ed by what would be your personal
advantage. And I honor you f'r them feelin's which is just what I knew
you'd had, or I wouldn't be here talkin' to you now. But you mustn't
blame others if they ain't as partic'lar, mebbe, as to how things might
_look_. You mustn't blame y'r friends--and you've got a sight more of
them than you have any idea of--if they feel all broke up to see you get
in bad, both for your own sake and f'r the sake of the party."

Plonny's voice trembled with earnestness; West had had no idea that the
man admired him so much.

"You want to serve the people, Mr. West? How could you do it better than
in public orf'ce. Lemme talk to you straight f'r once--will you? Or am I
only offendin' you by buttin' in this way, without having ever been
asked?"

West gave his admirer the needed assurance.

"I'm glad of it, f'r I can hardly keep it in my system any longer.
Listen here, Mr. West. As you may have heard, there's to be a primary
f'r city orf'cers in June. Secret ballot or no secret ballot, the
organization's going to win. You know that. Now, who'll the organization
put up f'r Mayor? From what I hear, they dassen't put up any old machine
hack, same's they been doin' f'r years. They might want to do it, but
they're a-scared the people won't stand f'r it. From what little I hear,
the feelin's strong that they _got_ to put up some young progressive
public-spirited man of the reformer type. Now s'posin' the friends of a
certain fine young man, sittin' not a hundred miles from this table, had
it in their minds to bring _him_ forward f'r the nomination. This young
man might say he wasn't seekin' the orf'ce and didn't want it, but I say
public orf'ce is a duty, and no man that wants to serve the people can
refuse it, partic'larly when he may be needed to save the party. And now
I ask you this, Mr. West: What show would the friends of this young man
have, if he had a bad spot on his record? What chance'd there be of
namin' to lead the party in the city the _man who had knifed the party
in the State_?"

West's chin rested upon his hand; his gaze fell dreamily upon the
table-top. Before his mind's eye there had unrolled a favorite vision--a
white meadow of faces focussed breathlessly upon a great orator. He
recalled himself with a start, a stretch, and a laugh.

"Aren't you wandering rather carelessly into the future, Plonny?"

"If I am," said Mr. Neal, solemnly, "it's because you stand at the
crossroads to-da