but at the same time imperious gesture. She left them without a
backward look. Mr. Foley turned quickly towards his companion and was
relieved at the expression which he found in his face.

"My niece is a little earnest in her views," he remarked, "too much so,
I am afraid, for a practical politician. She is quite well-informed and
a great help to me at times."

"I found her altogether charming," Maraton said quietly. "She has, too,
the unusual gift of honesty."

Mr. Foley was once more a little uneasy. It was impossible for him to
forget Elisabeth's outspoken verdict upon this man and all his works.

"The young are never tolerant," he murmured.

"And quite rightly," Maraton observed. "There is nothing more to be
envied in youth than its magnificent certainty. It knows! . . . I
am flattered, Mr. Foley, that you should have received me in your house
to-night. Your niece's attitude towards me, even if a trifle crude, is,
I am afraid, the general one amongst your class in this country."

"To be frank with you, I agree," Mr. Foley assented. "I, personally,
Mr. Maraton, am trying to be a dissenter. It is for that reason that I
begged you to come here to-night and discuss the matter with me before
you committed yourself to any definite plan of action in this country."

"Your message was a surprise to me," Maraton admitted calmly. "At the
same time, it was a summons which I could not disregard. As you see, I
am here."