XVII
IT was in the heat of midsummer that Judge Hollis walked into Caleb’s inner office.
“Caleb,� he said, “I’m hanged if I haven’t changed the color of my coat and come to your opinion. After this I’m for Yarnall.�
Caleb smiled, leaning back wearily in his chair and glancing unconsciously at Sammy, the innocent cause of much scandal in Eshcol, who lay asleep beside Shot on the floor, his chubby arms around the dog’s neck.
The smoke of the two great conventions was still in the air. Two weeks before the Republicans had peacefully and hopelessly nominated Peter Mahan for Governor, and the Democrats, after a deadlock and a disgraceful collapse of the opposition, had nominated Aylett. Every politician in the State knew that it had cost the Eaton faction nearly two hundred thousand dollars. There had been a storm of indignation, and Yarnall had come back and put his case in the hands of the Republican lawyer, Caleb Trench! The indignation and chagrin of the older Democratic lawyers added nothing to the beauty of the situation, but Caleb had grasped it silently and was dealing with it. In ten days he had forced theGrand Jury to indict both Aylett and Eaton, along with half a dozen of their lieutenants, and the hour of the great trial was approaching. Feeling ran so high that there were threats on both sides, and it was a common saying that men went armed.
The judge banged his broad-brimmed Panama down on the table. “Caleb,� he said grimly, “how much more packing is there to come out of this?�
This time Trench laughed. “Not a great deal, Judge,� he replied easily, “I’ve got most of it out. We’re going to prove both our cases against Aylett and Eaton. Aylett’s used more money, but Eaton has intimidated. The convention was packed. They threw in Eaton as a third candidate to split Yarnall’s strength; they knew all the investors in his get-rich-quick schemes would follow him, and they’d been warned to do it. I’ve got the evidence. Of course, when Yarnall got them deadlocked, even with that break in his strength, Eaton withdrew and, throwing all his votes suddenly to Aylett, nominated him on the fifth ballot.�
The judge scowled at him from under his heavy brows. “What’s this about the Todd test case?� he growled.
“Aaron Todd got hold of one of the delegates and found out that he’d been offered a bribe by Eaton. Todd suggested to him to take it and get the matter witnessed; it was done and will be used in court.�
“Damned shabby!� said the judge.
Caleb smiled. “I call it a harder name, Judge,�he said simply. “I shan’t use it, but, after all, I’m only the junior counsel.�
The old man looked at him over his spectacles. “I understand that Yarnall has picked you out as a kind of red flag to the bull, and means to wave you in Eaton’s face.�
“So he does, I fancy,� said Trench, “but we’re going to call Judge Hollis.�
The judge stared; a dull red crept up to his hair. He had felt the slight when Caleb was chosen, and he suspected that the younger man knew it. Yet the temptation to be in the thick of the fray was like the taste of fine wine in the mouth of the thirsty. “By gum, sir,� he said, “I don’t believe I’ll do it.�
“Yes, you will,� said Trench decisively, “we need you. Besides, Mr. Yarnall has written a formal request to you: we want influential men on our side. We’ve got a clear case, but we want the people to understand that we’re not demagogues. And�—Trench suddenly used all his persuasive powers, which were great—“Judge, I lack your experience.�
It was a touch of modesty that went to the judge’s heart. He took Diana’s chair—Caleb always called it that in his heart—and they fell to discussing the situation and the most salient points in the case, for it had divided the State and it would affect the election of the United States Senator later.
Meanwhile, Sammy slept, with his yellow curls mingling with Shot’s yellow hair; they were boon companions and no one troubled the child. Once ortwice Zeb Bartlett had come, bent on making trouble, but he had been sent away. Sammy found his new home wholly desirable; Aunt Charity was even growing fond of him, and Dr. Cheyney brought him toys. But between Caleb and himself there was a complete understanding; the child followed him about as patiently as did Shot, and as unquestioningly. In some mysterious way he had grasped the meaning of his adoption, and he understood the silent, preoccupied man as well as the dog did. With both it was an instinct that recognized kindness and protection. Left to amuse himself from babyhood, Sammy made little trouble. He would lie on his stomach by the hour working a toy train of cars to and fro in one spot, and he had destroyed only one brief which had been left within his reach.
Judge Hollis talked for over an hour, going over the case which was to come up before Judge Ladd in ten days. He saw that Trench had prepared every inch of it, and that he was chiefly wanted as a notable figurehead, yet he was nothing loath to be the figurehead. When he had fully grasped the evidence, and saw before him one of the biggest cases on record in the State courts, he threw back his head like an old war-horse snuffing the battle afar.
“By the Lord Harry!� he said, slapping his knee, “we’ll whip them to kingdom come, Caleb, and shear the sheep at that!� Then his eye suddenly lighted on the sleeping child, and his shaggy brows dropped; he stooped over and looked at him, thrusting out hisunderlip. “Caleb,� he said, “send that brat to St. Vincent’s.�
Caleb, who was making notes, looked up. “Why?� he asked dryly.
The judge growled. “You’re a tarnation fool!� he replied. “I’m not asking whose child he is! What I say is—send him packing.�
Caleb turned and glanced at the child, and the judge, watching him, was astonished at the softening of his face. “Poor little devil,� he said quietly, “I fancy he’ll stay as long as I do, Judge Hollis. I’ve had no home, I’ve been in desperate straits, now I’ve got this roof. That dog was a stray, so is the child—they’re welcome.�
The judge was silent for a long while. Then he drew a pattern on the floor with his cane. “Caleb,� he said, more kindly, “that kid has raised Cain for you. Jinny Eaton is blowing the news to the four winds of heaven, and everybody believes it. You might as well hang an albatross around your neck. If you’re not the child’s father—by gum, sir, you might as well be!�
Caleb set his teeth hard, and the light came into his eyes,—the light that some people dreaded. “Judge,� he said sternly, “I’m accountable to no man, neither am I a coward. Mrs. Eaton may say what she pleases; being a woman, she is beyond my reach.�
The judge got up and drove his hat down hard on his head with his favorite gesture, as though he putthe lid on to suppress the impending explosion. “By gum!� he said, and walked out.
That evening Caleb found Sammy asleep in the old leather armchair with his yellow head on the arm, and he snatched him out of it, in spite of Sammy’s vigorous protests, and put him to bed. He never thought that Diana’s arms might have held the child as pitifully, for Diana had a noble heart.
Then followed the greatest case of disputed nomination ever contested west of the Mississippi. The old court-house was packed to its limit, and there were one or two hardy spirits who climbed the tree outside and listened through the open windows. Feeling ran so high when Aaron Todd testified that there was a column of militia in Townhouse Square. It was hot; they were cutting oats in the fields and the rye was nearly ripe, while all the grapes were coloring like new wine.
Aylett and Eaton fought step by step, inch by inch, and the court sat from early morning until candle-light, yet it was three weeks before it went to the jury, and they had been twenty-nine days getting that jury!
Two brilliant lawyers from the East spoke for the defense, and Judge Hollis opened for the plaintiff. It was afternoon; the judge had made an able if somewhat grandiloquent plea, and the court-house was so thronged that men stood on the window-sills, shutting out the view from the trees. Caleb Trench closed the case for Yarnall, and men, rememberinghis Cresset speech, had refused to leave the court-room for dinner, fearful of losing their seats—or their standing room. Eaton alone left abruptly when he began to speak.
Trench had a peculiarly rich voice, low-toned but singularly clear; he used no gestures, and his attitudes were always easy and unembarrassed when he forgot himself in his work. His personality counted, but it was neither that nor his eloquence which held the court-room spellbound; it was the force of his logic, the power to get down to the root of things, to tear away all illusions and show them the machine as it had existed for nearly twenty years. Incidentally, as it seemed to some, he showed them, beyond all doubt, the fraud and intimidation that had renominated Governor Aylett.
The lights were burning in the court-room and outside in the square when Judge Ladd charged the jury. Not a man left his place as the jurors filed out, except Trench. He went to send a message to Aunt Charity about his two waifs at home, who must not go supperless. He was still out, and Judge Hollis sent for him hastily when the jury came back in twenty minutes. They brought in a verdict of guilty as indicted; the illegal use of money, corruption in office, and intimidation were the charges against Aylett and Eaton and ten others.
At half-past nine that night the militia had to charge in the court-house square to disperse the crowd.