s. Also he saw
the other part, after it had carefully secreted the wrapped package of
papers under the mattress, beat the pillows feebly and bury its head in
them. After that there was a great blank.

XXVI

APPLES OF GOLD

Notwithstanding the pillow-muffled plunge which was almost a lapse into
the coma of utter exhaustion, Evan Blount awoke early on the Sunday
morning, refreshed and measurably free from pain. Since the sun was just
beginning to gild the lofty finial on the dome of the Capitol opposite,
there was no one stirring as yet in the adjoining rooms of the suite,
and the streets were silent save for the chanting cries of the newsboys.

Slipping out of bed, Blount crossed to the window and threw it open. It
was good to be able to stand and walk without wincing; and a breath of
the sunrise breeze sweeping down from the eastern hills was like a
draught of invigorating wine. As he leaned out for an instant to make
sure that not even the height would bring a return of the vertigo, the
wail of the nearest newsboy became shrilly articulate: _"Here's yer
Morning Plainsman! All erbout the great election frauds!"_

Hardly crediting his ears, Blount listened again, and when the cry was
repeated he closed the window softly and sat down to grapple with this
newest development of his problem. Did the newsboy's selling-cry mean
that Blenkinsop had found out for himself, and independently, about the
falsified registration lists? If so, there would be no public
vindication for one Evan Blount; but also--thank God!--no need for a son
to blazon himself to the world as his father's accuser. A great wave of
thankfulness rolled over Blount's head, submerging him and turning the
exclamation which sprang to his lips into a paean of rejoicing. Instantly
he saw himself throwing up his railroad connection and taking his
rightful place as his father's counsel and defender. Here, at last, was
a cause into which he could fling himself body and soul. True, people
would say that he had been in league with the corporations, the boss,
and the machine, from the first, but what did that matter?

But would his father need a defender? No shadow of doubt as to this was
admissible in the face of the accumulating evidence, he told himself.
From the opening day of the campaign the machine and the corporations
had been working hand in hand; Gryson and his fellow-crooks were the
sufficient proof; and besides.... Blount reached under the matt