platform was adopted, and the convention dissolved.

"Well," said Kennedy angrily to Peter, "I guess you've messed it this
time. A man can't please both sides, but he needn't get cussed by both."

Peter went out and walked to his hotel. "I'm afraid I did mess it," he
thought, "yet I don't see what else I could have done."




CHAPTER XXIV.

MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND UNDERSTANDINGS.


"Did you understand what it all meant, Cousin Anneke?" asked Dorothy, as
they were coming downstairs.

"No. The man who got so angry seemed to think Mr. Stirling had--"

She stopped short. A group of men on the sidewalk were talking, and she
paused to hear one say:

"To see that young chap Stirling handling Maguire was an eye-opener."

Another man laughed, rather a deep, quiet laugh. "Maguire understands
everything but honesty," he said. "You can always beat him with that."

Miss De Voe would have like to stay and listen, but there were too many