if it were true that Judge Rossmore owned stock in
the Great Northwestern Mining Company which had recently benefited
so signally by his decision. Interviewed by a reporter, Judge
Rossmore indignantly denied being interested in any way in the
company. Thereupon the same paper returned to the attack, stating
that the judge must surely be mistaken as the records showed a
sale of stock to him at the time the company was known as the
Alaskan Mining Company. When he read this the judge was
overwhelmed. It was true then! They had not slandered him. It was
he who had lied, but how innocently--how innocently!

His daughter Shirley, who was his greatest friend and comfort, was
then in Europe. She had gone to the Continent to rest, after
working for months on a novel which she had just published. His
wife, entirely without experience in business matters and somewhat
of an invalid, was helpless to advise him. But to his old and
tried friend, ex-Judge Stott, Judge Rossmore explained the facts
as they were. Stott shook his head. "It's a conspiracy!" he cried.
"And John B. Ryder is behind it." Rossmore refused to believe that
any man could so deliberately try to encompass another's
destruction, but when more newspaper stories came out he began to
realize that Stott was right and that his enemies had indeed dealt
him a deadly blow. One newspaper boldly stated that Judge Rossmore
was down on the mining company's books for $50,000 more stock than
he had paid for, and it went on to ask if this were payment for
the favourable decision just rendered. Rossmore, helpless,
child-like as he was in business matters, now fully realized the
seriousness of his position. "My God! My God!" he cried, as he
bowed his head down on his desk. And for a whole day he remained
closeted in his library, no one venturing near him.

As John Ryder sat there sphinx-like at the head of the directors'
table he reviewed all this in his mind. His own part in the work
was now done and well done, and he had come to this meeting to-day
to tell them of his triumph.

The speaker, to whom he had paid such scant attention, resumed his
seat, and there followed a pause and an intense silence which was
broken only by the pattering of the rain against the big windows.
The directors turned expectantly to Ryder, waiting for him to
speak. What could the Colossus do now to save the situation? Cries
of "the Chair! the Chair!" arose on every side. Senator Roberts
leaned over to