Page:The Yellow Book - 04.djvu/171

Rh an asylum!" I cried: "it makes me sick to think of it." And catching her in my arms I pulled her back, and covered her face and neck and hair with kisses. "Good-night, little golden thing," I said as she got up to go: "I shall come to-morrow as usual." And I put the jug into her hand, and set her by the railings.

"Take care of that little piece of my hair," she called; and I watched her gliding by the houses till she vanished down the area of her home.

But alas! It was fully a fortnight before I was able to visit the doorway again, and after waiting there in vain for some time I walked down the deserted street to the house where the spike was missing from the top of one of the railings.

The windows were quite dark, and on the door just above the letter-box was a piece of paper freshly pasted on. I went up the steps and struck a match and read:

I walked slowly back till I came to the empty house. The sight of the familiar doorway was too much for me, and sitting down I leant against the pillar and gave way to my grief.