s lips tightly. "No, nothing more than usual."

Corinna gazed up at the blue sky and the sunlight. Why wouldn't people
be happy? Why were they obliged to cause so much unnecessary discomfort?
Why did they persist in creating confusion?

"Well, I hope you are coming to the dance to-morrow night," she said
cheerfully.

"Yes. Mother has asked me to take Margaret Blair."

"I am glad. Margaret is a nice girl. I am going to take Patty Vetch."

He started, and though she was not looking at him, she knew that his
face grew pale. "Don't you think she will look lovely, just like a
mermaid, in green and silver?" she asked lightly.

"I don't know," he answered stiffly. "I am trying not to think about
her."

Corinna laughed. "Oh, my dear, just wait until you see her in that
sea-green gown!"

That he was caught fast in the web of the tribal instinct, Corinna
realized as perfectly as if she had seen the net closing visibly round
him. Though she was unaware of the blow Patty had dealt him, she felt
his inner struggle through that magical sixth sense which is the gift
of the understanding heart, of the heart that has outgrown the shell of
the personal point of view. If he would only for once break free from
artificial restraints! If he would only let himself be swept into
something that was larger than his own limitations!

"I am very fond of Patty," she said. "The more I see of her, the finer I
think she is."

His lips did not relax. "There is a great deal of talk at the club about
the Governor."

"Oh, this strike of course! What do they say?"

"A dozen different things. Nobody knows exactly how to take him."

"I wonder if we have ever understood him," said Corinna, a little sadly.
"I sometimes think--" Then she broke off hurriedly. "No, don't get out,
I'll take you down to your office. I sometimes think," she resumed,
"that none of us see him as he really is because we see him through a
veil of prejudice, or if you like it better, of sentiment--"

Stephen laughed without mirth. "I don't like it better. I'd like to get
into a world--or at least I feel this morning that I'd like to get into
a world where one was obliged to face nothing softer than a fact--"

Corinna looked at him tenderly. She had a sincere, though not a very
deep affection, for Stephen, and she felt that she should like to help
him, as long as helping him did not necessitate any emotional effort.
"Has it ever occurred to you," she asked gently, "that