Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the city room.djvu/222

 escorted her home, or, if this was impossible, the city editor sent a messenger boy with her. She was a small woman, with appealing blue eyes and the usual journalistic assortment of nerves. They felt it was quite out of the question for her to be on the streets at night alone,—in which opinion Miss Van Dyke concurred.

She did not say much about herself, having discovered at an early period of her newspaper experience that the interest her good comrades felt in the conversation lagged as soon as they ceased to do the talking. Nevertheless, on several occasions she had managed to inject into the train of reminiscences a few of her own, and one of these had made the rounds of the office and was generally regarded as very touching.

"When I left the convent," said Miss Van Dyke, in telling the story to her ardent champion, Matthews, "the nuns knew that I had decided to go into journalism. One of them, Sister Clare, was very fond of me, as I was of her. The day I was graduated, she took me into the convent garden for a little farewell advice. It was all very good, and I