"Your friend Mr. Pate seems to be a very humane and benevolent man," said Seddon, when the peacemaker had taken his departure.
"None more so," said Belton. "Pate is not more remarkable for his extraordinary genius than for the vast quantity of the milk of human kindness which he has in his composition. It was the activity and originality of his mind, controlled by the benevolence of his disposition, which caused him to become the founder of a secret order, which will some day make his name illustrious in the annals of the benefactors of the human race."
"To what order do you allude?"
"To the M. O. O. S. S."
"What do those letters signify?"
"The Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts."
"The Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts! Why, Toney, you are joking! Who ever heard of such an organization?"
"No joke at all. You have heard of the Order of Seven Wise Men, have you not?"
"Why, yes; but that is an organization founded on principles of benevolence,—somewhat like the Masons, or Odd-Fellows, I suppose."
"And so is the Mystic Order of Seven Sweethearts. It is founded on principles of benevolence. Its object is the welfare of woman."