The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-05-04

face drop by drop, on the combination
of the huge safe, sas girl would seal
a letter. Whhen he had quite covered
the lock with the molten wax, he sealed
1t with the seal ring he wore on his
left hand. q ring which bore the coat
of-arms Of . colonial Governor. The
midnight secret Of those two men, what
ever 1t might be. was either safe with
them or more safely still. sealed with
other secrets behind those massive
doors. And then he turned the gas down
until only tiny star blinked In the
vault. and came out and swung together
the big steel gates that clanked like
prison bars. their locks swapping auto
matically. ~
He returned to the outer door Of the
department and placed his hand upon the
knob.
Gentlemen" he said. tremendously.
i await your pleasure
He bent his gaze full upon William
Grigsby. and that little man, throwing
back his head with something like de-
pance, strobe on his short legs out Of the
hign-ceiled room, and MendenhaIl fol-
lowed him. but meekly. As they fled
past Grigsby, with face upturned, face
tnat now in anger had taken on the blue
tihge or butchered beef, drew his hands
from his overcoat pocket and clasped
them behind his back. The Governor
bowed as the little man and MendenhalI
swept out before him. And then he drew
the big walnut door to-
Standing out in the corridor. Grieshv
waited aud as he stood and waited. he
fumbled In the outer pocket of his over
coat. suddenly he drew forth his hand
His face had turned white, the white of
a fsh's belly.
As the Governor drew the big walnut
door to and as 1t Swung behind him II
pushed before ii, scraping with the peey-
Ism voice OF a ratchet along the matted
floor piece of crumbIed paper Grissbv
who had turned toward Mendenhall with
a look Of deaths despair, saw il and
started. faint ray of hope beaming in
his eye. But the paper lay under the
Governors feet.
The Governor closed the doors.
You may lock them, Mr.. Mendenhall,"
he said.
The Assistant State Treasurer drew a
jingling bunch Of keys from his pocket
and locked the door. Grigsby's eyes were
fastened on the paper at the Governors
feet His heart was swelling in his throat
AT Mendenhalrs approach the Governor
placed his foot upon the paper. When
Mendenhall had gone. the Governor
picked 1t up. He smoothed IL out in his
fingers and slowly adjusted his glasses.
By the dim light that always burns at
night just outside the door of the State
Treasury he read it, Then he placed it
in the pocket of his overcoat. He kept
his hand upon 1t. The blue of Grigsby's
face deepened.
The three men went down the stairs.
the Governor standing aside at the top
to let them precede him. They crossed
the rotunda, past the slumbering jani-
tor whose snores ascented and exploded
in the east corridor and so out into the
darkness. They walked together down
the side stone walk, the stone walk as
wide as a street, that sweeps, with
strip of sward down its middle. across
the state house lawns to Capitol Avenue.
The Governor did not turn up Second
street by the way he had come. He kept
on with his two companions, and all
three were silent Not a word had any
one of them spoken. They were drowned
In thought. 1t matters not OF what the
assistant state treasurer was thinking
was POLITICAL villain. and had a collar
on his neck The attorney general was
of the days that were to come
The Governor was thinking of the days
that were gone. Silent. thoughtful. thus
they kept on up Capitol avenue. When
they approached the shades sthat gath
cred under the ugly iron bridge which
spans the ragged street that leads TO
the Capitol Of Illinois, the Atoms St
Louis Limited came plunging through
the town. half an hour late. The three
men halted. The great mysterious.
vestibuled train. with it's darkly curtain
ed Pullmans, slid across the bridge. AS
they stood waiting for it to pass that
they might go under. the Governor with
drew his hand from his pocket. the pa
per still folded in it. He held the paper
out toward Grisby.
William he said. 'T think you
dropped something"