"Appearances are often deceitful. They are simply strong enough for the work they have to do. American engineering practice does not go in for useless encumbrance. Each dam serves two purposes. It holds back the water and it contains a power-house. In some of these power-houses turbines and dynamoes are already placed." "Ah, now I understand. You must perceive that I am a very stupid individual." "You are a very persistent person," said the young woman decisively. Stranleigh laughed. "Allow me to take advantage of that reputation by asking you what you intend to do with the electricity when you have produced it?" "We have no plans." "Oh, I say!" "_What_ do you say?" "That was merely an Anglicised expression of astonishment." "Don't you believe me?" "No." They were sitting together on the automobile seat, deep in the shade of the foliage above them, but when he caught sight of the indignant face which she turned towards him, it almost appeared as if the sun shone upon it. She seemed about to speak, thought better of it, and reached forward to the little lever that controlled the self-starting apparatus. She found his hand there before she could carry out her intention. "I am returning, Lord Stranleigh," she said icily. "Not yet." She leaned back in the seat. "Mr. Trenton told me that you were the most polite man he had ever met. I have seldom found him so mistaken in an impression." "Was it a polite man you set out to find in your recent trip to Europe?" As the girl made no reply, Stranleigh went on-- "My politeness is something like the dams we have been considering. It contains more than appears on the surface. There is concealed power within it. You may meet myriads of men well qualified to teach me courtesy, but when this veneer of social observance is broken, you come to pretty much the same material underneath. I seldom permit myself the luxury of an escape from the conventions, but on rare occasions I break through. For that I ask your pardon. Impressed by your sincerity, I forgot for the moment everything but your own need in the present crisis." "What crisis?" she asked indignantly. "The financial crisis caused by your spending every available resource on this so-called conservation policy. To all intents and purposes you are now a bankrupt. Mrs. Vanderveldt has contributed all she can, and both you and she are afraid to tell her brother the true state of the case. You fear you will get little sympathy from him, for he is absorbed in coal-mines and railways, and both of you have already felt his annoyance at the law-suit in which you have involved him. Hence your desperate need of a capitalist. A really polite man would be a more pleasant companion than I, but he is not worth that, Miss Maturin!" Stranleigh removed his hand from the lever long enough to snap fingers and thumb, but he instantly replaced it when he saw her determination to start the machine.