g her spectacles on a piece of chamois skin she kept
in her desk for the purpose, and she concluded this rite with unusual
deliberation.

"How do you figure that out, Sylvia?"

"This must be confidential, Aunt Sally; I have said nothing to Dan about
it; but the night of your party Mr. Bassett was in a curious frame of
mind."

"It seemed to me he was particularly cheerful. I thought Morton had as
good a time as anybody."

"Superficially, yes; but I had a long talk with him--in the hall, after
the dancing had begun. I think in spite of his apparent indifference to
the constant fire of his enemies, it has had an effect on him. He's
hardened--or, if he was always hard, he doesn't care any longer whether
he wears the velvet glove or not. That attack on Mr. Thatcher in the
convention illustrates what I mean. His self-control isn't as complete
as most people seem to think it is; he lets go of himself like a
petulant child. That must be a new development in him. It doesn't chime
with the other things you hear of him as a shrewd, calculating manager,
who strikes his enemies in the dark. He was in an evil humor that night
or he wouldn't have talked to me as he did. He was ugly and vindictive.
He was not only glad he had put Dan in the way of temptation, but he
wanted me to know that he had done it. He seemed to be setting his back
to the wall and daring the world."

"Well, well," said Mrs. Owen. "Morton has seemed a little uneasy lately.
But there don't seem to be any reason why he should have picked you out
to jump on. You never did anything to Morton."

"Yes," said Sylvia, smiling; "I laughed at him once! I laughed at him
about the way he had treated Mr. Thatcher. We stopped right there, with
the laugh; he laughed too, you know. And he took that up again at the
party--and I had to explain what my laugh meant."

"Oh, you explained it, did you?"

And Sylvia recounted the interview.

"I guess Morton hasn't been laughed at much, and that was why he
remembered it and wanted to talk to you again. I suspect that Hallie
scolds him when she doesn't pet him. Most folks are afraid of Morton;
that's why he could take care of that corporation bill with the
'Advertiser' jumping him the way it did. Well, well! That must have been
quite a day for Morton. You laughed at him, and when the rest of you
went off in Allen's automobile that night I ran the harrow over him a
few times myself. Well, well!"

Mrs. Owen smiled as though recal