iness to her. One by one dropped the shreds of Leo's last
message from Palermo, like torn crumpled petals of a once beloved and
sacred flower; and the faint, delicate perfume that clung to the
fragments, was one which Mr. Dunbar recognized as characteristic of the
library at the "Lilacs". The contents of the farewell note had in no
degree surprised him; for though fully persuaded that her heart was
irrevocably pledged to the past, he was equally sure that only the
ardor he scorned to feign, would avail to melt the wall of ice her
outraged pride had built between them. There were times when he
deplored bitterly the loss of her companionship; at others he exulted
in the consciousness of perfect freedom to indulge an overmastering
love, amenable to no chastisement by violated loyalty. He had
scrupulously endeavored, by careful employment of forms of deference,
to spare his betrothed as far as possible, the stinging humiliation and
anguish which every woman suffers, when the man whom she loves shows
her that she fills only a subordinate and insignificant place in his
affection; and yet, while her nobler nature commanded his homage, and
the brilliancy of the alliance seems to jeer at his blind fatuity, his
heart throbbed and yearned with an intolerable longing for one upon
whom the world had set the seal of an ineradicable disgrace.

Nature and education had made him a coldly calculating man, jealous of
his honor, but immersed in schemes for his own aggrandizement, and
superbly invulnerable to the blandishments of sentimentality; hence his
amazement, when the deep and engrossing love of his life burned away
that selfishness which was citadel of his affections. Because his
infatuation had cost him so much, that was alluring alike to vanity,
pride, and ambition, a fierce hunger for revenge possessed him; and
herein differs the nature of the love of men and women; the one can
sacrifice itself for the happiness of the beloved; the other will
crucify its darling to appease jealous pangs in view of happiness it
can neither inspire nor share.

"Good morning, Churchill. Come in. Glad to see you. Sit down."

"When did you get back, Lennox?"

"Last night."

"Well, what luck?"

"A rather leaky promise. Kneading slag or cold pig iron into Bessemer
steel would be about as easy as pounding the law of evidence into the
Governor's brains. I emphasized the moral weight of the petition, by
calling his attention to the signatures of the