Speaker 1: This is section fifty seven of The Gilded Age. This
Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Gilded Age,
Speaker 1: A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner,
Speaker 1: Chapter fifty seven. The momentous day was at hand, a
Speaker 1: day that promised to make or mar the fortunes of
Speaker 1: the Hawkins family for all time. Washington, Hawkins, and Colonel
Speaker 1: Sellers were both up early, for neither of them could sleep.
Speaker 1: Congress was expiring and was passing bill after bill as
Speaker 1: if they were gasps, and each likely to be its last.
Speaker 1: The University was on file for its third reading. This
Speaker 1: day and tomorrow Washington would be a millionaire and Sellers
Speaker 1: no longer impecunious. But this day also, or at farthest
Speaker 1: the next, the jury in Laura's case would come to
Speaker 1: a decision of some kind or other. They would find
Speaker 1: her guilty, Washington secretly feared, and then the care and
Speaker 1: the trouble would all come back again, and there would
Speaker 1: be wearing months of besieging judges for new trials. On
Speaker 1: this day also, the re election of mister Dilworthy to
Speaker 1: the Senate would take place. So Washington's mind was in
Speaker 1: a state of turmoil. There were more interests at stake
Speaker 1: than it could handle. With serenity, he exalted when he
Speaker 1: thought of his millions. He was filled with dread when
Speaker 1: he thought of Laura. But Sellars was excited and happy.
Speaker 1: He said, everything is going right, everything's going perfectly right.
Speaker 1: Pretty soon the telegrams will begin to rattle in, and
Speaker 1: then you'll see, my boy, let the jury do what
Speaker 1: they please. What difference is it going to make? Tomorrow
Speaker 1: we can send a million to New York and set
Speaker 1: the lawyers at work on the judges. Bless your heart.
Speaker 1: They will go before judge after judge and exhort and
Speaker 1: beseech and pray and shed tears. They always do. They
Speaker 1: always win too, and they will win this time. They
Speaker 1: will get a rid of habe corpus and a stay
Speaker 1: of proceedings and a supersedius and a new trial. And
Speaker 1: I know they prosequi. And there you are. That's the routine.
Speaker 1: And it's no trick at all to a New York lawyer.
Speaker 1: That's the regular routine. Everything's red tape and routine and
Speaker 1: the law. You see. It's all Greek to you, of course,
Speaker 1: But to a man who is acquainted with those things,
Speaker 1: it's mere. I'll explain it to you sometime. Everything's going
Speaker 1: to glide right along, easy and comfortable. Now you'll see Washington,
Speaker 1: you'll see how it will be. And then let me think.
Speaker 1: Dilworthy will be elected today, and by day after tomorrow
Speaker 1: night he will be in New York ready to put
Speaker 1: in his shovel. And you haven't lived in Washington all
Speaker 1: this time not to know that the people who walk
Speaker 1: right by a senator whose term is up without hardly
Speaker 1: seeing him, will be down at the depot to say,
Speaker 1: welcome back, and God bless you, senator. I'm glad to
Speaker 1: see you, sir. When he comes along and back reelected,
Speaker 1: you know well, you see, his influence was naturally running
Speaker 1: low when he left here, But now he has got
Speaker 1: a new six years start, and his suggestions will simply
Speaker 1: just weigh a couple of tons apiece. Day after tomorrow,
Speaker 1: Lord bless you, he could rattle through that Habeas corpus
Speaker 1: and supersedious and all those things for Laura, all by
Speaker 1: himself if he wanted to when he gets back. I
Speaker 1: hadn't thought of that, said Washington Brightening, But it is so.
Speaker 1: A newly elected senator is a power. I know that, Yes,
Speaker 1: indeed he is. Why it is just human nature. Look
Speaker 1: at me. When we first came here, I was mister
Speaker 1: Sellers and major sellers and Captain sellers, but nobody could
Speaker 1: ever get it right somehow. But the minute our bill
Speaker 1: went through the house, I was Colonel Sellers every time,
Speaker 1: and nobody could do enough for me. And whatever I
Speaker 1: said was wonderful, sir, It was always wonderful, seemed to
Speaker 1: say any flat things at all. It was Colonel, won't
Speaker 1: you come and dine with us? And Colonel why don't
Speaker 1: we ever see you at our house? And the Colonel
Speaker 1: says this, and the Colonel says that, and we know
Speaker 1: such and such as so and so because husband heard
Speaker 1: colonels Sellers say so, don't you see? Well, the Senat
Speaker 1: adjourned and left our bill high and dry. And I'll
Speaker 1: be hanged if I weren't old sellers from that day
Speaker 1: till our bill passed the house again last week. Now
Speaker 1: I'm the colonel again. And if I were to eat
Speaker 1: all the dinners I'm invited to, I reckon i'd wear
Speaker 1: my teeth down level with my gums in a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. Well, I do wonder what you will be tomorrow, Colonel,
Speaker 1: after the President signs the bill. General, Sir General, without
Speaker 1: a doubt, Yes, sir, tomorrow it will be. General. Let
Speaker 1: me congratulate you, sir, General. You've done a great work. Sir,
Speaker 1: You've done a great work for the Negro gentlemen, allow
Speaker 1: me the honor to introduce me my friend, General Sellers,
Speaker 1: the humane friend of the Negro. Lord bless me. You'll
Speaker 1: see the newspapers say General Sellers and servants arrived in
Speaker 1: the city last night and is stopping at the Fifth Avenue.
Speaker 1: And General Sellers has accepted a reception and banquet by
Speaker 1: the Cosmopolitan Club. You'll see the General's opinions quoted too.
Speaker 1: And what the General has to say about the propriety
Speaker 1: of a new trial and a habeas corpus for the
Speaker 1: unfortunate Miss Hawkins will not be without weight in influential quarters,
Speaker 1: I can tell you, and I want to be the
Speaker 1: first to shake your faithful old hand and salute you
Speaker 1: with your new honors. And I want to do it now, General,
Speaker 1: said Washington, suiting the action to the word and accompanying
Speaker 1: it with all the meaning that a cordial grasp and
Speaker 1: eloquent eyes could give it. The colonel was touched. He
Speaker 1: was pleased and proud too. His face answered for that.
Speaker 1: Not very long after breakfast, the telegrams began to arrive.
Speaker 1: The first was from Braham and Ran, Thus, we feel
Speaker 1: certain that the verdict will be rendered to day, be
Speaker 1: it good or bad. Let it find us ready to
Speaker 1: make the next move instantly, whatever it may be. That's
Speaker 1: the right talk, said Sellars. That Brahm's a wonderful man.
Speaker 1: He was the only man there that really understood me.
Speaker 1: He told me he saw himself afterwards. The next telegram
Speaker 1: was from mister Dilworthy. I have not only brought over
Speaker 1: the Great Invincible, but through him a dozen more of
Speaker 1: the opposition shall be re elected to day by an
Speaker 1: overwhelming majority. Good again, said the colonel. That man's talent
Speaker 1: for organization is something marvelous. He wanted me to go
Speaker 1: out there and engineer that thing, but I said, no, Dilworthy,
Speaker 1: I must be on hand here, both on Laura's account
Speaker 1: and the bills. But you've no trifling genius for organization yourself,
Speaker 1: said I. And I was right. You go ahead, said I.
Speaker 1: You can fix it, and so he But I claim
Speaker 1: no credit for that. If I stiffened up his backbone.
Speaker 1: A little eye simply put him in the way to
Speaker 1: make his fight, and didn't make it myself. He has
Speaker 1: captured noble and I consider that a splendid piece of diplomacy. Splendid, Sir.
Speaker 1: By and by came another dispatch from New York. Jury
Speaker 1: still out Laura, calm and firm as a statue. The
Speaker 1: report that the jury have brought her in guilty is
Speaker 1: false and premature. Premature, gasped Washington, turning white. Then they
Speaker 1: all expect that sort of a verdict when it comes,
Speaker 1: and so did he. But he had not had courage
Speaker 1: enough to put it into words. He had been preparing
Speaker 1: himself for the worst. But after all his preparation, the
Speaker 1: bare suggestion of the possibility of such a verdict struck
Speaker 1: him cold as death. The friends grew impatient. Now the
Speaker 1: telegrams did not come fast enough. Even the lightning could
Speaker 1: not keep up with their anxieties. They walked the floor,
Speaker 1: talking dis jointedly and listening for the door bell. Telegram
Speaker 1: after telegram came still no result. By and by there
Speaker 1: was one which contained a single line. Court now coming
Speaker 1: in after brief recess to hear verdict. Jury ready, Oh
Speaker 1: I wish they would finish, said Washington. This suspense is
Speaker 1: killing me by inches. Then came another telegram, another hitch somewhere.
Speaker 1: Jury want a little more time and further instructions. Well, well,
Speaker 1: well this is trying, said the colonel. And after a pause,
Speaker 1: no dispatch from Dilworthy for two hours. Now, even a
Speaker 1: dispatch from him would be better than nothing. Just to
Speaker 1: vary this thing. They waited twenty minutes. It seemed like
Speaker 1: twenty hours. Come, said Washington. I can't wait for the
Speaker 1: telegraph boy to come all the way up here. Let's
Speaker 1: go down to newspaper row meet him on the way.
Speaker 1: While they were passing along the avenue, they saw some
Speaker 1: one putting up a great display sheet on the bully
Speaker 1: and board of a newspaper office, and an eager crowd
Speaker 1: of men was collecting about the place. Washington and the
Speaker 1: Colonel ran to the spot and read this tremendous sensation
Speaker 1: startling news from Saints Rest on first ballot for U. S. Senator.
Speaker 1: When voting was about to begin, mister Noble rose in
Speaker 1: his place and drew forth. A package, walked forward and
Speaker 1: laid it on the speaker's desk, saying this contained seven
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in bank bills, and was given me by
Speaker 1: Senator Dilworthy in his bed chamber at midnight last night
Speaker 1: to buy my vote for him. I wished the Speaker
Speaker 1: to count the money and retain it to pay the
Speaker 1: expenses of prosecuting this infamous traitor for bribery. The whole
Speaker 1: legislature was stricken, speechless with dismay and astonishment. Noble further
Speaker 1: said that there were fifty members present with money in
Speaker 1: their pockets, placed thereby Dilworthy to buy their votes. Amidst
Speaker 1: unparalleled excitement, the ballot was now taken and J. W.
Speaker 1: Smith elected U S. Senator Dilworthy, receiving not one vote.
Speaker 1: Noble promises damaging exposures concerning Dilworthy and certain measures of
Speaker 1: his now pending in Congress. Good Heavens and Earth, exclaimed
Speaker 1: the Colonel to the Capital, said, Washington, fly, and they
Speaker 1: did fly. Long before they got there. The newsboys were
Speaker 1: running ahead of them with extras hot from the press
Speaker 1: announcing the astounding news arrived in the gallery of the Senate,
Speaker 1: the friends saw a curious spectacle. Every senator held an
Speaker 1: extra in his hand and looked as interested as if
Speaker 1: it contained news of the destruction of the earth. Not
Speaker 1: a single member was paying the least attention to the
Speaker 1: business of the hour. The Secretary, in loud voice, was
Speaker 1: just beginning to read the title of a bill, Housepill
Speaker 1: Number four thousand, two hundred thirty one, an Act to
Speaker 1: Found and Incorporate the Knobs Industrial University, read first and
Speaker 1: second time, considered, a committee of the whole ordered, engrossed,
Speaker 1: and passed a third reading and final passage. The president
Speaker 1: third reading of the bill, the two friends shook in
Speaker 1: their shoes. Senators threw down their extras and snatched a
Speaker 1: word or two with each other in whispers. Then the
Speaker 1: gavel rapped to command silence while the names were called
Speaker 1: on the a's and nays. Washington grew paler and paler,
Speaker 1: weaker and weaker, while the lagging list progressed, And when
Speaker 1: it was finished, his head fell helplessly forward on his arms.
Speaker 1: The fight was fought, the long struggle was over, and
Speaker 1: he was a pauper. Not a man had voted for
Speaker 1: the bill. Colonel Sellars was bewildered and well nigh paralyzed himself.
Speaker 1: But no man could long consider his own troubles in
Speaker 1: the presence of such suffering as Washington's. He got him
Speaker 1: up and supported him, almost carried him indeed, out of
Speaker 1: the building and into a carriage. All the way home,
Speaker 1: Washington lay with his face against the colonel's shoulder and
Speaker 1: merely groaned and wept. The colonel tried as well as
Speaker 1: he could, under the dreary circumstances, to hearten him a little,
Speaker 1: but it was of no use. Washington was past all
Speaker 1: hope of cheer now. He only said, oh, it is
Speaker 1: all over. It is all over for good colonel. We
Speaker 1: must beg our bread now. We never can get up again.
Speaker 1: It was our last chance and it is gone. They
Speaker 1: will hang Laura, My god, they will hang her. Nothing
Speaker 1: can save the poor girl. Now, Oh, I wish with
Speaker 1: all my soul they would hang me instead. Arrived at home,
Speaker 1: Washington fell into a chair and buried his face in
Speaker 1: his hands, and gave full way to his misery. The
Speaker 1: colonel did not know where to turn nor what to do.
Speaker 1: The servant maid knocked at the door and passed in
Speaker 1: a telegram, saying it had come while they were gone.
Speaker 1: The colonel tore it open and read, with the voice
Speaker 1: of a man of war's broadside verdict of jury not guilty,
Speaker 1: and Laura is free. End of chapter fifty seven.