assert itself where many are gathered together working side by side all made a harmony the wonderful pictures collected from many lands and many centuries each with its meaning and its message from the past the memories of the painters themselves who had worked and and conquered and the living human beings each with his wealth of earnest endeavour and hope meanwhile the old man read on until two hands were put over his book and a gentle voice said mr you have had no lunch again an of london do you know i begin to hate he always makes you forget your food the old man looked up and something like a smile passed over his face when he saw bending over him ah he answered you must not hate have had more pleasant s with him than with any living person he rose and came forward to examine her copy of s portrait yours is better than mine he said in fact mine is a e i think i shall only get a small price for mine indeed i doubt whether i shall get sufficient to pay for my funeral you speak she answered smiling i missed you yesterday he continued half i left my work and wandered through the rooms and i did not even read something seemed to have gone from my life at first i thought it must be my favourite or the but it was neither the one nor the other it was you that was strange was n t it but you know we get accustomed to anything and perhaps i should have missed you less the second day and by the end of a week i should not have missed you at all we have in us the power of forgetting i do not wish to plead for myself she said but i do not believe that you or any one could really forget that which call forgetfulness might be called by the better name of resignation an of london � i don t care about talking any more now he said suddenly and he went to his and worked silently at his picture and glanced at him and thought she had never seen her old companion look so forlorn and desolate as he did to day he looked as if no gentle hand had ever been placed on him in and affection and that seemed to her a terrible thing for she was one of those minded persons who persist in believing that affection is as needful to human life as rain to flower life when first she came to work at the gallery � some twelve months ago � she had noticed this old man and had wished for his companionship she was herself lonely and sorrowful and although had to fight her own battles and had learned something of the difficulties of fighting and this had given her an experience beyond her years she was not more than twenty four years of age but she looked rather older and though she had beautiful eyes full of meaning and kindness her es were decidedly plain as well as there were some in the gallery who said among themselves that as mr had waited so many years before talking to any one he might have chosen some one better worth the waiting for but they soon became accustomed to seeing and mr together and they laughed less than before and meanwhile the acquaintance into a sort of friendship half sulky on his part and wholly kind on her part he told nothing about himself and ve a n w an of london herself for weeks he never even knew her name sometimes he did not speak at all and the two friends would work silently side by side until it was time to go and then he waited until she was ready and walked with her across square where they parted and went their own ways but occasionally when she least expected it he would speak with glowing enthusiasm on art then his eyes seemed to become bright and his bent figure more erect and his whole bearing proud and dignified there were times too when he would speak on other subjects on the of free thought and on those who had died to free thought � on of blessed memory on him and scores of others too he would speak of the different schools of philosophy he would laugh at himself and at all who having given time and thought to the study of hfe s complicated problems had not reached one step further than the old world perhaps he would quote one of his favourite philosophers and then suddenly into silence returning to his abstraction and to his indifference to his surroundings had learned to understand his ways and to appreciate his mind and without on him in any manner had put herself gently into his life as his quiet champion and his friend no one in her presence dared speak of the old man or to make fun of his tumble down appearance or of his worn out silk hat with a crack in the side or of his rag of a black tie which to an of london with his overcoat had seen better days once she brought her needle and thread and the torn sleeve during her lunch time and though he never knew it it was a satisfaction to her to have helped him to day she noticed that he was painting badly and that he seemed to take no interest in his work but she went on busily with her own picture and was so engrossed in it that she did not at first observe that he had packed up his and was preparing to go home three more strokes he said quietly and you will have finished your picture i shall never finish mine perhaps you will be good enough to set it 