At the end of the stream came Betty and Nicholson. Luke saw the girl long before she could reach him, and he smiled to her over the heads of the crowd.
"You dear!" she whispered when, at last, her hand caught his. "I’m proud of you. I’m so proud!"
"That’s the best praise of all," he said, and to her companion: "I’m glad you’re here, Mr. Nicholson."
"I was glad to be here. I admired your delivery even where I disapproved of your treatment."
"What?" laughed Luke. "Is the church going to make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness?" He was hoarse and hot and nervous, but he was too warmly aglow with his success to heed seriously the reply that Nicholson was beginning when one of his friends on the stage plucked his sleeve. He turned. "What is it?" he asked.
"Nelson wants to see you. I don’t know what about, but he says it’s very important."
"All right." Luke faced Betty and Nicholson again. "You’ll forgive me for just a moment, won’t you?" he said. "I’ll be right back, and then, if you’ll let me, I’ll drive over to Brooklyn with you both. I have a note from your father, Betty, asking me to come to the house."
"I thought he was at the office," said Betty; "but I do hope you’ll come with us."
"He’s back at the house now. This note came by messenger."
"Then," said Nicholson, "I shan’t interfere with business. I’ll go home from here. Run along, Mr. Huber. I’ll guard Miss Forbes while you’re gone."
Luke followed the man that had sought him and found Nelson standing at the farthest corner of the stage.
The wholesale druggist was in evident distress. He was an honorable man and a practical, and these qualities spoke in the lines of his troubled face. As soon as they were left together, Nelson came to the point.
Nelson was almost the last man that Luke would have expected to desert. Moreover, he had so long been prominent in the reform movement that his defection would be a serious blow to the League. Luke had to call loudly on his lethargic manner to conceal his anxiety and surprise.
"This speech of yours to-night," explained Nelson. "You’ve been getting nearer and nearer that fellow all along, but I’d no idea you meant to go right at him."
"What was the matter with the speech? I didn’t tell anything but the truth."