"Dear mother, do you think you can get him to use his influence over Mrs.
Farron for me?"

Marty Burke was the leader of the district and was reckoned a bad man.
He and Mrs. Wayne had been waging a bitter war for some time over a
young inebriate who had seduced a girl of the neighborhood. Mrs. Wayne
was sternly trying to prosecute the inebriate; Burke was determined to
protect him, first, by smirching the girl's name, and, next, by
getting the girl's family to consent to a marriage, a solution that
Mrs. Wayne considered most undesirable in view of the character of the
prospective husband.

Pete felt her interest sweep away from his affairs, and it had not
returned when the telephone rang. He came back from answering it to tell
his mother that Mr. Lanley, the grandfather of his love, was asking if
she would see him for a few minutes that afternoon or evening. A visit
was arranged for nine o'clock.

"What's he like?" asked Mrs. Wayne, wrinkling her nose and looking
very impish.

"He seemed like a nice old boy; hasn't had a new idea, I should say,
since 1880. And, Mother dear, you're going to dress, aren't you?"

She resented the implication.

"I shall be wonderful," she answered with emphasis. "And while he's here,
I think you might go down and tell this news to Lily, yourself. Oh, I
don't say she's in love with you--"