They've got a young fellow
down there who'll be Governor in a few years. He's a sort of dictator;
and runs the party all over that part of the State to suit his own sweet
will, just by sheer personality. And there isn't a man in that district
who wouldn't cheerfully lie down in the mud to let him pass over dry.
It's that young Harkless, you know; owns the 'Herald,' the paper
that downed McCune and smashed those imitation 'White-Caps' in Carlow
County." Meredith had been momentarily struck by the coincidence of the
name, but his notion of Harkless was so inseparably connected with
what was (to his mind) a handsome and more spacious--certainly more
illuminated--field of action, that the idea that this might be his
friend never entered his head. Helen had said something once--he could
not remember what--that made him think she had half suspected it, and
he had laughed. He thought of the whimsical fate that had taken her to
Plattville, of the reason for her going, and the old thought came to
him that the world is, after all, so very small. He looked up at the
twinkling stars; they were reassuring and kind. Under their benignancy
no loss could befall, no fate miscarry--for in his last thought he felt
his vision opened, for the moment, to perceive a fine tracery of fate.

"Ah, that would be too beautiful!" he said.

And then he shivered; for his name was spoken from within.

It was soon plain to him that he need not have feared a few words, for
he did not in the least understand those with which the eminent surgeons
favored him; and they at once took their departure. He did understand,
however, what Horner told him. Mr. Barrett, Warren Smith, and the sleepy
young man had reentered the ward; and Horner was following, but waited
for Meredith. Somehow, the look of the sheriff's Sunday coat, wrinkling
forlornly from his broad, bent shoulders, was both touching and solemn.
He said simply: "He's conscious and not out of his head. They're gone in
to take his ante-mortem statement," and they went into the room.

Harkless's eyes were bandaged. The lawyer was speaking to him, and as
Horner went awkwardly toward the cot. Warren said something indicative
of the sheriff's presence, and the hand on the sheet made a formless
motion which Horner understood, for he took the pale fingers in his own,
very gently, and then set them back. Smith turned toward Meredith, but
the latter made a gesture which forbade the attorney to speak of him,
an