he could not believe he had dared bear off this "delicate, refined
creature," this woman whom "any one can see at a glance is a
patrician of patricians." That kind of nervousness as quickly
spreads through every part, moral, mental and physical, of a man
not sure of himself as a fire through a haystack. He could not
conceal his awe of her. She saw that something was wrong with him;
being herself in no "patrician" mood, but, on the contrary, in a
mood that was most humanly plebeian, she quite missed the cause of
his clumsy embarrassment and constraint; she suspected a sudden
physical ailment. "It'll be some time, I expect," said she. "Don't
bother to hang around. I'll send a note to the desk, and you can
inquire--say, in half an hour or so."

"Half an hour!" he cried in dismay. Whatever should he do with
himself, alone with these returned terrors, and with no Margaret
there to make him ashamed not to give braver battle to them.

"An hour, then."

She nodded, shook hands with a blush and a smile, not without its
gleam of appreciation of the queerness of the situation. He lifted
his hat, made a nervous, formal bow and turned away, though no car
was there. As the elevator was starting up with her he came
hurrying back.

"One moment," he said. "I quite forgot."

She joined him and they stood aside, in the shelter of a great
wrap-rack. "You can tell your grandmother--it may help to smooth
things over--that my appointment as Attorney-General will be