said Doc Madison gravely. "When you've joined
Tammany Hall--good-night." He followed across the room, and from the
doorway watched the two descend the stairs. "Good-night," he said again,
then closed the door and came back into the room. "Well, Helena?" he
remarked tentatively.

"Well--Garfield?"--Helena clasped her hands around one knee and rocked
gently.

"Don't be familiar, Helena," Doc Madison chuckled. "Is that all you've
got to say?"

"I'm busy thinking about The Great American Play," she said pertly.
"There's one thing you forgot."

"What's that?" he asked, still smiling.

"The curtain on the last act," she said. "The getaway."

Doc Madison shook his head.

"Nothing doing!" he returned. "There's no getaway. It's safe--so safe
that there's nothing to it. We don't guarantee anything, and there's no
entrance fee to the pavilion--all contributions are strictly voluntary."

"That's all right," said Helena. "But of course we can't really cure
them. We can get them going hard enough to make them think they are for
awhile, but after they've thrown away their crutches and got back
home--what then?"

"Well, what then?" inquired Doc Madison easily.

"They'll yell 'fake!' and swear out warrants," said Helena, her dark
eyes studying Doc Madison.

"Not according to statistics," replied Doc Madison, and his lips
twitched quizzically at the corners. "According to statistics they'll
buy another crutch and come back to buck the tiger again. Say, Helena,
to-morrow, you go up to the public library and read up on
shrines--they've been running since the ark--and they're running still.
You never heard any howl about them, did you? What's the answer to those
cures?"

"That's different," said Helena. "That's religion, and they've got
relics and things."

"It's faith," said Doc Madison, "and it doesn't matter what the basis of
it is. Faith, Helena, _faith_--get that? And we're going to imbue them
with a faith that'll set them crazy and send them into hysterics. And
talk about relics! Haven't we got one? Look at the Patriarch! Can't you
see the whole town yelling 'I told you so!' and swopping testimonials
hard enough to crowd the print down so fine, if you tried to get it all
into the papers, that you'd have to use a magnifying glass to read it,
once we've pulled off the miracle? Don't you worry about the getaway. If
there's any sign of anything like that, you and I, Helena, will be
taking moonlight rides in the gondolas