e? His great Church movement, you
know."

"Lord, yes, my dear. Sandro once speechified to me about it for an hour."

"Well, he doesn't speechify so much now; he doesn't believe in it so
much, and Dick's annoyed. That's natural, I think, though perhaps it's a
little silly of him. However, if you wait, he'll tell you about it
himself."

"Why doesn't Sandro believe in it so much?"

"Perhaps I ought to have said that he doesn't think the present time a
suitable one for pressing it."

"I see," said Miss Quisante sipping her tea. May looked at her again and
seemed about to speak, but in the end she only smiled. She was amused at
the old lady's questions, impelled to speak plainly to her, and
restrained only by the sense that any admission she might seem to make
would be used to the full against her husband by his faithful and liberal
aunt.

"He says he has good reasons, and Dick Benyon says they're bad ones," she
ended by explaining, though it was not much of an explanation after all.

Miss Quisante had the curiosity to await Dick Benyon's coming, and, in
spite of his evident expectation of a _tete-a-tete_, not to go
immediately on his arrival. She was struck with the air of mingled
affection and compassion with which he greeted his healthy, handsome,
smiling young hostess. Moreover he was himself apologetic, as though
suffering from a touch of remorse. He began to talk trifles, but May
brought him to the point.

"I read the speech after I got your letter," she said. "I'm sorry you
don't like it, but Alexander must consider the practical aspect of the
matter. You won't do your cause any good by urging it out of season."

"In season and out of season; that's the only way."

"You might be an Irish member," said May, smiling.

Dick was too much in earnest to be diverted to mirth. The presence of
Miss Quisante still seemed to make him a little uncomfortable, but the
old lady did not move. May gave her no hint, and he was too full of his
subject to hold his tongue.

"I want you to speak to him about it," he went on.

"To urge him to do what he thinks a mistake?"

Dick grew a little hot. "To urge him not to go back on the cause and
on--on his friends, and almost to laugh at them for----" He paused and
looked at May; she was smiling steadily. He did not end quite as bluntly
as he had meant. "I think that he has, unconsciously no doubt, allowed
personal considerations to influence him."

A short sudden chuckle came