Our Square and the People in It

e or play or gossip. The wind has blown them all away. A few tenacious leaves still cling, withered, brown, and clattering, to the trees, "bare, ruin'd choirs where late' th

uld not for the world have it known-many of us are none too warmly clad. Behind the blank opaqueness of the bordering windows one m

rom whence he dispensed every good thing but charity. That word and all that follows in its train he hated. Which shows that he had learned Our Square. After hours he would "drop in," almost secretly, on some friend; and it was a curious coincidence that Cyrus's friends w

laimed Cyrus the Gaunt until his iron steed should come out of the stable; a day job on a stationary engine around in Pike Street. Our Square remarked with concern that the indoor employment didn't seem to suit Cyrus the Gaunt. He became gaunter and thinner and more melancholy-looking, and more than once he was seen on wild nights, when nobody was supposed to be out late, staring at the now quite unembarrassed

ey lunched on frankfurters and kohlrabi at Schwartz's. Thither Cyrus was wont to have his scanty mail sent from the house where he l

in' a bit ootside!"

d the paper

cken Scot. "It's a thousan' d

. He didn't have my

en drawin'

y release. I'd almost f

he said dully. "It's no use. It's not worth while. Nothing's worth while." There was a l

; hands were outstretched to him confidently for the friendly help that he could give so well; the voices of the children hailed him as a fellow; the baseball team which did most of its practice at noon on the asphalt claime

aid MacLachan contentedly,

the moment. He laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Laddie

gard face to him.

ke nothin

now why-what sh

'e ha

learning

is in the window yet," r

er; and a pioneer butterfly of the deepest, most luminous purple-black, with buff edges to its wings, arrived and led the whole juvenile populace such a chase as surely never was since the Pied Piper fluted his seductions long ago; and the benches came out of

ine figure beckoning him from the curbstone. Clanging to a halt, he he

ls." Cyrus took off his working-cap and shook hands. "So I have c

you. I've been sculped wi

Woman with a smile not devoid of sympathy. "

velously.. "Coming back to Our Square?"

d take you away from her and finish you myself. And, oh, I am as bad a sculptor as I am a good painter--almost!" Her laughter rang in the chill a

is-Will you

uestions where they belong. Far

gale had swept all humans before it, except Terry the Cop, and he didn't recognize her, from the distance, in her other-worldly raiment. That must have cost her a pang. Unnoticed she crept into the little, old, quaint, friendly house, and its doors clo

cerns that he all but forgot the prospective visit. When he had brought his charge to its senses and reduced it to some control, he was interrupted by the plight of a belated push-cart woman, who was dragging anchor and drifting fast to leeward under the furious impulsion of the nor'

son, prudence, and propriety deserted their posts in his brain simultaneously. A dozen long-legged leaps carried him as far as the vestibule of the little house. There his knees base

a corner, with a deprecatory movement,

trouble. If-if you wanted me to sit for you again," he said compos

ouldn't think of-after-what-what

her with resolved cheerfulness. "I can be a

mplored him. "Don't

repeated w

t too late to offer my best wishes.

t na

ur marri

n of Cyrus the Gaunt suddenly went numb. "I

to make myself go through with it. I couldn't. No wo

se of irreparable loss impending he felt, rather than heard, her moving from him into the blackness of the outer world. Yet

t she would be

hands on his arm, and heard her sobbing appeal: "Oh, Cy

slipped up to his shoulder. The flower-face p

ied, "I'll never do anyth

hful who still cling to the benches. Gone is Cyrus's chariot of flame and thunder. The work is done. Gone, too, is Cyrus, and with him

ch the Bonnie Lassie once pressed her sorrowful face, troop the elfin company of her dream-children, the dancing figurines. Cyrus the Gaunt would have it so. He deeded her the ho

R THAT W

of Our

d he gestured like one arguing stormily. At the last she smiled and drew a cluster of the lilac bloom down to her cheek. It was not deeper-hued than her eyes, nor fresher than her youth. They rose and passed me,

hanging actuality, and it crowds in with many pressures upon a half-idle old pedagogue like myself. It was the Little Red Doctor who, weeks later,

g our eyes with to-

up the

read. "Good! He'

fulfilled the requirements by

Gno

y since the day he passed me with the girl wh

loan it

o read it

he

t's your tur

e Gnom

or

ad

unt

ctice branched out into

t, his trouble

hat a simple lay

s have turned to lamp-wicking. I don't

is?" I h

ittle Red Doctor'

rns a young Hercules's legs

emperature of one-naught-four-point-two," retorted the Little Red Doctor with bitter exactitude. "Unde

that the Gnome i

s worry may. Another aid of my old friend, Death, worry is. That's a bothersome Gnome, tossing about in the h

got awa

the Gaunt and the Bonnie Lassie found him and bro

be watchdog. It's No. 7,

floor. Nin

be t

are not deemed good form in Our Square. The Little Red Doctor nodded and prepared to pass on

he object of the Gnome's

To se

r w

ast of that perishing genus in New York City. "Heaven knows!" he called b

rehanded conductor, and too tardily bethought himself of a forgotten

ir?" I sh

t he had already paid his nickel, so he only w

e workers on the lower and furnished lodgings on the upper floors. The very walls seemed to sweat as I made my way up to the dim light at the top, where the Gnome's door stood ope

nd gnarled power, strangely alien to his youthfulness, which had given him his nickname in Our Square. Some would have called him ugly of face.

ng to-night?" I as

o where an easy-chair invited. It was a wicker chair, broad-seated, wide-armed, and welcoming, a chair made conformable and gracious by long usage, a chair for lovers, for high hopes and for dreams, a

snarled insane

don," I said, m

h, by its contrast with his formidable physique, gave him the aspect of a kindly and companionable

"The fact is, I detest wicker chair

you?

anion for an ol

ain. His fingers quivere

whispered.

odd

e things. Echoes of w

yes. I

I can see the chair just enough to know that it's empty as-as an empty heart-I hear it stirring, stirring softly, adjusting itself to-to what is not there. And I hold my

s. Regretting that I had chanced upon so unfortunate a

t has not been moved nor touc

ou?" I asked, to t

l me what they are d

ath of the authorities upon Mrs. Morrissey's head; and Terry the Cop's extra stripe; and the passing of the skat championship into the unworthy but preposterously lucky hands of the Avenue B Evening Dress Suit Club; and the battle over Orpheus the Piper (which was a jest of the Lords of High Derision, touching the boundaries of uttermost tragedy); and the exotic third stage of the affair, not yet ended, between Mary Moore and the Weeping Scion of Wealth; and the newspaper discovery of a barroom poet at Schmidt's free-lunch counter; and the joke which his fashionable uptown club put up on Cyrus the Gaunt; and politics and social doings, and the whis

w are you off f

ong the papers on the bed.

de them,"

amounts were small; two dollars, two-and-a-half, three, and four, and the largest for

ng new?"

ng sketches. Th

that you coul

atchy, sketchy blobs, unti

ool," I said, for the local sculptress, nymph, and goddess of Our Squar

exactly. Bu

be making money whi

I can't sleep I sketch. And the checks come in. It's like a miracle. Only-it isn't the miracle that I want. When do you think I

of the secret that was wearing his life down, but never revealed it. When I sought to sh

gain, I knew why he liked me with him. The bond of sympathy was that in my life, too, had been an empty chair that whispered. So the harsh summer elo

was I had drawn the couch out between the two windows. Discouraged by the handicap of a forearm which stuck clammily to his drawing board, the Gnome had turned off h

Gnome's voice, in a hard-breathed

rise, but a paralysis of the will held me, t

hair, whispering, sagged and yielded as if to the pressure of some light, sweet burden. Then the voice of the Gnome came, out of the

ried. God of pity, how I've tried! Can't you hear me, can't you feel me calling for you? If I could see

nderstanding. Then the beggar of ghosts fell back, and the bed creaked and shook. I

ugh the rest of that night. In the m

e in the night?

es

rest, for I think I haven't mu

but it was lip speech only, a

I'll go, shriven of that secret. The

uch I g

How can I make you understand

aps I

n? W

n the Square the week the lila

er beautiful hands?-and she could find no other, and there was nobody in the world for her to turn to. D

ich Our Square makes brave pretense of having forgotten; tr

some one

was his one, all-effacing, loyal purpose from the first moment he looked into her face); t

eupon Susan Gluck's Orphan lifted up his voice and smote the far heavens with his lamentations. To him, running in agonized circles with his finger in his mouth, the girl extended arms and invitation to come and be comforted. The voice, with its clear, soft, mothering appeal, tugged at the Gnome's heart-strings; to Susan Gluck's Orphan it was, however, but the voice of a stranger, and therefore to be feared. There, however, sat Leon the Gnome, unnoted before, but now an ap

pying upon her fear and despair. Wise in a lore of which the Gnome was as ignorant as the Orphan, she now offered wet mud. It was applied, and the adoptive pri

rightened, too

d the girl, following the now

that. I have b

as one to go straight to a point. Perhaps two more direct sp

es

, and I'm not a

y, "that I mean as well to you as

nce, but the defensive

amble?" was hi

e repeated i

nies. I'll match y

got a dolla

ent

he murmured. "I've only got-f

he thrilled to it. But he accepte

ny worse off, even if you lose? And, at dinner, we

" And of course the Gnome said no; because a tossed penny shows for itself. So th

I didn't

and they sat and argued it. That is when I f

Mme. Marot would look after her. And I had an awful time keeping the bill of fare away from her and making her believe that she was getting only forty-three cents' worth. Courage

as building up a character to match the curi

full of men who were only a horrible sort of pursuing ape. That came out later when I knew her better. My business there at that first

ing heart before she could trust him; and across it he had led her by the mere power of words. Well, no; not words alone. Something shining

do it, miracle wo

n't understand you. I ju

What, for

I wanted her to know me as I was." I wondered how many youths of my acquaintance in Our Square, or out, could afford to tell "e

when we had walked and talked I said to her: 'Where will you go

" I ex

" he growled. "Don't th

room. I did as directed. "Look on th

yond was a tiny room and a tiny white bed and a flower in a pot on the window si

han the last for me. She stopped being afraid almost at once. It was just an even week af

ome in?'

,' I

made no move. Then: '

me into the room. She was all in fresh white, with a touch of some color at her waist. I had bought that dress for her. Do you know the delight of buying the realities o

,' she said. I shook. 'I'll keep the bargain,' I said. 'I know you will,' said she. She sat down in the wicker chair. No one has sat in

tion, for what do youth and youth always talk abou

t life and books and things. I lent her my books. I read a good deal, you know; all of us in the printing trades are great readers," he added with a touch of guild pride. "She was better educated than I, though. Where did she get it? I

t asking questions of your own showed a

ery evening she knocked and came in and sat in the wicker chair, and we talked. It was the sweetest thing in life to me, that absolute confidence.

bts upon the point,

know where. Next week

protests?" I ask

couldn't, could I? It was a

beg your pardo

tes. Passing me on her way back to her own room, she stopped behind my chair, and I felt something just brush my temple; and then the

tell you

ust part of her mystery, of the mystery of woman, I suppose. The next S

ken, sore-hearted tailor of Our Square has his own reasons for

did. It was he that called 'Come in.' She came and stopped, looking at him with surprise. 'Oh,' she said, 'I didn't know.' 'No more did I,' said MacLachan, standing up with solemn, drunken politeness.

first time I had felt her arms and it turned me sick with longing. She backed away from me and said: 'I'm sorry, Leon. I didn't know there was any one here.' 'Wait,'

ll you sai

. I was intent on the one thing-the bargain: that I mustn't make love to her; that I mustn't catch her in my arms and hold her against my hear

on the other side of the square,'

to her room, and I

you for a f

what every woman wants to

ave realized it a thousand times, by a t

nothing from

" An involuntary, jealous clutch at his pillow told me t

rd wit

do I want with gratitude? I want her! I want to find her. Sup

an never

it too, when Terry the Cop came in. They brought me back here and called

in (of all places) a millinery store. The fragments of his conversation which I caught related to ostriches. To my inquiry he replied that he was pursuing a will-

't get out and find her, she comes and sits in the wicker chair, and I hear the pressure of her dear body

he Little Red Doctor's visits grew more frequent, and his brow more corrugated, and his eyes more perplexed. Once h

es my old friend, Death, sometimes madness. Let's

chair became closer and more constant. Night after night I heard him murmuring in the darkness, an

Square like an aerial charge. It whirled me, breathless, into No. 7, and pursued me up the stairs, puffing out t

aid gayly. "Will you be my executor

if I'm alive," I answered.

look done up. Take th

ine to be given now. When I woke up the room was dark. It seemed to me that a cold draft had pas

you come back?" pleaded the

y made one great leap and st

ch you," went on the piteous, quiet voice from the bed. "But you

d fear and gladness that was of this and not the other world, and I knew without seeing that it

n't you tell me?" she sobbed. "Why d

it had suddenly taken on life and vigor. "I thought I told you in every word a

love o' you is the life o' him. An' it's going if you don't come back an' save h

ircumspectly out of the room. On the la

he stairs just

. "Did you fea

AN OF O

loyalty, which does not in the least imply that it either likes or approves MacLachan. It is, in fact, rather difficult to like him. He has a gray-granite face with a mouth like a snapped spring, toppling brows, an

they quarreled about Our Square never knew. The hard-bitten tailor was easy to quarrel with at any time. No information was offered by him, and public opinion in the neighborhood does not favor vain and curious inquiries into another man's family t

hen he is, in his own phrase, "a bit drink-taken." The Bonnie Lassie has one of her queer theories that he used to sing Meg to sleep with it when she was a baby. "And that's why, you see," says she. I don't see at all; it seems to me a psychologically unsound theory. Still

not so much because of his known temper as of the haunting pain that grew in his eyes. With the temerity of youth, Henry Groll, one of Meg's many local adorers, and the best second tenor in the Amalgamated

ou hear from Meg?" in

the cloth he was cutting that Lawyer Stedman's coat, when complet

visitor, somewhat disconce

and he would never again have sung second tenor nor anything else calling for the employment of intact vocal cords. Henry sent a messenger after the waist

brought about long after through the Bonnie Lassie's procuring. She thrust a sunny h

n, the tailor, to-day?" she call

e looking

d be looki

s respectable if shiny. The Bonnie Lassie made a gesture of annoyance

ow what da

ay, th

please! What day is it

Not that we are much given to cel

he didn't know either. It's the second anniversary of the day MacLac

ore a magistrate, who let Mac off only upon the strength of a character sketch (b

r are to take him away this evening

ly homebound between us before what he had drunk-against a rising current of our protests

u a story wit

ere lived Myn

morning

merchant i

nu, di-nu-

di-nu,

aunt the locality. She addressed the three of us with hopeful impartiality. MacLachan s

ter in your line

ad his eyes. She shrank back trembling

r ten minutes of strained silence, di

did I say to her?" The Little Red Doctor told him circums

d o' the afternoon it was, and there she stood bedizened like yon poor hussy that spoke to us. Raddled with paint too; raddled to the eyes. But the eyes had not changed. They looked at me straight and brave and hard. I had meant well by her, however I might find her. God knows I did! But at the sight of her so, my gorge rose. 'What are ye,' says I, 'that ye should come into the light of

pped the hand from him. "Do you take him home, dominie

resentment. So when, a fortnight later, MacLachan sallied forth to the tune of "The Cork Leg," and came back raving with pneumonia, it was, of course, the Red One who pulled him through it. And in that period of delirium and

f Fashion. "Though I'll stop him if I can. That's my business. Even so, maybe I'll be wrong. For the man's heart

ssing the Home of Fashion, he heard from behind the closed door the sound of MacLachan's mirthless revelry. He stepped in and found the Scot, cross-legged and with a bottle at his elbow, rocking in

'd stuffed him a

lation ca

im out without

him out he br

di-nu

, Mac! S

ic. The noblest song, bar Bobbie Bu

me work

no t

I must surely h

ill not is no man's slave,'" p

ve a consultation to-morrow, and I mu

ong wi' th

" floundered the Little Red Doctor, who i

out yer black coat," said he firmly. "It's' the drink ye're strivin' to wean me from. But I'm proof against yer st

one, then," returned

own gait an' fight yer old friend, Death.

, just so sure the dissecting-room will get y

cLachan leaned forward to fasten a cla

rink. Ye say the devil will get my soul. Ye're a backward prophet, mannie. He's got it. Yes, he's got it, an' another of the same blood to

ys he, 'now you'

p knife I lo

utches I neve

a beautiful

ac

finish these pants before Jo

John

from the deep seas and the roaring trades with a tropical thirst. 'T is he sent me yon messenger,

own right hand," declared the Little Red Doctor

dship's sake, in the refrain of MacLachan's favorite ballad, and shortly thereafter the twain were seen arm in arm making a straight course across the open for unknown lands. All that we of O

athetically stated later, not a bite to eat since dinner at eight o'clock. I still possess the worthy mariner's "chart of the operations," as he terms it, sketched in order that we landlubbers of Our Square might comprehend fully how it all developed. From this masterpiece of cartography I learn that the two friends occupied a side table some halfway down the room, Captain Nelson facing the rear. At the next table back, and therefore directly in his view, sat

Rotterdam,

legs his stu

s as strong a

re a compound of c

-t

wing her escort in her wake and uttering loud and refined reflections upon the vulgar environment. Thus was left to Captain Nelson, resuming his seat, a clear view to the far-rear table. This table, he was aesthetically pleased to note, w

John?" inquired his companion, who, having hi

othing at all. It often happens to me. Just

character concerning a Babylonian lady whose antiquity is th

n. "I've got an aunt lives there. You thin

nd explained in biting terms that his

t make her what you say. Anyway, I'll just run down and speak a word of polite

ptain Nelson with a direc

ong is it since I've seen you?" Necessity for immediate invention was obviated by the opportune arrival of the waiter. Glancing at the tall, icy glass in front

soon as the waiter had left, "

Lachan. He's al

g him

irst c

ated the girl inexorab

the pair walked along, the tailor reeling a bit, the girl was busy searching for something under the t

" she

hrough the heart. Nelson slid a chair behind his friend's trembling knees. He sat down. Bending forward, he glared into the garishly splot

e girl. Been

into sweetness under the layers of pain

your friends,"

be my old dad," sa

drew in his chair. "Quite a

s?" demande

husb

de glass which the resourceful captain thoughtfully thrust i

week in the year," said the girl quietl

demanded the father

ue. Why else would I be all gommered up like this" (she to

en in the business?"

t. It was ha

e in the stre

s; I was just o

elf-pity his long heartbreak and loneliness, rose in a flam

new I was killing myself for lo-, for shame of

boy husband; but his voice

cried t

away. Nelson set a hand on h

the girl to her husband.

'm not prepared to say that he didn't have

opped, as if stric

ring, a little leather-mounted photograph which he held up befor

an, reverting to his broadest Scotch. The

o his arms

rs on those twin gray rocks that serve MacLachan for cheeks. So I drifted down to leeward and gathered my coat and gave three waiters a quarter each for not staring and came away to tel

changed and softened MacLachan that came back to us, sober and strange

taken again," he promise

ernoon, several of us who had run into the Bonnie Lassie's studio for tea and the weekly inspection of

fright were

thought he was

lamp-post to

ke away and kep

nu, di-nu-

di-nu,

le Red Doctor in conster

ie was quicker. "Let me get him,"

k, her face quivering. "Co

rd, angular face, at the moment wide open and pouring forth unabashed melody for the apparent benefit of a much befrill

AT 'PEA

hip of the backers. Personally I prefer David's cavalry dash as exemplified in long-range handling of doubled rooks, but there are plenty who swear and bet by the sapper-and-miner doggedness of Jonathan's pawn manipulations. The contestants have been known as David and

ium of a guinea-chicken, a fish in season, and two chops with their paper-frilled shanks engaged like buttoned foils. In those days Henri, a newcomer, sat back against the side wall and unobtrusively watched a guerrilla campaign between Hermann and a nondescript casual patron with weak eyes and a deprecating manner, of whom none of us knew

ity," he murmured. "I should h

ink not," said a court

"You think not?" he said mildly.

on the part of the newcomer's knight, the struggle was prolon

pawn," he observed, "was able

, through sympathies subtle and strange in two characters so apparently unlike, into the love that passeth the love of woman. They became David and Jonathan indeed, and one of the ple

sently they took to reading their boys' letters in common; and they would chuckle, or look serious, or debate, or prophesy with a single and equal interest whether it were a matter of Hermann, Jr., or of young Robert in Africa. Comradeship can go no deeper. The flash of a foreign postage stamp across the marble-topped

ce. He sauntered down the length of the aisle, an expression of self-confidence upon his smeary countenance, and coolly dropped into Jonathan's chair, nodding to Elsa, the pretty polyglot. Now Inky Mike plumes himself upon a "connection with the press" (through the rollers, it is understood in Our Square

the queenly gesture of o

and that with an effort.

said the little c

r," returned

d her foot in the universal

e," drawled Mike. "You shoul

ed Elsa in a soarin

enin'! You can plant a 'To Let' sig

urquoi pas

f of his theme in complacent triumph. "War's just d

the Teutonic Jonathan. Inky Mike rose astounded and hastily moved,

ized. "Is Mister-is yo

iven in the person of the Gallic

nie Lassie. Those were the days when the Bonnie Lassie was sculping Cyrus the Gaunt and Cyrus was acting as chauffeur to ten tons of steam roller on a

is shifting to the table next the chess rivals. They did not notice it. They did not notice anything b

to-night," said

u have heard?" he said, and pulling a newsp

he drew forth not the "Extry-Extry" which he had just bought of Cripple Chris on the corn

at language," he

our mind since yesterday," sa

ways had. It is a German m

ind of a savage!"

ckly. Cyrus the Gaunt laid a hand, every finger of which

said quietly. "

n the Frenc

ing to speak to you,

ve to have been the first agreement of total neutrality in the present world conflict. By its provisions every topic having to do with the war or any of the parties to it was rigorously tabooed. Both the German and the French language, even for purposes of exclamation and emphasis, wer

iful and at the same time beautiful to see the subterfuges whereby they preserved their affection from the blight of the all-devouring war, even in its remote associations. The

nded. "How goes it with our spec

es well," answ

he others to hi

ger in the gardens

ace of his friend, a face whose eyes shifted uneasily away from his.

ng his glass, "who face death

r his draught? If so, he need not have been ashamed. It seemed to me, when I saw t

urn to get a letter. He sat fin

g Robert?" ask

d no

to s

war," faltered the Frenchman. "Youth is per

ne told the German.

r father

man simply. "And may God

ing when Elsa, the polyglot, had just completed her chef-d'ouvre of embroidery which still hangs upon the wall. It is a legend subscribed in a double scroll, which is held in the beak of a dov

NEU

K EN

K AM

an to play "Die Wacht am Rhein." That they played it atrociously out of tune is unimportant to the issue. Rendered by a celestial choir that particular song would probably have inspired David with frenzy. The first symptom was that he moved his queen upon a. diagonal with his king, open to an opp

batants, now one on top, now the other, clawing, kicking, pummeling, and filling the air with bilingual fury. It was all very comic, for the onlookers who didn't understand, and the "Tribune" reporter made a good story of it next day. But he did not know-how could he?-the underlying tragedy; the tragedy of h

e newspapers. The Little Red Doctor, being appealed to to procure bail, had done so, and had further taken two stitches in, the big man's head and set a disjointed thumb for the little man

ed Inky Mike. "David and Goliath is more

ng. 'S macht nichts aus! ?a ne signifie rien! Fudge is wh

vacant she burst into tears, gave a Magyar from Second Avenue eight dollars and sixty cents change out of a five-dollar bill (the Magyar hasn't been seen since), a

ed. Polyglot Elsa of the Little Red Doctor several evenings later, gazing with bl

ook a dubious head. "Tha

girl. "So sad it is. Perhaps," she added with timid h

rong enough to bring them together,

nto Thomsen's, and almost to the vacant table in the corner. Not quite. For thereon stood the little wood soldiers, sturdy and stanch, and above them leaned Elsa, smiling welcome to him-and hope. David, the irreconcilable, stopped short, dropped into the nearest chair, turned his back upon that haunted corne

I crossed to Thomsen's at nine o'clock. He was there when I peered o

hey passed each other within a foot. Jonathan was profoundly absorbed in the condition of a tree trunk which he had passed without interest some thousands of times. David studied the constellation O

, dominie, or ch

hing, Terr

e ye laughi

augh than to do a certain other thing." And I declined, with prope

t by savage rain blasts, with a half-ounce of letter over his heart and a thousand tons of grief pressing down above it. Presently another bedraggled wayfarer entered the Squa

an did not move nor look up. He seemed lost in reverie. A square of white cardboard lay on his knee. His eyes stared out over it, brooding. At length the marcher in

ying to the newcomer the double eagle of imperial Germany. David's face, which had softened, became a mask of fury. Another step fo

d lifted his eyes from it and looked about him. In the doorway of

she saw his face. "Sainte

cried the little old Frenchman: "'

ough the gusts. With grave misgivings Elsa saw him advance upon his former friend and bitte

d himself beside Jonathan. Jonathan might have been dead for all that he

e tender pronoun of affection. Comprehension and remembrance came back t

ter that had crushed the heart ben

mann," he said br

words below, and one phrase stood forth and went to his h

re. David's hand went to Jonathan's shoulder. The two

st anticipation of trouble in the first degree, took one look, turned hastil

PH

Music in

struck twelve he arose and unfolded himself to preposterous lengths. He stepped casually over a four-foot wire, strode across forbidden grass plots, and leaned pensively against the northern boundary fence. Al

frosted globe at so many cents per kilowatt, is a startling experience for a quiet, old semi-retired pedagogue like myself. I pocketed the volume (which was in a semiuncial text like running tendrils) and sat down to consider its owner. Another of the Thunderer's

ocal peace did not already know about the classical stranger, he could be depended upon to find out. When

d Terry prompt

oes it c

inie. It just k

ft

ry n

't I seen

his bird is an owl, and it do

ry's symbolism sometime

advised the wise young policem

omer?" I asked. "Or what

roofs. See a little light, way up there

I. "Romeo,

precision. Now he threw up his head and set it to his lips. Faint and pure as the song of a bird, heard across the hushed reaches of a forest, the music came to us. It was a wild, soaring melody unknown to me, but as I listened I thought of all the songs with which reed and pipe hav

udible where we stood. Yet he presently nodded and threw up his hand, and his face was transfigured with a wistful passion as he lifted the slender pipe to his lips again. This time, indeed, I knew what he played. It was that music which, above all other, embodies the soul and spirit of im

nformed me. "It's their signa

Do you mean to tell me sh

she seems to get somethin

nd, with my hand on the little volume in my pocket, I gave my poli

m woods an

Orpheus ha

es awoke an

things gath

ng amid

s music

id Terry the C

the stranger, who was once more

ng there, dominie. He don't belong to any Orpheus nor Arion nor Liede

ut does that give him the right to play a musical

Terry the Cop uneasily.

ng down the park grass against the statute thereunto ma

a good nut. I'm sorry for him. He's up against it with that girl. She ain't e

of the Shadow Gang from Second Avenue had undertaken, in pure wantonness of spirit, to "jump" Terry. Subsequently, Orpheus had initiated Terry into

d Terry. "He'll need it, for that bunch wi

used, felt in his pocket, and hurried over to his bench with a look of dismay. I met him, holding out the

d. "You can read it?" he said with

ws all the languages from Chinese to Williamsb

Olympus, with "The Bacchae" for guidebook and the strange piper for leader. Never would he pipe for me, however. If I wished to hear the soft marvel of his music I must wait until midnight and stand apart in the shadow to listen while

t he was the son of a merchant of Lamia, educated in England, and sent to this country on an e

is gentle courtesy and tolerant kindness there was an aloofness of the spirit, as if he had but stepped out, a godlike spectator, from the limbo of some remote world hidden behind the tendrils and leafage of that wonderful semiuncial text. Then one night, when he had sent his heart and hope and longing out upon the wings of music through the night, I asked him to help me soothe the wakefulness of Leon Coventry. Together we climbed the stifling stairs of the old mansion to the top floor where Leon the Gnome lay eating his

hat she will come back. It is only by faith that

to me. "You believe tha

red som

if he were relating some impersonal anecdote, he told me his story, one of those swift, ine

r in the corporation office where she worked. We lunched at the same place. We

se of the head was the incarnation of mirth and youth. "She is very lovely," I

ng to me, and I felt her tears. That evening we heard 'La Bohême.' hand in hand, and I played it to her afterward. I have played it to her ever since. When I would speak to her of marriage

hat she must go to the hospital. That was why she would not let me speak of marriage. Her heart had always been weak, and she feared she might be an invalid and a burden on me. As if that mattered! 'So I could not let you speak,' she said, 'because I

and bit my ton

e cannot hear. It does not matter. She knows I

ince you ha

l the

our months! Good Heave

e murmured. "It cou

protested. "Won't t

ok his

us! Think what she

derstands. It i

arranged. You must see her. Four m

s use

im. "Don't be a fool," I bade him savagely. "I t

f an animal that pleads dumbly agai

hy

ead," he

hen did you-" All my thought and speech were jumbled within m

ancing in the park. She was like a little lovely child herself. They told me

dered. He returned my look wi

y, "I shall again know that

fallen; a grim and brutal experie

k official chose to dole out. But no official could interpose his stolidity between Orpheus, piping at dead of night, and his Eurydice lying happily awake in the far upper wing of the hospital, knowing that he made his music for her and perhaps hearing it-who knows?-with the finer ear of the spirit. Vary his choice as he might, he told me, she always

pheus's gentle-voiced question. "That's

d Orpheus in a piteous, stricken whisper,

al who returned at this point. "Takes'em that way s

him from his beloved dead, and that door he attacked with such fury and power that it took two policemen, in addition to the hospital corps, to subdue him. As he was a foreigner and vague and sorrow-stricken, the magistrate naturally gave him two months. He came out dazed but steadied. The one hold he

ed Doctor first: "There are times when I blame my old friend Death for doing a job by halves"; and second: "Cure him? W

heard not. As for the interne, the Little Red Doctor did, in the fullness of time, meet up with him, and improved the occasion to lay down certain ethics and principles of conduct as pertaining to the profession of healing. Whereupon the inter

nd terrified patient with a broken nose and two displaced ribs urgently requiring attention. The practice of medicine in O

later than my wont, from the Elite Restaurant, I crossed Our Square a few rods in advance of them. Orpheus stood in his corner, piping to his lost young love. From without there approached him swiftly a dark group, close gathered. It was the Shadow Gang, from Second Avenue, bent upon reprisals. There were eight or nine of them, under the leadership of "Mixer" Boyle, a local middle-weight of ill repute. They closed in upon the Greek, and as I ran, shouting for Terry the Cop, I saw him go down under the pack. More than music was i

d, and Cyrus went down under a left swing. Before the Mixer could turn he was toppled with the blessing (full arm to the ear) of the Rev. M

taining the outskirts of the mêlée I selected the largest hostile bulk in reach, seized it around the hips, and lifted it clear. It struggled and developed a solid fist which, in contact with my jaw, utterly destroyed my equilibrium. I fel

hting on home soil and in momentary hope of reenforcements. Yet all that I can recall is the sound of thumps and stifled curses and a confused mess of strained faces, violently working arms, and broad white shirt fronts now splotched with a harsher color. Then it seemed to me that I saw a little circle cleared about the mighty Greek, and a heavy cane which he brandished by the middle in both han

alas! the Rev. Morris Cartwright was on his hands and knees, and one of the other uptown knights was reeling. The gangsters pressed in hard, striving to edge around the Greek and get him in the rear. Cyru

arked the next s

! He's go

oveled, struggling. Then out of the mass rose a shriek of the uttermost agony. It seemed to me that the group was stricken into sudden silence and immobility. Slowly it disintegrated, drawing apart in two sections. A half-doubled figure ran, staggering

ound. Every man of our party was

ring with plaster and patch we separated upon our respective ways, disheveled, disreputable, but exultant. Orpheus, with his face o

"that she could not hear the

eps we heard a soft groan from the black areaway. From between two barrels the physician dragged a co

tal for you," said t

led the youth.

ssage?" asked th

yelids fluttered. "A

on the table wi

ies. No Samaritan for mine. I was there oncet. They do

lexity. I looked at the wounded man. His face wa

to my room, d

my first lodger. His n

took to curse him into sobriety. Our French David and our German Jonathan dropped in separately to forecast to him respectively the Entente and the Alliance arguments of the Great War and to hint at enlistment when he should be recovered. Herman Groll undertook to convert him to music. All of this he accepted with noncommittal and rather contemptuous tolerance. It served to pass the time of his halting recovery. As a

t's a rattlesnake. And I don't like

e have agai

ks it was he t

I can swear

argue the resolve to get even

o? Tell Orpheus

rcise a strange fascination upon the Greek. Day after day he would come and sit, talking or reading, while the gangster lay

was going to sculp him in miniature, and proceeded forthwith to do it. Before the job was done they were sworn comrades. She would sit by his couch with her modeling tools and clay and work while he boasted in a hoarse, thin pipe of the evil things he had done. He was openly flattered that she should make him the chief figure of a group to be called "Ambush." One day while she was absorbed in

manner when, next day, the Bonnie Lassie came in to inq

his kind bette

he Rat. "But, say, lady, no

e encourage

hesitantly, "about a big, fat cig

nie Lassie, studying the marks which he had s

unavailing, however. It seeme

er smoke them?" s

th' S'm

cigarettes in

at them big stiffs o' doctors never seen, that I was goin' batty for a smoke. She sneaked'

he a n

her to leave; and she didn't want to, I guess. So they made a job for her. I use

u like to

es became human. "O

d the Bonnie Lassie.

Rat's Miss Tony. She was little and quick and brown and lovely, but not laughing. There was a depth of woe and loss in her big eyes. Let that be my excuse that I did not at o

She shook, first her finger and then her little fist at him, upbraidi

ht. An' now voilà you, wit' your pro-m

said Pinne

mething? That lear

murderous gangster lik

ou be a good boy an' go no more w

uare up," he muttered. "After that if I make my getaway, I'll join the Salvationists if you tell

d went to her throat. Sh

they-I-it'd kinda remind me when-when you ain't here. How

ars. I led her out, still sobbing, while the ex-Men's Surgical No. 7 sat

at, saw the hour of his revenge upon his supposed assailant at hand. For the Greek, forgetful of caution, had seated himself well within arm's length of the patient's couch. Beneath the sheet the Rat clutched the needle-pointed

. Got a smo

leaned forward to the other-not quite far enough. "Gimme a light, wi

lurking point. Slowly advancing the tip for the flame, Pinney the Rat-now the Rattlesnake with death in his stroke-raised his arm to blind his victim's vi

oaked Pinn

r had ever uttered. His frame, tense as a spring, slumped back among the covers. O

dje get t

om Greece. I alway

little lady in the S'maritan Hos

He began to shake through all h

e bed clothing, away from his body. Something fell, with a soft clink between the bed and the wall

nd longing and his delusion, speaking of the girl as if she still lived. One word from Pinney might have brought the climax, perhaps disastrously, for that mind, desperately clinging to its delusion,

s, Orpheus going out. His face w

idential and triumphant whisper: "So she lives in another heart beside my own." It was as if his delusi

t and greeted me only with an absent nod. Not until I started the

el

ood guy,

e

on the slant here?" He

have you been

t line of talk about the little la

n't yo

ctively. "And sometimes I don't get him at all. See

, she

jaw droppe

, as you call him-

asn't she in here to s

ers!" I shouted. "Your Miss Tony-his Toinette? It can

up to Room 21 to see her, and find an old hen with a face like a mustard plaster and a bu

a few day

errors was made plain to me. In

iumphantly. "You chase out an' fi

nt a confirmation of his delusion? Or was it a delusion, since it was a fact? Neither the Rat nor I could lay any claim to be m

ittle back room and what she said to the Bonnie Lassie is a secret of womankind. Not even Cyrus the Gaunt was told. All that we heard of it was a cry and a sound of happy sobbing and another sound of broken laughter; and then the little, quick, brown, l

Phil-il-op-Mr. Orpheopoulos had gone back to Greece, and she's been

e Gaunt, "will the volcano of wisdom whom I have the felic

ey th

han, whose urgency in the cause of abstinence had not been well recei

im at all," said the Bonnie Lassie. "I

ficial effect will the reunion of two loving hearts have

his woun

ctic

person to go crazy or

N

. What I am attempting is an experiment in psychology. You've

anything but harm in his life. Therefore he did harm with pride, because it was doing something. "He's like all of u

ce and virtue the Littl

got the wisest heart in Our Square." So Pinney the Rat got his instructions and re

one logical object of suspicion, Pinney the Rat, sat openly on a bench and smoked and waited for Orpheus to finish his music. When it was over, the little guttersnipe went to meet the big Olympian. Carefully indeed had we

id, "yer in wrong

tion of another blow at the fabric of

ow. She didn't cr

nds went to

you in the dominie's hallwa

t terms) to rip every condemned stitch out of the latter's foreordained peritoneum. Presumably, however, the Little Red Doctor had stitched better than he knew. For Pinney straightened the big man up and marched him across the way. As the strange pair mounted the steps the vestibule door opened. A little, quick figure sped to m

hope and despair, what triumphs, what abnegations, what partings, what "infinite passion and the pain of finite hearts that yearn," pass, and are forgotten! When the blight of ages shall lie heavy and dusty over a forgotten metropolis, when the last human habitation totters to its fall i

at was theirs alone for the time. They vanished into the shadows, and the watcher on the ste

down the steps. We we

drink," h

er hand out to him. "No

d Pinney. He turned

git that jo

az

HITE MAGIC

kable; a dull, brown rectangle with a faintly mildewed air about the cornices. I

GEL OF

t Up and

t Boggs, a chunky, bristly little man with gold teeth and a weak, meek, pean

y though humble enterprise of hygiene and cleanliness more specifically set

KILL

odger so elegant and aristocratic. Mr. Boggs had a vast, albeit distant, reverence for aristocracy, and he recognized in Madam Tallafferr a true exponent. So the sign came down and she went up. With her went her furniture, scanty but magnificent, a silver-inlaid lock box locally credited with safeguarding the Pemberton family di

was very proud of her mail. He said she had the swellest correspondence in Our Square. When letters arrived bearing her name without the requisite double Is, fs, and rs, they were invariably returned to the postman indorsed in a firm, fine hand: "No such individual known here." But if the letters appeared important, the kindly and admiring Angel of D

nchant. She dressed always in elegant, rustling black. Mr. Boggs said that she walked like a duchess. Quite likely. Though where Mr. Boggs got his data, I don't know. Our Square is not extensively haunted by persons of ducal rank. However, she became known to the locality, behind her back, as the Duchess. She and Old Sally were supposed to live in sumptuous luxury above the sign of the Destroyer. They had come to Our Squ

little metropolitan community, within earshot of Terry the Cop, the conscientious and logical slave-owner committed the startling anachronism of beating her slave. Hearing the resultant groans, Mr. Boggs, the lethal, rushed up to his top floor in great perturbation of spirit and burst in upon the finale of the performance. From what he could observe the castigation was purely formal

convince Our Square that she desired no personal share

es, against help, against medicine, against even our fiery and beloved Little Red Doctor, who stands like a bulwark between us and death and the fear of death. Then the Duchess appeared. She consulted briefly with the Little Red Doctor. She put on the black silk of splendor, the Pinckney laces and the Pemberton diamonds, and thus girded for the fray went forth, a spare, thin-lipped, female St. George, again

Our Square ought to put u

Duchess's complacent and bland su

a worthy y

you understanding!" The Duchess merely lifted her eyebrows fractionally. Being a Pemberton by b

tous; not because he had at one time or another got the better of most of us in some deal and was the best-hated habitant within the four inclosing streets, but because we did not know what to do for him and feared his savage and cynical rebuffs. But when the furtive hearse and the one carriage for Schepstein, which was to have been the whole of little Metta's funeral, drew up at night before the Schepstein flat, Madam Rachel Pinckney Pemberton Tal-lafferr descended her steps, and crossed Our Square, rustling and in the high estate of black silk and lace. She must have b

which might or might not have been loaded. Nobody knew at the time. Regarding MacLachan there was no such room for doubt. Between stanzas he would announce his purpose of presently ending all his troubles with a bullet, previous to which, candidates for coffins would be considered in the order of their applications. In the natural logic of events this was a case for Terry the Cop, but Polyglot Elsa of the Elite Restaurant had early

ain and bade MacLachan hold his peace. Old Sally followed

fright were

thought he was

lamp-post to

ke away and kep

rhythmic, though with a change of meter, "that now and

finger at MacLachan. "You are a ru

e Duchess, though rather waveringly.

ome harm with

MacLachan, "and

pray," ordered the stif

ch," he said. "Awa' wi' ye on yer broomst

she directed and stre

om her market basket. MacLachan slumped forward and took his whirling thoughts carefully between his two hands. "I ha' done wron

f the Duchess. She was bleeding very slightly, the merest

composedly, and that faithful amazon dropped he

uble," was the lady's command to t

of Our Square knew. And the following day a deputation of us marched MacLachan around to No. 17 to apologize. As we stood on the stairway awaiting her pleasure, we could hear Madam Rachel Pinckney Pemberton Tallaffer

chirped the admiring Mr. Boggs between gratification and apology

, he feared, losing interest in the lofty social sphere to which she had been called. Seldom, nowadays, did she go in her full regalia uptown. Automobiles came no more to his flattered door. Worst of all, her fascinating mail had dwindled. Where formerly there would be as many as eight or ten envelopes per week, decorated with splendid and significant insignia and inclosing proud and stiff cardboard, now

them "Death's playmates," because of this ineradicable passion for gambling on the brink of the pool which is just deep enough to cover their two-year-old heads. On this occasion Old Sally was the nearest aid. So she waddled fatly over and hauled them out easily enough. Then, quite inexplicably, she fell in herself and lay gent

the Little Red Doctor emerged there

matter with that old b

m," suggested Mr. Boggs, th

snorted: "She's starve

t as butter,

retorted the physicia

should she pa

s been going without food s

from their sockets and injure the Little Red Doctor toward whom they

he extraction he had grossly violated his professional ethics, as he shamelessly admitted, by giving her a half

of want in Our Square just for the sake of a

ily 'scutcheon, and had been paying interest, and bit by bit the principal, from her rigidly conserved little income. Presently an investment which had been indicated through the Spirit of Guidance Group's interpretation of one of madam's dreams reduced its dividends and madam cut off a few of her filial member

Mr. Boggs, "that Madam Tallaf

emphatically. "She has. Old Sally hasn'

ing to do about it?" he inquired. He was, I take it, r

r leaving it to Providence. "We

wittered Mr. Boggs. "I

his large red head in perplexi

he, "we're all frie

y gratefully. "And frie

t'ess ain' needin' no frien's 'ro

int is, we want to help. Now, haven't you got some things there you coul

stead fuhni-ture!" cried

has more of that old

Sally in a tone of flat fina

he diamonds," I su

s. She began to blubber. The blubbering became a sobbing. The sobs waxed to subdue

tole

consternation. His structure of social splendor w

ess. "Gossome cheap trash in deir place to fool

went for food

I put on a d

ways of the world. "She dreamed a number and put her money o

-five dollahs an' fifty cents debt, an' plenty mo' besides." Obviously she had been wearing

gravely. "Come now, Sally; think. Isn't ther

"My young mist'ess she'll like to

stein's, if you don't," threaten

the termination of her s

nunciated in a

her, puzzled. "What?

You know,

earth i

u keep aroun' you to fotch luck." Seeing us still

foot's a

nslated in a burs

it, ta

talisman," objected

young mist'ess keep it locked up in her jool box. Lawzee! How I has tried

let

um Gen'al Stonewall Jackson, wrote t

sites of professing the classics in Our Square; it has also its drawbacks in the s

Old Sally eagerly. "It fo'tells de

er passion for the things of the Lost Cause, held that document in sacred veneration. Once a week she took it from its neatly addressed envelope to read it. Her spirit guide had repeatedly advised her of its preciousness, and had declared that it would ev

t conscience in any matter where he can pamper his insatiable appetite for help-ing

t aged crone. "I don

myself, and himself upon a matter of business. Prefacing her gracious consent with the comment that she could not conceive what it was about, she set an hour for receiving us. When we climbed to the top floor above the Angel of Death sign, we found her a faded and splendid figure amid the faded splendor of her belongings. She was clad

rp glance passed over me to rest sardonically upon Mr. Boggs, seeming to inquire with what historical interest that insecti

m," replied tha

Strange," she murmure

e top of this house a prophetic

chord of superstition. Her voice was quite animated as she

w a newspaper clipping, stating that such a letter was said

ss idiot foresee the next questi

u the cl

hav

elief, wonder,

urnalist (being a pressman's assistant in a socialist weekly office), to set up and strike off a brief and vague art

d Sally calmly, "is wi

rked, and put it in the Little Red Doctor's hands. "This, sirs," said she, "is my talisman

s at, Madam Tallafferr

on. "Eighteen hundred and forty

ll. "Eighteen-did I understand

ifty cents. That is the minim

y likely," said the Lit

chess. "You will, of course, exercise e

n dismay. "And Old Sally down to the last dollar," said the Little

ggs hopefully. "You can't tell but maybe it might be

r my reputation, to be informed upon this and to be

be of interest to some Southern historical society, it could claim no special value. As for the prophetic feature, upon which so much stress had been laid, a mere opinion that, "Be it sooner

h did in great disgust of spirit. From Mr. Barker we went to Mr. Pompany. Mr. Pompany neither barked nor purred. He mumbled. The upshot of his submaxillary communication was a dim "Twenty dollars, take it or leave it." We left it, and Mr. P

he sidewalk. "Thieves and fathe

is grubby, grimy, desolated front room, which did duty as an office, with a malevolent cross-fire from

handing him the letter which

it. "Thomas Jonathan Jackson? Who'

authority had been given to our deputation to disclose the ownership of the letter; So far as we were aware at that time,

newall Jackson, eh? Might be wort

not even read, and slipped it back in. "Leave it with me overnight," he sugg

oggs, retrieving the treasure. "We'll keep

es to be a reporter, but his ideal reporter, being derived mainly from journalism as set forth in the movies, is a species of glorified compromise between Sherlock Holmes and Horace Greeley in a rich variety of disguises. He had no disguise handy, but he washed his face and followed Schepstein wh

forty-six perfect. Wha

asked the Litt

cried Inky Mike. "The oil k

ed. "It seems to be some oil quotati

n'choo fool yourself! It's your business, awrigh

by his Duchess's tradition-inspired estimate of the autogr

hand; not before," grunt

flat on the following morning, Scheps

s-sib-bly fifteen dolla

eeped Mr

p. I'll take a chanst and give you twe

peated M

epstein with rising truculence. "D' you wa

llars and fifty cents," said Mr. Bo

xpected him to do. His convergent vision seemed to focus on the buff envelope in Mr. Boggs's lum

gs. "Bought," said Schepstein. An

y altered the situation. "By thunder!" he cried, "Madam T

s pen. "Who?" he aske

, across Our Squa

at her

e acting as

the ill-matched points of flint which serve Schepstein for eyes. They were followed by two more. The little, g

the check! You

Boggs. "Nevamind that; it's all off," he g

Then. Schepstein tore up the check for $1845.50 and invited us around to the Elite Restaurant to luncheon, thereby affording a sensational titbit of news for Polyglot Elsa's relating for a fortnight after. "Mr. Schepstein, he paid the whole compte. Was kennst du about that!" Thre

bowed in sil

over to you eighteen hundred and fo

ht her mistress's austere glance. "I knowed it was cornin' so all along," s

rice stipulated,"

ou," said

deducting all expenses, of two thousand one hun

essful efforts in securing a suitable price. My only regret," the quiet voice faltered a little, "is that circumstances should hav

sold the envelope alone for four thousand dollars pet. There's only three other of them 1846 Al

floor and rolled and gave praise after the manner

when it received MacLachan's revolver, now trembled a little. But her sole comment was: "And yet t

e Madam Tallafferr went forth on missions of social splendor, westward and uptown, sometimes in an automobile. Once more the

"mo' dan even it up wif you all." Curiosity, speculation, and surmise had become almost morbid in Our Square, when one morning there burst upon us, in an effulgence of glory, a mail as splendid as any which had ever brightened Mr. Boggs's worshiping eyes on its passage upward to his top floor. To Mr. Boggs himself it came, to Schepstein, to the Little Red Doctor, to me, to Polyglot Elsa, and to many others, even down the scale as far as Inky Mi

INCKNEY PEMBER

honor of yo

venteen,

November

n autogra

her honor

ajor Bentl

ARD GENERAL) THOMA

he Confederate S

ents. R.

ad won socia

ST MAN IN

d black. His expression was unfriendly. His business was making money and his pleasure keeping the money when made. He was a fixture of long standing in our little community, as much so as the paving stones in the park space f

reading, on the theory that it was cheaper to patronize that library than to buy books or rent them from the penny circulator. The rest of his life was strictly and determinedly private. Passing to and fro upon his concerns, he faced the denizens of Our Square with the blank regard of huge, horn-rimmed, blue glasses

pair of hands," Terry

re which she was then employed upon, made a point of catching Miles Morse in the park and compelling him to

inking of, Terry," she declared. "His han

in the court," said

disreputable but competent cathood and now welcomed him home every evening with extravagant demonstrations of regard. Also a certain scene enacted in sight of her studio windows had stuck in her memory; a powerful and half-drunken brute of a teamster flaying an overdone horse; the interposition of the Meanest Man; the infuriated descent, whip in hand, of the driver; the rush at the spare, trim, uncombative-looking man who had removed his spectacles and pocketed

se. He spoke not as man speaks to

't' do, boss?" f

ou in

f escaping. The Meanest Man broke into a long, effortless stride. There was no need to tell

t long thereafter upon a project, advanced by the Little Red Doctor, for a local legal-aid organi

oached for a contribution. Polite jeers greeted the proposal. Thereupon the Bonni

sin to He

ota t

, imparti

with the Meanest Man?" i

except giving up money," a

rave. Two points to his credit. I believe you could do anyt

nder which is one of his few faults as a husband, "since you have so g

he Bonnie Lassie

returned. It was not t

sked the Litt

threw out empty

say?" inquired

hat he'd see me

off," declared her husband, reddening.

indicated it. It was his manner. Verbally he was polite enoug

cause it makes the recipient think too ill of himself, which is

t," grudged the L

d-"he caught me sniffing at his musty old house and asked me what was the matter, and I asked him if it had ever been dusted and aired, and he said that he was afraid he'd have to get a housekeeper and if I'd get him

us emotions the speaker continued:-"I've got a month to do i

Lassie?" asked Mac

th a gnawing fire of despair at her heart, plunging blindly against the onset of a furious March wind, until the lights of Schoenkind's drug store guided her to harbor. In the absence of Schoenkind, who was dining late at the Elite Restaurant, young Irvy Levinson was keeping shop, and as Young Irvy is of a cheerful, carefree, and undiscriminating disposition he made no bones of selling the wind-beaten customer a bottle of a certain potent drug which has various properties and virtues back of its skull-and-crossbones label, one of the latter being that it is prompt

rvy light-heartedly. "For a

the way of human misery, he knew that mysterious instinct of suicides which guides them, no matter what th

d. She had just made a trial of the liquid on her hand, and was crying softly because it burned. As t

er captor in the

he authority. "Is it to jail ye'll b

, shook the Little Red Doctor. One glance at the piteously lined

in affected surp

tely at the sh

he hand, which was as soft and smooth and free from blemish as a moth's wing.

His captive followed him without protest to the nestling little house with the quaint old door and the broad, friendly vestibule which had been her husband's wedding gift to the Bonnie

eyes, a softly drooping mouth, and a satiny skin from which the color had ebbed; a woman whose dainty prettiness had been overlaid but not impaired by privation and some stress of

hat I'll be going," she said, and the silken-soft voice with its touch

until you're well. And then I want to sculp you, if you'll let

turned the other. "But

will be doing the favor. As

thing the matter with me." But h

of a quaintly, pitifully birdlike woman in the foreground of a group in a hospital clinic, with the verdict of science written in her face, looking ou

chickens for the market to eke out his income-"until the drink took him." It took him the full length of its well-beaten path, from debt to ruin; from ruin to broken will and health, and presently to death. When his debts were cleared up the place was gone, and the little widow had a scant two thousand dollars of his life insurance in the ban

from you?" asked

fit of shuddering that the Bonnie Lassie forebore

an advertisement in a certain newspaper famous for its traps and pitfalls, and paid a visit to the office, on St. Mark's Place, of "D. Wiggett & Co., City and Sub

gorilla; and said that the transaction with Mrs. Dunstan was perfe

uired the Bonnie Lass

e. But he's right-legally. He's got your little widow's two thousand

a case for o

al Aid" line, Cyrus's mind took a sudden but logical jump. "I never expected to m

! I mean, how clever of me! Molly wants a place. She's all over that

an old woman,"

," retorted his wife confidently. "The only thing is, wil

to face life and make it give her an honest return for honest work again; ready for anything, indeed, except an attempt to get her m

f her employment: industry, senility, and invisibility. Six dollars a week was the wage which the Goddess from the Machine had wrung from the Meanest Man's violent protests, with a warning that it would have to be increased later

whist party of an evening, the cigars were in place, the ash trays ready, the rooms aired and fresh, and the ice box stocked, all by invisible hands. Orders were issued and requisitions made through the Bonnie Lassie. Meeting her neighbor in Our Squa

quired the Bonnie

unstan

ve seen h

harem, and talked like the croak of a frog. And she's been putting flowers on my bre

inquired the s

owers cost mone

ved any bill fo

s, nails, tacks, picture hangers, baking tins, soap, and God know

terestedly. "If you want to know," she added as the Meanest Man struggled for competent utte

y Dunstan, her work finished and her shawl laid aside, was standing in her neat, close-fitting black dress, inside the area railing, brooding with deep eyes over the glad flush of summer which glorified Our Square, and thinking, if the unromantic truth must be told, of the lit

r brown study and returned the natural but

s become of M

ayal came to her. The soft tears welled up into

e ordered testily; "what's

be wanting me

r. Morse. "You're not wholly unsatisfactory. Bu

asked his expression. Anyway, his voice had mollified. "I

himself by promptly

deed, or other documents in the case, on the morrow. She did so. He read the principal document with a queer tightening of the lips which Molly couldn't understand at all, but which the Bonnie La

a deed at al

Mr. Wiggett w

e did he

out there he'd see I got enough embroidery work so that I could e

t if you failed in a pa

till

ked the document with a contemptuous finger-"an agreement to sell; not

ed Mr. Wiggett. He seemed so

g what you were undertaking," he accused. "Did you know that you we

Molly Dun

in good repair and painted?

d a barn. T

good, live California privet hedge and to entertain the same.' What's your not

aid she. "Can ye not see me, of a moonlight night, taking me foot in me hand, and going out to entert

s beyond me, with your two thousand dollars in the pocket of D. Wiggett

e with jail. He said he'd ruin my reputation. He said if I sent a lawyer there he'd hammer him to pulp. He could do it, for he's a terrible, big

were going to

rs. State

me nothing

wrathful and protective emotion. Abruptly he changed the subject. "Would you," he said he

ble," she returned w

coffee machine and a toaster and sit opposite at the table, and-and

er," returned his hous

nt as to whether Our Square, which was already adopting her since she

"He's a hundred years old, and he'll be two hundred, I'm afr

ld," she said. "And I'm sure he's not so mean

m and painful silence. But food is a great solvent of embarrassment, and breakfast coffee has powers beyond the spirit of grape, corn, or rye, to break down the barriers between human and human. So that, by the end of a we

meticulous person, prone to plan out every step before taking it. On a Monday morning some six

?" she

thought you'd bo

t, at least w

ant-all perfectly legal. I have a notion," said Miles Morse with an effect of choosing his words

ye go u

iosi

ss-just a l

meaner than the Meanest Man in Ou

unstan

of ye." This was, indeed, an advance upon the dim realm of personal relationship, bu

eplied defiantly. "I'm getting even

a pause. "Would ye tell me

r about it. Quite to his chagrin, he found that it didn't seem a very conv

cheated me out of the first te

" she replied calmly. "I wouldn'

he made me believe she cared for me. I was young. She got me into a

m her dainty fingers. "She was a light thing.'T

o. It wasn't wholly pleasant, however, to hav

" he said, a bit sullenly, "except a bit

it t

e'd give me no fireworks nor let me draw any of my little money out of the bank. All the other boys had firecrackers but me. So I got a spool and filled it with sand and

ad grown suddenly bright and soft with a dist

in Our Square, who had never before been cal

argued Molly earnestly. "It should only make

ly. "I think I could learn to hate him. In fact, I th

mulously. "He'll do ye harm. He's a t

peaceable errand," he ave

e around the corner and enter the door. Had she actually summoned the nerve to interpose, as she had vaguely designed to do, there was no time. Her brief and alarmed glimpse of Miles Morse had oppressed her with a quality hitherto unknown in him. He was clad in his accustomed neat and complete black, eve

later Mr. Mile

tion of Mr. Morse, of whom D. Wiggett was not one. Having propelled the unwelcome guest out upon the stoop, the persons withdrew in pell-mell haste, and the sound of a door being violently bar

ng lost its lens. His coat was split in three places and torn in one. His hat simply was not; it could be identified as a hat solely from the circumstance that it was jammed inextricably down upon his head. From his right cheek bone there had already sprouted a "hickey" fit to hang a bucket on. But these were minor injuries compared to the condition of Mr. Morse's hands. Bruised and cut, scarified, scalped, and swelling, the "grand pair of hands" which Terry the Cop so admired,

ds and ran. Perforce, her employer ran with her. A t

eds. He made his way to the most secluded bench in the park, followed by his dismayed housekeeper, sat down, and began to chuckle. The chuckle grew into a laugh, the laugh

e fini

a

been dr

ave

d ye do

orse with a long reminiscent sigh of

h heaving bosom, "that it would

es widened and brightened with amazement. Her lips parted. "About me!" she said. Then she committe

months," replied the Meanes

king, for she broke off abruptly, and said: "Clap a bit

tipster disguised in a clean collar and taking copious notes with an absorbed and ferocious expression, with a view to daunting wrongdoers by the prospective fierce white light of the Press. This was part of the Bonnie Lassie's strategy. So also was the presence of Merrivale, the young lawyer of the Legal Aid branch, for the Bonnie Lassie ha

where you said they were at

handsome face. "The court," I said, "the hand-ball court at th

in, and there was no fur

doubt and indecision. Obviously there was something behind this case. As he hesitated, the Legal Aid lawyer came forward with the light-pink document of D. Wiggett & Co., and handed it to the judge with a few words. D. Wiggett's lawyer entered vehement objections.

, your

the witch's cullender. Y

and took copious notes in a book such as no reporter ever carried except upon the stage. At the end of the ordeal, D. Wiggett, in broken and terrified accents, disclosed th

that," put in

ts work to keep going on,

ssolved in tears, though for very different reasons. The court then proceeded to the sentence of the defendant. Judgment was d

n with a repitation for bein' a roughneck-with women and childer). Ye have haff murdered him (an' take shame to yerself ye didn't do th' other haff). Because of yer youth an' inexperience

ng no place for her regard to rest, until she discovered that Miles Morse was much worse confused than herself. Thereupon, after the manner of women, she became quite composed and easy. Through breakfast he was very silent. After lin

ike a home without yo

it?" sa

ut to your own pla

I don't

I've been talking to

Molly with a mutinou

ou to get your own ki

my own j

said Miles Morse wi

mean I'm

t to put it

e country-alone-and entertain

first interview. The Meanest Man in Our Square winced. Molly saw it, and her eye

le

eper?" She looked the merest wisp of a girl

omething undi

h?" And she contrived to

ague me, Molly

g in her throat, for all her audacious words; "I dare ye to discharge me. For all ye're c

ed' straight to him and was caught and held

said Miles Morse in the voice of one who

ith a quiver: "Oh, Miles, it's I will make it

p through her fingers. Quickly retrieving it, she turned it over to Cyrus the Gaunt. It was the promised check of Mr. Miles Morse to the Legal Aid Society. Between the words "te

n in Our Squar

F THE H

, but of cold, grim disgust. Then there was the episode of old Vernam Varick, who dabbled in diabolical mixtures in his secret room on the third floor front under the tutelage of no less an instructor than the Devil, and, having quarreled with Old Nick over a moot point in alchemy, chased him out of the window and followed, himself, to the accompaniment of a loud and sulphurous detonation. What became of His Satanic Majesty has never been properly determined, but old Ver-nam arrived upon the pavement in due time, crumpled up, and thereafter circulated in a wheeled chair, sniffing about after real-estate investments to pass the time. He it w

! A black-and-white-banded nurse led her in by the hand, held up an admonitory finger for half a minute of directions, and disappeared down the scuttle door, leaving her alone in a remote world. One might have expected the little girl to cry

ould not let him go. So we kept up the lessons, and ranged the field of the classics, Greek and Latin, English, French, and German, together. He was to be a poet, I foresaw, or perhaps a dramatist, and I believe I bragged of him unconscionably to my associates. Well, they are kindly souls and have forborne to taunt the prophet! Carlo's father was a Northern Italian, the second son of a noble family, who quarreled with the head of the clan and came to this country and

l's eyes wandered from his book to fix themselves with a puzzled gaze on t

ie!" h

el

ut the little

from falling

y put her o

pl

she play in

to play with the chi

of temporary local conditions occ

to take part in the degenerated social activities of Our Square, would be to undermine my carefully instilled doctrine

asles,

lo. "She must

btle

he child was busy with some other concer

tting a t

sh

l come to tea a

ps her

brooded on the lonely little hostess. "Domi

f storming the hous

squat Varick domicile by some ten feet, and separated from it by a well,

k her family w

clared Carlo heatedly, "t

romance," I bade him sternly

-white-banded nurse had retrieve

e was little Paula. As to the free one, I could scarcely believe my eyes which tried to assure me that it was Carlo Trentano. It had come about in this way: For two day

d some one to

had some one to

had somebuddy

ke to play

eard his footfall first and then her sweet, wondering eyes beheld the visitor, a shabby, clean, and marvelous boy, some year

where did y

eplied her ca

up there" and saw a great, white, softly

at?" she

and was pleased with it a

" she observed, after a mo

a silence which threatened to be

ike gum?"

t's

-gum, of

know what

Still another mute denial. "Nor flew kites, nor pegged the cat, nor rollered on the asphalt, nor spun tops?" The questions came too fast for detailed answer, but the child's fa

hat c

erious joys which he had enumerated, and with it her spirits. "I play I'm

ow what you are. You're a

ger! burni

ests of th

e demanded imperiou

to feed you." He felt in his pocket and produced a fresh stick of gum which he th

t, growling ferociously. "You play awfully hard, don't you

o play with, or it isn't real," replied the child with

he warned. "You just

u. When do you have to go back to your cloud?" She looked up appr

confidentially; "I didn't really come from

ow

n a

almost as well. Where

e escape. I live on

own between the two houses,

arlo, like most of the highland Italians, was strong, supple, and daring; i

ve you live in the cloud," she decided. "Angels live in clouds. If you 're an angel, you won't fall

tle boys and girls. Maybe she wouldn't let me play with an angel either. I th

morr

the nice gum?" s

e. Grown-ups don't like gum around," he in

Angel. Goo

e, littl

was a savage reminder of

ion. "Good-bye, Tiger," he a

which, to judge from the joyous prancings about the cage at the conclusion, she was invariably allowed to win. Also, there were gifts of candy shared, and the delights of the chase with a bean-shooter for weapon and the indignant sparrows for quarry, and instructions in the principles of kinetic stasis as exemplified by the rotary or spinning top. All of which was doubtless very wicked and deceitful and clandestine, and, being so, should have been stopped by a word from me before disaster could come. For, any day, Carlo might slip from that swaying rope and break hi

all wet and wincing, and her queer, sprightly little face like a mask of grief. Behind her came nurse with the expression of a hanging judge. The culprit, i

ir," wept the sorrowful little

me where she got

me," declared the Tiger, clinging with pat

nd of manna. It was her opinion for what it was worth (sniff) that somebody had been throwing things

felt for the first time the tug and tremor of the beautiful, soaring, captive thing swaying far, far above her, higher than the highest roof-top she could see, higher than the biggest mountain in her geography, as high as the vanished cloud whence the beneficent angel of her happy drama

fore he surmounted the coping of the upper roof. Paula's eyes were fixed upon this point. The nurse's glance followed hers. Carlo appeared, climbing in hot haste. He missed one of the loops. There was a muffled cry. His body turned, swayed, and plunged down into the fifty-foot abyss between the two

stopped her. Her angel

gone?"

the rope swiftly and steadily. When he approached the cage,

said. "It tipped me into a balco

" she whispered. "Oh, Angel

e averred valiantly

es

n't let me co

me away," wa

e. "I'll be sorr

'll

sorry," said th

'll

find you when

" she crie

s my

r," she promised solemnly. "I've got a pie

Tiger," s

Angel," sai

d mesh of the wires. For a moment he hesitated in

you-never," said

d the caged

her was dead, and Carlo left with very little visible means of support. So they passed on their sundered ways. He went about his business of the fight for existence and his place i

sale of the Varick mansion. It was purchased by a Swedish labor contractor, who sold it to a professional gambler, who in turn leased it to a boarding-house keeper, and that sinister third-floor front

(for a Varick), dipped extensively into water-rights and power-plants in the Southwest, and, having thus further improved the f

mera could catch or painter fix was the joyous and joy-giving quality of her personality. It was as if arrears of happiness from her cramped and denied childhood had returned upon her tenfold to be scattered in largess wherever she went. A great painter who had painted a great portrait of her, which delighted every one but himself, had convicted himself of failure because, he said, while he had caught the flowerlike delicacy and the sunlike radiance and the touch of Varick imperiousness in

lmost opposite the Varick mansion. Because Cyrus the Gaunt's forbears had owned Our Square when it was the Staten Farm and before the first Varick had arrived upon the scene, Mr. Putnam Varick was willing enough that his daughter should go to see Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Staten, albeit he ha

rned to face a big, smiling stranger. There was something in him that told at first sight of the making of the man; told that the best life of the open had formed him and the best life of the

my astonished look: "I have

title at lea

our memory. It's ungrateful to forget a

me," I said, prob

his glance, and memory flashed its belated recognition: "Carlo Trentano!" He gave me another powerful, affectionate shake. It was like being petted by a lion. "No longe

e I heard

They've had their fun with me i

-power people in the Southwest! And I thought that wonderful boy's imagi

ge, I went out to the desert country. And I saw visions of water brought from the mountains. What I saw I made other people see. Now th

out brag, as a man would explain the w

did you get

ward it came in from all over, much of it from New York; and when I

dvocating government control because you've got a

hat eventually, when the development concerns have made their fair profit, the rights should revert to the pe

ears ago you w

tudied solemnity of demeanor that does the trick. You should see me at a board

protested, extricating myself. "You

e debt for my lessons,-but it pays a twenty-five per cent dividend. Now, dominie, I don't wish to hear any protests. What do you know about business ma

arick. A better idea had come to me. The Bonnie Lassie loves and loves forever the friend who will bring to her house any one genuinely new and interesting, provided onl

ave the

t'll be Wednesday evening." For the Bonnie Lassie was giving one of

n caravansary, and left to call on MacLachan

"I am not comin

Varick will be there. You'd craw

on. I've got a substi

"I'll have him take her in," she said. "No, I can't do that. The n

omething inarticulate and non-committal of that sort. She wo

ts upon her management of the affair between Ethel Bennington and the Little Red Doctor, which was so nearly ruined by the hard, pr

erely correct clothes, and big, graceful figure, until you noticed his eyes, which weren't American at all, or anything else but individual. Miss Paula Varick was also very much present, looking

t your water-rights. He's a sort

smiling. But the new Ambassador to Spain a

ed by the diplomat, Miss Varick

try," she said. "I own ten whole shar

he claimed. "Perhaps it's one of

ally got, and he achieved this particular end by talking so well that the fresh-bloomed diplomat on the farther side began presently to get fretful. As for Mr. Trent's right side, it mattered not a whit whether it knew what his left side was doing, for it was on his right that I sat. Carlo fell to telling Paula of the romance of the hunt for the treasure of water in a dry land-more thrilling to a pioneer of imagination than any search for gold or silver or copper because it meant something more basic than

b-I never can remember the whole of a quotation?" she inquired. "You're ve

ncy the narrowest escape I ever had was less than

widened suddenly

week's wash on a clothesline which shunted

ind turning around this way? Farther. T

there. How co

ke two children. To the scandal of the bewildered Ambassador's ea

where did y

th

plomat looking at the ceil

es

rl dreamily. "What comes

ied quickly. (The ambassado

t's

aven't any with me," lamented Carlo. "

e. Gr-rr-rr-rr! If I could get

co

ger! burni

ests of th

remember it, though, could

r to her the

mortal ha

wondrous

ith a look so direct and an intonation so profound that Paula

hings to play with and a kite to

ut it in y

idn't tell. I said an angel brought i

u were

his emotions of what, in a lesser mortal, would have been dangerously near a snort, and thenceforward devoted his attention to

having got them there, obeyed an imperative (and purely imaginary) summons from without, and left them. Quite unwisel

ccused. "You said you

retorted with the "ettu" argument, which wou

ten nothing,"

didn't know me from-

ast meeting when I promised never to forget. Do you?" Something significant in his tone caus

persisted

ar, down into that hole. And your coming back with the

e close to the wire mesh, and lifted your face-

tood there, amazed, confused, thrilling with an alarm new to her wom

weetly. "Have I still?" He bent and lifted her finger-tips

neither conceived the smallest misgivings as to the conflicting interests there of the Trent projects and the Varick interests. In the course of a day or two the Bonnie Lassie had the pair to

ortrait-painter, bewailing h

ch the look of unconscio

ne," said the

ething else i

aid the Bon

here were few days when he wasn't in New York. By what devices he succeeded in being around Our Square when his playmate of other days came down to see the Bonnie Lassie, I do not know. Probably the Bonnie Lassie was in the conspiracy. It would be like her. All of which may have been going on for a fortnight when I stopped in at the quaint, little, nestly, old-fashioned house whi

er!" s

ing had gone wrong. "Tell

ll holding me up at the point

"What did I do, whe

-infants together. And no

ged?" I cried,

you seen the

elieved her feelings by giving Granny Glynn a vicious whack on t

A FAKER AND SELF-SEE

tics," I said, with a

en he went to see Paula," said the Bonnie Lassie, a bright

war. What is Paula g

can sh

outside, I

to practice hole-and-corner meetings at museums

, for instance. Though I supp

at father of Paula's. The mean old skinkum!" said the Bonnie Lassie, who under great provocation sometimes uses v

" I said. "But the point i

eople," she pronounced sagely, "just naturally fall in love by degrees. Some"-her face turned unconsciously toward the outer room where Cyrus the Gaunt was busy, and became dreamy and tender-"run away from

she kn

istry pertaining to Granny Glynn's front hair (which was false). "You're les

he kno

res hope. He's so

st time in hi

soul, but it's hard on the poor man. When he came this morning for a sitting he looked more l

"if they really care for each ot

three days' time. The Varicks st

eeing Carlo again?

t saying that it is by Paula's own wish, a

ie, isn't i

r father, she certainly won't. Now, what are you going to do about it?" she c

t am

r responsibility, domin

d hotly. "You know perfectly well, lassie, that

of my mouth. "And quite right too. When I manage things they're-they're

Against a pale corner of the sky, the cage top loomed haggard an

orrow your tele

t the onslaught of the predatory Trent, I suppose-before she answered me, not in the softly ringing music of her familiar voice,

ried the Bo

st talked

did sh

s I recall, 'Oh!' Also

exasperating old man. W

teresting news abou

e bounds like a kitten, and pointed some sort of high-

e cage on the roof of No. 13 has been o

s i

final look at the place where she first tasted the delights of

dominie. Suppose

g, and she doesn't

nd bestowed a glance of approval upo

t to go up to the h

Lassie thoughtfully. "That coul

to her mind," I suggested,

e it

to her and went to telephone Carlo. He said that he had a business engagement or two for the following morning, but it didn't

e time he arrived the next day I had a plausible sort of lie fixed up about a stock concerning which I wished some advice. Schepstein, our local financi

me for, then, dominie

ire-mesh structure, seen only dimly now through the half-bare branches of trees which had been small when he was a boy and my pupil. From where he sat he could not see-I ma

are you looking at

es

g it down to-da

vaguely, and lost hi

ent in the man and sentiment in the wom

ast week," I continued.

it being

panel your father sketched

o see that,

ere climbing the stairs to the top floor. Carlo sought out the blurred sketch and stood before it.

e nights were hot. And there's my study corner. You were

rate strategy, and pushed open the d

uld Carlo go out for a look, or-He went out. I followed. A high, inspiring wind was blowing. It hummed and cried through the meshes of the cage on the roof below with the voice of a thousand imperative and untranslatable messages. The girl

utward, with a swift, powerful impulsion. He hurtled down the ten feet, which might be fifty, and destruction, if his out-thrust were not forceful enough. But he landed, one hundred and ninety-odd pounds

r," he said

it was an uncertain, fluttering sound.

his soul in his eyes, and she strove to meet his gaze, her own

s for the safety of the week's wash, had put some sort of an infe

it to me?" he

t," said

he said passionately-"the barrier t

to her face a wonderful color, a

tween us except your will." He raised both

!" sh

ied, ineffectual protest. Oh, yes, I suppose the sockets were rusted out and ready to give way; nevertheless, it was a startling and thrilling thing

for which, by the way, the Bonnie Lassie put in a wholly unjustified claim of half-credit), when two figures walking quite close together approached and stopped in front of me. They were very goo

to the Far East?" I

ecided not to take me. He

us, I trust,"

tions." Her smiling and happy regard rested on Carlo and then pas

ed, "the cage

swered as noncha

didn't te

tly they

ing to. And you told Ang-

They must have cha

down?" inquire

ptly. "On account of the inflammab

inspectors," I hast

might sleep in it and

the f

rick, "that you're a wicked old,

er, and we three lifted our faces again to the cage, standing unchanged on the housetop, gaunt and grim and lifeless. As we looked, the sun, striking through the edges of

ED 'DOCTOR O

death. He has a brutal disregard of the finesse of illness and never gives, even to an old man and an old patient like myself, medicine unless one needs it. For the rest, the nickname which Our Square gave him long since describes him. One thing more; t

dominant meaning of those queer quirks in his queer face-quirks of humor, of compassion, of sympathy-and thereby in expressing something of his fiery tenderness, his intrepid wisdom, his inclusive charity of heart toward good and bad alike, the half-boyish, half-knightly valor of self-sacrifice which arms him in the lists for the endles

t she finished, "I've discovered something about that face

here to bury himself," surmised Cyrus the Gaunt. "We hom

ng," she said thoughtfully. "When I first saw the Little Red Doctor, I wondered whether any woman

yrus cheerfully. "Anyway, there's a photograph been scraped out of th

ive and cautious community in Our Square. We watched and weighed him. Presently he got a little foothold in the reeking slum tenements which surround our struggling and cherished respectability. It could not have been a profitable practice. But it afforded experience. Sometimes he came back with triumph in his face; sometimes with stern gloom; sometimes with a black eye, for the practice of medicine as carried on i

e was so logical as to be inevitable. Dead-Men's-Shoes is tall and rugged and powerful and slow, and he always wears an extinct species of silk hat on his business rounds. In the day which introduced him to the Little Red Doctor, the Murphys had declared holiday and gone fishing and caught fish. Naturally they held alcoholic celebration in the evening. Passing the house, the Little Red Doctor heard the sounds of revelry; also another sound which checked his progress. He stuck his head in at the window, took a hasty survey, followed the head into the room and laid hands upon Timmy Murphy aetat ten. Astonished but in no way dismayed by the invasion, Paterfamilias Murphy immediately threw a whiskey bottle at the intruder and rushed to the rescue, followed by the partner of his bosom. It was no time for diplomacy or fine distinctions as to the rights of the non-combatant sex. The Little Red Doctor acted with promptitude and both hands, and the Murphys came to

were you doing

was there pr

(With a look at the ill-repaired

am a physici

hree teeth from the patient an' partly ampytated an ear. Besides,

hroat. He was strangling. Here is the bone.

y, back to yer child! Defendant, cud ye come to my house, No. 36, to-morra

grew afraid to call in any other practitioner lest the partisan ol'-clo' man should accuse us of attempted suicide by negligence. Within a year of hi

ly personal in his permanent enga

ailments out of court and declines to administer anything but free advice. On the particular June evening when I unwittingly became a partner of the fates

n the open sunr

he

hunting with Dead-Men's-

fully at Dadmun Schütz and myself, jogging appreciatively along behind Schutz's mouse-hued mare, Dolly Gray, through a world so alien to Our Squa

d her, two butterflies were engaged in aerial combat to decide winch one should settle on the pink rose above her ear. The flower flaunted there like a challenge against the somberness of her costume, for the fairy was dres

crown leaned like Pisa's Tower, and it bristled in universal offense against the outer world. Despite all this it was indisputably a Silk Hat, and, as such, official to the lawful occasions of the weare

t on the

fairy with interest. "An

, mum. T

eculatively. She returned his regard with spar

hat extraordinary

. "It's my business hat. If I could h

e," said the brown-and-gold fairy.

himself upon a stock of correct, elegant, and felicitous mortuary phrases. "May I proffer my humble co

e w

of the late

and I are Mr. Bennington's neare

in' your pardon for intrudin' on your nach'ral grief an' distress, we

t clothes?" s

Or shoes, maybe

you mean, you extr

e death notices in the N'York papers, an' when I've got ten or a dozen good prospects in one locality I hitch up Do

Cousin Ben's clothes," said

rsuasively argumentative air. "Listen, la

thought

aritable gent? Good to the

er

ty. Le's begin with shoes. How many pair of shoes woild you say the untimely victim had?" Mirth quivered at the corners of the fairy's soft lips, "He

but immediately brighten

dered. "T

price," he mused, "they might

iry's eyes widened. "

tle Red

ou call h

or in N'York. An' if your loved-an'-lost one had had him,

does he

; office hours nine to one. If you was any w

ith his left foot?" she pursued, ign

it," replied Dead-Men'

nterjected. "He injur

airy. "And-and this gentleman's

rom the brown-and-gold fairy) and brave (another nod) and uns

and-gold fairy, with

ean." She smiled up at me

," I a

nterfere in the interests of commerce. "Don't butt in, dominie," he protested in an injured asid

eous bargaining it was, I judged from the ill-suppressed jubilance of my associate's face when he emerged some minutes later, totter

you please, but the shoes are to go to the-the Little Red Doctor

hem myself,"

they came from." She looked up at me and I seemed to discern s

And

lifted the lines. "Accept the assurances of my respec'ful sympathy," he recited, "an

floated out through the

imp?" she asked

tibly," I

limp," she cried impe

he Little Red Doctor looked up from some sort of complicated mechanism which he was making for crippled Molly Rankin (who could never by

d. "I'm not buying

nie," said De

present," I

puzzled and suspicious. "They won'

uraged Dead

foot down. Then he bounded into the air like a springbok, and on alighting, tore off the shoe

rturbed at this evidence of woman's perfidy. "

e Red Doctor, looking up from

e too loquacious. Go out

to be a pink rose, impaled upon a fine golden wire which might once have been a hairpin. The wire held in place a thin strip of paper. When he saw the handwriting on the paper the Litt

en's-Shoes from his pla

which had evidently hit him on a tender spot. His voic

ird-sings-

rely, "that letter is

oughta be. It ain't signed, like a letter oughta be. It's just that one fool line. Where's

ings, Dolly Gray's patient, responsive grunt and her retreating footsteps on

"Where is Arca

ok his

I continued. "How

ird sings

auns have le

e tired

s gilded door

sely. "I used to know that song." He lif

es

id she

at doesn't understand why it

ive mouth quiver; but the jaw set ha

k you where

o use. I could

, "should she-Oh, well, never mind that." He sat thoughtfully for a time. "Dominie," he

eril. "I run more real risks every day of my life." However, a well-meaning but blundersome launch had broken his foot with its wheel, and the girl, who had seen the whole adventure, carried him off in her motor-car. Followed the usual discovery of friends in common, and by the time the crutches were discarded, the victim was hopelessly enslaved. Whether they were ever actually engaged or not did not clearly appear. The Little Red Doctor was carefully and gallantly defensive of her course. Nevertheless, knowing the Little Red Doctor as I do, I was rese

ry wholly distinct from mere beauty. I've known quite homely women to have it. Not that the brown-and-gold fairy was homely. But I cannot quite think that she was beautiful, either, by the standards of calm and balanced judg

her. I believe that I was actually thinking about her and the Little Red Doctor, seated on my favor

Dom

ot as severely as she doubtless deserved, considering how the Little Red Doctor had winced at th

behind me and startling me with

he funny hat call you t

What are you doi

wn to see

see the Little Red

see the place where he lives. I went ne

," I said. "He ha

nice of you to say

Though, if I had made her cry, it served her right. I looked b

u," I repeated posit

with a sudden change to an adorable impertinence. "You know he hasn't. Nobody

I seeing

old and wise and

"but my kindly expression is mere senile deterio

nd to me," she av

ered. "Wh

Doctor, and yet I-I don't want to

Do

n't exactly. Do you thi

re he w

said you'd be kind to me,

kind to you. Are you in lov

not!" she ass

ery entice you? Are you enthralled by our social advantage

s really wise and kind, too wise and

said I with sudden, inspir

own-and-gold fairy, h

utiful things. If I'm any judge she'll sculp you

my companion. "I'm a very serious

nd she'll talk to you abo

the brown-and-gold fa

e loves d

e brown-and-gold fa

n Our Square doe

e fairy, catching

h you should know

ly. "Who is the Bonnie Lassie? You all

Mrs. Cyrus Staten: ot

stonishment. "Not the famous Miss Willard who does th

d to say it. Our Square isn't sensi

he fairy with dignity. "And I suppose sh

and as wise as she needs to be for her

ssie came out of the studio with a smudge of clay on the tip of her c

h her in the country and told her about the Doctor-whom she doesn't want to see-being in Our Square. As she hasn't seen him for several years and as he has been trying hard and con

"I beg your pardon," she said. "I am not incognita. My name is

she said softly. "He isn't really unkind. He's just a tease." She paused and studied her caller a moment. Then, wi

in the bronze. Most unfairly I was banished, for the brown-and-gold fairy with a flush of pleasure said she'd sit at once. And from that sitting grew another sitting and another and many to follow. Sometimes I was bidden in. It was a sheer delight to sit there and watch those two young creat

he p

o-" I

prehension of the

able practice, the Little R

dards of Our Square. He has a new black

y. Then, after a pause, "He co

sie, holding her iron poised ov

ather said there were big possibilities in it. He offered to finance it

er weapon. "Do you mean the

, surprised. "How do

on-says that there are thousands of children walking to-day

any of us abou

o make the Little Red Doctor uncomfortable

made a fortune by patenting it,

race cost more, and the more it cost the fewer people could buy it, and that would mean more children who ought to have walked and couldn't. A

the girl. "I-I never t

But the Little

miserably. "He said something stupid about ethics, and I said somethin

time, and still do," said

denied the brown-and-

down here?" demanded t

whisper, "I-I just wanted to see him

w an arm over her shoulder, and gave me a swift and

f-distrustful, and she readily fell in with the dramatist's principal theme; to wit, that she had treated the Little Red Doctor very ill, and said wounding things hard to be forgiven by a high-spirited, sensitive, and red-headed lover; that any basis of pardon and understanding would be difficult and painful to arrive at, but that if he found her in straits and needing him, then the truth would come out and she would know at once whether he still cared for her or not, a point upon which my brown-and-gold fairy had her dismal doubts, it seems. Therefore she would please buy herself

fair. They smote the Little Red Doctor, if not exactly hip and thigh, at least, tooth and jaw; so that he was incapacitated for any sort of decent, peace

e," I said, "in su

. "Do you think I'm going to have their meeting spoiled by a wretched thin

his classic beauty impa

good. Go to the Little Red Doctor

at my age alone saved me from a murderous assault. "Have it fixed?" howled the Little

ow to Doc Selters

want it pulled. I want to g

e will p

rve-on the Spanish Inquisition principle. I'd go to the fifty c

wha

use laryngitis; and the best he'll do," cried the Little Red Doctor, dancing

nt over to Dead-Men's-Shoes' place, and there beheld the brown-and-gold fairy skillfully sewing trouse

ie!" she cried

art to obtrude as unpoetic a motif as a

ing mouth, "and he doesn't come. And Miss Willard won't tel

id. "That is-er

ith her sweet, anxious eyes. "Tell me. You must tell me! It was you w

raged me." She let her hands drop and her eyes dark

t ill. O

ntly metamorphosed into the brown-and-go

n't k

ll. You're playing with m

d Doctor? What about that clandesti

e shame. "Did you give him the shoes yourself? What did he say when he put them on?" Recalling the impassioned monosyllable which sign

Then how d

ver

"And all the time there's that twinkle of fun and sympathy underneath t

rget it?" I sugge

iry loftily. "I could if I chose. You're sur

anything the matter with

ats-the unpressed ones-and watch me work my poor fingers to the bone sewing on

the necessity of labor weighed upon her blithe spirit, she gave no evidence of it, for presently she began to hum to herself in a soft, crooning undertone, "speech half-asleep or song half-awake." Clearer and cleare

g dew is co

rd sings

auns have le

e tired

ts gilded do

omes not b

soft, weary little catch of the breath, and then a name pronounced low and beseechingly, "Chris." Now, this drama, as laid out by that romantic manageress the Bonnie Lassie, did not include music. The fairy song, I strongly

ng?" he

Lassie nor the Higher Fates had assig

Little Red Doctor fearfully. "Am

e shadows came the voice

Chris, is it

Little Red Doctor

ir, and stopped. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. H

t for this crisis-the once rich and careless butterfly girl now brought low in the world and working f

Then, vehemently; "You must kno

e to make my life wretc

Oh,

Why,

ey are not accustomed to it and they don't know how to defend themselves. Up to this moment my one purpose had been to tiptoe unobtrusively to the door and escape. Now I wonde

use: "I can't see you. I'm glad I can't see you. If you coul

me?

t. For a year. Or perhaps it was two years.

en it, that the woman's eyes of the brown-and-gold fairy were yearning to him an

thing over and over again. You said, 'I don't love you

ob of mingled pity and joy, murmured brokenly: "I-I d-d-don't love you. But I c-c-can't live away from you." And I passed out, on tiptoe, unnoted. The tiptoe feature was, I dare say, superfluous. I suppose I m

ing in demure tones and with a commonplace air about the prospects of rain. So wholly at ease and natural did they seem that I began to have misgivings. It didn't seem in human natur

che?" I asked the

n me a face transfigured. "Wha

that my drea

E