It's run by women."

Puma waited.

"They meet this evening at eight in our hall,--your hall, if you
choose."

Puma nodded carelessly.

"All right. Put them out."

"What?"

"Put 'em out!" growled Sondheim. "We don't want them there to-night or
any other night."

"You ask me to evict respectable people who pay me rent?"

"I don't ask you; I _tell_ you."

Puma turned a deep red: "And whose hall do you think it is?" he
demanded in a silky voice.

"Yours. That's why I tell you to get rid of that bunch and their
Combat Club."

"Why have you ask me such a----"

"Because they're fighting us and you know it. That's a good enough
reason."

"I shall not do so," said Puma, moistening his lips with his tongue.

"Oh, I guess you will when you think it over," sneered Sondheim,
getting up from his chair and stuffing his newspaper into his overcoat
pocket. He crossed the floor and shot an ugly glance at Puma _en
passant_. Then he jerked open the door and went out briskly.

Puma walked into the inner waiting room, where a telephone operator
sat reading a book.

"Where's McCabe?" he asked.

"Here he comes now, Governor."

The office manager sauntered up, eating a slice of apple pie, and Puma
stepped forward to meet him.

"For what reason have you permit Mr. Sondheim to wait in my office?"
he demanded.

"He said you told him to go in and wait there."

"He is a liar! Hereafter he shall wait out here. You understand,
McCabe?"

"Yes, sir. You're always out when he calls, ain't you?"

Puma meditated a few moments: "No. When he calls you shall let me
know. Then I decide. But he shall not wait in my office."

"Very good, sir." And, as Puma turned to go: "The police was here
again this evening, sir."

"Why?"

"They heard of the row in the hall last night."

"What did you tell them?"

"Oh, the muss was all swept up--windows fixed and the busted benches
in the furnace, so I said there had been no row as far as I knew, and
I let 'em go in and nose around."

"Next time," said Puma, "you shall say to them that there was a very
bad riot."

"Sir?"

"A big fight," continued Puma. "And if there is only a little damage
you shall make more. And you shall show it to the police."

"I get you, Governor. I'll stage it right; don't worry."

"Yes, you shall stage it like there never was in all of France any
ruins like my hall! And afterward," he said, half to himself, "we
shall see what we shall see."

He went b