Part 27 (2/2)
He slipped his arm about his mother's slender waist, drew her to the window and pointed to the unfinished dome of the white, majestic capitol.
”See, mater dear, the sun is bursting through the clouds now and lighting with splendor the marble columns. Last night when the speeches were done and the crowds gone I stood an hour and studied the flawless symmetry of those magnificent wings and over it all the great solemn dome with its myriad gleaming eyes far up in the sky--and I wondered if G.o.d meant nothing big or significant to humanity when he breathed the dream of that poem in marble into the souls of our people! I can't believe it, dear. I stood and prayed while I dreamed. I saw in the ragged scaffolding and the big ugly crane swinging from its place in the sky the symbol of our crude beginnings--our ragged past. And then the snow-white vision of the finished building, the most majestic monument ever reared on earth to Freedom and her cause--and I saw the glory of a new Democracy rising from the blood and agony of the past to be the hope and inspiration of the world!
”You hate this masquerade--this battle name I've chosen. Forget this, dear, and see the vision your G.o.d has given to me. You've prayed that I might be His minister. And so I am--and so I shall be when danger calls; you dislike this repulsive mission on which I'm entering. Just now it's the _one_ and only thing a brave man can do for his country. Forget that I'm a spy and remember that I'm fitted for a divine service. I speak two languages beside my own. Our people don't study languages. Few men of my culture and endowment will do this dangerous and disagreeable work. I rise on wings at the thought of it!”
The mother's spirit caught at last the divine spark from the soul of the young enthusiast. Her eyes were wide and s.h.i.+ning without tears when she slipped both arms about his neck and spoke with deep tenderness.
”You have fully counted the cost, my son?”
”Yes.”
”The lying, the cheating, the false pretenses, the a.s.sumed name, the trusting hearts you must betray, the men you must kill alone, sometimes to save your own life and serve your country's?”
”It's war, mater dear. I hate its cruelty and its wrongs. I'll do my best in these early days to make it impossible. But if it comes, I'll play the game with my life in my hands, and if I had a hundred lives I'd give them all to my country--my only regret is that I have but one--”
”How strange the ways of G.o.d!” the mother broke in. ”He planted this love in your soul. He taught it to me and I to you and now it ends in darkness and blood and death--”
”But out of it, dear, must come the greater plan. You believe in G.o.d--you must believe this, or else the Devil rules the universe, and there is no G.o.d.”
The mother drew the young lips down and kissed them tenderly.
”G.o.d's will be done, my Boy--it's the bitterness of death to me--but I say it!”
CHAPTER VII
THE BEST MAN WINS
Before Socola could purchase his ticket for the South, Senator Barton laid his heavy hand on his shoulder.
”I just ran down, sir, to ask you to wait and go in Senator Davis'
party. He has been threatened with arrest by the cowards who are at the present moment in charge of the Government. He can't afford to leave town while there's a chance that so fortunate an event may be pulled off. I have decided to stay until Lincoln's inauguration. My wife and daughter will make you welcome at Fairview. And you'll meet my three boys. I'm sorry I can't be with you.”
Socola's masked face showed no trace of disappointment. He merely asked politely:
”And the party of Senator Davis will start?”
”A week from to-day, sir--and my wife and daughter will accompany them--unless--of course--”
He laughed heartily.
”Unless the great Attorney General, Edwin M. Stanton, decides to arrest him--if he'll only do it!”
Socola nodded carelessly.
”I understand, Senator. A week from to-day. The same hour--the same train.”
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