Maggie entered the room, obediently; she flushed a little at sight of Larry, but managed to greet him in a calm, even voice that betrayed nothing of what she might feel. She talked to him of neighbourhood events, he answering awkwardly and distantly, as he always did with her. Her father had plunged into an earnest discussion, with the others, of the coming convention, and finally swept them out of the room to look at some figures which he had compiled, bearing upon the comparative strength of the opposing factions. There was a short silence after this; and, at length Maggie said: “I have wanted so to speak to you lately, but you are such a stranger!” A little thrill ran through Larry at these words. She had thought of _him_, then; and he fancied that he caught a note of vexation in her voice. He pondered this, confusedly, and did not reply. She continued: “I wanted to tell you how sorry I was at your great loss. Mary was a sweet and good girl.” “That’s right,” said he, eagerly. “There ain’t many like her, is there?” “No!” answered Maggie, gently. “She was too good for me,” said he, soberly. Though Maggie did not agree with him in this, she did not say so. And this is why: She had been a constant visitor during Mary’s illness, and the sorrow that had grown so upon the sick girl toward the end had not escaped her. Little by little she grasped the causes of this and realized why Larry had asked Mary to be his wife. She had laboured strenuously to persuade the gentle girl that love alone had been his motive, but without success. Though she had loved Larry from the days of her girlhood--and this Maggie had confessed to herself long before--still her heart was great enough to appreciate what he had endeavoured to do; and all the more because it proved him to be as noble as she had always believed him. “I also wanted to thank you,” said Maggie, “for what you did last night. Daddy has a great deal of money--for him, you know--invested in the City Railway Company’s stock, and the loss of his savings, now that he is old, would be bitter enough.” This was news to Larry and it startled him. The proposed steal of the Motor Traction Company had had very little to do with the fight he and his friends had made. As he had informed Mason, Kelly’s defeat was his object and so long as he accomplished this he had cared little for anything else. But Kelly and his hate of Kelly suddenly shrunk into insignificance, and the Traction Company began to loom up dragon-like with Maggie as its prospective victim. “I didn’t know that yer father stood to lose anyt’ing,” said he. Maggie’s face fell; she had thought that perhaps he had made the fight partly for her sake. He saw the change in her countenance and hastened to add: “He’ll come out all right, though; McGlory’s against that job they’re tryin’ t’work.” “And do you think Mr. McGlory will secure the nomination?” “Sure. They’ve worked a couple o’ ringers on us, but we’ll win out in spite o’ them.”