condensed or rewritten. This was where Valerie missed Dane, for Bob was back on the paper that week with the one job on his hands of reporting and writing up the meetings at night, and of helping Roger to prepare his remarks for the same.
Valerie had refused to see Dane the day before and he had told her he would not come into the town that week, but that he would look for her at the week-end. She had wondered in her only leisure moments as she dressed or bathed whether he could keep out of the excitement, for as the great day approached it captured even her, and when Roger invited her to be present at the Massey dinner she found she really did wish to be in the fun. She wondered if Dane would be there, for she was sure he would be asked to go.
The night was, for those who like that kind of thing, an unforgettable affair. As Valerie stood in her room before the dinner, trying to bathe the signs of utter weariness from her face, she heard an exciting tooting of horns and a great fuss down in the street, and guessed that Mr. Massey and his party were arriving from Whangarei. The town seemed to swirl about the hotel. It had been alive all the afternoon with people coming up the river and down the river and across the river and in by train to hear the man who had been the spine of the country party for twenty years. If she had not been so tired, Valerie would have run to the sitting-room to look out, but instead she lay down on her bed for a brief rest.
To her great disappointment there was no sign of Dane at the dinner. Besides herself Mrs. Benton was the only woman present. It had been found impossible to invite women and have room also for the number of men Roger wished to have. No one could object to Mrs. Benton, and of course Valerie was the omnipotent press. She tried to
