A MEMBER OF THE THIRD 
 HOUSE 
 
fiamlin Garland's Books. 
 
 Uniform edition. Each, larno, cloth, $1.25. 
 
 "Wayside Courtships* 
 
 Jason Edwards* 
 
 A Spoil of Office* 
 
 A Member of the Third House* 
 
 A Little Norsk* i6mo. 50 cents. 
 
 D. APPLETON & COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
A MEMBER OF THE 
 THIRD HOUSE 
 
 A STORY OF POLITICAL WARFARE 
 
 BY HAMLIN GARLAND 
 
 AUTHOR OF WAYSIDE COURT- 
 SHIPS, A SPOIL OF OFFICE, JASON 
 EDWARDS, ETC. ::::::::: 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 M DCCC XCVII 
 
Copyright, 1897, by 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 Copyright, 1892, by Hamlin Garland 
 
6233 
 
 CONTENTS. e & 
 
 Chapter. Page. 
 
 I. THE SCHOLAR IN POLITICS 7 
 
 II. TOM BRENNAN'S AMBITION 21 
 
 III. CAN THE SENATE BE BOUGHT ? 33 
 
 IV. " THE GUTTER-SNIPE MUST RISE " 48 
 
 V. THE THIRD HOUSE IN SESSION 66 
 
 VI. A GAME OF TENNIS 75 
 
 VII. SENATOR WARD AT HOME 102 
 
 VIII. THE SUNDAY PAPERS no 
 
 IX. AN EVENING CALL 119 
 
 X. " I WILL TESTIFY" 132 
 
 XI. BEFORE THE JOINT COMMITTEE 139 
 
 XII. SENATOR WARD'S APPEAL 143 
 
 XIII. THE ROUT OF THE RATS .- 183 
 
 XIV. THE IRON DUKE RECKONS WITH HIMSELF 199 
 
 XV. BRENNAN SACRIFICES HIS MUSTACHE , . .216 
 
 M518982 
 
A MEMBER OF THE THIRD HOUSE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SCHOLAR IN POLITICS. 
 
 TT was a phenomenally hot day in June. The 
 * city pulsed with a suffocating- heat like a kiln 
 for steaming wood. The air was filled with 
 moisture, and seemed momentarily on the point 
 of precipitating rain, while the sun burned 
 down from the cobalt-blue sky with terrific 
 splendor. Heavy clouds drove in like great 
 ships from the sea and fell in brief, heavy 
 down-dropping showers, exactly as if a valve 
 had been opened and shut. Then the sun burst 
 out again, and from the hissing pavements a 
 gray, suffocating steam arose in the faces of the 
 hastening throngs of men. 
 
 These moments were terrifying, and in every 
 doorway portly men could be seen standing 
 with bared heads, panting with sudden weak- 
 ness and vertigo, their faces vermilion with the 
 rush of blood. The hack horses and dray 
 teams labored to and fro, steaming with sweat 
 
8 21 JHembn* of % Sljtrb 
 
 and breathing" convulsively, their tremulous, 
 eager nostrils like full-blown red trumpet-flow- 
 ers. Their eyelids fell wearily and sleepily 
 over their dim eyes, and they responded to the 
 whip only by a weak thrusting of the neck or an 
 impotent whisk of the tail. 
 
 A young man walking slowly along the street 
 stopped to watch such a panting, struggling 
 team. His fine, serious face clouded with sym- 
 pathetic pain as the teams struggled past him. 
 He had the look of a student. His brown 
 beard was full and cut in an oval shape, and his 
 rather prominent brown eyes were partly 
 hidden by his spectacles, the bows of which 
 went behind his ears. 
 
 A short man with a fat face came by, keeping 
 close in the shadow, carrying his hat in his 
 hand. " Hello, Tuttle," he called, "hot, ain't 
 it? By jinks, my shirt sticks to me like the 
 bark to a tree. Phew ! What you looking at ? " 
 
 " That team. It's terrible to see 'em labor so 
 on a day like this. " 
 
 "Aha! Moral, Vote for the Consolidated 
 and give the horses a rest. See?" 
 
 Tuttle looked at him gravely. " Holbrook, 
 you're a confirmed lobbyist. So you have gone 
 into the pay of the Consolidated ? You talked 
 just that way last year in favor of the" 
 
21 JtUmbo; of tl) Sljirir 
 
 Holbrook grinned. "Yes, sir. According 
 to my lights. According to my lights. I see 
 things different now. Say, your investigating 
 order is going to raise the devil with you if you 
 put it through." He laid his moist handker- 
 chief over his bald head for a moment as one 
 uses a blotting-pad. 
 
 " It may raise the devil with somebody else," 
 said Tuttle, quietly. 
 
 "No, I guess not. Well, let 'er go, Smith ! 
 Nothin' like havin' fun these hot days." He 
 winked and grinned and waddled gayly off to 
 enter a horse-car moving toward the Capitol. 
 
 Tuttle gave a sigh of relief when the horses 
 on the car reached a level and turned a corner. 
 This sympathy for the suffering animals marked 
 him as a man of rather keen sensibility. As he 
 walked on the sun came out brilliantly again, 
 the mists quickly disappeared, and life was a 
 little more tolerable. 
 
 Two young ladies came out of a store just 
 ahead. "Oh, there's Mr. Tuttle," cried one. 
 She floated down upon him like a spray of cool 
 salt foam. "Oh, Mr. Tuttle, isn't it warm?" 
 
 "Well, yes, I'd been thinking so until until 
 I saw you. You look as cool as a sherbet. I 
 don't see how you ladies manage to keep so 
 cool. " 
 
10 21 Jttembnr of tlje Sljiri fijotw. 
 
 "Our looks deceive, I can assure you/' said 
 the taller and plainer girl of the two. 
 
 "Ah, Miss Ward, "he greeted her; "I didn't 
 find you at home when I called the other even- 
 ing." 
 
 "No, father wasn't very well, and " 
 
 " Oh, we've just been having an ice-cream 
 soda. We stop every block or two I've eaten 
 three. Won't you come in and let me treat ?" 
 cried Miss Davis. "Oh, come. It'll be such 
 fun." 
 
 "Well, I can stand one if you can a fourth." 
 Tuttle smiled, as he followed them into a long 
 and excessively clean confectionery store, where 
 they took seats on slender revolving wooden 
 stools in a long row before a polished marble 
 counter. 
 
 Miss Davis chattered on like a jovial little 
 blue-jay. She was pretty in a dainty, inconse- 
 quential sort of way, and was dressed in some 
 light-colored, fluffy stuff that rustled as softly as 
 a breeze in a poplar tree, and she looked deli- 
 ciously comfortable. The little beads of perspi- 
 ration on her white temples and chin seemed 
 cool as the drops on a dainty vase. 
 
 "Ain't this heavenly?" she inquired, as she 
 stirred the brown mixture with the long- 
 handled, tiny spoon which went with the soda. 
 
21 fHcmbn: of % Sljirir gmm. 11 
 
 " Don't you like to hear the spoon as it goes 
 through? Grau-u!" She made a funny little 
 noise to imitate the sound of the spoon. 
 "This makes the fourth. Ain't you going to 
 try one, Evelyn ? I believe I could live on ice- 
 cream sodas and macaroons ! Couldn't you ? 
 
 "For a limited time yes," Tuttle replied, 
 looking into the sunny shallows of her blue 
 eyes. " However, I prefer to go on in a 
 grosser way for the present steaks and things 
 like that." 
 
 " What do you legislators do on such days 
 as this ? " inquired Helene. 
 
 "Adjourn, mainly," said Evelyn. 
 
 "That's what we should do, but we don't, 
 and can't. Here it is June, and the business 
 fairly mountainous before us." 
 
 "The sessions seem to be getting longer 
 and longer, father says. Why is it?" asked 
 Evelyn. 
 
 "The Third House. Things have reached 
 such a state that a bill must pass the Third 
 House before it can get fairly before the sup- 
 posed law-makers, and even then" 
 
 " What is the Third House? " asked Helene, 
 looking up from her soda. " I see so many 
 jokes in the newspapers about it." 
 
 "Yes, it is a joke there. I should define 
 
12 21 Jttemttfr of % Stjirir 
 
 it" he hesitated as if to be exact "as a 
 body of corrupt men who stand between the 
 people and legislation." Helene, who had been 
 eating her cream soda, had not heard a word. 
 She was thinking what beautiful eyes he had, 
 and what a really elegant Prince-of- Wales cut 
 he had on his brown beard. 
 
 Evelyn said in her quiet way: 
 
 " Father says the Third House is a very dan- 
 gerous element." 
 
 " Oh, I wish you'd take me to see it ! " 
 Helene cried out. 
 
 "Helene evidently thinks it a menagerie," 
 said Evelyn. 
 
 " I guess I won't take you to see the Third 
 House." 
 
 " Why not ? " she asked with wide eyes. 
 
 " Because it ain't a fit place for women to go." 
 
 " Why, that's the reason I want to go." 
 
 " Why, Helene Davis ! " 
 
 "I do I like exciting things." 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Tuttle, you must come over and 
 play tennis with us. I'm just all doubled up on 
 tennis this year. I'm going to be a champion." 
 Evelyn and Tuttle smiled at the slang. " Last 
 year I didn't care very much about it, but that 
 was because I was a beginner. And then I've 
 
21 JtUmbcr of t\)t Sljirir tyonst. is 
 
 got the loveliest suit, the very latest, and my 
 racquet is a regular dandy ! " 
 
 " Helene, your sodas have gone to your head." 
 
 Tuttle smiled indulgently. Helene was too 
 beautiful to reprimand. "I'll come if I can, but 
 I expect to be very busy. I'm going to attack 
 our national disgrace this Third House you 
 hear so much about and the newspapers are 
 likely to 'roast' me." 
 
 "Now who's talking slang ? " 
 
 Tuttle laughed and rose. "Well, I must be 
 going. I I'm very sorry." 
 
 "Come over to-night, won't you ?" 
 
 "I can't to-night, but but I will to-morrow 
 the Third House permitting." 
 
 "I'll look for you, sure," smiled Helene, and 
 audaciously waved a little kiss at him after he 
 had turned away. 
 
 Tuttle walked slowly up the street, in thought 
 too deep to notice the heat. He felt indefinably 
 a crisis approaching in his life, like the thunder- 
 storm which the unusual smothering heat pre- 
 dicted in the weather. He smiled at first as his 
 mind went back to the dainty girl stirring the 
 soda. Then he grew grave again, as he studied 
 his position before the public, and especially 
 before Lawrence B. Davis, the great railway 
 president, the father of Helene. 
 
14 21 JHember of tf)t l)irir 
 
 " Hold on there, Tuttle ! " cried a voice, as a 
 hand touched his elbow. 
 
 "Hel-lo, Radbourn !" he said, his face light- 
 ing into a beautiful smile. " By George, I'm 
 glad to see you ! Where'd you spring from ? " 
 
 " Spring from ? Didn't you hear me rap on 
 the hotel window as you passed ? " 
 
 "No, you see I was busy" 
 
 "I should say so going along in a perfectly 
 black study. Well, you see I'm on my way to 
 the West. Stopping over a day, and was just 
 going out to look you up. But come in and sit 
 down and tell me all about things." 
 
 They returned to Milliard's and went up to 
 Radbourn's room, which was high enough to 
 get all the breeze, he explained. " Yes, I'm 
 out on another one of my lecturing trips. 
 How's everything with you ? " 
 
 "Well, I've done it, Radbourn," Tuttle said, 
 abruptly, as he dropped into a chair. 
 
 A faint smile lighted Radbourn's grave face. 
 "You say that as if you expected me to know 
 what you've done. So I infer that it has some- 
 thing to do with the land question." Tuttle's 
 deprecatory air amused him. "Am I right?" 
 
 "Yes, I've put in my bill to charge an annual 
 rent for street franchises." 
 
21 JHembnr of tl)e Sljirir tytmst. 15 
 
 "Good!" Radbourn said, rising and throw- 
 ing off his coat. 
 
 "And I've carried a resolution to have the 
 methods of the Consolidated Railway investi- 
 gated. A joint committee has been appointed 
 for the purpose. And the press and the 
 monopoly are going to lift my hair." 
 
 "Good! We need a martyr. Am I to 
 understand that all this great spreading 
 tree has sprung from that little mustard- 
 seed talk we had last winter ? " 
 
 Tuttle nodded. " Oh, I'm an apt pupil ! " 
 
 "Well, I should say so. Your hand!" As 
 they gripped hands, Tuttle said, with a com- 
 ical look in his spectacled eyes : 
 
 "That spectral cat you fellows are always 
 talking about practically made my bedpost its 
 promenade for months, and has got me at last 
 just where my enemies want me. I am prac- 
 tically fighting the Third House and the monopo- 
 lists of all the houses alone." 
 
 "Well, tell me all about it. I've only just a 
 hint of it from the newspapers !" He stretched 
 himself on the lounge. " Excuse me, won't 
 you? I was riding all night. Take off your 
 coat if you feel too warm." 
 
 Tuttle had a curious air of being in the pres- 
 ence of a teacher as well as a friend. There was 
 
16 21 JHembn* of tlje Sljtri 
 
 a look of timidity in his eyes. " I don't need to 
 explain the Third House, " he began. 
 
 "No, it's a condition in every capital. 
 Wherever there is public property to be voted 
 into private pockets, in fact " 
 
 " Well, we've got a monopoly in this State 
 and city that has become a terrible power, 
 partly with the consent of the people, partly 
 against it. The Consolidated owns the Air- 
 line road over which you came to-day, and the 
 street railways in half a dozen of our cities. It 
 has swallowed half the lines of road in this 
 city, and is trying to secure a charter which will 
 practically put every street into its hands." 
 
 " Oh, it's the universal movement !" sighed 
 Radbourn. "But it can't last always. " 
 
 "They came before the legislature last year, 
 opposing the charter for a road of the very 
 character which they now ask for themselves. 
 It is claimed that they've put a hundred thou- 
 sand dollars into the Third House, till there is 
 no opposition. The papers, just now, are full 
 of stories of their attack on the senate. 
 Members of the lower house have told me 
 that, at the Hilliard bar, twenty thousand dol- 
 lars have been deposited by an agent of the 
 Consolidated to pay bets with ! " 
 
of tlje Sfyirir 0n0e. 17 
 
 "How's that?" Radbourn sat up. "Why, 
 that's a new idea! " 
 
 "The member of the Third House is able to 
 slip up to the bar with a senator, and say : 
 'Sam, I've just lost a bet of two thousand 
 dollars to this gentleman/ ' 
 
 " I see," said Radbourn. " He bets a bill 
 won't pass." 
 
 " Yes. The road is said to have three 
 centers of action the Hilliard, the office of 
 the attorney, Fox, and a den on some side 
 street, a frightful place, reeking with liquor and 
 all foulness. Men are trapped and debauched 
 into service in that hole. At the other places 
 they are bought genteelly." 
 
 " Well, who's at the head of all this ? It's 
 easy to infer a head." 
 
 " Its head is a powerful old man, who has a 
 national reputation the famous 'Iron Duke/ 
 You've heard of him in connection with 
 the Cedar Knob Mines and the Bitter River 
 Railway deal Lawrence B. Davis. I don't 
 know how deep he is in this saturnalia of 
 bribery that is reported to be going on. I 
 wish I did," he ended, with a changed manner. 
 A look of sadness came over his face, and his 
 eyes fell in thought. 
 
 "Now what d'ye mean by that?" asked Rad- 
 
18 21 $Tcmbrr of % Sfljirir ou0e. 
 
 bourn, rousing up on his elbows again to stare 
 at him. 
 
 "Oh, nothing that is, it's a purely private 
 affair. Yes, I'll tell you about it, " he went on, 
 with an impulsive gesture. "The Iron Duke 
 has has a daughter. " 
 
 A sympathetic shadow came into Radbourn's 
 eyes. 
 
 "Ah! I see. Old story! Struggle of love 
 and duty! The poor youth, the rich maiden, 
 et cetera." 
 
 "Yes, it does seem sort of theatrical to 
 everybody but myself. But it's tremendously 
 real life to me. I can't think her father is a full 
 party to the corruption. It is done, I think, 
 mainly by two of the trustees of the road, 
 through a notorious lobbyist, Tom Brennan, 
 and an attorney by the name of Fox." 
 
 "Well, brother Tuttle, that sounds a little 
 diaphanous, I'm afraid. A man of the character 
 of Davis is not made use of in that way. But 
 who is this man Brennan?" 
 
 "He's the cleverest Irishman I ever saw. 
 He's a genius in many ways, a man with infinite 
 resources, but a a a conscienceless cormo- 
 
 rant." 
 
 That's drawing it rather strong, Tuttle." 
 1 Well, he isn't a bit theatrical, if I am. He's 
 
21 JHunter of tlje Sljirir $0nse. 19 
 
 a real villain, and not a stage caricature. One 
 of these laughing, handsome, successful, ingra- 
 tiating, soulless " 
 
 " Hold on ! You are piling it up. He isn't a 
 he isn't a rival?" suggested Radbourn. 
 Tuttle grew red and dropped his eyes. " Now, 
 Tuttle, I don't want to drag the secret out 
 of you, but if you want my honest advice, as 
 I infer you do, give me the straight facts." 
 
 " Well, he's the Iron Duke's secretary and 
 confidential agent, and he wants Helene, of 
 
 course." 
 
 Radbourn was amused. " I understand the 
 force of that ' of course/ but how about Helene ? " 
 
 " I don't know. I suppose she likes him. He 
 seems to have a singular fascination for the 
 average woman, and lately she she don't 
 seem " He did not finish. It wasn't neces- 
 sary. Radbourn was in possession of the main 
 facts. 
 
 There was a little pause, and then Radbourn 
 summed it up. "I think I see the whole situa- 
 tion. You have set on foot an investigation 
 that is sure no 'maybe' about it to turn 
 the Duke and Helene against you, while the 
 real-life villain triumphantly bears away the 
 spoils, as he generally does in life, to be honest 
 about it. " 
 
20 ft JHember of i\)t Sfyirft fijcm0e. 
 
 There was a pause. The roar of the street 
 came through the open window, softened, puls- 
 ing in the freshening breeze. Tuttle saw on his 
 friend's face, which faintly resembled Napoleon's, 
 a look that was both savage and lofty. " Now 
 do you ask what my advice is ? " 
 
 "I don't need to," Tuttle said in a low voice. 
 " I see it all myself." 
 
 " Of course, there is just one thing to say 
 justice ! The time has come when a stand must 
 be made all along the line for justice." 
 
 " And freedom," added Tuttle. 
 
 " That's the whole of it," said Radbourn, with 
 his infrequent smile. And I tell you the final 
 outcome will be good. You know what Whit- 
 man says : ' Whatever is, is well. Whither I 
 walk I cannot divine, but I know it is well/ 
 Stand for the right thing, the conscientious 
 thing, Wilson, and you will lose nothing in the 
 end that is my faith. Come, let's go down to 
 dinner and talk it over." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 TOM BRENNAN'S AMBITION. 
 
 , he has a jag! " commented the elevator 
 boy, as he looked through the barred door 
 of the descending car at the Honorables Tim 
 Sheehan and Pat Murnahan, of the Eighth and 
 Ninth Wards, respectively. 
 
 "This is the door," said Tim, as Murnahan 
 shook his fist at the grinning boy disappearing 
 down the shaft. They stood before a ground glass 
 door on which was painted : Samuel D. Fox, 
 Thomas Brennan, Attorneys-at-Law. "Shall I 
 knock?" 
 
 "Naw! Gaw right in!" 
 
 Murnahan took off his pearl-gray plug hat, 
 and, holding it in his hand, opened the door and 
 walked in with elaborate but uncertain dignity. 
 A young man with a grave, pale face that nothing 
 (apparently) could cause to light into a smile or 
 flush into color, rose from his desk in the outer 
 office. 
 
 " Is Tom Brennan in ? " asked Sheehan. 
 
 The young man approached very close and 
 
22 31 JUcmber of % l)irir <jjo0c. 
 
 spoke in that peculiar placid tone a deaf person 
 uses : 
 
 "What did you say?" 
 
 Murnahan repeated his question. 
 
 "Right this way," said the grave young man, 
 as he knocked on the door of the inner office. 
 "A couple of gents to see Mr. Brennan." 
 
 A smiling, handsome man of about thirty ap- 
 peared. He was dressed in a neat, youthful 
 suit of cassimere. He was slightly bald, and 
 had a fine mustache and smiling lips. 
 
 "Ah, my dear boys ! Come in. What can I 
 do for you?" He pushed them through the 
 door, saying, "Be with you in a jiffy." He 
 crossed the room, and said in a low voice to the 
 young man, " Don't let anybody in, Robert. " 
 The young man nodded and took his seat at his 
 desk beside his telephone and type-writing and 
 telegraph machines, which made him resemble 
 the man in the orchestra who plays several 
 instruments. 
 
 Brennan pointed his thumb at the inner office 
 and grinned broadly. " Their nibses tarried too 
 long at the wine last night." Then he returned 
 to his private office, which was, in fact, the private 
 office of the Iron Duke. 
 
 "Well, gentlemen, how did you enjoy our 
 little dinner last nurht ? Eh ? " 
 
51 ittnnber of il]t Sljirir fyonst. - 23 
 
 " First- rate, Tom," was their verdict. 
 
 " Your roses are a little passe," he said, indi- 
 cating the flower each wore in the lapel of his 
 gray Prince Albert frock. " Let me give you a 
 fresh one. Just happen to have one. An' now 
 what can I do for you ? But wait haven't had 
 anything this p. m.?" 
 
 " I ain't. Tim, he's all balled up." 
 
 " Oh, ye blackguard ! And him been loadin' 
 up since breakfast ! " roared Sheehan. 
 
 Brennan joined in the fun. As Murnahan kept 
 his seat Tom didn't really perceive how intoxi- 
 cated he was, and took from a snug little closet 
 in the wall a couple of bottles of wine and some 
 glasses. 
 
 " Well, Tom, we came down to thank you for 
 your supper. It was gra-et ! " 
 
 " That's all right now. Take a suup, just." 
 
 " We missed our thrains, the divil take ye ! 
 and had to stay at the Hoffman all night, an* 
 this mornin' ' What's to pay ? ' sez I. * Nuthin', ' 
 sez he. ' The divil,' sez I. ' It's all settled/ 
 sez he. An' so we came up to say it's damned 
 clever of ye when a poor feller visits his friends 
 and forgets the thrain." 
 
 "Say!" said Brennan, suddenly, "this ain't 
 biz. I want V hedge to-day. I'll bet you five 
 hundred dollars apiece we lose our charter." 
 
24 21 JHemfor of % (frljtrlr <5cm0*. 
 
 He lay back in his chair, put his thumbs 
 behind his vest, and rocked to and fro, care- 
 lessly. 
 
 " O, ye're jokin' now, Tom." 
 
 "Am I?" he said, with the Irish inflection. 
 " Here's a hundred dollars that says not." 
 
 Sheehan looked at the neat packet of bills. 
 " I'll take yeh." They shook hands. 
 
 " Where'll it be paid ? " 
 
 " Milliard's." 
 
 " I guess I'll come in on that," said Pat. 
 
 "All right, my boy, I'll be glad to see you 
 win. Here's y'r squids." He paid them each 
 fifty dollars and showed by his manner that 
 the interview was over. ' Well, now, boys, I'm 
 busy; you'll excuse my kicking you out." 
 
 They rose with effort. "All right, but mind 
 ye now this don't bind us." 
 
 " Certainly not, me lads. All we want is to 
 have ye understand the bill, see." He seemed 
 to use this in something more than a jocular 
 sense, as if he still retained the wish to give a 
 tinge of honesty to a barefaced bribery. 
 
 " Av coorse," said Murnahan, with a drunken 
 leer, trying with his stiffening fingers to button 
 his coat. " Sez I, Tim, ye're wild, sez I. Tom 
 is as straight a lad as ever lived, sez I. All 
 that he wants is to give us a chance to hear the 
 
21 Jlkmbcr of tlje Sljiri oti0e. 25 
 
 bill discussed on its merits, sez I, and he ain't 
 a-goin to lave us to pay bills when we lose our 
 thrains, sez I." 
 
 " Well now, gentlemen/* said Brennan, cutting 
 short Murnahan's loquacity, " I'm very busy, 
 but come again. I'm always glad to see two 
 sons from the old sod." 
 
 "But wait. Just one more sup," he said, 
 going back to the stand and getting a bottle. 
 " We'll dispinse with the glasses, eh ?" 
 
 "Avcoorse!" 
 
 " Shure, we prefair the bottle." 
 
 They drank by turns and wiped their lips in a 
 common sort of way, laughing loudly. Bren- 
 nan ended it at last by hustling them out good- 
 naturedly. "Well, now, good -by. Robert, 
 show 'em the elevator. Come down and see us 
 again. But don't carry away the taste o' the 
 whisky," he called after them. "The byes '11 be 
 down on me like a hod of brick on a Dutch- 
 
 man/' 
 
 He returned to the office, replaced the bottles 
 in the closet, singing as he did so in a perfectly 
 youthful and lover-like fashion. He seemed all 
 love and poesy. 
 
 Helene looked in at the door unobserved, say- 
 ing, with a smile, "Did I hear you singing, Mr. 
 Brennan ?" 
 
26 21 Jttembcr of % Sljirb fijou0r. 
 
 Brennan calmly but quickly closed the closet 
 door. " You did, no doubt. Come in and I'll 
 stop." 
 
 "How very kind of you? Where's papa?" 
 
 "Gone down to the superintendent's office. 
 Expect him back every moment. Won't you sit 
 down ? " 
 
 " Who were those horrible, white-hatted men 
 who just went out ? " 
 
 "Legislators" said Brennan, with comic 
 brevity. 
 
 "Those men?" 
 
 "Those men. Of such is the legislatures 
 of our nation and the kingdoms of our city 
 councils." 
 
 " Why, they looked like" Helene wrinkled 
 her brow in the effort to reach a synonym 
 " like prize-fighters." 
 
 "They're all that they're daisies." 
 
 "What do they come here for? I'm glad 
 they're gone," she said. 
 
 " So am I, but sit down. I want to see you." 
 
 Helene went to the door and called: "Evelyn! 
 Come in, dear. We've got to wait. Papa isn't 
 here." 
 
 Brennan greeted Miss Ward with his native, 
 smiling ease, and the two girls took seats oppo- 
 site him. There was something very engaging 
 
21 JHembor of % Sljirir $01101, 27 
 
 about his frank face and pleasant brown eyes, 
 and both girls seemed to like him very much. 
 Helene, sitting in the big chair, fanned herself 
 with a demoralized palm-leaf fan which she 
 found on the table. 
 
 " How warm it is here in this office ! And 
 the streets are just like an oven. We met Mr. 
 Tuttle oh, did you know he had bought that 
 old-fashioned cottage right opposite ours ? " 
 
 "No, has he?" ' 
 
 Brennan looked more surprised than pleased. 
 
 " Yes, he's going to spend his summer there. 
 Ain't that nice ? " 
 
 "Oh, very for him! I suppose he didn't 
 know you lived opposite ? " 
 
 Helene looked at him in a puzzled way, and 
 Evelyn said quietly, " Sarcasms are always lost 
 on Helene." 
 
 "I don't understand what you're saying/' said 
 Helene, going on with her plans. "We want 
 you to come over and make up a set to play 
 lawn-tennis to-night. Can't you do it ? " 
 
 " I'll try to. But you see I'm awfully busy 
 in the office just now, and, the Third House being 
 in session, there's no getting away." 
 
 "Poor fellows! Wilson says the same thing. 
 But I suppose laws have to be made. You 
 work together, don't you ?" 
 
28 21 JHember of % Stjtrir 
 
 Brennan twisted his lips in an amusing way. 
 "Well, not exactly. Well yes," he went 
 on, as if it were the shortest way out of it. 
 " We both help to make the laws. Three 
 houses with a single thought, you know." 
 
 " Now you're laughing at me I won't have 
 it!" 
 
 "But Mr. Tuttle said the other day that the 
 Third House was a national disgrace," put in 
 Evelyn, quietly. 
 
 "What did he mean by that?" inquired 
 Helene, who really didn't know how many 
 houses there were. 
 
 "Mr. Tuttle evidently doesn't consider the 
 Third House a joking matter," Evelyn contin- 
 ued. She was studying Brennan closely. 
 
 " Oh, he was guying you ! That's just one 
 of our little jokes. You see we poke away at 
 each other like a couple of lawyers in the court- 
 room, and then laugh over it all in some other 
 room ! The Third House returns the compli- 
 ment by calling the second house a band of bar- 
 room loafers," he ended, laughing at the mysti- 
 fied expression on Helene's face, who turned 
 toward Evelyn. 
 
 "Oh, ain't these men funny? They can call 
 each other such names, and laugh and be good 
 
21 JKnnbtr of tlje Stjirir QUM. 29 
 
 friends just the same. Why is it women can't 
 do that?" 
 
 " Because it ain't business with a woman ; it's 
 only form. A group of men can't all talk at 
 once and interrupt each other and leave sen- 
 tences unfinished, because it wouldn't be busi- 
 ness, see ! " 
 
 " Yes, I see. There's something in that 
 phrase we women don't understand," Evelyn 
 said. " Something magical." 
 
 " Sometimes it's anything but pleasant. Now 
 I'd a good deal rather be down at the beach 
 playing tennis than sweltering around the Capitol 
 building." 
 
 "I thought you liked business?" put in 
 Helene. 
 
 " I do, but I can't say I hone after some kinds." 
 Under the influence of these clean, unsmirched 
 women souls, Brennan really felt a touch of 
 weariness with his unscrupulous work. "The 
 trouble is a man can't always say what he will 
 do and what he won't do. Success demands a 
 good deal of a man." 
 
 " Papa thinks a great deal of your work. I 
 heard him tell a man that you were his right- 
 hand man. " 
 
 Brennan was thoroughly in earnest now. " I 
 hope I am. I like railroad management. Did 
 
30 21 Jttcmbn* of iljt Sfytri fjjouse. 
 
 you ever think it's like controlling an army," he 
 went on, his eyes kindling. " We sit here in the 
 central office like officers in a tent." He leaned 
 over to map it out on the table. " We mass cars 
 here, hurry them up there and hurl them on a 
 side-track there. There's an exhilaration about 
 such business that lifts it above mere drudgery. 
 It becomes command." 
 
 Evelyn's eyes were full of thought. " That's 
 what comes of being a man you can do 
 things. " 
 
 " You're almost like a colonel, then, ain't 
 you?" Helene said. " You ought to wear a uni- 
 form I like them; they're lovely." 
 
 ''That's what we'll do soon. D'ye know, 
 there's nothing like it for me." He rose and 
 paced up and down the room. "If I'd been 
 born before the war I'd have been a general, 
 sure." He thrust out one powerful hand and 
 clutched the air as if seizing a sword. " Power, 
 command ! That's why I like this railroad 
 business. It's the next thing to war." 
 
 " I like your enthusiasm," sighed Evelyn. " I 
 wish we women had Mr. Davis trusts you 
 fully, don't he?" 
 
 "Oh, perfectly," said Brennan, with a touch 
 of his habitual sly fun. " He puts into my hands 
 business he wouldn't do himself," he added 
 
31 Jflmfer of % ttjirir fijou0t. 31 
 
 audaciously. " I'm his adjutant, the fellow that 
 writes and carries the orders, you know. But 
 the carrying" of orders breeds the desire to give 
 orders; the adjutant always aspires to be general. 
 That's what I'm working for besides my board 
 and clothes. " 
 
 Brennan walked about excitedly as he talked, 
 moved to it, perhaps, by the admiring gaze of 
 Helene. Those who supposed they knew him 
 best would have been surprised at his sincerity 
 of passion. 
 
 " Why, Mr. Brennan, I didn't know you were 
 so ambitious. " 
 
 "To be superintendent of the Consolidated is 
 one of my two great passions." As he said 
 that he grew a shade paler, and his eyes dark- 
 ened. 
 
 "What is the other?" asked Helene archly, 
 as if she half guessed the truth. Both had 
 forgotten Evelyn. 
 
 Brennan turned with a sudden impulse, a fine 
 light in his brown eyes. " Can't you guess ? 
 You are ! " 
 
 "Why, Tom Brennan, what are you saying?" 
 She stared at him with wide blue eyes, the color 
 coming into her cheeks. Evelyn leaned for- 
 ward, studying his face eagerly. Was it Bren- 
 nan who had won, and not Tuttle ? 
 
32 21 Jttembn: of % t)iri oti0t; 
 
 Brennan was scared at his precipitancy. 
 " Don't mind me, Helene ; I'm always puttin' 
 me foot in me mout' like the wild Irishman I 
 am. Don't you think it's gettin' warmer? It 
 seems to me the mercury's on the rise ! " 
 
 Then they all laughed. 
 
 "Yes, I think it is going to shower," said 
 Evelyn gravely, from the window. There was 
 an awkward pause but only for an instant. 
 Brennan turned the talk away to other themes. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CAN THE SENATE BE BOUGHT ? 
 
 DAVIS came in briskly, followed by his 
 attorney, Fox. He was a large man, with 
 short side-whiskers, white as snow. His face 
 was vivid-scarlet with the heat, and his mus- 
 tache, close-cut, bristled with the motion of his 
 lips. His eyes were keen and restless, and his 
 voice fretful, harsh and imperious. He looked 
 like a man of great energy beginning to break. 
 He wore a short velvet coat, white trousers, 
 a rather low-cut vest, and a flowing tie. A man 
 of powerful individuality, as was evident from 
 his dress. 
 
 "Oh, papa, we're waiting to go home. You 
 know you promised to drive us down to-day." 
 
 Davis nodded at Miss Ward, and seated him- 
 self hastily at his desk. 
 
 "Yes, yes, yes, but I can't do it now, my 
 dear. I've got some business very im- 
 portant." 
 
 "Oh, dear! When can you go?" Helene 
 pouted. 
 
34 21 itlembo; of tlje Sljtrb 
 
 " Oh, I don't know," said Davis, impatiently, 
 "In the course of half an hour, perhaps. Now, 
 you take a drive up the avenue, and " 
 
 " Oh, if you want to get rid of us," said 
 Helene, in pretended anger. " Mr. Brennan, 
 will you please help us into the carnage ? " 
 
 " With pleasure," said Brennan, leaping for- 
 ward. There was a gleam of coquetry in 
 Helene's eyes that made his face radiant as 
 they went out. Fox was a large man, with a 
 full gray beard. His mustache was shaved. 
 He looked like a Methodist deacon. His hair 
 was close-clipped, and his eyes small and blue- 
 gray. He looked after the young people while 
 Davis lighted his cigar. 
 
 "Ain't she a little kittenish with Brennan ? " 
 
 " Who ? " said Davis, from the desk. 
 
 " Your daughter Helene. " 
 
 Davis looked at him closely. 
 
 "Are you a fool?" he asked, irascibly. 
 
 Fox took a seat in a chair, and softly exhaled 
 a puff of smoke. His lips had curves at the 
 corners like a baby's. 
 
 "I haven't that reputation, Lawrence," he 
 said, in his oily, placating way, " and I know 
 when a girl is kittenish. Now, you look out, 
 or that young Irishman '11 be asking to be 
 
21 JHembtr of % Sljiri <cm0e. 35 
 
 a son-in-law to you. Know the symptoms. 
 Raised a couple o' girls myself." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ! Tom knows his place." 
 
 Fox threw one leg over the arm of his chair. 
 
 11 Unquestionably. But there is a good 
 chance for disagreement between you and 
 Brennan as to just what that place is. I've 
 told you all along I didn't like the idea of 
 letting that young fellow into our business so 
 deep. It ain't safe now, that's all." 
 
 "Yes, you've told me," said Davis, with a 
 scowl on his face. "But somebody had to be 
 used. I couldn't do the work." 
 
 " Well, use a man who cares more for money 
 and and less for power. You can handle a 
 man that likes money, but you can't trust a man 
 that likes power. Brennan's too ambitious." 
 
 Davis turned again to his work. "Oh, bosh ! 
 You needn't feel afraid of Tom. I know him 
 better'n you do. Why, I've practically raised 
 him right here in the office." 
 
 When Fox spoke again it was in a slow, sig- 
 nificant way : 
 
 " I ain't afraid of any living man. I don't fear 
 Tom Brennan, but I begin to respect him." 
 
 The way in which he said this attracted and 
 held Davis' attention. As he returned Fox's g-^ze 
 Brennan came in smiling and took a seat neat 
 
36 21 jMembn: of % Sljtrir icm0e. 
 
 the table, opposite Davis. Fox arose and walked 
 quietly up and down behind them, his hands in 
 his pockets, his eyes on the floor. He was old 
 enough to be venerable, but he was not. 
 
 "Well, Tommy," said Davis, quite jovially, 
 "what's the result of your polling the senate to- 
 day?" 
 
 "The bill is lost before it is read. Every 
 amendment raises opposition," smiled Bren- 
 nan, the memory of his last words with Helene 
 in his mind. 
 
 " Smoke 'n' let's talk it over, my boy," returned 
 Davis, handing him a cigar. They lit cigars, 
 and Davis watched him while he puffed a few 
 times. " No flies on that, my boy, eh ? Twenty 
 dollars per hundred. Trial box. Eh?" Davis 
 had but lately taken to smoking "for his nerves," 
 and he amused himself by assuming an old 
 smoker's airs. 
 
 "They'll do, Governor," returned Brennan, 
 puffing critically. " Who treated yeh ? " 
 
 " Hear the man ! " laughed Davis, much 
 amused at the insinuation. " Do you think 
 I'd" 
 
 ' The reason why I asked was they taste 
 very like my latest box." 
 
 ' You extravagant cuss ! You'll embezzle 
 next." He became suddenly grave. " Well, 
 
21 Ulnnter of tlje Sljtrir fjouse. 37 
 
 now about the senate what do you propose to 
 do, Tom ? " 
 
 " Put in some more money. What do you 
 propose to do ? " 
 
 " Nothing," said Davis, shortly. 
 
 "Nothing, eh?" 
 
 ''Nothing, I tell you," and then continued 
 irritably: " I've spent a hundred thousand dollars 
 already, and now you you come to me with 
 a scheme to practically buy the senate. Can't it 
 be carried some other way ? " 
 
 "I don't know any other way. Moral suasion 
 is out of date in legislation." 
 
 " Well, we must find some other way. The 
 cussed charter ain't worth the risk, Tom." 
 
 "Ain't it, now?" said Brennan jauntily. "Well, 
 you wait till you find another road building 
 along your very route, and then you'll see 
 whether " 
 
 "It never'll be built," Davis burst out, slam- 
 ming his fist down on the table. " I don't be- 
 lieve they ever intended to build. They're 
 involved too deep with their newfangled motor. 
 They never'll build, I tell yeh." 
 
 " Well, we can't tell that. And we can't take 
 any risks/' 
 
 "Risks! Well, now, let me tell you," said 
 Davis, angrily. " I don't go into this thing 
 
38 31 iUembnr of ti)t Sfytri 
 
 till I'm forced to, and if you don't use a dif- 
 ferent tone" 
 
 Fox's soft, smooth voice insinuated itself 
 into the conversation, like a gentle hand. 
 
 "Easy, Davis, easy! Now don't be rash! 
 Don't make the mistake of your life here ! 
 We can't afford "- 
 
 Davis turned on him. "Who's the man in 
 this thing", anyhow ? Who represents the Con- 
 solidated Road? You or I?" 
 
 " You do, General," said Brennan, easily 
 but dangerously cool. " But I'm the repre- 
 sentative of the Third House, and I hold the 
 balance of power. See ? Now look here. I 
 know you can't afford not to go into this last 
 move. I tell you, if you don't, your charter is 
 dead as the gates of Gehenna. Now, if you 
 can't be sensible about this thing, be as sen- 
 sible as you can. The Third House is all right. 
 I've got the whole batch and bilin' of 'em, 
 as the feller said, but the senators must be 
 fixed." 
 
 " I'll be damned if I go into such a busi- 
 ness." Davis settled back, angrily. "I'm 
 done. Now, that settles it." 
 
 Fox was alarmed, and struck in, persua- 
 sively: "Oh, come, come, Davis! This is no 
 time for you to get thin-skinned. You hadn't 
 
21 itlnnba; of tlje Spirit $mw. 39 
 
 any objection to buying the Third House. 
 Now, why kick about the first or the sec- 
 ond?" 
 
 Davis rose and walked nervously about. 
 His highly colored face grew mottled in his 
 excitement. 
 
 " Because it's dangerous. I don't care for 
 the principle so much. My duty is to suc- 
 ceed. I believe we ought to succeed. No- 
 body can serve the public as well as we do. 
 If we don't buy 'em I suppose somebody else 
 will. But it's a different thing dealing with 
 the senators. They're officials. It's a State- 
 prison offense." 
 
 "No danger at all to you, Governor/' said 
 Brennan. " I'll take care of that. I make all 
 the advances. They can't get hold of you." 
 
 "Certainly/' said Fox. "You are to know 
 nothing about it ; Tom and I look after the whole 
 matter. All is, you must disburse for the com- 
 pany and Tom and I will go ahead. You can 
 trust us." 
 
 Davis appeared to relent, and Brennan struck 
 in jocularly, with a touch of the Irish dialect : 
 
 " It's as safe as smoken'. Just give Sammy 
 discretionary power over me, and me dis- 
 cretionary power over the Third House and the 
 
40 21 Jttcmbn* of % Sljiri jcm0c. 
 
 senate, and we'll have the bill t'roo like a weeny 
 goet t'roo a garrden fence. See ?" 
 
 " It's easy talkinV 
 
 "It's easy doen'," said Brennan, lifting his 
 right hand into the air and shaking it in a pow- 
 erful gesture. " Give me a hundred thousand 
 dollars, and I'll capture anny legislathur in this 
 great and glohrious" 
 
 Davis turned on him in distrust. "A 
 hundred thousand dollars ? It does very well 
 for you to talk money so glibly. You've got 
 nothing to lose. I begin to think I've put too 
 much money into the hands of a man" 
 
 Brennan interrupted him sternly, something 
 ominous creeping into his voice : 
 
 "Aisy, now, Governor. Honor among 
 gentlemen, y' know. You'll give me money 
 when I want it, and you'll give it without 
 scratch of pen, or down goes your Air Line and 
 up bobs the star of the Motor Line. Under- 
 stand? " 
 
 Davis, unwontedly irritable, turned upon him 
 with set teeth. "Are you threatening me, you 
 cussed gutter-snipe ? Damned if I don't begin 
 to believe you stand in with that blackmailing 
 crew. If I knew it, by heavens, I'd" 
 
 Fox again came between them, with his soft, 
 soothing hands and that marvelous voice. 
 
21 Jflrabo: of tl)e Sljirir fioust. 41 
 
 " Now, now, wait a moment, brother. Now 
 you you're irritated to-day. You agreed to 
 this yesterday. You came here to-day to go 
 into this thing. Now wait a moment," he said, 
 stopping Davis, who /was about to speak. 
 " You've already bought off two or three other 
 lines. We've passed your bill through the 
 Third House, Tommy and I and the second 
 house we've carried it to the senate" 
 
 " Yes. Cost a hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars to do it, too. It's too much." 
 
 "It couldn't have been done cheaper. Tom- 
 my and I have worked like Trojans to pull yeh 
 through. But suppose Tommy has been a little 
 extravagant. See what we're getting this 
 charter that is worth millions. I tell you, Law- 
 rence, we've got to grab this thing right now. 
 The dear, damned public are waking up to the 
 fact that they produce the value of these fran- 
 chises, and not we, and they're going to charge 
 us for them." 
 
 Brennan, who had mastered himself again, 
 resumed his jocular air. 
 
 " You bet! And there's Tuttle opposing 
 every step and putting in a bill to charge a 
 graduated increasing annual rent for street 
 privileges. I tell you, General, we've got to 
 strike right now." 
 
42 21 JHembo; of tlje Sfyirlr 
 
 " What's the matter with that man Tuttle ? " 
 said Davis, his mind taking another direction 
 for the moment. " Can't he be fixed ? " 
 
 "Fixed? Naw ! He's got his eyes on bigger 
 boodle." 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 " Congress and all that. See ? He's doing 
 the scholar in politics act. P. P. purifying 
 politics. He's a victim of the iridescent dream, 
 as Ingalls called it." 
 
 " I know something else he's got his eyes on, 
 Tommy," said Fox, with a sly look at Brennan, 
 "and that's "- 
 
 Brennan leaped to his feet, divining that Fox 
 meant Helene. 
 
 "Stop that!" 
 
 " Aha, Tommy ! That's what tickles yeh ! " 
 
 " Just keep your tongue off my private affairs, 
 will you ?" 
 
 Fox was vastly amused at his success in irri- 
 tating Brennan. He shook in silent merriment. 
 
 " Oh, all right, Tommy ! I only wanted to 
 warn yeh, that's all." 
 
 " You'd better warn him," replied Brennan 
 darkly. Davis was impatient at all of this side 
 conversation, in which he apparently had no 
 share. 
 
 " Come, come ! If you fellers have got 
 
21 fttembtt of % Sljtrir fyonst. 43 
 
 through gabbling, let's return to business. 
 What are we to do next ? Move on the senate? 
 I don't like it, but if I" 
 
 " I propose to move on your nearest neighbor, 
 Ward," said Brennan with quiet decision. 
 
 u On Rufus Ward?" 
 
 "On Rufus, of Schoharie." 
 
 Fox smiled in enjoyment of Brennan's attack. 
 "Oh, Tommy is equal to anything." 
 
 "On Rufus Ward," continued Davis, dropping 
 his eyes in sudden thought. " Do you think you 
 can get him, reasonably ?" he asked at last. 
 
 "What do you call reasonably?" 
 
 "Ten thousand, say." 
 
 " Just now, yes." 
 
 " What do you mean by just now ? " 
 
 "Well, I happen to know he was in the cop- 
 per trust and got dropped with a thickening sud, 
 as the reporters say. He needs money bad." 
 
 " Is that so ?" cried Davis, eagerly, pitilessly. 
 " Then buy him buy him ! He's our trump 
 but don't waste money," he added. 
 
 Fox shook again with silent laughter. 
 
 " Ain't it curious that a man can turn right 
 around on himself an'" 
 
 "Trust your Tommy, General," said Bren- 
 nan, " and he'll carry the bill." 
 
44 21 illembrr of tlje Sljirir 
 
 Davis brought his hand heavily down on the 
 desk. 
 
 "Done! That is," he exclaimed hastily, 
 " consult with my lawyer, there. He has this 
 thing in hand. Look to him. He represents 
 me, you know." 
 
 "That's all right," laughed Brennan. "I 
 understand your delicacy." Then he turned 
 upon them both with a face transformed into 
 something stern, masterful, almost ferocious. 
 His words came slowly through his set teeth. 
 He tapped the table softly with the tips of his 
 fingers ; his chin was thrust out and down in a 
 terrible gesture. 
 
 " Gentlemen, don't fool yourselves. Tom 
 Brennan knows the situation thoroughly. If I 
 take all the risk, you may gamble I get my pay 
 for it. Understand ? " 
 
 An explosion and final settlement was post- 
 poned by Helene's voice sounding outside, and 
 then her knock upon the door. " Come, poppa, 
 haven't you got through your business yet? 
 If you haven't, I'm going home alone." She 
 opened the door and walked in. 
 
 Davis rose hastily, wiping the perspiration 
 from his purple face. He was glad of the inter- 
 ruption. " Yes, yes, my dear, I'm ready to go. 
 
21 ittnnbcr of tl)e (Spirit $$mt. 45 
 
 Well, gentlemen, I'll leave you to talk that 
 matter over alone." 
 
 As Davis bustled about collecting- his papers, 
 Helene turned to Brennan : " You'll come 
 down, won't you, and bring your tennis suit ? " 
 
 " Isn't it rather warm for tennis ? " said Tom, 
 in the tender tone with which lovers make utter 
 commonplaces infinitely significant. 
 
 " Oh, no, not down by the sea. In the even- 
 ing it's just delightful. You'll come ? " 
 
 " Of course I'll come. I'd come if 'twere to 
 me death," he said. 
 
 "Oh, that's nice," said Helene, with easy 
 appreciation of his intent to be funny. " And 
 you must be my partner, so I can beat. I like 
 to be on the side that wins." 
 
 " So do I. I generally am." 
 
 " I know it. That's the reason I " - 
 
 " Come, come ! " said Davis, with an unusual 
 touch of asperity in his voice. Brennan went 
 out with them. Fox watched them go, then 
 began whistling softly and looking at the ceil- 
 ing. Brennan came back in a few minutes, 
 humming a tune, the love-light in his pleasant 
 brown eyes. 
 
 " Rather complaisant with you, my boy," said 
 Fox. "You've made an impression there." 
 
46 21 Itlembn* of % Sljirir 
 
 Brennan silenced him with a facile scowl and 
 quick wave of his hand. 
 
 " Leave that. You're too fresh/' he said, with 
 an insolent tone. He went to the telephone, 
 and rang". 
 
 " Hello! Capitol building ? Give me Colonel 
 Mott. Is that you, Colonel ? Yes. Well, did 
 you tell Ward I'd like to see him ? All right ; 
 much obliged. Come down when you can ; I 
 want to see you. All right. Good-by." Ring- 
 ing off, he turned and said in a cold, quick, 
 business-like way: "Ward's on his way down 
 here. Now, I want this whole thing in my 
 hands. How much money you got with you ? 
 No more checks in this business. We're play- 
 ing too big stakes now." 
 
 It was evident that Brennan was in a bad 
 humor, and -Fox did not care to cross him. He 
 took some packages of money from his pocket. 
 " There's ten thousand dollars in this packet, 
 and five thousand dollars in each of these." He 
 handed one of the smaller packages to Brennan, 
 while he put the other small package back into 
 his own pocket. 
 
 " Now, I'd like a memorandum of some kind." 
 
 " You shall have it. Robert, write this : 
 ' Received ten thousand dollars on account, 
 June zst'" 
 
21 Jflembn: of tl)e Sljirb jjouse. 47 
 
 " No cipher signature ?" asked Fox. 
 
 "Nothing more than that. We're getting 
 into pretty close quarters. Honor among 
 thieves, old boy. Now, you get out before 
 Ward comes in and sees you." 
 
 Fox delivered the larger package of money, 
 and went quietly out. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE GUTTER-SNIPE MUST RISE. 
 
 DRENNAN was as much a product of our 
 * society, and especially of our government, 
 as the electric railway or the telephone, or the 
 milk trust. His like is to be seen in every hotel 
 corridor. He comes into the city on the nine 
 o'clock boat or train, reading the report of the 
 stock market. His normal attitude in his office 
 is leaning his ear to the telephone or running 
 the stock reporter's ribbon through his hands 
 deftly. He thinks in " schemes." His hands 
 clutch money. 
 
 It is not true to say Brennan was conscience- 
 less. There are things which he could not be 
 brought to do by any pressure. The explanation 
 is, that in his world the ordinary ideas of morality 
 did not hold. He did not consider himself a vil- 
 lain, therefore, and the attack he was about to 
 make on the honor of a senator figured itself to 
 him as a piece of justifiable diplomacy. Isolated 
 from the necessities of the day, the act might 
 
21 illcmbcr of ilje Sljiri gotwe. 49 
 
 have seemed a little "tough," but, as it stood, 
 it did not give him a twinge. 
 
 He was a product of the necessity a poor 
 Irish boy is under, to be smart and shifty, in 
 order to succeed. He was a bright child at 
 school, and a bright boy in the office of a com- 
 mission merchant and broker. His big bright 
 eyes saw everything that was going on, and his 
 quick ears heard and returned the coarse ex- 
 pressions, and the cynical philosophy as well; 
 which mark such places. 
 
 It could not have made of him other than a 
 bold, quick and altogether able man of expedi- 
 ents. He had caught the eye of Davis a dozen 
 years back, and, having taken him into his office 
 and finding him efficient, and (as he believed) 
 trustworthy, the great Railway Duke had, year 
 by year, enlarged his confidence till no man in 
 his employ had the same intimate knowledge of 
 his most private affairs. 
 
 At his suggestion Brennan studied law, and 
 he was an adroit lawyer when Davis began to 
 intrust to him the important matter of lobbying 
 in the interests of the road. For several years, 
 therefore, Brennan had attended to the work 
 of suppressing unwelcome legislation, and the 
 equally important work of "inducing" legislation 
 which was desirable. He had thus come to 
 
so 21 itlembn* of tlje l)irb ou0e. 
 
 know everybody, and especially to know any 
 shady part of their lives, the knowledge of which 
 would add to his control over them in case of 
 need. 
 
 He went about all this as a skillful chess-player 
 would plan for future moves. He had no malice, 
 and the moral consideration had no place with 
 him. He knew Senator Ward's vulnerable spot, 
 and he aimed his spear there as remorselessly as 
 Hagan upon Siegfried, but without envy or 
 rage. 
 
 After Fox went out, he approached the young 
 clerk in the outer office Robert, his half- 
 brother. 
 
 "Rob, I'm expecting Senator Ward. Of 
 course, you won't be able to see him, and you'll 
 be busy and won't hear him." A faint smile 
 lighted Robert's eyes. " I'm going to take the 
 old man into camp," Brennan added. " You 
 know his little weakness. All's fair in love and 
 politics." He broke out into a song. 
 
 Robert went back to his work. He was 
 slightly deaf, which exaggerated his naturally 
 cold-blooded, methodical nature. He had not 
 been secured because of this defect, but it was an 
 admirable failing, as Davis recognized. While 
 he had Tom's keen, analytical mind, he had too 
 little emotion to be ambitious : his deafness 
 
31 JtUmOer of tl) Sljtri $oti0e. 51 
 
 separated him at an early age from young peo- 
 ple, and he lived a secluded, bookish life, when 
 out of the office. 
 
 The telephone bell rang, and Brennan went 
 to it. " Hello! Who is it? Oh, it's you, old 
 boy Horse race? To-day? Not much 
 Too hot Hot, hot, hot! No race in mine 
 What ? I don't care if it were Sunol and 
 Wilkes Is, eh? Charlie's goin', of course. 
 Oh, certainly Who are the girls? Oh, you 
 infernal reprobates. Haven't you got any consci- 
 entious scruples ? Scruples Con-^rz-entious 
 scru-ples? No, I shouldn't say you had ! No 
 use ! Oh, go chase yourself ! I say can't go, 
 and that's all Oh, go take a walk! don't 
 bother me about that You told me that before 
 Yes, you did The day we went out Oh, 
 go to Good-by." 
 
 As he turned from the telephone he con- 
 fronted Senator Ward, who had entered. "Ah, 
 good afternoon, Senator ! Glad to see you ! 
 Sit down. Pretty hot, ain't it?" 
 
 " Very warm. Don't think I can stay," replied 
 Ward, who was a tall man with a long gray 
 beard. He had a gentle face and a small round 
 head. 
 
 "Oh, you must! How is Mrs. Ward and 
 Evelyn ? " 
 
52 21 iJlember of tl)e Sl/trt <ou0e. 
 
 Ward replied a little stiffly : "Very well, 
 thank you." 
 
 " Sit down, Senator, and have a glass of cham- 
 pagne. Just off the ice. Cold as Greenland." 
 He poured a large glass for him, and extended 
 it close to his face, as if to make the sight ad 
 smell irresistible. 
 
 Ward took it hesitatingly. " Thank you ! 
 The heat seems to take hold of me this year 
 more than ever." He seemed to be already 
 flushed with drinking, as Brennan's quick eye 
 perceived. 
 
 " I saw your daughter to-day lovely as a 
 June rose. Take a cigar ! " 
 
 Ward refused the cigar, but sat down ten- 
 tatively in his chair. 
 
 " Yes, she's in town to-day. But never 
 mind family affairs," he said, with a change of 
 tone. " What's the business you want to see me 
 about?" 
 
 "Ah, sure ! don't plunge into that till you git 
 y'r breath and cool off a little," laughed Bren- 
 nan, with a touch of his Irish blarney. "Let me 
 fill up y'r glass. Oh, it's quite like watther, 
 Senator." 
 
 Ward ceased to protest and drank again, 
 while Brennan went on : " It's mighty coolin' on 
 the tongue. It's a day like this makes a man 
 
51 iltembn: of tljc t)irb fytmzt. 53 
 
 want to be built like a crockery-crate, so the 
 wind 'ud blow troo him. How's business be- 
 neath the Granite Goddess, anyhow ? " 
 
 " Not much doing these hot days," replied 
 Ward, getting more at his ease. 
 
 " When do you think the Consolidated bill 
 will come up ?" 
 
 "Possibly on Monday by Tuesday, sure." 
 
 " You're one of the opposition ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Ward, with a touch of his sena- 
 torial manner. " I think it's time we began to 
 hedge the power of these great monopolies." 
 
 Brennan took an easy position in his chair. 
 " On general principles that's true, and I'm with 
 you, but in this particular case, it seems to me, 
 it would be a great benefit to the public to have 
 the charter granted to us. Take another glass. 
 Try this stuff of Teck's. I think it's pretty 
 good." He poured another glass and extended 
 it as he glibly went on : " No other corporation 
 can build a road in the same time. No other 
 can give the same cheap fares and rates, because 
 they ain't got the connection. Your idea's good, 
 but the time ain't ripe for it. When the State's 
 ready to buy our lines, we'll be ready to sell 
 at a reasonable figure, of course. But the time 
 ain't ripe." 
 
 " That's true enough, but we mus' sacrifice 
 
54 21 Jilcmbo; of tlje $ljirb Jjotw*. 
 
 something for principle," said Ward, with a 
 touch of elaborate gravity, which evidenced his 
 growing intoxication. " The public demand " 
 
 ''The public!" exclaimed Brennan, in vast 
 disgust. "Good God! You go ahead, vote 
 against the Consolidated, and when a man has 
 to pay ten cents where he might have paid but 
 five, or travels an extra hour, you'll find out 
 how much the public care for principle ! Prin- 
 ciple ? The damned public wouldn't know a 
 principle with a bell on it ! " 
 
 "Come, come! Tha's too hard, Tom. The 
 public know 'nough " 
 
 "Enough to demand that its legislature shall 
 bear all mistakes. They'll demand a bill they 
 don't see the effects of, and then down their rep- 
 resentatives for carrying out their will. The 
 public be damned ! It ain't business to follow 
 their whims." 
 
 " Tha's true, in a measure." His eyelids fell 
 over his eyes and clung together for just a 
 perceptible instant. Brennan saw that the time 
 was come to make his attack. He leaned over 
 and tapped the senator on the knee. "Well, 
 now, to come to business. I hear things are not 
 going well with yeh, Senator." 
 
 " Who who told yeh ?" said Ward, rous- 
 ing up. 
 
21 Jttembo: of tlje l)irir ou0e. 55 
 
 " Mrs. Ward just hinted it. Now, if I can be 
 of any use to you, Senator you know Mrs. 
 Ward considers me an old friend." 
 
 Ward winked slowly. His voice was thick. 
 
 " Well, t-to tell the truth, Tom, things are 
 goin' bad. I've got raise six'een thousan'by the 
 firs' of July, and it's worryin' me. Yeh see, I 
 wen' in'o copper." 
 
 " I understand. Well, now, why don't you 
 let me step in here and help you out ? " 
 
 "D'ye mean tha', Tommy ?" 
 
 " Every word of it, Senator." 
 
 " You're a brick, Tom. Tha's what y' are, 
 but I can't give you any s'curity." 
 
 "Oh, never mind about that. I'll let you 
 have ten thousand in cash to-day." 
 
 " You will. On w-what conditions ? " 
 
 "On condition you help me a little." 
 
 "How's that, Tommy? I don't un'erstan'." 
 
 "By not working against the Consolidated 
 bill." 
 
 Ward stared at him in silence, slowly revolv- 
 ing Brennan's words in his mind. Then he 
 rose unsteadily, buttoning his coat around his 
 spare figure, in the attempt at dignified indigna- 
 tion. " D'ye mean to bribe me ? If yeh 
 do"- 
 
 "No, no, no! Sit down, sit down! No 
 
56 21 Jttembrr of % (Btyrir 
 
 bribe about it. Let me explain." He put his 
 hand on the Senator's shoulder ; but it was his 
 voice, rather than touch, that caused the old 
 man to yield and seat himself again. " That's 
 one condition. Because, you see, Senator, I'm 
 interested in the road. You didn't know that, 
 of course ? " 
 
 " Wouldn't 'a' made any difference. The 
 principle " 
 
 " But that's only one condition, and the one 
 I care least about," went on Brennan, softly and 
 persuasively. "You see, Senator, I I admire 
 your daughter very much, and Mrs. Ward has 
 seemed like a mother to me. Now, you see 
 why I'm" 
 
 " Is tha' so, Tom ? " He was surprised and 
 helpless before such graceless lying. 
 
 ''That's so, that's so! I simply can't stand 
 by and see them suffer. It ain't right." He 
 took a package from his pocket. " Now, here's 
 ten thousand dollars in cash. I'll lay it right 
 here in this drawer, and step out into the other 
 office a moment. I don't give it to you. I don't 
 even lend it. All I ask you to do is to with- 
 draw your opposition and speak a good word 
 for me when the time comes. You're perfectly 
 free to do as you like, you understand ? " Ward 
 was about to protest. " Hold on, now ! Don't 
 
21 JUcmbcr of tl)t Sljirb onsc. 57 
 
 be rash. Think it over, and if you need more 
 to pull you out of your hole, draw on me as on 
 a son." 
 
 Ward pulled himself together with a herculean 
 effort, and buttoned up his coat tightly around 
 him to the last button. " See here, Brennan, 
 y-you can' talk t' me like that. I'm not tha' 
 kind of a man. No ten thousand dollars can 
 buy me." 
 
 " I'm not buying you. Don't you go off half- 
 cocked!" 
 
 "Well, my vote it's the same thing, 'xactly 
 the same thing." 
 
 "No, it ain't. Now, hold on. Look at this 
 thing sensibly. The case is this : I ask your 
 vote for a bill. It's a good bill, you'll acknowl- 
 edge that nothing the matter with the bill. 
 Now, you've been opposed. Possibly you've 
 been wrong. A change of your vote is a little 
 thing to you a great thing to us. Here we 
 stand asking a franchise which is vitally neces- 
 sary to the people." 
 
 "It belongs to the people." When he began 
 to argue Brennan felt sure of him. 
 
 " No, it don't. It belongs to us if we can get 
 it. The people can't use it, only through us. 
 Now, be reasonable ; give us your vote" 
 
 Ward burst forth in a weak explosion of 
 
58 21 iJlembn: of ti)t Sijirir Cjons*. 
 
 wrath. " By heavens, I'll go to the wall 'fore 
 I take a bribe." 
 
 There was a dangerous pause, during which 
 Brennan gazed straight into the Senator s eyes. 
 A look came upon his face that took all the 
 youth and good nature out of it. " Go to the 
 wall, eh?" 
 
 "Yes, sir. Better die honest." 
 
 "And ruin your family ?" 
 
 "Yes, sir," replied Ward ; but he was visibly 
 weakening. " My family rather have me" 
 
 " Going to the wall ain't so funny as you 
 imagine. So you kick against my offer, do 
 yen ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir, I do. Of course, if I could con- 
 sis en'ly" 
 
 "And ten thousand dollars is no object, eh ? " 
 
 " No, sir nor fifty thousand." 
 
 "All right, sir." He leaned over and spoke 
 something in a low voice to Ward, who glared 
 at him rigid with fear and shame. " Oh, it was 
 nothing criminal, Senator; but it would make a 
 spicy column in the newspaper, all the same." 
 
 "God A'mighty, Tom you wouldn't who 
 told" 
 
 Brennan faced him with a set look in his eye. 
 " Never mind where I learned it. Mebbe the 
 hackman told me. It's my business to know all 
 
21 Jflcmbcr of tlje SIjtrir $ou0e. 59 
 
 such things. That's the way a man succeeds in 
 this world. Publish it ? You bet your life I'll 
 publish every detail. I tell you, I'm going to 
 have this bill fair means if possible, any means 
 if necessary. That's business. Now, what are 
 you going to do ? Now, don't swear and make 
 a fool of yourself. Think it all over carefully." 
 
 "Don't don't press me, Tom. Give me a 
 little time." 
 
 Brennan saw that he had gained his point, 
 and was ready to yield one. "Certainly, Sena- 
 tor, only the bill comes up soon." 
 
 "A-all right, Tom. But it's a serious thing." 
 Davis looked in from the outer office, unseen by 
 Ward, who had turned toward Brennan. 
 
 "Oh, nonsense, Senator; you're too old- 
 fashioned about these things. It's just like find- 
 ing something. Nothing at all after you get 
 used to it. Now, I'll depend on you." 
 
 "Well, I'll see," said Ward, going unsteadily. 
 
 "All right. I'll see you to-morrow. Good- 
 by ! " He accompanied the Senator to the door 
 of the inner office ; then returned to his desk, 
 leaving Robert to see him to the elevator. 
 When Davis entered from Fox's office he was 
 seated at the table, with his hat on, a cigar in 
 his mouth, writing busily. As Davis spoke, he 
 looked over his shoulder with an ominous 
 
60 31 Jttcmbn* of tlje l)trir <ou0e. 
 
 change of manner. "Oh, it's you, is it, Gover- 
 nor? Thought you'd gone home." 
 
 " I started to, but I met Binney, and the fact 
 is, I'm worried. I want to have a word in pri- 
 vate on this thing." 
 
 Brennan's smile still dimpled his smooth 
 cheek, but the look in his eyes belied it, as the 
 smile of the pugilist belies his lowering eye- 
 brows and clenched fists. His voice had a tone 
 in it that Davis had never heard before. " Well, 
 now, I'm glad you come back. I want a word 
 \v\\hyou" he said, with a challenging inflection 
 in his voice. " You and I've got to come to an 
 understanding on this thing," he added, wheeling 
 his chair about and facing Davis, his elbow on 
 the table. " I'm a gutter-snipe, but I don't want 
 it rubbed in." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " Sit down an' I'll tell you just what I mean," 
 said Brennan, in a tone that destroyed all differ- 
 ence in position between them. "You took me 
 into this office ten years ago, and you've given 
 me a chance to rise. I'm grateful, etc., etc., but 
 I'm also aware that I give more than value re- 
 ceived. To-day I'm your confidential man, your 
 lobbyist and attorney at five thousand a year, 
 and perkesites. But the day has come for a 
 rise. The gutter-snipe must rise." 
 
21 Ufcmbcr of tl)e !)irir djouse. 61 
 
 Davis looked at him, his face purpling with 
 rage. He thought he measured Brennan's in- 
 tention. "Well, didn't I agree to your own 
 proposition ? " 
 
 " Yes, to all the proposition I cared to state 
 in the presence of a third party. You're per- 
 fectly aware that we're engaged in what the laws 
 of the United States call a crime " 
 
 "Good God, man! Of course I know it!" 
 Davis burst forth irritably. " That's the reason 
 I " He stopped abruptly. 
 
 " Oh, go on ! Don't hesitate ! " said Bren- 
 nan, with ferocious irony. "That's the reason 
 you stay out of it and send me into it. Well, as 
 I say, I'm ready to go, but I want pay for it." 
 
 "Well, well! Make your terms. I suppose 
 that's what all this leads to. How much do you 
 want ? " 
 
 Brennan straightened up and looked him square 
 in the face. His tone was low, but inflexible. 
 " I want to be raised from the humble but lucra- 
 tive position of member of the Third House to the 
 distinction of being a member of the house of 
 Davis & Company." 
 
 "What's that?" demanded Davis in amaze- 
 ment. 
 
 " I want to be recognized as a stockholder in 
 the Consolidated Road." 
 
62 21 ittembo: of 
 
 " Why, man, that's out of the question !" 
 
 " No, it ain't. It's easy to Lawrence B. Davis. 
 But that ain't all. I want to be general superin- 
 tendent of this road, and son-in-law to its 
 president." 
 
 Davis leaped up, his face mottled with blood. 
 "What? Why, you infernal fool! You're 
 crazy ! " 
 
 Brennan's voice dropped a note lower, and 
 became hard as iron. " Never saner, and never 
 more in earnest, either. I know what I want, 
 and how to get it. The gutter-snipe must rise." 
 
 "You you you talk like an idiot." 
 
 " I'll make a good superintendent to you/' 
 
 " I'll see you cold first," stormed Davis. 
 
 The smile faded out of Brennan's face, and 
 his half-closed eyes had a sinister glare. " I'll 
 see you in State's prison last, if you don't keep 
 your temper and talk sense." 
 
 " You don't mean " 
 
 " I mean just that," Brennan replied, coldly 
 malignant. " I'll send you to hell, if necessary, 
 and I can do it. I'm too deep in this thing to 
 be left out of the calculations." 
 
 Davis looked at him in silence, his face filled 
 with something like fear and astonishment. 
 "Oh, bosh!" he said, recovering himself. 
 " You ain't got any hold on me. Your word 
 
21 member of tlje (fttytrb otm. 63 
 
 won't count against mine. You'd only damn 
 yourself." 
 
 "Try it and see, Governor. Remember, 
 you're a father. I'd hate to antagonize my 
 father-in-law." 
 
 " You damned scoundrel ! " shouted Davis, 
 trembling with rage. " You're not fit to touch 
 her." 
 
 "Well, you're not exactly a monument of 
 virtue," sneered Brennan. "You may disgrace 
 me yet/' 
 
 The two men stood facing each other in 
 silence, Brennan smiling easily again, Davis 
 struggling for control. His hands trembled as 
 he gathered some papers off his desk and 
 turned to face Brennan again, whose smile en- 
 raged him almost beyond measure. His hands 
 shook. "I've a good mind to smash your 
 face," he snarled at last, through his set teeth. 
 His rage was not because of Brennan's villainy, 
 but because it was directed toward him. 
 
 "Don't be rash! Take more time to think 
 of it. I'm a good soldier, General, but when I 
 scale a barricade and bring back a flag, I want 
 promotion, not wages. The gutter-snipe must 
 
 rise." 
 
 Davis went silently toward the door. His 
 face was pale now, and set like granite, in anger. 
 
64 21 iflcmbo: of tlje ftljirb Cjou0e. 
 
 He spoke through his set teeth. " I'll answer 
 you to-morrow, you miserable " 
 
 With a sudden impulse, Brennan threw him- 
 self against the door, his face grown ferocious, 
 his voice terrible. 
 
 "By God! you'll answer me now right now, 
 before you go out of this door ! D'ye un'er- 
 stand? You've worked this thing carefully, but 
 I haven't studied your methods for nothing. 
 You think I've got no hold on you, eh?" 
 
 "Open that door!" yelled Davis, impotently 
 furious. 
 
 "I'll open another door for yeh," replied 
 Brennan, leveling his finger at him, as if he pre- 
 sented a revolver. "I can prove that you paid, 
 on May 28th, five thousand dollars to Senator 
 Hoi "- 
 
 "You lie ! You know nothing about" 
 
 "Don't I? I know enough to publish your 
 name in headlines an inch deep to-morrow 
 morning, and, by the eternal heavens, I'll do it 
 if you don't come to terms." 
 
 The old man was seized with a sudden weak- 
 ness. The set eyes and the inflexible voice of 
 the younger man shook him strangely. In the 
 pause which followed he felt he had met his 
 master. "What do you want?" he said, 
 hoarsely. 
 
21 Utnnbo: of tlje Sljtrir goim. 65 
 
 ''I've told you. Is it peace or war?" 
 
 As Davis stood there, with clenched and 
 restless hands, the blood went out of his face, 
 leaving" him white almost as paper. When he 
 spoke, his voice was husky with fear and rage. 
 " Peace ! Don't be a fool ! " 
 
 . Brennan opened the door, Davis went out, 
 and Brennan followed, saying, in a breezy 
 tone : " Well, good evening, Governor. Don't 
 worry about this at all. I'll see that it goes 
 through." He closed the door, went to the 
 table, and poured out some liquor with hands 
 that trembled. As he took his seat in a chair 
 opposite his brother, he said : " Holy smoke ! 
 It's tough on the nerves. I'll have to go to 
 Europe soon for my health." 
 
 " What did you say ? " 
 
 "I said I guessed I'd go over to Hilliard's 
 awhile," Brennan replied, rising to go. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE THIRD HOUSE IN SESSION. 
 
 PHE Milliard House lobby and bar-room was 
 * filled with a throng of men whose easy at- 
 titudes, unconstrained laughter and absorbed 
 attention upon each other's words denoted that 
 this was their well-accustomed rendezvous after 
 the sessions had closed for the day. 
 
 The high-salaried bartender served the drinks 
 and sponged the bar with smiling and yet elab- 
 orate ease. Everybody knew him, and his chaff 
 was highly relished by the distinguished law- 
 makers who came and went along the polished 
 glass rod. The whole atmosphere was jovial, 
 unconstrained, careless, and full of vitality. 
 
 All the men were well dressed and freshly 
 barbered many of them were handsome in a 
 hard, superficial way most of them were un- 
 der forty, though here and there a man of fifty 
 shook his purpling face and close-clipped pink 
 and white head as some younger man told a 
 "rich joke." On most faces the swollen veins 
 suggested high living, which the increasing slope 
 
 66 
 
21 JHtmbo: of tl)e Sfyirir otJ0e. 67 
 
 of the waistcoat showed to a certainty. In their 
 eyes an insatiate lust lay like a half-concealed 
 ember. 
 
 Pearl-gray plug- hats, dangling gold chains, 
 snug, light-colored Prince Albert suits, and gay 
 neckties were the common dress. Their hands, 
 adorned with rings set with bizarre stones, grace- 
 fully raised and removed cigars, and the point of 
 a story often came after a significant wait, while 
 the little finger knocked the ashes from the end of 
 the daintily extended cigar. 
 
 Many of the men were exchange gamblers, gen- 
 tlemanly sellers of mining stock, men of expe- 
 dients. Others were legislators of the purchas- 
 able sort or, at least, of the sort capable of being 
 influenced. Some were commercial travelers 
 knowing fellows, who never forget an acquaint- 
 ance, nor how to use him and percolating 
 through this loosely grouped throng were the 
 members of the Third House, the unknown law- 
 makers of the land. 
 
 These were not distinguishable by dress, only 
 by manner. They were invariably the centers of 
 small groups of listening legislators, talking 
 eagerly with emphatic gesticulations of the right 
 elbow, while they mapped out on the palm of the 
 left hand the scheme which they believed " ought 
 to go through." 
 
68 31 Jttcmbrr of tlje Sl)trb 
 
 Here a row of three were leaning upon the bar, 
 while an extremely handsome man of large frame 
 gave a mysterious order to the barkeeper. Over 
 in the corner a short man in a cutaway coat 
 laughed up at a group looking down at him, his 
 broad face, with mutton-chop whiskers, making 
 him look like a well-fed English curate. As one 
 passed by a group of uproarious laughers he 
 caught a few words which told him they were 
 rehearsing the story of a senator who was taken 
 home from a certain house, " all his money gone 
 and his false teeth lost ! " 
 
 Another group, as evidently composed of the 
 third and second houses, was discussing the bill 
 for the division of the town of Bradford, an act 
 in the interests of the tax-dodgers, and there 
 was not wanting here and there a scowling 
 brow as some man rehearsed a grievance. 
 
 The business of the bar and the cafe adjoining 
 filled the place with smell, as the ripple of talk 
 did with sound, beneath which the constant click 
 of heels and whisking scrape of soles came 
 unceasingly as they came and went from the 
 lobby to the bar and back to the lobby again. 
 
 The scene was essentially American and 
 modern, Radbourn said to Tuttle as he sat in the 
 cafe', which opened off the lobby. 
 
 "The Third House in session/' said Tuttle. 
 
$ Jtfembo; of tlje Sfyirir ott0*. 69 
 
 " Discussing your next move, no doubt." 
 
 " Yes," said Tuttle, with a faint smile ; " I sup- 
 pose I'm the cause of some of that talk out 
 there/' He sat at a table near the door, with 
 his back to the table. " That's the reason I 
 prefer to sit with my back to the wall. My 
 work in getting" a joint committee appointed 
 don't alarm them much, but they don't love me 
 any better for it, I imagine." 
 
 " I understand. And that is your Third 
 House?" 
 
 " Yes. Do you see a white-whiskered man, 
 with a short coat and gay necktie ? " 
 
 " Yes, but how can you see him?" 
 
 "'In my mind's eye, Horatio/ Well, he's an 
 ex-senator. Next to Tom Brennan one of the 
 strongest men in the lobby. You see, the more 
 of a political pull a man has, the more valuable 
 he is as a member of the Third House. He's a 
 Republican, but that don't matter in the lobby. 
 Party lines don't count for much." 
 
 "No; a vote's a vote here. Magnificent use 
 to put suffrage to eh ? " 
 
 " Splendid ! Do you see a short man with 
 a broad face, mutton-chop whiskers ? " 
 
 " I did a moment ago ; he's out of range/' 
 
 " Well, that's Bob Merritt, ex-mayor of Sun- 
 cook, ex-representative from Suncook County, 
 
70 # ifttembn: of % (Kljiri <cm0e. 
 
 and so it goes. You wouldn't think, to look and 
 hear that merry group, that they were criminals 
 and liable to incarceration." 
 
 " They probably differ with you about crimi- 
 nality. They consider themselves jolly good 
 fellows. They are to be found in every great 
 hotel lobby in America. I've studied them 
 closely no doubt you have. I don't imagine 
 that they keep awake nights thinking of their 
 
 sins." 
 
 "I should say riot," laughed Tuttle. "Why, 
 take that very Tom Brennan I meet him in 
 private life, and I can't help liking the man 
 personally. At the same time I know he's just 
 like those jolly fellows clasps hands on an 
 infamous bargain with the same smile and 
 cordial word he'd use in extending a cigar- 
 
 case." 
 
 " What appals me, Tuttle, especially, is the 
 moral atmosphere they live in, which destroys 
 well-meaning young legislators as malaria at- 
 tacks and undermines the Northern man as he 
 enters the swamps of the South. Many a well- 
 meaning lawyer or merchant comes into this 
 political world, intending to serve his people and 
 not monopolists, but he loses his grip on right 
 and justice. My four years in Washington 
 showed me that. To many men, justice and 
 
31 Jtlrmber of % Spirit $cm0e. 71 
 
 truth are not convictions of their own they 
 take moral color from their surroundings and 
 this world of the trickster is fatal to moral 
 health." 
 
 "Yet they're happy/' mused Tuttle, " and 
 they succeed that's the demoralizing" thing. 
 Business is like it success is so much easier 
 along conscienceless lines." His face grew sad. 
 " I never could have succeeded as Brennan 
 has, alone, unaided, uneducated. He'll go to 
 the top, if he don't get into the hands of the law 
 and he'll do it in his own unscrupulous way, 
 too, that's the worst of it. It makes me de- 
 spondent sometimes." 
 
 Radbourn looked out into the lobby for a 
 moment. " They are products. In their world 
 is the latest survival of universal warfare. In 
 their world there grow no flowers of pity and 
 remorse only the scentless roses of passion 
 and greed. Life is a mock and a gibe. It is a 
 ring where, if you throttle or knock out your 
 opponent according to rules, no shadow of 
 blame attaches to you. In their air no philos- 
 ophy except the heartless cynicism of roues and 
 gamblers gets a voice." 
 
 " And these men marry and have children," 
 said Tuttle, as Radbourn paused. 
 
 " Yes, and their wives live on the money they 
 
72 21 itlembn: of tlje Sl/trir 
 
 wrench or filch from others, and never question 
 where it comes from. The consciences of 
 women need awaking if" 
 
 There was an outburst of voices in the bar- 
 room. 
 
 " That must be Brennan," said Tuttle. 
 
 "A handsome young fellow, with a smiling 
 face, has just come in. Big brown mus- 
 tache "- 
 
 "That's Brennan king of the Third House." 
 
 They all crowded around Brennan, calling 
 jocularly : 
 
 " Hello, Tom ! Now, what ? " 
 
 " Take a bracer, Tom." 
 
 " Say, d' ye know what Tuttle's scheme is ?" 
 
 "No, what is it ?" 
 
 " He's got a joint committee appointed to 
 investigate Consolidated doings this winter." 
 
 "Oh, is that all?" said Brennan carelessly. 
 " No, I won't take anything." He moved away 
 from the bar and out of hearing. 
 
 Tuttle's face took on a resolute look. 
 
 "You see how confident he is? They are 
 organized. Every available point is defended. 
 My only hope is to find a man within to unbar 
 the gate." 
 
 Radbourn looked at his watch. " I wish I 
 could stay and help you, but I can't. I must 
 
21 JHnnbrr of tlje Sfyiri $ou0c. 73 
 
 be getting to my train. I shall read the papers 
 carefully to see how you come out." 
 
 " I wish you could go down to the country 
 with me, but if you must go" 
 
 "Must so good-by." He reached out his 
 strong hand, and Tuttle took it, looking up into 
 the stern, rugged face. " Keep* pushing. Did 
 you ever try to start a freight car ? You put 
 your shoulder to it and strain every muscle 
 to its best it seems like a rock but wait! 
 Hold your place slowly, imperceptibly, it be- 
 gins to move. Make your own moral. Good- 
 by." Radbourn rushed away with a wave of 
 the hand. 
 
 Tuttle passed out into the street and down 
 toward the steamer. It was getting cooler, and 
 the tide of suburban life was setting toward the 
 depots and boats. The memory of Radbourn's 
 hand was in his. " If I only had his help," he 
 thought, as the magnitude of his struggle came 
 before him. 
 
 He felt he could stand ridicule, but to fail now 
 was to fail for twenty-five years. If the Consoli- 
 dated got its charter, it might stop all legislation 
 in the interest of the public. 
 
 It was a strange and beautiful experience to go 
 from the hot air of the city, shaken with the jar- 
 ring war and thunder of trade, down toward the 
 
74 21 Jttemtar of % Sfyirir 
 
 water-smell, where the boats came in to lap the 
 mossy fringe of wharves. The moment his face 
 felt the wind and his eye caught a glimpse of the 
 yellow-green water, Tuttle's forehead smoothed 
 out and he gave a sigh of relief. His care was 
 gone. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A GAME OF TENNIS. 
 
 THE unusual heat of June had driven the 
 leisurely classes to "Waterside" earlier 
 than usual, and already the most of the cot- 
 tages were opened, and the women and chil- 
 dren settled for the summer. The restless 
 fathers and husbands, however, simply came 
 and went from the city, where the crush of 
 business knew no heat or cold. 
 
 Men like Davis came down to supper 
 occasionally more often came at eight or 
 nine to sleep at home and eat breakfast, 
 where they could look out upon the water; 
 but their capacity for rest was lost. They 
 could not throw off the business habit, and 
 they returned to business on the eight o'clock 
 boat, reading the stock markets, with no time 
 to see the cool and restful face of nature. 
 
 Brennan was still young, and had not lost 
 the power to throw aside his cynicism and 
 his plans for control of men and money. He 
 gave himself up occasionally to the enjoyment 
 
 75 
 
76 21 iJlembrr of tlje l)irir 
 
 of the sea and the flowers and Helene's 
 coquetry. On these trips he grew light-hearted 
 almost as a boy. 
 
 He had rooms at the hotel nearest Mr. 
 Davis' cottage, and he was already on the 
 most intimate terms apparently with every- 
 body, from the elevator boy to the lonely old 
 widow-woman whom everybody avoided be- 
 cause of her stories of aches and pains and 
 whining recounts of deaths and funerals. 
 
 On these trips Brennan threw business lit- 
 erally to the winds. He sang, labored at the 
 banjo, took part in every dance, helped the 
 children mend their toys, and won, without 
 conscious effort, the good will of them all. 
 
 Waterside was an old town, with quaint, wind- 
 ing, low-lying streets close to the water, where 
 the floods sometimes came. It still retains many 
 square-topped verandaed mansion-houses on 
 the higher streets. Along the immediate water- 
 front the ancient fisher-cabins had been cleared 
 away, and quaint cottages had taken their place. 
 
 Davis had built his house on the shore near 
 Senator Ward, and his family had spent their 
 summers for many years in an old house that 
 belonged to his wife's father, and here had sprung 
 up the friendship of Helene and Evelyn. Wilson 
 Tuttle and his aged mother had taken a cottage 
 
SI Jflnubo; of tl)* Styiri fyonst. 77 
 
 on the opposite side of the street, because he 
 wished to be near Helene, though his mother 
 aided him to conceal this by a careful statement 
 of how much she had desired the sea-air at the 
 point. 
 
 When Brennan left his hotel and walked 
 across the road he had a tennis racquet in his 
 hand. A gay sash about his lithe and powerful 
 young body, a jaunty tennis hat and loosely 
 knotted tie finished a transformation. He was 
 facile as an actor. He seemed to change his 
 nature with his dress. As he walked he sang 
 under his breath. He was something more than 
 handsome : there was character in his strong, 
 straight nose, in his resolute yet merry brown 
 eyes, and, as he met Helene, her eyes fell, and a 
 quick flush on her cheek gave him instant exulta- 
 tion. 
 
 There was quite a group on the lawn lying 
 between Senator Ward's house and the Davis 
 cottage. 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Brennan/' pouted Helene, "you're 
 late." 
 
 " Sorry. Couldn't help it. Business, you 
 know ; but I'm ready to make up for it. 
 Come," he said, taking possession of Helene, 
 "we're partners. Who takes the opposite?'' 
 
78 21 iJiembur of tije Sljirtr 
 
 "Evelyn and Mr. Tuttle if he'll play," said 
 Evelyn. 
 
 "Til try," Tuttle replied, "but I'm not 
 very" 
 
 "Oh, you'll improve with age," Tom laughed, 
 as he leaped the net. 
 
 Tuttle was in tennis suit also, but without 
 the sash and flowing tie. He wore his glasses 
 with the bows behind his ears. His slender 
 frame was active enough, but awkward. Other 
 young people were seated about on benches 
 under the trees. Here and there a banjo 
 tinkled, and boats out on the bay were moving 
 slowly in the light wind, the red sunlight 
 glinting on the sails. Laughter and song came 
 from every side a magical time and place. 
 
 It was all deliciously far away from the hotel 
 lobby and the Third House, and Brennan gave 
 himself up to it with that facile adaptation which 
 made him a mystery and a spur to Tuttle. He 
 played tennis as he did everything with ease 
 and careless adroitness. The only thing that 
 distracted him was Helene, who looked de- 
 liciously, inhumanly tempting in her easy flan- 
 nels, her little blue cap pulled rakishly (and, 
 perhaps, designedly) over one ear. Evelyn wore 
 her cap straight, square as a policeman's helmet. 
 
 Tuttle, with that perversity which really fine 
 
21 JHmiher of tl)e (Zfyirb $on0e. 79 
 
 minds are often guilty of, struggled to match 
 Brennan on this field, while Helene laughed 
 merrily at his failures, and Evelyn smiled when 
 he tried to half-volley and nearly broke his rac- 
 quet by hitting the ground. He felt unconsci- 
 ously that his knowledge of literature and lan- 
 guages didn't count with that laughing, flushed 
 and careless little creature over the net. 
 
 At last Brennan shouldered his racquet and 
 spoke alone to Helene. "I don't believe I can 
 play any more. Let's go and sit down here, 
 and give the rest a chance. I want to talk to 
 you." 
 
 Helene knew what was coming, but she was 
 fascinated with the idea of listening to his plea. 
 Her natural coquetry made her quite uncertain 
 whether she loved him or Wilson best. He 
 was so handsome in his tennis suit. Wilson 
 was surrounded by the other players ; it would 
 not do any harm anyhow. 
 
 " Come," insisted Brennan. " I haven't had a 
 chance to talk with you for a week." 
 
 Helene hesitated a little, looking toward the 
 house. " I ought to go and sit with poppa. He 
 looks awfully lonesome sitting over there. He 
 seems worried lately about something. Do you 
 know what ?" 
 
 " Oh, it may be this railway business. Noth- 
 
so 31 Ulembo: of tt) 
 
 ing you need worry about, though. We'll at- 
 tend to it." 
 
 Helene leaned her hand on the end of her 
 racquet and her chin on her hand, looking 
 dreamily over the bay. " Isn't the bay just per- 
 fectly lovely, with the setting sun lighting its 
 face?" 
 
 " It does very well for a sea-face, but I know 
 a girl-face that's lovelier." 
 
 Helene looked up at him roguishly without 
 lifting her chin from her hand. "Does it hurt 
 you to say those things ?" 
 
 "Not much, no. Why?" 
 
 " I'd be concerned about you if it did ; you 
 say so many of them lately. Is it blarney you're 
 talking ? " she said, with an attempt at his 
 dialect. 
 
 " It ts not," Brennan replied, smiling down 
 into her face. Somebody had fired the ball over 
 the back net and Tuttle came running on after it. 
 When he reached it he started to pick it up with 
 his hands, and Brennan called sharply, " Hi, hi ! 
 Against the rules ! " 
 
 Tuttle blushed guiltily. "Excuse me; didn't 
 know you were watching." He then tried to 
 pick the ball up with his racquet and failed, 
 much to their amusement. 
 
 " Good fellow ! " cried Helene, clapping her 
 
21 illcmbcr of % Sijiri i^otise. 81 
 
 hands, when he succeeded. As he ran after the 
 ball, she looked after him meditatively. " How 
 well Mr. Tuttle looks in a tennis suit, and I think 
 he plays very well for one who is near-sighted. 
 Don't you?" 
 
 "Well, never having been near-sighted my- 
 self, I can't say. I wish he'd give his whole 
 time to tennis. He'd play better, and it would 
 suit us just as well." 
 
 Helene opened her eyes wide, in a childish 
 stare. " Now, why do you say that ? I thought 
 you liked each other. Thought you were chums 
 at college, and all that." 
 
 " So we were, but ha ! " he went on melodra- 
 matically. " Why did he cross me path ? Why 
 does he steal before me and wrest the treasure 
 from me hands ? Let him beware ! " 
 
 Helene pretended to shudder. "Oh, you 
 make me shiver. You sound exactly like the 
 villain in the English melodrama." 
 
 "Thanks! That's what I meant to sound 
 like. Oh, I can play the villain, but I wish my 
 role of lover pleased you better, Helene," he 
 added, soberly. 
 
 Helene rose in pretended hauteur. 
 
 "Mr. Brennan, what do you how dare 
 you?" 
 
 Brennan clapped his hands and laughed. 
 
82 21 Itlembn* of tlje atjirb fjoim. 
 
 "Capital! Nobody could do it more to the 
 life." 
 
 " I don't follow you, sir," she said, severely. 
 
 "Ingenue! They invariably call the lover 
 'Mister/ and ask what he means, when he finally 
 says what they've tried to drag out of him for 
 three whole acts." 
 
 Helene laughed in spite of herself. " Oh, it's 
 a rehearsal, then ! " 
 
 "No, it's a proposal, Helene." There was 
 a sincerity in his voice that made her eyes waver 
 and a flush rise to her cheeks. " Your father 
 and I have come to an understanding. Now, 
 what's your verdict, Helene ? Can't you look at 
 me?" 
 
 Brennan will always believe that young Pierce 
 threw the ball over the net on purpose to send 
 Tuttle after it, calling, " Hey, Brennan ! Toss 
 that ball down this way, will you, please ? " At 
 any rate, he picked up the ball and flung it back 
 to Tuttle, who tried to catch it on his racquet, 
 and, failing, paused to look at Helene, who was 
 nervously twirling her racquet on the toe of her 
 shoe. 
 
 " I wish you hadn't said that to me, Tom. I 
 do," she added, as he came back. 
 
 " Why ? " he said, sitting beside her again. 
 
 " Because I can't answer it as you'd like me 
 
of ti)t Sljirir fywst. 83 
 
 to. I like you, Tom, but I haven't thought of 
 marrying anybody, hardly yet." 
 
 " Not yet ? I'm glad of that. Please, promise 
 to begin on me. 'Tis all I ask." 
 
 "Oh, I can't, Tom. I don't like you well 
 enough for that. What did you go spoil all our 
 good times for ? " she cried out, pettishly, to 
 conceal her tears. "Why couldn't you keep 
 quiet ? Now, I won't dare to be alone with you 
 an instant for fear you'll be saying " 
 
 " Sorry ! Won't do it again, but couldn't hold 
 in any longer. Stood it just as long as I could. 
 What with the sun on your hair, mavourneen, 
 and the dress, and the cap, and the little shoon, 
 acushla ! " 
 
 " Tom Brennan, you're crazy." 
 
 "Wid love! So I am." Then he added, 
 seriously : " I wouldn't say this to you before 
 because I hadn't got to the place where I could 
 feel strong enough and successful enough. But 
 now, you know, I'm the Iron Duke's lieuten- 
 ant." ' 
 
 " Yes, I know. Poppa thinks a great deal of 
 you. He was saying so last night. And so do 
 I, Tom only not enough to promise anything 
 like what" 
 
 "All right," said Brennan, cheerily. " Take 
 your own time. I can wait. " 
 
84 21 Jilembn: of tf)e Sfytrir 
 
 "You mean you'll have to," laughed Helene. 
 
 " I do. I make a verrtue of necessity. That's 
 the way I cover me defeats. Where to, now, 
 please ? " he asked, as Helene rose. 
 
 " I'm going to see poppa. Will you come ? " 
 
 " Will I ? I will. But hold on, you've for- 
 gotten something one important thing." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "You've forgotten the usual promise." 
 
 " Promise ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Brennan, audaciously. "To be 
 a sister to me." And then they both laughed 
 so heartily that a row of heads appeared above 
 the tennis net in eager curiosity. 
 
 "I'll do it now." 
 
 "I guess not." 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " Because you may want to change your mind." 
 He saw the heads, made a gesture at them, and 
 they disappeared. As Helene started to walk 
 away, Tuttle came hastily across the ground. 
 
 "Are you going in ? " he asked, an earnest, 
 almost pleading look in his eyes. " I'd like 
 to speak with you." 
 
 Helene gave Brennan her racquet. "Take 
 this in, Tom. I'll be along soon." 
 
 As Helene turned to speak to Tuttle, the sing- 
 ing of the young people on the water swelled out 
 
21 ilkmbcr of tlje Sljirir jJjoim. 85 
 
 to a beautiful chorus, made marvelously sweet by 
 distance. Standing there in the hush and color 
 and growing coolness of the evening, looking 
 upon the dainty and beautiful girl, her little cap 
 pushed back from her halo of hair, her face 
 flushed, her eyes soft with some vague passion, 
 Wilson felt the common ground change to the 
 velvet, sun-shot sward of some immemorial 
 romance. 
 
 Helene spoke first of the music. " Isn't it 
 lovely ? Life is so beautiful sometimes it almost 
 makes me sad. Do you ever feel like that ? " 
 
 " Yes, sometimes. That arises from the con- 
 trast of what life might be with what it is." The 
 singers sang on the chorus again, and neither 
 spoke till it died away. Then Helene sighed, 
 andTuttle spoke slowly, softly: " In the presence 
 of beauty, beneath the stars, man's thoughts turn 
 to love." 
 
 " Whom are you quoting ? " she asked, archly, 
 in self-defense. 
 
 "Jean Paul." Then he turned and spoke 
 gravely, but bluntly: " I saw Brennan talking 
 with you, and he acted like a lover. Was he ? 
 I saw you give him your hand. Have you 
 given him your heart too ? " 
 
 " I don't think you. have any right to ask such 
 questions," Helene said, rather stiffly. 
 
6 21 Ittembn: of tlje ftljtri 
 
 " If you're not a coquette, I have a perfect 
 right. You've given me that right. If not in 
 words, certainly in actions." 
 
 " I have ? " she asked, incredulously. 
 
 " You have, Helene." 
 
 She arched her eyebrows. " Where ? When?" 
 
 Tuttle smiled a little. " You really don't 
 mean to ask me to specify, do you ? " 
 
 " Oh, good gracious, no ! " she replied, color- 
 ing a little. " What did I mean by saying such 
 things." 
 
 " What do you mean by such intimacy with 
 Tom Brennan ? That's what I'm waiting to 
 hear. After our year of of something more 
 than friendship, are you going to" 
 
 Helene was pouting, nearly crying. " I don't 
 care," she said, helplessly. " He's nice, and I 
 really never promised you, and he don't scold 
 me." 
 
 " Is it scolding to ask you to be honest ? No, 
 you never promised me anything. But I'm 
 afraid you're something I hate in a woman a 
 trifler. You make me afraid of it against my 
 will." Helene no longer tried to look at him. 
 "And I know Tom Brennan is a hypocrite and a 
 scoundrel." 
 
 " Mr. Tuttle, how dare you say such a thing 
 
21 UUmber of tlje Sljirb o0e. 87 
 
 to me, and about my father's secretary ? It's 
 outrageous in you." 
 
 " I dare because it's the truth, and I know it; 
 and because I want you to know it, and because 
 I don't want you to waste yourself on such a 
 conscienceless " 
 
 " How kind you are and how modest ! " inter- 
 rupted Helene, scornfully. 
 
 " I know what you mean. I am a better man 
 than Brennan. If I wasn't, by heaven, I'd go 
 hang ! He has no conscience at all. He's a 
 type of the modern business man, whose ideas of 
 right and wrong are atrophied for lack of use. 
 I can't stand by and see you caught by that 
 man's reckless and insinuating grace. I must 
 say what I think, even at the risk of offending 
 you. I warn you " 
 
 Helene was moved by his frankness and sin- 
 cerity, but disowned it. "Many thanks! But 
 do you suppose my father would keep such a 
 man if" 
 
 "No, I don't. I admire and respect the Iron 
 Duke too much to believe that, and I firmly be- 
 lieve Brennan is using him, and Fox is even a 
 worse type. He's involving them in a crime 
 that will ruin you all." 
 
 " Why, Tom is only a boy," exclaimed Helene, 
 
88 21 Jttembo; of tlje Styirir 
 
 trying to laugh. "He can't why, he's too 
 jolly to be bad. It's too absurd." 
 
 "You see only one side of him his social 
 side. He can be terrible. I grant you he's 
 brilliant everywhere, but if you could see him as 
 I see him, with men, in the fumes of whisky 
 and tobacco, in his character as king of the 
 lobby, he'd scare you. To be a leader in the 
 Third House requires cunning and good humor, 
 as well as power." He turned and threw out 
 one hand in an impulsive gesture of appeal. 
 " Don't throw me over, Helene, for a man like 
 Brennan, just because I can't grin and flatter 
 you and spend my time dancing about" 
 
 She sprang up. "I won't stay to be lectured." 
 
 Tuttle stopped her with a gesture and a word. 
 " Wait." When he spoke after a pause, it was 
 in a tone of deep sadness. " I see now that you 
 have trifled with me. I've lost you, but I can 
 talk plainer now. Tom Brennan loves you; I 
 give him credit for taste and sincerity there" 
 
 She smiled and bowed cuttingly. "Thank 
 you." 
 
 " But I tell you he'd ruin your father without 
 a pang if necessary to gain power for himself. 
 How faithful such a man can be to a woman 
 Wait ! " he said, stopping her again. " Don't go 
 away. I'll go. . Now, I've said all I'm going to. 
 
21 ifltmbo: of % ffifjirb oti0e. 89 
 
 Only, for heaven's sake, believe in my sincer- 
 ity ! " His voice broke a little, his deep brown 
 eyes looked into hers with the purity and strength 
 of a man who is sure of his ground. " Don't 
 draw away from me entirely. Try to act just as 
 if I'd never said a word. It's childish to quarrel 
 and pass by without speaking. Don't subject 
 me to that" 
 
 Helene sank into the settee and covered her 
 face with her hands. " It's horrible in you, that's 
 what it is. Just horrible ! You've spoiled our 
 whole evening ! I'll never forgive you ! " 
 
 Evelyn came forward slowly from the other 
 side of the ground and did not perceive Helene 
 on the settee until she had reached Tuttle's side. 
 Then a look of surprise and alarm came into 
 her face. "Oh," she said, with a motion to re- 
 treat. "I hope I'm not I thought you were 
 alone, Mr. Tuttle. I didn't see you, Helene." 
 
 " Oh, never mind! Don't go I'm just 
 going." 
 
 There was an awkward pause, and then he 
 spoke in a pitiful attempt to use his ordinary 
 tone. " I brought a new song up from town. 
 Shall we try it ? Do you care to have me bring 
 it over ? " 
 
 "Of course I do," Helene replied, tearfully, 
 without looking up. 
 
90 21 iSlembo: of % Sljtrii 
 
 " Very well, I'll go get it now." 
 
 Evelyn looked after him a moment, then took 
 a seat beside Helene. " What's the matter, 
 dear ? Have you had a quarrel ? Tell me all 
 about it." 
 
 " Worse than that," replied Helene, giving 
 way at the first touch of sympathy. <( He's been 
 sc-scolding me, and and talking mean about 
 Tom." 
 
 " Talking about Tom ? What for ? How ? " 
 
 "Talking horribly, calling him a villain, and 
 telling me that I flirted." 
 
 " Oh, I see. Well, he must be jealous. You 
 mustn't mind that. That's natural, and it really 
 did look like a courtship from our point of 
 view." 
 
 " I don't see what's the matter. It ain't a bit 
 like him. He's always been so grave and kind, 
 and that's what I liked, and now he talks like 
 like an I d'know what." 
 
 "Good gracious! As bad as that? Well, 
 now, you mustn't mind this little explosion. He 
 loves you dearly, and he's he's a splendid man, 
 and I'm sure he's perfectly sincere, and loves you 
 very very dearly." Someway it was not easy 
 to speak words of comfort. 
 
 "So so does Tom." Evelyn looked at her 
 sharply. 
 
21 JIfcmbfr of tlje Sljiri ou0e. 91 
 
 " How do you know ? " 
 
 "He told me so to-day." She rose with an- 
 other sudden impulse of anger. " I hate to be 
 lectured, and he's always lecturing* me. I won't 
 stand it." The voice of Davis came loudly to 
 their ears, and Helene said hastily : " Come in, 
 I don't want to see poppa now." As they went 
 off around the corner of the house, Davis and 
 Fox came out on the lawn, bringing chairs in 
 their hands. Davis had a bundle of newspapers. 
 He seemed in bad humor, and his voice was 
 aggressive. 
 
 " Oh, these newspapers ! Never mind 'em." 
 
 " I tell you, these little newspapers do us 
 harm. They manufacture public sentiment." 
 
 " But we can't get the earth on our side," 
 returned Fox as he took his seat and looked 
 out on the water. 
 
 "We must try. They must be fixed as well 
 as the big dailies. Take them in the aggregate, 
 they're a power." 
 
 Fox rolled over on one hip and looked at him 
 with a grin. " Did you notice a change in the 
 editorials of the Evening Planet ? " 
 
 " I did. Rather singular, ain't it ? " 
 
 "Very," replied Fox, with a dry cough. " I'm 
 quite at a loss to understand it." 
 
 "As for Tuttle and his damned committee, I'm 
 
92 21 JHembo: of % Sfyirlr 
 
 going to have an understanding with him to- 
 night, right now." 
 
 "Don't do it, Lawrence. He's a dangerous 
 man. Better let me " 
 
 " Will you let me manage a few of my 
 affairs?" Davis turned on him angrily. "I'm 
 not a boy." 
 
 Fox rose with more of anger than he had 
 ever shown. His apparently inexhaustible pa- 
 tience was giving way. "Very well. I've got 
 no more to say. I distinctly warn you that 
 things are at a critical point." 
 
 " Oh, come now, sit down," said Davis, in a 
 gentler tone. "I didn't mean to Come, sit 
 down ! Haven't I taken your advice all along?" 
 
 " Yes, but lately somehow I've always ad- 
 mired your coolness, Lawrence, but somehow 
 you've lost control of yourself lately. Fact is, 
 you're nervous ; and, to be honest about it, I'm 
 afraid you'll do us all harm in one of these tem- 
 pers. You haven't put this thing through with 
 your usual adroitness, to be frank." 
 
 Davis bowed his head in thought. " You're 
 right, Fox. I'm losing my hold on myself. That 
 row with Brennan showed me that. I'm getting 
 irritable. If I get out o' this," he said with a 
 certain pathetic resolution, "it ends it with me. 
 I'll never go into another such fight. I can't 
 
21 JUflnbrr of tl)e Sljirir $oti0e. 93 
 
 stand it. I'm getting old, and, well, I'm I'm 
 losing my sleep over these things. If I get out 
 o' this hole, I'll take Helene and go to Europe." 
 
 He looked almost pitiful as he sat thus, his 
 eyes full of a somber shadow. 
 
 Tuttle, coming by, brought him back to his 
 usual self. 
 
 " Good evening, gentlemen," he said, about 
 to pass. 
 
 Davis extended a newspaper. "Well, sir, 
 what's all this row you've raised in the House 
 against me ? " 
 
 " I've raised no row against you, Mr. Davis, 
 that I'm aware of," Tuttle replied, facing him. 
 
 "Bosh! I mean against the Consolidated. 
 What are you trying to do, anyway ? " 
 
 " Very well, sir, let it stand so," replied Tuttle, 
 quietly. " I'm simply after the truth about the 
 matter; that's all. I'm very sorry to bring 
 even temporary reproach" 
 
 Davis unfolded the paper, and pointed at the 
 first page. " I'd like to know just what you said. 
 Are you correctly reported ? What have you 
 said to raise all these headlines ? " 
 
 " I said," replied Tuttle, rather formally, "that 
 so much evidence had been brought to me that 
 smirched the reputation of the legislators as to 
 establish in my mind a belief that the Consoli- 
 
94 21 member of ti)t (fttjirir 
 
 dated Air Line, in its eagerness to secure the 
 charter, had resorted to the use of money 
 through both houses ; that, the names of these 
 senators having been handed to me" 
 
 " It's a lie, every word of it ! " 
 
 "That will be seen, sir, for a joint investigat- 
 ing committee has been formed to protect the 
 honor of the legislators, and I have become per- 
 sonally responsible for the charges of corruption 
 I have made, and I assure you I shall sift the 
 whole matter to the last grain of evidence." He 
 ended with a certain grim resolution. 
 
 " Sift away ! " said Davis, contemptuously. 
 "You'll find nothing. Not one cent has ever 
 been paid by me to any member of the senate 
 or the lower house." 
 
 "I believe that, Mr. Davis," said Tuttle, with 
 frank eagerness. "And I want to see it proved, 
 for the sake of your daughter for my own 
 peace of mind, I want to prove that." 
 
 " What do you mean by that ? " 
 
 " I mean, sir/' he replied, dropping into the 
 orator's formal tone again, "that your honor, as 
 the father of Helene and as my friend, is as dear 
 to me as my own. I made those charges and 
 welcomed that committee, because I felt that 
 you were not connected directly with this busi- 
 ness, and because I knew your good name 
 
21 Jlfembo; of tl)e Sljirir jBjoim. 95 
 
 would stand all the better because of the test. 
 It's a bath of flame, sir, but the honor of our 
 senate demands it." 
 
 Davis was much moved, and he stood look- 
 ing down at the grass, while Fox paced slowly 
 up and down behind them. 
 
 "It's a bath of flame, my boy," he said, with 
 a sigh. 
 
 Fox struck in. "A bath, young man, we busi- 
 ness men can't afford. It takes the skin off." 
 
 Davis put his hand on Tuttle's shoulder. His 
 voice was a little unsteady. "Wilson, I've had 
 my eye on you ever since you left college. I've 
 been pleased at your success. Of course, IVe 
 laughed at you as the scholar in politics ; but, all 
 the same, I've admired your grit and honesty. 
 But you don't understand the pressure that 
 comes on a man like me. A man can't always 
 just do as he wants to. I ain't quite ready to 
 give Helene away yet. But I'll say right now, 
 I don't know a young man I'd trust her to 
 quicker that is, if" 
 
 " Thank you ! I appreciate your praise. I've 
 tried to serve" 
 
 " But this investigation is bad business. Hush 
 it up as soon as you can. It may hurt us. It 
 can't help but hurt us." 
 
 "In what way, Mr. Davis?" 
 
96 21 member of t\)t STljtrb 
 
 "Lose us the charter. The people are ready 
 and anxious to convict somebody of corruption. 
 Monopoly and corporations are red rags to 'm, 
 even when they're being" served by the monop- 
 olies. Now, this investigation, Wilson, will do 
 us harm. You should have fought it down." 
 
 "If the Consolidated is what you claim, the 
 investigation will vindicate it. It must go on." 
 
 Davis was a little angered at his tone. " But 
 it must not go on." 
 
 "It will go on. It can't be stopped, /can't 
 stop it." The sun had left the grass ; the men's 
 faces were getting gray in the dusk. Davis 
 stood in shadow. 
 
 "But you must. You must withdraw your 
 charges." 
 
 " I didn't make the charges. I simply stated 
 them, sir, as they came to me, and demanded 
 their refutation for the honor of my colleagues, 
 and for your honor." 
 
 Fox struck in in a slow, irritated tone. " You're 
 so damned infernally solicitous about your honor, 
 Tuttle. As if you didn't know " 
 
 " You'll ruin us, that's what you'll do," said 
 Davis, in rising anger. " Ruin us with your in- 
 vestigation ! " 
 
 " If the light of day, sir, will ruin you," replied 
 Tuttle, mounting his oratorical hobby, "very 
 
21 illembn: of tl)e Sljirir (Ijonse. 97 
 
 well. Let it. We can't allow in this republic 
 any corporation, no matter how good its inten- 
 tions, to dominate legislation or shelter itself 
 under the cloak of bribery." 
 
 " Do you charge me with bribery?" demanded 
 Davis. 
 
 "I tell you, sir, I make no charges. It is 
 whispered in my ears by men of character that 
 the Consolidated has absolute control of all rail- 
 way legislation. I want our Capitol purged of 
 its Third House, and its honor vindicated. And, 
 by heaven, it shall be done at any sacrifice ! " 
 
 Davis raised his voice in terrible wrath. "By 
 God, you sha'n't sacrifice me, sir ! Go ahead 
 with your twopenny investigation, and when 
 your re-election time comes, you'll feel my hand. 
 I want you to understand you can't ride me 
 down. Now, go on ! Try it ! Do your worst ! " 
 
 Helene, who had heard their loud voices 
 from the piazza, came running up. "Why, 
 father, how excited you are! Wilson, you're 
 not quarreling with him?" 
 
 Wilson disregarded her. " No clean man will 
 suffer if this investigation goes on. And it shall 
 go on, or I'll resign my office. The scholar, 
 sir, may be a fool, but he's going to stand for 
 principle. Good heavens ! The atmosphere of 
 our legislative halls appalls me. Principles are 
 
98 21 Jttembo: of tlje (Ifyirir 
 
 to be laughed at or aired only in spread-eagle 
 speeches. I swear, sometimes I feel as if noth- 
 ing but some cataclysm of nature would be 
 powerful enough to cleanse our political dens, 
 reeking with moral slime" 
 
 " Listen to me, young man," interrupted Davis 
 in deadly earnest. " You'll withdraw your charges 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " I will not'' replied Tuttle, with inexorable 
 resolution. The men faced each other with set 
 teeth, and at last Davis said : 
 
 " I'll fight this thing till I die or win." 
 
 Helene, awed and frightened, interrupted : 
 "What does it all mean ? What has happened? 
 Father, can't you tell me ?" 
 
 Davis put her aside, harshly. "Go. away; 
 you can't understand it. This is a man's affair. 
 Yes, you can understand it," he said, with a 
 sudden ignoble thought. " Your young man, 
 there, calls me a briber, and threatens me with 
 arrest." Helene gave a little cry of dismay. 
 Tuttle made no sign, but stood looking straight 
 at Davis, who went on : 
 
 " He has brought charges against me. He'd 
 send me to State prison if he could." 
 
 "Oh, no! You wouldn't do that! It can't 
 be true ! " She appealed to Wilson. 
 
21 ilkmba; of % Sljirtr otJ0e. 99 
 
 " It is true, and he can't deny it," insisted 
 Davis. 
 
 " Is it true, Wilson ? " she insisted. 
 
 Tuttle's white wrath still kept its flame. " I 
 say again I've brought charges against the Con- 
 solidated Road. Tell her, sir, why you shrink." 
 
 " If I do, she'll turn on you." 
 
 " No, she won't. And if she does, no matter. 
 I say again, you're being drawn into a terrible 
 vortex by wily and unscrupulous men, Mr. 
 Davis. Get rid of that man/' he said, indicating 
 Fox. " Get rid of Brennan. Ship the whole 
 business of the Third House. Ship Brennan, 
 above all." 
 
 " I won't do that I can't." 
 
 " Can't ? The Iron Duke can't ? " 
 
 " Damn it ! What do you follow me up for? 
 I say I won't and I can't. I must succeed in 
 this to hold what I've got." 
 
 There was a pause, while Tuttle considered 
 the meaning of this. When he spoke again it 
 was in a tone that decided everything. His 
 words came out slowly ; his voice was low and 
 tense with passion. 
 
 "Now I say, irrevocably, the investigation 
 must go on, and I will testify." 
 
 Helene looked from one to the other in dis- 
 may and bewilderment. Brennan appeared on 
 
loo 21 ittembn: of % Sfyiri 
 
 the other side of the shrubs, listening to the 
 conversation. 
 
 " You won't testify against father and Tom," 
 said Helene. 
 
 "Against the Consolidated Road," reiterated 
 Tuttle. 
 
 "I'm the Consolidated Road," said Davis. 
 
 "Very well, sir; against you, then." 
 
 " Then you're a fool," struck in Brennan, 
 "and you'll have your folly for your pains." He 
 threw away his cigar, and stepped with studied 
 effect to the side of Davis. "As for me, I stand 
 or fall with the Iron Duke." 
 
 "Do you hear what he says?" Helene asked 
 Tuttle. 
 
 " Good heavens, Helene ! Can't you see he's 
 the very man proceeded against the head and 
 front of it all ? Don't you see why he " 
 
 " I know he stands by my father ; that's what 
 I know," replied Helene, obstinately blind, " and 
 I know you are against us." 
 
 "And so you distrust me, too?" said Tuttle, 
 despairingly. " Distrust me for being honest, 
 and believe in him when he makes a theatrical, 
 shameless bid" 
 
 "I do," replied Helene, moving a little nearer 
 her father and Brennan. 
 
 After a silence Tuttle mastered himself, and 
 
21 JtUmtar of tlje Stjirir ^ou0e. 101 
 
 raised his head in a lofty gesture. " Very well. 
 This infamous attack on the senate shall be ex- 
 posed and the whole matter investigated, no 
 matter who suffers. Good night." 
 
 As he turned and walked slowly away in the 
 yellow dusk, Helene put her arms about her 
 father's neck. 
 
 Fox took Brennan one side. " Pretty well 
 done, Brennan." 
 
 " Wasn't it ? Saw my chance for a coup de 
 the aire" 
 
 In the silence the far-away chorus was heard 
 again, and the party of tennis-players marched 
 off the lawn, laughing and singing. 
 
 In his exaltation Brennan took Fox's arm, and 
 they went away together to the hotel. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SENATOR WARD AT HOME. 
 
 CENATOR WARD was country-born, and 
 ^ he retained a certain homely simplicity of 
 accent, almost dialect, in his private speech, and 
 a timidity of manner which at times betrayed him. 
 He was a New England Scotch type, tall, spare, 
 with a long- beard, thin nose and deep, beautiful 
 gray eyes. He wore his Prince Albert coat 
 with dignity and kept the respect of those who 
 knew him, in spite of his one terrible weakness. 
 Like thousands of others, he was an example of 
 the inexorable law of heredity. 
 
 In the good old days of ''rum and barn-rais- 
 in's," his father, a carpenter, had been a man 
 of whom every one said : 
 
 "Ben Ward is a good man, but a terrible 
 drinker." 
 
 He was more than a good fellow he was a 
 thoughtful man, and he had bequeathed to his 
 son a blessing, as well as a curse the gift of 
 oratory and a mind that, in its best moments, 
 soon carried Rufus Ward to a very important 
 
ft JHember of % Styirtr fijouse. 103 
 
 position in the business and local politics of his 
 adoptive country. 
 
 But it was through his forced fraternizing 1 with 
 party politicians in offices and ward headquar- 
 ters, reeking with liquor, that his inborn, latent ap- 
 petite came to master him. The "boys" laughed 
 at it, and said it " didn't matter," but they soon 
 saw they had a weapon to use against him when 
 he denounced some disgraceful deed of theirs. 
 This added to his natural timidity. 
 
 As a business man he was irreproachable, and 
 no one had ever charged anything worse than 
 weakness against him. His wife, of New 
 England descent, was an uneducated woman, but 
 of great natural ability, and in Schoharie she 
 was considered a worthy wife to the Senator, 
 though at Waterside her plain speech and dem- 
 ocratic manners provoked comment. She looked 
 matronly, and had at the same time something 
 masculine about her wholesome and kind. 
 
 When the Senator came home that afternoon 
 from his interview with Brennan, she received 
 him as if his clouded eyes, purpled face and pal- 
 sied legs were due to the excessive heat. She 
 took him hurriedly to his room and silently 
 bathed his face and hands, helped him off with 
 his coat and shoes, and left him lying down ready 
 to sleep. 
 
104 21 ittembr of tl) 
 
 "Has father come?" asked Evelyn, as Mrs. 
 Ward closed the door behind her and came into 
 the hall. 
 
 "Yes he's come." 
 
 There were no tears in her eyes and no 
 tremor in her voice. Only a patient, weary tone. 
 She had got beyond tears or wailing. She ac- 
 cepted it as a necessity to be calmly met. 
 
 Evelyn sighed, put her arm about her mother's 
 neck, and laid her face on her shoulder. She 
 understood perfectly no need of any further 
 words. 
 
 "Poor mamma! Well! We must go down 
 to dinner." 
 
 They didn't talk much. They never did on 
 such nights. Evelyn sat with brooding eyes, 
 her forehead full of knots. She had beautiful 
 eyes like her father's sad now, as she listened 
 to the sounds of merry life outside. They were 
 playing tennis out there lithe girls in gray 
 flannels, slender youths in sashes and jaunty 
 caps. The bay was flecked with sails, and from 
 boats floating sleepily on the rose and blue of 
 the water came the sound of young voices singing, 
 and under it all, and back of it all, the soft, pulsing 
 swash and snarl of the waves on the beach. 
 They sat apart from it all alienated from it by 
 their trouble. 
 
21 JlUmbrr of tlje Sljirir gotise. 105 
 
 "Well/' said Mrs. Ward at last, when the 
 waiter was out of the room, " I hope they'll 
 adjourn up there at the Capitol pretty soon ; 
 then father can be with us." 
 
 " I guess they will. Here it is first week in 
 June. They can't go on much longer." Then 
 they fell into silence. 
 
 " Good evening," said a familiar voice at the 
 window. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Tuttle ; come in, won't you ?" cried 
 Evelyn, her face lighting up with a beautiful 
 smile, which faded as he replied : 
 
 " Thank you. Is the Senator in ? " 
 
 "Yes but he isn't very well. Unless it is 
 something very important, I'd rather not" 
 
 "Oh, no! I'll wait till to-morrow. Don't 
 disturb him." There was a quick interchange of 
 glances, and Tuttle knew the truth, and Evelyn 
 knew that he knew it. 
 
 " Let's take a walk. I'm a dismal failure at 
 tennis," he said, after a pause. 
 
 "Very well unless you need me, mother?" 
 This question meant to Mrs. Ward: "unless 
 father needs us both to take care of him." 
 
 " Oh, no I don't need you, dear. Go along. 
 It'll do you good." 
 
 Evelyn knew what this walk meant that 
 she would have an exquisite hour that would 
 
106 21 Jtlembn: of tlje Sljirb 
 
 leave her with a hunger in the heart that would 
 not let her sleep and yet she could not resist. 
 She went to her room to put on an extra ribbon 
 or flower. She stood for a moment before the 
 glass, not in bitterness, but in a dumb, indefin- 
 able regret that she should be so unattractive. 
 
 They took their way down to the beach, 
 where lovers and young wives and nurse-girls 
 were promenading on the firm, smooth sand, 
 over which the hissing laps of sea ran like 
 green, silver-edged tongues. There was a fresh 
 sea-wind blowing, salt and sea-weedy. In the 
 far offing sun-tinted sails slanted and steamers 
 were passing, leaving vast dun banners of smoke 
 trailing along the upper air. 
 
 Tuttle was a little abstracted, but as he 
 went on, he grew more in earnest. He was a 
 man of wide reading and of deep enthusiasm, 
 and he carried conversation to the plane of his 
 own thought, or silenced his listener by the 
 wealth of his diction and the wide reach of his 
 perceptions. 
 
 Evelyn talked but little, but she always had 
 the effect of bringing the best thoughts of her 
 friends to the surface, and Tuttle always talked 
 to her as to a comrade. Her replies and sug- 
 gestions, brief as they were, showed how thor- 
 
21 iflmber of tlje Sljirtr <5cm0*. 10? 
 
 oughly she enjoyed him, and how closely she 
 followed his thought. 
 
 When she came home an hour later, she went 
 to her room and flung herself down on the sofa, 
 crushing the flowers on her bosom. She could 
 remember but little of what he had said she 
 remembered the shining sands, the music, the 
 gay young voices and flexile forms, the clutch 
 and snarl of the ocean, and, above all, or 
 through it all, that grave, sweet man's-voice 
 sounding in her ear. 
 
 She did not deceive herself. She knew he 
 was not turning to her from Helene. 
 
 "He likes me but he loves Helene," was 
 the sentence that came over and over into her 
 mind, as if she were explaining it all to her 
 mother. It was nearly midnight when she arose 
 and wearily undressed for sleep. She deter- 
 mined never to yield to such temptation again. 
 
 At breakfast the next morning, Senator Ward 
 was pale and silent. Nothing was said to indi- 
 cate that it was not the usual breakfast time. 
 They greeted him as cheerily as possible, and 
 Mrs. Ward placed a strong cup of coffee at his 
 plate, which he drank at once. 
 
 "I guess you hadn't better go up to the 
 Capitol to-day, Rufus. It's goin' to be warm." 
 
108 21 JHember of % Sljirtr 
 
 " Oh, I must go, mother. It's a very impor- 
 tant time just now everybody's tryin' to rush 
 bills through, and I must be there. I'll be home 
 early, though. I'll come home right after the 
 session." 
 
 "Well, now, don't worry an' don't walk 
 about them hot streets any more'n you can 
 help." 
 
 "No, I'll come right home." 
 
 They moved about him, fixing his necktie and 
 brushing his hat. 
 
 " Evy, it don't seem to me you're very well 
 this mornin' ? " he said, as he was about to go. 
 
 "Oh, I'm all right, father, just a little lazy; 
 that's all. Run along, now, if you're going to 
 catch that boat. If you lose that you'll have to 
 ride in that hot train. Come, skip !" she ended, 
 striking her hands together and smiling. 
 
 He stooped and kissed her. " You're my 
 blessed little girl. I'll come back early, sure." 
 
 After he had gone, there were few smiles in 
 the room. Mrs. Ward worked about the house 
 she couldn't sit still while Evelyn sewed 
 steadily as a seamstress, except once or twice 
 she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes 
 wearily. Mrs. Ward saw her thus, but dared not 
 speak to her. Once when she saw her leaning 
 back thus with shut eyes, she detected a tear 
 
21 Jttembtr of ti)t Sljirb tyonst. 109 
 
 slipping down the musing girl's cheek ! It was 
 too much for her to bear, and she rose and went 
 out, leaving Evelyn alone. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SUNDAY PAPERS. 
 
 r 'PHE Sunday morning papers were filled with 
 the investigation twenty-column short- 
 hand reports of the proceedings, while the opin- 
 ions of leading men and politicians and editorial 
 comments filled pretty nearly the entire news 
 department of the issues. But there was notice- 
 able a great change in the editorials. On the 
 first day or two of the hearing, even the papers 
 opposed to Tuttle politically, breathed out a gentle 
 defiance toward the "great corporations dominat- 
 ing our legislative halls," and had a good word 
 for "the courage of the young radical who was 
 determined to see just how much there was in 
 this boasted power of the Third House." 
 
 It went further, this opposition press, and 
 said : "//"such use had been made of the Third 
 House (which every legislator admitted existed) 
 as had been charged, no punishment could be 
 too severe for the debauchers of public morals." 
 
 But this righteous indignation grew more and 
 more retiring from day to day, and, as Tuttle 
 read the Sunday morning papers, he found him- 
 
31 ittonbo: of % t)iri zmt. ill 
 
 self characterized as a " self-sufficient young- ass, 
 who, on the mere hearsay evidence of blacklegs 
 and heelers, had involved the Senate in a miser- 
 able investigation which would place the legis- 
 lators as a body under the derision of the Amer- 
 ican people." 
 
 His own papers "regretted that he did not 
 make himself more certain of his ground before 
 entering into such a grave fight with a great 
 corporation." They hurled back with scorn the 
 imputation that it was partisan in effect, and left 
 Tuttle to stand alone as the investigator and 
 persecutor of the whole matter "against the ad- 
 vice of friends." 
 
 As Tuttle read these shifty, treacherous quali- 
 fyings and hedgings, he grew white with wrath. 
 
 " You see," he said, to Hill, one of the faith- 
 ful, who was taking breakfast with him, "my 
 own papers go back on me. That shows 
 the power of money. I don't mean to say that 
 these papers were bought outright, but I mean 
 that the moment a doubt creeps in, they do the 
 safest thing condemn the man whose friend- 
 ship is worth the least to them." 
 
 Hill was disposed to take a gloomy view 
 of it. 
 
 "Give it up, Tuttle no use! The people 
 ain't ready to stand by us yet. Throw the 
 
112 31 Jttember of ttye Stjtrtr 
 
 whole damn thing up. We can stand it if the 
 public can." 
 
 " I won't throw it up," Tuttle cried, with a 
 look of iron resolution on his face. "And I will 
 convict." 
 
 " You can't unless you can get some member 
 to swear he was approached by" 
 
 "If I could involve Brennan, or Fox he's 
 just the man to squeak when he found himself 
 in for it. Then the public " 
 
 "Oh, you'd find the public with you fast 
 enough then ! They are terribly alarmed over 
 injuries to vested rights, but a man has no 
 vested rights the moment he is believed to be 
 helpless. My idea is to corral Pat Murnahan 
 or one of the lesser fellows." 
 
 Sunday was a busy day with the members of 
 the Third House also. The Hilliard lobby was 
 full of men discussing the investigation, and in 
 Brennan's office a council of war was being held. 
 
 Brennan was in his usual mood, but Fox was 
 a little nervous, and the Hon. Robert Binney, 
 the counsel for their defense, was businesslike. 
 He was a short man, with a very bald head. He 
 had been told at one time that he looked like 
 Ingersoll, and thereafter he wore his face cleanly 
 shaven. He was very able and vastly learned 
 
21 iHroibo: of tlje Sljirir $0n0e. 113 
 
 in law, but he spoke with a drawling- "York 
 State dialect," as the Western people call it, 
 that is, a strong nasal, with many elisions. 
 
 "Waal, now, don't tell me too much," he said, 
 interrupting Brennan. "There's such a thing as 
 bein' embarrassed with knowledge. You are 
 willin' to admit you paid the Third House I 
 understand that. You considered that legiti- 
 mate. What they did, you don't know, of 
 course." 
 
 "That's the idea," said Brennan. 
 
 "Exactly. Well, naow, jest let me have a 
 minute." 
 
 It was an interesting process this, of giving 
 the attorney just enough of the truth to let him 
 see their weak points, and yet not enough so 
 that he could be charged with collusion. A 
 long experience had made him an adept in this, 
 and his really powerful mind seized the whole 
 situation by that subtle "winged logic" which 
 had made him one of the most famous lawyers 
 of his day. Like thousands of others, he had 
 come to take a pride in his power to defeat 
 justice. 
 
 "Our plan of action must be like the ground- 
 hog stay in our hole an' let the daug paw 
 dirt," he said at length. "Set still an' watch 
 
 'em." 
 
114 21 Jttembn- of % Styrb 
 
 " It's slow work," said Brennan. " I don't like 
 the idea myself. Relatively it's all right, but it's 
 wearin' on the nerves to sit at the end of a hole 
 and listen to the dog pawing." 
 
 ''Waal, I guess you'll haf to stand it," said 
 Binney as he went out. 
 
 Left alone, the three men talked plainer. 
 Davis was plainly very nervous. "I wish the 
 whole thing was sunk," he said. 
 
 " Oh, no y' don't," said Fox. " You're a little 
 worn, that's all. You'd better run down to the 
 beach for the day and get a little rest. Tom 
 and I will get hold of the other fellows and fix 
 them ready for the testimony. Leave that in 
 my hands. Our policy is to admit the payment 
 of money to the Third House, pleading that 
 circumstances made it necessary." 
 *" And that's true, too," broke in Davis. 
 
 " Of course it's true," echoed Fox. " Now, 
 that's all right. Tom and I will see that our 
 front is unbroken. Every witness will be pre- 
 pared. Not one of 'em but knows how to take 
 care of himself. Nothing is easier than to fool 
 the poor public." 
 
 While the "poor, feeble-minded fool of a pub- 
 lic" was reading its Sunday newspaper or going 
 to church with its wife and daughter, the Third 
 House was organizing, toiling, with that zeal 
 
21 JHember of tlje Sl/irir ou0e. 115 
 
 which makes any toil a pleasure and a success, 
 to perfect their defense. The easy-going-, habit- 
 mastered public is disorganized, nerveless, 
 wordy and with little energy or concert of 
 action, but the evil forces of society are always 
 organized, always alert, and move as one man. 
 It is the exceptional case where they can be 
 caught off their guard, or surprised in a mo- 
 ment of relaxation. 
 
 Tuttle realized perfectly the position of the 
 defense, and, as he sat alone after breakfast, he 
 went all over the ground. He set his teeth in 
 the resolve to vindicate himself. He deter- 
 mined that if he was to be held personally 
 responsible for the charges which had really 
 been made by everybody, he would have the 
 honor of proving them true. 
 
 All day he thought upon his line of action 
 tried to discover some mode of attack not abso- 
 lutely hopeless. 
 
 A few of his friends dropped in, but they 
 could do very little ; in fact, most of them ad- 
 vised him to give it up. 
 
 " They'll only make a laughing-stock of you, 
 Wilson, and it will do no good. They're going 
 to make it a political fight if possible. They're 
 going to try to ruin you before your constitu- 
 ents." 
 
116 21 itlember of % Styrb 
 
 Tuttle was roused. " Let 'em try it. I'll 
 fight it to the bitter end. If you'd only stand 
 by me. You believe them guilty?" 
 
 "Yes, no doubt of it." 
 
 "Then why don't you stand by me?" They 
 shrugged their shoulders. "If you, and all like 
 you, would stand by me," cried Tuttle passion- 
 ately, "we could defy the power of the Consoli- 
 dated or any other corporation. It's because 
 people will not speak out" 
 
 "What's the good of speaking out if you 
 can't prove anything. You can't prove any- 
 thing unless some fellow turns State's evidence, 
 and there's no possibility of that." 
 
 They left Tuttle studying on that problem 
 how to get evidence that would convict. In the 
 afternoon, as he took the boat for Waterside, he 
 was still racking his brain upon the problem. 
 He had half-formed a wild plan of going to 
 Sheehan and attempting to buy his evidence. 
 He was willing to sacrifice half of his little 
 fortune. Nonsense ! What an idea ! He must 
 be going crazy. He tried to throw it off by 
 looking out upon the dazzling water, fringed 
 with the green hills, which reached into the bay 
 like the caress of a lover's hand. But he could 
 not escape it. A group of men came by and 
 asked him about the trial. Everybody pointed 
 
21 JHnnber of tlje Sfytrir ^on0e. 117 
 
 him out he thought he heard them laughing 
 at him. 
 
 One fellow, a drummer, stayed a moment 
 after the rest passed on. 
 
 " Tuttle, why don't y' strike old Senator Ward 
 a little harder ?" he said. " I heard the old man 
 talkin' pretty loud the other day, and he said 
 some pretty damaging things. Of course he 
 was drunk, but he don't say such things just 
 because he's drunk. Now, I ain't got any par- 
 ticular interest in this thing. I don't live here 
 anyhow, but damned if I like to see the whole 
 town jumpin' on a man's neck, 'specially when 
 I'm dead sure he's right." 
 
 " How do you know I'm right?" Tuttle 
 asked of the free-spoken drummer. 
 
 " In the nature of things a man who fights one 
 o' these monopolies must be right that's all. 
 We're all down on 'em, but we ain't got sand to 
 fight 'em. If he was approached, the Senator 
 might be induced to talk. It's worth trying 
 anyway." 
 
 "What kind of a plea could I make to Ward 
 that would induce him to criminate himself?" 
 replied Tuttle, not without sarcasm. 
 
 " Well, I don't think the old man was actually 
 bribed, but I think he was approached, and I 
 think he knows of others who were. In other 
 
118 21 JHembn: of tfje Sljtrb 
 
 words, he's what I call the clue-end o' the whole 
 snarl. He's y'r man. All you want is to find 
 the loose end, and that will lead to the center of 
 the thing-. One man will criminate another." 
 
 This made a deep impression upon Tuttle, and 
 he rode the rest of the way in deep thought 
 along that definite line of action. If he could 
 not reach some man like Ward, his case was 
 desperate. He determined to see Ward that 
 night, and make an appeal to him. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 AN EVENING CALL. 
 
 TN an easy-chair, in the large plain sitting-room, 
 1 Senator Ward was sitting that night when 
 the sun went down behind the sharply-defined 
 clouds, and darkness came over the water. The 
 wind was blowing steadily, and the waves had a 
 steady thundering roll that ended in an impa- 
 tient swash and a clutching snarl. The light- 
 ning, distant and diffusive, came now and then 
 to light the old man's gray head faintly. 
 
 He had been writing, but the portfolio had 
 fallen to his knees, and, with his eyes fixed 
 dreamily on the line where the clouds and the 
 water met, he brooded over some sad thought. 
 He looked very weak and old and humble as he 
 sat there. He had only simple dignity at his 
 best, and the name of Senator could not save him 
 now from being the harassed old man that he 
 was, with no son to share his toil and anxieties. 
 
 He was facing his almost hopeless future. He 
 had gone over the ground for the hundredth 
 time. He couldn't meet that payment, and it 
 would mean a forced sale of all he had and a loss 
 
120 21 jttembn- of tlje Sljirlr 
 
 so great, recovery would be impossible. Then 
 his mind went back to his interview with Bren- 
 nan, and he tried to remember what was said, 
 but it was all hazy and vague. 
 
 On the floor beside him lay the morning 
 papers, containing his own testimony and that of 
 many others. He sat there till it grew too dusk ' 
 to read, his eyes on the light outside. Mrs. 
 Ward came in with a match to light the lamp. 
 She gave a quick glance at him and hesitated 
 a moment as if uncertain whether to speak or 
 not. 
 
 " Why, Rufus, how quiet you are ! What are 
 you doing? I didn't know you was here." 
 
 "I've been writing a little, my dear." 
 
 "Why don't you go to your liberry?" 
 
 " Oh, I d' know. I kind o' wanted to be 
 where I could look out on the water." 
 
 Mrs. Ward took a seat by his side. " You're 
 worryin' again, Rufus, an' you promised us you 
 wouldn't." 
 
 "Yes, I am worryin', Josephine, but not about 
 my business. That is, not what you mean." 
 
 " You ain't a- worryin' about that investigatin' 
 committee, are you ? " 
 
 " Yes, I am, to tell the truth. I'm worried 
 about that." 
 
51 HUmber of tlje Sljirb (Sjmw. 121 
 
 " But you've testified. Ain't that all you've 
 got to do about it ? " 
 
 "No, it ain't, Josephine. I ought to do 
 somethin' else, but I can't. I ain't got the 
 courage." He rose and walked about un- 
 steadily. 
 
 "There, there, Rufus ! Set down. I didn't 
 mean to stir you up. I wish 't Wilson Tuttle 
 hadn't never been born." 
 
 " No, you don't, mother. You don't mean 
 any such thing." 
 
 "I do, too! He don't do nothin' but make 
 trouble everywhere he goes." 
 
 "He's all right, mother. He's only doin' his 
 duty. If he hadn't started this investigation 
 somebody else " 
 
 " Oh, I don't mean that s'much I don't mean 
 that 't all!" 
 
 "What do you mean, then ? " 
 
 " Don't you know? Ain't y' seen?" inquired 
 his wife sharply. 
 
 "No. What? I ain't seen anything." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! Men ain't got any eyes 'cept 
 for business," she exclaimed in despair. "Evy 
 has been cryin' her eyes out for that wooden- 
 headed, dictionary-spoken thing all this week. 
 I can't persuade 'er" 
 
122 21 JHembur of tl)e Sfyirb 
 
 Ward looked up at her helplessly. " You 
 don't mean she's " 
 
 "That's exactly what I do mean just that," she 
 replied, looking at him defiantly. 
 
 " Why, I was afraid she was kind o' taking up 
 with Tom Brennan," exclaimed the Senator. 
 
 " Tom Brennan ! " replied Mrs. Ward, in vast 
 disdain. "Well, I give up, Senator Ward! I 
 thought you had some sense. Tom Brennan ! 
 An' here she's be'n worshipin' that book-worm 
 an' walkin' up an' down the beach with him, an 1 
 learnin' him to play tennis all this while ! An' 
 you ain't seen it ! Course, she's kind o' held 
 in, for she was afraid he liked Helene Davis, an* 
 I guess he does, but Helene, she likes Brennan, 
 though why, I can't see. He's too oily and 
 good-natured, that man is, for me. He makes 
 me think o' Cy Williams. I wouldn't be a bit 
 surprised if he skipped out to Canada same as 
 Cy did. He's in the parlor there now, he an' 
 Helene both. Thank goodness ! they're about 
 ready to go. I wish he'd never come back, fur's 
 I'm concerned." 
 
 "And so you think Evy kind o'" 
 
 "I don't think anything about it. I know it. 
 She ain't one o' the kind that lets on, but she's 
 just eatin' her heart out alone. An' she won't 
 talk to me hushes me right up." Her voice 
 
21 JHnnba: of tl)c Sljirir jS)ou0. 123 
 
 broke, and she was obliged to wipe her eyes. 
 " It does seem as if everything was criss-cross 
 in this world, Rufus. After we've worked an* 
 
 saved s' many years" She broke off to 
 
 keep from sobbing. "If you hadn't gone into 
 politics we'd 'a' be'n better off, a good sight." 
 
 Ward acknowledged the justice of her re- 
 proach with a sigh. "You're right, Josephine." 
 Then he asked a question in a tone that seemed 
 to ask assurance. "But now I'm in politics I 
 ought to serve my State faithfully, hadn't I ?" 
 
 "Course! They's nothin' else you can do. 
 If, after all you've sacrificed, you don't serve 
 your State faithfully, I don't see but what you'd 
 be a reg'lar failure ; Rufus. Elder White used 
 to say : ' Long's a man's honest he ain't a fail- 
 ure. Guv'ment may be a failure, but he ain't." 
 Ward groaned and dropped his head on his 
 hands. 
 
 "Why, Rufus, what's the matter? What 
 have I said now ? " 
 
 "Nothin', mother. It's what I've said and 
 done I've been a failure and a disgrace to 
 you, Josephine." 
 
 " You ain't neither, Rufus Ward, now ! Don't 
 you say that ag'in." 
 
 " If I was out o' this, I never'd go into poli- 
 tics ag'in. I'm afraid I never'll git out." 
 
124 $ Jttemfor of % Sljtri <otJ0t. 
 
 "There, there ! Don't worry any more to- 
 night, Rufus. Sufficient unto the day is the 
 evil thereof." 
 
 Her own eyes were wet, and she put 
 her hand tenderly on his shoulder. There 
 was a burst of laughter in the hall, and Evelyn 
 and Brennan, going by, stopped and looked in 
 at the door-way. 
 
 "Ah, I fear we intrude upon a lovers' tete-a- 
 tete/' cried Brennan. "I'm sure of it. They're 
 both blushing." 
 
 " I guess not," laughed Helene. "The blush 
 is on the Senator's white hair, so it must be the 
 shade of the lamp. I'm sorry to spoil your 
 romance." 
 
 "We're more likely to be quarrelin' than 
 courtin' at our time o' life," said Mrs. Ward, 
 smilelessly. "The romance is pretty well faded 
 out o' things with us." 
 
 "Why, mother! You know you never quar- 
 rel." 
 
 " Not that you see, probably." 
 
 " I try to quarrel sometimes," said the Sena- 
 tor, "but it takes two, you know, and so I 
 can't." 
 
 "I generally find there's two of us when I 
 want to quarrel," said Brennan. A distant light- 
 
21 JHnuber of tlje Sljirir <0n0*, 125 
 
 ning flash lighted the room, and was followed, 
 after a moment, by a mutter of thunder. 
 
 "Oh, what a frightful flash!" Helene cried. 
 " Tom, take me home this minute. Thunder 
 makes me frantic." 
 
 "I like to escort girls home in a thunder- 
 storm," said Brennan to Ward. " They're so 
 confiding. They cling to one's arm like a bar- 
 nacle. Come on ! Now for a run ! Good 
 night, all." 
 
 Ward went with them into the hall and out on 
 the porch as they ran across the lawn. 
 
 " She's pretty gay, ain't she?" said Mrs. 
 Ward to Evelyn. " She don't have to worry 
 over debts and investigatin' committees. Seems 
 if everything was bearin' down on your father 
 these days."- 
 
 "But Helene ain't quite happy for all that. 
 She's trying to be gay. I don't think she's 
 sincere in it." 
 
 " Why, what makes you think that ? " 
 
 "She's quarreled with Wilson, or, rather, 
 broken with him." 
 
 " You don't say ! What about, for pity's 
 sake ? " 
 
 "Oh, about this investigating committee." 
 
 " For Peter's sake ! Well, I hope Wilson 
 Tuttle feels he's right, for it's gettin' him into 
 
126 21 itiembcr of tlje 
 
 hot water all round. So that's the reason she's 
 so sweet on Tom Brennan ? Well, well ! An' 
 now there won't neither of you have him." 
 
 " Hush ! Why, mother, do you know how 
 that sounds ! Besides, I wish you wouldn't talk 
 about it at all just now. I'll be able to bear it 
 better after a while. But he's very noble in 
 this. He told me all about it. He's simply 
 standing for truth and justice ; even the papers 
 admit that." 
 
 " Well, I wish she was worth the trouble, but 
 it's always the way with a man like that. Ten 
 chances to one he takes up with some little bit 
 of a rattle-headed" 
 
 Evelyn stopped her again. 
 
 " Don't, mother ! Helene isn't so petty as she 
 seems. She's really noble at heart. With him 
 she'd grow to be a good, true woman." 
 
 " Good, true fiddlesticks ! All she'll ever grow 
 into is a chatterbox. She ain't got brains enough 
 for anything else." She ended full of maternal 
 rebellion at the course of things. 
 
 " Why, mother, how can you say such dread- 
 ful things ? " 
 
 Ward was heard talking to some one at the 
 door. " Come in ! come in !" 
 
 "Pa's got company. Guess we'd better va- 
 
31 Jllember of % l)irb QMS*. 127 
 
 moose," said Mrs. Ward, " we ain't either of us fit 
 to be seen." 
 
 Ward returned with Davis, whose quick eye 
 caught a glimpse of the vanishing women. 
 
 " Hope I didn't scare anybody away." 
 
 "Oh, I guess not. Take a chair. I'll light 
 another burner." 
 
 "Oh, no, no! This is all right. Just the 
 kind of a light for two reminiscent old chaps to 
 talk by." 
 
 He was. in a peculiarly complaisant, almost 
 tender, mood not posing as a great financier, 
 nor apparently concerned about his interests as a 
 monopolist. He stretched his legs out before 
 him in a restful position, leaned his head back on 
 his chair, and talked familiarly as a neighbor. 
 He was country-born himself, and knew that 
 nothing was so flattering as this assumption of 
 homely ease. 
 
 Ward was puzzled by it. For, although they 
 had been neighbors here for two seasons, Davis 
 had never before entered his house except in an 
 entirely business way. They had nodded daily, 
 of course, and discussed events of the morning, 
 as they rode up on the boat or down on the 
 train in the afternoon, but this neighborliness 
 was something new, and had a disarming charm 
 (coming from the great Iron Duke) which was 
 
128 31 Jttembr of tlje Sfyirb 
 
 hard to resist, though he knew that he scruple< 
 at nothing to carry his point. 
 
 "Ah, my bones ain't what they used to lx 
 strange to say, Senator. I'm older than yoi 
 are, d'you know it ? I'm sixty. Come, now 
 that's two or three years more than you cai 
 record." 
 
 ''Yes, I'm only fifty-nine." 
 
 "You're looking considerably under th 
 weather, Senator," said Davis, after a littl 
 silence. 
 
 "I'm feeling that way. Fact is, business mat 
 ters are worryin' me a little. Have been fo 
 some time." 
 
 "So I've heard. Well, I'm a little annoyei 
 these days myself at this business up at th 
 Capitol building. In fact, I'm a good deal dis 
 turbed. I don't like the way the public take i 
 up. What did they do to-day, anyhow, at Tut 
 tie's little farce-comedy?" he asked in an indii 
 ferent way. 
 
 "Not much of anything," replied Ward evas 
 ively. " Examined a few unimportant wit 
 
 nesses." 
 
 " Well, just how is the Senate feeling?" 
 Ward stiffened a little. " I don't think I'm a 
 liberty to state." 
 
 Davis leaned over as if in a burst of confidence 
 
21 JHontar of tlje Sljtrir fywst. 129 
 
 f< I don't mind saying, Senator, that I'm damn- 
 ably worried. It may lose us the charter. But 
 you senators ought to see that we're the only 
 men that can build the road. We're here on the 
 ground. No other arrangement can serve the 
 people as well. We make better connections, 
 save fares. If you're working for the people's 
 good, you'll work for us. You're bound to." 
 
 "That may be so, from your point of view, but 
 from mine" 
 
 " There's no other point of view for you, as a 
 representative of the public. If you refuse to 
 work with us, you simply delay the building of a 
 road for ten years. Now let's go over the 
 ground " 
 
 Ward rose. " It's no use to argue with me, 
 Davis. I've been all over the ground. There 
 ain't anything more to say." 
 
 "Oh, yes, there is, Senator, lots to say. Now, 
 I'd like to make a proposition to you. Sit down ! 
 Now, it's all nonsense to object to a thing like 
 that. The public can't see ahead. They don't 
 know what's the best thing to do. If they did, 
 we wouldn't find it necessary to do this. Now, 
 take these senators. Many of them are old gran- 
 nies, superannuated country lawyers. You know 
 that, and they need to be led by men like your- 
 self. Now ; if you'll if you'll go into this thing 
 
130 21 Jttembn- of tlje l)iri (jjou0e. 
 
 with us, I'll take half your business on my 
 hands, and make you a stockholder to that 
 amount in the road. Come ! That's the way all 
 business is carried on these days. Perfectly 
 legitimate. I don't approach you as a senator, 
 but as a man and a neighbor, and, besides, the 
 thing I ask you to do is a real service to the 
 public." It was astonishing how necessary, 
 almost honorable, his voice made this appear, he 
 was so frank and honest. 
 
 " Give me time to think, Davis," said Ward, 
 weakly. " It's too much to expect of me off- 
 hand." 
 
 Davis reached over and touched his knee. 
 
 " Senator, as man to man, I want to be per- 
 fectly frank with you. The loss of this charter 
 may ruin my road. We've been building on our 
 original line, changing grades, renewing bridges, 
 and so forth, and we've borrowed largely this 
 year borrowed big money. If anything were to 
 happen to make people capitalists lose confi- 
 dence in the road, or in me, we'd be in the hands 
 of a receiver in thirty days. It would be a ter- 
 rible injustice to us, and especially to our small 
 stockholders and employes. Just imagine the 
 condition of things if we fail. Now, let's work 
 together. Come, what do you say ? " 
 
31 Hfcmbtr of tlje Sljirir fjoti0e. 131 
 
 He waited while Ward mused with downcast 
 head. 
 
 " Give me time, Davis. You press me too 
 hard. I I can't decide now." 
 
 "Very well. Only the vote comes soon. 
 This investigation will fall through. It's annoy- 
 ing, but not dangerous. Can't you decide to- 
 morrow ?" 
 
 " Yes, I'll try. But I don't think I can influ- 
 ence anybody." 
 
 " I'll take the risk, Senator," said Davis, 
 rising and extending his hand, which Ward took 
 hesitatingly. "I'll see you to-morrow night. 
 Come to my office at five, and we'll come down 
 together. Good night." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 "l WILL TESTIFY." 
 
 WARD returned to his seat by the table. 
 He sighed deeply, at last rose and walked 
 o the window. As he stood there looking out 
 nto the night, watching the far-off display of 
 ;ilent lightning, a knock came on the door, and 
 Evelyn asked: 
 
 "May I come in, father ?" 
 
 "Yes, my dear." 
 
 "Are you alone?" she asked, looking about. 
 5he studied his face. 
 
 "Not now, dear; I've got you." He put his 
 irm about her waist. Evelyn was very sober. 
 ' Wilson wishes to see you, father." 
 
 "To see me? Anything in particular?" 
 
 "I think so, but I don't know." 
 
 There was a little pause, and Ward said: 
 
 "Tell him to come in." 
 
 Evelyn went to the door and said, " Mr. Tut- 
 ;le, father is alone now." The subtle change 
 rom "Wilson" to "Mr. Tuttle" was not lost 
 jpon the Senator, now that he was made sensi- 
 
 132 
 
21 fttnnbcr of tlje Sljirir fi)cm0e. 133 
 
 tive to the situation. His heart turned from his 
 own trouble to hers. 
 
 Tuttle entered with hat and stick in his hand. 
 The men greeted each other rather coldly, 
 Ward pushing forward a chair. 
 
 "You want to see me?" 
 
 "Yes, alone," replied Tuttle, still standing. 
 
 "Oh, I'll go, then," exclaimed Evelyn. 
 
 Ward reached out a hand to detain her. He 
 seemed to need her presence. "No, my girl 
 knows all my business. There are few secrets 
 between us. Go on, sir, what is it?" Evelyn 
 stood beside him. Her heart beat with appre- 
 hension. 
 
 Tuttle bowed and took a chair, and began to 
 speak in a formal way, slightly oratorical, as if 
 the echoes of his recent speech were still in his 
 tone and words. 
 
 "Senator, when I rose in the House and 
 charged the Senate with corrupt practices, you 
 will remember I said that it was in the hope 
 that the charge which was not mine would 
 be refuted. Men and papers had clamored in 
 my ear for some such open statement of what 
 they were saying or hinting. Of course, I 
 knew that you and your brethren would escape 
 any taint ; that as honest men you courted inves- 
 tigation. Your testimony last Tuesday was in 
 
134 21 JHembo: of tf)e Sljirtr fi)cmsc. 
 
 the main what I expected from you, but at the 
 end of four days, the committee, without having 
 found anything conclusive about bribery, have 
 proved to the public and myself that the Con- 
 solidated Air Line Railway has bought its way 
 boldly and adroitly to its present point." 
 
 "You don't mean to say Mr. Davis has" 
 
 asked Evelyn. 
 
 " I don't know how much he knows of the 
 work, but I regard Fox and Brennan as danger- 
 ous men. The public now comes back upon 
 me, because I can find no case. Of course, we 
 all know that, were the criminals actually before 
 us, their only course would be to deny in toto" 
 He paused an instant, looked straight at Ward, 
 and said, in a low voice: " Senator, I think Miss 
 Ward had better leave us." 
 
 " No, now I'm going to stay and hear you 
 out," replied Evelyn. 
 
 Senator Ward shivered, as if a cold blast 
 touched him. " Let her remain. Go on." 
 
 "Very well. Now, Senator, slander is busy 
 with your name." 
 
 "My name? What do they say?" 
 
 "How dare they slander him?" demanded 
 Evelyn, her face full of indignation. 
 
 Tuttle rose involuntarily, with the growing 
 excitement. His fine, serious face was full of 
 
21 JUnnbtr of tlje Sljirir ijjottst. 135 
 
 pain. "They say you know of senators who 
 have been bribed. They say that under the 
 influence of of liquor" 
 
 Ward turned his eyes for a moment upon Eve- 
 lyn, then turned his head toward the window. 
 His face, pathetically drawn, moved Tuttle almost 
 to tears. 
 
 " Pardon me, Senator," Tuttle said, with deep 
 feeling, "I'm only repeating" 
 
 Ward faced him again. " Go on, sir; I under- 
 stand." 
 
 Evelyn sprang to her feet. " The miserable 
 creatures ! How can they ! " Angry tears were 
 in her eyes. 
 
 Tuttle went on slowly. "They say that you 
 have boasted of having been approached by an 
 agent of the Consolidated ; that, if you would, 
 you could testify in such a way as to give us a 
 hold upon the unscrupulous scoundrels who pro- 
 fess to carry both houses in their pockets. Sen- 
 ator," he went on, with a fervor of appeal, " I 
 stand here to-night to say that if you can strike 
 a blow at these men, you should do it, for God's 
 sake and Truth's sake." 
 
 Ward, deeply affected, looked away again, 
 and faltered in a low voice, "Betray my col- 
 leagues ! " 
 
 " If you don't, you betray your State ! " was 
 
136 21 Ittembrr of % Sljirb Jjotwe. 
 
 the young man's ringing reply. "The welfare of 
 the people demands it. Public morality demands 
 it. Unless we can break through this chain of 
 denial, we can prove nothing. If we only had one 
 little opening ; if we could only force one petty 
 member of the Third House to confess " 
 
 ''Father, I see it," cried Evelyn, her face 
 lighted up with something of Turtle's own en- 
 thusiasm. " If you can furnish evidence, it is 
 your duty to the people." 
 
 Tuttle went on : " Every paper in the Union 
 is commenting on the supineness of our great 
 State under the heel of this corporation. We 
 must break it down. I am appalled at the 
 thought of failing to convict, so gigantic is the 
 evil. If one act could be fixed on the railway, 
 the whole stupendous fraud would fall to pieces. 
 Senator," he said, flinging out his hand in a last 
 appeal, " I felt that in your testimony last Tues- 
 day you kept something back. If I recall you 
 to-morrow, will you tell us all you know ? " 
 
 " Of course he will," said Evelyn, placing her 
 hand on her father's shoulder. There was a 
 significant silence in the room. 
 
 " Suppose it sacrificed a dear friend," said 
 Ward, in a low voice. 
 
 " Do it, father. Won't you ? There is no 
 other way." 
 
21 iJlnnbcr of % Sljtrir gon0e. 137 
 
 " Suppose it robbed a wife and children of 
 support ? " 
 
 "The question should be what is right, not 
 what is expedient," said Tuttle, with the inex- 
 orable logic of a moralist. 
 
 When Ward spoke again, his voice was in a 
 higher key and trembled perceptibly. " Suppose 
 it destroys the name of a man who has grown old 
 in the service of his State ? " 
 
 "The truth won't hurt such a hypocrite," cried 
 Evelyn; "it would do him good. Stand up 
 for justice, father. I'd do it if I were in your 
 place." 
 
 " It's worth the cost, Senator. Think of its 
 effect on future legislation." 
 
 There was another pause. 
 
 " Very well, sir ; you've set me a hard task. I 
 never had a harder one. You may recall me, and 
 I will testify." He sank into his chair and bowed 
 his head upon his hand. 
 
 " That's my brave Puritan father," Evelyn 
 said, putting her hand about his neck. 
 
 When Ward lifted up his head to speak, his 
 face had a set look. He spoke slowly, brokenly. 
 'You don't understand what you ask, Evelyn. 
 Let me put it to you in a new way. On one 
 side is a monopoly, stronger than you can under- 
 stand, reaching like a devil-fish into every man's 
 
138 21 itlembo: of tlje Sfyiri fijouse. 
 
 pocket, unscrupulous men everywhere at the 
 head of it, doing its work of bribery with eyes 
 shut, a corrupting influence which we cannot de- 
 stroy without sacrificing some man, somebody 
 with wife and children and friends, who love him 
 and trust him. It will be ruin to many a man 
 if I speak. Senators will be impeached." 
 
 "Then you must speak, father. Why, you 
 terrify me by describing this power. If you can 
 break down this wall that shields these robbers, 
 do it, no matter what individual suffers." 
 
 " Suppose /am the individual ? " 
 
 "What do you mean? Not that you not 
 that it is " 
 
 " Good heavens, Senator ! You don't mean 
 that you have actually accepted" 
 
 Ward looked up at them both, with white, 
 pathetic face. " I'm a disgraced and ruined old 
 man. Help me to do my duty." He uttered a 
 low cry that was like a sob. Evelyn put her 
 arm about his neck with the action of a mother- 
 bird sheltering its young. There was an accus- 
 ing look on her face, but her out-flung hand had 
 pleading in it. Tuttle rose and went hastily out, 
 leaving father and child together. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 BEFORE THE JOINT COMMITTEE. 
 
 THE interest in the investigation had grown 
 from day to day, and long before ten o'clock 
 on Monday people began to ascend to the com- 
 mittee-room and take the seats reserved for the 
 spectators. A continuous stream from the inces- 
 santly rising and falling elevators clicked, shuffled 
 and clattered along the halls. Tuttle was waiting 
 out in the corridor for the coming of the com- 
 mittee and the principals, pacing back and forth 
 just beyond the door on the marble flagging, 
 unmindful of the curious glances of the crowd. 
 
 Strangers coming along saw him, whispered, 
 smiled, for he was known to most of them. The 
 members of the Third House came up in pairs, 
 laughing gaily, and the hall echoed with quips 
 and jests and laughter, like the lobby of a thea- 
 ter. Had there been more women its verisimil- 
 itude would have been complete. 
 
 Brennan came along, looking as fresh as the 
 rose he wore in his coat. He nodded at Tuttle. 
 
 " Hello, Tuttle ! How's business ? " 
 
 139 
 
140 21 Jilemkr of tlje Sljtrir fijou0e, 
 
 "Save your jokes till night," Tuttle replied, 
 quietly. 
 
 " I'll have plenty left, and you'll be the biggest 
 one of all," said Brennan, as he passed on. 
 
 Tuttle was waiting for Ward and Evelyn. 
 Would he come ? It was a terrible thing to ask 
 of him. He was an old man and in financial 
 straits ; his testimony would ruin him in the face 
 of the community. The more Tuttle thought 
 of it, the more impossible it grew. It was more 
 than any man was capable of. 
 
 The crowds streamed by him. He could 
 hear them as they whispered to their com- 
 panions : ''There he is that's Tuttle." 
 
 At every click of the elevator door he turned 
 to look. Helene came in with young Brooks, 
 a divinity student, an affected, brainless creature. 
 She gave one quick glance at him, and then fell 
 into a very deeply interested conversation with 
 young Brooks, whom she hated, and so managed 
 to pass Tuttle without seeing him. 
 
 Tuttle was braced to the shock, but he stag- 
 gered under it. He had hoped it would not 
 come to that. The practice of "cutting" friends 
 had always seemed to him a weak and childish 
 thing to do. It settled nothing. It served only 
 to belittle and degrade both parties to it. 
 
 At last Senator Ward came in with Evelyn. 
 
21 iHember of t\)t Styrir mi0*. 141 
 
 Tuttle was shocked at his looks. He absolutely 
 leaned upon Evelyn's shoulder for support, and 
 his face was white and full of shadows where 
 the fallen muscles had left hollows. His eyes 
 were wide and almost piteous. He smiled pa- 
 thetically. 
 
 " I'm here, Wilson ready to do my duty." 
 
 " I wish there was some other way, Senator," 
 Tuttle said, giving them each a hand. " I'm 
 ready to release you. I've thought it all over ; 
 it's too much to ask of you. I don't ask it of 
 you." 
 
 Evelyn's set face relaxed into a smile. Her 
 eyes filled with tears. " Oh, I'm so glad to hear 
 you say that. He is so sick. It don't seem so 
 easy here before this crowd." 
 
 " No, I shall do it," Ward replied. " I ain't 
 got much longer to live anyway." 
 
 "Oh, father!" 
 
 " It's true, Evelyn. I don't care to-day. I'm 
 ready, anxious to do it and have done with it." 
 His eyes lighted with a desperate sort of enthu- 
 siasm. He had attained something of the mar- 
 tyr's mood. 
 
 " It may be avoided," Tuttle said to Evelyn. 
 " We are going to re-examine some of the prin- 
 cipals, and there are several almost desperate 
 measures which we will use. If at the last we 
 
142 31 jtlemtar of ti)t Sfyirb 
 
 find our case going by the board, and the Senator 
 is willing " 
 
 " I shall be willing," the old man cried. 
 
 Tuttle gave him his arm, and they entered the 
 committee-room. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 SENATOR WARD'S APPEAL. 
 
 COMMITTEE-ROOM A was a large vaulted 
 ^-^ room, whose windows looked away on the 
 city and over the valley where the river lay at 
 flood-tide, reflecting the burning light of the 
 morning sun like burnished steel. The windows 
 were open, and the curtains flapped intermittently 
 as the wind gushed in, laving the crowd with 
 delicious impartiality. The room was filled with 
 a motley crowd, all sorts of reformers, and all 
 sorts of people drawn merely out of curiosity to 
 witness that most dramatic of all things in real 
 life, a trial of justice. 
 
 At one end of the room were the seats of the 
 spectators. On a semi-circular platform at the 
 other end of the room were a series of desks 
 arranged in shape like a horse-shoe, placed end 
 to end. In the space inclosed was a long repor- 
 ters' table. On either side, at the front, were two 
 long tables. At one sat the Iron Duke, his attor- 
 ney Binney, Fox and Brennan. At the other 
 Tuttle took his seat with the Attorney-General. 
 
 143 
 
144 21 Jllembn: of tlje Sljirfr 
 
 At the back of the committee's chairs were other 
 reporters and clerks writing busily. At the 
 door, moving about and waiting upon the com- 
 mitteemen, were the assistant sergeants-at-arms. 
 Immediately in front were the seats reserved for 
 representatives, quite a number of whom were 
 present, especially the younger members, who 
 came in jauntily, with flowers in their button- 
 holes, and one or two wore sashes. They nod- 
 ded to Brennan and laughed among them- 
 selves carelessly, some faces showing signs of 
 liquor, but others were grave and anxious. The 
 senators mainly talked among themselves, nod- 
 ding their gray heads. The general feeling was 
 that a crisis was reached. If Tuttle won nothing 
 from this sitting, everybody said he must with- 
 draw. 
 
 The sensation of the hour was the entrance 
 of Senator Ward and Evelyn, accompanied by 
 Tuttle. The people broke into applause at the 
 sight of the young champion of the people's 
 rights, who paid no attention to the clapping, but 
 assisted Ward to a seat. 
 
 " Old gent's been on another bat," commented 
 Merritt, breaking in on a story Brennan was 
 telling. 
 
 " Rather rocky this morning. (I wonder what 
 
31 iHcmbu; of tlje Sljtrir fjon0e. 145 
 
 brings him out in that condition)/' said Brennan 
 to himself. He gave little further thought to it. 
 
 " Well," he said, continuing his story, which 
 he told capitally, " there were these two old girls 
 looking across the back-yard fence, and this was 
 the dialogue: 'Have you haird the news?' 
 ' No, phwat is it ? ' ' Mrs. O'Flanigan has an in- 
 crease in the family.' ' Naw.' ' Indade, yis.' 
 'Phwat is the six, bye or gurl?' ' Nayther.' 
 ' Phwat ? Nayther ? ' ' Naw, it's twuns.' ' 
 
 The group around Brennan laughed uproari- 
 ously, till Chairman Smith silenced them by say- 
 ing : " Say, Brennan is Irish. If you don't be- 
 lieve it from his brogue, let me tell you the bull 
 he made the other day. He said to Wade, who 
 wanted him to go yachting on Friday 'All 
 right,' says Tom, ' I'll go on Friday, if it dawn't 
 rain. If it rains Friday, I'll go Thursday.' " 
 
 While they were all laughing at Brennan, the 
 remaining members of the committee came in 
 and took their seats, and, as he grinned in 
 subsiding merriment, the chairman called the 
 room to order by a blow of the gavel upon his 
 desk. 
 
 "We are ready to proceed, Mr. Attorney- 
 General," he said, and he leaned over and 
 whispered something to his neighbor that con- 
 vulsed them both, while his hard, bold eyes were 
 
146 21 Jilembo: of tlj* Sljtri 
 
 fixed on Helena's fresh face and dancing- eyes. It 
 was all very delightful for her. The whole affair 
 was farcical or dull to most of the committee. 
 They rejoiced when a breath of fun came in. 
 
 The first witness called was Robert Jenks, 
 whose convenient deafness, somewhat exagger- 
 ated possibly, made interrogation difficult, as the 
 Attorney-General's voice was not strong. He 
 had been very busy at the office, Robert testi- 
 fied, and had not taken much notice who came 
 in or out with his brother. He could not hear 
 anything spoken in the office unless he could 
 see the speaker's lips. Did not know the names 
 of men who called. Could not recall faces. 
 
 "Call Thomas Brennan," said the Attorney- 
 General, dismissing Robert, who rose impas- 
 sively and went out. 
 
 "Mr. Brennan." Brennan came around to 
 the witness-chair at the left. The clerk swore 
 him in the usual perfunctory manner. " Hoi' up 
 y'r 'an'. You do so'mly swear 't w't you tes'fy 
 s'll be wholetruth, nothin' but truth, s'help-ye- 
 God." Brennan nodded and seated himself. 
 
 The Attorney- General picked up a scrap of 
 paper from the desk, looked benevolently over 
 his spectacles at Brennan, and asked in a per- 
 fectly indifferent manner : "Mr. Brennan, you're 
 a member of the Third House, I believe?" 
 
21 illnnber of tlje aijirir gan0t. 147 
 
 His voice seemed to come from a great interior 
 distance and addressed itself to space. 
 
 "Accordin' to the noospapers, I have that 
 honor," replied Brennan, blandly at his ease. 
 
 "A doubtful honor. In your opinion, Mr. 
 Brennan, what constitutes the duties of a mem- 
 ber of the Third House ? " 
 
 " I don't know that they've been defined." 
 
 " What do you mean by that, sir? " said the 
 Attorney-General, looking at him. 
 
 " Well, I don't know that I've sized it up yet 
 myself. But I should say greasing the wheels 
 of legislation." 
 
 "That is to say " - 
 
 " I mean instructing the country members, sir." 
 The Attorney-General seemed mildly interested 
 in this bit of information. His eyes returned to 
 the slip in his hand. 
 
 "Ahem ! That's the legitimate, I suppose. 
 What is the illegitimate function ? " 
 
 " Can't say ; you'll have to ask the other feller. 
 I'm not in it." This raised a laugh. 
 
 "Mr. Brennan," said the Attorney- General, 
 leaning toward him and taking a little more inter- 
 est in his questioning, " have you ever paid out 
 any money to members of either house in the 
 interests of the Consolidated ? " 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
148 21 ittembo: of tlje (ftljirb 
 
 "Or in your own interest?" 
 
 " No, sir, never." 
 
 The Attorney-General paused, took off his spec- 
 tacles, polished them with his handkerchief, and 
 asked: "You're employed here in the interests 
 of the Consolidated ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "What do you do here? You must earn 
 your salary," he said, going on in a curiously 
 mechanical, automatic way. It didn't seem to 
 involve any correlative thinking on his part. 
 
 Brennan winked jovially at the chairman, with 
 the eye on the other side from the prosecution. 
 "I try to, sir." 
 
 "Well, now, what do you do? Now, wait; 
 I wish you'd state, carefully and briefly, just 
 what you do." 
 
 Brennan replied, seriously, as if nothing was 
 to be gained by further evasion : " I secure the 
 services of the Third House, either by retaining 
 them as lawyers or as lobbyists, pure and 
 simple." 
 
 The Attorney- General looked at the ceiling 
 meditatively. "Pay them money, of course?" 
 he said, as if he saw the question posted on the 
 ceiling. 
 
 " Of course ; that's what they're here for." 
 
 "And that's what you're here for. That is to 
 
21 JJlnnbcr of tlje Sljirb tymsc. 149 
 
 say, you either pay them for doing certain work 
 
 or retain them so they won't work against 
 
 -\ n 
 you : 
 
 "Yes, sir; that's the exact idea." Brennan 
 appeared delighted at his ready comprehension. 
 
 "How much money have you paid out to 
 those members of the Third House?" pursued 
 the Attorney- General. 
 
 "Can't say too much." 
 
 "Don't keep an account, I suppose?" 
 
 "Not a regular book, no, sir; only a few 
 memoranda." 
 
 Softly, without looking at Brennan : " Never 
 paid, by mistake, any money to members of the 
 other houses ? " 
 
 " No, sir, not a cent." 
 
 Tuttle at this point whispered in the Attorney- 
 General's ear, who then turned and asked : " Who 
 arranged these these dinners? Whose idea 
 was that? Yours, or Mr. Davis'?" 
 
 " Mine. I suggested it as a good thing, and 
 he agreed." 
 
 "Ah ! What made you think it was a good 
 thing? " 
 
 " Well, I thought it would give us a good 
 chance to explain the bill, and then a man's 
 always in better shape to listen when he has a 
 good dinner, you know." 
 
150 21 Jttembn: of tf)e SIjtrir 
 
 " Is your idea of a good dinner one costing ten 
 dollars a plate ? " 
 
 Brennan smiled broadly. " Well, yes, I should 
 say that it was a " 
 
 " Good workable dinner eh ?" struck in the 
 attorney, dryly humorous. When the laughter 
 had died away he returned to Brennan with a 
 little more severity than he had yet shown. 
 
 "Now, sir, is it not a fact it was your design 
 to unduly influence those men by that dinner and 
 those wines ? " 
 
 Brennan hesitated a little. " Well, I didn't 
 suppose it would make 'em enemies," he 
 admitted. 
 
 "You thought it would influence them favor- 
 ably?' 1 
 
 " I did, yes, sir." 
 
 " You say you never paid one cent to any 
 member of this legislature," pursued the Attor- 
 ney-General, putting on his glasses again and 
 referring to some notes. "Do I understand 
 you to mean by that that no values of notes or 
 stocks or bonds " 
 
 "Yes, sir, once for all I say I've not spent 
 one cent illegitimately for the interests of the 
 Air Line." 
 
 " That doesn't answer my question, sir." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
21 ftlember of % Sfytrtr fymst. 151 
 
 "Because we don't agree on the meaning of 
 the word 'legitimate/ Haven't you promised 
 members of this legislature that if the bill passed 
 they would be stockholders in the road to speci- 
 fied amounts. " 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "You are under oath, Mr. Brennan," said the 
 Attorney-General, quietly severe. 
 
 Brennan faced him undauntedly. "I am 
 aware of it, sir." There was a little pause. 
 Both parties studied each other. 
 
 "That's all, sir," said the Attorney-General. 
 Brennan smiled. 
 
 The chairman looked around the circle. 
 " Any one else a question ? " 
 
 The first committeeman, a young man of 
 great sincerity and power, known to be a dis- 
 tinct opponent of all monopoly, took up the 
 questioning. 
 
 "Mr. Brennan, how much of your time do 
 you give to the Third House?" he said, in a 
 crisp, matter-of-fact voice. 
 
 "Just now, all my time." 
 
 " What do you get for it ? " 
 
 " Five thousand per year." 
 
 "Does that include your expenses ? " 
 
 "No, sir that is, not all of them." 
 
 " If you should give a dinner to a dozen legis- 
 
152 21 JHcmbw of tlje ffiljirlr fi)cm0e. 
 
 lators, the bill could safely be left to the Consol- 
 idated to pay ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "That's all, Mr. Chairman for the present." 
 
 The chairman now took up the interrogation. 
 " One moment, Mr. Brennan. Why were these 
 invitations to dinner given out in blocks of ten ? 
 Was there any special significance in that ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! Only a handy way of telling when 
 we got round." 
 
 " Didn't want to treat the same fellow twice 
 eh ? Had no political significance, I take it. 
 Any one else a question ? Mr. Binney ? " 
 
 Binney, who had been apparently dozing, 
 roused up, and asked in his peculiar, high, 
 nasal, drawling, self-complacent tone : 
 
 "Mr. Brennan, did you ever pay, or promise 
 to pay, one cent in stocks, bonds, cash, or 
 valuables of any kind to any member of this 
 legislature ? " 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 ''That's all," said Binney, settling down 
 again, as if that settled the matter, while a 
 ripple of laughter ran over the room. The 
 Attorney-General at this point asked : 
 
 "One more question, Mr. Brennan. Do you 
 consider the work you've done here for the Air 
 
21 JHnnbcr of % Sljirir fyonst. 153 
 
 Line, this work of buying up the Third House, 
 legitimate ? " 
 
 "Yes, sir, and more, it was necessary," re- 
 plied Brennan, with engaging frankness that 
 raised a laugh. 
 
 The Attorney- General settled back in his 
 chair. "Do you keep any accounts, check- 
 books, stubs or vouchers for the amounts you 
 pay out ? " 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "Trust each other perfectly, I suppose?" put 
 in the first committeeman, who never took his 
 eyes off Brennan's face during the entire testi- 
 mony. 
 
 "Are the promises to pay ever put into 
 writing? " 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "So that, unless some one squeaked, there is 
 no trace of the actual amounts passed?" 
 
 "No, sir, not unless we would give them, 
 which we have freely done." 
 
 " Your openness doesn't extend to any crimi- 
 nating transactions, I've noticed," said the 
 Attorney-General, dryly. 
 
 " Because there wasn't any, sir." 
 
 ' That's what we're trying to convince our- 
 selves." 
 
 "Success to ye!" was Brennan's audacious 
 
154 21 ittember of % Stjirtr Jjotwt. 
 
 answer, which started another murmur of laughter 
 and applause from the Third House. 
 
 -That's all." 
 
 The chairman nodded. " That's all, Mr. 
 Brennan." 
 
 "Call Mr. Davis." 
 
 " Mr. Davis," said the chairman, with a respect- 
 ful tone of voice, "the committee ask your 
 recall." Davis left his seat near Helene and 
 came forward and took the chair. He held a fan 
 in his hand, with which he played. "You've 
 been sworn, I believe ? " Davis nodded without 
 speaking. 
 
 The Attorney- General, with his eyes on the bit 
 of paper which he held in his hands, began his 
 questioning from the same remote interior depth 
 as before, with no appreciable access of interest. 
 
 "Mr. Davis, did you on the 24th of April meet 
 a representative of the Electric Motor Line and 
 pay him a certain sum of money ? " 
 
 "As I testified on Wednesday, I did; yes, 
 
 > 
 sir. 
 
 " What did you pay him that money for ? " 
 
 "I I bought him out." 
 
 "What do you mean by that? According to 
 your previous testimony, he had no property to 
 sell." 
 
21 JEkmbrr of tlje Sljtrir gotw. 155 
 
 " I paid him to withdraw," replied Davis, in 
 the tone of a man facing a critical question. 
 
 The Attorney- General again looked benig- 
 nantly over his spectacles. " You heard that he 
 was coming before this legislature with a plan for 
 a road, asking a charter, and you thought it good 
 business method to pay him to stay away ? " 
 
 "That's it, exactly; I paid him to keep away. 
 I felt that we were better able to build the road, 
 that it was good policy to use all legitimate 
 means to get our charter, and " 
 
 The Attorney-General interrupted him quietly 
 but sternly. "Do you consider it a proper thing 
 to step between a petitioning corporation and 
 this legislature and buy it off? " Davis remained 
 silent. " The legislature, representing the peo- 
 ple of this State, should have a chance to see for 
 itself the relative merits of each system. How 
 much money did you pay ? " At this question the 
 room became still as death ; the reporters waited 
 with their pens in hand for this most important 
 answer. Helene, without knowing what it all 
 meant, was deeply interested. Davis partly rose, 
 his face flushed with anger. 
 
 " I decline to answer." 
 
 This was the crisis that the defense had an- 
 ticipated, and Binney rose and said : 
 
 " Gentlemen of the c'mittee, I 'bject. I don't 
 
156 31 JlTcmber of ti)t (Jfyirir $ou0c. 
 
 see by what lee-gz\ right Mr. Attorney- General 
 asks that question. What Mr. Davis paid to the 
 representative of the Motor Line is of & pure-\y 
 private nature. It don't enter into the province 
 of this committee to ask for this information. I 
 'bject to this question as impertinent and unwar- 
 rantable, having no basis in law." 
 
 The Attorney-General arose, impressively quiet 
 by contrast. " Gentlemen of the committee, I 
 want to say, right here, that under the laws of 
 the State the Consolidated Air Line Railway is 
 a creature of the State, and, by the force of sec- 
 tion twenty-one, chapter sixteen, it is obliged 
 to render up its accounts at any time to a com- 
 mittee of this character." He took up a book 
 which Tuttle had opened and laid conveniently 
 near. " I would call the committee's attention 
 to the section where this is distinctly stated. I 
 say, gentlemen, that my question is one which 
 should be put and answered. I propose to show 
 that that sum did not purchase five hundred dol- 
 lars' worth of visible property ; that it was a 
 bribe substantially, and a fraud on this legisla- 
 ture. The Consolidated Road is a corporation ; 
 the Motor System was seeking a charter as a cor- 
 poration. A transaction of the nature indicated 
 was not a private one, and I insist on knowing." 
 He took his seat amid a hush almost painful. 
 
21 JHcmbo; of % Sljirir fycmst. 157 
 
 The first grand dramatic moment had arrived. 
 The first genuine battle. After the legal fashion 
 they had approached by zig-zag and tunnel as if 
 to taste to the full the delight of the mine's 
 exploding surprise. The reporters sharpened 
 their pencils and plunged into a racy description 
 of the scene. The flapping curtains became an 
 annoyance. 
 
 The committee conferred a moment. The 
 attorneys consulted each other. The crowd 
 whispered their delight. Davis gnawed his 
 bristling lip as Binney spoke in his ear. 
 
 The chairman at last said : " At this point we 
 agree to postpone the answer on the amount. 
 Proceed on other matters for the present. We 
 desire to secure precedent cases for reference." 
 
 " I suppose you're willing to admit that it was 
 a large sum, Mr. Davis," the Attorney-General 
 said, in a kind, encouraging tone. 
 
 " I am," Davis replied, after a pause. 
 
 " Mr. Davis, according to your testimony on 
 Wednesday, you did not know how many peo- 
 ple had been retained. Since then a list has 
 been made, and thirty-nine members of the 
 lobby are known to have received money or 
 promises of money from you. You admit that, 
 I suppose ?" 
 
 " It might be forty, or more." 
 
158 % iHembn* of % ffiljiri <jorwt. 
 
 " You have no hesitancy about admitting that 
 you paid large sums of money to these private 
 individuals ? " 
 
 " No, sir ; I found it necessary. I was forced 
 into it by conditions. " 
 
 " I admire your frankness, if not your sense 
 of morality. If I should say that a man who 
 would buy a private individual, would, in my 
 estimation, buy an official, if he could do it 
 safely, you couldn't blame me, could you ?" 
 
 Again Mr. Binney came out of his doze to 
 object. " Gentlemen of the committee, I object 
 to such methods of procedure." 
 
 " You'll object to a good many of our methods 
 before we are through with you," replied the 
 Attorney-General, quietly. He asked the next 
 question in the tone of a man who expects a 
 certain answer. " Mr. Davis, you don't know, I 
 suppose, of any money used to influence members 
 of the House?" 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Or any distribution of stocks or official 
 position, or promises of such distribution at 
 some future time ? " 
 
 Davis gnawed his mustache. "No, sir; noth- 
 ing of the kind." 
 
 Again the Attorney-General became slightly 
 interested. " Do your books show the payment 
 
21 Jfkmher of tl)e Stjirir fywst. 159 
 
 of all these different sums of money I mean 
 the books of the railway, of course ? " 
 
 " No, sir ; except in a general account with me ; 
 there is always an open account with me." 
 
 " That is, you have full swing on these matters, 
 and the company stands ready to pay ? " 
 
 "If you put it that way yes, sir." 
 
 "I do put it that way. And you, in your 
 turn, gave the same discretionary power to Fox 
 and Brennan ? " 
 
 Davis hesitated, drumming nervously on the 
 table. The Attorney-General went on softly, 
 burnishing his glasses again: "I say, substan- 
 tially the power to employ men in the interests 
 of the road wherever they can find them, 
 while you stood ready to pay without asking 
 embarrassing questions." 
 
 Davis paused as if to trace out the leadings 
 of this question. "Yes, sir." 
 
 "While you were to know nothing?" 
 
 Davis became irritated for the first time. 
 " Of course, it was impossible for me to know 
 everything." 
 
 The Attorney-General was ironically severe. 
 " And of course you couldn't afford to be too 
 curious." He then rose and addressed the 
 committee. "Gentlemen, I insist on having the 
 answer to my question, and I insist on having 
 
ico 31 Jltembn: of % ftljiri 
 
 the books of this corporation brought into this 
 room. I believe that the money which went to 
 the Motor Line also included money to be used 
 in the interests of the Consolidated. I say that 
 if you can find that fifty thousand dollars has 
 been paid in one lump sum to an opposing 
 petitioner, it is prima facie evidence of crime. 
 1 insist on the amount." 
 
 Binney sprang to his feet before the Attorney- 
 General had taken his seat, exclaiming in his 
 scornful drawl : "If my lear-ned brother real-ly 
 believes that, he must have got a new vi-ew of 
 law from some in-spired book. As matter o' 
 fact, if the sum were a half mil-lion, it would 
 prove nothing. I in-sist it is a private matter. 
 I object to the question." 
 
 The chairman held up the ballots. " With a 
 vote of five to two the committee demand the 
 amount." 
 
 Davis and Binney sprang up together, Davis 
 shouting: "Mr. Chairman, this is an outrage, 
 an assault on my private affairs. I shall not 
 reply." 
 
 " Gentlemen of the committee, I am astounded 
 at such ignorance, such injustice it is without 
 precedent." 
 
 The chairman pounded upon the table with 
 his gavel, bringing the room to order. His 
 
21 Jflcmbrr of tl]t Sljirir Qomt. 161 
 
 jovial face became stern. " Mr. Binney seems 
 to forget that he is in the presence of one of the 
 highest courts of the land." 
 
 " It is the committee's fault, sir, if that is so. 
 There has been too little law and fairness." 
 
 " Sit down, sir! This committee is not to be 
 lectured," shouted the chairman. "The com- 
 mittee, in anticipation of this question, have 
 carefully examined the records for precedent. 
 It was not a private and inviolable transaction. 
 Proceed, Mr. Attorney-General. Mr. Davis 
 will answer the question." 
 
 The crowd was tense with delighted suspense. 
 The reporters wrote like lightning. Relays 
 came and went from the large table in the 
 center. The special artist of the Planet drew 
 rapid sketches of the chairman and Binney as 
 they faced each other. Helene clapped her 
 hands as if it were a play. Ward leaned for- 
 ward, forgetful of everything else but Evelyn, 
 whose hands held his. He recognized this as 
 a very important question. 
 
 Binney pulled Davis down and whispered 
 some inaudible warning in his ear. Fox went 
 over to them and added his counsel. Brennan 
 walked the floor, his easy indifference for the 
 first time disturbed. Tuttle and Russell con- 
 sulted. The crowd waited with whispered col- 
 
162 21 Jttcmtar of tljc Sfytrb ijjouse. 
 
 loquies, their eyes on Davis as the great actor in 
 the drama. The Attorney-General, at length, 
 with calm but fateful utterance, asked : 
 
 " Mr. Davis, what was the sum paid by you to 
 the representative of the Motor Line? " 
 
 Binney arose. "At my request, Mr. Davis 
 will reply, because it really has no significance, 
 as I see, what the sum was, when the passage 
 of some money is admitted." 
 
 Davis answered, with a touch of bravado : 
 " I paid him a hundred thousand dollars." 
 
 There was a tremendous sensation in the 
 room, much wagging 1 of heads and mutterings : 
 "I told you so!" "That cooks his goose," and 
 the like. Instant silence followed that they 
 might hear the next question. 
 
 "In cash?" 
 
 "I decline to answer that, sir." 
 
 "Is it not a fact, Mr. Davis," insinuated the 
 Attorney-General, "that you paid him half in 
 cash to be used in furthering the bill, and half in 
 stock in the road ? " 
 
 "I decline to answer." 
 
 "Will your books show the nature of this 
 transaction ? " 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "Or the amount?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
21 ittember of tl)e Sljtrir ou0e. 163 
 
 " But they will show an account with you. 
 Will you bring those books in?" 
 
 "The company's books yes, sir.' 
 
 "This afternoon?" Davis nodded. "Very 
 well, sir, that is all." 
 
 "Any one else a question ?" asked the chair- 
 man. 
 
 Binney, who confined his examination of his 
 principals to the single repeated question to 
 bring out their innocence, asked with significant 
 emphasis: "Mr. Davis has there ever by 
 your consent or with your knowledge been 
 paid one cent of values in money or stock to 
 any member of this legislature ? " 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "That is all, sir," said Binney, with an air of 
 vast satisfaction no actor could surpass. 
 
 " Any one else a question ? " asked the chair- 
 man. 
 
 The first committeeman said: "As Mr. 
 Davis will be recalled this afternoon, I will 
 waive the questions which I had designed to 
 ask him, till his recall. They refer to the trans- 
 actions just mentioned." 
 
 "That is all, Mr. Davis." 
 
 Davis rose and went back to where Helene 
 was sitting beside Evelyn, delighted with it all. 
 
164 ft JHcmbor of % tljtrtr Cjotm. 
 
 " Come, Helene, this is no place for you at all. 
 You and Brooks go home. Til come soon." 
 
 Helene and the young man rose and tiptoed 
 out, while the committee conferred among them- 
 selves, and the sergeant-at-arms helped them to 
 ice-water. The reporter at the central table 
 rose with his hands full of copy. A colleague 
 slid into his chair, and he made his way out of 
 the room in order to have the testimony up to 
 this point in the next edition. 
 
 The chairman called the room to order. " Mr. 
 Attorney-General, we are ready for your next 
 witness." 
 
 " I would like to ask Mr. Fox one or two 
 questions." 
 
 The delighted spectators sent forth another 
 rustle of pleased expectation. Those who had 
 heard Fox testify before communicated with 
 those who had not. 
 
 " He's a dandy ! I tell yeh, you don't ketch 
 him off his guard. He's fox by name an' fox by 
 nature." 
 
 "Will Mr. Fox step forward?" said the 
 chairman. 
 
 Fox went to the seat for witnesses, with a 
 bland smile on his face. 
 
 " Mr. Fox, you knew, of course, all about the 
 purchase of the motor scheme." 
 
21 Jttembn: of tlje Sljirir @otJ0e. 165 
 
 Fox replied glibly, very much at his ease: 
 " In a general way I may say, yes in a general 
 way I did." 
 
 "At the time?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, in a general way." 
 
 "In a general way you approved of it, of 
 course ? " 
 
 He meditated an instant. "Well, yes yes, 
 I think I may say I did." 
 
 " You knew Mr. Mason personally, I believe ? " 
 
 Fox threw one leg over his chair-arm. He 
 had the appearance of loafing, as if he were tell- 
 ing stories in a grocery. "Yes, through his 
 wife, I may say ; she was a Burbank, of Lake- 
 side. I used to teach school in Lakeside ; recol- 
 lect very well when I first saw her. My maiden 
 shingle had just been hung"- 
 
 " Spare us your biography, please," said the 
 Attorney-General, coldly. "We can read that 
 after you are hung." 
 
 The crowd laughed. They were delighted to 
 think the comedy element had begun to come in. 
 
 "I was about to say" began Fox. 
 
 The Attorney- General interrupted him impa- 
 tiently. "I simply wanted to know if you knew 
 him personally." 
 
 " I do, because I was in" 
 
3 fHnnhrr of tfjr <ti)iri fionst. 
 
 "That is sufficient. You approved of the 
 amount paid to Mr. Davis, I suppose ? " 
 
 "No, sir ; I considered it too much." 
 
 ' You knew them better." 
 
 Fox settled himself lower down in his chair. 
 " I didn't think there was any money back of his 
 scheme. I considered the use of electric motors 
 questionable. I think Mr. Davis overestimated 
 the entire opposition. I think he overestimated 
 the lobby." 
 
 Yen- likely: one is apt to in such a case. 
 Were you present when the transaction took 
 place?" 
 
 " No, sir ; I had a couple of cases in " 
 
 " You don't know anything about the partic- 
 ulars of the bargain, I suppose." 
 
 " No, sir ; have no recollection of it" 
 
 " Your mind is a mere blank on ail matters 
 of real importance to this committee." 
 
 Fox smiled broadly. " I am unable to state, 
 Mr. Attorney- General, what importance the 
 committee places on my testimony." 
 
 " You'll find out, sir. You testified the other 
 day that you had paid out to various private 
 parties, members of the Third House and oth- 
 ers, large sums of money/ Did you keep any 
 account of these things ? " 
 
 " No, sir ; no book account." 
 
21 Iflrmbrr 0f tljt <tl)irir Qrrast. 167 
 
 "No book account? It was paid mainly by 
 private checks or bills, I suppose ? " 
 
 "Mainly, I may say, by bills." 
 
 " Did you make any memoranda? " 
 
 " I kept private accounts with some of them, 
 yes, sir." 
 
 "I take it you are in the habit of paying out 
 a good deal of money in this manner for the Air 
 Line." 
 
 "Yes, sir; as the attorney I have great 
 liberty." 
 
 "Too much liberty." He took a sheet of 
 paper from Tuttle. " Xow, sir, if I should say 
 that already your agents have, by your own 
 admission, received nearly fifty thousand dol- 
 lars, and expect more, you'd be surprised, 
 wouldn't you ? " 
 
 " What at?" replied Fox, coolly. 
 
 " You would say it was too much. I presume." 
 
 "I'd say it was fifty thousand dollars too 
 much. We paid out this money from necessity, 
 and it was not" 
 
 "The Attorney- General faced him with a note 
 of sternness in his voice. " Necessity is no 
 excuse for violating the law, sir/' 
 
 " I have violated no law." 
 
 ' l Can you say as much for your agents ? '* 
 asked one of the corninitteemen. 
 
168 21 Jttcmbn* of % Sljirir C)cm0e. 
 
 "I'm not testifying for them, sir. I'm not 
 responsible for their acts," replied Fox, facing in 
 his direction. 
 
 "Let one of them turn State's evidence, and 
 you'll have a chance to verify that," said the 
 first committeeman. 
 
 The Attorney-General glanced at the chair- 
 man. " I think that is all, sir." 
 
 "Any one else a question ? " asked the chair- 
 man. 
 
 During the pause Fox gazed around him 
 smilingly, his thumb in his vest pocket, his leg 
 over the chair-arm. He was a very willing 
 witness ; in fact, he embarrassed them with his 
 confidence. 
 
 "That's all, Mr. Fox. We're ready for the 
 next witness." 
 
 The Attorney- General meditated. Tuttle 
 consulted with a scholarly young man who sat 
 beside him. Once or twice he looked at Senator 
 Ward and Evelyn. A look of pain, of appre- 
 hension came over his face as he rose and went 
 to Ward's side. 
 
 "Do you feel strong enough to speak? If 
 you don't, we will adjourn till to-morrow." 
 
 "No, I want to speak now. I never will be 
 stronger," the old man replied, a look of high 
 resolution on his face. Tuttle stood for an 
 
21 JUcmbcr of tl)e l)irir Qn$t. 169 
 
 instant irresolute. The dumb, appealing look in 
 Evelyn's eyes shook him, but there seemed no 
 other way, and he took his seat again. 
 
 "We will rest our case here, Mr. Attorney - 
 General, unless the committee desire to recall 
 Mr. Tuttle for interrogation." 
 
 " We thought that understood, Mr. Attorney- 
 General," exclaimed the chairman, somewhat 
 impatiently. " This committee is ready to hear 
 Mr. Tuttle at any time, if he has anything more 
 to state to the committee." 
 
 This brought Tuttle to his feet, and he spoke 
 sharply. " I want to be distinctly understood, 
 Mr. Chairman. I stand here as a witness, subject 
 to the committee's will. I'm not responsible for 
 the committee's action, and I don't propose to 
 be. I'm responsible for my own conduct in this 
 affair, simply. I'm ready to testify at any 
 moment in answer to questions from this com- 
 mittee, but I have no statement to make. I will 
 answer on the floor of the House for my conduct 
 as a representative. I now await your action." 
 
 A deep hush fell upon the audience, who saw 
 now the subtle situation. The attempt of the 
 committee to throw the burden and calumny of 
 defeat upon Tuttle's shoulders had failed. 
 
 " Mr. Tuttle, I don't know that the committee 
 
170 21 iHember of tl)e ljirb 
 
 has any questions to ask," replied the chairman, 
 with considerable asperity. 
 
 "Very well, sir," replied Tuttle. " I have 
 nothing more to say. I have one more witness, 
 however, overlooked by the Attorney- General 
 Senator Rufus Ward." 
 
 The chairman looked surprised. The crowd 
 murmured with interest. " You ask Senator 
 Ward's recall?" 
 
 " Yes, sir Senator Ward," said the Attorney- 
 General. 
 
 " Senator Ward will please come forward." 
 
 Ward rose slowly and came forward, followed 
 by Evelyn's anxious eyes. Tuttle looked at her, 
 and his heart weakened. 
 
 " You've been sworn, I believe ? " 
 
 " I have," he replied, in a low voice. Evelyn 
 longed to go to his side and forbid him to speak, 
 but there was a look on his face which awed her. 
 
 The crowd seemed to scent something dra- 
 matic in the air. Their interest hitherto was dis- 
 order compared to the straining attention which 
 they now gave to every movement and inflection 
 of the committee and to the Senator whose recall 
 had been demanded. 
 
 "Will you be seated, sir?" said the chairman. 
 
 Ward bowed, formally. "With your permis- 
 sion, sir, I will stand." 
 
21 JUrabcr of % Sljirb fyimzt. m 
 
 " Certainly, sir," replied the chairman, politely. 
 Ward stood with his fingers resting on the table, 
 facing the committee. " I'd like to ask the per- 
 mission of the committee to make a statement." 
 
 This request was understood to mean that he 
 was not to be interrupted. " Very well, Senator ; 
 there is no objection. State what you have to 
 say in your own way," said the chairman, nod- 
 ding about to all the committee. 
 
 Again he bowed to the committee, and began 
 speaking in a firm, but low monotone : " Gentle- 
 men and fellow citizens, I have a confession to 
 make." A deathly silence fell in the room. Men 
 leaned forward, straining their ears to hear. " I 
 stand here after a week of sleepless debate, 
 rising from a sick-bed, with a duty to perform. 
 The gentlemen on this committee know how the 
 taint of corruption has been thrown upon me. 
 Slander has been busy with me, and, since my 
 testimony on Tuesday, my brain has about worn 
 out with the trouble of it all. My own self- 
 defense, if nothing more, demands that I should 
 stand here and testify." He paused. " I am an 
 old man, gentlemen, nearing the grave, and I've 
 been an honest man, as near as I knew. I haven't 
 been a strong man, like the young man who 
 stands here at the head of this investigation. I 
 had to take the world as I found it. I had not 
 
172 21 Jttember of % l)irir fijouse. 
 
 his education, his easy position, and life has been 
 a war. But never mind that. If I was weak, I 
 never wronged or entertained the idea of wrong- 
 ing any human being, and I never failed in my 
 duty till lately." 
 
 He presented a great picture as he stood 
 speaking without a gesture. His eyes were 
 hollow, but full of light ; his face was very pale. 
 He spoke with that natural eloquence, some- 
 what formal, which a man of his stamp uses in 
 making a public speech. His phrases were gen- 
 tle, free from dialect and simple in construction. 
 
 "Gentlemen, I stand here before you to-day 
 bankrupt. My business, which I built up by a 
 life of industry and enterprise, has passed out 
 of my hands. To-day my wife and daughter 
 are left without a cent." 
 
 His voice broke. In the pause which fol- 
 lowed a strange, sweet shudder ran over the 
 room, like that produced by a tense moment 
 on the stage. The sobs of women could be 
 heard, so sincere and penetrating was the emo- 
 tion in his voice. Evelyn gazed at him steadily, 
 the tears streaming down her cheeks, her lips 
 parted, her eyes wide, her hands knotted and 
 pressed between her knees. 
 
 " Won't you sit, Senator?" asked the chair- 
 man, gently. Brennan and Fox could only 
 
21 JHembo: of tlje Sljirb Jou0e. 173 
 
 glance at each other in wonder. Davis stared 
 fixedly. 
 
 "No, thank you, sir," was Ward's formal 
 reply. 
 
 "Pardon me, Senator," said the chairman 
 softly, "but is it necessary to go into these sad 
 personal facts ? " 
 
 Ward bowed again. 
 
 " It is, sir. I need the palliation which they 
 will bring to my offense. Gentlemen, it was 
 while passing my sleepless nights, studying out 
 these facts, trying to find a way out, that I was 
 approached with a bribe." 
 
 There was a stir and a flutter in the room, 
 silenced by the gavel of the chairman. 
 
 "My God, will he criminate himself? " asked 
 Davis, his face turning a yellowish white. There 
 was something in Ward's face that scared him. 
 
 "Why in hell didn't you tell me of this ?" 
 Binney replied. 
 
 The chairman's gavel silenced them both. 
 
 Ward continued : 
 
 " Of course I knew bribery was all about me, 
 but it had not reached me. But, at last, when 
 the bill passed into the Senate, I was approached 
 by a celebrated member of the Third House, 
 who knew of the crisis in my business and 
 
171 21 ittemkr of % Sljirb 
 
 counted upon my necessity. He made an offer 
 of money to me.' 7 
 
 There was a long- pause, during which Ward 
 turned his eyes upon Tuttle and then upon Eve- 
 lyn, whose face was only a vague, luminous 
 gray patch before his eyes. He tried to speak, 
 and could not. His throat was dry ; his voice 
 failed him. There came such tension into the 
 listening ears of the spectators that reaction 
 must now come. 
 
 "Can you name that man?'' asked Tuttle, in 
 a tone that made the Senator straighten again. 
 
 Ward lifted his head defiantly. " I can and I 
 will. It was Thomas Brennan." 
 
 After an instant of breathless silence a thun- 
 derous applause broke forth. Men leaped to 
 their feet, white with excitement. Oaths of 
 admiration broke from their lips. The whole 
 matter was now clear. Ward was sacrificing 
 himself. 
 
 Brennan leaped up, his eyes flaming with 
 wrath. " He's a God-damned liar ! " 
 
 Fox pulled him down. 
 
 The chairman rose, beating the table furi- 
 ously. The reporters toiled like mad. The 
 lightning sketch artist caught Brennan's tigerish 
 leap with a few swift and powerful strokes of his 
 pencil. 
 
21 Jlfembcr of % Sljirir Cjou0c. 175 
 
 At last the chairman secured silence. "We 
 must have order. Proceed, Senator." 
 
 Ward went on, still speaking- without a 
 gesture. 
 
 "He offered me ten thousand dollars cash if I 
 would withdraw my opposition to the charter. 
 He knew my terrible anxiety and counted upon 
 it, and counted upon my weakness, but I was 
 stronger than he thought." 
 
 "He lies he took it ! " shouted Brennan, fur- 
 iously, half rising from his seat, in spite of Fox, 
 who had his hand upon his arm. 
 
 "Will you sit down, sir!" commanded the 
 Attorney- General, lifting his tall form above 
 Brennan, and facing him with a look that awed 
 the king of the lobby. 
 
 Ward turned and faced Brennan with thrilling 
 dignity. 
 
 " Stand before this committee and say that, if 
 you dare ! Say it under oath ! " 
 
 He paused a moment, with the orator's in- 
 stinctive knowledge of how to use a great 
 dramatic moment. His burning eyes fell upon 
 Brennan with accusing force. 
 
 " No, gentlemen of the committee, I did not 
 take it, but I I temporized ; in my despera- 
 tion I entertained it. Yes, I promised it, in my 
 hour of weakness. That's my shame, my dis- 
 
176 21 ittemkr of % Sljtrir $0110*. 
 
 grace, and it was while I was sleepless with my 
 necessity and my temptation that another man 
 came to me, came into my house, came to buy 
 my vote and influence the great leader of the 
 corporation himself." 
 
 There was no need of the gavel now. Each 
 man apprehended the entire situation. 
 
 ' Whom do you mean by that, Senator?" said 
 Tuttle, and his voice startled the old man into 
 speech again. 
 
 " I mean the Iron Duke himself Mr. Davis." 
 
 The pent-up excitement of the spectators 
 broke out into cheers and frenzied applause, 
 whose climax of intensity showed their thorough 
 appreciation of this supreme moment in the case 
 of the prosecution. The chairman's gavel was 
 powerless to silence it. 
 
 Davis sprang to his feet, his face swollen, 
 mottled red and purple with anger. He thrust 
 his great fist into the air with a terrible gesture. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, he lies ! I swear to God he 
 lies !" 
 
 " Sit down," yelled the crowd. " Sit down, 
 you thief ! " 
 
 The chairman waved his gavel in the air, 
 screaming at the top of his lungs. 
 
 "Silence! Sit down. Clear the room. Si- 
 lence, I say ! " 
 
21 Jtlnnbo: of tfje f)iri ws>t. 177 
 
 The room fell silent only when it had ex- 
 hausted its emotion through utterance. 
 
 " Keep your seat," said the Attorney-General, 
 sternly, to Davis, as soon as he could be heard. 
 " Go on, Senator. What proposition did Mr. 
 Davis make ? " 
 
 Ward's voice began to tremble a little. He 
 passed his hand in a confused way across his 
 face. 
 
 " He said he was willing to expend fifty thou- 
 sand dollars more to carry the charter. It was 
 worth that to him. He said he must secure his 
 charter in order to save what he had. He urged 
 me strongly, and at last offered me fifty thou- 
 sand dollars as a definite proposition if I would 
 change six votes, including my own." 
 
 Every word fell with terrible force upon 
 Davis, whose white face and fixed eyes looked 
 up at Ward as if he already sat a convicted 
 criminal facing his judge. 
 
 " I thank God I had the power to put the 
 temptation aside, for it was a terrible temptation 
 to a ruined man. It was not my strength it was 
 the strength of my daughter and this young 
 man here. I knew if I took that offer I could 
 never look them in the face again. That saved 
 me." He paused and put his hand to his head 
 as if uncertain what to say next. 
 
178 21 Member of % Sljiri fijoim. 
 
 There was a note of sarcasm in the chairman's 
 voice as he asked : " Will you state, Senator, 
 why you make this statement to-day and refused 
 last Tuesday ? " 
 
 His tone roused the lion in the old man. He 
 straightened up, and his eyes opened wide under 
 his drawn brows, like a man who faces an assault. 
 " The reason ! You might well ask why a man 
 would stand here and testify to his own shame. 
 I am here to-day, sir, because it is my duty and 
 because my wife and daughter have taught me 
 the duty I owe my State. Because I saw that 
 this committee and its work was a farce and a 
 by-word in the land." 
 
 " What do you mean by that, sir ?" demanded 
 the chairman, with a distinct threat in his voice. 
 
 "I mean, sir, everybody said, 'They'll find 
 nothing ; they'll never prove a single charge, and 
 the road will get its charter.' I'm here, gentle- 
 men of the committee, to say that if the confes- 
 sion of a disgraced and ruined old man will bring 
 these bribers to justice, I'll take whatever share 
 of shame is coming to me." 
 
 The cheering broke out again, falling into 
 instant silence as the old man went on, stretch- 
 ing out his hands appealingly to the audience, as 
 if they represented the whole world, to whom he 
 must send his case finally. There was a certain 
 
31 Jttembo: of % Sljiri f)onst. 179 
 
 majesty in his action, and a fire of deep moral 
 conviction in his burning" eyes. 
 
 " Citizens of our grand free State, shall it be 
 said that one man or corporation rules our legis- 
 lators ? " 
 
 " No, no ! " burst out fifty voices. They were 
 rising to the level of his conviction. 
 
 "What is one man like myself compared to 
 the purification that will come with the conviction 
 of these wholesale bribers ? Gentlemen of the 
 committee, I'm ready to be questioned ready 
 to be impeached. I'm not fit to serve"- His 
 
 voice grew husky. Evelyn, in voiceless agony, 
 saw his strength was failing, but she could not 
 speak. 
 
 " I've told the truth, gentlemen. Those un- 
 scrupulous men must be defeated. The people's 
 rights must be preserved. Cross-question me 
 -I'm ready I shall be satisfied if if I shall 
 be"- 
 
 His head swayed ; he clung to the chair ; his 
 eyelids dropped a moment. Evelyn screamed. 
 Wilson sprung to his aid. Everybody rose and 
 rushed forward. 
 
 " Silence \ Sit down ! Sergeant, clear the 
 room ! Help the Senator to a chair ! " shouted 
 the chairman and committeemen. 
 
180 21 Jttemkr of tlje Sfytrir 
 
 "Out o' the way there! Let the girl 
 through. Stand back ! Dammit, don't crowd ! " 
 
 Evelyn forced her way through while the 
 committeemen fought the crowd back. 
 
 "Water! Stand off, there!" 
 
 Silence fell as quickly as the tumult had 
 arisen, and Wilson, who held the insensible 
 man in his arms, was heard to say, in very 
 quiet, formal tone, strangely thrilling : 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, the Senator is in no condi- 
 tion to be examined further. I ask permission 
 to take him from the room." 
 
 " Certainly. The sergeant-at-arms will see 
 that the way is clear, and the room quiet." 
 
 The committeemen resumed their seats, all 
 but the chairman, who remained standing, 
 while Ward was assisted out, followed by 
 Evelyn. 
 
 As the door closed on them, Davis leaped 
 to his feet, furious with defeat, pitiless in his 
 own extremity. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, I ask to be recalled. I can 
 prove that man a liar and a drunkard ! " 
 
 " Whack!" sounded the gavel. "Mr. Davis 
 will keep his seat. The committee will confer. 
 The sergeant will clear the room at the first dis- 
 turbance. It must be quiet." 
 
 The Attorney-General arose, fateful, introspec- 
 
21 Ufanbo: of tl)e Sljirir Jjmwe. 181 
 
 tive, inexorable. " In the light of Senator 
 Ward's testimony, Mr. Chairman, I desire to 
 re-examine Thomas Brennan, Robert Bennett, 
 Timothy Sheehan and James Holbrook." 
 
 " The committee has decided to adjourn till 
 to-morrow at two o'clock," said the chairman. 
 The reporters seized their hats, swept their 
 papers together, and rushed down the stairs. 
 
 Tuttle, assisted by two or three bystanders, 
 carried Senator Ward into a private room, where, 
 under their care, he soon revived. The doctor, 
 who had come in answer to the telephone mes- 
 sage, smiled encouragingly upon Evelyn as he 
 felt the old man's pulse. 
 
 Evelyn flashed back upon him a faint smile 
 of relief and gratitude. 
 
 " Is he going to be very ill ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ; I think not," said the young doctor, 
 a handsome, smiling young man who had the 
 absolute sureness of touch of a master, and an 
 enthusiast in his art. " His pulse is growing in 
 power; he'll be quite himself very soon. A rush 
 of blood to his head. Has he been over-exerting 
 himself in some way ? " 
 
 " He's been speaking passionately lately," 
 Tuttle replied. 
 
 "Ah, that explains it. He'll be all right pretty 
 
182 21 JMcmbcr of tlje ffljirlr $ 
 
 soon. Get him home as quickly as possible, 
 and keep him quiet." 
 
 As a matter of fact the Senator rested quite 
 calmly on the steamer's deck on the way down 
 to Waterside. Tuttle saw him safely seated in 
 an easy-chair upon the boat, and said at parting : 
 " I'll be down as early as possible to see you ; 
 perhaps to-night. I wish you would send word 
 to my mother that I'm all right, in case the ex- 
 citement of the day should reach her." 
 
 As he came back up the street the newsboys 
 were crying : " Evenin' papers. All about 'vesti- 
 gation," and everywhere men stopped him on 
 the street with all sorts of wild suggestions as 
 to the next step in the prosecution. 
 
 " Jump on 'em, Tuttle." 
 
 " You've made your point, sure as hell ! Never 
 thought you'd make it in the world." 
 
 " You never would if it hadn't 'a' been for 
 Ward. Swipe 'em quicker you'll lose 'em sure." 
 
 "Somebody else must do the 'swiping,'" he 
 replied. " I've done my part. I've carried the 
 whole of this investigation on my neck, and now 
 I propose to let the prosecution go forward by 
 way of the regular machinery of the State." 
 
 " Oh, we'll all help you now, Tuttle," laughed 
 one of the fellows whom Wilson knew to be 
 friendly to the road. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE ROUT OF THE RATS. 
 
 TN a room situated above Sam Brady's saloon a 
 * group of the members of the Third House 
 were gathered in an atmosphere dim with smoke 
 and foul with the reek of tobacco-spittle and the 
 smell of beer and whisky. Crop-headed waiters 
 from the saloon below dashed deftly to and fro, 
 bringing platters of drinks from the bar to the 
 groups of talkers seated in confidential attitudes 
 upon the red-leather sofas and bar-room chairs 
 of the room. 
 
 The roar of the street outside made the din of 
 talk within unintelligible. There had been no 
 regular meeting called, but the general belief 
 that this was the test day of the trial and that 
 Tuttle was completely headed off brought them 
 all together in a temper of general merriment. 
 Sheehan was wildly drunk and was kept in check 
 by Mark Brady, a shrewd, wiry little Irishman, 
 the real owner of the saloon, who ran up occa- 
 sionally to keep careful watch upon the rising 
 
 183 
 
184 21 Jttemtor of % Sljtrir 
 
 tide of intoxication, ready to utter a warning at 
 the proper moment. 
 
 He called aside two or three of the more self- 
 contained of the group and said: "Now see 
 here, me Buccoes, it ain't safe. Yous don't 
 want 'o git swiped when y'r tongues 'r' loose. 
 See? I can't affoord it. Not jist now. See? 
 I can't affoord it if yous can." 
 
 They promised to look after Sheehan and the 
 others who had preferred to make a day and a 
 night of it, and he went down below in answer 
 to a telephone call. He came bounding up the 
 steps, his weazened little face comical with fear 
 and excitement. " The hell's t' pay now, sure ! " 
 
 The rest made a rush for him. 
 
 "What is it, Mark?" 
 
 He jumped two feet into the air like a 
 jumping-jack and uttered a string of Irish 
 oaths before he could bring himself to intel- 
 ligible speech. "Ward has squeaked. Skip, 
 every domned mother's son o' yez ! " 
 
 A chorus of oaths and wondering cries broke 
 forth. The men stared at each other as a 
 nest of rats might, feeling the shock of corn 
 shake over their heads. 
 
 "They can't touch us," said one. 
 
 "Can't they?" sneered Mark, in unuttera- 
 ble scorn. "The newspaper men'll be down 
 
31 Jflnnbn: of tl) Sljtrb $on0e. 185 
 
 on us like flies on a gum-bile. Hell ! They'll 
 jail ivery hell's spawn o' ye if y' don't skip." 
 
 "That's a fact," said old Cap. Baker. "If 
 they git one and he squeaks, we're all ripped 
 wide open. I calc'late I need a Nova Scotia 
 voyage. My health, it ain't been s' good as 
 'twas." 
 
 " Scatter, iverybody ! " cried another powerful 
 voice from the stairway. "Fox ain't to be 
 trusted a minute." 
 
 The most of them slipped out and down the 
 stairway, and in less than ten minutes Mark was 
 alone with his brother Sam, a man of large 
 frame, with a prize-fighter's head and no feat- 
 ures to speak of. 
 
 "What'll they do, Sam?" asked Mark. 
 
 "They'll arrest Brennan, Fox and the Gov- 
 ernor and ivery cussed mother's son of us they 
 can git their hands on. The air'll be full of im- 
 paichments and criminal suits. The big fellers'll 
 be bailed out afterward, av coorse, but that won't 
 save us if they git anny hold on Sheehan. You 
 see that he gits off, and clane this thing up," he 
 said, looking about the room. "Dawn't lit 
 annybody see it like this. See ? If Tom 
 comes, tell'm he'll find me at home. Tell'm 
 to skip quick as God'll let'm." 
 
186 21 jUcmba of tljc Sljirb 
 
 From the moment that Senator Ward fell, all 
 was confusion and apparent rout. Nobody 
 knew how much somebody else knew, and 
 especially how much he would tell. All cohe- 
 sive power was lost from the ranks of the Third 
 House and their coadjutors. Instantly all the 
 lesser men disappeared like rats when the last 
 sheaf is lifted. Every one of them distrusted 
 Brennan and Fox, and expected them to impli- 
 cate others, while Brennan and Fox felt equally 
 sure that these petty offenders would turn State's 
 evidence upon the slightest provocation, and 
 that, as usual, each confession would involve 
 greater names and reach more dangerous inner 
 circles. Therefore, all became a retreat a 
 Waterloo. 
 
 The papers, in each succeeding edition, con- 
 tinued to vociferate in half-columns of head- 
 lines : " Crushed at last ! ! Prosecute ! The 
 cry of the People ! Let it be heard ! Purge 
 our Politics ! Let every honest man throw aside 
 party lines and help to banish bribery ! " And 
 one paper, the Planet, cried out furiously, "No 
 bail ! Down with the traducers of our State ! " 
 
 The arrest of Fox, Brennan and Davis fol- 
 lowed quickly upon the return of the commit- 
 tee's report, and both houses were in a tumult 
 as member after member became implicated. All 
 
31 Jttcmbtr of % Sljirir $cm0. 187 
 
 other business ceased. The public watched 
 feverishly for each new edition of the paper, and 
 read with savage delight of each succeeding 
 arrest. But the scoop-net, thrown out just too 
 late, brought in only a few insignificant and dis- 
 reputable go-betweens, who hardly knew the 
 parties to either side of the criminal transaction. 
 They implicated others, however, and arrests 
 followed slowly, and the law's approach, though 
 gradual, hemmed Davis round like a wall of 
 menacing fire. 
 
 There were plenty of people now to surround 
 Tuttle and take the work of prosecution out of 
 his hands, for which he was grateful. He was 
 genuinely alarmed for Davis, and still believed 
 him to be more of a victim than a conspirator. 
 Leaving the matter of the prosecution, there- 
 fore, in the hands of the State, Tuttle hurried 
 home to Waterside to see his mother and to 
 reassure Helene. 
 
 He found Mrs. Tuttle knitting tranquilly on 
 the piazza, her serene old face reflecting the 
 sweetness and serenity of her mind. No noise 
 of the battle had penetrated into her placid nook, 
 warmed with the sunshine of ease and maternal 
 pride. Officious neighbors had called her atten- 
 tion to the attacks made upon Wilson, but it 
 
188 21 JHemter of tlje Stftrb 
 
 needed only a word and a smile from her boy to 
 reassure her. 
 
 " Now don't you worry, mother/' he had said 
 to her, "no matter what people say or what the 
 papers say. I am going to be perfectly honest 
 with you. I'll tell you just how matters stand 
 every time." 
 
 And with utter trust and pride she had lost all 
 apprehension, and the evening paper with its 
 scare-head first page lay unread, twisted like a 
 doughnut, where the boy had flung it upon the 
 piazza. 
 
 Her ear, however, detected excitement in the 
 sound of Wilson's footsteps, and she rose with 
 a touch of quick anxiety. "What is it, my 
 son?" 
 
 " I've won, mother/' he cried, joyously, as he 
 ran up the steps. " Everybody is on my side 
 now ! " 
 
 She put her arms around his neck. She had 
 a very vague idea of his victory, but thought it 
 some sort of an election. "Well, I knew you 
 would," she said, giving him a squeeze. "Now, 
 come right in to supper." 
 
 " I must go over and see Senator Ward first. 
 How is he ? Have you heard ? " 
 
 " No, I ain't heard nothin' except Nettie, 
 
21 iilnnkr of tljc ftljirii fjonst. 189 
 
 their girl, told our girl that he had come home 
 again in a hack." 
 
 "Well, he didn't come home this time in the 
 way you think. He's a hero, mother. I'll tell 
 you all about it when I come back." 
 
 He found Evelyn sitting out under the trees, 
 looking at the water, her large eyes full of bitter 
 reverie. She rose as he came forward, and a 
 quick flush rose upon her face. 
 
 " How is the Senator?" he asked before he 
 reached her. 
 
 " Better," she replied, with appreciable effort. 
 " I left him resting very easy. His mind seems 
 calmer than Oh, what will they do with him, 
 Mr. Tuttle ? " 
 
 The keen agony in her voice made him pause 
 before he slowly answered: "I don't think he'll 
 be proceeded against criminally. He'll be im- 
 peached, possibly, unless he resigns, which I 
 suppose he will do. The impeachment will be 
 a mere form. I firmly believe he has won 
 respect for himself by his course. Everybody is 
 speaking with admiration of his heroism. The 
 papers " 
 
 " I haven't dared to look at one," she replied, 
 shrinking as if she expected a blow. 
 
 " You needn't be afraid to. They're pleading 
 already for clemency. They recognize the moral 
 
190 21 Ulembo: of % Sfyirir 
 
 heroism of his position. Can I go in and see 
 him? Is he lying down ?" 
 
 " He was sleeping in his chair when I came 
 out. I think he wants to see you. Perhaps 
 you had better go in." 
 
 She led the way into the house. Senator 
 Ward was seated in his arm-chair near the win- 
 dow, facing the sea. He turned his great dark 
 eyes upon Tuttle inquiringly as Evelyn called 
 his attention. There was something pathetic and 
 full of pleading in the slow motion of his head. 
 
 "Well, Senator, how do you feel ?" 
 
 "Like a man shipwrecked, Wilson," he re- 
 plied, smiling a little and putting his right hand 
 out feebly. Tuttle took his hand and drew a 
 chair up close beside him. 
 
 " Don't be downhearted, Senator. Every- 
 body has a good word for you to-night. The 
 papers are full of it. In fact, you've quite robbed 
 me of my laurels. Just listen to this ! " 
 
 He read aloud from a paper which he took 
 from his pocket : " If conviction follows, it will 
 be due to the heroism of Senator Ward rather 
 than to the work of Tuttle. The corruptionists 
 presented a wall of brass to the enemy. The 
 prosecution was helpless till Senator Ward, like 
 another Winkelried, took the spears of the oppos- 
 ing rank in his own bosom, and opened the way 
 
21 member of tl)e Sljtrir zmt. 191 
 
 for the hosts of justice. No fair man believes 
 that Senator Ward was himself when he touched 
 the offered gold " 
 
 Ward groaned and turned his head away. 
 The memory of his ineffable disgrace came back 
 upon him with crushing weight, conveyed like 
 this in the editorial column of a great journal. 
 Tuttle saw it and again tried to comfort him. 
 
 "Don't worry about the past, Senator/' he 
 said, putting his hand again into the old man's 
 lax palm. "Look ahead. Things '11 straighten 
 themselves. As soon as I get time, in a day or 
 two, I want to sit down and go over your affairs 
 and see if I can't help you." 
 
 Ward was about to reply despairingly, when 
 Mrs. Ward came in. 
 
 "Good evenin', Mr. Tuttle," she said, a little 
 stiffly. She had a sort of jealousy in her care 
 of her husband, and she had an unreasoning 
 repugnance to Wilson at the same time that she 
 admired him. She could not forget that he was 
 the apparent cause of all their trouble. 
 
 He did not resent this, but sat a moment watch- 
 ing her as she tried to induce her husband to eat. 
 
 " Now, father, you know food '11 do y' good. 
 You know 'twill. This chicking I fried m'self, 
 and it's jest as tender as it can be, and the tea's 
 jest right. I never had better luck." 
 
192 21 Jtlembr of % Sl/trir 
 
 He submitted, and when she insisted on put- 
 ting the napkin about his neck as if he were a 
 baby, he was able to look out of the circle of her 
 arms and smile faintly at Tuttle. 
 
 " I believe she enjoys havin' me sick," he said. 
 
 Tuttle laughed heartily, and the whole room 
 seemed to lighten up. Mrs. Ward's ignorance 
 of the political world was wonderfully whole- 
 some, and, besides that, she carried with her an 
 odor of comfort and home-cooking which was 
 irresistible. 
 
 Evelyn, hearing Tuttle laugh, came in wonder- 
 ingly. 
 
 Tuttle met her at the door. " The patient 
 improves ! " he said, with a tone of voice which 
 had the effect of a joyful shout. " Have you 
 seen Helene ? " he asked of her, as they stood 
 on the piazza. 
 
 " No ; she has not been over lately. She had 
 a lot of company from the Point to-day." 
 
 " I'm going over now to see her," he returned, 
 as he stood on the steps looking up at her. 
 "Now, when I can find time I want to go over 
 your father's affairs and see if I can't help you 
 straighten them out for him. Let me do that 
 much for him, won't you ? " 
 
 " Yes, if you think it worth your while. I am 
 afraid there is little left," she replied, in somber 
 
51 JlUmber of % Sljirir $ou0c. 193 
 
 fashion. As he walked away up the street she 
 wondered whether this political calamity would 
 not bring Helene back to him. 
 
 Tuttle went to see Helene and was astonished 
 by her action. She ran to him like a child and 
 hid her face in his breast. It drove all questions 
 of public policy out of his mind. He just put 
 his arms about her and kissed her hair, and 
 called her name in the voice of one whom sud- 
 den joy confuses. He said a good many things 
 which were true, and some that were only com- 
 forting. He assured her that her father was 
 safe ; that his arrest was a mere form ; that he 
 would be released on bail at once, and would be 
 at home soon. He said he knew Mr. Davis had 
 not been guilty. Fox and Brennan at Bren- 
 nan's name he hesitated as if there were some- 
 thing to be explained, but she explained it all 
 by simply nestling a little closer to him and 
 putting her hands up about his neck. 
 
 At last she looked up at him with her tear- 
 inflamed eyes. 
 
 " I know I'm a fright, but I can't help it. 
 Everybody said he'd go to prison, and and 
 I didn't have anybody to to cry to ! and I 
 wanted to see you so. Don't go away till poppa 
 comes will you ? " 
 
 " I must go home to dinner." 
 
 13 
 
194 21 JHemtar of tlje SIjtrii 
 
 " Oh, stay and take dinner with me ! There 
 ain't anybody with me. The girls all went home 
 when the papers came. Please stay," she pleaded. 
 
 "Well, I will if you'll send word over to 
 mother for me." 
 
 When they went out into the beautiful dining- 
 room she looked quite like her usual self. Care- 
 ful bathing and powdering had removed the 
 effects of crying, and she was irresistibly attract- 
 ive to poor Wilson in her remorseful tenderness 
 and her childish, helpless trust in him. She had 
 put on an exquisite robe whose color was surely 
 intended to aid in removing the effects of tears. 
 
 They had a wonderful dinner, Tuttle thought. 
 It made the events of the day seem like an opium 
 dream. It seemed impossible that Davis should 
 be connected with the Third House. It must be 
 all a mistake. While they were eating their fish 
 a telegram came to confirm this impression. 
 Helene read it aloud : 
 
 " Don't worry, pet. This is simply a political game. I'll not be 
 down to-night. I am all right. Never mind the newspapers. 
 
 "From PAPA DAVIS." 
 
 Helene kissed the telegram and laughed gaily 
 when Tuttle suggested, with unnatural humor, 
 that she might kiss the messenger boy too. She 
 wrote a reply, and sent the boy away with an 
 extra quarter instead of a kiss, and then they 
 
21 Jttemba: af % ftljtrir <5cm0e. 195 
 
 went on with their dinner with incredibly light 
 hearts. 
 
 Tuttle wondered where her aunt was, and said 
 so. " It seems like a special dispensation of 
 Providence that we are eating dinner in this 
 cozy way." 
 
 " Well, it isn't ! " she laughed. " I told auntie 
 not to come down, and that's the reason why." 
 
 " How you must tyrannize over her. Are there 
 any others waiting our superb leisure?" 
 
 "Not to-night only auntie. She does just 
 what I ask her. She's a perfect love for a chap- 
 erone. All the girls are perishing with envy 
 over my freedom" 
 
 "And her slavery." Tuttle was like a man 
 inebriated with some divine stimulant some 
 rare and potent perfume which had power to 
 drive out age and care. He was scarcely older 
 than Helene during that glorious evening. He 
 laughed when she chattered, and his talk was 
 almost as gay as her own. 
 
 When he went away at night he promised to 
 call and see her in the morning on his way to 
 town, and when he walked off down the moonlit 
 lawn it seemed as if there were to be no dirges 
 for the slain mingled with the exultant songs 
 of his great victory. He had Helene's love. 
 Senator Ward was tranquil happier than be- 
 
196 21 Jttembn- of tlje ftljirb 
 
 fore his confession and Davis, he still tried to 
 believe, had been made use of by Fox and 
 Brennan. He hummed a tune as he walked. 
 
 It was only as he lay down in the quiet of his 
 room that a mysterious look in Evelyn Ward's 
 eyes came back to disturb him. He knew what 
 it was. It was something" he had met before, 
 and it always filled him with a bitter rebellion. 
 Must it always be so that beautiful souls in 
 plain bodies must suffer alone must love in 
 silence and defeat? 
 
 The next morning, as he ate his breakfast, he 
 read the leading papers, which were black with 
 huge head-lines still crying out for prosecution. 
 One entire page was given to interviews with 
 the senators, most of whom said that Rufus 
 Ward must be impeached, but not prosecuted. 
 There were also rumors that one or two of the 
 guilty legislators had disappeared. Brennan, 
 Fox and Davis had been arrested, and bailed 
 out, of course, almost immediately. He stopped 
 as he went by Davis' house, and left a note for 
 Helene, begging her not to go up to the city ; 
 that he would see the Iron Duke and bring him 
 home to dinner sure. 
 
 When he entered the committee-room he 
 found it impressively quiet. It was no longer 
 the lobby of a variety show. The committee 
 
21 Jilrmbn: of % l)irir fjonst. 197 
 
 had ordered the doors closed against the public. 
 The prosecution now took its seat as master of 
 the situation. The chairman now no longer 
 laughed at jokes by Tom Brennan. The king 
 of the Third House had been dethroned. Bin- 
 ney had waked from his dozing. Fox and Davis 
 were absent. Most of the witnesses now had 
 the solemn air of prisoners. The only men who 
 appeared precisely the same as before were the 
 first committeeman and the Attorney-General, 
 who was as deliberate and apparently as benig- 
 nantly uninterested in the case as ever. His 
 face betrayed neither haste nor anxiety. 
 
 A few witnesses were examined swiftly and in 
 deadly earnest by the first committeeman and 
 the chairman, who had become ferociously op- 
 posed to the road. His zeal was unequaled. 
 
 At last the Attorney-General rose to speak. 
 He balanced his glasses between his thumb and 
 finger, and said with impressive placidity : " Our 
 work, Mr. Chairman, is practically over." He 
 put on his glasses, looked at a slip in his hand, 
 then gazed about upon the committee over the 
 tops of his glasses with kindly interest, as if to 
 include them all in his triumph. "We have 
 proved the guilt of the various gentlemen whom 
 we named at the beginning as principals, and have 
 shown that the Third House does exist and is 
 
198 21 Jttcmbcr of % tljirb 
 
 subsidized. The law of the State will now take 
 care of it. We have proven that Senator Ward, 
 Senator Holway and several legislators have 
 been tampered with. Their impeachment lies 
 with the members of this legislative body. An 
 era of reformation has begun. The credit of its 
 beginning and its success is due to this young 
 man at my left. And now, gentlemen, I can't 
 close without a word of moral. The cure of this 
 is suggested in the conviction. So long as 
 legislators have the power to vote public values 
 into private pockets the lobby will continue to 
 exist, and its damning work will be seen in the 
 ruin of men like Senator Ward and Mr. Davis ; 
 for, as I conceive it, he is a victim of corruption 
 as well as himself being a corrupting agent." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE IRON DUKE RECKONS WITH HIMSELF. 
 
 THERE come moments in a man's life when 
 he sits down and reckons with himself. It 
 is usually at night, just before going to bed, 
 when the house is silent and the outside world 
 very dim and insubstantial. At such moments a 
 man wants to be alone ; wife nor children nor 
 mother is welcome. The soul is calling out for 
 an unbroken moment of introspection, wherein 
 to readjust values and start in anew. 
 
 In such an hour the man stands for what he 
 really is, an infinitesimal insect, lost in a swarm 
 of similar flecks of life produced by this decay- 
 ing globe of ours. In such an hour Napoleon 
 looked down at himself and saw that he was an 
 undersized man with an abnormally developed 
 head. In such moments it must be that the 
 billionaire marvels at the conjunction of forces 
 that has made for him hundreds of millions, and 
 sees himself a small man, differing from the 
 type, as one blackbird differs from another, by a 
 
 fraction of an inch. 
 
 199 
 
200 21 Jttembcr of % Sljirb 
 
 Sitting" alone at night in a farm-house, with 
 the whippoorwill's infinitely pathetic note float- 
 ing 1 in on the sweet summer wind, with the in- 
 comprehensible stars swinging their appalling- 
 circles in the silence of the upper air, Herbert 
 Spencer's mighty brain might say, "What is it 
 all ? And what does it matter ? " 
 
 Lawrence Davis was not a philosopher. He 
 had not been a thinker. Like most men of his 
 type, he had lived such a life of material activity 
 and narrowness that his hours of reckoning with 
 himself had been few and short. His life, 
 momentous as it seemed to him, was narrow, 
 grooved and fruitless. It returned upon itself. 
 At sixty years of age he was breaking, evidenced 
 by his purple face, his snow-white hair, his pro- 
 truding- stomach, and the clumsy use of his feet 
 and hands and all this at a time when his 
 affairs were most insecure. Everything- which 
 he called his was at this moment out of his 
 reach. 
 
 His whole business life and possessions were 
 founded upon a vested wrong, which he per- 
 sisted in arguing was a vested right. It could 
 endure only so long as the conscience of the 
 people slept. He was like a man whose vine- 
 yard is on the slope of Vesuvius, with this 
 difference : that the voice of the thunder had 
 
21 Jtfembcr of tlje Sljirtr <m$t. 201 
 
 not spoken from this particular throat, but only 
 threatened it now for the first time. 
 
 When the hand of the law was laid on his 
 shoulder came the first great mental shock, and, 
 indeed, a physical shock, which nearly laid him 
 dead of apoplexy. For hours he lay like a man 
 stupefied with drink, confused, and uncertain of 
 action. When he appeared before the court he 
 staggered. He was bailed out promptly, of 
 course, by other officers of the road. His first 
 care was to wire Helene that there was no 
 danger. He fancied her alarmed, and he wished 
 to spare her as long as possible. Every time 
 he thought of her he shook. 
 
 He was appalled at the change in the tone 
 of the press. There was something awful in 
 the desertion of his aids, in the dispersion of 
 those who had swarmed about him, eager for a 
 share of the spoils. He knew that this was a 
 common experience, but it appealed to him with 
 startling power, nevertheless. Even the few 
 friends who met him on the day following his 
 arrest and release on bail, though they shook 
 hands with him, carried something in their eyes 
 which angered and irritated him, made him de- 
 sire to be alone. As night fell, he sat in his 
 great gloomy, silent house on Courtney Street, 
 at his desk in his library, writing with a dogged 
 
202 21 Jttembn: of tlje Sljirir 
 
 and persistent haste that told he had set himself 
 a task which must be finished within a limited 
 time. 
 
 It was cool and close in the house, but outside 
 it was very hot, and the fat policeman walking 
 the deserted streets wondered why it was that 
 in one part of the city people should be sleeping 
 in the gutters for the lack of room, and this part 
 of the city be deserted, and miles of windows 
 and doors boarded up. Luckily, he was able to 
 shake his head and give it up as insoluble. 
 
 The curtains and blinds of the Iron Duke's 
 superb library were closely drawn, and no light 
 shone out into the hot murk of the night. It 
 was about ten o'clock, and the house was very 
 silent. The floor was littered with scraps of 
 paper, and little tin boxes spilled their contents 
 on chairs and carpet. Over his head the single 
 flower-like electric lamp depended, and its pale 
 blue light accentuated the bluish splotches on 
 his face. His attitude and action denoted des- 
 perate haste. 
 
 A far-off train whistled, and he listened uncon- 
 sciously, the pen held between his fingers. The 
 clock striking ten aroused him, and he rose and 
 walked to the private telephone near his desk, 
 which he rang furiously. 
 
 "Hello! What's the matter? Oh, is that 
 
21 JtUmbcr of i\)t Sljirir omt. 203 
 
 you, Mrs. Fox ? Has he come in yet ? He 
 hasn't ? Didn't he send any word to me ? 
 Well, that's singular ! If he comes, will you 
 tell him I'm at my house ? I say, tell him I'm 
 here. But wait a moment, please. If any 
 one else inquires, tell 'em I'm down to the 
 beach. That's all." 
 
 He turned away with a muttered oath, clench- 
 ing" his hands and speaking through his teeth. 
 "Damned coward ! He's left me." 
 
 A knock was heard at the door, and, at his 
 word, Robert entered. His face had the same 
 calm, judicial expression, his voice soft and 
 deep, his enunciation precise. His manner dif- 
 fered in no way from his usual manner in the 
 office. Davis turned to him with pleasure. 
 
 " Ah, Robert ! What's the latest news ? " 
 
 " I can't find Fox or Tom, sir." 
 
 " What do you think of it ? What does it all 
 mean ? Have they skipped ? " 
 
 "It looks like it, but they may be keeping 
 quiet here in the city. If they don't report to- 
 morrow " 
 
 "Well, what do you think? Have they gone 
 back on me? Come now." 
 
 Robert mused a moment. " Well, I shall know 
 by the time I get back to the office. I've sent 
 out some detectives to various parts of the city 
 
204 21 ittcmter of tl)e Sl)irt (Sjoust 
 
 where they are likeliest to be found. I'll tele- 
 phone you the result, and, by the way, be careful 
 how you use the telephone. The damp air in- 
 creases the induction. Our private wire isn't 
 very private. I'll tell you through King's name. 
 If I say Smith has gone to the beach, you'll know 
 Fox has skipped. Brown will stand for Tom. 
 See?" 
 
 " All right, Robert. It looks pretty bad for 
 me, doesn't it, Robert ? " he asked, with a sudden 
 longing for sympathv, as the young man turned 
 away. 
 
 "Yes, it does," admitted Robert. "But I 
 think you'll pull through, all the same. I 
 haven't been on the street to-day, but I hear 
 I hear there is great excitement up at the Capitol. 
 Senators are being impeached. The papers are 
 full of it, of course. Anyhow, there's nothing 
 gained by getting worried," he concluded, in an 
 attempt to be of comfort. 
 
 " I wish I had your head to-night, my boy," 
 replied Davis. "Mine is almost useless. Well, 
 now, keep me posted on all that goes on at the 
 office. Let me know the worst, won't you ? 
 Don't keep anything from me at all." 
 
 "All right, sir. Everything is going on just 
 as usual, and I think the public feel the effects of 
 that. Good night, sir. You had better go to 
 
31 JlUmbo; of tl)c Stjirir jjonsf. 205 
 
 bed and try to get some sleep. I shall stay at 
 the office until twelve. In case anything impor- 
 tant turns up, I'll let you know. Good night." 
 " Good night, Robert. I wish all were as 
 trusty as you are. Good night." 
 
 After Robert had gone Davis returned to his 
 desk and sat leaning with his head on his hands. 
 While sitting thus there came another knock at 
 the door, and the housekeeper entered. 
 
 " Shure is there annything more I can do, sir ? " 
 " Nothing, Mary only don't bother me." 
 "Then so be y' dawn't moind, sir, I'll be goin' 
 to bed, shure." 
 
 " Very well. Where's Tim ? " 
 " He went out to the theater, sir." 
 " Well, perhaps you had better stay up till he 
 comes. Then be sure you lock up." As he 
 talked he was searching among his papers and in 
 his pockets as if he had lost some important 
 document. He arose at last as if looking for 
 something. 
 
 Mary looked around in wonder. She began 
 to fear for her master. He was not like himself. 
 The bell rang, and she started. 
 
 "Well, now! Who's callin' this time o' 
 night ? " 
 
 After she had gone out into the hall Davis 
 came back into the room, feeling in his pockets 
 
206 21 Jttcmbn: of tlje Sljtrb $cm0c. 
 
 again, looking about the desk, and went out 
 again, muttering to himself. 
 
 Mary re-entered, with Helene. "Shure, Miss, 
 he's been jist at his desk since noon. It's crazy 
 he do be gettin' wid his wroitin'. Not a drop 
 o' tay nor a crumb o' bread has he had 
 this noight, and me wid the supper all on the 
 table for him. ' Don't bodder me/ says he, 
 wavin' his hand. ' I'm a wroitin'/ says he. 
 * You better be atin'/ says I." 
 
 Helene, who looked radiantly happy, was 
 drawing off her gloves. "Nothing to eat? 
 Why, he must be awfully worried. I'll make 
 him eat. You see if I don't." 
 
 "Mary, didn't I hear the bell?" said Davis, 
 re-entering. He seemed startled and surprised 
 at sight of Helene. 
 
 "What are you doing here this time of the 
 night ? Didn't I " 
 
 Helene went up and put her arms about his 
 neck. "Now, don't scold. I couldn't stay down 
 there all alone with you up here in this gloomy, 
 musty old house. Why, how pale you are ! 
 Are you sick? " 
 
 "No. Did you come alone? How'd you 
 happen to come, anyhow?" 
 
 "Now, don't be cross, poppa. I came be- 
 
21 JHtmbo: of % Sfytri cm0e. 207 
 
 cause Wilson said I'd better. He said you 
 might need me." 
 
 Davis stared at her. "Wilson said I might 
 need you ? What else did he say? Tell me," 
 he added, sternly. 
 
 " Don't look so cross. I'll shake you if you 
 do," she said, with a pretty assumption of 
 authority. " He said you were alone up here 
 and worried, and and so I came right up with 
 him. Now you tell me all about it. Mary said 
 you hadn't had any supper." 
 
 Davis turned away. "I've got something 
 else to do besides eat. Besides, I don't feel 
 like it." 
 
 Helene stamped her foot and wrinkled her 
 brow. " But you must eat. Now, I'm going to 
 get you something, and you've got to eat it, sir. 
 I'm not going to have you write and write and 
 go to bed without any supper." 
 
 " I can't eat, child. I'm too busy," Davis said, 
 in a gentler tone. u Besides, you you'll bother 
 me." 
 
 "No, I won't. Just a cup of chocolate. I'm 
 going to make it on that lovely little alcohol 
 stove. Come, now ; it will help you to sleep. 
 And I'll roast some crackers" 
 
 " Sleep ! I wish I could sleep. Very well, 
 bring in your things, and make it here by me 
 
208 21 Jflembn: of tlje Sfyirt jjorwe. 
 
 while I work. I've got some more writing 
 to do." 
 
 Helene clapped her hands childishly. The 
 novelty of camping down in this great house 
 pleased her. " Oh, that'll be fun ! And I know 
 it'll do you good." 
 
 " Well, well ; now go about it, and don't talk to 
 me too much," Davis said, returning to his desk, 
 after his concession. 
 
 Helene went out, and soon re-entered, accom- 
 panied by Mary, who carried a platter containing 
 milk, hot water, etc. They arranged a little 
 table, while Davis worked on at his writing. 
 
 " Now, poppa, the chocolate'll be ready in a 
 few minutes, and we'll have a little supper 
 here just as cozy as can be. I don't need you 
 any more, Mary ; you can go to bed now." 
 
 After the girl went out, Davis rose from his 
 desk, came over, and seated himself in an easy- 
 chair near Helene. 
 
 " Helene, my girl, I wish you'd stayed down 
 at the beach with Evelyn and Tuttle. I think 
 you ought to. Do you feel just right about 
 your trouble with Tuttle ? " 
 
 Helene tried to look very stern. 
 
 "Why, he's made all this trouble how 
 should I"- 
 
 Davis rose and walked the floor. "He wasn't 
 
21 ilfembn; of tl)e Stjirir on0e. 
 
 to blame. He was only doing what I should 
 have done in his place. I wasn't to blame, either. 
 I was obliged to do what I did. It's the cursed 
 condition of things that infernal band of high- 
 waymen up there that pushed me into it." He 
 came back to her. " If I'd been successful, I 
 don't believe I could have seen you marry Tom 
 Brennan, and now well, he's no man for you. 
 Here's a man. Read that." He handed her a 
 letter of Tuttle's which she read aloud : 
 
 " Mr. L. B. Davis. 
 
 " DEAR SIR : I write to say that I was deeply pained and sincerely 
 surprised at the result of our investigation. I did not expect to involve 
 you in any criminal transaction. I write now, hoping you will under- 
 stand my position. This question is above personal friendship, above 
 personal choice. But I would like to serve you in any honorable way, 
 and as a friend, if I can do anything for you, or for Helene, make use of 
 me. Believe me, yours, 
 
 " WILSON TUTTLE." 
 
 Helene wrinkled up her brows in a vain effort 
 to fathom it all. "I don't understand it at all 
 it's a dreadful mix only the spirit of it. It 
 sounds noble, just like him, though." 
 
 She suddenly threw her arms again about his 
 neck. "Poppa, I want you to do something for 
 me. Will you? Will you?" 
 
 Davis took her tenderly on his lap, and said 
 gravely : 
 
 "I can tell better after I know what it is." 
 
 Helene put her face down on his breast. For 
 
210 21 ltlember of tlje t)irir 
 
 some inscrutable reason she seemed to be embar- 
 rassed and timid. " But I'm afraid I mean, I 
 must tell you that I saw Wilson to-day 
 alone." 
 
 "Well, I've no particular objection." 
 Helene sat up on his knee and pulled at his 
 coat-buttons. "But, on the way up I have 
 made it all up with him. Oh, I've been just 
 about sick, poppa, ever since that day you 
 remember but I begged his pardon and he 
 thought he was doing right and I had to for- 
 give him, though I didn't know exactly what he'd 
 done." 
 
 She ended in her usual inconsequential way. 
 
 " And what about Tom ? Didn't you " 
 
 "That's just it," she went on, wildly. " I want 
 you to tell Tom that I didn't really mean that 
 
 I didn't really know what I " 
 
 Davis smiled a little in spite of himself. " I'm 
 to tell him that you want to back out? " 
 
 " Oh, you make it so vulgar by saying that." 
 " Well, that's what we'd call it in business. 
 Well, now, don't you worry. It'll come out all 
 bright and happy for you." There was a touch 
 of emphasis upon you, which, though lost upon 
 Helene, had a world of meaning in it. "Now, 
 you must go to bed and don't worry about me. 
 
21 ilfcmbcr of tlje Sljirb fijonse. 211 
 
 I'll come out all right. They ain't going to hurt 
 me." 
 
 "Poor poppa! But you're so worried. I 
 know you are. Your forehead is all wrinkled 
 up. I'll smooth it out just as I used to, if you'll 
 promise not to wrinkle it up again." 
 
 She touched with her lips the scowl of battle 
 on his forehead, and then laid her cheek down 
 on his shoulder. " It seems so selfish in me to 
 be happy when you're in trouble, you dear, dear 
 old poppa. But I'm just a little girl to-night. I 
 can't think of anything, I'm so happy. I won- 
 der if all girls act so silly when they " She 
 
 sat up suddenly. " Wouldn't society stare to 
 see me sitting in your lap like a baby ? I don't 
 care ! You're all the poppa I've got, and I'm 
 your little mother, you know, and I ain't going 
 to let you worry. That's what I promised 
 mamma, don't you remember ? " 
 
 This completed the suggestion which began 
 with the touch of her lips to his forehead. He 
 broke down into a groan that was almost a 
 wail. " Oh ! my God ! Don't talk that way, my 
 child ! You'll break my heart ! " 
 
 He drew her convulsively down upon his 
 breast, and laid his cheek upon her hair. 
 " Don't chatter so like a child. You make me 
 crazy, thinking of her. Oh, I wish the whole of 
 
212 21 JHembor of % ftljirtr 
 
 my damn business had sunk before I'd got into 
 this! Why couldn't I have been contented ? " 
 
 Helene started up again and looked into his 
 face, with more of a realization of this trouble 
 than before. " Why, father, wh what's the 
 the matter? Have I said anything ?" 
 
 " No, no. Don't mind me. Put your head 
 down on my shoulder again. I'll speak to Tom 
 when I see him. I never felt right about that. 
 I knew you didn't mean it. But Tom was use- 
 ful to me, and so I but no matter now. I'll 
 sleep better to-night if I know that you and 
 Wilson have come to an understanding. Now 
 you better go to bed yourself. You need sleep." 
 
 " Oh, I can't sleep, I'm so happy. Only 
 I'm worried for you." She leaped up at the 
 sound of the water boiling and made him a cup 
 of chocolate, talking, as she did so, with many 
 gestures and attitudes. At last she handed him 
 a cup and saucer, which he held, sipping while 
 they talked. 
 
 " Now, I know that'll do you good." 
 
 "Well, now, don't worry about me. I'll come 
 out all right. And, whatever happens to me 
 I mean whatever anybody says of me don't 
 you forget that I did what seemed the best 
 thing." 
 
 " Of course not. But, oh, poppa, I'm so happy 
 
21 JJUmbn: of tlje fttjtrir cm0r. 213 
 
 and relieved ! You know, when you've cared 
 for one person, and didn't dare to think so, and 
 then got angry and promised another person 
 that you didn't care so much about, and then, at 
 last, made up with the first person, and feel now 
 that you can like him all you please oh, it's so 
 delicious and relieving, don't you know ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know. I've been a girl ! And, 
 now, run along like a good little child. I'll sip 
 my chocolate while I write. It's been a great 
 comfort to see you once more." 
 
 ''Poppa, there's something in your voice that I 
 can't understand. What are you thinking of?" 
 
 " Well, for one thing, I'm thinking you're en- 
 gaged now, and you can't be my little mother 
 much longer." 
 
 " It won't make the slightest difference, not 
 the teeniest bit," she protested. But he knew the 
 inevitable separation had already begun. 
 
 "You'll see. And now, good night." 
 
 He stood gazing after her for a long time, 
 drew a deep sigh, and resumed his stern manner. 
 He took up a bundle of papers and looked over 
 one or two of them, glanced at a newspaper, 
 crushed it in his hand, and thrust it violently into 
 the waste-basket At last he took a revolver 
 from his desk and looked at it in a curious, 
 shrinking, yet fascinated, way. How easy it 
 
214 21 JHember of % ftljirb <Ijou0c. 
 
 would be to escape it all if it were not for 
 Helene was the dark undercurrent of his 
 thought. As he sat thus, Helene, with her hair 
 unbraided and slippers on her feet, re-entered 
 noiselessly and approached him in roguish 
 stealth. She gave a gasp of instinctive fear. 
 " What are you doing with that ? " 
 
 Davis started like a criminal. His hands 
 shook while putting the revolver back into the 
 drawer. "Oh, I was just I was just look- 
 ing to see if it was loaded that was all. I 
 you see burglars are getting thick. Two or 
 three houses were entered last night." 
 
 He overshot himself in his explanations. 
 Helene clung to him in fright. " Burglars ! Oh, 
 horrors ! I sha'n't sleep in my room to-night ! 
 I shan't. You must let me sleep next to you in 
 the blue room, won't you ? and leave your door 
 open ?" 
 
 "Now, now, don't be foolish," said Davis 
 hastily. "I had no business to say a word 
 about it. There ain't the slightest danger with 
 Tim and me in the house. Sleep in the blue 
 room if you wish. I'll leave the gas burning in 
 my room, if it'll give you any comfort. What 
 did you come back for, anyhow?" 
 
 Helene forgot her fear at this question, and 
 grew rosy with some new thought. " I forgot 
 
21 JStanbtr of % tljirir ott0e. 215 
 
 to tell you he made me promise for next 
 spring." 
 
 " Who did ? " inquired Davis, abstractedly. 
 
 "Why, Wilson, of course." 
 
 " Oh, yes, yes ! I see, I see ! Next spring, 
 eh ? Very well, I've no objections." 
 
 " But it seems to make you sad," pouted 
 Helene. " I won't marry at all if you don't 
 want me to." 
 
 "There, there! Don't mind. I was only 
 thinking of your mother, and of Lawrence. 
 He would be twenty-five now, and she forty- 
 eight. Now go to bed this minute." He put 
 his arm about her and half carried her out of 
 the room. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 BRENNAN SACRIFICES HIS MUSTACHE. 
 
 DRENNAN had the temperament of the 
 **-* gambler, who is able to play with impassive 
 face whether he loses or wins. When luck is 
 against him he stops, goes on a journey, or does 
 some penance, and resumes play again when he 
 thinks luck is appeased, without bitterness and 
 without losing faith in himself or in his God. 
 The possibility of defeat has been taken into 
 account. Brennan, having played with luck on 
 his side so long, did not consider everything lost 
 because the tide now seemed to set the other 
 way. He went into temporary retirement and 
 studied affairs with vigilant eyes. He did not 
 underestimate the gravity of the crisis, but he 
 had confidence in himself and in fate<f As a 
 young man he could face darker hours with 
 surer return of hopeful spirit than Davis. 
 
 He saw that this was no common storm. He 
 was student enough to see that it was an out- 
 break of popular indignation. It could not be 
 silenced ; it must be ridden out as ships ride out 
 
 316 
 
of tlje <ftt)irb fyonst. 217 
 
 a gale. He saw this because he came more into 
 contact with the crowds of people who were 
 thinking upon these reforms than Davis, and he 
 saw their growing hate in their eyes as he passed 
 them on the street. He read ominous prophecy 
 in the changed tone of the press of the whole 
 country, which he studied from day to day as a 
 physician feels the pulse of his patient. He 
 knew that these papers were sure indications of 
 a revolt. 
 
 There came a moment when he abandoned 
 retirement and sought obscurity. He thought 
 a stranger in the hotel lobby one night was 
 looking at him stealthily. It was an impression 
 rather than a belief, and would have passed 
 away had not the bartender uttered a friendly 
 word. 
 
 " Say, Tom, what're y' doin' wid de Pinker- 
 ton daytective follerin' yeh like a body-gyard? 
 Your riyal nibbs is gettin' to be a regular Jay 
 Gould." 
 
 Tom looked at him sharply. " Detective? 
 Where ? " 
 
 " W'y, his nobs over dere in de w'ite pants. 
 I never see him 'cept w'en " 
 
 Brennan was startled. "Oh! don't notice 
 him. I'm onto him. Say, where are the boys, 
 Sam?" 
 
218 21 Jttembn: of tt)t Sljirtr 
 
 "Ain't seen anny of 'em, Tom. Dey've 
 skipped gone up de river. See? If I was 
 you I'd take a chase." 
 
 Brennan leaned against the bar carelessly, 
 but he said : 
 
 "Is his leglets there yet?" 
 
 "He's stepped outside. He's talkin' wid a 
 big duffer in a gray hat." 
 
 " Say, Sam, I'm going up-stairs. I won't be 
 down till night. Here's what I owe yeh. If 
 anybody asks where I'm gone, say I went out 
 the side door. See ? " 
 
 " I'm a-listenin', Tommy. Go to my house* 
 Tell my wife I sent yeh, and I'll be up soon. I 
 ain't a-goin' back on Tom Brennan. See ? " 
 
 Brennan slipped back of the bar and through 
 a side door, and when the man in the light-col- 
 ored trousers looked in again Sam was mopping 
 the bar and Brennan was gone. 
 
 Brennan saw the whole situation. His bonds- 
 men were getting alarmed, distrustful, and had 
 put a man on his track. He put a bill into Sam's 
 hand when he came up to supper. 
 
 " If Fox comes in put him onto the game. Do 
 it careful. All you need do is say, ' Tom says : 
 "Bail no good," 'see!" 
 
 " Dat's all straight, Tom." 
 
 When it grew dark Brennan went to his own 
 
21 Jflflnbo: of tlje Sljiri $onse. 219 
 
 room and packed his smaller articles into a trunk. 
 This he marked to go by express to a point near 
 the line, and, with a half-dollar to the janitor, got 
 it carried down unnoticed. He then left the 
 house with a cane in his hand, as if going for a 
 stroll, and walked rapidly away into the poorer 
 quarter of the city. He was quietly dressed in 
 dark clothes, and wore the characterless Derby 
 hat, and felt safe from espionage. 
 
 He walked on down into the region of cheap 
 apartment hotels, hideous with their peeling plas- 
 ter and their doorways like the mouths of caves. 
 Reaching one of these square, hot and dingy 
 brick structures, he mounted its dim and clammy 
 stairway to Suite 20, and rang a bell. A woman 
 came to the door. Her face was in the shadow, 
 but the light shone through her fluff of yellow 
 hair. 
 
 " Hello, Tom ! " she said, in a pleasant contralto. 
 " You're a pretty fellow. Come in. Why haven't 
 you been down ? You're a nice boy," 
 
 "Always knew it, Pat," he said, as he entered. 
 She put his hand away from her neck. 
 
 " What're you doing these days ? Sit down ' 
 and tell me all about it." 
 
 She led the way into a tiny sitting-room, 
 filled with cheap furniture, brilliant in color. 
 She was a pleasant-faced woman, though worn 
 
220 21 itlembcr of tlje Sljtrt 
 
 and no longer young. She smiled cheerily at 
 Tom. Her wrapper was not at all tidy, but it 
 trailed handsomely down her fine figure. 
 
 " Glad to see you, Tom. What's up ? " 
 
 "You will persist in thinking the visit 
 extraordinary, Pat." 
 
 " Why shouldn't I ? When were you here last ? 
 Six months ago." 
 
 " Where's Sir John ? " 
 
 " Gone to the theater with the girls." 
 
 She was looking at him sadly. 
 
 " You're in for it, my boy," she said. " Your 
 young career is cut off. You must either endure 
 the crisp Canadian air or languish." 
 
 "I never languish. How do you know? 
 What makes you think " 
 
 " I read the papers, Tom. Well, now, what 
 can I do for you? You never come to see me 
 now unless you need help." 
 
 Her tone was curiously tender, a mixture of 
 cameraderie and a sort of maternal regard. With 
 that look on her face, she was beautiful in spite 
 of her dingy lace and untidy hair. 
 
 " Cleopatra, you're a great woman ! Well, I 
 need a razor, some advice, a priest's cloak and 
 hat and a safe messenger boy and some money. 
 I can pull through all right on that. I must get 
 word to some of the boys, Rob or Mart." 
 
21 Jlfember of t\)t 
 
 "All right, Tom. I can get it all but the 
 money. Lucky the others are away. I'll get 
 out Sir John's razor and things." 
 
 In a few moments Tom was standing before 
 the glass, razor and scissors about him. He 
 sighed comically. "Say, Pat, this is the most 
 unkindest cut of all." 
 
 She understood him. "Too bad, Tom ; your 
 mustache is a daisy. What'll she say ? " 
 
 "It'll be grown out again before she sees 
 
 me." 
 
 In spite of himself there was a plaintive droop 
 in his voice. Brennan snipped away while she 
 sat watching him a moment. 
 
 "Terrible, terrible! Well, I'll slip over to 
 your uncle's and see what I can swipe together 
 for you." She pinned up her skirt and put on a 
 waterproof cloak and went out. 
 
 When she returned Brennan sat reading a 
 newspaper, his feet on a chair, his coat and vest 
 hanging on the knobs of the bureau. She stood 
 looking at him in amazement. 
 
 " Why, Tom, you look like a boy. My God, 
 how old you make me look ! " 
 
 She dropped the package which she held 
 in her hands, and passed her fingers over her 
 face as if to feel the hollows there. The tears 
 started to her eyes. 
 
51 HUcmbor of % Sljtri fijouse. 
 
 " There, there, Cleo, don't go off like that ; 
 you make me feel like a boy on the point of 
 blubbering. Say, Cleo, how would a Canadian 
 excursion agree with you, eh ? " He had an ob- 
 scure idea of comforting her. * 
 
 She shook her head sadly and grimly. " No 
 more such talk to me. I'm sick of it I sup- 
 pose you don't know I've had a fever?" 
 
 He looked a little ashamed. "Yes, but I've 
 been so busy " 
 
 "Well, I've been thinking." 
 
 " Fact ? " stared Tom. 
 
 "That's a fact," she replied without emotion, 
 her eyes upon his upper lip, which was so sin- 
 gularly boyish, shorn of its mustache. "And 
 when a woman like me really thinks, it changes 
 her." 
 
 "Well," he said, with a sigh, after a pause. 
 "If you won't, you won't, that's all. I'd like to 
 have you go, because you're good company. 
 You're a thoroughly good fellow, Cleo, that's 
 what you are. You've got more brains than any 
 woman I ever knew. Now that's straight goods. 
 You may gamble on my sincerity. Well, now, 
 just a sisterly hug, and then I'm off." 
 
 There was a grave sadness in her eyes as he 
 rose to go. " Now don't get mixed up in any 
 more of these infernal bribery cases," she said. 
 
21 Jilnnter af % Sfyirb 
 
 "You may gamble on that too," he said. 
 " Well, now, take care of yourself. Oh, about 
 getting word to Rob ; can't you go down and 
 see him yourself? He'll be at the private office 
 in the Commercial building. It will be awful 
 good of you, Cleo, because, you see, it's life or 
 death, and if you took it in hand I'd feel certain 
 it would be done." 
 
 " Yes, Fllgo, Tom. I wouldn't go out of this 
 house, though, for anybody else to-night/' 
 
 " I know it, honey ! Well, so long ! If you 
 ever feel like trying the Canadian air, let me 
 know through Rob. Good-by ! " 
 
 He had an irresistible desire to take a turn 
 around Newspaper Corner and see what was 
 going on. It was a distinct theatrical impulse 
 to try the effect of this disguise, in which he 
 took delight. He walked rapidly along the 
 avenue leading toward Newspaper Corner. He 
 was not sufficiently reckless to ride in a horse- 
 car, though he actually stepped upon the plat- 
 form of one before he remembered himself. His 
 broad hat, round, smooth face and cloak made 
 him look like a young divinity student. 
 
 He stood for a moment on the corner, looking 
 up the crowded and brilliantly lighted thorough- 
 fare, which was lined with newspaper offices. 
 Everywhere before the bulletin -boards, bunches 
 
224 21 JHembo; of tlje Stjtri fijottse. 
 
 of excited men were grouped, talking with much 
 gesticulation. Others were reading the papers 
 by the light of the shop windows. Serial waves 
 of newsboys rushed every hour in every direc- 
 tion, yelling like little fiends. Brennan laughed 
 with genuine pleasure to think that he was the 
 main cause of all that turmoil. He was for the 
 moment as big as Elaine. He stopped a boy 
 who was passing. "Wait, my son," he said, 
 with solemn intonation. 
 
 The boy stopped, and, seeing that he was 
 addressing a priest, his manner changed to timid 
 awe : " Paper, mister ? " 
 
 Brennan bought several of the papers, and the 
 boy, delighted with his sales, ran on down the 
 street, his voice rising above the sound of the 
 cars and passing cabs: " Midnight 'dishun ! All 
 about robbery ! " 
 
 Brennan struck out at last in a steady, swift 
 walk toward Davis' city home. He must have 
 some money. As he went along he wondered 
 when he would be able to walk these streets in 
 daylight. The cloak he wore was oppressive, 
 and he flung it back as he walked the cooler 
 and more shadowy avenues of the city. 
 
 There was something impressive in the quiet 
 of Courtney Street, and Brennan was con- 
 trasting the excitement of down town with the 
 
21 Ulemter of tlje SIftri gon0e. 225 
 
 solemn darkness of this avenue of lofty, close- 
 shuttered houses. As he walked he was think- 
 ing over the letter he had written to Helene, 
 and wishing he had not said some things just 
 as they looked to him now with the whole letter 
 before his eyes. 
 
 " You must not be alarmed at anything you 
 hear," he had written. " We're not in any danger. 
 This will all pass off in a few weeks. Wish I 
 could see you before I go to a foreign land. 
 I'm going now to see the Duke, and we'll go 
 together. We'll send for you soon ; so don't 
 worry. You'd laugh to see me now. My mus- 
 tache is gone ! Yes, it was that or life I pre- 
 ferred, on the whole, that the mus. should 
 perish. I inferred you'd agree with me any- 
 how I'm as safe as a night-watchman in the 
 corner grocery. Good-by for a few days." 
 
 It was intended to make her smile. He knew 
 that she had no realization of the gravity of his 
 offense. She had no conscience, because she 
 had no knowledge about such things. It is a 
 woman's chiefest charm in the eyes of men like 
 Brennan this ignorance of all great moral and 
 social issues, and this childlike acceptance of their 
 code of morality from men. It has a delightful 
 sureness of return and justification this code 
 of morality, like the logic of the Mohametans. 
 
226 21 JHcmbn* of % Sljtrb 
 
 It is so much easier to maintain the respect 
 and admiration of such childlike minds. They 
 fear the self-poised, self-respecting woman for 
 obvious reasons. 
 
 Tom wished he had not sent that letter so 
 early. It might do him harm. 
 
 As he neared Davis' house, he went slower 
 and kept a keen eye for watchers, studying every 
 shadow on the other side of the street. On 
 the opposite walk the darkness was reddened by 
 a lamp, and in the deep shadow of the steps he 
 thought he saw a man's Derby hat. It was safe 
 to be suspicious, and he turned off and entered 
 the alley and came out by the servant's door on 
 a side street. 
 
 Mary came to the door. She was greatly 
 astonished to see a priest instead of Tim. 
 
 "What news?" said Brennan. "I want to 
 see Mr. Davis." 
 
 " Why, Mr. Brennan an' is it you-u ?" 
 
 " It is. Lave me to enter. I want to surprise 
 the governor, Mary, mavourneen." 
 
 " Oh, you're a ro-gue," laughed the girl, who 
 always enjoyed his banter. 
 
 "lam. Do I look it?" 
 
 " You look like Father McPhelan, sure ! The 
 livin' breath an' soul av 'im ! An' you talk like 
 'im." 
 
21 ittcmber of % Sfyirtr 4jon0*. 227 
 
 " I was so ed-u-cayted." 
 
 He went up the stairs, shaking his finger at 
 the girl, to whom it was all a capital joke. He 
 found no one in the library, but the open desk, 
 the little table with its chocolate, the chairs 
 filled with papers, all indicated that the Iron 
 Duke was absent but momentarily. He was, 
 evidently, preparing to leave. 
 
 Tom threw back the folds of his cloak and 
 smiled at himself in the mirror. The Duke 
 would not know him. 
 
 When Davis re-entered Brennan was sipping 
 the chocolate, his hat on the back of his head. 
 He was seated on the edge of the table. 
 
 Davis was startled. " Who're you ? " 
 
 Brennan grinned with delight. " I knew it. 
 I'm in it. I do it clear out o' sight." 
 
 Davis recognized the voice. His tone dropped 
 to a surly growl. " Oh, it's you, is it ? What 
 you got that rig on for ? Thought you'd left 
 town." 
 
 "Not yet," replied Brennan, coldly. 
 
 "Well, what's up?" 
 
 " General, in the famous words of Danger 
 Dick, 'The jig's up." 
 
 "You mean" 
 
 " I mean that Holway has squeaked and skip- 
 ped, or skipped and squeaked." 
 
228 31 iJlcmber of ttye t)irb < 
 
 Davis dropped heavily into a chair. A hoarse, 
 slow snarl came from his set teeth. "The 
 damned traitor ! I was afraid of him and Fox ? " 
 
 "Fox has emigrated too. The report is that 
 we've skipped. Newspaper Corner swarms with 
 newsboys and special editions. Here's the latest." 
 He took several papers from his pockets. " I 
 bought a collection as I came along." 
 
 Davis snatched one of the papers and read it 
 while Brennan went on: "The town is simply 
 wild. You'd think an election was going on. 
 Great reading, ain't it ?" He looked over Davis' 
 shoulder. " ' DAVIS DOWNED. THE IRON DUKE 
 MEETS His WATERLOO. The Roused People 
 Demand His Instant Incarceration/ Only one 
 column to me, you see. This is one of the cases 
 where to be lowly is to be happy." 
 
 Davis broke forth at last. His wrath was 
 frightful to see. His voice was raucous as that 
 of a tiger whose teeth are clinched in flesh. 
 " The damned curs ! Every one of 'em '11 come 
 back on me now it's safe. When I had the pub- 
 lic, they licked my feet/' 
 
 He paced up and down the room, twisting 
 and tearing the papers, his face livid with pas- 
 sion, his limbs weak. "But they'll see God 
 damn them to hell ! I'll fight 'em ! I'll fight 
 
21 JUnnber of tl)e Stjirb w8t. 229 
 
 fight until death. They'll see whether I can be 
 stuck in the throat like a sheep ! " 
 
 Brennan sat on the edge of the table, watch- 
 ing Davis in this convulsion of rage. 
 
 "No use, General," he said, gently, when 
 Davis sank into a chair, shaking like a leaf from 
 his paroxysm. " You can't fight this thing." 
 
 "I can't! Why can't I?" 
 
 " Because it's fighting the people of this State. 
 The damned fools have gone off in a spasm of 
 virtue, and we've got to be scapegoats. I never 
 saw anything like it. The papers reek with it ; 
 the air is heavy with it. The legislature is para- 
 lyzed. Nothing since the Credit Mobilier com- 
 pares with it. They'd sacrifice us like cock- 
 roaches to save their cussed necks. They're 
 going to make us a dreadful example. An in- 
 dignation meeting is being held this very night 
 to denounce the legislature, exterminate the 
 lobby and down the Iron Duke and his lieu- 
 tenant." 
 
 Davis rose again. "That's what grinds me! 
 After submitting to this thing for years for 
 fifty years they must turn on me single me 
 out ! " 
 
 "Well, I s'pose they had to draw the line 
 somewhere." 
 
 " Draw the line ! Yes, two generations of 
 
230 21 Jflcmbcr of tlje Sljirlr <3ou0e. 
 
 bribery in all kinds of bad causes, and when I 
 come to put a good cause through a cause 
 affecting millions of people forced into bribery 
 by the condition of legislation they must draw 
 the lirre on me, damn their miserable souls ! " 
 
 "Set down, Governor. Take it easy." 
 
 Davis lifted his voice in a sort of roar. " Take 
 
 it easy ! By God, if I " He seemed to 
 
 recollect himself suddenly, and went to the'door 
 and locked it. 
 
 Brennan watched him with a comical look of 
 suspicion on his face. " Now now, what'd you 
 do that for? ;> 
 
 " To keep Helene out." 
 
 "Is she here?" asked Brennan, in a serious 
 tone. 
 
 " Yes. Came up late. But never mind her. 
 Sit down. This business must be studied," he 
 said, with something of his old decision and 
 control. 
 
 "That's right. Now you're talking sense. 
 I'm in the soup, too, recollect." 
 
 Davis stared at him a moment. " You ? Oh, 
 yes ! I forgot. Why don't you work Fox's 
 game ? " he asked, with a sneer. 
 
 Bj-ennan took off his hat, and gave it a twirl. 
 " How d' y' like me tile?" he inquired, to gain 
 control of himself. He had risked a good deal 
 
JUnnbcr of % $I)irb $ou0c. 231 
 
 to see Davis, and this angered him. " Good 
 idea, only it's a little late now," he added. 
 
 " What do you mean by that ?" 
 
 11 As I came up the street I saw a man stationed 
 opposite. The house is watched. We are liable 
 to be arrested any hour." 
 
 "They wouldn't do that!" 
 
 " Wouldn't they ? Well, don't trust your 
 bondsmen too far. They're going to drop you 
 in less'n two days. They can't stand the pres- 
 
 sure." 
 
 " You don't know the men who stand for 
 us. They are " 
 
 " Trustees in the road. Just the men to sacri- 
 fice us. I tell you we're in for it. The road is 
 going to pieces. Got any cash about you ?" 
 
 "A few hundred dollars; why?" 
 
 " We'll need it. Turn down that light a lit- 
 tle." 
 
 Davis turned out the burner, and Brennan 
 went to the window and looked out for several 
 minutes. 
 
 "Aha ! He's there in the cellar- way opposite. 
 Oh, they have an eye on us ! That man is paid 
 by Deacon Hall, your bondsman. His orders 
 are to see who comes and goes and to keep an 
 eye on you. See ? Now my plan is for you to 
 put on an old coat and hat, slip out back "- 
 
232 21 Jflembur of tlje tijtrtr 
 
 " I'll do nothing of the kind. I won't sneak 
 away like a cat ! " 
 
 Brennan was a little irritated. "Well, I ain't 
 standing on my dignity a cent's worth. It's 
 sneak or fifteen years at hard labor for each of 
 
 us." 
 
 "Fifteen years. What do you mean ?" 
 
 " I mean that when they arrest us again no 
 bail will get us out. I tell you this fool public 
 has an idea of making us examples, and they'll 
 do it sure 's hell/' 
 
 Davis sat staring into space. His eyes ex- 
 panded and the blood fell slowly out of his face. 
 " Fifteen years ! " 
 
 "Nothing else unless we take a sneak to- 
 night. They may put us in the laundry or the 
 harness-shop. It'll be terrible on Napoleonic 
 business men like you and me. Isle of Elba 
 racket to men who control the traffic of a great 
 railway like a general commanding an army ! / 
 make one dash for liberty. Better a tramp in 
 Arcadia than a compulsory harness-maker here. 
 See?" 
 
 Davis sat with bowed head. "But Helene?" 
 he muttered to himself. 
 
 " She'll be all right among friends here. 
 Send for her by and by. If you don't you'll 
 receive her in striped clothing, and talk to her 
 
21 JHnnbtr of tlje (ftljirir (Douse. 233 
 
 through a barred window. I'd leave a dying 
 mother in a case like this," he said, his voice 
 sinking to a low key. " I'll tell you I don't 
 want any State's prison life in mine. I've been 
 too free in my life. I've been my own master, 
 and since being with you I've reached the point 
 of commanding men. I don't want to go to 
 breakfast lock-step with a murderer and a 
 burglar. I don't care about changing the cut 
 of my hair and clothes. Come ; this won't do. 
 We must make a break, right now." 
 
 Brennan was honestly trying to rouse Davis 
 to the gravity of the situation. 
 
 Davis shuddered. "My God, what a picture 
 you bring up ! " 
 
 Brennan dropped all jocularity. His voice 
 grew intense and husky. " It ain't the half of it ! 
 Why, man, for you and me it would be simply 
 hell ! To a man like you, handling daily hun- 
 dreds of thousands of dollars, commanding a 
 thousand cars and five thousand men ; you, with 
 your financial and executive ability, set to work 
 punching holes in leather ten hours a day " 
 
 " Stop ! " cried Davis, his face white and 
 twitching. " God Almighty, man, do you want 
 to drive me crazy? " 
 
 " I am trying to rouse you. We must get 
 away right now." 
 
234 21 Jttembfr of tlje Sljiri 
 
 Davis again set his teeth. " I won't. I'll 
 stay right here and fight them. Sit down ; give 
 me the names of the other men you bribed 
 quick ! I'll not go alone." 
 
 " I guess not," said Brennan, coldly. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Because they are interested in getting us 
 away. I can't and won't turn on my friends till 
 the last ditch. Besides, they are trump cards. 
 It won't do to go back on them now." 
 
 " But you'd sacrifice me if necessary," said 
 Davis. 
 
 This was another uncalled-for thrust, and 
 Brennan said, in deadly earnest : " I tell you, 
 I'd sacrifice my own brother to keep out of that 
 stone wall. Say, did you ever see a man come 
 out of jail after fifteen years ? " he asked, in a new 
 tone. " I have, twice, in my native town. Once, 
 not four years ago, I saw a man come back to 
 life ; that's what it is, coming back to life. I'll 
 never forget how he looked if I live a thousand 
 years. He kind of shambled when he walked. 
 His hat was too wide for him ; his clothes seemed 
 strange on him. His face had that sickly color 
 called jail-white, and he winked and stared every 
 time he lifted his head, and mumbled and burst 
 out sobbing every little way as something familiar 
 
21 JUnnbcr of tlje Sljirb jou0c. 235 
 
 came to his eyes. A crowd of jeering brats fol- 
 lowed him." 
 
 He acted this, in his fervor, so vividly that 
 Davis groaned and sank into his seat at the desk. 
 Brennan went on, carried away with the picture 
 and the emotion it called up : "I trembled like 
 a leaf when he passed me. I'm an imaginative 
 cuss. Nothing takes hold on me like confine- 
 ment. I've always lived out of doors. I grew 
 up in the open air. I like action, liberty, and one 
 year in a cell would kill me. I tell you, if I 
 
 couldn't escape, I'd But I ain't got to that 
 
 yet. I'm going to make a break for tall timber, 
 as they say out west. I'm scared. I'm free to 
 admit that. Only I wanted to see you and Hel- 
 ene, or I wouldn't have come back here at all." 
 He paused here as if another consideration came 
 in. " Couldn't see her, could I ? " he asked, 
 almost timidly. 
 
 " No," answered Davis, in a low but decisive 
 voice. t( No, it's too late." 
 
 Brennan drew a quick sigh. " Well, I'll need 
 a little money. Let me have what you can 
 spare." 
 
 Davis mechanically handed him a roll of bills. 
 
 " Here, take this take it all ; I won't need it." 
 
 Brennan put the bills away. ' This will come 
 back to you by and by all right. I've salted 
 
236 a iJIember of % Stytri fijotrse. 
 
 down a little barrel where I need it, but I 
 couldn't get hold of it just now. Am very 
 much obliged. I'll send a check. You'll need 
 all you've got if you stay and fight this thing. 
 Better come, Davis," he pleaded as he prepared 
 to go. 
 
 Davis sat immovable. " No, I stay here." 
 ' Well, good-by. I know we could get away 
 all clear, if we reached the river. I'm all right. 
 Some of the boys are there with a steam yacht." 
 He turned in a last appeal. He hated to leave 
 Davis alone to what he knew was certain de- 
 struction. He came back and put his hand on 
 Davis' shoulder. " Better come, Governor. It's 
 simply desperation staying here." 
 
 Davis shook his head harshly. " No, I tell 
 you, I'll stay here." 
 
 "Well, all right. But, if you should change 
 your mind, let Tim Sheehan know through Bob. 
 He'll look out for you." He paused at the door, 
 and a little tremor came into his voice. "Tell 
 Helene I hope to see her again soon. I'll write. 
 Good-by." He unlocked the door and went out, 
 closing it softly behind him. 
 
 Davis sat at his desk for a long time in 
 thought too deep for motion. He recognized 
 the truth of all that Brennan had said. He was 
 
21 JlUmbo; of tlje (Ztyiri $oti0e. 237 
 
 in a &/ de sac. His wealth, his social influence 
 were alike swallowed up in the cataclysm of pub- 
 lic indignation. His eyes fell on his papers, and 
 he began to arrange them and pack them into 
 the boxes. He worked rapidly and soon had 
 them properly sorted. Then he locked the 
 door and sat down to contemplate, at last, the 
 desperate measure. He was like a man hemmed 
 in by a burning forest, with this difference : he 
 had very little inducement to live. 
 
 He faced the problem squarely. Helene was 
 provided for, a little property secured in her own 
 name, and then Tuttle was rich. He balanced 
 the two evils in a singularly calm way. He 
 could not survive imprisonment, and was a con- 
 vict's death any more honorable to him than 
 
 Would Helene be any more hideously smirched 
 in the one case than in the other ? And was 
 there not infinitely less suffering for him in this ? 
 
 He rose and went to a closet and brought 
 back a valise, out of which he took a burglar's 
 lantern, and a chisel or two, which he laid on the 
 floor. He took a cap and shawl also from the 
 bag, and threw them carelessly on the carpet. 
 He went about this as if it all had been planned 
 carefully. He overturned a chair at the desk as if 
 to give the impression of a struggle. He opened 
 the window at the back. He had a curiously 
 
238 21 JUcmbcr of tlje (Sfyirtr 
 
 methodical air. He left on the window a thin 
 bar of steel. This done, he went to the door 
 and listened. 
 
 As he stood there he heard a fire-bell striking 
 solemnly. He returned to the desk, took off his 
 coat and vest and laid them on a chair by the 
 closet door. At last he took up the revolver, 
 looked into the barrel and pressed it first to his 
 temple, then to the back of his head. He 
 seemed to fear that the noise would alarm 
 Helene, and he paused as if something 1 unex- 
 pected had changed his mind. 
 
 He looked about the room slowly. At length 
 the partly opened door of the closet attracted 
 him, and he arose and stole softly across the 
 room. He opened the door and entered, draw- 
 ing it close to .with his left hand. After an in- 
 stant came a dull report, and, the door opening 
 slightly, a faint gray smoke curled thinly out at 
 the top. A moment later the door swung open, 
 and the dead man fell back into the room and 
 lay upon his face. 
 
 It was nine o'clock when Brennan came upon 
 deck, and faced the beautiful morning breeze. 
 They were just entering the sea. On each hand 
 were dim, low promontories of grassy hills whose 
 feet were buried in yellow sand. The sea was 
 
21 JHmber of tlje Sfyirir owt. 239 
 
 blue as cobalt and lined with foam that glittered 
 like ridges of snowy salt. Fishermen's sails, 
 aslant in the cool wind, shone with the glancing 
 light of the unclouded sun. The yachtsmen 
 were singing; the captain, with hands shoved 
 into the pockets of his snowy coat, was walking 
 the deck, whistling in exultation. 
 
 Brennan leaped on deck with a burst of tenor 
 song. The captain turned. 
 
 " Hello, old man ! How do you feel this 
 morning?" 
 
 "Like new," said Brennan, with a ready laugh 
 and exultant whoop. "Ain't this great ? South- 
 wester; good for all day." 
 
 " Beats railroading these days, eh?" 
 
 " You bet your life ! " Brennan agreed, and 
 with shining face and merry voice he sang : 
 
 " With the sea before, 
 And the wind ashore 
 
 Then ho, lads, ho ! 
 Oh, what care I ? 
 Teedley dee, teedley die ! 
 
 Yoho, my lads, yoho ! ' 
 
 Say, I'm ready for breakfast." 
 [THE END.] 
 
M518982 
 
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