ver.

And then Jane met Viola one spring day on Fifth Avenue.

"It is a very long time since I have seen you," said Jane with a
reproachful accent, but her eyes were tenderly inquiring.

"Yes," agreed Viola. Then she added, "I have seen nobody. Do you know
what a change has come in my life?" she asked.

"Yes, dear," replied Jane, gently. "My Margaret met Louisa once and she
told her."

"Oh yes--Louisa," said Viola. "I had to discharge her. My money is about
gone. I have only just enough to keep the wolf from entering the door
of a hall bedroom in a respectable boarding-house. However, I often
hear him howl, but I do not mind at all. In fact, the howling has become
company for me. I rather like it. It is queer what things one can learn
to like. There are a few left yet, like the awful heat in summer, and
the food, which I do not fancy, but that is simply a matter of time."

Viola's laugh was like a bird's song--a part of her--and nothing except
death could silence it for long.

"Then," said Jane, "you stay in New York all summer?"

Viola laughed again. "My dear," she replied, "of course. It is all very
simple. If I left New York, and paid board anywhere, I would never have
enough money to buy my return fare, and certainly not to keep that wolf
from my hall-bedroom door."

"Then," said Jane, "you are going home with me."

"I cannot consent to accept charity, Jane," said Viola. "Don't ask me."

Then, for the first time in her life, Viola Longstreet saw Jane Carew's
eyes blaze with anger. "You dare to call it charity coming from me to
you?" she said, and Viola gave in.

When Jane saw the little room where Viola lived, she marveled, with the
exceedingly great marveling of a woman to whom love of a man has never
come, at a woman who could give so much and with no return.

Little enough to pack had Viola. Jane understood with a shudder of
horror that it was almost destitution, not poverty, to which her old
friend was reduced.

"You shall have that northeast room which you always liked," she told
Viola when they were on the train.

"The one with the old-fashioned peacock paper, and the pine-tree growing
close to one window?" said Viola, happily.

Jane and Viola settled down to life together, and Viola, despite the
tragedy which she had known, realized a peace and happiness beyond her
imagination. In reality, although she still looked so youthful, she was
old enough to enjoy the pleasures of later life. Enjoy