Hamilton!' There was a positive note of tenderness in
his voice as he spoke these words; and yet there was a kind of forlorn
feeling in his heart, as if the friend of his heart was leaving him. He
felt a little as the brother Vult in Richter's exquisite and forgotten
novel might have felt when he was sounding on his flute that final
morning, and going out on his cold way never to see his brother again.
The brother Walt heard the soft, sweet notes, and smiled tranquilly,
believing that his brother was merely going on a kindly errand to help
him, Walt, to happiness. But the flute-player felt that, come what
might, they were, in fact, to be parted for ever.

CHAPTER VIII

'I WONDER WHY?'

The Dictator had had a good deal to do with marrying and giving in
marriage in the Republic of Gloria. One of the social and moral reforms
he had endeavoured to bring about was that which should secure to young
people the right of being consulted as to their own inclinations before
they were formally and finally consigned to wedlock. The ordinary
practice in Gloria was very much like that which prevails in certain
Indian tribes--the family on either side arranged for the young man and
the maiden, made it a matter of market bargain, settled it by compromise
of price or otherwise, and then brought the pair together and married
them. Ericson set his face against such a system, and tried to get a
chance for the young people. He carried his influence so far that the
parents on both sides among the official classes in the capital
consulted him generally before taking any step, and then he frankly
undertook the mediator's part, and found out whether the young woman
liked the young man or not--whether she liked someone better or not. He
had a sweet and kindly way with him which usually made both the youths
and the maidens confidential--and he learned many a quiet heart-secret;
and where he found that a suggested marriage would really not do, he
told the parents as much, and they generally yielded to his influence
and his authority. He had made happy many a pair of young lovers who,
without his beneficent intervention, would have been doomed to 'spoil
two houses,' as the old saying puts it.

Therefore, he did not feel much put out at the mere idea of intervening
in another man's love affairs, or even the idea of carrying a proposal
of marriage from another man.

Yet the Dictator was in somewhat thoughtful mood as he drove to Sir
Rupe