built up a reputation year by year, as a man
builds a house brick by brick, only to see the whole crumble to
his feet like dust! To have gained the respect of the country, to
have made a name as the most incorruptible of public servants and
now to be branded as a common bribe taker! Could he be dreaming?
It was too incredible! What would his daughter say--his Shirley?
Ah, the thought of the expression of incredulity and wonder on her
face when she heard the news cut him to the heart like a knife
thrust. Yet, he mused, her very unwillingness to believe it should
really be his consolation. Ah, his wife and his child--they knew
he had been innocent of wrong doing. The very idea was ridiculous.
At most he had been careless. Yes, he was certainly to blame. He
ought to have seen the trap so carefully prepared and into which
he had walked as if blindfolded. That extra $50,000 worth of
stock, on which he had never received a cent interest, had been
the decoy in a carefully thought out plot. They, the plotters,
well knew how ignorant he was of financial matters and he had been
an easy victim. Who would believe his story that the stock had
been sent to him with a plausibly-worded letter to the effect that
it represented a bonus on his own investment? Now he came to think
of it, calmly and reasonably, he would not believe it himself. As
usual, he had mislaid or destroyed the secretary's letter and
there was only his word against the company's books to substantiate
what would appear a most improbable if not impossible occurrence.

It was his conviction of his own good faith that made his present
dilemma all the more cruel. Had he really been a grafter, had he
really taken the stock as a bribe he would not care so much, for
then he would have foreseen and discounted the chances of
exposure. Yes, there was no doubt possible. He was the victim of a
conspiracy, there was an organized plot to ruin him, to get him
out of the way. The "interests" feared him, resented his judicial
decisions and they had halted at nothing to accomplish their
purpose. How could he fight them back, what could he do to protect
himself? He had no proofs of a conspiracy, his enemies worked in
the dark, there was no way in which he could reach them or know
who they were.

He thought of John Burkett Ryder. Ah, he remembered now. Ryder was
the man who had recommended the investment in Alaskan stock. Of
course, why did he not think of it before? He recollected th