The Voice of the People

rcuit Court was ov

g his way through the straggling spectators to the sunken stone steps of the platform outside. As the crowd in the doorway parted slightly, a breeze passed into the room, scattering the odou

aid the judge, bowing to r

e a word of greeting-secure in the affability of one who is not only a judge of man but a Bassett of Vir

scattered at his approach, he waved them together with a bland, benedictory gesture which descended alike upon the high and the low,

one, and to the other, "How are you, Burr?

wiping his neck laboriously o

uthfuls of tobacco juice as if they were pebbles which obstructed his speech. "I al'ays stick to pla

in an alert, nervous-looking countryman. "If I lay my hoe d

nd take so natural to weeds nohow as mine do," he sa

and an inanely honest face, over which the freckles showed like splashes of mud fre

g his rich, beneficent smile. Then, as he caught sight of a smaller red head beneath Bur

ath his father's arm. He did not answer, but he turned his bright eyes o

e insignificance of the subject. "Yes, sir, he's leetle, but he's plum full of grit. He c

ouring county with facetious intention. "A boy and a

e passing over the large, red head to rest upon the small

n the child's voice che

be a judge,"

use, one sunburned hand playing nervously with the crumblin

dge st

was ugly, lean, and stunted in growth, browned by hot suns and powdered by th

of Gloucester. It was now "Main" Street, and nothing more, though it was still wide and white and placidly impressed by the slow passage of Kingsborough feet. Beyond the court-house the breeze blew across the green, which was ablaze with buttercups. Beneath the warm wind the ye

e, and a good-natured la

but there was no surprise in his tone; it ex

pressing more firmly

sin'," he said. "It's jest farmin'

ughed and tu

u choose the second best, and I can help you, I will-I will, upon my word-Ah! General," to a jovia

, bowed again, an

where it was lost in diverging roads, there was visible, as through a film of bluish smoke, the verdigris-green foliage of King's College. Nearer at hand the solemn cruciform of the old church was steeped in shade

Beyond the feathery green of the asparagus bed there was a bush of flowering syringa, another at the beginning of the grass-trimmed walk, and yet another brushing the large white pillars of the square front porch-their slender sprays blown from sun to shade like fluttering s

l he had crossed the wide hall and opened the door of his study that he hea

ly; then his hospitality asserted itself,

and take a seat. I

ow-seat. The place was airy as a summer-house and odorous with the essence of roses distilled in the sunshine beyond. On the high plastered walls, above the book-shelves, rows of bygone Bassetts looked down on their departed possessions-sta

blue patterns upon the willow bowls, and in the choice lavender of the old Wedgwood. Their handiwork was visible in the laborious em

the judge. "I am

gloom of the high-ceiled room his face assumed the look of a portrait in oils, and he seemed to have descended from his allotted squa

d not made an uncivil remark since the close of the war-a line of conduct resulting less f

trusion of the hopelessly modern into the helplessly past. His hair made a rich spot in the colourless atmosphere

y of the room. His profile showed gnome-like aga

ut-raisin'," he said suddenl

judge, and finished helples

d distinctly in the stillness. The perfume of roses, mingling with

. Suddenly he dug the dirty knu

se don't. Perhaps you would like to

" said the child.

is hat-a wide-brimmed harvest hat, with

oke again it was

name is Nicho

s,

ld are

lve,

you r

s,

ri

-s,

pe

tated. "I-I ca

t is a serious th

s,

be a law

s,

hard

s,

s no better than f

s head. "It's cl

dge la

w, what do you want me to do for you? I can't make you a judge. I

take a bo-b-o-o-k,

the judge irri

e child at the court-house. He would never be guilty of such an indiscretion again. Of what could he

little figure before him he saw his own boy-the single child of his young wife, who was lying beneath a marble slab

ed hast

e titles carefully. Don't let the books fall. Never la

uthern windows. He ran his hands slowly along the lett

o-n-e-'s C-o-m-m-e-n-t-a-r-i-e-s," "R-e-v-

took up his pen and wrote several replies in his fine, flowing hand

"Ah, it is you? Yes, let me see.

ands. As the judge laughed he flushed

nto the hall. He saw the tracks of dust which the boy's feet left upon the smooth, bare floo

lled, "don't turn