od erect as though impelled by an agreeable thought.

"We don't meet very often, Miss Garrison, and this is hardly the place
for long conversations; you're busy, too; but I'd like to ask you
something."

"Certainly, Mr. Bassett!"

The newest two-step struck up and she swung her head for a moment in
time to it and looked out upon the swaying forms of the dancers.

"That's Marian's favorite," she said.

"That afternoon, after the convention, you remember--"

"Of course, Mr. Bassett; I remember perfectly."

"You laughed!"

They both smiled; and it seemed to him that now, as then, it was a smile
of understanding, a curious reciprocal exchange that sufficed without
elucidation in words.

"Well!" said Sylvia.

"Would you mind telling me just why you laughed?"

"Oh! That would be telling a lot of things."

Any one seeing them might have thought that this middle-aged gentleman
was taking advantage of an opportunity to bask in the smile of a pretty
girl for the sheer pleasure of her company. He was purposely detaining
her, but whether from a wish to amuse himself or to mark his
indifference to what went on around him she did not fathom. The fact was
that Sylvia had wondered herself a good deal about that interview in
Mrs. Owen's house, and she was not quite sure why she had laughed.

"I'd really like to know, Miss Garrison. If I knew why you laughed at
me--"

"Oh, I didn't laugh at you! At least--it wasn't just you alone I was
laughing at!"

"Not at me?"

His look of indifference vanished wholly; he seemed sincerely interested
as he waited for her reply, delayed a moment by the passing of a group
of youngsters from the ballroom to the fresher air of the hall.

"I know perfectly well this isn't a good place to be serious in; but I
laughed--Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, please. Don't try to spare my feelings; they're pretty badly shot
up anyhow."

"It must have been because it struck me as funny that a man like
you--with all your influence and power--your capacity for doing big
things--should go to so much trouble merely to show another man your
contempt for him. Just a moment"--she deliberated an instant, lifting
her head a trifle,--"it was funny, just as it would be funny if the
United States went to war to crush a petty, ignorant pauper power; or it
would be like using the biggest pile driver to smash a mosquito. It was
ridiculous just because it seemed so unnecessarily elaborate--such a
waste of