privations due to the War which she was not out to mollify or remove,
and her ingenuity in discovering worthy objects was uncanny.

As, however, War was raging and most people are, underneath, kinder than
not, she escaped very severe criticism and amassed some good round
sums. And, since all her various Funds had committees and meetings and
minutes, Mrs. Delta, although that may have been only the least among
her motives, was the recipient of certain expressions of gratitude.
Organised charity cannot elude votes of thanks.

But that Mrs. Delta likes work for work's sake, apart altogether from
honeyed praises, is now beyond question, for the campaign she has just
inaugurated is unlikely to yield them.

"You must," she said to me yesterday, "give me something for my new
scheme."

"I hope I shall have enough strength of mind not to; but what is it?"

"You have noticed in what a dreadful state so many of the shop windows
in London now are?" she asked.

"The iniquitous prices of the goods?"

"Oh, no; I didn't mean that. I mean the dropped letters. Where they have
glass letters stuck on, you know, and some have gone. Surely you must
have noticed?"

"Yes, of course," I replied; "but I thought the shop-keepers were too
lazy or careless to bother. The War has increased carelessness, you