n, and now he was called on to do his
part--to pay the fiddler. He must sign the bill.

Lyons had five days in which to consider the matter. At the end of that
time if he neither signed nor vetoed the bill, it would become law
without his signature. He was at bay, and the time for deliberation was
short. An incubus of disappointment weighed upon his soul and clouded
his brow. His round, smooth face looked grieved. It seemed cruel to him
that such an untoward piece of fortune should confront him just at the
moment when this great reward for his political services was within his
grasp and his opportunities for eminent public usefulness assured. He
brooded over his quandary in silence for twenty-four hours. On the
second day he concluded to speak of the matter to Selma. He knew that
she kept a general run of public affairs. Not infrequently she had asked
him questions concerning measures before the Legislature, and he was
pleasantly aware that she was ambitious to be regarded as a politician.
But up to this time there had been no room for question as to what his
action as Governor should be in respect to any measure. It had happened,
despite his attitude of mental comradeship with his wife, that he had
hitherto concealed from her his most secret transactions. He had left
her in the dark in regard to his true dealings with Williams & Van
Horne; he had told her nothing as to his straitened circumstances, the
compact by which he had been made Governor, and his relief at the hands
of Elton from threatened financial ruin. Reluctance, born of the theory
in his soul that these were accidents in his life, not typical
happenings, had sealed his lips. He was going to confide in her now not
because he expected that Selma's view of this emergency would differ
from his own, but in order that she might learn before he acted that he
was under an imperative obligation to sign the bill. While he was
sitting at home in the evening with the topic trembling on his tongue,
Selma made his confession easy by saying, "I have taken for granted that
you will veto the gas bill."

Selma had indeed so assumed. In the early stages of the bill she had
been ignorant of its existence. During the last fortnight, since the
controversy had reached an acute phase and public sentiment had been
aroused against its passage, she had been hoping that it would pass so
that Lyons might have the glory of returning it to the Legislature
without his signature. She had