f mercilessly; to the left, rolling mists were
parting and revealing pleasant meadows and clustering hamlets. And
with this recollection, Northrup closed his eyes and, from his silent
watch tower, saw, as no earthly thing could make him see, the hideous
tragedy across the seas.

Since his return his old unrest claimed him. It was blotting out all
that he had believed was his--ideals; the meaning of life; love; duty;
even his city--_his_--was threatened. Nothing any longer seemed safe
unless it were battled for. There was something he owed--what was it?

Try as he valiantly did, Northrup could put little thought in his
work--it eluded him. He began, at first unconsciously, to plan for
going away, while, consciously, he deceived himself by thinking that
he was readjusting himself to his own widened niche in the wall!

When Northrup descended from his tower, he became as other men and the
grim lines of lips and jaws relaxed. He was with them who first caught
the wider vision of brotherhood.

At once, upon his return, he had taken Manly into his confidence about
his mother, and that simple soul brushed aside the sentimental rubbish
with which Kathryn had cluttered the situation.

"It's all damned rot, Brace," he snapped. "You had a grandmother who
did work that was never meant for women to do--laid a carpet or tore
one up, I forget which, I heard the story from my father--and she
developed cancer--more likely it wasn't cancer--I don't think my
father was ever sure. But, good Lord! why should her descendants
inherit an accident? I thought I'd talked your mother out of that
nonsense."

Thus reassured, Northrup told Kathryn that all the secret diplomacy
was to be abandoned and that his mother must work with them.

"But, Brace dear, you don't blame me for my fright? I was so
worried!"

"No, little girl, you were a trump. I'll never forget how you stood
by!"

So Helen Northrup put herself in Manly's hands--those strong, faithful
hands. She went to a hospital for various tests. She was calm but
often afraid. She sometimes looked at the pleasant, thronged streets
and felt a loneliness, as if she missed herself from among her kind.
Manly pooh-poohed and shrugged his broad shoulders.

"Women! women!" he ejaculated, but there were hours when he, too, had
his fears.

But in the end, black doubt was driven away.

"Of course, my dear lady," Manly said relievedly, patting her hand,
"we cannot sprint at fifty-odd as we did