e won such a sacrifice as she had made.

She was ready to own that she loved that tall young man of mystery
whose face had refuted the suspicion that he was a mere vagrant. It
was strange--it was unaccountable. But she had ceased to wonder at the
vagaries of love. In her prostration of mental energies and of hope she
confessed to herself that she had loved him.

But now between his face and hers, as she shut her eyes and reproduced
his features, limned in her memory, those fiery words danced--there was
a "play-mamma" who with him had loved the little girl named Rosemarie.

Checking her sobs, she sighed, and her heart surrendered him.

Her sacrifice had been made both easier and yet more difficult.

Then she snuggled close to her pillows and gazed out into the gathering
night, and pondered on the fact that if Walker Farr won his fight in the
state convention that victory put an end to her poor little truce in the
matter of Richard Dodd.

Then she was sure that she had put Walker Farr out of her heart for
ever, because she found herself hoping that he would win. The girl
had not yet grown into full knowledge of the dynamics of a true and
unselfish love--she did not fully know herself.

XXVII

A DICKER FOR A MAN'S SOUL

The populace came first and packed solidly into the galleries of the
great auditorium of Marion city.

For years the state conventions of the dominant party had attracted
but little public attention. They had been simple affairs of routine,
indorsing the men and the principles of the Big Machine. The next
governor had been groomed and announced to the patient people long
months before the date of the convention; platforms protecting the
interests were glued placidly and secretly and brought forth from the
star chamber to be admired; and no delegate was expected or allowed to
joggle a plank or nick the smooth varnish which had been smoothed over
selfish privilege.

But this year came all the people who could pack themselves into
galleries and aisles.

Below on the main floor were more than two thousand delegates. Every
town and city sent the full number accredited. After these men had been
seated the men and women who thronged the corridors and stairways were
allowed to enter and stand in the rear of the great hall.

Strange stories, rumors, predictions, had been running from lip to lip
all over the big commonwealth. It was reported that the throne of the
tyrant was menaced at last by r