alth
of which could not be reckoned in the coin of Midas. He turned to her as
they flew down the slope, and she averted her face, perchance perceiving
in that look a possession from which a woman shrinks; and her remark,
startlingly indicative of the accord between them, lent a no less
startling reality to the enchantment.

"This is your land, isn't it?" she said.

"I sometimes feel as though it were," he answered. "I was out here this
morning, when the wind was at play," and he pointed with his whip at a
fantastic snowdrift, before I saw you."

"You looked as though you had come from it," she answered. You seemed
--I suppose you will think me silly--but you seemed to bring something of
this with you into that hail. I always think of you as out on the hills
and mountains."

"And you," he said, "belong here, too."

She drew a deep breath.

"I wish I did. But you--you really do belong here. You seem to have
absorbed all the clearness of it, and the strength and vigour. I was
watching you this morning, and you were so utterly out of place in those
surroundings." Victoria paused, her colour deepening.

His blood kept pace with the mare's footsteps, but he did not reply.

"What did you think of Humphrey's speech?" she asked, abruptly changing
the subject.

"I thought it a surprisingly good one,--what I heard of it," he answered.
"That wasn't much. I didn't think he'd do as well."

"Humphrey's clever in a great many ways," Victoria agreed. "If he didn't
have such an impenetrable conceit, he might go far, because he learns
quickly, and has an industry that is simply appalling. But he hasn't
quite the manner for politics, has he?"

"I think I should call his manner a drawback," said Austen, "though not
by any means an insurmountable one."

Victoria laughed.

"The other qualities all need to be very great," she said. "He was
furious at me for coming out this afternoon. He had it all arranged to
drive over to the Forge, and had an early lunch."

"And I," said Austen, "have all the more reason to be grateful to you."

"Oh, if you knew the favour you were doing me," she cried, "bringing me
out here where I can breathe. I hope you don't think I dislike Humphrey,"
she went on. "Of course, if I did, I shouldn't visit him. You see, I have
known him for so long."

"I hadn't a notion that you disliked him," said Austen. "I am curious
about his career; that's one reason I came down. He somehow inspires
curiosity."