lmer than when she left us but
still very determined.

"Take this," she said. "Take all there is in it. I give it gladly--to
Ireland."

Gorman looked at the jewel case and then pulled himself together with an
effort.

"Mrs. Ascher," he said, "your gift is princely, but----"

"I give it freely," said Mrs. Ascher.

"And I shall receive it," said Gorman, "receive it as the gift of a
queen, given with queenly generosity. I shall receive it when the hour
comes, but the time is not yet."

Gorman rising to an occasion is a sight which fills me with admiration.
That promise of a time to come was masterly. I should never have thought
of it; but of course it came more easily to Gorman than it would to
me. He is a politician and accustomed to draw cheques on rather distant
futures.

"Our people," said Gorman, "are as yet unprepared, not ready to face the
crisis of their destiny. Keep these." Gorman laid his hand on the jewel
box as if giving it a sort of benediction, consecrating its contents to
the service of Ireland. "Keep these as a sacred trust until the hour is
upon us."

I very nearly applauded. Mrs. Ascher seemed a little disappointed.

"Why not now?" she said. "Why should we delay any longer?"

"We must trust our leaders," said Gorman. "They will tell us when the
time for action comes."

That would have been good enough for any ordinary constituency. It
did not satisfy Mrs. Ascher. I saw her looking a little doubtfully
at Gorman. She is a curious woman. She uses the very finest kind of
language herself; but she always gets suspicious when any one else talks
about sacred trusts and things of that kind. The fact is, I suppose,
that she means what she says, lives, as well as talks, finely. Gorman
and I do not--quite.

I felt that Gorman needed and deserved a little help. He had done well
enough so far, but he scarcely understood how near to the edge of Mrs.
Ascher's credulity he had gone.

"What Mr. Gorman means," I said, "is that you must have men, organised,
you know, and drilled, before you can give them guns. Just at present
there are very few volunteers in Mr. Gorman's part of Ireland. He's
going to enroll a lot more. When he has them he'll ask you for a
subscription for the gun fund."

I did not think that Mrs. Ascher was really satisfied. In the light of
subsequent events I found out that she certainly was not. But she said
no more at the moment and made no further effort to press her jewel case
on