unconquerable belief in life?

"I stopped to ask Patty about a dance," she explained. "I must go on
immediately."

He glanced at the girl a little anxiously. "Is she going to a party with
you? I am glad."

In spite of his buoyant manner, there was an abstracted look in his
eyes, as if his mind were working at a distance while he talked. After
the first minute or two Patty observed this and it helped her to make
her decision. "Are you busy, Father?" she asked. "I promised Mr. Gershom
that I would give you a message--such a silly message it is too."

"Gershom?" He repeated, and his face darkened. "What did he say to you?
No, don't go, Mrs. Page. Come into the library, and let us have the
message."

Corinna glanced uncertainly over her shoulder. "I really must be going,"
she murmured, and then yielding suddenly either to inclination or to the
pressure of Patty's hand, she crossed the threshold of the library and
walked over to the front window. Outside, beyond the yard and the
grotesque fountain, she saw the splendid outline of Washington, and
beyond this the faint afternoon haze above the spires and chimneys of
the city. "The sun will go down soon. I must hurry," she thought; yet
she stood there, without moving, looking out on the monument and the
sky. For a moment she gazed in silence; then turning quickly, she
glanced with smiling eyes about the small, stiffly furnished room, with
the leather chairs and couch and the business looking writing-table in
the centre of the floor.

"How comfortable you look here," she observed lightly, "and how
business-like."

"Yes, I work here a good deal in the evenings." He turned a chair toward
the window, and when she sat down, he remained for a minute still
standing, with his hand on the back of the chair, smiling thoughtfully
not at her, but at the disarray on his desk. The glow of pleasure which
the sight of her had brought was still in his face; and she thought that
she had never seen him so nearly good-looking. It occurred to her now,
as it had done so often before, that in the hour of trouble he would be
like a rock to lean on. However else he might fail, she surmised that in
human relations he would be for ever dependable. And what was life,
after all, except a complex and intricate blend of human relations? She
decided suddenly and positively that she had always liked Gideon Vetch.
She liked the way his broad bulging forehead swept back into his sandy
hair, which was q