The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1908-03-20

cd. It was the face that held him fas-
cinated. The features were we'll cut
and regular; the eyes were calm and
unafraid and of a deep tender blue
that moved Pengreave strangely.
"Where do you live" he demanded.
The girl smiled.
81 don't live here" she explained. Il
am a visitor from the Helping Hand
society,""
Pengreave vas puzzled.
'They need charity here" he de-
manded. II thought that was only
with the very poor"
"These are the very poor" she said
simply. Don't you know?'
Pengreave shook his head in bewil-
derment. Twenty years he had lived
there, and poverty had come to be his
neighbor, but he did not know it.
"Had l known l should have given
aid" he said quietly. "If there is need,
come to me. The doctor-I will pay
him. Send me his bill. / an sorry for
Mrs-Mrs'-
Brady" supplied the girl: "You are
very good"
Then the physician hustled in, and
Pengreave went downstairs to his
rooms. In a little while there was a
tapping at the door, and he opened it
to discover the girl.
"Mrs. Brady asked me to thank you
for your Kindness she said. ut
pleased her so much that she almost
forgot the hurt Of her burn"
Pengreave smiled. He could not re-
call eve having been thanked before.
He had never done anything to call for
thanks because he did not know how.
"You must come again when you
need help" he said warmly. II am
here always in the evenings. You have
but to ask"
81 shall hold you to your PROMISE"
she said. There is much good that
you can do. We are so handicapped
by lack of money, and there is so
much that we want to do. You must
see for yourself the misery about you.
Good night"
She hurried down the hall, and Pen
greaye waited until the street door
closed behind her before he shut his
own.
He went back into the room, his head
in a whirl. Dimly he was conscious
that the street was not the same as it
had been in his boyhood. The girl
must be right. He was willing to see
with her eyes, those eyes of the glori-
Gus blue.
Those eyes gave him much to think
about. He was not yet forty, and
more than half of his years had been
given to the u%nwavering pursuit Of
business. True, there had been Lena,
but now Pengreave knew how little
Lena had really meant to him..
For the first time that he could re-
member he had met a woman of his
own kind, and he felt the need Of
knowing more Of the life he had miss
ed. He remembered that he was still
a comparatively young man. and those
blue eyes had loosened something
within his breast-his depressed boy
hood, his unrealized need of the soci-
ETY. OF his fellows.
He was as one born again and. being
born, saw the world in a new light.
Methodically he removed the picture
of Lena from it's tawdry frame and
tossed it upon the Goals glowing in the
open fire. He was rather well pleased
with the reflection in the mirror above
the mantel as he stood there.
81 must get some new clothes to-
morrow" he said to the reflection:
'also l must find a place where it is
we'll to live. a house such as she will
like. 1, too, need a helping hand"
And the reflection in the mirror smiled
back at him. Now that Pengreave was
awakened he knew it was well. The
rest would follow in due course.