“I’m flattered,” she said, and walked off towards the tea-table with a glance in which Victoria read many meanings.  Mr. Crewe paid no attention either to words, look, or departure.

“I want to talk to you,” he said.

“You’ve made that very plain, at least,” answered Victoria.  “Why did you pretend it was the view?”

“Some conventionalities have to be observed, I suppose,” he said.  “Let’s go around there.  It is a good view.”

“Don’t you think this is a little—­marked?” asked Victoria, surveying him with her hands behind her back.

“I can’t help it if it is,” said Mr. Crewe.  “Every hour is valuable to me, and I’ve got to take my chances when I get ’em.  For some reason, you haven’t been down at Leith much this summer.  Why didn’t you telephone me, as I asked you.”

“Because I’ve suddenly grown dignified, I suppose,” she said.  “And then, of course, I hesitated to intrude upon such a person of importance as you have become, Humphrey.”

“I’ve always got time to see you,” he replied.  “I always shall have.  But I appreciate your delicacy.  That sort of thing counts with a man more than most women know.”

“Then I am repaid,” said Victoria, “for exercising self-control.”

“I find it always pays,” declared Mr. Crewe, and he glanced at her with distinct approval.  They were skirting the house, and presently came out upon a tiny terrace where young Ridley had made a miniature Italian garden when the Electric dividends had increased, and from which there was a vista of the shallows of the Blue.  Here was a stone garden-seat which Mrs. Pomfret had brought from Italy, and over which she had quarrelled with the customs authorities.  Mr. Crewe, with a wave of his hand, signified his pleasure that they should sit, and cleared his throat.

“It’s just as well, perhaps,” he began, “that we haven’t had the chance to see each other earlier.  When a man starts out upon an undertaking of the gravest importance, wherein he stakes his reputation, an undertaking for which he is ridiculed and reviled, he likes to have his judgment justified.  He likes to be vindicated, especially in the eyes of—­people whom he cares about.  Personally, I never had any doubt that I should be the next governor, because I knew in the beginning that I had estimated public sentiment correctly.  The man who succeeds in this world is the man who has sagacity enough to gauge public sentiment ahead of time, and the courage to act on his beliefs.”  Victoria looked at him steadily.  He was very calm, and he had one knee crossed over the other.

“And the sagacity,” she added, “to choose his lieutenants in the fight.”

“Exactly,” said Mr. Crewe.  “I have always declared, Victoria, that you had a natural aptitude for affairs.”

“I have heard my father say,” she continued, still maintaining her steady glance, “that Hamilton Tooting is one of the shrewdest politicians he has ever known.  Isn’t Mr. Tooting one of your right-hand men?”