His tone was deprecatory when he spoke at last.
“I suppose you are right,” he began, “and I don’t quite see myself in that company. I’ll be frank, Judge, for you are an old friend, and I know you wish me well, and I’d be glad to stand well in your eyes. I don’t really want to join the organization; I don’t like the men in it any more than you do; and I don’t know that I approve of their ways much more than you do. But I’ve got to do it.”
“Got to?” echoed the Judge, in surprise. “Why have you got to? They can’t force you to join if you don’t wish it.”
“I’ve got to do it because I’ve got to have money,” was the young man’s explanation.
“Do you mean that you are to be paid for associating with these people?” the Judge asked.
“That’s about it,” was the answer. “I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t going to make something out of it, would I? Not that there is any bargain, of course; but Pat McCann has dropped hints, and I know how easy it will be for them to throw things my way.”
“I didn’t know you needed money so badly,” said the Judge. “I thought you were doing well at the bar.”
“I’m doing well enough, I suppose,” Van Dyne explained; “but I could do better. In fact, I must do better. I must have money. There’s—well, there’s Martha. She came out last fall, and I gave her a coming-out tea, of course. Well, I want her to have a good time. Mother had a good time when she was a girl, and why shouldn’t Martha? She won’t be nineteen again.”
“Yes,” said the Judge, “your mother had a good time when she was a girl. Your father and I saw to that.”
“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.”