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JULIAN HAWTHORNE S RECENT 
 NOVELS. 
 
 Each in i vol. I2mo. $1.50. 
 
 Beatrix Randolph. Fortune s Fool. 
 
 Mr. Hawthorne has perhaps a more powerful imagination 
 than any contemporary writer of fiction. . . . In " Fortune s 
 Fool" this imagination shows best in his landscapes, in his 
 description of New England forests, and in the picture he gives 
 of the Sacramento Valley. The Academy {London}. 
 
 Like most that he has written, there is a suggestion of depth 
 and intensity about it which is rare in modern fiction, and an 
 hereditary instinct for dealing with the lights and shadows of 
 the moral nature. St. James s Gazette. 
 
 Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Wife, 
 
 By JULIAN HAWTHORNE. With portraits newly engraved on 
 steel, and vignettes. 2 vols. I2mo. Cloth, $5; half mo 
 rocco or half calf, $9. 
 
 The fullest and most charming accounts of Hawthorne s an- 
 cestry and family; his boyhood and youth; his courtship and 
 marriage; his life at Salem, Lenox, and Concord; his travels 
 and residence in England and Italy; his later life in America; 
 and his chief works, and their motives and origins. An emi 
 nent English author pronounces this " the most important and 
 interesting biographical ivork since Bosrvell s Johnson. 
 
 The most charming biography of the year, pure and sweet 
 from beginning to end. The Beacon (Boston). 
 
 Dr. Grimshawe s Secret, 
 
 By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. Edited by JULIAN HAW 
 THORNE, i vol. I2mo. $1.50. Library edition, with frontis 
 piece and vignette. i6mo. Gilt top. $2.00. 
 
 The marks of Hawthorne s genius are evident on every page. 
 The book is like a long-lost statue by the hand of Phidias. 
 Philadelphia Press. 
 
 For sale by Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt of the 
 price, by the Publishers, 
 
 TICKNOR AND COMPANY, Boston. 
 
LOVE -OR A NAME 
 
 JULIAN HAWTHORNE 
 
 AUTHOR OF " FORTUNE S FOOL," " BEATRIX RANDOLPH," ETC. 
 
 BOSTON 
 TICKNOR AND COMPANY 
 
 1885 
 
Copyright, 1885 
 BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL 
 BOSTON 
 
#37? 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WARREN BELL 
 
 CHAFIER II. 
 NELL ANTHONY ........ 22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THEY MEET ......... 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THEY PART . ........ 44 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 SETH DRAYTON ..... ... 54 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 " THERE S MY HAND ! " ...... 66 
 
 547 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE SYNDICATE ,76 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 "Is THAT ALL?" 88 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CHAMPIONS OF REFORM 98 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 GETTING EDUCATED 110 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 DIPLOMACY 122 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE SENTIMENT OF LOVE 139 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 SUSAN WAYNE . . 150 
 
CONTENTS. 7 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 BENEVOLENCE ...... .166 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 TOM PEEKSKILL ........ 178 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE SENTIMENT OF AMBITION ..... 190 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. . 
 THE PAMPHLET ..... ... 202 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 A LEAP IN THE DARK ...... 217 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 A SURPRISE . . . . ...... 232 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ...... 241 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 A CORNER IN PRESIDENTS . 256 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 SUSAN S IMMORALITY 272 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 LIFE AND DEATH . 290 
 
LOVE OR A NAME 
 
LOVE -OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WARREN BELL. 
 
 WARREN BELL, though not more than twenty- 
 five or six years old, had already trained himself to 
 observe certain rules of conduct, one of which was, 
 before embarking upon an adventure to find out all 
 he could about it. This was the more creditable to 
 him because he was by nature impetuous and sud 
 den. When he was quite a small boy he had been 
 prone to wild outbursts of passion in which he 
 became uncontrollable. In the midst of one of 
 these paroxysms his father caught him up, as he was 
 raging and tearing on the floor, and put him on the 
 mantel-piece. The mantel-piece was of an old-fash 
 ioned design, five feet above the floor, and scarce as 
 many inches wide. It was a ticklish place to bal 
 ance one s self on at the best of times, but as a stage 
 
12 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 for a boy of six to kick out his frenzy in it was 
 acutely dangerous ; and Warren had sense enough 
 left to understand it. By an effort that brought 
 out a cold sweat on his heated skin he controlled 
 himself, and stood bolt upright and perfectly still, 
 except that the thumping of his heart shook him a 
 little. His father said : 
 
 " That proves you can behave yourself if you 
 choose to. Mind I never catch you in a rage 
 again ! " 
 
 Warren stood there for an hour and thought it 
 over. Then his father took him down, and his 
 mother caressed and comforted him. But he never 
 forgot the insight into himself which the incident 
 had given him. His passions and impulses were 
 strong ; but, if he chose, he was stronger. And 
 for the most part though with certain important 
 exceptions, as we shall see he did so choose, in 
 the future. 
 
 In accordance with his acquired habit of looking 
 ahead, instead of first jumping, Warren Bell had 
 studied the railway time-table in New York before 
 taking the Down-East train ; and he had found that 
 he would have to wait nearly four hours at Pinetree 
 Junction. He was still too young to believe that 
 
WARREN BELL. 13 
 
 he could afford time to wait anywhere, and certainly 
 not four hours at Pinetree Junction, of all places in 
 the world. Meditating upon the matter, therefore, 
 he made up his mind to make the distance from the 
 Junction to Hickory on foot. It was not more than 
 sixteen miles, and three years ago a tramp like that 
 had been nothing to Warren Bell. The road was 
 familiar to him from of old, and, if he compassed the 
 journey even in four hours, he would gain nearly a 
 fourth of that time upon the train. Besides, although 
 the month was early May, and spring in New Eng 
 land has acquired a bad name, it happened on 
 this occasion to be very fine weather. The air was 
 cool but soft, the morning sun was bright, the sky 
 was pale at the horizon and blue in the zenith, and 
 the youthful sap was flowing in every tree and plant, 
 and in the veins of every rightly constituted human 
 being as well. It was just the day for a walk ; and, 
 moreover, Warren had an idea that the exercise would 
 help him to turn thoroughly over in his mind the 
 several aspects of the errand on which he was revisit 
 ing the home of his boyhood. 
 
 Accordingly, when he reached Pinetree Junction, 
 he left directions with the elderly and rheumatic 
 personage who, with a three-days beard on his 
 meagre jaws, a black coat that had become greenish 
 
14 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 about the shoulders, and a pessimistic eye, performed 
 the duties of station-master, ticket-seller, railway- 
 gate-lifter, and baggage-smasher, to forward his 
 trunk to Hickory by the next opportunity ; while 
 he himself stretched his legs, buttoned up his coat, 
 grasped his cane, and prepared for his journey. 
 
 "Aint your name Bell?" demanded the elderly 
 factotum, not looking at the person he was address 
 ing, but at right angles away from him. 
 
 "Yes; and you are Major Witherbee, aren t 
 you?" 
 
 " Well, I guess everybody knows who I am. 
 Le s see, father s dead, aint he?" 
 
 " Three years ago , before I went to New 
 York." 
 
 "Mother, too?" 
 
 "Yes, long ago." 
 
 " Air you coming back here to live ? " 
 
 "No ; I m coming to a funeral." 
 
 " Whose funeral s that ? " inquired the Major, with 
 a show of interest. 
 
 "Mrs. Anthony." 
 
 " Oh ! she ! Dead, eh ? Le s see ; got a daughter, 
 aint she ? " 
 
 " I suppose so : she used to have when I was a 
 boy." 
 
WARREN BELL. 15 
 
 " Guess you were sweet on her, too, wa n t you? " 
 "If I had been I shouldn t tell you about it, 
 
 Major." 
 
 "Well, I guess now s the time to take her, if 
 she ll have you," the Major rejoined ; " but if the 
 funeral s all you want, taint no concern of mine." 
 With this he hobbled away, and Warren Bell, with 
 a glance at his watch and a half-annoyed smile on 
 his lips, stepped off lightly along the narrow brown 
 
 road. 
 
 He was not above five feet nine in height, and 
 was compactly but not heavily made, a handsome, 
 active figure. He walked easily, with a long step 
 and head up ; and he twirled his cane in his right 
 hand, like one familiar with quarter-staff play. He 
 was not comely of feature, but his face had a 
 pleasant, genuine look, and withal was full of pur 
 pose. There was also about him an air of refreshing 
 cleanliness. I do not mean as to his clothes, though 
 his linen was white and fine, and his garments fitted 
 him neatly ; nor as to his person, though his skin 
 was bright and wholesome, and the nails of his hands 
 carefully groomed. It was something in the human 
 and mental atmosphere of the man. It appeared in 
 his voice, in his bearing, in his smile, in the manner 
 of his speech. There were no mephitic or stagnant 
 
16 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 regions in his nature. He had two physical defects, 
 both of which aided this agreeable impression. He 
 was near-sighted, in the first place, and wore eye 
 glasses. But when he was interested in talk (as lie 
 generally was), the eye-glasses dropped down, and 
 the eyes were half closed, and took on a sort of ab 
 sorbed or rapt expression, as if he saw the thing he 
 spoke of, and were blind to everything else. Anon 
 he would turn them upon his interlocutor, bending 
 forward with a concentrated intentness of gaze that 
 made you feel you had been looked into. His other 
 defect was a tendency to stammer. This had been 
 very marked in his boyhood, but he had realized its 
 inconvenience, and had set himself with all his might 
 to correct it. He had so nearly succeeded in this 
 effort that nothing now remained but an occasional 
 straining at the leash, as it were, before the utter 
 ance of a word, which then came out with an em 
 phasis, and with a resolute thrusting forward of the 
 chin, that were stimulating and captivating. You 
 were certain that he believed what he said ; and this 
 disposed you to believe in it likewise. Wonderful 
 is the influence of a man who has an actual belief in 
 anything, even if it be only in himself! He mag 
 netizes and enchants the negative and neutral-tinted 
 mass of his fellows. 
 
WARREN BELL. 17 
 
 The infirmity of such men often is that they are 
 as fickle as they are earnest. They see and feel with 
 such vividness that they do not see and feel the same 
 thing long. In the course of a lifetime they will 
 pass through a complete circle of opinions and prac 
 tices, each one of which, nevertheless, appears to be 
 the direct logical outcome of the preceding one. 
 Such men are dangerous to conservative institutions, 
 and subversive of the calculations of political econo 
 mists and statisticians ; but, if it were not for them, 
 the world would soon cease to revolve, and hang 
 idly on its axis. They are more at home in this 
 country than in Europe ; but, for that very reason, 
 they are perhaps more useful in Europe than they 
 are here. 
 
 Warren Bell walked swiftly along, enjoying the 
 pure air, the soft tints of spring, and the freedom 
 from noise and clatter which is so noticeable to those 
 who live in cities, not to mention a twelve hours 
 journey by rail. Enjoyable to him, too, w r ere the 
 familiar turns of the road and features of the land 
 scape, associated as they were with so many episodes 
 of unforgotten boyish adventure. He had fished 
 in that river, skated on that pond, shot a hawk on 
 yonder hill, picked cranberries in this meadow, and 
 gathered huckleberries and blackberries on the past- 
 
18 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 ure above. Against this reality of memory the 
 more recent reality of his city life seemed fantastic 
 and unsubstantial. The natural creature in him 
 expanded and exulted, and recognized the restraints 
 of civilization. He wanted once more to. wade 
 midleg deep in the black mud of a meadow 
 brook, and catch turtles. He longed to shin up 
 a tall pine-tree, tearing his trousers, scratching his 
 hands, losing his hat, and smearing himself all over 
 with black resin. He would have liked to sprawl 
 half the morning under an alder-bush, listening to 
 the bobolinks and the larks. Manhood, with its 
 obligations and ambitions, hampered him. Oh, for 
 the days when he was four or five feet high, in a 
 jacket and trousers, and in a world twenty miles in 
 diameter ! 
 
 No ; time is inexorable, for it is the shadow of the 
 soul s development. 
 
 So, in a grave mood, Warren Bell fell to thinking 
 over the course of his past life, than which em 
 ployment none is at once more fascinating and more 
 pathetic. The way is marked with gravestones, 
 under which lie buried friends, hopes, illusions, 
 innocence, opportunities. He was a boy as afore 
 said, rejoicing in the exhilaration of healthy life, 
 loving his father and mother, forming imperishable 
 
WARREN BELL. 19 
 
 friendships with other boys, whose names he had 
 now forgotten, hating school, rejoicing in the free 
 dom of Saturdays, chafing under the restraint of 
 Sundays, running and shouting himself into glorious 
 exhaustion at hockey, football and baseball ; secretly 
 thinking that there was something divinely lovely 
 about little Nell Anthony, and, for that reason, 
 avoiding her as sedulously as if she were a pesti 
 lence ; stuffing himself with strawberries in June, 
 with watermelons in August, and with apples in 
 autumn ; intending to be a mighty hunter when he 
 grew up, and kill grizzly bears in California, jaguars 
 in Brazil, tigers in India, and lions in Africa, and, 
 meanwhile, actually shooting chipmunks on his native 
 rail-fences, in short, being such a boy as only an 
 impetuous and imaginative boy in the country can be. 
 Next he saw himself a youth in college, measuring 
 himself against other youths, and agreeably dis 
 appointed to find himself less inferior than he had 
 expected ; planning gigantic feats of scholarship, 
 and partaking of stentorian "debates and bewildering 
 punches in the Greek-letter secret fraternity ; sus 
 pended for a year by a tyrannous and unprogressive 
 faculty for neglect of college duties and riotous be 
 havior in the town streets, studying prodigiously 
 during his exile, and coming back to pass a trium- 
 
20 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 pliant examination, graduating tenth in the list of 
 scholars and first in the hearts of his classmates ; 
 and corresponding with tolerably regularity and pro 
 found secrecy with the princess of his heart, who was 
 Nell Anthony still. Then a year at an engineering 
 academy, immured in descriptive geometry, integral 
 calculus, isometrical and perspective drawing, plot 
 ting and surveying, and dreams of becoming a second 
 Watt or Winans. After that, two years rough 
 practical work in the field, building railroads, dig 
 ging canals, designing bridges ; finally interrupted 
 by the death of his father (his mother had died 
 during his college career) and a return home to set 
 tle up his affairs there, and to wonder what should 
 happen next. What did happen was, by the in 
 strumentality of a powerful friend in New York, 
 his summons to that city to act as assistant engineer 
 in the Hydrographic Department, in which position 
 he had prospered greatly, and had learned some 
 thing of the world, and had had glimpses of avenues 
 to higher things, not essentially connected with 
 engineering, such as had stirred in him springs of 
 ambition that had till now been latent. It was then 
 that Warren Bell discovered, for the first time, how 
 ambitious a man he was. 
 
 But what had become of sweet Nell Anthony all 
 
WARREN BELL. 21 
 
 this while ? Was she forgotten ? There can be no 
 doubt that a man grows more in the five or six years 
 after he leaves college than in all the time before, 
 assuming, of course, that he has brains and ambition, 
 and that he gets out into the world. And to grow, 
 in this sense, means to discover the disproportion 
 between the known and the possible. Later, per 
 haps, there may come a wisdom which finds all the 
 possible in the known. That wisdom was not War 
 ren Bell s as yet. Be that as it may, however, he 
 had travelled from New York to Hickory not only 
 to attend the funeral of Nell s mother, but, also, to 
 satisfy his conscience by asking Nell herself to be 
 his wife. 
 
22 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NELL, ANTHONY. 
 
 COULD that dreary slavery called women s rights 
 ever be put into practical operation the world would 
 soon become too business-like to think of love and 
 marriage. Woman is the conservative of the human 
 race ; she is the centripetal, as man is the centrifugal, 
 force. If she did not stay at home and mind her 
 own affairs home would cease to exist. Man, in 
 that case, would do well to exterminate the female 
 half of creation off the face of the earth, as merely a 
 feebler and frailer imitation of himself, and then die 
 with the consoling consciousness of having done one 
 good deed. 
 
 Nothing is more certain, however, than that women 
 are not and never will be such fools as some few of 
 themselves, and quite as many forlorn nondescripts 
 of our own sex, would like to persuade them that 
 they are. It is the dictum of a very modern school 
 of thinkers that everything is relative. This means, 
 if it means anything, that the scale of progression is 
 infinite. But, this being admitted, of what use is it 
 
NELL ANTHONY. 23 
 
 to go to London or to the North Pole, or, for that 
 matter, to Jupiter and the Pleiades, in search of in 
 formation and culture? Everything is still relative, 
 and you know no more, measured by the infinite 
 standard, than does the countrified provincial who 
 has stayed at home. What is more important is 
 that you have put yourself out of the way of knowing 
 several valuable things which only staying at home 
 could have taught you, or into which, at all 
 events, all your foreign education (when the chaff is 
 shaken out of it) must resolve itself. The world 
 can teach a man a great many facts about himself 
 and others ; but of wisdom it can never teach him 
 so much as the alphabet ; that belongs to an alto 
 gether different plane of experience. 
 
 Nell Anthony had never been twenty miles beyond 
 the boundaries of her native village. Why should 
 she? She lived in a comfortable old house, built in 
 the massive and generous style of a hundred and 
 fifty years ago, with a great fragrant barn close by, 
 on the other side of an ample and populous farm 
 yard. The country side had a quiet but unfailing 
 picturesqueness ; it was not so striking as to become 
 wearisome, nor so featureless as to be tame. A 
 range of mountainous hills in the western back 
 ground sent down long spurs and green ridges into 
 
24 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 the immediate vicinity of the village ; ai\d eastwards, 
 a dozen miles away, might be seen on clear days the 
 blue levels of the ocean. The vale in which the vil 
 lage stood was fair and fertile ; a stream, which in 
 England might have been called a river, wandered 
 through it, full of perch, bream, and pickerel in 
 summer, and in winter overflowing and freezing for 
 the benefit of skaters. The broad village street, 
 half-a-mile in length, with shops at one end and 
 private houses at the other, was lined with remarka 
 bly tall and handsome trees, the preponderance 
 among which of hickories had perhaps given the 
 villao-e its name. The inhabitants of this somewhat 
 
 o 
 
 remote settlement had not run to seed quite so much 
 as is apt to be the case in little-known and antique 
 New England towns. They were mostly farmers, 
 who sent the surplus of their produce to the cities, 
 thereby paying their expenses and a little more, and 
 lived upon the remainder. There were a few old 
 mariners, or their descendants, who had made some 
 money in foreign trade ; but these also owned land, 
 and kept cattle and poultry. Many of the middle- 
 aged or older men had been to the war, though, 
 except for the military handles still applied to their 
 names, you might not have suspected it. There were 
 two or three families to whom was tacitly accorded 
 
NELL ANTHONY. 25 
 
 the title of the aristocrats of the community, not on 
 account of their wealth, which was not much above 
 the village average, nor because they put on airs of 
 superiority, for they were conscientiously public- 
 spirited and democratic ; but from some vaguely 
 defined, inwardly recognized solidity of character, 
 flavor of manners, and old-time identification with 
 the town s history. Of society in the conventional 
 or technical sense of the term, a stranger might 
 have failed to discover any traces ; and yet all the 
 inhabitants of Hickory knew and understood one 
 another, and contrived to profit by one another s 
 company in their own way and manner. They met 
 at church, and at the lyceurn, and on occasions of 
 political interest; and then there were weddings, 
 funerals, bible-classes, an evening party or hop now 
 and then, and in the late summer and autumn a 
 picnic or two in the woods, or down on the sea 
 shore. Nobody with any claims to decency and 
 respectability was ostracized from such gatherings ; 
 the young man who cleaned out the inn stable might 
 dance in the town-hall with the daughter of the 
 judge, if he were in a fit moral and physical condi 
 tion to do so ; and no doubt he regarded her with 
 quite as much respect and delicacy as would have 
 been manifested towards her by the foremost dandy 
 
26 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 of the Royal Horse Guards in Londoh. But the 
 attitude towards one another, in an American 
 village, of youth and maiden, young and old, gentle 
 and simple, learned and illiterate, is quite unintel 
 ligible if not inconceivable to those who have had no 
 personal experience thereof; it exists, but does not 
 lend itself to explanation. Theoretically it is 
 utterly subversive of reason and order ; but practi 
 cally it is as wholesome and prosperous a system as 
 human ingenuity has yet devised. If you are con 
 tent to dispense with what it cannot give you, you 
 will find what it does give you unexceptionable. 
 
 Of course a number of enterprising or good-for- 
 nothing young fellows, every year, made up their 
 minds that Hickory was not good enough for them, 
 and betook themselves out of it, Hickory, for its 
 part, accepting their departure philosophically. 
 More rarely a Hickory girl would marry somebody 
 who had not been a Hickory boy, and so disappear 
 beyond the village horizon ; but these were excep 
 tions. As a rule Hickory was contented with and 
 stuck by itself. And as for Nell Anthony she had 
 never happened seriously to contemplate any future 
 for herself of which Hickory did not form a part. 
 She was not given to wandering thoughts of any 
 kind. She had been a happy and healthy child, 
 
NELL ANTHONY. 27 
 
 pleased with everything, and never crying for the 
 moon. She had grown up into an undemonstrative, 
 straightforward, sweet-tempered girl, with a certain 
 unobtrusive strength and warmth in her character, 
 which, for the present, emphasized and defined the 
 impression she made, but which, under due stress of 
 circumstances, might have developed and kindled 
 into a quite unsuspected power. Meanwhile, Nell 
 Anthony, like all people who are willing to make 
 themselves useful, found herself serving a great 
 many uses ; but, such was the secret energy of her 
 temperament, she never found herself overburdened. 
 She did things easily because she attended to 
 them in the doing. When she made bread she 
 thought of the bread, and not of the fashion of her 
 next dress, or of her partner at the last dance. She 
 lived and had her being in the present, which, for a 
 girl of rather unusual intelligence, as she was, 
 evinced a remarkable serenity of spirit. Beasts of 
 the field have this peculiarity, because their percep 
 tions are so limited ; angels of heaven also have it, 
 probably, because their perceptions are so profound. 
 Nell Anthony was neither an angel nor a beast ; 
 but she was a young woman whose heart was in the 
 right place, and whose mind had never as yet been 
 out of accord with her emotions. 
 
28 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 Her father, one of the leading citizens of Hickory, 
 and fifth in descent from the original settler, had 
 served in the war, and had received a wound at 
 Antietam, from the effects of which he died a year 
 afterwards. Nell was then a child of thirteen ; she 
 had no brothers or sisters, for a little brother had 
 died at birth, and Mrs. Anthony had ever since 
 been more or less of an invalid. There was a farm 
 to be looked after and a household to be managed, 
 and, since Mrs. Anthony was quite broken down by 
 her husband s death, Nell took the reins in her small 
 hands. Always observant of what was before her 
 she was already familiar with the detail of farm and 
 house work, and, the faculty of causation being well 
 developed in her, she divined enough of the theory. 
 Finally, being active and practical, she did no small 
 share of the work herself. She milked the cows, 
 made the butter, looked after the hens, kept an eye 
 on the kitchen-garden, made the bread (as has been 
 already intimated), and kept the house in order 
 from top to bottom. The things which she was 
 physically incapable of doing herself were done 
 under her direction ; and her " help " both out door 
 and in, recognized the simple authority and sagacity 
 of the little thing, and carried out her commands 
 willingly and effectively. She had not the air of 
 
NELL ANTHONY. 29 
 
 being older than her years, but she was equal to her 
 emergencies. Amidst all her active employments 
 she found time to study her lessons and to read in 
 her father s library. Her invalid mother never had 
 a day s anxiety either about her or about the house 
 and farm. So the child grew up into young-woman 
 hood wholesomely, busily, and serenely, and without 
 the least self-consciousness. If she had contem 
 plated her own actions at all, she would only have 
 seen that they were the natural expression of her 
 character, there was no sense of duty in them. 
 
 When she was eighteen, having learned all that 
 the Hickory schools could teach her, as well as a 
 good deal more that is unfortunately not taught in 
 schools, she devoted several hours a day to being a 
 teacher herself. To be a country school-marm is 
 not captivating to the imagination ; but as Nell An 
 thony did it for love, and was never strenuous about 
 discipline, she made no ungainly figure at it. As 
 to discipline, it came of itself; the children felt the 
 order that was in her mind, and, probably because 
 they loved her, endeavored to imitate her in this as 
 in other things. Besides, she did not teach them 
 arithmetic and spelling ; she let their poor little 
 brains as much as possible alone, and applied herself 
 to their imagination and their emotions. She read 
 
30 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 fairy-stories and poetry to them, and in other ways 
 led them to feel the difference between truth and 
 fact, between outside and inside, between the tem 
 porary and the permanent. It was all Greek to 
 the school committee ; but Nell Anthony s motives 
 and character being above suspicion, and the children 
 seeming to get good rather than harm from it, 
 and no expense to the exchequer being involved, 
 they let her have her way. Indeed, everybody let 
 her have her own way, not because she insisted upon 
 having it, but because she so evidently knew what 
 her way was. There is no power in the world so 
 effective as personal power, because only a stronger 
 personal power can resist it. 
 
 And is this all there is to tell about Nell Anthony ? 
 For that matter not much can be told about any 
 body or thing. Action is solid, narrative is linear, 
 says Carlyle ; and narrative s only chance is in 
 stimulating the imaginative sympathy of the reader. 
 Would that every writer had the skill to avoid the 
 explicit and to cultivate the suggestive ! However, 
 Nell s secret has already been partly betrayed, and 
 nothing can be gained by concealing the rest. 
 Warren Bell had been her first playmate, and at all 
 times, whenever she might have thought of herself, 
 she did think of him. He had never told her that 
 
NELL ANTHONY. 31 
 
 he loved her, though he had often told himself so ; 
 she had never told herself that she loved him, but 
 love him she did. She was not in the habit of 
 thinking about her feelings, and giving them names ; 
 when the feeling came it justified and explained itself. 
 This dialectician s distinction between object and 
 subject is unknown and impossible to true emotion : 
 object and subject are one ; so Nell would not have 
 put it that she loved Warren, but rather that her 
 love was Warren. She disappeared entirely from 
 her own sight, and only he remained, transfigured. 
 
 Of course she had only arrived at a certain phase 
 of the passion ; but it was the ideal phase. It was 
 love before incarnation, with the heavenly light 
 and aroma about it. It may ultimately reach 
 a yet higher stage, just as a man who has lived 
 and suffered and overcome attains to a loftier purity 
 and deeper innocence than the infant can claim ; 
 but, meanwhile, every step seems a step downward. 
 Of course, too, we are speaking here of love, and 
 not of the bookish and bloodless sentiment which 
 commonly passes by that name. So it was, at all 
 events, that Nell Anthony had never troubled herself 
 to speculate as to whether Warren Bell loved her ; 
 nor had she ever thought of jealousy. Such con 
 siderations belong to the earth, and her love had 
 
32 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 not yet touched that level. It was a deep, secret, 
 silent happiness to her, an inspiration and a bene 
 diction, something, indeed, too sacred for public 
 discussion. He had written her many letters, 
 which she had read and kept ; but it was not what 
 he wrote that she cared for in them, she cared 
 for them because they were written by him. She 
 had written to him in answer ; what she told him 
 was the simplest record of her daily life, and of 
 the outward life, not the inward ; but the thought 
 that she was telling it to him gave to the words a 
 consecration and a joy ; and they came from as deep 
 a place in her heart as if they had been the choicest 
 and most emphatic utterance of unbridled infatua 
 tion. Such was the sum of her love-history so far ; 
 and she had never dreamed of its going any farther. 
 Of late Warren had been receding farther and 
 farther into a world of which she knew nothing ; but 
 he was no farther from her heart than ever. She did 
 not need to look for him ; she felt him there. The 
 sudden sinking of her mother, like a figure of snow 
 melting all at once in the spring rain and sunshine, 
 brought a sense of profound solemnity, which made 
 that other figure seem clearer and nearer, instead of 
 dimming it ; for, even then, she could not think of 
 herself at all. 
 
THEY MEET. 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THEY MEET. 
 
 A BELT of woodland lay to the south of Hickory, 
 and approached within a mile or two of the outskirts 
 of the village. It covered one of the last low spurs 
 of the western hills, subsiding towards the ocean. 
 Eidges of granite peeped here and there through 
 the soil, in the crevices of which innumerable colum 
 bines grew and nodded their flushed heads ; and 
 may-flowers, anemone, lady s slipper, and rhodora, 
 each in their season, made the place beautiful. 
 Here, too, were the best huckleberries and blue 
 berries ; and in autumn, ripe nuts came rattling 
 down from the trees. It had been a favorite spot 
 with Warren in his boyhood; and, either by chance, 
 or from some obscure appreciation of its sylvan 
 charm, the Hickory farmers had spared its trees and 
 flowers, and it remained inviolate and just as he 
 remembered it. The road passed through the midst 
 of it, the trees flung their boughs across the way, 
 and the soft sunshine struggled down between the 
 new green foliage. The birds were singing as if 
 
34 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 each one of them had to express the whole of nature 
 in music. And, midway in a sunny and shadowy 
 glade, Warren saw a woman, walking slowly before 
 him with flowers in her hand. 
 
 He did not need a second glance to recognize that 
 figure, not too tall, not too slender, with head 
 serenely poised, and firm, rhythmical step. He 
 quickened his pace. His foot made no sound on 
 the softened surface of the road ; but, before he was 
 within fifty yards of her, she turned slowly, saw him 
 coming, and stood still. 
 
 He came up rapidly, took her hand, and looked 
 at her intently, before either of them spoke. She 
 was pale, and her eyes seemed larger than usual 
 under her dark, straight brows ; but her red lips 
 met each other with the same quiet composure as 
 ever, neither smiling nor drooping. 
 
 w So you are here," she said after a moment. 
 
 " Not too late, I hope," answered he. 
 
 "It is this afternoon." 
 
 "I am glad we met here." 
 
 " I came out for some flowers ; she liked these 
 spring flowers. How lovely the day is ! The earth 
 seems all tender. And you have left all your busi 
 ness, Warren? " 
 
 " My business ? This is it ; you are alone now, 
 
THEY MEET. 35 
 
 Nell ; who should be with you if I am not ? I could 
 do nothing else but come." 
 
 She paused a little, and then said, " I have not 
 felt alone ; but I suppose I am." 
 
 They began to walk onward together. Warren 
 had something to say something that he had come 
 to say ; but it seemed better to postpone it for the 
 present. The girl was evidently preoccupied with the 
 scenes and thoughts of the last few days, and would 
 scarcely be ready yet to hear him. Moreover, now 
 that he was by her side, he felt that he must find 
 other words, and in another manner, than he had 
 anticipated. He had forgotten how reserved and un 
 demonstrative she was. If he wished to succeed he 
 must shape his request needfully. He did wish to 
 succeed ; but for her sake rather than his own. He 
 fully believed that she cared for him, and he knew 
 there had been a time when she was to him the most 
 desirable object in the world. That time had now 
 passed, though he had never told her so, nor meant 
 that she should ever know it. Indeed, he did not 
 (he thought) love her less ; but other things had 
 become more absorbing to him. What had seemed 
 to be love three years ago, now, in the opening out 
 of a wider life and a higher ambition, was seen 
 to be friendly affection merely. Nell Anthony 
 
36 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 would still have remained the sole goddess of his 
 worship had he remained in Hickory, and never 
 developed the qualities and capacities, and acquired 
 the knowledge which made him what he now was. 
 This simple country life, with its peace, its monotony, 
 its tameness, its limitations, was the life for which a 
 country girl like her was naturally fitted ; but, as 
 his partner in the career which he saw opening before 
 him, she could scarcely fail to be somewhat out of 
 place. Nevertheless, his conscience would not per 
 mit him to put her aside on that account. Though 
 he had never asked her in set terms to be his wife, 
 he knew that he had at one time hoped to make her 
 so ; he believed that she had understood and returned 
 his love ; that for his sake she had forborne to admit 
 any other man to her regard, and that, in her quiet 
 constancy, she would never dream that he could 
 change. At this time, too, when she stood solitary 
 in the world, it would be even dastardly to desert her. 
 To a man like Warren Bell, his word was as good 
 as his bond, and an understanding as good as his 
 word. 
 
 There was no other woman in the case. Nell 
 Anthony had no human rival, unless it were that 
 figure of Warren Bell himself, rich, honored, power 
 ful, distinguished, which he saw before him in the 
 
THEY MEET. 37 
 
 future. He believed that he had work to do in the 
 world, that his country would know him and re 
 member him, that he would leave his country s 
 affairs in a condition more prosperous than he found 
 them. But the achievement of this object would 
 require all his energies ; and to give hostages to 
 fortune at the outset was poor policy. He must 
 neglect either his wife or his ambition, unless he 
 could find a wife who would promote his ambition, 
 and that, he felt sure, was not to be expected of 
 Nell. Her idea of ambition would be to nurse and 
 rear her children, to keep her house neat, and to fill 
 her husband s heart. It was a woman s ambition, 
 and there was none purer or better ; but Warren 
 feared that he could not help her to realize it, any 
 more than she could stimulate him. Yet duty 
 enjoined that he should try. 
 
 For the moment, however, he put the subject 
 aside, and talked with her about her mother, and 
 about the general state of affairs in Hickory. But 
 as her ears seemed to be more awake than her 
 tongue, it happened that most of the talking was 
 done by him ; and so it was also natural that, after 
 a while, he should come to speak more of his own 
 affairs than of hers. 
 
 "When I first went to New York," he said, "I 
 
38 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 had no notion what would come of it. I understood 
 the work, of course, and I found no difficulty in 
 managing the men. That s unlike the other part 
 of the business, it comes by nature, or not at all. 
 But for g-getting on, it s worth the other ten times 
 over." 
 
 " What sort of men? " inquired Nell. 
 
 "Irishmen, to begin with. But when the people 
 in authority see what you can do they increase your 
 responsibilities. I began with four Paddies, and 
 now I m third in command under the chief, and have 
 control of the whole hydrographic survey. I sit in 
 my office, and issue orders. And I ve got an insight 
 into how things are worked." 
 
 " Are they not worked right ? " 
 
 " N-not to my thinking. But you wouldn t un 
 derstand ; New York is not like Hickory." 
 
 "But isn t there more good there, as well as more 
 bad?" 
 
 :c You have to hunt for the good ; but the bad 
 h-hunts you. Nothing moves without politics, and 
 politics means getting money without working for 
 it, or at any rate, without producing anything of 
 public use. This is the way of it : the public pays 
 money to have things done, and the politicians take 
 the money, and d-dont do the things." 
 
THEY MEET. 39 
 
 " Why does the public let the politicians be where 
 the money is ? " 
 
 " That s just the point, Nell. Unless you re a 
 scamp, and get rich by politics, politics will make 
 you poor. Now, you see, honest men with families 
 to support must follow an honest business that pays 
 them ; they can t afford to be politicians : it would 
 cost them either their money or their reputation. 
 The consequence is, of course, that politics are 
 managed by dishonest men. And that isn t the 
 worst of it." 
 
 "It must stifle you," said she, drawing a long 
 breath. 
 
 " It would stifle you ; but I mean to s-stifle it. 
 The worst of it is, that all public concerns, and a 
 great many private ones, are run by political cliques. 
 That means that the men chosen to do a piece of 
 work are appointed and paid by politicians ; and, in 
 order to keep their places, they must vote for the 
 reelection of their masters. A man who connives at 
 swindlers soon becomes a swindler himself. They 
 call it standing by one another, and make it out a 
 code of honor. So the whole thing is rotten 
 through and through." 
 
 "Can you make it pure again, Warren?" 
 
 " I believe I can ; I m going to give all that s in 
 
40 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 me to trying. I ve got the honesty and I ve got 
 the brains ; and I need only one thing, that s 
 money." 
 
 " That is a pity." 
 
 "Hard work in my profession will give me money, 
 in time. And when I have the sinews of war, my 
 own sinews will do the rest. But I must be inde 
 pendent, above all things, or it s no use." 
 
 " Certainly, New York is not like Hickory," 
 said Nell, musingly. 
 
 " I long to be at them ! " exclaimed Warren Bell, 
 grasping his stick and shaking it. "I wish I were 
 free with a million of my own. I hate every 
 year s delay and every d-day ! Twenty-six is 
 none too young to begin such a work as that." 
 
 Nell Anthony looked at him and wished that she 
 could help him. That was all she wished ; and she 
 said nothing. 
 
 By this time they had emerged from the wood, 
 and were passing down the low uplands towards the 
 village. When Warren saw the familiar houses, 
 white and gray, with the trees rising above them, 
 and the little river winding through, he wondered 
 for a moment whether he were not a fool. Was 
 this the first age that evil had been known in the 
 world? Was he the first reformer who had sworn 
 
THEY MEET. 41 
 
 to set it right? Was there any greater happiness 
 than to enjoy a quiet home, lovely children, a loving 
 wife ? Why should he ever return to New York ? 
 Why should he not remain forever here ? 
 
 "Nell," he said, taking her hand, and bringing 
 her face to face with him, "before we go farther, I 
 want to ask you a question." 
 
 She looked up at him, still with one hand in his, 
 and holding her flowers in the other. 
 
 "I have been thinking of it for a long time," he 
 went on. " It was one reason of my coming here. 
 We have known each other all our lives. I have 
 known no woman so well as I ve known you, I ve 
 never wished to. My life, since I became a man, 
 has not left me much chance for society, it has 
 been hard work among men. But when I was a 
 boy at college, I used to think that you must be my 
 wife. And now if you care for me enough 
 the time has come. You are alone in the world, 
 and so am I. Let us live together from this time 
 forth. Every day, when my work is over, I will 
 come home to you, and" 
 
 Nell Anthony withdrew her hand. 
 
 "You should not have spoken of this," said she, 
 meeting his eyes gravely. " You don t need me, 
 Warren; and I don t" she paused "need you, 
 
42 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 any more than I have you already. I am not alone ; 
 I am content. And how can you feel alone, with 
 your work and your hopes ? I ve never thought of 
 marriage, and I don t want to think of it. That is 
 not what I was meant for ; and I we should not 
 help each other so." 
 
 " I have spoken at the wrong time," replied he ; 
 " but don t say that I ve spoken wrongly. It s no 
 time to ask you over your dear m-mother s grave, 
 but" 
 
 "Yes ; that was the time to ask me, if you must 
 ask at all," she interrupted. " Since she died, my 
 mind has been clear, and I see I know. I can 
 make no mistake now." 
 
 "I thought you 1-loved me," said he. 
 
 "So I do, Warren," she answered, in a fainter 
 voice ; " but not in that way." 
 
 There was a pause. 
 
 "Nell," he exclaimed, suddenly, "if you say so, 
 I ll give up New York and come and live with you 
 here I " 
 
 Her cheeks flushed slowly. "I do not love you 
 in that way," she repeated. 
 
 There was nothing more to be said. Pie had 
 satisfied his conscience. But though his conscience 
 was satisfied, another voice began to murmur doubt- 
 
THEY MEET. 43 
 
 fully in Warren Bell s heart. It was too late, how 
 ever ; he saw his life before him, and she was not 
 to be there. They walked onwards towards the 
 village in silence. 
 
44 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THEY PART. 
 
 THE funeral procession moved to the burial- 
 ground, beneath the pines, a link in that proces 
 sion that will never end while the world lasts. The 
 village folk followed, as a matter of course and of 
 courtesy, and also of curiosity, for death has re 
 mained a riddle all these years, and we are never 
 tired of looking for some chance glimpse of the 
 answer. The crowd gathered about the grave, 
 some with their hats off, others, farther away, chat 
 ting with one another, with here and there a laugh 
 partly suppressed. The women pressed the closest 
 to the centre of interest, and seemed the most af 
 fected ; and all their eyes were bent on Nell An 
 thony. She stood close beside the oblong hole in 
 the earth, looking downwards meditatively, as her 
 habit was, but without apparently perceiving what 
 was actually before her. Her faculty of living in the 
 present had come to an end. Now, like the rest of 
 the world, she must find her being in the past anil 
 the future, less in the future than in the past. 
 
TIIEY PART. 45 
 
 Death is often the beginning of a new life for those 
 who are left, as well as for those who go. Her 
 mother s death left Nell Anthony outwardly serene, 
 because the springs of emotion it moved were so 
 profound and so unselfish. Something else had also 
 died to her, and was being buried, not with her 
 mother s body, but in a deeper grave. And it was 
 the loss of this thing that had given her the first 
 consciousness of its existence. 
 
 Warren Bell stood on the other side of the grave, 
 and looked across at the quiet, young figure with 
 the dark dress and veil. The grave was between 
 them ; but it was not the grave that had parted 
 them. Her answer to his question had taken him 
 by surprise ; and this fact might itself have sug 
 gested to him why the answer had been what it was. 
 But he had not the tact to perceive his blunder, if 
 he had made one, and, what is more to the point, 
 the result, though surprising, was not unwelcome. 
 
 At least, he had been telling himself for the last 
 few days that, if he made Nell his wife, it would be 
 more for her sake than for his own ; and for her to 
 decline his proposals was, therefore, a gain and not 
 a loss to him. And yet, such is the perversity of 
 human nature, he could have found more arguments 
 in favor of the marriage now than ever before. But 
 
46 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 that matter was settled, and could not be again dis 
 cussed. Nell s refusal had been firm and distinct ; 
 and there was no reason, that he could imagine, 
 why she should have said one thing and desired an 
 other. 
 
 When the two Irishmen in attendance, with their 
 brown arms bared to the elbow, began to fill up the 
 grave, the crowd moved away and dispersed village- 
 wards, but Nell and Warren remained behind a 
 while and then set out together. The sun was 
 within an hour of setting ; it had been a perfect 
 day. 
 
 "It s sad to think of you living on here, with no 
 one who belongs to you," said he. 
 
 "I have my school," she answered. " I have my 
 mother, too, though I can t do anything for her any 
 longer. And I shall like to think of you succeed 
 ing in New York." 
 
 " Do you mean to stay here always ? " 
 
 " It makes no difference to me where I go, if I 
 don t go where I am not wanted. I have made no 
 plans. If I find nothing more to do here, or if I 
 find something better to do somewhere else, I shall 
 
 go." 
 
 " Look here, Nell ; y-you ve got enough to live 
 on, haven t you ? because " 
 
THEY PART. 47 
 
 " Oh, yes ! much more than I need. I think I 
 must be rich." 
 
 " Then I can do nothing for you," said Warren, a 
 little dejectedly. 
 
 She stopped in her walk, and gave him a long 
 look. 
 
 "Don t think I didn t understand," she said. 
 " You have done more for me than I ever expected 
 you to do ; and more than any one will ever do 
 
 Warren Bell left for New York that night, and 
 was at his office the next afternoon. After looking 
 over his reports and arranging the work for the next 
 day, he shut up his desk and went out. He was 
 out of spirits and not in a good humor. 
 
 As he walked up Broadway, with his head bent, 
 and swinging his cane moodily, some one came up 
 behind him and tapped him on the right shoulder. 
 He turned his head, but saw no one ; and at the 
 same moment a hand was slipped under his left arm, 
 and the new-comer laughed in his car. 
 
 " Oh, it s you, is it?" he said, brusquely. " What 
 the d-devil do you want ? " 
 
 "I want to give you the straight tip, old man; 
 and I guess a straight nip wouldn t do you any 
 
48 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 harm, into the bargain. Been investing in Erie? 
 Stop in here, and I ll set em up. Come no 
 nonsense ! I ve got news for you." 
 
 They entered the lobby of the Metropolitan, and 
 passed through to the bar. 
 
 The young gentleman who stood treat was a very 
 dapper and prosperous-looking figure. He was 
 barely of the middle height, and must have been 
 considerably under thirty years of age. His clothes 
 were new, and of expensive materials, and fitted 
 him to a nicety ; and there was a tendency to ven- 
 turesomeness in the pattern of his trousers and the 
 immaculateness of his neck-scarf. His face, of a 
 narrow oval, was lighted by a pair of quick and 
 rather small eyes, and emphasized by a rather large 
 nose. His expression was knowing, self-confident, 
 and jaunty ; a trifle more of the latter element 
 would have made him look like a rowdy. His silk 
 beaver was polished to perfection, a gold seal ring 
 adorned the little finger of his left hand, and below 
 his three-button coat there was a glimpse of a thick 
 gold watch-chain. As he stood, with his feet apart, 
 and his hands behind him holding a slender bamboo 
 cane, it was noticeable that the calves of his well- 
 rounded legs had a salient curve, as if he were 
 double-jointed at the knees. His lips were inclined 
 
THEY PART. 49 
 
 to thickness, but his mouth was small ; and at this 
 moment there was a chew of tobacco inside of it. 
 lie was a man whose livelihood depended upon 
 three things : native sagacity, other people s igno 
 rance of the money-market, and luck. He was a 
 member of the New York Stock Exchange, and his 
 name was Tom Peekskill. 
 
 What ll it be?" said Mr. Peekskill. 
 
 " Vermouth for me," replied Warren Bell. 
 
 "I should think so, by the looks of you, worm 
 wood, with a dash of gall in it. Say, old man, 
 what ails you? Has your gal gone back on 
 you?" 
 
 " Let s have our drinks, and b-be off," exclaimed 
 the other. w I m busy. You should have picked up 
 somebody who was more in your line." 
 
 "Jim," said Mr. Peekskill, with a nod of recogni 
 tion to the self-possessed young gentleman with 
 smooth blonde hair and a white jacket, who ap 
 proached, sliding a napkin along the bar, " a ver 
 mouth and a sour, please ; and shake her up, there s 
 a good boy. Say, old man," he continued, turning 
 to his companion, " where ve you been, anyhow? 
 Say, old Drayton s been asking after you, and he 
 gave me a message, if I should see you." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
50 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 " Wants you round to feed with him to-night. 
 I m on to it, too. We ll go together." 
 
 " No we w-won t. I can t go ; I m busy." 
 
 "Busy? What s bueiness? If old Drayton aint 
 business, I don t know what is. And he means it, 
 too. Say, brace up ! " 
 
 " Do you know anything about it?" 
 
 "Well, I can guess what o clock it is. Drayton, 
 you know ah ! all right, Jim. Here s success to 
 crime I " 
 
 He swallowed the contents of his glass, and re 
 placed it on the counter. 
 
 "Have another?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 "Cigar?" 
 
 " I ve got em," said Warren, taking a couple from 
 his waistcoat pocket. They walked to the cigar-stand 
 and lighted up. " Well, I m off," Warren added. 
 
 " Hold on ! What ails you ? It aint five o clock 
 yet, and we dine at 6.30. Come and sit down 
 while I tell you " 
 
 "Talk as we go along, then. I tell you, dinners 
 are not in my line. I have something to do to 
 night, and I want to be home early." 
 
 Seeing that he could not prevail upon his friend 
 to be reasonable, Tom Peekskill followed him to 
 
THEY PART. 51 
 
 the street, and resumed the conversation as they 
 walked northwards. 
 
 " The thing is this way, as I figure it out," said 
 he. " Old Dray ton is in on the new water- works 
 scheme, but of course he can t show, because he s 
 chairman of the Compensation Fund, and there d 
 be a row. But it s being chairman, you see, that 
 gives him the pull. That pack of thieves on the 
 other side think he s solid with them, and they spread 
 their cards right out in front of him. It s head he 
 wins, tails they lose." 
 
 " He might be in a better business," said Warren. 
 "Why don t he tell em how he stands, and clear 
 out? Fight em with c-clean weapons, I say ! " 
 
 " Say, old man, that s all right," returned Tom 
 Peekskill, smiling good-lmmoredly, " and I respect 
 you for it. But just take a case and see how it 
 looks. Suppose you were cashier of a bank, and 
 one evening you were going round with a gang of 
 fellows, and they were to propose to rob that bunk, 
 not knowing you were connected with it, you 
 see, would you stop and listen to their plan, and 
 so be ready to tackle them when they came ; or 
 would you turn round and say, Tin in charge of 
 that safe, gentlemen, and the less you talk before 
 me, the better it ll be for you? Well, that s just 
 
52 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 about the way it is with Old Dray ton. He thinks 
 that the best way to keep scamps in order is to 
 preside at their deliberations, and, when the time 
 comes, pull the drop and let em through; and it s 
 my opinion that his head s level." 
 
 " That s not the whole story. He s after money 
 just as much as they are ; and it s because he expects 
 to make more by retaining the chairmanship than by 
 resigning it that he stays." 
 
 "Well, now, I guess you re beyond me. I know 
 what Dray ton says, and what he does; but I will 
 admit that I never looked inside him and saw the 
 wheels going round in his soul. Say, old man, 
 aren t you coming it rather strong? or are you up 
 to the mind-reading racket ? " 
 
 " No ; I m wrong, and I spoke without thinking. 
 If Drayton isn t an honest man, I don t know who 
 is. But I don t like his position all the same." 
 
 " A man like Drayton s got to have some position ; 
 and wherever you see ten men together in this city 
 you can take it even that there s one rascal among r em. 
 However, you and he can have that out together 
 this evening ; it s none of my funeral. But he s 
 going to have half-a-dozen of the head men in the 
 affair at dinner to-night, and we re going to draw up 
 an outline of the whole scheme. It s a dead secret, 
 
THEY PART. 53 
 
 of course ; and when the big gun goes off we can 
 quote our shares at about any figure we choose. In 
 two years from now we ought to average a million 
 
 apiece, easy." 
 
 " Who are the men?" asked Warren. 
 
 "Drayton and you and me are three. Then 
 there s Callby, and Wiston, and Sprayne, and proba 
 bly O Ryan. That s the gang. And Miss Lizzie 
 will shine upon us until the coffee is served and give 
 us a good send-off. Well, here goes for the El. 
 Half-past six, mind, and don t miss the clams ! " 
 
 With this injunction Tom Peekskill strutted off 
 down Fourteenth street, and Warren Bell, left 
 alone, continued his way up-town, looking more 
 moody than ever. 
 
54 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SETH DRAYTON. 
 
 MR. DRAYTON was a New Englandcr by birth, 
 the representative of an eminently respectable Boston 
 family. In his youth he had been a college classmate 
 of the father of Warren Bell, and the two had begun a 
 friendship which continued in moderate but constant 
 force up to the time of the Litter s death. When the 
 war broke out, Franklin Bell volunteered, raised a 
 company, and went to the front as its captain. Seth 
 Dray ton, who had all his life had an obscure ten 
 dency to heart-disease, which became more pronounced 
 at about this juncture, was disabled thereby from 
 taking an active part in the field ; but he did what 
 he could. He was connected with a wholesale cloth- 
 manufacturing business, and he furnished our regi 
 ments with the best quality of cloth that was served 
 out during the war. All his contracts were punctu 
 ally and honorably filled. Some of the purveyors 
 of " shoddy " may have made money faster than he ; 
 but, in the long run, the reputation that he created 
 redounded to his own profit as well as to the benefit 
 
SETII DRAYTOtf. 55 
 
 of the soldiers. At the end of the war his fortune 
 was very large, so large that he felt justified in 
 retiring from business. Indeed, you would hardly 
 have supposed, to look at him, that he had ever been 
 a business man. His aspect was both imposing and 
 refined, a tall, massive personage, with a high 
 white forehead, and a grave, handsome face. He 
 had kept up to an extent unusual for an American 
 the classical studies for which he had been distingu 
 ished in college ; his acquaintance with English 
 literature was wide and scholarly ; and he was some 
 thing of a connoisseur in art. Though he was not 
 known to have made any contributions to literature 
 himself, it was felt that a man whose conversation 
 was so cultured and discriminating might easily have 
 obtained eminence in that direction had he chosen to 
 seek it. He partly compensated, however, for his 
 abstinence with the pen by his eloquence on the plat 
 form. He had the gift of thinking on his feet ; and 
 his thoughts were always orthodox in quality and 
 graceful in form. At the war-meetings he had spoken 
 frequently and effectively ; and when peace reigned 
 again he was often prevailed upon to address culti 
 vated audiences on topics of social interest, such 
 as the enfranchisement of women, the diffusion of 
 education, the labor-problem, and free-trade and 
 
56 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 protection. In a word, he was well fitted to be a 
 type of the aristocracy and elegance of the intellect 
 ual centre of our Republic. 
 
 Mr. Drayton married a charming and accomplished 
 Boston lady, and built himself a handsome house on 
 the new land, which became a favorite resort of New 
 England culture and fashion. But, even had the 
 company been absent, you could have spent many a 
 pleasant hour in examining the treasures of art and 
 literature which adorned his rooms. Besides an un 
 doubted Botticelli and a highly probable Palma 
 Vecchio, he possessed rare examples of Millet, Corot, 
 Gerome, and Meissonier, a small Reynolds, an oil 
 head by Hogarth, of himself, half-a-dozen first-rate 
 impressions of etchings by Eembrandt, a tiny water- 
 color ascribed to Turner, a pen-and-ink sketch by 
 Thackeray, with a verse of doggerel attached, a 
 bronze pitcher, with figures in high relief, believed 
 to be the design of Benvenuto Cellini. Of books 
 he owned a large and costly collection, including a 
 number of first editions of English classics, and 
 many admirable examples of the matchless work of 
 the great bookbinders. There was a copy of Milton 
 which had belonged to Coleridge, with his annota 
 tions enriching every page ; and a volume of Thu- 
 cydides, with Shelley s name on the fly-leaf. There 
 
SETH DRAYTON. 57 
 
 was an elaborately carved cabinet of black teak, con 
 taining, among other things, two jars of hawthorn- 
 blue porcelain eight inches high, and worth their fill 
 of gold dollars, an incredibly- wrought ivory nest of 
 balls from China, a crystal sphere from Japan, and 
 a set of chessmen in gold enamel, exquisitely fin 
 ished, and disposed upon a board composed of 
 alternate squares of gold and ebony. But it would 
 be impossible to enumerate even the leading features 
 of a collection like Mr. Dray ton s. His wife s refined 
 taste enhanced its value by the charm of judicious 
 arrangement ; so that you seemed rather to discover 
 these beautiful and interesting objects than to have 
 them obtruded upon you. The whole interior of the 
 house was attuned to a quiet, harmonious key ; it 
 reminded you of some of the best English interiors 
 if, indeed, it were nol more or less directly mod 
 elled after that prototype. There was a superficial 
 soberness and simplicity, developing upon examina 
 tion into elaborate richness. Altogether, it formed 
 an admirable frame for the impressive figure of its 
 owner, who, in the daytime, lounged gracefully 
 about in a velvet coat and cap and Turkish slippers, 
 disguising his real dignity under an apparently care 
 less ease, and in the evening was the model of the 
 courteous and accomplished host, whose faultless 
 
58 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 attire and manners seemed rather a homage to his 
 guests than a glorification of himself. He was a 
 most enjoyable dinner- table companion, not only 
 because his gastronomical education was so refined, 
 but because he had an unfailing flow of genial chat 
 and anecdote, interspersed with gleams of pleasant 
 humor, which made the hours sparkle as they passed. 
 Happy must have been the wife of such a husband 
 and the mistress of such a home ! But Mrs. Dray ton 
 was a slender and fragile woman, with an apparently 
 hereditary disposition to thoughtfulness and mel 
 ancholy ; so that she acted as a gentle foil to her 
 husband s good humor, instead of as a sunny reflec 
 tion of it. Plowbeit, their marriage felicity was not 
 destined to over-long continuance. A few years 
 after presenting Mr. Drayton with a daughter, Mrs. 
 Drayton died; and then, for a season, the beautiful 
 house on the new land was wrapped in silence and 
 mourning. 
 
 Upon emerging from his seclusion Mr. Drayton 
 betrayed the severity of his loss by seeking the dis 
 traction of a more active life. He entered the legis 
 lature of his native State, and it was generally 
 expected that he would become a leading figure in 
 it. But the career of politics in this age and country 
 does not always reflect the true measure of a man s 
 
SET II DRAYTON. 59 
 
 worth. The competition is too keen at times for 
 the frailty of human nature, and great gifts and 
 lofty purposes will sometimes fail to win for their 
 owner the honor and advancement which he de 
 serves. After making all allowances, however, it 
 was a matter of surprise and indignation to Mr. 
 Drayton s friends that he should have been thwarted 
 and misrepresented to the degree he was in his 
 efforts towards reforming and elevating the tone of 
 political life, and, in order to silence once for all 
 his ungenerous rivals, he was urged to accept the 
 nomination for governorship. He consented. The 
 canvass was exceedingly bitter, and was prosecuted 
 on both sides with unusual energy. Mr. Drayton 
 was now for the first time made sensible of the 
 lengths to which partisan spite will go. His 
 " record " was assailed in the most cruel and vindictive 
 spirit. He was charged with disloyalty to his 
 country in her time of need, with coining gold out 
 of her heart s blood, with personal cowardice, with 
 double-dealing, with time-serving, with hypocrisy. 
 Nay, the privacy of his domestic life was violated, 
 and he was actually accused of having hastened the 
 death of his wife by behavior and practices which it 
 is needless to specify here. We all know what such 
 charges, made in the heat of a vehemently contested 
 
60 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 election, amount to ; hut their baselessness is, un 
 fortunately, no measure of their effect. Yet even 
 such wounds might have been healed had Mr. Dray- 
 ton s success in the conflict given the palpable lie to 
 all evil insinuations. Unhappily this was not des 
 tined to be the case. 
 
 On the contrary his defeat was decisive. It 
 would be useless, at this day, to speculate as to the 
 causes of that defeat ; be the cause what it might 
 the effect upon him was the same. The disappoint 
 ment and apparent disgrace were more than the 
 proud and sensitive spirit of this aristocratic descend 
 ant of the Puritans could brook. With less than 
 his usual strength and sagacity of character he 
 formed and carried out a resolution deprecated by 
 his more prudent friends. The house on the new 
 land was announced for sale ; and not only the 
 house, but the precious collection of works of art, 
 the library, the rarities, and the curiosities into the 
 bargain. This unexpected event created a stir in 
 Boston. The sale (which took place in the house) 
 was attended by crowds of people, and the bidding 
 was, from the outset, unusually high. It lasted five 
 days, and the gross sum realized for the collection 
 was said, by those wise in such matters, to be at 
 least double that expended for it. The house was 
 
SETH DRAYTON. 61 
 
 not disposed of by auction, but was sold by private 
 treaty, a few days later, for its full value. Of 
 course, a man of Mr. Drayton s large resources 
 could care little for these details ; but it was hinted 
 by his enemies that, at all events, the sale more 
 than reimbursed him for the expenses of the lost 
 election, which, according to their account, had 
 been unrighteously large. 
 
 It was supposed that all this was the prepara 
 tory step to a prolonged or perhaps permanent 
 sojourn in Europe. To Europe, indeed, Mr. 
 Drayton went, taking his little daughter, Lizzie, 
 with him ; but he remained scarcely a year, and 
 then, leaving Lizzie at an excellent school, and 
 under the eye of some friends residing in the vicin 
 ity, he came back to his native country and 
 settled in New York. It was in this quiet but 
 telling manner that he requited the ill-treatment 
 of his own city. He bought a handsome house 
 on Madison avenue, between Thirty-fourth and 
 Forty-second streets, and furnished it handsomely, 
 but without any of the artistic accessories that had 
 been his hobby in Boston. He seemed to have 
 resolved to change his habits along with his 
 dwelling-place. He no longer sought the company 
 of merely fashionable or Aesthetic people. By 
 
62 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 degrees he became well known to wealthy mer 
 chants, to leading Wall-street financiers, to states 
 men from Washington, and to other distinguished 
 gentlemen interested more or less directly in 
 political matters. He gave select dinners to per 
 sons of this class ; and, as his wealth was such 
 as to relieve him from the imputation of vulgar 
 motives, and his personal attitude was understood to 
 be that of a judicious and unimpassioned observer, 
 he began to exert an influence of a peculiar and 
 enviable kind. He had the confidence of men of 
 opposite shades of political opinion, because it was 
 known that he had no stake on either side, and 
 because of the singular frankness and directness 
 of his speech on all subjects brought before him. 
 There was a vein of cynicism in it, perhaps, but 
 it was honest cynicism ; and it was, for the most 
 part, uncommon sound sense into the bargain. The 
 consequence of this was, that, in the course of 
 the next few years, he found various paths opened 
 to him, both secretly and otherwise, leading to 
 power, political or pecuniary, as the case might 
 be. But he declined to take advantage of any of 
 them. He said that he had been a fool once, 
 that he was glad his folly had been checked so 
 promptly and so sharply, and that he would never 
 
SET II DRATTON. G3 
 
 be a fool (of that species) again. All this, of 
 course, by no means decreased the undefined but 
 real influence which we have ascribed to him. It 
 is not to be inferred, however, that he was actually 
 idle. His contemplations were neither aimless nor 
 profitless ; he gained a deep and effective insight 
 into the workings and philosophy of the larger 
 social movements and combinations ; and we need 
 not too hastily conclude that, in his own way and 
 at his own time, he might not find it worth while to 
 make some of this stored wisdom practically useful. 
 Indeed, some three or four years ago (at the 
 date of this story), he had so far overstepped the 
 boundaries of private life as to accept a position 
 in the interests of the city which afforded him an 
 opportunity to repress and chastise certain abuses 
 which (to put it gently) had crept into some 
 departments of the municipal government. He 
 was appointed in compliance with an urgent popu 
 lar demand, and he soon made it evident that the 
 popular confidence had not been misplaced. Dur 
 ing his term of office he was "approached " by 
 delegates of more than one powerful organization ; 
 but it was soon discovered that this man with the 
 keen, measuring eyes, and the quiet, satirical 
 smile was not to be tampered with. He was 
 
64 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 there to do a bit of work, he told them ; he 
 meant to do it and then to step out. And he 
 carried out this programme to the letter. He took 
 no pay for his services, and, what was far more 
 remarkable, he forebore to use the advantages 
 which his position gave him to make profitable 
 investments. "It was an idle man s holiday, 
 that s all!" he said. "I could afford it; it 
 amused me ; and it wasn t worth my while to sell 
 myself, at least not for any price that anybody 
 seemed able or willing to give." 
 
 But noblesse oblige; and to have done faithful 
 duty on one occasion made it inevitable that Seth 
 Drayton should be selected for other emergencies 
 of a like nature ; and since he could excuse him 
 self on no better ground than an indolent fond 
 ness for having his time and thoughts at his own 
 disposal, he was once in a while over-persuaded 
 into undertaking these unwelcome burdens. But we 
 need not pursue this subject further. Mr. Dray- 
 ton happened to hear favorable mention of Warren 
 Bell, and, after having satisfied himself by per 
 sonal investigation that the young man was well 
 qualified in his profession, he obtained for him 
 the position in the Hydrographic Department 
 which was the beginning of his career. 
 
SETH DRATTON. 65 
 
 "Your father and I were friends, Warren," he 
 said on this occasion ; " but that is not my reason 
 for getting you this place. If you were not fitted 
 for it, I should think I served him better by 
 heading you off. Well, now do the rest for 
 yourself. But if you ever care to drop in on me 
 for a social chat, I shall always be glad to see 
 your father s son, and you too." 
 
 Warren Bell expressed his acknowledgments, 
 but very seldom availed himself of the invitation. 
 About this time, also, Miss Lizzie Dray ton, having 
 " completed " her education, returned to America to 
 begin life ; and few young ladies start on their social 
 career under more promising conditions. She was 
 very young, very well-trained, very pretty, and 
 would have an indefinite number of millions to her 
 dowry. And her father once more modified his 
 style of living, threw open his house to the world of 
 fashion, for Lizzie s sake, and, without losing his 
 hold upon the political world, became once more the 
 fascinating and facile host who had been in abeyance 
 since the old Boston days. Of course he was not 
 quite the same, and some intelligent observers said 
 they liked him better, and others fancied they didn t 
 like him quite so well ; but all united in liking 
 Lizzie. 
 
G6 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " THERE S MY HAND ! " 
 
 WARREN BELL arrived at Mr. Drayton s house 
 at 6.30, but the only member of the syndicate who 
 had got there before him was Tom Peekskill, who 
 was already deeply occupied in the entertainment 
 of Miss Lizzie, in the back drawing-room. Mr. 
 Dray ton shook hands witli him, and after a few 
 minutes general conversation, he took him into the 
 library where they were alone. Warren thought 
 that this indicated prospective good-fortune for 
 Tom ; but he was not disposed to be envious. 
 Lizzie seemed to him to lack substance. 
 
 " I m early, it appears," he remarked to Mr. 
 Dray ton. 
 
 " No," returned the other, stroking his long, iron- 
 gray beard, and gazing thoughtfully at his guest. 
 " No, but circumstances made it necessary to alter the 
 hour, almost at the last moment, 7, instead of 6.30. 
 I should have sent you word li:id I known where to 
 find you. But I m glad it has turned out so ; a 
 word or two of private explanation will do no harm." 
 
"THERE S JUT HAND!" 67 
 
 " Is there a syndicate w- within the syndicate ? " 
 asked Warren. 
 
 " That s just what I want to guard against, if pos 
 sible. We must all mean the same thing and act 
 with the same object, or not at all, so far as I am 
 concerned. I have talked with the other men, but 
 not with you." 
 
 "What is it all about?" 
 
 " Technically and immediately, it s about a new 
 water-supply for the city ; but our real and perma 
 nent object is much broader, much broader. 
 Are you willing to promise to make no outside allu 
 sion to what you hear, in case you don t go with us ? " 
 
 " Certainly not," replied Warren, promptly. "I ll 
 have nothing to do with any concealments ; we have 
 too much of them already. I would do all I could 
 to let in light and air." 
 
 Mr. Dray ton smiled, and then looked aside, 
 grasping his beard. " And if light and air, why 
 not water? " he said presently, resuming his contem 
 plative gaze at the younger man. " Well, that s 
 what I wanted to hear from you. Indeed, if I 
 hadn t known it before, I shouldn t have troubled 
 you to come here to-night. Light and air, purity 
 and freedom, that s what we all are after. But 
 the way to get them, Mr. Warren Bell, is by method 
 
68 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 and persistence by discipline, not by hap-hazard 
 and short-sighted spasms of emotional reform." 
 
 "Yes," admitted Warren, coloring, and feeling 
 that he had once more been over-hasty. 
 
 "It isn t a thing to be undertaken with a light 
 heart," continued Mr. Dray ton. " The opposition 
 we shall have to meet cannot be over-estimated, 
 its organization, its activity, its power. We shall 
 be fought against as men fight for their lives and 
 liberties." 
 
 " One honest man is a match for a dozen rogues," 
 said Warren. 
 
 "That is cant, sir ! " returned Mr. Drayton, quickly. 
 "One rogue is much more likely to overmatch a 
 dozen honest men. The rogue has a definite motive, 
 his own interest ; the honest man a very vague 
 one, the interests of morality. You must make 
 your account in this world with flesh-and-blood 
 motives, not with abstract theories." 
 
 " I mean to," said Warren ; " and I want to know 
 whether this syndicate is based on an abstract theory 
 or a f-flesh-and-blood motive ? " 
 
 Mr. Drayton paused a few moments, not as if he 
 were embarrassed, but as if he were debating within 
 himself which of several possible replies to make. 
 At length he asked : 
 
" THERE S MY HAND!" 69 
 
 " Have you any reason to distrust me ? " 
 
 " There are two reasons why I might distrust you," 
 the young man answered. 
 
 "Well, what are they?" 
 
 "In the first place, I don t know why you should 
 fix upon me as one of your syndicate. There are 
 engineers enough who understand their business as 
 well as I do, and are much older and better known. 
 You might have thought that I was young and 
 could be managed easily." 
 
 "Hoodwinked, that is to say, made a tool of. 
 Yes. What is the other reason? " 
 
 " I don t like your position. You are chairman 
 of the Compensation Fund. A good many of them 
 are said to be rascals. If this syndicate is to put 
 the rascals out, y-you are playing a double game." 
 
 " True. But I am not a fool, Mr. Bell. I have 
 had experience, and I have some insight into char 
 acter. You are a young man, but it needs no magi 
 cian to see, with half an eye, that you are honest. 
 You have several gifts, but not the gift of dissimu 
 lation. You have several virtues, but not (excuse 
 me) the virtue of humility. You are independent 
 and aggressive to a fault. Whatever my reasons 
 for inviting you to join me, it could not have been 
 the expectation of duping you. I have no use for 
 
70 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 dupes. I want men who can comprehend a situa 
 tion, and," he added, smiling, "speak their mind 
 about it." 
 
 " I am not incapable of courtesy," said Warren ; 
 " but, if we are to understand each other, 1 thought 
 ceremony had better wait." 
 
 " Now as to my double game. I suppose you 
 know that I have lived in this city for upwards of a 
 dozen years ? " 
 
 "Yes, I know that." 
 
 " But you don t know because, up to this mo 
 ment, no one knows it what my object was in 
 coming here, and what I have been doing since I 
 came. Well, it was in order to tell you those two 
 things that I invited you here this evening." Here 
 Mr. Drayton came a step nearer to his interlocuctor, 
 and spoke in a lower tone. " I have always been 
 an upright man, Mr. Bell. I have never aided and 
 abetted rascals ; but I m free to confess that my 
 abstract preference for right and justice alone would 
 never have kindled me to the fighting-point. I 
 needed a sharper spur than that, and I got it. I ll 
 call it by its worst name revenge ! Don t be 
 alarmed ; there is no melodrama. I shan t roll my 
 r s nor my eyes, nor call the gods to witness. I am 
 talking business. When I was a Bostonian I had 
 
"THERE S MY HAND!" 71 
 
 an ambition, a commonplace and harmless one, to 
 serve my country ; that is, to enter the Legislature 
 to write Honorable before my name, with a gov 
 ernorship or scnatorship in prospect. I intended no 
 harm, beyond the gratification of a little vanity, and 
 I fancied I saw my way, incidentally, to doing some 
 good. Well, the rascals must have suspected me 
 of much better intentions than I ever had, for they 
 combined against me, assailed me with the vilest 
 weapons, and defeated me. I imagined I was am 
 bitious before ; but that experience taught me what 
 ambition really was. It taught me the difference 
 between abstractions and flesh and blood. It made 
 me feel the difference between right and wrong in 
 theory, and my right and my wrongs in the con 
 crete. I made up my mind that my defeat 
 should not be final, that I would fight again, but 
 not until I was armed to the teeth, and knew how 
 to use my weapons. So I came here, because here 
 is the largest field, and here the struggle would be 
 decisive. For these twelve years I have been prac 
 tising at the mark until now I can hit the bull s-eye 
 every time. I have studied my ground and the 
 tactics of my enemy. I know every important man 
 and combination of men in the State, and in other 
 States besides this. I know their records, their 
 
72 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 secrets, and their aims. And no one of them has 
 fathomed my drift or heeded my evolutions. They 
 think I am a harmless, good man, a useful, popular 
 figure-head to give respectability to their schemes. 
 They know I am beyond the temptations of money, 
 and they fancy my ambition, if I ever had any, died 
 long ago. They find me convenient, but not danger 
 ous. Well, we shall see ! " 
 
 Mr. Dray ton paused at this point, with his beard 
 in his hand, and his keen eyes fixed on Warren 
 Bell. The latter certainly felt that this was a man, 
 and no scarecrow or wind-bag. He had never liked 
 him, but he began now to admire him, and even to 
 be captivated by him. If he were deficient in win 
 ning geniality, he had at any rate intellect, will, and 
 passion. If lie were a man with a grievance, his 
 grievance had developed instead of narrowing him. 
 He was not to be sounded by ordinary plummets, 
 nor was his orbit to be measured in feet and inches. 
 Moreover, he was a man who had the penetration to 
 see through himself, and the intrepidity not to gloss 
 over what he saw there. He hated corruption 
 and rascality with a personal, not a metaphysical 
 hatred. 
 
 To be sure, that might mean that he hated the 
 rascals rather than the rascality, and therefore might 
 
"THERE S MY HAND!" 73 
 
 himself use rascality to overthrow them ; but such 
 an inference was premature, to say the best of it. 
 
 "Now, Warren," said Mr. Drayton, interrupting 
 the young man s meditations, and speaking in a 
 gentler tone than he had yet used, "would you, in 
 my place, act as chairman of the Compensation 
 Fund, or not?" 
 
 Warren reflected. " I should not," he said at 
 last. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Because I should have to 1-lie to those fellows, 
 either actually or implicitly ; and 1-Jying doesn t suit 
 me." 
 
 " If your best friend were hunted for his life, and 
 you knew which way he had escaped, would you tell 
 his hunters or lie about it? 
 
 "I d hold my tongue." 
 
 "You would suppress the truth. But suppose 
 they started on the right track ? " 
 
 " Yes ; then I d lie," Warren admitted. 
 
 "And let me tell you this," added Drayton, 
 gravely : " every man has his price. For one, it is 
 a million dollars ; for another, love ; for another, 
 hate ; for another, ambition ; for another, his soul s 
 salvation. Don t be deceived in yourself, or you ll 
 be undeceived when you least expect it. From 
 
74 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 what I have told you, you may know what my price 
 is. I have resolved to leave my country cleaner of 
 vermin than I found it. I don t pretend to be a 
 miraculous Messiah. I must do it the best way I 
 can ; but I will do it, I m in earnest ! I don t 
 ask you, or any man, to follow in my footsteps ; I 
 only ask you to aim at my goal. Help me to win, 
 and you shall share the glory, and I will bear the 
 scars." 
 
 " Not at all !" rejoined Warren Bell. " If I join 
 you, we must divide the k-kicks as well as the cake. 
 But I don t half like it." 
 
 "You are the son of the only friend I ever had," 
 said Dray ton. " Frank Bell and I had our boyish 
 dreams, and confided them to each other. I see 
 him again in you, his mind and his spirit, and 
 I tell you fairly, boy as you are, half of my interest 
 in my life s purpose will be gone if you can t be with 
 me in it. But stop and think ! Come with your 
 whole heart, or don t come at all." 
 
 " Beware ! " said Intuition. "Don t be an ass ! " 
 said Reason. 
 
 "There s my hand," said Warren Bell. 
 
 The two men shook hands in silence. The clock 
 struck the hour, and the door-bell rang. The other 
 members of the syndicate began to arrive. 
 
"THERE S MY HAND!" 75 
 
 " This water-works business is but the small end 
 of the wedge," remarked Dray ton, as they walked 
 towards the reception-room. "These men will 
 serve us so far, and no farther. I shall tell you all 
 about it later. You don t know," he added, smil 
 ing, "how much I depended upon you." 
 
 Warren did not reply. The thought had flitted 
 into his mind, " What would Nell Anthony say to 
 all this?" 
 
76 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SYNDICATE. 
 
 MR. DRAYTON and his daughter sat at opposite 
 ends of the dinner-table, and Warren found himself 
 placed at the latter s right hand, while Tom Peek- 
 skill was two scats up on the same side. Tom 
 would probably have liked to have the situation re 
 versed, nor would Warren have offered the least 
 opposition to the change. However, he could see, 
 even when his eye-glasses were down, that Lizzie 
 was looking extremely pretty, and he reconciled 
 himself without much difficulty to making the best 
 of his opportunities. The young lady had golden 
 eyes and bright chestnut hair, with a natural crinkle 
 in it. Her nose lacked just enough of being straight 
 to redeem her face from over-regularity ; her upper 
 lip was fuller than the lower, and her complexion 
 had a clear rosiness in it, varying with her mood, 
 which added indefinitely to her charms. She was 
 of fair height, and budding, graceful figure, which 
 had been trained to fall instinctively into becoming 
 and winning poses ; while her movements and 
 
THE SYNDICATE. 77 
 
 gestures were both naive and refined. Lizzie had 
 all manner of foreign accomplishments ; but it is a 
 valuable testimony to the solidity of American insti 
 tutions that her innate Americanism (if not Bos- 
 tonianism) shone through them all, and, it may be 
 added, lent them an additional attractiveness. The 
 girl s hands were particularly beautiful, being soft 
 and dimpled, with rather short and delicately taper 
 ing fingers, smooth and flexible. Had all the 
 world possessed such hands, no stroke of work 
 would ever have been done, from Eve till now. 
 Miss Drayton was dressed in a kind of soft flutter of 
 lace and ribbons and delicate jewelery of no definite 
 color, but conveying a subdued reflection of the 
 sunny glow of her eyes, and of their diamond sparkle 
 also. 
 
 "How has Easter agreed with you?" Warren 
 inquired. 
 
 "It was lovely!" returned Lizzie, in her soft, 
 sensitive voice. "I always am glad of Lent, when 
 Easter comes ; Easter all the year round would be 
 too much, like sunshine all the twenty-four hours, 
 as they have it at the equator or the North Pole, 
 is it ? Now, don t laugh, I never was there, so how 
 can I remember ? But you don t care for society, do 
 you?" 
 
78 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "B-bless me, yes, indeed ! " 
 
 " Oh 1 do you ? Well, I do. I love it ! Do you 
 dance the german? Well, my ideal of life is, that it 
 should be a continual german, with new figures and 
 favors all the time. I m sure it s as near perfect as 
 any enjoyment in the world can be, the music, the 
 lights, the colors, the excitement, the variety." 
 
 "The variety of partners, you mean?" 
 
 " Yes and the figures ; you get all wound up 
 and think you are lost, and then, at the last moment, 
 you come out all right, in a burst of music ! If I 
 were a man, I would do nothing but lead the ger 
 man all the time, like Mr. Peekskill." 
 
 "Is that all he does?" 
 
 " Now, you are not to abuse Mr. Peekskill, because 
 I like him, and he dances like a seraph, and I m sure 
 he speaks well of you ; he said just now that you 
 were the brightest man he knows." 
 
 " Well, he is the best 1-leader of the german I 
 know ; so we re square." 
 
 " I should think men would get so tired thinking 
 of nothing but business," continued Miss Drayton, 
 after an interval. "Of course, I know some men 
 have to work, whether they like it or not; but 
 well, now, there s papa ; I m sure he needn t, and I 
 often ask him to please stop, and just have a good 
 
THE SYNDICATE. 79 
 
 time. But I guess he s never got over dear mamma s 
 death ; and, of course, I can t be to him what she 
 was, though I do try to amuse him ; but he doesn t 
 care to be amused in my way ; he s so wise ; and 
 I m not a bit intellectual, though I am a Boston 
 girl," she said, with a delicate little gurgle of 
 laughter. 
 
 "Every man ought to be married, of course," 
 observed Warren. 
 
 "You re not married, are you, Mr. Bell?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "No; nor likely to be." 
 
 " Oh ! Why not ? I mean you said every 
 man " 
 
 "The fact is, Miss Drayton, I never learned how 
 to dance the german, and it was inferred, very natu 
 rally, that I wouldn t know how to take care of a 
 wife either. At any rate, the young lady whom 
 I hoped to marry refused me, and I m too old to 
 learn the german now." 
 
 If Lizzie s intellect was limited, her intuitive 
 perceptions were very keen, and she not only felt 
 that Warren was chaffing her, but she divined, also, 
 that she had touched him in a painful spot. "I 
 beg your pardon!" she said, blushing; and then, 
 in the nervousness of the moment, she added, "If 
 
80 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 you will come to my next dance I ll teach you" 
 and stopped short. 
 
 "I certainly will," said Warren, with presence 
 of mind ; " not to redeem the past, for that s dead 
 and buried, but to p-plant the seeds of hope for 
 the future." 
 
 Lizzie laughed, and sipped some iced champagne, 
 in the hope of cooling her cheeks ; but her spon 
 taneity was checked for the time being, and she 
 made only short and timid replies to Warren s re 
 marks, until at length he relinquished her to the 
 ardent courtesies of the handsome Irishman, Mr. 
 O Ryan, who sat on her left. 
 
 Mr. Callby, who sat next to Warren, was a very 
 large and heavy man, with a bald head, and yellow 
 ish side-whiskers streaked with gray. He had been 
 very busy with his dinner, a devotion rendered 
 more noticeable by the fact that he wore a set of 
 false teeth, the fastenings of which seemed to be 
 insecure. But, now that the advent of the sorbet 
 had retired him temporarily from the struggle, he 
 emerged as a fine-looking personage, with a sup 
 pressed smile about the corners of his mouth, and a 
 demure but triumphant twinkle in his eye. 
 
 " Your health, sir," he said, raising his glass of 
 wine as Warren looked towards him. " We ought 
 
THE SYNDICATE. 81 
 
 to be well acquainted, as I presume we are to act 
 together. You, as well our host, are from the 
 modern Athens, I believe?" 
 
 "If Hickory is the modern Athens, I was born 
 there," replied Warren ; " but Mr. Drayton came 
 from Boston. Where do you come from?" 
 
 " Hem ! My native place is Philadelphia," began 
 Mr. Callby, gathering himself together ; but Tom 
 Peekskill, who sat beyond him, leaned forward and 
 interrupted. 
 
 "He s a reformed Quaker, Warren," he said, 
 " and we ve scooped him in to do the imposing for 
 us. But you mustn t let him impose on you. He s 
 the proprietor of a patent method of joining water- 
 pipes together, aren t you, Callby? Say, Warren, 
 old man, are you glad you came? Beats the hydro- 
 graphic racket, doesn t it?" 
 
 "Almost as good as c-conducting a german," re 
 turned Warren, who did not relish being exploited 
 by anybody. But certainly he was in an uncon- 
 ciliating humor on this evening, and it was the re 
 sult of several causes. His interview with Nell 
 Anthony, though its issue was what he had wished 
 rather than meant it to be, had perplexed and 
 humiliated him; his compact with Mr. Drayton, 
 though deliberately made, and following the line of 
 
82 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 his best aspirations, had only increased his self-dis 
 satisfaction ; and finally, his hap-hazard chat with 
 Lizzie had (for no assignable reason) brought all 
 this discontent to a focus, and disposed him to 
 quarrel with whomsoever addressed him. It so 
 happened, however, that he was not again interfered 
 with during the remaining courses ; and by the time 
 Miss Lizzie had bade adieu to the guests, he had so 
 far recovered himself as to be able to present a de 
 meanor at least outwardly composed. 
 
 Cigars were now handed round, and the guests 
 drew their chairs towards the head of the table. 
 
 " This is rather a social than a business meeting, 
 gentlemen," observed Drayton, pouring out a glass 
 of claret, and pushing the bottle. " Our enterprise 
 is going on well, and no revision seems as yet to be 
 necessary. There ll be no opposition to the con 
 tract, you think, O Ryan?" 
 
 " Trust me for that ! " replied the gentleman 
 addressed, nodding his head, and looking round 
 with a confident smile. "The contract that Ter 
 ence O Ryan can t carry out, if it involved dis- 
 embowellin every street in the city, from Harlem to 
 the Battery, hasn t been made yet, and won t, 
 please the pigs ! " 
 
 In spite of Mr. Terence O Ryan s defiant Ian- 
 
THE SYNDICATE. 83 
 
 guage, Warren liked bis. looks better tban tbose of 
 the rest of the syndicate. He had a bold, good- 
 humored, blue eye, a straight, strong nose, with a 
 dark mustache under it, and a square, resolute 
 chin. Warren had heard of him before, and knew 
 that his claim to exemption from ordinary restraints 
 was not without foundation, though it was not clear 
 how the exemption was secured. 
 
 "How about the land-owners, governor?" in 
 quired Tom Peekskill, rolling his cigar into the 
 extreme corner of his mouth, and throwing his left 
 arm over the back of his chair. 
 
 " Wiston s reports are favorable, I believe," said 
 Dray ton, turning to the gentleman on his right. 
 The individual thus indicated was small and plump, 
 and everything about him seemed to be either 
 spherical or circular, according to circumstances. 
 He had a round head, round eyes, a round nose, 
 and a mouth which he was in the habit of pursing 
 up in a circular form ; his little body was globular, 
 and the backs of his short hands had a rounded 
 appearance. Mr. Wiston shifted himself in his 
 chair, lifted his thin eyebrows to an inordinate 
 height, and said, in a smooth, piping voice : 
 
 "I think I may affirm, on the part of the land 
 owners of the district from which I understand it to 
 
84 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 be the intention of the syndicate, that the *- I 
 would say, along the line of the proposed " 
 
 " Prepared speeches are out of order ! " put in 
 Tom Peekskill, who had a sort of prescriptive 
 license in the matter of humorous impertinences. 
 "Skip your exordium, old man, and let s have 
 the what-d ye-call it. The up-country folks are 
 solid, eh?" 
 
 "If all the trouble we have comes from them, I 
 guess we ll get on," observed Mr. Wiston s right- 
 hand neighbor, a long-haired, gaunt, hollow-eyed, 
 lank, and sprawling gentleman, with a Western 
 drawl, and incontinence of knees and elbows. " We 
 all hold good cards, but they ve got a straight flush, 
 rent and perquisites both. No, sir ! all I m 
 afraid of is, the other fellows getting on to our 
 game and buying over our heads. You must keep 
 your eye peeled, Dray ton ! " 
 
 "You are perhaps not aware, gentlemen," said 
 Dray ton, "that though I should lose a great deal 
 by the failure of our scheme, I shall make nothing, 
 in the way of money, by its success. My position 
 is one of the few real luxuries which being in easy 
 circumstances can give a man. I tell you frankly 
 that I have devised this affair to please myself. 
 Peekskill, here, has charge of my investments, and he 
 
THE SYNDICATE. 85 
 
 knows how I have placed myself. As you all know, 
 I have made myself responsible for whatever funds 
 may be necessary to put the work upon a successful 
 basis. If we fail, this sum, whatever it may be, is 
 lost, and nothing more will be said about it. If we 
 succeed it will be repaid to me, without interest, by 
 an annual tax of ten per cent, on the net profit of 
 the company. After it has been thus repaid my 
 claims upon the exchequer will finally cease. But, 
 in return for this, I shall occupy permanently the 
 office of director, and my authority will be decisive 
 on all questions of policy and procedure. If any of 
 you are unwilling to accept this arrangement, now 
 is the time to say so. 
 
 He looked round the table, at each person in turn, 
 and no one spoke, until his glance fell upon Warren 
 Bell. His announcement had taken Warren by 
 surprise, as it probably had done most of the others, 
 and he had been rapidly examining the situation in 
 his mind. Drayton s proposal seemed not only fair, 
 but magnanimous and almost quixotic, regarded 
 from an ordinary point of view ; but Warren, en 
 lightened by their recent interview, perceived that, 
 from Dray ton s point of view, the latter s compensa 
 tion would be abundant. He gave or refused 
 money ; but he took power in its place ; and it was 
 
86 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 to be remembered, also, that the revenues which he 
 so grandly rejected were by no means essential to 
 his solvency ; he would still be indefinitely richer 
 than, probably, all the rest of the syndicate put to 
 gether. On the other hand, however, what stronger 
 guarantee of good faith could Drayton give than 
 this ? And what motive could he have for abusing 
 any powers with which he was intrusted? In the 
 last resort, moreover, if one did not approve of his 
 proceedings, one could at any rate take himself out 
 of the concern, and be at liberty. Meanwhile, there 
 was certainly no member of the syndicate whom 
 Warren would have preferred to Drayton as director. 
 These thoughts flashed in a moment through his 
 brain. 
 
 " As long as you stand by your engagement," he 
 said, "I ll stand by you. All things considered, I 
 think you re about right. You ought not to do less 
 than you propose, and I d-don t care to have you do 
 any more." 
 
 " Hear ! hear ! " exclaimed Terence O Ryan. 
 "Faith, the hon able mimber for Hydrography has 
 spoke the sense of the meeting ! " And there was a 
 general murmur of acquiescence. 
 
 " Of course, this is only an informal statement, 
 which, however, I wished to make to you in a 
 
THE SYNDICATE. 87 
 
 body," said Drayton. " Our articles of association 
 will be drawn up in due time and form. Mr. 
 Sprayne " here he nodded at the Western-looking 
 personage " has conducted our interests at Albany 
 so skilfully that the Legislature has given us all 
 we need without being aware of its own complai 
 sance. Active work will be begun immediately, 
 and our friend, Mr. Warren Bell, will lose no time 
 in beginning the necessary surveys. Mr. Peekskill 
 is authorized to make any necessary disbursements. 
 Mr. Bell, you will find Mr. O Ryan an agreeable 
 colleague, personally as well as professionally. 
 And now, gentlemen, pass the bottle ; let s have 
 done with this dry talk, and enjoy ourselves ! " 
 
88 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 "IS THAT ALL?" 
 
 A FEW days after the dinner Tom Peekskill 
 dropped in for an afternoon call. He was to 
 conduct the germ an at Miss Dray ton s approaching 
 ball, and it was in order for him to talk over with 
 her the plan of the figures. Whether by previous 
 arrangement or not, she was alone, and received him 
 as if she had been expecting him. 
 
 The house was a large one, with spacious rooms 
 opening into one another, and broad mirrors in vari 
 ous places, so disposed as apparently to extend the 
 already ample vistas. This necessitated a certain 
 amount of circumspection on the part of those who 
 sought for prhacy, lest a deed done in the back 
 drawing-room, for instance, should be visible on the 
 front staircase. Mr. Peekskill, after having shaken 
 hands ceremoniously with his pretty young hostess, 
 walked into an alcove of the library, and when she 
 had followed him there, he turned, took her lightly 
 by the shoulders, and kissed her. 
 
 " Say, Liz, how would that do for the first figure 
 
"7S THAT ALL?" 89 
 
 in the german?" he said, pressing her arms, and 
 smiling at her. 
 
 " You promised to write to me day before yester 
 day," returned she, twisting her taper finger in his 
 watch-chain. "I ve been looking ever since." 
 
 " We ll have to stop that ; taint safe any 
 longer." 
 
 " Tom ! what do you mean ? " 
 
 " The old gentleman suspects something ; anyhow 
 he s on the look-out." 
 
 " But you always said that he wouldn t mind if he 
 did know " 
 
 "Yes, my dear, and that was all right, then," 
 said Tom, seating himself on a small lounge, and 
 drawing her down beside him ; " but then and now 
 are different ; and things isn t like they used to was. 
 Excuse my French ! " 
 
 "But, Tom, don t be stupid; what is it? You 
 are only making fun, aren t you?" 
 
 "Liz, I m giving it to you straight. Say, do 
 you love me? Honor bright?" 
 
 She folded her hands in her lap, and looked at 
 him with an expression that her father had never 
 seen in her girlish face, though she loved him too. 
 "You are very unkind," she said. "How could I 
 ever love anybody but you, Tom? " 
 
90 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "Well," replied he, " Pve got a rival, anyhow." 
 
 "A rival ? Do I know him ? " 
 
 Tom chuckled. " Yes, I guess you do ; but the 
 point is, your father knows him too, and what s 
 more, he s backing him up ! How does that find 
 you?" 
 
 " I wish you d tell me what you re talking about ? " 
 
 "Well, I m going to; and, mind you, Liz, this 
 is serious. Perhaps you may not have noticed who 
 sat beside you at dinner the other day? No, I don t 
 mean O Ryan ; he was on the other side. Warren 
 Bell is the man I mean ; and don t you forget it ! " 
 
 "Why, Tom, you must be crazy! I d as soon 
 think of falling in love with with that horrid 
 little Mr. Wiston or anybody ! " 
 
 " But, unfortunately, my love, it isn t about fall 
 ing in love that we are talking ; it s about marrying. 
 And Warren Bell is the man your father means you 
 to marry." 
 
 " I don t believe it ! How do you know ? " 
 
 "Tom PeekskilPs no fool, my dear; he knows 
 when the wind changes. This thing has been 
 coming over the old gentleman for some time back. 
 I used to think his looking after Bell was only to 
 square some old accounts with Bell s father, who 
 was a friend of his ; but, however that may have 
 
7# THAT ALL?" 91 
 
 been, there s more in it now. He s taken hold of 
 Bell, and he s going to ring him for all he s worth. 
 He s going to give him the front place in all the 
 new schemes that are under way, and he ll end up 
 by taking him into the family as the husband of 
 Lizzie Dray ton." 
 
 All this was so novel and incredible to Lizzie, 
 and was at the same time announced by Tom with 
 so much assurance, that she felt equally disposed to 
 laugh and to cry. Her imagination, without being 
 in the least profound, was lively and susceptible, 
 and she saw herself being torn from her lover s 
 arms and forced into wedlock with a man whose 
 face she scarcely knew. But then she reflected that 
 her father had never been other than indulgent to 
 wards her, and the conviction that the whole idea 
 was a delusion returned to her. 
 
 "Besides," she exclaimed, coming out of her 
 troubled meditations with a triumphant air, " how 
 do you know that Mr. Bell cares for me ? He never 
 acted as if he did." 
 
 But at this Tom Peekskill laughed so heartily that 
 Lizzie began to laugh too, under the impression that 
 she must have said something witty. 
 
 "Oh, my wig!" cried he at last; "here am I 
 living all my life in New York, and thought I knew 
 
92 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 a thing or two, and I never once thought of that ! 
 Look here, Liz, being educated in a French con 
 vent has made you too wise ! Say, you dear little 
 goose, did it ever occur to you that being the pretti 
 est girl in New York is one thing, and all very well 
 in its way, but that being the biggest heiress this 
 side the llocky Mountains is a horse of another color 
 entirely? Why, if Warren Bell was a Roman 
 Catholic cardinal, with six wives, and seventy years 
 old, he d kill em all and abjure his religion for the 
 sake of getting you ! Don t you make any mistake ! 
 If a man tells you he loves you, you may believe him 
 or not as you choose ; but if he says he wants to 
 marry you if he was the Father of Lies himself 
 you may bet your life he s giving you the straight 
 tip as much as if he was the Angel Gabriel ! " 
 
 "Then, if my money s so much, how do I know 
 whether you love me ? " demanded Lizzie with a 
 quaver in her voice, and tears in her golden eyes. 
 
 " I don t know how you know it," replied Tom 
 with great presence of mind, " but I know you do 
 know it ; and for all I care, your father might bust 
 up to-morrow, and you never come into a red cent. 
 But we settled all that Jong ago," he added, putting 
 his arm round her waist. "The problem is now, 
 how to euchre Mr. Warren Bell." 
 
"IS THAT ALLf" 93 
 
 " What has made papa take such a fancy to 
 him?" Lizzie asked, with a feeling of comfortable 
 reliance on her lover s arm, and, derivatively, on his 
 wisdom. 
 
 " Oh, as to that, there s more reasons that one. 
 Warren is a clever fellow, and he hasn t got himself 
 mixed up in any scrape yet, isn t mortgaged to 
 anybody, don t you see? Your father has some 
 pretty big schemes in his head, and he needs some 
 body to help him put em through somebody who 
 doesn t know too much of the ropes (as I do, for in 
 stance), and who ll just go in bald-headed, without 
 minding the consequences. That s Warren all over ; 
 he d slip up mighty quick, if he was left to himself; 
 but with somebody to look out for him, and steer him, 
 he could be a pretty strong card. Now, I ve got my 
 own notions of what I want to do, and how I want 
 to do it ; and I won t take orders from any man be 
 yond a certain point ; and the old gentleman knows 
 that just as well as I do, worse luck for me ! 
 That s why I can t ask him to let me marry you." 
 
 " But he lets you manage all his affairs, doesn t 
 he?" 
 
 "Just as he lets a train of cars carry him to 
 Boston or Chicago : he knows where he wants to 
 go, and he takes care that he gets there ; but he 
 
94 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 doesn t want the bother of walking. But if he was 
 to find out what you and I were up to bang ! No 
 more tete-a-tetes and germans for us I " 
 
 " But he ll have to find it out some time, won t he, 
 Tom?" 
 
 " Yes ; but not while this Warren-Bell craze is on 
 him, my dear. And, meantime, we ve got to be 
 extra careful. You see, as long as he doesn t 
 suspect me he won t cram Warren down your 
 throat too hard ; but let him once get that idea in 
 his head, and he d whisk you off to the church in no 
 time ! " 
 
 " You talk of me as if I were a bandbox ! " ex 
 claimed Lizzie, indignantly. " What if I were to 
 say I wouldn t be whisked off with anybody, 
 except you ? " 
 
 " Ah I " returned Tom, shaking his head, gloomily. 
 " You might say it ; and I expect that s all you 
 could do, you d be Mrs. Bell all the same." 
 
 "I ll never be any such hateful thing ! " she cried, 
 with quivering mouth ; " and if I can t be what I 
 want, I won t be anybody ! " 
 
 "You don t know your father," continued Tom, 
 in the same sombre tone ; " you haven t seen him 
 down-town, among the fellows on the street. I 
 have ; and I tell you he s a hard one when he s a 
 
"IS THAT ALL?" 95 
 
 mind to be ! Nobody can do anything with him. 
 He s bound to boss things, and he lets em know 
 it once in a while. It s all very well as long as 
 things go his way ; but if he runs into anything, it s 
 got to go! Why, that man, Liz, he ll run this 
 whole country yet, if they re not careful ! He a 
 studied the whole thing out ; and, easy as he looks, 
 there s more gall in his little finger than in a dozen 
 ordinary men. He d have you settled quicker than 
 a steam-engine would knock over a ninepin ! " 
 
 " Do you mean you re going to let me be be 
 done anything to?" asked Lizzie, beginning to be 
 terrified by these forebodings of disaster. 
 
 " If I could do what I d like to do, we d be all 
 right," replied Tom, caressing his jawbone with the 
 tips of his fingers. " But you wouldn t want that." 
 
 " What ? What wouldn t I want, Tom ? " 
 
 " No ; and I should have no right to ask you to 
 do it," continued he, as if talking to himself. 
 " After all, if he didn t come round, where would 
 you be?" 
 
 "Tom!" 
 
 " Better let it alone, and trust to luck. But if 
 you only would ? well, my dear, it s getting 
 late, and " 
 
 "Tom, I declare, if you don t answer me, I ll tell 
 
96 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 papa the whole thing the first minute I see him, 
 and let him do his worst ! " 
 
 "Don t do that, whatever you do ! " exclaimed he, 
 hastily. " There s a better way than that, though I 
 don t like to propose it to you." 
 
 " You d better tell me ! You ll find I m not so 
 much a child as you think." 
 
 He got to his feet with an impulsive air, and she 
 rose with him. 
 
 " Hang me if I don t, then ! " he said ; " and if 
 you don t like it, remember it s your fault. This ll 
 prove how much you care for me, anyhow. Say, 
 Liz, you know I can t live without you ; and if I m 
 not to have you, I d as well know it now as any 
 time. Your father wouldn t consent to our mar 
 riage, and he d make you marry Warren Bell, if 
 your saying you wouldn t were all that stood in the 
 way. But you can checkmate him in one way, 
 and only one way, if you choose." 
 
 She looked up at him, holding him by the lapels 
 of his coat, and biting her under lip. 
 
 " He can break your will easy enough ; but 
 there s one thing he can t break, not if he were 
 twice the man he is ; and that s the law of the realm. 
 And if we have the law on our side, we ve got 
 him." 
 
"IS THAT ALL?" 97 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " Well suppose, one of these fine days, we ran 
 off and got married, without asking leave of any 
 body? He couldn t part man and wife, and there 
 we d be." 
 
 She let her hands fall, and an expression almost 
 of disappointment came over her charming face. 
 For a moment, Tom thought he had gone too far, 
 and was preparing to retreat under cover of some 
 joke ; but his mistake had been of a different kind. 
 
 " Is that all ? " she exclaimed half incredulously. 
 "Why, you stupid boy, I thought you were going to 
 say something awful. As if any girl in New York 
 wouldn t run away if she got a chance ! If I d been 
 a man, I d have proposed it half an hour ago ! " 
 
 " She s a chip of the old block, after all ! " mur 
 mured Tom to himself, as he took her in his arms 
 and kissed her. " And a Boston girl, too ! " 
 
98 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 CHAMPIONS OF REFORM. 
 
 MR. TERENCE O RYAN, the good-looking young 
 Irish contractor, gave Bell a good deal of his com 
 pany during the latter s first visits to the line of the 
 new water-works. There was no great difference 
 between them in the matter of age, and that little 
 was fully counterbalanced by the buoyancy of the 
 Hibernian temperament. Mr. O Ryan was a self- 
 made man, and his handiwork already did him 
 credit ; yet he considered himself to be only on the 
 first steps of the ladder he meant to climb. " Some 
 say," he remarked, "that the divil God rest him ! 
 invented politics. If he did, faith, twas a 
 mighty genteel act ; and if ever he wants a good 
 word, Terence O Ryan s the man to speak it for 
 him ! " Politics, he went on to explain, was, for 
 the poor man, the royal road to wealth and power. 
 More than anything else it tended to obliterate in 
 jurious social distinctions. In other countries than 
 America it could hardly be said to exist ; at all 
 events it was the appanage of the great, and was 
 
CHAMPIONS OF REFORM. 99 
 
 applied mainly to the suppression of the masses, 
 which was reversing its true function. " Look at 
 me ! " added the speaker, slapping his broad chest. 
 " Where would I be to-day but for politics ? Sure 
 I d be touching my cap to the same men that are 
 now coolin their heels every morning in me ante 
 chamber, waitin to ax me a favor ! " 
 
 "Then you prefer politics to d-dynamite?" said 
 Warren. 
 
 "Well, now," replied Terence, "I ll not be 
 deny in that dynamite is a nice domestic utensil to 
 have handy if a man must live in the ould contree ; 
 but, in the Land of the Free, me dear boy, I carry 
 my dynamite in my brain. There s no flash-in-the- 
 pan about it, for one thing ; and it removes all 
 obstacles without either noise or mortality." 
 
 "And you think politics is the best business a 
 man can turn his brains to ? " 
 
 :f Tis the business of businesses I * returned the 
 other, sententiously. 
 
 "Politics is a humbug," said Warren. "It 
 pretends to benefit the people, and it only benefits 
 the p-politicians." 
 
 " Then who s to prevent the people being poli 
 ticians too ; so we ll all be happy together ? " rejoined 
 the Irishman, with a wink. 
 
100 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 " What do you think of this water-works job ? " 
 Warren inquired. " Is there any politics about 
 that?" 
 
 "D ye see that pond over there?" replied Terence, 
 pointing with his cigar to a small sheet of water at 
 the base of the hill on which they were standing. 
 "Well, Mr. Bell, if I was to tell ye there was as 
 much politics in this job as there is water in that 
 pond, it ud be just the truth, and no less. Look 
 ye here, me dear friend : there s that ould thief, 
 Sprayne, no offence to him, up at Albany; 
 wasn t he bringin in three separate bills before the 
 Legislature, at three separate times, each one with 
 no harm in the world in it, like the component parts 
 of gunpowder, but put em together, and bang ! 
 There we are with our charter as safe as if twas in 
 our pockets. Is there any politics about that, I 
 don t know? For me own part, bein a modest 
 man, I say nothing ; only, if any man tells you that 
 another than Terence O Eyan could have rigged the 
 politics that ll carry some pipes through New York 
 streets, ye may tell him he s a liar, and refer him to 
 me for satisfaction ! " 
 
 " And Dray ton, what of him? " 
 
 "Drayton s a big man there s no denyin that ! " 
 said Mr. O Ryan, twisting his mustaches. :t Tis not 
 
CHAMPIONS OF REFORM. 101 
 
 the money he s after ; nor distinction neither, at 
 least, not the same way as the rest of us. He s a 
 deep one, and no mistake ; and what his game is, 
 is none of my business. I see my own share of the 
 swag plain enough ; but he may do as he likes." 
 
 "You will be paid for your work, of course ; but 
 this thing is no steal ; it s to give water to the city 
 at fair rates." 
 
 " Well, that s true, too," assented the other, nod 
 ding his head sagaciously ; " and may the city never 
 be without a drop of good whiskey to put in it ! " 
 
 Warren Bell discounted a good deal of this kind 
 of talk on the score of the picturesque and imagi 
 native instincts of the Irish character. He felt sure 
 that O Eyan, say what he might, would never do a 
 dirty act when it came to the point. No doubt, any 
 conceivable scheme would be open to abuses from 
 the evil-disposed ; but it was no less certain that 
 this enterprise of Drayton s would overthrow a mon 
 strous monopoly, and introduce a cleaner order of 
 things. It was well to be identified with such a 
 movement, even though one s associates might be 
 something less than immaculate. The river that 
 cleanses Augean stables must expect to contract 
 some temporary defilement. 
 
 But, though there was something in O Ryan s 
 
102 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 personal equation which made Warren like him, he 
 was less charitable in the case of some of the other 
 members of the syndicate. There was Mr. Callby, 
 the inventor, for instance. Warren had an inter 
 view with him one day, in reference to his water- 
 pipes, which were warranted never to leak or other 
 wise get out of order. The device was undeniably 
 ingenious and effective, and also very simple ; but 
 Mr. Callby himself struck his visitor as being less 
 lovely than his invention. Warren happened to 
 inquire what he expected to receive for the use of 
 his patent, and heard a sum mentioned that caused 
 him to put on his eye-glasses and thrust out his 
 chin. 
 
 "Why, man alive ! " he exclaimed, w the repairs 
 of the ordinary pipes for fifty years wouldn t amount 
 to a tenth of that. Wh-what sort of economy do 
 you call that?" 
 
 Mr. Callby laughed, shaking his portly sides 
 softly, and nearly losing his teeth in his merriment. 
 "We inventors," he explained, "favor the maxim 
 that charity begins at home. The world is certain 
 to profit by our discoveries in the end ; but, the 
 duration of an individual life being strictly limited, 
 we must ha ! ha ! make our hay while our 
 individual sun shines. In other words, we make all 
 
CHAMPIONS OF REFORM. 103 
 
 we can out of our contemporaries, but impose no 
 restrictions upon posterity." 
 
 " Very good, if your contemporaries understand 
 what bargain they are making. But do you mean 
 to tell me that the public would accept your pipes, 
 if they knew what they were paying for them ? " 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! very possibly not. But that is the 
 advantage of a public, my dear sir ; it never does 
 know; and, to be serious, it never cares. In those 
 facts lies its infinite superiority to the wealthiest 
 private customer. The American people, Mr. Bell, 
 you may take my word for it, and it is an im 
 portant truth to bear in mind, never cares, and 
 never will care, for economy. Congress has its 
 economical spasms, of course, when it has a 
 particularly big robbery on foot ; just as a pick 
 pocket will restore you a five-cent piece that you ve 
 dropped, in order the more unsuspectedly to relieve 
 you of a hundred-dollar greenback. The individual 
 American, again, is often economical ; a man will 
 walk up town from his place of business to 
 save car-fare, and spend a dollar or two in drinks 
 along the way. But the American people, once it 
 takes a fancy to a thing, from a Brooklyn bridge 
 to a civil war, is going to have it, if it taxes 
 itself twenty-five cents on a dollar. And then, 
 
104 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 the higher you put the price, the more likely you 
 are to get it." 
 
 " All that doesn t prevent robbery from being rob 
 bery," said Warren, bluntly. 
 
 "What am I to understand by that, sir?" de 
 manded Callby, sticking out his lips. 
 
 " You may understand what you like ! " retorted 
 Warren, angrily ; " but what I understand is, that 
 you are swindling the city. And I ll d-do what I 
 can to stop it ! " 
 
 Callby s forehead reddened ; but, for whatever 
 reason, he controlled himself after a few moments, 
 and said with dignity, " Mr. Bell, I am not respon 
 sible to you for my business arrangements. The 
 market value of an idea is never less than it will 
 fetch. As regards the sum of money I have men 
 tioned to you (and I may remark that the statement 
 was made under the impression that I was speaking 
 to a gentleman of honor, who could appreciate the 
 sacredness of a business confidence), as regards 
 this sum, I say, I have consented to receive the bulk 
 of it in bonds of the company. I am, therefore, sell 
 ing my birthright for what may after all prove to be 
 but a mess of pottage ; for the combination on the 
 other side may beat us yet." 
 
 " In which case you would go over to them, bag 
 
CHAMPIONS OF REFORM. 105 
 
 and baggage," said Warren, only this time he did 
 not utter the words aloud. He perceived that, once 
 again, he had lost his temper to no purpose. The 
 security of men like Callhy was in the fact that, 
 however insignificant or contemptible they might be 
 in themselves, they represented, in some sort, the spirit 
 of the age ; they were in accord with the popular, 
 or, at least, permitted ways of doing and regarding 
 things. It was not this or the other particular in 
 dividual, therefore, upon whom the reformer must 
 apply his pressure ; he must first create a revulsion 
 or improvement in the current sentiment and custom. 
 His reflections upon these matters inclined Warren 
 to think that Drayton held broader and sounder views 
 concerning them than his own. He had postponed 
 the attack upon persons to that upon systems ; and 
 for Warren to prosecute a guerilla warfare on his 
 own account would probably be worse than useless. 
 He needed experience, and, more than all, he needed 
 power. Drayton possessed both, perhaps in an even 
 greater degree than Warren had as yet given him 
 credit for. All the same, it was difficult to refrain 
 from denouncing a scoundrel when you met him. 
 
 Meanwhile the scheme itself prospered. The 
 wheels were oiled, and ran smoothly, and several 
 things which wore the superficial appearance of 
 
106 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 obstacles proved in the end to have an effect pre 
 cisely opposite. A newspaper, for example, would 
 make a bitter attack upon some feature of the enter 
 prise, and by and by this very feature would turn 
 out to be one of the strongest and most praiseworthy 
 of all ; and a merely passive acceptance of the 
 measure would thus be intensified into active sym 
 pathy with unjust persecution. Or, again, a depu 
 tation would wait upon the mayor to obtain his 
 consent to some step, and the mayor would severely 
 criticise the application. The deputation would 
 retire abashed ; but, within a few days or weeks, 
 evidence would be forthcoming, in some inadver 
 tent, unexpected way, which would cause the official 
 to withdraw his animadversions, and to express 
 regret at having been misled in regard to so estima 
 ble a proposal. Hereupon, the mayor would be 
 commended for acknowledging an error in the inter 
 ests of reform, and the reform itself would shine all 
 the brighter. 
 
 In none of these episodes did Drayton appear. 
 His name was never mentioned in connection with 
 the scheme, and no one outside of the syndicate 
 seemed to have the least suspicion that he was even 
 remotely involved in it. Even the syndicate saw 
 nothing of him in an official capacity. Had they 
 
CHAMPIONS OF REFORM. 107 
 
 been called to the witness-stand, most of them could 
 only have testified that if funds were needed they 
 were always forthcoming ; that if instructions were 
 required, they were conveyed to the proper quarter ; 
 and that the movement of affairs was regulated and 
 directed by a consistent and constant purpose. 
 They might have added that, to the best of their 
 belief, this power in the background was Seth 
 Drayton ; but they could hardly have stated as 
 much on oath. Still less could they have assigned 
 any plausible reason for this reticence on his part. 
 All the more did it affect their imaginations (an 
 almost invariable attribute of Americans in every 
 walk of life), and strengthen Dray ton s control. 
 They understood themselves, but not him ; and the 
 familiar principle of omne ignotum pro magnifico 
 probably had its application in their case. 
 
 Warren Bell alone had been, in any important 
 degree, admitted to Drayton s confidence ; but the 
 revelation was as yet too incomplete, and Warren 
 too unprepared for its full reception, for him to 
 have gained a substantial comprehension of Drayton s 
 attitude. Tom Peekskill, on the other hand, was 
 vastly more knowing than Warren ; but his positive 
 information was less. His native penetration had 
 served him somewhat, however ; and he had, be- 
 
108 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 sides, a source of knowledge which, though not yet 
 very affluent, might be trained to become so ; and 
 which had the valuable quality of being wholly un 
 suspected by Drayton. He could never have con 
 ceived of his daughter in the light of a spy and 
 intriguer ; and he despised Tom Peekskill too pro 
 foundly to dream that he would venture to establish 
 relations with Lizzie. Events had, indeed, occurred 
 between the two men, which placed Tom completely 
 in Drayton s power, at least, to all ordinary 
 intents and purposes. What Drayton commanded, 
 Tom must do, under pain of social and professional 
 extinction. But, though it is often convenient to 
 make a shrewd and ready man your bondslave, the 
 convenience is not always a safe one. There are 
 weak points in almost every armor ; and no one is so 
 likely as a shrewd and ready bondslave to find them 
 out and take advantage of them. Drayton, indeed, 
 was not so unwise as to drive any man to despera 
 tion. In return for depriving Tom of his liberty, 
 he gave him what it was reasonable to suppose he 
 most valued, ample opportunities of making a 
 large income. But, possibly, he under-estimated 
 the strange infatuation for liberty which even men 
 like Tom will manifest, especially when it can be 
 combined with the passion for retaliation. 
 
CHAMPIONS OF REFORM. 109 
 
 It is no wonder, however, if he gave less than 
 adequate attention to the matter at this moment. 
 For the new water-works scheme had now reached 
 that point of development where it came into direct 
 and open collision with the monopoly which it aimed 
 to overthrow ; and the monopoly arose in all its 
 strength to meet the emergency. Dray ton possessed 
 the advantage (among others) of having foreseen 
 and calculated upon all contingencies beforehand ; 
 and he entered into the conflict with a cool brain 
 and a steady hand. 
 
110 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 GETTING EDUCATED. 
 
 SEVERAL of the main bulwarks of the old order 
 of things were members of the commission of the 
 Compensation Fund, of which Dray ton was chair 
 man. These men had hitherto regarded the new 
 scheme with a comfortable contempt. None of the 
 persons who were publicly known as its supporters 
 had any particular weight or reputation, social or 
 political. The enterprise was assumed to have been 
 started with no more serious purpose than that of 
 inducing the holders of the monopoly to buy it up ; 
 but it had not shown enough signs of vitality to 
 make even this worth while. It was an amusing 
 piece of impudence, and nothing more. "It s a 
 sign of the prosperity of the country," said old 
 Judge Muhlbach, who was a humorist, " that a set 
 of men can get up a swindle, not expecting it to 
 succeed, but just for the fun of it ! " All of a sud 
 den, however, the amusing impudence assumed an 
 aspect of threatening earnestness. The first hasty 
 and somewhat haughty overtures for an "arranger 
 
GETTING EDUCATED. Ill 
 
 ment " were summarily rejected ; indications of 
 wholly unsuspected strength and resources appeared 
 on all sides ; and Judge Muhlbach s party, much to 
 their astonishment, found themselves in a serious 
 embarrassment. The worst of it was that they 
 were at a loss to imagine who their real opponent 
 could be. 
 
 The Judge, however, was accounted (not without 
 reason) one of the ablest and most influential men 
 in New York politics ; and his friends, despite the 
 gloomy outlook, relied confidently on his delivering 
 them from their predicament. In this conjuncture 
 it became a subject of grave speculation to Warren 
 what Dray ton would do. Dray ton and the Judge 
 had always been on friendly terms, and the Com 
 pensation Fund was an institution without the 
 countenance of which the new water-works could 
 not receive its final consecration. One of two alter 
 natives, therefore, seemed inevitable : either the 
 consecration in question would be wanting, or else 
 Drayton must descend to a dissimulation and trick 
 ery in which it would require more than all of War 
 ren s hardly-acquired toleration to support him. 
 
 Warren had been absent from New York nearly a 
 week, superintending the last details of the survey ; 
 and during this time he had had no communication 
 
112 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 either with Dray ton or any others of the syndicate. 
 On the morning of his return he called at Drayton s 
 house to make his report. Drayton greeted him 
 with the quiet and frank affection which he had 
 always manifested towards the young man since 
 their memorable interview. 
 
 When Warren s business was concluded Drayton 
 (who was seated at the broad writing-table in his 
 library) said, "Now, then, the campaign begins." 
 
 "I don t envy you your part," said Warren. 
 
 Drayton smiled slowly, and stroked his long 
 beard. He took up a newspaper from the table, 
 unfolded it, and handed it to Warren, indicating a 
 particular column. Warren took it, and read the 
 head-line, " Mr. Drayton Retires from the Com 
 pensation Fund." 
 
 " Look it over while I write a letter," said Dray 
 ton, taking up his pen, and turning away. 
 
 Warren read on. It was an " interview " with 
 Mr. Drayton, and nearly filled the column. The 
 following passages may be quoted : 
 
 Reporter. Is it true, Mr. Drayton, that you have resigned 
 from the Compensation Fund Commission? 
 
 Mr. Drayton. I have severed my connection with that 
 body. 
 
 R. What were your reasons for that step? 
 
GETTING EDUCATED. 113 
 
 Mr. D. A belief that the public interest would be served 
 thereby. 
 
 R. Did you have any disagreement with your colleagues, 
 or with any one of them? 
 
 Mr. D. I became convinced of my inability to act in har 
 mony with them. 
 
 R. "Was this conviction of general or of specific applica 
 tion? 
 
 Mr. D. I cannot fully reply to that question. I may say, 
 however, that, had my construction of the attitude of the com 
 mission been the same formerly that it is now, I should have 
 retired earlier. 
 
 R. I may take it, then, that your action is based upon cer 
 tain revelations that have recently come to your knowledge. 
 What are those revelations? 
 
 Mr. D. I must decline to tell you. 
 
 R. Are your relations with any particular member of the 
 commission more strained than with the rest? 
 
 Mr. D. In the event of a test-vote, I should probably have 
 stood alone. But, in a body of that kind, some one man will 
 generally represent and, in a measure, control the views of the 
 others. 
 
 R. May not this be construed as a reference to Judge 
 Muhlbach? 
 
 Mr. D. I must distinctly refuse to be drawn into any men 
 tion of names. . . . 
 
 R. How came you to accept the chairmanship of this com 
 mission, Mr. Dray ton ? 
 
 Mr. D. I was called to it by persons of credit in the com 
 munity. 
 
 R. Was it not supposed that your election would inspire 
 public confidence? 
 
 Mr. D. There may possibly have been some such motive. 
 
114 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 R. Did you receive any remuneration for your services, 
 pecuniary or otherwise? 
 
 Mr. D. None whatever. 
 
 R. Do you consider that you were used by the commission 
 as a cloak to divert suspicion from their proceedings, of course 
 without your knowledge? 
 
 Mr. D. You must permit me to maintain reserve upon that 
 point. I especially desire to avoid public or political notoriety. 
 As one of the largest tax-payers in the city, I have wished, it is 
 true, not to shirk my fair share of responsibility in municipal 
 affairs; but office-holding, in any shape, is irksome to me; and, 
 after this experience, I shall certainly never be induced to as 
 sume any public position again. . . . 
 
 JR. In the event of any charges being perferred against your 
 late colleagues would you go upon the stand against them? 
 
 Mr. D. Should I be legally cited as a witness I must, of 
 course, testify according to my conscience and belief. But 
 your question seems to me unnecessary. I neither desire nor 
 anticipate any such contingency. 
 
 R. One more question, Mr. Drayton : are you in favor of the 
 new water-works scheme? 
 
 Mr. D. So far as I know, the scheme itself is good, and 
 should enable the city to get its water at reasonable rates. But 
 you are not to take this as an indorsement of the parties (who 
 ever they may be) who are putting the scheme into effect. As I 
 just told you, my late experience has made me cautious. I 
 desire to advance no opinion either for or against any person 
 whatever. 
 
 "Well?" said Drayton, looking up quietly, as 
 Warren laid down the newspaper. 
 
 " Well is it genuine ? " Warren asked. 
 
GETTING EDUCATED. 115 
 
 " It s a fairly accurate account of what I said." 
 "But not necessarily of what was in your mind." 
 "Not of all that was in my mind, certainly. For 
 instance, I said that my retirement was due to a new 
 revelation I had received as to the designs of the 
 commission. But I did not explain that I was my 
 self the cause of this revelation." 
 
 "I don t think I c-catch on," said Warren, drop 
 ping his eye-glasses. 
 
 "These men," said Dray ton, leaning forward 
 slightly on the arm of his chair, " have believed all 
 along that they were bamboozling me, that they 
 were the thimbleriggers, and I the dupe. They 
 thought they were using my known integrity and 
 character as a screen to the public of their misdeeds. 
 The public would think that they must be all right, 
 since Dray ton was their chairman. But, as a matter 
 of fact, I have all along known more of their doings 
 and designs than most of themselves know. They 
 bargained for a blind man, and they got an Argus. 
 Very well. The moment came when it suited my 
 purposes openly to break with them. But, in doing 
 this, I did not wish them to suspect that I had seen 
 through them from the first. Therefore, I made a 
 test-case, as it were. I feigned to discover a certain 
 rascality, of which I had long been aware. I de- 
 
116 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 nounced their conduct in open session, and announced 
 my withdrawal. They tried to compromise with me, 
 but, of course, ineffectually. Then they wanted to 
 know whether I intended publicly to expose them. 
 I replied that, so far as I was concerned, their only 
 exposure would consist in the public knowing that I 
 had severed relations with them. The interview 
 which you have just read will serve two purposes : it 
 will convince the commissioners that I know no more 
 than I stated to them, and it will lead the public to 
 suspect that there may be more in the matter than 
 appears on the surface." 
 
 " But what is the meaning of your remarks on the 
 water scheme?" demanded Warren. 
 
 "That I can better explain to you later on," 
 Drayton replied ; " it is a more important point than 
 would at first appear. What I wish to know now 
 is, whether you go with me so far? You remember, 
 Warren, that I depend on you, and on no one else." 
 
 "Well," said Warren, after a pause, "I guess 
 I m getting educated, or something ! I begin to see 
 that we must do the best we can with what we ve 
 got. I m glad, at all events, that you ve got clear 
 of that Compensation Fund, and that you ve given 
 them a piece of your mind even if it s only a 
 piece ! " 
 
GETTING EDUCATED. 117 
 
 "They will get the whole of it in due time," 
 Drayton responded, with a momentary sparkle of 
 his dark eyes. " But as to being clear of the Com 
 pensation Fund, we should be a little premature in 
 counting on -that. They intend that is to say, 
 Muhlbach intends to pull the plug out of our 
 water scheme ; and unless you and I can stop him, 
 he ll do it." 
 
 " Can I have anything to do with it ? " asked 
 Warren, looking up with some animation. 
 
 "You ll have a great deal to do with it, if you re 
 not afraid of him." 
 
 "I shan t mind being afraid of him, if I can once 
 g-get at him ! " 
 
 " Everybody will tell you that Judge Muhlbach is 
 one of the most powerful men in New York ; so he 
 is, and one of the most dangerous, too. The ras 
 cals have no stronger or safer friend than he ; and 
 yet he has managed so well, that no charge has ever 
 been brought against him. But I think we can 
 scotch him, for all that." 
 
 Here he paused, opened a drawer of the table, 
 and took from it a handful of letters and papers, 
 which he placed on the desk. Tapping them with 
 his fingers occasionally, he continued : 
 
 " I became acquainted with the Judge about ten 
 
118 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 years ago, at the time of the scandal about the great 
 ring frauds. The Judge had the confidence of the 
 community, and when it became known that the 
 accused would be arraigned before him all the 
 honest men were at ease. Justice was certain to be 
 done ; and, so far as has ever appeared, justice was 
 done without favor and without mercy. And yet, 
 at that very time, Judge Muhlbach was plotting on 
 the side of the scoundrels, with their money in his 
 pocket, and, but for one of those accidents which no 
 one can foresee, and for which shallow men extol 
 Providence, every man of them would have been 
 scot-free to-day. It was not his fault ; he did his 
 best, and they recognized that, and therefore took 
 their punishment without peaching on him. They 
 reflected, probably, that he might be useful another 
 time." 
 
 "Are you certain of what you say?" asked 
 Warren, somewhat surprised at the gravity of the 
 accusation. 
 
 " If I were less than certain I should never have 
 undertaken this water scheme. To make a long 
 story short, I happened upon traces of the truth, 
 and then I spared neither money nor pains to com 
 plete the evidence. It took a good deal of money 
 and a good deal of pains ; but there it is every 
 
GETTING EDUCATED. 119 
 
 line of it ! " He raised his hand, and brought it 
 down again softly on the pile of papers. " And now 
 the time has come to profit by it." 
 
 "Why now, particularly?" 
 
 " Because Judge Muhlbach is the only man who 
 can crush our enterprise. And you and I are the 
 only men who can crush him. And we ll do it to 
 day." 
 
 " Where does my part come in ? You ll publish 
 these papers in the newspapers " 
 
 ? You teach me, like a fool, the way to lose 
 him! no offence, Warren; I m only quoting 
 Cleopatra. But now I ll give you what our friend 
 Peekskill would call the straight tip. When you 
 want to get rid of a man who stands in your way, 
 two courses are open to you. You can either let 
 him run away, or you can cut off his retreat, and 
 set out to annihilate him. Which method would 
 you prefer ? " 
 
 "In a case like this, the last," said Warren. 
 
 Dray ton smiled. "That s because you don t 
 know yet what war is, except in poetry and romance. 
 When a man is frightened, and sees a way open 
 behind him, he runs, and that s the end of it ; there s 
 no noise, no delay, and no risk. But when you 
 make him desperate, it s a different matter alto- 
 
120 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 gether. Having nothing to lose by fighting, and 
 everything to gain, he fights as no other man will 
 fight. He brings in all his friends (who are as 
 much interested as he is), all his resources, all his 
 strength of every kind. A man like Muhlbach, if 
 he didn t beat us, could delay us and hamper us so 
 that our victory would be worth practically little 
 to us. And possibly we might miss the victory 
 after all. I prefer to let him run away." 
 
 "Well, how will you do it?" asked Warren, nar 
 rowing his eyes, and resting his chin on his hand. 
 
 "You will take these documents, and study them 
 carefully, until you ve fully mastered all they mean. 
 Then you ll go to Judge Muhlbach s house and send 
 up your card. You will say that you ve been in 
 formed he means to oppose the water- works scheme. 
 When he assents to that you will remark that such 
 and such things have been charged against him, 
 going into details as far as may be necessary ; and 
 you will ask him whether, under the circumstances, 
 he thinks it advisable to assume a hostile attitude 
 towards the plan. When he protests and denies 
 you will tell him you have nothing more to say ; 
 that he knows whether or not the charges are true, 
 but that your informant told you that he would, if 
 called upon, present himself within half an hour, 
 
GETTING EDUCATED. 121 
 
 and repeat the charges to Judge Muhlbach s face. 
 And, unless I am very much mistaken, Warren, 
 that will finish the episode, as the French say. You 
 will still have your powder unexploded ; the Judge 
 will have his retreat open ; he will know his danger, 
 and he will take to his heels with all manner of 
 dignity and tact. Whereas, were we to attack him 
 through the newspapers, our secret would be out at 
 once, our trump-card played at the opening of the 
 game, and the Judge would have no motive for not 
 resisting. No, no I Whenever you see malfeasance 
 in office attacked by a newspaper you may be sure 
 that the attack is made, not in the interests of 
 justice, but for the interest of the newspaper. It is 
 good for circulation, but not for anything else." 
 
 Warren rose to his feet and took up the documents. 
 1 1-like the job," he exclaimed, " and I ll do it ! " 
 
 "Be polite, and be cool, and don t be in a hurry. 
 Give him elbow-room. You hold winning cards, 
 but be careful ! for the result of this first diplomatic 
 mission of yours will influence many greater things 
 than the new water-works ! " 
 
122 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 DIPLOMACY. 
 
 WARREN began to examine his evidence at twelve 
 o clock; by two o clock he had mastered it, and 
 was on his way to Judge Muhlbach s house. This 
 was a cozy but unassuming mansion on West 
 Thirty-seventh street. The Judge was a bachelor, 
 and liked comfort, but not ostentation. He lived 
 like a worthy and hard-working American citizen, 
 who has secured an honest competence for his de 
 clining years. He was a man of many friends, and 
 a favorite in society. His conversation was fluent 
 and entertaining, full of anecdote and humor, and 
 enriched with the vast and varied store of informa 
 tion which a nearly thirty-years familiarity with the 
 outer and inner life of New York had given him. 
 His professional repute was high ; he was faithful to 
 his friends, and was said to be charitable to his 
 enemies. Though not generally thought to be a 
 very wealthy man, he was generous to those who 
 claimed his assistance ; and though not lavish of 
 sanctimonious phrases, he was a faithful supporter 
 
DIPLOMACY. 123 
 
 of the Episcopal Church. He was nearly sixty 
 years of age, and each successive year brought him 
 new honor and respect. 
 
 As Warren Bell rang the door-bell of this honest 
 gentleman s house, he felt himself in better heart 
 and spirits than for many a week past. Hitherto 
 his part in the arena of life had been small and 
 obscure ; he had merely filled out or aided the 
 designs of others. But now he was practically his 
 own master ; and not only so, but he held in his 
 hand the destinies of others, and of great under 
 takings. He was a messenger plenipotentiary, 
 he could make or mar as he chose. By making him 
 the depository of this important trust Drayton had 
 put Warren on an equality with himself; they were 
 equals, no longer as a matter of phrase or courtesy, 
 but in solid fact. And the work which was to 
 signalize the young man s entrance into the inde 
 pendent sphere, was especially suited to his charac 
 ter and present convictions. He was to attack cor 
 ruption and oppression in the person of Judge 
 Muhlbach. Corruption and oppression had long 
 been his abstract foes ; for a long time he had 
 been planning imaginative combats with them and 
 victories over them ; and now he was to satisfy these 
 aspirations in the concrete. Warren had what a 
 
124 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 phrenologist would call the combative bump well 
 developed. 
 
 He was admitted into the Judge s presence with 
 out difficulty. The Judge always aimed to be easy 
 of access ; and he knew so many people that he 
 could not always be quite sure whether he knew a 
 given person or not. On this occasion, at all events, 
 he happened to be at leisure, and Warren was shown 
 up. Judge Muhlbach had just partaken of lunch 
 eon, and was sitting with one elbow resting on the 
 table (which supported a bottle of claret), a cigar 
 in his mouth, and the last new novel in his hand ; 
 for he was a professed admirer of fiction, arid used 
 to say, in his humorous way, that he meant some 
 day to try his hand at it himself. 
 
 Warren saw before him a well-preserved man, 
 with very broad shoulders and a strong figure ; 
 though now rather obese. His gray hair stood up 
 right on his head, and was cut quite short, his eye 
 brows were thick and dark, and curved downwards 
 over a steady and penetrating pair of black eyes. 
 The lower part of the face was not so remarkable as 
 the compact and convex forehead, though there was 
 plenty of firmness about the chin and lower jaw. 
 It was a countenance which seemed designed to be 
 merely animal and obstinate, but which tenacious 
 
DIPLOMACY. 125 
 
 purpose had refined and brightened with an intel 
 lectual light. Evidently, the Judge was no com 
 mon man ; and Warren could understand at once, 
 even from a personal stand-point, the stories he had 
 heard about the man s " influence." He would like 
 to have seen him and Drayton opposed to each 
 other, face to face. 
 
 The Judge, on his part, saw in Warren a person 
 not immediately referable to any of the various 
 types with which he was most familiar ; but the 
 bearing and appearance of the young man made 
 him consider it worth while to rise from his chair 
 and extend his right hand. He had a keen intuition 
 in such matters. He could not make up his mind, 
 however, exactly, what the young man had come 
 for. 
 
 Warren shook hands with him, accepted a chair, 
 admitted that it was a warm day for the season, 
 refused wine and cigars. He did not wish anything 
 to stand in the way of his making himself as dis 
 agreeable as circumstances might require. 
 
 " Have I had the pleasure of meeting you 
 before?" now inquired the Judge, with a look of 
 fixed but kindly scrutiny from underneath his over 
 hanging eyebrows. 
 
 " No, you have not," said Warren. " I was until 
 
126 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 lately an engineer in the Hydrographic Department. 
 I resigned my position there last spring." 
 
 " Ah ! well let us see. The Hydrographic De 
 partment would be considered a good opening. I 
 don t know whether I could help you to " 
 
 " I don t mean to trouble you in that way," said 
 Warren, as the Judge paused. " I have been work 
 ing this summer for the new water- works." 
 
 "Yes," said the Judge, in a tone of friendly inter 
 est ; " that must have been a very desirable position. 
 I can see you are no beginner. Well, sir, civil 
 engineering is one of the best professions open to a 
 man in this country. I recollect when I was a boy 
 having done something with the chain and the the 
 odolite myself. But circumstances interfered, and 
 I got switched off. I ve always regretted it. I was 
 always very fond of the open air." 
 
 "You have heard about the water-works 
 scheme?" said Warren, sticking to his point. 
 
 " After a fashion yes. Of course, such things 
 reach me rather in their general than in their spe 
 cific aspects. A very enterprising and ably-con 
 ducted idea, I should say." 
 
 " It has prevailed over obstacles, so far, Judge 
 Muhlbach." 
 
 "Yes, yes. From the engineer s point of 
 
DIPLOMACY. 127 
 
 view there were probably many." The Judge spoke 
 these words in a meditative tone ; but he was look 
 ing very narrowly at his interlocutor, and was 
 holding himself as motionless as a statue. 
 
 " I mean, from the political point of view, from 
 y-your point of view, say." 
 
 " Ah ! But with those ulterior matters you, as an 
 engineer, would probably not feel personally inter 
 ested." 
 
 "A man may have interests outside of his profes 
 sion. You are said to have." 
 
 "Fairly put!" exclaimed the Judge, with a 
 chuckling, good-natured laugh. "Yes," he con 
 tinued, dropping the butt of his cigar into the ash 
 tray, and rubbing his hand over his short bristly 
 hair ; " my orbit has passed the political boundary 
 occasionally. But, as regards this water scheme, I 
 should be inclined to judge it in a broader aspect 
 than the merely political one. Such things are 
 either public benefits or public injuries." 
 " Do you consider this a public benefit ? " 
 " You ask me a straight question, and I ll give 
 you a straight answer. I consider it a public in 
 jury. That is my opinion; though I can t tell, 
 of course, of what use my opinion can be to 
 you." 
 
128 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 " That depends on whether you stop at having the 
 opinion, or mean to act upon it." 
 
 " You must allow me to suspect, Mr. Bell, that 
 you are not asking these questions solely on your 
 own responsibility." Then he said rapidly, in a 
 changed, imperative tone, "Are you the emissary 
 of the men whose names appear in connection with 
 this scheme?" 
 
 The question happened to be so worded that 
 Warren could immediately reply, " No ; none of 
 them know anything about this interview." 
 
 " Then what do you want of me ? " demanded the 
 Judge, still imperatively. 
 
 " I want you to promise to do nothing against the 
 water- works scheme," said Warren, looking at the 
 other with an ingenuous smile. 
 
 The Judge paused a moment. " Do you know, 
 Mr. Bell," he said, resuming his mild and medita 
 tive air, "you quite interest me ! Pardon my hav 
 ing spoken abruptly. One has to resort to various 
 means of finding out what sort of a person one is 
 talking with. And surely, now, your account of 
 yourself is a little incomplete ? You are asking 
 me to be very frank ; ought you not to set me the 
 example? It would give me pleasure to oblige 
 you ; but, in matters affecting the public weal, one 
 
DIPLOMACY. 129 
 
 cannot always follow one s desires. When we 
 know each other a little better, I dare say there will 
 be no difficulty. There ought not to be, between 
 honest men." 
 
 " I can only say, that I believe it is as much your 
 interest to let this scheme alone as it is that of its 
 promoters to h-have you do so." 
 
 " May I ask you what leads you to that opinion ? " 
 
 " I think your motives in opposing it would be 
 unfavorably criticised." 
 
 "Ah! I am tolerably well known in this city," 
 said the Judge, gently, " and I had hoped that my 
 motives, in any matter, might at least be given the 
 benefit of a doubt. You may be right, however. 
 But may I ask why, again? " 
 
 " In the first place, you are connected with the 
 monopoly which we mean to overturn." 
 
 "Yes? Well, let us suppose I am. The mo 
 nopoly, as you call it, has the support of many of 
 our best citizens. It does its work, and earns its 
 just wages. Do you yourself think, prejudice aside, 
 that it can or ought to be displaced by another mo 
 nopoly, run in the interests of a set of political ad 
 venturers ? " 
 
 It passed through Warren s mind that the phrase 
 "political adventurers," though pronounced in a 
 
130 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 courteous tone, was in itself scarcely complimentary ; 
 but he reflected, at the same time, that the majority, 
 at least, of his colleagues merited no better appella 
 tion. It opened the way, however, for a retort, 
 which he did not hesitate to make. 
 
 "We don t aim to establish a monopoly; we 
 mean to put an honest institution in the place of an 
 organized system of robbery." 
 
 "You mean to say, then," said the Judge, gravely, 
 "that I am connected with a system of organized 
 robbery?" 
 
 "Well, y-yes," replied Warren. 
 
 The Judge bent his brows for a few moments ; 
 but suddenly he threw back his head, and laughed 
 heartily. 
 
 " Upon my word, Mr. Bell, I m glad to have 
 made your acquaintance, and I am making it 
 very fast ! You re a man of strong convictions, 
 and you have the courage of them. But civil-ser 
 vice reform is one thing, and pitching into well- 
 meaning elderly gentlemen at random is another. 
 Your first step should be to discriminate between your 
 friends and your enemies, instead of trying to make 
 enemies of your friends. So far as I can gather, 
 you call this monopoly a robbery, not as the result 
 of your personal investigations of its practices but 
 
DIPLOMACY. 131 
 
 because some person or persons, in whom you 
 have confidence, have told you that it is. Now, 
 you don t know me ; but a great many people, who 
 do know me, have confidence in me, and if I tell 
 them that the monopoly is not a robbery, why 
 shouldn t they believe me just as much as you 
 believe your informant? I only want to indicate 
 that it is dangerous to make up your mind until all 
 the evidence is in. Now, perhaps, I only offer 
 the suggestion in the course of argument, perhaps 
 your informant is interested in your water scheme ? " 
 
 " It is only fair to tell you, Judge Muhlbach, that 
 I should never have come here if this had been the 
 only thing I had to say to you. But whether or 
 not your monopoly is honest makes no difference as 
 to your motives being suspected. Even if you were 
 above blame there, you are beyond help in another 
 matter." 
 
 "Another matter? Now, have a care, young 
 gentleman ! I have every desire to show you consid 
 eration, for you seem to mean well. But I warn 
 you to weigh your words from this point onwards. 
 I shall meet you as man to man, and I cannot help 
 it if every advantage is on my side." 
 
 " You will need all your advantage, and I need 
 none," replied Warren, his own voice and manner 
 
132 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 somewhat reflecting the Judge s earnest solemnity ; 
 for, now that the crisis seemed to be at hand, he was 
 sensible how serious a thing it is to destroy a man s 
 reputation before his eyes, even when there were 
 no other eyes looking on. 
 
 "Well, let us have the other matter, then," said 
 the Judge, relaxing into an air of demure banter. 
 " Pardon me if I light another cigar. Are you sure 
 you won t think better of it, and join me? I can 
 recommend them ! " 
 
 A double meaning may have lurked in these 
 words ; but, if so, Warren made no offer to discern 
 it. He again declined the cigars, and straightened 
 himself in his chair for the attack. 
 
 "We can both remember that we are man to man," 
 he said, " and that what I have to say need go no 
 further, unless you wish it. I don t wish it, for 
 punishing you is none of my business. I only want 
 to prevent a particular piece of mischief. And you 
 can save us both a disagreeable time by stopping me 
 as soon as you can catch my drift ; but if you prefer 
 to fight it out to the end, all right ! You remember 
 what occurred about ten years ago the municipal 
 frauds, and all that?" 
 
 " I have reason to remember it : some of those 
 men had been my personal friends ; the course of 
 
DIPLOMACY. 133 
 
 events brought them before me as culprits, and it 
 became my duty, in the discharge of my office, to 
 sentence them. Let me see you were a child at 
 school then, I think?" 
 
 " I would rather be taught my lessons at sixteen 
 than at sixty," was on the tip of Warren s tongue ; 
 but he kept it back. He felt that the old man 
 before him was anxious, and was trying to disguise 
 his anxiety ; and he could not help being sorry for 
 him. 
 
 " Did any letters pass between you and any of 
 those men, after suspicion fell on them?" was his 
 next question. 
 
 The Judge smiled. "That is hardly likely. I 
 certainly can t charge my memory with any such 
 foolish breach of official etiquette. Come, come, 
 young gentleman ! Some malicious scamp has been 
 cramming you with a lot of scandalous nonsense. 
 Take a friend s advice, and have no more to do with 
 it. You have evidently fallen into bad hands. I ll 
 tell you what I ll do with you, for, in spite of 
 your confounded impertinence, there s something 
 about you that I like, if you will cut loose from 
 that very shady set you re entangled with now, it 
 shall be my personal concern to see that you get a 
 good start in an honorable and brilliant career. I 
 
134 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 s 
 
 can introduce you to men, and to opportunities, that 
 will" 
 
 "You may as well hear me out first," interrupted 
 Warren, dryly, " and then you ll be better able to 
 f-fix my price exactly. I was going to ask you 
 whether you remembered any such passage in one 
 of the letters as this (I quote from memory I 
 haven t the letter with me) : For God s sake, 
 make no statement until you hear from me in full. 
 You will be arrested to-morrow ; but I have so ar 
 ranged matters that you will ultimately be brought 
 before me, and I am confident that your acquittal 
 can be secured. I have as much at stake as you, 
 and shall work for you and the rest as I would for 
 myself. If I have any power in this city, you will 
 be better off three months hence than you ever were 
 before. " 
 
 " That will do, sir ! " exclaimed the Judge, rising 
 from his chair with a magisterial air. " I regret to 
 find how much I have been mistaken in you. Keep 
 your letters, and whatever else you may have stolen 
 from waste-paper baskets or bribed footmen for. 
 Print them, word for word, in the newspapers to 
 morrow morning, if they will buy them of you, 
 and you will only confirm my integrity and the 
 dishonor of yourself and of your associates. My 
 
DIPLOMACY. 135 
 
 policy, my motives, and my aims are not to be rep 
 resented by garbled extracts from private communi 
 cations, which often have a superficial appearance 
 wholly at variance with their true purport and object. 
 I ll have you to know that I fear no man, and no 
 revelation. My reputation is stronger than any 
 attack that a hundred such fellows as you can bring 
 against it." 
 
 So saying, the Judge stretched forth his hand to 
 the mantel-piece to get a light for his cigar ; but the 
 hand trembled so that, coming in contact with a 
 jar of Japanese porcelain, it brought it to the 
 ground, and smashed it into fragments. 
 
 Warren, who had also risen, gained self-com 
 mand as he saw the other lose it ; and his manner 
 was unusually cold and quiet as he said, " Our 
 conference so far has been a private one, Judge 
 Muhlbach ; but, if you feel in any way dissatisfied 
 with my manner of putting the case to you, I will 
 send a messenger to the gentleman who has the 
 papers, and he will come at once and explain things. 
 But, you know, what goes beyond two is apt to go 
 far. You must choose between me and the news 
 papers." 
 
 " I wish to have nothing more to do either with 
 you, or with any one connected with you." 
 
136 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 t? Then you agree to do nothing, either directly 
 or indirectly, to oppose the water-works scheme?" 
 
 " I ll make no agreements, sir ! " cried the Judge, 
 frowning darkly. " As to your paltry water-works 
 scheme," he added, in an uneven voice, "you ve 
 been wasting my time and exposing yourself to no 
 purpose. It was never for a moment my intention 
 to meddle with any such dirty business ; the thieves 
 who started it will cut each other s throats quicker 
 than honest men could do it for em. You may tell 
 em that, with Judge Muhlbach s compliments ! 
 And say, too, that whenever the law, in its due 
 course, brings one of them before me for judgment, 
 as I surely expect it will, he shall then have 
 an opportunity to learn the reasons that withheld me 
 from from anticipating justice to-day ! " 
 
 Warren Iqoked at the old man, as he stood con 
 fronting him there, flushed with rage, broad- 
 shouldered, massive, and could not but admire 
 the valiant show he made in the presence of dis 
 astrous defeat. Such a man, he thought, must have 
 some good in him. He must have imagined him 
 self faithful to a certain law of right, even in the 
 midst of his iniquity. And, having carried his 
 point, Warren had no desire to press his antagonist 
 further, or to tear from him the last poor shreds of 
 
DIPLOMACY. 137 
 
 self-respect, beneath which he strove so strenuously 
 to conceal his collapse. Therefore, all he said was, 
 " I think we unders-stand each other, Judge Muhl- 
 bach ! " and walked out of the room. 
 
 But at the door the Judge called him back. 
 Warren turned, and was surprised to see his coun 
 tenance, so lately working with passion, with a 
 good-humored smile upon it. 
 
 "Mr. Bell," he said, "you have impaired my diges 
 tion, and you ve made me break my pet jar ; but I 
 bear you no malice. I can recognize a good fellow 
 when I see him, whether he stands in my way or 
 not. You have done a difficult job in a gentle 
 manly manner, and I m afraid I was a little boister 
 ous. Well in this world we must all make 
 allowances for one another. And now, as our 
 business is quite over, it would give me pleasure if 
 you would accept one of these cigars ; it will do you 
 no harm, and one good turn deserves another !" 
 
 " Very well," replied Warren, smiling a little also ; 
 " I ll take one on the grounds you mention ; but if 
 you please, I prefer to smoke m-my own." 
 
 " So be it : this will remain the longer to remind 
 you of our interview," said the Judge, pleasantly ; 
 "and I wish you a very good day." 
 
 One other singular experience was in store for 
 
138 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 Warren before he got out of the house. As he 
 reached the foot of the stairs a servant came along 
 the passage and opened the street door to admit two 
 ladies. One of them was a stranger to Warren ; 
 the other he recognized immediately. She saw him 
 at the same moment, but, instead of stopping to 
 speak to him, she instantly pulled down her veil, 
 and, getting on the other side of her stout com 
 panion, glided by him without a word. Warren 
 was so overcome with bewilderment, first at meeting 
 her in that house, and in that part of the world, and 
 then at her behavior, that he knew not what to do ; 
 and consequently he found himself outside the 
 house, with the door closed upon him, before he had 
 made up his mind. After that, all circumstances 
 considered, it was hardly possible to reenter ; and 
 he walked down street like a man in a dream, re 
 peating over and over to himself: 
 
 " Nell Anthony in New York and in that 
 house ! what the d-devil does it mean ? " 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF LOVE. 139 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SENTIMENT OF LOVE. 
 
 + 
 
 WHILE Warren Bell had been mounting the lad 
 der of ambition in New York, Nell Anthony had 
 been imparting color and warmth to the thin minds 
 of Hickory children. Upon the angular and juice- 
 less scaffolding of arithmetic, geography, and gram 
 mar, which the spirit of New England calls educa 
 tion, she was attempting to train the rich flowers 
 and graceful foliage of romance and poetry. It 
 was a Quixotic aspiration, and could hardly achieve 
 permanent or unequivocal success. Children, in 
 deed, have a quicker appreciation of such things 
 than their elders ; but when they themselves become 
 elders, the blossoms that sprouted so readily are apt 
 to fade. Only when the cultivation is carried on to 
 the second and third generation do the results begin 
 to bear genuine fruit. But our average life is so 
 vulgarized with action and effort, and so poor in 
 repose and reflection, that the souls of our sons and 
 daughters are liable to turn out almost as emaciated 
 as our own. 
 
140 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 In spite of these hard conditions Nell Anthony 
 found the worst obstacles in her way to be caused 
 by her success rather than by her failure. The 
 children liked her, and were better pleased to listen 
 to her stories and readings than to learn by heart 
 the arid paragraphs of their utilitarian text-books. 
 Accordingly they made themselves into knights, 
 enchanters, ogres, and princesses, and sought for 
 the location of fairy-land, instead of considering the 
 boundaries and principal towns of their own State. 
 In a word, they showed a tendency to enrich their 
 emotions, instead of elaborating their brains ; and 
 the school board naturally began to take alarm. 
 The school board entertained a kindly regard for 
 Nell Anthony ; but their regard for the welfare of 
 the Republic was, of course, more serious. The 
 Republic must be peopled by practical citizens, not 
 by knights, princesses, and hobgoblins. Miss 
 Anthony, therefore, received an intimation to this 
 effect, softened by an assurance that her good intui 
 tions were cordially recognized, and supplemented 
 by the suggestion that she might, perhaps, feel dis 
 posed so to modify the tenor of her instruction as to 
 produce effects more obviously useful. 
 
 Nell was perfectly aware, however, that any 
 sharp-tongued, hack-brained, normal-school gradu- 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF LOVE. 141 
 
 ate was better qualified than she to furnish the pabu 
 lum which school children are supposed to require, 
 and that if she were not allowed to follow her own 
 intuitions she would better not meddle with the 
 children at all ; so she declined, with thanks, the 
 kind offer of the Board, and bade farewell to her 
 young amateur people of fairy-land. The Board 
 felt relieved, and the fairy-land people dejected. 
 How did Nell Anthony herself feel about it? 
 
 Had the affair occurred a few months earlier she 
 would have been seriously disappointed. But these 
 few months had made a change in her ; and she had 
 latterly been in doubt as to whether Hickory were 
 any longer the place for her. Her life, ever since 
 it began, had been mainly an instinctive one, 
 perhaps intuitive would be the fitter word ; at any 
 rate, she had simply dealt with things as they came 
 to hand, without troubling herself about either 
 causes or consequences. Her instinct had been to 
 make people happy ; and by intuition she perceived 
 how this object might be realized. She had never 
 thought about making herself happy, because happi 
 ness of a quiet but essential kind had never been 
 lacking to her. This may have arisen from the 
 spectacle of others felicity, or it may have been a 
 matter of temperament ; she had no theory on the 
 
142 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 subject. She was not conscious of sacrificing her 
 self to any extent ; no question of sin or virtue was 
 present in her mind. She followed the bent of her 
 nature, and, so far, it had uniformly harmonized 
 with the drift of her circumstances. " Duty " was a 
 word she never used in relation to her own conduct, 
 and if she understood the meaning of it it was only 
 from hearsay or the dictionary. She was good, be 
 cause being good gave her pleasure. Logically, 
 therefore, if at any time she should find pleasure in 
 being wicked, wicked she would be. But I am far 
 from asserting that logic has any application in 
 such a matter. 
 
 Her experience of love had borne an analogy to 
 her lesser experiences. To love belonged to her age 
 and complexion, and circumstances had made it 
 natural to love Warren Bell. But there had been 
 nothing self-conscious or deliberate in her passion. 
 She had read no stories about love, and she did not 
 so to speak know it by name. It was as origi 
 nal with her as with Eve, and meant, in her case, 
 an exquisite pleasure felt in preferring another to her 
 self and to all things, an impulse to give him what 
 ever could add to his happiness, without thought of 
 return or compensation. Had she been asked whether 
 he loved her as she loved him, the question would 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF LOVE. 143 
 
 only have perplexed and distressed her ; any such 
 consideration would have seemed to detract from the 
 spontaneity and value of her own gift. All she 
 thought of finding in him was a sympathy and appre 
 ciation which would lead him to accept and under 
 stand what she offered. For, though she was nothing 
 in the balance, her love was of infinite worth ; and 
 it was indispensable that he whom she loved should 
 possess a corresponding capacity of reception. Nell 
 never doubted Warren s capacity, and, of course, she 
 idealized him. She took his heroism for granted, 
 and believed him easily deserving of more than all 
 she ascribed to him or could do for him. 
 
 As for kisses and embraces, they had ceased with 
 childhood, and had not entered into her maiden 
 meditations. Warren s long absences from home 
 had rendered this transition easy. To an innocent 
 and unhackneyed mind these things seem, as it were, 
 an anticlimax to the pure passion ; being symbolic, 
 they are on lower level than the thing symbolized. 
 Doubtless, however, they possess a mystery and a 
 magic of their own which transfigure them in their 
 due time and season. But such enchantments are 
 the revelation of experience, not of forecast ; and 
 though that experience might await Nell Anthony, 
 she would never anticipate it. There was a beauti- 
 
144 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 ful refinement in her, which spiritualized her love 
 in proportion to its ardor. The strongest love is 
 never that which most depends upon its material 
 phase, although (it need scarcely be added) sensu 
 ality itself is vapid and lethargic compared with the 
 fire of a true love fittingly incarnate. Its aim is so 
 far beyond any possible realization that the realiza 
 tion itself seems miraculous. 
 
 But circumstances, which had so long befriended 
 Nell Anthony, enabling her to live in the present, 
 and to find therein all desirable sustenance of life, at 
 length assumed a hostile aspect. The death of her 
 mother gave her, for the first time, a past and a 
 future ; and the event immediately following, in 
 which Warren Bell was the chief actor, opened to 
 her untrodden regions in her own soul. What he 
 said to her compelled her to contemplate in broad 
 daylight the delicate thoughts and virgin impulses 
 which had hitherto lurked in the dewy shadows of 
 her secret heart. This unspoken wonder and glory 
 of her life turned out to be a thing reducible to 
 words and phrases, something which mankind 
 had canvassed and discounted since the world began. 
 It had what might be called a market- value, which 
 Warren proposed to pay. This in itself would have 
 caused a temporary shrinking-back in Nell, had this 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF LOVE. 145 
 
 been all. But her eyes, to which love lent penetra 
 tion, saw in an instant the perfunctory undercurrent 
 of Warren s speech. He did not need her, and he 
 did not even want her ; he felt a responsibility 
 about her, and was intending to discharge it by 
 making her his wife. The situation shocked her ; 
 she felt degraded without knowing why. Character 
 istically, she absolved Warren from all blame, and 
 magnified his simple act into a colossal piece of self- 
 abnegation. Nevertheless, when the affair was over, 
 she could not settle herself as before. The idea of 
 herself as Warren s wife kept recurring to her im 
 agination, and often made her cheeks burn. It cast 
 back a light upon her state of mind towards him 
 during recent years, and forced her to read it in a 
 new sense. Her case was somewhat analogous to 
 that of a child who has found a splendid crystal, and 
 has admired it for its beauty, when suddenly in 
 formed that the crystal is a diamond worth a king 
 dom. It is not more beautiful; in some respects, 
 perhaps it is less so ; but it has an effect and a sig 
 nificance altogether different from formerly. 
 
 For a while the new feelings contended within 
 her, ousting and replacing the old ones, and when 
 at last she had recognized and accepted them she 
 was no longer the same as before. She felt nearer to 
 
146 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 the great world which she had never seen, she felt 
 herself a woman. Warren did not love her, and of 
 course never would do so ; but that could not dimin 
 ish her love for him. She loved him more, because 
 she now understood what her love meant. And she 
 was aware of a depth and strength in herself that 
 called for more arduous work to do. For the first 
 time she began to reflect, and to act upon her re 
 flections. She thought of Warren plunging into 
 the dangers and duties of the world, and she longed 
 to behold his career, partly from fear that harm 
 might come to him, and partly from her profound 
 sympathy with all that appertained to him. True, 
 she had refused him for the reason, among others, 
 that she feared to be a clog upon him ; but a wife is 
 one thing, and an interested spectator, with the 
 ability to lend a hand if needed, is another. The 
 only question was, how she could so place herself as 
 to fulfil these conditions. And to this question all 
 her reflections did not yield an answer. 
 
 A girl thoroughly ignorant of the world is, indeed, 
 apt greatly to underrate its perils and difficulties, 
 and to magnify her own power to deal with them. 
 But Nell Anthony had a native good sense, which, 
 in some measure, served instead of experience ; and 
 it withheld her from committing a crude folly at this 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF LOVE. 147 
 
 juncture. She perceived, without being told, that 
 a girl destitute of protectors of any kind, without 
 introductions and without conventional training, 
 
 o 
 
 could not expediently establish herself in New 
 York. She might, of course, apply to Warren 
 Bell, except that this was the very thing she 
 most devoutly desired to avoid. That he should 
 be aware of her presence would be fatal to the 
 essence of her plan ; and her most * besetting 
 dread was lest New York should prove too small 
 to hide her from him. The cap of invisibility, 
 about which she had so often told her school-children, 
 would have suited her requirements exactly; she 
 wanted to help him, protect him, and be with him, 
 without his knowing anything about it. But 
 the cap was not forthcoming, and she seemed 
 chained to Hickory. The little village had been a 
 pleasant and sufficient home to her heretofore ; but, 
 now that she wished to leave it, and could not, it 
 seemed like the closest and most stifling of prisons. 
 
 In addition to the motives directly concerning 
 Warren, there was another, derived from these, but 
 more obviously affecting herself. She wished to be 
 employed about something that should influence a 
 wider and more important circle than could be reached 
 in Hickory. Till now she had been content to help 
 
148 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 her mother and tell stories to children ; but Warren s 
 ambition had aroused a kindred fire in her own 
 heart. It was not a rivalry, however ; it was a 
 sympathy, a kind of development of the sentiment 
 noblesse oblige. If Warren became great it was in 
 cumbent upon her, as his feminine counterpart, to 
 seek a corresponding elevation in her own sphere. 
 He would never know her aim ; but that made no 
 difference in her sense of obligation. She acted from 
 a sense of justice and equality, the justice and 
 equality of love. All this indicates that Nell An 
 thony was still in a great measure under the do 
 minion of sentiment ; the true, substantial passion of 
 love had not as yet been fully kindled in her, with 
 its jealousies, its ecstasies, and its despairs. That 
 too, might come, if circumstances so ordained ; but 
 if not, she might go on to the end governing her 
 life by abstractions and ideal fancies, and never 
 comprehending either her loss or her gain. 
 
 Meanwhile, she was no nearer making her escape 
 from Hickory than ever ; and, since her restlessness 
 increased with every passing day, there was danger 
 that she would finally overcome discretion, and 
 spread her wings at any cost. Fortunately, how 
 ever, things were not brought quite to -that pass. 
 Towards the end of summer she received a letter 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF LOVE. 149 
 
 the most unexpected, and yet the most matter-of- 
 course of all letters which solved all her difficul 
 ties in five minutes, and made going to New York a 
 mere matter of buying a railroad ticket. This 
 seemed to Nell Anthony the turning point of her 
 existence, and almost as if Warren had stretched 
 forth a hand to her in greeting. 
 
150 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SUSAN" WAYNE. 
 
 THE letter was from Susan Wayne, and con 
 tained an invitation to Nell Anthony to come and 
 stay with her in New York. Susan had just heard 
 of Mrs. Anthony s death. 
 
 This Susan had formerly been one of Nell s 
 school-mates. She came of a family which had re 
 sided in Hickory, but had removed thence ten years 
 before. Susan was an amiable and excellent girl, 
 not very clever, but admirably conscientious ; and 
 she was the complaisant and uncomplaining object 
 of all manner of practical jokes on the part of her 
 school-fellows. Nell was the only one who took no 
 share in the popular pastime ; and she and Susan 
 became, as a consequence, intimate friends. Susan 
 was considerably the elder in years, though not in 
 intelligence ; she was often indebted to Nell for an 
 insight into her lessons. Being of a redundantly 
 grateful disposition she never forgot these services ; 
 and when she left Hickory she was very strenuous 
 in making arrangements for a profuse and permanent 
 
SUSAN WAYNE. 151 
 
 correspondence. And, if the correspondence failed 
 somewhat of being either diurnal or eternal, it was 
 not Susan s fault. For nearly a year she wrote al 
 most as much and as often as one of the characters 
 in Richardson s novels. But Nell was almost as 
 reticent on paper as in speech ; her letters were very 
 short, and there were not many of them. Never 
 theless, communications continued to be sent and 
 received at irregular and decreasing intervals, until 
 Susan met Professor Wayne, of Dartmouth, and 
 was married to him. He was twenty years her 
 elder ; but he knew what he was about, and she 
 made him an unexceptionable wife. Her facility with 
 the pen now found ample exercise, for she attended 
 to all his voluminous correspondence, copied out his 
 lectures, and wrote reams of foolscap at his dicta 
 tion. She delighted in this drudgery, but it left her 
 little or no leisure for her own concerns. They 
 moved to New York (the professor was quite a 
 wealthy man), and Susan lost sight of her friend, 
 though she remembered her just as affectionately as 
 ever. Five years had passed, during which Nell 
 had not heard from Mrs. Wayne, and, to tell the 
 truth, had not devoted much thought to her. So 
 this letter from her descended like a small thunder 
 bolt out of a clear sky. 
 
152 LOVE -OR A NAME. 
 
 The letter-paper had a black border, and it ap 
 peared that Susan had lately had the misfortune to 
 lose her excellent professor. He had died, as a 
 philosopher should, of a suffusion on the brain, in 
 the midst of composing a monumental work on the 
 Application of Electricity to Idiots. He had left his 
 wife an interminable assortment of manuscripts, 
 chiefly in her own handwriting, but of the purport 
 of which she knew next to nothing ; a large and 
 valuable library, which she would never read ; a 
 comfortable home, a good deal too large for her; 
 and about twenty thousand a year in United States 
 bonds, which she was somewhat at a loss how to 
 spend. But, if her intelligence was limited, her 
 energy and benevolence were great ; and it did not 
 take her long to decide that she ought to regard 
 herself as but the steward of the bulk of this 
 fortune, which should be applied to the amelioration 
 of the condition of her less fortunate fellow-mortals. 
 Such warm-hearted persons as Susan Wayne, unless 
 constantly checked by special dispensations of 
 Providence, are apt to be among the most dan 
 gerous, because the most unconscious, antagonists 
 of civilization. Susan, taking counsel with herself 
 how to do good, bade fair to become destructive 
 beyond the average, until, by a special dispensation 
 
SUSAN WAYNE. 153 
 
 of Providence, she accidentally received intelligence 
 of Mrs. Anthony s death, and immediately conceived 
 the idea of getting her old friend Nell to come and 
 live with her, and take part in her great scheme for 
 social benefaction and improvement. 
 
 "She must be so lonely," exclaimed Susan to 
 herself; "and I m sure this is just the kind of thing 
 she needs to make her happy. Nell and I always 
 agreed about everything." 
 
 In fact, the moment Nell received the invitation, 
 she made up her mind to accept it. It would give 
 her a home in New York, and independence (for 
 her own income, modest though it was, would 
 suffice to relieve her from the embarrassments of 
 Susan s riches) , and it would bring her into just the 
 position most convenient for her designs towards 
 Warren. Warren and Susan were quite unknown 
 to each other, and there was no probability that the 
 circles of society in which they severally moved 
 would have any point of contact. Nell s obscurity 
 would be equal to his conspicuousness, and their 
 mutual relation would be like that of a spectator 
 in the auditorium to an actor on the stage : the 
 former can observe the latter s every motion, while 
 himself remaining indistinguishable in the crowd. 
 Nor, had the choice been offered her, could she have 
 
154 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 selected a companion more congenial to her humor 
 than Susan Wayne. Susan was talkative, Nell was 
 silent; Susan was restless, Nell was quiet; Susan 
 was impulsive, Nell was deliberate. They came, as 
 it were, from opposite points of the compass ; but 
 they could only moderate each other, never wear 
 each other out. They would each be all the better 
 for a little flavoring of the other. It was a 
 thoroughly wholesome comradeship. 
 
 Nell was not long in making her preparations. 
 She packed up such of her belongings as she did not 
 care to be separated from, and rented the house and 
 farm upon comfortable terms. Her adieus were 
 easily said, and did not convey the idea that she was 
 to be very long absent, indeed, that was a matter 
 concerning which she herself was entirely uncertain. 
 But it seemed to her as if she were going very far ; 
 for distance is less a matter of miles than of novelty. 
 The next world is said to be all around us, if not 
 within us ; but most people would consider it a long 
 journey. 
 
 Nell travelled by way of Albany, and came down 
 the Hudson, not possessing culture enough, perhaps, 
 to prefer the Boston route. And when, at last, she 
 rolled into the Grand Central Depot, and followed 
 the exuding stream of passengers down the aisle of 
 
SUSAN WAYNE. 155 
 
 the car, and out on the platform, behold, there was 
 the broad, hospitable smile of her friend awaiting 
 her, which immediately resolved itself into hearty 
 kisses, which the traveller cordially returned. 
 
 Susan had a carriage in waiting, and they drove 
 to her house ; but the conversation on the way, 
 though animated, was not of general interest; 
 besides, owing to the clattering of the streets in her 
 unwonted ears, Nell was unable to hear half the 
 questions that her friend asked her. She thought 
 Susan notably changed in appearance, but inwardly 
 much the same as before ; her mind had not essen 
 tially matured. She had expanded, however, from 
 a dumpy and awkward girl of fifteen into a broad- 
 shouldered, blooming woman of five-and -twenty, 
 weighing near two hundred pounds, and effervescing 
 all over with little enthusiasms, astonishments, and 
 admirations. She was stuffed so full of good-nature, 
 that, had this element been eliminated from her, there 
 would have been little but skin and bone left. She 
 was not a beauty, though her features had no espe 
 cial fault, and their expression was beyond criticism. 
 She was very rosy, very wide across the face, and 
 her hair of a reddish, sandy hue, was of somewhat 
 scanty growth, and was smoothed down close to her 
 head. She wore diamond ear-rings in her little 
 
156 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 round ears, and on a finger of one of her fat, reddish 
 hands she wore two rings, one given to her by the 
 professor before their marriage, and one a plain 
 gold one on the occasion of that ceremony. Her 
 dress and bonnet, like Nell s, were black, but much 
 more sumptuous than the latter s in matter of fringes 
 and trappings. These, and other details, Nell had 
 opportunity to notice before the carriage drew up at 
 the door of a handsome brick house on a side street, 
 and Susan exclaimed, "Well, here we are, at 
 home ! " 
 
 Not being accustomed to think aloud, Nell did not 
 express in words, whatever surprise and curiosity the 
 interior of this strange house, with its novel appoint 
 ments and ways, may have inspired her with, she 
 did not even ask her hostess whether she always 
 dined in the evening instead of the middle of the 
 day; but ate what was given to her with a good 
 appetite, and confined her speech to answering the 
 questions which still continued to bubble up out of 
 the inexhaustible Susan. These questions need not 
 be repeated here, for Susan did not belong to the 
 Socratic school of interrogators ; she inquired about 
 such unphilosophic matters as where Nell got her 
 lunch, how she liked the Palisades, whether New 
 York came up to her expectations, and so forth. As 
 
SUSAN WAYNE. 157 
 
 to New York, Nell might have answered, that it sat- 
 eified her in one way, that it was large enough to 
 conceal her effectually from Warren Bell. She 
 actually said nothing of the kind, however; she had 
 never said anything about her love-romance to any 
 one, and was not inclined to begin her confidences 
 just now. She showed Susan just so much of her 
 mind as Susan expected to see, and kept the rest to 
 herself. 
 
 "We are going to have a perfectly splendid time," 
 observed Susan, at last ; " and it will all be owing 
 to you ; at least, I m sure I couldn t manage anything 
 properly without you. You dear girl, it does my heart 
 good to see you, sitting there so quiet and handsome, 
 and so like your old self, or your young self, I 
 suppose I ought to say. Just think, ten years ago ! 
 What perfect children we were ! But when we are to 
 gether, I don t feel hardly a bit changed, do you? 
 Of course, the death of my dear husband made a great 
 change for me, and I m sure I never can get over it ; 
 for, thougli he was so much older than I, we were 
 the most perfect companions, and he was just as play 
 ful and youthful as a boy, in his leisure times. We 
 were so happy," she added, wiping her kind little 
 eyes, "and I do wish you could have known him, Nell ! 
 I m sure you would have admired him, and he would 
 
158 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 have fallen quite in love with you ; any man would 
 do that, though, if you gave him a chance. I used 
 to be sorry sometimes that I wasn t handsome, for his 
 sake ; but he didn t mind, he used to take everything 
 in the sweetest way. I do believe he was the wisest 
 and best man in the world, and I only wish I could 
 have understood more what he was doing, his 
 works, you know. He had the most magnificent 
 plans ; and it would have been a great thing for the 
 world if he could have lived to carry them out. I 
 dare say you might understand something about his 
 manuscripts if you were to look them over ; they 
 must be very interesting, and there s enough of 
 them, almost, to fill a room. Perhaps we ll look 
 them over some day, and you might be able to edit 
 some of them for the press. I m sure I shall envy 
 you if you do ! But what I thought of occupying 
 myself with, the rest of my life is something very 
 different from that, and more suited to my scope, as 
 my dear husband used to call it ; though, to be sure, 
 when I began to look it up, I found it was not 
 nearly so easy as I had supposed, and then I didn t 
 know what I should do, until you came into my 
 head, dear, and then I was sure it would be all 
 right, for you always know how to manage every 
 thing." 
 
SUSAN WAYNE. 
 
 "If it s a farm, perhaps I might," said Nell; "but 
 I don t know much else." 
 
 "Well, it isn t a farm," replied Susan, "though 
 I m sure I wish it could be connected with a farm in 
 some way : it would be so much nicer for the poor 
 women ; but I suppose it will have to be some 
 where in New York, or very near, else none of them 
 would find out about it ; and of course it s very 
 important that it should be easy for them to get at, 
 you know. But then one difficulty was, that land 
 in the city is so expensive ; and, though my husband 
 was quite well off, there wasn t enough to do more 
 than a very little. But I spoke about it to Uncle 
 Joseph (I call him uncle, though really he s only 
 the brother of my husband s brother s wife ; but he s 
 the best man in New York, and can do anything in 
 politics and such things ; and you know everything 
 is done by politics here, though I m sure I don t 
 know how) ; well, so Uncle Joseph was just as kind 
 and good as he could be about it, and took the 
 greatest interest in it, as he always does about any 
 thing to benefit unfortunate people, all the poor 
 unfortunate people in New York know him and love 
 him, though he has enemies, I believe ; but they 
 must be very wicked people ; well, and so he said 
 that the best way to do would be to get the legisla- 
 
160 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 ture to do something, and make the city give us the 
 land, and let us have an appropriation (he called 
 it) to help build the house ; and then what remained 
 to do wouldn t be so very expensive." 
 
 " What is it you are going to do ? " Nell inquired. 
 "Is it a hospital?" 
 
 "Oh ! to be sure, I haven t told you yet, have I? 
 But I m coming to it ; only I never seem able to tell 
 a thing straight, as other people do. You see, the 
 way I first came to think of it was this : When 
 I was married, my husband said I must have a 
 lady s-maid to help me with my toilet, and do all 
 sorts of little special things for me ; so I advertised 
 for one in the newspapers, and you ve no idea, Nell, 
 how many people came, and most of them were 
 the strangest creatures, I m sure I didn t know 
 there were such in the world. But at last one 
 came, and she was very nice indeed, and quite 
 lady-like ; she was just what I wanted, and I 
 thought I was very lucky to get her. She was 
 about twenty, and quite good-looking, with bright- 
 brown hair and blue eyes ; and just as neat and 
 quiet and well-behaved as she could be. She was 
 English, and she told me she was the daughter of a 
 physician in London, and he was interested in some 
 speculation here, and came over to see about it ; 
 
SUSAN WAYNE. 161 
 
 and then he died, and everything went wrong, and 
 she was left to do the best she could for herself. 
 Well, I engaged her, of course, and she couldn t 
 have suited me better if I d hunted all over Amer 
 ica for her; she knew all I wanted without my 
 having to tell her ; and, really, she knew a great 
 deal more than I did about things that belong to a 
 lady s dress and establishment, and all that. You 
 know the English are brought up to understand 
 those things more thoroughly than we are, or than I 
 was, at any rate. We were more like friends than 
 like mistress and maid, and I got so fond of her I d 
 have done anything for her; and she had some 
 friends here, people that her father used to know, 
 and she used to go to see them once in a while, 
 and sometimes she would ask me if she might stay 
 all night, and of course I always let her. I sup 
 pose 1 ought to have been more careful about her, 
 she was so young and so pretty ; and I always say 
 that it was my fault more than hers ; but, however 
 it was, I noticed at last that she was very low- 
 spirited, and I asked her about it, and for a long 
 time she put me off; but at last she burst into tears, 
 and then it all came out. I declare, I was so sorry, 
 I didn t know what to do ! " exclaimed Susan ; and 
 two tears ran down her broad cheeks as she spoke. 
 
1G2 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 Nell looked at her friend with a grave sympathy, 
 and by an involuntary movement showed that she 
 understood the nature of the trouble. The color 
 slowly deepened in her sensitive face. , " What be 
 came of her? she asked. 
 
 " He had promised to marry her ; but he was a 
 good-for-nothing wretch ! " exclaimed Susan vehe 
 mently. " At first I wanted to have her stay with 
 me ; but my husband said that would not do, and 
 the poor girl herself wanted to be away somewhere. 
 So then I set to work to find an establishment where 
 she could go. I visited a good many of them, and 
 I suppose they are managed as well as could be ex 
 pected ; but, oh, dear! they made my heart ache. 
 At a time like that a woman ought to feel that she 
 is cared for, if ever she is to feel so, in the world ; 
 for they have their punishment all the rest of their 
 lives. But it was all so business-like, and mechani 
 cal, and mathematical, and you know I never 
 could bear mathematics ! So at last I just hired a 
 room and a nurse for her, and went myself to see 
 her as often as I could. Well, my dear, when the 
 baby was born, it lived only a few days. There I 
 I always act like a fool when I think of it. 
 One hears so often about such things, and always it 
 seems as if the woman must be so wicked ; but I m 
 
SUSAN" WAYNE. 1G3 
 
 sure there s something to be said on the other side. 
 And a dear little baby, Nell, think of it? Oh, 
 if I could only have had a little baby like that ! 
 Isn t it strange how things go ? A baby would have 
 been such a blessing to me, and it was nothing but 
 ruin and disgrace to her. It does seem to me some 
 times as if God miff lit have changed things a little." 
 
 O O O 
 
 It had never occurred to Nell to question God s 
 wisdom ; religion was not an intellectual question 
 with her. "Perhaps such things will be better 
 when the world is better," she said. 
 
 " We offered to send the poor girl home to her 
 friends," continued Susan, " but she wouldn t go ; 
 she said she had no friend now but me. She went 
 out West finally, there was an opening there, 
 and I have never heard of her since. But the 
 reason I told you all this was because I wanted you 
 to know what made me first think of establishing 
 some kind of place here where women who have 
 been unfortunate could go, and be taken care of 
 nicely, as if they were at home. And I thought it 
 should be not for the poor sort of women, but for 
 the better class, the well-educated, lady-like ones ; 
 for their suffering is so much greater, their shame 
 and all that ; and (though it isn t always thought so) 
 I believe their temptations are often greater and 
 
164 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 more difficult, too. And, besides, there are plenty 
 of places already for the poorer classes, but none 
 especially for the other; and that is one reason, 
 perhaps, why they so often commit greater crimes 
 to conceal or escape from the first one. I m sure I 
 pity them all just alike ; but one has to choose whom 
 one will help, you know." 
 
 "Are there so many?" said Nell, in a musing 
 tone. 
 
 ff But if Uncle Joseph can only do what he expects 
 for us we shall be sure to succeed ; and then, my 
 dear, what I hope is that you will give me advice, 
 and not let me do anything wrong or foolish, because 
 you always know what is best and right ; and you 
 can arrange everything in an orderly and nice way, 
 when I should only make a muddle if I were left to 
 myself. I ll do the working part, I mean, but you 
 give the directions what shall be done, and how to 
 do it. Do you think you d like to help ? or shouldn t 
 you care for it? " 
 
 " I should care for it. I will help all I can." 
 said Nell Anthony, with warmth. "I can t do much, 
 you are mistaken about that, but I can do 
 something, and with all my heart." 
 
 " Then it s all right ; and to-morrow, or as soon as 
 you are rested, we ll go and see Uncle Joseph" 
 
SUSAN WAYNE. 165 
 
 Who is he? " Nell asked. 
 
 " Oh, of course ! His name is Muhlbach, 
 Judge Muhlbach ; but I m so in the habit of calling 
 him Uncle Joseph that I never think of that. I 
 want you to like him as much as I do, Nell, and 
 I m sure you will, because you re both so good." 
 
166 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 THEY did not see Judge Muhlbach, or Uncle 
 Joseph, for some weeks, for he was away on busi 
 ness at Albany when they called, and was afterwards 
 much occupied with his duties on the Compensation 
 Fund Commission. During this interval Nell An 
 thony made some progress towards getting ac 
 quainted with New York. She and Susan went 
 anywhere they liked, Susan s physical aspect being 
 ample protection against all ordinary perils, and, if 
 anything was really to happen, Nell s courage and 
 resources were to be relied on to grapple with it. 
 No mishaps occurred, however, and the two friends 
 enjoyed themselves greatly. Nell liked to ride on 
 the elevated railroad as much as anything else, es 
 pecially on the lofty portions beyond the upper end 
 of the park, which always caused the robust Susan 
 to turn pale. Susan was fond of shopping, and of 
 driving up and down the avenue ; and Nell accom 
 panied her with pleasure, though she could never 
 rid herself of an apprehension that she might run 
 
BENEVOLENCE. 167 
 
 across Warren Bell. As a matter of fact she saw 
 him twice. Once he got out of a car, on the 
 "elevated," just as she was getting into another. 
 
 She fancied he looked grave and rather depressed. 
 He had a newspaper in his hand, and was too much 
 preoccupied to see her. The other time he was 
 talking to a stylishly-dressed young man on the 
 steps of the Exchange Club ; and Nell did not like 
 the looks of his companion at all. Warren was 
 evidently very busy about something. Nell won 
 dered whether, among all his thoughts, he ever had 
 a thought about her. 
 
 One day Susan said that Uncle Joseph had 
 written her that he would be at home all the after 
 noon, and had something to say about her affair. 
 It was nearly three o clock when they set out ; 
 and, the distance being inconsiderable, they went on 
 foot instead of taking the carriage. As the door 
 opened in response to Susan s ring, Nell, who 
 entered behind her friend, saw a man s figure ad 
 vancing towards her down the hall. She was so 
 startled at this apparition that, for a moment, she 
 forgot to pull down her veil, and the effort she 
 made to conceal herself behind Susan s ample back 
 served only to draw the young man s attention to 
 her. After a momentary hesitation, however, he 
 
1C8 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 went on, and the door was closed. Nell had bitten 
 her upper lip smartly, but no other disaster had 
 happened. Whether or not he had recognized her 
 she could not decide ; his near-sightedness may have 
 prevented it, at least in so far as to make him think 
 he had made a mistake. But, while Nell s cheeks 
 were tingling with the agitation of the episode, she 
 could not help perceiving the absurd artificiality of 
 the circumstances which rendered a meeting between 
 her and Warren Bell like an encounter between 
 enemies who had vowed never to speak to each 
 other. It was her own doing; but, though she 
 acknowledged the folly of it, she could not bring 
 herself to be wiser. In the midst of her disturb 
 ance she found something annoying in the almost 
 obtrusive unconsciousness of the blameless Susan. 
 
 Judge Muhlbach, or Uncle Joseph, received the 
 ladies with a genial courtesy, which culminated in 
 kissing Susan s cheek; and perhaps it was only 
 something in Nell s expression that deprived her of 
 a similar testimony of good- will. He apologized 
 for the presence of tobacco-smoke in the room with 
 a mental arraignment, perhaps, of the unkind des 
 tiny which seemed set upon defrauding him of a 
 consolatory cigar. He addressed some compliment 
 ary remarks, of an elderly avuncular flavor, to Nell ; 
 
BENEVOLENCE. 169 
 
 and then, turning to Susan, he proceeded to the 
 business of the meeting. 
 
 " I am pleased to inform you, Susie, my dear, 
 that your benevolent designs are in a fair way to be 
 realized, and much more promptly than might have 
 been expected. The Peter and Paul Society, occu 
 pying a building in the north-west part of the island, 
 has lately become insolvent (owing, I presume, to 
 over-indulgence in the principle of robbing Peter to 
 pay Paul) , and their premises are for sale or to let. 
 I should recommend renting them for a term of 
 years, with privilege of renewal, and, perhaps, op 
 tion of purchase. The house has ample accommo 
 dation for a beginning, and could be enlarged ; it 
 commands a view of the North river, and stands in 
 its own enclosed grounds. Immediate possession. 
 But you can see for yourself," added the Judge, 
 handing over the memorandum from which he had 
 been reading. " Now, why wouldn t that do for 
 us?" he asked ; "or shall we look farther? " 
 
 " I m sure there couldn t be anything nicer," ex 
 claimed Susan ; " don t you think so, Nell? " 
 
 "What is the rent?" Nell inquired, turning her 
 eyes on the Judge. 
 
 " Ah ! now here we have a practical head ; I like 
 that," he rejoined, with a smile and a nod. "And 
 
170 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 that brings me to a proposition I was about to make. 
 What sum had you thought of as an endowment of 
 this enterprise, Susie?" 
 
 w Oh ! would a hundred thousand dollars be any 
 good?" returned that lady. 
 
 "Well, I should say so!" cried Uncle Joseph, 
 chuckling. " What says Miss Anthony ? But I 
 ought to tell you, my dear, that such an endowment 
 will lay you open, in some quarters, to the charge 
 of being a crank. However, passing by that for 
 the moment, and coming to my proposition, there is 
 no necessity for your bearing so large a proportion 
 of the financial burdens. What you want, I take 
 it, is to obtain control of the concern, to have its 
 management in your hands, and to order things ac 
 cording to your own good pleasure. But to do all 
 that a hundred thousand dollars is not necessary, 
 nor the half of it. Why not allow a number of 
 other ladies of position and means to associate them 
 selves with you, each contributing amounts which 
 will be relatively small, but the aggregate of which 
 will exceed any possible individual donation? The 
 institution would thus be placed upon an impreg 
 nable pecuniary basis, and would leave you with 
 plenty of money to carry out any details which 
 might strike your fancy, say, in the furnishing of 
 
BENEVOLENCE. 171 
 
 rooms, the adornment of the grounds, and so on. I 
 know a number of good women who would be 
 proud to be connected with such a scheme, and 
 whose companionship and counsel you would, I 
 think, often find pleasant and useful. I myself," 
 added Uncle Joseph, leaning back in his chair, and 
 placing his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat, 
 "would claim the privilege of contributing ten thou 
 sand dollars, not in my own name, for I have not 
 the good fortune to belong to your sex, ladies, 
 but in that of my married sister. And I need not 
 add that whatever business or legal matters may in 
 cidentally arise I should wish to regard as falling 
 within my especial province." 
 
 Susan looked at Nell with a beaming smile. 
 " Didn t I tell you he was the best man in the 
 world? " she said, with an air of unlimited satisfac 
 tion. 
 
 Nell looked down and colored. 
 
 " Miss Anthony is not going to commit herself too 
 soon," said Uncle Joseph, with an amiable chuckle. 
 "But, seriously, my dear young lady, if you have 
 any suggestion, you would best show your good dis 
 position, in the matter by making it with all possi 
 ble explicitness." 
 
 "I will say what I think if you wish it," said 
 
172 LOVE- OR A NAME. 
 
 Nell, looking up. " It seemed to me that this insti 
 tution is not likely ever to have a great many 
 inmates. It was not to be for poor women, you 
 know, but for persons who have been brought up 
 more as you and I have, Susan. For a long time, 
 perhaps, until it gets to be well known, there 
 will be hardly any one. So we do not need a large 
 place, not at first, at any rate, not larger than 
 you might support by yourself, Susan. And if 
 other ladies contribute, though it might give them 
 no legal right to interfere with you, I think you 
 would find yourself less free than you would like. 
 By and by, if people really came to take an interest 
 in it, they would leave bequests to it in their wills. 
 But I think, if I were you, I would not accept 
 money from any one if it puts you under any kind 
 of obligation to them." 
 
 "Miss Anthony would have it a close corpora 
 tion, I see," remarked Uncle Joseph, lifting his 
 thick eyebrows humorously. " And, upon my word, 
 my dear young lady, now that I have heard your 
 statement, I am inclined to agree with you. To 
 tell you the truth," he added, smiling, " I was a 
 little bit anxious about Susan. Yes, Susie, I shall 
 make a clean breast of it. I was afraid that if you 
 set out to run this thing alone you would get into 
 
BENE VOLENCE. 173 
 
 deep water, and I thought the best thing I could do 
 for you would be to get a dozen or so first-class 
 women to step in and take a hand with you, and 
 pull you through the tight places. But, now that I 
 have had the pleasure of making Miss Anthony s 
 acquaintance, I am disposed to reconsider my judg 
 ment. Miss Anthony," continued he, turning upon 
 the quiet New England girl the full refulgence of 
 his metropolitan geniality, " has got a mind and will 
 of her own, which quite relieves me from my pre 
 occupation. I ll venture to say, Susie dear, that 
 you will be perfectly safe as long as she stands by 
 you. And her remarks are just in themselves, 
 besides. The ah attendance is not likely to 
 be overwhelmingly large (having in view the pecu 
 liar conditions) for some time to come. That is a 
 fact which had not been sufficiently brought under 
 my attention before. Then we will consider the 
 Peter-and-Paul scheme off ? " 
 
 "I m sure I don t know," said Susan, much per 
 plexed to find herself even within a measurable 
 distance of being called on to decide between two 
 persons, both of whom had her entire confidence. 
 "But I do hope, Uncle Joseph, she continued, 
 detecting an avenue of compromise, " that you will 
 attend to all our business for us, whatever happens. 
 
174 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 What you say about Nell is all true, and she was 
 just as wise and splendid when we were at school 
 together ten years ago. But she isn t a lawyer 
 after all, nor a politician either; and I m sure there 
 are a great many important things that we could 
 never get right without your help. You will be 
 with us whatever happens, won t you?" 
 
 " Well, well, my dear, you know how devoted I 
 am to you; but how can I tell," said the Judge, 
 archly, "whether Miss Nell doesn t include me 
 in her suspicions of intermeddlers ? Perhaps she 
 thinks I am plotting to get the reins in my own 
 hands, and intend to administer the place for my 
 personal ends eh ? " 
 
 " I have no suspicions of wrong in any one," said 
 Nell, simply. "But Susan is my friend, and I 
 wanted to help her think. " 
 
 "And I will make bold to tell you, though on so 
 short an acquaintance, that your friendship is a 
 thing worth having," exclaimed the Judge, bending 
 towards her and speaking with emphasis. Then, 
 changing his tone, he added, with a smile, " And I 
 hope, in the course of time, you will think me not 
 unworthy of a little of it. Well, now, Susie, for 
 the present our affairs are in suspense. But I ex 
 pect I shall have some new ideas in a few days. 
 
BENE VOLENCE. 175 
 
 In fact I m hardly up to concert-pitch this afternoon. 
 Just before you came in I had been set upon by a 
 rascal who ah wanted to beg or bully me into 
 countenancing a nefarious transaction, and he suc 
 ceeded in vexing me so much as to spoil the good 
 effects of my luncheon." 
 
 " Oh ! I remember now, we met a person in the 
 hall," said Susan ; "that must have been he. Was 
 he a rascal? He looked quite gentlemanly." 
 
 "That is just where the rascals get ahead of the 
 honest men," said the Judge, chuckling. "How 
 ever, there are many worse fellows than he about." 
 
 Susan and Nell had both risen while the latter 
 sentences were being spoken, and were standing 
 near the door, Nell being on the threshold. The 
 Judge now stepped forward and bestowed upon 
 Susan a farewell kiss, and looking past her he en 
 countered the eyes of Nell fixed full upon him. It 
 was such a look as scarcely, in all his varied career, 
 the learned Judge had been called upon to sustain ; 
 it actually flashed with concentrated indignation and 
 scorn. The poor old gentleman was the more taken 
 aback, insomuch as he was utterly at a loss to ac 
 count for this sudden appearance of resentment ; he 
 would not have expected a quarter as much if he had 
 kissed Nell Anthony instead of Susan Wayne. In- 
 
176 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 deed, he had a moment before been inwardly debating 
 the feasibility of marking in some such way his admira 
 tion and approval of Susan s friend ; but the purpose 
 was shrivelled up like straw in a furnace. He re 
 covered himself enough to say, " And good day to 
 you, Miss Anthony ! " and then he was left alone. 
 
 " Isn t he perfectly lovely ? " cried Susan, as she 
 and Nell emerged into the outer air. 
 
 Nell, by putting a constraint upon herself, man 
 aged to make no reply. She was not in a humor 
 for eulogy, though she was in capital trim for 
 action, had there been anything to do ; and she 
 thought to herself that there was likely to be some 
 thing to do, before long, in the way of protecting 
 Warren Bell against respectable villains, who 
 called him " rascal " behind his back. 
 
 Meanwhile, the respectable villain in question, 
 after taking a few turns up and down the room, had 
 arrived at the conclusion that he must have misin 
 terpreted Miss Anthony s expression, at any rate, 
 so far as any reference to himself was concerned. 
 And as, with a sigh, he lit his long-deferred cigar, 
 he murmured half aloud, " What a monstrous good- 
 looking little thing she is ! and as smart as a steel 
 trap, too ! Why, she saw through the whole game 
 in a moment ! By the Lord, she would be worth 
 
BENEVOLENCE. 177 
 
 ten thousand dollars to any man with the grit to 
 capture her! Well, I must get her alone some 
 day, and then we ll see I " 
 
 There are few spectacles more pathetic than the 
 infatuation of the wise. 
 
178 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 TOM PEEKSKILL. 
 
 ONE morning late in the autumn Tom Peekskill, 
 on his way down town, stopped in at the Exchange 
 Club to look in his letter-box. He took out of it a 
 square envelope, of rough blue paper addressed in 
 a female hand. He opened it, and, still standing 
 before the box, glanced through the contents, 
 which seemed to occasion him no particular de 
 light. 
 
 In the midst of his reading some one laid a hand 
 upon his shoulder. Tom started very perceptibly, 
 crumpling the letter up in his hand. When he saw 
 that the hand belonged to his little friend, Bob 
 Austin, he asked him, rather sulkily, what the devil 
 he meant by acting like a sheriff ? 
 
 "What do you mean by jumping like a bank- 
 cashier?" retorted Bob, laughing loudly. "I say, 
 Tom, old man, I and four others are going to take 
 the drag at two o clock this afternoon, and tool it 
 out to Scratch! t a. Things there will be down to a 
 fine point. You know the racket, you old Turk ! 
 
TOM PEEKS KILL. 179 
 
 You will just make up the half dozen. Two o clock, 
 from the Brunswick." 
 
 " D it, what a nuisance ! " cried Tom, peevishly. 
 "Well, I can t go, that s the amount of it. I ve 
 
 o-ot to meet a fellow at three o clock on partic lar 
 
 & 
 
 business. Just my luck ! " 
 
 "Got to meet a fellow, eh?" said the other, 
 winking his little fat eye. " Oh, come off, do ! 
 Does she always write to you on blue note-paper ? 
 Don t be exclusive bring her along ! always room 
 for one more ! " 
 
 " Go to the devil, will you? " replied Tom. 
 
 " No use ; you must set em up ; it s a fair 
 catch!" Bob declared. "Mine s a smash; what s 
 
 ?M 
 j^^^ . 
 
 " Set em up for yourself, if you like, you little 
 whisky-skin, you! but count me out; I ve got 
 business, sure enough, and I don t drink till it s 
 over." And, in spite of protestations, Tom left his 
 small friend, and continued his journey towards 
 Wall street. As he walked along he tore the blue 
 letter into small pieces, which he kept in his hand 
 until he came to a belated ash-barrel, into which he 
 dropped them. 
 
 " It is a nuisance, and no mistake ! " he muttered 
 to himself. " This is the second time I ve been 
 
180 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 done out of a good spree, and it s sure to be about 
 some nonsense. I do wish the blessed creature had 
 more brains ! If I was a fashionable doctor it 
 couldn t be worse." 
 
 Early in the afternoon he left his office, and took 
 a car up-town. He lived in an apartment-building 
 not far from Union Square. The suites comprised 
 from four to seven rooms each, and were expen 
 sively got up. They were occupied chiefly by 
 single men, though there were also one or two 
 families, which bestowed a useful respectability 
 upon the place. Tom s sitting-room was pervaded 
 by a reminiscent odor of good cigars ; the walls 
 were adorned with foils and boxing-gloves, and with 
 a few theatrical portraits. A Turkey rug covered 
 the floor : there were a comfortable sofa and two or 
 three lounging-chairs. There was an open fireplace, 
 in which a coal fire was burning. Tom, on entering, 
 only stayed long enough to make some changes in 
 his dress, and then sallied forth again to a neighbor 
 ing livery-stable, where he kept his horse. Ten 
 minutes later he was mounted, and on his way to 
 the park ; but, instead of going by Fifth avenue, he 
 chose another route, two or three blocks farther to 
 the left, as if to avoid meeting any one. By three 
 o clock he had reached the junction of Eighth avenue 
 
TOM PEEKS KILL. 181 
 
 and Seventy-second street, and there he halted, and 
 looked eastward. In a few moments there appeared, 
 cantering down the street, a roan horse, with a 
 young lady on his back. She wore a blue veil tied 
 over her face ; but of course Tom knew her. The 
 blue veil was not put on for him. He turned his 
 horse, and they rode westward side by side. 
 
 " Well, little Betsy," said he, with a jocose air, 
 "here I am, you see. What s the good word to 
 day?" 
 
 "Don t speak that way," she replied. "I m very 
 unhappy." 
 
 " Unhappy ! What about, pray ? Married folks 
 must expect to have their little crosses, and" 
 
 " Yes ; but " she interrupted, and stopped. 
 
 "And, as I was going to say, we must begin to 
 get in training for " 
 
 " Tom, "she interrupted him again, "unless you do 
 something soon I shall do something that you ll call 
 desperate. I can t bear it much longer. You don t 
 know how it is. I keep thinking and thinking all 
 the time ; and I never used to think, I only used to 
 enjoy myself. I believe you like to make me miser 
 able. " 
 
 "Now, little Betsy, don t be stupid. You know 
 it would spoil our game if we were to hunt up a 
 
182 LOVE OR A NAME, 
 
 parson before the time comes. As it is, I have the 
 old man under my thumb, though he don t know it 
 yet. If we were out and out spliced, all our trumps 
 would be out, and it s a hundred to one he d wash 
 his hands of you, and knock me higher than a kite. 
 But as it is we re safe. Oh, trust me ! I know 
 the world ! If I don t strike him for a million at 
 least, I m a fool ! and I ll make my perquisites off 
 the other side too. Oh, I ll keep you in grand style, 
 don t you fear ! " 
 
 "You said, last spring, Tom, that, if I d elope 
 with you, it would make everything all right. And 
 I said I would. And then we didn t elope at all. 
 And now, when it s so different from anything I ever 
 thought of, you say we mustn t get married yet, else 
 it will be all wrong. I don t see how two opposite 
 things can both be true. I think the real truth 
 is, that I have loved you too much and you don t 
 love me any longer, and you re just putting me off, 
 and putting me off. I may be foolish, Tom, but I m 
 a woman ; and, if you take all my hope away, I can 
 make you sorry, and I will ! " 
 
 " Now, look here, Betsy," said Tom reining his 
 horse nearer to her, and settling his hat on his head, 
 " I m going to talk straight to you. I know you re 
 no fool, and to prove it I ll show you just how I m 
 
TOM PEEKSKILL. 183 
 
 fixed. As to what I said last spring, that was all 
 right then ; but circumstances changed it. It was my 
 fault, of course, that it was changed ; I never said it 
 wasn t ; and all I can say is I never intended it ; but 
 a man as much in love as I am, will sometimes 
 run away with himself. Well, then, we had to look 
 out for what was the best thing for ourselves ; and, 
 as it turned out, this accident made our case even 
 stronger than it was before. He might have kicked 
 me out, as his son-in-law, but if I say to him that, 
 unless he does so and so, I won t be his son-in-law, 
 he ll come down like a coon ! A man like him is 
 about as tender-hearted as a boa-constrictor ; but, 
 rather than be disgraced, they d kneel down and kiss 
 your boots, when there s no one looking on." 
 
 " I don t see what makes you hate my father so ; 
 he s done you nothing but good, and helped you 
 everyway; and he s a gentleman, and my father, 
 and is always kind to me ; and every time he s kind 
 to me it makes me feel more wicked and ashamed. 
 Why do you want to injure him ? Why can t we 
 just be married, and tell him that we love each 
 other, and want him to forgive us? He would, I 
 know ; and then it would all be happy, instead of 
 dangerous and miserable, as it is now." 
 
 "Just wait till I get through," said Tom, taking 
 
184 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 his whip in his right hand and gesticulating with 
 the butt of it, " and then you ll see the whole thing 
 just as I do. The way it began was this : When I 
 was a young fellow, without much sense, and very 
 little of anything else, and was picking up whatever 
 jobs I could on the street, I happened to hear of a 
 big point. There was a stock that was going down 
 like a stone rolling off the roof of a house, and 
 everybody was unloading like mad ; but my point 
 was, that the stock would be up again above par in 
 two days. If I could buy a few hundred of that 
 stock right off I was a made man. But I hadn t 
 any cash, and, what was worse, being a new man, 
 without any backing, I hadn t any credit. Well, 
 just as I was cursing my luck, and ready to sell my 
 skin for a couple of thousand dollars, along came a 
 fellow with a big roll of greenbacks in his hand, and 
 wanted me to buy some grain for him. I counted 
 his money. There was just two thousand dollars 
 no more and no less. I asked him how soon 
 he wanted his grain? He said he was in no 
 particular hurry, I might take the best of the 
 market in the next three days. I took his money, 
 gave him a receipt, and told him that in three 
 days I d be ready for him. Then I did the 
 silliest thing I ever did before or since : I went 
 
TOM PEEKSKILL. 185 
 
 and looked at my stock, made up my mind it 
 was as low as it could get (it was at twenty-one) , 
 and I bought my two thousand dollars worth then 
 and there, with the other fellow s money. Of 
 course I expected to make it all right with him 
 when the rise came. But I hadn t more than made 
 my purchase when some one tapped me on the 
 shoulder, and I looked round, and there was my 
 man. I ve changed my mind about that grain, he 
 said, and I ll take my money back. Well, I felt 
 pretty sick, but I brassed it out, and told him he d 
 have to wait till the third day, according to agree 
 ment. He didn t kick as much as I expected, but 
 he sort of looked at me in a queer way, and, says 
 he, Very well; in three days, then, and walked 
 off. I didn t quite like the aspect of things ; but I 
 made up my mind I d be all right the next day, and 
 thought no more of him. Next day, sure enough, 
 my stock began to go up like a balloon, and was at 
 forty before you could turn round. I knew it 
 would touch at least three times that, and I went off 
 quietly and got my lunch. When I came back, the 
 stock was falling again ; some big men, they said, 
 had been unloading, in face of the rise. I thought 
 it must be a temporary dodge, and I waited. Down 
 it went, touched twenty-one, passed it, and was at 
 
186 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 ten before half-past two o clock. Then I saw my 
 game was up ; but before I could sell out, eight was 
 the best I could get. I was a ruined man, and 
 worse than that, for I had to meet my grain man 
 the next day. I thought of jumping off the end of 
 a pier, and various things ; but the end of it was, 
 I met him. And then I found out who he was. 
 That man was Seth Drayton, your father. He was 
 the man who was engineering the stock I invested in. 
 He suspected me of knowing too much, and, to make 
 sure, he gave me that two thousand dollars for grain. 
 When he saw he had me hooked he just checked the 
 rise, and made me out a swindler. It cost him 
 nothing ; he could afford to hold over a day ; but it 
 spoilt me. Well, he talked to me that day as I 
 wouldn t talk to a dog, and told me, what I knew 
 well enough, that he had only to speak ten words 
 and I d be in quod, and never able to show my 
 face on the street again. I was only waiting till he 
 got through to put a bullet into his head and then 
 into my own ; and there have been times, since then, 
 when I wish I d done it. But, all of a sudden, he 
 turned round, and said he d let up on me on one 
 condition. The amount of it was, if I d be hia 
 puppet, and do and say just what he ordered, and 
 belong to him body and soul, he d say no more 
 
TOM PEEKS KILL. 187 
 
 about what had happened, and would take care that 
 I had plenty to live on. It was hard lines ; but I 
 was down on my luck and I accepted. He sat 
 down and wrote out a paper, and I signed it. I ve 
 kept my contract ever since, and it hasn t always 
 been pleasant, either ; and he no more suspects me 
 now than he does himself. But you d better believe 
 I ve never given up the idea of getting even with 
 him, and the time s not far off now when I ll do it. 
 From what I ve found out, and from what you ve 
 told me, I know his big scheme pretty near as well 
 as he does, and when he s all ready to touch it off, 
 I ll make my terms with the other side and give 
 away the whole thing. And when he comes raging- 
 round to me to choke the life out of me, I ll say, 
 Hold on a minute, Mr. Dray ton, if you please ! 
 How about your daughter Holloa ! what now?" 
 During the recital of this history of his wrongs 
 Tom had worked himself into such an unwonted 
 passion that he had forgotten to whom he was 
 speaking, if, indeed, he remembered that he had any 
 auditor. He was uttering all his stored-up fury and 
 malice of years, and the stream of his wrath had 
 finally swept him off his feet ; and he was recalled to 
 himself only by hearing a panting cry from Lizzie, 
 who had pushed the veil off her face, and was quite 
 
188 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 white, and swayed in her seat. " There ! there ! " 
 he said, somewhat alarmed. " You mustn t mind 
 me. I don t often get mad, but when I do I must 
 talk. I don t mean more than half of it." 
 
 Lizzie recovered herself in a few moments, 
 enough to say in a faint and husky tone ; " I under 
 stand now why you made love to me ; it was to use 
 me for your revenge on father, by threatening 
 him with putting his daughter to shame. And this 
 is what I have given everything for ! Seems to me 
 I had better die. I only loved you, Tom, and I 
 thought we should be so happy ! Love seemed to 
 make everything right." 
 
 " Upon my word and honor, Betsy, I hadn t an 
 idea of this when I first met you and got smashed 
 on you. But one thing leads to another, until we 
 find ourselves where we never expected to be. I 
 didn t sit down and hatch out a plot ; it hatched 
 itself ; and all I do is to take what I find ready to 
 my hand. We can t help it. It s human nature 
 and fate that are at the bottom of everything in this 
 world. But don t you go borrowing trouble, little 
 Betsy. We shall be all right yet, and as happy as 
 anybody. You wouldn t like me always to live 
 under another man s thumb, would you? Oh, he 
 and I won t have any trouble, once we understand 
 
TOM PEEKSKILL. 189 
 
 each other ! I m a good fellow when you take me 
 right, aint I?" 
 
 "I don t know what you are, or what I am, or 
 what anything is," returned Lizzie, her pretty 
 mouth drooping despondently. "But it seems to 
 me that my father s plans must be worth more 
 to the world than I am. I should, be better out of 
 the way." 
 
 " Oh, I say, Betsy, brace up and be cheerful ! 
 Hang it all ! I give you my word, I couldn t get 
 on without you, I couldn t, honor bright ! " 
 
 Lizzie gave him a peculiar glance, but said 
 nothing ; and they rode on up the Eiverside Park 
 road. 
 
190 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE SENTIMENT OF AMBITION. 
 
 THE success of the new water-works, fortified by 
 skilful management, and by popular approbation, 
 would probably have been satisfactory to its pro 
 moters in any case ; but fortune, with what seemed 
 gratuitous graciousness, stepped in at the last 
 moment, and made assurance doubly sure by bring 
 ing an unforeseen catastrophe upon the opposite 
 party. During the severe frosts of the winter the 
 dam, which they had erected at a vast expense to 
 the tax-payers, developed a large fissure ; and, a 
 thaw immediately succeeding, the great reservoir 
 of water broke loose, inundated the country, and, in 
 a few hours, did more damage than could have been 
 made good in twice as many years. The whole 
 business of supplying the city with water fell upon 
 the new company. Their stock could only be pur 
 chased at fabulous prices ; and a local poet said of 
 them, in a column of a daily newspaper, that they 
 had tapped the river Pactolus, which runs over 
 golden sands. The conceit happened to tickle the 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF AMBITION. 191 
 
 popular fancy, and the company was known as " The 
 Pactolus " ever after. 
 
 "Do you remember," said Warren to Dray ton, 
 one day, "having said, in a newspaper interview, 
 that you would not commit yourself as to the re 
 spectability of the promoters of the water scheme ? 
 
 "I do," Drayton replied, smilingly, caressing his 
 beard. 
 
 " Well, w-what did you say it for ? " 
 
 " Partly, of course, in order to divert the suspi 
 cion that I might be in any way connected with 
 them ; but principally because I knew them to be 
 all (with two exceptions yourself and me) 
 scamps." 
 
 " I always understood that they were men of your 
 own selection." 
 
 " So they were ! and it was precisely because I 
 knew them to be scamps that I selected them ; and 
 very thoroughly have they vindicated my opinion." 
 
 " I suppose you have some d-diabolical wisdom 
 concealed there ; but I don t see it." 
 
 " It is simply another instalment of the same 
 wisdom with which we began that in order to do 
 great works you must have ready and obedient 
 tools. My tools are ready because they are un 
 scrupulous, and they are obedient because their 
 
192 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 unscrupulousness is known to me. You saw how I 
 handled Muhlbach, one of the most powerful men in 
 New York. I have the same kind of hold over 
 every man in our syndicate, not to speak of 
 others, and I can handle them just as easily. A 
 year ago, however, their subservience could be of 
 little use to me, because their power and influence 
 were inconsiderable. But to-day they are, every one 
 of them, persons of exceptional wealth, and able to 
 control large and important political interests. 
 They are more mine than ever, and they are worth 
 a thousand per cent. more. They are the hands 
 and feet by which I shall carry out my projects." 
 
 "That is all very clever," said Warren, in a dis 
 satisfied tone ; " but I do wish the time would come 
 when you can use good men to do good work." 
 
 " There are no such men ! I m not speaking 
 cynically ; I m stating a fact. Good men, except 
 in cases too rare to mention, are not ambitious of 
 such ends as must control diligent and persistent 
 political workers. A man in public life, unless he 
 have commanding genius, cannot afford to be good ; 
 there is no place nor occupation for him. Good 
 men (who are not also fools) see this, and content 
 themselves with writing good books, bringing up 
 good families, conducting good charities, or preach- 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF AMBITION. 193 
 
 ing good or bad sermons. They are not to be had 
 for far-reaching purposes like mine. I don t pretend 
 to say why it is so ; but, as I didn t make the world, 
 I am satisfied to take the world as it is. Now, the 
 end and aim in life of these admirable friends of ours 
 is to make money and wield an influence. For these 
 objects they will barter as much honor and honesty 
 as the devil himself could ask of them. There has 
 been no need of my luring them on to rascality ; I 
 have simply sat by and watched them acting out 
 their inalienable natures. They have made more 
 money than they know what to do with in the 
 ordinary course of business ; but, notwithstanding, 
 they have taken pains to steal as much again, for 
 no earthly reason, that I can see, but the pure love 
 of stealing. All right. Rather than have me ex 
 pose them they will do anything that I command. 
 Luckily for them, I shall not command murder, 
 forgery, or perjury ; but I shall build up, by means 
 of them and such as them, the greatest political 
 power known to history " 
 
 "Holloa ! Isn t that r-rather a large order? " 
 
 " Of which you, my dear Warren, will be the 
 heir," added Drayton, with a friendly nod. 
 
 " You must think I m ambitious." 
 
 "If I know anything, I know that you have the 
 
194 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 best and highest form of ambition. Your ambition 
 and mine are alike, though you have given the 
 matter less thought than I have. It is an ambition, 
 not for the show of things, but for the reality. In 
 deed, I carry it to an extreme which I don t expect 
 or wish you to follow. Though I intend to hold the 
 destinies of this nation and thereby of the world 
 in my hands, my name will never be heard in 
 history. I shall still appear as the quiet man, living 
 privately upon his income, and indifferent to polit 
 ical concerns and vicissitudes. Whatever I do will 
 seem to be done by others ; others will receive the 
 praise, the respect, the love, and the fear, that be 
 long to me. I shall not envy them. The only ap 
 plause that I covet is my own ; and my success 
 would have no greater value in my eyes if all man 
 kind recognized it. And yet, I ll be frank with 
 you, Warren, now as always, this stoicism is not 
 a mere whim of mine ; it has its practical and neces 
 sary side. The only unassailable power is the un 
 known and unseen power, that which remains 
 unmoved behind all outward changes ; which now 
 expresses itself in a democratic form, now in a re 
 publican, and now in neither one nor the other, as 
 occasion may demand. The characteristic of the 
 mass of people is fickleness, which justifies itself by 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF AMBITION. 195 
 
 masking its inconstancies behind a clamor for re 
 form, which, being interpreted, means something 
 new. As a matter of fact the differences of party 
 are but a difference of hat and coat ; the human 
 nature beneath is unaffected by whatever costume. 
 A man who sticks to party is a man who sticks to 
 folly; but, since most men are fools, a wise man 
 must withdraw himself from visible connection with 
 politics altogether." 
 
 " Weren t Julius Caesar and Napoleon great 
 enough? and their names were known." 
 
 " They were soldiers, and they lived in times 
 when the people had comparatively no power. In 
 this school and newspaper and ballot age those who 
 wish to act truly great parts must wear a veil. Such 
 a man must be absolutely free, above the control 
 of both society and individuals. It must be as 
 impossible to depose or assassinate him as to im 
 prison the wind or stab the sunlight ; otherwise, he 
 must temporize and compromise, and be some one s 
 else man instead of his own." 
 
 "Well, that may suit you, but it wouldn t do for 
 me," said Warren, giving his head a shake. " I 
 want the collision and the rivalry, a man among 
 men, and the best man to win ; half the fun for me 
 would be in the effort and the danger. I don t care 
 
196 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 to sit like an invisible Buddha, and rule the world 
 by making it believe that its will is my own." 
 
 "No doubt no doubt, Warren," said the other, 
 looking at him intently ; "your genius is for action, 
 as mine is for organization. We won t flatter each 
 other ; you cannot do what I can ; I can t do what 
 you could ; well, all the more can we be of use each 
 to the other. Your career will be the complement 
 of mine ; and most men, as well as yourself, would 
 prefer yours to mine. Your power will be just as 
 absolute, while it lasts; but it will last only so 
 long as your personal luck and ascendancy continue. 
 You have the faculty (which I lack) of attaching 
 men to yourself; you can be genial and magnetic, 
 while I am abstract and cold. You must be the 
 great leader ; I will be the great director. I could 
 not succeed without you, because my plans need not 
 only base tools, who can be bought with money or 
 place, and commanded by fear and self-interest, but, 
 also a mind that stands on equal terms with mine, 
 a man willing and able to occupy the lofty places 
 that I shall provide for him. Otherwise I should 
 be like a mechanic who has devised an ingenious 
 machine, but has no motive-power to set it going. 
 And you, on the other hand, could not succeed 
 without me ; for you must not vitiate the ardor of 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF AMBITION. 197 
 
 action with the dryness of thought. You must rely- 
 on me for my share of the business, in order to be 
 able to rely on yourself for yours. Be you the 
 lever, and I the pou sto, and we ll move the world." 
 
 "After all, then, I should be only an instru 
 ment." 
 
 " What more am I, or any man? I believe in a 
 Supreme Being, Warren, though I m not glib at 
 talking about him. When He has a purpose to 
 carry out He makes some man the instrument of 
 it. Because you and I cannot change places, shall 
 we do nothing ? " 
 
 Warren remained silent for a while, biting his 
 lips and looking down. "After all," he said at 
 length, "we have only been talking generalities so 
 far, and I am in the dark. What is really your 
 plan ? Can you p-put it in the concrete ? " 
 
 " Yes ; but you must let me do that in my own 
 way and time ; I shan t keep you long waiting. 
 Indeed, I will say here, that I shall never ask you 
 to do anything that we have not previously discussed 
 and agreed upon. Nothing will be attempted with 
 out your approval ; for I know very well that what 
 you don t do with your whole heart would better be 
 left undone. Do you find the prospect, so far, unin 
 viting?" 
 
198 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 " It sounds better than anything I ever imagined ; 
 but it doesn t sound real." 
 
 "Neither did the plans of Alexander sound real 
 to his captains. More great destinies are missed 
 through mistrust than through incapacity." 
 
 "I can understand how you might succeed, for 
 you have money and connections, and you ve been 
 working with this end in view for years. But your 
 proposition as regards me looks too like a m-miracle. 
 I am poor and unknown ; what sort of a figure 
 should I cut at the head of a nation ? " 
 
 "As to your poverty, that is a valuable quality 
 which I hope you will keep," said Drayton, smiling. 
 " I need money ; you don t. When you took your 
 pay for your work on the water- works in money 
 instead of stock you struck the key-note of your 
 whole financial future. All the money you will ever 
 have, or ought to have, will be money fairly earned 
 by fair work. You have an instinct against usury 
 in all its phases ; no dollar of yours will make itself 
 into ten unless you sweat for it." 
 
 "Hold on ! you re going too fast. I didn t dabble 
 in our stock, because I prefer to take out my excite 
 ment in other ways than gambling ; but as to my not 
 wanting money, it s just what I do want. Money 
 is the power of entering into the life around us." 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF AMBITION. 199 
 
 " It is one of the means of entrance ; but it is 
 the least dignified and necessary of all. What you 
 say proves my point ; you wanted money only be 
 cause you believed it to be essential to put you on 
 certain terms with the world. Well, that is your 
 mistake, and you will soon acknowledge it. Depend 
 upon it, my diagnosis is right. Keep clear of money, 
 Warren, as you would of the plague ; it can do you 
 no good, and might irretrievably injure your career. 
 You can t doubt my sincerity, at all events. I care 
 more for you than for any other man in the world, 
 and by a scratch of this pen I might make you a 
 millionnaire ten times over ; but I shall never do it ! 
 It is your fate to be the foremost figure in America, 
 and never to own a bank-account." 
 
 "Well, that wouldn t be an unfair exchange," 
 said Warren, laughing. "For my part, though, I 
 never noticed much of the Cincinnatus in my char 
 acter. But this is all a romance of yours, Dray ton. 
 Where did you come by so much imagination? 
 There is such a thing as the Constitution of the 
 United States." 
 
 " I have heard of some such document. Did you 
 ever read it ? " 
 
 " I could repeat it by heart when I was in college." 
 
 "Government of, by, and for the people, isn t it? 
 
200 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 No such transparent fraud was ever before put into 
 grandiloquent periods. Clear your mind of cant, 
 young man ! This government is the systematized 
 robbery of the many by the few. No one is respon 
 sible, and no one cares. A policeman is a man 
 who protects the criminal classes and shares their 
 plunder. An alderman is a person by whose 
 means wealthy corporations rob the city treasury. 
 A State governor is an individual who organizes 
 the depredations of his subordinates. A represent 
 ative " 
 
 "But, at all events, democracy is the last word 
 of politics. Beyond it is chaos, and you can t go 
 b-back to Europe." 
 
 " The brain rules the man. The husband rules 
 the family. God rules the universe. But where is 
 your prototype for a democracy? Where is your 
 evidence that the many are wiser than the one? 
 What is the value of that freedom which enables 
 one, every four years or less, to vote for substituting 
 one rogue s gallery for another? What virtue is in 
 the tolerance which prostitutes this country to the 
 occasions of all the world s assassins, adulterers, and 
 atheists? What sort of prosperity is that which 
 begets extravagance faster than it makes money? 
 What is everybody s business is nobody s business 
 
THE SENTIMENT OF AMBITION. 201 
 
 is a good old proverb, and the Constitution of the 
 United States is its prophet ! " 
 
 " There s some truth in all that, no doubt. But 
 to see an abuse is not to invent a remedy ; and, as for 
 my share in the matter, though you have reconciled 
 my poverty, you haven t found a cure for my being 
 unknown, which is poverty of a worse kind." 
 
 "Who knew Gambetta six weeks before he be 
 came Dictator of France ? There is a cure for being 
 unknown, a certain and a swift one. Can you 
 guess it?" 
 
 "I d rather you d t-tell me." 
 
 "It s an emergency!" said Dray ton, striking his 
 flat hand on the table, and then rising from his 
 chair. " The man who fills the breach of a national 
 emergency will never afterwards have to complain 
 of obscurity. And that is what you must do." 
 
 " But what if an emergency doesn t turn up ? " 
 
 " Then it must be created," was Drayton s reply ; 
 " and that is what I will do, when the right time 
 comes." 
 
202 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE PAMPHLET. 
 
 A PRESIDENTIAL election was looming ahead, and 
 both parties were gathering all their forces together 
 for a decisive struggle. The present incumbents 
 had the advantages of machinery and situation on 
 their side ; their opponents were supported by the 
 popular love of change, and by the revelation of 
 abuses that had infested the existing administration. 
 Nations are like a man, who sometimes wants to 
 read a Bible, and sometimes a jest-book, and can 
 give no reason for either preference. Both wants 
 are natural, and neither can finally exclude the 
 other. The difference between the two political 
 parties in the United States was, of course, much 
 less than that between a jest-book and the Bible ; 
 but their similarity was due rather to their common 
 disregard of statesmanship than to their devotion to 
 opposing theories of that science. Apolitical party, 
 like an algebraic formula, is a device for dispensing 
 with thought ; though, unlike the latter, it is the 
 product of emotion instead of reason. 
 
THE PAMPHLET. 203 
 
 In the midst of the preparations an incident hap 
 pened which might almost be said to have monopo 
 lized, for a time, the public attention. It owed this 
 effect, however, not so much to its essential or 
 abstract importance as to its novelty and timeliness. 
 It was nothing more than a pamphlet of a hundred 
 pages, price five cents a copy, containing an imagi 
 nary account of the complications and changes fol 
 lowing upon such events as a quarrel with Europe ; 
 a treasonable plot in Washington ; an appalling 
 pestilence ; a startling revelation of the inward rot 
 tenness and impotence of all the means and appli 
 ances of the national government ; the consequent 
 imminent peril of our existence as a nation ; and, 
 finally, of the emergence, in the nick of time, of a 
 man whose genius and energy were equal to the 
 occasion. This man was young, like the country, 
 strong and courageous, despising the shackles of 
 tradition, endowed with the common-sense and te 
 nacity which are the birthright of Englishmen, and 
 with the imaginative intuition which the Englishman 
 lacks. Drawn by the force of circumstances from 
 the ranks of the people into a position where the eyes 
 of the world were upon him, and the fate of the 
 nation was in his hands, he dealt with his responsibili 
 ties boldly and sagaciously, and retained unaltered 
 
204 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 the simplicity and homeliness of his native charac 
 ter and associations. The American people, when 
 deeply stirred, are never wanting in enthusiasm and 
 gratitude ; and their confidence in this unlooked-for 
 and semi-miraculous champion of theirs was as 
 ardent as it was boundless. But, on the threshold 
 of his most momentous undertaking the pamphlet 
 came to an end, and the result of the crisis was left 
 to the judgment and imagination of the reader. 
 
 It was, no doubt, owing largely to this forbearance 
 on the writer s part that his production met with a 
 success so extraordinary. Half a million copies were 
 sold within a month of publication. The newspapers 
 in all parts of the country reviewed it, discussed it 
 in leading articles, and gave long extracts from it. 
 Its mission was, not to dogmatize, but to suggest. 
 But some suggestions are almost equivalent to a 
 revolution. The conditions of the problem or predic 
 ament were so clearly stated, and the treatment of 
 the theme bore evidence of such mastery of facts, 
 and of both the public and private details of political 
 affairs, that each reader thought he could detect the 
 latent drift of the argument ; and the circumstance 
 that one individual s view did not coincide with his 
 neighbor s only served to stimulate thought and argu 
 ment. Several well-known public men were men- 
 
THE PAMPHLET. 205 
 
 tioned in the course of the narrative ; but the action 
 was carried on by personages who had an existence 
 only in the author s fancy, or who were, at any rate, 
 unknown as yet to the world. In spite of the 
 straightforwardness of the style and movement of 
 the little book it was constructed with singular art, 
 evincing a deep knowledge of human nature, 
 the human nature of its readers as well as of its 
 characters. A shrewd critic said of it that it 
 was a more dangerous, because a more insidious, at 
 tack upon the integrity of the Union than the act of 
 secession itself. It did not attack or defend the theory 
 of State rights ; but it insinuated the notion that the 
 democratic form of government is the most stifling, 
 because the most plausible, despotism that the world 
 has yet seen. And, although it stopped short of 
 specifying a remedy for the evils it portrayed, the 
 logic of the circumstances seemed to indicate a dicta 
 torship as the most promising solution of our dangers 
 and perplexities. 
 
 When a presidential election is in prospect nothing 
 is neglected by either party which appears capable 
 of being adapted or twisted to its cause ; and the 
 pamphlet was promptly seized upon by both sides as 
 being a more or less open advocate of their several 
 views. But when they found themselves quoting 
 
206 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 the same passages with directly opposite interpreta 
 tions the absurdity of the situation in which they 
 had placed themselves became apparent ; and they 
 were united, for once, in condemning the brochure 
 as a vicious and unprincipled publication. When, 
 however, both the pot and the kettle agree in calling 
 something else black, unprejudiced observers are 
 prone to ask themselves whether there must not be 
 some rare virtue in what is so suspiciously con 
 demned. The circulation of the pamphlet received 
 a new impetus ; and it was now read by a graver 
 and more thoughtful class, who were not accustomed 
 to mix themselves up with the ordinary political 
 intrigues. They found in it a deliberately planned 
 and carefully executed arraignment of the results of 
 popular government ; the tone not bitter nor exag 
 gerated, the succession of incidents unforced and 
 logical, and the culmination inevitable. It was 
 evidently conceived and executed by no ordinary 
 mind. Who was the author? He was not named 
 on the title-page, and the ingenuity of a million 
 readers failed to solve the question of his identity. 
 Some thought he was some ambitious spirit making 
 a covert attempt to undermine the edifice erected by 
 our forefathers. Others believed the pamphlet to 
 be the work of a critical and dispassionate philosp- 
 
THE PAMPHLET. 207 
 
 pher, who saw the dangers to which we were liable, 
 and would fain warn us of them in time. Others, 
 again, saw in it the pronunciamento of a secret 
 organization, laying the foundations of a scheme to 
 seize the reins of power. But no one could fix 
 upon any known individual as likely to be the writer. 
 The arguments were manifestly addressed to the 
 higher order of citizens ; to those whose neglect of 
 the more important duties of citizenship had hitherto 
 been a standing reproach to America. It was over 
 the heads of the mass of eager and ignorant per 
 sons ; it aroused their curiosity, but they were 
 unable to fathom its true import. In spite, there 
 fore, of the radical and daring changes that it sug 
 gested it flattered and conciliated the men whose 
 influence must, in the long run, prevail over those 
 more superficially active, unless the common 
 wealth were frankly to be abandoned to the devil. 
 It gave a certain bias to their meditations and fore 
 casts ; and led them to look forward with interest to 
 what might be the next card played by one who 
 seemed to hold so strong and unique a hand. 
 
 " Seems to me it must have been written by a 
 very good person," said the ever amiable Susan 
 Wayne, in the course of a conversation about it 
 with Nell Anthony. " The language is so cultivated 
 
208 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 and pleasant, and the writer seemed to be so desir 
 ous to state the exact truth. If my dear husband 
 were alive, I m sure he would have written in just 
 that way." 
 
 " I don t think he would have written just such 
 things," replied Nell, who was probably less sensi 
 tive to literary style than to ideas. 
 
 " It might be Uncle Joseph," said Susan ; " only 
 I never heard of his writing anything." 
 
 Nell shook her head with an expression of some 
 thing like contempt. Uncle Joseph was the first 
 human being she had ever completely disliked ; and 
 to her mind it was impossible he should have any 
 redeeming feature, even of an intellectual kind. 
 
 "I don t believe you re as fond of Uncle Joseph 
 as I am ; I can t imagine why ! " said Susan, pen 
 sively. " But who do you think it is, dear? " 
 
 "I don t know; but, whoever he is, I shouldn t 
 trust him." 
 
 " Dear me ! How strange ! Now that s just 
 what I should have done." 
 
 " I hope no one I love will ever have anything to 
 do with the man that wrote that book. He knows 
 a great deal ; but I don t believe he really cares for 
 his country. And it doesn t follow, because we are 
 governed by bad men, that the way of governing is 
 
THE PAMPHLET. 209 
 
 bad. Besides, America is not a country, like the 
 others ; it is the best part of all countries, the 
 noblest and freest thoughts of all the men in the 
 world. And I would rather be governed as we are 
 now, than by any one man, even if he were the best 
 and wisest that ever lived." 
 
 w Well, dear, I never could understand much 
 about these things, and you are always right about 
 everything ; but still I don t see why a great many 
 bad men should rule us better than one good man." 
 
 " It isn t that," said Nell, taking up her sewing 
 and resuming her work upon it ; " but a ruler is a 
 person who tries to make those he rules happy and 
 prosperous ; and so the purest and most heaven-like 
 kind of government must be that where the people 
 rule ; where they all try to secure happiness and 
 prosperity for one another. But if we left it all 
 to one man we should have nothing to attend to 
 but our own selfish interests, and we should think of 
 one another only as rivals and obstacles. We might 
 become more powerful and wealthy, but we should 
 be less manly ; and the world would not look upon 
 us any longer as the place where the loftiest hopes 
 of mankind were to be realized." 
 
 Susan accepted this view of the matter all the 
 more submissively because she did not in the least 
 
210 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 comprehend it. Nell herself smiled a little at her 
 own eloquence. She was not accustomed to think 
 in such phrases. But there are people who, as it 
 were, provoke us into uttering ideas, and using 
 figures of speech, which we should probably not 
 have hit upon in solitude ; and the provocation is 
 due not to their sympathetic understanding of our 
 sayings, but to the fact that they sympathize without 
 understanding. And Susan was precisely one of 
 these comfortable people. 
 
 Mr. Terence O Ryan, who had lately moved into 
 a handsome suite of rooms at the Hoffman House, 
 was a less severe critic of the book than Nell. 
 " Afther all," he remarked to Warren, twisting his 
 dark mustache, and then inserting his hands slowly 
 into the pockets of his immaculate trousers, " it 
 don t so much matter if we dhrive a single stepper, 
 or six-in-hand, so as we get ahead, and cover the 
 ground. Tis the chaps with brains should have 
 the front place, and, sure, there s not so many of em ! 
 The public revenue is dispersed and wasted amongst 
 a lot of blockheads and blackguards, when twould 
 be much better lining the pockets of a few good 
 fellers that would know how to use it. Show me 
 one good man, with a head on his shoulders and a 
 grip on his business, and, faith ! tis Terence 
 
THE PAMPHLET. 211 
 
 O Ryan would follow him through thick and thin ! 
 And, by the same token, the chap that wrote that 
 book won t be a bad sort the day he dhrops the pin, 
 and makes a grab for the ballot-box ! " 
 
 " Is the ballot-box mightier than the pen ? " 
 Warren asked. 
 
 " Sure that depends on whether you re casting the 
 votes or counting em," replied Terence, with a 
 twinkle of the eye ; " and what s voting amount to 
 any way? Isn t there a hundred men to-day will 
 vote as I tell em, and not the half of an idea among 
 the whole blessed pack of em what it s all about ? 
 And won t I and a hundred others vote as the boss 
 bids us if it twas for the devil himself God bless 
 him ! Very well, then, Mr. Bell, in the name of 
 common-sense and economy, why not cut off the 
 zeros and keep the units ? Where s the use of a lot 
 of idle, shiftless ignoramuses, that calls themselves 
 politicians, and all the politics they know is to get 
 tight on other men s whiskey, and carry torches in a 
 parade? Sure twould be better both for them and 
 the country if they was all at work earning their 
 bread at some honest calling, contributing to the 
 honor and prosperity of the land, and laving govern 
 ment to them as was born to govern. Faith, tis 
 out of patience with em I am, intirely," said Mr. 
 
212 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 O Ryan, turning to pour out a thimbleful of Old 
 Bourbon, and nodding at Warren as he tossed it 
 down his throat. 
 
 rt The amount of it is that we shall be ruled by 
 cir-circumstances, like the rest of the world," War 
 ren observed. 
 
 "With all my heart, so the circumstances are 
 of my own conthriving," rejoined Terence, with a 
 laugh and a wink ; and then Warren left him. 
 
 He crossed Broadway, and turned up Fifth ave 
 nue. In a moment a step came up behind him, 
 and Drayton appeared at his side. They greeted 
 each other with a friendly brevity, and walked on 
 together. 
 
 " O Ryan was just speaking to me about that new 
 pamphlet," Warren said. " It s odd how many men 
 here seem not averse to a change of government." 
 
 "For my part," returned Drayton, "I should 
 say we change our government only too often." 
 
 " I mean, change it altogether, abolish the Re 
 public." 
 
 " Do you think that would be possible ? " 
 
 rt Well, yes. There are a great many people 
 who would like a monarchy, or even a despotism, 
 just for the pleasure of being courtiers. Then there 
 are others, like O Ryan, who would favor it because 
 
TUB PAMPHLET. 213 
 
 they think it would make them richer. And no 
 doubt there are some who would accept it from pa 
 triotic and philosophic motives." 
 
 " Are you among any of those classes ? " 
 
 " I don t think I should care to call any man my 
 master." 
 
 " Suppose you were to meet a man who was your 
 master, whether physically, mentally or spiritu 
 ally, as, according to Shakespeare, Augustus was 
 the master of Anthony. Without any derogation 
 of your qualities, my dear boy, such a thing is 
 conceivable. In that case would you refuse to 
 acknowledge his mastership ? " 
 
 " Well, yes, I guess I would, in the sense we 
 are talking of." 
 
 "Would not that be simply refusing to admit 
 what was, nevertheless, a fact, a mere question 
 of words, when the thing itself was conceded? " 
 
 " N-not as I see it. A man may be a better man 
 than I, plenty of them, and yet have no right 
 to order me round. A man is accountable to the 
 law, which is the human version of the will of God ; 
 and, in comparison with that, the difference between 
 the greatest man and the least is too small to be 
 worth consideration. A man who pretends to be 
 greater than the law " 
 
214 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "Yes ; but we don t want to go into abstractions," 
 interrupted Dray ton, good-humoredly. "We are a 
 practical nation. Our form of government is not an 
 arbitrary creation of Jefferson and Washington ; it 
 grew up gradually and unconsciously from the 
 primitive procedure of our isolated frontier towns 
 and villages. Congress is nothing but the meeting 
 of the village selectmen magnified a few hundred 
 diameters. We have drifted into a republic ; we 
 didn t create it of malice aforethought. The constitu 
 tion formulates and legalizes what was found ready 
 to hand ; a critic might say it made the best of a 
 bad bargain. Our forefathers were in a very in 
 dependent mood just then ; they had been fighting 
 the British, and the more their government could be 
 made to seem different from the British the better 
 they would be pleased. It was a leap in the dark, 
 taken in anything but a dispassionate moment. 
 And, seriously, Warren, I m inclined to think 
 it was a leap in the wrong direction. Human 
 nature is the same here that it is in England, 
 and even in Russia ; and the republican form of 
 government doesn t suit human nature. In every 
 great body of men there will be so many snobs, 
 so many money-makers, so many idlers, so many 
 aristocrats, so many canaille, so many rulers 
 
THE PAMPHLET. 215 
 
 and patriots. Now, our government, theoretically, 
 only recognizes the existence of the last two ; but, 
 as a matter of fact, the other classes are here, and, 
 as there is no accommodation prepared for them, 
 they make the best they can for themselves. The 
 result is confusion, perplexity, rascality, and ob 
 structions of all kinds. In England, on the other 
 hand, there is, broadly speaking, a place for every 
 body, and everybody is in his place, and the govern 
 ment inevitably falls into the hands of tho persons 
 best qualified to administer, who, again, could only 
 have come into existence under the kind of govern 
 ment which they administer." 
 
 " Then do you go in for a limited monarchy in 
 America ? " 
 
 " No ; for a limited monarchy cannot be made to 
 order. It is natural to England, for it is the out 
 growth of their peculiar condition during a thousand 
 years ; but it would be artificial and absurd for 
 us." 
 
 * Well w-what s your alternative ? " 
 
 " Perhaps not very far from that suggested by the 
 author of the pamphlet." 
 
 " And what is that ? " 
 
 :t You should be able to answer that question as 
 well as I." 
 
216 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 " The truth is," Warren confessed, " I never 
 read the thing." 
 
 Drayton glanced at him in some surprise. " Isn t 
 that rather eccentric ? " 
 
 "I didn t mean it that way. I don t think I 
 thought much about it. Besides, logic and reason 
 ing are not of much use to me in such matters. It s 
 
 o 
 
 accident and p-prejudice, I guess, that do the 
 business." 
 
 Drayton gave a quiet laugh. " Upon the whole," 
 he said, "I am glad you didn t read it. It wasn t 
 written for you ; it was written for everybody else. 
 You need another sort of medicine, if you need 
 any." 
 
 " How do you know who it was or was not written 
 for?" Warren inquired. 
 
 " For one thing because I know who wrote it." 
 
 "Who was it?" 
 
 "I wrote it myself," answered Drayton, laughing 
 again. " But here we are at my house. Come in ; 
 I want to have a chat with you." 
 
A LEAP IN THE DARK. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A LEAP IN THE DARK. 
 
 THEY went into the library, and Dray ton asked 
 the servant whether Miss Dray ton were at home. 
 The man replied that she had gone out about half 
 an hour before. 
 
 " I congratulate you on your success in author 
 ship," said Warren. "Is this your first work?" 
 
 " The first and the last," answered Drayton. His 
 manner was abstracted, and he sat for some time in 
 silence, with his arms folded and his eyes turned 
 downwards. At last he looked up and said, " War 
 ren, most men of your age have some affair of the 
 heart on hand. I was married at twenty-five. 
 Have you ever contemplated such a step ? " 
 
 " Well, I don t expect to be married," said War 
 ren, rubbing his forehead with his hand. 
 
 "You have had some early love-scrapes, like 
 the rest of us ? " Drayton continued, pleasantly. 
 
 " I don t know. I don t understand women. I don t 
 think I could trust a woman. I get on better with 
 men. You can generally tell what a man will do, 
 
218 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 but women beat all calculations. They don t do 
 what you expect, and they do what you don t 
 expect. Some men, I suppose, have a genius for 
 women ; but I m not one of them. And not to un 
 derstand a woman seems to have a bad effect on 
 her. It seems to dem-demoralize her." 
 
 "We mustn t expect too much of them, my dear 
 boy. They are emotional; they communicate a 
 color and a sparkle to the ordinary facts of life, and 
 we are sometimes liable to overrate the world under 
 their influence. But, after all deductions, the truth 
 remains that women add essentially to the happiness, 
 the order, and the prosperity of existence ; only we 
 must remember to apply to them the doctrine of the 
 conservation of energy. If you begin with a blaze 
 of romantic passion you will end with a frigid com- 
 monplaceness. The best plan is to strike a reason 
 able average at first, and then your relations will 
 improve instead of deteriorating ; for you will form 
 habits of affection and association, and these in 
 themselves are agreeable. Be the friend of your 
 wife; be kind, be firm, be charitable; and, unless 
 3 r our choice has been particularly unfortunate, your 
 life with her will be full of very solid and useful 
 satisfactions. Don t expect to find the world in 
 her ; but look upon her as your constant alternative 
 
A LEAP IN THE DARK. 219 
 
 from the world. The world will give you all that 
 she cannot ; but the rewards of the world would be 
 less grateful without her." 
 
 " That is sensible enough ; but I could never woo 
 a woman on those terms. I must at least believe 
 I m in love with her, if I want to make her love 
 me." 
 
 " Women can and, generally speaking, they 
 ought to be guided towards marriage by other 
 influences than those of the lover. The European 
 customs have much good sense in them, though they 
 are carried to an extreme. Warren, I have a great 
 desire to see you married." 
 
 " I should be happy to oblige you ; but " 
 
 "I desire," Drayton continued, leaning forward 
 and speaking with great earnestness and feeling, 
 " to live to see your children your daughters and 
 your sons growing up around you ; and to know 
 that the plans, which I am forming for your future 
 have a chance of being carried on by your posterity. 
 And one thing more, Warren : I have no other son 
 but you ; all my acts and hopes have respect to 
 you ; why should you not, when you take a wife, 
 take her whose union to you would unite you also 
 with me? Be my son, indeed; be the husband of 
 my daughter ! " 
 
220 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "My dear Drayton ! " exclaimed Warren, too 
 much astonished to remember his manners, "you 
 don t know w-what you are saying ! Your daughter 
 would no more think of marrying me than she 
 would a bronze statue in the park ! I haven t talked 
 with her a score of times in my life. I should only 
 make her miserable, and " 
 
 " You don t know her you have said enough to 
 prove that," interrupted Drayton, with a confident 
 smile. " This is the first time I ve spoken to you 
 on the subject ; but I have conversed more than once 
 with her. And, without violating her confidence, I 
 may tell you she does not think you would make 
 her miserable." 
 
 Warren stared at his interlocutor, but was unable 
 to say anything. 
 
 "I have entrusted her," the other went on, " with 
 much of the general scope of the design I have been 
 forming concerning your future connection with the 
 affairs of this country. She understands what 
 your career is to be, and she has in her the qualities 
 which would enable her to promote and to appre 
 ciate this. In her feminine way she has an ambi 
 tion which would harmonize with yours, and support 
 it. Personally she is fitted to adorn any station in 
 life to which she might be called. Your marriage 
 
A LEAP IN THE DARK. 221 
 
 would draw us all closer together ; and, since you 
 have no other attachment, I am convinced you would 
 find all you can wish in her." 
 
 " Have you already proposed me to her do you 
 mean that ? " 
 
 " Oh, certainly not ! I could not know, until I 
 had it from your own lips, that you were not other 
 wise interested. But, of course, I can read Lizzie s 
 mind and heart like an open book, and I know that 
 it needs only a word from you to turn her wholly in 
 your direction. She isn t dying of love for you, 
 Warren : her nature is more intelligent than pas 
 sionate ; but she is sympathetic and affectionate, and 
 I have noticed that she is already becoming weary 
 of the superficial social pleasures that have engaged 
 her during the last two or three years. She wants 
 some deeper and more tender interest in life. You 
 seem to lack something, too. Can you not find it 
 in each other ? " 
 
 Warren got up from his chair and walked about 
 the room. It was true that he lacked something, 
 he had felt that for a long time ; but as to finding it 
 in Lizzie His thoughts had been busy with quite 
 a different figure. And yet, to what end should he 
 meditate upon that other? He knew her no more 
 than he knew Lizzie perhaps not so much. He 
 
222 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 had believed that she would accept him, and she had 
 refused him : that was the first mistake. She had 
 come to New York without informing him of it, and 
 had tried to conceal herself from him when, by acci 
 dent, they had met ; he had never detected anything 
 in her to prepare him for that. Again, the meeting 
 had occurred in the house of a man whose reputation 
 Warren knew to be scandalous. What had been 
 her errand there? The girl whom Warren had 
 known and loved in his boyhood had revealed no 
 trait that would answer that question. No ; she 
 had receded beyond the grasp of his faith and 
 knowledge ; she was not what he had believed her 
 to be, and she avoided him for sufficient cause. 
 Why, then, did he follow her with unavailing 
 thoughts ? Did he love her, after all ? He would 
 not admit it. Why should he love her more than 
 on that day when he had asked her to marry him ? 
 And since she was lost to him he must turn else 
 where for compensation. He must take his ambi 
 tion to wife ; and, if Dray ton wished it, and Lizzie 
 were willing, why not take her, too? She was 
 pretty, graceful, and pliable ; not likely to engross 
 him too deeply, and capable enough, no doubt, of 
 filling and ornamenting the vacant interstices of 
 existence. From the worldly point of view the 
 
A LEAP IN THE DARK. 223 
 
 match was splendid. From any point of view it 
 was reasonable and expedient. And yet he had 
 never felt less happy than at this moment. 
 
 He returned to his chair and sat down. 
 
 " I need scarcely say," Dray ton remarked, " that 
 I don t expect you to make up your mind on so 
 grave a matter immediately. Think it over for a 
 day or two " 
 
 " There s no necessity for that ; my only doubt 
 would be whether I ought to accept so fine a gift. 
 But that s your lookout, Dray ton. If she ll have 
 rne I ll have her, and the s-sooner the better ! " 
 
 Drayton reached forward and took Warren s hand 
 in his. 
 
 " This is a day to which we shall both look back 
 with satisfaction, as long as we live," he said. " It 
 realizes the best part of my hopes ; the rest is 
 struggle and uncertainty. But, now that we are 
 bound together by such a tie, we ought to be a 
 match for anything." 
 
 "You may count on me for all I m worth," re 
 turned Warren, with a reckless feeling. He longed 
 to be in activity, to be absorbed heart and soul in 
 something no matter what. The less he looked 
 inward, henceforth, the better for him ; he must find 
 all his interest and comfort in what lay without. 
 
224 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 But it is remarkable how insignificant the outward 
 world seems to a man when the inner one is closed 
 to him. 
 
 "I have never doubted you," Drayton said ; "and 
 you may count on me to show you work worth your 
 doing. You shall live at the centre of things, and 
 make the history that other men will spend the next 
 century in writing. Let me see : I think there will 
 be time to open the matter, at least, before Lizzie 
 comes in ; after that there will be affairs of another 
 kind to listen to. My first step to plunge at 
 once in medias res will be to annex Mexico." 
 Here Drayton made a pause, as if to afford Warren 
 an opportunity for an exclamation ; but the latter 
 only said, "All right. I am willing to annex 
 Canada and Japan into the bargain, if you will fur 
 nish the commissariat and plans of campaign." 
 
 "Mexico will be particularly useful to us, outside 
 of her intrinsic value," Drayton explained ; " for the 
 annexation will not be accomplished without diffi 
 culties, and it will go hard if some of those diffi 
 culties don t bring us into trouble with the English 
 possessions in the West Indies." 
 
 "I begin to see. You want a row." 
 
 "I want the threat of one. Americans are as 
 cool and cautious as Scotchmen in indifferent 
 
A LEAP IN THE DARK. 225 
 
 matters ; but touch them in a sensitive spot, and 
 they fire up like Spaniards. We might dilly-dally 
 over Mexico for a hundred years, if we were left to 
 ourselves ; but if England or any other nation pre 
 tends to meddle we would swoop like a hawk. We 
 are the most peaceable people in the world to-day, 
 but the martial spirit is beneath it all, just the same ; 
 and, after giving all due weight to the horrors of 
 war, I am inclined to think the imminent pros 
 pect of war, if not war itself, would do us an im 
 mense deal of good. The programme which I have 
 laid down includes a vast stimulus to our army and 
 navy, and a continual possibility, for several years to 
 come, of their being brought to the actual test. 
 The temper of the nation must be changed ; there 
 must be a controlling sympathy in some common 
 aim ; less cynical and jesting tolerance ; more stern 
 ness and preoccupation. Those are the conditions 
 under which great leaders rise up, and the people 
 put their whole faith in them. The hostility of 
 Europe can do us very little harm, for we are a 
 world in ourselves ; and, besides, Europe is likely 
 to have her hands full of her own troubles for a long 
 while to come. But in all moral and patriotic re 
 spects, such hostility would directly benefit us." 
 "I thoroughly agree with you," said Warren, rais- 
 
226 LOVE -OR A NAME. 
 
 ing himself in his chair, and nodding emphatically. 
 " But there is something to be done before beginning 
 upon Mexico. You must elect your own man for 
 President, and see that he does what you tell him." 
 
 " I see that you will need very little instruction," 
 said Dray ton, a little surprised at the other s strenu 
 ous and uncompromising tone. " Yes, the President 
 must be our property, and I have been taking 
 measures for the last year and more to secure that 
 result." 
 
 tf The certain way would be to own both the can 
 didates, Democratic and Eepublican." 
 
 " Eight again ! Upon my word, Warren, you are 
 more a politician that I had supposed. But that plan 
 is beset by various technical difficulties. There is a 
 third device, which may turn out the best of all ; and 
 that is, to create a third party, with a new platform, 
 and elect an independent President on that. That 
 would insure the confidence of a better if not a larger 
 
 o 
 
 class of voters than any other. And, as things look 
 now, the approaching campaign would be a capital 
 opportunity to attempt such a coup. Eeform will 
 be the great rally ing-cry." 
 
 "Well, we ll suppose our man elected one way or 
 another. What is to be my position ? " 
 
 " What would you like ? " 
 
A LEAP IN THE DARK. 227 
 
 "An obscure one to begin with. I am too young 
 to come to the front at once. But you must create 
 an emergency, as you call it, and I must be called on 
 to meet it. That must lead to my being advanced. 
 To make a long story short, Drayton, I shall look 
 to you for opportunities, and plenty of them ; and 
 you may depend on me for the rest. Within a year 
 I shall be where I want to be, and the people will 
 have got used to me. Then the worst will be over." 
 
 " You will find, when we come to go over the de 
 tails together, that only your personal failure can 
 stand in the w r ay of your success. And I wouldn t 
 protect you against that, if I could ! " 
 
 " No. The day I am free of you will be the day 
 you will realize what I can do for both of us." 
 
 "Of course," continued Drayton, "we shall need 
 more than one administration to thoroughly establish 
 our policy. The dictatorship must seem to be forced 
 upon us by the popular desire, not sought by our 
 selves. The form of electing a new President every 
 four years must still be observed ; but the power be 
 hind the President will remain always unchanged." 
 
 " Just as Cassar retained the consuls and the 
 Senate long after they had become mere figure 
 heads. But our people are cleverer than the 
 Populus liomanus, and will see through " 
 
228 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 " I hear the bell : she has come," Dray ton inter 
 posed, rising. " I shall leave you. Say a few 
 words to her in the sense we have agreed upon " 
 
 "I would rather you stayed," said Warren, 
 quickly. 
 
 The stepping of small feet sounded along the hall, 
 and Lizzie appeared at the door of the library. 
 She was dressed in a silk velvet pelisse trimmed 
 with fur, and wore a turban-like hat, which suited 
 the soft, piquant loveliness of her face well. But 
 her expression was dejected, and the sight of Warren 
 did not brighten it. She murmured some apology 
 for intruding, and was about to retire. 
 
 " Come in, come in, dear," said Drayton, 
 smilingly. " We were just now speaking about 
 you." 
 
 "About me?" she repeated, with a slight blush. 
 "I thought men always talked business." 
 
 " Well and doesn t their most engrossing busi 
 ness often relate to women?" her father rejoined. 
 
 Warren had risen, and he now came forward, 
 holding out his hand ; and Lizzie allowed him to 
 take hers, though with a shrinking and suspicious 
 air. 
 
 " I wanted your father to be present while I said 
 to you the most important thing I shall ever have to 
 
A LEAP IN THE DARK. 229 
 
 say to any woman," he began in a very gentle tone, 
 which vibrated a little. " I won t pretend to hope 
 that you have anticipated it I d-don t know how 
 to recommend myself in conventional ways. I can 
 only say that your father and I have the same hopes 
 and interests ; and if you could only think it possible 
 to care for me, to be my w-wife " 
 
 Lizzie withdrew her hand, and stood facing him 
 with dilated eyes and dry lips. And yet she had 
 expected that this thing would some time occur, and 
 she had often considered the manner in which she 
 would deal with it. But the moment seemed espe 
 cially inopportune ; the conditions were not as she 
 had pictured them in her mind ; above all, she was 
 embarrassed by the presence of her father, to whom 
 she had, in truth, intimated more or less definitely 
 that she would consider the proposal favorably. 
 She had done this partly in order to escape his per 
 suasions and partly in order to divert any possible 
 impression on his part as to her real situation. But 
 now the crisis was come, and her presence of mind 
 was gone ; the very gravity of the predicament in 
 creased her inability to evade it. When a woman 
 is forced to speak without knowing what to say she 
 nearly always says the last thing she wanted to. 
 
 "Q Mr. Bell," she exclaimed in a stumbling 
 
2oO LOVE OR A NAME 
 
 way, "I m sure I didn t mean you should see I 
 cared for you I mean father ought not to have 
 told you that I thought of being your anybody s 
 wife. I was very happy at home I had no idea 
 that you really" She stopped, for it was worse 
 than useless to go on. Some perverse demon was 
 making her seem to insinuate everything that she 
 was most anxious to repudiate. Even her trembling 
 and blushing were misleading, and she knew it. 
 She stood there like a bashful maiden suffused with 
 lovely shame at the revelation of her heart s secret. 
 
 Warren on the other hand, might have interpreted 
 her aright, had love been in his eyes to sharpen 
 them ; but, as the whole matter was perfunctory on 
 his part, he constrained himself to see in her be 
 havior only what favored his purpose, though it 
 opposed his desire. And, with his innate impatience 
 of delays and uncertainties, he hurried on to com 
 mit himself beyond the possibility of withdrawal 
 while the iron was hot. 
 
 " Try to forgive my clumsiness," he said, taking 
 both her hands, which she now surrendered to him 
 with a sigh that meant despair, but sounded like timid 
 pleasure. " My life will show you what I feel for 
 you better than my words can. This must seem 
 very sudden to you ; but, if we had known each 
 
A LEAP IN THE DARK. 231 
 
 other all our lives, it would be the same at last. I 
 will try to make you happy, Lizzie ; and if I succeed 
 it will give me more happiness than I ought to hope 
 for." 
 
 He waited a moment, looking down at her ; but 
 as she did not lift her eyes or speak, he bent and 
 kissed her lightly on the cheek. She started at the 
 touch of his lips, and caught her breath ; for an 
 instant she looked in his eyes in an appealing, terri 
 fied way ; then, stepping back from him, she turned 
 and left the room, with her hands over her face. 
 
 " I was in the way, as I knew I should be, and 
 the little girl was frightened," Dray ton said, coming 
 forward and laying a hand on Warren s shoulder. 
 "But she managed to indicate her feelings very 
 clearly and very prettily, though I say it ; and I 
 can congratulate you on having made her and me 
 and I hope yourself very happy ! " 
 
 " Yes ; that is settled," returned Warren, regard 
 ing the other with a preoccupied gaze. He shook 
 his head, took a long breath and added, "Now I m 
 r-ready for anything." 
 
232 LOVE -OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A SURPRISE. 
 
 SUSAN WAYNE had evidently, for some time past, 
 had a secret on her mind ; in fact she had frequently 
 admitted as much to Nell, at the same time entreat 
 ing her not to ask what it was. Nell complied with 
 this request with perhaps even more loyalty than 
 Susan desired ; for a secret that nobody tries to find 
 out is hardly a full-fledged secret at all. 
 
 That the secret related in some way to the pro 
 jected Home, was, indeed, apparent enough. After 
 the interview already described between the ladies 
 and Uncle Joseph the idea of renting the Peter-and- 
 Paul establishment had fallen through ; several 
 other houses had been examined and rejected, on 
 one ground or another, until, two or three months 
 ago, Susan had suddenly become mysterious ; and, 
 while deprecating any further search, had neverthe 
 less declared that it would be " all right," and she 
 dared say they would get just what they wanted if 
 they waited a little. Nell, meanwhile, had sufficient 
 occupation for her thoughts in the consideration of 
 
A SURPRISE. 233 
 
 various details of the scheme after it should have 
 been started, as well as of other matters of private 
 interest to herself ; and she did not think it likely that 
 Susan would get into any very serious scrape with 
 out betraying herself in time. When, therefore, 
 her friend proposed one afternoon that they should 
 take a drive, accompanying the suggestion with 
 much enigmatical elephantine pantomime, Nell came 
 to the conviction that the secret was on the eve of a 
 happy delivery, and she set forth with a serene 
 mind. 
 
 They drove through the park, and then turning to 
 the right, entered the neighborhood of One Hundred 
 and Twenty-fifth street. Here the houses were less 
 compactly placed, and showed a greater variety and 
 independence in style of architecture than in the lower 
 portion of the city. There were gardens and open 
 spaces, and trees which, though now bare of leaves 
 gave promise of grateful verdure in summer lined 
 the streets. There was a sense of air and elevation, 
 topographical, if not social; though even in the 
 latter respect the region was quite unexceptionable. 
 At length they approached a large edifice, of almost 
 colonial aspect, built of ancient brick, and standing 
 back from the road in a garden of its own. Though 
 ancient in comparison with its neighbors, it was 
 
234 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 evidently in excellent repair ; and it had a sumptu 
 ous, hospitable, home-like air with it, such as the 
 modern architect seldom tries for, and still more 
 seldom attains. Two large elms grew on either side 
 of it, and their arching branches rose above the 
 broad roof. The coachman turned his horses in at 
 the carriage-gate, and reined them in at the door. 
 
 " What a pleasant place ! " said Nell. " What is 
 it?" 
 
 " Oh, it was recommended to me as likely to suit 
 us for the Home, you know, and I thought I d 
 bring you up to look at it. It does look nice, 
 doesn t it? Well, come in." 
 
 The wide door opened as they ascended the steps, 
 and they entered a spacious and well-lighted hall, 
 with an ample staircase mounting upwards in the 
 distance. The house was even more extensive than 
 it appeared from the outside. Several doors on 
 each side of the hall opened into airy rooms, quietly 
 but comfortably furnished, and as neat as wax. 
 There were no signs of present occupation, and yet 
 everything seemed ready for occupants. Each room 
 had pictures on the walls, growing plants in pots in 
 the windows, and books on a book-shelf. In the 
 rear was a large kitchen and offices, fitted up com 
 pletely with all necessary implements and utensils, 
 
A SURPRISE. 235 
 
 scoured till they shone again. The hall passed 
 through the house, and opened at the further end 
 into an enclosed garden, where there were half-a- 
 dozen gnarled apple-trees, and straight paths be 
 tween grass-plots bordered with currant-bushes. 
 
 " This is almost as good as Hickory ! " exclaimed 
 Nell, giving the warmest praise that her unforgetting 
 heart would allow. 
 
 "I am so glad you like it, dear," returned Susan, 
 with her broad smile. "I thought you would. But 
 we haven t been upstairs yet ; there are two flights." 
 And she led the way, climbing upward with an 
 expression of genial energy in her broad back that 
 was agreeably in harmony with the character of the 
 surroundings. 
 
 The upper part of the house was worthy of the 
 handsome and substantial basement. There seemed 
 to be no end to the bedrooms, and it was 
 hard to say which was the brightest and pret 
 tiest. The family which had originally inhabited 
 this dwelling must have been a large one, and 
 much given to the exercise of hospitality. The 
 third floor was a repetition of the second, on a 
 somewhat reduced scale as regarded the height of 
 the rooms ; and the whole was surmounted by a 
 cupola, from which there was a fine view of Har- 
 
236 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 lem river and Highbridge, and the wooded heights 
 of Morrisania. 
 
 "Are you sure we can have this place?" demanded 
 Nell, turning upon her friend, when they had fin 
 ished their promenade through the apartments. 
 w Isn t it too dear, or something ? " 
 
 "No," Susan replied, beaming anew; "I believe 
 it s quite reasonable. And you can see for yourself 
 how healthy and clean it is. And it s very accessi 
 ble, you know, and yet not too much in the town." 
 
 " But how is it that there s no one here, and yet 
 everything is in such good order ? " 
 
 " Well, you see the people that owned it don t 
 live in it, there aren t enough of them to fill it, I 
 suppose ; so they wanted to dispose of it, and so 
 they would naturally put it in order. I don t think 
 we should need to make many alterations, do you?" 
 
 " None at all that I see. We wanted a home 
 like place, and this is like a real home. It only 
 needs to have people in it to be perfect. Our poor 
 people, though ! " she added, walking to a window 
 and gazing towards the city. 
 
 " How soon could we have possession of it ? " she 
 asked, turning again after a moment. 
 
 " Oh, we could have it immediately, I believe. 
 We might begin to-morrow." 
 
A SURPRISE. 237 
 
 " Who is the agent the business man ? " 
 
 "I don t know that I can give his name," said 
 Susan, with a rather ambiguous twinkle of her little 
 eyes. " But we might have him call on us when 
 ever we wish." 
 
 "I was thinking," Nell went on, "that, if it could 
 be done, it might be better to buy this place outright. 
 By and by this land will become more valuable, and 
 other houses will be built, and then the rents will 
 rise. And it would be comfortable to feel that there 
 was no landlord to be responsible to. That is for 
 you to decide, though." 
 
 " It was just exactly what I thought all along," 
 exclaimed Susan, clapping her plump hands to 
 gether. " It ought to belong to us ; and it shall 
 shan t it?" 
 
 " It would come to a good deal, I m afraid, 
 with all the furniture, too. Have you any idea 
 what the selling price would be?" 
 
 " O Nell ! my dearest, what difference does that 
 make if we are satisfied with the place ? If you say 
 yes, then we ll consider it ours, and that s the end of 
 it!" 
 
 " It is easy to say yes ; I only wish I could do 
 something that would give me more right to say it," 
 returned Nell. 
 
238 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "Do something ! " cried Susan, taking her in her 
 arms and kissing her. " Why, you do everything ! 
 I only sit and look on ! I don t feel as if I had any 
 right to be here unless you let me ! I can tell you 
 one thing, this house would never have been 
 ours if it hadn t been for you ; we shouldn t ever 
 have known that there was such a place." 
 
 " How can that be ? What do you mean ? You 
 knew of it before I did." 
 
 "Never mind! that is the real truth, and you 
 will understand how directly. By the way, come 
 downstairs again. There is one thing you haven t 
 seen, and I hope you ll think it the best of all. 
 And it will explain everything, too. Come ! " 
 
 As they returned to the basement Nell was silent 
 and perplexed ; and a strange, unreasonable hope 
 was trying to force itself into recognition in her 
 heart. She told herself that it was absurd and im 
 possible, and yet she could not dismiss it. More 
 over, Susan s next words seemed almost to justify 
 and confirm it. 
 
 " When you like a thing very much, as we like 
 this house, for instance," Susan said, " and every 
 thing about it is just the way we wanted it lo be, 
 did you ever think, dear, whether there was any 
 thing that could make it pleasanter to possess it? " 
 
A SURPRISE. 239 
 
 " How do you mean?" asked Nell, quickly. 
 
 "Well, suppose there was a beautiful flower, that 
 was as lovely as it could be in itself, so that it would 
 seem impossible to improve it, don t you think you 
 would value it more, and feel happier in having it, 
 if it were given to you by some one whom you like 
 very much, and respected and admired, and who 
 gave it to you because he thought very highly of 
 you?" 
 
 "But a rose is not a house," replied Nell, half 
 laughing and half grave. 
 
 " A house is as good as a rose if the right person 
 gives it in the right way," Susan answered, with rare 
 epigrammatic point. * But now I shan t say a word 
 more. Come into this room, and you will see for 
 yourself." 
 
 Nell s heart, which had been growing unnaturally 
 indolent of late, began to beat hard. Every young 
 woman will, at some moment of her life, anticipate 
 a miracle, especially if it be a happy one. And the 
 miracle that was dazzling Nell s eyes just now, and 
 bringing tears into them, was to the effect that 
 Warren Bell was in some way concerned in this 
 affair. How or why, she could not imagine ; still 
 less was it conceivable that he and Susan would 
 have met and conspired in this way, without Nell s 
 
240 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 ever suspecting it. If this was Susan s secret it was 
 a secret indeed. But it was not to be believed, and 
 the only reason Nell could have given for believing 
 it was that it would be the greatest happiness (as 
 she fancied) that God could vouchsafe to her. 
 
 But life supplies very few well-authenticated in 
 stances of this kind of dramatic felicity. When the 
 door opened and Nell entered with her soul in her 
 eyes, she saw a stout, elderly gentleman rise from a 
 table and come forward to meet her, with an insinuat 
 ing smile on his shrewd, massive face, and a deed of 
 sale in his hand. The revulsion was so abrupt and 
 so violent that it seemed to her as if a diabolical 
 enchantment had suddenly transformed Warren Bell 
 into the repulsive similitude of Uncle Joseph. But 
 there was no enchantment about the matter. Uncle 
 Joseph was there in solid flesh and blood, and 
 primed with a graceful little speech, conveying to 
 Nell, as sole and absolute owner, the title-deeds of 
 the house and estate which she had just been so 
 frankly admiring. He had no doubt that he was 
 doing a very graceful and chivalric act, and one that 
 could not fail to make a tender impression even on 
 the chilly snow of her virgin heart. 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 241 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
 
 IT was near dinner-time when the two ladies 
 reached home. During the drive thither Nell 
 spoke not a single word, and it was easy even 
 for the unobservant Susan to see that she was 
 very indignant about something. But, though 
 Susan addressed many remarks and several direct 
 questions to her, Nell made no more reply than 
 if she had been stone deaf; and her poor friend 
 gradually worked herself into an extreme state 
 of nervous agitation. They went up to dress, 
 still in silence ; but while Susan was in the 
 midst of her toilet, there was a knock at her 
 door, and Nell came in, looking very cloudy and 
 ominous. 
 
 "May I ask you some questions, Susan?" she 
 said, in a monotonous voice. 
 
 "Oh, yes, dear anything!" Susan exclaimed, 
 almost tearfully. " I only wish you would." 
 
 " I couldn t say anything before ; but I have 
 thought that perhaps you didn t know all that was 
 
242 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 to happen. Of course you knew that the house was 
 a gift from Judge Muhlbach ? " 
 
 " But you know, Nell, it pleased him so to help 
 us ; and the house had belonged to a relative of his, 
 who left it to him in his will, so it didn t cost him 
 anything ; and it was so exactly what he knew we 
 wanted ; and he sympathized so with us ! I m sure 
 I thought you would be pleased, I don t see why 
 you shouldn t be ; and I thought it would make you 
 like him better ; for it has seemed to me sometimes 
 that you didn t appreciate him as much as he de 
 served, for he is the best man in the " 
 
 "I believe you think so," Nell interrupted, 
 sternly ; and there was a little silence. " Did you 
 know," she presently resumed, "what he was going 
 to say to me in that room ? " 
 
 " He was going to tell you how it all was, and to 
 present you with the title-deeds, what else was 
 there to say? " Susan demanded plaintively. 
 
 "Then why did you go out of the room, and stay 
 out so long, and leave him and me alone there to 
 gether?" continued Nell, her voice sharpening a 
 little, while her large eyes were fixed steadily upon 
 the other s broad, appealing countenance. 
 
 " Why, Nell ! you know it was only an accident 
 at first," Susan exclaimed earnestly. " You know 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 243 
 
 the care-taker came and asked me to see the kitchen 
 boiler, which we had forgotten to look at ; and then 
 she kept me quite a while talking about all sorts of 
 things ; and then, when I was going back, I 
 thought may be you d better have your talk with 
 uncle alone, and that I d only be in the way. 
 But indeed, Nell, I never dreamed you wouldn t 
 like it. You know he s old enough to be your 
 father or mine either; and he s the best 
 man " 
 
 " He is not my father, or even my uncle ; and I 
 don t believe there was so much accident as you 
 think about the care-taker coming to ask you about 
 the boiler. He had arranged it all beforehand ; 
 and it was not about the title-deeds that he wished 
 to speak to me." 
 
 "Dear me! What could it have been, then?" 
 cried Susan, an accent of irrepressible curiosity 
 penetrating through her distress. 
 
 The solemnity of Nell s features relaxed some 
 what. "I m glad you don t know," she said. "I 
 thought you must, and that you had agreed with 
 him to give him the opportunity. He said that 
 well, he asked me to marry him." 
 
 Nell ! My Uncle Joseph ! Marry him ! " 
 These sentences came from Susan in a feeble treble, 
 
244 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 for she was quite out of breath with astonishment. 
 " But are you did you you didn t ? " 
 
 " We are not going to be married," Nell said, 
 with a slight nervous shudder. She sat for a few 
 moments looking down at her hands, which were 
 crossed in her lap. 
 
 " Uncle Joseph ! " murmured Susan again , still 
 groping in depths of wonder. " What did he do 
 when you refused him?" she inquired, after a 
 pause. 
 
 " He talked a great deal. He told me how rich 
 he could make me. He seemed to think that a wife 
 was something you can go to market and buy. At 
 last he wanted to know whether I preferred any one 
 to him ; I told him, almost any one ! Then he asked 
 why I objected to him? At last he made me 
 angry, and I told him why, and I told him just what 
 I thought." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! how awful it was ! Won t you tell 
 me, dear? " 
 
 " I said that, the first time I saw him he had 
 called the man that I care for more than any one 
 else a scamp. You remember, Susan ; it was he we 
 met coming out, that day we went to see your 
 uncle. That was Warren Bell. He once asked me 
 to be his wife, and I said no, not because I didn t 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 245 
 
 love him, but because I did. I came here so as to 
 be near him. I wanted to be glad when he was 
 glad, and sorry when he was sorry, and warn him 
 or protect him if he fell into any danger. But I 
 thought that a country girl like me would only be a 
 burden on him as a wife ; and, unless he recognized 
 me on that day, he thinks I am still in Hickory. 
 Thank Heaven I m not, though ! " she exclaimed, 
 her emotion flashing out for a moment. 
 
 Susan clasped her hands before her ample breast. 
 " Nell, how romantic ! And you never told me a 
 word of it all this time ! " Indeed, this fact seemed to 
 Susan s mind the most remarkable feature of the af 
 fair. " But what did Uncle Joseph say ? " she added. 
 
 " A great many things ; and some that I thank 
 him for. He told me what Warren Bell is doing 
 how he is being used by other men for something 
 bad and dangerous. I had feared that, for I know 
 how generous and impetuous he is ; and, from time 
 to time since I have been here, I have learned 
 things about him ; but I never should have learned 
 so much that is important except from your uncle, 
 who told it to me to make me believe that Warren 
 is as bad as the men who are making use of him. 
 I don t know how he found out what he told ; in no 
 honest way, I m sure." 
 
246 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 " My head is all turned round ! " murmured Susan. 
 "What shall you do?" 
 
 " I can say nothing about that. But I told your 
 uncle that I would have nothing to do with his gift 
 of the Home. He may give it to you, if he chooses, 
 and marry you, if you ll have him, you said he 
 wasn t your real uncle, but then it will be no 
 concern of mine. I shall be very sorry, Susan, not 
 to be with you as we had hoped, and the house 
 couldn t be better, but I will accept nothing from 
 him, nor be associated with him in any way." 
 
 At this announcement Susan burst into tears. 
 She had been uncertain whether to laugh or cry for 
 some time past, and would have probably ended by 
 doing both had not the feeling that she was aban 
 doned by her best friend determined her in favor of 
 the latter. Nell was somewhat disturbed by this 
 manifestation ; she had been thinking much more of 
 her resentment against Muhlbach than Susan s affec 
 tion for her ; and, her whole nature being in an 
 exalted state, she vibrated much more sensitively 
 than usual to the touch of emotion. But, just as 
 the drops were trembling in her own eyes, Susan 
 was visited by an inspiration which brought a smile 
 sputtering so to speak to the surface of her 
 tears. 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 247 
 
 rr Why shouldn t I pay uncle whatever price the 
 house is worth?" she demanded. " Then we should 
 be under no obligations to him, and we could still 
 be together. Will that satisfy you, dear? If you 
 leave me, I declare I believe I should die ! " 
 
 "I can t advise you about a thing like that," said 
 Nell, hesitatingly. " You must not buy it for my 
 sake, but only if you would prefer to buy it any 
 way. If you don t mind being obliged to him, 
 you mustn t let " 
 
 " But I do mind ! and I m infinitely obliged to 
 you, dear, for showing me how wrong it was. I 
 never know the right thing to do unless I m told ; 
 and, as I always say, I depend on you to do it. I 
 was so busy thinking how pleased you would be with 
 the house that the other part of the business never 
 entered iny head. Oh, how glad I am that s set 
 tled ! " and she kissed her friend vigorously. " I 
 wish you d tell me more about Mr. Bell," she con 
 tinued. "Is he worthy of you? and what sort of 
 danger is he in ? " 
 
 The answer to these questions (though they were 
 only partial ones) could not be rendered in a few 
 minutes, and dinner was kept waiting an uncon 
 scionable while. But when at last the two friends 
 went downstairs, their relations were more affec- 
 
248 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 tionate and harmonious than they had ever been 
 yet. 
 
 One forenoon, not long afterwards, Nell was on 
 her way up Fifth avenue, when, on a street corner, 
 she met Warren Bell face to face. On this occasion 
 Nell did not pull down her veil. She had made up 
 her mind to speak to Warren the next time she saw 
 him. As their eyes met, a momentary tremor went 
 through her, and then she became composed. War 
 ren dropped his eye-glasses, recovered them, and 
 held out his hand, into which she immediately put 
 her own. She noticed that he was paler than he 
 used to be, and that a change had come over his 
 manner. It was tense and restless. A certain in 
 ward repose, which had been characteristic of him, 
 was gone. 
 
 " So you remember me, after all ! " he said, with 
 a smile that came and went abruptly. 
 
 " Yes ; I remember everything," was her reply. 
 
 " Well, I am glad you have c-come to that con 
 clusion. In New York, you know, one can t be 
 sure that a friendship will last over night. Are you 
 living here ? " 
 
 " Yes I have been." 
 
 " I n-noticed when I met you some time ago 
 you seemed to have acquaintances. I don t remem- 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 249 
 
 ber your ever having spoken of them to me. Have 
 you known Judge Muhlbach long? He is said to 
 make himself very agreeable to ladies." 
 
 Nell received this in silence. After the first 
 words Warren had turned, and walked by her side 
 up the avenue. They were approaching Fiftieth 
 street. The white marble walls of the Roman 
 Catholic church rose before them. 
 
 " Have you ever been in there? " she asked. 
 
 "Never." 
 
 "Will you come in a little while, so that I can 
 say something to you ? " 
 
 They entered, and the spacious brightness of the 
 interior, so much more American than Roman, 
 opened around them and above them. There seemed 
 to be nothing going on ; a few people were walking 
 about here and there, and others were sitting in pews, 
 listening, perhaps, to the still small voice in their 
 own souls, for no other voice was audible. Nell 
 and Warren came to a pew on a side aisle, behind 
 one of the great pillars of an arch, and established 
 themselves there, in a reasonably complete seclu 
 sion. Neither of them had been in Europe, and the 
 edifice seemed to them grand and large. 
 
 " How different from our little meeting-house in 
 Hickory 1 " Nell remarked. 
 
250 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 It was a chance observation, but it went to both 
 their hearts. It brought the old wooden church 
 before them, where they had sat beside each other 
 many a Sunday, and heard Parson Barret preach 
 his sermon, long before they knew New York 
 even by name. And with this memory came others, 
 until the immediate past seemed fantastic and unsub 
 stantial, and only those childish days real. 
 
 " Why did you leave Hickory ? " asked Warren, 
 after a pause. 
 
 " I was lonely and an old friend of mine in 
 vited me to stay at her house, now that her husband 
 is dead." 
 
 " You were lonely ? Oh, you mean without your 
 mother ! " 
 
 "I don t know. At any rate, here I am. I 
 have seen you several times." 
 
 " Why w-wouldn t you speak to me ? " 
 
 "Because," replied Nell, with the simple direct 
 ness which was one of the indications of her 
 strength, "I had refused to come here with you, 
 and I wished not to interfere with you, unless there 
 were need." 
 
 "Yes, you refused," he said ; and after a moment 
 he added quickly, " Has the need come, then, for 
 interfering, as you call it ? " 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 251 
 
 " I wanted to ask you about a friend of yours, 
 Mr. Drayton. What sort of a man is he?" 
 
 "Drayton? He and my father were in college 
 together. He s a great fellow, about the ablest 
 man in New York, to say the least of him." 
 
 " Has he been good to you ? " 
 
 " As if I were his own son. He has given me 
 his confidence, and everything except his money; 
 he knows I don t want that. How are you inter 
 ested in him?" 
 
 "Does he treat you so because he cares for you, 
 or why ? " 
 
 "He believes in me. We b-believe in each 
 other. We shall do great things together. You 
 will know before long." 
 
 "I know something already," said Nell, turning 
 towards him. 
 
 "Are you sure?" returned he with a smile. 
 " You know a great deal, then." 
 
 "If I meant to do a dangerous and wicked 
 thing," she continued, "and had a friend whom I 
 loved, I would not send him where the danger was, 
 and stay in hiding myself. And yet you call Mr. 
 Drayton a friend." 
 
 Warren looked at her. " What do you know ? " 
 he demanded. 
 
252 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "Mr. Drayton means to betray his country, and 
 he is going to put you forward as the traitor." 
 
 "Who told you that?" he asked below his 
 breath. 
 
 " That can make no difference . Why have you 
 consented to such a thing, Warren ? " 
 
 " It would have been no friend of freedom and 
 honesty who put those w-words in your mouth. If 
 I m a traitor, then so was Martin Luther and 
 William Tell. When thieves and swindlers find 
 themselves checked, then they cry Treason ! You 
 haven t heard the other side." 
 
 " I believe that our country was given to us by 
 God ; and America would not be America if it were 
 not a republic. If it is governed by thieves instead 
 of by honest men, it is not because we are a 
 republic. You are only a man like other men ; 
 how can you tell how you would use supreme 
 power if you had it? Even if you did no other 
 wrong, you would have destroyed the best hope of 
 all the nations of the world ; and I would rather 
 see you dead, Warren, than live to do that ! " 
 
 Warren s face flushed. " That might easily be," 
 he said. " I have no reason to suppose that it makes 
 much difference to you whether I m alive or not." 
 
 Nell bit her lip and was silent. 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 253 
 
 " But since I am alive," he went on, passionately, 
 " I mean to do the work that comes to my hand, 
 and with all my might. I was not made to be idle. 
 And you are not the one who should blame me if 
 the work is not to your liking. It is your fault that 
 my only ambition is not to make you happy." 
 
 "You don t do yourself justice, Warren," said 
 she, gently. "You asked me to marry you, not 
 because you loved me, but because you thought I 
 expected it, and needed your protection. You 
 were ready to hamper yourself with me for the 
 sake of doing what you thought was right. Only 
 to make me happy would be a poor ambition ; but 
 to sacrifice yourself for the right is noble ; can t you 
 do it now, as you did then ? " 
 
 " So you thought I didn t love you ? " he asked 
 pulling at his mustache. 
 
 "You never even said you did," returned she, 
 with a faint smile. 
 
 " Well, to tell the truth, I thought I didn t love 
 you too. But the worst is, that I found out after 
 wards that I did ; and that has made a great differ 
 ence to me ever since. However, since you never 
 loved me, it amounts to the same thing in the end." 
 
 She put her hand on his, and looked in his face. 
 Such a look Warren Bell never saw again in the 
 
254 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 eyes of any woman. He beheld heaven for a mo 
 ment, but a heaven he could not possess. She 
 did not speak, at least he heard nothing ; there 
 was a humming in his ears. 
 
 He drew back, and rubbed his hand over his fore 
 head. 
 
 " I am to be married next week," he said, and 
 gave a short, low laugh. 
 
 They both sat silent a while. The great white 
 cathedral seemed oppressive and dark. At last Nell 
 arose slowly, supporting herself with her hand on 
 the edge of the pew. She was very pale. 
 
 " Will you forgive me, Warren? " she asked. 
 
 "If there is anything to forgive, there is t-too 
 much." 
 
 He also arose mechanically, and they left the pew 
 and moved down the aisle. At the door, she said, 
 " We did not come to speak of this. Do you still 
 mean to let that man use you ? " 
 
 " I mean to please myself," returned he, doggedly. 
 " I will live to be something better or worse than a 
 woman s fool." 
 
 Nell stood at the top of the steps while he de 
 scended to the pavement and turned down the 
 avenue. When he was out of sight she returned to 
 the cathedral, and sat again in the same pew which 
 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 255 
 
 they had just left. Whether she prayed or medi 
 tated, or merely rested after the nervous strain of 
 such an encounter, I know not ; but when she again 
 went forth, the words on her lips were, " Warren, 
 my darling ! " 
 
256 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 A CORNER IN PRESIDENTS. 
 
 EVERYTHING had gone smoothly with the con 
 spirators. The new political party had been started 
 with great enthusiasm, and their candidate, though 
 not a man widely known, was well spoken of by 
 those who professed to know him ; and his previous 
 obscurity was the worst charge that his opponents 
 could find to bring against him. He was a brawny 
 six-footer from the West, with an atmosphere about 
 him of freedom, simplicity, and rugged worth. He 
 was a man of the people, an American of Ameri 
 cans. The other two candidates, whatever their 
 practical advantages, had not the charm of novelty; 
 they had been before the public for many years. 
 One of them, it was conceded, had not much 
 chance ; but it was hoped that when the campaign 
 had proceeded far enough to show the drift of 
 popular opinion the partisans of the weaker man 
 would combine with the stronger party, in order, at 
 all events, to whip the " outsider ; " of course, it 
 was also possible that the outsider, like the fox in 
 
A CORNER IN PRESIDENTS. 257 
 
 the fable, might capture the game for which the two 
 others were contending. But this was at best but a 
 possibility ; and Drayton fully understood the im 
 portance of admitting no uncertainties in this mat 
 ter ; it must be heads I win, tails you lose now or 
 never. He had framed his plans accordingly, as he 
 had already explained to Warren. 
 
 " This candidate of ours seems a very honest 
 fellow," the latter had remarked. " If you have 
 designs against his integrity, I guess you ve mis 
 taken your man. He would make a good enough 
 president, I dare say, but not a very pliable puppet." 
 
 " I never corrupt any man," Drayton had replied, 
 "only when a man is already rotten, I apply his rot 
 tenness to my purposes, as a farmer uses manure. 
 You are right as to our candidate : he is honest, so 
 far as I know, I should not have ventured to risk 
 a thief in such a campaign as this, but he is 
 ignorant and obstinate, and can therefore be easily 
 led by the nose. He has vanity too. There will 
 be no difficulty about him at all." 
 
 "Well, if we e-lect him." 
 
 " Nothing short of his death can prevent that." 
 
 " That is a hard saying," observed Warren, shak 
 ing his head. 
 
 " It is perfectly simple," Drayton replied, smiling. 
 
258 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "The only reason you and everybody else think 
 otherwise is because you are looking in the wrong 
 direction, at him, instead of at the true deus ex 
 machina." 
 
 " And who may he be ? " 
 
 " Our most dangerous antagonist, of course ; the 
 man who is to unite both the regular parties. He 
 has ten times the strength of our man to-day and 
 double that of his special opponent. Now, what 
 will happen is this : at the crucial moment of the 
 campaign, and that is not far off, this redoubt 
 able champion will be smitten with a mortal illness. 
 All men are mortal ; but I can even tell you the 
 precise disease from which he will suffer: malig 
 nant cancer in the region of the heart. He will be 
 taken to Florida or to New Mexico, some place 
 where the climate is good and the newspapers few, 
 and from there will come news that he is not 
 expected to survive a week; that his recovery is 
 impossible. The fate of a republic cannot be de 
 pendent on the progress of a cancer, and the voters 
 who had ratted to the moribund candidate, being 
 unable to return to their first allegiance at that late 
 hour, will have no choice left but to unite wirh his 
 supporters to make the election of our Western 
 pioneer unanimous. Then when all is settled, and 
 
A CORNER IN PRESIDENTS. 259 
 
 he of the cancer dead and buried so far as the pub 
 lic recollection goes, he will reappear very quietly as 
 president of a railway system, bringing him in from 
 seventy-five to a hundred thousand a year. That is 
 about what his illness will cost us, and it is worth 
 every cent of the money." 
 
 It was arranged that Warren s marriage should 
 take place a day or two before the candidate in 
 question was smitten down with his political cancer. 
 During the uproar, consternation, and confusion 
 consequent upon this event there would be oppor 
 tunity for a quiet month in some Southern retreat 
 for the bride and bridegroom. Serious work would 
 not begin again for Warren until the ensuing Feb 
 ruary or thereabouts ; but it might be a long while 
 before he got another undisturbed vacation. 
 
 Meanwhile it was the young man s business to 
 make himself agreeable to his betrothed ; and he did 
 his best, though a keen observer might have fancied 
 that he never succeeded so well as when he let her 
 alone. Lizzie seemed very shy, much more so than 
 what little Warren knew of her previously would 
 have led him to expect. It was as if all the fastidi 
 ous proprieties so carefully instilled into her mind 
 by her French training, and so heedlessly neglected 
 
260 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 since, had suddenly returned upon her in full force. 
 She would rather Warren kissed her hand than her 
 cheek ; and she acquiesced when he did not kiss her 
 at all. As this arrangement was not so intolerable 
 to the lover as it ought to have been, the two young 
 people soon attained a decorum* of demeanor that 
 would have done credit to a couple of Shakers. At 
 the same time it should be said that Warren, who 
 believed that Lizzie really cared for him, interpreted 
 her conduct in a way most creditable to her delicacy 
 and purity of soul, and respected and esteemed her 
 more than he had ever done before. He was an 
 honest man at heart, and he was resolved she should 
 never have cause to complain of neglect or unfaith 
 fulness on his part ; but he was as unhappy as he 
 knew how to be, and sometimes wondered whether 
 Lizzie were aware of it. He could not know that 
 she cherished a secret misery that put his to shame. 
 They looked at and conversed with each other, but 
 they saw and thought of quite other piersons and 
 things. The only one who enjoyed the situation 
 was Drayton ; and he was the blindest of the 
 three. Tom Peekskill, indeed, wore a look of 
 treacherous satisfaction on his face ; but he could 
 scarcely be termed happy, unless an assassin can 
 be said to be so when he hears the footsteps of his 
 
A CORNER IN PRESIDENTS. 261 
 
 unsuspecting victim approaching nearer and more 
 near. 
 
 The wedding was now but three days off; but it 
 was to be in the last degree quiet and private. 
 Dray ton desired this, because he was unwilling just 
 at this juncture to have the public attention in any 
 way drawn to him ; and Lizzie had her own reasons 
 for not opposing the arrangement ; while, as to 
 Warren, his chief study was to divert his mind 
 from dwelling on the subject at all. They were to 
 be married, therefore, in morning dress , at Dray ton s 
 house, and were to take the afternoon train south 
 ward as soon as the ceremony was over. Lizzie s 
 trousseau had been got ready, and was being packed, 
 under the superintendence of her maid. On this 
 afternoon her father, who had ordered her a 
 splendid set of diamonds, was just on the point of 
 paying a visit to the jeweller s to give some direc 
 tions about the setting, when there was a ring at 
 the door, and a young lady was admitted, who 
 said : 
 
 " Does Mr. Drayton live here ? " 
 
 She was handsome, and becomingly dressed, and 
 her voice was melodious. Drayton who was in the 
 hall putting on his overcoat, came forward, and 
 said : 
 
262 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "I am Mr. Drayton. To whom have I the 
 honor ?" 
 
 " My name is Anthony," replied the young lady. 
 "I knew Mr. Warren Bell when we were both 
 children. I have something important to say to 
 you." 
 
 "I am happy to meet any friend of Warren Bell," 
 said Drayton, politely. "Will you come into the 
 drawing-room ? Mr. Bell is not in ; he will be 
 sorry to have missed your call." 
 
 "I did not come to see him. What I have to 
 say is to you only." 
 
 Drayton looked sharply at her, wondering what 
 she could be and what she wanted. The idea 
 entered his mind that she might have some claim 
 upon Warren, something calculated to interfere 
 with his matrimonial projects. She was handsome 
 enough to be a formidable rival even to Lizzie ; 
 and yet she was a lady in the best sense of the 
 word. He was puzzled. 
 
 " How can I serve you? " he asked. 
 
 "I have come to you alone, Mr. Drayton," said 
 Nell, " and without the knowledge of any one, to 
 give you warning of a danger." 
 
 " A danger ? ah ! that is news ! " muttered Dray 
 ton, folding his arms and regarding her keenly with 
 
A CORNER IN PRESIDENTS. 263 
 
 his bright black eyes. " Such an act of disinter 
 ested friendship from an entire stranger is more 
 than I had a right to expect." 
 
 " I have no friendship for you," returned Nell. 
 " I come because the danger to Warren Bell is even 
 greater than to you, and I wish to save him." 
 
 " Well, that is certainly explicit so far. The 
 next question is, what is the nature of the danger?" 
 
 " You have enemies, and they have found out 
 your plans. If you go on they will ruin you." 
 
 "I have enemies, then? I had supposed that a 
 quiet man like myself might hope to escape enmity. 
 Whom have I offended? " 
 
 " Every one who loves America, and many who 
 love only themselves," replied Nell, her eyes begin 
 ning to sparkle. 
 
 "My dear young lady," said Drayton, smiling, 
 but now fully on his guard, "you have been misin 
 formed. I am a private man wholly detached 
 from politics. I flatter myself that I too love 
 America, but I leave the management of her affairs 
 to other hands. You have either mistaken me for 
 some one else, or you have been deceived." 
 
 "You wrote this," she returned, producing the 
 famous pamphlet from her muff; "and you intend 
 to do such things as it suggests." 
 
264 LOVE OB A NAME. 
 
 "It is one thing to assert that, and quite another 
 to prove it," said Drayton, still smiling. 
 
 " The proof will be given in a few days without 
 my help if you deny it now." 
 
 Let us come to the point, Miss or Mrs. 
 Anthony," said Draytcwi, changing his tone and sit 
 ting erect in his chair. " What do you want ? Has 
 Warren Bell wronged you in any way? Are you 
 the emissary of any third party? Do you require 
 money? or what? Pardon my bluntness, but the 
 shortest way is best." 
 
 " I want you to become what you say you are 
 a private man, with no interest in the management 
 of this country. You must take back the bribe you 
 offered to that man to pretend illness and give up his 
 candidacy. You must let the people govern them 
 selves, and not steal their liberties away from them." 
 
 Drayton had some great qualities and among them 
 was the ability to recognize defeat. He saw at 
 once that this strange young lady knew what she 
 was talking about and that further denial would be 
 useless. The shock of learning that his secrets 
 were betrayed was terrible to him, but he continued 
 to suppress all outward signs of it. His alert and 
 elastic mind was at once busy in taking the measure 
 of the new situation and devising means to meet it. 
 
A CORNER IN PRESIDENTS. 265 
 
 " You have said enough to command my confi 
 dence," he began, in an easy tone. " Without 
 making any definite admissions I may say that I 
 should be sorry to know that what you have just 
 said was common property. Now, can you tell me 
 whether supposing, for a moment, that you re 
 linquish all idea of assuming a hostile attitude 
 towards us yourself there are any other persons 
 who would so act, independently of you?" 
 
 "That is the reason of my being here," Nell 
 replied. "If I were to die to-night your plans 
 would be crushed just the same. But if you go in 
 time to those who mean to attack you and show 
 them that you will give all this up voluntarily it 
 would save you from open exposure and ruin. But 
 it is not for your sake," she added, lifting her head, 
 while her cheeks flushed. "I would not speak a 
 word to save you from punishment, for you have 
 taken advantage of the generosity and nobility of an 
 honest man to persuade him to act the part of a 
 traitor ! " 
 
 Drayton was feeling too sick at heart to attempt 
 to defend himself; he was rather anxious to concil 
 iate his accuser, if he might. This was not a 
 time to multiply enemies. It was illustrative of 
 one of the differences between his mind and War- 
 
2G6 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 ren s, that whereas Warren, in his preoccupation 
 with personal matters, had utterly failed to realize 
 the fact that Nell s appeal to him to forbear was in 
 truth a warning to repent in season, instead of 
 waiting until compulsion was applied from without, 
 and had consequently neglected even to mention 
 the danger to Dray ton, the latter had i^tantly 
 grasped the situation in all its bearings, and was 
 even now estimating the chances for and against the 
 only possible means for parrying the attack. 
 
 "There is one thing I should like to have you 
 believe," he said, grasping his long beard in his 
 hand, and gazing steadfastly at her, " and that is, 
 that I fully share whatever esteem and regard you 
 may entertain for Warren Bell. His abilities and 
 his qualities are to me as admirable and lovable as 
 those of any man I ever knew. For many years 
 past I have been planning what you would perhaps 
 call treason, but which seemed to me and still 
 seems the only possible means of preserving the 
 union and prosperity of the country we both love. 
 But my designs, in all human probability, would 
 never have attained practical shape had it not 
 been for Warren. He possessed all that I 
 lacked in the way of active and personal force. 
 I saw in him young as he is a man capable of 
 
A CORNER IN PRESIDENTS. 267 
 
 standing at the head of the greatest nation in the 
 world, and of so acting as to render his name 
 immortal, along with those of Washington and 
 Lincoln. He was to be the heir of all my aspira 
 tions ; and I wish I could impart to you my own 
 vision of the splendor of his career. My ambition 
 was an abstract desire to exterminate, root and 
 branch, the abuses and disasters which are insep 
 arable (in this age of the world at least) from our 
 present form of government. But I was willing 
 and glad to see this result realized by him rather 
 than by myself, only to feel that I had been 
 instrumental in providing him with the opportunity 
 to become what nature had already qualified him to 
 be. I don t know, of course, who has betrayed me ; 
 but I wish I could hope to see you share my con 
 viction that whoever has done so has inflicted a vital 
 injury both on the country and on Warren Bell." 
 
 "I cannot help you," replied Nell, in a gentle 
 tone, for the eloquent fascination of Dray ton s 
 voice and manner had not failed to move her some 
 what, " and I never meant to take any part with 
 your enemies. It can make no difference to you 
 whether or not I think as you do." 
 
 "I have seen enough of you to feel otherwise," lie 
 answered with a certain grand courtesv. " There is 
 
268 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 one thing for which I care more than for success, 
 and that is the appreciation of pure and honorable 
 minds." 
 
 " I don t know ; you may have intended better 
 than I thought," said she, in a low voice. 
 
 "And now," resumed Drayton, "it only remains 
 to ask you to whom I am to go to make my sur 
 render if it must be so." 
 
 " I believe Judge Muhlbach is the most active 
 against you," returned Nell. " Do you know 
 him?" 
 
 Dray ton s eyes kindled for a moment, and he 
 pressed his lips together. "I have had some ac 
 quaintance with him," he said, briefly. N I will 
 see him to-morrow." 
 
 He had gained what he wanted, the assurance 
 that Nell personally would not act against him, and 
 the information of who was his real antagonist. 
 How Muhlbach had penetrated his secret he could 
 not conjecture ; but his opinion of the venality of 
 the man gave him hope that he would be able to 
 effect some compromise with him. He could offer 
 the Judge temptations which he must be more than 
 human and judicial to resist. As to " surrender 
 ing," he hoped the time for that was yet far distant. 
 At all events, he would not be beaten without a 
 
A CORNER IN PRESIDENTS. 269 
 
 desperate and persistent struggle. Meanwhile, it 
 was not without significance to him that, at parting, 
 his austere young visitor gave him her hand. 
 
 Nell left the house and walked slowly down the 
 street, deep in meditation. The interview had 
 shaken her faith in her own point of view a little ; 
 she did not like Dray ton, but it seemed to her im 
 possible that a man of such speech and presence 
 should be a villain. How different he was from 
 Judge Muhlbach ! and it was Muhlbach who was 
 his enemy. Was there no meaning in that? 
 While she was revolving these things she heard a 
 hasty step behind her, and a woman s voice ad 
 dressed her by name. She turned, and beheld a 
 very pale and pretty young lady, clad in a long seal 
 skin cloak and a hat, who said, breathlessly, " You 
 are Miss Anthony, aren t you? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "I am Lizzie Drayton, Mr. Drayton s daugh 
 ter. I have followed you ; I could not speak to you 
 in the house. I wan ted to tell you ask you some 
 thing. I heard something of what you and father 
 were saying. You are a friend of Warren Bell ? " 
 
 "Yes; what of him?" 
 
 " You know he is to be married in a few days ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
270 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "Well, it was to me, I was to be his wife. 
 But I don t want to marry him ; I can t marry him I 
 And he does not care for me, either. It is father s 
 idea ; but it mustn t be ; it is impossible ! " 
 
 "Why don t you tell him and your father so, 
 then?" demanded Nell, astonished and pained. 
 "Why do you come to me?" 
 
 "Oh, I couldn t tell him! I couldn t explain. 
 Father would kill me almost ! But I thought, since 
 he didn t love me, he must love some one else ; and 
 when I saw you, and heard you speak, I thought it 
 must be you that he loved. Forgive me. I know 
 I ve no right to speak so to you ; but if you knew 
 how miserable I am ! " 
 
 " Warren Bell will be true to whatever woman he 
 marries," said Nell, steadily, but with a deep blush. 
 " His wife need not fear any one else, certainly not 
 me." 
 
 " Oh, now I have made you angry ! " moaned 
 Lizzie, pressing her little ungloved hands together 
 nervously. " If I could only explain to you how it 
 is ! But you do love him, and he loves you ; I know 
 it ! Will you do something that would make you 
 and him happy, and save me?" In the eagerness 
 of the appeal she put her hands on Nell s arms, and 
 gazed eagerly in her face. 
 
A CORNER IN PRESIDENTS. 271 
 
 " I will do anything I can ; what is it?" said Nell, 
 moved to a compassion that overcame her perplexity 
 and suspicion. 
 
 Lizzie bent forward and whispered in her ear, 
 " Run away with him ! Be married to him yourself, 
 to-morrow ! Think how happy you will be ! It will 
 save us all ! Oh, say yes ! " 
 Nell shuddered and drew back. 
 " If you had known me you would not have 
 dared to speak so to me," she said, in a tremulous 
 voice. " If you were good, you would not have 
 thought of it." 
 
 " Oh, I am not good ; I know that ! " returned 
 Lizzie, suddenly falling into an apathetic, half- 
 cynical tone. " I only wanted, if possible, not to be 
 worse, and I thought you might help me. Well, I 
 beg your pardon. Good-by." And she turned 
 abruptly and was gone before Nell had time to 
 speak again. The short afternoon was already over, 
 and in a few moments Lizzie was out of sight in the 
 gathering dusk. 
 
272 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 SUSAN S IMMORALITY. 
 
 WHEN Nell Anthony reached home she found 
 Susan full of talk about the Home, which had safely 
 passed through the doubts and peril of its pre-natal 
 gtate, Uncle Joseph having gracefully acceded to 
 Susan s proposal regarding payment, and was 
 now fully prepared for occupation. Indeed, it had 
 been advertised in the papers for several days past, 
 and paragraphs descriptive and laudatory had ap 
 peared in the " Talk of the Day " columns. The 
 names of the promoters were not mentioned, but it 
 was understood to be owned and personally admin 
 istered by "ladies of the highest refinement and 
 social position." These squibs were inserted under 
 the influence of the amiable Judge, who wished thus 
 to indicate that he bore no ill-will to the enterprise 
 on account of the snubbing he had sustained in con 
 nection with it. Moreover, the Judge was a tena 
 cious man, and would not desist from a pursuit on 
 account of a few stumbles at first starting out. 
 
 Susan had all her arrangements made to start for 
 
SUSAN S IMMORALITY. 273 
 
 the Home after dinner, and spend the night there, 
 and had ordered the carriage to be in waiting at eight 
 o clock. She purred over the affair like a comfort 
 able cat over a saucer of cream. But Nell did not 
 respond with her usual cordiality, and her appear 
 ance was so distraught that Susan soon perceived it. 
 
 "I m sure you must have a headache," she sug 
 gested. 
 
 Nell, who was reclining on a sofa, with her check 
 on her hand, slowly turned her eyes on her friend, 
 and by and by she said : 
 
 " Susie, I want to ask your advice." 
 
 " My dear, you must be ill ! " cried Susan, 
 jumping up in real alarm ; for so extraordinary a 
 proposition could indicate nothing less than incipient 
 delirium. 
 
 " No ; but I am tired of wondering what I had 
 better do, and I want you to decide. Suppose you 
 had a dear friend who was wishing to do something 
 that you thought was unwise, and perhaps wrong, 
 but at any rate he had set his heart on it, and it 
 was a question that involved his whole life and 
 career. And suppose another man had determined 
 to prevent him from doing this thing, because he 
 was his enemy. Do you understand so far?" 
 
 " So you and this other man would both want to 
 
274 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 prevent him, only you out of love, and he out of 
 enmity. Yes ; well, dear ! " 
 
 " But then," continued Nell, sitting up on the 
 sofa, and brushing back a strand of hair that had 
 fallen across her face, "you saw how much your 
 friend desired this thing, so that all the happi 
 ness he could expect to have and he was not 
 very happy depended on it, and you reflected 
 that perhaps you were mistaken in thinking it 
 unwise and wrong, for how could you be certain 
 that you knew better than he ? might you not bring 
 yourself to believe at last that it would be better to 
 let him have his way, and leave the rest to Provi 
 dence ? " 
 
 " Well, perhaps I might. But then, my dear," 
 Susan added, after a few moments cogitation, 
 " there is still his enemy, you know. He wouldn t 
 let your friend have his way, no matter what you 
 did." 
 
 "Yes; that is what I am coming to," Nell re 
 plied. " Now, this enemy knew you, and had once 
 asked you to do him a great favor. You had re 
 fused it at the time, but now you feel sure that if 
 you were to offer to do him that favor on condition 
 that he let your friend alone he would consent. 
 Would you grant him that favor?" 
 
SUSAN S IMMORALITY. 275 
 
 "I don t know. I suppose it would depend on 
 what sort of a favor it was," returned Susan, her 
 interest fully aroused. " Would it be anything very 
 difficult?" 
 
 " Yes ; nothing could seem more difficult," said 
 Nell, with a tremor in her voice. 
 
 " Then I wouldn t do it, unless I loved my 
 friend very much indeed." 
 
 "Yes, very much, better than anything in the 
 world ! " 
 
 "O Nell! don t ask me. You frighten me. Tell 
 me who the friend is." 
 
 Warren Bell." 
 
 "O Nell! Why, of course, I might have 
 known. And it is about that political affair to be 
 sure. But, Nell, who is the enemy? O my dear ! 
 surely you don t mean ? " 
 
 " I mean Judge Muhlbach." 
 
 Susan jumped up. " And what was the favor? " 
 
 " To be married to him." 
 
 Susan gave a gasp and sank back in her chair. 
 
 But presently she sat up again. "Nell, it is 
 wicked!" she exclaimed, violently. "You will do 
 no such horrid thing ! My darling, go and give 
 yourself to one man because, actually because, you 
 love another ! I declare I d take a gun and shoot 
 
276 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 him first ! " She stopped to wipe the tears from her 
 face, and then added, " Why don t you marry 
 Warren Bell? Do you mean to say that you 
 couldn t make him happier than all the politics and 
 everything else in the world ? " 
 
 "There is a reason why that is impossible." 
 "What reason, I should like to know?" 
 " Well, never mind about that, Susie. There 
 are some strange things about it that I hardly 
 know what to think of myself; but I believe it 
 would be easier for him, in other ways, if he knew 
 I was married. And what would be the use of my 
 being alive if I didn t serve the people I love ? I 
 needn t have asked your advice after all. I ll do it ! 
 I ll go to Judge Muhlbach now and tell him so." 
 And she rose to her feet. 
 
 At this crisis Susan developed faculties and re 
 sources quite beyond the ordinary scope of her 
 nature. As cripples have been known to walk, and 
 the dumb to speak, under supreme pressure of cir 
 cumstances, so did this guileless woman suddenly, 
 become a. diplomatist and a double-dealer. She was 1 
 convinced that Nell was temporarily beside herself, 
 and she felt the absolute necessity of restraining her 
 until she recovered her reason. This could not be 
 done by force ; it must be managed by subterfuge. 
 
SUSAN S IMMORALITY. 277 
 
 And, without troubling herself about her own soul, 
 or about anything except her love for her friend, 
 Susan lied boldly and freely and with excellent 
 judgment. 
 
 " I suppose you are right, dear," she said, " you 
 know you always are ; and I am always a fool to 
 doubt it. It does seem hard that you should have 
 to sacrifice yourself; but, of course, one has to 
 choose the lesser of two evils. And I do think 
 there are worse men in the world than Uncle 
 Joseph ; and I m sure he ll do everything possible to 
 make you comfortable. But, Nell, do you know, 
 now I come to think of it, I wouldn t go to see him 
 to-night, if I were you. This isn t like the country, 
 you know. New York people are very particular 
 about etiquette in such things, and they might think 
 it queer if it were known that you went to see him 
 about such a thing so late in the evening. But I ll 
 tell you how we might manage. You take the car 
 riage at eight o clock and go up to the Home, and 
 I ll run around to Uncle Joseph s and tell him that 
 you want to see him at once on important busi 
 ness. Very likely he ll come right along with me ; 
 but if he should be engaged, at any rate he ll 
 come to-morrow. That will be much more con 
 ventional and proper than your going after him, 
 
278 LOVE- OR A NAME. 
 
 and it will make it easier for you, don t you think 
 so?" 
 
 "Yes ; perhaps it would," returned Nell, wearily. 
 "I didn t think of that. It would be very kind of 
 you, Susie. But make him understand that he 
 must come ; and don t let him be later than to 
 morrow morning, or Mr. Drayton will have seen 
 him, and it will be no use." 
 
 "Oh, you may trust me for that!" exclaimed 
 Susan, with her honest smile, which covered an 
 abyss of falsehood. " And, meanwhile, dear, let s 
 have our dinner, and talk about something else. 
 You must have all your wits about you when you 
 meet him, you know." 
 
 And thereupon this Machiavelli in petticoats 
 began to be sprightly, anecdotical, and discursive to 
 a degree which astonished herself in the retrospect, 
 and beguiled Nell into an unusual amount of smiles 
 and idle talk. Thus they got through with their 
 dinner very well ; and then Susan, with a thankful 
 heart, saw Nell safely into the carriage, and herself 
 started for her Uncle Joseph s, to tell him that if he 
 did not make his attack upon Drayton that very night 
 he would be too late, the country would be lost, and 
 Uncle Joseph himself consigned forever to disgrace 
 and obscurity. For such was the manner in which 
 
SUSAN S IMMORALITY. 279 
 
 Susan proposed to keep her promise to her dearest 
 friend. 
 
 She went in a fervor of enthusiasm, and felt 
 more virtuous than she ever had done when on an 
 errand which orthodox morality would have ap 
 proved. She rung at the door, and was informed 
 by the servant (who knew her) that a gentlemen 
 had just called to see the Judge, but would prob 
 ably not be long. "That s all right, Charles," 
 Susan replied. "I don t mind waiting. What 
 room are they in ? " 
 
 "The dining-room, Mrs. Wayne." 
 
 "Oh ! then I ll just go up to the sitting-room, so 
 that when they have done their business I shall 
 know it. Never mind announcing me ; I ll take 
 care of myself." And she went upstairs. 
 
 The dining-room and the sitting-room adjoined 
 each other, and both could be entered separately 
 from the upper hall. When Susan entered the 
 latter apartment she found the gas turned low. 
 The door communicating with the dining-room was 
 almost closed, but not quite. A narrow, vertical line 
 of light showed through the crevice, and the voices 
 of the two men on the other side could be plainly 
 heard. Susan was debating whether to close the 
 door completely or to go somewhere else when a 
 
280 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 * :. 
 
 word from the Judge determined her to do 
 neither. 
 
 " It s very obliging of you, Mr. Dray ton," he 
 was saying, "but the truth is, the matter is not 
 under my control, and the other parties must speak 
 for themselves." 
 
 " It is under your control if you choose to make 
 it so," another voice replied (that of Drayton). 
 "I am in a mood to be accommodating. Say a 
 million down, and your choice of offices for yourself 
 and your friends within a year. There s no limit 
 to what you might do. And, finally, this affair 
 aside, I would much rather have you with us than 
 not." 
 
 "Well, that s just my luck," said Muhlbach. 
 :t Your offer comes at the wrong time. If you had 
 only thought of making it, say about the time of 
 your resignation from the Compensation Fund, we 
 could have hit it off then to a dot." 
 
 " Come, Judge, let bygones be bygones." 
 
 " Bless you, I bear no grudge. I made a shrewd 
 guess at the time as to who sent that square-headed 
 young fellow after me. But you were too sharp ; I 
 couldn t fix it on you. I never could see to the 
 bottom of you, anyway, Drayton. What possessed 
 you to back that way against us, and to pick up 
 
SUSAN S IMMORALITY. 281 
 
 with a fellow under thirty, who didn t know how 
 to entertain an offer of ah accommodation 
 politely ? " 
 
 "He was the man I needed, that s all. I was 
 going in for something more than rigging a corner, 
 you understand. When you are going to tackle the 
 American people, and to hold them in hand, you 
 want a man as bold as a lion and as straight as a 
 die, and with his life before instead of behind him. 
 Damaged goods, or goods that can be damaged, 
 won t do. Warren Bells don t grow on every bush." 
 
 "He s a cheeky fellow, and plucky, and brainy, 
 too, I allow ; but I guess the proper tests would 
 show that he s made of flesh and blood, like the 
 rest of us, and pockets into the bargain ! " 
 
 "There was a time when you might have applied 
 them, and I think you did." 
 
 " Oh, I belonged to the light artillery ! " returned 
 Muhlbach, laughing. " I don t pretend to come 
 into competition with a hundred-ton Armstrong, like 
 you." 
 
 " If I had ever offered him a cent, I should have 
 seen the last of him," Drayton said. "I had work 
 enough to get him to accede to the necessary manip 
 ulation of the other men. He wanted everything 
 brought out in open daylight." 
 
282 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "Well, for my part, I prefer a man I can work 
 with. I don t cotton to saints much. And I don t 
 know why you should. You don t belong to that 
 gang yourself. Between you and me and the bottle, 
 you know that cloth operation of yours in 63 will 
 never be inscribed in the Golden Book." 
 
 Dray ton was silent. 
 
 "And they do say, you know," continued the 
 Judge, "that Mrs. Drayton s early departure to a 
 more congenial world was not entirely due to con 
 genital delicacy of constitution." 
 
 "G d you, sir!" cried Drayton, starting up, 
 and striking his hand upon the table. " The time 
 has not yet come when I can be insulted with im 
 punity. I came here with an offer to take or to 
 leave. Let me have my answer, and be gone ! " 
 
 " There ! there ! my dear man, keep cool ! No 
 offence in the world. Nothing but my cursed 
 curiosity ; it always was my weak point. As to 
 your answer, I ve already given you the best answer 
 I ve got. But I ll tell you what you ought to do : 
 you ought to see the fellow who peached on you, 
 and gave us the information. He s the man to make 
 terms with, if they re to be made. You know who 
 he is, of course?" 
 
 " The world is a small place," returned Drayton, 
 
SUSAN S IMMORALITY. 283 
 
 gritting his teeth together. " I shall run across him 
 sooner or later. At present I confess I can t iden 
 tify him." 
 
 " Why, here he is now ! " exclaimed the Judge, 
 as the door at the back of the dining-room opened. 
 "Just in the nick of time, like a man in a play. 
 Drayton, I think you know my friend, Tom Peeks- 
 kill?" 
 
 "Drayton thought he knew me, too," said Tom, 
 coming forward, with a swagger in his tone. " But 
 we live and learn, the best of us do. Well, sir," 
 he continued, turning to Drayton, "here I am, at 
 your service, as the cabbage said to the cow." 
 
 "What have I to do with you, Peekskill?" de 
 manded Drayton, contemptuously. "You must be 
 drunk. I have nothing to say to you, sir." 
 
 "Please yourself, old man," Tom replied, lightly. 
 
 " Only, I m the little bird that whispered the 
 tidings of great joy to the Judge here." 
 
 "You? You are a liar!" cried Drayton, still 
 contemptuously. " You had no information to give." 
 
 " Ah ! that s just where you make a mistake. I 
 got the straight tip, and from near home, too." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 "I mean Lizzie. I call her Betsy, for short," 
 said Tom, with a laugh. 
 
284 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 "Look here, Peekskill," said Dray ton, lowering 
 his voice to an ominous monotone, "your drunken 
 ness or your insanity, whichever it is, shall not save 
 you. You know my power over you; and the 
 time has come to use it. You will leave this room 
 at once, and this city to-morrow morning. If you 
 ever let me see or hear of you again in any part of 
 the civilized world you will rot in jail from that day 
 forth, like the thief and forger you are ! Now be 
 off!" 
 
 tf That for your power over me ! " retorted Tom, 
 snapping his fingers. "How would you like to 
 swallow a slice out of your own loaf, old gentleman ? 
 So you doubt my statement as to the source of my 
 information, eh? Well, suppose you cast your eye 
 over that letter and that and that; and I have 
 more here when you re ready for em ! Eecognize 
 the chirography, don t you ? No forgery about that, 
 is there? Expresses herself well, doesn t she? and 
 signs her name prettily, too. Oh, Betsy and I 
 have been at work a long time ! We haven t had 
 any secrets from each other for the last year or 
 more, not one. I give you my word." 
 
 While Tom was delivering himself in this arch 
 fashion Drayton had been steadily reading through 
 the letters. As he did so his face assumed an 
 
SUSAN S IMMORALITY. 285 
 
 expression of anguish so ghastly that the Judge, 
 after muttering a word or two in an undertone to 
 Peekskill, quietly went out of the room. He had 
 delicate sensibilities, and did not care to have them 
 exasperated unnecessarily. Tom and Dray ton were 
 alone when the latter raised his eyes from the letters 
 and gazed at him. 
 
 " I gather from these letters," he began, in a dis 
 sonant voice, which he seemed unable to modulate as 
 usual, " that you have been secretly paying court to 
 my daughter, and have so far won upon her as to 
 induce her to tell you things which I had confided to 
 her honor, and to give you the right to claim her 
 hand." Here Tom was about to speak; but Dray- 
 ton held up his haricl to impose silence. " I wish to 
 say," he went on, moistening his lips, and with 
 manifest effort, " that I accept the situation which 
 my daughter has seen fit to bring about. Her 
 wishes are my wishes. You know in what light I 
 have hitherto regarded you ; but she has discovered 
 in you qualities which fit you to be her husband. 
 I I am willing to receive you as my son-in-law. 
 Come to my house to-morrow, and " 
 
 "Now just listen to me, Drayton," Tom inter 
 rupted, half seating himself on the table, with his 
 hands in his pockets. " You and I are men of the 
 
286 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 world, and you ought to know that all that talk isn t 
 going to draw any wool over my eyes. You have 
 treated me about as you liked for several years past. 
 I have been waiting my chance to get even with 
 you, and I m not going to let you off quite so easily. 
 I want to see you dance to the same tune that 
 you ve been making me dance to. I want to see 
 how you look on your marrow-bones. You say 
 you re willing to receive me for your son-in-law. 
 But suppose I was to say that I m not in the humor, 
 just at present, to receive you as my father-in-law ? 
 What would you think of that?" 
 
 " I don t think I catch your meaning," said Dray- 
 ton, huskily. 
 
 " Say, old gentleman, your wits are getting rusty 
 aint they? Well, I put it plainer, if you will have it. 
 It isn t customary, as the world goes, for a man 
 to marry a woman after he s got all he wants out 
 of her, except as a special favor and condescen 
 sion. Well, that s about the way it is between 
 Betsy and me. I ve no more use for her, that s 
 the short of it. I m sorry for her, and all that; 
 but I m not bound to give her my name because she 
 chose to make a fool of herself. My advice to you 
 is to take her to Europe, or Patagonia, or some 
 such place, and give it out that she s a widow whose 
 
SUSAN S IMMORALITY. 287 
 
 husband died three months after marriage ; or marry 
 her to your friend Warren Bell, if you can." 
 
 When Tom ceased Drayton was standing in the 
 position which he had assumed when the first sen 
 tences were uttered, with one hand partly raised, 
 and his lips parted. He remained motionless, like 
 a man of wax, with a look of terror frozen in his 
 eyes. So might a man have appeared who had been 
 stricken dead by some hideous spectre. For what 
 seemed a long time he stood so still that Tom began 
 to believe he was dead. But at last he spoke, in a 
 thin, astounded voice. 
 
 "My daughter ! " he said. 
 
 There was another pause. Then Tom got off the 
 table, sauntered up to him, still with his hands in 
 his pockets. 
 
 "Say, look here!" he said. "I m not going to 
 be too hard on you. I ve had my fun, and I guess 
 you won t forget me in a hurry. I ve smashed your 
 scheme, and played the devil with your arrange 
 ments generally, and now I m pretty near through. 
 I ll tell you what I ll do with you. You give me a 
 blank check, to fill up as my convenience may dic 
 tate, and to-morrow you and I and Lizzie will drive 
 over to the magistrate s, and I ll do the right thing 
 by her. But I give you fair warning that you ll have 
 
288 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 to look out for her after that. I shall trot off on a 
 vacation, and in the course of a year or two you can 
 get her a divorce on the ground of desertion, see? 
 That s my ultimatum ; and if you don t take it, why, 
 then you ll have to take the consequences, and 
 she, too, that s all ! " 
 
 There was a decanter of brandy on the table ; 
 Dray ton took it, poured out a glass of the liquor, 
 and drank it off. The blood returned to his cheek, 
 and his eyes brightened. He drew himself up to 
 his full height, and gazed curiously at Tom, who 
 stood within arm s reach of him. His right hand 
 still rested on the decanter. 
 
 "You have mistaken your man, Peekskill," he 
 said, quietly. " You played your last card the day 
 you deceived my daughter. To save her I would 
 gladly have given you my whole fortune. To save 
 her public reputation, or my own, I would not give 
 you a cent. As the suitor whom she had accepted 
 you might have married her ; as the scoundrel who 
 has ruined her you would receive at my hands only 
 the reception due to a scoundrel. To-morrow will 
 see you either a fugitive from justice or a convicted 
 felon ; but meanwhile " 
 
 It was done so instantaneously that Susan 
 who, quaking with fear and curiosity, had been 
 
SUSAN S IMMORALITY. 289 
 
 peeping through the crack of the door saw the 
 effect before she realized the act. Drayton had 
 grasped the neck of the massive cut-glass decanter, 
 and brought the weapon down with the utmost 
 force of his powerful arm full upon Peekskill s up 
 turned face. The decanter flew into fragments ; 
 Tom was hurled to the floor senseless and dis 
 figured; and Drayton, after looking down at him 
 for a moment, turned and walked out of the room 
 by one door, just as Judge Muhlbach, who had heard 
 the fall, came in at another. 
 
 As for Susan, as soon as the general preoccupa 
 tion of the household in the collapsed Peekskill had 
 left the coast clear, she made her escape with what 
 secrecy and despatch she might, and proceeded to 
 One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street as fast as the 
 elevated railway could carry her. 
 
290 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIH 
 
 LIFE AND DEATH. 
 
 ABOUT half-past nine o clock that evening, 
 Warren was passing the Windsor Hotel, when he 
 was hailed by a mellow Hibernian voice, and saw 
 Mr. Terence O Ryan coming down the steps. 
 
 "Well, and have ye heard the news, Mr. Bell?" 
 that gentleman inquired. 
 
 " About the illness of the Republican candidate ? 
 That s stale." 
 
 " So tis ; and a bit of a lie into the bargain, I m 
 thinking. But no ; ye re behind the times. It s 
 the whaling that blackguard Tom Peekskill s been 
 gcttin , I mane." 
 
 " W-what s that ? Who did it ? " 
 
 " Who in the world but our distinguished friend 
 and your prospective father-in-law, Mr. Seth Dray- 
 ton. Faith, I wish I d been prisent to hold the 
 sponge. Bedad I Tom s nose is smeared all over 
 his face, and he ll have to bite off the ends of his 
 cigars with his penknife for the future, for eight of 
 his front teeth are gone down his throat, and his 
 
LIFE AND DEATH. 291 
 
 havin two upper lips instead of one won t make up 
 for it." 
 
 " Drayton ! Where did it happen ? " 
 
 "Judge Muhlbach was the stakeholder and" 
 
 "What was it about?" 
 
 " Well, now, ye Ye axin me the same question 
 that I ve shook my head at a hundred and twenty 
 times in the last hour, Mr. Bell, which is as much 
 as to say, I could tell if I would ; and, I may add 
 in sthrict confidence, I would tell if I knew. The 
 truth is at the bottom of the well, and all the boys 
 is pourin down whiskey to try and see if they can t 
 float it up to the top ; but hitherto without result. 
 Howiver, I ve some notions of my own on the sub 
 ject, and, you bein yourself, I ll be after impartin 
 em to ye. Tom was at the Hoffman night before 
 last, as tight as a lord, and I took him under my 
 charge, to get him out of the way and to bed. So, 
 as we were goin along, says he, f I ve got that 
 darned beggar s goose cooked for him, and I ll make 
 him swallow it wrong end foremost, or words to 
 that effect. Who s that? says I. None o your 
 business ! says he ; * The gal and I put up the job 
 on him ; and a nice domestic palaver she and 
 Warren Bell will have when they go on their honey 
 moon ! and with that he took to chucklin , like the 
 
292 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 drunken spalpeen he is, bad luck to him ! Now, 
 you may think different, Mr. Bell, every man has 
 his own opinion ; but it looks to me mighty like as 
 if Tom Peekskill had been playin a low-down game 
 on Drayton ; and when I heard of the row this 
 night, Faith, I said, * that s where the shoe 
 
 
 
 pinches ! " 
 
 "Where is Peekskill?" asked Warren in a few 
 moments. 
 
 "At the New York Hospital ; but he s not at all 
 in a conversational mood, more by token he ll 
 never be able to talk straight again, and no loss 
 to the public, either." 
 
 " Have you s-seen Drayton ? " 
 
 " No, I ve not ; but I was just thinkin twould be 
 no bad plan to drop in and pass the time of day with 
 him." 
 
 " Come with me," said Warren. "I must know 
 the rights of this business at once." And they 
 turned eastward towards Madison avenue. 
 
 " You ll likely know more about Drayton than I 
 do," Terence remarked, as they walked along. 
 "He s always acted square by me, and Terence 
 O Ryan was never the man to go back on his 
 friends. All the same, I misdoubt he had schemes 
 in his head that were no safer, in a country like this, 
 
LIFE AND DEATH. 293 
 
 than dynamite cartridges in a blacksmith shop. 
 There s plenty of deviltry goin on, no one denies 
 that, and the boys keep a brighter look-out for 
 number one than they do for the rocks ahead ; but 
 the way to stop it isn t to chuck the crew overboard 
 and sail the ship alone. America s a mighty queer 
 place that way ; seems like you could do about as 
 you please, and no one bother about it; but one 
 particular thing you can t do, no matter if you was 
 Washington and Lincoln and Napoleon Bonaparte, 
 all in one skin; and, maybe I m wrong, I 
 wouldn t be surprised at all if that was the very 
 thing Seth Dray ton s been trying his hand at." 
 
 "There s nothing like the Kepublic, after all!" 
 muttered Warren, with a secret sigh. 
 
 When they reached Drayton s house O Ryan rang 
 the bell. 
 
 "Will Mr. Drayton be at home, my man?" he 
 said to the servant who opened the door. 
 
 " Mr. Drayton is out, sir," began the footman ; 
 then, recognizing Warren, he added, " Beg pardon, 
 Mr. Bell : master said to refuse him to visitors ; but 
 of course it don t apply to you, sir." 
 
 They entered, and, as the door closed, a sharp, 
 violent noise resounded upstairs. They all looked 
 at one another. 
 
294 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 " Sure, Fourth of July don t come in winter ! " 
 said O Ryan, with a grimace. 
 
 " Hold your tongue !" said Warren, turning pale. 
 A minute passed ; there was no further sound. 
 "Where is Mr. Drayton?" Warren asked. 
 
 " He went up to his room over an hour ago, sir," 
 replied the servant timorously. 
 
 " Stay here," said Warren to O Ryan, " and don t 
 come up unless I call you." He walked upstairs 
 with his hat and overcoat still on. Dray ton s room 
 was the first door on the right of the landing. 
 Warren knocked, but there was no answer. He 
 tried the latch, and it yielded to his hand. He 
 went in ; the room was lighted, and a fire was 
 burning in the open grate. In an easy-chair, at a 
 table between the windows, Drayton was sitting. 
 He had on the velvet lounging-coat which he often 
 wore in private. He sat as if in profound thought, 
 his head bent forward, his arms hanging loosely by 
 his sides ; his long beard swept down over his 
 breast. He did not look up, or move, as Warren 
 approached. But the young man had come quite 
 close before he detected the blood that matted the 
 beard and stained the velvet waistcoat. The man 
 of many schemes and many millions was dead. 
 
 The revolver with which he had killed himself lay 
 
LIFE AND DEATU. 295 
 
 on the floor, where it had fallen from his hand. 
 He must have died instantly ; indeed , two minutes 
 had not elapsed since he fired the shot. On the 
 table beside him Warren saw a fold of white paper, 
 which he took up with the expectation of finding a 
 dying message written on it. But the writing was 
 not in Drayton s hand, but in that of his daughter, 
 and ran as follows : 
 
 DEAREST PAPA, You will know very soon why I can t 
 marry Warren Bell, and why I am gone. There was nothing 
 else to do. I did not want to be the weapon that Tom used 
 against you. One thing led to another before I knew what I 
 was about. I didn t know much any way. I always loved you, 
 papa dear, although I deceived and betrayed you, and now I 
 know that you are the only person I love in the world. But I 
 am going, for you would be sure to make some sacrifice for me 
 if I stayed, and I am not worth any sacrifice. I don t mean 
 that I am going to kill myself I shouldn t like to do that 
 but I must go, and you won t be able to find me, and I hope you 
 won t try. There s one thing : I wouldn t marry Tom now, 
 even if he wished it. He never really cared for me, and the 
 strangest thing is that I don t believe I ever really cared for him. 
 I don t even so much as hate him now. And yet, just think 
 how I behaved ! These wicked and terrible things seem just 
 the same as ordinary fun, until they re done, and then you see 
 the difference; but then it s too late. I am very sorry; but 
 I don t half understand how it all could have happened. Try 
 to forgive me, papa dear. Your daughter, LIZZIE. 
 
 Warren read this letter through twice, and then 
 
296 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 put it in his pocket. It appalled him even more 
 than the body of the man whose death it had prob 
 ably caused. Standing there, and staring at the 
 corpse, he fell into a horrible revery, which might 
 have ended in a further tragedy, had not Terence 
 O Ryan, wearying of the uncertainty down-stairs, 
 taken the liberty to step up and see what was the 
 matter. 
 
 Lizzie had left the house only about ten minutes 
 before her father reentered it, on his return from 
 Muhlbach s. She had taken what money she had 
 about her (about $1,000) and a small satchel con 
 taining some jewels and toilet articles. She had 
 written on a blank card a name and address, copied 
 from an advertisement in a newspaper, and, with no 
 further equipment or ceremony, had set forth on her 
 journey into the unknown. Crossing over to Third 
 avenue, she entered a horse-car, and proceeded up 
 town. After a ride of three-quarters of an hour the 
 conductor announced One Hundred and Twenty-fifth 
 street, and she got out, holding in her hand the card 
 with the address. 
 
 The evening was dark, and the street-lamps were 
 few. Lizzie had eaten nothing since her luncheon 
 of tea and sponge-cake, and felt weak. The mental 
 
LIFE AND DEATH. 297 
 
 excitement which had sustained her during the day 
 had subsided, leaving her depressed and forlorn. 
 And now that she had cut herself adrift from her 
 past life, and was face to face with a strange and 
 untried future, the courage with which imagination 
 had supplied her gave out. It is the details of life 
 that make it difficult and wretched, as well as agree 
 able and easy. The forecasts of the mind are too 
 sweeping and direct. 
 
 Lizzie continued to walk on, but the farther she 
 went the more hesitating did her steps become. 
 She was not made for heroic enterprises, even 
 such dismal heroism as this ; nor did her pride sup 
 port her as she had expected it would do. And yet 
 she felt that it would be more impossible to return 
 than to go on. Impossible in one way and yet so 
 easy in another ! But no ; she could not face her 
 father, after the letter she had written him. This 
 was not a society play, like one she had seen at a 
 New York theatre, when, after the suffering was over, 
 all ended happily at last, this was real ; there was 
 no rescuer, no forgiveness, and no sympathetic audi 
 ence. The people who met her passed her by with 
 out notice, or regarded her with a scrutiny that was 
 not flattering. And yet she had been a sort of 
 queen in New York society ; nay, were she to ap- 
 
298 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 pear in full toilet at any one of a hundred houses to 
 night, she would be caressed and admired. To-night, 
 but how to-morrow ! She went on, but she hardly 
 knew where she was ; she did not care to know. 
 Suddenly she began to think of the ball at which she 
 had first met Tom Peekskill. How graceful, witty, 
 and clever he had seemed ! How much she had 
 laughed and talked ! How well he had led the ger- 
 man, and how delightfully they had danced together ! 
 How inspiring was the music, the lights how brill 
 iant, and how fragrant the bouquet of flowers he gave 
 her ! And now, how dark and cold was the night, 
 and how weary and hopeless she was ! 
 
 Some men came running down the street, shout 
 ing hoarsely. A bell was ringing somewhere. 
 There was a red glow in the sky ; and now the 
 crowd increased, all shouting and running. They 
 seemed to be coming towards her. Bewildered and 
 terrified, she left the sidewalk and tried to cross the 
 street. All was confusion and uproar. There was 
 a clatter of galloping horses and a roar of wheels 
 and din of bells. A man made a dash at her out of 
 the darkness. She ran to get out of his way, 
 stumbled, and staggered forward. The wheels and 
 hoofs were close upon her ; something struck her 
 violently on her side ; then the uproar dwindled, 
 
LIFE AND DEATH. 299 
 
 and she seemed to hear once more the rhythmic 
 music of the waltz, and smell the perfume of the 
 flowers. What was she saying ! " My ideal of 
 life is, that it should be a continual german, with 
 new figures and favors all the time. You get all 
 wound up, and think you are lost, and then, at the 
 last moment, you come out all right, in a burst of 
 music ! " 
 
 She opened her eyes. The room was quiet and 
 neat. It was early dawn, and the bed on which she 
 lay had some flowers upon it. A lady with a grave, 
 beautiful face sat beside her. Another lady, stout 
 and good-natured, stood at the foot of the bed ; 
 tears were running down her cheeks. There was 
 some one she knew in the room, but Lizzie could 
 not see who it was : he stood behind. 
 
 " Are not you Miss Anthony ? " Lizzie asked, in a 
 whisper. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " How came we here ? Where is it ? " 
 
 "At the place you were coming to, at home." 
 
 " I don t remember. What makes my voice so 
 faint ? Am I ill ? I feel no pain." 
 
 Nell Anthony smiled. "You will have no pain 
 any more." 
 
 " Where is father? " Lizzie asked, after a while. 
 
300 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 " You will meet him soon, please God." 
 
 After another pause, she asked, "Who is this 
 standing at the head of my bed ? " 
 
 He came forward, and looked down at her. 
 
 "Why, it is Warren Bell! Oh, now I under 
 stand ! You do love each other after all. I was 
 sure you did. You are going to be his wife, aren t 
 you?" 
 
 " There are better things than marriage in the 
 world." 
 
 "No, there is nothing better," said Lizzie ; "not 
 not if you love each other." 
 
 "They were her last words," said Warren Bell; 
 " and they w-were true ! " 
 
 Men and women in this world do almost as they 
 please, some following the good and some the evil ; 
 and sometimes the evil seem happy, and sometimes 
 the good seem miserable. But the thirst for renown 
 is never slaked ; it waxes sharper with indulgence. 
 Love of self assumes many forms, noble and igno 
 ble ; but, whether it blaze gloriously or smoulder 
 basely, its final outcome can only be a handful of 
 dead ashes. After so many struggles, sophistries, 
 triumphs, and jealousies, that is the end. 
 
 But this destroying angel, born of man, has a 
 
LIFE AND DEATH. 301 
 
 counterpart, whose origin is Divine, and who cre 
 ates where the other consumes. This love, too, is 
 insatiable, but insatiable in giving, not in taking; 
 and the more it gives, the more it has to give, and 
 the greater is its delight in giving. But, whether 
 that which it gives be comparatively much or little, 
 it is always the most precious of all gifts, for it is 
 love. The essence of the other love is death ; but 
 this love is life itself, and it is immortal, because 
 whatever it touches it transmutes into the likeness 
 of itself. 
 
 Between these two powers the world is divided ; 
 nor is there any human being in whose heart that 
 division is not found ; and according as the propor 
 tions vary does good or evil prevail. Often you 
 can scarce distinguish one from the other, even in 
 yourself, though the gulf between them is neverthe 
 less as deep as that which separates heaven from 
 hell. We are misled most of all by success, 
 which seems the test of merit, but is never given in 
 this world as a reward ; it is only the most inscruta 
 ble of the dispensations of Providence. 
 
 There are many so-called philanthropists, men 
 who will cure the world with a patent nostrum > or 
 a political formula, or a moral apothegm. But 
 these infallible prescriptions, when they are ana- 
 
302 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 lyzed, invariably resolve themselves into one essen 
 tial element, self. The men who have truly 
 beatified mankind have done so unconsciously or 
 inevitably, by an inborn divine energy of nature, 
 and oftenest they are never identified with their 
 deeds. It is not the inventor or proprietor of the 
 best sauce, or telegraph, or government, that 
 deserves the gratitude of his fellows, but he who 
 shows us how unimportant are these things to the 
 real greatness and peace of life. The test of a man 
 is not whether he can govern a kingdom single- 
 handed, but whether his private life is tender and 
 beneficent, and his wife and children happy. If I 
 could write my name in stars across the heavens I 
 should be put to shame by the man whose home 
 brightens whenever he enters it, and whose true 
 name is known only to his wife, for she invented it 
 when they were young lovers. 
 
 Seth Drayton had made more than one will 
 during his lifetime, but after his death no will was 
 found. He left no descendants, and his enormous 
 fortune was therefore claimed by an indeterminate 
 number of real or supposititious relatives ; and the 
 lawsuits thereupon arising will only come to an 
 end when there are no millions left to fight about. 
 
 The Independent candidate was not elected; for 
 
LIFE AND DEATH. 303 
 
 the report that one of his rivals was suffering 
 from an incurable disease turned out the next day 
 to be totally without foundation ; and events fol 
 lowed their natural course. The surviving members 
 of the "Pactolus" syndicate, who, for some reason 
 never fully explained, had anticipated a large share 
 of patronage under the new administration, were 
 consequently thrown into dismay and confusion, and 
 their attempts to rehabilitate themselves were only 
 partially successful. But, since the pleasure of the 
 chase is in the pursuit and not in the capture, there 
 is every prospect that none of these able gentlemen 
 will ever lack enjoyment. Tom Peekskill, how 
 ever, has had genuine good luck ; for he has become 
 the proprietor of a superb new hotel, just erected 
 in the upper part of the city, and is already reputed 
 to be enormously rich. His face is hideously dis 
 figured by an unfortunate accident ; but he is a 
 mine of good stories and good-fellowship ; and, as 
 to his social repute, he is on intimate terms with 
 Judge Muhlbach, and other persons of almost as 
 eminent respectability. 
 
 Susan Wayne s " Home " turned out to be popu 
 lar in a rather unexpected sense. When its charac 
 ter and scope became known it had many more 
 applicants than it was possible to accommodate ; not 
 
304 LOVE OR A NAME. 
 
 so much owing to an increase of wickedness in the 
 class which it aimed to benefit as to the difficulty of 
 determining who did belong to that class and who 
 did not, a delicate question under the most favor 
 able conditions, but especially so in a republic. 
 Susan had trouble enough even while Nell Anthony 
 remained to assist her, but when she was left (as 
 ultimately happened) to her own devices she became 
 hopelessly bewildered, and at length sold out the 
 establishment to the proprietor of a private high- 
 class school for young ladies. Susan has since 
 then become interested in the recent development 
 among us of art-needlework, and is the cause of 
 a great deal of good work being done in that 
 direction. 
 
 As to Warren Bell, though it was at one time 
 rumored that there was some likelihood of his 
 taking part in political life, nothing confirmatory 
 of the rumor has ever come to light. The best I 
 can say of him is, that I do not know what has 
 become of him, but that, be he where he may, 
 there is reason to believe that she whom we have 
 known as Nell Anthony is with him. Yet, even in 
 the light of her presence, there will always be a 
 shadow on his heart.