The Transgressors. Story of a Great Sin. A Political Novel of the Twentieth CenturyAdams, Francis A. (Francis Alexandre)
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The Transgressors. Story of a Great Sin. A Political Novel of the Twentieth Century
Adams, Francis A. (Francis Alexandre)
Political fiction
"I must win a position in the world which will demand the respect of all
men; then I shall offer Ethel, in place of the ill-gotten millions of
her father's fortune, the name and love of an honest and respected man.
And I will be honest and respected, even as President.
"What a commentary on human frailty the records of our latter day Chief
Magistrates present. Each has been of humble origin. He has risen by
virtue of fearless championship of the cause of the masses. Once in the
office of the Presidency, all uprightness and independence has left him
and he has worshiped at the feet of the Idol of Gold.
"To win the Presidency will be to inaugurate an era of real National
prosperity, in which the labor of the people will be insured just
remuneration. To win Ethel will be to abolish the distinction of class."
At the very hour Harvey Trueman is pondering over the grave conditions
that keep him from making Ethel his wife, she is thinking of the mockery
of her riches, which furnish her with every attribute to happiness but
one--that eclipses all others--the heart's desire.
From the days that she had first known Harvey as the brilliant
counsellor, she has felt that inextinguishable love which thrives on
hope, and which will not diminish, even when hope is banished. Harvey
and she had been friends. His brains had won him admittance to the
social class in which she moved. When their attachment had grown to
love, and he had asked her father's consent to their marriage, Gorman
Purdy, the man of millions, had not hesitated to sanction the union.
What a joy had filled her heart when Harvey told her of his love! What
happiness could have equalled hers when she received the news from
Harvey that her father was willing that they should marry?
What has caused their separation?
This is the question that remains as yet unanswered in her mind.
"Is it possible that there can be such a divergence in the views of two
men on a question of right and wrong," she asks herself, "that they will
sacrifice the happiness of the one woman they profess to love, rather
than agree upon a compromise, or one or the other change his views?"
"My father loves me; he lavishes his wealth upon me; I am his only
child, his only comfort. He remains a widower so as to give me an
undivided love. Yet he will not consent to my speaking of wedding Harvey
Trueman. He tells me that Harvey is an enemy of mankind; a man who is
seeking to disrupt civilization; that every word he utters is intended
to inflame the minds of the people; to incite them to anarchy.
"And Harvey, can his words be false when his actions are so generous?
What prompted him to give the miner's widow a thousand dollars? Was it a
desire to do an act of charity, or was it as my father tells me, the act
of a demagogue?
"How am I, a woman who knows nothing of politics or the principles of
government, to decide a question that divides nations?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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