the romance of money making--dollar piling on dollar in the vaults of
the man who started with a shoe-string, and hope, and nerve. I see him
fighting for the first thousand--and then I see his pile growing, slowly
at first--faster--faster--faster--until a motor-car brings him to his
office, and men speak his name with awe in the streets."

"Money," commented Miss Thornhill contemptuously. "What an idea of
romance for a man."

"I did not expect," replied Hayden, "that my definition would pass
unchallenged. My past experiences--" he looked meaningly at the
girl--"had led me to be prepared for that. But it is my definition--I
spoke the truth. You must give me credit for that."

"I ain't one to blame you," sneered Cargan, "for wanting it noticed when
you do side-step a lie. Yes, I certainly--"

"See here, Cargan," blazed Hayden.

"Yes, you did speak the truth," put in Miss Thornhill hastily. "You
mentioned one word in your definition--it was a desecration to drag it
in--hope. For me romance means only--hope. And I'm afraid there are a
pitiful number in the world to whom it means the same."

"We ain't heard from the young woman who started all this fuss over a
little word," Mr. Cargan reminded them.

"That's right, dearie," said Mrs. Norton. "You got to contribute."

"Yes," agreed the girl with the "locks crisped like golden wire," "I
will. But it's hard. One's ideas change so rapidly. A moment ago if you
had said romance to me, I might have babbled of shady corners, of
whisperings on the stair, of walks down the mountain in the
moonlight--or even on the hotel balcony." She smiled gaily at Magee.
"Perhaps to-morrow, too, the word might mean such rapturous things to
me. But to-night--life is too real and earnest to-night.
Service--Professor Bolton was right--service is often romance. It may
mean the discovery of a serum--it may mean so cruel a thing as the
blighting of another's life romance." She gazed steadily at the stolid
Cargan. "It may mean putting an end forever to those picturesque parades
past the window of the little room on Main Street--the room where the
boys can always find the mayor of Reuton."

Still she gazed steadily into Cargan's eyes. And with an amused smile
the mayor gazed back.

"You wouldn't be so cruel as that," he assured her easily; "a nice
attractive girl like you."

The dinner was at an end; without a word the sly little professor rose
from the table and hurriedly ascended the stairs.