New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-06-09

All down the long corridor Of the hotel the boots
stood IN rows or pairs Sometimes large and small
times only single pair OF either size At one door
the guardianship of a No. 4: Woman's. Very few
modern women take anything smaller than No 4
nowadays: twos and threes have gone out of fash
ion since hockey and golf and sport came I'M A
man wandered down the diIaly lit passage, with
ly over the waiting ranks of shoe leather Yet not
so carelessy as 70 be unobseryant even 70 the not
youthful manhood had been his portion in life and
all the world had LATIN before him as an unexplored
His face was lined now. and bronzed by Eastern
ships and endurance. The face of a man whose
forty years were not borne lightly, and assuredly
There was humor IN the eyes and about the lines
OF the mouth anG keen aiertn S n Lne exp
member. So it was that life made constant stories
gallery OF living pictures. whence ne helped him
self 10 or incident or situation at the need
ridor the closed doors. the waiting OF boots
held meaning He pictured the hands that had
unit The passion or grief. or Joy. or ache in each
unhappy couples: dissimilar perhaps. in nature as
was that very footgear in shape and size The
London streets on the morrow. asleep now beside
the mother heart protected by love and care. even
c Oh rSSf the smaller Ts Beside them All such
fancies were his as he passed slowly along finally
He was Just about 70 place the key in the lock
rnrne5 70 the kew in his hand It's number was
not the one on the door-No 70. His room was the
Luck didn't put II in the lock Might have
startled somebody" he thought as he moved away
down to replace it beside its fellow. How small it
was and neat How eloquent OF the type OF foot
he remembered in those old days. when as were
considered an extra size. and So and O's impossI-
Very carefully he put that slender. twelve but
toned. Louis heeled bottine down beside its fellow
the comfortable fire lit bedroom he had ordered on
his arrival that afternoon.
10 one who had long been travelling and knocking
about the world as had been the fate ate OF Us
cred easy chair up 10 the FIRE and threw himself
Silence reisned IT was half an hour since he had
heard midnight strike from Big Ben after supping
tered on the bridge and watched the lights OF the
Houses Of Parliament flicker over the river; re-
desperate face that had looked up at him for an in
slant and the Pu i bS nG Gg h bad lss
a human soul that night Perhaps she would
after all he thought now. as he sat and smoked
lazily content with the ben-etre of the immediate
morrow? Heavens alive! What sins and shames
and tragedies a city holds Beside what have
wonder Tn0 or are the f, Tor nfar Fer S
they make us suffer for Them
His thought ended abruptly to the sound of a
was weeping close at hand. Weeping in a pitifuL
heartbroken way such as women have Weeping In
unhappiness and loneliness. with only wall
dividing space between her misery and a fellow
creatures wonderment.
He sat very still: the cigarette burnt itself out
unnoticed- His eye was resting a door that
divided his apartment from that other.
'.She is in No. 40" he told himself. And once
again he seemed 10 hold In his hand the dainty
boot OF arched instep and slender shape Did that
pretty boot claim ownership TO as pretty person.
aIty? Was the owner maid wife widowr
And what sorrow so racked and disturbed repose
that she should lie weeping there. while peace and
slurnber waited the midnight sOlitude7 These
questions him. For above all else Julian
Gray possessed the gift of sympathy, and had
that strange knack of throwing himself into
others joys and sorrows which e1ten characJsr-
lies the literary temperament. Nothing in life.
however simple humble. was Insignificant to
him. Humanity possessed infinite charms. as
we'll as Infinite variety IL seemed always capable
OF novel Developments always varying always full
of interest. Here one OF those interests. The
mere accident OF q choice OF rooms the mere OBJ
serving Of those dainty boots. had brought him into
sudden acquaintance with an unknown sufferer.
Each racking sob. each stihed murmur that came
TO his ear. touched him to keenest sympathy. Hs
mated that a child woman should suffer. 1t
seemed to him unnecessary cruelty on the part OF
Fate And TO sit still and gaze az that door and
be an unknown auditor OF grief positively hurt him
he rose AT last and pushed aside his chair. making
some noise OF purpose But the sObs still audi
BILE. Unable to bear 1t any longer. ne knocked
Are you III? Is anything the matterr' hs asked
brueQuey.