The Washington herald., 1913-10-05

''Thad swears he'll resign the county
Craftsmanship if Wiley wins" he went
on, and that means the end OF
| thingsf
Yes" she answered, the end Of
things!'
He watched her crfriously. noting
now her WEAKNESS. He wondered il
she had come upon that story OF La
deau's which he and Purcell and Rube
/ Van Hart had so successfully kept
stilled. Wiley himself might have told
, her. AT least. with all Janet'S loyalty,
Arne discerned some unfathomable nc
CATION in her heart. He laid it to her
| tiredneSS; the stress was inevitably too
much for a woman, even for Janets
superb health and iron vitality. But
with a brothers constraint he did not
intimately question the matter.
He was busted with plans for the
big meeting the night before the cleo
ton Curran had never spoken in his
| home town. He had always evaded
| it and early in the campaign his
managers had thought it wise. But
now. when he had addressed the peo-
pie in every country district, in every
town of the conStituency-when he had
| met every issue and the progression
of his cause had spelled his triumph
| everywhere, Mcbride, Purcell, and the
Vances, and all the exultant group of
young men in Earkille, had insisted
that they conclude the battle in his
home spot That battle, indeed, was
| won; but they wanted to brawl their
victory in the faces of the old county
baI
he caught the fire of their ardor. And
it would be pregnant for his own soul.
| Here, where he had been the failure,
he would sting them with his sue
cessl
1T can't go wrong" exclaimed Arne,
mot even if every mossback in this
town stayed away. Wen take care of
that The Earlvillc bunch will send
over enough to pack that dinky opera
house. and then well overflow onto
the courthouse lawn. Two bands and
red fire, and we'll burn up half the
sidewalks on High Street. Rub it in
yell it in their faces, damn emf
The town was talking of that wind
up meeting of the Curran campaign
for two weeks. The old-linc county
committee was helpless. Old Thad
Tanner might curse impotcntly in his
office; but on the street Curran walked
with the consciousness that men
looked back at him. The transforma-
ton suddenly became acute in the
minds OF his townSmcn; the farmers,
over their Saturday trading in the
stores. said that an the folks would
come in to Wiley's meeting"
Old Mowry. the undertaken, with his
ten years grievance against the county
crowd since they threw him out of
the cononcrS Office, ambled into the
News and sat where he could stare at
the Widow Stcger's-always wait
ing
Busted. Wileyw He cackIed ::
why, this mornin' even Dickinson
admitted they was busted! Some of
these days therell be a board that'll
! pay me for that niger | buried.
Wiley, want l always your friend?"
Friend? The town, the county, the
vast Midlands all voiced it.
He was getting his mail the day be-
fore election when Gal Rice, white
faced. young-old man habitually re-
fiecting the last word OF his first wife's
father, Thaddeus Tanner, detached
himself from a group in the post
| office lobby to detain him. His pasy
smile was apologize.
"How's prospects, Wiley" The
banker had never before had anything
but grim nod for the editor.
"Splerdidr' He felt throb of
magnanimous condescension.