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diff --git a/old/51955-0.txt b/old/51955-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9f2f7be..0000000 --- a/old/51955-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5831 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Man of Last Resort, by Melville Davisson Post - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Man of Last Resort - Or, The Clients of Randolph Mason - -Author: Melville Davisson Post - -Release Date: May 2, 2016 [EBook #51955] -Last Updated: March 16, 2018 - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN OF LAST RESORT *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - - - - - - - - -THE MAN OF LAST RESORT - -Or, The Clients Of Randolph Mason - -By Melville Davisson Post - -G. P. Putnam's Sons New York And London - -1897 - - - - -PREFACE - -IN this _fin-de-sîècle_ time, society has grown liberal, it is said, -and yet he who thrusts a lever under sage customs, or he who points out -the vice of institutions long established, may deem himself happy if he -be permitted to strip against the duellist rather than the mob. Even -if one come new into the courts of the _literati_ with a cloak dyed a -different hue from his fellows, he will scarcely have passed the doorway -ere the taunting challenge, “Do you fight, my lord?” - -The author, in a previous volume entitled _The Strange Schemes of -Randolph Mason_, pointed out certain defects in the criminal law, and -demonstrated how the skilful rogue could commit not a few of the higher -crimes in such a manner as to render the law powerless to punish him. -The suggestion was, it seems, considered startling and the volume has -provoked large discussion. A few gentlemen of no inconsiderable legal -learning, and certain others to be classified as moral reformers, -contended that the book must be dangerous because it explained with -great detail how one could murder or steal and escape punishment. If the -laws were to be improved, they said, “would it not be more wisely done -by influencing a few political leaders?” - -While such a criticism does not come from any considerable number of -authorities, it has been honestly made and is entitled to consideration. - -The vice of it lies, it seems to me, in a failure to grasp the actual -nature of our institutions. It is a maxim of our system that the law -making power of the state rests in the first instance with the people of -the state. This power, for the purpose of convenience, is delegated to -certain selected persons who meet together in order to put into effect -the will of the people. - -The so-called law-makers are therefore not law-makers at all, in the -sense of being originators of the law; they are rather agents who come -up from their respective districts under instructions. Such agents are -simply temporary representatives of the citizens of their respective -districts, directly responsible to them and charged with no duty other -than that of putting their will into effect. The agent or delegate -should therefore approach very conservatively any matter upon which the -will of his constituency has not been satisfactorily determined. It is, -then, apparent that the influence which makes or which alters the law -is a force exerted from without. No change in the law can be properly -or safely brought about except through the pressure of public sentiment. -The need for the law must be first felt by the people and the demand for -it made before the legislator is warranted in acting. The representative -would otherwise become a presumptive usurper, afflicting the people -with statutes for which there was no public demand; and such laws, so -improperly obtained, would be without the support of public sentiment -and would be liable to repeal. - -Hence it is entirely clear that if the existing law prove to be unjust -or defective, the people must be brought to see and appreciate such -injustice or inadequacy and to demand the requisite modification. - -This contention can, as it seems to me, not be gainsaid. It is -respectfully urged that no other method of securing wise changes in -the law can be properly pursued under democratic institutions. To hold -otherwise is to take issue with the wisdom of democracy itself, and with -so rash a champion the writer has no spear to break. Indeed, he makes -this explanation with immense unwillingness, as he feels that he should -not be required to defend a truth so evident. It is like demonstrating -gravely that the earth is round and that sun light is an energy. - -Yet he is advised that attention should be called to this matter, lest -the thoughtless condemn upon a hearing _ex-parte_. Indeed, even after -the punishment of _la peine forte et dure_ is gone out these many -hundred years, the good citizen will hardly hold that one guiltless who -stands dumb while hidden evils assail. If men about their affairs were -passing to and fro across a great bridge, and one should discover that -certain planks in its flooring were defective, would he do ill if he -pointed them out to his fellows? If men labored in the shops and traded -in the market confident in the security of their city's wall, and one -should perceive that the wall was honeycombed with holes, could he stand -dumb and escape the stigma of being a traitor? The law makes little -difference in the degree of moral turpitude between the _suppressio -veri_ and the _suggestio falsi_. Both are grievous wrongs. The duty -of the individual to the state is imperative. He cannot evade it and -continue to regard himself as a worthy citizen. - -Is there not in all this criticism a faint suggestion of the men who -“darken counsel by words without knowledge”? - -Lycurgus taught the laws to the people, Solon taught the laws to the -people. The Roman law provided for a final appeal from the consul to -the people, and the very essence of republican institutions lies, as -has been said, in a recognition of the people as the source of the -law-making power. If the law offers imperfect security and is capable of -revision, the people must be taught in order that they may revise it. If -it offers insufficient security and is incapable of revision, then the -people must be taught in order that they may protect themselves. This -conclusion is irresistible. To counsel otherwise is to share in the -odium of that short-sighted ambassador who urged upon Pericles the -wisdom of reversing the tablet upon which the law was written in order -that the people might not read the decree. - -Surely, then, he who points out the vices of the law to the people -cannot be said to do evil, unless the law of the land is to be made by -a narrow patriciate sitting, like the Areopagus of ancient Athens, with -closed doors. - -That yesterday in which the enemies of society plied their craft by -means of the jimmy and the dark lantern is now almost entirely past. The -master rogue has discovered, with immense satisfaction, that the labor -of others may be enjoyed, and the results of their labor seized and -appropriated to his uses, without thrusting himself within the control -of criminal tribunals. - -Wise magistrates, laboring for the welfare of the race, have been -pleased to write down what should be done and what should not be done, -and have called it “law.” The citizen, having no time to inquire, has -gone about his trade under the impression that these rules were offering -ample protection to his person and his property. But the law, being -of human device, is imperfect, and in this fag end of the nineteenth -century, the evil genius thrusts through and despoils the citizen, -and the robbery is all the more easy because the victim sleeps in a -consciousness of perfect security. - -The writer has undertaken to point out a few of the more evident -inadequacies of the law and a few of the simpler methods for evasion -that are utilized by the skilful villain. It must be borne in mind, -however, that more gigantic and more intricate methods for evading the -law and for appropriating the property of the citizen are available. -The unwritten records of business ventures and the reports of courts -are crowded with the record of huge schemes having for their ultimate -purpose the robbery of the citizen. Some of these have been successful -and some have failed. Enough have brought great fortunes to their daring -perpetrators to appal that one who looks on with the welfare of human -society at heart. - -The reader must bear in mind that the law herein dealt with is the law -as it is administered in the legal forms of his country, in no degree -changed and in no degree colored by the imagination of the author. Every -legal statement represents an established principle, thoroughly analyzed -by the courts of last resort. There can be no question as to the -probable truth of these legal conclusions. They are as certainly -established as it is possible for the decisions of courts to establish -any principle of law. - -The reader is reminded that the schemes of skilled plotters, resorted -to for the purpose of defeating the spirit of the law, are, for the most -part, too elaborate and too intricate to be made the subject of popular -discussion. An attempt to explain to the but half-interested layman -plots of this character would be as vain as an attempt to demonstrate -an abstract problem in analytical mechanics. The knaves who have been -pleased to devote their energies and their capacities to problems of -this nature are experts learned and capable, and against these the -average man of affairs can defend himself but poorly. He may be warned, -however, and the author will have accomplished his purpose if he -succeeds in identifying the black flag of such pirate crafts. - -In the present volume he has deemed it wise to continue to utilize as -his central figure the lawyer, Randolph Mason,--a rather mysterious -legal misanthrope, having no sense of moral obligation, but learned in -the law, who by virtue of the strange tilt of his mind is pleased to -strive with the difficulties of his clients as though they were mere -problems involving no matter of right or equity or common justice. - -This emotionless counsellor has already been introduced to the public. -He has been described as a man in the middle forties. “Tall and -reasonably broad across the shoulders; muscular, without being either -stout or lean.” His hair was thin and of a brown color, with erratic -streaks of gray. His forehead was broad and high and of a faint reddish -color. - -His eyes were restless, inky black, and not over large. The nose was big -and muscular and bowed. The eyebrows were black and heavy, almost bushy. -There were heavy furrows, running from the nose downward and outward to -the comers of the mouth. The mouth was straight, and the jaw was heavy -and square. - -“Looking at the face of Randolph Mason from above, the expression in -repose was crafty and cynical; viewed from below upward, it was savage -and vindictive, almost brutal; while from the front, if looked squarely -in the face, the stranger was fascinated by the animation of the man. -and at once concluded that his expression was at the same time sneering -and fearless. He was evidently of Southern extraction and a man of -unusual power.” - -This counsellor, keen, powerful, and yet devoid of any sense of moral -obligation, is possessed of this one idea---that the difficulties of men -are problems and that he can solve them; that the law, being of human -origin, can be evaded; that its servants, being but men like the others, -may be balked, and thwarted and baffled in their efforts at a proper -administration of this law. - -It is the age of the able rogue, and, in examining his rascally schemes, -the writer has finally come to believe that the ancient maxim, which -declares that the law will always find a remedy for a wrong, is, in this -present time of hasty legislation, not to be accepted as trustworthy. - - -_(See the learned opinion of Mr. Justice Matthews in the case of Irwin -vs. Williar, no U. S. Reports, 499; the case of Waugh vs. Beck, 114 Pa. -State, 422; also Williamson vs. Baley, 78 Mo., 636; 15 B. Monroe, Ky. -Reports, 138. See also, in Virginia, the case of Machir vs. Moore, 2 -Grat., 258.)_ - - - - -THE GOVERNOR'S MACHINE - - - - -I - -THERE was something on the Governor's mind, and when this condition -obtained, interesting events had usually followed in the far Southwest. -This highly mystic mental status had preceded the efforts of a Federal -Court to compel him to act under a mandamus, and the result was history. -It had preceded a memorable conflict between the legislature at large -and His Excellency, the Governor, also at large, and immediately -thereafter a certain statute had sprung into existence prohibiting the -massing of State troops within one hundred miles of the Capitol during -the sitting of the Solons of the Commonwealth; but it was a law after -the fact. It had preceded also the mercurial efforts of the so-called -patriotic orders to impeach the Executive for malfeasance, misfeasance, -and nonfeasance,--an effort that had brought to its instigators only a -lurid and inglorious rout. - -The Governor was standing at the eastern window of his private office -looking out at the monotonous brown tablelands stretching away to the -foothills of the blue mountains that marked the outer limits of his -jurisdiction. He was a young man, this Governor, with the firm, straight -figure of a soldier and the gracious bearing of important ancestry. His -eyes were brown, and his hair and Van Dyke beard were brown also--all -indicative, say the sages, of precisely what the Governor was not. -He was perfectly groomed. Every morning when he walked down to the -State-house he was the marvel and the fastidious spotless idol of the -far Southwest. - -One would have imagined that this handsome fellow had just stepped -out from a smart New York club, could he have forgotten that such -an institution was almost a continent to eastward. The Governor had -maintained that it was quite possible to live as a gentleman should -wherever Providence had provided Chinamen and water, and that the matter -was not entirely hopeless if the Chinamen were not to be had, so the -water remained. - -It was true indeed that the Executive had maintained his customs with -no little pain against the divers protests of gods and men, ofttimes -wrought in silence, but not infrequently urged fiercely in the open. -But the Governor was not one with whom meddling folk could trifle and -preserve the peace. This fact certain bad men had learned to their hurt -west of the Gila, and divers evil-disposed persons regretted and were -buried, and regretted and remembered south of the Pecos. So that in time -this matter came to be regarded as a peculiarity, and passed into -common respect as is the way with the peculiarities of those expeditious -spirits who shoot first and explain afterwards. - -The Governor was aroused from his reverie by his private secretary who -came in at this moment from the outer office. - -“Governor,” said the young man, “there is a strike at the Big Injin.” - -“Well,” replied the Executive, “telegraph the sheriff.” - -“But,” said the Secretary, “the sheriff has just telegraphed us.” - -“Then,” continued the Executive, “send a courier to Colonel Shiraf.” - -“But Colonel Shiraf is out on the Ten Mile.” - -“In that case,” said the Governor, “you must go up to the mines, and -if the dignity of the Commonwealth needs to be maintained, you will -maintain it, Dave. You should find some troops at the post, some herders -at the cattle ranch, and a very large proportion of the State Guards, by -this time quite drunk, at a horse fair in Garfield County. If they are -required, notify me.” - -As the secretary turned to leave the room, the Governor called him -back. “Dave, my boy,” he said, “peace in this Commonwealth is a sacred -thing--a superlatively sacred thing, so sacred that we are going to -have it if thereby the word 'census' becomes a meaningless term; and -remember, my boy, that the State is very expeditious.” - -The secretary went out and closed the door behind him, while His -Excellency, Alfred Capland Randal, forgetting the report, turned back -to the window. The air from the great brown plain came up dry and hot; -above the blue mountains the sun looked like a splotch of bloody red, -and over it all brooded the monotonous--the almost hopeless silence of -the far Southwest. - -The something on the Governor's mind was a something of grave import, -for which he could evidently find no solution, and presently he began -to pace the length of his private office with long strides, and with his -hands thrust deep into his pockets. - -Suddenly the door opened and a Chinaman entered with a telegram. The -Governor looked up sharply, and taking the envelope tore it open with -evident unconcern. When his eyes ran over the message he drew in a deep -breath, and, seating himself at a table, spread out the paper before -him. This was the advent of the unexpected, for which Mr. Randal was not -quite prepared, and this his manner exhibited to such a degree that -the stolid Celestial wondered vaguely what was up with the big foreign -devil. - -“Our train stops at El Paso,” ran the telegram, “you will come up, won't -you?--M. L.” - -The Governor stroked his Van Dyke beard, and the fine lines came out on -his face. “Of all times,” he muttered. Then he turned to the Chinaman. -“Have my overcoat at the depot at six. I am going to El Paso, and shall -not return until late.” - -The Chinaman vanished, and the Executive crushed the telegram in his -hands, thrust it into his pocket, and resumed his march up and down the -private office. - -This Governor was the crowning achievement of a machine. He was the -elder son of an ancient family in Massachusetts, and had been reared and -educated in an atmosphere of culture. It had been the intention of his -family to have him succeed his father with the practice of the law, -but the plans of men are subject to innumerable perils, and it soon -developed that young Mr. Randal was not at all adapted to the duties of -a barrister. Indeed it was very early apparent that nature had intended -this man for the precarious vagaries of a public life. He was magnetic, -generous, with a splendid presence, and the careless, speculative spirit -of a gambler. In truth, Alfred Capland Randal was a politician _per -se_. While in college he had been a restless element, injecting the -principles of practical policy into everything he touched, from the -Greek-letter fraternities to the examinations in Tacitus, and all with -such reckless, jovial abandon that divers sage members of the faculty -speculated with much wonder as to which particular penal institution -would be his ultimate domicile. - -At times the elder Randal had been summoned to attend these grave -sittings of the faculty, and straightway thereafter the rigid New -England lawyer had lectured his son at great length and with bitter -invective, to which the young man attended in a fashion that was -amiable, and immediately disregarded in a fashion that was equally -amiable. Thus in the Puritanic bosom of the father the conclusion grew -and fattened and matured that the eldest scion of his house was an -entirely worthless scapegrace, while the son was quite as certain that -his father was a very sincere, but an entirely misguided old gentleman. - -The result of these divergent opinions was that on a certain June -evening young Randal sat down upon a bench in the park of his father's -country place with the express purpose of planning his career. Out of -the confidence of youth he determined upon two ultimate results. One -was, of course, wealth, and the other was an elaborate and entirely -proper wedding ceremony with a certain Miss Marion Lanmar. This young -lady, Randal had met at a football game at Harvard, and afterward in New -York, where she resided with her aunt, Mrs. Hester Beaufort. - -The gigantic confidence of youth is certainly a matter of sublime wonder -to the gods. One at all familiar with the ways of things would have at -once pronounced both results quite impossible to the improvident young -man. But from the standpoint of exuberant youth there seemed to be no -important obstacles except the possible delay, and this was not very -material, as the world was young and these were things to be had in the -farther future. - -For the present, Randal determined to organize a political machine and -transport it into one of the remote Western States. The East offered -no theatre for his talents; it was closely organized; its political -machinery was too strong for him to hope to oppose it. He would be -crushed out in the first skirmish. - -Nor could he hope for early recognition by allying himself to any one -of the established organizations. These were crowded with deserving men, -and besides, he had no intention of serving as a political apprentice. -He had ability, he believed, as a political strategist, and he proposed -to operate free and untrammelled in a big, breezy arena. - -Having determined upon a course, young Randal at once proceeded to put -it into operation. He held a council of war at the Plaza on Fifth Avenue -with two of his college associates, a stranded gambler, called for -convenience “Billy the Plunger,” and an old Virginia gentleman named -Major Culverson. The council sat in secret session for three days, -and the result was that the machine moved out into the Commonwealth of -Idaho, and began to operate. But the manners and customs of the West -were varied and mystic, and with the following summer the machine, badly -shaken, moved over into Nevada. Here, at Tulasco, on the Central Pacific -Railroad, the first college man deserted and, helped by his father, -returned with great penitence to the civilized East. - -The machine passed on across the Humbolt River and proceeded to attempt -to shape the political destinies of Nevada. But disaster was following -in its wake, and, after an active and turbulent but quite unprofitable -career of a few months, it moved southward, battered and beaten, but -unconquered. - -On the night of the third of October, the machine tramped into -Hackberry, on the Southern Pacific, and while men slept, the second -college man, concealing himself in a freight car, set out for the -Atlantic coast, cursing with lurid language all that part of the -continent lying west of the Mississippi. - -On the following morning the machine held its second great council, but -this time it sat in desperate conclave above the Cow-Punchers' Saloon -in the town of Hackberry, facing a condition and not a theory. But -three members remained--Randal, the dauntiess Culver-son, and Billy the -Plunger. - -The gambler was for organizing a faro bank, and working the towns down -the Gila, but as the bank had no funds, and the death rate usually -attendant upon such ventures in this primitive country was enormous, -his plan was held impracticable, and at four o'clock in the afternoon he -ceased to urge the wisdom of his scheme, and after having announced with -great solemnity that he was game to any limit the gang wanted, he lapsed -into the capacity of a spectator. - -The Major advised moving south into Mexico, but as he seemed to have -no definite idea of what should be done when Mexico was reached, and it -finally appearing that moving south was simply a fad with Culverson, the -plan was likewise abandoned. - -Young Randal, fired by his unabated purpose, urged the wisdom of trying -a round with the political fortunes of Arizona, but it was demonstrated -that he was considering a major venture, having for its object huge -honor, while at present there was crying need for some minor venture -that would probably result in the necessaries of life and a few hundred -dollars. Accordingly, at three o'clock in the morning, the machine -decided to assume, for a time, the vocation of the cattle herder, and -accept employment with a certain stock king of New Mexico. - -It was understood, however, that this digression should be temporary, -and should be abandoned just as soon as the machine should feel able to -resume its original purpose. It was at this point in the deliberations -of the conclave that Major Culverson made his famous statement, to wit, -that the gates of hell could not ultimately prevail against a political -machine composed of a Massachusetts Yankee, a dead game sport, and an -old Virginia gentleman. - -From this time forth the career of Randal's machine was a concatenation -of fortunes and misfortunes, principally the latter, quite incredible. -But the three men clung together, and a single enthusiastic purpose is -a marvellous motor power, so that when Fate finally lent a helping -hand, the machine became a something of importance in the affairs of a -Southwestern Commonwealth. Once on the upward way, the ability of Randal -and the daring energies of his associates carried it forward with great -strides, so great that on the evening of the day with which this history -has to do, the Massachusetts Yankee was the Governor of a State, the -Major was Auditor, and Billy the Plunger, now known by his signature as -Ambercrombie Hergan, was Secretary of State. - -The sun had gone downward from sight behind the far mountains, now -changed from blue to a murky gray. The Governor, recalled to a sense -of the hour, closed his mahogany desk, locked the door of his private -office, and walked leisurely out through the State-house. As he passed -down the steps of the Capitol he met the Auditor coming up. - -“How are you, Al?” said the Auditor. - -“Charmed,” replied the Governor. - -“Ah,” said the Major, with great ceremony, “you may be charmed, sir, -but to me, sir, yuur face wears the haunted look of one who holds three -nines against what he strongly suspects to be a pat hand.” - -“Sage,” said the Governor, bowing, “I tremble for my hidden thoughts.” - -“You're a fool,” said the Major, stepping up beside the Executive. “I -want to know where you are going.” - -“I!” said the Governor, “I am going to the southeast. Do you see -that little railroad? I am even now about to commit myself to its -irresponsible mercies.” - -“You must not go, Al,” continued the Auditor. “Attend, I will nominate -the reasons. First, there is a julep party at my palatial residence.” - -“Insufficient,” said the Governor. - -“Second, there is a strike at the Big Injin.” - -“Insufficient,” said the Governor. - -“And third,” continued the Auditor, lowering his voice, “Honorable -Ambercrombie Hergan is at this very hour in the second room of Crawley's -Emporium, playing the taxes of Bolas County, and losing them, sir, -losing them.” - -The Governor's face grew hard, and his remarks for a moment were quite -unprintable. Then he turned to the Auditor. - -“Ned,” he continued, “you must get him out, and take him up to my -residence. I will be here by ten o'clock. I am compelled to go to El -Paso. I can't get out of it. I am compelled to go.” - -“Compelled?” ejaculated the Major, “who, in the name of all the living -gods, is compelling you? He must be greater than the railroads, greater -than the legislature, greater than the Federal Court. Compelling the -Honorable Alfred Capland Randal? Shade of the blooming Witch of Endor!” - -“Ned,” said the Governor slowly, “I will explain it all just as soon -as I can. In the meantime you must help me. You must get him out. Won't -you, Ned?” - -The Governor put his hand on the Auditor's shoulder, just as he had done -a thousand times before when he needed the help of this unusual man. -And, just as he had done a thousand times before, the Major declared -that the Executive was a “damned rascal” and a “no account youngster,” - and that he would not do it, when all the time he knew deep down in his -heart that he loved this straight young fellow better than any other -thing in the world, and that presently he was going to do exactly what -he said he would not do. - -The Governor knew this also, for he ran down the steps without stopping -to interrupt the amiable flow of the Auditor's depreciatory remarks. - -At the depot he found the Chinaman, Bumgarner, waiting with his coat. - -That such a primitive Celestial should be saddled with such a name arose -entirely from the pious instincts of the Major. It happened that the -Virginian was standing in a crowd at the corner near Crawley's Emporium -when the Chinaman first appeared, having tramped from the coast. The -Major, who was slightly in his cups, called the Chinaman over to the -corner, and inquired by what appellation he was known, to which the -foreigner responded that he was called Fu Lun. “Fu Lun!” shouted the -Major, fiercely, “a name smacking of the devil, and not to be tolerated -in a Christian State.” And then turning to the crowd, “Gentlemen,” he -continued, “behold! I do a goodly missionary work. I rebuke the evil -spirit dwelling in the bosom of this heathen. I give it a Christian -name. I name it Bumgarner.” - -Thus the first evidence of civilization fastened upon the Celestial, -and, as the Major's mandate was not to be disregarded, as “Bumgarner” - the Chinaman had gone. - -The journey to El Paso was not an idle one for the Governor. In a very -short time he should be in the presence of Miss Marion Lanmar and -her aunt Mrs. Beaufort, and, of all times since their first eventful -meeting, this was the very time he was not prepared for an interview. -Prior to the notable exodus of the machine to Idaho, Randal had called -upon Miss Lanmar, who was at that time a very young woman in college. -The two were quite important, quite enthusiastic, and pitiably ignorant -of the world's ways. - -This last meeting to them seemed big with fate, and was dramatic to the -limit of a playactor's rehearsal. Youth lent to it all the glamour of -romance. To Miss Lanmar young Randal was her chivalrous knight-errant, -on the eve of his departure into a wild and unknown land full of -mysterious peril, in quest of wealth and fair fame, all for her. To -Randal she was the Lily Maid of Astolat, whom it was fate that he should -worship with noble deeds until he won. It was all in strict accord with -romantic custom in such cases made and provided, and terminated quite in -keeping with the ideal conventions. - -When the door had closed upon the handsome young fellow whom Miss Marion -Lanmar had promised to love for ever more, that young lady remained -standing motionless by the mantel shelf, her face very white, and her -heart very desperate and very true. To the dainty Miss Lanmar it was all -very real, and by no means the pretty little comedy which the world out -of its practical wisdom would have known it to be. - -To Mr. Alfred Randal, as he passed down the steps of Mrs. Beaufort's -residence on the avenue, the world was now a vast arena, into which he -was going, armed and knighted with his lady's colors on his helm. His -heart beat high in his bosom. He would be a factor in great affairs; -the hour would come when he would return, famous, wealthy past belief, -announced by the heralds. He could not know that he was but another -character in that sweet old fairy story which men and women have striven -to act over and over again before they learn with dumb horror how -pitiless and how practical are the ways of Providence. - -Yet the wise man who accompanies the youth to the gateway of the arena -will not say: “To-morrow Circumstance will beat you from your horse -and tramp you under, and instead of returning victor, you will return a -cripple.” Although the wise man knows full well that of all results this -latter is most probable, yet he will not say it, because the enthusiasm -of youth is a marvellous power, difficult to estimate, and what it may -accomplish no man can tell. - -The Governor had not seen this young woman after that night, but he had -clung to his intention with the determination of a man who has a single -object in life. An intermittent correspondence had been maintained, but -after years this intention to wed Miss Lanmar had become rather an ideal -something, and in this there was peril. But a few weeks before, he had -intimated vaguely, that he was now a person of some local importance, -and with no inconsiderable prospects of wealth, and to this Miss Lanmar -had intimated quite as vaguely that she was waiting. But in it all -there, seemed to be a powerful, albeit somewhat indistinct doubt. Years -had passed, and years had a way of working frightful changes in people. -The Miss Lanmar of to-day could not be the school-girl whom he had -known. - -The Executive leaned back in a seat of the stuffy little coach and -speculated with grave concern At any rate, this alliance was now -quite impossible. Complications had been thrust in; a duty, or what -he conceived to be a duty, had sprung up, and this duty it was not his -intention to evade. - - - - -II - -THE Governor walked gravely down the long platform at El Paso, looking -up at the windows of the Pullmans, wondering, rather indistinctly, how -he should be able to recognize the irridescent princess of his romantic -youth. A negro porter touched him on the arm and inquired if he was -Governor Randal. The Executive replied that he was, whereupon the negro -with much profound obeisance announced that Miss Lanmar was waiting in -the drawing-room of the opposite Pullman. - -The Governor sprang up the steps of the coach. As he entered, a young -woman, wearing a dark travelling dress, came forward to meet him. She -was of medium height, with heavy brown hair, fine eyes, arched brows, -and quite a faultless nose. But the great charm of the woman was her -splendid bearing, and her instinctive culture. - -Just how this meeting began Alfred Randal could never afterwards quite -recall. He could remember in vivid details the first picture of this -superb woman as she arose to greet him, but then, just then, the love -of his youth that had seemed to sleep under an anaesthetic for so many -years, suddenly woke into glorious life, and gushed into his heart -and overran his senses with its marvellous vitality. What transpired -thereafter was provokingly indistinct. He remembered being presented to -the aunt, Mrs. Beaufort, and her astonishment, and her incredulous -query as to whether he lived in this “terrible country” to which he had -replied that he could not be said to live, but that it was his part to -exist in this rather primitive land. He remembered that the three sat -together in the drawing-room of the coach and talked of his return to -New York, of his ultimate success, and his assured future. He remembered -also that for the time he had forgotten the grave difficulty in the way -of such a future and his stern decision made but a few minutes before. -He remembered also that through it all he had been very foolish and very -confident and idiotically happy, and how at the parting he had kissed -Miss Lanmar's hand and blushed like a school-girl, and then jumped down -from the moving train at the peril of his life. - -The Governor stood upon the platform and watched the great train as -it thundered away in the distance. The interview which had just ended, -although a thing apparently unreal, had swept him out from under the -influence of an illusion that had served to make his life in the great -Southwest bearable, even happy. From this time forth it could never -be what it had been. The man felt like one who, having been so long a -captive in a dungeon that he was half content, and his memories of -the world had become vague and unreal, is suddenly and without warning -lifted into the sunshine of the great glorious world and held there -until his heart is filled to drunkenness with the beauty of it all, and -then, ruthlessly and on the instant, is thrust back into the rayless -gloom of his dungeon. - -Randal stood for a time looking at the rows of dim lights scattered -about the station like dismal fireflies. Then he crossed to the freight -train upon which he was to return and climbed up into the cab with the -driver. - -“What time shall we get in?” he asked. - -“By the top of the night, Governor, if we have luck,” answered the -driver, pulling open the throttle. - -The engine snorted and pounded along in the dark like some huge beast. -The Governor sat in the cab window and looked out. The night air was -sweet and cool, his face was hot. Two hours before he had decided what -he should do, and dismissed the matter; but new and powerful elements -had arisen and ordered him to rehear and decide anew. - -Ambercrombie Hergan had lost and wasted the money of the State. There -was now a deficit in his accounts of some fifty thousand dollars. There -was no way by which this loss could be met unless Randal should pay it, -and to do this would take everything he had on earth. It would mean the -sacrifice of his mining stock, which, if held, promised great returns. -It would be ruin, utter ruin, to make good the loss; yet the gambler, -although a gambler, was his friend, and two hours before he had not -hesitated at all. - -Motives, mighty, selfish motives, which until this hour he had beaten -back, now leaped up clamoring to be heard, howling for time against his -decision, time to show the right of their cause, the wisdom of it, the -ultimate justice of it. Something asked him roughly what right had he to -jeopardize the future of this woman who loved him. What right had he to -deceive, to sacrifice her? Who was Hergan that he should be considered -against this woman? Who, but a reckless and improvident adventurer? It -was not his own happiness urged the something; that would be a matter of -little moment. It was the happiness of another, and that other was true, -innocent of wrong, superlatively just. What contrast could be drawn -between the woman and this gambler? Duty? What duty could he owe to -the irresponsible Hergan that could approach in the slightest part the -measure of the duty which he owed to the woman who had trusted him for -so many years, and waited, and loved him? - -Yet against all this, certain pictures came up from the past,--vivid, -proclaiming a mighty truth, a truth which the man knew and acknowledged -in his heart, the truth that if these positions were reversed, Hergan, -gambler though he was, would not hesitate for a moment. Had he hesitated -that morning in the Rio Grande when Randal's horse had fallen and -was being swept down with the current, carrying his master under him, -tangled in the stirrup strap? Had he hesitated when it became necessary -deliberately to steal and burn the bogus ballots in Garfield County, -when to do so seemed little less than deliberate suicide? Had he -hesitated that terrible day on the Rio Sonora, when there was no time -for warning, but time only to spring forward and take the knife in his -shoulder? Had this man ever hesitated when the welfare of Randal was -at stake? Would he not gladly, and without comment, give up his life -to-morrow if the Governor should ask it of him? - -The Governor passed his hand across his forehead and closed his eyes. -When he opened them he had decided, and against this second decision -there should be now no appeal and no rehearing. - - - - -III - -THE Secretary of State was far removed from the ordinary. He was one of -those not infrequent persons whom men are quite unable to classify. At -times he arose far beyond the limits set for him by his associates, -and at times he dropped far below. There was about the man a sort of -indefinite reserve that impressed his fellows and inspired confidence -in those positions requiring rash and apparently impracticable moves. -Ordinarily, in commonplace affairs, his judgment was not considered -sound, or even valuable, and at such times no one would have thought for -a moment of advising with this man. It was only when sound common-sense -could see no way out that the machine appealed to Hergan, and at such -times he came forward with some freak venture which was frightfully -perilous and never ordinary, and never quite a failure. - -Success, usually arose, however, not from the ultimate wisdom of -Hergan's plans, but from the fact that his unique move would throw the -affair into a sort of convulsion resulting in a new situation, and this -new situation the sound judgment of his fellows would usually be able to -control. The counsel of Ambercrombie Hergan was a protean agent. - -The grave vice in the character of the Secretary of State lay in the -fact that he possessed no idea of perspective. He would wager his last -dollar with the same joyous unconcern with which he had wagered his -first, and he would have staked the entire Southwest, if he possessed -it, as readily as a Mexican peso, upon the turn of a card or the result -of a horse race. As to the antecedents of the Honorable Ambercrombie -Hergan, even conjecture was silent. He had come up from a mysterious -substratum of New York,--for what, and by reason of what, no man -inquired. This mighty new land traced no records and propounded -no questions. The arena stood open with its doors thrown back. Any -combatant who pleased could enter. Heralded or unheralded, it mattered -not. Good or bad, learned or ignorant, of yokel blood or princely -lineage, it mattered not. If he were fittest, he could win. - -From this organic defect of his mental build, and not from evil animus, -had resulted the sad state of the Secretary's accounts. He had never -entirely appreciated the important distinction between his own money -and that which belonged to the Commonwealth. He had been thoughtless, -reckless, unconcerned, until now he was hopelessly involved. Yet even -at this stage when his term of office was fast drawing to a close, he -failed to appreciate the gravity of his position, and treated the matter -with good-natured unconcern, as of no moment. - -The Auditor and Secretary of State sat together in the Governor's -library awaiting his return. In appearance the Auditor was a muscular -little man of most marvellous vitality, with a fierce white mustache, -and a fund of quaint oaths and semi-dramatic phrases hugely expressive -and at times artistic; while the Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan was very -tall and very broad, with a shock of heavy black hair, wide jaws, and a -big crooked nose. Far back in his youth this nose had been straight, -but one night, in a barroom on the Bowery, a difference of opinion had -arisen over some inconsequential matter, and thereafter the gambler's -nose had assumed a contour not contemplated in the original design. - -The Major was talking, and pounding the table vigorously, when the -Chinese servant entered with a tray and some glasses. The Virginian drew -himself up and stepped back from the table. - -“Well, Bumgarner,” he said, “I hail your resurrection; I glory in your -return to life. You have been dead no inconsiderable period, sir.” - -The Chinaman replied that he had been engaged in a laborious but -unsuccessful hunt for the bottle of Angostura bitters. - -“Angostura bitters?” cried the Major, “marvellous, inscrutable heathen! -Will you deign to reveal your reason for requiring the Angostura -bitters?” - -The Celestial responded that he presumed bitters was an element -requisite to the rather mysterious drink which he had been requested to -compound. - -“Hear him, hear him!” thundered the Major, as though addressing some -present but invisible avenging demon; “hear the vandal! Bitters in a -julep! Mighty, intelligent shade of Simple Simon! Attend and observe the -idiocy of this savage!” Then he crossed to the astonished Chinaman and -took him gently by the collar. - -“Bumgarner,” he said softly, “you are a frightful example of man's -neglect. You have been trained by a Massachusetts Yankee. Ergo, your -lack of knowledge is sublime. Bitters you might put in a plebeian gin -fizz, and be happy thereafter. Bitters you might put in a high ball of -whiskey, and live thereafter. But bitters in a julep, _magnum sacrum!_ -the gods would crush you! Bumgarner, you are an awful throbbing error, -and you have had a providential escape from death. Now,” continued the -Major, seizing the Chinaman by the shoulder and turning him toward the -door, “you may depart, and burn a few joss sticks, and ponder upon my -remarks.” - -The almond-eyed Celestial vanished, wondering vaguely if it had not been -better to remain in San Francisco and launder shirts in a cellar than to -attempt to cater to the depraved taste of such incomprehensible foreign -devils. - -“Now, Bill,” continued the Major, seating himself at the table, “I want -to know what you are going to do.” - -“About what?” asked the gambler. - -“About this money which you owe the State,” said the Major. “Do you -realize, sir, that our stand in the Southwest is just about closing, and -that we have got to square up and pull out?” - -“I reckon so,” replied the gambler, as though it were a matter of no -importance. - -“You reckon so! You irresponsible truck horse! You reckon so!” - snorted the Major. “You will cease to indulge in the dainty pastime of -speculation when you get a log-chain on your leg and a striped suit on -your back.” - -The Secretary of State laughed. “Something will turn up,” he said. - -“Ambercrombie Hergan,” said the Major, pounding the table with his hand, -“for a broken, a branded, a long-suffering cow pony of Satan, you have -the blindest, most stupendous Presbyterian faith in Providence of any -white creature ambling south of the Central Pacific Railroad; but -you're sweetening on a bluff this hand, and I am going to call you.” - -The gambler's face grew serious. “What are you prodding for, Ned?” he -asked. - -The Auditor leaned forward on the table. “You are planning to slide -out,” he said, “and it don't go.” - -“Would it hurt you or Al?” asked the gambler anxiously. - -The Auditor reached over and placed his hand on Hergan's arm. “It would -not hurt me,” he continued, “and it would be no bones if it did, but -it would hurt the boy, and he must not be hurt. Don't you know that the -moment you are gone, Randal will sacrifice everything he possesses and -pay up the deficit? And that would ruin him.” - -The gambler's face lengthened. “I had not thought about that,” he said -slowly, “but you are right, he would do that. He is that sort of a man. -I have been a fool, an infernal fool, but I did not think about the boy -getting hurt, not once.” The man shut his teeth tight together and the -big muscles swelled out on his jaws. - -The Auditor sat and watched the man across the table from him, and -admired his iron nerve in the terrible struggle to decide between -himself and the welfare of his friend. The man was evidently suffering. -His face showed it plainly; the battle must be a bitter one. The Auditor -wondered how it would result. He pitied the man, and in spite of all, -half hoped that he would decide to save himself. - -Presently the gambler turned slowly and lifted his face, white, haggard, -ten years older than he had been an hour before. - -“I don't see how to keep him from doing it,” he muttered; “I don't see -how.” - -The Auditor started. This man had not been thinking of himself at all. - -“You see,” continued Hergan. “I am about fifty thousand short, and there -is no way to raise that much money,--no way in God's world. If I slide -over the Rio, Al will pay it to keep them from extraditing me; and if I -stay here, he will pay it to keep them from sending me to the Pen. It's -the devil's own trap, and works both ways.” - -“Who got the money, Bill?” asked the Auditor. - -“Crawley, and old Martin, of the Golden Horn Mining Company. Crawley got -most of it.” - -“A plague of fat old gamblers,” said the Major, solemnly; “they are both -as rich as they are mean, and as mean as they are crooked.” - -At this moment the door opened and the Governor entered. - - - - -IV - -THE Executive stopped for a moment and scrutinized his visitors -quizzically; then he laughed. “May I inquire, gentlemen, whence arises -this gloom?” - -The Auditor bowed low. “Good sir,” he said, “your Excellency fails to -distinguish between gloom and the gravity of sages.” - -“If the funereal,” replied the Governor, “be a _sine qua non_ of the -converse of the wise, then there has been here this night great cause -for envy on the part of Solomon, the Son of David, King of Israel; for -such gloom I have not met with in a world of evil days.” - -“And, sir,” responded the Auditor, waving his hand like a barbaric -king, “if absence of respect for the dignity of the thoughtful be a -symptom of organic mental defect, then there is now here, in truth, -great cause for envy upon the part of Wamba, the Son of Witless, the -Son of Weatherbrain. For such amiable impudence is marvellous to -contemplate.” - -“Boys,” said the gambler rising, “if you will kindly come down out -of the clouds, I will be much obliged to you both, because I have got -something to say, and this is just as good a time to say it as any.” - -The Auditor resumed his seat at the table. The Governor took up a chair, -moved it back deliberately into the shadow of the room and sat down. - -“It is like this,” continued the gambler, “we three have stood in for a -long time, and I guess we know each other pretty well. We did n't take -no oath to stand by each other when we started, but I reckon that is -what we calculated to do. Anyway that is what we did do. If we had n't a -done it, we would n't have been deuce high in this Southwest. I did n't -have no faith in Al's machine when it started; I thought it was a wild -goose chase, but I did n't say nothing, because I had nothing to lose. -I was broke, and anything coming my way was pure velvet, so I joined in -and come out here. - -“Since that time we have had our ups and downs, if God's creatures ever -had 'em. We have lied a lot, and we've stole some, and we've starved -most of the time, and we have been poor and miserable and broke, but we -have played fair with each other, and we have never stacked the pack -nor dealt from the bottom. Then, one day, the luck turned and we won out -through the roof, just like it always does if you stay long enough and -keep doubling the bet. You two were elected, and Al appointed me. - -“I reckon none of us are going to forget the hell that appointment -raised. They said I was an ignorant understrapper, a short card gambler, -and a leary element; and it was true, every blooming word of it Then the -newspapers pitched into Al; they said that it was to be hoped that the -new Governor would now have 'the moral courage to at least suppress -the shady member of his machine'--them are the very words; I'll never -forget 'em, and they meant me. - -“I guess I went to you boys, and told you I had better keep out, but I -reckon I did n't put up a very stiff case, because I was hot at the row. -I would n't have cared if the howlers had been better men than I was, -but I knew they were all just the same kind of cattle--unbranded, -straggling steers, gathered up from anywhere but a good place. As for -being shady, there was n't a man between the Gila and the Pecos white -enough to pass an Eastern grand jury, and as for being a gambler, there -was n't a mother's son of the batch that would n't have coppered his -soul on a black jack if the bank would have cashed it for a dollar.” - -Hergan paused for a moment and looked at the Auditor. Then he added, -“Exceptin' of course, you and Al.” - -“Then,” the gambler went on: “I guess Al got mad. He made a little -speech; we was all there, and it was mighty good talk to hear. He -said there had n't been no 'invidious distinctions'--them were his -words,--during all the years when nothing had come our way but just one -dose of bad luck after another until we reckoned there was n't no God at -all,--least ways, if there was any, that He did n't operate south of -the Central Pacific Railroad, and now when we had finally landed on our -feet, there was n't going to be no 'invidious distinctions.' I am bound -to say that it seemed mighty good to hear Al talk like he did, and I -went ahead and let him appoint me.” - -The Secretary of State moved a little nearer to the table, and an -almost imperceptible shadow flitted across his face. “All the time,” he -continued, “I knowed it was wrong. I knowed that what the mudslingers -were sayin' was gospel. I knowed that I was n't fit for the job no more -than a Chinaman is fit for a pope. I knowed that the gambler in me was -ground in, and the other was just only rubbed on the outside, and that -the gambler part was going to run things,--and it did.” - -The man paused for a moment and turned to the Governor. “Now,” he said, -“I have come to the point, and it's this: I got into this hole and I am -going to get out of it; it's my game now; I am not going to stand any -side bets. You have both got to promise me right here that you will keep -your hands off this matter,--clear off--unless I say it goes.” - -The gambler stopped, rested his arms heavily on the table and looked at -his companions. The Virginian and the Executive were silent; both men -realized fully the true import of Hergan's demand. He was seeking to -prevent any sacrifice on their part; that was all, and if he had been -the most skilful diplomat in the world, he could not have moved more -adroitly. - -The Governor looked up at the massive face of the gambler, marred by -evil circumstance and the riot of dissipation, and wondered--as he had -wondered many a time before,--at the splendid unselfishness of this -man. From whence could have come this flower of nobility? The life of -Ambercrombie Hergan had been sterile soil indeed for such a plant as -this. How could it be in the economy of men that such princely fidelity -obtained alone even without trace of the common attendant virtues? - -For the obligations of the law Ambercrombie Hergan had no regard. For -the obligations of the citizen he had no regard. Even for the common -obligations of morality he maintained the most stolid unconcern. Honesty -was a name to him, and right and duty and honor were merely names to -him. Yet blooming in the barren garden of this gambler's heart was -something fairer than them all. - -“Well,” asked Hergan, with a trace of anxiety in his voice, “are you -going to promise?” - -The Governor arose. “This is a very serious matter,” he said slowly; “we -must be given a few minutes in which to decide.” - -“That 's fair enough,” replied the gambler. “You two can go into the -other room. I'll wait.” - -The Auditor and the Executive retired, and the Secretary of State -resumed his seat beside the table, the suggestion of a smile on his -face, he knew perfectly that if he could secure the promise of his -companions it would be maintained inviolate. - -Presently the door opened and the two men entered. “Bill,” said the -Governor, “we promise.” - -The gambler arose, and stretched his long limbs like one relieved from -the weight of a crushing burden. Then he turned to his companions. -“Boys,” he said almost gaily, “I may as well tell you now that I am -going to New York Saturday night.” - -“And I may add,” responded the Governor, “that I am going Friday night.” - - - - -V - -YOU see,” the Governor was saying,” the failure of this bank in San -Francisco has wiped out every penny I had in the world. On the fourth -day of next March I will be poorer than the ordinary drayman. So poor -that I must begin all over again, and I have no heart to do it.” - -Miss Marion Lanmar was silent. Her bands rested upon the great aims of -the chair in which she was seated. Her face might have been a cast; it -was so very motionless. - -“I should not mind if it were not for you,” the young man went on. “I -mean,”--he hesitated for a moment,--“if I had never seen you; if I had -never known you. But now the effort would seem so miserably inadequate, -if it were not made for you. I have loved you and lived for you too -long. I have grown accustomed to you as the mighty incentive. Every path -that I have travelled has had you waiting at the end. Every battle I -have fought has seemed to hold your happiness in its balance. Even the -meagre gains of all the weary commonplace days have been to me so much -or so little added to the kingdom of the queen. So I could have gone on -to the end, but now, without you I have no heart at all.” - -The man leaned over and rested his arm on the mantel-shelf. “I have read -somewhere,” he continued, “how the evil fiend strove to destroy a man -whom he hated; how he robbed him of his wealth, of his friends, of his -fair fame, and how the man worked on, laughing in the demon's face, and -how it all failed, until one morning the evil fiend reached down into -the man's heart and plucked the motive out of his life, and then the -man threw away his tools and came and sat in the doorway of his shop. I -suppose it is all very cowardly, to talk as I am talking, but it would -be very much worse, I should think, to deceive myself and you.” The -woman did not answer. She was looking into the fire. The little blue -flames in the wide fireplace danced up and down upon their bed of coal -in impish merriment at all the trouble of men's lives. - -Presently the man began again. “Yet a woman cannot wait always,” he -said, “and I have no right to ask it of you. I must step aside out of -your life and beg to be forgotten. It is a terrible ordeal for one who -has gone down into the _melée_ with his lady's colors on his helm to -return beaten and overthrown and say, 'This quest is not for me.' It is -hard to have the hope of one's life battered out and to live on in the -world, and yet men do, and I shall, I presume. - -“We are taught in youth that the world is a happy place, and I judge -that it is a bit of illusion, like the black goblin and the fairies, and -yet we all try very hard to believe the old housewife tales, and cling -to them, and give them up grudgingly and with regret. I shall always -remember how very sorry I was when I first realized that there really -were no fairies. I was only a child, but it made me unhappy for days. -It seemed to put all my reckoning out of joint. And so I have always -believed that happiness existed in the world, and that it came to men -somewhere in their lives about as the beautiful princess comes in the -fairy stories. It never occurred to me to doubt its coming. True, it -never came, but everything that did come seemed only to prepare a way -for its coming at some day farther on. Now I see that this is just an -illusion like the others, and I confess that the discovery has jarred me -frightfully.” - -The man's voice wavered for a moment; then it grew stronger. “I don't -quite see how the world can ever seem a beautiful place after to-night. -The sky may be very blue indeed, but the man whose eyes ache will not -look up to see it. The birds may sing gloriously in the trees, but the -man whose heart is an empty house will not care at all.” - -Randal stopped and looked down at the woman. He noticed how very soft -and heavy her brown hair was, and how delicate and slender her hands -were. He noted vaguely, too, the artistic effect of the folds of her -gown and the shadows on her face. - -“Marion,” he said, “If I did not love you better than any other thing in -the world, I would not be urging these bitter arguments against my own -happiness. I would not be so desperately anxious about your welfare. I -should not be so fearful of the future. I should take the chance without -the hesitation of a moment. But the very depth of my love makes me a -coward. I could not bear to see you subject to all the evil things that -come with poverty. I know what a frightful plight it is--how it crushes -out the sweetness and the nobility of one's life, how it squeezes the -heart, day after day, until it finally becomes a dry husk in one's -breast.” - -Randal's voice was now thick with emotion. “Marion,” he said, “do you -hear me? Do you believe me?” - -The woman's hands tightened on the great arms of the chair, and for a -moment she was silent; then she began to speak, slowly and distinctly. - -“I do not know.” she said. “I must have time to think. Yet I have -believed you all these years. I must believe you now. Yes, I do believe -you now. But you are wrong, frightfully wrong. You forget that a woman -is a human being with a heart. You think I am afraid of the world, -afraid of poverty, afraid of life as God makes it, as God wills it; that -I am a fragile something that the rain and the sunlight would ruin if it -touched; that I am a something more or less than you, a something that -requires ease and luxury and all the gilded stage-setting of wealth--and -you are wrong. If I love you, of what value to me are all those other -things without you? If I love you, it is not all these things I want--it -is you. I ask you to answer this, and by what is true in your heart, -know what is true in mine: Would you be happy with all that wealth can -give you and without me?” - -“No,” said the man, “not after to-night. No.” - -“No more would I,” added the woman. - -The heart, as it is said, speaks clearer to the heart when tongues are -silent, and it is said that grief and happiness when riding high in -their meridian have no need for the cumbrous medium of language. - -After a long silence, Miss Lanmar began again. “Men cannot understand,” - she said; “a woman's heart is so miserably strange. Things either slip -around it, leaving no mark at all, or they sink in and become a very -part of the woman's heart itself. There is no middle ground; no half -joy; no middle hurt. So it comes about that if one's image creeps into -her heart, it must remain. True, the world may never know; the world is -very stupid. But for all that, the woman's heart will hold its tenant, -and when she is alone or in the dark, she will know and feel its -presence. It may be that the woman will pray to be rid of the evil -thing, or it may be that she will pray to hold it always as a gift of -good, but be that as it happens, the woman's heart will remain forever -helpless to evict its tenant. - -“Is it strange, then, if I love you, that I should want to go with you -and live with you, and be with you always, and make your joys and your -burdens my joys and my burdens, and have a share and an interest in -everything that comes to you? Is it strange that I should hold wealth or -place or even honor as nothing against you? Is it strange that I should -be miserable, thoroughly, utterly miserable with every other thing in -the world, and you denied?” - -The woman's voice faltered and broke; her hands relaxed, and began to -slip from the great arms of the chair. The man came over, and knelt down -beside her and put his arms around her. - -“Marion, dear heart,” he said, “you do love me. You will trust me a -little while,--just a little while?” - -The woman's head slipped down on his shoulder. “Love you!” she murmured, -“I have always loved you. Surely I shall always love you. But when you -are gone, the world is so empty, so miserably empty!” - - - - -VI - -I THOROUGHLY appreciate everything I you have mentioned, Mr. Hergan,” - said the clerk Parks, “but it is quite impossible. Mr. Mason is entirely -inaccessible. I should not dare interrupt him.” - -“Look here, my friend,” responded the gambler. “I have heard this same -talk every day for the last week, and it don't go any longer. I have -got to see this lawyer, and I have got to see him now. Do you understand -me?” - -“Oh, yes,” replied the clerk, with a faint smile, “I understand you -perfectly, but it is entirely useless to urge the matter any farther. -The business with which Mr. Mason is at present engaged is of great -magnitude. He would not permit an interview at all. I am very sorry, -but, of course, I can do nothing for you.” - -The gambler did not respond. For a few moments he was silent. Then he -put his hands into the inside pocket of his coat and drew forth a rather -battered leather pocket-book. He held the pocket-book under the table, -opened it slowly, and selecting a fifty-dollar bill from among a number -of others, laid it gently on the table. - -“There,” he said, “is my ante. I want in the game.” - -The eyes of the clerk began to contract slowly at the corners. - -“My dear man,” he said, “I should like to do this for you, but I don't -see how I can. I don't believe Mr. Mason would even listen to me just -now. I don't----” - -“Wait,” responded the gambler; “I sweeten it.” - -Thereupon he selected another bill from the pocket-book and spread it -out carefully beside the other upon the table. - -The little bald clerk began to drum on the chair with his fingers. His -eyes wandered from the money to the door of Mason's private office, and -back again. Presently he turned to the gambler. - -The Hon. Ambercrombie Herman held up two fingers. “Don't call,” he said, -“I tilt it to one hundred and fifty.” And he added another bill to the -two, and pushed the money across the table to the clerk. Then he closed -the pocket-book deliberately and replaced it in his coat. - -Parks arose, picked up the money without a word, and passed into -Randolph Mason's private office, closing the door carefully behind him. -In a very few moments the clerk returned. He came up dose to the gambler -and put his hand confidentially on his shoulder. - -“My friend,” he said, in a low tone, “you are not a fool. I have told -some lies to get you this interview. Look sharp, and say as little as -possible.” - -“What lies?” asked the gambler, arising. - -“Such as were useful,” responded the clerk. “Quite too tedious to -enumerate. Please walk into Mr. Mason's office, sir, and remember that -you are my brother-in-law. Answer the questions which are put to you, -and don't volunteer talk. It is n't wise.” - -The gambler opened the door to Randolph Mason's private office and -entered. - - - - -VII - -HE Secretary of State came slowly down the steps from Randolph Mason's -office. At the entrance to the great building he stopped and looked up -and down the busy, jostling thoroughfare. It had been but a few years -since he was a grain in this vortex, and now that past seemed ages -removed. He was not conscious of anything of interest in the very -familiar scene. Just why he had stopped to look, this man would not -have been quite able to explain. In truth, he was striving to obtain his -mental bearings. He had been flung violently upon another view point, -and he was endeavoring to comprehend the loom of this new land. His -sensations were not unlike those of one who but an hour before had gone -into the operating room of a surgeon, walking as he believed to his -death, and now returned with the tumor dissected out, and the hope of -life big in his bosom. The world was an entirely different place from -what it had been some hours before, and the gambler's steps were firmer, -and his ancient careless spirit had returned. - -At this moment, as it pleased Fate, a cab stopped before a broker's -office on the opposite-side of the street, and the Governor stepped out. -The gambler darted across and caught his companion by the shoulder. The -Governor turned suddenly. - -“Well,” he said, in astonishment, “is this an assault _vi et armis?_” - -“No,” said the gambler. “It's worse than that, Al. It's a mandamus. You -are not to go in that broker's office.” - -“Not to go in?” echoed the Executive. “Why not?” - -“Al,” said the gambler, grinning like a Hindoo idol, “I said this here -was a mandamus. I guess the judge don't ever explain 'why not' in a -mandamus.” - -“Good chancellor,” replied the Governor, with mock gravity, “I resist -the order.” - -“On what ground?” said the lion. Ambercrombie Hergan, with such a sage -judicial air as might obtain with a truck horse. - -“First,” replied the Governor, “that the mandamus was improvidently -awarded. Second, that the Court issuing the writ was without -jurisdiction. And, third, that the act sought to be restrained is not -entirely ministerial, but one largely within the discretion of the -officer.” - -“All them objections,” said the gambler, “this Court overrules.” - -“But,” continued the Executive, “in this case the mandamus cannot lie. I -move to quash the writ.” - -“But it does lie,” asserted the powerful devotee of fortune, hooking his -arm through that of the Executive and turning him down the street, “and -she can't be squashed.” - -The Governor had observed the very great change in the man, and knowing -the Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan, he knew that this erratic person -had chanced upon some solution for his dilemma--strange and but -half-practical, the Governor had no doubt, but certainly not -commonplace, and so he made no further offer of resistance. - -“Al,” said the gambler, hurrying his companion through the crowded -street, “do you know where you are going?” - -“I have n't the slightest idea,” observed the Governor, with greatest -unconcern. - -“Well, I'll tell you. You are going first to the hotel, then to the -railroad, then to the Southwest, and you have just fifty-nine minutes -between you and the train.” - -The Governor stopped short. “I can't go, Bill. I must sell these -stocks.” - -“That's just the point,” said the gambler. “You aint going to sell -them stocks. That's why I issued this here mandamus.” And he seized the -Executive by the arm and fairly dragged him across the street. - -“Bill,” protested the Governor, “Bill, this is all nonsense. It don't -go.” - -“Everything goes,” said the gambler. “Come on. We have lost three of -them fifty-nine minutes already.” - - - - -VIII - -THE Emporium of Crawley was not quite a trading-place as the Greek -root of the word would indicate, unless transactions in which the -unwary bartered his gain for experience, and the great unscrubbed of the -Southwest pitted their wage against the riot of dissipation, could be -held to partake of the nature of commerce. It was a fad with Crawley to -assert that his Emporium was a clearinghouse,--a rather grim jest, heavy -with truth. Indeed, all the currency of this primitive land seemed to -pass, sooner or later, through the mammoth establishment of First Class -Crawley, and in season and out of season as the dollar went through, a -portion paused and remained in the fingers of the proprietor. And for -this, also,--as the common-law pleader would put it,--truth clung to the -pet declaration of Crawley. - -When the population gathered night after night under the roof of his -Emporium, their troubles came also; and when the smoke grew thick and -the tanglefoot whiskey began to assert itself, there were other things -to clear up beside matters of currency. Matters of consequence and -matters of no consequence were cleared by the same rapid, drastic -measures. Bad men here decided who was the worst or the best, as they -were pleased with the term. The henchmen of rival cattle kings submitted -the vexatious question of a brand on a stray heifer to this court of -instant resort and quick decision, and other concerns of the citizen, -affecting perhaps his truth, or honor, or ability for a vice, were -determined suddenly and for all time without the wrangling of counsel or -the tedium of courts. - -If a Mexican was so short sighted as to slip his knife into a -tenderfoot, some one shot the Mexican, and the crowd “lickered up.” If -the faro dealer killed his man, it was usually because the man needed -killing, and certainly the faro dealer was the best judge of this. -On the contrary, if one shot the dealer, this was considered a public -calamity, demanding an explanation, since the dealer was a _quasi_ -public functionary, and the convenience of the citizen required that the -game should continue. One's life was perhaps the cheapest thing below -the Central Pacific Railroad, and it was entirely the duty of the -individual to see that it was maintained. If one was unsteady on the -trigger, or caught napping on the draw, one was held to have died by -virtue of contributory negligence. - -To be sure there was law, and machinery for its execution; but the -machinery was liberal, and had ideas of its own, and the law adhered -with supreme unconcern to its maxim--_De minimis non curat lex_. - -First Class Crawley had been splendidly trained for the duties of his -position. If Fortune had been moving of design, she could not have -schooled him better for such a life. Some thirty years before, he had -been a sutler with the Army of the Potomac--not the sutler of romance, -but the sutler of reality; following the army bravely, but at such a -distance to the rear as to be at all times extremely safe, and exacting -for his valuable public service every gain that human ingenuity could -discover. It was no wrong in the mind of Crawley to cheat the common -soldier out of his eyes; belike the soldier would be shot on the -morrow, and then all opportunity to cheat him would cease, and if prior -opportunity had not been seized and enjoyed, Crawley would regret. - -When the “bitterness of death” had passed, Crawley became a justice -of the peace in Ohio. Here the field for his talent was broader, and -Crawley arose and spread like the bay tree of Biblical record. Crawley -held it as a basic principle that the machinery of human justice could -not be maintained without ample sinews of war. It was best, to be sure, -if these sinews could be wrested from the wrong-doer, but, failing that, -the innocent must contribute. Every litigant was presumed to proceed at -the peril of costs. The matter of costs was one vital to Crawley, and -loomed constantly. The right or justice of a cause was never for a -moment permitted to obscure it. If the plaintiff was impecunious, then -the decision must be against the defendant, else the costs could not be -had, and _vice versa_ as it had pleased Providence to place substance. - -This was a high conception of human justice; since it passed by the -trivial controversy of the litigants, and placed the burden of legal -procedure upon the one best able to support It. First Class Crawley -maintained further that it was the part of wisdom in a government -promptly to release the criminal who “shelled out,” since the revenues -of the State arose largely from the fines imposed upon the evildoer, and -it was certainly quite useless to retain the criminal at public expense -after having squeezed him thoroughly, when he could be returned to -society and squeezed again later on. - -Crawley might have been the father of a school, had he not found the -school in Ohio established to his uses. Consequently his fame was local, -and his methods being of ancient origin in this Commonwealth, provoked -no comment, and indeed he might have passed on, with the usual career -of such ambitious spirits, to a seat in the legislature, had he not -unwittingly crossed into a neighboring State in order to attend a -reunion of the Grand Army of the Republic. Here one, smarting from a -hurt, pounced down upon him with a warrant for a felony, and that same -night the visiting justice was a guest of the State. But First Class -Crawley was no man of feeble resources, and two days later he gave a -straw bond and vanished like a newspaper war cloud. - -In the Southwest, Crawley was a person of importance--a court of last -resort on all matters, barring none. If bets were made, Crawley was -umpire. If questions w ere argued, Crawley was judge. If one wanted -advice, one went to him. If one wanted information, one went to him; and -if one needed money, one went always to First Class Crawley, and put up -everything but his life. No function was complete without the presence -of this celebrity, be it bull tight or prize fight, or dog fight, or a -prearranged resort to the arbitration of the Winchester. Crawley was a -great man, in counterdistinction to a bad man. Personally, he neither -quarrelled nor fought, and one would have no more considered shooting at -Crawley than he would have considered shooting at his grandmother. This -proprietor of the Emporium maintained his position, not by virtue of -arms and skill in their use, but by virtue of an interesting something -which passed with him for an intellect. - -Consequently, when he and Hiram Martin, of the Golden Horn Mining -Company, sat down in the private gambling room of the Emporium to a -private interview with the Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan, they were -expecting to realize from the time expended. They were both attentive -and interested, since the reckless Secretary of State was known in the -lingo of the guild as an “easy member.” If he had money, or could obtain -money, it would eventually fall into their clutches as it had always -done. Hence their interest was genuine. - -“Boys,” said the Secretary of State, “I have a scheme to make a stake, -and I want you in on it. I have been over in the East, and I have got it -all figured out, and it's a cinch.” - -The owner of the Golden Horn folded his hands over the vast expanse of -his stomach and smiled benignly. He knew all about the usual combination -of circumstances set down in the elegant diction of the gambler as a -“cinch.” - -He was an expert upon things of this sort, but he volunteered no -information, and no comment. He merely smiled and murmured “Yes,” in a -voice which reminded one of oil being poured from a very full barrel. - -“You see,” continued the Honorable Ambercrombie - -Hergan, “it's this way. There is a broker in Chicago who is a friend of -mine. I saved him from the jug when he was a kid, and he never forgot -it. Well, he went to Chicago, raked together a bunch of money, and -bought a seat in the Stock Exchange. He was lucky, and now he is away -up. He is on the inside, and he says that there is going to be a big -raise in oil stocks; that the Standard Oil Company has been forcing it -down in order to squeeze out the little dealers, and that they are right -now at the bottom, and when they let go, it will fly back to a dollar.” - -At this point in the narrative, Crawley murmured “Yes,” then leaned back -in his chair and closed his eyes. He was not quite ready to puncture -Mr. Hergan's balloon, and it was not his way to offer objections to -unfinished propositions. - -“Now,” said Hergan, leaning over and resting his arms on the table, “the -plan is to form a big pool and buy oil, and make enough at one haul to -go back to civilization and live like a king. That is the scheme, boys. -It's good.” First Class Crawley opened his eyes slowly, and putting out -his fat hand, began to caress the green cloth on the little round poker -table. - -“Billy,” he said slowly, “I expect that is a good scheme, and I expect -there is money in it,--may be tubs of money, but me and Martin aint -speculators; we never so much as saw a ticking machine in our life. We -don't know anything about new-fangled ways to get rich. We're both old -fogies,--just common old fogies, and I reckon we had better stay out. Of -course, I aint knocking on the scheme. It looks good, mighty good, but -me and Martin aint young any longer; we're getting old and heavy on -our pins, and we aint got no nerve like we used to have. Still I aint -knocking. Me and Martin would like to see you make a pile of money, -would n't we, Martin?” - -“Yes,” gurgled the owner of the Golden Horn, “we would that.” - -The Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan straightened up and thrust his hands -into his pockets. “Of course, boys,” he said, “it's a gamble, but it's -a ten-to-one shot better than a faro bank. If it goes our way, we will -have all kinds of money; if it goes the other way, we are skinned to a -standstill. I am tired of little gambles, and I am going to make one big -play if I eat snowballs for the next twenty years. I would like to have -you boys in, but if you don't believe that the thing is easy to beat, -you can stay out.” - -An inspiration came to First Class Crawley, and he seized it with the -avidity of a shark. “Billy,” he said, with amiable confidence, “you -have no better friends in this here country' than me and Martin--has he, -Martin?” - -“No,” muttered the fat owner of the oleaginous voice, “he aint.” - -“And me and Martin,” the proprietor went on, “would go in anything -in the world that you wanted us to go in, and it would n't make no -difference to us what it was, if you said it was a good thing. But me -and Martin are pretty nigh sixty, and if we would go broke, we could -never get on our feet no more. We are skeery, Billy; me and Martin are -skeery, but we are ready to do anything for you that we can. We are -ready to help you any way you want to be helped, because you are dead -game, Billy,--that's what you are--you're dead game.” - -The wary Hiram Martin was totally in the dark as to what Crawley was -probing for, but he had unlimited confidence in the proprietor of the -Emporium, and he assented blandly. Crawley, he knew, followed no cold -trail; Crawley worked no salted lead, and if he stooped to “crook the -pregnant hinges of the knee,” there was something in it for Crawley, and -at no great distance. - -“Well,” responded the Secretary of State, - -“I am obliged to you both, but I guess there is nothing I need just now. -Of course, I, have got to raise a bunch of money for this deal, but I -sort of arranged that in New York.” - -The ulterior motive of Crawley was now quite clear to the owner of the -Golden Horn. Hergan would require money,--perhaps a large sum for his -venture. If good security could be given, there was no reason why they -should not advance the cash at a large and comfortable discount. - -The officer of the Commonwealth moved his chair back from the table as -an indication that the secret conference was at an end. As he did so, -the proprietor of the Emporium leaned over and spread out his fat hands -on the green cloth. - -“Billy, old man,” he said, in a voice that indicated gentle reproach, -“there was no necessity for you to go among strangers to raise any money -you wanted; me and Martin have saved up a little, and me and Martin -would be glad to let you have it if it is any accommodation, would n't -we, Martin?” - -First Class Crawley failed to add that both he and Martin would require -the trifling detail of a substantial surety, but they concluded shrewdly -that if Hergan could raise money in New York, he had obtained some -first-class support, and if this security were sufficient for an Eastern -bank, it was amply sufficient for all purposes known to commerce. Hence -the apparently unconcerned Martin consented most amiably. - -The Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan settled back in his chair and grew -thoughtful. “I aint closed the loan,” he said, after some little -consideration, “and I would just as leave borrow it of you, boys. The -fact is, I would a little rather borrow it of you. I am paying pretty -stiff for the money, and I would rather pay my friends than the Yankees -in the East.” - -“Yes,” observed the unctuous mining magnate, although he had not -intended to speak at all. - -“But,” continued the Secretary of State, “I reckon you would n't like to -put up as much as I need. I am going to crowd the bank this once.” - -“Well, Billy,” drawled the proprietor of the Emporium, “I expect me and -Martin can make it up for you. If we aint got enough, we can get some -around and piece out. Least ways, we will try. About what sum might you -need?” - -“I reckon,” responded Hergan, “that I shall want about fifty thousand.” - -The hands of Hiram Martin tightened over his stomach, and for a moment -Crawley studied the ceiling with placid indifference. He had turned -Hergan into his own channel, and the transaction being assured, it was -now the part of wisdom to affect gravity. Presently he spoke, slowly -and anxiously: “That's a powerful big wad of money. Still, me and -Martin----” Here he stopped short and turned to his companion. - -“Powerful big,” echoed the mine owner, and volunteered no further -observation. He understood First Class Crawley as few men are -understood, and such observations were quite useless between them, -except for the effect upon the victim at hand. - -“Still,” continued the proprietor of the Emporium, “I expect we can -raise it some way. About what terms do you allow on?” - -“I guess thirty days will be long enough,” responded Hergan. “Thirty -days at twelve per cent, is how I have been figuring it.” - -“Yes,” drawled the gambling king, “and the security?” - -“Well,” said the Secretary of State, “I have calculated to give the -Governor and Culverson.” - -“They are good, I reckon,” observed the wary Crawley. “Aint they good, -Martin?” - -“Might be worse,” responded the oily owner of the Golden Horn, “but it -aint that. It's the rate. Seems like mighty little on a short loan.” - -“It is mighty little,” continued Crawley, after a silence of some -moments. “We would have to give more than that for what we borrowed -'round. There would n't be nothing in it for us, Billy,--not a cent to -me and Martin.” - -“I tell you what I'll do,” put in the Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan, -abruptly, as though the idea was new and sudden in its coming, “I'll -give you twelve per cent, for the money for a month, and I will enter -into an agreement to turn over to you two one-eighth of what I win on -the gamble.” - -Crawley was very grave. The proposition pleased him hugely, but emotions -found no expression with him. To loan fifty thousand dollars on good -security at an enormous rate of interest, and in addition to have a -substantial share in a speculation without standing to lose a cent, was -a condition of affairs not likely to arise with much regularity in the -span of a gambler's precarious life. Yet Crawley was not anxious. To -the spectator he was sad and unconcerned. He knew quite well that this -proposition was Hergan's ultimatum, and he was going to accept, but -desired to appear to accept rather as a matter of kindly feeling toward -Hergan than by reason of the fact that the inducement had increased. - -“Billy,” he said slowly, almost sadly, “me and Martin don't want to make -anything off of you, and we will try to fix it any way you want it. If -you want to arrange the thing that way, why it suits us--it suits me and -Martin.” - -“All right,” responded the Secretary of State, getting up from the -table. “I'll go over to the Governor's house and have Al fix the papers. -The sooner I get it, the better chance I'll have to win a stake.” - -“Billy,” called the proprietor of the Emporium, as the official of -the Commonwealth was passing out through the door, “just make the note -payable to Martin.” - -The Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan nodded his assent, and departed, -leaving the fat gambling kings of the Southwest to prolong the secret -session. - -When the door was closed, First Class Crawley turned to his companion, -his little gray eyes slipping around in their puffy sockets. - -“Martin,” he said, “aint he a mark?” - -The stomach of the rotund Martin undulated like a rubber bag filled with -fluid. “Of all damn fools,” he gurgled. - -“Were it clear?” inquired the proprietor of the Emporium. - -“Plain as a speckled pup,” responded Martin, “except the note.” - -“You see,” said First Class Crawley, turning around in his chair, “you -live in New Mexico, and I wanted the note in your name so that if we had -to sue we could get it in the United States court. You can't ever tell -what the State courts are going to do with you, but old Uncle Sam's -courts don't stand no flim-flam.” - -“Crawley,” announced the owner of the Golden Horn, “Crawley, you are -built like a white man, but you have got a head on you like a Yankee.” - -When the Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan returned to the Governor's -residence he found that celebrated official and Major Culverson in the -library. The irrepressible Major was engaged in presenting a lurid -and highly dramatic history of how he had straightened the tangled -exigencies of the Commonwealth during the absence of his associates, -and how, by virtue of his magnificent personality, the entire Southwest, -from the borders of lower Utah to the Rio Grande, was now the placid -abode of peace and fraternal good-will. He stopped short as the -Secretary of State entered, and bowed. Then thrusting his hand into -the front of his coat, he exclaimed, with the affected manner of a -tenth-rate actor, “Good morrow, good gambler.” - -“Top chop,” responded the Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan. “And a -favorite.” - -“I opine,” continued the Major, “I opine, sir, from your gladsome tone -that the fat sharks have been successfully harpooned.” - -“Gentlemen,” said the Secretary of State, dropping into a chair by the -table, “the reports of this race will announce that Hiram Martin and -First Class Crawley 'also ran.'” - -“Which being translated,” observed the Governor, “means that these -gentlemen will advance you the money on the line suggested by your New -York lawyer.” - -“Yes,” said the gambler. “You are to fix up the papers, and I am to go -down there to-night. Everything turned out just like Randolph Mason -said it would. If the rest goes through as slick, we will be riding in -carriages.” - -“Produce the sealed orders,” said the Governor, partaking of the mock -dramatic atmosphere. - -The Secretary of State drew a big envelope from his pocket and threw -it down on the table. The Executive leaned over, opened the paper, and, -after having examined it carefully, took up a pen and began to write. - -Major Culverson wandered over to the window and looked out at the hot, -monotonous, sterile country. “I wonder,” he murmured, “if this is really -the passing of the Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan?” - - - - - -IX - -THE audience in the court-room arose and remained standing until the -judge in his black silk robe had entered and taken his place on the -bench. Then the audience resumed its seat, and the clerk began to read -the proceedings for the previous day. The ceremony attendant upon the -sitting of the Circuit Court of the United States carried with it an -impressive sense of majestic, imperial authority, and an air of grave, -judicial deliberation. It was the Government of the United States of -America, the spirit of supreme order and law moving through its servant, -and, next to the Great Ruler of Events, it was greatest. It had assumed -for the good of men the right to sit in judgment, and to say wherein lay -the justice of their complicated quarrels. Before it, every man's cause -was of equal import, and every man was of equal stature; bond or free, -one stood before it naked of influence, and with his shoulder made as -high as the shoulder of his fellow. - -This is the theory. If it fails, it is because the law at best is but a -human device, and its servants, after all, are but men like the others. - -The building in which the Federal Court held its session was a -substantial, handsome structure, and maintained a strange contrast to -the town in which it stood. The town was rough, miserable, uncouth; -the temporary habitation of men, struggling ever with the relentless -_ananke_ of things; in equal contrast to the officers of this court -was the audience in the great court-room. They were the pioneers of -civilization; a motley crowd in which the best and worst of human -society was mixed and intermixed. They were, for the most part, bronzed, -bearded, fearless examples of the inexorable law of the survival of the -fittest, but not all. Some were the reckless advance agents of those -hardy vices that follow close in the wake of empire,--devils too -villainous to be tolerated in the cities of the East, and too bold and -too wary to be stamped out by the deliberate machinery of the law. - -Against these the officers of the court bore some evidence of polish. -They were exact, calculating men, bred to respect order, and obey and -maintain the customs of law. The contrast was significant, and one -recalled and understood the constant bitter conflict between the -judicial tribunals of the State and the judicial tribunals of the -Federal Government, bitterly waged and as yet undecided. From one -standpoint, this was the calm tribunal of the supreme power of the -land, providing the same rights and remedies on the very border of -its jurisdiction that it provided at the capital itself, favoring no -condition and acting as even-eyed as nature. - -On the other hand, one understood how the remote Commonwealth held this -court to be the tribunal of a far off imperial government, seeking to -enforce laws and customs foreign and repugnant to the laws and customs -of its people. To them the Federal judge was a king's governor, -travelling with his retinue over a subjugated province, and enforcing -his edict by virtue of foreign armies quartered convenient to his hand. -And looking on from this point of view, one understood why the outpost -State hated this court so bitterly, and whence arose the fierce -clamor against it. One understood how the far West smarted under its -injunctions, and denounced them as the royal mandates of an emperor's -consul, and how the far South collided with this tribunal and cried out -against it to the Congress of the United States in a memorial clanging -like a bell. - -So the conflict was easy to understand, and it was easy to appreciate -how large the spectre of discord loomed, and most difficult indeed to -force the problem to some happy end. - -When the clerk had finished, the marshal called the jury, and struggled -bravely, but at times unsuccessfully, with the marvellous tangle of -names. Indeed, if the list of this panel had been placed before a -student of philology, he would have required no further history of the -civilization of the Southwest. When the marshal had ended, the judge -directed that the jury should be dismissed until two o'clock, and when -order was again restored, the judge turned and looked down gravely from -the bench. - -“This court,” he said, “is ready to pass upon the matter taken under -advisement yesterday afternoon. It seems that one Hiram Martin, a -citizen of and a resident in the State of New Mexico, brought an action -in this court against Ambercrombie Hergan and others to recover the sum -of fifty thousand dollars, money, as it is said, borrowed by the said -Hergan. The declaration contained the common counts _in assumpsit_, with -which was filed, in lieu of the bill of particulars, a promissory -note, made by the said Hergan to the said plaintiff, calling for fifty -thousand dollars, and endorsed by one Randal and another Culver-son. -This note, in addition to the matter usually had in such instruments, -recited that it was given in accord with a certain agreement of even -date therewith, made and entered into by the parties to the said -note. The case coming on for trial, the defendants, by their attorney, -appeared and filed their plea exhibiting the said agreement, maintaining -that the said note was given for money loaned for the purpose of being -used in a gambling venture, and was, therefore, void at law. An issue -being had upon the said plea, the case was put to trial, and the said -agreement having been admitted, the defendants, by their attorney, moved -this court to exclude the evidence, and direct the jury to find for the -defendants; which motion this court took time to consider. - -“The facts herewith concerned are involved in no controversy, and -the agreement being couched in plain terms, admits of no doubtful -construction. It would seem that the defendant Hergan called at the -gambling house of one Crawley, a resident of this State, and requested a -private interview with the said Crawley and the plaintiff; that in this -interview Hergan explained that he was considering what it pleased him -to denominate 'a gambling venture in oil,' and solicited the two men to -join him in the venture. This they declined to do, but suggested -that they would advance to Hergan such money as he might need upon a -promissory note with good security. - -“It appears that some controversy arose as to the rate of interest to be -paid; and a division of the profits was suggested in lieu of the larger -per cent. This matter was finally concluded by the plaintiff and the -said Crawley advancing the said sum, and taking therefor the note filed -in this cause, and in addition thereto entering into this agreement in -writing with the said Hergan, wherein it is set forth that the money -loaned is to be used by the said Hergan for the express purpose of 'a -gamble in oil,' and for no other purpose; and that if any profit should -result from said gambling venture, the said plaintiff and the said -Crawley were to receive one-eighth of said profits. It seems that the -money was paid and presumably used by Hergan for the purpose as stated. -Afterward the note was presented for payment, and being refused, was -duly protested, and later sued upon in this court. - -“It is maintained by the defendants that this transaction was contrary -to public policy, and that the money, having been loaned for a known -illegal purpose, cannot be recovered in a judicial tribunal, but falls -Within the purlieus of those matters which are _par se ex turfe causa_, -and for which the law provides no remedy. On the contrary, it is urged -by counsel for the plaintiff that the transaction as between the parties -to this suit was entirely commercial and innocent; that the plaintiff is -a mere lender of money in a _bona fide_ transaction, and is in no wise -a party to any illegal proceeding, and that the mere use to which the -money was put is a matter of no moment. - -“The law, being for the welfare and the protection of human society, -refuses to recognize and enforce certain contracts had among its -citizens, when those contracts are founded in moral turpitude or -inconsistent with the good order or solid interests of society. - -“'No people,' declares Chancellor Kent in his _Commentaries_, 'are -bound or ought to enforce or hold valid in their courts of justice any -contract which is injurious to the public rights or offends their morals -or contravenes their policy or violates a public law.' Hence contracts -having an illegal or immoral consideration, or tending to the violation -of law or the debauching of public morals, are held to be _contra bonas -mores_, and are void. - -“It is said that the object of all law is to suppress vice, and to -promote the general welfare of society, and it does not give its -assistance to persons to enforce a demand originating in their breach or -violation of its principles and enactments. It is not necessary that the -law expressly prohibit or enjoin an act. It may impliedly prohibit or -enjoin it. In either case a contract in violation of its principles is -void under the wholesome maxim _ex turpi causa non oritur actio_. - -“It may happen, and, indeed, frequently does happen, that the individual -suffers great hurt from this sweeping policy of the law, but it is held -that the good of the commonwealth rises above the mere benefit of the -individual citizen, and that where the welfare of the whole of society -is involved, the law will not pause to consider the injury entailed upon -the mere unit. Hence the policy of government in the exigencies of -war, when protection must be had against violence, and the policy of -government in the peaceful administration of the law, when protection -must be had against vice. - -“Thus gambling, wagering, and all gambling and wagering contracts -and transactions are illegal as against public policy, since they are -repugnant to the well-being of society, fraught with vice, pregnant with -demoralization, and corrupting alike to the youth and to the aged, as -they inspire a hope of reward without labor. - -“It is significant that in matters of this nature human society has been -progressive. Under the common law of England wagers were not unlawful -or unenforceable, but the statute of 9th Anne followed and altered the -common law, and the statutes of 8th and 9th Victoria altered it yet -farther, and in the United States every separate Commonwealth has its -respective statute striking at this vice. - -“I think it will not at this day be denied that all transactions in -stocks, by way of margin, settlement of differences, and payment of -gains or losses, without intending to deliver the stocks, is a gambling -or wagering operation which the law does not sanction, and will not -carry into effect; and it has been held in the Supreme Court of the -United States in the case of Irwin vs. Williar, 'If under the guise of -a contract to deliver goods at a future day the real intent be to -speculate in the rise or fall of prices, and the goods are not to be -delivered, but one party is to pay to the other the difference between -the contract price and the market price of the goods at the date fixed -for executing the contract, the whole transaction is nothing more than -a wager, and is null and void.' And that 'Generally in this country -wagering contracts are held to be illegal and void as against public -policy.' - -“Indeed the courts of the land have gone to the extremity of denouncing -in no uncertain terms the dangerous character of these illegal ventures. -Judge Blauford, in the case of Cunningham vs. The National Bank of -Augusta, in speaking of these transactions termed 'futures,' declares: -'If this is not a speculation on chances--a wagering and betting between -the parties, then we are unable to understand the transaction. A betting -on a game of faro or poker cannot be more hazardous, dangerous, or -uncertain. Indeed it may be said that these animals are tame, gentle, -and submissive compared to this monster. The law has caged them and -driven them to the den. They have been outlawed; while this ferocious -beast has been allowed to stalk about in open mid-day with gilded signs -and flaming advertisements to lure the unhappy victim to its embrace -of death and destruction. What are some of the consequences of these -speculations in 'futures'? The faithful chroniclers of the day have -informed us, as growing directly out of these nefarious practices, -that there have been bankruptcies, defalcations of public officers, -embezzlements, forgeries, larcenies, and deaths. Certainly no one -will contend for a moment that a transaction fraught with such evil -consequences is not immoral, illegal, and contrary to public policy.' - -“In so far as this doctrine is concerned with the case at bar, it is -certain that the parties understood and intended that the money loaned -should be used for the purpose of engaging in an illegal speculation in -oil,--'a gamble in oil,' as it is termed in the agreement, and that such -gambling transactions are against public policy and the law of the land. -But it is contended by learned counsel that all this can have no bearing -upon the case at bar for the reason that in the cases heretofore cited -announcing these conclusions of law, the litigants were the parties who -dealt with or for each other, and were the immediate parties engaged in -an unlawful gambling venture, and the ones to gain or lose directly -by the venture, and not a mere stranger who loaned money to another to -engage in such transactions, and having but an undetermined interest in -the result; and that the law will not lend its aid to a further wrong. -The defendant having committed one wrong cannot be permitted to use his -first wrongful act as an instrument whereby to effect a second wrongful -act. - -“The objection is ingenious, but I judge fully met by the declaration -of Lord Mansfield in Holman's case: 'The objection,' said the learned -judge, 'that a contract is immoral or illegal as between plaintiff and -defendant, sounds at all times very ill in the mouth of the defendant. -It is not for his sake, however, that the objection is allowed, but it -is founded on the general principle of policy which the defendant has -the advantage of, contrary to the real justice as between himself and -plaintiff, by accident, if I may so say. The principle of public policy -is this: _ex dolo malo non oritur actio_. No court will lend its aid to -a man who founds his cause of action upon an immoral or illegal act. -If from the plaintiff's own statement or otherwise the cause of action -appear to arise _ex turpi causa_, or the transgression of a positive law -of this country, then the court says he has no right to be assisted. It -is upon that ground the court goes, not for the sake of the defendant, -but because it will not lend its aid to such a plaintiff.' - -“This claim of the plaintiff to this action is unsound for the further -reason that any promise, contract, or undertaking the performance of -which would tend to promote, advance, or carry into effect an object -or purpose which is unlawful, is itself void and will not maintain -an action. The law which prohibits the end, will not lend its aid in -promoting the means assigned to carry it into effect. Nor is it -possible for an act contrary to law to be made the basis of a contract -enforceable in courts of law. Hence when one lends money to another for -the express purpose of enabling him to commit a specific unlawful act, -and such act be afterwards committed by means of the aid so received, -the lender is a _particeps criminis_, and the law will not aid him to -recover money advanced for such a purpose, and much less would it assist -him, if, as in this case he retained an interest in the result of the -venture.” - -It was very unusual for counsel to interrupt the judge in the delivery -of his opinion, but at this point the attorney for Martin arose. - -“If your honor please,” he said, “this court is taking away the remedy -of the plaintiff, and permitting the wrong to stand. Does this court -reverse the ancient doctrine upon which the theory of human justice has -its eternal basis, the ancient doctrine that the law will always provide -a remedy for a wrong?” - -The faintest shadow of a smile flitted over the judicial face. - -“That sage maxim: '_lex semper debit remédiant_,'” answered the judge, -“is a gigantic error couched in very good law Latin. The motion to -exclude the evidence is sustained, and the jury will find a verdict for -the defendants.” - - - - -X - -THE Governor's machine marched gravely out of the Circuit Court of the -United States and down the wide steps, the Major leading, the Executive -following second, and the Honorable Ambercrombie Hergan bringing up -the rear, every man as silent and as solemn as a Japanese diplomat. The -machine passed through the great arched doorway and directly across the -street to “The Happy Maria” saloon, an institution with a variegated -past. The machine filed in through the door and lined up before the bar -as mysteriously as a country delegation in a caucus. - -The Bartender of “The Happy Maria” was a lame actor from St. Louis. When -he turned and beheld the solemn array, he stepped back and tapped his -forehead tragically with his fingers. - -“Ha!” he muttered, “it is Ulfius and Brastias and Sir Bedivere.” - -To this no response was made, except that the Major raised his hand and -pointed to the bottle of “Dougherty” reposing on the second shelf beside -the box of “scrap” and the proprietor's pistol-belt. The bartender -hurried forward, took down the bottle, placed three little glasses on -the bar and began to fill them. When he came to the third glass, he -paused and set down the bottle. A puzzled expression gathered on his -face. He thrust his forefinger into his mouth and began to lisp: - - “Be there two or be there three - - In our king's companee?” - -The Major turned just in time to catch a glimpse of the Governor as he -vanished in a telegraph office next door; then he swung around toward -the barkeeper with the dramatic abandon of a professional at a benefit. - -“Pour on, good seneschal,” he cried; “it is the man who would be -married. He hastens with glad tidings to the well beloved. He will -return.” - - -_(See the famous opinion of Henry St. George Tucker, President of the -Supreme Court of Virginia, in the leading case of Gallego's Executors -vs. Attorney General, 3 Leigh, 450; also the opinion of John Marshall, -Chief Justice of the United States, in the case of the Trustees of -the Philadelphia Baptist Association el at. vs. Hart's Executors, 4 -Wheaton's U. S. Reports, 330; also Knox vs. Knox's Executors, 9 W. Va., -125; 2y W. Va., 109, and cases cited.)_ - - - - -MRS. VAN BARTON - - - - -I - -ALL this,” said Randolph Mason,” is the veriest nonsense.” - -The younger Mrs. Van Bartan straightened up in her chair and looked -sharply at the counsellor. She was a woman of magnificent presence, -with a great fleece of yellow hair, fine eyes, and regular, clear-cut -features. - -“Do you mean that it is not the truth?” she asked. - -“Half truth,” responded Mason. - -“Then,” said the woman, smiling, “it is only half nonsense.” - -“Madam,” said Randolph Mason, “if you desire my aid, you must explain -this entire matter. I do not choose to guess riddles.” - -“I have told you,” began the young woman, slowly, “that my husband and -myself reside with his mother in a certain city of the Virginias; that -his father is dead, and, by his will, left his entire property to the -elder Mrs. Van Bartan--my mother-in-law; that was all true.” - -The counsellor nodded. - -“The other part,” she went on, “I was trying to put into a 'hypothetical -case '--is n't that what you call it?” - -She hesitated for a moment. - -“It is hard to tell, and I was only trying to save myself, but I suppose -the surgeon is quite useless if the wound is not fully revealed. If you -will listen to me I will explain. It is hard to tell, and it hurts, but -everything is at stake, and if I lose now I lose everything. It will -simply mean that I have made sacrifice after sacrifice for nothing at -all. One shrinks from putting one's heart upon a dissecting table -where the valves may be pinned back and pried into with the point of -a scalpel, and so one struggles with a hurt until it finally aches so -bitterly that the expert must be had. Then one goes to the surgeon or -the priest or the lawyer, and takes an anaesthetic while he cuts it -out.” - -“Madam,” said Randolph Mason, “you talk like a diplomat: you say nothing -at all.” - -The younger Mrs. Van Bartan unbuttoned her coat and threw it back with -the air of one who has ultimately decided to keep nothing in reserve. - -“I have been married three years,” she began, “my father's name is -Summers. In the good days of Virginia our family was wealthy, but of -late years we have met with one disaster after another until the -family became very poor, and the effort to maintain an appearance of -respectability was a nipping struggle indeed. - -“About this time the coal industries of West Virginia began to develop, -and our city became a manufacturing centre. This brought in many Eastern -capitalists, among them Michael Van Bartan, who established great iron -mills, out of which he made a vast fortune. Shortly thereafter he died, -leaving his widow and one son, Gerald Van Bartan. - -“This woman I have never quite understood. After the death of her -husband, she maintained their country place in almost profligate -magnificence, but she has always seemed terribly disappointed in her -son. He was a good, easy-going fellow, and his mother, an ambitious, -restless woman, had great plans for his future. But, failing that, and -being a person of shrewd instinct, she set about finding for him an -ambitious wife, who would probably be able to succeed where she had -failed. But while the mother was striving to select a suitable woman for -her purpose, the son paid court to me,--and I married him.” - -The young woman paused for a moment, and the lines of her mouth -hardened. Then she went on: - -“He was not quite the person with whom I had hoped to spend my life, but -he had wealth, and we were so miserably poor,--and, I judge after all, -one is never permitted to do just what one wishes in this weary world. -This marriage was a bitter disappointment to Mrs. Van Bartan, but she -was a woman with the resources of an empress. She came at once to me, -and, with the kindest and most gracious courtesy, welcomed me as her -daughter, and began at once to shower upon me the most substantial -evidences of her good will. We were taken to live with her at the -country place, and everything was done that a shrewd woman could imagine -to bring me completely under her influence, and, through me, to move -my husband to the effort which she desired. But it was all an utter -failure. - -“I appreciated thoroughly the incapacity of Gerald Van Bartan, and said -as much to his mother. I went deliberately to her and pointed out how -very vain her ambition was, and how certainly it must come to nothing. I -said how difficult it was for men to lift themselves even the least bit -higher than their fellows; how it required years of labor and selfdenial -and courage. I reminded her that my husband had not one of the qualities -necessary for such work; that he was not industrious, and not ambitious -she knew well; that the habits of the man had been formed, and this work -could not be now undone. - -“Then I blundered like a fool. I said that wealth had caused these -habits to become fixed, and that we must accept him as his luxurious -life had made him; that if he had been thrown out to struggle with -poverty, some qualities might have been developed, but that he had never -been forced to feel the necessity for an effort, and consequently he -had never called his faculties into use, nor could he now since the -necessity did not arise. I begged her to abandon the effort as vexatious -and entirely hopeless. - -“To all this the elder Mrs. Van Bartan listened attentively and made no -comment. When I had finished, she laughed, and said that I had entirely -misapprehended her intentions toward her son; that she had no object -in life but to make us as happy as it were possible to do, but that one -could not tell what conditions might arise, and she had wished simply to -put her son in a position to care for himself and me, if it ever should -be necessary. Then she stroked my hair, as she might have done to a -child, and bade me not worry over trifles. I now congratulated myself -that the matter was finally settled, but I was fearfully wrong. I -had read this remarkable woman poorly. Although again beaten, she was -unconquered, and she determined upon a final desperate move. Perhaps -my foolish prattle, furnished the suggestion, but it is rather more -probable, I think, that her master mind evolved the plan out of what she -considered a desperate condition.” - -The woman's face was now grave, and she seemed deeply in earnest. - -“It was the plan of Mrs. Van Bartan to convince my husband and myself -that future poverty was impending, but just how to make this impression -strongly probable, was a matter of great difficulty, and one which she -appreciated fully. In order to do this effectually, it was necessary for -her, in some manner, apparently to dispose of her property, and at the -same time actually to retain it in possession. - -“This was a difficult problem, but difficult problems were not appalling -to Mrs. Van Bartan, and she finally determined upon this shrewd scheme. -She would make a will, leaving her entire estate at her death to the -church of which she was a member, and entirely disinheriting my husband. -This will could have the effect she desired, and at the same time leave -her unhampered in the use of her property, and free to destroy this -will or make another at her pleasure. This is now her plan. How I have -discovered it is not of importance, since it is a part of her plan in -this matter to have me suspect her intention and finally to have me -believe that she has decided to cut us off without a dollar. Having -determined upon this move, she will carry it through with the skill of a -master strategist. She will have the paper drawn by her legal adviser -in the presence of witnesses; she will declare her intention to the most -substantial people of our city, and will take good care to see that her -act is made known through the most reliable sources. There will be no -blunder anywhere,--Mrs. Van Rartan does not blunder.” - -“Has this will been drafted?” asked Randolph Mason. - -“No,” replied the young woman, “but it will be made soon. Mrs. Van -Bartan is now preparing public opinion for her act. She is far too wise -to hurry.” - -“I see no danger in all this,” said Mason, “since it is not this woman's -intention to really disinherit her son. Ultimately she will destroy this -document or make another.” - -“But,” said the young woman, bending forward in her chair, “Mrs. Van -Bartan is afflicted with an aortic aneurism, and may drop dead at any -moment. This she refuses to believe, and although she has been examined -by celebrated specialists, she stoutly asserts that her health is as -good as it ever was in her whole life. - -“Now suppose she makes this will and dies suddenly without having an -opportunity to make another. What then? Her intention will not help us. -This will holds, and we are left entirely without a dollar in the world. -Now, what am I to do to save us? It is of no use to go to Mrs. Van -Bartan. She is an iron woman. She has her plan, and Heaven could not -change her in the least. I must do something. It all depends on me, and -I don't know which way to turn. You must show me some way; you must do -something.” - -Randolph Mason turned around in his chair and looked squarely at the -young woman. - -“Madam,” he said, “you have neglected to tell me the most important -matter.” - -“Oh, no, sir,” responded the younger Mrs. Van Bartan, “I have told you -everything.” - -“By no means,” said Mason. “You have said that Mr. Van Bartan is not the -man with whom you had hoped to spend your life. Who is that man?” - -The young woman looked down at the floor and was silent. - -“Well,” she said, “I don't know that I meant quite that. I was meaning, -you know, that there were other considerations moving me to this -alliance beyond mere affection. I did not say that I loved some one -else, did I? Did I say I loved some one else?” - -“You evade,” said Mason, bluntly. “It is the weakling's method of -confession, and as well the fool's method.” - -The blood came into the face of the younger Mrs. Van Bartan, and she -looked up resolutely. - -“You don't spare me at all,” she said, bitterly. “You pry out -everything, even the very heart linings. Suppose I did love some one -else, what has that to do with this matter? That is all over and past -and gone. Can't I permit it to sleep and be forgotten? Suppose there was -another man? Suppose there is now? Must I empty out his heart too? Can't -I spare him? Can't I leave him out of this?” - -“I am waiting, madam,” said Mason, quietly. - -The young woman passed her hand downward over her face, as though to -remove something that was clinging to her. - -“If you must know,” she said slowly, “his name is Dalton, Robert Dalton, -a member of the law firm of Carpenter, Lomax, & Dalton, of our city. He -is said to be an able lawyer. He is the elder Mrs. Van Bartan's legal -adviser, but I have no right to tell you all this. It is unjust to him. -and unjust to me, and unfair to us all.” - -“And he still loves you?” said Mason, with the blunt indifference of a -surgeon who thrusts his thumb into a wound. - -The young woman threw back her head. “You are brutal,” she cried, “to -ask such a question, and I should be a fool, a miserable, contemptible -fool if I should answer.” - -“But you have answered it, madam,” replied Randolph Mason. - -The younger Mrs. Van Bartan covered her face with her hands, and began -to sob. The counsellor sat and watched her, as an expert might watch an -intricate piece of machinery that he was testing. There was no emotion -of any sort visible in his face--nothing at all, except the intense -interest of the expert. - -Presently Mason leaned back in his chair. The result was evidently -satisfactory. - -“Is this man married?” he asked. - -The woman did not answer. She simply pressed her hands tighter against -her face. The counsellor waited for a few moments. Then he repeated: - -“Is this man married?” - -The woman's hands trembled violently. “No,” she sobbed, “and he never -will be.” The lines in the face of Randolph Mason grew deep and resolute -as one has seen the lines in the face of a great physician when, in some -desperate case, he finally turned from the bedside of the patient in -order to write the prescription upon which he had decided. - -“Madam,” he said, in a voice that was firm and admitted of no protest, -“this man Dalton is perhaps a person of some learning. Since he is your -mother-in-law's legal adviser, he will have the matter in his hands. He -is under your influence. Could a problem be more simple? You have but to -go to him and say what you have said to me. He will know what to do.” - -She dropped her hands in astonishment. - -“Go to him? Go to him?” she repeated. - -“Yes,” said Mason, “and tell him the truth,--and wait.” - -“But,” began the younger Mrs. Van Bartan, “how could he help me? What -could----” - -“Madam,” interrupted Mason, rising, “this is your coat, I believe. -Permit my clerk to assist you to your carriage.” - - - - -II - -Robert dalton was of good blood, having descended from colonial -families of degree. He was perhaps in his middle thirties, in appearance -no usual man, straight as a spire, with a powerful face in which every -feature seemed prominent; hair rather prematurely gray, and soft and -clinging as a woman's, and withal a manner courtly to such a degree that -the young, and those others unskilled in divining the natures of men, -associated with Mr. Dalton relations of a so-called romantic nature. -This conclusion was grossly erroneous, and led to much profitless -gossip. In fact, Robert Dalton was a stern and practical man of large -legal acquirements, with no more romance in his composition than a ship -carpenter. In the practice of his profession he was always cold, clear -headed, and technical, believing no man, and fearing no man; in truth, -the wags asserted, his courtesy was in itself a libel, because of -all members of the bar no one was more rigid, more exacting, or more -relentless than Robert Dalton, of Carpenter, Lomax, & Dalton. - -The mental build of young Dalton rendered him especially valuable as -a chancery lawyer, and this department of the business he gradually -assumed until it was almost entirely in his hands. For years he drafted -all difficult pleadings, especially difficult under the rigid practice -of the common law obtaining in the Virginias. He drafted likewise all -deeds, wills, and papers of like tenor, with such unusual care and skill -that he rapidly gained a reputation,--the sort of reputation which it -usually requires a lifetime to establish, and the value of which is -above rubies. - -When the judges spoke of him they said, “If Mr. Dalton prepared this -paper it is probably correct.” - -It would be unwise to attribute to young Dalton an utter disregard -for social relations. The error of such an assertion would readily -be detected by those who knew him. In fact, he was usually present at -prominent social functions, and largely sought after by reason of his -magnetic nature and the charm of his vigorous mind. - -The father of young Dalton had been a man of improvident habits, and, -immediately upon the death of his wife, squandered his large estate -in the riot of dissipation, so that his son inherited nothing but a -dilapidated manor-house and a single slave. This servant, a pure negro, -was deeply attached to young Dalton, and the two continued to reside in -the manor-house near the city suburbs, the negro acting as cook, valet, -and man-of-all-work. This manor house was one of the first built in -the Virginias. It was surrounded by a long, ill-kept lawn, in which -the ancient knotted oaks seemed to stand guard over the memory of some -departed greatness. The house itself, covered with the green Virginia -creeper, was little better than a ruin. The plaster had fallen away from -the great pillars, and the walls were cracked, in places, almost to the -roof. - -Strangely enough, Robert Dalton never attempted to repair the estate, -taking pride rather in its air of decay. This statement is not entirely -accurate. He did, indeed, fit up the ancient drawing-room for the -purposes of a library, thrusting in rows of bookcases beside long -antique mirrors and mahogany window seats. These bookcases were -filled entirely with reports of courts, late digests, the decisions of -tribunals of last resort, and volume after volume on wills, contracts, -and corporations, but scarcely a volume on standard or current -literature. For these latter he had no inclination, and, as he -apologetically explained, no time. - -In this library, Dalton did most of his legal work, obtaining here -freedom from interruption and the quiet which he required. - -As the city developed, this neglected suburban street was seized upon -and assumed as the fashionable quarter by the wealthy Eastern families. -They paved it far into the country, and ruthlessly wiped out the -splendid old homesteads, erecting on their ruins ostentatious palaces -with prim lawns, reminding one not a little of that civilized vandalism -which would cut out from its frame the superb painting of a landscape -and replace therein a practical and entirely accurate map of the same -landscape. - -These wealthy families swept out, too, the old social customs of this -city, setting up elaborate formalities and impoverishing standards of -dress and entertainment. - -The recognized leader was Mrs. LeConte Dean, the wife of a nail -manufacturer of vast wealth. Her receptions were the society events. -Indeed, it has been said that recognition by this newly rich importation -determined one's social status. - -The Van Bartans were another of these wealthy families coming directly -from the city of New York. The father had founded gigantic iron mills -from which he had gathered a princely revenue. Upon his death, the wife, -a grim woman of frightful prejudices, had continued to maintain their -country place in sumptuous, albeit rather frigid, elegance. They had one -child, Gerald Van Bartan, an utterly worthless young man of extravagant -habits and wandering aims; nevertheless, a youth of generosity and -kindly impulses. The boy was a source of ceaseless vexation to his -mother. - -Carpenter, Lomax, & Dalton were her solicitors; especially Robert -Dalton, in whom she reposed the greatest confidence, and not -infrequently she spoke to him at great length of her difficulties with -her son, and usually concluded by working herself into a towering rage. - -When one morning in the early autumn it was announced that Gerald Van -Bartan was very shortly to wed Miss Columbia Summers, a young lady of -great beauty and of aristocratic lineage, but of reduced and nipping -finances, the city was very justly indignant. Robert Dalton had for -many years paid court to this young woman, and the self-constituted -match-makers had long since entered up their decree in this matter and -dismissed it, and they resented, as almost a personal affront, the going -afield of their plans. - -Thereupon idle folk prattled of the great blow to Dalton, his broken -heart, and other drivel. There was no evidence that Robert Dalton -had any other than a passing interest in this matter, and neither his -partners nor those others intimately acquainted with the man suspected -that this gossip contained any element of truth Indeed, he had come to -be regarded as of stoical build. - -When this rumor came to the ears of Mrs. Van Rartan, she received it -with almost suspicious composure, and a few days later sent for Dalton, -her solicitor, and inquired if she could dispose of her entire property. -To this Dalton replied that she could, the title to all property having -passed to her by virtue of her husband's will, of which she was the sole -beneficiary. Thereupon she smiled, and said that she might require his -services further on. - -The wedding and receptions which followed were great social functions, -and for three years thereafter Mrs. Van Bartan maintained the two -young people in the veriest profligate magnificence, the elder woman -anticipating every wish of the younger, and heaping upon her the -costliest gowns and jewels to be had. - -During this time, Carpenter and Lomax watched Dalton closely, but they -could detect no change in the man, except perhaps that he was even more -rigid and exacting in his professional transactions. - -Thus matters continued without event until the night set apart for the -first autumn reception of Mrs. LeConte Dean. These were annual events -of great revelry, and largely attended. The night was unpropitious, raw, -and foggy, as October nights usually are in this region, but this in no -wise interfered with the occasion; indeed, it was long remembered as one -of startling magnificence. - -This reception Robert Dalton determined not to attend, partly because he -avoided as far as possible every gathering at which he might be thrown -with the younger Mrs. Van Bartan, but principally because the firm had -an important case in the Federal Court then sitting, and he had been -asked to prepare an elaborate decree for the following day. - -After determining to remain at home, Robert Dalton went into his -library, gathered his books of reference from their cases, and began the -preparation of his legal paper. This decree he found more difficult to -draft than he had anticipated, and, striving to adjust its intricate -matters, he became more and more absorbed until he was entirely -unconscious of his surroundings and of the time that had elapsed. - -Finally he arose in order to refer to some report that was not within -reach of his hand. As he turned to the light he beheld a woman, wrapped -in the folds of a long party cloak, standing with her hand on the door, -as though she had just entered. Dalton was so utterly astonished that he -literally rubbed his eyes to ascertain if he were not the victim of an -illusion. Whereupon the woman threw back her cloak, and advanced to the -table, when he perceived to his amazement that it was the younger Mrs. -Van Bartan. To this man she seemed a daughter of the very gods in the -full bloom of womanhood. The rich velvet cloak thrown back from her bare -shoulders, the ball dress clinging like puffy webs to a form that his -brooding mind had idolized; her eyes illumined, and her splendid hair -wound in loose coils above her dainty head. - -It would all be very weary to set out in detail what occurred on this -October night; how the younger woman explained that she had finally -divined the intention of the elder Mrs. Van Bartan, and how she had -hoped to see Dalton at the LeConte Dean's, and not finding him had -slipped away, and, availing herself of the foggy night, had been driven -unattended to his house in order to implore his aid; how she came and -stood beside him, and pointed out the dread results sure to follow the -elder Mrs. Van Bartan's unnatural intentions,--results disastrous to -her and to hers. Gerald Van Bartan was worthless, she knew that; he had -never been taught to work; he was now too old to learn; it would mean -poverty, grinding poverty, and shame worse than all; and her father, -aged and broken in health, and the others of them, all dependent upon -her, would be thrown out to huddle in beggary, literally, beggary. - -How Dalton replied that there was nothing he could do; reminding her -that the elder Mrs. Van Bartan was a woman of iron will, of stern -resolve, of relentless determination, and that neither he nor any other -living man could affect her. And how like a woman she answered that he, -Dalton, would be sent for to make the will, and that he must save her -some way, she did not know how,--he would know, he was shrewd, he was -a great lawyer, he could certainly find some way; this she knew, and he -must do it. - -And how he labored to show her that there was nothing he could -do--absolutely nothing; that the whole thing was hopeless, thoroughly, -utterly hopeless; and then how she came to him and put her bare white -arms around him and looked up into his face, the big tears shining in -her glorious eyes, and said that if this were true, then she proposed -to tell him all the truth, the truth that she loved him, him only in all -the wide world, him always from her very childhood, and that for others -she had made this sacrifice; and how great, how awful a sacrifice it had -been, men could not understand. How he coldly loosed her arms, although -to do it wrenched his very heart loose; although he would have given his -life gladly to have taken her in his embrace if only for a moment, and -told her how he understood and how he loved her for it, and how he would -always love her to the very end of all things; but, instead, how he had -sternly led her out to the carriage and forced her to leave him, and -how he turned back into the library with his head swimming and his heart -pounding like a hammer, and fought the whole thing out through the long -October night, until the dawn crept in and the birds began to chirp in -the Virginia creeper. - -Some weeks later, as was anticipated, the elder Mrs. Van Bartan summoned -Robert Dalton to her residence in order to prepare her will. Upon his -arrival he found Simon Harrison, President of the First National Bank, -and David Pickney, a steel manufacturer, both prominent citizens of -unquestioned integrity; also the late Milton South, a most estimable -physician. At Mrs. Van Bartan's request, Robert Dalton prepared the will -in the presence of these three persons. When he had finished he handed -the paper to the testatrix, who thereupon read it aloud in the presence -of all, declared it entirely correct, and affixed her signature. As is -customary, Dalton requested the three gentlemen to converse with the -testatrix and satisfy themselves that she was in proper mental -condition. This they did at some length, and not unskilfully, all being -men of good sense. Afterward Harrison and Pickney subscribed their names -as witnesses in the manner prescribed by the statute. Mrs. Van Bartan -then placed the will in an envelope, sealed it with her own hand in the -presence of all, and gave it to Simon Harrison to retain until after her -death. - -On the seventeenth day of December following, Mrs. Van Bartan died -suddenly, and some days thereafter the will was opened and read at her -late residence by Simon Harrison, executor. Gerald Van Bartan and his -young wife were present, as was also Robert Dalton, and those others who -had been with the deceased when the will was drawn. The elder members -of the law firm, Carpenter and Lomax, were likewise present, and, at the -request of Harrison, the Episcopal minister, Rev. Mr. Boreland, and his -counsel, an obscure practitioner named Gouch. - -The will was short, leaving the entire estate, real and personal, naming -it specifically, for some religious purpose; and, in a spirit of grim -jest, it would seem, one dollar each to her “beloved children,” Gerald -Van Bartan and Columbia Van Bartan, his wife. - -The effect of this will upon the two young people, as the executor -slowly read its provisions, would require a dramatist of no little -stature to describe. The woman's face grew drawn and bloodless. The -man's knees seemed to give way, and he would have fallen had he not been -helped to a chair. - -Dalton, men did not notice, for he was a skilful actor. When the -executor had finished, Mr. Lomax plucked Carpenter by the arm, and -inquired, in a low voice, if he had noticed any defect in the will. -Carpenter replied that he had not, but that he had paid little attention -to its form, whereupon Lomax requested him to examine it closely. The -elder counsellor stepped up beside Harrison and began to go carefully -over the instrument. Presently he stopped in amazement, and put his -finger down on the paper. - -“This will,” he said, “is utterly void.” - -At the word, the blood surged back into Columbia Van Bartan's face. She -took two steps toward Robert Dalton, then turned and buried her face in -the folds of a heavy curtain. Dalton was cool and entirely incredulous. - -“I think you are very much mistaken, Mr. Carpenter,” he said quietly. - -“Mistaken?” answered the counsellor. “Why, this bequest is made simply -to 'St. Luke's Episcopal Church.' That organization is neither an -individual nor a corporation; it has no recognized legal existence. And -this request must fail for want of a devisee.” - -At this point Harrison, who was a slow but very careful man, interrupted -and explained with great accuracy that the will was in every detail -exactly as the testatrix had desired it; that even the language used was -her language; that she had said “St. Luke's Episcopal Church,” and -that Mr. Dalton had written it in the instrument precisely as Mrs. Van -Bartan had said, and that there could be no possible error either by -accident or design. - -Carpenter was about to reply, when Lomax, noticing his excitement, -stepped in between Harrison and the elder attorney, and pointed out at -great length that this was all no doubt true, but that, under the law, -an indefinite religious organization, could not take a bequest; that -this was not generally known to those unfamiliar with legal business, -but that Mr. Dalton should have known that, in order to devise property -to a religious organization, it must be given to a board of trustees, -or to a certain person or persons, named in the will, for a specific -and accurately determined purpose; that this, Mr. Dalton should have -explained, and that his writing down the exact words of Mrs. Van Bartan -had defeated her intentions, and rendered this bequest void. - -“But, sir,” put in the attorney Gouch, pompously, “the testatrix's -intention must control. I see no----” - -“Come, come, my good man,” cried Carpenter, angrily, “this is what is -known in Virginia as a 'vague and indefinite charity.' Such bequests -have been held void for almost a century. Why Silas Hart attempted to -create such a devise as early as 1790, and John Marshall, Chief Justice -of the United States, held it void at law. Twenty years later. -Joseph Gallego attempted to bequeath a similar charity to the Roman -Catholic Church at Richmond, and Henry St. George Tucker, President of -the Supreme Court of Virginia, in a famous opinion, held that it must -fail, and from that time until the present the courts of this country -have been passing upon this common error of testators and their -incompetent advisers.” - -Robert Dalton looked up anxiously. “In what cases?” he stammered. - -“What cases!” almost shouted the elder counsellor, for he had now -lost his temper completely. “What cases, you bungler! Ask the veriest -pettyfogger; ask the commonest justice of the peace, but do not -catechise me.” And after having delivered himself of this venom, he -seized his hat and cane and stalked out of the house. He was greatly -enraged to think that a man of Dalton's learning, a member of a firm of -high standing, should make such a stupendous blunder. - -Later in the day Robert Dalton came to the office and requested -Carpenter and Lomax to join him in his private room. His face showed -plainly the evidences of a great mental strain. When they were together -he closed the door, and, turning to them, said that he had examined the -question which they had raised, in regard to Mrs. Van Bartan's will, and -he was now satisfied that he had made a prodigious error in drafting -the instrument; that as his mistake would deprive a powerful church of -a vast estate, endless criticism of a most acrimonious character would -follow; that it was not just for any part of this criticism to fall -upon the shoulders of either Carpenter or Lomax, and, therefore, he -had determined to publicly withdraw from the firm. To this they made -scarcely a courteous objection, and Dalton accordingly withdrew, -publishing an announcement thereof in the daily papers. - -The report of a great error in Mrs. Van Bartan's will spread through the -city with the marvellous rapidity of an evil rumor. The vials of bitter -criticism were poured out upon the head of Robert Dalton. Men declared -that they had long suspected that he was a sham, a posing ignoramus, a -dangerous blunderer. - -The executor, Harrison, as was his duty, attempted to execute the -charitable bequest, but, of course, failed. Whereupon the press of the -city stood up in the market-place like the selfcomplacent Pharisee and -declared that in this day mistakes were crimes; that it was not enough -for an attorney to do the best he knew,--it was his duty to know; it was -not enough for an attorney to be honest, he must he likewise competent; -that the law was a learned profession in which the bungler was equally -as dangerous as the knave; that vast estates were conveyed by will, and -how easily by mistake or design a lawyer could destroy the testator's -most sacred wish; he could rob the helpless of his right, the dependent -of his inheritance, or the charitable institution of its patron's aid, -and all this without color of criminal wrong. The law, it asserted, -punished with relentless hand the man who blundered in positions of -trust; it punished with awful penalties the man who blundered in the -heat of passion, but it had no censure, no sting, no scourge for the man -who blundered at the bedside of the dying. - -Thus was Robert Dalton's fame as a lawyer damned into the veriest -blackness. - - - - -III - -ON a certain bleak Thursday of January, Randolph Mason sat in his -office, absorbed in the study of a great map which was spread out on his -table. The day was so dark and lowering that the electric light above -the table had been turned on. Presently the door opened and the little -clerk Parks looked in. He watched the lawyer for a few moments intently; -then he withdrew his head. A few minutes later, the door again opened -and a woman entered, and closed it behind her. She stopped and looked -at the counsellor, bending over his map. The picture was not a pleasant -one. The man's streaked, gray hair was rumpled, and his heavy-muscled -face under the glare of the light was rather more brutal than otherwise. -Then she crossed to the table and threw a newspaper down on the map. - -“Will you kindly read that marked paragraph?” she said. - -Randolph Mason looked up. For a moment he did not recall the woman, her -face was so very white. Then he recognized his client, Mrs. Van Bartan. - -“You will pardon me, madam,” he said. “I am deeply engaged. Kindly come -here tomorrow.” - -“I have to regret,” said the woman, “that I ever came here at all. Will -you please read that paragraph?” And she put her finger down on the -newspaper. - -The counsellor looked at the paper. - -“We notice by to-day's _Herald_,” it ran, “that Robert Dalton, Esq., has -sailed for Japan, where it is said he will become a legal instructor in -one of the national universities. Mr. Dalton, it will be remembered, is -the attorney whose stupid blunder invalidated the Van Bartan will, and -it is to be hoped that he will prove more efficient in the service -of the Mikado. The bar of the Virginias cannot be said to regret Mr. -Dalton's departure. He was grossly incompetent, and just such men bring -the legal profession into disrepute.” - -“What of all this?” said Mason. “You obtained what you desired. Why do -you harass me with this nonsense?” - -“I obtained it,” repeated the woman, bitterly. “Yes, thanks to your -devilish ingenuity, I obtained it, but at what a cost! I have the money, -but it is daubed over with the blood of a man's heart It has the price -of a man's honor stamped on the face of every coin. I hate it all. -Everything I see, every thread that touches me, taunts me with the shame -of such a sacrifice.” - -The woman's voice was firm, but her figure trembled like a tense wire. - -“Madam.” said Randolph Mason, “you annoy me. I have no interest in this -drivel.” - -“No interest in it?” cried the woman. “You, you have no interest in it? -Was it not you who did it? You and the devil himself? You concocted this -plan. You said go to him, and tell him, and he would know what to do. -Your fiendish ingenuity saw what would result, but you did not tell me. -You did not tell me that this man would be compelled to rip his life -in two like a cloth to save me, and that he would do it. If I had known -this, do you suppose that I would have gone on for a moment? Do you -suppose that I wanted wealth, or ease, or luxury, at the cost of a man's -hope and fame and honor? I tell you, you miserable blunderer, this thing -cost too much.” - -“Chatter,” said Mason, rising. - -“Chatter!” cried the woman, beating her hards on the table. “Do you call -this chatter? I charge you,--do you hear me, I charge you with the ruin -of this man's life.” - -“Madam,” said Randolph Mason, “the vice of your error lies in the fact -that you should have consulted a priest. I am not concerned with the -nonsense of emotion.” - -Then he turned abruptly and walked out of the room. - -_(See Amer, and Eng. Enc of Law. vol. ii., page 926, and the cases -there discussed; see also State us. Richardson, S.C. 35 Lawyers' Reports -Annotated, 238, and cases there cited; also Constitution of the United -States, Art., and the Constitution of West Virginia Art. 3, Sec. 5.)_ - - - - -ONCE IN JEOPARDY - - - - -I - -THE sheriff stopped on the steps of the court-house, pushed his straw -hat back from his forehead, moved his eyeglasses up a little closer -to his fat face, and began to contemplate the limits of his official -jurisdiction, with the air of one about to deduce a law. - -The little county seat on Tug River slept in a pocket. Behind it and -on every side except the river were great mountains, half-hidden by a -gigantic cloak of fog. On the opposite side, from the great coal plants -of the Norfolk and Western Railroad a counter-canopy of smoke arose, -dense and voluminous, and stretched itself like a black hand out over -the town and across to the fog of the mountain. Man, it seemed, had -conspired with nature to cover up and hide the town of Welch. - -“Strange,” drawled the sheriff, “strange, that a white man should be -willing to leave a paradise like this, and with river water in his -stomach too.” Then he chuckled comfortably. - -The sheriff of the county of McDowell was all right. He represented the -entire machinery of the law obtaining south of Tug River, and he carried -the momentous responsibility with the languid grace of a bank clerk at a -charity german. - -The sheriff was a Virginian. But, marvel of marvels, he was a Virginian -without a title. He was plain W. M. Carter. The statement is not quite -accurate. Among the boys he was “White” Carter. But he was no “colonel” - and no “major,” and he gloried in the distinction and guarded it well. -The sheriff was a comfortably fat man and most genial. His eyes were -round, blue, and dreamy, and he never hurried. He was never abrupt or -a jarring element. He slipped easily into any position and filled it -up without a ripple, as water slips in and fills up the outlines of a -vessel. - -Still the sheriff was all right. When he looked out of his dreamy blue -eyes through his rimless nose glasses at a negro miner who had used his -razor as an adjunct to an argument, and mildly requested the negro to -accompany him to the confines of the county jail, it was as certain as -the advent of death that the negro would obey, and obey without comment. -And when the sheriff mounted his “murky dun” horse and passed up into -the mountains for the purpose of inducing a moonshiner to come down -to civilization and submit his rights to the decision of a judicial -tribunal, it was a matter of familiar history that the moonshiner always -came. - -To the inquiring stranger, no man seemed a native of McDowell. - -This impression arose from the fact that the stranger adhered to the -railroad and the coal towns which sprang up in its wake, and in these -every man came from somewhere. The railroad had brought in the coal -companies, and the coal companies had brought in the negroes, and thus -towns sprang into existence, and the usual rough, expeditious methods -of civilization began. Then came the politician and the adventurer, and -mixed in merrily, and from that time forth the county of McDowell was -industrial and Republican, and everything “went.” But a few years back, -before the section hands on the Norfolk and Western Railroad cut through -from the county of Mercer, there was a population in McDowell that was -not Republican, and that did not “go.” They were long-limbed, indolent, -and “handy men” in a fight. They made corn whiskey when they pleased, -and voted the Democratic ticket when they saw fit, and accounted to -no one. The revenue officer came, and looked up at the great mountains -covered with the giant oaks of a century, concluded that the laws were -not being violated, and so reported to the Government. It was vastly -more comfortable than going up into these same mountains not to come -down at all, or maybe to come down with a squirrel bullet under the -ribs. In his day and generation the revenue officer was a wise man. - -Here the citizen was born as it happened, lived as he could, and died -as the necessity arose, and the outside world neither knew nor cared nor -concerned itself with it. These were not bad people. Morally they were -as good as the sun warmed. Their life bred no shams. If they loved each -other, they lived together and were happy, and if they hated each other, -they fought it out The feud has been usually overdrawn. It existed in -truth, but it rarely resulted in anything more than a “fist fight” at a -grist mill, but when it grew serious, it grew very serious indeed. The -mountaineer always shot to kill. He was no man of half measures; it was -a free, open, breezy war, and perhaps it was as healthy fighting as any. -At his worst, the native moonshiner was a better man than the imported -miner at his best. Up in the fog of the mountains men were killed; down -in the smoke of the coke ovens they were murdered; and between the two -words there is a distinction as big as the honor of a people. - -The “killer” was common in McDowell, but the suicide was not, perhaps -because men rarely take their own lives in the mountains. It is a -trick of jaded civilization obtaining in congested cities, unknown and -unpractised by the dwellers among the hills. Men died in the mountains, -but by the hand of others. - -So the sheriff was puzzled. That morning the body of Brown Hirst, -manager of the Octagon Coal Company, had been picked up in the muddy -waters of Tug River, just below the bridge. Above, on the railing of -the bridge, his coat and vest had been found, folded and apparently -laid carefully over a girder. The bridge was very high above the -rocky stream, and the body of the man was badly crushed--almost beyond -recognition. The man had evidently jumped from the bridge with the -deliberate intention of taking his own life. All this the sheriff had -heard as he rode into the town. But rumors are lurid, the sheriff knew, -and he concluded to go at once to the prosecuting attorney. He wanted -the tale straight from some one who could pry the facts free from the -fiction. On the steps of the court-house the sheriff had paused for a -moment and made some observations to himself. But a crowd was beginning -to gather in the street below, and the sheriff, being fully aware that -this portended a demand for his opinion and not being pleased to express -one, he turned abruptly and passed into the court-house. - -The man of order walked leisurely down the hall to the office of the -prosecuting attorney and entered. A thin, red-haired girl was pounding -a typewriter with the energy of a two-horse-power engine. -Conventionalities were abbreviated in McDowell. The sheriff sauntered -in. - -“Where's Jeb?” he drawled. - -The red-haired girl paused for a moment and jerked her thumb over her -shoulder. “In there,” she said, “busy.” Then she went on. - -Miss McFadden was an economist; she wasted no words. The sheriff threw -open the door, and walked into the private office. The prosecuting -attorney turned around from the window. - -“Hello, White!” he said, “you are the very man I want.” - -“Which indicates,” drawled the sheriff, “that you are a young person of -great discernment.” - -“When one needs horse sense,” said the prosecuting attorney, “your -acquaintance is valuable. At other times it is a luxury.” - -“Together,” observed the sheriff, mildly, “we create a sort of -equoasinus intellectual atmosphere, I suppose.” - -The attorney took up a chair and placed it by the window. - -“Sit there,” he said, “and listen.” Then he closed the door, and, -crossing the room, began to open the safe by his desk. - -The sheriff sat down meekly and turned his dreamy blue eyes on the young -lawyer. - -The prosecuting attorney of the county of McDowell was an imported -article. Like the ancient wise men, he came from the East, but the -manner of his coming was not quite that of the early sages. The sheriff -had come up from the hills of Virginia, while the prosecuting attorney -had come up from the sea. Not that this young scion of the law' was a -sailor or the son of a sailor, but on a certain summer afternoon at a -certain fashionable resort, Fate suddenly threw away the toys with which -she had been amusing him, and he immediately realized that the world was -a common treadmill instead of a breezy French drag. - -It was a stiff shock, but the spine of young Mr. Huron was good, and -instead of stepping off the pier, at ten o'clock of that same night -he was demonstrating to a certain wealthy senator who had large -coal interests in West Virginia that it would be the part of no -inconsiderable wisdom to send a bright young fellow with a legal -education down into this great mining region for the purpose of -investigating the land titles, and for the purpose of keeping an eye -on the industries generally, and, as it is said in the law, “for other -purposes.” - -The old senator was by no means blind to the very slight efficiency -of raw material, but he had a heart hidden away under his coat, and at -thirty minutes past eleven he was convinced. So J. E. B. Huron came into -the county of McDowell, nailed up his shingle, and stepped down into the -_melée_. - -The opening chapters of his legal career were blue-tinted histories, but -the material in the backbone of young Mr. Huron was splendid material, -and he remained. The perception of this man of the law was no dwarfish -growth, and he used it like the wise. McDowell was Republican by 1600, -and “White” Carter was big boss; _post hoc ergo propter hoc_. J. E. B. -Huron was a Republican of ancient affiliation, and more specifically -he was right hand man to White Carter. This wisdom was not without its -reward. The convention that nominated Carter for sheriff, nominated -Huron for prosecuting attorney, and the big boss pulled his man through -in spite of splits, and splits, and independent tickets. The prosecuting -attorney was a handsome young fellow with a good level head. He knew the -value of the sheriff, and he held to him. - -The prosecuting attorney took some papers from the safe, drew up a -chair, and sat down by the sheriff. - -“You have heard of Hirst's suicide?” he said. - -The sheriff nodded. “All but the antemortem note,” he drawled. - -The prosecuting attorney smiled. “How did you know there was a note?” - -“Jeb,” said the sheriff, “it is a part of the etiquette of suicide. No -man effects his exit without a parting word. It would be bad form, Jeb, -frightfully bad form.” - -“So you guessed it?” - -“No,” replied the sheriff, wearily, “my gray matter was allowed me for -the purpose of utility. I concluded.” - -The prosecuting attorney selected a letter from the package of papers -and passed it over to the sheriff. That official examined the envelope -carefully, then he slowly opened it and spread the enclosed letter out -on the desk before him. - -“Octagon Coal Company,” he read slowly, “Miners and Shippers of Coal -and Coke, Welch, West Virginia. Robert Gilmore, President. Brown Hirst, -Business Manager. All agreements are contingent upon strikes, accidents, -and other delays unavoidable or beyond our control.” - -The sheriff paused for a moment. “Written at the office,” he observed, -“with a pen, on the company's stationery.” - -The guardian of order removed his eyeglasses, wiped them carefully, -replaced them on his nose, and continued: - -“The officers of the law are informed that I, Brown Hirst, have taken my -own life, deliberately and at a time when I am in the full possession of -my faculties. My reasons for so doing are of no importance to the law, -and are accordingly withheld. This statement is made merely for -the purpose of preventing any inference of murder, and for no other -purpose.--Brown Hirst.” - -The sheriff replaced the letter in its envelope. “That,” he said, “Is a -sensible communication. By the very highest flame on the altar of folly, -it is an exceedingly sensible communication. Where did you find it?” - -“The coat and vest,” replied the lawyer, “were found lying carefully -folded over the railing of the bridge. This letter was in the breast -pocket of the coat. Hirst evidently went about his death with great -deliberation. Still, I see no motive for suicide.” - -“Jeb,” drawled the sheriff, “you are _long_ on motives. Everything must -have a motive stamped in red ink on its face. Can't you allow an obscure -citizen to change his permanent residence and retain his reasons? The -gentleman has said in his communication that his reasons are of no -moment to the law. Can't you take the gentleman's word for it? It is n't -courteous, Jeb. By the way, where is the corpse of the decedent?” - -“Within the sacred jurisdiction of the coroner.” - -“And the medical fraternity?” inquired the sheriff. - -“Doctor Hart is over in Jacktown putting the finishing touches, it is -said, on old Pap Dolan, so the coroner called in a miracle doctor from -Cincinnati.” - -The sheriff chuckled. “Miracle doctor,” he drawled, “is good--is very -good.” - -The prosecuting attorney assumed the air of an instructor. - -“Healers,” he began, “may be set down, for the purposes of a proper -classification, under three great heads or grand divisions, namely, -'yarb doctors,' 'old-line practitioners,' and 'miracle doctors.' Under -the first class may be grouped those persons who seek to effect cures -by means of the virtues of shrubbery, as well as that vast army of rural -healers known along the watershed of the Alleghanies as 'bleeders' and -'steamers.' Under the second great division are included those grave -professional persons supposed to be learned in the mysteries of the -human economy, who, for a fixed consideration, guess at the ill, and -thrust in a chemical: while the third and final division is composed of -those mysterious healers who affect to thwart dissolution by means of -marvellous knowledge or marvellous skill peculiar to themselves. - -“The species of the first grand division infest all that great tract of -country bounded by a timber line. The second great class obtains in the -cities and villages, and affect buggies, drugs, and sombre dress. -The third class is a by-product of congested civilization, and begins -usually with a patent lotion, and ends usually with a hospital.” - -White Carter waved his fat hand. “But, if your honor, please,” he -interrupted, “what did the miracle doctor say?” - -“He said,” replied the prosecuting attorney, “that Brown Hirst was a -compound fracture from the sustentaculum tali to the tripod of Haller; -and from the tripod of Haller to the corpus callossum, he was a simple -fracture.” - -“Horrible,” drawled the sheriff. - -“And he said further,” continued the man of the law, “that the -suiciding decedent was probably afflicted with some species of psychical -neurosis.” - -“_Domine miserere!_” murmured the guardian of order. “So the travelling -Æsculapius testified, and as the coroner was quite unable to spell the -craft terms, he simply wrote down in the record that Doctor Leon Dupey -of Cincinnati, after a careful examination, had pronounced Brown Hirst -dead, which was far less prolix and entirely true.” - -“That coroner,” observed White Carter, “should be United States Senator -from Kansas.” - -Huron took up the note and put it with the other papers. - -“I judge this to be a plain case of suicide,” he said. “I have carefully -compared the writing with these letters. It is certainly Brown Hirst's -writing. Still, men do not act without a motive, and I see no -justifiable motive.” - -“Well,” said the sheriff, “I happen to know that financially the Octagon -Coal Company is somewhat 'groggy.' How will that answer for a motive _ad -interim?_ Or, as the sensible would say, in the meantime?” - -“Good,” said the prosecuting attorney. Then he took a pencil from -his pocket, and wrote on the back of the decedent's letter “Suicide. -Motive--business depression,” and replaced the papers in the safe. - -The sheriff arose. “The legend you have subscribed is probably correct,” - he drawled, “but the ways of Providence are varied and mystic, and I -think I shall make some observations in my own right.” Then he went out. - - - - -II - -IT is quite plain,” said Randolph Mason, “that you have fallen into -the usual blunder of the common rogue. If you had wished to rob the -insurance companies, you could easily have accomplished your end without -perpetrating this crime, and thus assume the hazard of discovery and -criminal prosecution.” - -Robert Gilmore looked sharply at the counsellor. - -“You mean that I am seeking advice late?” - -“Precisely,” said Mason. “It is the characteristic error of the -witless.” - -“Well,” observed the coal operator, “in desperate positions one usually -relies on one's-self; confederates are dangerous, and usually expert -advice is difficult to obtain.” Then he laughed. “I could not advertise -for sealed bids on how the thing should be done. I did the best possible -under the circumstances, and I rather thought that I had made a clean -job of it.” - -“That delusion,” muttered Mason, “is common with the amateur. Indeed, it -is the mark of him. This killing was useless. You could have gotten on as -well without it.” - -The keen, gray eyes of Robert Gilmore twinkled. “I should be interested -to know how?” he said. - -“At this late hour,” answered Randolph Mason, “my advice upon that -point can be of no importance. Suggestions after the fact are of little -interest and of no value. You have now to consider some method by which -you may place yourself permanently beyond the reach of the law. This is -no problem of slight moment, and, in order to meet it properly, I must -know the details of this blundering business.” - -The coal operator's face grew grave and thoughtful. “I presume,” he -began, “that the priest and the attorney are accustomed to require -details and accurate confessions. I am president of the Octagon Coal -Company, as I have said, and reside in the city of Philadelphia, where -I have been engaged in active business for several years. My life beyond -that time cannot be a matter of any special importance. I may add, -however, that I had been engaged with a foreign company as a fire -insurance adjuster for the State of Illinois for some years before -coming to the East. It was while acting as an adjuster of losses that I -first met with Brown Hirst. - -“An unusually large fire occurred in one of the suburban towns near -Chicago, destroying almost an entire block, and I was sent out by my -company to adjust the loss. Upon my arrival in the town I found what I -believed to be evidence of a gigantic fraud. The block had been leased -for a year by one John Hall for the purpose of doing a mammoth general -business with a great number of different departments, and almost before -Hall had opened his doors to the public this fire occurred. There was -no explanation of how the fire originated. When first noticed by the -police, about three o'clock in the morning, the building was blazing -fiercely in a dozen places, and under such headway as to be impossible -to control. The local fire department was unable to prevent the loss of -the building, but fortunately a heavy rainstorm set in and prevented a -total loss of the stock. - -“In conversation with Hall, I discovered that not one domestic company -had a dollar on the building or its stock, but that the entire insurance -was carried in my company and a number of London companies usually -associated with it, and for whom I acted as general adjuster. This was -of itself a suspicious circumstance, since the insured would not be -subject to the inquisition of numberless representatives of convenient -local companies, and in a legal fight would have the prejudice against a -remote company in his favor, and, further, he would have but one man to -deal with. - -“I observed immediately that Hall was a person of much shrewdness. He -talked little, but what he had to say was exceedingly free from any -suggestion of concealment or obscurity. When I came to examine the -unburned stock, my suspicions were confirmed. It was composed entirely -of bulky merchandise, evidently selected with a view to a fire. - -“The manner of its arrangement in the building was exceedingly -suspicious. The boxes had been piled up before the windows in such a -manner as to prevent the firemen from entering the building even after -the iron bars had been cut, and the arrangement was such that when the -fire should gain headway and the windows be opened, the position of the -boxes would act as a sort of flue and thereby greatly assist the fire. -It was all exceedingly well planned, and if the building had been -entirely consumed, detection would have been impossible. Nothing could -have prevented this but the unforeseen storm, and had it not occurred -just when it did, Hall's scheme would have proved a masterpiece of its -kind. - -“I gave the public no intimation of my conclusions concerning the -incendiary nature of the fire, but when the investigation was concluded, -I took Hall to the hotel, and told him frankly that my company would -not pay the loss, as it was quite evident that it was all a shrewdly -arranged scheme to defraud. I pointed out the suspicious circumstances, -and the irresistible conclusion that flowed from them, and said plainly -that Hall would do well to escape criminal prosecution. - -“To my utter astonishment, the man expressed no surprise whatever. -When I had finished, he asked me a few searching questions intended -to determine the thoroughness of my investigation, and when he was -satisfied upon that point, he drew his chair up near to the table at -which I was seated, and quietly proposed to divide the insurance if I -would join with him and make the proper sort of report to my company. - -“In handling this proposition, Hall was marvellously skilful. He assumed -to treat the matter purely as a business arrangement. He said that -the loss, although big to us, was a very small matter to the wealthy -companies which I represented, and would not be felt by them, and would -cause no man any appreciable hurt; that he had gone to infinite -pains and no little expense to perfect his plan, and nothing but the -unfortunate storm could have prevented its complete success; that he -had never intended to divide with any one, but accident against which he -could not guard had placed me in a position to secure a portion of the -very considerable sum which he had gone to so much trouble and expense -to obtain, and, appreciating this new necessity, he was quite willing -to allow me an equal division of the gain. At no time during his entire -conversation was there any suggestion of danger or any allusion to any -risk, criminal or otherwise. - -“It is unnecessary, I judge, to weary you with further details. Under -the remarkable handling of this man, the element of substantial wrong -seemed to disappear from the transaction, and the result was that I -finally consented to join with him. He claimed two hundred thousand -dollars. I reported to the company a complete loss, but advised a -settlement at not more than one half of the sum claimed. This finally -led to an adjustment at about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, -without the least suspicion of a community of interests between us. - -“It would not be quite true to assume that I easily fell in with Hall's -plan, although in point of time it would seem so. Financially, I was -in a bad way; from childhood I had been poor; always poor. In money -matters, things invariably went wrong. Every hazard I had taken, every -speculation in which I had entered, had always lost, no matter how -substantial it seemed. At this time I was rather desperate, I presume. -At any rate, I joined with the scheme, and it succeeded without a jar. - -“Thus I came to know Brown Hirst under his alias. We divided the money -and deposited it with a trust company in Philadelphia until such time -as we might safely join in some one of the numerous ventures which Brown -Hirst was continually planning. But he was no dreamer, this Hirst. He -knew fully the great virtue of deliberation, and insisted that I -remain with the insurance company for at least a year, and then secure -employment with another company on some reasonable pretext, and then by -some error be discharged from this company, and if possible join with -another, until finally I should drift out of the business without being -subject to speculative comment. - -“These suggestions of Hirst I followed to the letter, and they resulted -as he anticipated. I had now great confidence in the ability of this -remarkable man. The details of his plans were as accurate as the pieces -of a machine, and they seemed never capable of failure.” - -The coal operator paused and rested his hands on the arms of his chair. - -“Even now,” he said, “I consider Brown Hirst to have been the ablest man -I ever saw.” - -Randolph Mason was silent. His face indicated rather more of weariness -than of interest. Perhaps the story in its substance was very old to -him. - -“On the first day of September, 1893, I joined Brown Hirst in -Philadelphia, and here he unfolded a number of gigantic plans, among -others one for defrauding life insurance companies, which we finally -decided to attempt. I do not now recall that I felt any real repugnance -to the moral obliquity of these ventures. The mastermind of Hirst seemed -to sweep out any moral consideration, by simply ignoring it utterly. -When Hirst planned, it was all business, and, according to the ethics -of business, quite as right as any. Indeed, the man was so phenomenally -successful where I had always failed, that I never once dreamed of -objecting to any plan which he deemed wise. - -“As I have said, Brown Hirst was as practical as a blue print. He used -to assert that of all vices haste was the most abominable, and that -before seeking to effect our venture it would be the part of wisdom to -engage in some legitimate business for a few years in order to establish -a reputation as a substantial business firm. Then our plans would be rid -of the suggestion of adventurers. Besides, it would give us financial -rating and substantial standing in the community in which we should -begin our fraudulent operations, and as well, in the meantime, we could -prepare our motives, which, Hirst asserted, should always be furnished -ready-made to the public when investigation began. - -“We accordingly determined to purchase and operate a coal plant in West -Virginia. This business was suited to our purpose rather better than any -other, because men were continually coming and going in this business. -Unknown companies were formed in remote cities and operated merely with -an agent. The firm was rarely investigated to any very great degree, if -it promptly met its obligations, and there being little opportunity for -fraud, a good business standing could be easily secured by any manager -who was reasonably expeditious in his transactions. - -“We secured a charter for the Octagon Coal Company, purchased a plant on -the Norfolk and Western Railroad in the county of McDowell, and began to -operate with Brown Hirst as manager and myself president of the presumed -Philadelphia company. - -“Hirst was, as I have said, a man of fine business sense, and very -shortly began to make money. We enlarged the plant, and soon came to -be considered a firm of importance. When it grew apparent that we could -succeed at a legitimate business, I began to urge Hirst to abandon his -dangerous venture entirely, and devote his splendid abilities to the -development of the coal industry; but he only laughed, and bade me -remember that all this required work, and it was not his intention to -spend his life at work.” - -“Sir,” said Randolph Mason, interrupting, “you are overlooking the -important matter in your disclosure. What was this insurance scheme?” - -“Oh. yes,” said the coal operator, “I was coming to that. It was our -plan to secure heavy insurance on the life of Hirst, making his wife the -beneficiary, and later have him disappear under circumstances indicating -suicide.” - -“That plan,” said Mason, drawing down the heavy muscles of his mouth, -“is ancient, and infantile, and trite; worthy of blunderers--children -and blunderers.” - -Gilmore looked at the lawyer for a moment critically, then he continued. -“I presume the scheme is not new, but I rather think Hirst's plan for -carrying it into effect was somewhat novel and unusually practical. At -the time Hirst proposed this scheme he was unmarried, and, as a cold -business proposition, he said that I should select some woman--any woman -agreeable to me, whom I should like as a wife, then he would marry her, -insure his life for her benefit, make his exit, and afterwards I should -marry the woman and send half of the insurance money to him in Spain or -Italy, where he had determined to take up his permanent residence. - -“He urged that it would be best to keep the woman totally ignorant -of our plan, so that if anything should go wrong, she could not be -implicated in a conspiracy, and, therefore, could not be prevented from -obtaining the insurance as, she being the sole beneficiary and no fraud -on her part being possible, any suspected or even assured fraud on my -part would not void the policy payable to her, provided he, Hirst, could -not be found within seven years. - -“Hence, two considerations were necessary in selecting the woman. First, -she must be so situated as to reduce suspicion of her to the minimum. -And, second, she must be one whom I could marry as Hirst's widow and -thereby obtain the money. This part of the plan was allotted to me to -complete. You will now see with what a remarkable man I was associated, -and how little regard he entertained for the customs of human society. - -“In leaguing myself with this man's fortune I blundered fatally. -My nature was entirely different. I could not shut out the natural -emotions. I could not crowd out the human in me. I was no calculating -machine like this man Hirst, and in carrying out my portion of the -venture I made a frightful mistake. - -“I am not now going into the details of that mistake. It will be -sufficient for the purposes of this interview to say that the woman -whom Hirst finally married was a good woman, the daughter of a venerable -churchman residing in one of the suburban towns of Philadelphia,--such -a good woman that no sooner had the ceremony taken place than I began to -regret having associated her with such a cold-blooded villain as Brown -Hirst, and as the days ran by, that regret grew into a very passion of -remorse.” - -The man paused for a moment, raised his elbows up on the arms of his -chair and locked his fingers. - -“I guess it was a sort of Providential judgment,” he continued, “if such -things are supposed to be in this practical time. I avoided the woman -as far as possible, and strove to conceal my terrible regret, but it was -quite useless. Hirst knew almost before I realized the feeling myself, -and harshly bade me remember that this was business, and no matter of -maudlin sentiment. He had no feeling whatever for the woman, and if I -could wait for a little time the plan would very shortly give her to me. -He warned me against what he was pleased to call 'nonsense,' and I must -admit that the powerful personality of this man forced me into a sort of -stolid subjection to his will. But the feeling for the woman remained, -and I hated Hirst.” - -Randolph Mason put out his hand as though to interrupt the speaker, but, -appearing to reconsider, suddenly withdrew it and nodded to the coal -operator to continue. The young man took no notice of the interruption. - -“Hirst,” he went on, “like the master spirit that he was, proceeded to -put the details of his plan into operation. From time to time he applied -to the best companies in the country for insurance, and as he was -considered a good risk, a man of fine physique, and in charge of a -substantial business, he presently secured about two hundred thousand -dollars on his life. These policies he carried for two years in order -to avoid the suicide clause, and in order to render them as nearly -incontestable as possible. - -“Finally, every arrangement having been completed, the time drew near -when Brown Hirst determined to make the final movement in his scheme. -But during these two years my hate of this man had not been idle. I -don't know just what possessed me. I had no good reason to hate him. -It was all, as he said, a business matter,--details in a pure business -matter. But I did hate him, and, unconsciously, one does not know just -how. I determined to take a part in his plan. I determined to make the -play real. This determination was no sudden resolve; it seemed rather -to evolve slowly until it finally became a fixed purpose. The motive -for the supposed suicide, Hirst had by no means overlooked. It was to be -impending financial ruin, and during the past year immediately preceding -his death Brown Hirst drew great sums from the business, and finally -mortgaged and remortgaged the entire coal plant and applied the money -to the payment of his heavy insurance, so that at the time of his -disappearance the business would be in a state of financial collapse, -and the motive for his rash deed would be adequate and thoroughly -apparent. - -“During all this time, Hirst operated in McDowell near the county seat -of Welch, his wife remaining for the most part with her father, while I -maintained a city office in Philadelphia. On the day set apart for the -disappearance of Brown Hirst, there was a stockholders' meeting of our -company at its principal office in West Virginia. It was a sham, but it -was rumored that the purpose of this meeting was to discuss some measure -that would relieve our business from impending ruin. This was the -purpose made public. The real purpose was to account for my presence -in McDowell. It was a part of Hirst's plan that I should remain behind -after his disappearance in order to see that everything was properly -arranged, and then take a night train for the East. - -“The preliminary details of that night's work were splendidly managed. -We met together at the office of the company. Here Hirst wrote a letter -explaining that he was about to take his own life, and placed it in the -pocket of his coat. - -“Then he took a bundle of men's clothing, in which he intended to make -his escape from the country. This bundle consisted of a grimy coat such -as the ordinary miner wears, in the pockets of which he had placed a -package of bank notes, a pocket-book containing a New York draft and a -memorandum of his insurance policies. - -“The trousers, shoes, and other articles of this disguise Hirst wore -when he left the office, it being his intention to leave his usual coat -and vest on the bridge over Tug River, as evidence of the suicide, and -then, assuming the remainder of his disguise, slip out to Cincinnati on -the night freight. - -“From the office we went directly to the bridge over Tug River, for the -reason, as Brown Hirst always maintained, that in order to leave perfect -circumstantial evidence it was absolutely necessary to actually do as -far as possible the things which one desired the public to believe one -had done. - -“It was perhaps two o'clock, and very dark and wet. It had been raining -for almost a week. This was largely in our favor, since the river -at flood is deep and rapid, and a body lost in it when the water was -running high would not probably be recovered at all, as we had noticed -was the case with lumbermen not infrequently drowned; hence we had -selected the time of heaviest rains in this region in order that the -loss of the body should not seem a matter of unusual moment. - -“It might be as well to explain that when Tug River is swollen by rains -its channel beneath the bridge is very deep and rapid nearest its east -shore, while near the west shore its bed is higher and covered with -immense bowlders; thus anything thrown into this river on its east -side would probably be carried away and lost, while if dropped from the -bridge on the west side it would probably lodge among the bowlders, and -remain after the high water had subsided. - -“As I have said, it was very dark, and the roar of the waters was -something frightful, but we were quite familiar with the bridge, and, -becoming accustomed to the darkness, presently came to see sufficiently -for our purposes. - -“Hirst went directly to the span of the bridge nearest the east shore, -and, removing his coat and vest, placed them across one of the girders. -Then he began to undo the bundle in order to put on the miner's clothing -which he had brought with him. - -“This was my opportunity, and I suggested that we first walk to the -other side in order to make sure that the bridge was entirely clear. -He immediately put down the bundle and came up to me. I do not now know -whether there was in his mind any trace of suspicion, but I do know that -at this suggestion the man seized my arm and tried to look into my face, -and I am certain that had it been light he would have discovered the -treachery which I was contemplating. But it was dark, and the man said -nothing except to curse the night. He was exceedingly profane, this -Hirst, and as we walked the length of the bridge, he holding my arm -and damning the night in half whispers, I somehow felt that this man -appreciated in a vague way the doom that was impending. But I presume -that this was simply an impression arising from the intense strain under -which I was laboring. - -“As we were about to return, I pointed to the white surf, breaking on -the bowlders below. The man, still holding my arm, stopped, leaned over -the low railing, and peered down into the water. This was the position -into which I had hoped to trap him, and, wrenching my arm loose -suddenly, I struck him heavily between the shoulders. The man plunged -forward over the railing, clutching wildly at the air, but he uttered no -cry. and his body whirled downward into the blackness below. - -“I clung to the railing and strove to see where the body would strike, -but it was folly. The bridge was high above the rough stream, and I -heard only the dull splash that told of his death.” - -The eyes of the coal operator seemed to stretch at the corners, and a -dull gray spread over his face. - -“I should like to be rid of that scene,” he continued after a moment. -“It is frightfully vivid. Every detail of it seems to have been -photographed on my brain, and it runs before me like the pictures in -a vitascope. Men sometimes forget such things, it is said, but, in the -name of Heaven, how? Why, I can see him any moment in the dark. I can -see his strained white face mad with horror, I can see his clutching -hands, I can feel in my own throat just how the terror of death choked -in his, and I know, I know----” - -Randolph Mason struck his clenched fist heavily on the table. “Sir,” he -said sharply, “you will kindly omit this drivel. Give me the facts just -as they occurred. You may reserve your melodrama for the purposes of a -copyright.” - -Gilmore started and threw up his head as though some one had suddenly -dashed ice-water in his face. He put his hand up to his forehead and -pressed his fingers hard against the skin; then he straightened in his -chair and seemed to gain his self-control. - -“Well,” he went on, “I went back to the east side of the bridge, threw -the bundle over into the river, slipped through to the Chesapeake and -Ohio on one of the night freights, and by noon of the same day I was in -Philadelphia. - -“That afternoon the city office was advised of Brown Hirst's suicide. -We immediately wired the prosecuting attorney for details, and were -informed that he had jumped from the bridge, leaving a note in his -pocket which explained that he had taken his own life. The body was -shipped to Philadelphia, as his wife directed. Almost immediately I began -to close the affairs of the Octagon Coal Company, and very shortly after -the funeral I called upon Mrs. Hirst in order to take the preliminary -steps looking toward the collection of her husband's insurance. - -“Here my plan struck and went to pieces like a vapor. The wife of Brown -Hirst was a good woman, and I had failed to foresee what she would -do under circumstances of this nature. To my utter astonishment, she -informed me that the representatives of the insurance companies had been -to see her and had asked time in which to investigate the case, and that -she had gladly concurred in their request. And then, like a woman, she -declared that there was no reason why her husband should commit suicide, -and that she did not believe he had done so, but that, if he had -deliberately taken his own life, she would not touch one dollar of the -insurance money; that she would have nothing bought with life. If it -could be shown that her husband was murdered, as she believed, then she -saw no reason why she should not claim the insurance; but if, on the -other hand, it proved true that he had planned to defraud the life -insurance company for her benefit, and, pursuant to that awful plan, -had hurled himself into eternity, then she would starve in an almshouse -before she would touch a penny of the money. - -“This statement struck me with the crushing power of an axe stroke. The -world seemed to pass out from under me. I saw every hope of the future -vanish. I realized in a flash, as one is said to do at the grave's edge, -in what a prodigious error I had been engaged.” - -There must have been some suggestion of annoyance on the counsellor's -face, for the coal operator stopped short and moved uneasily in his -chair. - -“I was about to forget your instructions,” he explained, with a shade of -apology in his voice; “it is rather hard to crowd one's emotions out of -a desperate, personal narrative like this, although, of course, it is -all nonsense to rant about it. - -“To be brief, I was totally unable to shake this woman's purpose, and I -returned to the city knowing that a tireless investigation was about to -begin. I have not waited to see the result of this investigation. I know -that the insurance companies and this unusual woman will leave no stone -unturned in order to discover just how Hirst came to his death, and I am -not fool enough to think that they will eventually fail. I don't believe -any of the bosh about murder crying from the ground, but I am entirely -convinced that it is almost impossible to cover a crime so that human -ingenuity cannot trail down the man who committed it. - -“I judge that I was not intended for business of this sort. I cannot -fight out in good order. With me a retreat is a rout. I have abandoned -everything. I have thrown away every plan. I am trying now to save -myself from the hangman, or at least the penitentiary. I have not waited -to be caught; I have come to you at once.” - -The man seemed to relax and settle back in his chair. - -“Now,” he added, with the utter dependence of a patient stretched upon -the table of the surgeon, “you must save me.” - -The eyes of Randolph Mason flattened as though they were being pressed -down from above, and the lines of his face deepened and widened into -rugged furrows. - -“There are two methods of evading the law,” he said. “The escape _ipso -jure_ planned before the fact; and the escape _ipso jure_ after the -fact. The first is a matter of no great difficulty, and may easily be -prepared by any man reasonably conversant with the law of the place of -his intended act, and if skilfully arranged need contain no element of -hazard whatever. The latter is far more difficult, and must be handled -with some care in order to reduce the element of peril to its minimum. -In the first, one constructs the facts to suit the defects in the law, -and if executed with any degree of intelligence, the criminal actor has -nothing whatever to fear, and the law is as harmless as a painted devil. - -“In the latter, the expert must take the facts as circumstance and the -blundering criminal agent have made them, and strive to adapt these -prepared facts to the law as it stands, which is a far more difficult -proceeding, and not infrequently attended with disastrous results. Hence -the skill of certain criminal lawyers, and the long technical legal -battles with which the books are crowded. - -“As for you, sir, the scheme in which you have been an actor was -abominably planned, and more abominably executed. The most drivelling -intelligence should have seen peril staring out from every infantile -move made by you and this stupendous blunderer Hirst. You have taken -an old, time-worn plan, teeming with dangers, and, not content with its -frightful hazards, you and this witless Hirst have added one complicated -peril after another until you have finally constructed a masterpiece of -idiocy that in its complex nonsense approaches the sublime. - -“I wonder, sir, that you have not gone to the authorities and requested -an execution. It would be a fitting sequel to your atrocious errors.” - -The face of the counsellor was ugly with a sneer. - -“Your seeking counsel at once stands out as your one intelligent act. -It is marvellous discretion, Judged by your narrative; marvellous and -unexpected. Let us hope that your period of mental aberration is past.” - -Then he arose and stood looking down at the man who, like many another, -had striven to throw the machinery of human justice out of its proper -gear, and had simply succeeded in tangling himself in its complicated -wheels. - -“In order to save you now,” said Randolph Mason, “we must move quickly. -These great insurance companies have the ablest detective service of the -world. With such a bungle as you have made, it is merely a question of a -few weeks until they will succeed in fastening this murder upon you, not -directly perhaps, but sufficiently to warrant your arrest, and then you -must take your hazards with a jury. The man who to-day hopes to cover -his crime well enough to baffle the keen and tireless search of a great -life insurance company must be governed by something vastly nearer to an -intelligence than that upon which you and the decedent Hirst depended. - -“At this stage of your blunder there are but two ways by which it is -possible to put you absolutely beyond the reach of the law. Death is one -way, and we will pass that. The other I am now going to bring to your -aid. With it the greatest care and haste are vital. At nine to-night you -must be here prepared to put yourself wholly in my hands. I shall have -every arrangement complete by that time.” - -Mason stopped short, and put his hand down heavily upon the table. - -“Now, sir,” he said, bluntly, “it will be entirely useless for me to -attempt the drastic measures necessary in your case unless you are -prepared to act under my fingers like a machine. Can you do that?” - -“Yes,” said the man, wiping the perspiration from his face. - -“Then,” said Randolph Mason, opening the door of his private office, “go -down to your hotel and sleep; and if you please, sir, do not think, or, -to be more accurate, do not attempt to think. Your thoughts, as has been -demonstrated, are of no value to you, and I assure you, sir, they will -be quite useless to me.” - -Then he closed the door after the departing criminal and went back to -his desk. - - - - -III - -THE sheriff was riding slowly down the narrow mountain road to the ford -over Tug River,--“Jim's Ford” the natives of McDowell had dubbed this -crossing far back when the dry ginseng root was a legal tender for all -debts public and private southwest, as the crow flies, from the county -of Mercer. Whence the name had come, and by reason of what, tradition -was silent. No doubt the original Jim had dwelt in this rugged gorge, -and by accidental hap had given his name to this rocky ford that lived -on and proclaimed him long after the man had passed out into the hands -of the Wind. - -To the negro miner, seven miles up at the town of Welch, this rugged -crossing, studded with great bowlders, was respectfully referred to as -“Hell's Gap,”--respectfully, for no other reason than that the negroes -were superstitious, and the mammoth gorge, silent as the grave floor, -and deep and foggy except in the long summer afternoons, was calculated -to conjure every grim phantom set down in the African catalogue. - -The sheriff pulled up his “dun” horse suddenly, and threw his leg over -the pommel of his saddle. Just below him in the ford of the river was -a man wading out into the water,--a tall mountaineer, bare-headed, his -dress indicating a rather equal compromise between the barbarity of the -village and the barbarity of the mountain. For upper garment he wore the -red-fringed hunting shirt of his fathers and his grandfathers and on; -and for nether garment, the blue overalls purchased at the country store -for a haunch of venison or a bundle of hides. The mountaineer was tall, -rugged, and powerful,--a proper inhabitant for such a place. - -“Spitler Hamrick,” murmured the sheriff. - -“By every limping god! The toughest pine knot in the mountains of -McDowell. I wonder what the old wolf is looking for.” - -Then he tightened his knee on the pommel of the saddle and a slow smile -crept over the features of the sheriff. “By my troth'” he drawled, “it -is certain that Spitler is no Vere de Vere. Still, if blue blood ran -to back, and bunches of muscles on the shoulders, Spitler's claim to -princely lineage would be unquestioned.” - -White Carter stopped short, and adjusted his eye-glasses. The -mountaineer had gathered up a bundle from the river and was turning to -wade ashore. The man did not at once see the sheriff; he was looking -down into the water in order to avoid slipping on the smooth stones. -When he stepped on to the rocky bank of the river, the sheriff called. -At the sound, the mountaineer dropped the bundle and jerked up a -Winchester that lay nearby against a bowlder. It was an act after the -custom of the mountains. One armed himself first, and observed the “lay -of the land” afterwards. - -White Carter remained perfectly motionless. “I would n't shoot, -Spitler,” he drawled, “it's vulgar.” - -The mountaineer dropped the butt of his rifle on the stones, and looked -up in astonishment. “Smoky hell!” ejaculated the mountaineer, “it air -the sheriff. Smoky hell!” The refrain was a nervous idiom with Spitler -Hamrick. - -White Carter put his hand into the pocket of his coat, took out a -pipe, knocked the ashes from the bowl and began to fill it with -great deliberation. This act, remaining after the red man had passed, -proclaimed a status of dignified truce. - -The play of action faded from Hamrick's face, leaving it stolid, heavy, -prodigiously indifferent. It was the mountain's stamp on its minion, the -silence, and the abominable indifference of the rugged earth ground into -the faces of the men who struggle for life on her stony breast. - -“Hot,” observed the sheriff, crowding the bowl of his pipe and thrusting -the tobacco down with his broad thumb. - -The mountaineer folded his arms over the muzzle of his rifle and leaned -upon it heavily. - -“Yas,” he responded, “warmish,” - -It was the full measure of salutation, and the full measure of -introduction to all matters, important or unimportant, on the watershed -of the Alleghanies. In the mountains no man hurried with his speech. -There was time to be fully understood, and time to answer fully; then -what one did afterwards, one was not so likely to regret. In the flat -lands men are not so wise, perhaps. - -The sheriff struck a match on his saddle skirt, lighted his pipe, and -puffed a cloud of blue smoke rings out over the placid ears of the -“murky dun.” Presently he took the pipe stem from between his teeth and -looked down at the solitary proprietor of Jim's Ford. - -“Spitler,” he drawled, “what 's in the bundle?” - -“Ye kin look,” responded the mountaineer with prodigious unconcern. - -The sheriff replaced his pipe and lapsed into silence for a moment. Then -he said: - -“Where did you find it, Spitler?” - -“I reckin ye saw,” replied the scion of the house of Hamrick. - -The guardian of order looked up at the blue sky over the top of his nose -glasses. Then he looked down. “Spitler,”--he said softly. - -The mountaineer interrupted. “Sheriff,” he growled, “old Spitler Hamrick -don't stand no shammackin' round the bush. Smoky hell! He aint never -stood it. Things air goin' to be like this: ye kin mosey' down here and -git this bundle, air ye kin ride on. But ye can't set on you hoss and -jaw. Smoky hell! Ye can't set on you hoss and jaw.” - -There was no circumlocution, no trick of equivocation, no shadow of -obscurity in the speech of the denizen of Hell's Gap He used words for -the purpose of expressing exactly what he believed to be true, and for -no other purpose. This the sheriff knew, and others had learned and -remembered by certain long glistening scars, covered afterward with the -red flannel of their hunting shirts. - -White Carter removed his knee from the pommel of his saddle and slipped -down to the ground. Here he paused for a moment, knocked the ashes from -his pipe and replaced it in his pocket. Then he clambered down the steep -bank to the river. The proprietor of Jim's Ford looked on with mighty -indifference. The sheriff took up the bundle without a word, returned to -his horse, and unbuckling the “throat latch” of his bridle, strapped the -bundle to the horn of his saddle. Then he placed his right foot in the -stirrup and turned to the mountaineer. - -“Spitler,” he drawled, “we found a dead man in Tug the other day. I -think this is his coat.” - -The mountaineer looked up from the muzzle of his Winchester. “Were there -lead in him?” he asked. - -The sheriff flung his leg over the saddle and gathered up his bridle -from the horse's neck. - -“No bullet holes,” he answered. - -“Then,” said the giant Hamrick, “he were not killed in the hills.” - - - - -IV - -IT was the first Monday of July, and the grand inquisitors of the -county of McDowell were in laborious session. It was hot in Welch,--so -hot that the sheriff had purchased a linen coat and departed for -Atlantic City on a ten-dollar excursion, leaving the deputy, Salathiel -Jenkins, to swelter with the grand jury. So hot that J. E. B. Huron, -prosecuting attorney by selection of the Commonwealth, resorted to -expressions not quite profane but nipping close to the border. So hot -that the foreman from Charity Fork made continual odious reference -to that historic locality over which Lazarus passed in the bosom of -Abraham. - -The grand jury was a body mightily out of harmony with its inquisitorial -affairs, especially on this sweltering Monday when the mercury was -mounting heavenward. The members of the grand jury had removed their -coats, they had unbuttoned their shirts, they had rolled up their -sleeves to the limit over their great brown arms. It was hot--this grand -jury. But it was jovial and good-natured, sixteen freeholders of the -bailiwick turning aside for a day to bolster up the peace and dignity of -the State. The characteristic apparel of the farmer, the hunter, and the -miner was on this grand jury, but there were no collars; not even the -“biled shirt” of notorious report. If one had spoken of a haberdasher or -essayed to enumerate his wares in the land south of Tug River, he would -have been regarded as a purveyor of “green furrin jabber,” or been -pitied as a hopeless victim of idiot mutterings. - -Thus do men hoot the customs of their fellows when in conflict with -their own. One looking at this grand jury as an exhibit would have gone -away regretting that the chief fad of Delilah had not been handed down -in the county of McDowell, just as the jury would have wondered why the -funny little man divided his hair in the middle like a woman and wore a -tight band around his neck and a stiff breastplate of cloth and starch -over his ribs, when he could dress like a Christian, and be comfortable. - -At two o'clock the sage body had concluded its inquisition, and was -resting ponderously while the foreman. Abe Collister, of Charity -Fork, was slowly and with infinite pain affixing his signature to the -indictments. It was no small labor for one whose fingers were thick and -broad and accustomed to implements little slighter in proportion than -the handle of an axe or the stock of a Winchester. - -The facial contortions of this good freeholder as he strove in a -clerical capacity would have won for him applause and fortune and wide -repute in the cast of a comedy. It was Fate's way, better than genius -could imitate, but no audience to see. - -It is the function of bodies of this sort to be severe, and it is their -way to be most amiable. The prosecuting attorney, it was maintained, -ought to know what he wanted. He was paid to know. It was his business. -If he thought it wise to send in witnesses charging one with a crime, -then the charge should be found. This conclusion was a splendid working -hypothesis, pregnant with expedition, but not quite in accord with the -ideal _jus_. - -So the grand jury rested as the afternoon grew apace, while the -scripturian from Charity Fork toiled, and the prosecuting attorney -went down to his office in order to “see if there was anything else he -wanted.” It was at this hour of lull, that a nervous little man hurried -into the office presided over by the industrious daughter of the house -of McFadden, and inquired for Mr. Huron. The red genius replied that he -was busy. According to this oracle, young Mr. Huron was always busy. His -continual status was one of tireless toil,--as continuous as a mortgage, -and as tireless as a gas meter. - -Just then the prosecuting attorney came out on his way to the grand jury -room. The little man rushed up and demanded an immediate audience. The -two returned to the private office and closed the door. Here the little -man looked at his watch and announced that things would have to -be rushed, and launched into the subject. He explained with almost -breathless rapidity that he was a detective from New York, representing -Loomey's Agency. As he talked, he threw back his coat revealing a -badge which Mr. Huron did not stop to examine. He said that he had been -working on the case of Brown Hirst; that he had finally discovered -that Hirst had been murdered, foully murdered by one Robert Gilmore, -president of the Octagon Coal Company; that he had the case tightened -around Gilmore beyond the remotest shadow of probability; that Gilmore, -it seemed, had by some means learned of the damning evidence gathering -against him, and was attempting to fly from the country; that he had -left Philadelphia disguised as a cattle drover, and would pass through -Chares-ton, West Virginia, at midnight on the Chesapeake and Ohio -Railroad, and if he was not then arrested, he would probably escape -entirely, or, at the least, subject his trailer to the expense and the -tedium of an extradition; hence the detective had hurried to Welch in -order to secure an indictment at once and return to Charleston in a -position to arrest the man and hold him under a legal warrant that would -be valid and unquestioned. - -He explained that he must leave at three o'clock in order to reach the -Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in time, and requested that he be permitted -to go at once before the grand-jury, which he had learned was now in -session. - -The prosecuting attorney listened in astonishment, but he was a man -familiar with the startling surprises of criminal investigation, and -he set himself to act with the expedition which the matter required. He -went at once to the grand jury with the detective, and explained that he -had just received information tending to the conclusion that Brown -Hirst had been murdered; that the witness with him was John Bartlett, a -detective from New York, who had worked up the case and would give full -information concerning the facts of the crime. He then added that as Mr. -Bartlett would be compelled to leave within the hour, he would return -to his office and prepare an indictment for murder. In the meantime the -grand jury could determine whether the information was sufficient to -sustain the charge, and, if so, the indictment would be ready and Mr. -Bartlett could return to Charleston without unnecessary delay. - -Then he withdrew, and the grand jury of McDowell, braced by the gust of -sudden sensation, straightway forgot how very warm it was and began to -put itself into a state of ponderous bovine expectancy. - -The witness Bartlett sat down by the table, took out his watch, looked -at it anxiously, then snapped the case and returned it to his pocket. - -The foreman put down his pen very carefully, mopped his wet face with -a great red cotton cloth, and strove to assume the gravity of his -position. - -“Your name's Bartlett, stranger?” said the scripturian, feeling that -it was becoming for him to set the wheels of judicial investigation in -motion, but not quite certain of the method. “You are a detective man: -and I 'low you know all about this here little trouble?” - -The latter part of the query was a stock question with the foreman. All -day long, every crime, from homicide to assault and battery, had been -dubbed by this arch inquisitor as “this here little trouble.” If there -was any big trouble south of Tug River, it was not deemed to be within -the purlieus of the _lex scripta_ or the _lex non scripta_ of the county -of McDowell. - -The detective saw the open opportunity to thrust in his testimony as a -narrative, and seized it. He leaned over on the table, assured himself -of the attention of the jury, and began to talk. - -He told how he had trailed this matter down; how the Octagon Coal -Company was financially on the verge of ruin, and it was his theory that -Gilmore, as president, had been stealing largely from the company; -that Hirst had finally suspected this theft and had summoned Gilmore to -McDowell; how the dangerous man had obeyed the summons, had quarrelled -with Hirst in the office, finally killed him, and in order to cover the -crime had carried the body to the bridge and thrown it over, arranging -the evidence to appear like a suicide. He painted in lurid colors the -desperate character of this man Gilmore; he pointed out how fearful of -arrest the murderer of Hirst was, at that very hour hurrying westward in -order, as he believed, to put himself beyond the reach of the law. - -The witness talked on glib and shrewdly, and while he talked, the jury, -unfamiliar with the rules of evidence, grew indignant and bitter, and -fired with a sense of the gigantic outrage. - -Presently the door opened and the prosecuting attorney entered with the -indictment. - -“Are you ready to vote on the matter, gentlemen?” he asked. - -The foreman nodded slowly. “I guess we are, Jeb,” he answered. - -“Then,” responded the prosecuting attorney, “Mr. Bartlett and myself -will withdraw.” - -The witness arose and followed Mr Huron out of the jury room. - -When the door had closed, the chief inquisitor from Charity Fork picked -up the indictment., turned it over curiously in his ponderous hand, and -then laid it down on the table with the back up. Then he took up his -pen and jabbed it down into the ink pot. - -“Boys,” he observed, cheerily, “the Good Book says, 'None shall escape, -no not one.' What about this here one?” - -“I reckon,” drawled Uriah Coburn, sage and philosopher, and most -venerable member from Injun Run, “I reckon the Good Book air right, I -reckon we better flop him.” - -“Flop” was an accurate idiom in McDowell, and, being translated, meant, -“to throw heavily.” - -To this the grand jury agreed with many and various methods of assent. -So the member from Charity Fork took a new grip on his pen, thrust his -tongue out of the corner of his mouth, and slowly and with great labor -inscribed on the back of the indictment this legend, big with the -injured dignity of the Commonwealth: “A True Bill. Abraham Collister, -Foreman.” - - - - -V - -AT high noon on the following day Salathiel Jenkins, chief deputy of -the absent Carter, was a voluble factor in McDowell. He explained with -many a dash of color just how “me and Bartlett” had taken the fleeing -Gilmore from a midnight train and transported him to the jail at Welch, -where he now languished. How brave they had been, how expeditious, and -how marvellously successful in each of their desperate moves. Salathiel -Jenkins was a young person who considered himself of huge importance to -the economy of nature,--an opinion with which the world at large failed -to concur. The conservative Carter had expressed it all long ago when he -remarked with immense gravity that Salathiel Jenkins was not wise. But -the deputy's potential was high, and he talked. He explained that -the prisoner had employed legal counsel, with whom he had been in -consultation since his arrival in the town. He explained that Mr. -Bartlett had advised the prosecuting attorney to force the case to a -trial at once in order to avoid an application for bail, and in order -to prevent the prisoner from being unduly assisted by any accomplice he -might have in the East. - -He explained that the evidence against Gilmore was overpowering, that -there were witnesses who knew something of the matter, and he had the -subpoenas in his pocket. - -He explained that John Bartlett was the greatest detective in the -Republic, and that the days on earth of Robert Gilmore were growing -lamentably short. The self-importance of young Mr. Jenkins gushed -and bubbled and expanded until it threatened to bulge his anatomical -proportions, and he talked and he talked. He descanted with acrimonious -criticism upon the fact that Mr. Huron had asked for time in which to -examine the evidence, and that he and the great Bartlett had labored to -convince him that the case should be put to trial at once, and that they -had had a lot of trouble, but that it was all right now, and when court -convened in the morning the case would be called and pushed, and -he gloried in the fact that he and Bartlett had assumed large -responsibility for this splendid expedition. - -It thus came about that the court-room was so crowded on the following -morning that the judge as he came down to his bench had literally -to elbow his way through. The details of this morning's procedure -demonstrated that while the deputy Jenkins had talked he had been -telling the truth. After the docket was called, the prosecuting attorney -arose and requested that a jury be empanelled for the trial of the case -of the State vs. Gilmore. - -The judge expressed some surprise at this unusual haste, and intimated -that if an objection was urged he would continue the case to a later day -of the term. To his surprise, however, counsel for Gilmore replied that -he was quite ready for trial. - -Whereupon a jury was had and the case ordered to proceed. The opening -statement of the prosecuting attorney was frank. It gave the history of -the case as he had heard it from Bartlett, admitting freely that he -had been unable to investigate the matter personally, but upon his -information he was convinced that the prisoner was guilty. - -To this the counsel for Gilmore replied that the State was laboring -under a stupendous delusion; that Mr. Gilmore was a gentleman of -standing, and that it would quickly appear that there was no cause for -subjecting his client to the odium of a criminal prosecution. - -The spectators were not a little disgusted with the tame proceedings. -They had expected a keen and spirited struggle with the startling -thrusts and parries of a bitter legal affair. They had hoped to hear the -steel grate, and to see the blades dart forward and bend and fly back, -as the champion of the State and its enemy strove for some master -vantage. They hoped for the fierce interests and the quick sharp thrills -incident to the grim fight of a desperate criminal for his liberty and -his life, and they were disgusted. - -Their strong pugnacious spirit sympathized with Gilmore and damned his -counsel. In the picturesque speech of an auditor from “Dog Skin,” “The -lawyer was a quitter.” - -The case progressed with almost exasperating insipidity. - -The prosecuting attorney proceeded with great deliberation, and with the -air of one who maintains a thunderbolt in reserve. He proved the death -of Brown Hirst by the coroner and others; he introduced the books of the -company showing its financial standing; and put in such other matters of -unimportant evidence as were easily at hand. To all this the counsel for -Gilmore made no objection. To the observer, he was stupidly indifferent. - -The prosecuting attorney then placed the detective John Bartlett on the -stand. Bartlett explained with great volubility that he was a member of -Latency's Detective Agency; that he had learned of the mysterious death -of Brown Hirst, and hoping to obtain the reward offered by Hirst's -widow, had gone to her and requested permission to investigate the case. -He explained that he had learned that the Octagon Coal Company was in -desperate financial straits; that the president, Robert Gilmore, who -resided in the city of Philadelphia, had been in the county of McDowell -on the night of Hirst's death, and from these data he had formulated his -theory to the effect that Gilmore had been stealing from the company; -that this fact had been discovered by Hirst, and that they had come -together in McDowell for the purpose of discussing this matter; that -there the two men had quarrelled, and the result was that Hirst had been -killed and his body thrown into the river, and the evidence of suicide -manufactured by Robert Gilmore. - -The detective explained further that being advised that Robert Gilmore -intended to leave Philadelphia for St. Louis, and fearing that it was -an attempt on the part of the president of the Octagon Coal Company -to escape from the country, he had hurried to McDowell and secured an -indictment. - -Upon cross-examination it at once appeared that this detective had no -knowledge of any fact whatever, but was merely speaking from certain -conclusions which he was pleased to call his theory. The attorney for -the defense moved to strike out the evidence of this witness, which was -accordingly done, much to the chagrin of John Bartlett, detective, and -Salathiel Jenkins, deputy-in-extraordinary to the sheriff of McDowell. - -The prosecuting attorney then proceeded to spring his sensation. -He announced to the court that during the night Gilmore had made a -confession to Mr. Jenkins, the deputy, and that he desired to have -Mr. Jenkins sworn and his testimony introduced. Accordingly the -irrepressible Jenkins, by virtue of an oath properly administered, was -transformed into a witness for the State of West Virginia. - -Before the witness was permitted to launch into his marvellous story of -the self-condemnation of Robert Gilmore, the attorney for the defense -arose and demanded permission to inquire into the circumstances under -which the alleged confession had been obtained. The judge replied that -such inquiry was entirely proper, and the attorney for the defense -began. - -The ways of Providence are without premonition. At the first onslaught -of the attorney for Gilmore, the importance of the testimony of -Salathiel Jenkins vanished like a New Year's resolution. Yes, he had -gone to the prisoner together with John Bartlett; he had explained -that he was the deputy sheriff of the county of McDowell; that he was a -person of influence; that the prisoner was in grave peril; and that, if -a full confession were made, he, Jenkins, would induce the authorities -of the law to deal leniently with the prisoner. He was a person of -importance, he said, and, in the absence of the sheriff, the first -guardian of all the law and order in the county of McDowell; if the -prisoner would confess, he, Salathiel Jenkins, could save him from the -hangman, and he would do it. - -These were the conditions under which the alleged confession was made. - -At this point in his narrative, the attorney for the prisoner stopped -the witness, and objected to the introduction of the confession as -having been improperly obtained. The court very promptly sustained the -objection, and directed the witness to stand aside. - -The prosecuting attorney arose and asked the court to _nolle_ the -indictment and permit the case to be dismissed. The judge reminded him -that the case was at trial, and that such action could not now be taken; -that the request should have been made before a jury was called; it was -now too late, since the control of the cause had passed from the hands -of the State. - -Young Mr. Huron, prosecuting attorney of the county of McDowell, was -lost, rudderless, upon an unknown sea. He arose and explained that he -had not had an opportunity to investigate the evidence; that he had not -spoken with the witnesses; that he had depended upon John Bartlett -and the confession made to Salathiel Jenkins in order to convict the -prisoner, and that, failing with these, he had no further evidence to -introduce. - -The court interrupted this speech of explanation, and reminded the -attorney that the State could not urge such excuses; that the prisoner, -having been put to the hazard of a defense, was entitled to have his -cause legally determined; a _nolle prosequi_ could not now be entered, -and the case must proceed. - -To this the young attorney, having recovered his composure, replied that -the State had nothing more to offer, and resumed his seat. - -The counsel for Gilmore at once moved the court to direct a verdict of -not guilty, which was accordingly done and the prisoner discharged. - -Mystic, and varied, and without premonition are the ways of Providence. -When the negro miner went down into the sunless temples of the earth on -this Wednesday of July, Salathiel Jenkins was a person of high estate, -crowding mightily the orbit of his employer. And when the negro miner -came up at evening, this same Salathiel Jenkins was a crestfallen -underling, shrinking like a rotten value. The ordeal was frightful. The -pride of young Mr. Jenkins had gone through a process of sublimation -most excruciating. And yet how abominably indifferent nature was. The -books in the office of the sheriff were the same. The trees, the river, -and indeed the entire outside world were quite as large as they had -been. Only the importance of the deputy had shrunk, and was shrinking. -Master of folly! Would it stop short of microscopic? The vice of his -yesterday loomed clear-cut like the angles of a wall. He had talked, -talked. It was the deadliest error. In the name of that notorious Simon -of infantile record, was there no God to save the witless from himself? - -The crowd passed out of the court-room, and, sauntering down by the -office of the miserable deputy, paused to harpoon him as it drifted -by. The weather was fine for scaffold building, it observed. Would the -deputy spring the trap in the absence of his chief? it was interested -to know. Could he tie a hangman's knot? Would he be pleased to have the -gracious assistance of his fellows? And more ingenious proddings, while -the weary Jenkins perspired and shrunk, but was silent. This he had -learned: like as the great lessons of life by hap learned too late. - -And that same night John Bartlett and Robert Gilmore hurrying eastward -in a Pullman car on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad remarked with large -favorable comment that the ancient doctrine of _lex vigilantibus non -dormientums subvenit_ was marvellously true in this practical time. - - - - -VI - -ON the night of the seventeenth day of July the judge of the criminal -court of McDowell walked into the office of the sheriff. He was in no -altruistic mood, this jurist. Since his fortunate political affiliations -had thrust him into a high estate his dignity sat upon him heavy as a -fog. He had been sent for. It was thoughtlessness approaching near to -disrespect. When the tall jurist entered, the crowd in the office of -White Carter arose. - -“Judge,” drawled the sheriff, coming forward, “you must pardon the -centurion for taking this liberty with the tribune, but we were holding -a secret war council, and presently required the fountain of law. I am -sure you won't mind, Judge.” - -The fountain of law flung aside his injured feeling with a wave of his -slim hand. - -“It is all right, Carter,” he observed. “But why the conclave? Good men -should be abed.” - -“'Day unto day uttereth speech,'” drawled the sheriff, “and night unto -night showeth knowledge. And just here the hurt lies. The boys have been -crowding the day and shirking the night turn.” - -Then he stepped back by his companions and added: “Young Mr. Huron we -will overlook as familiar in your honor's forum. The other gentleman is -Mr. Hartmyer Belfast, in the secret service of the New York life -insurance companies.” - -The judge nodded cordially and sat down by the table. The others also -resumed their seats, while the sheriff removed his eye-glasses, placed -them carefully on the forefinger of his fat right hand, and began to -explain. - -“While I was absent, I believe, one Robert Gilmore was indicted here and -tried for murder, which trial resulted in a verdict of not guilty, the -evidence being insufficient to sustain the charge. It now appears -that Gilmore did kill Hirst, and that he can now be convicted with the -evidence in the possession of Mr. Belfast and myself.” - -The judge elevated his eyebrows, but volunteered no comment. - -The sheriff continued. “At the time of Hirst's death I was not quite -certain that it was suicide. The coat and vest found on the bridge did -not correspond to the trousers and shoes of the deceased, which were the -ordinary rough articles worn by the miners. There was no explanation for -such dress on the part of Hirst. Later I found a miner's coat at Jim's -Ford which corresponded to the other clothing of Hirst. This coat had -been tied in a bundle and thrown into the river above--probably at the -bridge. Stitched in the lining was a pocket book belonging to Brown -Hirst containing some money and a draft on New York, together with a -memorandum of a number of life insurance policies. These matters led me -to believe that Hirst had planned to secure the insurance on his life by -arranging a counterfeit suicide, but by some means the plan had failed -after the evidence had been prepared and he had come to a violent death, -probably by the hand of another. - -“But the matter was involved in mystery, and I deemed it best to retain -my conclusions until further developments should appear. I wrote to the -various companies with which Hirst was insured, explaining the facts -which I had determined. They replied that the matter was in the hands of -Hartmyer Belfast, their secret agent, and that I would be advised when -the investigation was complete. - -“A few days since the companies wired me that Mr. Belfast might be -expected to appear in my county at any time, and yesterday he called -upon me.” - -The sheriff moved a little closer to the table, and the drawl seemed to -slip out of his speech. - -“It can now be shown that Robert Gilmore came to McDowell for the -purpose of assisting Hirst to manufacture evidence of a suicide; that he -went with him upon the bridge, and after enticing Hirst to the rail of -the bridge, suddenly threw him over into the river. The train men can -be produced who saw Gilmore when he arrived and when he departed on the -night of the murder. All of this evidence has been carefully prepared. -In addition, it can be shown that immediately after his trial, for some -mysterious reason Gilmore went directly to Philadelphia and arranged -for a conference with the widow of Brown Hirst. Of this Mr. Belfast had -notice, and, by request of Mrs. Hirst, he was present, concealed in -an adjoining room. This conference between Gilmore and Mrs. Hirst was -remarkable. The man was deeply affected, and said that he had come to -tell her the entire history of his villainy, because he loved her, had -loved her always, and now knew that he could never have her. Whereupon -he explained that Hirst and himself had planned to rob the insurance -companies; that Hirst's marriage to her was part of the scheme, but -that he, Gilmore, had grown to love her, and to regret his action in -procuring the marriage, and so frightfully had this grown upon him that -finally he had killed Hirst. - -“He then explained the minute circumstances of the death, adding that he -had been tried and acquitted, and would now leave the country, but that -something in his bosom would not rest until he had told her the entire -truth. So we have now, I judge, a complete case, together with the -confession, which, I am told, will be quite proper evidence, and -with such a case there can now be nothing in the way of Gilmore's -conviction.” - -“Nothing at all,” observed the judge, dryly, “except the Constitution of -the United States of America.” - -The sheriff sat down suddenly and replaced the eye-glasses on his fat -nose. - -“You mean,” said the prosecuting attorney, “that the prisoner cannot be -put twice in jeopardy for the same offense?” - -“Unless,” responded the judge, “the judicial machinery in McDowell can -be held exempt from the Constitution of the State and the Constitution -of the Federal Government, a conclusion,” he added, with prodigious -gravity, “in which I should rather hesitate to concur upon a casual -hearing. Having been once properly tried for murder, this man cannot be -again tried for the same offense.” - -“It has been held,” said the prosecuting attorney, “that where the first -trial was procured by the fraud of the prisoner, the case did not come -within the provisions of the Constitution.” - -“True,” replied the judge, “there is an early case in Virginia, and -later cases of record, but the fraud must be gross and apparent. What -fraud could be shown here? The indictment was properly found, the trial -was regular, no suspicion of conspiracy attaches to the officers of the -State, nor can it be shown that even misstatements were made, unless -a plain conspiracy can be shown on the part of this detective, John -Bartlett.” Then he turned to the secret agent of the life insurance -companies. “How about this Bartlett?” he asked. - -“So far as I can learn,” replied the detective, “Bartlett made no false -statements. He is a member of Loomey's Agency in New York. It is true -that he called on Mrs. Hirst and requested permission to investigate the -case. What he stated to the prosecuting attorney as facts were facts. -Of course, his theory was wrong, and his deductions incorrect; but for -these, I presume, he could not be held responsible. I have investigated -the matter with care, and while it is extremely probable that this trial -was shrewdly procured by Gilmore, yet it has been so skilfully handled -that no fraudulent proceeding could be shown on the part of Bartlett, -although I am quite certain of his villainy.” - -The sheriff rubbed his hands with the bland unction of a Hebrew at a -“fire sale.” - -“Jeb,” he drawled, “I guess you're it. I guess the thing is all over but -the shouting.” - -“Well,” responded the prosecutor, “I judge there are others. How about -the lamented Jenkins, erstwhile representative of the sheriff of -McDowell? Is the young man Absalom safe?” - -A faint ripple of merriment spread over the fat face of the sheriff. -“Boys,” he mused, “it was a keen flim-flam. Let us quietly disperse, and -endeavor to live it down.” Then he added wearily. “It may be good to be -good, but it is safer to be smooth.” - -The judge arose. “Mr. Gilmore has been tried and acquitted,” he -observed. “The record is complete. He cannot be held again to answer -for this crime, even though he be pleased to proclaim his guilt from the -housetops.” - -“Then,” said the detective, with the dreary deliberation of one retiring -from a failing cause, “this murderer cannot be punished.” - -The dreamy blue eyes of White Carter swam listlessly - -“Perhaps,” he drawled, “when the gentleman shall have passed the -melancholy flood with that grim ferryman whom poets write of unto the -Kingdom of Perpetual Night.” - -_(See Code of West Virginia, Chap, cxxiv., Sec. 14, Chap, cvi., Sec. 25; -also Chap. cxxv. See any good text book on Landlord and Tenant. The -case also of Martin Admix vs. Smith it al., 25 West Virginia, 579, and -casts cited.)_ - - - - -THE GRAZIER - - - - -I - -THE driller of the Bonnie Mag No. 3 had been keeping his weather eye -on the public road all the long summer afternoon; exacting and laborious -duties had obtained under the shadow of the oil derrick on this -nineteenth day of August, quite sufficient to have distracted the -attention of the ordinary man, but through it all the driller had -maintained his watch. The pumper, a grimy mortal, who regarded the -monster oil company as the sole and omnipotent power of the universe, -had marked this apparent anxiety of the driller, and inquired, with some -trace of humor, if that gentleman was expecting to see grease gush -up out of the road. To which the driller had responded with barbaric -profanity that the pumper had been employed to pump, and that he might -hold his position by holding his tongue, but not otherwise. A suggestion -that banished all levity from the speech of the pumper. Besides, there -was a red glint in the eyes of the driller, and the underling of the -great oil company appreciated perfectly the full significance of the -sign. He had noticed it before on divers eventful occasions, especially -on a certain morning when being interrupted by an order of the Circuit -Court, the driller had promptly suggested to the deputy sheriff that -he might go to the infernal regions with his injunction; and instead of -suspending operations until the legal forum could determine the title -to the realty, he had complied with his contract by pushing his well -through to the Gordon sand. - -It was true indeed that the Circuit Court had attached t he body of the -driller and bringing him up before its august presence fined him two -hundred dollars for contempt, but the old man had paid over the money -without the hesitation of a moment and immediately thereafter consigned -the Circuit Court to the same heated region originally suggested to the -deputy sheriff. - -The sun had gone down, and the twilight was beginning to gather on the -oil field. The shadows darkened across the long sloping valley, and the -great derricks in the half light looked dark and gaunt and threatening -like some grim engines of war. It was now difficult to observe the -highway from the oil wells far up on the hill side, and the driller, -who evidently intended to maintain his surveillance of the county -thoroughfare at any cost, stepped out from the shadow of the derrick and -began to wipe his hands on the grass; when he had finished he turned to -the pumper. “Just keep your eye on that cable,” he said curtly, “I'll be -back when you see me coming.” Then he turned and walked slowly down the -path to the road. - -The soft breath of wind creeping up from the North through the rift in -the low hills brought with it no sound, save the dull ceaseless thump -of the engines drawing streams of liquid wealth from a thousand narrow -arteries leading down into the bosom of the earth. This great industry, -not content with changing the civilization, had changed also the very -face of the land; two years before this fluttering summer breeze had -carried with it the murmur of ripening corn fields, the sweet odor of -quiet pasture land where herds of fattening cattle wandered through -fields of blue grass. Now, the lands were marked with wagon roads, -studded with the rough shanties of the pumpers and the gigantic wooden -tanks of the great oil companies; and here and there, like the twisted -ugly back of some huge serpent, a black pipe line stretched its -interminable length across the broken country. Greed ruled the world, -and beauty, like many another gift of nature, was battered out under his -hammer. - -The oil driller stopped at the road side and leaned his long body on the -rail fence. He was a thin, old man, with sharp, emaciated features, his -hair and iron-gray beard were matted with oil, and his long arms, bare -to the elbow and burned black by the sun, glistened greasy as the piston -of his engine. The ancient workman kept his watch in dead silence, and -beyond this his face showed no interest. This man belonged to that iron -type upon which the world has depended so much for its civilization, -that type which no matter where placed toils on in its station like -a machine, unquestioning, tireless, reliable as a law. In the rank of -their legions it had extended the rule of the Caesars; on the broad -decks of the men-of-war it had widened the dominion of Great Britain; -and in the mines and mills and forests of America it had reared and -maintained and enriched a Republic; growing greater than them all. - -Presently in the deepening twilight a huge shadow appeared at the foot -of the long hill, and the driller heard distinctly the sound of a horse -coming leisurely up the sandy road. As it approached, the indefinite -shadow took on a clear and decided outline, until one in the position -of the driller could have seen that it was an enormous man, riding a -red roan horse. The man was leaning forward, his head down and his hands -resting on the pommel of his saddle, while the bridle reins dangled -loose in his fingers. When they were opposite, the driller spoke. - -“Is that you, Alshire?” he said. - -The giant threw bark his great shoulders and stopped his horse with -a wrench on the bridle “Morg Gaston!” he announced with some trace of -surprise in his voice, then he added, half-apologetically, “what's the -good word with you?” - -The driller climbed heavily over the big staked-and-ridered fence, “I -saw you go down this morning,” he said, “and I have been watching for -you back; I want to tell you something.” - -Then he came over to the middle of the road and rested his greasy chin -on the mane of the red roan. - -“Hell of a high horse,” said the driller. - -“Seventeen hands,” responded the giant. - -The old man ran his eyes slowly over the immense proportions of the -traveller, his deep, powerful chest, his broad, thick shoulders and his -massive limbs almost grotesquely huge. - -“You are not little yourself,” he observed, as though announcing a -discovery, “and I am darned glad of it, leastways I was darned glad of -it that morning old Ward's rotten derrick blowed down, and you chanced -along and lifted her off me. I was pinned under them timbers like a -rat.” - -The man laughed, but his face in the dark was not merry. The driller -extended his close inspection to the horse; when he had finished he -stepped back in the road and an expression of intense admiration spread -itself over his rugged features. - -“By jolly!” he said, “you are a pair to draw to.” - -The giant patted the withers of the great horse. - -“Cardinal is a good colt,” he replied, “good as they grow.” - -The driller stood for some moments gazing almost worshipfully at the -pair; then he straightened suddenly and coming up close to the horse -rested his arms, wet with petroleum, on the pommel of the saddle. - -“Alshire,” he said, lowering his voice, “the Company thinks there is -grease under your land. I was up to see the manager last night, and -while I was there the engineers came in with the maps, and they all -agreed that the head of the pool was about under your farm. You are -nigh on to three miles east of the development, but the belt is surely -running your way; this here last well that the Company plugged is forty -barrels better than the No. 1 five hundred feet west; and I'll tell -you another thing, there ain't no more boring in this region until the -Company gets its clutches on all this land laying to the east, yours -included. My instructions is to make this last one dry, and move over -into Ohio.” - -The great Alshire bent over and placed his broad hand on the greasy -arm of the driller. “I'm obliged to you, Morg,” he said slowly. “I'll -lookout.” - -“By jolly!” continued the old workman, “you better had, they are a -smooth set of divels, and whatever you do, keep your mouth plugged. I -ain't never given the Company the double cross before, but I could n't -see them skin you, by jolly, I could n't!” - -The old driller spoke rapidly, as though half ashamed of his treason, -and when he had finished turned and began climbing the high fence. - -“Morg,” called the giant. “Morg.” - -“That's all right,” answered the driller, as he vanished up the dark -hill side, “just keep your mouth plugged; that's all right.” - -The giant touched his horse in the flank with his heel and rode on. - -Rufus Alshire was a grazier, a business almost exclusively followed in -this magnificent grass country. Many years before, his greatgrandfather, -an English Tory, had fled into this inland country in order to escape -certain unpleasant relations with the colonial government. Here he had -builded an enormous log manor-house, and surrounding himself with rather -worthless retainers, maintained a sort of baronial existence. Others -followed, and after a time the country was cleared and came to be -divided into great tracts of pasture land, owned by these powerful -families. But the elements of the feudal system, although suffering some -modifications, remained. The tenants were, for the most part, born and -reared on the stock land, and were almost fixtures. - -The descendants of this independent ancestry continued to reside as near -to the central part of their estate as possible, and maintained huge -residences, rough at times and not quite comfortable perhaps, but always -enormous. The nature of the country being especially adapted to the -fattening of beef cattle, this industry soon came to be the exclusive -business of this powerful people. It was a profitable and supremely -independent industry, and gave wide play to the baronial instincts of -the Anglo-Saxon; who, even after the golden time of his race had gone -out so many hundred years, still loved the open sky, and the blue hills, -and the monster oak trees, and hated in his heart with a stubborn bitter -spirit of rebellion the least shadow of restraint. He was willing to -serve God if need be, but while he lived he would not serve men. In -stature the descendants of the long dead Saxon were huge specimens -of the race, almost as big of limb as the fabled barbarians of Lygia; -powerful men, whom close and intimate relations with the mother nature -kept strong and immensely vital to the very evening of life. But withal -the hospitality of the Saxon was profligate, his impulses were kindly, -and he was quite content to leave the affairs of government and the -problems of civilization to other hands, provided the minions of these -powers held their feet back from his soil. - -The twilight had deepened into night; on the crest of the far-off hills -the great oak trees stood outlined against the sky like mighty silent -figures waiting for some mystic word that should call them into life. - -The rim of the moon was rising slowly from behind the oil field, red -like battered brass; the road, covered with shifting light and shadow, -stretched across the rolling country like a silver ribbon. The grazier -rode slowly, his hands hanging idly at his sides, and his face set with -deep thought; from time to time he raised his ponderous right hand and -struck it heavily against the tree of his saddle as though to indicate -thereby some important decision finally reached, but as often he dropped -the hand back to its place. - -The important information of the oil driller had added a mighty element -to the matters with which he was evidently concerned. The horse, left to -his own inclinations, quickened his pace and presently the shadow of a -huge house loomed upon the crest of the hill at the roadside. The horse -stopped at the gate, and the man. aroused from his reverie, dismounted -slowly, and opening the gate led the horse through; as he closed the -gate he stopped for a moment and rested his enormous elbow on the -latch. “Well,” he said, as though announcing his temporary conclusion to -himself, “I'll ship the cattle to-morrow, and I'll see Jerry.” - - - - -II - -FROM the earliest record of events, either sacred or profane, the genus -Bos has been associated with the history of the landowner. The Ancient -Egyptian saw in him certain traces of divinity, and honored it with -proper recognition. The lamented Job, erstwhile poet of calamity, -found time amid the recording of his numerous disasters to set down -his venerable appreciation of the species; and the pagan Homer, while -singing of gods and men, remembered to sing also the virtues of the -noble bullock; and the painters, too, from Claude Lorraine to Rosa -Bonheur, have deigned to consider the artistic importance of the -domesticated kine; treating him first as a necessary adjunct to a -landscape, and later as a central figure in the scene. He has had his -part, say the records, not infrequently with the plans of men, virtuous -and otherwise. A certain wily barbaric general used him well in a -difficult emergency, and the patriarch Jacob used him in a shrewd -physiological experiment, which he had probably learned at Padan-aram -in his salad days; an experiment that added much to the worldly worth of -the good father, but detracted not a little from his fame. - -When the sun climbed up from behind the broad eastern hillside on the -following morning it looked down upon Rufus Alshire, who, far more -expeditious than itself, had already set himself to the affairs of the -day; before the dawn he had brought the cattle from their beds in the -cool pasture land, weighed them at his scales and turned them out in the -road on their journey to the shipping station some ten miles away. The -herd strayed leisurely along the highway. The giant Alshire rode through -the drove, keeping the bullocks moving slowly; while following the herd -barefoot in the dust, was one of his retainers, a half-witted youth, -wearing an ancient straw hat, a shirt originally of the material called -“hickory,” but now patched in variegated colors, and blue cloth trousers -well worn and frayed. As the youth tramped along he sang in a high -piping voice one of those simple little songs which the playing children -sing, and by way of illustration danced up and down and whipped the dust -with a long hickory switch. On his heart was no shadow of the cares of -men, and for this reason, perhaps, under his torn shirt was two-thirds -of the happiness of the world. - -As the herd wandered along under the great oaks that lined the roadway -and the rays of the morning sun crept down through the green leaves, -making queer mottled spots on the sleek cattle and brilliant shifting -patches on the dewy grass, one looking on could easily have come to -believe that the world had turned back some several hundred years, and -this was a grassy forest glade of merry England, and the herd, cattle -of the gruff, gigantic Saxon who rode among them on his huge red horse, -scowling under his black brows and cursing by St. Withold and St. -Dunstan and the soul of Hengist the evil times of the Conqueror that -forced him to drive his herd into the thick forest at daybreak in order -to preserve it from the marauding cut-throats of a Norman baron; and -he would have looked close for great stones half-bedded in the moss, -lasting monuments to the weird and bloody rites of some stern Druid -colony long dead; and then glanced up sharply to see if that patch -of thicker green in the deeper woods were not indeed the coat of some -gallant outlaw whose bosom was English, and who stood ready with his -yew bow and his cloth-yard shaft to join the huge Saxon in his stubborn -fight against the bloody followers of Duke William of Normandy; and when -the herd had wandered by one would have leaned over in the road to see -if there was not a brass collar soldered fast around the neck of the -happy cowherd, graven in Saxon letters with this inscription: “Zaak, the -son of Jonas, is thrall to Rufus of Alshire.” - -The cheery sunshine under the dear arch of blue, with its homely noises -of awakening life and its cool breath, ladened with the fresh odor -wafted from meadows of clover springing up with sweet new blossom after -the harvest, all so conducive to careless, joyous existence, failed -utterly to remove any portion of the anxiety from the face of the -grazier. - -He sat listlessly in his saddle, with his gray eyes half-closed and the -muscles of his face drawn down in furrows; the red roan, trained from -his colt days, assumed the duties of his master, and moved carefully -among the cattle; his equine intelligence appreciating that it was a -part of his duty to the indolent master, to see that the drove kept -moving slowly, and that no bullock stopped to crop the wet grass by the -roadside, or fight with his fellow. - -The watches of the night had brought to Rufus Alshire no solution of the -matter with which he had struggled so persistently during the evening -before. He was acting, it was true, upon his temporary plan, but that -seemed but an incident in the main vexatious problem. - -The giant was now entirely oblivious of his environment, and deep in his -troublous matter he spoke aloud. “If I could only hold the title,” he -muttered, and then, as if realizing the folly of his hope, he gripped -the tree of his saddle with his hand and straightened his mighty foot -suddenly in the stirrup. The leather snapped under the great weight, and -the iron stirrup dropped into the road. The red roan stopped short, and -the huge Alshire, pronouncing some severe malediction on his ponderous -size, dismounted, picked up the stirrup and tied it to the strap. Then -he slipped the bridle rein over his aim and, walking along beside the -horse, began to examine the herd with the critical eye of an expert, and -comment thereon with the artlessness of a child. - -“Beef for the British.” he said, “and as good beef as John Bull ever put -under his ribs. They are broad on the backs and deep in the brisket and -heavy in the quarters, and every black calf of them made the beam kick -sixteen hundred pounds.” - -The grazier slapped his horse fondly on the neck. “They 'll please the -Jews, won't they, boy?” The red roan pricked up his ears and rubbed his -nose against his master's arm, as though this statement was quite in -accord with his own private views of the matter. “They will ship well -over the sea.” The giant laughed. “And by gad! if the rotten ships hold -together the black brutes will get a blamed sight nearer to the Queen -than most of the little snobs ambling around in the East.” - -The herd of Rufus Alshire belonged to that species of beef cattle -termed Polled-Angus, native to the lowlands of Scotland; a breed of -comparatively recent importation. They were fine bullocks, full, round, -and comely in form; hornless, trim of head and neck, and with coats as -black as the fabled spirit of midnight. The law of natural selection had -finally indicated this breed as best adapted to the conditions of the -West Virginia grazier. It was hardy, easily maintained, and endured the -rigor of the winter without distress, beside it was quick to mature and -gained flesh rapidly, and then, too, the absence of horns rendered it -easier to handle and far less dangerous. - -The horn, a necessary and powerful weapon in the wild state, was in the -state of domestication a useless incumbrance Hence nature, laboring for -the convenience of men, thrust in and produced the Polled-Angus. - -The business of the grazier had been progressive. The powerful -landowner, who in the autumn purchased his cattle from the stockmen of -the interior counties, had ever encouraged the cultivation of the breed. -For many years the short horn Durham had been the great cattle of this -inland country. It was an old race; old in England when the Scandinavian -and the Dane swarmed over the river Tees. But the breed, though -excellent, was rather slow to mature and not adapted to severe winters, -and the breeder awakened to the needs of his market and casting about -for an animal better adapted to his uses chanced upon the Hereford, -first imported by the elder Clay of Kentucky. And the Hereford became -the chief bovine of the grazier. He was old, too; old on the north side -of the river Wye in the tenth century, and ancient of record, it is -said, in the law of Howell the Good; but while a fine beef animal, he -preserved one defect, the massive horn. Still he maintained his place, -until on a certain autumn morning at a fat cattle show in Chicago, -the good wife of a powerful Virginia grazier, on a quest for the ideal -bullock, pointed down into the stock ring at the splendid Polled-Angus -and said, “There he is, but he don't look human.” And there he was -indeed, broad, and shiny black, and hornless as a man's palm--nature's -answer to the breeder's dream. - -The great tawny sun climbed high in the heavens; the heat of the day -settled down over the living earth like an invisible mantle; the crisp -freshness of the morning breeze had given place to the monotonous hot -air of midday. The dust arose in clouds from under the feet of the herd, -and the cattle themselves, warm and vexed with the irksome travel, were -restless and difficult to control. The great Al-shire and his huge horse -moved here and there through the drove, white with dust; while the happy -thrall plodded along behind the herd, whistling merrily and turning from -time to time to strike some lagging bullock, and shout with childish -glee “Go along you fat feller; to-night you will ride on the steam-cars, -and to-morrow the British will eat you.” And passing a slight inaccuracy -in the matter of time, the witless Zaak was entirely correct. To him -the steam-cars were marvels from wonderland, and the British was some -far-away gigantic monster with a mighty, insatiate maw. - - - - -III - -THE young man closed the door to the private writing-room of the club, -and coming back to the table drew a chair up beside his companion and -sat down. - -“Rufus,” he said, “how did you get in so deep?” - -“Well,” responded the grazier, looking down at the floor. “I am an ass, -Jerry, just a natural ass. I was all right, doing well and living like -a lord, until I endorsed for that lumber company. When it grew shaky, -I tried to save myself by borrowing money and holding it up until the -panic was over, but I could n't do it, and when the thing failed I had -the notes to meet. I did n't want to be sued, so I borrowed the money. -It was a big sum, almost as big as I was worth, but I thought that the -men from whom I borrowed the money would not push me, and that probably -I could pull through some way. I might have known that the crash would -come, but it is natural, I judge, to postpone the evil day.” - -“Have your creditors instituted legal proceedings?” asked the young man. - -“Not yet,” replied Alshire. “On Thursday I was at the county seat -looking after my taxes, and while there William Farras, who is a local -manager for the oil company, took me aside and said that through some -business transactions my notes had come into his hands, and added that -he hoped that I was in a position to pay them, as he was hard up and -would require a considerable sum of money at once. On the way home in -the evening I had the conversation with the driller of which I have -spoken; and his statement made the scheme as plain as day light. The -company believes that the pool is under my land, and, wishing to secure -the property, it has bought up my outstanding notes. The plan is to sue -me at once, sell the land, and buy it in.” - -The giant spoke slowly, the great muscles of his face set, and his eyes -hard. He raised his ponderous clenched hand and brought it slowly down -on his knee. “I shipped the cattle,” he added, “to prevent their being -attached, and I have gone over the whole thing from end to end, and by -every devil in hell I don't see any way to stop their game.” - -Jerry Van Meter arose and went over to the window. He was mightily -affected by the hopeless position of his friend, and in his breast his -heart was heavy. The condition of things was reversed. From his very -babyhood he had gone to the giant with his troubles, and the giant -had always found some way out. Now the man had come to him, and he was -helpless. He looked at the huge grazier sitting motionless with his face -in his hands, and the tears gathered in his eyes. Van Meter knew too -much of the world not to know that the man was ruined. Finally he turned -to his companion. - -“Rufus,” he said, “we will walk down to my office and see what can be -done.” - -It was merely a weakling move for delay. In his heart the young man knew -that the matter was hopeless. - -The two men arose and passed out of the club. - -The life of Jerry Van Meter had been crowded with events quite as varied -and rapid of incident as that of Sinbad the Sailor. His parents, who -resided on a small farm near Rufus Alshire's estate, had died when the -child Jerry was quite an infant, and the huge grazier had assumed -the guardianship of the youth. Under his direction the boy had been -educated, and finally installed as a bank clerk in one of the small -towns. But the spirit of adventure was big in the breast of the youthful -Jerry, and one morning he closed the ledger carefully and vanished into -the Northwest. Here he pulled teeth for an itinerant dentist, drummed -for a soap house, and travelled with a circus. But he had a fortunate -star, not at all times obscured; and when the boom struck St. Paul, -Jerry drifted in, bought far and wide, and carried out with him ten -thousand dollars in gold, which he promptly dropped in a bucket-shop -in Chicago. A letter to the good genius Alshire brought a check for one -hundred dollars and nine pages of advice. - -With this money in his pocket, Jerry passed over on to the Pacific -coast. Here he mixed drinks in a bar-room, and officiated in the -important capacity of night clerk to a restaurant, until his star came -up again, and when it did, Jerry chanced on an abandoned claim that -netted him seven thousand dollars. He returned to Alshire the one -hundred dollars and the well-worn but badly-heeded letter of advice, -and set out for the East. In St. Louis he became deeply interested -in certain horse races, and ten days later he landed in the Virginias -bronzed, bearded, and broke. The giant Alshire laughed at the escapades -of this youth until his sides ached, gave him another check and the -ancient letter of advice with various amendments, and the restless Mr. -Van Meter dropped down into the metropolis of New York. Here his star -gave evidences of constancy, and he became an insurance broker and a man -of affairs. - -The two men walked slowly down the steps of the club and across the busy -thoroughfare. As they stepped up or the opposite curb they were startled -by a sharp cry, and turning suddenly they saw a little man stumble and -fall forward in the street directly in front of an approaching mail -wagon. The great horses were almost upon him, bearing down in a long -sweeping trot. The driver at the moment was not looking, but it was too -late for him to prevent the impending accident even if he had been. The -giant Alshire ran out into the street, caught the horses and threw his -ponderous weight against the iron bits. The heavy Percherons reared -and fell back on their haunches, the tongue of the wagon shot forward, -grazing the giant's shoulder, and the wheels stopped for a moment almost -against the body of the prostrate man. In that moment Van Meter dragged -the hapless pedestrian from beneath the belly of the horses. The giant -stepped quickly aside, and the horses, plunging forward heavily on the -cobble stones, passed on down the street, while the half-dazed driver -did not even look back to ascertain what had really occurred. - -The little man wiped the dust from his hat with the sleeve of his coat -and looked up at his deliverers. - -“Well,” he said, “Randolph Mason came near to losing his clerk. I guess -I stumbled on that infernal rail.” - -A great light came into the face of Jerry Van Meter. He came up close -to the little man and caught him by the shoulder. “Randolph Mason!” he -said, “Is Randolph Mason in New York?” - -“Yes,” responded the little man. “I am his clerk. Parks is my name. Mr. -Mason is here, but----” Then he stopped short. - -The now excited Van Meter shook the little man almost roughly by the -shoulder. - -“Good,” he cried, “good, we must see him at once.” - -The clerk Parks looked down at his soiled clothes and the dust on his -bruised hands. - -“Gentlemen,” he said slowly, “it is against the strict order of the -physicians, but, under the circumstances, I don't quite see how I am -going to refuse.” - - - - -IV - -RANDOLPH MASON leaned forward and struck his hand heavily on the arm of -his chair. - -“Forty thousand,” he said sharply, “you owe that sum, sir?” His face -looked old, sunken, and furrowed with heavy dark lines, but his eyes -shone under his shaggy brows. - -“Yes,” responded the grazier, “fully that much.” - -“To secure that amount in cash,” continued Mason, “it will be necessary -to deal with some bank or savings institution of which the president -or some powerful director is an attorney-at-law. This condition will be -found to obtain in almost any one of the small towns of the country, and -if my directions are followed strictly, the plan can be carried out and -the money secured in a very few hours. The plan is simple and easy. In -the first place----” - -“But,” said the giant Alshire, “I don't want other men's money. I don't -want to commit a crime.” - -The veins in the forehead of Randolph Mason grew black with anger. - -“Commit a crime!” he cried. “No man who has followed my advice has ever -committed a crime. Crime is a technical word. It is the law's name for -certain acts which it is pleased to define and punish with a penalty. -None but fools, dolts, and children commit crimes.” - -“Well,” responded the grazier, “whether the plan you are about to -propose is a crime or not, it is certainly a moral wrong, and I have no -desire to rob a bank by committing even a moral wrong.” - -Randolph Mason arose slowly and pointed his finger at the huge Alshire. - -“The old story,” he sneered, “child afraid of a goblin. Moral wrong! A -name used to frighten fools. There is no such thing. The law lays down -the only standard by which the acts of the citizen are to be governed. -What the law permits is right, else it would prohibit it. What the law -prohibits is wrong, because it punishes it. This is the only lawful -measure, the only measure bearing the stamp and the sanction of the -State. All others are spurious, counterfeit, and void. The word moral is -a pure metaphysical symbol, possessing no more intrinsic virtue than the -radical sign.” - -“I beg your pardon, Mr. Mason,” said Van Meter thrusting into the -conversation, “but I am quite certain that you mistake the request of -my friend. He is not attempting to secure any sum of money. He simply -desires to retain the title to his land and prevent its sale, until he -can determine the extent of its oil production.” - -“For what length of time?” asked Mason. - -“Well,” said the grazier, “I scarcely know. One year might be time -enough, or even less than one year; while, on the other hand, it might -require several years. You see, if I can prevent the land from being -sold, and keep it in my name until the territory is developed, then if -oil is found in paying quantities I can meet all these notes, and if -the land is dry I am no worse off. At any rate, I want to hold on to the -land and see.” - -“Are there judgments of record against you?” inquired Mason. - -“Not yet,” replied Alshire, “but Farras is preparing to sue on the notes -and rush the sale through. Can I stop him; can I hold the sale off?” - There was anxiety in the grazier's voice. - -Randolph Mason began to walk to and fro across the room with an unsteady -nervous stride. - -“Easy,” he muttered, “easy as learning to lie.” Then he stopped by the -table and looked flown sharply at the great Alshire. - -“Have you two friends,” he asked, “nonresidents of your State, whom you -can trust?” - -“Yes,” responded the grazier, “Mr. Van Meter here in New York, and -Morgan Gaston now in Ohio, they will both stand by me.” - -“Then,” said Mason, “listen to me, and do as I advise, and the sale of -your property will be as far distant years from to-day as it seems this -afternoon. First make an oil lease for a long term, say thirty years, -to your non-resident friend of Ohio, giving him all the oil privileges, -but, for your own protection in case of the death of the lessee, -incorporate in the instrument a clause permitting the lessor the right -to annul the lease at any time by the payment of a small sum. Have the -instrument show also that the entire compensation for the lease has -been fully paid in advance. Then make another lease renting all your -remaining property rights to your friend Mr. Van Meter of this city. -Have this second lease for a similar term and of similar provisions to -the first, and the entire compensation for it likewise paid in advance. -Then you have but to record the instruments, employ an attorney, and -sit down in the shadow of your house. The hair on your head will have -thinned vastly before the litigation over your complicated affairs -terminates in a final decree of sale.” Rufus Alshire leaned forward -listening eagerly. “But won't Farras sue me,” he asked, “won't he attack -the leases?” - -“Certainly,” said Mason, “he will at once do one of two things; either -he will bring an action at law on the notes, or he will attempt to -embrace the whole matter in a chancery suit. If he sues at law, resist -and attempt to fight through the superior courts. When he finally -obtains a judgment at law in your State, he will be compelled to resort -to a suit in chancery for the purpose of selling the land. In either -event he must come finally into a court of chancery and include the -holders of these leases as parties defendant to his action. When this is -done, the non resident lessees are not to appear, and he will be able to -obtain service on them only by an order of publication. You alone will -fight this chancery suit through the lower and superior courts, and just -before a sale of the land is ordered by the court of last resort, one -of the non resident lessees mast appear, and by virtue of the statutory -provision applying to such cases, file his bill of review and open up -the whole matter, enjoin the sale, fight the case over again and again -through the superior court. When this new litigation finally draws -near to a close and the land is again ordered sold, the remaining -non-resident must appear, bring his action in the Circuit Court of the -United States, enjoin the sale, and proceed with his fight. - -“By this time,” continued Mason, placing his bony hand on the giant's -shoulder, “there will probably be gray streaks in your beard, and if -you wish to run this litigation on into eternity, you will have only to -produce some collateral heir.” - -The huge Alshire looked up at the strange man beside him. “Is all this -possible?” he asked in astonishment. - -Randolph Mason did not at once answer; he walked stumblingly across -the room to his chair and sat down by the table. His form was thin and -gaunt, and along the border of his forehead the veins were purple and -swollen. After a time he turned toward the powerful grazier, his face -ugly with a sneer. “To the law,” he said, “all things are possible--even -justice.” - - - - -V - -ONE morning in the early winter the red roan horse, with his head over -the high fence of his pasture, saw two men standing in the neighboring -meadow contemplating in silence a gigantic derrick. One he immediately -recognized as his master Rufus Alshire, and the other resembled in a -very large degree a certain obnoxious person who on a memorable summer -night had smeared his well kept mane with most disagreeable petroleum. - -Presently the grazier spoke. “I judge that it will not now be necessary -for Jerry to invoke the tedium of Federal tribunals, there seems to be -grease enough here to pay everything and wind up the lawsuits.” - -The driller looked up at the oil streaming down from the timbers of the -derrick; then he made a mighty angular gesture with his bare right arm. - -“By jolly!” he said, “there is money enough in that hole to pay off the -national debt.” - - - - -THE RULE AGAINST CARPER - - - - -I - -CARPER did not recall that he had ever noticed the ugly details of the -courtroom before,--the high, soiled ceiling, the rows of benches, worn, -broken, empty as a fool's heart, the clerk's desk, and the presumptuous -bench of the judge; the long tables, too, for the attorneys, heaped with -papers, books, and dusty covers, a farrago of disorder--how ugly they -were! - -Carper looked up at the judge. The man's black silk robe fell away in -sharp straight folds; he sat erect like a bronze cast, his face turned -half toward the window in order that he might better read the paper -before him. How power had changed this face! Carper remembered idly -that, years before, the face of this man had been sweet, tender, lit -with kindness. Now it was as hard as white ivory. - -The attorneys at the table were talking in subdued whispers; Carper did -not hear; he was wondering vaguely if the long slim fingers of the judge -ever ached as his head was aching. The conjecture was unique. - -It was difficult for Carper to realize his position. His clothing was -certainly better than that of any other man in the court-room, He was -quite certain that his face was the same powerful, clean-cut, immobile -mask that it had been always. The world did not know, it did not even -suspect. If one had asked the clerk yonder for a financial rating on -Russell Carper, the clerk would have shrugged his shoulder and written -six figures on the margin of his record.. Yet this was the end,--the -end. - -Over by the window stood a prisoner in the custody of the marshal. -The man was poor, miserably poor; his clothes were clean, threadbare, -ancient as the law. Carper knew the story. The man was a little -shopkeeper; his wife was ill,--dying, the deputy said. There were -children, too, hungry, naked, absurdly miserable, and the crime,--some -petty revenue infraction. He would be presently required to pay his -fine, and, failing that, would be locked up in a cell. It was the law, -heartless as an image. Yet Carper wondered listlessly if one from beyond -the world's rim on the quest of the good would not take this man, and -leave the others, leave all the others--the judge with his blue-veined -patriciate face, the clerks with their lank jaws, the attorneys, with -their expression of abominable indifference, and himself. Well, the -machinery of human justice was awry. Then he wondered at the condition -that bred this surmise. How was it possible to reflect so indolently -upon the condition of another when his own was perilous. Still, such -speculations obtained with men, it is said, in great crises, and at the -grave's edge. - -Presently the judge laid down his papers and began to speak. Carper -heard him as one speaking a long distance away. At first the words -seemed indistinct and without meaning; then he caught them full, as one -waking suddenly catches and understands the conversation of his fellow. - -“Our commissioner's report,” the judge was saying, “shows that this -receiver has now in his custody three hundred and seventeen thousand -dollars belonging to the stockholders of the Massachusetts Iron Company. -At a former term of this court an order was entered directing the -receiver to distribute this fund in accordance with a previous decree. -At that term this order was resisted upon the ground that the decree -was not sufficiently explicit; which objection the court, upon -consideration, overruled. Later, the payment was sought to be held back -upon the ground that this order was improvidently awarded, and a motion -made to revoke, which was also overruled. And still later innumerable -technical objections have been offered by the attorney for the receiver, -all of which this court considers insufficient and trivial.” - -At this point one of the attorneys for Carper arose. “If your honor -please,” he said, “we ask to be heard in defense of our client. We think -that it can yet be shown that this order should not be enforced.” Then -he sat down. - -The blue veins in the face of the jurist grew darker. “Gentlemen,” he -continued, “cannot now be heard. The time of this court has already been -much consumed by unprofitable argument. On yesterday the stockholders -of the Massachusetts Iron Company applied for a rule, requiring Russell -Carper, receiver, to appear and make answer, if any he has, why he -should not be attached and punished for contempt in disobeying the -orders of this court. The rule I have ordered to issue returnable -tomorrow morning at ten o'clock.” - -The judge handed the paper down to the clerk, and directed the next case -to be called. Then he leaned back in his chair with the huge unconcern -of one well removed from the grip of his fellows. - -It was the end. But to Carper it was all as unreal as the yesterday. He -seemed to be out of the scene, and, for that, out of himself, an idle -spectator. His attorneys were whispering gravely. They were telling him -that the game was now played out. There was nothing more to do. He must -direct his banker to pay over the money. Even these hired fighters -did not suspect; they presumed the delay was favorable to some deal in -stocks. The truth--only he, Carper, knew the truth. There was grim humor -in the huge deception. - -On the way out of the court-room Carper stopped and handed the clerk the -only bill in his pockets. It would pay the fine of the shopkeeper. The -whole thing was an immensely clever little comedy, and he wanted to see -the sunshine come back into the shopkeeper's face. - -CARPER had been given the long afternoon to arrange some scheme, to -plan some way out, but he allowed it to slip by like any leisure day. -His mind was indolent, absurdly indolent. In all the other crises of his -life, it had been restless as a blown wave. This day it was sluggish. -Realizing the end, it had folded its arms. It was difficult to -appreciate that his career was ripped off like a rotten seam. That -afternoon his broker had talked confidentially of a certain railroad -venture. Men from the West had begged the use of his name in the -organization of a trust embracing the copper mines of a State. He had -been asked to contribute to a great charity. This night, the last night, -in his library there was yet no sign of that ruin which sat by the -hearthstone. The fire was warm; the surroundings wore luxurious; the -shelves were filled with books; from the walls the stern faces of his -forbears looked down, haughty, relentless as their lives had shown. -It was difficult to realize that he was an embezzler and a bankrupt, -suspended above a vacuous abyss by a line that the to-morrow would cut -short. - -For five years he had been the receiver of the Massachusetts Iron -Company. In those five years he had bought and sold on the street with -the abandon of a master. He had used the funds of this company as a -workman would use a tool left lying in his shop. He had won great sums, -and he had lost until the very earth seemed slipping away beneath him. - -Then the slump in the stocks of a great railroad system caught him, and -he had put in every dollar of this trust fund and watched it vanish like -a vapor. Still, no one knew. Carper's reputation stood on the street -flawless, perfect in outline, an empty shell--but no one knew. - -When the stockholders of the Massachusetts Iron Company finally demanded -a reorganization, he had employed the best legal talent and thrust in -every delay of the law. The fight had gone on year after year, from -court to court. Orders had been entered and dissolved; decrees had been -made and reversed; hearings had been granted by superior courts, and -rehearings, but the end, long delayed, came finally. - -The stockholders had applied for a rule. It was the most summary -proceeding known to the law. To-morrow he must pay the money, or go to -prison a felon. The end loomed like the ragged outlines of a cliff. - -To Carper this end seemed atrociously unjust. He had worked so hard, so -hard: the best that was in him; the good days of his life had been given -up to this labor It had been his boyhood dream to be a factor in great -affairs,--the bitter labor of his youth, and, in part, the realization -of his middle life. He had cut every other thing away with a hand that -never once had trembled. It was his right to win, if there was any -justice anywhere. But to-morrow was the end. To-morrow the court would -strip him naked as a bone. - -He had heard many a sleek pastor discourse glibly upon the eternal -justice of Providence. Then he believed it cant with a smattering of -truth. Now it was entirely clear that it was cant--but false; a pleasant -lie like the housewife tale of fairies. - -Carper took the cigar from between his teeth and dropped it on the -hearth. The game of life was an ugly game. He confessed that he had lost -interest in its play. Now that the thought suggested he saw that he had -been losing interest all along. It was inertia he had been fighting--the -plague of inertia, and for no gain at all. It was a world where, if one -sat still, one wasted with monotony; and if one labored, it was only for -the purpose of building ships to fly in the air, which, when they were -all completed, sat stupidly on the earth or by hap toppled heavily upon -the builder, crushing out his heart. He could not understand why men had -sometimes said that life was good. - -Carper had looked, he believed, into not a few chambers of the temple. -The same hooded shape sat in each. If fame was given, the skull was -pretty generally crushed with the crown. If wealth was given, the back -was broken with the weight. If love was given,--yes, the heart was -usually broken with it,--love! - -Carper arose and went over to a cabinet in the wall, unlocked the door -and took out a big photograph, which he brought over to the fire. It was -the picture of a woman, young, beautiful, quivering with the power of -life; the mass of dark hair was caught back from her forehead; the eyes -were wide, clear, transparent; the nose was straight as the edges of a -die, and the throat round, full, marvellously moulded. In the set of the -head there was pride of lineage, and the relentless rigor of purity. -It was a fine face looking out from a blameless life, strong, innocent, -exacting as a child. - -The man placed the picture on the mantelshelf, and sat down by the -fire. That day was now seven years gone,--seven years! Yesterday was no -farther back. Every detail was clear. The shock had stamped them on the -lining of his heart. He had loved this woman as a man loves just one -time. He was trusting his very life to her keeping; he was going to her -for everything that woman could give; all of sweet fellowship, all of -tender sympathy, all of love. She was the only woman in the world. The -expression is a platitude, but the fact was as real to Carper as the -green trees and the sunlight. One could no more have convinced this man -that other women held some of the charms of life, than one could have -convinced him that light was a liquid. His love had gained the power of -a religion; it had gone, farther---it had gained the majesty of a law. - -Then the blow came. Carper had gone to this woman with a case of jewels, -the profit of a venture. He remembered how happy she had been: how the -light of trustfulness danced in her eyes; how she had carried the jewels -to the window in order to see the great rubies change to blood-drops, -then she had turned with a playful smile and asked him how he had made -so great a sum, and he, like a miserable fool, had blurted out that it -was a part of his gains in a deal on the street,--a deal in which he -had ruined a little banking house by seizing the vantage of its ignorant -mistake. It was the master blunder. - -Carper remembered how the blood faded from this woman's face, leaving it -ashen gray; how the dull ache of pain gathered in her eyes; how she had -come over to him and dropped the jewels slowly into their case, and, -without a word, had gone back and sat down by the window. And he knew -that the woman of his love was gone out beyond the reach of his fingers. -The leash of his love had slipped off and snapped back in his hands. - -He remembered the effect upon himself as something entirely foreign to -that which writers attribute to men under similar conditions. There -was no benumbing horror; no desire to make any violent demonstration of -feeling. There was merely a vague loss of strength, as though the -bottom of the fountain of vital force had dropped out, and then he grew -sick--physically sick. The material man was hurt first, and collapsed, -much as it would have done if shot through the stomach with a shell. He -felt none of that exaggerated emotion affected by the play-actor. - -It was the commonplace sickness of a frightful physical blow. - -When the nausea had passed, he had gone over to her and begged to know -what it all meant, although he knew quite as well as she. The woman had -looked at him with her wide eyes deadened with pain, and said that she -had believed him ah honorable man, and had loved him for it, but that -now she knew the truth, and she would never be wife to a dishonest man. - -He had made his argument then, and it was good. The venture was -perfectly legitimate, so recognized and treated by the business men -of the land,--nay, more, it was so regarded by the law. These were the -standards; there was no other. The customs of business and the law were -the rules of right in the marketplaces. Their wisdom was unquestioned. -It was the result of all the experience of the race, the conclusion of -wise men, laboring with conditions as they were. Had she a right to say -that these standards were wrong? He appealed to her sense of fairness. -Was she better able to pass upon the right of this transaction than all -the merchants learned in the customs of trade,--than all the jurists -learned in the wisdom of the law? Was she better able? - -Carper pointed out that she lived in an atmosphere of purity high above -the din of the fight for life; a land of refined right, refined justice, -refined honor, magnificent, but not the world. The world had no perfect -code; it was no perfect place; it was not intended to be so, else it -would have been so made. It was an indifferent place, governed by the -inexorable law of the survival of the fittest, wherein men struggled for -footing and the comforts of life. One must conform to conditions as they -were, or go to the wall. It was folly, it was idiocy, it was madness to -do otherwise. - -Trade was like nature--pitiless. There was no measure of consideration -for the weakling or the fool. The fight was bitter, remorseless, subject -to dangerous shifts. If one was caught and broken, the blame was with -the sorry scheme of things, and this a Divine Intelligence maintained, -and men could not question that Divine Intelligence. This condition of -the world might not be purest or happiest, but it was the condition of -the world. It was God's way. Was it wise to call it evil? - -Then he shifted. He bade her remember that she had promised to go -through life with him. It was a contract she had no right to break. -The position she was taking was a frightful contradiction. She was -reprehending the customs of trade, and yet there was not a merchant in -the market-place who would repudiate his contract. She was charging the -law with failure to appreciate the highest shades of right, and yet -she was about to do what the law, even in its grossness, recognized and -punished as a wrong. She could not stand upon this ground, and do as -she was doing. Even if he had done wrong, was she to punish him by doing -wrong also? The vice of her position cried out. Her promise had -been given. It was immutable. It was her affair to know her mind, to -determine what she wanted to do. She had known him for years. In those -years there had been ample time to investigate, to conclude, to decide. -No one had abridged the freedom of her agency. She had finally become -a party to this contract. Could she repudiate it now, like the common -rogue in whom principle was wanting? - -He bade her remember the gravity of this contract. It involved her life, -his life, mayhap the lives of others. He had been shaping everything to -this end. Had she the right to ruthlessly destroy all? What would she -think of one who having contracted to accompany another into an unknown -land should suddenly abandon him on the purlieus of the country? What -would she think of one who had contracted to go with another into -an unknown sea, and should, when that other had made his ship ready, -abandon him at the water's edge? Was she doing better than these? - -The woman had not answered at all; dark circles had gathered around her -eyes, and the full muscles of her throat relaxed and sank. - -Then Carper remembered how he had knelt down beside her and taken her -hand in his own,---her hand, limp, cold, a dead thing. - -Besides, he had gone on, he loved her; she was the only woman in his -heart. There could never be another. Day and night, and every day and -night, his heart cried for her like a tortured child! There was nothing -else in all the wide world to live for, to strive for. He had grown to -associate her with every hope, every emotion, every ambition, of his -life. How should he live on without her! What should he do with his -empty days! Pride might carry him crippled through a few, but, there was -a limit to the endurance of a man, and what then--what of his empty days -then? - -If he had been doing wrong, God could find some way to punish him -outside of her love. Besides, if he was doing wrong, he needed her the -more. He needed her to round out his life, to add honor and purity and -right. God had sent her to do this work of good. Was she going to refuse -merely because the world was not the sort of place which she believed it -to be? Master of Life! the world would be abominably empty without her. -He would go anywhere she wished; do anything, be anything, she wished. -It was not the applause of men that he wanted in this life, nor the -multitude of things. It was her hand on his own; her voice in his ears; -her image in his heart forever. He could never get back again to his -view-point. - -She had loosed the mouth of something in his bosom that clamored for -her. It would be content with no other. It would hush for no other. His -heart was aching now with the cry. What a place of torture it would be -tomorrow, and the next year, and the next. - -The tears had rained down this woman's face, but she had shaken her -head. - -That day was now seven years gone--seven years! Yesterday was no farther -back. Well, well! He had been only partly right. The woman's face in his -heart he had walled up. The cry for her he had silenced with the opiates -of greed. Still they were both there and alive. To-night the wall had -slipped away and the anaesthetics were powerless. It was no matter. -After all, had she done well? She had lived on, spotless, pure, alone; -and he had lived on--to this. Had she done well? That question it was no -right of his to answer. - -Carper got up from his chair, took the picture from the mantel, broke -it across the face and dropped the pieces into the fire. It was not -necessary for the marshal's deputy to speculate about this picture. - -Then he went over to the cabinet and took out a pack of letters, old, -yellow, tied with a faded ribbon, and, selecting one at random, sat down -in his chair to read it through. “Dear Heart,” it ran at the beginning, -and at the end “I am unutterably lonely, and I love you.” Yes, he -recalled the circumstances of its writing well. Then he replaced it -with the others and laid them all gently on the fire. They should not be -pleasant reading for the marshal. - -He had come down into the world, with his heart shredded and every shred -aching like a nerve, and from that day he had flown the black flag of -piracy. Among all the buccaneers of the street, the hand of none had -been heavier, and the brain of none had been keener than his own. From -that day every man who had passed up a prisoner on to the deck of his -galleon, had walked the plank. The muscles of his face grew tense with -the thought. - -Somewhere in the house a clock struck ten. Carper arose and walked -backward and forward across the room. The spirit of fierce resistance -was beginning to awaken. He would not be stripped like a weakling. He -would fight, fight--but how? It was hopeless to dream of raising the -money. That plan had been discarded long ago. Vain vaporing! There was -no way remaining but Brutus's way--the road out into the vastness of -eternity was open! The exit was easy. Why should he lag back? Surely he -must go later on. For years the world had been a good place to get out -of--for seven years. - -The man opened a drawer at the bottom of the book-case and took out a -weapon--an ancient duelling pistol of his grandfather. He carried the -weapon to the table, wiped it carefully, and began to load it. When he -had finished, he went over to close the door. On the threshold lay one -of the evening papers of the city. Carper picked it up and brought it -with him to the light. The headlines caught his attention. It was the -story of a great bank defaulter who had gone free by reason of some -defect in the law shrewdly pointed out by a lawyer, Randolph Mason. - -He remembered the man as a remarkable legal misanthrope. He had heard of -him in the Federal courts. Somewhere he had this man's address, jotted -down one morning when the administrator of an estate walked out of the -Federal court a confessed gigantic thief, but, by this man's counsel, -beyond the reach of the law. - -Carper looked through one of the files on his table--yes, here was -the residence number. The man leaned over and rested his arm on the -mantel-shelf. One might not do ill to go; there was time ample. One -could come back to the thing of steel later on. - -Carper turned suddenly, put on his coat and hat, and passed out into the -street, closing the door and locking it carefully behind him. Then he -called a cab, gave the number to the driver, and leaned back heavily -against the cushion. - - - - -II - - -THIS is the place, sir,” said the cabman. - -Before him was lighted. The door was standing open. The brougham of a -surgeon was beside the curb. He walked slowly up the great steps to the -door. There was an indescribable something in the air which seemed to -presage calamity; there were sounds as of persons hurrying with some -desperate matter. - -As Carper put up his hand to touch the bell, two men came out into the -shadow of the hall. - -“It is a bad case of acute mania,” one was saying. “I have given him two -hypodermics of morphine, and he is still raving like a drunken sailor.” - -Carper's hand dropped to his side. He turned slowly and passed down the -steps into the street. He had not been noticed by the busy surgeons. - -Carper stepped out. At the curb he stopped for a moment and looked up -and down the avenue. Well, it was justice. For seven years he had flown -the black flag of piracy. Among all the buccaneers of the street, the -hand of none had been heavier, and the brain of none had been keener -than his own. Every man who had passed up a prisoner on to the deck of -his galleon, had walked the plank. It was now his turn. It was justice. - -Carper spoke to the cabman. Then he stepped in and closed the door. - -The man of last resort was probably gone. There was now no resort but to -the steel thing on the table. - - -THE END. - - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Man of Last Resort, by Melville Davisson Post - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN OF LAST RESORT *** - -***** This file should be named 51955-0.txt or 51955-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/9/5/51955/ - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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