sum for the General Hospital Fund; he had been giving to that a number
of years.--Nor that for the asylum; Mrs. Wright was the president of
that board, and had told him she counted on him.--Hang Mrs. Wright! It
was positive blackmail!--Nor the pew-rent; that was respectable--nor the
Associated Charities; every one gave to that. He must cut out the
smaller charities.

So he left off the Children's Hospital Christmas-tree Fund, and the
soup-kitchen, and a few insignificant things like them into which he had
been worried by Mrs. Wright and other troublesome women. The only regret
he had was that taken together these sums did not amount to a great
deal. To bring the saving up he came near cutting out the hospital.
However, he decided not to do so. Mrs. Wright believed in him. He would
leave out one of the pictures he had intended to buy; he would deny
himself, and not cut out the big charity. This would save him the
trouble of refusing Mrs. Wright and would also save him a good deal more
money.

Once more, at the thought of his self-denial, that ray of wintry
sunshine passed across Livingstone's cold face and gave it a look of
distinction--almost like that of a marble statue.

Again he relapsed into reflection. His eyes were resting on the pane
outside of which the fine snow was filling the chilly afternoon air in
flurries and scurries that rose and fell and seemed to be blowing every
way at once. But Livingstone's eyes were not on the snow. It had been so
long since Livingstone had given a thought to the weather, except as it
might affect the net earnings of railways in which he was interested,
that he never knew what the weather was, and so far as he was concerned
there need not have been any weather. Spring was to him but the season