The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-07-03

that he had insulted them by ap'
pearng on the platform in state
OF intoxication. As the night Wen'
on reports were af,oat to the effect
that Miss Castlemaine, was not Ill
a. all. but that it was report
which oigila ated with Leicester
himself, the real truth being that
Miss Castlemaine, having al the
last moment discovered him to be
a 5runkard. had ordered him from
her home. Before the town had gone
To sleep. Leicester was declared to
be guilty of every sin in the cal
endar, and that they must be very
| thankful that they had found out
his real character. Mr.. Smith and
his staff were in despair, while
| the agent of the other candidate
was jubilant. Their success was now
assured, they felt.
Hour after hour Leicester slept
| The doctors potion, together with
| the whiskey fumes, had to be slept
off. and he lay like a log, breathing
| heavily. More than once, the pro
| prietor of the hotel came and look
| ed at him. As he looked he won.
dered. Even in his drunken sleep
there was something noble about
| him The face, all discolored as it
was, suggested a strong, maSterful
man 1t seemed impossible that
the selfrestrained man who came
to his house a few hours before
and had ordered nothing b~t soda
water from the waiter. could have
fallen on the platform in drunken
he,plessness. Nevertheless. there
could be no Goubt about it. AS he
listened to his maudin mutterings
there could be but ore opinion
about his condition.
When Leicester woke daylight
had come, but although he fell
that something terrible had hap
pened he did not fully realize wha
had taken place. His mouth wa'
dry and parched, and his heaC
thrObbel terribly. He had a vagu,
remembrance of having acte'
strangely, but he could not piec,
together the scattered thought
which floated through his brain.
What is it," he asked afte
vanly thinking. Am | still asleep?
Is it all nightmare"
He looked around the room, an
saw the suns rays streaming
through the windows. No, he wa
not asleep he was in the bedroom
I of his hotel. But why was he there
. Why was his heart so heavy? VIII
, did his head throb so terribly?
Slowly memory began to wort;
q he remembered dimly the sWGyiu
crowds the shouts of enthusiast
supporters. But it was ali re'
vague, and it seeme] a long wa
OFF His tongue was dry and parcl
o ed. it would hardly move in hi
!. mouth, He felt an all-devouria
thirst.
|, Whisky he said, Il must hay
whisky"
+ He moved to get out of bed bu
= as he did so, all the events of tn
past three days came to him as
in a flood. The wedding day, tn
- scorn of Olive Castlemaine, til
black terror of hopeless iarknes
3, the return of whisky, the dissol,
. tion of Parliament, the telegral
summonng him to his constituenc.
- 1t all came to him with such
shock that for moment his thir.
left him. The scenes of the pr,
!, vious evening fillel him with no
-, Eor. Yes he had been drinkin
hard all the day and the whske
had proved too much for him II
hau walked to the Public Hall a
, right; but the hot fetid atmospher,
the sight of Olive Castlemaine
face thrown on the canvass ha
completely overmastered him. Ha
:. he not given up drinking whiske
It wouh have been all right. II
would have made his speech, an
no one would have suspected tina
he had been drinking; but as
was he had become maudlin foo
- he had fallen down in drunken he'll
W. lossness.
The thought stmg him 10 mac
ness. This, then was his boaste
strength. this was what Radfor
, Leicester hai come TO. The war;
ings of his pious friends whom h
mad reered at had come true
Whiskey had made him as drunk a
a NAVY who had spent his week
end in debauchery on receiving hi
: weeks wage. Cynic as he had n