But perhaps Felix had some ambition. And maybe he had some curiosity to see what honesty and a pure purpose could accomplish in political matters, to see what such a marvellous thing could amount to.
Anyway, he accepted the nomination and received the office.
And the night after he wuz elected he and Hester talked the matter over with some pardonable pride as they sot in the door of their pretty little parlor in the warm moonlight.
The creepin’ vines on the trellis cast pleasant shadows of leaf and blossom down over their heads and on the pretty carpet at their feet.
This carpet Hester had bought with her own money and wuz proud of.
The moonlight lay there warm and bright, weavin’ its magic tapestry of rose leaf and swingin’ vine tendrils long after they wuz asleep in their little white-draped room near by.
Baby Ned lay fast asleep, with a smile on his moist, flushed face, in his love-guarded cradle near them.
The little boy did not dream of anything less sweet and peaceful than his mother’s good-night kiss that had been his last wakin’ remembrance.
But about midnight other shadows, black and terrible ones, trod out and defaced the swayin’, tremblin’ rose images and silvery moonlight on the floor.
Tall men in black masks, a rough, brutal gang, surrounded the place and crashed in the door of the little cottage.