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11) An improper fraction has a value equal to or less than 1. 11)
A) True B)
False

12) Before you can add or subtract fractions, they must have the same 12)
denominators.
A) True B) False

2
Write the fraction as a whole or mixed
number.
13)
43
13)
21

1 1 1 1
A) 2 B) 3 C) 1 D) 2
21 21 21 7

82
14) 14)
13
4 6 4 4
A) 5 B) 6 C) 6 D) 7
13 13 13 13

78
15) 15)
13
2
A) 6 B) 6 C) 5 D) 7
13

7
16) 16)
7
A) 1 B) 0 C) 77 D)
7

42
17) 17)
10
2 1 1 1
A) 4 B) 5 C) 4 D) 3
5 5 5 5

15
18) 18)
6

5 1 1 1
A) 2 B) 3 C) 2 D) 1
6 2 2 2

Solve the problem.

19) For every 100 shoppers in a bookstore, $613 dollars worth of books are sold. Express the 19)
number of
dollars spent per shopper as a whole or mixed number.

13 13 3
A) 5 B) 6 C) 7 D) 6
100 100 10

Provide an appropriate response.

20) To change an improper fraction into a whole or mixed number, you need only divide 20)
the
denominator by the numerator.
A) True B) False

21) When an improper fraction is converted, if there is a remainder, it is a whole A

number. )
3
 True B) False 21)

22) When an improper fraction is converted, if there is a remainder, it is: 22)

A) a whole number. B) the numerator.
C) a prime number. D) the
denominator.

4
 23) To convert mixed numbers to improper fractions you would: 23)
A) multiply the whole number times the denominator of the fraction and add the product to
the
original numerator.
B) none of these.
C) multiply the whole number times the numerator of the fraction and add the product to
the
original denominator.
D) multiply the whole number times the denominator of the fraction and add the
whole number to the denominator.

24) When converting mixed numbers to improper fractions, the denominator of the improper 24)
fraction
will be the same as the of the fractional part of the mixed
number.
A) LCD B) denominator
C) numerator D) none of the above

Write the whole or mixed number as an improper

fraction.
4 25)
25) 7
9

67 11 68 37
A) B) C) D)
9 9 9 9

1
26) 27 26)
7
191 34 190
A) 4 B) C) D)
7 7 7

7
27) 16 27)
10
112 177 167 23
A) B) C) D)
10 10 10 10

Provide an appropriate response.

28) An equivalent number is a converted whole or mixed number that has the same numerical 28)
value as the original fraction.
A) True B) False

29) In converting mixed numbers to improper fractions, the numerator of the improper fraction 29)
will be
the same as the numerator of the fractional part of the mixed number.
A) True B) False

30) To convert mixed numbers to improper fractions, multiply the whole number times 30)
the
denominator of the fraction and add the product to the original denominator.
A) True B) False

5
Reduce to lowest
terms.
31)
2
31)
8

2 1 1 4
A) B) C) D)
4 8 4 1

6
 3
32) 32)
15
1 2 2 1
A) B) C) D)
5 10 6 15

30
33) 33)
40
10 3 3 30
A) B) C) D)
4 4 10 40

Solve the problem.

34) A Fortune 500 company reported profits of approximately $260 million with approximately 34)
$440
million in revenues. Compare the profit to revenue by writing as a fraction in lowest terms.

29 22 439 13
A) B) C) D)
49 13 259 22

Find the greatest common divisor (GCD) for the following then simplify the
fraction.
16 35)
35)
28

7 4 7 4
A) GCD = 3; B) GCD = 5; C) GCD = 4; D) GCD = 4;
4 7 4 7

Provide an appropriate response.

36) After fractions have been added, subtracted, multiplied, or divided, the fraction in the 36)
answer
should be increased to its highest terms.
A) True B) False

37) If you multiply or divide both parts of a fraction by the same number, the value of the 37)
fraction
does not change.
A) True B) False

38) A fraction is in lowest terms when there is no number that can be divided evenly into 38)
the
numerator and denominator.
A) True B) False

39) The letters GCD stand for Greatest Common Divisor. 39)
A) True B)
False

40) The greatest common divisor can be zero. 40)

A) True B)
False

41) Fractions should never be reduced to their lowest terms.

7
A) True B) 41)
False

8
 42) To reduce a fraction to its lowest terms: 42)
A) multiply the numerator and the denominator by the same
number.
B) add the same number to the numerator and the denominator.
C) subtract the same number from the numerator and the
denominator.
D) divide the numerator and the denominator by the same number.

43) The largest possible number that will divide equally into 2 or more other numbers is called 43)
the:
A) least common denominator. B) denominator.
C) numerator. D) greatest common divisor.

Change the fraction to an equivalent fraction with the given

denominator.
44)
3 ?
44) =
7 14
5 6 21 8
A) B) C) D)
14 14 14 14

2 ?
45) = 45)
3 9
6 9 0 2
A) B) C) D)
9 9 9 9

Provide an appropriate response.

46) You can rewrite a fraction to higher terms by adding the numerator and the 46)
denominator.
A) True B) False

47) Raising a fraction to higher terms changes the value of the 47)
fraction.
A) True B) False

Perform the indicated operation. Write the sum as a fraction, whole number, or mixed number in lowest terms.
2 1 1
48) + + 48)
10 10 10
2 2 2 4
A) B) C) D)
10 1000 5 30

4 1
49) + 49)
5 5
1 5 5
A) B) 1 C) D)
2 10 5

7 1
50) + 50)
9 9
9
 7
A)
9 9 7 8
B) C) D)
10 8 9

1
0
 5 1
51) + 51)
8 8
4 3 2 2
A) B) C) D)
5 4 4 3

Find the difference. Write the difference in lowest

terms.
52)
6 5
52) -
2 2
11 1 1
A) B) C) 15 D)
2 2 4

6 2
53) - 53)
28 28
2 1 3 1
A) B) C) D)
7 7 7 14

Provide an appropriate response.

54) A prime number is any number larger than 1 that is divisible only by itself 54)
and 1.
A) True B) False

55) Which of the following statements is correct? 55)

A) a prime number can be divided only by 1 and itself
B) prime numbers are also known as least common
denominators
C) prime numbers are the reciprocals of fractions
D) none of these

56) Which of the following is not a prime number? 56)

A) 19 B) 29 C) 9 D)
41

57) Before fractions may be added or subtracted, they must all have the same: 57)
A) divisor B) numerator C) denominator D)
dividend

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.
58) When you add or subtract fractions, you must first change the fractions so that they 58)
have
the same .

59) When you add fractions with the same denominator, you add the and 59)
then
place that number over the denominator and to the lowest terms.

60) When you subtract fractions with the same denominator, you simply subtract the
1
1
, place the difference over the denominator, and reduce to the lowest 60)
terms.

1
2
MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.

Perform the indicated operation. Write the sum as a fraction, whole number, or mixed number in lowest terms.
1 1
61) + 61)
4 8
1 3 1 13
A) B) C) D)
6 8 4 32

1 1
62) + 62)
3 9
1 4 13 2
A) B) C) D)
6 9 27 9

1 7
63) + 63)
4 12
1 2 5
A) B) 2 C) D)
2 3 6

7 3
64) 5 +1 64)
8 8
7 1 10 1
A) 6 B) 6 C) 6 D) 7
8 4 8 4

1 3
65) 9 + 14 65)
7 4
25 25 25 25
A) 22 B) 9 C) 23 D) 24
28 28 28 28

4 2 5
66) 20 + 17 + 14 66)

7 7 7
4 4 4
A) 51 B) 52 C) 52 D) 53
7 7 7

2 1 2
67) 5 +5 + 67)
3 3 3
2 2 1 2
A) 12 B) 11 C) 11 D) 10
3 3 2 3

1 2 1
68) 14 +4 + 68)
3 3 3
1 1 1 1
A) 19 B) 20 C) 19 D) 18
3 3 2 3

1
3
 1 +61 +1 1
69) 6 8 4 69)
4

5 3 3 3
A) 13 B) 13 C) 13 D) 13
8 16 8 32

1 3 1
70) 3 +1 +1 70)
3 16 8

21 31 31 5
A) 5 B) 5 C) 6 D) 5
16 48 48 27

1 3 5
71) 6 +2 + 3 71)
4 8 12

1 1 3 1
A) 12 B) 11 C) 11 D) 12
96 24 8 24

2 8 4
72) 5 +3 +6 72)
3 9 5
14 16 16 106
A) 14 B) 318 C) 16 D) 16
17 45 45 45

Provide an appropriate response.

3 1 7
73) The least common denominator of , , and 73)
is:
8 4 32
A) 8 B) 32 C) 16 D) 64
1 5 5 3
74) The least common denominator of , , , and 74)
is:
3 12 6 4
A) 6 B) 3 C) 4 D) 12

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.

75) When adding fractions with different denominators, you must first find the . 75)

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
Find the difference. Write the difference in lowest
terms.
76)
1 1
76) -
7 12
5 1 1 5
A) B) C) D)
84 84 7 7

1
4
 5 4
77) - 77)
9 8
1 1 4 1
A) B) C) D)
72 18 9 9

1
5
 4 3
78) 8 -5 78)
13 13
7 1 1 7
A) 3 B) 13 C) 3 D) 3
13 13 13 26

4 5
79) 19 - 9 79)
7 7
6 5 6 6
A) 9 B) 9 C) 28 D) 27
7 7 7 7

5 1
80) 13 - 5 80)
7 2
9 9 11 3
A) 8 B) 7 C) 6 D) 8
14 14 14 14

2
81) 15 - 6 81)
3
1 2 1 1
A) 14 B) 9 C) 8 D) 9
3 3 3 3

7
82) 7 -5 82)
12
1 7 7 7
A) 7 B) C) 44 D) 2
6 12 12 12

Solve the problem.

1 1
83) Ellen is knitting a scarf with one 5 -inch blue stripe, one 2 -inch green stripe, and one 6- 83)
inch
3 6
white stripe. How wide is the scarf?
8 2 11 1
A) 3 in. B) in. C) in. D) 13 in.
11 27 41 2

6
84) While shopping for a party, June bought 4 pounds of hamburger, 1 pounds of chicken, 84)
and
7

5
1 pounds of ham. How much meat did she buy?
8
56 9 1 27
A) lb B) lb C) 2 lb D) 7 lb
419 19 9 56

2 1 4
85) A laminated lab bench has 2 inches of plywood, 2 inches of pressed board, and 85)
inch of
3 5 11
formica. What is the thickness of the lab bench?

1
6
 38 19 4 165
A) 5 in. B) in. C) 1 in. D) in.
165 23 19 863

1
1
 1 2
86) To obtain a certain shade of paint, Peter mixed 2 gallons of white paint with 5 gallons of 86)
brown
2 3
4
and 2 gallons of blue paint. How much paint did he have?
5
29 30 3
A) gal B) 10 gal C) gal D) 3 gal
51
16 30 329 16

7 5 3
87) Jeff studied math for 1 hours, history for 1 hours, and physics for 4 hours. How long 87)
did he
8 7 4
study?
8 19 19 56
A) 2 hr B) hr C) 8 hr D) hr
19 46 56 467

1 2
88) Peter must practice the piano 6 hours per week. He has already practiced 3 hours. How 88)
many
3 5
more hours does he need to practice?
1 2 14 1
A) hr B) hr C) 2 hr D) 5 hr
4 15 15 2

1 1
89) A nail 2 inches long is driven into a board 2 inches thick. How much of the nail protrudes 89)
from
3 4
the other side of the board?
5 1 1 1
A) in. B) in. C) in. D) in.
24 2 12 5

1 1
90) Jake wants to work 5 hours at his part-time job this week. He has already worked 1 90)
hours.
2 3
How many more hours does he need to work?
3 1 1 1
A) hr B) hr C) 6 hr D) 4 hr
8 4 4 6

1 3
91)
manyThere were 15 yards of fabric on a bolt. After a customer bought 3 yards of fabric, how 91)
2 5
yards were left?
6 3 9
A) 1 yd B) 1 yd C) 17 yd D) 11 yd
7 10 10

2 1
92) A tank contains 3 gallons of water. Its capacity is 4 gallons. How much more water is 92)
needed to
3 4
fill it?
6 7 1
A) 1 gal B) gal C) gal D) gal
7 12 2
10
 93) Brian was training to run a marathon. During the three-day period before the race he decided 93)
that

2 7
he would train for a total of 11 hours. If he trained for 1 hours on the first day and 2 hours on
5 10

the second day, how many hours would he need to train on the third day?
9 1 9
A) 6 hr B) 7 hr C) 7 hr D) 7 hr
10 10 10

Find the
product.
94)
2 1
94) ×
3 2
5 3 1 5
A) B) C) D)
12 4 3 8

3 2
95) × 95)
7 3
1 2 14 1
A) B) C) D)
2 7 9 7

2 1
96) 2 × 96)
9 5
4 2 2 4
A) 2 B) C) 2 D)
9 9 45 9

6 7
97) 3 ×7 97)
7 9
42
A) 34 B) 31 C) 30 D) 21
63

1 3
98) 3 ×3 98)
2 7
A) 9 B) 7 C) 11 D) 12
2 1
99) 2 ×3 99)
5 3
1 4 2
A) 7 B) 6 C) 6 D) 8
3 5 15

1 1
100) 1 ×2 100)
5 10
1 1 3 13
A) 2 B) 4 C) 2 D) 2
50 50 25 25

1
101) 6 ×
6 11
 1
A) 36 B) 1 C) 101)
36
6
D)
36

12
 1
102) × 10 102)
2

1 10
A) 5 B) C) 20 D)
20 20

Provide an appropriate response.

103) When you multiply or divide fractions, you must first find the common 103)
denominator.
A) True B) False

104) When multiplying two proper fractions, the product: 104)

A) is always a proper fraction B) has a value between the two
fractions
C) has a value equal to 1 D) is always greater than 1

105) Reducing before multiplying: 105)

A) is an alternative method for multiplying fractions
B) has a definite set of rules
C) results in multiplying a number evenly times the top and bottom of a fraction or
fractions
D) raises fractions to their highest terms

106) When you multiply fractions, you do not have to use: 106)
A) products B) quotients C) reciprocals D) none of
these

Find the
reciprocal.
6 107)
107)
7

1 7 7
A) B) C) 7 D)
6 1 6

1
108) 108)
5
1
A) 5 B) 1 C) D) 0
5

1
109) 109)
12
1
A) 1 B) 12 C) D) 0
12

110) 6 110)
1 6
A) 6 B) C) 1 D)
6 1

111) 12 1
12 13
A)
 111)
B) 12
1 D) 1
C)
12

14
 7
112) 3 112)
8
31 1 8 1
A) B) C) D)
8 31 31 8

Provide an appropriate response.

113) Multiplication and division of fractions are totally dissimilar activities requiring separate 113)
skills.
A) True B) False

27
114) The following two numbers are considered to be reciprocals: and 114)
8
.
8 27
A) True B) False
115) If the product of two numbers is 1, they are said to be: 115)
A) quotients. B) unequal.
C) mixed numbers. D)
reciprocals.

116) The reciprocal is used: 116)

A) to replace the cancellation method B) in dividing whole
numbers
C) in multiplying fractions D) in dividing fractions

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.

117) Two numbers are if their product is 1 after being multiplied. 117)

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
Find the
quotient.
118)
3 5
118) ÷
4 8
2 1 15 5
A) 2 B) 1 C) D)
15 5 32 6

2 4
119) ÷ 119)
21 7
2 1
A) 168 B) C) D) 6
3 6

3 1
120) ÷ 120)
7 5
1 3 3 1
A) B) C) D) 2
3 7 35 7

3 4
121) ÷1 15 121)
8 5
13 5 27 4
A) 1 B) C) D) 4
27 24 40 5

16
 3 7
122) 3 ÷2 122)
4 8
7 7 7 8
A) 1 B) 2 C) 1 D) 1
23 23 22 23

Provide an appropriate response.

123) To divide by a fraction, divide the dividend by the reciprocal of the 123)
dividend.
A) True B) False

124) The reciprocal is not used in dividing fractions. 124)

A) True B)
False

SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question.

125) When you multiply or divide fractions, you do not have to find the . 125)

126) The division of a fraction also involves the operation of . 126)

127) To divide by a fraction, the dividend by the of the divisor. 127)

MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question.
Solve the problem.
7
128) A small company sells stock for 6 dollars per share. How much will 192 shares cost? 128)
8
51
A) 27 dollars B) 1320 dollars C) 151 dollars D) 144
dollars
55

1
129) How many pieces of yarn 8 inches long can be cut from a 60 inch piece of yarn? Round 129)
answer
4

to the nearest piece of yarn.

A) 495 pieces B) 121 pieces C) 7 pieces D) None of these
3
130) Tim needs to apply 2 gallons of herbicide per acre of soybeans. How many gallons of 130)
herbicide
4
are needed for 212 acres?
3 1
A) 106 gallons B) 583 gallons C) 77 gallons D) 109 gallons
4 11

3
131) On a certain map, 1 inch equals 24 miles. How many miles are in 5 inches? 131)
4
3 4
A) 33 miles B) 30 milesmiles C) 4 miles D) 138
4 23

17
 2
132) A statistician has readings that take 3 minutes each to read and record. How many readings 132)
can
3

be completed in 264 minutes?

A) 266 readings B) 968 readings C) 72 readings D) 10 readings

18
 1 3
133) The floor of a rectangular room is to be tiled with foot square tiles along a 6 foot wall. 133)
How
3 8
1
many tiles will be needed along the wall?
3 1
A) 2 tiles B) 18 tiles C) 19 tiles D) 21 tiles
8 8 8

19
Answer Key
Testname: UNTITLED22

1) A
2) A
3) B
4) A
5) B
6) A
7) A
8) B
9) B
10) B
11) B
12) A
13) A
14) C
15) B
16) A
17) C
18) C
19) B
20) B
21) B
22) B
23) A
24) B
25) A
26) D
27) C
28) A
29) B
30) B
31) C
32) A
33) B
34) D
35) D
36) B
37) A
38) A
39) A
40) B
41) B
42) D
43) D
44) B
45) A
46) B
47) B
48) C
49) B
50) D

20
Answer Key
Testname: UNTITLED22

51) B
52) B
53) B
54) A
55) A
56) C
57) C
58) denominator
59) numerators, reduce
60) numerators
61) B
62) B
63) D
64) D
65) C
66) C
67) B
68) A
69) A
70) B
71) D
72) C
73) B
74) D
75) Least Common Denominator
76) A
77) B
78) C
79) A
80) D
81) C
82) D
83) D
84) D
85) A
86) B
87) C
88) C
89) C
90) D
91) D
92) C
93) A
94) C
95) B
96) D
97) C
98) D
99) D
100) D

21
Answer Key
Testname: UNTITLED22

101) B
102) A
103) B
104) A
105) A
106) C
107) D
108) A
109) B
110) B
111) C
112) C
113) B
114) A
115) D
116) D
117) reciprocals
118) B
119) C
120) D
121) B
122) A
123) B
124) B
125) common denominator
126) multiplication
127) multiply, reciprocal
128) B
129) C
130) B
131) D
132) C
133) C

22
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arms on the table, and sobbed as though her heart was broken. Wint stood
very still, stunned and miserable, watching her. There was no sound at all in
the kitchen except the sound of Hetty’s racking, choking sobs. In the
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rooms away, as she talked to Mrs. Hullis. He could almost hear the words
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Wint went across to her and touched her head with his hand; and she
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every one would make her business their business. For that is the way of
small towns. Wint was terribly sorry for her, terribly anxious to help her. He
had no thought, in this moment, of Jack Routt’s warnings; and if he had
remembered them, they would only have hardened his determination to help
her. Which may have been what Jack intended.
He said: “Cry it out, Hetty. Then I want to talk to you.”
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while she cried and cried.
He stood just beside her. Hetty at last shifted her position, so that she
could look down between her arms and see his feet where he waited. She
said again:
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Wint chuckled comfortingly. “I’m not going away,” he said. “This is the
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me alone. Let me do what I want to.”
Wint said: “You mustn’t think this is too desperately hopeless, Hetty. I’m
going to do anything I can; and mother will take care of you.”
She lifted her head at that and looked at him and laughed in a hard,
disillusioned way. “A lot you know about women, Wint,” she said.
“I know that you think things are darker than they are,” he assured her.
“You’ll see. We’ll manage. Mother and I.”
“Your mother’ll order me out of the house, minute she knows,” said
Hetty unemotionally.
 Wint protested. “No; you don’t know her. Mother couldn’t hurt any one.
You’ll see. She’ll do everything.”
Hetty got up and went to work on the dishes like an automaton. She had
to busy herself with something, or she would have screamed. She was
trembling, hysterically astir. Wint watched her for a little; then he said:
“You’re going to let us help you.”
“All the help I’ll get will be a kick,” she said. “Your mother won’t want
the like of me in her house.”
“You don’t know her,” he insisted. “Mother’s fine, underneath. She’s
always doing things for people. You’ll see.”
Hetty looked at him sideways, smiling a little. “You never would believe
anything was so till you’d tried it, Wint,” she told him. “But you’re pretty
decent, just the same.”
He said, studying her: “You’re looking better already. Feeling better?”
She nodded. “It helps some—just to tell some one,” she admitted. “And
the spell is over, anyway.”
“Having friends always helps,” he told her. “You’ll find it so.” She
smiled wistfully; and he went on: “I’m going to speak to mother to-night.”
Hetty said: “Well, she’s got a right to know. I’ll pack up my things.”
“After Mrs. Hullis goes.”
“Why not tell her, too? Your mother will, first thing in the morning.”
Wint laughed. “You like to look at the black side, don’t you? I tell you,
it’s going to be all right.”
She whirled to face him, and said, under her breath, with a terrible
earnestness: “All right? All right? If you say that again, I’ll yell at you. You
poor, nice, straight fool of a kid. You talk like I was a baby that had stubbed
its toe. And all the time, I’d better be dead, dead. This is no stubbed toe,
Wint. Wake up. Don’t be a—”
And abruptly she collapsed again, weeping, into the chair.
Wint said insistently: “Just the same, Hetty, you’ll see I know what I’m
talking about. Things will come out better than you think.”
She cried: “Oh, get out of here. Get out of here. You poor little fool.”
Wint went up to his room. Mrs. Hullis was still with his mother. He
would wait till Mrs. Hullis was gone.
 CHAPTER XIII

THE MERCY OF THE COURT

M RS. HULLIS stayed late, and Wint had time to do some thinking
before she finally departed. But he did very little. He was in no mood
for thinking. It was characteristic of Wint that when his sympathies
were aroused, he was an unfaltering partisan; and there was no question that
his sympathies had been aroused in behalf of Hetty.
It was equally characteristic of him that he wasted very little time
wondering who was to blame for what had happened; and that he wasted no
time at all in considering what Hardiston would say about it all. He was
going to help the girl; he had made up his mind to that. The rest did not
matter at all.
He counted on his mother’s sympathy and understanding; and when,
after a time, he heard her showing Mrs. Hullis to the door, and heard their
two voices upraised in a last babel as they cleaned up the tag ends of
conversation and said good-by, he went out into the upper hall, to be ready
to descend. Hetty had gone upstairs a little earlier; he could hear her now,
moving about in her room.
His mother went out on the front steps with Mrs. Hullis, to be sure no
word had been forgotten; and when she came in after her visitor had gone,
Wint was waiting for her. She said: “Why, Wint, I thought you’d gone to
bed long ago. I told Mrs. Hullis you were studying the law books up in your
room. Mr. Hullis is a lawyer, you know. She says he brings his books home
and sits up half the night, but I told her you were always one to go early to
bed, ever since you was a boy. And she said she—”
Wint took her arm good-naturedly. “There, mother,” he interrupted. “I
don’t care what Mrs. Hullis said. I want to talk to you about something that
has just come up. Come in and sit down.”
Mrs. Chase, like most talkative women, was habitually so absorbed in
her own conversation and her own thoughts that it was hard to surprise her.
She took Wint’s announcement as a matter of course; and they went into the
sitting room arm in arm, and she picked up her sewing basket and sat down
in the chair she had occupied all evening, and began to rock primly back
and forth while she stretched a sock on her fingers to discover any holes it
might have acquired. “...do get such a comfort out of talking to Mrs.
Hullis,” she was saying, as she sat down. “She’s such a nice woman, Wint. I
never could see why you didn’t like her more. She and I—”
Wint said: “I don’t want to talk to you about Mrs. Hullis, mother. I want
to talk to you about Hetty.”
Mrs. Chase did drop her work in her lap at that. “About Hetty?” she
echoed. “Why should you want to talk about Hetty? Wint! You’re never
going to marry her, are you? I—”
Wint laughed. “No, no. Not that Hetty isn’t a nice girl; and she’ll make
some fellow a mighty fine wife. But I want to—”
“There,” said Mrs. Chase, immensely reassured. “I knew it couldn’t be
that. I always knew you and Joan.... I said to Mrs. Hullis to-night that you
and Joan were friendly as ever. She’s a nice girl, Wint. I don’t see why you
don’t get married right away. Your father and I were married before—”
Wint said, persistently bringing her back to the point: “I don’t want to
talk about Joan, either, mother. It’s Hetty.”
“Well, I should think you would want to talk about Joan,” Mrs. Chase
declared. “She’s worth talking about. I’m sure she wouldn’t like it very
much to know you didn’t want to talk about her, Wint. She—”
“Mother,” Wint insisted. “Hetty needs our help. I want you to—”
Mrs. Chase looked at him with a face that had suddenly turned white and
cold. She put one trembling hand to her throat. “Wint?” she asked, in a
husky whisper. “What’s the matter with Hetty? What are you talking about?
What is the—”
“Hetty’s going to have a little baby,” said Wint gently.
Mrs. Chase exclaimed: “Wint! You’re not.... You haven’t.... It isn’t you?”
“No, no,” Wint said impatiently. “Of course not. I—”
“The shameless girl!” his mother cried, all her alarm turning into anger.
“The shameless hussy. In my house. I declare—”
“Please,” her son protested. His mother got up.
“She sha’n’t sleep another night under my roof,” she declared. “I never
thought to live to—”
“Mother,” said Wint, so sternly that his mother stopped in the doorway.
“Come back,” he told her. And she obeyed him, protesting weakly. “Sit
down,” he said. “Hetty needs our help. Don’t you understand?”
When a wolf is injured, his own pack pulls him down; when a crow is
hurt, his fellows of the flock peck him to death relentlessly; but wolf and
crow are merciful compared to womankind. There is no deeper instinct in
woman than that which condemns the sister who has strayed. It is true that,
in many women, the compassion overpowers the cruelty of wrath. But Mrs.
Chase was a very simple person, elemental, a woman and nothing more.
She sat down at Wint’s command; but she said implacably:
“I won’t have her in the house, Wint. A girl like that. I should think
you’d be ashamed to stand up for her. A shameless, worthless thing.... You
can talk all you’re a mind to, but I’m going to send her packing. You and
your father have your own way, most of the time, but this is once that I’m
going to have mine. I always knew she was too pretty for any good. Pretty,
and impudent, and all. I won’t have her—”
Wint asked: “Hasn’t she worked hard enough for you? Done her work
well? Tried to do what you wanted?”
“Course she’s done her work, or I wouldn’t have kept her. That hasn’t a
thing to do with it, Wint. I’m surprised at you, standing up for her. I told
Mrs. Hullis, only the other day, that she was too pretty for her own good. I
might have known she would get into trouble. The nasty little—”
“Mother,” Wint cried sharply, “I won’t let you talk like that. I told Hetty
we’d help her; and she said you’d be against her; and I wouldn’t believe it. I
can’t believe it. A poor girl without a friend anywhere, in the worst kind of
trouble, and you—”
“Wint, I don’t see why you stand up for her if you aren’t—”
“You know I’m not. Don’t be ridiculous, mother. But I’ve known her all
our lives. Grew up with her. And I’m going to—”
His mother shook her head positively: “I’m not going to have her in the
house, Wint. You don’t need to talk any more. That’s all there is to it. I
won’t!”
“I counted on you.”
“Well, you needn’t to count on me any more. I know what’s best; and
I’m not going to have that shameless—”
She was interrupted, this time, by the arrival of Wint’s father. They heard
the front door open, and heard him come in. Wint got up and went to the
door that led into the hall. The elder Chase was hanging up his hat. Mrs.
Chase, behind Wint, was talking steadily. Wint said to his father:
“Come in, will you? Mother and I are talking something over.”
Chase nodded; but he had news of his own. “Heard uptown to-night that
Routt’s going to run against you in the fall,” he said. “Did you know that,
Wint?”
Wint nodded. “I’d heard so.”
“I thought you and he were good friends.”
“We are,” Wint said good-naturedly. “But that doesn’t prevent our being
political enemies. He’s had some break with Amos. Come in, dad. I want
you to hear—”
But the older man heard it first from Mrs. Chase. She came across the
room to meet them, pouring it out indignantly. “And Wint wants me to keep
her,” she concluded. “Wants me to keep that girl in the house after this. I
told him—”
Chase asked: “What’s that? Wint, what is this? Hetty—in trouble?”
“Yes, sir,” said Wint. “I found it out to-night; and I promised her we’d
stand by her. Help her.”
Chase demanded sharply: “What right had you to commit us? If she
chooses to destroy herself, how does that concern us? I’m surprised at you,
Wint. It’s impossible.”
Wint said, in a steady voice: “She needs friends badly. She hasn’t any
one to turn to. And Hetty’s a good sort, underneath. I told her—”
“Why doesn’t she turn to the man?” Chase interjected. “He’s the one that
ought to—”
“As a matter of fact, I haven’t thought of him,” said Wint. “But if he
were likely to help her, it seems to me he would have taken a hand before
this. Don’t you think so?”
“Don’t I think so?” Wint’s father was outraged and angry. “I don’t think
anything about it. It’s no concern of ours, so long as she packs herself out of
here. Let her get out of her own mess.”
“I’m going to make it a concern of mine,” said Wint, his jaw stiffening.
“I’m not going to see her turned adrift. I’m going to help her.”
 Chase looked at him keenly. “By God, Wint, is this your doing? Are you
—”
Wint said, a little wearily: “That was the first thing mother asked. You
people don’t think very highly of me, do you?”
“Isn’t it the natural question to ask?” his father demanded. “Isn’t it the
only possible explanation of this attitude on your part? Is it true, young
man? That you—”
“Have it any way you want,” Wint exclaimed, too angry to deny again.
“I don’t care. The point is this. Hetty is in trouble; she needs friends. I’ve
promised that we would help her. I’ve promised you and mother would
back me up. I counted on you.”
Chase lifted his hand in a terrible, silent rage. “You want to shame us,
your mother and me, in the face of all Hardiston. I tell you, Wint, whether
it’s your doing or not, you’re crazy. If it’s you—then we’ll give her some
money and get rid of her. If it’s not, then she gets out of here to-night.
Inside the hour.”
Wint said, half to himself: “We’d have to send her away, in any case.
Somewhere. For a while.”
Chase laughed bitterly. “All right. If this is a new scrape you’ve got
yourself into, I’ll buy you out of it. How much does the girl want?”
Wint flamed at him: “It’s not my concern, I tell you. You ought not to
need to be told.”
“Then get her out of the house,” Chase exclaimed; “as quick as you can.
Or I will. Where is she?” He turned toward the door.
But Wint was before him; blocked the doorway. “Father,” he said. “You
and mother.... I’ve promised her help. Promised you would be good to her.”
“The more fool you. She goes out to-night.”
“If she goes,” Wint cried, “I go with her. You can do as you please.”
For a little after that, there was silence in the room. Wint stood in the
doorway, head high and eyes hot. His father faced him. His mother stood by
her chair, across the room, her lips moving soundlessly. It was she who first
found voice. She came toward Wint in a clumsy, stumbling little run; and
she caught his arms, and she pleaded with him.
“Don’t you do that, Wint. Don’t you. Don’t go away and leave us again.
We’re getting old, sonny. Your father and I. Your old mother. Don’t you go
away. We’d.... We couldn’t ever stand it again. We—”
Wint said gently: “I don’t want to go. I want to stay at home here with
you both, and be proud of you, and love you.”
“You shall stay,” she told him. “You shall. Anything you want, Wint,
sonny. I don’t care whether you did it or not. I’ll be good to her. I will,
Wint. If you’ll stay—”
The boy said, half abashed: “I don’t want to seem to drive you to it. Only
—I’ve promised her. I can’t break my word to her. Please, can’t you see?”
“It’s all right,” his mother protested. “I’ll do anything.” She clutched her
husband’s arm. “Tell him to stay, Winthrop,” she begged. “Don’t let him go
away. We’ll take care of Hetty.”
Chase said: “You’re making lots of trouble for us, Wint.” He smiled a
little unsteadily. “We’re too old for so much excitement. You’ll have to
remember that. Remember to take care of us—as well as Hetty.”
Wint could not hold out. He said: “All right. I won’t go away. Do as you
think best about Hetty. I hope you’ll let her—”
“I’ll keep her,” his mother cried. “I’ll be as good as I know to her.”
And his father echoed: “We’ll take care of her, Wint.”
“You’re doing it because you want to,” Wint pleaded. “You don’t have
to. I’ll stay anyway. But I—hope you’ll want to help her, anyway.”
“Yes,” Chase said. “We’ll keep her—because we want to. Do what we
can.”

But they were not to keep her very long, for Hetty’s time was near. It
was decided that she should go to Columbus for a little while, returning to
them in the fall. Wint wrote a check to cover her expenses. Hetty’s old
sullenness had returned to her. She took the check without thanks, and
tucked it away in her pocketbook. She was to go to the train alone, to avoid
talk.
The night of her going, Jack Routt met V. R. Kite, and took Kite to his
office. And he told him certain things, an evil elation in his eyes. Told him
in detail that which he had planned.
Kite listened with eyes shining; and at the end he said: “He’ll deny it.
What can you prove?”
 “This proves the whole thing,” said Routt triumphantly, and slid a slip of
paper across the desk to Kite. Kite looked at it. A check, drawn by Winthrop
Chase, Junior, to the order of Henrietta Morfee.
The buzzard of a man banged his hard old fist upon the table. “By God,
Routt!” he cried, “we win. We’ll skin that cub. We’ll hang his hide on the
barn!”
Routt reached into the drawer of his desk. “And that means,” he said,
“that it’s time to have a drink. Say when?”

END OF BOOK IV
 BOOK V

DEFEAT

CHAPTER I

SUNNY SKIES

A T this time, and for a long while afterward, it seemed to Wint that all
was well with the world. He had some reason to think so. He kept his
promise to Hetty; and that matter, which had threatened to cause a
difference between him and his father and mother, had resulted in the end in
a closer understanding between them. They had let him see their
dependence on him; they had let him see something of the depths of
affection in their hearts for him. The Chases were not a demonstrative
family; not given to much talk of these matters, and Wint found their
attitude in some sort a happy revelation. His father began, in an uncertain
way, to defer to Wint; the elder Chase began to ask his son’s advice, now
and then; he seemed to have recognized the fact of Wint’s manhood; he
seemed to have discovered that Wint was no longer a boy. There was a new
respect in his bearing toward his son.
Wint’s mother had changed, too; she was, perhaps, a little less
loquacious. She and the elder Chase were beginning to be proud of Wint;
and this pride forced them to see him in a new light. Not as their boy, their
son, their child; but as a man whom other men respected.
For Wint was respected. That was one of the things that made the world
look bright to him. He was surprised to find, as the days passed, and as it
was seen that his orders to clean up the town were being enforced, that good
citizens rallied to him. Hardiston was normally a law-abiding, decent place;
its people were normally decent and law-abiding people. They would not
have condemned Wint for failure to enforce the law. In fact, with his
antecedents, they had expected him to fail. They were the more pleased
when he did enforce it; and they took occasion to let him see it. Also, they
took occasion to tell the elder Chase that his son was doing well; and
Winthrop Chase, Senior, took a diffident pride in these assurances. Chase
was never a hypocrite, even with himself; he could not forget that he had
urged Wint to rescind those orders to Radabaugh.
Wint found a surprising number and variety of people rallying to his
support, in those days after his clash with the carnival men and his victory
in that matter. Dick Hoover’s father, for example; a solid man, a lawyer of
the old school, and one who spoke little and to the point. Hoover told Wint
he had done well.
Wint said he had tried to do well.
“You understand, young man,” Hoover drawled in the slow, whimsical
fashion that was characteristic of him. “You understand, I’m no teetotaller,
myself. I’ve been accustomed to a drink, when I chose, for a good many
years. This—crusade—of yours has made it damned inconvenient for me,
too. But it’s a good cause. I’ve no complaint. More power to your elbow!”
Wint laughed, and said: “I guess there would be no kick at anything you
might do, sir.”
Hoover nodded. “Oh, of course, I could bring the stuff in if I chose. But
a man can’t afford to be on the wrong side in these matters, you know; not
if he wants to keep his self-respect. And I can do without it. I can do
without it. Stick to your guns, young man.”
“I’m going to,” Wint told him, flushed and proud at the older man’s
praise. “I’m going to, sir.”
Peter Gergue came to Wint, scratching the back of his head and grinning
a sly and knowing grin, and told Wint he was making votes by what he had
done. “That’s a funny thing, too,” said Gergue. “Man’d think you’d make a
pile of enemies. But I could name two or three of the worst soaks in town
that say you’re all right; got good stuff in you; all that.” Gergue scratched
his head again. “Yes, sir, men are funny things, Wint.”
Wint had never particularly liked Gergue, because he had never seen
under the surface of the man. He was coming to have a quite genuine
respect and affection for Amos’s lieutenant. “I’m not doing it to make
votes,” he said good-naturedly.
 “That’s the reason you’re making votes by it,” Gergue assured him.
“And that’s the way politics goes. Take James T. Hollow now; he’s always
trying to do what is right. He says so hisself. But it don’t get him anywhere;
and I reckon that’s because he does what’s right because he thinks there’s
votes in it. You go ahead and do it anyway. Maybe you do it because you
think it’ll start a fight. Make some folks mad. And instead of that, they eat
out o’ your hand.”
Wint nodded. “Even Kite,” he said. “He made some fuss at first. But it
looks as though he had decided to take it lying down.”
Gergue shook his head. “Don’t you make any mistake about V. R. Kite,”
he warned Wint. “He don’t like a fight, much. Getting too old. But he’ll
fight when he’s got a gun in both hands. He’ll play poker when he holds
four aces and the joker. V. R. will start something when he’s ready. I wasn’t
talking about him.”
“I’m ready when he is,” Wint declared.
“He won’t be ready till he thinks you ain’t,” Gergue insisted.
But Wint was in no mood to be depressed by a possibility of future
trouble. In fact, he rather looked forward to this potential clash with V. R.
Kite. It added to the zest of life.
Old Mrs. Mueller, who ran the bakery, whispered to Wint when he
stopped for a loaf of bread one night that he was a fine boy. “My Hans,” she
said gratefully. “He is working now; and that he would never do when he
could get his beer regular, every second day a case of it. And there is more
money in the drawer all the time, too.”
And Davy Morgan, the foreman of his father’s furnace, told Wint that
save for one or two irreconcilables, the men at the furnace were with him.
“And the men that kick the most, they are the ones who are the better off for
it,” he explained, in the careful English of an old Welshman to whom the
language must always be an acquired and unfamiliar instrument. “William
Ryan has never been fit for work on Mondays until now.”
Murchie, Attorney General of the state, who lived up the creek, and who
had been a speaker at the elder Chase’s rallies in the last mayoral campaign,
happened into town one day and told Wint he had heard of the matter at
Columbus and that people were talking about him, Wint Chase, up there.
“They knew old Kite, you see,” he told Wint. “He comes up there to lobby
on every liquor bill; and they like to see him get a kick in the slats, as you
might say. But you’ll have to look out for him.”
“I’m going to,” Wint assured Murchie.
“If you can down Kite, there’ll be a place for you at Columbus, some
day,” Murchie predicted. “They don’t like Kite, up there.”
Sam O’Brien, the fat restaurant man, stopped laughing long enough to
tell Wint he was all right, had good stuff in him, was a comer. “The Greek
next door,” he explained. “He thinks you’re a tin god. He runs the candy
store, you know. Says there never was so much candy sold. He’ll vote for
you, my boy. If he ever gets his papers. And learns to read. And if you live
that long.”
Wint got most pleasure, perhaps, out of the attitude of B. B. Beecham.
He had an honest respect for the editor’s opinion on most matters. Every
one had. Beecham was habitually right. In his editorial capacity, he took no
notice of what had come to pass in Hardiston. When the carnival men were
arrested, he printed the fact without comment. “Michael Rand was fined for
assault and improper language,” the Journal said. The other man for “illegal
sales of liquor.” And the “permit of the carnival for the use of the streets
was canceled.” Thus the news was recorded, and every man might draw his
own deductions. B. B. was never one to force his opinions on any man,
which may have been the reason why people went out of their way to
discover them.
Wint stopped in at the Journal office one hot day in July. B. B. was in
his shirt sleeves, and collarless. He wore, habitually, stiff-bosomed shirts of
the kind usually associated with evening dress. On this particular day, he
had been working over the press—his foreman was ill—and there were inky
smears on the white bosom. Nevertheless, B. B.’s pink countenance above
the shirt was as clean as a baby’s. There was always this refreshing
atmosphere of cleanliness about the editor. Wint came into the office and sat
down in one of the chairs and took off his hat and fanned himself. The
afternoon sun was beginning to strike in through the open door and the big
window; but there was a pleasantly cool breath from the dark regions
behind the office where the press and the apparatus that goes to make a
small-town printing shop were housed. Wint said:
“This is one hot day.”
“Hottest day of the summer,” B. B. agreed.
 “How hot is it? Happen to know?”
“Ninety-four in the shade at one o’clock,” said B. B. “Mr. Waters
telephoned to me, half an hour ago.”
“J. B. Waters? He keeps a weather record, doesn’t he?”
“Yes. Has, for a good many years. We print his record every week.
Perhaps you haven’t noticed it.”
Wint nodded. “Yes. I suppose every one likes to read about the weather.
Even on a hot day.”
B. B. smiled. “That’s because every one likes to read about things they
have experienced. You won’t find a big daily in the country without its
paragraph or its temperature tables devoted to the weather, every day in the
year. And a day like this is worth a front-page story any time.”
“You know what a day like this always makes me think of?” Wint asked;
and B. B. looked interested. “A glass of beer,” said Wint. “Cool and brown,
with beads on the outside of the glass.”
The editor smiled. “The beads on the outside of the glass won’t cool you
off half as much as the beads on the outside of your head,” he said. “Did
you ever stop to think of that?”
“Sweat, you mean?”
“Exactly. You know, when troops go into a hot country, they get flannel-
covered canteens; and when they want to cool off the water in the canteens,
they wet the flannel and let it dry. The evaporation of your own perspiration
is the finest cooling agency in the world.”
“May be,” Wint agreed. “But it doesn’t stop your thirst.”
B. B. said good-naturedly: “A thirst is one of the handicaps of the
smoker. I quit smoking a good many years ago. A non-smoker can satisfy
his own thirst by swallowing his own spittle. I don’t suppose you ever
thought of that?”
“Is that straight?”
“Yes, indeed.”
Wint asked amiably: “Mean to say you wouldn’t have to take a barrel of
water to cross the Sahara.”
“Oh, when the bodily juices are exhausted, of course....”
Wint grinned. “I’ll stick to my beer.”
 B. B. laughed and said: “I expect a good many Hardiston men are
cussing you to-day because they can’t get beer.”
“I suppose so. I’ve a notion to cuss myself.” He added, a moment later:
“You know, B. B., it’s surprising to me how little fuss has been made over
that.”
“You mean—the—enforcing the law?”
“Yes. I looked for a row.”
“Oh, you’ll find most people are on your side. You know, most people
are for the decent thing, in the long run. That’s what makes the world go
around.”
“Think so?”
“Yes, indeed. If that weren’t so, where would be the virtue in
democracy?”
“Well,” Wint said good-naturedly, “I’ve always had an idea that a
democracy was a poor way to run things, anyway. About all you can say for
it is that a man has a right to make a fool of himself.”
“Well, that’s about all you can say against slavery, isn’t it?”
Wint considered. “I don’t get you.”
“There were good men in the South before the war, owning slaves,” said
B. B. “And the slaves were better off than their descendants are now.
Materially; perhaps morally, too. But that doesn’t prove slavery was right.”
He added: “The darkies had a right to make fools of themselves if they
chose, you see. Their masters—even the good masters—prevented them.”
“I suppose that’s what a benevolent despot does?”
“Exactly.”
“If it wasn’t so hot, I’d give three cheers for democracy.” He considered
thoughtfully, fanning himself with his hat. “But that’s what I’m doing, B. B.
I’m refusing to let some that would like to, make fools of themselves with
booze.”
B. B. shook his head. “Not at all. It’s not your doing. The people are
doing it themselves. They voted dry; they elected you to enforce their vote.
See the distinction?”
“Think I’ve done right, then?” Wint asked.
 And B. B. said: “Yes, indeed.” Wint got a surprising amount of
satisfaction out of that. Because, as has been said, he valued B. B.’s
opinion.
So, on the whole, that month of July was a cheerful one for Wint. Things
were going his way; the world was bright; the skies were sunny.
The first cloud upon them came on the second of August. It was a very
little cloud; but it was a forerunner of bigger ones to come. Wint did not, in
the beginning, appreciate its full significance. In fact, he was not sure it had
any significance at all. It merely puzzled him.
His month’s statement from the bank came in. When it first came, he
tossed the long envelope aside without opening it; and it was not till that
night that he compared the bank statement with the balance in his check
book.
He discovered, then, that there was a mistake somewhere. The bank
credited him with more money than he should have had. He said to himself,
good-naturedly, that he ought not to kick about that. Nevertheless, he ran
through his canceled checks, comparing them with his stubs, to see where
the difference lay.
He located the discrepancy almost at once; and when he discovered it, he
sat back and considered its significance with a puzzled look in his eyes.
The trouble was that his check to Hetty, for her expenses in Columbus,
had never been cashed; and Wint could not understand that at all.

CHAPTER II

A FRIENDLY RIVALRY

T HIS matter of the check that he had given Hetty stuck in Wint’s mind,
disquieting him. This in spite of the fact that he tried to forget it, told
himself it had no significance, that it meant nothing at all.
He gathered up the other canceled checks and put them back in the
bank’s long, yellow envelope, and stuck the envelope in a drawer of his
desk. Hetty had not yet cashed the check; that was all. She would cash it
when she needed the money. He tried to believe this was the key to the
puzzle.
 But it was not a satisfactory key; and this was proved by the fact that his
thoughts kept harking back to the matter during the next day or two. When
he gave Hetty the check, he had expected her to cash it before she left town.
In fact, his first thought had been to draw the money himself, and give it to
her; but this had been slightly less convenient than to write the check. So he
had written the check, and given it to her, and now Hetty had not cashed it.
It was characteristic of Wint that he saw no threat against himself in this
circumstance. Wint was never of a suspicious turn of mind. He was loyal to
his friends and to those who seemed to be his friends; he took them, and he
took the world at large, at face value. So in this case, he was not uneasy on
his own account, but on Hetty’s. For Hetty had needed this money; yet she
had not cashed the check.
He knew she needed the money. Her wage from his mother left no great
margin for saving, if a girl liked to spend money as well at Hetty did. She
could not have saved more than a few dollars; twenty, or perhaps thirty....
Besides, she had told him she needed money. When he told her she had
better go away, she had said: “A fat chance of that. Where would I get the
money, anyway?” It was this that had led him to write a check for her.
She had needed the money; she had accepted it. That is to say, she had
accepted the check, but had not cashed it. Not yet, at least. Why not? What
was the explanation?
His uneasiness, all on Hetty’s account, began to take shape. He
remembered the girl’s sullen hopelessness, her friendlessness. She had been
ready to give up, to submit to whatever misfortunes might come upon her.
There had always been a defiant, reckless, fatalistic streak in Hetty. And
Wint, remembering, was afraid it had taken the ascendant in the girl. He
was afraid.
He did not put into words, even in his thoughts, the truth of this fear. But
he did write to a college classmate, who was working at the time on one of
the Columbus papers, and asked him to try to locate Hetty at one of the
hospitals. He told the circumstances. And two or three days later, the man
wrote to say that there was no such person as Hetty in any hospital in
Columbus under her own name; and that as far as he could learn, there was
no one approximating her description.
When this letter came, it tended to clinch Wint’s fears. He was not yet
convinced that Hetty had chosen to—do that which writes “Finis” as the
bottom of life’s last page. But he was almost convinced, almost ready to
believe.
It made Wint distinctly unhappy. He had an honest liking and respect for
Hetty, an old friendship for the girl.
He did not tell either his father or mother of the matter of the check; nor
did he tell them what he feared had come to pass. There was no need, he
thought, of worrying them. There was nothing that could be done.
The long, lazy summer dragged slowly past, and nothing happened.
Which is the way of Hardiston. That is to say, nothing happened that was in
any way extraordinary. The Baptist Sunday school held its annual picnic in
the G. A. R. grove, south of town; and every one went, Baptist or not,
Sunday school scholar or not. Everybody went, and took his dinner. Fried
chicken, and sandwiches, and deviled eggs, and bananas; and there were
vast freezers of ice cream. And some played baseball, and some idled in the
swings, and there were the sports that go with such an occasion. Cracker-
eating, shoe-lacing, egg-and-spoon race, greased pole, and so on and so on,
to the tune of a great deal of laughter and general good nature. And the
Hardiston baseball team played a game every week, sometimes away from
home, sometimes on the baseball field down by the creek, where the muddy
waters over-flowed every spring. And Lint Blood, the hard-throwing left
fielder who was fully as good as any big leaguer in the country, if he could
only get his chance, had his regular season as hero of the town. And there
were a few dances, where the men appeared in white trousers and soft shirts
and took off their coats to dance; and there were hay rides, on moonlight
nights; and Ed Skinner’s nine-year-old boy almost got drowned in the
swimming hole at Smith’s Bridge; and Jim Radabaugh and two or three
others went fishing down on Big Raccoon, thirty miles away; and the tennis
court in Walter Roberts’s back yard was busy every fine afternoon; and
Ringling Brothers and Buffalo Bill paid Hardiston their regular summer
visits. It rained so hard, for three days before Ringling Brothers came, that
the big show had to be canceled, which made it hard for every father in
town. And Sam O’Brien’s brother caught a thirty-five-pound catfish in the
river, and sent it up to Sam, who kept it alive in a tub in his restaurant for
two days, and killed and fried it for his customers only when it began to
pine away in captivity. And Ed Howe’s boy fell off a home-made acting bar
and broke his arm; and the Welsh held their County Eisteddfod in a tent on
the old fair grounds, and John Morgan won the first prize in the male solo
competition. Hardiston boys thought that was rather a joke, because John
was the only entry in this particular event; and they reminded him of this
fact for a good many years to come, in their tormenting moments. And the
hot days and the warm days and the wet days came and went, and the
summer dragged away.
In September, Joan suggested a picnic at Gallop Caves, a dozen miles
from Hardiston; and Wint liked the idea, so they discussed who should go,
and how, and in due time the affair took place. Joan and Agnes and two or
three other girls made the domestic arrangements, with Wint and Dick
Hoover and Jack Routt and one or two besides to look after the financial
end, and the transportation. In the old days, they would have hired one of
the big barges from the livery stable, with a long seat running the length of
each side; and they would have crowded into that and ridden the dozen
jolting miles, with a good deal of singing and laughing and talking as they
went; but there were automobiles in Hardiston now, and no one thought of
the barge.
They started early; that is to say, at eight o’clock in the morning, or
thereabouts. There were three automobiles full of them, with hampers and
boxes and freezers full of things to eat in every car. And they made the trip
at a breakneck and break-axle speed over the rough road, and came to the
Caves by nine, and unloaded the edibles and got buckets of water from the
well behind the house at the entrance to the Caves. The farmer who lived in
this house had an eye to business; and a year or two before he had put up a
pavilion in the grove by the Caves, and had begun to charge admission.
Besides the pavilion, there were swings, and there was a seesaw; and there
were always the Caves themselves, and the winding, clear-watered little
stream that came down over the rocks in a feathery cascade and wound
away among the trees.
This day, they danced a little, in the pavilion—Joan had brought a
graphophone—and when it grew too warm to dance, some of them went to
climb about on the cool, wet rocks of the Caves; and some took off shoes
and stockings, or shoes and socks as the case might be, and waded in the
brook; and some sprawled on the sand at the base of the rocky wall and
called doodle bugs. A pleasant, idle sport. The doodle bug is more
scientifically known as an ant lion. He digs himself a hole in the sand like
an inverted cone, and hides himself in the loose sand at the bottom of the
hole. The theory of the thing is that an ant tumbles in, slides down the
sloping sides, and falls a prey to the ingenious monster at the bottom. To
call a doodle bug, you simply chant over and over:
“Doodle up, doodle up, doodle up....”
And at the same time, you stir the sand on the sides of the trap with a
twig. Either the song or the sliding sand causes the bug to emerge from his
ambush at the bottom of the pit, when you may see him for an instant; a
misshapen, powerful little thing. If you happen to be an ant, he looks to you
as formidable as a behemoth, bursting out of the sand and tumbling it from
his shoulders as a mammoth bursts out of the primeval forest. If you happen
to be a human, you laugh at his awkward movements, and find another pit,
and call another doodle bug.
Routt and Agnes, Wint and Joan, all four together, investigated doodle
bugs this day. They had a good-natured time of it till Jack Routt caught an
ant and dropped it into one of the pits to see the monster at the bottom in
action. The sight of the ant’s swift end was not pleasant to Joan; and she
looked at Routt in a critical way. He and Agnes seemed to think it rather a
joke on the ant. Wint and Joan moved away and left them there and went
clambering up among the rocks, and picked wintergreen and chewed it, and
came out at last on the upper level, on top of the Caves. They looked down
from there and shouted to the others below. And when they tired of that,
they sat down and talked to each other for a while. That was one pursuit
they never tired of.
Wint had been meaning to ask Joan something. It concerned that letter
which he had received the day after his election as Mayor. The letter had
been anonymous; a friendly, loyal, sympathetic little note. He had torn it up
angrily, as soon as he read it, because he was in no mood for good advice
that day, and the letter had given good advice. He could remember, even
now, snatches of it. He had wondered who wrote it; and this wonder had
revived, during the last few days, and he had considered the matter, and
asked a question or two.
Now he asked Joan whether she had written it; and Joan hesitated, and
flushed a little, and then said, looking at him bravely: “Yes, I wrote it,
Wint.”
He said in an embarrassed way: “But that was when you had told me you
would have no more to do with me.”
She nodded.
 “I tore it up,” he said.
“I thought you would.” She smiled a little. “But I hoped you—would
remember it, too.”
“I do,” Wint told her. “You said I had ‘the finest chance a man ever had
to retrieve his mistakes,’ and you told me to buckle down.”
“Yes, I remember,” she agreed.
Wint looked at her, and his heart was pounding softly. “You said there
were some who would watch me—lovingly,” he reminded her.
For a minute she did not speak; then she nodded her head slowly; and
she said: “Yes.” Her eyes met his honestly.
Wint had been very sure, before he asked her, that she had written the
letter; he had meant to remind her of this word, and if she confessed it, to
go on. But now that he had come thus far, he found that he could go no
farther. It was not that she forbade him; not that there was any prohibition in
her eyes. It was something within himself that restrained him. Something
that held his tongue, bade him not risk his fortune—lest, perchance, he lose
it.
Any one but a blind man would have seen there was no danger of his
losing it; but Wint, in this matter, was blind—for the immemorial reason.
So all the courage that had brought him thus far deserted him, and he only
said:
“Oh!”
That did not seem to Joan to call for any answer, so she said nothing; and
after a moment Wint got hurriedly to his feet and exclaimed:
“Well, I’m getting hungry. Better be getting back, hadn’t we?”
Joan looked, perhaps, a little disappointed. But she said she guessed so;
and they made their way down to join the others.
After every one had eaten till there was no more eat in them, there was a
general tendency to take things easy. The dishes had to be washed in the
brook; and the girls undertook to do that. Dick Hoover found some
horseshoes, and started a game of quoits. Wint would have taken a hand;
but Jack Routt drew him aside and said:
“I’d like a little talk with you, Wint. Mind?”
Wint was surprised; but he didn’t say so. “All right,” he agreed. “Shoot.”
 Routt offered him a cigar, and Wint took it, and they walked slowly
away from the others, back toward the Caves. Routt came to the point
without preliminaries. “It’s like this, Wint,” he said frankly. “A good many
people have been telling me I ought to get into politics.”
Wint had ears to hear; and he had heard something of this. But he
pretended ignorance, and only said: “I thought you were in politics.
Thought you were linked up with Amos.”
“I have been, in the past,” Routt agreed. “But the trouble with that is, if
you tie up with a big man, you get only what he chooses to give you. I’ve
been advised to strike out for myself.”
Wint said: “I think that’s good advice. It ought to help your law practice,
too.”
“Matter of fact,” said Routt. “They’re telling me I ought to run against
you.”
“Against me?” Wint seemed only mildly interested. “For Mayor?”
“Yes. On the wet issue. You know my ideas on that. I’m not on your side
of the fence there at all.”
“Well, I don’t find fault with any man’s ideas, Jack.”
“The trouble is this,” Routt explained. “You and I are pretty good
friends. Always have been. I don’t want to start anything that will spoil that
friendship.”
Wint laughed and said: “Good Lord, Jack; I guess there’s no fear of
that.”
“By God, I knew you’d say so!” Routt exclaimed. “Just the same. I was
leary. You know what kind of a fellow I am. When I go into a thing, I go in
with both feet. If I run against you, Wint, I’ll give you a fight.”
“Go to it. We’ll show Hardiston some action.”
“I’ll lam it into you, Wint.”
“Well, I can give as good as you send,” Wint promised cheerfully.
“The only thing is,” Routt explained, “I just want an understanding with
you first; that is, I want you to know there’s nothing personal in anything I
may say. It’s politics, Wint; and if I go in, it will be hot politics. If you’ll
promise to take it as that and nothing else.”
 Wint said easily: “I don’t suppose you can tell Hardiston anything about
me that it doesn’t already know.”
Routt grasped his hand. “Attaboy, Wint,” he exclaimed. “You’re a good
sport. By God, I believe I’ll go into it!”
“Come ahead. It’s no private fight,” Wint assured him.
“The only thing is, I wanted to know first. I want you to know I’m on the
level with you personally.”
“Well, I should say I know that, Jack.”
Routt thrust out his hand. “Shake on it, Wint.”
Wint laughed. “You’re dramatic enough.” But he shook hands.
They rejoined the others after a while, and Wint was glad of it. He had
hidden his feelings from Routt; but as a matter of fact he was a good deal
surprised and chagrined at Jack’s news. He had heard rumors; but he had
not believed Routt would come out against him. It was a thing he, Wint,
would not have done.... It smacked, he felt, of disloyalty to a friend. He had
even, for a moment, a thought of withdrawing and leaving the field free to
Routt. But he put it away. After all, he was first in the fight; it was Routt
who had brought about this situation, not he. He could not well avoid the
issue.
Nevertheless, he was troubled. The world that had seemed so bright and
fair a month ago had a less cheerful aspect now. His fears for Hetty, his
anxiety over her, were always with him, faintly oppressive. Now Routt’s
desertion, his projected opposition. Try as he would to shake it off, Wint
could not rid himself of the feeling that there were rough places on the road
that lay ahead.
His anxiety over Hetty was relieved—though only to take a new turn—
in the last week of September. For Hetty came back to Hardiston.
Wint met her on the street one day. He was immensely surprised; and he
was immensely pleased to see her, safe and sound. He cried: “Why, Hetty,
where did you come from?”
She looked around furtively, as though she would have avoided him if it
had been possible to do so. “Didn’t you expect me to come back?” she
asked sullenly.
“Of course. But.... How are you? All right? Where have you been?”
 “Summering in New England,” she said ironically. “Where’d you
think?”
“Mother’s been wondering when you’d come back. She needs you.”
“She’ll have to go on needing me.”
“Aren’t you—”
“I’ve got a job in the shoe factory.”
Wint said: “Oh!” He was disturbed and uncertain, puzzled by Hetty’s
attitude. He asked: “Is the.... Did you....”
“The baby?” said Hetty listlessly. “Oh, he died.” There was dead agony
in her tone, so that Wint ached for her.
“I’m sorry,” he told her.
“That’s all right. I can stand it.”
He asked: “Did you need any money? The check I gave you never came
through the bank.”
“I lost it,” she said.
“Why, you must have had trouble. You didn’t have enough.”
“I went in as a charity-ward patient.”
“Columbus?”
“No. Cincinnati. I didn’t want any one knowing.”
Wint smiled in a friendly way and said: “I was worried about you.”
Hetty laughed. “You’d better worry about yourself. Do you know people
are looking at you, while you’re talking to me? It won’t help you any to be
seen with me.”
Wint said “Pshaw! You’re morbid, Hetty.”
“Besides,” she told him. “I’ve got to look out. Mind my p’s and q’s. If I
want to hold my job.”
Wint flushed uncomfortably. “Why.... All right,” he said. “But if there’s
ever anything....”
“Oh, I’ll let you know,” Hetty said impatiently, and turned away.
He had been afraid that she had killed herself; that her body was dead.
He was afraid now, as he watched her move down the street, that something
more important was dead in the girl.
 It was at this moment that he realized for the first time that a man had
been responsible for what had come to Hetty. He wondered who the man
was; and he thought it would be satisfying to say a word or two to the
fellow.

CHAPTER III

POLITICS

J ACK ROUTT was as good as his word to Wint. Early in October, he

announced his candidacy for Mayor; and he proceeded to push it.
In their talk at the Caves, he had warned Wint what to expect. But in
spite of that warning, Wint had looked for no more than a polite and
friendly rivalry, a congenial conflict, a good-natured tussle between friends.
He was to find that Routt had meant exactly what he said; that Routt as a
political opponent and Routt as a friend were two very different
personalities. On the heels of his open announcement that he was a
candidate, Jack began a canvass of the town, and a direct and virulent
assault upon Wint.
Wint heard what Routt was doing first through his father. The elder
Chase came home to supper one evening in a fuming rage; and he said
while they were eating:
“Wint, this Routt is a fine friend of yours!”
Wint looked at his father in some surprise. “Why, Jack’s all right,” he
declared.
“All right?” Chase demanded. “Do you know what he’s doing?”
“I know he’s out for Mayor. That’s all right. I’ve no string on the job. I
want to be re-elected, just as a sort of a—testimonial that I’ve made good.
And I intend to be re-elected. But at the same time, any one has a right to
run against me.”
“Nobody denies that,” his father exclaimed. “But no one has a right to
hark back a year for mud to throw at you.”
Wint said: “Pshaw, there’s always mud-throwing in politics.”
Chase challenged: “Do you mean to say you think Routt has a right to do
as he is doing?”