himself longing to take her away somewhere out of it
all. Yet, of course, there was nothing he could do.

She was full of quiet gratitude for what he had done. She said she knew
that without his kind intercession she would have had to pay far more.
She had been through it too recently before and understood that such
things were expensive. He rejoiced that she judged only by the standards
of a small country place, and knew not city prices, and therefore little
suspected how very much he had done to smooth her way. He told her of
the preacher he had secured that afternoon by telephone--a plain, kindly
man who had been recommended by the undertaker. She thanked him again,
apathetically, as if she had not the heart to feel anything keenly, but
was grateful to him as could be.

"Have you had anything to eat to-day?" he asked, suddenly.

She shook her head. "I could not eat! It would choke me!"

"But you must eat, you know," he said, gently, as if she were a little
child. "You cannot bear all this. You will break down."

"Oh, what does that matter now?" she asked, pitifully, with her hand
fluttering to her heart again and a wave of anguish passing over her
white face.

"But we must live, mustn't we, until we are called to come away?"

He asked the question shyly. He did not understand where the thought or
words came from. He was not conscious of evolving them from his own
mind.

She looked at him in sad acquiescence. "I know," she said, like a
submissive child; "and I'll try, pretty soon. But I can't just yet. It
would choke me!"

Even while they were talking a door in the front of the hall opened, and
an untidy person with unkempt hair appeared, asking the girl to come
into her room and have a bite. When she shook her head the woman said:

"Well, then, child, go out a few minutes and get something. You'll not
last the night through at this rate! Go, and I'll stay here until you
come back."

Courtland persuaded her at last to come with him down to a little
restaurant around the corner and have a cup of tea--just a cup of
tea--and with a weary look, as if she thought it was the quickest way to
get rid of their kindness, she yielded. He thought he never would
forget the look she cast behind her at the little, white, sheet-covered
cot as she passed out the door.

It was an odd experience, taking this stranger to supper. He had met all
sorts of girls during his young career and had many different
experiences, but n