The Auction Block

o the decrepit arm-chair besid

a Democrat for twenty years. Th

contempt. James prided himself upon his forbearance, and it was rarely indeed th

he said, with all the assurance of twenty-two, "but yo

m. Wouldn't an

ways go in for the refo

listen to

d cheeks rounded by habitual good humor; his chin was short, and beneath it were other chins, distended and sagging as if from the weight of chuckles within. When he had succeeded in fixing a look of determination upon his

npleasant curl of his lip. "As long as they didn't know

en to inspection. I mad

, pa. Your foot slipped when t

the trolley line?" ang

about the big dam, too. You got into the mud, pa, but you didn

athed deep wit

won't let you question his honor, alth

is New York job. He's not like these Reubs; he remembers a go

y,'" sneered Peter. "It sounds good, but the sala

into the real herd. In New York politics is a vocation; up here it's a vacation-everybody tries it once, like m

like cities. It's no

Lorelei's a grown woman. If we don't get out of Vale I'll

u'd have had an interest

at

entered the shoddy parlor. Jim turned to her, shrugging his shoulders with an air of wash

at my age!" m

many inside of a year. He squeezed the sheriff's office till it

like your way of sayin

ig

he first time, with

or Fogarty for his offer a

Peter was

blivious of his wrath-"we'

efulness and expectation. Under easy living he had grayed and fattened; his eyes were small and colorless, his cheeks full and veined with tiny sprays Of purple, his hands soft and limber. What had once been a measure of good looks was hidden now behind a flabby, indefinite mediocrity

nose betokened purpose; a pair of alert, unpleasant eyes spoke of a mental activity that was entirely lac

ke a change," she repea

d of hou

o your own work. The

wouldn't let

ight snorted, disdainfully. "What are hands m

the retort upon his li

realize it; none of us do, but-she's beautiful.

h dishes. She wouldn't have to keep it up foreve

l marry, sure,

ou talking about going away to a strange place f

at politics, with business as a side issue, and what have you got to show for it? Nothing. The reformers are in at last, and you're out for good. You had your chance and you missed it. You were

eeks deepened in hue and distended; but while he was

but you're down and out now, and they've thrown you over. Fogar

He was angry, yet the undeniable truth of his wife's words struck home. "That's the woman

t will keep us going

Knight loo

elei. She's going to

rel

ut with young people. Well, I knew what I was doing; it was part of her schooling. She's old enough now; and she has everything that any girl ever had, so far as

ew York's the place for pretty w

women what chance has

into society on m

to. She can go

t makes you thi

ld who stopped at Myrtle Lodge

Knight w

e least bit of trouble getting a position. She gave me a note to a manager, too, an

all

pretty girls with goo

gma

Bergman's Revues, pa. We saw one last s

as-rotten. It isn't a v

elf, and she'll grab a millionaire sure-with her looks. Other gi

ce. The stage advertises a pretty girl and gives her chances to meet rich men. Here in Vale there's nobody with money, and, besides

ce Mr. Knight burs

an went through; but Ben Stevens forgets who helped

ouldn't have to go on the road at all if she didn't care

sset we've got, pa, and if we all work to

ker and stared speculatively at his wife. It was

an awful long c

s wife assured him. "Anyhow, it's our ON

alked to he

nything we ask. She's

ed in discussion when Lor

she paused a moment to say.

violent opposition to everything about her. She wore her beauty unconsciously, too, as a princess wears the purple of her rank. Neither in speech nor in look did she show a trace of her father's fatuous commonplaceness, and she gave no sign of her mother's coldly calculating disposition. Equally the girl differed from her brother, for Jim was anemic, underdeveloped, sallow; his only mark of distinction being his bright and impudent eye, while she was full-blooded, healthy, and clean. Splendidly distinctive, from her crown of warm amber hair to her shapely, slender feet, it seemed that all the hopes, all t

as one of those "throwbacks" which sometimes occur in a mediocre family, when an exotic offspring blooms like a delicate blossom in a bed of weeds, she w

ere was a faint inquiry, for it was plain that she had interrupted a serious discussion. She came forward and

talking about

emained as the gir

ter accept that New Yor

I don't un

rned face was wrinkled with apprehension. "She thinks y

were still parted as she turned tow

y, wouldn't you?" M

s; I sup

ve ever been. Jim will have

f course; but-I don't

on't be much h

that. Now, run

Peter gave a gru

as a picture, and you certainly dress her

nothing on her for looks. She'll have a brownstone hut on Fifth Ave

n to leave?" fal

ith some satisfaction:

a