d go back and make a new start by a
different route? But I don't know the schedule; my transportation is
good on only one line." And he grinned at his joke.

"Oh, you will have to pay your fare!" she replied quickly. "You've never
done that."

His grin became a smile, and he said: "You want me to walk if I can't
pay my way!"

"Yes," she laughed happily, feeling that her victory was half won; "and
you would have to be careful to stop, look, and listen at the
crossings!"

The allusion further eased the stress of the hour; humor shone in his
gray eyes. He consulted his watch, frowned, bent his eyes upon the
floor, then turned to her with disconcerting abruptness.

"I haven't been half the boss you think me. I've been hedged in,
cramped, and shackled. All these fellows who hop the stick when I say
'Jump' have their little axes I must help grind. I've fooled away the
best years of my life taking care of these little fellows, and I've
spent a lot of money on them. It's become a little monotonous, I can
tell you. It's begun to get on my nerves, for I have a few; and all this
hammering I've taken from the newspapers has begun to make me hot. I
know about as much as they do about the right and wrong of things; I
suppose I know something about government and the law too!"

"Yes," Sylvia assented eagerly.

He readjusted himself in his chair, crossing his legs and thrusting his
hands into his trousers pockets.

"It _would_ be rather cheerful and comfortable," he continued musingly,
as though unburdening himself of old grievances, "to be free to do as
you like once in a lifetime! Those fellows in Thatcher's herd who have
practically sold out to me and are ready to deliver the goods to-night
are all rascals, swung my way by a few corporations that would like to
have me in Washington. It would be a good joke to fool them and elect a
man who couldn't be bought! It's funny, but I've wondered sometimes
whether I wasn't growing tired of the old game."

"But the new game you can play better than any of them. It's the only
way you can find peace."

With a gesture half-bold, half-furtive, he put out his hand and touched
lightly the glove she had drawn off and laid on the table.

"You believe in me; you have some faith left in me?"

"Yes."

Her hand touched his; her dark eyes searched the depths of his
soul--sought and found the shadows there and put them to flight. When
she spoke it was with a tenderness that was new to all