small farmers,
ignorant Portuguese and foreigners--have listened to these stories
and have permitted a feeling of uneasiness to develop among them. Even
though it were admitted that fraudulent means had been employed in the
elections, which, of course, I personally do not admit, I do not think
it would make very much difference in the confidence which the vast
majority of the Leaguers repose in their chiefs. Yet we have so insisted
upon the probity of our position as opposed to Railroad chicanery,
that I believe it advisable to quell this distant suspicion at once; to
publish a denial of these rumoured charges would only be to give them
too much importance. However, can you not write me a letter, stating
exactly how the campaign was conducted, and the commission nominated and
elected? I could show this to some of the more disaffected, and it would
serve to allay all suspicion on the instant. I think it would be well
to write as though the initiative came, not from me, but from yourself,
ignoring this present letter. I offer this only as a suggestion, and
will confidently endorse any decision you may arrive at."

The letter closed with renewed protestations of confidence.

Magnus was alone when he read this. He put it carefully away in the
filing cabinet in his office, and wiped the sweat from his forehead and
face. He stood for one moment, his hands rigid at his sides, his fists
clinched.

"This is piling up," he muttered, looking blankly at the opposite wall.
"My God, this is piling up. What am I to do?"

Ah, the bitterness of unavailing regret, the anguish of compromise with
conscience, the remorse of a bad deed done in a moment of excitement.
Ah, the humiliation of detection, the degradation of being caught,
caught like a schoolboy pilfering his fellows' desks, and, worse
than all, worse than all, the consciousness of lost self-respect, the
knowledge of a prestige vanishing, a dignity impaired, knowledge that
the grip which held a multitude in check was trembling, that control
was wavering, that command was being weakened. Then the little tricks
to deceive the crowd, the little subterfuges, the little pretences that
kept up appearances, the lies, the bluster, the pose, the strut, the
gasconade, where once was iron authority; the turning of the head so
as not to see that which could not be prevented; the suspicion of
suspicion, the haunting fear of the Man on the Street, the uneasiness
of the direct glance, the qu