ith him she had common social
experiences and religious traditions, and time had taught her the value
of these things she had once imagined she despised. But, after all, it
was the right man against the wrong man, irrespective of such
considerations. Now that Emmet was mayor, she found she did not care;
the prize was an apple of Sodom in her hand. He had even lost the
picturesqueness which appeared to be his in another sphere, without
gaining in compensation the things that were Leigh's by inheritance.
The argument went against him now, if that could be called an argument
which was only a question of love. She looked up finally with a smile
that seemed to indicate indifference, or the weary shelving of a long
vexed question.

"Perhaps you are right," she answered. "I 'm sure I don't presume to
say."

Cardington rose to his feet abruptly, and his glance seemed one of
judgment upon her.

"A scandalous proceeding!" he broke out. "This night's work was a
scandalous proceeding." Her startled flush arrested him, and his tone
attained a sudden jocularity. "Well, I must leave you here to fight it
out among yourselves. I have a piece of work that is calling loudly to
me from the hill. Good-night!" He paid his bill, and strode away
without another word.

"I never knew a man with such a range of learning," Leigh said; "he
makes the rest of us seem like ignoramuses."

"We are all his students," Mrs. Parr put in, "whether we wish to be or
not." She spoke with such feeling that the others were moved to
laughter. For some time she had been looking from Leigh to Felicity
with that birdlike movement of the head, until she had made a woman's
great discovery, that her friend was not indifferent to his admiration.
Without going so far as to wish Felicity to marry him, she was deeply
pleased that he seemed to have driven away the more unworthy fancy.
This was enough for the present, and her content shone in her glances
toward the young man like an unspoken message of good-will.

As they stood on the curb outside while Mr. Parr went to find his
carriage, the scene before them presented such a contrast with the
experiences of the evening that instinctively they were hushed in
contemplation. The bare branches of the trees in the park across the
way were silvered by the rays of the full moon, which wrought a
motionless tracery on the thin remnant of snow beneath. Through a gap
could be seen the white shaft of the soldiers