It was a crisp, clear day in December. Langdon Chester had gone to
Darley to attend to the banking of a considerable amount of money which
his father had received for cotton on the market. It happened to be the
one day in the year in which the town was visited by a mammoth circus,
and the streets were overflowing with mountain people eager to witness
the grand street-parade, the balloon ascension, the side-shows, and,
lastly, the chief performance under the big tent. From the quaint old
Johnston House, along Main Street to the grain warehouses and the
throbbing and wheezing cotton compress, half a mile distant, the street
was filled with people afoot, in carts, wagons, and buggies, or on
horseback. All this joy and activity made little impression on Langdon
Chester. His face was thin and sallow, and he was extremely nervous. His
last conversation with Virginia and her positive refusal to consider his
proposal of marriage had left him without a hope and more desperate than
his best friend could have imagined possible to a man of his supposedly
callous temperament. And a strange fatality seemed to be dogging his
footsteps and linking him to the matter which he had valiantly attempted
to lay aside, for everywhere he went he heard laudatory remarks about
Luke King and his marvellous success and strength of character. In the
group of lawyers seated in the warm sunshine in front of Trabue's little
one-storied brick office on the street leading to the court-house, it
was a topic of more interest than any gossip about the circus. It was
Squire Tomlinson's opinion, and he had been to the legislature in
Atlanta, and associated intimately with politicians from all sections of
the state, that King was a man who, if he wished it, could become the
governor of Georgia as easy as falling off a log, or even a senator of
the United States. The common people wanted him, the squire declared;
they had worshipped him ever since his first editorial war-whoop against
the oppression of the political ring, the all-devouring trusts, and the
corrupt Northern money-power. The squire, blunt man that he was, caught
sight of Langdon among his listeners and playfully made an illustration
out of him. "There's a chap, gentlemen, the son of a good old friend of
mine. Now, what did money, aristocratic parentage, family brains, and
military honors do for him? He was sent to the best college in the
state, with plenty of spending-money at his command, and is still
hanging onto the strap of his daddy's pocket-book--satisfied like we all
were in the good old days when each of us had a little nigger to come
and put on our shoes for us and bring hot coffee and waffles to the bed
after we'd tripped the merry toe on somebody's farm all night. Oh, you
needn't frown, Langdon; you know it's the truth. He's still a chip off
the old block, gentlemen, while his barefoot neighbor, a scion of po'
white stock, cooked his brain before a cabin pine-knot fire in studying,
like Abe Lincoln did, and finally went forth to conquer the world, and
_is_ conquering it as fast as a dog can trot. It's enough, gentlemen, to
make us all take our boys from school, give 'em a good paddling, and put
'em at hard toil in the field."
"Thank you for the implied compliment, Squire," Langdon said, angrily.
"You are frank enough about it, anyway."
"Now, there, you see," the squire exclaimed, regretfully. "I've gone and
rubbed him the wrong way, and I meant nothing in the world by it."
Langdon bowed and smiled his acceptance of the apology, though a scowl
was on his face as he turned to walk down the street. From the
conversation he had learned that King was expected up that day to visit
his family, and a sickening shock came to him with the thought that it
really was to see Virginia that he was coming. Yes, he was now sure that
it had been King's attentions to the girl which had turned her against
him--that and the powerful influence of Ann Boyd.
These thoughts were too much for him. He went into Asque's bar, at the
hotel, called for whiskey, and remained there for hours.
Langdon was in the spacious office of the Johnston House when the
evening train from Atlanta came into the old-fashioned brick car-shed at
the door, and King alighted. His hand-bag was at once snatched by an
admiring negro porter, and the by-standers crowded around him to shake
hands. Langdon stood in the office a moment later, his brain benumbed
with drink and jealous fury, and saw his rival literally received into
the open arms of another eager group. Smothering an oath, the young
planter leaned against the cigar-case quite near the register, over
which the clerk stood triumphantly calling to King to honor the house by
writing the name of the state's future governor. King had the pen in his
hand, when, glancing up, he recognized Langdon, whom he had not seen
since his return from the West.
"Why, how are you, Chester?" he said, cordially.
Langdon stared. His brain seemed pressed downward by some weight. The
by-standers saw a strange, half-insane glare in his unsteady eyes, but
he said nothing.
"Why, surely you remember me," Luke exclaimed, in honest surprise.
"King's my name--Luke King. It's true I have not met you for several
years, but--"
"Oh, it's King, is it?" Langdon said, calmly and with the edge of a
sneer on his white, determined lip. "I didn't know if you were sure
_what_ it was. So many of your sort spring up like flies in hot weather
that one can't tell much about your parentage, except on the maternal
side."
There was momentous silence. The crowded room held its breath in sheer
astonishment. King stared at his antagonist for an instant, hoping
against hope that he had misunderstood. Then he took a deep breath.
"That's a queer thing for one man to say to another," he said, fixing
Chester with a steady stare. "Are you aware that a remark like that
might reflect on the honor of my mother?"
"I don't care who it reflects on," retorted Chester. "You can take it
any way you wish, if you have got enough backbone."
As quick as a flash King's right arm went out and his massive fist
landed squarely between Chester's eyes. The blow was so strong that the
young planter reeled back into the crowd, instinctively pressing his
hands to his face. King was ready to strike again, but some of his
friends stopped him and pushed him back against the counter. Others in
the crowd forcibly drew his maddened antagonist away, and further
trouble was averted.
With a hand that was strangely steady, King registered his name with the
pen the clerk was extending to him.
"Let it drop, King," the clerk said. "He's so drunk he hardly knows what
he's doing. He seems to have it in for you, for some reason or other. It
looks like jealousy to me. They were devilling him over at Trabue's
office awhile ago about his failure and your big success. Let it pass
this time. He'll be ashamed of himself as soon as his liquor dies out."
"Thank you, Jim," King replied. "I'll let it rest, if he is satisfied
with what he's already had."
"Going out home to-night?" the clerk asked.
"If I can get a turnout at the stable," King answered.
"You will have to take a room here, then," the clerk smiled, "for
everything is out at the livery. I know, because two travelling men who
had a date with George Wilson over there are tied up here."
"Then I'll stay and go out in the morning," said King. "I'm tired,
anyway, and that is a hard ride at night."
"Well, take the advice of a friend and steer clear of Chester right
now," said the clerk. "He's a devil when he's worked up and drinking.
Really, he's dangerous."
"I know that, but I'll not run from him," said King. "I thought my
fighting day was over, but there are some things I can't take."