Summary
A crusading senator, Frank Deering, whose oratory once split the marble corridors of Washington like a cathedral bell, finds himself shackled to a private Calvary when his lifelong ally, Judge Vernon, is quietly devoured by a debt owed to satanic mill-owner Henry McCarthy. The loan—inked in haste to save a daughter’s dowry—metastasizes into moral carcinoma: Vernon, cornered, accepts McCarthy’s mute, infant granddaughter as repayment, a living ledger entry who will never know she was bartered. Years later, as the judge’s heart sputters like a spent lantern, he unburdens himself to Deering amid antiseptic shadows. One confession ricochets: Deering must euthanize the very child-labor bill that defined his soul, trading the emancipation of a million soot-smeared wraiths for the posthumous whiteness of Vernon’s name. The Senate floor becomes Golgotha; colleagues spit epithets, newspapers brand him Iscariot, and the gilded gallery roars while he sits marble-still, tasting iron in his mouth, the quill in his hand heavier than any cross.
Synopsis
U. S. Senator Frank Deering has spent his life trying to alleviate the misery of child labor. Judge Vernon, his closest friend, aids him in this struggle. Unexpected circumstances force Judge Vernon to borrow money from Henry McCarthy, one of the factory owners most responsible for the harsh and inhumane working conditions. Judge Vernon is unable to pay off the loan, and is reduced to accepting a bride from McCarthy. Later, the Judge is stricken with a heart-condition but, on his dying bed, he confesses the shameful act he committed to Deering. To keep his friend's name unsullied, Deering makes a deal with McCarthy and votes against the child-labor-act he sponsored. His colleagues and the world, unaware of his sacrifice, mock and jeer him.
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