How It Happened

awakened little emotion save disgust, but the realization of the helplessness of the two people before him filled him with inward rage, and for some time he could not trust him

ld, whose wit and courage were equal to situations of which she had the right of childhood to be ignorant, the scene just witnessed had the familiarity of fre

The boy and Frances. He dug his hands deeper in his po

race he was led into the hall by Carmencita and told good night with sweetness and decision. It was wonderfully managed. No man could have done it, and in

in her voice was eager trembling. "I'm so excited I can't breathe good! It

no attention. In thick, heavy throbs his heart sent the blood to his face, then it receded, and for a moment the room was

hrill in excitement and dismay. "I told you to wa

went for her. Some of her kin-folks is in town staying with some their kin-folks, and she is spending the night with 'em." The now soiled and crumpled note was held toward Carmencita. "She

, and, the tension of the past few hours relaxed, he felt as one on the edge of a precipice from which at any moment he might topple over. It

night. And thank you, Carmencita, thank you for letting me come.

darkness he walked as one who feels something in his way he cannot see; and then he lau

ad been well-nigh unendurable. And now he would have to wait until day after to-morrow. He would go to-morrow night to this Mother Somebody. What was her name? He could remember nothing, was, indeed, as stupid as if he had been knocked in the head. Well, he had been. Where did this woman live? The child had refused to tell him. With a sudden stop he looked around. Where was he? He had walked miles in and out of streets as unknown to him as if part of a city he had never been in, and he had no idea where he was. A sudden fear gripped him. Where did Carmencita live? He had paid no attention to the streets they were on when she took him to the house

e of the street he wanted to find, and, moreover, a curious shrinking kept him from inquiring. In the morning he would find it, but he did not want to make demands upon the usual sources for help until he had exhausted all other means of redeeming his folly in

sought he went up and down its length, and not until he felt he was being noticed did he take into partial confidence a good-natured policeman who had nodded to him on his third passing. The man was kindly, but for hay-stack needles there was no time and he was directed to headq

time than

sed, and in his heart crept childish longing to buy something for somebody, something that was wanted very much, as these people seemed to be doing. He had made out the checks he usually sent to certain institutions and certain parties at this season of the year for his head clerk to mail. By this time they had been received, but with them had gone

is watch in his hand, open at the back, where the picture lay, with his fingers on it, and sometimes he would kiss it when he thought she was out of the room. After the watch was sold the picture had been folded up in one of her mother's handkerchiefs, and her father kept it in the pocket of his coat; bu

ers, and, though the goods for sale were cheap and common and of a quality that at other times would have repelled, to-day they interested. Carmencita might be among the

and ordered coffee and oysters. His table companion was a half-grown boy with chapped hands and a thin white face; but his eyes were clear and happy, and the piece of pie he was eating was being

ned to the boy. "I ordered these things"-he pointed to the steaming food-"and I don't want

nt. Good thing Christmas don't come but once a year. You can cut out lunch better'n anything else for a save-up, though. That girl over there"-he pointed his finger behi

only the sordid side of it, the crudeness and coarseness; but the search he was on had humanized what hitherto had only seemed a disagreeable and objectionable side of life, and the

rinking prevented his making inquiries of others. It was silly to ask what couldn't be answered. He must ha

t way to go. To his left were shops; he went toward them, and each face of the children coming in or going out was scanned intently. Seeing a group pressed close to a window in which was display

inted to a huge and highly decorated doll in the center of the window-"tha

little mouths. "I want that one-the one in long clothes with a cap on. What you want, Lizzie Lue? Look out there and keep your elbows where they belong"-this to the jostling, pushing crowd b

et her do the buying. Was Christmas like this every year? These children with no chance-was there no one to give them their share of childhood's rights? Settlement workers, church

our pard

n one arm, his wife holding to the other, tried to touch his hat. "The cr

were red and chapped. He was much too thin for his height, an

young wife whose timid clutch of her husband's arm was very unli

w, it's snowing so hard. We might not

oat sleeve across his mouth to check his cough. "Santa Claus is sure enough to them

ristmas had he known in time-might have saved the sacrifices that had to be made; but would it then have been Christmas? Slowly, very slowly, in the sha