"Is not this solemn beauty? Somehow it hurts, it is so
beautiful," said Renestine quietly, her large eyes dreamy and full of
softness.

"Ah, you have a poet's soul, Miss Jewel. Will you tell me
something of your life? You were not born here?"

They were walking up and down the broad verandah and Renestine
was telling him of the little mother so far away, parted from, perhaps
never to be seen again. She was saying, "At last when the time came to
say good-bye, I clung to my mother's form and in that moment could see my
soul, bared, bruised, wounded and somehow the little girl passed with
that parting and although I was but a few months younger than I am
to-night, I am here just one year, I feel much changed and older." Her
lids closed and Jaffray did not interrupt. "Mr. Starr, do you know of
any experience more cruel than this parting of parents in Europe with
their children to come to America? I think of it now so often. I
think there cannot be in all life . . . ."

Jaffray saw the tears in those wonderful eyes. "No, Miss
Jewel, no. I know of nothing more humanly cruel! I, too, parted from
my beloved mother and twin sister when a mere lad to cross the ocean to
seek my fortune in America. A lad barely fifteen years of age, I had
no idea of what I was going out to meet in the world when I took my
small belongings and journeyed toward these shores. There were no
friends, no relatives where I was going; all those were being left
behind; but the spirit of adventure possessed me and I wanted more
freedom to work out my destiny in and the parting had to be for me and
I cannot tell you how I have suffered from homesickness for the beloved