ssessing face, and forget what you first
thought of it. In much the same way, I suppose, a man could become
hypnotised and drugged by the atmosphere of Warwick. All this is in
the nature of an explanation of what I meant this afternoon by my
denunciation of the place."

She stood silently looking down into the pool from which arose the
sound that had brought them to this point. It was evident that she
felt no temptation now to indulge in one of those retorts that came so
easily to her tongue. Leigh had appealed to her imagination, a thing
which the modern man more rarely succeeds in doing with a woman than
his predecessor who wore gay garments and rode a caparisoned steed in
the lists. Besides, his earnestness had given his thought, though it
was by no means a new one, his own personal stamp, and won its
acceptance. Deeper than these causes, he had expressed her own
convictions.

"A denunciation," he continued shrewdly, "with which you sympathised."

"One must do something," she said, with a little gesture of despair,
"or die of suffocation."

"Exactly," he agreed, "even if it be only to take the side of the under
dog in a municipal election. Can you wonder that your sympathy with
Emmet, your evident revolt against the point of view of your own class,
set me to speculating upon the reason? Have I worked out the problem
to its demonstration?"

Her silence seemed to give assent to his question, though she was
apparently so deeply plunged in thought that she forgot to reply in
words; and the appearance of the headlight of the trolley-car down the
track brought their conversation to a close. Miss Wycliffe herself
suggested that they take the front seat beside the motorman, explaining
that she always enjoyed the unobstructed view ahead. He handed her up,
pleased to think that they were still to be for some time practically
alone. At their backs a glass partition shut off the rest of the car;
the motorman himself seemed a mere automaton, with ears for nothing but
the bell, and eyes for nothing but the gleaming track ahead. Leigh
suspected that a wish to avoid a possible recognition from some
passenger had influenced her in taking this seat, and he dared to hope
also that she shared his appreciation of the further opportunity to be
alone together. Their conversation, however, was fragmentary, as if
each were deep in incommunicable thoughts. From time to time, as the
car swung swiftly around a curve, she swa