ies have to be observed, I suppose," he said. "Let's
go around there. It is a good view."

"Don't you think this is a little--marked?" asked Victoria, surveying him
with her hands behind her back.

"I can't help it if it is," said Mr. Crewe. "Every hour is valuable to
me, and I've got to take my chances when I get 'em. For some reason, you
haven't been down at Leith much this summer. Why didn't you telephone me,
as I asked you."

"Because I've suddenly grown dignified, I suppose," she said. "And then,
of course, I hesitated to intrude upon such a person of importance as you
have become, Humphrey."

"I've always got time to see you," he replied. "I always shall have. But
I appreciate your delicacy. That sort of thing counts with a man more
than most women know."

"Then I am repaid," said Victoria, "for exercising self-control."

"I find it always pays," declared Mr. Crewe, and he glanced at her with
distinct approval. They were skirting the house, and presently came out
upon a tiny terrace where young Ridley had made a miniature Italian
garden when the Electric dividends had increased, and from which there
was a vista of the shallows of the Blue. Here was a stone garden-seat
which Mrs. Pomfret had brought from Italy, and over which she had
quarrelled with the customs authorities. Mr. Crewe, with a wave of his
hand, signified his pleasure that they should sit, and cleared his
throat.

"It's just as well, perhaps," he began, "that we haven't had the chance
to see each other earlier. When a man starts out upon an undertaking of
the gravest importance, wherein he stakes his reputation, an undertaking
for which he is ridiculed and reviled, he likes to have his judgment
justified. He likes to be vindicated, especially in the eyes of--people
whom he cares about. Personally, I never had any doubt that I should be
the next governor, because I knew in the beginning that I had estimated
public sentiment correctly. The man who succeeds in this world is the man
who has sagacity enough to gauge public sentiment ahead of time, and the
courage to act on his beliefs." Victoria looked at him steadily. He was
very calm, and he had one knee crossed over the other.

"And the sagacity," she added, "to choose his lieutenants in the fight."

"Exactly," said Mr. Crewe. "I have always declared, Victoria, that you
had a natural aptitude for affairs."

"I have heard my father say," she continued, still maintaining her steady
glance, "th