Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-23
CHAPTER x.
Anice Intervenes.

Anice Intervenes.
You wrote them? You wrote them
muttered StandiSh, over and over, stupid
dazed refusing to believe. to understand.
Yes she said. II wrote them. And
wrote one to Ny. Ansel. He was wiser
than you. He tiled to profit by what I
And II thought it might be Gerald
Conover."
Gerald? He never knew any of the more
secret details of the campaign His father
couldn't trust him.
"A nd he did trust you"
Give had not meant to say it. He was
sorry before the words had passed his lips
Yet il was the first lucid thought that came
to him his mind cleared from the first
shock of Anices revelation. He knew how
fully Conover believed in this pretty Secre-
tary of his: how wholly the railroader had.
IN her case. departed from his life rule of
universal suspicion That she should thus.
Coldbloodediy, calCulatingly. have betrayed
the trust of even such an employer Caleb
was monstrous. He could not reconcile it
with anything in his own long knowledge
of her. The revelation turned him sick.
You despise me. don't y0u?" she asked.
There was no shame, no faltering in her
clear young voice
Il have no right toto judge any one" he
stammeTCd. I"
You dospise me- And now it was a
statement. not a query.
No he said slowly. trying to gauge his
own tangled emotions. II don't. 1 don I
know why | don't but ! don't | should
think any one else that did such a thing
was lower than the beasts. But you-why.
YOU are yourself. And the queen can do no
wrong. I've known you nearly all your life.
If II had been possible for You to harbor
mean or dishonest impulse I'd have been
the first person on earth to guess it. Be
cause no one else would have cared as
did As ! do / don't understand it at all.
And just at first it bowled me over. and a
whole rush of disloya thoughts and doubts
came over me. But I know now it's all
right. somehow. for it's YOU
You mean" exclaimed the girl, wonder
ingly. that after what I've told you, you
trust me?"
why. of course"
"And You don't even ask me to explain?
IF there was anything i had a right to
know-that you wanted me to know-you'd
have explained of your accord
She looked at him long, searchingly. Her
face was as inscrutable the Sphnx's, yet
when she spoke ii was of a totally different
theme.
What are you going to do?" she IN
CURED.
"Do?" he repeated. perplexed.
YES. about the campaign
There's nothing to do. l am beaten
When the convention meets. in half an
hour. Conover will be nominated Only
my two little blocks of delegates will be
left to oppose him. against all that
whole"
Yes: yes. | know that" she interposed
but what them"
THAT is the end, I suppose. Perhaps by
the next gubernatorial campaign-'
The next? This campaign hasn't fairly
begun Yet. Do you mean to say you are
going TO sit by with folded hands and ac-
cept defeat?'
What else is left?"
Everything is left. You have tried to
fight an all-powerful machine, to fight il on
its own ground, along its own lines. yet re-
fusng to use its own weapons to guard
against them. And you have failed. The
real fight begins now.
What do you mean?"
Il mean you must call on the people at
large to help you. You have aroused them.
Already there is so much discomfort against
boss rule that Mr.. Conover is troubled.
You have no right to abandon the cause
now that you've interested others in it.
Put yourself in the peoples hands
You mean. to-"
ITO declare yourself an Independent can
didate."
9" Bolt the democratic ticket? It"
1T is against custom, but good men have
done It, In this battle. as | understand it,
there is no question of party issues. 1t is
the people against the machine Can't you
see?''
Yes" he replied. after a moment OF
hesitation, Il see And you are right
But ii means only the counting OF further
defeat What Conover has already done
In muzzling the press and using other
crooked tactics. he will continue to do. My
speeches won't be allowed to circulate. My
HltetlHRS VIII DE broken UP. More COnONeI
men will register than can be found on the
census list. And on election day there will
be the usual ballot frauds. All the voting
machinery is in Conovers hands. Even II
i won i would be counted out at the polls
No"
Wait, II can clear the way for you
II i can insure you fair chance. If / can
prevent any frauds and force Mr. Con-
over TO leave the issue honestly to the peo-
pie of the Mountain state-if i can do al
this. then will you declare yourself an indie
pendent candidate. and"
But how can you-a girl-do all this?"
IN explain that to you afterward But
IL won't be in any unfair or underhand way
You said just now you trusted me. Cant
you trust me in this. too?"
You know | can"
And you'll do as / ask"
Yes"
Good"
IT'S worth trial. I'll do it,
Then i shall be the first to congra tulatt
the future governor"
'Anice"'-the old-ti boyish impetuos
ity she so well remembered flashing into
one of its rare recurrences-''if / win this
fight-if i am elected governor-I shall
have something worth while at last to of
fer you. IL i come to you the day / an
elected"
Il shall congratulate you only as i would
any other friend
His lips frightened as at a blow For q
moment neither spoke. 1t was Give who
broke the silence.
Il have said Il awkwardly." he began
If it had been less to me / might have
found more eloquence. / love you. l think
] have always loved you. You know that
A woman always knows. love you loved
you in the old days, when was too poor to
have the right to speak. What little / am
what little may have achieved-is for you.
j have not made much of myself But that
I've made anything at all is due to you In
everything / have done. your eyes and your
smile have been before me. At heart I've
laid every success at your feet. At heart
I've asked your faith and your pardon for
each of my failures. And. whether you
care or not. II will always be the same.