Chapter 21

"I left Chicago that night with a great thrill. I was going to fight for a great cause, for Abraham Lincoln's great dream, for the country my father had died for in Mexico, that my grandfather had fought for at Lundy's Lane. I think," he said, "that if I might have gone right down to the fighting, I'd have stood the test. But when I came to Tennessee the regiment had gone stale. We waited, and waited. Every day I lost a little interest. Every day the routine dragged a little harder. I had time to see what opportunities I had left back here in Chicago. I wasn't afraid of the fighting. But the sheer hatred of what I came to call the uselessness of war gnawed at my soul. I kept thinking of the ways in which I might shape my destiny if only I were free. I kept thinking of the thousand roads to wealth, to personal success, that Chicago held for me. One night I took my chance. I slipped past the lines."

"Father!" The boy's voice throbbed with pain. His eyes, dilated with horror at the realization of the older man's admission, fixed their gaze accusingly on James Thorold. "You weren't a--a deserter?" He breathed the word fearfully.

"I was a bounty-jumper."

"Oh!" Peter Thorold's shoulders drooped as if under the force of a vital blow. Vaguely as he knew the term, the boy knew only too well the burden of disgrace that it carried. Once, in school, he had heard an old tutor apply it to some character of history whom he had especially despised. Again, in a home where he had visited, he had heard another old man use the phrase in contempt for some local personage who had attempted to seek public office. Bounty-jumper! Its province expressed to the lad's mind a layer of the inferno beneath the one reserved for the Benedict Arnolds and the Aaron Burrs. Vainly he bugled to his own troops of self-control; but they, too, were deserters in the calamity. He flung his arms across the table, surrendering to his sobs.

Almost impassively James Thorold watched him, as if he himself had gone so far back into his thought of the past that he could not bridge the gap to Peter now. With some thought of crossing the chasm he took up his tale of dishonor. Punctuated by the boy's sobs it went on.

"I came back to Chicago and drew the money from the bank. I knew I couldn't go back to the practise of law. I changed my name to Thorold and started in business as an army contractor. I made money. The money that's made us rich, the money that's sending me to Forsland"--a bitterness not in his voice before edged his mention of the embassy--"came from that bounty that the provost marshal gave me."

He turned his back upon the sobbing boy, walking over to the window and staring outward upon the April brightness of the noonday ere he spoke again. "You know of the Nineteenth's record? They were at Nashville, and they were at Chattanooga after my colonel came back, dead. I went out of Chicago when his body was brought in. Then Turchin took command of the brigade. The Nineteenth went into the big fights. They were at Chickamauga. Benton fell there. He'd been in Judge Adams's office with me. After I'd come back he'd joined the regiment. The day the news of Chickamauga came I met Judge Adams on Washington Street. He knew me. He looked at me as Peter might have looked at Judas."

Slowly Peter Thorold raised his head from his arms, staring at the man beside the window. James Thorold met his look with sombre sorrow. "Don't think I've had no punishment," he said. "Remember that I loved Judge Adams. And I loved Abraham Lincoln."

"Oh, no, no!" The boy's choked utterance came in protest. "If you'd really cared for them you wouldn't have failed them."

"I have prayed," his father said, "that you may never know the grief of having failed the men you have loved. There's no heavier woe, Peter." Again his gaze went from the boy, from the room, from the present. "I did not see Abraham Lincoln again until he was dead," he said. "They brought him back and set his bier in the old court-house. The night he lay there I went in past the guards and looked long upon the face of him who had been my friend. I saw the sadness and the sorrow, the greatness and the glory, that life and death had sculptured there. He had dreamed and he had done. When the time had come he had been ready. I knelt beside his coffin; and I promised God and Abraham Lincoln that I would, before I died, make atonement for the faith I had broken."

Peter's sobbing had died down to husky flutterings of breath, but he kept his face averted from the man at the other side of the table. "I meant to make some sort of reparation," James Thorold explained, listlessness falling like twilight on his mood as if the sun had gone down on his power, "but I was always so busy, so busy. And there seemed no real occasion for sacrifice. I never sought public office or public honors till I thought you wanted me to have them, Peter." He turned directly to the boy, but the boy did not move. "I was so glad of Forsland--yesterday. Through all these years I have told myself that, after all, I had done no great wrong. But sometimes, when the bands were playing and the flags were flying, I knew that I had turned away from the Grail after I had looked upon it. I knew it to-day when I stood beside that boy's coffin. I had said that times change. I know now that only the time changes. The spirit does not die, but it's a stream that goes underground to come up, a clear spring, in unexpected places. My father died in Mexico. I failed my country. And Isador Framberg dies at Vera Cruz."

"For our country," the boy said bitterly.

"And his own," his father added. "For him, for his people, for all these who walk in darkness Abraham Lincoln died. The gleam of his torch shone far down their lands. His message brought them here. They have known him even as I, who walked with him in life, did not know him until to-day. And they are paying him. That dead boy is their offering to him, their message that they are the Americans."

Into Peter Thorold's eyes, as he looked upon his father, leaped a flash of blue fire. Searchingly he stared into the face of the older man as Galahad might have gazed upon a sorrowing Percival. "You're going to give up Forsland?" he breathed, touching the paper on the table. "I gave up Forsland," James Thorold said, "when I saw you at Isador Framberg's side. I knew that I was not worthy to represent your America--and his." He held out his hands to Peter longingly. The boy's strong one closed over them. Peter Thorold, sighting the mansion of his father's soul, saw that the other man had passed the portals of confession into an empire of expiation mightier than the Court of St. Jerome.

THE YEARBOOK OF THE AMERICAN SHORT STORY FOR 1914 AND 1915

THE ROLL OF HONOR FOR 1914

BUZZELL, FRANCIS. Addie Erb and Her Girl Lottie.

CONRAD, JOSEPH. Laughing Anne. The Planter of Malata.

DWIGHT, H.G. The Leopard of the Sea.

FREEMAN, MARY E. WILKINS-. Daniel and Little Dan'l.

GALSWORTHY, JOHN. A Simple Tale.

GEROULD, KATHARINE FULLERTON. The Dominant Strain. The Toad and the Jewel. The Tortoise. The Triple Mirror.

GORDON, ARMISTEAD C. Maje.

HOPPER, JAMES. The Night School.

JOHNSTON, CALVIN. Traitors Both.

LONG, JOHN LUTHER. The Sandwich-Man.

MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR. When the Devil Was Better.

POST, MELVILLE DAVISSON. A Twilight Adventure. The Doomdorf Mystery.

RICHTER, CONRAD. Brothers of No Kin.

SINGMASTER, ELSIE. The Ishmaelite.

SYNON, MARY. The Bravest Son.

WHARTON, EDITH. The Triumph of Night.

NOTE.--"The Roll of Honor for 1914" is based on the reading of the eight periodicals listed on page 288.

[Transcriber's Note: See "INDEX OF SHORT STORIES FOR 1914 AND 1915" for the page 288 list of periodicals from 1914.]

THE ROLL OF HONOR FOR 1915

ALLEN, FREDERICK LEWIS. Madame Zaranova.

ANONYMOUS. Safety in Numbers.

ARCOS, RENÉ. One Evening--The Meeting.

AUMONIER, STACY. *The Friends.

BLACKWOOD, ALGERNON. The Other Wing.

BROWN, ALICE. The Return of Martha.

BROWN, KATHARINE HOLLAND. The Old-Fashioned Gift.

BURT, MAXWELL STRUTHERS. *The Water-Hole.

BUTLER, KATHARINE. *In No Strange Land.

BYRNE, DONN. *The Wake.

CANFIELD, DOROTHY. *Flint and Fire.

CHILD, RICHARD WASHBURN. Not in the Dispatches.

COBB, IRVIN S. *Blacker Than Sin.

COLCORD, LINCOLN. A Life and a Ship. Rescue at Sea.

COLUM, PADRAIC. *A Woman of the West.

COMFORT, WILL LEVINGTON. *Chautonville.

COWDERY, ALICE. Chains.

DAY, MARY LOUISE. His Surrender.

DIX, BEULAH MARIE. *Across the Border.

DUNCAN, NORMAN. A Nice Little Morsel o' Dog Meat.

DUNNING, HAROLD WOLCOTT. The Little Captain.

DUNSANY, LORD. *A Story of Land and Sea. *The Exiles' Club. The Three Infernal Jokes.

DWIGGINS, W.A. *La Dernière Mobilisation.

DWYER, JAMES FRANCIS. *The Citizen.

EARLE, MARY TRACY. "The Tropic Bird."

EWERS, HANNS HEINZ. The Spider.

FINCH, LUCINE. The Woman Who Waited.

FITCH, ANITA. Colin McCabe: Renegade.

FORMAN, HENRY JAMES. The Monk and the Stranger.

FREEMAN, MARY E. WILKINS-. Emancipation.

GALSWORTHY, JOHN. *Ultima Thule.

GEROULD, KATHARINE FULLERTON. Blue Bonnet. *Martin's Hollow. *Miss Marriott and the Faun. *Sea-Green. The Penalties of Artemis.

GIBBON, PERCEVAL. *The Town of His Dream.

GREGG, FRANCES. *Whose Dog--?

HALL, GERTRUDE. *An Epilogue.

HALL, WILBUR. The Fiddler of Glory Hole.

HAMPTON, EDGAR LLOYD. Finsen.

HARRIS, BURT. The Truth.

HECHT, BEN. Depths. Gratitude. *Life.

HOPPER, JAMES. Forty Years Hence.

HUGHES, RUPERT. *Michaeleen! Michaelawn! Sent For Out.

HURST, FANNIE. Ever Ever Green. *Rolling Stock. *T.B.

JOHNSON, ARTHUR. *Mr. Eberdeen's House.

JOHNSTON, CALVIN. Promise Lands.

JORDAN, VIRGIL. *Vengeance Is Mine!

KAUN, ALEXANDER S. Gratitude.

KOIZUMI, K. *Uguisu. (A Japanese Nightingale).

LYON, HARRIS MERTON. The Son of Santa Claus. *The Weaver Who Clad the Summer.

McINTYRE, JOHN T. The Hand of Glory.

MITCHELL, MARY ESTHER. A New England Pippa.

MUILENBURG, WALTER J. *Heart of Youth. *The Prairie.

MYERS, WALTER L. *Mates.

NICHOLS, WILLIAM T. The Other Woman.

NOYES, NEWBOLD. *The End of the Path.

O'BRIEN, SEUMAS. *The House in the Valley. *The Whale and the Grasshopper.

O'REILLY, MARY BOYLE. *In Berlin.

PAINE, GUSTAVUS S. "Here He Is."

PALMER, VANCE. The Law of the Dark.

PICKTHALL, MARJORIE L.C. Stories.

POST, MELVILLE DAVISSON. The New Administration.

ROBERTSON, MORGAN. *The Poison Ship.

ROOF, KATHARINE METCALF. *The Waiting Years.

ROSENBLATT, BENJAMIN. *Zelig.

SINGMASTER, ELSIE. *The Survivors.

SMITH, GORDON ARTHUR. *Jeanne, the Maid.

SNEDDON, ROBERT W. One Mother. The Musician.

STEELE, WILBUR DANIEL. A Matter of Education. *On Moon Hill. *Romance. *The Yellow Cat.

STRINGER, ARTHUR. *The Ivy and the Tower.

SYNON, MARY. *The Bounty-Jumper.

WALLACE, EDGAR. The Greater Battle.

WALPOLE, HUGH. *The Twisted Inn.

WESTON, GEORGE. *The Martial Mood of M'sieur.

WHARTON, EDITH. Coming Home.

WHITE, WILLIAM ALLEN. *The Gods Arrive.

WINSLOW, HORATIO. The Wonderful City.

MAGAZINE AVERAGES FOR 1915

_The following table includes the averages of all American magazines published during 1915 of which complete files for the period covered were placed at my disposal. One, two, and three asterisks are employed to indicate relative distinction. "Three-asterisk stories" are of somewhat permanent literary value._

______________________________________________________________________ MAGAZINES | NO OF | NO OF | PERCENTAGE OF | | STORIES | DISTINCTIVE | DISTINCTIVE | | PUBLISHED | STORIES | STORIES | | | PUBLISHED | PUBLISHED | | |_______________|________________| | | * | ** | *** | * | ** | *** | _________________________|___________|____|____|_____|_____|____|_____| American Magazine | 53 | 23 | 11 | 3 | 43 | 21 | 6 | Associated Sunday | | | | | | | | Magazines | 39 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 24 | 5 | 3 | (Jan-May See also | | | | | | | | Every Week) | | | | | | | | Atlantic Monthly | 24 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 67 | 33 | 8 | Bellman | 39 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 51 | 28 | 18 | Black Cat | 108 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | Bruno Chap Books | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 0 | 0 | Century Magazine | 53 | 32 | 15 | 7 | 60 | 28 | 13 | Collier's Weekly | 142 | 46 | 21 | 9 | 32 | 15 | 6 | Delineator | 30 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 23 | 7 | 3 | Everybody's Magazine | 46 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 6 | 2 | Every Week (See also | 77 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 30 | 3 | 2 | Associated Sunday | | | | | | | | Magazines) | | | | | | | | Forum | 13 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 92 | 46 | 23 | Good Housekeeping | 42 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 2 | Harper's Bazar | 23 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 26 | 17 | 0 | Harper's Magazine | 101 | 56 | 28 | 12 | 56 | 28 | 12 | Harper's Weekly | 25 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 72 | 16 | 0 | Illustrated Sunday | | | | | | | | Magazine | 182 | 59 | 27 | 16 | 32 | 15 | 9 | Or excluding reprints | 169 | 46 | 15 | 5 | 27 | 9 | 3 | International | 17 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 59 | 29 | 12 | Ladies' Home Journal | 42 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 7 | 3 | Life | 68 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | Lippincott's and | | | | | | | | McBride's Magazines | 98 | 36 | 6 | 1 | 36 | 6 | 1 | Little Review | 9 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 100 | 56 | 56 | McClure's Magazine | 63 | 22 | 9 | 0 | 35 | 14 | 0 | Masses | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 70 | 30 | 10 | Metropolitan | 47 | 24 | 7 | 5 | 51 | 15 | 11 | Midland | 10 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 100 | 70 | 30 | Munsey's Magazine | 48 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 0 | National Sunday Magazine | 22 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 41 | 23 | 0 | New Republic | 9 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 78 | 33 | 11 | Outlook | 9 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 67 | 44 | 11 | Pictorial Review | 68 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 22 | 6 | 1 | Saturday Evening Post | 162 | 29 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 7 | 4 | Scribner's Magazine | 52 | 37 | 24 | 7 | 71 | 46 | 13 | Smart Set | 242 | 34 | 12 | 3 | 14 | 5 | 1 | Sunset Magazine | 42 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 7 | 0 | Woman's Home Companion | 49 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | ______________________________________________________________________|

_The following tables indicate the rank, during 1915, by number and percentage of distinctive stories published, of the eighteen periodicals coming within the scope of my examination which have published during the past year over twenty-five stories and which have exceeded an average of 15% in stories of distinction. The lists exclude reprints._

BY PERCENTAGE OF DISTINCTIVE STORIES

1. Scribner's Magazine 71% 2. Century Magazine 60% 3. Harper's Magazine 56% 4. Metropolitan 51% 5. Bellman 51% 6. American Magazine 43% 7. Lippincott's and McBride's Magazines 36% 8. McClure's Magazine 35% 9. Collier's Weekly 32% 10. Sunset Magazine 31% 11. Every Week 30% 12. Everybody's Magazine 28% 13. Illustrated Sunday Magazine 27% 14. Associated Sunday Magazine 24% (excluding Every Week) 15. Delineator 23% 16. Pictorial Review 22% 17. Ladies' Home Journal 19% 18. Saturday Evening Post 18%

BY NUMBER OF DISTINCTIVE STORIES

1. Harper's Magazine 56 2. Illustrated Sunday Magazine 46 3. Collier's Weekly 46 4. Scribner's Magazine 37 5. Lippincott's and McBride's Magazines 36 6. Century Magazine 32 7. Saturday Evening Post 29 8. Metropolitan 24 9. American Magazine 23 10. Every Week 23 11. McClure's Magazine 22 12. Bellman 20 13. Pictorial Review 15 14. Sunset Magazine 13 15. Everybody's Magazine 13 16. Associated Sunday Magazine (excluding Every Week) 9 17. Ladies' Home Journal 8 18. Delineator 7

_The following periodicals have published during 1915 ten or more "two-asterisk stories." The list excludes reprints._

1. Harper's Magazine 28 2. Scribner's Magazine 24 3. Collier's Weekly 21 4. Illustrated Sunday Magazine 15 5. Century Magazine 15 6. Saturday Evening Post 12 7. Smart Set 12 8. Bellman 11 9. American Magazine 11

_The following periodicals have published during 1915 three or more "three-asterisk stories." The list excludes reprints._

1. Harper's Magazine 12 2. Collier's Weekly 9 3. Scribner's Magazine 7 4. Century Magazine 7 5. Bellman 7 6. Saturday Evening Post 6 7. Little Review 5 8. Metropolitan 5 9. Illustrated Sunday Magazine 5 10. Midland 3 11. Forum 3 12. American Magazine 3 13. Smart Set 3

_The best short story of the year is "Zelig," by Benjamin Rosenblatt, published in The Bellman._

_Ties in the above lists have been decided by taking relative rank in other lists into account._

INDEX OF SHORT STORIES FOR 1914 AND 1915

_All short stones published in the following magazines during 1914 are listed in this index._

Atlantic Monthly. Century Magazine. Collier's Weekly. Forum. Harper's Magazine. Metropolitan Magazine. Saturday Evening Post. Scribner's Magazine.

_All short stories published in the following magazines and newspapers during 1915 are indexed._

American Magazine. Associated Sunday Magazines. (_January to May, excluding stories in_ Every Week, _q.v._). Atlantic Monthly. Bellman. Boston Evening Transcript. Boston Daily Advertiser. Bruno Chap Books. Century Magazine. Collier's Weekly. Delineator. Everybody's Magazine. Every Week. Fabulist. Forum. Harper's Bazar. Harper's Magazine. Harper's Weekly. Illustrated Sunday Magazine. International.* Ladies' Home Journal. Lippincott's Magazine. Little Review. McBride's Magazine. McClure's Magazine. Masses. Metropolitan. Midland. National Sunday Magazine. New Republic. Outlook. Pictorial Review. Reedy's Mirror. Saturday Evening Post. Scribner's Magazine. Sunset Magazine.

_Short stories, of distinction only, published in the following magazines during 1915 are indexed._

Black Cat. Bruno's Weekly. Chicago Sunday Tribune. Cosmopolitan. Good Housekeeping. Greenwich Village. Hearst's Magazine. Life. Munsey's Magazine. Smart Set. Woman's Home Companion.

_One, two, or three asterisks are prefixed to the titles of stories to indicate distinction. Three asterisks prefixed to a title indicate the more or less permanent literary value of a story, and entitle it to a place on the annual "Roll of Honor."_

_The following abbreviations are used in the index:--_

_Am._ American Magazine _A.S.M._ Associated Sunday Magazines _Atl._ Atlantic Monthly _B.C._ Black Cat _B.C.B._ Bruno Chap Books _B.D.A._ Boston Daily Advertiser _Bel._ Bellman _B.E.T._ Boston Evening Transcript _Brun. W._ Bruno's Weekly _Cen._ Century Magazine _Ch. Trib._ Chicago Sunday Tribune _Col._ Collier's Weekly _Cos._ Cosmopolitan Magazine _Del._ Delineator _Ev._ Everybody's Magazine _E.W._ Every Week _Fab._ Fabulist _For._ Forum _G.H._ Good Housekeeping _G.V._ Greenwich Village _Harp. B._ Harper's Bazar _Harp. M._ Harper's Magazine _Harp. W._ Harper's Weekly _Int._ International _I.S.M._ Illustrated Sunday Magazine _L.H.J._ Ladies' Home Journal _Lip._ Lippincott's Magazine _Lit. R._ Little Review _McB._ McBride's Magazine _McC._ McClure's Magazine _Met._ Metropolitan _Mid._ Midland _Mir._ Reedy's Mirror _Mun._ Munsey's Magazine _N. Rep._ New Republic _N.S.M._ National Sunday Magazine _Outl._ Outlook _Pict. R._ Pictorial Review _Scr._ Scribner's Magazine _S.E.P._ Saturday Evening Post _S.S._ Smart Set _Sun._ Sunset Magazine _W.H.C._ Woman's Home Companion _'14._ 1914 _'15._ 1915

A

A., 1. The Broken Wheel. I.S.M. April 4, '15.

ABBOTT, AVERY. "And They Lived Happily ----." Del. Aug., '15. *The Powerful Wobberjohn. Mid. Dec., '15.

ABBOTT, ELEANOR HALLOWELL. Man of My Dreams. Col. Sept. 4, '15. Tinsel-Toes. Met. Dec., '14.

ABBOTT, KEENE. "Every Summer." Harp. M. June, '15. **In the Switch-yard. Harp. M. March, '15. *"Maybe Wild Parsnips." Harp. M. July, '14. **Silent Battle. Mid. Jan., '15.

ABBOTT, MABEL. The Advantage. Mun. May, '15.

ABDULLAH, ACHMED. **Black Lily. Lip. July, '15. *The Flowering Stone. Lip. April, '15. **The Infidel. Lip. Jan., '15. *The Man Who Wished. McB. Sept., '15. *The Rock Whence Ye Were Hewn. Lip. Feb., '15.

ADAMS, FRANK R. *Buster. S.S. Oct., '15.

ADAMS, SAMUEL HOPKINS. The Fairy Princess. Ev. Aug., '15.

ADAMS, WILL. Betting on Shorty. Col. Jan. 3, '14. Mix-ups in Troop J. Col. Feb. 28, '14. Off-Agin-on-Agin Finnegan. Col. July 25, '14. Shorty's Victorious Maneuvers. Col. Jan. 24, '14.

ADDISON, THOMAS. Educated Sausages. Lip. Feb., '15. The Taming of Aunt Maria. Lip. May, '15.

ALEXANDER, H.B. **The Pixie. Mid. Feb., '15.

ALEXANDER, HELEN. Her Own Life. Harp. M. Sept., '14.

ALLEN, FREDERICK LEWIS. Cart Before the Horse. Cen. Oct., '15. ***Madame Zaranova. Bel. Dec. 18, '15.

ALLEN, IRVING R. What in the World Do You Want? I.S.M. Jan. 24, '15.

ALLEN, JAMES LANE. **A Cathedral Singer. Cen. May, '14.

ALLEN, LEWIS. Jessop's Valet. I.S.M. Nov. 14, '15. "Oh, Pearl!" I.S.M. April 18, '15. The Lady and the Veil. I.S.M. June 6, '15. Tweedledum and Tweedledee. I.S.M. March 14, '15. Why Can't You? I.S.M. April 4, '15.

ALLEN, MARYLAND. The Strayed Reveler. Sun. May, '15. Torry the Man-Maker. S.E.P. Oct. 3, '14.

ALLEN, WILLIS BOYD. *The End of His Rope. S.S. May, '15.

ALLENSON, A.C. Pandora the Resolute. McB. Nov., '15. Second-Chance Lidcote. Lip. April, '15. The Morrow Man. A.S.M. Feb. 7, '15. The Snail Man. McB. Dec., '15.