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asserted his authority, and with a smile, in common with all who knew him, she yielded even against her own strong inclination. Nap laughed when he heard of it, despite the fact that he had himself yielded to the same power. "You seem to find Luke irresistible," he said. "I do," she admitted simply. "He is somehow too magnificent to refuse. Surely you have felt the same?" "I?" said Nap. "Oh, I always do what I am told. He rules me with a rod of iron." Glancing at him, she had a momentary glimpse of a curious, wistful expression on his face that made her vaguely sorry. Instinctively she went on speaking as if she had not seen it. "I think with Bertie that he is a born king among men. He is better than good. He is great. One feels it even in trifles. He has such an immense patience." "Colossal," said Nap, and smiled a twisted smile. "That is why he is everybody's own and particular pal. He takes the trouble to find out what's inside. One wonders what on earth he finds to interest him. There's so mighty little in human nature that's worthy of study." "I don't agree with you," Anne said in her quiet, direct way. He laughed again and turned the subject. He was always quick to divine her wishes, and to defer to them. Their intercourse never led them through difficult places, a fact which Anne was conscious that she owed to his consideration rather than to her own skill. She was glad for more than one reason that Lucas had not pressed a very onerous part upon her. She had a suspicion, very soon confirmed, that Nap as stage-manager would prove no indulgent task-master. He certainly would not spare himself, nor would he spare anyone else. Disputes were rife when he first assumed command, and she wondered much if he would succeed in establishing order, for he possessed none of his brother's winning charm of manner and but a very limited popularity. But Nap showed himself from the outset fully equal to his undertaking. He grappled with one difficulty after another with a lightning alertness, a prompt decision, which soon earned for him the respect of his unruly subordinates. He never quarrelled, neither did he consider the feelings of any. A cynical comment was the utmost he ever permitted himself in the way of retaliation, but he held his own unerringly, evolving order from confusion with a masterly disregard of opposition that carried all before it. Dot, who was not without a very decided prejudice in
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