n
Drew, that elderly man with the earnest face.

And as he had in the past, he turned, caught step with Farr, and they
walked together.

Their stroll took them into the broader avenues of up-town.

As they talked, Farr caught side glances from his companion. The glances
were a bit inquisitive.

"Well, Citizen Drew," asked the young man, "what is on your mind this
evening?"

"Since I have known you and studied you I have been thinking that you
have the spirit of knight-errantry in you," stated Citizen Drew.

Farr laughed boyishly.

"Two very nice old ladies have just got ahead of you with that
accusation, my friend."

"Laugh if you feel like it. But there are so few men who can do anything
unselfishly in these days that when a chap like you does come along he
gets noticed--at any rate, I notice him." He stopped dealing in side
glances and stared at Farr fully and frankly. "Other men who would do
the things you are doing so quietly in this state have been playing
politics--and I have made it my business to watch politicians. And as
soon as men have been elected to office by fooling the people--well,
those men have simply been set into the Big Machine as new cogs. Are you
like the rest, Mr. Farr? Nobody knows where you came from. Everybody who
sees you knows you're above the jobs you have been working at. They're
talking you up for alderman in our ward. But we have been fooled so many
times!"

Farr replied to this wistful inquisition in a way there was no
misunderstanding.

"I am not a candidate for anything, Citizen Drew. And I'll tell you how
I can prove I am not. I am not a voter here. I have intentionally failed
to have myself registered. Whenever you hear another man talking me
up for office you tell him that. Therefore, it makes no difference to
anybody where I came from or what job I work at."

Citizen Drew accepted the rebuke humbly and walked on in silence.

"You have always been fooled, you say, when you have elected men to
office. Haven't you any men in this state whom you can elect to high
office, knowing for sure that they'll stay straight?"

"No," returned Citizen Drew.

"I'm a stranger--I don't know your big men--you do know them, and I
suppose I ought to take your word. But I don't believe you, Citizen
Drew."

"But I told you the truth. We have big men who are honest men. But they
won't go into politics. They feel too far above the game. Therefore, how
can we elect them to office? I say