But a Councilman out of City Hall was a hard man to find; and a child couldn’t go to a man’s mansion to “talk him around.” But, by grand luck, in a month or so, Marian did find, and win, all but Simpkins.
On Council night, Simpkins took up a good,—or I should say, bad—half hour against Branton Hills “buying any old dump or scrap land that is put up. What was this city coming to?” and so on, and so on. And Marian’s back yard wasn’t bought. Now Youth is all right if you rub its fur in a way which suits it; but, man!! hold on to your hat, if you don’t!! And Marian’s fur was all lumpy. Boy! was that kid MAD!!
Now, just by luck, March thirty-first, coming along as days do, you know, found Marian in front of a toy shop window, in which, way down front, was a box of cigars, with a card saying: “This Brand Will Start His Blood Tingling.” And Marian, as boys say, was “on” in an instant; and bought a cigar. Not a box, not a bunch, but just a cigar. Coming out Marian saw His Honor and Simpkins passing; Simpkins saying:—
“All right. I’ll drop around, tonight.” And was Marian happy? Wait a bit.
That night as Gadsby and Simpkins sat talking in His Honor’s parlor, who would, “just by
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