His sensitive
conscience would not permit him to refuse a duty thus imposed, and so
with many inward qualms he assumed a chair in the vile municipal
government he had so signally failed to overthrow. He had not long
occupied it, when he saw to what his selection was attributable. He was
a figure-head and he knew it, but he saw no decent escape from the
position. As long as they allowed him and the librarian (who was also a
member of the board) to regulate the library to their liking, he could
not inquire into their motives or decline association with them. He was
perfectly free to furnish what mental food he chose to two hundred
thousand people, and he felt it would be cowardice to surrender that
important duty on any pitiful question of patronage or personal
susceptibility.
So once more he stifled the impulse to resign his post, and the meeting
adjourned without further incident. As he walked home, he was conscious
of a disagreeable foreboding of something in the future which he would
like to avoid. Bringing his mind to bear upon it, it resolved itself
into nothing more formidable than the coming interview with Miss
Matchin.
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