an. That
applies to purses and all other possessions, including hearts and
loyalty."

He started to say something to her--even though the throng pressed about
them he would have said it; but the voice of the crier at the door
announced what all were waiting for.

"His Excellency the Governor, the Honorable Council, and his Excellency
the Governor-elect and party!"

They filed along in dignified procession down the centre aisle, the
uniforms of the officers of the staff giving a touch of color and
brightness to the formal frock-coats.

The Secretary of State announced the official figures of the vote
electing Varden Waymouth as Governor, and after his sonorous final
phrase, "God save the State of ------," Governor Waymouth repeated the
oath of office administered by a gaunt, sallow lawyer who was the
president of the Senate.

The clerk of the House set a reading-desk on the Speaker's table and
arranged the Governor's manuscript. As the old man read he made a
striking picture. He stood very erect. His snowy hair, the empty sleeve
across his breast, the lines the years had etched on cheeks and brow
gave those who looked on him a little thrill of sympathetic regret that
one so old should be called from the repose of his later years to take
up such public burdens as he had assumed. But his voice was resonant,
his eye was clear. Nature seemed to have given him new strength to meet
what he was now facing. And yet, thought some of those who listened, it
might be that he did not propose to make a martyr of himself, after all.
His address did not threaten or complain. The radicals who sat there
with set teeth and bent brows, hoping to hear denunciation after their
own heart, were disappointed. The politicians who had feared now took
new grip on their hope--it probably was not to be as bad as they had
anticipated.

Harlan Thornton listened to the calm, moderate statement of the State's
general financial and political situation with growing sense of mingled
disappointment and relief. His fighting spirit and his knowledge of
conditions, as they had been revealed to him, made him hope that at last
an honest man proposed to clean the temple--entering upon his task with
bared arms and a clarion call. This mild old man, confining himself to
the details of the State's progress and needs, was not exactly the
leader he had expected him to be. And yet Harlan was relieved. He looked
at the girl beside him, and that relief smoothed aw