"Martha's just got her first invitation to the Assembly," Van Dyne went on. "You should have seen how delighted she was, too; it did me good to see it. Mrs. Jimmy Suydam sent it to her. But all that will cost money; of course, she's got to have a new gown and gloves and flowers and a carriage and so on. I don't begrudge it to her. I'm only too glad to give it to her. But I'm in debt now for that coming-out tea and for other things. I ran behind last year, and this year I shall spend more. That's why I've got to join the organization and pick up a reference now and then, and maybe a receivership by and by; and perhaps they'll elect me to an office, sooner or later. I know I'm too young yet, but I'd like to be a judge, too." "So it is for your sister you are selling yourself, is it?" asked the elder man. "Do you think she would be willing if she knew?" "I'm not selling myself!" declared the young man, laughing a little nervously. "I haven't signed any compact with my own blood amid a blaze of red fire." "Do you think your sister would approve if she knew?" persisted the Judge. "Oh, but she won't know!" was the answer. "I'll admit she wouldn't like it overmuch. She takes after father, and she has very strict ideas. You ought to hear her talk about the corruption of our politics!" "Curtis," said the Judge, earnestly, "if _you_ take after your father, you ought to be able to look things in the face. That's what I want you to do now. Have you any right to sacrifice yourself for your sister's sake in a way she would not like?" "I'm not sacrificing myself at all," the young man declared. "I want some of the good things of life for myself. Besides, what do girls know about politics? They are always dreamy and impracticable. If they had their noses down to the grindstone of life for a little while it would sharpen their eyes, and they would see things differently." "It will be a sad world when women like your sister and your mother see things differently, as you put it," the elder man retorted. "If I want more money, I don't admit that it is any of Martha's business how I make it," Van Dyne asserted. "I'll let her have the spending of some of it--that will be her duty. I want her to have a summer in Europe, too. She knows that mother was abroad a whole year when she was eighteen." "I know that, too," said the Judge. "It was in Venice that your father and I first met her; she was feeding the pigeons in front of St. Mark's, and--" The Judge paused a moment, and then he laid his hand on Van Dyne's shoulder. "Curtis," he continued, "if a thousand dollars now will help you out, or two thousand, or even five, if you need it, I shall be glad to let you have the money." "Thank you, Judge," was the prompt reply. "I can't take your money, because I don't know how or when I could pay you back." "What matter about that?" returned the other. "I have nobody to leave it to."