who can do
both those, unless he chose to think himself beaten. Gentlemen, that
Stirling is a fighter and a truth-teller, and you can't beat him in his
ward. There's no use having him against us, so it's our business to see
that we have him with us. We may not be able to get him into line this
time, but we must do it in the long run. For he's not the kind that lets
go. He's beaten Nelson, and he's beaten Gallagher, both of whom are old
hands. Mark my words, in five years he'll run the sixth ward. Drop all
talk of fighting him. He is in politics to stay, and we must make it
worth his while to stay with us."

CHAPTER XXII.

POLITICS.

Peter sat up later than was prudent that night, studying his blank wall.
Yet when he rose to go to bed, he gave his head a puzzled shake. When he
had gone through his papers, and drunk his coffee the next morning, he
went back to wall-gazing again. He was working over two conundrums not
very easy to answer, which were somewhat to this effect:

Does the best man always make the best official?

Is the honest judgment of a fellow verging on twenty-four better than
the experienced opinion of many far older men?

Peter began to think life had not such clear and direct "right" and
"wrong" roads as he had thought. He had said to himself long ago that it
was easy to take the right one, but he had not then discovered that it
is often difficult to know which is the right, in order to follow it. He
had started in to punish Bohlmann, and had compromised. He had
disapproved of Dennis breaking the law, and had compromised his
disapproval. He had said he should not go into saloons, and had ended by
going. Now he was confronted with the problem whether the interests of
his ward would be better served by the nomination of a man of good
record, whom Peter personally liked, or by that of a colorless man, who
would be ruled by the city's leaders. In the one case Peter feared no
support for his measures from his own party. In the other case he saw
aid that was tantamount to success. Finally he shook himself.

"I believe Dennis is right," he said aloud. "There are more 'real'
things than 'convictions' in New York politics, and a 'real' thing is
much harder to decide about in voting than a 'conviction.'"

He went to his bedroom, packed his bag, and took his way to the station.
There he found a dense crowd of delegates and "well-wishers," both
surrounding and filling the special train which was to