them.  There were times when he deplored bitterly the loss of her companionship; at others he exulted in the consciousness of perfect freedom to indulge an overmastering love, amenable to no chastisement by violated loyalty.  He had scrupulously endeavored, by careful employment of forms of deference, to spare his betrothed as far as possible, the stinging humiliation and anguish which every woman suffers, when the man whom she loves shows her that she fills only a subordinate and insignificant place in his affection; and yet, while her nobler nature commanded his homage, and the brilliancy of the alliance seems to jeer at his blind fatuity, his heart throbbed and yearned with an intolerable longing for one upon whom the world had set the seal of an ineradicable disgrace.

Nature and education had made him a coldly calculating man, jealous of his honor, but immersed in schemes for his own aggrandizement, and superbly invulnerable to the blandishments of sentimentality; hence his amazement, when the deep and engrossing love of his life burned away that selfishness which was citadel of his affections.  Because his infatuation had cost him so much, that was alluring alike to vanity, pride, and ambition, a fierce hunger for revenge possessed him; and herein differs the nature of the love of men and women; the one can sacrifice itself for the happiness of the beloved; the other will crucify its darling to appease jealous pangs in view of happiness it can neither inspire nor share.

“Good morning, Churchill.  Come in.  Glad to see you.  Sit down.”

“When did you get back, Lennox?”

“Last night.”

“Well, what luck?”

“A rather leaky promise.  Kneading slag or cold pig iron into Bessemer steel would be about as easy as pounding the law of evidence into the Governor’s brains.  I emphasized the moral weight of the petition, by calling his attention to the signatures of the judge, jury, prosecuting counsel and especially of Prince, who presumably has most to forgive.  The memorial of the inspectors, warden and physician was appended, and constituted a eulogy upon the behavior and character of the prisoner; especially the heroic service rendered by her during the recent fatal epidemic.  Human nature is an infernally vexing bundle of paradoxes, and when a man throws his conscience in your teeth, what then?  The argument from which I hoped most, proved a Greek horse, and well-nigh wrought ruin.  When I dwelt upon the fact that the prisoner had voluntarily conveyed to Prince all right and title to the fortune, which was supposed to have tempted her to commit the crime, he bristled like a Skye terrier, and grandiloquently assured me he valued his ‘prerogative as something too sacred to be prostituted to nepotism!’ Prince being his cousin, a readiness to exercise Executive clemency by pardoning the prisoner, might be construed into a species of bargain and sale; and his Excellency could not condone a crime merely because the culprit had relinquished a fortune to his relative.  Braying an ordinary fool in a mortar is an unpromising job; but an extraordinary official leatherhead, plus thin-skinned conscience, and religious scruples, requires the upper and nether mill stone.  You know, Churchill, it is tough work to straighten a crooked ramrod.”