obeyed, and added his own in a firm and cheerful voice.

"She's resting, of course," said Charmian.

"Yes."

"Everyone resting. It seems almost ghastly."

"Why?" he said, laughing.

"Oh, I don't know--death-like. I'm stupid to-day."

She longed to say, "I am full of forebodings!" But she was held back by
the thought, "Shall I fail in resolution at the last moment, show the
white feather when he is so cool, so master of himself? I who have been
such a courageous wife, who have urged him on, who have made this day
possible!"

"It's only the physical reaction," she added hastily. "After all we've
gone through."

"Oh, we mustn't give way to reaction yet. We've got the big thing in
front of us. All the rest is nothing in comparison with to-night."

"I know! I hope Madre will cable. If she doesn't, it will seem like a
bad omen. I shall feel as if she didn't care what happens."

He said nothing.

"Won't you?" she asked.

"I think she will cable. But even if she doesn't, I know she always
cares very much what happens to you and me. Nothing would ever make me
doubt that."

"No, of course not. But I do want her to show it, to prove it to us
to-day. It is such a day in our lives! Never, so long as we live, can we
have such another day. It is the day I dreamed of, the day I foresaw,
that night at Covent Garden."

She felt a longing, which she checked, to add, "It is the day I decreed
when I looked at Henriette Sennier!" But though she checked the longing,
its birth had brought to her hope. She, a girl, had decreed this day and
her decree had been obeyed. Her will had been exerted, and her will had
triumphed. Nothing could break down that fact. Nothing could ever take
from her the glory of that achievement. And it seemed to point to the
ultimate glory for which she had been living so long, for which she had
endured so patiently. Suddenly her restlessness increased, but it was no
longer merely the restlessness of unquiet nerves. Anticipation whipped
her to movement, and she sprang up abruptly from the sofa.

"Claude, I can't stay in here! I can't rest. Don't ask me to. Anything
else, but not that!"

She went to him, put her hands on his shoulders.

"Be a dear! Take me out!"

"Where to?"

"Anywhere! Fifth Avenue, Central Park! Let us walk! I know! Let us walk
across the park and look at the theater, our theater. A walk will do me
more good than you can dream of, genius though you are. And the time
will pass