The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1917-06-08
CHAPTER III.-continued.


5
-Oh," she said, mothers written
two or three books, and lots of maya
zine articles, about women-women's
rights and suffrage, and all that.
She's been-well, sort of a leader ever
since she graduated from college,
back in-just think !-1S70, when most
girls used to have - accomplishments
French, music, and washing extra
you know"
She said 1t all with a quite adora-
BILE seriousness, and his gravity match
ed hers when he replied: II would
like to meet her very much. Femin-
ism's a subject I'm blankly ignorant
about"
81 don't believe" she said thought
fully, "that I'd call it feminism in
talking to mother about it, If 1 were
you. Mothers a. suffragist, but
there came another wave of faint
color along with her smile-"but -
well, she's awfully respectable, you
know"
She didn't seem to mind his laugh
ing out at that, though she didn't
join him.
"What about the other interesting
member of the family" he asked
presently, "your sister, Which is she,
a suffragist or a feminist?"
II suppose" she said you'd call
Portia a feminist. Anyway, she
hasn't time to talk about it much. You
gee, she's a business woman. She's a
house decorator. She tells you what
kind of furniture to buy, and then
sells it to you. Portals terribly clever
and awfully Independent"
.All right" he said. "That brings
rs down to you. What are you?"
She sighed. 'I'm sort of 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 case-he was law
yer himself-seemed rather startling.
She sighed again. "And now 1
suppose" she said, you'll advise me
not to be-"
"Not bit" he said. "It's the fin
est profession in the world"
But he said 1t off the top Of his
mind. Down below, it was still en-
gagged with the picture of her In a
dismal courtroom, blazing up at
jury the way she had blazed up at
that conductor.
~ suppose" she hazarded, "that It's
awfully dull and tiresome, though,
until you get way up to the top"
! That reused him. "It's awfully dull
when you do get to the top, or what's
called the top-being a client care
taker with the routine law business
Of a 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 case Is
worth while In precise and unaltera-
BILE ratio to the amour. Of money In
volved in it. If You question that
axiom at all seriously, you're lost.
That's what happened to me-"
BE pulled up with jerk, looked at
her and laughed. "If 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 a sort of contented
hn mill fro
muted itself into look of thoughtful
, gravity, and there was a long silence
} which, though II puzzled him, he made
no move to break.
At last she pulled In long breath,
turned straight to him, and said: II
wish you'd tell me what happened
to you"
And, under the compelling sincerity
of her, for the next two hours and
half, or Whereabouts, he did-told 1t
as he had never told 1t 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
"ciient caretakers." He told Of his
discovery Of a real legal problem and
of the passionate enthusiasm with
which he had attacked 1t, the thrill
Ing weeks Of labor he had put upon IL.
And then he told her how the head
of the firm, an old friend of his fa-
theirs, had called him in and said the
work he had done was very remark
able, but, unfortunately, not profitable
10 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
association. And from the way he