"Something had to be done," Cobbens observed modestly, "to maintain the
dignity of the city."

The moment was epic in its possibilities, to two of the men present.
Cobbens might interpret an expression of approval on her part as a sign
that she forgave him for humiliating her _protege_ and had outgrown her
fancy, but to Leigh such an expression would mean infinitely more.
Thus they waited, each hoping for the significant and illuminating
word. But none was given. At the lawyer's mention of dignity in
connection with himself, a slight smile hovered about the corners of
her lips, but it found no reflection in the cold brightness of her
eyes. She made as if she failed to realise that a comment was
expected, or as if the subject were not of sufficient interest to move
her to speak. The hiatus was closed before its existence could be
felt, except by the three so vitally concerned.

"I did think," Littleford explained, "that it would be pleasanter here
because of the jam at the club. That's why I proposed that you and
Swigart slip away."

The lawyer, perhaps not yet convinced that he had played and lost, now
addressed Felicity directly. "Won't you come to the reception with Mr.
Littleford and me, Miss Wycliffe? I brought my machine around for the
express purpose of carrying you off."

"I 'm too comfortable to move now," she answered coolly, "and I don't
propose to make the President shake hands with me twice in one day.
Besides, I want to have a little chat with Mr. Leigh. We have n't met
for ages. Mr. Littleford, I know you want to go,"--

"I deny it," he interposed gallantly.

--"and as I refuse to move, I don't see why my stubbornness should keep
you away from something more interesting."

"In other words," Cobbens said, with as good a grace as his
disappointment would allow, "we have received our _conge_, and had
better not stand upon the order of our going."

She greeted this declaration with laughing protest, but the two went
off together, Littleford being eager to get from one of the
participants the inside history of the scene he had witnessed, and
Cobbens well aware that to remain would be to subject himself
gratuitously to the humiliation of taking a second place in her
attention.

Leigh, exhilarated by his good fortune, was impervious to the keen,
malicious glance the lawyer had bestowed upon him, while Cardington,
who had stood by during the whole colloquy in perfect silence, did not
even now