"Oh, I hope you will wear this nice business suit, unless they come late
in the afternoon. It seems more sensible here on the edge of the desert,
and even if you are the first mayor to do it, I know, the world over,
there isn't another as young."
Bailey grew thoughtful. "The mayor in Chicago always wore a Prince Albert.
Why, that long coat and silk hat stood for the office. They were the most
important part of him. But good-by," he said hastily, as the train
whistled again, nearer, "I'll call for you at seven."
Ten minutes later, the mayor stood on the station platform shaking hands
with Mrs. Weatherbee. "Say, I am surprised," he said. "I often wondered
what you thought of the vale. Lighter told me how you drove those colts
through that day, and I was disappointed not to hear from you. You didn't
let me know you had an investment already, and it never occurred to me,
afterwards, that you were our Mrs. Weatherbee."
Then, introductions being over, he assisted Miss Morganstein into the
tonneau with the bridal couple and gave the seat in front to Mrs.
Weatherbee. He drove very slowly up the new thoroughfare, past the Bailey
building, where she expressed her astonishment at the inviting window
display of the millinery store. He explained that offices for the
_Weatherbee Record_ had been reserved on the second floor, and that in the
hall, in the third story, the first inaugural ball was to be given the
following night. It had been postponed a few days until her arrival, and
he hoped he might have the privilege of leading the grand march with her.
And, Mrs. Weatherbee having thanked him, with the pleasure dancing in her
eyes, Bailey pointed out the new city hospital, a tall, airy structure,
brave in fresh paint, which was equipped with a resident physician and
three trained nurses, including Miss Purdy, the milliner's sister, who was
on her way from Washington to join the force.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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