"I sympathize with him," said Victor. "He retires with reputation unstained and with plenty of money. If I should publish the truth about him, would he lose a single one of his friends? You know he wouldn't. That isn't the way the world is run at present."
"No doubt it would be run much better if your crowd were in charge," sneered Hull.
"On the contrary, much worse," replied Victor unruffled. "But we're educating ourselves so that, when our time comes, we'll not do so badly."
"You'll have plenty of time for education," said Davy.
"Plenty," said Victor. "But why are you angry? Because you realize now that your reform candidate for judge is of Dick Kelly's selecting?"
"Kelly didn't propose Hugo Galland," cried Davy hotly. "I proposed him myself."
"Was his the first name you proposed?"
Something in Dorn's tone made Davy feel that it would be unwise to yield to the impulse to tell a lie—for the highly moral purpose of silencing this agitator and demagogue.
"You will remember," pursued Victor, "that Galland was the sixth or seventh name you proposed—and that Joe House rejected the others. He did it, after consulting with Kelly. You recall—don't you?—that every time you brought him a name he took time to consider?"
"How do you know so much about all this?" cried Davy, his tone suggesting that Victor was wholly mistaken, but his manner betraying that he knew Victor was right.