The San Francisco call., 1905-03-26

ed he admitted, trace of shrewd-
ness edging his tone. but the abuse
seems to have dulled now. I have been
waiting for that to issue"
His lordship, SIR" announced clerk
and the proprietor sprang to his feet to
greet his visitor.
Gordon's eyes lighted with pleasure
as they fell on Dallas, noting the
change the few months of relief from
the CALLING pressure Of poverty had
the attire Are the types ready?" he
asked the publisher.
Yes, my lord. We distribute to-
morrow ]. have marked few STAN
zas, however, that hesitate TO include
in a further edition. Here they are.
You will guess my reason"
The other looked, his eyes reading,
but his mind thinking further than the
page.
Londoni Right well thou knowst the hour
Then thy spruce citizen. washed artisan
And SNUG apprentice gulp their weekly air
The lines were bitter. indeed. They
had been written when he was still
smarting under the lash OF his earlier
critics. in the first months Of his jour
neylngs. before the great wind Of travel
had swept his mind clear and sweet
for the latter harmonies of his poesy.
In them lay the hurt sneer of a per-
sonal resentment-the resentment that
had been in his soul when he sailed
from England; that had sprung alive
again on his return, when he learned
that his enemies had employed his alb
sence to bespatter his name with lying
tales.
behind him. And should he carry the
old spirit into this better and nobler
work. to defect his message from its
significance into cheaper channels or
abuse? His thought recurred to the
youth in the bare room of the
Fleet. Even there, In a debtors
prison, Shelley had forgot his own
plight. and sunk individual re-
sentiment in desire for wider
justice. Should he be less big in toler-
ance than that youth? So he asked
himself, as the publisher casually fiut-
tered the leaves of an uncut review
which the clerk had laid on his desk
All at once John Murray's eyes
stopped, fixed on a page. He made an
: exclamation of irritation and chagrin,
and pushed it out toward Gordon. 1t
was a fresh copy of the Scourge. and
the leader Gordon read, while the pub
Usher paced the floor with nervouSly
angry strides, was the one In which
had been stepped the anonymous
venom of William Goodwin the book
seIler-a page whose caption was his
own name:
TT may be asked whether to be a
simple citizen is more disgraceful than
to be the illegitimate descendant Of a
murderer; whether to labor in an hon.
orable profession be less worthy than
to waste the property of others in vul-
gar debauchery; whether to be the son
of parents of no title be not as honor
able as to be the son Of profiigate
father and mother of demoniac tenn
per, and, finally, whether a simple uni
versity career be less Indicative of vir-
tue than to be held up to the derision
and contempt of his fellow students, as
scribbler of doggerel and a bear
leader, to be hated for responsiveness of
manners and stunned by every man
who would not be deemed profigate
without wit and trifiing without ele-
gance.''
A cold dead look Of mingled pain and
savagery grew on his face as he read.
Then he sprang up and went to the
door. Behind him Dallas had seized
the review and was reading 1t with
Indignation. The publisher was still
pacing the floor: What an unfortu-
nate advertisement" he was mutter-
ing.
Gordon stared out into the lamp
lighted street. The bitter malignancy
which had spared not even the grave
in its slander numbed and maddened
him. His breath came hard and q
+ mist was before his eyes. Opposite
the shop loomed the blackened front
of the old church of ST. Dunstan' sim
the West; as he stood, the two wooden
figures Of wild men on the clock
which projected over the street struck
the hour with their clubs. and late
newsboy passed crying tiredly: News
and Chronicle! All about the Frame
Breakers shot in Nottingham"
The volume the publisher had given
him was still in Gordon's hand He
turned into the room and flung it on
the desk.
NO" he said with harsh bluntness.
mot line shall be altered, If every
syllable were a rattlesnake and every
expungedi Let those who cannot
swallow, chew 1t. I will have none
of your damned cutting and slashing.
Murray. / will battle my way against
them all, like a porcupine!"
Then he wheeled and plunged into
the clack and babble of Fleet streets
pedestrians.
London would be reading his effusion
when his book appeared tomorrow
reading it and talking about it. The
curs.'' he said to himself, as he walked
fiercely down the Strand.
The cry OF the newSbOy ahead came
back to him like a dulled refrain He
turned into Whitehall at Charing
Cross, and looked up to find himself
opposite Melbourne House He re-
membered suddenly the clear-eyed girl
to whom ne had offered his
Satire and whose coin was
still in his waistcoat pocket.
she had said Melbourne House"
that day to the coachman. He won-
dered with a curious levity whether
she would read the Scourge.
Before the House of Parliament
stood double line of carriages.
Its the debate in the Lords on the
Frame Breakers bill," he heard one
passer-by inform another, as he stared
frowning at the high Gothic entrance.
That was the measure against which
Shelley's pamphlet had been written.
The pain was dulling and the old
unyielding devil of challenge andefght
was struggling uppermost- The
illegitimate descendant of a murder
er,"-Gordon muttered-" a scrib-
bier Of doggerel and a bear leader!' I"
Then suddenly he raised his head.
I1ic auoS ctr1fcE fire like gray flint fsT