"Then, there is something else?"
"Yes. If it were only a plea for clemency, I should expect the matter
to be chiefly important to myself. In point of fact, I hope to make it
equally interesting to you. Whether you give me a pardon in a fashion
which violates all precedent, or whether I surrender myself, and go
back to a trial which will be merely a form of assassination, rests
entirely with you, sir. You will not find me insistent."
"If," said the Governor, with a trace of warning in his voice, "your
preamble is simply a device to pique my interest with its unheard-of
novelty, I may as well confess that so far it has succeeded."
"In that case, sir," responded Samson, gravely, "I have scored a
point. If, when I am through, you find that I have been employing a
subterfuge, I, fancy a touch of that bell under your finger will give
you the means of summoning an officer. I am ready to turn myself over."
Then, Samson launched into the story of his desires and the details of
conditions which outside influences had been powerless to remedy--
because they were outside influences. Some man of sufficient vigor and
comprehension, acting from the center of disturbance, must be armed
with the power to undertake the housecleaning, and for a while must do
work that would not be pretty. As far as he was personally concerned, a
pardon after trial would be a matter of purely academic interest. He
could not expect to survive a trial. He was at present able to hold the
Souths in leash. If the Governor was not of that mind, he was now ready
to surrender himself, and permit matters to take their course.
"And now, Mr. South?" suggested the Governor, after a half-hour of
absorbed listening. "There is one point you have overlooked. Since in
the end the whole thing comes back to the exercise of the pardoning
power, it is after all the crux of the situation. You may be able to
render such services as those for which you volunteer. Let us for the
moment assume that to be true. You have not yet told me a very
important thing. Did you or did you not kill Purvy and Hollis?"
"I killed Hollis," said Samson, as though he were answering a question
as to the time of day, "and I did not kill Purvy."
"Kindly," suggested the Governor, "give me the full particulars of
that affair."