Page:Margaret Sherwood--A Puritan in Bohemia.djvu/170

162 "What will become of your night school when you go away, and of your lecture course?"

"I don't know," said the young man with a sigh.

"You reformers are all singularly irresponsible," said Anne severely, "in regard to the new aspirations that you rouse. You create a demand for yourselves, and then you disappear. It's very bad political economy."

Looking down he thought he saw a slight quiver in her lip, and he exulted.

"Aren't you going to invite me up to see what you've done to the picture?" he asked, with Machiavelian intent.

"Certainly."

He held the great door open, then they climbed the stairs together. Howard's step was not yet firm.

He eyed the sailor's picture critically.

"That's better," he said. "You've got some of the man's real stupidity into it. Before, he realized too keenly his own pathos. But see! The background is