n?" he demanded passionately. "He is the youngest member of
the Council. He knows nothing of our negotiations with Freistner. Surely
I am the person with whom you should communicate?"

"It will be very late to-night," she reminded him, "and Mr. Orden is my
personal friend--outside the Council."

"And am I not?" he asked fiercely. "I want to be. I have tried to be."

She appeared to find his agitation disconcerting, and she withdrew a
little from the yellow-stained fingers which had crept out towards hers.

"We are all friends," she said evasively. "Perhaps--if there is anything
important, then--I will come, or send for you."

He rose to his feet, less, it seemed, as an act of courtesy in view
of her departure, than with the intention of some further movement. He
suddenly reseated himself, however, his fingers grasped at the air, he
became ghastly pale.

"Are you ill, Mr. Fenn?" she exclaimed.

He poured himself out a glass of water with trembling fingers and drank
it unsteadily.

"Nerves, I suppose," he said. "I've had to carry the whole burden of
these negotiations upon my shoulders, with very little help from any
one, with none of the sympathy that counts."

A momentary impulse of kindness did battle with her invincible dislike
of the man.

"You must remember," she urged, "that yours is a glorious work; that our
thoughts and gratitude are with you."

"But are they?" he demanded, with another little burst of passion.
"Gratitude, indeed! If the Council feel that, why was I not selected to
approach the Prime Minister instead of Julian Orden? Sympathy! If you,
the one person from whom I desire it, have any to offer, why can you not
be kinder? Why can you not respond, ever so little, to what I feel for
you?"

She hesitated for a moment, seeking for the words which would hurt him
least. Tactless as ever, he misunderstood her.

"I may have had one small check in my career," he continued eagerly,
"but the game is not finished. Believe me, I have still great cards up
my sleeve. I know that you have been used to wealth and luxury. Miss
Abbeway," he went on, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper, "I was
not boasting the other night. I have saved money, I have speculated
fortunately--I--"

The look in her eyes stifled his eloquence. He broke off in his
speech--became dumb and voiceless.

"Mr. Fenn," she said, "once and for all this sort of conversation is
distasteful to me. A great deal of what you say I do no