than the
working footing. I was surprised and a little hurt about this, because
of late there had been no reservations in the confidence with which my
chief treated me. Also, I could not see any possible reason for secrecy
in such a matter; it might as well be told first as last, I thought. And
I watched Constance with a brooding eye for signs she never made, for a
confidence which did not come from either of my friends.

The thing possessed my mind, and must, I fear, have interfered
materially with my work. But after a time the idea came to me that these
two had decided to allow our joint work to take precedence of their
private happiness, and to put aside their own affairs until the aims of
_The Citizens_ had been attained. I recalled certain little indications
I myself had received from Constance before John Crondall's return from
South Africa, to the effect that personal feeling could have no great
weight with her, while our national fate hung in the balance. And, by
dulling the edge of my expectancy, this conclusion somehow eased the
ache which had possessed me since the day of the kiss to which chance
had made me a witness. But it did not altogether explain to me the new
reserve, the hint of stiffness in John Crondall's manner; and, rightly
or wrongly, I knew when I took Constance's hand in mine, or met the gaze
of her shining eyes, that I did so as a devout lover, and not merely as
a friend.

XI

THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE

Through no disturbance of my soul
Or strong compunction in me wrought,
I supplicate for thy controul;
But in the quietness of thought:
Me this unchartered freedom tires;
I feel the weight of chance desires:
My hopes no more must change their name;
I long for a repose that ever is the same.

_Ode to Duty._

From the first, the courtesy of the Press was securely enlisted in _The
Citizens'_ favour by John Crondall. For many months the _Standard_, now
firmly established as the principal organ of the reform movement,
devoted an entire page each day to the progress of our campaign and the
pilgrimage of our forerunners--the Canadian preachers. John Crondall had
gone thoroughly into the matter at the beginning with the editor of this
journal, and the key-note thus given was taken by the Press of the whole
country.

The essence of our treatment by the newspapers lay in their careful
avoidance of all matter whic