n
among his own?"

"What are you raving about, Artie?" she complained. "I'll get Vandervelt
to do anything if it's the right thing for him to do; only explain to me
what you want done."

He explained so clearly that she was filled with delight. With a
quickness which astonished him, she picked up the threads of the
intrigue; some had their beginning five years back, and she had not
forgotten. Suddenly the root of the affair bared itself to her: this son
of hers was doing battle for his own. She had forgotten Livingstone long
ago, and therefore had forgiven him. Arthur had remembered. Her fine
spirit stirred dubious Grahame.

"Lave Vandervelt to me," she said, for her brogue came back and gently
tripped her at times, "and do you young men look after Livingstone. I
have no hard feelings against him, but, God forgive me, when I think of
Louis Everard, and all that Mary suffered, and Honora, and the shame put
upon us by Sister Claire, something like hate burns me. Anyway we're not
worth bein' tramped upon, if we let the like of him get so high, when we
can hinder it."

"Hurrah for the Irish!" cried Grahame, and the two cheered her as she
left the room to prepare for her share of the labor.

The weight of the work lay in the swift and easy formation of an
opposition whose strength and temper would be concealed except from the
President, and whose action would be impressive, consistent, and
dramatic. The press was to know only what it wished to know, without
provocation. The main effort should convince the President of the
unfitness of one candidate and the fitness of the other. There were to
be no public meetings or loud denunciations. What cared the officials
for mere cries of rage? Arthur found his task delightful, and he worked
like a smith at the forge, heating, hammering, and shaping his engine of
war. When ready for action, his mother had won Vandervelt, convinced him
that his bid for the greater office would inevitably land him in either
place. He had faith in her, and she had prophesied his future glory!

Languidly the journals gave out in due time the advent of another
candidate for the chief-justiceship, and also cloudy reports of Irish
opposition to Livingstone. No one was interested but John Everard, still
faithful to the Livingstone interest in spite of the gibes of Dillon and
Grahame. The scheme worked so effectively that Arthur did not care to
have any interruptions from this source. The leaders talked