But when he met mother--"
"Was mother ever very pretty?"
"She was handsome," replied Mrs. Abbott guardedly. "Of course she had the
freshness and roundness of youth. I am told she had a lovely color and the
brightest eyes. And she had a beautiful figure. She had several proposals,
but she chose father."
"And had the devil's own time with him. She let out that much this
morning."
"I am growing accustomed to your language." Once more Mrs. Abbott was
determined to be amiable and tactful. She realized that the child's brain
was seething with the excitements of the day, but was aghast at the
revelations it had recklessly tossed out, and admitted that the problem of
"handling her" could no longer be disposed of with home-made generalities.
"Yes, mother did not have a bed of roses. Father was mayor at one time and
held various other public offices, and no one, at least, ever accused him
of civic corruptness. Quite the contrary. The city owes more than one
reform to his determination and ability.
"He even risked his life fighting the bosses and their political gangs, for
he was shot at twice. But he was very popular in his own class; what men
call a good fellow, and at that time there was quite a brilliant group of
disreputable women here; one could not help hearing things, for the married
women here have always been great gossips. Well--you may as well know
it--it may have the same effect on you that it did on Ballinger and Geary,
who are the most abstemious of men--he drank and gambled and had too much
to do with those unspeakable women.
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