He rose and moved restlessly about the room. "Upon my word!" he exclaimed; and Isabel, who had not taken her eyes off him, although he had addressed the greater part of his talk to the fire, noted that he was paler than usual--and that his eyes were very bright; "upon my word, I really do feel more elated than on that night at Arcot. That small devoted band of men!--most of them with millions they might take to the most civilized capitals of the world and spend in splendid enjoyment--I never have met such patriotism! It is magnificent! And to find it out here in this stranded city--that fascinates the very heart out of you, by-the-way--I don't know that I wonder so much--I believe I shall succumb myself in time--it is like being on another planet. At any rate I hated myself to-night for any sickness of spirit I may have permitted to linger--for a while my very personality seemed to melt into what may prove an even greater cause than all that appears on the surface. The present California may be merely the nucleus of a great future Western civilization, so unlike the Eastern that no doubt it will dissever itself in time and breed still wider divergences; until the old generic term American will no longer apply to both. Moreover, it already feels that it owns the Pacific, and faces the Orient alone. And to rebuild this city--you have seen the Burnham plans--transform it into the most beautiful city of the modern world--to give it a great, instead of a merely brilliant and erratic civilization--a perfect administration--what dreamers! What imagination! It is an inspiration to come into contact with an idealism that money, and power, and daily contact with the mean and base in human nature--" "I could love you!" cried Isabel. "If you say any more, I believe I shall kiss you again." "If you do," said Gwynne, deliberately, "I shall neither pinch you nor push you away. But you may regret it, nevertheless."