r. At least, she brightened under his influence until all
her best side was exhibited. She felt that she was more clever with him
than with others. At least, he seemed to find so much in her to applaud.
There was not the slightest touch of patronage. Drouet was full of it.

There had been something so personal, so subtle, in each meeting between
them, both when Drouet was present and when he was absent, that Carrie
could not speak of it without feeling a sense of difficulty. She was
no talker. She could never arrange her thoughts in fluent order. It was
always a matter of feeling with her, strong and deep. Each time there
had been no sentence of importance which she could relate, and as for
the glances and sensations, what woman would reveal them? Such things
had never been between her and Drouet. As a matter of fact, they could
never be. She had been dominated by distress and the enthusiastic forces
of relief which Drouet represented at an opportune moment when she
yielded to him. Now she was persuaded by secret current feelings which
Drouet had never understood. Hurstwood's glance was as effective as
the spoken words of a lover, and more. They called for no immediate
decision, and could not be answered.

People in general attach too much importance to words. They are under
the illusion that talking effects great results. As a matter of fact,
words are, as a rule, the shallowest portion of all the argument. They
but dimly represent the great surging feelings and desires which
lie behind. When the distraction of the tongue is removed, the heart
listens.

In this conversation she heard, instead of his words, the voices of
the things which he represented. How suave was the counsel of his
appearance! How feelingly did his superior state speak for itself! The
growing desire he felt for her lay upon her spirit as a gentle hand. She
did not need to tremble at all, because it was invisible; she did not
need to worry over what other people would say--what she herself
would say--because it had no tangibility. She was being pleaded with,
persuaded, led into denying old rights and assuming new ones, and yet
there were no words to prove it. Such conversation as was indulged in
held the same relationship to the actual mental enactments of the twain
that the low music of the orchestra does to the dramatic incident which
it is used to cover.

"Have you ever seen the houses along the Lake Shore on the North Side?"
asked Hurstwood.