Malachi studied the cartoon a long time, never changing expression. But even when he finished he did not fold the paper carefully and put it back in his valise, nor bestow his spectacles in his waistcoat pocket. He had suffered many lapses in his methodical habits of late, and they were growing easy now. He turned to the editorial page, where a line in big types, heading a leading editorial, had caught his little eye. It said: "The Passing of Malachi Nolan." Malachi began to read, slowly and carefully, pronouncing each word to himself:
"Citizens not only of the First Ward, but of the
entire city, are to be congratulated upon the signal
victory the Municipal Reform League has won in its
campaign against Malachi Nolan. This man, who
so long has misrepresented the ward mentioned in
the city council, has at last been dislodged, and
driven to the obscurity of private life, where his
pernicious and dangerous tendencies, if not altogether
abated, will at least be confined to a narrower
sphere of activity. In announcing his retirement
from politics, he gives as a reason his desire to pay
a visit to his native land, but the public, while speeding
his departure, will readily penetrate the gauzy
excuse he advances for it. They know that he has
been forced to fly from a field rendered utterly untenable
by the onslaughts of those public-spirited
