The Gentleman from Indiana - Page 172/212

As Mr. Parker observed, Miss Sherwood did not do the Grand Duchess, giving

the Carlow tenants a treat. She felt no duchess symptoms within herself,

and though, of course, she had various manners tucked away to wear as one

suits garments to occasions--and it was a Rouen "party-gown" wherewith she

chose to abash poor John Harkless at their meeting--here in Carlow, she

was a woman of affairs, lively, shrewd, engaging, capable; she was herself

(at least she was that side of herself). And it should be explained that

Harkless had based his calumny regarding the tariff on a paragraph or two

that crept inadvertently into an otherwise statesmanlike article, and that

"H. Fisbee" understood the tariff as well as any woman who ever lived. But

the tariff inspired no more articles from that pen.

Rodney McCune had lifted his head, and those who had followed his stricken

enemy felt that the cause was lost, without the leader. The old ring that

the "Herald" had crushed was a ring once more, and the heelers had

rallied--"the boys were in line again." The work had been done quietly,

and Halloway was already beaten, and beaten badly. John Harkless lay sick,

and Rodney McCune would sit in Congress, for the nomination meant

election. But one day the Harkless forces, demoralized, broken, almost

hopeless, woke up to find that they had a leader. Many of them were

content with the belief that this was a young lawyer named Keating, who

had risen up in Amo; but Mr. Keating himself had a different impression.

Helen was a little nervous, and very much excited, over the political

conference at Judge Briscoe's. She planned it with careful diplomacy, and

arranged the details with a fine sense of the dramatic. There was a

suggestion she desired to have made in this meeting, which she wished

should emanate from the Amo and Gaines County people, instead of

proceeding from Carlow--for she thought it better to make the outsiders

believe her idea an inspiration of their own--so she made a little comedy

and provided for Briscoe's entrance at an effective moment. The judge was

a substantial influence, strong in the councils of his party when he chose

to be; and though of late years he had contented himself with voting at

the polls, every one knew what weight he carried when he saw fit to bestir

himself.

When he entered the parlor, he found the politicians in a state of subdued

excitement. Helen sat by the window, blushing, and talking eagerly to old

Fisbee. One of the gentlemen from Gaines County was walking about the room

exclaiming, "A glorious conception! A glorious conception!" addressing the

bric-a-brac, apparently. (He thought the conception his own.) Mr. Martin

was tugging at his beard and whispering to Landis and Homer, and the two

Amo men were consulting in a corner, but as the judge came in, one of them

turned and said loudly, "That's the man."