But she could not get her watch open, apparently.  She tried, and tried again.  Then the clerk, trembling at his own audacity, begged to be allowed to assist.  She allowed him.  He succeeded, and was radiant under the sweet influences of her pleased face and her seductively worded acknowledgements with gratification.  Then he gave her the exact time again, and anxiously watched her turn the hands slowly till they reached the precise spot without accident or loss of life, and then he looked as happy as a man who had helped a fellow being through a momentous undertaking, and was grateful to know that he had not lived in vain.  Laura thanked him once more.  The words were music to his ear; but what were they compared to the ravishing smile with which she flooded his whole system?  When she bowed her adieu and turned away, he was no longer suffering torture in the pillory where she had had him trussed up during so many distressing moments, but he belonged to the list of her conquests and was a flattered and happy thrall, with the dawn-light of love breaking over the eastern elevations of his heart.

It was about the hour, now, for the chairman of the House Committee on Benevolent Appropriations to make his appearance, and Laura stepped to the door to reconnoiter.  She glanced up the street, and sure enough—­

CHAPTER XXXVII.

That Chairman was nowhere in sight.  Such disappointments seldom occur in novels, but are always happening in real life.

She was obliged to make a new plan.  She sent him a note, and asked him to call in the evening—­which he did.

She received the Hon. Mr. Buckstone with a sunny smile, and said: 

“I don’t know how I ever dared to send you a note, Mr. Buckstone, for you have the reputation of not being very partial to our sex.”

“Why I am sure my, reputation does me wrong, then, Miss Hawkins.  I have been married once—­is that nothing in my favor?”

“Oh, yes—­that is, it may be and it may not be.  If you have known what perfection is in woman, it is fair to argue that inferiority cannot interest you now.”

“Even if that were the case it could not affect you, Miss Hawkins,” said the chairman gallantly.  “Fame does not place you in the list of ladies who rank below perfection.”  This happy speech delighted Mr. Buckstone as much as it seemed to delight Laura.  But it did not confuse him as much as it apparently did her.

“I wish in all sincerity that I could be worthy of such a felicitous compliment as that.  But I am a woman, and so I am gratified for it just as it is, and would not have it altered.”

“But it is not merely a compliment—­that is, an empty complement—­it is the truth.  All men will endorse that.”

Laura looked pleased, and said: 

“It is very kind of you to say it.  It is a distinction indeed, for a country-bred girl like me to be so spoken of by people of brains and culture.  You are so kind that I know you will pardon my putting you to the trouble to come this evening.”