Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the city room.djvu/205

 about her facts on this occasion, and she plunged into her story with a vigor and evident zest which made the muscles in the lips of the night city editor relax perceptibly as he observed her. When he glanced at her again two hours later she had finished her story and was lifting a mass of dewy red roses from the long box, whereupon the night city editor looked wise and thought he understood the situation, but did not in the least.

The second letter, written on the typewriter like the first, was a little longer than its predecessor. Miss Bancroft read and re-read it slowly.

",—Your acceptance of the flowers made me very happy. It is infinitely sweet to me to have even so slight a bond between us as the presence of my roses in your home. Will you let them speak for me as I may not speak for myself? They will ask for nothing; they will only tell you that in the big and selfish world in which we live there is a man who loves you, who is watching over you, who is doing all that a shadow can do to guard you and smooth the path for the dear feet that should not be making life's journey all alone. The knowledge of this cannot hurt you.