creditors would
not see ten cents on the dollar. Thousands were ruined and Judge
Rossmore among them. All the savings of a lifetime--nearly $55,000
were gone. He was practically penniless, at a time when he needed
money most. He still owned his house in Madison Avenue, but that
would have to go to settle with his creditors. By the time
everything was paid there would only remain enough for a modest
competence. As to his salary, of course he could not touch that so
long as this accusation was hanging over his head. And if he were
impeached it would stop altogether. The salary, therefore, was not
to be counted on. They must manage as best they could and live
more cheaply, taking a small house somewhere in the outskirts of
the city where he could prepare his case quietly without
attracting attention.

Stott thought this was the best thing they could do and he
volunteered to relieve his friend by taking on his own hands all
the arrangements of the sale of the house and furniture, which
offer the judge accepted only too gladly. Meantime, Mrs. Rossmore
went to Long Island to see what could be had, and she found at the
little village of Massapequa just what they were looking for--a
commodious, neatly-furnished two-story cottage at a modest rental.
Of course, it was nothing like what they had been accustomed to,
but it was clean and comfortable, and as Mrs. Rossmore said,
rather tactlessly, beggars cannot be choosers. Perhaps it would
not be for long. Instant possession was to be had, so deposit was
paid on the spot and a few days later the Rossmores left their
mansion on Madison Avenue and took up their residence in
Massapequa, where their advent created quite a fluster in local
social circles.

Massapequa is one of the thousand and one flourishing communities
scattered over Long Island, all of which are apparently modelled
after the same pattern. Each is an exact duplicate of its
neighbour in everything except the name--the same untidy railroad
station, the same sleepy stores, the same attractive little frame
residences, built for the most part on the "Why pay Rent? Own your
own Home" plan. A healthy boom in real estate imparts plenty of
life to them all and Massapequa is particularly famed as being the
place where the cat jumped to when Manhattan had to seek an outlet
for its congested population and ever-increasing army of home
seekers. Formerly large tracts of flat farm lands, only sparsely
shaded by trees, Massapequ