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speak, it was only to let some oath or impatient remark escape. Pierre was silent; nor did he greet Anna with his customary smile. It was only in the afternoon that the strained atmosphere lightened somewhat. The first to break the tension was Suzette. She began to quarrel with Mary. Why hadn't the latter come to the demonstration, she wanted to know. She herself had managed to pick up a good catch, something not bad at all. She had spent the whole evening with him, and had even told him that she had a child. And still he had asked to meet her again.

"Well, good luck to you," Mary laughed in her usual easy manner. "And if anybody's jealous of you, may they never have any luck themselves."

"Tu est folle!" Suzette responded. "This fellow had a friend with him. A real classy chap. If you'd have been there the four of us could have spent the evening together."

"I see. One for all and all for one. A real commune," the foreman threw in, insinuating himself into the conversation. When no one commented on his remark he went on- "If I had the power I'd have swept this garbage off the street long ago."

Anna threw an instinctive glance towards Pierre, but he was standing bent over his table, engrossed in his work, as though the foreman's remark had nothing to do with him. Jeanne said something sharp and stabbing, but Anna paid no further attention. What is he concealing? She kept thinking about Pierre. Or is it simply that he has no real existence without the might of the masses around him? Without a mass meeting he is like a fish cast on dry land.

When the day's work was through she maneuvered her exit so that she met Pierre outside. But here, too, he managed to avoid her. He merely smiled politely and hurried off. Anna felt a sudden coolness descend on her spirits. Maybe