lition, so I was helpless as a babe--"

"Oh, _Henry_!"

"Sure you did. Funny you don't remember that. Or else--was it the
other way around?"

"Well--"

"Well, anyhow," he said, in a slightly lower key. "I'm glad it
happened.... And you stick to me, and you'll wear diamonds yet. Great
hunks of grit, strung all over you. I'll make you look as vulgar as a
real society woman. That's the kind of man I am. A good provider--that
is, of course, _providing_."

And on Saturday morning, the _Herald_ told them that a committee from
the Reform League had waited on the Mayor for the third time, and
delivered an ultimatum.

"Oh, bother!" said Anna. "There's been something in the paper every
two or three days. It doesn't amount to a row of pins. Dad says so."

Henry inhaled deeply. "Did you see who's on that committee? Mix and
Aunt Mirabelle, of course, and if they've got it in for anybody
special, I'm it. Bob says Mix is a grand little hater; he's seen him
in action, and he says to keep an eye on him: says Mix had lined up a
buyer for the Orpheum, so naturally he's sore at me.... And then a
flock of old men just under par--I'd say they average about
ninety-seven and a half--but they're a pretty solid lot; too solid to
be booted out of _any_ Mayor's office. And if they _should_ get the
Mayor stirred up, why, we wouldn't have the chance of a celluloid rat
in a furnace.... I wish the Judge were where I could get at him. He'd
know what's going on."

"Couldn't you ask the Exhibitors Association?"

"_They_ don't know. The Judge is on the inside. Do you know when he's
coming back from his vacation?"

"Not for two or three weeks yet. But I've an intuition, dear--"

"Sure. So have I. A year from now we'll be eating our golden pheasants
off our golden plates with our gold teeth. But in the meantime, you
better keep your eye on the butcher's bill.... They tell me hash is a
great nerve-food."

CHAPTER VIII

In years the Mayor was no chicken, but in politics he had hardly
chipped his shell, so that he was still susceptible to delegations,
and sets of resolutions, and references to his solemn oath of office.
Furthermore, he had been secretly awed by Mr. Mix's eloquence; for Mr.
Mix, as spokesman of the committee, had delivered a speech which was a
brief history of both common and statutory law from the time of Solon
and Draco up to the most recent meeting of the City Council. Then, in
addition, the Mayor had been mightily