ssed him, walking very briskly. She paused for a
moment just ahead of him to give some money to a poor woman who, doubled
up on the pavement in a black shawl, was grinding out from a wheezy
little organ a thin, dirge-like strain.

"Good evening. I hope you feel better to-day," Keith heard her say in a
kind tone, though he lost all of the other's reply except the "God
bless you."

She was simply dressed in a plain, dark walking-suit, and something
about her quick, elastic step and slim, trim figure as she sailed along,
looking neither to the right nor to the left, attracted his attention.
Her head was set on her shoulders in a way that gave her quite an air,
and as she passed under a lamp the light showed the flash of a fine
profile and an unusual face. She carried a parcel in her hand that might
have been a roll of music, and from the lateness of the hour Keith
fancied her a shop-girl on her way home, or possibly a music-teacher.

Stirred by the glimpse of the refined face, and even more by the
carriage of the little head under the dainty hat, Keith quickened his
pace to obtain another glance at her. He had almost overtaken her when
she stopped in front of a well-lighted window of a music-store. The
light that fell on her face revealed to him a face of unusual beauty.
Something about her graceful pose as, with her dark brows slightly
knitted, she bent forward and scanned intently the pieces of music
within, awakened old associations in Keith's mind, and sent him back to
his boyhood at Elphinstone. And under an impulse, which he could better
justify to himself than to her, he did a very audacious and improper
thing. Taking off his hat, he spoke to her. She had been so absorbed
that for a moment she did not comprehend that it was she he was
addressing. Then, as it came to her that it was she to whom this
stranger was speaking, she drew herself up and gave him a look of such
withering scorn that Keith felt himself shrink. Next second, with her
head high in the air, she had turned without a word and sped up the
street, leaving Keith feeling very cheap and subdued.

But that glance from dark eyes flashing with indignation had filled
Keith with a sensation to which he had long been a stranger. Something
about the simple dress, the high-bred face with its fine scorn;
something about the patrician air of mingled horror and contempt, had
suddenly cleaved through the worldly crust that had been encasing him
for some time, and