ble Cross Livery Stable, possibly, and end at an artificial lake and
amusement park a few miles out in the country--he waved his arm vaguely.
A street car whizzing through Prouty would put new life in it, and so
hungry were its inhabitants for entertainment that he had no doubt
whatever that the amusement park would make ample returns upon the
investment.

Mr. Butefish made a note of Mr. Scales's vision, but very much
questioned as to whether Prouty was ripe for a street railway, since--he
admitted reluctantly--such a project might be a little ahead of the
immediate requirements.

Other suggestions followed--among them, the possibility of opening up an
outcropping of marble in a canyon sixteen miles from Prouty. The marble,
though badly streaked with yellow, would, it was opined, serve
excellently for tombstones. Also, there was a clay peculiar to a certain
gulch in the vicinity which was believed by the discoverer to contain
the necessary qualities for successful brick-making.

Then "Gov'nor" Sudds arose in a flattering silence to give the Club the
benefit of his cogitations. Something large always could be expected of
the "Gov'nor." Although he lived in three figures, he thought in seven,
and not one of the Gov'nor's many projects had been capitalized at less
than a million.

Conrad has said that listening to a Russian socialist is much like
listening to a highly accomplished parrot--one never can rid himself of
the suspicion that he knows what he is talking about. The same, at
times, applied to the Gov'nor. He said nothing so convincingly that
always it was received with the closest attention.

Now, as Sudds stood up, large, grave and impressive, he looked like a
Roman Senator about to address a gathering in the Forum. No one present
could dream from his manner that he had that day received a shock, the
violence of which could best be likened to a well-planted blow in the
pit of the stomach. As a hardy perennial candidate for political office,
he had become inured to disappointment, but the present shock had been
of such an unexpected nature that for hours Mr. Sudds had been in a
state little short of groggy. The maiden aunt of seventy, upon whose
liberal remembrance he had built his hopes as the Faithful hug to
themselves the promise of heaven, had married a street car conductor and
wired for congratulations. He had pulled himself together and staggered
to the meeting where, though still with the sinking sensat