s good a lawyer as Cooley, but he
has more pull." Excitedly he went on: "Ah! that's what we want,
Paula--political pull! My God! What a farce life is! When I was a
minister of the Gospel I was a dreamer, howling for purity and truth.
Now I'm awake, with my feet on the earth. I'm praying for a liar and a
trickster to come and help us out--and cursing myself because I haven't
the money to buy him----"

"Twenty-five thousand dollars!" she echoed helplessly. With a bitter
laugh she went on: "I pawned my last ring this morning to pay Mrs.
Parkes the money I owed her. You gave the Judge the whole history of the
case--you told him how my uncle has deliberately stood in the way of my
getting my rights for two years--you told him that he is my worst
enemy?"

"Yes--everything."

"And yet he appointed him my custodian and guardian?"

The lawyer shrugged his shoulders. Dryly he replied:

"He belongs to the same political organization as Cooley. In this
State," he went on, "in order to get the nomination, a judge or his
friends are expected to contribute a large sum of money to the campaign
fund--the idea is that he owes something to the men who pay that money
for him, that he must show some gratitude to those who nominate and
elect him--fine ethics, eh? I think I'll go back to the pulpit----"

"Can my uncle compel me to live with him?" demanded Paula.

"Yes," he replied. "I'm afraid so."

The girl jumped up, her hands clenched, her face flushed with anger.
Hotly she cried:

"I won't--I won't--live with him! I hate that vulgar, showy woman--his
wife! She sneered at me in court because I cried when they said my
father drank himself to death. I hate that foolish, giggling son of
hers--I hate them all! They've spoiled my life, they've robbed me of the
joy of youth. I'm old before my time! My God! I'm not twenty, and I feel
worn out. It's a shame the abominable way they've hounded me, but I
won't give in--I won't----"

"Come, come, Paula," said the lawyer soothingly. "I feel just as badly
as you do about it--I----"

He stopped abruptly and looked out of the window.

Paula watched him in silence. Something within told her that if this man
felt bitter under defeat, it was more for her sake than for his own.

"Go on," she said, more gently.

"I don't see that we can do anything more just now," he continued. "The
fact is, I'm a bit bewildered. I'm simply stunned!" Hesitatingly, he
went on: "I feel I'm to blame to a certain