rue
that they did so or not. The discovery of the coal, the fortunes and
disasters of Judge de Willoughby, the obstinate loyalty abhorred and
condemned of his neighbours, his loneliness and poverty and death--his
wasted estates, the big, bare, empty house in which his sole known heir
lived alone, were material to hold any man's attention, and, enlarged
upon by the member from Hamlin, were effective indeed.

"Now," said the Judge, wiping his forehead when he had finished, "what do
you think of that? Don't you think these people have a pretty strong
claim?"

"That story sounds as if they had," answered Farquhar; "but the
Government isn't eager to settle claims--and you never know what will be
unearthed. If Judge De Willoughby had not been such a blatantly open old
opposer of his neighbour's political opinions these people wouldn't have
a shadow of a chance."

"By Jupiter!" exclaimed Rutherford, delightedly; "he was persecuted--
persecuted."

"It was a good thing for his relatives," said Farquhar. "Did you say the
people had come to Washington?"

"All three of them," answered the Judge, and this time his tone was
exultant; "Tom, and Sheba, and Rupert. They've rented some little rooms
out near Dupont Circle."

"I should like to be taken to see them," said Farquhar, reflectively. "I
should like to have a look at Big Tom De Willoughby."

"Would you?" cried the Judge. "Why, nothing would suit me better--or them
either, for that matter. I'll take you any day you say--any day."

"It ain't the easiest thing in the world to put a claim through," said
Farquhar. "It means plenty of hard knocks and hard work and anxiety. Do
you know that?"

"I don't know anything about it," answered the Judge. "But I'm going to
get this one through if there's a way of doing it."

"You'll be misunderstood and called names and slandered," said Farquhar,
regarding his rugged, ingenuous face with some curiosity. "There may be
people--even in Hamlin County--who won't believe you are not up to some
big deal. What are you doing it for?"

"Why, for Tom and Sheba and Rupert," said the Judge, in an outburst of
neighbourliness. "That's folks enough to do it for, ain't it? There's
three of 'em--and I'd do it for ary one--as we say in Barnesville," in
discreet correction of the colloquialism.

Farquhar laughed a little, and put a hand on his shoulder as they moved
away together. "I believe you would," he said; "perhaps that sort of
thing is common