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

split, and factions had formed. There
had been a fierce fight for the control Of
the State central committee that year,
and the struggle had been carried into
the State convention, which nominated a
State treasurer, superintendent Of pub
lie instruction, and trustees OF the Uni
versity of Illinois. In one faction were
the Governor, the auditor OF public ac-
counts and, of course. his appointees,
| the adjutant general, the railroad and
warehouse commissioners. and the trus-
| tees of the State institutions. In the
other were the attorney general and the
1 secretary of State, Jennings. Lockhart,
/ tire State treasurer, had been neutral.
He was everybody's friend. The Lieuten-
ant Governor did not count The super
lntendent of public instruction was not
a politician, save in teachers institutes.
where he was cheered and Endorsed in
ella ssic resolutions.
And now Grigsby was an avowed can
didate for Governor in opposition to his
old friend, John Chatham, the man who
had made him. Two years bring about
great changes in politics. Grigsby in that
time had grown corpulent, had hardened
4 his liver and his heart, and was threat
ened with Bright's disease
i The Attorney General continued to
smoke and pace the floor and swear.
After while he consulted his watch
again, and then gave the old-fashioned
brass bell-pull a vigorous jerk. Presently
a negro boy came, bearing a presumptivc
| pitcher of water, the tinkling of the ice
heralding his approach. The Attorney
General would have welcomed ice water
in the morning. but now he seized 1t from
the black boys hand, set it down with
splash on his washstand, and shouted:
Go and tell Jim to mix me a commo-
dore'
Just as the boy reached the door II
opened and tall man entered. The tall
man. seeing the boy. looked at Grigsby.
"whatn you have, Hank?" said the
Attorney General
"A little whisky
Bring Mr.. Jennings some whisky" or
dered the Attorney General.
Bourbon. boy" added Mr.. Jennings.
The boy withdrew.
The Attorney General paused before the
fire and locked up into the face Of the
Secretary of State.
We'll. Hank" he said, II began to fear
you hadn't got my message. Heard the
news?"
The Secretary Of State lazily pulled off
his wet overcoat and flung it across the
bed, and then, shaking the water from
his broad brimmed black SLOUGH hat In
the careless way they have down in
Southern Illinois, he tossed II after the
coat. on which il fell with a damp slap.
He stood six feet in height and would
have been taller had he not stopped His
face was long, his skin dingy and sal
low, and his thin nose. beginning between
deep-set eyes Of steely blue, stretched
down the middle Of his visage and pre-
cipitated itself over the black mustache
IL, ~zossN I~,u III
mouth. His hair, glossy black though he
was fifty, was flung straight across his
brow and over his left ear. giving the
effect of a name. Behind IL creased the
collar of a long black frock coat that
wrapped him lankly. A narrow black tie
hung unknotted at his throat. When he
moved II was in that loose and lazy way
that told. as his hat and his habit did.
that he came from the country south of
the old o. and NJ, which divides Egypt
from the corn lands of Central Illinois.
He drew a rocking chair to the CRATE and
stretching himself comfortably in II, with
his feet upon the ash-strewn fender, drew
from his hip pocket a plug OF tobacco
and gnawed on 1t. Then he drawled, In
voice haunted by musical echoes of
Southern ancestry:
What news?'
Why replied the attorney general,
haven't you heard? Jim Lockhart's
dead
THE hell he isl responded Jennings
II hadn't heerd airy word When'd he
die?''
This afternoon"
Sudden"
Rather"
What was ailin' of him."
The attorney general smiled, a pecu-
liar mirthless smile
Tho Secretary of ~ rorl
You don't reckon now"
That's it, exactly"
IL didn't know it'd got that bad.
What'd thhey give out for the cause?"
"Oh, heart failure. 1 suppose"
Beats hell, don't it,
The Secretary of State was silent
Presently he spoke again in an abstract
ed way:
well, Jim as devil of a goood Teller;
as good as you'd meet up 18th In coon's
age. An 1 reckon when it come to a
showdown, he is our friend. If the
boys 'p'ints an investigator committee
Jim as al'ays a leetle too free 18th the
stuff
Grigsby said Yes" in a detached tone
Then there was silence for space. The
bellboy knocked. bore in his tray and de-
parted. The men nodded over the edges
Of their little glasses each to the other,
and drank. Then Grigsby, wiping" his
lips, said:
Hank, l didn't send for you tonight
to hold memorial services over Jim
Lockhart There's something more i'm
portant that that-theres something
damned important, and il concerns me-"
Your"
YES me. I'm in this thing just
twenty thousand dollars
THE he'll you are!''
Observation-Disclosures |
Grigsby sank into chair |
BORROWER" asked Jennings.
Yes" \
Public funds?'' |
-Well--I don't know. Course" |
"Jim Lockhart didn't have no private |
fortune-'ithout II as the intrust."
We'll suppose 1t was |
"Anthin to show fer it > |
IT gave him three notes-one for ten, |
two for five thousand each"
"Well. you're a bigger damn fool than |
! gave you credit fer bein'."
The attorney general, clutching his |
fingers into his hair, rested his elbows |
on his short knees, and bowed his head. |
And with the governorship just in plain |
sight, too, The groaned.
well, 1t wasn't so damn plain said 1
Jennings.
Then as his eye rested on the man
bowed beside him, the sweat trickling |
down his sallow face, something in the |
droop of the figure touched a chord Of 1
pity in his heart, and the tall Egyptia0
laid a hand on Grigsbys shoulder, say
ing. in another tone: