u? Well, perhaps,
after a fight. But I'd be back in an hour, and with me whatever police
Upper Asquewan Falls owns to."

He saw that the opposing force wavered at this.

"I want no trouble, gentlemen," he went on. "Believe me, I shall be
happy to have your company to dinner. Your command that I withdraw is
ill-timed, not to say ill-natured and impolite. Let us all forget it."

The mayor of Reuton turned away, and his dog slid into the shadows.

"Have I your promise to stay to dinner?" went on Magee. No answer came
from the trio in the dusk. "Silence gives consent," he added gaily. "You
must excuse me while I dress. Bland, will you inform Mr. Peters that we
are to have company to dinner? Handle him gently. Emphasize the fact
that our guests are men."

He ran up the stairs. At the top of the second flight he met the girl,
and her eyes, he thought, shone in the dark.

"Oh, I'm so glad," she whispered.

"Glad of what?" asked Magee.

"That you are not on their side," she answered.

Mr. Magee paused at the door of number seven.

"I should say not," he remarked. "Whatever it's all about, I should say
not. Put on your prettiest gown, my lady. I've invited the mayor to
dinner."

CHAPTER VII

THE MAYOR BEGINS A VIGIL

One summer evening, in dim dead days gone by, an inexperienced head
waiter at Baldpate Inn had attempted to seat Mrs. J. Sanderson Clark, of
Pittsburgh, at the same table with the unassuming Smiths, of Tiffin,
Ohio. The remarks of Mrs. Clark, who was at the time busily engaged in
trying to found a first family, lingered long in the memory of those who
heard them. So long, in fact, that Miss Norton, standing with Mr. Magee
in the hotel office awaiting the signal from Peters that dinner was
ready, could repeat them almost verbatim. Mr. Magee cast a humorous look
about.

"Lucky the manners and customs of the summer folks aren't carried over
into the winter," he said. "Imagine a Mrs. Clark asked to sit at table
with the mayor of Reuton and his picturesque but somewhat soiled friend,
Mr. Max. I hope the dinner is a huge success."

The girl laughed.

"The natural nervousness of a host," she remarked. "Don't worry. The
hermit and his tins won't fail you."

"It's not the culinary end that worries me," smiled Magee. "It's the
repartee and wit. I want the mayor to feel at home. Do you know any good
stories ascribed to Congressman Jones, of the Asquewan district?"

Together they strolled to a wi