nder every one a wagging tongue,"
she said. "It's known to every soul except one."

"You mean he's still in the dark?"

"He can't know yet. He took an early train to Centreport. It's some
quarry business that could not wait. I remembered it last
night--after--after you had gone; so I wrote. It was past two o'clock
before I dared steal out to post the letter."

Shelby shrugged into the collar of his ulster.

"I don't deserve all this," he muttered.

"Don't say that. You've done things, too. You've stood for--things;
something to pin faith to. You are--"

"I'm your good friend--remember that."

"Friend!"

He drew her farther into shelter, and tucked her furs about her throat.

"Now concentrate your mind," he enjoined, "and tell me exactly the lay of
the land. Did he communicate with the foreman at the quarry before he
left?"

"Yes. I overheard him telephone Kiska before breakfast. He said he'd
return at half-past three. There's no train to-day from Centreport till
then."

"And there is no other till the polls close. He said nothing, then,
about voting the hands before afternoon?"

"They're at work this morning."

"On election day! You're sure?"

"They're working half a day on full day's pay. Joe's hurrying some
contract through. I don't understand it very well, but the stone has to
be shipped before the canal freezes on account of--something--freight
rates--"

"Never mind that. What did he say to Kiska about voting--that the men
should be ready at such and such a time?"

"No, no; I know about that. Before anything happened it was arranged
that the men should vote about four o'clock. He merely told Kiska he'd
return at three-thirty."

"Good, good!" exclaimed Shelby, making ready for action. "Every
naturalized mother's son in Little Poland shall vote for me before the
train can even whistle. Now, you go home, Cora," he charged, "and drink
something hot against this graveyard chill. Keep a stiff upper
lip--that's my creed. Everything blows over in time. The scandal is so
tall that it will topple of itself. Nobody will believe it after
election."

"But Joe? Think of him when he learns what they're saying, and that
you've outwitted him."

Shelby grinned.

"That's the situation's one humorous phase," said he. "The two things
will neutralize one another's effect,--like Kilkenny cats, you know.
He'll not dare raise a row about the votes for fear of lending color to
the scand