[Illustration: "It seems to me I can never outlive this moment of joyouswelcome. "]

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A Woman For Mayor

A Novel of To-day

ByHelen M. Winslow

Author of "Literary Boston of Today, " etc. Former Editor of "The Club Woman"

Frontispiece byWalter Dean Goldbeck

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Copyright 1909byThe Reilly & Britton Co. 

All rights reserved

Published June, 1909

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LIST OF CHAPTERS

CHAPTER PAGE

 I An Unprecedented Proposal 11

 II A Perplexed Reformer 23

 III Learning the Ropes 35

 IV Practical Politics 55

 V The Opposition Candidate 65

 VI A Political Trick 77

 VII An Unusual Ride 90

 VIII Modern Journalism 102

 IX Election Day 112

 X The New Mayor's Policy 125

 XI At Work 140

 XII Skirmishing 152

 XIII An Important Appointment 166

 XIV Graft 177

 XV Setting the Trap 191

 XVI Divided Interests 207

 XVII A Dumbfounded Populace 220

XVIII A Futile Search 230

 XIX The Boodlers Score 240

 XX An Enforced Vacation 247

 XXI Word from the Missing 261

 XXII A Daring Escape 273

XXIII The Hearts of the People 284

 XXIV An Honest Confession 295

 XXV The Old, Old Story 310

 XXVI Retrospect and Prophecy 326

XXVII A Heart's Awakening 338

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FOREWORD

"Chimerical!" the average man will exclaim when he reads the title ofthis book. 

"But why not?" his wife will answer. 

"Worth trying, " the reformers and philanthropists will add. 

"One of us, " the suffragette will conclude. 

And there may be a grain of truth in every answer. But the idea is notabsolutely new. At this writing, there is a woman-mayor in one of thesmaller cities of the middle states in America; while over in Englandthere are, I believe, two women doing good work in the municipal chair. 

And again, "Why not?" Housekeeping is a woman's business. It is theprimeval instinct at the bottom of every woman's heart. The averageAmerican and English home is a clean, sweet, sanitary and well-governedinstitution, --made and kept so by some woman. God made women to bewives, mothers and home-makers; and if our modern conditions have sentsome of us out into the world to earn our own living and perhaps tosupport somebody else, the instinct remains--as witness the thousands oftiny flats or cottages where these women dwell and maintain a home, "beit ever so humble. " And so, if we are the natural housekeepers, theconservators of health and morals and civic pride, why not a woman atthe head of municipal affairs?

The suffragette, the reformer, the philanthropist, the average wife areright, too. As for the average man--let him read the story of Roma'swoman-mayor and think it over. And if he does not decide to vote for awoman as mayor, perhaps he will come to see that woman's housekeepinginstinct and newly awakened civic sense, added to a revival of publichonesty among men, might well combine to make a model city. 

If "it is not good for man to live alone, " perhaps it is not well forhim to manage his City Hall alone. After all, is it "chimerical?"

 H. M. W. Cambridge, Mass. May, 1909. 

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A WOMAN FOR MAYOR

CHAPTER I

An Unprecedented Proposal

"Well, why shouldn't we change it?" asked Mrs. Bateman, as she scoopedout the grape-fruit that formed the first course at the P. W. 's regularmonthly luncheon. 

"Change it? Change what?--How?" asked several voices at once. 

"The state of affairs in this city, " pursued Mrs. Bateman calmly. "Ihave been thinking things over since I got home this fall. Everybodyagrees that our little city is going to the dogs; that municipal affairswere never so muddled as now. And now, here is Barnaby Burke runningfor mayor, with a ravenous pack of demagogues behind him. "

"Yes, and not a decent man to run against him, " added Cornelia Jewett. 

"I don't see why, " began the fluffy little woman in light blue, "I don'tsee why no genuine, honest, upright gentleman will allow his name to beused. Rudolph says it has got so that nobody but a politician willconsent to be mayor of Roma. "

"They're all afraid of the demagogues, " put in another. "There's AlbertTurner; he ought to stand as a candidate. But I suppose he wouldn't?"She turned to a large fair lady across the table who was placidlyconsuming her soup. 

"My husband isn't interested in politics, " was the reply. "His businessaffairs are too pressing. "

"That's the trouble with most of the men, " commented another. "They aretoo much absorbed in their own affairs to care much what happens to thecommunity. We need a little more of the socialistic spirit. "

"Oh, dreadful!" muttered another. "We shall be preaching anarchy next. "

"And Granville Mason--or Geoffrey Bateman, " added the fluffy lady inblue. 

"My husband said last night that politics had sunk to such a pass inthis town that no decent man would touch the City Hall with a pair oftongs, " said Mrs. Mason. "That's the answer he gave a couple of men whocame from Headquarters to ask him to stand. And he said that whateverdecent man accepted the nomination was sure to be defeated. He doesn'tcare to be the figure-head of Defeat. "

"That's the way they all feel, " said Gertrude Van Deusen. "I wish Iwere a man. I'd run for mayor! I wouldn't let the figure of Defeat worryme. I'd make a fight, I would, and we'd see if the demagogues hadeverything their own way. "

"Why not run, then?" asked Mrs. Bateman, smiling across the table. 

"I'd get every decent man roused up, for once, " said Gertrude, enthusiastically, "I'd go into every ward and organize--as they do. I'dwork among the poor, the illiterate, the unfortunate; and I'd rouse therich and educated, too. That's the class that need awakening in thistown. "

"Then you're the right candidate, " said Mrs. Bateman. "Why don't youtake it? Really, now, why not?"

"O, Mrs. Bateman, I was only imagining a case. " Miss Van Deusen wasblushing and confused now. "Of course I couldn't run for office, notreally. "

"Why not?" asked the elder woman in the calm, judicial way which madeher a leader among women. "Why not? The town is going to the dogs--orrather, to the demagogues. We need a complete revolution in Roma. Wewomen have the vote in this state; why not take matters into our ownhands? Why not have a woman for mayor?"

"O-o-oh!" gasped several of her hearers in the slight pause. 

"Think of the field of activities that would open up before a goodwoman, " she went on. "The condition of our paupers, of our children'sinstitutions, of our schools. Think of the intemperance and the vagrancyand the immorality that flourish under our very noses. Yes, and themachine-politics that keep them flourishing. Oh, there is so much to bedone, and our good men too busy, or--as they claim--too high-minded tomeddle with it. "

"Then what would, what could a decent woman do with it?" demanded Mrs. Jewett. 

"Walk through it like an angel of light, " answered Mrs. Bateman. "Ladies, we as the 'Progressive Workers' have labored ten years toeffect reforms in this town, to further the interests of the schools, the poor, the dependent. What have we accomplished?"

"Why, why, a little, " replied Mrs. Jewett. "Enough to have made ournames respected and--yes, a little to be feared. "

"But not enough, " resumed Mrs. Bateman. "Not so much as we ought to havedone. Not so much as we might have done had the City Council been with, instead of against us, or at best, merely tolerant of us. Now here isour opportunity. The lower element has put up a man, notoriously badand unfit, to be mayor. The better side is all at sea. Our old mayor(weak enough, but infinitely better than Barnaby Burke) is ill with anincurable disease, and no one whose name inspires the least particle ofconfidence has been mentioned yet to take his place. Let us put up agood, whole-souled, fearless woman and get her elected. "

"Impossible!" said Mrs. Jewett. 

"We can do it, " said the fluffy woman in blue. "My husband would helpus; I know he would. "

"But who?" asked Mrs. Mason. "Where could we find the woman?"

"Right here in our ranks, " said Mrs. Bateman. "One of our own members. Gertrude, you're just the woman for us. "

Miss Van Deusen did not answer. Only the quick flush showed how thepossibilities of the moment found echo in the consternation at herheart. 

"You are independent both by nature and by inheritance. You representthe best element of our citizens, you have means and time, you are boundby no family ties, and you have the kind of courage for the position, "urged Mrs. Bateman. 

"What will the men say?" reflected Mrs. Jewett. 

"It'll give 'em a shock, " murmured Mrs. Mason, decidedly. "They need ashock. Yes, Gertrude, you are just the woman to try it, --to try for it, I mean. We'll all work for you, --and with you. "

"Now, ladies, let us look the situation squarely in the face, " said Mrs. Bateman. "I've lain awake many a night of late, thinking out things. Itwill mean a tremendous amount of hard and systematic work to elect awoman to the mayor's chair in Roma. But if we are thoroughly organizedand can get some of the men's leagues and clubs to endorse us, I believewe can win. Think of it seriously a few minutes, and let us keep silencefor a little while. "

Then ensued the strange spectacle of fifteen women sitting atluncheon--speechless. It was a custom they had, whenever an importantsubject came up for discussion, to take ten or fifteen minutes forsilent thought instead of wasting that time in discussion that did notget anywhere; so that when the moment for talking arrived theclub-members, being accustomed to exert their mental powers, wereprepared to advance and weigh such arguments as might be brought forth. 

"Gertrude, " said Mrs. Bateman at last, "you haven't spoken yet. You seeyour civic duty?"

"It will call for an appalling amount of courage and self-reliance andbelief in the ideals of good government, " began Gertrude--and stopped. Her voice thrilled with a new emotion and her fine eyes glowed withprophetic hopefulness. 

"But the best people would be all with you, " put in a young woman at theother end of the table. 

"Would they, I wonder?" queried Miss Van Deusen. "From the time of theNazarene down to today, some of the best people have found itinexpedient to stand by the right when it was presented in strange ornew guise; and surely this would be a novel innovation--a woman formayor. "

"But you have courage enough, " urged Mrs. Mason. 

"If there was ever a woman with ideals, " said Mary Snow, a newspaperwoman who had not yet spoken, "her name was--is Gertrude Van Deusen. "

"Friends, " said Miss Van Deusen, "I'm going to stick to my guns. I saidin my haste that I'd never let the figure-head of Defeat worry or scareme; that I would put up a fight. Well, I'll make the fight, I'll standfor the nomination and if I get it, for election. "

"Three cheers for Gertrude Van Deusen, " cried Mrs. Mason, and a vigorousround of hand-claps was her answer. Handkerchiefs were waved and therewas excitement among the P. W. 's. 

"My husband has just got to take the stump for you, " said the fluffywoman. "I'll make him. "

"Thank you, Bella, " was Miss Van Deusen's reply. "I suppose I shall beemblazoned and lauded and berated in the newspapers, and shall come outat the end of the campaign with scarcely a rag of reputation left, whether I win or lose. "

"You are going to win, Gertrude, " said Mrs. Bateman calmly. 

"Yes, I'm going to win, " answered the younger woman. And as she sat withher handsome head thrown hack and her far-seeing gaze looking out andpast the assembled women into the stormy future, not one of themdoubted, at the moment, the truth of her confident prophecy. 

CHAPTER II

A Perplexed Reformer

The chairman of the Roma Municipal League had just finished dictatinghis morning's letters and was leaning back in his half-turned swivelchair. At another desk his secretary worked perfunctorily, awaitingorders from his chief. 

"Anything from Wilkins?" asked the latter. 

"Worse. Won't live many weeks. Going South tomorrow, " answered thesecretary. 

"Or Bateman?--or Mason?"

"Mason wouldn't touch politics with a pair of tongs, --so he says, " thesecretary answered. "As for Judge Bateman, --I tell you, Allingham, ifsuch men as he would do their duty, there'd be some hope of cleaning outthe Augean stables. But it's hopeless. There isn't a decent Republicancitizen in this town who'll take hold with us, --I mean as candidate formayor. "

"The more shame to Roma, then, " said Allingham. "Things have come to apretty state of graft when--"

He stopped suddenly, for the door was opening and Mrs. Bateman walkedin. With her were two other women, one white-haired and graciouslydignified, the other young and tall and handsome. 

"Good-morning, Mr. Allingham, " said Mrs. Bateman, taking the hand whichthe young man, coming forward, stretched forth. "May I present you toMrs. Stillman and Miss Van Deusen? And may we have a few minutes' talkwith you?"

"Certainly, " he replied, wondering what these society women could wantwith the Municipal League, "certainly. Be seated. "

The secretary slipped quietly from the room while the visitors drew upin a half-circle around the chairman's desk. 

"We are sure to give you a surprise, " began Mrs. Bateman, "so we may aswell tell you at once. We are going to enter city politics. "

"That's good, " answered Allingham. "I trust you're going to offer us anavailable candidate for mayor? That's the greatest need in Roma today. "

"We are, " said Mrs. Bateman, smiling. 

"Good!" cried Allingham, with enthusiasm. "I was just saying to Morgan, here, that if Judge Bateman would consent to run, --or rather, he wassaying it and I was assenting, when you came in. I hope you're going tooffer the Judge on the altar of municipal duty, Mrs. Bateman. He wouldcarry the city. "

"No, indeed. Better than that, " replied the Judge's wife. 

"Far better, we think, " added Mrs. Stillman. 

"Mr. Allingham, the women of Roma are going to put forth their owncandidate, " pursued Mrs. Bateman. 

"Good, again. Since the women can vote, I don't see why, if you all getout and work, you can't elect anybody you see fit. "

"O, do you think so? Do you really believe that?" said Gertrude VanDeusen, who had not spoken before. 

"I do, " solemnly asseverated the young man. "'You women can do whateveryou undertake. Women without the vote can do almost anything theychoose, here in the United States. But where they have the right ofsuffrage, they have absolutely everything in their hands. You've givenme great courage. For, if you women really mean business, and will joinyour forces with the Municipal League--" he paused a little. 

"That's why we have come, " said Mrs. Stillman. 

"Then we are sure of victory. Now if you can bring Judge Bateman or, --abetter man, I think you said, --to accept the nomination, we canoverthrow the gang of grafters at City Hall and establish goodgovernment here in Roma once more. Who is your man?"

"Miss Gertrude Van Deusen. " Mrs. Bateman's eyes twinkled as shepronounced the name; for she knew well the conservative positionoccupied by all the Allingham family on 'the woman question. '

The chairman of the Municipal League gasped. Surely he had not heardaright. He turned to the younger woman, who sat smiling at him, confident of his support. Alas! What had he been saying?

"I am delighted to feel that we have the Municipal League behind us, "Mrs. Bateman was saying. "We mean to arouse every woman in this town, and make them vote, ----"

"But, ladies, " began Allingham, already floundering in the dust ofexpediency, "have you thought?--Do you realize what you are doing? Underordinary circumstances--in well-regulated towns perhaps, --but a womanfor mayor?--In Roma? I'm afraid it wouldn't do. "

"But you just said we could do anything we pleased?" began Mrs. Stillman. 

"In the way of help, yes, " replied the chairman, sore beset. "But thiswould be such an innovation. "

"Now, Jack Allingham, " said Mrs. Bateman, who had known him all hislife, "I know this comes with a shock to you, --I know how difficult theproblem seems at this minute. But don't decide now. Take time to think. Consult with some of your leaders. We want your co-operation. We believethat together we can establish the right kind of government in CityHall. But we are determined to fight for our candidate, --and to win. Unless, indeed, you succeed in putting up a much better man than any yetmentioned for the place. "

"Then here is where you throw down the glove?" asked Allingham, recovering his equanimity, "and I've to--"

"You're not to decide until you've had time to think, to reason withyourself, to consult your leaders, and to arrive at a conclusion, "answered Mrs. Bateman, rising. "And now, we'll go. "

They said good-by and left him standing in the middle of the room, dazedand indignant at the tide of affairs. Even then he noted that turn ofMiss Van Deusen's fine shoulders and the invincible way she carried herhead. 

"What a splendid woman she must be, " he said to himself. "Agenuine, --but I'm an egregious idiot, --a blanked blunderer. A prettyscrape I am in! Why didn't I wait until they declared themselves? AndMiss Van Deusen! She must think me a fool. But a woman for mayor, indeed!"

"What do you suppose I've just heard?" exclaimed the secretary, hurryingin again. "Blatchley says the club women of Roma are going into thecampaign with a vengeance, --that they are going to put up a woman--thedaughter of old Senator Van Deusen. I don't believe it. --And yet, wasn'tshe one of those women who just went out?"

"She was, " replied Allingham. "She is. Whether she will be, remains tobe seen. You can't tell what a woman--"

"Then it's true?" Morgan's tone was incredulous. 

"Yes, I suppose so, " returned the chairman. "The women are going to turnin and work. It is possible they may win. But what a thing for Roma todo! I don't see how we can--"

"Then they came for help from the League?" asked Morgan, still moreincredulously. 

"They came, " replied Allingham, "to offer to co-operate with us. Theyasked no help, come to think of it; they just offered to co-operate andthey seem to have a very definite idea of what they are going todo, --women!" he finished abruptly, remembering his rash endorsement oftheir plans before their unfolding. 

"I'm not certain but it would be a good thing for the town, " began thesecretary. "A radical change would--"

"Morgan, " interrupted his chief, "we should make ourselves ridiculous, we should be a laughing-stock for the whole state. I shall neverconsent, " he added, with the more heat when he recalled Gertrude'sconfident poise and--how he had already half pledged himself to theircause. 

"I suppose you'll call a meeting of the committee to consider theirplan?" asked Morgan. "If they are really in earnest, these women are afactor to be seriously considered, whether for or against. "

"Oh, yes, I suppose so, " answered Allingham, turning back to his desk. "But I was brought up to believe a woman's place was at home with herhusband and children. "

"So was I, " said Morgan, who was a privileged friend as well assecretary. "But the teachings of twenty years ago are out of placetoday. Indeed, they are as old-fashioned as they were a hundred yearsbefore. Miss Van Deusen is a magnificent woman, --the fit daughter of theold Senator. "

"You know her?" said Allingham, irrelevantly. 

"Well, no, not exactly. I've met her. But my cousins know her well, andshe must be, --from all I hear, a thoroughly womanly woman. And, they allsay, will marry Armstrong. "

"Let her keep out of politics, then, " growled Allingham. "Look here. Awoman like that, according to my mind, would better get down on herknees and scrub her own front stairs than try to clean out City Hall. And she's not the woman for either job. "

He chewed his moustache savagely, and strode out of the room, knockingover his chair in the process and causing his stenographer considerablealarm as he banged the door together on his way out. Morgan lookedafter him and smiled. 

CHAPTER III

Learning the Ropes

The next morning's newspapers were embellished with scare-head-lines, all more or less complimentary to the women's candidate. 

 "WOMEN TAKE MATTERS IN THEIR OWN HANDS. "

 "SENATOR'S DAUGHTER RUNS FOR MAYOR. "

 "MEN TO BE LAID ON THE POLITICAL SHELF. "

 "SENATOR VAN DEUSEN WILL TURN IN HIS GRAVE IF DAUGHTER ACCEPTS NOMINATION. "

were some of the head-lines which Roma editors had produced by late useof midnight oil, and the articles that followed them were incredulous, mildly tolerant, openly snobbish or given over to ridicule, according tothe policy of their several papers. 

One of them read:

 "It is both a disgrace and a menace to this fair city that city politics have sunk to such a level that our best men will have nothing to do with them, and that no one with the ideals of good government, other than a handful of women, will undertake the improvement of our municipal government. With all deference to the ladies, --and who knows their many charming qualities better than we?--it is inevitable that, 'trained to keep silence in the churches'--(and the City Hall as well)--our women are without the large-minded grasp of affairs, --the broad and liberal judgment, necessary to cope with these affairs. Neither can we as self- respecting husbands and fathers, consent to see them so belittle their own dignity and influence as to step out into the arena of public life. The election of a woman, --no matter how able and high-minded she might be, --would be a step downward for our city. It can never be. "

Another editor said:

 "The late Senator Van Deusen was one of the most distinguished jurists in the country. He had a mind singularly open to the best interests of his native town; his constituents always knew where to find him on questions of law and polity. He did not favor woman suffrage, nor giving important offices to the 'weaker sex'; although personally he was distinguished by a gentle courtesy for and towards women. What, then, would he say to this wild proposition of a few so-called 'progressive' women to put his daughter in the mayoral chair of Roma? Verily he would turn in his grave. Neither can we believe that this movement has the sanction of one who was so near and dear to the late senator's heart, nor that Miss Van Deusen herself has given her consent to let her name be used as candidate for the highest office in the city. "

A third paper announced:

 "It is not to be wondered at that the women of Roma, casting around them to view the kind of men who occupy high seats in Roma politics, should say 'we will have none of them' and should desire to enforce a little petticoat government themselves. Roma has long been proud of its homes, its wives, its mothers and its housekeepers. Perhaps it would be for the public good, were we to set a few of these model housewives to cleaning up City Hall. Let them go ahead and elect a woman-mayor. Then let her proceed to eject the money-changers from the temple. Perhaps the women can do it. Certainly we men cannot, --or do not. "

Gertrude Van Deusen read these articles during the hour after breakfastwhen a woman loves to "drop down" for a little in her library, with herfeet to the fire, as if to gather her forces for the day. 

"It is what I must expect, I suppose, " she said to the cousin who sharedher home. "Man's favorite method of defeating a candidate from timeimmemorial has been to villify him in the newspapers. What can a merewoman expect?"

"Well, it all adds to the gaiety of politics, " returned her cousin. "What shall you do about it?"

"Nothing. At least, I don't know. I have already sent for Bailey. Hewill advise me. He knows all the ins and outs of politics. "

"And he's secretary of the Union Club, isn't he?" asked the cousin. "Atleast, he was. Although that isn't a political club, still its influencewould be worth a great deal. "

"If we can get it, " added Gertrude. 

Bailey Armstrong was her second cousin and since the Senator's death hadacted as adviser to Miss Van Deusen whenever she could be imagined toneed advice. He was a rising lawyer with considerable politicalinfluence, and, what cheered the two women most this morning, he was athorough feminist. 

Senator Van Deusen had been dead only three years. He had left a largefortune to his daughters, one of whom had married and gone to Europe. The other lived here on the handsome estate that had long been one ofthe show-places of the town. Surrounded by every luxury, with no wantleft unsupplied, there were many to wonder why Gertrude should consentto be a candidate for public office. But her wealth had not so carefullyguarded her that the modern unrest of her sex could not penetrate hersoul, and she was strongly possessed of a desire to do something for thepublic good. 

Educated thoroughly and broadly, in an American college and later atGirton, her mind had been developed still further through constantassociation with her father. Her life with him in Washington hadunfitted her for the fashionable career which she might have had if shehad desired. Several times her hand had been sought in marriage, once bya diplomat of renown, but so far love had not touched her heart and shewas not a woman to marry for any other cause. She was now thirty andlooking forward instead of backward (as unmarried women of her age oncedid) towards a "career. "

"I think Bailey will run in on his way down town, " she said, rising andwalking to the front window, where her slight form stood silhouettedagainst the late-September sunshine that shimmered and filtered throughthe plate glass. "There's the postman. "

A moment later a letter was handed in to her. She tore it open and read:

 "Dear Miss Van Deusen:

 I've just heard, privately, that the Municipal League has turned us down. How's that for their boasted progress and reform? For they will combine with the Burke crowd. But never mind. Keep a brave heart and we'll win out yet. Yours to command, Mary Snow. "

"You're wanted at the telephone, " said the maid at the door, andGertrude hurried out to find that it was Mrs. Bateman at the other endof the wire. 

"I'm so wrathy, I don't know what to say, " she began. "I have a letterfrom John Allingham. Shall I read it to you?"

"Oh, yes, " said Gertrude. 

"Well, --'Dear Mrs. Bateman:' he begins. 'At a meeting of ourdirectors last night, we decided, --regretfully, I beg you tobelieve, --that it would not be wise nor safe for the Municipal League toaccept the woman's candidate for mayor. We beg that you will change yourmind and select, if you choose (or at least, endorse) a good man forthat office. In which case we shall gladly meet you more than half wayin any plan you may have for his election. Awaiting your reply andhoping most earnestly for your reconsideration and co-operation with us, I am, Most respectfully yours, John Allingham, Chairman. '

There! What do you think of that?"

"I'm not surprised, " answered Gertrude. "Did you not perceive howuncomfortable he was when he discovered who our candidate was--after allhis talk about the influence of women in public affairs? He began tocrawl and hedge even then. "

"I know it, " Mrs. Bateman replied, "but I didn't think he would goagainst us. He's always been such a nice boy. But now, --"

"Moreover, " interrupted Gertrude, "I've just heard that the League willcombine with the Burke forces, if it comes to a choice between us. "

"Oh--not so bad as that, " said Mrs. Bateman. "What are you going to do?It doesn't frighten you?"

"My dear, " and Gertrude's gentle tone had a ring that was familiar tothose who had known the Senator, "did you ever know a Van Deusen toscare easily? They may defeat me, but they will not frighten me. I'vesent for Bailey and after I've had a good long confab with him, I'll runover to talk with you. "

"That's good. You're true blue, " was the response. 

As Gertrude turned from the telephone, Bailey Armstrong was entering. 

"Well, well, what's this I hear?" he exclaimed, coming forward withoutstretched hand. "You'll have Roma shaken to its foundations if youkeep on. --And I suppose you'll keep on?" he added, with a keen look intoher eyes. 

"I am my father's daughter, " she replied, and led the way into thelibrary, where she told him her latest news. 

"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been there last night myself, "said Bailey. "There was a pretty hot discussion. Some of us want to helpyou, but the majority want a precedent back of them. And there's noprecedent for a woman-mayor, you know. Say, Gertie, are you fullydetermined to run?--because the Augean stables aren't exactly whatyou've been accustomed to, --and that's what you will find. "

"I'm fully determined, " answered the other quietly. 

"That settles it, then, " said the young man. "Now let's plan out thework. "

"Then you're going to help, Bailey. "

"Sure thing. Want me?"

"Of course we do. "

"Not 'we, ' Gertie, --I, " he answered in a voice as quiet and asdetermined as hers. "Now, I've been through several campaigns and am notonly a good fighter, but I'm conceited enough to believe I'm a prettygood organizer, --and that's a hundred times better. "

"Well, tell me just how to go to work to enlist the multitude, to winthe populace;--in short, to get votes, " said Gertrude. "How do Ibegin?"

"Well, there are two ways, " answered the young man. "If you were a man Iwould say, you can break in by sheer force of audacity, without definitepurpose; or, you can enter quietly, with a fixed principle in mind whichyou wish to see worked out in public life. The first is the old idea, the latter is the new. "

"And the old way?" said Gertrude. 

"Well, if you enter in the old-fashioned way, you will have to placeyourself at the disposal of the chairman of some campaign committee inthe city; you will read a great deal of 'literature' prepared by thecommittee, mostly vituperative nonsense about the opposing party; youwill learn this by heart, follow the red light and the brass band to thenearest 'stump, ' and mixing what you have read, but not thought out, with some stories of considerable age and questionable humor, willdeliver it all to a bored and weary audience, confident that you haveestablished a reputation for eloquence. 

"By this time you will feel like a full-fledged politician; you willbecome mysterious and tell everybody everything you know in confidence;secret conferences will be held behind closed doors; old clothes and aslouchy manner will be brought out to catch the labor vote; you willspeak to all sorts of people, and call them by their first names, thinking all the time that, if a candidate, you would lead your ticket. As a matter of fact, you may have lost hundreds of votes. "

"Yes, " said Gertrude with spirit, "and then I would be taken up by themachine. They would call me a budding genius and I should look upon theboss as a great man. "

"Yes, " pursued Bailey, "until you begin to think for yourself. Then itwill occur to you as strange that in a representative government youshould be selected as a candidate of your party recommended as you havebeen; still more strange that the platform upon which you are to run wasset up in type in the newspaper offices several hours before theconvention which nominates you met, and had been submitted to thepresident of the railroad that runs through your town for his approvalor revision. "

"Yes, --and then, " broke in Gertrude, "some day by accident, if I takethe trouble to read at all I shall notice in a statute a little clauseconcealed in fifty pages of meaningless verbiage, which grants an unjustand special privilege to certain interests closely connected with thedominant party in state politics. I shall be unable to reconcile thislaw with my ideas of fair play and justice, and it will occur to methat possibly it is a mistake, which can easily be remedied by appealingto the 'party leaders. '"

"And so you protest, " Bailey chimed in, "and in your sweet and charminginnocence you suggest that this law be amended and the special privilegeabolished. The bland smile that greets your remark will get on yournerves, and you will sit down to think it over; and when you havecleared your brain of cobwebs, you will realize for the first time thatmachine politics, to which you have been an unconscious party, hasnothing whatever to do with ideas, principles or policies, but is purelya game of money in its last analysis; that it is a scheme to enrich afew at the expense of the many--"

"And all accomplished under the folds of the flag in the name of the'grand old party' of Abraham Lincoln, that freed the slaves, or thegreat party of Thomas Jefferson, that 'preserves the fundamental rightsof man', " finished Gertrude. "When the white light begins to play uponall my surroundings in political life, I shall become disgusted and comeback to sweet home-life, --or else turn around and have the fight of mylife. "

"I reckon, " said Bailey, smiling, "that you didn't live several years inWashington--or are a great senator's daughter for nothing. But all this, you know, is the old way. You won't follow politics after this fashion. You will take up the 'new idea in politics, ' which simply means thatreforms should be brought about by the injection of ideas and principlesat the outset rather than by campaigns against individuals forwrong-doing. It further means that everything should be done in the openand by the people themselves rather than by a few bosses who haveallied themselves with the corporations in nearly all the states of theUnion. "

"To be of service politically, then, according to the rules of the 'newidea, ' the candidate must first ally himself with one of the organizedpolitical parties in the country?" asked Gertrude. "But what if theywill not have you?"

"No, " replied Bailey, "I do not mean to say that this is absolutelynecessary, for there are many useful men who do not ally themselves withany party; but experience has shown, I think, that one can be of thegreatest service and do the most useful work by joining a party andexerting himself at the primaries, where all government begins, to makehis party stand for definite principles rather than remain anorganization devoted solely to the task of dispensing patronage. --Andthere are other allies than the Municipal League, " he added. "No. Firstmake a thorough study of the political situation in Roma. I presume youhave done this already. You will find that not two per cent of thevoters go to the primaries. The ring selects the delegates and their mennominate the candidates as they are told. There is no contest and theworst men get put in offices by the money from some trolley or railroador other interest, simply because the people do not know--and will nottake the trouble to find out what is going on. But you women can get upmass-meetings and attend primaries and do all these things, and if thereis not a pretty general waking up in this town before next January, thenI'll lose my guess. "

"We'll do it, " said Gertrude. "And I believe, --am I too confident when Isay it?--that we can win. "

"Well, if not, we can arouse this community as it never has been yet, "was the reply. "We can wake up the people, and educate them to anintelligent vote. And we'll elect you yet, Gertie, --see if we don't. "

And five minutes later, when Bailey had left for his down-town office, Gertrude was asking herself, "Why couldn't John Allingham behave assensibly? He cannot be right and Bailey wrong. No. But I wish--"

She wheeled about very decisively and went upstairs for her hat; forthings must be talked over with Mrs. Bateman. 

CHAPTER IV

Practical Politics

A few nights later several gentlemen could be seen entering the VanDeusen mansion, where they were greeted by Gertrude and her cousin, Jennie Craig. With them, too, were Mrs. Bateman, Mrs. Mason, and Mrs. Stillman. They had all met to organize the Reform Club, at BaileyArmstrong's suggestion, and he had enlisted a few of the leading membersof the Union Club. 

Miss Van Deusen's candidacy had been talked over at the clubhouse aselsewhere, and most of the members being old friends of her father orherself had agreed, more or less cautiously, to support her. JohnAllingham, with a few of the most conservative members, had preventedthe Union Club from officially endorsing her, but he could not keep theseveral members from exercising their prerogative to work for whom theychose. And so while the Municipal League was holding a meeting at oneend of the town to see if there were not some available candidate todefeat her, the new City Reform Club was being started at the other, tofurther the cause of Gertrude Van Deusen. 

Judge Bateman opened the meeting and was made moderator, and later, elected president of the new organization, with Bailey Armstrong assecretary. 

"You announce yourself here, Miss Van Deusen, " asked the Judge afterthese preliminaries, "as candidate for mayor?"

"I do, " was the answer. 

"Then it becomes our affair to endorse you and to prepare our definiteplan of work. That it is a most unusual, perhaps unheard-of thing tooffer a young woman as candidate for the mayor's chair, we all know, goes without saying. But it seems to some of us sufficient reason forgoing down on our knees with thankfulness that a good and an able womanwill consent to serve her city in such capacity. And we owe it to her, to ourselves as men, and to our city as voters and citizens, that weshall go out and work for her. Has anyone a definite plan of action?"

Nearly every man in the room spoke in the same strain and before teno'clock their campaign was planned. Then the newspapers were called upand reporters began to appear. The next morning Roma had its secondsensation. A leading editorial ran thus:

 "Last night at the residence of the late Senator Van Deusen, a number of the most prominent men and women of this town met and organized the City Reform Club, and incidentally endorsed the candidacy of Miss Gertrude Van Deusen for mayor. If this organization, which welcomes representatives from all political parties, accomplishes half of what it has set itself to do, last night will have been a historical date for Roma. It has begun with a few aristocratic leaders, but we are inclined to believe the membership will soon embrace all grades of social as well as political voters; for careless as we have been in the past, the citizens of Roma desire to stand for the best things--to have the best schools, the best citizens, the best government in the state. The chief reason, perhaps, why we have them not, is that the people have not been in touch with the executive department. The people have known nothing of what was going on at City Hall. Now and then, we have attempted to lift the veil, but we all have been lax and easily turned aside. We confess it with shame; but we promise, as for this newspaper, to do better; and we publicly declare ourselves this morning as in sympathy with the new Reform Club. From now on The Atlas will champion the candidacy of Miss Gertrude Van Deusen as mayor of Roma, just as, for many years, we were proud to hold aloft the banner of her father, the late Senator Van Deusen. "

When Gertrude read this she sat half-dazed for a moment, and thenclapped her hands with gleeful surprise. 

"What is it?" asked her cousin. 

"The Atlas has come out for me. It endorses the Reform Club--and me. That's some of Bailey's work. "

"Yes. I hope you appreciate what Bailey is doing for you, " said MissCraig. "He would make a good mayor, himself. "

"There are a dozen men in Roma who would be good mayors, " answeredGertrude, "if they would. But they will not. Hence--well, I'm going to acaucus tonight. Are you going with me?"

"Oh, no, I think not. I'll go when and where it is necessary to cast myvote for you, Gertie, " said Miss Craig. "But for the rest--excuse me. "

Mrs. Bateman and the Judge accompanied Miss Van Deusen, however, to thenearly empty room where the first primary was being held. It was in anoutlying ward, and the few men who stood about were wonder-stricken atthe presence of women, --although they had seen the sex out on electiondays in plenty. 

"Now you are seeing just how politics in Roma has been managed for adecade past. Right there in that corner, " said the Judge, "you find adoor with a slit in it through which you deposit your ballot. No recordis kept of your vote, and behind the door sit the leaders of the ring, already making up the returns, which show, without doubt, as this is ahostile ward, that your delegates were defeated by an overwhelmingmajority. Tomorrow the ring newspaper, which prints all the legalnotices of the county and receives a generous income through theadvertisement of corporations allied with the ring, and whose proprietoris promised a commissionership by the governor who is backing the ring, will notify its readers that the selfish office-seekers, who hadcontested in the primaries, have received a stinging rebuke at the handsof the voters, and their villainous attempts to destroy the party, whichhad so unselfishly devoted itself to the interests of the community, have fallen to the ground. "

"And must this be allowed?" asked Mrs. Bateman. 

"No, " and the Judge's tones rang firmly. "We will call a mass-meeting inevery district in the city, right away; we, --you, Miss Van Deusen, aswell as I and the others, --must address the people, telling them what wemean to do, and how. "

"I never faced an audience of men in my life, " answered Gertrude, "but Ican do it--and I will. "

From that time on, there were meetings and caucuses and primaries everynight. _The Atlas_ was the only newspaper that came out openly, "thering" sheet villified the "woman-question, " while the others remaineddiscreetly on the fence. But _The Atlas_ had the largest circulation andits editorial policy had considerable weight with the citizens. 

The "Progressive Workers" did everything possible to illustrate theirname. Every woman of the two hundred worked and talked in and out ofseason. They attended primaries, they called mass-meetings in everydistrict in the city, they provided speakers at these "rallies" (some ofthe best from their own membership) and they saw, personally, editorsand political leaders wherever they might be found. Gertrude Van Deusen, herself, appeared on the platform at most of these meetings, attended byMrs. Bateman, Mrs. Stillman and others of the leading women of Roma; andan increasing number of voters were won over to her side, as theylistened to her clear voice giving utterance to calm and judicialopinions, worthy the daughter of Roma's pet senator. Even her intimatefriends were surprised to note the accuracy with which she comprehendedthe city's needs and the insight which she had gained into the existingstate of municipal affairs. 

"A long head, that woman's got, " remarked one business man to another, as they left one of the rallies. "If she could get the mayoralty I'minclined to think she'd make Roma sit up and take notice. I'm halfinclined to vote for her myself. "

"Oh, pshaw!" returned the other, "she's astute enough--like her fatherbefore her. But you can't tell anything about it. Let the women get thepower and they'll soon have a ring and a machine and their bosses asmuch as the men. And they'd crowd us right off the earth. No women inmine. "

The other smiled, as he thought of the speaker's household of anassertive wife and four grown-up daughters, but he only said:

"Well, I'm not sure of that; and a change of bosses might be a goodthing. Amalgamated took a rush today, didn't it?"

CHAPTER V

The Opposition Candidate

John Allingham was not enjoying life during these exciting days andnights. The Municipal League (which claimed to be "non-partisan") hadnot succeeded in settling upon a candidate, as the Republicans had notchosen any, and Burke, the choice of the Democrats, was too bitter apill for them. The papers were not "interesting reading" for him, filledas they were with the doings of the "Progressive Workers" and Miss VanDeusen. He could not go on the street nor step inside a car, withouthearing the buzz of talk about Gertrude Van Deusen, --"this young womanwhose place was in her own refined and luxurious home, but who hadchosen to pose in the lime-light of publicity instead, " as he said. Thestory of how he had met the three ladies when they had called toannounce their candidate, and of how he had met them more than half-way, and then eaten his own words, had leaked out through Judge Bateman, whothought it too good to keep; and as usual, it had gone the rounds of allhis friends before Allingham knew it was in circulation. When he didhear of it, he was exceeding wroth, perhaps all the more so because hehad no one but himself to blame. And he was in that mood when thechairman of the Republican committee called one morning. 

"Got a candidate yet?" asked Allingham as his visitor drew up his chair. 

"We've got one chosen, " answered the chairman, whose name was SamuelWatts, "if he'll accept. And he's a good one. "

"Well, go on, " urged Allingham, as the other hesitated. 

"He's got a good many points in his favor, " said Watts, incisively. "He's popular with all classes, he's well-off, educated, of the bestfamily stock, young, active, and knows how to make himself solid withthe lower classes, --the working people, you know. "

"Then he must be made to accept, " answered Allingham. "In these times, it is the duty of such a man to accept the nomination. "

"Think so?" asked the other with a grin. "Glad to hear it; for our man'sname is John Allingham. "

"Sam! I can't--I won't, " exclaimed the chairman of the Municipal League, cursing himself inwardly for his habit of speaking his mind before heknew his premises. "This is too much--I don't want the office--or tocontend with a woman for it!"

"That's your native chivalry, Jack, " answered his friend in soothingfashion. "But we've got to put up a candidate with all the goodqualities she possesses, to beat her. As the refined and beautifuldaughter of Senator Van Deusen, we--you and I--have only admiration forthis young woman--but--by Jove! when she enters politics she must meetus on our own ground. She must expect to give and take as we do. And weare bound to beat her. You, Jack, can do it. I know of nobody else whois available--this is quite between you and me--who would be sure to doit. Surely you are not afraid of a woman? When it comes to votes you'llwin--and that will put the laugh on the other side when it comes totalking about the influence of women. "

"I'll do it, " said Allingham impulsively. "If you'd offered it to me amonth ago--before you offered it to a half dozen others instead ofafterward, I'd have refused straight up and down. But now, as thingsstand today, I accept the nomination. "

"And I may go and report to the committee?" urged Watts. 

"You may. "

The chairman arose and shook Allingham's hand long and heartily. Then hedeparted to spread the good news. When he was gone, Morgan returned tohis desk. 

"Do you think there is need of sending out any more of those A-128circulars, Jack?" he asked. 

"No, " answered Allingham. "Morgan, I'm an egregious fool, perhaps; butI've consented to accept the Republican nomination for mayor, myself. "

The secretary gave vent to a long, low whistle. 

"To run against Miss Van Deusen?" he asked, at length. 

"To run against Miss Van Deusen, " replied Allingham. 

"H-m--this contributes something to the interest of affairs, " saidMorgan. "But, Jack--I wish you hadn't, " he added doubtfully. 

"Wish away, " returned Jack cheerfully, "and much good may it do you. "Then he turned to his desk and began to write diligently on the documenthe had been preparing when Watts came in. 

Half an hour later, the door opened and Bailey Armstrong entered. 

"Hullo, Bailey, take a chair, " was Allingham's greeting, for the two hadbeen schoolboys together. "What's the news? How's your candidate?"

"Jack, " began Bailey anxiously, "I've come down to have one moreheart-to-heart talk with you about Miss Van Deusen. It's a shame theMunicipal League cannot endorse a noble, splendid woman like her. Youknow how rotten City Hall is. You ought to be the first to help in amovement to overthrow the present system. Come up with me tonight toMiss Van Deusen's. Get acquainted with her and listen to her sane talkand clear views; and then I am sure you'll come out on the right side. "

"I'm on the right side now, Bailey, " returned Jack, "and on the righttrack. It's too late to call on Miss Van Deusen. "

"Why, too late?" asked Armstrong. 

"Because I've already consented to accept the nomination of theRepublican party, " said Allingham. "I shall be her opposing candidateand I mean to beat her. "

"Not by all the shades of the great Agamemnon!" exclaimed Bailey. "I'llturn every stick and stone in Roma to defeat you. Jack, I wouldn't havebelieved it of you!"

"Nor I of myself, " returned Allingham coolly. "If you hadn't put up awoman I'd never have consented, Bailey, old fellow. But a woman's placeis at home--she is too delicate for public office. "

"O, bother the woman's place, " returned Armstrong, rising to go. "Themodern woman's place is where she is needed most, where she can do themost good, whether it is sewing on your buttons or ruling your city. Good-bye; reckon on sure defeat next January, Jack, or I'm no guesser;"and he slammed the door behind him as he hurried away. 

He went straight to Van Deusen Hall and called for Gertrude. She was atthe moment sewing on buttons for herself, but soon descended, smiling, to greet him. As he looked at her coming down the stairway, Baileythought of the great calm of a starry night in the country. Some womenalways bring the sense of freshness and repose and brooding peace whenthey enter a room. 

"You've got some news for me?" she said, giving him her hand. 

"How do you know?" he asked. 

"I see it in your face, " was the reply. "You have news--something thatdisquiets you. "

"Yes, I have, " said Armstrong. "I may as well tell it at once. JackAllingham is entering the lists against you. He will be the Republicancandidate. "

She smiled. "I am not surprised. He considers it his duty, since a womanpresumes to occupy the mayor's chair. I have met his mother severaltimes, and his aunts. He is an only child and has been brought up tobelieve in all the old-time theories. I presume he knows no really fineup-to-date woman. "

"No, he doesn't, " replied Bailey. "He is one of the most conscientiousand best fellows I ever knew, but he has been spoiled by his women-folk. I think he believes that a man is really a much superior being: thatwoman is only a weak imitation of God's noblest work. It's the dotingaunt and the over-indulgent mother that spoil our men--"

"Undoubtedly; it is they who keep them from their best development, "answered Gertrude. "But I'm rather glad on the whole, to have anopponent like Mr. Allingham--a foeman worthy of my steel, so to speak. If I win over him it will count for something, whereas to beat a manlike Barnaby Burke--" She made a wry face. 

"Yes--I grant that, " said Bailey. "And you'll come near beating, too. We shall have to work harder than ever, but I'll beat JackAllingham--or bust! Excuse the slang, Gertie, but I've got to relieve myfeelings. "

"You always were a great boy, " laughed Miss Van Deusen, "and you alwayswill be. Here's Jessie with letters. Get her to play to you while I readmine. "

He went into the music-room and left her by the open fire. One of theletters bore the emblem of the Municipal League. She tore it open andread:

 "My Dear Miss Van Deusen:

 As the daughter of your respected and beloved father and as the hereditary flower of womanhood of Roma, I owe you both allegiance and admiration. But holding, as I do, the sincere conviction that women belittle themselves and lower the standards of all humanity when they enter the public arena, I feel justified in announcing myself your opposition candidate. I have just consented to allow my name to be used, and I feel that I wish you to know it at once. 

 Yours respectfully, John Allingham. "

And having read it, she placed it on the glowing coals, smiling softlyto herself the while. 

CHAPTER VI

A Political Trick

The campaign was a furious one after that. The women, instead of leavingthe management of things to men, were stirred to wonderful activity. They worked, not only among the men of their own acquaintance, but amongthe working-people; they held meetings in factories at noon, or inschool-rooms or cheap halls at night in the districts where thefactory-hands lived. They spoke at mass-meetings and rallies, and ifthey did not appear in torchlight processions, they saw that manybanners were carried in them, bearing the women's motto and legend. Itwas a hard fight, but a good one, and the cause of womanhood as well asof good government was advanced by it. 

When Sam Watts, for instance, with his pockets well-lined, went downinto the district where lived the employees of the Roma Ice Company, hedid not find it so easy to disburse that money as he had expected. 

"No, " said one man, "I can't forget that Miss Van Deusen's been good tome and mine. "

"O, she is the Roma Ice Company, of course, " returned Watts. "That isone of her assets; but you people are being ground down to hard laborevery day to keep her in luxury--don't you see that?"

"I see, " answered the man, "that she is almost the only employer I knowwho takes a personal interest in us. "

"Yes, when votes are to be counted, " sneered Watts. 

"Listen, " said the man. "Two years ago, when the strike was on, andthere was a good deal of hard times around, she came right down among usand helped. She didn't sit down at home and let us take the consequencesof the strike (no, I never was in favor of it. I only went out with therest because I had to. ) And she didn't send us a check as if we werejust objects of charity. She came right down into the tenements andtalked with our women-folks. She found out what they needed and providedit when it was necessary. She sat up all night with the sick baby of oneof the strike leaders. My! but he was a shamed man the next day! And myown woman, why, man alive! when she had her baby and we'd no money atall, Gertrude Van Deusen sent a nurse and a doctor and paid for 'em; butmore than that, she came down and stood by my wife (who was once a maidof hers), all through it. Do you suppose we are going back on a womanlike that? No sirree! The votes of the Roma Ice Company are hers--to aman. "

So it was that while the politicians were declaiming against her as acold-blooded aristocrat, there were poor people all over the city whohad some tale to tell of kindness done in secret, either by her or herfather. 

Towards the last of the campaign, a demand grew for a joint debate. MissVan Deusen had appeared on the platform many times, and defined herattitude on public issues in Roma quite clearly. John Allingham had donethe same, for he had a good following of the business men of the city, while the demagogues made a formidable showing for their candidate, Barnaby Burke. There was a growing feeling that there must be a fusionof the woman's ticket with the Allingham forces, but the former wouldnot withdraw their candidate, and Allingham having put his hand to themunicipal plough would not take it away. 

Consequently, both sides agreed to a joint debate to be held at a greatmass meeting the Monday evening before the election Tuesday. This wasnot without opposition from within each party, and there were some whohinted darkly that it might not come off. 

All through the Monday preceding the debate Gertrude Van Deusen workedin her library, to prepare her speech for the evening. She had becomefamiliar enough with her own voice so that she spoke easily and well toaudiences of all sizes and degrees of intelligence, but this evening wasto witness a trial of strength, a matching of wits which put her on hermettle. For John Allingham was a fine speaker, with a magnetic presence, clear logic, and a control of his audience that made him a powerfulopponent, and Gertrude Van Deusen, although she would have died ratherthan own it, trembled secretly at the coming contest. 

At six she ate her dinner with as much calmness as was possible underthe circumstances, and proceeded to dress for the evening. She was oneof the women who realize that appearances count with an audience, aswell as words, and she put on her most becoming array. At half-pastseven her maid came up from the door:

"They've sent for you, " she announced. "An automobile is at the door. "

"Why, I didn't know the committee was going to send for me, " said MissVan Deusen. "I ordered the carriage for a quarter to eight. Go down andask the chauffeur--no, never mind. It's all right, no doubt. I'll gowith him. Call up Thomas and tell him he needn't take the horses outtonight. But first hand me my fur coat and put on my over-shoes. "

The maid obeyed and in five minutes more Gertrude Van Deusen was beingtucked into the electric cab, by a chauffeur well wrapped up and muffledto his ears. The glass doors were closed tightly, Gertrudecongratulating herself that she was shut away from the cold, clearJanuary air, and that her horses might stand in their comfortablestalls. And then they whizzed away. 

It was some moments before she noticed that they were going up thestreet instead of down it; but immediately she remembered that the citywas repaving one of the streets between her home and the hall where shewas to appear, and since they were evidently going to take the "longerway around" she settled back in her seat and began, once more, torehearse the carefully-prepared speech for the evening. She had gonenearly through with it when she noticed that the streets, instead ofbeing more thickly settled as they approached her intended destination, were wider, with scattered residences along the way; and that they weregoing at a rapid pace, over the smooth ground. It was a bright moonlitnight, and there was a clear sky twinkling with stars. The onrush of thecab made no impression of a wind against her cheek, because she was sowell shut away from the outside world, but through the glass windows shenoted the beautiful, quiet night, and saw that they were fast leavingthe city behind and gliding into the country. 

Through the glass she could see the chauffeur sitting, almost immovable, intent upon his machine, and turning neither to the right or left, and afeeling of terror seized upon her as she realized that she was beingcarried away she knew not where, and that she was quite alone andhelpless. She called to the chauffeur, but he paid no attention whateverto her cries. She shook the doors to her cab-prison, but she could notopen them; she rapped on the glass front close to the driver's ears, butfor all the notice he took of her she might have been a moth flutteringin the background of the night. And all the time they were rushing on, on, on, into the great calm of the moonlit night, beyond the glare ofelectric lights, beyond the suburban dwellings, beyond the cheerfulfarmhouses, and into the wooded roads which she recognized as belongingto a neighboring town, at least fifteen miles from Roma. She calledagain and again; she pounded the glass-front with the silver top of herpurse--the only thing in her possession which could make a noise, butstill the chauffeur sat motionless as if he were entirely alone. Sherose in her seat and called to the driver of a team as they passed it;she tried to get the attention of a solitary foot-passenger, but the carflew too fast, and if the men saw her she was out of their reach beforethey could answer. 

Then she settled back, exhausted. She realized now, that she was thevictim of some trick of the opposition party. She looked at her watch. Aquarter of nine. By now she should have made her speech. John Allinghamwas having everything his own way now, beyond a doubt. Possibly--probably, he was behind this attempt to kidnap her--afraid to meet a woman on apublic platform; for that was it, disguise the thing as they might bysaying he would not debate with a woman. Contemptible!

And still they flew on into the shining, moonlight night, out from thefine old wood road, along the river-way, miles and miles away. 

If they were unwilling to match wits with a woman, why did they not sayso? Why condescend to kidnaping a woman and running away with her fromthe fight? If this was the kind of a man John Allingham was--

They were turning into a cross-road now which led up-hill into anotherstrip of wood. Shadows of tall pines and oak trees made it like a solemntemple, into the arched aisles of which they seemed to be entering. Gertrude did not see, and apparently the motionless automaton before herdid not, that other machine gliding on in the shadowy road above andtoward them. There was a jar and a crash and they all came downtogether. 

Gertrude Van Deusen, inside her prison, was not hurt, but at last, herchauffeur was shaken out of his stoicism. Extricating himself from thewreck, he hurried to unfasten the door which was uppermost. 

"Are you hurt?" he asked, speaking for the first time in twenty-twomiles. 

"I don't know. I think not. But let me out, " she answered. 

He drew her out and she was soon on the ground again. There was a groan. 

"Who is that? There is a man hurt somewhere. We must get him out;" shesaid. "Hurry. "

By this time the driver of the other machine had crawled out and was onhis feet. 

"It's Allingham, " he said, in a tone of horror. "He's under the gear--"

"Then get him out--quick, " cried Gertrude. 

Her coolness and quickness of wit stimulated the two men and they setabout releasing the imprisoned sufferer. But it was Gertrude Van Deusenwho directed them and drew him out from under the wrecked machine, asthe two chauffeurs lifted the weight above him. 

It was John Allingham--quite unconscious. 

CHAPTER VII

An Unusual Ride

"We shall have to go back to the nearest farmhouse for help, " said thechauffeur who had driven Gertrude Van Deusen. "We cannot get themachines apart without help. Can you stay here with him--alone?"

"Yes, yes, go on, " she replied. "But first open his coat and get me hishandkerchief. " She was sitting on the ground with Allingham's head inher lap, staunching with her mouchoir the blood which flowed fast from acut on his forehead. "And hurry, for we must get him to a doctor asquickly as possible. "

A moment later she was alone in the beauty of the night, except for theman who lay unconscious beside her. She folded her own handkerchief andlaid it on the wound and then arranged the larger one as a bandage. Intying it around his forehead, her fingers came in contact with hisface--a white upturned face which appealed to her pity so deeply thatshe stopped to smooth his wide brow, as if he were a suffering child. 

Allingham awoke suddenly as if an electric current flowed suddenlythrough his veins. His eyes opened, and gazing upward, he lookedstraight into the clear face above him, which was, also, changed andwhite in the moonlight. For a moment he did not recognize her. It was asif their kindred spirits had met in clear space, away from all earthlyconditions. But in a moment, returning consciousness drew the veilbetween them and he sat up, still clinging to her hand. 

"You!" he cried, "and here? What has happened? Why are you here?"

"We are having our joint debate, " she replied whimsically, her voicebetraying nothing of the tumult within. "But we are having it in anunlocked for place and fashion. And you have the worst of it. Becareful, please. Don't try to get up. The men have gone back for help. Our affairs seem to be decidedly mixed; but never mind; we shall soon beout of the woods--literally, I trust. "

"How can you keep so calm?" said Allingham. "Most women would have goneto pieces. Why aren't you in tears?"

"Perhaps to demonstrate my fitness for the mayoralty of Roma, " shereplied with a touch of sarcasm. "There, the men are coming, with twoothers. "

It was the work of but a few moments to get one automobile rightedagain, when it was found to be not seriously impaired; but the otherone was wrecked beyond possibility of help that night. 

"You'll both have to go back to Roma in this one, " said Gertrude'schauffeur to Allingham. 

"If you'll permit me?" queried Allingham to the young woman standingerect in the shade of the whispering pines. "But if you would prefer, Iwill stay at the farmhouse. "

"No, no, " answered Gertrude. "You must get back to the city and yourphysician at once. That is, if you can endure the ride. "

"O, I'm all right. I was stunned a little, that's all, and my foreheadseems to have been scratched quite a bit, " said Allingham. "But come, ifwe are to ride together, we must get in. "

He helped her to her seat and got in himself, while the two men tuckedthem in warmly and then climbed into the front seat. It was but a fewmoments before they were on the road again, spinning towards the citymore than twenty miles away. 

"Now, tell me, " Allingham began, after making sure they were on thereturn road, "how did you happen to be here? I am devoured withcuriosity. "

"Don't you know--surely?" she returned. 

"Know?--I? How should I?" was the answer in a tone that convinced theyoung woman, for the time being, anyway. 

"Why, " she hesitated. "It looked suspicious--or at least--well, somebodywas behind it. "

"You don't mean to say you were kidnaped, too, " cried Allingham. "I seemto see light ahead. "

"I had just ordered my carriage to go to the hall and was all ready tostart, " explained Gertrude, "when the automobile appeared, thechauffeur saying he had been sent for me. I supposed the committee hadsent him--"

"Just as I supposed my committee had sent for me, " interposed Allingham. 

"Once in, and off, we came so fast I hardly realized anything until wewere out of town; and when I tried to open the door I couldn't, it wasfastened some way, on the outside; while as for making that automatonhear--well!--"

"The same in my case, " said Allingham. "I was locked in. I've beenattributing my ride to Bailey Armstrong's minions--and I presume you'vebeen giving mine the credit for yours; but we probably owe it to theCity Hall crowd. For Burke, I hear, is getting a good deal worried overtomorrow's election. But here we are, alive and with reason to bethankful. "

"O, no, no, " cried Gertrude, "think of that hall full of disappointedpeople--of the friends who believe in our good faith--of how we havefailed to keep our promises. O, no, we cannot be thankful!"

"But think of the accident and of what might have happened in thecrash--and didn't, " he answered. "And let us forget for the rest of theride, the political situation and that we are opposing candidates. " Totell the truth, John Allingham was still tingling from that electrictouch, although faint from loss of blood, and judging by the pale faceof his companion, he felt that neither could endure much more. Gertrude, looking out of the cab-window at the river gleaming under the brightmoonlight, was suddenly reminded of a night she had once passed by theDanube, and fell to talking of it. 

Allingham, who had traveled much abroad, and had a keen memory, welcomedthe reminiscent mood, and the desultory conversation for the rest ofthe way was such as might have been expected between two intelligent, sympathetic acquaintances, thrown together during an idle hour. 

It was long after twelve when they glided into Roma again. The hall hadbeen closed an hour before and the disappointed audience, afterlistening impatiently to the extempore speakers who had tried to fillthe time until the principals in the joint debate should appear, hadgone home doubtful of the morrow. 

The auto stopped outside the gate in front of Van Deusen Hall and one ofthe chauffeurs, still muffled to the eyes, helped Gertrude to theground. John Allingham had stepped out first. But before he couldremonstrate with them for leaving a lady on the street alone and pastmidnight, in fact, just as he was beginning to ask angrily, why they didnot drive in, the man slammed the door, jumped to his seat, and the cabglided away. 

"And we haven't the faintest idea who they are?" said Miss Van Deusen. "They didn't have any number--"

"If it wasn't left with the wreck, " answered Allingham, "and they were, doubtless, too sharp for that. They have taken it off and hidden it. ButI shall have this thing looked into. A kidnaping affair like this can'tfail of discovery. "

"But neither of us could describe the men, " returned the young woman. "Icouldn't--could you? They were thoroughly disguised in their big coatsand caps; and mine did not speak, only that once. "

"Nor mine, except at the wreck, " said Allingham. "Nor do I know of anelectric cab in Roma. But nevertheless, you must go in. "

He walked up to the door with her. The house was all alight, her cousinwaiting in the greatest alarm. For there had been much telephoningaround the city when the speakers failed to appear at the meeting, andthe utmost consternation had been felt at their disappearance. 

Jessica Craig met her cousin with a sob, and a demand for explanationsin the same breath. But Gertrude was insisting that Allingham shouldstep in and rest, late as it was. 

"He is hurt, " she explained to her cousin. "He must have something done. Telephone to Dr. Dean immediately, James. "

It did not take much urging to induce her opponent to enter thehospitable mansion, for he was now weak and faint. Once inside, the warmatmosphere proved too much and he had to be helped to a sofa. Stimulantswere brought and administered, and Gertrude herself assisted in gettinghim to the library to await the doctor. 

When that functionary appeared he found a severe scalp wound and a pulsewhich bounded so high that he ordered him to his own carriage, bearinghim off to the Allingham home as soon as he could apply the requisitenumber of plasters and bandages to his head. An anxious mother and auntwere already preparing to receive him as an invalid, the news of theaccident and of his return to Roma having been telephoned. But before hewent, he found a chance to murmur to Gertrude Van Deusen his thanks forher flying of the flag of truce, and his appreciation of her kindness. 

Feverish as he was, he half hoped she might win next day, whenever inthat long night, he recalled the look on her face, as she bent over himin the moonlight. 

As for Gertrude, she tossed through sleepless hours, after theexcitement had passed and everybody had gone home, thinking, thinking, thinking. 

"What a pity for him to feel as he does about women, " she said toherself. "A man full of all tenderness and chivalry at heart, he isbehind his age. I wonder how we would have met if I had never gone intopolitics. I wonder if he would have liked me then, really?"

CHAPTER VIII

Modern Journalism

The "Progressive Workers" has been especially busy in arranging for thejoint debate between their own and the Republican candidates, and theywere in full force and early at the meeting. When eight o'clock came andGertrude Van Deusen had not appeared, they felt no anxiety, but as themoments passed and she did not come, they began to be surprised and thenalarmed. 

"Gertrude is always prompt, " said Mrs. Bateman, as they waited in theante-room. "I cannot imagine what is keeping her. Telephone over to herhouse, Anna, and see if she has left, won't you? I have to attend tothings here. "

Mrs. Stillman hurried to the telephone, coming back later with a puzzledexpression on her aristocratic features. 

"Her cousin says she left there at half past seven in an automobile, "she said. "It is half past eight now. "

"An automobile?" said Mrs. Bateman. "Did anybody send for her, Iwonder?"

No one seemed to know. Their candidate had always been transported inher own carriage and no one had thought of sending for her. Still, somefriend might have done so--and in an automobile, Bailey Armstrong, forinstance--who had a new one. Nothing was more natural than--

But just then Bailey came into the ante-room. 

"It's the strangest thing, " he began, "Miss Van Deusen does not come, and nobody seems to know where she is. And Jack Allingham is missing, too. None of his friends can account for his absence. What are we goingto do?"

"Do?" repeated Mrs. Bateman. "What can we do?"

"The audience--a crowded one--is getting impatient, " Bailey went on. "We've got to begin somehow. The other side have a speaker whom they canput on, but we--"

"Go on yourself, Bailey, " said Mrs. Mason. "You'll have to. We can fillup the time somehow until Gertrude comes. "

After a hurried consultation with the representatives from Allingham'scommittee, the meeting was opened and the speaking began. But althoughthose who addressed the audience were eloquent enough, they wereunprepared, and moreover, were conscious that their listeners werekeeping one eye upon the door; in short, everybody present desired onlyto hear the two appointed speakers; so that the affair was mostperfunctory. The minutes grew into hours, and these did not arrive. Mrs. Mason, Mrs. Bateman, even Mary Snow, were sent out to the platform torepresent the woman's side, and although they were well received, themeeting broke up at eleven o'clock with a distinct sense ofdisappointment, not to say failure. The audience dispersed with but onequestion:

"Where are they? and why have they not come?"

A little after two, Gertrude called up Mrs. Bateman and told her of theevents which had transpired since she had started out for the jointdebate; but it was too late to send explanations to any other member ofthe committee. 

"Are you going to let it get into the newspapers?" asked Mrs. Bateman. 

"Not I, " said Gertrude. "Think what a miserable sensation it wouldmake. "

"Then I must call up Allingham's house and ask them to suppress it, "answered Mrs. Bateman. "But what excuse can we make? Something must besaid in explanation. "

"I don't know, " said Gertrude wearily. "I leave that to you and JudgeBateman. I do not want it to get into the newspapers. "

"Very well; then I will call up the Allingham's" responded Mrs. Bateman. Which she did, and found that Mrs. Allingham was horror-stricken at thebare suggestion that the kidnaping of her son should be written up forthe press. 

"He is asleep, " she said, "and has been since the doctor put on his lastbit of plaster; but as soon as he wakens I will ask him what I shalltell you to say. Anyhow, we will keep it out of the papers, ifpossible. "

But all the same the next morning the story was featured in everyjournal in town, with more or less display according to the style ofeach individual paper. Naturally, the more conservative of them stroveto tell the story correctly and insinuated that the Burke party werebehind the "contemptible trick;" but the sheet which upheld the "CityHall crowd, " as all Roma termed its municipal authorities, gave a mostsensational account, telling it with a flippant and gleeful inaccuracywhich spoke volumes for the accomplishments of modern yellow journalism. It headed its article thus:

 "CANDIDATES IN COLLISION"

 "Handsome Woman Candidate and Aristocratic Aspirant for Mayoralty Flee from Joint Debate, only to Crash Together in the Woods and Return in Electric Cab Together. "

A portion of the article ran as follows:

 "For weeks the advocates of higher education for women and the shriekers for female suffrage who have been pushing the daughter of the late Senator Van Deusen forward in her attempt to become Mayor of Roma, have been laboring to arrange a joint debate in which their candidate should take the platform and discuss the issues of our city campaign with that scion of would-be American Royalty, Jack Allingham. They have left no stone unturned to interest the public in this expected clash of argument and trial of brain-power. (We refrain from commenting here upon the minimum quantity of the latter necessary to such a debate. ) Finally they had, with great flourish of trumpets and beating of drums--(we are speaking politically, not literally now)--arranged for such a debate on the very evening before election day. 

 "Last night Brocklebank Hall was crowded with the usual audience of mixed social position and nationality in attendance at mass- meetings of the Republican and Independent parties in Roma. They had gathered to hear the accumulated perorations of wit and wisdom on the part of their two candidates. They were to decide, finally, which one to vote for today; to make up their little minds whether to put into the mayor's chair a stiff, conservative aristocrat who cares no more for the laboring classes of Roma than he does for its work-horses--(or its mules) or a young woman of good ancestry, but no actual knowledge of municipal affairs-- only an inherited cock-sureness of opinion on any and every subject that may come up. 

 "Did they hear this great joint debate?

 "No. Why? Because during the hours while the impatient audience were beguiled by feeble arguments from mushroom speakers, who attempted to amuse them while they waited, the principal actors in this farce were miles away, chasing each other about in electric cabs, which at a distance of twenty miles or more from Brocklebank Hall collided and threw the aspiring occupants out in a deep wood. Thus doth fate pursue the over- ambitious and wreck their plans. 

 "When the chauffeurs returned from the farmhouse whence they had gone for help in extricating their machines, Allingham, the aristocrat, lay prone on the ground with his head in the lap of her who had been his whilom opponent for the mayor's chair. A sight fit for the gods, truly--and also for the voters of Roma. 

 "The couple, erstwhile at swords' points, but now tucked cosily together in one electric cab, were later brought back to Roma at one o'clock in the morning--she none the worse for her skillful evasion of the platform contest, and he with a slight scalp wound only, to show that he had been worsted. 

 "It remains now for the voters of Roma to consider whether such candidates as these are to be considered fit to be trusted with the affairs of our enterprising young city--and to vote accordingly. "

CHAPTER IX

Election Day

Election day dawned bright and clear and all Roma was up early, activelyinterested for once in the outcome of the day's work. The polling placeswere lively at seven o'clock and from that hour they grew more and morecrowded, as men and women of all parties swarmed to deposit theirballots according to the Australian system. Never before in the historyof the town had so many voters been out on the day of a municipalelection. 

The women had opened coffee-rooms for the day close by all the importantvoting booths, and wives and daughters of the most prominent men intown served the steaming beverage by turns throughout the election hoursfree to all who might come. Moreover, they saw to it that no voter whomustered under the City Reform Club banner, was neglected. It would betoo much to assume that the liquor stands were outdone, but at least the"Progressive Workers" were the means of sending many men home sober thatday, and of rescuing a few of the tempted ones. 

The leaders of the different parties were here, there and everywhere, looking after the interests of their respective candidates, talking, persuading, urging or buying the dilatory or vacillating vote. And thewomen found, early in the day, that in order to compete with theopposition, they must stay close to the polls. 

"What shall we do? How divide our forces?" they asked. 

Bailey Armstrong had just dropped into the coffee-room in the principalward. 

"Well, something, and at once, " he said. "Sam Watts is everywhere, guiding his committees and buying up votes. Morgan and Jack Allingham, too, are getting down to business. "

"Then Mr. Allingham is able to be out?" inquired Gertrude, at Bailey'sside. 

"He is out, able or unable, " returned Bailey. "And they are leaving nostone unturned to get votes. I guess you'll have to come and turn a fewcobblestones yourself--"

"Yes, Gertrude, " said Mrs. Bateman, "you'll have to. I'll go the roundswith you. "

"Mrs. Stillman and I will go over to ward seven, " said Mrs. Jewett. "Mrs. Mason and Mrs. Turner to ward three, and Mrs. Wentworth and GraceTolman to ward two. And we'll get out some others. You couldn't go, could you, Miss Snow?"

"I am writing up the woman's part of today's battle, " returned MarySnow. "I shall go to every ward, and will help what I can, --but I cannotneglect my paper. _The Atlas_ is going to give us all the space we canfill tonight. "

"_The Atlas_ has been good to us all through, " said Gertrude. "We haveone paper--and a decent one--we can depend upon. "

It was arranged that the women should divide themselves into committeesof two at each voting booth, these couples to shift every hour or two, so that Gertrude Van Deusen might be seen at every booth. 

"One would think I had been on view long enough so that every man, womanand child should be familiar with my features by this time, " shelaughed, remembering her constant appearance on the platform during thecampaign. "Yet they are saying in some of the lower wards, that thevoters have never laid eyes on me. Well, they shall have the chance. "

Had it not been that the love of battle and of conquest had been bornand bred in the old Senator's daughter, Gertrude would have sickenedalready of politics and politicians and the mass of feeble humanity thatwas like clay in the hands of the potter. For in spite of the realinterest of the more intelligent citizens, there were the usualhangers-on and heelers, --men who had no civic sense, no idea of publicduty, no moral stamina; men who sold their votes openly and as a matterof course. 

"What'll you women give me?" asked one of these derelicts of Mrs. Bateman. "Burke's crowd has given me two dollars. If you'll make itthree, I'll vote for your candidate. "

"We are not buying votes, sir, " replied the Judge's wife. "We have norespect for a man who will sell his vote. But we will give you, inreturn for yours, the satisfaction of feeling that you are a man amongmen; that you are doing the right and honorable thing, and that you arehelping to establish an honest government here in Roma. Isn't yourmanhood worth more than two or even three dollars to you?"

"Well, " returned the man after a speechless moment, "I'll be dinged ifit isn't! I am going to vote for you, anyhow. " Which he proceeded to do, although in somewhat maudlin fashion. 

At ward three, Miss Van Deusen came face to face with John Allingham. Itwas an awkward moment for both. Gertrude flushed, but she carried herhead high, and said "Good morning, " with so much cordiality thatAllingham felt more awkward than ever. 

All night he had slept but fitfully, and in his wakeful hours hadregretted with self-denunciation, that his name was to be voted uponthat day. In his waking dreams he had thought once of withdrawing hiscandidacy, even at the polls. When he slept, he was riding once more, through the beautiful night--not alone, locked into the cab--but withGertrude Van Deusen beside him, talking in her sweet musical voice, ofthings far removed from Roma and its dirty politics. The mobile face, the starry eyes, the delicate perfume that enwrapped her, lingered withhim, and when he waked, it was difficult to cast the memory aside and togather his wits for the fight which he must make against her that day, for an office he did not want;--but on the other hand, more than everdid he want her not to have it. That beautiful and gracious young womanhe told himself, endowed with rare graces of mind and soul, --she mustnot be allowed to soil herself with the political machinery at CityHall. She had been misguided, led into this candidacy by those otherwomen, strong-minded suffragists. Was it not his duty to get out andwork for her defeat?

And so he arose and dressed, and although hotly opposed by hiswomen-folk, who thought he should stay in bed and be carefully nursedfor a week, he went forth, his face adorned with surgeon's plaster andhis heart full of mixed motives, to the fray. 

"You are none the worse for your ride?" he said to her. "You are sureyou were not hurt?"

"No, not a bit, " laughed Gertrude. "There isn't even the odor ofliniment about me. But you, --your hurts must pain you? You were badlyused up last night. Ought you to be out?" And then she blushed, remembering he was out to defeat her. 

"Oh, I am well again, " he returned, "only these bits of plaster make meout worse than I am. As soon as this election is over I'm going to findout who was at the bottom of that devilish plot. "

"You'll never find out, " said Bailey Armstrong, coming up at thatmoment. "It was some of Burke's dirty work, but they've covered theirtracks mighty well. I've been making inquiries this morning. There isn'tan electric cab in this city. "

"Then they came over from Bonborough--or Plattsville, " said Allingham. "There are plenty of them there. "

"Yes, many, " returned Armstrong. "But we shall never learn the truth. The trick was done so well that the perpetrators know how to covertheir tracks. "

But a bevy of voters coming in, the conversation ended and Gertrude didnot see her opponent again that day. 

At six o'clock that evening, she lay on the couch in her own room, wearywith the day's experiences. For all she had considered herself wellposted in political methods, this day had been a revelation to her. 

"Well, Jessica, " she told her cousin, "I suppose we shall know before wego to bed how I stand. But at this moment, after all I've seen today andrealizing the state our city affairs are in, I will own to you inconfidence that I hope--honestly and earnestly, --that I am defeated. John Allingham may have the mayor's chair and welcome. I've seen enoughof it already, and I tell you I am sick at heart. "

"And what if it is Barnaby Burke who comes off victorious?" asked hercousin. 

"Well, I am not sufficiently discouraged to be willing to have thathappen, " said Gertrude. "Still--between you and me, --I don't 'want thejob, ' as I heard one man express it today. But, even if I lose theelection, it will always be a comfort to me to remember how theworking-people came out for me, --as well as to know just who, among myfather's old friends, can be reckoned as mine. And now, I want a littlenap before dinner. "

Down at the headquarters of the City Reform Club Judge Bateman and hiscolleagues awaited the result of the count. With them were many of the"Progressive Workers, " eager for news. The Union Club, the hotels andBurke's headquarters were crowded, while John Allingham and his trustedlieutenants were gathered at the Municipal League rooms. Returns came inslowly and the crowds on the street clamored for news faster than thebulletins could be given out. 

At ten o'clock John Allingham was obliged to retreat and go home, physically worn out. The accident of the previous evening, combined withthe excitement of the day, had proved too much for him. He was alreadyin bed when the final returns reached him by telephone. Then he shut andlocked his door, refusing to speak to another soul that night, --not evento his mother when she came up to see if he had taken the doctor'smedicine. 

Gertrude Van Deusen, too, remained in her room alone. Face to face withthe decisive moment of victory or defeat, she could not see anyone. Shewas too tired to care much whether she had won or lost, although sherecalled now, as a hopeful augury, that she had never yet been defeatedfor any office for which she had run in the various women's societies towhich she belonged. 

"Let John Allingham have the place, if he can get it, " she was saying toherself for the fiftieth time, as the mantel clock chimed out thehalf-past ten. "I am swept under by a queer psychological wave ofrepulsion. I hope I shall lose. "

But she was aroused just then by the sound of women's voices on thestairs, --laughing and chattering, --and she felt the note of triumphringing through her brain as they came up to her door. 

"Hurrah for Roma's Woman Mayor!" cried the first one to enter. "Here'sto Her Honor the Mayor. "

At the same moment John Allingham and Barnaby Burke were saying tothemselves with a choice of words befitting their habitual language:

"Defeated! and by a Woman!"

And Burke added:

"I wonder now, just what happened in that cab last night. That was amistake. "

CHAPTER X

The New Mayor's Policy

The story of the kidnaping spread through the city like wildfire, andsurmounted in interest even the result of the election. As usual in suchcases, the facts were exaggerated and speculation ran rife as to theprincipals in the plot. Some people (the more sensible) thought theBurke forces had planned and executed the whole coup, but othersbelieved that it originated with Sam Watt's party and that Armstrong, getting wind of the carrying away of Gertrude Van Deusen, speedilyturned the tables on Allingham by hiring another cab and seizing uponhim as he was leaving his house alone, to walk down town to the publicdebate. It leaked out, too, that there were two men with the cab whichcarried John Allingham, lest, --the people said, --he should try to breakthe plate glass front and jump from his moving prison. But that the plotwas a well-matured one was proven by the fact that outside locks hadbeen placed on the doors to both cabs, so that they could not be forcedopen from the inside. 

No definite clue, however, could be obtained to the perpetrators of thekidnaping scheme, although both sufferers from it had put privatedetectives at work upon the affair. But, like many startling publicevents, the midnight ride of the two candidates was a "nine days'wonder" and then the public interest centered around the newly electedmayor. 

Gertrude had need not only of public sympathy, but of all the courageand clear-sightedness which she had inherited. This she realized morefully than ever, when the excitement of campaigning was over. If she hadchosen to spend her time and strength and money on automobiles or fineclothes, people would have passed upon her choice as the natural thing, and envied her way of living; but now that she had elected to work hardand to give herself freely to fighting for principle and establishinggood government in her city, her friends of different tastes whisperedamong themselves, "How strange!" "How unwomanly!" "How unnatural for awoman!"

"The only motives many people can understand, " said Gertrude one day toher cousin, "are the ones by which they themselves are actuated. And notalways then. My rich friends may not be able to understand, but theplain people will; the ones who are capable of conviction and ofsacrifices for conviction will. "

"All the same, Gertie, " retorted her cousin, "this world is not made upof Savonarolas nor other burn-at-the-stake folks. You are in a badscrape and I wish you had had sense enough to say no when those womendragged you forth, " which only went to prove the axiom that one'srelatives are privileged of speech. 

But the new mayor paid no attention to her cousin and went on calmlyplanning for the future of Roma, visiting its various institutions andgetting as thorough an insight into its public administration aspossible before taking her place in the mayor's chair. She visited theschools, the hospitals, the police stations, the jail. She wasoverwhelmed with the magnitude of what she had undertaken, but alreadydreamed of a new and beautiful development of the city. She consultedwith the leading business men, --judges, lawyers, and the clergy. Shebegan to evolve ideas of her own and thanked Heaven every night that shehad been endowed with courage and will-power sufficient to keep her fromturning back from her municipal plough in a panic, --courage enough tokeep her head high and her aim straight in the path that lay in front ofher. She began to draw near the people, to feel a personal interest inthem, to realize the great brotherhood of humanity, and to wonder howbest she might hope to apply the highest social ideals to the everydaylife of her city. Did any man ever take possession of the mayoral chairwith purer hopes or more worthy ambitions?

In the meantime every mail brought her letters more or lesscongratulatory in tone. Some predicted a glorious career ahead for her;some half concealed their disbelief in her ability to fulfill the dutiesshe was to assume; some openly warned her of the perils of weakness anddemagogue government, or advised her against the institution of radicalreforms. 

Socially, she was more in demand than before. Dinners and receptionsdemanded her presence as chief guest, while her newly acquired gift ofspeech-making was called into requisition on all sorts of occasions. Butthe finest social affair of all was the dinner given in her honor by the"Progressive Workers, " on the night before her inauguration. To thiswere invited all the notable men and women of Roma, the mayors of theneighboring cities and the governor of the State, who really attended, supported by a galaxy of uniformed officers which lent brilliancy bytheir glittering stars and bars, if not by their wit and intellect. 

Gertrude, arrayed in her finest Paris gown, --a white embroidered creponwith garniture of exquisite lace, --received the guests at six o'clock, in line with the governor and the mayors of six other cities, togetherwith Mrs. Bateman as president of the "P. W. 's", and Judge Bateman ofthe City Reform Club. John Allingham had been invited, too, to stand inline, as the head of the Municipal League, but until the last moment noanswer was received from him. 

Gertrude had not seen him since election day. He had been ill after theelection was all over, and unable to go out for a fortnight; andalthough he had been strongly tempted to write a note of congratulationto the new mayor, he was kept back by pride--which in this case, it mustbe admitted, was another name for obstinacy. For this reason, he did notdecide whether or no to attend the new mayor's reception until BaileyArmstrong descended upon him in the League rooms, two days before thedate. 

"Why don't you answer your bid for the reception to Miss Van Deusen, Jack?" he asked bluntly, as he seated himself in the chair nearest thechairman's private desk. "Can't you lay aside your prejudice long enoughfor that?"

"Well, what do you think?" replied Jack. "The League refused to endorseher, you know. "

"Under you, yes, " retorted Bailey with the frankness of an old friend. "But isn't it about time the League came around and did the squarething? You're putting the League in a bad light, Jack; really you are. Ithought you had more sense. And, I tell you, Miss Van Deusen is going togive this town a waking up, such as will make you want to enlist underher banner--quick. Come, be decent, now. "

"If you think it will be best for the League, " began Allingham. 

"Yes. It'll be better for the League--and best for you, " said Bailey. "Hurry up now and write your acceptance, and then come. "

It was late when he arrived, and the rooms were closely crowded withguests, so that he was hurried past the receiving party and left in hisplace in the line. He had just a formal greeting for Gertrude and at thedinner was seated where he could only note her beauty and brilliancyfrom afar. But the effect was John Allingham's first eye-opener in thedevelopment of the modern woman. Brought up as he had been, by a narrowjealous mother, kept close at his books, living at home, even during hiscollege days, he had never before come under the direct influence of thewomen who are becoming an educative, progressive power in the world oftoday; and he began to wonder for the first time in his life, if awoman might not be a strong force in public reforms and still retainher refinement of spirit and her home-loving, home-keeping qualities. 

He recalled how lovely Gertrude Van Deusen used to look as a girl ofeighteen, when he had seen her at public gatherings with herdistinguished father. But here tonight, she was even more beautiful; herexpression was sweeter and more confident; the fine lines of her figuresuggested power, and also repose. She had the same rich color, the samelovely curves, the same joyous health; but she had, too, a wiser and afar finer face. 

"And yet, " he told himself, "all my study and travel and observationtells me a woman's natural position in society is in a safely guardedhome; and the evil consequences of meddling with this position must showthemselves, sooner or later. Humanity is of one general qualityeverywhere, --and that not so high as she apparently believes. Changes insocial ideals are more or less dangerous and indicate decadence, often, rather than advance. Yet the atmosphere tonight is charged with joyoustriumph. Let us see what she is going to say. "

For amidst deafening applause, the new mayor had begun to speak to theassemblage around her. 

"I am not going to announce any definite line of policy, " she wassaying, "because, as yet, I have none. I shall take up the work as itcomes to me and shall not forget that I am after all only the city'schiefest servant. But, there are many thoughts which I would share withyou. There are many things I would have you be thinking over, that wemay see alike, perhaps, in the future when our work develops, --for it isyours as much as mine, this work of making a better city. Instead ofaccepting a written code of first principles in municipal ethics (andwhy not municipal ethics as well as moral and medical ethics?) let uslearn to trace and connect, explain and apply, so as to make ouraccepted truths into a working principle. Every trade, every profession, has a basis of ethical knowledge; all conduct, public or private, hasits ethics. Get the people to study the science of conduct, thedevelopment of the ideal into everyday life, and our public moralitywill rise and spread every year. We have separated too much those twoclosely allied things, religion and ethics. Let's try to bring themtogether right here in Roma. We can't reform the city in a year, --but wecan begin. No religion is alive until--unless it works. We want novarnish religion, ' as somebody called it; we want no ethics that won'tstrike in and uplift humanity as high as is humanly possible. God isstill busy in Roma. It is our business, as private citizens, as well aspublic officials, to take right hold and help. Let us all set ourselvesto studying the ethics of city government. What have been our especialhindrances, and why? What can be done to improve matters, and how? Whatare our first and most crying needs, and who are our best men and womento help them? We are set here together to help on the good work. I'drather see the people of Roma loving each other in dollars and cents'and reaching out to help, realizing the immeasurable happiness of livingby giving themselves in service, than anything else in the world. We canall demonstrate the highest social relation, our highest duty to God, bydoing things. Will you help?"

There were tears in the eyes of the other women present when she satdown, --and a corresponding feeling in the hearts of many men, for shehad stirred to the depths many a heart that only needed the path of dutypointed out, to desire to walk therein. 

As for John Allingham, he sat spellbound. A woman, --a young woman totalk like this? to dream of applying the doctrines of ethics to citypolitics? And in the City Hall of Roma? And yet, --why not?

When the exercises were over and the goodnights were being said, he wentover to where she stood, shaking hands again with the departing guestsand joyously receiving pledge after pledge of help from those whoseassistance she most eagerly desired. He had to wait for some momentsbefore his chance came. But finally he held out his hand and said withmore cordiality than he had thought possible:

"I want to congratulate Roma upon its woman-mayor. I want to thank youfor what you said tonight; and please count on me, from now on, to helpin every possible way. "

He was still young enough to thrill at the tone of her voice and thelight in her eyes as she thanked him, and said, "I shall remember. "

CHAPTER XI

At Work

The new mayor's inauguration into office was an event which will go downin the history of Roma as witnessing the greatest crowd of citizens ofboth sexes in City Hall which that temple of the money-changers ever saw. Both the friends and the enemies of the new administration were out infull force, and Gertrude Van Deusen's speech, accepting her newresponsibilities, found ready response in many a heart which wasthrilled by her words for the first time that day. The women of Romaturned out en masse and the old City Hall was not spacious enough toshelter all that came. 

But it was when she took actual possession of the handsomely appointedoffice of the mayor, that she realized fully she was face to face withthe greatest problem of her life. For now she had access to the innertemple of the mysteries of city government. She had already providedagainst the sex-awkwardness of her situation by installing as privatesecretary, Mary Snow, of the Atlas. 

"Don't tell me no, " she had urged when she offered Mary the position. "Imust have a broad-minded, capable woman there who has had experience andknowledge of affairs. I know of nothing that could give a woman thiskind of insight into public matters, like newspaper work of the kind youhave done. "

"But there are other newspaper women, " began Mary--

"Yes, I know there are, " replied Gertrude Van Deusen. "But a woman musthave personal character and dignity and personal honor to fill thisposition, as well as the aforesaid experience. "

And Mary Snow had accepted the place, to the joy of all other newspaperworkers; for the gatherer of news is always rejoiced to find a newspaperman or woman ready to serve them when they are sent out for informationby their chiefs. As the new mayor believed in publicity she soon had thesworn support of most of the newspaper men who came near City Hall. Herstenographer, too, was an attractive young woman and the feminineelement soon became evident in all that part of the building devoted tothe mayor's use. Flowers bloomed in the windows, an early and thoroughhouse cleaning took place, and the cuspidors which had been conspicuousat every turn were banished, --all but the occasional one which must beleft for the stranded politician who could not wait until he got out ofdoors. Signs were placed in various parts of the building, callingattention to the new waste-baskets, and prohibiting smoking andexpectoration. 

From time immemorial, City Hall had been a loafing place for seedypoliticians, active and retired, who passed their time plotting for thenext campaign in the free seats provided by the City Fathers. Onemorning these individuals found no chairs, --absolutely none except thoseused by the officials and clerical force. They called the janitor andexpostulated volubly, but all to no effect. 

"She's banished 'em, boys, " he said. "It would be as much as my place isworth to bring 'em back. The boys say she ain't agoin' to have noheelers 'round here, nohow. "

With this they had to be content--after they had grumbled longenough--to go away and hunt up new quarters. For once, there was a CityHall with clean corridors, no tobacco smoke, and no loafers. 

From the moment of her entrance into office, office-seekers andoffice-holders beset Gertrude Van Deusen until she began to doubt ifthere would be time left for the pursuance of any other duty in lifethan to appease them. She learned, quickly enough, to shunt these off onher private secretary; but while she did not propose to discharge goodmen, she found that there must be good counsellors at hand for her ownsafety. At the end of her first week she called for the resignation ofthe city solicitor, McAdoo, who was rather glad than otherwise to "cutloose from petticoat government, " as he expressed it. His place shefilled at once by giving Bailey Armstrong the position. 

The Common Council was made up of eighteen men, about half of whom werenew to the position, so that it remained to be seen how far they couldbe depended upon to support any radical reform instituted by the newmayor; but as Geoffrey Mason and Albert Turner had finally consented torun on "the woman ticket" and had been elected, she felt that she mightcount on their influence, at least, and hoped to win over others. Therewere perhaps half a dozen, besides, on the "woman ticket"--every one ofwhom were men who would have declined to serve with any other mayor; buthaving pledged their word to "see her through" and been elected, theyfulfilled their pledge now, like the staunch, good citizens they were. With this backing she felt that she might hope to carry out the work shehad undertaken. 

There were many things to harass her, however, chief among them beingthat the board of aldermen were strongly against her, men of the oldregime mostly, ready to fight against any radical reforms and to beginwork already to defeat her most cherished plans. 

"She's in for two years, worse luck, " said one of them. "But we'll tieher hands so she can't do too much mischief. A mayor's only a mayor, after all, " with which significant utterance he winked solemnly to thereporter who was interviewing him for the _Screamer_. 

But the new mayor went serenely on with her new duties, and if she knewall these things, gave no sign; apparently, the machinery of municipalgovernment was running on well-oiled wheels until even the most ardentof her supporters began to wonder when she was "going to get busy. "

But she was busy. The new mayor had a constructive imagination and didnot fear big ideas. She dreamed already of a warfare againstprivilege--the privileges of the franchise corporations, the privilegesof unjust taxation, and ultimately the privilege of private monopoly. Graft must be stamped out of the city administration, and a high orderof men elected to the bench. Some big things must be accomplished in thecity. 

She had arrived at the conclusion that to most people the municipalityis an industrial accident, its government rather a matter of police, fire and health administration, some public schools and a police court, a street and water department; that they wanted just enough of thesethings, and at the lowest possible cost, to enable men to go about theirdaily business. 

"That, " she said to herself, "is the average man's conception of theuses of a municipality. Some day we shall look back upon such an idea ofa city as we now look back upon the straggling tepees of an Indianvillage. The city of tomorrow will be a people's city, doing countlessthings, all for the welfare of the people. "

"And you expect to put that idea into practice here?" asked Mary Snowsomewhat incredulously, as they sat at lunch together after a morning ofhard work. "You expect Roma to stand for all that!"

"Her Honor" smiled back across the table. "Yes, " she said, "I expect tostart things in that direction, and to create such a public interestthat my successor will be chosen especially to carry on the work that Imean to begin. I know of one city which already views these things as anecessary part of a good city's administration. It is not content withdoing as few things as possible; it does as many things as possible forits people. Its public bath-houses give hundreds of thousands of bathsevery year. They are equipped with gymnasiums, where public instructorsteach the children. Thousands of families are entertained free of costby the baseball games played upon the public diamonds scattered all overthe city. A number of city leagues have been organized, composed ofclerks and workingmen. In the winter, skating carnivals are held and twoscore artificial skating ponds are maintained. The children are invitedto the parks for May-day and romping-day festivals. All of these thingsnot only enlarge the life of the people, but also identify them with thecity in a way that was not dreamed of a few years ago. By followingthese lines, Roma may be a people's city, a city that serves, thatbrings happiness to thousands whose life is otherwise encompassed withthe dreary drudgery of toil. "

"If you could bring such an ideal state of things to pass, " said MarySnow, "Roma would call you blessed among women. And you would never beallowed to stop being mayor. "

"Well, " returned Gertrude, "the best way to fight the saloon is to offera substitute greater in interest. In my ideal city not only will therebe plenty of free baseball diamonds, but also golf links and tenniscourts, to invite thousands of people into the city's pleasure resorts. A dozen playgrounds will be laid out in the congested districts. Heretrained men will teach the children of the poor how to play. Thesechildren will be taken from the street. They will be saved from thereformatory. They will be given good bodies to live in. In this way thework of the police department will be diminished, for one playground isthe equivalent of several patrolmen. And it does not cost one-quarter asmuch. Who knows but our Roma of tomorrow will do these things on agrander scale than any of our cities have yet attempted? It will rivalthe saloon and bring opportunities for recreation and happiness withineasy access of the poorest man's home. "

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

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

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 privatesecretary must be present at all interviews; when she thought better ofit 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 theavenue 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 smartAlec you have in the law department may make trouble--and expense forthe city, " he added. 

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

"Well, you know when a lawyer is put into a public position--citysolicitor or district attorney, or whatever--the first thing he does isto 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 the man. "ButArmstrong is putting up a bluff and threatens to have it overhauled. "

"But why?" persisted the mayor. 

"Now look here, your Honor, " urged the man confidentially. "Your fatherwas a politician. He knew all the tricks of the trade. He made his pileall right, one way or another. "

"Mr. McAlister!" Gertrude's voice had a new note. 

"O, hold yourself close, now, " said he. "No harm meant. Senator VanDeusen was as fine a man as Roma ever produced. And if I didn't vote foryou--it wasn't because I wouldn't do anything for his daughter. Butnow, --well, let's make it a mutual thing. You protect me and myinterests and I'll stick by you, and where I go, there go severalhundred other good voters. "

"The scoundrel!" said Gertrude to her inmost soul. But she did notchange countenance. 

"Well, I will look into the matter, " she replied. "If your contract isall right--and you say it is--the city will certainly stand by you. Ofcourse I could not promise anything more definite than that now. But Iwill look into the matter and advise Mr. Armstrong. "

"O, don't take your time to look up a contract a year old, " saidMcAlister. "It won't be worth your while. Take my word, --the word of onewho worked night and day for your father, --and just call Armstrong off. He'll find enough in the bridge department to keep him busy, if he muststir things up anywhere. "

"I will speak to Mr. Armstrong, " said Gertrude, rising and pushing theelectric button as a signal for the others to return. There was nothingfor McAlister to do but depart, wondering just how much he had gained bythe interview. 

"If she goes to looking into old contracts--" he muttered as he wentdown the stairs--and then whistled sharply. 

When he was well out of sight, Gertrude sent for Bailey Armstrong. 

"What are you doing to one McAlister?" she asked. "A street contractor, I believe he is. "

"Nothing, as yet. Why?" asked the city attorney. 

"Well, he's just left me, " replied the mayor. "Says you are going to'rip his contract up the back, '--to quote him literally. "

"Aha!" said Bailey. "Then he's afraid, is he? I've done nothing as yet, but I heard something the other day that caused me to suspect trouble inthat direction. See here, Gertie, just how far do you want me to go inthis 'ripping-up-the-back' business? I'm positive if we once begin we'llfind graft on every side of us. Then trouble will begin, youknow, --trouble for you, I mean. "

"Never mind me, " she answered. "What am I here for if it is not topurify city government? I don't expect to make friends in the process;but if I can serve the city--and thereby my state and my country, why, --" She stopped and looked fearlessly at Armstrong. 

"Then I shall go ahead--looking into the matter of contracts andappropriations?" he asked. 

"Certainly, " she replied. "No matter whom it hits, investigate everydepartment of the administration. "

"Bravo!" said he. "You're a chip of the old block all right. " Gertruderemembered with a twinge of apprehension what McAlister had said abouther father's "pile. " "But you must be prepared for war--underhanded, tricky, politicians' war, " added Bailey. 

A week later he appeared again at her office and asked for a privateinterview. 

"Gertrude, " he began, "it's as I feared about McAlister. He has aninfamous contract--or, rather, a whole set of them--and he is fleecingthe city with every yard of pavement he puts down. "

"That doesn't surprise me, " replied the Mayor. "It's the scared birdthat flutters. "

"He has a separate contract for every 300 square yards of pavement helays, " said Armstrong. "Instead of accepting the terms of the lowestbidder, the board of aldermen let him these contracts. It is a wrongsystem from the start. We ought to have a competitive system and awardour contracts to the lowest bidder who will do good work. Instead ofthat, there seems to have been some sort of chicanery by which McAlisterwas given all these little contracts, --on every one of which he makes abig profit, --while the other bidders were not even considered. "

"Who has the giving out of contracts, anyway? Oughtn't there to be aregular system about it?"

"There should be a law about it, " said Bailey. "But I find nothing inthe city charter. And I find that contracts have been given out byaldermen, councilmen or mayor, just as happened to suit their notionsbest. "

"Suppose you go to work, Bailey, and draft me a bill providing thatevery piece of work to be done for the city shall be open to allbidders. We must have some definite plans of considering and acting onthese bids--so that none of the officials can give out contracts withoutsuch action and vote as the whole council and the mayor think best. Better make it obligatory that the bids be opened in the presence of allwho may wish to be present and in the presence of, or by, the mayor. That would be something I'd like to establish in my term--something tobe remembered. "

"Not only that, " said Armstrong, "but no contract should be consideredbinding on the city without the mayor's signature of approval. "

"Go ahead and draw it up, " said the Mayor. "And then we'll have ameeting of the Common Council and get it adopted. "

But while it was easy enough to draw up and elaborate the bill, it wasnot so simple a matter to get it passed. A meeting was called and everyone of the Common Council came. Then Gertrude began to count herstrength, and to find that a man's pocketbook is next to his heart inmore senses than one. 

It was a stormy meeting--this first one over which the woman-mayorpresided. Mason and Turner and several others of the new members of thecity council worked ably to get the proposed amendment to the charterthrough; but every alderman and a majority of the Council were againstit. The debate was hot and turbulent. Several times the mayor had tobring down her gavel sharply, and call to order men much older andbetter versed in parliamentary tactics than herself. And when it was allover, the assembly had voted to lay the whole matter on the table!

"It all comes to just this, I am afraid, " said Gertrude to Armstrong andMary Snow when it was all over and they were back in the mayor's office. "They all fear exposure of one kind or another. How much do you supposethey want to conceal?"

"There is nothing hid which cannot be found out, " retorted Bailey, "andby the great horn spoon, I'll find it out. "

"They may wish they had voted 'yes' before they get through with this, "said Mary Snow. "For they must know that you have access to every sortof record in the city, if you choose. "

"And I choose, " responded Miss Van Deusen. "I'll go through everycontract, now we're started. That reminds me, Bailey, McAlister hintedthat you could find plenty to do in the bridge department, if you must'rip things up the back'. I would look into that, too, if I were you. "

"Yes--and this new franchise the street railway is so nearlyconcluding, " he answered. "O, we'll be enough for them yet. When are yougoing to appoint a new street commissioner? Perhaps that mightprecipitate things a little. "

"Tomorrow, then, I'll ask for Thalberg's resignation, " was the reply. "How would John Allingham do for that place? I've been thinking itmight be a good thing all around. "

"Splendid, " cried Bailey. "He'd like it, too. He likes a goodfight--always did. "

"Would he, do you think? Under a woman-mayor?" she added. 

"I think so. It's different now you are elected, you know. Ever noticehow much easier it is to support an innovation after it is well startedthan before?"

"Then come, Minnie, " she said, turning to the stenographer. "Take thisto Mr. Thalberg;" and she proceeded to dictate a letter advising himthat his resignation, taking effect immediately, would be acceptable tothe mayor. 

Then she dictated another as follows:

 Mr. John Allingham, Municipal League Rooms; City. 

 Dear Mr. Allingham:

 Will you do me the favor to call at this office Thursday, the seventeenth, at ten a. M. , and oblige, Gertrude Van Deusen, Mayor of Roma. 

Which, when Allingham opened and read it late that afternoon, caused himto give vent to a long, low whistle, and to read it over the secondtime. 

But he wrote, immediately, accepting the appointment; and a dozen timesthat night he asked himself what she could want of him--and just howmuch he would be willing to help the woman-mayor. 

Then, looking out across the moonlit city from his tower window, herecalled that other night when they rode together in the open countrybeneath the shining moon--when she was not the candidate, themayor-elect, the modern strenuous woman--but just a sweet and graciousspirit with a melodious voice and a presence that thrilled him. Then hetold himself, "Yes, anything--anything she wants. "

And Gertrude, in the silence of her own room, was saying to herself, "Will he come, I wonder? Would I, if I were in his place? If I were aman who had been brought up to believe as he does about women; and thena modern suffragist who had won out over me, had sent for me, --to ask meto come and help--would I go? Oh, how do I know?"

CHAPTER XIII

An Important Appointment

When John Allingham arrived at City Hall Thursday morning he was firstof all impressed with the changed interior of the place, --the absence ofloafers, the clean corridors, the blossoming plants. Neither could hehelp seeing that in place of the old spirit of listlessness in thevarious departments, everyone seemed busy and interested. "If this iswhat women can do in politics, " he began to say to himself, --but theidea of incongruity was so deeply fixed in his mind that he at oncesupplemented his unfinished sentence, --"but they have no business here, just the same. It is no place for women. "

He displayed none of the sense of awkwardness he felt, however, when heentered the Mayor's office and bade her good-morning. 

"You wanted to see me?" he asked, taking the seat close to her desk. 

"I sent for you, " returned Miss Van Deusen, "because I am in specialneed of good, reliable men. Mr. Armstrong thinks you might be willing tohelp us in the struggle to get our city government on the right basis. "

"I have already told you, I think, " answered Allingham, with a slightsense of reserve, "that you can depend upon me. "

"Yes, I know, " said the Mayor; "I am proving it by now offering you theposition of street commissioner. Will you take it?"

Allingham was distinctly taken by surprise. He had not expected--had hedeserved?--a prominent place in the city government. He was not surethat he wanted it. 

"Perhaps you would like a day to consider the proposition, " she went on, divining his hesitation. "And won't you talk with Mr. Armstrong aboutit? He knows as well as anybody what the work of the street departmentis going to involve. Can you think this over and let me know tomorrow?"

"I thank you for the honor you do me, anyway, " answered he, rising togo, "and I will talk with Mr. Armstrong as you suggest. Of course youknow, Miss Van Deusen, we all want to uphold your work, now. "

"Yes, yes, I believe so, " she returned seriously. "And, Mr. Allingham, it is because I want some thorough work done in the streetdepartment--by a fearless, trustworthy official, that I sent for you. "

"Thank you, " said Allingham--and went down stairs in a tumult. Had he aright to such treatment? Had he not done everything in his power toprevent her election? Had he not used pen and tongue in all bitternessagainst her? And here she was, offering him one of the "plums" of themunicipal pudding, just as if he had been her devoted henchman. Butstay, --was she doing this to win him over, to make him come out beforethe public as her supporter? What would people say?

No. He would go over to his office and write a letter, declining theoffer. A very polite letter it should be, acknowledging herdistinguished kindness in offering him so responsible a post on hercorps of working officials; but his private affairs--his law practice, the work of the Municipal League, his health, all combined to make itimpossible for him to accept a position which would entail so great anobligation to the city--and to her. Yes, to her! That was it, he knew. 

And yet--to her? Why not? How capable and strong and self-reliant shehad looked that morning in the mayor's chair. How different from anyother women he had ever seen! What must she have been made of--thiswoman who had been the social equal of the best people in Washington, that she could lay aside for the moment all social preferences, allrefined and educated tastes, to become mayor of such a city as Roma?--tosit there in the temple of the money-changers and try to wrestle withits problems. Bah! he had no taste for such modern women, or for such--

But he had promised to do everything he could to help her, --and to seeArmstrong. Pshaw! He would go back and have it out with Bailey. 

He turned and climbed the stairs to the city solicitor's office. Armstrong welcomed him with a cordial bluffing way the two always usedtowards each other. 

"About time you came, " began Bailey. "Here I am occupying one of theseats of the high and mighty, and you make off as if I were nobody. I'vea mind to take it out of you somehow. "

"If you dared, " returned Allingham. "But you can't. You've a characterto maintain and I'm a guest. I say--was it you who put it into Miss VanDeusen's head that I'd take any little plum she chose to offer me?Because I won't, you know. "

"O, yes, you will, " said Bailey, "when it's _pro bono publico_. And say, if you've any civic pride whatever--if you want to discover graft in itsmost rampageous form and help to suppress or expose it--here's yourchance. And you a boasted 'Municipal Reformer!'"

"What do you mean?" asked Allingham. 

"Well, just this. One of Burke's contractors came into the Mayor'soffice the other day and complained that I was about to 'rip hiscontracts up the back, '--at least, that's the classic language in whichhe chose to present his ideas to a lady. I hadn't begun to look intothese matters at all; but what he said led Miss Van Deusen to send forme and we have since been looking him up. I find that he is pavingseveral streets--or will do so--on no end of little contracts of threehundred yards for each. He makes a nice fat sum on each, --an aggregateof several thousand dollars, I won't undertake to say how much. Thatsets us to thinking and investigating some more. Say, Jack, remember thefranchise the Boulevard Railway asked for and almost got last year? It'sstill pending, you know. Well, I've reason to think the Mayor was in onit--and Burke--for no end of boodle. That's why he wanted to be mayor. So you see, 'there's a reason' why a man like you should be willing totake the job of street commissioner this year. It will be no 'plum' thistime, I can assure you. It looks now, as if it would be a fightinstead--and perhaps a good hot one. "

"That puts a different look to it, " said Jack. "You know I'm not afraidof a fight--a good one. "

"Don't I know it?" retorted Bailey. "Haven't I gone to bed sore andstiff, too many times, as a boy, to forget it? It's because you are afair fighter and not a boodler that we want you at the head of thestreet department now. Come, Jack, will you do it?"

"You can be sure of it, Bailey, " returned Allingham. "I'll accept atonce. Tell me more of what you are finding out. That is, if you thinkshe won't mind. "

"She won't mind your knowing some of it anyhow, because you'll beexpected to help us look into certain matters, " said Bailey. 

They talked together for an hour or so, and when John Allingham finallydeparted he felt a deeper interest in city reform than ever, andbelieved the time had come when he could be of real use to hiscommunity. 

"By the way, Jack, " said Armstrong, as he was leaving, "have you foundout anything more about the originators of your strange ride the nightbefore election?"

"I have detectives working on it now--or pretending to, " replied Jack, "but they don't seem to get anywhere. Whoever was behind the schemecovered his tracks well. "

"Yes, we, too, have had a detective working, " said Bailey, "though MissVan Deusen has called him off now. No use, she says, and thinks perhapsany further work in that direction may hinder what she wants to do inanother. "

"Perhaps she's right, " responded Allingham. "All we have been able todiscover is that two electric cabs, both provided with outside means oflocking the doors and windows, took the opposing candidates and went offtwenty miles or so into the country, on the night before election, breaking up an important debate that might have turned the current ofaffairs in another direction--"

"--Um, perhaps, " interrupted Bailey. "Perhaps not. Anyway, all this weknew before midnight, the evening it happened. "

"Yes. And while there are no electric cabs in Roma, there are plenty ofthem within a radius of twenty-five miles of us. And the Burke gangcould easily have brought any of them here. I've been having a hunt madefor cabs with outside locks; but so far, none have been discovered. Between you and me, I doubt if we can ever find out. "

"Between you and me, I shall not be surprised if we run up againstfurther deviltry of that sort, " said Bailey, "before we get throughwith--"

The telephone interrupted him, and after a short one-sided conversation, Bailey arose, too. 

"I'll go along with you, " he said. "Miss Van Deusen wants to see me. "

CHAPTER XIV

Graft

Two weeks later, the fluffy little member of the Progressive Workerspresented herself one morning at the rooms of the Mayor and requested aprivate interview. Probably she was the last woman in Roma one wouldhave suspected of wanting to take a hand in politics. Yet, here she was. 

"Why, Bella, is it you?" asked Gertrude. "What is it? Don't they keepyour street clean? or empty your ash can often enough?"

"Well, I hope I should know enough, Gertrude Van Deusen, " retorted thefluffy lady, "to go to the street-cleaning department about that. No, I've something really important to tell you. "

"Indeed. You may close the door after you, Minnie, " she said to thestenographer. "Now, what is it, Bella?" For the life of her, she couldnot help using the same tone she would have used to a pretty child whohad dropped in to complain of her teacher. 

"Well, Mary Flynn, --that's my laundress, you know, --has overworkedlately, and to keep up her strength, I'm sorry to say, has indulged inher habit of toning up for her day's work with more of the 'crathur'than is good for--, By the way, when are you going to tackle thesaloons, Gertie?" She did not wait for an answer, but rattled on. "Andso, you know, she gets rather talkative. Yesterday she was abouthalf-seas over and talked every minute, and when I went down stairs toshow her about my new lingerie waists--well, you should have heardher!"

"Entertaining, no doubt, " said Gertrude, wondering why she should havecome here to take up her time with these purely domestic affairs. 

"'Faith, an' a woman for mayor is it, we do be havin'. An' a fine mussshe'll be in ef she kapes on, indade and indade! McAlister's foreman wasa tellin' av us last night, he was, that they'll soon be losin' theirjob. He says, says he, she's again' an honest man makin' a livin', sheis. Why, there's me own naice's husband, Tim Mathews, ain't he anahlderman, rayspicted an' looked up to? Ain't he layin' by a tidy littlefortin' for Mary, just by aldermannin', when he's dead an' gone?' 'Howis that, Mary?' I asked. 'He doesn't get much of a salary as alderman, does he? How can he support his six children and lay up a fortune?''Oh, well, ma'am, it ain't the salary as does it, ' returned the woman. 'It's the plooms; ef it wasn't for the plooms, he couldn't afford tolave his groceryin' an' his little corner saloon. But it's the plooms asmake it worth while, he says. ' 'What do you mean by "plums, " Mary, ' Iasked, 'perquisites?' 'Why, ma'am, them that wants railroads an' saloonsan' other privileges must pay the aldermin for thim. Why, ' says she, 'would you believe it--Tim put a thousan' dollars in the bank in menaice's name the day he voted the franchise for the new street railroad, or that is--well, Mis, ' did you say blue thim waists or not?' and notanother word could I get out of her, although I quizzed her carefully aslong as I dared to. I told Rudolph about it last night and he said, 'Aha!' and whistled; and then he told me to tell nobody else in theworld, but you. So I've come. Rudolph will support you. I always saidso. He seems to think, --at least he said--'this may open up a prettydeep question for Miss Van Deusen. '"

"As indeed, it does, " replied Gertrude, thoughtfully. "Tim Mathews, yousaid was the man?"

"Yes, " said the fluffy lady, "but Rudolph said if that story was so, undoubtedly there are others. "

"Undoubtedly, " replied Gertrude. "Thank you, Bella, for coming to me. And you'll say nothing of this to anyone else?"

"O, no; and Rudolph thought it better that I should not be known inthis. So you must promise, Gertie, not to let it be known that I toldyou. I might lose a very excellent laundress if you did. "

Gertrude laughed. "What a very feminine point of view!" she said. "Butyou may have rendered the city a very good service, and I heartilythank you. "

When her visitor had gone Gertrude Van Deusen sat alone for some time. She had caught only at a straw, --but it might indicate which way a verystrong wind had blown or might now be blowing. Was this the reason theboard of aldermen were so opposed to her proposed bill? Evidently, therewas need of a secret and courageous study of the situation. Corruptionwas in the very air; she had known it was there for a long time; butthis was the first real evidence of it in definite shape. And yet, --thestory might have been but the idle boast of a half-drunken washerwoman. What should she do? Send for Judge Bateman?--Bailey?--Allingham? Notyet. She would look into it herself a little more. 

She sent for the city treasurer, who came in somewhat uncertain as towhat this woman could want with him. But he soon found out, for afterperfunctory greetings, the Mayor put the case squarely before him. 

"Mr. Hanaford, I would like to look into the matter of our expenses forthe last year or two. "

"Why, certainly, I will draw up the statement for you, " he answered insome surprise. 

"No. That is in all the reports, I suppose, " she said; "I would preferto look into the books myself. I can then take the time to study thesituation and compare figures. "

"But really, Miss Van Deusen, --your Honor--you do not mean to insinuatethat you do not trust me?" The man's tone was aggrieved, almostrebellious. 

"I insinuate nothing. I distrust nobody, " she replied quietly. "But ourcharter gives the mayor access to all the books and accounts of the cityat any time. I wish to familiarize myself with the city records, financial as well as clerical. "

"Very well, " said Mr. Hanaford. "But this is--may I be excused forsaying it?--unexpected. " He was saying to himself, "And what we mightexpect from a woman, with no knowledge of business. "

"Will you come to my office?" he added respectfully, reassured by thethought that because she was a woman, she could not grapple with theproblems before her, except by special study in each department. 

"It will be better for you to bring all the books to my office, " sheanswered. "Please have them here tomorrow morning. "

Mr. Hanaford had scarcely gone out of hearing when an unfamiliar namewas announced, with the information that the man insisted on seeing themayor. 

"I have tried to make him tell what he wants, " said Mary Snow, "butapparently he wants nothing but you. He is a gentleman, --that is, hedresses and speaks like one. "

"Send him in and stay near the telephone, " said Gertrude. And a momentlater a stranger entered, --a well-dressed, heavily mustached man offorty-five. 

"Your Honor, the Mayor, " he began. "I am proud to meet the first womanwho sits in a mayor's chair in America. " He waited for her to be seatedand then drew up a chair close to her desk. 

"Thank you. Let us hope I may not be the last, " answered Gertrude. 

"There will never be one that will grace the office more completely, "returned the stranger gallantly. "Although, you will say that a mayor ofeither sex should not be chosen for graciousness alone. "

"That is what I was about to say, " said Gertrude. "But I am glad yourecognize that firmer qualities are necessary, Mr. --Pardon me, did yougive me your name?"

"Perhaps not, " was the suave reply. "I am Orlando Vickery. I representthe Boulevard Railway Co. "

Gertrude mastered her astonishment. This elegant person, then, was theman who was accused of trying to push his franchise through City Hall, illegally. 

"I called to talk over matters with you, " he was saying. "I feel that ifyou were to understand our position exactly, what we hope to do for thepublic, what we intend to do for the development of the city, I mightpersuade you that our cause is a just one--that we are entitled to allwe ask and that, really, we are making a most liberal arrangement forthe city. "

"I do not fully understand just what you want to do, " admitted themayor. "Won't you explain?"

He did so at considerable length, entering into a voluble account ofthe proposed railroad and its expected earnings, and detailing at somelength the advantages to that part of Roma which the proposed line wouldopen up. 

"But you know, of course, that the citizens of that section of the cityare opposed to having your railway go through it?" asked the Mayor whenhe finally stopped. 

"But they are short-sighted, blind, " urged the man. "Now look here, "lowering his voice. "We want you with us. I am prepared to offer you abonus of $10, 000 the day you sign our franchise. "

"Mr. Vickery!" cried Gertrude. 

"Fifteen, then--twenty thousand, " he urged, oblivious to the look on herface. "And, yes, I can make you a shareholder in the system, --and ourRailway will be a winner, as I have shown you--"

"Mr. Vickery!" the Mayor rose to her full height. "We may as wellterminate this interview. I could not think of accepting anything of thesort. Understand, once for all, that I am not to be bought. "

"Tut, tut, my dear lady, " answered Vickery suavely, "I might have knownbetter than to have presented my proposition to any woman--but you arean advanced woman, one who knows the ways of the world. I had presumedyou knew something of the ways of politics. "

"Mr. Vickery, " said she, softening under a new idea; "tell me, is itcustomary for officials with whom you have had similar dealingsto, --well, to be made shareholders in the concern?--And these littlearrangements of which you speak. --should I be doing an unprecedentedthing if I were to accede to your proposition?"

"Now you're talking like a sensible woman--a woman who has some idea ofrunning municipal affairs in a business way, " the man replied. "While Ido not wish to violate any confidences, --I may say you will not findyourself the first, nor the second official who is 'in it, ' with theBoulevard Railway scheme. "

"Well, Mr. Vickery, I want to think this over a little, " said Gertrude. "I cannot decide today. "

"Take all the time you want, " replied the promoter, cheerfully. "Only, of course, the sooner we get this through, the better it will be for usall. "

"I see, " answered the Mayor. "And now, good morning, Mr. Vickery. "

When she was alone again she sat back in her chair and stared hard ather desk for a good five minutes. 

"I am beginning to see light, " said she at last. 

Meanwhile, Orlando Vickery was getting into his automobile and whirlingaway down the street, chuckling to himself. 

"Reformers are just like other folks, " he told himself. "Catch 'em justas easy as a bird--only put a little salt on their tails, in the shapeof good paying stocks, or a sufficient number of good hard, goldplunks. "

CHAPTER XV

Setting the Trap

Her next two days were given up to the study of the treasurer'sbooks--and the financial system of government in Roma. The processnecessitated looking up many details regarding salaries and otherexpenses, which took time and careful scrutiny on the part of both herand her office assistants. What the Mayor found out the first day ledher to send for a trained accountant, whom she set quietly at work onthe second morning. That night she sent for Armstrong to come to herhouse. 

"I am beginning to realize what it means to a business man to have agood home, " she said to her cousin as she drew her pet easy chair up tothe open fire in her library, --for although it was May the nights werechilly. "I never appreciated fully what it means to have a comfortablehouse well-kept;--to draw up after a hard day's work before one's ownfire--to let the world go by while I 'take mine ease in mine inn. ' Itell you, Jessie, if women all realized what this means, there would bemore happy homes and fewer divorces. "

"I suppose so, " replied her cousin. "Yet there is something to be saidon the other side. I get so tired of staying in the house all day, struggling with the problems of housekeeping and the vagaries ofservants that I rather sympathize with the women who demand the companyof their husbands at night, to the theaters and dinners and whateversocial functions come handy. "

"Wrong, " said Gertrude sententiously. "When a man gets home at night, weary in body and mind with the grind of his business, he wants a gooddinner, an easy chair, his newspaper or magazine, his pipe. I canunderstand how like heaven a woman can make his home--a woman withtact;--or how like the other place it might become with her discontentedgrumbling or her determination to get him into evening clothes and draghim into the outside world again, --to be harried and worried and keptuncomfortable for several hours more. "

"But the wives--what are they going to do?" asked Miss Craig. "Are theynever to have any outside pleasures?"

"With all the clubs and bridge-parties and afternoon teas, they havegoing in the day-time, " said Gertrude, "let them be content. But atnight, if she values domestic happiness, let the wife not dare depriveher husband of the delights of a good well-kept home, " and she snuggledcloser into her big chair. 

"Goodness, Gertie!" laughed her cousin. "One would think youcontemplated a husband. Or are you getting up a speech on Public Lifefor Women as a Training for Matrimony. But here's Bailey. I suppose youwant to talk over City Hall matters--the last thing I want to listen to. So you'll excuse me. But, do you think the ideal domestic menage wouldallow business after hours? O, Bailey, I suspect she'll be taking upcigarettes next;" and with that she went away to make a call at thenearest neighbor's. 

"Sit down, Bailey, " said Gertrude, reaching up to greet him. "I'm socomfortable--and lazy, here; I'm sure you won't mind if we just sit bythis fire and talk things over. Well--do you know that Mr. Henry, --theaccountant, --has been going over the books today?"

"Probably a good thing, " was Bailey's comment. "Find anything out of theway?"

"He thinks the salary bills, some of them, larger than they should be. O, there is so much to do! So many ways in which things should beimproved!--so many ends to be looked after and gathered up, " she cried. 

"Not getting tired, Gertie--already?" asked Bailey, in a surprised tone. 

Gertrude sat up straight in her chair. "There are two sides to me, Bailey, " she answered. "I suppose there are two to most people. There isthe Gertrude Van Deusen who has been shielded and cared for all herlife, who has never known hardship or difficulty--or even work; andsometimes--as tonight here in the shelter of my father's fine library, she comes to the surface with her cry for luxury and the easy shelteredpath she has always known. But there is another Gertrude Van Deusen, whohaving laid her hand to the plough, would deem it a disgrace to turnback before her furrow is ploughed. She is the one who stands ready toface anything, to dare the city rogues, to root out corruption if itexists--and I think it does. "

"Not much doubt of that, " returned Bailey. "And good for you. You're thesame girl I used to drive into a corner of the snow-fort, just to seeyou fight. "

"Not very ladylike, was I?" smiled Gertrude. "But if I had been of theladylike kind, --well, Roma would have had Burke in as mayor now. AndBailey, I believe Burke is deep in that Boulevard business. How shall wefind out?"

They talked for a long time over the glowing coals; then Mary Snow camein and Jessie Craig again, and there was music and a quiet game ofwhist, after which Bailey escorted Mary away with his most gallantlyprotective air. 

"Gertrude, do you think Bailey is just a trifle interested there, --inMary Snow, I mean?" asked Miss Craig when they had gone. 

"Bailey? O, no, " answered Gertrude. He had been devoted to her so manyyears, she felt an almost proprietary interest in him. She felt that shemight have married Armstrong any time within the last ten years. "Baileyis always interested in people I like, " she went on. "And I certainly dolike Mary. I don't know what I could do without her. The work brings thetwo in close consultation often, you know. " She did not see the liftingof Jessica's dainty eye-brows as she turned to say good-night. And itwas well she did not see Bailey when he said good-bye to Mary a littlelater. 

The next morning Vickery came to see her again. 

"Weren't expecting to see me so soon, perhaps?" he asked as he drewclose to her desk. "But I thought I'd drop in and see what you'vedecided on, --or if you've decided on anything. How is it? Coming in withus?"

"There are still some points I want to question you about, " said theMayor. "Minnie, will you give us the room, free from interruption a fewminutes? Thank you. Now, Mr. Vickery, will you go over your propositionagain?"

The man did so, explaining the advantages and necessities of the desiredfranchise with many words. She asked an occasional question, cautiouslyand with apparent lack of intelligence, and even at the close of theirtalk he doubted if she understood half of what he had been saying. 

"You want to remember, " he concluded, "that we have good men behind thescheme. There is plenty of money, and we are prepared to put some of itwhere it will do the most good. "

He waited significantly, but she did not seem to understand. What couldbe expected of a woman, in matters of this kind. 

"As I said the other day, there will be a nice little slice of stock foryou, --and $20, 000 besides for you, or for your pet charity, " he urged, to put the thing more plainly before her. 

"But if we were to get found out?" she asked. "If it were to beknown--might we not get into trouble?"

"Huh! no danger of that, " laughed Vickery. "The aldermen are all init--we can manage the common council--that is, if you come with us. AndArmstrong will be sure to come in, if you do. "

"Hadn't I better talk this over with the chairman of the board ofaldermen?" asked Gertrude. 

"You might, " assented Vickery. "Still, --in matters of this kind, it isbetter to do as little talking as possible. "

"But how am I to be sure they are in it?" The Mayor seemed to hesitate. "I do not want to do any unnecessary talking--but how do I know this isnot all a trap, to catch me?"

"More astute than I gave her credit for being, " said Vickery to himself. Then aloud:

"My dear lady!--but I realize your position--yes, and I respect it. If Igive you proof, actual figures, --will you believe me then?"

"Yes, I'll believe you then, " said Gertrude. 

"Then suppose I come again this afternoon, " urged the man. "I'll havethe memoranda of the figures with me. "

"Very well. Come at three, " answered Gertrude. "I will have the wayclear by then. "

And Vickery departed, well satisfied with his half-hour's work. But whenhe had gone, Gertrude sent for Mary Snow, and they had a long talktogether. 

At three, promptly as the clocks were chiming out the hour, OrlandoVickery presented himself, and was ushered into the Mayor's privateoffice. 

"Well, I'm here, " he said. "We are alone, of course?" He walked over toa curtained doorway, and drew aside the draperies. The stenographer'soffice was disclosed--empty. He remembered having seen her in the outeroffice as he came through. 

"Pardon me, " he apologized. "I just wanted to make sure--for your ownsake, of course. For while these little arrangements are always beingmade, we prefer to have no witnesses, you know. Again, pardon me, butwhere does that door lead to?" He pointed towards the corner, justbehind the desk. 

"Only into a private closet, " answered Gertrude. "You can look in if youinsist upon it. " But she quaked a little inwardly as she said it. 

"O, no, " answered Vickery. "I thought it might lead into one of theother offices. We don't want to be disturbed. Now, for business. Here'smy private memorandum. Look it over. Anything you can't understand, justask me. "

Gertrude took the book--a small leather-covered memorandum--and beganturning its leaves. But somehow she seemed dull of comprehension. 

"What is this?" she asked. "'Paid in 1907, --Royalties. ' What areroyalties?"

"Well, I preferred to put them that way. I should put you, when weperfect our little transaction, under that head. "

"O, I see, " answered Gertrude. "Here is John O'Brien, $12, 000; is that aroyalty as you call it?--because he is pledged to the franchise?"

"That's what, " answered Vickery. "He's already had that much. He waschairman last year, you know. "

"And Mr. Mann, --our present chairman, " asked Gertrude. "Is he here?"

"Later on you'll find him, " was the reply. 

Gertrude read on, in a low distinct voice, the various items, showing"royalties" paid various officials, running from $500 up to thousands, finally coming down to Mann's. 

"Is this right--Otis R. Mann, $13, 500?" she asked. 

"That's right. "

"And that means that Mr. Mann has already taken $13, 500--and pledgedhimself to get the franchise through?" she asked in her low clear tone. 

"That's what. All we need now is your signature and to go through theform of getting it passed through the council again, and we are alldone, " answered Vickery. "You have a queer charter in this town. "

"And if I sign the proposed bill?" she asked. 

"You get $20, 000 cold cash and a thousand shares of preferred stock, "urged Vickery. 

"Why not give me a certified check right now?" asked the Mayor. 

"Now if that isn't just like a woman!--a charming feminine trait, too, "returned Vickery. "No man would think of asking for a check in theselittle transactions. Good, solid money is all right, isn't it?"

"I suppose so, " she returned. 

"Well?" he asked, after a slight pause. 

"Well?" she returned. 

"You're going to sign the bill?" he asked, wondering just what she woulddo next. 

"Mr. Vickery, --it's against all my principles, you know, --taking moneyor its equivalent for my signature, " said the Mayor. 

"Oh, --I thought we had gone all over that, " he retorted. 

"Yes, I know. I haven't said I won't, " she went on. "But I want just oneday--or rather, one night more to think this over--I wonder what myfather would do in my case. "

"Your father was a good politician, " answered Vickery confidently. "Hewould have known at once what to do. "

"I believe he would, " answered Gertrude in her most inscrutable manner. "Well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll take tonight--only just tonight, to settle this with my conscience--and I will see you in themorning--early, if you say so. "

"I suppose I shall have to be satisfied with that, " answered Vickery, tucking the little memorandum book safely away in an inner pocket. "ButI would like your promise now. "

"Oh, --Mr. Vickery, tomorrow morning, please. " She smiled and held outher hand. He took it and bade her good afternoon. He was not quite sure, when he went down stairs this time whether he ought to congratulatehimself or not. 

"These women, " he said to himself, as he sought the aldermen's room, "are not to be depended on. You think you have 'em one minute, but whenyou go to put your finger on 'em, they are not there. "

But upstairs, Gertrude was telephoning for the district attorney. 

CHAPTER XVI

Divided Interests

Instead of calling on the Mayor the next morning as he had planned todo, Orlando Vickery found himself hailed before the Special Commissionerand put on the grill. But he took refuge behind the corporation forwhich he claimed to be acting as attorney and refused to admit orconfess to any transactions of a financial nature, or incriminate in anyway the officials whom he had approached. He was arrested on the chargeof extortion, however, and that gave the prosecution a chance to shuthim up, while they arranged for an investigation before the grand jury(which was already being impaneled) into the schemes of the BoulevardRailway Company with the city councilmen. These proceedings wereconducted as quietly as possible, but in spite of all precautions, thenewspapers that evening flamed with head-lines, which varied as usual insize and sensationalism with the character of the sheet which used them;and before Roma retired for the night, the whole city was stirred by theprospect of a most spectacular fight. One half the citizens werecongratulating themselves that at last, corruption and the spoilsmenwere to be uprooted, while the other half revelled in the excitement andturmoil which always attends the witnessing of a deadly combat. 

And meanwhile, the few, --the "ring, "--were in anxious consultation. "Howmuch do you know?" was the question that stirred them. Under an assumedcoolness and indifference, and acting in secret, there were those whosaw to it that a high and mighty representative of the Boulevard RailwayCompany came on to arrange bail for Vickery. The board of aldermen was, apparently, most indifferent of all, and refused to talk of the newsensation either to reporters or to any one else, --except amongthemselves when no outsiders were near. For as yet, none of them coulddetermine how any information had leaked out or just who had beenimplicated. 

While events had been leading up to this point, the women of Roma hadnot been idle. Even before the "Progressive Workers" had thought ofputting up their candidate for the mayoralty, they had been interestedin the subject of pure food--and this, too, was before Senator Heyburnhad introduced his famous bill to the United States Congress. One ofthe liberal churches in the city had called a woman to its pulpit someyears ago; and the story of what she accomplished among the young peopleof her parish is too long and too complicated to be incorporated here. Suffice it to say that one day she was "discovered" by a "P. W. " andinvited to join the club. Too earnest and active a worker to sit by andlisten to literary exercises and discussions that did not get anywhere, she had almost at the beginning of her membership cast about for somedefinite work which she--and the rest--might do. 

Now, she was a housekeeper on her small salary, and therefore must go tomarket for herself. Like thousands of other club women, she had comeaway from her provision store or grocery, half nauseated by what she hadseen, or experienced through her olfactory sense. But unlike the averagewoman, she refused to endure these things patiently. She began, quietly, to investigate. She visited the city abattoir, the wholesalemarkets, the cattle-pens. Even before the municipal election, she hadlaid out a thorough campaign in the interests of pure food, which shepresented to the "Progressive Workers. " The previous spring there hadbeen an exhibition prepared by the club of foods and food-products, pureand adulterated. This exhibition had been attended by thousands ofhousekeepers and by a few men, and had served to awaken a semblance ofinterest in the question of pure food. 

When Gertrude was fairly installed in office, the Reverend MarthaKendall had called at City Hall and laid before the Mayor a definiteplan, the result of which was that the woman minister was made Inspectorof Markets, there being such an office provided for in the old CityCharter, although it had remained a dead letter on the books. And nosooner did the Reverend Martha Kendall receive her appointment than shewent to the club and asked to have a special committee appointed fromthat organization to work with her for clean markets and pure food. 

When the women of any city show beyond question that they want purefood--or any other definite thing--they are going to get it, and withoutdelay. Although there was some grumbling among the marketmen, theprovision stores were soon put through such a course of scrubbing andwhitening as to make the old-fashioned "spring house-cleaning, " whichhas been the bugbear of _pater familias_ and one of the chief assets ofthe paragrapher for so many years, a process of incomparably mildflavor. At the abattoir it had not been so easy to effect a reform, butwith such women as Mrs. Bateman, Mrs. Albert Turner and the ReverendMartha Kendall coming down there to inspect and to demand cleanlinessand wholesome conditions, the butchers who shone before the public as"wholesale meat producers" did not dare to refuse the improvements askedfor; so that by the time the grand jury began to look into the methodsof the aldermen with the street railway system, there were both friendsand enemies of the new administration ready to take a hand, ifnecessary. 

Then, too, there were the men who owned, and the men who ran, thequestionable resorts; the gambling dens; the saloons; the houses ofwhich good women are popularly supposed to know nothing. All of thesehad been problems which Gertrude had been thinking about and planningfor, before her election was settled. These matters she had talked overwith few, if any, of her advisers; for she had her own ideas--or perhapsher father's. When she was fairly established in the Mayor's chair shehad appointed a reliable man as police commissioner--one who would carryout her plans. There were no spectacular raids, with their round-ups andthe subsequent laxity which allows such places to flourish in the samespots and with no lapse of time (and profits). She abolished the"drag-net system" by ignoring it; but she broke up gambling, closed thewine-rooms, and the other questionable resorts, simply by stationing atrusty policeman in uniform on the steps of every one of these places, whose duty it was to take the name and address of every person whoentered them; and to turn this list into the City Hall every morning andevery night. As a consequence, some of these property owners and"managers" had found their income vanishing. The latter were leavingtown in bevies; but the former were nursing their grievances and werefast getting into line as open or secret enemies of the reformadministration which the "woman's movement" had now fairly inaugurated. 

It must not be thought, either, that the women of Roma stood solid forthe woman-mayor. As long as there are husbands and wives, the latterwill be guided, in greater or less degree, by the opinions of theformer. The women who do not read, the women who do not care, the womenwho do not think, invariably take the opinions of the men nearest them, no matter how ignorant and unintelligent these men may be; and the womenwho do read and care and think, --but it may be as well to carry theargument no farther. 

So it happened that the women of Roma were as divided as the men on thesubject of city reform; although, as Gertrude noted with pride, most ofthe educated, thinking women could be counted on to support her in everyeffort she was making for the betterment of their civic conditions. Itwas the women like Mrs. Bella's "wash-lady" who were most opposed toher; and those other women of the underworld who do not recognize thefriend of her own sex when she appears clothed in the garb of areformer. 

Thus it came about when the investigation was actually begun andoccupied the most prominent place in the public interest at Roma, therewere almost as many against the new mayor as there were actively orpassively for her. Because, too, there was the large contingent ofcitizens who cannot make up their minds in a hurry, but must wait forpopular opinion to crystallize before they can adopt it. 

As always, the _Atlas_ came out strongly for the administration ofjustice:

"At last" it proclaimed editorially, "Roma has a Mayor with thecourage of conviction. At last, corruption is not only detected, but itis to be dragged forth to meet its judge; at last, it is not going to beshared by our public officials. It behooves every man and every woman inRoma to uphold the present investigation and the new mayor. "

But the "ring sheet" spoke otherwise:

 "After months of promising to 'reform' something, the woman-mayor and the lady-like gentlemen who are supporting her, are going to do something great. They have--by crooked and devious ways-- discovered (so they affirm) Graft, with a big, big G. It is hinted that the Mayor herself is to go on the witness stand to prove that men who know a hundred-fold more about running a municipality are dishonest boodlers. Just like a woman! She has got beyond the rudiments of municipal financiering and into the sub-divisions which she cannot understand and there she cries 'Graft. ' She is beyond her depth and so she imagines there is fraud. Well, let her prove it; in the meantime, while she is trying to do so, she will demonstrate--exactly as we predicted last fall--what a dangerous thing it may be to a city to let a woman loose upon its administrative functions. Women were never intended for public officials. Perhaps--as the opposite party piously claim--the hand of Providence put her there; just to prove to Roma and her voters what a dangerous thing a little power may be in the hands of the incompetent and inexperienced public servant. "

Gertrude read all these editorial sayings and smiled or sighed accordingto her mood. Sometimes they helped her gird on her armor all the morebravely, ready to do battle for her principles to the last breath. Again, "that other Gertrude Van Deusen" came to the front and she wishedin secret that she were a quiet, protected home woman, with a husbandwho loved her and little children to lead along the right paths. But whyshould John Allingham always come into her mind just there?

CHAPTER XVII

A Dumbfounded Populace

Just one week after Vickery's last call, the district attorney and thecity solicitor met in the mayor's office. The former official, RobertJoyce, was a young man with most of his reputation to gain; and he hadwelcomed the Vickery case as an excellent weapon with which to gain it. How he had happened to win his office was a cause for wonder to somepeople, until they stopped to remember that all interest in the electionof the previous winter had been centered on the mayor; and that althoughthe rank and file of voters knew that Joyce was making a fight for hiscandidacy, none of them had believed he could win over the oldincumbent, and had paid little heed to his political efforts. Hiselection was one of the surprises of the campaign, but even that was notmuch talked about, in the excitement of proclaiming the woman for mayorof Roma. 

Now, as once before, he saw his opportunity and seized it. For the pastweek he had done little else but probe the affairs of the BoulevardRailway scheme, scarcely eating or sleeping while he pursued the casewith all the eagerness of a hound after his first fox. Gertrude VanDeusen could not have found a better ally than Robert Joyce, and sheknew it. He had already secured evidence and managed his case so wellthat the grand jury would bring in a bill for indictment, not onlyagainst Orlando Vickery, but against Otis H. Mann, chairman of the boardof aldermen. The case was to be brought up in court on the followingmorning. 

"I must congratulate you, Mr. Joyce, upon your quick and able work, "said she. "I wanted the case hurried along, and you have surely doneit. "

"Mr. Armstrong has helped greatly, " returned Joyce. "He has a good dealof inside knowledge, and it didn't take long to convince us both thatthere was a vast amount of corruption. How to clinch the evidence hasbeen the problem. But you say you are willing to go on the witnessstand?"

"I am--and Miss Snow also, " answered the mayor. "I should think ourevidence enough. "

"It is; and yet, while we are about it we want to catch the wholeoutfit. We don't want to leave any loop-holes for the criminals--forthey will have an expert to defend them; you may be sure of that. Someof the old aldermen may confess. They will pin their faith toconfession as the rock of salvation for them. But that is just thebeginning. We are after the big man, the man who debauches as well asthe man who receives. This is no partial house-cleaning. Fordham, theagent of the Roma Telephone Company, who handed the old board $1, 000each, is now on his way back from China. To save his skin, he may tellus about the money which his corporation has so generously handed overto the supervisors. Then the Telephone Company, composed of men high inthe social circles of this city (with its franchise bought for a paltryfew thousand dollars) will have to show its books, and if we can reachthe guilty ones, on the top, indictments will soon be moving their way. I think within the next month we will have indictments from the grandjury for at least four of the more-holier-than-thou sort. That is wherethe bomb is going to fall, unless my plans miscarry most woefully. "

"You see there are lively times ahead, " added Bailey Armstrong. "Thereis a man--one on whom a great deal depends--whom we want to bring toconfession. He is the son of your father's old coachman--Fitzgerald. "

"Newton Fitzgerald?" asked Gertrude. "The one who has a saloon over onthe south side?"

"Yes--and, unfortunately for us, a properly certified license, " answeredBailey. "He is a tough character, but when a boy he had a soft side. Doyou suppose you could reach him, Gertie?"

"Possibly, " she answered thoughtfully. "I used to have a good deal ofinfluence over Newton when he lived in our cottage as a boy. Don't youremember--I got him to go to school regularly, and saved him from thetruant officer's clutches on two or three occasions?"

"He used to swear by you, " said Bailey. "Couldn't you manage to see himnow, and get him to talk?"

"Get him to confess, if you can, " added Joyce. "Offer him immunity if hewill tell you all he knows--and I suspect that is a good deal. "

"Yes, I'll do that, " answered the mayor. "I'll telephone now to hisplace and ask him to come over and see me. "

They talked on for another half-hour, and when the two men left, theirplans were all made. Gertrude and Mary Snow were to appear at the courthouse next morning, both ready to give valuable testimony against thegrafters, testimony which would convict them out of Vickery's own mouth. 

When she was alone, Gertrude at once took up her telephone and called upNewton Fitzgerald's saloon. 

"Is Mr. Fitzgerald in?" she asked. 

"He has just stepped out, " was the answer. 

"Tell him, when he comes in, to please call at the mayor's office beforehe goes home, " replied Gertrude, "Miss Van Deusen wishes to speak withhim. "

She hung up her receiver and turned back to the duties of her desk. Itwas nearly five o'clock before she heard anything further. Then hertelephone rang and a strange voice came over the wire. 

"Mr. Fitzgerald has fallen and sprained his knee. He has to be put tobed, but wants to know if you won't come to see him tonight. He wants totalk with you about the investigation--has something to tell you. "

"Where does he live?" asked the mayor. 

"In the Sutherland, " was the reply, "the big apartment building back ofthe American House. "

"Very well. Tell him I will be there with Miss Snow at eight o'clock, "she answered; and then she called Mary Snow and told her of theappointment. 

"Don't you think we ought to take someone else along?--a man--BaileyArmstrong, say?"

"O, no, " returned the Mayor, confidently. "Fitzgerald would not talkbefore him--or any other man--in my opinion. He was a peculiar boy, butI could manage him. It will be better for us to go alone--and quietly. We won't even take the carriage. I'll come down on the car at a quarterbefore eight and meet you at Harne's drug store. Then we'll just goquietly up to Fitzgerald's flat. I know his wife. "

"Very well, " said Mary. If she did not feel quite satisfied with theplan, it was not for her to question the mayor's authority, and she saidno more. 

But the next morning the newspapers brought a new sensation to astartled city. Two important pieces of news furnished excitement enoughto arouse even the staid and respectable old _Atlas_. People gathered inknots on street corners to discuss them. The air was breezy withexcitement. The street corners were blocked with gathering knots ofindignant citizens, eager crowds gathered in front of newspaper bulletinboards, questioning among themselves whether there was any respect forlaw and order left in Roma; whether life was safe on the open street;whether the public was to be fooled any longer by charlatans andtricksters; whether the police could or would do anything in thepremises. In short, every citizen of Roma, rich or poor, old or young, was aroused at last by these two bits of news. 

The startling news was--

Orlando Vickery had "jumped his bail" and disappeared; and

The Mayor and her private secretary had not been seen nor heard fromsince they left the drug-store the previous evening at a quarter beforeeight. 

CHAPTER XVIII

A Futile Search

It would seem that in a city of fifty thousand inhabitants, it would beimpossible for the Mayor and his (or her) private secretary to drop sosuddenly and completely from sight as to leave no trace or clue behindthem; yet such was the fact. Knowing Fitzgerald to be of a peculiartemperament, Gertrude had arranged to meet him as quietly as possible. Had her cousin, Jessie Craig, been at home, she would have told herwhere she was going, but that lady had gone to Philadelphia for a fewdays' visit, and there was no one in the Van Deusen home but theservants, to whom Miss Van Deusen had merely remarked that she wasgoing out and would be back, probably, about ten. 

Mary Snow lived in an apartment hotel and occupied her two-room suite inspinster independence, carrying her own latch-key and accounting to noone for her goings and comings. So accustomed had the clerks andelevator-boys become to seeing her come in, during her newspaper days, at all hours of the night, that they paid little heed to her movements. So there was no one to feel any alarm when midnight came and they didnot return from their excursion to the suffering Fitzgerald. 

Towards morning, however, when Miss Van Deusen failed to appear, the oldbutler who had known her so many years, became alarmed, and at daylighttelephoned to Bailey Armstrong. The news came to him with a shock, buthe went at once to Miss Snow's hotel, thinking the Mayor might havestayed there for some reason. When he found them both missing, he becamealarmed, sent for the chief of police and the district attorney, andtelegraphed Jessie Craig to return. 

A systematic search was instituted, detectives set to work, and all themajestic machinery of the law put in motion. It had happened strangelyenough, that the proprietor of the drug-store which had been theirrendezvous was out when the two women had met there, and neither of thetwo young clerks knew the Mayor or her secretary by sight. Consequently, there was not a soul who had seen or recognized either of them afterthey had set out for the appointment with Fitzgerald. Neither had anyoneknown of that appointment; nor would it have mattered in the least ifthey had, since, Fitzgerald himself, alive and well, had known nothingof the engagement made in his name, and was even now talking loudlyagainst the outrage and the shame of what was plainly foul play. 

"Kidnaping, " every other man said, and believed, and the detectives wereon a still hunt again for the mysterious electric cab of election eve. In this particular line of search John Allingham was bending all hisenergies. Every garage in the city was visited and made to account foreach one of its machines. No chauffeur was left unquestioned, and therecords were thoroughly examined--all with the foolish consciousnessthat nothing could be easier than for some private owner or renter of anautomobile to have skimmed quietly away with the mayor in his tonneau, quite out of reach of the law. As the day passed, rumors of flyingautomobiles came in from all directions, making a hopeless confusion ofclues that led nowhere. 

At City Hall, the chairman of the board of aldermen took the helm, becoming acting-mayor for the time being. Although he directed thesearch for the mayor and her secretary with much skill and patience, theHonorable Otis H. Mann was enjoying an inflated sense of independence, such as does not come often to a small man on large occasions. 

As the day closed and no news came from the missing women, theexcitement grew. Crowds gathered on the streets and squares, untilsomeone, by a happy thought, called for a mass-meeting in MasonicTemple. If Gertrude could have heard the speeches made there, and notedthe sympathy and pride of her townspeople, she would have felt herstrength renewed as the eagle. For however they might have been dividedin opinion before, every man, woman and child were solidly for her now. A great wave of indignation had swept the city, and left the publicheart alive with love and sorrow for the brave young woman who had daredtake up this burden. Although they talked hopefully and determinedly ofperfecting their search and restoring her to her office, many a heartwas cherishing a great fear that death, or worse than death, had alreadyovertaken her. 

"A terrible thing has befallen us, " one of the speakers was saying. "Andan awful state of affairs exists when the mayor of our own city can becompletely swallowed up--and hidden from all pursuit--in an evening. When we remember that it is a woman--two women--of the highest breedingand inheritance who have been so foully dealt with, we are overwhelmedwith a sense of disaster. "

"But we must find a way--we must organize our forces, " interruptedanother. "They must, they shall be found. "

There was much ardent talk, but little practical advice, and when BaileyArmstrong and John Allingham left the hall together, the hearts of bothwere heavy. 

"I'd give all I've got in the world to find those two, " said Bailey. "But between you and me, it looks pretty dark. There was something queerabout it. Why should Gertrude go out at night alone? Why didn't she callon me to go with her? She often did, if no one else was going--from thehouse, I mean. "

"Did you hear her say anything about an appointment?--or Miss Snow?"asked Allingham. "Evidently they had one. "

"Not a word. I was in the office yesterday. We talked things over, some. I asked her--" Bailey stopped. "Say, she was going to telephone NewtonFitzgerald to come up. You don't suppose he's in it?"

"Let's go over to his saloon, " said Allingham. "Here's a car comingnow. "

But when they got over there, Fitzgerald was declaiming loudly gainstthe rotten politics of Roma. 

"I've known her since she was a kid, " he was saying to a gang of beeryindividuals around his door, "and she's been an angel of light to me an'mine. I voted for her--yes, I'm proud to say I did, against the partythough it was. And I shall do it again, if she comes back alive. Why, Ifound a note on my desk this morning when I came in, that my barkeeperput there, saying she'd telephoned for me to come up to the Hallyesterday afternoon. I'd a' gone, only I was out of town and didn't getback here last night at all. Mebbe I'd 've been of use to her some wayif I'd been on time. Anyway, I'm going on a still hunt for her tomorrow, all by my lonesome. "

"He's sincere enough, " remarked Bailey. "Newton's a good-hearted fellow. He always liked Gertrude. "

They walked back and soon separated for the night, but neither of themslept, for thinking of those two, so suddenly and mysteriously snatchedaway. 

As John Allingham walked home he lived over again the exciting eveningbefore election. He recalled the moonlit night, the rushing automobile, the ghostly shadows chasing themselves in swift procession ever behindhim. He remembered the shock and the overturn and finding himself faceto face with Gertrude Van Deusen on the pine-shaded road. He lived againthrough the rushing ride home, hearing again her silvery voice as shetalked, and feeling again the indefinable charm of her presence. Heforgot--that she was doing a man's work; he thought only of herfemininity and grace and beauty. Then, realizing afresh the calamitythat had befallen the city, he groaned aloud. 

"Oh, my God!" he muttered. "If she is lost--"

Then he knew, all suddenly and with a great heartache, that he loved awoman--that she was Gertrude Van Deusen--and that she was lost, and thatshe might be dead, or in great misery and sorrow. 

"Good God, " he cried, "what can I do to help her?"

CHAPTER XIX

The Boodlers Score

A week later, there was a meeting of the city council, at the mayor'soffice, called by the chairman of the board of aldermen, to "discuss theunusual state of affairs and find a way out, " as Mr. Otis H. Mann putit. Every member was present, and Mr. Mann counted his supporterscarefully as he opened the meeting for business. The mayor's friendswere strong and outspoken, he decided, but they were not in themajority. He began by making a rather neat speech, deploring the stateof things in Roma, and trusting that the citizens' committee, which hadbeen organized the week before for the purpose of discovering theabsent officials, would be successful. 

"A terrible condition of municipal affairs exists, " he went on smoothly, "when its chief magistrate can be abducted and kept hidden, without--orwith?--her own volition for a whole week. Only in the extravaganzas ofmodern romance could we look for similar happenings. Just what is ourduty in the premises, gentlemen, is a serious question. The citizens'committee has taken the work of restoring our mayor to her place out ofour hands; but I think we should assure them of our co-operation andoffer to place every means of assistance at their disposal. Will someone make a motion to that effect?"

The motion was quickly made and seconded, but before it was put Mr. Turner was on his feet. 

"I wish to be put on record, " he began, "as of the opinion that it isnothing to our credit that the citizens had to call a mass-meeting andform their own committee. We should have led in this work, and if wecould not do that, every one of us should have been on the committee. May I inquire why but five of the councilmen are identified with themovement to find Miss Van Deusen and her secretary--to discover theperpetrators of this outrage and bring them to punishment?"

"The member is unduly excited, " replied the chairman, in his mostunctuous tones. "It is not easy to know what to do in the position whichhas suddenly been forced upon me--a condition without precedent, so faras I know, in the whole country. If I have failed in my duty, I ask yourpardon; but with so many local issues--so many details at loose ends inthe mayor's office--I beg your pardon, gentlemen, for mentioning this. "

"Question, question, " called a voice with a strong accent from the backrow. "Question--I call for the question, " echoed another. 

The chairman hastened to put the motion and the expression of sympathyand co-operation with the citizens' committee was unanimous. 

"The motion seems to prevail--the motion prevails. The secretary isinstructed to communicate this vote at once, " added the chairman. 

"And now I must add, by the force of stringent necessity which I find inmy endeavor to carry on the work of our mayor, " said the chairman, "thatit became necessary for us to transact a little business here tonight. Exigencies are arising which make it important to have some action takenon the sub-letting of contracts. Will some member move that the presentincumbent be given discretionary power to act in these matters?"

"No, no, " shouted Turner, and was echoed by two or three others. ButBlatchley rose and moved that the chairman of the board of aldermen beallowed to go ahead with all the city's business during the indefiniteabsence of the mayor, using his discretion therein. 

The motion was seconded by several others and when Mr. Mason arose, there was a chorus of "Question, question, " from the opposite faction. He would not give way, however, and stood his ground for some moments, arguing for fair play, and finally offering a substitute motion, askingthat no contracts be given out and only routine business be transactedwhile the present crisis was on; but he might as well have talked to thevagrant wind. Not over half a dozen men present were in entire sympathywith him, and they were helpless. It soon became evident that theothers had been primed for this meeting--as indeed was the case, everydoubtful one having been called to a private confab with the actingmayor, and promised something for good behavior. 

"Isn't there an ordinance that prevents our taking any action whatever, until the mayor has been absent a fortnight?" finally asked Mason. 

"That ordinance was changed two years ago, " replied the chairman. "Thetime is now limited to one week. "

"And you have waited just that, " replied Mr. Mason, sitting down. He sawit was impossible to struggle any longer. 

So the acting mayor was given full power to do what he pleased while themayor was still secluded. Fortunately, it was voted to keep thisdecision from the newspapers; for feeling was growing daily more bitteragainst the city council, and the people were already asking how muchthe aldermen knew about the abduction of their woman-mayor, and why theywere not more active in the search for her. 

CHAPTER XX

An Enforced Vacation

When Gertrude Van Deusen decided to go to see Newton Fitzgerald on thateventful evening, she thought first, as has been intimated already, ofcalling on Bailey Armstrong to escort her. But as she hoped to winNewton's confidence, and did not like to have her visit known to others, she believed that by going quietly, alone with Mary Snow, she would bedoing wisely. And so the two met at the drug-store, as previouslyarranged, and attracted no attention whatever. 

When they arrived at the address given them, they found a big apartmentblock, with stores underneath. There was no one in the vestibule asthey entered, but a man stood waiting at the elevator--apparently thefunctionary who had charge of the lift. 

"Does Newton Fitzgerald live here?" asked Gertrude. 

The man motioned to the elevator and the two young women entered andwere quickly borne to the top floor. 

"This way, " said the man, leading the way down a narrow corridor, andpressing an electric button at the last door on the right. 

It was opened by a neatly dressed Irish woman, who led the way into acomfortably furnished living-room. 

"Be seated, " she said. "I'll be back in a while. " She spoke with abrogue, and they did not notice the peculiar expression. For somemoments they remained quietly waiting; but no one came. 

"He must be pretty sick, the place is so quiet, " said Mary Snow, atlast. 

"Probably, " assented Gertrude. "But I suppose they'll call us when theyare ready. "

Fifteen minutes, thirty, forty-five--an hour went by, and still no onecame. The place was oppressively still. The electric lights burnedbrightly; a breeze came in from an open window; the street sounds belowfloated up to them, insistent and garish. But no rustle of garments, nohushed voices, no slightest motion in the rooms beyond came through thedoor. 

"This is strange, " said Gertrude at last. "Newton must be very ill--orsomething. " She arose. "I wonder if we'd better investigate. I hate tointrude, but we ought to be getting back, I didn't tell anybody at homewhere I was going. "

"Nor I--I didn't tell anybody, " said Mary. "I thought we should be backlong ago. Yes, let us find someone. "

They went on through the open door into a bedroom. Out of this opened asmall dining room, and beyond that a little kitchen. There was a tinybathroom, and lights were burning in all the rooms. But there was nosign of the sick man. 

They looked at one another, puzzled and anxious. 

"They seem to have gone out, " said Mary. "Here is another bedroom. Perhaps Fitzgerald is here. "

But the bed, all clean and white, had not been disturbed. 

Simultaneously, they turned and went back to the door by which they hadentered the flat. It was locked. 

"We've been trapped, " said Gertrude in a low voice. "Let's look throughthe place. "

They began another search, opening closet doors and looking intowardrobes and cupboards and under the furniture. They went to thekitchen and tried the door into the back passage; but that, too, waslocked. There was nobody else in the flat; there was no possible way ofgetting out. 

"The windows, " said Gertrude. "There should be fire escapes. "

But there were not. They could not raise the windows from the bottom, either, although they could lower them slightly from the top for air. They climbed up and peeped over, only to discover that they were sevenstories from the ground, and looked only into a light-well. The flatacross from them was unoccupied. 

They looked at their watches. It was ten o'clock--even then the churcheswere chiming out the hour. 

"Let us look for a note, or some intimation of what to expect, " saidMary. "I wonder if they are going to keep us here all night. "

"It's a trick, " said Gertrude. "There's no knowing how long we maystay--nor what will happen to us. I'm glad I thought of this before Istarted out alone tonight. " And she produced a small revolver from hercoat pocket. 

"Mercy!" cried Mary, "do you carry that? Would you know how to use it?"

"I carried it when father and I walked through the Pyrenees a few yearsago, " answered Gertrude. "I used it once--to good advantage--and I couldagain, if I had to, " she added. "Now, let us see what the gods--or theother thing--have provided. "

Another search showed them that their flat was well-provisioned, well-furnished, heated and lighted. There were a few books andmagazines, a piano, a writing desk, even a pack of playing cards. 

"We may have to resort to solitaire yet, " laughed Mary. "Though nothingshort of imprisonment could induce me to fool away my time with thesilly game. "

"Well, they have provided for an indefinite stay, I fear, " saidGertrude. "Somehow, I have a feeling that we are not going to get outeasily. We must think up some way of letting our friends know we arehere. "

But their jailers had looked out for that. They could hang towels fromtheir upper windows, but to what end, since these could not be seen?

There was no stationery in the desk, but Mary had a pocket diary in herchatelaine bag. "We will write a note and shove it through the crackunder the door, " they said--and did, repeatedly, the ensuing week--butno answer came. 

"I should think somebody would question the elevator boy, " said Mary. "Or, that, when he hears we are gone, he will remember bringing ushere. "

"That was not the regular boy--depend upon it, " answered Gertrude. "Itwas one of the conspirators, if there was a conspiracy, and he will nottell. It was Orlando Vickery who was behind this. "

"Shall we go to bed tonight?" asked Mary. 

"No, indeed, " said Gertrude. "We couldn't possibly sleep. Andbesides--something might happen. "

But nothing did happen. The slow night wore away and morning came. Whenthe whistles below were calling people to their work, the two youngwomen got up from their couch and easy-chair, and went to the windowsagain; but they could see nothing but the blank wall of a light-well. They were trapped and helpless. 

"Well, we may as well be philosophical while we can, " said Mary. "Thereare coffee and breakfast things in the pantry. I saw them last night. I'm used to getting my own light breakfast. Let's eat. "

They prepared and ate their simple meal and went back, to wonder andspeculate and devise new ways of getting some message to the outsideworld; but nothing came of it. They could do nothing more than scribblenotes on pages torn from the diary and throw them from the tops of thewindows into the light-well, where they fell harmlessly into the rubbishheap that gathered unnoticed in the corners. The day wore monotonouslyalong and was succeeded by another and another. Then a note was foundshoved under the front door in the early dawn. 

 "Open the little door to the dumbwaiter in the pantry and find supplies. "

They obeyed, and found a basket of fruit, cream, vegetables and meat. They wrote an appealing note and placed in the basket and tried to sendit down; but they could not manipulate the dumbwaiter. They left thelittle door open, to know when the basket descended, but it did not godown until some time during the following night. The only reply to theirnote--if it was a reply--was a second typewritten note, that came underthe door late the fourth evening. 

 "You can be let out any time that Miss Van Deusen will send down her signed and witnessed resignation from the office of mayor. Push it through the crack and the door will be opened for you. "

When they read it, Gertrude's face flushed hotly. "So they think toforce me out, do they?"

"Don't you resign, Miss Van Deusen, " said Mary. "We'll stay here andstarve, first. Somebody will find us--some time. "

"I've not the slightest intention of resigning, " replied the other. "And how often have I asked you to call me Gertrude? We aren't mayor andsecretary now--or I'd command you to call me by my given name. We arejust two prisoners. "

"Then I'll do as you say--if I don't forget--Gertrude, " answered Mary. 

"I wonder what they are doing down below, " said Mary later in the day. 

"How many times do you think we've said that this week?" laughedGertrude. "We've heard the usual street sounds, and an unusual amount ofbell-ringing--which may or may not have been on our account. "

"At least, we haven't heard them toll the bells for us!" interruptedMary. "That's something. "

"But not a paper, not a line, not a breath from the outside world hasreached up--except the basket of provisions, " exclaimed Gertrude, ruefully. 

"And the demand for your resignation, " interrupted Mary again. "Honestly, now, Gertrude, don't you wish at the bottom of your heart, that you had never gone into politics? That you'd let the office ofmayor go begging last fall?"

Gertrude's face was a study. For an instant her friend thought she wasabout to confess that she had made a mistake. Then the old spirit flaredup. Gertrude held her head high. 

"I would never own it if I did, " she said. "When the next election comesaround, however--"

She did not finish her remark, but picked up a book and fell to reading. 

"This 'Fated to Conquer' isn't a bad story, Mary, " she said after awhile. "When I read such a book--of love and romance and all that--Iwish I were, or had been, of the marrying kind of women. As it is--I'mgoing to say it in confidence, Mary--I believe, when we get out of this, I'll marry Bailey. "

She did not notice her friend's peculiar expression, but talked idly on. "You know he has wanted to marry me several times in the past. To besure, he hasn't proposed for a couple of years, but he will. A man willalways propose to the woman he loves if she gives him half a chance. "

"Why didn't you marry him?" asked Mary in an expressionless voice. 

"O, I never loved him, or thought I didn't, " answered Gertrude. "Ididn't fully believe in his love for me, either; that is, he did notlove me as I wanted to be loved. We are comrades from childhood, andsort of cousins. He's been as near a brother to me as he could and I'vebeen fond of him in that kind of way. "

"Then you don't love him--not really?" asked Mary; and she could notentirely suppress a joyous note in her voice. 

"Well, yes, " blandly replied Gertrude. "I love Bailey in a way. Not thepassionate kind of love one reads of in novels--like this, forinstance;" she indicated the book she had been reading. "The heroinegoes through all sorts of tribulations for love's sake, and the herofinally renounces everything for her sake; but that is only in books. People don't love in that violent fashion. Mutual esteem and confidenceare what I see between the happiest married couples of my acquaintance. Bailey is thoroughly reliable, helpful and honorable. I am tired ofstanding up to the world alone. It must be a comfort to have a goodhusband to take care of you. "

"It must indeed, " replied Mary, inscrutably. 

CHAPTER XXI

Word From the Missing

"There seems to be something queer about the way the search goes on, "said Bailey to Allingham. "They don't pull together, some way. "

"I think it's because there is no real, efficient head to thecommittee, " returned Allingham. "Blatchley's afraid of running counterto Mann; or if not exactly that, he waits for our acting mayor to takethe initiative. "

"Which he will never do, " retorted Bailey. "It isn't in him--andbesides--"

"I know what you mean, " replied Allingham. "You don't have to put it inwords. But something more definite and aggressive has got to be donethan is doing now. "

"Right you are, " said Armstrong. "The question is--what?"

"The people are getting clamorous, not to say critical, " said Allingham, "Why not call another mass-meeting and put it right to them to demand orinstitute a better organized search for the missing mayor?"

"Good idea, " said Bailey. "Let's talk it over with Mason and Turner andJewett, and see if we can't stir Mann up a bit. "

The two men had been lunching together at the club, with a little talkafterwards, while they smoked their cigars in the lazy summer atmosphereof the well-kept garden. 

"Well, here it is three o'clock, " added Bailey; "and I have anappointment at a quarter-past. So long. "

"I must be going, too;" and Allingham followed, walking down street asfar as his office. Once there, he hung up his hat, changed his coat fora thinner one, and sat down to his desk, whereupon a pile of letters layunopened. It was a warm day, and Allingham took his own time to read hiscorrespondence, and jot down on the back of the letters the reply whichhe wished his secretary to write when she arrived in the morning. Thenhe rested his head in his hands and his elbows on the desk for a fewmoments' quiet thought before closing his office for the day. It was ahabit he had, when alone, and today the baffling situation with regardto the woman-mayor was making him more worried than ever. 

"There's some devilish chicanery going on in high quarters, " he toldhimself, "or this search would be conducted differently. The thing forus to do is to find out just what O. H. M. , Esquire, is up to in hislittle mind. Hullo, what's this?"

A slip of paper had been tossed by the vagrant wind, through the openwindow onto his desk and lay there, open, under his eyes. Ordinarily, hewould have swept the crumpled thing into his waste basket. But themysterious power which guides us when we do the unexpected thing, stayedhis hands, and the half-obliterated note arrested his attention. 

 confined in top block. Safe but come to the corner Streets and liberate Gertrude Mary S

"Good Heavens!" cried Allingham. "They are somewhere in theneighborhood--or were, when this was written. No date, nothing to showwhere they were or when. Just like a woman. Well, well, here'ssomething to work on at last, thank Heaven. " He turned the piece ofpaper over and over, but there was nothing more to be seen, and he heldit up to the light in vain, when he tried to make out what the penciledwords had been which had completed the sentence. 

"Let's see. This is Thursday. What day was it, when it rained so?Tuesday? No. Sunday? Then this was written before that and has laid outwhere it was washed by the rain. Then it has dried in the sun and thewind caught it up and brought it here. Blessed wind!"

He walked over to the window and looked down into the street. He had tworooms, one of them a small, back room, opening into a court; but thispiece of paper had floated in from the street under his very eyes. Helooked across at the big block opposite. She might be right there. A bigdepartment store occupied the lower floors--but the upper storiesseemed to be tenements for living purposes. What if she should be there, now--at this very moment? Or here, under the same roof with himself?

The thought electrified him and he went out, locking his door behindhim. There was an elevator. "Top, " the note had said. He took the liftand went to the topmost floor, stealing down the corridors on a voyageof discovery, and feeling like a thief, or a detective. But the roomswere all occupied by tailors or the like, and every door stood hospitablyopen. Surely he could not reasonably disturb these people and searchtheir premises without a warrant. 

He turned and went down again, with the happy inspiration to telephoneto the chief of police and to Bailey Armstrong. 

"If you could come right here, " he said to the former, "I can not onlygive you some important information, but give you an idea of thislocality which you may not possess. For I have a positive clue. "

"I'll be with you in fifteen minutes, " replied the official, who carednot a rap for the dignity of his position. 

To Bailey, Allingham only said: "Come down here at once, I've somethingdefinite and important to tell you and to show you. But not a word overthe telephone. "

In five minutes Bailey came in, breathless. "What is it?" he demanded. 

"Read this, " and Allingham put the scrap of paper in his hands andrelated the story of its anchorage on his desk after days of wearywandering. Before the tale was fairly unfolded, the chief of policeappeared and it had to be told all over again. 

"Now, " said Allingham, when he had finished, "what is the first andquickest thing to be done?"

"Organize, " answered the chief. "Get a few men together and go throughthis section of the town thoroughly. Strange we haven't done more righthere. We've gone on the theory that they were in the suburbs or in someother town. "

"And probably they have been right under our noses, all the time, " saidBailey. 

"Or over them, " returned the chief. "You say you went upstairs. "

"Yes. They can't be here, " replied Allingham. "Not on the top floor. Butthere are tenements over opposite. "

"We'll take 'em all in, if necessary, " said the chief. "What do you sayto my coming up here tonight and meeting you two. I'll have a dozenplain-clothes men happen around, and we'll do a little looking aroundhere quietly, between nine and twelve. "

"Great, " said Armstrong. 

"I'll have the office open at eight-thirty, " said Allingham. 

The chief came alone, however, at a quarter of nine, greeting Bailey andAllingham confidently. 

"Where are your men?" asked Allingham, fearful lest the chief's couragehad given out. 

"You didn't think I'd arouse the suspicion of the whole neighborhood bybringing a whole posse up here with me?" retorted the official. "They'rescattered around the square, nosing about quietly. If they can pick upanything it mightn't come amiss. We'd all better saunter around alittle, first. We'll go over to Erlich's drug-store and have a soda. Acouple of my men will fall in with us there. Later we'll go into thesaloon across the way. Before we get out, they'll all be with us, oroutside the building--see?"

And they were; but previous to this, several of the men had made errandsinto the various blocks in that section, but had added no bits ofinformation to their scanty stock. Several quiet families were surprisedby the appearance at their doors of strange men on strange errands, butnot a clue could be obtained that fastened suspicion on anyone. Itseemed pretty clear that there were no kidnaped women in the blockopposite, nor in the row of blocks on the side where John Allingham hadhis office. They went in and out of every block that was not locked uponthe street, and invaded every floor, but without avail. Their searchlasted until twelve, when the plain-clothes men dropped off quietly andwent home. 

"Tomorrow we'll investigate the places where we can't get into tonight, and the blocks back of this one. There is an apartment house back of us, isn't there?"

"I don't know, " answered Allingham. "I never go over onto CollinsAvenue. But--yes, there is a block or two there. We didn't get aroundthere tonight?"

"Tut-tut, one thing at a time, " answered the chief. "The note came in atyour front window, you said. It wouldn't have been likely to fly overfrom a street behind you--would it?"

"I'm not so sure of that!" muttered Bailey; and when the chief had gone, he added: "I'm going to sneak around into Collins Avenue before I gohome, and sort of get the lay of the land. Come, too?"

"I'll join you in a minute, " answered Allingham. "I'm not sure I closedthe windows to my back office. Wait for me. "

"No; I'll stroll round there and be taking a look, " answered Bailey. "You can meet me at a little drug-store there is around the corner. " Hestrolled away and his friend went upstairs to his office. He opened thedoor with his latch-key, as quietly as possible, meaning just to take alook, and make things secure for the night, but--

There, under the bright electric light, stood--Gertrude Van Deusen. 

CHAPTER XXII

A Daring Escape

"Gertrude!" he cried, springing forward; and neither of them realizedthat he was holding both her hands in his strong, eager clasp. 

"Yes, " she answered. "It is I. "

"But what--where--where have you been?" stammered Allingham. "How didyou get here?"

"Through your back window, " said Gertrude, "to answer the last questionfirst. The other needs a longer answer; but if you'll come with me I canshow you the place and get poor Mary out--for she is 'ill and inprison. ' But you'd better get help, for the place where we've beenconfined is watched, I should say. "

"I'll get Bailey. Please sit down and wait quietly. " And Allingham ledher to his most comfortable chair. "I'll be back in two minutes. " And hewent out, clicking the latch together after him. 

"A prisoner again, " said Gertrude to herself. "But this time a safe one, thank God. "

It was hardly sixty seconds before Allingham was around the corner andentering the drug-store where Bailey had promised to be. He was there, waiting. 

"O, Bailey, she is safe. She is found. She is in my office, " saidAllingham, in a low, rapid tone. 

"Mary? Thank God!--where?" said Bailey. 

"Mary?--no, Gertrude--Miss Van Deusen, I mean, " he stammered, wonderingly. "Mary Snow is still incarcerated somewhere about here. Comequick. I'll telephone for the chief again. He cannot have got to bedyet. "

By this time they were upstairs and at Allingham's door, for they hadnot done their talking standing still. Allingham produced his key. "Wemust get them both home tonight, " he said, and opened the door. 

"O, Bailey!" cried Gertrude, coming forward impulsively. "I'm so gladyou've come. "

And then Bailey answered, "O, Gertie, " and throwing his arms around her, kissed her affectionately on the brow. "O, Gertie, where have you been?And where is Mary?"

"And how did you get here?" Allingham wanted to ask this question, butthe sight of that kiss had seemed to paralyze him. It was Bailey, then, who had won her love--Bailey, on whom life showered every blessing, whomall women loved, whom everybody admired. And he--what a fool he was!

So he only went to the telephone and called up the private residence ofthe chief of police. 

"Got in? I was afraid you'd gone to bed, " he said. "Well, Miss VanDeusen is in this office--what? Yes--I say, Miss Van Deusen is here. Yes, in my office. How? I don't know myself yet. But we must get MissSnow at once. Come up quick. Can you get your men? Yes, all right. We'llwait for you. Good-by. "

"Hurry up, Jack, " said Bailey. "Gertie's story's waiting for you. Now, old girl, go ahead. "

"Nice, respectful way to address your mayor, " laughed Gertrude, to whomthe world had suddenly become a broader and brighter place than ever. "Well, then here goes. "

She began at the beginning of her story and told how she and Mary Snowhad set out for Newton Fitzgerald's sick bed; how they had been trapped, and how the days had dragged in the flat. 

"We wrote a score of notes on leaves torn from Mary's diary, " she wenton, "and tucked them out of the top of the window and under the bottomof the door. But nothing ever came of them. "

Allingham handed her the slip of washed-out paper that still lay on hisdesk. 

"That floated in here this afternoon, " he said. "It's the first cluewe've had. "

"We've been searching this neighborhood tonight, " added Bailey. "We'dhave got you tomorrow, sure. "

"Then I wish I'd waited, " said Gertrude. "Look at my hands. " She heldthem, palms out. They were all red and swollen. Allingham had an insanedesire to snatch and kiss them, but Bailey regarded them coolly enough. 

"Rough on you, Gert. How did that happen?" he asked. 

"Well, after trying every means we could think of to get some word tothe outside world, we decided to make our escape somehow. We tore up thesheets and blankets and twisted them into a strong cable. This wefastened securely to the kitchen pipes, and with our nail-files wemanaged to saw away the copper netting that had been nailed across thewindow frames, and then to pry up the lower sash. We had planned to comedown, both of us, on this, last night; but Mary was taken ill yesterday, and I wouldn't come without her. Today she seemed worse instead ofbetter, and I came down for help. "

"You came down that rope--yourself?" said Allingham. 

"Yes--like any convict, escaping from state's prison, " answeredGertrude. "Of course I had no idea where I should land, nor into whathands I might fall. I was sure we were watched, but believed only fromthe front door--"

"Go on, " said Bailey, impatiently. "Did you leave Mary alone in thatflat?"

"Of course, " answered Gertrude. "What else was there to do? But insteadof landing in the enemy's camp, I found myself in the hands of a goodSamaritan. " She smiled at Allingham, and his heart sang foolishly. "Whenmy feet struck bottom I found myself where I expected to be--at thebottom of the light-well. I looked around me for some way of escape, andsaw an open window. I came through it--and here I am. "

"Why don't that man come along?" said Bailey, impatiently--"with Marysick up there and alone--Oh, here he is;" and the chief of policeentered, eager to seize Miss Van Deusen's hand and hear her story ofthe kidnaping and escape. 

"Half a dozen men are waiting outside, " he said, when she had told himthe main facts. "There is no need of wasting further time. Come. "

They all filed out, Gertrude leading the way with Bailey, who assumedthe care of her with such an air of possession that Allingham's heartsank again. It was but a few moments before they were ascending thestairs of the apartment house--the elevator ceasing to run after oneo'clock. Gertrude led the way to the further end of the corridor. Asthey approached it, the dark figure of a man skulked out of the shadowand leapt through the open window. 

"Quick! After him!" cried Bailey. "A man just went through that window. "

Two of the policemen ran to the window and onto the fire-escape whichled down and out. But before they had reached it, the fleeing figurehad gone in at an open window on the fifth floor, and escaped, andbefore the pursuers had discovered this, the pursued was downstairs, outand on a trolley car, safely out of harm's way. 

Upstairs Bailey was impatiently trying to ring the bell, and they wereshaking the door, trying to rouse Mary Snow. But she was lying in a deadfaint inside, having heard their approach and overtaxed her strength intrying to reach the door. 

"Break it, " ordered the chief. It was but a moment before the half dozenmen had the door down, and they all walked in. 

"O, Mary!" cried Gertrude. "She has fainted. Carry her in there, " andshe pointed to the bedroom. Bailey was beside the prostrate girl in amoment, and already had her in his arms. He followed Gertrude into theadjoining room and laid her on the bed. 

"Now, go out, " commanded Gertrude, seeing that he still hung over hersecretary. "I must be alone with her a few minutes. I'll call you assoon as she is able to see you. "

He went reluctantly and joined the others in their examination of theplace. In the meantime, Gertrude administered simple restoratives toMary, and she was able to open her eyes. 

"It's all right, " cried Gertrude smilingly. "I reached safety and we'regoing out the moment you're able. So hurry up, please. "

"Where's Bailey?" was Mary's only reply. 

"Just outside; I'll call him, " answered Gertrude, wondering at thisreception of her news. But she stepped to the door and motioned toArmstrong, who was hovering outside. He came in and closed the door. 

"Mary!" he cried in a voice that Gertrude had never heard. 

"Bailey!" Mary answered, reaching out both hands. 

Then a great light dawned in Gertrude's mind. She went out softly--butthey did not even look to see what had become of her. 

Chapter XXIII

The Hearts of the People

There was great excitement in Roma the following morning, when thepeople read in head-lines that occupied half or more of the first pageof the morning paper, THE MAYOR IS FOUND

Newspaper reporters had reached the Van Deusen residence before the twowomen did, and they did not leave until the story of their ten days'adventure (wonderfully simple from their point of view) had been told. The presses waited while the facts were properly embellished and eachpaper vied with the other to get the longest and most readable, if notthe most startling story. 

It seemed almost inconceivable that two prominent women could have beenimprisoned in the center of the town and concealed for ten days--and yetit had been done; and now that they were restored to their friends--andthe public--once more, that there should not be the slightest clue tothe persons behind the plot. 

"It is the most successful trick ever perpetrated, " announced the_Atlas_, "and one no sane man would ever have admitted possible. Themayor has not seen a human being, except Miss Snow, nor heard any otherhuman voice for ten days. No detective has yet found who sent her themessage signed by Newton Fitzgerald, nor can they discover who was atthe elevator to receive them when they mounted to their place ofconcealment, the regular incumbent having already proved an alibi. They met in the drug-store, but no one recognized or noticed them. Theplot was carefully laid and successfully carried out, By whom, is atpresent, a mystery. "

By nine o'clock the Mayor was at her desk, with Mary Snow in her office. Friends tried to deter her, on the plea of needed rest, but she onlylaughed at them. 

"Rest? What else have I done but rest, for ten days past?" she asked. 

"Worry, I should hope, " answered her cousin Jessica. "I'm sure the restare nearly worn out with worrying about you. "

"I didn't worry--not so very much, " said Gertrude. "I felt sure we wereconfined only to make me resign--or to give them a chance at the mayor'soffice, to get some nefarious contract through, or to secrete evidencein the street railway case, and I'm in a hurry to get down there andfind out just what they have been doing. "

"We felt sure our kidnapers wouldn't dare to do us any real harm, " addedMary. "They've seen that we had plenty to eat and we have not sufferedin any way. As Gertrude says, we've done nothing but rest. "

"Well, I suppose you'll have to go then, " said Jessica. "But you'll justhave to hold a reception all day. Every man, woman and child will bethere to shake hands with you and congratulate you. "

But the citizens did not wait for them to reach their office. BeforeGertrude's carriage appeared in the square in front of the city hall, the citizens had unharnessed the horses and were drawing her, as if shehad been some princess royal and they her subjects. 

Men that voted against her, men that had denounced her in private andpublic, joined the procession and helped to give her such a welcome asto bring tears to her eyes and choke her utterance. 

When they reached the square, it was full of the surging, shoutingpopulace who crowded about, seizing her hands and demonstrating in everypossible way their joy at her return. If any of her captors had beenlooking on, he could not have doubted whether the town would be friendlyto him just then. 

They reached the City Hall at last, but even then, the mayor was notallowed to get out. 

"Speech, speech, " they were crying all about her; and Gertrude stood up, choking back her tears and trying to speak. This was what it meant toreach the popular heart, at last. 

"Friends, " she said, "I cannot tell you what this welcome means to us. Never again can I feel discouragement or lose faith in the people ofRoma. You are showing me that I am as dear to you as you are to me. Icannot say more. Your welcome thrills me to the heart, and it seems tome I can never outlive this moment of joyous welcome. Let us go now--toour homes, our offices, our stores; and while we thank God that he hasbrought us out from the shadow into the light of day, let us ask Him, all humbly, for help in making our beloved Roma a fairer, a better, apurer city--a city of ideals realized and lofty purposes fulfilled. "

She sat down exhausted and the crowd saw that she was near toover-taxing her strength. They began to disperse, but one cried out:

"The little secretary, too. Three cheers for Mary Snow!"

They were given spontaneously, ringing to the echo, and Mary, blushingand tremulous, rose and thanked them. Then the crowd parted to let thetwo women descend and go up to the hall. Had they been men and the samefeeling prevailed, the mayor would have been carried in on broadshoulders, and amid shouts and cheers; but although the thought occurredto the leaders of the good-natured mob, there was something about herthat made them remember the old Senator. 

"She's not the kind for that, " they said, and stood with bared headswhile she passed in and out of sight. 

"Oh, but it's good to get back here, " said Mary, as they foundthemselves once more in the mayor's rooms. "I shall be glad to buckledown to work again. "

But there was little chance for "buckling down" that day. Even as shespoke, Bailey Armstrong was beside Mary Snow with warm greetings andAllingham was exchanging salutations with the Mayor herself. A stream ofothers were coming in, all the employees about the place, and hundredsof others, who wanted to clasp the hands of the returned prisoners, andassure them of their loyal support. 

The women of the city began to arrive about ten o'clock, the"Progressives" arriving at that hour in a body, and everyone of themclasping and kissing the Mayor as, it is safe to say, no incumbent ofthat office was ever hugged and kissed before--at least, during officehours. 

"O, Gertrude, " said Mrs. Blake, "we would never have put you in, if we'dknown what it would bring you. "

"To think we were letting you in for kidnaping and imprisonment, " saidMrs. Turner. 

"Like a criminal--or step-child, " added Mrs. Mason. 

"O, Gertie!" cried the fluffy woman known as Bella, "and I brought it onby telling you all that stuff my laundress told me. Rudolph says I did. "And she burst into tears. 

"Don't cry, Bella, " said the mayor, soothingly. "I was finding thingsout, anyway. It would have been just the same in the end. "

"But Rudolph says--" insisted the weeping one, when the push from behindcarried her on out into the corridors. 

Club-women, patriotic women, stay-at-home women were followed by womenfrom the poorer classes who had waited until their morning's work wasdone before coming to tell the Mayor how glad they were to have herback. Then noon came, bringing young women from the stores and officesand factories, all eager to add their bit of welcome; and the schoolchildren, to shake her hand and go home and tell of this wonderful day, which afterward became a memory for a lifetime. When four o'clock came, Gertrude prepared to go home; to rest and sleep in her own bed, worn outwith the welcome of thousands of her people. Mary Snow had alreadysuccumbed to the demand on her energies and had gone an hour before. 

"It's worth the whole gamut of experience, " Gertrude said to herself asshe closed her desk, "just to find out what it is to get at the heart ofthe American people. It's a great experience, and I shall be a betterwoman for it, all my days. "

A step on the bare floor behind her. She looked up. 

"I haven't had a chance to tell you in words how very, very glad I am, "said Allingham, holding out his hand. "But--you know--"

"Yes, " she said, taking it; "I know. "

"Excuse me, " said a voice, and a burly form pushed in from the outeroffice; "but I couldn't go home until I came to have one word with you, Miss Van Deusen. You don't--you can't believe I had anything to do withgetting you into that scrape?"

"No, Newton, I never believed it for a minute, " said the mayor, "notafter I realized you were not there, sick and in trouble. I know you toowell. "

"Thank you, " said Fitzgerald. "I'm ready to go on the witness stand foryou, any time. More than that, I'll run down the rascals that played yousuch a d--d trick, if it takes the last cent I've got. "

Chapter XXIV

An Honest Confession

At the first possible moment, Gertrude and Mary went carefully throughthe books and papers in their private desks. The first discovery theymade was that all notes and papers pertaining to Vickery and theBoulevard Railway Company were missing, thus destroying every bit ofevidence, beyond their spoken word, in that particular case. Otherdocuments were missing also, and the trail of the corrupt politician wasover all. She sent for Robert Joyce, the district attorney, and BaileyArmstrong, as city solicitor, and they held counsel together until thelengthening shadows drove them home. But not until they had sent forOtis H. Mann, and put the case strongly to him. That functionary was, however, as smooth and oily as ever, disclaiming all knowledge ofeverything. 

"I assure you, gentlemen, " he said, "and you, madam, that only the mostperfunctory of routine work has been done in this office while I wasacting-mayor. It was our one object to let things slide along as easilyas possible until the real mayor should return. We desired no radicalchanges, and on the other hand, as few breaks in the regular routine ofcity affairs as possible. I desired, above all, to be a faithful servantto the people--to--in short, ah--"

"How about those contracts you negotiated with Watts?" broke in Joyce. 

"And McAlister's new job--under the name of Peter Grayson?" addedBailey. 

Mann's face was a shade more purple for an instant, but he went on, unctuously. 

"The man who suddenly becomes the head of a city has a greatresponsibility--especially if he has been, in a sense, shut out from theconfidence of its mayor up to the time of his incumbency. He cannotexpect to please everyone. He will be called 'demagogue' by the oppositeparty; his motives will be misconstrued; his honesty brought inquestion, his principles--"

"O, spare us, " interrupted Bailey. "While you were the head of thisoffice, some important testimony has disappeared; private papersbelonging to the mayor and her secretary were taken away, and severalother questionable things were done. We called you here now, to explainthese things; and if you cannot produce them, to say why. The leastthing a man in your position can do is to institute a hearty search forthe missing papers, and to act in accord with us in leaving no stoneunturned to find them. "

"Gentlemen, " said the chairman of the board of aldermen, rising andlaying his hand impressively across his heart, "I will swear to you thatthe mayor's desk and her secretary's were turned over to her exactly asI found them. If anything has been taken from them, the robbery occurredeither before I came or after I went out. "

"And you are willing to pledge yourself to aid in discovering the thief, whoever and wherever he may be?" said Bailey, regarding Mann narrowly. 

"On my word of honor, " replied the chairman; and he could not help it ifhis words and tone sounded rather bombastic. "But, I am sorry, my dearlady--but I have a very important engagement at this hour--a personalmatter, very dear to my heart, which compels me to ask you to excuse menow. I shall be glad to call upon you tomorrow morning, at any hour youmay name. "

"Can you make it nine o'clock, " asked Gertrude--"or even earlier?"

"Yes, we must get definitely to work tomorrow morning, " added Joyce. 

"Certainly, nine--or half past eight, if you choose, " said Mann. "In themeantime I will try to recall the minutest particulars of my connectionwith this office. I am sure, my dear lady, you do not need to be assuredof my loyalty to you--nor to my native city. And now--I bid yougood-day. " He bowed impressively and was gone. 

"All the same, I don't like the cut of his jib, " murmured Bailey. 

"Oh, he's too much of a trimmer to go back on us now, " said Joyce. "Public sentiment is all on our side now, and election day's coming. "

Gertrude smiled. "I can't imagine why anybody should trim his sails toget an office, " she said. 

"Well, see what a dangerous thing it is to cultivate a taste forpolitics, " retorted Bailey. "There's no knowledge where it may leadyou. "

"Oh, Miss Van Deusen will have a walkover when her turn for electioncomes again. "

Gertrude remembered this remark as she sat in her library that evening, alone for the first time since she had set forth to call on NewtonFitzgerald. 

"Having set my hand to the plough, " (her favorite expression) "I supposeI must not look back, " she soliloquized, "until the end of the furrow isreached. But I may look forward, and--if I live through the next fewmonths, I wonder if anything or anybody can persuade me to be acandidate the second time. I don't think so now. But how much more Iknow than I did last year!--only, of course, I cannot own it to anyliving soul. John Allingham ought to have beaten me. I wonder if he willrun next year?" But in her heart she knew very well he would not opposeher again. "He would make an ideal mayor. Upright, honorable, fearless--and afraid of nothing but doing wrong. Ah, well--should italways take a man to deal with men--or shouldn't it? I don't know. "

The maid entered. 

"A man wishes to see you, Miss Van Deusen, " said she. "He says he musttalk to you personally. His name is Fitzgerald. But if you're too tired, Miss Van Deusen, I'll make him wait. If you'll excuse my saying so--youare too worn-down. These people ask too much of you. "

"Show him right in here, Lizzie, " answered Gertrude. "And don't worryabout me. I'm all right, now I am home. "

A moment later Fitzgerald entered and stood, hat in hand. 

"Excuse me, Miss Van Deusen, " he began apologetically. "I've gotsomething to confess--and I can't wait until morning--it'll be too latethen. "

"Go on, " said Gertrude kindly. "Just trouble to shut that door into thehall, please, and then come over here by me. "

The man did as he was told, and drew a chair near enough to her to beheard in low tones. 

"Miss Van Deusen, " he began; "it's just as I told you; I didn't knowanything about the message they sent you, nor about the trap they setfor you. But I have been knowing a good deal, and now--he's runningaway--and I'll be d----d if I won't tell you!"

"Sh--sh--who's running away?" interrupted Gertrude. "Calm yourself, Newton, and tell me. "

"Mann--the dirty whelp, after lining his pockets, and doing you all theharm he dares, " he went on. "I've stood for him all I will. I'vesupported him and his cliques, and given house-room to his workers; andnow he's--"

Gertrude saw it was useless to try to calm him, and wisely decided tolet him work off his excitement by telling his story in his own way. 

"And it's because Otis H. Mann, the people's friend, as he callshimself, " explained Fitzgerald, impulsively, "has left town, bag andbaggage, and will sail for foreign ports as soon as he strikes New York, that I'm telling. "

"Tell me all you know, Newton. I've been wanting a good long talk withyou for a long time. Begin at the beginning, please. "

"Well, of course you know I'm a democrat. I've always voted with thatparty, and would have done so last fall, even against you--if it hadn'tbeen for the job they put up on you. Yes--I mean the night beforeelection. They talked it all over in a little room back of my saloon. The boss was there himself that night--"

"You mean Burke?" interrupted Gertrude. 

"No--Mann. Burke's under his orders every time. Whatever Burke done, itwas Mann behind him; and when Burke got a rake-off of a thousand, Manngot two. As I'm tellin' you, they arranged the whole affair in my rooms. There was Mann and Burke, and McAdoo, and one or two others, and myself. I ain't claiming to be any better than the rest. I was there--not that Iwas ag'in you, but because it was my room, and my liquor, and I'd alwaysbeen in their confabs. I didn't approve of them electric cabs andseizing you by main force, as it were, and rushing you out into thecountry; but Mann and Burke were determined to have it--and when I sawthey were bound to do it, anyhow, I just had to agree; and to see thatnothing happened to you, I went along, too. If they'd tried any funnybusiness with you, I'd--well, I took my irons along. "

"Newton!" cried Gertrude. "Were you there? You!"

"Yes, " replied the man, grimly. "I was your chauffeur. I wouldn't trustyou to anyone else. I ain't forgot all you and your father done for mewhen I was a kid. "

"Newton, you've a queer sense of gratitude, " she laughed, for thesituation seemed not without humor. "You ran away with me to protectme. "

"That's about the size of it. I didn't know what the others might do; Idid know I should bring you in safely. "

"Where did you get that cab?" she asked him. 

"It was one I ran all last summer out to my summer place at Itosco. It'sstored there now. The other we got at Bonborough from a friend ofMann's. His chauffeur ran that. The third man was McAdoo. "

"Then it was you who brought me--and Mr. Allingham--home?"

"Yes'm. And it was Mann's friend's machine that was wrecked; and theyhad hard work to get the remains of it dragged off and hidden beforemorning; but Mann is a slick one. As soon as we got in we reported tohim and he had his men out there with plenty to help. But it's moreabout Mann I want to tell you. It ain't Vickery, you want to haul intocourt. It's Mann. He's made more'n a hundred thousand off'n the city. He's pulled off already over thirty thousand on that Boulevard Railwayscheme. Vickery's only a tool. If you'd bitten his bait and taken whatthey offered you, they had it planned that Mann was to be generalmanager. That railway would have swallowed up all the others; and thenhe was to be president. He means to be a millionaire yet. He will be, ifyou don't get him--and quick. "

"Wait; let's call Bailey. " She rang up on the telephone. "But you knewnothing about the trap they caught Miss Snow and me in?"

"No. " He waited until she called up Bailey Armstrong, and requested himto come to the house at once. 

"No, " he went on. "I swear it. They knew I hadn't much sympathy fortheir plots against you and got shy of letting me in on them. Butthere's a barkeep in my saloon--or was--who kept them posted. When youtelephoned me that day, he put 'em wise right off, quick. Mann was theone who planned your imprisonment. He thought out all the details--I'veonly just found this out--and since his talk with you this afternoon, hethought you were getting wise, too. So he went right out, got his bag(which has been packed for some time) and took the night train East. Heowes me a big bill--and more promises than he can ever pay. I've beengetting sick of this kind of thing for weeks; now that he's proved thebiggest kind of a coward, I've come straight to you. And I'm glad Idid. "

"Would you be willing to go into court and swear to all this?" askedGertrude. "For that is what it will come to, Newton. "

"All this and more, " he answered. "If you can catch the dirty whelpbefore he sails for foreign parts, I'll do my part to put him where hebelongs. I'm sick of living the life of a dirty dog. I want to be aclean man. I want to be a respectable citizen for the sake of my boy andgirl, Miss Van Deusen; and their mother thinks the world of you--and sodo I, when you come to that. "

"I am sure of that, " answered Gertrude, smiling again at the thoughtthat it was his loyalty which made of him her chauffeur on thatmemorable ride. "I shall depend on you now. "

Thus it happened that Bailey Armstrong, who would trust no man to goalone, took the midnight train for the East, accompanied by the sheriffof Roma; and that, in due course of time, they returned to Roma, "bringing their sheaves with them" in the form of Otis H. Mann, Esq. 

CHAPTER XXV

The Old, Old Story

The trial which followed was perhaps the most exciting event in thehistory of Roma. The indictment of Mann involved that of eight others, all more or less prominent in city politics; and when the facts becameknown with regards to Mann's connection with all the events narrated byFitzgerald, the citizens were unanimous in demanding his punishment. 

Although the documental evidence in the city hall had all been destroyedor secreted, there were plenty of witnesses ready to testify to whatthey knew, as soon as they felt safe in doing so; and although thestenographer's notes and Mary Snow's record of what took place whileshe was secreted in the closet during Vickery's proposals of graft tothe mayor were not to be found, Mary's testimony was admitted. GertrudeVan Deusen and Newton Fitzgerald were the chief witnesses, however, andthere were few of Mann's minions brave enough to stand by him in thisemergency. The trial was not long, the jury was out fifteen minutes andthe verdict was "guilty. "

When the judge pronounced the penalty, "Ten years in state's prison andthe restitution of every dollar you have taken from or through thecity, " Mann collapsed from the red-faced, pompous official, into thepitiable wretch; and there were few to say a good word for him whencourt adjourned and the people gathered in knots to talk over the trial. The judge's sentence for the rest of the grafters--from one to tenyears' imprisonment and complete restitution--met with hearty approval;and from that day municipal grafting suddenly declined in Roma, andhonest politics began to be recognized. 

Vickery was heard from soon after in Japan, but the chief offendershaving been convicted, there was no further interest in bringing him--anoutsider and a tool--to justice. The Boulevard Railway scheme was neverheard of more. 

As soon as the trial was fairly over and the delinquents safely lodgedin jail, the Mayor called a meeting of the remaining councilmen. Therewere six vacancies--that number of Roma's aldermen being behind the barsof justice; and their places had to be filled. 

"How shall this be done?" she asked of them, after calling the meetingto order and stating its object. "The city charter provides for thefilling of vacancies by the mayor; but the fathers who framed thischarter could never have dreamed of this wholesale demand. I place itbefore you. Shall we select the best men for the places ourselves--for Ishould not dream of appointing any without suggestions from you--orshall we call a special election, and let these aldermen be chosen bythe people for the unexpired term?"

There were good arguments on both sides, and every man spoke hismind--for once, without fear or favor. At last Geoffrey Mason made thedecisive speech:

"We have come to the crisis of our municipal history. We have rid ourlocal government of some of the worst demagogues with which any cityever was cursed; consequently, it is most important that we fill theirplaces with men of wide views, unusual intelligence and absolutefearlessness. We are not sure of what the voters may do if an electionbe called just now; but we are reasonably sure that we can pick out sixmen who will help make our system of government a model of its kindinstead of a reproach and a by-word. Let us make our own selections--or, rather, help our mayor to make hers--and show this town what can be donewith an honest and sane council, every man of whom has at heart theframing of a model municipality and the development of an ideal city. Tothis end, I move that the mayor, assisted by the entire council, shallfill the vacancies in our board. "

This motion was carried without further debate, and some of the best andmost public-spirited men in Roma were put into the vacant places. Atlast Gertrude had a city council which was in full sympathy with her, and ready to further every good project she had under consideration. 

At the first meeting of the completed council, they voted to adopt thenew ordinance which was to provide for open bids on all contracts, to besigned by the mayor in the presence of his council; and also to passothers vital to the best interests of the city. It would be impossible, when they should have finished remodeling their city charter, for CityHall to be again the temple of the money-changers. 

"We are going to experience a spasm of virtue now that will astonish theworld, " said Armstrong, as he sat at lunch with Allingham at the UnionClub next day. "Let's hope it will swing the whole length of thependulum from the point where it started last January. You must confess, the experiment of putting in a woman for mayor has been rather asuccessful one, on the whole. "

"I do, " answered Allingham. "I'll admit it freely. But then, GertrudeVan Deusen is an exceptional woman. "

"One of the greatest, " said Bailey. 

"Shall I offer my congratulations now?" asked Allingham, after a slightpause. 

"How did you hear?" said Bailey, quickly. "Who told you?"

"I've seen it all along, " answered Allingham. "No one has told me. Yes, she's a fine woman--the noblest I ever saw. "

"Mary?--yes, " said Bailey. "As fine as Gertrude, every bit. "

"What?" gasped the other; "Mary Snow?"

"Why, yes, man, " retorted Bailey. "What's the matter with you? Of courseit's Mary Snow. "

"Not Gertrude--Miss Van Deusen?" said Allingham, in strained tones. 

"Well, for one who is so sharp as to 'see it all along, ' I must sayyou're a little off the mark, " answered Bailey. "I've been engaged toMary Snow ever since the night we found them in the flat, but she'sdetermined not to have it announced until her time is up at City Hall. Gertrude?--yes, she's pure gold. I thought once I loved her, but she waswiser than I. Mary is the only woman in the world for me. " Then, seeingthe look on his friend's face, he exclaimed:

"See here, Jack, what's the matter? I never dreamed it. "

"Do you believe, Bailey, I stand any show? I confess I"--Allinghamstopped; he could not talk about it, even to Armstrong in this hour ofconfidence. 

"'A woman-mayor? In Roma? I'm afraid it wouldn't do!'" quoted Bailey, teasingly. 

"O, quit, " answered Allingham. "That was before I knew her--knewanything. "

"'A woman's place is at home with her husband, '" Bailey went on with awicked glee. 

"And that's where I would put her!" retorted Allingham, with spirit. "Atleast, I'd give her the chance. "

"Go in, my boy, " said Bailey, reaching out his hand to grasp hisfriend's, "I don't know how she feels--she's not easily won, I know; buttry it. Go in and win. "

That afternoon the opportunity presented itself. Allingham walked homewith the Mayor. She usually drove home, but the clear, cool air of theclosing autumn day, coming after long hours in office, had tempted herto test her pedestrian powers, and she had left City Hall alone. Allingham, however, appeared at the gates and asked permission to joinher. 

"If you care for a brisk walk of two miles, " she answered, genially. "Oreven if you give out and desert me on the road, you may begin. O, howgood it is to shake off the dust of City Hall and take a bit of good, healthful exercise. Walking is the best way I know to keep the cobwebsfrom your mental sky, or to restore your tired nerves and overworkedbrain to normal condition. "

"I walk five or six miles every morning, " answered Allingham. "I believeit's the way God meant human beings to get over the ground. "

"Yes, " she added. "Mother Nature invented walking, while man inventedcarriages and cars and motors. How are Blatchley and Watts getting onwith--but there, I chose to walk just to get away from the cares ofoffice; and here I am bringing them along with me. Let's be just a boyand girl walking home from school together, " she added, whimsically. 

"Or man and woman walking through life together, " he amended quickly. 

She did not answer. The crises of her life did not usually find her sounprepared. They walked a little way in silence; then he spoke again. 

"I love you, I want you. Won't you walk with me 'still farther on?'"

They had come to a shaded walk across a little bridge, and by a commonimpulse they lingered a little here. While she waited, a sudden visioncame before her eyes--and her heart, which had been in a tumult at hisfirst words, grew calm and cold. She saw, not the impassioned, tenderman on the bridge, speaking in low, musical tones of love and devotionand his need of her; but the strong, self-sufficient, young chairman inhis office of the Municipal League--the man who had seemed to her tohave the least comprehension of the complex modern woman of anyone shehad ever met. 

"No, no, " she said, drawing away from hm. "You do not know what you aresaying. It cannot be. "

"I know that our lives can never be complete while they run apart, " heanswered from the depths of his emotion. "I know that you need me asmuch as I need you--and because we are meant for each other: because Godmade us for each other. "

"You do not know what you are saying, " she replied, moving on briskly inthe direction of home. "You happen to be drawn towards me now--by forceof propinquity, perhaps; or because you were good enough to worry aboutme during my exile--"

"As though I could help it, " he cried; "O, God, those days and nights ofuncertainty!"

"But when you go home and think this over, you will thank me, " she wenton. "We are not fitted for each other. We are not meant for each other. I am what you call an advanced woman--your women-folks go farther andcall me strong-minded. I have been brought up that way, and all myassociations in life have developed that spirit within me. You havealways looked upon women as inferior beings--Oh, yes, you have. You, too, were brought up that way. Even now you would tell me I am anexceptional woman--if I let you. "

"You are, " interrupted Allingham. "By Heaven, you are. "

"But if I were to marry you, " she pursued, still talking to the youngman she had seen that morning a year ago in the Municipal League rooms, "you would soon resent my attitude towards life; you would want torestrict my life, to surround me with invisible limitations, such asyou believe all femininity should be hedged with. I couldn't endure it. I never had to, and I couldn't submit to being estimated every day andin the intimacy of home life--according to the old-fashioned standardsthat narrow a woman's heart and mind until they hold nothing butpettiness and smallness and meanness of spirit. Because I couldn't, Ishould make you the most unhappy of men. "

"But, Gertrude, hear me, " he pleaded. "The past year has been arevelation. You have been a revelation to me. "

"Yes, I, " she retorted. "Not the eternal principles of manhood andwomanhood, walking together--different and yet alike--only I--"

"I swear to you, " he cried, "I have come to see that a woman may be allwomanly and yet be as much a power and a worker in the world as herhusband; that her place is where she can be of the greatest help tohumanity. "

"No, " said Gertrude firmly, for his expression as he spoke the lastsentence, was that of the man who had scorned the proposition of a womanfor mayor--"no; we are radically opposed to each other. We are not justa boy and girl who might grow together in spite of all differences. Weare a man and woman of strong opinions, just as unlike as possible. Weshould quarrel fearfully; and life is given us for something better thanbickering and growing to hate each other. No, I say--no. "

"Perhaps I'd better leave you here, " said Allingham, coldly, when shestopped. And raising his hat, he turned down a side street. Somehow thecharm of the long walk had fled and Gertrude hurried her steps, too, taking the shortest route to Van Deusen Hall. But when she was safelysheltered by the four walls of her own room, the strong-willed mayor ofRoma threw herself on the bed and indulged in a good cry. For deep downin her heart, she knew she had done wrong--a wrong to the man who lovedher--a wrong to her own better nature. 

Later she went down to her dinner and faced the world again, cool anddignified; and no one could have dreamed that under her smiling exteriorshe was hiding a heartache. 

CHAPTER XXVI

Retrospect and Prophecy

Just two years after the luncheon of the "Progressive Workers, " at whichthe first proposition was made to elect a woman-mayor, the executiveboard met again to discuss plans for the coming winter. For the firsttime in many months Gertrude Van Deusen was with them. She had beenobliged to forego club-meetings for the most part, unless she wouldneglect the affairs of her office, and she had all the woman'sconscientious scruples about routine and detail. 

"Well, " said Mrs. Mason, who was president this year, "we can claimcredit for a lot of good work in the past year or two. At last, we area power in the city in fact, as well as in name. "

"Yes, " said Mrs. Bateman, "we are a recognized factor in public affairs. The chairman of the Municipal League came to me the other day to knowwhat we propose to do about the winter campaign in politics and incivics. "

"They know they can't do much without us, " murmured the fluffy littlewoman in a new blue gown. "My husband says so. "

"One doesn't wonder, " said Cornelia Jewett, "when one looks over thecity. We have our markets inspected, have shut up saloons and worseplaces, have put two women on the school board, cleaned the streets, established vacation schools and playgrounds, and elected a mayor. "

"And by electing our mayor, have cleaned up the city pretty thoroughlyfrom corruption, " added Mrs. Turner. "For if Burke had been elected, things would have gone from bad to worse; if Allingham--well, I'm alittle afraid of our men's doctrine of _laissez-faire_. "

"Oh, I think Mr. Allingham would have done just as good work as has beendone, " said Gertrude, speaking for the first time. "He is both fearlessand conscientious, and the moment he saw any sign of graft, he wouldhave attacked it with courage and skill--and with less spectacularconsequences than we did, perhaps, " she added, smiling. 

"I do not believe it, " answered Mrs. Bateman. "He has developedwonderfully and is a man to be depended upon now; but it took you, Gertrude, to educate him. "

The Mayor looked up quickly. The little episode on the bridge had neverbeen told or repeated. Did anybody mistrust? But Mrs. Bateman kept on:

"There are thousands of good men who need awakening as to what women maydo in the way of cleaning up a city, both literally and metaphorically. It takes both the man and the woman to make the model home; why not themodel city?"

"We are going to have the honor of electing you again this winter, Gertrude?" asked Mrs. Mason. "May we announce it?"

"I scarcely think so, " answered Gertrude. "I have done my full duty. Ihave given two years of the hardest work of which I am capable to mycity. I stepped in as an emergency candidate; but now we shall find nodifficulty in finding a candidate. Indeed, I may say that one is alreadybeing considered, although his name I must not tell. "

"O, it's a shame that our men would think of setting up an oppositioncandidate, " cried the fluffy lady, "after the splendid way you'vefilled the breach. My husband shall never countenance it in the world. "

"Don't get excited, Bella, " soothed Gertrude. "I may as well tell you, for it is a matter of considerable pride to me, that the regularcommittee from the Republican party has already waited upon me and askedme to accept the nomination again--"

She was interrupted by a vigorous clapping of hands. 

"But the more I think it over, the more I feel that I did right insaying no, " she went on. "I realize that I was an experiment--happilysuccessful. But I believe it will be better all round now, to return toour normal condition, with a man in the mayor's chair. "

"Only he must be a good one, " said Mrs. Stillman, "one who will carry onyour policy. And I can think of several who might be willing, now thatyou have performed the Herculean task--and who will keep the Augeanstables clean. "

"Rather than see them put a demagogue into my place I would try to keepit, " answered Gertrude. "But with such good men in City Hall as we nowhave, there is no longer need for a woman there. I bespeak yourco-operation for my successor, whose name shall be known in a few days, although I do not think he has consented yet. But when he does, and thecandidate is announced, you must all work to elect him. Then I shallretire to private life--thank Heaven!"

"You aren't going to follow Mary Snow's example, are you?" asked thefluffy woman, saucily. "My husband says they are the happiest couple andthe best mated, he ever saw. "

"Your husband is right, Bella, " said Gertrude. "Now, my friends, I mustgo. I have some work waiting in my office and two or three appointmentsto be made. "

"Do you suppose she'd let us make her the next president of the P. W. 's?" asked Bella, when the mayor left the room. 

"Bless you, no!" answered Mrs. Bateman. "What would a woman who has beenmayor of a city want of our little club-presidency? Let her take therest she has earned. She needs it; she is looking worn and pale. "

"No wonder. I wish she would marry some nice man, " answered theirrepressible Bella. 

"There isn't any good enough for her, " said Mrs. Mason shortly. "Now, ladies, if there is any business to be done, let's get at it. "

When Gertrude arrived at her office John Allingham was waiting for her. She had not seen him alone for months, except for the few brief momentswhen he had been forced to consult her in regard to some detail of hisdepartment work. He looked anxiously at her when she entered the room, not dreaming that her heart was leaping in her bosom at sight of him. 

"I want to see you alone a few minutes, " he began. 

The stenographer rose mechanically and withdrew, closing the door behindher. 

"See here, --what is this about your retiring from office, " he asked. "You mustn't do it. "

"Mustn't I?" she asked. 

"By no means, " he answered decisively. "You have everything in goodrunning order, your enemies routed, the grafters where they belong, ayear of steady improvement under the new order of things, --and thepublic all with you. It is not right for you to leave now. "

"Yes, it is, " she answered, getting control of herself. "And it is timefor you to take my place. "

"I can't, --I have no desire to be mayor. You have proved your fitnessfor the post, " he went on earnestly. "You have proved what a woman cando. Now keep on. "

"No, " she answered. "I want you to prove what you can do. The committeehave asked you to stand?"

"Yes, --but then, --you should take another two years to fully establishand carry out the work you have begun. You see I have completely revisedmy ideas concerning a woman for mayor. "

"Yes, thank you, " she replied. "But, listen. I have, under God, had asuccessful term; I have been able to put through several changes for thebetter--with the help of good men like you. I am--yes, I admit it, --I ampopular today with the people. But popularity is an uncertain thing, and there is no telling how soon it may wane. I am wise in letting go, while I am on the top-wave. Now, honestly, don't you think so?"

"If popularity is all you think of, yes, " answered Allingham. "But itisn't. "

"No, it isn't, " she admitted. "But if you must have the truth, I'll gofarther and say, the innovation of trying a woman for mayor was anexperiment. The new broom has swept clean, and people are pleased sofar. But the natural and right way of cities is to have a man at thehelm. Between you and me, it is the fore-ordained method of nature tokeep the man at the head of things, to take the brunt, to face thedanger. Say what you will, the woman was not meant for this kind ofthing. As we go on with our municipal life the realization of this isgoing to grow upon the people. While they are fully appreciative of allI have tried to do, there will develop the old desire for a man at thehelm--and then comes discontent. Indeed, I can already see signs of it. You are the right man for the place. I shall always be thankful for theexperience I have had; but I want no more. " She smiled up at him. "I ammore than content to pass it along, --not alone because the burden isheavy, and I am growing selfish, --but because you are the right man formayor of Roma. "

"Then if it is your wish, " Allingham replied, "I will consent. " He roseto go. "If only we might stand at the head together, " he said. "With youto give a man courage--"

Gertrude interrupted him. "We should not be in accord. We could neveragree. Don't talk about it. " She rang the bell for the stenographer, andAllingham turned to go. 

"May I say, " she added, relenting at the expression on his face, "thatyou have done splendid work in your department? You have achieved thewonderful feat of improving our streets and keeping expenses down at thesame time. "

"That was not difficult, " he answered, "where the opposite had been thepractice for so long. I'm going down now to inspect that street we arelaying out just back of your place. I'm sorry there had to be blasting. "

"The street will be all the more picturesque when it's done, " shereplied. "Good afternoon, and thank you, for what you promised. "

"O, I wonder if I can hold out, " she said to herself as he went out. "Ifhe had said another word, I should have given in, --but he didn't. "

Still, that he would say it some other time, she knew. Then she wouldhave to say yes. 

CHAPTER XXVII

A Heart's Awakening

There were the afternoon letters to dictate, which took her nearly anhour; and there were callers who kept her in the office until nearlyfive o'clock. When they had all left she sat for a moment, resting andreviewing the events of the day. 

"I wonder if I've done right, " she queried. "He will succeed me and dogreat things for Roma, but O, I wish I could help him. I wish I daredlet myself love him as he deserves. I wish I were one of the softer, clinging women, made to love a man and to depend on him for happiness. After all, they are the fortunate ones. But, --what am I saying? Braceup, Gertrude Van Deusen; don't be a sentimental girl! You've pridedyourself on your independence of mind and heart. At your age, to bethinking of a man, --and one whose ideal is so far from what you knowyourself to be! I'll go to Europe this winter and stay a year. I'll soonget back to my old spirit, and cease to think--"

The telephone rang. 

"Well?" she asked. 

"There's been an explosion down back of your house among thestreet-department's tools, " some one was saying. "Two men were hit byflying rocks and hurt, we fear badly. One of them was a laborer, --"

"And the other?" asked Gertrude quickly, her heart divining the truth. 

"Was Commissioner Allingham. He had just come to inspect the work. Maywe take them to your house until we can get the ambulance and thedoctors?"

"Take them there at once, " she responded. "Get the doctors, but don'tcall the ambulances yet--until we know what to do with the men. I'll beright down. "

She flew to her closet and hurried into her coat. At the door, hercarriage waited and she gave orders to drive as fast as possible. Thenshe sat back against the luxurious cushions, trying to control theterror that had come suddenly upon her spirit. She no longer doubted andhesitated. The shock had revealed the depths of her own heart which shehad not sounded. She came in a moment to know that love is not a feelingto be analyzed or nurtured or trained into growth; the thing she hadbeen repressing and torturing into subjection suddenly became a divine, reverential passion. 

As they drove through the tree-shaded streets she trembled lest JohnAllingham might already have crossed the mysterious boundary whichseparates the living from the dead, and she would meet only a life-longsorrow at her door, --a sorrow which would crown her life withsanctifying, uplifting influences, even though it crushed her heart andbenumbed her soul. But even that, she realized, was infinitely betterthan the starving of love with which she had been cheating herself. Shebent her head and prayed while the carriage rolled rapidly on under theoverarching elms and up the graveled driveway to her house. 

Once within she passed rapidly upstairs, unfastening her wraps as shedid so, and going towards the rooms where she knew the injured men wouldbe carried. They had been taken, she was told, to her father's old room, where the doctor was already with them. Dared she go in?

Throwing her wraps in at the door to her own apartment, she turned againtowards the sick-chamber. And then she stood face to face with JohnAllingham. 

"John, " she sobbed. "O, John. "

Taken by itself, it was a meaningless sentence; but it satisfied him. Heheld out his arms and she nestled into them. 

"You are really not fit to walk alone, " she smiled up at him after aneloquent moment. "Ask me again to walk with you. "

So it fell out that on the eve of the next mayor's inaugural, there wasa wedding; and all of Roma rejoiced with the couple who pronounced theholy vows. For the loving heart of the woman was to stand alongside thestrong desire of the man; and all Roma would be guided and helped by thetwo. 

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AZALEA

By ELIA W. PEATTIE

The first book of the "Blue Ridge" Series

Azalea is the heroine of a good, wholesome story that will appeal toevery mother as the sort of book she would like her daughter to read. Inthe homy McBirneys of Mt. Tennyson, down in the Blue Ridge country, andtheir hearty mountain neighbors, girl readers will find new friends theywill be glad to make old friends. 

This book marks a distinct advance in the quality of books offered forgirls. No lack of action--no sacrifice of charm. 

Four half-tone illustrations from drawings by Hazel Roberts. Attractivecover design, $1. 00. 

The second title in THE BLUE RIDGE SERIES will be published in 1913. 

PublishersThe Reilly & Britton Co. Chicago

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BOOKS FOR OLDER CHILDREN BY L. FRANK BAUM

The Daring Twins Series

By L. FRANK BAUM

In writing "The Daring Twins Series" Mr. Baum yielded to the hundreds ofrequests that have been made of him by youngsters, both boys and girls, who in their early childhood read and loved his famous "Oz" books, towrite a story for young folk of the ages between twelve and eighteen. 

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Price, $1. 00 each

PublishersThe Reilly & Britton Co. Chicago

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BUNTY PRESCOTT AT ENGLISHMAN'S CAMP

By MAJOR M. J. PHILLIPS

Take a boy away from the stuffy schoolroom and turn him loose away up inthe jack pine country--the land of deer and bear and trout, and he willgrow "fat and saucy"--as did Bunty. And if he is a wide-awake youngsterhe will find excitement aplenty--as did Bunty. Give him a rifle, a rodand reel, and a desire to know things, and, well--you have a story everyboy will enjoy reading. 

"Bunty Prescott at Englishman's Camp" is a story full of boy interest, written by a man who knows boys as he knows the woods and streams--astory no youngster can read without learning something new of the loreof out-of-doors--hunting, fishing, camping out. 

Snappy cover stamped in three colors, and three-color jacket. 

Illustrated by Emile Nelson. Price $1. 00

PublishersThe Reilly & Britton Co. Chicago