mpotent fury, and turned to a channel of thought which was bound to
serve a nature such as his in his present mood.

He returned to his desk and flung himself into the chair. And after a
while his mind settled itself to the task his mood demanded. He sat
staring straight ahead of him, and presently the heat passed out of his
eyes, and they grew cold, and hard. Later, they began to smile
again--but it was a smile of cruelty, of evil purpose. It was a smile
more unrelenting in its cruelty than any frown could have expressed.

* * * * *

For the first time Nancy's eyes were open to the things of life as they
really were. She had tasted a certain bitterness in the early days of
her girlhood. But up till now the world had seemed something of a rose
garden in which it was a delight to labour. Up till now she had seen no
reverse to the picture of life as youth had painted it for her. Now,
however, it was borne in upon her that there was a reverse, a reverse
that was ugly and painfully distressing. It was this declaration of war
between her own people and the man from Labrador.

She lay in her bed that night thinking, thinking, and without any desire
for sleep. Strive as she would to search the position out logically, to
estimate the true meaning of it all, to fathom the chances of this war,
and to grasp the necessity for it, all these efforts only resulted in a
tangle of thought revolving about the picture of a youthful man of vast
stature, with eyes that were always clear-searching or smiling, and with
a head of hair that reminded her of a lion's mane. And as she gazed
upon this mental picture there were moments when it seemed to her there
was grave trouble in the clear depths which so appealed to her. The
smile in her eyes seemed to fade out, to be replaced by a look that
seemed to express the hurtful knowledge of a man disheartened, defeated,
crushed. They were in rival camps. They were at war. Each desired
victory. And yet the sight she beheld, the signs of defeat she
discovered in the man's eyes gave her no joy, no satisfaction.

She felt that the battle could end only one way. The might of the
Skandinavia was too great for anything but its complete victory. She was
sure, quite sure. Oh, yes. And she knew she would not have it otherwise.
But the pity of it. This creature of splendid manhood. To think that he
must go down--smashed. That was the word they used--smashed.

How she hated the