A TRAVELER FROM ALTRURIA

Romance

By W. D. HOWELLS

Author of "THE COAST OF BOHEMIA", "THE QUALITY OF MERCY",
"A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES" etc.

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1908




A TRAVELER FROM ALTRURIA


I


I confess that with all my curiosity to meet an Altrurian, I was in no
hospitable mood toward the traveler when he finally presented himself,
pursuant to the letter of advice sent me by the friend who introduced him.
It would be easy enough to take care of him in the hotel; I had merely to
engage a room for him, and have the clerk tell him his money was not good
if he tried to pay for anything. But I had swung fairly into my story; its
people were about me all the time; I dwelt amid its events and places, and
I did not see how I could welcome my guest among them, or abandon them for