``Maybe YOU can. So
I came straight to you.''
``I'm glad you're getting a little political sense, my boy,''
said Kelly. ``Perhaps you're beginning to see that a politician
has got to be practical--that it's the organizations that keeps
this city from being the prey to Victor Dorns.''
``I see that,'' said Davy. ``I'm willing to admit that I've
misjudged you, Mr. Kelly--that the better classes owe you a heavy
debt--and that you are one of the men we've got to rely on
chiefly to stem the tide of anarchy that's rising--the attack on
the propertied classes--the intelligent classes.''
``I see your eyes are being opened, my boy,'' said Kelly in a
kindly tone that showed how deeply he appreciated this unexpected
recognition of his own notion of his mission. ``You young silk
stocking fellows up at the University Club, and the Lincoln and
the Jefferson, have been indulging in a lot of loose talk against
the fellows that do the hard work in politics--the fellows that
helped your fathers to make fortunes and that are helping you
boys to keep 'em. If I didn't have a pretty level head on me,
I'd take my hands off and give Dorn and his gang a chance at you.
I tell you, when you fool with that reform nonsense, you play
with fire in a powder mill.''
``But I--I had an idea that you wanted me to go ahead,'' said
Davy.
``Not the way you started last spring,'' replied Kelly. ``Not the
way you'd 'a gone if I hadn't taken hold.
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