e's a charitable old cuss," was Mr. Berry's elegant answer.
"His name leads all the subscription lists a-going; but I'll give you a
tip on the side, if you're after him to get a bit of local color for any
of your documents. Just make some excuse to visit some lodging houses he
owns on the corner of Myrtle and Tenth Streets. Diamond Row they call
it, because they say he gets the worth of his wife's gorgeous diamonds
out of it in rents every year, and she has the most notable ones in
town. It's the worst ever! I don't think Mrs. Blythe has discovered it
yet. I didn't get into it myself until the other day, when I had to go
to report an accident, but we newspaper men unearth all the sights that
are to be seen, eventually."

"Would it be all right for me to go--I mean safe?" asked Mary
hesitatingly.

"Sure!" was the cheerful answer. "It's safe as far as the people you'll
meet are concerned. I can't say as much for the germs."

"But I haven't a shadow of excuse for going," faltered Mary. "I couldn't
walk into a hovel out of sheer curiosity without some reason for
intruding, any more than I could into a rich person's home. I haven't
any more right to do the one than the other."

"That's what they all say," answered Sandford Berry. "But there is a
difference. You'll find that those tenants are glad of a chance to tell
their troubles to some one. Oh, of course, they'd spot you if you went
poking in for no reason _but_ curiosity, but anybody with tact and a
desire to get at the real inwardness of things for the purpose of
bettering them would find a welcome. _Those_ people know the
difference."

He puffed away in silence a moment, considering a way to help her as he
had often helped Mrs. Blythe, and taking it for granted that Mary was
just as eager for his suggestions as the other one had been.

"You might tell them you are looking for an old woman from the country
who knits some sort of lace for sale. There used to be one there. At
least, I've seen an old woman who used to be always knitting, sitting at
a corner window. I don't know whether she sold it or not, or whether she
was from the country. But it will do for an opening wedge, and with her
to start on you can easily get into conversation with any of them."
Then, as Mary still hesitated, he added, "If you really want to
investigate and feel anyways backward about it, I'll walk down that far
with you and show you where it is. It happens to be on my beat."

Mary real