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