engaged were killed, including poor young Elwes (Norfolk)

Again a silence, save for the high hum let in through the open doorway. The members of the conference stared at the Honourable Hilary, who seemed to have forgotten their presence; for he had moved his chair to the window, and was gazing out over the roofs at the fast-fading red in the western sky.

An hour later, when the room was in darkness save for the bar of light that streamed in from the platform chandelier, Senator Whitredge entered.

There was no answer. Mr. Whitredge felt in his pocket for a match, struck it, and lighted the single jet over the basswood table. Mr. Vane still sat by the window. The senator turned and closed the door, and read from a paper in his hand; so used was he to formality that he read it formally, yet with a feeling of intense relief, of deference, of apology.

The Honourable Giles Henderson of Kingston has . . 587 The Honourable Adam B. Hunt of Edmundton has. . . 230 The Honourable Humphrey Crewe of Leith has . . . 154

And Giles Henderson is nominated--Hilary?"

"I don't think any of us were--quite ourselves to-day. It wasn't that we didn't believe in you--but we didn't have all the threads in our hands, and--for reasons which I think I can understand--you didn't take us into your confidence. I want to--"

The words died on the senator's lips. So absorbed had he been in his momentous news, and solicitous over the result of his explanation, that his eye looked outward for the first time, and even then accidentally.

"Hilary!" he cried; "for God's sake, what's the matter? Are you sick?"