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Show Pv tm'tr Oiv-ti Frances NWsSw A nnd began to scribble again on the ! block of paper. CHAPTER XIV L pMK speech which Neal Conrad made before the national convention con-vention In Madison Square garden clear, convincing, courageous, charming and incomparably dramatic, dra-matic, awoke the torpid delegates, soothed the angry alternates, and stirred the restive galleries in an applause that rocked the very foundations of tire mammoth structure. struc-ture. Incidentally it also resulted In the Immediate adoption of the majority report of the platform committee. The following morning Senator Lee sought Anne out, with an enormous enor-mous bundle of newspapers under down over the city like some thick Impenetrable blanket. A spirit of weariness, of hopelessness, of bate, began to permeate the heavy atmosphere. at-mosphere. "Darling Anne." She had been drowned In sleep, the profound, prolonged oblivion of utter exhaustion ; but Neal's voice, calling to her brought her back in dizzy waves of memory to the consciousness con-sciousness of her surroundings. The brass bed with the picture of "still life" hanging over it. The pitcher of ice water on the mantelpiece. The faded flowers beside the riddled pincushion. pin-cushion. Her bedroom at the Waldorf Wal-dorf Astoria. The national convention. conven-tion. The balloting. The Man Who. "Anne," said Neal again. And a2ain. "Darlinsr." Her head was CHAPTER XIII Continued j -10-1 .,0nmnee meeting? Tonight?" asked in astonishment. "Why, s : after ten now." probably shan't get in before i,e Informed her hastily. ";A goo'-by. Better order your-',- an orangeade and a chicken hvich ami have Dora see you linked lin-ked and settled before she goes btxl. Try to get some sleep. ,.,'H j,ave a hard day tomorrow." Refreshed by a bath and a cool-A cool-A imp Rlinned into the and threw out his arms. But his audience remained calm. Anne saw several men looking at their watches, and in the press gallery, some bored looking reporters sauntered saun-tered away from their seats. Anne, her own attention wandering, noticed no-ticed the very fine sapphire that Mrs. I.assiter was wearing and realized real-ized that she was hungry. She had expected, of course, that Neal would come and take her out to lunch. But when the welcome adjournment ad-journment came, she had still seen nothing of him, and friends bore her his arm "I thought you might have slept late this morning," he said, smiling, "and so have had no time for these before you came over. It might interest you to look at them. Not only at the front pages, but at the editorial pages." He nodded and left her. Anne unfolded the crackling sheets to be confronted with Neal's picture and heavy headlines which, in sharp staccato sentences, made it clear even to an unobservant public, how significantly he had scored. He had not only captured the right-hand right-hand column on the front nntre. he still heavy with slumber. But through it flashed the love-laden thought that he needed her. She sat up, pulled at a shoulder strap that had slipped away from her white shoulder, and pushing back the soft masses of her hair. "What Is it?" she asked. "I wanted to tell you how much I love you." She laughed comfortably and stretched out her arms. "Is that all?" she said lightly, 'not that it isn't enough worth more than anything else In the j' unui. ---i.- J-v nightgown which Dora had M out for her, and settled her-$ her-$ 'for slumber. Her hopes for re-were, re-were, however, entirely un-nded; un-nded; a party of men who were Vying the next room, and who ". apparently met in secret eon- e, were either unaware or un--srned of the fact that they , ,ja be overheard, and that they r.-e disturbing the public peace. ;jen Keal returned, haggard and ;iow eyed, about five, he found -t -ne sitting up in bed, taut witb irvousness. it "Neal, dear, just listen to that .oket! It hasn't stopped for a sin-'jj sin-'jj e instant. I can't stand it! We'll :te to go to some hotel where it's ore quiet." "Quiet! At a national conven- triumphantly away. The forenoon session came and went. And at last, genuinely worried, Anne approached ap-proached Senator Lee, who had joined his wife, and asked tf he thought "anything could have happened hap-pened to Neal." He laughed reassuringly. "My dear lady, your husband Is one of the 'key' men. He can't be spared for window-dressing like this. He has to work." "But isn't the work being done here at the convention?" Senator Lee laughed again. "Certainly "Cer-tainly not. What made you think it was? Because we sang the 'Star-Spangled 'Star-Spangled Banner' and shed tears about Shaw's administration? There Is a bitter fight oyer the platform and a bitterer fight over the candi- had also she discovered upon following fol-lowing Senator Lee's advice captured cap-tured the "leader' on the editorial page; and not in one newspaper, but in all of them. She began to read avidly, flushed with pride. Her attention was diverted by a stir among the delegates. The permanent per-manent chairman was announcing briskly that the names of the candidates can-didates for the office of President would be put in nomination, and that the roll of the states would be called by the secretary of the convention. This individual advanced ad-vanced to the front of the stage, and cried out, "A-l-a-b-a-m-a" as if he were challenging the South to mortal combat. ' A gentleman with a goatee and an expansive, immaculate im-maculate waistcoat arose from the midst of the Alabama delegation, od! Good G d, Anne, you don't aw what you're talking about. ;ere isn't any quiet. Those fel-i3 fel-i3 aren't really objectionable. Tay're just having a little friend-; friend-; argument Tou should have . :ard our committee. Turn over, .J lady and go to sleep." ., 'I can't sleep." ; 'IVell, stay awake then, but I :; isn't" a flinging his clothes hastily in ' itwy direction, Neal sank down side her and was instantly dead date. Those are the real issues." He appeared to be about to say something more along the same line but checked himself at tbe sight of. Anne's clouded face. "Don't worry, Mrs. Conrad," he added gently, "and be as patient with your husband as you can If he seems to neglect you ; and by the way I wouldn't plan on getting away from here this week if I were you." Tbe bitterness of the fight on the platform became increasingly evi- and replied, as if he were answering answer-ing the challenge, "Alabama yields to California.' Pandemonium broke loose. The band, blaring its loudest, was completely com-pletely drowned out by tin whistles, horns and rattles. States' standards waved, flags fluttered from the galleries, gal-leries, the chairman thumped and thudded In vain, and shouted to the ushers to clear the aisles. The portly gentleman who had appeared beside him with a manuscript half an inch thick, in one hand, raised "But I Came Home to You to Tell You That I Had Been Nominated President of the United States." world ! But you don't wake me up in the middle of the night usually to tell me so! You expect me to take it for granted!" Then with sudden apprehension clutching at her heart, "Neal," she cried, "there isn't anything wrong, is there? You ; the world. Two hours later ne : 5 is abruptly aroused by a heavy jnding on the door and stag-1 red to his feet still drunk with imber. J Yeah," Anne, who had not sed her eyes, heard him saying -rough a gingerly opened crack ?uess so. All right, I'll be there :ht away." He closed and locked ? door again and began to gather j"; his garments from the floor, lii put them on. ;.ri 1 hoped I'd have time for a bve and a shower," he muttered, 1 I'm needed right away. You i get to Madison Square garden 1 : right alone, Anne, can't you? S ; left your ticket on the mantel-?ce. mantel-?ce. Don't lose it. It might be etched right out of your hand. Ml, goo'-by." It was only a little after seven ":i he was gone again. The hub-:!) hub-:!) in the next room had worn dent. The band played familiar tunes that were becoming to sound tiresome and silly, to fill in gaps In the program. There was a day of oratory and eloquence and hysteria; hys-teria; of plays to the gallery and appeals ap-peals to sectionalism. It ended as it had begun, in confusion and hard feelings, and dramatic instability. Anne, going back to the hotel after it was over, with a violent vio-lent headache, found Neal sitting beside be-side the marble-topped "center table" ta-ble" of their "parlor," with a sandwich sand-wich in one hand and a pencil with which he was scribbling illegible characters on a plump pink senate block in the other. "Hello," he said cheerfully, "the worst is over. I am a human being again. Are you pretty tired?" "Rather. It's all been so futile and ugly. I believe I won't go to the evening session." T Hinrrtit OTP miVVlt the other hand with a gesture or Impatience because he could not make himself heard. "The man who I am about tp name," he shouted over and over again. But he did not name him. He talked for nearly thre,e-quarters of an hour, and still, as far as he was concerned, his audience was left in the dark as to whom he was describing. At last, with a crescendo cre-scendo of enthusiasm he revealed his secret. The uproar began again. Some of the delegates commenced to parade. Others, conspicuously silent even in the midst of the noise, sat stubbornly in their seats, resisting all- efforts to drag them forth. The march continued without with-out them until the most fervid enthusiasts en-thusiasts had shouted themselves hoarse and sank down again exhausted. ex-hausted. When this happened, the chairman, who had been looking tensely on, as if prepared to spring haven't had bad news from the children?" chil-dren?" "No, no," he said soothingly. "The children are all right. It's jast " He broke off, and sitting down beside be-side her on the bed, put his arms around her. "I think I haven't told you often enough perhaps what you mean to me. I have let you take It for granted. I have taken you for granted or seemed to. I haven't really. I wouldn't have amounted to to much of anything, without you. No one realizes that better than I. You've had all the qualities I lacked courage and endurance en-durance and talent and faith and vision. I've known all that, Anne, from the first moment I saw you, and I've loved you from that moment, mo-ment, too. I've never stopped trying try-ing since that night we stood in the meadow and pledged our lives to each other to give you what I promised you then lace to wear r lf out. Anne began to grow iwsy but, almost immediately, " i was shaken into consciousness et a band which, from the noise it 'I de appeared to be passing dirt di-rt fly beyond the foot of her bed. At ten, clutching her precious - ket she left her room, waited fif-cn fif-cn minutes for an elevator not rm,i-n tnn prowded to take her in, "I'm suny J- .. D-- go together. The fact is I am going go-ing to make a speech. There seems to be a sort of feeling that well, that if I did I could straighten out this platform tangle." "Oh, Neal,' really? Then, of course, I'm going." "Good ! I hoped you would, and l thought we might have dinner a from the plattorm at any uromem, snapped his eyes in the direction of the secretary, and the secretary took up his challenge again. "Arizona!" he shouted. Arizona, it appeared, was also in a yielding mood, and again, pandemonium broke loose. By the time the fifth candidate had been placed in nomination instead of calico. Real lace. The lace of a queen." "What are you trying to tell me, Neal?" she breathed. "That the convention is over, that the deadlock is broken." His voice failed him suddenly, and he trembled trem-bled violently, but he collected himself him-self and went on. "When you told me you thought you wouldn't go to Madison Square garden again, I didn't urge you because well, I still couldn't be sure, though from the very beginning I have hoped I have thought I have had such good loyal friends working for me I have known how events were shaping" Realizing that he was becoming In- coherent, he checked himself again, and again went on. "On the ninety-seventh ninety-seventh ballot some one a southerner south-erner voted for me. Then there were several scattered votes from New England. A whole western delegation. del-egation. When the count was ready I had nearly a hundred. On the next ballot there were over tbree hundred and then and then Oh, Anne, I'll never forget those banners ban-ners those marching feet those ll'ted voices singing cheering shouting. They got me up on the platform and I spoke to them. 1 And afterwards they wanted me to ' go away with them. But I came readed her way breathlessly ough the crowd in tbe lobby, n denser than it had been the ::ht before, and after another " -g wait secured a taxi. The iver turned at a most perilous il? ussing to transfix her with a tfl :rc!ng glance : i' "You gonna woik fer our candi-Siite, candi-Siite, lady?" he queried; and giving is wheel a sharp twist, added, Ton better we're gonna keep you ere 'til ya' do." ; He set her down at an entrance fliich was apparently impenetrable -1 ad flanked with eight policemen. I "Where's your button?" one I Kked abruptly. ' Thinking she had misunderstood, nne, showed him her ticket, but, Sndful of Neal's injunction, with-ii with-ii ' relaxing her grasp on It. (. "Naw I don't mean that ain't $ 'u got a button with a certain 'tenor on if?" Anne shook her Anne had resumed her reading; ana when, exhausted by a tumult which, like the waves of a rough lake, seemed to be rising and falling without with-out going anywhere, she decided that she might as well "see the thing through," since it must in any case be over very soon now, she realized that, when all possible names had been mentioned for the Presidency, there still remained all posible and Impossible names to mention for the Vice Presidency. She had the terrible feeling which she had sometimes experienced on a long uncomfortable journey, that it was never going to end. She said so, dizzily, to Senator Lee, He laughed. "The balloting will begin tomorrow, but we are a long way from the end of the convention vet Neither of the leading candidates candi-dates can get two-thirds of the vote There will be a deadlock. "And what will happen then?" , withfirnw. but ' ad a little bewildered. "Well, be-jfrr be-jfrr re you come back next time, get A wselfone. But go along in now." $ Without further dillicultie Anne and her seat, an excellent one be-j be-j tn Mrs. Lassiter and Mrs. Lee. pi they greeted her cordially. A gavel thudded suddenly down. s 1 bishop began to pray, the na- 'J"nal anthem sounded. Klieg lights t, :!azl. A snmii, neat man with ff5 "-asses balanced so precariously on kis nose that he was forced to JeeP pushing them back toward A 18 short-sighted eyes, read reso-$ reso-$ tions. figures and statistics. The ji firman of the national commit-';e commit-';e introduced the temporary cbair-and cbair-and this gentleman made an ? Passioned plea to God and the ill '"lventWm to deliver him from the Ju J :ilty in power. His fervor amount-tJ amount-tJ 'o frenzy. He mopped his brow, .-My Dear Lady, Your Husband Is One of the 'Key' Men." real dinner-on tbe roof first. I hear it's cool and pleasant up there. Snap into the tub and out again and you'll feel better." As she moved away, slipping her crushed dress over her shoulders, she had the curious impression Lb , she had had a few days be-S be-S wl n Senator Lee was talking t thnt Neal had Intended to to her, that . Nea say some hing else a CidCd,S hewas looking after her Sy and suddenly she thought Sere were tears in Ins eyes, bhe -raresheaskedofUy. "One or uiem I doubt that- It's more likely well have a compromise candidate "Have you any one specially In mind?" she asked, without much real '"Afterwards she remembered that j Senator Lee had given her -no d.rec . answer, and wondered why But , with the first excitement of the balloting she forgot all about it. For as Senator Lee had predict- , ed the balloting went on and on and on. She wondered how she could ever have thought the nom.nat-ul nom.nat-ul interminable. It was tins, intend in-tend that was endless. One week . retched into another and many of home to you to tell you mat i naa been nominated President of the United States." In the carpeted corridor beyond men and women passed, calling to each other excitedly. Porters wheeling trucks that squeaked, banged baggage hastily out of rooms that had suddenly been vacated va-cated and carted it away. The roar of the city lifted from the streets suddenly rushed through the dim room. The shrill voice of newsboys rose screaming above the blare of bands and the confusion of traffic. "Extra extra !" Dark Horse wins""Conrnd nominated for President!" Pres-ident!" "Extra! Extra!" "But I," repeated Neal, "came home to you.' THE END. |
