THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL
 
 MILDRED
 
 THE 
 
 SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 A NOVEL 
 
 BY 
 
 BELL ELLIOTT PALMER 
 
 FRONTISPIECE BY CHASE EMERSON 
 
 BOSTON 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
 
 Published, August, 1915 
 
 COPTRIOHT, 1915, BY LOTHROP, LBE & SHKPARD Co. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Press 
 
 BERWICK & SMITH CO. 
 
 NORWOOD. MASS. 
 O. 8. A.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 LETTEB PAGE 
 
 I Mrs. William Howard Thompson to 
 Her Nephew, Edward Clifton Alls- 
 ton, Lawyer. October Fourth . . 11 
 
 II Edward Clifton Aliston to His Aunt, 
 Mrs. William Howard Thompson 
 but an Evening Later .... 17 
 
 III Mrs. William Howard Thompson, in 
 
 Immediate Reply to Edward Clifton 
 Aliston 26 
 
 IV Edward Clifton Aliston to Mrs. Wil- 
 
 liam Howard Thompson. By Spe- 
 cial-Delivery. October Eighth . 28 
 
 V Mrs. William Howard Thompson. In 
 
 Reply. October Tenth .... 30 
 
 VI Edward Clifton Aliston in Reply to a 
 Talk with Frank Orison Holland. 
 October Seventeenth 33 
 
 VII Frank Orison Holland. In Reply. 
 
 October Twenty-Second .... 36 
 
 VIII Edward Clifton Aliston to Holland. 
 Written at His Home Desk on the 
 Evening of Receipt of Letter . . 41 
 
 2137678
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 LETTEB PAGE 
 
 IX First Report from Frank Orison Hol- 
 land to Edward Clifton Aliston. 
 Concerning His First Sweetheart. 
 October Twenty-Sixth, at Ellison 
 Grove 43 
 
 X Second Report from Frank Orison 
 Holland to Aliston. Concerning the 
 Little Blue-Homer Girl. In Which 
 He Attempts to Assume Heavy Re- 
 sponsibilities for His Age. Novem- 
 ber First; at Ellison Grove ... 75 
 
 XI Third Report from Holland to Aliston. 
 Concerning College Days, and an 
 Attempt to Act the Part of Brother. 
 November Third; at Ellison Grove 122 
 
 XII Fourth Report from Holland to Alis- 
 ton. Back to the Boys, with Disas- 
 trous Results. November Fifth . 147 
 
 XIII Orison to Aliston. In Continuance, 
 
 the Next Morning. Dismissal and 
 an Abrupt Decision 171 
 
 XIV Edward Clifton Aliston to His Aunt, 
 
 Mrs. Thompson. In Which He Asks 
 Speedy Help. At His Home Desk. 
 November Eighth 189 
 
 XV Mrs. William Howard Thompson to 
 Aliston. By Night-Letter. Novem- 
 ber Tenth . . 198
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 LETTEB PAGE 
 
 XVI Fifth Report from Orison to Aliston. 
 Concerning the Girl in the Land of 
 Shadow. Ellison Grove, November 
 Twelfth 201 
 
 XVII Aliston to Holland. A Very Brief 
 Note Concerning a Minute Search 
 for the Girl in the Land of Shadow 229 
 
 XVIII Sixth Report from Holland to Aliston. 
 Concerning His Second Engage- 
 ment. Still at Ellison Grove, No- 
 vember Fourteenth 230 
 
 XIX Seventh Report from Holland to Alis- 
 ton. The Lure of the Woman of 
 Non-Conventional Views. Ellison 
 Grove, November Seventeenth . . 256 
 
 XX From Mildred to Her Aunt, Mrs. 
 William Howard Thompson. In 
 Which She Confesses Herself Much 
 at Sea. At Prairie Grove. No- 
 vember Seventeenth 304 
 
 XXI Aliston to His Sister Mildred. By 
 Special Delivery. November Nine- 
 teenth 308 
 
 XXII Holland to Aliston. An Attempted 
 Search for the Girl in the Land of 
 Shadow. At Congress Hotel, Chi- 
 cago. November Twentieth . . . 311
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 LETTER PAGE 
 
 XXIII Just a Kestful Letter from Mrs. 
 
 Thompson to Nephew, Edward Clif- 
 ton Aliston. November Twenty- 
 Fifth 329 
 
 XXIV From Holland to Aliston. Concerning 
 
 a Call Upon the Woman of Non-Con- 
 ventional Views, and News of the 
 Country Sweetheart. Pine View 
 Hotel. December First .... 340 
 
 XXV Holland to Aliston. Concerning the 
 
 Latter 's Sister. December Sixth . 364 
 
 XXVI Mrs. William Howard Thompson to 
 Edward Clifton Aliston. December 
 Sixteenth 369 
 
 XXVII Aliston in Reply. By Night-Letter. 
 Received the Morning of December 
 Eighteenth 372 
 
 XXVIII Mrs. William Howard Thompson in 
 Reply to Aliston. By Dispatch, the 
 Evening of December Eighteenth . 374 
 
 XXIX Aliston to Harriet Glenn. By Special- 
 Delivery Letter, Heavily Sealed. 
 December Nineteenth .... 375 
 
 XXX Aliston to Mrs. Howard Thompson. 
 In Form of an Announcement. By 
 Special-Delivery, December Nine-
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 LETTEB 
 
 teenth. Written at His Home at 
 Midnight 377 
 
 XXXI Mrs. William Howard Thompson to 
 Aliston. By Special-Delivery, De- 
 cember Twenty-First .... 379
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE 
 GIRL 
 
 IN THE FORM OF PLAIN LETTERS, 
 
 SPECIAL-DELIVERY MESSAGES, 
 
 AND DISPATCHES 
 
 TIME OCTOBER FOURTH TO CHEISTMAS EVE. 
 
 LETTER I 
 
 Mrs. William Howard Thompson to Her 
 Nephew, Edward Clifton Aliston, Lawyer. 
 October Fourth. 
 
 MY BEARED: 
 
 It is twilight, the hour when Billy and I 
 used to indulge in our most restful confidences. 
 If you could see Kirk Hollow at this moment 
 you would understand just why. The reflected 
 
 red and gold from mountains over the smallest 
 
 11
 
 12 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 bit of furnishing in my living-room takes away 
 the worst gloom from the terrible lonesomeness 
 that I have had to endure since Billy left me. 
 Just for the moment, but even that is something. 
 
 From the hillsides the tinkle of sheep-bells 
 adds a touch of sweetness, which even the gut- 
 tural notes of that ridiculously bombastic old 
 frog you used to laugh at last summer can not 
 quite drown out. But the shepherds are al- 
 ready closing in their flocks, and talking of their 
 drive * ' down country. ' ' Soon Kirk Hollow will 
 lie deep in her winter drapery ; and the voice of 
 our frog will become chilled in his stiffened 
 throat. It is of a possible help for those days, 
 unendurable even in prospect, that I am anxious 
 to consult you. 
 
 It is such a comfort, Teddy, to know that you 
 are a man of serious affairs and able to judge 
 wisely. The fact that we are so nearly of an 
 age, and that you used to ward off too aggres- 
 sive lovers for me in schooldays while I, in 
 turn, tried to cover your many weaknesses
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 13 
 
 from Miss Cross-Stick and Professor Wise 
 makes me confident that you can better under- 
 stand my need than any other lawyer or any 
 Spiritual Adviser whom I could possibly con- 
 sult. You appreciate how I feel when I say I 
 shall never, never enter social life again; and 
 never, never, never remarry after being the 
 wife of such a big, splendid, whole-souled man 
 as Billy. But I can not live on alone ! I must 
 adopt a daughter. Billy would have it so, I 
 know. Even Dr. Forrester, who drops in now 
 and then to talk of his college days with Billy, 
 agrees that it is the best possible plan. But, 
 Teddy, help me find just the right one! 
 
 If you were not so unreasonably headstrong 
 about keeping Mildred entirely to yourself the 
 solution would be over. An aunt can love as 
 a veritable mother, and your little sister of 
 eighteen is just the sweet, flowery, womanly 
 type that I would like best to own. Old argu- 
 ments are more distasteful than new ones, how- 
 ever, so we will not go over that ground again.
 
 14 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Only help me quickly, with your unfailing judg- 
 ment, in my frantic search for a family ! 
 
 Eumor reaches me that Frank Orison Hol- 
 land is often at your home. How grave your 
 responsibility must be becoming with the grow- 
 ing flower-heart in your charge. Perhaps soon 
 you will have to lose some of your ogre-guard- 
 the-princess ways, and call upon a mere aunt for 
 advice, since Mildred is now permitted callers. 
 
 It is splendid though, isn't it, how Orison is 
 succeeding! He is already a part of Williston 
 and Williston; and even from the few glimpses 
 I have had of him, I pronounce him a man 
 worth while. There is something puzzling 
 about him, however. He possesses that inde- 
 scribable note of appeal a suggestion of some 
 real trouble, bravely suppressed that only 
 adds to his personality and interest. The fact 
 that, in spite of his mature dignity and note of 
 reserve, there is sometimes the faintest rumor 
 of some long-ago sowing of wild oats does not 
 detract at all from the luster of his popularity.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 15 
 
 He is certainly as big a social success as little 
 Mildred promises to be in her purity and her 
 bloom. 
 
 But here comes Dr. Forrester up the lane 
 driveway with his single cart and favorite black 
 horse. He is stopping, I know, to see if there is 
 any mail he can take over to the village. He 
 is always so thoughtful about every little detail. 
 And truly, Teddy, he is a real comfort in these 
 empty days. He knows just how I feel about 
 loving Billy on and on into and through eter- 
 nity, and will never impose upon the friendship 
 between himself and me. He understands bet- 
 ter than any one else what a splendid big man 
 Billy was in his college days and afterwards. 
 And he likes to talk of him, just as I do, for very 
 admiration and love of such a man. 
 
 He is climbing out now with his arms full of 
 brilliantly turned leaves. Nothing lovely in na- 
 ture seems to escape his attention. If only you 
 could run down right away for a week with 
 Mildred to share the autumn glory of our moun-
 
 16 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 tain-sides ! But I realize how heavily you are 
 chained with the big affairs of others so shall 
 wait anxiously for your letter. Please give my 
 love to dearest Mildred, and accept a fond good- 
 night to yourself from YOUB ANXIOUS 
 
 SlSTEB-AuNT.
 
 LETTER II 
 
 Edward Clifton Aliston to His Aunt, 
 Mrs. William Howard Thompson but an 
 Evening Later. 
 
 Mr DEAR SISTER-AUNT: 
 
 My hour of harmony with all that is best 
 and most beautiful in life comes a little later 
 than yours. At twilight if there are no extra 
 demands I am just closing the lid of my of- 
 fice-desk, preparatory to a plunge into the bril- 
 liantly lit streets below. Twilight here is only 
 a softening of the blackness and rigidity of our 
 looming down-town buildings. I have to close 
 my eyes very tightly to hear the tinkle of 
 the sheep-bells on your stately mountain-sides 
 when I walk or ride among these quarters. 
 But now I hear it clearly in what I call, 
 my hour. It is eight o'clock. The maid has 
 
 17
 
 18 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 tiptoed in to see that the electroliers are prop- 
 erly chosen for light effect. She has a certain 
 taste, too. It is the lamps shielded by the rich 
 clusters of grapes, and those within the droop- 
 ing clematis-shades that you chose for me last 
 Christmas that she has turned on to-night. 
 Herbert has "butlered" his last round for the 
 evening with the usual bunch of magazines and 
 papers. Above, I hear the ring of Mildred's 
 care-free laugh. She is busy with a friend over 
 costumes they expect to wear at one of those 
 Pocket-Extortion church-fairs, soon to come. 
 I have tried to bribe her to let me off with fifteen 
 dollars and Absence I But she says, no! I 
 must face the cannon-mouth and squander a 
 good twenty-five for the bib-aprons and dust- 
 caps, which, later, I must wear to my office, waiv- 
 ing all conventional demands in dress, or else 
 never see again ! Little sister is fast assuming 
 a new role with her growing years. I some- 
 times wonder who really is in charge the 
 "Ogre" or the "Princess." But in the more
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 19 
 
 serious questions of life she accepts my verdict 
 without a murmur. I think this will ever be her 
 way. 
 
 Little Tcmte, you couldn't have come to me for 
 advice concerning the adoption of a daughter at 
 a greater moment of appeal. For several 
 weeks I have scarcely been able to hold pen from 
 paper to write you of this very matter. But I 
 have waited for the possible opening of the sub- 
 ject by yourself. Ernestine, you are right. 
 Nothing will better help you endure the empti- 
 ness left in your home by Billy's going than the 
 presence of a sweet young girl, who, in the very 
 nature of things, will love you from the mo- 
 ment she sees you ; and upon whom you will be- 
 stow your gracious attention and charm and un- 
 selfish thought, until you find that she has in- 
 deed filled a veritable need in your aching heart 
 But it must be some other girl than Mildred. 
 
 You know well, Ernestine, the especially 
 sacred conditions governing her raising. I 
 shall never forget the look of perfect faith in
 
 20 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 dear Mother's eyes when she slipped the tiny 
 sister hand into mine and asked that I keep the 
 little girl, eighteen years my junior, for whom 
 she was giving her life, constantly within my 
 care. Her plea was that I raise her pure and 
 sweet and womanly until that time should come 
 when she must naturally go out to be the strong 
 little wife of some truly worthy man. God 
 knows I have tried to keep the trust. I could 
 not break it, even for you; nor, much as she 
 loves you, do I think that Mildred herself would 
 consent to this. 
 
 There is one young girl, however, whom I 
 sincerely wish you could consider. The men- 
 tion of her type even will startle you at first; 
 but when you enter into your deepest and tru- 
 est thoughts you may be able to see it as I do. 
 And what you could mean to her with your 
 warm nature, your broad views, and your pop- 
 ular and assured position in the social world 
 would be past expressing. I have not even 
 seen her, but Williston, Senior, has spoken to
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 21 
 
 me of her graphically several times. Her name 
 is Harriet Glenn. She is a girl who went astray 
 in a moment of weakness ; but who is trying so 
 bravely to live out her ostracism in the vil- 
 lage where the truth is known. Her only 
 friend is old rheumatic Mrs. Johnson, with 
 whom she resides at the edge of the town ; and 
 kind-hearted Williston tells me that the hun- 
 gry look in the girl's tragic dark eyes shows 
 how little companionship there is in that home; 
 though there is toleration and that is more 
 than any other saintly woman in this place 
 is willing to give! 
 
 Ernestine, I am not excusing her sin. It is 
 truly the most unaccountable and the saddest 
 that this old world knows. In all honesty, 
 however, neither am I able to take the high seat 
 of judgment that demands ostracism. On the 
 contrary, the thought of this girl haunts me 
 often. "Were I in a position, married, and Mil- 
 dred out of my care, I should certainly try to 
 reach and aid her even if it had to be ac-
 
 22 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 complished through an invitation to my home. 
 Williston, Senior, is childless, and has ever 
 longed for a daughter. He would gladly adopt 
 Harriet Glenn, if his wife would only depart 
 a whit from her squeamish views. Mrs. Wil- 
 liston is a brilliant leader and a most capable 
 president of the clubs for better morals and 
 better babies. She is chairman also of the so- 
 ciety for the Prevention of the White Slave 
 Traffic; but evidently her code of action is an 
 energetic dealing with possible future wrongs, 
 rather than a merciful sisterhood for those 
 guilty of past errors ! 
 
 You are broader, Ernestine. You surely be- 
 lieve with me that it is not always the low and 
 debased that follow this doleful path; but, in 
 rare cases, those of a refined but unfortunately 
 hypersensitive nature, who love beyond their 
 strength. Harriet Glenn I believe to be one 
 of this class. Williston tells me her every 
 movement breathes grace and refinement. Her 
 every start and flush show an over-sensitive
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 23 
 
 nature, as capable of extreme good as of evil. 
 Her face, he calls a perfect tragedy; and her 
 eyes deep fires of pleading pleading that the 
 stern bars of justice, governing her sex, may 
 be let down just a little, and some leniency 
 shown, in her sincere repentance for what the 
 world has chosen to call her unpardonable sin. 
 God has many self-appointed jurists, who dare 
 to assist Him in the judgments that must be 
 meted. And the wonderful part is that it is 
 tender-hearted woman who, from time im- 
 memorial, has exulted in playing this role. I 
 sincerely believe, Ernestine, that if any mortal 
 had dared answer our Lord's challenge con- 
 cerning the erring woman, it would have been 
 some chaste, proud-souled woman who stooped 
 to hurl the first stone. But you are too just 
 and too tender for such views. 
 
 You speak lightly, Ernestine, of Orison's 
 days of wild-oats sowing; and evidently think 
 him a desirable suitor for little Mildred 's hand. 
 I know this view of a man's having a perfect
 
 24 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 right to expect and demand in a woman the 
 strength and purity he is in nowise able to give 
 himself is the only popular one. Custom 
 laughs at any other situation. But why? 
 Modern eugenics prove that streams on both 
 sides should run pure and strong to make the 
 perfect blend ; and a deeper understanding will 
 not permit one much longer to laugh at a fault 
 in one sex and condemn it utterly in the other. 
 I can make no distinction honestly in my heart 
 when it comes to morals. So the man who 
 would win Mildred must prove himself worthy 
 of her. You know her as pure and whole- 
 some a type of womanhood as it is possible to 
 find with nothing to foist, all to give. Yes, 
 even Frank Orison Holland, if he comes to me 
 about Mildred, will have to prove his record 
 clear; though, as you say, he appears one of 
 the most thorough, courteous, refined, and 
 sincere men of the present hour, and, in addi- 
 tion, is one of my very closest friends. 
 I am not at all surprised that Dr. Forrester
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 25 
 
 drops in now and then to help pass away the 
 time. Platonic friendship is, sometimes, com- 
 forting at least on one side. I sincerely wish 
 that I, too, could run down to cheer you. But 
 this is our rushed season, and I fear that 
 Christmas will be the nearest time I can get 
 away. Mildred may join you sooner unless 
 you answer our earnest invitation to visit us 
 here. I await your decision most anxiously. 
 YOUR NEPHEW, TED.
 
 LETTER III 
 
 Mrs. William Howard Thompson, in Im- 
 mediate Reply to Edward Clifton Aliston. 
 
 EDWABD! 
 
 In all the days of our childhood friendship, 
 when you seemed as near and dear as a brother, 
 and in the many years that have followed, you 
 have never said one thing to vex or hurt me. 
 But now that I am so utterly lonesome and un- 
 shielded, you have tactlessly wounded oh, if 
 it were possible with you I could even say 
 insulted me with the suggestion in your letter. 
 
 I asked you in all good faith to help me find 
 a solace for my desolation. A girl so sweet 
 and pure and womanly that I could take her 
 gladly and rightfully into fearfully lonesome 
 arms, and love her as my very own. And in 
 reply you suggest a person who has so debased 
 herself, so lost every trace of womanhood and 
 
 26
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 27 
 
 decency that one must almost shudder to pass 
 her in the street ! 
 
 Why, even Dr. Forrester, who dropped in 
 with your letter, was utterly without words 
 when I told him a little of what you had pro- 
 posed. I never saw him so excited. His eyes 
 shone as though they were suddenly filled with 
 fever; and time and again he walked back and 
 forth between the grate-fire and the window, 
 his hands clasped behind his back, as they al- 
 ways are when he is thinking deeply. Once or 
 twice he opened his lips as though he wanted 
 very much to tell me something, but when he 
 spoke it was of an entirely different matter. 
 He was far too generous to seem disloyal to 
 you, even to the extent of criticism. 
 
 Oh, Edward, how could you ! It hurts more 
 than you can ever know. EBNESTINE.
 
 LETTER IY 
 
 Edward Clifton Aliston to Mrs. William 
 Howard Thompson. By Special Delivery, 
 October Eighth. 
 
 ERNESTINE : 
 
 I am grieved beyond words that you could 
 have translated my clumsy appeal to your lib- 
 erality so strangely. I am still of the same 
 opinion as regards equality of justice for both 
 sexes; but I will try never to mention Har- 
 riet Glenn's name again. You will write me 
 immediately that I am forgiven? And if I can 
 be of any service to you in this matter now, I 
 will try the best in my power to arrange for a 
 week off. You know there is nothing I 
 wouldn't do for one who has ever been so deeply 
 thoughtful of Mildred and me. It is truly a 
 miserable knowledge that I have hurt you, been 
 
 28
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 29 
 
 so completely misunderstood, and failed you so 
 wretchedly in your quest. 
 
 Most affectionately yours. EDWABD C. 
 
 ALISTON.
 
 LETTER V 
 
 Mrs. William Hoivard Thompson. In 
 Reply. October Tenth. 
 
 TEDDY : 
 
 You are too confirmed a bachelor to under- 
 stand that a woman's mood is greatly con- 
 trolled by atmospherical conditions. Of course 
 I know now, as I realized subconsciously all 
 along, that it would be utterly impossible for 
 you to think, say or write one word to any 
 woman that would meaningly annoy or hurt. 
 But it was raining when I answered your let- 
 ter just raining cascades, Teddy and the 
 grove of pine-trees along my driveway was 
 dark and blotchy and shivery with cold tears, 
 so that everything seemed at its worst. It re- 
 minded me of that dreadful day when Billy 
 rode off for his " rain-bath, " so strong and 
 
 30
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 31 
 
 handsome on his big black horse; and then 
 came back oh, Teddy, but just a few wee min- 
 utes later so still and white on the stretcher 
 that the forestry-men improvised, with no vis- 
 ible reason for leaving me but that one dread- 
 ful bruise, running its purple shadow across 
 his temple and up into his curls I 
 
 But it is cowardly of me to dwell on this. 
 Billy would have me brave, I know; and I am 
 going to do my best to lose myself now in get- 
 ting ready for Christmas, when Mildred and 
 you can snatch a little time to give to me. This 
 is only early October, but I pray the days may 
 hurry by somehow, someway! And, Teddy, 
 I am the one to be forgiven. Mention the poor 
 girl whenever you wish. You are certainly 
 generous of heart, dear! But Mrs. Williston 
 is perfectly right. Never, never expect me to 
 do such a fanatical, utterly impossible thing as 
 to open my doors to one of her kind, however 
 much I might long to humor a whim of yours ! 
 Dear boy, you surely understand!
 
 32 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 With so much love for you and Mildred 
 tell her I will take every dust-cap and apron 
 she makes herself. EBNESTINE.
 
 LETTER VI 
 
 Edward Clifton Aliston in reply to a 
 Talk with Frank Orison Holland. October 
 Seventeenth. 
 
 DEAB FRANK: 
 
 It would be a false statement if I declared 
 our talk, just three evenings ago, when you con- 
 fessed your love for my sister, and I asked a 
 little time before answering, was an awakening. 
 I have felt that it could not be otherwise on 
 your part after a growing acquaintance with 
 a woman of Mildred's strength. I am almost 
 positive that no feeling but the friendship she 
 bears for her many callers has entered into her 
 mind for you but that part belongs to her 
 alone. Your " credentials " as to business abil- 
 ity and worldly-ownings are still on my desk, 
 sealed. They will come back to you in the same 
 
 33
 
 34 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 condition. Associating as closely with you in 
 business and social life as I have for the last 
 two years, there is no need of this form of 
 " proof" concerning your eligibility. Sane 
 perception shows you a serious man, able to 
 grasp situations and honestly win. In four 
 words A Man Worth While. Your family, 
 too, is on an equality with our own. There is 
 still another question, however, which even a 
 man's closest friend can not answer for him: 
 
 Frank Orison Holland, in seeking the love 
 of my little sister, are you able to offer to her 
 in your own life what you know her pure soul, 
 her tender loving heart, her high ideals would 
 lead her to expect and have a right to ask? 
 What you would demand in her. What the 
 world has a right to expect for the foundation 
 of a possible future generation? 
 
 I shall go to no outside proof for the con- 
 firmation of this point. Gossip has it other- 
 wise at times; but, to me, gossip is simply the 
 hurtling of exaggerations on idle or jealous
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 35 
 
 tongues. When you tell me that you have lived 
 a clean, vigorous life, it will be all-sufficient; 
 and no one will be more gladly welcomed by 
 me in our home than you, Frank. Most cor- 
 dially, EDWARD C. ALISTON.
 
 LETTER VII 
 
 Frank Orison Holland. In Reply. Oc- 
 tober Twenty-Second. 
 
 DEAR ED: 
 
 Your letter, while I can not but admire its 
 frankness and justice, has saddened me made 
 of me a man older by ten years. It has seemed 
 to me of late that I must win your sister; 
 though I fully appreciate my own or any man's 
 unworthiness to possess the love of a woman, 
 so finely constructed in every way. "A Touch 
 of God's Best Handiwork," she has ever 
 seemed to me. But I can not stand before you 
 honestly and deny that I have sowed some 
 pretty serious wild oats. 
 
 If I had owned a wise man's knowledge of 
 circumstances and a less adventurous spirit, I 
 would surely have appreciated the fact that 
 
 36
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 37 
 
 strong, effectual manhood is won only by fol- 
 lowing the one straight clean path of perpetual 
 Self-Control. As it was, with a noted profes- 
 sor, ever buried deep in his books, for a father ; 
 and a beautiful invalid-mother, veiled from 
 earliest memory in soft laces, silken covers, 
 shadowy couch-corners, and delicate flower- 
 fragrance, I had little of the frankly interested 
 explanation that is the only fair treatment for 
 a boy. I took many of my first lessons from 
 the strictly material, impersonal world. The 
 falsely reasoning world that tells you that to 
 know the full value of fresh air and joyous sun- 
 shine, you must first take a deep whiff of cel- 
 lar-damp and alley-closeness. The malicious 
 world that assures you doses of dangerous 
 poisons should be swallowed before you can 
 appreciate the cleanness and strength of spar- 
 kling and health-giving drinks. The cunning 
 world that whispers that you with your fine 
 will-power can stop anything at any time. The 
 insidiously fawning world that suggests, since
 
 38 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 this and that has to be, why not you you who 
 are so fine-principled that you can give much 
 higher "protection" than the other poor cuss. 
 The time-seasoned, knowing world that says 
 finally, when drugs and drink flow at their high- 
 est, and Bravado rides King Supreme, "Ah, 
 well, what matters it! It will do your name, 
 your station, your future successes no lasting 
 harm. It may only lend them an interesting 
 luster for you are a man, and the danger of 
 ostracism is slight indeed." 
 
 Edward, give me one chance. I have sowed 
 wild oats; but they were surely not of such a 
 serious nature that you would make them the 
 cause for shutting me out of Paradise! Let 
 me detail a plan. I have tried to keep from 
 my memory certain trips into the by-paths of 
 youth. Sometimes it has been fierce work, on 
 account of my deep regret at their happening; 
 but at such times I have rushed on in frenzy at 
 my business with a hope of obtaining oblivion. 
 Now I mean to stop being so cowardly, and
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 39 
 
 to spend this month, granted me for a vacation, 
 in an honest review of my life, and a thorough 
 searching into the consequences of my careless, 
 youthful escapades, so far as it is possible to 
 ascertain them. I will go to my county-home 
 at Ellison Grove, where I can think quietly, 
 leaving only for necessary trips of investiga- 
 tion. During that time I will not write one 
 word to Mildred; but as fast as possible send 
 a statement to you, as frank as man can write 
 to man. I will take up the eight types of women 
 it has been my lot to know either for better or 
 for worse. The names of the first seven will 
 naturally be fictitious, as the situation demands 
 it. If, in the end, you feel that there is any 
 hope for me, you will wire me at once, realiz- 
 ing what each instant of suspense means to me? 
 I fully understand that, reared into new broad 
 views as she has been, Mildred will in every 
 way coincide with you even to the refusal of 
 the desperate resort of elopement! Please do 
 not let her know of this as yet.
 
 40 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Sometimes I think that young men instead of 
 overrating their worth and power, as is so 
 often charged to them, underestimate it sadly. 
 They can not possibly appreciate what deep 
 scars they are capable of making for life with 
 what seemed only a careless incident to them. 
 God grant the wild oats I have thoughtlessly 
 sown have not sprung into a tangled mass of 
 weeds ! 
 
 Yours most sincerely, FRANK ORISON 
 
 HOLLAND.
 
 LETTER VIII 
 
 Edward Clifton Aliston to Holland. 
 Written at His Home Desk on the Evening 
 of Receipt of Letter. 
 
 DEAB FBANK: 
 
 Most certainly you shall have the " chance. " 
 I hardly consider myself eligible as a judge to 
 sit in verdict upon any clean man's past, how- 
 ever. But in accordance with my promise in 
 regard to Mildred, perhaps I'd better attempt 
 the part. I shall wait for your complete re- 
 port before answering, as that will give me a 
 better opportunity for judging fairly. No 
 doubt you simply imagine you have sowed wild 
 oats on account of your over-sensitive nature. 
 I know you agree with me that it is certainly 
 best to follow the moral road from the start; 
 but certainly none of us treads any line of per- 
 
 41
 
 42 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 fection! I have a thousand and one weak 
 points. Your record is probably much, much 
 better. I can imagine little or nothing of seri- 
 ous import from a man with as clean and reso- 
 lute a face as yours. So, I bid you, God-speed ! 
 on the journey; and a lot of fresh air and 
 good fishing to fill in your needed rest ! 
 
 Cordially, EDWAKD CLIFTON ALISTON.
 
 LETTER IX 
 
 First Report from Frank Orison Holland 
 to Ed/ward Clifton Aliston. Concerning His 
 First Sweetheart. October Twenty-Sixth, 
 at Ellison Grove. 
 
 DEAE ED : 
 
 It was my French nurse, Marie, I think, 
 who gave me my first impressions of woman- 
 hood. I was just turned seven, and she had 
 arranged my curls over my lace collar with 
 greatest care, preparatory for the last picture 
 I was to have taken before losing this girlish en- 
 cumbrance : 
 
 "Ah, my dear love," she cried, placing me 
 high on a beautiful inlaid table, "it is the 
 hearts of the women, then, that he will break 
 from start to finish with his glorious looks! 
 Just wait till he enters Madam's school on the 
 
 43
 
 44 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Monday. It will begin then with the prettiest 
 girls in the room. Take nurse Marie's word 
 for that!" 
 
 I remember I felt very nncomf ortable at this 
 startling announcement, being warm-hearted 
 then and not at all anxious to shatter hearts; 
 but my faith in my one constant companion was 
 implicit. To Marie, I was accustomed to carry 
 my every joy and woe ; for she was my only pos- 
 sible confidante. Before I was quite three I had 
 learned that if I ever attempted to enter the 
 shadowy, fragrant room where my beautiful 
 mother lay so still on the couch among silken 
 pillows, in the midst of too sweet flowers, I was 
 met by a white-capped nurse at the very door- 
 sill, and gently but firmly discouraged from in- 
 truding. With my father, it was much the 
 same way. I had no real longing, it is true, 
 ever to enter the big oaken-paneled library, 
 where my dignified parent sat constantly at 
 work among the huge books that ran the four 
 walls in their dully gleaming cases. But, now
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 45 
 
 and then, with a child's bravado, and the wish 
 born of denial, I would pause in the hallway, 
 just outside the door, and wait in vain for a 
 possible word of welcome. Here faithful Marie 
 would find me, a moment later, and covering 
 me with her apron, as though to shield me from 
 some actual bodily harm, would hurry me down 
 the thickly carpeted hall, a nervous trembling 
 in her limbs. 
 
 "Oh, mon cher," she pleaded with me con- 
 stantly, " never, never do that again! Don't 
 you know your father is a great, great man, 
 who mustn't be disturbed an instant? He 
 found such a quantity of wcfrm-eaten lettered 
 parchment on his trip to Egypt; and now he 
 puts it all into book form to so help the world ! 
 Many learned professors come often clean 
 across the sea-basin to consult him. He only 
 leaves his work when he goes at morning and 
 twilight to visit your poor beautiful mother, 
 whom he loves better than his life ! ' ' 
 
 Marie's predictions concerning womanhood
 
 46 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 showed an early budding of conviction. Upon 
 the morrow after her conversation with me con- 
 cerning the opposite sex, with hair cut so close 
 that the annoying curls were only little lines of 
 wriggles, I started out to meet educational de- 
 mands. This pursuit, Marie assured me com- 
 fortingly, would never let up for me now. 
 
 At first I clung very close to Marie's hand, 
 for I had seen Madam once ; and the Construc- 
 tive Angels had not designed her after a pat- 
 tern to inspire ease or love in children. My 
 fear was soon lost in a more pleasant sensation, 
 however; for as we passed a big white-stone 
 house on our way, I noticed another nurse lead- 
 ing a dainty little girl, with a sunshine of yel- 
 low curls, down the long walk to the gate. Un- 
 consciously, I at once drew my fist quickly out 
 of Marie's warm protection. 
 
 "Ah, that is the way it will be!" exclaimed 
 my nurse with all the anguished sentiment pos- 
 sible with her race. "Poor Marie lost her 
 baby yesterday, when those lovely brown curls
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 47 
 
 were cut. And to-day she has lost the confi- 
 dence of her nice big boy-man!" 
 
 "Will she care for me, Marie?" I asked with 
 a sudden horror at doing damage to this beau- 
 tiful little girl. I was still looking back, in 
 spite of myself, at the solemn nurse and her 
 dainty charge, who had just come through the 
 high-arched gate, and were turning our way. 
 
 "Ah, that she will; then, break her pretty 
 heart over you, for you will be her very own 
 kind. Her father is a senator, very wise and 
 rich and good; and she, too, starts at Madam's 
 to-day. Paul, the butler at her home, told me 
 that very thing last night. You will see her 
 every day." 
 
 "But, Marie," I implored, hesitating slightly 
 in my path, "I won't go on, then. I don't want 
 to hurt her the pretty little girl. I can't bear 
 to do her harml" 
 
 Marie laughed so long and hard that she 
 grew fairly purple in the face; but at last she 
 controlled herself and seized me by the shoul-
 
 48 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 der with a playful shake. "Ah, my blessed 
 babe," she exulted, "he didn't lose all his inno- 
 cence with the shearing of his curls. Now did 
 he! It is the finest thing in the world this 
 treading over hearts. And, take it from me, 
 if you don't do it she will! It's a favorite 
 game with clever women to coquette cruelly 
 with men and it begins when a baby -girl first 
 lifts her silken lashes and looks up into this 
 big world of ours ! ' ' 
 
 Marie's words, by no means fully compre- 
 hended, offered to my sadly matured mind a 
 glimmer of possibilities that kept me on the de- 
 fensive for several days. I was determined 
 not to wound the little girl, who grew sweeter 
 and sweeter with each breath she drew, but I 
 was equally on the guard against any barbed 
 nets she might artfully cast my way. 
 
 I learned my first valuable lessons, however, 
 in those few first days at Madam 's : No clever 
 woman, in bud or flower, works from the out- 
 side in. She is far less clumsy than man.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 49 
 
 Her artifices are so subtly laid that she can 
 deny their very existence at any moment she 
 chooses. And still man is compelled! Upon 
 the fourth day I laid my orange on Evelina 
 Buckingham's desk, and received at once a 
 dimpled, but entirely unsurprised smile that 
 left me completely disarmed. 
 
 After that Marie and I always arrived early 
 at the big arched gate, and were, invariably, 
 joined by Evelina and Agnes, her nurse. The 
 little girl and I would then stroll on before, 
 while our faithful, but light-headed guardians 
 chattered gayly, and often most indiscreetly 
 about our "cuteness," and our making such 
 splendid "little sweethearts." 
 
 At the end of the first week, however, we did 
 not need to have any one tell us this. I had 
 purchased a gorgeously carved little locket, 
 with money saved for my first watch ; and, later, 
 I slipped it into Evelina's hand, just as we en- 
 tered the ivy-grown door of Madam's superior 
 establishment, with the usual note of explana-
 
 50 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 tion that if she did not take it and love me for- 
 ever, I would find a lonely spot of mossy wood- 
 land and die at once. 
 
 Evelina also seemed loath to break hearts 
 willfully or cause the erection of mossy graves. 
 She had the discretion, however, not to put her 
 own feelings into writing. She did not even 
 speak a word of love ; but I could not help see- 
 ing her shed a few tears no doubt at the mere 
 thought of the possible premature funeral. 
 And when she came in from morning-recess, 
 with deep blue eyes lowered and tossed curls 
 caressing cheeks of the loveliest pink, my chain 
 and locket glimmered and glittered a promise 
 at her throat ! 
 
 It was not always an easy road of love after 
 this. Indeed at the very outset our hopes were 
 almost extinguished. Evelina's mother in- 
 sisted that her little girl return me the locket at 
 once, and it was only my sweetheart's copious 
 tears and the intercession of an aunt, who con- 
 sidered everything unnaturally mature in chil-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 51 
 
 dren as "dreadfully cute," that saved the day 
 for us. This Evelina's nurse confided to Ma- 
 rie, that I might know. But the little girl was 
 forbidden to receive even an apple from me as 
 a gift in the future. 
 
 Think of a lover, Ed, languishing to express 
 his tender sentiments, and not being able to ex- 
 tend one token of his inner confusion! But, 
 again, Evelina seemed to realize the agony of 
 the situation, and tactfully borrowed my eraser, 
 and let me sharpen her pencil as often as I 
 chose. Several times she even ventured to ac- 
 cept bunches of violets or other wild flowers; 
 for even in her child-mind seemed the realiza- 
 tion that they were entirely God's property 
 not mine. Thus passed for us two years, in 
 the midst of sunshine with splotches of shadow, 
 of wondrous happiness whenever it came, and 
 undoubted fidelity. Then the crisis bore down 
 upon us. 
 
 I had followed the pursuit of gathering 
 birds' eggs, often buying them at exaggerated
 
 52 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 prices from the older boys, for my desire for 
 a great number was keen, and my pocket-money 
 too generous from the start. One egg I treas- 
 ured above all others, that of a rare kind of 
 swallow that appeared about to leave our part 
 of the country forever. This I wrapped in blue 
 tissue-paper, one morning in very late fall, and 
 conveying it with utmost care, laid it upon my 
 lady-love's desk. This gift, I reasoned, was 
 also heavenly property in a way, and, therefore, 
 permissible for Evelina to accept. 
 
 But at noon the blue tissue-package was back 
 on my desk, and with it the first note that my 
 little girl friend had ever written me. In it 
 she gave me to understand that I was a cruel 
 wicked monster. She had thought I was a gen- 
 tleman, she continued to explain; but now she 
 knew I was a stony-hearted Coward and she 
 would never, never walk back and forth with 
 me to school again ! 
 
 Child- suffering is certainly the keenest 
 known. I declare I shudder yet, Ed, whenever
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 53 
 
 I think of that little note ! There is none of the 
 accentuated will-power of controlled years, nor 
 the philosophical reasoning that perhaps, after 
 all, it is a most fortunate escape or a mas- 
 terful character-strengthener ! The only thing 
 that saved me from dying at once, upon the re- 
 ceipt of that unexpected charge, was that my 
 chain and locket still rose and fell on Evelina's 
 white throat. But even then I was in a frenzy 
 for fear she would suddenly remember, and 
 throw that back at me across the few interven- 
 ing desks. 
 
 At dinner that evening Marie, with whom I 
 always ate my meals in spite of my growing 
 years, was thrown into a state of despair. I 
 was ill! she declared. My eyes looked full of 
 fever! I was eating nothing. But how could 
 she tell my poor lovely mother, whose heart 
 might cease beating instantly at any shock. 
 And my father ah, there were seven learned 
 professors, at least, shut in with him at a formal 
 dinner. He must have discovered some grand
 
 54 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 new help to the world. But in the meanwhile 
 what was she to do ! 
 
 At last my enduring power gave way. Un- 
 der Marie's violent solicitations, I fell into a 
 state of nervous confession. I had been dis- 
 graced. I had been called the worst, the very 
 worst, name in the whole world a coward. 
 Evelina would never, never love me any more ! 
 She would not even walk home with so unfor- 
 givable a wretch ! 
 
 Marie listened in ejaculatory indignation. 
 Then she held out her arms, and, for the last 
 time in my memory, I went into their grateful 
 protection, as her soothing ran thus A coward 
 indeed! Her big, brave, handsome boy! But 
 had she not told me ! It was always the way. 
 The little vixen to sharpen her arrow with the 
 meanest word on record! Ah, she was trying 
 to break her dear boy's heart. Then he must 
 quickly break hers by showing he didn't care a 
 whit. He must laugh and talk and walk with 
 every other girl on the avenue but little Eve-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 55 
 
 Una. Soon she would wilt and pine, and then 
 she would tell him he was not a coward but a 
 gentleman. Soon she would beg him, indeed, 
 to be her best friend again ! For life was only 
 a fighting for the inaccessible. In this art 
 women scrambled even higher and more furi- 
 ously than men! 
 
 I listened half seriously to my nurse's vehe- 
 ment assertions; but this time I was not to be 
 persuaded to her plan. Even at that early age 
 I owned a decisiveness that was inherited di- 
 rectly from my father. "I will not talk with 
 the other girls on the avenue," I asserted. ''I 
 will never speak to any girl again. I will study 
 and grow big and strong, and then go out and 
 dig up old letters and jewelry, to help the world 
 as my father has done!" 
 
 Marie was so impressed with my noble pur- 
 poses that she did not even disapprove my lack 
 of revengefulness toward the other sex. She 
 slipped me off her lap into a big chair, and cried 
 a little into her white-strapped apron, and mur-
 
 56 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 mured something about my being as brave and 
 wonderful and wise at nine as her grandfather, 
 who was really a wonderful man, had been in 
 his sixties. During this tribute to my mental 
 and moral powers, moved by some unconquer- 
 able impulse, I slipped softly from the chair 
 out of the room, and down our long drive to the 
 street. 
 
 It was the first time in my memory, though 
 I blush still at the thought of such protection, 
 that I had ever been on this sweep of wide, elm- 
 bordered avenue on foot, unattended! The 
 view, under my new independence seemed won- 
 drously splendid both ways. We had eaten an 
 early dinner, but the street-lights were coming 
 out along each side of the boulevard, majestic 
 beacons of safety through their heavy white- 
 globed sides. At one end of the street, just 
 visible in the shadow, the sky dropped its blue 
 line into the clear waters of the lake. From the 
 other direction came the long row of low- 
 wheeled carriages, and toss of spirited horses'
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 57 
 
 heads belonging to those returning from the 
 business districts to their handsome lake-front 
 homes. With a throbbing sense of importance 
 at being entirely upon my own responsibility, 
 I threw out my chest and turned with the pag- 
 eant line, as though pushed by some compel- 
 ling force, down the avenue toward Senator 
 Buckingham's stately dwelling. 
 
 I did not really expect to see little Evelina. 
 If I did, I told myself, it could not be of the 
 slightest interest to a youth of voluntary her- 
 mitage ; but the test of my new resolution came 
 startlingly soon. Just as I passed beyond the 
 big gate and began to cover the block of stone 
 wall that surrounded the Buckingham lawn, I 
 saw her slip out of the dark, iron-wrought 
 front door, bareheaded, though the night was 
 very chill. She seemed like a little restless 
 spirit in a soothing cloud of floating curls. I 
 watched her, fascinated, for she was making di- 
 rectly for the tiny lake that lay in the eastern 
 slope of the home yard. Over it glimmered a
 
 58 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 thin sheet of ice. As she whirled along impetu- 
 ously, her feet scarcely touching the ground, I 
 caught the gleam of something bright over her 
 left shoulder. Then I saw it was a pair of 
 skates. 
 
 Involuntarily I raised my voice. "Evelina, 
 don't !" I cried. "This is the first night of the 
 freeze. It won't bear a feather!" 
 
 She heard me, for she stopped suddenly, lift- 
 ing her pointed chin with a touch of displeasure. 
 Then with a defiant fling of her heavy curls she 
 was off again, making straight for the lake that 
 was touched into a treacherously gleaming 
 smile by the quick fall of day into evening. 
 
 Young as I was, my first instinct was to fly 
 fiercely after her, seize her defiant little body in 
 my sturdy boy-arms, and make her turn back 
 to the house. But even as I struggled for best 
 inspiration, the name she had called me came 
 to me with a fresher and deeper smart. She 
 had chosen the meanest of qualities known to 
 man cowardice. Now she should see that
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 59 
 
 I did not care if she had real reason to think me 
 one. This because I felt her seeming daring to 
 be a pose. I was positive that she would never 
 really venture on the thin sheeting of ice. 
 
 While I reasoned thus bitterly with fiercely 
 conflicting thoughts, Evelina sped on and on. 
 I shall never forget the flash of her little lithe 
 body, nor the moan of the wind through the 
 big naked-limbed maples above me, nor the 
 shrill anguished cry of a bird that dropped sud- 
 denly from some place out of the sky to beat 
 its warning wings for a moment directly over 
 Evelina 's beautiful head ; then, as unexpectedly 
 as its coming, its flying upward and disappear- 
 ing. 
 
 At the bird's cry of seeming warning, I lost 
 all feeling but intense alarm concerning Eve- 
 lina, and, vaulting the stone wall, I rushed 
 quickly in the direction of the silent little figure, 
 now stooping over her skate-buckles. But my 
 cowardly delay of several moments cost untold 
 agony. All my protests, my hurried pleading,
 
 60 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 made as I ran, fell on unheeding ears. Before 
 I could gain her side, Evelina arose, turned her 
 back full upon me and shot out on the gleaming 
 sheet that cracked and opened to gurgling ex- 
 ultation even at the first touch of her light 
 form. The next instant she threw out two 
 white-cloaked arms toward the darkening sky. 
 
 "Oh," she shrieked, "save me, Ory! Save 
 me! I'm drowning dear!" 
 
 There was no board, no rope, no possible 
 branch tender enough for a mere lad to wrench 
 loose. I could not swim. There was but one 
 course. With an agonized cry that tried so 
 vainly to bear courage, I called out to her: 
 "Wait just an instant. Beat the water with 
 your hands and feet, if you can't catch the ice! 
 Oh, Evy, please, please wait." 
 
 I turned and sped toward the house with feet 
 that scarcely touched the ground. I seemed to 
 reach it almost instantly, and, grasping the 
 knocker, I hammered insanely against its sting- 
 ing copper striking-plate.
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 61 
 
 It was not long before the father and the 
 butler were on hand and understood my panting 
 explanation. But the ice was too thin to bear 
 the slightest weight, and a rope and boat had 
 to be unhoused! There was no difficulty in 
 finding the one dark spot, from which gleeful 
 little cracks ran out in irresponsive abandon. 
 In the first dive, too, the strong house-boy 
 found and brought up gently the tiny wilted 
 flower; but even the distracted father, never 
 breathing a word, never raising his eyes from 
 the water, knew the instant she was placed in 
 his arms that it was over. There had been no 
 struggle. It was not the grasp of the freezing 
 lake water, but the purple bruise on the very 
 white forehead, made by contact with the ice, 
 that had mercifully put an end. It was the 
 glimpse of that heavy dark spot, so horrible in 
 its contrast with the white and gold surround- 
 ings of Evelina's cheeks and hair, that filled 
 my soul with terror, and made me turn and rush 
 frantically away.
 
 62 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Ed, one hears often of the deep anguish of 
 maturer years of the levity and non-realiza- 
 tion of childish days. But again I say, what 
 you know for yourself, there is nothing like the 
 bitter pain of a heart-sick child. He knows 
 little reasoning, little acceptance. A black 
 shadow, intangible, seems to envelop him in its 
 choking grasp. All that night I battled, with 
 poor Marie to be permitted to go back to the 
 big white house among the trees ; but when, in 
 very desperation, she gave her consent, and 
 started to lead me out into the night, I tore my- 
 self away from her hold, and, rushing to my 
 room, buried my face deep in my pillows. All 
 that night I called myself a murderer for de- 
 laying an instant, and time and again sprang 
 from my bed to part the curtains and strain my 
 sight through the distance toward the flicker 
 of light in an upper window. There, I knew, 
 gifted physicians were working over a little 
 form, against all hope, that they might at least 
 give the slight comfort to the frantic parents of
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 63 
 
 everything known to science having been done. 
 In the early morning the light went out, and the 
 big trees bent their heavily iced branches in 
 solemn protection over the house of grief. 
 
 It was nine o'clock before I could make my- 
 self go. Then, refusing poor tired Marie's 
 company, I buttoned on my heavy coat, seized 
 fur cap and gloves from the hall-table to slip on 
 as I went; and, once outside, beyond the reach 
 of my delicate mother's hearing, I ran, sobbing 
 and panting every inch of the way, to my little 
 friend's home. Arriving, I never thought of 
 knocking, but throwing my whole weight 
 against the huge door pushed my way into the 
 big hall, and straight into the arms of Evelina's 
 weeping nurse. 
 
 When we had cried and sobbed ourselves al- 
 most into a fever I grew gradually oddly calm. 
 I lifted my head to look about me, and noticed 
 that the broad, luxuriantly furnished hall and 
 pleasant living-room adjoining were already 
 full of groups of strangers, talking in low tones
 
 64 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 serious men and beautiful, soberly dressed, 
 weeping women carrying bunches of white 
 and very pale pink flowers, nestling in maiden- 
 hair ferns, and arranging them tastefully here 
 and there. I noticed also, with much surprise, 
 that my father was a conspicuous figure in the 
 last group of men at the end of the hall. I had 
 seen him so seldom out of his library that it 
 was almost incredible to me that he could join 
 a real grief or need foreign to his own life 
 and especially over the loss of a little girl. I 
 observed, however, for the first time, and with 
 a pride quite irrelevant with the occasion, how 
 big and strong and stately he stood among the 
 others; how men stopped speaking to listen 
 deferentially when he uttered a sentence and, 
 then, with a little irrelevant heart-throb, I 
 noted how strangely white for his years his 
 thick hair waved about his temples. It was to 
 my father, too, I noticed, that even poor Sena- 
 tor Buckingham turned constantly for a word 
 of possible support. Once I thought my par-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 65 
 
 ent's glance rested, surprised, upon me, ques- 
 tioning the meaning of my presence and appar- 
 ent grief; and alarmed at the thought that I 
 might be sent quickly home, I slipped away 
 from the nurse and into the big parlor, where 
 the beautiful weeping ladies moved softly to 
 and fro. 
 
 The culmination of the overwhelming fra- 
 grance of the flowers, the pretty shadowy lights 
 and the sweetness and gentleness of every face 
 about me made me lose complete control again. 
 I dropped on a deep-armed couch, and writhed 
 in a heavy rush of sobs and delirious words: 
 I was a murderer, I declared. If I had only 
 jumped the fence the instant I saw Evelina 
 come out of the front door, I could have saved 
 her! I tried to stop her, I explained, but she 
 wouldn't mind; then I waited because she had 
 called me a coward. That was when she was 
 lost! And now I could never, never live 
 without her, knowing I had killed her my- 
 self!
 
 66 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 At those wild, strangely matured cries, there 
 was an instant of hush ; then the ladies dropped 
 their flowers and gathered quickly about me, 
 one of the youngest taking me into the folds of 
 her soft-bosomed dress, kissing me and telling 
 me that I was no murderer, but the bravest, 
 dearest little man in all the world to run for 
 help as I did. Moved by these comforting de- 
 nials I gradually ceased my hysterical actions ; 
 and with that new feeling of dignity grown 
 within me of late, I slipped from the young 
 lady's lap to a chair near by. Then a big grief- 
 shaken man entered the room, and all voices 
 hushed. 
 
 He came directly toward me, and lifting a 
 face that seemed almost hallowed, looked 
 straight into mine with eyes so sad that I see 
 them yet in storm-scenes, just when the ele- 
 ments are moaning themselves back into forced 
 quiet, beneath still-leaden skies. "You are my 
 little girl's best friend," he said simply. "We 
 shall not forget how you rushed to tell us. Will
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 67 
 
 you come with me now a moment to see her 
 mother and little Evelina!'* 
 
 I arose and took his offered hand without a 
 word. My fingers trembled in his lifeless 
 grasp. My knees seemed confused in their 
 service, but I felt that I must see Evelina, must 
 call her back to play with me. It couldn't be 
 true that she was gone forever this little girl 
 surrounded with love and servants and luxury 
 and protection! Surely she would forgive me 
 and answer my cry this time. She had already 
 forgiven me ; for had not the last word she had 
 called to me on earth been a tender appellation 
 dear. I felt I must hear it again from her, 
 and whisper back a stronger one in turn. I 
 must ! I seized a firmer hold on the cold hand. 
 4 'Hurry, hurry!" I said. "I must talk with 
 her once more !" I passed my father just then, 
 and even in my confusion, I noticed that he 
 turned and looked ajt me directly, with eyes not 
 annoyed or reproachful, but this time unmis- 
 takably full of surprise and a deep grief.
 
 68 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 As we went up the broad stairs and across a 
 dully gleaming stretch of hall, the silent figure 
 at my side stopped at a certain door and placed 
 his hands on my shoulders as though he were 
 dealing with matured years. "We must be 
 very brave for her sake little Evelina's 
 mother, Ory. You must tell her you'll come 
 often, for she loves you already. Our little girl 
 always called you her very best friend. I " 
 
 He stopped, leaning his head for a time 
 against his arm ; then he looked up with a fresh 
 effort. "Come," he said. "We will do our 
 best!" 
 
 There was nothing to suggest bitter woe as 
 the door of a beautiful room opened to the 
 Senator's knock. A fire burned on the hearth 
 between brilliantly polished andirons ; a canary 
 poured forth a song of some distant land, too 
 wondrous for human conception. Koses in 
 opal vases shed their delicate fragrance about 
 us ; and, in the midst of the sweetness, a woman 
 sat near a window with a look upon her face
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 69 
 
 such as I had once seen in a great masterpiece 
 of the Virgin Mary, when Marie had taken me 
 to morning prayers. It was a blending of utter 
 anguish with complete self-surrender. 
 
 As I came slowly toward her, Evelina's 
 mother held out her arms with a tender smile, 
 but her eyes burned hungry with a feverish 
 light. "Ory," she said with the simplicity of 
 deepest feeling, "Ory, our little girl liked you 
 best of all her playmates. You you must 
 come to see us often now." Her voice broke 
 and she bowed her head on the window-sill. 
 Evelina's father left me quickly to bend over 
 her with every possible word of comfort and 
 soothing caresses. When he remembered me 
 finally, he drew his wife up tenderly and mo- 
 tioned me to come. "Let us see the little 
 babe," he urged. "She will be glad, I think, 
 that we are near." 
 
 I drew back in foolish alarm. This was the 
 first time I had ever been asked to look upon 
 death. The most I knew of it was when, while
 
 70 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 sitting upon the high stone pillars of our front 
 gate, with faithful Marie at my side, I had 
 watched the long funeral processions move 
 slowly down our stately avenue. 
 
 Mr. Buckingham understood my distress at 
 once. He moved to my side and lifted my face 
 an instant in his big hands. * * She is just sleep- 
 ing a little sooner than the rest of us, Ory," he 
 said. "She is very happy and beautiful. 
 You will be glad that you have seen her; and 
 to feel with us that God called her because He 
 needs her." 
 
 It was not until years afterwards that I fully 
 understood the bigness of soul that it took to 
 speak thus resignedly and with a heart of un- 
 broken faith in a moment of such tremendous 
 loss. 
 
 After these few words, however, my heart 
 became at once without trouble. If I had any 
 defined wish at all it was that I, too, could try 
 this majestic sleep at once that all whom I
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 71 
 
 loved best could. Life seemed indeed only a 
 wayside path to a glorious land beyond. 
 
 There were pink-shaded candles in Evelina's 
 room. Their soft light caressed in flickering 
 shadows the gold and pink and white of her 
 pretty apartment. On her own dainty bed Eve- 
 lina lay sleeping, covered with a warm pink silk 
 comforter. One arm, visible its full length 
 through a sleeve of thinnest white, gathered 
 with pink ribbon bows at her rounded elbow, 
 was thrown easily above her head. The other 
 lay on her chest. Her yellow curls floated out 
 in ripple after ripple over her pillow in a ver- 
 itable cloud of glory. Upon her cheeks was the 
 rose pink of a natural sleep. I felt indeed that 
 my little girl friend was not dead, but enjoying 
 a lovely dream. 
 
 We stood for a time at her side in deepest 
 peace; then with the sudden fury with which 
 thoughts always laid hold of my impetuous na- 
 ture, I remembered again my delay of a few in-
 
 72 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 slants the evening before. At once I became 
 an unreasoning spirit, tossing myself on the bed 
 at Evelina's side, calling myself her murderer, 
 begging her to forgive me for my wicked, 
 wicked spirit. 
 
 Again Evelina's parents showed themselves 
 persons of big souls. Mr. Buckingham would 
 hear nothing of it. He lifted me kindly and 
 firmly and assured me earnestly that it would 
 have happened no matter if there had been a 
 warning several moments earlier. It had hap- 
 pened when she first struck the ice going down. 
 He reasoned, for my sake, in the calm tones of 
 a person who had dropped in merely to express 
 a word of sympathy, though his eyes, even to 
 my boy-mind, showed clearly a life-broken 
 heart. "That is the hardest part of these 
 good-byes, Ory," he spoke to me, again, as 
 though I were a grown-up man and could fully 
 comprehend. "We always wish we had done 
 much more for our departed loved ones. We 
 forget, for a while, the many, many loving acts
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 73 
 
 we have shown them, and blame ourselves far 
 too much. Thank God we have tried to make 
 little Evelina's life a happy time and a good 
 one. And you have been a splendid friend. 
 So do not grieve about this or that what she 
 never meant, and what you can not help." 
 
 While he talked his hand rested, according to 
 a custom of his, on my shoulder. Mrs. Buck- 
 ingham watched us a moment with dry eyes, 
 then unclasped the chain about Evelina's 
 throat, and slipped the locket into my hand. 
 "You gave it to her, Ory," she whispered. 
 ' ' She always loved it. Keep the locket. I will 
 put your chain back on her. Always try to be 
 good, Ory; worthy to keep our little Evelina's 
 locket in your care. ' ' 
 
 "I will," I pledged so solemnly and in such 
 an odd voice that I wondered if it were really 
 myself, or if I had grown suddenly into a man. 
 "I will never, never love any one else in all my 
 life; and I will always be good, so that the 
 locket can be mine ! ' '
 
 74 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Oh, Ed, I would to God that I had kept this 
 vow, as I surely meant to keep it then ! I am 
 positive I would have observed the latter part 
 of my promise, at least, had I known how to 
 enter into confidences with my parents; or if 
 my father had given me the frank natural ex- 
 planation concerning the inestimable value of 
 ever-careful living, which it was my right to 
 learn from him, and not, as I have said before, 
 from an indifferent misleading world. As it 
 was, there came the time when honesty would 
 not permit me to retain the little locket. I had 
 to send it back. ORISON.
 
 LETTER X 
 
 Second Report from Frank Orison Hol- 
 land to Aliston. Concerning the Little 
 Blue-Homer Girl. In Which He Attempts 
 to Assume Heavy Responsibilities for His 
 Age. November First; at Ellison Grove. 
 
 DEAR ED: 
 
 The time covered from the loss of Evelina 
 to my entrance into college, at the age of 
 eighteen, marks, with one exception, the most 
 wholesome period of my life. Still believing 
 much in Marie's training that woman's one ob- 
 ject was to make the male heart miserable, I 
 spurned their company as a galloping colt 
 would pass, unheeded, the gambols of a little 
 kitten. Athletics and school-work became my 
 one interest; and, under the wholesome effect 
 of my outdoor life, the remorse that had 
 gnawed at my very soul at being too late to 
 
 75
 
 76 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 save Evelina became mercifully softened into 
 only an occasional regret. The memory of the 
 sweetness and justice of that brief little life, 
 for Evelina was always fair unless she truly 
 believed one in the wrong, supplied much of the 
 sentiment that the boy heart demands in one 
 shape or another at this particular age. 
 
 There was also a special privilege granted 
 me that helped in untold measure during that 
 period of unutterable restlessness which a nor- 
 mal, quickly growing boy is bound to endure 
 the Buckingham home was thrown open to me 
 with a freedom much greater than my own. I 
 was made to feel that I, and as many class- 
 mates as I chose to bring, were most welcome 
 there day or night I was selfish with this 
 privilege as a rule. I preferred to go alone; 
 when, with the gracious presence of Mrs. Buck- 
 ingham at her sewing near us, the Senator and 
 I would play at chess, or he would live over his 
 boyhood enthusiasm with me in animated dis- 
 cussions concerning athletics, or civic reforms.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 77 
 
 Often with a chart laid out before us on the 
 wide center-table we approved some big local 
 move; or deplored this or that foreign condi- 
 tion. It was here, I am positive, that I received 
 my first inspirations to follow the legal profes- 
 sion. It was here also I dared my first cigar, at 
 sixteen, under Mrs. Buckingham's gentle pro- 
 test; and the Senator's laughing advice: "Go 
 it easy, Ory ! One after meals, and one for so- 
 ciability just now and then. That's a rule I 
 keep up, even now. One needs all the calmly 
 balanced nerves he can get in this hustling 
 world; and it's not the smallest job to find or 
 keep them!" 
 
 All that time I was growing with such rapid 
 strokes that it is a wonder I had any ambitions 
 left; but I had inherited my father's strong 
 physique, and possessed enough of self-con- 
 trol so that I chafed less than the average boy 
 under the diet-restrictions of athletic life. In 
 consequence I was first in the field-games; and 
 on account of my scorn of the late hours and
 
 78 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 average customs of social life, I kept a clear 
 brain and became leader in my class-work. 
 During that time I received many fawning, 
 hero-worship pages from young maidens just 
 out of pinafores, whose mothers did not even 
 realize they knew how to write a note ! But as 
 I made little or no response, I was slowly given 
 up by the fairer sex as a conceited, rude, over- 
 grown bore. In spite of their caustic verdict, 
 however, ambition and energy leaped through 
 my physical life with every breath, pushing out 
 and broadening my chest, demanding room 
 room! At eighteen, I graduated with first 
 rank, and with many so-called " honors" won 
 in the athletic field. 
 
 Ed, I would not take you so intimately into 
 questions of my life, aside from those pertain- 
 ing directly to woman, only you must know, to 
 judge correctly, just what kind of background 
 I had for meeting what came to me in the 
 quickly following years. Honesty also com- 
 pels me to show the other side what little ex-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 79 
 
 cuse I really had for falling at all, considering 
 my finely grounded heredity. These parts I 
 shall make as brief as possible. 
 
 I shall never forget the slightest detail of 
 that graduation-day. I felt no idle pride, but 
 just a firm determination to go on and on to 
 something worth while. As I looked from the 
 outdoor platform over the banks of fern and 
 palms and June-roses toward the interested au- 
 dience, I thought of life, for a space, as a splen- 
 did privilege indeed, with no sadness or shadow 
 save those of tender memories. I remember 
 starting foolishly as I noticed that my father 
 was one of the distinguished guests chosen for 
 the platform-embellishment. It seemed odd 
 that, in his retired life, any one could discover 
 how much they needed him, or induce him to 
 come from the exclusiveness of his book-walled 
 study. I was puzzled and concerned for the 
 moment, by the glow on his usually pallid 
 cheeks and the baffling brilliance of his eyes. 
 Then I realized vaguely that it was pride of me ;
 
 80 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 and I wondered bitterly why he had never 
 spoken a word of this during my years of hon- 
 est effort. 
 
 While I wrestled with the question, trying 
 not to seem unreasonably critical, my glance 
 roved over the audience and rested upon Sena- 
 tor and Mrs. Buckingham. Close by them, 
 with dark eyes strained to the uttermost, so as 
 not to lose one movement of mine, sat my faith- 
 ful Marie, still retained in our family, and, 
 through the justice of my father, now the owner 
 of a little cottage at the foot of our rose-garden. 
 Neither she nor I realized the part that she had 
 played in my conception of womankind, nor the 
 great rebound that would occur when I tried 
 this matter out fully for myself. But again 
 there came to me a breath of bitterness a 
 struggle against acceptance. Two forms were 
 not there. Why couldn't my beautiful mother, 
 to whom I owed my very life, be present to wit- 
 ness my first real conquest? And why not, too, 
 the little girl whose cloud of yellow curls, were
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 81 
 
 she living, would now be gathered demurely 
 into the clasp of a black velvet bow ; and whose 
 brilliant smile would help me throw the expres- 
 sion of my very soul into what I had to say? 
 At that very instant I made a half-ashamed, re- 
 bellious, inevitable resolve : I would find out for 
 myself whether that was really the meaning of 
 life doing without what one wanted most 
 smiling on and on no matter what, no matter 
 what. Surely there was a happier way, a saner 
 way than this! The great philosophers had 
 tried for it; but I would make it my one big 
 aim in life to find it! 
 
 As soon as the exercises were over, I broke 
 loose from the several heartfelt congratula- 
 tions, and the many gushings and gurglings 
 and too-lingering handclasps of idle-brained 
 women, and followed my real longing to be at 
 my mother's side. There, I entered the dark- 
 ened room as gently as my huge growth would 
 permit; and, approaching her couch, I groped 
 my hand slowly across the silken cushions that
 
 82 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 lay in pyramids about her until I touched her 
 cool soft cheek. Then I bent and kissed her on 
 her lips. "Motherkin, sweet little motherkin," 
 I whispered, "you need not be ashamed of your 
 boy. I have won. There was not one thing in 
 my course in which I did not hold first place 
 to-day. " 
 
 My mother did not speak. She lifted an arm 
 that startled me with its ethereal beauty and 
 pressed my face for a long time against her 
 white cheek. Later she bade me kneel beside 
 her, so she could see my eyes better, and tell 
 her just how the whole day went. When I 
 spoke to her of my intention to enter the legal 
 profession her face mirrored the softer radi- 
 ance of the evening sky on water. "Yes," she 
 answered with an odd eagerness, ' ' yes, the pres- 
 ent needs you! Keep up with that. It is all 
 that any man can safely do. ' ' As she spoke in 
 hurried gasps, but with a beautiful smile of 
 acceptance on her lips, I knew with a fearful 
 agony of heart that her tiny feet were pain-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 83 
 
 lessly but surely pressing a portal that mine 
 might never reach. "Dear boy," she finished 
 at last, "dear laddie, I thank God for the day 
 you were born ! The world will, too. You will 
 always be a man to be proud of. ' ' 
 
 Then the nurse, not daring to command my 
 age, beckoned softly and with another kiss we 
 parted. 
 
 That evening as I sat alone smoking and 
 reading in my den, our butler appeared at the 
 door. "Your father would speak with you, sir, 
 in his study, ' ' he announced. 
 
 As I arose and beat out the ashes from my 
 favorite pipe, I was formulating an answer; 
 for I knew what the interview concerned, and 
 I took all the time decently possible to prepare. 
 I had never recovered from my childhood dread 
 of the dark, polished doors that let one through 
 to the rows of massive, brain-consuming books, 
 holding within their unrelenting demands my 
 stately parent, prematurely gray, silent, deep- 
 thinking, in his big, heavily cushioned chair.
 
 84 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 I knew I must meet the call, just when it came, 
 however; for my father was decisive, keen, 
 eager always to discuss one point before a mul- 
 titude of others arrived. He was sending for 
 me now, after granting the boon of a few hours 
 only, to discuss my life-work! 
 
 When I entered his study, finally, I bowed 
 with the feeling of reverence which even an 
 indiscriminating mind always feels in the 
 presence of a truly great man. Again I noted 
 with quick pride how very distinguished was 
 my father's appearance a form several inches 
 above the average; broad, though lately, 
 slightly drooping shoulders, fine, evenly chis- 
 eled features; thick silvery-gray hair, turning 
 to snow white about the face, and forming a no- 
 ticeably handsome setting for the intensely 
 dark, expressive eyes. 
 
 Before I could speak, he crossed over from 
 the mantel, against which he had been leaning 
 lightly in waiting, and held out a hand. "You 
 have distinguished yourself to-day, my son,"
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 85 
 
 he said with a touch of what might have been 
 interpreted as warmness. "I congratulate 
 you and ourselves." 
 
 I took the extended hand and wished most 
 sincerely that I could return something more 
 cordial than conventional thanks for his inter- 
 est; but there seemed to be a lid tied down on 
 every true sentiment but respect, whenever I 
 came into the presence of this man. It had been 
 buckled by force in my childhood through Ma- 
 rie's well-grounded warnings to keep away 
 from the big study-door, through which great 
 men constantly came and went. And this re- 
 straint upon my comradeship with my parent 
 had grown so strong through the years, that, 
 now, in my full vigor and command, I was ut- 
 terly unable to break it. With my father also 
 God pity him was the evident realization 
 of the stone wall. He had known little of my 
 earlier days and possibilities in his engrossed 
 life, save that I attended educational institu- 
 tions regularly, and that ample money was al-
 
 86 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 ways provided for my raising. Now he clearly 
 realized with me that it was too late to begin 
 with the A B C of comradeship. 
 
 I felt a real pity for him that evening and 
 for myself, standing his perfect likeness phys- 
 ically, but nowise temperamentally as a par- 
 ent, able to decipher the most illegible hiero- 
 glyphics masterfully, but straining for just the 
 right words of interest to use with his own son. 
 
 "You would better travel this summer for a 
 rest, ' ' he told me. * ' I have directed my banker 
 to put $3,000 to your credit for the purpose. I 
 
 desire you to enter D College in the fall. 
 
 My reason for preferring this place is that the 
 college owns one professor Linkerstein who 
 understands and imparts the real meaning of 
 education. He does not regard a college course 
 as a means for gaming prestige ; or a possibility 
 for attaining cunning in finance, so that the 
 graduate's wife may possibly own a bonnet or 
 carriage above the ordinary man's. He values 
 education for the beauty and the life-worth that
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 87 
 
 can be gotten out of the truths gleaned in the 
 learning. I think you follow me. It is my 
 hope that you still continue in honor and my 
 belief that in mingling with men and women in 
 the future you will be utterly unable to play a 
 part in anything coarse or mean. My one per- 
 sonal desire is that you will be able to take up 
 my work where I must drop it. It is a deep 
 study, requiring generations of perfection; but 
 sometimes I think I am not just well, and that 
 my days are already numbered. So be it, if 
 God wills. It is easier when I realize that you 
 will go on!" 
 
 A feeling of utmost misery seized me that I 
 could not give my father an affirmative answer, 
 but even the sight of the huge, heavy-lidded 
 books filled me with a frenzy of suffocation ; and 
 honesty was the one big thing I had drawn from 
 my father at my birth. 
 
 "I would give anything possible to please 
 you," I replied, "but that is out of my power. 
 I must deal with questions of the present.
 
 88 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 They are howling for solution. I can not use 
 so short a space as life in delving in the past. ' ' 
 
 My father turned frightfully pallid. He 
 took a step backward, holding up an arm as 
 though averting some blow. "You mean you 
 will not?" 
 
 "I mean I can not conscientiously, nor by 
 fitness of temperament." 
 
 There was no reproof. I fancied the dark 
 eyes grew brighter. The lips set into lines of 
 difficult suppression. "Then I must live until 
 I get the work to a certain point of solution," 
 he laughed grimly after a moment of silence. 
 "If my only son won't help, I must do it 
 alone, alone!" 
 
 The trip to Europe was postponed. Perhaps 
 because it seemed such an easy attainment, that 
 it awakened in me no great degree of enthusi- 
 asm. But more, I think, on account of the evi- 
 dent failing of my beautiful mother, and the 
 utter pathos of my father's keen disappoint-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 89 
 
 ment in my failure to continue directly in his 
 chosen work. I longed to fit some way into his 
 big scheme, but each passing day only seemed 
 to emphasize our utter incompatibility of tem- 
 perament. With my mother it was different. 
 She could not stand any extended course of ac- 
 tion, no matter how pleasant ; but many times I 
 was permitted to creep into her room for a 
 time, to lay before her the rare woods flowers 
 that I had gleaned in my frequent solitary 
 horseback-rides, or to read to her in lowest 
 tones the poems she best loved. In the hours 
 between I became well acquainted with our 
 splendidly chosen library; or when in need of 
 extra oxygen-supply, I visited the athletic field 
 that a summer college course made interesting. 
 During this time I firmly eschewed women to 
 an egotistical degree. But where is the fool 
 that insists that he has discovered the means of 
 immunity from the approaches of the other sex ! 
 No such possibility exists at any age in man, 
 and the promulgator of such falsehoods should
 
 90 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 be instantly hanged, as presenting too optimistic 
 a view, at times, for worldly comprehension. 
 
 It was the afternoon of a day in middle Sep- 
 tember. In a week I was to enter the college 
 that was chosen by my father. I was taking 
 a long ride over our splendid hillsides, in prep- 
 aration for the arduous labors later. By a 
 certain wild brook I had come across a delicate 
 lavender flower, unknown entirely to myself. 
 My whole attention was devoted to its preser- 
 vation for my little mother when, suddenly, I 
 became aware of another human presence close 
 by my side. It was that of a woman, not won- 
 drously beautiful or full of mystery, but whole- 
 some, well-formed, and good to look upon. 
 She rode a bay horse, a little larger, and even 
 more spirited than my own. 
 
 "It is certainly going to storm soon," 'she 
 addressed me as though we were old-time ac- 
 quaintances. "Do you think we shall reach the 
 valley before it breaks'?" 
 
 For the first time I became cognizant of at-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 91 
 
 mospherical surroundings. Heavy black clouds 
 were hurling themselves from the intensely 
 dark horizon to blue midway in defiant haste. 
 Soon there would be no vestige of sun left. "I 
 am afraid not; it is a good three miles, " I an- 
 swered, accepting the acquaintance in as mat- 
 ter-of-fact a way as it was given. 
 
 "Let us try, at least," the girl said coolly. I 
 noticed she rode her saddle finely, and realized 
 that she could easily keep pace with my fastest 
 efforts. "There is a little cottage, right at the 
 edge of that distant woods, where one of 
 father's help used to live. It is vacant now. 
 But perhaps we can make it, and beat in the 
 door. It will give us a temporary refuge." 
 
 The thought was grateful enough to both of 
 us. Neither of us feared the rage of elements, 
 but an escape from drenching clothes, upon an 
 unusually raw-winded day was comforting. 
 We bent forward sturdily in our saddles and 
 sent our horses into quickest motion. Only 
 once did the girl speak:
 
 92 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 "You are Orison Holland. I have heard 
 much about your father and beautiful 
 mother. ' ' 
 
 I nodded. "And you are Miss Vickery. I 
 have also heard that your father's tenantry ex- 
 tends from the mountain's edge to the town 
 proper. ' ' 
 
 "Yes. Father saw the drift of values west- 
 ward, in time, and, lately, has bought exten- 
 sively in that direction. That accounts for the 
 vacating of several cottages at the mountain's 
 edge. Oh it is here! Hurry, hurry!" 
 
 The latter exclamation was caused by a sharp 
 flash of lightning, followed by several bom- 
 bastic splotches of rain, and that abject dipping 
 of foliage earthward that acknowledges the 
 presence of a master storm-power. 
 
 We lost no time for introductory phrases 
 now. Our one object was to reach the edge of 
 the woods, where the dull rise of a little brown 
 roof offered an only hope of succor. The 
 horses, too, understood, and picked their way
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 93 
 
 across stones and through low foliage with most 
 skillful attention. 
 
 "Oh, we have made it just in time!'* the 
 girl exclaimed triumphantly a few moments 
 later. We were standing on the worn little 
 porch, our horses first safely stalled in the barn. 
 The wind whipped her hair and clothes into 
 greatest disorder. But her eyes were brave, 
 and made pretty with excitement. Her color 
 ran high. She was a goodly sight. 
 
 I beat upon the rusty-hinged door, and 
 loathly at first, later with more friendliness, at 
 the assured touch of my shoulder, it yielded 
 clumsily. A big clap of thunder was followed 
 by a merciless sweep of wind that sent all light 
 interior articles flying wildly. At once I 
 propped the lopping door to with a heavy oak- 
 table, and began looking about for temporary 
 possibilities for kindling a fire on the immense 
 hearth. 
 
 My newly made companion swept the situa- 
 tion comprehensively. "Isn't it fortunate,"
 
 94 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 she said, "that our former tenant's wife had a 
 case of nerves, whatever that might be ! When 
 she vacated this cottage she insisted she would 
 never survive life's waves unless she left all 
 familiar objects behind her! Why there is 
 enough to be decently comfortable for a num- 
 ber of hours, if need be. See the wood- 
 box for instance half -full! Let's kindle a fire 
 at once. Then the lightning can flash as it 
 will. I have always thought that when flame 
 meets flame the circumstances are not half so 
 lugubrious ! I used to make poor Daddy place 
 a candle at my very bedside during storms in 
 my childhood days. Then I felt perfectly 
 safe." 
 
 I was struck at once with the fanciful turn of 
 this young girl's mind, and consequently deter- 
 mined to please. I sank immediately on the 
 dusty hearthstone and, drawing my knife from 
 my pocket, whittled diligently at a bit of wood 
 I found within reach. There was plenty of 
 loose paper; the wall-covering itself offering
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 95 
 
 a temptation in its floating strips. I always 
 carried a good supply of matches. Soon a 
 gloriously friendly fire roared up the chimney, 
 in spite of the defying elements. 
 
 "Oh, isn't it splendid to know that the horses 
 are safely housed outside; and that there is 
 plenty of fuel in the box!" my girl-friend ex- 
 claimed luxuriantly as she stretched her hands 
 before the fire and watched me playing havoc 
 with the gloom. "As soon as we get good and 
 warm, let's explore. There's one more room 
 a sort of storehouse. Suppose we see what 
 manner of persons they were by what they have 
 left behind." 
 
 I fell at once into her mood, and after warm- 
 ing ourselves gratefully, we left what had 
 served as living-dining-sleeping room com- 
 bined for what was evidently devoted entirely 
 to storing purposes. Two old-fashioned brass- 
 tack-decorated trunks occupied this room, in op- 
 posite corners. Miss Vickery lifted the lid of 
 one eagerly and drew out a blue gingham-
 
 96 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 dress. "The secret of happy marriages," she 
 declaimed laughingly. "A woman who is will- 
 ing to sacrifice, and do without glad-rags, until 
 her husband is able to buy them for her easily. 
 That is the reason why I would advocate early 
 marriage very early marriage, before a 
 woman has gone out into the world, mingled 
 with the velvet and plush and plumes, and, 
 thereby, become an extortionist!" 
 
 "But surely you will agree with me that the 
 primitive days are over," I said. "The days 
 when our mothers were content to wield the 
 loom, have one best dress every four years, and 
 yield their whole existence to the raising of a 
 family of ten or twelve." 
 
 "No, I don't agree," my companion ex- 
 claimed turning upon me excitedly. "It is not 
 the usual, I confess; but there are a few rare 
 strong souls that understand every note of the 
 primitive!" She held as she spoke a pair of 
 blue-jean overalls and flannel shirt, wrested 
 from the middle of the trunk. "It is content-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 97 
 
 ment that we lack hugely these days along 
 with the willingness to sacrifice. I believe this 
 very element drives countless young men and 
 women out into life to go astray. For, again, 
 in early marriage is a chance for highest moral 
 growth. But I blame my own sex almost en- 
 tirely. I believe that if the woman would sac- 
 rifice, the man would be gladly willing, and 
 have far less taste for the world's vagaries. I 
 love to think of the days of our great-grand- 
 mothers, when the ax swung as a frequent 
 sound in the woods; when the homes were of 
 crudest timber; and the wind howled in through 
 the plaster; and the snow drifted over attic- 
 beds; and candles beamed early in the cabins, 
 while good dames cooked their solid meals ; and 
 real men fed stock, and drew water by means of 
 creaking chains, caked solid in ice." 
 
 I was fascinated with the drift of her talk. 
 Not that it was so new, but it was clearly not 
 a pose ; it was a part of her very being. As I 
 listened to her she became the embodiment of it
 
 98 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 all running brooks; sweet ferns and flower; 
 tangles of undergrowth; almost impenetrable 
 stretches of distances and shadow; high moun- 
 tain-crags, and then melting back to me from 
 the soft pastel colorings over the looming cliffs 
 into just herself again a sweet, strong-framed, 
 animated woman. 
 
 " Then you believe in all the rest?" I laughed. 
 "The good country-squire who attains unto no 
 special education ; but, kind of heart, and wisely 
 analytical by nature, rises in the esteem of his 
 fellow-citizens, and having served a good and 
 lengthy life-term, leaves behind him a tolerable 
 income and a mightily numbered family as his 
 contribution to the world!" 
 
 She did not answer this ; for, womanlike, she 
 had gone suddenly exploring elsewhere. 
 "Oh," she cried, her eyes filled with a light of 
 the strictly practical housewife that has sud- 
 denly made a most valuable discovery, "look 
 what this cupboard contains. My, what a care- 
 less, shiftless wife to leave all this behind ! A
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 99 
 
 coffee-pot, almost new, a can of pulverized cof- 
 fee; a box of graham crackers oh, you must 
 open them. I cannot bear the strain, if we find 
 them moldy! And here is a can of condensed 
 milk, a jar of marmalade, and five whole lumps 
 of sugar a feast for a king! But one thing 
 lacks there is not a drop of water for the cof- 
 fee, and the storm must be a terrible one for 
 I can hear it now and then, and actually see the 
 flash of lightning even above the roar and 
 gleam of that glorious fire!" 
 
 I pulled my riding-coat collar high, drew my 
 cap very low and prepared to make the plunge. 
 1 'Men of primitive days,'* I declared, "men 
 who could rise at candle-light to feed stock and 
 draw water by means of ice-cased chains, surely 
 would not hesitate on account of a howl of the 
 elements. I shall not be found weak by com- 
 parison. I noticed a bucket on the table in the 
 other room. Storm or no storm, I shall fill it 
 to the brim!" 
 
 The girl made no protest. I liked that in
 
 100 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 her. She neither evinced nor encouraged fear. 
 I pictured her in my mind as a type of the 
 staunch women, who in the great Indian-slaugh- 
 ter crisis, covered her family with huge copper 
 kettles, and unflinchingly took her stand, to 
 parley with the enemy. 
 
 When I returned but a few moments later, 
 she had accomplished in that facile manner, 
 which some women own, a multitude of things. 
 A table, drawn near to the leaping flames, was 
 covered with a Japanese butterfly-bordered 
 cloth; the fire had been stirred into renewed 
 cheerfulness; two chairs were pulled close to 
 the table ; and an old lamp, about which a bit of 
 red crepe-paper was twisted, offered a sugges- 
 tion of "hominess" unparalleled. 
 
 "I am so glad I met you just in time. 
 Father will be, too. It seems so much safer 
 where two are together," she exclaimed with a 
 smile, thus deigning her one tribute to conven- 
 tion. "And now get dry by the fire, and I will 
 have our meal ready in a jiffy."
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 101 
 
 After our very early tea, enjoyable in every 
 detail, for my companion was so beautifully 
 wholesome and natural, and yet born of a won- 
 drously pleasing fanciful mind, she pushed back 
 her chair, and showed her true instincts as a 
 neat housekeeper. "I will forage about in the 
 trunks and see if there is not some provision for 
 dish-drying," she laughed. "I can not bear 
 to leave things out of order. Perhaps some 
 other storm-pressed mortals may find tempo- 
 rary shelter here." 
 
 I drew out my silver cigarette-case, and fell 
 to smoking with the greatest sense of "home 
 coziness" I had ever yet experienced, even dur- 
 ing my delightful hours at Senator Bucking- 
 ham's. The glad leap of the fire the click of 
 dishes, the sound of an efficient feminine-step 
 are there any details in life more hugely satis- 
 factory to a male heart ! only one, and the in- 
 nocent portrayal of that was soon to be my 
 unmaking. Suddenly Edith Vickery's foot- 
 steps stopped ; a trunk-lid snapped open, a space
 
 102 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 of silence followed, then came a little ejacu- 
 latory cry of dismay. 
 
 In keenest attention as I was, I sprang in- 
 stantly to my feet and entered the other room, 
 taking Edith quite unawares. In one hand she 
 held a motley assortment of footwear from the 
 tiniest absurdity of moccasin to the sturdy, 
 knee-patched stocking; in the other, infant's 
 garments tiny bootees, filmy dresses, mock- 
 eries to comfort in their long insistence ; a white- 
 embroidered cloak that would have been but a 
 whiff in case of real storm. ' ' Oh, ' ' she panted 
 unaware of any audience, "what a hard- 
 hearted wretch she must have been to leave 
 these dear treasures behind!" The next sec- 
 ond she had seen me and dropped them all deep 
 in the trunk with a little flush of annoyance. 
 
 I felt a sudden inexplicable but unconquer- 
 able yearning to be a part of these simple but 
 heart-filling conceptions. College glories ; busi- 
 ness opportunities, what my own family might 
 think all faded from my mind. I leaned sud-
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 103 
 
 denly toward the primitive alone. I, too, heard 
 now the swing of the strong ax-stroke in the 
 woods; I felt the exhilaration that comes only 
 from most arduous manual labor; I saw the 
 glimmer of the candle that my housewife, crav- 
 ing no other man's praise than mine, had set 
 in the window to guide my tired footsteps home. 
 I even dared to hear, in my eager impetuosity, 
 the glad welcoming cry of sturdy children 
 pink-cheeked girls that would help the mother 
 in her brave struggles; boys that would stand 
 at my side, skillful masters of nature. I smelt 
 delightedly the finely concocted supper that 
 simmered in waiting on the stove; I felt the 
 touch of tender, believing, unselfish hands. . . . 
 I could stand no more. 
 
 "Edith," I cried out, for I knew the first 
 name of this wealthy fanner's daughter well, 
 "let me be your primeval master! I, too, 
 above all other men of to-day, I am confident, 
 love the swinging stir of the forest-ax ; the stur- 
 diness of li ving ; the absence of all artificiality !
 
 104 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 A cabin with you as mistress to return to of 
 evenings! Surely that would be all any man's 
 heart could ask!" 
 
 But she drew away from my advancing steps 
 firmly. The light of the leaping fire in the ad- 
 joining room lit her face into Madonna glow. 
 ''No," she refused, "no! There is almost a 
 complete understanding with some one else a 
 farmer by birth." 
 
 This verdict would have settled it, perhaps; 
 though I felt much like a spirited and shame- 
 less young colt that recognizes that the full 
 range of the pasture-lot is his for the time 
 being. But a brilliant flash of lightning, fol- 
 lowed by a tree-crash and an ominously near 
 stroke of thunder lent me a temporary advan- 
 tage. The girl paled for the first time, and 
 when the wind, ever furious in its raging, beat 
 even the optimistic flame on the hearth into 
 sordid smoke-choking, she wilted involuntarily 
 against me submissive. 
 
 "Dear Storm-Protector," she said very low
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 105 
 
 in the enclosure of my arms, "I thought I had 
 found my ultimatum; but never was there a 
 man of such keen understanding of the true 
 meaning of what makes up the best in life.'* 
 
 "My sweet little Blue-Homer Girl," I cried, 
 kissing her hair, her pretty forehead, her red 
 full lips; "that is what I will ever call you. 
 You have the gentle dignity of those soft-toned 
 pigeon-birds; you have their big love of home 
 the spirit that will keep you willingly there, 
 or bring you quickly back, in spite of biggest 
 artificialities or false allurements. Oh, our 
 lives together will surely be the most peaceful 
 that this old world has ever known!" 
 
 I left Edith at her home-door as soon as the 
 clearing of the storm into splendid rarity of 
 atmosphere made it possible for us to leave our 
 little hallowed cottage-spot. I pleaded my in- 
 ability to lay our case before her parents that 
 evening from very excess of happiness, but 
 promised to be over early on the morrow.
 
 106 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 As I rode home in my saddle, my head bent 
 slightly low before the still-energetic wind, my 
 whole being pulsed and throbbed with the joy 
 and novelty of the situation. I forgot that my 
 heredity and training had included anything but 
 the primitive; I forgot my mere handful of 
 years. I even overlooked the cowardly part I 
 had played in helping myself to what was, un- 
 doubtedly, the possible property of another! I 
 heard only the invigorating stroke of the swing- 
 ing ax in the woods ; felt only the splendid ex- 
 hilaration of a life spent necessarily out of 
 doors. I found myself tugging mentally, with 
 exceeding pleasure, at the heavy iced chains of 
 the well-bucket. I heard myself stamping high- 
 booted snow-clogged foot-apparel lustily, and 
 then tossing open the heavy, crudely made 
 frame-door for a sight that would gladden any 
 man's eyes supper, emitting delightful odors, 
 from brass kettles, on a finely polished stove; 
 a table set in homely, but shining cloth, blue 
 dishes and cheery candles; and, best, far best
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 107 
 
 of all, a wholesome, pink-cheeked happy wife in 
 blue gingham and white-bibbed apron, coming 
 across the room to welcome me home for the 
 night. But, oh, that possibility of my future- 
 life I, raised alone and often utterly lonesome, 
 could never shut entirely out from my heart, not 
 even when decorum seemed to demand it! 
 she came not empty-handed ! For held close in 
 her left arm was a little white-clad squirming 
 bundle, and, somehow, I felt gladly that there 
 would be others and others and others each 
 as wholesome and simply reared and sturdy- 
 minded as the first ! My worth, too, in the little 
 village, as an honest, contented but unerring- 
 minded citizen would soon be felt. I would be 
 elected judge, or, at least, called the village- 
 squire. I would be a leader in the church ; and 
 it would be our children Edith's and mine 
 that were invariably chosen for the holiday 
 speeches, and the school-celebrations. Of 
 course they would be musical, and, one espe- 
 cially very, very fond of reading; another of
 
 108 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 art. There would never be any heartache for 
 my wife and me to endure on account of our 
 children's actions! Eaised in a simple, primi- 
 tive way, from the very nature of things they 
 could seek only the sturdy and worth-while. 
 And, oh, how my finger-tips tingled on the reins 
 when I thought of the pink-cheeked, brilliant- 
 eyed grandchildren that would dance out of 
 their sleighs holiday-times, to celebrate with 
 Edith and me. She would be snowy-haired 
 then, but with the embellishment of the dainty 
 lace cap, she would be even more beautiful than 
 in youth. I, with a conscience clear, and a 
 knowledge of a life that meant quite a bit to my 
 immediate loved ones, and my village, too, would 
 be a venerable sire, easy-moving, content, rich 
 in a wholesome old age ! 
 
 But on what! 
 
 I drew my horse in with a suddenness that 
 sent him rearing high, and might have proved 
 my finish, had I not been well-skilled in the art 
 of riding. While I controlled him, I was still
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 109 
 
 wrestling with the formidable thought. Even 
 the ax-swinging, child-raising, squire-esteemed 
 act would take some money, though conducted 
 on most primitive principles! 
 
 Having prepared myself, as yet, along no 
 special line, I must of a necessity go to my 
 father. But in spite of owning a vividly imag- 
 inative mind, I could not picture the scene. 
 
 "Father," I might say, after having gained 
 an audience in some miraculous way, "I am not 
 long eighteen, but I think I shall settle down 
 now and marry. I have chosen a girl of the 
 purely farmer-type, because my own tastes are 
 toward the elemental; and she is a strong be- 
 liever in this line. But even though I expect to 
 live in blue overalls in constant proximity to 
 the swinging ax, I shall probably need some 
 stated income. This is all the more important 
 as I realize that you would hardly care to have 
 me become a menial; and since Edith's and my 
 tastes might run to a family of ten or twelve, 
 it would be more comfortable to be assured of
 
 110 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 a monthly income, other than that which could 
 be gleaned from the disposing of kindling-wood 
 and the sale of strictly fresh eggs ! How much 
 would you be willing to insure I ' ' 
 
 The Master of Ancient Hieroglyphics would 
 not understand me in the least. I realized this 
 even in the first heat of my enthusiasm. He 
 would spurn me utterly I felt assured, did he 
 know the real truth that I had gleaned my joy 
 from the possible possession of another man; 
 for, as I said before, he was strictly honest. 
 And up to this time I supposed I had inherited 
 this one trait from him. And yet I had taken 
 advantage of an unusually fierce storm, and the 
 absence of the Other Party to land my plea. 
 
 I rode on disconsolate, my face hot with 
 shame, for over a mile, then I came back firmly 
 to the inevitable. I could appeal to my beauti- 
 ful mother, of course. To ask, was to gain in- 
 stantly with her. But to have any one else 
 share my love to agree to my marrying in a 
 field entirely foreign to my scholarly heredity
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 111 
 
 would her heart stand the strain! With the 
 exhilaration and philanthropically inclined op- 
 timism of youth, I could figure sanely enough 
 that it was time for the rebound in myself from 
 highest mentality to the strictly wholesome, 
 plain and practical, for the sake of future gener- 
 ations! But would she think this! Any 
 mother is slow to resign an only son to a vision- 
 ary cause. Her heart, too, was so weak that 
 I would not permit myself the experiment. 
 Then there was but one course left to see 
 Edith in the morning and ask her to wait a few 
 years to trust me to the tossings of the 
 world's elements, until I was of age in every 
 state, at least. At the end of that time I felt 
 assured I could go back readily to blue-jeans, 
 and all that the willing acceptance of blue-jeans 
 involved I 
 
 But the restless night that I passed was un- 
 necessary; and all my premature plans. By 
 eight the following morning our butler tapped 
 at the door, and delivered the message from
 
 112 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Edith's father that he would like to see me that 
 day even, when a convenient hour arrived. 
 
 I had no real conception of what the meeting 
 might mean; but I realized that it could rea- 
 sonably be a bitter denunciation of the advan- 
 tage that I had taken over another in storm- 
 surroundings. I felt, however, a grateful sense 
 of independence so far as my name was con- 
 cerned. However unjust I might have been, 
 I realized that the son of such parents as mine 
 and I, a youth, as yet, steadfast in habit, could, 
 in proposing, have offered only an indiscretion. 
 I prepared my toilet with unusual care, and at 
 ten o'clock in the morning, set forth on horse- 
 back toward Vickery's comfortable farmhouse. 
 
 Ed, it has always been my peculiar fortune 
 to meet, in matters of great moment, with men 
 of big understanding. My slightest fears of 
 stern rebuke were quickly dissipated when Vick- 
 ery, a big-framed, wholesome type of farmer, 
 met me at the porch step, and directed a young 
 boy to see to it that my horse was so treated
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 113 
 
 that lie would like to return again. He led 
 me, soon after, to a wide living-room, through 
 which fresh breezes chased in every direction, 
 and bade me occupy one of the most inviting 
 chairs, near a table that was heaped high with 
 magazines of interesting and scientifically sug- 
 gestive covers. 
 
 "You smoke, Holland ?" he asked, offering 
 me a box of really good cigars. Then plung- 
 ing his huge frame into a chair of most com- 
 prehensive wideness of cushions, he started 
 frankly into his subject. "It was very fortu- 
 nate that you met my daughter, yesterday, Hol- 
 land. We were fiercely distracted for a time, 
 knowing her to be far out on the hills. But she 
 tells me you gave her courage; and having 
 reached our tenant's deserted cottage, built a 
 fire, while she prepared as copious a meal as 
 the circumstances permitted! She was not 
 even chilled. We, my wife and I and Edith, 
 surely owe you a sincere vote of thanks." 
 
 I lit a cigar with relieved lightness. "A
 
 114 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 storm seldom offers anything so pleasant as the 
 companionship of your daughter," I asserted 
 warmly. 
 
 Vickery smiled. "Nor one as wholly 
 wrapped in her own theories, I wager ! Edith 
 is the natural reproduction of many genera- 
 tions of successful farmers. She is intensely 
 interested in the elemental understands every- 
 thing to the heart's core when it comes to deal- 
 ing with all that is simple and contented-like in 
 life. And, by Jove, I don't know but that she's 
 half right! It's hard to coax young men and 
 women back after they are once started, though 
 why they want to go pell-mell out into the world 
 so often when they have good homes, I can't 
 imagine!" He corrected himself with a smile. 
 "At least I see it Edith's way, now that I am 
 older and grown content! But even her year 
 at college did not teach her restlessness. She 
 thought it too shut-in to care to go back!" 
 
 Then Edith had not told him all ! Aside from 
 the expected report concerning the storm, I
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 115 
 
 felt, she had left him innocent of happenings, 
 or he would have waited for me to open the 
 vital subject before telling of her views. No 
 wonder he was so pleasant, I reasoned now. 
 
 Vickory poured a glass of foaming amber 
 cider and pushed it toward me, helping himself 
 to another. " There is only one flaw to Edith's 
 reasoning, if you will pardon an old man's ram- 
 blings, ' ' he went on whimsically. ' ' She forgets 
 that only those who are really used to the flap- 
 ping of blue-gingham dresses and overalls on 
 the weekly clothes-line, are best fitted to their 
 wearing!" 
 
 Then Edith had told all! I lifted attempt- 
 edly brave eyes for the consequent accusation. 
 But Vickery was busy dissecting some squares 
 of hickory-nut candy. "That is the reason my 
 wife and I are so glad she is to marry one of 
 her very own kind. Wilbur is a successful 
 scientific farmer. He understands every for- 
 ward move of real worth, and quickly eliminates 
 the merely visionary from the practical. He
 
 116 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 knows the privations, and need for earnest man- 
 ual labor ; lie is simply a master in the rotation 
 of crops ! ' ' 
 
 Then Edith had told nothing. My brain be- 
 gan to spin confusedly. It took in, absurdly 
 enough, one phrase alone, "Rotation of 
 crops." The very term appalled me ! Should 
 wheat follow oats; or cabbages, onions! And 
 yet no doubt the welfare of a vigorous family 
 hung often upon these very solutions I Surely 
 it was by no means included in my heredity! 
 But perhaps I could have learned it by earnest 
 application to books ! 
 
 Vickery was speaking again. His tones bore 
 real interest. He had pushed another foaming 
 cup of cider forward and was addressing me, a 
 mere slip of eighteen, as man to man! "I hear 
 you will take up the law, Holland. Your father 
 is a wonderful man. His rare lectures have 
 stirred me into fullest enthusiasm. A son of 
 his will surely never be content with any other 
 degree than the best. Isn't it wonderful how
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 117 
 
 many color-schemes figure in nature ! I am con- 
 tent, however, with thinking that the blue is as 
 much needed as the red, the gray as the orange. 
 We, who are farmers, recognize our value as 
 practical and hygienic balances; you, of schol- 
 arly heredity, are as much needed to make a part 
 of this old world go around just right. But it 
 hardly seems to me that one blend fits harmoni- 
 ously into the other, unless there is such a fear- 
 ful insistence one way that there is actual need 
 of a Recall." 
 
 Then Edith had told all; and while undoubt- 
 edly refusing his daughter to me, this big man 
 had met me in the most rational way possible. 
 He accepted me as a youth that had reached 
 manhood's judgment, and appealed to my better 
 sense. I could never thank him enough for the 
 sane and fair way with which he dealt with my 
 youthful impetuosity. There was nothing left 
 to me now but to make a grateful acknowledg- 
 ment of his hospitality, and then seek Edith for 
 a final going-over of the whole affair; and a
 
 118 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 definite understanding of just how I came out 
 with her ! 
 
 When I inquired for her, however, she was 
 not to be found. But at the gate, as I rode 
 forth in disappointed and decidedly confused 
 spirits, she sprang suddenly into being, a vision 
 of charming freshness in her thin white elbow- 
 sleeved gown. She held out a big burst of pink 
 roses, hedged in delicate maidenhair. "Take 
 these to your mother, Ory," she said. "They 
 are the very last of the season." She patted 
 my horse 's flank as she spoke, with a familiarity 
 due to long experience with spirited horse- 
 flesh. "And, Ory, it was all due to the storm- 
 elements, that that my feminine equilibrium 
 was upset; don't you think so ! And please for- 
 give me ! I am glad I met my one test before 
 marriage rather than after; but, Ory, I shall 
 never, never forget that cottage-shelter from 
 the storm. I love Wilbur the best in the world, 
 of course. He is more fitted to me by genera- 
 tions of training. But remember, my one di-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 119 
 
 gression shall ever seem to me the sweetest 
 memory in the world." 
 
 I accepted the finality of it all; but, as yet, 
 I was not able or willing to resign gracefully 
 what seemed my best hope for entering other 
 conditions. I took the beautiful flowers, for 
 the very delight they would give my precious 
 motherkin ; but I drove my spurs without need 
 into the flanks of my favorite horse. Once out- 
 side the gate I cried out an ultimatum: "It's 
 nice where I come out, to hope and then be 
 stowed away so soon as a * sweet memory.' 
 But I love woman, only to bring trouble, it 
 seems ! Believe me my college record shall bear 
 a clean slate, so far as your sex is concerned! 
 But I wish you every happiness, Edith dear. 
 And, this time, a lover that fully understands I ' ' 
 
 The girl stood so fearfully still that I realized 
 instantly that she had translated my last sen- 
 tence as pure satire. I still dreaded hurting 
 1 ' little girl ' ' hearts, and nasty-spirited speeches 
 filled me with contempt for myself before they
 
 120 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 had rolled from my tongue. So I whirled about 
 with an attempt at cheery commonplace: 
 
 " Edith," I laughed, "did you or did you not 
 tell your father that we accomplished an en- 
 gagement yesterday? I would like to know for 
 possible future convenience of speech and ac- 
 tion!" 
 
 The girl lifted relieved eyes, rewarding me 
 with one of her sweetest smiles. "I did not 
 tell him, Ory Holland! Once, long ago I made 
 a twilight confession about pilfering a nickel 
 for sweets, and he made me wash dishes for a 
 week to pay him back ! I wanted you to get the 
 * chore' penalty this time." As quickly her 
 blue eyes sobered. 
 
 "I am so sorry, Ory. And I must have been 
 very weak or stunned with the storm ! It was 
 a poor return for your protection for me for 
 deep down in my heart I must have still be- 
 lieved what father and I have always thought 
 that men of our own type can understand us
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 121 
 
 best and we women prove the best aid to 
 them." 
 
 I bent low in my saddle. * ' But I would have 
 put up a big try at least 1 ' ' I protested. 
 
 "Yes, I know!" Her hand slipped out into 
 mine with a keen note of understanding. "But 
 I love Wilbur," she added simply. And, yet, 
 in spite of unaltered circumstances, our good- 
 by now seemed freighted with a certain big 
 peace.
 
 LETTER XI 
 
 Third Report from Holland to Aliston. 
 Concerning College Days, and an Attempt to 
 Act the Part of Brother. November Third; 
 at Ellison Grove. 
 
 Of my early college days I will speak most 
 briefly, Ed. You know some phases of it far 
 better than I, because you were a more unsel- 
 fish " mixer. " I joined the crew and the ball- 
 team, though the men that made up these num- 
 bers were not at all the home type. They 
 reveled in sheer brute force, taking only a few 
 studies by compulsion. When our drill was 
 over I could not see my way clear to mix longer 
 with them. With other classes I was more pop- 
 ular. I managed to open a book and gather its 
 general meaning, and to take copious notes 
 
 without being the digger the college man scorns. 
 
 122
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 123 
 
 My allowance was ample. I joined a fra- 
 ternity, gave dinners in my rooms and at 
 club, and even sidetracked my resolve, and suc- 
 cumbed, for a period, to the importunate calls 
 of the "rosebuds," clustering eagerly about our 
 college town. This I could not keep up long, 
 however, as the silken-clad young maidens, 
 gushing and gurgling the same thoughts and 
 the same sighs, often desiring to return to the 
 indignities of kindergarten days by being fed 
 ice-cream on luxurious stairways out of our 
 special property spoons, reminded me of rows 
 of the expensive little crinkly stick-candy, shut 
 up in glass jars on the shelves of first-class con- 
 fectioners all exactly alike except in color, 
 some running to pink and lavender, some to 
 paler shades of blue and buff and green. But 
 how wondrous importuning for their frailty of 
 build! Why, I even hired a small boy during 
 the rush-season to do nothing but answer my 
 'phone, and file invitations from here, there and 
 everywhere concerning horseback-trips, tramp-
 
 124 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 ing week-end parties and a score of other 
 sports! And I was only one of many whose 
 company was clamored for. You know it is 
 argued, Ed, that Eve had the advantage of 
 most women because Adam found her right 
 there on the spot, and therefore had to love 
 her; but I have always felt a bit of sympathy 
 for our first mother to think that she couldn't 
 exercise woman's special amusement of chasing 
 up a score of 'phone-possibilities! And still I 
 wager a thousand to one that if Adam were 
 really made for her he would have felt and 
 found her just the same, if he had been forced 
 to walk up hills, through chasms, swamps, 
 jungles, and across oceans to reach her. 
 
 Isn't it odd, Ed, that so many young women, 
 swaying through the impetuous age of early 
 'teens, understand us men so little ; for love and 
 marriage seem more absolute where there is 
 least coquetry or invitation. Our primitive 
 sisters knew this, and remained quiescent, while 
 the sons of God found out for themselves that
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 125 
 
 the daughters of men were fair. The discovery 
 once made, in those times or the present, noth- 
 ing could prevent an earnest man from at least 
 making the attempt to follow. But when the 
 daughters of men beckon and send and send ! 
 In less than a year I sickened of so-called 
 society, and, in a moment of deep ennui, remem- 
 bered suddenly why I had been sent to that par- 
 ticular college. By reason of one, Professor 
 Linkerstein, whom my father particularly re- 
 spected ; and I did not even know him by sight ! 
 At once my curiosity was awakened, and I made 
 a point of looking him up. He was certainly 
 an odd enough fellow with thick unmanageable 
 curls that suggested a confused application of 
 hair-brushes. He was neatness personified, 
 but, invariably, wore a low collar and flowing 
 tie, save upon very formal occasions, when he 
 donned a dress-suit, and sat upon the platform, 
 a picture of rigid misery. But his eyes were 
 the best of all. They looked right out of a 
 child's interested soul; and actually seemed
 
 126 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 to be approving every one, and to be urging 
 the assurance that each young man was at col- 
 lege for the pure joy of learning. His wife 
 was his exact counterpart a homey, composed, 
 matronly woman, with a wealth of fluffy-hair, 
 still brown, a sweet smile and the same world- 
 untouched eyes of faith. She was always vi- 
 tally interested in having her husband change 
 his underwear or put on his overcoat with the 
 slightest shift in temperature. He was con- 
 stantly afraid that she was working a little too 
 hard, and begging her to sit down a bit. And 
 out of this sweet solicitude and old-fashioned 
 constancy and faith had sprung one beautiful 
 result a daughter the girl with whom I was 
 to attempt the role of brother. 
 
 Catherine Linkerstein was twenty-three when 
 we met. I was then nearly nineteen. But the 
 instant I saw her, playing tennis in the full 
 blaze of the sunlight, her sleeves rolled high 
 over vigorous, sunburned arms, I dismissed 
 "society" finally from my surfeited mind, and
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 127 
 
 pledged myself her faithful attendant, should 
 she graciously permit. 
 
 The days that followed were happy ones for 
 me, for Professor and Mrs. Linkerstein not only 
 welcomed me in their simple hospitable way, 
 but made it plain that the more I came the bet- 
 ter they were pleased; for they liked me not 
 only for myself but for reason of the great es- 
 teem in which they held my father. 
 
 "Your father kept God in my young foolish 
 heart, when the college life and certain lines of 
 study were about to take Him out. I can never 
 thank him enough," Professor Linkerstein ex- 
 plained simply the first day of our meeting; 
 and I confess this view of my parent as a faith- 
 inspirer staggered me and filled me with a hurt 
 again at either my own dull conception or the 
 absence of any interest shown for me along this 
 line by my father. 
 
 Catherine Linkerstein proved an inspiration 
 to me from the start. More and more often I 
 dropped into the cottage at the end of the col-
 
 128 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 lege walls, until it began to be the expected 
 thing that I should spend all my spare time in 
 what they termed my second home. Ofter 
 Catherine would meet me at the gate, which led 
 into their little rose-garden, and always her lips 
 and eyes, a very dark brown by some odd back- 
 ward leap in heredity, gave me a cordial wel- 
 come. There was ever with her, however, the 
 dignity and unapproachableness which lends a 
 peculiar charm to woman, and suggests a delay 
 in any familiarity of speech or manner. She 
 seemed to me really a sweet, whole-souled, in- 
 terested sister in her frankness and hospitality 
 with many, many big thoughts before her be- 
 sides those pertaining to matrimony; and soon 
 we were calling each other brother and sister 
 with easy grace. As usual the woman played 
 the role more skillfully than the man, with less 
 harm to herself. She enjoyed lecturing me 
 when I skipped an athletic drill, broke the diet- 
 rules, or wasted a moment in idleness. Life of- 
 fered to her a constant line of activity, but
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 129 
 
 along rational and effective lines. In stormy 
 weather, when long tramps were not desirable, 
 she began a course of reading with me, and even 
 went so far as to insist upon giving me music- 
 lessons. Often I had to put on a big apron and 
 help her get supper and wash dishes, when she 
 would laughingly let me choose between making 
 old-fashioned pull-candy, helping her mount in- 
 sects, for nature-study was one of her favorite 
 hobbies; or I could just sit and talk with the 
 family, in the comfortable old rockers, in front 
 of a fire that burned the steadiest, I think, on 
 the wide hearth of any I have ever known ! 
 
 Many young men dropped in to see Catherine 
 during this time, and they were always ac- 
 corded the same pleasant welcome by her family 
 and herself. To me, however, was given the 
 special privilege of constant companionship. I 
 did not have to 'phone in warning or petition 
 before entering this home. I simply came. 
 In bright weather, no matter how chill, Cather- 
 ine and I tramped miles and miles on insect-
 
 130 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 hunts ; and, thrown so familiarly together, I was 
 often amazed at the perfectly impersonal way 
 with which Catherine seemed ever to regard 
 me, unless I was in need of some lecture, or 
 course of instruction, or had lost a button in 
 her insect-cause; then she flew immediately to 
 my aid. I was simply another soul, deeply in- 
 terested in the vigorous pursuit of every bur- 
 rowing, creeping or flying animal or insect. I 
 was convenient, too, as a net-holder or rapid 
 digger. I was pleasant as a companion, to 
 cheer the beauteous lonesomeness of the way. 
 I was unfailing as an appreciative consumer of 
 the delightful luncheons which Catherine was 
 an adept at planning. Aside from these vari- 
 ous uses, I realized that I was of less import to 
 this sensible young girl than our day's collec- 
 tion. My mind rebelled fiercely at this, but I 
 never gave voice to my feelings; for Catherine 
 owned that peculiar power of placing a man 
 just where she wanted him, and keeping him 
 there for a long time at least. She had gra-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 131 
 
 ciously declared me a brother, and a brother I 
 had to content myself with being, or run a 
 greater risk than I was willing to incur be- 
 coming the object of Catherine's scorn or ridi- 
 cule, and, thereby, losing out entirely. In jus- 
 tification to the young girl for what happened 
 afterwards, I must state truthfully that she not 
 only never created situations for possible sen- 
 timent, but in no way would permit them. She 
 would never tarry an instant in flowery or too 
 romantic spots, never linger on lovely hilltops 
 for the last rays of the setting-sun, never en- 
 courage personal talk unless the subject fell 
 upon my choice of life-work, which she strongly 
 approved. She seemed to belong to some se- 
 cret hindering power of her own making. We 
 had come out to chase bugs and smaller animals 
 faithfully till the sun gave its first quiescent 
 warning. Then the pursuit was quickly 
 dropped, and the inevitable result a hasty re- 
 treat home. All this was a wondrous change 
 and revelation from the please-take-notice rose-
 
 132 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 bud type I had first known; but, as the days 
 passed, it also lashed my soul into fury to think 
 I was getting nowhere with this young girl 
 not a step farther than when she first held out 
 her hand in interested greeting. And yet I now 
 admired her more than any other woman in the 
 world. Meanwhile, in dormitory and club- 
 houses on the hill, the boys raged nightly at 
 what they termed my base desertion from their 
 ranks. 
 
 It was in the fall of my second year at col- 
 lege that a dispatch reached me telling of my 
 little mother's merciful awakening in another 
 world. I had expected this news at any time, 
 but the fact that it had really come filled my 
 soul with a grief that dulled me with its force. 
 The one gentle but strong tie had been broken 
 in the passing of the beautiful invalid mother. 
 The place of my birth was no longer a home ! 
 
 My first impulse was to take the dispatch to 
 my best friends ; and there I found the comfort 
 that stirred me from my lethargy; into an at-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 133 
 
 tempt, at least, to endure bravely what must 
 be. 
 
 "You would not have it otherwise, dear boy," 
 the professor said, covering my hand with his 
 big ones. "The little mother was always so 
 good, so gentle, so pure. Now a just God has 
 called her into a sweetly merited rest. But 
 your father. Your poor father!" 
 
 "And here you must always come now in any 
 trouble always, always," whispered the ten- 
 der-hearted wife, as she folded me warmly in 
 her mother-arms. ' ' We could not bear it other- 
 wise." 
 
 But Catherine's action was the greatest sup- 
 port of all. She said nothing as she took my 
 hand and held it a moment; but her fine dark 
 eyes dazzled with tears. A little later I found 
 her in traveling-costume, with suit-case ready 
 at the door. "I have given Jerry instructions 
 to send the carriage at once," she assured me. 
 "The first train leaves at 1:22. We have no 
 time to lose."
 
 134 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 "Why, where are you going?" I questioned 
 awkwardly. 
 
 Catherine stepped directly in front of me. 
 Her cheeks flushed heavily. "You surely 
 didn't think I could desert a brother in a time 
 like this! We are all going with you, of 
 course ! ' ' 
 
 The presence of this family in my home alle- 
 viated a bitterness which I could scarcely have 
 endured alone. Professor Linkerstein was 
 constantly closeted with my father, the sight of 
 whose silent grief was far too pitiful to be able 
 to endure long at a time. Mrs. Linkerstein took 
 hold at once in capable management of the many 
 affairs that must fall into the hands of others 
 during these solemn times ; but Catherine gave 
 her whole time to the task of helping me. From 
 the instant I stepped into my father's study 
 to share with him our common grief, I realized 
 that I was not needed. Indeed the stone wall 
 that had always been between us appeared to 
 have reared suddenly into iron bars of hatred
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 135 
 
 on my bereaved parent's side. He seemed to 
 suffocate beyond endurance at my very pres- 
 ence. This I could in nowise understand. Ap- 
 pealing to Marie, in my frenzy, for an explana- 
 tion, she only wept the more copiously on my 
 shoulder, refusing to give the information that 
 I was confident she knew. Later I found out 
 the bitter reason of it all, when I was least able 
 to endure the truth. 
 
 The three days of my stay at home passed in 
 a half dream. I was sure of only one thing, 
 that Catherine was ever at my side, talking 
 words words which, often, I did not hear; but 
 which, at least, kept me out of deepest lethargy. 
 It was my privilege, again, to look upon death 
 in the most beautiful form possible, an impres- 
 sion that has lingered with me gratefully even 
 to this day. I had thought little Evelina, in 
 the gentle glow of pink surroundings, the most 
 exquisite vision conceivable in mortal mind. 
 Now my little mother, resting in hallowed smil- 
 ing sleep, in a close-touching bed of violets,
 
 136 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 seemed a veritable bit of heaven, granted us a 
 few hours that we might find a glimmering of 
 our way, too, and be ready to come. 
 
 After the services I left immediately with 
 the Linkersteins for their home. Senator 
 Buckingham was with my father, and urged 
 that I wait a month or so before coming back to 
 try to comfort the parent, whom it was my 
 right above all others to help, but to whom, it 
 was my bitter knowledge to know, I was only a 
 figure of terror and dislike. 
 
 From the date of my quick return to college, 
 Catherine Linkerstein assumed an entirely dif- 
 ferent position in my mind. I could not forget 
 the slightest detail of her effort to help me 
 through my hours of bitterness, nor the genuine- 
 ness of her own sorrow for my loss. When I 
 came into her presence now, it was like entering 
 some richly lit cathedral some hallowed spot. 
 We still took our long tramps ; but I would no 
 more have thought of making love to her now 
 than of interrupting a sweet-faced nun at her
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 137 
 
 prayers. Every word she spoke was a comfort, 
 each hour seemed to prove to me my own un- 
 worthiness and to place her infinitely above me. 
 She became the one direct link between the little 
 heaven-born mother and myself. 
 
 When I wakened slightly from my stunned 
 acceptance, however, I noticed that Catherine 
 herself had changed. She no longer took the 
 initiative in this or that, but laid certain plans 
 before me for approval. Often her eyes grew 
 troubled, and time and again I found their 
 glance upon my face, when I lifted mine. 
 
 Once, when, contrary to her wont, we had lin- 
 gered a time on a hilltop flooded with sunset 
 lights, I found her bending slightly toward me, 
 her pupils dilated into deep glory with evident 
 troublesome or excited thought. When I met 
 her unguarded look, she started, and a confused 
 flush crossed her face for the first time during 
 our acquaintance. 
 
 "I was just thinking how big and brave and 
 handsome you are, Ory," she rushed in as
 
 138 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 startled explanation. "I wish you were really 
 and truly my own, own brother. It would be 
 so nice. ' ' 
 
 "Have I ever failed in playing that part 
 realistically?" I asked with a touch of grim- 
 ness. 
 
 1 'Never! You have been splendid!" she de- 
 clared. Then irrelevantly it seemed to me, 
 "You are much better now, much stronger, 
 aren't you, Ory? You are sure you don't re- 
 gret the time you've wasted hunting nature- 
 objects ! ' ' 
 
 "Not one instant spent with you is ever lost," 
 I assured her, with an attempt to use her own 
 matter-of-fact tones; but I felt uneasily that 
 something was creeping up between us to cut 
 short our splendid companionship. She seemed 
 on the verge of snapping the cord herself, after 
 making sure that I was strong again, and able 
 to stand alone. I could not understand this at 
 all that moment, but very soon I did. 
 
 It was on a Sunday afternoon, just a month
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 139 
 
 after my mother's death, that I swung open the 
 gate into the Linkerstein rose-garden, and 
 looked about for Catherine. It was a brilliant 
 day, in the latter part of November, sunshine 
 and fresh air vying with each other for appre- 
 ciation. A great peace had come, suddenly, 
 into my heart, and the insurmountable barrier 
 between my play-sister and myself had taken a 
 lessening form. I knew I loved her, and I 
 meant to act the man's part hereafter in refus- 
 ing to be held ever at a distance. I would tell 
 her of my love for her that very day ! 
 
 Catherine did not come out through the rose- 
 garden to meet me. Neither was she waiting 
 for me on the porch. My peace received a sud- 
 den halt; but there was still one solution. 
 Often she went down to her fishery at the edge 
 of the woods. Fate was helping me her utter- 
 most by sending her there to-day. I swung 
 quickly about and followed the narrow woods- 
 path that my play-sister and I had trod at least 
 once each day.
 
 140 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 My surmise was correct. Catherine was 
 standing close against the trunk of the big 
 maple that shaded our spring-pond. Fate had 
 not chosen me this day as her pet, however. At 
 her side, his head bent needlessly low in earnest 
 conversation, stood a man. He was older than 
 I, more handsome, more masterful. My heart 
 leapt, outraged, at the sight. The next instant 
 this bold usurper held out his arms, and would 
 have taken Catherine into them, had she not 
 pushed him away with a little protesting laugh, 
 and a gently remonstrating look in her brilliant 
 eyes that was entirely foreign to anything I had 
 ever witnessed in her. But the man would not 
 be repelled. The next second his arms went out 
 again, not in petition but rightful demand, draw- 
 ing Catherine into their firm hold, and circling 
 her close. 
 
 Unbounded fury seized me now. I was stag- 
 gered, but I felt from long acquaintance that my 
 practical play-sister would not willingly toler- 
 ate such sentiment or boldness. This man had
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 141 
 
 taken her unawares ; and lie should pay the pen- 
 alty, though the death of one of us be the re- 
 sult! Even as I doubled my fists and strained 
 every muscle for the silent spring, I was con- 
 gratulating myself for every hour of athletic 
 training. I had forgotten that I had played an 
 exactly seemingly ignoble part but a short time 
 before in the storm-tossed cottage in the woods. 
 I was only confident that I would win. Then my 
 heart went sick. Catherine's beautiful, strong 
 arms were lifting slowly in the air, not in pro- 
 test, but to fall gently across the big man's 
 shoulders, and clasp securely about his neck. 
 Then her face turned and pressed closely to his 
 chest. She did not need my protection longer. 
 The right to give it belonged only to this man ! 
 The effort I put forth to suppress my leap 
 made several twigs crackle hideously. Cather- 
 ine drew away quickly, and looked straight into 
 my angry face. Then her own went pale, and 
 hesitating a space in deep confusion, she recov- 
 ered with an effort and called me to her.
 
 142 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 "Ory," she said huskily, "come! I want 
 Will to know you. This is the brother of whom 
 I have written you so often, Will. ' ' 
 
 The man would have taken my hand in cor- 
 dial greeting; but, Ed, weakened not only by 
 this present shock but by my recent loss and bit- 
 terness of my father's strange actions, I think 
 I lost my reason for the moment. I scorned 
 the stranger's greeting utterly, and while meas- 
 uring his big frame with thoughts of battle, all 
 the fury of which my impetuous nature was 
 capable gathered and burst upon poor Cather- 
 ine's head. 
 
 "Why have you deceived me about this!" I 
 demanded. "Why have you let me hope where 
 all hope is mockery! What have I ever done 
 that you should dare to treat me thus!" 
 
 Catherine actually trembled. Her lover took 
 an involuntary step forward, but she motioned 
 him aside. "Ory!" she cried in infinitely hurt 
 tones, "you can not say that I have ever encour- 
 aged the least sentiment between us. I played
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 143 
 
 fair from first to last. I thought you under- 
 stood that we were just make-believe brother 
 and sister. I am so much older than you ; how 
 could I have dreamed otherwise! I supposed 
 you liked to go on long walks for your own sake 
 too. I thought you were intensely interested 
 in nature-study. You never said a word to 
 make me think anything else.'* 
 
 Ed, I did go mad then. I forgot entirely the 
 presence of the third party; I forgot all of 
 Catherine's just ways and gracious kindness. 
 I even forgot that I was speaking to the sex, 
 where fury should be coached in gentler terms 
 for the sake of decency alone. Only Marie's 
 words, concerning the cruelty of woman, and 
 thought of the two times I had lost before with 
 her sex, leapt into my brain with crushing 
 force; and, for the second time in life, I met 
 Catherine with a fierce denunciation of her sex. 
 
 "Bugs and bats and flying things!" I fairly 
 howled. "You really thought I was interested 
 in them ! Bugs 1 Bah ! I hate the sight of the
 
 144 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 wriggling, creeping, hateful things, and always 
 did ! You would not let me tell you of my love. 
 You held me off and off ; but you did let me play 
 a part, which you knew all along was in vain, 
 because I could help fill in time and protect you. 
 Brother and sister indeed ! I would rather take 
 my chances at ramming a sharp spike into dy- 
 namite than ever try that pose again! All 
 women are knowingly cruel when they tamper 
 with relationships that are properly instituted 
 only by God and you are the cruelest of them 
 all!" 
 
 Catherine made no answer to this bitter vin- 
 dication. Her face became ghastly in its suf- 
 fering, her lips trembled; but I felt the gulf 
 widen irreparably between this dear friend and 
 myself, when her grieved eyes turned only upon 
 her lover, and her strong body wilted against 
 his strong tender arms for support. During a 
 moment of utter silence I expected he would kill 
 me ; and awakening with sickening shame to the 
 outrage of my words, as soon as they had left
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 145 
 
 my lips, I would truly have welcomed mortal 
 combat at that time. But he, too, proved him- 
 self a person with a courteous bigness of soul. 
 His eyes met mine in compassion rather than 
 challenge. Somehow I felt that he had been 
 through just such a time himself once, though 
 probably exerting much more admirable self- 
 control, and that he understood. 
 
 "The boy will be himself soon, Catherine," 
 he comforted. ''He will tell you then that he 
 is bitterly mistaken in blaming you at all. 
 Come, let us go back to the house." 
 
 Later, at eventide, I did find Catherine ; and 
 in utmost dejection and humility begged her to 
 forgive as unjust accusations as man had ever 
 made. She was most gracious in her sorrow- 
 ing, blaming herself for many things without 
 cause; but, while expressing a sincere interest 
 in my future, she did not even ask me to come 
 again. We both realized that an irreparable 
 breach yawned between us, and that our appear- 
 ing on opposite sides of the chasm, to wave a
 
 146 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 bravely attempted greeting, would only increase 
 the misery for both, which was heavy enough 
 at best. When I left her that night, I left her 
 for good. 
 
 When I think over those days, Ed, I know 
 that Catherine Linkerstein had much to do in 
 helping me form the highest ideals concerning 
 what woman can sometimes be in purity and 
 strength. For this I can never thank her 
 enough. But the experiment was disastrous 
 for the comfort of both of us, as you can see, 
 bringing far more pain than help. Personally 
 I am a strong disbeliever in the benefit to be de- 
 rived from platonic friendship, in cases where 
 there is the slightest possibility of any other re- 
 lation. This I thought I had learned thoroughly 
 that day, when I denounced forever one phase 
 of platonic friendship the brother-and-sister 
 relation but I had yet to have this truth 
 brought home with a greater force than I sup- 
 posed could ever bear down upon me again. 
 ORISON.
 
 LETTER XII 
 
 Fourth Report from Holland to Aliston. 
 Back to the Boys, with Disastrous Results. 
 November Fifth. 
 
 DEAB ED: 
 
 The very evening of the day upon which I 
 had severed my connection with Catherine, I 
 went back to the boys with the determination to 
 make college work my one aim. During my 
 pleasant home-life with the Linkersteins I had 
 mingled with classmates constantly, it is true; 
 but they had seemed to me more like puppets, 
 moving about me as a necessary part of some 
 contest or purpose but in nowise turning my 
 mind from the promised pleasures with the hos- 
 pitable family of the rose-garden cottage. 
 
 This obvious lack of interest in the individual 
 
 147
 
 148 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 would have made me as unpopular with the col- 
 lege boys as was the chronic " digger," had it 
 not been for two facts: my mother's entire for- 
 tune had fallen to me, and my income was far 
 greater than I cared to use. Sheer wantonness 
 of spending always seemed disgusting to me, 
 though I knew little of life's details outside of 
 the luxurious, and was always glad to share my 
 gains and make the inevitable "loan" to the un- 
 prepared. Secondly, through my father, I 
 owned, fortunately and unfortunately, quick 
 comprehension of truths, so that study involved 
 little of my time. Thus I had many hours free 
 for oratorical work and athletic drill. As the 
 boys needed me in both these lines, they toler- 
 ated my oddness; but, judging by the fiercely 
 cordial welcome I received when I expressed 
 my firm determination to dwell loyally in their 
 midst, I knew they had secretly raged at my in- 
 difference. 
 
 For two months I went in with the boys for 
 all their sports with the impetuosity that has
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 149 
 
 been both a curse and an aid to me in all the pur- 
 suits of life. We dashed at reckless speed in 
 autos, a new thing then and, consequently, 
 classed among real luxuries; played poker into 
 the morning hours; visited every possibly 
 original new-menu inn for miles around; gave 
 ' * suppers ' ' constantly in our rooms, till the sight 
 of a chafing-dish, or attempted mixture of dar- 
 ingly indigestible foods filled me with a sense of 
 deepest disgust; and, lastly, pledged fidelity to 
 each other and total indifference to woman over 
 many expensive brands of wine; though from 
 stability of inheritance again, I was never 
 tempted beyond my strength. Many of the 
 guests were, however. It became my self- 
 imposed duty, with the aid of a few other bal- 
 anced men, to see the intoxicated boys into bed 
 by three o 'clock at the latest, and to waken them 
 at the last second for the strong doses of black 
 coffee that would remove the traces of perfect 
 imbecility for the certain degree of intelligence 
 demanded in the class-room. Several times the
 
 150 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 rumor reached us that the professors were giv- 
 ing special attention to our too-free way of liv- 
 ing ; but as long as it was in the form of rumor 
 alone or impersonally directed lectures, no one 
 was in the slightest degree troubled; and, 
 strange as it now seems, our class managed, for 
 a time, through an unnatural strain on sheer 
 grit, to retain the highest record in oratory, 
 athletics and general class-work. It became a 
 special effort, however, as the days passed, to 
 redouble my own end of study in order to screen 
 my less fortunate classmates in their bluffing. 
 As forced effort was new to me, I realized 
 vaguely that our reckless way of living was get- 
 ting a real hold on me, too ; and that some day, 
 impossible as it had seemed to me at first, I 
 might go down in a crash with the rest. 
 
 The day came with alarming rapidity or 
 rather the evening. It was a weirdly stormy 
 night in late January. The sleet clicked 
 sharply against the windows of my living-room, 
 in which eight of us were gathered. The wind
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 151 
 
 shrieked soulless triumph over some ghastly 
 nocturnal discovery. The stiffened limbs of 
 the maple on our east slapped angrily again 
 and again against the frozen roof. Now and 
 then a lost lightning-streak mingled in confused 
 fantasy with its unusual environments. 
 Within, a big fire roared on the hearth. Food 
 and wine, books, cards, pipes, and musical in- 
 struments were there in plenty ; but we were all 
 bored infinitely bored with the curse of object- 
 less hours. 
 
 At ten-thirty, Howard Chester, always a 
 plunger into new fields, flung down his pipe, 
 and sprang like a caged beast to the window 
 overlooking the dark blotch of lake. "I tell you 
 what it is, fellows," he exclaimed, "this night 
 is getting on my nerves ! I propose we try our 
 non-skid machines on a dash across the forest- 
 road. It is just raw enough and rough enough 
 to cause a little circulation. We can round up 
 at Owl Inn. It will look weird enough to-night, 
 I'll wager, in its setting of big, bare-limbed
 
 152 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 elms. I hear it's under new management, too, 
 and on the way to being the best hunger- 
 appeaser around!" 
 
 Every man sprang to compliance. The pros- 
 pect of plunging a way over crusty roads, 
 through shrieking wind and under falling tree- 
 branches lent the zest of novelty at least. The 
 task of trying to amuse one another had become 
 an arduous one indeed. I felt infinite relief, I 
 confess, at the thought of passing from host to 
 daring explorer. 
 
 "We'll take Jarvis Brown with us," Chester 
 hurried on in continued daring, as he stepped 
 calmly from deerskin house-shoes into my spe- 
 cial-property high boots. "He is a menace to 
 the community with his stubbornly persistent 
 digging tendencies. ' ' He broke into a distaste- 
 ful laugh. "And say, won't it be rich to see 
 that little kindergarten chap take his first dip 
 into real life 1 ' ' 
 
 I demurred at this proposition stoutly, Ed. 
 I thought I knew Jarvis Brown's type. Diffi-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 153 
 
 dent, not overly strong in physique, with little 
 knowledge of temptations met daily by many 
 men, of restricted, carefully spent income a 
 man dead in earnest about applying himself, 
 that he might carve out some definite line of 
 needed resource but of all other types of men, 
 most unsuited for acts of bravado, "roughing 
 it," or meeting the temptations of liquor 
 and, what then existed, a woman-equipped 
 bar. 
 
 My remonstrances, however, fell upon rap- 
 idly retreating, laughter-shaking forms. Ches- 
 ter flung back something over his shoulder 
 about a "digger" being a deuced mean chap at 
 best; always taking advantage of men who had 
 to honor nature 's demands by observing a little 
 rest, with his perpetual study. More ornery, 
 in truth, than the devilish little tortoise that 
 found the hare asleep from his brilliant effort, 
 and so played an unfair game ! Retorting thus, 
 they bore down upon the unsuspecting and un- 
 fortunate college digger.
 
 154 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 When I came out in my rough-weather clothes 
 a few moments later, I found Jarvis Brown 
 sitting, ghastly pale and silent, in the back seat 
 of my auto. He was not prepared as the rest 
 of us in heavy clothes for roughing it, but wore 
 a light-weight overcoat, and a soft gray felt hat 
 that the imprints of even an April shower 
 would have sent to its ruin. His narrow, blood- 
 less lips drooped helplessly at the corners, but 
 his upright form breathed acceptance more, a 
 strenuous attempt not to show the "white 
 feather," on account of the thought of some one 
 else, I imagined, than out of any care for his 
 own standing with the boys. I ordered a 
 second rain-coat and oilskin hat from my well- 
 stored wardrobe at once for Jarvis, passing it 
 off lightly that he had not been long enough in 
 that climate to know its capabilities for bitter- 
 ness before morning light. I think he would 
 have refused them utterly, but for a passing 
 mention of one of the boys that the storm would 
 tear his clothes to tatters. Then he closed his
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 155 
 
 lips in apparent effort, and bowed a sullen 
 thanks. 
 
 Never shall I forget the slightest detail of 
 that reckless drive through the woods. Every 
 demon seemed loosed from his chains for a 
 night of fearful revelry. The wind shrieked in 
 ugly defiance; sleet struck us sharply in our 
 faces; tree-limbs snapped; big boughs fell in 
 our pathway, and had to be constantly removed 
 by sullenly flickering lantern-light. One by 
 one our four autos gave out, stalling in the half- 
 frozen ruts, or blowing a tire on the sharp sticks 
 in the hail-strewn path. At midnight we con- 
 fessed ourselves defeated, so far as reaching 
 the Owl Inn by conveyance was concerned. As 
 it now lay but two miles distant, however, we 
 determined to make the rest of the way on foot ; 
 for chilled and bruised and miserably wet, we 
 had a greater hunger than ever for light and 
 fire and warming drinks. 
 
 Jarvis Brown plodded along at my side, si- 
 lently, but as steadily as though track-walking
 
 156 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 had been his special choice in life. His whole 
 attitude expressed sullenness, but he gave no 
 sound of protest. Indeed he never opened his 
 lips to the boys' insulting gibes about its being 
 his " debut," his " first night out." When I 
 spoke, he answered, but only in monosyllables, 
 as though feeling the repulsion for our company 
 that a prisoner experiences with his sheriff, for 
 whose presence he has, naturally, no manner of 
 use, the more so because he realizes thoroughly 
 that rebellion is in vain. 
 
 But as we came within sight of the Inn, Jar- 
 vis made a sudden halt. The music, gay, soul- 
 less, abandoned, floated out to mingle with the 
 taunting fury of the storm. Huge, fiercely 
 swaying, owl-shaped lanterns sent their light to 
 greet us through straining green and red eyes. 
 A woman's voice rang suddenly above the 
 hilarious laughter within, and arose to a shrill- 
 ing wail. It was anything but a peaceful pros- 
 pect at the moment. 
 
 "It's here! I knew it would come." Jarvis
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 157 
 
 muttered bitterly, but so low that I, the near- 
 est to him, had to strain for his words. 
 
 "You'd better come in," I reasoned with him, 
 feeling frightfully the strangeness of his utter- 
 ance, but knowing well the boys would take ad- 
 vantage of the slightest sign of weakening. 
 "A drink will warm you into courage after this 
 walk you needn't overdo it, you know just a 
 bluff to turn the attention of the crowd away 
 from you. ' ' 
 
 His hesitancy gave way to a certain haste at 
 my suggestion. Indeed he was the first to 
 swing open the heavy door and plunge into the 
 warm, gayly decorated, smoke-clouded, music- 
 filled room. As he crossed the threshold this 
 young fellow whom I supposed was taking his 
 first dip into the reckless he changed miracu- 
 lously from the shrinking, sullen, book-crammed 
 student to a man who evidently felt himself in 
 perfectly familiar environments. The next in- 
 stant, with a shrug of defiance, and a harsh 
 laugh that I still have trouble to forget, he
 
 158 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 plunged over to the bar, and was ordering a 
 mixed drink with an aptitude that suggested a 
 skill in such matters for generations past! I 
 had supposed Jarvis almost without spending- 
 money, but he had a decent roll of bills with him 
 that night ; and with each drink, he became more 
 and more liberal, urging the astonished boys 
 time and again to have another "on him." 
 After he had tossed down six or seven himself 
 he became completely metamorphosed. It was 
 he little Jarvis, the digger that first joined 
 the singing-girls in chorus part; he that took 
 the middle of the floor to break into violent 
 laughter-producing jigs; and, at length, when 
 he owned a thoroughly appreciative audience, 
 hushed in sheer amazement, he that sang alone, 
 and most meritoriously, a volley of Irish songs. 
 As I listened, even confused slightly as I was, 
 for the first time in my life, with the too great 
 warmth and constant drinks, I knew beyond a 
 doubt that somewhere in the history of little 
 Jarvis' family had lain great culture, choice ac-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 159 
 
 complishments, appreciation of the real and 
 beautiful; but, alas, also the other side the 
 yielding to terrible temptation, somewhere, 
 somehow then a fierce struggle, then a weaken- 
 ing, then a fall! And the pitiful part of it all 
 was that history was clamoring for repetition in 
 the many-sided nature of Jarvis that evening. 
 The temptations had evidently been his previ- 
 ously ; the struggle bravely and silently made in 
 his constant digging digging ; but the fall, ah, it 
 had come that night even. Jarvis had realized 
 that it would, when he wailed out his last un- 
 intelligible protest before turning the door- 
 latch ! You know how it is, Ed, with some in- 
 flammable natures, it requires only the touch of 
 the tiniest flame to wipe out a life-struggle. 
 We set the fire burning for poor Jarvis when 
 we made him one of our party, and, while re- 
 covering for the most part ourselves, left him 
 shipwrecked ! 
 
 Whether it was the effect of the fierce storm 
 without or the reacting tragedy of a soul, al-
 
 160 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 most gained, losing grip to the point of desper- 
 ate bravado, I know not; but, Ed, bedlam cer- 
 tainly reigned that night ! Smoke grew thicker 
 and thicker, cigarette-ends fell about us, feet 
 went up on tables, glasses clicked ominously, 
 and fell, often, in fragments to the floor. Lewd 
 songs began to rise insultingly upon the air; 
 canes struck viciously at lamp-shades ; even the 
 presence of the barmaids was forgotten, until 
 Jarvis, gay with liquor, leapt upon the stage 
 and seized the frightened, little, child-girl, chief- 
 singer, red-bodiced, with glittering straps over 
 soft bare shoulders, in his arms. He swept her 
 off the stage to a table, where he ordered her 
 to sing more faster faster still! And as 
 Jarvis acted, so followed many of our number 
 with the maids, in spite of the violent remon- 
 strances of the bartender, who desired that all 
 things within the rich Owl Tavern should move 
 ''nicely," and " discreetly" on their liquor-oiled 
 wheels ! 
 I have told you truthfully, Ed, that stimulants
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 161 
 
 never tempted me to excess. That night even, 
 though my head whirled miserably with it all, I 
 never lost tab upon myself. Neither could I 
 then depart from one almost certain result of 
 refined, careful training I could not include 
 woman, no matter how low the type, in reckless 
 or notorious action. As the play progressed, I 
 moved into a far corner, resolved to see it 
 through, but thoroughly disgusted that I had 
 ever agreed to the wild plan of coming at all. 
 My very indifference, however, made me in a 
 way conspicuous. I would have reasoned this 
 out had my brain been clearer. The boys soon 
 marked my withdrawal, and at a few muttered 
 words from them, one of the prettiest of the 
 girls, warmed with offered drinks, plunged sud- 
 denly toward my corner, and threw her arms 
 laughingly about me, pressing her carmined 
 lips close to mine. If she had not been a woman 
 I would have struck her senseless at my feet, 
 for every fiber in my body swelled and burned 
 with abject loathing at the touch. As it was, I
 
 162 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 unwrapped the creature's clinging arms with 
 none too great gentleness; but in the act of 
 springing to my feet and warding off an in- 
 tended more furious attack from her, a gleam of 
 gold shot from an inner pocket, clicked sharply 
 against a glass and fell to the floor. 
 
 Ed, it was the locket taken from the white 
 throat of little Evelina's body, and given to me 
 in trust, that now lay on the foulsome Inn floor. 
 At once I came into the full sense of utter shame 
 and bitterness. The woman saw the bright 
 gleam, read my fierce consternation, and, with 
 a harsh laugh, stooped and would have laid her 
 hands on the treasure, had I not struck her 
 grasping fingers aside with almost brutal force. 
 The next instant I had the locket buttoned 
 firmly in an inner pocket, and was making my 
 way, like a furious spirit, toward Jarvis, who 
 was now near the door. Tapping him on the 
 shoulder, I implored him to come with me to 
 catch the one early train into town. He only 
 laughed scornfully, however, and blear-eyed,
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 163 
 
 trembling with excitement, his usually pale 
 cheeks flushed to bursting, his hair miserably 
 awry, he leapt defiantly upon the table beside 
 the girl, whirled her about in a foolish im- 
 promptu blending of jig and two-step. Thus I 
 left the man, who, until this evening, had tried 
 so hard to put up a decent fight! 
 
 As I closed the door upon the odious hilarity, 
 I felt that I was through forever with such situ- 
 ations, and that I possessed the will-power not 
 only to make but keep this resolve. But an- 
 other thought filled me with utter misery. I 
 had broken the trust ! I had carried little Eve- 
 lina 's locket into scenes where the property of 
 a pure-souled woman had no right to be taken ; 
 but at least I retained my honesty. Before I 
 went to bed that early morning even the locket 
 had gone back. But without a word of explana- 
 tion. 
 
 No more reckless outings with the boys. No 
 more of women, good or bad! No longer the 
 pleasant home visits with the Linkersteins !
 
 164 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 No longer the brother relation ! No longer any 
 honorable connection with the one real boyhood 
 home I had enjoyed to the uttermost the Buck- 
 inghams'. What, then, did lie in store? With 
 burning, madly throbbing temples, with de- 
 spairing heart, and head bent low against the 
 vagaries of the ebbing storm, I plunged desper- 
 ately through the limb-strewn path that led to 
 the little wooden station. But I need not have 
 tried to work it out ; for the question that per- 
 sistently puzzled was settled for me very 
 shortly and concisely, and that through no aid 
 or consent of my own. 
 
 It seemed only a few moments after I had 
 dropped, full-dressed, on my bed, having first 
 mailed the locket, when I felt myself being 
 roughly shaken by the shoulder. Dull and 
 heavy-limbed, I arose to sitting-posture to en- 
 counter the desperately haggard face of Billy 
 Calhoun, who roomed next door. "Come into 
 Chester's room on the jump," he urged.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 165 
 
 "We didn't get in till five; but ill news travels 
 fast, you know. The faculty is fully posted 
 already. We are all in a hell of a fix !" 
 
 ' ' Did you fire the * Owl ' f " I asked, as I donned 
 bath-robe and Turkish slippers preparatory to 
 descending upon Chester in the new role of 
 father-adviser. 
 
 Calhoun groaned. Each of his startled words 
 is clear in my memory. ' ' No ; that would only 
 be a Sunday-school picnic to what did happen ! 
 Going without our chocolate-drops and sodas! 
 would help reconstruct a burned tavern ; but our 
 names will be obliterated forever from the list 
 for this!" 
 
 "Murder?" I suggested with a rush of relief 
 that I could prove an alibi, followed by a quick 
 consternation that Jarvis could not. 
 
 ' ' Worse still ! Women 1 Always the women ! 
 Take it from me I'll never even pass one in the 
 street again if there's an alley within running 
 distance ! But it's up to Chester to explain the 
 whole confounded mess. Hurry along!"
 
 166 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 I found Chester sitting on the edge of his bed, 
 sipping, in sickish fashion, a cup of coffee al- 
 most the consistency of mush and the color of 
 blacking. He glared at me angrily beneath 
 puffed red lids, as though I had been the chief 
 instigator of the whole plan, and the last one to 
 leave the Inn. 
 
 "Well," he demanded, kicking a chair in my 
 direction, "what are we going to do? All the 
 class honors hang over our heads; and I bet 
 ten to one we'll never see the light of another 
 day here!" 
 
 "Move along!" I suggested grimly. "Just 
 what did we do." 
 
 Chester gulped another bitter dose of coffee. 
 "Well, I guess we were a little er confused 
 almost drunk before we cleared out of the 
 Inn. Anyway, we did the one thing the faculty 
 won't let by. We tied the barkeeper down, and 
 then er one of the boys went to the beastly 
 length of strapping several barmaids to a tree. 
 All in the confusion of er a little too much
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 167 
 
 liquor you understand. Didn't hurt them 
 either much only a little scare. One of them 
 fainted, but the barkeeper broke loose some- 
 how, and soon cut them down. Merely a dar- 
 ing escapade. But we can never hatch it out 
 on the faculty in that light. They will only 
 think of the hideousness of its involving wom- 
 anhood. Had a note already from old Link- 
 erstein! Seems to think I'm to blame for the 
 whole thing! 'Meet me in the office at ten,' it 
 reads. You'll go along, too, of course, being 
 an early party in the dealt" 
 
 "Sure," I answered brusquely, with the dis- 
 like I was fast learning to feel for Chester. 
 "But whom did you put up to the tying! I can 
 wager ten to one that you washed your hands 
 of the actual deed. ' ' 
 
 "Deserter!" he sneered. "You kept your 
 head level enough to clear out in time to save 
 your own skin didn't you!" Then his man- 
 ner changed entirely as he answered with an 
 easy laugh. "Little Jarvis was the only one
 
 168 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 who was game enough to relish the act. He 
 tied the ropes. Of course others helped. I 
 don't just remember who.'* 
 
 For a moment, Ed, I wanted to bring my 
 fingers around his throat and choke him. I did 
 deliver myself in words. His is the type for 
 whose friendship women pay most miserable 
 penalty. "You yellow cur" I said "you 
 low-down yellow cur, to force little Jarvis a 
 man whom you knew had been making a fight 
 for decent standing, at least into that." 
 
 Chester's white teeth showed unpleasantly. 
 Actual lines of dissipation deepened their hold 
 about his eyes, though he was but nineteen years 
 old, and of refined and distinguished family at 
 that. 
 
 "You will prove an alibi then?" he sneered 
 again. "It will lie between us three I under- 
 stand. Some devil has peached on my start- 
 ing the trip; and they all know you have the 
 money to finance it. It seems the bartender 
 is too confused to remember that you left early.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 169 
 
 He says it was either you or me or Jarvis that 
 committed the notorious act of binding sweet 
 womanhood ! He remembers seeing you mutter 
 something to him near the door. And Zista, 
 whom you insulted with your pious indifference, 
 is willing and eager to swear to your crime ! A 
 man wants to be pleasant to a woman of her 
 type, dearie, if he expects to prove a convenient 
 alibi!" 
 
 I let Chester's gibes pass as the mere upheav- 
 ings of a liquor-swamped body. "I will prove 
 no alibi," I declared. "But it's not to save 
 you that I would go one single inch out of my 
 way. ' ' 
 
 "Well, I don't need your help," he grinned, 
 "after the meeting with old Link is over; for, 
 take it from me, the college won't need any of 
 us for a spell! The papers have already sent 
 their talon-clawed reporters down, though how 
 they get hold of things so soon, heaven only 
 knows! Even the men's clubs will be on the 
 exclusive bench, and turn a cold shoulder upon
 
 170 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 us for a while. There is nothing for me now 
 but to return for refuge through society's ever- 
 liberal doors. I did think I'd give up the rose- 
 buds permanently; but I can't refrain from sail- 
 ing with the other sex a while under the mar- 
 tyred glow that reckless escapades seem to cast. 
 Me for women jurists every time!"
 
 LETTER XIII 
 
 Orison to Aliston. In Continuance, the 
 Next Morning. Dismissal and an Abrupt 
 Decision. 
 
 Looking backward upon the several severe 
 ordeals through which I yet had to pass, Ed, 
 I can think of none that possess the fierce gloom 
 and bitter remorse that is attached to this part 
 of my report. I was utterly unable to finish it 
 last evening, though my hand lingered over the 
 pages idly till midnight ; but the morning brings 
 renewed courage. I shall try to be honest. 
 
 Three days passed, after the faculty had ques- 
 tioned us vainly concerning the chief partici- 
 pants of the affair ; and not a hint had been given 
 of the outcome. Chester assumed his old dar- 
 ing, and expressed a regret that he had wasted 
 a moment in surmise; Jarvis uttered no word, 
 but crept, heavy -limbed and shadow-eyed, from 
 
 171
 
 172 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 closely shut doors to classrooms. Personally, 
 I felt only a greater uneasiness that the faculty, 
 usually given to quick action when roused, found 
 this matter one of such heavy solution. I 
 longed for the verdict, and coming upon Pro- 
 fessor Linkerstein in the early afternoon of 
 the third day, seated on a bench close to the 
 western wall of the campus, I made up my mind 
 to plunge at once into the subject, come what 
 might. 
 
 It was one of those restful days when bluster- 
 ing winter repents of its bitterness, and, reach- 
 ing out, twines quieted fingers upon the flutter- 
 ing garments of spring. A bed of crocuses had 
 sprung into marvelous bloom near the southern 
 hedge, though patches of ice still lay against the 
 northern walls. The big elms threw out a stem- 
 work of swollen buds. In the brilliant sunshine 
 a gardener whistled a tune while he cleared 
 away briskly the havoc of the recent storm. 
 
 As I lifted my cap and stopped directly in 
 front of the professor, I experienced that feel-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 173 
 
 ing of deepest deference that my father always 
 caused in me. It seemed an honor to be in his 
 presence at all. I could not help thinking of 
 the dignity this kindly friend had displayed in 
 not asking a word concerning my continued ab- 
 sence from his home. His was a nature too big 
 either to demand or yield unnecessary explana- 
 tions. He seemed now to understand perfectly 
 my mute appeal, and with a wondrous tact he 
 moved a little to the right, and motioned me to 
 sit down. I glanced at him critically as I ac- 
 cepted his invitation; then I noticed that deep 
 circles tinged his blue eyes into shadow. His 
 face was very pale. 
 
 "I was just thinking, Ory," he said to me in 
 most friendly tones, "how much easier it is to 
 clear away the havoc caused by a raging of the 
 elements than to heal the tiniest soul-scar; and 
 yet one is so infinitely much more important 
 than the other ! ' ' 
 
 I bowed, understanding, but truly unable to 
 speak.
 
 174 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Professor Linkerstein suddenly turned upon 
 me eyes so clear, in spite of their dark setting, 
 that they seemed veritable windows, irradiat- 
 ing all truths worth while. "Ory," he said, 
 "it is impossible that the son of your father 
 could stoop to the lowness of involving woman, 
 no matter what the type, in scandal. Tell me 
 that you were not one of these who remained 
 even to be an onlooker in the disgraceful pro- 
 gram of a short time ago, and I may yet be able 
 to save you from trouble, and your father from 
 utter heart-break ! ' ' 
 
 Ed, as I review it now, I know it was mis- 
 taken chivalry. One accomplishes little by 
 wearing the black cloth of guilt for another, 
 unless it is a question of the actual peace of a 
 life coming in or going out; but I felt then 
 that only a brute and a coward would expose 
 poor Jarvis. I refused to exonerate myself at 
 his expense. 
 
 "Is there any hope for Jarvis?" I ques- 
 tioned. "I am positive he did not go into the
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 175 
 
 expedition by his own request or even free- 
 will." 
 
 "Jarvis is gone," Professor Linkerstein re- 
 turned gravely. "He could not hold up under 
 what he felt was coming. He ran away this 
 morning, leaving me a note of tragic despair. 
 With him it is not the question of a mere tem- 
 porary disgrace, as it may be with the rest of 
 you. It is a ruined life. Jarvis has had to 
 fight a taint in his heredity, and against heavy 
 odds. He has never been strong physically, 
 and is the owner of a high-strung temperament, 
 as capable of great good, under proper direc- 
 tion, as of evil. He began college life once be- 
 fore with every muscle set, resolved, more for 
 his mother's sake, I think, than for his own, to 
 wipe out his grinding craving for liquor. For 
 a time he succeeded famously, then, ever too 
 easily influenced, he joined a reckless crowd, 
 gambled his money away, and, in deep remorse, 
 took to heavy drink and its gruesome accom- 
 paniment careless women. You see heredity
 
 176 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 does demand pay for its carelessly issued notes 
 many, many times. This, you young gentle- 
 men, sons of serious-minded, worthily acting 
 fathers, and future fathers yourselves of a new 
 race, surely lost track of, when you thought you 
 were harming only yourselves ! ' ' 
 
 "Who is Jarvis's father?" I questioned with 
 no denial for the grave statement just given, but 
 still owning a keen interest in the unfortunate 
 college digger, and remembering how he had 
 struck me even in the saloon as a young man of 
 undoubted fineness of heredity. 
 
 "The Honorable Horace Brown dead only 
 a year; his one enemy, self, in that he never 
 seemed able to refrain from liquor. He was 
 the most kind-hearted man possible, and one of 
 the most brilliant pleaders that the legal world 
 has ever owned." 
 
 I remember, Ed, I jumped to my feet in in- 
 tense excitement. "Jarvis the son of the great 
 Horace Brown!" I cried. "Why, he's got to 
 be saved. His father's inherited mentality
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 177 
 
 alone will show him he must try again. He 
 must ! ' ' 
 
 But Professor Linkerstein shook his head. 
 4 ' Two fierce trials are about all poor Jarvis had 
 in his deal, Ory. The last stagger toward edu- 
 cation was made simply to comfort his poor 
 mother, because he had lost heavily in finances, 
 and become involved in some ugly scandal, and 
 was about to give up. She begged and implored 
 for months, however, and, warm of heart as his 
 father before him, Jarvis could not refuse her. 
 He came back to the home farm, utterly ignored 
 the society of former associates, both men and 
 women; and, dollar by dollar, with no small 
 sacrifice, his mother and he saved for this his 
 second attempt It will break the heart of a 
 good, tender, sweet little mother ; and Jarvis, I 
 fear, has little hope. When I made a final ap- 
 peal to him yesterday, he laughed in the fear- 
 ful, gleeless way of a soul that has lost entirely, 
 and knows it has, that one great balancing 
 power, self-respect, from lack of self-control.
 
 178 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 And yet just one interested classmate, standing 
 out clearly as a strong example of will-power, 
 might have cast the balance for little Jarvis on 
 the side of victory ! I was comforted all along 
 in thinking that this example might be you 
 your heredity rendering it possible." 
 
 Do you know how it feels, Ed, when a big 
 man finds himself longing to shed the weak 
 tears of a babe or woman! As the professor 
 spoke in simple but heartfelt words of what all 
 this meant to an aching parent-heart and to 
 poor Jarvis, I longed to cast myself on the 
 ground and sob in agony. But instead I sat 
 mute, each heart-beat suffocating me, while be- 
 fore me, oddly enough, rose the memory of the 
 strongest painting of a mortal subject I had 
 ever seen. It was the picture of a simple 
 country mother, lifting her plain, tear-stained 
 face, full of pleading trust to her son. "Break- 
 ing Home Ties," it is called. You know it, Ed, 
 in all its strong simplicity and heart-reaching 
 detail But it is not the thought of the hard
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 179 
 
 work and sacrifices and simple ways of living 
 that her son must meet in Ms journey into life 
 that troubles her those they have already met 
 patiently and cheerfully together that he might 
 finally depart for the education that should fit 
 him for forceful living. No, it is the thought of 
 the companions he may possibly come upon 
 that wrings the mother's heart young men, 
 unused to the vigor of self-control young 
 women so strangely neglected under parental 
 care that they ruin sons rather than save them. 
 And I reasoned as I watched the mental pic- 
 ture, that we, in our orgies of the stormy night, 
 had been just the element the poor mother in 
 "Breaking Home Ties" dreaded most! Still 
 in my vigorous red-corpuscled manhood I re- 
 belled against taking the real blame. 
 
 "Do you think, then, that those that shut 
 themselves away from the world and its many 
 types of sin are the strongest and most able to 
 aid mankind ? ' ' I asked the professor almost de- 
 fiantly.
 
 180 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 "No, Ory," he answered so simply but force- 
 fully that I felt ready to stake my issue on his 
 every word. ''In youth I took much comfort 
 in the Biblical verse: 'To the weak became I 
 as weak, that I might gain the weak. ' But one 
 night, when things were getting pretty bad, I 
 drew myself up for honest reviewal. Was it 
 really to gain the weak that I was plunging into 
 this or that, or merely to satisfy my thirst for 
 novelty for the wholly untried! After that 
 I pinned my faith more firmly to the verse that 
 follows shortly afterwards: 'And every man 
 that striveth for the mastery is temperate in 
 all things.' It is not the natural craving to 
 learn just what life is, and what we must meet, 
 that seems wrong to me. It is wantonness, 
 conscienceless action in other words, lack of 
 temperance and false consideration of condi- 
 tions. But the danger lies in going in for full 
 investigation, and staying in shipwrecked; or, 
 if of strong will-power and fine common-sense 
 ourselves, sailing forth into clear harbors, leav-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 181 
 
 ing those, less able to resist, who have followed 
 our example, completely inundated." 
 
 A college bell rang just then in the chapel 
 belfry, and Professor Linkerstein arose quickly, 
 holding out a hand. 
 
 4 'The verdict is for expelling unless you can 
 prove an alibi when it came to the rougher 
 part. I regret this, Ory, beyond any power of 
 words." The man's voice really choked with 
 feeling. "If I could save you the misery that 
 comes to a man of conscience, and help you and 
 your poor father ah well, it is a trite saying, 
 but an honest one, I would gladly give ten years 
 of my life. But don't let the notoriety of this 
 discourage you too much, Ory. You have the 
 will-power and the clean heredity that will make 
 you eager for a fresh start. To man, is merci- 
 fully granted this privilege. We can not de- 
 pend too much upon these things though can 
 we ! And remember no normal man exists that 
 does not, at times, chafe fiercely under self-re- 
 striction; still there are many that do not wish
 
 182 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 to take the serious chance of losing self-respect. 
 But you understand it all, Ory. God help you, 
 boy Good-by." 
 
 If I had been permitted, Ed, to keep the words 
 of this big sympathetic professor warm in my 
 heart, I know that I could throw down my pen 
 at this point and come to you, regretful of care- 
 lessness, but not truly guilty of any big wrong; 
 so that perhaps you might consider me entirely 
 eligible for attempting to win the love of your 
 little sister; but honesty compels me to go on. 
 No fiercely raging winter storm could have 
 crushed out the tiniest snowdrop more effec- 
 tively than did the words I received a few mo- 
 ments later destroy the new incentive for most 
 worthy living that the professor had put in my 
 heart. For when I entered my living-room, my 
 father, unexpected, unannounced, turned slowly 
 around from the shadowed bay-window, and 
 fixed cold condemning eyes upon my face! 
 
 I can not go into detail of so intimate a time,
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 183 
 
 Ed. You would not have it so. But when I 
 left my father, just a few moments later, I was 
 older by ten years ; and, for the time, my laugh 
 must have rung out as recklessly as that of poor 
 Jarvis ; for my father, calm and unflinching by 
 nature, actually threw up his hands to his ears 
 to shut it out. 
 
 He spoke with the pitiless judgment of the 
 rare man who, by some odd fitting of circum- 
 stances, has never been tried. Asking no ex- 
 planation, permitting no possible theory that 
 any excuse existed, or that reports might be ex- 
 aggerated, he hurled forth, out of an uncompre- 
 hending, rigidly chaste soul, one bitter accusa- 
 tion after another. My actions, I was told, 
 were disgraceful, monstrous, notoriously vul- 
 gar, obnoxious, odiously conceived! At last I 
 found out why I had never been able to strike 
 a responsive chord in my father's heart. He 
 explained most carefully. My little mother had 
 never been well since my birth. Indeed her 
 death was due to the heart-strain she endured
 
 184 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 that I, the unworthy son of as near a woman- 
 angel as God ever fashioned for earth, might 
 spring into unneeded existence ; and, later, drag 
 her fair name, and that of a respected and dis- 
 tinguished family, to the earth by my notorious 
 freedom of living. There was certainly no 
 mincing of matters, no chance offered to inter- 
 rupt, had I cared to do so. I was given finally 
 to understand that I had never been wanted, 
 surely not needed ; and that I had no real right 
 to a decent name. However I was assured that, 
 to meet the needs of my gross nature, I could 
 always draw a certain amount on his bank, in 
 addition to the sum left me by my poor mother. 
 Having settled this financial obligation, my 
 father intimated that he had probably reached 
 and touched the one interest I was capable of 
 regarding seriously. 
 
 Then, Ed, I stooped to the fearful irrelevance 
 and irreverence of a laugh. I laughed long and 
 harshly and striking a match, lighted a cigarette
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 185 
 
 and puffed it with forced gayety. I was at the 
 white-heat calm of rage. A man can stand 
 financial restrictions, fierce hardships any- 
 thing better than the intimation that he is 
 possessing unworthily a name he has had no 
 hand in obtaining. But, Ed, even though many 
 hours of better understanding between my 
 parent and myself were mercifully granted me 
 later on, I shall never cease to regret bitterly 
 the stand I took then with my poor, proud, dis- 
 tracted father. 
 
 "Don't trouble yourself about speaking to 
 your banker," I sneered with a coldness equal 
 to his own. "If you had told me a little of the 
 world, or shown a little decent interest ever in 
 my movements, I might have felt the grateful 
 dutiful spirit. But I do not want your money 
 or your name. It has not helped me through 
 trouble any better than as though I had been 
 any one of the common herd. As for my 
 mother's income, I will no longer dishonor her
 
 186 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 by using it. But when you blame me for her 
 going or for my coming at all ; when you blame 
 me for finding out what every man must know 
 for himself, if he has no interested parent to 
 warn or explain, I confess you take a step be- 
 yond my feeble comprehension. I can only 
 make amends for the great evil of living, how- 
 ever, by choosing another name. This I will 
 surely do!" 
 
 My father was already deeply regretful ; for, 
 Ed, a more just man never lived, when once a 
 truth was borne in. I could see he was even 
 then struggling fiercely to ameliorate his worst 
 accusations; but I gave him no chance. 
 
 "And take it from me, sir," I cried as I 
 seized my cap and sprang toward the door, 
 every nerve tingling fiercely, "if you had ever 
 shown the decent interest in me that you gave 
 to one of those worthless books in your li- 
 brary, you might have saved me from many 
 crimes, where the luster of your unimpeachable 
 name was of no value at all."
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 187 
 
 On the doorstep I met darkey Joe, a young lad 
 of twenty whom Chester and I employed to- 
 gether as our general aid. 
 
 "Why, Mistah Ory," he exclaimed, "whar- 
 abouts am yer skitin't" 
 
 "To Chicago," I answered under a sudden 
 inspiration to drown myself from former as- 
 sociations as thoroughly as possible. "Have 
 my trunk ready right away, and don't breathe 
 a word, if you value your skull. ' ' 
 
 "But I goes, too?" questioned the negro 
 plaintively. "I lubs the groun' Chicagy sets 
 on." 
 
 "You belong to Chester," I announced 
 shortly. 
 
 "No, sah, there is some mistake 'bout dat, 
 Mistah Ory! My feelin's never did 'meliorate 
 with dat Mistah Chester ! Please let me go ! " 
 
 I confess even the thought of Joe's faithful 
 company proved a solace to me in my utter 
 desolation. "All right, suit yourself," I an- 
 swered gloomily. "But it's a purseless man
 
 188 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 you are asking to serve now, not an heir to lux- 
 uries. I have but a hundred dollars in cash; 
 and no special line of support in view." 
 
 Joe lifted his cap with respectful eagerness. 
 "Yas, sah. Them's jes' the kine of gentl'men 
 I likes to sarve bes'I An' there ain't no pov- 
 erty goin' to git hoi' of neither of us, Mistah 
 Ory. Why, I am a gradluite in the shoe-shinin', 
 an' step-lightly-roun'-the-table bizness. What's 
 the use of yer wastin' time with them support- 
 professions till yer get good an' ready! Long 
 as I am on deck, I'll show yer how to make 
 Chicagy grin at our comin' from the start." 
 
 "Lead the way," I muttered gloomily. "I'd 
 see myself dead before I would take help from 
 white or or tinted thanking you just the 
 same. But if there is a grin, or even the ab- 
 sence of heavy frowns, for us any place, I will 
 traipse the whole world around till I find it."
 
 LETTER XIV 
 
 Edward Clifton Aliston to His Aunt, Mrs. 
 Thompson. In Which He Asks Speedy 
 Help. At His Home Desk. November 
 Eighth. 
 
 DEAE ERNESTINE: 
 
 When you suggested that I might event- 
 ually need your help in settling questions re- 
 garding Mildred, I smiled involuntarily; for 
 when have we ever failed to petition for your 
 clear-headed and heartfelt solutions! But I 
 did not quite realize myself, then, how desperate 
 and speedy would be my appeal. 
 
 Ernestine, when I wrote you that Mildred 
 was heart-free, I made the mistake concerning 
 a subject that man seems ever prone to handle 
 clumsily. It is this Mildred is no longer a 
 care-free, little girl, but a woman, deeply in love ! 
 
 189
 
 190 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 And with Orison Holland. It has been but 
 three days over a fortnight, Ernestine, since 
 Orison left on a peculiar errand, known by me, 
 but entirely incomprehensible to Mildred. An 
 errand I am under promise not to explain to 
 her until the time is ripe. But if you could 
 only have seen my little sister as I came upon 
 her this evening, I am sure you would share 
 with me a keenly awakened alarm. 
 
 She was standing in the bay-window of our 
 living-room, overlooking that sliver of shimmer- 
 ing lake, just visible through Carter's bunch of 
 heavy oaks. When I entered, she turned, and 
 I could scarcely believe for the moment that it 
 was Mildred's face. So lost was every vestige 
 of her brilliant coloring, so sorrowing her eyes, 
 and yet so full of the dignity of a suffering 
 woman, who battles in vain for some solution. 
 By these signs, and her unusual silence, I real- 
 ized miserably that the happy little girl-sister 
 of but a few hours ago had left me in a breath ! 
 
 For a time she refused me the confidence
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 191 
 
 the only one, I am confident, withheld of her 
 sweet, pure life ; then as I drew her gently down 
 beside me on the couch, she gave way to the 
 first hysteria in my memory, and sobbed out her 
 trouble on my shoulder. 
 
 She had lost all dignity, all womanhood! 
 Thus her fierce little confession ran; she was 
 deeply, irretrievably in love with Orison. A 
 man who cared for her so little that he could 
 go as easily as he came 1 A man who had given 
 her constant proofs of more than real friend- 
 ship, and yet had forgotten her very existence 
 in a fortnight in some new field! 
 
 It was very difficult, Ernestine, to listen to 
 this grief and not give the whole explanation 
 that Ory loved her as truly as she did him ; but 
 was proving his right to come into her presence, 
 giving the cleanliness of record that he must 
 surely expect to receive. As it was, I comforted 
 her with the news that Orison had been called 
 away on an errand of great importance, and 
 would, no doubt, explain everything to her at
 
 192 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 his earliest opportunity. Also I went to the 
 unwise length of assuring her that Orison 
 valued her friendship very highly indeed. 
 That much he had told me. 
 
 "But are you sure, little sister," I questioned 
 with the frankness that has always existed in 
 exquisite form between us, on account of our 
 difference in age and the early loss of our 
 mother, "that if you do finally decide that Ori- 
 son is the one you love, and he loves you, that 
 you can also give to him your fullest respect as 
 a man worthy to represent a future generation, 
 if God so willed it a generation whose strength 
 of morals and physique, we both agree, rest 
 necessarily, in a great measure, upon what the 
 parents have been and are. This I ask because 
 our mother wished it so, not from any grandeur 
 of soul of my own that sets me aloof from the 
 erring. ' ' 
 
 "Oh, so sure!" she answered, and I confess 
 my heart leapt with a hungry pain at the look 
 of utter tenderness for Orison in her eyes.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 193 
 
 "That is just it! That is just why I love Ory! 
 I am so glad you have taught me that way, my 
 brother; so thankful that dear mother left the 
 message she did about that very matter ; for this 
 above everything else first led me to love 
 Frank. He is so gentle, yet so firm, so cour- 
 teous, so true, so pure, so full of poise and self- 
 control. He seems so much like you, Teddy, in 
 splendid Bigness! I am very, very sure he 
 never yielded an instant to any weakness or 
 excess. I have thought of all this many times ; 
 for you and the word from mother have proven 
 to me that it is not indelicate but false modesty 
 amounting to crime, not to weigh the possible 
 results of a union, until after it is too late. I 
 must be able to tell my children truthfully that 
 they have every rightful reason to be proud of 
 their father; every hereditary inspiration for 
 making their own lives worth while !" 
 
 "And yet, if it should be proven that even 
 Orison must foist a bit to lay finest claims upon 
 the possibility of finest progeny!" I chanced
 
 194 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 the question, though sure of her staunchness of 
 views concerning the one standard for both 
 man and woman. 
 
 "Then I could not marry even him!" She 
 covered her eyes with a little shiver. "No mat- 
 ter whom I wed, I must be able to handle every 
 weakness, great or small, in case of being blessed 
 with little ones, by saying: 'The trouble is in 
 yourself, dear child. We will try to master it 
 quickly; for, thank God, there is no possible 
 hereditary excuse why you can't grow up and 
 stand forth among men iron-bodied and pure- 
 souled!' Suddenly she dropped her hands 
 from her eyes with a comfortable laugh. ' ' But 
 what a waste of words what nonsensical sur- 
 mises, of this and that ! As if Orison ever has 
 been, could or would be anything but a soul of 
 admirable temperance and control! Weakness 
 shows in a man's eyes, in the curve of his lips, 
 in his evasive tones. The lines of Ory's fea- 
 tures are made of iron bands, blended with sun- 
 shine. He never evades, but meets one direct."
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 195 
 
 Ernestine, the enclosed package of letters will 
 explain the nature of Orison's errand. I also 
 send his dispatch, received but an hour ago in 
 answer to one of mine, of eager desire that you 
 become a jurist in his case. Oh, dear Tante, 
 it will mean everything to Mildred and Orison. 
 Already I feel myself wavering cowardly. I 
 find myself longing, like the great army of on- 
 lookers, to wait a while before taking up so un- 
 comfortable a subject as the one standard for 
 both sexes. I want to persuade myself vigor- 
 ously that just as a young colt must kick its 
 heels before succumbing to the binding power 
 of the shafts and harness, so a young man 
 should beat about a while in a field of wild-oats, 
 that he may better understand the value of a 
 rich harvest of wheat. There is a deeper rea- 
 son than mere theory why I am compelled to 
 reason thus. 
 
 But, Ernestine, help me to be true to mother, 
 true to Mildred, yes, true to the world and my 
 own best conceptions ; though not, by any means,
 
 196 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 in accordance with my own early actions. It 
 is not the case we must consider, but the prin- 
 ciple. How, in reason, can one side be respon- 
 sible for all the weaknesses of heredity the 
 other side, no matter how careless, utterly ir- 
 responsible? It is not, and we know it! The 
 children of the tenements, hollow-eyed, crying 
 out against life almost before the conception of 
 breathing is grasped, know it too. The crip- 
 pled, the anaemic, the delinquent children of 
 the Avenues know it as well. The world feels 
 it frightfully in the weak battlings of her sinning 
 and irresolute and moral-drugged sons and 
 daughters men and women who might have ac- 
 complished so much, had there been a little more 
 justice in birth. For, you know well, that 
 abused notes in nature have a way of lying low 
 for a time, only to send in more furious demand- 
 claims a little later on often when the real 
 debtor has passed out of life or danger of cap- 
 ture. I wish I did not have to believe this. 
 But I do!
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 197 
 
 I hear your exclamation, Ernestine, and an- 
 swer quickly: No! I would not have a man 
 marry down for a solution, nor connect his name 
 with a weakling simply because he has had 
 times of miserable lack of self-control. But I 
 would have him know that he must have the 
 right to ask the woman of highest moral stand- 
 ard, with whom, should she accept him, he must 
 stand responsible for a possible new generation ! 
 Sentiment expects more of the true and beauti- 
 ful in woman, I know ; but the time seems come 
 when struggling woman is calling out for jus- 
 tice rather than sentiment, for honest investiga- 
 tion as to the true causes of hereditary evils, 
 rather than insistent and unscrupulous blame. 
 
 God helping me, I will urge Mildred to stand 
 with me for this principle; and you, too, Er- 
 nestine, are just. I know you will fight with us 
 for this cause, no matter how bitter the per- 
 sonal pain. 
 
 Ever your loving nephew. ED.
 
 LETTER XV 
 
 Mrs. William Howard Thompson to Alis- 
 ton. By Night-Letter. November Tenth. 
 
 Teddy oh Ted! Yes, of course, I will try 
 to help ; though already it is bitterly hard to for- 
 get Mildred and Ory and ourselves for the sake 
 of principle. I think that is one reason why so 
 many splendid impulses go down untried be- 
 cause scarcely a question exists, but that, in set- 
 tling it honestly, the happiness or comfort of 
 some one near and dear is involved. Why, we 
 must not let our sweet little Mildred, whom I 
 know will never believe differently from you, 
 break her heart. And poor Ory ! I have read 
 his bravely honest letters already, and cried 
 over them bitterly. But don't you see oh, 
 surely you do he has really done nothing dis- 
 
 198
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 199 
 
 reputable at all as yet. Even the odious night 
 at Owl Inn was all the drift of circumstances. 
 He did not realize how loathsome it would be. 
 In reality he played no gross part, but thought 
 so from owning a finely sensitive conscience. 
 Just as you do, Teddy dear. I confess I have 
 to smile when you hint now and then of a pos- 
 sible frivolity of your own youth. As if you 
 ever could have been really indiscreet you 
 splendid, big-hearted man! He even left be- 
 fore the end, with pitiful penitence for the abuse 
 of the trust that the possession of the little 
 locket laid upon him. But there, I must 
 forget the person and remember the question: 
 Whether Ory has as much right to Mildred's 
 love as she has to his. Oh, Teddy, I pray our 
 little boat may not be shipwrecked on the shoals 
 of fanaticism; for it all seems such shadowy, 
 such frightfully erratic waters with such ter- 
 rors of possibilities ! Still we will we must 
 be true. We will land in the Harbor of Honest 
 Decision, or at least, if we sink from weakness
 
 200 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 of human judgment, go down trying to make it 
 with all our might. 
 I shall write you every day now. Send Ory's 
 
 letters as fast as you possibly can. YOUB 
 
 DEEPLY SYMPATHETIC AUNT.
 
 LETTER XVI 
 
 Fifth Report from Orison to Aliston. 
 Concerning the Girl in the Land of Shadow. 
 Ellison Grove, November Twelfth. 
 
 DEAE ED: 
 
 Chicago did not suffer the slightest twitch- 
 ing of its visual muscles for me. It did for 
 Joe! I walked the streets for a week, first 
 asserting that I could fill almost any position 
 capably ; then, as my room-rent, at three dollars 
 and a half a day, began mounting up frightfully, 
 I actually appealed for a chance to work. My 
 attempt to prove that I had shown a decent intel- 
 ligence in college only caused smiles. Why had 
 I left before the term was out, was a constant 
 and natural question. I learned to screen my 
 
 collegiate wisdom as carefully as a murderer 
 
 201
 
 202 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 would his spotted knife. But my lack of prep- 
 aration along any special line, my inability to 
 supply references, even the awkward manner in 
 which I fumbled my newly considered name of 
 Curtis all these facts went woefully against 
 me. But not so for Joe. Perhaps Chicago 
 recognized the uselessness of inquiring for his 
 bona-fide references; perhaps it was in too 
 strenuous a rush to be willing to listen to the 
 list of his former working places ; or, more than 
 anything else, no doubt, the big city welcomed 
 the suave, indolently graceful deference that in- 
 variably comes when there is a blending of the 
 Ethiopian blood with a frequent touch of white 
 what Joe proudly called, "a drap of de real 
 thing." 
 
 At any rate, before the first day was over, 
 Joe had an opportunity to play in a colored 
 band, to be waiter at a swell cafe on Michigan 
 Boulevard, or to take charge of a glittering 
 shoe-shining concern, where mirrors, set in 
 highly polished brass frames, formed the whole
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 203 
 
 ceiling and walls and where "the patronage 
 of ladies" was especially solicited. 
 
 Joe, choosing from hereditary instinct, the 
 pleasing work of gliding, white-garbed and re- 
 splendent, in the midst of shaded electroliers, 
 pleasantly flattering mirrors, gorgeously de- 
 signed furniture, and costly silken garments, 
 that must ever be stepped around deferentially, 
 had his final goal fixed upon nothing short of a 
 white-stone, lake-front cafe of his very own. I, 
 watching the ceaseless line of luxurious limou- 
 sines, autos and taxi-cabs roll past my hotel- 
 window, fronting on Michigan Boulevard, felt 
 tightening about me the grip of stuffy walls, 
 and cramped unfamiliar neighborhoods houses 
 where front-stairs jumped at one immediately 
 upon entering the door, showing a frazzle of 
 cheap faded carpet, and holding even in their 
 bare threads hideous odors, reminiscent of pre- 
 cabbage and unsunned days. 
 
 It all came, too ! Not at a leap ; for I would 
 accept none of these conditions until the fact
 
 204 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 was borne well upon me that I must, or starve ! 
 Or, worse, consider the one hideous alternative 
 of borrowing from Joe. I had found work at 
 last, after a search of a fortnight, making 
 entry-receipts in a big wholesale house! My 
 salary was barely sufficient to meet the stringent 
 needs of food, rental, and respectable appear- 
 ance. Naturally, I knew nothing of economy. 
 I was fairly dazed at the small expansive power 
 of a dollar. Often the end of the month found 
 me walking the six miles to my home, because 
 I did not have even the price of the car-fare 
 left! 
 
 For a time I kept in touch with Joe, who, 
 loyal fellow that he was, insisted upon dropping 
 into my dingy quarters several evenings a week, 
 just to touch up my shoes, and give my clothes 
 a little freshening. When one day, however, he 
 surreptitiously replaced a pair of wearing 
 patent leathers with a pair of costly new ones, 
 I could bear the thought of his witnessing my 
 humiliation no longer. That very evening I
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 205 
 
 paid my rent a week in advance and moved into 
 even more remote quarters, where in the flotsam 
 of human beings that Chicago must ever bear 
 upon her laden bosom, I felt sure my identity 
 would be completely lost. 
 
 For a time, unable to concentrate my mind on 
 reading or to persuade myself to mingle at all 
 with my co-workers in the department-store, who 
 were mostly of foreign element, and yet craving 
 human companionship, I endured myself of 
 evenings by lounging in luxurious chairs of big 
 hotel lobbies, watching the grace and light and 
 sway of costly gowns and studied movements, 
 all the time under the dreadful fear of being 
 recognized, but with the vain hope of finding 
 one soul in conditions as miserably complicated 
 as my own. When, however, an unusually 
 pretty young woman turned a sudden glance of 
 pity upon me one evening, I realized more 
 fiercely than ever how illy dressed I was becom- 
 ing. In all bitterness of spirit I made a hasty 
 retreat back to my humble quarters, with a
 
 206 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 wildly muttered oath to venture no longer out- 
 side the sordid line of waifdom and failure. 
 
 It was with this resolve, growing ever more 
 rankly fierce in my heart, that I set out one rainy 
 night in late spring, determined not to return 
 home until I had found the companionship of 
 some one, no matter in what walk in life, who 
 was possible as an acquaintance, and as miser- 
 able as myself. 
 
 It was a fierce night for pedestrians. A cold 
 lake wind, holding full sway, cut into even a 
 most sturdy man's last drop of blood and tissue. 
 A spiteful rain fell only in slaps and gusts, 
 when it could get the best chance at the eyes 
 or back of the neck. For once the narrow side- 
 walks were utterly clear of sprawling babies 
 and perpetually shawled women. But this only 
 added to the dismal tone of the night. All I 
 seemed to want now was to get out of the utter 
 loneliness into warmth, light, human sounds and 
 touch! For I reasoned that if I did not find 
 some one soon to direct my attention from my-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 207 
 
 self I would quickly lose my reason, and be sim- 
 ply another name on the long list of falterers 
 that chose to plunge from the drawbridge on 
 Twenty-second Street, or other equally acces- 
 sible places, to the troubled waters below. 
 
 At Murphy's " parlor-restaurant," where 
 many lamps flooded the blackened sidewalk with 
 a gaudy light of invitation, I turned in gladly. 
 There the Girl in the Land of Shadow was wait- 
 ing for me perhaps not exactly knowing my 
 form, but yearning for a soul in my desperate 
 condition of loneliness, a man nursing a mis- 
 ery, not identical with, but as poignant as her 
 own. 
 
 She was very young, perhaps eighteen; her 
 eyes were big and black and lustrous, showing, 
 I thought, a touch of French blood, but too di- 
 rect in their desperate appeal. Her cheeks were 
 still firm and pretty in their soft texture, in 
 spite of the high touch of borrowed coloring. It 
 was evident that this poor little girl had been 
 but a very short time at the mercy of the streets.
 
 208 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 At first I did not let her see that I was notic- 
 ing her. I took my seat in a corner at a dingy 
 table, where the slovenly captain of a once-popu- 
 lar steamer snored in drunken sleep, his bulgy 
 head bent far over his chest. A woman of forty 
 or more, a veritable painted hag, was passing 
 coarse jokes with the "Wizard" of a near-by 
 nickelodeon, at a table just a few feet away; 
 while on a rough wooden bench, a fiercely 
 repellent, pock-marked man pillowed the head 
 of a drug-sodden woman ignominiously in his 
 arms. You know, Ed, of the constant rush of 
 young college-men into these scenes of degrada- 
 tion that they may find what they claim is real 
 Life. Life ! It seemed rather to me, now, the 
 awful evidence of death-in-life soul-mortifica- 
 tion, such as the poor leper must experience as 
 he sees his flesh drop away inch by inch and 
 knows what the outcome must be. I confess I 
 trembled with abject horror and fear. I 
 clutched at the rude table before me, attempting 
 to rise and to plunge out into the chill and the
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 209 
 
 dark; but my fingers grew numb and my knees 
 swayed oddly under me. Then as the rasping 
 orchestra stopped short to give the ''dancing- 
 lady" a chance for a drink, I sank back in my 
 chair, ashamed of my real panic. After all 
 there was light here, and warmth and souls 
 that were even more miserable than myself. 
 Suddenly, by one of those odd undulations of 
 wave-tissues that connect thought-matter, seem- 
 ingly as hopelessly estranged as two parallel 
 lines, my commencement-day resolve rushed 
 over my mind. I had sworn to find happiness 
 the elusive treasure that sage men had failed 
 to catch! And, with only two years interven- 
 ing, my resolve had ended in this ! "With a low, 
 almost unbalanced, laugh that made even the 
 drunken captain open his swollen lids for a 
 blinking moment, I lit a cigarette and ordered a 
 drink. 
 
 Just as I had begun to feel warm and more 
 hopeful, I noticed that one of the cheap fiddlers 
 had sidled off the platform and was making his
 
 210 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 grinning way toward the Girl in the Land of 
 Shadow. Instantly I resented it with fiercest 
 indignation. I do not know yet why I felt it 
 quite so strongly, save that she seemed such a 
 young, foolishly straying woman soul, pitifully 
 unable to protect herself from bitter conse- 
 quences, in spite of her attempted bravado. 
 
 I rose quickly, and having the advantage of 
 being even of head, made my longer distance 
 first. "Remember I have engaged your entire 
 evening," I said boldly, in a voice that the ap- 
 proaching fiddler could not fail to hear. As I 
 bent over her, with an air of temporary pro- 
 prietorship, the girl lifted surprised and grate- 
 ful eyes. For she seemed to see in me what 
 she had evidently met very seldom in this hide- 
 ous life a man bearing the unmistakable marks 
 of a gentleman by birth, who was unexpectedly 
 interested in her to the extent, at least, of offer- 
 ing protection from a still worse situation. 
 
 "Oh, thank you," she breathed low, as the 
 liquor-befogged musician turned away with a
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 211 
 
 sheepish grin. Then I noticed that her eyes fell 
 at once with actual longing upon the thumb- 
 marked menu-card. And I knew instinctively 
 that this little girl had gone supperless for 
 that night. Immediately I beckoned a dingily 
 clad waiter and ordered sandwiches and 
 beer. 
 
 When cold and the awful physical gnawing 
 had been alleviated for the girl by means of food 
 and drink, I bent nearer her; for already my 
 soul was captive with pity for her, and I felt 
 tingling through my own being the presentiment 
 that here was a companionship that I would 
 have scorned almost brutally a few months back, 
 but which, strangely, strangely, I almost wel- 
 comed now. * * Little girl, ' ' I invited ; ' ' let 's get 
 out of all this. It is no place for you. The 
 rain is over now. Will you trust yourself with 
 me for a walk in the fresh air?" 
 
 Immediately she lifted dark eyes, bearing re- 
 lief and such a touch of still-unstained beauty 
 that I was amazed they could keep so clean in
 
 212 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 expression after nights in places like these. 
 Again I decided that the girl's bravado was 
 only a pitiful bluff. The path of gloom was 
 evidently a very new and still frightful place to 
 her little wandering feet. "Why, of course, I 
 will gladly come," she stated simply, with no 
 attempt at coquetry "with you." 
 
 The blackness had lifted when the girl and I 
 went out into the night. Stars had crept forth 
 in brilliant wonder. Looming buildings and 
 gorging chimneys lay softened into fanciful tur- 
 rets and ladders of clouds. Even the chill lake- 
 breeze slumbered mercifully. The girl moved 
 near me, slipping her hand with wonderful trust 
 through mine. As I drew her still nearer to 
 protect her from the cold, the shivering caused 
 by insufficient clothing ceased. She seemed a 
 soul wonderfully at peace for the moment. 
 
 On the breakwater at the foot of Twenty-sec- 
 ond Street was where we, by an unspoken under- 
 standing, chose our resting-place. We had ex- 
 changed but a sentence or two during the quick
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 213 
 
 walk. There, on the cold gray stones that 
 served to keep the purifying waters of the lake 
 from breaking loose, we seemed to find a spot 
 that fitted into our mood and circumstances! 
 It was after the fifth or sixth cigar, I think, that 
 I broke the silence. The girl, her small feet 
 drawn up carefully from the splashing water, 
 her form huddled ever near me for warmth, had 
 also observed a doleful quiet. For you realize, 
 Ed, it is the custom of lives like these the Girl 
 in the Land of Shadow, and mine as it then 
 seemed to ask no questions concerning the 
 past ; to accept only the present on one side, as 
 it must be accepted on the other on faith and 
 often at a fearful risk ! 
 
 But this evening, moved by a great tide of 
 feeling, I broke the rule and the woman did not 
 resent it. "Why, little girl," I asked as I 
 pitched my cigar into the darkened waters, 
 "why did you spot yourself by going into that 
 hell-spot, where I found you to-night !" 
 
 The girl drew a quick breath. "Oh, it is such
 
 214 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 a trite story. You will think that it is manu- 
 factured." 
 
 Her very words proved to me at once that she 
 was, as I had suspected, in the grasp of dire 
 misfortune rather than hereditary prompting. 
 They rang with reason and grammatical knowl- 
 edge. I reached out and touched her nerveless 
 fingers. They were such decent hands, show- 
 ing an attempt to keep them soft and well- 
 groomed. The breeze lifted and displayed, 
 even in the low glow of artificially lit surround- 
 ings, a flowing of heavy curls about her face. 
 Involuntarily my fingers raised and touched 
 their softness. "Tell me, girlie," I insisted. 
 "It is a shame, a shame! Why there is lady's 
 blood there in the shape and the texture of 
 your hands, yes everywhere in you!" 
 
 "You are right," she cried, with a quick gasp 
 of consternation. "Oh, it is a simple story soon 
 told. I was left an orphan, without any means, 
 with only disinterested, most distant relatives. 
 I was too proud to appeal to them. I was of-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 215 
 
 fered a position in a store of my little village- 
 town. Oh, I ought to have taken it. I ought 
 to have taken it ! But I thought, as many other 
 foolish girls have done, that I had too much in 
 me for a cramped little village environment. 
 I owned fare to Chicago, and a few weeks' 
 board; so I came. I don't know what I ex- 
 pected to do; but I thought it would be some- 
 thing wonderful. And, soon, I found I could 
 not even earn the price of my daily bread ! ' ' 
 
 "And then you grew discouraged and needy 
 and hungry and desperate and lonesome oh, 
 so bitterly lonesome I know all the rest, little 
 one," I hurried on. 
 
 "Yes, lonesome; that is what caused my 
 downfall. I could stand the other part the 
 gnawing and the cold and looking and feeling 
 so fearfully shabby, but I couldn't stand that! 
 It is the secret of all great misfortune with 
 women like me, I think." 
 
 "And you were too proud to send word back 
 of your failure, or to return. ' '
 
 216 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 "Yes/' she laughed bitterly in answer. 
 
 "But why didn't you go to some church or 
 join some Y. W. C. AJ" I queried curiously. 
 
 The girl threw up her hands in disdain. ' ' To 
 church in these clothes! And the poor Y. W. 
 C. A. It's all right, I guess; but swamped 
 swamped with calls upon its powers. There 
 ought to be an annex of private homes to help 
 its overflow ! Then perhaps you know how it is 
 when one has had a family that has always stood 
 alone. I couldn't ask help. I couldn't take 
 charity. But, oh, I was so bitterly, bitterly 
 lonesome ! 
 
 "Yes!" she breathed low, "then he came. 
 He was so thoughtful; so attentive; so gentle- 
 manly ; he seemed to love me so. I thought he 
 truly wanted to marry me. Then one evening 
 he asked for the one big proof that would con- 
 vince him that I loved him body and soul. I 
 gave it! Oh, it wasn't the crime of a moment; 
 but the result of weeks of clever petting and of 
 comradeship ! Even the weakest do not fall in
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 217 
 
 a moment, in spite of the clutch-and-get them 
 theories of many home-hemmed innocents. If 
 some one true had only come in time ! ' ' 
 
 "Did you never follow him up?" I asked. 
 
 "Yes," she cried. Her body suddenly stiff- 
 ened; her breath came short and full of hate, 
 then relaxed into softer mood. "It was when I 
 thought baby would really live. Thank God 
 he never breathed a gasp of life! It was a 
 fierce winter evening, and I was so ill. I threw 
 on my wraps that he had given me they were 
 pretty and warm and I tracked him from 
 place to place, where I knew he was used to go- 
 ing. I hated him then, but it was of the baby 
 his and mine that I was thinking. I meant 
 that he should give it any small chance of hope 
 or success that was left it after such a birth. 
 Well, I found him, at a big party on a wealthy 
 avenue. When I sent in my name by the butler, 
 he came right out. I think I must have looked 
 very beautiful that night in my fierce rebel- 
 lion for when he once saw me, he excused him-
 
 218 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 self at once from the party, seeming to feel no 
 interest in anything else but being with me 
 and took me away to a little, very select res- 
 taurant, where we had spent many happy hours 
 together. ' ' 
 
 The girl stopped abruptly, and for a time I 
 could not break the silence. ' ' Did he stand true 
 blue?" I finally asked. 
 
 Her laugh was much like that given finally by 
 poor Jarvis. I shuddered involuntarily as its 
 hopeless notes fell upon the night. ' * He told me 
 he would do what he could in the way of cover- 
 ing expenses and providing even luxuries ! But 
 he said it must not come out. He explained 
 that he was molding his plans to reach his 
 father 's place eventually that of Chief Justice. 
 He told me for the first time that he was en- 
 gaged to a sweet, very pure young girl, who 
 knew absolutely nothing of careless life. 'If 
 it were just myself, Kiddo,' he explained, 'you 
 know I would stand by you openly. I would 
 just close my eyes and drift down the stream,
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 219 
 
 you in my arms, whether the way be rough or 
 smooth. But as it is where would those that 
 love me come out! Why, it would break my 
 old daddy's heart, and crush out my poor 
 mother's very life. And how do you think the 
 little girl would feel, who has trusted her own 
 pure soul to me?' 
 
 The long silence that followed showed that the 
 girl was at the end of any evidence she meant 
 to give. The recitation had sickened me with 
 its howling evidence all through of the yellow 
 dog the dastardly yellow dog. And I felt in- 
 stinctively that every word the girl had spoken 
 was true. With an exclamation of revengeful 
 thought, I reached out and gathered the poor 
 little thing into my arms. A name sprang 
 wildly into my brain of just such a man a 
 young college-fellow that was preparing to take 
 a legal course, and, later, follow in his honor- 
 able father's footsteps. "Chester?" I whis- 
 pered to her now fiercely. But the littleness 
 of my act was quickly rebuffed. She showed
 
 220 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 the greater spirit by remaining loyal to a trust, 
 no matter how undeserving, as all true-souled 
 women have done since the beginning of time. 
 A fact that of itself alone should set decent men 
 howling for one standard, rather than scoffing 
 and rejecting the weak woman who protects 
 them. 
 
 "The name that I shall never tell," she re- 
 proved fiercely. "He did come back to look 
 us up later much later the boy and me. But 
 the baby had not lived, and I, believing him en- 
 tirely conscienceless, aside from providing 
 handsomely for expenses, left that quarter as 
 soon as I was well enough, without giving any 
 address. A slum-angel told me about his return 
 and search, or I should never have known. " 
 Her voice had dropped into gentlest accents. 
 But suddenly her mood changed. "See," she 
 laughed scornfully, "that building just across 
 the line of tracks is lit from attic to cellar. Do 
 you know why? A big flood has swept Ohio 
 farm-lands, and a whole town is in terrible need.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 221 
 
 Human souls are working there with all their 
 might to fill boxes that will clothe and feed the 
 bodies of the people in the flooded town. But 
 if 7 should step in now and ask them to put new 
 clothes and new garments on my soul by re- 
 ceiving me, only a few, likely none of them, 
 would give me a chance. They are too 'nice' 
 to risk contamination from even talking about 
 such things, or listening to a woman like me!" 
 A picture of Christ and the lowly Magdalene, 
 which I had seen long before when on a visit 
 to a cathedral with Nurse Marie, flashed oddly 
 before my mind. No subject too miry, too 
 vivid, too loathsome for the Great Master Physi- 
 cian to handle but mortals must gather their 
 garments quickly, most painstakingly about 
 them, for fear of contamination, before enter- 
 ing the shadow of the greatest soul-cry that 
 this old world knows the wronged the help- 
 less woman the possible mother of a child that 
 must, inevitably, enter this world under heavi- 
 est odds. And all the time a father somewhere
 
 222 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 often smiling, successful, even venerated, who, 
 must come out unscathed of course, for the sake 
 of the loved ones, for whose feelings, at the ap- 
 proach of threatened disaster, he feels a most 
 wonderful solicitude, never equaled in intensity 
 in the days of his rashness, nor experienced 
 again in the years to follow ! 
 
 Suddenly the girl broke my wanderings. She 
 lifted her face, and clutched my arm in a fierce 
 grasp. "Oh, tell me," she pleaded. "You 
 know life better than I do you have been in the 
 very best I know it You remind me, some- 
 how, very much of him. Is there any use for a 
 girl like me to start fresh again in a life that 
 gives a man as many chances as he wants? I 
 never longed to so hard as to-night. It is be- 
 cause you have been good to me, I think, like 
 like a real friend ! ' ' 
 
 I couldn't bear, Ed, to look into the girl's 
 troubled face. I strove to be honest, but for 
 once I could not. ' * You have gone such a short 
 time in this foolish way," I condoled, "perhaps
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 223 
 
 you can turn back now. Perhaps you'll have 
 lots of chances to grow strong again. ' ' 
 
 She rose part way, then fell on her knees by 
 my side, bending her flushed face very near 
 mine. " Would you give me a chance!" she 
 cried. "You know what suffering this miser- 
 able life is. Would you call me a friend and go 
 with me as a real one, if you could get back right 
 now to your real true place?" 
 
 Thoughts of my proud father flashed suddenly 
 across my vision ; and of Senator and Mrs. Buck- 
 ingham of the Linkersteins of Catherine of 
 a as yet unknown but perfectly possible young 
 girl, chaste as falling snowflakes, that might 
 eventually come into my life. What possible ex- 
 cuse would these proud-minded, pure-hearted 
 people find for me if I made such a choice of 
 friends! How they would writhe in humilia- 
 tion at what they would term my selfish fanati- 
 cism. Irrationally, considering my fierce ar- 
 raignment of but a few moments ago against the 
 man that had wronged this girl I was taking
 
 224 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 exactly the same weak stand, though with less 
 cause for responsibility, the time-worn view 
 that convention expected. I was not brave 
 enough to strike out in the open honestly for 
 equality of justice for both sexes on account of 
 consideration for my family standing, and, in- 
 cidentally, my own imminent hazard. 
 
 "Oh, little woman," I pleaded. "We have 
 found each other, and it means a lot to both of 
 us in our loneliness. I can 't go out in the open 
 now with any one. Neither can I explain. 
 But why can't you be content! I will guard 
 you and take care of you. Let us try a tempo- 
 rary home together. You can make your 
 struggle with me, as a real friend, and we will 
 never forget the comfort we gave each other. 
 If you wish, it will be platonic friendship only 
 companions for each other, and a cozy home, 
 though it would have to be very, very crude as 
 I am making little salary now, at best.*' Even 
 as I placed the petition I recognized in it the 
 yellow streak ; for I had not lately looked upon
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 225 
 
 my will-power and control as wholly infallible, 
 as I certainly had in previous years. 
 
 The girl saw my weakness of argument, at 
 once. With a bitter laugh, she threw herself 
 away from the touch I had thrown out to her. 
 She clutched at her throat with a hard sob. 
 1 'Oh, that's it. That's it! You are just like 
 the rest only nicer in saying it. That is what 
 makes us women hard and desperate so soon. 
 Men will let us entertain them want us to en- 
 tertain them come to us invariably when life 
 seems most dreary. But the decent name the 
 friendship in evidence oh, there is no hope no 
 hope! For if they were fair enough to give 
 us the chance they want for themselves where 
 in the world would they and their loved ones 
 come out ! Where indeed ! ' ' 
 
 "Little Girl!" I cried, suddenly moved past 
 any power of reasoning "what right have I 
 to judge ? We have met and I need you want 
 your friendship. Since you have taken me on 
 faith if you will wait till I have the means to
 
 226 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 marry if you will let me be your friend as I 
 am just for a little while " 
 
 But again she laughed mockingly. "No," 
 she cried, springing away from me. "You feel 
 yourself so in the shadows now that you are 
 almost willing. You can almost persuade your- 
 self that you would be brave enough to do as 
 you say. But if you once got back ah, I know 
 even pity for me wouldn't hold you." 
 
 * ' Then at least let me see you home ; let me 
 know where you live," I insisted, rising to fol- 
 low her retreating form. "You are too pretty 
 and far too good still to be on the street alone 
 this time at night." 
 
 "Thank you for that!" she said stopping. 
 "But I won't let you. I" her voice broke in 
 misery "oh, you have been so good so good 
 to me I couldn't trust myself even for that. 
 But I am going to try just once more try for 
 a year no matter what the humiliations to 
 find one soul that is willing to give me an hon- 
 est open chancel"
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 227 
 
 "And if you do?" I asked. 
 
 * ' If I do, God knows I shall strain every drop 
 of blood, every tissue, every thought of mind 
 and soul to gain the footing I have lost.*' 
 
 "But if you can't find the 'Willing Helper,' 
 Girlie ! " I deplored with a miserable insistence 
 I could not understand. 
 
 "Then you will never see my face nor hear 
 my name; for you will go back to the world 
 which has lost you a moment why, I can not 
 understand to the world where the question 
 of single standard is too doubtful to handle on 
 nice tongues and in pure hearts; but where 
 man's vagaries are ever accepted." 
 
 "Poor child!" I cried, longing to find some 
 comforting solution for her, "come back! 
 Listen to me. Surely there is a way. 
 Surely" 
 
 Just then a train, belching huge volumes of 
 smoke, shrieked its way along the medley of 
 tracks, where countless red or yellow lights 
 blinked their respective messages of warning
 
 228 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 or safety. In the confusion of its sudden com- 
 ing, the girl's lithe, graceful body seemed to 
 writhe its way suddenly into the noise and the 
 darkness. When the smoke cleared away, I 
 followed in vain. The Girl in the Land of 
 Shadow had utterly disappeared!
 
 LETTER XVII 
 
 Aliston to Holland. A Very Brief Note 
 Concerning a Minute Search for the Girl 
 in the Land of Shadow. 
 
 DEAB ORISON: 
 
 It was not my plan at all to interrupt your 
 reports with a petition of my own; but your 
 sketch of the "Girl in the Land of Shadow'* 
 has stirred me into deepest interest. The mo- 
 ment you begin present-day investigations, 
 please feel that an unlimited sum on my part is 
 at your command to find out the little girl's 
 whereabouts. I can not get away from the sad- 
 ness and utter isolation of the case. Why not 
 employ a good detective? They are wonder- 
 fully keen in ferreting out slum characters, 
 
 seemingly untraceable for a while. COB- 
 
 DIALLY, ED. 
 
 229
 
 LETTER XVIII 
 
 Sixth Report from Holland to 'Aliston. 
 Concerning His Second Engagement. Still 
 at Ellison Grove, November Fourteenth. 
 
 DEAR ED: 
 
 I am hurrying the reports rapidly now, for 
 fear I shall lose courage; though this one por- 
 tion of my life rings with a wholesome note that 
 I shall never forget. You know, doubtless, how 
 it would be if some one who appeals, inexplic- 
 ably enough, just that she does, should flit into 
 your path and away. I was more miserable, 
 more disheartened, more utterly lonesome after 
 meeting the poor little Girl in the Land of 
 Shadow, and losing all trace of her as soon, 
 than I had ever been before. 
 
 You remember it was late spring when I 
 started out on the walk that ended in Murphy's 
 
 230
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 231 
 
 " parlor restaurant." In June, a fearfully hot 
 month for that season of the year, I was pro- 
 moted to the position of floor- walker in the base- 
 ment of the same department store. My sal- 
 ary was better, and immediately I transferred 
 my few belongings from my barren quarters 
 into simple but much more desirable ones. 
 I meant at some time, of course, to get out of 
 all this to go back to ease and education; but 
 just how or when, since I was too foolishly 
 proud and hurt to claim a cent of the money that 
 was accumulating for me under my rightful 
 name, was very indefinite. Meanwhile I 
 writhed under the horror of being recognized 
 by some former friend or acquaintance and 
 pitied. Pity was the last thing that I could 
 have stood at this time. I was running a big 
 bluff, and I intended to fight it out alone. In 
 the basement-quarters I felt a certain security, 
 for none of my former friends had been accus- 
 tomed to descend to hot-wave, breathless quar- 
 ters in frantic search of the 69- or 98-cent "bar-
 
 232 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 gains." Once Jimmy Calhoun did go laugh- 
 ingly through, stopping at the jewelry-counter 
 to purchase a dozen gold-dipped scarf pins, "for 
 some masked-ball affair," he explained, as he 
 flirted with the rainbow-hued girl. When he 
 turned slightly my way, I stooped so hastily be- 
 hind a counter of blankets that the young girl 
 cashier put her blonde head through the cage- 
 window to ask me if I were ill. But though I 
 had sought for a hiding-place, as a murderer 
 might at the approach of officers, I could hardly 
 refrain from plunging after Jimmy's easy, im- 
 pressive form, when he started up the stairs, his 
 errand done. I longed just to wring his hand 
 to ask after the boys to beg him, under a veil 
 of attempted lightness, to tell me how he man- 
 aged to stay ever so gay, so happy to plead for 
 just a word of the home town and, with the 
 indifference with which most vital subjects are 
 worded, to ask if all was well with my father. 
 Ed, as I stood there, longing, but not daring ; 
 too foolishly proud to show any feeling; bluff-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 233 
 
 ing, bluffing one big mistaken, miserable bluff 
 I thought suddenly of the many times that the 
 Girl in the Land of Shadow must have felt her- 
 self in this very ignominious place. Longing, 
 craving with all her soul, a soul perhaps far 
 from being as careless as mine was even then, 
 for just one word from friends or home and 
 yet not daring to be recognized for fear of in- 
 sult. While just above her, perhaps, in a broad 
 aisle of the luxurious store, at the counter of 
 myriad jewels, the very man who put her in her 
 miserable position, is bowing here and there to 
 persons of assured positions, and buying some 
 cobwebbed or gleaming fantasy, with which to 
 lure others into her place of misery. To lure, 
 and then, when novelty wanes, to sail off over 
 pleasant blue seas, himself unscathed, himself 
 protected by those unjust but comfortable laws 
 that seldom fail to yield their protection to 
 erring man. 
 
 It was upon that very night that the strain of 
 my being utterly and seemingly forever sepa-
 
 234 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 rated from my one parent, the weakening force 
 of the awful heat that had held the city pant- 
 ing for a fortnight, and the nervous condition 
 following the unaccustomed reckoning of each 
 penny, culminated in the spell of fever that held 
 me mercifully in a month of oblivion. The 
 landlady was not the usual type depicted in 
 " mo vies" and starvation stories. She nursed 
 me most conscientiously, taking her pay on 
 faith, though she was not without many priva- 
 tions herself. 
 
 The day I struggled out for a walk was just 
 a week after I sat up for the first time. The 
 landlady herself had buttoned my overcoat care- 
 fully across my chest, for the hot wave had 
 given place to an unusual chill. She warned 
 me not to overdo, and to walk along some cheery 
 street. I followed her instructions so well that 
 my weak steps turned at once to the drawbridge 
 on Twenty-second Street ! Here little sparrows 
 housed and chirped in the many decorative 
 creases of the great iron bridge. Here the
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 235 
 
 baby birds, too, enjoyed the unusual privilege 
 of swinging up and down frequently in their 
 iron-walled cradles, when the bridge lifted for 
 the passing of the belching boat-chimneys that 
 refused to bend but half-way. These birds 
 were the only pleasing diversion. The waters 
 below me were muddy, and trash-strewn. They 
 possessed a beckoning power that all morbidly 
 laden sights or thoughts do, inevitably, to the 
 mind not quite at its full control. I stood 
 there looking over for a long, long time, scorn- 
 ing myself for the cowardly spirit that kept me 
 from plunging at once. Why, had not even 
 poor Meg of the streets been brave enough just 
 a month before! And had not drunken Jerry 
 trusted himself to the future, rather than the 
 misery of the present. And the Girl in the Land 
 of Shadow Poor little kid, perhaps she had 
 not found her one friend. Perhaps before now 
 she too 
 
 A hand touched me suddenly on the shoulder, 
 so that I started with actual fright "De good
 
 236 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Gawd be praised. We has Mm at last!" ex- 
 claimed a voice which I knew well to be Joe's. 
 I turned slowly, first to look into his face, un- 
 necessarily happy, I thought vaguely, for the 
 conditions of environment and then my glance 
 went on to meet the soothing, deeply tender 
 eyes of Senator Buckingham. "Boy," he said, 
 "come home!" His voice was very, very 
 husky. "There is some one that needs you 
 there, more than he needs anything else in the 
 world. Your father, Orison, has had a para- 
 lytic stroke. The doctor says he will not sur- 
 vive another. He calls for you constantly 
 now. ' ' 
 
 I made absolutely no reply, but yielded my- 
 self to Senator Buckingham and Joe as a new- 
 born babe might to the handling of doctor and 
 nurse. They put me tenderly in the auto. 
 From the way the Senator's eyes kept return- 
 ing involuntarily to my face with a sobered 
 glance, I realized he was shocked with my ap- 
 pearance. But he made no mention of the mat-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 237 
 
 ter. The kindly landlady was paid, much 
 above her statement, from the Senator's 
 well-filled purse; the supplies at the tailor's 
 to make me even presentable in my home 
 town were financed the same way. I seemed to 
 have lost all pride to be so weak, so helpless, 
 a mere drifter on a subconscious sea of dull 
 emotion, that I was glad to have everything 
 done for me. It had been too bitter a season, 
 when I, formerly pampered past any wisdom, 
 perhaps, had been forced to fight out every 
 question alone alone. 
 
 As we whirled our luxurious way homeward 
 on the Vestibule-Limited, the Senator dropped 
 several times into personalities, with evident 
 effort to arouse me. "You must go back to 
 college in the fall, Ory," he said affectionately. 
 "Oh, you proud stubborn boy," he added, "to 
 waste all this time and give us such a chase ! I 
 declare, I should have thrown up my hands in 
 despair, if it hadn't been for Joe. I found out 
 that he left college with you, and a note to
 
 238 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Chester gave his address. He said we would 
 ferret you out someway that Chicago was 
 nothing but a clear-cut checker-board to him. 
 You see, the professors are wanting you back. 
 They found out too late what a little part you 
 really had to do with that odious affair." 
 
 ' * How did they find out ? " I asked. I remem- 
 ber this was my first question of interest. 
 
 "How? Well, little Jarvis made every inch 
 of the two hundred miles to tell them that's 
 how. He said he had to prove your innocence 
 by several people, so letters wouldn't do. He 
 didn't have the price of the car-fare, so he 
 walked and accepted auto and wagon rides. 
 Even poor Zista testified that you were out and 
 away before the disagreeable affair began. She 
 did it more to spite Chester I think, for whom 
 she is nursing a great hatred on account of some 
 secret slight. I think I never saw any one so 
 happy as Professor and Mrs. Linkerstein, 
 when the knowledge of your early departure 
 from the Inn, and your attempt to save poor
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 239 
 
 Jarvis came to them. But your father, your 
 poor father! His remorse at condemning you 
 so severely and his vain efforts to locate you 
 were fearful to witness until the mercy of the 
 stroke came." 
 
 Suddenly the Senator bent nearer me. "I 
 think I would not even speak of the matter that 
 occurred between you, Ory," he urged. "Not 
 even an apology or regret. If you could have 
 seen his suffering, and then witness his pres- 
 ent release from painful memory, you would 
 almost welcome the stroke. His mind is 
 freighted now only with sweetest memory of 
 his little flower-wife and of you her son and 
 his! Faithful Marie assures him constantly 
 that you will soon be with him. Ah, bless God, 
 we found you in time !" 
 
 For the tender moments that followed, when 
 for the first time I knew my father, and he 
 showed his love for me with pitiful eagerness 
 I can never be thankful enough. But when
 
 240 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 the end came on a beautiful afternoon in early 
 September, I felt that form of great sorrow 
 that knows at the same time with the pain of 
 losing, an unspeakable peace. We were in the 
 garden, my father and I, he, couched with many 
 pillows piled high in his wheel-chair. This was 
 placed where a glorious burst of chrysanthe- 
 mums, red and yellow and russet-brown, flamed 
 at his very feet. On the hillsides the maples 
 had changed their green for vivid scarlet. 
 
 "There is no use trying to prove immortal- 
 ity, Ory," my father said. I noticed at once 
 that his voice was much weaker than usual. 
 * * It is here ; it is there, ' ' he moved a thin, shapely 
 hand toward the flowers, toward the warm- 
 decked hilltops, "it is in our constant longing 
 to attain unto better things. It is in the call of 
 your mother, so sweet, so near, to come to her. ' ' 
 Suddenly his voice broke, and he leaned heavily 
 against the back of his chair, closing his eyes. 
 "Bead me the poet's little verse your 
 precious mother's favorite," he smiled.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 241 
 
 I picked up a volume of Whitcomb Eiley and 
 turned at once to what I realized he wanted to 
 hear. 
 
 "When I shall be her lover forever and a day, 
 
 And she my faithful sweetheart, till the golden hair 
 
 was gray. 
 And we should be so happy, that when either 's lips 
 
 were dumb 
 They could not smile in heaven, till the other's kiss 
 
 had come. ' ' 
 
 " 'Till the other's kiss had come,' " he mur- 
 mured gently, as he reached out for my hand. 
 And with a happy smile on his lips, my big, 
 learned, childlike father's spirit passed peace- 
 fully away. 
 
 Perhaps it was the simple sweet conception 
 of love renewed in heaven under natural con- 
 ditions that my father had shown ; perhaps only 
 the vivid change from sordid and dingy and 
 health-impairing surroundings to wonderfully 
 wholesome, simple and entirely different from 
 my own that made me take the unexpected step
 
 242 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 I made a little later. Often, I think, men of 
 highest mentality, to as great a degree as those 
 of rusty brains, are governed in their love- 
 affairs much more by the effect of a vivid 
 change in surroundings or conditions than to 
 any reasoning they give. They think they 
 have solved just why a certain woman is best- 
 fitted to meet their particular needs and tem- 
 perament, when after all it is only the time and 
 the place that hurries them into the vital de- 
 cision. This, I am sure as I look back upon it, 
 was the strongest reason for my proposal to 
 Mabel Harris. 
 
 Marie and I were in the painful act of shroud- 
 ing the huge furniture of the big house in white 
 linen until that time when I should return from 
 college with sufficient courage to throw it open 
 as my own home, when Mabel Harris walked 
 figuratively and literally into my life. 
 
 I had forbidden even Marie to enter the silent 
 study, where my father had spent the most of 
 his time. I preferred to cover all those pon-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 243 
 
 derous volumes, so precious to my parent's 
 heart, alone, unaided. I confess little of the 
 terror of childish days concerning my entrance 
 into this place of places had forsaken me. Now, 
 however, my awe was produced more from a 
 sense of my own unworthiness and the bitter 
 realization of how very late I had entered into 
 the full conception of my father's worth and 
 greatness of soul, in patiently trying to connect 
 a long-ago past with the meaning of the present. 
 My knees actually trembled as I crossed the 
 threshold, a clumsy bundle of denim coverings 
 in my arms. The huge volumes seemed oddly 
 slanting in the dim light, as though about to 
 throw their suffocating weight upon me, resent- 
 ing the levity of my intrusion. Filled with the 
 oppression of the moment, I covered the stretch 
 of the big room quickly, throwing open a shut- 
 ter with the nervous rush of a man who feels 
 himself about to be overcome by the weight of 
 poisonous fumes. 
 The bright rays of a lingering sunset fell at
 
 244 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 once across the furnishings of the room, drew 
 into smiles the dull tones of the rug, and hurried 
 on gladly to wreathe the form of a wholesome, 
 sweet-faced young woman, who stood directly in 
 the doorway. 
 
 "I am Mabel Harris," a perfectly unem- 
 barrassed voice began, as though its owner 
 realized nothing at all unusual in entering a 
 home unannounced. "Father sent me over to 
 say that you must take dinner with us to-mor- 
 row. It is Sunday, you know, and we are go- 
 ing to kill our first young turkey ! He thought 
 so much of your father. Once, when we were 
 not so able to carry our land as now, Mr. Hol- 
 land helped my daddy out. He has never for- 
 gotten his friendship. You will come?" 
 
 I felt myself oddly pleased with the invita- 
 tion. And again my heart rang with joy that 
 here was another of the many I was finding out 
 father had helped. For from the deep gloom 
 of that silent study had gone out frequent evi- 
 dences of thought for others, and I, in my base
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 245 
 
 ignorance, had mistaken reticence for coldness 
 of heart. Now my father's friends were ris- 
 ing to call me unworthy, blind as I had ever 
 been blessed on his account. 
 
 "I wish," Mabel Harris continued practi- 
 cally, "that you would come out of this room 
 with nothing in it but stuffy, stuffy books, and 
 take a horseback ride. It is just gloriously 
 glorious with only a tiny pin-prick of cold in 
 the air ! You can saddle your bay I rode my 
 black over, and you needn't wait till to-morrow 
 to take a meal with us. I know you will be 
 frightfully hungry after our ride. Betty is 
 preparing her favorite combination of corn- 
 pone and smothered chicken to-night!" 
 
 I took the ride with Mabel Harris, and later 
 ate the delicious corn-pone and chicken which 
 the colored Betty prepared. Sunday I gladly 
 returned and the Sunday after that, and then 
 on many week-days. Mabel Harris interested 
 me from the start and you know when the key- 
 note of interest, "novelty," is struck there is
 
 246 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 no heading off a man till lie sounds the depths, 
 or when finding them in rare instances sound- 
 less, succumbs to the inevitable proposal. 
 
 Mabel kept house most efficiently for her 
 father, who had early lost his wife. She was 
 pretty and sweet-tempered and full of the vivid 
 glory of coloring that comes from a simple but 
 very energetic outdoor life. At five she was up 
 singing about the house. I knew this because 
 my college week-ends often rounded up under 
 Mr. Harris' hospitable roof in these days, in 
 preference to wandering, an alien in spirit, in 
 my own big gloomy house. She did none of 
 the heavier work, such as milking, churning, and 
 so on; for Mr. Harris and Betty both regarded 
 her as the apple of their eye. But she loved 
 her chickens and her flowers, and she knew 
 just how to give the cheery touch to the house 
 and breakfast-table, that takes away from the 
 early morning despair of beginning everything 
 anew! She was scrupulously neat, even unob- 
 trusively stylish; was a famous horsewoman;
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 247 
 
 and, during the many, many times we met, un- 
 expectedly or by agreement, I never knew Ma- 
 bel to be sitting idly. She seemed the embodi- 
 ment of activity, and the soul of perfect good- 
 nature. 
 
 But in many ways she puzzled me. "Books, 
 oh, spare us the books!" she cried one day, 
 when I wanted to read from a volume I had 
 come across in the college library. And yet she 
 burst into tears once over a bit of intricate pa- 
 thos in the works of a noted writer. She knew 
 no wiles of coquetry or else she knew them all. 
 Her way of greeting was charmingly naive in 
 its frankness of delight. When I left she in- 
 variably followed me to the stile, and told me to 
 be sure to come right away again. Concerning 
 the discussions or attempted settling of any 
 non-conventional or doubtful subjects in life, 
 she seemed utterly indifferent or at sea. And, 
 withal, she possessed such a true dignity that, 
 despite the many drives we had together, and 
 the true affection I felt for her, I never so much
 
 248 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 as laid a gloved hand on the tip of her little fin- 
 ger in a caress. I am quite positive that she 
 would not have liked it if I had. 
 
 And yet, with all her simplicity of living, did 
 I or did Mabel accomplish the inevitable pro- 
 posal? That is what I sometimes ponder over 
 in idle moments to this day. 
 
 It was early September of the year when I 
 had just turned twenty-two. College, accom- 
 plished quite decently in study-record, and thor- 
 oughly clean in morals, was a thing of the past. 
 I was to leave at the end of that very month for 
 my proposed law course at Harvard. It was 
 about this that Mabel and I were talking, as we 
 drew up our horses under a group of glistening- 
 leaved oaks after a dashing ride, in which my 
 soon-to-be fiancee had far outdone me in her 
 skill and daring of horsemanship ! 
 
 "No, I can't write often," Mabel answered 
 my request with one of the first shadows I had 
 seen on her winsome face. " Words are so 
 senseless without voice or looks; and and
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 249 
 
 anyway you will be invited home to see the sis- 
 ters of your college chums, and they will inter- 
 est you more. You'll forget all about me, I 
 know. ' ' 
 
 This first evidence of a possibility for jeal- 
 ousy in Mabel stirred me deeply. 
 
 "Will I? Forget a woman who has been the 
 kindest little help ever to a fearfully lonesome 
 man ! No, I am coming back to you, when it is 
 all over, dear. And then you are going to be 
 my wife ! ' ' 
 
 I did not even then touch her hand. Her 
 beautiful clear eyes told me frankly of her hap- 
 piness, and I took her straight in my arms. 
 The sunset lights, sifting through the old oak- 
 boughs, some moments later, dropped its bene- 
 dictory message over our bowed heads. For 
 the moment I felt that no two souls could be 
 more completely mated than were ours. 
 
 Letters, Ed, as you know, span mentality 
 with memories that might otherwise, the brain
 
 250 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 hurrying on in new wave undulations as it 
 must, be quickly crowded out. I kept faithful 
 to my promise of writing twice a week to Ma- 
 bel, but she was wonderfully careless about the 
 matter of reply. I found that Mabel was right. 
 With a dear one by our side we catch the inter- 
 est and sympathy of tones, and witness the light 
 and play of smiles and interested glances. In 
 a letter we meet a person stripped, as it were, 
 of all these pleasing embellishments. I soon 
 chafed under the discovery that Mabel's letters 
 were simply a dignified recitation of facts. Con- 
 trary to the other farmer's daughter I had once 
 known, she possessed no imagination, no dar- 
 ing, or brilliancy of thought to satisfy or even 
 meet my restless, constantly speculative mind. 
 In fact through her letters I learned what I 
 might never have discovered in the warmth and 
 charm of her presence that there was no 
 longer any lure of possibly undiscovered char- 
 acteristics. I had sounded Mabel Harris to the 
 depths, and discovered too late that her sup-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 251 
 
 posed naivete was mere simplicity and unac- 
 quaintance with the bigger scope of life; her 
 constant good-humor, lack of ambition; a will- 
 ingness to be content, rather than to aspire. 
 So I persuaded myself miserably, at least ; and, 
 yet, I certainly meant to remain true. I felt 
 bitterly that Mabel would never be the mental 
 spur I needed. I even leaned cowardly, for a 
 time, on the weak framework of hope that she 
 would not take my few caresses, my perfunctory 
 letters, and my one assurance that I was go- 
 ing to claim her after college-days were over, 
 as a real proposal. This comfort only dipped 
 into my mind, however, to soar even more 
 quickly away. This much I knew : Mabel Harris 
 would never permit a man to fold her in his 
 arms, as she had me, unless she understood it to 
 be a sacred pledge of proposed marriage. 
 Upon this fact I hung my one comfort in our 
 engagement. A wife as true-blue as Mabel, and 
 as sweetly wholesome, was more of an acquisi- 
 tion, perhaps, than one who could soar on
 
 252 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 fancy's wings, or display brilliancy of knowl- 
 edge. It was not such a glowing comfort, how- 
 ever, as to give me sufficient courage to return 
 home for vacations. Pleading the excuse of 
 wishing to rush, and, if possible, excel to a 
 marked degree in my legal studies (which was 
 true, as I worked furiously in those days) I re- 
 mained away in cowardly fashion two whole 
 years. My letters, too, grew miserably short, 
 and seemed to elicit less and less response, 
 though absolutely no reproof from Mabel. I 
 even wondered if she noted the difference in 
 their tone and length, and chafed under the 
 question of whether her lack of censure came 
 from a dense stupidity of conception as to what 
 form a real lover's letters should take, or only 
 from that high standard of dignity that refuses 
 to ask or yield explanation. In this matter, I 
 confess, Mabel Harris was still a mystery to 
 me. 
 
 When upon a bright June morning, after two 
 years of absence, I returned home, however, and
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 253 
 
 went out almost immediately to Mabel 's, I found 
 her waiting for me at the stile just the same 
 smiling, energetic, whole-souled girl, evidently 
 in nowise intending to blame me for my long 
 stay or my indifference of letters. I had told 
 her I was fearfully busy that was enough to 
 satisfy her, she gave me to understand in a few 
 practically worded breaths. She too had been 
 rushed ; for Betty was growing so feeble she had 
 to be helped more and more; and she herself 
 was so interested in her prosperous chicken- 
 business that it took much time to figure out just 
 how to make it still more worth while this was 
 all the explanation she offered me. And as I 
 looked straight into the trustful face of the 
 young girl who accepted unnatural conditions 
 as unavoidable, I felt for the moment that I had 
 been a miserable brute the absurd little cur, 
 criticising the ponderous mastiff. She seemed 
 now of that largeness of soul and dignity that 
 can afford to wrap itself in the mantle of utmost 
 simplicity. What was higher education, fanci-
 
 254 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 ful conception, irritating investigation and rest- 
 lessness of questioning concerning the many 
 seemingly insoluble problems of life compared 
 with the big, sweet, serene acceptance of what 
 must be, or had already been, given in as cheery 
 and unquestioning a manner as it is possible 
 to imagine. 
 
 "Mabel," I cried under the great relief and 
 joy of my new discovery of her possibilities, 
 "get your father to come with us, and let's 
 go right over to the minister's now, our favor- 
 ite way on horseback. I never want to leave 
 you one day or night again ! ' ' 
 
 But she shook her head. She was not ready 
 for earliest marriage as the other little storm- 
 caught girl! "Soon, very soon," she prom- 
 ised. "There are many important things yet 
 to settle for father's and Betty's comfort." 
 
 And during that fatal period of waiting, I 
 met what casts the real blur of blurs over my 
 record the Mentally Brilliant, and Physically
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 255 
 
 Beautiful "Woman the woman that lures with 
 the very daring of her non-conventional views I 
 
 Ed, I would to heaven that honesty would 
 permit me to omit this last part ; but I shall not 
 let myself waver, now I have once set out. 
 When I begin my search soon, I shall probably 
 find her still the most intangible woman of them 
 all!
 
 LETTER XIX 
 
 Seventh Report from Holland to 'Aliston. 
 The Lure of the Womcm of Non-Conven- 
 tional Views. Ellison Grove, November 
 Seventeenth. 
 
 DEAR ED : 
 
 While Mabel looked after the many matters 
 that had to be settled before our intended mar- 
 riage in the fall, I indulged in the mistaken 
 luxury of idling about her father's extensive 
 home-place, and reading a little in preparation 
 for my entrance into the legal firm of Williston 
 & Williston, where I had been offered a good 
 position in the fall. For a time I delighted in 
 watching my capable fiancee, as she moved from 
 house to garden and from poultry-yard to 
 apiary always with practical thoughts and words 
 regarding the matter in hand. Only during our 
 delightful horseback rides did our conversation 
 fall into intimate lines. Then Mabel laid out 
 
 256
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 257 
 
 this plan and that in whole-hearted delight, 
 whereby her father was not to be deserted en- 
 tirely, but at each week end visited by us, and 
 helped in his constant improvement plans. 
 
 "I will still keep my chickens and bees," she 
 explained happily, "and each day when our 
 city home is in order, I will ride over to take 
 charge of them. That will lessen the blow of 
 my leaving, which is going to be hard enough 
 for Daddy and Betty at best." 
 
 For a time I rested willingly in this wave of 
 sweet practical planning and administration, 
 then that inevitable dissatisfaction crept again 
 into my heart the feeling that must come, no 
 matter how hard one tries to love honestly and 
 wholly, between a nature prone to unquestioning 
 content, and a restive spirit, educated by a long 
 line of scholared ancestry to challenge the why 
 and the wherefore of everything in life. Un- 
 doubtedly my companionship with Mabel helped 
 to soften definitely this exaggerated tendency 
 in me ; but while learning of her, I could not but
 
 258 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 feel, dully at first, then vividly again, that we 
 were miserably unsuited to be life-mates. For 
 I scorn the doctrine that suggests the direct op- 
 posite in temperaments to make a happy union. 
 Two streams running directly in opposition but 
 confined within the same enclosing banks can 
 only end in intense friction and the pushing out 
 of the weaker current by the stronger. 
 
 And, at last, Mabel actually stopped long 
 enough in her practical workings to notice my 
 intense depression. It was a day in early 
 September. On the twenty-fifth of the month, 
 I was to accept the position offered me in town. 
 
 "Frank," she suggested, "it must be too 
 warm for you here, or you certainly studied too 
 hard last winter. You are looking utterly mis- 
 erable. Why don't you take a turn bird-hunt- 
 ing up in the Maine or Wisconsin woods before 
 you shut yourself into the stuffy office?" 
 
 I confess I welcomed this suggestion with a 
 relief that proved to me conclusively just how 
 eager I was to escape, even for a moment, the
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 259 
 
 present state of ennui. I actually sprang from 
 my seat beside Mabel, where we had been sur- 
 veying the depressing effect upon some robber- 
 bees of a new kind of hive-door, and told her I 
 would take to saddle at once and think it over, 
 if she felt that I could be spared by her so long. 
 
 "Why, of course," she smilingly said, almost 
 amused. "It is for your good, I am thinking. 
 It would be very foolish of me to make a rumpus, 
 when it is evident you need the change. ' ' 
 
 The next two hours I spent in my favorite 
 occupation of striding my fast bay and how I 
 did enjoy this time that left me entirely to my 
 own thoughts and resources! Once I hitched 
 my horse and springing a fence, climbed a hick- 
 ory with an avidity I had not felt for years. 
 The nuts were only slightly touched by frost so 
 I managed to shake down but a few. These I 
 gathered most carefully in my cap; then hot 
 with my unusual exercise, I hurried my steps 
 toward a brook that sent its contented murmur 
 through meadow and woods, without the hin-
 
 260 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 drance of a pebble or incline to stop its placid 
 course. 
 
 "It is just like Mabel's life just like her 
 easy, assured, unquestioning grasp upon the 
 meadow-land of existence," I spoke to myself 
 whimsically, and yet, with a touch of shame at 
 the disloyal nature of my confession. 
 
 "So it is," a carefully toned voice answered 
 warmly, "and you can understand nothing less 
 than deep gorges and rocky shores and tear- 
 ing mountain-streams ! ' ' 
 
 I looked up as startled as though I had been 
 summoned suddenly into the portals of a distant 
 sphere. A woman, exquisitely formed in her 
 physical being, full of the hush and the power 
 and the mystery of a glory-combine of light and 
 shadow over mountains, lifted brilliant, chal- 
 lenging eyes to my face. 
 
 "How you do like to play the boy once more 
 before you become the practical humdrum hus- 
 band," she laughed gayly. "You poor, poor 
 man I thought you never would stop shaking
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 261 
 
 those branches through very joy of playing you 
 were your own master free." 
 
 The way she pronounced this last word sent 
 an unaccountable thrill through my being. It 
 was spoken easily, but seemed to possess 
 fathomless possibilities a daring of thought, 
 a defiance of binding laws, an assured relief 
 from any possible ennui. I should have re- 
 sented the personal nature of her mockery. In- 
 stead I welcomed it. 
 
 "Come," she said, patting the leaves at her 
 side, and rising into sitting posture, for she had 
 been stretched almost her full length close to the 
 trunk of a vigorous maple. Only the slight lift- 
 ing of her beautiful head against this prop 
 saved the conventions. "Come, Boy, let us be 
 merry and children a moment together; for the 
 time is short!" 
 
 "Are you does what you call 'freedom* end 
 for you, too, soon then?" I questioned. I re- 
 sented the idea, irrationally enough, even as I 
 took the proffered seat most willingly.
 
 262 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 She laughed again with an enjoyment that 
 sent every muscle and tissue of her full, strong 
 throat and chest into vigorous action. "Oh, 
 never!" she protested. "And I am not even 
 going to tell you that I have had many oppor- 
 tunities. I know though that somewhere, 
 nicely smuggled out of our family-tree record, 
 some ancestor must have been imprisoned for 
 life ! The reaction the protest against the un- 
 justness of fetters has been born in fiercest fury 
 in me. I smother under dictation, suffocate 
 under rules and laws ; grow delirious under plan- 
 ning and must-bes ! I take my lessons from the 
 grandest teachers I can find in nature the dash- 
 ing, defiant cataracts, the forest in a blaze, the 
 ocean in a fierce, wild storm." She lifted her 
 vividly sensitive face, and flashed it just an in- 
 stant near mine in challenge "Does all that 
 sound to you like married life, Frank Orison 
 Holland! God pity the man that tries to con- 
 fine me ! " 
 
 1 ' Does marriage necessarily mean confinement
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 263 
 
 of views fetters ! " I protested, realizing per- 
 fectly now that this was Elinor Phelps, of whose 
 beauty and growing success in the writing line 
 I had heard frequent rumors. Through the 
 very freshness and daring of her views she had 
 already won for herself, so I understood, an en- 
 viable coterie of admirers. I realized readily 
 now how easy it would be to fall into the sway 
 of her unusual personality, and to be willing to 
 be borne along on the current of her brilliantly 
 phrased ideas and fancies. In other words, I 
 felt definitely that I had never yet met a woman 
 whom I would more gladly choose to fill the role 
 of comrade in all sports, big, novel, daring, out- 
 doors ; or to whom I could turn more hopefully 
 for an instant of relief in a moment of intoler- 
 able ennui. 
 
 But Elinor Phelps was answering my ques- 
 tion in a sympathetic, soft-toned voice that sug- 
 gested closest intimacy with all the pleasant 
 sounds of Mother Nature. "Does marriage 
 mean fetters! Yes, when two natures, utterly
 
 264 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 unsuited, try desperately hard to dovetail, and 
 oh, you need not interrupt me, sir, to tell me 
 not to deal with personalities. I am treading 
 upon no more dangerous ground than gener- 
 ality. For you know yourself it is so, nine times 
 out of ten ninety-nine times out of a hundred. 
 The one great exception " 
 
 * ' ' The one great exception T* " I urged for she 
 had stopped short to break a handful of wild 
 grass and twist it into fantastic shape. 
 
 She shrugged her fine shoulders in dismissal. 
 "Oh, you know it or you wouldn't be you. 
 What's the use of going into the details that so 
 few can understand?" Then with that flash of 
 moods that rendered her doubly fascinating, 
 she tossed the grass aside with the heightened 
 color of a very angry child. Her dark eyes 
 blazed scorn at my assumed or real lack of com- 
 prehension. "The one exception, in spite of 
 the affinity-scoffing, is when two souls are made 
 just for each other. When one rushes through 
 the woods and holds out one's arms and calls
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 265 
 
 and calls for his own special one; and it is so 
 again, only in a hushed longing, when he stands 
 on the mountain-top in evening shadow alone; 
 or when he hears the especially sweet cry of a 
 bird that strikes out into space; when, too, he 
 is in the midst of big surging crowds, and yet 
 thinks only of her longs only for her calls 
 and calls with all his soul-power for her till " 
 
 Again I prompted, fearful that the girl who 
 was evidently under great excitement would 
 rob me of her climactic thought. 
 
 She bent suddenly near me, almost touch- 
 ing my cheek with her own beautiful flushed 
 face, then as quickly withdrawing from me. 
 "Till he finds her at last," she almost whis- 
 pered. "Till he has to come into his own 
 through the very force of his longing and wait- 
 ing and calling!" 
 
 "God!" I said involuntarily, and even as I 
 uttered the word the blue sky became a stretch 
 of leaden curtains, * ' what a soul-love that would 
 be! I have felt it always always in my in-
 
 266 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 tense restlessness; but you have put it into 
 words at last and broken my heart." 
 
 She sprang up then with a gayety that I re- 
 sented, at this moment, and began hunting for 
 her riding-whip that she had tossed carelessly 
 into the grass. "Come," she said practically, 
 "it is high time to be going or we shall shortly 
 run agreement into quarreling. Broken hearts 
 indeed! I never saw one yet that couldn't be 
 mended just when the next dear girl comes 
 along. And you, why you don't even have to 
 wait for that. You have your lovely old ro- 
 mantic home to comfort you, and your fine posi- 
 tion for, of course, Dame Rumor has told us 
 about all that. And when you are tired of 
 grandeur and fame, you can ride peacefully on 
 with your wife to the farm, to count the new 
 chickens, and oversee the packing of rosy ap- 
 ples and huge cases of non-storage eggs. Oh, 
 you are a fortunate, fortunate man!" 
 
 "Am I?" I flashed back in the shameful 
 weakness of involuntary confession that she
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 267 
 
 had induced in me from the start. "Yes, so 
 fortunate that I am escaping to-night for a 
 fortnight in the northern woods that I may 
 better have quiet to think over the great 
 joy of my prospects!" 
 
 Never had I seen a woman change so com- 
 pletely in a moment. The laughter died out of 
 her face and with it every trace of mockery; 
 her eyes filled with a great mist of longing. She 
 threw the reins over her horse's neck and led 
 him a few steps nearer. "Do you really mean 
 it?" she cried exultant with an excitement that 
 I could not then understand. "The northern 
 woods with its dear little lakes and its con- 
 fusing trails and its glorious trees, and its piti- 
 ful show of burned spaces, full of men, strong, 
 real men, reforesting! Oh, take me with you! 
 It will just be a fortnight, and then I will go 
 utterly out of your life. You have your work 
 and marriage, I my little special call." She 
 threw out a hand and laid it with a touch of ap- 
 peal on my arm. "We would make the best
 
 268 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 comrades in the world just chums, fine platonic 
 friends. I have longed to try out a theory of 
 mine to the utmost. But I had not found the 
 man I could fully trust till now. I scorn the 
 idea that our neighbors' laws should be ours, 
 or ours theirs. One can live in all purity un- 
 der cool judgment. There are dozens of little 
 shacks scattered through the Wisconsin woods, 
 between Star Lake and Shreiner Lake, as you 
 know. I could take one very, very close to 
 yours. We could spend the glorious days and 
 evenings in tramps and fishing and reading 
 Say you will let down the bars just a little 
 just for a fortnight. Holland, ask me to come." 
 For the moment I struggled hard with an un- 
 accountable longing to accept the challenge; 
 but I framed my words coolly. "Impossible," 
 I said. "It is not my privilege to choose, even 
 though I might like to venture. Some odd 
 mood has come over you, a mood that makes 
 you do injustice to your own fine nature. In an 
 hour, even though I agreed, you would utterly
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 269 
 
 refuse. Besides, if you were able to do as you 
 suggest in a platonic way only, where do you 
 think I would be! I am not so sure of myself. 
 Theory passes at odd moments into opposite 
 reality. Neither am I confident that I scorn 
 convention as thoroughly as you say you do 
 though I sometimes chafe under a restlessness 
 of bondage that I can not and will not analyze. 
 Even the strongest of us are weak when it comes 
 to untried fields. There will always be the lure 
 of the Eve-suggested apples. They are dan- 
 gerous at best, from their very power to lure ! ' ' 
 
 Elinor Phelps lifted eyes full of utter distress 
 rather than the anger I fully expected. "Oh," 
 she cried, and her beautiful quivering face, with 
 its framing of thick dark hair, reminded me of 
 clear fountain waters suddenly wind-tossed, er- 
 rant, at the approach of an unexpected storm. 
 
 "Then you think I couldn't do it that I 
 wouldn't live pure and sweet that I am just 
 a bold, wicked woman ! You are not big enough 
 to understand that freedom of views is not rank-
 
 270 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 ness; that only gross minds weaken because 
 they can!" 
 
 "No, I believe you are in earnest about the 
 theory try-out," I answered, not trusting my- 
 self with any length of expression. 
 
 "But you don't want my company!" She 
 drew her hand across her horse's neck rest- 
 lessly, then let it drop heavily at her side. 
 ' ' When I promise you truly that I shall go for- 
 ever out of your life. When I only want to 
 try out something that would be of infinite 
 value in my writing. When you are restless 
 and nervous and tired, and ought not to go up 
 in the vast, lonesome, glorious woods alone. 
 When you need a comrade that understands all 
 things practically and calmly and yet sympa- 
 thetically. When you know all this as well as I 
 do still you won't let down the bars, just a bit, 
 to ask me through T ' ' 
 
 Ed, you remember the great English preacher 
 who said at our church a few years ago that 
 life holds for every man one searching test of
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 271 
 
 the sincerity of his religious life; and that al- 
 though the test is often absurdly trivial, to en- 
 counter it is to ''fall from grace." I thought 
 then that no such test would ever enter my life 
 but it came in full blast that day when Elinor 
 Phelps made her daring request. 
 
 For a time I stood motionless, unable to think, 
 to comply or to refuse. The sunlight, reflected 
 upon us from the hilltops, gave no sign of being 
 shocked, but magnetized Elinor into a creature 
 of radiant beauty and unusual strength and 
 purity of countenance. Then as my mind 
 clutched little by little upon consecutive 
 thoughts, I reasoned thus : After all what was 
 the proof that no exception could be sanely 
 made ! Could it not be that if two persons un- 
 derstood a situation perfectly, and were simply 
 adopting the unusual, the world had no right 
 to dictate T New and free views were springing 
 up everywhere about us. If this lovely girl, 
 whose society no man could help liking, was 
 anxious to try out something to be produced in
 
 272 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 a book under clever disguise later; if she were 
 willing to take the risk And, then, of course 
 she did not really mean a word of it. She 
 would not really dare. She only wanted, fem- 
 inine-like, to gain the point of my consent! 
 Why not humor her for the pleasant time she 
 had given me! 
 
 Elinor, with her keen vision, read each step 
 that sent wavering lines over my puzzled face. 
 "Ah, you will let me be your little comrade 
 just for two weeks?" she breathed softly, with 
 such a happy sigh of content. 
 
 Then I resisted no more. Longing inordi- 
 nately, and yet not daring to believe even yet 
 that she would ; borne along tumultuously with 
 the novelty of her views, but each instant ex- 
 pecting the retrieval and mocking laugh, as she 
 deplored my stupidity in thinking her serious 
 I accepted her challenge and let down the 
 bars! 
 
 "It's all up to you now, Elinor," I said 
 gravely. ' ' I have told you what I thought. It
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 273 
 
 was not easy to do it. Now I shall not say an- 
 other word. ' ' 
 
 She came toward me, her face radiant, both 
 hands outstretched, taking my statement for 
 complete acceptance. "Oh, you fine, big trust- 
 worthy man," she applauded. "You shall 
 never forget our two weeks of experiment. 
 They shall always be one of the red-letter times 
 of life in your memory for neither of us will 
 spoil or break the trust!" 
 
 I could not trust myself in my delirious ex- 
 citement with any answer other than the strictly 
 practical. I drew out my watch. "The train 
 leaves Union Station at 5:30. On the third 
 track. When and where shall I meet you?" 
 
 "Right there," she laughed gayly. Then as 
 she sprang to her saddle before I could make the 
 faintest motion to aid her, she called out several 
 clear directions. "I never miss a train; so you 
 must not. You will find me there for sure. But 
 don't stop to help me on. I will have my 
 ticket, and get a porter to carry my suit-cases.
 
 274 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Only when we are well out, you can stroll up to 
 my seat and meet me as an old acquaintance. I 
 will take care of the rest. Do you understand 
 just how to act?" 
 
 "I think I have fathomed the directions," I 
 assured her, still amazed that the venture really 
 was in order, still pondering whether after all 
 this was not some lively play in which she had 
 me completely duped. 
 
 "And one thing more," she directed, as she 
 straightened her fine form ready for a quick 
 dash away, "platonic friends never, never pay 
 for each other. Do not take one cent over what 
 you had planned. In the end, or as soon as pos- 
 sible, we will divide the expense of the trip in 
 halves, a share for each of us. Do you agree?" 
 
 "I agree, though that part is entirely unneces- 
 sary," I answered again mechanically. For 
 now that the bars were down, I did not mean 
 to hold up one splinter to intercept her plans ! 
 
 She nodded, pleased, and sent her horse in a 
 swift leap over the bar-fence. Then on the top
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 275 
 
 of a little slope, just outside the rails, she drew 
 him in, turning in her saddle to point with her 
 whip-handle toward the sunset blaze. 
 
 "See, Holland," she exulted, "it is gold, pure 
 gold just as our friendship shall be and only 
 a moment before I thought them heavy leaden 
 clouds! You won't forget!" 
 
 "I can't forget," I answered. "I will be 
 there first." 
 
 When I entered Union Station at 5:15 that 
 evening, my glance wandered at once over the 
 usual rush of passengers, toward or away from 
 the sentineled gates, refusing to credit the fact 
 that Elinor Phelps would be one of them, yet 
 hoping with shameless intensity that she might. 
 When the ladies' waiting-room had been thor- 
 oughly scanned and each gate-crowd investi- 
 gated, I resigned myself most unwillingly to the 
 necessary conclusion. I had forgotten in my 
 excitement her scheduled plan. It had all been 
 a little side-play, then, and Elinor Phelps was 
 probably now at her desk, scratching away at
 
 276 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 the story or farce that was affording her im- 
 mense pleasure, in showing how easily even a 
 twice-graduated, supposedly world-wise man 
 could be duped. 
 
 The passengers were the usual collection of 
 rich idlers, restlessly directing the porter to put 
 up this and that, and expecting him to wait on 
 their special case or cases first in every instance. 
 I settled down at once in my assigned corner of 
 the comfortable Vestibule Limited, and tried to 
 throw my attention from the unreasonable fuss- 
 ings of a bediamonded old lady to my magazine- 
 story. The plot was a little out of the usual, I 
 think, for the train had been out of the station 
 ten minutes before I looked up suddenly and 
 marked at the other end of the car, a waving 
 and gleam of luxuriant hair that could belong 
 to but one head that of Elinor Phelps. 
 
 Oh, if the little boy who fishes on Sunday only 
 would fall into the stream, instead of getting an 
 extra supply of prisoners ; if a train only could 
 be wrecked just as one advances to misdeed, in-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 277 
 
 stead of rolling on sumptuously, pleasantly hum- 
 ming on costly planned wheels, and tracks 
 what a complete defeat his Satanic Majesty 
 would often have to endure but it is because 
 man is a creature permitted to follow his own 
 impulses, because soft lights and sweet music 
 and luxurious surroundings and beautiful 
 women are ever present to lend their lure to his 
 warped conception concerning the possible pro- 
 priety of his daring, that the King of the Dark- 
 ened Regions can laugh on and on at his start- 
 lingly frequent and often most unexplainable 
 victories. 
 
 I confess my feet bore me most eagerly along 
 the narrow aisle to the side of the most beauti- 
 ful woman I had ever met. And while Elinor 
 Phelps had looked most charming in her riding- 
 costume, she was a Radiant Lure in a black 
 tailor-made traveling-suit, and snug velvet hat, 
 with its only trimming a daring white bow, leap- 
 ing from her rounded neck to becoming height 
 of background. Collar and cuffs of white lace,
 
 278 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 relieved any possible severity ; a blood-red rose 
 lent the touch of needed color. 
 
 When I reached her side, and stood for the 
 instant silent, Elinor Phelps held out a cordial 
 hand. "Why, Mr. Pendleton," she exclaimed, 
 addressing me by a foreign name evidently with 
 clever desire to shield any squeamish views I 
 might still retain, "how did you ever find time 
 to rush away from business for a northern 
 trip ! ' ' She made room for me at once, and her 
 brilliant, expressive eyes, challenged me to take 
 up the assistance she had graciously lent. 
 
 I did, taking a seat at her side instantly and 
 most gladly. 
 
 For a time I listened to the happy conversa- 
 tion of a woman who leapt from gay fancy to 
 compelling pathos in a breath ; and handled the 
 subject of the latest book or play as logically as 
 she discussed the doings of the old Romans, or 
 the power or absurdity of a present bill in con- 
 gress. I was watching all the time for some
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 279 
 
 sign of slight embarrassment or excitement, in- 
 duced by the odd circumstances of the moment ; 
 but not one waver of regret or discomfort came. 
 After we had talked for one of the shortest 
 hours I had ever known, Elinor pronounced her- 
 self ravenously hungry; and immediately we 
 answered the "last call for dinnah" in the dis- 
 tant dining-car. Again I found myself sinking 
 deeper and deeper into the restless enjoyment 
 of the moment ; for though Elinor had been de- 
 lightfully attractive and entertaining in the 
 other car, she was now superb in the soft light 
 of the chandeliers pond-lilies bursting their 
 very golden hearts open to enclose individual 
 lamps. She kept the sugar-bowl and creamer 
 by her side, now and then inquiring into my 
 wants in this direction, and serving me with a 
 dainty solicitousness that seemed to call up from 
 an indefinite past a sweet, cruelly elusive past 
 familiarity with exactly such conditions. I 
 wondered if I had committed some great sin in
 
 280 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 a preexistent state that I had been swept away 
 from such a privilege, and now, given a second 
 chance, was going to fall again ! 
 
 But while I laughed and talked and tried to 
 meet Elinor Phelps ' brilliant mental flashes with 
 greater joy in just existing than I had ever ex- 
 perienced, I was also chafing furiously under 
 the thought of how I was hopelessly tied to a 
 woman whose range of vision, if one were to 
 judge by her conversation, seemed never to 
 penetrate beyond the strictly conventional and 
 practical. I was still in this maze of delight and 
 despair when we finally left the diner for a sug- 
 gested game of cards. Again Elinor showed 
 herself so skillful in handling the game, that 
 when she threw down her hand at last, I begged 
 for an hour or two more of play in which to re- 
 deem myself, but this she would not grant. 
 
 "No!" she insisted, as she called the porter 
 and gave orders for her berth to be made at 
 once, "I am a long way ahead now. I always 
 know just where to quit ! Besides I am always
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 281 
 
 fearfully sleepy on the train by eight. It is ten 
 now. If you get up real early, however no 
 later than 7 :30 I will let you join me at break- 
 fast, though that is usually the time I am glean- 
 ing my plots. Persons are so much themselves 
 then without the cunning or deception of later 
 hours. I fancy we shall be crossing the Wis- 
 consin border into the glorious woods just about 
 that time." 
 
 When we arrived at Star Lake, a little late 
 the next morning, we found we were the only 
 passengers that had come out for mere sport. 
 It was still early for the bird-hunting, and sev- 
 eral months ahead of deer-shooting, but the 
 bracing air and the burst of wild-cherry foliage 
 into autumn flame lent a fascination to the quiet 
 that seized upon us at once. 
 
 It was only the matter of a moment or two for 
 Elinor to choose our guide a big, gaunt Swede, 
 Lunquist by name, whose gaze ferreted dis- 
 creetly upon tent-poles and fishing-rods, and 
 whose prodigious frame promised comfortable
 
 282 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 interposition between us and any unexpected 
 danger, no matter how formidable. Through 
 Lunquist's slowly uttered but practical direc- 
 tions, we learned that the huge " musky*' we 
 most desired to capture could be obtained in 
 greatest quantity if we pushed a day's journey 
 on horseback through the denser woods, up 
 toward Shreiner Lake and Boyle Lake, where 
 there were several comfortable shacks, each 
 with a big fireplace, " and very near one another, 
 in case my wife desired a little more room than 
 the single apartment, and big porch that the 
 plan of each single shack, afforded." 
 
 Ed, you have been countless times over these 
 and wilder grounds in your love for game- 
 hunting. I shall waste no time in description 
 of our stay in the woods. We walked and 
 hunted and gaffed the struggling "musky" for 
 many delightful hours. We visited the stray 
 Indian camps and ordered moccasins, soft and 
 beaded gayly, which we wore frequently in our 
 walks over the pine-strewn or sandy trails. We
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 283 
 
 read aloud in the midst of nature's most gentle 
 and alluring songs and whispers. We piled the 
 huge stones, and aided Lunquist in his prepara- 
 tion of the finest feasts that can possibly be 
 spread before man bacon broiled on hot stones, 
 coffee steeped lazily in shiny tins, sandwiches, 
 whose secrets of composition our silent, atten- 
 tive guide alone knew. And all that time Elinor 
 Phelps acted the platonic friend with an ease 
 and grace, that I, under the power of her bril- 
 liance and beauty, was far from feeling ! I had 
 agreed to her trying an experiment, and I meant 
 to keep my part of the contract if possible. All 
 the while I chafed furiously, however, under her 
 calmness and the belief that it was simply an 
 experiment that it could never be anything 
 else that even though my non-conventional 
 companion should learn to care herself, my re- 
 lation with Mabel Harris would make impos- 
 sible what I now imagined I wanted more than 
 anything else on earth or in heaven to marry 
 Elinor Phelps.
 
 284 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 One evening, that of the twelfth day of our 
 journey into the woods, Elinor reminded me 
 that I had shamelessly neglected the matter of 
 my mail. "We must go for it this very after- 
 noon, Ory," she expostulated, "and go our- 
 selves, because 'Lunny* is always so hugely 
 slow. The sky is a little gray, so there will be a 
 very quick fall of night. Let's not trust our- 
 selves to the wriggly trails. Suppose we take 
 the boat." 
 
 "The trip will be delightful," I agreed most 
 promptly, * ' but the errand is useless enough. I 
 have a pitiful scarcity of relatives these days, 
 and when Mabel sees me well started in a plan, 
 she gives herself up comfortably to the next sub- 
 ject in hand, taking it for granted that since 
 there is no visible evidence of harm hovering 
 about me, there can be no possible danger of my 
 not coming out unscathed." 
 
 We were at the end of the little path now, that 
 led between a tall enclosure of pines. At the 
 wharf, improvised out of a few old boards, our
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 285 
 
 boat rocked idly. As I helped Elinor in, and 
 made the leap that the choppy waves demanded 
 when once the boat was loosed, Elinor seemed 
 suddenly to become aware of what I had said. 
 ''Merciful heavens, is that love!" she sighed 
 whimsically. "It seems to me that if I ever 
 cared for any one, I would haunt the post-office 
 constantly. Indeed I think I would even apply 
 strenuously for a position as postmistress that 
 I might grasp my lover's letter the first as it 
 tumbled out of the mail-bag. And if he were in 
 the woods and I didn't hear every day every 
 day, I should be tormented past endurance with 
 the thought that a big tree might have fallen 
 on him, or a vagrant lion performed the unusual 
 trick of wandering from tropic zones toward 
 frigid climes!" 
 
 "And if you did not hear upon the second 
 day?" I ventured. We were a distance out 
 now. The darker clouds parted just a bit and 
 let out the glittering stream of rose and gold and 
 lavender light that falls each fair evening in
 
 286 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 caress over the hearts of the glorious pond- 
 lilies. This time the beautiful sunset lights 
 hesitated, however, just long enough to kiss the 
 soft hair and the sweet face of the woman, whose 
 glance was afar off in dreaming, her hands drag- 
 ging the water and touching absently one 
 glistening lily-pad after the other. 
 
 "Oh, if I did not hear the second day," she 
 spoke at last, "I would leave all the letters un- 
 delivered. I would spring from my seat even 
 though the penitentiary were the sure outcome ; 
 I would not even wait to get a substitute; I 
 would just run on and on, holding out my arms, 
 calling to him to wait, to live till I could reach 
 him, following the sounds, the instincts that only 
 the soul desperately in love can feel until I 
 came to him at last, to save him or if too late, 
 to go with him into the great new venture." 
 
 There was but one answer I could give to this, 
 Ed. It was not the words alone, but the voice, 
 the manner, the intensity of soul. I threw down 
 my oars and buried my head in my hands.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 287 
 
 "Elinor Phelps," I denounced bitterly, "you 
 are by far the most cruel type of woman that 
 earth or even hell can hold to tell me this!" 
 
 For a wonder she did not resent my mood in 
 the slightest, but her own changed at once into 
 utmost practicality. "Here, give me the oars," 
 she said, "you are tired. And Ory," she hur- 
 ried on, "you must not talk so; you must stick 
 to our contract. We must not even think. We 
 must just live, live the glorious present. I 
 could not bear it, if if either of us should fail 
 miserably in the noble comradeship we've 
 found. The two weeks are nearly up now. Oh, 
 Ory, please, please let's prove the mistake of a 
 convention that has become almost a fetishism 
 in the conventional world. Let us prove that 
 one can be as true and steadfast under free 
 views as when locked in his neighbor's dictates 
 as to action ! Listen, Ory ; I will not have it any 
 other way!" 
 
 It was the last day of our fortnight of rest, 
 and answering the cry which only a brute re-
 
 288 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 fuses to respect, my attitude toward Elinor be- 
 came more guarded and platonic in expression 
 if possible after our trip into town for the letter 
 that did not come, than it had been before. We 
 talked frankly and without sentiment. "We told 
 each other that we had grasped and confined a 
 truth that, later, must force itself upon a now 
 oddly blind, law-hampered world. We reveled 
 in the lessons of freedom taught by the dash of 
 the cataracts, the toss of the waves, the proud 
 towering of the forest trees. We ignored the 
 laws that held within bounds the plunge of the 
 falls; the shores that confined the waters, the 
 roots that made firm the trees. We even be- 
 came so weak as to speak of the odd dullness of 
 minds that were content to labor year after year 
 at the same desk in the same musty office ; of the 
 mothers that inhabited cheerfully the tiny cot- 
 tages; of the masculine hearts that could glad- 
 den at the possible annual advance of $12.33 in 
 salary ; of the maternal soul, again, that saw its 
 only excitement in deciding whether Mary's
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 289 
 
 dress should be planned in plait or tuck style, 
 or whether Johnny's hat could be blocked and 
 made to run a third-year course ! 
 
 And then upon the last evening of our stay 
 at Shreiner Lake even as Lunquist packed 
 stolidly the few trappings we had brought, evi- 
 dently as content to leave as to come, the real 
 test of our insistently tried theory hit upon us ; 
 as it must sooner or later to any mortal building 
 upon precarious sands. And by its coming left 
 us almost stranded with eyes opened by sheer 
 compulsion at last to the bitterness and false- 
 ness and perfect inexcusableness of what we had 
 done. 
 
 It began pouring early in the evening, and at 
 once the trees, from the tallest pines to the tiny 
 wild-cherry, took on that air of utter desolation 
 that only a rain-swept woods can know. 
 Startled birds and bats flew here and there aim- 
 lessly; despicable-tempered owls hooted deri- 
 sively at the birth of any or all optimism ; a por- 
 cupine, dragging its soaked, slow body from the
 
 290 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 dripping hazel-bushes, took refuge, with rasp- 
 ing, irritating scraping of quills, directly upon 
 my roof. In the distance, coyotes sent forth a 
 howling protest against having to hunt prey 
 amid such gloom. Even the prey itself gave 
 evidence of dismay at being pursued at such a 
 moment. And worst of all dismal touches, 
 from the shed where our ponies were sheltered 
 came the dull blow of Lunquist 's hammer, much 
 resembling some interring act, and the weird 
 half -chant, half -monotone, of the big Swede's 
 one unvarying selection: " Darling, I am gro- 
 6-ing 6-6-oldt Silver treads " 
 
 It was Elinor that broke into actual trembling 
 at last, showing in her actions the fear of a weak 
 woman for the first time since I had known her. 
 We were taking supper at the time in her cabin, 
 a delicious game menu, prepared most skillfully 
 by Elinor's and Lunquist 's combined efforts. 
 
 "Oh, Ory," she fairly demanded as the storm 
 increased in fury, "pile more wood on that fire 
 quick. Yes, I know it 's leaping high, but it must
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 291 
 
 blaze still better ! Hand me the Indian blanket, 
 won't you. This sweater seems a mere delusion 
 for the first time. I'll draw up my chair close 
 to the fire, and you take what room is left for 
 yours. Then we'll read read! Oh, if we had 
 only gone yesterday yesterday when a calm 
 moon smiled over a still calmer lake, instead of 
 waiting till the traces of rain and storm leave 
 for us only dismal memories!" 
 
 I thought that Elinor was merely fearfully 
 affected by the gloom of present surroundings, 
 as all highly temperamental natures must be ; so 
 I arranged her chair very near the fire, and, 
 drawing my own close to the rioting flames, 
 began a furious, and only half -decently punctu- 
 ated bombardment upon Stockton's "Hundredth 
 Man." I thought it wonderful what a soothing 
 power such indifferent reading could produce, 
 for after we were settled, Elinor did not speak 
 again. She did not even stir, or scarcely seem 
 to breathe for fear of losing the charm of my 
 hurried words.
 
 292 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 When the deer-head clock on her mantel struck 
 ten, our hour agreed upon always for parting 
 for the evening, Elinor stirred with a slight 
 moan. Looking up quickly, I saw that her eyes 
 were almost glassy, and her face livid. At once 
 the fearful thought came to me that she was dy- 
 ing, for some unaccountable reason, under cir- 
 cumstances that would mean her ruined name, 
 if ever brought to light. I had but one thought 
 now, to save her at least until I could get her 
 back to a city hospital, some way I counted 
 wonderfully at the moment on Lunquist's stolid 
 but unfailing brains and there under best 
 physicians, she could stand at least the show of 
 dying under conventional and approved circum- 
 stances. 
 
 11 Elinor, " I pleaded, warned, commanded, all 
 in a breath, as I at once seized upon the woods 
 remedy of brandy, * ' Elinor, try to bear up ; try 
 to be your old game self, dear. Try, until Lun- 
 quist and I can get you back safely home!" 
 
 But she pushed the silver flask away, and
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 293 
 
 would have none of it. The color rushed back 
 to her face in a torrent of feverish beauty, more 
 alarming even than the intense pallidness had 
 seemed. ' 'No," she cried, * 'I am not dying. I 
 ought to be; I ought to be but I can't and 
 won't. I was just thinking, Ory" her voice 
 grew strangely calm, "that a more cruel type 
 of woman never lived than I. Merely to try 
 out a theory I have wantonly ruined every 
 prospect of happiness for your married life. I 
 know I am perfectly protected one could 
 never find a safer resting-place for reputation 
 than in your hands. But you are not the kind 
 of man that can marry happily with a secret 
 that he must ever keep from his wife. For 
 your married life must be the clear, clear pool, 
 where one can look down and down until even 
 the hearts of the pebbles open to show you their 
 pure worth ! And I oh, wicked woman have 
 taken this one chance for happiness away for- 
 ever ! ' ' 
 Ed, even as I raised my hand to hush the self-
 
 294 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 accusation that fell wildly from her lovely lips, 
 I found myself changing utterly, beyond any 
 power of checking myself into a new and shame- 
 lessly weakened being. I saw before me only 
 the woman with whom I was wildly infatuated, 
 more desirable, more beautiful as her color 
 paled and flashed, and her perfect lines rose 
 and trembled and fell under the tumult of her 
 emotions, than I had ever supposed it possible 
 even for the most alluring woman to be. I had 
 no sense of honor now for previously assumed 
 obligations ; no care for the past nor the future 
 only the lust to seize upon the slim, slim 
 chance of the present to hold Elinor in my 
 arms, if not lawfully, at least temporarily as 
 my very own. 
 
 At once she read my thoughts, and with a cry 
 of fury sprang away from my approach. ' ' Oh, 
 I hate you now, hate you," she cried. "You 
 seemed so strong, so true, so reliable. Now you 
 have turned just like the others the weaker 
 others. You are not content with the agony of
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 295 
 
 ray remorse and grief for you ; but you are will- 
 ing to take away the little threadbare bit of 
 self-respect I have left!" 
 
 " Elinor,*' I protested, "you are cruel, you 
 are wickedly cruel to blame me now. You 
 know there is no human, no matter how moral 
 or true, who can wantonly throw himself into a 
 fire and not be burned like any weak unprin- 
 cipled mortal, only deeper, deeper I say, because 
 of his very lack of wantonness in previous times. 
 You asked me here, and because I love you 
 love you above " 
 
 The woman's hands dropped helplessly to 
 her side; for an instant her whole frame 
 trembled, then grew strangely calm. "Ory," 
 she said gently, in a voice of such utter control, 
 that immediately I found my own decent foot- 
 ing, "forgive me for accusing you in a moment 
 of despair. It is I who am entirely to blame I 
 You have kept the trust so well, so wonderfully 
 well, just to let me play in foolish childishness 
 with fire, that oh, Ory, it might all have been
 
 296 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 such a beautiful, big sweet thing to look back 
 upon always if if we had only had the right!" 
 In her flushed humility she was wondrously 
 alluring. In a flash I had her beautiful body 
 swaying in fierce resistance, yet in unconscious 
 yielding, in my arms. "It is a big sweet thing. 
 Now," I cried. ' ' We have the right. It is dif- 
 ferent with us whose very souls " 
 
 She trembled away from me an instant, her 
 lips burning up toward mine. "Ory," she 
 barely whispered, "save me! Take care of 
 me! Oh, please!" 
 
 Again but the one possible answer. * ' I will, ' * 
 I cried in bitter restraint. "If I must, I will 
 turn away from my one glimpse of heaven on 
 earth. I will struggle to forget that you are 
 you. If 1 must, just say that one cruel little 
 word dear heart." 
 
 But her lips were dumb, and her beautiful 
 head lay very still now against my shoulder. 
 
 "Oh, you little game sport," I cried, utterly
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 297 
 
 wretched to think I had used all the power 
 within me to win, utterly happy in the posses- 
 sion. "Oh you sweet little Game Sport!" 
 
 A POSTSCRIPT 
 
 And then the morning. The morning that 
 seemed so cruelly speedy in arriving, because 
 we had neither the desire nor the courage to 
 face it. The morning was full of bird-song and 
 renewed vigor of sunshine to many but to our 
 myopic visions was visible only fiercely leaden 
 skies of Regret, Suppressed Frenzy, Despair. 
 As we moved about on our errands, neither of 
 us was conscious of the presence of the other. 
 For both were held fast before the framework 
 of a picture. The fleeting promise of a beau- 
 tiful day then, though our hands were held out 
 longingly toward it, suddenly all joy gone past 
 hope, past any power of retaining sunk in a 
 cruelly dark and lifeless sky! Thus had we 
 tried to prove, to our own destruction of heart-
 
 298 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 peace and self-respect, the ' 'fallacy" of one of 
 God's kindest gifts to men Convention's laws! 
 Ah what a bitter, bitter proof ! 
 
 It was a relief when Elinor, woman-like, came 
 to the rescue very early in the day. " Please 
 have the horses hitched, Ory. I must go at 
 once. Lunquist will see me over to that little 
 hotel at Star Lake. I will pack my suit-cases ; 
 they can be sent in the morning. I will take 
 the first train out after they arrive." 
 
 "May I not even see you over, Elinor?" I 
 asked humbly. "I must follow at a distance. 
 The storm is permanently over, but you'll find 
 the trails well filled with debris. I could not 
 dream of trusting you to Lunquist alone, care- 
 ful as he is. ' ' 
 
 "Yes, I suppose you may," she answered in 
 a voice of such calmness that I marveled, "you 
 are too thoughtful to have it any other way. 
 But, Ory, please don't wait to see me off there. 
 Please let this really be our good-by." She 
 came across to me, and held out both hands.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 299 
 
 Her face, as she lifted it, was infinitely sweet; 
 but in spite of her brave effort her lips trembled 
 and tears sprang into her eyes. "Good-by, 
 Ory," she said. "I wish a person could just 
 quit living, when it seems too terrible and hard. 
 But no real person can. I shall just bluff it 
 out, and go on and on, and try not to think 
 only to bluff, bluff that the sun is clearly visible 
 through leaden skies; that I've never lost my 
 self-respect! I hope it won't be too dreadful 
 for you that some day the bitterness will give 
 way to even a vague sweetness, though it ought 
 not, I suppose. I am glad, very glad that I 
 have to play the harder part! And, Ory, for 
 the pleasant time you've tried to make for me, 
 for your wonderful conception and courtesy 
 thank you, dear." 
 
 I rode very close after Elinor and Lunquist 
 that early morning. At times I dismounted to 
 help the Swede lead her horse over fallen tree- 
 boughs or around fierce tangling of young cot-
 
 300 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 tonwoods, cherries, and hazel-bushes. But, so 
 far as I remember, none of us, aside from the 
 giving of a few directions by Lunquist, spoke a 
 word. To the big Swede, a sudden arrival or de- 
 parture was evidently a frequent enough occur- 
 rence to arouse little surprise and no comment. 
 With Elinor and myself offended conscience 
 made the stormy skies so suffocatingly near, 
 so oppressive, as to drown out any effort but 
 the mechanical one of breathing. At the hotel- 
 desk I left her, after finding that the one desir- 
 able room was obtainable till train-time. I also 
 left Lunquist, heavily paid, with a full promise, 
 that I knew he would not break, to see her safely 
 started in the best surroundings attainable. I 
 have not seen her since. Twice afterwards I 
 wrote her, begging with an insistence that came 
 from an almost unendurable longing, for an 
 opportunity to talk with her. Both letters were 
 returned, unopened. For Elinor was not the 
 type of woman that sets out to keep a faith only 
 to break it. She lessened the pain of my weak
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 301 
 
 insistence, however, by writing across the flap 
 of the last letter before returning: "Because 
 I do not dare. ' * It is not only a woman, I have 
 come to believe, that likes to feel that it is a grim 
 fate, rather than easy intention, that makes 
 one 's attendance in certain places impossible ! 
 
 When I left Star Lake the evening of the 
 same day upon which Elinor had gone, it was 
 with the feeling again that I had lived this all 
 out in some fearful preexistence. Bitter, 
 shaken in faith with myself, and disgusted with 
 life, I had only one aim now to work, work so 
 I could never think again. But first, protect- 
 ing the name of my woods-companion to the ut- 
 termost to tell all to Mabel ! 
 
 I know that I presented a frightful physical 
 appearance from Marie 's startled exclamation 
 and oppressive attention to my wants from the 
 first moment of my return; but I was hardly 
 prepared for Mabel's version of the matter, 
 when I found her in the orchard with her bees,
 
 302 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 where I had sought her in frantic haste to have 
 it over. 
 
 She took my hand, which I had not dared to 
 outstretch, stroked it with unusual kindness, 
 and then motioned me to a seat near-by. 
 "Frank, you poor boy," fell upon my astounded 
 ears, "do you really feel so bad about telling 
 me! I have thought for a long time that you 
 didn't love me that I couldn't quite come up 
 to your mentality in my practical bustling life 
 but I sent you away so you could think it over, 
 and decide surely for yourself. Now we both 
 know." 
 
 "But, Mabel," I insisted, too nonplused at 
 the turn matters had taken to veil my reply un- 
 der a reluctance to agree, "it is not a question 
 of whether I love you it is simply this : Since 
 we last met I have destroyed every right to 
 claim you as a wife. I have come straight out 
 to tell you then you will see for yourself how 
 impossible " 
 
 But she held up a hand. ' ' No, Frank, please !
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 303 
 
 I would rather not. There could be no secret 
 between us if we married; but since we shall 
 never do that now, I can't have you involve 
 yourself or or any one else in an explanation 
 you may regret later.*' 
 
 Suddenly she sprang to her feet in bitter 
 anger. It was no longer the simple little coun- 
 try girl before me, but a woman, understand- 
 ing, bitterly hurt, crying out, not only for her- 
 self but for every woman of her own, all past, 
 all future times. " Explanation 1 What does 
 a woman want with explanation from her lover 
 or husband!" she hurled defiantly. "It is the 
 true living the keeping of the faith as he 
 would expect it and demand it in her, that 
 counts."
 
 LETTER XX 
 
 From Mildred to Her Aunt, Mrs. William 
 Howard Thompson. In Which She Con- 
 fesses Herself Much at Sea. At Prairie 
 Grove. November Seventeenth. 
 
 DEAEEST AUNT: 
 
 This growing-up process seems a fearfully 
 rapid one the least rationally balanced of any- 
 thing in nature. One day I am climbing the 
 apple-tree, dolls and books in hand the next, 
 standing at my bedroom window, fully grown, 
 wondering, suffering, unable to solve this or 
 that. Ed has thought me listless, of late, and 
 without the right number of laughs a day, and 
 so, dear watchful brother that he ever is, he has 
 packed me away to a farm-home, very near so 
 he can drive out, to recuperate. It is pumpkin 
 and chicken and even turkey time on the farm ! 
 The air has a famous tang when one rides 
 
 304
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 305 
 
 horseback. The grate-fire has a particularly 
 soothing hum and roar when one returns stiff- 
 ened from a gallop. I had my choice between 
 the big parental home on the hill belonging to 
 a Mr. Vickery, or to live in the one spare-room 
 of the little cottage, where his married daugh- 
 ter lives, at the close touch of the other's boun- 
 daries. I took the cottage as it looked so 
 homey, and there were two very young children 
 there two of the sweetest little boys ever, with 
 ruddy cheeks and eyes just dancing with fun. 
 The gloriously wholesome and cheery type that 
 this old world needs. 
 
 Tante, I am learning worlds of new things 
 from this simple-hearted, perfectly balanced 
 woman. You know I have been kept so along 
 one line of training that I feel myself incom- 
 petent, at times, to wrestle with vividly impor- 
 tant matters. She Edith Wilbur is her name 
 is helping me so. She is ever happy, ever 
 busy with simple duties for herself or others. 
 Yet she has a keen mind, easily capable of an-
 
 306 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 alyzing life for herself. She declares, over our 
 bit of sewing, that she believes in loving a man 
 on faith, and early at that. She does not be- 
 lieve that the doleful period in the lives of most 
 young men, when they must wander the city- 
 streets on delicatessen meals, and foist hall- 
 bedrooms for real homes, was ever instituted by 
 God ; but purely and simply the outcome of the 
 idleness or extravagance of women, who won't 
 live simply, and who insist at beginning where 
 their fathers quit. Oh, it's fine to hear her. I 
 wish you could see her pretty eyes flash when 
 she declares that she has no use for the theory 
 that to be untempted is to be chaste and strong. 
 Nor again does she approve of the cruelty 
 of condemning those of one sex who have not 
 won out their battles squarely, any more hugely 
 than the other. In that we agree perfectly, 
 both from an ethical and hygienic standpoint. 
 After all, I am coming to believe with her that 
 if a woman expects nobility in a man, even to the 
 height of a haystack, she may be gladdened by
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 307 
 
 seeing him attain unto the limit of the moun- 
 tain-ridges. But if she shows no stability her- 
 self, aside from the battles fought and won 
 merely to escape unpleasant notice in life is 
 she, after all, any better, or half so good as the 
 one who has gone straight into the powder and 
 shell, and, later, returns, grievously tired out, 
 perhaps, but master, at last, of the situation ! 
 
 Tante, I am going to write Teddy this very 
 night, and ask him if he is the only one of our 
 many acquaintances who is the Great Excep- 
 tion in Unfailing Morals, or whether there are 
 many, many infallible men like him, and Sena- 
 tor Buckingham, and as Ory's father surely 
 was. It may seem foolish, but I must know. 
 So Lovingly, MILDEED.
 
 LETTER XXI 
 
 Aliston to His Sister Mildred. By Special 
 Delivery. November Nineteenth. 
 
 My dear little sister why, my dear little 
 sister A single and ultimate correction for all 
 evils an insistence upon perfection in man is 
 impossible. I realize now what pain I may 
 have brought upon you by inculcating one rigor- 
 ous line of thought in your mind and heart 
 But I think, and always have thought, that the 
 man who is ready to marry, is the one that has 
 met life's temptations with a determination 
 not to be outwitted. This is far, however, from 
 spelling Perfection! I, one of the 'Great 
 Exceptions.' Well hardly! I am simply one 
 of the many, many natural characters, drawing 
 my lessons through observation, actual min- 
 gling, a struggle or two, and, then, obtaining a 
 
 308
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 309 
 
 real ballast, through a true desire to win. It is 
 interesting to think, however, that there are a 
 few characters set apart in almost hallowed 
 places who may be very strong, and yet may 
 know little of mingling with the world. Ory's 
 father appeared to be one of them. I thought of 
 him always as utterly impregnable to the attack 
 of any temptations. But, usually, the general 
 who wears shining epaulets on his shoulders 
 has won them because he has been in the midst 
 of powder and shell ; and, fighting to the fullest 
 power in him, has come out victorious, able to 
 direct from having obeyed, qualified to lead be- 
 cause he has conquered. I would that I could 
 offer as much of this example in myself, as I 
 surely hope to find it in any one who loves you, 
 Mildred. Because (as true women can do so 
 helpfully and, it would seem, with greater ease 
 than men) you have proven your worthiness to 
 the best there is. Perhaps some day you may 
 understand me fully, Mildred. I can only tell 
 you this much now.
 
 310 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 I am glad the canters over the hillsides are 
 doing you so much good. Hope to get Saturday 
 next and Sunday off myself when we will take 
 a famous ride. With Much Love, TEDDY.
 
 LETTER XXII 
 
 Holland to Aliston. An Attempted 
 Search for the Girl in the Land of Shadow. 
 At Congress Hotel, Chicago. November 
 Twentieth. 
 
 DEAB ED: 
 
 For some odd reason I felt myself drawn 
 irresistibly to choose the hotel where I spent 
 the first fortnight after my dismissal from col- 
 lege on account of the performance at Owl Inn. 
 How different are the circumstances, now, and 
 yet I can not say they are any the less gloomy. 
 Then I was crushed with the anger of my father 
 toward me, and harassed with the thought that 
 my scarce money was dwindling alarmingly. 
 Now, with a full purse, that makes one of the 
 most desirable suites, with big bay-windows 
 overlooking the steady line of glistening ma- 
 chines on Michigan Boulevard, possible indefi- 
 
 311
 
 312 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 nitely, I am again racked with pain at the evi- 
 dent futility of my searching. I can not get the 
 slightest trace of the Girl in the Land of 
 Shadow. Yet I am doubly interested in finding 
 her now for my own peace of mind, and for 
 the humane interest you have expressed. Be- 
 fore I hire detectives, however, I shall try hard 
 on my own hook, believing it often to be the 
 most efficient way. 
 
 Of course I realized from the start that the 
 chance of finding her was but one in a thou- 
 sand; for with only the slight clew, given me 
 over the table in the "ladies' parlor" at the sa- 
 loon that her name was Craig (probably ficti- 
 tious as is the custom with those women) and 
 that she lived right across from Hull House I 
 have had to work my blind search. The 
 thought of the simpering musician occurred to 
 me, the man who was writhing his way down to 
 the poor girl that night when I came to her res- 
 cue with the protection of my company. I have 
 beaten the whole of the "underworld" with the
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 313 
 
 aid of a best detective in this direction to try to 
 get hold of him that I might ascertain whether 
 he continued long in his unwelcome attention 
 to the girl, or whether he had the slightest ink- 
 ling of her whereabouts. He too has passed 
 out of reach, however, being, evidently, only one 
 of the countless number of surfeiters that en- 
 cumber earth for a while, and then drop away 
 without a ripple of regret from her, or even 
 knowledge of departure. This morning, it 
 seems to me, I shall never be able to discover 
 whether the poor little girl ever found her one 
 staunch friend. At least, thank God, I have no 
 lurid memory of any harm I ever did her; but 
 I can not forget that I would not have given up 
 her company if she herself had not helped me 
 to the stronger decision, by making it compul- 
 sory. 
 
 Isn't it always true that even as we begin 
 curving in our fingers for a give-up, Providence 
 offers us still another chance to grasp the life- 
 line that has been lying right at our side all the
 
 314 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 time. This evening early (it is now midnight) I 
 went out for a last attempt. My road, as usual, 
 lay along Archer Street, down Twenty-second, 
 across the big lift-bridge toward Halsted. 
 The wind was blowing a perfect gale, swooping 
 the papers and trash out of the garbage-boxes, 
 placed at the corners of the many alleyways, 
 and adding their medley to the already heavily 
 clogged streets. I stopped for a moment at the 
 corner of one alley, trying to lay out my night's 
 campaign as briefly as possible, so as to get back 
 out of the howling wind into the warmth and 
 stir and glow of Peacock Alley or my hotel- 
 room. I felt very much alone just then, for 
 the steps of the tenements, crowded to overflow- 
 ing with genial Italian families of balmy even- 
 ings, were utterly deserted this night. Not a 
 policeman was in sight. A little brown dog, 
 with a surplus of mud in its shaggy, unkempt 
 hair, shivered miserably behind a garbage-box. 
 "Bedelia," a pock-marked, street-character 
 slunk by me stealthily, muttering a low curse at
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 315 
 
 my unwelcome blocking of a square foot, even, 
 of the sidewalk. From the corner where Twen- 
 ty-second cuts into Archer, a discouraged little 
 band of Salvationists had gathered. Already 
 a sad song lifted and quavered into utter minor- 
 chords in the mercilessness of the wind. But 
 the brave leader followed quickly, beating the 
 air with his stiff, cold fists and pouring words 
 of melodramatic entreaty into the ears of the 
 indifferent stragglers that had emerged one by 
 one from the corner-saloon. 
 
 He, this little captain-leader, was not choice 
 of his subjects. He did not know the niceties 
 that compel the "best-bred" minds and tongues 
 to avoid all vital subjects, even though they may 
 affect the life of their very souls, and speak 
 rather of the unimportant physical needs, and 
 new harmful ways in politics and dress. 
 
 "Necessary evil," he howled and battered his 
 words defiantly into the stinging night, "neces- 
 sary habit, you mean. And, oh, my brothers, 
 if it's true that woman must be given to this
 
 316 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 curse, what man of you is brute enough to say 
 it shall be his own sister that is chosen for the 
 cause ! And what man is low enough to hurl a 
 neighbor's sister where he can not choose to 
 send his own!" 
 
 The crowd took up the challenge in its usual 
 manner. Some laughed drunkenly, some hung 
 irresponsive sullen faces. A few dowdy 
 women, clinging mawkishly to rough arms for 
 support, tittered foolishly. Only one man made 
 any direct* move. He broke away from the 
 crowd with an impatient shrug of his shoulders. 
 And for an instant he paused just outside the 
 huddle, lifting his head in evident indetermina- 
 tion as to where to go next. The light from a 
 window in a dried-beef canning factory, where 
 scores of young girls were packing a rush-order, 
 fell full across his face. In spite of the lines of 
 fearful dissipation and utter friction with 
 everything in general, I recognized him at once 
 as poor Jarvis Brown. And, aside from per- 
 sonal liking for him, at once it flashed through
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 317 
 
 my mind that he of all others would be best able 
 to help me get some clew concerning the Girl in 
 the Land of Shadow ! 
 
 Already he was hurrying away with restless 
 footsteps toward the east so that I almost had 
 to run. Then when I reached him finally and 
 laid a desperate clutch on his shoulder for fear 
 he might yet escape me, he whirled angrily 
 about and lifted an arm to strike. 
 
 "Hold on, Jarvis," I said easily. "You re- 
 member me, I hope." 
 
 The man's arm dropped at once and his burn- 
 ing glance ran me over carefully from hat- 
 crown to shoe-sole. "God," he staggered out 
 finally, "what brings you into this, Orison Hol- 
 land!" 
 
 "So you do know me," I exclaimed with a 
 cordiality that threw a flicker of pleasure across 
 the poor face for just an instant. "Well, I am 
 glad you do, for finding you means everything 
 to me." 
 
 The light in the man's eyes gave way in-
 
 318 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 stantly to one of repellent defensiveness. He 
 leaned against the cold damp walls of the pack- 
 ing-house and crossed his arms. "Oh, go off 
 with your sponge- talk," he retorted. "I guess 
 it isn't a loan you need" he took in the cut of 
 my coat and the gleam of my shoes with a cer- 
 tain smile of discernment * * if it is, am awfully 
 sorry, Ory. I should enjoy nothing better. 
 Haven't forgotten those old days; though, God 
 knows, I oughtn't to insult the almanac by re- 
 membering them! But " He turned his per- 
 fectly empty pockets out with an expressive 
 shrug as a finish to his sentence. 
 
 "You must let me help you a little. We have 
 always been friends. And you showed your- 
 self a dandy one by setting my score right at 
 college. It's not money that concerns me these 
 days. But you can be of infinite service to me 
 if" 
 
 He eyed me suspiciously. "Say cut that 
 dodge out," he muttered angrily. "Suppose 
 you don't ask me to Sunday-school! Suppose
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 319 
 
 you don't tell me of what value I, a stranded 
 derelict, might be to the world." He brought 
 his fist down against the rough wall with a bruis- 
 ing thud "well, all I've got to say is, it's a 
 damned sight too late. There might once have 
 been a show for me; but now I don't care I 
 don 't care, do you hear me ! It 's a damned sight 
 too late for heaven or hell to turn me afloat on 
 any track but the false!" 
 
 "It's about a girl," I soothed his anger. "A 
 poor little misguided girl. Come into that res- 
 taurant on the corner and let's get something 
 warm. I'll tell you then. I'm sure you can 
 help me get on trace of her if she is living at 
 all that is if you will." 
 
 At once Jarvis 's whole manner changed. He 
 lifted his shoulders with that pathetic recall of 
 gentleman-blood that had once flowed so 
 strongly in his veins. "Come on," he said sim- 
 ply. "If there is any hope of the poor little 
 kid being helped by it you can bet your life 
 I '11 do my best."
 
 320 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 As the man wanned and gained trust under 
 the stimulus of good food, I told him my story 
 briefly. He answered little, seemingly lost in a 
 real struggle of thought. Then, over the fourth 
 cup of black coffee, he bent toward me across 
 the table. l ' It 's odd, ' ' he said. * ' Sometimes I 
 think it's made so in order that it may always be 
 devilish hard to commit murder or sin too 
 deeply in a world that only takes notice of a 
 derelict when he stirs up a rumpus but there 
 is always some one who knows us or of us. I 
 am almost sure that I can give you a clew to the 
 whereabouts of the girl you want to find. I 
 know all about the first details. Her name 
 really was Craig (poor little fool that she was, 
 to tell the truth under risk). The musician 
 you speak of was Michael Cocintina. He shot 
 himself on account of his infatuation for her. 
 She cut him short in all attentions after an aw- 
 fully stormy night, when it is said she went away 
 with a stranger. Perhaps that stranger was 
 you?"
 
 THE SIXGLE-CODE GIRL 321 
 
 "But you know so much, tell me did she get 
 the one proof of friendship!" I questioned 
 eagerly. 
 
 Again he gave the familiar shrug. "That 
 part you and I have yet to find out. I know 
 where to go to make sure whether any good- 
 luck came her way or whether she ended her life 
 in the bottle or river. You know just how likely 
 the average person would be to extend a com- 
 panionable hand to her! From the little I 
 heard of the girl, I judge mere toleration in the 
 name of charity would not hold her long! A 
 friend in such times is a veritable needle in a 
 haystack; but perhaps she found the needle. 
 She deserved the finding. At any rate let's go 
 see at once!" 
 
 I almost dreaded the meeting of the truth, 
 now the opening to it was so evidently upon me. 
 I laid a detaining hand on his shoulder. "But 
 first tell me a bit of your own life," I urged. 
 At once I realized I had made a bitter mistake. 
 
 For a moment the man sat utterly motionless.
 
 322 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 His eyes seemed looking out a hundred years 
 beyond. Then his hot desperate glance fas- 
 tened upon me scornfully. "It's such a rotten, 
 familiar story that it will only reach your me- 
 chanical hearing," he scoffed. "I wasn't con- 
 tent with my own blackness, but had to persuade 
 a sweet little woman, all faith and love, into the 
 tangled web. She believed in me thought I 
 would reform and I let the declaration of my 
 lips guide me, though my heart told me all along 
 it was a lie ! " He threw his hands out in sud- 
 den protest. "And she kept on believing for a 
 long while just think of it in the face of all 
 odds. But now she too has given up. Her life 
 is a total wreck. Our our little girl is four 
 now. She was born blind ! ' ' 
 
 Suddenly he rose in his chair. His face grew 
 livid. His sensitive hand clutched and clawed 
 the air, and then fell in a helpless thud on the 
 table. "Ory," he cried, "I don't even go home 
 any more. I only wait for that one merciful 
 day to come when I can quit. I am too big a
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 323 
 
 coward now even to take my worthless life. 
 Ory, I am leaving them to struggle alone, be- 
 cause I can't bear the touch of those baby- 
 fingers. I can't stand the love in the patient 
 face that she always turned toward me when I 
 came in the door, nor the blind grope of the 
 helpless little hands toward my cheeks. It is 
 hard enough to knock up bravely against all the 
 odds in life when one has full possession of 
 every sense. And to think that this little soul 
 must ever travel the life-path in blindness that 
 her poor mother must ever suffer, not on ac- 
 count of her own hardships, but for her. And 
 all all because they have both known me!" 
 
 His head fell on the table under such convul- 
 sive movements and gasps, that I feared for the 
 moment that Jarvis' drug- wrecked body was 
 about to rebel finally. Then before I could 
 even touch him or beckon a staring waiter, the 
 poor man lifted his head with a touch of utmost 
 pity softening its every line. "It isn't just the 
 man of poverty, either, Ory," he reasoned with
 
 324 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 the calmness of despair. ''Chester you re- 
 member him? he is on the bench now. He 
 solves many questions that have to do with the 
 most vital things we know the wrecking or re- 
 storing of mortal hope ; the taking or giving of 
 life itself. But Chester's pure, sweet little wife 
 has a terrible sorrow of her own. They have 
 but one boy a helpless cripple from his waist 
 down. The judge has sent to almost every coun- 
 try to get beautiful plants and foliage to adorn 
 their big lawn. These are for the boy to look 
 at when he rides in his wheel-chair. He has all 
 the high-named physicians, and a tutor, too ; and 
 books by the thousand ; and every possible me- 
 chanical toy. But somehow, I can't help 
 thinking that the poor little chap would rather 
 be down here even on poverty-row if he 
 could only run and jump like other normal kids, 
 than be the son of his millionaire father 
 a little rich cripple, shut in from the world fig- 
 uratively and literally by stone walls ! ' r 
 "They can not find the slightest clew to the
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 325 
 
 trouble I " I asked Jarvis as he arose to go with 
 me. 
 
 Again the shrug. "Many noted physicians, 
 even from abroad, have given a try at it. 
 Money has never been stinted an instant. But 
 with such a truly good mother and such a wise, 
 kind, evenly balanced father what is there to 
 think!" Suddenly he stooped very near me 
 "Zista is about the only one who could really of- 
 fer any possible solution. You remember her 
 the dance-girl who was so angry with Chester 
 after that night at the Owl Inn? But Zista loves 
 hush-money. Zista loves nothing better than 
 to clothe her lovely body in still lovelier gar- 
 ments and to climb in and out of limousines to 
 and from her apartments in fine hotels. They 
 say Chester's life is, unfortunately, like an open 
 book in her hands Even the wisest head seems 
 prone, at times, to write the wantonly danger- 
 ous confession just once Zista holds just such 
 a dangerous letter, but little Zista is not fool 
 enough to interest herself in the why and where-
 
 326 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 fore of the need for modern eugenics, or to trace 
 lurid results to possible hereditary flaws, so 
 long as the hush-money can be provided in gen- 
 erous amount ! Of that she is certainly secure, 
 for the judge must evade notoriety. For that 
 reason more than for his rumored high re- 
 gard for all suffering mankind, perhaps, he is 
 forced to labor often into the small hours at 
 his desk. Double responsibilities, a fearfully 
 afflicted son and Zista, are hard even for him to 
 carry, as you can imagine. It is the truth, too, 
 that when remorse for his poor lad's condition 
 seizes upon him too desperately, he flies, like a 
 haunted convict at large, to the very seat of his 
 trouble. Zista can be soothing at times as well 
 as demanding. She knows it is for her own best 
 good to listen to a wailing human voice that 
 must speak, must tell all to some living soul to 
 listen and not repeat ! You are wondering how 
 I know so much? Because once I hated Ches- 
 ter ; once I hounded his every footstep, and with
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 327 
 
 my own familiarity with all things unworthy 
 was able to translate his slyest moves with ease. 
 I meant to do him harm vast harm. But that 
 was before I caught a glimpse of his crippled 
 laddie, a boy with helpless withered limbs, a face 
 of infinite sadness, and eyes that accepted hope- 
 lessly but patiently what another had cast upon 
 him. That was before I knew my beautiful 
 little girl, too, and felt the loving touch of her 
 groping, worshipful little fingers upon my 
 rankly unworthy head. I could not harm a fly 
 now ; but I have already played the biggest card 
 that hell owns in her pack in cursing the lives of 
 two who believed in me. I pity Chester now; 
 for I know somewhat of the torture he suffers. 
 I do not hate him. I tell you these things be- 
 cause my stagger is nearly over, and it seems 
 somehow that a man of trust and silence, like 
 you, ought to hold these facts. Credit or refuse 
 them as you will! After all they smack of the 
 highly improbable. For, bah ! surely, the great,
 
 328 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 gentle wise judge of a struggling people could 
 not accept so solemn a charge, if he had failed 
 miserably himself!" 
 
 I sat so long trying to reconcile myself to the 
 justice of Chester's being judge that it was Jar- 
 vis this time who took the initiative. "Come," 
 he said, now thoroughly sobered, and the gentle- 
 man he was by nature, "I am not quite so far 
 adrift but that if there is a chance to set a pair 
 of feet into a path of faintest hope, I'll try my 
 best. Let's be off to search the slums for a pos- 
 sible trace of the poor, misguided, little 
 'Kiddo'!"
 
 LETTER XXIII 
 
 Just a Restful Letter from Mrs. Thomp- 
 son to Nephew, Edward Clifton Aliston. 
 November Twenty-Fifth. 
 
 DEAR TEDDY: 
 
 It is more than generous of you to spare 
 Mildred to me so long before the Christmas 
 holidays. She came from her farm-vacation, 
 very quiet and with a new thoughtfulness of 
 bearing. Her lovely color and vivacity are 
 coming back already, however. We have just 
 everything to plan together, and Mildred is so 
 dear to work with, always so full of taste her- 
 self, and so tactful about making any worth- 
 while move seem to be another's clever idea in- 
 stead of her very own! When we are not out 
 driving, finding so many beautiful decorative- 
 possibilities, even though our first real snow 
 
 329
 
 330 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 now lies over the hills, we are immensely busy 
 with our patients. For what do you think Dr. 
 Forrester has done next to help grandly, in his 
 dear unpretentious way, in smoothing out the 
 fearsome rough places in several poor little 
 lives? You remember the big Pratt house high 
 on the cliff just opposite my home? It has 
 stood idle for several years, since the passing of 
 its last interested member; and yet it possesses 
 every advantage of climatic conditions and 
 beautiful outlook. I have trembled at the 
 thought of non-appreciative but well-pursed 
 neighbors seizing upon it, so much so that I 
 have often considered its purchase; but last 
 month Dr. Forrester secured my lasting peace 
 by buying it himself ! He is turning every one 
 of the sixteen old-fashioned square rooms into 
 comfortable hospital quarters, each with a 
 grate-fire and one sunny window, at least, for 
 raising plants in winter. The large porch that 
 ran across the entire front is being continued 
 around three sides. The left porch, facing
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 331 
 
 south, is to be fitted with glass sides, making a 
 sun-parlor, with a glorious vista over our 
 gentler mountain-slopes and valley-lake. This 
 is for winter convalescents. The right porch is 
 entirely open, and gives an inexpressibly in- 
 spiring view of our dashing river and most 
 lofty mountain-tops. This, Dr. Forrester says, 
 is to be God's landscape of hope for the sum- 
 mer-patients, or those of more rugged natures 
 who prefer a bit of the strongest ozone, even in 
 winter, to comfortably glassed walls. His pa- 
 tients are all to be boys crippled boys, whose 
 cases have been pronounced hopeless; or who 
 lack the $l,000-f ee that stands between them and 
 possible recovery. Isn't it just like him! He 
 is always so busy trying to lift the burdens of 
 others with his own ready and capable shoul- 
 ders that he does not spare an instant to thought 
 of his own comforts. Yesterday I gave him a 
 positive scolding about coming out in a pouring 
 rain to see a patient who was very ill, without 
 stopping for storm-coat or rubbers. I even
 
 332 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 risked advising him to begin thinking over our 
 list of beautiful eligible young girls for one 
 whom he thought might make a dutiful and at- 
 tentive wife, since he is growing so inexcusably 
 stupid about the importance of taking care of 
 himself. But he only laughed and said that 
 there was no hurry; that he had his boys to 
 look after; and that his strong, red-haired, 
 broad-chested outdoor Scotch ancestry had 
 all drawn heavily upon old Father Time's 
 patience, all living to the comfortable age of 
 ninety-six or ninety-eight; and then they had 
 passed the border-line during calm sleep, more 
 out of consideration for the growing-space 
 needed by the young than from any acute ill- 
 ness! 
 
 But speaking of Dr. Forrester reminds me 
 that I have not told the greatest news of all. 
 Mildred and I have three of his patients in 
 charge at this very time! They are fixed so 
 comfortably in three little white cots out in the 
 sun-porch that Billy planned for me so beauti-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 333 
 
 fully the very last thing before his dreadful 
 accident. They are such serious cases, these 
 little boy-captains, that Dr. Forrester simply 
 could not wait until the the new hospital is re- 
 modeled, though he has six men working on it 
 all the time. He thought their chance for re- 
 covery would be very much impaired unless he 
 got them out of their sordid conditions at once ; 
 but he couldn't think of a place to "board them 
 out," where he felt that there would be com- 
 plete reliability and understanding. You know 
 so many of our best people close their houses 
 and go back to the turmoil of city-life just when 
 nature is painting her grandest pictures here, 
 and when the air is fairly charged with ozone 
 over mountains and valley ! As soon as I heard 
 of his dilemma I made him bring the three dear 
 little fellows straight to me. We have a most 
 capable nurse, but Mildred and I spend much 
 of our time with them voluntarily. And, oh, 
 how they love Mildred! I wish you could see 
 the eyes of those little captains light into glory
 
 334 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 at the first sight of her tender face. I would 
 surely think that nursing ought to be her spe- 
 cial calling if she were not already so deeply 
 needed by others. It is a great comfort to her 
 now, for though she accepts your explanation 
 without questioning I can not help but see that 
 she is changed from the old Mildred; Ory's un- 
 explained silence troubles her very much. 
 
 You will want just a tiny sketch of our pa- 
 tients I know so here it is. Mildred will write 
 you in detail. First there is Ben, a veritable 
 general in time of peril. There is just the one 
 chance out of ten for him and he knows it ! At 
 best it means the loss of both his legs. He 
 knows that, too. Dr. Forrester believes in hav- 
 ing the patient work with him, and to do this 
 he thinks the patient should have full knowledge 
 of what just one slack moment in a plucky fight 
 might do. The doctor also believes that the 
 one chance will predominate in the case of Ben. 
 The little lad is only nine but so splendidly 
 full of grit! Listen to his odd but heartfelt
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 335 
 
 prayer. It fills Mildred's and my eyes with 
 tears each time we hear it. Even the nurse 
 has to turn away when he folds his little hands. 
 This is it: "God, give me the one chance, 
 please. But if not here, then give me the ten 
 chances to be clear well in heaven for Jesus' 
 sake. ' ' 
 
 Our second patient is Scotch by birth. He 
 has very red thick hair and white far too white 
 skin. His eyes are brown and lustrous, his 
 lips a brilliant red. He is strikingly beautiful. 
 He is only five. But all those five long years 
 have been a continual struggle for breath. His 
 trouble is leakage of the heart. Dr. Forrester 
 thinks that with our good air and most care- 
 ful food and nursing perhaps just perhaps I 
 
 The third is a star-eyed Italian babe of three, 
 wrested from the Chicago slums. He lies al- 
 most continually on softest pillows, for the 
 slightest movements give him agonizing pain. 
 Not that he ever complains. His eyes are a per- 
 fect tragedy a mute questioning as to why the
 
 336 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 appalling misery of diseased hips had to meet 
 him at the very threshold of Birth; but it is 
 seldom that the colorless lips ever part to let 
 out a cry. Mildred and I call him "Little 
 Miracle." We are thankful to receive the les- 
 sons these little ones teach us. It shows us how 
 to shield our own sorrows and our own weak 
 complaints within a veil of attempted silence. 
 
 Sometimes I think these little ones will be 
 Mildred's saving-grace if the time ever comes 
 when she has to fight out the one fierce bat- 
 tle of her life. For she loves Ory ; oh, how she 
 loves Ory! The very mention of his name 
 throws a light of joy unspeakable across her 
 sweet soulful face. But you have so long 
 trained her that a man must be the com- 
 plete master of his impulses to mean anything 
 at all in life; and she is drinking in so deeply 
 each day from Dr. Forrester and from the 
 tragedy hovering over the lives of our little 
 boys that hereditary weaknesses call for com- 
 pound-interest in belated statements, that I
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 337 
 
 sometimes wonder whether, though we will 
 surely be able to exonerate Ory completely our- 
 selves, we could persuade her to the same opin- 
 ion. For Mildred is a captain of captains at 
 heart. She would remain by whatever she con- 
 sidered the just decision, no matter how fierce, 
 how bitter, her own unmerited pain. I am glad 
 you sent her off to Wilburs '. I imagine man is 
 a pleasant, vigorous, but comfortably erring 
 enough mortal in that practical little woman's 
 mind! 
 
 Teddy, I never before realized how anxiously 
 one can wait and watch for the postman, only 
 to feel greatest dread and panic about opening 
 what he brings. It seems to me each time I 
 read poor Ory's bravely honest letters that I 
 can never struggle through the pathos of con- 
 ditions surrounding some of the characters he 
 depicts, or the responsibility of another. And 
 yet before I have even returned one to the en- 
 velope, I find my heart and glance burning 
 restlessly for the return of the executioner, the
 
 338 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 mailman, who will put a fresh torture in my 
 hands. 
 
 Poor little "Kiddo." How I trust that Ory 
 will get the proof of the blessed news that she 
 did find her one friend. And yet who of the 
 type that would be truly best able to help her 
 would be brave enough to receive her! And 
 poor, poor Jarvis, so full of talent and soul- 
 worth, if his early efforts had only been guided 
 aright, and his hereditary gifts the least bit 
 justly tried out ! It seems impossible to think 
 that it is too late to stir better aims deep within 
 his soul. I long to rush forth and find and 
 help him. But Dr. Forrester says that is one 
 of the greatest evils resultant from marriage 
 with those of alcoholic habits. So often the 
 very best from both sides of the family is there, 
 latent, within such a man, but weak heredity 
 makes him dawdle with opportunity for growth 
 and takes away the Chance of Appeal to his real 
 but very dormant self. Thanks to the lessons 
 I have already gleaned from our three little
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 339 
 
 captains, I think I am growing better able to dis- 
 miss most vivid personal consideration of Mil- 
 dred and Ory just long enough to look upon the 
 matter fairly as a type of question that concerns 
 deeply not merely individual cases but the bet- 
 terment of the whole world. But still there has 
 been no wantonness with Ory, no cruelty, no 
 grossness, only startling indiscretion at times, 
 and, withal, splendid honesty. Surely he is not 
 even "a type." And Mildred ah, may the 
 dear Heavenly Father help us to find the hon- 
 est solution to this and all like matters without 
 so much as hurting a hair of her beautiful head 1 
 With so much love, and joy at the thought of 
 your holiday visit with us EBNESTINE.
 
 LETTER XXIV 
 
 From Holland to Aliston. Concerning a 
 Call upon the Woman of Non-Conventional 
 Views, and News of the Country Sweet- 
 heart. Pine View Hotel. December First. 
 
 DEAR ED: 
 
 Jarvis worked so faithfully with me in my 
 search for the little girl that we actually hit 
 upon the important and comforting fact that she 
 did find the one true friend. A veritable old 
 hag of a landlady, toothless, cracked-voiced, her 
 skin running in chasms and valleys of wrinkles, 
 whom Jarvis whispered aside to me had once 
 been called the "Orchid Lady" at fashionable 
 hotel dinners on account of her beauty and wit, 
 was our informant. Age and drugs had sapped 
 all bloom, snuffed out all but the fiercely sordid 
 
 340
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 341 
 
 from this old soul's life, but her recollection of 
 past events was astounding. She urged her to 
 go away with a friend. When consulted, how- 
 ever, this busy worker could only report that she 
 remembered a girl by the name of Craig had 
 gone out somewhere into a country-home, where 
 she was to be given a chance to begin life anew. 
 There had been such heart-interest in poor 
 Jarvis's every move, that I could not but hope 
 that I might still call him into an awakening of 
 manliness. This one thing he lacks, however, 
 from birth, stability of purpose. I found him 
 next morning in a very sordid boarding-house 
 in the stupor of a drugged and liquored condi- 
 tion that threatened to wrap him in a veil of 
 imbecility for many days. All I could do was 
 to leave him a note, stating the name of the 
 bank where I had left him a roll of money. 
 Part of the sum, if he accepts it all, poor proud 
 boy, he will spend on oblivion dopes ; part will 
 go, and the larger share, toward helping some 
 one even more miserable than himself. I also
 
 342 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 entreated him to return to the wife who, no 
 doubt, waits for him still, tender, forgiving, 
 hoping for his footsteps at the fall of each day, 
 and to the little daughter, whose affliction it is 
 for him to bear as bravely and as hopefully as 
 possible with his wife, now that it is upon them. 
 God grant that he may take heart again, even at 
 this late moment. 
 
 With the glad thought that the Girl in the 
 Land of Shadow had really found a true friend, 
 I took the train immediately at Polk Street 
 Station for my present destination, arriving 
 yesterday at noon. At once I ascertained from 
 an elderly aunt of mine, the fact that Elinor 
 Phelps was no longer a dashing, daring author, 
 but the capable wife of a noted surgeon, Howard 
 Van Nest. She was so busy with her beautiful 
 home, I was assured; so attentive to the every 
 need of her husband and the little girl twins 
 that when she wrote at all it was only a little 
 "on the side" after earnest appeals from her 
 former editors.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 343 
 
 You can realize, Ed, that even my desire to 
 investigate to the fullest the result of all of 
 my erratic wanderings of youth did not lend 
 me the temerity of considering a call upon Mrs. 
 Howard Van Nest! I had ascertained that the 
 "Beautiful Cataract'* was chained at last into 
 voluntary and most pleasant laws of conven- 
 tion, having followed the custom of most mor- 
 tals after all, by choosing the path of matri- 
 mony. As the Van Nest lawn and rustic-effect 
 garden were noted far and wide, however, I de- 
 termined to take a stroll past the spacious 
 grounds before making my train, to get a 
 glimpse of the artistic abandon of landscape 
 planning. 
 
 It was early afternoon, when I followed the 
 wide avenue a mile or so under the leafless, 
 but graceful limbs of as handsome a row of 
 maples as I had ever met. At the end of this 
 friendly stretch of branches, I came to the 
 heavily wrought iron gates that stood wide 
 open for any visitor to enter that chose. For
 
 344 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 a moment I paused under their broad arch in 
 indecision as to which course to take. It 
 seemed odd for me, once granted almost every 
 boon, to be entering now, an alien, into the 
 estate of my former Lurer from Convention. 
 But the sight was too tempting to resist, even 
 though I had to view it in the garb of a stranger. 
 On three sides the lawn ran down from a mag- 
 nificent stone house, into sheltered groves of 
 maples and elms, and, at the east, to meet a 
 capricious little brook that still gurgled a pro- 
 test under its first light coating of ice. But on 
 the fourth side the brook, twisting and twining 
 its way under its fetters with seeming scorn of 
 definite outline, suddenly broadened so that a 
 rustic bridge was necessary to gain its opposite 
 side. Then it narrowed again and disappeared 
 into a dense woods, also a part of the rich es- 
 tate. This later course, toward the rustic 
 bridge, just visible through a heavy clump of 
 weeping-willows, I chose for my walk of in- 
 spection.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 345 
 
 Each step was so freighted with new discov- 
 eries of artistic and thoughtful planning, to 
 meet and please the eye, that I was fully upon 
 the edge of the rustic bridge before I was aware 
 that a very beautiful woman was standing di- 
 rectly upon the other end, her glance fastened 
 earnestly upon a group of discouraged ducks 
 that waddled over the thin sheet of ice in search 
 of flowing water. 
 
 My attempt to turn immediately and beat a 
 hasty retreat roused the woman. She lifted 
 her head and threw aside the soft gray fur that 
 had lain high against her cheeks. The next 
 moment I was gazing into the lovely dark as- 
 tonished eyes of Elinor Phelps Van Nest! 
 
 Wildly I sought for some feasible excuse for 
 my intrusion, but Elinor Phelps met my apology 
 by coming quickly toward me, both hands out- 
 stretched in a smiling greeting. "Why, Orison 
 Holland," she exclaimed warmly, "of all men 
 on earth I am most glad to welcome you! Do 
 you remember the mud-hens that had such times
 
 346 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 rising out of the mass of pond-lilies and aquatic- 
 plants in the Wisconsin woods? Well, the 
 clumsy movements of those ridiculous old 
 ducks reminded me so of them that I was just 
 thinking of our of my erstwhile rash exper- 
 iment into which I so unkindly forced 
 you." 
 
 From any one but Elinor Phelps this frank 
 reversion to darkened history would have 
 seemed in most questionable taste, almost ap- 
 palling. But in the forcefulness and fascina- 
 tion of her beautiful personality, it stood out 
 as a touch of bravery hard to surpass. 
 
 An old gardener came up just then and lift- 
 ing a strong, peaceful face to his mistress asked 
 for special directions concerning some plants 
 that were to be set out that day in the con- 
 servatory. In the distance I noticed two young 
 boys busy wrapping foliage-roots with an extra 
 thickness of straw against a reported heavy 
 storm. Up at the house, high on the hill, a 
 gleaming blue auto entered the porte-cochere.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 347 
 
 A butler came out at once, his buttons dazzling 
 even at that distance in the sunlight. A maid 
 followed him with a closely wrapped bundle in 
 her arms, and entered the auto. She was 
 joined immediately by a staunch-looking elderly 
 woman, evidently a housekeeper or governess, 
 who clasped closely another very similar 
 bundle. 
 
 Mrs. Van Nest followed my glance, as she 
 dismissed the old gardener with a kind word 
 of encouragement for his unfailing toil and in- 
 terest. "The good God has been very merci- 
 ful, Ory," she began as seemingly irrelevantly 
 as before. "So good a man is Dr. Van Nest 
 that he never thinks of himself, only of the toils 
 and cries of others. My greatest joy is to 
 smooth out whatever wrinkles I can for him in 
 his life of complete self-surrender. And our 
 little girls! Oh, you must come in and take 
 tea with Dr. Van Nest and me, and let me show 
 you the twins. They are just going out for 
 their daily ride now, as you see; but they'll be
 
 348 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 in for inspection by five. Then I know you'll 
 agree with me that God never made two such 
 wholesome adorable little girls before." 
 
 "They could not help but be that," I mur- 
 mured tritely, utter astonishment at Elinor's 
 frankness and easy friendliness rendering me 
 miserably unable to cope fully with the situa- 
 tion. 
 
 "And now I am permitted to have the talk 
 with you that I have longed to have all these 
 years. Oh, how undeserving I am of so much 
 happiness and peace!" 
 
 "If it will give you any peace " I began 
 highly distressed, but she met my surmises with 
 an odd little laugh. "Don't look so troubled, 
 Ory," she begged. "It will all be over in a 
 moment. I am afraid I would not make a good 
 Catholic. I am not much on long confessions. 
 I just want to say again that I am very, very 
 sorry that it ever happened ; woefully sorry that 
 in my utter selfishness I gave the misery of it 
 to you, too, a good man, to bear."
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 349 
 
 I would have spoken, but she held up a hand 
 and led me to a rustic bench that commanded a 
 splendid view of the woods. "You love the 
 cold, too? It will not harm you to sit here just 
 a few moments longer! Then we will go in for 
 a cup of strong hot coffee. ' ' Her face suddenly 
 clouded with tensest feeling. "Ory, I must 
 hurry on while I have the courage. Perhaps 
 it's wickedly bold and wrong, but I must. I 
 think it will help you, too. After I left you 
 that night and for many, many months, I suf- 
 fered so fiercely that if I could have possibly 
 taken my life I would have done so. But some- 
 thing held me ever from the consummation of 
 that foolishly weak act. Then when I was in 
 my deepest frenzy, I came, through no other 
 source than the hand of a merciful Providence 
 I am sure, into the knowledge that Dr. Van Nest 
 understood as no other man how to touch and 
 heal writhing souls. I went to him. He would 
 hear of no real explanation from the start. 
 That has been and always will be my deserved
 
 350 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 punishment, Ory. I must know that I failed in 
 highest womanhood at a crucial moment, and 
 trust and hope and believe that the man most 
 dear to me understands all this, even though he 
 insists upon taking me upon faith alone with- 
 out explanation or confession." 
 
 A gentle smile relieved the pained twist of 
 the sensitive lips. Then with her characteris- 
 tic quick flash of moods she laughed softly. 
 "What do you think Doctor told me, Ory? 
 Perhaps it may help you if you ever come into 
 a moment of deepest grief. He said: 'You tell 
 me that you have every reason for happiness 
 so far as earthly attainments and perfect phys- 
 ical strength are concerned; yet I find you 
 plunged in utter gloom. Yours is a soul-cry, 
 then the kind that it takes the deepest grit 
 and best moral strength to bear. But you can- 
 not give up; you must go on. You mean too 
 much to life and life far too much to you to 
 make it feasible for you to lie down on the 
 battle-field, a defeated and mangled and useless
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 351 
 
 soldier, because you foolishly touched a match 
 to the wrong end of a fuse. Now say that per- 
 haps you have murdered your uncle then take 
 it for granted that your uncle ought to have 
 been murdered, or that you were not at all your- 
 self when you did it, until you are strong 
 enough to feel repentance as an incentive to re- 
 newed attempts, rather than as a goad to utter 
 and miserable defeat.' : 
 
 "If all of us could only become philosophers 
 to the point of never giving up till the last gasp, 
 no matter what our mistakes," I exclaimed 
 with involuntary admiration for the creed of 
 the skillful surgeon. 
 
 "Dr. Van Nest has helped and will help multi- 
 tudes, just by his perfect honesty and power of 
 encouraging till his patients are able to stand 
 alone," Elinor said in worshipful tones. Then 
 she added, * ' And even when I told the doctor it 
 was not near as excusable as fearful physical 
 murder, but a great moral soul-question that 
 was involved, he took my hand and said in
 
 352 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 low solemn tones : ' Child, have you ever thought 
 of the promise that the soul cannot die? And 
 if no wound is truly mortal, would you, then, 
 permit one fearful gruesome scar upon its sur- 
 face to mar all future chances for you to come 
 into the Real? No, you can not and will not I 
 Go to the One Great Physician of all for help, 
 and then listen to the blessed gracious verdict 
 He has invariably given even to the most dis- 
 tressed criminal that pleads, when He tells him 
 to rise, take up his bed and walk, and also as- 
 sures him that his faith in wanting to be healed 
 at all has made him whole.' " 
 
 The short winter twilight had dropped into 
 gentle shadow when Elinor Phelps and I were 
 again aware of our surroundings. We had 
 both been wrapped in a peace of conviction 
 that passed any description; and again I found 
 myself forgetting my own misery for the mo- 
 ment in the hope that even yet poor Jarvis 
 could be touched and made to go into his house
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 353 
 
 healed and full of faith. I intended fully now 
 to take his care before Dr. Van Ness for aid. 
 
 "Do you remember my cowardly remarks 
 concerning the simplicity of Mabel Harris, 
 Ory?" Elinor Phelps broke in upon my 
 thoughts of the drunken derelict with evident 
 determination to snatch away all possibility of 
 delusion concerning the past. "Well, that just 
 shows how utterly foolish I was then about the 
 real meaning of life. How seldom one has to go 
 outside the hedge to find the real ! Often if he 
 attempts it, things take on the nature of the will- 
 o '-the- wisp and lead him an aimless shamble 
 here and there. From her bees, Mabel Harris 
 learned the first principles of community-serv- 
 ice. From her quiet efficient business-life on 
 the farm she laid the first character stones of 
 reliability and capability, which is so invalu- 
 able to herself, her husband and to all of us 
 now." 
 
 "Mabel is married then!" I questioned with 
 no heart-pang but a real thrill of admiration as
 
 354 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 I recalled her steady unselfish life on the little 
 farm. 
 
 Elinor smiled. "Yes, to a good whole- 
 some, common-sense wealthy farmer just the 
 type for her, and the man to whom she can 
 mean the most. It is only in the composition 
 of salads that mortals can afford to deal reck- 
 lessly with the mixing of opposites the sweet 
 and the sour, the hot and the mild, the touch of 
 brilliant biting pepper, and the spray of gentle- 
 toned green parsley. In matrimony it seems, 
 invariably, a miserable risk!" 
 
 "Do you see Mabel often?" I questioned 
 again. 
 
 "Almost daily." Elinor Phelps answered 
 happily. "Why, she is one of our big club- 
 leaders, not eloquent, but right on the spot with 
 logic and common-sense. It was she who 
 turned the schoolhouses into social-centers in 
 our poorer districts ; she who set the city hum- 
 ming in doing all in its power to make ours a 
 city beautiful. She is interested in the single-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 355 
 
 standard now. I only wish you could hear the 
 clear, sensible talks she gives to the young girls 
 and men. That is a period that interests her 
 intensely. She believes that young women can 
 help so much by eschewing the suggestive in 
 dress and manner, and expecting and demanding 
 the best. She insists every young man wants to 
 be moral, but just needs a little friendly interest, 
 and a lot of gymnastic work to come out a 
 fine sound fellow. The ground for the new 
 gymnasium and several thousand for the build- 
 ing were given to the city by her husband and 
 herself. Dr. Van Nest and all our young people 
 think her invaluable as a jolly, practical aid 
 in all matters, serious or light. And yet there 
 is no such wife or mother (for she has the dear- 
 est little boy) or no such cook or home-manager 
 within a million miles. Her father is passing 
 a most comfortable and tenderly cared-for old 
 age within her home. Betty, the colored cook, 
 though utterly useless now, is tended as one of 
 the very family. Her little boy's ways ring
 
 356 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 so sweet and true. Oh, I tell you, Ory, Mabel 
 Harris Frackleton is the rare type of woman 
 who early recognizes the truth that Life is to 
 be found in its truest sense right at one's own 
 doorstep and knows that one does not have 
 to invade the lurid or reckless to be best schol- 
 ared in the art of meeting the Beal!" 
 
 The blue auto rolled slowly up the drive, and 
 twins and twin-bearers were assisted down by 
 the chauffeur. At once Elinor Van Nest 
 sprang to her feet with a glow of beautiful 
 solicitude. " Bless their dear hearts," she ex- 
 claimed with strongest maternal pride. "Now 
 you shall soon see the beauties. They are both 
 exactly like their father. I am so very, very 
 glad!" 
 
 "But " I hesitated awkwardly enough, the 
 ethics of the occasion seeming to demand that 
 I should not become one of the intimate family 
 circle or dine at a table where, perhaps, if the 
 facts were known, I should not be tolerated for 
 a moment.
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 357 
 
 "Nonsense!'* Elinor interrupted my hesi- 
 tancy, interpreting my thoughts most easily. 
 "You must come ! Forget that It was all my 
 fault. And even if Dr. Van Nest would listen 
 to the uprooting of past history, I know he is 
 too honest to put the weakness or blame any 
 more on your side than mine." She drew a 
 long worshipful breath. "Ah, that is his 
 grandest aim the single standard in every- 
 thing. Right is right and wrong is wrong, no 
 matter what the sex conditions or standing! 
 This he firmly believes : and that with both men 
 and women awakening to the importance of this 
 truth, much more can now be done than in the 
 days when the subject was considered so awful 
 as to be unmentionable by one sex at least. I 
 glory in his faith, and mean to help him all I 
 can ! ' ' 
 
 We were approaching the top of the last 
 slope now that led on to the broad level of lawn 
 upon which the mansion stood. Elinor paused 
 and waved a hand toward a new sanitarium,
 
 358 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 which was rising rapidly, a glistening white 
 monument to all sane advanced methods in 
 medical understanding. ' ' Ory, I know you will 
 not misunderstand me," she said earnestly, "if 
 I dwell just another moment on the subject; 
 for you are a type of men whose help we most 
 need. You understand the value of the real 
 and the moral, and the duty we owe posterity. 
 That hospital is being built by Dr. Van Nest 
 himself for afflicted men. Of course he will ac- 
 cept patients with any non-contagious disease, 
 but when it is a question of a man that ought to 
 be ostracized from society, Dr. Van Nest is de- 
 termined to depart so far from the usual pro- 
 cedure as to refuse accepting him in the hospital 
 until he pledges solemnly to live his life apart 
 as any moral leper should until he is sure of 
 his right to mingle with the best ! 
 
 1 1 You think this erratic, I suppose. Most men 
 are prone, even yet, to regard any real action 
 upon this important subject as visionary or 
 horribly unbecoming as a topic at all, and above
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 359 
 
 all, for women. But whatever the stamp that 
 was set upon Cain by an all-seeing Providence, 
 it was, no doubt, as much for a warning that his 
 nature was not we will say genial, as for a 
 complete protection for himself. Is it any 
 more erratic, then, for those of us who wish 
 purity of morals to wish to stamp the Soul- 
 Murderer? Cain (as a type) struck at the phys- 
 ical life only. Immoral men strike at the souls 
 not only of suffering woman and I grant that 
 they in turn recoil with as much danger and 
 vengeance but at the moral and physical wel- 
 fare of poor helpless children for generations 
 to come!" 
 
 "If the mothers are growing interested, the 
 question can no longer lie dormant, at least," 
 I assured Elinor. 
 
 "Yes, but that is the almost incredible part 
 of it all," Mrs. Van Nest protested quickly. 
 "Dr. Van Nest tells me that in many cases the 
 thoughtless mothers of beautiful young daugh- 
 ters are the last ones to become alarmed or even
 
 360 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 interested. Why, hundreds of young men, as 
 you know, are inmates of sanitariums in the 
 daytime (broken down from their noble ef- 
 forts in college, or their tense application, later, 
 to their father's business, we are asked to 
 believe) who of evenings are most welcome 
 guests in many a refined home. The lines of 
 dissipation on their faces are excused for lines 
 of overstrained mentality (God save the mark) 
 and the mothers try to believe the best because 
 they feel that this or that Disintegrate is of a 
 well-pursed highly honored family. They not 
 only welcome him as a possible parti for the 
 daughter's hand, but even make possible the 
 secluded corners, the low-lit, too sweet con- 
 servatory, the moonlight drives anything or 
 everything that will make speedy his unworthy 
 lover-clasp upon the daughter's hitherto pure 
 impulsive soul! It is these mothers Mabel 
 Harris, Dr. Van Nest, and a legion of others are 
 trying to awaken. It is the doctor's hope, too, 
 that all interested intelligent mothers will unite
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 361 
 
 speedily in the vital resolve of asking a man 
 to have a right to enter, even as a casual friend. 
 You know this has always been thought a pru- 
 dent, almost obligatory act, to observe, with 
 reckless women ! And just picture even a poor 
 stupid little wren-mother, Ory, inviting a blue- 
 jay, whom she knows has torn up a neighbor- 
 home, into her own nest of young ones ! Sim- 
 ply because he has fine blue feathers ! Oh, Ory, 
 I am changed changed changed. I thank 
 the good God daily for inspiring man with a 
 firm respect for convention's demands, and I'll 
 more than welcome every new safeguard law 
 that comes my way!" 
 
 A red auto, driven by a colored chauffeur, 
 turned into the driveway at this moment 
 Elinor Van Nest sprang a step or two forward 
 with a cry of welcome. "Ah, here is Dr. Van 
 Nest! I'll wave him right over on this drive 
 to meet you, and to take us this last climb up the 
 hill." 
 
 In another moment I felt my hand being
 
 362 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 seized warmly by a tall man, who sprang out 
 the instant his auto reached us. He had most 
 likable eyes, a warm grasp, and owned the stal- 
 wart frame and deep voice of the type that used 
 to make up almost entirely the Middle West. 
 
 "Frank Orison Holland! Ah, that is a good 
 name to hear!" he said, as he lifted his pretty 
 wife and tucked her proudly in among a rich 
 bedding of fur robes. "I am so glad you 
 thought to come to us. I want to tell you over 
 the tea-table just how much good a lecture your 
 father gave us young fellows once at college 
 did us. He was a very distinguished man, 
 Holland. He always carried the impression 
 of knowing whereof he spoke, not just talking 
 theories. I remember his topic that time was 
 'Why Tarry by the Roadside, while the Wide 
 World Calls?' I was an intolerably lazy, 
 dawdling young fellow then. I've never dared 
 waste a moment since ! ' ' 
 
 "That is the reason the twins are so ener- 
 getic," Elinor laughed softly, as the auto
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 363 
 
 started into careful ascent, the doctor having 
 taken his place in front, I, in the seat assigned 
 beside his wife. 
 
 "Ah, those blessed twins!'* Dr. Van Nest's 
 eyes turned an almost haloed glance upon his 
 wife's happy face. "You certainly must see 
 them, Holland. They are exactly like their 
 mother. I am so very, very glad!"
 
 LETTER XXV 
 
 Holland to Aliston Concerning the Lat- 
 ter 's Sister. December Sixth. 
 
 ED: 
 
 The record of past events is at an end. I 
 have given it as honestly and impartially as I 
 knew how. In many cases the very words and 
 looks are emblazoned in my heart. I have 
 written them thus to you. And now the ques- 
 tion 
 
 I can not feel, though deeply racked with re- 
 gret for every reckless act of youth, that my 
 life has ever been sensuous or wanton. I do 
 know that for the last few years, since I entered 
 "Williston and Williston's I have applied my- 
 self most strenuously to the work and lived a 
 moral life entirely exempt from any weakness 
 whatsoever. I am also convinced that my 
 
 364
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 365 
 
 habits are fixed, and my feet planted determin- 
 edly on the one straight path. Neither by in- 
 clination or urging or attempted force, would 
 I ever return to the wavering or carelessness 
 of my earlier days. As for my physical 
 strength, and right to marry I am quite posi- 
 tive I could fill out the most exacting list of 
 rules for eugenic marriage very satisfactorily. 
 And I am of the belief that not by one judg- 
 ment alone, do we come into our firmest con- 
 victions, but by devious trials and careful 
 weighing of matters, we finally find and main- 
 tain our balance. 
 
 But, if you ask me if I feel myself able to 
 offer what I would expect to find in the woman 
 of my choice, honesty compels me to say: No, 
 a thousand times, No! It was the beautiful 
 purity of your sister's face that led me to love 
 her almost at once, upon that June evening 
 when you invited me home with you to dinner. 
 I realized that her heart was womanly and pure 
 past any manner of flaw. This quality you
 
 366 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 know full well is the longing of every man's 
 heart to own in his prospective wife. And I 
 believe it will be ever the quality of highest 
 inspiration, to keep us strong. 
 
 Ed, you can not possibly imagine just how 
 much all this means to me ; but I do not ask you 
 for a moment to withhold any information I 
 have given if the dictates of your conscience 
 make it seem best to tell her. I had never so 
 loved any woman before I met her for an en- 
 gagement is far from being an expression of 
 real love at times but when I came up to her 
 that soft June evening, as she stood on the top 
 step waiting for us, in her gauzy white, her 
 lovely face bright with a light of welcome, I 
 felt much as one does when he steps from a 
 restless noisy world into a big, dimly lit, silent, 
 beautiful cathedral, and longs to drop on his 
 knees at once from very inspiration and per- 
 fect peace. At once Le Gallienne's love-verses 
 flew into my soul, with the welcoming touch of 
 Mildred's soft hand. You know them:
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 367 
 
 "Grace o' God 
 Flower Face, 
 Silver Feet, 
 In What Place, 
 Heaven or Earth 
 Did we meett 
 At what time 
 Of the day! 
 In what way T 
 Was it near! 
 Was it fart 
 In some star, 
 Or just here, 
 Quite, quite near?" 
 
 And then his other beautiful lines : 
 
 "Dear head, dear hair, dear hands, dear feet, 
 Dear love dear everything complete ! ' ' 
 
 Ed, if Mildred can not give me her love, after 
 you have explained what you think best, it 
 seems to me now that I shall never be able to 
 feel that the world is bright for me again 
 that I can not possibly, possibly bear it 1 But 
 if such is her decision Oh, I must not be a 
 miserable coward. I must still go on some- 
 how, somewhere. I must. I can not trust my-
 
 368 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 self to write or think another word just now. 
 You will let me hear soon very, very soon, 
 Ed ? Good-night OBISON.
 
 LETTER XXVI 
 
 Mrs. William Howard Thompson to Ed- 
 ward Clifton Aliston. December Sixteenth. 
 
 TEDDY : 
 
 Now that the fearsome and fearful act is 
 over, I feel myself almost upon the verge of 
 prostration. 
 
 If you could only have seen Mildred's face, 
 Teddy, when I broke to her as gently as pos- 
 sible the nature of Ory's long-extended errand, 
 and your frequent letters, you would know how 
 deeply this scar must go, if she considers it her 
 duty to refuse him. All the time I spoke, sit- 
 ting in our bay-window on the big lounge and 
 holding her close in my arms, she never uttered 
 a word. I think she scarcely breathed. When 
 I had finished she drew a long, long sigh and 
 fastened her cold fingers with a fierce grip into 
 the lace of my gown. "Tell me,*' she whis- 
 
 369
 
 370 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 pered vehemently, "tell me just this in all 
 solemn truth, dear Ernestine, it cannot be it 
 cannot that Ory was once responsible for 
 for a poor deluded woman ever having to live 
 apart from the critical world; or, oh, God in 
 heaven, it can't be ! He was never responsible, 
 even in very young days, for unjust conditions 
 concerning the the start of a little life?" 
 
 Oh, Teddy, you do not know with what joy 
 of soul I was able to assure her that Ory's oats 
 had been of the reckless, not of the wickedly 
 wanton kind. When I left her, at her own re- 
 quest, the worst pain on her sweet face had 
 given place to a puzzle of deep thought. Some- 
 how I believe and, oh, I pray I pray, that 
 there will be the happiest kind of solution for 
 her and Ory yet. A man of your rare judg- 
 ment and few temptations may find it a little 
 hard to see it just at first. But surely it is 
 right for Mildred and Ory to love. If you think 
 the opposite, I must actually be so weak as to 
 plead with you to forget the pity of reckless
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 371 
 
 but not wickedly wanton years, and accept Ory 
 as a man with a perfect right to wed our little 
 Mildred. Since the good God forgives so many 
 errors of the past, and brings the truly repent- 
 ant heart into the power of finest service who 
 are we that we should still hang upon the past 
 in the very evidence of a most manly and vigor- 
 ous present? But whether Mildred will ever 
 see it this way, I cannot tell I cannot telL 
 Yours most lovingly EBNESTINB.
 
 LETTER XXVII 
 
 Aliston in Reply. By Night-Letter. Re- 
 ceived the Morning of December Eighteenth. 
 
 ERNESTINE : 
 
 I agree with you perfectly in all but one 
 part. Since you state yourself that the weak- 
 nesses of past years should be forgotten in man 
 in case of real repentance and assured moral 
 strength why not extend the same leniency to 
 the other side t There was but one weak act on 
 the part of Harriet Gr. Eeinstatement in life 
 and rights of marriage are of as infinitely great 
 value to her as to 0. There is absolutely no 
 foisting on her part. Will you not then, 
 since you can't bring yourself to adopt her, at 
 least open your door to her occasionally, and 
 give her the inestimable valuable aid of your 
 friendship? Forgive me, if I seem to break 
 
 372
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 373 
 
 a promise in writing thus ! I am so interested 
 that I am going out with Williston to-night to 
 see her. We will make the signing of a deed 
 by old Mrs. Johnson the pretense. But if we 
 find her Harriet Glenn in every way worthy 
 of our faith, will you not help me give her 
 peace? EDWARD C. ALISTON.
 
 LETTER XXVIII 
 
 Mrs. William Howard Thompson in Re- 
 ply to Aliston. By Dispatch, the Evening 
 of December Eighteenth. 
 
 God in heaven, Teddy, I can't! I can't! It 
 is all so different. Yet the justice of your long- 
 ago bitter request has haunted me all these 
 days and nights. And now Dr. Forrester, too, 
 says I must. It is the way of Golgotha, but it 
 is the only right way now. Yes, I will, Teddy, 
 I will ! I will take her into my home and pray 
 God day and night that I may grow able to take 
 her into my heart. It is cowardly, I know, to 
 have convictions, unless one dares go all the 
 way. ERNESTINE. 
 
 374
 
 LETTER XXIX 
 
 Aliston to Harriet Glenn. By Special- 
 Delivery Letter, Heavily Sealed. Decem- 
 ber Nineteenth. 
 
 DEAREST SOUL or MINE: 
 
 Nothing that you can say or do will make 
 the slightest difference with me! I will be 
 there by twilight. We will take Mrs. Johnson 
 and go to the parish; and then you will come 
 back to our home at once, that I may love, love, 
 love you always. No, I have not the slightest 
 " bigger right" to marry than you. It was our 
 mistake our one miserable impetuosity of 
 youth but we will make that very thing our 
 salvation. Oh, how I have hunted for you, 
 how I have hungered for you I I found early 
 I loved no one else but you, and broke my en- 
 gagement but I despaired of ever finding you 
 again, dear brave little Injured Heart, until the 
 
 375
 
 376 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 letters of a friend gave me the needed clew. 
 Just a few hours now just a few dolefully 
 long but fortunately busy hours, dear heart, 
 and then then. God is indeed merciful in His 
 dealings. YOUBS.
 
 LETTER XXX 
 
 Aliston to Mrs. Howard Thompson. In 
 Form of an Announcement. By Special- 
 Delivery, December Nineteenth. Written 
 at His Home at Midnight. 
 
 Dear, you need not now bend yonr brave 
 shoulders under what you think would be so 
 bitter a load. Last evening, just at twilight, 
 Harriet Glenn and I were married at the little 
 Episcopal church that adjoins the hospital of 
 "The Lady of The Tender Heart" And it 
 won't surprise you, Ernestine, when I tell you 
 that this dear girl is the one for whose final 
 destination Ory searched in vain? The brave, 
 brave little Girl in the Land of Shadow, who was 
 determined to find just one person somewhere 
 who would be willing to have faith in her. I 
 shudder even now when I think what might 
 have been the despair unto death if the good 
 
 377
 
 378 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 Mrs. Johnson had not opened her arms. For 
 I myself would, then, have been her murderer! 
 I wonder just how often some poor soul has 
 been driven to desolation or death just on ac- 
 count of this false chastity of pride ! 
 
 Oh, Ernestine, if I live a thousand years I 
 would never forget the sacred light in Harriet's 
 beautiful face as she lifted her eyes to mine 
 and kept them there the whole time we knelt 
 before the altar. It was just as the last rays of 
 twilight fell through the softly stained window, 
 like God's spoken benediction, that the minister 
 breathed the final words that joined us. May 
 the dear Father above make me even in the 
 slightest degree worthy of the strength and 
 purity and love that dwells in the soul of the true 
 little woman whom I've just made my wife! 
 Your very happy TEDDY.
 
 LETTER XXXI 
 
 Mrs. William Howard Thompson to Alis- 
 ton. By Special-Delivery, December Twen- 
 ty-First. 
 
 TEDDY : 
 
 When I received your letter I cried, Teddy 
 oh so hard. I do not understand in the least 
 about your calling yourself a "might-be" mur- 
 derer. But I shall never ask an explanation. 
 It seems so glorious that you are so big and 
 true and brave as to want to live up to your 
 honest convictions in every way. And, dear, 
 I am glad, glad for your sake since you loved 
 her so. Glad for her, too, the brave little 
 woman who has fought against such odds and 
 conquered, and won you, a man whom any 
 woman might well be happy to call her own. 
 Forrester and I can scarcely wait to welcome 
 
 379
 
 380 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 you both. His kindly eyes just shine with 
 joy at the thought of your marriage ; for he tells 
 me that he has always looked bitterly upon the 
 ostracism of woman, and above all a soulful 
 woman, who longs to come back into the fold. 
 But he wanted me to find this out, too, before 
 he spoke of it at length. 
 
 We will learn to love our new niece, dearly 
 Forrester and I, for her own sake as well as 
 because she is the most precious treasure you 
 own. Let's never, never again speak of any 
 mistakes of the past. Whatever they may be 
 is your secret and hers now. 
 
 "Yes, I said truly our niece; for you are not 
 the only person who can be so horribly rude as 
 to slip away and marry without sending in- 
 vitations to your nearest and best-loved rela- 
 tives! Last evening, while returning from a 
 call on a very ill boy, Dr. Forrester and I en- 
 tered the little hill chapel, which was all 
 wrapped in a mantle of glistening snow, and 
 kneeling in the soft light of a few dimly flicker-
 
 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 381 
 
 ing candles, with a rheumatic old Scotch jani- 
 tor and his daughter for witnesses, we, too, be- 
 came man and wife! 
 
 For you see, Teddy, I was dreadfully mis- 
 taken after all about his caring for me only as a 
 friend. It seems that he has loved me from 
 the start, but he was too dearly courteous to 
 speak while my grief over Billy was so new. 
 But after we left that little suffering bedside, 
 with the beautiful snow falling so gently, like 
 a sweet whisper straight from heaven, he could 
 not keep his words back longer. And in his 
 vivid, fascinating, powerful way, he insisted 
 upon my stopping at the little hill chapel that I 
 might become his very own at once. 
 
 And to think that you and dear Harriet will 
 be with us now in less than a week, and that 
 Mildred did not contest my desire to have Ory 
 as a guest during the holidays. This can mean 
 but one thing. Oh, dear boy, if you could have 
 seen the light in his eyes, when I told him that 
 Mildred knew of his coming. Surely, surely,
 
 382 THE SINGLE-CODE GIRL 
 
 she will learn through your own marriage, dear, 
 if by no other way, to tranquilize and ration- 
 alize her really fine views into an acceptance 
 that is willing to leave a little of the final deci- 
 sion entirely to God! And to think, too, that 
 I, who expected only to stagger through vistas 
 of leaden skies have come into an inexpressible 
 peace, through the joy of awakened love and 
 service ! 
 
 Oh, dear God in heaven be thanked! What 
 a home-coming ours will be! 
 
 Your wondrously happy Aunt ERNES- 
 TINE. 
 
 THE END
 
 UC SOUTIRN HEGOML LBHWYFAOUTY 
 
 A 000127538 7