help him, and the consul was unable to do
much for him, there were so many poor Greeks who wanted help. Meanwhile
there was no food at home and no drink; even the necessaries of life
were lacking.

On arriving at his home he found his wife and child huddled in a corner
crying for food. They ran toward him as he entered, but the hope in
their faces quickly faded at the sight of him.

"It's no good," Gregorio growled; "Amos refuses to advance a piastre and
says I must pay all I owe in three days."

"It is impossible to sleep when one is hungry," said Gregorio that night
to his wife, who lay awake, weeping, beside him.

III--OF FAILURE AND A RESOLVE

Gregorio's dreams, when he did sleep, were none of the pleasantest,
and when he woke up, from time to time, he heard his wife weeping. In
wondering what he should say to comfort her he fell asleep again, and
sleeping was worse than lying awake. For in his dreams he saw Xantippe
and his child starving and crying for food, and he was unable to help
them in any way. He lived over again the long day he had spent tramping
the streets of Alexandria searching for work. He saw the few tourists
still left in the town fat and happy; he saw the porters of the hotels
who had smiled on him pityingly and yet contemptuously; and he woke,
after each representation of the crude comedy, hot and yet cold with
perspiration, to feel the bed on which he lay shaking under the sobs of
his wife.

When at last day dawned Gregorio raised himself with an oath, and swore
to find food for his family and work for himself. The terrible debt he
owed to Amos he swore should not trouble him, laughing at his wife's
remonstrances. With the bright daylight had come a new courage, and,
hungry as he was, he felt able not only to satisfy their hunger, but so
skilfully to arrange matters that they would never feel hungry again.
Yet is was a terrible ordeal, that half-hour when the family should have
sat down to a table laden with food. The poor wife cried, and he had
to comfort her tears with promises, unsubstantial nutriment indeed,
and they could not satisfy the child, who failed dismally to understand
them. Through the green blinds came the noise of life and health and
merriment; curses too, sometimes, but only the curses of the well fed,
and therefore meaningless. Already the sun fell hot and indomitable on
the room, and the atmosphere at their touch became stifling. Gregorio,
swallowing his tears, to