The Hermit and the Wild Woman, and Other Stories

, Miss Bart-every one o

d the condemned structure of wire and net on the table at

ood. Their own faces were sallow with the unwholesomeness of hot air and sedentary toil, rather than with any actual signs of want: they were employed in a fashionable millinery establishment, and were fairly well clothed and well paid; but the youngest among them was as dull

iners establishing themselves under fashionable patronage, and imparting to their "creations" that indefinable touch which the professional hand can never give,

ch loyalty would meet with a direct reward had hastened her flight, and flung her back, ashamed and penitent, on the broad bosom of Gerty's sympathy. She did not, however, propose to lie there prone, and Gerty's inspiration about the hats at once revived her hopes of profitable activity. Here was, after all, something that her charming listless hands could really do; she had no doubt of their capacity for knotting a ribbon or placing a

en found, how were the ladies on whose approval she depended to be induced to give her their patronage? Gerty learned that whatever sympathy her friend's case might have excited a few months since had been imperilled, if not lost, by her association with Mrs. Hatch. Once again, Lily had withdrawn from an ambiguous situation in time to save her self-respect, but too late for public vindication. Freddy Van Osburgh was not to marry Mrs. Hatch; he had been rescued at the eleventh hour

nt for her share in the Hatch affair, joined her efforts to Miss Farish's, they met with no better success. Gerty had tri

u a start she flamed out about some money you'd got from Gus; I never knew her so hot before. You know she'll let him do anything but spend money on his friends: the only reason she's decent to me

d assistance, and was induced to yield only by the fact that she owed the patronage of Mrs. Bry and Mrs. Gormer to Carry Fisher's influence. She had been willing from the first to employ Lily in the show-room: as a displayer of hats, a fashionable beauty might be a valuable asset. But to this suggestion Miss Bart opposed a negative which Gerty emphatically supported, w

reely discussed by all the others-but the knowledge did not produce in them any awkward sense of class distinction: it merely explained why her untutored fingers were still blundering over the rudiments of the trade. Lily had no desire that they should recognize any social difference in her; but she had hoped to be received as their equal, and perhaps before long to show herself their superior by a specia

es's active figure. The air was closer than usual, because Miss Haines, who had a cold, had not allowed a window to be opened even during the n

tter-but she's written a testimonial to say the first bottle cured her, and she got five dollars and her picture in the paper.... Mrs. Trenor's hat? The one with the green Paradise? Here, Miss Haines-it'll be ready right off.... That was one of

uriosity and contemptuous freedom with which she and her kind were discussed in this underworld of toilers who lived on their vanity and self-indulgence. Every girl in Mme. Regina's work-room knew to whom the headgear in her hands was destined, and had her opinion of its future wearer, and a definite knowledge of the latter's place in the social system. That Lily was a star fallen from that sky did not, a

pangles on more regular I guess you'

er so much more clumsy than usual? Was it a growing distaste for her task, or actual physical disability? She felt tired and confus

d I am not well," she

fashionable apprentice among her workers. In that temple of art no raw beginners were wanted, and Miss Hai

e return to her old standpoint, an instinctive shrinking from all that was unpolished and promiscuous. In the days-how distant they now seemed!-when she had visited the Girls' Club with Gerty Farish, she had felt an enlightene

oy. "Miss Bart, I guess you can sew those spangles on as well as I

e: it was a long time since real kindness h

ticularly well, but Miss Ha

." Miss Kilroy paused irresolutely. "You ought to

her hand. "It's very kind

other was on the point of offering to go home with her, but she wanted to be alone and silent-eve

e repeated as s

n the whole, less endurable than the solitude of a hall bedroom in a house where she could come and go unremarked among other workers. For a while she had been sustained by this desire for privacy and independence; but now, perhaps from increasing physical weariness, the lassitude brought about by hours of unwonted confinement, she

d usually done so of late. But today her steps were irresistibly drawn toward the flaring plate-glass corner; she tried to take the lower cro

t was a copy of one of Mrs. Hatch's, obligingly furnished by that lady's chemist. Lily was confident that the clerk would fill it without hesitation; yet the nervous dread of

n without comment; but in the act

the dose, you know," he rema

n by looking at

she murmured, hol

ng drug. A drop or two more, and off

ely from the shop she was almost dizzy with the intensity of her relief. The mere touch of the packet thrilled her tired nerves with the delicious

nd prosperous-but why did she seem to see him so far off, and as if through a mist of splintered crystals? Before she could account for the phenomenon she found herself shaking hands with him. They had p

not well!" he exclaimed; and she forced h

me a moment, please," she faltered. That s

hey stood, with the shriek of the "elevated" and the tumul

for a cup of tea. The LONGWORTH is only a few yar

ace she could bear. A few steps brought them to the ladies' door of the hotel he had named, and a

larly done up, Miss Lily. Well, take your tea strong,

e keen stimulant was forever conflicting with that other craving for sleep-the midnight craving which only the little phial in her hand cou

under her eyes, the morbid blue-veined pallour of the temples, brought out the brightness of her hair and lips, as though all her ebbing vitality were centred there. Against the dull chocolate-coloured background of the restaurant, the puri

with her. "Why, Miss Lily, I haven't seen you f

e had not seen her he had heard of her; he knew of her connection with Mrs. Hatch, and of the talk resulting

what was in his thoughts and said with a slight smile: "You would

. "You don't mean-? Why, wh

least TRYING to learn," she ha

istle of surprise. "Come off

. I'm obliged to w

I thought you were

d gone to her a

I believe." He leaned fo

ch the topic held for him, and raising her eyes to

, and she felt sure that he had heard what had been sai

h?" he enquired, with

looking at him more intently than she had ever looked before. An uncontrollable impulse was urging

perhaps you can understand that she

led, and she remembered that

elf being drawn into strange depths of intimacy. He who had had to subsist on mere fugitive glances, looks winged in fl

marry Freddy Van Osburgh-who is not in the least too good for her-and as they

ance which gave a sense of the immense perspective he had acquired. "Freddy

t there, drinking more tea, and continuing to talk of herself to Rosedale. But the old habit of observing the conventio

't told me--" He broke off, conscious of going farther than he had meant. She saw the struggle and understood it; understood also the nature of the spell to w

. I am an apprent

had turned you down: Mrs. Fisher told me about

s; but the legacy is not t

you could BORROW on it

gravely. "No; for

e whole ten

with her eyes on his face: "I think Gus Trenor spoke to

with embarrassment, muttered that

I knew nothing of business. Afterward I found out that he had NOT used my money-that what he said he had made for me he had really given me. It was meant in kindness, of course; but it was not the sort of

also that the rumour of her intention to repay the money should reach Judy Trenor's ears. And it had suddenly occurred to her that Rosedale, who had surprised Trenor's confidence, was the fitting person to receive and transmit her version o

er in wonder; but the wonder too

's the case, it clean

es of her act; as if her incorrigible ignorance of busine

yes," she ca

the table, his little puzzled eyes explori

s fine," he exc

h. "Oh, no-it's merely a bore," she asserted, g

to notice her movement. "Miss Lily, if you want any b

Your tea has given me a tremendous ba

sal, but her companion had tossed a bill to the waiter, a

got to let me walk h

ast a long line of areas which, through the distortion of their paintless rails, revealed with increasing candour the DISJECTA MEMBRA of bygone dinners, Lily felt t

ome one told me you were

ere. I have lived to

oured lace, and the Pompeian decoration of the muddy vestibule; then he looked back

eing frankly touched by it. "Thank you-I shall be very glad," she

oluntary. Having made her final effort on Lily's behalf, and landed her safely in Mme. Regina's work-room, Mrs. Fisher seemed disposed to rest from her labours; and Lily, understanding the reason, could not condemn her. Carry had in fact come dangerously near to being involved in the episode of Mrs. Norma Hatch, and it had taken some verbal ingenuity to extricate herself. She frankly owned to having brought Lily and Mrs. Hatch together, but then she did not know Mrs. Hatch-she had expressly warned Lily that she did n

lden; and to meet him now would be pure pain. It was pain enough even to think of him, whether she considered him in the distinctness of her waking thoughts, or felt the obsession of his presence through the blur of her tormented nights. That was one of the reasons why she had turned again to Mrs. Hatch's prescription. In the uneasy snatches of her na

legacy was paid, to realize the vision of the green-and-white shop with the fuller competence acquired by her preliminary training. But to Lily herself, aware that the legacy could not be put to such a use, the preliminary training seemed a wasted effort. She understood clearly enough that, even if she could ever learn to compete with hands formed from childhood for their special work, the small pay she received would not be a sufficient addition to her income to compensate her for such drudgery. And the realization of this fact

ew, in her old incurable dread of discomfort and poverty; in the fear of that mounting tide of dinginess against which her mother had so passionately warned her. And now a new vista of peril opened before her. She understood that Rosedale was ready to lend her money; and the longing to take advantage of his offer began to haunt her insidiously. It was of course impossible to accept a loan from Rosedale; but proximate possibilities hovered temptingly before her. She was quite sure that he would come and see her again, and almost sure

urs of silence the dark spirit of fatigue and loneliness crouched upon her breast, leaving her so drained of bodily strength that her morning thoughts swam