t had always
been the custom at their partings, he drew her to him and kissed her;
though it really was for the first time.

She walked home instead of taking the bus. She wanted to think. A day
or two would decide the question. She determined that if the miracle did
not happen, she would go down to Liverpool. Her father was on the
committee of one of the great hospitals; and she knew one or two of the
matrons. She would want to be doing something--to get out to the front,
if possible. Maybe, her desire to serve was not altogether free from
curiosity--from the craving for adventure. There's a spice of the man
even in the best of women.

Her conscience plagued her when she thought of Mrs. Denton. For some
time now, they had been very close together; and the old lady had come to
depend upon her. She waited till all doubt was ended before calling to
say good-bye. Mrs. Denton was seated before an old bureau that had long
stood locked in a corner of the library. The drawers were open and books
and papers were scattered about.

Joan told her plans. "You'll be able to get along without me for a
little while?" she asked doubtfully.

Mrs. Denton laughed. "I haven't much more to do," she answered. "Just
tidying up, as you see; and two or three half-finished things I shall try
to complete. After that, I'll perhaps take a rest."

She took from among the litter a faded photograph and handed it to Joan.
"Odd," she said. "I've just turned it out."

It represented a long, thin line of eminently respectable ladies and
gentlemen in early Victorian costume. The men in peg-top trousers and
silk stocks, the women in crinolines and poke bonnets. Among them,
holding the hand of a benevolent-looking, stoutish gentleman, was a mere
girl. The terminating frills of a white unmentionable garment showed
beneath her skirts. She wore a porkpie hat with a feather in it.

"My first public appearance," explained Mrs. Denton. "I teased my father
into taking me with him. We represented Great Britain and Ireland. I
suppose I'm the only one left."

"I shouldn't have recognized you," laughed Joan. "What was the
occasion?"

"The great International Peace Congress at Paris," explained Mrs. Denton;
"just after the Crimean war. It made quite a stir at the time. The
Emperor opened our proceedings in person, and the Pope and the Archbishop
of Canterbury both sent us their blessing. We had a copy of the speeches
presented to us