Edith Speare

James Barclay is elected to the office of governor on the machine ticket. Sylvia Marlowe, a lawyer whom Barclay has loved for years, refuses to marry him because she fears that Barclay's ambition is causing him to disregard ethics and justice. When he is persuaded by the political boss to veto a child labor measure, Sylvia determines to run for the office of lieutenant governor and is elected.

The friends of the story are John Drene, a sculptor, and Jack Graylock, a painter. Both men swear eternal friendship on the night before Drene's marriage.