y without time for reflection, Miss Gulmore said as little
as possible with a great show of frankness:

"Oh, yes; he's smart, and knows Greek and Latin and German, and a great
many things. The senior students used to say he knew more than all the
other professors put together, and he--he thinks so too, I imagine," and
she laughed intentionally, for, on hearing her own strained laughter,
she blushed, and then stood up out of a nervous desire to conceal her
embarrassment. But her father was looking away from her at the glowing
end of his cigar; and, as she resumed her seat, he went on:

"I'm glad you seem to take no stock in him, Ida, for he's makin' himself
unpleasant. I'll have to give him a lesson, I reckon, not in Greek or
Latin or them things--I never had nothin' taught me beyond the 'Fourth
Reader,' in old Vermont, and I've forgotten some of what I learned
then--but in election work an' business I guess I ken give Professor
Roberts points, fifty in a hundred, every time. Did you know he's always
around with Lawyer Hutchin's?"

"Is he? That's because of May--May Hutch-ings. Oh, she deserves him;"
the girl spoke with sarcastic bitterness, "she gave herself trouble
enough to get him. It was just sickening the way she acted, blushing
every time he spoke to her, and looking up at him as if he were
everything. Some people have no pride in them."

Her father listened impassively, and, after a pause, began his
explanation:

"Wall, Ida, anyway he means to help Hutchin's in this city election.
'Tain't the first time Hutchin's has run for mayor on the Democratic
ticket and come out at the little end of the horn, and I propose to whip
him again. But this Professor's runnin' him on a new track, and I want
some points about _him_. It's like this. At the Democratic meetin'
the other night, the Professor spoke, and spoke well. What he said was
popcorn; but it took with the Mugwumps--them that think themselves too
high-falutin' to work with either party, jest as if organization was no
good, an' a mob was as strong as an army. Wall, he talked for an hour
about purity an' patriotism, and when he had warmed 'em up he
went bald-headed for me. He told 'em--you ken read it all in the
'Tribune'--that this town was run by a ring, an' not run honestly;
contracts were given only to members of the Republican party; all
appointments were made by the ring, and never accordin' to ability--as
if sich a ring could last ten years. He ended up b