y personality, the homely
soul and body bending to one root-idea, losing themselves in a wave
of duty. Again he was to her, once more, the dreamer, the worker, the
conqueror--the conqueror of her own imagination. She had in herself the
soul of altruism, the heart of the crusader. Touched by the fire of
a great idea, she was of those who could have gone out into the world
without wallet or scrip, to work passionately for some great end.

And she had married the Earl of Eglington!

She leaned towards David, and said eagerly: "But you are satisfied--you
are satisfied with your work for poor Egypt?"

"Thee says 'poor Egypt,'" he answered, "and thee says well. Even now she
is not far from the day of Rameses and Joseph. Thee thinks perhaps thee
knows Egypt--none knows her."

"You know her--now?"

He shook his head slowly. "It is like putting one's ear to the mouth of
the Sphinx. Yet sometimes, almost in despair, when I have lain down in
the desert beside my camel, set about with enemies, I have got a message
from the barren desert, the wide silence, and the stars." He paused.

"What is the message that comes?" she asked softly. "It is always the
same: Work on! Seek not to know too much, nor think that what you do is
of vast value. Work, because it is yours to be adjusting the machinery
in your own little workshop of life to the wide mechanism of the
universe and time. One wheel set right, one flying belt adjusted, and
there is a step forward to the final harmony--ah, but how I preach!" he
added hastily.

His eyes were fixed on hers with a great sincerity, and they were
clear and shining, yet his lips were smiling--what a trick they had of
smiling! He looked as though he should apologise for such words in such
a place.

She rose to her feet with a great suspiration, with a light in her eyes
and a trembling smile.

"But no, no, no, you inspire one. Thee inspires me," she said, with a
little laugh, in which there was a note of sadness. "I may use 'thee,'
may I not, when I will? I am a little a Quaker also, am I not? My people
came from Derbyshire, my American people, that is--and only forty years
ago. Almost thee persuades me to be a Quaker now," she added. "And
perhaps I shall be, too," she went on, her eyes fixed on the crowd
passing by, Eglington among them.

David saw Eglington also, and moved forward with her.

"We shall meet in Hamley," she said composedly, as she saw her husband
leave the crush and come towa