It was that very wonder which unsettled my
sympathy of a dense Occidental. I could get hold of nothing but of some
commonplace phrases, those futile phrases that give the measure of our
impotence before each other's trials I mumbled something to the effect
that, for the young, life held its hopes and compensations. It held
duties too--but of that I was certain it was not necessary to remind
her.
She had a handkerchief in her hands and pulled at it nervously.
"I am not likely to forget my mother," she said. "We used to be three.
Now we are two--two women. She's not so very old. She may live quite a
long time yet. What have we to look for in the future? For what hope
and what consolation?"
"You must take a wider view," I said resolutely, thinking that with this
exceptional creature this was the right note to strike. She looked at
me steadily for a moment, and then the tears she had been keeping down
flowed unrestrained. She jumped up and stood in the window with her back
to me.
I slipped away without attempting even to approach her. Next day I was
told at the door that Mrs. Haldin was better. The middle-aged servant
remarked that a lot of people--Russians--had called that day, but Miss
Haldin bad not seen anybody. A fortnight later, when making my daily
call, I was asked in and found Mrs.
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