"There's no better proverb, my friend, than the old one about the way you make your bed," Slocum summed up, rising to go. "It don't trouble you, perhaps, because you are made different. You are made to fit the world as it is to-day."
With that he bade me good night and went away. I sat on by myself for some time afterward, thinking, thinking of it all! Very likely if Slocum could have had his desire, and gone on the Supreme Bench, he would not have found it all he had painted it as a boy. But whether it was foolish or not for him to set such store by that prize, it was beyond his reach, and the man who had done most to put him out of the race was I. I had needed him, and I had taken him—that was all there was to that. He had sold himself to me, not just for money, but for friendship and admiration,—for what men of his kind sell themselves. For in all the world there was not enough money to pay him for selling himself—he had as much as said so to-night. Now, when I wanted to give him the gift that he had earned by years of devotion, there was nothing in my hands that was worth his taking!
Thinking of this, I forgot for the time being that I was Senator from the state of Illinois.
CHAPTER XXXI
FURTHER COST
I go to see May—A cottage on the West Side—May comes to the door—Pleading—Stiff-necked virtue—A discussion of patriotism—We wash dishes and dispute—Old times—One woman's character—Possibilities—Hard words—Rejected gifts—Even to the children—Who shall judge?—Another scale and a greater one
The cab drew up before a one-story frame house that stood back in the lot, squeezed between two high brick buildings. This was the number on Ann Street, over on the West Side, that Will had given me when I had pressed him for his address. The factories had pretty well surrounded this section of the city, leaving here and there some such rickety shanty as this one. There were several children playing in the strip of front yard, and as I opened the gate one of them called out, "Hello, Uncle Van!"
It was Will's second son, little Van. He said his mother was at home, and, taking my hand, he showed me around the cottage to the back door. The boy pounded on the door, and May came to see what was the matter.
"Is that you, Van?" she asked, as if she expected me. "Will said he saw you the other day."