"She'll run it, that's what! Didn't she run her husband for Congress till his tongue hung out? Ain't she running the whole female population of this county at the present time?" "Hang it! I'd rather close the doors of this bank than elect that woman a director!" exclaimed Coleman. "Come to the same thing if you didn't," replied Briggs. "Take it from me, the trustees will withdraw the last dollar they have invested in it. You couldn't pay. And then they'd declare you insolvent, appoint Susan Walton receiver, and take the whole thing over!" "I move we let her in, gentlemen, and appropriate fifty dollars to add a ladies' dressing-room. Susan's looking up. She'll need it. She's beginning to powder her nose, and she's bought a new bonnet, thank God!" said Bob Sasnett with his usual laugh. When the directors were leaving the bank after indignantly electing Mrs. Walton to the board, Coleman looked at Sasnett suspiciously. "Where do you stand in this damn business, anyhow, Bob?" he demanded. "Oh, I'm not standing at present, Stark, I'm crawling on my umbilicus same as the rest of you; the only difference is that I retain the charm and radiance of my countenance." "When do you purpose to announce your candidacy for representative?" Sasnett looked at him so quickly that even his smile scarcely veiled the shrewdness of his glance. "Waiting for the women to settle Mike Prim," he answered. "If they don't, you fellows may elect him. Mike's so deep rooted in your affairs a man couldn't dig him up without soiling his hands." "Think the women can?" "Not a doubt of it if they get wise to him, and they are so naively unscrupulous, bless their hearts, that they'll do some things to accomplish their purpose a man can't afford to do." "And if they settle Mike, you'll run on the crinoline ticket, I suppose?" Coleman answered. "Can't say yet, Stark; don't want to give myself away, but I'm buying my collars at the Co-Citizens' Cooeperative League Emporium!" he said, winking his eye and drawing up the corner of his mouth in a most offensive manner. This reference to the women's cooeperative store was far from being a joke. The first floor of the old Mosely residence had been divided in half with a partition. The walls between the rooms on each side had been fitted up in a modern and expensive manner with shelves and counters, middle-aisle showcase, and so forth. The right-hand division was a drygoods and millinery department, with such a display of hats and finery as never had been seen before in Jordantown. The left division contained everything necessary to thrifty existence, from horse collars to hams, sugar and molasses, flour and corn meal. The upper rooms of the house were used as offices for the female trustees of the Fund, and for the various committees, of which there were an amazing number in order that as many women as possible should have prominent and executive relations to the Co-Citizens' movement.