The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-08-13
Stories of an Inland State.

John Wright knew the flaws In the char
| acter of Oliver Wills, the labor leader
From the moment he had first called upon
| him with tender Of money for the benefi;
of the oppressed, John Wright had known
I every dark corner and secret closet in this
mans mind. He knew that Oliver Wills
| great strike could not be of itself a sue
cess; that this leader, defied by his follow
ers, would lose hold on courage at a crit
ical moment, and accept defeat by calling
il compromise. He had pondered long on
the certainty Of this result, and his inab:I-
ity to prevent defeat.
When the beautiful young woman had
come, by chance, into his house, ne had
| recognized in her an instrument TO his pur-
pose. The manner of meeting with her
had given her bad character, but he had
! talked to her only few moments, heard
| her brief narrative, and studied the light
of her eyes and lines OF her face When
he knew she was unsulhed and so the bet
! ter fashioned TO mis- purpose. She must
| gain control over this labor leader, Oil
| yer Willis. The time must come when he
must work through her mind to that of
| Oliver Willis Her mind was strong and
| unrelenting in energy and she, If she con-
| trolied him, would not let him ruin the
| whole campaign by a moments weak ccn-
promise.
| Six weeks had gone by since she came
and without a word from him, but as if
| he had directed il by some stroke of witch
| craft, Oliver Willis and Nell Everett were
| growing in each others regard. John
| Wright noted this with pleased cunning
ness, and gave them every opportunity to
| be alone together. He had never told Nell
Everett that Oliver Willis had a wife and
( children; he did not know what whimsical
! objection she might raise to prevent his
| plan from being carried out IL she knew
| that. He had reason to believe that VIII
| lis had concealed this important fact from
| her himself. Still, John Wright felt that
he should give her, in preservation of his
own honor, some warning which would
place her on her guard, and at the same
time not lessen her desire for complete
power over this tool, the labor leader.
He had made many attempts to apprise
her Of the condition of Oliver Wills in
life and the attitude she should observe
towards him-one OF coaxing impregna-
bility ne believed best, which had the two
fold virtue of giving her more complete
influence over him and preserving her
honor.
eff she will let him do an the love-mak-
ing he said, II shall have him complete
ly in my power: If she does not, l shall
lose and she shall lose
Nell Everett and Oliver Willis had been
frequently out together. in the evenings.
They were out again tonight and John
Wright recurring to this fact suddenly
vented himself Of an opinion of the labor
leader:
THE skunk" he cried. "He seeks to do
men justice and wallows in dissipation
and immortality. He sets himself up as a
leader, and m.sleads his own wife and de-
ceives his own children, this man who bat
Ties for the right and lives lie"
For he had no sympathy for immortality.
He felt the disgrace and the disgusting
weakness of carnality. He felt, too, the
need of the great potency OF purity, in
the work before him. He demanded that
the world, II It should ever come TO know
him, should not ascribe one act of his TO
moral weakness or lack of integrity. And
now lately, as he drew near the one act
of his life, the disruption of society, he
ranked day and night over his partic:pa-
ton in the theft of the jewels. That was
the one blot against him, he held. With
that done and irreparable, he must &C
cept ignominy If it came. But he would
make no other misstep in his life, which |
he could not defend. That was without |
defense. He had sinned. He acknowl- |
edged il.
Still, this single sin clamored against him |
and tried to weaken his resolve, and prove !
to him that he was not a fit agent to re- |
form his country. He acknowledged the |
business of the charge. but he did not |
weaken in his resolve.
This evening he felt that responsible |
ity for Nell Everett's welfare rested on his |
shoulders. He must no longer depend on |
limitations and her possible misunder- !
standing. She must know the truth and /
the whole truth about this Oliver Willis.
They came in presently, and after a muir
muir in the hall, Wills shut the door and |
went out.
To John Wright the atmosphere OF the /
room with their coming was impregnated
with accusation. 1t was not Wills Gus
tom to depart at once after these evening /
strolls with Nell. A s!ckening confirma-
ton of the old mans apprehension seemed
to fill him.
He rushed out into the hall. He caught
the scent of liquor, a huskiness in her voice
as she addressed him, and with a bursting
throb of the heart he choked with anger
and remorse for he knew, by the strange
faculty OF intuition that he was too late
Towering and rubicund with emotion he
pushed her before him 10 the Lighted room
and sat her in chair and seating himself.
dropped his head into his hands.
Finally he looked up and into her beautt
full face, frightened unusually by stimuli
lants and murmured:
MY child, My child"
Eve do not need Speech" she said with
a husky laugh. 'Tntimauon has become
and instinct information Silence
IS vocal"
"s.lencer he commanded. savagely.
do you fear 1 shall conceal with
speech? >"
He did rot answer.
at did No. helteve that Won were weak "a
the point Of offense?'
II am offended" he announced slowly,
"at myself"
"A guardians remorssT'
Yes. Nell. I should have spoken.
"And why?"
willis has a wife and children"
80 he told me"
John Wright raised his eyes 70 her with
something of pleasure in his glance. and
she. noting it, sad again, huskly and with
a laugh:
The responsibility is not yours. But you
are a fool to have responsibility. He loves
me-"
Loves you,''
"Say il with a sneer."
Loves your
She arose and supported herself by the
arm OF the chair. speaking with peculiar
vehemence:
You are an anarchist-snd recogniz. no
law Why should you demand one for me2
He loves me You recognize no barrier for
yourself in life. L know no restraint. II
we are wrong, the rascal shall not repri-
ruani the rogue. But we are not wrong.
The times are out OF joint and ell awry. !
We should follow Nature and II she mis-
leads US. blame her. The injustice OF i'm
pulses within the law have no greater PEN
alties than the intustices Of the impulses