wag in vain; but
Mrs. Cafferty was the mother of six children and her natural
kindliness dared not expand to their detriment. Furthermore, the fact
of her husband being out of work tended to still further circumscribe
the limits of her generosity. She divined a lean pot in the Cafferty
household, and she saw the young man getting only as much food as Mrs.
Cafferty dared to give him, so that the pangs of his hunger almost
gnawed at her own vitals. Under these circumstances she had sought for
an opportunity to become better acquainted with him, and had very
easily succeeded; so when Mary found him seated on their bed and
eating violently of their half-loaf if she was astonished at first she
was also very glad. Her mother watched the demolition of their food
with a calm happiness, for, although the amount she could contribute
was small, every little helped, and not alone were his wants assisted,
but her friend, Mrs. Cafferty, and her children were also aided by
this dulling of an appetite which might have endangered their
household peace.

The young man repaid their hospitality by an easy generosity of speech
covering affairs which neither Mrs. Makebelieve nor her daughter had
many opportunities for studying. He spoke of those very interesting
matters with which a young man is concerned, and his speculations on
various subjects, while often quite ignorant, were sufficiently vivid
to be interesting and were wrong in a boyish fashion which was not
unpleasant. He was very argumentative, but was still open to reason;
therefore, Mrs. Makebelieve had opportunities for discussion which
were seldom granted to her. Insensibly she adopted the position of
guide, philosopher and friend to him, and Mary also found new
interests in speech, for, although the young man thought very
differently from her, he did think upon her own plane, and the things
which secretly engrossed him were also the things wherewith she was
deeply preoccupied. A community of ignorances may be as binding as a
community of interests. We have a dull suspicion of that him or her
who knows more than we do, but the person who is prepared to go out
adventuring with us with surmise only for a chart and enjoyment for a
guide may use our hand as his own and our pockets as his treasury.

As the young man had no more shyness than a cat it soon fell out that
he and Mary took their evening walks together. He was a clerk in a
large retail establishment, and had many things