But this was more than disagreement, it was more than conviction. It was like conflicting trade-winds of thought. Norah and Henry were passing through stupendous hours of the world's history, and they could not pass together. The intolerable goad of argument, the consciousness of opposing emotions, menaced their happiness; and Norah felt as if it could never again be the radiant, unsuspected thing that had first come to her with Henry.

Events moved now with majestic swiftness. There came the first of February, and Germany's avowed intention of renewing the unrestricted submarine warfare. Norah's thirst for mental sympathy became intolerable.

She avoided those tea-time meetings which were the only chances she had of talking with Mr. Marks. Companionship of ideas with the tutor seemed disloyalty toward Henry; Henry's defenselessness against the tutor's wit gave her a mixture of emotions.

But one day weather of especial bitterness forced her to shorten the usual walk, and both she and Henry were glad of Aunt Frances's library. Here they found Stephen, slightly malicious as usual, and Mr. Marks drinking his tea in an unobtrusive chair, but ready, Norah felt sure, for the hostile spring in a direction which she so often and inappropriately approved of.

It had been a light-hearted time for herself and Henry as they came down the Esplanade. They had forgotten the war for a while and laughed breathlessly as they gulped the north wind.

But in the library he relapsed into gloom and a certain glaring which contemplation of the tutor and the Government's policy had power to evoke.

"We have got to break with Germany or eat our words," he said, "and then where shall we be? We should n't have spoken the words."

Aunt Frances laughed comfortably as she dropped a slice of lemon into Henry's teacup.

"My dear," she said, "you forget that we have a leader who is too proud to fight."

It was Norah who struck. The monotonous injustice of this so often intoned phrase broke down her barriers of shyness and caution.

"He did n't say that!" she cried. "He said that there was such a thing as being too proud to fight. And that is true, because there never was a knight in the days of chivalry who was not too proud to fight some base or foolish. person.

A dreadful silence followed, broken by Stephen, who began to bounce up and down on his chair.

"Old Marks thinks the President will fight the Germans," he said.

There had been rumors that Mr. Marks favored the Central Powers. This had resulted from his statement that the Allies also had resorted to brutal methods of warfare.

"So you may have to think that the

President can do wrong after all," said Henry. "Aren't you pro-German?"

The tutor stirred his tea and looked into it as though considering the question.

"No," he said at last; "I do not care for the Germans. They have silly ideas about God and government and women and the rest of the world. Then there are the famous atrocities." The tutor paused, and Norah thought his face looked paler than usual in the north light. "The Allies are pretty bad in this respect, and we had our 'water-cure' in the Philippines, but we have evidence which is difficult to ignore that in respect to ferocity the Germans have forced us to believe the unbelievable of them. No, we cannot very well tolerate the Germans until they learn to respect humanity and the rest of the world, but we may regret that the only way of teaching this respect appears to be with high explosives."

"So you are a pacifist." This was in

tended for a high explosive by Henry. He launched it with a laugh of triumph, and Mr. Marks let it pass.

"Tell 'em whether you are a pacifist or not, and tell 'em why," urged Stephen with some excitement. But Mr. Marks was looking out of the window as though thinking of something else.

Henry rose, and Norah left the room with him. They said good-bye as affectionately as usual, for the young man was in such good humor after having vanquished Mr. Marks that he forgot his annoyance with Norah's defense of the President's phrase.

"Silly, stuffy fellow-that Marks," he said comfortably. "I knew there was something wrong about him, and now I have nailed it."

Henry bent his head to kiss Norah's hair. While he had spoken Norah stood buttoning his overcoat. Her hand paused as though caressingly upon each large button, but the action was automatic. Her mind was busy and restless.