"I see," answered the Mayor. "And now, good morning, Mr. Vickery."
When she was alone again she sat back in her chair and stared hard at her desk for a good five minutes.
"I am beginning to see light," said she at last.
Meanwhile, Orlando Vickery was getting into his automobile and whirling away down the street, chuckling to himself.
"Reformers are just like other folks," he told himself. "Catch 'em just as easy as a bird—only put a little salt on their tails, in the shape of good paying stocks, or a sufficient number of good hard, gold plunks."
CHAPTER XV
Setting the Trap
Her next two days were given up to the study of the treasurer's books—and the financial system of government in Roma. The process necessitated looking up many details regarding salaries and other expenses, which took time and careful scrutiny on the part of both her and her office assistants. What the Mayor found out the first day led her to send for a trained accountant, whom she set quietly at work on the second morning. That night she sent for Armstrong to come to her house.