dark shadows,
which looked as if they had been made by the impress of carboned thumbs
which had pressed tired eyes to sleep. Meg's steadfast, honest eyes
now expressed things of a deeper meaning than mere comradeship and
brains; their beauty was quickened by the soul of suffering. Even in
Freddy's eyes she was much more attractive than she had been six months
ago. She was now a great deal more than merely pretty. As he watched
her bearing her anxiety and what appeared to him her humiliation with
so much calm dignity and braveness, he said to himself over and over
again, "She's a thousand times too good for a man who could behave like
a weak fool, if indeed Mike isn't worse!"

He was looking at her now, as she lay in a deck-chair, her eyes closed
and her hands folded across her book. They had both been reading,
after a hard day's work. Meg had not turned many pages of her book;
her thoughts had wandered. As she felt her brother's eyes upon hers,
she raised her eyelids and looked at him steadily as she said:

"Freddy, I'm going to see Hadassah Ireton."

Freddy sat bolt upright. He, too, had been lying stretched out on a
lounge-chair.

"Going to see Mrs. Ireton? But you don't know her!"

He did not ask Meg why she was going; he knew.

"That doesn't matter--I know all about her. My heart and mind know
her, and, after all, that's the important thing--it's the only thing
that matters."

"But, Meg----"

"Chum, no 'buts'--'buts' belong to small things. This is my life. We
must do something. You can't leave your work; I am no longer needed."

"But what can Hadassah Ireton do?"

"I don't know--she'll know, I feel she'll know. That's why I'm going."
She paused. "I've been told to go."

"Oh, nonsense! How's this going to clear things up?" Freddy paused.

"I don't know. If I did, I shouldn't go to the Iretons'. It's because
I don't know, and nothing's being done, that I mean to go to her and
consult her."

"But why on earth trouble a stranger? I dislike the idea."

"There are some human beings who are never strangers. Suffering unites
people. Hadassah Ireton has suffered."

Freddy knocked the ash from his cigarette. A lump had risen up in his
throat.

"What are you going to ask her to do?" Meg did not know the pain her
words had given him; he spoke huskily.

"She's going to advise me what to do." Meg raised herself from her
reclining position. "She will help me, if Michael's ill, Fredd