o of his
muffled hoofs had died away in the distance.

CHAPTER XI

THE BEAT OF A SPARROW'S WING

Dr. Cameron's appeal had left the old Commoner unshaken in his idea. There
could be but one side to any question with such a man, and that was his
side. He would stand by his own men, too. He believed in his own forces.
The bayonet was essential to his revolutionary programme--hence the hand
which held it could do no wrong. Wrongs were accidents which might occur
under any system.

Yet in no way did he display the strange contradictions of his character
so plainly as in his inability to hate the individual who stood for the
idea he was fighting with maniac fury. He liked Dr. Cameron instantly,
though he had come to do a crime that would send him into beggared exile.

Individual suffering he could not endure. In this the doctor's appeal had
startling results.

He sent for Mrs. Lenoir and Marion.

"I understand, Madam," he said gravely, "that your house and farm are to
be sold for taxes."

"Yes, sir; we've given it up this time. Nothing can be done," was the
hopeless answer.

"Would you consider an offer of twenty dollars an acre?"

"Nobody would be fool enough to offer it. You can buy all the land in the
county for a dollar an acre. It's not worth anything."

"I disagree with you," said Stoneman cheerfully. "I am looking far ahead.
I would like to make an experiment here with Pennsylvania methods on this
land. I'll give you ten thousand dollars cash for your five hundred acres
if you will take it."

"You don't mean it?" Mrs. Lenoir gasped, choking back the tears.

"Certainly. You can at once return to your home. I'll take another house,
and invest your money for you in good Northern securities."

The mother burst into sobs, unable to speak, while Marion threw her arms
impulsively around the old man's neck and kissed him.

His cold eyes were warmed with the first tear they had shed in years.

He moved the next day to the Ross estate, which he rented, had Sam brought
back to the home of his childhood in charge of a good-natured white
attendant, and installed in one of the little cottages on the lawn. He
ordered Lynch to arrest the keeper of the poor, and hold him on a charge
of assault with intent to kill, awaiting the action of the Grand Jury. The
Lieutenant-Governor received this order with sullen anger--yet he saw to
its execution. He was not quite ready for a break with the man who had
made him.