People Like That

med me the next day that she had "shivered with trembles" because of his great d

d in the direction of the man and woman just ah

lwyn was the last to find in this part of the town at this time of the evening, and as he bent his head to speak to the girl I noticed he w

wn here. Certainly he is at liber

er we can catch up with them by the time they reach the corner where we could

know what

and for a moment the gaslight from the lamp on the opposite street corner wavered and circled in a confusing, bewildering way. Sudden revelations, sudden realizations, were unsteadying me. Was Selwyn really some one I did n

kers. We'd better go home. We'l

e was searching my face. Hitherto her directness, her frankness of speech and use of words, had amused me, and I ha

turn there," I said. "That w

re those most familiar to Bettina, and they exacted understanding of

eople I do not know." I moved toward t

lives where you used to live. He couldn't be sweet on her, because-because he couldn'

he girl, and when I saw the latter stop and bury her face in her hands, saw Selwyn say something to h

if deeply thinking, he did not look up until close to us. Under the gaslight I waited, not

hat mechanically, he came closer. "What in the name of Heaven are

his impatient anger, had an unlooked-for effect, and sudden relief and hot

a boy who is what you are not-the head of a house. I mean

I had business down here. I had to come to it as i

om

een taking her to where she goes, Mr. Thorne, and grannie knows all the places. There ain't one that's got a disease in it

ade effort to stretch to protective requirements, and her keen

go to some of the ho

rm. "It's much more comfortable not to see. One can sleep so much better. A

he, walked beside me, hands in his pockets and eyes straight ahead, and not until

ought back to something far removed in thought

to grannie, who said she lived on it. She did her hands, when she talked, just like the girl with

Selwyn's shoulders shrugged impatiently, then his teeth came together on his lip. Again he

depths and sinister shadows I was frightened, and more than frightened. Conflicting and confusing emotions, a sense of outrage and revolt, were making me first hot and then cold, and distrust and suspicion and baffling helplessness were enveloping me beyond resistance. The happy i

hat had seemingly interested other girls and other women had never interested me, and I took no part in their discussion. And now the protection of the past that had prevented understanding of sordid situat

, the something that was more than friendship, a great gap had opened that was separating us. If he gave no explanation of his acquaintance with the girl he had just left, it must be because

inside, and the light falling on Selwyn's face showed

t is useless to ask you not to go in such neighborhoods as you were in

or wilful as you think. But if it is unwise for me to be in

was not a question of wisdom-my being where you saw me. It was one of necessity. Moreover, a man c

helter within which cowards run to cover. In its place it has purpose, but its place, fo

Into his face had come something I could not understand, something that involved our future friendship, and,

Selwyn? Don't you know that I know the girl with you to-night was t

they held mine they filled with something of horror, and over his face, which had been white and worn,

rning, he went down the s