n upon your older brother," laughed his sister, "but in the
meantime I suppose it's an open meeting, and we can't prevent his going.
But don't worry; his fatal beauty will but serve as a foil to your more
sparkling type. Besides, with your vivid imagination, unhampered by a
slavish subserviency to facts, you should be able to furnish canards
that will occupy all Miss Holland's time for a month."

As she left the room her husband opened the door, and her brothers rose
and remained standing until it was closed after her.

"If all women were like her----" Frank said impulsively, but Ramsey
stopped him.

"If half of them were like her," he said reverently, "I would be in
favor of turning the government over to them, certain that the hand that
rocks the cradle would never give this storm-tossed old world more
shaking up than is good for it."

CHAPTER XI

THE ADVANCING COLUMN OF DEMOCRACY

As the two brothers turned into the cross street that led to the hall
where the Industrial League had its headquarters and held its weekly
meetings, Dr. Earl laid his hand on Frank's shoulder.

"Dear old fellow," he said affectionately, "would you mind telling me
what on earth possesses you to come down here to-night? I'm not asking
out of mere curiosity, nor do I believe that is the motive that brings
you."

"Then if I say the pursuit of the good, the true and the beautiful, you
will not believe me?" his brother answered lightly.

"I shall know you do not wish to tell me the real reason, and will drop
it, but I shall not be deceived. I haven't studied my kind for this long
without knowing at least the a-b-c of human nature. You use your cap and
bells and an air of frivolity to conceal your true character from the
world, as other men cloak themselves in an atmosphere of austerity and
reserve."

"Discovered!" cried Frank, with a laugh, "after all these years in which
I flattered myself I had made such a good job of it, too. Truth to tell,
no mask and domino ever afforded such perfect protection as the jingle
of my jester's bells. I am apparently so given up to pomps and vanities
that nobody gives me credit for a serious thought, and so takes no pains
to conceal his own from me. It has long been one of the wonders of my
world how I hold my job."

"Well, since you put it that way, I have asked myself at times how you
have achieved the standing you have in your profession, a standing of
which we are all immensely proud, by