Page:The council of seven.djvu/31

 with it, he began mentally to recite his secret formula. The gods approve the depth, and not the tumult of the soul. Never had this incantation been known to fail. More than once, even as a boy, it had enabled him to hitch his poor, at times half crazy, wagon to a star.

It did so now. When Helen returned to the room which the other diners had already forsaken, she found him calm. Her ten minutes' absence had wrought in him a palpable change for the better.

"Some pow-wow with the U. P." Her laugh was light, but it could not quite conceal a powerful under-*current of annoyance. "Mr. Fuller himself! Up till now, one has always had a high respect for his intelligence, but really he can be crass!"

"To order—no doubt."

"No," she said quickly, "believe me, there is not the slightest reason to think that." He was forced to admire a loyalty that would admit no breath of innuendo. "I am convinced it is no more than the red tape of the high official. The truth is, of course, they are all terribly afraid of the Chief."

"That's easily understandable."

"Most unluckily in this case, they simply decline to act without his explicit orders."

"What! They take it upon themselves to publish a speech that has never been made. And they know, of course, that I have to speak to-morrow at Hellington."

"Yes, I told them all that. But the rule of the