drag themselves to the window's void. Their mouths will join and they
will grow tender. They will exchange a first or a last useless glance.
They will open their arms, they will caress each other. They will love
life and be afraid to disappear....

"I have heard the annunciation of whatever finer things are to come.
Through me has passed, without staying me in my course, the Word which
does not lie, and which said over again, will satisfy."

Truly a great and pitiless book, but there is a cleansing wind running
through it, which sweeps away life's illusions, and leaves a new hope
for the future in our hearts.

EDWARD J. O'BRIEN.

BASS RIVER, MASS.,
July, 10, 1918.






CHAPTER I


The landlady, Madame Lemercier, left me alone in my room, after a short
speech impressing upon me all the material and moral advantages of the
Lemercier boarding-house.