"I know that."
"There would be a good many ways"—O'Malley knocked, with great deliberation, the ash from his cigar—"a good many ways in which you could help the party—if you'd be elected."
He seemed to be discussing, disinterestedly, a purely abstract question; but Dyker did not miss his meaning.
"I shouldn't overlook them," he said.
"And, if you'd be elected, there'd be a lot of ways in which you might hurt—the party."
"I scarcely think you have any just cause for apprehension upon that score, Mr. O'Malley. I think that my record speaks for itself. My record is regular; it is an open book to the whole city——"
"Never mind that, Dyker; it's an open book to me, anyhow."
"I'm aware of it; but then——"
"All I want to know is two things."
"And they are, Mr. O'Malley?"