potential power to
hurt his father, to bow that gray head in grief and shame and
humiliation, he was vouchsafed a clearer, all-comprehending vision of
that father's love, of his goodness, his manliness, his honor, his
gentleness, and his fierce, high pride; to Donald simultaneously came
the knowledge of his own exalted love for the old man. He knew him as
no other human being knew him or ever would know him; whence he knew
old Hector's code--that a clean man may not mate with an unclean woman
without losing caste.

He and Nan had discussed the situation but briefly; for they were
young, and the glory of that first perfect hour could not be marred by
a minute consideration of, misery in prospect. To-night, they had been
content to forget the world and be happy with each other, apparently
with the mutual understanding that they occupied an untenable
position, one that soon must be evacuated.

Yes; he was the young laird of Tyee, the heir to a principality, and
it would be too great a strain on mere human beings to expect his
little world to approve of its highest mating with its lowest. Prate
as we may of democracy, we must admit, if we are to be honest with
ourselves, that this sad old world is a snobocracy. The very fact that
man is prone to regard himself as superior to his brother is the
leaven in the load of civilization; without that quality, whether we
elect to classify it as self-conceit or self-esteem, man would be
without ambition and our civilization barren of achievement. The
instinct for the upward climb--the desire to reach the heights--is too
insistent to be disregarded. If all men are born equal, as the framers
of our Constitution so solemnly declared, that is because the brains
of all infants, of whatsoever degree, are at birth incapable of
thought. The democracy of any people, therefore, must be predicated
upon their kindness and charity--human characteristics which blossom
or wither according to the intensity of the battle for existence. In
our day and generation, therefore, democracy is too high-priced for
promiscuous dissemination; wherefore, as in an elder day, we turn from
the teaching of the Man of Galilee and cling to tradition.

Tradition was the stone in the road to Donald McKaye's happiness, and
his strength was not equal to the task of rolling it away.

Despair enveloped him. Every fiber of his being, every tender, gallant
instinct drew him toward this wonder-girl that the world had thrust