e were
her gracious accents, her graceful figure, her gentle, beautiful face.
The men liked to see her come in, liked to hear her talk--although she
was decidedly slow, and a little irresponsive in conversation. It soon
leaked out, moreover, that material benefits followed in the wake of her
visits. One man, who left the hospital, returned one day to inform his
mates that, "the lady" had found work for him on her father's estate,
and that he considered himself a "made man for life." The attentions of
such men who were not too ill to be influenced by such matters were
henceforth concentrated upon Lady Alice; and she, being after all a
simple creature, believed their devotion to be genuine, and rejoiced in
it.

With one patient, however, she did not for some time establish any
friendly relations. He had been run over, while drunk, the nurses told
her, and very seriously hurt. He lay so long in a semi-comatose
condition that fears were entertained for his reason, and when the mist
gradually cleared away from his brain, he was in too confused a state of
mind for conversation to be possible.

Lady Alice went to look at him from time to time, and spoke to the nurse
about him; but weeks elapsed before he seemed conscious of the presence
of any visitor. The nursing sister told the visitor at last that the man
had spoken and replied to certain questions: that he had seemed
uncertain about his own name, and could not give any coherent account of
himself. Later on, it transpired that the man had allowed his name to be
entered as "John Smith."

"Not his own name, I'm certain," the nurse said, decidedly.

"Why not?" Lady Alice asked, with curiosity.

"It's too common by half for his face and voice," the Sister answered,
shrewdly. "If you look at him or speak to him, you'll find that that
man's a gentleman."

"A gentleman--picked up drunk in the street?"

"A gentleman by birth or former position, I mean," said the Sister,
rather dryly. "No doubt he has come down in the world; but he has been,
at any rate, what people call an educated man."

Lady Alice's prejudices were, stirred in favor of the broken-down
drunkard by this characterization; and she made his acquaintance as soon
as he was able to talk. Her impression coincided with that of the
Sister. The man had once been a gentleman--a cultivated, well-bred man,
from whom refinement had never quite departed. Over and above this fact
there was something about him which utter