he want? His very greatness in this little town
made him accessible. It was so unthinkable a thing that any one should
intrude upon his time frivolously. But this girl! She didn't belong in
the town. Hadn't he seen her about the hotel yesterday, with that shabby
theatrical troupe?

"You will please be brief," he said. "My time is limited."

"I'll be as brief as I can," said Rose.

He sat down in his desk chair, but she did not avail herself of the
permission his half-hearted nod toward another chair accorded her;
remained standing across the table from him.

"I came to Centropolis day before yesterday," said Rose, "with a
theatrical company that failed. They went away this morning unpaid, with
nothing but tickets to Chicago. I decided to stay here and try to get
work. I applied for it at five places on Main Street this morning, and
then went to Mr. Culver at the hotel. I asked him for a position as a
waitress."

Already the judge was tapping his pencil.

"This doesn't concern me in the least," he said. "I have no possible
employment for you. I can do nothing for you. Good day!"

"Employment isn't what I want from you," said Rose. "I'll come to what I
do want in a minute."

It is safe to say that the judge hadn't been caught up with a round turn
like that in years. He stared at her now in perfectly blank amazement.

"Mr. Culver," she went on, "told me why I hadn't been successful. He
accused me of being the sort of person no decent employer would give
work to, of being a person of bad character. I convinced him, I think,
that I was not. Then he said that even though I were a perfectly honest,
decent woman, he wouldn't dare put me in his dining-room. He cited you
as the reason."

At that the judge suddenly went purple.

"Me!" he shouted.

The tension of Rose's body relaxed a little. A smile flickered just
instantaneously over her mouth.

"He used you as an example," she explained. "He said that you were the
most important person in the county; that your opinion counted for the
most. He said that you were a regular patron of his hotel, and that
you'd object seriously to giving your order, as he said, to a 'busted
actress.'"

"That's perfectly unwarranted," fumed the judge. "Culver had no right to
use my name like that. It's outrageous!"

"I hoped you'd feel that way," said Rose.

The judge pounded on the desk. "That's not what I mean. He had no right
to drag me into it at all; into a miserable business