ul evening there duly appeared Io with a group of a dozen
friends. From the first, it was a time of triumph. Laird took the lead
and kept it. By midnight, the result was a certainty. In a balcony
speech from his headquarters the victor had given generous recognition
for his success to The Patriot, mentioning Banneker by name. When the
report reached them Esther Forbes solemnly crowned the host with a
wreath composed of the "flimsy" on which the rescript of the speech had
come in.

"Skoal to Ban!" she cried. "Maker of kings and mayors and things. Skoal!
As you're a viking or something of the sort, the Norse salutation is
appropriate."

"It ought to be Danish to be accurate," he smiled.

"Well, that's a hardy, seafaring race," she chattered. "And that reminds
me. Come on out to the South Seas with us."

"Charmed," he returned. "When do we start? To-morrow?"

"Oh, I'm not joking. You've certainly earned a vacation. And of course
you needn't enlist for the whole six months if that is too long. Dad has
let me have the yacht. There'll only be a dozen. Io's going along."

Banneker shot one startled, incredulous look at Io Eyre, and instantly
commanded himself, to the point of controlling his voice to gayety as he
replied:

"And who would tell the new mayor how he should run the city, if I
deserted him? No, Esther, I'm afraid I'm chained to this desk. Ask me
sometime when you're cruising as far as Coney Island."

Io sat silent, and with a set smile, listening to Herbert Cressey's
account of an election row in the district where he was volunteer
watcher. When the party broke up, she went home with Densmore without
giving Banneker the chance of a word with her. It seemed to him that
there was a mute plea for pardon in her face as she bade him good-night.

At noon next day she called him on the 'phone.

"Just to tell you that I'm coming as usual Saturday evening," she said.

"When do you leave on your cruise?" he asked.

"Not until next week. I'll tell you when I see you. Good-bye."

Never had Banneker seen Io in such difficult mood as she exhibited on
the Saturday. She had come early to The House With Three Eyes,
accompanied by Densmore who looked in just for one drink before going to
a much-touted boxing-match in Jersey. Through the evening she
deliberately avoided seeing Banneker alone for so much as the space of a
query put and answered, dividing her attention between an enraptured
master of the violin who had c