When they were on the street the honorable gentleman turned sharply toward the Boulevard.
“I haven't any spirit or taste to-night for moonlight in the park, sir! A nice trick you played on me.”
“I wanted you to get a first-hand notion of a state of affairs, Mr. Converse.”
“But you ought to understand my temperament better—you ought to know it's going to stick in my mind, worry me, vex me, set me to seeking for remedies. It's just as if I'd been retained on a case. I feel almost duty-bound to pitch in.”
“It's strange how a man gets pulled into a thing sometimes—into something he had no idea of meddling with,” philosophized Farr, blandly. “That's the way it has happened in my case.”
“It has, eh?” demanded Mr. Converse, sharply. He had tacitly accepted the young man's companionship for the walk back to the Boulevard. “Now, look here! Just who are you?”
“My name is Farr and I'm nothing.”
“You needn't bluff me—you're a politician—a candidate for something.”
“I'm not even a voter in this state. It's men like you, sir, who ought to be candidates for the high offices.”
“My sainted father trained me to respect self-sacrifice, Mr. Farr. But for a clean man to try to accomplish things for the people in politics these days isn't self-sacrifice—it's martyrdom. The cheap politicians heap the fagots, the sneering newspapers light the fire and keep blowing it with their bellows, and the people stand around and seem to show a sort of calm relish in watching the operation. And when it is all over not a bit of good has been done.”