" admitted the Judge, "it's a poor policy to have a law on
the books, and ignore it. Both of us must admit that. A good law ought
to be kept; a bad one ought to be repealed; but any law that _is_
valid oughtn't to be winked at. And if pressure _should_ be brought on
the Mayor to enforce that ordinance, and any arrests are made, why
I'll have to do my duty."

"Yes--and here I'm raising a mortgage and spending the money on
improvements that'll hold us up for more than two weeks--and here Anna
and I are going to live in a couple of box-stalls (every time you take
a long breath in that flat you create a vacuum!)--and here I've been
going to the City Commercial School every afternoon for two solid
hours, and studying like a dog every night--and here I've resigned
from the Golf Club, and everything else but the Citizens--and if they
_do_ put the kibosh on Sunday shows, why I'll be elected to the
Hohenzollern Club. And the cream of _that_ joke is that Aunt
Mirabelle's outfit'd get itself endowed for putting me out of
commission!"

"They won't do it, Henry. These organizations always make the same
mistake. They go too far. They aren't talking reform; they're talking
revolution, and people won't stand for it. These reform crowds always
start out to be a band-wagon, and if they kept their senses, they
could do some real good--and then they march so fast that pretty soon
they find they've winded everybody else, and there isn't any parade.
All they need is rope. Give 'em enough of it, and they always hang
themselves. That speech of Mix's has done more harm to the League than
it has good. You go right ahead with your improvements."

In view of the Judge's official position, this was in the nature of an
opinion from headquarters; and yet Henry delayed for a day or two
before he signed his contract for the alterations. In the meantime, he
saw Mr. Archer and got an interpretation of the will; Mr. Archer was
sorry, but if Sundays were ruled out, there was no provision for
reducing the quota, and Henry would have to stand or fall on the exact
phraseology. He had another session with the Judge, and three a day
with Anna, and one with the largest exhibitor in town (who
pooh-poohed the League, and offered to back up his pooh-poohs with a
cash bet that nothing would ever come of it) and eventually he was
persuaded to execute the contract.

Through Bob Standish, he negotiated a mortgage which would cover the
cost of the work, and leave a