the home of his youth, stayed on and on, went into
business, and became one of the prominent citizens of the town. The
leisurely, let-things-drift spirit of the region, which could be so
easily stirred to violent storms and ardent enthusiasms, was near akin
to his own volatile nature. Nobody in the town could be more quickly
and more thoroughly convinced by first appearances than he, and nobody
held opinions more volubly and more aggressively, so that from the
start he had assumed a leading place in the discussion of all public
matters. Although he had not taken even the first step toward
naturalization, he was active in the constantly sizzling political
life of the town, and along all that side of Main street there was
none more staunchly and violently Republican than he.

He believed, and voiced his belief loudly and aggressively, that Will
Whittaker had been slain and that swift punishment should be visited
upon his murderer. The Gascogne nimbleness of tongue which enabled him
to express his conviction with volubility made him, all through that
excited day, the constant center of an assenting crowd. As night came
on, the groups of men all gathered about his store. By that time every
one among them was convinced that Emerson Mead had killed young
Whittaker. At first this theory had been a mere guess, a hazard of
probability. But it had been asserted and repeated and insisted upon
so many times during the day that every man on the west side of the
street had finally adopted it as his own original opinion, and by
nightfall refused to entertain any other explanation. Inside the
store, Delarue was expounding the necessity of swift retribution. Men
crowded in and packed the room to its last capacity. They made Delarue
get up on the counter, so that all could hear what he said. Those
outside struggled and pushed about the door. A man on the sidewalk
cried out:

"We can't hear! Let's go to the hall and give everybody a chance!"

The crowd gave instant response: "To the hall, so everybody can hear!
Let's go to the hall!"

Those within took up the cry and drowned the speaker's voice with
cries of, "Let's go to the hall! Let's go to the hall!"

Delarue stopped in his harangue and shouted: "Yes, my friends, let us
go to the hall and make this a public meeting of indignation against
the cowardly murder that has been done!"

Out they rushed, and with Delarue in front, gesticulating and calling
to them to come on, they hurri