The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-04-08
CHAPTER XXXIX.
TIE LAW.

go us L 1I1euOS VIC were COnEFQtQ-
latlng him on his remarkable speech and
ms certainty Of election, he fastened TO
find Sallie.
pulsIVely as he clasped her in mis-
arms.
Your eyes kindled the fire in my soul
and gave me the power to mould that
crowd to my WILL" he softly told her.
II IS sweet to hear you say that,
though | know it is only half true
Now, my love. | am in an awful
situation. What are we to do with the
General storming around preparing for
a grand wedding? What if that taller
gives out the news? Mcleod can get
it out of him if he ever suspects any
thing
Don't worry, dear. I'll manage
everything. We've fixed the wedding
On the inauguration day-so you can
be defeated. We Will be busy day and
night getting ready my trousseau, and
issuing our Invitations. Papa will never
dream that one has been per-
formed already. He need never know
it for that matter, until we are ready
to tell him.
If he discovers it, he will swear I
have tried to humiliate him, and he
will never forgive it. Telegraph me if
anything happens, and I will come i'm
mediately. / can't see you for weeks in
the campaign but I Will write to you
every day
His Excellency, the Governor Of
North Carolina" she softly exclaimed
With a dreamy look into his face. My
distinguished lover"
Don't make me vain. / may be the
Governor, but I shall always be the
slave of 2 beautiful woman who came
one day to a Jail and made it q palace
with the glory Of her ove!"
I'm glad 1 didn't wait for your sue
cess
The campaign Which followed was the
most remarkable ever conducted in the
history of an American Commonwealth.
In he dawn Of the twentieth century
a resistless movement was inaugurated
to destroy the party in control of a
State; and affiliated with the most
powerful National Administrator since
Andrew JacKson's, on the open declara-
ton of their intention to nullify as a
sovereign people the Fourteenth and
L W tAS
ton of the Republic.
There was no violence except the
calm demonstration in open daylight
OF cminpotent racial power, and the do
fiance of any foe to lift a hand in pro
test.
When CASTOR spoke at Independence,
five thousand white men dressed in
scarlet shirts rode silently through the
streets in solemn parade, and six thou
sand negroes watched with fear. There
was no cheering or demonstration Of
any kind. The silence of the procession
gave it the Importance Of a religious rite.
A thousand picked men We're in line
from Hambright and Campbell county
and-they formed the guard of honor for
their candidate for Governor.
McIeod's secret anger against the
preacher and CASTOR, his pet, knew no
pounds. Chagrined at his repulse by
Mrs. Durham and the attitude of indif-
ferent contempt she had maintained to-
ward him, his tongue began to wag her
name in SANDER to the crowd Of young
satellites loajng around his office in
H~amb1ight.
yes. boys" he said, "the preacher is
a great man, but his wife is greater.
She's the handsomest woman in the
State in spite Of a gray thread OF two
in her rich chestnut hair. She has the
most beautiful mouth that ever tempted
the soul of a man-and boys, my lips
! know what it means to touch it,
And when they stared with open eyes
at this statement, McLead shook mis-
bead, laughed and whispered,
Say nothing about it-but facts are
~facts."
Mcleod chuckled over the certainty
OF the shame and suffering that would
| wiring the preachers heart When dirty
eossips Of a village had magnifIed these
| words into a complete drama of scandal.
| Fer all preachers Mcleod had profound
contempt, and he felt doublv secure
now in the certainty Of his safety from
personal harm in such an encounter.
When the preacher first heard Of these
rumors was the occasion of Gaston's
campaign address under the old oak in
the sIuare.
A simple old friend from the country
asked him about these rumors. He
tuIred pale as death. made no answer,
and walked rapidly toward his study
in the church where his library was now
arranged. He was daZed with horror.
1t was the first ne had heard Of it. One
thing in his estimate Of life had always
been as securely fixed and sheltered
in his thought as his faith in God, anC
| that was his love for his wife, and his
| perfect faith in her honor.
Le clio sed his door and locked it and
sat DC n trying to think.
Had he not grown careless IN the GER
tainty of his Wife's devotion, and MS
own quiet but intense e Had ne
not forgotten the yearning of a woman,
heart for the eternal REPETITION OF love $
language of sign and word?
| The tears were in his eyes now. and
he felt that his heart would beat to
: death and break within him.