Through smoke-clouds he sees the marble chamber of the Senate of
the Great Republic. He must move on to the marriage, he has deferred
until the election. It is a pledge of twenty votes in joint ballot.
As for the girl Isabel, why, there is no human power to prove her
legitimacy now. That priest. Bah! Dead years ago. Silence has
rolled the stone over his tomb.
Hardin has foreseen for years this quarrel with Natalie de Santos.
But she can prove absolutely nothing. He will face her boldly. She
is ALONE in the world. He can tear the veil aside and blacken her
name.
And yet, as evening falls, his spirit sinks within him. He can
not, will not, marry the woman who has defied him. What devil, what
unseen enemy put her on his track again? If he had never trusted
her. Ah, too late; too late!
Secretly he had laid his well-devised mines. The judge in Mariposa
is weighted down with a golden bribe. The court officials are under
his orders. But who is the unknown foe counselling Natalie? He
cannot fathom it. Blackmail! Yes, blackmail.
In three days Hardin is at Sacramento. His satellites draw up their
cohorts for the senatorial struggle. If the legislature names him
senator, then his guardianship will be quickly settled before the
Mariposa Court.
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