her hands tightened about his and she
pressed them to her face. "For my sake--never! never!"

"And do you think that I----" He gathered her into his strong arms.
"Let them talk!" he breathed passionately against her cheek. "We'll
win the town in spite of it!"

CHAPTER XVIII

THE CANDIDATE AND THE TIGER

The town's talk continued, as Katherine knew it would. But though she
resented it in Bruce's behalf, it was of small importance in her
relationship with him compared with the difference in their opinions.
She was in constant fear, every time he called, lest that difference
should come up. But it did not on the next day, nor on the next. He
was too full of love on the one hand, too full of his political fight
on the other. The more she saw of him the more she loved him, so
thoroughly fine, so deeply tender, was he--and the more did she dread
that avoidless day when their ideas must come into collision, so
masterful was he, so certain that he was right.

On the fourth evening after their stormy ride she thought the
collision was at hand.

"There is something serious I want to speak to you about," he began,
as they sat in the old-fashioned parlour. "You know what the storm has
done to the city water. It has washed all the summer's accumulation of
filth down into the streams that feed the reservoir, and since the
filtering plant is out of commission the water has been simply
abominable. The people are complaining louder than ever. Blake and the
rest of his crew are telling the public that this water is a sample of
what everything will be like if I'm elected. It's hurting me, and
hurting me a lot. I don't blame the people so much for being
influenced by what Blake says, for, of course, they don't know what's
going on beneath the surface. But I've got to make some kind of a
reply, and a mighty strong one, too. Now here's where I want you to
help me."

"What can I do?" she asked.

"If I could only tell the truth--what a regular knock-out of a reply
that would be!" he exclaimed. "Some time ago you told me to wait--you
expected to have the proof a little later. Do you have any idea how
soon you will have your evidence?"

Again she felt the impulse to tell him all she knew and all her plans.
But a medley of motives worked together to restrain her. There was the
momentum of her old decision to keep silent. There was the knowledge
that, though he loved her as a woman, he still held her in low esteem
as a lawyer.