the people who dwelt with her in the old mansion.  It was not necessary to make companions of them in order to do them some good, and in aiding them to bear their burdens she might in part forget her own.  Mrs. Wheaton’s hearty kindness permeated the house like an atmosphere, and from her Mildred learned the character and circumstances of each family quite correctly.  “I can get hon with ’em hall hexcept a hold daft German on the top floor, oos a bit crazy hover the ’evens, but don’t stand much chance of hever gettin’ hup hinto ’em.  You’ve hoften seen ‘im a-lookin’ at the stars an’ things on the roof.  ’E ’alf starves ’is family to buy books an’ maps an’ a telescope.  ’E ’ates me cos I tried to talk religion to ’im vonce ven ‘e vas sick, an’ cos I told ’im ’e ’ad no bizness to take his death a’cold on the roof o’ vinter nights; an ’ven ’e vonce gets a grudge hagainst yer ’e never lets hup.”

Mildred had already become more interested in this old man than in any other of her neighbors except Mrs. Wheaton, but had found him utterly unapproachable.  Not infrequently she spent part of the hot evenings on the platform built over the old hip-roof, and had invariably seen him there on cloudless nights studying the skies with a telescope that appeared to be by no means a toy instrument; but he always took possession of the far end of the platform, and was so savage when any one approached thyt even Belle was afraid of him.  His wife, for a wonder, was a slattern German, and she spoke English very imperfectly.  With her several small children she lived in a chaotic way, keeping up a perpetual whining and fault-fnding, half under her breath from fear of her irascible husband, that was like a “continual dropping on a very rainy day.”  Every now and then, Mrs. Wheaton said, he would suddenly emerge from his abstraction and break out against her in a volley of harsh, guttural German oaths that were “henough to make von’s ’air riz.”  Therefore it very naturally happened that Mildred had become acquainted with all the other families before she had even spoken to Mr. or Mrs. Ulph.  On the other inmates of the mansion her influence soon began to be felt; for almost unconsciously she exercised her rare and subtle power of introducing a finer element into the lives of those who were growing sordid and material.  She had presented several families with a small house-plant, and suggested that they try to develop slips from others that she sedulously tended in her own window.  In two or three instances she aided untidy and discouraged women to make their rooms more attractive.  The fact, also, that the Jocelyns had made their two apartments, that were little if any better than the others, so very inviting had much weight, and there sprang up quite an emulation among some of the simple folk in making the most of their limited resources.