on, a single year of office, and the thing would be
done. We who do the mechanical work would see that there was no breaking
away again. But we must have that year, we must have Mannering. That is
why I watch him like a child, and I must say that he has given me a good
deal of anxiety lately."

"In what way?" she asked.

Borrowdean hesitated. He seemed uncertain how to answer.

"If I explain what I mean," he said, "you will understand that I do not
speak to you as a woman and an acquaintance of Mannering's, but simply as
one of ourselves. Mannering's private life is, of course, interesting to
me only as an index to his political destiny, and my acquaintance with it
arises solely from my political interest in him. There are things in
connection with it which I feel that I shall never properly be able to
understand."

She looked at him steadily. Her cheeks were a little whiter, but her tone
was deliberate.

"I do not wish to hear anything about Mr. Mannering's private life," she
said. "You will understand that I am not free or disposed to listen when
I tell you that I am going to marry him."

This was perhaps the worst blow Borrowdean had ever experienced in the
course of his whole life. The possibility of this was a danger which he
had recognized might some time have to be reckoned with, but for the
present he had felt safe enough. He was taken so completely aback that
for a few moments his mind was a blank. He remained silent.

"You do not offer me the conventional wishes," she remarked, presently.

"They go--from me to you--as a matter of course," he answered. "To tell
you the truth, I never thought of Mannering, for many reasons, as a
marrying man."

"You will have to readjust your views of him," she said, quietly, "for
I think that we shall be married very soon."

Borrowdean was a little white, and his teeth had come together. Whatever
happened, he told himself, fiercely, this must never be. He felt his
breast-pocket mechanically. Yes, the letter was there. Dare he risk it?
She was a proud woman, she would be unforgiving if once she believed. But
supposing she found him out? He temporized.

"Thank you for telling me," he said. "Do you mind putting me down here?"

"Why? You seemed in no hurry a few minutes ago."

"The world," he said, "was a different place then."

She looked at him searchingly.

"You had better tell me all about it," she remarked. "You have something
on your mind, something which yo