His  blindness,  the  helplessness  that  goes  with  it,  has
taken  away  some  of  his  confidence,  and  he  would  say


210     THE    GLORY    OF    THE    CONQUERED

it  could  not  be  done.  But  what  will  he  say," — she
laughed,  almost  gleefully — "  when  he  finds  I  have
gone  ahead  and  made  myself  ready  for  him?  When
you  tell  him  I  can  do  it — and  the  laboratory  men  tell
him  so?  He  will  try  it  then,  just  out  of  gratitude
to  me.  Oh,  it  will  not  go  very  well  at  first.  It  is
going  to  take  practice — days  and  weeks  and  months
of  it — to  learn  how  to  work  together.  But,  little  by
little,  he  will  gain  confidence  in  himself  and  in  me,  he
will  begin  getting  back  his  grip — enthusiasm — all
the  things  of  the  old-time  Karl,  and  then  some  day
when  we  have  had  a  little  success  about  something  he
will  burst  forth — '  By  Jove — Ernestine — I  believe  we
can  make  it  go ! ' — and  that,"  she  concluded,  softly,
"  will  be  worth  it  all  to  me."

Again  a  silence  which  sank  deeper  than  words — a
silence  which  sealed  their  compact.
