Told in a French Garden / August, 1914

BEFORE T

of a Br

came back, hot and dusty, at tea-time. He waved a hand at us as he ran through the garden crying: "I'll change, and be wi

little later-the Youngster was an old pet of mine, and

ome in!"

've yo

inute-and mum-.

until he came, spick and span in white flannels, with

only sixty miles-and I am tuckered. There was a battle there last night-English driven back.

I suppose I ought not to have told you. But I had to let off to some on

German victo

nd there was not an atmosphere of defeat. Fact is-I kept out of sight and only got stray impressions. Go on dow

f we were going in two days, where was the good of leaving the flowers to die alone? I don't suppose that it was strange that the table conversation was all reminiscent. We talked of the old days: of o

h of the three of us left was to tell the story. The Lawyer co

ld December

was pi

snow, then a sudden drop in th

on a street corner, looking in vain for a cab, an

She knew her set well enough to know that it would cause something almost like a scandal if she were seen out alone, on foot, on the very eve of her wedding day, when all

ity, which she had been accustomed to visit on work of a charitable nature begu

f her father's mind. She realized that when she returned from the three years' trip round the world, on which she was starting the day after her

ual support that made women like St. Catherine of Sienna. But, if experience had robbed her of her illusions, she knew, too, that it had set a seal of pain on all the future for her. She could never forge

g for the lesson, that each individual works out his own salvation,-that neither moral nor physical growth ever works from the surface inward. Opportunity-she could perhaps give that in the future, but she was convinced that those who may give of themselves, and really help in the giving, are elected to the task by something more than the mere desire to serve. In her case the gift of her youth and her illusions had done others no real

elf, the world, living,-and

her watch. H

this kind of work in a private carriage, and to-day she could not, as she usually did,

her, and like an echo of it she

ooked

n. At first she was not quite s

sick mother-a dying mother-and begged as if not accustomed to it-all the time with an

child did not seem six years old. The face was not so very cunning. It was not ugly, either. It was mere

e,-begging is a crime in many American towns-she carefull

one to do anything-a child sent out to cunningly

e child up to the police. It would be at on

oo much of official char

o give alms in the streets, and her sense of the power of a moral obligation was a strong notion

Chardon Stree

hild

lope. Then she went out to the side-walk again with the child. Stooping over her she made sure that the little one really did know the street. "It isn't far from here," sh

ecial donation for the case as a sort of commemorative gift. The sum was large-it was a

d had her misgivings on that point. And, just as she was about to draw a breath of relief, convinced that, after a

a worthiness, or its pretence, which they resent almost as much as they do the intrusion of the visiting committee. This disinclination is as old as poverty,

er sit down in the cold, and to so personify all that she wanted so ardently,-it was purely sel

t night, nor smile the next day-and that seemed so un

the hill, and down the other side to a part

ied quietly

ly uncomfortable to talk to

nt up the stone steps into a hall so dark that she was obliged to

d with her frame of mind, which prevented her from noticin

med an upper corridor, stumbled on what she immediately knew was the sill of a door, lurched forwar

to the chil

e door, found i

n perfect

ss passed over her and le

found it difficult to belie

Fifteen minutes before all ha

n her. She must keep her head, she must be calm,

ark house, in an unknown part of the city! How absurd it was of her! And that-after noticing-as she ha

one another through her mind she

ly dared

r a moment that fear dominated all other sensations. She he

deathly

y along the wall. Inch by inch, she crept round the room, s

e furniture, one door only, two windows covered with heavy draper

certain, she was alone. The only danger she n

ere was her engagement ring, a few ornaments like her watch, and very little money! Yet, as she had seen misery, even that migh

were the days when men did not revenge themselves on women who frankly rejected the attentions they had never encouraged. It was weak, she knew it, to even remember

gas, but no matches. To sit in the dark,

she should fall asleep from fatigue and

ays that sh

hundred and thirty minutes, each one of which dragged her down, like a weight, into the black abyss of the unknow

n the world? In spite of herself, she rushed to the door, and pounded on it. This was so useless that she began to cry hysterically.

ran in from his bachelor's dinner-his last-which he was giving to a few friends? What woul

e the mad search that would be made

began to feel as if she were suspended in space, as if everything had dropp

ime there was no mistake about it, for it was follo

rted and turne

her feet, and s

he hall behind, she saw that it was a man-a gentleman in evening cl

k that in, the door closed aga

ash for the door came to

ered oath at the darkness in a thick voice

was conscious that the man had flung his hat a

all her fe

ly, "Jack, dear Jack, how did you find me? I should have gon

girl of her class ought to have done, this wo

, the appearance of his bride-elect in such an unexpected place was so appalling to him that his nerve failed him entirely. Instea

stopped as if

g-he had not expected to find her there. H

d it she grasped at the vague accusation her othe

hed hands fel

drunk too recklessly evaporated, and only a dim recollection remained in his absolutely sobered brain o

t attempt

ow on his. A hundred dangers, of which she did not dream, stood between that room and a safe exit in which sh

d. "You are perfectly safe," and he went out

like a stone within that room, the next half hour were

eted stairs out into the street. Then she was conscious that she walked a little way. Then that she had been helped into a carriage, and then she had jolted and jolted and jolted over the pavings, alwa

s. She heard the bell ring, but before her mother could catch her in her a

ossed and wept and raved, an

, and at Civilization, between which he had so disastrously fallen, a

ng about with notices of the bride's illness.-Mis

ad found instead that desire for anything rather than personal existence, which made her th

oment of surp

en the Journalist, always ready to l

pet word of yours

ng gently: "Well, I don't know. It is the commone

ed her shoulders. "I kno

yer. "You may know a story, b

"I am not going to add fo

that is a true story?"

the Critic, "I d

another case of the Doctor's pet theory-that whatever t

another of his pet theories. Scratch c

er said a word. Somehow the story seemed a les

change," said the Doctor.

belongings and prepared to shut up for the night, "the Youn

tion of a bully melodrama in that story, and I'm not su

ered the Critic. "As realistic in su

the Lawyer. "You've not really treated

the money-coining 'Two Orphans' down. The only trouble is, the Lawyer poured his villain and hero into one mould. The other man ought to have trapped her, a

the Doctor, and that