ts among us."

"Yet they are not patriots."

"No! They are not, viewed from our standpoint. But every colony has a
different motive in the war. Now that some have obtained their rights,
they are satisfied with the situation. I don't know but that we would be
as well off if the present state of affairs were allowed to stand."

"What do the Catholics of the Colonies think?"

This was a bold question, yet he ventured to ask it.

"We would fare as well with England as with some of our own," answered
Marjorie decisively.

Anderson looked at her for a minute.

"Never!" replied Mr. Allison with emphasis.

"See how Canada fared," insisted Marjorie.

"Tush!"

Anderson listened attentively. Here was a division of opinion within the
same family; the father intensely loyal, the daughter somewhat inclined
to analysis. A new light was thrown upon her from this very instant
which afforded him a very evident satisfaction, a very definite and
conscious enjoyment as well. To have discovered this mind of apparent
candor and unaffected breadth was of supreme import to him at this
critical moment. And he felt assured that he had met with a character of
more than ordinary self-determination which might, if tuned properly,
display a capacity for prodigious possibilities, for in human nature he
well knew the chord of self-interest to be ever responsive to adequate
and opportune appeal.

Marjorie might unconsciously prove advantageous to him. It was essential
for the maturing of his plans to obtain Catholic cooperation. She was a
devout adherent and had been, insofar as he had been able to discover,
an ardent Whig. True, he had but few occasions to study her,
nevertheless today had furnished him with an inkling which gave her
greater breadth in his eyes than he was before conscious of. The remark
just made might indicate that she favored foreign rule in the interest
of religious toleration, yet such a declaration was by no means
decisive. Still he would labor to this end in the hope that she might
ultimately see her way clear to cooperate with him in his designs.

"We are losing vast numbers through the Alliance," volunteered Anderson.

"I suppose so," admitted Mr. Allison. "Many of the colonists cannot
endure the thought of begging assistance from a great Roman Catholic
power. They fear, perhaps, that France will use the opportunity to
inflict on us the worst form of colonialism and destroy the Protestant
religion."

"But it