o not take any stock in the newspaper stories regarding Judge
Rossmore. They are preposterous. Judge Rossmore is too strong a
man to be got rid of so easily."

The speaker sat down and another rose, his arguments being merely
a reiteration of those already heard. Ryder did not listen to what
was being said. Why should he? Was he not familiar with every
possible phase of the game? Better than these men who merely
talked, he was planning how the railroad and all his other
interests could get rid of this troublesome judge.

It was true. He who controlled legislatures and dictated to Supreme
Court judges had found himself powerless when each turn of the legal
machinery had brought him face to face with Judge Rossmore. Suit
after suit had been decided against him and the interests he
represented, and each time it was Judge Rossmore who had handed
down the decision. So for years these two men had fought a silent
but bitter duel in which principle on the one side and attempted
corruption on the other were the gauge of battle. Judge Rossmore
fought with the weapons which his oath and the law directed him
to use, Ryder with the only weapons he understood--bribery and
trickery. And each time it had been Rossmore who had emerged
triumphant. Despite every manoeuvre Ryder's experience could
suggest, notwithstanding every card that could be played to
undermine his credit and reputation, Judge Rossmore stood higher
in the country's confidence than when he was first appointed.

So when Ryder found he could not corrupt this honest judge with
gold, he decided to destroy him with calumny. He realized that the
sordid methods which had succeeded with other judges would never
prevail with Rossmore, so he plotted to take away from this man
the one thing he cherished most--his honour. He would ruin him by
defaming his character, and so skilfully would he accomplish his
work that the judge himself would realize the hopelessness of
resistance. No scruples embarrassed Ryder in arriving at this
determination. From his point of view he was fully justified.
"Business is business. He hurts my interests; therefore I remove
him." So he argued, and he considered it no more wrong to wreck
the happiness of this honourable man than he would to have shot a
burglar in self-defence. So having thus tranquillized his
conscience he had gone to work in his usually thorough manner, and
his success had surpassed the most sanguine expectations.

This is what h