ngland," he said to himself, gloatingly, "to make 'em like
that--simple and--_stunning_."

But on the Common after service, and at luncheon after that, and during
the three or four weeks that ensued, he had much to do in reforming his
opinions. There were several facts about Olivia Guion that disorientated
his points of view and set him looking for new ones. Though he was not
wholly successful in finding them, he managed, nevertheless, to justify
himself for falling in love in violation of his principles. He admitted
that he would have preferred to marry a compatriot of his own, and some
one above the rank of a solicitor's daughter; but, since he had
discovered the loveliest and noblest creature in the world, it was idle
to cavil because one land or one situation in life rather than another
had produced her. As well complain of the rubies and pearls that deck
the English crown because some were found in Tibetan mountains and
others in Indian seas. There are treasures, he argued, so precious as to
transcend all merely national limitations, making them petty and
irrelevant. The one thing to the point was that in Olivia Guion he had
won the human counterpart of himself, who could reflect his qualities
and complete them.

* * * * *

He had been so proud that the blow on receiving Olivia's letter in New
York was a cruel one. Though it told him nothing but that her father had
lost all his money and that the invitations to the wedding had been
withdrawn, this in itself was immeasurably distressing to a man with a
taste for calling public attention to his movements and who liked to see
what concerned him march with a certain pomp. His marriage being an
event worthy to take place in sight of the world, he had not only found
ways of making it a topic of interest before leaving England, but he had
summoned to it such friends of distinction as he possessed on the
American side of the water. Though he had not succeeded in getting the
British Ambassador, Benyon, the military attache at Washington, was to
come with his wife, and Lord Woolwich, who was aide-de-camp at Ottawa,
had promised to act as best man. His humiliation on speculating as to
what they must have said when they received Olivia's card announcing
that the marriage was not to take place on the 28th was such that he
fell to wondering whether it wouldn't have been better to bluff the loss
of money. They might have carried out their plans in