The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-12-27

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~ of Jan. %. On that night the
blacklist fog within Il four years men,
DRY fell upon certain portions of Lon
don and also on that night came the
first announcement Of the border ris-
ings against the Persian government
in the province of Khorassan-the an
nouncement that, specialized upon,
even smiled at, at the time, assumed
such significance in the light Of after
events.
At s o'clock the news spread through
the house Of commons, but at 8 men in
the inner Hobbies were gossiping, not
so much upon how far Russia, while
ostensibly UNFOLDING the shah, had
pulled the strings by which the insur-
gents danced, as upon the manner in
which the st. Georges Gazette, the
Tory evening newspaper, had seized
upon the incident and shaken it in the
faces of the government.
More than once before Lakely, the
owner and editor Of the St. Georges,
had stepped outside the decorous circle
of tradition and taken a plunge into
modern journalism, but tonight he es-
sayed deeper waters than before and
under an almost sensational heading
declared that in this apparently inno-
cent border rising we had less an out
come of mere racial antagonism than
a first faint index of a long cherished
Russian scheme, growing to a gradual
maturity under the drift policy of
the present British government.
The effect eproduced by this pro-
nouncement, if strong, was varied.
Members of the opposition saw, or
thought they saw, reflection of it in
the smiling unconcern on the minis
terial benches, and the government
had an uneasy sense that behind the
newly kindled interest on the other
side of the house lay some mysterious
seeming of battle from afar off. But
though these impressions ran like elec-
tricity through the atmosphere, moth
ing tangible marked their passage, and
the ordinary business Of the house pro-
ceeded until half past II. when an adj
journment was moved.
The first man to hurry from his place
was John Chilcote, member for East
Wark. He passed out Of the house
quickly, with the half furtive quick
ness that marks a self absorbed man,
and as he passed the policeman stand
ing stolidly under the arched doorway
of the big courtyard he swerved a lit
tie, as if startled out of his thoughts.
Ha rnO1ivnG 1,ic al, 1o& hot
it was accomplished and pulled him.
self together with nervous irritability.
"Foggy night. constable" he said,
with elaborate carelessness.
"Foggy night, sir, and thickening up
west" responded the man.
"Ah, indeed!' Chilcote's answer was
absent. The constable's CHEEKY voice
Jared on him, and for the second time
he was conscious of senseless irrita-
ton. Without further glance at the
man, he slipped out into the courtyard
and turned toward the main gate.
at the gateway two cab lamps show
ed through the mist of shifting fog
like the eyes of a great cat, and the
familiar "Hansom. sir? came to him
indistinctly.
He paused by force of custom and.
stepping forward, had almost touched
the open door when q new impulse
caused him to draw back.
NO." he said hurriedly; mo I'll
walk
The cabman muttered, dashed his
horse and, with a clatter of hoofs and
harness. wheeled away, while Chilcote,
still with uncertain hastiness, crossed
the road IN the direction of Whitehall.
About the abbey the fog had par
TALLY lifted, and in the rallied garden
that faces the houses of parliament
the statues were visible in a spectral
way. But Chilcote's glance was unsta-
BILE and Indifferent. He skirted the
ratings heedlessly and, crossing the
road with the speed of long familiar
ity, gained Whitehall on the left hand
side
There the fog had dropped, and, look
ing upward toward Trafalgar square,
1t seemed that the chain of lamps ex-
tended little farther than the Horse
guards and that beyond lay nothing.
Unconscious Of this capriclous alter
nation between darkness and light,
Chilcote continued his course. To a
close observer the manner of his going
had both interest and suggestion, for
though he walked on, apparently self
engrossed, yet at every dozen steps he
started at some sound or some touch,
like a man whose nervous system is
painfully overstrung.
Maintaining his haste, he went de-
liberately forward, oblivious Of the
fact that at each step the curtain Of
darkness about him became closer,
damper, more tangible; that at each
second the passersby jostled each
other with greater frequency. Then,
abruptly, with a sudden realization of
what had happened, he stood quite
still. Without anticipation or prepa-
ration he had walked full into the
thickness Of the fog-a thickness 50
dense that, as by an enchanter's wand