e degree, as he believed that in the
main women are better fitted than men to endure such ordeals. Mr.
Grayson himself apparently took no notice.

Harley returned to their car with the Graysons, but in the afternoon he
detached himself somewhat, and came in touch with the fluctuating crowd
that passed down the aisle--it was always a part of his duty, as well as
his inclination, to know the thoughts and feelings of outsiders, because
it was outsiders who made the world, and it was from them, too, that the
insiders came.

Harley found here that the chief motive as yet was curiosity; the
campaign had not entered upon its sharp and positive state, and the
personality of Mr. Grayson and of his opponent still remained to be
defined clearly.

The train sped westward through the granary of the world, cutting in an
almost direct line across the mighty valley of the Mississippi, and they
were still hundreds of miles away from the Grayson home. In going west
both parties had gone very far west, and the two candidates not only
lived beyond the Mississippi, but beyond the Missouri as well.

The prairies were in their tenderest green, and the young grass bent
lightly before a gentle west wind. In a sky of silky blue little clouds
floated and trailed off here and there into patches of white like
drifting snow, and Harley unconsciously fell to watching them and
wondering where they went.

The sun, a huge red ball, sank in the prairie, twilight fell, the ordeal
of the dining-car was repeated, and not long afterwards Harley sought
his bed in the swaying berth. The next morning they were in the home
town, and there were a band and a reception committee, and Harley
slipped quietly away to his hotel, being reminded first by the Graysons
that he was to take dinner with them.

He spent most of the day wandering about the town, gathering hitherto
unnoticed facts about the early life of Mr. James Grayson, which in the
afternoon he despatched eastward. Then he prepared for dinner, but here
he was confronted by a serious problem--should one so far west wear
evening clothes or not? But he decided at last in the affirmative,
feeling that it would be the safe course, and, hiding the formality of
his raiment under a light overcoat, he went forth into the street. Five
minutes' walk took him to the house of Mr. Grayson, which stood in the
outskirts, a red brick structure two stories in height, plain and
comfortable, with a well-shaded lawn about