Page:The council of seven.djvu/149

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to work. He had counted on being able, in the last resort, to force the hand of an ambitious and brilliant woman. When squarely put to a choice between a ruined John Endor and a triumphant U. P. with the advantages of the one, and the disabilities of the other in the scale, he felt pretty sure that common sense must gain the day.

That it had not done so was annoying. He had the highest opinion of this young woman. Emphatically she was beginning to count with her own sex. An agile pen, a clear perception, a quick tongue, a fine presence were winning an ever-growing authority on the lecture platform and in the press. Maker and unmaker of reputations, as the Colossus secretly flattered himself that he was, it went to his heart that one to whom he was ready to offer a crown should cross over to the camp of a weak and insignificant enemy—an enemy who, in point of fact, was already broken.

Moreover, she had resigned her position in the Office. That she was still there was because Saul Hartz was entitled to claim due notice of the termination of the contract. But there was no open breach in their relations. Even if his misprison was as grave as John Endor declared it to be, and now that Helen's eyes were open, all things conspired to make the fact more credible, she could not forget the past, nor could she quite overcome the curious power of the man himself.

Much was about to happen to John and Helen, and to this subtle foe who was bent on the destruction of