"No, I shan't be
surprised, but I feel in my bones that I'm going to fight Barode Barouche
into the last corner of the corral."
"Don't be too sure of that, my son. Won't the thing that prevents your
marrying Junia be a danger in this, if you go on?"
Sullen tragedy came into his face, his lips set. The sudden paleness of
his cheek, however, was lost in a smile.
"Yes, I've thought of that; but if it has to come, better it should come
now than later. If the truth must be told, I'll tell it--yes, I'll tell
it!"
"Be bold, but not reckless, Carnac," his mother urged.
Just then the whistling train approached. She longed to put a hand out
and hold him back, and yet she ached to let him go. Yet as Carnac mounted
the steps of the car, a cry went out from her heart: "My son, stay with
me here--don't go." That was only in her heart, however; with her lips
she said: "Good luck! God bless you, Carnac!" and then the train rolled
away, leaving her alone in the bright, bountiful morning.
Before the day was done, Headquarters had accepted Carnac, in part, as
the solution of their own difficult problem. The three applicants for the
post each hated the other; but all, before the day was over, agreed to
Carnac as an effective opponent of Barouche.
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