t desire it, he felt quite overcome by it. Nevertheless he would
ever value it." (Loud and prolonged cheers.) The record of all these
proceedings, faithfully set forth in the _Rodhaven District Courier_,
formed the proudest and finest snippet in Mavis' bulging scrap album;
and brought moisture to her eyes each time that she examined it anew.

"I was never more pleased," she said, "than when I knew you wouldn't
ever have to wear your fire helmet again; but now I'm wondering if you
won't _miss_ the Council."

"No, Mav, I shan't miss it."

"One thing I'm sure of--they'll miss _you_."

"They'll get on very well without me, my dear." And then he told her
that he was not quite the man he had been. "I'm not so greedy nowadays
for every opportunity of spouting out my opinions; and I've come to
think one's private work is enough, without putting public work on top
of it. You'll understand, I don't mean that I want to fold my hands
and sit quiet for the rest of my days. But I do seem to feel the need
of taking things a little lighter than I used to do."

This explanation was more than sufficient for Mavis; she
sympathetically praised him for his wisdom in dropping the silly old
useless Council.

But it was later this evening, or perhaps one evening a little
afterward, when something he said set her thoughts moving so fast that
they rushed on from sympathy to apprehensive anxiety.

He spoke with unusual kindness about her family, and asked if she had
suffered any real discomfort because of his having forbidden
intercourse with all the Petherick relations. She said "No." Then he
said he had been actuated by the best intentions; and he further added
that all his experience of the world led him to believe that one got
on a great deal better by one's self than if chocked up with uncles
and cousins and aunts. "So I should hope, Mav, that you'd never now
feel the wish to mend what I took the decision of breaking. I mean,
especially as your people have mostly scattered and gone from these
parts, that you'd never, however you were situated, wish to hunt them
all out and bring them back to your doors again." Mavis dutifully and
honestly said that her own experience had led her to similar
conclusions. She thought that relatives were often more trouble than
they were worth, and she promised never to attempt a regathering of
the scattered Petherick clan.

"You know," he said, "if anything happened to me, you'd be all right.
I have m