"Not that I am a patron," the lawyer explained somewhat hastily. "But
I've seen the building, going home."

"It looks to me as if it would burn down some day, Wallis."

"I wish it would," said Mr. Plimpton.

"If it's any comfort to you--to us," Langmaid went on, after a moment,
"Eldon Parr owns the whole block above Thirteenth, on the south side
--bought it three years ago. He thinks the business section will grow that
way."

"I know," said Mr. Plimpton, and they looked at each other.

The name predominant in both minds had been mentioned.

"I wonder if Hodder really knows what he's up against." Mr. Plimpton
sometimes took refuge in slang.

"Well, after all, we're not sure yet that he's 'up against anything,'"
replied Langmaid, who thought the time had come for comfort. "It may all
be a false alarm. There's no reason, after all, why a Christian
clergyman shouldn't rescue women in Dalton Street, and remain in the city
to study the conditions of the neighbourhood where his settlement house
is to be. And just, because you or I would not be able to resist an
invitation to go yachting with Eldon Parr, a man might be imagined who
had that amount of moral courage."

"That's just it. Hodder seems to me, now I come to think of it, just the