_Express_, which Bruce had handed her
that interested her far more than his wrathful recital of Blind
Charlie's treachery; and although she was apparently giving Bruce her
entire attention, and was in fact mechanically taking in his words,
her mind was excitedly playing around this second piece of news.

For Doctor Sherman, so said the _Express_, had that day suddenly left
Westville. He had been failing in health for many weeks and was on
the verge of a complete breakdown, the _Express_ sympathetically
explained, and at last had yielded to the importunities of his
worried congregation that he take a long vacation. He had gone to
the pine woods of the North, and to insure the unbroken rest he so
imperatively required, to prevent the possibility of appealing letters
of inconsiderate parishioners or other cares from following him into
his isolation, he had, at his doctor's command, left no address
behind.

Katherine instantly knew that this vacation was a flight. The
situation in Westville had grown daily more intense, and Doctor
Sherman had seemed to her to be under an ever-increasing strain.
Blake, she was certain, had ordered the young clergyman to leave,
fearing, if he remained, that his nerve might break and he might
confess his true relation to her father's case. She realized that now,
when Doctor Sherman was apparently weakening, was the psychological
time to besiege him with accusation and appeal; and while Bruce was
rehearsing his scene with Blind Charlie she was rapidly considering
means for seeking out Doctor Sherman and coming face to face with him.

Her mind was brought back from its swift search by Bruce swinging a
chair up before her and sitting down.

"But, Katherine--I'll show Peck!" he cried, fiercely, exultantly. "He
doesn't know what a fight he's got ahead of him. This frees me
entirely from him and his machine, and I'm going to beat him so bad
that I'll drive him clear out of politics."

She nodded. That was exactly what she was secretly striving to help
him do.

He became more composed, and for a hesitant, silent moment he peered
thoughtfully into her eyes.

"But, Katherine--this affair with Peck this afternoon shows me I am up
against a mighty stiff proposition," he said, speaking with the
slowness of one who is shaping his statements with extreme care. "I
have got to fight a lot harder than I thought I would have to three
hours ago, when I thought I had Peck with me. To beat him, and beat