there'll be trouble."
"But why should you want to go after Stanhope with a club? What did he
ever do to you?"
"Don't you know? I married Mamie Orrick's little sister!"
"Most interesting," said Varney, "as a bit of genealogy, but what's it
got to do with Stanhope and the club?"
But Mr. Hackley said again, cryptically: "Chuck it." Then, softened by
the young man's pleasant ways, and by the windfall of a fortune pinned
into his vest: "Be sensible, Stanhope," he added amiably. "I ain't the
only one. Old Orrick's heard that you've hit the town and is totin' a
gun and talk-in' wild. And, of course, there's others. Don't jump off no
tall buildin's, I say, expectin' Providence to land you soft. There's a
train to Noo York at eight-ten. Cut while you can!"
"Why, thanks," said Varney, laughing and starting on. "If I should see
Mr. Stanhope at any time, I won't fail to pass him the friendly tip."
"And if you should see that friend o' yourn," called Hackley after him,
"him that gimme the paste in the jor--you c'n just tell him that Jim
Hackley is goin' to fix you both, _good!_"
"At your convenience, Hackley."
The young man passed on, undisturbed by the dog man's quaint menaces. He
did not exactly see himself and Peter getting into trouble at the hands
of a crack-brained village humorist.
Streams of people, converging from all directions, guided him easily to
the theatre. Pushing his way in, he found the stage empty and the
proceedings not yet begun; and he stood for a minute at the inner door,
glancing over the house. It was crowded. Oratory is a real inducement in
societies seldom blessed with that attraction. Even lemonade is a magnet
if you get it seldom and never to surfeit. Already men were sitting in
the long low windows which ran down either side of the building; and a
score of ushers, singularly alert-looking men, were hurriedly
distributing camp-chairs to accommodate the overflow. Certainly, Peter
could have desired no better setting for his daring adventure for
reform.
Thanks to the reserved seat which his friend's reluctant liberality had
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