ny more of the fellow. But Octon--impatient, irascible,
contemptuous Octon--seemed quite happy in his company. If he were not
the rose, yet--? No, the proverb really could not be strained to embrace
the moral perfume of Powers.

"Good night, Austin. I'll stop and smoke half a pipe here with Mr.
Powers."

"You do me honor, Mr. Octon. But if you'd step inside--perhaps just a
little drop of Scotch, sir? Don't say no. Drink success to the
Institute! One friendly glass!"

What a picture! Octon drinking success to the Institute with Powers! But
a short time ago I should have deemed it a happily ludicrous inspiration
from Bedlam. To my amazement, though Octon hesitated for a perceptible
space, he did not refuse. He glanced at me, laughed in a rather
shamefaced way, and said, "Well, just a minute, and just one glass to
the Institute--since you are so kind, Mr. Powers." With a nod to me he
turned and followed Powers toward the house.

As I walked home, a picture of the position pieced itself together in my
head. The process was involuntary--even against my will. I tried to
remind myself all the time of Jenny's own warning--how she had accused
me of too often imputing to her long-headed cunning, how her actions
were, far oftener than I imagined, the outcome of the minute, not the
result of calculation or subtle thought. Yet if in this case she had
been subtle and cunning, she might have produced some such combination
as now insisted on taking shape before my brain. For the sake of the
neighborhood, and her position and prestige in its eyes, especially for
the sake of Fillingford, she had abandoned Octon and had banished him.
But she wanted to see him--and to see him without creating remark; in
plain fact, to see him, if not secretly, yet as privately as she could.
Next, she wished to make progress with the Institute, to establish an
office with a clerk, an office where meetings could be held and plans
made, and where she could come and see how matters were getting on--a
clerk on whom she could depend to support her, always to be on her
side--a clerk who, as she had said, could not afford to be against her.
Hence came Ivydene--and Mr. Powers. Was it mere chance that Ivydene was
just opposite Hatcham Ford? Was Mr. Powers's support--that subserviency
on which Jenny had playfully laid stress--desired only against Lady
Sarah and other possibly recalcitrant members of the Committee? If
Powers could not afford to oppose her on the C