"What! has not the world served you well?" he asked.
Ardly laughed.
"As well as a flute serves a man who doesn't know how to play it," he answered. "I am a master of discords."
"And so journalism didn't fit you?"
"Oh, journalism led to this. I did the chief a good turn or two, and he doesn't forget."
"I see," said Father Algarcife. Then he laughed. "And here is the other side," he added. Across the street before them hung a flaunting banner of white bunting, ornamented in red letters. Half mechanically his eyes followed the words:
SAMUEL J. SLOANE SAYS,
If I am elected Mayor, the government of New York will be conducted upon the highest plane of
EFFICIENCY! JUSTICE! AND RIGHT!
The wind caught the bunting and it swelled out as if inflated by the pledges it bore.