the wall, conscious that the girl's eyes were
watching him for a single gesture of surprise or anger. He felt no
anger, only a great perplexity and sadness, an older-brother grief.

"I'm sorry, little sister," he said, and did the kindest thing he could
think of, bent over and kissed her on the forehead. "Of course I know
how you feel, but it is a big thing to bear a child, isn't it? It is the
only miracle we have these days."

"A child with no father," said Ellen, stonily.

"Even then," he persisted, "it's a big thing. We would have this one
come under happier circumstances if we could, but we will welcome and
take care of it, anyhow. A child's a child, and mighty valuable. And,"
he added--"I appreciate your wanting me to know, Edith."

He stayed a little while after that, but he read aloud, choosing a
humorous story and laughing very hard at all the proper places. In the
end he brought a faint smile to Edith's blistered lips, and a small lift
to the cloud that hung over her now, day and night.

He made a speech that night, and into it he put all of his aching,
anxious soul; Edith and Dan and Lily were behind it. Akers and Doyle.
It was at a meeting in the hall over the city market, and the audience a
new men's non-partisan association.

"Sometimes," he said, "I am asked what it is that we want, we men who
are standing behind Hendricks as an independent candidate." He was
supposed to bring Mr. Hendricks' name in as often as possible. "I answer
that we want honest government, law and order, an end to this conviction
that the country is owned by the unions and the capitalists, a fair deal
for the plain people, which is you and I, my friends. But I answer still
further, we want one thing more, a greater thing, and that thing we
shall have. All through this great country to-night are groups of men
hoping and planning for an incredible thing. They are not great in
numbers; they are, however, organized, competent, intelligent and
deadly. They plow the land with discord to sow the seeds of sedition.
And the thing they want is civil war.

"And against them, what? The people like you and me; the men with homes
they love; the men with little businesses they have fought and labored
to secure; the clerks; the preachers; the doctors, the honest laborers,
the God-fearing rich. I tell you, we are the people, and it is time we
knew our power.

"And this is the thing we want, we the people; the greater thing, the
thing we shal