"Dearest," she said presently, in another tone, "tell me, how is he? Do you--ever see him? Will he win?"
"No, I never see him. But he"ll win; I wouldn"t worry."
"He used to come here," she went on, "to rest a moment, to escape from all this hateful confusion and strife. He is killing himself! And they aren"t worth it--those ignorant people--they aren"t worth such sacrifices."
He got up from the table and turned away, and then realizing quickly, she flew to his side and put her arms about his neck and said:
"Forgive me, dearest, I didn"t mean--only--"
"Oh, Edith," he said, "this is killing me. I feel like a dog."
"Don"t dear; he is big enough, and good enough; he will understand."
"Yes; that only makes it harder, only makes it hurt the more."
That afternoon, in the car, he heard no talk but of the election; and down-town, in a cigar store where he stopped for cigarettes, he heard some men talking mysteriously, in the hollow voice of rumor, of some sensation, some scandal. It alarmed him, and as he went into the office he met Manning, the _Telegraph_"s political man.
"Tell me, Manning," Kittrell said, "how does it look?"
"d.a.m.n bad for us."
"For us?"
"Well, for our mob of burglars and second story workers here--the gang we represent." He took a cigarette from the box Kittrell was opening.
"And will he win?"
"Will he win?" said Manning, exhaling the words on the thin level stream of smoke that came from his lungs. "Will he win? In a walk, I tell you.
He"s got "em beat to a standstill right now. That"s the dope."
"But what about this story of--"
"Aw, that"s all a pipe-dream of Burns". I"m running it in the morning, but it"s nothing; it"s a shine. They"re big fools to print it at all.
But it"s their last card; they"re desperate. They won"t stop at anything, or at any crime, except those requiring courage. Burns is in there with Benson now; so is Salton, and old man Glenn, and the rest of the bunco family. They"re framing it up. When I saw old Glenn go in, with his white side-whiskers, I knew the widow and the orphan were in danger again, and that he was going bravely to the front for "em. Say, that young Banks is comin", isn"t he? That"s a peach, that cartoon of his to-night."
Kittrell went on down the hall to the art-room to wait until Benson should be free. But it was not long until he was sent for, and as he entered the managing editor"s room he was instantly sensible of the somber atmosphere of a grave and solemn council of war. Benson introduced him to Glenn, the banker, to Salton, the party boss, and to Burns, the president of the street-car company; and as Kittrell sat down he looked about him, and could scarcely repress a smile as he recalled Manning"s estimate of Glenn. The old man sat there, as solemn and unctuous as ever he had in his pew at church. Benson, red of face, was more plainly perturbed, but Salton was as reserved, as immobile, as inscrutable as ever, his narrow, pointed face, with its vulpine expression, being perhaps paler than usual. Benson had on his desk before him the cartoon Kittrell had finished that day.
"Mr. Kittrell," Benson began, "we"ve been talking over the political situation, and I was showing these gentlemen this cartoon. It isn"t, I fear, in your best style; it lacks the force, the argument, we"d like just at this time. That isn"t the _Telegraph_ Clayton, Mr. Kittrell." He pointed with the amber stem of his pipe. "Not at all. Clayton is a strong, smart, unscrupulous, dangerous man! We"ve reached a crisis in this campaign; if we can"t turn things in the next three days, we"re lost, that"s all; we might as well face it. To-morrow we make an important revelation concerning the character of Clayton, and we want to follow it up the morning after by a cartoon that will be a stunner, a clencher. We have discussed it here among ourselves, and this is our idea."
Benson drew a crude, bald outline, indicating the cartoon they wished Kittrell to draw. The idea was so coa.r.s.e, so brutal, so revolting, that Kittrell stood aghast, and, as he stood, he was aware of Salton"s little eyes fixed on him. Benson waited; they all waited.
"Well," said Benson, "what do you think of it?"
Kittrell paused an instant, and then said:
"I won"t draw it; that"s what I think of it."
Benson flushed angrily and looked up at him.
"We are paying you a very large salary, Mr. Kittrell, and your work, if you will pardon me, has not been up to what we were led to expect."
"You are quite right, Mr. Benson, but I can"t draw that cartoon."
"Well, great G.o.d!" yelled Burns, "what have we got here--a gold brick?"
He rose with a vivid sneer on his red face, plunged his hands in his pockets, and took two or three nervous strides across the room. Kittrell looked at him, and slowly his eyes blazed out of a face that had gone white on the instant.
"What did you say, sir?" he demanded.
Burns thrust his red face, with its prognathic jaw, menacingly toward Kittrell.
"I said that in you we"d got a gold brick."
"You?" said Kittrell. "What have you to do with it? I don"t work for you."
"You don"t? Well, I guess it"s us that puts up--"
"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" said Glenn, waving a white, pacificatory hand.
"Yes, let me deal with this, if you please," said Benson, looking hard at Burns. The street-car man sneered again, then, in ostentatious contempt, looked out the window. And in the stillness Benson continued:
"Mr. Kittrell, think a minute. Is your decision final?"
"It is final, Mr. Benson," said Kittrell. "And as for you, Burns," he glared angrily at the man, "I wouldn"t draw that cartoon for all the dirty money that all the bribing street-car companies in the world could put into Mr. Glenn"s bank here. Good evening, gentlemen."
It was not until he stood again in his own home that Kittrell felt the physical effects which the spiritual squalor of such a scene was certain to produce in a nature like his.
"Neil! What is the matter?" Edith fluttered toward him in alarm.
He sank into a chair, and for a moment he looked as if he would faint, but he looked wanly up at her and said:
"Nothing; I"m all right; just a little weak. I"ve gone through a sickening, horrible scene--"
"Dearest!"
"And I"m off the _Telegraph_--and a man once more!"
He bent over, with his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands, and when Edith put her calm, caressing hand on his brow, she found that it was moist from nervousness. Presently he was able to tell her the whole story.
"It was, after all, Edith, a fitting conclusion to my experience on the _Telegraph_. I suppose, though, that to people who are used to ten thousand a year such scenes are nothing at all." She saw in this trace of his old humor that he was himself again, and she hugged his head to her bosom.
"Oh, dearest," she said, "I"m proud of you--and happy again."
They were, indeed, both happy, happier than they had been in weeks.
The next morning after breakfast, she saw by his manner, by the humorous, almost comical expression about his eyes, that he had an idea.
In this mood of satisfaction--this mood that comes too seldom in the artist"s life--she knew it was wise to let him alone. And he lighted his pipe and went to work. She heard him now and then, singing or whistling or humming; she scented his pipe, then cigarettes; then, at last, after two hours, he called in a loud, triumphant tone:
"Oh, Edith!"