say about sudden shocks! I've
laughed at him, of course, and yet--I know there is truth in it. I've
been up against hard propositions, but never one as hard as this. I've
had big responsibilities, but never a responsibility that I felt as I
feel this one. If I hold out, I know what people and the newspapers will
say,--how they'll blackguard me,--but I'm not afraid of that. I'm not
even thinking of it. No, and I'm not thinking of what the strain may
mean to me. Every man's turn is sure to come--why not one way as well as
another? But what I _am_ thinking of is the result upon the lives of
these people whom I've made, as surely as if I were another Creator. And
McGrath's another Beelzebub! There's a fight on between us for the
salvation of a little world of four thousand souls! But I'm not God! I
can't act with the conviction of omniscience. I've been the most
independent of men. I've made my own fortune with my own brains. I've
done as I saw fit, and the results have seemed to indicate that I've
been oftener right than wrong. But now, I'm at a loss. It's not the men
I'm thinking of so much. They ought to be able to make their own way, as
I've made mine. It's the women and children dependent upon them--the
women and children who have no voice in the matter, and yet who are
bound to suffer most by a strike. I've got to think for them. I've
reached a crisis--a cross-ways--and I've got to choose which course to
take--and I can't! All my experience counts for nothing. I've never--you
probably know it--asked for advice before. But now I must have the
unprejudiced, the outside point of view. I've always thought there was a
clear, unmistakable boundary between right and wrong, but now there's
some right in the wrong, and a big sight more of wrong in the right!
I've heard Broadcastle's opinion, and I want yours. If you agree, I'll
go by what you say. As I said before, John, in this matter I'm the
individual--you're the state. I'll go by what you say. What shall I do?"

Peter Rathbawne's words had wrought tremendously upon the
Lieutenant-Governor. He answered slowly, looking down, and with a
perceptible tremor in his voice.

"Mr. Rathbawne, you and the Colonel know how high-sounding my title is,
and how little, in reality, it means. There is no need to go into
details. I'm Lieutenant-Governor of Alleghenia, yes!--and as helpless in
the cause of right as a new-born baby! If I could by any means, in any
manner, support the advice I