gton. She had spoken to several acquaintances, and
her hand was in the clasp of a house member from her old county, when
she started at the sound of a shrill voice rising above the persistent
hum of the legislators and the lobbyists.

"I'm a-lookin' for the governor, Nick Burr," it said.

"I didn't know the governor posed as a cavalier," laughed the house
member, and as a wave of humour lighted the faces around her, Eugenia
turned to find Marthy Burr standing in the doorway. She wore a stiff
alpaca dress, and beneath the green veil above her bonnet she cast
alert, nervous glances from side to side. Her hands clutched, in a
deathlike grip, a cotton umbrella and a small, covered basket.

Eugenia hesitated for a single instant, and then took a step forward
with outstretched hand, a kindly glow in her face; but as she did so the
crowd parted and Nicholas Burr reached his stepmother's side.

"Why, this is a treat, ma!" he said heartily, and he took the umbrella
and the basket from her reluctant hands, despite her warning whisper,
"thar's new-laid eggs in thar!"

"My dear Mrs. Burr!" exclaimed Eugenia. She lifted her gaze from the
homely figure in its awkward finery, to the man who stood beside her.
Then she stooped and kissed Marthy Burr on the cheek.

"Do let her come home with me," she said.

Her eyes fell and a wave of colour beat into her face. An instant before
she had felt her act to be entirely admirable; now it flamed before her
in a mental revelation that she was a sycophant who sought the reward of
an assumed virtue. With the reward had come the knowledge--she had found
both in Nicholas's eyes; and as she felt the thrust of self-abasement,
she felt also that for the sake of that look she would have kissed a
dozen Burrs a dozen times.

"You are very kind," said the governor. "But you know I have an empty
house."

Then he put his arm about Marthy Burr and assisted her down the steps to
the walk below. She looked about her with half-frightened, half-defiant
eyes, and clung grimly to his powerful figure.

As Eugenia watched them, a quick remembrance shot before her. She saw
Nicholas Burr as she had seen him in his youth--ardent, assured, holding
out his arms to the future, which was to be love, love, love. Now the
future had become the present, and the one affection that remained to
him was that of the old, illiterate woman, with the rasping voice. He
had lost the thing he had lived for--and he was happy.