es in an instant. For her enemies she had no use or
tolerance. She let them know her wrath.

The car stopped. The driver got down and went forward to a narrow lane
opening from the narrow road. There was a sign-board there. He read it
by the light of the moon and a few matches. He came back and said:

"Here she is. Grinden Hall is what she says on that theah sign-bode."

Marie Louise was in a flutter. "What time is it?" she asked.

Davidge held his watch up and lighted a match.

"A little after one."

"It's awfully late," she said.

The car was turning at right angles now, and following a narrow track
curling through a lawn studded with shrubbery. There was a moment's
view of all Washington beyond the valley of the moon-illumined river.
Its lights gleamed in a patient vigilance. It had the look of the holy
city that it is. The Capitol was like a mosque in Mecca, the Mecca of
the faithful who believe in freedom and equality. The Washington
Monument, picked out from the dark by a search-light, was a lofty
steeple in a dream-world.

Davidge caught a quick breath of piety and reverence. Marie Louise was
too frightened by her own destiny to think of the world's anxieties.

The car raced round the circular road. Her eyes were snatched from the
drowsy town, small with distance, to the imminent majesty of a great
Colonial portico with columns tall and stately and white, a temple of
Parthenonian dignity in the radiance of the priestly moon. There was
not a light in any window, no sign of life.

The car stopped. But-- Marie Louise simply dared not face Polly and
risk a scene in the presence of Davidge. She tapped on the glass and
motioned the driver to go on. He could not believe her gestures. She
leaned out and whispered:

"Go on--go on! I'll not stop!"

Davidge was puzzled, but he said nothing; and Marie Louise made no
explanation till they were outside again, and then she said:

"Do you think I'm insane?"

"This is not my party," he said.

She tried to explain: "There wasn't a light to be seen. They couldn't
have got my telegram. They weren't expecting me. They may not have
been at home. I hadn't the courage to stop and wake the house."

That was not her real reason, but Davidge asked for no other. If he
noted that she was strangely excited over a trifle like getting a few
servants and a hostess out of bed, he made no comment.

When she pleaded, "Do you mind if I go back to Washington with you?"
he chuckle