She paused.  Loder, his hands resting on the closed doors of the cab, sat very silent, with averted eves and bent head.

“Only to-night,” she went on, “you told me that everything was crying to you to take the easy, pleasant way.  Then it was strong to turn aside; but now it is not strong.  It is far nobler to fill an empty niche than to carve one for yourself.  John—­” She suddenly leaned forward, laying her hands over his.  “Mr. Fraide told me to-night that in his new ministry my—­my husband was to be Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs!”

The words fell softly.  So softly that to ears less comprehending than Loder’s their significance might have been lost—­as his rigid attitude and unresponsive manner might have conveyed lack of understanding to any eyes less observant than Eve’s.

For a long space there was no word spoken.  At last, with a very gentle pressure, her fingers tightened over his hands.

“John—­” she began, gently.  But the word died away.  She drew back into her seat, as the cab stopped before Chilcote’s house.

Simultaneously as they descended, the hall door was opened and a flood of warm light poured out reassuringly into the darkness.

“I thought it was your cab, sir,” Crapham explained deferentially as they passed into the hall.  “Mr. Fraide has been waiting to see you this half-hour.  I showed him into the study.”  He closed the door; softly and retired.

Then, in the warm light, amid the gravely dignified surroundings that had marked his first entry into this hazardous second existence, Eve turned to Loder for the verdict upon which the future hung.

As she turned, his face was still hidden from her, and his attitude betrayed nothing.

“John,” she said, slowly, “you know why he is here.’  You know that he has come to personally offer you this place; to personally receive your refusal—­or consent.”

She ceased to speak; there was a moment of suspense; then Loder turned.  His face was still pale and grave with the gravity of a man who has but recently been close to death, but beneath the gravity was another look—­the old expression of strength and self-reliance, tempered, raised, and dignified by a new humility.

Moving forward, he held out his hands.

“My consent or refusal,” he said, very quietly, “lies with —­my wife.”