d thus got my glimpse of,
the action of the person "sacrificed" mightn't be quite out of
proportion to the resources of that person. It was as if these elements
might really multiply in the transfer made of them; as if the borrower
practically found himself--or herself--in possession of a greater sum
than the known property of the creditor. The surrender, in this way,
added, by pure beauty, to the thing surrendered. We all know the French
adage about that _plus belle fille du monde_ who can give but what she
has; yet if Mrs. Server, for instance, _had_ been the heroine of this
particular connection, the communication of her intelligence to her
friend would quite have falsified it. She would have given much more
than she had.

When Long had finished his demonstration and his charged voice had
dropped, we crossed to claim acquaintance with the work that had
inspired him. The place had not been completely new to Mrs. Server any
more than to myself, and the impression now made on her was but the
intenser vibration of a chord already stirred; nevertheless I was
struck with her saying, as a result of more remembrance than I had
attributed to her "Oh yes,--the man with the mask in his hand!" On our
joining the others I expressed regret at our having turned up too late
for the ideas that, on a theme so promising, they would have been sure
to produce, and Obert, quite agreeing that we had lost a treat, said
frankly, in reference to Long, but addressing himself more especially to
Mrs. Server: "He's perfectly amazing, you know--he's perfectly amazing!"

I observed that as a consequence of this Long looked neither at Mrs.
Server nor at Obert; he looked only at me, and with quite a penetrable
shade of shyness. Then again a strange thing happened, a stranger thing
even than my quick sense, the previous afternoon at the station, that he
was a changed man. It was as if he were still more changed--had altered
as much since the evening before as during the so much longer interval
of which I had originally to take account. He had altered almost like
Grace Brissenden--he looked fairly distinguished. I said to myself that,
without his stature and certain signs in his dress, I should probably
not have placed him. Engrossed an instant with this view and with not
losing touch of the uneasiness that I conceived I had fastened on him, I
became aware only after she had spoken that Mrs. Server had gaily and
gracefully asked of Obert why in the wo