The climax is reached.  Trueman is carried round and round the hall, the enthusiasm of the delegates reaching the point of frenzy.  Every delegation is now in line.  Without waiting for the formality of a motion to adjourn, the convention marches from the building; its candidate at its head.

CHAPTER XVI.

TWO POINTS OF VIEW.

On the way to the hotel after the exciting incidents of the day, which have culminated in his nomination, Trueman has time to reflect.  The poise of a man of his sterling character is not easily disturbed; yet he feels misgivings as to the ultimate result of the pending campaign.  The odds are so uneven.  On the one side the millions of concentrated capital, commanding the servile votes of the dependent operatives; on the other, eternal principles, supported by a few resolute men who will have to inspire the Nation to action.

“If I only had the encouragement of Ethel,” Harvey soliloquizes, “it would be nothing to face the foes of my country.  But I must make the fight alone.  She is separated from me now by a wider barrier than ever.  As the champion of the people of Wilkes-Barre I became the antagonist of her father, and she had no choice but to remain with him.

“And yet, at our parting, there was a tremor in her voice which told me that her love for me was not utterly dispelled.

“Sister Martha tells me that Ethel is not happy, that she has ceased to be the social butterfly, the cynosure of the fashionable set in Philadelphia and New York.

“As the inconspicuous leader of the working men of a Pennsylvania mining town I might have won her, even against the opposition of Gorman Purdy.  As a candidate for the Presidency, on the Independence party’s ticket, my hopes are idle.”

He enters his room and finds a telegram on the table.

  “VENETIA, L.I.

  “As a friend I congratulate you on the honor you have
  achieved; I wish that circumstances would permit me to aid
  you in attaining victory.  E.P.”

In all the world there is no treasure more precious than the yellow slip of paper which Harvey holds in his hand.  It is a proof that Ethel has not forgotten him; it even foretells that if victory were to rest on his standards, he might claim a double prize—­the Presidency and a bride.

“What right had I to expect that Ethel could descend from her sphere to share the uncertain fortunes of a social reformer?” he muses.

“The conditions of life that have been fostered in the United States since the era of the multi-millionaire make the problem of marriage more complicated than ever before.  How can a woman, born to luxury, hope to find marital felicity with a man dependent on his daily wages for the means of supporting himself and family?

“To say that she may bestow her wealth upon her husband, does not solve the problem; it modifies it by adding a potent deterrent; for a man who will be dependent upon his wife for support, lacks the essential qualifications of a good husband.