icable reason, nobody cared to
mention the name of Austen Vane.

The Honourable Hilary pointed at the basswood table.

"Senator," he said, "I understand you have been telephoning Mr. Flint.
Have you got orders to sit down there?"

"My dear sir," said the Senator, "you misunderstand me."

"Have you got orders to sit down there?" Mr. Vane repeated.

"No," answered the Senator, "Mr. Flint's confidence in you--"

The Honourable Hilary sat down again, and at that instant the door was
suddenly flung open by Postmaster Bill Fleeting of Brampton, his genial
face aflame with excitement and streaming with perspiration. Forgotten,
in this moment, is senatorial courtesy and respect for the powers of the
feudal system.

"Say, boys," he cried, "Putnam County's voting, and there's be'n no
nomination and ain't likely to be. Jim Scudder, the station-master at
Wye, is here on credentials, and he says for sure the thing's fizzled
out, and Tom Gaylord's left the hall!"

Again a silence, save for the high hum let in through the open doorway.
The members of the conference stared at the Honourable Hilary, who
seemed to have forgotten their presence; for he had moved his chair to
the window, and was gazing out over the roofs at the fast-fading red in
the western sky.

An hour later, when the room was in darkness save for the bar of
light that streamed in from the platform chandelier, Senator Whitredge
entered.

"Hilary!" he said.

There was no answer. Mr. Whitredge felt in his pocket for a match,
struck it, and lighted the single jet over the basswood table. Mr. Vane
still sat by the window. The senator turned and closed the door, and
read from a paper in his hand; so used was he to formality that he read
it formally, yet with a feeling of intense relief, of deference, of
apology.

"Fifth ballot:--The Honourable Giles Henderson of Kingston has... 587;
The Honourable Adam B. Hunt of Edmundton has... 230; The Honourable
Humphrey Crewe of Leith has... 154.

"And Giles Henderson is nominated--Hilary?"

"Yes," said Mr. Vane.

"I don't think any of us were--quite ourselves to-day. It wasn't that we
didn't believe in you--but we didn't have all the threads in our hands,
and--for reasons which I think I can understand--you didn't take us into
your confidence. I want to--"

The words died on the senator's lips. So absorbed had he been in his
momentous news, and solicitous over the result of his explanation, that
his eye looked out