Tombstone epitaph., 1917-09-09
CHAPTER lii.-Continued.

(HAF GH ut.-ConSnUeG.
 >
 '>Oh." she said, mothers writer two or three books. and lots of maga zine articles. about women-women's rights and suffrage. and all that She's been-well, sort of a leader eveI since she graduated from college back in-just think .-1S70. when most girls used to have - accomplishments Trench. music, and washing extra, you know"
 She said it all with a quite adora ble seriousness, and his gravity match ed hers when he replied: T would like to meet her very much. Femin ism's a subject I'm blankly ignorant about"
 "I don't believe she said thought fully. that I'd c,Il it feminism in talking 10 mother about it, if I were you. Mothers sufragist, but there came another wave of faint color along with her srniie-"but = well, she's awfully respectable, you know"
 She didn't seem to mind his laugh. ing out at that. though she didn', join him.
 What about the other interesting member of the family" he asked presently, your sister? Which is she . suffragist or a feminist:"
 'I suppose" she said you'd call Portia feminist. Anyway, she hasn't time to talk about il much. You see. she's a business woman. Shes a house decorator. She tells you what kind of furniture to buy, and then sells It to you. Portia's terribly clever and awfully independent"
 "All right" he said That brings us down to you. What are your"
 She sighed. 'Im sort of a black sheep. guess. I'm just in the univer- sity. But I'm to be lawyer"
 Whereupon he cried out so explo- sively that she fairly jumped. Then he apologized and said the notion of her In court trying a case-he was law yer h;mself-seelned rather startling.
 She sighed again. And now l suppose" she said. you'll advise me not to be-"
 Not a bit" he said. Its the fin est profession iu the world"
 But he said 1t of the top of his mind. Down below, 1t was still en- gagged with the picture Of her in a dismal courtroom, blazing up at a jury the way she had biazed up at that conductor.
 T suppose" she hazarded, that it's awfully dull and tiresome. though until you get way up to the top"
 That reused him. Its awfully dull when you do get to the top. or what's called the top-being 6 client care. taker with the routine law business of few big corporations and rich estates going through your office like grist through a mill. That's supposed to be the big reward. of course"
 He was out of his chair now, tramp ing up and down the room ''The thing to bear in mind, if you're going to travel that road. is that ease is worth while in a precise and unaltera- ble ratio to the amount of money in- volved in 1t If you question that axiom at all seriously. you're lost. That's what happened to me-"
 He pulled up with a jerk. looked at her and laughed. "H my sister Ere derica were here" he explained. "she would warn you that now was the time for you to ask me if I'd been to see Maude Adams or something like that"
 She smiled in . sort of contented amusement. Then tho smile trans muted itself into look of thoughtful gravity. and there was a long silence which. though it prxzled him. he made no move to break.
 At last she pulled in . long breath, turned straight to him. and said: "I wish you'd tell me what happened to you"
 And. under the compelling sincerity of her, for the next two hours and Q half, or thereabouts. he did-told 1t as he had never told it before.
 He told her how he had started at the foot of the ladder in one of the big successful firms of what he called ~eIient caretakers- He told Uf his discovery of a real legal problem and of the passionate enthusiasm with which he had attacked it, the thrill ing weeks of labor he had put upon it.
 And then he told her how the head of the firm, an old friend of his fa- ther's, had called him in and said the work he had done was very remark able, but, unfortunately, not profitable to the firm, the whole amount involved in the case having been some twenty dollars. In other words, he was fired.
 He told her how he'd got in with an altruistic bunch the City Homes aauociasion. AnA from the WAY hs