Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-07-01

treat your father just square. so you
pay the grudge off by Matchmaking
me. Maybe your holy New England
conscience is too near-sighted to see
it's only III the devils ledger that two
wrongs make a right"
''Do you speak from experience?
Because it doesn't fit this case.
propose nothing of the sort"
"Then what in thunder do you
want@ snarled Caleb, mystified. ''It
it amt cash Or"
ct want you to give Mr.. Standish a
fair chance. That is all. | want you
to remove the embargo from his
speeches and advertisements; to open
the columns of every paper in the
Mountain State to him. To promise
not to modest him in any way, not to
allow your rowdies to break up his
meetings nor to prevent him from hir-
ing halls. Not to stuff the ballot
boxes, falsify the returns. employ
'foaters' or-in short, l want you to
give him an equal chance with your
self; to conduct the campaign hon
estly, and to leave the issue solely to
the voters. Will you do this?"
"And If / beat him at that?"
''If you are elected by an honest
majority, that is no concern of ours.
All demand is that you fight in the
open and leave the result to the peo-
ple."
Caleb thought in silence for few
moments.
"If I do this?" he asked at last.
'"Then, on the afternoon of Election
Day, my brother shall turn over to
you, or to your representative, the en-
tire Denzlow correspondence"
81 have your word for that? Certi-
fled copies and all?"
Eyes"
"You don't lie. That's about the
one foolish trait I've ever found in
you. If I've got your word, you'll
stand by it. Can't say quite the same
of me, eh?'
81 don't think that needs an an
swer."
Cant turn over the letters TO me
now, on my pledge to-"
'T'm afraid not, said Anice, almost
apologetically. II must"
"And you're dead right A promise
is such a sacred thing that it's always
wise to keep your finger on the trig-
ger till the real moneys handed over.
Just to keep the sacredness from spoil
ing. AS l understand it, I'm to loosen
up on Standish; and then if l lick
him fair, you and | are quits? I'll do
it. Such a fight ought to prove pretty
amusing. It'll be an experience any,
how, as Sol Townsley said when Fa-
Their Healy told him he'd burn some
day in hell I'll accept those silly
terms of yours for the same reason so
many men stay honest. They don't
enjoy it, but it's more fun than going
to Jail. I'll send out the orders first
thing in the morning And on the
afternoon of Election Day I'll get that
Denzlow stuff"
Eyes. And the certified copy the
following morning"
"In case I should get absent-minded
that night when the votes are
counted? You're a clever girl, Miss
Lanier. Pity you're to be wasted on
Standish! Oh, that's all right l
don't need to be told. A girl like you
isn't acting the way you do just for
the sake of a measly principle. And
now" his bantering tone changing to
one of brusque command, eff there's
nothing more, maybe you'll both get
out I'm tired, and"
Give and Anice withdrew. The
latter, looking back as she left the
room, saw Caleb sitting doubled over,
motionless, in his chair, his gaze
again on the fire.
Long and late Caleb Conover sat
there alone in his big, silent study.
The lamp on the table flickered, gut
tered and went out. The live Goals
died down to embers. The cold of
early autumn crept through the great
room, along with the encroaching
darkness. The clock on the wall
chimed. Then again, and a third
time, but the Railroader sat motion
less.