Queed

, a Landlady's Agent, and Doctor Queed,

who caught herself and said: "M

boggled and balked; not to save her life could she bring

whence the top edges of a book could be descried protruding. Mrs. Paynter moved vaguely toward the door. As for her business woman, she made at once for the kitchen, where Emma and her faithful co-worker and mother, Laura, rose from their supper to assist her. With her own hands the girl cut a piece

tors," said Sharlee, critically rev

ingress to the dining-room in a sort of crab-fashion. Mrs. Paynter was gone. Mr. Queed sat alon

his side with the plate of steak and potatoes. He did n

t seeming to take in for the f

...

one, the butter, coffee, and so on. The old mahogany sideboard yielded knife, fork, and spoon; salt and pepper; from the

e anythi

quipment with intelligent quickn

Certa

d duly placed it. Mr. Queed was oblivious to the little courtesy. By this time he had propped his book open against the plate of rolls and

nk that is

ve that

ber me?" then

ough his spectacles, his eyes

hink

Main Street this afternoon. You may remember ...? I thought you seemed to-t

some signs of unrest. "I walk seldom. Y

He was nev

his boarding-house piqued his curiosity not the slightest was o

to you for get

ormous round spectacles; his dusty air of premature age; his general effect of dried-up detachment from his environment. One noted, too, the tousled mass of nondescript hair, which he wore about a month too long; the necktie-band triumphing over the collar in the back; the collar itself, which had a kind of celluloid look and shone with a blue unwholesome sheen under the gas-light. On the other hand there was the undeniably trim

ur times seven-fifty or vacate the premises.... Yes, but how to do it? He could not be much older than she herself, but his manner was the most impervious, the most impossible that she had ever seen. "I'm grim and I'm resolute," she said over to herself; but the splendid def

ding for a moment," she said quietly.

rprise and some vexation in the eyes behind his

el

o me just now she did not-did

s it make an

ne. She runs this boarding-place, and people of various kinds come to her and she takes them into her house. Many of these people are entirely unknown to her. In this way trouble

"It always seems to me an unnecessary waste of time not to

yes.

exactly meant what I said. To-night I received funds through the mail; the sum, twenty dolla

ke that before, and her business platform in these

too hard to imply a beautiful trust. She went on much like the firm young lady enumerator

e sense in which you m

ave friends in

ord-no!" said he, with

prised from her, "t

that direction in New York quite sufficed me, I assure you. I came h

nces, you know. You have

rviceable for references. The best of them is only a policem

d deciding what to say next. The young man used the silence to bolt

ake a remittance to-night. I will ta

All r

pe, and absently pitched it across the table. She looked at it and

to ope

d he, and, removing th

onless young man could not daily stretch his limbs under her aunt's table and retain the Third Hall Back against more compensatory guests. But the letter proved a grievous disappointment to her

e, indubitably suggested that Mr. Queed was not

"evidently you have some occupation,

r of vexed surprise, as much as to s

follow yo

comes to you in payment fo

ssumption,

aps, that I am not idly i

that you w

this

. It came exactly as I handed it to you: t

of course, wher

ntly," said Mr. Queed, "

ood friend here after all?

know for a certainty that they are both in New York.

terested to know who did give it to you? Aren't you curious? I assure you that in th

usual case. I told you that I

act

dea. I think my

ur fath

hough not a friend, yet sent in twenty dollars now and then to

aturally interested in the question of whethe

ability to make m

es

fork into place with a pained glance at his watch; and simultaneously a change came over his face, a ki

postponed further. I must not leave you under any misapprehensions. If this money came from my father, it is the first I ever had from him in my li

he live here,

arge of things, and pay my board; but though I have been here nearly a month, he has so far made not the slightest move in that direction, unless we count this letter. Possibly he leaves it to me to find him, but I, on my part, have no time to

t from the money consideration-hav

er is a tremendous task when you have no idea where he lives, or what he looks like, or what name he may be using. My time is wholly absorbed by my

t was, Sharlee was by no means sure that he escaped it; and she c

rk to make you view the findin

answered, drily. "I may call it,

ression was so peculiar, that he conclude

alyzes the relations of men in organized communities; formulates the law or laws of social progress a

nd your ambition is to become a

aintly. "To

you are on

inner pocket, produced a large wallet, and fr

sibly these will impress you

contents torn from a year-old number of the Political Science Quarterly to the same effect; an editorial from a New York newspaper commenting on one of these articles and s

that. Her marvel was for the fact that the man who was capable of so cruelly elbowing little

returning his envelope; "bu

tter of t

hat sociology had a close relation with life-in fact, that it w

btless sound, though you

the sociologist has

le look in her eyes, his expression became

you dedu

duce it from what you have said-and impli

t of, most of all,

. Her eyes were the clearest lapis lazuli, heavily fringed with lashes which were blacker than Egypt's night. Her c

some impatience throug

Hence your curious confusion. Theory and application are as totally distinct as the poles. The few must discover for the many to use. My

l the same unwillingness to practice

iness of government

vernment but the common expression of mass

to finish my book, if I am delayed in finishing it, I can hardly doubt that the world will be the loser. This is not a task like organizing a prolonged search for one's father, or dawdling with friends, whic

ble egoism at once amusing

elf-absorbed men have considered their own particular work of

ith other men's mistakes. I am

tation to suggest that concei

s the business of lesser men to apply the discovery to practical ends. It takes a Whitney to invent the cotton gin, but the dullest negro roustabout can operate it. Why multiply illustrations of a trui

a look of the rankest complacence that she had ever seen upon a human coun

bruptly, "there remains

e your living from these social laws th

onths off. Every minute taken from it for the making of money is, as you may now understand, decidedly unfortunate. Still," he added depressedl

did

d a lady writ

h.

charged her five dollars an hour." He looked at her narrowly. "Do

logy," she had easily picked out, but the chapter heading, on the opposite page, was more troublesome, and, deeply absorbed, she had now just suc

up with a small start, and the faintes

here, a wealthy one, who would li

ink of no such person. But her mind fastened at once on the vul

remunerative work-to settle this board question once and for all. An hour or two a d

ss Weyland slowly,

flying glance at his watch. "That is what

t an unnecessary waste o

e pages of his book. The hit bounded off him like a

ded. "What have

tle hand. The other shapely little hand toyed with the crisp twenty dollar bill, employing it to trace geometric

you apply for some special

ost? The morning

of

slow laugh, betraying that the muscles which a

the editorials o

n named Col

ave been written by a military man. I happened to rea

nel Cowles is a

economy? If he is your friend, then I shou

that is my suggestion. I believe you will

ts contributors

have to take up

it much time, only enough to pay for my keep. The suggestion is not a bad one-not at al

hat. Moreover, she earnestly wished, for Mrs. Paynter's reasons, that the tenant of the third hall back should become associated with the pay-envelope system of the city. "Listen," she went on. "I know

to see me? I am

ubt if you coul

our suggestion. Of course I shall take no

g," said the

cleanly and satisfactorily. From the door the girl glanced back. Mr. Queed had drawn his heavy book before h

dining-room to discover, by the frank method of ear and

alive, Sharl

Twenty dollars in the hand and a re

minuet. "Hooray!" said she

in her ear: "Fifi, be very gentle with that young ma

I don't think he fe

nfinitely pathetic? He's the saddest little ma

occurred to Sharlee that there was something odd in this advice to her little cousin. For s