Chapter V: Part XX (1)

But, with divorce matters on the calendar, Special Term Part I. appeals to a particular class. One can recognise its women out in the Rotunda long before they turn toward the haven, and one can almost feel its moist and clammy type of man.

To see the women with their hard faces well nigh intelligent with curiosity--their long necks and ears turned to catch each salacious morsel--is a sight to sicken every man with memory of a mother. To watch the flabby-jowled, pimply persons of the masculine gender, their drooling mouths fashioned to a grin, and their perspiring hands clutching the soiled and soiling newspapers, is to understand the cynic who protested that "the more he saw of men the better he liked dogs."

"Mr. Harding," said the Justice, as the arguments in _Fenton_ vs. _Fenton_ closed, "it seems to me the defendant has made out a reasonable case. As you have said, this matter rests wholly in the discretion of the Court, and although we hold the parents joint and equal guardians of their children and do not follow the old world rule that a father has a superior claim to the possession of his offspring, yet, as it seems to me, this is a case where that rule should apply. Mrs. Fenton has left her husband's house without just cause, as he alleges. She makes no claim for his support, and the complaint, as has been shown, is deficient in its detail. If I am wrong, a trial will set the matter right. In the meantime I award the possession of the children to the father. If you can agree with Mr. Sargent upon the terms of the order, I will make such provision for occasional visits of the mother as justice may----"

A scraping of chairs and rustling of skirts drowned the closing words of the Judge and Sargent turned to see a woman entering the Court Room with two little children at her side. She walked directly toward the counsel's table, and the restless eye-lashes of the unsexed "painted" her in rapid sweeping glances, now up--now down--and the fat-paunched leerers followed her with looks scarcely less offensive.

"My child, you should not have come here," whispered Mr. Harding, as he rose and offered her his chair.

She was scarcely more than a girl, but her tall graceful figure bespoke a quiet dignity, and the grey eyes with their steady gaze told of developed character.

Sargent glanced at his client. Fenton must have seen the doubt expressed in the lawyer's face, for he spoke up sharply.

"Let's finish this business, Sargent. I suppose I can take the children now."

But his counsel did not answer, and Fenton, growing impatient, addressed the Court.

"Your Honour, these are my children--I suppose I may take them now?"

The Judge, busy with the signing of papers, frowned but took no other notice of the questioner.

Mrs. Fenton laid her hand on Mr. Harding's arm and almost shook it as she asked,

"What does he mean? What--does--he--mean?"

How the necks stretched and the ears strained to catch the counsel's answer!

But he whispered to the woman at his side, who, with her arms thrown about the children, seemed oblivious of the eyes glutting themselves upon her.

"Impossible!" she kept repeating, "it is impossible!"

The old lawyer shook his head gravely and glanced uneasily at the defendant. Again he whispered to the young wife, speaking rapidly and stopping her interruptions with the pressure of his hand upon her arm, till at length she burst out in a frightened undertone,

"But I tell you it is impossible! It _shall_ not be done!"

Sargent rose and crossed to where the two were talking.

"Pardon me for interrupting," he said to Mr. Harding, "but I apprehend this decision is a surprise to Mrs. Fenton. Can we not arrange that the matter shall go no further?"

"Gladly, Sargent, but how?"

"I am authorised by my client to withdraw this motion if Mrs. Fenton will discontinue her case."

Mr. Harding looked at the fair face turned toward him.

"You understand," he said. "This is Mr. Sargent,--your husband's attorney."

With a gesture, half terror and half disdain, the young mother drew the children closer to her side and Sargent felt the hot blood flying to his cheeks. But she seemed only conscious of Mr. Harding's presence as she answered him.

"Does he dare offer to bribe me with my own children? It is monstrous!"

Mr. Harding glanced sadly at the younger lawyer as the latter turned again to his impatient client.

"She won't consent?" muttered Fenton. "Nonsense! You've worked the smooth business right enough, Sargent, but we've won the motion and done the decent. Now knock things about. You've got to scare her half out of her wits----"

Sargent's face flushed.

"I think you are mistaking her," he said. "I know you are mistaking me."

"Good Lord--man, don't get mussy just when everything's in our own hands. We've got to push it through now or never. Why--damn it," he whispered fiercely, "don't you understand we can't defend this case? We've got to bluff her out!"

The word "we" stung Sargent as though someone had slapped his face. Yet he was associated with this man. Associated for what purpose--to do what? His client's angry outburst had made it plain enough.

Fenton saw the glance of scorn in his lawyer's eyes.

"I'll be my own attorney then--and a damn sight better one," he muttered and turned toward the group at the other end of the table.

"Well, now, let's have the children--Come, kids."

He rose and took a step forward. As he did so his wife sprang to her feet and faced him. He stopped with an uneasy laugh before the splendid figure of the woman drawn up to her full height, and met her measured look of courage and contempt. Then he turned again toward his counsel, speaking in an ugly undertone.

"See here, Sargent, I'm not going to make a fool of myself before all these people. Get the officers to bring the children out to the carriage."

But Sargent did not reply, and for a moment there was dead silence in the Court Room.

Fenton stooped toward his counsel.

"What do you think you're paid for?" he whispered menacingly.

What was he paid for? That was plain talk--that made the truth stand out clearly! He was the hireling of this man--not his associate. He was hired to do contemptible work and he had done it,--was doing it. No wonder his employer stood ready with insult to show how he despised his creature. It was perfectly safe. An officer of the Court was bound by professional duty and gagged by confidential communications. He must sit still and see this outrage on Justice perpetrated. Even aid in it. And for what? For money. How far had he sold himself--how much of his manhood was included in the purchase? He could retire from the case? Yes, after the day's dirty work was finished and the wrong could not be righted.

If he raised his hand to stop this thing, how many lawyers in the City would uphold him? Not many in the Titan Building. It was easy to foreshadow the construction which would be placed upon his conduct. He could almost hear the fierce denunciation. To defend himself he would have to violate professional secrecy still further. True, there were those who would understand--men to whom their calling was and always would be "the honourable profession of the law"--men who would never permit the Law's mantle of dignity to become a cloak for the vicious. But the others--"the high average"? Had he the courage to face their verdict?

Perspiration poured down Sargent's face and his hand shook with suppressed wrath as Fenton rose and again addressed the Court.

"I presume your Honour will enforce your order? I don't wish to make a scene."

The Justice looked inquiringly at the lawyers, but neither of them made any sign.

"Madam," he said at last, "I have awarded your husband the custody of his children pending this action. You will kindly put no obstacle in the way of the execution of my order."

The chairs of the leerers grated on the floor with eagerness, and the skirts of the shameless shivered with delicious tremors.

Ah--this was worth coming for! A woman's tenderest feelings were to be exposed and crushed. Privacy was to be invaded--delicacy was to be unveiled--the sacred was to be handled. Ah--this well repaid the waiting!

Mrs. Fenton flushed as the Judge addressed her, and then grew ashy pale as she answered.

"You have no right, no man has any right, to dispose of my children. They shall not leave me! I will not permit it!"

The Judge glanced at the bulging eyes and gaping mouths of the audience and frowned angrily.

"Officer," he said sharply, "take those children and deliver them to the defendant."

There are moments when the Bar does not envy the Bench.

As the Judge's words reached her, the young mother leaped to her feet and swept the children behind her. Then she backed toward the wall and crouched there like some magnificent wild thing, trembling with that mingling of terror and courage which warns the fiercest beast to caution.

"Let him," she panted, hoarsely, "let him come--come and take them if--if he dare!"

Mr. Harding rose and stepped toward the woman, laying his hand gently upon her arm. She gazed at him for an instant with no recognition in her eyes, then flung her arms about his neck and laughed the hideous shuddering laughter of hysteria.

Here was entertainment indeed! A red-letter day in the annals of the audience! To-morrow the Court Room would be packed with expectants--all the floating population of the Rotunda would be on hand.

The Judge seemed to think of this.

"Remove that woman!" he ordered.

A court officer stepped forward, and at the same time Fenton moved toward the children.

Then Sargent's voice broke the stillness of the Court.

"If your Honour please, I wish to withdraw the motion in this case."

There was a moment of absolute, breathless silence.

Then Fenton sprang to his feet.

"Withdraw?" he almost shouted. "What do you mean? This is my case. It's been decided in my favour. I won't permit it!"

Sargent only addressed the Court as he answered,

"Nevertheless, I withdraw the motion."

The Justice looked steadily at the lawyer's face, and his gaze was not without a trace of approval.

"I must warn you, Counsellor," he said at length, "that this is very unusual. It is a most serious matter."

"I will take all responsibility, your Honour."

"Very well, Mr. Sargent. You consent, I presume, Mr. Harding? I am not sure that I have the power, but if not, the error can be corrected by appeal. Mark the motion, 'withdrawn.'"

"This is treachery!" Fenton shouted at his lawyer. "I'll have you disbarred, Sir! You'll lose every client you've got----"

"But I'll keep my self-respect," answered Sargent, in a whisper.

"I'll have you disbarred, Sir!--I'll ruin you utterly. Your Honour, he's conspired with the other side--he used to be in their office. I can prove----"

"Clear the Court Room!" thundered the Justice.

* * * * *

Outside in the Rotunda the audience placed Sargent on trial and straightway condemned him. In legal circles his conduct was denounced, eulogised, and on the whole deplored.

But the Court of Conscience (hear the cynic mutter "Court of last resort!") held him guiltless, and from its judgment there is no appeal.

IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE.

Valentine Willard was not a bad fellow at heart, although Gordon will never admit it. But Gordon is a crank who carries his professional enmity into private life.

Their trouble began about an "affidavit of merits."

Gordon had a case in which he was about to enter judgment, when Willard blocked him off with an extension obtained from the Court by means of an affidavit, in which he swore that "his client had fully and fairly stated the matter to him, and from that statement he verily believed the defendant had a good and substantial defence to the action upon the merits."

This, of course, was utter fiction. There was no thought of a defence. But delay defeats, and later Willard withdrew, allowing Gordon to take the twenty-fifth instead of the first judgment against his man.

The same thing is done every day of practice in the City of New York. Lawyers who are Officers of the Court prostitute the Court with cheerful zeal--men with a high sense of self-respect in their private lives, demean themselves beyond expression in their professional careers--gentlemen who would not stoop to the slightest equivocation up-town, perjure themselves for money down-town, or teach their clerks to do it for them. It is not a pretty practice, but Gordon ought to have known the custom. However, being young at that time, it still shocked him. To-day he says it only fills him with disgust. But he was just as much of a crank then as he is now, so he took Willard's affidavit before the Grievance Committee of the Bar Association.

He might have seen the smile on the faces of his auditors as he told his story, had he not been blinded by zeal. However the Chairman was grave and judicial enough when he announced it was not the province of the Committee to take up the quarrels of counsel, and that they did not propose to investigate light accusations of perjury.

Indeed, the Chairman was so very judicial, and his speech so well delivered, that he might have been suspected of having said something of the same sort before under similar circumstances. But Gordon, crank that he was, thought of nothing but his point, and stoutly maintained that false swearing was being practised every day by lawyers, great and small--that tricks and treachery were personal matters reflecting on but not involving the profession as a whole, while licensed perjury was a travesty of law, striking at the very foundations of Justice. So he went on, boiling over with intensity and utterly innocent of tact.

But when the Chairman stopped him and said something about "seeking aid in legislative action," or "going before a Grand Jury," Gordon, young as he was, looked straight into the speaker's eyes and drank in experience, if not wisdom, from their glance.

Later on Willard's client quarrelled with his counsel, and put into Gordon's hands the very proofs he needed. But the Grievance Committee never saw them, for Gordon locked the papers in his safe and spoke no word.

But that did not close the episode.

It was, however, the beginning of the end as far as Gordon and Willard were concerned.

More than a year passed before the two men met again. Willard had in the meantime been appointed an Assistant District Attorney, and practised only in the Criminal Courts. Their encounter was entirely a matter of accident, though Gordon doesn't think so. Nevertheless, the facts are that Gordon chanced to wander into General Sessions while waiting for some papers, and happened to find his _bete-noir_ prosecuting a case of burglary, and it was merely a matter of habit that caused him to study the prisoner as closely as he did.

The man's face was gentle, and almost expressionless in its vague wonder at the scene before him. Something had its grip on him--just what he did not seem to know--but something monstrous and merciless in its mechanism, and something was being said about him--just what he did not appear to comprehend.

Gordon watched the listless figure, and the weary droop of the head, and interpreted for himself.

Perhaps the poor wretch had struggled when arrested, but without avail--had stormed and protested to the sergeant at the police station, with no result--had denied and explained to the Magistrate at the hearing, but to no end. The Law--a hideous Something--resistless in its power, relentless in its purpose, wanted him. These men--the one on the Bench, the one behind the rail, those others in uniform--wished him out of the way. Perhaps he had concluded he could best propitiate them by giving as little trouble as possible. So he sat there inert and silent, fascinated into non-resistance, watching the doors of his prison open somewhat as a rabbit must watch the widening jaws of a snake.

It is impossible to comprehend the feeling without experiencing it, but Gordon was a lonely sort of man, who sometimes felt himself apart from, instead of a part of, the universe, and so he understood.

Mr. Assistant District Attorney Willard was presenting his case ably, handling his points with so much care that Gordon asked the policeman sitting beside him if the trial was of any importance.

"Importance? Well, I should say so! Don't you see the Chief sitting up near the rail?"

Gordon glanced in the direction indicated and observed the Chief of Police, note book in hand, watching every move of the District Attorney.

"Who is he?" he asked, nodding toward the prisoner.

"Why the larrup says his name is Winter--and don't he look innocent? Well, he's really Red Farrell, a crook we've been after for years. But there's nothin' much gets by us, I guess.--Eh?"

But Gordon was studying the prisoner again and did not respond.

Winter? Where had he heard that name? Why, of course, Winter was the married name of his old nurse, who had been in his father's family for thirty years. But who was this man?

"Mr. Duncan----"

Gordon turned as he heard the whisper behind him and found himself face to face with the very woman of whom he had been thinking.

"Why, Margaret, what are you doing here?"

"O, Mr. Duncan--it's him."

"Who?"

"Jack--there--my son." She glanced toward the prisoner.

Gordon motioned toward the door and they passed out together into the Rotunda.

"O, Mr. Duncan, can you save him?--You will, won't you, dearie? He's my only boy! Indeed, indeed, he's not guilty for all he's been a wild lad at times. O, why do they say he's Red Farrell, or some such man? O please tell them, Mr. Duncan."

And then the story came out with a burst of tears which the Rotunda saw and heard without any emotion whatsoever. It has witnessed so many tears--that Rotunda--heard so many, many stories.

Before Court adjourned Gordon found himself committed to aid in the defence of John Winter--his first criminal case. By evening he was working enthusiastically, confident in the innocence of his client.

Winter was a stupid fellow and impossible as a witness, but this only further convinced his new counsel, who believed a bad witness could not be a good liar. But the defence had been poorly prepared at the hands of the attorney assigned by the Court. Proper witnesses had not been subpoenaed--details had been neglected, while the prosecution seemed unusually keen. This last fact worried and puzzled Gordon more than all the others, and finally started him out on a tour of personal investigation.

When he returned he had learned enough to make him admit that with the time at his command there was small hope of clearing his man from the closely pressed charge.

One chance, however, remained--to see the Assistant District Attorney and obtain an adjournment. But to beg a favour from that source was gall and wormwood to Gordon. Moreover, what he had discovered was not calculated to cool his hot head or make him more diplomatic. So the mission did not promise well, and he had about determined not to attempt it, when the look of despair and mute appeal in Margaret's face made him reconsider, and drove him late at night to visit a man he would have gone miles to avoid.

The Assistant District Attorney was the opposite of Gordon in every way--smooth, politic, even tempered, and ambitious to drop the word "Assistant" from his title. This, it was rumoured, he would do at the next election. In an encounter between these two men it was not difficult to foresee with whom would rest the advantage.

Willard welcomed Gordon to his study and opened with easy commonplaces. But Gordon, hopelessly fanatic and stiff-necked in his honesty, disdained the aid of conventions and pushed directly to his point.

"Mr. Willard, you are prosecuting a young man--John Winter by name----"

"Ah yes, I thought I saw you at the trial to-day, but didn't know you practised in the Criminal Courts. Yes,--John Winter, alias Red Farrell."

"I do not think so and that is why I am here. This young man is the son of Margaret Winter, an old family servant of ours on whose word I would stake my life. I have examined the prisoner and some of the witnesses, and am sure a mistake is being made and that I can prove the man's innocence."

"Well, I shall at least have the satisfaction of being beaten by a worthy adversary. But you didn't come here merely to throw down the gauntlet, Mr. Gordon."

The District Attorney smiled inquiringly at his visitor.

"No, Sir. I want you to withdraw a juror in this case and consent to a mistrial. Meanwhile we can both make further investigations and the cause of Justice will not suffer."

If the speaker had asked for his head, Willard's face could not have expressed more absolute amazement. He stared in silence for a moment--then checked a sudden inclination to laugh and answered calmly enough:

"Of course you have not practised very extensively in the Criminal Courts, Mr. Gordon, or you would know that what you ask is really absurd."

The expression was unfortunate and Gordon blazed up instantly.

"I see nothing absurd about it, Sir. I ask you for time to ascertain this man's guilt or his innocence which cannot now be properly determined.--Do you mind telling me just why this seems absurd to the District Attorney?"

The speaker's tone and manner would have nettled a man less on his guard, but Willard only laughed pleasantly as he answered:

"The District Attorney's office is satisfied to proceed, and you will admit the case must be fairly strong when we are undaunted by the presence of distinguished counsel."

"This is no matter for jests, Mr. Willard. Do you consider that the duty of the District Attorney is to convict as many persons as possible--to win as many cases as you can?"

"O come, come, Mr. Gordon, we are not here to discuss ethical questions."

"Mr. Willard, I am not here to be trifled with or side-tracked. Will you tell me what investigations you have made to ascertain if this man is innocent or not?"

The District Attorney leaned back wearily in his chair and gazed at the earnest face confronting him. Then he lazily reached for a cigarette.

"I am trying to keep my temper and be polite," he replied, "but you surely do not expect me to detail my case to my adversary?"

"Your case? Is that how you term the solemn duty you are charged with? Does the District Attorney condescend to tricks--does he hope to make convictions by surprise?"

Willard struck a match angrily, but he applied it to the cigarette in his mouth before he answered:

"Red Farrell must pay you a good fee, Mr. Gordon, to make this worth your while."

For a moment Gordon was the cooler man of the two.

"Is it not the duty of the District Attorney to ascertain the truth?" he asked as though the other had not spoken. "Are you, a public officer, interested in withholding any part of the truth? Have you anything to conceal?"

"Mr. Gordon, I do not propose to listen to these insinuations----"

"Let us cease bantering then, Mr. Willard. I am ready to talk plainly. Must I?"

"You must indeed, unless you wish me to interpret for myself."

He flicked the ashes from his cigarette and glanced with a bored expression toward the clock.

But Gordon did not speak until Willard's eyes met his again.

"Very well then. I will see that you understand. The police have been hunting a man called Red Farrell, but they have not been successful. The Chief has blamed the Captains--the Captains the detectives, and the papers have ridiculed them all. The police of other cities too have twitted them about it. Suddenly this young man is arrested under suspicious circumstances. No one seems particularly interested in him or knows much about him. Why shouldn't he be Red Farrell? He is Red Farrell. Do you understand me?"

"I hear you making a very nasty and uncalled-for charge against the police of this City and----"

"One that you well know has both foundation and precedent. You know the men who compose the force. So do I. They have the same pride and ambition and morals that other men have. No more and no less. They discover Red Farrell and remove a reproach. Suppose Winter isn't Farrell--well, he's probably guilty anyhow. _They want to win cases too!_"

"Mr. Gordon, you have said about enough----"

"To persuade you that this is a proper case for further investigation?"

"No, Sir, and I will tell you right now that this case will not be adjourned for one hour!"

Gordon rose to his feet and faced his opponent, wording his question slowly and with deliberate emphasis.

"Of course you personally have no special interest in convicting this particular prisoner?"

Willard sprang from his seat and angrily tossed his cigarette into the fire.

"Mr. Gordon, take care you do not go too far."

"Are you not especially anxious to win this case?"

"I am prosecuting, Sir, in the name of the People."

"In the name of the People!"

Gordon laughed the words out with stinging scorn, and the Attorneys faced one another with a rage that in men of less refinement would have set them at each other's throats. But the grapple was as deadly and the purpose as grim as though the struggle had been physical. There was no possible chance for argument now and Gordon flung off all restraint as he poured forth his torrent of contempt.

"In the name of the People! What people gave you a commission to tamper with the liberty of the meanest thing alive? What people privileged you to prosecute an innocent man--for you know he is innocent--I have seen it in every false smirk of your face ever since I entered this room. And to prosecute him for what? For your own personal advancement--to win a case for your client. Do you want me to tell you who your client is----"

"I want you to understand that you can't blackmail me, Sir!"

"Blackmail you? By the Lord Harry, you shall hear the truth from one man if you never hear it again. Don't lay a hand on me or I'll break you like this pencil! Blackmail you? To-night you've got to know that another man knows you through and through. To-night you have to go unmasked. Are you afraid of hearing me say who your client is? Are you afraid of having me name the politicians whose orders you execute and whose nod is your law? You have been ordered by the police to win this case. This _case_ indeed! And you, the Assistant District Attorney, in the name of the People, will win it by fair means or foul. You have never investigated one fact, or asked one question, calculated to bring out the truth, but by trick and wile you stoop to serve your master's purpose. And do you think I do not know why? You poor fool! Every honest man knows who cares to follow your dirty tracks, and the knaves whose gifts you buy know whom they sell to and for what. But remember this, the day you run for District Attorney will be the day I take these papers where they will do the most good, and we will see if the People want a perjurer to prosecute in their name!"

Gordon tore from his pocket the "affidavit of merits," with the proofs of its falsity, and slapped them down upon the desk.

Willard glanced at the papers and then at his adversary. His answer was almost a whisper--hard and rasping.

"Gordon, I will convict your man if I never win another case in my life!"

"By God--you dare not!"

The study door slammed as with a threat--"You dare not!"

The front door echoed "You dare not!" as a challenge.

When Willard looked up again the clock was striking three. But it chimed "You dare not," in the even tone of statement.

* * * * *

The second day of John Winter's trial brought a series of reverses for the prosecution, and the prisoner was acquitted, to the utter disgust of the police.

About that time the Assistant District Attorney's career suffered one of those sudden blights, the origin of which is the mystery of a city's politics.

A few years after this Red Farrell was really found and convicted, but then Willard had been so long on the political shelf that those who put him there had completely forgotten his existence.

But I believe they were right in accusing him of bungling that case. Of course, he may have been intimidated, but the chances are he could never have been convicted of perjury. The crime has almost the sanction of custom. This he must have known. So why not credit him with worthy motives and say he was a good fellow at heart, even though Gordon, Indian-hater that he is, will never admit it?

THE LATEST DECISION.

There was a black-edged card on the bulletin board. That means a vacancy in the club membership until some one of the waiting-list steps into the dead man's shoes.

The card bore the inscription:

JOHN FURMAN DELAFIELD.
December 30, 1898.

Jack Delafield had been no chum of mine, but I never thought the Governors did right by him, and I was glad to remember my partisanship in the days when his mere name was sufficient to provoke instant debate among the Thespians. I liked him then for some of the enemies he made, and perhaps my enthusiasm was always more for the cause than the man. However, I was sorry--very sorry, to see his name on that card, and I said as much to the group of men among whom I took my accustomed seat in the club corner.

"Well, I'm sorry he's gone, but I never knew him at all," remarked Chandler.

"I never met him either," said Paddock.

Hepburn had never heard of him, neither had Joline, and Grafton knew him not.

I looked at the speakers. Was it possible I was as old as they seemed to intimate?

"Delafield hasn't been regular at the club for many a long day," I said--clinging to a straw. "I doubt if he's been inside the door for five years--so it isn't very strange you haven't met. But you all know of him. He was the Delafield of the Hawkins-Delafield affair."

The blank look on the faces of my companions surprised and, I admit, shocked me. It was ridiculous, but Osborne's laugh grated, and I welcomed Chandler's interrupting question, even though it pronounced sentence on my senility.

"Yes--I'll tell you the story," I answered, "but after retailing to members of this club something that was absolutely discussed to death here, and labelling it a 'story,' I shall never address you again except as 'my sons.'"

"Father, may I have a cigar?" asked Chandler, as he rang the bell.

I signed the check.

"Jack Delafield was a man of good family," I began, "but to vary the conventional opening and adhere to the truth, I may as well say his parents were honest though not poor. He was a fellow of many talents, so many, in fact, that he became known as a 'versatile genius.' He never attained a more notable title. Not that he hid his talents under a napkin. He sealed their fate in a bottle--in many bottles. I'm afraid we didn't do much to help him here. Everyone thought he'd come out all right in the long run, and when he lost his money and settled down seriously to the law, his friends supposed his wild oats had all been sown. But somebody left him more money, and back he went to literature and painting, and music. The old set welcomed him with open arms, but didn't help him to write, or paint or practise. Then Miss--well, I won't say what girl--put him on probation, and he wrote two really notable stories before the probation was declared unsatisfactory. After that he never seemed to care much about anything except art, and he took that out in dreaming of the things he didn't do. Yet no one seemed to blame him much, perhaps everybody liked him too well, and nobody loved him enough. Anyway he went from bad to worse, until 'poor fellow' used to be coupled with his name, and Delafield in various states of intoxication became a familiar sight in these rooms.

"He must have been a handsome fellow before drink coarsened and aged him, for he was still good looking, though prematurely old, when I first met him, shortly after my election to the club. About that time Galloway gave his bachelor dinner in the private dining-room upstairs. I attended as one of the ushers, and there were perhaps a dozen other guests--among them Delafield. The dinner was as most such dinners are, a toast for every sentiment, and sentiments galore, so when we adjourned to the grill-room for coffee, Jack tipped his chair against the wall over there and fell asleep. We sat about the centre-table smoking, and testing some remarkable port sent to grace the occasion.

"I don't recall what led up to the conversation, but I do remember that the general subject was women, and that Hawkins coupled the name of--well, a decent girl, with a remark so coarse that most of us stopped talking, though two or three laughed. It was a speech such as I suppose you've all heard made at some time or another, and which always seems to receive the tribute of a laugh before being buried in the silence of self-respecting men.

"It was in the hush following this remark that Delafield's chair fell sideways to the floor with a crash, making us start to our feet and setting the glasses tinkling. The roar of mirth that burst out at this mishap ceased instantly, as we saw Delafield's ghastly face, down which the blood was running from a deep gash in his forehead.

"Someone hurried forward, offering help, but Delafield pushed him aside, staggered to his feet, closed the door and leaned his back against it--his arms spread out as though to bar an exit.

"We stood around the table in silence, watching him. Two or three minutes must have passed before he spoke.

"'Is--Mi--Miss Smith en--gaged?'

"The question was asked slowly in a low tone, as though the man was struggling to control voice and speech.

"We looked at one another and at the swaying figure before the door, but no one answered.

"'Is--Miss Smith's--father here?'

"No answer.

"'Is Miss Smith's brother here?'

"It was difficult to see all the faces in the smoky half-light of the lamps, but those about me showed a pallor of apprehension.

"Was Miss Smith's uncle there--or her guardian--or her cousin? Was anybody present who had a claim to represent her? No?

"The broadening trickle of blood on Delafield's face dripped down the white shirt front, but no one stirred or spoke.

"'Then I wa--want to say'--here he lurched forward from the door and stood rocking slightly at the end of the table. 'I want to say that I--I'm drunk an'--and I know it. But I'm--I'm a gentleman. An'--and yonder's nothing but a cur--a low-lived cur--drunk or sober. You--you've heard him--now see him!'

"Something flashed before his eyes, and then a wine-glass struck Hawkins square on the forehead, scattering in fragments over the table.

"And Hawkins stood there, his face dripping with the wine, and his clothes showing great stains of it--stood there without moving as Delafield leaned over the table and laughed--

"'If--if you only had as much re--red blood in you--you--you----'

"And then he fell fainting across the table, crashing among the bottles.

"The Governing Board expelled Delafield, but the club sentiment was so strongly in his favour that they afterward rescinded the expulsion, and suspended him for three years. But that never satisfied his friends."

"I should think not, indeed," exclaimed Joline, "it was outrageous! I've always claimed you can't be sure a man's a thorough gentleman until you've seen him drunk. And that proves it."

"Oh, the many times I've heard your theory debated in this place! The walls fairly ached with listening to the discussions."

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't know the chap," interrupted Chandler. "Let's drink to his memory!"

He struck the bell as he spoke. As the waiter filled the orders, I noticed one of the older members on the stairs bending close to the bulletin board and peering through his glasses at the notice of John Delafield's death.

Chandler touched me on the shoulder.

"To the memory of a gentleman--Jack Delafield!" he cried. We rose to the toast.

The old man on the stairs turned quickly and saw the lifted glasses. His face was a study.

"Hush!" I whispered, "that's Hawkins."

THE DISTANT DRUM.

"Some for the Glories of this World; and some
Sigh for the Prophet's Paradise to come;
Ah, take the Cash and let the Credit go,
Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum!"

--_Rubaiyat._

I.

Almost everyone knows Governor Tilden's residence in Gramercy Park, but those who don't know it as such, may remember a big house with bas-reliefs over the door, on the south side of that quiet square. However, the house has nothing to do with this story, except that it was upon its door-steps I encountered Sandy McWhiffle, on my way to the club. I use the word "encountered" advisedly, for Sandy, finding the bottom step somewhat narrow for a couch, had allowed one of his legs the freedom of the sidewalk, and it was over this protruding member that I stumbled into the arms of the gentleman slumbering on the Governor's steps.

It was late at night--and Sandy protested. His opening remarks served to advise me that the cop couldn't get around the Square again for at least fifteen minutes--that he (Sandy) hadn't slept five, and that I'd destroyed his night's rest. It did seem unfair.--I certainly could have discovered his leg if I'd looked sharp, and twenty minutes' rest is--well, it's twenty minutes' heaven when you need it--and Sandy needed it--there was no question about that. But the advent of the cop making slumber inexpedient, if not impracticable for the time being, we adjourned, at my suggestion, to the all-night restaurant on Fourth Avenue, near Twenty-fifth Street. You know food is a fair substitute for sleep at times, especially after one has experimented considerably with sleep as a substitute for food. Sandy had made quite thorough investigations along that line. But experiments were difficult, what with the grey Bastinado Brigade in the Squares and Park, and their blue accomplices in the side streets.

I agreed with my vis-a-vis over the poached eggs and ale at Gibson's that it did seem queer the air wasn't free, and that sleeping in public was a misdemeanour. Of course one does it when pressed, but while the Island gives the needed respite, it lessens the chances of earning money to buy a sleeping privilege--and many trips over the river are apt to permanently impair claims to good citizenship. Sandy hadn't been obliged to cross the upper East River yet, but he was getting very weary and careless about concealing it. Hadn't he been able to get any work? Not for a long time. Didn't he do anything at all? Yes--he looked for a job about four hours a day. Why only four hours? Because he tired easily and had to save his strength for the line at night. The line? Yes--the bread line at Fleischmann's.

On the main artery of the chief city of this land of plenty--on Broadway under the shadow of Grace Church--there forms nightly a line of men that stretches for more than a block. Men with pale faces that show haggard under the white electric light, and haggard faces that show hideous,--shiveringly cold men who blink at you like dazed animals or glare at you like wild beasts;--hot, panting, almost pulseless men who gasp in the scorched atmosphere of the city's streets--solemn, mournful creatures, with their filthy rags loosened for any breath of air, no matter how fetid--miserables of every type, exhausted, wretched, but human beings all--stand every night at the edge of the curb on Broadway and Tenth Streets waiting for a baker's over-baking.

It all flashed before my eyes in a moment.

You can see it any night, winter or summer--January or July--from ten o'clock till two, gentlemen. Look at it and pity it--you who have pity in your hearts. Look at it and fear it--you who have none!

Had he been there to-night? Yes, but there was a fellow near the end of the line whose wife and children were waiting for him, so he and Sandy exchanged places, and--well, the supply gave out about one o'clock, so of course---- Yes, he would take another egg. Was he married? No, thank God!

There was nothing romantic about Sandy McWhiffle, and nothing Scotch about him except his name. Neither was his face in any way remarkable, nor his speech, nor his story; but it struck me then that there were dramatic possibilities in him as a man--dramatic probabilities in him as a type.

II.

I was in a hurry to have the position filled; it wasn't much of a job, and I wanted to waste as little time as possible, so I advertised and gave my office address. Of course it was foolish, but I was pressed with work and did it without thought. However, I saw no reason why the janitor should lose his temper. Anyway, I can't abide impertinence in an inferior, and I let him understand this before the elevator reached the top floor. Once there I admitted to myself he had reason for--well, for respectful annoyance. A pathway was forced for me through the crowd of men which choked the hallway and blocked the entrance to my office, but I couldn't get in until a score or so were driven down the stairs. I locked myself in my private room and cursed my folly and the janitor's impudence. But there was no time to lose--we had to be rid of those men--so I slipped a note under the door directing my clerk to send them in to me, one at a time, until further orders.

It didn't take long to find the man I wanted. He was the third in line, I think--a respectable fellow--far above the position, I should have said, but he told me he wasn't, that he had a family to support, and all that sort of thing, so I engaged him and sent him out with a note to the superintendent. As he left the room I hastily tore open a letter which looked as though it needed an immediate answer. At the same moment my door opened again.

"Confound that ass Junkin, why the devil didn't he give me time to ring the bell and tell him I'd engaged a man!--Why the devil doesn't he----"

It was just as I expected. That letter was important to a degree, and during the next ten minutes I was so deeply absorbed that when I looked up from my reading and saw a man standing beside me, I started with a nervous exclamation which turned to a surprised greeting as I recognised Sandy McWhiffle. He had changed somewhat since I'd seen him last--six months before--and not for the better. His gaunt face was even more sallow than before, giving to the features a harder caste, chiselling the nose into more of a hook, and deepening the lines under the eyes. He looked ravenous, but not with the hunger of appetite, and I thought--yes, I was quite sure--he smelt rather strongly of liquor.

"Well, Sandy," I began, "where did you come from?"

"From the hospital," he answered.

"Ah," I observed, "bad places--those--er--hospitals, Sandy. They breed a great deal of sickness. There are seventy-two in my district."

"You think I've been in a saloon, drinking?"

"No, I don't think so," I answered, with a mental reservation favouring knowledge.

"Well, I haven't been, anyway. You smell whisky on me. They gave it to me at the hospital so's I could get down here. I ain't discharged yet, but I was bound to come when I saw your name in the papers and knew I'd get the job if I could only see you. I've been here since six this morning. Will you give me a try at it?"

"Well, no, I can't, McWhiffle," I said, with a good deal more ease than I could have felt if I hadn't smelt the liquor and heard that hospital story. "The fact is, I've taken a man on, and so the job's gone."

Sandy gazed at me with a bewildered, frightened look, but his answer was only a mumble about his being sure of a steady job this time, seeing how he knew me and all.

Mechanically I made a memorandum of the hospital at which he was allegedly a patient, but my mail was awaiting me, and he must have gone while I was intent upon its contents. Anyway, he'd disappeared when I looked up, but the odour of whisky in the room was strong enough to destroy any interest I might have felt in my late supper companion.

Whisky and "that tired feeling" are mainly responsible for the army of the "unemployed." They talk about there not being enough work to go around! One good job'd last the whole shiftless lot a year. They don't want work, they want help--permanent and increasing help.

Some such thoughts occupied me until I happened to see a telegram protruding from the bundle of unopened letters on my desk.

"Gods and powers! Will that triple idiot never learn to separate the telegrams from the letters? What the devil--Junkin! Junkin!" I crashed the bell with each repetition of the fool's name, at the same time tearing open the yellow envelope.

"For God's sake, Junkin, how many times must you be told to keep these things separate? Half an hour gone, and here's this cipher still untranslated. Do you think you've nothing to do but draw your salary----"

"I'm sorry, Sir, but you see these men came----"

"Quick, get the code and translate--don't stand around arguing! Here, give me the book!"

I rushed into the outer office, but stopped almost at the threshold of my door. The room was completely encircled by a line of men, and every eye in the crowd was turned upon me. What a motley throng it was--shabbily dressed and unshaven for the most part--untidy to the point of dirtiness. Hardly a bright, healthy face among the lot--surly and ill-tempered looking many of them. Bah! I don't like humanity in the abstract, and loathe it in the concrete of crowds. My disgust must have been apparent, and my thought audible as I said:

"Now, my men, the place is filled. You'd better all clear out."

But my words, forbidding as they were, did not free me.

"No, I haven't any other job. No, I don't expect to have any.... Yes, well, I can't help it, can I?... Of course, I know--don't bother me! I tell you the place is gone.... No, we never have any places in this office.... Charity Organisation, Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue.... Yes, yes, yes, I don't doubt it, but I tell you I've filled the job--Junkin--get the janitor and clear the room--they'll drive me mad!"

Almost frenzied, I rushed back to my private office.

How I was worked that day! The Section Traction Company almost caught us napping, and they'd have done it surely if we hadn't obtained the Judge's signature to the injunction by four o'clock that afternoon. They not only laid two miles of track inside of eighteen hours, and came within four blocks of crossing our main line, but they sold our stock on the market, thousands and thousands of shares--poured it in from ten o'clock till three, pounding and hammering every supporting bid we made, and the only thing that saved us was the Exchange closing at three o'clock. As it was, our Board man, Reynolds, became hysterical as the gong struck, and he's never been up to much since.

Well, it was a shrewd, ably-planned move, and, executed earlier, would have succeeded in wrecking us. But it cost them, as we figured it, two millions, and sent them higher than a kite. I didn't know they were so big--employed three thousand men, they say.

III.

The name on a passing ambulance directed my steps to Roosevelt Hospital at the close of business, a few nights later. I don't think I wanted to nail that very poor lie of Sandy's but I knew Waldron, the Superintendent, and thought I'd invite him to dinner and joke him a bit about his new whisky ward.

Waldron was in, but could not go to dinner. Worst time in the day for him to get off, he said.

"By the way," he continued, "too bad you couldn't give Sandy McWhiffle a job--he would have it you'd take him, so we let him go, with a dose of whisky to carry him through. But you lazy devils get down so late it didn't last him, and he fainted in the street on the way back. Queer fellow, but I liked him--his sense of humour hasn't disappeared as it has with most of his class."

Perhaps my sense of humour had disappeared, but I saw no fun in my rehearsed jokes of a few minutes previous.

"Is he here now?" I asked.

"No, we discharged him yesterday.--Hope he'll get a job, but there's an awful lot of men looking for work."

It was probably because I was out of temper with myself, but the city seemed hideously cruel to me as I walked down Broadway from the Hospital. The clang of the car gongs sounded like fierce commands--the electric lights snapped and glittered like cunning, wicked eyes--the hot air from the shops offended like venomous breath--the rattle of the carts and cabs sounded reckless--the crowds seemed to jostle and grapple. The gaily-lighted windows mocked me with their glitter, and the darkened ones had a menace in their black indifference. In every elbow touching me I seemed to feel some threat--in every eye looking at me I seemed to read some impatient question asked in brutal scorn. These masses of men rushing by me this way and that--they hated me--longed to trample me down and crush me into the dirt beneath their feet!--No, they didn't.--And wouldn't?--Unless they found me in their path, and then they'd wipe me from it with scarce a thought--yes, and rush on without a sign, without knowledge of my obliteration.--Well, it wasn't worth struggling against--the odds were too great.--And anyway, what difference did it make?

I felt a touch on my shoulder, and almost screamed. It was St. Clair Mowbray. I don't like him much, but any companion was a friend just then, so we walked along together, he chatting and I silent.

As we passed the Metropolitan Opera House a line of people stretched from the box-office out into the street.

"What fools," said Mowbray, "they must want tickets damned badly to do that. Don't they look like a chain gang?"

"More like the bread line at Fleischmann's," I answered gloomily.

"Yes--but better bred."

Mowbray chuckled approvingly at his sally.

I parted with him at the next corner feeling his wit would not appeal to me that evening.

IV.

The Club disappointed me. I thought companionship would relieve, but it only served to aggravate my loneliness. Everything talked about seemed local and trivial, and everybody appeared to sail under a different flag of interest. So after enduring this as long as possible I wandered out, walking down town for no other reason than to be among people I didn't know and who didn't know me--a hair-of-the-dog-that-bit-you cure for loneliness.

A conservative investor once told me there was no better or safer property than a cheap lodging-house on the Bowery. Possibly my informant imparted his discovery to others, for the number of these establishments has increased tremendously during the last few years. But when many Conservative Investors undertake to walk the same road, the result is usually the elimination of some of them--only those, of course, who are not really entitled to be termed conservative. This sorting of the just from the unjust does not occur, however, until the Malthusian Doctrine needs a business illustration. As I walked along the east-side thoroughfare and noted the lodging-houses packed to their utmost capacity, I concluded that the number of applicants for such accommodation must have increased in a manner at once flattering to the judgment of the Conservative Investor, and satisfactory to his highest interest.