In the morning, when Margaret looked from the windows of the hotel, the sky was gray and yielding, and all the outlines of the looming buildings were softened in the hazy air.  The dome of the Capitol seemed to float like a bubble, and to be as unsubstantial as the genii edifices in the Arabian tale.  The Monument, the slim white shaft as tall as the Great Pyramid, was still more a dream creation, not really made of hard marble, but of something as soft as vapor, almost melting into the sky, and yet distinct, unwavering, its point piercing the upper air, threatening every instant to dissolve, as if it were truly the baseless fabric of a vision —­light, unreal, ghost-like, spotless, pure as an unsullied thought; it might vanish in a breath; and yet, no; it is solid:  in the mist of doubt, in the assault of storms, smitten by the sun, beaten by the tempests, it stands there, springing, graceful, immovable—­emblem, let us say, of the purity and permanence of the republic.

“You never half told me, Rodney, how beautiful it all is!” Margaret exclaimed, in a glow of delight.

“Yes,” said Henderson, “the Monument is behaving very well this morning.  I never saw it before look so little like a factory chimney.”

“That is, you never looked at it with my eyes before, cynic.  But it is all so lovely, everywhere.”

“Of course it is, dear.”  They were standing together at the window, and his arm was where it should have been.  “What did you expect?  There are concentrated here the taste and virtue of sixty millions of people.”

“But you always said the Washington hotels were so bad.  These apartments are charming.”

“Yes”—­and he drew her closer to him—­“there is no denying that.  But presently I shall have to explain to you an odd phenomenon.  Virginia, you know, used to be famous for its good living, and Maryland was simply unapproachable for good cooking.  It was expected when the District was made out of these two that the result would be something quite extraordinary in the places of public entertainment.  But, by a process which nobody can explain, in the union the art of cooking in hotels got mislaid.”

“Well,” she said, with winning illogicality, “you’ve got me.”

“If you could only eat the breakfasts for me, as you can see the Monument for me!”

“Dear, I could eat the Monument for you, if it would do you any good.”  And neither of them was ashamed of this nonsense, for both knew that married people indulge in it when they are happy.

Although Henderson came to Washington on business, this was Margaret’s wedding journey.  There is no other city in the world where a wedding journey can better be combined with such business as is transacted here, for in both is a certain element of mystery.  Washington is gracious to a bride, if she is pretty and agreeable—­devotion to governing, or to legislation, or to diplomacy, does not render a man insensible to feminine attractions; and if in