n his
shoulders instead. Now that she had time to gather up the threads of the
situation, the irresistibly comic aspect of it grew upon her, and little
creases came into the corners of her eyes--which Mr. Crewe admired. She
recalled--with indignation, to be sure--the conversation she had
overheard in the dining room of the Duncan house, but her indignation was
particularly directed, on that occasion, towards Mr. Tooting. Here was
Humphrey Crewe, sitting talking to her in the road--Humphrey Crewe, whose
candidacy for the governorship impugned her father's management of the
Northeastern Railroads--and she was unable to take the matter seriously!
There must be something wrong with her, she thought.

"So you're home again," Mr. Crewe observed, his eyes still bearing
witness to the indubitable fact. "I shouldn't have known it--I've been so
busy."

"Is the Legislature still in session?" Victoria soberly inquired.

"You are a little behind the times--ain't you?" said Mr. Crewe, in
surprise. "How long have you been home? Hasn't anybody told you what's
going on?"

"I only came up ten days ago," she answered, "and I'm afraid I've been
something of a recluse. What is going on?"

"Well," he declared, "I should have thought you'd heard it, anyway. I'll
send you up a few newspapers when I get back. I'm a candidate for the
governorship."

Victoria bit her lip, and leaned over to brush a fly from the neck of her
horse.

"You are getting on rapidly, Humphrey," she said. "Do you think you've
got--any chance?"

"Any chance!" he repeated, with some pardonable force. "I'm sure to be
nominated. There's an overwhelming sentiment among the voters of this
State for decent politics. It didn't take me long to find that out. The
only wonder is that somebody hasn't seen it before."

"Perhaps," she answered, giving him a steady look, "perhaps somebody
has."

One of Mr. Crewe's greatest elements of strength was his imperviousness
to this kind of a remark.

"If anybody's seen it," he replied, "they haven't the courage of their
convictions." Such were the workings of Mr. Crewe's mind that he had
already forgotten that first talk with Mr. Hamilton Tooting. "Not that I
want to take too much credit on myself," he added, with becoming modesty,
"I have had some experience in the world, and it was natural that I
should get a fresh view. Are you coming down to Leith in a few days?"

"I may," said Victoria.

"Telephone me," said Mr. Crewe, "a