," she said, with her tragedy
queen air, "is it possible you imagined that you were a better judge of
the proprieties than I?" And that's the way it goes. I am coming to
believe Hartman was right about the fate of philanthropic efforts, at
least.

In the midst of all this came a note from Jim himself. "Dear Bob, I
enclose something which Hodge says you left behind." [O thrice-accursed
idiot, did I leave Mabel's letter lying around loose?] "Of course I have
not looked into it, but I fear he has." [You may bet on that: the only
chance was that he could not read her fine Italian hand.] "He says one
of your children fell down stairs: I trust the results were not serious.
Sorry you left in such haste, and hindered the ladies from coming.
Hodge's quarters are not palatial, but you could bunk with me, as I at
first proposed; and since they were willing to rough it, we would have
managed somehow. You could surely rely on my humble aid toward making
their sojourn in the wilderness endurable. And _per contra_, a little
cheering feminine society might have assisted your benevolent efforts
toward my reclamation. Was it not selfish to leave me thus unconsoled
and unconverted?"

Well, the business is done now, with neatness and dispatch. That beast
Hodge has told Jim all he knew or suspected, even to that fatal phrase
of my wife's: so there's an end of his faith in me, and of any chance I
might have had to set him straight. That was a fortnight ago, and I have
not the face to answer him. When I have any more doctrinaire anchorites
to convert, I shall not call a family council. But alas, poor Hartman!

IV.

A WILFUL PRINCESS.

I was wrong about Hartman after all. He has written me again, and this
is what he says:

"Do you want to confirm the heretical opinions you argued against so
manfully? You had revived my faith in friendship, Bob: I believed, and
would like still to believe, that one man can be true and kind to
another. And perhaps in general you had stirred and shaken me up more
than you knew. Socrates outranks Pyrrho, and I am open to conviction.
Possibly I have been too sweeping; I don't wish to dogmatize. It may be
that I have lived alone too long, shut up in a narrow space, where light
could enter only through my perversely colored glasses. At any rate,
your coming was like opening a door and letting in a wholesome breeze.
Have I offended you? I thought I was past asking favors from my kind:
but do let me hea