"Hush! Hush! I tell you I won't--_I won't_ go! But--but if I _do_--you promise to hold my hand every minute, Norman?" "And keep my arm around your waist, if you like." Elena's cheeks flushed and her voice quivered with excitement as she paused in the doorway. "I'll be ready in twenty minutes after dinner." "Bully for my chum! I'll tell the Governor we've gone for a stroll." As the shadows slowly fell over the city, Norman led Elena down the marble steps of his father's palatial home and paused for a moment on the edge of the hill on which were perched the seats of the mighty. Elena fumbled with a new glove. "Are you ready to descend with me to the depths, my princess in disguise?" he gaily asked. "Did you ever know me to flunk when I gave my word?" "No, you're a brick, Elena." Norman seized her arm and strode down the steep hillside with sure, firm step, the girl accompanying his every movement with responsive joy. "You're awfully wicked to get me into a scrape of this kind, Norman," she cried, with bantering laughter. "You know I was dying to go slumming, and Guardie wouldn't let me. It's awfully mean of you to take advantage of me like this." He stopped suddenly and looked gravely into her flushed face. "Let's go back, then." "No! I won't." Norman broke into a laugh. "Then away with vain regrets! And remember the fate of Lot's wife." Elena pressed his hand close to her side and whispered: "You are with me. The big handsome captain of last year's football team. Very young and very vain and very foolish and very lazy--but I do think you'd stand by me in a scrap, Norman. Wouldn't you?" "Well, I rather think!" was the deep answer, half whispered, as they suddenly turned a corner and plunged into the red-light district. His strong hand gripped her wrist with unusual tenderness. "So who's afraid?" she cried, looking up into his face just as a drunken blear-eyed woman staggered through an open door and lurched against her. A low scream of terror came from Elena as she sprang back, and the woman's head struck the pavement with a dull whack. Norman bent over her and started to lift the heavy figure, when her fist suddenly shot into his face. "Go ter hell--I can take care o' myself!" "Evidently," he laughed. Elena's hand suddenly gripped his. "Let's go back, Norman." "Nonsense--who's afraid?" "I am. I don't mind saying it. This is more than I bargained for." The woman scrambled to her feet and limped back into the doorway. Elena shivered. "I didn't know such women lived on this earth." "To say nothing of living but a stone's throw from your own door," he continued. "Let's go back," she pleaded. "No. A thing like this is merely one more reason why we should keep on. This only shows that the world we live in isn't quite perfect, as the Governor seems to think. These Socialists may be right after all. Now that we've started let's hear their side of it. Come on! Don't be a quitter!"