Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the city room.djvu/77

 more strongly than she had realized, and the sudden disappointment almost stunned her. As she came out of the building in which "The Woman's Banner" was published, she glanced at the clock in the window of a neighboring jeweller and saw that it was after five. Happy men and women were hurrying along the street on their way to dinner,—at least, they moved briskly and seemed happy. The cable cars that rounded "Dead Man's Curve" bore a freight of fortunate human beings—going home to dinner! The organ man who ground out the ghostly strains of long-forgotten airs on a wheezy little instrument near the corner would soon go home to dinner. The world was full of people to whom dinner was a cheerful commonplace, while to her— A passing woman, clad in a shabby black gown, had hesitated and was looking at her sympathetically. Miss Imboden realized, with a sudden flush, that she must have staggered a trifle and that she was now standing still. She pulled herself together and went on, her head proudly erect. "To the river," said the morbid voice within—and for the first