From a Bench in Our Square

uld scarcely find refuge beneath the scraggly shelter of parched shrubbery, when

ld thing," she began in h

d determinedly, forebo

ws at me, affecting aggrieved innoc

at you're trying t

ed in the corner of the soft lips. By this I knew that the c

the worst and g

be rich," said the Bon

o gene

want it for? I haven't got th

te secret from everybody.

't mind me,

. He's almost willing to guarantee that a year of it will make her as strong as ever. And the hundred dolla

thing. How shall I look," I demanded bi

ans," retorted the Bonnie Lassie. "Besides, she won't. She knows that your way is to do good by

tle Red Doctor rai

ie, when your mind has

it o

nd Position!" I cried. "Did ou

ly begged to be allowed to do it. 'Do you think she'd take it from you?' said the Little Red Doctor, 'after what your mother called her?' 'Don't let her know,' says our orn

all one to a sin-seared old reprobate like me. After it's over I'll go around the corner and steal what

Mayme, having come to say good-bye, put her lips close to my ear

and come back to Our Square, which was the dearest and best place in the world with the dearest and best people in it. Homesickness! Poor little, lonely Mayme. She was reading-she wrote the Bonnie Lassie-all the books that the Dominie had listed fo

ng back his views on life and the emptiness thereof, in

young friend and now the other companies of the regiment are beginning to show interest, and he

s mind, is s

roduced a letter with a

d read a

that was still rankling; salutary, if bitter dose!] But if this war ever finishes, all bets are off and I'm coming back to find her. And don't you forget your part of the bargain, to write and let me know how she is getting on." The Little Red Doctor was able to sen

ce. [Graceless imp!] I would not say it myself, because I am a perfect lady. You have to be, out here. That reminds me: I have cut out the Mayme. Every fresh little frizzle in the colony with a false front and a pneumatic figure calls herself Mayme or D

r lo

MCCA

en I get my name up in the pictures. Put

oor kid! I expect he is finding it a lot diffe

oadway, having been shifted to a specially wet and muddy section of France; and was

l," announced the Little Re

" remarked the Bonnie Las

n there was a kind of panic. From what I can make out, the Scion kept his head and

Red Doctor's expression when he came to my bench with the

I remarked, "it doesn't seem

. A fellow can get himself made a captain by pull, or a major by luck, or a colonel by desk-work, or a general by having a fine mart

rrupted the Bonnie Lassie who had

ly grave. "She's another matter,"

rd with Mayme-beg her pa

hearse! You've got to remember, though, that they deliver flowers by the car-load out here. And the local stock company has made me an offer. Ingenue parts. There is not

lowed by a curt bit of official information: "Seriously wounded." The Litt

d picker. He's got an eye for men." He mused, rubbing his tousled, brickish locks wit

in the end it did come, in the form of a scrawl from the Weeping Scion himself. He was mending, but very slowly, and they said it would be a long time-mo

he commented. "Well, I've got all I need of 'em. They can have the rest. All

ite bulky communications from overseas. Some of them, it became known, he was forw

e stories myself. But how does he get a chance to write them? Is he back on this side? Or is he invalided? Or what? Tell me. I want to know about him. You do not have to worry about my-well, my infatuation for him, any more. He was a pretty boy, though, wasn't he? But I have seen too many of that kind in the picture game. I'm spoiled for them. How I would love to smear some of t

roadway, was to play the ingenue part in the latest comedy by a highly popular dramatist. Immediately upon the production, the theater-going world ceased to be indifferent to the new actress; in fact, it went into one of its occasional furores about her. Not that she was in any way a great genius, but s

ival of Sergeant Major (if you please!) David Berthelin upon his native

s she?"

f incredulous surprise. "Have you stil

" repeated the

there were little wrinkles at their corners. He had broadened a foot or so. That pinky-delicate complexion by which he had, in earlier and easier days, set obvious store, was brownish and looked hardened. The Cupid's-bow of his mou

me where she is, si

has an unquenchable thirst for the dramatic in

For the supporting part we borrowed Willy Woolly from the House of Silvery Voices, and admirably he played it, barking accurately and with true histrionic fervor in the right places (besides promptly falling in love with the star at the first and only rehearsal). After the try-out, Mary came over to

my heart sank within me. "Do you think that was fair?

take it. We couldn't have you dying on the premis

id. "After what had ha

you let

gotten over that feeling

o simply that I knew she believed her own statement. "But t

ole thing. The Bonnie Lassie would have slain me. B

lt no small discomposure at the sight of the girl's face when she first saw the changed and matured Weeping Scion of three years before. After the first flash of recognition she had developed on that expressive face of hers a look of wonder and almost pathetic questio

ng the work of his fancy. At the close, he disappeared. I suppose he did not dare trust himself to join in the congratulations with which she was overwhelmed. I found him, as I rather expected,

is time he was not weeping. He was thinking. Just as of old she put a hand on his humped sh

that?"

For what I

The Little Red

promise. The Do

ve got to take this. You wouldn't-no

keep strict acc

ome in handy, just now," he remarked. "At the present price of

, "has anything hap

said Davi

u off? On my

ily. She doesn't want me to wor

d the girl warmly.

ear that if she tried to, she would cry. She didn't want to cry. She had a feeling that crying would be a highly unstrat

ay

'Mayme' a

ples. "I beg your par

tly. "Mary. I've discard

ted in a tone of

ud

orld," he said, "call a fellow that. And every time they said i

rl, not quite steadily. "Did you bring

g, except some experience and the discovery of the fact

pes, didn't you?"

I didn't get anything except an occasional calling down and a few scratches. If I'd had the luck to get into avia

eping Scion of other days; and it went straight to Mary's swelling, bewildered, groping he

ud

ed towa

words of their unforgotten first talk. "Y

slipped over his shoulder and around his n

who has had undeserved miracles thrust upon him, "said that to want something more tha

th the reckless ingratitude of a woman in love, "is

RB

l design MacLachan, the tailor, pa

act that I he

ou hear, M

one of yer silly his

I, passing over the unc

ckless was

y li

air, when a man of yer

ld be dissu

y need a fri

owned. "Ye'r

qui

e ye a title f

y kind of y

y an Old One," said MacLachan wi

ac

ha

a mo

case that should be inadequate, with the c

dainfully, but paused as I pointed a loaded finger at his h

iginal accomplice

purtend

ot with Cyrus the Ga

d something abou

get arr

han gr

a ce

han sn

nose pain

d. "There was ot

Our Square," I interrupted sternly

all that in yer sil-in

y det

a look as mid-Victorian painters strove for in picture

*

do not count young Phil Stacey, for he was insane at the time, and has been so, with modifications and glorifications, e

the immeasurable dista

ua

ue was still frequented by the occasional cow whose wanderings are responsible for the street-plan of Greenwich Village. Our Square remains true to the ancient and simple traditions, whereas Washington Square has grown long hair, smeare

l park-space, and it was at the house of one of these, a woman architect with a golden dream of rebuilding Greenwich Village, street by street, into s

its blue-smocked, bobbed-haired, attractive and shrewd little proprietress quite rich. Barbran hinted that she was thinking of improving on the Mole's Hole idea i

certain gay yet restful charm; the sort of difficult thing that our indomitable sculptres

Bonnie Lassie's house, moused about Our Square in a rapt manner and stayed. She rented a room from the Angel of Death ("Boggs Kills Bugs" is the remainder of his sign, which is considered to lend tone and local

Lassie sent

no

ee you. And you want to know about the people; so the Bonnie Lassie

down and s

, I learn that you are the only daughter of a Western mill

ic," sa

ou have desi

es

artistic, or

long and clev

Having designs upon us, yo

ed softly: "I've

adventuress! What ha

I've rented the bas

rag-picker

offee cellar. I was thi

.' What do

. "That was once a tea-shop. It was started by a dear little, prim little old maiden lady. The saloon was run by Tough Bill Manigan. The little old lady had a dainty sign painted and hung it up outside her place, 'The Teacup.' Toug

al to your stor

leave it," s

ar 'The Coffee Pot' lest

young woman, Miss Ba

friends call me 'Barbran' because I always used to call myself

riendly of you

not. I'm going to become a local institution. A local institution can't be called Barbara

not, Ba

aking her Coffee Cellar and herself a Local Institution, which should lure hopeful seekers for Bohemia fro

o do," said Barbran, "a

worke

on the part of the Bonnie Lassie, who has tried him in bronze, in plaster, and in clay with equal lack of success. There is something untransferable in the boy's face; perhaps its outshining character. I know that I never yet have said to any woman who knew him, no matter what her age, condition, or sentimental predilections, "Isn't he a homely cub!" that she didn't reply indignantl

who's the

aid I, "i

a rising inflection. "It s

, it sounds like a st

e rest of

lly authorized to

uthorized to present

claim to acquaintanceship,

she was on the cross-town car; and I-well, I ju

her appearance is not such as to commend her, visually,

ol-" began Mr

atisfaction of the fair-minded, that none of the young person's features is exactly what it should b

!" asseverated

As for your other hint, you need no i

gly; a hostile light glittered in his eye

he's plotting against the peace and security of Our Squar

hil joyously.

budding millionai

d Phil, his

, my young friend, who is an expert accountant by trade (the term "expert" appears to be rather an empty compliment, since his stipend

d man, Dominie!" s

Charley Chaplin, aviation, ouija, and other equally safe topics. Did I say safe? Dangerous is what I mean. For when a youth who is as homely as young Phil Stacey and in that particular style of homeliness, and a girl who is as far from homely as Barbran begin, at f

's normally cheerful face when, some th

your library. Have you got any of

rbid!"

ad as that? I didn't suppose there

would rather live in hell. His characters all talk like a Sunday-school picnic out of the Rollo books. No such people ever lived or ever could live, because a righteously enraged popula

ertha, Dominie. I begin to suspect that you don't care an awful lot about Mr. Wheelwright's style of compositi

not. It is doubtless all out

d English design of a signboard with a wheel on it creaked despairingly in the wind. Below was a legend: "At the Sign of the Wheel-The Wrightery." The interior of the cellar was decorated with scenes from the novels of Harvey Wheelwright, triumphant virtue, discomfited villains, benigna

ft; that is to say, four of them did. Finally Phil departed, glowering at me. I am a patient soul

e you to say in

p constituted in itself a defense

at?" sh

friend Stacey. You made h

rned Barbran demurely. "Q

an offense to civilizati

jects in the world, Ha

Why? Wh

s," said

, please

café built around Alice. Alice in Wonderland, you know, and the Looking Glass. Though I

y and there wasn't a hip

urm

I thought if she could do it with Alice,

Hatta and the

adays, ten read the author of 'Reborn Through Righ

cally unim

et ten times as many pe

k so?" she inq

a comforting fallac

I agreed. "But

h a start. The faint pin

of course. Whom did

r," returned Barbran primly,

id I sadly. "I'm going ou

f one's own particular bench at 11.45 P.M. in Our Square. But not at

d you do

ot dodge or pretend to mis

take money fo

ng it out in trade. I'

starve t

ot much of a

eeding on sweets. An uninterrup

e's name," implored P

thright for a mess of pottage,

on't care for anything except-Dominie, w

thing for Barbran, too, if she expects to keep her cellar going. The kind of people who read Har-our unmentionable author, don't

ed Phil between his teeth, his plain face e

will fly back West," I

at all his meals there, but he went forth into the highways and byways and haled in other

nge. Nor does Harvey Wheelwright exercise an inspirational sway over us. We let the little millionairess and her Washington Square importation pretty well alone. She advertised feebly in the

o say indifference. But in the mornings her soft eyes looked heavy, and once, as she was passing my bench deep in thought, I surprised a look of blank terror on her face. One can understand that even a millionaire's daughter might spend sleepless nights brooding over a fa

Heart. Of what is a child of fortune

ing the house in which t

ully selected and

p to the little dormer window which was Barbran's outlook

hief pasted to the window,"

," said the

n?" I inquired, in what was intended

ht me. "Metaphorically, of cou

stress can

e most people who live next

o our atmosphere. She told me so

y woman in or out of Our Square ever soak her own handkerchiefs in her own washbowl except when sh

manly. Then you think s

ie conclusively. "I think the poor little thing has put her every c

I exclaimed. "Somethi

going

going t

Lassie, who is least gramm

op and Providence take a day off; the universe ha

y countenance. A sort of fairy grin played about her lips. "I wonder if-No," she s

ng Phil

sie. "It was he who came to me for h

were doing it

osed Washington Squarer,

's a dear kiddie, too,

unders

ven't told you. And the rest are bound to secrecy. But don't be unduly ala

across the park space in the furtive manner of one going to a shameful rendezvous, and upon my hailing him he at first essayed to sheer off. When he

ing, Cyrus

ening, D

weather we'

n't be

hink it w

says rain

p of your nose

hadn't given the matter any special cons

"It looks as if i

mitted Cyrus the Gaunt, "if

ause?"

the Gaunt, not to me, but to a

ged. I took one look at hi

aid. "What do y

rned the Little R

the notion belongs not to me, but to my

hem," I conjectured, as

it? Ma

ring from a severe cold. His hand

"It's useless." He did so, and m

," declared the tailor

un

d," declared Cyrus jaun

ors, you know. Wh

hen his central feature glows like the starboard light of an incoming steamship. F

ou all going

ightery,"

t a p

a gath

incl

you'

to me why the Bonnie Lassie had centered her gaze upon my feat

ootsteps aroused me. I looked up to see Terry the Cop, guardian of our peace,

quired, "how

sniffed the air. "Don't you dete

't say

an which, I was vastly relieved to observe, retained its origin

an's c

en noses gather there and drink cider containing more than two-se

, Terry; don't do

wink. "There'll be no surprise, except maybe to the J

f Tone Hanrahan, known as the "Human Judge." Besides being human, his Honor is, as may be inferred from his name, somewhat Irish. He hear

in?" he inquired, gazin

ts, Yeronner," sa

the rid-hidded wan [with a friendly wink at the Little Red Doctor] I reckonize him as a de

ly about to see that the reporters were within he

asked the Magist

r Honor," t

the tyrant Gineral French? Let 'em paint their noses anny color they loike; but green for preference. I'm tellin' ye, this is the land of freedom an' equality, an' ivery citizen thereof i

hil Stacey exultantly. "The Wrightery will get s

d tones. Young Stacey raged against a stupid and corrupt press. MacLachan expressed the acidulous hope that thereafter Cyrus the Gaunt would be content with making a fool of himself without implicating innocent and confiding friends. The Bonnie Lassie was not present, but sent word (characteristically)

lf as a reporter for the "Sunday World Magazine"-and where was the rest of the circle? In a flurry of excitement, the pair sent for Cyrus the Gaunt to do the talking. Cyrus arrived, breathles

-to-the-spring idea. The well-spring of life, you know. The-e

he reporter politel

he central idea in your mind. It's a nature movement; a readjustment of art to nature.

and the dollar bill, not to mention the croton bug and the pola

o it. We must learn to think greenly. But first we must learn to see greenly. How shall we accomplish this? Put green in our eyes? Impossible, unfortunately. But, our noses-there is the sol

ting all t

hought in a

he visitor, and made a

cattle owner in Wyoming [here the reporter made his second note], has

lent reporter. "Fine! O

hil, aghast, while Cyrus sat

t, perhaps. Don't tell me. It's good enough, anyway. I'll fall for it. It's worth a page story. Of course I'll want some photographs of the mural paintings. They're alm

m," explained

ry," suppleme

him away," said the kindly journalist. "No

played up conspicuously and repeatedly, and the illustrations did what l

us fraud of a repor

is ruined," m

," advised th

ed with custom on the Monday evening following publicati

the close of the month, "but as near as I can make out, I've a clear profit of

ing to the pressure of professional calls. He complained with some justice that a green nose on a practicing physician tended to impair confidence. Then Leon Coventry went away, and Boggs discovered (or invented) an important engagement with a growing family of clothes-moths in a Connecticut country house. So there remained only the faithful Phil. One swallow does not make a summer; nor does one youth with a v

ll was cosy and home-like for two in the little fireli

e a failure," sh

" he asked, trying to ke

firmly. "Not while there's a c

ar as I'm concerned," he mutt

very straight and

sas

What

who was here last month and came

es

ion-and he wants me to paint the music-room. H

e of one giving three cheers for a funeral.

ands. "Scenes from Moody and San

! You aren't g

y. "It's good money." Almost immed

at. You must go, of course

t comin

rbran, in a queer, frightened voice. She put

rever looking at you and-and dreaming of-of impossible th

ose!" murmu

n. It then looked (as she said later in a feeble attempt to palliate her subsequent conduct)

n she tried to run aw

young Phil's. Then he held her off and shut his eyes, for the untrammeled e

's th

what?" returned B

ther's a millionaire,

d Barbran. "And

aculated Phil.

er, and I haven't go

gels, ringing joy bells, had just brought him the gl

t,

et. I thought people would consider it romantic and it would help business. See how mu

er away from him at

her thing betwe

it's your faul

solemnly. "Do you really like

d. "I loathe him. I've always loathed him. I despise the

r" letter in a slow candle-flame, and Harvey Wheelwright, as represented by his unctuously rol

to Kansas City," sai

e, ever, away from Bar

g to paint wha

Barbran," sai

in effigy, and wipe off the walls and

o be married right

ek," sai

ou think?"

ty-five dollars a week and a dowry of debts. I should have preached prudence and caution and delay, and have pointed out-The wind blew the door

my childre

feckless plans, that Wisdom, in the person of MacLachan, the tailor, rep

in' on?" demanded Mac

Lac

of lilac in the air, the glow of romance

udence," sai

virtues. It may pay its own way through the world. Bu

ntil the Scot countered upon me with his obs

nxieties, and Love will perhaps flutter at the window when Want shows his grim face at the door; and Wisdom will be justified of his forebodings, and yet-and yet-who am I

e; it tarried-and I let the chill voice of Prudence overbear its music. It left me. But the song endures; the song endu

possessed of the pigment and secret of perishabl

OF OU

ench, I used to think of an old and me

skin wa

almost see

hobble-ho

the s

ld invariably be nullified by the raucous shriek of his trade whi

e in English, or rather that unreproducible dialect which was his

d have been totally insignificant but for an obstinate chin and a pair of velvet-black, pathetically questioning eyes; and he was incurably an outlander. For five years he had lived among us, occupying a cubbyhole in Schepstein's bas

, to whom any variety of want or helplessness is its own sufficient recommendation, drummed up trade for him among her uptown friends. Something certainly enlisted his gratitude, for he invariably took off his frowsy cap when he passed her house, whether or not she was there to see, and he o

e surrounding world as the umbrella-mender himself. An insignificant bit of a thing she was, anaemic and subdued, with a sad little f

c. But who shall tell where is fancy bred or wherein romance consists? Whenever Plooie saw the drabbled littl

own as, and ever will be called locally, "Annie Oombrella." Like most close-kni

hake her head. Where, indeed, should the

he good English alphabet into a reproduction of hi

the sun were a little warmer upon her pale skin beca

loves. On New Year's he took her walking among the tombstones in God's Acre, which is a serious and sentimental, not to say determinative, social step. Twice in the following week he carried her bucket from house to house. And in the glowing dusk of a crisp winter afternoon they sat together hand in hand, on a bench back o

arries th

ied: "I beli

ight which at that moment spluttered into ill-timed and tactless acti

nt of it. What had those two poverty-stricken little creatures to marry on? She put the question rhetorically to Our Square in general and to the tw

have a care of that lit

mbrella: "He

compression of ribs, handles, and fabrics was space contrived in the basement cubbyhole for Annie Oombrella to squeeze in. However, she set up housekeeping cheerily as a bird, with an odd lot of pots and pans which Schepstein had picked up at an

ld be exaggeration to say that we accepted him, and we certainly did not patronize him professionally. Nevertheless, in a minor degree, he nourished. Annie Oombrella must have lavishe

-ee-ee-ees à

ppier comparison, for she was dabbling and splashing in water all the day long, making the stairs and porches of her curatorship fairly glisten with cleanliness. Her rates went u

ame th

c Belgium. What a Godspeed we gave to the few sons of Gaul who, in those early days, left us to fight the good fight! How sourly we looked upon Plooie continuing his peaceful rounds. Whence arose the rumor, I cannot say, but it was noised about just at that time of wrath and tension that Plooie was

know Emile Gar

ling to identify the rickety

but he stops at your bench and as

have. Wha

ny influenc

pared wi

a little gesture of des

on't tell me where he

. You think

outright, Dominie? Y

h accusations against the poor fellow and the

loyally. "I don't believe Plooie is a coward. There's some rea

ovide excuses for the erring one, I

nly thi

ks sixty. Well-ph

rry a load

ombrella, then. Or perh

and said that her mother was French and she wo

hat does your Olympia

afraid the Garins are

old French David who fought the tragic duel of tooth and claw with his German Jonathan in Thornsen's élite Restaurant, stung him with that most insulting word in any known tongue-"Lache!"-and threatened him with uplifted cane; and poor Plooie slunk away. But I think it was the fact that h

aker, Death) had got on our nerves. Ordinarily, had Plooie chased a small boy who had tipped a barrel down his basement steps, nothing would have come of it. But the chase took him into

e-ro!" "Looka the Fre

looie?" "Charge umbre

him. By that contact he became their captive, their prey. What to do with him? To loose a prisoner, once in

ll off. They jammed him back again. He clung, wide-eyed, white-faced, and silent. The mob,

yond the bounds of reasonable probability that he had absented himself on purpose. "God hates a coward" is a tenet of Terry's creed. I confess to a certain sympathy with it myself. Aft

hich repulsed her not too roughly and with indulgent laughter. Their concern was not with her. It was with the coward; their prisoner, delivere

ey do me no harm. Go you home, littl

ld me that if he was fearful it was only for her. His voice, steady and piercing, overr

terror, only dashed herself the more h

es monotonous in time. The many-headed sought

-and-feat

e fea

ll we g

osher shop o

's yer

om a raid. A more practical expedient

in the f

fountain!" amend

fortunate umbrella-mender I was well satisfied. But mob intent is subject to mob impulse. If they once got him into the water, th

g, the scantling with its human burden had jammed crosswise of the p

by temperament and the fullness of years. Nevertheless, I advance

tisfactory. Some ho

e, laying hold of the rail by an end and

rting tree: the advance guard of clamorous urchins, the rail-bearers, the white-faced figure of Plooie, jolted aloft, bleeding but calm, self-forgetful, and still cal

d not

atius, a Horatia better fitted for the fray had succeeded, in the austere and superb person

icipative rabble by the simple query, set in the chillest and mo

by-that it was the momentary halt caused by my abortive effort to hold t

he glory of black silk,

accompanied by that fat

he air genteelly on a be

n her sens

bble about, Sall

d. "Reckon dey's ridin' a gen

le. No gentleman would endure

e trash dey call Plooie. M

for her a decrepit parasol entitled him in her feudal mind to the high

ned that the neighborhood of the adva

ers of her superior she added

s equaled or perhaps even excelled by

ok her stand upon the brink of the fountain in almost the exact spot where she had disarmed MacLachan, the tailor, drun

empered like steel. The ring of tempered steel, too, wa

re you

y's immortal, if somewhat jingly epic, "those behind cried 'Forward' and those before cried 'Back'!" That single hale and fiery old lady held them. No m

om the rear inquire

ch," conject

another, giving her the l

nder. (Legend takes strange twists in Our Square as elsewhere.) Some o

er in th

Madame Tallaffer

a miniature eruption outward from the mob's edge, followed by a glimpse of a shadowy figure departing at full speed. The Duchess leveled a bony fin

" said th

ke, whose name happens

ing to that unfo

he other in what was doubtless intended

itated. "At once!" snapped th

said Inky

r (backed by the sparkle of an authoritative diamond) swept slowly around a half-circle, with very much the easy and significant motion of a machine gun and somet

e added in precisely the tone which one might ex

d, finding no sufficient answer, slunk away. Plooie was triumphantly escorted by Madame Tallafferr and Black Sally, and (less triumphantly) by my limping se

cowards and imbeciles-and why hadn't her Cyrus been at home to stop it? Whereto Madame Tallafferr complacently responded that Mr. Cyrus Staten

g indulgence rather than respect-until the facts bear them out. She had, it appeared, called on the Plooies to inquire as to their proposed course, and had rather more than hinted that if the head of the house wished to respond to his country's call, Our Square would look after Annie Oombrella. To this he returned only a stubborn and somber silence. The Bonnie Lassie sa

rther was seen or heard of Plooie. But Schepstein, wandering far afield in search of tenement sales a full year after, encountered Annie Oombrella washing down the s

, costs nothing and might get you something some time), aske

Schepstein, astonished at

s they could, considering their cast. Schepstein was quite shocked to observe that there was no shame in them. I suppose the shock temporarily unbalanced his principles, for, having caught sight of one of he

e basement's vacant and there ain'

ry quietly, and Schepstein

ose places; and the little Kingdom of Sorrows, shattered, blood-soaked, and unconquerable, stood fast, a bulwark between the ravager of the world and his victory until there s

re, ghosts should be seen, not heard. Yet, in the year of grace, 1919, under a blazing September sun, with a cicada, vagrant from heaven knows whence, frying hi

s," it cried on a fain

-ee-ee-ees à

like Plooie. It opened a mouth like Plooie's and emitted again the familiar though diminished falsetto shriek. No doubt of it now; it

fear, and walked over to Schepstein's. There in the basement, amid

inie," said s

, Annie. So y

e need that one wash t

in one's self. What have you

. I wor

hat has he been doin

il, Dominie," she implored. "Be a kind, good man

t look wel

eck. Now we come home

question. Annie Oombrella's reply did not make me feel any less so. She sent a quivering look a

ach other so muc

r was Plooie in danger of mob violence. By common consent we let him alone; he made his rounds unmolested, but also unpatronized. B

In the process, happine

t was you doing in the war?" his jaw would drop and his whole rackety body begin to quiver, and he would heave his burden to his shoulder and break into a spavined

trade. But then his trade had dwindled to the vanishing point anyway. Even Madame T

to raccommode. I was one of the few left to hear him, because Mendel, the jeweler, had most inconsiderately gone to view royalty, leaving my unrepaired glasses locked in his shop; otherwise I, too, would have been on the Fifth Avenue curb shouting with the best of them. Do not misinterpret me. For the divinity that doth hedge a king I care as little as one should whose forbears fought in the Revolution. But for the divinity of h

ooie didn't go t

ame," I sugg

nie Lassie in a ton

t pitying and contemptuous smile of yours, for I can't see i

ust be to look back on a long life of unspotted correctness with not an item in i

bserved, "and the poison o

e fatally mixed," r

: "Parapluie-ee-ee-ee-ees! Annie Oombrella for mend? P

. "The youngsters can't have got bac

. "Plooie has dropped his kit.... He's trying to salute..

mpatiently and cursed the

ey can be arresting poor Plooie at

ight if they

ing him along. Poor Plooie! He's all wilted down. It's a shame!" crie

ay. Do you see an official-look

r over on the Avenue.

hey're not going the

ein's b

fidgeting on the bench. For a m

sie, why d

on't I

titutional, over by t

pste

stitutional, and you kno

ssie with

curiosity killed

ssly you gar

roneous, anyway. It should be: s

ie Lassi

ough the trembling imparted to it by your clinging to the back to restrain yoursel

nnie Lassie, "you are

back in

g," I pleaded.

k to me. But there was no mirth

ng on a pile of ribs talking to Plooie, and Annie Oombrella's fac

on I apprehended him only as very tall and straight and wearing a loose cape. The effect upon the Bonnie Lassie of his approach was surprising. I heard her give a little gasp. She got up from the bench. Her hand fell upon my shoulder. It was tre

does me the hono

gan the Bon

Trouville we met, was it

tainly. At

w that the Bonnie La

did not assuage

e you not?" he pursued in his phraseology of extre

u mean. Friends? Well, acquain

im when he had great need of friends. And you

rested in Plo

ve here one of his finest umbrellas which his good wife presented to me. There was also a lady of whom he speaks, a

plied the Bonnie Lassie.

t that queller of mobs. S

dryly. "She is a Pinckney and a Pemberton besides bein

erican orders of merit," said the big sad-voiced man c

at?" asked the Bon

t must be in the eyes. "But there were others here, not s

d the Bonn

rong suspicion that he

d out de

he does not explain him

an qu

imself at all," I corr

his

with me, I should like to tell you a little story to be passed on

peak. Many times since have I wished that I might have taken down what he said verbatim; so

is living. When our enemies invaded my country and the call went out to all sons of Belgium, the little Garin was ashamed because he knew that he was physically unfit for militar

nly said, 'Go

ere they rejected him as unfit. So he becam

ur Square so mysteriousl

ss

did not matter. He was arrested. It did not matter. Nothing mattered except that he should reach Belgium. And he did reach my country at the darkest hour, th

l feminine asserted itse

s something," she mu

!" sa

r him. There was use for all true sons of Belgium in those black days. He was made driver of a-a charette; I do not know if you have them in your

supplied the

ss one makes it so. But it was the best the little Garin could do. His legs were what you call quaint-I have already t

st," whispered the Bonnie

ing the story," sa

e counts; one, two, three, four, five. One throws the grenade, and at the count of ten, all about it is destroyed, for it is of terrible power. The idiot sergeant sets down the grenade in the middle of the road between the two hospitals full of the helplessly wounded. For what? Perhaps to

an only be still and wait. In the nearest hospital there is a visitor. A grea

ed the Bonnie Las

st him shouts, 'Turn your cart, you fool, and save yourself.' Oh, yes; he can save himself. That is easy. But what of the people in the hospitals? Who can save them? The little Garin thinks hard

t lady is thrown to the floor, but she is not hurt. She rises and attends the injured and calms the terr

our Plooie?" besough

l-shock. Even now he cannot speak of the war without his nerves being affected. When he got out of hospital, he did not seem to know who he was. Or perhaps he did not care. Shell-shock is a strange thing. He went away, and his records were lost in the general confusion. Afterward we sought for him. The great lady wished very much t

g often?" asked the Bonnie Lassie with

visit all the brave men who suffered for Belgium. But there is a special reason h

the Bonnie L

ade his adieux, we sat

ere was wonder and some

e said, and

crying,

dignantly. "But you ought

acularly, "Noah would have to come back and

k of him?" said t

ed. As an expert animal-breeder, his

inie. You know that I'm

e Gaunt would better be watchful. I've never known anyone els

ie severely. "Poor old Dominie! He doesn't know what'

se.... The question is how are w

rry about that," returned

otes. They were, I was subsequently given to understand, the pick and flower of the city's reportorial genius. (I could imagine the ghost of Inky Mike with his important notebook and h

Garin

ender & Po

Ma

of the

yal Wa

ed no help from the humble now. T

IU

y-bleak March a

ver-winter w

y, "To-morrow

PR

nd of my bench. Snow fringed the brist

aid he, "it'

sse

tor, "it is no kind of a day for a

ssen

Little Red Doctor, "you c

s that but you

m, without any help of mine. And, anyway, you were already old, then. You're a tough old bird, Dominie. Otherwise you wouldn

th, beat you that tim

chose to ignore my t

ed. "You won't hav

asked,

p next door to it on that little, secret, walled jungle that Ely Crouch us

"You'll be one pretty soon. Our

her houses will go as the Worth place is going. You'll m

tless encroachments. Once hallowed by habitation, what warm and vivid influences impregnate it! Ambition, pride, hope, joys happily shared; suffering, sorrow, and loss bravely endured-the walls outlive them all, gathering with age, f

oke of tragedy the life had gone out of it. Now it stood staring bleakly out from its corner with filmed eyes, across the busy square. Passing its closed

Doctor broke in

nie. But you're not wi

and ob

ertheless pampered him by asking:

ieve that Ned Worth murder

d

id Ned comm

n't k

ain away his wri

's character willfully to kill an old man. You wer

Doctor, giving me one of his queer looks.

iever in c

her man equally pig-hea

old,

ry a few blocks to the westward, the only other resident of Our Square who had

for us now in his r

ut. As we passed the Worth house it seemed grimmer and bleaker than ever before. There was something savage and desperate i

's d

I dem

The woman i

? A woman? There was ne

s she was alive. Now-Well, I'll leave Sheldon

burning. One shaded lamp at the desk was turned on, for though it was afternoon the blizzard cast a gl

" Sheldon asked me,

, as any one must have done who had ever seen the unforgettable original. It was Virginia Kingsley, who, two years before, had been Sheldon's assistant. The picture was labeled, "Death Ends Wanderlust of Mysterious Heiress," and the article was couched in a like style of curiosity-piquing sensationalism. Stripped of its fulsome verbiage, it told of the girl's recent death in Italy, after

ed out of his bathos and tawdriness into a clearer element. One could well believe that she had "met death as a tryst." For if ever I have beheld unfaltering h

it," I said after r

a pause, "You knew he

special charge of the po

ingers of springtime and youth have sung." He sighed, shaking his grizzled head mou

snow could be vaguely seen the outlines of the Worth

ed if she cared fo

I exclaimed in amazeme

ught. But she left very strangely the

corner there came a

e in the library, it was only in the line of her duties. He was interested in the twentieth-century poets. B

agedy that he stopped going

en heard it hinted that he was suffering from some malady o

d Doctor barked: "Death

In wha

elioma, be enough?" The voice came grim out of the gloom. No answer being returned, it continued: "I've had easie

ing that affec

clear. May I take my last verdict, when it

l rejection. "Fool-made definitions!" Presently, "Story for a romancer, not a physician." He seemed to be canvassing an inadequacy in himself with dissatisfac

rning poet," said Sheldon to

ce sprang from the darkness, vivid and softened with a strange triumph, then receded behind an

ond of him. I don't suppose any one ever came in contact with that fantastic and smiling humanity

nd. I didn't want him to be alone that first night. Yet I dare say that any one, seeing the two of

"You've given me leave to spend freely what's le

n like an army of occupation over everything. The furniture was shrouded in denim. The tall clock in the corner stood voiceless. Three months of desertion will change any

ber night, and the late scent of warmed-over earth came up to me out of Ely Crouch's garden next door. From where I stood in the broad embrasure of the south window, I was concealed from the room. But I could see ev

the main part of the room. "Oh, there you are! You'll look after a f

I with illogical resentment. "It isn'

ree months or to-morrow," he added, more lightly; "what does it matter as long a

patients get. Their const

erve. Strangely enough I d

anyway. There's something wrong

d Grandfather Clock, over there. You're looking right at him and

nd the ancient timepiece. Its comfortable iteration made th

wer window to look out again. "Ten o'clock of a still, cl

cted neighbor and orname

le Ely

by a familiar spi

pet ferret and

. There's some one with

her taste in rom

t they say: 'A dollar or a woman

tainly weren't,

end your suit for an

judge on his. Stop spying on my ne

lay open on the desk, surrounded by a

the Honorable Ely ha

to go on with,

"Plenty for my

"But what on earth are you going

al orgy. A riot of dissipation in giving. Think of the fun one can have with that much tangible money. Already to-day I've struck one man dumb and reduced another to me

ter?" I

on my part. That's your precious science's best definition of life, I believe. It doesn't a

s meaning. "I can't have

for a man in my condition. If you'll tell me there's a chance, one mere, remote human chance-" He paused, turning to me with what was almost appeal in his glance. How I longed to lie to him! But Ned Worth was the k

saw a man

ully at

lings, like the veil over the eagle's eye. We have to. But I

I'm sorry, Chris," he said in that winning voice of his; "I

rage to give up until the time comes. You didn't give your life. You have

ovement of

But how can you tell that being alive instead of dead next week or next month may not make an eternal difference to some ot

garden and kill Ely Crouch," he suggested, smiling. "That would be a benefi

nately impracticable," I answered

, still smiling, but intent. "Chri

sti

h to play the game through. You're right, old hard-shell. I'll stick it out. It will onl

." I set on the desk before him a small pasteboard box. "Pay strict attenti

n't last

becomes more th

nod

ou'll sleep so sound that no

ered the pellets curiously. "A blessed thi

rust,

ustn't expunge old Crouch? It's

from him and crossed ov

e from behind the e

d his promenade. The ai

here and b

e minutes of telephoning

opes. And I felt-nothing. No sense, as I brushed by, of the tragic and concentrated force of will which nerved and restrained her. I went on, and out unconscious. Afterward she was unable to tell me how long she had been there. It must have been for some minutes, for what roused her from her stupor of terror was the word "Suicide." It was like an echo, a mockery to her, at first; and then, as she listened with passionate attention to what followed, my instruct

he upper window those of the lower window were still waving, but the swift figure had almost reached the desk. The face was turned f

" he ch

th a rush. Her hand fell upon the box of pellets. She turned

ia!" he exclaimed

you I heard? Why-

is my

nterpose the table between herself and a possible interference. Her arm, still stiffly pressed

d conjectures, a thousand questions centering upon her obvious and preposterous purpose. Suddenl

t with my tonic?

I-I th

Well, you've got the wrong box.

ce of one desperately intent upon holding the mind to some vit

box which she had just relinquishe

stared at him with str

was the

es

implored, like a bereft

want to ki

at him in d

get here?"

fire e

suppose? So you were Ely Crouch's com

ed, throwing her rig

e said gently. "Take a

er with your ar

y were fixed obstinately upon the pock

fe sweet for yourself and others. What madness-" He broke off and his voice softened into persuasio

less terror. "Yes, I could trust you. But there is o

Try to believe that no harm can come to you here, and that I-I would give the blood of my heart to

on

repeated,

ather's death. I could never get an accounting from him. To-day the doctor told me that Alice m

his reputation? W

him how matters stood, he offered me

oking when I spoke of killing him, a little while ago.

s too

ated, were fi

oo late?" h

lled

-killed-E

a dagger on it. He came at me again. I didn't realize what I was doing. All I could see was that hateful face drawing nearer. Then it changed and he se

us

nst the onset. Energy and resolution quickened in

on

u climb the wal

N

ou had an appoi

N

exactly as

e use?" she

to get you

the cane-handled blade dropped to the floor, and rolled. She shuddered away from it. "I kept that for myself, but I couldn't do it. It's got his blood on it

o that, if you can play your part. Have you got the courage to

ace in bewildermen

of honor that it depe

ow

r. Go downstairs quiet

pens on the street. Wal

safe as though you'd

no clue

ok down the

th him, its evil snout pointed upward

od! The

there, watching,

urself together. Forward, march!" h

ey come what will

k from the window, lowering his voic

n her hands. For an instant he studied her. Then he took his great

e they suspect

ho

M

hy shou

in my possession. My known trouble with Ely

n had plunged her. "Are you mad? Do you think that I'd let you sac

ietly. "I have loved you from

the rest, only half understanding, not daring to move. I saw the splendid color mount

e cried. "It's your li

you-you who have given lif

eyes in his and held them. Then he began speaking, eve

ore weeks of waiting. Then the suffering: then the release. You

she b

aiting. No pain. Death never came to any one so kindly before. It's

im with parted lips. But he did not understand, ye

the valise. "Here's safety. Here's life. For you and your sister, both. You

wing away as he sought to th

matter. It's life for both of you. Have y

notes fall from h

ed in a voice of thrilled music. "Even if the

an unimportant matter dis

to trace. My confession

sion? T

rder of El

of making. I suppose I gasped. Bu

n that? But the p

to a dying man?" he

. So they stood face to face, soul to soul, deep answering unto deep, and, as I sit here speaking, I saw the wonder and the miracle

ou lo

d I do," h

I'm all yours. I've loved you from the first, I think, as you have lov

d from outside the window. Instantly the light and passion died in his eyes. I have never seen a

u truly love me, you must do as I bid you. Give me my chance of fooling fate; of making my death

d like a child. "Ah, Ned, we can

s a god's at that moment or an angel's. "You must go back to

ow what they were; his confession. Then his hand went up, a swift movement, and a mom

of my life, will

she whi

saw Ned turn the pellets into his hand, relax. I ran forward.

you heard?" h

oug

was more irresistible than a thousan

my hand. "C

Must I? Alone?" What a dept

other way,

. "Every beat of my heart will bring me nearer to you. There will be no other

arms that clasped it, and sank into the chair. A policeman's whistle shrilled outsi

l with that unearthly

*

world of dimness and mystery. Subdued breathing made our silence r

! What a

ce gleamed strangely behind the tiny radiance. "Dominie, you h

railing clouds of glory!' The triumph of that victory over fate! One

itness so often shakes my faith in my kind, I turn to think of those two in the splendor of their la

d to the floor unnoticed. The girlish face turned toward us its irresi

om her afterw

s sounded the note of courage and of waiting. It was in the last word I had from her-received

ice rose to

ed to-morrow! H

ength of ever

ns rise tar

etters on a chu

y, 'To-morrow

identified. "Too few people

ank of low-lurking, western cloud shot through with naming crimson. In that luminous setting the ancient house across Our Square, grim and bleak no longer to my eyes, gleamed, through

y, 'To-morrow w

E