King," who had been making eyes at her,
leaned over her shoulder and said in a confidential whisper, "And what is
Gloria looking for?"

"I am looking for _a man_," she answered. And as the big beard turned
away with "Oh, confound it!" she became aware that Drake and Lord Robert
were at high words from opposite sides of the table.

"No, I tell you no, no, _no_!" said Drake. "Call him a weakling and a
fool and an ass, if you will, but does that explain everything? This is
one of the men with the breath of God in him, and you can't judge of him
by ordinary standards."

"Should think not, indeed, dear chap," said Lord Robert, "Common sense
laughs at the creature."

"So much the worse for common sense. When it judges of these isolated
beings by the standards of the common herd then common sense is always
the greatest nonsense."

"Oho! oho!" came in several voices, but Drake paid no attention.

"Jesus Christ himself was mocked at and ridiculed by the common sense of
his time, by his own people, and even his own family, and his family and
people and time have been gibbeted by all the centuries that have come
after them. And so it has been with every ardent soul since who has taken
up his parable and introduced into the world a new spirit. The world has
laughed at him and spat upon him, and, only for its fear of the sublime
banner he has borne, it would have shut him up in a mad-house."

They were strange words in a strange place. Everybody listened.

"But these sombre giants are the leaders of the world for all that, and
one hour of their Divine madness is worth more to humanity than a cycle
of our sanity. And yet we deny them friendship and love, and do our best
to put them out of the pale of the human family! We have invented a new
name for them too--degenerates--pygmies and pigs as we are, who ought to
go down on our knees to them with our faces buried in the dirt!
Gentlemen," he cried, filling his glass and rising to his feet, "I give
you a toast--the health of Father Storm!"

Glory had sat trembling all over, breathing hard, blushing, and wide-eyed
until he had done. Then she leaped up to where he stood beside her, threw
her arms about his neck, and kissed him.

"And now you ring down quick, my dear," said Betty, and everybody laughed
a little.

Drake was laughing with the rest, and Glory, who had dropped back to her
seat in confused embarrassment, was trying to laugh too.

"Another bottle of fizz anyway," c