," he said, "has been always distinguished by them."

"And mine," she said, "only since I came to Blakely, and learnt to talk
nonsense in your rose-garden! But come," she added, more briskly, "we are
breaking our compact. We agreed to be friends, you know, and abjure
sentiment."

He nodded.

"It seemed quite easy then," he remarked.

"And it is easy now! It must be," she added. "I have scarcely
congratulated you upon your election. What it all means, and with which
party you are going to vote, I scarcely know even now. But I can at least
congratulate you personally."

"You are generous," he said, "for I suppose I am a deserter. As to where
I shall sit, it is very hard to tell. I fancy myself that we are on the
eve of a complete readjustment of parties. Wherever I may find myself,
however, it will scarcely be with your friends."

She nodded.

"I realize that, and I am sorry," she said. "All that we need is a
leader, and you might have been he. As it is, I suppose we shall muddle
along somehow until some one comes out of the ruck strong enough to pull
us together.... Come and see me in London, Lawrence. Who knows but that
you may be able to convert me!"

"You are too staunch," he answered, "and you have not seen what I have
seen."

She sighed.

"Didn't you once tell me at Blakely that politics for a woman was a
mischosen profession--that we were at once too obstinate and too
sentimental? Perhaps you were right. We don't come into touch with
the same forces that you meet with, and we come into touch with others
which make the world seem curiously upside-down. Good-night, Lawrence!
I am going to my room quietly. Lady Redford wants to play bridge, and I
don't feel like it! _Bon voyage!_"

Mannering stood alone in the little courtyard, lit now with hanging
lights, and crowded with stray visitors who had strolled in from the
streets. The rest of the party had gone into the salon beyond, and
Mannering felt curiously disinclined to join them. Suddenly there was a
touch upon his arm. He turned round. Blanche was standing there looking
up at him. Something in her face puzzled him. Her eyes fell before his.
She was pale, yet as he looked at her a flood of colour rushed into her
cheeks. His momentary impression of her eyes was that they were very soft
and very bright. She had thrown off her wrap, and with her left hand was
holding up her white skirt. Her right hand was clenched as though holding
something, and extende