upon the 
 towel and of Paul's failure to account for it save by 
 a self-evident lie at once exposed when the search 
 for a wound on his head proved in vain. He told 
 of Paul's admission that his experiments had been 
 futile, and of his pretended inability to account for 
 his actions. But, in this direct examination, he 
 made no mention of the laudanum in Paul's attic- 
 room. That, his trained judgment told him, would
 
 PAUL'S TRIAL 159 
 
 keep for the present; why should he appear to vol 
 unteer damaging information while Constance San 
 derson's dark eyes were set so searchingly upon 
 him? 
 
 An old lawyer is chary of cross-examining a 
 brother practitioner, but Mr. Chadwick had all the 
 rashness of inexperience. By repeated and reiter 
 ated questions he strove to fix in the minds of the 
 jury a vivid impression of Paul's illogical and stupid 
 behavior after the exposure of the crime the ill- 
 judged admissions, the lack of an attempted defence 
 all of which Adolph answered patiently but pity 
 ingly. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Breen," persisted the lawyer, " won't 
 you summarize as well as you can for this jury just 
 how your cousin appeared to you on the morning 
 in question ? " 
 
 " Why, he acted as if drugged." 
 
 " Drugged ? How could he be drugged ? Where 
 did he have any access to drugs ? " 
 
 " Why, of course, he had laudanum among his 
 drugs in the laboratory. Hasn't that been brought 
 out?" 
 
 " How do you know he had ? " 
 
 " He told me so." 
 
 "Yes, but did he admit he used it himself? " 
 
 " He did. He said he used it." 
 
 " Do you mean to swear that he admitted he had
 
 160 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 taken laudanum that morning or within a short 
 time?" 
 
 " I mean to swear to the exact truth. He said he 
 didn't know; that he sometimes used it." 
 
 " And it was your impression that he was at that 
 time under the influence of laudanum?" 
 
 " I am not an expert," Adolph replied stiffly. 
 " He did not act like himself ; " and Mr. Chadwick, 
 fearful lest he had done more harm than good to his 
 cause by bringing out this new evidence, motioned 
 to the witness to leave the stand. 
 
 Mr. Chadwick's opening was brief, but to the 
 point. He claimed that the identification of the 
 charred and distorted remains as those of Edith 
 Breen had been unsatisfactory and incomplete. He 
 enlarged on the girl's wandering disposition, and 
 ventured the prediction that at that very moment 
 she was alive and well, careless of all the conse 
 quences of her mad conduct, and intent only on the 
 joys of sight-seeing and freedom from proper re 
 straint. He would be content, he asserted, to rest 
 his case on this failure of proof of the first essential 
 of murder, namely, the corpus delicti, but contrary 
 to his advice, his client insisted on testifying. 
 " Take the stand, Mr. Breen," he concluded. " I 
 will not ask you questions, as you prefer to make 
 your own statement." 
 
 "Your honor, and gentlemen of the jury," said
 
 PAUL'S TRIAL 161 
 
 Paul, in a clear voice, keeping his feet, and bearing 
 himself much as he had when pleading to the indict 
 ment, " the witnesses against me have, with one ex 
 ception, testified to the truth as far as I know it. 
 The exception is the statement that I used opium, or 
 admitted its use. I believe I stated to my cousin 
 that I had a bottle of laudanum among my chem 
 icals, but I did not say I used it. That may be a mis 
 take of his memory, or I may have said something 
 that misled him. I recall the visit to the station, as 
 described by the agent, but, if I shipped a trunk, I 
 do not know why I did so, or what it contained. 
 Then, I returned to my home, but I cannot in any 
 way account for myself until I found myself lying 
 upon the floor of my room. My memory of any 
 time that may have elapsed until I found myself 
 there is completely gone. You must do justice as 
 it seems right to you but, while Edith Breen and 
 I were not always to one another what a loving 
 sister and brother should be, I did care enough for 
 her to have given my life to protect hers, and God 
 in heaven knows I have no knowledge how she came 
 to her death." 
 
 There was a sigh and then silence in the court 
 room, as Paul finished, but the good effect of his 
 frankness did not last long. 
 
 " Let's see about all this," rasped John Strain's 
 voice. " At the period, just prior to the disappear-
 
 162 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 ance, we will say, of your sister, were you worried 
 about the future, and anxious to settle yourself for 
 life?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " This secret work, whatever it was, you were 
 doing in your laboratory, did it give you any rea 
 sonable expectation that it might furnish you with 
 an adequate livelihood ? " 
 
 " I cannot say that it did." 
 
 " One other line of thought. You are a gradu 
 ated doctor of medicine? " 
 
 " I am." 
 
 " I may assume, then, that you are familiar with 
 the nature and properties of laudanum ? Very well ; 
 what is laudanum ? " 
 
 " It is the tincture of crude opium, largely used 
 in medicine." 
 
 " A narcotic ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " A nerve-quieter ; at times even a nerve-stimu 
 lant?" 
 
 " Yes, in certain doses it might produce either of 
 these effects." 
 
 " Then, under such conditions, it might either 
 fortify the nerves for the commission of some crime, 
 or calm them from the agitation resulting from its 
 commission ? " 
 
 " It might."
 
 PAUL'S TRIAL 163 
 
 " That will do," said John Strain ; and, when 
 Paul Breen resumed his seat by the long table in 
 front of the bar, the dull shade again crept over his 
 face. He rested his head on his hand, with half- 
 closed eyes, indifferent that each tick of the great 
 court-clock brought him nearer and nearer to 
 doom. 
 
 But John Strain, when, at length, he rose to close 
 for the prosecution, treated these two lines of 
 thought, thus developed by cross-examination, with 
 more consideration. Again and again he drove 
 them home, until the motive for the deed and the 
 false courage which had inspired or sustained it 
 were manifest to the most sluggish mind. He ex 
 plained discrepancies, reminding the jury that the 
 defence was lacking only because " it had been 
 ground to powder and burned to ashes in the crash 
 and flame of the colliding trains." Then he warned 
 them solemnly of the defendant's counsel's evident 
 purpose to beguile them. " They dared not raise 
 directly the issue of sanity," he thundered, " well 
 knowing that our experts would laugh them out of 
 court, but by innuendo, misdirection, and the ap 
 pearance of the defendant himself, as he cowers 
 gibbering before you, they hope for some forbear 
 ance on the ground of irresponsibility." 
 
 Paul suddenly interrupted. " I am not irrespon 
 sible," he declared sharply. " I absolutely refused
 
 164 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 to have my sanity questioned. I am sane, and in 
 my right mind." 
 
 " Sane? yes," repeated the District Attorney, 
 with a cruel smile ; " legally sane, legally responsible 
 for your evil doing. But not in your right mind. 
 That mind of yours has been polluted by vile pas 
 sions, and seared by the fires of cruel jealousy and 
 deadly hatred. It was right in the bygone days 
 when you sported with your baby-sister, proud to 
 be her natural protector; but now it is wrong, irre 
 trievably wrong, debased, diabolical, in that it could 
 have conceived the shedding of her innocent blood. 
 Gentlemen, that blood cries out to you for justice. 
 Before its mute eloquence, oratory is abashed, and 
 human talents are vain. The law exacts the pen 
 alty of a life for a life. Let your verdict be as sure, 
 as inevitable as was that act of Providence which 
 brought this hideous crime to light." 
 
 The judge in his charge did not bear so heavily 
 upon the prisoner as the assembled Bar had ex 
 pected. He dwelt somewhat technically on the sub 
 ject of the corpus delicti, holding, indeed, that the 
 proof had been sufficient, yet differentiating and 
 making distinctions, in his desire to be fair, likely 
 to befog the ordinary juror's mind. He pointed 
 out, too, that the evidence was circumstantial only, 
 and made so much of this that, had there been any 
 reasonable explanation of the prisoner's lack of
 
 PAUL'S TRIAL 165 
 
 memory, there might have been a chance, in the 
 opinion of the Bar, for a disagreement. As it was, 
 they whispered to one another that "" Chadwick had 
 saved his client's neck." 
 
 This expert judgment was verified when the jury, 
 after a brief absence, returned with a verdict of 
 " guilty of murder in the second degree." There 
 were a few buzzing formalities, and then, having 
 waived any right of delay, Paul was sentenced to 
 imprisonment in the state prison at Roscoe for the 
 term of his natural life. When that sentence was 
 recorded he ceased to be a man, and became a mere 
 chattel of the law, entitled to restricted care, but 
 deprived of his natural rights. Had he been mar 
 ried, his wife would have now been widowed; did 
 he have property, it was now subject to administra 
 tion. And yet, as he was led away, Constance San 
 derson smiled tenderly after him, through her tears. 
 
 As John Strain gathered together his papers, 
 there was a light tap, tap, on the floor, and the blind 
 Crier, his cane in one hand, and feeling along the 
 lawyer's table with the other, came to his side. 
 
 " The District Attorney? " he said inquiringly. 
 
 " I'm here, Phineas," John Strain answered. 
 
 " I want you to listen to me, sir. You know my 
 belief?" 
 
 " Yes, I have heard of your notion about 
 voices "
 
 166 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " It is not a notion, Mr. Strain," the old man in 
 sisted respectfully. " It is faith in an inspiration 
 that comes from above in recompense for my loss 
 of worldly light." 
 
 '* Yes, I know," said John Strain absently. 
 
 " But listen," persisted Phineas impressively, his 
 hand raised like an ancient prophet. " You have 
 meant to do your duty, no doubt ; and yet the law's 
 ermine has been soiled, this day. Paul Breen knows 
 nothing of his sister's death, and his cousin, Adolph, 
 knows more of it than he has told." 
 
 John Strain's face flushed. " Come, come, you 
 go too far," he said. " This is mere moonshine, and 
 your brain is out of joint, old man. You don't want 
 to lose your place, do you? Well, then, be more 
 chary of speaking evil. of reputable members of this 
 Bar." 
 
 " I must speak the truth, Mr. District Attorney. 
 Paul Breen is an innocent man, and his cousin is a 
 liar and a perjurer." 
 
 John Strain turned away, and then came back 
 impulsively. " I didn't mean to be severe on you, 
 Phineas," he explained, almost apologetically. 
 " We all have our superstitions and weaknesses, 
 without the good excuse that exists in your case. 
 Now that it's over, I don't mind admitting that there 
 is something about Paul Breen that appeals strongly 
 to me. I noticed it the first day I ever saw him;
 
 PAUL'S TRIAL 167 
 
 and after his arrest, why, his own lawyer couldn't 
 have searched harder for an innocent solution of 
 his conduct than I did. Even now, I can't help feel 
 ing glad that he escaped with less than his just ; 
 deserts; though why I should give a thought to 
 the bloodthirsty villain who knows ? " 
 
 " Good night, Mr. Strain," Phineas answered. 
 " You will live to see him cleared." 
 
 Whether or no this incident had more than a pass 
 ing effect on the District Attorney's mind, he ap 
 peared subdued and thoughtful on his homeward 
 way. His wife greeted him at the door with open 
 arms. " Oh, you convicted him, you convicted 
 him," she cried joyously. " I knew you would, I 
 knew you would. This is the proudest, happiest 
 day of my life. What a great trial it was, and what 
 a grand lawyer you are, my husband." 
 
 " Bah," replied John Strain, with a surly shrug 
 of his shoulders ; " I'm sick of the mention of it. 
 The whole thing went by default. No credit in that, 
 my dear; it was nothing more or less than what 
 we lawyers call an inquest."
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 CIVILLY DEAD 
 
 ON the day before that set for his removal to 
 Roscoe prison, Constance Sanderson, with the old 
 court-officer, came to bid Paul farewell. Phineas 
 remained outside, and she entered the cell alone. 
 Paul was sitting, quietly reading. She said nothing 
 at first, simply holding out her hand. 
 
 "Why do you come, Constance? " he asked, ris 
 ing, but with a distant air. " Do you not know that 
 I am the same as dead ? " 
 
 She smiled and still held out her hand, but made 
 no reply. Paul hesitated, then took her hand in 
 both his own, and his composure gave way. There 
 was one pitiful sob, wrung from the agony of 
 months. She stood close beside him, blessing and 
 tranquillizing with the faith in her eyes. 
 
 Then she spoke : 
 
 " Paul, let us be thankful that you are to have 
 the opportunity to prove your innocence. I have no 
 one in the world to care for but you. Until you are 
 
 168
 
 CIVILLY DEAD 169 
 
 again free, I shall think of nothing but how to save 
 you." 
 
 " How can you how can any one believe me 
 innocent? Who knows that I am innocent?" Paul 
 broke out bitterly. " My God, if I must say it, I do 
 not know it myself. I know nothing of the whole, 
 awful happening. Perhaps in some horrible dream, 
 some hypnotic, subsconscious frenzy, I did kill that 
 poor child. Who can tell? " 
 
 " Hush, dear, you must not say such things," 
 Constance warned, calmly and confidently. " I can 
 not argue learnedly about it, but I know that, .what 
 ever state you may have been in, you could not have 
 done so cowardly and cruel a deed. The human 
 soul is a mystery to us all; exterior agencies mjjy 
 bring vicious impulses to growth and fruition; but 
 no fibre of your being ever conceived any harm to 
 another, least of all to your little sister, and no such 
 wicked purpose ever found lodgment within you. 
 That is my faith; and you owe it to yourself, to 
 me, to put aside the weak, unmanly doubts, bred by 
 circumstances, these, surroundings " 
 
 " Ah, Constance, you are right, you are always 
 right. I never had, it is true, a sense of guilt; I 
 am assured, it is true, of my innocence ; and I will 
 keep the faith, I promise you. But facts are too 
 much for me. The question is settled; I am con 
 demned for life. Why, then, did you come? I
 
 170 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 hoped you wouldn't come. You must know what 
 you have been to me. I hoped, one day, you would 
 marry me ; and now, and now " 
 
 " I know, dear ; I know, I hoped that you would 
 ask me ; and, now that you will not, I give you my 
 promise that my life shall be yours, Paul. We shall 
 belong to one another, here or hereafter ; be sure of 
 it. And I have faith that some time, in the future, 
 in our future, you will be cleared, and will come 
 to claim my promise. Until then, at least have 
 hope." 
 
 "What can you do alone?" Paul exclaimed. 
 Even her promise had hardly moved him. She 
 seemed like a being from another world who could 
 not remain with him, and with whom he could 
 not go. It was all as real, it was all as unreal, as 
 death. 
 
 " I am not alone," Constance answered ; " nor am 
 I the only believer in you. I have said nothing to 
 you of my own troubles until now, but I hope you 
 will be helped by thinking of others. I am no 
 longer with the Strains as you know but you 
 do not know that I was forced to leave them by 
 the combined malice of Mrs. Strain and of Adolph. 
 Paul, Adolph hates you. It may be partly jealousy ; 
 he certainly has some fancied attraction toward me, 
 and is shrewd enough to have guessed that I cared 
 only for you. There may be other reasons, too,
 
 CIVILLY DEAD 171 
 
 which I can feel, but not fathom; but it is also be 
 cause he knows you despise the objects of his dear 
 est ambitions I realized this the first time I saw 
 you two together." 
 
 " I don't despise them; I care nothing for them." 
 
 " It is the same thing. He wishes to excel you, 
 and it angers him that you care nothing for his 
 success." 
 
 " Great God," Paul cried ; " think of me now." 
 
 " I am talking of the past. We must understand 
 everything, and most of all, Adolph. Paul, I am 
 afraid of him. Even now, I fear he will not cease 
 his evil-wishing, his evil-plotting. But we are not 
 alone ;- there are two others who will do everything 
 to help me. I am living with Phineas Twigg, and 
 his daughter Millicent ; and they both are eager to 
 aid in clearing up the mystery of your condemna 
 tion." 
 
 " What do they know ? how can they believe 
 in me ? " Paul asked hopelessly. 
 
 Constance explained the blind Crier's faith in his 
 faculty of detecting truth or falsity of speech. 
 
 Paul sighed, but said nothing. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I know," she continued. " It seems a 
 mere whim to you, and so it seemed to me at first, 
 though he trusted me at once when I was in sore 
 trouble, dear " 
 
 " God bless him for that," cried Paul.
 
 172 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " But I have learned to think differently since I 
 have known his daughter. She is clever, acute, in 
 clined to look at things with a sort of amused skep 
 ticism ; and yet she has absolute faith in her father's 
 powers. Paul, she is a wonderful girl. At first, I 
 was afraid of her; she is so high-spirited and proud, 
 so quick to resent, so strong in her indignation. 
 But, oh, she has been so good to me! She has the 
 loyalty of a man, joined to the tenderness of a 
 woman ; and it is these qualities that make her sym 
 pathies and her prejudices so hot and impulsive. 
 She is devout, too, though without a speck of cant ; 
 and is as full of fun as if she was a most miserable 
 sinner there ! " 
 
 Paul smiled faintly at this truly feminine defi 
 nition; and Constance went on, vastly encour 
 aged. 
 
 " Millicent says that her father never makes a 
 mistake, in court or out, and that, if he believes in 
 your innocence, that is stronger than a dozen stupid 
 acquittals." 
 
 " But, my dear Constance, all this man claims is 
 the power of detecting falsehood. Of course, I told 
 no falsehood but " 
 
 " No buts, remember," she warned. " Your tes 
 timony is not the important matter, at all. Phineas 
 Twigg says that one witness at your trial did not 
 tell the truth.'*
 
 CIVILLY DEAD 173 
 
 Paul raised his head, startled. "Who was it?" 
 he demanded. 
 
 " Your cousin, Adolph," Constance answered. 
 " Mr. Twigg says he is a perjurer, and that he did 
 not tell all he knows 
 
 There came a rap, rap, as the day- jailor beat im 
 patiently with his key without. Constance, white 
 and trembling, leaned against the wall. 
 
 " Oh, my darling," cried Paul, himself again in 
 the supreme consciousness of her grief. " Do not 
 feel badly. I will do everything you wish have 
 faith in my innocence, have hope in our future. 
 Forgive my selfish absorption ; forgive my dull ap 
 preciation of your devotion. Oh, God, I am not 
 what I am; but, whatever my state, spell-bound, 
 stricken, oblivious of all save shadows, I love you, 
 I worship you, my dear." 
 
 And yet, hardly had the girl's light steps died 
 away along the corridor, before he resumed his 
 reading, apprehensive, truly, of a burden of woe, 
 yet so vaguely that it was an effort almost painful 
 for him to concentrate his thoughts and determine 
 just what had happened, and just why he should be 
 so sad. 
 
 But his parting words, glance and manner, so 
 natural to the real Paul, inspired Constance with 
 fresh courage, and she took up the tangled threads 
 of life, resolved to weave happiness for them both.
 
 174 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Her first purpose was to settle upon some means of 
 livelihood. While her father had left her a little 
 property, it was insufficient for her support, unless 
 she trenched upon the principal. 
 
 The most obvious resource was that which she 
 had chosen soon after her father's death, teaching. 
 She might have turned to this again, except for the 
 advice of Millicent and Phineas Twigg. Their rea 
 sons for opposing it were found in Constance's de 
 clared determination to make Paul's justification the 
 main motive of her life. 
 
 " You must be able to command your own time," 
 said the old Crier, " for you can never tell when you 
 may need to give an hour, a day, or even a week to 
 some investigation connected with the case." 
 
 " You talk as if I were a detective," Constance 
 objected. 
 
 " Detective ? " Phineas repeated " my dear 
 child, detective-work is a trifle compared to what 
 you have in hand. Here there is, so far as we know, 
 nothing to detect, no crime around which are a 
 thousand circumstantial details that may be inves 
 tigated with skill and patience. Here we must find 
 a blunder of justice where the world sees only its 
 perfect work'. You cannot afford to lose the slight 
 est hint." 
 
 " Father is right," Millicent agreed ; " you and I 
 must be eyes for him, and it will not do for you to
 
 CIVILLY DEAD 175 
 
 hamper yourself by selling your freedom or restrict 
 ing your range. It will be much better for you to 
 do some handiwork that will sell." 
 
 Accordingly, Constance toiled industriously and 
 produced some of these wares, table-covers of Mex- 
 ican drawn-work, a set of doyleys embroidered in 
 filoselle, some handkerchiefs that were miracles of 
 eye-destroying needlecraft ; and then endeavored to 
 find a market for them among the acquaintances she 
 had made at Mrs. Strain's house. She returned 
 from a round of calls completely discouraged and 
 humiliated. 
 
 " Well, what luck ? " Millicent asked, before she 
 had noticed her friend's depression. 
 
 " It's hopeless," Constance said, restraining her 
 tears with an effort. 
 
 " But the work is beautiful." 
 
 " No one would look at it. I sent up my card 
 in a dozen houses, and in every case they refused 
 to see me." 
 
 " The spiteful old cat ! " Millicent exclaimed. 
 
 " You don't mean " 
 
 " Of course, I mean that Mrs. Strain I'd like 
 to strain her has told her version of your leaving 
 to all her friends. Never mind, my dear; the acid 
 will turn in some day and consume her. Mean 
 while, you must go to the shops. You may not get 
 quite so much, but you will know that every cent
 
 176 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 is fairly earned, and that you don't need to repay 
 it a hundredfold in thanks." 
 
 " Do you really think I can make any money by 
 selling things to dealers ? " 
 
 " Just as surely, if they are the right things, as 
 they can make more by selling them to customers. 
 It is one of the successive steps of legitimate busi 
 ness; while amateur work never wins a market by 
 itself, but always has a hand extended under its 
 cloak." 
 
 " But suppose I don't come up to the professional 
 standard?" 
 
 "Well," said Millicent coolly, "then you will 
 have to learn, that's all. Everybody has to learn. 
 Besides, why need you worry so much about money ? 
 We have enough to get along, and it costs no more 
 for three than for two. You help me about the 
 house, don't you? Don't be so silly, child." 
 
 Constance found by experience that Millicent's 
 advice was sound. Before many months, she had 
 established a reputation for excellence and prompt 
 ness, and could count upon certain earnings for her 
 day's work. This, in every way, was preferable to 
 the chance income she might have gained for a 
 while from the acquaintances she had made during 
 her stay with Mrs. Strain. But the proof she had 
 received of that woman's persistent malignity often 
 troubled her, and she awaited with secret misgivings
 
 CIVILLY DEAD 177 
 
 the time when that other enemy of her's and Paul's 
 that worse enemy, because more adroit, Adolph 
 Breen should again begin to exert his evil influ 
 ence against them both. 
 
 But Adolph realized that there was a time for 
 action and a time for inaction ; and that each, in its 
 way, was an essential element of success. As his 
 triumph over Paul had only intensified his hatred of 
 his cousin; so, too, his rebuff by Constance had 
 made his ardor for the girl more impetuous and 
 burning. But the hatred made no demands while 
 Paul was immured in his living tomb; and the 
 ardor, through its very virulence, warned him to 
 wait for a favoring chance. 
 
 Besides, Adolph was absorbed in his service to 
 his chief an absorption most welcome under these 
 circumstances. Some unusually flagrant piece of 
 jobbery had come to light through the unsuccessful 
 speculations of a political rascal. Needing money 
 for margins, a certain official took more than could 
 be concealed, the stock-market broke under him, 
 and he fled. Investigation began, and, behold, an 
 awful muddling of public accounts, an exodus of a 
 covey of frightened office-holders, and a wild cry 
 that the stable-door must be locked behind the stolen 
 horses. The District Attorney, the fearless and in 
 corruptible John Strain, loomed great amid the 
 storm, hurling his thunderbolts of indictments
 
 178 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 wherever corruption was unearthed. Defiant of all 
 influence, deaf to all cries for mercy, ignoring all 
 pleadings for silence, the prosecuting officer of 
 Oleida County came to be in many minds the very 
 embodiment of reform, honesty and efficient public 
 service. 
 
 When the storm ceased, and the groundswell of 
 popular resentment was most powerful, behold John 
 Strain floating on top of the waves, borne onward 
 toward the Gubernatorial chair. Adolph forgot 
 Paul, forgot Constance, forgot everything but the 
 coming State convention, and the necessity of secur 
 ing delegates. 
 
 The convention met, the speeches were made, the 
 bands played. Adolph presented the name of John 
 Strain, the choice of the honest voters, and amid a 
 pandemonium of crazy delegates the nomination was 
 made by a majority that was practically unanimous. 
 Then came a campaign the result of which was a 
 foregone conclusion. The great, sheeplike body of 
 independent and intelligent voters tumbled over one 
 another to rebuke corruption ; and Strain was elected 
 by a " tidal wave," Governor of the State. 
 
 Then Adolph began to consider how he might 
 profit by his partner's diversion from law to politics. 
 
 To Constance and her friends this election was of 
 importance for two reasons : they believed Strain 
 to be an honest man, and hoped, if it became feasible
 
 CIVILLY DEAD 179 
 
 to ask for a pardon, that his familiarity with the 
 case and his admitted probity would be favorable 
 elements ; secondly, Adolph's absorption in the cam 
 paign and election was a relief, since it kept him 
 away from them. 
 
 Constance wrote to Paul every month, and longed 
 to send him some news of progress in their efforts; 
 but it was more than a year before she discovered 
 the slightest item bearing upon the case. Then, one 
 day, when she and Millicent were returning from 
 the delivery of her work, through a street just off 
 from the business section of the town, Constance 
 caught sight in a pawnbroker's window of the little, 
 silver-bound note-book Edith had given Soci'ty Dan. 
 She herself had made a present of it to Paul, and 
 she at once remembered the design, two sphinx- 
 heads in the corners. 
 
 "Oh, Millicent," she exclaimed, pointing it out; 
 " I gave that to Paul Breen. How did it ever come 
 there ? He would never have pawned it, I am sure. 
 Why, it was my gift to him." 
 
 "Are you sure?" Millicent asked. 
 
 " I am sure of the design ; but, unless I can exam 
 ine it, I can't be sure that it was Paul's, though I 
 know, yes, I know it was." 
 
 " But see," Millicent said suddenly, " it is among 
 the unredeemed pledges. Let's go in and look at it. 
 Probably it is for sale."
 
 180 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 They entered the shop, which was dark and 
 densely filled with merchandise that exhaled a musty 
 odor. For a moment, no one came to wait on them, 
 and they coughed once or twice to attract attention. 
 Then, a small boy dashed down a narrow flight of 
 stairs, arrived with a jump, and inquired breath 
 lessly : 
 
 "Say what can I do for youse?" 
 
 " We saw a purple note-book in the window with 
 sphinxes' heads " Constance began. 
 
 " Wid what ? " the boy exclaimed, backing a step. 
 
 " With silver corners," Millicent corrected. 
 
 " Oh, sure," said the enlightened boy, diving into 
 the window ; " This it ? " 
 
 Constance opened the book, and, recognizing 
 Paul's handwriting, asked with an effort how much 
 it was. 
 
 " Two and a quarter, mum," replied the sharp 
 little boy. 
 
 They paid the money and hurried away, while the 
 young salesman lugged out a big ledger and labori 
 ously recorded the sale. 
 
 Hardly had he finished before Adolph Breen en 
 tered the shop. He walked briskly in and de 
 manded : " Where's the proprietor? " 
 
 " See me? " the boy replied. " I'm in charge just 
 now. " I'm a good enough proprietor all right. 
 What you want ? going to hock your watch ? "
 
 CIVILLY DEAD 181 
 
 " I come," Adolph explained with dignity, ignor 
 ing the question, " to see about the same business 
 that brought those two ladies." 
 
 " Oh, about the note-book, the P. B. note-book, 
 hey?" 
 
 " What do you mean by P. B. ? " asked Adolph 
 startled. 
 
 "Purple bindin', of course. Did you spout it? 
 'Cause, if you did, the time's up; and I'm thinkin', 
 by the way the girl grabbed it, you won't git him 
 again you hear me. Why, she'd 'ev given a fiver 
 for it ! " 
 
 " I thought there was another week on it. Will 
 you let me see the register? " 
 
 " Certain," agreed the boy, grunting as he hoisted 
 the big book on the counter ; " there she am." 
 
 Adolph read the entry at a glance. It was dated 
 on the very day Edith had been killed; at an hour 
 long after the freight-train had started. The book 
 had been pledged in the name of Ed Flyaway, 
 the nickname Adolph himself had given the girl 
 because of her wandering ways. 
 
 "That's right, ain't it time's up?" the boy 
 asked. 
 
 " Yes, it is all right," Adolph replied, mechanic 
 ally. " Thank you." 
 
 He put a quarter on the counter, and turned to go 
 out.
 
 182 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Hey, there," the boy called, " you're forgetting 
 your lunch-money." 
 
 " I meant it for you; don't you want it? " 
 
 " This ain't no soup-kitchen." 
 
 Adolph picked up the coin and hurried away. He 
 had recognized Constance from a distance, and had 
 entered the pawn-shop in the hope of finding out 
 something of her errand which he might turn to his 
 own advantage. He was thoroughly frightened by 
 the discovery that a note-book, evidently known to 
 Constance, had been pawned the very day of Edith's 
 death when Paul was lying insensible in the attic- 
 room, and his sister was being borne to her doom. 
 Some one some one knowing Edith's nickname 
 in the family had pawned the book in this as 
 sumed name. Who, then, could this some one have 
 been? What was this mysterious book; and to 
 whom had it belonged? 
 
 " I am a fool," he muttered. " While I have been 
 helping John Strain, I have forgotten myself. I 
 must see that book ; I must find out what Constance 
 and that prying friend of hers have been about. If 
 I'm not careful, they will prove Paul innocent be 
 tween them; and then, good-by to Neil Breen's 
 fortune which now is my father's and any day may 
 become mine, he is failing so rapidly from his recent 
 stroke."
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 PROFESSOR TANCREDI 
 
 THE next day, when Constance was at home, busy 
 with her work, the bell rang, and presently Milli- 
 cent brought a visiting-card to her. " Mr. Adolph 
 Breen," she read ; " Oh, Millicent, how could you 
 admit him? You know that I will not see him or 
 recognize him in any way." 
 
 " Nonsense," Millicent retorted briskly. " Of 
 course, I admitted him; and, of course, you must 
 see him. How else are you going to help Paul? 
 Remember, you have one great advantage, which 
 you have never used. You know that Adolph Breen 
 is the traitor through whose perjury Paul was con 
 victed. What does this imply? Necessarily, that, 
 if Adolph Breen committed wilful perjury, he pos 
 sesses knowledge which might vindicate Paul. 
 There is no escaping that, is there ? And yet, for a 
 scruple, you have refrained from benefiting by the 
 very strong attraction you exert on him. Make up 
 with him, I say. Accept his explanations, whatever 
 they may be. See him freely until he loses his cau- 
 
 183
 
 184 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 tion and shows his hand. Oh, I only wish he were 
 devoted to me. I'd wind him around my little 
 finger; I'd beguile his innermost secret from him; 
 and then, but not until then, I would let him know 
 how I despised, how I loathed him. It is woman's 
 highest destiny, my dear, to crush the serpent's 
 head." 
 
 " Yes," Constance replied slowly, " I have no 
 right to neglect any possible opportunity he 
 wouldn't have come unless he was uneasy about 
 something. I will try to meet him as if nothing had 
 happened; but to-day, for the first, at least, Milli- 
 cent, you must be with me. I am half stifled, unable 
 to speak, at the very thought of being alone with 
 that wretch." 
 
 " Oh, very well," Millicent agreed readily. " I 
 will do the talking. Mr. Breen's first call will be a 
 purely social one, then, and much good may it do 
 him." 
 
 Millicent was as good as her word. She relieved 
 Constance from the first embarrassment of the meet 
 ing by turning her batteries against Adolph the 
 moment he was presented to her. 
 
 " I feel as if I must know you already," she 
 said with a malicious little smile, " I have heard 
 so much about you." 
 
 " From our too impulsive friend, Miss Sanderson, 
 I fear," he replied with sustaining dignity, " who
 
 PROFESSOR TANCREDI 185 
 
 has misjudged the one whose only purpose was to 
 serve her and the unfortunate man in whom she 
 was so deeply interested." 
 
 Constance flushed with indignation. " If your 
 will was no better than your method " she began, 
 when her friend again interposed. 
 
 " Oh, no, Mr. Breen, I wasn't referring to Con 
 stance at all," Millicent rejoined. " You are a 
 famous, public man, you know, and, of course, you 
 have your eulogists and your your detractors. 
 Look at your chief, Governor Strain, for example. 
 He has trod both the strait and narrow path of 
 virtue, and the broad road macadamized with the 
 decalogue, from all accounts. 'Tis the penalty of 
 greatness, or its twin, notoriety." And she rattled 
 on in ceaseless small talk, engaging, flippant, about 
 the recent campaign, until Adolph despaired of 
 accomplishing the real purpose of his call. 
 
 However, his cool, keen nature always responded 
 to an emergency. On leaving, as he took Con 
 stance's reluctant hand, he said gravely : 
 
 " When you write to Paul, tell him that his 
 cousin Adolph is anxious to befriend him." 
 
 " I won't promise," faltered poor Contsance, " I 
 can hardly be , " 
 
 " When she writes, she will," cried Millicent 
 eagerly, with an incredulous accent on the first word. 
 But it was too late, and, as Adolph left, his in-
 
 186 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 scrutable eyes were lightened by a glimmer of tri 
 umph. 
 
 But the intelligence he had thus gleaned soon 
 brought him mental disquiet. If Constance and 
 Paul corresponded, then she could tell him about 
 the discovery of the note-book, and he could advise 
 her how significant was its pawning, and how best 
 this new evidence should be used. Besides, his 
 awakened passion whispered, how about himself; 
 how could he hope to regain her favor if this senti 
 mental, milk-and-water affection of hers for Paul 
 was continually stimulated by letters to and fro. 
 No, no ; the thing must be stopped, and stopped for 
 all time. Adolph, however, was not so simple or 
 so rash as to entangle himself with the criminal 
 law by interfering with the mails. He soon devised 
 a plan which accomplished his purpose without 
 exposing him to its legal consequence. 
 
 Governor Strain still retained the nominal head 
 ship of the firm of " Strain and Breen." As senior 
 partner, he signed many papers which Adolph laid 
 before him, and seldom even glanced at them. So 
 Adolph prepared a letter to the warden of Roscoe 
 prison, requesting that official to send all letters 
 addressed by Paul Breen to Miss Constance San 
 derson, and all letters directed to Paul Breen in a 
 feminine hand, to the firm of Strain and Breen, and 
 explained briefly mat it was a " family matter,"
 
 PROFESSOR TANCREDI 187 
 
 that the young girl was becoming too much inter 
 ested in the condemned murderer, and the corre 
 spondence was harmful to both parties. 
 
 Then, selecting a moment when the Governor 
 was rushed with business, Adolph placed the letter 
 among a batch to be signed. 
 
 John Strain's signature was attached without a 
 glance at the letter's contents, and Adolph took the 
 first opportunity thereafter to present it in person 
 at the prison. The warden was all complaisance. 
 " Anything to oblige the Governor, of course, Mr. 
 Breen. I know. A delicate matter, no doubt. 
 Don't say a word. Letter- writing does play the 
 devil in prison, for a fact. The Governor's author 
 ization is more than sufficient. Besides, all con 
 victs, on entering here, have to give us full dis 
 cretion over their mail a very necessary rule, sir, 
 in view of all the plotting that's going on." 
 
 Adolph had acted just in time. The very first 
 letter of Constance, thus delivered over to him, 
 contained the story of the finding of the note-book. 
 Adolph read this passage with the keenest curiosity 
 and apprehension. 
 
 " I do not know," Constance wrote, " that I am 
 doing wisely to bother you about a little happening 
 that may mean nothing after all; but Mr. Twigg 
 advises that I should take advantage of every trifle 
 chance puts in my way in the hope that it may lead
 
 188 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 to unravelling the mystery of your case. A few 
 days ago, while Millicent and I were passing a 
 pawnbroker's, we saw among the things in the 
 window the little note-book I gave you the purple 
 one with silver corners. We went in and bought it. 
 Of course I know you never pawned it, and I am 
 trying in vain to guess how it came into the man's 
 hands. Did you ever have your pocket picked ? 
 or had you lost the book? It seems to contain a 
 lot of scientific notes figures, letters and rough 
 sketches of apparatus, of which I can make nothing. 
 But Mr. Twigg says it may lead to some discov 
 eries; and I hope, oh, I hope that it may possibly 
 revive your memory. I shall await your answer 
 before doing anything further about the matter, 
 nor will I refer to it again unless you wish, for I 
 wouldn't trouble you for the world." 
 
 Adolph congratulated himself upon his foresight 
 in interrupting the correspondence. But the knowl 
 edge that the book had been Paul Breen's, and Con 
 stance's suggestion that it might stimulate his cou 
 sin's latent recollections gave him deep uneasiness. 
 
 "If they once find out that the book was pawned 
 on the very day of the murder," he mused, " and, 
 of all incomprehensible things, in Edith's family 
 nickname, there will be trouble. Besides, let Paul 
 get possession of it those fragmentary notes may 
 start a train of thoughts leading to an explosion
 
 PROFESSOR TANCREDI 189 
 
 that will blow me out of court and him out of 
 prison. But matters are safe for the present. Paul, 
 on not hearing from Constance, will conclude that 
 she has become weary of him; and Constance, on 
 not hearing from Paul, will think that he is pro 
 voked by her reference to the note-book. It takes 
 time to work out any such misunderstanding, espe 
 cially when letters can only be written once a 
 month. Meanwhile, I think I shall take advantage 
 of that Insurance Merger matter, and see how a 
 change of scene will benefit my nerves." 
 
 The long strain of the campaign, and the worry 
 over the problem of the note-book, had begun to 
 tell on Adolph's iron constitution. With a smile 
 of contempt for himself, he recognized that he had 
 avoided seeing his partner since securing his sig 
 nature to the warden's letter, and that he feared, 
 actually he feared, that his treachery in the matter 
 might either have been noticed or might in some 
 way be detected. Such physical and mental weak- 
 ness, so repugnant to his own concept, could not 
 be endured ; he, therefore, welcomed the important 
 insurance business which called him from town for 
 two or three months. Before leaving, however, he 
 decided that a close watch should be kept on Con 
 stance. 
 
 Adolph's experience in the District Attorney's 
 office had made him acquainted with many shady
 
 190 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 characters both major and minor and he now 
 sent for one of them, named Richard Naylor, who, 
 he knew, had prudential reasons for being true to 
 him. This man called himself a " Private Detective 
 Agency," but was merely a mercenary scamp, tol 
 erated by the police because he was now and then 
 useful as a go-between. 
 
 Adolph's instructions were terse and peremptory. 
 " You will keep yourself informed," he said, " of 
 the daily life of this young lady, Miss Constance 
 Sanderson. So long as she busies herself with 
 ordinary affairs, well and good. But if she shows 
 some special interest, calls on the Governor, con 
 sults a lawyer, or goes out of town, for instance, 
 advise me 'at once." 
 
 " I'll stick closer than a brother, and darker than 
 her shadow," replied Naylor, with a side-glance and 
 a cunning smirk; and Adolph went away, satisfied 
 that he had left this little matter, if not in good, at 
 least in competent hands. 
 
 Constance, not hearing from Paul at the usual 
 time, wrote again. Another delay followed and, 
 still hearing nothing, she grew very anxious. She 
 wondered whether her letters had gone astray, 
 whether Paul was sick, or whether there could be 
 some mystery about the book which he did not wish 
 to reveal to her. Phineas Twigg at first advised 
 patience. He was well aware how prone even the
 
 PROFESSOR TANCREDI 191 
 
 most even tempered of men, under prison restraint, 
 were to sudden bursts of passion; and he attributed 
 the silence to resulting discipline. But when an 
 other month passed, and still no word came, he 
 changed his opinion. 
 
 " It is out of the usual order of things," he said. 
 " If there had been no interference with events, 
 Paul would have answered by this time. Of course, 
 we might write to the warden; but he is a busy 
 official, with a very different view of matters we 
 consider of vital importance " 
 
 " Then what shall we do ? " Constance asked. 
 
 " You and Millicent might go and see Paul. I 
 could go for you, but he might not talk freely with 
 me. This is one of the emergencies, my child, for 
 which I advised you to keep yourself free." 
 
 "Yes, let us go," urged Millicent; "it will do 
 Constance good. We can then come home by the 
 way of Nadonk, and stay a day or so with Aunt 
 Martha. I do so want Constance to know her." 
 
 In consequence of this family council, the young 
 girls took a train the next morning to visit Roscoe 
 prison, as was duly reported by the assiduous Nay- 
 lor to Adolph, who had returned to town the day 
 before owing to the critical illness of his father. 
 The detective stated that Constance had a satchel 
 with her, and Adolph 's trained judgment at once 
 surmised that in it was the silver-bound note-book,
 
 192 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " I want that satchel, do you understand ? " he said 
 sharply. Naylor nodded and, an hour later, was 
 following the two girls to Roscoe. 
 
 It was a bleak, rainy afternoon when Constance 
 and Millicent arrived ; so they took a cab and drove 
 to the prison. There, they found it difficult to 
 secure an audience with the warden. A clerk in the 
 office told them he was very busy " owing to an 
 escape of two prisoners, one a murderer and the 
 other an habitual criminal. What do you ladies 
 want, anyway?" 
 
 " We want to see Paul Breen," replied Constance. 
 
 " Paul Breen? " cried the clerk, laughing. " Why, 
 we all want to see him. He is one of the men we're 
 after. He's skipped." 
 
 "Skipped?" 
 
 " Yes, run away ; vamoosed ; cut stick ; gone ; 
 escaped. He and his pal knocked over two visitors, 
 put on their togs, and were bowed out by the Head 
 Squeeze himself." 
 
 " Paul escaped ? " Constance exclaimed. " I 
 can't believe it. He would never have done such a 
 thing." 
 
 " 'Tain't a question of would ; it's a question of 
 has, ladies. If you can find him, please return him, 
 C. O. D. Good afternoon." 
 
 Constance and Millicent left the prison in silence, 
 not knowing what to think. It was the last thing
 
 PROFESSOR TANCREDI 193 
 
 they would have thought likely. Constance was 
 overwhelmed. Why should Paul attempt to escape ? 
 She had always pictured him as a patient martyr, 
 awaiting deliverance; and now he was a jail- 
 breaker, and the " pal " of an habitual criminal. 
 She could not explain it. Millicent sought to 
 console her. 
 
 " Come, Constance," she insisted valiantly, " you 
 can't blame him. He was innocent, and he knew 
 they had no right to keep him in prison. I say, 
 good for him. I admire a manly man, one who can 
 act; not a narnby-pamby, passive nonentity. Be 
 sides, he wasn't in his normal condition when he 
 was taken there, and it may well be that he is far 
 worse. Why, the very sight of that dreadful place 
 is enough to give one chronic dementia. Let us 
 wait until we know more." 
 
 But Constance had lowered her veil, and made 
 no reply. 
 
 At the station they had to wait about half an 
 hour for their train. They took a seat upon a 
 hard bench in the waiting-room. It was hours 
 since they had eaten, and Millicent proposed that 
 they should have a light supper; and, when Con 
 stance declared that she could not bear the thought 
 of food, and showed by her manner that she would 
 gladly be alone, went by herself good-naturedly for 
 a cup of tea. Constance remained, absorbed in deep
 
 194 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 thought. She had hoped so much from the journey, 
 and now her cares were redoubled. Though her 
 faith in Paul was unimpaired, she realized what the 
 effect of his flight must be upon public opinion. 
 Then, too, there was the note-book in the satchel 
 beside her, the newly discovered evidence which was 
 to vindicate and restore; what use was it now? 
 So she mused in deepest melancholy when sud 
 denly there was a scuffle behind her. She rose, and 
 saw two men quarrelling. 
 
 The younger of them was a slim, handsome young 
 fellow, of a dark complexion, bright-eyed, and with 
 a military air. The other was a grizzled scamp, in 
 a shabby Prince Albert coat, shoe-string necktie and 
 dingy linen Adolph's " private detective," Rich 
 ard Naylor. Seeing Constance lost in reverie, he 
 had reached over the back of the bench and gently 
 lifted her satchel. Then the younger man, seeing 
 the transaction, had descended upon him. 
 
 As Constance rose, the thief was forced back into 
 the seat. Then the young man politely raised his 
 hat, and explained. 
 
 " I saw this scoundrel reach over and help himself 
 to your satchel," he said. " It is yours, isn't it, 
 madam ? " 
 
 " Yes, thank you," Constance replied. " I am so 
 much obliged. I was thinking of something else." 
 
 " Do you wish to have him arrested? " the young
 
 PROFESSOR TANCREDI 195 
 
 man inquired. Whereupon the culprit made a fran 
 tic bolt for the door, but in an instant was seized by 
 the shoulder and whirled back into his place appar 
 ently without an effort. 
 
 " Oh, no, indeed. Let him go. I don't want to 
 make any trouble for the poor fellow." 
 
 At this moment Millicent returned, and Con 
 stance hastily related what had happened. The 
 athletic young fellow again bowed politely. 
 
 " You are a manly man," said Millicent, with a 
 droll glance toward Constance. 
 
 " I am a very proud one to have your commen 
 dation," he replied. 
 
 " But this person doesn't look like a common 
 sneak thief," Millicent suggested, thoughtfully. 
 " Let us find out who he is. Remember, Constance, 
 what father said. We must be cautious." 
 
 Naylor seemed pleased by Millicent's compliment 
 to his appearance. He fumbled in his pocket and 
 produced a business-card. " You are quite right, 
 young lady," he said. " I have made a mistake. 
 I am, as you see, a private detective, and I took 
 your friend here for a party I had been engaged to 
 pipe. I regret my mistake exceedingly ; " and he 
 raised his napless hat with a grand air. 
 
 Millicent dropped the card disdainfully from the 
 tips of her fingers. " Let him go, I say," she 
 declared, " if only he will go at once." And Naylor
 
 196 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 made haste to avail himself of the permission, 
 though he shot back a glance at the girl that made 
 his ill-favored face venomous. 
 
 " I don't think he will annoy you further," said 
 the young man, " but I suppose he is going south 
 on the train with you, and I don't quite trust him. 
 His business is against him, you know. So, if you 
 don't mind, I shall keep my eye on him while on the 
 train. Permit me to hand you my card, also." 
 
 The card read, " James Tancredi, Professor of 
 Applied Therapeutics, Carteret College." Millicent 
 placed it carefully in the bag at her belt, with a 
 smile that seemed to say that circumstances altered 
 cases. Then the girls thanked him for his offer of 
 assistance, and they separated. But Professor Tan 
 credi took the same car when the train arrived, and 
 sat several seats back of them. Though he was 
 soon convinced that the private detective was not 
 aboard, he continued his respectful scrutiny, and, 
 when they alighted at an intermediate station, 
 where a ferry-boat would take them across the river 
 to the branch road running to Nadonk, his gaze 
 followed them with interest and admiration.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 IN A NEW WORLD 
 
 IT was night, merciful night, that hides so much 
 and has so much to hide, when Paul Breen had been 
 brought to Roscoe prison. He was apathetic; for 
 acute agony often works its own relief by provoking 
 a conflict between the flesh and the spirit, in which 
 the former wins. And so, he passed through the 
 routine of admission an indifferent spectator of 
 himself, rather than the principal actor in an un- 
 heroic tragedy of living death. 
 
 As if in a dream, he answered the required ques 
 tions regarding himself and his previous state, and 
 delivered over his valuables and clothing. As if in a 
 dream, he listened to the well-meant assurances of 
 the deputy. 
 
 " Say," that official said, " this isn't a prison, it's 
 a regular Old Man's Home. Why, the only trouble 
 we ever have here is raised by them who want to 
 forfeit their good time; they're so sorry to be goin' 
 out. And a gentleman like you well, things will 
 go as smooth as slidin' down a cellar-door. We'll 
 
 197
 
 198 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 let you rest up for a few days, and then find some 
 soft snap for you, in the library, p'raps. It don't 
 do to work a lifer, you know. Gittin' in the routine 
 is the savin' grace; it will send time kitin' along 
 so fast that, before you know you're cold from the 
 winter, you begin to sweat from the summer. After 
 all, you got off lucky, damme, if you didn't; and, in 
 a few years, when people have begun to forget, your 
 friends will pull the strings, and the first thing you 
 know you will be pardoned " 
 
 " Pardoned ? " Paul repeated dully ; " a man 
 should be guilty in order to be pardoned." 
 
 " To be sure," the deputy assented indulgently. 
 " That's just what they all say. I've been here 
 now, keeper and deputy, above twenty year, and 
 never onct have I met a guilty man. Now, then, 
 you might come along with me." 
 
 As if in a dream, Paul followed through the 
 carefully unlocked and relocked iron door into the 
 dimly lighted hall, and along the narrow wooden 
 gallery on the second tier of cells. 
 
 " You'll git fixed up in there after a little," said 
 the deputy, as he again turned his key back and 
 forth, with a dexterous shove between. " I give 
 you my word, you've got the choice of the place. 
 This is quality row, you know nothin' under ten 
 year, and only one of him. Hear that snorin' from 
 B 33, next door? He was a slip of a lad when he
 
 IN A NEW WORLD 199 
 
 came in, and he's got gray hair now. There's 
 nothin' like it, I tell you." 
 
 As if in a dream, Paul stood against the grating 
 the live-long night, his hands, above his head, grasp 
 ing the bars in familiar posture, not noting the 
 tobacco-stained, white-washed wall of the corridor 
 opposite, or the flickering gas jet, cobweb-festooned, 
 that kept out the dark but substituted only gloom; 
 not hearing the heavy breathings, the groans, the 
 restless pacings, the quarrels and struggles, the 
 hideous curses, the more hideous laughter, which 
 form the commonplace incidents of a prison night; 
 not tasting the foul, acrid air but seeing ever 
 before him, as if in a beatific vision, the glorified 
 face of Constance Sanderson, embodying love and 
 trust. 
 
 Some time in the endless morning, after the men 
 had marched out, Paul heard, amid the swish of 
 brooms and mops and the drip of soapy water, a 
 merry voice singing the old, vagabond refrain of 
 " Laddy, faddy, whack fal laddy," and, almost 
 against his will, he listened. It was the man clean 
 ing the gallery who sang in such joyous reckless 
 ness as, down on hands and knees, he forced his 
 way backward, plying the brush vigorously and 
 pulling the pail after him. As he came to the 
 outside of the grating, he sprang to his feet and 
 stood, looking in, his bare and wet arms akimbo.
 
 200 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Are you the guy who kem in last night ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " Yes," Paul answered ; " I was brought to this 
 place last night." 
 
 " How much did you git ? " 
 
 " I was sentenced for the term of my natural 
 life." 
 
 " Gee, but they soaked it to you. Then you don't 
 want your old clothes, do you? Say, if you're 
 anx'us to make aminds for your evil doin's by a 
 bang-up good deed, jest give me an order on the 
 deputy for them duds, will you? I'll be goin' out, 
 afore long, in jest fifty-seven and a yap; and I wud 
 like for onct to be able to teach the public not to 
 trust to appearances, and be damned to 'em." 
 
 "What, fifty-seven days?" 
 
 " Nope, fifty-seven mont's." 
 
 " I'll think it over," said Paul, smiling faintly, 
 " since there is no immediate hurry. By the way, 
 my friend, what is your name ? " 
 
 " Them that knows my qualificatuns best calls me 
 Soci'ty Dan." 
 
 " Well, Soci'ty," Paul continued, " you see that 
 all this is very strange to me. My head is still in 
 a whirl, and yet, I do begin to feel that it is a 
 man's part not to despair. So, if you will kindly 
 help me with your practical advice to get along as 
 easily and quietly as possible, I, on my side, will
 
 IN A NEW WORLD 201 
 
 gladly do all I can for you; that is, if there is any 
 thing I can do." 
 
 " Annythin'," repeated Soci'ty, slapping his 
 hands together in high excitement, " I shud radder 
 say there wore. Not to mintion the clothes you've 
 a'ready mecl over to me, nor the odd dough to your 
 credit in the office, which I wudn't be avarse to 
 . drawin' on betimes, why there's the groceries you'll 
 hev sent in, and your reglar prog, whin they puts 
 you on 'orspital ratuns, as they're sure to do, and 
 your plug of 'baccy each week, seein' as a swell like 
 you don't chew, an' your cast-off shoes, and p'raps 
 them braces whin they've gone busted. Anny 
 thin' ? why, there's everything and none too much, 
 too, whin you reckon how I'll fetch you a bran'- 
 new, swamp-grass mattress, and a rid and green 
 sprid, and the unly springs in the jint, sure the 
 dago on Tier A croaked easy on 'em. And thin, 
 there's the riggin' of your curting, and the mindin' 
 of an old camp-chair I got off the last banker thet 
 went out, and a razor I sneaked whin the barber 
 was swabbin' out the tubs, and a bottle of ile for 
 your lamp, and six extry chimleys. Above all, 
 there's the expert advice thet orter command a 
 fancy rigger the many ways there be of findun' 
 the soft side of the hardest plank. Life here, sir, is 
 like takin' castor ile; if you onct gulp her down 
 and be done with it, you're ten times better off than
 
 202 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 if you backed and filled, and held your nose, and 
 fell sick at your stommick, and yet had to take it, 
 arter all. Keep busy, I say, and don't look back; 
 and you'll be your own gran'fadder afore you knows 
 it. Say, you wudn't mind coughin' up that silk 
 swipe around your neck, wud you, as a sorter pay 
 ment on account ? " 
 
 This singular partnership worked well. Mer 
 cenary as Soci'ty undoubtedly was, with a perpet 
 ually itching palm, he yet had a crude sense of 
 loyalty, even as he had an acute sense of possible 
 advantage. These two feelings combined to make 
 him an invaluable guide through the thickets and 
 around the ambushes of that strange country to 
 which Paul now owed allegiance. Besides, Soci'ty 
 not only liked but sympathized with the new-comer, 
 recognizing him, with keen convict judgment, as a 
 different and superior type. No lot can be harder 
 than that of him who dares stalk in borrowed plumes 
 in prison. On the other hand, not in the most 
 exclusive court of the world is true gentleness so 
 quickly admitted and so thoroughly appreciated. 
 
 Paul, then, with a resolute heart, though still 
 clouded brain, devoted himself to the present duty. 
 He did get busy, and he refused to look back. The 
 easy work in the library occupied him; but more, 
 its monotony, day by day, lulled him like an opiate. 
 He no longer found the mornings interminably
 
 IN A NEW WORLD 203 
 
 long. The regular, unvarying stages of the day 
 swept on like the revolutions of some vast machin 
 ery. Soon the weeks and even the months began 
 to fall into the same rapid, unswerving advance, 
 and, even as the deputy had predicted, the cold of 
 winter was banished by the warm of summer before 
 it had been felt. 
 
 He was not happy, and yet he was not acutely 
 miserable. He still was stunned. There is some 
 thing in the inevitableness of defeat that tranquil 
 lizes. When the struggle is over, then the van 
 quished may rest. Life's note was plaintive, 
 attuned to tears; yet, in its reiteration, there was 
 no tumult, no jar. 
 
 Once a month, as often as the regulations allowed, 
 there came a letter from Constance, sweet, serene, a 
 very part of herself. Without being hopeful, 
 they encouraged; without promising, they assured. 
 Why, then, should he despair? The cataclysm had 
 passed; the ruin had been wrought. And yet he 
 lived; and yet he was beloved. 
 
 And as Paul, in a way, became used to the prison, 
 so did the prison become used to Paul. He was so 
 faithful and unassuming in what he did that when 
 the one, inevitable question to a new man, " What 
 did ye git ? " had been patiently answered until the 
 fact that he was a " lifer " was a very part of his 
 personality, he was accepted by keeper and kept
 
 204 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 alike as a feature of the institution. Convict curi 
 osity is as limited as it is sharp. It constantly 
 concerns itself with that which impinges upon 
 personal interest the fear that one man may have 
 something that another has not, the envy of a 
 shorter term, of powerful friends, of influence. 
 Thus, the extent of a sentence is always eagerly 
 sought; but the nature of the crime is a matter of 
 indifference. 
 
 Besides, something is conceded to the supreme 
 victim. The lifer is set apart, almost consecrated 
 by his misfortune. No favor is begrudged him; 
 since all possible favors could not make up for hope. 
 Thus, Paul made his own place and held it; going 
 his own way, almost exempt from discipline, within 
 the narrow limits of duty which he never tried to 
 exceed. His grating was always open during the 
 day; he had the freedom of the hall until nine 
 o'clock at night. His quiet, shadowy passage along 
 a gallery, or the " flagging," with a basket of books 
 on his arm, excited absolutely no notice from officers 
 or men. They both alike had matters more inter 
 esting, more exciting, with which to concern them 
 selves. 
 
 Then occurred a change the fatal break that 
 renders monotony futile. The first of the month 
 came, the days of the month marched on and on, 
 the first of the next month came, with its procession
 
 IN A NEW WORLD 205 
 
 of days, derisive in its unswerving monotony, and 
 yet there was no letter from Constance Sanderson. 
 Paul sat in his cell, his face in his hands, the victim 
 of prison-despair. 
 
 The grating swung back and forth, and a rough 
 hand was laid on his shoulder. " Here, this won't 
 do, not a little bit," said Soci'ty's husky voice; 
 " there's jest wan t'ing left to do whin you begins 
 mopin', and thet is to be measured for a rough box. 
 I t'ought you was continted in knowin' thet nawthin' 
 wuss cud happen you." 
 
 " Is it nothing," Paul asked, " to have the one 
 faithful friend desert you?" 
 
 " We don't reckon it much here," replied Soci'ty 
 imperturbably. " We ginerally calkilate about 
 t'ree mont's for a sweetheart ; six mont's for a wife, 
 especially a young and good-lookin' wan ; an' a full 
 year for a mudder. That let's you out all around, 
 don't it, sir? Hum, I t'ought so. Well, thin, the 
 t'ing to do is to try to int'rest strangers in your sad 
 case. They allus believe more than relatuns; 
 they know less, you see. By the way, where 
 were you tried; some'eres up the State, wasn't 
 it?" 
 
 " At Hamlin," answered Paul, responding to the 
 impetus of a direct question, though oblivious to 
 what had been said. 
 
 The first glimmer of a surprising, an impossible,
 
 206 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 idea narrowed Soci'ty's eyes. " Queer, I didn't 
 come acrost you in the pig," he reflected; " though 
 they didn't give me breathin' time for that matter. 
 Let me see. Who was it you scoffed? Your wife, 
 wasn't it? " 
 
 " No ; they said it was my sister." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you rapped her over the head, didn't 
 you, whin you was hot' on the booze ? " 
 
 " No, no; " and Paul wrung his hands. " A little 
 girl, a dear, little girl, though I recollect I never 
 did love her as I should. There was a railway 
 accident, and her body was found in a trunk. They 
 said I must have shipped it." 
 
 " In an old leather trunk, wit' brass knobs, you 
 don't mean? " 
 
 " Yes, it was my trunk; I did not deny it." 
 
 " Thin, thin, be the Power of Gawd, I'm the lad 
 to prove an alibi for you. She was far from dead, 
 so she was, whin I sneaked her into the car, and 
 settled her so cozy-like aginst that self-same old 
 skate of a trunk thet she wint off, she did, into 
 beautyus sleep. ' It's Paul's trunk,' says she, as 
 pleased as if she hed jest found a pet kitten. Sind 
 for the warden, sind for the old man, to onct, Mr. 
 Breen. I'll swear to the trut' of it on a stack of 
 Bibles as high as a church. If iver there was a case 
 for exicutive climency, for full, unadulterated ris- 
 toratum and parding, yours is the wan."
 
 IN A NEW WORLD 207 
 
 Bewildered and shaken by the return of hope, 
 Paul sent for the warden, and told the story as 
 related to him by Soci'ty. That high officer shook 
 his head and looked annoyed. 
 
 " So you have got the fever, have you, Breen ? " 
 he said, " and lost no time about it either. I 
 know you think you have reason to be dissatisfied, 
 of late. Well, reduce the man's statement to wri 
 ting, if you like, and I will have it sworn to and 
 forwarded to the Governor. But I warn you fairly 
 not to expect much. Soci'ty is a notorious liar, 
 besides being an habitual criminal. He is disquali 
 fied from testifying, in the first place, and no one 
 would believe him if he could testify, in the second. 
 I thought you had made up your mind to take your 
 medicine like a man. But try it on, now that you've 
 got it in your head; you will never rest easy until 
 you do. They say this new reform Governor of 
 ours gives personal attention to the smallest matter; 
 but, on the other hand, he's a crackerjack of a 
 lawyer, as you have reason to know, and up to all 
 slick games. I'll send the writing materials to you, 
 and much good may it do you." 
 
 So Paul drafted the statement carefully, and 
 Soci'ty subscribed it with his mark, and attested it 
 with his oath ; taking occasion of his visit to the 
 office for such purpose to strip the desk, at which 
 he was permitted to sit during the difficult operation
 
 208 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 of affixing his sign-manual, of all the pens, pencils, 
 rubber-bands and stamps that it contained. 
 
 Then followed an endless time of suspense. 
 Monotony, routine, habit all were powerless 
 against the nervous expectancy that possessed Paul. 
 He could not eat or sleep. He could not execute 
 correctly the simplest duty. The men noted his 
 absorption, and, tapping their foreheads signifi 
 cantly, said he was " going off his nut." Every 
 fibre of his being was intent on the creak of the iron 
 door leading into the office, which might herald the 
 messenger of his release. 
 
 One evening, as Paul was standing, so watchful, 
 so alert, at the grating of his cell, the creak of the 
 iron door resounded. There were heavy foot-steps 
 on the wooden corridor, and, darting ahead of 
 them, came the tap, tap, from cell-wall to cell-wall, 
 of convict telegraphy, announcing the approach of 
 the old man, the warden. Slowly, almost majes 
 tically, surrounded by the aura of unlimited power, 
 the great man strode along, with high hat on one 
 side of his head, and big cigar out of the other side 
 of his mouth, "and long black coat flapping like a 
 robe of state. He stopped in front of Paul's 
 grating. " Here, Breen," he said, drawing a long, 
 blue envelope from his pocket ; " It's just what I 
 expected ; " and, with a shrug of his shoulders, he 
 strode away again.
 
 IN A NEW WORLD 209 
 
 Pale, gasping, yet hoping against hope, Paul tore 
 the letter apart. It was written in the Governor's 
 own hand, with that careful, almost painful particu 
 larity for which he was already celebrated. It set 
 forth that the alleged facts submitted were not, 
 considering their source, sufficient to justify any 
 executive interference with the judgment of the 
 Court. It was signed, " John Strain, Governor." 
 
 Then, all the wrongs, indignities, griefs, pas 
 sions, broke their patient restraints and raged at 
 will. John Strain, John Strain; that burly, red- 
 faced man, so prejudiced, so unfair, so bitterly, so 
 personally hostile. John Strain, John Strain; who 
 had shaken his fist in his face, denouncing him as 
 the vilest coward, the most diabolical murderer on 
 earth. John Strain, John Strain ; who had wrestled 
 with the jury, as if for a prize, persuading, con 
 straining, forcing them to an adverse verdict. John 
 Strain, John Strain; the ambitious, the merciless; 
 who now, in the plenitude of power, when he had 
 gained all things he had hoped to gain through his 
 rabid prosecution, was even more ambitious, more 
 merciless, still. " May God everlastingly damn 
 John Strain," prayed Paul; as he hurled himself 
 back and forth against the narrow stone walls. 
 
 The hideous prison night wore away. Through 
 the upper part of one of the high corridor windows 
 a roseate ray of sunlight shot aslant. It drew nearer
 
 210 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 and nearer along the wooden gallery, not as the 
 warden had strode, but as an angel might hover, 
 until it shone full in Paul's face, a messenger from 
 the beautiful world without. As if listening to a 
 silent voice, Paul interpreted its meaning. Yes; 
 there was beauty, there was life in the world with 
 out; why should he not have them? Was it rea 
 sonable, was it right, that he should remain in this 
 awful place until he went mad and died by his own 
 hands ? No, no ! They had taken home, position, 
 property, character, from him. They had made his 
 name a by-word and a hissing. Honor was gone, 
 hope was gone, love, alas, had proved recreant; yet 
 still he lived. He had youth, strength, education; 
 why should he not pit them against the crude, 
 brutish force of his taskmaster? Paul opened his 
 arms to the morning light, as if he would embrace 
 it. "I will," he vowed; "I will!" 
 
 Later in the day, when Soci'ty managed to slip 
 in unobserved, eager for the news, Paul asked 
 feverishly : " Will you help me, Soci'ty, to 
 escape? Will you go out with me into the world, 
 far, far, away? " 
 
 " Will I? " responded Soci'ty easily, as if invited 
 to some agreeable function. " Will I eat chicking, 
 or drink rum, whin I gits the chanct? Oh, no; I 
 guess not ; unly with bot' feet. Why, there's every- 
 thin' to win, and nawthin' .to lose in sech a deal.
 
 IN A NEW WORLD 211 
 
 If we gits away there's no tellin' what a reg'lar 
 gent like you, wit' hull bunches of friends to be 
 touched, won't do for me; while, if I'm pinched, 
 they kin unly bring me back to these famil'ar scenes 
 of long ago. Try me, try me ; as the fat said to the 
 fryin'-pan." 
 
 "But how, when?" Paul demanded. 
 
 " Ssh ! " Soci'ty hissed, with that peculiar convict 
 signal of warning so universally used in prisons, as 
 he drew over the curtain ; " here comes the deputy, 
 wit' a gang of visitors." 
 
 It was significant of the state of Paul's mind how 
 quickly this incident turned it from the one subject 
 upon which it had been concentrated. " The 
 brutes," he muttered, " the low, curious brutes, who 
 find pleasure in witnessing the mortification, the 
 disgrace, the suffering of their fellows. If they 
 only knew, Soci'ty, if they only knew the impulses 
 they rouse as they gape through the shops, how 
 rapidly they would seek a safer place. I don't blame 
 the men, indeed, I don't, any more than I blame 
 Shylock when he asked, ' Hath not a Jew eyes ' : 
 
 "Shylock?" Soci'ty interrupted, "an' who was 
 he?" 
 
 " A character in ' The Merchant of Venice,' a 
 Jew." 
 
 " Nope, you're wrong there ; not on your life. I 
 never heerd of a Jew bein' shy annythin'."
 
 212 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 "There they go," Paul raged on, unheeding; 
 " smug and satisfied, dressed in their best, working 
 a cheap public show to the uttermost. Damn them, 
 damn them all, I say " 
 
 " Ssh ! " Soci'ty warned again, his eyes shining 
 with sudden inspiration. " Don't queer our luck by 
 draggin' down cusses on them. It's under kiver of 
 some sech push as this thet we must work our way 
 out"
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE MISSING PAIR 
 
 SOCI'TY balanced himself precariously on the 
 stool, his hands around his knees, which were drawn 
 up nearly to his chin. " The fat keeper down in 
 the bat'-hus was a-tellin' me," he said reflectively, 
 " thet the State Boord of Charity wud make their 
 annooal wisit nex' Toosda'. In the wuds of the 
 poet, ' Thim's our puddin'.' ' And he rocked back 
 and forth like a Chinese idol. 
 
 " I wish you would explain what you mean," Paul 
 replied anxiously. 
 
 " It's all as clear as a babby's ricord, whin onct 
 you understand," Soci'ty continued. " You see 
 there are doin's and no mistake whin the State 
 Boord swings around. The aldermen and odder 
 notor'us city offic'als attind thim ; there's a blow-out 
 in the office, wit' all kinds of jig-water for the 
 inner man, and plinty of cold fodder to hold it 
 down. Thin, the inspectun begins, and it's no won 
 der they're surprised by the number here, for most 
 of 'em see double. In straight and solemn percessun 
 they march t'roo the shops, thet is, as straight as 
 
 213
 
 214 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 they kin, and as solemn as they don't feel, keepin' 
 togedder, wit' two privileged exceptuns. I hev' 
 allus noticed a pair of old poppy-guys dodgin' 
 around the galleries, and nosin' into cells, without 
 iver askin' by your leave, and no wan a-sayin' of 
 them, nay. I remimber a year ago they didn't jine 
 the odders until the wery last of 'em was passin' 
 t'roo the office-dure to disperse to their hum, and 
 miditate on their good luck in bein' allowed to do 
 so. Now, what they did thin, we kin do this year 
 in their stid. Do you drop ? " 
 
 " I think so," answered Paul uncertainly. " But 
 who are they, and why is such latitude accorded to 
 them?" 
 
 " Loungertude, I shud say," suggested Soci'ty 
 with nice discrimination, " for they lounge around 
 iverywhere, an' in a big cuccle. But I can't mostly 
 tell what is their graft; somethin' in the false- 
 pertinces line, I t'ink; they calls 'em a hard 
 name " 
 
 " Penologists ? " Paul asked smilingly. 
 
 " Nope ; thim fellers never do anny inspectun, 
 they knows it all without. But it's somethin' arter 
 thet style, beginnin' wit' a P, all right, all right " 
 
 " Philanthropists ? " 
 
 " You called the tun. Thim thet gives away 
 nawthin' gratootus, excipt adwice." 
 
 " But how "
 
 THE MISSING PAIR 215 
 
 " How ? Why, we'll inviggle 'em wan be wan 
 into this cell; neck 'em, gag 'em, bind 'em, strip 
 'em ; git into their clothes and onto their curves, and 
 out we goes, kitun'. That's how." 
 
 " It's a desperate chance," Paul reflected. 
 
 " A man died of old age onct," retorted Soci'ty 
 sagely, " while waitun' for a chanct thet wasn't 
 des'prit." 
 
 " But their appearance ; can we hope to simu 
 late " 
 
 " Wan is tall and slight, and the odder is short 
 and stout, which fits us like a slop-shop. I'll rig up 
 oakum whiskers arter their fash'un, and there's no 
 trouble about sportun' their goggles, is there ? Well, 
 thin, all the rist is but a matter of front, like 
 philant'ro'py itself, and be damned to it; and we kin 
 stimelate as much as you like, whin we're under 
 kiver, thet is, if we have the price." 
 
 " True," mused Paul, " we must have money ; 
 without it our confinement when free would be 
 even more rigorous; we should be bound hand and 
 foot. I hate to make the sacrifice; but I think, I 
 want to think, that she would wish me to do so. 
 Couldn't we do something with this, Soci'ty? It 
 was my mother's. I have managed to keep it hid 
 even when most confused in mind, something 
 seemed to tell me to do so." And he drew from 
 his breast a ring.
 
 216 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Di'monds," cried Soci'ty, with bulging eyes, 
 " Di'monds in a prison ; oh, my Gawd ! Well, I 
 hev' heerd they're found sometimes in the mud. 
 Say, since so much depinds on the ring, don't you 
 t'ink I'd better take care of it for you? " 
 
 " Very well ; you may act as Treasurer of our 
 joint enterprise.". 
 
 Soci'ty stretched out his hand avidly, and then 
 drew it back with reluctance. Cupidity, cunning 
 and shame mingled curiously on his face. " Tris- 
 urer," he repeated, " We've had Trisurers here and 
 a plipty; but I cud double-discount the lot of 'em 
 wit' me right duke tied behind me. At the front 
 dure receivin', be the back dure leavin' ; which is 
 po'try, damned if it ain't, though quite unintinded. 
 Nope; it won't do; we must start square at all 
 ewents. Put it back put it back quick ; " and, 
 with a gesture of sublime self-abnegation, he hurried 
 away. 
 
 The succeeding days were shadowy and unreal 
 to Paul Breen. He roused when Soci'ty came with 
 reports of progress, only to lapse again into lethargy 
 when he went. After his one fierce burst of rage 
 against John Strain, something had seemed to snap 
 within him; and now he smiled, as he recalled the 
 passion, wondering dully that he had thought it 
 worth while. He slept much of the time, traveling 
 in his dreams over vast expanses of strange, desert
 
 THE MISSING PAIR 217 
 
 country, alone, always alone. When he waked, a 
 sense of this remoteness, this solitude, remained 
 with him, rendering the past vague, and the present 
 and future uninteresting. The contrast between 
 him and Soci'ty was marked, the latter being almost 
 wild with a nervous exultation, which found vent 
 in a thousand extravagancies. To Soci'ty's simple 
 convict-imagination, the escape would be the open 
 gate to an Elysium of material joys. He refused 
 to consider the possibility of dangers, privation and 
 suffering. Paul, too, gave such a contingency no 
 thought; but only because he was indifferent to it. 
 He accepted in good faith Soci'ty's suggestions, 
 determined to stand by him loyally ; but the craving 
 for liberty had departed as quickly as it had come. 
 And so, this strangely mated pair awaited the 
 execution of their plot, the one acquiescent, the 
 other with an earnestness at once gay and fero 
 cious. 
 
 At length Tuesday came, and the unexpected 
 permeated the prison, from the brand-new clothing 
 allotted for the day to the men most in view, to the 
 superior quality of meat which the cooks were 
 directed to stew in the surprised caldrons. Under 
 the drastic directions of the deputy, the hallmen 
 plied mop, broom and brush ; and filth retreated to 
 its corners, dismayed, but not vanquished. For one 
 day, at least, the prison put its best foot forward,
 
 218 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 even though, before night, it would surely draw it 
 back again. 
 
 The noon-hour came and went. The lines 
 marched up to their dinner and back to the shops, 
 with many a comment, low but deep, on the festiv 
 ities so near and yet so far. The main hall was 
 silent and deserted save for the fat keeper, ster- 
 torously dreaming the hours away in his great 
 chair by the grating to the yard. On gallery B, 
 Paul and Soci'ty crouched breathlessly behind the 
 flimsy calico curtain of the cell the parapher 
 nalia of their plot spread out in readiness on the 
 bunk. 
 
 The office-door creaked, and the cavernous hall 
 resounded with ejaculation and laughter and the 
 press of feet. The inspection had begun. The 
 visitors gazed up to the dizzy, dusty heights of the 
 topmost tier, and asked one another jestingly how 
 they would like to be up there. Then the huddle, 
 red-faced, vociferous, disorderly, surged through 
 the grating out into the yard. The fat keeper 
 saluted automatically; and then settled back to his 
 reward of rest. 
 
 Silent again was the great hall, but no longer 
 deserted. Two strange figures in loose black gar 
 ments, their superabundant whiskers sticking out 
 in all directions like tentacles of curiosity, had lin 
 gered behind. With broad, soft hats pulled down
 
 THE MISSING PAIR 219 
 
 over their big, flaring spectacles, and note-books in 
 hand, they sprang eagerly up the narrow, winding 
 stairway. While the short and stout one paused to 
 examine the lever at the end of the structure, 
 whereby all the cells could be secured in one move 
 ment, the tall and thin one sauntered along the 
 second gallery, peering into each cell through the 
 bars, and setting down the pitiably sparse belong 
 ings like one making an inventory of the catacombs. 
 He came to B 31, noting with gratified surprise 
 that this grating was ajar. He pushed aside the 
 flimsy calico curtain; he entered. 
 
 There was a strangulated, agonized gasp, as a 
 handful of tobacco-dust struck the intruder full in 
 the face. Strong hands forced even the strength to 
 cough from his throat, while deft fingers, with the 
 rapidity of a revolving shaft, stripped off his seemly 
 raiment. In another moment, gagged and trussed, 
 he was thrust into the narrow space, under the bunk, 
 and wadded in with an old blanket, there to reflect 
 that there were stranger things, in hell, at least, 
 than were comprised in his poor philosophy. 
 
 Soci'ty donned the flaring spectacles, and pulled 
 the broad, soft hat down over them ; then, sticking 
 out his whiskered chin from the grating, he solemnly 
 waved a black glove to the short and stout man by 
 the lever. The latter responded with alacrity, like 
 one anticipating an intellectual feast. He pushed
 
 220 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 aside the flimsy calico curtain; he entered. And 
 his anticipations were more than realized; for he 
 met the fate of his predecessor. 
 
 "A repeater," reflected Soci'ty; "sure the fust 
 good tun did deserve anodder." 
 
 And the fat keeper moved luxuriously in his great 
 chair down on the flagging by the gateway to the 
 yard; for already, in his dreams, had the long hours 
 of duty expired, and again he was monarch of all 
 he surveyed in the corner saloon, telling how things 
 were done. 
 
 Paul had executed his part with the lifeless pre 
 cision of a machine; but now, when nothing re 
 mained but to await the return of the visitors, he 
 sat, a queer figure in the strange disguise, which 
 somehow seemed to fit his mood. Again that sense 
 of remoteness and solitude oppressed him; again, 
 he was far away, amid endless expanses of desert, 
 alone, hopelessly alone. He was so wrapped up in 
 this visionary obsession that he was utterly un 
 mindful of his companion, which was just as well 
 for his peace of conscience. 
 
 For Soci'ty was not absorbed in the remote and 
 visionary; the present duty, close at hand, was 
 enough for him. Having emptied the contents of a 
 fat wallet into various pockets, he crept behind 
 Paul, and, with the deft, delicate fingers of an 
 expert, filched another wallet, full as fat, from the
 
 THE MISSING PAIR 221 
 
 long black coat in which the tall thin man had once 
 been so discreetly clad. " Whin wan has been 
 brung up on the milk of honesty," he mused, as he 
 stowed away the deliciously crackling bills with the 
 prudent judgment of a financier, " 'tis jest as well 
 to keep from him the strong drink of graft." 
 
 An hour passed. The weather, which had been 
 cloudy, now settled into a heavy rain, driven by a 
 bleak wind, and darkening the day. Less red-faced 
 and vociferous, but more disordered, the huddle of 
 visitors hurried up from the shops, their clothing 
 and ardor alike dampened. They stamped along 
 the flagging, by the fat keeper, dazedly saluting, and 
 crowded through the creaking office-door, anxious 
 to get home before what was bad should become 
 worse. Only the two philanthropists preserved their 
 normal dignity, and they leisurely brought up the 
 rear, discussing learnedly the various phases of 
 what they had seen. As they reached the front 
 door, however, the short and stout one darted back, 
 and snatched an ancient blue umbrella from the rack. 
 " I should feel lost without it," he explained in 
 a high, cracked voice, as dry as the crumbs of 
 charity. 
 
 " A queer pair," said the warden, after he had 
 bowed them out, and double-locked the door. 
 
 " Queer, but all there, just the samee," added the 
 clerk. " Did you see the credentials they brought
 
 222 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 from our new Governor? He doesn't do a thing 
 but take a whole lot of stock in them." 
 
 Meanwhile, the two philanthropists proceeded 
 sedately down the street and around the corner until 
 they were cut off from the view of the prison. 
 " Now," said Soci'ty sharply, " hang on to my arm, 
 and let's see how fast you kin scud along under a 
 blue umbrelly. Act alive, man, for Gawd's sake, 
 even if you can't look alive. In ten minutes we'll 
 be safe ; " and Paul clung to him instinctively, and 
 yet with the aloofness of a somnambulist, as he 
 darted through the side-streets, cleared of observers 
 by the storm, and finally down an alley, leading to 
 the river. 
 
 In less than an hour, Paul and Soci'ty stood on a 
 wooden point on the other side of the river, watch 
 ing the skiff which had carried them over disappear 
 in the mist. 
 
 " Thet's what a little ready dough, jidic'usly 
 applied, kin do," said Soci'ty. 
 
 "But where did you get it?" Paul asked, his 
 faculties quickened by surprise. " I still have my 
 ring." 
 
 " The leg-pullin' of thim old guys was so aisy," 
 Soci'ty replied, " thet I might say it wore a legacy." 
 
 It is doubtful whether this explanation would 
 have been satisfactory to Paul's nice sense of honor, 
 changed and afflicted though he was by the mental
 
 THE MISSING PAIR 223 
 
 shock of the explosion, the long strain of the trial, 
 the agonizing suspense and the raging despair, 
 resulting from his application for justice to the 
 Governor, and now the exposure of storm and cold 
 following upon the sensitiveness of close confine 
 ment. But, of a sudden, a series of shrill screams 
 swept over the river on the heavy air. It was the 
 prison-whistle sounding an alarm. Soci'ty shook 
 his fist at the other side. " Oh, you have found two 
 pigs in a poke, have yer ! " he taunted ; " well, thet's 
 all you will find, glory be." 
 
 " They will follow, they will take us back to the 
 stench, the filth, the horror of living," Paul moaned. 
 
 " There'll hev' to be manny a shuffle of a big 
 deck of doubts and uncertainties," encouraged 
 Soci'ty, " afore they draw this pair. Jest lean on 
 my arm, old man, and amble along at yer own gait, 
 as if out for a stroll in the woodland. This is a 
 barren country, over here, remember, with a square 
 mile or so of mountain and trees for ivery inhab 
 itant. Now I know a bank where the wild times 
 used to grow, more's the pity, an' manny of 'em 
 I've had there; the fav'rit round-up in the spring 
 for all the fly hoboes and lob-lolly road-boys, whin 
 the chicking wud brile to a tun over the blazin' logs, 
 and the can of mixed wud rewolve to unceasun story 
 and chune. It's allus the way in this mortooal 
 existence; the softer the snap, the sooner the heat
 
 224 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 of human passions milts it away. Wan night, 
 Dutch Peter was stuck for fair he tuk the dreen- 
 ings out of his order an', arter he was planted 
 safe, wit' an impty kag for his bier, the boys give 
 the old place the go-by. They say he walks, and 
 mebbe he dooes; he was well used to the habit." 
 
 And, as they plodded on through the wet and 
 mire, Soci'ty told more about the old freight-car, 
 left in the heart of the wilderness years before, 
 when an ill-considered project for the building of 
 a railroad had been abandoned. Its existence, he 
 said, was absolutely unknown to the few and scat 
 tered charcoal-burners who constituted the inhab 
 itants of the region; while superstitious fear, with 
 the flaming sword of imagination, kept the tramps 
 away. There, it was his plan, they should lie for a 
 few days, until the hue and cry had died away ; and 
 then, he would venture forth, first to buy suitable 
 clothing, and then to pawn the diamond ring. 
 
 And Paul listened at first, stimulated by the 
 agitation of flight, but gradually fatigue and disease 
 combined to overthrow his consciousness. He no 
 longer heard his companion's cheery voice ; nor felt 
 the support of his stout arm. Again he was 
 traversing endless expanses of desert, alone, hope 
 lessly alone. And when, at last, they reached their 
 destination, and Soci'ty swinging open the rickety 
 door, lifted him within, he fell on his face and lay
 
 THE MISSING PAIR 225 
 
 silent, unknowing, sodden with wet, burning with 
 fever, an object for tears and the tenderest minis 
 trations. 
 
 Soci'ty did what he could. Presently a fire was 
 blazing on a hearth of stone, under an old stove 
 pipe. In the morning he made a circuit of many 
 miles, and brought back quinine, food and drink. 
 But the money was going rapidly; the vagabond 
 instincts were tugging at his breast. Why should 
 he delay with this dying man ; was there any one on 
 earth who would do as much for him? Through 
 Paul's clothing he could fancy the blaze of the 
 diamonds, and, in their light, he saw himself the 
 centre of a riotous crew, scattering crisp bills with 
 lavish hands, while the bottles cracked and the 
 smoke hung thick and the girls crept close, with 
 soft, warm arms and glittering eyes. Oh, it was 
 heaven; the only heaven he could know or com 
 prehend. He drew nearer, he even placed his hand 
 within the sick man's breast 
 
 Then Paul moved; then, for the first time in 
 hours, he spoke. 
 
 " Constance, Constance," he moaned, extending 
 his poor, swollen hands ; " my dear one, my only 
 one, come to me." 
 
 " Thet settles it," Soci'ty muttered, his throat 
 swelling into knots ; " I might crack a poor-box, or 
 skin a hearse on a pinch, but he's beyond my limit.
 
 226 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 The poor, poor devil, under sintince for life, chased 
 like a wild beast, wit' a reward out ag'inst him be 
 this time, and yit, in his delirum, between the wery 
 jaws of deat', a-dreamin' of his lovyer true. I've 
 seen manny of thim croak an' in pityus shape too, 
 but, arter all, it was the chanct thet they wint up 
 against. But he why, he is innocent. No front, 
 no fake, no song-an'-dance for the chaplain; but 
 truly-rural, so-help-me-Gawd innocent. It's too 
 much, too much; sech a puffict gentleman, so clean, 
 so neat, wit'out a scar or mark on him, and his nails 
 in bang-up shape like a leddy's. An' he niver t'rew 
 no bluffs, or give me the nasty, so he didn't; but 
 allus a smile an' a wilcome, as if thet hole in the 
 wall where he locked was a college room. ' Sut- 
 tenly,' says he to me, ' you act as Trisurer.' Me act 
 as Trisurer ; oh, Lard ! " And Soci'ty paced to and 
 fro, snapping his fingers, and slapping his sides in 
 his progressive exaltation of spirits. 
 
 "What's to do; what's to do?" he reflected, 
 pausing abruptly, as if held by his thoughts ; " he 
 may die, or he may git well, 'tis the flip of a kine; 
 but in eeder case he needs a friend, and he needs 
 him bad. Him, do I say? Why, it's a her; didn't 
 he jest call for Constance, and name her the unly 
 wan. Thin, be the Fathers, I'll hunt her up at 
 Hamlin and fetch her. She must be there; 'tis his 
 home, at all ewents, where he's knowed. But who
 
 THE MISSING PAIR 227 
 
 is there on the broad eart', who is there thet I kin 
 trust, or thet'll trust me? " 
 
 As if in answer to his despairing cry, a recol 
 lection of the court-room, where he had pleaded 
 guilty in Hamlin, flashed over Soci'ty's mind. He 
 saw himself in the dock, waiting for the deputies to 
 remove him to jail. A case was about to be called 
 all were busy, all intent on the affairs of life. 
 He, alone, had been cast aside, a thing of no impor 
 tance or even interest save that of idle curiosity. 
 So he sat, apart, alone, when a gentle hand had been 
 laid on his arm, and a sympathetic voice had said : 
 " I perceive, my friend, that you might be good, if 
 you would only try not to be so bad." It was the 
 blind old court-crier, with his white hair framing 
 his face like an aureole. 
 
 " Thet's me man," Soci'ty now cried exultantly. 
 " He'll treat me square ; he'll niver give me away. 
 I'll put the hull sitooatun up to him, blow me if 
 I don't." 
 
 He brought water and food, and placed them 
 where they might readily be seen and reached. 
 Then, with some vague sense of doing reverence, 
 he folded Paul's hands and straightened his limbs; 
 and forth he went on his dangerous mission.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 
 
 PHINEAS TWIGG had alighted from the street-car 
 and was feeling his familiar way homeward from 
 the court. A cloud rested on his placid face, 
 smoothed from lesser worries by one great life- 
 sorrow; for the town was agog with the news of 
 the escape. He feared the effect upon Constance 
 and Millicent of such a shock; and was anxious to 
 hear what they would do in this surprising compli 
 cation of their plans. 
 
 The inevitableness of human fate, in contrast 
 .with the futility of human hopes, was oppressing 
 his cheerfulness when his steps and meditation were 
 alike arrested by a husky whisper, saying: 
 
 " Might I have the honor of a wud wit' you, Mr. 
 Twigg, on the strict Q. T. ? " 
 
 The old man turned his sightless eyes with keen 
 intelligence toward his accoster. 
 
 " Who are you? " he asked. " I have heard that 
 voice before. Was it I don't want to offend you, 
 my friend in the prisoner's dock?"
 
 BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 229 
 
 " Offend nawthin'," Soci'ty replied, much grat 
 ified. " It was thet same, idintical v'ice you heerd, 
 a-trowin' of itself on the mussy of the Coort, not 
 two year since. And 'twas you thet gev' me the 
 good wud, jest after His 'Armor hed soaked me wit' 
 the bad wan, so you did." 
 
 " Daniel Mattice, alias Soci'ty Dan," Mr. Twigg 
 soliloquized in awed tones ; , " why, man, what are 
 you thinking of to take such a risk? There's a 
 proclamation out against you, with a price set on 
 your head. To come to this place of all places, and 
 to make yourself known to me, a sworn officer of 
 the law Oh, God bless my soul ; how oblivious I 
 am ! You come, of course, from poor Paul. Hurry, 
 behind that hedge, to the back door of my house, 
 and I will let you in at once." 
 
 " An' you can't let me in too quick," rejoined 
 Soci'ty. 
 
 When the story of the escape had been told in 
 the front room, with curtains closely drawn, Phineas 
 Twigg reflected deeply. 
 
 " Do you think he is going to die ? " at length he 
 asked. 
 
 " I'd be sendin' for the priest in the same case," 
 Soci'ty answered. 
 
 " Then, God forbid that he should die friendless 
 and alone. The girls are gone to spend a day or so 
 with relations of ours at Nadonk, just across the
 
 230 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 river from the prison, you know. I'll telegraph 
 them to await my coming in the morning. We'll 
 get a horse and wagon and drive along the road, 
 which, you say, runs not far distant from the 
 deserted freight-car. You can meet us at the edge 
 of the woods " 
 
 " May the old plug you hire git there as suttenly," 
 agreed Soci'ty, rising to go. 
 
 But this was not at all in accord with Phineas 
 Twigg's ethics. With his own hands he brought 
 food and drink, sweetening his charity, as he slipped 
 a bill into the fugitive's pocket, with words of 
 praise. 
 
 " P'raps, you're right," Soci'ty stammered, much 
 embarrassed, with a comical twist of his shoulders, 
 as he glided out into the night; "but I hev' no 
 irritatun from pin-fedders as yit." 
 
 And, indeed, this possible growth of wings met 
 with a sudden and fatal check. As Soci'ty slunk 
 along the streets, at the rogue's own hour, all the 
 old predatory instincts, in the seclusion and safety 
 of the dark, revived within him. Again he was 
 taking part in the incessant war waged by those 
 that want against those that have. Every brightly 
 lighted window seemed a beacon guiding him to 
 treasure. Every moving shadow seemed the hateful 
 evidence of a vigilant foe. He paused between the 
 gate-posts of extensive grounds, surrounding a
 
 BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 231 
 
 broad, old-fashioned mansion, beset and fascinated 
 by a sudden temptation. He knew the place well. 
 Had he not sped from it with hot foot on the 
 morning of his latest arrest, after expressing his 
 disapproval of the stern code of its mistress by 
 throwing a stone through the plate-glass? Was it 
 not the town house of that Governor John Strain 
 who had set a price on his head ? Every fibre of his 
 being yearned for reprisal, that one form of justice, 
 rude but poetical, which appeals to the criminal's 
 imagination. 
 
 " Two kin play at thet game, thin," Soci'ty mut 
 tered doggedly. " Since he's so brash about settin' 
 a price, we'll see how he likes payin' wan." 
 
 Soci'ty reconnoitred stealthily along the verandas. 
 The parlors occupied one side of the house. On the 
 other side there was a reception-room in front and a 
 dining-room in the rear. In the former, an elderly 
 lady, whom he recognized with a grimace as Mrs. 
 Strain, was in earnest conversation with a young 
 man. The dining-room was unoccupied, but 
 lighted; and, through the half-open door of a strong 
 closet on one side, he could catch the gleam of gold 
 and silver ware. 
 
 What should he do? If he waited, a servant 
 might come and lock the door. On the other hand, 
 the pair in the front room were so intent on what 
 they were discussing that either they might not
 
 232 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 hear any slight sound coming from the rear, shut 
 off as it was by heavy curtains, or might disregard it 
 as but an incident of housework. He was not 
 prepared for any systematic siege; if anything was 
 done, it must be done by sudden foray. Soci'ty 
 slipped his knife-blade between the upper and lower 
 sashes of one of the windows of the dining-room, 
 and pushed back the bolt. He cautiously worked up 
 the lower sash. " Fust, hear; and thin, strike," he 
 philosophized, as he crept to the curtained doorway 
 and listened. 
 
 " I hope you appreciate, Adolph," the woman was 
 saying, in sharp, decisive tones, " the necessity of 
 immediate action. If once Paul gains a secure 
 hiding-place, from which he can communicate with 
 that girl, the next step may be to prove his innocence 
 not so difficult a task, I sometimes think, as it 
 pleases you to pretend. And then, happy in the love 
 and the riches which should both be yours, he, she, 
 will laugh in our faces - " 
 
 " I know, I know," the young man replied. " I 
 have to be cautious on account of my relationship, 
 but already, as the Governor's representative, I am 
 in communication with Joe and Jake, the State 
 detectives. They are at the office now. Early 
 to-morrow, they will thoroughly beat the woods 
 across the river from the prison. It is a safe conclu 
 sion that, with every road and railway point
 
 BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 233 
 
 watched as they now are by the prison guards, there 
 is where the fugitives must have secreted them 
 selves." 
 
 " It is allus better," chuckled Soci'ty, " to wait 
 until you gits to the ind of a matter, afore you 
 arrives at a safe conclus'un. Meanwhile, none but 
 the brave deserves the ware the silver-ware." 
 And he glided like a snake across the polished floor. 
 
 Once within the strong-room, Soci'ty's trained 
 judgment made instant selection. He took a golden 
 caudle-cup, long an heirloom in the Hazlett family, 
 and a pair of massive silver candlesticks, curiously 
 carved. " Betune thim, they's be a light to me lips, 
 as the Good Book says," he quoted somewhat freely. 
 Then, disregarding his former tactics, he made a 
 swift break for the window. 
 
 The polished floor, which had facilitated his 
 ingress, now proved his undoing. He slipped, he 
 fell, he slid ; nor did he regain control of his muscles 
 until he was thoroughly twisted and entangled in 
 the folds of the heavy curtains between the two 
 rooms. 
 
 Then it was too late. Strong hands snatched his 
 booty from him, and, pulling down the curtains, 
 rolled him over and over, at the same time binding 
 him with the silken cord until he was as swathed 
 and helpless as a mummy. 
 
 " Let's see whom we have here," said Adolph,
 
 234 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 drawing the suffocating folds from his captive's 
 face. 
 
 " Peek-a-boo ! " cried the unabashed Soci'ty, 
 popping up like a jack-in-the-box. 
 
 Mrs. Strain pressed forward and gazed into his 
 face. " You are the wretch who broke my window," 
 she said slowly, recollection and intuition combining 
 to lead her to the truth ; " what are you doing out 
 of prison, where my husband told me you had been 
 sent, he was sure, for a long term ? Can it be 
 must it not be V- " And she drew Adolph aside, 
 debating something in excited whispers. 
 
 Adolph rolled Soci'ty over, with his face to the 
 wall. 
 
 " You'll lie still," he advised, " if you know 
 what's good for you." 
 
 " I wud be lying still, if I said I did know," 
 Soci'ty retorted. 
 
 The gas was turned down, the door of the strong 
 room was locked and the key taken out ; voices and 
 footsteps died away, and all was still. For a time, 
 for a discreet time, Soci'ty obeyed Adolph's parting 
 injunction. Then, he began a series of writhings 
 and twistings, with a use and saving of strength 
 that betokened experience. 
 
 The result was unexpectedly successful. The 
 stout, silken cord unloosed, as by invisible fingers; 
 and Soci'ty scrambled to his feet, alone and free.
 
 BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 235 
 
 Another moment, and he was speeding through the 
 grounds like a belated spirit at cock-crow. 
 
 There was a sudden glare of light, vivid, instan 
 taneous, throwing the fugitive into bold relief. 
 Soci'ty stopped short, in the succeeding darkness, 
 as if shot, his ringer on his nose. " Some 'un flashed 
 a glim on me, all right, all right," he reflected; 
 " Some 'un is pipin' me for fair. What dooes it 
 mean ? " 
 
 A train of circumstances, each one small and 
 unimportant by itself, thronged his acute and agile 
 mind, combining into an inevitable deduction. The 
 whispered talk about the necessity of re-taking Paul 
 and the proximity of the State detectives; Mrs. 
 Strain's recognition and her excited debate with 
 Adolph; their strange withdrawal, and the stranger 
 facility of his escape yes, yes ; there could be no 
 doubt of it; they had let him go in order that, all 
 unsuspecting, he might show the way to his com 
 panion's hiding-place! 
 
 " Do I do it ? " murmured Soci'ty. " Not on yer 
 life I do thim ; " indicating thereby a disincli 
 nation to fall into the plot, and a malign purpose 
 against the well-being of the two State detectives. 
 
 The next morning, a two-seated wagon, drawn 
 by a sedate and sober nag, was proceeding leisurely 
 along the lonely road, across the river from Roscoe,
 
 236 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Constance Sanderson was driving, while Phineas 
 Twigg and Millicent sat on the seat behind. They 
 might well have been taken for a family party out 
 for a day's pleasure in the woodland, were it not for 
 the undisguised anxiety that accompanied them. A 
 man in an old duster and blue overalls, with the 
 fringe of a straw hat drawn down over his face, 
 stepped out from behind a tree. " If the cas'al 
 observer wud take me for the hired man," he 
 remarked, " I'll handle the ribbons." 
 
 Reassured as to the propriety of his appearance, 
 Soci'ty assumed the reins, and at once began an 
 account of his adventures. 
 
 " It was this way," he said. " As I perceeded 
 down the street, all the wits in me nut kep' tuggin' 
 at the roots of me hair in their struggle to wool out 
 some feas'ble scheme. I was sure I was follered, 
 for, whiniver I stopped, I cud hear the patter, patter, 
 of steps behind on eeder side, and onct and agin 
 there wud be the flash of the glim and a whistle back 
 and fort'. But they held their distance, all right, 
 bein' as clearly detarmined not to take me as they 
 was not to lose me. 
 
 " I was clean rattled, so I was, whin I t'ought of 
 youse waitun' here for me in the marn. For, if I 
 kep' me app'intment, they wud be at me heels, and, 
 if I didn't, Mr. Paul might die, not knowin' yer 
 lovin' puppose. On the odder hand, too, if I med a
 
 BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 237 
 
 break to onct and got away from thim, the chances 
 were thet they wud foller their orig'nal plan, and be 
 pipin' these woods. I hed no fear of their findun' 
 the old freight-car, 'tis too well hid for the likes of 
 thim, but they might come acrost youse afore I did, 
 and make trouble from ricognizin' the giglamps and 
 white lilacs of his nibs behind. It was up to me, 
 thin, fust, to put thim on the wrong trail, and thin 
 to git away in time to guide youse. But, as the 
 Injun said, whin he fust hed the pleasure of meetin' 
 his white brudder, ' How ? ' 
 
 " It was very unselfish of you to think of us at all 
 in such a terrible dilemma," exclaimed Constance 
 warmly. 
 
 " I'd hev' been a shell-fish a reg'lar clam if 
 I hedn't," Soci'ty protested. " Well, thin, to re 
 sume, as the bank-cashier said whin he began to pay 
 out shinplasters arter hevin' soaked away all the 
 kino. You must know, Miss, thet ivery callin' has 
 its own partic'lar knack, and the gintle art of 
 graftin' is no excipshun to the rule. What we old 
 lags 1'arn above all ilse is the vally of clus' obser- 
 vatun of ordinary t'ings ; for you kin never tell whin 
 some handy trifle may prove the wan t'ing needful 
 to wuk out yer timporary salvatun. Suddintly, 
 there kem to my mind the blessed recollectun of 
 what I hed seen earlier in the day, in the cintre of a 
 field, about two miles from town ; an illigant,
 
 238 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 full-sized scarecrow, in an old duster, blue overalls, 
 and the ghost of a straw hat, thet in the height of 
 the season must 'ev been a sign thet anny burd thet 
 flew cud read to keep off the grass. But now its 
 work was done, and it was enj'ying the rist of a 
 good and fait'ful servant, plum on its face. ' Here's 
 a chanct,' t'ought I, ' for a mix-up thet wud puzzle 
 old Solimin hisself to figger out wuss than makin' 
 two babbies outer wan. And I ducked into the near 
 est lightning-j'int to t'ink it over over a bottle 
 and a glass and a shiny, ile-clot' table-kiver. 
 
 " They was waitun' pat'ently whin I kem out, 
 staggerin' as if what hed been but a frindly bout 
 had landed on me sollar plictus. I cud hear thim 
 whisperin' behind, as I rotated along like a buckin' 
 ottermobile, and prisintly they kem up on eeder side. 
 
 " ' Where ye bound for now, Jack ? ' says they. 
 
 " * To keep an app'intment with a pal in Muggle- 
 ton,' says I, namin' a fly town a good bit from here, 
 where manny's the crook been kep' under kiver till 
 the clouds rolled by. 
 
 " ' Likely enough,' reflicted wan. 
 
 " ' But you'll be late if you don't hurry along,' 
 suggested the odder. 
 
 " ' Better late than niver,' says I, ' and niver it will 
 be if I hev' the comp'ny of thim to whom distance 
 linds enchantment if annythin' can.' And settin' 
 down on the ground, I whipped a bottle from me
 
 BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 239 
 
 clothes, and perceeded to keep me good spirits up by 
 puttin' me bad spirits down. 
 
 " ' There's no use of bodderin' wit' him now, 
 Jake,' says wan ; ' he must take his own course.' 
 
 " ' Thet's right, Joe,' says the odder, as they 
 moved away, ' he's got to be wuss afore he's better.' 
 
 " Well, you kin believe me, Miss, thet the course 
 I tuk was a circoot'us wan, and no mistake; from 
 wan side of the street to the odder, up stoops and 
 down areys, settin' on fences and rollin' in gutters 
 it wud give thet tired feelin' to the Wanderin' 
 Jew hisself. No wonder, thin, they lagged behind 
 a little, especially as they cud keep tabs on me wit' 
 the glim, to say nawthin' of the malod'jus strains 
 thet I now and again sint up for the eddificatun of 
 the stars. And so it happened, thet whin I kem to 
 the holler in the field, where the scare-crow risted 
 wit' his mart'ul robes still around him, I hed time 
 to lay down on him and kiver him up afore the de 
 tectives reached me. 
 
 " * He's got to sleep it off,' says Joe. 
 
 " ' While we camps out on the ground,' growled 
 Jake, ' a-catchin' nawthin' excipt colds.' And off 
 they wint, lukkin', as us'al wit' their kind, for a soft 
 spot. 
 
 " I wasted no time, knowin' thet they'd rist for a 
 bit, believin' me dead to the world; and in a jiffy 
 I was in the scarecrow's clothes and it was in mine;
 
 240 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 and which wan looked the most like the odder I 
 rally don't know, though I hev' me doubts. Thin, 
 I braced the thing up on its hunkies, and placed the 
 bottle to its lips as if it was jest a-goin' mollzeit; 
 and off I crep' on hands and knees to where the 
 detectives t'ought they was detectin'. Jest as I got 
 behind thim, they flashed the glim into the holler. 
 
 " ' He's at it agin, Joe ! ' groaned Jake. 
 
 " ' I'd like to be at him, thin, wit' a stommick- 
 pump,' Joe groaned back. 
 
 " And, thin, I stepped out lively, keepin' in the 
 byways and hidges whin the light broke, and allus 
 follerin' the line of least observatun, as laid down 
 in the books for thim breakin' away. An' here I am, 
 and here we are, t'anks to mussy." And Soci'ty, 
 as he concluded, turned the horse into a clearing in 
 the woods, well-screened by bushes, and hitched it 
 to a sapling. 
 
 " This is the time whin the divil can't take the 
 hindmost," he said apologetically, as he led the way 
 along a winding path. 
 
 They stood without the old freight-car and lis 
 tened. All was still the silence which death 
 shares with desolation and solitude. Which of these 
 three now prevailed? They stole breathlessly 
 through the rickety door and entered. The food 
 which Soci'ty had prepared was scattered around; 
 the water-bottles which he had filled were broken;
 
 BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 241 
 
 the pallet of straw which he had arranged had been 
 tossed to one side; and Paul was gone. 
 
 " They have caught him, they have taken him 
 away," moaned Constance ; " there has been an aw 
 ful struggle." 
 
 " Nope," said Soci'ty, with a clearer reading of 
 the signs; "the struggle was wit' hisself, poor 
 feller. He has rushed out, Gawd unly knows where, 
 in his delir'um." 
 
 " Then we must think and act quickly," Millicent 
 advised. " The detectives have found out, long ago, 
 their mistake in watching the scarecrow. Their 
 only course is to come to these woods, as Adolph 
 Breen directed in the first place. If they do, Paul 
 may wander into their very arms ; or, at best, they 
 may find us and suspect that father - 
 
 " No one will dare impugn my motives," Phineas 
 interrupted, his face all aglow; " and if any one does, 
 I don't care." 
 
 " Wait a bit, until I reconniter," said Soci'ty, 
 slipping away before any one could object. Pres 
 ently, he returned, his expression, for the once, 
 grave and even dejected. " They're standin', the 
 two of thim, Joe and Jake, down by the rig," he 
 reported. " Now, listen ; there's unly wan way, 
 and I'm goin' to take it, niminy contradecanter. 
 You wait here for a half-hour, and thin go home. 
 I'll show meself to onct to the detectives; they'll
 
 242 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 foller me sure, and a merry chase I'll give thim. 
 If I gits away eventooly, well and good; I'll hunt 
 for Paul. If I don't, thin remimber that I can't be 
 much wuss off than I allus hev' been. At least I'll 
 keep thim from Paul. In anny ewent, don't you 
 t'ree try to find him; two girls and a blind man kin 
 unly help sech a case by not buttin' in excipt wit' 
 their prayers. S'long to ye all; I'm off." 
 
 " Hurrah for you," cried Millicent, " I believe 
 you can lead a dozen stupid detectives by the nose! " 
 
 " God bless and keep you, my son," said Phineas 
 Twigg. 
 
 As the detectives stood, studying the possible 
 meaning of the wagon hitched in the woods, their 
 sharp eyes caught the skulking of a form among 
 the trees. It was Soci'ty Dan, the man who had 
 escaped them the night before, looking for marks 
 on the bark and in the rocks, evidently on his way 
 at last to the true hiding-place of his companion and 
 their quarry, Paul Breen. They followed noise 
 lessly, well-satisfied, from his intentness, that he had 
 no suspicion of their proximity. 
 
 A merry chase, indeed, Soci'ty led them, through 
 the endless stretches of the woodland toward the 
 outlying mountains, every hour leaving the freight- 
 ,car more hopelessly in the distance. With grim de 
 termination, however, they hung on to his trail, 
 never suffering him to disappear from view, dodge
 
 TAKE US AT ONCE TO WHERE PAUL BREEN IS HID, AND WE LL 
 LET YOU GO.' "
 
 BLIND LEADING THE BLIND 243 
 
 and double as he would. At length the approach of 
 night, with its sure protection for him, its certain 
 defeat for them, brought this strange duel to an end. 
 Joe and Jake sprang forward, covering him with 
 their revolvers. 
 
 " We've had enough of this," they declared. 
 " We know you, damn you. You are Daniel Mat- 
 tice, alias Soci'ty Dan, wanted for breaking prison. 
 Take us at once to where Paul Breen is hid, and 
 we'll let you go." 
 
 Soci'ty looked up stupidly. " Me no spik In- 
 glis," he protested, with a mimicry of Italian ges 
 ticulation, amazing in its impudence. 
 
 " Then, curse you, we'll take you in." 
 
 " Take me in, hey? " cried Soci'ty, audacious, un 
 daunted, in his own improper person, " well, how 
 about yourselves ? I've led you by the nose all day, 
 jest as a darlint, which shall be nameless, said thet 
 I wud; and ivery step has been furder and furder 
 from Paul Breen. Take me in, hey; I'm used to 
 thet. There's nawthin' in the cooler, an' a ball-an'- 
 chain, an' bread-an'-water, but's an old story wit' 
 me, soon told. So do your damndest, you can't do 
 much ; unly remimber while you're a-doin' of it 
 thet youse was done brown and zwei-backed by 
 Soci'ty Dan ! "
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 ON TO WASHINGTON 
 
 THERE is no one so consistently devout in the 
 worship of his Maker as the self-made man. His 
 success and his conceit are examples, respectively, 
 of arithmetical and geometrical progression ; and, 
 until the one wavers and halts, the other continues 
 its exultant flight. 
 
 If a little learning is a dangerous thing, limited 
 learning is a more dangerous one. The ill effects 
 of the former are generally outward and material, 
 leading to blunders, mistakes, humiliations and 
 losses. The worst effects of the latter are inward 
 and spiritual, leading to dogmatism, impatience and 
 contempt for the opinion of others. While a little 
 learning often produces mortification, limited learn 
 ing, if sufficient within its bounds, tends to com 
 placency. The man who can do a class of things 
 exceeding well, and yet who has not the humility 
 taught by a contemplation of the infinite, comes to 
 regard himself in a way as a god; and, like the 
 Lord, when he rests from his labors and views the 
 
 244
 
 ON TO WASHINGTON 245 
 
 work of his hands, whatever it may be, pronounces it 
 good without hesitation or reservation. 
 
 But power is an even more dangerous thing than 
 such lack or sufficiency. It is the touch-stone of 
 greatness; the nectar upon which divinity thrives, 
 but whose fumes are likely to drive poor humanity 
 first drunk and then mad. Discipline may fit the 
 soul for it, but never pride and never self-assurance. 
 
 It follows from this brief homily that John Strain 
 was nearing the crisis of his career. By his own 
 efforts he had climbed high. Through patient, per 
 sistent, indefatigable toil he had grubbed and ground 
 out preeminence in his profession. Through abso 
 lute faith in his own rectitude, not only of purpose, 
 but of methods and results, he had inspired his fel 
 low-men with a like confidence, and- they had 
 hastened to do him honor. Now, as Governor, he 
 had power, broad power; power for good or evil, 
 power for life or death. How would he exert it, and 
 how would its exercise affect him? John Strain, at 
 least, up to this time had no doubts or dreads for 
 the one or the other. 
 
 Regarding, then, his motives and deeds as en 
 dowed with the sacredness of perfection, Governor 
 Strain was both shocked and incensed by the news 
 of the escape from prison. He had taken a personal 
 interest in the visit of the two philanthropists to 
 Roscoe, and had, indeed, requested them to give him
 
 246 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 the benefit of their investigations for certain reforms 
 he had in mind. Something of the nature of lese- 
 majeste, it seemed to him, attached to the offence; 
 it was more than an infraction or an affront, it was 
 a blow aimed at the supremacy of law and order, 
 and, so far as within him lay, he would avenge it. 
 Within twenty-four hours, the State was placarded 
 with notices of a reward of $10,000 for the capture 
 of Paul Breen, and of $2,000 for the capture of his 
 companion, Daniel Mattice, alias " Soci'ty Dan." 
 
 This action, so prompt, so lavish, did not, how 
 ever, satisfy the Governor. Against his better judg 
 ment, against his determined will, he was con 
 strained to realize that, like Saul, his mind was 
 breathing forth threatenings and slaughter. An 
 emotion, deeper, obscurer, more vitally personal 
 than any sense of public wrong oppressed him. The 
 face of Paul Breen kept recurring to him, tranquil, 
 candid, unflinching, its gaze meeting his gaze like 
 the crossing of hostile steel. Why was it that this 
 convict would not go the forgotten way of other 
 convicts? Strain had prosecuted him, convicted 
 him, sent him to a living death, refused his prayer 
 for pardon, and yet, here he was again, forcing him 
 self, against impossible odds, into active opposition 
 to the victor's will. He remembered his early sym 
 pathy in the case, succeeded by a hostility almost 
 ferocious. He remembered how the petition for
 
 ON TO WASHINGTON 247 
 
 pardon had affected him when he had first read it, 
 tugging at his heart, as it were, against the stern 
 veto of his reason which had quickly followed. He 
 had known that he was right in his refusal; and 
 yet a feeling which he could not understand had 
 prevented him from ever mentioning the matter to 
 Adolph, who, indeed, had been away at the time; 
 and had constrained him to put it out of his mind 
 as far as it was possible. 
 
 Always, always, the personality of Paul had ob 
 truded itself, changing the trained, unimpassioned 
 professional judgment, of which he was so proud, 
 back and forth between preference and prejudice. 
 And now, even now, deceive himself as he might, 
 it was the latent, silent, but indomitable defiance of 
 Paul's escape which was the true cause of the ex 
 traordinary reward he had offered. 
 
 Why was this so? John Strain could not tell; 
 but the need of justification shook and unsettled his 
 whole mental structure. It was intolerable that he 
 should feel as he did. Why, if he continued, he 
 might lose that faith in himself which had enabled 
 him to be all that he was. His action was proper; 
 indeed, it was demanded by the highest and purest 
 reasons of state. Not only would he force himself 
 so to believe, but the whole country should believe 
 so with him. With feverish haste, vastly different 
 from his ordinary deliberateness, he added the fol-
 
 248 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 lowing statement to the formal proclamation of re 
 ward which the law required him to issue : 
 
 " The Governor, in offering a larger reward for 
 the apprehension of the escaped convict, Paul Breen, 
 than has ever before been offered in the history of 
 this State, is moved by a profound conviction of 
 what the duty of the hour demands. 
 
 :< This one, supreme duty is that Justice must 
 prevail. Her sway is founded in the eternal verities 
 of God. As we abide by it, so shall we abide in 
 honor; as we depart from it, so shall we depart 
 from the place we have won among the nations of 
 the earth; for our very existence, the cause of our 
 being, is a challenge to, and a denial of, privi 
 lege. 
 
 " As Justice knows no rancor, so she knows no 
 pity. In her scales the offence and the penalty bal 
 ance exactly ; and there is no room, on one side or 
 the other, for either vengeance or compassion. 
 
 " The good citizen can never fear, the bad citizen 
 should ever fear, her edicts. They are upheld by 
 reason; they are unaffected by the emotions. 
 Through their impartial execution the Nation must 
 live and move and have its being. 
 
 ' The capture of this trembling wretch, seeking to 
 hide his dishonored face from the sight of mankind, 
 is nothing; but the vindication of the law is every 
 thing. If there is one exception, there may be many
 
 ON TO WASHINGTON 249 
 
 exceptions. When Justice varies one jot or tittle, 
 then Injustice rules arbitrarily and despotically in 
 her stead. 
 
 " Natural endowments, kindly and attractive 
 graces, station, riches, influence and power, when 
 pleaded in abatement, only emphasize the necessity 
 of no discrimination. Our security and salvation as 
 a people demand that, equally, exactly and inevi 
 tably, every man, whoever he may be, rich or poor, 
 high or low, shall reap as he has sown, until full and 
 complete requital before the law is made." 
 
 These ringing phrases soothed John Strain's un 
 wonted perturbation. He yielded to the fascination 
 of the written word. Again, he was as great as he 
 would be great; again, his motives were as pure as 
 his deeds were impeccable. The vision of Paul 
 Breen faded from- his memory, and in its place, if 
 the thought of the man recurred at all, was the 
 skulking convict, an impersonal type. His doubts 
 and dreads had been but a momentary weakness 
 that sign of mortality which now and again comes 
 to all men of exalted purpose and high responsibili 
 ties to warn them that they, too, are dust. 
 
 And, that evening, when John Strain returned 
 from the Capital to his home at Hamlin, his assur 
 ance was still further reassured. Not since the days 
 of their courtship had Abigail Alice been so affable 
 and cordial. For years, she had acted the consistent
 
 250 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 part of an extremely captious conscience, never 
 praising, always finding fault, although her voice 
 was neither small nor still. Now, this same voice 
 was lifted up in thanksgiving for the marital priv 
 ilege which was hers. 
 
 The change was gratifying to John Strain, as his 
 marriage had always been a rather sore point with 
 him. Granted that through it, primarily, he had 
 gained a start, still, men are apt to kick aside dis 
 dainfully the stool by which they climb, especially 
 if it has become a stool of repentance. Besides, his 
 idea of a wife was the old-fashioned one of a vine 
 entwining around a sturdy oak; and not even an 
 abnormal development of that imagination which he 
 lacked could picture Abigail Alice in so dependent 
 and trustful a role. 
 
 But now, as he sat in the easiest chair, in the 
 coziest corner, and listened to all the good things 
 she declared the neighbors were saying of him, the 
 Governor was inclined to admit, to his innermost 
 self, of course, and in strict confidence, that there 
 might be less sensible women than his wife after all. 
 This conclusion, however, was consigned to the 
 limbo of the undemonstrated, when Mrs. Strain, 
 with an eagerness undisguised and no longer to be 
 restrained, cried : 
 
 " Oh, John, you do think, don't you, that they will 
 catch that Paul Breen ? "
 
 ON TO WASHINGTON 251 
 
 "Ah, that is it, is it?" Strain said, with an air 
 of enlightenment. 
 
 The woman flushed a little and bit her lip. " I 
 don't know what you mean," she protested, " but 
 I do know that the finest thing you ever did or ever 
 can do, if you live a thousand years, was to offer 
 that immense reward for him." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Why, because he is a murdering villain who 
 ought to be hanged if he got his deserts, that's why." 
 
 " Why are you always so hot against him, Abi 
 gail ? " asked John, genuinely interested ; " he never 
 injured or insulted you in any way, did he ? " 
 
 "I rather* think not!" 
 
 " He used to be around our house a good deal at 
 one time didn't he always bear himself as a quiet, 
 gentlemanly, young fellow ? " 
 
 " I suppose so." 
 
 " Considerate, highly intelligent " 
 
 " Yes, yes " 
 
 " With an attractive face, an engaging man 
 ner " 
 
 " I hate him, I hate him," stormed Abigail Alice. 
 " I hate his manner, his considerateness, his intel 
 ligence, his face and personality most of all! I do, 
 I do ; though I don't know why, any more than I 
 know why I am I, and you are you. There are some 
 things that come to a woman that can't be reasoned
 
 252 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 out or put into words, and yet they may be the only 
 real things in her life. But let me ask you, since 
 questions are in order, what do you mean by de 
 fending him to my face you, who swore you 
 would swing him you know you did ; you, who 
 relentlessly drove him into prison, and have kept 
 him there, refusing even to hear his protestations of 
 innocence; you, who have set a fortune on his head, 
 enough to draw out the nation in pursuit of him 
 as if after some wild beast what do you mean by 
 that, I say? Oh, you needn't attempt to answer, I 
 know, I know ! It's mere contrariness it is to 
 tantalize and exasperate a poor, weak, despised, for 
 saken woman, in whose place you'd like to put some 
 such hussy as Constance Sanderson, but you sha'n't, 
 I'll live to thwart you ! It is but a part of all I 
 have had to endure for years and years, you, 
 you, " But here passion grew incoherent and 
 then speechless, and Mrs. Strain tore from the room 
 in a hysterical torrent of tears. 
 
 And Governor John Strain sat long, that night, in 
 his stuffed chair and by his bright fire, unapprecia- 
 tive of their comfort, lost in thought. In no degree 
 was he thus anxiously, almost timorously, ponder 
 ing over his wife's outburst; that was a forgotten 
 trifle, like the empty wrath of a storm that had 
 beat in vain against his house, as many another 
 storm in the past had vainly beat. No, no ; it was
 
 ON TO WASHINGTON 253 
 
 her question, with its insistent, persistent, eternal 
 why, that oppressed him. Why had he defended 
 Paul Breen to her? It had been done impulsively, 
 so much he realized; but all the worse for that. 
 Was he a man to lose his fixed judgment in im 
 pulse ? Whence, then, had come this impulse ? Had 
 he an intuition in Paul's favor, even as his wife had 
 one in his despite? The Governor shook his head 
 in despair of the problem, and, as he crept into bed 
 to a sleep as uneasy as it had always been sound and 
 serene, he shivered as if the unknown had touched 
 him. 
 
 But, with the clarity and reality of morning, the 
 strong man was himself again ; shrugging his 
 shoulders shamedly instead of shivering, and then 
 putting the subject resolutely from his mind. He 
 was still on the upward and onward way, of that 
 he was assured. It was in the very air; it perme 
 ated the looks and talk of his neighbors. As he 
 strode down the street to the station, the embodi 
 ment of intelligent force, his progress was triumphal. 
 Men of all parties, even bitter political opponents, 
 stopped to express their appreciation of the time 
 liness and weight of his proclamation. He had 
 struck a popular chord, beyond peradventure. As 
 an old farmer, whip in hand, remarked to the ap 
 proving bystanders : 
 
 " That's the stuff the fathers preached and prac-
 
 254 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 tised; and that's the stuff upon which we must rely 
 in these evil days of boodle and high-handed deal 
 ings." 
 
 At the Capital the unanimity and heartiness of 
 praise was even more marked. Both the morning 
 papers, recognized respectively as the mouth-pieces 
 of the two great political parties of the State, united 
 in pronouncing the proclamation a most significant 
 and far-reaching public utterance. When the met 
 ropolitan papers arrived, this judgment gained dig 
 nity from the concurrence of their leading edito 
 rials; and so, before night, throughout this town, 
 where every one was a politician by birth, and 
 many a one was a statesman by inheritance, the 
 conviction prevailed that Governor Strain was a 
 man of destiny. 
 
 Nor was this renown either local or transitory. 
 It so happened that during the last year the moral 
 sense of the country had been shocked by the ex 
 posure of corruption in high places corruption, 
 not timorous or faint-hearted, but bold, defiant, re 
 turning the old challenge of " What are you going 
 to do about it ? " to shameful accusation. In the 
 great cities there had been peculations, briberies, 
 the sale of public offices, the waste of public utili 
 ties; and yet the administration of the law had 
 failed adequately to correct or restrain. Indict 
 ments had been found, only to be pigeonholed or
 
 ON TO WASHINGTON 255 
 
 quashed; packed juries had acquitted without leav 
 ing their seats; those who were put in had proved 
 even worse than those who were put out ; and many 
 a thoughtful, patriotic mind was overshadowed by 
 despair for the Republic. 
 
 John Strain's proclamation, then, had all the 
 solemnity of an evangel. As an obscure paper, in 
 a little town far down on the Gulf expressed it, it 
 was " the voice of one crying in the wilderness : 
 ' Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths 
 straight.' ' The striking metaphor enkindled the 
 popular imagination, sweeping up to the north, and 
 then westward-ho, reiterated and reflected by a 
 thousand presses like the wavings of the Scottish 
 fiery cross. The hour for national reform had 
 come ; behold the man ! 
 
 Civic and ethical clubs, far and near, felt the 
 magnetic, emotional currents, hot with resentment 
 and indignation, perfervid for change, that were 
 thrilling similarly through a thousand, thousand 
 hearts. Their members wore badges, emblazoned 
 " Strain and Justice," and in lecture-rooms and on 
 the hustings the Governor's pregnant phrases were 
 repeated and lauded until they became the mightiest 
 of the classic household words. 
 
 The man of homely virtue is the man of strength 
 in a democracy, for he represents the ideal of the 
 lowliest. His career gives poesy to prosaic toil, and
 
 256 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 lightens with hope the dull road of routine. A 
 myriad pens depicted John Strain from every point 
 of view; they told of the struggles of his youth, 
 the tireless labors, the difficulties, the triumphs of 
 his stalwart manhood. They put words in his 
 mouth and actions in his hand, not real, perhaps, but 
 apt. And out from this composite picture he shone 
 attractive, in simple lines; the exemplary citizen, 
 the stern patriot, the type of the old Roman, hard 
 as oak, but equal to every emergency, and sound to 
 the core the man of the people, in fine, who knew 
 and did the right, and feared not. 
 
 The Presidential election was barely six months 
 distant; and the party to which John Strain be 
 longed was still wallowing in a hopeless minority, 
 without candidate or issue. A conference of its 
 most prominent leaders was held in New Chester, 
 and it saw a sudden light. The next day, Adolph 
 Breen entered the executive chamber, where his 
 partner was doggedly plodding his way through a 
 mass of routine matters. " Mr. President," he said, 
 with extended hand, " allow me to congratulate 
 you." 
 
 "What do you mean?" Strain asked with an 
 assumption of surprise, though there was a master 
 ful light in his eyes, and his ruddy cheeks had paled 
 a little. 
 
 " It is all over except the shouting," Adolph con-
 
 ON TO WASHINGTON 257 
 
 tinued. " Carrington is for you ; Rhodes is for 
 you; the whole Committee are in a tumble to get 
 on the band-wagon. You will be nominated sure by 
 acclamation; and Strain and Justice will sweep the 
 country." 
 
 " Nonsense, the boom is too emotional to last ; 
 the flurry will be over before the convention meets." 
 
 " The convention will execute the will of its 
 masters ^- have no fear of that ; it has all been 
 provided for down to the smallest detail. Why, 
 man, you are our political Moses, the only one who 
 can lead us from utter bondage into abounding milk 
 and honey; you don't think we are going to lose 
 you, do you ? There may be something in what you 
 say, though, about the flurry. I haven't half your 
 confidence in the popular will there's nothing 
 more variable to my mind that is, nothing mas 
 culine. But enthusiasm can be rekindled, and may 
 then burn all the brighter; and if only that event 
 does happen which I believe will happen at the psy 
 chological moment, the wheels will need no greas- 
 ing-" 
 
 "And that is?" 
 
 " Paul's arrest on the eve of the convention." 
 
 But John Strain strode up and down the room, 
 his brows contracted, snapping his great fingers like 
 Chinese crackers. " It is a great, a glorious oppor 
 tunity/' he muttered, " the opportunity of a life-
 
 258 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 time. To be President of these United States, the 
 representative, the ruler, of eighty millions of 
 people; what a fulfillment, what a rounding-out of 
 an honorable ambition, a noble career. And I felt 
 it, I felt it coming all the while." 
 
 Then he stopped abruptly, towering over Adolph 
 with flaming face and swelling throat. " Oh, I 
 know you politicians," he stormed ; " you can't fool 
 me. You always want the full credit; you never 
 concede an inch to personal merit or strength. And 
 don't you be fooled either, my boy, by what I just 
 said about the boom giving out; it was but in the 
 spirit of nolo episcopari, and not to be taken seri 
 ously. The boom's all right, never fear. So tell 
 your friends that, if they will do their part, I'll keep 
 my end up. Why, I'll sweep the country like wild 
 fire. You never knew John Strain to fail, did you, 
 in anything on which he set his mind ? No, and you 
 never will. What do I care for Carrington and 
 Rhodes and all that crew? I believe in the people 
 and they believe in me, and together we make a 
 team that can't be beaten. No clique can run me; 
 I'm needed, I tell you ; needed to restore the old 
 order of things, the reign of equity, of righteous 
 ness, yes, of Strain and Justice. That's why I'll be 
 nominated ; that's why I'll accept ; that's why I'll 
 be elected, as I will be, by the Eternal ! " 
 
 " And Paul ? " Adolph asked submissively, af-
 
 ON TO WASHINGTON 259 
 
 fected as he always was by the cumulating force and 
 weight of his partner's ardor. 
 
 " Paul, Paul Breen? Oh, what's the use of talk 
 ing about him? Likely enough he will be arrested 
 at just the right time; but it will be in the natural 
 course of events, one thing out of many working 
 together for the common good. You don't suppose, 
 for one moment, do you, that such a miserable 
 creature could have any real influence, one way or 
 the other, on the destiny of a man like me ? No, no ; 
 that rests here ! " 
 
 And the Governor slapped his broad chest with 
 the arrogance of a conqueror.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 IN THE HANDS OF THE EXPERT 
 
 THE young professor, James Tancredi, had been 
 from boyhood the slave of his own good-nature. 
 He had accepted without protest the guidance of all 
 who took the trouble to influence him, and this was 
 the result rather of strength than of weakness. A 
 weaker man, whether lacking in brain, body or 
 moral fibre, would have found himself annoyed or 
 oppressed by the tasks or responsibilities thrust upon 
 him, and, merely through seeking ease, would have 
 resented control. Tancredi, easily capable of more 
 than had ever been required or requested, had found 
 pleasure in exerting his abilities in whatever field 
 they were called to action. As a boy, schooldays 
 seemed never burdensome to him. The tasks set 
 before him were readily performed, and the social 
 side of school-life brought him delight. Brilliant 
 in the class-room, he was no less distinguished in 
 athletics, for which his light, sinewy figure especially 
 adapted him. Reaching, without great effort, dis 
 tinction in boyish studies and sports, he remained 
 
 260
 
 IN THE HANDS OF THE EXPERT 261 
 
 modest because all he accomplished seemed to him 
 simple, and, being modest and talented, he was 
 popular. 
 
 The same qualities won him similar success in 
 college-life, and he had entered upon his profes 
 sional studies without misgiving and also without 
 thought of leaving the beaten path that had always 
 been so pleasant to his feet. His father, who had 
 died a year before Tancredi's graduation, had been 
 a physician of local eminence, and had wished his 
 son to continue the honor of the name in medical 
 annals. Had Tancredi disregarded this wish, and 
 followed some other pursuit, there might have come 
 disillusion and a revolt that would have strengthened 
 and developed his character. But here again, his 
 good-natured compliance seemed to open the way 
 before him. Some notable successes in the first 
 years of practice, together with the prestige of his 
 father's name, led to the request that he would join 
 the faculty of the medical school connected with 
 Carteret College; and he had accepted the invita 
 tion because it was still along the line of least re 
 sistance. 
 
 Tancredi's duties, as a member of the faculty, 
 were not so absorbing as to require all his time or 
 efforts, and he had written several carefully consid 
 ered papers for medical journals one upon " Ata 
 vistic Heredity in Disease," and one upon " Intra-
 
 262 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 capsular Fractures of the Femora " had been espe 
 cially successful and had also published " Vibra 
 tory Therapeutics," the book Paul Breen had found 
 so inspiring. But he was, unknown to himself, un- 
 awakened. He was living without strong motive or 
 purpose, and consequently taking life rather frivo 
 lously, as a passive rather than an active factor. 
 
 He had never shirked responsibility, but neither 
 had he sought the work or the place where he could 
 do his best for others and consequently for himself. 
 From this relative dolce far niente he might never 
 have been roused had it not been for his meeting 
 with Constance and Millicent in the station. 
 
 Millicent had impressed him strongly, and this 
 attraction, which might have been passing, was 
 strengthened by a second accidental meeting, a few 
 days later, when he had gone to New Chester on 
 legislative business, and she happened to be there 
 on a shopping expedition. The romantic agent that 
 brought about a continuation of the acquaintance 
 was a trolley-car a deus ex machina up to date. 
 
 Millicent, who had her proper share of feminine 
 traits, alighted while facing the wrong way. Before 
 she was clear the car started. The laws of nature, 
 being entirely unchivalrotis, treated her without the 
 slightest consideration; she was thrown down, and 
 became faint from the shock. The car was stopped 
 instantly, and, in response to an inquiry for a doc-
 
 IN THE HANDS OF THE EXPERT 263 
 
 tor, Tancredi, absorbed in his paper at the further 
 end, came forward to give what assistance he might. 
 
 Fortunately, the injury was not very serious. 
 After a little, Millicent recovered her senses and 
 rose to her feet. She recognized Tancredi, and 
 thanked him with a smile, surprised, questioning, 
 bewitching, in its mute raillery. The conductor, 
 seeing that there was nothing further to be done, 
 and after Millicent had assured him that she had no 
 complaint to make, rang his bell, and the car went 
 on, leaving the young doctor and his patient to 
 gether, and unobserved, except for a dingy looking 
 man who watched them furtively from the further 
 side of a tree. 
 
 " Now," said Tancredi, " I am going to call a 
 cab, and take you home. You ought not to be left 
 alone after a fall like that the faintness is likely 
 to recur." He spoke authoritatively, as a physician 
 should. 
 
 " But I live in Hamlin," Millicent objected. 
 
 " So much the better for me," Tancredi replied, 
 " for that is on my way home to Carteret. I am 
 really a neighbor of yours even if I do live in an 
 other State." 
 
 And so a cab was summoned, and they drove 
 away in high spirits the best of friends, so it 
 seemed to the dingy man from behind the tree who 
 doggedly followed them.
 
 264 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 They found Phineas and Constance in the sitting- 
 room at the Twigg home, and Millicent, in a few 
 words, explained her mishap. 
 
 "You are sure she is not seriously injured?" 
 Phineas asked, coming across to where his daughter 
 sat, and touching her face delicately with his slender 
 fingers. 
 
 * There is no sign of anything more than shock 
 and the little bruise," Tancredi answered, " but I 
 thought it best to accompany her." 
 
 " I am sound and in my right mind," Millicent 
 protested. 
 
 " You seem to be assigned to play the part of 
 guardian angel to these young women," Phineas 
 continued. " We are all so glad to meet you again 
 and to thank you both for your interference with 
 the thief, and for your attention to my daughter's 
 injury. Mr. Tancredi, I am blind, as my child may 
 have told you. You can have no conception of the 
 difference such a deprivation makes in one's daily 
 life. But I mention my infirmity only for this rea 
 son : I feel grateful to you, and I should like to 
 know what manner of man you are. Will you per 
 mit me to touch your face, as another might look 
 upon it? " 
 
 Tancredi rose and approached the old man, whose 
 keen hearing took the movement for an answer. 
 Phineas, then, saying " Pardon me," ran the finger-
 
 IN THE HANDS OF THE EXPERT 265 
 
 tips of one outstretched hand over the young man's 
 features. 
 
 " I thank you," said Phineas, " you have an un 
 usual face and a fine one 
 
 " Oh, father," interrupted Millicent, " you really 
 ought to add, in your role of exemplar to the young, 
 that ' handsome is what handsome does.' ' 
 
 " I really ought to address my animadversions 
 much nearer home, my dear," the old man retorted. 
 " Now, Mr. Tancredi, if we may talk without friv 
 olous interruption, you are a professor at Carteret 
 College, I understand ? " 
 
 And Tancredi, willing to humor the gentle old 
 man's evident interest, and not unwilling, perhaps, 
 to add dignity to his standing in the sight of one 
 who seemed prone to make light of it, told briefly 
 who and what he was. 
 
 " Ah, I thought I was not mistaken," Phineas 
 exclaimed. " I knew of your father for many years, 
 a brilliant, and what is rarer an absolutely 
 conscientious physician. It was his testimony that 
 cleared that unjustly persecuted man, Garret Oliver, 
 in the great poisoning case ten years no twelve 
 years ago." 
 
 " Yes, that is so," Tancredi agreed, pleased to 
 hear his father praised. " He stood virtually alone 
 against three of the greatest experts in the coun- 
 try."
 
 266 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Two of them were honestly mistaken," Phineas 
 went on, " but the third was not. He was bribed, 
 or had some motive to conceal the truth." 
 
 " How could you know that, my dear sir? " 
 
 " I knew it by the sound of his voice, just as I 
 now know from the sound of yours that you, like 
 your father, would prove the ready champion of one 
 unfortunate, but innocent." 
 
 " I hope I would," replied Tancredi, with a depre 
 cating glance toward Millicent ; and he rose to take 
 leave. 
 
 Constance, who looked worried and distracted, 
 had, after a polite acknowledgment of Tancredi's 
 services to her, excused herself some time before; 
 so Millicent saw the young physician to the door. 
 
 " I hope for the sake of knight-errantry," she 
 said, " that you will be equally kind and attentive 
 to the next hapless stranger you encounter. Of 
 course you will encounter another one before night 
 fall. They never come singly, you know." 
 
 " I have been too happy in the outcome of my 
 trifling service," protested Tancredi, " not to render 
 any other that might offer out of gratitude ; " and 
 he walked away from the house in a more exalted 
 mood than was usual to him. 
 
 He had been a man to whom woman was an ab 
 straction. Living quietly at his father's home, too 
 delicately brought up to fall into dissipation of any
 
 IN THE HANDS OF THE EXPERT 267 
 
 sort in his student days, and too refined to be at 
 tracted by the grosser vices, he had had that day 
 a new experience. 
 
 While holding Millicent in his arms he had been 
 acutely conscious of her lovely helplessness, and of 
 the rounded little form that he supported. If she 
 had shown any timidity or foolish resentment when 
 she recovered her senses, the impression would not 
 have lasted. He would have resisted its influence 
 over him. But she had been so frank, so demure 
 in her drollery, so free from all thought of her own 
 attraction, that he could not keep from enjoying the 
 remembrance of that delightful little burden he had 
 held in his arms. Her mocking ways, too, piqued 
 his interest, and he resolved that he would take an 
 early advantage of the cordial invitation that had 
 been pressed on him by the household and try his 
 chances again in what already was beginning to 
 seem to him the fascinating tourney of love. 
 
 When he reached his own room at the college 
 he found himself disinclined either for study or 
 writing. The image of Millicent was far more 
 vivid in his mind than the impression of mere 
 printed or written words. So he closed his desk, 
 and went out for a walk. It was early in the eve 
 ning, and, as Tancredi set out at a swinging pace, 
 he soon had walked out of the built-up streets, and 
 reached the suburbs. He was still reviewing the
 
 268 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 marvellous events of the day itself constituting a 
 turning-post in his life when he was suddenly 
 brought back to earth by being addressed : 
 
 " Excuse me, sir, but I should like to ask a few 
 directions from you, if you are not in too great a 
 hurry." 
 
 It was Paul Breen, who, under the guidance of 
 the Providence that watches over those who walk 
 in physical or mental sleep, had wandered thus far, 
 unsuspected, unobserved. 
 
 Tancredi saw before him a young stranger who 
 interested him at first glance. So bowing, and 
 drawing to one side of the road, he replied : 
 
 " Glad to oblige you, I'm sure. What can I do ? 
 You seem to be ill." 
 
 " Yes," Paul replied, " I am in anything but my 
 normal condition. I have had a fever, and have 
 been subject to considerable mental strain previous 
 to the attack. But my physical condition is not of 
 primary importance." 
 
 This stilted language awakened Tancredi's sus 
 picions. It sounded like the patter of a professional 
 beggar. So he stiffened a little, and said with a 
 tinge of sarcasm : 
 
 " Ah, is it so ? Perhaps there is some financial 
 stringency? " 
 
 Paul glanced up sharply, and then moved away 
 as if hurt. But Tancredi, noting the quick change,
 
 IN THE HANDS OF THE EXPERT 269 
 
 added impulsively, " I beg pardon ; that wasn't 
 right. Come, now, what can I do for you? " 
 
 " I spoke to you," Paul went on, " because, after 
 observing you for some time, I judged that you 
 would understand me better than any one I have 
 seen to-day. In my present state of mind I must be 
 cautious what I do. May I ask what is your busi 
 ness or profession ? " 
 
 " I am professor of applied therapeutics at Car- 
 teret College, not very far from here." 
 
 " Ah, I hoped you were a physician. Then I can 
 speak freely to you. My mental state is abnormal. 
 I have had a fever, and, though the crisis is past, I 
 am not yet restored to the full use of my memory 
 or reason. To speak plainly, I cannot dissociate the 
 subjective and the objective with certainty. Until 
 I have recovered myself, I do not dare trust my own 
 mental conclusions. There are reasons reasons, 
 I do not yet care to explain why I must keep the 
 secret of my identity, and yet I am not capable of 
 directing my own course. For instance, I don't 
 know how I came to this spot. In incompetent 
 hands, I might be judged insane ; but I believe that 
 my state of mind is not mania though it certainly is 
 abnormal. Do you follow me ? " 
 
 " Perfectly," Tancredi answered. " Now, what 
 can I do?" 
 
 " Is it not possible for you to take me as a pa-
 
 270 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 tient? I have no money at present, it is true, but 
 I have that with me which can be turned into money. 
 Is it not possible for you to provide a quiet retreat 
 for me where I can rest until my trouble vanishes 
 or culminates? I have not dared ask any one be 
 fore I would not dare ask any one again." 
 
 Paul stopped, and put both hands to his head. 
 He was very pale in the half-light, and seemed 
 weak; but there had been no beggar's whine in his 
 tone, no beggar's furtive scrutiny in his glance. 
 
 Tancredi hesitated. It was an extraordinary re 
 quest, and his compliance, without investigation, 
 might be deemed even more extraordinary. But 
 yet, if the fragmentary story was true, if this young 
 man, whose appearance and bearing, so incongruous 
 to his dress, in some mysterious way came close to 
 his heart, was really in such sore straits, could he 
 refuse to give him shelter and care, at least for a 
 few days? He thought of the blind Crier's words, 
 " I know that you, like your father, would prove the 
 ready champion of one unfortunate, but innocent." 
 He thought of pretty Millicent, with the mocking 
 light in her eyes, accusing him of knight-errantry, 
 and of his own pledge that out of gratitude he 
 would render the next service that offered, and he 
 decided. He drew Paul over to a wayside lamp. 
 " Let me feel your pulse," he said. 
 
 Then Tancredi examined, as well as he could, the
 
 IN THE HANDS OF THE EXPERT 271 
 
 pupils of the eyes, and took a hasty look at the con 
 dition of the skin and lips. 
 
 " You are right," he concluded. " You have had 
 fever; you certainly are not mentally normal; and 
 yet you have no signs of mania. I think you have 
 judged your own state very ably. I will look after 
 you for a day or two, and then perhaps we can talk 
 with a better understanding. Come to my rooms. 
 I can easily make a place for you, and nobody will 
 see you, or know that you are there." 
 
 "Thank you," murmured Paul. "I trust you; 
 I know that I can rest." 
 
 Tancredi walked slowly along until they came to 
 the city, and then took a carriage. Once in his 
 rooms, he put his patient to bed, whereupon the poor 
 young fellow sank at once into a stertorous sleep 
 that betokened complete exhaustion. Tancredi, all 
 the physician's instinct aroused, watched him nar 
 rowly, convinced that be the man what he might 
 there was no shamming in that heavy breathing 
 or that quick, light pulse. The patient's left hand 
 hung over the side of the bed, and Tancredi noticed 
 on the third finger a gold ring, one side of which 
 had been flattened to receive several diamonds in a 
 gypsy setting. Tancredi softly slipped it off, and, 
 taking it to the lamp, examined it closely. The 
 ring was an antique, engraved with Arabic letter 
 ing, and evidently of much value. He replaced it
 
 272 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 gently, at the same time noticing the delicacy of the 
 finger-nails and the spatulate finger-ends. 
 
 " He will sleep for an hour or so yet," said Tan- 
 credi, " and then he must have something to eat." 
 
 Calling the janitor, Tancredi told him that he had 
 a friend in his room who must on no account be dis 
 turbed. Then he went to a late supper, reflecting 
 upon the events that had made the day so unusual in 
 the regularity of his life. 
 
 Paul was tossing uneasily, and waked when Tan 
 credi came in, and at first tried to hide his face ; but, 
 when he had recovered himself, smiled gratefully 
 and held out his hand. Tancredi said nothing, but 
 held the weak fingers firmly but softly in his own. 
 Then Paul spoke, drawing his hand away. " You 
 must take this ring," he said slowly, " while I have 
 intelligence enough to give it to you." 
 
 He drew the ring from his own hand, and put it 
 on Tancredi's finger. The young professor tried to 
 restore it, but Paul resisted. " No, no," he said. 
 " You must keep it ; it is all I have to give you 
 and you have saved my life, and you may save my 
 reason." 
 
 " If I can do that, I will keep the ring," Tancredi 
 answered to humor him, and then, smiling satis- 
 fiedly, as one who had done all he could, Paul sank 
 again into that heavy, stertorous sleep.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THREADING THE MAZE 
 
 TANCREDI found that, in assuming charge of this 
 stranger, he had brought upon himself cares and 
 responsibilities most engrossing and trying; yet he 
 did not repent of his knight-errantry, for his was a 
 nature that responded with prompt affection to de 
 pendence and trust. 
 
 Paul, relieved of the necessity of providing for 
 himself, relaxed physically and mentally. For the 
 first few days his mind wandered at frequent inter 
 vals, and Tancredi watched him unremittingly. In 
 the earliest hours of his delirium Paul's mind was 
 full of his prison-life, and he rehearsed parts of it 
 over and over. This rambling talk, at first entirely 
 unintelligible, by repetition and variation became in 
 Tancredi's analytic mind more and more coherent ; 
 and he soon had no difficulty in piecing together 
 certain leading facts. He was sure that Paul had 
 been imprisoned, that he had escaped, that his friend 
 in this escape was a fellow-convict, and that he 
 greatly feared recognition and recapture. This fear 
 
 273
 
 274 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 was made patent by the lack of the faintest allusion, 
 even in Paul's wildest moments, to his own identity, 
 or to the crime for which he had been condemned. 
 
 The poor young fellow made long speeches about 
 the cruelty of imprisoning an innocent man, and 
 again and again would repeat these words : "I 
 am innocent, as a new-born babe as innocent as 
 a new-born babe. Prove it? I can't prove it. I 
 know nothing about the matter. I was asleep, I 
 tell you, and I know nothing about it, nothing, noth 
 ing, nothing. I am as innocent " and so on 
 monotonously. 
 
 And Tancredi came to believe in this innocence. 
 If the old proverb " in vino veritas " be true how 
 much more true were these words uttered in de 
 lirium? Besides, as Tancredi argued to himself, the 
 man's mind, free from moral restraint, would tend 
 to recur to and renew its strongest impressions. If 
 he had committed a crime for which he had been 
 condemned, that crime would be the ruling thought, 
 and its punishment a mere incident to it. Yet this 
 young man, whose whole appearance proved sensi 
 tiveness and unusual refinement, reviewed no scene 
 of violence, no detail of guilty action, dwelling only 
 upon his innocence of wrong, his ignorance of 
 guilt. 
 
 With this knowledge that he was harboring an 
 escaped convict, and this belief in the protestations
 
 THREADING THE MAZE 275 
 
 of innocence, Tancredi found himself in something 
 of a dilemma. He realized that he must conceal the 
 inmate of his rooms from every eye but his own; 
 and yet the duplicity thus involved cost him great 
 anxiety, to say nothing of its inconvenience. Luck 
 ily, his servant, an old colored man, was both deaf 
 and stupid, and Tancredi satisfied him perfectly by 
 the statement that he was " caring for a sick cousin 
 from the country." But in the college there was 
 published by some of the wilder students a weekly 
 periodical, wherein scurrility was often made to 
 serve as wit. This sheet, named " The Horrid 
 Grind," in some way got information of the mys 
 terious inmate of the professor's rooms, and made 
 this lucky find the basis of some rather questionable 
 jokes. These annoyed Tancredi excessively; for he 
 feared that they might lead to an inquiry as to the 
 identity of his guest a thing which he would have 
 resisted even had he known that Paul was guilty, 
 since illness to a physician was t excuse enough for 
 keeping a patient out of reach of the law. 
 
 Tancredi, therefore, refused to make the slightest 
 response to the slurs upon him printed or spoken 
 in jest biding his time until the sick man could be 
 moved. In about three weeks, Paul was better, his 
 senses returned, and he recalled the meeting with 
 Tancredi, though all since then, and much that had 
 happened previously, was vague and dreamlike. He
 
 276 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 described the state of his mind, and asked whether 
 it were best for him to try to piece together his 
 scattered impressions. 
 
 " By no means," Tancredi replied with profes 
 sional gravity. " During your illness you have told 
 me enough to let me know you have passed through 
 some terrible experiences " 
 
 " I have done no wrong, I am sure, though I 
 remember being imprisoned," Paul interrupted. 
 
 " I believe you," Tancredi continued, " so say no 
 more. You have, then, been through some crisis 
 that has stunned your intellect, and much of your 
 brain is dormant. That is one of nature's methods 
 of recovering from shock, and you must do nothing 
 to interfere with her process. You have been 
 nearly a month with me, but no one has any sus 
 picion of your identity." 
 
 " Not you? Haven't I told you my name? " 
 
 " No, nor do I wish to know it. But for our own 
 convenience, now, and in a plan I am about to 
 suggest, you must have some name or another. 
 What do you suggest? I am going to pass you off 
 as my cousin." 
 
 "Will Peter do?" asked Paul with a faint 
 smile. 
 
 " Peter will do capitally ; Peter Tancredi, since 
 you are my kinsman. How do you do, Cousin 
 Peter?"
 
 THREADING THE MAZE 277 
 
 " But you must have seen in the newspapers " 
 Paul persisted. 
 
 " I never read them," Tancredi answered. " It 
 is a strange admission to make, but I have my rea 
 sons. To me, there is no half-way course. It is 
 ' drink deep or touch not,' and I prefer to forego 
 them entirely, learning the leading events of the 
 day from periodicals that have time to sift and 
 arrange the news. But, more than this, since you 
 have been here I have shunned the very mention of 
 current happenings. I have adopted a course in 
 this case that satisfies my conscience as much as it 
 gratifies my inclinations; but I realize that I am 
 acting outside of the law. Now, I have no desire 
 to know, nor do I intend to know, the nature of the 
 charge against you, since it might add weight to my 
 responsibilities, while in no event could it change 
 my resolution. To me you are a sick man who has 
 escaped from prison, and is innocent of wrongdoing. 
 As your physician and friend, I advise you to also 
 live only in the present until your health is restored 
 in body and mind. I am about to send you away to 
 the mountains for a rest ' 
 
 " Can you afford to do so much ? " 
 
 " Readily. It will cost little. Besides, you bring 
 me an opportunity to test certain theories of mine. 
 I have long believed that mental troubles demand a 
 complete removal from city life, and a return to
 
 278 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 nature. I wish to test the worth of that cure in 
 your case. I shall consider the experiment well 
 worth its slight cost. I hold that strains, anxieties, 
 noise, dust and all the unnatural friction of city life 
 aggravate always, and sometimes cause, mental 
 aberration. Certainly, they interfere with nature's 
 curative processes." 
 
 " My dear Professor," Paul remarked, looking up 
 gratefully from his reclining chair, " my mental 
 faculties are not so dull that you need disguise your 
 great kindness in a wrapping of scientific theory." 
 
 " It is nevertheless true," insisted Tancredi. 
 " See I have stated my theory in a treatise." 
 And he took a book from the shelves and handed 
 it to Paul. 
 
 Paul looked at it in silence. Then he opened it, 
 and read a few lines. His face flushed, and he 
 seemed worried. " This book," he said, speaking 
 slowly, as if feeling his way, " is not new to me. 
 It is a part of the past I have lost. But I have read 
 it, or something from it I am sure. If I only 
 could recall where Listen, now ; hear me 
 repeat without looking: ' Life cannot exist without 
 heat and moisture. Complete desi Oh, God 
 help me, I can't remember ! " He stopped abruptly, 
 covering his eyes with his hand. Any attempt to 
 force his memory made his head swim. 
 
 Tancredi took the book from him, and replaced
 
 THREADING THE MAZE 279 
 
 it on the shelves. " Now," he announced with a 
 physician's positiveness, as he turned to leave the 
 room, " I am going to take you away to-night. 
 You are physically equal to the journey, and men 
 tally you need it." 
 
 Then he made the necessary arrangements, sup 
 plying Paul with such things as he required, and 
 laying upon him the while the severest injunctions 
 that he was to pass his time in the mountains in 
 imitating the box-turtles he would find in the woods. 
 " Go slow," he said. " Eat and drink what you 
 like ; don't fret or think more than you can help ; 
 and shut yourself up tight in your shell when any 
 thing occurs to annoy you. Remember, these are 
 your physician's orders. As to your future, leave 
 that to me. I will keep watch of you, and, if neces 
 sary, will be your alter ego. You know Latin? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," Paul answered. " I believe I had a 
 fine education once. I remember books, though 
 events are a terra incognita." 
 
 " Then I predict your recovery. Your mind is 
 only locally affected. We must increase the healthy 
 area, and that the mountains will do for you. You 
 will surely be yourself again." 
 
 " But still your Cousin Peter," added Paul. 
 
 Late that night, when all was quiet, a closed 
 carnage came to the door of the dormitory, and 
 Paul, wrapped in a long ulster, was assisted into it
 
 by Tancredi, and they drove away unnoticed except 
 by Bullion, the College policeman, who was at some 
 distance. They hurried to the railroad station, and 
 there took a sleeping-car section. In two hours 
 they were at the small village of Hill Farms, in the 
 mountains, and thence, at first morning light, they 
 drove some fifteen miles further. Tancredi made 
 all arrangements for Paul's comfort at the Tiptop 
 Cottage, the remote house of some farming people 
 with whom he had boarded during a vacation, and 
 the next day returned to Carteret. 
 
 Freed from the necessity of caring for his un 
 known protege, the young professor could follow 
 his own inclination ; and, upon the next opportunity, 
 he went to Hamlin and called at the house of 
 Phineas Twigg. He was received by Constance, 
 since Millicent happened to be out, and his dis 
 appointment at not finding her was a sharp reminder 
 to Tancredi of what was becoming his dearest wish 
 and strongest purpose. 
 
 Constance greeted him cordially. " I fear we did 
 not make you understand," she said, " how glad we 
 should be to see you." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I understood," replied Tancredi posi 
 tively; "and, if it had not been for an imperative 
 duty, I should have come a fortnight earlier. But 
 I had to care for a friend who was ill. Is Mr. 
 Twigg in ? "
 
 THREADING THE MAZE 281 
 
 " He went out with his daughter, but both will 
 return before long. Meanwhile, would you be so 
 good as to look over a little book I have, a little 
 note-book, in which I am deeply interested? It is 
 filled with formulae and symbols that are unintel 
 ligible to me. It would be such a favor." 
 
 " Please let me try to help you," said Tancredi. 
 
 While Constance was absent, to fetch the note 
 book, Millicent returned, and came into the sitting- 
 room with her father. Entering from the brighter 
 light, for an instant she did not recognize the tall 
 young man who rose and bowed ; then she cried out 
 suddenly : 
 
 " Oh, it's you ; it's you ! I am so glad ! " 
 
 Millicent flushed like a little Aurora, looking 
 prettier than Tancredi had remembered her. In 
 fact, he had found difficulty in retaining a clear 
 image of her face, simply because he was so desirous 
 of doing so. But a moment later, her expression 
 changed into a smile, dubious and tantalizing. 
 
 Phineas greeted the Professor warmly, but less 
 effusively, and, when they were seated again, Con 
 stance entered with the silver-bound note-book, 
 which she handed to Tancredi. He examined it 
 curiously, and finally opened it. One of the first 
 passages he found among the written memoranda 
 was a list of references to his own books brief 
 extracts with notes and comments upon them.
 
 282 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Where did you get this book ? " he asked ; and 
 in reply Constance explained how she had seen it in 
 a pawnbroker's window among the pledged articles 
 offered for sale, and, as she recognized it as the 
 property of a dear friend, she had bought it, think 
 ing it possibly would serve to clear up a mystery. 
 
 " I am going to ask you to take it with you," she 
 continued, " and examine thoroughly the different 
 notes and marks in it I need not warn you to 
 preserve it with the utmost care. There may be 
 something significant, something of importance, 
 which we cannot detect. The owner is a dear friend 
 of mine, one in great trouble, and " 
 
 At this moment Constance was interrupted by the 
 entrance of two callers the daughters of a neigh 
 bor. They came in with bustling cordiality, and a 
 flow of words an auctioneer might envy. 
 
 " Dear Constance and dear Millicent " they 
 chimed, " you must have entirely given up any 
 hope of seeing us, didn't you? But really we have 
 been so very, very busy with church-work you 
 know that runs away with one's time and with 
 our home duties, that we How do you do, Mr. 
 Twigg? You needn't say you're well, for you are 
 always well, and how you manage to keep well in 
 the horrid, stuffy air of those court-rooms " 
 
 After about ten minutes of this, Tancredi found 
 that he must excuse himself in order to catch a
 
 THREADING THE MAZE 283 
 
 train. Again, Millicent accompanied him to the 
 door, though with a reluctant air. 
 
 " Constance motioned me to remind you to be 
 sure to see what you can make out of that note 
 book," she explained. 
 
 " Of course, I will," returned the professor, 
 " but I have hardly heard enough to quite under 
 stand " 
 
 " You must have heard of the Breen murder 
 case," retorted the girl. " I believe there was a 
 special report of it issued for hermits. Well, 
 the victim was a young girl whom Constance 
 knew." 
 
 " There is so much of that sort of news one 
 cannot keep the run of it " he began apolo 
 getically. 
 
 " Nor the' walk of it, either, I imagine. This 
 book, then, we believe was once in the possession of 
 that young girl. And Constance Sanderson was 
 the fiancee of her brother, who was charged with 
 the crime." 
 
 " Poor Miss Sanderson," Tancredi exclaimed, 
 " I am so sorry for her. That explains her melan 
 choly and distraught air. What became of him? 
 Was he " 
 
 " Oh, dear ! He was sent to prison for life, of 
 course, and we all believe him innocent and are 
 trying to unravel the mysteries of the case. That
 
 284 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 is why we want to know just what this little book 
 contains; and that is why, too, it may be important 
 to trace its history " 
 
 " The very point I was about to suggest. Now 
 wasn't it most unusual that such a book as this, with 
 such an owner, should have been pawned? " 
 
 " Indeed, it was. Father thinks we should try 
 in every way to find out who pawned it, but ' 
 
 " Let me undertake that," Tancredi interrupted 
 eagerly. " Your father is incapacitated, and it is 
 not a task for young ladies 
 
 " Gladly," Millicent answered with a show of 
 genuine feeling, as she gave him the address of the 
 pawnbroker's shop. " You are so very kind that 
 you tempt us to impose upon you. But now you 
 must go or you will miss that train " 
 
 " As if I would let a hundred trains " 
 
 " Oh, yes, you must, or we might think that there 
 was something fictitious about your assurances. 
 Forgive me for having delayed you." And, with a 
 provoking little courtesy, Millicent closed the door, 
 satisfied that she had regained the ground, yielded 
 through the impulsiveness of her greeting. 
 
 But Tancredi thought of that greeting, notwith 
 standing, finding far more hope in it than he found 
 despair in her sharp words, to which the girl's 
 playful manner, alternating with a bearing of con 
 fidence and reliance, gave a delightful inconsistency.
 
 THREADING THE MAZE 285 
 
 He thought so much of it that it in no wise occurred 
 to him that there might be some possible connection 
 between his unknown patient and Constance's unfor 
 tunate lover. Why should it have occurred, indeed ? 
 Nothing had been said of an escape ; and there were 
 so many dreadful crimes committed, leading to so 
 many far more dreadful miscarriages of justice, 
 that it was not strange that Phineas Twigg's peace 
 ful home had been affected by one tragedy even as 
 his quiet collegiate retreat had been touched by 
 another. Besides, he was under the impression from 
 Constance's anxious, unstudied words that the note 
 book had belonged to the young girl an idea Mil- 
 licent had unwittingly confirmed by her statement 
 that it had been in Edith's possession. 
 
 So Tancredi, walking on air, and oblivious of the 
 meshes in his pathway, hurried to the pawnbroker's, 
 notwithstanding the need for his catching a train. 
 He found the proprietor in charge, behind the desk, 
 while the small boy, whom Adolph had so disas 
 trously encountered, was tying up packages in the 
 rear of the shop. Tancredi produced the note-book, 
 explaining that it was an unredeemed pledge re 
 cently bought by a friend, and that it was important 
 to know just when and by whom the pledge had 
 been made. 
 
 The pawnbroker made no objection, but found 
 the entry in his register. Tancredi carefully made
 
 286 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 note of the date, and of the fact that the article had 
 been pawned by "Ed Flyaway;" then he asked, 
 rather hopelessly, whether the pawnbroker had any 
 remembrance of the man who had left it. 
 
 " No, sir," was the answer. " None whatever. 
 But my boy may know. It's his writing." 
 
 Whereupon the boy came forward. 
 
 " There's a deal of stew about that little book," 
 said he. " I remember the whole thing the whole 
 thing, see? First off, it was spouted by a regular 
 old soaker, a hobo; and while he was here he tried 
 to pick a pocket, got scragged and went off with a 
 cop at his neck. That was the fust act of the 
 drammer. Then come in two of the prettiest gals 
 I ever see when the time was up on the thing, 
 you know ; and they bought it, and their hands was 
 a-shaking, and one of them was all dampish around 
 the lights. Act two times. Then come in the 
 villain, I'm a-thinkin'. Anyhow, it was Mr. Some 
 body-big, and he took down the entry from the 
 book, and tried to tip me off's if I was a waiter. If 
 he'd talked as a gentleman same as you I could 
 have told him what I'm telling you. Then you 
 come and you're the walkin' gentleman, or the 
 lovyer most likely. So, if you want to find out 
 where the book came from, you'll have to seek the 
 hobo what was jugged." 
 
 Tancredi thanked them gratefully, and went out
 
 THREADING THE MAZE 287 
 
 to catch his convenient train ; while the boy remarked 
 to his father : 
 
 " Old man he's the real thing. The other was 
 a fake."
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE COUNTERPLOTTING 
 
 WHEN Richard Naylor, " The Private Detective 
 Agency," had returned to report the failure of his 
 attempt to purloin the note-book from Constance in 
 the station, he found his patron in a state of nervous 
 rage over Paul's escape and continued immunity 
 from recapture. 
 
 " Don't tell me," Adolph stormed, when the story 
 had been told, " about the interference of a gentler 
 manly stranger. Gentlemanly strangers find it 
 advisable at such times to be looking the other way. 
 You say this man got on the train for Nadonk with 
 the girls? Well, I hear that mewling old hypocrite 
 of a Phineas Twigg went there also a couple of days 
 later. Why this sudden migration to a little hole of 
 a town just across the river from Roscoe prison? I 
 don't know now, but I intend to know, and some 
 definite information about this stranger of yours 
 may help me in doing so. Find him, I say, if you 
 want further favors from me. Let me know who 
 he is, what he does, where he goes. I should think 
 
 288
 
 THE COUNTERPLOTTING 289 
 
 you would be glad of the job; he seems to have 
 tossed <you around in a rough sort of way." 
 
 " Damn him," Naylor muttered through his 
 teeth ; " and damn her, too " 
 
 " What's that ? " demanded Adolph sharply. 
 
 " Oh, I only mean that sharp-tongued young 
 woman, sir, that goes so much with Miss Sanderson. 
 I shouldn't mind putting her nose out of joint; 
 she has a way with t her that would aggravate a 
 saint." 
 
 " Oh, it's Miss Twigg, you mean. You may 
 curse her all you please for all of me. I wouldn't 
 be averse myself to the chance of teaching her a 
 well-deserved lesson; and here is where the infor 
 mation I require may be useful in one way if it 
 fails in another. You say this young fellow seemed 
 greatly taken with her. Well, then, if you pipe her 
 for a day or two you may come across him. There's 
 a clue for you. Hell! if I weren't so tied up with 
 this campaign of Governor Strain for the Presi 
 dential nomination, I could out-detect a dozen of 
 you so-called detectives ! " 
 
 This advice, when acted upon, had proved sound ; 
 for the dingy man who had watched Millicent and 
 Tancredi, from the further side of a tree, at the 
 time of the trolley accident in New Chester, was 
 Richard Naylor. 
 
 Naylor followed on foot the cab in which they
 
 290 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 drove away, which he could easily do since Tancredi 
 had cautioned the cabman to drive slowly think 
 ing any jolting might do Millicent harm. He 
 arrived at the station almost as soon as they, and 
 learned from the guard at the gate that Tancredi 
 had bought tickets for Hamlin. With this he rested 
 for the present, not caring to risk a recognition by 
 so decided and athletic a cavalier, and being con 
 vinced from what he had seen that they had been 
 in the trolley-car by appointment. He, therefore, 
 gave an accurate description of Tancredi to his keen 
 est assistant, a young fellow named Staples, and 
 assigned him to the task of watching the Twigg 
 house, and tracking Tancredi, when next he called, 
 to his home. 
 
 Staples hung about corners and lounged in an 
 adjacent billiard-room for two or three weeks, with 
 out the slightest success, and then became indif 
 ferent. Hence it happened that he was " laying- 
 off " in a different part of the town the first time 
 Tancredi called after having established Paul in 
 the mountains; but, a few days later, he had the 
 good luck to observe a young man, answering the 
 description, in close conversation with Phineas 
 Twigg on the block below the house. 
 
 Once certain of his man, Staples hung on to the 
 trail with a pertinacity and shrewdness worthy of a 
 better cause. He shadowed Tancredi all the way to
 
 THE COUNTERPLOTTING 291 
 
 Carteret, and then to his rooms in the College. 
 Knowing no reason for being cautious, and con 
 fident that he had not been noticed, he marched 
 boldly up the stairs to the door and rapped. The 
 young professor himself opened the door in 
 response. 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," Staples asked, " but are you 
 connected with the College ? " 
 
 " Yes, I am one of the faculty," Tancredi 
 answered. 
 
 " Thank you. I was told to see one of the pro 
 fessors, but I have forgotten the name. I think he 
 was in the law department is that your depart 
 ment, sir ? " 
 
 "No; I am connected with the medical school." 
 
 " Possibly it was the medical school. You are 
 Professor 
 
 " James Tancredi." 
 
 "No, that is not the name; at least I think it 
 isn't. But I have a memorandum at home and can 
 call again. I was passing, and I thought I am 
 sorry to bother you, Professor." 
 
 " No trouble at all," said Tancredi, as he closed 
 the door at once upon his visitor and the incident. 
 
 When Richard Naylor received Staples' report, he 
 lost no time before making a trip to Carteret, and 
 there, by gaming the confidence of Bullion, the 
 College policeman, he was able in a short time to
 
 292 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 learn a great deal about Professor Tancredi and his 
 doings both real and imaginary. He confided to 
 the policeman that he had come to town in the inter 
 est of a young friend of his a young lady, whose 
 family he knew very well. " I am, while not ex 
 actly a relative," he explained, " an intimate asso 
 ciate of her father's, and, as this young professor, 
 who seems rather fly, is keeping company with 
 Katie There ! I didn't mean to name any names. 
 We will call her Miss Brown we naturally would 
 like to learn if he is all right, you know." 
 
 " You can't tell much about any of 'em," replied 
 honest Bullion, mysteriously ; " especially the quiet 
 ones." 
 
 " That's so, and that is just why it is necessary 
 for folks like you and me and my friends the 
 Browns to be careful when those that hold them 
 selves as much better takes an interest in any of 
 our women." 
 
 " Them's my sentiments," agreed Bullion, his 
 sympathy aroused. " Young girls like to fly high, 
 with never a thought about falling low. The Pro 
 fessor is a good sort, and has allus been polite to 
 me, but, seein' it's you, I don't mind saying that 
 there have been stories of doings in his -rooms. 
 And, while I was on duty a night or so ago, I saw 
 him sneak somebody out at a late hour, and both 
 get into a carriage and drive off. Since then, he has
 
 THE COUNTERPLOTTING 293 
 
 been going back and forth, some'eres, and it's my 
 belief" 
 
 But this belief need not be specified. It was all 
 that was wanted; and Naylor made haste to report 
 his discovery to his employer. Adolph listened with 
 incredulity. He refused to consider that there 
 might be a woman in the case, arguing that Tan- 
 credi would not carry on an intrigue in so shameless 
 and foolhardy a fashion. 
 
 " Don't you see," Adolph argued, " that, while a 
 college room is the last place in the world for that 
 sort of thing, it is a very different matter when it 
 comes to hiding a fugitive from justice a man? 
 Why, you thick-witted numskull, you have blun 
 dered into a find that may put more money into your 
 hands than you ever had in your life. I was right, 
 I was right, in the clue I gave you. Here is a young 
 fellow, in communication with Paul Breen's friends, 
 who is hiding somebody, and at the same time suf 
 fering himself to be thought a rake, rather than 
 open his mouth to defend himself. Naylor, you're a 
 long-eared ass. No other term hits you. You just 
 get on your clearest pair of spectacles and hie your 
 self to the College as quick as the Lord will let you, 
 and, when you've set your eye on this Tancredi 
 again, don't you ever lose him. You'll land Paul 
 Breen sure. But when you have located him, mind, 
 don't dare make a move without first notifying me.
 
 294 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 I will determine just when and how the arrest shall 
 be made." 
 
 " Yours to command, sir," replied Naylor, sub 
 missively. " It shall all be as you say. But it's a 
 pity- 
 
 " A pity ? Don't you want ten thousand dollars 
 in your clothes? " 
 
 " Sure. But I did want to give that Miss Twigg 
 a twist. If I could have waved the Professor's 
 petticoat in her face, it would have sickened her and 
 him, too." 
 
 " Well, go ahead and do it, if you can without 
 any delay," said Adolph with a malicious smile. 
 " It is good generalship to break up that Twigg 
 combination. Play the gig to win either way. The 
 scandal is all you need, whether true or not." 
 
 " That's so, Mr. Breen," exclaimed Naylor. 
 " What would you do ? Write them an anonymous 
 letter?" 
 
 " You do, and I'll ruin you. Not if you value 
 your life. On second thought, you had better let 
 this matter alone, and get after Paul Breen at once. 
 If you tackle two things at one time, you'll spoil 
 them both. I'll attend to little Miss Millicent, never 
 fear. An anonymous letter ! oh, Lord ! That's the 
 acme of a ' Private Agency's ' ingenuity ; and here 
 we have, in these College papers you brought, the 
 whole story in open print. You said, didn't you,
 
 THE COUNTERPLOTTING 295 
 
 that the latest number of the ' Horrid Grind ' has a 
 reference to the closed-carriage episode? All right, 
 it couldn't be better. Come get out now, man, 
 and put for Carteret. Since my poor father's death, 
 I'm head over ears in business." 
 
 Notwithstanding Adolph's strictures, Naylor 
 knew his business well enough to appreciate that 
 success in it depended largely upon the discriminate 
 choice and use of probabilities. He, therefore, first 
 of all, tried to analyze the situation. It was a ques 
 tion whether the professor had chosen city or coun 
 try for Paul's hiding-place. " If this man had been 
 all right in his head," he mused, " he would be safer 
 in town somewhere ; but, since he is a little flighty at 
 times, there would be danger of his attracting the 
 attention of the police through some outbreak. Be 
 sides, after all he has been through, the drag of 
 prison-life, the exposure of the escape, he must be 
 in poor health ; and the professor, being a physician, 
 would notice that, and prescribe a rest in the coun 
 try. But where in the country? Why, in some 
 quiet joint, where he knew and could trust the 
 people. Somewheres, then, where he had been 
 himself. The thing to do, consequently, is to find 
 out where Tancredi has been in the habit of spending 
 his vacations. If I could question him myself, I'd 
 find out in a jiffy ; but I don't dare ; he would surely 
 remember me. I shall have to send for Staples."
 
 296 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Naylor was not idle while waiting for his plau 
 sible assistant. He bought a silver mounted pocket 
 flask, and had it engraved with the initials " J. T." 
 He next proceeded to batter and rub the silver with 
 ashes until it lost its newness, and showed signs of 
 wear; putting a little whiskey in the bottle, and 
 striving in every way to give the impression of 
 faithful service. 
 
 With this flask, and Naylor's instructions, Staples 
 again called upon Tancredi. He reminded him of 
 his former conversation with him, and remarked 
 that, although he had been unable to find the mem 
 orandum he had mentioned, he believed that he was 
 the very man to whom he was commissioned to 
 restore a bit of lost property. " These are your 
 initials," he continued, producing the flask ; " and 
 my friend who keeps a boarding-house in the coun 
 try said it was picked up last fall near his place, and 
 that he thought it must belong to one of the Carteret 
 professors, who had spent a few weeks near-by." 
 
 " No," said Tancredi, " I never owned a flask 
 anything like this. Besides," he added with a 
 smile, " the air is so fresh and pure up at Hill 
 Farms, one hasn't the slightest excuse for providing 
 a stimulant." 
 
 " My friend lives at Pleasant View," Staples per 
 sisted. " Do you know whether any of the profes 
 sors were staying near there ? "
 
 THE COUNTERPLOTTING 297 
 
 " I don't know anything about it," said Tan- 
 credi, with an impatient glance toward his desk. 
 " You might inquire of the Registrar, who may 
 have the old summer addresses. But, as I don't 
 know of any one with these initials except myself, I 
 fear your friend must decide that finding is keeping. 
 At all events, there is nothing I can do for you ; " 
 and again he closed the door upon his visitor and 
 the incident. 
 
 While Naylor was thus hopefully engaged, 
 Adolph Breen, in pursuance of his part in the con 
 spiracy, called at the Twigg house and succeeded in 
 seeing Constance alone. His passion for her being 
 wtiolly selfish, he enjoyed showing his power over 
 her, though he realized that this was due to her 
 solicitude for Paul. Had she cared for him, Adolph 
 might have been kind; but, as she remained indif 
 ferent and repellent, he found pleasure in seeing her 
 subject to his will, even when that will could affect ^ 
 her only by causing her suffering. Now, the sight 
 of her pale face and worried expression gave him a 
 certain malign satisfaction, though he veiled it by a 
 bearing grave and dignified. 
 
 " I come again to warn you, Constance," he 
 began. " It is a distasteful part for me to assume, 
 but faithful are the wounds of a friend, remember. 
 At all events, I care too much for you to permit you 
 to continue to hazard your reputation for lack of
 
 298 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 what is really common knowledge. This fellow, 
 Professor James Tancredi as he calls himself, who 
 comes here and associates with you freely, has a 
 character so notoriously vile that no self-respecting 
 woman in Carteret will recognize him. No, you 
 can't put me off with that incredulous look. I don't 
 ask you to believe my statement, I don't intend to go 
 into details; but here are a few copies of a College 
 paper, issued by the students with the consent of the 
 faculty. You must know that they would not dare 
 to print a false libel against one of the professors; 
 but here, and here, and here, you can see what they 
 assert boldly, week after week, without contra " 
 
 Constance brushed the copies of the " Horrid 
 Grind " disdainfully away. " I don't care to see 
 them," she replied. " I am not interested. Pro 
 fessor Tancredi is nothing more to me than a pleas 
 ant gentleman who once rendered me a service. I 
 am sorry if he is not all he appears to be ; but I am 
 too engrossed with sadder, more vital matters to 
 attempt to judge him." 
 
 " Ah, Constance, what a pity it is that that is 
 true," Adolph responded. " You can't touch pitch, 
 my child, without being defiled. One can admire a 
 woman who is faithful to a worthy lover. So long 
 as Paul Breen could be considered a martyr, I re 
 spected your faith in him; but now that he and his 
 convict-pal an habitual criminal, mind you are
 
 THE COUNTERPLOTTING 299 
 
 guilty of assault and robbery, you owe it to yourself 
 to recall your womanhood if you still care for the 
 world's esteem." 
 
 " But Paul isn't himself, you know he isn't," 
 Constance insisted valiantly. " Since the death of 
 his sister, he is not altogether in his right mind, 
 and " 
 
 " Since the murder of his sister, you mean, he is 
 a dangerous lunatic with homicidal mania." 
 
 " I can't bear it, I won't hear you," Constance 
 cried, her face averted, her hand outstretched as if 
 to ward off some evil thing. " You come here, with 
 cunning phrase, to make white black and innocent 
 suffering the vilest guilt; but I know Paul, and I 
 trust him; I do, I do! " And, bursting into tears, 
 she swept tumultuously from the room. 
 
 Scarcely had Adolph, well-satisfied with his work, 
 disappeared in leisurely stroll down the street, before 
 Millicent returned home and entered the sitting- 
 room where he had conversed with Constance. She 
 was brimming with joy unrestrained; for she had 
 met Tancredi during her walk, and he had asked 
 permission to follow as soon as he disposed of a 
 business engagement. There had been something 
 in the earnestness of his eye, the pallor of his cheek, 
 that told her what it was he wished to say, even as 
 the catch of her breath, the irregular throbbings of 
 her heart, warned her what her answer must be,
 
 300 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 She was so happy in this intuitive knowledge, so 
 blissfully confident that the world, despite the shad 
 ows which lately had darkened her friend's life, 
 would be all sunshine and sparkle for her, that she 
 danced about the room on lightly tripping feet, hum 
 ming a gay air. 
 
 Then she caught sight of the copies of the " Hor 
 rid Grind," scattered on the centre-table. She 
 stopped short, and in another instant was absorbing 
 the blue-pencilled passages, one after another, with 
 the instantaneous gaze of a jealous, a wronged 
 woman. 
 
 As she stood thus, with indignation flaming from 
 her cheeks and flashing from her eyes, there was a 
 quick, nervous step in the hallway, and Tancredi 
 entered with both hands extended. 
 
 " At last, Millicent, at last," he began ; and then 
 his arms fell, his form stiffened, as he, too, saw the 
 " Horrid Grind." 
 
 " Did some one send you those disreputable pa 
 pers ? " he gasped. 
 
 She dropped the copy she held to the floor, and 
 then moved away as from filth. " Why should 
 any one send them to me?" she retorted, as cold 
 now as she had been hot. 
 
 " But, Millicent, we are such good friends you 
 know how dear you are to me with what hopes I 
 came to-day, but a moment ago "
 
 THE COUNTERPLOTTING 301 
 
 " Well, then, well, then ? " the girl cried 
 eagerly, as she bent forward, her face softening. 
 
 " You mean that I must deny explain ? Dear, 
 I do deny, solemnly, on my soul. But I can't explain 
 the secret, for there is a secret, though thus vilely 
 perverted, is not mine. It would be unjust to one 
 dependent upon me 
 
 " Say no more," commanded Millicent, pacing the 
 floor, infuriated. " I want to know nothing of a 
 secret that imposes public shame. I want to hear 
 nothing from a man so impudent, so false, as to 
 prate to a woman of his love in one breath and of 
 his superior obligations to a dependent in another. 
 You are too subtle for me in your distinctions, 'Pro 
 fessor Tancredi. Hereafter I would suggest that 
 your College, with its peculiar facilities, offers the 
 proper field for the exercise of your logic. At all 
 events, I will have none of it." And she strode 
 majestically up the stairs that Constance's faltering 
 feet had ascended. And Tancredi walked heavily 
 down the street, over which Adolph had leisurely 
 strolled, sad of heart, but strong in his loyalty to 
 the unknown whom he called " Cousin Peter."
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE SHADOWINGS 
 
 JOE and Jake, the State detectives, like the Sia 
 mese twins, could not get along well without each 
 other. They were the positive and negative poles, 
 which, when combined, formed the magnet that 
 might draw the malefactor from his hiding. It 
 takes an unusually strong mind to argue by itself 
 the pros and cons of any matter, it being human 
 nature to jump at an opinion rather than to arrive 
 at one by the tedious stages of reasoning. Joe and 
 Jake, through their diverse views, were mutually a 
 mental alterative; and the conclusion reached was 
 often a far more logical one than either was capable 
 of deducing. 
 
 When the two detectives had returned " Soci'ty 
 Dan " to the prison, receiving his last satirical 
 thanks for " the 'ahnor of their escoort," they 
 hastened to report their slight success and great 
 failure to the Governor at the Capital. 
 
 " Don't waste another moment in idle excuses," 
 roared John Strain, " but get back just as quickly 
 
 302
 
 THE SHADOWINGS 303 
 
 as you can on Breen's trail, and stay there until you 
 have found him, dead or alive. Then, without 
 making an arrest, communicate with me, and I'll 
 advise you what to do and when to do it. By the 
 Lord Harry, I'll be better satisfied to make the 
 choice of Adolph's psychological moment myself. 
 And that reminds me, too, to say that you needn't 
 report your doings to my partner, Mr. Breen. He 
 has, I understand, started an independent inves 
 tigation through that man Naylor who used to hang 
 around the District Attorney's office. That is all 
 right in its way ; but it would please me to have you 
 get ahead of him. So do your utmost, and do it 
 quickly, stimulated by the hope of reward and the 
 fear of discharge; for one or the other will be 
 coming to you, I tell you plainly." 
 
 "Breen's trail?" repeated Joe, when, somewhat 
 depressed by the impending crisis of their joint 
 career, they tried to agree upon a campaign ; " how 
 can we get back to what we were never on ? " 
 
 "We must have been near it, though," .reflected 
 Jake, " or Soci'ty would never have given us that 
 run through the woods. Besides, didn't he say when 
 we pinched him that every step had been further and 
 further away from Paul? " 
 
 " Right you are ; and, when he picked us up, we 
 had just come across that one-horse rig in the 
 woods."
 
 304 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Then the first thing for us to do is to find out 
 whose rig it was and what it was doing there." 
 
 The first part of this programme did not prove 
 difficult. The one livery-stable proprietor in Nadonk 
 recollected at once the letting of such a conveyance 
 on the day in question. 
 
 " Two young ladies hired it early in the morning," 
 he said, " and, when they returned it at noon, they 
 had an old blind man with them." 
 
 " Do you think the young ladies were sisters ? " 
 asked Joe. 
 
 " Not unless sisters go by contraries. The one of 
 them was light and pale, and the other dark, with 
 red cheeks." 
 
 "Which of them did the talking?" Jake then 
 asked. 
 
 " The dark one she seemed less rattled." 
 
 " Do you know from where they came, or where 
 they went?" Joe continued. 
 
 " I know they asked what was the next train for 
 Hamlin." 
 
 "A blind man from Hamlin, hey, Joe?" cried 
 Jake. 
 
 " Just wait till I clinch it, Jake," cautioned Joe. 
 " Now, then, my friend, one other question : Was 
 this a tall, old blind man, with dark blue glasses set 
 on the front and side, and a white beard flowing 
 down to his waist? "
 
 THE SHADOWINGS 305 
 
 " The identical same," answered the livery man. 
 
 " Phineas Twigg, for a thousand," exclaimed 
 Jake. 
 
 " And his daughter and her friend," agreed Joe. 
 
 " I think you are right, gentlemen," the pro 
 prietor volunteered, anxious to oblige officers who 
 had shown such high credentials; "for I'm 'most 
 sure I heard the pale one say ' Mr. Twigg.' But, 
 to my mind, whatever the party had been after, they 
 didn't get, for they all went away blue enough." 
 
 This warning, however, had no effect upon Joe 
 and Jake. No wonder they were blue if they had 
 just parted with Paul, knowing that he had barely 
 escaped capture through Soci'ty's stratagem, and 
 that he might be caught at any moment. 
 
 " No doubt they had given him money and 
 clothes that might be traced to them," Joe reasoned. 
 
 " Yes, and don't you remember Soci'ty's saying 
 that a black-eyed darling had told him to lead us by 
 the nose? " Jake added. 
 
 " That must have been Twigg's daughter, I'm 
 thinking." 
 
 " Sure ; she has taken the leading part right 
 along." 
 
 The detectives, then, while they kept close watch 
 for the ensuing weeks on the Twigg household, paid 
 especial attention to Millicent. Many little circum 
 stances strengthened their first impression. The
 
 306 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 girl was active and out a good deal, while Constance, 
 in her anxiety and sorrow, kept within doors. 
 Phineas, too, showed no variance in his going and 
 coming, to the court-room and back, from the 
 routine of years. 
 
 The little family was quiet and well-ordered, with 
 few friends, and with regular habits. Adolph Breen 
 called occasionally, and so did a tall, slight stranger, 
 who, as discreet inquiry soon told them, was a 
 professor from a college in an adjacent State, who 
 sometimes had business in town, and then naturally 
 indulged in a passing call. They saw no reason to 
 suspect him of complicity, nor did they suspect him 
 until Millicent herself, through that impetuosity 
 which was at once the strength and weakness of her 
 character, unwittingly caused them to do so. 
 
 After her peremptory dismissal of Tancredi, Mil 
 licent was very unhappy. She took long walks until 
 the detectives were inclined to think that she was 
 aware of their espionage and was tormenting them ; 
 but this was only an evidence of her mental distress. 
 She was so proud of herself, and her own innate 
 freedom from the dross and muck of the world; 
 she had been so proud of Tancredi, and so strong in 
 the faith that he, too, was a creature of light, un- 
 blighted and unblightable ! The very thought that 
 vulgar intrigue had dared touch him had dared 
 cast its shadow across her path was intolerable ;
 
 THE SHADOWINGS 307 
 
 and, tHough her heart kept whispering that she ought 
 to trust the one she loved, her indignation retorted 
 that the one she loved could have no need for being 
 trusted. 
 
 Phineas Twigg increased this inner conflict by 
 well-meant intervention. 
 
 " I am sorry to learn, my dear," he said, one day, 
 " of your estrangement from my friend, Tancredi." 
 
 "Has he been complaining to you?" the girl 
 retorted, her pride all up in arms. " How manly ! " 
 
 " No; he has been justifying himself." 
 
 " In what way ; by explanation ? " 
 
 " By simple denial." 
 
 " That is not enough for me," Millicent protested. 
 " My husband must be above suspicion." 
 
 " It should be enough for you, my child," replied 
 Phineas ; " when your father, through that divina 
 tion of truth and falsity which you know is his 
 recompense for affliction, assures you that this young 
 man asserts the truth." 
 
 " Then I must bow before him and admit that I 
 was in the wrong; then I must endure the shrugs 
 and pity of the knowing? Oh, father, I do believe 
 in you, I do, I do ; but I cannot, I cannot, believe in 
 him when I know he is hiding something from me. 
 What right had he to put himself in such a position 
 that he could not abide by the truth without fear or 
 favor ; what right had he, having once assumed this
 
 308 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 position, to dare bring under the cloud of its mys 
 teries a young girl, whom, if he loved, it was his 
 first duty to shield? I cannot believe in him under 
 such circumstances; for trust between a man and 
 woman, to be complete and enduring, must be 
 reciprocal. Oh, I am so wretched " and Millicent, 
 appreciating that her reasons became weaker as her 
 emotions grew stronger, hurried away to that soli 
 tude which alone has sympathy for one so racked in 
 heart and mind. 
 
 All that night she read, re-read and pondered over 
 the miserable screeds in the " Horrid Grind," 
 arranging and analyzing their accusations. One 
 salient fact, capable of proof, stood out preeminent 
 from the mass of innuendo. It was stated that 
 Bullion, the college policeman, had seen Professor 
 Tancredi escorting his mysterious visitor from his 
 room at midnight. Very well, then; she would go 
 to the one reputable eye-witness, and be relieved at 
 least from the uncertainty that was consuming 
 her. 
 
 It was Friday, the seventh of July, and Jake, on 
 meeting his partner, Joe, that morning, had re 
 marked hopefully that there were sevens enough in 
 the date to more than make up for " the hoodoo of 
 the day." The detectives were too practical of mind 
 to reflect that what would be good luck for them 
 might be bad luck for the rest of humanity, or to be
 
 THE SHADOWINGS 309 
 
 abashed by the slight discrimination if they had 
 reflected ; so, they greeted it as a corroborative omen 
 when Millicent, heavily veiled and dressed in black, 
 stole from the side-door of her home, and hurried 
 through by-ways to the railway station. 
 
 " She's going to Carteret, Joe," said Jake, after 
 he had stood just behind the young girl in the line 
 in front of the ticket-office. 
 
 " Well, that isn't much of a trip," replied Joe, 
 satisfiedly ; " not more'n a half-hour over the State 
 line." 
 
 " If so be she's going to meet Paul Breen," Jake 
 continued, " there'll have to be extradition papers 
 issued." 
 
 " The Gov. will attend to that, all right," added 
 Joe ; " once we have located of him and reported 
 on him, we've done our biz." 
 
 When the train reached Carteret, Millicent took 
 a street-car for the college buildings. She noticed 
 that two men whom she had seen in the Hamlin 
 station were still her fellow-passengers; but she did 
 not attribute their presence to any interest in herself. 
 They alighted when she did; but remained gazing 
 wonderingly about from the sidewalk, after the 
 immemorial custom of tourists, while she passed 
 through the college-gate. 
 
 The campus bore the neglected, deserted air of 
 vacation, though many of the faculty and some of
 
 310 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 the special students still lingered in the cool and 
 cozy dormitories. The only sign of life on the 
 broad expanse of green and that a sign of still 
 life was a rotund form in a suit of blue, bedecked 
 by gilt buttons, reclining in the shade of a great 
 elm, too comfortably inert, one might judge, to ever 
 catch anything not even flies. And thither Mil- 
 licent directed her steps. 
 
 " By gum, Jake," cried Joe, peering through the 
 pickets, " if she ain't going to buzz old Bullion, the 
 policeman, blow me." 
 
 " That's a queer start, and no mistake," replied 
 Joe. " But at least we will get on to her curves, 
 all right; there's nawthin' he won't tell us." 
 
 Bullion was by nature a fatherly man. The sight 
 of a young woman, so heavily veiled in midsummer, 
 evidently come upon some definite purpose, yet even 
 more evidently uncertain how to carry it out, roused 
 his dormant sense of protection. " Is there anything 
 I can do for you, Miss ? " he asked, with an inchoate 
 salute. 
 
 " Do you know whether Professor Tancredi is at 
 the college, to-day? " Millicent began, for lack of a 
 better introduction. 
 
 " He went down street, Mum, about an hour 
 since, and I'm sure he hain't come back. But you 
 wasn't a-thinkin' of going to his collidge room, I 
 ventur' to hope ? "
 
 THE SHADOWINGS 311 
 
 " I suppose no young woman would ever do a 
 thing like that? " Millicent suggested. 
 
 " Well, I ain't a-goin' to say as far as that," 
 replied the cautious Bullion ; " but cert'nly no young 
 leddy, such as you, would do the like." 
 
 " Then you have known of cases ; then there is 
 some truth in these horrible reports?" 
 
 " Some truth in 'em ? Gordemitey, my child, a 
 young, innocent mind such as your'n can't pictur' the 
 goin's-on I've seen under kiver of night, and him 
 so proper in appearance, too; as if about to put up a 
 prayer. But there, there, this is no mess for you to 
 bother your pretty head about. You go home and 
 be thankful that he's been found out in time; yes, 
 and go home and be thankful that there is a good 
 friend of your family, and a sorter connection, too, 
 who is lookin' arter your int'rests, and is up to all 
 kinds of snuff while a-doin' it." 
 
 " What do you mean? " gasped Millicent. 
 
 " Oh, I know a thing or two," continued the 
 gratified Bullion. " If I should call you Miss Katie, 
 now, I wouldn't miss my guess, would I? And 
 supposin' I added a Brown to it, how clus' would 
 I be comin' to the truth, hey ? " 
 
 " But do you say that some one in my interest," 
 Millicent whispered, " has found out all about this 
 this dreadful creature in his room, and the mid 
 night drive, and all ? "
 
 312 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Everything, Mum, as well as I could tell it 
 myself and better, mebbe, for I seen him gitting 
 busy about town this very day." 
 
 " And there's a Miss Katie Brown in it, 
 too?" 
 
 ' You know there is, my child ; so be good and 
 go home, and never, never, think of the professor 
 again." 
 
 Millicent was dumfounded by these revelations. 
 Not only had her worst forebodings been more than 
 verified, but some one, out of pity for her, was 
 seeking to learn all the facts. Shrinking within 
 herself, as if from a shame which her own 
 mad actions had brought close upon her, she suf 
 fered the policeman to lead her to the college- 
 gate. " Now you go right home, like a good girl, 
 won't you ? " he warned, as he again saluted abor 
 tively. 
 
 " I will, oh, I will," replied Millicent, as heart 
 broken, and oblivious to her surroundings, she 
 passed down the street. 
 
 " Now, Bullion, old man," cried Joe, springing 
 out from behind the gate-post, " just tell us what 
 this is all about." 
 
 " Yes, and give it to us straight," added Jake, 
 coming up on the other side, " if you ever expect any 
 favors over in our bailiwick." 
 
 After Bullion had faithfully fulfilled his obli-
 
 THE SHADOWINGS 313 
 
 gations to his fellow-craftsmen from the adjoining 
 State, Joe and Jake took the street-car for the station 
 in dejected mood. 
 
 " Well, good-by to the ten t'ousand," sighed 
 Jake ; " we've wasted all our chances in running 
 down a mare's-nest." 
 
 " Yes, and with nothin' in it, either," groaned 
 Joe. 
 
 " Speakin' of the devil " cried Jake suddenly, 
 as the car dashed by a dingy man on the corner, who 
 had just come out of a book-store, with an agent's 
 portfolio under his arm, and a small boy with a 
 package and a valise hurrying after. 
 
 " An' he wags his tail," finished Joe. " There's 
 Naylor hisself, bound for the station the same as we 
 be. Now, you don't suppose he's really working, 
 do you? " 
 
 "Work, nothing! If he wasn't on a job, he 
 would be setting in a saloon, waiting for another, 
 the same as we'd be. Oh, no ; he's still after Paul 
 Breen, all right ; and it looks as if he was begin 
 ning to know how to find him." 
 
 " On the book-agent's lay, you think? " Joe sug 
 gested. " Knowing of the community but not the 
 spot, and going from house to house to find out, 
 hey?" 
 
 " Sure." 
 
 " Then we're in luck, after all. All we've got to
 
 314 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 do is to follow him until we learn what he's up 
 against, and then go him two better " 
 
 " But, if he catches a sight of us in the station, 
 the jig is up." 
 
 " That's true, of course," agreed Joe. " But if 
 we pass right through to the yard, and stand in one 
 of the deep window-recesses at the further end, we 
 can see him when he takes a train, and jump aboard 
 the next car." 
 
 Meanwhile Millicent had reached the station, 
 and, finding that she could not leave for Hamlin for 
 an hour, had seated herself in the cooling draft just 
 beyond one of the deep open windows of the ladies' 
 waiting-room. She was fatigued of body and mind, 
 inert through the reaction from suspense, morti 
 fication and grief; but suddenly her energies were 
 roused by the sound of her own name. 
 
 " Then, our chase after that little Miss Twigg 
 wasn't a wild-goose one after all," said a voice from 
 without, accompanied by a whiff of tobacco-smoke. 
 
 " No, indeedy," replied another voice. " Naylor 
 has got too much beef on his bones to be a book- 
 agent in dead earnest. Why, that's next door to 
 Potter's Field. No, no; he's after Paul Breen, and 
 on the right lay, too, I'll warrant, just as surely as 
 we'll be after him." 
 
 " You think he will come here " 
 
 " There is no other station on this line of cars
 
 THE SHADOWINGS 315 
 
 see, there he is now, making for that train that's 
 just about to draw out to the north'ard. Step lively, 
 Joe, or we'll miss our everlasting fortune." 
 
 Millicent sprang to her feet and gazed out of the 
 window. She saw the dingy man, who had tried 
 to steal Constance's satchel, and who had looked so 
 venomously at herself when she had tossed away his 
 grimy card, boarding a train, by the side of which 
 the conductor was impatiently waving. Yes, that 
 was the wretch's name Naylor a private detect 
 ive agency beyond a doubt ! She saw the two 
 men, whom she had seen, first in the Hamlin station, 
 then on the train to Carteret, and then on the car to 
 the college, glide around the rear of the train, and 
 enter the car, next to Naylor's, from the further 
 side. They had followed her they had learned 
 something about Paul Breen's hiding-place this 
 wretch was in search of him, and so, now, were 
 they ! What should she do ? Oh, God, what could 
 she do? The only answer was the derisive shriek 
 of the engine, as the train bearing the three men 
 rolled from the yard!
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE USELESS WARNING 
 
 TANCREDI was glad to devote his leisure to a 
 study of the silver-bound note-book. The occupa 
 tion proved engrossing; and thus at once kept him 
 from brooding over his trouble with Millicent, while 
 it consoled him with the assurance that, whether she 
 wished it or not, he still was serving her. 
 
 To his amazement, he found that, though there 
 were a few entries in the book that were intelligible, 
 so far as they went, the majority of them were 
 expressed in a cipher a device which Paul, in his 
 anxiety for secrecy, had seen fit to employ." 
 
 With all Tancredi's trained powers of analysis 
 and concentration, it was long before he discovered 
 the key, and, when he did so, the matter translated 
 seemed even more remarkable to him. 
 
 " I wonder if this learned young lady," he mused, 
 as he worked out chemical symbols, notes of reac 
 tion, degrees of temperature and rough plans of 
 apparatus, " knew what she was about. It would 
 seem as if she were preparing scientific lectures 
 and yet " 
 
 316
 
 THE USELESS WARNING 317 
 
 Had Tancredi known that the note-book had 
 belonged to Paul Breen he would have been less 
 surprised by the nature of its contents; but both 
 Constance and Millicent had given him the impres 
 sion that its owner was a young girl. 
 
 As he went on, he came to a page headed " Tan- 
 credi's Formula," and containing notes of an experi 
 ment in vibrations invented by himself. These notes 
 pointed out an error in his calculations and corrected 
 it. Tancredi went to his shelves, opened his own 
 work on the subject, and compared the passages. 
 Then he drew up to his table and worked out the 
 problem again and again but always with the 
 same result the formula, as printed in his treatise, 
 was wrong; the formula, as corrected in the note 
 book, was right. He flung down his pen, and 
 exclaimed : " That is not the work of any school 
 girl or college-student or least of all of a hobo or 
 ' Ed Flyaway.' Whoever made these notes was a 
 master of the subject. I did not think there was a 
 person in America capable of rinding a weak spot 
 in those calculations of mine. The whole thing is 
 incomprehensible if there is any continuity to 
 these entries they lead to a daring attempt to solve 
 what hitherto has been thought, if not unsolvable, at 
 least unsolved. Well, I will go on to the end but 
 it is most mystifying." 
 
 And Tancredi did go on to the end until he had
 
 318 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 made clear the constituent parts of that discovery 
 which Paul Breen had been so feverishly anxious to 
 submit to him two years before. But, not knowing 
 the sequence or the design, he was dissatisfied and 
 perplexed by what he had accomplished. " Who 
 ever it was and whatever he was about, I hope for 
 his sake he was careful in handling these powerful 
 agencies," he reflected. " A slip would mean a 
 smash, and a dangerous one, too. There is only 
 one thing for me to do if I am to be of any help. 
 I must see Miss Sanderson, and learn all she knows 
 about the maker of these notes otherwise I am 
 but a blind pilot on a sea of night." 
 
 It was the morning of Friday, the 7th of July 
 when the Professor started from his college rooms 
 to carry out this resolution. And about the same 
 hour, it happened, Adolph Breen was strolling to 
 ward the Twigg house, musing on what he was 
 about to say to Constance Sanderson. 
 
 Man and woman, good and bad, such are the 
 four prime elements of all tragedy, and they are 
 capable of almost infinite adjustment. The good 
 man under the influence of the bad woman and 
 there is the strife of the flesh and the soul. The 
 bad man swayed by the bad woman there is the 
 depth of degradation. The good man attracted and 
 subjected by the good woman here is all chivalry 
 and romance. But of all combinations, that of the
 
 THE USELESS WARNING 319 
 
 bad man and the good woman is the least capable 
 of analysis with certainty. She appeals to both 
 sides of his nature the angelic and the diabolic; 
 and the result in each case depends upon the pro 
 portions of these. 
 
 Adolph's attraction to Constance had sprung orig 
 inally from his best qualities. But, as he had allowed 
 his worse propensities and lower attributes to gain 
 ascendency over him, his feeling toward her had 
 changed. Aware that he could never win her respect 
 or affection, he was the more resolved that he would 
 conquer her and take what he could not deserve. 
 His passion had now reached the stage where he 
 would have murdered her rather than see her ignore 
 him. Allied to it, too, in forcing him against his 
 better judgment to call upon her at this time, was a 
 harrowing suspense. He had not heard as yet from 
 Naylor. He still believed that Constance had been 
 privy to Paul's escape. He still feared that his own 
 ruin was imminent, if his cousin was not recaptured. 
 Might he not then by frightening the girl extort 
 some information from her ? At least he would try. 
 
 Constance, on receiving Adolph's card, with the 
 words, " I have news of Paul, and I must see you 
 at once," scribbled upon it, came down to him at 
 once. She gave him no greeting, however, but re 
 mained standing and even refrained from speaking. 
 
 " I know everything that has been going on,
 
 320 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Constance," he began ; " your trip to the prison, your 
 stay at Nadonk, your drive through the woods, your 
 complicity in Paul's escape, everything, I say. 
 More than this, I know where he is hid; I can put 
 my finger on him at any time. Let me but give the 
 signal, and he will be arrested. Why do I hesitate ? 
 Because I am willing to give you a last chance 
 because I love " 
 
 " This is childish," Constance broke in, quietly. 
 " I am willing to listen to you, if it is for Paul's 
 sake. But, if you come merely to insult me, I will 
 not stay." 
 
 " Oh, very well," Adolph answered, keeping him 
 self under strong restraint. " Let us then make this 
 a business interview, since you will have it so. I 
 bear that poor devil of a Paul no ill-will, but he shall 
 not ruin your life, nor mine. If you will send him 
 word by me to take himself off to some remote 
 corner of the earth forever then I will let him 
 go, I will even supply him generously with money, 
 but on condition, mind you, that you give yourself 
 into my keeping 
 
 " Stop," cried Constance, in ringing tones, " you 
 villain for saying so much, you coward for not 
 saying more. Oh, I understand your vile words, 
 and your viler nature; I am no child to be tricked 
 by rhetorical phrases or dramatic posings. If this is 
 a business interview, once for all I refuse to deal
 
 THE USELESS WARNING 321 
 
 with you. I despise you; I defy you. Whatever 
 you do, remember that neither Paul nor myself 
 asks or expects anything from your hands. Go, do 
 your worst, as you already have done, I believe, in 
 this persecution of an innocent man. I will not 
 listen to another word. Leave the house at once." 
 
 " Defiance gives a very broad discretion, my 
 dear," said Adolph with a wicked smile and he 
 began to draw near. But he stopped short, as a 
 heavy hand was laid on his shoulder, as a stern 
 voice warned : " I understood Miss Sanderson to 
 order you from the premises " 
 
 Adolph turned and grappled with the stranger. 
 It was Tancredi, whom the servant had directed 
 familiarly to the room. For a moment the two men 
 struggled and strained, hand in hand, face to face ; 
 then, as they sprang apart as if to spring together 
 again, something bright was flung from Tancredi's 
 finger, and lay glittering in the full sunshine that 
 shot athwart the floor. 
 
 "Paul's ring; oh, my God, Paul's ring!" cried 
 Constance, as she picked up the jewel and clasped 
 it to her bosom. 
 
 " Paul's ring, surely enough," repeated Adolph, 
 exultingly. " Then this must be that precious pro 
 fessor of yours. Very well, professor, I am content 
 to leave you to the law that makes short work of 
 those who shelter escaped convicts ; " and he took
 
 322 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 himself off with all the dignity his conflicting pas 
 sions would allow. 
 
 " Don't be alarmed, Miss Sanderson," said Tan- 
 credi serenely. " That is an empty threat. He is 
 too good a lawyer not to know that the mere posses 
 sion is not sufficient to charge me " 
 
 " I hope so, I pray so," Constance interrupted 
 breathlessly; "but where did you get it, this 
 ring, this ring? It is Paul's, it is Paul's, I tell 
 you!" 
 
 " Sit down," said Tancredi, smiling shamefacedly, 
 " and I will explain. I have been stupid beyond 
 belief. For several weeks I have been taking care 
 of Paul Breen, and yet it has not once occurred to 
 me who my patient was. I can't excuse my blindness 
 except by pleading that I have been so deeply in love 
 with your friend, Millicent. Ever since I saw her, 
 I have thought of little else, and all the rest of the 
 world has been in a mist to me. Paul Breen met me 
 in the street, one day, sick, out of his head, friend 
 less I took him to my rooms " 
 
 " God bless you ! " cried Constance, seizing his 
 hand. 
 
 " Then I sent him away to a quiet spot in the 
 mountains Tip-top Cottage, not a great ways 
 from the village of Hill Farms. I knew nothing of 
 him, but, since I learned early that he was a fugitive 
 from justice, I would not let him tell his name nor
 
 THE USELESS WARNING 323 
 
 anything that would interfere with my right to care 
 for him merely as one in distress." 
 
 " Oh, so good, so noble, so true ! " sobbed Con 
 stance. " And did you not know that he was con 
 victed of a murder the murder of his sister ? " 
 
 " No ; but his wandering soliloquies in his fever 
 convinced me that he was innocent of any crime." 
 
 " And it was for harboring Paul that these slan 
 ders were spoken of you? " 
 
 " Yes ; there was no other foundation for them." 
 
 " Only wait, then, until Millicent returns " 
 
 " But I can't wait," replied Tancredi, " I must 
 
 leave my fate in your good hands. I must hasten at 
 
 once to Paul, and keep with him until he is strong 
 
 enough to be removed to some distant part of the 
 
 country. Adolph Breen will doubtless have me 
 
 dogged by detectives, but I will evade him to-day, 
 
 surely, and once in that remote Cottage we shall be 
 
 safe until " 
 
 " Yes, go, go at once before it is too late ! " 
 " Not until I have talked with you a little about 
 this note-book," Tancredi continued. " I perceive 
 now that it must have belonged to Paul himself, 
 though my stupidity was so dense that I gath 
 ered from what had been said that it was the 
 property of some young girl, a school friend of 
 yours." 
 
 " Yes, it was Paul's," said Constance. " I gave
 
 324 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 it to him, and he always carried it. I could not 
 imagine how it came to be pawned." 
 
 " I made some inquiries at the pawnshop, and also 
 looked at the books " 
 
 " Books? " Constance repeated. 
 
 " Yes, the pawnbroker's register in which a record 
 of the pledge is made. This little note-book was 
 pledged by a tramp, so they said, who gave the name 
 ' Ed Flyaway.' " 
 
 " ' Ed Flyaway ? ' how could it be Professor, 
 that was a family nickname for Paul's sister Edith 
 the girl who was killed. How could " 
 
 " That is a mystery," said Tancredi impressively, 
 " which you and Millicent and Mr. Twigg must try 
 in every way to solve. It may be the first clue to dis 
 covering an infamous plot against Paul. But even 
 more than this, to my mind, is what I have learned 
 from the note-book itself. Paul was absorbed, abso 
 lutely engrossed and absorbed, in a deep problem 
 in physics ; his work was of a dangerous character, 
 it might easily have caused him to injure himself 
 seriously. Talk this over with your friends there 
 is no telling how far it may lead. I don't dare to 
 agitate Paul at present, but just as soon as I can 
 question him in the light of what I already know, I 
 will surely know much more. And now, indeed, I 
 must go. Keep strong in the faith; Paul Breen is 
 an innocent man, and it can be proved."
 
 THE USELESS WARNING 325 
 
 "God bless you!" again said Constance faintly, 
 as she sank back exhausted in her chair, pressing her 
 head in her trembling hands, and striving to quiet 
 her tumultuous thoughts. 
 
 An hour passed. There were steps light, but dis 
 ordered, in the hall-way, and Millicent, her face 
 ghastly pale against the black veil tossed back from 
 it, hurried into the room. 
 
 " Oh, Constance," she cried, " you don't know 
 what I have done! " 
 
 " You don't know what has happened ! " cried 
 Constance in turn, and, being now the more com 
 posed of the two, she explained in a few words that 
 it was Paul whom Tancredi had harbored in his 
 college rooms, and that Tancredi in his anxiety to 
 still further protect him was now hastening to join 
 him at Tip-top Cottage, near the village of Hill 
 Farms. 
 
 " Oh, wretch that I am," lamented Millicent pas 
 sionately, " I have ruined everything ! Quick, Con 
 stance, give me all the money you have. Already 
 the detectives are scouring the mountains in search 
 of Paul through me, through me, miserable ! I 
 must fly to warn them before it is too late ! " 
 
 Not waiting for explanation, advice or offer of 
 companionship, Millicent sped like the wind through 
 the streets, and soon was again on her way to Car- 
 teret, where she was fortunate enough to make a
 
 326 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 close connection for the mountains. Realizing that 
 she was known not only to the two men who had 
 followed her in the morning, but also to Naylor, she 
 learned through keen questioning of the conductor 
 that, by leaving the train at a station beyond Hill 
 Farms > she could drive over the mountains to the 
 Cottage, and possibly might save time by doing so. 
 
 It was three o'clock in the afternoon when Milli- 
 cent alighted at this remote station. She was ex 
 hausted from exertion and excitement, she was faint 
 for lack of food, but her black eyes were burning 
 bravely. After some delay, she found a farmer who 
 rather reluctantly agreed to drive her to her destina 
 tion in his open wagon the only conveyance the 
 place afforded. 
 
 " We'll be in for a wetting among the hills," he 
 grumbled ; " for if I don't miss my reckoning that's 
 a thunder-head, hanging to the side of old Mount 
 Ben. Folks that have sense keep under kiver at 
 sech times in these parts." But Millicent by lavish 
 promises urged him on, still grumbling. 
 
 Old Mount Ben sent its thunder-head, surely 
 enough, heavy and low across the sky. Darkness 
 brooded over the hills. The wind shrieked through 
 the gullies, and the rain descended in torrents, rent 
 by sulphurous crashes, and lit by forked flashes. 
 Great boughs cracked and fell from the trees, and 
 rocks rolled down from the precipitous banks. The
 
 THE USELESS WARNING 327 
 
 horses shied and bolted, with the rickety wagon 
 careening dangerously behind them ; but the farmer 
 stuck doggedly to his task, spurred on by a ceaseless 
 flow of sarcasm, flattery, threat, praise and assur 
 ances of impossible rewards. 
 
 " I think you're crazy," at length he said, when 
 the short-lived fury of the storm was dissipating in 
 distant rumbles. 
 
 " Not now, not now," Millicent replied, " though 
 I'm sure I was this morning! Oh, can't you make 
 them go a little faster? " 
 
 Paul and Tancredi had watched the onset and con 
 flict of the tempest, far below them, from the win 
 dows of their pleasant room in the Cottage. But, 
 when the black clouds, flecked with yellow, had 
 changed into an all-surrounding mist, like the limit 
 less ocean at the base of an islet, they resumed their 
 former diversion Tancredi reading aloud, and 
 Paul listening contentedly from the old-fashioned 
 lounge. Suddenly, upon this peaceful scene, there 
 obtruded the moist but vehement presence of Milli 
 cent Twigg. 
 
 " You must fly without a moment's delay ! " she 
 exclaimed. " The officers of the law have been hunt 
 ing for you over these mountains for hours ever 
 since, through my jealous folly, I put them on your 
 track! Fly, fly, at once; I will wait and mislead 
 them!"
 
 Paul rose slowly to greet this startling visitant, 
 with a detached air in which there lingered not a 
 vestige of surprise. But in an instant Tancredi had 
 thrown his ulster around her, and forced a glassful 
 of some peppery stuff down her throat. " You dar 
 ling," he protested, as he wrung the rain-water from 
 her skirts, " to risk your life to atone for some dear 
 little innocent error of judgment, for which I love 
 you the more, if it were possible " 
 
 " Don't, don't, you mustn't at least not now," 
 pleaded Millicent. "Don't you hear what I say? 
 They may be here any instant ! " 
 
 Tancredi looked grave. " We are safe enough 
 while this fog lasts," he said, " but it will probably 
 clear with sunset. You say you kept the wagon 
 waiting? That was wise, you noble girl. We will 
 all drive to the junction about ten miles away, where 
 Paul and I can take a train for the west, while you 
 can get one that will bring you home not much after 
 dark. But first you come with me to the good 
 woman of the house and she will rig you out in some 
 dry clothing. I am not going to lose you, my dear 
 est dear, when I have just gained you. Paul, you 
 might throw the fewest things we can get along with 
 into one of those bags, meanwhile." 
 
 But when they returned, in a half hour, Paul sat, 
 reading serenely, by the window. 
 
 " I am not going," he said, in dull, even tones. " I
 
 THE USELESS WARNING 329 
 
 may have lost my senses, but I retain my sensibility. 
 I appreciate, Tancredi, faithful friend, all you have 
 done for me. I have accepted it, too, reasoning, 
 selfishly, I fear, that, after all, you had taken no 
 active part in my escape, and could not be blamed as 
 a physician for not surrendering your patient. But 
 now, if you attempt to elude the officers of the law, 
 with the full knowledge that they know that we are 
 together, your career will be ruined. I am calm 
 now, as you see ; but, if you oppose me, if you argue 
 with me, you may excite me to lasting injury. Here 
 I remain I will not go with you ; I am too feeble, 
 too shattered in mind, still, to go alone ! It is your 
 duty to protect yourself, to shield this kind young 
 lady from possible scandal. There is no more to 
 say. The decision is mine, and it is final ! " 
 
 There was no more to say. As a physician, Tan 
 credi dared not resist ; as a friend, he felt that after 
 all he might serve Paul better by striving to prove 
 his innocence than by striving to keep him a fugitive 
 from justice. Sadly, though with an intimate joy 
 of their own in their hearts, Tancredi and Millicent 
 drove to the junction; while Paul read serenely by 
 the window, waiting until the mountain mists should 
 roll away, and bring his pursuers to him.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH 
 
 IT was Friday, the seventh of July the Friday 
 before the meeting of the National Convention. Al 
 ready the waves of excitement, radiating from the 
 far-off western city in which the political clans were 
 about to gather, were surging and throbbing through 
 the eastern town of Hamlin, where lived the one man 
 who, above all others, stood out preeminent in popu 
 lar judgment as the logical candidate. 
 
 The "Young Men's Reform Club," with the 
 legend " Strain and Justice " emblazoned on its ban 
 ner, was to start that evening for the Convention, 
 there to add practical influence to the moral weight 
 which gave it distinction. As an inevitable condition 
 precedent to its departure, there would be a serenade, 
 affording the Governor a golden opportunity to stir 
 the ardor and intensify the convictions of his ad 
 herents by a formal speech. 
 
 John Strain did not go to the Capital that day, 
 but remained quietly within his home. His old- 
 fashioned ideas of dignity, which thus withheld him 
 
 330
 
 OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH 331 
 
 from the sight of men, did not interfere with that 
 unobtrusive work which is most effective. Through 
 the telephone he was in constant communication 
 with his lieutenants. Special messengers kept ar 
 riving with letters and telegrams; and now and 
 again the gravelled driveway crunched under the 
 roll of a closed carriage; or some furtive form 
 darted through the deep portico and unlatched por 
 tals for that whispered talk of two which men delight 
 to call a conference. He had the strings well in 
 hand, had John Strain ; and the marionettes were 
 bobbing responsive to his will. 
 
 Mrs. Strain moved restlessly through the lower 
 rooms, seeing for the thousandth time that exact 
 order prevailed. Her complex nature could not view 
 her husband's increasing honors in a simple, direct 
 way. She had, in his fortunes, a faith that assured 
 her he would be President. The idea pleased her 
 pride, especially when she thought of the triumph it 
 would be over their neighbors and friends. It grati 
 fied her affection, too, which found its object in the 
 ideal conception rather than the real presence of 
 her husband. As she thought of him, she always 
 admired and loved him; as she saw him, he often 
 tantalized and offended her. She, therefore, feared 
 that the future might be as distressful for her as it 
 would be glorious for him; and that the higher he 
 rose, the more remote he would be from her. In
 
 332 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 matrimony's community of interests, she felt that 
 she was but a silent partner, and she resented her 
 lack of influence as much as she clung to her pro- 
 prietory rights. So she fretted, the widening vistas 
 giving scope to her jealous imagination, until, as 
 she stood by his side, that evening, in the front par 
 lor, a stiff, awkward figure in the heavy silk she 
 affected, every nerve and fibre cried out for a chance 
 or incident to break through his amiable but hateful 
 indifference, to arouse and hold his attention by 
 provocation or exasperation, to wage any kind of 
 battle, however insidious or unfair, if only thereby 
 she might gain a blessed relief from the tension. 
 
 Beneath his indifference to the normal, habitual 
 attributes of his daily life, somewhere among which 
 his wife was obscurely numbered, John Strain's 
 heart was beating exultantly, as it kept in rhythmic 
 unison with the tap, tap, of the approaching drums. 
 They were coming, the first emissaries of the people, 
 to call him to his task. From this hour on, he would 
 become a personage of national importance, as im 
 pressive, as grandiose, as the lure of his ambition 
 had ever depicted ; a king among men, destined to 
 join the mighty, superhuman beings that made the 
 world's history. His nerves and fibres cried out, 
 too, but with conscious power, pledging him that, 
 whatever the duty, whatever the emergency, he and 
 they would be more than equal to it.
 
 OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH 333 
 
 The cornet gave its note of warning, the band 
 broke tumultuously into " Hail to the Chief," the 
 crowd pressed and cheered ; and, amid burst of 
 bomb and whiz of rocket, John Strain, " in triumph 
 advancing," strode out to meet and greet his neigh 
 bors. A stalwart, commanding figure he made on 
 the rostrum of the portico another and a braver 
 Webster come to the defence of even more sacred 
 rights. His pose and port compelled silence; and 
 then he spoke, not with oratorical graces, but with 
 the simple seriousness of friend to friend over a 
 matter of grave and mutual importance. 
 
 He told them that their democracy should be that 
 true aristocracy the government of the good. 
 That the birthright of every American was responsi 
 bility for the common weal. That upon the young 
 men, especially, rested the obligation of the living 
 law. 
 
 " This obligation," he thundered, changing from 
 the conversational to the prophetical in harmony 
 with the increasing impressiveness of his thought, 
 " will not down unless it drags with it the whole 
 temple of this great nation. Either our laws, those 
 rules of conduct prescribed by the supreme will of 
 the people, must be executed without fear, favor, 
 exception or reservation ; or the latest flower of 
 civilization, the first practical experiment of self- 
 government, will perish from the face of the earth.
 
 334 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 This is the duty of the hour; this is the message 
 you must bear to the representatives of our party 
 about to assemble in national council. It may well 
 be that I shall not be chosen to the high position of 
 chief executive, before whose awful responsibilities 
 ambition shrinks abashed, and duty falters; it may 
 well be that a kindlier, if less glorious fate reserves 
 
 me for a quiet life among you, my friends. But the 
 
 
 
 duty, the issue, remain insistent, preeminent. In 
 every case and in any event, we must render unto 
 each man according to his deeds, be they good or 
 evil ; for so, my fellow-citizens, will inexorable Jus 
 tice, in turn, render unto us." 
 
 The magnetism, produced by perfect health, un 
 usual strength and impassioned and absolute con 
 viction, all concentrated upon utterance, held the 
 throng spell-bound until John Strain, with a smile, 
 dismissed himself from the tripod and became a 
 mortal once more, cordially inviting all present to 
 the hospitality of his home. 
 
 The band scurried around the house into the rear 
 hall, there to " discourse " occasionally, while the 
 company were discoursing incessantly. The hosts 
 resumed their station directly under the chandelier 
 in the front parlor, letting their light so shine that 
 all might behold those noblest works of God, an 
 honest man and his wife. And then the line began 
 to advance, disorderly through the portico, with
 
 OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH 335 
 
 decorum through the parlors, each one, as he passed, 
 striving to drop that rarest and most elusive coin, 
 a word in season, in the candidate's mental hat, to 
 wind and press, boastful and greedy, around the 
 dining-room table. 
 
 John Strain liked it all exceeding well. The rev 
 erence with which he was approached, the hearti 
 ness with which he was praised, were the echoes of 
 his fancy, the confirmation of his judgment. His 
 faith in the people was strengthened that faith 
 which depends so much upon a sublime lack of the 
 sense of humor. 
 
 And Mrs. Strain, too, would have been pleased, 
 had only the exigencies of her nature permitted. 
 The glow aroused by flattery now and again man 
 tled her cheek; but, beneath its somewhat acidu 
 lated damask, the worm of distrust kept gnawing. 
 Her little eyes sparkled at times with satisfaction, 
 only to pick up and hold out once more the sharper 
 light of suspicion, like constables caught napping. 
 Her ears bent to hear the honeyed words, yet were 
 all intent on the whispers which passed between the 
 Governor and certain of his intimates. Something, 
 in some way, must be discovered which would at 
 once justify and satisfy the irritation of mind and 
 nerves which possessed her. 
 
 The full length of the line had gone by; Mrs. 
 Strain had already joined the knot of ladies who, in
 
 336 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 a secondary way, had participated in the reception; 
 the Governor, with dignified deliberateness, was pre 
 paring to move in sundry places, like the Scriptures, 
 when a tall figure, venerable from its flowing white 
 beard, with cane extended, felt its way toward the 
 centre of the parlor. It was Phineas Twigg, the 
 court Crier. John Strain turned quickly to greet 
 the old functionary, while his wife, scenting oppor 
 tunity, grew oblivious to what her gossips were 
 saying. 
 
 "Governor Strain," ' Phineas began, his delicate 
 fingers wandering over the other's massive hand, 
 as if interpreting upraised letters, " I congratulate 
 you sincerely on the prospect of still greater honors. 
 I have always known you to be a man of public 
 integrity, devoted to what you deemed the right. 
 You have been, and I believe you will be, a faithful 
 servant of the people. As such, you have my sup 
 port." 
 
 All this was very well, yet not quite well enough 
 for the Governor's swollen approbation. " The 
 right cannot be relative," he replied stiffly. 
 
 Phineas Twigg smiled gently as he drew 
 nearer. " The letter of the law killeth," he mur 
 mured. 
 
 " A law is not a law that is not enforced," pro 
 claimed the Draconian Strain, not sorry to be over 
 heard creating a legal maxim.
 
 OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH 337 
 
 " There is something higher than justice," Twigg 
 persisted, " laud it how you may." 
 
 " And what may that be, sir? " 
 
 " Mercy." 
 
 " The law has nothing to do with mercy." 
 
 " Ah, no," assented the blind man sadly, " and 
 that is why the law is still so distinct from equity. 
 But, Mr. Governor," he continued, his white beard 
 sweeping the other's face in his anxiety to keep his 
 darling purpose from those who had been attracted 
 by their talk, among whom Abigail Alice was in all 
 respects the most conspicuous ; " But, your Excel 
 lency, mercy is a prerogative of your office, and I 
 beg, I beseech you, at this time of your uplifting, to 
 extend it to one just as far in the depths " 
 
 " To whom do you refer? " 
 
 " To Paul Breen." 
 
 " What, you ask mercy for an escaped convict, 
 still at large, in contempt, in defiance of the just 
 judgment of a competent tribunal " 
 
 " Only after he has been recaptured, as he soon 
 must be with the enormous reward offered for him," 
 explained Twigg. " Then, only then, it is that I 
 entreat you, when the hopeless, deadly routine of 
 his punishment has been resumed, to review the 
 evidence of his case. I am positive of his inno 
 cence " 
 
 " Oh, you still cling to that fetich of yours? "
 
 338 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " I have verified it," Phineas asserted firmly. 
 " Constance Sanderson and I have not been idle. 
 We have proof that Paul was engrossed in scientific 
 experiment at that very time, so dangerous that the 
 slightest slip might have caused the injury which he 
 believed he had suffered. We have proof of mys 
 terious machinations against him a note-book, in 
 which he kept his most secret formulae, was pawned 
 on the very morning of the railway accident by a 
 tramp, in the name of ' Ed Flyaway ' Edith's 
 own nickname " 
 
 " Well, well, Phineas," the Governor interrupted 
 soothingly, " I'll see, I'll see. But we must first 
 catch the hare, you know, as the saying is. If you 
 have new evidence of a serious nature, you can 
 then submit it to me with the assurance that it shall 
 have most careful consideration. But I have al 
 ready had one cock-and-bull story from a tramp 
 the very rascal who assisted in the escape and I 
 hardly think I want any more of that sort of 
 proof;" and with a look, half-pitying, half-impa 
 tient, he turned to one of the groups of his guests. 
 
 The last rocket had sputtered, the crowd had dis 
 persed, taking their cheers with them, the Young 
 Men's Reform Club had swung down the street to 
 the station to the tune of " When Johnny Comes 
 Marching Home Again," and John Strain was alone 
 in his library. His chest still heaved proudly over
 
 OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH 339 
 
 his exultant heart. His eyes still blazed with the 
 fires of power and primacy. " I'll get there," he 
 muttered, " I'll get there sure! Why, the very stars 
 in their courses are fighting for me. The people 
 can't think of more than one thing at a time, and 
 their minds are now set on my identification with 
 the cause of justice. Oh, that proclamation was as 
 politically shrewd as it was righteous; and my 
 speech of to-night will confirm my position on the 
 supremacy of the law." 
 
 He stepped to a long mirror and surveyed himself 
 from head to foot. " You're a strong man, John 
 Strain," he soliloquized. " From first to last you 
 have been a great, big strong man. I swear, when 
 I contemplate your career, I'm proud of you, 
 damned if I ain't ! Up, up, up, you've climbed, 
 never hesitating, never getting dizzy, never miss 
 ing a rung or losing your head. Mr. District At 
 torney, I salute you; Mr. Governor, I salute you; 
 Mr. President Bosh ; what am I thinking of 
 that sounds too much like the tragedy of Macbeth! 
 Is my vanity playing the part of the witches? No, 
 no ; Macbeth 's success was founded on crime, while 
 mine is founded on good works. No Glamis, Caw- 
 dor, and then a smash-up for me, while Justice does 
 her perfect rendering." 
 
 Again John Strain scanned his reflection in the 
 mirror. Perhaps the flickering gas-jet cast a
 
 340 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 strange shadow. Perhaps some uninvited, uncon 
 scious impulse of thought left the trace of its swift 
 ness on his brow. At all events, he caught an odd 
 look, a mere turn o>f the eyes, doubtless, yet for an 
 instant again recalling, again resembling even, the 
 face of Paul Breen, calm, candid, unconquer 
 able. In an instant it had come and it was gone; 
 yet the time served to make this strong man 
 weak. 
 
 As he stood, displeased, perplexed, mortified, the 
 door opened, and Mrs. Strain advanced intrepidly 
 to the fray. " What was that old humbug of a 
 Phineas Twigg saying to you? " she demanded. 
 
 Now, this question was exactly the last one that 
 John Strain cared to answer; for it involved a dis 
 cussion of the one person whom he was again re 
 solving to keep out of his mind. 
 
 "Oh, I don't know," he replied evasively; "you 
 can hardly expect me to recollect all the common 
 places I was forced to hear, can you? " 
 
 " Men don't get half inside of your ear to whisper 
 commonplaces, nor do they look like a Hebrew 
 prophet while doing it, either." 
 
 " But, my dear, I have already explained to you 
 that whatever it was, I do not recall it don't you 
 think you are a trifle unreasonable?" 
 
 " Un-reas-on-able ? " repeated Mrs. Strain in 
 shrillest staccato, "*is it unreasonable to doubt a lie ?
 
 OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH 341 
 
 He brought you a message from that creature he 
 is harboring, from Constance Sanderson, you know 
 he did. I distinctly heard her name." 
 
 " You are mistaken, madam; " and the Governor 
 seated himself at his desk, and turned over some of 
 its voluminous papers. 
 
 " Oh, you can't put me off with any of your Ex 
 ecutive airs," cried his wife passionately; " I know 
 better; I heard it, I heard it, I say! It isn't the 
 first time, either, that you have had a secret com 
 munication from that creature. Do you think I'm 
 blind as well as deaf and dumb? When she was 
 here, didn't she fairly live in this room, while I, 
 your lawful wife, was made to feel like an intruder? 
 When she was driven out, didn't she have the au 
 dacity to leave you a package, a token of some sort, 
 before my very eyes? And yet, such a man as this 
 dares to prate about justice and to hope for the 
 Presidency. I tell you, if you get the one, you'll 
 never get the other. Oh, oh " And finding the 
 inadequacy of language a still great aggravation, 
 Mrs. Strain swept out of the room on the whirlwind 
 of her passions. 
 
 John Strain laughed heartily over this last vicious 
 quip of his wife's, which was too similar to forensic 
 amenities not to be appreciated. The little diver 
 sion of her attack was just what was needed to 
 restore his mental equilibrium; and now he was
 
 342 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 himself again, though with spirits somewhat re 
 laxed. 
 
 " Poor old Abigail," he mused, " she'll cut a 
 novel figure in the White House, to be sure. I 
 wonder what's eating her now? What was it she 
 said that Constance Sanderson gave me some 
 token on leaving ? What nonsense ! But let me see, 
 though let me see." 
 
 By a strong mental effort he recalled the incidents 
 of the evening when Constance had been driven 
 from his home. Yes, the girl had handed him 
 something, a package, done up in white tissue paper, 
 and bound with black ribbon at the same time 
 referring to his kindness to her. What the deuce 
 had become of it? He recalled his talk with Adolph 
 in that very room, the library, wincing as he recol 
 lected that it had been concerning Paul the eter 
 nal Paul. Yes, again; he had tossed it on the 
 shelves, of course, and it must have fallen down 
 behind his bookcase, as some important papers once 
 had fallen. Otherwise, Mrs. Strain's sharp eyes 
 would have ferreted it out. Why shouldn't he 
 look for it now? 
 
 With an almost boyish eagerness Governor John 
 Strain got down on his reverential hands and knees, 
 and fished under the shelves with his cane until he 
 drew out the identical package, its virginal hues 
 somewhat marred by dust. He took off the wrapper,
 
 OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH 343 
 
 and discovered a book, the leather binding black and 
 shining from years. 
 
 " Hullo," he muttered, as he resumed his seat 
 and put on his glasses, " this is something of a 
 find. The learned De Lyra, by Jove, and a first edi 
 tion, at that! It must have belonged to her father, 
 the old parson." 
 
 John Strain examined title and colophon. With 
 the particularity of a book-lover, he carefully moved 
 the covers back and forth. As he did so, a paper, 
 filled with the fine, cramped hand, so often seen in 
 clerical manuscripts, fell on the desk before him. 
 It was a letter, addressed to himself, and signed, 
 " Samuel Sanderson." It ran as follows : 
 
 " I am constrained by a sense of impending mor 
 tality to inform you by letter that a few months 
 since Mrs. Neil Breen, a member of my church at 
 Gloriosa, moved by anxiety for her soul's salvation, 
 confided to me as her pastor the story of her early 
 life. When but a young girl, she went through 
 some form of ceremony, whether legal or not she 
 hardly knew, with a youth of her native village, and, 
 thereafter, for a brief period, they secretly consorted 
 as man and wife. 
 
 " This young man, however, instigated by worldly 
 motives, brutally cast her off, declaring the marriage 
 a sham. She ran away from home, married Neil 
 Breen, and settled with him in the southwest. But
 
 344 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 she never told him, nor had he reason to suspect, 
 that she was not the maid he thought her, or that 
 Paul Breen, whom he unquestionably recognized as 
 his oldest child, was in reality the offspring of this 
 former and perhaps meretricious union. 
 
 " I advised her that it was best to let well enough 
 alone, and that she must bear by herself the cross 
 of her sin and deceit, lest some greater evil should 
 spring from it; being persuaded especially thereto 
 by the present happiness of all concerned and the 
 nature of the man, Neil Breen, who, though or 
 dinarily easy-going, was yet inclined, when enraged, 
 to strong drink and consequent violence. 
 
 " In thus putting expediency before right, I now 
 feel that I, too, have sinned; and I bow humbly 
 and in contrition before the just wrath of the Al 
 mighty. 
 
 " Mark this how events war against those who 
 neglect to follow implicitly the divine light. This 
 very evening, in this remote western town of F're- 
 montia, surrounded by utter strangers, I was moved 
 by a sense of security, and in a spirit of vainglory, 
 to detail this story at a revival meeting, as a warn 
 ing against impulsive and ill-considered confession, 
 mentioning the parents but generally, of course, yet, 
 in my earnestness giving particulars by which any 
 of their acquaintances might identify them, and even 
 referring to the boy Paul, and to a younger child,
 
 OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH 345 
 
 Edith, by their baptismal names. At that very mo 
 ment of my self-complacent folly I raised mine eyes; 
 and lo, this Neil Breen, who, I had so confidently 
 assured myself, was a thousand miles away, was 
 rushing headlong from the church, his face distorted 
 with rage and revenge, like one possessed of a devil. 
 
 " I have sought him everywhere, but in vain; and 
 now, as a last resort, not knowing at what hour 
 the last summons cometh, I write to warn you to 
 protect this woman, bone of thy bone, and flesh of 
 thy flesh in the sight of God, and this hapless youth, 
 Paul Breen, the fruit of thy loins; for she, in the 
 days when her comeliness tempted thee, was called 
 Mary Lane ; and thou, John Strain, thou art the 
 man! 
 
 " Don't think to evade thy sacred duty and re 
 sponsibility, or to hide thyself from an offended 
 God. Though years elapse, burying the past in their 
 ruins, though interests, ambitions, wealth and sta 
 tion all combine to cause thee to forget ; at the acme 
 of thy fate, in the hour of thy triumph, this secret 
 sin shall find thee out ! 
 
 " For thus saith the Lord God that faileth not : 
 ' Thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing be 
 fore all Israel and before the sun ! ' 
 
 John Strain grew livid and cold, like one before 
 the bar of Omniscience. He never doubted the 
 truth of the message. It was set in his brain in
 
 346 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 letters of living fire. Mary, Mary Lane, whom he 
 had so ruthlessly sacrificed to his ambition, but yet 
 had loved after his fashion of preferring himself 
 Mary Lane, passing from his sight forever, a 
 pathetic, despairing figure, with the bowed head of 
 womanly resignation, dead, long years ago. Paul, 
 Paul Breen, whom he had pursued so relentlessly, 
 of whose misfortunes he had made the stepping- 
 stones to success, his own, his only son! Oh, the 
 irony of fate! To think of his proclamation, with 
 its absurd apotheosis of Justice ! To think of his 
 boasting of the supremacy of the law! Out of his 
 own mouth was he condemned! For the first time 
 in his life John Strain saw himself as he really was; 
 and, like our first parents in Eden, he was ashamed 
 of his nakedness. Before the eternal tribunal, which 
 had thus suddenly summoned him .from the petty 
 pomps and vanities of the world, his spirit bowed its 
 head and pleaded " guilty." 
 
 Then the universal human impulse to seek the line 
 of least resistance, which men call hope, asserted 
 itself. Paul was missing; he could not be found. 
 It might be years before there was a trace of him 
 and Strain himself could call off the bloodhounds 
 already on the fugitive's track. Meanwhile, public 
 interests should not be allowed to suffer; in the 
 eyes of the people he still was all he had seemed to 
 be. Why, then, should he not make himself as
 
 OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH 347 
 
 mighty as possible, for the very reason that he might 
 be the better able to serve his son when the fitting 
 season came? Oh, he would make good, he would 
 requite, a hundredfold but now, but now 
 
 The front-door bell rang violently once, twice, 
 unusual sounds, at that late hour, in his quiet 
 home. Presently, the maid half-dressed, announced 
 sleepily that Mr. Adolph Breen and the two State 
 detectives were below. 
 
 " Tell Mr. Breen to wait," John Strain ordered, 
 " and show the two men up." But scarcely had the 
 maid started away than Adolph appeared. 
 
 " My God, Governor," he exclaimed, upon seeing 
 Strain's attitude, " what is the matter ? You haven't 
 gone stale, have you, before the race is fairly be- 
 gun?" 
 
 " Oh, it is nothing, nothing but a little temporary 
 fatigue. You must go down and wait, Adolph, 
 wait until I have seen Joe and Jake." 
 
 " But I have news, urgent news, of vital impor 
 tance " 
 
 " Go down, I tell you," commanded the Governor,, 
 pushing the young man from the door, as the two 
 detectives came up the stairs.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 PAYING THE PENALTY 
 
 THE events of the day had been too exasperating 
 for Adolph Breen's composure, settled and char 
 acteristic though it was. He paced the lower hall, 
 aflame with impatience and chagrin; and, when at 
 length Joe and Jake slowly descended, under a joint 
 burden of bewilderment, he shot up the stairs past 
 them, according not even a curt nod to their salutes. 
 " I thought I was of more importance than two 
 snide detectives," he complained, as he burst into 
 the library. 
 
 John Strain closed the door, and seated himself 
 at his desk in the shadow of the drop-light. " Sit 
 down, Adolph, and calm yourself," he said gravely. 
 " It was the importance of the thing, not the per 
 sons, that governed me a matter of the highest 
 consequence." 
 
 " I doubt if it is as exigent as the news I bring." 
 
 "And that is?" 
 
 " I know Paul's whereabouts. He is hid in a 
 farm-house on the mountains, not many miles from 
 
 348
 
 PAYING THE PENALTY 349 
 
 Carteret. You must issue your request for extradi 
 tion at once. I, myself, will take it to the Governor, 
 and see that a warrant is issued and executed. To 
 morrow's evening papers, filled as they will be with 
 editorial comment on your speech to the Reform 
 Club, will also carry the telegraphic news of the 
 arrest. Nothing, nothing, could be so pat. It is the 
 dramatic climax an illustration of your words, a 
 proof that you are as sure practically as you are 
 sound philosophically. It makes you the man of the 
 hour, indeed; and drives home and clinches the 
 nomination. Come, let me act as your amanu 
 ensis." 
 
 But the Governor shook his head, as he restrained 
 the other with a gesture. " Let us look before' we 
 leap," he objected. " I fear it would not be politic 
 ally wise after all. Sometimes, too much of a good 
 thing is bad. The speech was all right in its way; 
 it will serve as a slogan. Why emphasize it with 
 any particular case ? Human nature is a pendulum ; 
 when its sense of outrage has been appeased it 
 straightway swings back to pity. It is a short step 
 from prosecution to persecution, my boy; and I 
 don't care to take it just at this time. Let well 
 enough alone, I say." 
 
 Adolph stared as if the Governor were mad. 
 " Why, why " he stammered, " you don't 
 mean "
 
 350 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " I mean that I shall hold the arrest of Paul Breen 
 for future deliberation." 
 
 :i You mean that you hesitate about arresting 
 him ? " repeated Adolph, still bewildered. 
 
 " There, there," said Strain in a fatherly way. 
 " Don't let us fritter away the enlarging, the glori 
 ous present by disputing about trifles. I like you, 
 Adolph, I have confidence in you. High as I am 
 to climb, I yet have the strength to take you along 
 with me. You are recognized as my right-hand 
 man; very well, then, where does the President's 
 right-hand man sit ? I make no promises, you know 
 me too well to need them; but keep your faith in 
 me, believe that I have sufficient motives, good mo 
 tives, yes, the best of motives for what I do, even 
 though I don't always explain, and there is no limit 
 to what I will do for you in return. I'm glad you 
 came in, to-night ; I was just about to send for you. 
 The situation is fine, improving every hour, but 
 there's work to do. I want you to take the first 
 train west and stay day and night at my headquar 
 ters as my personal representative. See those tele 
 grams? Some of the delegates are already ar 
 rived; they should be coddled and kept stead 
 fast. The National Committee have a session 
 Monday evening, when the platform will be dis 
 cussed Now, I want it distinctly understood that 
 my principles, my views, must not only be recog-
 
 PAYING THE PENALTY 351 
 
 nized, but adopted, promulgated as fundamental 
 planks " 
 
 " Your principles, your views," cried Adolph, 
 " what are they ? You have belied and repudiated 
 them. Do you think that I am going to stultify 
 myself by standing for such a weather-vane of a 
 man? No, sir; not one step, not one, will I move, 
 until Paul Breen has been arrested." 
 
 " I am your chief." 
 
 " Yes, but you sha'n't commit hari-kiri without 
 my staying your hand." 
 
 " Oh, we haven't reached so serious an alterna 
 tive, have we, Adolph? If this matter remains a 
 secret between us, no one will be wiser; and a 
 secret, you know, cements friendship. Come, I 
 don't mind confessing that I have a personal feel 
 ing, yes, a deep personal feeling. I fear I have been 
 too severe, too vindictive, I may say, with Paul. 
 After all, admitting his guilt, he has been punished 
 bitterly ; so young, so inexperienced, so habituated 
 to refinement and luxury, shut up for life in prison, 
 dead to his friends, dead to the world, yet alive 
 my God ! alive to realize it, to feel it. Let him 
 have his liberty, I say. He earned it by a bold brave 
 dash which you can't help but admire. Let him 
 drop out of sight and memory; there is a higher 
 law than statute law, after -all; and it is enacted 
 by the heart rather than the brain. Ignore the in-
 
 352 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 formation, then, and let him go. You have no 
 feeling, of course. Your only interest, I appreciate, 
 is to strengthen my position before the people. 
 Well then, I confide it to you, I have a compunction, 
 a positive compunction, against building my political 
 success on Paul Breen's suffering." 
 
 The Governor's humble, almost entreating words, 
 so differeftt from his ordinary style of speech, re 
 stored Adolph's mental equilibrium. Here, surely, 
 was a chance for personal advantage. He realized 
 that the inducing cause must be powerful, indeed, 
 to work such a change ; and he resolved by all means 
 to learn what it was. Then, ah, then, he himself 
 would be great by being the master of so great a 
 man; and once the master, his first edict would be 
 the instant arrest of Paul Breen! 
 
 " But that is exactly what you have been doing 
 for the last few months," he replied sharply. " The 
 whole fabric of your reputation before the public 
 rests upon your relentless pursuit of Paul Breen, and 
 it rests there by your own deliberate choice. His 
 case furnished the text for your memorable rhapsody 
 on Justice ; are you now going to eat your words ? 
 Are you now going to take the fatal step from the 
 sublime to the ridiculous? Nonsense, you can't 
 fool me. You are evasive, insincere. Talk about 
 compunctions? Why, you would people hell for 
 your ambition ! Either trust me with your real rea-
 
 PAYING. THE PENALTY 353 
 
 son for such an extraordinary change of base in the 
 very front of the enemy, or choose as your right- 
 hand man some one subservient enough to hold the 
 position under conditions so contemptible." 
 
 There was silence in the half-lighted room, al 
 ways shadowy from its sombre hues and deep re 
 cesses, as John Strain deliberated; that silence 
 which fittingly attends vital suspense. He was 
 making a fight, as desperate as it was distasteful, 
 for his career; but already, in his innermost heart, 
 that untarnished bit of his true self that had thrilled 
 so agonizingly over the dying clergyman's letter, 
 he knew what he would do if he failed. If Adolph 
 took the rational, practical, passionless view, so 
 natural to one of his worldliness, why, then events 
 would ensue according to the logic of their prepara 
 tion. He himself would be nominated, would be 
 President, would deserve well of the people because 
 he served them well. Adolph would be his right- 
 hand man, with whatever honors he might prefer 
 perhaps might become his political heir. And Paul 
 why, Paul should be removed secretly and surely 
 to Europe, there, under another name, to begin life 
 again a life so filled with all the luxury, poetry, 
 refinements and romances that wealth can procure, 
 that his experience would be as a forgotten dream, 
 its vague recollection returning only to intensify and 
 give zest to happiness.
 
 354 THE CASE OF PAJJL BREEN 
 
 But if under Adolph's consistent, almost judicial 
 condemnation of Paul there had lurked malice, if 
 personal hatred, hitherto unsuspected, was the real 
 motive for that persistence in urging his arrest 
 which but now he had attributed to zeal for his own 
 cause, why, then, it would be just as well that 
 Adolph should know the truth, since he, himself, 
 out of justification would be forced to proclaim it 
 to the world better, indeed, that he should know 
 it, unexpectedly, before all others, since the shock 
 of the revelation might reveal the nature of his ani 
 mus. 
 
 " You are right in complaining of my insincer 
 ity," the Governor said quietly. " You have had 
 my full confidence and deserved it; you shall have 
 it now. I have this night learned from a certain 
 source that Paul is my son." 
 
 " Your son ? My God, what do you mean ? Your 
 son ? " exclaimed Adolph, rent by uncontrollable 
 emotions. 
 
 " My son, my unknown, my unsuspected son," 
 John Strain repeated; and he showed the letter, 
 and told the story of its finding. 
 
 Motionless, speechless, the two men faced each 
 other, held by the deeper, truer communication of 
 their eyes. There was silence in the shadowy room, 
 as utter, so it seemed, as their absorption ; and yet 
 men live and move until they die of old age, uncon-
 
 "'YOUR SON? MY GOD, WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
 
 PAYING THE PENALTY 355 
 
 scious that the very air they breathe is vibrant with 
 the music of the spheres, so intent are they upon 
 their trivial interests. Utter silence, it seemed ; and 
 yet the alert to hear might have caught a sound 
 from without the partition-wall or side-door a 
 gasp, a sigh, a sob, or perhaps nothing more than 
 one of those inarticulate moans that haunt houses 
 when they grow old and are full of pain. 
 
 " If Paul is your son," Adolph said at length, 
 feeling his way and gaining confidence as each 
 proposition met with no resistance, " If Paul be 
 your son, no one knows it, no one can know it, 
 except you and me. The woman is dead. Sander 
 son is dead, and the fact that he wrote to you died 
 with him. Well, then, let this unknown and un 
 knowable relationship be a part of the dead past. 
 What does it amount to, anyway? The accident of 
 a vulgar intrigue why, I would snap my fingers 
 at a score of them. Sensible men never waste 
 thought over the sighs and kisses of their youth, 
 any more than they do over the marbles and lolli 
 pops that preceded them. And you, of all men 
 John Strain, the rugged, the practical, the masterful, 
 grown sappy and sentimental. Why, the whole 
 world would laugh laugh to scorn, before it 
 repudiated and disdained. But if you must throw 
 a sop to sensibility, do this. No one can see you 
 except me, and I won't look. We'll go out west
 
 356 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 together, to-morrow, the first thing. It will be an 
 innovation, but a popular one, to have the leading 
 candidate on the ground, ready to make good his 
 candidacy by presence and word. People like to 
 have their favorites show individuality. Mean 
 while, Naylor, the private-agency man, in my pay, 
 as you know, will inform the Carteret authorities 
 of Paul's whereabouts, and they will lose no time 
 in arresting him. The Lieutenant-Governor, in 
 your absence, will make requisition; and, before 
 you return in triumph, the foremost man of the day 
 by royal right of achievement, Paul will be back in 
 prison, as dead and forgotten as his mother was to 
 you from the day you deserted her. Why should 
 you treat him better than you treated her?" 
 
 " Having sinned once, why shouldn't I sin 
 again ? " John Strain returned, in low, hesitating 
 tones. 
 
 " Yes, since you are a man among men, and not 
 a saint among saints. Yes, since the millennium still 
 justifies its name by keeping a thousand years away. 
 You will search history in vain for an instance 
 where a great man allowed his career to be impeded 
 by a wretched bastard, a condemned criminal, a 
 cowardly sororicide " 
 
 " Look here, Breen," the Governor broke in sud 
 denly : " You accused me of insincerity, just now, 
 and I made amends by a frankness somewhat rash,
 
 PAYING THE PENALTY 357 
 
 I fear. But it strikes me that confidence is a recip 
 rocal relation. What, then, is your animus against 
 Paul? What causes you to rejoice in his misfor 
 tunes, to glory in his vilification? Of course, you 
 are devoted to me in a way, I admit that; but you 
 are too guarded, too self-contained, too selfish, I 
 may even say, to yield to such emotions, unless pas 
 sions, purely personal, are too much for you. You'll 
 have to be candid, I tell you frankly, if you expect 
 me to follow your advice. I may be sappy and 
 sentimental; but I'll be a stalking-horse for no 
 man's secret desires, mark that." 
 
 Adolph laughed, but the light of his laughter left 
 his eyes, its flippancy left his tones, as he proceeded. 
 " You are right, Governor," he admitted, " I am 
 selfish, and I have good and sufficient reasons for 
 putting Paul out of all reckoning. We never liked 
 each other even as boys ; he assumed a superiority 
 of motives which was very irritating. What is there 
 unnatural about that? You have explained that 
 there is no real relationship between us. Well, I 
 was fond of my little cousin Edith in a way; and 
 if he hated her so virulently as to kill her, why 
 shouldn't I hate him to the extent of wishing him 
 punished for it? Of course, I profit by his con 
 demnation, I don't deny that. There is my uncle's 
 fortune, which would have been his; now it be 
 comes mine since my father is dead. But isn't that
 
 358 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 proper and right? Would you have Paul inherit 
 through his own murderous wrong? Do you think 
 your by-blow has any equitable title to the property 
 in any event ? Damn him ! of course I want him 
 to rot in prison ! Why shouldn't I ? " 
 
 " And there is Constance Sanderson? " suggested 
 Strain persuasively. 
 
 " Yes, there is Constance Sanderson," repeated 
 Adolph, springing from his chair and pacing the 
 floor restlessly, " a girl who would care for me, love 
 me, give herself to me with joy, by the Lord, were 
 it not for the infernal, namby-pamby sentimentality 
 with which he has bewitched her. Do you think I 
 don't know? Do you think I forget or forgive? 
 Why, what would be the result of your precious 
 idea of letting him alone, letting him drop out of 
 sight, as you say ? He wouldn't drop worth a damn. 
 He is already in communication with her ; and they, 
 this girl, that old snivel of a Twigg, and some be 
 nevolent collegiate ass named Tancredi oh, I am 
 on to them all are conspiring to prove him in 
 nocent. Let him once be free to direct them, and 
 they will restore him to life, liberty, reputation, for 
 tune, love depriving me of all I have, and all I 
 hope for ; perhaps contriving that I shall be blamed 
 for his conviction Oh, you ask me why ? There 
 are a thousand whys, man; and the first and fore 
 most one is more than sufficient : I abhor him ! "
 
 PAYING THE PENALTY 359 
 
 Adolph uttered these last words, standing over 
 against the Governor, his arms extended, his body 
 quivering with passion. There was a strange ex 
 pression on the other's face, quiet, amused, yet re 
 sourceful, which at once restrained and disconcerted 
 him. Had he made a mistake? Had this man, 
 whose strength he should have feared, even while 
 thinking him weak, led him on to his own undoing ? 
 At least it was now too late to retreat; naught re 
 mained but to play the game to the finish. He re 
 sumed his seat, gathering together nerve and muscle 
 into his normal poise, and continued in the even, 
 yet incisive way, which became him so well. 
 
 " Now, look here, John Strain," he said, leaning 
 forward with argumentative forefinger, " at length 
 we understand each other. We have a mutual in 
 terest in the capture and incarceration of this escaped 
 convict, a mutual interest, so strong, so vital, that I 
 do not propose to risk the possibility of its being 
 jeopardized by one so irrational as to take the 
 doubts and hesitations of mental and nervous ex 
 haustion for the qualms of conscience. As soon as 
 I leave here, this very night, I shall telegraph the 
 Chief of Police of Carteret, informing him where 
 Paul is concealed. I will help you in spite of your 
 present sickly self, and, as soon as you are really 
 yourself again, you will thank me." 
 
 "You will, will you?" returned John Strain,
 
 360 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 pushing back his chair, and rising to his full height. 
 " Well, go ahead, perhaps it is just as well. Execu 
 tive clemency cannot be extended to a fugitive from 
 justice until he is in custody; and, as God lives, 
 I'll pardon Paul as soon as I hear that he has been 
 arrested." 
 
 " You don't dare ! " cried Adolph, confronting 
 him with clinched fist. 
 
 " Who ever said ' dare ' to John Strain ? My 
 ambition did tempt me, I admit with shame ; but not 
 you, Adolph Breen, not you." 
 
 " If you do," Adolph threatened, " I'll publish 
 this story to the world." 
 
 " All right ; it will save me the trouble of doing 
 so." 
 
 " You will lose the Presidency " 
 
 There was a low fire burning on the deep, old- 
 fashioned hearth, mainly in accord with a fancy of 
 the Governor for its soothing cheer, though the 
 night air was so chill as to make its warmth agree 
 able. He snatched a heavy file of papers from his 
 desk, the telegrams, letters, pledges, and memoranda, 
 which in themselves constituted and contained the 
 orderly plan of his campaign, outlining and making 
 feasible successive steps of action, and rent it into 
 tatters in his great, strong hands. " That for the 
 Presidency ! " he said, as he strewed the coals with 
 the fragments.
 
 PAYING THE PENALTY 361 
 
 " You will be impeached for malfeasance as 
 Governor ' 
 
 " My term will expire before the Legislature 
 meets; but they can try it on if they like. I may 
 have some interesting facts to divulge by that 
 
 time." % 
 
 *p 
 " Anyway, your career is rumed " 
 
 "Damn my career! I'll still JtA the best lawyer 
 in the United States ; and, if I lacVior any business, 
 the vindication of my son, and thfe recovery of his 
 inheritance, will make a pretty case or two." 
 
 " Oh, I could kill you Adolph muttered 
 through his teeth. 
 
 " Not could, but would, you mean," corrected 
 John Strain, looking down, with contempt, from 
 his stalwartness. 
 
 " Then it is to be war to the knife," snarled 
 Adolph, his hand on the door-knob. 
 
 " Likely enough on your side," agreed the Gov 
 ernor ; " but I fight openly." 
 
 John Strain sat in his great arm-chair before the 
 glowing hearth, on which still fluttered and crackled 
 the ashes of his darling hopes. The shadows of the 
 room lightened and darkened about him, like 
 friends through good and evil report. The silence 
 harmonized with his mood, it was so sombre and 
 intense; and yet, so tranquil. He was glad that he
 
 362 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 had decided; glad that he had made manifest the 
 road along which he must march. Always impa- 
 .tient of self-analysis, and prone to seek motives in 
 deeds rather than deeds from motives, he yielded 
 not to vain regrets nor bent under the burden of 
 remorse. He did wince, it is true, when some of 
 the fine phrases he had fashioned in praise of 
 " Justice " recurred to him ; yet, with the shame, 
 was the stern resolution that they should be made 
 real. It was this thought, rather than any tender 
 ness for Paul, that inspired him that he owed a 
 penalty and must pay it; that, as he had despoiled, 
 so he must restore. And so simple and sure was 
 the conviction, that he had been conscious of no 
 mental action in formulating and accepting it. 
 
 Even his iron nature felt the fatigues of the day; 
 and a dreaminess, which was rest rather than sleep, 
 hovered over him. Once and again he saw Mary 
 Lane, not the retreating figure of distress, so pa 
 thetic, so awful, in its mute accusation ; but as she 
 had looked on him when she said : " I love you, 
 John." Then a sound, faint, uncertain, called him 
 back to the reality of the present. It was a gasp, a 
 sigh, or a sob, as if some one hesitated without. 
 
 John Strain rose from his chair and opened the 
 side-door. There stood Abigail Alice, the woman 
 whom he had taken as wedded wife, in the sight 
 of God and man, so many years before !
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 FACING THE MUSIC 
 
 " WELL, you listened, you heard ? " John Strain 
 asked, as he saw his wife, her face white and drawn, 
 leaning against the casing of the door. 
 
 " Yes, I listened, I heard all." 
 
 " Come in, then." And, closing the door, he led 
 her not unkindly to a chair. 
 
 " Let me see that letter ; it is my right," at length 
 she said, brokenly; and, without a word, he handed 
 it to her. 
 
 With wavering hands, she took her glasses from 
 her reticule. With trembling fingers she adjusted 
 them, slowly, not without difficulty. She leaned 
 forward under the light and read the pages, closely, 
 quaintly written, once and again. Her poor, flat 
 bosom heaved as pitifully as a child's; and, as she 
 removed the glasses and laid the paper in her lap, 
 tears fell upon it, sealing it with anguish. " What 
 am I?" she moaned. "Oh, what am I?" 
 
 " You are my wife, my undoubted, my honored 
 wife ! " asserted John Strain. 
 
 363
 
 364 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 "But this letter says there was a ceremony, only 
 a few months before, only a few months before our 
 wedding, John." 
 
 " It was a mockery, a jest, of no legal binding, 
 forgotten, unknown. The only witness is dead; 
 Mary Lane and this clergyman both are dead. I, 
 alone of all the living, know whether or not there 
 was even a trace of validity to it; and I swear, I 
 swear to God, that there was no marriage, no 
 thought of marriage, except my marriage to you. 
 I would stand torture ; I would rot in my grave and 
 feel and endure every instant of its decay, I would 
 burn everlastingly, before I would ever admit the 
 possibility of anything else, or cease to declare, to 
 maintain, that I am your husband, and you are my 
 wife " 
 
 " John, John " 
 
 " And more, much more ! I humble myself, 
 Abigail, before you, as I have never humbled myself 
 before God or man. Forgive me, I wronged you, 
 moved and instigated by that devil which is the 
 fierce desire of man for his own advancement. I 
 knew what I was doing, and I did it deliberately, 
 just as I have known and done the other important 
 things of my life, because I chose to do it, because 
 to do it seemed well for me, for me. Now, I'm 
 reaping the legitimate crop of selfishness, of ruth- 
 lessness. So be it ; I don't complain it is just.
 
 FACING THE MUSIC 365 
 
 But you sha'n't be tainted by my sin ; your fair name 
 shall be kept as free from scandal as you yourself 
 have ever been. I am your husband, and I'll stand 
 by you, I'll protect you; by the living God, I will! " 
 A flush crept over Abigail Alice's withered face 
 
 the first, faint dawning of proud gratification 
 amid the blank opacity of despair. " But, Adolph ? " 
 she hesitated. " He will do what he threatened. I 
 know him he is half-mad with love and hate, 
 both unsatisfied. He will certainly proclaim far and 
 wide that Paul is your son if you pardon him. And 
 then, and then " 
 
 " And then, I'll proclaim just as widely that that 
 is the absolute truth. Why, I have no other excuse, 
 not to say reason, for my action. But you heard 
 what Adolph called him, you know what he 
 believes " 
 
 " He believes that Paul is illegitimate?" 
 " Yes, and you may rest assured that he will put 
 the full stigma on him. Very well ; then Paul must 
 stand it as his share in his father's misdeeds. I am 
 going to sacrifice, to ruin my career, my future for 
 him. I am going to provide for his comfort, and, 
 if possible, vindicate his character. There I stop. 
 In the eyes of the law, the duty of father to son is 
 relative; that of husband to wife is absolute. See 
 
 I burn this letter ; the only record of his mother's 
 story, her foolish, hysterical story, remember.
 
 366 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Nothing remains of it now except the whisk of a 
 black ash up the chimney. So let your fears wither 
 and fly away, Abigail." 
 
 " You mean it? you mean all you say? " 
 
 " As I live and breathe." 
 
 The flush, no longer struggling, but radiant, 
 triumphant, transformed the woman's wan and 
 peevish face into positive beauty. 
 
 " Then I, too, will make up, I, too, will atone," 
 she cried. " Oh, I know, I realize, what a trial I 
 have been for years to you ; a half-sick, nerve-racked 
 creature, tormented with jealousy. Why, even your 
 success has been an agony to me ; for it seemed that 
 you kept advancing, while I remained stationary; 
 and thus you were going further and further from 
 me. But I've always been so proud, so proud of 
 you, John. Proud to think that you had chosen me 
 when other girls, so much prettier, so much brighter, 
 were fairly wild over you. Proud to have people 
 notice me, and make much of me, because I was the 
 wife of so great a man. As I stood at that door 
 and listened to-night (it's a poor wife that listens, 
 John, but I did it, I've always done it) it seemed 
 that I should die, and I hoped, I prayed, I might. 
 I thought, I feared that you would take advantage 
 of the exposure and repudiate me ; I saw how happy, 
 how blest I had been in at least being near you. My 
 husband, my man, you'll not regret your good faith
 
 FACING THE MUSIC 367 
 
 to me. You have given me my life, I'll keep it and 
 hold it, for you, for you. Oh, of course, I under 
 stand that I can't amount to much; a beldam shiv 
 ering in the chimney-corner, while you are out 
 fighting the world. But I'll watch there, not glower 
 there, my dear." 
 
 " Thank you for your renewed confidence, Abi 
 gail," said John Strain, after a pause, resuming 
 that stiff benignity which became him as did his 
 long black coat ; " I must confess that I was some 
 what concerned as to what might be your attitude 
 during the storm of censure which will surely beat 
 about me. Not only will my political friends and 
 followers berate me for having jeopardized the 
 success of the party, but I shall be universally con 
 demned, even if I escape formal impeachment, for 
 having pardoned Paul without a sufficient legal 
 reason. The women will no longer envy you your 
 position the wife of a discredited man, forcing a 
 desperate fight to prove the innocence of a murderer 
 fairly tried, whom he has unfairly favored. Then 
 there is Adolph he has always been close to you ; 
 he may try " 
 
 " Let him," rejoined Abigail with some of her 
 former briskness. " I know a thing or two about 
 Master Adolph already ; I may learn a thing or two 
 more. Do you know, John, now that I understand, 
 I don't hate Paul any longer ? It was an instinctive
 
 368 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 feeling I had that there was some bond between you 
 I didn't share something cattish, yes, that is the 
 word, that made me spit and claw. Now, I am 
 sorry for him, and I'm willing to believe he's inno 
 cent. Perhaps I may help you to prove him so 
 when the time comes." 
 
 " When the time comes, you shall help, never 
 fear, but now I want you to go to rest, for all this 
 has been very hard for you. I must think about 
 this very matter of Paul's rehabilitation; must fore 
 cast the succession of impending troubles, so that, 
 whatever people say of me, they shall at least admit 
 that I continue true to my reputation of being a 
 resolute, strong, far-sighted man." 
 
 John Strain led his wife to the door with formal 
 courtesy, then, to their mutual surprise, he bent low 
 and kissed her. Having thus sealed his contrition, 
 he sat before the dying embers on the hearth until 
 their spark was swallowed up in the clear morning 
 light. As years before, in the crude beginnings of 
 his career, so now, in its inglorious conclusion, he 
 still saw the path, opening before him, on which he 
 should march to achievement. And when, at length, 
 with the chart clearly defined in his mind, he started 
 for his room to refresh and array himself for the 
 ordeal of the day, there was the joy of strife, there 
 was the joy of power, in his undaunted heart. As 
 he opened the door, his wife lay on the sill, sleeping
 
 FACING THE MUSIC 369 
 
 peacefully in the delight of at least being near 
 him. 
 
 Again John Strain passed down the familiar 
 street on his way to the Capital ; but now he strode 
 stern-faced, looking neither to right nor left, un 
 heeding the greetings of neighbors, eager to con 
 gratulate him on the success of his speech of the 
 night before, and on the greater success which so 
 surely was coming to him. A crowd awaited at the 
 station men of his party, anxious for a hand 
 shake and a word with their candidate, incited by 
 pride and self-interest to share in some small degree 
 in his glory. But he waved them off, compelling a 
 path through their midst by his determined and 
 repellent mien. 
 
 For a while, the hush of astonishment and dismay 
 prevailed; but, as the train moved out, there was a 
 murmur instead of a cheer the murmur of the 
 mob, intolerant of what it does not understand, as 
 quick to resent and to hate as it has been to flatter 
 and follow. And John Strain smiled grimly as he 
 took his seat apart, still wrapped in self-enforced 
 exclusiveness, for he realized that, if there were one 
 thing more fleeting than the breath of life, it was 
 the popularity which made that breath precious to 
 men. 
 
 He was weary of words, and disgusted with their 
 ineffectiveness. He was yearning for the decisive-
 
 370 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 ness of action; and, though he chafed at each 
 moment as a delay, he did not have to wait 
 long. 
 
 He was hardly seated at his desk in the Executive 
 chamber before his secretary came hurrying, all 
 excitement and exultation, with two telegrams in 
 his hand. 
 
 " Paul Breen is caught," he cried. " Here is a 
 dispatch from Naylor, the private agency man, and 
 one from the Chief of Police of Carteret in confir 
 mation. Nothing could be better, just at this time. 
 Why, sir " 
 
 John Strain swung around in his chair. " That 
 will do, Edwards," he said sharply. " I have my 
 own opinion of its timeliness, and your reflections 
 would not change it. Just send in the pardon clerk 
 to me, and tell Joe and Jake, the State detectives, to 
 wait without. That will do." 
 
 The private secretary went out, the pardon clerk 
 came in, with a jump; for the very air was vibrant 
 with the alarming intelligence that " the old man had 
 the bit between his teeth for sure." 
 
 " Draft a full and unconditional pardon for Paul 
 Breen and bring it to me at once," was the Gov 
 ernor's brief command. 
 
 " Sir, sir " stammered the bewildered clerk. 
 
 " Draft a pardon for Paul Breen and bring it to 
 me to sign with a rush," repeated the Governor
 
 FACING THE MUSIC 371 
 
 blandly. " You really should do something, Mar- 
 koe, for that incipient deafness of yours; it might 
 cause a man less patient than myself to dispense 
 with your valuable services." 
 
 With a rapidity which was really a triumph of 
 penmanship the pardon lay letter-perfect on the 
 Governor's desk. " Send Joe and Jake in here," he 
 said, as he affixed his clear, angular signature to the 
 broad parchment. 
 
 The two State detectives entered and awaited 
 instructions, respectful, but disconsolate. " Oh, I 
 understand what's the trouble with you," said the 
 Governor ; " but don't give up all hope of at least a 
 share in the reward. That's all you're entitled to, 
 for it's plain enough to me that this private-agency 
 man and you must have worked together in some 
 way. Besides, the Carteret people will have to have 
 a piece of it, I suppose. But put in your claim, and 
 I'll see that you don't suffer because I held you off 
 last night. Meanwhile, take this pardon, show it to 
 the Carteret authorities, get the necessary order, and 
 have Paul Breen released forthwith from custody. 
 Where are they holding him ? Up in the mountains, 
 hey, until they hear from me? That's good; just 
 tell him to remain there quietly until his friends can 
 communicate with him. Now, prove, will you, by 
 promptness and efficiency in this matter, that you 
 can be of some appreciable use ? "
 
 372 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 After the men had hastened away, fired by un 
 wonted zeal, the Governor sat apart and alone, in 
 his nimbus of remoteness, not heeding the awed 
 whispers, the frightened glances of the clerks, as 
 they tip-toed to and fro as if participating in 
 funereal preparations. Again he was impatient for 
 the making of inexorable events. The extraordinary 
 news must have radiated out from the Capital over 
 the entire country by this time, by word of mouth, 
 by telephone, by telegraph. But why didn't Adolph 
 Breen act as he had threatened? Then, only then, 
 could he send for the authorized representative of 
 the press, and make the statement, so clearly defined 
 in his mind, which should set him right, if not with 
 the people, at least with his own conscience, and be 
 his last word, of all the distasteful words, in the 
 matter. Surely Adolph had not repented of his 
 purpose. Ah, no ; far more probably he was delay 
 ing to torment him ; yes, that would be like Adolph. 
 
 The door of the private office opened unbidden, 
 and then slammed like a challenge, as three men 
 entered. They were the Hon. R. L. Armington, 
 Chairman of the National Committee, as justly 
 renowned for his skill as a lawyer as he was for his 
 cunning as a politician; Mr. Rufus Rhodes, editor 
 and proprietor of the " Metropolitan Ray," the party 
 organ which spoke as one having authority, and 
 Adolph Breen.
 
 FACING THE MUSIC 373 
 
 John Strain rose to meet them, pale, cool and 
 grim. He realized that Adolph was keeping his 
 word, but after his own insidious, indirect fashion, 
 forcing the full burden of explanation upon him, 
 not through an orderly and dignified statement to 
 the people, but as a part of an acrimonious dispute 
 with those who had been his closest associates in 
 politics and who naturally would be most incensed 
 by his conduct. Very well; he would assume, he 
 would accept it. Anything, everything, would be 
 better than cursed uncertainty. He shook his head, 
 slowly, defiantly, like an old bull, as he said : 
 " Well, gentlemen, to what am I indebted for the 
 honor of your coming? " 
 
 " If there's any honor in this room, it came in 
 with us, that's sure," snapped Mr. Rufus Rhodes. 
 
 " We want to know what you mean by bedevilling 
 the party that made you, at the eleventh hour?" 
 demanded Mr. Carrington. " Not that it can make 
 any difference what you say ; your goose was cooked 
 too thoroughly for retrieval when you signed that 
 corrupt, that idiotic pardon. I've been long- 
 distancing to all the members of the Committee since 
 I heard the news; and they all agreed that your 
 name won't be, mentioned in the Convention, not 
 mentioned, by the Lord Harry, any more than 
 Benedict Arnold's. But Adolph here gives such an 
 astonishing reason for your treachery that we felt
 
 374 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 it fair to give you the chance to confirm or deny 
 it " 
 
 " Mr. Adolph Breen is right in what he has told 
 you," said the Governor quietly. " Paul Breen is 
 my son." 
 
 " Your paternity hasn't troubled you much for 
 the last twenty-five years," sneered Mr. Rufus 
 Rhodes ; " why didn't you keep mum for a little 
 while longer, and give us a show? It was all a 
 plant, I believe, a damned, disgraceful, larcenous 
 plant!" 
 
 " I didn't know until last night," John Strain 
 explained in the same dull, even tones. " I couldn't 
 endure that my only son should be returned to the 
 prison where my neglect, my severity, may have 
 sent him in the first place." 
 
 " A miserable bastard," broke in Adolph Breen ; 
 " you see, gentlemen, how justified I am in my con 
 sistent, my conscientious abhorrence of the wretch 
 who murdered my little cousin. I felt, I knew, that 
 there could be no blood ties between us." 
 
 ' You have violated your oath as Governor," con 
 tinued Carrington, " and you may rest assured that 
 the Legislature will take cognizance of it. Your 
 feelings as a father; paf! What concern has the 
 State with your feelings? You might just as well 
 put your fingers in the public treasury, and then 
 justify yourself by saying you felt hungry."
 
 FACING THE MUSIC 375 
 
 " Let me add right here, out of justice to 
 Paul," said John Strain with judicial com 
 posure, " that I am morally assured of his inno 
 cence " 
 
 " Don't you see, gentlemen," interrupted Adolph 
 in a tremble of rage, " don't you see that what I 
 told you is true? He is already conspiring to take 
 my lawful inheritance from me and give it to 
 that side-blow of his. First the pardon, then a 
 trumped-up vindication, then a suit to recover the 
 estate of my honored uncle, Neil Breen, which is 
 mine, by God, which he never intended, however 
 crudely drawn his will, should go to his wife's living 
 shame " 
 
 " Calm yourself, Breen," Mr. Carrington advised. 
 " If such a dastardly attempt is ever made, you'll 
 find me at your side with all the poor legal ability 
 I may possess " 
 
 " Yes, and you can trust the * Metropolitan Ray ' 
 to keep the people straight on the facts," Mr. Rufus 
 Rhodes added. 
 
 John Strain resumed his seat, and touched a 
 button on his desk. " Thomas," he said to the 
 responding messenger, " just show these men out, 
 and never let them in again ; " and, a moment later, 
 he was plodding through the stacks of official corre 
 spondence before him with the apathetic regularity 
 and certainty of a machine.
 
 376 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 It was late, that afternoon, when John Strain left 
 the Executive chambers. The clerks, lingering in 
 the deep casements of the windows of the outer 
 office, were so engrossed in conversation that they 
 evidently did not perceive his departure. The cor 
 ridors of the Capitol were strangely empty; for, 
 during the last week, they had been thronged with 
 sight-seers waiting for a glimpse of him. In his 
 deliberate walk down the hill to the station, he was 
 approached by no one, though, ordinarily, a peti 
 tioner for favor had lurked at every tree and corner. 
 Now, those of his party whom he passed failed to 
 recognize him, while men of the opposite faith gave 
 him an amused, almost contemptuous nod. The 
 newsboys danced around him, offering their wares 
 most inopportunely, for their blazing headlines were 
 neither flattering nor polite. Similarly, too, the 
 bulletin-boards bristled with such injurious accusa 
 tions that the crowds about them stared after him 
 in dull amazement that any man so placarded could 
 be so unmoved. But slight and insult fell off from 
 John Strain's stubborn personality like bird-shot 
 from the sides of an armor-clad. They were a. part 
 of the penalty he had undertaken to pay a penalty 
 he thoroughly understood before so undertaking. 
 Why, then, should he concern himself because 
 things were happening as he himself, of his own 
 good judgment, had caused them to happen? A
 
 FACING THE MUSIC 377 
 
 sensation, however annoying, might last for ten 
 days, while deeds, deeds, they lived forever. 
 
 When the local train reached the outskirts of 
 Hamlin, the conductor came with kindly suggestion. 
 " You'd better let me pull up for you at Davenant 
 Street crossing, Governor," he whispered ; " that's 
 only a stone-throw from your house. The boys were 
 a little noisy and excited around the station, when I 
 came by, an hour ago, disappointed naturally, you 
 know, and they might " 
 
 But John Strain waved him aside. " Nonsense," 
 he said, " there is nothing so bad that it won't be 
 come worse if you fear to face it." 
 
 As he alighted from the train at Hamlin, the 
 station-master, also, tried to detain him; but the 
 Governor pushed on, with a smile. Outside, along 
 the building, filling the street, was the mob, more 
 turbulent, growling now where it had murmured in 
 the morning. Again, through his forceful stead 
 fastness, he passed into the midst of them, though 
 now on every side was a swelling sea of cruel faces, 
 of threatening arms, of rude weapons, brandished, 
 ready to be cast. Already, one of the outstretched 
 hands had clutched; already, one of the flying 
 missiles had struck; when the mass ahead of him 
 again parted, wider than before, and his wife, with 
 out hat or cloak, in the dingy old house-dress she 
 had affected for years, darted to her husband's side.
 
 378 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 % 
 
 The mob laughed, and cheered, and then slunk 
 
 away shamedly. 
 
 " Oh, I am so proud of you," she murmured, as 
 she patted the strong, firm arm to which she clung.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THE PARDON 
 
 THE following Sunday morning, the Governor 
 sent bright and early for Phineas Twigg, and asked 
 him what it was best to do with Paul. At the lat- 
 ter's suggestion, he telegraphed for Tancredi, who 
 came within the hour. 
 
 While they were waiting, the old court Crier 
 detailed, with minute particularity, the newly- 
 discovered evidence to which he had referred on the 
 night of the reception. But John Strain pursed his 
 lip and shook his head as he finished. 
 
 " It all adds to our moral certainty," he said, 
 " but there is still a woeful failure of proof of inno 
 cence. However, the note-book suggests two lines 
 for research along which we must press. One is to 
 find out what experiment Paul was trying at the 
 time this alleged accident to him occurred; the 
 other is to find out how and when this note-book left 
 his possession. The first bit of information Paul 
 himself ought to be able to supply through study of 
 his notes ; but, in order to learn the second, we must 
 find the tramp who pawned the book." 
 
 379
 
 380 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Tancredi, however, on arriving, vetoed sternly 
 the idea of Paul's cooperation. " Just as I was 
 getting my patient's mind," he declared, " in that 
 state of tranquillity which precedes healthful action, 
 it has been disarranged by these exciting events. 
 It is very unfortunate. Even during Millicent's 
 visit to the Cottage, I detected a recurrence to that 
 state of lethargy which, when once chronic, is so 
 hard to combat, and now now I look for serious 
 retrogression. I want Paul to be interested, of 
 course, but it should be in impersonal matters. 
 Nothing that will cause him to brood, nothing that 
 will impress him with his own mental defects, should 
 come to his notice. For this reason I would keep 
 from him the news of his true parentage, just as I 
 would hide the vital importance of his regaining his 
 memory. He should be occupied and diverted; not 
 disturbed or forced." 
 
 " Then what do you suggest?" John Strain 
 asked. 
 
 " I suggest that I take him back with me to my 
 college rooms for the rest of this vacation. He is 
 accustomed to being there, it is now very quiet and 
 retired, and he and I are the best of friends. By 
 the opening of the fall term, he might be able not 
 only to depend on himself but to help himself." 
 
 "Very good," said the Governor. "You go ahead 
 with your ideas and I'll back you in any way and to
 
 THE PARDON 381 
 
 any extent. By the way, though, I wouldn't mind 
 looking him over myself, from a professional point 
 of view. I want to determine just how far it would 
 be advisable to use him as a witness in this problem 
 atical litigation of ours. Would there be any harm 
 in bringing him here for a friendly call? " 
 
 " No, indeed," returned Tancredi. " It would 
 seem proper that he should thank the Governor who 
 pardoned him, and the call might do him good. We 
 will come, if agreeable, in two weeks. But mean 
 while he should see no one except myself, he should 
 learn only what I judge is beneficial, or at least not 
 harmful, for him to know." 
 
 Tancredi hastened to return to Tip-top Cottage. 
 He found Paul, as he had apprehended, in a state of 
 indifference to everything that went on about him, 
 while joined to it was a gentleness that was capti 
 vating, and a slowness of speech that was pathetic. 
 He showed warmth, however, in his greeting, and a 
 certain understanding of his own needs. 
 
 " I am glad you are going to take me back again 
 for a while," he said. " I feel a confidence in you 
 that I feel for no one else ; and I feel, too, that you 
 have brought me good luck. It will not be very 
 long, I hope, before I shall be what I once was 
 and what, I know well, I am not now. There are 
 holes I once knew the Latin for it. Let me think, 
 is it lacunae? "
 
 382 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Yes, that is the word," Tancredi answered. 
 
 " Queer, isn't it," Paul went on, " that I recall 
 out-of-the-way things like that, and yet that I grope 
 in my mind for the facts " * 
 
 " Come, come, no more of that. As your physi 
 cian I must interdict that topic." 
 
 " Oh, you needn't worry," Paul replied smiling, 
 " it does not excite me. It seems as if nothing 
 could excite me. The Paul Breen who was con 
 victed " 
 
 " If you disobey your physician," Tancredi again 
 interrupted, " how can he cure you ? Time enough 
 for all that later. Come, let us pack your things, as 
 we will just have time to catch the noon train." 
 
 Paul became more vivacious as the noon train, 
 which happened to be one of the fastest limited 
 expresses, began to attain its high speed. His 
 eye brightened, and a faint color came into his 
 cheeks. 
 
 " You look better already," Tancredi said. 
 
 " It isn't only looking better," Paul replied, " but 
 I am clearer-headed. There is something in the 
 rattle the vibration of the train that seems to 
 clarify my mind. I can think rapidly and talk with 
 out hesitation. I used to have an idea do you 
 know ? that all life, all intelligence, was a form 
 of vibratory action, not mechanical, of course, and 
 yet influenced in some degree by mechanical agita-
 
 THE PARDON 383 
 
 tion. The deaf often hear better, don't they, when 
 some din has aroused the auditory nerve? So it is 
 with my brain. It needs shaking up in more senses 
 than one, Professor." 
 
 Paul laughed as he said this, and Tancredi lis 
 tened in amazement. Was this not a chance refer 
 ence to the experiments outlined in the note-book? 
 Dare he stimulate the memory by questions, or was 
 it not better, as he had already determined, to trust 
 to the gradual and natural association of ideas? 
 Paul caught his intent glance, and replied to it at 
 once. 
 
 " Oh, my notion is not so absurd as it may ap 
 pear," he went on, half-jokingly. " Let us suppose 
 that my brain is not twisted, but only muffled in 
 some strange fashion certain centres deadened, 
 and therefore not responsive. If this had been 
 caused by shock, might it not be cured by shock? 
 Oh, if there were any way " 
 
 " You have so many pleasant things to antici 
 pate," said Tancredi, choosing the more prudent 
 part, " that it hardly seems worth while to bother 
 with abstractions until your health is fully restored. 
 I may even say that this is your first duty remem 
 ber the faithful friends who still are so anxious 
 about you remember Constance Sanderson " 
 
 " I do remember her very well, indeed," said Paul 
 coolly. " She was always kind and agreeable to
 
 384 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 me. I think we corresponded for a while. I really 
 was fond of her once." 
 
 Fond of her once! Again Tancredi looked at 
 Paul in wonder, but now the face of his patient 
 remained calm, undisturbed, irresponsive. He was 
 leaning back in the seat, gazing out of the window 
 with an expression absolutely placid. Tancredi was 
 unreasonably provoked. He recalled the rapturous 
 longing in Constance's eyes as, only the day before, 
 they had talked together over the hopes of the 
 future; and now that lover, so idealized, so adored, 
 was saying apathetically that he had been " fond of 
 her once." He exclaimed hastily, and without real 
 izing how foolish he was : 
 
 " Why, Paul, you are engaged to her ; and she 
 has been breaking her heart over you." 
 
 " Oh, I guess not," returned Paul. " I don't 
 think she cared particularly about me. Some boy 
 and girl nonsense, perhaps ; but no harm done on 
 either side, Professor. You'll see it will be all 
 right." 
 
 And Paul changed the subject, speaking with 
 keen appreciation of the view from the car-window, 
 while Tancredi, sick at heart when he thought of 
 Constance, was depressed by this fresh proof of 
 how impenetrable Paul's mind was in certain direc 
 tions. This instance made him all the more positive 
 that the time was not yet ripe for tests of so sensi-
 
 THE PARDON 385 
 
 tive an organ, and he confined his remarks to the 
 practical present, finding his companion both intel 
 ligent and congenial. 
 
 When Paul was once more in Tancredi's rooms 
 the poor fellow gave a deep sigh of relief. He sank 
 into an easy chair and, picking up a book from the 
 table, held it affectionately in his hands as if he 
 loved it. 
 
 " Here, Professor," said Paul, with enthusiasm, 
 but speaking with less animation than he had shown 
 on the train, " here is the true friend of mankind. 
 Give me for a friend a good book. Always ready 
 with counsel or with merriment, as one's mood de 
 mands; silent or talkative at will; the magic link 
 that binds the present and the past, the solace that 
 fails not. When I am forgetful of the blessing of 
 books, may I forget my alphabet." 
 
 Tancredi filled his favorite pipe; and, when the 
 smoke was curling confidentially toward the ceiling, 
 replied to Paul's eulogium. 
 
 " I am as fond of a book as old Grolier himself," 
 he agreed ; " but just now I am in the mood to say 
 a word for woman, lovely woman. It is only two 
 days, you must know, since I have become engaged 
 to be married." 
 
 " I am very glad," Paul responded warmly, " and 
 I wish you every happiness. " Some rich heiress, I 
 hope?"
 
 386 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " No, I am going to marry Miss Twigg, Millicent 
 Twigg. Funny name, isn't it? " 
 
 " Oh, I know," Paul cried, " that is the pretty, 
 black-eyed girl who was so excited about something 
 or other the day of the storm on the mountains. 
 Well, it is a pity she is not rich. ' Don't ye marry 
 for money, but go where money is,' saith the poet. 
 Life is full of troubles, and money is a most con 
 venient medium of exchange, as Jevons puts it. 
 Still, it may be you don't need it. I do. I should 
 hate to be tempted by a mercenary match I fear 
 I should be inflammable. I am ambitious, or was, 
 and I used to have a taste for pure science. And 
 that costs money." 
 
 Now that he was once more under Tancredi's 
 wing, Paul seemed entirely at ease. He showed 
 little concern about his future, and none at all for 
 current events; obeying implicitly the injunctions of 
 his physician. He read voraciously, and appar 
 ently with a keen understanding, choosing scientific 
 works to the exclusion of all else. 
 
 Tancredi was thus enabled to devote some atten 
 tion to the new complication added to his respon 
 sibilities, and, at the first opportunity, he went to 
 Hamlin to prepare Constance for the change in her 
 lover. He had persuaded her previously that it 
 would be well that a few days should elapse before 
 she saw Paul. His reason had been his hope that
 
 THE PARDON 387 
 
 Paul would be better able then to bear the excite 
 ment of meeting her. He was now glad of this for 
 precisely the opposite reason he hoped that she 
 would be better prepared for his apathy toward her. 
 He tried, therefore, to lay the foundation for some 
 great change; but Constance persisted in misunder 
 standing him, believing that he referred to a phys 
 ical change, a loss of health, and assuring him that 
 it would make no difference. He was forced at last 
 to confide in Millicent, and to beg for her advice. 
 
 " Paul Breen," Tancredi explained, " speaks of 
 Constance as of a schoolboy's sweetheart. He evi 
 dently never thinks of her except when I mention 
 her name. What shall I do, dear? What can we 
 do to prepare her ? " 
 
 "We cannot prepare her," Millicent answered; 
 " there are some vagaries of the masculine mind 
 that the feminine mind is absolutely incapable of 
 comprehending. Of course, he is not himself but 
 how can he forget, while he knows enough to 
 breathe, her devotion to him? At all events, you 
 cannot keep them apart longer, or Constance will 
 follow my wicked example and go to Carteret her 
 self. Cannot you contrive that their first meeting 
 shall be one where it would be natural for them to 
 be somewhat reserved ? " 
 
 " Why, I think so," Tancredi answered. " I am 
 going to bring Paul to town to call on Governor
 
 388 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Strain and express his acknowledgments. Con 
 stance and you might be at the station and go with 
 us." 
 
 " I think that will be the best possible plan," Mil- 
 licent reflected. " Of course, Constance is not on 
 speaking terms with Mrs. Strain, but this will be in 
 the nature of an official call on the Governor, to 
 whom I know she wishes to show her gratitude. 
 Besides, if she thinks it is Paul's wish, she will put 
 aside any petty feelings. Paul will naturally be 
 somewhat absorbed by the thought of what he is 
 going to say to the Governor, and so Constance may 
 have time to divine gradually the change in him. 
 If it came to her all at once I fear it would break 
 her heart. Oh, dear, how happy we ought to be 
 that no one is making such plans about us." 
 
 This project was carried out to the letter. Paul 
 arrived with Tancredi, delighted with the little jour 
 ney, and prepared to greet Constance as one who 
 had stood by him faithfully in his time of distress. 
 His greeting of her was cordial and gay, and though 
 Constance was surprised and a little chilled, yet 
 through the joint efforts of Tancredi and Millicent, 
 reinforced by the pleadings of her own heart, she 
 was led to ascribe his lack of demonstrativeness to 
 their being in the company of others, to a sense of 
 strangeness, and to his interest in the visit to the 
 Governor.
 
 THE PARDON 389 
 
 Besides, the walk to the Governor's house gave 
 Paul time to feel the unconscious charm of Con 
 stance's affection, evidenced as it was by every 
 glance and tone ; and he soon showed by his attitude 
 that he was attracted strongly to her. It was as if 
 their courtship were beginning anew ; and Tancredi 
 and Millicent began to hope that a new love might 
 spring up in Paul's heart before Constance had 
 learned the loss of the old one. 
 
 The Governor was at home, and received them 
 in the library. Paul bore himself with great dignity, 
 and showed a fitting gratitude to the man who had 
 pardoned him. As he alone was ignorant of his 
 relationship to Strain, so, he, alone, of the little 
 company, was not embarrassed and troubled by the 
 thought of it. Perhaps the influence of Constance's 
 faith was with him, even if the memory of it was 
 not; for he seemed anxious to justify himself. 
 
 " My obligation to you, Governor," he declared, 
 " is not lessened by the assurance in my own mind 
 that I have never been a guilty man. I don't know 
 what I did do that is my appalling misfortune. 
 But I do know what I didn't do and that has 
 been and is my consolation. This hand, which I 
 dare stretch out to you, is as free as yours from 
 guilt." 
 
 The Governor seemed strangely moved. For a 
 moment he hesitated, for a moment he could not
 
 390 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 command his voice. Then he seized Paul's hand in 
 both his own. 
 
 " Paul," he said, " I have done you a great wrong, 
 a greater wrong than you know. A portion of that 
 wrong I have undone; and, by the grace of God, I 
 will make your innocence manifest in atonement for 
 the rest. Trust in me, my boy I cannot say more, 
 now. But you may count on me as devoted to your 
 service, heart and soul." 
 
 Paul looked bewildered by these impassioned 
 words, and drew back restrainedly. An awkward 
 silence ensued until the others by a united effort 
 forced the current of conversation into brighter 
 channels, where it remained until the call was over. 
 
 They passed down the broad corridor toward the 
 door; the two girls in advance, the young men fol 
 lowing. At the stairway an elderly woman, whose 
 narrow face was still more drawn by anxiety, caught 
 Constance by the arm with utter disregard of the 
 others. It was Mrs. Strain. 
 
 " Oh, Constance, dear Constance," she cried ; 
 " won't you forgive me for my unjust, my cruel 
 treatment? I do so need you at this vital time. 
 Tell me, dear, is Paul coming here to live ; and won't 
 you use the- sweet persuasion of your love to induce 
 him to feel kindly toward me and to " 
 
 11 Hush ! " warned Constance with expressive 
 finger.
 
 THE PARDON 391 
 
 But the mischief was done. With one of those 
 sudden impulses so characteristic of a mind not 
 normal, Paul wheeled sharply around and marched 
 back to the library. Tancredi followed him, while 
 the girls accompanied Mrs. Strain to her room, 
 calming her with loving words. 
 
 " I am surrounded by mysteries," exclaimed Paul, 
 as he again faced the Governor, " and I won't endure 
 it longer. What did you mean, sir, by saying that 
 you had wronged me greatly? You were a sworn 
 officer of the law ; it was your duty to prosecute me. 
 I never blamed you for doing so. What did Mrs. 
 Strain mean, too, just now, when she asked whether 
 I was going to live in this house? Why should I 
 live where I was never very welcome ? Why should 
 she wish me to feel kindly toward her, when I know 
 I never was a favorite with her? Why should she 
 appeal to Miss Sanderson for the influence of her 
 love? I won't stand it, I say. I am groping in the 
 darkness and you are all conspiring together to keep 
 me from the light." 
 
 Tancredi looked anxiously into his patient's face, 
 and then nodded gravely to the Governor. 
 
 " Be calm, Paul, I beseech you," said John Strain, 
 paling under the effort for self-control. " We are 
 all your friends, we are all seeking for the best way 
 in which to serve you. There are mysteries about 
 you, but you shall know them all. Not from me;
 
 392 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 that might not be seemly; but from Professor Tan- 
 credi here, at once your faithful friend and your 
 skilful physician. Go, then, with him; and have 
 faith that in time all will be well." 
 
 They passed again through the broad corridor, 
 and then down the winding stairs. At the portico 
 the girls were waiting, and the four walked through 
 the streets to Phineas Twigg's house. But no 
 longer did Millicent and Tancredi exchange sly 
 glances of hope; no longer did Paul thrill with the 
 faint recognition of something inexpressibly dear to 
 him. He was wrapped in moody silence; he was 
 distracted by wild and conflicting thoughts; and, 
 when at length they separated, the young men 
 returning to the station, Constance's face wore a 
 deeper resignation than it ever before had known. 
 
 " Oh, I could just shake him," murmured Mil 
 licent, as she watched her friend's weary steps up 
 the stairs.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 PREPARING FOR THE STRUGGLE 
 
 PAUL BREEN listened to Tancredi's revelations 
 without question or other interruption. For an hour 
 afterward he sat apart in silent thought. Then he 
 rejoined his comrade, evidently striving to act as if 
 nothing out of the usual had happened. But to 
 Tancredi's keen eye he had changed ; and this change 
 had its inception in the moment, when, of his own 
 accord, he had started back, in Strain's house, to 
 demand an explanation of the Governor. In a word, 
 he had become less dependent ; and, whether he was 
 hopeful or despondent of the future, had determined 
 to act for himself. He wrote briefly, but not unfeel 
 ingly, to his father; and Strain replied, insisting on 
 providing for his needs and comforts and renewing 
 his promise of ultimate vindication. B'eing thus 
 enabled to follow out his own tastes, Paul began to 
 take occasional trips to Hamlin, with a view of find 
 ing lodgings, secluded yet convenient, where he 
 might establish himself. Tancredi encouraged these 
 visits, as he hoped they might lead to a closer inti- 
 
 393
 
 394 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 macy with those who had Paul's well-being so much 
 at heart. 
 
 But feelings of delicacy, a shrinking from the 
 personal explanations of his father, a dread, espe 
 cially, of Mrs. Strain's probable attitude toward him, 
 kept him from visiting the Strains' house. Nor, as 
 would seem more natural, did he frequent the court- 
 crier's humble home. He was embarrassed by the 
 unreserve and frankness of Constance's manner to 
 him. Her glances, her casual references, her whis 
 pered confidences and intimate inquiries, all seemed 
 predicated upon a community of interest which he 
 could not understand and would not admit. Why, 
 when his individuality had never been so insistent 
 in its demands; why, when he was becoming more 
 and more convinced of his own supreme isolation, 
 should she simulate a relationship without warrant 
 in past or present? 
 
 On returning thus, once and again, to Hamlin, 
 Paul came to perceive that popular opinion was hos 
 tile to him. The acquaintances of former days now 
 avoided him ; strangers, who ordinarily would not 
 have observed his passing, now followed him with 
 sour glance and caustic comment. His pardon had 
 enlarged, but not destroyed, his imprisonment. He 
 could take a few steps more this way or that ; but, 
 in the end, he ran against the blank wall of prej 
 udice.
 
 PREPARING FOR THE STRUGGLE 395 
 
 One day Paul encountered Adolph, sauntering 
 along with three friends whom he himself had 
 known. Involuntarily he stopped and put out his 
 hand. " Adolph," he said, " it seems like old times 
 to see you. I forget the harshness of your judg 
 ment; I only remember when we were boys to 
 gether " 
 
 " Hear the fellow," cried Adolph scornfully to 
 his friends, " of course he is anxious to forget, I 
 should think he would be ! " 
 
 " But Adolph, I was pardoned ; a pardon 
 restores " 
 
 " Oh, does it? Well, try it on, then. Here are 
 three representative citizens who have no unpleasant 
 recollection of you. Ask them what they think of 
 your rehabilitation." 
 
 Paul looked piteously at the three young men. 
 
 " The circumstances of its granting were so extra 
 ordinary " began one. 
 
 " And really, you know, it was such a peculiarly 
 atrocious crime " added another. 
 
 " Why not let well enough alone ? " asked the 
 third. 
 
 Paul watched the malice kindle and glow and 
 leap triumphantly in Adolph's eyes; and he turned 
 away sadly. Yes, he was still a prisoner, serving 
 for life ; cut off from human sympathy, despised and 
 rejected of men. Tancredi was an exception, an
 
 396 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 anomaly; besides, term-time would soon begin, and 
 then he would be a busy man, absorbed in his pro 
 fession and harnessed to the tread-mill of routine. 
 Where else, then, did he have, or had he ever had, 
 a friend? Friendship showed itself in deeds, not 
 words; who else was there, or ever had there 'been, 
 to do a kindly, unselfish act for him? As Paul 
 bitterly asked himself these questions, their answer 
 came in a flash of contrition and shame. What 
 right had he to expect or to complain, when he 
 himself had been so neglectful ? What had he done 
 for Soci'ty Dan? How much even had he thought 
 of him? and yet this man, uncultured, unprin 
 cipled, in his rude way had been true to the faith of 
 him who layeth down his life for a friend. 
 
 Paul wrote to Soci'ty Dan, supplementing grateful 
 words with a box of those comestibles which experi 
 ence had taught him were most highly prized in 
 prison. In the course of a month, a reasonable time 
 for convict correspondence, an answer was returned ; 
 and with it revived the old, hopeless agony, as from 
 cramped, painful writing, sticky ink and coarse 
 paper, he seemed to catch the fetid essence which 
 for endless aeons had lingered on his lips, saturated 
 his flesh and corrupted his entire being. 
 
 And yet, Paul smiled as he read; for, twinkling 
 through the vulgar medium, shone the shrewd, droll 
 eyes of Soci'ty Dan. "The stuff kem to hand, all
 
 PREPARING FOR THE STRUGGLE 397 
 
 right hot' hands, I may say," the letter began. 
 Ah, Soci'ty would have his joke; it was the magic 
 wand with which he held of! the wretchedness of 
 fate. " The nex' time," the letter continued, " please 
 send more milk and fewer eggs. Them condensed 
 slugs is as good as gold for tradun; while eggs 
 foller the gin'ral rule, and the longer they're kep' in 
 the cooler, the wuss they git." There was the mer 
 cenary instinct, surely enough, ever intent on future 
 benefits ; yet, why shouldn't it be more excusable in 
 prison, where it was stimulated by hardship, than 
 in the outer world where it throve on luxury, and 
 grew more arrogant with increase? 
 
 Poor Soci'ty, thought Paul, as he laid down the 
 bethumbed and blotted missive; a meagre result 
 for the strain of hand and arm, and the twist of 
 mouth and brows it had cost. Then his eye caught 
 a small " p. s.," set in a scroll in the lower right- 
 hand corner; and, turning the page, he read as 
 follows : 
 
 " I was woolin' over your case, the odder night, 
 and remimbered thet I never tole you how the young 
 gal I met at the freight-car gev' me a little silver- 
 bound book, which I put up the spout in the shop 
 where I was pinched. Be the same token, I junked 
 it in the name she was sportun, * Ed Flyaway,' I 
 t'ink. Now, don't you see the Gov'nor wudn't take 
 me wud, and I wudn't eeder for thet matter,
 
 398 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 but, if you kin show thet the book b'longed to her 
 or to some of her people, and the name was wan she 
 uster use, why it comes dam near squarin' all I said. 
 P'raps you wonder why I didn't tell this afore. 
 Well, mebbe I didn't like you to know thet I had 
 worked the poor kid outer all she was wuth; mebbe 
 I cudn't git over the habit us lags all hev' of never 
 tellin' all we knows. At all ewents, I seen fit to 
 keep it dark." 
 
 Paul read these words over and over again, at 
 first dully, perfunctorily, so vividly did the days 
 come back when he had eaten out his heart with the 
 suspense of waiting for an answer to his petition. 
 Then, slowly, gradually, the direct bearings of these 
 additional facts became apparent to him. Yes, 
 Soci'ty was right ; in a sense, to a degree, they were 
 corroborative; perhaps, had they been placed before 
 the Governor at the time, he might have decided 
 differently. Perhaps, if they were placed before 
 him now, they might supply that lack of proof 
 which seemed to be paralyzing his efforts. Here at 
 length was something tangible ; here was truth, un- 
 smirched by prison grime. As Paul Breen decided, 
 there was an unusual glow in his white, set face, 
 the reflection, perhaps, of the first gleam of hope in 
 the darkness which had so long surrounded him. 
 
 " I have followed out your advice," he said to 
 Tancredi at the first opportunity, " and have re-
 
 PREPARING FOR THE STRUGGLE 399 
 
 framed from examining my old note-book, which 
 you have ; but now I want it." 
 
 " What are you going to do with it ? " asked 
 Tancredi anxiously. 
 
 " I don't know yet. I am going to take it to my 
 father with these new facts, and see what he has 
 to say." 
 
 "Very well; here it is," the Professor agreed, 
 " but I warn you that you are not yet mentally 
 strong enough to make an exhaustive study of it." 
 
 Meanwhile, the popular outburst through which 
 John Strain, with the help of his wife, had passed 
 unscathed, had proved a mere flash in the pan. By 
 the very next day, the indignation had dwindled into 
 a sort of contemptuous indifference. Mr. Carring- 
 ton's views were generally accepted ; the Governor 
 was done for, a shade of his former, forceful self, 
 hardly darkening the chair in which the law per 
 mitted him to sit for a number of months yet, and 
 certain to disappear from all reckoning when his 
 term should expire. The National Convention met, 
 and, as is usual in a country where average pre 
 vails, honored mediocrity with its choice. Strain's 
 name was not even mentioned. Among his political 
 supporters he was already dead, and there was not 
 fragrance enough to his memory to divert the self- 
 seeking thoughts of any of them for an instant. 
 
 John Strain bore his sudden occultation com-
 
 400 
 
 posedly; gaining coolness from the shade. Like all 
 the dead, he found that he had more time to him 
 self; and this time he now devoted to Paul. With 
 his trained, dogged purpose never to leave one 
 thing undone, and to do each thing in its order 
 thoroughly and completely, he went over the case 
 step by step from the very beginning, employing 
 men who were detectives in deeds not in name to 
 test and verify every detail. The result was dis 
 appointing. As a lawyer, had he the case for the 
 people to try over again, he would be just as certain 
 of conviction; just as positive in that event that the 
 right had prevailed. As a Governor, had he Paul's 
 application again before him, with the affidavit of 
 Soci'ty Dan, he would deny the one as a matter of 
 course, repudiating the other as not worthy the 
 consideration of a decent man. The newly discov 
 ered evidence on which Phineas Twigg and Con 
 stance had counted so much was fragmentary and 
 disjointed; links were missing, and, until they were 
 supplied, the suspicions against Adolph would 
 remain suspicions, and the pawning of the note 
 book would continue to be a mystery unsolved. 
 
 These suspicions against Adolph, however, be 
 came more and more well-founded in the Gover 
 nor's mind. Mrs. Strain, dragging out from her 
 retentive memory a little incident here, an unim 
 portant happening there, had made Adolph's ma-
 
 PREPARING FOR THE STRUGGLE 401 
 
 lignity and complicity a condition precedent to the 
 whole trouble. But, since there was no legal evi 
 dence to prove it, of what avail was the assurance? 
 Of this much, at least. It convinced him that there 
 was no truth in the story that Paul had been under 
 the influence of opium on that fatal morning, and 
 this compelled him logically to the conclusion that 
 the young man must have been doing something 
 which had resulted in a shock and consequent im 
 pairment of memory. What then was this thing, 
 and how could it be shown; since the only one who 
 knew its purpose could not remember? A startling 
 thought flashed out from and over John Strain's 
 fertile mind, unaccepted, but not rejected, and filed 
 away for possible consideration, should the issue 
 arise when a desperate remedy might be a prudent 
 one. 
 
 From such musings as these John Strain was 
 roused, one evening, by the unexpected entrance of 
 his son. " Ah, my boy," he cried, with that unac 
 customed softness which the thought or sight of 
 Paul seemed to impart to his heart, " have you come 
 to your home ? " 
 
 " No," Paul answered decidedly. " I have come 
 on a business visit to my lawyer." 
 
 " Whatever the motive, you are very welcome." 
 
 " I am very unhappy," cried Paul passionately. 
 " I can't stand this delay. Do you know what peo-
 
 402 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 pie think? They regard me as a lucky criminal, 
 imwhipped of Justice. You did me a wrong, sir, a 
 grievous wrong, when you issued that pardon! It 
 is vindication I want, not freedom. Is a pariah any 
 the happier for being unbound? I tell you I was 
 better off in prison ; at least I was entitled to privacy 
 there; while you have exposed me to public 
 scorn " 
 
 " Paul, you must be patient," said John Strain, 
 almost entreatingly ; " the law is slow, but it is as 
 sure as human endeavor can be. Remember, it was 
 the work of months to convict you ; so, too, it will 
 take time, a weary time, I admit, to establish your 
 innocence. It is a difficult case, with all the known 
 facts against you, and only inferences in your 
 favor. You, yourself, have the solution, locked up 
 somewhere in your mind; but you can't find the 
 key. Don't you see how little else there is, and 
 how unavailable this little is? Do you suppose, for 
 instance, that any court of law would listen seriously 
 to the testimony of the man whose affidavit you 
 sent me, a notorious offender, disqualified, out 
 lawed, prejudiced, too, in your favor, your com 
 panion in flight, which was itself a major in offence 
 do you think that his word, without corrob- 
 oration " 
 
 " Ah, but I have corroboration ; " and, all of a 
 tremble, Paul read the postscript to Soci'ty's letter.
 
 PREPARING FOR THE STRUGGLE 403 
 
 " Where is that note-book ; have you got it ? " 
 Strain demanded. 
 
 " Yes; here it is." 
 
 " Ah, the book that I have heard so much about 
 well, what can you recall regarding it? " 
 
 " I remember," replied Paul slowly, straining 
 evidently every vital power, " I remember I used to 
 make notes in it about some work I was doing 
 yes, some work in which I was deeply interested " 
 
 " When did you see it last ? " 
 
 " I saw it last, let me see why, I saw it last the 
 morning I was hurt." 
 
 " You were hurt? " 
 
 " Yes, I know I was I think I was hurt." 
 
 " What were you doing when you were hurt ? " 
 
 " I don't know. It is all black utter darkness, 
 without a hope of seeing or even feeling my way." 
 
 " This book seems to be rilled with a sort of 
 cipher. Can you read it ? " 
 
 " I think I can." 
 
 " Can you do what it says ? " 
 
 " I think so, with the things before me." 
 
 "What things?" 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " You haven't tried, have you, to do either the 
 one or the other ? " 
 
 " No ; but I will ; " and Paul stretched out his 
 hand eagerly.
 
 404 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Oh, no, you won't ; at least not now," replied 
 John Strain decisively, as he sealed the book and 
 locked it in his desk. " There may come a time 
 but, if so, you mustn't until then know more than 
 you do at present." 
 
 " I will do anything, everything, you say or 
 suggest," Paul went on, still wan and shaken from 
 his mental stress. " I'll risk my life I'll give my 
 life, if only the world may admit my innocence." 
 
 " It may come to that, young man ; " and, then, 
 as if regretting what he said, as if forcing the 
 subject from further discussion, John Strain con 
 tinued in his abrupt, forceful way : " This letter 
 you bring, Paul, sets the ball a-rolling. To-morrow, 
 I begin an action in ejectment against Adolph Breen 
 for the recovery of the Oriole Farm, a piece of land 
 in this county of which Neil Breen -died seized. 
 After your conviction, Philip Breen took title by 
 probate of heirship, and now Adolph inherits by 
 descent from his father." 
 
 "Ejectment?" Paul repeated timidly; "I don't 
 see what that has to do with me." 
 
 " It has everything to do, my boy. We may start 
 a long way off in the law, but we arrive at the pre 
 cise point of issue. It is very much like an argu 
 ment in which finally one of the disputants asserts 
 a naked fact, and the other flatly denies it. For 
 instance," Strain went on, trying to state the case
 
 PREPARING FOR THE STRUGGLE 405 
 
 in the simplest form, " we say, ' Give us that land, 
 it belongs to Paul Breen, since Edith died unmar 
 ried, during her minority.' They say, ' No, we 
 won't; here's the record showing that Paul was 
 convicted of murdering the girl, and a man can't 
 have advantage from his own wrong.' We say, 
 ' Yes, you will ; here is Paul's full and unconditional 
 pardon.' They say, ' He killed her, notwithstand 
 ing.' We say, 'He did not;' and there you 
 are." 
 
 " But what proof will you have ? Didn't you say 
 that Soci'ty is disqualified from testifying ? '-' 
 
 John Strain laughed the short laugh of one who 
 both sees and defies the consequences. " That is 
 one of the advantages of being Governor," he ex 
 plained, his chin tilted up with power. " They think 
 I'm a dead duck, do they? Well, I'll give them a 
 twist before I leave office. I'll pardon and restore 
 to citizenship this man, Soci'ty, as you call him. 
 Oh, I know what I'll be up against. I've shut off 
 that rot about impeachment by giving out that you 
 had made an application for pardon, some time be 
 fore, which I denied but afterward considered. But 
 now, well, my conduct will be flagrant beyond ex 
 planation or condonation; they'll have my hide sure, 
 my boy, unless I succeed. We'll be in the same boat 
 together; and your good name and my good name 
 will depend on the one cause. It will be a tough,
 
 406 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 up-hill fight, against awful odds. Soci'ty at best 
 will be but a feeble reed, and oh, just won't he be 
 shaken by the wind! If our case is stronger, so 
 will be theirs, you may confidently believe; Adolph 
 Breen is not the man to risk losing his all for the 
 lack of a little thing like perjury. ' But it's dogged 
 as does it,' as the poor parson in ' The Last Chron 
 icles of Barset ' says ; and John Strain is as hard to 
 beat as that other fellow in ' Put Yourself in His 
 Place.' " 
 
 " What do you mean by that, John ? " asked Mrs. 
 Strain? who had noiselessly entered just in time to 
 hear the last .words. " Put Paul in his place 
 what is Paul's place ? " And her withered face was 
 distorted by suspicion and alarm. 
 
 " Madam, I have no recognized place," said Paul 
 simply. 
 
 " Yes, but suppose that you did have one, an 
 honored one, by right? Suppose I was the outcast 
 not you, not you? " 
 
 " Abigail, mother," John Strain exclaimed, " you 
 don't think what you are saying! " 
 
 " Ah, madam," Paul replied, " that is an impos 
 sible, an inconceivable supposition; and, if it were 
 not, it would be at once my duty and my privilege 
 to make it so." 
 
 At last Abigail Alice's tormented mind was at 
 rest. With father and son on her side, what had she
 
 PREPARING FOR THE STRUGGLE 407 
 
 to fear? Peace wiped the distress from her face, 
 and she smiled. 
 
 " You are a high-minded, noble young man," she 
 declared, " and God will surely prosper you. John 
 Strain, if you never do anything else in your life, 
 prove Paul's innocence. I don't care if it takes 
 every cent we have ; it must, it shall be done. Oh, I 
 never can cease from blaming myself for having 
 encouraged Adolph in the bitter hatred which, I 
 suspect, is at the bottom of all this wrong." 
 
 " That is one of the many things I cannot under 
 stand," Paul said reflectively, as if talking to him 
 self. " Adolph and I were always good friends. 
 Why, then, did he plot against me, as you all seem 
 to agree he did? " 
 
 " He was after the money, my boy," John Strain 
 explained. 
 
 " Why, it is his and willingly for all of me. You 
 don't suppose that I would inherit under false pre 
 tences, do you? He might have felt chagrined 
 when Edith's death seemed to give it all to me; but 
 if he had only waited, why, I should have divided 
 with him. And now when every one knows that 
 I am not Neil Breen's son, can he think for one 
 moment " 
 
 " Hold on there," the Governor interrupted with 
 true legal caution ; " time enough to give your prop 
 erty away when you've got it; possession lends a
 
 408 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 different aspect to dreams of generosity, I assure 
 you. Besides, there can be no question of false 
 pretences in your inheritance. I know, I know 
 positively, that Neil Breen, when he made his will, 
 was aware that you were not his son. I think he 
 must have promised Mar his wife, I mean, to 
 give you some sort of a reversionary interest." 
 
 " And it isn't the money alone that incites 
 Adolph," added Mrs. Strain. " It's Constance 
 Sanderson." 
 
 " There it is again," Paul sighed in his remote, 
 meditative mood. " Why should my pleasant rela 
 tions with Constance enrage him ? We have all been 
 good comrades together for years, with never a 
 thought on my part as to which one might like the 
 other better. She is a sort of a sister to us both, I 
 should say " 
 
 " Alas, you poor boy ! " murmured Mrs. Strain. 
 
 John Strain's estimate of the effects of Soci'ty 
 Dan's pardon proved to be judicially moderate. 
 When the event occurred, immediately after the 
 joinder of issue in the sensational ejectment suit of 
 Breen versus Breen, the popular furor against him 
 revived, stimulated by the artful philippics of the 
 " Metropolitan Ray " and the many other papers 
 that reflected its sinister light. Not only had this 
 man Strain abused the prerogative of his high office,
 
 PREPARING FOR THE STRUGGLE 409 
 
 but he was conspiring criminally with criminals to 
 divert an honored inheritance and ruin that repre 
 sentative young citizen, Adolph Breen. The few of 
 his former associates who remained on speaking 
 terms with him advised him that his only hope of 
 success lay in a change of venue ; but they disturbed 
 not a whit his plans for the campaign. He had 
 crossed the river of decision; he was on the march, 
 chariot and foot. A change of venue? It was a 
 change of opinion that the case demanded; and 
 that he was about to compel !
 
 THE CASE AT ISSUE 
 
 THE apathetic clerk was calling the calendar, the 
 names falling from his lips without more meaning 
 to him than if they were the figures of the multipli 
 cation-table. Yet each title met with its own re 
 sponse ; each coupling of parties was the key-note to 
 some long comedy or tragedy, some farce or mys 
 tery. Tancredi, as he sat in the little group clustered 
 about Paul Breen, mused on the singular contrast 
 between the demeanor of those to whom the court 
 room was a place of monotonous toil the judge, 
 the lawyers, the attendants and those to whom it 
 was the arena wherein were fought out the battles on 
 which all depended, whether life, honor or fortune 
 was the stake. To how many was this dingy room 
 the parting of the ways, from which diverged paths 
 of glory or of ruin. By a singular connection of 
 ideas, Tancredi was reminded of a day he had 
 passed in the Treasury at Washington, where he 
 saw men handling with indifference blocks of metal 
 and bits of printed paper that, outside that magic 
 
 410
 
 THE CASE AT ISSUE 411 
 
 realm, became the root of all evil. So, here, he sat 
 watching the men who operated the mighty machin 
 ery of the law as if its terrible potentialities were 
 but a dream of fiction. From such fanciful musings 
 he was recalled by the names that touched him to 
 the quick : 
 
 " Breen vs. Breen." 
 
 John Strain rose in his place, and, with a slight 
 bow to the bench, said, in a conversational tone: 
 
 " We are ready, if your Honor please. -I appear 
 for the plaintiff, Paul Breen." 
 
 Mr. Carrington, who sat a few feet away, also 
 rose. 
 
 " We are ready for the defendant," he added. 
 
 Then began a brief discussion between judge and 
 lawyers of which Tancredi could gather only the 
 general purport. He understood that Mr. Strain 
 was maintaining that the trial would require at least 
 one day; while Mr. Carrington, Adolph's counsel, 
 was equally as confident that it could be settled in 
 a few hours. The judge listened with a wandering 
 eye, but with an attentive brain, and apparently in 
 clined to Strain's view, for he soon directed a court- 
 officer to proclaim that all who were unconnected 
 with " Breen vs. Breen " might depart until further 
 notice. Then, with a shuffling of feet, the exiled 
 litigants, lawyers and witnesses filed out ; and those 
 who were to contest the issue in " Breen vs. Breen "
 
 412 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 made themselves at home by a choosing of the 
 vacated places. 
 
 John Strain and his legal adversary seemed sud 
 denly to become of new importance, for they 
 glanced over their respective forces as generals 
 upon a battlefield might view the disposition of their 
 squadrons and battalions. Each had chosen a part 
 of the long table that paralleled the front of the 
 Judge's desk, and was untying bundles of papers, 
 and adjusting them as if they were the weapons to 
 be caught up in an instant and used for parry or 
 for thrust and so, indeed, they were. The jury, 
 having been caught and caged, stood up to be 
 sworn, and then subsided again, relieved, yet fear 
 ful that they might not be able to follow the ex 
 pected proceedings. 
 
 All this was but the marshalling of the lists, and 
 in no wise lessened the suspense of the parties to 
 the trial. Adolph Breen, though he had tipped back 
 his chair with an air of indifference, and was scrib 
 bling meaningless scrawls on a scrap of paper, yet 
 watched his former partner, John Strain, with an 
 intensity of interest he could not disguise. Paul 
 seemed at ease and the least excited of any in the 
 room. John Strain wore an impassive look; but 
 there was a new calmness, an inevitableness in his 
 actions that marked the advocate whose soul is in 
 his cause. Mr. Carrington, with a veteran's disci-
 
 THE CASE AT ISSUE 413 
 
 pline, showed an assurance that brought to Tan- 
 credi a sickening fear of defeat. 
 
 Then came a pause. The rustling of papers 
 ceased. Every whisper was hushed. The judge 
 leaned slightly toward Strain, and smiled permis 
 sion to begin. That eminent counsel, thereupon, 
 rose and made his opening without agitation and 
 in the same low tone he had used in answering the 
 call of the case. He spoke slowly, simply, but with 
 evident care in the choice of his words. 
 
 " May it please the Court ; Gentlemen of the 
 Jury," he began in formal parlance. " This is, ac 
 cording to the pleadings, a suit in ejectment. My 
 client, Paul Breen, as plaintiff claims title to a cer 
 tain property now in possession of Adolph Breen, 
 the defendant. This property, the Oriole Farm, 
 is part of the estate of which the late Neil Breen 
 died seized, and with the rest was devised by him 
 by means of a will to two members of his household, 
 Edith Breen and Paul Breen. The will, duly 
 proved, gave the use of the property jointly to 
 these two children during their minority. There 
 was a clause providing that, in case of Edith's death, 
 unmarried, during her minority, Paul was to in 
 herit the whole estate. Edith Breen did die, unmar 
 ried, when about fifteen years of age; and my 
 client, Paul Breen, still surviving and here present, 
 claims the said estate under the terms of said will.
 
 414 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " I offer in evidence a certified copy of the will of 
 Neil Breen, and the record of its probate." 
 
 John Strain handed the papers to the clerk of the 
 Court, and then turned to Mr. Carrington. 
 
 " There is no dispute as to the death of Edith 
 Breen, unmarried and before her majority?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " It is or should be admitted in our answer," was 
 the reply. 
 
 " Then," said Strain, quietly seating himself, 
 " that is our case, and we ask judgment." 
 
 Mr. Carrington arose in turn, and, after the usual 
 complimentary phrases to court and jury, made the 
 equally conventional motions to dismiss the com 
 plaint, received the judge's denial with the usual 
 remark, " I take an exception, if your Honor 
 please," and then proceeded to the solid matter of 
 his defence. 
 
 " Your Honor and Gentlemen of the Jury," he 
 said, with a deepening 'of tone, and a severity of 
 expression that at once warned his hearers of the 
 real beginning of the grapple that would result in 
 the overthrow of one side or the other ; " behind 
 the courteous phrases of the law lie the malign pas 
 sions of human nature. The legal fiction that would 
 make the Temple of Justice a cold, calm and dis 
 passionate tribunal requires that we should admit 
 the formal truth of the case presented by my learned
 
 THE CASE AT ISSUE 415 
 
 friend. We do not, therefore, deny the will of Neil 
 Breen, nor dispute its terms. We admit that before 
 Edith Breen had married, or indeed come to her 
 maturity of womanhood, she had ceased to live. 
 But, under the guise of truth, we shall unmask to 
 you the hideous form of murder; and, in him who 
 presents himself in the attractive part of a wronged 
 plaintiff, we shall reveal to you the bloody-handed 
 murderer whose malice, whose deadly avarice, has 
 struck down the sister in her young maidenhood 
 that he might gain the property which her father, 
 by solemn instrument and for the very best of rea 
 sons, had provided should be hers. And this villain 
 ous claimant has not even the grace of hypocrisy. 
 He comes before you without even so much confi 
 dence as might rest upon a crime concealed within 
 his own conscience. He comes to you branded a 
 murderer by the hand of avenging Justice ; and yet 
 dares demand in her very presence the fruits of his 
 crime. 
 
 " Such is the felon, Paul Breen. It staggers 
 human credulity that there should be found effront 
 ery so terrible, indifference so callous. The minis 
 ters of the law, however, have learned of what 
 degradation humanity is capable; they have been 
 taught, in defending the right against the powers 
 of evil, that there are no depths to which the vicious 
 may not descend in attempting to carry out their
 
 416 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 devilish purposes. And, so, the law has provided 
 against even the depravity that would make of foul 
 murder a stepping-stone to wealth. The law, gen 
 tlemen, has decreed that the criminal shall not profit 
 by his crime. The law declares that, whoever may 
 enjoy the property of the dead, it shall not be held 
 by the ensanguined hand that is red with the blood 
 of its former owner. 
 
 " The law, gentlemen ? There is a higher law 
 than that of precedents, of statutes, of codes, of 
 treatises. There is the law of the human soul the 
 law that underlies and creates all others; and this 
 law is God-implanted in our very hearts, needing 
 neither legislation nor judicial pronouncement. It 
 existed before the foundations of the world. It for 
 bids the murderer to slay that he may plunder. It 
 sternly says to the criminal : * Thou shalt not 
 profit by thy deed of violence.' This law we now 
 invoke. Paul Breen was suspected, apprehended, 
 accused, indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced for 
 the murder of this child this Edith Breen. Died 
 before maturity? Yes : she was murdered in her 
 youth, murdered by the son of her mother that he 
 might inherit the wealth to which nature herself 
 had denied him title. Gentlemen, murder is always 
 foul and abhorrent ; but it is most foul and most 
 abhorrent when greedy avarice sharpens the knife 
 and cool calculation drives it home."
 
 THE CASE AT ISSUE 417 
 
 Mr. Carrington paused and searched a moment 
 among the papers that lay before him. Then he in 
 turn handed a document to the clerk. 
 
 " Your Honor," he said, " we offer in evidence 
 a copy of the record in the case of ' The State vs. 
 Paul Breen,' with certificates of his sentence and 
 incarceration thereunder." 
 
 Then, turning to John Strain, the attorney for 
 the defendant asked in scorn : 
 
 " There is no dispute as to these records ? " 
 
 " None," Strain answered politely. 
 
 " The Court takes judicial notice of the proceed 
 ings," the Judge added. 
 
 " Then, we rest our case," was the reply ; and 
 Mr. Carrington sat down. 
 
 John Strain advanced with another document. 
 
 " Your Honor," he began, " we offer in evidence 
 a full and unconditional pardon, granted and issued 
 by the Governor of this State to Paul Breen, and 
 covering the alleged crime to which my learned 
 friend has seen fit to refer. I will not, in making 
 proffer of this paper, trespass upon the indulgence 
 of the Court by rising or descending into the 
 regions of oratory. No one disputes or denies the 
 justice, of the legal maxim so forcibly presented by 
 the defendant's eloquent counsel ; but it is the ex 
 perience of all mankind that even the judicial er 
 mine or the sacred function of the jury is no war-
 
 418 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 ranty against human error. The same collective 
 wisdom that created the maxim he has quoted also 
 has told us that it is but human to err. And, there 
 fore, the makers of our laws have entrusted to the 
 chief ruler of the State power to annul the processes 
 of its courts. This power has been exercised, and 
 Paul Breen stands before you recreated by the same 
 legal authority that erroneously we believe 
 destroyed him. Yet we do not claim that this 
 recreation, this pardon, could have higher sanction 
 than the right. We admit that the criminal should 
 not profit by his own wrong. We reply only 
 ' Here is no criminal ; here is the victim of a judicial 
 error.' That error admitted of but one correction, 
 and that correction has been applied. Paul Breen 
 comes before this tribunal a claimant of his rights 
 as an innocent man. He offers in evidence his par 
 don, not as a defence against the accusation of 
 crime, but as a reply to the assertion that he is in 
 capable of denying the crime. He admits that he 
 should not profit by a crime ; but he denies the 
 crime. The pardon brings him before you cleared 
 of condemnation, not of guilt, if guilt existed. 
 
 " Prove the guilt, and we admit it a defence to 
 our claim to the property. But plead only the rec 
 ord, and we rejoin with the pardon. Technically 
 speaking, your Honor, we offer the pardon in bar 
 of the judgment of conviction as a disqualification;
 
 THE CASE AT ISSUE 419 
 
 not as a bar to an offer to prove a crime as render 
 ing the one who committed it incapable of profiting 
 by it. We stand or fall by the maxim they them 
 selves have invoked. The pardon has made the 
 conviction a nullity. It cannot be pleaded as a 
 proof of moral guilt. Non constat but that it was 
 known to the Governor to be a judicial error." 
 
 " We are willing to meet that issue right now," 
 said the attorney for the defendant, with a venom 
 ous smile at Strain. 
 
 " I shall object," Strain went on tranquilly. 
 " We do not claim to review the trial, and we do 
 deny your right to review the pardon. Let "your 
 judgment-record and the pardon be considered a 
 satisfied equation. We deny the guilt, and object to 
 the offer of the judgment-record as competent to 
 prove it at any period subsequent to the issue of the 
 pardon." 
 
 John Strain resumed his seat, with arms folded 
 and eyes fixed on the judge. His Honor was silent 
 for a moment or two, drumming on his desk noise 
 lessly. Then Mr. Carrington, after a whispered 
 word with Adolph, craved the indulgence of a brief 
 consultation with his client. Strain gave a sigh of 
 relief as he heard this request; for no one in the 
 court-room, unless it was the judge himself, knew 
 with what slender confidence he had urged his last 
 plea. But now it seemed as if its adroit appeal to
 
 420 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 Adolph's passions would succeed, despite Mr. Car- 
 rington's keen comprehension of its sophistries. 
 And so, indeed, it proved. 
 
 " What, Adolph," protested that adroit coun 
 sellor, when he was apart with his client, " you 
 don't mean to let them throw upon us the burden 
 of proving Paul Breen's guilt ; why, it is preposter 
 ous!" 
 
 " I do mean exactly that," replied Adolph dog 
 gedly. " How else then can it be determined ? Am 
 I the sort of a man, standing as I do before the pub 
 lic as a candidate for political preferment, to take 
 this immense fortune on a technicality ? I want this 
 thing settled now and for all time. Why, I have 
 been preparing for just such a jcontingency. Our 
 evidence is much stronger than the people's case at 
 the former trial; besides, I have got something up 
 my sleeve that will sicken them, if only Strain gives 
 me the lead, as I think he will. We want to crush 
 them, not elude them. So go ahead, I say, and call 
 their hand. Of course, the issue is Paul's guilt. 
 He murdered my little cousin; and, damn him, he 
 must bear the consequences ! " 
 
 " Very well, Danton," agreed Mr. Carrington 
 with a smile ; " perhaps audacity is our best policy 
 after all ; " and the next moment, with courtly 
 phrase, he was thanking the Judge for the indul 
 gence accorded him.
 
 THE CASE AT ISSUE 421 
 
 " This is an extraordinary case, your Honor," he 
 continued, " extraordinary in the desperate devices 
 resorted to, first to liberate this criminal and now 
 to enrich him; and what might otherwise be deemed 
 an extraordinary remedy becomes a most proper 
 one, if only through applying it the truth can be 
 made manifest beyond hope of future cavil or con 
 tradiction. Therefore we rely upon no legal form, 
 no mere legal defence. We accept the gage that 
 has been thrown at our feet. Though this learned 
 Court could need no assistance from us in piercing 
 through the pretence that would make this convic 
 tion a nullity, we will take the affirmative. We will 
 prove, here and now, that Paul Breen is not an in 
 nocent man, claiming his lawful right. We will 
 prove, once for all, that he is a red-handed mur 
 derer, striving to filch the fruits of his crime. It 
 is my client's wish to avoid the benefit of technical 
 ities. It is my client's sacred duty to affix once 
 more upon that dishonored brow the brand of Cain. 
 I yield to his noble resolution. This is no longer 
 a question of titles, of goods and of chattels; but 
 a question whether or not this plaintiff, not having 
 the fear of God in his heart, but moved and insti 
 gated by the devil, did murder that poor, innocent, 
 unoffending child, Edith Breen, his half-sister. If 
 he did, if this jury shall decide as another jury of 
 equal intelligence and worth has already decided,
 
 422 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 then it follows, as an inevitable consequence, that 
 the inheritance shall remain where it now is, in the 
 legitimate line of descent; and that the doubly- 
 convicted miscreant shall wander over the face of 
 earth, unharmed of men, yet finding God's punish 
 ment harder than he can bear." 
 
 With the aplomb of a true lawyer, Carrington 
 turned from his impassioned peroration to settle as 
 far as possible with the opposing counsel what facts 
 might be taken as proved. After a brief talk, Mr. 
 Strain thus laid their conclusions before the Court. 
 
 " It is the desire of my client," he declared, " to 
 bring out as fully and completely every fact, bear 
 ing in any way upon the mystery of the death of 
 Edith Breen, as even our adversaries can pretend 
 to wish. As to certain of these facts there is no dis 
 pute. It is admitted that this young girl's body was 
 found amid the debris of the accident to the cars. 
 It is admitted that a trunk belonging to the plaintiff 
 was in the same car, and that this trunk was shipped 
 by him, directed to himself at the Central Station 
 in Carteret. It is alleged on the part of the defend 
 ant that my client murdered the unfortunate girl, 
 and that her dead body was concealed within that 
 trunk when he took it from the house where they 
 both lived. This we deny, and put them upon their 
 proofs." 
 
 So, at length, the issue was joined; and Adolph
 
 THE CASE AT ISSUE 423 
 
 Breen, as he took his seat by Mr. Carrington's side, 
 felt his heart beating exultantly, his blood throb 
 bing fiercely, with the joys of confident conflict and 
 the lust of final triumph. As he had told his lawyer, 
 he was convinced that his case, as prepared, would 
 overwhelm Paul. This, in itself, was a sufficient 
 reason. with him for throwing away, with apparent 
 recklessness, an advantage in the struggle. But a 
 secret, more intimate purpose had urged him on 
 with far greater force. His proofs were to win for 
 him not only an estate, but a woman's heart. 
 Though he counted on a legal verdict, that was as 
 nothing compared with the verdict he should also 
 win from Constance Sanderson's eyes. Unless Paul 
 was destroyed before the tribunal of her soul, mere 
 material victory would be empty and inane. For 
 such a stroke he would joyously assume any risk; 
 and for it now he had come out into the open and 
 flung away his shield.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 " WE call Mrs. Philip Breen," said Mr. Carring- 
 ton; and Adolph led his mother, in her widow's 
 weeds, to the stand. 
 
 Mrs. Breen's evidence was largely a repetition of 
 what it had been at the former trial. She told of 
 various conversations which seemed to show a lack 
 of sympathy and even a certain antipathy between 
 Paul and Edith. She repeated with more detail her 
 own talk with Paul, wherein he had said : " She 
 interferes with my whole life. She is an obstacle. 
 Let her keep her distance, if she knows what is good 
 for her. I will not be responsible if she does not." 
 She described Paul's angry manner, and Edith's 
 fright at his threats. She then testified to his lack 
 of feeling and strange behavior when the girl's 
 death was discovered. 
 
 " Mrs. Breen, what was the nature of the work 
 done by Paul in the attic room? " John Strain asked 
 on cross-examination. 
 
 " I don't know exactly. Something scientific. 
 424
 
 STORY OF THE WITNESSES 425 
 
 He was always interested in such matters. He did 
 experiments with chemicals and with an electric 
 battery, I think." 
 
 " Was there anything dangerous about the work 
 he did?" 
 
 " I think he had some explosions. I remember 
 hearing some noise of that kind several times." 
 
 " Did he ever speak of any danger from them? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; he asked me to warn the servants and 
 the family not to meddle with his things. He said 
 there might be trouble if they did." 
 
 " Did he speak especially of any member of the 
 family?" 
 
 " Yes ; he spoke of Edith. He said she was a 
 Paul Pry, and asked me to forbid her to go to his 
 attic room." 
 
 "Did she go there after the warning?" 
 
 " I don't know. She used to run about the house 
 everywhere. She was always restless and curious 
 about everything that went on." 
 
 ' You speak of her as restless. Did she ever do 
 anything to show this disposition? " 
 
 "You meanabout running away?" 
 
 " Anything you remember." 
 
 " Well, she ran away from home several times, 
 even when she was little. Then she wouldn't stay 
 at school, but ran away, and came home again." 
 
 '' Was there any reason you can give why she
 
 426 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 shouldn't have been contented at home? Did she 
 complain of ill-treatment in any way ? " 
 
 " No, sir, she seemed to wish to go about and see 
 things, that's all. She was adventurous and bold." 
 
 " Now, returning to the day you heard her spoken 
 to angrily by Paul Breen, where was she then ? " 
 
 " In the attic somewhere." 
 
 " Near the laboratory ? " 
 
 " It may be ; I don't know." 
 
 " Did you think at the time that Paul was threat 
 ening her, or that he was warning her of a possible 
 danger? " 
 
 " I don't remember. I thought he was nervous 
 and impatient with her." 
 
 " Because she was near his room ? " 
 
 " I object," interrupted Mr. Carrington. " It is 
 incompetent." 
 
 " Your Honor," Strain argued, " this testimony 
 is offered to prove threatening language. I wish 
 to show that the language was a warning rather 
 than a threat. The words themselves are equally 
 consistent with either theory, and I wish therefore 
 to show by this witness that the manner of their 
 speech or delivery was such as might go with a 
 warning. She has already sworn that such a warn 
 ing was in my client's mind." 
 
 " I think the question is proper," said the Court. 
 " Go on."
 
 STORY OF THE WITNESSES 427 
 
 " Did Paul speak as if he was threatening Edith, 
 or as if afraid she might meet with some dan 
 ger?" 
 
 " I thought he was afraid she might be hurt, and 
 wanted her to keep away." 
 
 "That will do," said John Strain; and Mrs. 
 Breen left the stand. 
 
 Matilda Grafton, after some preliminary testi 
 mony as to her duties and employment as a maid 
 in the Breen household, came to the morning of the 
 death of Edith. 
 
 " I was working," she said, " in the third story 
 of the house, and in the room just below Mr. Paul's 
 labertory, as they called it. It was very early, 
 about an hour or hour and a half before breakfast, 
 maybe half past six or so. I remember the day well 
 because of what happened after. I heard a bump 
 ing on the stairs, and, as the door wasn't quite shut, 
 I looked out and seen Paul Breen taking a trunk 
 down. I was surprised to see him that early. He 
 must have gone out the front door 'cause I seen him 
 after on the lawn going to the stables. I was at the 
 window. Then he came out in a light wagon, and 
 went down the road. I seen him no more that 
 morning, 'cause I went to breakfast in the kitchen." 
 
 " We have already admitted the shipping of the 
 trunk," said John Strain. 
 
 "A moment, Mr. Strain," returned Adolph's
 
 428 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 counsel. " This witness can testify to another mat 
 ter. Now, Miss Grafton, if you please, just tell the 
 Judge and Jury, in your own language, what you 
 know of the clothes in the suit-case." 
 
 " Yes, sir," Matilda answered, brightening vis 
 ibly. " I was a-coming to that. About maybe a 
 week or so before that day, I was looking in the 
 attic for a strap Mrs. Breen wanted, when I saw 
 an old suit-case that used to belong to Mr. Paul 
 and I tried to take one from off it. Well, the case 
 came open, and I saw there was a suit of clothes in 
 it. I spread them out, to see had they been for 
 gotten by somebody, and I saw they was nearly 
 new." 
 
 " What size were they ? " 
 
 " Too small for a man like Mr. Paul or Mr. 
 Adolph, and too big for a small boy. They was 
 dark gray woollen, and nearly new." 
 
 " Do you think you would know the cloth if you 
 saw a piece of it again? " 
 
 " Yes, sir ; I'm 'most sure I would." 
 
 ;< Then examine this piece," continued Mr. Car- 
 rington, handing her a bit of gray cloth. " Is that 
 like it?" 
 
 " Yes, sir; I know it by the queer red-line 
 check." 
 
 " I shall offer this bit of cloth in evidence pres 
 ently," said Mr. Carrington.
 
 STORY OF THE WITNESSES 429 
 
 " Let me see it," demanded John Strain. He 
 took the cloth, examined it, and then returned it, 
 asking, " What do you wish to show ? " 
 
 " This," Mr. Carrington answered, " is a piece 
 of the cloth found upon the body of Edith Breen 
 after the accident. It will be identified by the cor 
 oner and by Mr. Adolph Breen. We shall show 
 that a suit made of this cloth, and similar to the 
 one described by this witness, was bought by Paul 
 Breen a short time before it was found on the body 
 of Edith. Call Mr. Zeiger." 
 
 Mr. Zeiger came to the stand, identified the cloth, 
 and a button that was attached to it, as part of a 
 suit made according to measurements furnished by 
 Paul Breen. He read the measurements from his 
 books. 
 
 John Strain turned to Paul and inquired in an 
 undertone whether he remembered anything of such 
 an occurrence. Paul tried to think, but could say 
 only that he had often executed commissions for 
 Edith at a time when she was interested in work 
 among the poor. Upon this hint, Strain cross- 
 examined Mr. Zeiger and brought out the fact that 
 Paul had ordered various garments from him, at 
 different times, and that these were such as would 
 fit persons of widely differing dimensions, and that 
 some of them were fitted by him to poor men or 
 boys who had been sent to his shop to be measured.
 
 430 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 The witness was then dismissed from the stand 
 and gave place to Adolph Breen. 
 
 Adolph's demeanor was serious, and he testified 
 with much care, choosing his words deliberately, 
 but yet with apparent frankness and fulness. He 
 told of his attendance at the inquest, and identified 
 the bit of clothing. He also went over again his 
 conversation with Paul on the day of Edith's disap 
 pearance telling of Paul's confusion, his refusal 
 or pretended inability to account for his actions, and 
 the fact that he had laudanum among the chemicals 
 and drugs in his laboratory. He told of the blood 
 washed by Paul from his head, and of the ab 
 sence of any wound from which it might have 
 come. 
 
 " The witness is yours, Mr. Strain," said Car- 
 rington. 
 
 John Strain rose slowly, scrutinizing the witness 
 in silence. Had he followed his instinct as a law 
 yer he would have declined to cross-examine one 
 at once hostile, unscrupulous and well-trained in 
 forensic defences. And yet he was satisfied, not 
 only from Phineas Twigg's warning, but from his 
 own corroboration of it, that Adolph had lied in his 
 testimony at this and the former trial. Besides, his 
 investigations had revealed certain acts of the young 
 man, discreditable on their face, and in any event 
 showing a strong bias against Paul. Was it not his
 
 STORY OF THE WITNESSES 431 
 
 duty to bring these at least to the attention of the 
 Jury? 
 
 " After the plaintiff's imprisonment, Mr. Breen," 
 he began, " did you visit the prison where he was 
 confined ? " 
 
 " I did," replied Adolph gravely. 
 
 " For what purpose? " 
 
 " To see the warden." 
 
 " Did you deliver any document to the war 
 den?" 
 
 " Yes ; an order from the Governor." 
 
 " What was its nature? " 
 
 " It was an order to retain certain letters ad 
 dressed to the convict, Paul Breen so called." 
 
 " You say it was the Governor's order ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Who was the Governor? " 
 
 " You were." 
 
 " Did I sign such an order ? " 
 
 ' You did in my presence." 
 
 "Did I read the order?" 
 
 " Oh, I don't know about that you signed 
 it." 
 
 " Who made out the order ? " 
 
 " I did." 
 
 " By whose request ? " 
 
 " Under my general discretion as your partner 
 and confidant, as I have acted in a hundred other
 
 432 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 instances. I do not remember whether I explained 
 its purpose at the time or not, but I will gladly do 
 so now, if I may be permitted." 
 
 " Certainly; that is what we want." 
 
 " My purpose was to break off the engagement or 
 connection between this Paul Breen and a young 
 woman who was writing to him. She had refused 
 to look upon his conviction as a cessation to their 
 engagement, and was jeopardizing her future by her 
 infatuation for him. As you, the District Attorney, 
 who had prosecuted him, had but lately stood in the 
 position of her guardian, practically, such solicitude 
 on your part was eminently proper." 
 
 " How about yourself ? Had you been paying 
 attentions to this same young woman? " 
 
 Adolph flushed angrily and glanced at Mr. Car- 
 rington. The lawyer at once interposed an objec 
 tion, which was sustained. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Breen," John Strain continued, " do 
 you recognize, this book? " 
 
 Adolph took the little silver-bound note-book, and 
 looked it over carefully. 
 
 " No," he answered, " I never saw it before ; but 
 I have heard of it. I think it belonged to your son 
 I beg pardon, to your client." 
 
 " You need no pardon, Mr. Breen, when you tell 
 the truth. Did you ever make any inquiries about 
 that book of any person ? "
 
 STORY OF THE WITNESSES 433 
 
 " Yes ; I made inquiries of a pawnbroker." 
 
 " What interest had you in it ? " 
 
 " Your Honor," Mr. Carrington interrupted, " I 
 object to further waste of time with these irrelevant 
 questions. W r hat foundation has been laid for 
 them?" 
 
 " This book," Strain contended, " was the prop 
 erty of Paul Breen, and was pawned on the day of 
 Edith Breen's death. It was redeemed, when put 
 up for sale, by the fiancee of Paul Breen, and this 
 witness has shown great eagerness to obtain pos 
 session of it. We hope to trace the book from the 
 hands of Paul Breen to the pawnbroker, believing 
 it will throw light on the case. As evidence in chief 
 it may be out of its order; but it certainly is com 
 petent as showing the witness's bias, his credi 
 bility " 
 
 " With my counsel's permission, I will gladly 
 answer the question," Adolph broke in, with a bow 
 to the Judge and to Mr. Carrington. " It was this 
 way. I happened to see the young woman who re 
 deemed this pledge coming from the pawnshop, and 
 out of this same solicitude for her to save her 
 from so disgraceful a suitor I made inquiries as 
 to her errand." 
 
 " Did you take any steps toward gaining posses 
 sion of this book? " 
 
 Adolph scowled, and then said : "I
 
 434 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 took such steps as I thought would be effect 
 ive." 
 
 " Did you try to steal it?" 
 
 " Come, come," the Judge protested mildly, " you 
 must know this is irregular, Mr. Strain." 
 
 " I withdraw the question," said Strain. " Of 
 course I can't expect the witness to incriminate 
 himself. Now, Mr. Breen, as a result of the death 
 of Edith Breen, and the conviction of Paul Breen 
 of her murder, what became of the estate of Neil 
 Breen?" 
 
 " It was vested by the Courts in my father, and 
 by his death became my property." 
 
 "You still hold it?" 
 
 " I do, by the laws of God and of man ; and Satan 
 himself shall not prevail against it." 
 
 " You renounce the devil, but not his works, hey? 
 Well, that is a comfortable theology. Now, Mr. 
 Breen; one more line of questions. When did you 
 first learn of this tragedy? " 
 
 " The murder or the accident ? " 
 
 " Edith Breen's death." 
 
 " On the day of the accident to the train." 
 
 " In what way? " 
 
 " By a telegram from my father." 
 
 " Where were you when you received it ? " 
 
 " At my office." 
 
 " Were you at home the night before ? "
 
 STORY OF THE WITNESSES 435 
 
 " I was." 
 
 " Were you at breakfast in the Breen house that 
 morning? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " I rose early, and went to the office, getting my 
 breakfast here, in Hamlin." 
 
 " Was that usual with you ? " 
 
 " No, it was not." 
 
 " Then why did you do it? " 
 
 Again Adolph looked appealingly at his counsel, 
 who thereupon interposed an objection. Strain be 
 gan to argue the point, but was cut short by the 
 Judge, who directed the witness to answer. Adolph 
 bowed submissively, but with apparent sadness. 
 
 " As a good citizen," he said, " I obey the man 
 date of the Court; though I had hoped, as on the 
 former trial, this evidence would not be extorted 
 from me. I was wakened early that morning by 
 the sound of two persons quarrelling, on the stairs, 
 and then up in the attic. Such contention was not 
 infrequent in the house, and I was weary of it. As 
 I did not care to hear the matter threshed out at 
 the breakfast table, I hurried to town for the sake 
 of my own personal comfort." 
 
 " That will do, Mr. Breen," said Strain peremp 
 torily; and Adolph started eagerly from the stand; 
 but his counsel restrained him.
 
 436 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Wait a moment," Mr. Carrington directed. 
 " Your sensibility is both natural and admirable, 
 but it must give way to the cause of justice. Who 
 were these two persons who were quarrelling 
 that is, if you knew by the sound of their voices? " 
 
 " I knew only too well. They were my little 
 cousin Edith Breen and this plaintiff." 
 
 " Do you know what time it was? " 
 
 " It was shortly after daybreak. The house was 
 very still. I do not think any other person in it was 
 awake." 
 
 " That is all," said Mr. Carrington. 
 
 " Do I understand, Mr. Breen," rasped Strain's 
 strident voice, " that you refrained from mentioning 
 this circumstance at the last trial, and hesitated 
 about mentioning it now, out of a feeling of con 
 sideration for the plaintiff? " 
 
 " Yes ; I could not forget that we were brought 
 up together, and that I was taught to love him as 
 a cousin." 
 
 " Exactly. Then will you kindly tell me how you 
 reconcile such amiable consideration with your con 
 duct on the night of his recapture, when you urged 
 me by every worldly inducement to let him rot in 
 prison, although I had just explained to you his true 
 parentage; and passionately declared that, above 
 and beyond every other reason, you abhorred him? " 
 
 " If you refer," Adolph answered calmly, leaning
 
 STORY OF THE WITNESSES 437 
 
 forward to make his statement the more emphatic, 
 " if you refer, as you must, to the occasion when 
 you admitted that you were going to pardon your 
 son, because you considered that there would then 
 be a good speculative chance of recovering Neil 
 Breen's inheritance for him, I deny that I ever said 
 or thought any such thing." And, as John Strain 
 gave an impatient gesture of dismissal, he stepped 
 from the stand, outwardly impassive, but exulting 
 inwardly over the successful execution of his secret 
 plans. 
 
 " We rest our case," announced Mr. Carrington ; 
 " that is our defence." 
 
 " Then," said the Judge, " since it is. about the 
 regular time, we will take a recess until three o'clock 
 this afternoon." 
 
 John Strain welcomed this truce. Indeed, if the 
 Judge had not granted it voluntarily, he himself 
 would have insisted upon it. He hurriedly bundled 
 his papers into a green bag, and then glanced over 
 the Court-room. " Come here," he called to Tan- 
 credi ; and led the way into a consultation-room. 
 
 " Things are going badly," he declared, when 
 they were alone. " Adolph Breen made a good im 
 pression, and managed to strengthen his side. We 
 know he lied, of course ; but what difference does 
 that make, when the Jury respect him, yes, and as 
 I can see, sympathize with him. Oh, I blame my-
 
 438 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 self, I can't blame myself too strongly, for letting 
 him draw me by the nose against my better judg 
 ment. I was too anxious ; it is the old story, a man 
 who tries a case in which he is personally interested 
 has a fool for a client. But this is no time for post 
 mortems, and I have no use for them anyway. Our 
 fatal defect, after all, lies in Paul's brain. What 
 is the use of building up pretty structures of cir 
 cumstantial evidence as long as he is unable to ac 
 count for the gap between his past and present 
 memories? Why, isn't it natural for the jury to 
 say, in the light of all the evidence, that he did com 
 mit the murder, even though they are convinced that 
 he does not remember anything about it? The one 
 vital, essential element of our success, then, is the 
 restoration of his memory. I have appreciated this 
 all along, and again and again a desperate, yet pos 
 sible remedy, as a last resort, has occurred to me. 
 Listen, now you're a scientific man, a student of 
 psychology and tell me what you think. By 
 God, if there's a living show, I'll take it ! 
 
 " My theory is that Paul was injured in some 
 way while busy with the last experiment in his note 
 book. Suppose we recreate the situation at that 
 very moment ? Suppose, on the theory of the asso 
 ciation of ideas, we have him as a witness, in open 
 court, do those very things what then ? " 
 
 " I have heard of such a thing," Tancredi an-
 
 STORY OF THE WITNESSES 439 
 
 swered slowly; "but in this case there might be 
 serious danger in carrying out the experiment. 
 Paul Breen was no parlor scientist he handled 
 strong forces. There may be an accident " 
 
 " What, if that formula is executed accurately? " 
 
 " No ; I should say if done accurately it could be 
 done with perfect safety. But the slightest slip " 
 
 " So much the better," cried Strain ; " then I can 
 assure the Court that the thing can be done with 
 perfect safety. As for the slightest slip, that's just 
 what I am looking for. I believe that he made one, 
 then ; I hope that he may make one, now." 
 
 " It might be a dangerous accident," Tancredi 
 warned. 
 
 "How dangerous? what will be the radius of 
 danger? Can you tell that? Are there fumes that 
 will stupefy the court-room? Will there be a roof- 
 raising explosion? You have examined the data. 
 You ought to know what are the possibilities. Tell 
 me, then." 
 
 " I should say there are possibilities of a slight 
 explosion. If Paul makes a mishap in his experi 
 ment, he may be shaken somewhat not enough, 
 I should say, to injure him permanently. And cer 
 tainly those a few feet distant would be safe. I 
 shouldn't hesitate to take my chances with him. 
 Such risks are often assumed in laboratory work. 
 But suppose there is an explosion what then ? "
 
 440 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 " Why, I hope that the very convulsion which 
 brought his memory to a stoppage may set it going 
 again. Isn't that possible ? " 
 
 " Possible ? Yes. Probable ? No. There may 
 be one chance in a thousand." 
 
 " And, without that chance, he hasn't one chance 
 in a million of success. We must take it." 
 
 " It is Paul who will take it," objected Tancredi, 
 " and at a very serious risk." 
 
 " He invites it. He has assured me that he would 
 gladly risk his life for vindication. My God, man; 
 why shouldn't he? Think of all he has at stake. 
 Think of the hopeless future if he now loses." 
 
 "How about the legal question?" Tancredi 
 asked. " Can you get permission ? " 
 
 " I think so," the lawyer answered. " Our adver 
 saries are over-confident. They will give us free 
 scope. I'll invent a theory within the precedents, 
 never fear, if you can get together the material for 
 the experiment. Can you do that ? " 
 
 " Yes; give me a little time an hour will do 
 and I will bring the necessary apparatus " 
 
 " Go ahead then," interrupted John Strain vehe 
 mently. " Do your part ; I will do mine, and Paul 
 will do his. A chance in a thousand is enough, since 
 justice is on our side."
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 A CHANCE IN A THOUSAND 
 
 PAUL BREEN walked up and down the corridors 
 of the Court House during recess, attended and pro 
 tected by gloom. The evidence of the morning 
 had been a revelation of hopelessness to him; for, 
 up to the 'beginning of the trial, he had kept faith 
 in his heart that the heavens themselves would fall 
 if necessary in order that justice should be done. 
 Now, he had such illusions ; he saw himself as 
 others saw him, defiled, indelibly defiled. The con 
 sciousness of irihocence gave him no consolation ; 
 that was an old story, while this was a new hurt. 
 Does a wound pain the less because it is undeserved 
 especially a wound in the heart ? 
 
 He saw John Strain swinging up the stairway, 
 burly, aggressive, bovine ; a pile of law books under 
 one arm, a green bag, stuffed with papers, in his 
 other hand, his broad shoulders shrugging as if 
 eager to be jostled. " Father," the young man 
 cried. 
 
 The Governor stopped short at this unwonted 
 441
 
 442 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 salutation, the fierce light of his eyes softening with 
 tenderness. " Well, my boy," he replied. 
 
 " It isn't well," Paul retorted. " I am scourged, 
 condemned, crucified, for a second time. Oh, I 
 don't blame you you are doing all you can ; I 
 blame fate, I blame life. I am accursed, accursed, 
 from the hour of my birth " 
 
 " Paul, Paul, that hurts me far more than it can 
 hurt you." 
 
 " But, outcast, accursed thing that I am," Paul 
 went on impetuously, his mind dwelling, as often 
 happens in time of mental distress, not on the great 
 est but the most important and recent of his ills, 
 " I'll not permit it any longer to be said that this 
 trial is nothing but a strike, an extortion, an attempt 
 at robbery under color of law. I'll wash my hands 
 of any interest in the Breen estate; I'll renounce 
 my poor rights before the whole court rather 
 than " 
 
 " It won't be necessary," said John Strain gently, 
 " I'll fix that all right for you. I was just thinking 
 that some such shot might take a little of the fog 
 from the air. But there's another thing, Paul. 
 This fight is neither lost nor won as yet. Before the 
 finish, as I have hinted, I may have to put you in 
 jeopardy of your life. If I do, Paul; if I do do 
 you forgive me? " 
 
 " Forgive you ? Why, it is the one favor I have
 
 A CHANCE IN A THOUSAND 443 
 
 entreated you to grant. Give me the chance to dare 
 and to do at any cost. Forgive you? I bless 
 you." 
 
 " You don't understand, Paul," persisted the 
 Governor, strangely shaken. " If I do this, it may 
 be too late for me to ask you as now do you for 
 give me ? " 
 
 " God knows I do, father," Paul responded, com 
 prehending and compassionating. 
 
 John Strain lost no time in opening his case. 
 Hardly had the Crier rapped on the desk and pro 
 claimed " The Court will be in order," than he was 
 on his feet, pushing his head forward in rude salu 
 tation, and uttering the perfunctory words " May 
 it please the Court; Gentlemen of the Jury," in 
 those rasping tones which so often before had 
 changed premature triumph into consternation by 
 their inherent and vital force. 
 
 His manner, however, was moderate enough. 
 He didn't propose, he said, that the issue should 
 be clouded longer by the false claim, so persistently 
 urged by the defence, that this suit was brought to 
 rob Adolph Breen of his lawful inheritance. The 
 rightful title of the Breen estate, it was true, was 
 an essential element of the case ; but the real issue 
 was the innocence or guilt of the plaintiff. He, 
 therefore, begged to file with the Court the plain 
 tiff's stipulation, signed also by himself, that, in the
 
 444 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 event of recovery, every dollar should be devoted 
 to public or charitable uses. 
 
 " We object, your Honor," Mr. Carrington ex 
 claimed ; " any such document is utterly irrelevant, 
 raising a false presumption 
 
 " You're too late," Strain chuckled, as the Judge 
 shook his head doubtfully. " We don't care a rap 
 whether it is received or not. The deed is executed, 
 done functus officio, in a word just as you 
 are." 
 
 "Strain and Justice," . sneered Adolph. 
 
 " Yes, Strain and Justice," the Governor thun 
 dered back ; " and do you beware, young man, lest 
 you be crushed by the weight of that combination, 
 which at last has been fairly and squarely made. 
 The hour is approaching when Justice, through her 
 agent Strain, shall expose your foul, malign con 
 spiracy where, then, will be your quips and 
 sneers? Look on this picture, gentlemen, and then 
 on that; on him who has filched and withheld, and 
 on him who would have generously shared and now 
 disdainfully repudiates and say which one is the 
 villain and which one, the victim ! " 
 
 Having sent these words home vociferously, de 
 spite impassioned objections, John Strain resumed 
 his normal tones, and outlined briefly his case. He 
 told of Soci'ty's meeting with Edith, and the provi 
 dential pawning of the note-book in the child's
 
 A CHANCE IN A THOUSAND 445 
 
 peculiar nickname. He admitted frankly the wit 
 ness's lack of character, but asserted that the cor- 
 roboration was complete and that Truth was no 
 respecter of persons. 
 
 " Having proved, then, Gentlemen," he concluded, 
 " that Edith Breen was alive and well, hours after 
 the time when it is claimed her dead body had been 
 shipped in the trunk by the plaintiff, we shall show, 
 as well as it can be shown in the exceptional circum 
 stances of the case, just what were plaintiff's pur 
 suits and purposes at this crisis of his life. It is 
 well known to you all, and the fact has already been 
 attributed falsely by the defence to a base cause, 
 that the plaintiff has suffered serious mental im 
 pairment. The sight of the note-book, which be 
 longed to him, has already stimulated his memory 
 to a degree ; but we hope to still further refresh it 
 by the association of other objects with which he 
 was also then familiar. This association, too, will 
 be corroborative in a w r ay. For instance, he claims 
 he can translate and materialize the hieroglyphics 
 with which, as you see, this note-book is filled. 
 Now, should he succeed in carrying out their mean 
 ing in your presence, it having been shown that 
 the book has been withheld from him and that he 
 has had no chance before to experiment, why, then 
 we may fairly argue that his reviving memory is 
 reliable. How far this refreshing process will work,
 
 446 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 which, as the Court will advise you, is a procedure 
 legally sound through a hundred years of prece 
 dents, we do not know. That rests with God, who 
 can restore even as he has taken away, and whose 
 aid you have invoked in rendering your verdict. 
 But, we believe we shall show that the plaintiff, so 
 far from having any thought or concern about Edith 
 Breen at this time, to say nothing of plotting mur 
 derously against her, was engrossed body and soul 
 over investigations which might have proved, and 
 may yet prove, in the dawning of better days, a 
 blessing to mankind. What we want is truth; and 
 we shall use every means in our power, under the 
 law and his Honor's learned rulings, to establish it." 
 
 " Let him go ahead," whispered Mr. Carrington 
 to his client. " The more rope Paul Breen has, the 
 more surely he will hang himself. I have some 
 smattering of scientific knowledge, and I believe 
 that I shall be able to show on cross-examination 
 that his experimenting was the pretence you claim 
 it was, designed to veil his desperate schemings to 
 get possession of the estate." 
 
 " Perhaps so," replied Adolph uneasily, as he 
 realized that he was caught between the horns of 
 a dilemma. 
 
 The plaintiff's case proceeded expeditiously, 
 though somewhat tamely, until Daniel Mattice, alias 
 Soci'ty Dan, was called to the stand, when an
 
 A CHANCE IN A THOUSAND 447 
 
 amused ripple stirred the audience. And, indeed, 
 there was, at first sight, something comical in the 
 contrast between his shrewd, droll face, and the way 
 he shrank back in the chair, as if striving to make 
 himself as small as possible; though his similitude 
 to a hunted beast at bay might have occurred pain 
 fully to a discriminating mind. 
 
 There was sharp objection at once by the defence 
 to his testifying on the ground of the witness's 
 notorious disability, for the purpose, of course, of 
 making the equally notorious fact of his pardon by 
 Governor Strain a matter of record. When his 
 legal rehabilitation had been shown, Soci'ty told 
 his story simply and well, though he doubtless had 
 private reasons of his own for feeling ill at ease. 
 
 Mr. Carrington wasted little time over cross- 
 examination. 
 
 "How many times have you been convicted?" 
 he asked. 
 
 " I kinder disremimber, sir," Soci'ty answered. 
 " A score or more mayhap, not countin' the drunk- 
 and-disord'lies." 
 
 " Not important enough to impress your memory, 
 hey?" 
 
 " It was me pusson, sir, thet was impressed rad- 
 der than me mem'ry." 
 
 " Exactly ; now you met the plaintiff in prison ? " 
 
 " Yessir; we wore bot' doin' time; fulfillin' the
 
 448 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 law, you might say, while odders, far wuss, was 
 filled full of the profits." 
 
 " And he told you his story there ? " 
 
 " Yessir ; he told me all about the snide game thet 
 had been worked on him." 
 
 " And then you made affidavit to some of the 
 statements to which you have just testified ? " 
 
 " I tuk me oat' for sure, sir." 
 
 " And, when his application for pardon failed, 
 you aided plaintiff to escape, and diverted the detec 
 tives from recapturing him at your own expense? " 
 
 " I did give 'em the double-cross for a fac' ; but 
 the old poppy-guys, whose clothes we prigged, stud 
 the expinse." 
 
 " And you did all this for a stranger without hope 
 or promise of reward ? " 
 
 " Joe and Jake, the State guns, copped the re 
 ward, sir." 
 
 " Do you know the nature of an oath ? " 
 
 " Well, I guess ! It's straight goods, without 
 nothin' up me sleeve, s'help me ! " 
 
 " That will do," concluded Mr. Carrington, with 
 a shrug of the shoulders, and a meaning glance 
 toward the jury. 
 
 Poor Soci'ty! No wonder that the. recollection 
 of divers offences, ancient and recent, still unre 
 quited, had perturbed him. As he stepped gingerly 
 from the stand an officer in plain clothes tapped him
 
 A CHANCE IN A THOUSAND 449 
 
 on the shoulder, at the same time extending a war 
 rant of arrest for larceny. This stroke had been ar 
 ranged by Adolph, and its effects were manifest in 
 the way the jury drew together and nodded their 
 heads; though Mr. Carrington, whose ability and 
 character alike constrained him to avoid unprofes 
 sional tricks, pursed his lips disapprovingly. 
 
 " I only call attention to this flagrant breach of 
 the rights of a witness, your Honor," said John 
 Strain, " as an illustration of the desperate tactics 
 to which the defence has been forced to resort." 
 
 " Rights be damned," shouted Soci'ty, his auda 
 cious self again, now that the apprehended bolt had 
 fallen. " The unly rights an old lag like me has is 
 wrongs. Thet for your Coorts ; and thet for your 
 patter about Christun refarm ! " And he made a 
 gesture of defiance, more forcible than seemly, as he 
 was led away. 
 
 " Constance Sanderson," John Strain announced ; 
 and, as he conducted the girl gallantly to the stand, 
 the court-room was again stirred, but this time with 
 admiration for her lovely presence and calm, gra 
 cious bearing. Adolph leaned forward, staring 
 avidly, fiercely; while Paul, his lips white and set, 
 bowed his head, hiding with his hand the bewilder 
 ment and pain of his eyes. 
 
 There was the hush of expectancy as Constance, 
 in a natural, conversational way, told of her friend-
 
 ship with Edith, and how the child had delighted to 
 call herself in her home by the fanciful nickname of 
 " Ed Flyaway." The incident was so simple, and 
 yet so far-reaching, even as mighty machinery may 
 be set in motion by the touch of a tiny finger, that, 
 as she concluded, there was a general sigh of satis 
 faction. Again the jurymen drew together and 
 whispered and settled back; while Mr. Carrington 
 looked worried as he rose to cross-examine. 
 
 Nothing, however, could be more courteous and 
 considerate than his address. " You will pardon 
 me, my dear young lady," he began, "if my duty 
 compels me to ask you some very personal ques 
 tions." And Constance smiled assent. 
 
 " Very well, then ; you have known plaintiff for 
 many years, and are deeply interested in the success 
 of his cause ? " 
 
 " Yes, sir; yes, sir; " Constance answered bravely. 
 
 " Please explain to the jury just how close and 
 intimate are your relations with him ? " 
 
 " We are engaged to be married." 
 
 "You love him?" 
 
 " I do, I do ; most dearly." 
 
 " And because you love him, you believe him to 
 be innocent? " 
 
 " Because I know him, I love him ; and that 
 knowledge assures me of his innocence." 
 
 Mr. Carrington smiled indulgently, as, with a bow
 
 A CHANCE IN A THOUSAND 451 
 
 and a wave of the hand, he dismissed the witness. 
 " There spoke the heart, not the mind, gentlemen," 
 he said, turning to the jury. 
 
 " And where else should we look for truth," de 
 manded John Strain, " than in the pure heart of a 
 good woman ? " 
 
 " It's a pity you didn't look for it there some 
 ysars ago," Adolph murmured audibly. 
 
 With head proudly erect, and eyes undaunted, 
 Constance moved up the aisle to her chair. Only, 
 as she passed Paul, her hand trembled, as if she 
 would stroke his bowed head. But Paul did not 
 respond to the subtle magic of her emotions; he 
 was not even aware of her proximity. As in a 
 dream, he had listened to her evidence, and alone of 
 all the audience had remained incredulous. Con 
 stance love him ; they engaged to be married ? Im 
 possible. Why should she love him, then, and w r hen 
 had they become engaged ? In that time of waking, 
 which he could not remember; in that life of activ 
 ity and light, before he had withered into a shade 
 among shades, a vision of the night, uncertain of 
 all things, but most of all of himself? Perhaps so, 
 perhaps so; but, if so, what difference could it 
 make ? It was the old Paul Breen whom she loved ; 
 it was the old Paul Breen to whom she was en 
 gaged ; not his ghost, not his ghost. He must keep 
 himself remote, he must flee to the uttermost parts
 
 452 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 of the earth, lest that fond, innocent heart should be 
 chilled with the horror of discovering what he really 
 was, and how he really felt. 
 
 From such wild, incoherent musings as these Paul 
 was roused by the sound of his own name. " Paul 
 Breen, Paul Breen. The plaintiff will take the 
 stand," the old Crier kept repeating. It was the 
 trumpet call to battle; it was the supreme moment 
 of test for which he had prayed. With every nerve 
 and muscle tense with resolution, in some way, he 
 knew not how, to redeem, to restore himself, Paul 
 obeyed. 
 
 "Do you remember the day in question ?" John 
 Strain asked after a little, referring to the date of 
 Edith's death. 
 
 "I do; that is, parts of it," Paul answered. 
 
 "Why not all of it?" 
 
 " My memory is defective ; I do not know from 
 what cause." 
 
 " Have you ever seen this note-book before? " 
 
 " Yes ; it was mine ; I was using it constantly 
 about that time; I was using it that very day." 
 
 " What were you doing ? " 
 
 " I don't know ; but I believe the book would aid 
 me in knowing." 
 
 " When did you see it last? " 
 
 " About six months ago, when you showed it to 
 me."
 
 A CHANCE IN A THOUSAND 453 
 
 " Well, what occurred then ? " 
 
 " You asked me if I could read the cipher. I 
 said yes; that I believed I could not only read it 
 but could do what it directed. You wouldn't let me 
 try, and I haven't seen it since." 
 
 " Examine the book. Are the writings and sym 
 bols in your hand and made by you? " 
 
 " Yes, every one of them." 
 
 " Well, read them. Tell us what they mean." 
 
 " This is a record of some experiment in physical 
 science that I was making," Paul said slowly, like 
 one translating a foreign tongue. " As I read, the 
 memory comes back to me that I was intensely in 
 terested in my work; I believed that I had discov 
 ered something of inestimable benefit to mankind. 
 I don't know what it was; but here is the last for 
 mula I made, calling for an electrical motor, retorts, 
 flasks, tubes, the following acids " And, as Paul 
 enumerated the articles, Tancredi, sitting near-by, 
 jotted down the list and then nodded intelligently to 
 Strain. 
 
 " Your Honor," the Governor explained, " I have 
 already provided some of the paraphernalia in use by 
 physicists, and it so happens that the very things 
 required are at hand. I propose, then, to have them 
 placed on this table, and give the witness the chance 
 to refresh and verify his memory. I am advised by 
 a competent authority that the execution of this for-
 
 454 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 mula can be made without danger, and you will 
 readily see " 
 
 " Hold on there," Mr. Carrington interrupted, 
 rather perfunctorily. " We shall have to object I 
 suppose; though mainly because it is a waste of 
 time. We have no fear that this intelligent jury 
 could be taken in by such hocus-pocus." 
 
 " Let me lay the foundation fully for my offer, 
 then," Strain rejoined. " Now, Mr. Breen, what 
 effect do you think it will have upon you mentally 
 to carry out these notes? " 
 
 " I believe, I feel, I know," Paul answered pas 
 sionately, " that it will cause me to remember ; that 
 it will restore to my mind what is now a blank, my 
 actions on that fatal morning; that it will enable 
 me to disprove this horrible charge, to set myself 
 right before men 
 
 " There it is, your Honor," said Strain, clinching 
 the point ; " we offer to put our witness to this test, 
 having scrupulously refrained from trying it before 
 now, for the double purpose of refreshing his mem 
 ory, and of strengthening what he has already re 
 membered. If there is any serious question of our 
 right, which, in any event, would not be raised ex 
 cept by those afraid of the truth, I propose to estab 
 lish my position by a long line of authorities, taken 
 from the highest courts of this country, Great 
 Britain, and under the Roman Code. If one of the
 
 A CHANCE IN A THOUSAND 455 
 
 bailiffs will kindly bring these volumes from the 
 library " 
 
 " Oh, Lord," Mr. Carrington exclaimed pettishly, 
 " if Brother Strain is going to cite cases, we'll never 
 get through. In the interest of a sane brevity, your 
 Honor, I withdraw my objection. But, out of or 
 dinary humanity, I desire to warn this immaculate 
 plaintiff that his precious discovery, if anything, is 
 likely to prove a boomerang. I never did like to 
 help even the worst criminal to convict himself." 
 
 " Humph ! " growled John Strain. " Then you 
 ought to stop practising law." 
 
 Even while argument was pending, Tancredi had 
 arranged the apparatus on the table. At a nod from 
 the Judge, Paul now stepped from the stand, and 
 began his manipulations. There was something in 
 his movements, deliberate, automatic, that bore a 
 similarity to a somnambulist working in the dark 
 something mysterious, uncanny, that quickened the 
 pulse and bated the breath and brought the silence 
 of suspense brooding solemnly over the court-room. 
 
 From her chair, far back on the centre aisle, Con 
 stance Sanderson watched the experiment with the 
 torturing intentness that waits upon a crisis in dis 
 ease. John Strain, leaning against the rail, folded 
 his arms and compressed his lips with the grim 
 resolution of one who knows but accepts a desperate 
 chance. Tancredi's bright eyes twinkled with in-
 
 456 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 creasing wonder and admiration as he followed 
 Paul's deft hand; and yet his cheeks paled as he 
 foresaw what a slight mishap might bring about. 
 Mr. Carrington, laboriously contemptuous and in 
 different, still showed something of the apprehension 
 of a skeptic at strange rites. The jury bent forward 
 as one man, fully prepared, in their dull, self-satis 
 fied sapiency, to estimate justly any occult demon 
 stration. 
 
 , But the one, above all others, the most interested, 
 the most agitated, was cool, resourceful Adolph 
 Breen. He alone knew from Edith's parting words 
 what was likely to happen; and yet, if he protested, 
 what explanation could he give, since the only ex 
 planation credible was confession? Like many 
 another of adroit, fertile mind, he was physically a 
 coward, timorous of natural forces, apprehensive of 
 pain, faint and weak-hearted at the very thought 
 of blood. Gradually, primeval fear overmastered 
 him. He sprang forward, crying : " Stop him ; 
 he is mad ; he will kill us all ! " 
 
 As Adolph thus rushed upon Paul, a tube of acid 
 in the latter's hand slipped and broke. There was 
 an explosion, dull, heavy, but extremely limited in 
 scope. When the smoke lifted, the two young men, 
 separated by such deadly antagonisms, lay side by 
 side, ghastly and bleeding. 
 
 For a moment panic raged in the court-room,
 
 A CHANCE IN A THOUSAND 457 
 
 with the jury swarming over the back of their box, 
 and the audience upsetting benches and chairs and 
 trampling on the feeble in a mad flight for safety. 
 Then the sharp raps of the Judge's gavel, the deter 
 mined resistance of the bailiffs and the exhortations 
 and assurances of the lawyers that all possible dan 
 ger had dissipated, brought about a shame-faced 
 return; and decorous order again prevailed. 
 
 Constance Sanderson, in her unselfish devotion, 
 had sprung forward, resolved to share Paul's fate, 
 whatever it might be; but, seeing him struggling 
 to his feet, a weird, awakening expression spread 
 ing over his face, she sank back again into her chair, 
 her hand pressed tightly over her wildly throbbing 
 heart. 
 
 Tancredi, with a physician's keen eye, had at once 
 perceived which one of the tw r o young men was the 
 more grievously hurt. Instantly he was at Adolph's 
 side, forgetting, in the demands of duty, the claims 
 of friendship. " This man is dying," he cried to 
 the court-officers. " Cover him up and bear him 
 into the next room." 
 
 As the officials bent to their task the court-room 
 was panic-stricken again by fearful screams, sharp, 
 broken at first, then becoming more articulate. 
 " Stop, stop ! " came the unearthly cry from under 
 a rug hastily thrown over something too shattered, 
 top mutilated, for human sight ; and those who were
 
 458 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 bearing Adolph away were constrained to obey. " I 
 am justly punished," the voice went on, gaining 
 in awful intensity as it lost in volume. " I encour 
 aged Edith to run away that morning; she hid in 
 the freight-car, and was killed by the collision. I 
 envied the fortune I hated Paul. Constance, I 
 love you forgive ' 
 
 The screams ended in a gasp. Once more the 
 men hastened with their abhorrent task; but now, 
 no voice, enthralling through agony, halted them. 
 No, no; silence attended that poor thing that had 
 been Adolph Breen, as it was borne away, that 
 merciful silence which spares the dead, when to 
 speak is to condemn. 
 
 Meanwhile, Paul remained standing as he had 
 risen an impressive figure, with arms out 
 stretched, chest exposed, face uplifted ; oblivious of 
 the present as he was receptive to the light of the 
 past. John Strain, with forceful gesture, at once 
 held off the officious, and compelled silence and 
 stillness. 
 
 The glow of intelligence on Paul's face, from 
 growing in intense inquiry, changed suddenly into 
 a look of acute alarm. " Edith, Edith," he cried 
 loudly; " Keep away, get back for God's sake, or 
 you'll be hurt! " 
 
 Judge, jury, lawyers, spectators, all yielded now 
 to a more supine attention than they had accorded
 
 "'GET BACK FOR GOD'S SAKE, OR YOU'LL BE HURT!'"
 
 460 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 pened ! I remember Oh, God be thanked I 
 remember and feel my love for you ; I remember and 
 bless your love for me ! " 
 
 Again there was tumult in the court-room, 
 though now it was the outburst of joy, not the 
 frenzy of panic. But Paul heeded not sign nor 
 sound the outstretched hand, the hearty congrat 
 ulation. Brushing aside those who thronged to do 
 him honor, he darted up the aisle to where Con 
 stance sat, radiant amid her tears. 
 
 The cheering grew more and more vociferous as 
 the jury, standing in the box, acclaimed a verdict 
 for the plaintiff, as John Strain and Mr. Carrington 
 clasped hands with the good feeling of worthy foe- 
 men, as his Honor himself sprang from the Bench 
 and joined in the general rejoicing. But, irrepres 
 sible and exuberant as was this manifestation of 
 human delight in the triumph of Justice, it respected, 
 it kept aloof from the sacred spot where Paul Breen 
 knelt beside Constance Sanderson, his soul gaining 
 security of happiness from the benediction of her 
 pure eyes. 
 
 THE END.
 
 From 
 
 L. C. Page & Company's 
 
 Announcement List 
 
 of New Fiction 
 
 THE STORY GIRL 
 
 By L. M. MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Cloth, 12ino, illustrated, decorative jacket . . $1.50 
 
 To quote from one of our editor's reports on the new Mont 
 gomery book " Miss Montgomery has decidedly arrived in this 
 story! " The remarkable success of her delightful ANNE books 
 and of the charming " Kilmeny of the Orchard " has established 
 her as one of America's leading authors a writer of books 
 which touch the heart, uplift the spirit, and leave an imprint of 
 lasting sweetness on the memory. But in " The Story Girl," 
 everywhere the touch of the finished artist is evident a smooth 
 ness and polish which heightens the unusual style of a gifted 
 author. 
 
 The environment is again the author's beloved Prince Edward 
 Island and the story and incidents possess the same simplicity 
 and charm which characterize Miss Montgomery's earlier books. 
 The Story Girl, herself Sara Stanley is a fascinating 
 creature, and will delight and thrill her readers with her weird 
 tales of ghosts " and things." She tells in wondrous voice of 
 " The Mystery of the Golden Milestone," " How Kissing Was 
 Discovered," and of just how the Milky Way happened into the 
 heavens. She will make you feel the spell of the old orchard 
 where she and her playmates spend such happy days, and with 
 Felix, Dan and Beverly you will live again with her the " trage 
 dies of childhood." 
 
 Of Miss Montgomery's previous books, the reviewers have 
 written as follows: 
 
 " The art which pervades every page is so refined that the cul 
 tivated imagination will return to the story again and again in 
 memory to find always something fresh to enjoy." Toronto 
 World. 
 
 " Miss Montgomery has attained an honored place among the 
 worth-while writers of fiction." Beacon and Budget. 
 
 " Miss Montgomery has a sympathetic knowledge of human 
 nature, joined to high ideals, a reasonably romantic view point 
 and a distinct gift of description." Chicago Record-Herald.
 
 L. C. PAGE & COMPANY'S 
 
 A CAPTAIN OF RALEIGH'S 
 
 By G. E. THEODORE ROBERTS, author of " A Cavalier of Vir 
 ginia," " Comrades of the Trails," " Red Feathers," etc. 
 Cloth, 12mo, illustrated, decorative jacket 
 
 Net $1.25 (carriage, 13c. extra) 
 
 A typical Roberts romance dashing and brisk with the 
 scenes for the most part laid in the infant colony of Newfound 
 land, at the time when Sir Walter Raleigh and other famous 
 captains swept the seas for England. Sir Walter is one of the 
 characters in the romance but the chief interest centres about one 
 of his officers, Captain John Percy. 
 
 Elizabeth Duwaney, the heroine, is beautiful and vivacious 
 enough to quite turn the heads of the several gallant gentlemen 
 who struggle for her hand, and to keep the reader guessing until 
 the very last page as to which suitor will find favor in her eyes. 
 Unusual and unexpected situations in the plot are handled skil 
 fully and you close the book agreeing with our editor that " Mr. 
 Roberts has given us another capital yarn! " 
 
 " Mr. Roberts has undoubted skill in portraying character 
 and carrying events along to a satisfactory conclusion." 
 The Smart Set. 
 
 " One can always predict of a book by Mr. Roberts that it 
 will be interesting. One can go further and predict that the book 
 will be fascinating, exciting and thrilling." Boston Globe. 
 
 A SOLDIER OF VALLEY FORGE 
 
 By ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS, author of " An Enemy to the 
 King," " Philip Winwood," etc., and G. E. THEODORE 
 ROBERTS, author of " Hemming, the Adventurer," " Red 
 Feathers," etc. 
 
 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated .... $1.50 
 The many admirers of the brilliant historical romances of the 
 late Robert Neilson Stephens will be gratified at the announce 
 ment of a posthumous work by that gifted writer. The rough 
 draft of the story was laid aside for other work, and later, with 
 out completing the novel, the plot was utilized for a play. With 
 the play completed Mr. Stephens again turned his attention to 
 the novel, but death prevented its completion. Mr. Roberts has 
 handled his difficult task of completing the work with care and 
 skill. 
 
 The story, ^ke that of " The Continental Dragoon," takes as 
 its theme an incident in the Revolution, and, as in the earlier 
 novel, the scene is the " debatable ground " north of New York. 
 In interest of plot and originality of development it is as re 
 markable as the earlier work, but it is more mature, more force 
 ful, more real.
 
 LIST OF NEW FICTION 
 
 THE DILEMMA OF ENGELTIE 
 
 By EMMA RAYNER, author of " Free to Serve," etc. 
 
 Cloth, 12mo, illustrated. Net $1.35 (carriage, 12c. extra) 
 
 Given a wedding irrevocably decreed, the date of the actual 
 ceremony somewhere on the limits of a fortnight ahead; given 
 a bride but not a groom, a maid of the old Dutch New York days, 
 pretty enough to turn men's heads for her beauty alone, well 
 dowered enough to be one of the prizes of the decade; the wedding 
 festivities, merrymakings these Dutch colonial worthies loved 
 to give to prospective brides and grooms, in full swing; half a 
 dozen young Dutchmen with hands outstretched ready to grasp 
 the prize and reciprocate the maiden's vows would she but nod 
 their way; the wedding itself as sure as fate or death; the bride 
 upon the scene, receiving the honors of the occasion alone; 
 the bridegroom an unknown quantity; the clays racing by in 
 mirth and festivity and the wedding daily drawing nearer; 
 problem find the bridegroom ! 
 
 The setting for this unusual situation is quaint New Nether 
 lands, in 1702, shortly after England had succeeded in wresting 
 from Holland her prosperous colony in the New World. The 
 sharp contrast between the primitive conditions of the neigh 
 boring settlements and the comparative luxury of the town is 
 well portrayed, and forms an everchanging background to a 
 tale of unusual excellence both in the conception and in the 
 development of its novel plot. 
 
 New edition (Tenth Printing) of 
 FREE TO SERVE 
 
 By EMMA RAYNER. The novel that made the author famous. 
 
 Cloth, 12mo, with a frontispiece in full color by George Gibbs. 
 
 $1.50 
 
 " After reading Emma Rayner's tale of Colonial New York, 
 ' Free to Serve,' what has impressed one the most is its vividness 
 of atmosphere. The spirit of the early eighteenth century has 
 been caught to perfection, and transferred to every page. One 
 lives in a picturesque past, and thinks not of the complicated 
 world of to-day, save as the impulses and motives animating 
 human beings are the same now as then." Boston Times. 
 
 " To the charm of a story well conceived and cleverly told is 
 added the interest of characters that until now have been unusual 
 in present-day fiction." New York Press. 
 
 " In ' Free to Serve ' we have a book that rises from out of 
 the dull monotony of mediocrity and amply deserves considera 
 tion." The Philadelphia American.
 
 L. C. PAGE &> COMPANY'S 
 
 THE CHRONICLES OF MADELYN MACK 
 
 By HUGH C. WEIR. 
 
 Cloth, 12mo, illustrated $1.50 
 
 Lovers of rapid action, ingenious situations and excitement 
 will find abundant entertainment in following the adventures 
 and career of Madelyn Mack a veritable wizard at her trade 
 
 the heroine of this clever and straightforward detective novel. 
 Her career is brimful of excitement, one continuous series of 
 adventures, which constitute a tale of swift and dramatic action. 
 Clever in plot and effective in style, the author has seized on 
 some of the most sensational features of modern life, and the 
 reader who has a grain of fancy or imagination may be defied 
 to lay this book down once he has begun it until the last word is 
 reached. 
 
 MISS BILLY 
 
 By ELEANOR H. PORTER. 
 
 Cloth, 12mo, illustrated. Net $1.25 (carriage, 12c. extra) 
 
 " Billy," in this instance, is the name of a very dainty and 
 pretty girl with pink cheeks and a wealth of curly hair and the 
 sweetest of smiles. When you first meet her in the story she is 
 all that her name implies an impulsive, warm-hearted girl of 
 eighteen who quite unknowingly succeeds in completely upsetting 
 the quiet and dignity of the Beacon Street household of the three 
 Henshaw boys, who had hitherto lived an uneventful life in 
 " The Strata," as the old Boston mansion was fittingly termed 
 by Bertram, the youngest of the brothers. But Billy grows up, 
 and almost before she herself realizes it a romance has entered 
 her life one of those charming and refreshing romances which 
 strike a sympathetic chord in the hearts of its readers and bring 
 back fond memories of " the glamour and joys of youth." 
 
 THE RED FOX'S SON 
 
 By EDGAR M. DILLEY. 
 
 Cloth, 12mo. With a frontispiece in color by John Goss $1.50 
 
 Picturesque Bharbazonia a province of the Balkan peninsula 
 
 is the setting for this sparkling " Zenda " novel, which quite 
 surpasses the regulation story of modern mystery and adventure, 
 when the dashing young American goes to the mythical, but 
 interesting Balkan State, and creates havoc in the hearts of the 
 Slavs, himself becoming a slave to the beautiful princess of the 
 country. It is a romance rich in exciting detail, and has glamour, 
 dash, vivacity and spirit of the most pleasing order. In every 
 page of " The Red Fox's Son " the fiction lover will find fascina 
 ting reading.
 
 LIST OF NEW FICTION 
 
 GEORGE THORNE 
 
 By NORVAL RICHARDSON, author of the big Southern novel 
 
 " The Lead of Honour," already in its sixth large printing. 
 
 Frontispiece in full color, decorative jacket, cloth, 12mo. 
 
 Net $1.25 (carriage, 12c. extra) 
 
 Mr. Richardson's new story is striking in thought and treat 
 ment. Taking a man from the rubbish heap of poverty, the 
 author places him in surroundings of wealth and refinement, and 
 then traces the effect of the new influences upon his character. 
 
 Of " The Lead of Honour " the critics have written as follows: 
 
 " ' The Lead of Honour ' cannot but make those who read it 
 better pleased with life and with humanity (the which is much)." 
 Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 " Mr. Richardson has given us a story which is well worth 
 the perusal." Boston Transcript. 
 
 " A story of much more than usual merit. It is seldom that 
 one turns away from a work of fiction with more reluctance to 
 part company with its people and with a greater impetus towards 
 one's own best." Boston Herald. 
 
 " It is rarely that a love story is written in these days that has 
 in it so much of pure and lofty sentiment, of so high ideals and 
 so absorbing in its romance that the reader for the time is lifted 
 out of himself. It is a novel which really stands on a pinnacle 
 as contrasted with much of the current fiction of the day." 
 Springfield Union. 
 
 " Mr. Richardson has an excellent style, a gift of character- 
 drawing and much emotional power." Providence Journal. 
 
 DIONIS OF THE WHITE VEIL 
 
 By CAROLINE BROWN, author of " Knights of Fustian," " On 
 
 the We-A Trail," etc. 
 
 Cloth, 12mo, illustrated, decorative jacket . . . $1.50 
 
 A romance of the early days of the eighteenth century, with 
 the scenes for the most part laid in the region bordering the 
 Mississippi, from Louisiana north towards the Illinois country. 
 
 When the gay and handsome Chevalier Fauchet first sets eyes 
 upon the heroine, Dionis Montfort, she has entered upon her 
 novitiate, and is to take the vows of a nun in less than a week's 
 time. Fauchet, a universal lover, gallant always, serious never, 
 is attracted by the demure and innocent novice, at first because 
 of her beauty; but later when he realizes that it is real affection 
 he feels for the girl, the Chevalier determines that the Church 
 must fight him for her life's devotion. How fate throws the 
 two together, allowing love finally to triumph over the Church, 
 makes a romance remarkable in its consistent and absorbing 
 charm.
 
 L. C. PAGE <Sr COMPANY'S 
 
 THE CASE OF PAUL BREEN 
 
 By ANTHONY TUDOR, LL.B. 
 
 Cloth, 12rno, illustrated by Henry Roth, decorative jacket. 
 
 $1.50 
 
 A positive, strong human novel, the story of an innocent man 
 caught in the legal meshes of circumstantial evidence. The 
 plot is new and its development most striking, while the story 
 is handled throughout in masterly and dignified fashion by a 
 writer whose style is at all times convincing and forceful. He 
 has had the courage to go right to the heart of things, and bare 
 for his readers' gaze the very souls of his characters. It is a 
 powerful work one which will probably be called a " bold 
 novel," and not only is it of intense interest, but it is a story 
 which furnishes much food for thought. 
 
 THE RED-HOT DOLLAR 
 
 By H. D. UMBSTABTTEU. 
 
 Cloth decorative $1.00 
 
 For three reasons this little book will arouse interest. First, 
 because of the stories themselves, next, because their author, 
 H. D. Umbstaetter, is the founder and publisher of The Black 
 Cat, which, to quote the New York Tribune, " has done more for 
 short-story readers and short-story writers than any other 
 periodical," and last, but not least, because of the unique intro 
 duction by Jack London. Only once in a long time do we come 
 across such a unique collection of stories as Mr. Umbstaetter's, 
 containing as it does stories that are clever in conception, well- 
 written and just the right length to be entertaining, and as Mr. 
 London aptly says, stories that are true Black Cat stories. 
 
 The stories, twelve in all, are so absorbingly interesting and so 
 unusual in the realm of fiction, embodying as they do amusing 
 character sketches, tales of humor, pathos, mystery and adven 
 ture, that they will undoubtedly appeal to a large class of readers 
 who are not attracted to the ordinary in fiction.
 
 Selections from 
 L. C. Page and Company's 
 List of Fiction 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS 
 
 Each one vol., library V2,mo, cloth decorative , $1.50 
 
 THE FLIGHT OF GEORGIANA 
 
 A ROMANCE OF THE DAYS OF THE YOUNG PRETENDER. Illus 
 trated by H. C. Edwards. 
 
 " A love-story in the highest degree, a dashing story, and a re 
 markably well finished piece of work." Chicago Record-Herald. 
 
 THE BRIGHT FACE OF DANGER 
 
 Being an account of some adventures of Henri de Launay, son 
 of the Sieur de la Tournoire. Illustrated by H. C. Edwards. 
 " Mr. Stephens has fairly outdone himself. We thank him 
 
 heartily. The story is nothing if not spirited and entertaining, 
 
 rational and convincing." Boston Transcript. 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF MURRAY DAVENPORT 
 
 (40th thousand.) 
 
 " This is easily the best thing that Mr. Stephens has yet done. 
 Those familiar with his other novels can best judge the measure 
 of this praise, which is generous." Buffalo News, 
 
 CAPTAIN &AVENSHAW 
 
 OR, THE MAID OF CHEAPSIDE. (52d thousand.) A romance 
 of Elizabethan London. Illustrations by Howard Pyle and 
 other artists. 
 
 Not since the absorbing adventures of D'Artagnan have we had 
 anything so good in the blended vein of romance and comedy. 
 
 THE CONTINENTAL DRAGOON 
 
 A ROMANCE OF PHILIPSE MANOR HOUSE IN 1778. (53d 
 thousand.) Illustrated by H. C. Edwards. 
 A stirring romance of the Resolution, with its scenes laid on 
 neutral territory.
 
 L. C. PAG*. & COMPANY'S 
 
 PHILIP WINWOOD 
 
 (70th thousand.) A Sketch of the Domestic History of an 
 American Captain in the War of Independence, embracing 
 events that occurred between and during the years 1763 ana 
 1785 in New York and London. Illustrated by E. W. D 
 Hamilton 
 
 AN ENEMY TO THE KING 
 
 (70th thousand.) From the " Recently Discovered Memoir* 
 of the Sieur de la Tournoire." Illustrated by H. De M. Young 
 An historical romance of the sixteenth century, describing the 
 
 adventures of a young French nobleman at the court of Henry 
 
 III., and on the field with Henry IV. 
 
 THE ROAD TO PARIS 
 
 A STORY OP ADVENTURE. (35th thousand.) Illustrated by 
 
 H. C.^Edwards 
 
 An historical romance of the eighteenth century, being an 
 account of the life of an American gentleman adventurer of 
 Jacobite ancestry, 
 
 A GENTLEMAN PLAYER 
 
 His ADVENTURES ON A SECRET MISSION FOR QUEEN ELIZA' 
 BETH. (48th thousand.) Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 
 The story of a young gentleman who joins Shakespeare's com 
 pany of players, and becomes a friend and prot6g6 of the greal 
 poet 
 
 CLEMENTINA'S HIGHWAYMAN 
 
 Cloth decorative, illustrated $1.50 
 
 Mr. Stephens has put into his new book, " Clementina's High 
 wayman," the finest qualities of plot, construction, and literary 
 finish. 
 
 The story is laid in the mid-Georgian period. It is a dashing, 
 sparkling, vivacious comedy, with a heroine as lovely and 
 changeable as an April day, and a hero all ardor and daring. 
 
 TALES FROM BOHEMIA 
 
 Illustrated by Wallace Goldsmith 
 
 Cloth, decorative cover $1.50 
 
 These bright and clever tales deal with people of the theatre 
 and odd characters in other walks of life which fringe on Bohemia
 
 LIST OF FICTION 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS 
 
 HAUNTERS OF THE SILENCES 
 
 Cloth, one volume, with many drawings by Charles Livingston 
 Bull, four of which are in full color . . . . $2.00 
 The stories in Mr. Roberta's new collection are the strongest and 
 best he has ever written. 
 
 He has largely taken for his subjects those animals rarely met 
 with in books, whose lives are spent " In the Silences," where they 
 are the supreme rulers. Mr. Roberts has written of them sympa 
 thetically, as always, but with fine regard for the scientific truth. 
 " As a writer about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an enviable 
 
 and 
 
 e. He is the most literary, as well as the most imaginative 
 vivid of all the nature writers." Brooklyn Eagle, 
 
 RED FOX 
 
 THE STORY OF His ADVENTUROUS CAREER IN THE RINGWAAK 
 WILDS, AND OF His FINAL TRIUMPH OVER THE ENEMIES OF 
 His KIND. With fifty illustrations, including frontispiece in 
 color and cover design by Charles Livingston Bull. 
 
 Square quarto, cloth decorative $2.00 
 
 " True in substance but fascinating as fiction. It will interest 
 old and young, city-bound and free-footed, those who know ani 
 mals and those who do not." Chicago Record-Herald. 
 
 " A brilliant chapter in natural history." Philadelphia North 
 American. 
 
 THE KINDRED OF THE WILD 
 
 A BOOK OF ANIMAL LIFE. With fifty-one full-page plates and 
 many decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston Bull 
 
 Square quarto, decorative cover $2.00 
 
 " Is in many ways the most brilliant collection of animal stories 
 that has appeared; well named and well done." John Bur 
 roughs. 
 
 THE WATCHERS OF THE TRAILS 
 
 A companion volume to " The Kindred of the Wild." Witb 
 forty-eight full-page plates and many decorations from draw 
 ings by Charles Livingston Bull. 
 Square quarto, decorative cover ..... $2.00
 
 L. C. PAGE &* COMPANY'S 
 
 " These stories are exquisite in their refinement, and yet robust 
 in their appreciation of some of the rougher phases of woodcraft. 
 Among the many writers about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an 
 enviable place." The Outlook. 
 
 " This is a book full of delight. An additional charm lies in Mr. 
 Bull's faithful and graphic illustrations, which in fashion all their 
 own tell the story of the wild life, illuminating and supplementing 
 the pen pictures of the author." Literary Digest. 
 
 THE HOUSE IN THE WATER 
 
 With thirty full-page illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull 
 and Frank Vining Smith. Cover design and decorations by 
 Charles Livingston Bull. 
 
 12mo, cloth decorative $1.50 
 
 " Every paragraph is a splendid picture, suggesting in a few 
 
 words the appeal of the vast, illimitable wilderness." Tlv> 
 
 Chicago Tribune. 
 
 THE HEART THAT KNOWS 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover . . . . $1.50 
 
 " A novel of singularly effective strength, luminous in literary 
 
 color, rich in its passionate, yet tender drama." New York Globe. 
 
 EARTH'S ENIGMAS 
 
 A new edition of Mr. Roberts's first volume of fiction, pub 
 lished in 1892, and out of print for several years, with the addi 
 tion of three new stories, and ten illustrations by Charles 
 Livingston Bull. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover .... $1.50 
 " It will rank high among collections of short stories. In 
 ' Earth's Enigmas ' is a wider range of subject than in the ' Kin 
 dred of the Wild.' " Review from advance sheets of the illustrated 
 edition by Tiffany Blak" in the Chicago Evening PosL 
 
 BARBARA LADD 
 
 With four illustrations by Frank Verbeck* 
 Library 12mo, cloth, decorative cover .... $1.50 
 " From the opening chapter to the final page Mr. Roberts lures 
 us on by his rapt devotion to the changing aspects of Nature and 
 by his keen and sympathetic analysis of human character." 
 Boston Transcript.
 
 LIST OF FICTION 
 
 CAMERON OF LOCHIEL 
 
 Translated from the French of Philippe Aubert de Gaspe 1 , with 
 
 frontispiece in color by H. C. Edwards. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative $1.50 
 
 " Professor Roberts deserves the thanks of his reader for giving 
 a wider audience an opportunity to enjoy this striking bit of 
 French Canadian literature." Brooklyn Eagle. 
 
 THE PRISONER OF MADEMOISELLE 
 
 With frontispiece by Frank T. Merrill. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative $1.50 
 
 A tale of Acadia, a land which is the author's heart's delight, 
 
 of a valiant young lieutenant and a winsome maiden, who first 
 
 captures and then captivates. 
 
 THE HEART OF THE ANCIENT WOOD 
 
 With six illustrations by James L. Weston. 
 
 Library 12mo, decorative cover $1.50 
 
 " One of the most fascinating novels of recent days." Boston 
 Journal. 
 
 " A classic twentieth-century romance." New York Commer 
 cial Advertiser. 
 
 THE FORGE IN THE FOREST 
 
 Being the Narrative of the Acadian Ranger, Jean de Mer, 
 Seigneur de Briart, and how he crossed the Black Abbe", and 
 of his adventures in a strange fellowship. Illustrated by Henry 
 Sandham, R. C. A. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative ..... $1.50 
 A story of pure love and heroic adventure. 
 
 BY THE MARSHES OF MINAS 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated *. . $1.50 
 Most of these romances are in the author's lighter and more 
 
 playful vein; each is a unit of absorbing interest and exquisite 
 
 workmanship. 
 
 A SISTER TO EVANGELINE 
 
 Being the Story of Yvonne de Lamourie, and how she went into 
 exile with the villagers of Grand Pre. 
 
 Library 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated . . . $1.50 
 Swift action, fresh atmosphere, wholesome purity, deep pas 
 sion, and searching analysis characterize this strong novel.
 
 L. C. PAGE <5- COMPANY'S 
 
 WORKS OF 
 
 L. M. MONTGOMERY 
 ANNE OF GREEN GABLES 
 
 Illustrated by M. A. and W. A. J. Glaus. 12mo . $1.50 
 " Anne of Green Gables " is beyond question the most popular 
 girl heroine in recent years. Poets, statesmen, humorists, critics, 
 and the great public have lost their hearts to the charming Anne. 
 " Anne of Green Gables " is not a book of a season, to attain a 
 wide popularity for a brief space and sink into oblivion with many 
 another " best seller," but its literary merit is such that it is 
 bound to have a permanent place in literature and continue to 
 increase in popularity with each succeeding season. 
 
 " In ' Anne of Green Gables ' you will find the dearest and most 
 moving and delightful child since the immortal Alice." Mark 
 Twain in a letter to Francis Wilson. 
 
 ANNE OF AVONLEA 
 
 Illustrated by George Gibbs. 12mp . . . . $1.50 
 
 In this volume Anne is as fascinating as ever, and the author 
 has introduced several new characters, including the highly 
 imaginative and charming little boy, Paul Irving, whose quaint 
 sayings will recall to the reader the delightful Anne on her first 
 appearance at Green Gables. 
 
 " Here we have a book as human as ' David Harum,' a heroine 
 who outcharms a dozen princesses of fiction, and reminds you 
 of some sweet girl you know, or knew back in the days when the 
 world was young and you threw away your sponge that you 
 might have to borrow hers to clean your slate." San Francisco 
 Bulletin. 
 
 " A book to hit the spirit and send the pessimist into bank 
 ruptcy! " - Meredith Nicholson. 
 
 KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD 
 
 Illustrated by George Gibbs $1.25 
 
 " ' Kilmeny of the Orchard ' is a book of rare quality, difficult 
 to describe but evident to those who have eyes to see." The 
 Bookshelf. 
 
 " ' Kilmeny of the Orchard ' is a story born in the heart of 
 Arcadia and brimful of the sweet and simple life of the primitive 
 environment." Boston Herald. 
 
 " ' Kilmeny of the Orchard ' is a story of decidedly unusual 
 conception and interest, and will rival this author's earlier works 
 in popularity." Kalamazoo Evening Press.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 rm L9-Series 4939
 
 001 247 899 
 
 PS 
 
 3539 
 T8102