eighbors. Alone, their conversation took another course.

"And as things are now, after he has demonstrated his courage in a way
that leaves no doubt, are there still those who are horrid enough to
doubt Mr. Gibson?" she asked.

He was bound by the confidence he had entered into with Brennan not to
reveal any part of the mayor's view of Gibson and his suspicion that the
commissioner was the tool of "Gink" Cummings. The mayor, however, had
publicly taken his stand of "sitting tight," as Brennan had suggested,
and had flatly refused to oust Chief Sweeney.

"Yes," he answered. "Their doubt seems to have been made even stronger
by what he did in preventing the wreck of the 'Lark.'"

Her eyes opened in astonishment.

"How?" she asked. "How can they possibly doubt him now?"

He explained to her Brennan's view that Gibson's frustration of "Red
Mike's" plot was a "grandstand play," without mentioning Brennan. She
sat silent for several minutes after he had concluded. Then, raising her
head and looking directly at him, she said:

"Because we are friends I will tell you why I know so certainly that
what you say cannot be true. Mr. Gibson and I have known each other
since our school days. His father and mother were near and dear to my
father and mother. He has been almost like a brother to me.

"I believe I know him for what he is, a gentleman. I don't think there
is anything of his plans in this crusade that he has not told me. He is
kind enough to feel that I have his interest at heart, that I want him
to succeed, for his own sake, for the sake of his family and his name.

"He has no other motive in all this but to do what he has pledged
himself to do--make Los Angeles a better place to live in. He is purely
an altruist. When he has accomplished what he has set out to do he will
retire from public life altogether with the satisfaction of knowing he
has stood for law and order and decency, that he has done something for
the city in which he lives and which he loves. That will be his only
reward, the satisfaction he feels within himself."

She paused, her eyes downcast.

"There is one other reward--that is, he says it will be a reward--that
he tells me he will claim if he is successful," she said, softly.

He knew what she meant and he wondered if she would say it.

"There is a girl he loves and who believes she loves him," she said.

So, perhaps, Brennan had guessed it when he speculated, "Sometimes it's
a girl."