The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1917-05-11
CHAPTER lll.-contInued.

"Oh." she said, mothers writer
two or three books, and lots of maga
zine articles, about women-womeh
rights and suffrage, and all that
She's been-well, sort of leader ever
since she graduated from college
back ln-just think !-1S7O, when mos'
girls used to have - accomplishments
-'French, music, and washing extra,
you know
She said it all with quite adora'
BILE seriousness, and his gravity match
ed hers when he replied: 81 would
like to meet her very much. Femin-
Ism's u 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 l were
you. Mothers a suifragist, 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 feminist?"
81 suppose" she said, you'd call
Portia feminist. Anyway, she
hasn't time to talk about it much. You
see, she's a business woman. She's
house decorator. She tells you what
kind of furniture to buy, and then
sells it to you. Portals terribly clever
and awfuIly Independent"
"All right" he said. THAT brings
us down to you. What are yOu?"
She sighed. I'm sort Of black
sheep, guess. I'm just in the univer-
Bity. But I'm to be a lawyer"
Whereupon he cried out so eXplo-
Bively that she fairly jumped. Then he
RpOlogized and said the notion of her
In court trying a case-he was law
yer himself-seemed 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 in the world"
But he said it 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 a
jury the way she had blazed up at
that conductor.
Il 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 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 a case is
worth while in a precise and unaltera-
BILE ratio to the amount of money in
vOlved in it. If you question that
axiom at all seriously, you're lost.
That's what happened to me-"
He pulled up with jerk, looked at
her and laughed. "If my sister FIRE.
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
bfaude Adams or something like that"
She smiled in a sort of contented
Then the smile trans
nuted itself into look of thoughtful
gravity, and there was a long silence
which, though it puzzled him, he made
40 move to break.
At last she pulled in a long breath.
turned straight to him, and said: Il
wish you'd tell me what happened
10 you"
And, under the compelling sincerity
)f her, for the next two hours and a
half, or thereabouts, he did-told it
as he had never told it before.
He told her how he had started at
az successful firms of what he called
client caretakers." He told of his
discovery of a real legal problem and
If the passionate enthusiasm with
which he had attacked it, the thrill
ng weeks of labor he had put upon it.
And then he told her how the head
II the firm, an old friend of his fa-
hers had called him in and said the
work he had done was very remark a
lble but, unfortunately, not profitable
% the firm, the whole amount involved
n the case having been some twenty /
lolIars. In other words, he was fired c
He told her how he'd got in with /
In altruistic bunch - the City Homes v
association. And from the way he t
old of his labOrs in drafting a new
.ity ordinance, she felt that it must 4
lave been one Of the most fascinat- h
ng occupations in the world un- II
IL he told her how it had drawn him e
nto politics, and then how after an
,IectiOn a new states attorney had of /
'ered him a position on his staff of h
assistants. t
In a sense, of course, 1t was true
hat he had, as Frederick would have d
,ut 1t. forgotten she was there. s
The girl knew he had forgotten. and e
Ter only discomfort came from the r