They were so far apart, the jungles and the icy peaks, the palm tree on the burning sands, and the pine tree in the frozen mountains! Anita walked quickly out of the room.

Mrs.McGillicuddy, soft-hearted as she was hard-handed, looked at Mrs.Fortescue.

The mother's eyes were moist; Anita was very unlike her, but Mrs.Fortescue remembered a period in her own young life when she, too, felt that the world was empty because of the absence of the Beloved.

And suppose he had never come back?
Mrs.Fortescue, remembering the brimming cup of happiness that had been hers merely because the man she loved came back, felt a little frightened for Anita.

The girl was so precocious, so passionate--and how difficult and baffling are those women whose loves are all passion! Anita baffled her mother still more, by appearing an hour later in a gay little gown, and taking the After-Clap from his crib and dancing with him until he absolutely refused to go to sleep.