It
was handed to me almost miraculously, and as long as I held it my good
name before the people of the State was safe. As the matter stands now,
I'm a broken man, dad. After the election I shall be billeted from one
end of the State to the other as the most shameless liar that ever
breathed!"
The senator was rocking his great head slowly upon the chair-pillow.
"That's bad; that's mighty bad, son. I reckon we'll have to fix some way
to trail you out of that bog-hole, sure enough!"
"I'm not asking for help; I'm asking for bare justice. Give me those
papers and I'll fight myself clear."
"And if I say I can't give 'em to you, Evan, boy, what then?"
"Then, hard and unfilial as it may seem to you, I shall fight you and
your machine to a finish. You think I can't do it? I'll show you. I've
got five days, and they are all my own. This campaign has been rotten to
the core from the very beginning. You have tried to keep me from finding
it out, and you have partly succeeded. But I know a little, and inside
of the next twenty-four hours I shall know more. That's my last word,
dad, and it breaks my heart to have to say it. But, by the God who made
us both, if you drive me to it, I shall stir up such a revolution in
this State that the people will forget to curse me for the lies I have
been allowed to tell them!"
Blount was upon his feet when he finished, and the senator was rising
stiffly from the depths of the big chair.
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