ly name he possessed, one cruelly indicative of his
relation to the social structure of the world into which he had
involuntarily been born.

"Bottom of the well, northeast corner," he said, as he set a bucket of
water at my feet with a jolt that dashed a small wave over my white
buckskins, and he held out a dipper full to me with a little twirling
motion that sent another wave on my skirt and which had an unmistakably
professional knack to it. I have seen old Wilks set down beer steins and
cocktail glasses with exactly that twirl ever since he has officiated at
the lockers and sideboard at the Club, and I now know that his motions
had the latest Last Chance style to them. Thus, by gossamer links and
steel cable, the Town and the Settlement seemed to be held together.

"Excuse me for spilling the water on you," added the young scion of the
bartender with grave courtesy, as he held a very dirty little paddie
under the drip of the dipper and elevated the drink for me in such a way
that I had to steady the small hand that held the handle with mine as I
drank.

"Oh, son, how careless!" Martha was just exclaiming when a call in
Jacob's sharp voice interrupted her.

"Martha, grocery!" it commanded her and I was not sure whether he was
ignorant of the fact that I was still her caller or was interrupting her
on purpose. I think Martha shared the same uncertainty; she blushed and
looked both ashamed and frightened.

"I'll go now, Martha, out this door that leads onto the street," I
hastened to say to relieve her of the dilemma. "But I'm coming back to
you," I added with determination, as I made ready to slip out the side
door of the Last Chance in regular underworld style.

"Please don't, Miss Charlotte," she called, as she was passing through
the other door into the world from which I was escaping. The sad
significance of our two exits struck me so forcibly that I was two
blocks away before I really became conscious of things around me, and
then I was brought back to the squalid street of the Settlement and its
surroundings by feeling a damp little hand slipped into mine as I strode
along.

"Please take me with you, Miss Lady," the Stray pleaded, as he ran along
beside me, trying to keep up with my long steps. "I've got me a dog now
to keep off turkles from me and you." And the slinking brindle bunch of
ears and tail and very little else, at our heels, regarded me with the
same brave entreaty. He and the Stray, indeed,