Page:Margaret Sherwood--A Puritan in Bohemia.djvu/47

A Puritan Bohemia The soul she loved had heaven; and she?—the blank brick walls, the long, muddy walks, the loathsome faces.

One wicked old woman with a passion for drink, two Italians out of work, and a family of motherless children were given to her care.

One day in late October Mrs. Kent made her usual round of visits. It was her birthday. She found that the old woman had turned her daughter out of doors.

The visitor walked slowly away, looking back toward the window of the basement room.

"My birthday gift," she said, "is a share in another's sin."