from his own, the
astronomer wondered whether she could resist him now, were she there to
witness his triumph. The difference in social station between her and
her husband seemed unimportant now. What he lacked was easy to acquire
compared with what he had already won; and his weakness for Lena
Harpster was, after all, much less serious than the moral delinquencies
of the men of Felicity's own class. For Warwick, like all rich cities,
was honeycombed with social scandals, and scarcely one of Emmet's
opponents would have been justified, if all were published, in casting
the first stone at him. Surely, Leigh reflected, she must know these
facts, for even he, a comparative stranger, had heard of them.

Was her pride so exacting that she demanded perfection in return for
her condescension? Would she make no allowances whatever? It seemed
to Leigh that such an attitude on her part would be inhuman. During
his visit to New York he had recovered his grip upon himself, for he
was not one to throw away his days like the petals of a discarded
flower because he had failed to win the woman he loved. Love, he
reminded himself bitterly, was not the main business of life. This
mood of renunciation gave him an almost impersonal appreciation of his
successful rival; but the tribute left him heartsick. Like all
personally ambitious men who have failed of popular applause, the
success of another filled him with momentary self-depreciation. To be
sure, this popular triumph of Emmet was fleeting and local, while he
himself meant yet to win a permanent, though restricted, fame. Of this
he had no doubt. The present scene stirred him to grim emulation.
To-morrow he would realise that shouting and the clapping of hands are
as transient as the wind in the trees; but to-night they were, after
all, something well worth winning.

Presently, as if a play previously rehearsed were being acted before
the eyes of the audience, the "prominent representatives" of the city
and state began to swarm out from the wings and fill the chairs.
Senators, judges, millionaires, popular preachers, all sunk to the dead
level of a supporting chorus, an impressive illustration of the
littleness of the locally great. To all those thousands of intent eyes
these were merely the background upon which, in another moment, was to
be projected the one figure of national importance.

And now he was standing before them, instantly recognisable, though his
appear