OCR Text |
Show jp " - i mm mammmmmm m BY HENRY RUSSELL MILLER COPVRIGHT. 1SIO.BV 1JOBB3 WBTUUI.I. CO. "' Hits point in hit speech Paul cast aside restraint and poured forth n tor-( tor-( rent or invective against corporate , greed mid Its servants At the conclusion conclu-sion of his climax not a sound could lie , heard 111 the theater. Ills audience sat wrapped In .in ominous silence. "What do these things menu?" Paul coutlntied. "Of late a new word has come Into use among us. plutocracy! Government by wealth, for weullh-by the very nature of the lust that give's It birth, ever conscienceless, pitiless, ever unutterably selfish, an enemy to tho equal brotherhood of men!" In plain. iiniulnelng terms Paul outlined out-lined the political history of the state In It the forces of plutocracy were most strongly Intrenched. For a ren erntlon, until the time when .lolm Duuineade had dared to set tils race against the powers of corrupt Ion, It had lain prostrate, unprotestlug, under the heel of a great railway monopoly, This monopoly, abetted by the steel In-terests In-terests or the city, hadjurobbed (he irreatcst state of the Union of lis virtue and Independence. One man, by grace of his control of the railway system, hart dictated the choleu of otllcers and their" otriclal policy. ' Bosses might conic and bosses might go. but one and Hll they owed allegiance to the one master iw miles away. whose wiath was more to lie feared by the political ly ambitious than the anger of God. In return for ilielrnlleglancu the bosses , had been pei-nilited to pillage the city j at will. "Unt." cried Paul passionately, "there was a man in our midst, bred hi their school, who saw their power and determined de-termined to break It." Simply, without exaggeration. Paul sketched the local political history, beginning with Bob's open break with MacPhorson and leading up to his victory vic-tory In 1 he recent primaries, when Ilcnienwuy had been nominated. "So this man or steel, standing alone I against the corpora tu wealth of a whole state, has put your enemy to rout. To William Ucmcuwuy hu gave tho opportunity to do a great work In j the cause ol the people. That oppur-I oppur-I tunlty William llomonwny declines , for obvious reasons: What urn you going to do about It? Whom will you I choose In his'steadj J "My friends.' Paul cried, with n I sweeping gesture that Included tho I galleries in his question. "I ask you I who of ull our eity Is the one man (It-I (It-I ted to stand at yum- head and lead your light V" j Ho paused an Instant as a uiuimur of unbelieving wonderment passed over the audience. Eleanor, following I the oyes of a thousand others, looked toward the opposite ho But Hob was gone. In a voice sunk almost to a whisper and tremulous with suppressed reeling Paul spoke again. "In your faces I read Hie answer. Tbero cuu be but one answer. You may think that 1 perhaps exaggerate his strength because be Is my friend. Ho Is my friend, and therefore 1, who have sounded the depths of his heart, know the man's mighty mold To bo a friend what Is It? The llnest thing given to man When the Christ came to earth he chose to he called Tho Friend, Friendship Is the mirror of "I IUTK TIIK II0N01I 10 NOMtSATK MT FltIE.NI, liOHKllT Halloo.'' tliu soul. Ill It appear the strength and weakness of a man. This man has been to mo the perfect friend-God friend-God do so to mo If I forget. Ho who Is capable of such a friendship can bo trusted with the people's cause. "Mr. Chairman," bo concluded, "I have tho honor to nominate my fend, Robert McAdoo." lie walked off the ttage Into the wings amlil n perieci snene- cm , full minute the audience under his spell, sal mule and tuntlonliss; there was no thought of nppluu-e Finally the chairman stmieil. n if fr.,tl 'a dream, and arose With .- audible sigh the audience sllrnsl to !lfi Paul. Ilsioidng front the wines and f. rrlng to he-ir applaud-, biealhcd deeply In relief. Ills moment had Indeed erne "And gone!" he muttered complain-Ingly complain-Ingly lie iiirnod nwny lo meet n stern faced ueiii. who looked at lilm fixedly "Yon did w. Paul." n!rt the Hern faced man. "You're cut out a big Job for nip." That was ull. lint Paid had received a liner tribute een then than the silence si-lence of the Hiidlenct. Mob's voice was husky. e Henry Satiuer vigorously wiped hl brow wllh his handkerchief. "!od!" be muttered. "Will .ou please go and bring him here?" Eleanor asked him. "I must know that man," CHAPTER XI. mi: i.aiiv in tniKAUs. TIIK convention had been adjourned. ad-journed. Unbelt McAdoo was the Republican nominee foi ina.ior. Ami Paul Uemluittoti had met tho lady of his dreams. San ger hail brought him to her and per formed the Introduction. Afterward h. had left, pleading a business engage men). Eleanor for u few id I miles watched the crowd ns It slowly passed out from the theater. Then she turned to Paul. " shall not coiiKratulate you," she said gruffly. "1 paid you a better com-pllment com-pllment while on were speaking. Arc you ready to say, 'Now let me dleV " "No," he nnsweml with equal grnv ity. "I am ready to say. 'Now let mc live.' 1 Inn o met you at last." She raised her hand protestlngly "Please don't spoil my Impression ol you. You were wonderful. I have heard of orators swaying aiidlcmes tu their will, but I inner before leall.ed what It means. My brother tells me j on saved .Mr. MeAiloo from defeat." Paul took a keen pleasure In bis honest as he resisted temptation and answered lightly: "Oh. no! The result would hawi been the samo without my speech. It was such an absurdl) Impossible trick, that of bribing Hem enway off and liu.iiug up his delegates Its success depended upon their catch lug Bob napping. They didn't kuow the old fellow. All I did was to furnish fur-nish a icasou for an action already determined upon." "Ah!" she said regretfully. "Then It was all planned beforehand)" "El cry step!" "El en to your speech)" He nodded smilingly. "You know, Mrs. Gilbert, theie never was a speech worth giving that wasn't prepared be forehand. Every word of that speech was written out and memorized verbatim." "Theu all those burning wortls were a sham, all that display of splendid passion a theatrical trick to save a man not worthy" "No, no!" he broke In eagerly. "All I said was true Into us life and death. And lloli-you don't know him. Hu Is niaguillceut, worthy of "Spare me." she Impatiently Interrupted. Inter-rupted. "1 heard, that onco before In your spec I,. 1 am frankly disappointed, disappoint-ed, 1 lic.icMtl ou a genuine master spirit, luiupelllug us to see tllu truth. Now . I see yuli are only a clever actor, 'HI l.im: us into Ignoring the truth." She iliew a deep breath. 'Please d'Ui'i go yet," he begged. "I li.'e siiuiethlng to say to you. Do you belief e In pre-fxlstences?" "Decidedly not. I'm fairly healthy. And, besides, the present existence demands all my attention." "What would you say If I were to tell j on that although I have Just ivt you and have seen yon but twite ' foro mi far n i ,-nu remember 1 s. eiu to have known you always)" She shrugged her slioulders ugaln, n fashion she hail "I'm sorry you will forgive me, Mr. 'Remington? I'm not deeply linpressed-and a bit Incredulous." Incredu-lous." "I didn't expect you to be Impressed," be answered quietly, "and I'm not proposing-jet. But, Mrs. Gilbert" his head went up, eyes Hashing "I'm not a hciitlui"tMl fool. I am to be taken strlously." "Why don't ou go on the stage?" sho fleered Paul looked nt her uncertainly for n moment; then bis gravity wiih cast aside as a cloak. lie mailo some lucoit-reqticnt lucoit-reqticnt answer and promptly led the talk into other and lighter channels, whither t-be follow) d him curelessly. Sho was not quite free from the spell ho had woven about her during his speech Something In the man broke down her h.ilut of cold Indifference to , men. and put her on her mettle. Sho ( strove to meet his occasional vf ltty , sallies In kind, sometimes with a sue-I sue-I ress that delluhtis them Itoth. Once, . when I heli badinage assumed a more personal lone she protested. "We're Inlklng as though we ffere old friends," she said. "Of fiuu-sp." he responded en ml. . "w mire That was written long :'." "You have ninny frlcndsV" s'ic , queried curiously. "I have been lucky In the mutter t friends " v "And do you give them all the same romantic appnvlalloii and return yne professed for Mr. MeAdco. or wti that pail of the play acting too) I can't see what you llud In enmmtn with hum who, my brother tells me. Is typical of the erj worst In our poll lies." "I fori.it ion are of the enemy." be laughed end added more sot erl.f ' "Your lumber is wrong. There may have been regrettable things In Bob's earlier .ui-eei But In the six jisirs I have known him I have seen little I of the dlit.x politician. His fletorlesi htifo I ii won chiefly by bis cour.lgc and resourcefulness and the fait that men, whether I hey like hint or not, In stlnetlfel) trust hint anil follow him If be has resorted to questionable tactics tac-tics It bus been only to meet similar methods or Die opMsltlon. And his' victories hate been very much lo the advantage of this city." "And to the advantage of his loyal friend. I suppose," she suggested Inquiringly In-quiringly "Yon are no doubt I'm very Ignorant of politics- some one Tery Important, n high otneer, congressman, con-gressman, ut least)" "Oh, no. I'm only a senator of the common or garden variety, a very tin-Important tin-Important member of our state legislature." legis-lature." "While he bus become boss," she added. "II seems" "Don't. Mrs. Ollbert, I beg of you," he Inlenupted gravely. "It would be disloyal for me to listen lo such suggestions sug-gestions even from you. Tho least 1 can do Is to trust him. r could fill a higher position, and I often chafo over my slow climb. If I were to Insist he would help me to the best In his iowe: to ithr. But his Judgment and his heart are to be trusted. You shall know him, and theu you will under-stand under-stand why 1 trust him so absolutely." Thank joii, no!" she suld Indifferently. Indiffer-ently. "I approve of your loyalty, of course. But I saw your friend this ufleniooii. and, frankly, I don't think I should like him. I don't CHro lo meet"- She stopped suddenly, and both looked look-ed up startled, feeling another's presence. pres-ence. It was Bob who had come Into BHl4 HIOl'1-KI) HUDUK.NIr, AND IIOTIl LOOKED UP HTAUTLBD. the box, unnoticed by them. To both Paul and Eleanor It wus us though a cloud had passed across the face of the sun. There was an awkward pause while Bob, standing motionless In tho rear of the box, looked steadily at Eleanor with coldly hostllo eyes. And Eleanor. startled, but not disconcerted, rcturnwl his with u glance Into whlcli'sho strove I to !nt amusement. I Paul sought to tako Into his hands what threatened to bo a situation. "It's fate, Mm. Gilbert," hosnld, with a laugh which ho tried to render easy. "Let me present our next mayor. Mrs. Gilbert, Bob. has Just u vowed her alliance alli-ance with llic enemy. We must convert con-vert Iter." "Why?" Bob answered crudely, with "if 'oiuglng his regard. I squiehofv, us bo said It, Bob's monosyllable carried n Hllng far sharp-cr sharp-cr than Its (rude surface Irony. It put her strangely on the defensive, and theretofore, with men, 'Mrs. Eleanor Gilbert bad always been mistress of tho situation, Sho tried to niiRwcr with, Indifference. "You have so many enemies that one more or less cannot disturb you." "I have many " "And the habit of beating them, I bolleve?"- "I b. llevo so," he answered steadily. "Bui Bob doesn't make wnr on women," wom-en," Paul Interrupted with nervous engoi uSH. "Too smal! game, I suppose," shu sjld with tho mocking upward Inilec-tion Inilec-tion that had so often put men to flight. To Bo Continued. |