THE FALL OF LIVINGSTONE.
The ending of Quincy Livingstone's career in England promised to be like
the setting of the sun: his glory fading on the hills of Albion only to
burn with greater splendor in his native land: Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court! He needed the elevation. True, his career at court had
been delightful, from the English point of view even brilliant; the
nobility had made much of him, if not as much as he had made of the
nobility; the members of the government had seriously praised him, far
as they stood from Lord Constantine's theory of American friendship.
However pleasant these things looked to the Minister, of what account
could they be to a mere citizen returning to private life in New York?
Could they make up for the failures of the past year at home, the utter
destruction of his pet schemes for the restraint of the Irish in the
land of the Puritans?
What disasters! The alliance thrust out of consideration by the strong
hand of Birmingham; the learned Fritters chased from the platform by
cold audiences, and then from the country by relentless ridicule; Sister
Claire reduced to the rank of a tolerated criminal, a ticket-of-leave
girl; and the whole movement discredited! Fortunately these calamities
remained unknown in London.
The new honors, however, would hide the failure and the shame. His
elevation was certain. The President had made known his intention, and
had asked Minister Livingstone to be ready within a short time to sail
for home for final consultation. His departure from the court of St.
James would be glorious, and his welcome home significant; afterwards
his place would be amongst the stars. He owned the honorable pride that
loves power and place, when these are worthy, but does not seek them.
From the beginning the Livingstones had no need to run after office. It
always sought them, receiving as rich a lustre as it gave in the
recognition of their worth. His heart grew warm that fortune had singled
him out for the loftiest place in his country's gift. To die
chief-justice atoned for life's shortcomings. Life itself was at once
steeped in the color and perfume of the rose.
Felicitations poured in from the great. The simplicities of life
suddenly put on a new charm, the commonplaces a new emphasis. My Lord
Tomnoddy's 'how-de-do' was uttered with feeling, men took a second look
at him, the friends of a season felt a warmth about their language, if
not about the heart, in telling of his coming dignity. The government
people shook off their natural drowsiness to measure the facts, to
understand that emotion should have a share in uttering the words of
farewell. "Oh, my _dear_, DEAR Livingstone!" cried the Premier as he
pressed his hand vigorously at their first meeting after the news had
been given out. Society sang after the same fashion. Who could resist
the delight of these things?
His family and friends exulted. Lovable and deep-hearted with them,
harsh as he might be with opponents, their gladness gave him joy. The
news spread among the inner circles with due reserve, since no one
forgot the distance between the cup and the lip; but to intimates the
appointment was said to be a certainty, and confirmation by the Senate
as sure as anything mortal. Of course the Irish would raise a clamor,
but no arm among them had length or strength enough to snatch away the
prize. Not in many years had Livingstone dipped so deeply into the
waters of joy as in the weeks that followed the advice from the
President.
Arthur Dillon knew that mere opposition would not affect Livingstone's
chances. His position was too strong to be stormed, he learned upon
inquiry in Washington. The political world was quiet to drowsiness, and
the President so determined in his choice that candidates would not come
forward to embarrass his nominee. The public accepted the rumor of the
appointment with indifference, which remained undisturbed when a second
rumor told of Irish opposition. But for Arthur's determination the
selection of a chief-justice would have been as dull as the naming of a
consul to Algiers.
"We can make a good fight," was Grahame's conclusion, "but the field
belongs to Livingstone."
"Chance is always kind to the unfit," said Arthur, "because the Irish
are good-natured."
"I don't see the connection."
"I should have said, because mankind is so. In this case Quincy gets the
prize, because the Irish think he will get it."
"You speak like the oracle," said Grahame.
"Well, the fight must be made, a stiff one, to the last cartridge. But
it won't be enough, mere opposition. There must be another candidate. We
can take Quincy in front; the candidate can take him in the rear. It
must not be seen, only said, that the President surrendered to Irish
pressure. There's the plan: well-managed opposition, and another
candidate. We can see to the first, who will be the other?"
They were discussing that point without fruit when Anne knocked at the
door of the study, and entered in some anxiety.
"Is it true, what I heard whispered," said she, "that they will soon be
looking for a minister to England, that Livingstone is coming back?"
"True, mother dear," and he rose to seat her comfortably. "But if you
can find us a chief-justice the good man will not need to come back. He
can remain to help keep patriots in English prisons."
"Why I want to make sure, you know, is that Vandervelt should get the
English mission this time without fail. I wouldn't have him miss it for
the whole world."
"There's your man," said Grahame.
"Better than the English mission, mother," Arthur said quickly, "would
be the chief-justiceship for so good a man as Vandervelt. If you can get
him to tell his friends he wants to be chief-justice, I can swear that
he will get one place or the other. I know which one he would prefer.
No, not the mission. That's for a few years, forgotten honors. The
other's for life, lasting honor. Oh, how Vandervelt must sigh for that
noble dais, the only throne in the Republic, the throne of American
justice. Think, how Livingstone would defile it! The hater and
persecutor of a wronged and hounded race, who begrudges us all but the
honors of slavery, how could he understand and administer justice, even
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 to the
President singly, in the order of their importance, against his nominee,
on the score of party peace. What need to disturb the Irish by naming a
man who had always irritated and even insulted them? The representation
in the House would surely suffer by his action, because in this way only
could the offended people retaliate. They detested Livingstone.
Day after day this testimony fairly rained upon the President,
unanimous, consistent, and increasing in dignity with time, each
protester seeming more important than he who just went out the door.
Inquiries among the indifferent proved that the Irish would give much to
see Livingstone lose the honors. And always in the foreground of the
picture of protest stood the popular and dignified Vandervelt surrounded
by admiring friends!
Everard had the knack of ferreting out obscure movements. When this
intrigue was laid bare he found Arthur Dillon at his throat on the
morning he had chosen for a visit to the President. To promise the
executive support from a strong Irish group in the appointment of
Livingstone would have been fatal to the opposition. Hence the look
which Arthur bestowed on Everard was as ugly as his determination to put
the marplot in a retreat for the insane, if no other plan kept him at
home.
"I want to defeat Livingstone," said Arthur, "and I think I have him
defeated. You had better stay at home. You are hurting a good cause."
"I am going to destroy that good cause," John boasted gayly. "You
thought you had the field to yourself. And you had, only that I
discovered your game."
"It's a thing to be proud of," Arthur replied sadly, "this steady
support of the man who would have ruined your boy. Keep quiet. You've
got to have the truth rammed down your throat, since you will take it in
no other way. This Livingstone has been plotting against your race for
twenty years. It may not matter to a disposition as crooked as yours,
that he opened the eyes of English government people to the meaning of
Irish advance in America, that he is responsible for Fritters, for the
alliance, for McMeeter, for the escaped nun, for her vile _Confessions_,
for the kidnapping societies here. You are cantankerous enough to forget
that he used his position in London to do us harm, and you won't see
that he will do as much with the justiceship. Let these things pass. If
you were a good Catholic one might excuse your devotion to Livingstone
on the score that you were eager to return good for evil. But you're a
half-cooked Catholic, John. Let that pass too. Have you no manhood left
in you? Are you short on self-respect? This man brought out and backed
the woman who sought to ruin your son, to break your wife's heart, to
destroy your own happiness. With his permission she slandered the poor
nuns with tongue and pen, a vile woman hired to defile the innocent. And
for this man you throw dirt on your own, for this man you are going to
fight your own that he may get honors which he will shame. Isn't it fair
to think that you are going mad, Everard?"
"Don't attempt," said the other in a fury, "to work off your oratory on
me. I am going to Washington to expose your intrigues against a
gentleman. What! am I to tremble at your frown----?"
"Rot, man! Who asked you to tremble? I saved your boy from Livingstone,
and I shall save you from yourself, even if I have to put you in an
asylum for the harmless insane. Don't you believe that Livingstone is
the patron of Sister Claire? that he is indirectly responsible for that
scandal?"
"I never did, and I never shall," with vehemence. "You are one of those
that can prove anything----"
"If you were sure of his responsibility, would you go to Washington?"
"Haven't I the evidence of my own senses? Were not all Livingstone's
friends on the committee which exposed Sister Claire?"
"Because we insisted on that or a public trial, and they came with sour
stomachs," said Arthur, glad that he had begun to discuss the point.
"Would you go to Washington if you were sure he backed the woman?"
"Enough, young man. I'm off for the train. Here, Mary, my satchel----"
Two strong bands were laid on his shoulders, he was pushed back into his
chair, and the face which glowered on him after this astonishing
violence for the moment stilled his rage and astonishment.
"Would you go to Washington if you were sure Livingstone backed Sister
Claire?" came the relentless question.
"No, I wouldn't," he answered vacantly.
"Do you wish to be made sure of it?"
He began to turn purple and to bluster.
"Not a word," said his master, "not a cry. Just answer that question. Do
you wish to be made sure of this man's atrocious guilt and your own
folly?"
"I want to know what is the meaning of this," Everard sputtered, "this
violence? In my own house, in broad day, like a burglar."
"Answer the question."
Alarm began to steal over Everard, who was by no means a brave man. Had
Arthur Dillon, always a strange fellow, gone mad? Or was this scene a
hint of murder? The desperate societies to which Dillon was said to
belong often indulged in violence. It had never occurred to him before
that these secret forces must be fighting Livingstone through Dillon.
They would never permit him to use his influence at Washington in the
Minister's behalf. Dreadful! He must dissemble.
"If you can make me sure, I am willing," he said meekly.
"Read that, then," and Arthur placed his winning card, as he thought, in
his hands; the private confession of Sister Claire as to the persons who
had assisted her in her outrageous schemes; and the chief, of course,
was Livingstone. Everard read it with contempt.
"Legally you know what her testimony is worth," said he.
"You accepted her testimony as to her own frauds, and so did the whole
committee."
"We had to accept the evidence of our own senses."
Obstinate to the last was Everard.
"You will not be convinced," said Arthur rudely, "but you can be
muzzled. I say again: keep away from Washington, and keep your hands off
my enterprise. You have some idea of what happens to men like you for
interfering. If I meet you in Washington, or find any trace of your
meddling in the matter, here is what I shall do; this whole scandal of
the escaped nun shall be reopened, this confession shall be printed, and
the story of Louis' adventure, from that notable afternoon at four
o'clock until his return, word for word, with portraits of his
interesting family, of Sister Claire, all the details, will be given to
the journals. Do you understand? Meanwhile, study this problem in
psychology: how long will John Everard be able to endure life after I
tell the Irish how he helped to enthrone their bitterest enemy?"
He did not wait for an answer, but left the baffled man to wrestle with
the situation, which must have worsted him, for his hand did not appear
in the game at Washington. Very smoothly the plans of Arthur worked to
their climax. The friends of Vandervelt pressed his cause as urgently
and politely as might be, and with increasing energy as the
embarrassment of the President grew. The inherent weakness of
Vandervelt's case appeared to the tireless Dillon more appalling in the
last moments than at the beginning: the situation had no logical
outcome. It was merely a question whether the President would risk a
passing unpopularity.
He felt the absence of Birmingham keenly, the one man who could say to
the executive with authority, this appointment would be a blunder.
Birmingham being somewhere on the continent, out of reach of appeals for
help, his place was honorably filled by the General of the Army, with an
influence, however, purely sentimental. Arthur accompanied him for the
last interview with the President. Only two days intervened before the
invitation would be sent to Livingstone to return home. The great man
listened with sympathy to the head of the army making his protest, but
would promise nothing; he had fixed an hour however for the settlement
of the irritating problem; if they would call the next morning at ten,
he would give them his unalterable decision.
Feeling that the decision must be against his hopes, Arthur passed a
miserable night prowling with Grahame about the hotel. Had he omitted
any point in the fight? Was there any straw afloat which could be of
service? Doyle used his gift of poetry to picture for him the return of
Livingstone, and his induction into office; the serenity of mind, the
sense of virtue and patriotism rewarded, his cold contempt of the
defeated opposition and their candidate, the matchless dignity, which
would exalt Livingstone to the skies as the Chief-Justice. Their only
consolation was the fight itself, which had shaken for a moment the
edifice of the Minister's fame.
The details went to London from friends close to the President, and
enabled Livingstone to measure the full strength of a young man's
hatred. The young man should be attended to after the struggle. There
was no reason to lose confidence. While the factions were still
worrying, the cablegram came with the request that he sail on Saturday
for home, the equivalent of appointment. When reading it at the Savage
Club, whither a special messenger had followed him, the heavy mustache
and very round spectacles of Birmingham rose up suddenly before him, and
they exchanged greetings with the heartiness of exiles from the same
land. The Minister remembered that his former rival had no share in the
attempt to deprive him of his coming honors, and Birmingham recalled the
rumor picked up that day in the city.
"I suppose there's no truth in it," he said.
The Minister handed him the cablegram.
"Within ten days," making a mental calculation, "I should be on my way
back to London, with the confirmation of the Senate practically
secured."
"When it comes I shall be pleased to offer my congratulations,"
Birmingham replied, and the remark slightly irritated Livingstone.
Could he have seen what happened during the next few hours his sleep
would have lost its sweetness. Birmingham went straight to the telegraph
office, and sent a cipher despatch to his man of business, ordering him
to see the President that night in Washington, and to declare in his
name, with all the earnestness demanded by the situation, that the
appointment of Livingstone would mean political death to him and immense
embarrassment to his party for years. As it would be three in the
morning before a reply would reach London, Birmingham went to bed with a
good conscience. Thus, while the two young men babbled all night in the
hotel, and thought with dread of the fatal hour next morning, wire, and
train, and business man flew into the capital and out of it, carrying
one man's word in and another man's glory out, fleet, silent,
unrecognized, unhonored, and unknown.
At breakfast Birmingham read the reply from his business man with
profound satisfaction. At breakfast the Minister read a second cablegram
with a sudden recollection of Birmingham's ominous words the night
before. He knew that he would need no congratulations, for the prize had
been snatched away forever. The cablegram informed him that he should
not sail on Saturday, and that explanations would follow. For a moment
his proud heart failed him. Bitterness flowed in on him, so that the
food in his mouth became tasteless. What did he care that his enemies
had triumphed? Or, that he had been overthrown? The loss of the vision
which had crowned his life, and made a hard struggle for what he thought
the fit and right less sordid, even beautiful; that was a calamity.
He had indulged it in spite of mental protests against the dangerous
folly. The swift imagination, prompted by all that was Livingstone in
him, had gone over the many glories of the expected dignity; the
departure from beautiful and flattering England, the distinction of the
return to his beloved native land, the splendid interval before the
glorious day, the crowning honors amid the applause of his own, and the
long sweet afternoon of life, when each day would bring its own
distinction! He had had his glimpse of Paradise. Oh, never, never would
life be the same for him! He began to study the reasons for his
ill-success....
At ten o'clock that day the President informed the General of the Army
in Mr. Dillon's presence that he had sent the name of Hon. Van
Rensselaer Vandervelt to the Senate for the position of Chief-Justice!
THE TEST OF DISAPPEARANCE.