"Lethargy comes from malaria."
"It"s the other way with me. I"d be all right if I only could get over this--this tiredness. Let me have that pencil and pad, will you, please, Tom?"
He set the pad on his knee, and began to write languidly:
"ROUEN, _September 2d_.
"_Dear Mr. Fisbee_: Yours of the 1st to hand. I entirely approve all arrangements you have made. I think you understand that I wish you to regard _everything_ as in your own hands. You are the editor of the "Herald" and have the sole responsibility for everything, including policy, until, after proper warning, I relieve you in person. But until that time comes, you must look upon me as a mere spectator. I do not fear that you will make any mistakes; you have done very much better in all matters than I could have done myself. At present I have only one suggestion: I observe that your editorials concerning Halloway"s renomination are something lukewarm.
"It is very important that he be renominated, not altogether on account of a.s.suring his return to Washington (for he is no Madison, I fear), but the fellow McCune must be so beaten that his defeat will be remembered for twenty years. Halloway is honest and clean, at least, while McCune is corrupt to the bone. He has been bought and sold, and I am glad the proofs of it are in your hands, as you tell me Parker found them, as directed, in my trunk, and gave them to you.
"The papers you hold drove him out of politics once, by the mere threat of publication; you should have printed them last week, as I suggested.
Do so at once; the time is short. You have been too gentle; it has the air of fearing to offend, and of catering, as if we were afraid of antagonizing people against us; as though we had a personal stake in the convention. Possibly you consider our subscription books as such; I do not. But if they are, go ahead twice as hard. What if it does give the enemy a weapon in case McCune is nominated; if he is (and I begin to see a danger of it) we will be with the enemy. I do not carry my partisanship so far as to help elect Mr. McCune to Congress. You have been as non-committal in your editorials as if this were a fit time for delicacy and the cheaper conception of party policy. My notion of party policy--no new one--is that the party which considers the public service before it considers itself will thrive best in the long run. The "Herald" is a little paper (not so little nowadays, after all, thanks to you), but it is an honest one, and it isn"t afraid of Rod McCune and his friends. He is to be beaten, understand, if we have to send him to the penitentiary on an old issue to do it. And if the people wish to believe us cruel or vengeful, let them. Please let me see as hearty a word as you can say for Halloway, also. You can write with ginger; please show some in this matter.
"My condition is improved.
"I am, very truly yours,
"JOHN HARKLESS."
When the letter was concluded, he handed it to Meredith. "Please address that, put a "special" on it, and send it, Tom. It should go at once, so as to reach him by to-night."
"H. Fisbee?"
"Yes; H. Fisbee."
"I believe it does you good to write, boy," said the other, as he bent over him. "You look more chirrupy than you have for several days."
"It"s that beast, McCune; young Fisbee is rather queer about it, and I felt stirred up as I went along." But even before the sentence was finished the favor of age and utter weariness returned, and the dark lids closed over his eyes. They opened again, slowly, and he took the others hand and looked up at him mournfully, but as it were his soul shone forth in dumb and eloquent thanks.
"I--I"m giving you a jolly summer, Tom," he said, with a quivering effort to smile. "Don"t you think I am? I don"t--I don"t know what I should have--done----"
"You old Indian!" said Meredith, tenderly.
Three days later, Tom was rejoiced by symptoms of invigoration in his patient. A telegram came for Harkless, and Meredith, bringing it into the sick room, was surprised to find the occupant sitting straight up on his couch without the prop of pillows. He was reading the day"s copy of the "Herald," and his face was flushed and his brow stern.
"What"s the matter, boy?"
"Mismanagement, I hope," said the other, in a strong voice. "Worse, perhaps. It"s this young Fisbee. I can"t think what"s come over the fellow. I thought he was a rescuing angel, and he"s turning out bad.
I"ll swear it looks like they"d been--well, I won"t say that yet. But he hasn"t printed that McCune business I told you of, and he"s had two days. There is less than a week before the convention, and--" He broke off, seeing the yellow envelope in Meredith"s hand. "Is that a telegram for me?" His companion gave it to him. He tore it open and read the contents. They were brief and unhappy.
"Can"t you do something? Can"t you come down? It begins to look the other way.
"K. H."
"It"s from Halloway," said John. "I have got to go. What did that doctor say?"
"He said two weeks at the earliest, or you"ll run into typhoid and complications from your hurts, and even pleasanter things than that.
I"ve got you here, and here you stay; so lie back and get easy, boy."
"Then give me that pad and pencil." He rapidly dashed off a note to H.
Fisbee:
"_September 5th_.
"H. FISBEE,
"Editor "Carlow Herald."
"_Dear Sir_: You have not acknowledged my letter of the 2d September by a note (which should have reached me the following morning), or by the alteration in the tenor of my columns which I requested, or by the publication of the McCune papers which I directed. In this I hold you grossly at fault. If you have a conscientious reason for refusing to carry out my request it should have been communicated to me at once, as should the fact--if such be the case--that you are a personal (or impersonal, if you like) friend of Mr. Rodney McCune. Whatever the motive, ulterior or otherwise, which prevents you from operating my paper as I direct, I should have been informed of it. This is a matter vital to the interests of our community, and you have hitherto shown yourself too alert in accepting my slightest suggestion for me to construe this failure as negligence. Negligence I might esteem as at least honest and frank; your course has been neither the one nor the other.
"You will receive this letter by seven this evening by special delivery.
You will print the facts concerning McCune in to-morrow morning"s paper.
"I am well aware of the obligations under which your extreme efficiency and your thoughtfulness in many matters have placed me. It is to you I owe my unearned profits from the transaction in oil, and it is to you I owe the "Herald"s" extraordinary present circulation, growth of power and influence. That power is still under my direction, and is an added responsibility which shall not be misapplied.
"You must forgive me if I write too sharply. You see I have failed to understand your silence; and if I wrong you I heartily ask your pardon in advance of your explanation. Is it that you are sorry for McCune? It would be a weak pity that could keep you to silence. I warned him long ago that the papers you hold would be published if he ever tried to return to political life, and he is deliberately counting on my physical weakness and absence. Let him rely upon it; I am not so weak as he thinks. Personally, I cannot say that I dislike Mr. McCune. I have found him a very entertaining fellow; it is said he is the best of husbands, and a friend to some of his friends, and, believe me, I am sorry for him from the bottom of my heart. But the "Herald" is not.
"You need not reply by letter. To-morrow"s issue answers for you. Until I have received a copy, I withhold my judgment.
"JOHN HARKLESS."
The morrow"s issue--that fateful print on which depended John Harkless"s opinion of H. Fisbee"s integrity--contained an editorial addressed to the delegates of the convention, warning them to act for the vital interest of the community, and declaring that the opportunity to be given them in the present convention was a rare one, a singular piece of good fortune indeed; they were to have the chance to vote for a man who had won the love and respect of every person in the district--one who had suffered for his championship of righteousness--one whom even his few political enemies confessed they held in personal affection and esteem--one who had been the inspiration of a new era--one whose life had been helpfulness, whose hand had reached out to every struggler and unfortunate--a man who had met and faced danger for the sake of others--one who lived under a threat for years, and who had been almost overborne in the fulfilment of that threat, but who would live to see the sun shine on his triumph, the tribute the convention would bring him as a gift from a community that loved him. His name needed not to be told; it was on every lip that morning, and in every heart.
Tom was eagerly watching his companion as he read. Harkless fell back on the pillows with a drawn face, and for a moment he laid his thin hand over his eyes in a gesture of intense pain.
"What is it?" Meredith said quickly.
"Give me the pad, please."
"What is it, boy?"
The other"s teeth snapped together.
"What is it?" he cried. "What is it? It"s treachery, and the worst I ever knew. Not a word of the accusation I demanded--lying _praises_ instead! Read that editorial--there, _there_!" He struck the page with the back of his hand, and threw the paper to Meredith. "Read that miserable lie! "One who has won the love and respect of every person in the district!"--"One who has suffered for his championship of righteousness!" _Righteousness!_ Save the mark!"
"What does it mean?"
"Mean! It means McCune--Rod McCune, "who has lived under a threat for years"--_my_ threat! I swore I would print him out of Indiana if he ever raised his head again, and he knew I could. "Almost overborne in the fulfilment of that threat!" _Almost_! It"s a black scheme, and I see it now. This man came to Plattville and went on the "Herald" for nothing in the world but this. It"s McCune"s hand all along. He daren"t name him even now, the coward! The trick lies between McCune and young Fisbee--the old man is innocent. Give me the pad. Not _almost_ overborne. There are three good days to work in, and, by the G.o.ds of Perdition, if Rod McCune sees Congress it will be in his next incarnation!"
He rapidly scribbled a few lines on the pad, and threw the sheets to Meredith. "Get those telegrams to the Western Union office in a rush, please. Read them first."
With a very red face Tom read them. One was addressed to H. Fisbee:
"You are relieved from the cares of editorship. You will turn over the management of the "Herald" to Warren Smith. You will give him the McCune papers. If you do not, or if you destroy them, you cannot hide where I shall not find you.
"JOHN HARKLESS."