ideal city not only will there
be plenty of free baseball diamonds, but also golf links and tennis
courts, to invite thousands of people into the city's pleasure resorts.
A dozen playgrounds will be laid out in the congested districts. Here
trained men will teach the children of the poor how to play. These
children will be taken from the street. They will be saved from the
reformatory. They will be given good bodies to live in. In this way the
work of the police department will be diminished, for one playground is
the equivalent of several patrolmen. And it does not cost one-quarter as
much. Who knows but our Roma of tomorrow will do these things on a
grander scale than any of our cities have yet attempted? It will rival
the saloon and bring opportunities for recreation and happiness within
easy access of the poorest man's home."

But Mary Snow did not answer. She had caught Bailey Armstrong's smile as
he passed down the room, and even the ideal city faded into
insignificance as a warm thrill called the color into her cheeks, and
made Gertrude say as she glanced up at her:

"How pretty you look, Mary. I wouldn't suppose you were a day over
eighteen."

CHAPTER XII

Skirmishing

When Gertrude returned to her office a man sat waiting for her, a big,
burly looking man with an evil-looking eye.

"I want to talk with you alone," he said when she had taken her seat.
"Can't you send the others out?"

She was surprised at the request and started to say that her private
secretary must be present at all interviews; when she thought better of
it and motioned the stenographer and Miss Snow to go out.

"Now we can talk business," said the man, drawing his chair up closer.
"See here, my name is McAlister. I've the contract for laying out the
avenue from Hayden Park to the Boulevard."

"And you are doing the work?" asked Gertrude.

"Yes, I'm doing the work all right," returned McAlister. "But this smart
Alec you have in the law department may make trouble--and expense for
the city," he added.

"Just how, Mr. McAlister?" asked Gertrude so smoothly as to cause the
big contractor to take fresh courage.

"Well, you know when a lawyer is put into a public position--city
solicitor or district attorney, or whatever--the first thing he does is
to look for something that he can rip up the back."

"And what is the matter with your contract?" Her tones were dulcet now.

"Nothing at all. My contract is all right," replied