“Not the Governor, I hope?”

“Oh, no, the Governor is nothing—­a prize, nothing more.  My antagonist is Mrs. Stribling.”

“Rose Stribling?” The Judge was mildly astonished.  “Why, I remember her as a little girl in white dresses.”

Corinna’s smile became scornful.  “Well, she isn’t a little girl any longer, and she oughtn’t to be in white dresses.”

“Dear me, dear me,” rejoined the old gentleman.  “I am aware that you have a dramatic temperament, but it is scarcely possible that you are jealous of little Rose.  She is a good deal younger than you, if I am not mistaken—­but my memory is not all that it once was.”

“She is twelve years younger and at least twenty years more malicious,” retorted Corinna lightly.  “But those twelve years aren’t as long as they were in your youth, my dear.  A generation ago they would have spelt an end of my conquests; to-day they mean only new worlds to conquer.”

The Judge looked perplexed.  “Am I to infer from this that you have designs on the Governor?  And may I inquire what use you intend to make of him after you have captured him from the enemy?”

Corinna shrugged her shoulders.  “I hadn’t thought of that.  Release him, probably.  But, whatever happens, I shall have saved him from a worse fate.  For that he ought to thank me, and he will if he is reasonable.”

“Few men are reasonable in captivity.  Do you think, by the way, that Mrs. Stribling would like another husband, and such a husband as our friend the demagogue?”

“I think she would like a political career, and of course her only way of obtaining a career of any kind is to marry one.  Though she isn’t discerning, she has sense enough to perceive that.  They tell me that the Governor is starting straight for the Senate, and the wife of a senator—­of any senator—­might have a very good time in Washington.  Besides, there is always the chance of course that the winds of public folly may blow him into the White House.”

“If what you say is true it would be a hard fate for an honest rogue,” admitted the Judge.  “In your hands he would at least go unharmed.”

“Oh, unharmed certainly.  Perhaps helped.”

“Then it is better so.  But the thing that interests me in Vetch, is not his value as a matrimonial or romantic prize; I am concerned solely and simply with his opinions.”

“Well, you will have the advantage of Mrs. Stribling and me, for we shall probably find the cigars an impediment to our attack.  At any rate, we ought to have a less tedious evening than you expect.”

A little later, when she entered the long drawing-room where the other guests were already assembled, Corinna threw an inquiring glance in the direction of Mrs. Stribling.  Could the shallow pink and white loveliness of that other woman, the historic type of the World’s Desire, bear comparison with her own starry beauty?  It was a petty rivalry.  She had entered into it half in jest, half in irritation, yet some sportsmanlike instinct prompted her to play the game to the end.  She would prove to Rose Stribling that those twelve years of knowledge and suffering had taught her not to surrender, but to conquer.