The Works Of Winston Churchill / A Linked Index Of The Project Gutenberg Editions

nt to perfection. At another time the three young men would h

y, and the memory of it lying in the hospital was too recent for him not to feel anxious about his

aid Courtland, indiffere

to his tones as he con

I have a lot of studying yet to do to-night. This is exam. week, you know.... No, I'm afraid not to-morrow night either.... No, there wouldn't be a

the strange thing about it was that there was something in the atmosphere that night that made them feel they weren't so very sorry. Somehow Courtland seemed unusually close and dear to them just then. For the moment they seemed to have perceived something

s. He looked keenly at the tired face on the couch, but whist

rs to keep it from getting cold. There's bowls and spoons in the basket. Nelly, get 'em out! Here, Pat, take that bundle out from under my arm. That's celery and crackers.

tures, the wild arrangements of photographs and trophies, and hear the fellows talking of homely things; to be fed wit

four hearts together with a little tenderer tie than bound them to any of the other fellows. They had been together all the four years, and

! So different from those last three hours amid suffering and sorrow! It was all so natural and happy, as if there were no sorrow in the world. As if this life would never end! But he hadn't yet got over that feeling of the Presence in the room with them, standing somew

It was a revelation to them. They listened with respect for the student who had gone to his mother's dying bed. They had all been long enough away from their own mothers to have come to feel the worth of a mother quite touchingly. Moreover, they perceived that Courtland had seen more in Wittemore than they had ever

medicine to an old bedridden crone! And was going to stick to his job even when hi

ess toast! He told it quite simply, utterly unaware, that he had told how he had made the toast. They listened without comment as to one who had been set apart to a duty undesirable but greatly t

atever of his own part in it all. They looked at him curiously, as if they would read between the lines, for they saw he was deeply

so keenly and so finely bound to his companions as this night; when he went at last to his own room across the hall, he looked about on its comforts and luxuries with a kind of wonder that he had been selected for all this, while that poor woman down in the tenement had to live with bare walls and not even a whole

the time, indeed! Of course he had been but a passing stranger, but she had no one, and he could not let her be in need of a fr

s. She had not slept nor wept since he saw her, he felt sure. How long could human frame endure like that? The strain was terrible for

xpensive. He rejoiced that she judged only by the standards of a small country place, and knew not city prices, and therefore little suspected how very much he had done to smooth her way. He told her of the preacher he had se

ing to eat to-day?"

"I could not eat!

tly, as if she were a little child. "You c

ully, with her hand fluttering to her heart again

stn't we, until we ar

nd where the thought or words came from. He was

e said, like a submissive child; "and I'll try, pre

nd an untidy person with unkempt hair appeared, asking the girl to com

omething. You'll not last the night through at thi

cup of tea-and with a weary look, as if she thought it was the quickest way to get rid of their kindness, she yielded. He th

aintiest and most attractive that the plain menu of the little restaurant afforded, but he only succeeded in getting her to eat a few mouthfuls and drink a cup of tea. Nevertheless it did her good. He could see a faint color coming into her cheeks. He spoke of college and his examinations, as if she knew all about him. He thought it might

ttle child coming out to greet her. He thought perhaps she had not

r eyes shone with the tears that sprang mercifully into them, and her l

strained look break and the healing tears flow. He left her then, but he could not get away from the thought of h

angements over the telephone the night before. He had to confess to himself that hi

own eyes, a wide mouth, an ugly nose, and freckles; but he had a smile th

d given all necessary details over the 'phone, but the kind, attentive eyes were sympathetic, and he found himself telling the

" asked Burns as Cou

utter stranger to the lonely girl. "No, only a friend," he finished. "A-a-ki

brown eyes seemed to search into his soul and unders

he other as they parted, and he went out feeling that somehow there was a man that was different; a man he would like to know better and study carefully. That man must have h

rack of philanthropy; that had sent him off to make toast for old women and manage funerals for strange young girls. If Wittemore would get back to his classes and plod off to his slums every day, with his long horse-like face and his scared little apologetic smile, why, p

le ordeal, he was sure. Such a pitiful little funeral, and he an utter stranger, too! But the necessity presented itself like a comman

he worked fast he could get done in plenty of time, for

ad taken his examination, he declined their suggestion that they all go down to the river skating

uneral!" he said, and strode up the

!" said Pat

Pat, I don't guess we better let hi

try and stop Courtland he had departed by the