ng against hope for her lover.

The candidate spoke well. His voice was as deep and as musical as ever,
and his sentences rolled as smoothly as before. All his charm and
magnetism of manner were present; the old spell which he threw over
everybody--a spell which was from the heart and the manner as well as
from the meaning of his words--was not lacking, but to Harley, keenly
attentive, there seemed to be a flaw in his logic. The reasoning was not
as clear and compact as usual. Only a man with a penetrating, analytical
mind would observe it, but there were openings here and there where his
armor could be pierced. Blaisdell, one of the correspondents, noticed
the fact, and he whispered to Harley:

"It's a good thing that Jimmy Grayson has no great speaker against him
to-night; I never knew him to wander from the point before."

"Where's your great speaker?" asked Harley, with irony.

But the crowded audience was oblivious. It heard only the music of the
candidate's voice and felt only the spell of his manner; therefore, it
was with a sort of contempt that it looked upon Lee, the young lawyer
without a case, who rose to reply. Lee was pale, but there was a fire in
his eyes, as if he, too, had noticed something, and Harley, observing,
caught his breath sharply.

The correspondent again looked down at the girl, and he saw a deep flush
sweep over her face, and then, passing, leave it deadly pale. The next
moment she averted her eyes as if she would not see the failure of her
lover, not the less dear to her because he was about to go away forever.
But though he did not see her face now, Harley, as he looked at the bent
head, could read her mind. He knew that she was quivering; he knew that
she, too, had been completely under the spell of the candidate's great
voice and manner, and she feared the painful contrast.

Harley glanced once at Jimmy Grayson, sitting quietly, all expression
dismissed from his face, and then he looked back at the girl; she should
receive all his attention now. Presently he saw her raise her head, the
color returned to her face, and a sudden look of wonder and hope
appeared in her eyes. Arthur was speaking, not timidly, not like one
beaten, but in a strong, clear voice, and with a logic that was keen and
merciless he drove straight at the weak points in the candidate's
address. Even Harley was surprised at his skill and penetration.

The correspondent watched Helen, and he read every step of her l