Life at High Tide

of the lace of leaves around its great boughs. Now and then a tree-toad spoke, or from the pasture pond behind the house came the metallic twang of a bullfrog. But nothing els

y (for in November and December the hens do act like they are possessed!); when sometimes your cow will be dry; when

e said to herself, and s

Lizzie Graham,-oh my! wait till I get my breath;-Lizzie, you can't do it. Because

r breath, and stared with blan

osh don'

makes me tremble to think if he hadn't told me to-night! S

over her face with an

't believe Nat'll mind after he's been at the Farm a bit. Hon

er; but I ain't read that since I first went to sign it. I just go every three mont

at Josh says-they ain't goin' to pay you for havin' a dead husb

ead. "Wait till I

helf above the stove. "I keep it in here," Lizzie said, shaking the paper out. Then, unfolding it on the kitchen table,

U OF P

formity with the laws of the United

about not marryin' ag

same, it's the

Nathaniel; warmed even to the mangy dog that limped out from the barn and curled up on Lizzie's skirt. But when she went away, "com

's a careful talker. I can't do it!" But she

as as simple as a child about it), that she had arranged with Mr. Niles to marry them. "An'

, joyously. "Oh, what a weight

had dreamed that he would see that which it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive! He began to talk, eagerly, of his invention; but reasonably, it seemed to Lizzie. Indeed, except for the idea itself, there was nothing that betrayed the unbalanced mind. His gratitude, too, wa

sit under her elm in the twilight, and think soberly of the

eld had come panting u

face some child that is holding out its arms to you. Lizzie twisted her hands together. "I just can't!" But, of course, she would have to. That was all there was to it. If she married him, why

ext morning, heavily, s

the porch, there were nudgings and whisperings, and Hiram Wells, bolder t

coldly, "There ain't goin' to be no weddin'."

each other and guffawed. "I knowed

sk Rev. Niles; she told me only yesterday he said he'd tie th

man," Hiram suggested;-"c

edge of his bed, his hat on, his poor coat buttoned to his chin; he was holding his precious

aid; "I'd begun to fea

e," Lizzie said. "

you. I have been thinking that this wonderful invention will be really your gift to humanity

," Lizzie said, nervously; "I gues

he unborn child cannot know the meaning of life. If the babe in the womb questioned, What is birth? what is living? could even its own mother tell it? Nay! So we, questioning: 'God, what is death? what is immortality?' Not even Go

, and set her lips; then she said, "I am afraid

said, with a

arried to-day, yo

s," he

ut I can't,

hed out one groping hand. Involuntarily she took it; then stood still, and tried t

I-I don't know w

into his face. "Is

id. "It just br

e contents of his bag rattled, and something snapped-perh

get married, I lose it. An' we wouldn't have a c

istening to her. There was a long pau

put her hand on his shoulder in a passion of pity; then, suddenly, fiercely, she gathered the poor bowed head against her s

d her. Then he said, looking up at her ou

d holding his hand against her bosom, "if you were

stairs, and there was a noisy burst of laught

ghtening. Then, gently: "We won't get married; Nathaniel. You w

let me finish my invention?" He got up, trembling, clu

and stood stock-still

t upon the porch, past the loafe

, after all, Mis' Gr

ned and faced them. "

out into the su

NGELS

NE O'

stre; clumps of rhododendrons enlivened the green with splashes of color. Lombardy poplars, with their gibbetlike erectness, bordered the roads and intersected them with mathematical shadows; here and there rose a feathery elm or a maple of wide-branched beauty. To the right, a shallow fall of terraces led to the Italian garden, Mrs. Dinsmore's chief prid

nse attitude of protest against delay. She had scarcely recovered from her waking crossness yet, and found herself more irritated than amused at the eccentricities of

s mighty stand-of

e difficult," admitte

r, and even in the spring after-But now-" He paused again without finishing his

insmore. "It's hard living with her during the process, but she's adorable once her nobl

ou mean," said the d

osyllable would be lost upon her elderly protege. "I'll make

face?" interrupted Brockt

ntory them as possessions far above rubies. But in the valuation of the 'change she has nothing. Oh, she may manage to extract five or six hundred a year from some inve

hose expletives lacked ton, "it'

nature had a fearful tussle with her common sense about five years ago, when Aunt Jessie asked her to go abroad; and it nearly overcame her frivolity and her vanity last winter when I met her at the dock and insisted upon having her

nd out, when she turned me down, back there in May, that if she were a young girl I wouldn't urge her any more, after what sh

t she was no longer a young girl?" Mrs. Dins

lose by refusing my offers. And I got her to take the matter under consideration. I heard somewhere that she wa

e-heartedly hoped that her cousin Millicent would not dally too long with her opportunity and allow the matrimonial prize to escape. S

stumbled slightly-"that t

there is no one in whom she is sentimentally interested. And

re ever?" h

ter at fourteen, I dare say, and an actor at sixteen, and a young curate at eighteen-oh, of course I'm jesting. But I suppose she was somewhat li

gag

if she had been wise, after all,

practical affairs; he was a scholar and something of a recluse and the most charmin

did i

Will Hay

d lo

or six

onstancy to the unchanging dead is sometimes easier than constancy to the variable living. She was only too glad to have the inevitable disc

ief were gnawing at

wirl of skirts from the great hall. "Cousin Anna, don't hate me for

agerness's underlying hint of pathos. Her tones were like her face, her motions, herself. Impulse, merriment, yearning, and the shadow of melancholy dwelt

"But"-she looked at the beautifully gowned figure, the lovely, imaginative face, ther

r Lena! She seemed to be feeling the responsibilities of erudition terribly this morning. She

. Heaven knows what I'll draw next time! The last one had charm, but no learning, and mighty little intelligenc

ion of Anna's responsibilities amused her; Anna was so untouched by them-as smooth-skinned, as slim and vivacious, as the forty-y

alled a sunshade, "but you don't know how I lie awake nights, shudderin

open road, a turn brought them in sight of the front of the house. It was very beautiful. She breathed deeply in the content of the sight-the delicate lines, the soft color, the perfection of detail. In the garden

he called sternly to her straying imagination. She was picturing what she might have as the wife of the man before her-the man whose first proposal she had unhesitatingly refused, whose appearance at Lakeh

essed, "I forget where

"But Mr. Brockton is going to skim over most of the Berkshires first. I thin

busy earning a holiday. But I've earned it all right." He turned to emphasize his boast with a nod toward Millicent.

le, Miss Harned?" he went on.

nt in voice and look for the mental criticism of the moment before. "It's really g

are adjusted," said Anna. Brockto

ch my virtues should be at last rewarded. To breast the ether among the whirli

te of suffocation, as I some

d we'd better make the most of it. For all we know, it's our last chance to have a good time. Better

delight compensate for the misery of having each butterfly of f

e. A white church, tall-steepled, green-shuttered, rose behind the monument, and with it dominated the square. A wagon or two toiled lazily along the road; before the stores a few

one peering beneath, the other examining more closely. He emerged in a moment, and there was a jargon of explanation, unintelligible to the two women. All that Anna and Millicent understood was tha

ind in my face and the sun are too soporific

accused her. "But I don't feel pa

in. She could read the words graved on the

ir country might be whole and their fello

d the honor-roll

the carpenter who was father to the one now leisurely hammering a yellow L upon that weather-stained house,-she saw them all. What had led them? What call had sounded in their ears that they should leave their ploughshares in the furrows, their tills, thei

ting unpatriotism in the untouched, charmed life of riches she and her fellows sought. She felt the disturbing conviction that those common men-she could almost hear their blundering speech, s

full-throated and lovin

ice had come from the narrow piazza. Millicent shivered as she looked at it, with its gingerbr

muvver. Did

a young woman, no older than Millicent, but her face was more lined than Anna's; a strand of dark hair was blown across her cheek; there were fruit stains on her apron. All the marks of a busy household life were about her, all the bounteous restfulness of

thless demand for sympathy. "And mother has brought you the bread and j

o the kitchen to eat

honey, if y

Millicent saw Lena walking sedately with the gov

s. Dinsmore, I think you were asleep! Miss Harned, you can't be a

must be; that's even bette

rockton intended a compliment. Anna Dinsmore saw the annoyed red whip out upon Millicent's ch

oisily through an old village. Anna and Brockton sustained the weight of conversation. Millicent smiled in vague sympathy with their laughter and Joined at random in th

elm-shaded thoroughfares branching from it. Here were ample, well-kept lawns and houses of prospe

his, Anna?

tol

ted the name, but in a strang

o you know a

led slowly, unwillin

ave one, and Jimson, the artist. But the native city, or whatever you call it, is a

t of a sleep-"I wish, Mr. Brockton, that we might

of c

Millicent?" asked Anna, flippantly. Millicent

s death, six years before-the town from which his family had originally come. Her memory worked rapidly, constructing the story. The blood dyed her face at the thought of her obtuseness.

s down its centre gave it a spacious dignity. The modest courthouse stood on one side, as green-bowered as if Justice

" commented Brockton, making dispar

pirit," said Anna, glibly. "It's austere without being

ou don't mind, I should like to go in for a while. You could pick me

of Brockton's. But Millicent turned to them with such ge

ffled look followed her up the flagging between the close-clipt lawns, there

ockton, in full-tone

hen he began to coin money faster than the mint, he gave lots of things to his birthplace-which has always blushed for him. It's prouder that Whittier once spent Sunday with one of its citizens than that Alonzo Jessup is its son. Well,

hless chagrin at his hostess,

undertook to be a marriage-broker!" Then

hension in her breast which had presaged she knew not what fresh anguish of loss. There were pictures on the walls-one or two not despicable originals which Trya Drop Jessup had given, many copies, and a few specimens of Riverfield's native talent. But she saw none of them, any more t

re has been no other one. That was my love, young as we w

e temptations of Satan withstood, angels came to Him upon the mountain. In the lower distance the kingdoms of the world grew dim beneath the shadow that fell from the vanquished and retreating tempt

y her side he stood, who had been so dear in himself, so infinitely dearer in the thought of all that should be; toward them the child came; they were enveloped by breathless love for each other and for that being, innocent, trusting, which their love had called into life. So, dimly, she h

f her neat gray head to the toe of her list shoes, came forward. She held a pad and pencil and wore the badge of authority in her manner. A

t Harriet!" she

the elder lady. "My dear, w

hands. "I had no idea you were here. Surely yo

r curator while she is on her vacation. It"-she struggled against a constitution

ry of him from her heart; this quaint little aunt of his, who had adored him and lived for him, was the first who had spoken of him in-she did

wn here with me. Of course I knew that you were not one of the changing kind,"-Mi

cedly. "Only, seeing you unexpectedly gave me

rst, I knew it was because you couldn't, not because you forgot. You were really made for each other, you two. I think I never saw two such

y the unquestioning belief she could not share. Sh

ything. I-I loved your nephew. I shall not love any one else. It happened to come to me in perfectness when I was young-love. B

piness, and I-it would not be for me to object. Every day it is done, and very often rightly, I suppose; for money,

not unde

y dear, as mine was-there are two ways of doing it. Either you keep your ideal of perfect love, and lead your poor every-day life of odds and ends, like mine, filling your days with the best scraps of pleasure or usefulness you may, or you give up your ideal

h the idealists-the men who gave up the comfort of their firesides, the gain of their occupations, and followed whither the vision led; the woman whose home was built upon love and who would see only infamy in houses founded otherwise; the poor soul beside her, stro

stars between torn clouds,-"Aunt Harriet-" She could not utter the de

accolade with a face more glorified than Millicent's when she silently dedicat

read the black and gilt legend below it-"And Angels Came and Ministered Unto Him." Then she

returned for her. Then the heart of that frivolous

altered, "and-amused, is it?

nna, that they sometimes wore list shoes, and sometimes ate br

eboding failure. And Anna sigh

S OF A

ELLERY

ted at the foot of the stairs; the Doctor himself in his study was gatherin

nd a headache, and a pain in his chest. He had slept but little, and one of his patients had had the happy idea of despatching a messenger for him in the dead hour of the night. The Doctor

cough racking, this reflection embittered the Doctor. At other times-and this was generally-he accepted with philosophy this integral selfishness of clients as a part of their inevitable constitution. They were a set of people nec

long past when his professional success depended upon anything so personal as appearance or manner. He could afford to be-and he frequently was-as disagreeable as he felt; desperate sufferers could not afford t

he has rendered back life, their own or a dearer, and the Doctor (having long outlived the time when it flattered him) was often exasperated to the limits of endurance by the blind faith which asked miracles of him as sim

be necessary. He had sent a safe remedy, telephoned a severe but soothing message, and mentally prayed now for patience to meet the irrational, angered eyes of maternity, and to administer a reproof equally g

impatiently, to his wife; "I sha'n't be able to go. Ten to one I s

rnal anxiety as he tumbled together the papers on the table, but she only said, "Very well." A

of our friends will be so glad to give you a cup o

ds; he looked abstractedly at his wife,

from the room. It was characteristic of him that he forgot his clinica

ection and ignoring the bows of his retainers. He kept his own for the benefit of his clients, he was wont cynically to say

e patients looked longingly after, as if virtue went out from it, and several masculin

ed to keep his mind fresh from case to case, detaching it from one train of thought and bringing it with new concentration to the next. These brie

t physician since the world with all its aches and pains began. For that other things were needed: a coloring of the artistic temperament, a dash of the gambler's, a touch of femininity, as well as the solid stratum of cool common sense at the bottom of all; these eked out the modicum of scientific knowledge which is all mankind has yet wrested from secretive nature. The Doctor sometimes described himself as a "good guesser." Surgery might be an exact science; few things in medicine were exact, and what was never exact was the material upon which medicine must work. The great bulk of his fraternity went through their studious, conscientious, hard-working, and not infrequently heroic lives under the contented conviction of having to deal wit

ch of femininity; to risk largely upon them was the gambler in him; his swift appropriation of the subject's temperament betrayed the artist in his own; while the hard common sense which drew the rein on all these was a legitimate inheritance-both national and personal. So was his manner-not often extremely courteous

pad, and there would have been something unseemly in the spectacle of a physician fiddling in his carriage, so he nursed this love in seclusion. His violin was his one indulgence, and when he permitted himself to dream, it was of a life with music in it. Sometimes he wished his wife were musical

vented their jealousy of him upon one of their joint patients-stabbing him, so to speak, through their lungs or heart, wherein he was most vulnerable. Just as he expected! They had deliberately neglected h

for the four steep flights of stairs; he could not justly complain of the number, since he himself had sent the patient there to be high and dry and quiet. On the way up he had one of his nameless seizures of intuition, and in th

m added nothing to that certitude, ye

too late," she

r aside like a piece of furniture and

ere he had left her. It was another, tall and young, who turned from the w

stood a moment by the window, breathing hard. His face was gray, but his eyes smiled, an

let yourselves go like that!

k at him silently, but the elder,

n her pulse. "Get her to bed as soon as you can,-and have these pr

lling an address as he pulled the door to with a slam. This time, however, he did not take o

recognizable,-administered the pathetically limited alleviations of his art to a failing cancer-patient (she happened to be a rich woman, going with the fortitude of the poor down the road to the great Darkness), and so, looking in on various pneumonias and

visit to the footman's child. In one manner or another that inconvenient locality had been compassed in his circuit for the past three weeks. From it he passed to his daily ordeal, another rich patient, a nervous wreck, whose primary ailment-the lack of anything to do-had pa

to his face; he pulled out his watch, glanced, and changing his first-given address for another, threw himself back on the cushions with closed eyes. He did not open them again until the carriage, rolling through many streets, came to a halt under some quiet trees, before an apartme

ovidential! You are the ve

of many underscorings. The Doctor, who had removed his hat with a purely mechanical moti

n't a particle of color, and she compl

ded up with flesh,-she doesn't exercise,-you stuff her. Send her out with her h

-I have to tempt her all the time;-and when

hen you do feed her, give her meat-something that will make red blood,-not slops, nor sweets, nor do

d after him, speechless, then turned f

ost vulgar,-as well as unkind," mur

did; the solid Elsie was her only one.) "And such desperate haste;-he must have a most critical case!" She cast an indignant glance at the building, as if to make it an accessory to the fact, and tur

things,-but I will do myself the justice to say I never believed a word

ed withal-coruscated subtle k

equally that he should presently have to write a note of apology-and that it would not do an atom of good, Tant pis. He rang at the door of the daffodil-room, and it was opened by the tall girl whose eyes had hurt h

is hat and gloves and pushed forward a low chair in front of the fire,

ng two haggard eyes, with the exhau

rd a little table set forth with a steaming tea-urn and cups, matches and a tray, and to lift to its f

. He smoked and she played-quiet, large music, tranquilly filling the room: Bach fugues, German Lieder, fragments of weird northern harmonies, fragments of Beethoven and Schubert, the Largo of Handel,-and all the time she played she looked at the man who lay back in the chair, half turned from her, the cigar drooping from his fingers. There was no sound in the room but the music and li

et his eyes

id, with a little, h

held up one of

with a trained and sensitive eye the muscular ease and grace of the supple arms and shoulders-like music. "Of course"-she spoke lightly-"they will kill you some day, among them; but-it's

or shook

le. "'Lord, if Thou hadst been here, o

. "Well," he said, lightly, "I must be off." He squared his shoulders and held out his hand; its grip up

d. She had risen a

om wistfully. "Jolly place,-I

t v

turning abruptly away, walked to the window and

to your wife? They are

airs. At their turn he glanced up for a moment, holding his hat raised silently. Sh

ile of ashes in the tray. The girl stood a moment looking at these things and the chai

ad driven through dim streets and climbed again the four flights

the pale mother only, lifting bl

de her till she slept, then stole away, leaving injunctions with the nurse, established in his a

than when he left the house that morning; he had no distinct reminiscence of lunch, and he was very

iteration of an oratorio chorus, fantastic fragments-"If Thou hadst been here!-If Thou hadst been here!" His fingers ached towards the responsive strings, and pulling out his watch, he made a hasty cal

s hat and coat. Out of the warmth and brightness his wife advanced to meet him, a child in either han

her wait? Children, don't hang so on papa; he must be dreadfully tired. Oh, and there's a man been waiting over a

s sink into him, while his hands played with the soft hair of his l

re are some posies there for mamma-from Miss Gra

mpassionately at the tired man. After a moment

ong. Have it brought in at once, and-

and turning away, went into his of

KING

MEGUIR

, more or less. But she had seen other things as well: he had developed unevenly, unexpectedly, if logically. There had been common tastes-which grew obsolete or s

but to have it counted out to you, to be q

of their marriage. "Are you afraid I won't be judic

was five feet nine and sweetly sober of mien.) "There

with more freedom I cou

sn't it? You feel equal to managing all of us?

she asked

e has for a dignified kitten. "I won't trouble you, my dear. I manag

sn't the po

is you'd be wanting something else, so what's the use of the expens

hat. But-but, Sam! It isn't fair!"

the chief thing. He c

d a dollar for kitchen tins. His extravagances were not always generosities. Once, after she had turned her winter-before-last

ed an account at

nchecked before she turned in the doorway. "If you will go over it," she said, with all her rehearsal unable, after

ore than a leaf an elephant; he did n

or his long primacy. Some weeks later, when Judith ordered an overcoat for Sam junior

heart, without the article. Her fir

Banks, of Head and Banks. (They supply your grain, I believe?) Mrs. Howe (isn't it R. E. Howe who is president of the Newcomb Club?) was at my elbow. T

mpulses to make amends, to him, to their love. Their love! That delicate wild thing sh

ast? The overcoat came home, to be sure, with cap and shoes besides. But she was to

he laughed to a caller, "practising her kindergarten methods

ng him. "You know how men are; the best of them a bit stupid about some th

pride in their marriage.) "Nobody minds little things like that against such devotion and constancy. Why, he talks of you all the time, Judith

ent without the customary kiss. When he had typhoid fever, no one might be near him but her, until her exhaustion could

n alone, adding to the score of her inevitable day o

an, she must use every opportunity to provide against future stricture; besides, Sam's

ur business. How can I t

ou posted," he laughed. He was no

ly. "But if I sp

t y

the slow fire growing within her into sudden flame. Ju

self?" Why, indeed? Anger put her at a disadvantage, and making her half wrong, half made him right. "I don't say I particularly blame you, but y

ous they were hopeless.

shrugged his shoulders

was a continual game of cross-questions and silly answers. Their natures were antipod

encing the children a

when with him, watched his mood to forestall with hasty attention or divert with strained wit, with timorous hilarity when he proved comp

rocity or merit. She had always been willing for them. Only it seemed to her all the rest of love shoul

xation-taxation without representation.

hout love; her whole nature, every life-habit, changed! Oh, no,

tting the best of her; she was losing her own dig

ns, futile drugs, and a period of acute affection from Sam-

y with the Bible. She was too live to droop and break as some do. She had not made herself the one armor that would have been effective-her own shell. Friction that does not callous, forms a

was going away, for several months perhaps, leavi

ion surprised Sam i

eparations; counted and recounted the cost, and at the last perhaps gave her a handsome new bag when her old one was particularly convenient, and he had supplied only half she had asked for clothes; would hardly tell her good-by for desolate devotion; tracked her with letters full of lone

do my o

I fail to recog

ble. I might as

ay for, nor endure, th

olutely. Not even to write letters. You need not bother to, either. Anne will

" Sam was

r capacity for surprise, he did not risk the satire of asking her plans. To the last Judith hoped he would shame her a little by offering the

e took her jewelry and silver, mementos of his self-indulgence in generosity, and pa

letters to him. There was no alternation of moods now. Nor w

ether. I will cast no blame. Perhaps some other woman would have called out a different side of you, or would have minded things less. It is enough that we do not belong together, because we are we and cannot

ce; I have given my strength and all the accomplishments I had to you and them. And there is no sense in the mock-heroics that I don't want your money. It isn't your money; it's ours, everything we have. I have borne your ch

t an answer

nor two weeks, nor three; while

e had waves of the nausea of defeat, fev

one weapon of offence she occasionally used. She wrote: "I am drawing on you to-day through your First National for a hundred and fi

ble to fancy you airing our privacies." Bait? or a goad? Oh yes, he counted on her "womanly qualities"-but with no idea of masculine emulation! "If you need advice, think what either of our mothers would say." Her mother! Judith could hear her, "His doing wrong cannot make it right for you to," with logic so unanswerable one forgot to question its relevance. And his! Judith held her partly accountable; some w

shall look for you the end of the week." Surely Sam was moved quite out of himself, that he had no lashes of laughter for her. But the next was more in character: "Bridget threatens to leave. She does n

times she thought her early excuses had hurt too much for her to admit their truth: much of his unkindness was not intentional, only stupid; slow sympathy, dull sensibility; he did not suffer, nor comprehend, like a savage o

sideration of many things. Admitting that at times it was right to break everything, wrong not to, it was at least the last resort.

e empty ceremonies alone they could now take part together. Of the sacred image nothing was left but the feet of clay. Fre

of her hair. There were many such explanations for Sam, too. Not that they made her like him any better, feel him any more akin. But it was true that between the fatalities of heredity and en

and wrote: "I am coming back to make one more and

forgetting. Her redeemed valuables were all in place. Everything should b

ge of the three balls, the spoils of

d the maid carry them out, explaining in her absence, "N

made her appearance unfamiliar; he thought the change all recent. He took pains to compliment the imm

hought, wearily, letting the

acies by which she was used to soothe, prepare, manage, the lord of the hearth. "I am not going to ask for money in the future, nor d

ffing it from his lower lip. "As accurately as I can recollect, my dear, I have told you seven thous

now what you have made. Base it on the year before. Or have a written

capitulation and had met it according to his code, things were not fitting in. "Really, my dear! Really! What next? Eviden

a good technical opportunity. If her mirage of regeneration, her hope of an understanding, perhaps even her love, had flung up any last afterglow in this home-coming, it was over now. Indeed, now it seemed an old grief, the present but confirmation concerning a lover ten years lost at sea. She saw the whole man now c

forever bring money between us! How you got tainted with this modern female anarchy! You seem to forget that I made the money, it is mine. There is bound to be

aid-of the solution she had discarded. She did not go back to it now

re I have made myself quite plain. We will never discuss this again

ach other wi

m's sh

zed; they didn't-that kind. How ha

looking at her face, turned away from it, hesitated, turned back, broke. Fear increased his admiration, and, to do him justice, the fear was not wholly for convent

topped him. "You

get the idea that I

y more. Besides, it is never any u

ways thought they got along as well as most

eckoning for which she had so long been running up an account was on her. But the growing assurance

Sam did better; the despot is always a moral coward, and always something of the slave to a master. Moreover, her growing invulnerability to hurt through him set, in large measure, the attitude of the household; everybody was more comfortable.

ide of her nature was stunted, she seemed to blossom all the more richly in other ways. She loved her children in proportion as she had suffered and worked for them. After her domestic years, like so many women, she took fresh start, physically and mentally. Her

GLAS

Y TRAC

money for a course in a school of pharmacy. Later, Charlotte, who was then Charlotte Hastings, bought it, and, after her marriage, finished paying for it out of its own products, while her husband talked politics or played chess in his drug-store. It was said that

rmacy had disappeared from his manner when he returned. Charlotte had told people that they should marry as soon as he came home, yet the wedding did not come off for two years. During this time it was noticed that although she held her head high and was fertile in good reasons for the delay, her girlish look left her, her features sharpened, and her speech developed an acid reaction; it

and a weak man while unmarried is peculiarly liable to changes of affection. But, on the other hand, a weak man once safely married is completely in the power of his wife; during the last two years of their engagement certain illusions regarding herself and Blake had fallen from her eyes; she had stated both those facts plainly to herself, and they had helped her to decide upon a course of action. There had been moments when she had despised herself for using he

, too. He was never unkind, and there were times when some fresh evidence of her devotion to him would touch him into an appreciation that was almost responsive. And there were other times when she would find him looking at her with an expressio

the bed-cover to show him the little bundle at her side, a look of pain and aversion flashed across his face, and he moved away, be

," he said at first, but she

sitation that was foreign to her,-"I've been t

her into the corner of the room, while she looked anxiously at him. At her words h

nner, and his distaste for the idea was so evident

might like to,"

in itself," he declared; adding, with a great effor

sant lines showed around them. "I certainly shall not name he

n think of," he said. "If you don't like it, you

s very weak. "If I were asking you to father some other man's c

full of exasperation, repugnance, and despair. "You are quit

id foundation to build upon. There would be constraint at first, but the effort of daily patience would overcome it in time; moreover, there was the baby. Blake might refuse to look at her now, but as she grew and acquired the irresistible graces of a healthy babyhood he would be obliged to see and to yield to her. A man of his nature could not live in the

her Hope,

eemed so far in the past that Charlotte's courage strengthened with each day. The sense of security which had marked the first months of her married life did not return, but she could feel herself making a strong fight against fate to hold what she had, and, if she were never entirely certain of the issue, at least she fought with the obsti

he sitting-room, where the baby would spend most of her time in winter, was poorly lighted, and needed to have a glass door substituted for the wooden one which opened on to the front porch. Still more to her surprise, the door was deli

ewed in place, he called to Charlotte. She came, with lips as usual closed very tight, but with cheeks flushed very pink, and w

he kept looking at the door. "The

ched it once or twice to make sure that it was perfectl

sunlight," he said, and t

py; she was too strangely excited for happiness; but she was keenly awakened and alert. Every nerve in her seemed keyed up to its u

The visitors were strangers to her, and though she could not have told why, as she sat staring at them through the door, her mouth suddenly set into the lines of indomitable obstinacy which had grown

e first to speak. "Does Mr. Emo

fe. What can I do for

ry and drew back. "Oh no!

nd the excited emotions with which timidity spurs itself to action. She looked as if she longed to sit down somewhere, and as if perhaps she could have more c

ou," she said, timid

through Charlotte's muscles. "You can be

tie Trent. I clerked, and I boarded where he did, and we fell in love and married. He told me a

Then her masterful spirit rose to a new task. She drew herself up and looked

rry to be the one to hurt you, but you have been cruelly treated.

ring her breath, waited for her to offer some resistance, to assert her own claim, or to ask for proof of the statement which denied it; but Netti

er hands. On one side her child tugged at her dress; on the other, little H

she said, "but I don't; I just can't. When we were together he was so sweet to me. I don

e," Charlotte said, slo

arms. "But what he did was almost as bad for you as

to her own baby's cradle. "Oh, I do

n. "I must ask you some questions," she

ere quivering. "Named Dorcas," she

about her lips deepened. "Does

ey once in a while. I wrote him not to worry

ysterious power which so weak a man could exert over women, even without his will. She was wondering, too, if her own passion for him would ever rise again. At present she was far from loving him; she felt only a bitter resentment, a desire to punish him by holding to him, and a towering obstina

owards her. Hope hid her face against her mother's neck, but a

trembling. "Your baby

gain, she dropped her cheek against it and tears came into her eyes-scal

ard, eagerly suspicious. "You have

en?" she echoed, but Nettie's sharpened face brought her to herse

I'm sorry I asked you. I

with her child strained

ice. She looked at Charlotte in despairing

rlotte answered

simple acceptance of all she said inspired her with cool deliberation. There was plenty of time, and she wished to make no mistake. She must

red, finally. "You must have aske

out where he grew up and just the road he used to take from the station to the house, and I remembered every word of it. I didn't like to go to him at his store for fear there

wise," Charlo

ot to be in a rush to go," she began, "but I feel like I've got to sit still and-and kind of get my breath before I can start out. I've been so afraid of it that it doesn't seem like I ought to be surprised, but I tel

our friends treat you?" she asked, abruptly. "D

the way I did," she answered, quickly, "but lately they've been suspecting something

es for you?"-Charlotte put the question

any family or any friends close enou

ey didn't," Charlotte said. "In your p

me a chance to find out now. You see, I've been afraid of this so long that I've had time to make my plans and to save up money a little. Bef

"I suppose you're depending on M

. I did wrong to live with him, but I didn't know he was married, so I don't feel like one of that kind

"For him to help you would only be right," she sa

rough what I have, being left before my baby came, and having people ask me close questions, and then, little by little, losing my own fait

"Perhaps I can understand that-in a

"and if I were you, I wouldn't say a word to anybody about my having been here. Nobody knows it. I didn't have to ask my way. There aren't many women would treat me the way you do, and

ch weaker, so blindly trustful, and so patient, her heart, which had sunk in shame, rose suddenly in pity; at that m

d uncertainty, but after a m

ust go," s

e had spoken she paused to moisten her lips. Her limbs trembled, and in the glass doo

women confronted each oth

oat. "I have money I could give yo

ved up a good deal. And you've done better than give me money; you've been kind to me." She

meet him coming home if you wait any longer. H

to the back of the house, where she stood giving short, sharp directions,

rlotte! Where a

y had lived together Blake h

the path which hid itself quickly in the shelter of an or

and filling with tears. "Oh, you've been so good-may

I'm bringing Hope," she called. "Hurry!" she whispered to the other woman.

urmured. She swayed a little, and before Charlotte cou

he house. For an instant he stared in bewilderment. The

r she was indoors on her knees beside her bed, with he

in the west and the evening promised to be chill. Presently Charlotte rose. She closed the front

nd was bending over her. He looked up, and at si

ness the horse," she said. "You can catch t

was as if strength were being born in

ed. "You'd better pick up some

ith swift, shaking hands. The sun was out of sight when she drove back to the ho

ady?" Charl

an old handbag. At t

was to sit with Nettie and the child,

mote, hostile legions. The children slept. Occasionally Nettie and B

of their journey Blake leaned

the store?

e harshly. "Your stock will cov

fe and Dorcas into the waiting-room and came back for his

rst, but stood in the beam from t

?" sh

not much I can sa

xpected gasp. "It wasn't your fault-I made you do it." For a moment

nt to kiss he

ssionate tenderness. As he looked up, his wet

him. "I guess I've bee

ETH AN

EL CAMP

ould not say how slim the chance in that plain room, having within it the pleasant noise of bees and the spring sun

me, Davie," she said

cely. His gaunt frame, stooped as a scholar's, shook so pitifully with his grief, she

ity streets with the hurryin' people, 'n' tall houses, 'n' churches with towers

ough saved to go

u goin' 'long? It'll seem terrible nice to hear from somebody. I

diffidence of the untravelled. Few men ever left the small farming district of Turkey Ridge

t a dull old man, now smitten suddenly by sorrow. "The idee o' my bein' afeard!

sad fear in her eyes-a fear of all the greater world which was b

hold burdens. In a community where no great things ever came save two, and these two birth and death, misfortune drew soul to soul. Because of her gathering weakness she yielded that others should do the tasks which had always hitherto been hers, but she could not be prevented from the packing of the little leather trunk that had held her wedding things. "You're jest makin' me out a foolish

aw, pottered down to fetch the pinball which his daughter had forgotten when she came to help. Mrs. Glegg, who had lately lost her idiot son, Benje, gave a roll of soft flannel. Miss Panthea Potter contributed a jar of currant jam, three years sealed, and pretended that she was not moved. The minister copied out a verse from the Psalms and fixed it so cunningly about a gold piece that,

tenly," the white-haired old woman said,

e dress. The wedding journey had been the coming up at sunset to the Ridge from her home in the valley, behind his plough-horses, lifting their plodding hoofs as in the furrows. On the clean straw in the back of the wagon rested

ide by side watching in silence the light die over the scanty fields handed down to him by his father, who had grown bent and weary in wrenching a living from them as he was aging. Neither wa

again at evening on the door-step with the sweetness of the straggling spice-bush upon it. Now as

jest like to run through the house a min

Davie, something

wed to her. It was her Place Beautiful. There was a pale, striped paper on the sacred walls, and on the floor an ingrain carpet, dully blue. At the windows were ruffled white curtains-the ruffles and sheer lengths of lawn had lain long in her dreams. The mantel-piece held a row of shells, their delicate pink linings showing, and on either end china vases filled with

and by. She was sitting up very straight in her rocker, a baby's long clothes on her lap. Her expression of pain was

voice crooned, "was

one by one, in the lower drawer of the high, glass-knobbed bureau whence she had taken them. The thin stuff of

curled," she said, whe

r forehead her heavy falling hair, then dark, in the way she had if very glad. Seeing that she had something to tell him, and wondering at her eyes,

t old cradle of your ma'

nce answer her, but could only grope toward

vered in joy, "'stead o' from side t

n the cautious purchase of a child's sack, and crying out in exultation, "It's got tossels on it!" Davie storing singular treasures in a box in the garret-seed-pods which rattled when you shook them; scarlet wood-berries, gay and likely to please; a

s somethin' like playin' the fiddle. There can't jest anybody rush in an' play a real good time on a fiddle-takes a terrible lot o' preparin' 'n' hard work to tech them little strings t

to me that the man jest born good 'd play the s

wound with rags for a hit and miss. Weaving eked out a slender income. His father's finger-tips, too, had become stained by colors

sight of the pillow unmanned him. "The idee o' that stove smokin' so Christmas!" he choked. She turned to him quickly. Their seamed hands met as in that joyous moment among the vegetables, b

um going by, then in a vast impatience, then with the bridle hanging

he ewes, yet frail from their travail, stood stung and still, mothering their weak-kneed lambs. Beside the thud of the horse's hoofs toward town there was no sound on the road save a little, dry cracking of the frost. The doctor, as he started in his carriage for Davie's house, drew his robes closely about him a

its cedars never again to be wholly out of their ears. Away from the grave Davie gave an exceedingly bitter cry-"She's little to leave!" But Elizabe

the parting, were so heavy upon him that he could get no farthe

to-night, 'Lis

thfully brave. "Mebbe the Lord'll jest take care o' me, anyway, bein' as I'v

uggy because of its comfortable seat, but Davie drove her carefully over the six miles to the station. No shriek of an engine's whistle disturbed the quiet of Turkey

or his services, his trips were tedious, and his ideals were limited. To read and digest all postals and to conjecture at the contents of all envelopes were his reward for handing out the mail at the turning of the lanes. The minister jogged down instantly to Davie's in his sulky, slapping the lines vigorously, if ineffectually, over the back of his brown mare,

st tell, for I come in the night, but the noise is amazin'." "Tell Davie I can see a church tower from the window, an' it's higher 'n' we ever dreamt of its bein', an' sweeter." "Tell Davie to lay listenin' to feet goin' up and down on stones is grand." "Tell Davie I hev seen the surgeon an' that I never though

d in the garden, and a pair of robins were nesting on a ledge of the loom on finding the room so still; the speckled hen scratched up the pease, and the black cow's calf was lamed; the house dog pined for her and whimpered at the doors, letting the cats lick the edges of his dish; the neighbors

stood, but waited, a strained, pathetic figure, for him to make his way across the even furrows. On the fatherly, near-sighted countenance, as he drew nearer, was to be seen such a shining brightness that straightway Davie knew that she whom he loved had issued from her tri

t once with something of an air, and he developed a reckless and unnatural enthusiasm about the weather; for to be darkly critical of the season after the thaw was a local point of masculine etiquette which hitherto he had scrupulously observed. The spring had always been in his judgment, sympathetically received, "too terrible warm," or "pointin' right to a late frost that'll kill everything," or,

. He took it unopened up to the bench by the May rose to read its contents at his leisure away from the stage-driver's curious gaze. "Dear Davie," the letter said, "the city streets is so wearyin' an' I'm

the money for Mary's journey had been sent to

d on the lowly roofs. Everywhere was the calling of birds and the smell of broken earth. The minister and Mary fell behind along the way. Kerrenhappuch Green, caught walking westward to the creek, his stale pocket

homeward in the shining of the sun a wagon fresh lined with straw, on which lay a homely mother, smiling with old l

DOON, B

P VERRIL

hand of Miss Sally Wooster, had about concluded that Bitter Water Valley was a desert, afte

ry itself. One-half of that whole Nevada area was a great white blister, forty miles long and fifteen wide, acrid with alkali, flat, barren, and harsh as a sheet

and the buxom Miss Sally, whose father was among the citizens enumerated. At the end of the street was a hole, or well, the waters of which

ingenuity of the insults of which he was never guiltless. The sulphurous little demon was, as the miners and teamsters estimated, "only two sizes bigger than a full-grown jack-rabbit." What he lacked in size, however, he more than supplied in expression of

Moreover, he had challenged each to mortal combat. Indeed, he had never been known to do anything less. Barney was a challenger first and a cook

g engagements, than they did for all the alacrity and pyrotechnics with which he was wont to surround himself with duelsome entanglements. The boys

company. The sobriquet by which the man was duly introduced was Slivers. He was swiftly appraised and as quickly assimilated, after w

nsult you can think of, and leave the rest to Barney. Trot out a plain, home-made slap at the fodder he's dishin' up,

n to Sally Wooster, and had duly desired her big red hand for his own, only to hear a wild peal of laughter in reply, and to find h

aring at the board and calmly requiring the wherewithal to satisfy a mountain appetite. Accordingly, when the miners and teamsters all came filing in

he girders all plainly suggested. Not without a certain insolence of deliberation, he stared abo

ady," whispered one o

e that all who knew him comprehended, Barney went about the table glowering with ferocity. Edging closer and closer to Slivers, the lit

his neighbor, when Barney was directly behind his chair. "Has that pizen

scion of the wild-ass family?" deman

must have been losin' hair for years-one hair a day-for everything you don't

his pate presented, Barney clapped his hand upon

and outcast, I'll spoil a grave with your carcass for this! You jelly of cowardice, meet me to-morrow

ers somew

me, Johnny!-if I can crawl in the hole to find you where you're hidin' I'll m

h with ill-concealed awe. "Buzzard, you toy with languages. To-m

ight it out bareback on buckin' broncos, out in the small corra

by pistols, knives, red-hot branding-irons, and even pitchforks, but rocks in a stocking-that smacked of barbarism. Moreover,

d would become a more detestable reptile! Till to-morrow, don't speak to me-don't speak to m

en pair of gleaming eyes. "Take him dose for dose he's worse t

ays escaped by a margin so narrow that no precedent of the past gave assurance of luck for the future. He was mortally afraid that at l

ld of honor, hard by the camp. Every cell in Barney's structure was in a panic. How he managed to walk to the water-bench to wash was more than he knew.

y in yer vitals," suggested one. "Slivers i

at him. Then. I'd turn in the air and soak my heels into Slivers's grub

your hoss, so you can jump over onto Slivers's bronco and cram your stockin

the corral, in which the two vicious ponies had

little scarecrow has shru

is mouth to deliver a broadside of verbal grape

p. Two, three, five more shots barked in swift succession. Miss

came dashing madly toward the men, bra

nk in the morni

ed the population as he rode his

a second. "There's been a baby born at Red Shirt Canyon! We git in the

d Sally Woos

t indignant townsmen. "Red Shirt's thirty-seven miles away. W

ested the horseman, a trifle crestfalle

out his chest and

tleman on such an occasion as this. Skete, you've saved the life of yonder braggart," and he pointed to Slivers. "I could

tle. "No fight? All

" added Sal

What's a baby got to do with a duel

baby," said he. "There ain't a man but me in camp knows how to behave himself in a holy moment like

hide!" grumbled Tuttle.

l grinning, inc

-toad knows about arithmetic," said Wooster, winking

idual who had sobered amazingly at the news from

e we could work up a bet between you and Barney,

re about children than all you cusses put together! There ain't

produced a sol

't git their eyes open fo

ck," retorted Barney. "It's

en were awe

y's correct," presently

daughter Sally, and she tu

we've got a scheme. Barney wants to match himself against the whole shebang in knowin' ab

helmed at the prospect of proving his erudition

eamster. "You sit quiet and look

mp, from a pilgrimage, and the mule-driver held in his arms a little red Indian papoos

ng citizens, "there's your kid. Never mind where we got him-there he is. Barney takes charge of

eld the tiny, half-naked, frightened little chieftain-to-be, gazing timidly about him

laughing immoderatel

help neither Barney n

she answered. "It a

t their "young un" in no sm

f the miners, after a moment. "I wouldn

t things to do for a child," he ventured,

friend. "My mother us

ts on him fairly early in the fight

for us was to make us a bib," drawl

er swear, ner gamble, 'fore it gits too late," added a min

ts!" said Barney,

sed on the fie

, "what is the first thing to

u think I'm going to tell you lop-eared galoots all I know ab

eed him?" asked Slivers. "

s scum, and let me hav

mself, only you come last, bein' the challenger. We'll arrange things alphabetical.

er than usual, wh

ut kids," he confessed. "Cat

st. After him Farnham and Lane wa

an on the floor, and twisting the corner of his coat, inq

ith a frightened litt

ody added. "I don't mind se

rney a show,"

m his usually wiry little body; his eyes were milder; a curve was so

derly lifting the little man, he bore him

orted that Barney was singing the youngster to sleep. The wor

sum-sum

sum-sum

sum-sum b

it was equally good Cherokee, Chinese, or Russian, being Barney's clearest

, Slivers, Tuttle, and oth

of us," said the mule-driver, "unless we c

uired Tuttle. "The ki

now about a young un as against little Barney. Now, Mood

fessed Moody. "The-the only little ki

O

t was hel

their lips as if to whi

mething so's the kid would be scared to see him, we might win

e tried," answered Wooster. "Anyhow the po

hed any, eithe

to his tiny shirt, and watched Barney's face with big, brown, questioning eyes. The cook had forgotten his boast. To hold the wee bit of babyhood agai

h the intuitions of a natural father's heart, but little as this amounted to, Barney was aware that a tiny scamp like th

used from his dreams by some one's presence. It was Barney, too worried to sleep, surreptitiously come to the tiny captive's fruit-box cradle, and gently urging the wee bronze man to eat of some gruel prepared at that silent hour of the darkness. He was

her bosom, as she snatched the little Indian once, in secret, to her heart. Without the courage, as yet, to hear the men ridicule her weakness, she nevertheless contrived to place a hundred li

test, even to Slivers, who strove, however, t

night Barney had gone in desperate parent-care to receive his foundling back from Moody.

astened to the dining-shed, where all the

poor little eyes-getting hollow!" Tears were streaming from his own tired eyes as he spoke. "Slivers, you did this!" he charged, angrily. "You tell me

pon. "Uncock it, Barney. You'd ought to know I wouldn't harm the kid, any

ey. "I'm going to take him home-back to his m

ot any sand. The Injun camp is over across the desert, in Thimblebe

an animal at bay. His face became deathly white. He fully compr

rder to-day," he said. "It's stirring up the desert some already. A man

ld look on his face, hast

dy, gazing forth from a window. "Get on to the way

d Slivers. "But I knowed he wouldn't tackle it anyhow. H

lowing; the desert began to deliver up its cohorts of dust-clouds, where powdered

Barney's up to now," prompted Sl

back directl

now," added Catherwood,

meditated proposing for the h

too had detected the change come upon the tiny Indian captive.

Where's the bab

Cove," answered Slivers, smilingly. "He was ru

mother's up at Red Shirt

uneasily. "We-told him abou

esert!" she cried, disjointedly. "They'll die! Oh no, he wouldn't-" She ran out

ouse. Apparently there was nothing, far or wide, on the de

dn't tackle that

the kitchen now," said

as only the dog. She d

. "But surely Barney

all stared at the storm of dust. For one brief second the swirling clouds were reft, reve

ly sound that Sally made, a

said Adams. "Was he h

was," answer

anything-else,"

ment no

sert," drawled the fidgety man. "I'd hat

o along mysel

t mean no harm when I told him wrong. I didn't think he'd go. I'd ride through he

the stable, Sally suddenly rode forth, bareback, on a buckskin pony, and heading

-I'll go!" ye

the white expanse, where the wreathing dust seemed

two out from the camp before she reined him in. Believing Barney c

eady her throat was dry. Dust and powder and snow-of-alkali came from everywhere. It was blowing up he

for a breath. The air was thicker th

tongue. On either side she could see for a distance of twenty fee

urged her horse. How far could Barney hear her calling? How far could he wander? How far would she ride? There were forty miles in l

ld both be dead before she could find them made her desperation unendurable. With eyes starting hotly, with every breath

at nothing. The pony turned about, unheeded, and began to fig

inking. For a time she rode thus, heedlessly. Then abruptly she clutched at th

a croon, but like them both, yet a song, uncertain, apparent

me lonesom

ow makes

me-loneso

ow makes-

ise. Slipping from her horse's back, she groped her

Not another sound would the desert render up-only the strange dry swishing by

by a mighty effort.

ce a shout through her swollen lips. At length, in despair, she knew she could search no more. A lifelessness of

for hours, when at length she stumbled upo

ing and sobbing, she lifted him up-unconscious, but clinging to th

all the tender strength of a new-born love. "Barney-try-try, dear

animal. He made no answer, no movement. She feared he must be dead. She dared not look at the

ome," she croaked to t

he waters of Bitter Hole in his nostrils, the willing creatur

from the blizzard of alkali. A blinded horse, with head bent low, bearing on its back a motionless man, and led by a stumb

d the wind had died away before teamster Slivers limped from the desert. He came afoot. He had ridden his horse

an to m

kid?" the teamster

where the little feller was and was goin' on the war-trail, sudden, but

ting himself fall limply to the earth, he lay with hi

REPA

ERY P

hrough the open windows, pulling gently at his heart, cheeping through the darkened room as lightly and as blithely as the birds in the horse-chestnut tree

he smiled, and going to a window, pushed open the blinds, leaning, with elbows on the sill, gratefully out into the rectan

, like a live thing with him in the room, and out in the court, too,-almost as if he could put out his hand and draw it in close to him. Freedom, that was it. His lips made the word

being glad-I've tried, too, but now, to-day, it's boun

at but a moment ago was so clear. He came back hesitatingly from the window and threw himself down befor

errible thing to be glad a person is-" He shivered as he withheld the end of the sentence, t

less; it might rather have been due to a certain appealing gentleness of bearing, something that was the resultant of a half-shy manner, expanding into boyish confidence winningly; a shortish, slender figure, scarcely robust; eager, friendly brown eyes behind his glasses; and a keen desire to be liked. It m

might, in the end, be taken as an aimless appeal to the Almighty to know why He had

ugh the dreadful, relentless activity that follows immediately on the heels of death; there was some alleviation in the thought that everything had been done just as she would have liked to have it. To-day the house was free of

to himself as he listened to t

ut again he stopped his mental train abruptly. It was such a wearisome business, this "being fair"-he put it so-to her; this conscientious erasing of self-justification w

first hold a violin under his little chin. He had died when the boy was twenty, and Haldane had gone on, contentedly enough and absorbed, to take his father's place among the violins of an orchestra, and to teach music. As he gre

e she, too, quite unaffectedly, took to the idea that the good-natured musician needed "looking after." And since, all her life, sh

g after" Haldane took itself out in the hearty channels of dry boots, overshoes, tea of late afternoons, candid suggestions as to proper winter underwear, remedies for his frequent

ly came to believe-as along the line of least resistance-in his personal incapacity and his loneliness; gradually Ida Locke began to realize that, for the first time, this L

ness of dress, her utter freedom from any sort of weak dependence on him, her uncompromising rigidity of moral attitude, and, above all, her goodness to him-this convinced him of her ultimate fitness to be a wife to him; and it

ost admitted. And since, in the world as she knew it, men did not ask women to marry them unless

considered this her domestic right; now, after almost a dozen years-she was older th

dane knew it was all quite intolerable to him. Before the desk to-day, Ida's des

quate. He childishly resented her little nagging economies-and especially because he knew they were generally necessary. He chafed at the practical, sensible view he was argued resolutely into on every matter. What made it hard was that Haldane could not decently account for his revulsion of feeling toward Ida, now she was his wife. Worse than all, he sa

da-parts of the score of a light opera he had been at work on

g-more hopeful than he had ever yet been with her: "That's pretty. It's funny-isn't it, dear?-to think you made it up out of your own he

now just the bitter hopelessness of feeling how she had failed him-and the remembrance hurt anew.

tandpoint, the situation was not so bad. It was Haldane's personal conception of it which caused the difficulty. Probably it was his sense of fairness to her which made him accep

ten, "she never knew. She couldn

ever, was to keep the hurt of his soul out of his eyes. So they had gone on with it for the two years, with a prospect of going on with it forever, Haldane growing daily quieter, more reserved, if anything more gently kind, and more pathetically hopeless. With Ida it was, rather, a large

he day after his wife's burial, before her little oak desk.

it's over.

mind afterwards. Every one he saw seemed so happy. He assured himself that happiness-a quiet content, at least-was to be his now. Why not? Why disguise the fact that he was really, underneath, glad? So he smiled and lingered and sipped his coffee, feeling suddenly the beautiful realization that he was again of the world-irresponsible, careless. Coming back into the dull flat w

a fresh cigarette, and set hims

she ought to have had. If there were any way-any possible way of reparation, ... but I suppose there isn't. Nothing except to live decently and honorably-if that's reparation. Thank God, 'tisn't as if there were any other woman mixed up in it-I haven't got that to worry me at any rate. I wonder whether a man gets his punishment for-but no, you can't help feeling, and being, and loving, ju

hem up now with relief at finding something tangible to be done. Most of them were letters of consolation and sympathy for him from his friends and hers; the worn phrases one can so little avoid in such missives touched him with a sense of their dual ineffectuality. Other letters were addressed to Ida-commonplace

ad had his telegram. An illness had prevented her from coming to the funeral; and she lived so far away, somewhere in Iowa. Her heart was bleeding for him, she wrote. Her own loss was almost

as conscientiously always trying to do her best by her, support

le to earn the necessary money himself-he was ill that winter. Yes, surely, Ida had been splendid in the matter of her mother. "It's a pity that things weren't so that Ida's mother could have come to see us here in New York," Haldane

d at last, gently,

and energies must be centred on the wonderful event so soon to happen. It seems to me I've always been cal

ur cousin George invested for me, and now he tells me-I don't understand it at all-that it's quite lost. I know you'll say I was foolish to let George have it, but he promised so much-and George has been so good to m

tumbled to bed. It was strangely clear to him-the attitude he was to assume. Not that he did not mak

back to her in the only way I can. I'll bring her mother here to live with me.... My God! and I wanted so the freedom of it all again, just to feel free.... No, this is it-my way-I'll take it. It's what I owe Ida. I can't rea

it was in the fortnight before she came, was, "What is

e most beautiful winter he had ever spent. As for Ida's mother-well, when she was alone her eyes were constantly filling with tears-tears of thankfulness that the Lord

bly up and down the draughty, smoky enclosure where her train, already very late, was to come in. "But it's my debt to the dead I'm going to pay." He added a moment lat

ndkerchief in her left hand"-so Mrs. Locke had written him. Haldane had smiled at th

ery nervous and out of place. Her face was white with fatigue, the excitement of the journey, and the thought of how she should meet-ought she to call him Leonard? And when Haldane saw her he suddenly

d it he had said ge

elled over as she gaspe

if it were no new thing to them both-as if they had come together again after a long separation. And it was, perhaps, in a wa

want when you read about them," Haldane often told her. "You kn

uch a regret to her that she hadn't Leonard's readiness of speech and the courage to break down her res

all the details of Ida's sickness and death to be gone over with her mother-the things she had done just before. How she looked; the quantity of flowers; even what she wore for her burial. Instinctively Haldane knew how dear these matters were to her, and he went over

that-that she was going to die. It was a

I see. Poor Ida! She did

of it at all-and that with relief-wondered vaguely why Ida's mother did not talk more about h

is affairs, his music. He played to her for hours in the evenings he was not at the orchestra; when he was teaching in the mornings she would steal into the room, and sit, sewing, in a corner, l

heaven, having so much music all the time. Seems as if

l, mother," he laughed, "it's quite a real p

she cried; "how can I

manded of her. "You're to stay alway

-it's so strange why he's so good to me. I'm not at all like her. Ida was so sensible always, and I'm not at all-Ida always told me I couldn't take care of myself, that

int, far voices endlessly calling was in the air. Again the windows of the little flat were opened and again the afte

n the world. All the morning he had been constantly picking up his violin, pl

ed, throwing back his head. "Good to

lay with me. You've looked over those old books and papers, spring-cleaned your old closets

, he called: "If you will insist on being led forth-Why, mother

alertness, knew as one of Ida's old school note-books. On her face was a look so bewildered, so grieved, so terror-stricken almost, that Haldane suddenly ceased to speak. She raised her eyes to him with th

thing we can talk

her eyes. "Oh, Lennie!" she whispered, finally,

little red book to him slowly. "You'd-you'd

iously he sat down before the little, cheap, oak desk-Ida's desk-and began to read. It w

ter all, she knew. And I never gues

entries were scattered-as if put down when the stress of feeling had overcome her. They ranged over the two years of their married life. In each one she had seemed, with a startling lucidity, to have apprehended exactly her husband's state of mind toward her. She had written freely, baldly, without excess of sentimentality. "I know he hates me sometimes; I see it in his eyes." Again: "He is hideously kind." "He

again. "And, now, what's to be the end of it? What will I

compassionately, for now his thoughts were all for the shrinking, hurt woman beside him. She had never before seemed so fragile, so dependent, an

s all true, quite true." He waited, but she gave no sign. "Quite true; I-I suppose it wouldn't be worth while for me to explain things no

, you had better say it-now," she answered, ner

ood to me; looked after me and all that, but-Oh, I'm afraid I'm only hurting you the worse by saying all this. You won't, you can't understand. Let it be that it was all my fault. It was, it was. Believe that, please.... And I know you won't want to stay here wi

ded sor

ve to know? ... And you haven't any money. You must let me help you. Let me do that-just that. Can't you forget it all enough for that? Surely

himself. With an effort he pulled h

d. "Right. You wouldn't want

eyes. There was a wonderful pity in her face.

t toward her. I wasn't cruel or beastly-I was kind. They say that's cruelty, too. I tried-my God!

n. She was crying softly, and, it appeared, with

time. I knew you couldn't be cruel to a living thing. And-and-somehow-it changed-things. I've had such a terrible struggle all alone. I've tried to pray over it and-oh, I'm afraid I'm very wrong and very wicked-I almost know I am." Her voice sank to a whisper. "But

s. A great light was slowly brea

how I felt. And then you were like a son-my son-the boy I wanted so, and-I loved the

n hers gently, "As if

ittle sad smile, and in he

nnot go-no

ARLY T

NA HUBL

ts a yearly tribute of flesh and blood lik

in through the high uncurtained windows of the lecture-hall. All the students stared with reverence at this distinguished stranger, who had come a long distance to speak to the graduating class; and one of its members sighed deeply and turned his eyes to the window, and watch

r, indeed, the thickness of the atmosphere seemed intensified. The two Americans, who had spent a whole year in Mexico and become accustomed to the climate, attempted to make themselves comfortable. Pilchard sank t

and glistened in the distance; and when Pilchard finally said, "So poor Murphy is gone too," and Swan respond

ll the others who went before, and Peele taken sick

only got te

do it, so long as we

the swamp

o nothing but his general ungainliness. Swan was an inventive Yankee with no background and no tradition. He could not even claim the proverbial Connecticut farm. His people had been dreary commercials in a middle-sized New Hampshire town, and he had worked his way through college to fit himself for a scientific career. His memory of his deceased parents was so colorless that it seemed to Swan as if they had never existed, and his contacts had been so dull, his outlook so dreary, that he had almost no conception of beauty. His plain college room, where, by the hour, he had work

ns to the city of Mexico. The undertaking included the erection of docks with swinging elevators to lift the freight from the vessels and deposit it in the cars, and as the pay was very large and Pilchard was an adventurous soul, he undertook the job when it was offe

oil and perspiring men, there was something filthy and degraded about the atmosphere. Swan suddenly realized this, although it was the only atmosphere he knew anything about. Glancing upward, he saw a little patch of blue sky through the top of one of the grimy windows ... a white cloud sailed past ... and then

iness," said Swan,

w s

you read what you've

ly I've

can put the job t

ilchard, with his

nd to convince himself he read the contract again, out l

one year's time, work starting on the 25th of June. Docks and freight-elevators were included in the work, and if the tracks were not in fit condition for the trains to run by the date specified,

meeting that "cock-sure" smile, "y

ertain

onvinced, "it's the worst country on e

Indians to lay the ties. They

, good fellows who know the business. You can't b

athly look. Pilchard saw instantly that he must have Swan to do the work. He must take him down to Mexico or else the railroad would never be built. Swan would come, too, because there was a look of tragic fatigue in his deep-set eyes, an expression of sick nausea in the lines about his mouth, that showed how gladly he would change, how completely he had come to the end of his hopes here; so Pilchard suggested with a careless smile

o take advantage of Pilchard's generosity? He glanced around the room, conscious of the incessant chattering of the different parts of the engine, which he must keep going in order to turn out the produce of a g

he

company today," Pilch

at

eamer that touches on the 25th. Everything plays into thei

hat's al

I meet the fellow a

s easy

in his self-possessed way, and said not

hole. I'll get the job done, of course, but we've j

or

ight, but I doubt it. Anyhow, if he lives or dies, we're devilish pres

ni

" Swan looked at the full moon, which, as

h his nose, then said with a sigh:

ey

ong as you are. It's a lucky thing you haven't

see what

girl's got everything ready for the wedding. You met her tha

I me

because he did not care to discuss the woman he loved with an outsider like Swan, or was it because he was going on ti

ped the question of

ose, that you won

I'm not we

his great shoulders as if he were trying to shake out the a

it's time we came t

ilchard queried in

ame. It's been a big piece of engineering and devilish hard work to put it through. I've planned the whol

was no more to the company than the existence of the other workmen. Moreover, the eleven mechanics they had brought down had all been carried off by fever, and there was no one else who, in case of necessity, could t

you mean?" he asked, s

I'm risking my life to put this business through, and I want to get what I de

hat I'd give you half the pay. If I'd ever supposed you didn't trust my word I'd have had it drawn

rved, and he worked with such unflinching constancy, that Pilchard often felt as if he too must be developing some plan. It was fortunate, he told himself, that there were only ten days more. His nerves could not have held out much longer; but after he had filled himself with several drinks

eeming to garnish the black depths that lay behind it and that great black mouth that opened immeasurably into the west. All his actual surr

rprise, and had stopped to look at the view, and had gazed out over the rolling waves. He had scarcely dared look at his companion, but once he had helped her over some rocks, and he remembered that her foot had slipped, and for an instant her body had swayed against his. He remembered, too, that she had pale cheeks and dreamy eyes, and a slim hand laden with rings that held back her skirts. This slight experience had made a changed man of him. New senses existed for him, new hopes for the future that turned him diz

at sunrise, and Swan was obliged to oversee the men, he swallowed some coffee and went

?" Swan asked, ful

fore you'd bee

o having him b

erground

ll be if we st

if I ought to be,

d'ye

for you I would give up. I'm as weak as water. I just

ook a long drink. He seemed to drink to his own weakness. He seemed to g

g sun. On either side lay wet, poisonous ground covered with deadly growths and exuding fearful odors and devitalizing forces which even the heat could not dissipate. In that noonday light which burned and burned and made

nger physique than any other white man had ever had before? He leaned far back as if he were trying to fold himself up, and then bent forward in the same manner, trying, with a desperation

striking the pile of dir

an. "That's why you'll always come out ahead." As he said this he looked intently at Swan, who was still sitting on

o were laying ties, and his lifelong ambition to be a great engineer

ts her yearly tribute of flesh and blood l

arly remembered that hot June morning ten years ago. Some young maple leaves had made a lovely pattern on the blue northern sky outside

or three or four times he slept, but gradually he found it impossible to get any rest, and nobody knew the agonies he endured fighting off the fever, which he felt had marked him for its own. He never looked forward longer than twelve hours, thinking always that the next day would decide his fate, and the next day never did. "If I can keep it off till to-morrow, I guess it won't come back," he repeated, mechanically, standing in the moonlight and dosing himself and bossing the men. But in the mor

was put off who came down from San Francisco to do business for the company in the event of the railroad no

may say that you've carried out the contract to the letter, to

users. "And it was an awful rush to get the job done." But in spite of Pilchard's sleek figure and social smile, h

and looked more closely at his companion. "Anything the matter?" h

le climate. We've lost every white man that came down, eleven all told, except myself and-and-one other, who's dying over in

there, and the full moon coming in at the wide opening had revealed a fearful sight-Swan in the throes of terrific fever, his face scarlet, his eyes ferrety and congested, a

if he were trying to fight off the delirium, "the

ed, which he could not help but see, leaned against the rude wall, and for onc

eliberate voice. "Don't lose your head.

wan. Perfect

e slowly as the fire mounted to his brain and besieged i

see any. You're worn out,

roud. I vowed it when we looked out over the waves and I wanted to take her in my arms. See here!" and suddenly seizing a pickaxe from the ground beside him, he swung it around his head and sent it whizzing past Pilchard's ear, out through the opening of the shanty. "I've got my muscle and I've got my brain and I'll keep

en forbid," fal

ular shower. It must be a whole city. No! No! They're sparks! They're fire! They burn! They burn! Take the wheels away from me! They're grinding me like corn-oh, Lord

rose a complete physical collapse had occurred. His pulse had fallen below normal, and his skin assumed a strange yellow hue, the color of a lemon, and in these signs and

hiding and waiting; and Pilchard and Death and the breaking Day were for one second alone. And Pilchard was overwhelmed with terror. Some spectre had seized him, and he could not shake it off. He looked once more at the dying man, at his closed eyes and his s

on't say. Feve

ree swamps on our w

sacrifice. It's a good job. I wo

n't do i

ed down t

a minute, when he was fully awake. And he closed his eyes again and heard the accustomed whir of machinery, and knew that he was in the engine-room. One of the workmen needed to be spoken to; he was the filthiest of the lo

" the man said. "She exacts her y

body else. The man smiled and, leaning over, gently raised him up, and for the first time in his life Swan felt himself encircled by a woman's a

it all for

t?" he a

t the

ng his eyes again, filled

e North, where the maple leaves make

r a minute, and th

'll have plenty more work; big pay, too. This business has made your n

ght day

condition, who are recalled by one sentence, often by one word, which acts like a key and opens again to their terrified vision the horrible realities of actual life. Swan raised his arms to bring that woman's face close to his, but he coul

ear round to New York. You'd better get aboard and come with me," he proposed to Pilchard, to whom he had taken a fancy. "Good Lord!" he sudd

. "Yes, let's clear out-let's get to sea before I

ty, momentarily endowed with his full strength, and facing the two men, spoke three times: "My work! My work! My work!" His

ose last words had been words of delirium. No, he knew nothing. Pilchard alone knew the extent of his own deceit, which dead lips could never disclose. He alone knew of that half-formed idea he had not dared to mature, which had come to h

ER OF

TAVE

unches of lilacs. The pretty young girls at the "fancy table" were laughing and prattling rather loudly with two amiable young men who had been tacking home-made lace handkerchiefs and embroidered "art centres" in the vacant spaces left on the pink cambric wall by the departure of last night's purchases. A comely matron kept guard simultaneously over the useful but not perilously alluring

votes, and three or four other candidates so few that there was no interest in deciphering the chalk figures; and that "For most popular young lady" Miss Norah Murray had 842 votes, and Miss Freda Berglund had 603. At intervals some one of the score of people in the hall would saunter up to the show-case or to the blackboard, to peer into the one or to study the figures on the other-although, really, there was no one in the hall who did not know every line on the board, and who had not seen both the gold watch and the gold-headed cane of the show-case. Two women came from different quarters of the room at the same instant to look at the blackboard. One was a comely dame in a silken gown that rustled an

the incident with interest. A little sigh o

pity, that's s

" said another. "Mrs. Conner was sayi

od more'n in this instance it's raised; the whole town's taking sides on it, and there w

me objects

they're so bigoted! In a raffle there's nobody pay

rs. O'Brien dear! We'd niver 'a' got nigh on to four hundre

id Fritz Miller was sick in bed from it; Pat paid him well for talkin' down ould Ireland; and poor Terry Flanagin, he lost his job at the saw-mill for maddin' the boss that's Dutch, and infidel Dutch at that; and there's q

en-haired woman in very full black skirts and black basque of an antique cut, who had but now approached t

"und some is in dis parish und dis sodality. I vas seen de

he circle, and two matrons, sudd

hem on our handkerchiefs?

it; an' 'twas only some s

ed the saucers with the paper napkins, clean tishy-paper napkins, Mrs. Orendorf; 'twas only two or three saucers got wiped with the newspaper, because the napkins was give out and they was shrieking and clamoring for saucers; and they're terrible, them young girls! waving their hands and j

only half pacified. "Dot vas bad mistake haf dot votin'. Vot

posted up in his saloon. An' if they was daughters of mine-I 'ain't got anny daughters, praise God! for since I seen the way these waiters go on, I'm

he German woman, with extreme dryness of accent, "und

," cried Mr

" a bolder partisan on the Celtic side struck in, with

ithout committing direct assault on the Murray supporters she avoided

more ahead this evening," retorted a Murray voter; "there's p

ves, we that determined to kape out of the worry? They are both awful nice, pretty young ladies, and I'm sorry such a question come up between them; and 'tis drea

to the varying argument; she cast a sullen and puzz

eda don't have got no yoong mans, 'cause her Schat

r he was. Aw, the poor girl! I mind how she looked the day Company E marched out

e to sympathy of the Celt. There was a little murmur of assent.

d the sum off her palm with solemn deliberation-"und he svear he vill in der votin' all, all spend, an' sie git dot vatch. Ach Himmel! er ist verruckt! He say he got his pension and he got der insure on hi

. O'Brien, who faced the German and could see what they saw; then back of Mrs. O

a little haughtily, but her soft eyes had a wistful sweetness. Her big flowered hat and her white gown, brightened by blue ribbons, were as fresh as her skin and became her rich beauty. She walked with the natural light grace often seen in girls of her race, whatever the

ter of the parish, no less), "and think of me having a waist as little as hers when I was marrie

her mother and educating her brother for a priest with only those pretty little hands! But she won't be doing it long if

than I am. But I say it is all the more shame to make that innocent young creature talked about and fought

"Look! there's Father Kelly and the Vicar-General; they're look

ace of the parish. Norah was too busy with her own thoughts even to see them; she only wanted to get past her wellwishers and be alone with her perplexities. If she did not see her spiritual guid

church nearer than Father Kelly's, five miles away, and Father Kelly was not young, and his own great parish growing all the time; so the parish was made, and a young American priest, who had more sense than always goes with burning enthusiasm, was sent to guide the souls at Clover Hill and keep the peace. He kept it until the fair, when in an evil hour he consented to the voting-booth. He expected-they all expected-that the excitement would focus on the gold-headed cane, and that Mr. Michael Conner would lead the poll, although the popular Finnerty might give

ory now, and the least stumble on our part will bring an explosion. If we tried to give them the money back-and you know women have a tight grip on money-we shouldn't know where to giv

in his bed with pneumoni

rs burned her eyelids; she went past too fast for more than a hurried salutation, at which Father Kelly shook his head. "That'

r Kelly, undaunted; "she's a bit im

s too muc

ture with sweet temper that made amends for an entire lack of energy, was rocking over some bastings, sawing the air with her forefinger as she dis

while she laid away her hat in the bandbo

ing. Oh, I did want one!" She looked scornfully at the gay prism gleaming from her pretty fingers (fingers as daintily kept as any lady's); they had flashed like rubies and sapphires and diamonds from the white velvet

mother's questions she answered briefly that the only thing she heard was

th a hundred dollars in their pockets each of 'em. Let her bring on her votes, I say. It's a good

es when a sigh is to strained nerves like a blast of hot air on a burn. Norah jumped up and ran away from her own irritation before it exploded. She made a pretext of looking at her skirt (which was new) in the parlor cheval-glass; but in the parlor, behind the door, she did not give a glance to the picture in the mirror. The "pire glass," as Mrs. Murray called it, was a relic of the family's better days when Norah's father was alive and kept a grocery-store and owned a horse and wagon; its florid frame of black-walnut etched with gilt, its tall

do anything," she muttered, while she hurried round the house outside, in order that she might reach the bedroom and efface the traces of her weeping. "I'm a great fool to think of doing anything," she declared. "I didn't p

sts and comments buzzed noisily above the talk. Every moment the note of the buzz grew more hostile. More than a few ears were tingling; at every turn there were scowls and sullen eyes and ugly smiles. The matrons' cheeks were burning; their eyes flashed; every now and again one of their voices shrilled defiantly above the hoarse hum of the crowd. The young Irish girls were laughing, enjoying

pangled fan and smiled buoyantly at every familiar face, whether turned towards her in recognition or not. Mrs. O'Brien, who had slipped away from the kitchen to be sure the lamps were not smoking, stopped a moment beside her. Mrs. O'Brien looked tired and worried when she let her own smile of greeting slip from her face. A tinge of the same expression was on Father Kelly's kind old countenance, but the Vicar-General's features were as inscrutable as a doctor's. He had made a genial procession through the room, distributing the merited praise

re a good fellow," said he, not removi

congregation knew well for a storm signal. "She's a good girl. This is no fault of hers, this foolish contraption to

rn to the greetings that met her on every side. To right and left, before and behind her, walked her two aunts and her two neighbors, women of substance and dignity. They walled her about as might a body-guard, sending eye-blinks of defiance at the

ackboard, doing arithmetic,

n off his base. He's mortgaged his farm to Nichols. Nic

e'll give him a

when his voiced sounded, the very slightest of mo

," was the gallant comment from the f

rah's hair; but it was easier for him to make money than talk; he was ready to push the last of it over the voting-table for Norah, but he wasn't ready of tongue; he put his big hones

partisan of Norah's; "he'd better buy her a watch out and out; you can get a good one

third man. "Miss Freda is a very nice young

ead higher in the air. And she let Mr. Williamson, the new book-keeper at Conner's (he who would have mortgaged two farms for her), take her to the ice-c

ation and pleasure; and the while her heart was like lead, and she hated Freda Berglund. Sitting at the table she heard snatches of talk, all tinctured by the strong e

than Father Kelly's good gray head; they saw a square-jawed, black-haired, determined, smiling young man behind

d Williamson. "You are going to do a

e moment." She went so swiftly that Williamson had much ado to keep pace with her, besides overpaying the waitress in his hurry. Father Kelly swallowed a groan of dismay at the fresh strain on his faith when he perceived her beckoning a ring-laden hand at the custodian of votes; and the Vicar-General involuntarily frowned. They both with one accord pushed up to the table-to the visible relief of the young man behind it. "I do

his eye. "Norah Murray is apt to have a good reason for her asking. Shut

eneral nodd

er," said the young man; "i

aker disappeared; and the crowd fell back a little on Father Kelly's bland announcement t

ht to Freda Berglund. There, they're talking; they're going off together wi

across Freda's shoulders at that instant, the better to cheapen a darning-bag for stockings, could hear her words. "I want to s

now," falt

men who have been drinking? Don't you hear them? Don't you see Mrs. Finn, who used to think there was nobody like Mrs. Conner, looking the

necks forward and hushed their own talk to listen. Mrs. Orendorf was not of a nimble habit of thought; but she felt the ele

only blace vere we can talk py uns is dot coal-closet wo is

dim light her face shone whitely. Her full melodious voice shook the least in the world with haste and excitement. "We've got to stop this,

adow; they could not see her face; but the outlin

s fair. You have mor

dark no one saw her, or Mrs. Orendorf, as she sat on the fre

tiently, "when your father spends all

" crie

r," muttered Mrs. Orendorf. "Fri

I was a little thing by the finger, and how kind his voice was; but I miss him-I miss him all the time; I know he was a good man, and loved me; and he'd have done anything for me, just as your father is doing; and I c

ut papa?" said

ern, thou art more than all the world to him." Mrs. Orendorf spoke in the same tongue; her o

And maybe you're in the right of it, Norah darling, though '

l been wrong, all wrong. But I've got to

them by an equally potent although entirely differen

Norah's cheeks burned, but neither girl looked to the right or the left; and both the matrons following avoided their friends' curios

r face made his voice gentler than common. She looked, he thoug

ay something

anded Mrs. Orendorf, with a b

Brien, smiling; "'twill all be explained to yous." Only Norah stood

bristling at the circle of faces

idly repeating almost word for word Norah's offer. As she

ocket full of moneys; no, sie is a goot schild, und her fader he vas a goot mans; sie haf a hard dime mit no fader to look oudt for her." He turned to Norah, whose swimming eyes met his full. Pat Barnes

rah," she said. "I withdraw my name. And I'm prouder

essid children have got the way out of all this mess; they're better Christians than anny

into the circle. A sentence or two from Mrs. O'Brien m

forgive us our weakness. So both these young ladies withdrew their names. We have cause to be proud of them both, as they surely have cause to be proud of the loyalty of their friends." (Irrepressible applause.) "And the kindest thing their friends can do is to shake hands all around." (A voice-in point of fact, the voice of the widow Murray: "But what will the soda

r cheeks crimson-but they all heard her: "It's a lar

lifted hand stilled

ther Kelly is not a young

shes, ran away from the frantic roar of applause

lly; she is a good

g, according to sex, was Norah's mother; and the cloud on her face lightene

he slipped her hand i

ith his rough fingers, "I will get

ghter than for many a day. "I don't want a watch," said she. "Oh

E