The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-12-06
Copyright. 1910. b, Emerson HosSh
' ny
 EMERSON HOUGH

up when you first met me. The sec ond is what you call traditions. your belief in wasting human life The third-it's this thing of which you must not speak. Take the case of the girl Lily. She was the actual cause of your getting hurt, oa many men be ing killed. Why?'
 "Because she was runa way slave. The law has to be enforced, property must be protected, even if it costs life sometimes. Thered be no government otherwise. We men have to take our chances in a time like that. The duty is plain"
 How utterly you fail of the truth! That's not why there was blood spilled over her. Do you know who she is?'
 "No." he said.
 "She is the daughter of your friend. Judge Clayton of the bench of justice in your commonwealth. That is why she wants to run away! Her father does not know he is her father. God has his way of fighting such things.
 There are things we must not talk about in this slavery question Stop! I did not. of course. know this. And Clayton did not know! l have bought Lily from him. You are telling me much.'
 "1 will tell you-Ehat night, when Carlisle would have killed you in your room there. when afterward put you all on parole''--
 'Yes, yes.''
 q saved you then and sent them away. Do you know whyT
 .I suppose it was the horror of more blood"
 tsI don't think so. I believe it was just for this-for this very talk I'm having now with you. I saved you then so that some day I might demand you as hostage.
 'I want you to vote with me-" she continued, flor the higher law want you to vote with Gods poor people. If-
 .sWhy, sir. if could only get you to think as Mir Benton does-a man with your power and influence and faculty for leadership-Pd call this winter we'll spent-better spent than if I'd been left in Washington"
 Suppose I wanted to change my be- liefs, how would 1 go about it? If a man hasn't got faith. how's he going to get it-by what process can he reach out into the dark and find it2 What's the use of his saying he has found faith when he knows he hasn't"
 "I cannot give you any answer. For myself, I have found that faith.''
 s'You would endure much for your convictionsr' he demanded suddenly. Would you suffer more? Undertake the conversion of a sinner like my se1f?''
 The flame of his eye caught hers in spite of herself. A little flush came into her cheek.
 ''Tell me- he demanded imperiously, ''on what termsY
 'tYou do not play the game. You would ask me to preach to you-but you would come to see the revival. not game.''
 'sBut you're seeking converts2',
 'I would despise no man in the world so much as a hypocrite. turncoat! You can't purchase faith in the market place, not any more than"-
 Any more than you can purchase love? But I've been wanting not the sermon. but the preacher. You! You! Yes. it is the truth. I want nothing else in the world So much as you"
 "I'd never care for man who would admit that"
 'NThere never was a woman in the world loved man who did not"
 s'Oh. always I try to analyze these things" she went on desperately. fac ing him, her eyes somber, her face aglow, her attitude tense. "I don't see how a woman could care for a man who only cared for her beauty"
 "Any price. for just thatg' he said grfmly. You would be cheap at any cost.''
 "But man even like yourself, sir. would be very cheap if his price was as you say. No turncoat could win me-Id love him more on his own side yontier threefold wall. with his con victions, than on my side without them. I couldn't be bought cheap as that. nor by a cheap man. I'd never love man who held himself cheap.
 But then." she added. casting back at him one of his own earlier speeches, If you only thought as I did, what could we not do together? An. life is so little. so short"'
 ''No, no! Stopr' he cried out. "I can not recant! I cannot give up my con- victions or my love, either one; and yet Pm not sure Pm going to have left either one. It's hell, that's what's left for me. But listen. Much as love you. EALuGE see you mAIIy SOLAS OncA man than think of you never married at all. God never meant a flower such as you to wither, to die, to be wasted. Why, look at youl Look at you! And you say you are to be wasted. God never meant it so, you beauty, you wonderful woman!'
 Even as she was about to speak, drawn by the passion of him, the agony nf his thnro n tho of both an arresting sound-one which it seemed to Josephine was not wholly strange to her ears. It was like the cry of a babe. a cbild's vail, difficult to locate, indefinite in distance.
 What was it?' she whispered. "Did you hear?"
 He took her by the arms, looking