human
I thought I must have a talk with you, said he,
gpt
Yes--yes, I see, said Amidon, who knew absolutely nothing about the matter.
human
We should feel really annoyed by such a termination!
gpt
Annoyed! exclaimed the lawyer.
human
Say, Brassfield, that reminds me of Artemus Ward's statement that he was 'ashamed' when some one died! You'd lose the best wells you've got. And it would involve those transfers to the Waldrons, and might carry them down.
gpt
The Waldrons!
human
Why, I mean Miss Bessie and her aunt, said Edgington.
gpt
I mean bankruptcy---- But we've gone all over that before.
human
Lots of times, said he.
gpt
And this evidence is----? Please give me the exact requirements--er, again.
human
The exact requirements, said Edgington,
gpt
But I will! said Amidon energetically.
human
The man's a perjurer, and I'll prove it! All that time I was in Wisconsin. I was--I'll prove where I was----
gpt
Good! cried Edgington, noting a tendency to falter.
human
And now for the names and addresses of a few witnesses, and we'll go after them!
gpt
Witnesses--yes, yes--we shall need witnesses, won't we? faltered Amidon.
human
Say, Mr. Edgington, I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll turn you over to Blodgett.
gpt
The old gentleman at the hotel?
human
The same, replied Amidon.
gpt
He was my lawyer, years ago. I'll send him to you directly this afternoon.
human
Very well, said he.
gpt
I'm glad that puzzle is in process of solution. And now one thing further, and I am done. This is a question of local politics. You know the talks we've had with the fellows about this trolley franchise, and the advisability of making you mayor. We all agree that your interests and mine and those of all our crowd demand your election to the place----
human
Me mayor! shouted Amidon.
gpt
Me run for office! Why, Mr. Edgington, you must be crazy!
human
Well, this--certainly--is refreshing! expostulated Edgington, in apparent amazement.
gpt
When can anything be supposed to be settled, between gentlemen, if that isn't? Why, confound it, didn't we make up the complete slate, including control of the Common Council? And aren't we to have an exclusive franchise on all the streets, with your signature as mayor? Of course, you're joking now. Why, we're right on the eve of the caucuses, and with Conlon in line everything will go as it ought. I mean Barney Conlon, the labor leader. Since you've come back from this trip of yours, everything seems to be going in unexpected ways--and somehow you've given offense to Conlon. Do you know what it was?
human
No, answered Amidon, with some heat.
gpt
I don't know what it was! I don't know Conlon, and I don't know anything about this business except this: that if you think I'm going to sneak into office for the purpose of stealing the streets of this town, you don't know Florian Amidon, that's all!
human
Don't know what? Don't know whom?
gpt
Don't know Flo--ah--me! Me!
human
Then you won't see Barney Conlon?
gpt
I won't foul my hands with the dirty mess! I won't----
human
Dirty mess, indeed! retorted Edgington,
gpt
citizen who has perfected all the preliminaries for securing a particularly fat financial prize by the cheap and simple device of a popular vote, and finds the man on whom he relies going off into a fanciful ism induced by some maggot of so-called conscientiousness. Any one ought to be able to see that there is nothing wrong in accepting gifts from those able to give: and who is more able than the public? Everybody would be better off for the arrangement contemplated, and no one the worse. So reasoned Mr. Edgington as he saw with chagrin the Bellevale franchise slipping away, and with it the core of their ambitious project of interurban lines connecting half a dozen cities. Bellevale, with its water-power, was the hub of it; and to lose here by such a sudden exhibition of so-called
human
--Edgington knew the patter of these reformers--was disgusting, and all the more so from the fact that the one to blame was Brassfield, whose ethical attitude had always been so