broken. Sometimes she talks of her sorrow--very gently, very
uncomplainingly, and there are always flowers in front of the photograph
of her husband on her writing table. He must have been a magnificent
man--huge, with whimsical smiling eyes. Every one in the village feels
as if they had known him. They have heard so much about him. He had only
seen Miss Wilcox three times when he walked into her cottage. Standing
in the doorway--"Ellen," he said, and she went to him--

"I suppose I knew it was for always," she explains gently. "It has been
a short always on earth--but so happy, so very happy."

All the girls of the village go to Mrs. Demarest before they marry. Her
wise counsel and the radiant memory of her happiness lights them on
their way.

"I have had everything," she says, "and now I have found peace."

It is the severity of suffering bravely borne. She has called her house
"Haven."




II

TWO PARIS EPISODES

[_To ANTHONY ASQUITH_]

I: THE STORY OF A COAT