sadly.

"No, I'm not," cried he, dropping her hand. "But we are helpless."

"We can always hope," said she softly.

On impulse she laid her hand in light caress upon his brow, then
swiftly departed. As she stood in Mrs. Colman's flowery little front
yard and looked dazedly about, it seemed to her that she had been away
from the world--away from herself--and was reluctantly but inevitably
returning.

VI

As Jane drove into the grounds of the house on the hilltop she saw her
father and David Hull in an obviously intimate and agitated
conversation on the front veranda. She made all haste to join them;
nor was she deterred by the reception she got--the reception given to
the unwelcome interrupter. Said she:

"You are talking about those indictments, aren't you? Everyone else
is. There's a group on every corner down town, and people are calling
their views to each other from windows across the streets."

Davy glanced triumphantly at her father. "I told you so," said he.

Old Hastings was rubbing his hand over his large, bony, wizened face in
the manner that indicates extreme perplexity.

Davy turned to Jane. "I've been trying to show your father what a
stupid, dangerous thing Dick Kelly has done. I want him to help me
undo it. It MUST be undone or Victor Dorn will sweep the town on
election day."

Jane's heart was beating wildly. She continued to say carelessly, "You
think so?"

"Davy's got a bad attack of big red eye to-day," said her father.
"It's a habit young men have."

"I'm right, Mr. Hastings," cried Hull. "And, furthermore, you know I'm
right, Jane; you saw that riot the other night. Joe Wetherbe told me
so. You said that it was an absolutely unprovoked assault of the gangs
of Kelly and House. Everyone in town knows it was. The middle and the
upper class people are pretending to believe what the papers
printed--what they'd like to believe. But they KNOW better. The
working people are apparently silent. They usually are apparently
silent. But they know the truth--they are talking it among themselves.
And these indictments will make Victor Dorn a hero."

"What of it? What of it?" said Hastings impatiently. "The working
people don't count."

"Not as long as we can keep them divided," retorted Davy. "But if they
unite----"

And he went on to explain what he had in mind. He gave them an
analysis of Remsen City. About fifty thousand inhabitants, of whom
about ten thousand we