like her old self, so well dressed and well behaved, and chatted so cheerfully to my landlady that the latter afterward congratulated me on having such a friend.  Dolly carried a parcel of underclothing she had made, with a few toys, for the children of a poor man in the suburbs, and I accompanied her to the house.  There was great excitement among the ragged children; in fact, the atmosphere became so dangerously full of love and charity that I commenced to feel uncomfortable,—­the shower of roses again,—­and was glad to find myself in the open air.  We went for a walk and had several drinks, which made the usual change in Dolly.  I got tired of her, determined I would leave her, spoke cruelly, and finally—­after having connection with her on the dry seaweed—­rose and left her brutally, walked away faster and faster, deaf to her remonstrances, and careless whether or how she reached the station....

“I had gone to lodge with a family whom I had been accustomed to visit as a friend; there were two daughters; the elder, engaged to a young German who was away with a survey party, had a rather plain face, but a strong one and was herself a strong character, and I came to like her in spite of myself; the second girl had light golden hair, a fresh complexion, a short nose, and rather large mouth, which contained beautiful teeth; they were both good, obedient, innocent church-going daughters.  As there was plenty of amusement there of an evening, singing and dancing, I did not go out, got into better ways, and gradually gave up drinking to excess.  I was so improved in appearance that an old acquaintance did not recognize me.  My anecdotes and fun amused Mrs. S., the mother of the girls.  She could be very violent on occasions, I found, and I learned that there had been terrible scenes at times, and that from time to time it had been necessary to place her in an asylum.  I went for drives with the girls and to theatres, and ought to have been happy and glad to find myself in such good quarters.  The mother trusted me so entirely that she left me for hours with the girls, the younger one of whom I would kiss sometimes.  She was engaged to a young fellow whom I spoke to patronizingly, but whose shoes I was not worthy to fasten.  I was the cause of quarrels between them.  They made it up again but I think he noticed the change that was taking place in Alice.  For from kissing her I had gone on—­all larking at first.  We formed the habit of sitting down on the sofa when alone and kissing steadily for ten minutes or more at a time.  She was excited without knowing what was the matter with her—­but I knew.  And one day when our mouths were together I drew her to me and commenced to stroke her legs gently down.  She trembled like a string bow, and allowed my hand to go farther.  And then she was frightened and ashamed and commenced to laugh and cry together.  She had these hysterical attacks several times and they always frightened me.  It ended in my seducing her.  She