“I’m afraid you’re not a good politician after all,” she observed. “You are too emotional. You allow your temperament to betray you into errors of diplomacy. You should have cultivated Waldron, flattered his vanity and studied his character--” “I know it already--” “I thought so at first myself,” she answered thoughtfully. “The more I see of him the less I know him. He’s a puzzle--” “He’s merely an ape of foreign snobs--that’s all.” “You utterly misjudge him,” Virginia protested. “He has too much strength for that. His ambitions are too great.” “Then he’s more dangerous than I have thought.” “What do you mean?” she asked in surprise. “Nothing that I could put into words without making myself ridiculous in your eyes perhaps, yet the idea grows on me--” Virginia laughed. “You can’t do an opponent justice, can you?” “No--can you?” The car swept gracefully up the roadway to the rose-embowered white cottage on the hill. They leaped out and found a table in the corner overlooking the majestic sweep of the river and Jersey hills beyond. Vassar was moody in spite of the inspiring view and the radiant face opposite. Again and again he tried to pull himself out of the dumps and enjoy this wonderful hour with the most fascinating woman he had ever met. It was no use. Waldron’s frozen smile, his royal establishment, his corseted pets, his big friend with the fierce mustache, his white yacht and the soft click of the doors of that elevator filled his mind with sinister suggestions. “I’m so disappointed in you,” Virginia said at last. “Why?” “I’d planned to relax a little this afternoon. It’s Saturday you know. I thought you might be human enough just to play for a few hours. I wanted to find the real man side of you--not the statesman or the politician--” “To study me under the microscope as another specimen of the species and plan my extermination?” “No--to get acquainted in the simplest kind of old-fashioned way. But I see it’s no use today. You’re a greater enigma to me than Waldron. But I’m not going to be beaten so easily. I’m going to find you out now that I’ve made up my mind. I’ve a proposal to make before we begin the scrap in your district--” “A proposal?” he asked mischievously. “Yes! It’s hardly decent I know. Anyhow, I’m not wholly responsible for it. You’ve made a wonderful hit with my old soldier Dad. He has talked nothing else but your bill for an adequate national defense. He has positively ordered me to make you our guest for a couple of weeks at our country place on Long Island--” Vassar blushed like a schoolboy. “I should be only too happy--” “I warn you that the Old Guard will talk you into a spell of sickness about war and the certainty of this country being captured by the Germans or Japs--” “He can’t say too much to me on that subject,” Vassar declared. “And if you’ll bring your father and the children I’m sure we could keep you until I’ve wormed the last secret out of you--”