rend of the times in public matters. She
apologized, half-humorously. "But as I said to you a while ago, we hear
politics talked much at the State capital."

Following the after-breakfast chat, he walked back to the hotel with his
grandfather.

"By-the-way, I didn't lie to you any about Luke's girl, did I?" remarked
the old man, casually, and as though the matter had occurred to him in
default of better topic. "But she's too advanced in her ideas for a
woman. She'll be suffragette-ing it next."

When Harlan began to defend the right of women to interest themselves in
the larger affairs, only a twinkle in the Duke's eye betrayed his
amusement. If Harlan, in his first quick suspicions, had secretly
accused his grandfather of planning a matrimonial campaign in
conjunction with his political one, he was now ashamed of those
suspicions, for they concerned Madeleine Presson. Having met her, he
realized that if he should dare to connect her in his thoughts with
anything that his grandfather might be scheming he was making of himself
a very presumptuous and silly ass. Now that he had seen her, now when he
was spending days of waiting at the State capital and seeing her
frequently, he found that Madeleine Presson's personality eliminated
possible matchmakers. He felt very humble in her presence--and still
ashamed. He had never taken stock of his own deficiencies very
particularly. His environment had not prompted it. He had been superior
to the men he had ruled. He realized now that the little amenities of
life which make for poise and ease must be lived, not simply learned.
In taking thought lest he err he found himself proceeding awkwardly. His
training in the past had led him to set work and achievement ahead of
all the rest. He understood now that those essentials in a life that is
to yield the most appear better as superstructure. Mere achievement may
attract respect. Erected on culture, it wins still more. Respect feeds
only one appetite of ambition. True ambition is hungry for affection and
friends, placing lovers ahead of sycophants. And the finer qualities,
the softer virtues, attract more surely than mere fame.

These and similar reflections came to young Thornton rather
incoherently. It was not that he desired the affection or the admiration
of Madeleine Presson. But this young woman represented for him a new
phase of the world he was meeting in its broader sense--and he was
ambitious with the zest of youth. Often