The Transgressors Part 23

In the centre of the floor there is a movement; the guidon of New York is moving. It is being borne toward the Pennsylvania delegation.

Another and another state guidon follows in its wake. The convention is in an uproar.

Ten, twenty of the delegations are now swarming about the standard of Pennsylvania. The galleries keep up the incessant shout of "Trueman!

Trueman!"

A hundred men are cl.u.s.tered about the speaker as he stands, awed by the outburst of enthusiasm. He is picked up and placed on the shoulders of his friends.

The delegations who have rallied to his support now number forty; they are moving toward the platform. The men carrying Trueman go to meet them.

The climax is reached. Trueman is carried round and round the hall, the enthusiasm of the delegates reaching the point of frenzy. Every delegation is now in line. Without waiting for the formality of a motion to adjourn, the convention marches from the building; its candidate at its head.

CHAPTER XVI.

TWO POINTS OF VIEW.

On the way to the hotel after the exciting incidents of the day, which have culminated in his nomination, Trueman has time to reflect. The poise of a man of his sterling character is not easily disturbed; yet he feels misgivings as to the ultimate result of the pending campaign. The odds are so uneven. On the one side the millions of concentrated capital, commanding the servile votes of the dependent operatives; on the other, eternal principles, supported by a few resolute men who will have to inspire the Nation to action.

"If I only had the encouragement of Ethel," Harvey soliloquizes, "it would be nothing to face the foes of my country. But I must make the fight alone. She is separated from me now by a wider barrier than ever.

As the champion of the people of Wilkes-Barre I became the antagonist of her father, and she had no choice but to remain with him.

"And yet, at our parting, there was a tremor in her voice which told me that her love for me was not utterly dispelled.

"Sister Martha tells me that Ethel is not happy, that she has ceased to be the social b.u.t.terfly, the cynosure of the fashionable set in Philadelphia and New York.

"As the inconspicuous leader of the working men of a Pennsylvania mining town I might have won her, even against the opposition of Gorman Purdy.

As a candidate for the Presidency, on the Independence party's ticket, my hopes are idle."

He enters his room and finds a telegram on the table.

"VENETIA, L.I.

"As a friend I congratulate you on the honor you have achieved; I wish that circ.u.mstances would permit me to aid you in attaining victory. E.P."

In all the world there is no treasure more precious than the yellow slip of paper which Harvey holds in his hand. It is a proof that Ethel has not forgotten him; it even foretells that if victory were to rest on his standards, he might claim a double prize--the Presidency and a bride.

"What right had I to expect that Ethel could descend from her sphere to share the uncertain fortunes of a social reformer?" he muses.

"The conditions of life that have been fostered in the United States since the era of the multi-millionaire make the problem of marriage more complicated than ever before. How can a woman, born to luxury, hope to find marital felicity with a man dependent on his daily wages for the means of supporting himself and family?

"To say that she may bestow her wealth upon her husband, does not solve the problem; it modifies it by adding a potent deterrent; for a man who will be dependent upon his wife for support, lacks the essential qualifications of a good husband.

"The sharp lines of cla.s.s distinction now drawn in the country are the cause of most of the unhappiness that attend matrimony. It is the opinion of others, not the needs of self, that engender discontent.

"I must win a position in the world which will demand the respect of all men; then I shall offer Ethel, in place of the ill-gotten millions of her father's fortune, the name and love of an honest and respected man.

And I will be honest and respected, even as President.

"What a commentary on human frailty the records of our latter day Chief Magistrates present. Each has been of humble origin. He has risen by virtue of fearless championship of the cause of the ma.s.ses. Once in the office of the Presidency, all uprightness and independence has left him and he has worshiped at the feet of the Idol of Gold.

"To win the Presidency will be to inaugurate an era of real National prosperity, in which the labor of the people will be insured just remuneration. To win Ethel will be to abolish the distinction of cla.s.s."

At the very hour Harvey Trueman is pondering over the grave conditions that keep him from making Ethel his wife, she is thinking of the mockery of her riches, which furnish her with every attribute to happiness but one--that eclipses all others--the heart's desire.

From the days that she had first known Harvey as the brilliant counsellor, she has felt that inextinguishable love which thrives on hope, and which will not diminish, even when hope is banished. Harvey and she had been friends. His brains had won him admittance to the social cla.s.s in which she moved. When their attachment had grown to love, and he had asked her father's consent to their marriage, Gorman Purdy, the man of millions, had not hesitated to sanction the union.

What a joy had filled her heart when Harvey told her of his love! What happiness could have equalled hers when she received the news from Harvey that her father was willing that they should marry?

What has caused their separation?

This is the question that remains as yet unanswered in her mind.

"Is it possible that there can be such a divergence in the views of two men on a question of right and wrong," she asks herself, "that they will sacrifice the happiness of the one woman they profess to love, rather than agree upon a compromise, or one or the other change his views?"

"My father loves me; he lavishes his wealth upon me; I am his only child, his only comfort. He remains a widower so as to give me an undivided love. Yet he will not consent to my speaking of wedding Harvey Trueman. He tells me that Harvey is an enemy of mankind; a man who is seeking to disrupt civilization; that every word he utters is intended to inflame the minds of the people; to incite them to anarchy.

"And Harvey, can his words be false when his actions are so generous?

What prompted him to give the miner's widow a thousand dollars? Was it a desire to do an act of charity, or was it as my father tells me, the act of a demagogue?

"How am I, a woman who knows nothing of politics or the principles of government, to decide a question that divides nations?

"What does all the advanced civilization of to-day amount to when it stands as a barrier to happy marriages?

"I cannot exchange places with a woman of the mining districts. My life has been so different that I should be miserable."

As she philosophises Ethel glances about her boudoir. It is midnight.

From her open window a refreshing breeze comes from the sea. Venetia, on the Long Island sh.o.r.e, where Gorman Purdy has built his palatial residence, is always fanned by ocean breezes. On this particular night in August the moon shines full and bright. It gives a soft tone to the luxurious apartment in which America's richest heiress lies tossing restlessly on her bed.

"How impossible it would be for a miner's wife to exchange places with me," Ethel sighs.

"I am envied by every woman in the land. And still I am unhappy; O, so unhappy.

"The fetters of wealth are as binding as those of poverty; they are not appreciated by the world, and those who wear them are never pitied. If only Harvey is elected President, and my father's fears are not verified, perhaps--"

Ethel does not dare to express the hope that wells in her heart.

CHAPTER XVII.

OPENING THE CAMPAIGN.

A National Headquarters at the height of a Presidential election is of all places in the world the busiest. Men there seem to concentrate the pent-up energy of four years in the four months that are devoted to the campaigning; they work day and night, regardless of sleep or food. A few hours rest, taken when a momentary lull will permit, must suffice; a hurried meal must appease their appet.i.te. Meetings have to be arranged; funds distributed to the various committees; literature has to be prepared and distributed; doubtful districts need the attention of the ablest spell-binders; the movements of the opposing parties have to be met and counteracted.