ill let her live in the way you talk of? Where are you
going to find a working man that'll be content never to touch this
money--to work on for his weekly wages, when he might be living at his
ease?" And I told him that it wasn't as impossible as he thought. What
do you think, Sidney?'

The communication of a noble idea has the same effect upon the brains
of certain men--of one, let us say, in every hundred thousand--as a
wine that exalts and enraptures. As Sidney listened to the old man
telling of his wondrous vision, he became possessed with ardour such as
he had known but once or twice in his life. Idealism such as Michael
Snowdon had developed in these latter years is a form of genius; given
the susceptible hearer, it dazzles, inspires, raises to heroic contempt
of the facts of life. Had this story been related to him of some
unknown person, Sidney would have admired, but as one admires the nobly
impracticable; subject to the electric influence of a man who was great
enough to conceive and direct his life by such a project, who could
repose so supreme a faith in those he loved, all the primitive
nobleness of his character asserted itself, and he could accept with a
throbbing heart the superb challenge addressed to him.

'If Jane can think me worthy to be her husband,' he replied, 'your
friend shall see that he has feared without cause.'

'I knew it, Sidney; I knew it!' exclaimed the old man. 'How much
younger I feel now that I have shared this burden with you!'

'And shall you now tell Jane?' the other inquired.

'Not yet; not just yet. She is very young; we must wait a little. But
there can be no reason why you shouldn't speak to her--of yourself.'

Sidney was descending from the clouds. As the flush of his humanitarian
enthusiasm passed away, and he thought of his personal relations to
Jane, a misgiving, a scruple began to make itself heard within him.
Worldly and commonplace the thought, but--had he a right to ask the
girl to pledge herself to him under circumstances such as these? To be
sure, it was not as if Jane were an heiress in the ordinary way; for
all that, would it not be a proceeding of doubtful justice to woo her
when as yet she was wholly ignorant of the most important item in her
situation? His sincerity was unassailable, but--suppose, in fact, he
had to judge the conduct of another man thus placed? Upon the heated
pulsing of his blood succeeded a coolness, almost a chill; he felt as
though he